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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



tlipy would be able to evolve any priuciple from it which would 

 make the system applicable to their farms (Hear, hear). 



Mr. Fisher Hobbs (Boxted, Essex) : According to what 

 the}' had heard so lucidly described by Mr. Howard that 

 evening', and all they had previously learnt respecting the Lois- 

 Weedon system of cultivation, he should say that there could 

 be no advantage in it to the practical farmer (Hear, hear). 

 He recollected visiting, some 15 or 20 years ago, a friend^ 

 who called hia attention to a similar system which had been 

 carried out in his neighbourhood for upwards of 15 years, but 

 with no very beneficial results ; for it had not attracted the 

 attention of the neighbours, and no one seemed to have fol- 

 lowed it out. So far as Mr. Smith of Lois-Weedon was con- 

 cerned, it appeared that he amused himself on his few acres of 

 glebe land, and employed his poorer neighbours around him, 

 and in this way he was doing good ; but to lay his system 

 before this Club as one of general application was altogether 

 absurd. He was quite aware that Mr. Smith was acting with 

 the very best intention ; but he felt persuaded that no one 

 could adopt the system on an extensive scale, inasmuch as 

 there was an inadequate supply of labour in the country, 

 whilst if there were a fault in the existing practice, it was that 

 they grew too much wheat already, as wheat had not been 

 a paying crop of late, and certainly it was an exhausting 

 one. The 'proposition, therefore, to raise wheat alternately 

 year by year was one which he did not think the farmers of 

 England would be inclined to entertain. It was nothing new. 

 They had all read of it in Jethro TulL One of its advantages 

 was that it promoted the aeration of the soil ; but even that 

 they were doing as effectively by other means, and with a 

 good rotation of cropping secured abundant root and green 

 crops (Hear, heai). A few years since, when in France, 

 he was shown a farm of about eight hundred acres, upon 

 which the crops were exceedingly fine. He was invited to 

 point out all the faults that he could discover, and it struck him 

 that one fine field of wheat, which was excessively luxuriant, 

 appeared to be too thickly planted. This was in the mouth 

 of April. He inquired how much seed had been sown there, 

 and was told 3 bushels per acre. It looked to him as if it 

 would be all down in the straw, and turn out to be a very in- 

 ferior yield ; and he observed, that if they drilled it a foot 

 apart, with one-half the quantity of seed, the crop would be 

 much better. They said they anticipated that that would be 

 his remark ; but they had tried the experiment with English 

 drills, and found that at the period of the year when the wheat 

 came on to blossom, if the ground were not covered the root 

 suffered so much from the drought, that the wheat was not 

 worth grinding (Hear, hear). The year previously he (Mr. 

 Hobbs) had what promised to be in the month of June a very 

 heavy crop of wheat upon light land. It was drilled from north 

 to south, and the weather being very hot and dry for some 

 weeks previous to harvest, the yield greatly disappointed him. 

 This practice he now avoided upon light lands, and drilled 

 from east to west, by which means the roots of the plant were 

 now shaded from the rays of the sun. He thought, therefore, 

 that the same principle which the Frenchman had carried out 

 would be beneficial on light lands ; and that wide intervals 

 between the rows of wheat would be decidedly injurious, espe- 

 cially upon farms in the south of England (Hear, hear)- 



Mr. J. Hooker (Horsley) said that something analogous 

 to the Lois-Weedon system had been tried in Surrey, with 

 what results the following letter, which he had received from a 

 friend at East Horsley, Ripley, a day or two ago, would 

 show. The writer said—" There were two small patches of 

 wheat down at Horsley under the>yBtem you mention, one 

 acre, and a half-an-acre, for several years. The land being 



near a wood, the game, hares, and rabbits ueed to frequent this 

 crop more than any other part of the farm. The greatest 

 quantity grown was 30 bushels. I still think that in au open 

 field a small quantity could be farmed advantageously." He 

 (Mr. Hooker) recollected seeing this crop some two or three 

 years ago, and he must say that it did not promise any large 

 measure of success. The ears were very small, aud after a 

 smart wind the wheat was much laid. As to the question of 

 soil, if the geological portion of Mr. Smith's farm had to be 

 stated, the Club would be better able to form a correct judg- 

 ment upon his system. For example, if it were carried out 

 upon a sandy soil, like that at Bagshot, he did not think it 

 would be found to answer very well. 



The Chairman, as one of the deputation to Lois Weedon, 

 said that, so far as he could see, Mr. Smith's plan was 

 a practicable aud good one for his extent of land. His 

 farm was about twelve acres, and upon that it did very 

 well ; and if the system were carried out thoroughly upon it, 

 he saw no reason why it should not pay. To think, however, 

 of putting it in operation upon a large scale would be a per- 

 fect absurdity. After quitting Lois Weedon, the deputation 

 visited Mr, Smith of Woolston ; and he might here state that 

 the next month's discussion upon the substitution of steam- 

 power for horse and manual labour would relate con- 

 siderably to what they had seen there. He thought that if 

 the two systems were combined — if they could unite 

 the Woolston system with the Lois-Weedon system of alter- 

 nation, the two might be made to work well ; but as to get- 

 ting such an amount of manual labour as was required by the 

 Lois-Weedon system to trench up the land, immediately after 

 harvest, was, he considered, utterly impracticable, and out of 

 the question. If they could perform the operation by means 

 of the Woolston steam machinery, then it would be all right. 

 In his opinion the Lois-Weedon system was only adapted to 

 small farms. It was very well done, so far as it went, but he 

 concurred with the opinion expressed by Mr. Hobbs, that it 

 was of no use to the practical agiiculturiat (Hear, hear). 



Mr. CoRBRT was sorry that as the discussion had assumed 

 the tone it had done, neither Mr. Smith nor Mr. Clarke were 

 present to answer many of the objections which had been 

 raised. Unfortunately, too, there was no one to advocate 

 the system pursued at Lois Weedon, except Mr. Greene, 

 from Essex, who had been kind enough to answer several 

 questions that had been put to him, but had not done so 

 in the definite way in which Mr. Clarke wrote. No doubt 

 Mr. Clarke would prepare a reply on the present discussion, 

 and publish it in the agricultural papers, and this afterwards 

 would appear in the Journal of the club. 



Mr. Skelton (Wisbeach),in proposing a vote of thanks to 

 Mr. Clarke for his paper and to Mr. Corbet for reading it, 

 said that his opinion, as a member of the deputation, was, 

 that the Lois-Weedon System could never become general, 

 for the simple reason that, on the face of it, it was easy to 

 perceive that it was impracticable. His friend Mr. Hobbs 

 had observed that the system was not new, but was to be 

 found in TuU's husbandry ; Mr. Smith, on the other hand, 

 said that TuU's system was never to turn up the subsoil, 

 whilst his was most pointedly directed to that object. In that, 

 therefore, Mr. Smith claimed the merit of novelty. 



Mr. C. Howard, in seconding the motion, said that he 

 had received a private letter from Mr. Clarke, in which he 

 stated that he was so satisfied with the system that he was 

 anxious to see him (Mr, Howard) becoms a convert to it. 



