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tenant is debarred the right of assignment, the lease be- 

 comes by the Scotch law an hereditament, and as such 

 goes to the next male heir. Formerly, rents were paid 

 at a long period after entry, owing to the small capital of 

 the farmers ; but now they are generally made due and 

 paid every six months, or expected at latest within the first 

 m'ne months, and from that time at the expiration of every 

 six months. 



Husbandry. The usual system of husbandry followed 

 in Berwickshire, as we observed before, is that which is 

 called the convertible system, which we shall now briefly 

 describe. It consists in laying a portion of the arable land 

 to grass every year, and breaking up an equal quantity, 

 which has been in grass from two to four years or more. 

 This must not be confounded with that imperfect and slo- 

 venly practice of letting land, exhausted by repeated crop- 

 ping, remain at rest as it is called, by abstaining from any 

 cultivation, after having sown some grass and hay-seed* 

 with the last crop, until it gradually recovers some degree 

 of fertility by being in rough pasture for some years. 

 The Berwickshire system consists in laying down the land 

 to grass in a clean state, and in good heart, by sowing 

 clover and grass-seeds with the crop of corn which imme- 

 diately follows a fallow. The profit of the land when in 

 grass is not much inferior to that which is obtained when 

 it bears corn, and sometimes is greater, the expense being 

 much less. Old grass-lands are not often broken up, un- 

 less it be to improve the herbage, which in some soils be- 

 comes coarse, or mixed with useless weeds. The principal 

 object of the farmer in the convertible husbandry is to lay 

 bis arable land well down to grass, so that when he ploughs 

 it again, it is improved by having been pastured, and is in 

 a sufficiently clean state to bear several good crops, without 

 the intervention of a fallow. Three years in succession is 

 the usual time that the land is in grass. It is seldom mown 

 for hay more than once in that time, but fed off during the 

 other two years. If the grass appears to fall off in quan- 

 tity, or to deteriorate in quality sooner, it is immediately 

 ploughed up and sown with oats, of which the crop is ge- 

 nerally abundant after grass newly broken up. Sometimes 

 the land is immediately prepared for wheat, by repeated 

 ploughings, which break the sods and allow the soil to con- 

 solidate by the rains. This prevents its being kept too 

 loose and spongy by the undecayed roots of the grass, which 

 would be very injurious to the wheat in a dry summer. In 

 Norfolk, wheat, is often dibbled on the sod of the grass 

 merely turned over by one ploughing ; or the land-presser 

 follows the plough, and gives the necessary solidity to the 

 bottom of the furrow for the roots of the wheat to strike in. 

 Where either of these methods can be used to advantage, a 

 considerable labour and expense are saved ; and the land- 

 presser, which, as far as we know, is .not much used in Ber- 

 wickshire, might be introduced with advantage on the light 

 soils. The next year after the oats or wheat, turnips are 



own in drills after repeated ploughings and abundant ma- 

 nuring. These are fed off in the course of the autumn and 

 winter, and barley or spring wheat are sown in spring, 

 together with white and red clover, trefoil, and grass-seeds ; 

 when the land is again converted to pasture, and continues 

 go for two or three years as before. The deviations from 

 tho forgoing rotation are, that on the mos* fertile lands, 

 where wheat is usually sown instead of oats in the first 

 year after grass, wheat comes again after the turnips, which 

 are fed off early in autumn, so as to have two crops of 

 wheat, with one of turnips between them. The grass-seeds 

 are gown in spring among the second crop of wheat. In 

 very poor soils, oats supply the place of wheat. Beans are 

 not very generally cultivated ; but on very stiff soils, which 

 will not bear turnips, they come in well after wheat, and 

 may be followed by oats, and then a fallow for wheat and 

 grass- seeds. The grass is apt to fail the second year on 

 such very cold lands, if they are not well pulverized and com- 

 pletely drained ; and this has introduced a variation in the 

 cultivation of such lands, the grass being broken up after 

 the first year. This is owing in a great measure to a want 

 of attention to the state of the land when the grass is sown ; 

 with good management stiff lands will produce good herb- 

 age for two or three years. 



In the best turnip soils, the following rotation is not un- 

 common : 1. Wheat on the clover ley. 2. Turnips fed off. 

 3. Wheat. 4. Beans. 5. Wheat. 6. Turnips. 7. Wheat 

 with grass- seeds. 



This frequent recurrence of wheat, and the intermediate 



beans and turnips, can only be obtained on the best descrip- 

 tion of alluvial loams ; and then the land must be highly 

 manured for the turnips in the second and sixth year, and 

 "or the beans after the wheat. This may be effected where 

 manure can be purchased, but scarcely, in any suflicient 

 quantity, where it is all made on the farm. The ground, 

 lowever rich, must in the end be exhausted. By substi- 

 :uting barley in the third and seventh year, the last-men- 

 ;ioned rotation is like some rotations adopted in Essex and 

 Suffolk, except the addition of the three years of grass, and 

 may be more generally recommended for imitation. Another 

 otation is the following : 1. oats ; 2. peas or beans ; 3. bar- 

 ley, oats, or wheat ; 4. turnips, with dung and lime ; 5. wheat, 

 oats, or barley, with grass-seeds, to be fed off three or four 

 i : ears. As the grass is the foundation of all these rota- 

 ions, and its duration cannot always be foreseen, it is evi- 

 dent that great variations must occur; and it requires no 

 ittle skill and ingenuity to suit the various crops to the state 

 of the land and the seasons, and to keep horses and men 

 regularly employed without hurry or confusion. Potatoes, 

 :ares, and other green crops for cattle, are raised on part of 

 he fallows. The turnips are universally cultivated on the 

 Morthumberland plan, that is, in rows at two feet six inches 

 listance ; the manure placed directly under the row is 

 jy laying it in furrows, and covered with the plough by- 

 splitting the ridges. A roller prepares the ground for the 

 drill, which deposits the seed directly over the line of the 

 dung. [See TURNIPS and DRILL.] A part of the turnips 

 are drawn and given to the cattle in .the yards in winter, 

 and, with the addition of straw only, keep them in good con- 

 dition. The remainder is fed off with sheep on the ground, 

 or let to breeders and jobbers for that purpose. It has long 

 jeen the practice in Berwickshire and surrounding counties 

 to depend on letting a great part of the turnips which are 

 grown on a farm to men who rely on these lettings for 

 their cattle and Hocks in winter. In consequence of this 

 practice, turnips have been raised without any regard to the- 

 stock on the farm, and the grower seldom fails to find cus- 

 tomers at very fair prices. The comparative low price of 

 com for the last few years has induced farmers to extend 

 the cultivation of turnips and of barley, by draining cold 

 wet clays, which otherwise would have been unfit for these- 

 crops, of late more profitable than wheat. The use of 

 bruised bones for manure, lately introduced, has also ex- 

 tended the cultivation of turnips on the sharp light lands ;: 

 and as a natural consequence, more sheep have been fat- 

 tened, and the market has been overstocked, so that the- 

 speculators in fat sheep have lost considerably. Still the' 

 system has proved of advantage to the farmers, and enabled 

 them to meet their engagements with their landlords, which 

 were entered into when wheat bore double the price it has 

 lately done ; and rents have not fallen so much as might 

 have been expected. (Communication from Berwickshire, 

 May, 1835.) 



The grasses usually sown are in the following propor- 

 tions : 6 Ibs. of red clover, 4 Ibs. of white clover, 4 Ibs. of 

 trefoil, and 3 pecks of perennial rye grass per acre. Hay is 

 comparatively of inferior value to what it is in other coun- 

 ties nearer large towns, and no more is made than is abso- 

 lutely required for working horses ; the cows and oxen 

 are entirely fed on turnips and straw. The grass, as well 

 as the turnips, is often let to gra/iers, who from their ex- 

 perience in buying and selling stock, make a better profit 

 than the farmer could, and are enabled to give a fair price 

 for the feed. This is another example of the division of 

 labour in agriculture, by which all parties are gainers. 



There are no large dairies in Berwickshire. Butter is 

 made for the use of the farmer's family only, except near 

 towns, where a portion is sold in afresh state. The markels. 

 are mostly supplied by the labourers who sell their butter,. 

 the produce of the cow kept for them by their masters, as. 

 part of their wages. 



The common implements of husbandry are few, but of 

 the best construction. Small's swing-plough, a light and. 

 improved instrument, i* in general use, and no plough can. 

 be better adapted to every variety of soil. It is entirely 

 made of iron, and is an improvement on the Rotheram. 

 plough, originally introduced from Flanders. It is almost; 

 invariably drawn by two horses abreast, except in soirj* 

 very wet clays, where the horses would tread the land tao- 

 much, if they did not walk in the furrow. In a few cases 

 where very heavy soils are broken up, three horses are used* 

 either in a line, or more commonly two abreast aiuLona 



