220 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the soil, into a aeries of active streams, pouriug their ferti- 

 lizing masses rapidly, and at intervals, over the sutfaee of the 

 land. The system of irrigation which has been described is, 

 doubtless, open to improvement ; and at no' distant date 

 scientific investigaiions may throw light on the character and 

 influence of the various streams, and the peculiar aptitude of 

 certain soils to assimilate properties in water which may be 

 artificially imparted to it. For the present it will be sufficient 

 to express a hope that the ideas now rapidly laid before you 

 may be the means of directing attention to spots of neglected 

 valley land in this country ; and the pleasing labour which the 

 preparation of this paper has occaaioned will be amply com- 

 pensated if hereafter it should be found that the creation of a 

 few acres of water meadow can be traced to this evening's 

 reading. 



Mr. SauAERY expressed a hope that some gentleman pre- 

 sent would promote a discussion upon the subject of his 

 paper. 



Mr. Read said he understood Mr. Squarry to say that 

 growing barley after wheat had the effect of cleansing the land 

 ■ — a course to which they objected in Norfolk, because it had 

 a tendency to make the land foul. 



Mr. SauARRY said they conceived in this neighbourhood 

 that the course alluded to tended to cleanse the land. The 

 process they adopted was first to "rafter" the land, which 

 meant that it was ploughed diagonally, at an angle of about 

 45°. It was generally raftered about the latter end of 

 November, and in December these rafters were dressed 

 down, and the land fallowed up. That was the current 

 system. It it was in a tolerably clean condition, by the running 

 of the drags over these fallows about the first week in March, 

 they got everything out, and the laud went in in good con- 

 dition about the latter end of Match. Where it was foul, it 

 usually received an additional ploughing. Then as soon as 

 the rye or a crop of vetches was got off the laud, it was 

 ploughed for swedes, and there was not much time for 

 cleansing it. 



Mr. Keau supposed, however, they would do it in autumn 

 if the wheat stubble were foul. 



Mr. SauARRY : Certainly. But our horses are busier at 

 this than any other period, preparing for our catch crops ; for 

 on a farm of acres of arable land we have to sow about 

 100 acres of vetches, rye, and winter oats, or barley before 

 turuips, and that's why we drive it on as fast as possible at 

 that time to get our work done. 



Mr. Read : How many ploughings do you give your land 

 before you sow swedes or turnips ? 



Mr. SauARRY said their old ewes were very obstinate, 

 especially after eating the young grass, and would not make 

 clean work for them of the vetches, aud their invariable prac- 

 tice therefore was after the vetches were off to use the drags 

 and get as much off as possible. If the laud happened to be 

 clean aud not much trodden by the sheep, one ploughing was 

 enough. The soil in the lighter land was pressed and was 

 always got into capital order by turnips or anything else. It 

 received a second ploughing always if necessary, but one 

 always secured them a very fair crop of swedes. He would 

 not say that their crop of swedes was equal to those grown in 

 districts where they had a thoroughly fine fallow. But the 

 quantity of green food which comes into consumption for their 

 sheep made a mass of consumptive food for stock not sur- 

 passed in any other county in England. 



Mr. Rawlence said the system of one ploughing was 

 assuming the land to be thoroughly clean, aud if it was so, 

 and was properly dressed, they got better swedes by that 

 method than by any other. 



Mr. Read : You said there was a great mortality amongst 

 your sheep ; do you apprehend this to be attributable to the 

 system of severe folding you pursue in this district ? 



Mr. StiUARRY said he was happy to have his attention 

 called to that, because it enabled him to introduce a matter 

 which came under their notice that day at Wilton Park. Mr. 

 Herbert then read a statistical description of the farm man- 

 agement under the superintendence of Mr. Robson, and a 

 more interesting tabular statement of five years' farming it was 

 iniposaible to find in any agricultural work they had ever met 

 with. The statistics he (Mr. Squarry) had given them v/ere 

 obtained from a farmers' club in the neighbourhood, and ex- 

 tended only from the 10th October to the 4th of May; and 

 taking into consideration the great area over which it extended, 

 it was as accurate as could possibly be expected. But he 



would remark tliat Mr. Herbert's averages on his farm varied 

 very widely from these, and were worthy of their deepest con- 

 sideration ; because wheu the stock on a farm like that at 

 Wilton was managed in the best possible manner, and the re- 

 sults were such as they had heard, it taught them a lesson 

 they ought not to neglect. The produce of lambs on Mr. 

 Herbert's farm was 105 per cent., but the mortality of his 

 ewes — from what cause he could not explain to them — was 

 much heavier thau theirs. Perhaps it might arise from the 

 great dauger to ewes in the lambing season in a higher condi- 

 tion. At any rate Mr. Herbert's average produce of lambs 

 was 15 per cent, in excess of theirs, whilst his average mor- 

 tality of ewes was about Ij per cent, heavier. But he must 

 remind them that whilst their average extended only from the 

 10th October to the 4th May, Mr. Herbert's extended over the 

 entire year. The difference between the number of lambs 

 reared by Mr. Herbert and on other farms would interest 

 them all. There was another circumstance worthy of notice, 

 namely, the small number of lambs raised on the farms in this 

 county, compared with the number obtained from cross-breeds 

 in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. With very few exceptions, the 

 flock here consisted of one-third two-tteth, one-third four- 

 teeth, and one third sis-teeth ; and in some cases they were 

 separated into four divisions, one-fourth being full-mouthed. 

 The produce of lambs, after a cross with our old ewes, was 130 

 or 135 per cent., and the loss did not exceed 1 or 1 3- per cent. 



Mr. Read said they visited Sussex, and the fairs in this 

 district, for ewes ; but they never, he believed, by any chance 

 got a very young one (laughter). He might tay, however, 

 that after keeping these ewes two or three years they got an 

 average produce of 120 to 130 per cent. 



Mr. Hording presumed that the number of lambs was in 

 proportion to the keep of the ewes before the ram was put to 

 them. 



Mr. Squarry said, as a general rule, such would be the 

 case. The ewes here were kept iu the best possible condition 

 before sale, and that would doubtless account for the large 

 per-centage of lambs. 



Mr. Rawlence explained that Mr. Read was in a great 

 measure, right in supposing that the mortality amongst the 

 sheep of this district was attributable to severe folding. They 

 made them carriers of manure, aud sometimes they were 

 folded without any food at all, and at others had quite an 

 excess. linstead of sowing half the arable land with corn, 

 he (Mr. Lawrence) only sows oue-sixtli, which gives him a much 

 larger supply of green food. 



The Rev. E. James wished to know what was the maxi- 

 mum quantity of water a person ought to possess before 

 incurring the expense of laying-out meadows; in reply 

 to which 



Mr. Squarry said the average quantity requisite here was 

 2,000 gallons per acre per minute. In some of their own mea- 

 dows — not of first-rate character — he had found it average 

 2,900 gallons ; but at the lower end of the valleys — where there 

 was a much wider area, they watered with stems. 



Mr. AcLAND was anxious for some further information as 

 to the quantity of water used in these meadows. He would 

 like to be made acquainted with the amount of money 

 expended in laying them out, as some of them appeared 

 to him, as he wandered over them to-day, to be large enough 

 for floating a barge. A writer iu the Society's Journal held 

 that channels 4 inches wide and 3 inches deep were amply suffi- 

 cient for every purpose, and he knew that Mr. Pusey laid out 

 some meadows on that principle. The system in this district, 

 he was aware, had prevailed for some time, and he did not pre- 

 sume to suppose that there was good reason for laying 

 out their land iu what he called asparagus beds. In Devon- 

 shire the laud was laid out with only a alight fall, and the com- 

 parative merit of the different systems was information which 

 the agricultural world particularly needed (Hear hear) ; aud 

 that information they could only obtain from practical men. 

 (Cheers). 



Mr. Rawlence explained that most of the meadows round 

 about this city were laid out some 250 years ago, and it would 

 be expensive now to re-arrange the size of the carriers. (Hear). 

 He could not, for instance, remodel bis own meadow at Bul- 

 bridge under something like 30^ an acre. Large carriers were 

 certainly inconvenient, but the expense of alteration would 

 scarcely justify the undertaking, however desirable it might be. 

 He preferred having the gradient low, and rather than have 

 them I iu 100, he would prefer not having them at all. 



