THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



235 



rose-coloured carpet; everywhere thej'^ begin to grow beet- 

 root and lucern. Ijarge purchases of guano admit of 

 manuring better, without diminisliing the corn crops. They 

 usually manure in the country at the rate of 20 cubic 

 metres to the hectare, but M. de Vogue puts on 30 and 

 even 40 metres. Hut what struck me still more in the 

 improvements was the air of confidence in these metayers ; 

 all hasten arouud him as soon as he arrives ; all come 

 to talk of their affairs and their children; and the old 

 grandmother, who can scarcely hobble, brings him her 

 grandchildren. 



There is certainly much to be said against the metayer 

 system; but this when understood and practised, is the beat the 

 situation of the country will admit. It is not the fault of the 

 present possessors that the country is without capital; they are 

 obliged to accept it such as it is, and when we cannot have 

 good farmers everywhere, who advance money themselves, 

 metayers are better than farm servants. Everybody gains by 

 it— the metayer first, who is in a situation more elevated 

 than a simple stipendiary, and profits on his part by expen- 

 diture he could not himself incur ; the proprietor afterwards, 

 who finds in this connection the guarantee he has need of in en- 

 gaging in costly efforts. I have in no place seen this in- 

 valuable harmony between labour and capital more sensibly 

 than here. 



We close this interesting tour at a farm worked by a son 

 of one of the ancient farmers-general. Fifteen hectares of 

 beet-root, yielding an average of 40,000 kilogrammes ; fifteen 

 hectares of fine lucern, and 40 hectares of wheat ; an appara- 

 tus for cooking the beet-roots to mix them with hay and cut- 



straw, and ferment them before giving them to the animals ; 

 80 head of Durham Charolaiae cattle, with a handsome bull — 

 such wag the farewell bouquet of our journey. Unfortunately 

 all these animals are now very poor, because fodder has failed; 

 but the young farmer has taken his measures that they shall 

 no longer want. 



We ought to have finished at Piaeau, the summer residence 

 of M. de Vogue, situate on the bank of the Loire, in front of 

 the town of Cosne ; but time presses, and I cannot go there. 

 Tbe lands attached to it are let to farmers in the environs of 

 Paris, who make of it a profitable occupation. Thus is com- 

 pleted the series of combiaations that may be applied to the 

 cultivation of the soil. On certain points metayers, on others 

 farming by labourers, on others farmers of distant origin, on 

 others native farmers. M. de Vogue employs all these means 

 at once, according to circumstances ; he reunites, in fact, all 

 the conditions of agriculture, from the lauds of the banks of 

 the Loire, which are worth 5,000 francs per hectare, to the 

 heaths of the Sologne, which were not worth 200 franca before 

 the clearings. 



Such, then, is this large property, viewed under its most 

 favourable circumstances. I do not believe that any large 

 English proprietor fulfils more punctually the duties of his 

 station ; no one better than M. de Vogue could take his repose 

 in an elegant leisure, but he has preferred to consecrate his 

 life to a useful work. He overlooks and directs all himself, 

 without in the meantime withdrawing himself from the world. 

 Leonce de Lavergne, 

 Member of the Institute, and of the 

 Central Societe of Agriculture. 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



Standing, at this time, midway between two harvests, 

 we are afforded the opportunity to glance retrospectively 

 at the results of the past season, and anticipate to some 

 extent the coming one. It is not my purpose, in these 

 letters, to notice the fluctuations in the prices of corn, 

 and to daguerrotype the conditions of our markets ; but 

 rather to give, in epitome, a general view of our agri- 

 cultural progress, and bring to the notice of your readers 

 any valuable discoveries which may tend to assist the 

 labour of the husbandman. The intimate relations which 

 bind our two countries together, and which make the 

 prosperity or adversity of one a subject of weal or woe 

 to the other, are surely sufficient inducements for me to 

 write and you to read of our advancement ; and it would 

 be strange indeed if, in a series of letters, some valuable 

 facts were not elicited. It is only the rabid partizan 

 who assumes all excellence to be concentrated in his own 

 land ; the more just, intelligent, and conservative know 

 that whilst America is far behind England in a perfected 

 system of agriculture, and, to improve her breeds of 

 cattle and the productiveness of her exhausted lands, 

 must import the means and knowledge from her "mother 

 isle," there have still been made in this vigorous na- 

 tion wonderful strides in the production of labour-saving 

 tools, many of which it would be well worth your while 

 to adopt, and some of which you have adopted already. 



What would especially facilitate this desirable inter- 

 change, would be for your intelligent farmers and our 



own to exchange visits ; to attend each other's agricul- 

 tural shows ; to sit at each other's banquets ; and to 

 go to each other's farms. In this way we would get to 

 know each other's worth. But as this can only be to a 

 very limited extent, it must be left to such as have seen 

 both countries to give, through such media as your 

 columns, the results of their observations. 



An Englishman visiting this country is at once struck 

 with the rugged and uncultivated appearance of our 

 farming districts. In some States are to be seen on 

 every farm the stumps of old forest trees thickly studding 

 the ground, interfering with the progress of the plough, 

 and marring the beauty of the fields. In others, boulders 

 and outcropping rocks are equally noticeable. Here he 

 will see a great stretch of country as hilly and unpro- 

 ductive looking as the mountain districts of Scotland ; 

 and there lie thousands of acres of swamp lands and 

 morass, which in England would be thorough-drained, 

 and producing heavy crops of corn. But throughout 

 the great region of the West, how different the appear- 

 ance of things ! In midsummer the traveller rides for 

 whole days together over rich prairie lands covered with 

 the most luxuriant crops of Indian corn, wheat, and 

 grass, presenting, as far as the eye can reach, swaying 

 billows of verdure. When it is considered that the ter- 

 ritory of the United States extends over three million of 

 square miles, that their population is so small com- 

 pared with that of Great Britain, and that every de- 



