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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



TO THE EDITOR. 



Mr. EDrrOE, — I think I ought, in self-defence, to iuform 

 you and the readers of your very widely-circulated journal that 

 I did not write the article which has so much excited the ire of 

 the person who has appended "Argus" to his letter, until after I 

 had been repeatedly applied to, to do so ; and even then, 

 recollecting the personal attacks made upon me some few 

 years back, I consented with great reluctancy, on the personal 

 application to me to write, by an esteemed friend. 



I believe the classical readers, who deemed what I wrote worth 

 their penising — and I know that many of them did — perceived 

 that much that I wrote, which excited the ire of modern 

 farmers like this " Argus," were mere transcripts from ancient 

 agricultural treatises, which I, in my mistaken imagination, 

 concluded would have been interesting, if not to the general 

 reader, at least to those for whom they were especially de- 

 signed. I advocated nothing new ; like a sculptor or architect, 

 whenever I wrote, or whenever I practised, I always placed 

 ancient models before me ; and I stated that the principles I 

 contended for were always contained in those ancient writings, 

 and that I advocated nothing new. But, like Tusser and Tull 

 and others — if I dare compare my humble doings to the noble 

 achievements of those great men — I raised hosts and hosts, 

 legions I may state, of anonymous ignorance against me. 

 Also whithersoever I went, I was assailed ; whatever I did, 

 I was assailed in the doing of it. If I attended an agricultural 

 meeting, I was pelted, or attempts were made to pitch me 

 headlong down the stairs leading to it. If I happened to pass 

 through a market, I heard sounds like these, " There goes the 

 parson who wants to raise rente," &c. On one occasion an 

 aged man, at an agricultural meeting, received on his head 

 a missile intended for me, which caused great pain, and raised 

 a larse swelling. And if I remained silent, I was personal ! 

 And, if I walked away, I was personal ! If I made a speech, 

 the mere transcript of some ancient writer, and I gave it as 

 such, I was persona! ! In fact, do what I woiild or say what I 

 would, or write what I would — for I scorned anonymous writ- 

 ings — I was personal ! And it has ever been the same with all 

 who, if the farm, do not in everything go on in the old beaten 

 track, or, if they write or speak, do not preclaim to the world 

 that farmers are the wisest, most learned, most scientific, 

 amiable, and knowing men the world has produced. 



Now, that farmers are like other men, no one can deny; 

 but their isolated occupations fill their minds with many 

 deeply-rooted prejudices. I never blamed them for farming as 

 they were taught; but I do blame them for not trying some 

 experiments, or for looking with so much envy upon those who 

 do. Suppose a man had a farm of 300, 400, or 500 acres, 

 would it not be wise of him in these days of science and 

 advancement to set aside say ten or twenty, or even five only, 

 for experiments ? But, " no," he says, " I never did alter and 

 I never will ; and hence men are found uubUishingly to pub- 

 lish that he requires three bushels of seed-wheat — as vide the 

 letter of " Agricola" — for an acre of land, and that when he 

 BOWS a bushel and a-half only, he has no crop, or next to none, 

 or, as he states, 2^ quarters an acre only, whilst many men, with 

 much less than his smaller quantity, grow between 5 and 6 

 quarters, and some even full 6 quarters. The Ilardys, last year, 

 grew 4^ quarters of wheat, and 100 bushels of potatoes an 

 acre ; that is, the wheat and potatoes grew together in 

 alternate rows, and the produce was from each acre what I have 

 stated it was, and their crops this year are far better than 

 they were last year; and this " Agricola's" lands and produce 

 would be the same, were the Hardya the occupiers of them, who 

 would cultivate thoroughly and seed rationally. 



But my object is not with " Agricola" but with " Argus," 

 against whom, should my readers conclude I am too harsh, I 

 will ask them to suspend their judgment until they shall have 

 read through my letter; and I ask them also to keep 

 "Argus's" letter constantly before them until I have done 

 with him. 



I have shown how directly opposite to the truth was what the 

 man had the audacity to write about my " bit of glebe," as he 

 calls it ; and I state that any gentleman who thinks it worth 

 his while may inspect the glebe and inspect the crop, and 

 refute the falsehood himself. 



But after having stated — and I suppose unblushingly— that 

 I have ruined my " bit of glebe," the man writes thus with 

 reference to Mr. Sheriff Mechi and me. 



" Mr. Mechi," he writes,— and what will not low, vulgar, 



prejudice drive men to perform ? but of Mr. Mechi and me the 

 man writes thus : " Mr. Mechi had found out by bitter expe- 

 rience that Mr. Wilkins's thin-seeding processes had not pro- 

 moted the credit side of his balance-sheet, and he had been 

 impudent enough to state in print that six pecks of seed- 

 wheat per acre (twelve gallons) was the proper quantity. This 

 brought down the anathemas of the reverend gentleman in 

 several letters, showing him up as an apostate from the faith 

 as proposed by himself, Newington, Hardy, and others. 



Thus writes this "Essex farmer" as he terms himself ; but he 

 is not an Essex man ; but thus the man writes who calls 

 himself "Argus" and an Essex farmer also. 



But is this true? Is there a word of truth in this? Let us 

 see. But first let me state that I never knew that Mr. Mechi 

 had stated that six pecks of seed-wheat was the proper quan- 

 tity, nor do I believe that he has, of late years at least, ever so 

 stated. 



But let us turn to Mr. Mechi himself, and let him speak for 

 himself, as he does most boldly and eloquently at all times. 



Mr. Mechi has lately published a pamphlet with this title, 

 " How to Farm Profitably, by Mr. Sheriff Mechi ;" and the work 

 is divided into sections, one of which is headed thus, " Evils of 

 Over-Seeding ;" and under this head he writes thus : " My 

 usual quantity of seed per acre is, of wheat one bushel." 



Now every one kuows that a bushel is four pecks only ; and 

 yet this unscrupulous, unblushing anonymous scribe has had 

 the audacity — the infamy, to publish to the world that Mr. 

 Mechi had advocated lialf as much seed again, and that his 

 having done to had drawn down the anathemas of the reverend 

 gentleman ! Some divines tells us, Mr. Editor, that man is, 

 mentally and bodily, a mere mass of corruption ; and, if this 

 " Argus" be a type of the race, I should conclude the 

 doctrines of these divines are the correct ones. But the man 

 goes on, and, leaving Mr. Wilkins, makes a furious onslaught 

 on the inventor of the patented dibble, and, having finished 

 him up, as he flatters himself, he utters more of the poison, of 

 which he appears charged to the overflowing, on Messrs. 

 " Hardy and others ;" but who the others are he shrinks, 

 though concealed under his mask, to show. 



He then returns to the attack on Mr. Wilkins, and not 

 being able to write the truth himself, and as it is the nature of 

 a wicked man to think all as wicked as himself, he accuses 

 Mr. Wilkins of falsehood, because he stated that a moderate 

 seeder had for several years together averaged 48 bushels 

 of wheat per acre. 



Mr. Editor, I am personally known to many of the sub- 

 scribers to your journal, and by reputation, I conclude, to 

 yourself and many more also ; and I here state that although 

 I do not blazon abroad the name of a tenant-farmer who so 

 far by skill and industry surpasses his neighbours, yet if you 

 or any other honourable man will favour me with a call, I will 

 direct you or him to the farm, and to the occupant of it, to 

 which I alluded when I stated that the average wheat produce 

 of the farm was 48 bushels an acre. 



I add, also, for the information of my friends, that I never 

 refer to a crop or crops of any farm or farms, without having 

 previously had personal knowledge of the crop or crops; and I 

 repeat again, and emphatically also, that I know the farm well, 

 the tenant of which is a very moderate seeder, and the crop of 

 wheat of which averages upwards of 48 bushels an acre. 



And let me also add, and this cught to be well pondered 

 upon, that the wheat so grown, every year sells, because it is 

 the heaviest, at the very highest price of the market. 



I now, Mr. Editor, again, as I did some years since, bid 

 adieu to anonymous slanders, with this remark — that science, 

 knowledge, and advancement can only be promoted by truth. If 

 Ihad unwarily made a mistake, and had any gentleman pointed 

 it out, he would have received nothing but courtesy from me. 

 But when a man like this calls upon the world to avoid 

 "Mr. Wilkins's personalities," and then' makes the most 

 furious personal onslaught upon him and all his unoffending 

 friends, and by deliberately-invented false statements also, Mr. 

 Wilkins, as an example to all others, hurls him sprawling and 

 wallowing in his own mud, and there to lie until he discovers, 

 if he be not entirely devoid of shame, that truth and honesty 

 are the best policy. G£o. Wilkins. 



TO THE EDITOH. 



SiK, — Most of your readers, as well as yourself, must have 

 perceived, from the tone of the letter of the Rev. Mr. Wilkins, 



