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EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



and its weight has been objected to by many persons ; but by 

 some farmers this, on light lands, is considered an advantage. 



There are several other kinds of dibbling machines, which I 

 need not describe, and, among others, a machine carried in the 

 laborer s hand, which makes the hole and drops the seed by the 

 same operation. It is ingenious, but is adapted to cultivation 

 only on a very small scale. 



On one of the best cultivated farms in England, that of the 

 Duke of Bedford, at Woburn, Mr. Burners, the farm manager, 

 states (1845) that he employed boys to dibble one hundred acres 

 of wheat. The holes were made with a stick or dibble, three 

 inches asunder in the row, the distance between the rows being 

 nine inches; and the number of &quot; dibs,&quot; per acre, amounted to 

 232,320. He states that he has some boys who would make 

 one hundred and fifty-one holes in a minute; but of course they 

 could not long continue such a rate.* 



A great diversity of opinion prevails on the subject of drilling 

 and dibbling wheat ; and, from the respectability of the differing 

 parties, there is reason to believe these different opinions are held 

 in equally good faith. The invention of a patent machine for 

 any particular object, like that of a patent medicine, always de 

 velops in the artist or inventor a wonderful facility in procuring 

 authorities in its favor. The advantage of being able to weed 

 and cultivate the plant applies even more to wheat which is 

 dibbled than to that which is drilled, and the product is likely 

 to be as good. In all these cases, the main saving calculated 

 upon is in the quantity of seed to be sown. This may vary 

 from one bushel and a peck to two bushels and upwards per acre. 

 This is, certainly, where any large quantity is to be sown, an 

 important consideration. Where the land is in good condition, 

 enriched and free from weeds, and where the planting can be 



* On this excellent and admirably-managed estate, I found that thirty boys 

 were constantly employed in farm work, for which they received sixpence per 

 day. Their Avages were never raised, but whenever they could improve their 

 condition, they were at liberty to avail themselves of the opportunity. They 

 were thus furnished with regular work, and were serving an apprenticeship to 

 agriculture under the most favorable circumstances. This was real and mosf 

 judicious philanthropy. This may not be understood on the other side of the 

 water, where there is an urgent demand for all the labor that can be supplied ; 

 but it will be appreciated here, where employment, at any rate, is often very diffi 

 cult to be procured. 



