1S37] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



39 



I showed it to a very shrewd and scientific gen- 

 tleiimn, well acqiuiinted wiih roimtry afliiirs, who 

 ex|in'Sf!(>tl h^s ar^lonishinont at the improveiiieiit. 

 Ill OciuliiM-, the liirauT whose land adjoins my 

 own, said lie had never belore seen sm-h exiraor- 

 dinary iniprovenienl in any irnjnnd. Knowinii' thai 

 he. was one ol'liiose who l>ad ridienled my sys- 

 tem, I liinted to him liiat llie propriety of it had 

 been naich doulited. lie acknowledged he hiul 

 condenmed it, and said he now saw that which he 

 would not have believed had lie not witnessed it, 

 and that he thought the manure must have con- 

 tained a iai-ire portion of white clover and other 

 grass seeds, otherwise, in his opinion, such an 

 ert'ect could not have been produced. In the liot- 

 test part of last summer, I covered, in the same 

 manner, the only field on my firm which had not 

 been p.reviously dressed in a similar way, leaving 

 two ridges in the middle unmanured. I removed 

 all the cattle from this field tor six weeks, at the 

 end of which the two ridges had scarcely grass to 

 sustain a goose, whilst the rest of the field looked 

 like a field of loi!: or aftermath. Miuiy gentlemen 

 examined it. Some seemed satisfied that much 

 benefit was derived at very little cost; others ex- 

 pressed their conviction that it was the greatest 

 improvement they had ever seen, and it is my 

 firm belief that, from the time the duiiff was put 

 on, to ihe end of summer, 1 had at least three 

 times as much grass from the land manured as 

 from the oiher. I must mention another fact. The 

 man who spread the dung had liumed many 

 years IbrhimsehJ and might be considered a clever 

 man ; he said to me, " ' ou would not thus waste 

 manure, if you had not the means of getting plen- 

 ty more." I asked him to wait a month belore he 

 decided ; he then declared that he had never 

 been so much mistaken. I mention these things, 

 knovving that my plan has much to contend 

 against,' and hoping that noblemen and gentle- 

 men, who try my method, may not be laughed 

 out of it before they have applied to it the test of 

 due experience. It may be said that, in these ex- 

 periments, I did not comjiaredifi^erent sorts of ma- 

 nure. I have done so repeatedly, but, in truth, I 

 had then no rotten dung by me. I would propose, 

 to any one who doubts the propriety of my plan, 

 to put a given weight of tresh dung on a heap, to 

 remain (turning it over or not) for twelve months, 

 at which time spread it over the land, and at the 

 same time take a similar weight of tiesli dung of 

 the same kind, and spread it over double the space, 

 and I doubt not the result. Hitherto I hav'e con- 

 fined the recommendation of my plan to practical 

 experience alone, but I am not wiihout scientific 

 and chemical authorities to support me. Mr. Jo- 

 seph Hay ward's 'Treatise on the Science of Agri- 

 culture,' is worth reading by the agriculturist who 

 searches after truth. Being aware of the great 

 ditficulties with which the farmer has to conicnd, 

 I should recommend any new system with great 

 diffidence, il' attended with additional expense; 

 but as the plan I am desirous to introduce is alike 

 recommended by its simplicity and economy, and 

 also eminently calculated to promote the fertility 

 of the soil, and to secure, by that means, a more 

 adequate remuneration to the fiirmer, I cannot 

 doubt of its being generally adopted, whenever its 

 practical advantages are more generally known 

 and appreciated. With a view to facilitate its in- 

 troduction, it will give me great pleasure to cor- 



respond with, or, to wait upon, any iif)blemen or 

 irentlemen, and to explain more fully the details 

 ol' my method of applying manure, or to assist in 

 introducing the practice upon any farm in hand,_ 

 either under my own superinteiuience, or that of 

 my son, who is at this time disengaged, and who 

 IS abundantly fjualified tor such purpose, he hav- 

 ing for severd years having had alm-'st the eniire 

 management of a liirm of 800 acres in the county 

 of NoTlolk, belonging to myself, upon which, as I 

 have before observed, the system was proved to 

 be highly beneficial. JMy subject has drawn me 

 on to^greater length than i expected ; I cannot, 

 however, conclude without sayiiiiz, that if, by the 

 system I recommend, 10s. or 15s. worth of ma- 

 nure can be added annually to every acre of land 

 of moderate quality, at no greater expense than 

 by the old method", I think the landlord, the ten- 

 ant, and the public, will be great gainers. 



From the British Quarterly Journal of Agricuiture. 



3IODE OF SUPPORTIlVa THE POOR IN BEL- 

 GIUM. 



Viscount Vilain XIII, who has been long ap- 

 pointed Minister at Rome, has resiirned his ofllce 

 as Governor of East Flanders. Belore quitting 

 Ghent, Viscount Vilain addressed a circular to the 

 litierent functionaries under his government, in 

 which are some interesting details relating to the 

 operations of the cliaritable workshops, {ateliers de 

 charite,) established in difierent parts of Flanders. 

 He states that the number of these institutions 

 amounts to forty-three ; that the total prime cost 

 of material and salary paid to the poor amounts to 

 176,378 francs, and the same of manufactured ar- 

 ticles to 162,583 Iraiics, leaving a loss upon the 

 whole of only 13.804 francs. Thus, at the ex- 

 pense of 13,804 fiancs, provision and employ- 

 ment have been given to 2265 poor people du- 

 ring the whole of the winter and part of the 

 spring; and thus, at the trifling expense of six 

 francs per persons, forty three parishes have been 

 rescued from tlie evils of mendicity, and a large 

 body of poor creatures, who must otherwise have 

 begged' or starved, have been actively and useful- 

 ly employed, and have had the means of support- 

 ing their families without other parochial relief. 



The letter adds, that the average loss of six 

 francs only arises from detective administration in 

 some of the parishes, since it results that, in twen- 

 ty five out of forty three, the loss has not exceed- 

 ed two francs, and indeed in some of these has 

 not been more than eighty centimes per person. 

 In seven parishes the receipts nearly balance the 

 expense, so that the poor have cost little or no- 

 thing; and in four parishes the returns have ex- 

 ceeded the expense, so as to leave a balance in the 

 hands of the directors, after supporting all the 

 poor. These are remarkable results, and are well 

 worthy the attention of the philanthropists in 

 England and Ireland ; for what can be more 

 praiseworth}^, more advantageous or honorable to 

 the community, than the establishment of institu- 

 tions by which pauperism, idleness, and immoral- 

 ity are neutralized, without expense, and by which 

 a number of persons, who would be otherwise 

 thrown upon the public workhouse, or become 

 burdens to the parish, are actively employed, and 

 encouraged in the habits of industry and econo- 



