No. 12. 



Highlands Farm. — On Rolling Crops. 



375 



although it is believed by many that sheep, 

 by eating the grass too close, destroy the 

 roots of the crop, the direct reverse is the 

 fact, for the turf will astonishiiitrly improve 

 under their feet, and become enriched by 

 their manure, which, as has been said by 

 some one, is not only thus carried abroad, 

 but spread for you free of expense ; and this 

 thickening of the turf will prevent the ma- 

 nure from passing away through the open 

 sub-soil. 



But the largest breeds of sheep ought to 

 be obtained, and the course of raising and 

 fattening for the market, be pursued as a 

 regular system; while for sheep of twenty 

 ponnds per quarter, well fed, a price could 

 be obtained at Philadelphia or New York, 

 which would, I conceive, pay a greater profit 

 than cattle; the lambs and wool being also 

 taken into the account — and for this purpose, 

 my favourite breed of sheep, one cross be- 

 tween the Leicester and South Down, would 

 be peculiarly well adapted. 



I saw here a hog, a cross between the 

 Berkshire and the Chester-County breed, 

 which was about as near my idea of useful- 

 ness as need be ; and I would recommend 

 very strongly the Chester breed, for I have 

 seen many individuals in that county that 

 required no crossing, for I think, with hogs, 

 a man might soon get too much of it. 



I feel pleasure in the hope of spending a 

 few hours at the Highlands farm after the 

 grain harvest : that is the time to estimate a 

 man's system of farming — the stubbles will 

 then show that, most unequivocally. 



I once knew a young and most intelligent 

 farmer who, whenever leisure served, went 

 abroad to visit the farms, and witness the 

 management pursued in distant parts, and 

 he considered the money so expended the 

 best investment of capital ; "for," said he, 

 " if I see any system better than my own, 

 I quietly adopt it; or if, on the contrary, I 

 find my own superior, I am the more surely 

 convinced and satisfied, and am strengthened 

 in my good opinion of it — either way I am 

 benefited, and never return to my home with- 

 out feeling a fresh stimulus to action; and 

 better pleased with my own situation, trea- 

 suring up many facts and opinions for 

 adoption or experiment, which soon amount 

 to the value of my rent." No one can 

 easily calculate the benefit of such a course ; 

 and if it were practised in this country, its 

 effects would soon be visible on every side — 

 I do not think the weeds would continue to 

 grow so tall and stout as they now do in 

 many places ; nor should we see the wash- 

 ings of the dung from almost every farm- 

 yard in the country, passing away over the 

 roads and into the ditches, to the robbery of 

 about fifty per cent, of its value : as soon 



as it becomes the practice for farmers to 

 t/ii7ik as well as to act, this is one of the 

 first evils tliat they will set about to remedy. 



VlR. 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Cabinet. 

 On Rolling^ Crops. 



Sir, — A practical writer in the "New 

 England Farmer" says, " when I am ready 

 to sow my corn, I turn under the sward, and 

 roll it down with a heavy roller; and this 

 rolling I consider indispensable. I planted 

 a field of fourteen acres the last year; we 

 had finished and rolled down nearly half the 

 piece, when my brother, who owned half the 

 roller, and resided about a mile from me, 

 began planting his corn, and we therefore 

 concluded to dispense with the roller, and 

 finish the field with the harrow ; and it is a 

 fact, that the part of the field which was 

 rolled was not so good land as that part which 

 was harrowed, the manure being, however, 

 the same. The part which was rolled, after 

 being cleaned, got the start of the harrowed 

 part, and many will testify, that on the first 

 day of July, the corn where the land was 

 roiled was one-quarter heavier, and so it con- 

 tinued through the season until the harvest." 



This is a remarkable instance of the value 

 of the roller; and it reminds me of another, 

 which goes to corroboi-ate the truth of the 

 matter in every particular. I was spending 

 the day at the farm of General Le Couteur, 

 (the father of the present Colonel Le Cou- 

 teur, so extensively known by his invaluable 

 treatise on wheat,) a perfect Cincinnatus, 

 who had retired to his paternal estate, after 

 a long life spent in the service of his coun- 

 try; he was planting the horse-bean in rows, 

 for the purpose of after-culture with the hoe ; 

 the land was rather stiff, and yet, he was 

 finishing by rolling, after it had received a 

 thorough harrowing upon the seed. I pre- 

 vailed upon him to leave a portion of the 

 field unrolled, convinced, as I assured him, 

 that he would find the land to hoe easier, and 

 the crop on it to be heavier at harvest ; but 

 bow was I mortified to find that my unrolled 

 crop was minus, at harvest, about one half, 

 after having shown a deficiency in growth 

 through the whole summer ! 



Few persons in our country are aware of 

 the value of the roller, because, and a suf- 

 ficient reason it is, not one farmer in twenty 

 possesses one ; and I have known some of 

 those who have one never to use it — an un- 

 pardonable neglect on any land, but particu- 

 larly on light and porous soils. 



An author very justly observes, " the roll- 

 ing in of seeds after sowing is too often 

 neglected, although very necessary under 



