THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



443 



how he did it — how he gets five quarter and a-hal. 

 and instead oi" two and a-half — what it costs — and all 

 about " the old pastures," and so forth. 



And then— but let The Essex Herald give us a 

 taste of how this sort of debate proceeds : — 



" Mr. Joseph Hutley being called on for a state- 

 ment as to a new stock of wheat he was raising, said, 

 he selected an ear of wheat in a field from which he 

 obtained 108 kernels ; he sowed them, and had a pint 

 and a-half; this produced seven bushels, and now he 

 had seven acres of the wheat. 



" Mr. Smith asked if he would sell him some of it. 



" Mr, HuTLEY said he would at the rate of £24 a 

 load. 



" Mr. Foster, on being called upon by the Presi- 

 dent, said he was sorry to state he had no experiments 

 the results of which he could lay before them. For- 

 merly he, like Mr. Hutley, made experiments in wheat 

 growing from a single ear, when he produced a variety 

 which Lord Rayleigh called ' Foster's pup,' and he 

 knew it pupped a good deal of money into his pocket 

 (Hear). He continued to cultivate this wheat till it 

 out-grew him. It was uow grown largely in Devon- 

 shire; and it answered well on some lands about here; 

 but with him at last it lost in quantity, and he gave it 

 up. Since then he had selected an ear or two and 

 raised stocks that had answered his purpose well. Mr. 

 Hutley had mentioned the number of kernels he 

 had found in an ear ; with his own — Foster's Impe- 

 rial wheat — it was not an uncommon thing to find 

 108 kernels in an ear— he had had a handful that 

 averaged 108, and one with 111; but he had never 

 seen it in any other wheat except Rivets. As to the 

 working of the two acres of land referred to, on the 

 Lois-Weedon system, he had thought his Lordship 

 gave it as one acre that had produced this; but, having 

 heard the explanation, he fancied that if his Lordship 

 would sow the field every year with wheat, it would 

 produce almost what it had done, without the expense 

 of forking. (Hear.) Hehad thought, from Mr. Smith's 

 statement, that they were to have five quarters an 

 acre; but it was something like Mr. Blood's state- 

 ment, who once came there and said he had seven 

 bushels of potatoes off a rod of ground ; but then it 

 came out that they were in a single row, and thus had 

 plenty of air. His Lordship's crop was a paying crop, 

 but it was not so advantageous as he thought it was. 



" Lord Rayleigh : My bailiff will tell you I 

 cannot grow a quarter of wheat so cheaply as in that 

 way. 



" Mr. Foster : But if you go on in that way you 

 will starve ^the public by cultivating only half the 

 land. 



" Lord Rayleigh : That is another question, 

 " Mr. Foster said he thought it was better to lay 

 money out for manure, and grow a full crop ; as on 

 the Lois-Weedon system the country would be starved, 

 and could not go on." 



Next follows something on the cultivation of wood- 

 lands. Once in cover, they get on the line of a fresh 

 fox, in this wise : — " He (Mr. Forster) as a fai'mer 



thought they were very negligent as to the beans 

 they grew; ho thought there was no grain wanted more 

 selecting, so as to get a good stock, than beans. He 

 did select a stock from his crop some years ago, and the 

 increase was immense ; but while he was out they got 

 mixed, and he never had time to pay that attention 

 that was required, for these things wanted the master's 

 eye. 



" Lord Rayleigh ; What do you call a fair crop 

 of beans ? 



" Mr, Foster : Anything over five quarters an acre. 



" Mr. J. Hutley' : Do you mean that the wood- 

 land pays you ? 



" Mr. Foster : It pays me remarkably well ; it 

 grows surprisingly good corn, at little expense. 



" Mr. J. HuTLEY' said, on 18 acres of wood land he 

 had 112 quarters of wheat the first time it was culti- 

 vated ; he had now planted it again with a dressing oi 

 guano, &c., and he thought it would answer well." 



After a short ring with him Mr. Speakman ingenuously 

 coniesses to the liberties he had taken with a five-acre 

 field " of his own," and what he got out of it. Then 

 JMr. Thedman " believes, in Mr. Mechi's phrase, thin 

 seeding to be 'a settled question' — that is, it is very 

 often a failure." Mr. Pattisson next wants to know 

 why he should not grow tobacco, and then we come to 

 a toast. The Chairman gives the health of a gentleman 

 present. Strange to say, his Lordship does so without 

 rubbing the unfortunate man down with soft-soap, or 

 emptying the butter-boat over his head. List, ye 

 time-consuming Ciceros, to how they manage these 

 matters in Essex — 



" The President gave 'The health of Mr. John 

 Hutley,' and asked him what he had to say as to drain- 

 ing in Dengie Hundred. 



" Mr. J. Hutley said he had drained nearly 40 

 acres, and he found it answered very well indeed when 

 they could get a draught, but in most of their fields they 

 could not get ditches deep enough to take the water 

 away. He had done most of the charity lands, which 

 his Lordship knew, and found it answered very well. 

 He had gone 24 inches, and piped it. 



" Lord Rayleigh : You think two feet is deep 

 enough ? 



" Mr. Hutley : I think it plenty deep enough. I 

 think if you went deeper you would not get the water 

 to draw to the drains. 



" Lord Rayleigh : What do you think of rolling 

 the heavy land in Dengie Hundred ? 



"Mr. Hutley: It will not do at all. I was for 

 rollinst,and my man said, ' You must not.' 1 said, ' You 

 shall.' We rolled a part and left a part, and there were 

 two or three quarters of oats difference an acre. I can 

 only say I find the more stock I keep, and the more 

 muck I make, the more the crop of corn." 



And so the discussion closes as his Sir Tatton Sykes 

 and his friend Mr. Jorrocks would, with " Muck's your 

 man." 



It was not quite all farming either. There was a 

 little incidental conversation, anything but out of place. 

 Mr. Blood, as a sportsman, might indeed say—" He 



