404 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



bound to say their worthy guest ought to feel proud. 

 Let them look at the thousands of acres of land, scat- 

 tered in every direction; which might have remained 

 uncultivated and unimproved if Mr. Mechi had not 

 turned the attention of the agricultural world to the 

 subject, and induced landlords and tenant farmers to 

 come forward and make those improvements which 

 were so imperatively required. Let them look at the 

 miles and miles of hedge-rows reclaimed and im- 

 liroverl, and made to yield the finest produce, but 

 which would have ever remained useless had it not 

 been for his exertions. Let them again look at the 

 prejudices which he had to encounter before his views 

 were adopted, and the great improvements which fol- 

 lowed, the addition to the comforts of a vast class of 

 the people not inaptly described as the sinew and 

 nucleus of the land, and some idea might be formed 

 of what Mr. Mechi had done towards promoting the 

 prosperity of the country. He had himself been in- 

 formed by one of the highest agricultural authorities 

 of the present day, that Mr. Mechi had put some hun- 

 dreds of pounds in his pockets, not only in having 

 pointed out to him that which he ought to do, but in 

 being warned against what he ought to avoid," 



We are by no means inclined to be over-critical at so 

 pleasant a proceeding, and we shall so let Mr. Harker 

 at once proclaim " silence " for Mr. Sheriflf Mechi. Is 

 this really the last agricultural lecture we are to listen 

 to?— 



** Deeply grateful as he felt to the gentlemen who 

 had presented him with so magnificent a testimonial, 

 he could not help regarding it as due more to the prin- 

 ciple of which he was aa advocate than to the man. 

 He could take no credit to himself for what he had done 

 with regard to agriculture. It was true that he had 

 bought one or two farms as an investment ; but having 

 done so, he did as every tradesman or citizen of London 

 would do — looked to what were likely to be the returns. 

 If they bought a house and they found it dilapidated, 

 they would endeavour to place it in a proper condition. 

 He found that his farms were not making a satisfactory 

 return, and he therefore took them into his own hands 

 with a view to their improvement. Fifteen years had 

 elapsed since he had expressed an opinion that, in the 

 majority of instances, the land was unfarmed ; and a re- 

 cent tour through the country had convinced him that 

 he was not then wrong — indeed, that the same argu- 

 ment would still hold. He was convinced that, speak- 

 ing generally, although there were many honourable 

 exceptions, ^25 per acre was still required to be ex- 

 pended in drainage and other improvements, in order 

 to bring the heavy-lands into a proper productive con- 

 dition. They all knew what was the conditiim of the 

 cotton trade in this country before tlie introduction of 



steam, and that what then cost Is. 6d. or 2s. to produce 

 was now accomplished for one-tenth of the amount, and 

 they were enabled to envelope the whole world in calico, 

 and that, too, without reducing the employment of the 

 working man. If the same principle were applied to 

 agriculture, he felt no hesitation in affirming that, in- 

 stead of having to look to foreign countries for one- 

 fourth or one-third of our supply of corn, we would be 

 enabled not only to produce sufficient for our own con- 

 sumption, but something to exchange for luxuries from 

 other countries, be it champagne or turtle. All 

 that he had done was to invest a large capital in a 

 comparatively limited area of land, and he was 

 happy to say with success. A short time since he was 

 dining with his labourers at a harvest-home, and he got 

 into conversation with them relative to what they made 

 of their garden plots, of perhaps the eighth of an acre 

 in extent, and he found with great satisfaction that by 

 proper economy and by means of their pig they made 

 on the average forty times as much per acre as the far- 

 mer made upon the ordinary system of culture. He 

 was convinced that the more they introduced steam- 

 ploughing and improved cultivation the greater would 

 be the produce and the more independent would the 

 country become of foreign supplies. If anything he 

 had done had tended to promote improvements in 

 agriculture, he could not feel otherwise than much 

 gratified, and the testimonial of that evening showed 

 how highly his efforts had been appreciated. He felt 

 the more highly honoured on the present occasion be- 

 cause he was rot only surrounded by some of the first 

 farmers in the kingdom, but by many of the manufac- 

 turers of agricultural implements, whose energy and 

 ingenuity had brought farming to its present high 

 position," 



With twenty-five pounds more per acre invested 

 in our heavy soils, and with every farmer making 

 forty times — only forty times — as much manure per 

 acre as he now does, vagriculture may yet flourish. 

 But then for this economical mauufacture of manure 

 must not we have a pig and a cottage and a labourer's 

 family upon every acre ? Or how else is it to be done ? 

 It is absurd to suppose Mr. Mechi can give us a last 

 lecture. The country will never submit to it. He may 

 say " not at home" at Tiptree. He may dress himself 

 up in gold chains, and ride about in gilt coaches, and 

 call himself a sherifi", or an alderman, or a Lord Mayor, 

 or what he pleases, but agriculture will not spare him. 

 He has lots to tell us yet. And first of all how to make 

 forty times as much manure per acre as we do now. 

 They are doing it at Tiptree already. Come, now, 

 recollect the testimonial, and tell us a little more 

 about it. 



