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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



tJor quality to those sown later : the one may have a 

 greater juiciness than the other, but to me this is no 

 proof of quality — it is only an evidence of immaturity, 

 or of an increased proportion of water (Hear, hear). 

 We do not harvest the green juicy stem of the wheat 

 plant for human consumption, but we allow the fluids 

 to be converted into the good dry grain : and as with 

 the wheat, so with the swedes. The fluids of the early 

 swede have only performed their function, and have 

 been converted into the solid matter of the swede 

 itself. This simply accounts for the popular error as to 

 the apparent want of quality because of comparative 

 dryness, and I have always noticed that stock thrive as 

 well, if not better, upon the early planted than the late 

 (Hear, hear). My father writes me on this point as fol- 

 lows :— " I have finished drilling swedes in April, and 

 I never saw for the breadth of 60 acres better turnips or 

 more feed. They were cut into troughs for hoggets, and 

 no hoggets could do better." As it was mix-soiled 

 land the swedes for later feeding were earthed in heaps 

 of two or three loads upon the fields, and thus reserved 

 till the spring. I am certain the word *' early" is the 

 secret of success in the preparation and growth of a 

 root crop on stiff" retentive soils (Hear); it induces a 

 chain of consequences ending in a heavy crop of roots 

 (Hear, hear), without injury to the soil producing 

 the crop, and of the greatest possible benefit to the farm 

 at large, allowing as it does of ample stock, of good and 

 abundant manure, of productive corn crops, and of a 

 high state of fertility generally (Hear, hear). These 

 are no mean results, and they present a marked con- 

 trast to the old-fashioned fallow system, which was 

 always one of whip ! whip 1 of no root, no stock, no 

 manure, and no stamina in the soil (Hear, hear). The 

 stackyards were always too much filled with straw 

 stacks rather than corn stacks, and we invariably heard 

 a vast deal too much of " getting straw down" instead 

 of making good rich dung (Hear, hear). The truth 

 is, the crib was always too clean, and such a system 

 never led to progress ; it was a dull weary round, and 

 it is as unsuited to the advancement, the appliances, 

 and the wants of the present day as a washing-tub to 

 navigation. The habits of men are changing, the popu- 

 lation requires more meat (Hear, hear). We consume 

 more, the French consume more, and for profit the 

 law of demand must govern us (Hear, hear). We 

 cannot do better than attend to it ; and as more 

 animal food is required, I conceive our best plan is 

 to produce it (Hear, hear). I believe we can all 

 grow more roots than we do, and I believe we can all 

 keep more stock than we do ; but the root crop must 

 be a paying crop, and the stock must be a paying stock. 

 This I believe to be a matter of management. We can 

 grow mangold wurzel at a cheap rate per ton, and if we 

 feed stock with an economical admixture of chaff, cake, 

 and corn, we may manufacture meat at a profit ; but 

 the old plan of giving cattle all the cake and corn they 

 will consume, is simply wasteful (Hear, hear). The ani- 

 mal system cannot appropriate the elements of nutri- 

 tion, the major proportions are voided in the dung, and 

 although such manure may be rich and nitrogenous, 



yet the constituents of meat (or that which should have 

 been beef if pi'operly admixed as food) is too costly for 

 manure. We want the animal to manufacture the largest 

 amount of meat from a given quantity of food, and ex- 

 pensive cramming will not do— it is far too unpaying 

 (Hear, hear). By the extended growth of roots the 

 manv.al labour of the farm is increased, and the horse 

 labour also ; but the thorough drainage of the soil which 

 precedes root culture produces a much more rapid 

 drying of the soil, whereby additional days are secured 

 for field operations, and as the labour of ploughing and 

 tillage is reduced, it allows of increased execution in the 

 work, and extra horses therefore are not needed. I 

 never considered it an indication of economical and good 

 management that but a small proportion of horse strength 

 should be maintained, as a little too late is then the bane 

 of every operation — (Hear, hear) — and it is the great 

 curse of heavy-land farming (Hear, hear). Five good 

 horses, well fed, and worked daily, are a fair allowance 

 for every 100 acres of arable land, and they are sufficient 

 for carrying out the root culture I have described. 

 Much depends upon the proper adjustment of the horse- 

 work, and I have usually found the cultivation after 

 harvest to come as follows : — Cleaning wheat stubbles, 

 ploughing for wheat, mangold wurzel carting and 

 ploughing the land, wheat seed, ploughing wheat stub- 

 bles on ridge, mucking and ploughing for beans, muck- 

 ing clover layers, preparing muck for mangold wurzel, 

 second ploughing of wheat stubbles, spring corn seed- 

 ing, mucking for mangold wurzel and ploughing land, 

 &c. This is the usual course of operations, but the 

 weather often overrules, and I am particularly careful 

 not to tread upon the land unless the work will do well ; 

 patience and expedition, we well know, are very impor- 

 tant qualities in the management of stiff retentive soils. 

 I purposely avoid any remarks upon security of tenure, 

 agreements, buildings, or capital, nor am I prepared to 

 say that the four-course shift is the best system (Hear, 

 hear). In conclusion, autumn culture is one of the 

 greatest modern improvements in the art of farming ; 

 it is applicable to any course of shift, and I am anxious 

 to recommend its more extended adoption (Hear, hear). 

 I have already pointed out that by autumnal cultivation 

 foulness may be eradicated, cleanness attained and main- 

 tained, fallow labour reduced, root crops improved and 

 extended, clay farms converted comparatively to stock 

 farms, the straw and water admixture system changed 

 for rich nitrogenous dung, and we know the sequence 

 that " much increase is by the strength of the ox." In 

 no other way can we so greatly increase the produce of 

 cattle and of corn, and by no other means can we so 

 cheaply attain to general cleanness and general fertility, 

 much to our individual profit and to the good of the 

 country at large (Hear, hear). Gentlemen, I beg to 

 thank you for your kind attention ; I may have ex- 

 pressed myself with confidence, but nothing has been 

 further from my feelings than the slightest approach 

 to the spirit of dogmatism ; again I beg to thank 

 you. 



Mr. Shearer would like to know what implement 

 Mr. Bond considered best for the autumnal cultivation 



