4-U 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZIiNE. 



and he therefore did not anticipate that the ques- 

 tion would cause much discussion. 



Mr. Churciier said Mr. Hunt's paper was quite 

 fit to go forth to the world as an essay, and as such 

 ought to he published (Hear, hear). He had but 

 little to say upon Mr. Hunt's remarks, for he had 

 brought so fully before them all the bearings of 

 the subject that little was left to be said. He (Mr. 

 Churcher) quite agreed with him as to the manuring 

 meadows with dung in the autumn — say until No- 

 vember; but to put it off later than that bethought 

 was useless. He thought gypsum was a good ma- 

 nure for sainfoin, &c.; it seemed a very cheap ma- 

 nure, and used to be more used than at the present 

 time. As to increasing the quantity of meadow 

 land, he thought nine out of every ten farmers 

 would be very glad to do so, providing they had 

 some encouragement from their landlords. There 

 was a loss in laying down meadow land ; and he 

 thought when a farmer left his farm he ought to 

 be paid some remuneration for the meadow land 

 he had so laid down. There wanted to be a better 

 understanding upon the subject between landlords 

 and tenants. Mr. Hunt had estimated the dung 

 at 3s. per yard, but he thought it should be 5s. per 

 yard; and they must remember that if it cost 5s. 

 per yard, it also, cost another 5s. per yard to bring 

 It home (Hear, hear). 



Mr. Powell was greatly obliged to Mr. Hunt 

 for his elaborate and instructive paper, and thought 

 he had clearly shown the necessity of reimbursing 

 the land with those properties which they abstracted 

 from it, and quite agreed with him as to the im- 

 portance of returning those fertilizing properties to 

 the soil which any crop might have taken from it, 

 if they wished to keep the land in a good state of 

 cultivation. He (Mr. Powell) considered the ap- 

 plication of bone-dust and gypsum was always at- 

 tended with beneficial results, as they were rich in 

 those elements essential to the restoration of the 

 soil (Hear) ; and it was a matter of great import- 

 ance to have the greatest crop and the most lasting 

 manure at the least possible expense. He warned 

 the farmer against the suicidal principle of allow- 

 ing the soil to become impoverished for want of 

 manure ; for if it once got starved — it was like our- 

 selves or animals it took a long time to bring it 

 into condition again (Hear, hear). 



Mr. Wilson did not rise to offer any particular 

 remarks upon the subject before the meeting, as 

 his land was for the most part under the plough. 

 He was at variance with Dr. Shorthouse on the 

 point of mowing meadow land twice, and thought 

 such a practice not likely to lead to any desirable 

 results ; and as to the green crops, which it had 

 been said would be sold so rapidly in the London 

 markets, he said it was never mown in a green 

 state. He asked Mr. Hunt if bones apphed to tur- 

 nips and swedes left any goodness in the ground 

 for the succeeding crop of corn, and did he recom- 

 mend gypsum to be applied to trifolium and tares ? 

 Mr. Hunt replied affirmatively to both these 

 questions. 



The Chairman made some remarks upon the 

 points which had incidentally arisen in the discus- 

 sion. He first endorsed the eulogiums which had 

 been previously passed upon Mr. Hunt's paper. 



and he thought Mr. Hunt must have taken consi- 

 derable pains in getting the subject up. It had not 

 been done crudely, but he had fed them with con- 

 venient food well prepared for their weak diges- 

 tion (laughter). He was of opinion that the con- 

 sideration of the subject before them appeared 

 much more important tohim that evening than could 

 have been conceived by simply passing over a num- 

 ber of broad acres without much reflection or dis- 

 cussion ; and he considered this fact another illus- 

 tration of the benefits accruing from such meetings 

 as these, without which the subject could not have 

 been brought to so practical a bearing (Hear, 

 hear). With reference to the plan of Mr. Hunt 

 for laying on the manure, he was much disposed to 

 lean to his side, although there was great authority 

 upon the other side of the question. Some of the 

 best hay which came into the market was brought 

 from Middlesex, a county which stands pre- 

 eminent in that respect. The practice there was to 

 manure the land at a part of the season when the 

 rays of the sun had very great power, and so a large 

 proportion of the most important constituents of 

 the manure evaporated ; he was therefore inclined 

 to think that when they had the milder autumnal 

 days was the best time for manuring. Referring 

 to the subject of bone manure, his experience in 

 Cheshire led him to the conclusion that its intro- 

 duction and use were attended by enormous bene- 

 fits (Hear, hear). Although they only reckoned 

 on a benefit from their use for two or three years, 

 he believed they might take a greater margin, and 

 that they derived some benefit from them for five, 

 six, or eight years. Mr. Churcher had remarked 

 upon the subject of laying down meadow land. 

 They appeared to be all agreed that it would be ad- 

 vantantageous to extend or increase their meadow 

 land, but the diflficult point was, who would bear 

 the expense, the tenant or the landlord ? Mr. 

 Churcher very properly suggested both. If the 

 former laid it down, he would not reap the benefit he 

 would deserve ; and even if he held a comparatively 

 long lease, the probability was that his returns 

 would not be at all equal to his outlay. Those who 

 turned their clay brown hills into green land ought 

 to be well remunerated for their trouble, and he 

 (the chairman) said that there certainly ought to 

 be a covenant in every lease with landlords that the 

 incoming tenant should take by valuation the 

 meadow land laid down by his predecessor. Mr. 

 Fuller said he thought there were very few land- 

 lords who were blind to these facts any more than 

 they (the farmers) were blind, and that they merely 

 required their eyes to be drawn to the focus ; and 

 he contended that in many cases it was not so much 

 the fault of the landlord as the tenant, as they often 

 did not know the wants of a tenant till they had 

 been pointed out to them ; he therefore hoped that 

 when they (the tenants) took a new lease they 

 would ask their landlords to take this matter into 

 consideration, and he felt sure they would obtain 

 what they required. After some additional obser- 

 vations, Mr. Fuller said the opinions of Mr. Hunt, 

 as expressed in his paper, were so thoroughly in 

 accordance with what he considered to be correct, 

 that any other comments would only be tedious 

 and unnecessary. 



