58 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



tivateil in turnips. Fields of turnips of three, four, 

 and even five liundTod acres are sometimes seen, 

 though the common fields are much less ; and it 

 may be t>bserved here, tliat in the ripest and best 

 cultivated parts of England, enclosures often, fif- 

 teen, twenty, or thirty acres, seemed more common. 

 Since the introduction of the turnip culture, bul- 

 loejlis and sheep liove trebled in number. Turnips,^ 

 for the reasons given, are not great e.-^hausters of 

 the soil ; and they furnish abundant food for ani- 

 mals. Let us suppose, that one bushel of oats or 

 barley may be raised a.t the same cost as ten bush- 

 els of turnips ; and will go as far in support of 

 stock. Tlie great difference in the two crops is to 

 be found in the farmer's barn yard. Here is the 

 test of their comparative value. This is the secret 

 of the great advantages, which follow from their 

 cultivation. The value of manure in agriculture 

 is well appreciated. M'Queen states the e.\tr.aor- 

 dinary fact, that the value of the aniriwl manure 

 anauallv 'applied to the crops of England, at cur- 

 rent prices, surpasses in value the whole amount of 

 its foreign commerce." There is no doubt that it 

 greatly e.xceeds it. The turnip crop returns a vast 

 amount of nutritive matter to the soil. Tlie farm- 

 er, then, |tom his green crops, and by a regular 

 Bystem of rotation, finds green feed for his cattle 

 and wheat for the market. 



Among the lighter English soils, is that of the 

 county of Norfolk ; a county, however, which he 

 had not the pleasure to visit. Its soil, he under- 

 stood, is light, a little inclined to sand, or light 

 loam. Such soils are not unfavorable to roots. — 

 Here is the place of the remarkable cultivation and 

 'istincuished improvements of that eminent culti- 

 V -i-or, Mr. Coke, now Earl of Leicester.* In these 

 Unds, he understood, a common rotation is turnips, 

 barley, clover, wheat. Tlrese lands resemble much 

 of the land in our county of Plymouth ; and the 

 Bandy lands to be found in the vicinity of the Con- 

 necticut and Merrimack rivers. The cultivation 

 of green crops in New England deserves attention. 

 There is no incapacity in our soil; and tliere are 

 no circumstances unfavorable to their production. 

 What would be the best kind of succulent vegeta- 

 bles to be cultivated, whetlier turnips, orcairots, 

 he vvas not prepared to say. But no attempts with- 

 in his knowledge had been made among us of a 

 systematic agriculture; and until we enter upon 

 some regular rotation of crops, and our husbandry 

 becomes more systematic, no distinguished success 

 can be looked for. As to our soil, it has been re- 

 marked there is n© inherent incapacity for the pro- 

 duction ofanyof the common crops. We could 

 raise wheat in Massachusetts. The average crop 

 in England is twenty-six bushels to the acre. From 

 his own iarm, and it was comparatively a thin and 

 poor soil, he had obtained this EUinmer seventy -six 

 busiiels of wlieat upon three acres of land. It is 

 not, therefore, any wa;it of capability in the soil ; 

 but the improvement and success of our husbandry 

 must depend upon a succession of crops adapted io 

 the circumstances of our soil, climate and peculiar 

 condition. 



In England, a large portion of the turnip crop is 

 consumed on the land where it grows. Tlie sheep 

 are fed out of doors all winter; and he saw many 

 larme flocks, thousands and millions of sheep, which 

 weW never housed. This was matter of surprise, 

 especially considering the wetness of the climate ; 

 and ^biese i^heep were often exposed in the fields 

 where a dry spot could not be found for tliem to lie 

 down upon. Sheep were often folded in England 

 by wattled fences or hurdles temporarily erected in 

 different parts of the field, and removed from place 

 to place us tlie portions of the crop were consum- 

 ed. In some cases they were folded and tlie tur- 

 nips dug and carried to them. In such case they 

 were always fed upon lands which were intended 

 tlie next year to be, as far as practicable, briiught 

 under cultivation. He had seen many laborers in 



*This is a very extraordinary fact, but it rests up- 

 on good authority ; and wiien it is considered Uiut 

 this is of course the product of agriculture, as well 

 as going iu the great circle, to renew and e.xtend 

 these products, we must have strong impressions of 

 the anvuing extent of this great interest. In tins 

 case, cattle manure is valued at 4s. sterling; slieep 

 at 3s ; horse at 4i. ; pigs, poultry, &c., at o.*;. per 

 load ; siz~ of load not given ; mak.ng a grand total 

 of £.59,eGJ,000 sterling, or nearly 3011,0011,1100 dol- 

 lars. This isnnderstiiod to be -'exclusive of (quan- 

 tity dropped by cattle en land during summer, au- 

 tumn, &c., perhaps one third more; and exclusive 

 of lime, moss, siiells, fish, bone dust, d:c." — Mc- 

 Oiltcn's Briliah Statistics, p. 51. II. C. 



Hie has increa«ed the rental of his farms by his 

 improvements, from twenty-five to two hundred 

 thonsand dollars o. year H. C 



fields employed in drawing the turnips, splitting 

 them, and scattering them over the land, for the 

 use of the sheep, which was considered better, of- 

 ten, than to leave sheep to dig for themselves. — 

 These laborers would be so employed all winter, 

 and if the ground should become frozen, the tur- 

 nips are taken up with a bar. Together with the 

 turnips, it is thought important tliat sheep should 

 have a small quantity of other food. Chopped hay, 

 sometimes a little oil cake, or oats, is usually giv- 

 en. This is called tnmgh food, as it is eaten in 

 troughs, standing about in the field. In so moist 

 a climate as that of England, some land is so wet, 

 that, in the farmer's phrase, it will not cirry sliccp ; 

 that is, it is quite too wet fir sheep to lie out upon 

 it. In such cases the turnips must be carried, that 

 is, removed from the field, and fed out elsewhere. 

 The last season was uncommonly wet, and for that 

 reason, perhaps, he could not so well judge, but it 

 appeared to him it would be an improvement in 

 English husbandry to furnisb for sheep, oftener 

 than is done, not only a tolerably dry ground to lie 

 on, but some sort of shelter against the cold rains 

 of winter. The turn'i.ps, doubtless, are more com- 

 pletely consumed, when dug, split, and fed out. 

 The Swedish turnip, he had little doubt, was best 

 suited to cold climates. It was scarcely injured by 

 being frozen in the ground in the winter, as it 

 woufd thaw again, and be still good in spring. In 

 Scotland, in the Lothians, where cultivation is e- 

 qual to that of any part of England, it is more the 

 practice than farther south, to house turnips, or 

 draw them, and cover them from frost. He had 

 been ereatly pleased with Scotch farming, and as 

 the climate and soil of Scotland more resembled 

 the soil and climate of Massachusetts, than those 

 r< England did, he hoped the fanners of Massa- 

 chusetts would acquaint themselves, as well an they 

 could, with Scotch husbandry. He had had the 

 pleasure of passing some timo in Scotland, with 

 persons engaged in these pursuits, and acknowl- 

 ed himself much instructed by what he learned 

 from them, and saw in their company. The ereiit 

 extent of the use of turnips, and other green crops, 

 in Scotland, is evidence that such crops cannot bo 

 altogether unsnited to Massachusetts. 



Mr. Webster proceeded to state, that one of the 

 things which now attracted much attention among 

 agriculturists in England, was the subject of tile 

 draining. This most efficient and success&il mode 

 of draining is getting into very extensiv,e use. — 

 Much of the soil of England, a." he had already 

 stated, rested on a clayey and retentive sub-soil. 

 Excessive wetness is prejudicial and destructive to 

 the crops. Marginal drains, or drains on the out- 

 side of the fields, do not produce the desired re- 

 sults. These tile drains have effected most impor- 

 tant improvements. The tile itself is made of clay, 

 baked like bricks; about one foot in length, foar 

 inches in width, fff^e fourths of an inch in thick- 

 ness, and sounds from six to eight inches in height, 

 being hemispherieal, or like the half of a cylinder, 

 with its sides enlongated. It resembles the Dutch 

 tiles souietimes seen on the roofs of the old houses 

 in Albany and New York. A ditch is suwk eigh- 

 teen or twenty inches i» depth, and these drains 

 are multiplied, over a field, sometimes at a distance 

 of only seven yards apart The ditch, or drain, 

 beintr du;^, these tiles are laid down, with the hol- 

 low sid^" at the bottom, o'n th,- smooth clay, or any 

 other firm subsoil, the sides placed near to each oth- 

 er, some little straw thrown over the joints to pre- 

 vent the admission of dirt, and the whole covered 

 up. This is not so expensive a mode of draininp- 

 as might be supposed. The ditch, or drain, need 

 only be narrow, and tiles are of much cheaper 

 transportation than stone would be. But the result 

 ij so important, as vcell to justify the expense. It 

 is estimated that this thorough draining adds often 

 twenty per cent, to the production of the wheat 

 crop. A beautiful example came under his obser- 

 vation in Nottingl'.ainsh.re, not l:m,g before he lel't 

 England. A gentleman was showing him his 

 irrounds for next year's crop of wheat. On one 

 side of. the lane, where the land had been drained, 

 the wheat was already up, and grL>wing luxuri- 

 antly ; on the other, where the land was subjectto 

 no other disadvantage, than that it had not been 

 drained, it was still too wet to be sowed at all. It 

 may be thought sino-ular enough, but is was doubt- 

 less true, that on stiff ebiyey lands, thorough drain- 

 ing is as useful in drv, hot summers, as in cold and 

 wet summers : for such land, if a wet winterer 

 spring be suddenly fi.dloued by hot and dry weath- 

 er, is aj)t to.' bepome hard and baked, so that the 

 roots of [ilants cannot enter it. Thorough dr.iiii- 

 ing, by giviuL^ an apportunity to tite water on the 

 surface to be constantly esoapinj/, corrects this e- 

 vil. Draining can never be needed to so great an 

 extent in Massachusetts, as in England and Scot 



land, from the different nature of the soil ; but w" 

 have yet quantities of low meadow lands, produc- 

 ing wild, harsh, siur grasses, or producing noth 

 ing, which, there is little doubt, might be ren- 

 dered most profitable hay fields, by being well 

 drained. When we understand better the impor- 

 tance of concentrating labor-, instead if scat- 

 tering it; when we shall come to esliiiiate, duly, 

 the superior profit of "a little farm w-ell tilled," o- 

 ver a great f^rm, half cultivated and half manured, 

 over-run with weeds, and scourged with exhaust- 

 ing crops, we shall then fill our barns, and double 

 the winter feed for our cattle and sheep by the pro- 

 ducts of these waste meadows. 



There was in England, another mode of'improve- 

 ment, most important, instances of which he had 

 seen, and one of which he regarded as the most 

 beautiful agricultural improvement, which had ev- 

 er come witliin his observation. He meant irriga- 

 tion, or the making of what is calh^d water mead- 

 ows. He Inid first seen them in Wiltshire, and 

 w-as mu(-h struck with thein, not having before un- 

 derstood, from reading or conversatio-,a, exactly 

 what they were. But he had afterwards an oppor- 

 tunity of examining a most signal and successful 

 example of this mode of improvement on the es- 

 states of the Duke of Portland, in the Nr rthof Eng- 

 land, on the borders of Sherwood forest. Indeed, 

 it was part of the old foreet. Sherwood forest, at 

 least in its present state, is not like t'le jjine for- 

 ests of Maine, the heavy hard \\-ord forests of ^he 

 unredeemed lands of New Hampshire and Vermont, 

 or the still heavier timbered lands of the West. It 

 embraces a large extent of country, with various 

 soils, some of them thin and light, with beautiful 

 and venerable oaks, of unknown age, much open 

 ground between them and underneath their wide- 

 spread twanches, and this covered with heather, 

 lichens ahd fern. As a scene to the eye and to the 

 memory by its long existence, and its associations, 

 it is beautiful and interesting. But in many parts, 

 the soil is far enough from being rich. Upon the 

 borders of this forest, are the water meadows of 

 which he was speaking. A little river ran through 

 the forest in this part, at the bottom of a valley, 

 with sides moderately sloping, and of considerable 

 extent, between the river at the bottom and the 

 common level of the surrounding- enuutry above. 

 This little river, before reaching the jdace, ran 

 through a small tcwn, and gathered, doubtless, 

 some refuse matter in its course. From this river 

 the water was taken, at the upper end of the val- 

 ley, conducted along the edge, or bank, in a canal 

 or carrier, and from this carrier, at proper times, 

 suffered to flow out, very gently, spreading over 

 and irrigating the whole surface, tricklirigand shin- 

 ing when he saw it, (and it was then November,) 

 among the light green of the new-springing grass, 

 and collected below in another canal, from which 

 it was again let out, to flow in like manner over land 

 lying still further down towards the bottom of the 

 valley. Ten years ago, this land, for jjroduction, 

 was worth little or nothing. He was told that 

 some of it had been let for no more lii.in a shilhng 

 an acre. It has not been manured, and yet is now most 

 extensively productive. It is not flooded ; the wa- 

 ter does not stand upon it; it flows gently over it, 

 and is npjtlied several times in a year, to each part, 

 s.ay in March, May, July and October. In Novem- 

 ber, when be saw it, the farmers were taliing ofl' 

 the third crop of hay cut this season, and that ciop 

 was certainly not less than two tons to the acre. 

 This last crop was mostly used as green food for 

 cattle. When he spoke of the quaii'it;,^ of tons, he 

 meant tons of dried hay. After this crop was off, 

 slieep were to be put on it, to have Ian. lis at Christ- 

 mas, so as to come into market in March, a time of 

 year when they command a high price. Upon tak- 

 ing oIT the sheep in March, the lajtd would be wa- ■ 

 tered, the process of watering lasting two or three 

 days, or jK-rhapseight or ten days, acCLiiJing to cir- 

 cumstances, and repeated after the taking off of 

 Cx-ich successive crop. Although this -,-. at(.-r lias no 

 doubt considerable sediment in it, yet the general 

 fact shows how important water is to thegrowtli of 

 plants, and Irr^w far even it may supply the place of 

 other aiources of sustenance. Nov/, we in Massa- 

 chusetts, have a more uneven surface, nierevaUies 

 with sloping sides, by many times more streams, 

 and such a climate that our farms suffer much of- 

 tener from drought than farms in England. May 

 wt not learn something useful, therefoie, from the 

 examples of irrigation in that country. 



With respect to implements of husbandry, Mr. 

 Webster was of opinion that the Enijlisli, on the 

 wiiole, had no advantage fiver us. 'I'lieir wagons 

 and oarts were no better, their ploughs, he thouifht, 

 v.'ere not better any where, and in soiiu- counties 

 far inferior, because unnecessarily heavy. The 

 sub-aoil plough, for whioh we have little use, was 



