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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE 



showed great judgment in the selection of his 

 flock. Young says, " I have seen him and the late 

 Duke of Bedford put on a shepherd's smock, work 

 all day, and not quit the business till darkness 

 forced them to dinner." Mr. Coke had sagacity 

 enough to know that by taking this course, the 

 labouring classes, the tradesmen, and the sur- 

 rounding population, would be better oft' when the 

 land was occupied by men of sufficient capital and 

 intelligence to take large farms, than under farm- 

 ers but a remove or two from their peasantry. It 

 is a great mistake with many labouring men, and 

 others who ought to know better, to suppose that 

 a county or a country is more prosperous, and will 

 support a larger population in small farms than in 

 large. I am acquainted with various parts of the 

 country, and I speak without fear of contradiction, 

 when 1 say that in those parts of the country where 

 a moderate number of large farms exist, the popu- 

 lation is invariably better oft". I say a moderate 

 number of large farms, because I think it would 

 be a bad day for this country when (til small farms 

 were abolished, inasmuch as they enable many a 

 worthy man to climl) the hill of life, and settle his 

 family in a respectable position ; but with all small 

 farms the onward m.arch of agricultural improve- 

 ment would be arrested. Those persons who are 

 so anxious to see England parcelled out into small 

 farms— and I know there are many who do, and 

 who would rather see a farmer wearing a smock 

 frock and riding to market in his dung cart ; they 

 are, however, no well-wishers to their country, and 

 whose frame of mind I do not envy them — I 

 should advise to read a Frenchman's * work upon 

 the Rural Economy of England. In this he will 

 iind that France, with her small farms, and with 

 double the acreage, is equalled by the United King- 

 dom in her productions. England herself stands ont 

 much more prominently ; I will quote his words: 

 " The animal produce alone of an Enghsli farm is 

 equal to at least the total produce of a French 

 farm of equal area, all the vegetable jjroduction 

 being additional." Notwithstanding the improve- 

 ments that had taken place on particular estates, 

 the condition of English farming at the close of 

 the eighteenth century very much resembled that 

 of the Continent at the present day. Wheat in 

 many districts was rarely grown and rarely eaten 

 by the labouring classes. Rye, oats, and bar- 

 ley were the prevailing crops. Turnips were con- 

 fined to a few counties. The general system was 

 two white straw crops and a fallow : straw, wetted 

 by the rains of Heaven, was their only manure. 

 Their cattle were large, ill shaped, ungrateful ani- 

 mals, for they put on their bones very little flesh 

 for the enormous quantity of food they consumed. 

 " Fresh meat," says Mr. Sidney, " for six months 

 in the year was a luxury only enjoyed by the 

 wealthiest personages. Within the recollection of 

 many now living, first-class fanners in Hereford- 

 shire salted down an old cow in the autumn, 

 which, with flitches of fat bacon, supplied their 

 families with meat until the spring." Esquire 

 Bedel (iunning, in his Memorials of Cambridge, 

 relates that when Dr. Makepeace Thackeray settled 



* Lavergne. 



in Chester, about the beginning of the present 

 century, he presented one of his tenants with a 

 bull-calf of a superior breed; on his enquiring after 

 it in the following spring, the farmer gratefully 

 replied — " Sir, he was a noble animal, we killed him 

 at Christmas, and have lived upon him ever since." 

 Having alluded to the improvements that have 

 been made in Norfolk, it is but natural I should 

 refer to that county in which it is yours and my 

 ])leasure to live. It is said by an eminent writer that 

 the agricultural amelioration of Bedfordshire has 

 been no less complete and rapid than that of Norfolk. 

 Less than a century ago three-fourths of the county 

 consisted of nothing but waste commons : these 

 unproductive lands have been gradually divided, 

 enclosed, drained, and cultivated, and, owing to 

 the four-course system, now rank equal to the full 

 average of English lands. " As in Norfolk," this 

 writer continues, " we here also find an influential 

 and energetic promoter of the revolution — the 

 Duke of I3edford." And, on referring to my friend 

 Mr. Bennett's ])rize report of the farming of Bed- 

 fordshire, I find that in 1794 much of the arable 

 land was in an open-field state, and, whether it 

 was found in arable or pasture, it had been evi- 

 dently ridged up for a series of years, till the tops 

 of the ridges, for six or eight feet across, were the 

 only profitable parts of the soil; and the land ad- 

 jacent formed so many pools, ditches, and reser- 

 voirs of water. The mischievous eftects of this 

 wretched system of farming were not confined to 

 the growth of corn, but the destruction of sheep 

 and cattle depastured thereon was too frequently 

 produced, not merely by the rot of a single flock, 

 but occasionally of nearly the entire sheep of a 

 village and neighbourhood. And while upon this 

 subject, I will relate to you an anecdote bearing 

 upon this matter. The late celebrated Mr. Roscoe 

 some years ago undertook to bring into cultivation 

 Chat Moss, part of which the railroad from Man- 

 chester to Liverpool now passes over. After 

 about two years' occupation, Mr. Coke went with 

 Mr. Roscoe to see how he was cultivating and im- 

 proving the land. After a long morning's exercise, 

 Mr. Roscoe told his bailitt' they wanted something 

 to cat, and asked him what he could give them. 

 The l)ailirt' said there was a small leg of mutton 

 then roasting for his dinner, audit was quite ready 

 if they wished to have it ; soon it was on the table 

 and both partaking of it. After eating a little, Mr. 

 Coke said, " Friend Roscoe, I cannot compliment 

 you upon the quality of your mutton." Mr. 

 Roscoe asked the bailift' what mutton it was. 

 " Some of the Southdown," he replied. " Some 

 of the Southdown ! " said Mr. Roscoe ; " I did not 

 mean to have any of them killed." " I know, sir, 

 you did not," said tlie bailiflf; " but most of them 

 were so rotten that if I did not ki!l them they 

 would soon die." Down dropped the knives and 

 forks, and the lunch was made up of bread and 

 cheese. And here I would just make a remark to 

 you working men : it is not the lowest-priced 

 meat that is the cheapest; we as farmers know 

 what often goes into the market, and to use 

 an old and rather vulgar expression — it may be 

 cheaj) and nasty. My advice to you is to buy 

 meat of the bett quality, for half-a-pound of good 



