THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



347 



\i§r acre. It would be mere waste of time to speculate as 

 to where or how we should be able to get five or six times 

 the quautitj' that is being applied. }?ut wheu millions of 

 pounds worth are being annually washed out of our towus 

 into tlie ocean, our case is not hopeless. Men with great 

 minds are endeavouring to Cud out how to make this im- 

 mense waste available. Still, 1 am afraid, if it be per- 

 mitted to continue, a day of retribution will come. We 

 cannot disarrange the laws of nature without injurious 

 results ; and tliat it is a law that all vegetable and animal 

 remains, iu whatever shape, should be returned to the 

 soil, is too evident to admit of doubt. ' I again advert to 

 ploughing. When I before alluded to it, I said nothing 

 about its (Hialitj'. I advocate deep cultivation. Plough- 

 ing on nine-tenths of the land is barely an apology for it. 

 Eut tlie advantages of deep cultivation arc about to be 

 shown to the world by the steam-plough. Smith, of Wool- 

 ston, has used steam for the last six years, and his Swede 

 turnips were above thirty-five tons per acre this autumn, 

 grown without any purchased manure. A double 

 crop at one-half the expense gives a four-fold advantage. 

 Astounding as is the result of Mr. Smith's system, I 

 anticipate as great things from that of Messrs, Fisken, 

 witli less costly machinery. 1 know there are some scep- 

 tical about steam-cultivation. Such is the case with all 

 things, wheu new. When a post-chaise approached, for 

 the first time, a secluded village, I forget whei-e, the natives 

 were in the greatest state of alarm. It was dark; it had 

 its lamps lit ; and they took it for some great mouster, 

 with glaring eyes, which was about to devour them, Not 

 so many years ago a man, on seeing the Wylani locomotive 

 approaching him, made his escape across the fields, from a 

 conviction that he was about to encounter a terrible de'il. 

 There is nothing so frightful about the steam-plough. 

 AVhen the above locomotive first commenced to run, 

 liorses were frequently sent with it, to give it a pull in case 

 it should go wrong. Tliat is not so very long ago, but we 

 can scarcely grasp in our minds the immensity of work 

 the locomotive is now doing nearly all over the world, not 

 more in carrying loads tlian in ovci--runniug prejudices. I 

 anticipate a success from steam cultivation equally crown- 

 ing. Knowing how much farm work depends on the wea- 

 ther, I ought to take it into consideration, but seeing the 

 subject of meteorology on the card for discussion, and iu 

 able hands, I gladly pass over it. I have said little about 

 rent, and nothing about leases. AVe have had so much of 

 the latter that I am willing to let them alone. But as rent 



may be taken for the time being as aii undeviating annual 

 amount of outlay, it naturally follows that in whatever 

 way we can increase our crops, that increase will be a 

 clear gain so far as rent goes. If we adopt the best ma- 

 chinery for increasing our crops and for reducing labour, 

 and apply manure so as to increase our crops ^s. or 10s. per 

 acre, we may be told every penny of it will be added to the 

 next taking of the farm. And just in proportion as the 

 farm has improved up will go the rent. I grant this, but 

 we must bear in mind, that if we do not succeed with good 

 and energetic management, we cannot hope to do so by an 

 opposite course. We seem to have no control over rents, 

 and to stand still because landlords get the lion's share of 

 our .improvements is not good logic. If we do not move, 

 our country will stand. We may be asked, " If the whole 

 country was farmed as the advocates of Irigh cultivation 

 desire, would not the increased produce thrown into the 

 markets reduce the prices, and consequently our profits'? 

 This is perfectly true ; but the whole of the population 

 would be so much benefited by the increased abundance 

 that farmers could not but partake of the general pros- 

 perity. Bear in mind that thousands over thousands are 

 not half-fed and half-clotlied. I know a vast amount of 

 this arises from ioiprovidence, and from a want of fru- 

 gality. But even one well paid labourer, with his 20s. per 

 week, has not more than a sufficiency to keep his head 

 above water, if he should have a wife and four or five 

 children. How are the poor creatures to live who, iu 

 many parts of England, receive not more than one-half 

 what our men receive ? Bear in mind, too, that according 

 to Caird, we are — not yearly, not monthly, but daily — con- 

 suming the produce of 10,000 acres of corn, in addition 'to 

 our home produce. Little danger, then, of over-glutting 

 our markets, especially with a population increasing at the 

 rate of 300,000 annually. You will have observed tliat I 

 have said nothing about the different sizes of farms ; nor 

 can I say much. I have not been able to discover that 

 large farms have much advantage over small ones, I admit 

 the tendency is to the increasing of size. I see some evil 

 in this, but it partakes of the general tendency of the age 

 — which is the collecting of wealth into heaps, and of po- 

 pulation into dense masses. What the end of it may be it 

 is impossille to divine. It is a transition; but if be a 

 continually improving transition, so much the better. But 

 I would beg, in conclusion, to add, that He " whose the 

 earth is, and the fulness thereof" has said, " Cui'sed be he 

 who layeth field to field." 



DEFICIENT TIMBER SUPPLIES. 



Largely as iron is coming into use for building pur- 

 poses, wc cannot do without timber. Our indigenous 

 supplies are becoming more and more deficient, as 

 might be expected, as the land Is now highly and ex- 

 tensively cultivated. In this there is nothing to regret, 

 for it is cheaper and better to import timber than to 

 grow it. The land can be far more usefully and pro- 

 fitably employed than under forest. As respects the 

 Government forests, they scarcely cover the outlay and 

 labour bestowed upon them. In the notes on the trade 

 and commerce of !»he United Kingdom, given in the 

 catalogue of the woods exhibited in the British section 



of the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855, the gross! 

 value of the timber in England and Wales was es- 

 timated at from 40 to 50 millions sterling. In the 

 total area of the royal forests there are 122,622 acres, 

 and 51,612 acres besides are enclosed for the growth of 

 timber. The entire extent of Woodland in Scotland is 

 calculated at about 1 ,000,000 acres. Ireland is com- 

 paratively destitute of timber. In ship-building about 

 40 cubic feet arc required per ton for the hull and 

 fittings, so that a ship of 1,000 tons requires 40,000 

 cubic feet. In the United Kingdom and Channel 

 Islands about 250,000 tons of mercantile shipping are 



