S48 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



that, while common crops are being parched up without possi- 

 bility of relief, the wheat-stripes are sucking up moisture from 

 the capillary store existing in the deeply worked fallow inter- 

 als, which, repeatedly stirred and pulverized by the horse-hce, 

 imbibe the refreshing dews. 



Mr. Hooker instanced an unsuccessful trial of the plan, in 

 which the hares aud rabbits appear sadly to have wanted Mr. 

 Corbet among them. Of course Mr. Smith would not suc- 

 ceed very well upon the " Bagshot sand ;" his system is adapted 

 for his own land — ihe heavy sol! of the oolite formation, and 

 for many thousands of acres naturally of similar character. 



Mr. Skelton justly discriminates between the double-spit 

 digging of Mr. Smith, and the " never-ploiigh below the 

 staple" of Jethro TuU, the father of drill-rows and intercul- 

 tural wheat-crops. 



Mr. Wilson's opinion that no principle can be evolved from 

 the Lois-Weedon system, which would be " applicable to our 

 farms," is rather too lengthy a subject to be followed up in 

 this communication. At the risk of being classed among the 

 theorists, I must affirm my conviction, from the practical trials 

 made, that on some suitable soils it is practicable, and will 

 pay to growcereals and other corn on Lois-Weedou principles 

 (either with horse or steam power), in preference to keeping 

 any live stock beyond the animals necessary to till the land 

 and eat the straw into manure. On some other soils this new 

 method of grain-culture may be profitably combined with the 

 growing of roots and clovers for sheep and cattle breeding ; 

 and there are also soils on which the system would be a failure 

 instead of an advantage. I am, Sir, 



Your obedient servant, 



Long Sutlon, Lineolmhire, John Algernon Clarke. 

 Mav I5th, 1860. 



TO THE EDITOR OP THE MARK LANE EXPRESS. 



Sir, — I received a copy of the Mark Lane Express yes- 

 terday morning, and in the evening sent for my tenant. I 

 told him what the Deputation from the Farmers' Club had 

 unanimously resolved — that my land was the best wheat 

 land they had ever seen. " Now, Stuchfield," I said, "you 

 have nearly four hundred acres of mine, the greatest portion 

 of which is of exactly the same quality with the field in 

 question, with this difference, that whereas my land had 

 only a five-inch staple, and yellow clay under it, yours has 

 a clay subsoil with from five to ten inches of staple. So 

 that you see yours is better than the best wheat-land ever 

 seen by the Farmers' Club ; and this being the case I can- 

 not do otherwise than raise your rent at once from 27s. an 

 acre to 50s. at least, with an increase to my income of £400 

 a-year." We then talked over the fact of the whole parish 

 of two thousand acres being generally of a siroilar quality, 

 a very small portion being worse, a great portion better. 

 In fact, the whole geological formation of the same oolite, 

 to the extent of tens of thousands of acres running right 

 across England from Dorset to Whitby, is much of the 

 same quality, and rented at much the same sum, that is, 

 from 27s. to 30s. 



The gentlemen of the Deputation, without knowing the 

 reason, were stating the fact, notwithstanding. Inch by 

 inch this clay subsoil of mine has been brought to the top 

 and mixed with the staple, till, from a yellow clay, it has 

 become, gradually, a fine dark loam from fifteen to eighteen 

 jnche^s deep, or more. This has been a progressive work of 



sixteen years, after I had first pared the turf, and taken it 

 ofT the land. And the deputation were quite right when 

 they walked over its surface, and pronounced it to be the 

 best wheat land they ever saw. It really is so. " Why, 

 it's worth 45s. an acre !" said one. He was much below 

 the mark. It is well worth 608. an acre ; and if I were to 

 let it, it should not be for a shilling under. 



" The produce not so much as you expected .?" What ! 

 nearly five quarters of wheat to the moiety of each acre, 

 being at the rate of nearly ten quarters per acre, and " not 

 so much as expected ?" 



" The plan impracticable ?" Surely not. It might have 

 been thought so once, but that time has past. A principle 

 can be exhibited as clearly on five acres as on five hundred* 

 I may fairly, then, suppose a case. I will suppose a farmer 

 to have a four-hundred-acre arable farm, and that he sets 

 apart a hundred acres of it for wheat upon the Lois-Weedon 

 plan, I will suppose his land to be like mine, with a five- 

 inch staple, and a good heavy clay under it. Immediately 

 after harvest the steam cultivator " smashes it up" for the 

 first time, stirring and bringing up within reach of the frost 

 two inches of this subsoil, making seven inches in depth al- 

 together. This depth of virgin soil will be sufficient for four 

 years. In the Spring and during Summer, and up to Sep- 

 tember the farmer cleans and stirs and prepares the land 

 as for barley. After that, and year after year, he carries 

 out the plan without any forking by hand at all, trenching 

 as he goes deeper with the steam trenching implement. 

 Why, steam not merely makes the plan feasible, but les- 

 sens the expense of tillage from 34s. to 8s. or lOs. How is 

 the plan impracticable, then ? Suppose the farmer to do 

 well what he does do, and consequently to succeed — for I 

 reject the unpleasing flattery that I can accomplish what 

 others cannot — he then gains, with low prices, a net profit 

 of £500 a-year from one-fourth part of his 400 acres. He 

 has his clover, roots, stock, &c., on the remaining three- 

 fourths of his land, which he deals with in the ordinary 

 way, in whatever rotation he may choose, including wheat, 

 as a separate farm. Your obedient servant, 



Vicarage, Lois-Weedon, May 16. S. Smith. 



CENTRAL FARMERS' CLUB. 



A meeting of the committee was held at the Club House, 

 New Bridge-street, Blackfriars, on Monday, May 7 ; L. A. 

 CoussMAKER, Esq., in the chair. There were also present, 

 Messrs. N. G. Barthropp, R. Bond, C. J.Brickwell, J. Carter, 

 T. Congreve, J. Cressingham, W. Fisher Hobbs, C. Howard, 

 J. G. Kiug, E. Little, T. Owen, B. P. Shearer, S. Skelton, G. 

 Smythies, J. B. Spearing, James Thomas, John Thomas, H. 

 Trethewy, J. Tyler, and J. A. Williams. 



Tlie minutes of the last meeting were read, and the usual 

 monthly statement of accounts was received. 



The following members were elected . 



R J. Clarke, Tooting. 



F. C. B. Ford. Marshall's, Maresfield. 



P. H. Frere, Downing-terrace, Cambridge. 



G. Kennard, East Farleigh, Maidstone. 



J. L. Kennedy, Ardwick Hall, Manchester. 

 R. Simpson. Haggestone, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 

 Ten other names were read for the fiirst time. 

 The thanks of the committee were ordered for the following 

 works presented to the club : — 

 " The Gardener's Chronicle and Asfricnltnr*! Gazette," 



