THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



185 



room with the manipulations of the farm. At the pre- 

 sent crisis, a youth, the son of an agricultural labourer, 

 supposing him to have received scholastic education 

 suitable to his condition, has to learn to labour on the 

 farm as best he may, having iu most cases no preceptor 

 capable of giving him instruction or controlling his con- 

 duct: thus he acquires self-taught habits, after the rudest 

 and most awkward customs, and he toils on without 

 either improvement to himself or profit to his employer. 



Under a good system of management agricultural com- 

 panies would provide for such exigencies, to the very 

 great advancement of education among the rural classes. 

 They might go still further with this step towards im- 

 provement. The resident superintendent being a person 

 of experience would be qualified to take pupils, by whose 

 instrumentality the business of the establishment would 

 be under constant inspection, and the profits augmented 

 by the premiums paid for their education. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF DEEPENING AND MIXING SOILS, 



At the late meeting of the Winfrith Farmers' 

 Club, Mr. Clarke, of East Lulworth, read the 

 following paper ; — 



The. subject for discussion is the " Advantages 

 of deepening and mixing soils."- From Adam's 

 fall to the end of time, the earth has been con- 

 signed by a benign and benevolent Providence to 

 the control of man, with certain conditions ap- 

 pended. One of those conditions was that man, 

 being endowed with reason, should give freedom of 

 development to his mind, and not let the earth re- 

 main a barren waste — not let it remain unproductive 

 or unfruitful ; but that he should apply his energies 

 and sagacity in procuring sustenance for the most 

 noble of God's creation. As ages rolled on, various 

 modes were tried and adopted by our forefathers to 

 deepen and mix the soil for the benefit of their 

 fellow-men. Their implement was the plough of 

 ancient husbandry, and many of our neighbouring 

 hill-sides bear the deep mark of that plough even 

 to this day. It was but the work of a day to fashion 

 it from the growing timber to the finished imple- 

 ment : it was fastened together with wooden pins, 

 had its mould-board of wood, and all the iron in its 

 composition was the coulter, the sock, and some- 

 times the bottom plate ; but the plough has passed 

 through many transformations since the days of 

 our Saxon ancestors. Almost every parish has now 

 its ploughmaker, who watches the agricultural 

 exhibitions, ferrets out and compares the alterations 

 and improvements, adopts and applies such as his 

 judgment fancies, and has them tested by some 

 favourite ploughman before submitting to public 

 scrutiny. And in these our enlightened days, what 

 advantages do we possess over our ancient fathers ! 

 We have the advantages of implements of hus- 

 bandry unknown to them. Art and science have 

 made rapid strides, and the agriculturist — ever 

 watchful — ever vigilant— ever sedulous over that 

 portion of the earth committed to his care— has 

 also made great progress in the science of his 

 calling. And, now. Sir, I will give the result of 

 practical observations and occurrences which have 

 fallen in the pathways of my avocation in the mar- 



kets and gardens round London. I have seen the 

 good effects of deep cultivation and mixing of soils, 

 and those gardens are to a great extent practical 

 standards of highly-skilled agricultural science. 

 Near London this deep and successful cultivation 

 is carried on with an annual application of capital 

 of nearly £50- per acre; namely, £20 for manure, 

 £20 for labour, and £8 to £10 for rent, local taxes, 

 and other charges. Many of those garden-farms 

 are but small ; the most successful are on a large 

 scale. On one of 400 acres, I am informed that 

 £4,000 per annum is expended for labour alone, 

 and £3,000 for manure. There is but one opinion 

 about deepening and mixing the soil, and that 

 opinion is in favour of deep cultivation. I have 

 known a farm long since, where the custom and in- 

 variable rule was not to plough more than four 

 inches deep ; and, by adhering to this fixed code, 

 the stratum beneath became as hard as a turnpike- 

 road ; I will admit that the land I allude to lay flat, 

 I have seen it under wheat, and during the winter 

 months the rains of heaven could not penetrate 

 through the subsoil, and I could compare it to 

 nothing else than a floating mud-pond ; but when 

 the cold, cutting, and cheerless blast of spring 

 came, I have seen this worn-out soil crack open, 

 and become as hard as a rock — I am almost 

 tempted to say — of Nature's true formation, I 

 have seen the poor and dwindling plants struggling 

 for existence in this forlorn soil. But a change 

 took place, and instead of turning over this old 

 worn-out stuff" of four inches, the plough dipped 

 deep, and turned up seven ; this was not done at 

 once, but gradually, and as the winter fallows came 

 to be ploughed, I have seen that same land under 

 wheat a few years after this change took place, and 

 I could scarcely believe it was the same farm, for a 

 finer or more healthy plant of wheat I have never 

 seen, and this in a great measure I attribute to the 

 deepening of the soil, and turning up that hidden 

 treasure which had been lost to man for years. I 

 have also seen an experiment carried out upon a 

 poor piece of land with a retentive and stubborn, 

 cold, subsoil clay. Two modes were adopted ; one 



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