THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



545 



The Chairman : To what extent have you carried out the 

 system ? 

 Mr. Gkeene : Fifty-eight acres. 



Mr, HoBBS : Can you give us souie explauation with regard 

 to the quantity of labour ? You say it ia very heavy at a 

 particular period of the year. 



Mr. Greene: The principal labour is in digging the in- 

 tervals iu October. We ought to finish sowing in September. 

 Mr. HoBBS : Then this is after the seed is deposited ? 

 Mr. Greene : Yes. 



Mr, Williams : In digging the atubblea, I presume? 

 Mr. Greene: Yes. 



Mr. Williams : Could not that be broken up by ma- 

 chinery ? 



Mr, Greene : I think it might. 

 A Member : Steam machinery ? 

 Mr. Williams : Of course (Hear, hear, and laughter). 

 Mr. Hobbs : You say you require 20 men for 58 acres ? 

 Mr. Greene : Yes ; even more if I can obtain them. 

 A. Member : You use the spade ? 

 Mr. Greene : No; the fork. 



Mr. Hobbs : What is the cost of manual labour per acre ? 

 Mr. Greene : Rather under £4. I reckon that the 

 manual labour and horse labour together make about £4 15s. 

 The Chairman : What is the depth to which you go? 

 Mr. Greene : The depth of forking is about ten inches. 

 A Member : What is the nature of your soil ? 

 Mr. Greene : Clay principally. One field contains a 

 great proportion of gravel. The subsoil is chiefly of a loamy 

 character. 

 A Member : Is it at all calcareous? 

 Mr. Greene : Somewhat so. 



A Member : What is the price you have been paying for 

 labour ? 



Mr. Greene : Kather low lately ; 9s. and beer. 

 Mr. Williams : What is the effect of a rough wind upon 

 wheat standing at such an interval apart ? Does it get inter- 

 mixed, or keep a vertical position ? 



Mr. Greene : The general plan is to earth it up in June. 

 Mr. Williams : That I look upon as the great objection. 

 A Member : Have you tried a bean crop upon the same 

 system ? 

 Mr. Greene 

 Mr. Hobbs 

 improve? 



Mr. Greene 

 difference. 



Mr. Williams : Are not the ears ^finer by h ing the 

 extra amount of light and air ? 

 Mr. Greene: The ears are much larger. 

 Mr. C. Howard (Biddenham, Beds.) said that he went 

 down to Lois-Weedou, as a member of the deputation from the 

 Club, to visit Mr. Smith, , and found him a most agreeable 

 hospitable gentleman; and, judging from appearances, he 

 must say that, as a parish priest, he was one of the best he 

 had ever seen. As a gardener, too, he greatly excelled ; for, 

 upon a small plot of ground, by abeautiful contrivance, he 

 made it appear as large again as it really was. In fact, as he 

 said himself, there were all sorts of tricks practised at Lois- 

 Weedon (laughter). As regarded the soil, Mr. Smith, unlike 

 many landlords, considerably underrated it; and he (Mr. 

 Howard) thought he should be borne out by the practical men 

 who accompanied him, it was as fine wheat land as any man 

 could possibly desire ; and with respect to the lighter portions 

 of the soil, it was not, iu his opinion, by any means an 

 inferior light soil. As to the portion which was nearest 



I have not. 

 Have you seen the quality of the wheat 



Not in a marked degree. I have seen no 



to Mr. Smith's house, and which he stated was new laud 

 that had been broken up for 14 years, it must be remembered 

 that had had only seven crops upon it, according to his 

 system. Therefore, most farmers would say that upon new 

 laud, with only seven crops they could hardly expect it to be 

 exhausted, considering the quality of the soil. Mr. Clarke 

 had made reference to the machinery which this worthy gen- 

 tleman had introduced at Lois-Weedon, and which he stated 

 had been so very successful. But the truth was that 

 the whole of the operations upon the four or five acres 

 were performed by the cowman, the gardener, the coachman, 

 and other men around him ; and this machinery, so far as he 

 (Mr. Howard) could gather, was not entirely satisfactory to 

 Mr. Smith himself. He must say, moreover, that he was not 

 at all surprised at the crop which Mr. Smith had grown upon 

 that land. Indeed he should have expected that the produce 

 would be still greater, and he rather wondered at Mr. Clarke's 

 average too, because the land iu that locality was very far beyond 

 the average of the kingdom for wheat-growing purposes (Hear). 

 Twenty-six bushels of wheat to the acre was nothing very ex- 

 traordinary ; and when he considered that, if they carried out 

 the Loia-Weedon system, they must neglect the growth of 

 roots and clovers, from which thiey produced their meat, he 

 questioned whether they would be doing right in losing those 

 crops, and going after another, which, certainly, so far as the 

 last few years were concerned, had by no means paid them so 

 well (Hear, hear.) If the Lois-Weedon system was to be at 

 all successful, it must be through the application of steam- 

 cultivation (Hear, hear), and that too upon some of the 

 ordinary wheat soils (Hear, hear.) He felt quite convinced 

 that upon the tenacious clay soils with which many present 

 were acquainted — not such as he fouud at Lois-Weedon — no 

 farmer would consider himself justified in going to the expense 

 in digging by hand-labour such land 16 inches deep, even if 

 the labour could be obtained. Again, if the system were 

 adopted, the covenants which were now contained in farm 

 leases must be very much altered and modified. They 

 all knew that a strong prejudice existed in some quarters 

 against the farmer taking two white straw crops in succession, 

 and it appeared to him that that would be urged as an ob- 

 jection to the Lois-Weedon system upon many estates. He 

 beUeved that Mr. Smith managed his four or five acres of laud 

 in the best possible manner ; but he (Mr. Howard) had left 

 crops of wheat in his own neighbourhood, raised by the 

 ordinary system o/ farming, which looked quite as well as 

 what he saw at Lois-Weedon (cheers.) With regard to beans ; 

 after visiting Mr. Smith of Lois-Weedou, the deputation 

 went to see Mr. Smith of Woolston, who stated that he was 

 at Lois-Weedon twelve months before, and inspected the 

 crops ; and when reference was made to the bean rows being 

 five feet apart, the Woolston Smith shook his head, and ob- 

 served, " That will never do." Mr. Smith of Woolston was 

 evidently a practical man, and he was sure that any opinion 

 which that gentleman might express would be worthy of en- 

 dorsement by the members of this club ; for what the depu- 

 tation saw on his farm gave them the greatest possible plea- 

 sure (Hear, hear.) 



Mr. T. F. Wilson (Althome, Essex) stated that he had 

 visited Lois-Weedon several years ago, and he presumed that 

 everybody who had since visited the farm had arrived at the 

 same conclusion he did, which was that the system was utterly 

 impracticable in this country. That it p»id the gentleman 

 who practised it he would not pretend to dispute, because 

 there was every reason to believe that he was a truth-loving 

 man ; but if the Members of the Club were to occupy a whole 

 week in the discussion of the subject, he did not think that 



