THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Soulh-Eastern, Southern, and Midland Counties; for it 

 is evident tlie same remarks cannot well apply to a rain- 

 fall, as in East Suffolk, of 21 in., and a rain-fall, as in 

 Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire, of nearly 

 70 in. Gentlemen, we know well the proud position we 

 occupy agriculturally as a nation. We know well that 

 every country looks to us and learns from us ; yet, not- 

 withstanding our proud superiority, again, although we 

 have in every county not only farms, but even whole 

 districts managed with a degree of skill and judgment 

 which can scarcely be surpassed, yet, I say, notwithstand- 

 ing all this, there is, unfortunately, the reverse of the 

 picture, and side by side with an almost garden culture 

 we meet with cases and tracts of country where the most 

 disgraceful foulness prevails to a greater or less extent. 

 On the one side of the fence we may see all corn and no 

 weeds, on the other comparatively all weeds and no corn, 

 I believe we each know of such instances in our respec- 

 tive counties, and it is nothing unusual for us to see 

 farms which, to use a popular phrase, " might be 

 dragged away by the couch-grass." It is nothing unusual 

 for us to hear the most plausible excuses for this foul 

 evidence of mismanagement : either " the land is so sub- 

 ject to couch," or " the seasons hav'nt been favourable," 

 or "it can't be got rid of," or " stock is as good as 

 money :" these are the palliatives, but the evil exists ; and 

 it is not only a disgrace, but I know of nothing more ex- 

 pensive than this foul farming. (Hear, hear.) I cannot 

 comprehend the economy of manuring for rubbish. I 

 cannot understand the policy of seeding on pre-occupied 

 ground — (Hear, hear) — and I cannot believe in the ne- 

 cessity for a cleansing process every fourth year. If 

 England is to be farmed with the requisite skill and ca- 

 pital, if the utmost profit is to be realized from the soil, 

 if the maximum of food is to be produced, foul farming 

 must be done away, clean farming must be general — 

 (Hear, hear) — and I can see no reason why it should not 

 be. Almost garden cleanness may prevail. I do not 

 share the views of those who succumb to couch-grass ; 

 it is not a necessary evil, and may be eradicated. I 

 know of whole farms from which it has been expunged ; 

 they were once as foul as others. I know, too, that 

 upon these very farms no fallow for a cleansing purpose 

 has been necessary for years ; one earth for turnips has 

 been the system ; any stray piece of grass has been re- 

 moved by the fork — (Hear, hear^ — and the land is thus 

 kept clean from other than annual weeds at a very 

 trifling cost. This, therefore, is no plan of compara- 

 tively free this year and foul again next ; it is not a 

 game of cleaning and fouling ; it is a system of continued 

 and continual cleanness ; it is this which I advocate, 

 and I know of no means by which it can so quickly and 

 so cheaply be attained as autumnal cultivation. (Hear, 

 hear.) It has been my experience that August and 

 September are by far the best months for the destruc- 

 tion of any amount of weeds or rubbish (Hear) : it 

 is then the soil is peculiarly dry after the hot month 

 of July, and after the removal of the wheat crop. 

 The sun's heat is excessive, the thermometer often 

 standing for successive days at 85 and 90 degrees ; the 

 mean temperature also exceeds by 10° the tempera- 



ture of the combined months of March, April, May, and 

 June, when the cleansing process is usually proceeded 

 with, and it is in autumn the vitality of every plant is at 

 a very low ebb ; thus the usual dryness of the soil, the 

 extreme heat of the sun, the high mean temperature of 

 the atmosphere, and the expended energies of the plants 

 themselves — all favour the autumnal work. With judi- 

 cious management the perennial weeds cannot live 

 through it, and I am convinced more good can be done 

 by one day's work in August or September than by 

 five days of hard labour in the spring. (Hear, hear.) 

 Should we succeed in the economical application of steam 

 to field operations, as appears both probable and imme- 

 diate, it is in autumn cultivation that such an invaluable 

 adjunct as steam for a motive power would be of incal- 

 culable service. (Hear, hear.) But without this as- 

 sistance I have always been able, with the horse strength 

 of the farm, to clean three-fourths of the wheat stub- 

 bles for early roots, and the remaining in the spring. 

 In this way I believe any farm may possibly be cleaned 

 from couch-grass in four years, but it may always posi- 

 tively be done in eight. I mention couch-grass thus 

 pointedly because it is common to almost all soils, and 

 it is more difficult to destroy than any other perennial 

 excepting the dock ; if, therefore, the couch is killed, 

 all else will submit. I have always observed the heavy 

 land weeds, which we in Suffolk know by the local 

 names of mint, water-grass, peagle. Sec, die very quickly 

 from exposure. With your permission I will proceed 

 to place before you the plan I have pursued upon dif- 

 ferent foul farms which have come under my manage- 

 ment, and the system I shall describe has been carried 

 out to some extent in the Eastern division of Suffolk. 

 The farms have a clay subsoil. I farm them on the 

 four-course shift, and, to show the adjustment of the 

 horse labour, I will mention that I manure for the bean 

 crop and the clover. I consider this to be not only the 

 best course to pursue for obtaining the largest return 

 from the crops themselves — (Hear, hear)— but it lessens 

 the horse work in the wheat preparation, and allows of 

 increased strength for cultivation on the stubbles ; I 

 have therefore no manure to cart for wheat, but simply 

 to plough. I mow the wheat, which is the first crop 

 ripe at harvest, before carting any ; the whole horse 

 strength of the farm is therefore at liberty for eight or 

 nine days ; the harvestmen work in a company ; the 

 sheaves are shocked a considerable distance apart from 

 ridge to ridge ; an extra lad suffices for carrying the 

 extra distance ; the labourers' wives are admitted to 

 glean, and the two men reserved at harvest wages for 

 working the horses begin operations between tbe rows 

 of shocks upon the same or succeeding day of com- 

 mencing harvest. As the land lies up in small stetches 

 of 8ft. 3in., one man opens the furrows with a common 

 plough and two horses; the other man follows with 

 Biddell's scarifier, to which four or six horses are at- 

 tached, according to the extent of the occupation and the 

 size of the implement. These horses are worked from 

 5 o'clock in the morning till 12 o'clock at noon, the 

 men in the mean time staying for breakfast ; at one 

 o'clock the men proceed with fresh horses, and work til! 



p 2 



