THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



481 



farqjs pot exceedipg fifteen acres, and 82,035 farms not 

 exceeding five acres : and this, notwithstanding the long 

 atd continuous attempts to enlarge the holdings, the 

 total number of farms of all sizes being about 600,000. 

 It is to suggest and enforce improvements in the man- 

 agement of these small holdings tbajt I intend to confine 

 myself in this paper. 



In my last paper I alluded to the state of the dwellings 

 and farm-buildings. I cannot do anything worth the 

 doing, unless something is done to improve these indis- 

 pensables to good farm-management. I must have 

 proper conveniences for the dairying, for the poultry, 

 the cow, the pig, and, in many holdings, for the sheep 

 and the horse. No good can be done to any extent 

 without order, care, and management ; and what order 

 or care can be had or taken where all is in promiscuous 

 confusion, like a happy family in an exhibitor's cage ? 

 The pig will fatten almost anywhere ; but not so the 

 sheep, or the cow, or the horse. Custom will do much 

 —"habit is second nature;" still these animals are 

 naturally delicate, rather fastidious in their appetites 

 and choice of food. The tainted atmosphere of the pig, 

 or indeed of each other, in the most confined and worst 

 of places, as is too often seen in small Irish holdings, is 

 fatal to well-doing. My first point, then, is the im- 

 provement of farm- conveniences for the shelter and 

 separation of the animals of the farm, I by no means 

 advocate an expensive outlay : that adds to the rental. 

 I care not that the shelters are rude and homely, pro- 

 vided they are substantial, or that the barn is converted 

 into a cow-house, if need be, or other like conversions 

 are occasionally resorted to ; but I do say it is impos- 

 sible in a fickle climate like Ireland to manage stock 

 properly without shelters. 



The best courses of cropping, and order of mayuuje- 

 ment suited to small farms.— In most of the districts I 

 have seen, the cultivation of v.heat and potatoes would 

 be a leading feature in the course of cropping I should 

 recommend. A great portion of the eastern part of the 

 kingdom appears to me well-adapted to the growth of 

 wheat : it has a soil of considerable consistency and 

 depth. On these small holdings I would strongly re- 

 commend the adoption of the alternate growth of wheat 

 on a given portion — say, one-fourth of the arable land ; 

 by this I mean the Tullian system, or, as it is now more 

 popularly known as the Lois-Wecdon system of culture. 

 I believe it would " work wonders" if properly carried 

 out ; and, failing this, it would be perfectly useless. 

 The system is but very imperfectly known, and when 

 known most improperly practised, even by our best 

 men. The theory is this : Strong retentive soils, wheat 

 soils, possess naturally a large amount of ammonia — its 

 inherent constituent. This is a most valuable food for 

 the production of wheat, and is almost inexhaustible ; 

 because, as it becomes disentegrated by cultivating pro- 

 cesses for the use of the wheat plant, the atmosphere 

 and rains speedily, in a great measure, replsnish the 

 soil from which it is thus exhausted, to be again and 

 again drawn from it for the same uses. The practice is 

 very simple when known, and easy of attainment. It is 

 this : The land appropriated for this purpose should 



either be dug or forked over to the depth of from ten to 

 fourteen inches ; if ploughed, the depth should be fcix 

 inches, followed by ii subsoilcr to the depth of fifteen 

 inches: for small holdings the torkingand digging are by 

 far the best. This process may be carried out at any 

 time and after any previous crop : every weed should be 

 picked oil' as the forking proceeds. I would observe 

 that the fresh crop would be the best if the forking could 

 be completed during the summer months, so that the 

 land lie open to the sun and atmospheric influences ; 

 subsequently, when once the system is commenced, the 

 forkings will always be requisite at intervals during the 

 summer. My own plot (about eight acres) was ploughed 

 and subsoiled immediately after harvest, and after it had 

 borne several corn crops. It was subsequently worked, 

 and then drilled ; and, although I commenced on an 

 exhausted soil, it continues to improve, though every 

 portion of the crop is removed annually, and no manure 

 applied. 



Having, then, selected the plot of land for this system 

 of culture, and having further obtained a deep tilth, the 

 next thing is the sowing. Now a long scries of experi- 

 ments has proved that the proper width of the drills is as 

 follows, in order that the alternate system in its fulness 

 should be properly carried out : all others have failed. 

 There is required a space of thirty inches for annual 

 cultivation, while a like space is bearing the crop, i. e., 

 three rows of wheat must be drilled or dibbled in at ten 

 inches apart, leaving a space from the actual drill of 

 3 ft. 4 in. ; but as ten inches of this space is appro- 

 priated by the two outside rows of wheat, the real space 

 for cultivation is only thirty inches, which is the space 

 to be cultivated through the summer ready to take the 

 crop for the next year. We have now commenced the 

 system. The rows of wheat will require the usuni boe- 

 ings and weeding, &c., of a regular crop, and to be 

 managed and reaped like any other wheat crop. The 

 intervals will require to be deeply forked or dug over 

 two or three times in fine, dry, and suitable weather, so 

 as to secure the greatest exposure to the sun and air, 

 carefully cleansing it as the work proceeds ; and imme- 

 diately after the crop is off, these intervals should be 

 drilled or dibbled — the earlier in reason the better, as it 

 is important that the crop-bearing intervals should be 

 dug up as soon as possible, which could not be done 

 before the rows are sown. This, then, is the simple 

 course — all is cultivation. No manure is requisite : that 

 is used for the potato or other root crops. This is the 

 mode of cultivation I strongly advise for the wheat crop 

 on all the small holdings of Ireland having a fair wheat 

 soil. It may seem a novel and doubtful course, but if 

 carried out industriously it will answer. There is no- 

 thing intricate in the system, or much to learn: it is 

 simple cultivation in alternate slips with fork or spade — 

 of course I mean a regular digging fork of three or more 

 long tines. It may in the course of years require re- 

 plenishing with silicious and calcareous manures, i. e., 

 coal-ashes, peat-ashes, sand or lime, chalk, gypsum, 

 road-scrapings, or marl— these become exhausted in the 

 straw of the wheat. This system would provide an 

 abundant supply of profitable labour for the small far- 



