104 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 2 



Mr. M'Aleavy, from the same estate, here rose 

 and bejr<red to remark, that he had an objection 

 to the fbur-coiirfie rotation, which was jjettinir so 

 much into use here, and that he found the five- 

 course more desirable, as by letting the land He 

 under clover and grass a second year the land got 

 more rest. 



The chairman defended the four-course-rotation, 

 by showing, thatif, as Mr. M'Aleavy said, the five- 

 course gave more rest, the four-course crave more 

 manure; thai the same slock could not be kej>t on 

 the five-course, nor the same number of cattle 

 would not yi^ld the same quantity of matmre, on 

 account of the loss bv beinir pastured in place of 

 being house-fi?d; likewise, that the grain crop, al- 

 ter clover which had been soiled, was always bet- 

 ter than vvhat was grazed. Mr. M'Aleavy did not 

 at first admit this; but the chairman showed that, 

 under the four-course system, the half of the land 

 was under grain, but in a five-course, one-fifth be- 

 ing always under pasture, and another fifth applied 

 tosoiliniT, there could only be tbrpe-fifths remaining 

 for grain and fallow crops, as potatoes, turnips, &c., 

 in place of three-fourths, which would remain for 

 those crops under the four-course, Mr. M'Garry 

 having expressed his opinion as to the crop after 

 clover which had been mowed, being better than 

 after it had been pastured, Mr. M'Aleavy con- 

 ceded this point, but still seemed impressed in fa- 

 vor of the five-course rotation, in which several of 

 the company seemed to join, though Mr. Bruce, 

 Mr. Ingram, and Mr. Jenkins all agreed that their 

 land had greatly improved in quality since the four- 

 course system had been adopted. 



Mr. Simpson, an experienced independent far- 

 mer, expressed his belief that the quality of some 

 lands might suit one course, and that of others a 

 different; and Mr. Blacker acknowledged that in 

 Berwickshire the five-course was in use; but, in 

 regard to Berwickshire, the farmers, by sowing 

 their turnips, which may be said to be their entire 

 fallow crop, on bone dust, keep their farm-yard 

 manure (or top-dressing their clover, which makes 

 the second year's srrowth more productive; and the 

 use of turnips in fatteninsr, by stall-feeding in win- 

 ter, with the quantity ol'bone dust, more than makes 

 up for what is lost in the nianuie byirrazing: so that 

 a Berwickshire firmer had said that he manured 

 half his entire farm every year. 



Mr. Blacker, in his pamphlet, suggests that it 

 is not the turning of the land, but the scouriTing 

 crops put in whpre the land is turned, that does 

 the mischief: and he instances that land after be- 

 inor turned five, six, or seven times in fallowing, 

 will give a good crop, when without this turning 

 it would have yieltled nothing. I am inclined to 

 be of this way of thinking, for it is a common ex- 

 pression to say of a farm that it is "as fi-uittlil as a 

 garden," as describing the perfection of agricul- 

 ture; but a market gardener makes his land pro- 

 duce four or five crops in the year, and is turnino" 

 it perpetually, and this near all large towns ha's 

 been going on for centuries. I therefore am in- 

 clined to believe the turning of land is not so pre- 

 judicial as people think, and I believe in the coun- 

 ties of Norfolk and Suffolk, where the four-course 

 rotation has been many yeara practised, the soil is 

 improving. 



Mr. M'Garry, without giving any decided opin- 

 ion on the subject in discussion, begged to call the 

 attention of thie company to the danger of sowing 



clover too often under the four-course system, and 

 recommended, from his own experience, that only 

 part of the manured land should be sowed in clo- 

 ver, and the other half reserved for vetches, and 

 by altering these two crops, the summer feeding 

 might be kept up, and yet the clover would not 

 come round to the same land in less than seven or 

 eiirht years. 



In this the chairman coincided, and said it en- 

 tirely agreed with the instructions given by Mr. 

 Bruce, but he was afraid it had not been enough 

 attended to, as clover was, in fact, but a new crop, 

 irenerally speaking, and the four-course system 

 had not been long enough in use to bring the thing 

 to the proof in this neighborhood. He therefore 

 strongly recommended this hint to the attention of 

 all present; and after thanking Mr. M'Garry for 

 the suggestion, he proposed as a toast "live and 

 learn." He then proceeded to read the list of suc- 

 cessful competitors for the best turnips: when it ap- 

 peared that Mr. Bruce had the certificate for the 

 best crop. The first premium, however, under 

 the new regulations went to Robert Mitchell, 

 Drumbucross; the second to Jonathan Cochran, 

 Cabra; the third to Thomas Singleton, Drum- 

 black; the fourth to Joseph Forster, of Ballyorgan. 

 The chairman, in giving the health of Mr. Bruce, 

 requested him to say how it happened that his 

 field of turnips was quite green, without a singlfe' 

 yellow leaf, and Mr. Singleton's at the opposite 

 side of the road, w^as quite yelFow with the num- 

 ber of leaves that were decayed. 



Mr. Bruce — "Gentlemen, this is very easily ac- 

 counted lor. Mr. Singleton and almost all others 

 think, when the leaves begin to cover the ground, 

 that the horse-hoe or pony-plough is no longer 

 necessary, and that the horses travelling through 

 will injure the crop. Now, I think the reverse; 

 and I ran the pony-plough three times throusrh 

 mine after they had attained the irrowth that Mr. 

 Singleton and others stop at.. The consequence 

 is, that mine are still in the height of their growth, 

 and will grow on until Christmas, whilst their's are 

 stunted, and will not yield within one-third of the 

 weight they would otherwise have done." 



The chairman here adverted to the advantage 

 of turnip feeding, and expressed his surprise that 

 so many peo[)le would be so blind to their owrt 

 interests as not to see the advantage of it. He 

 stated that a rod of well cultivated turnips would 

 yield from eight to ten tons, or even much more,, 

 supposing the crop to be part white, yellow, and 

 Swedish, This, therefore, would give from eighty 

 to one hundred pounds a day for a cow for seven 

 months, or two hundred and ten days. Now, even 

 a springer will give two quarts of milk more upon 

 turnips than upon either bay or straw. A stripper 

 might increase four, and a new calved cow would 

 give seven or eiirht quarts more; but taking it at 

 two quarts, which is the lowest, these two quarts 

 are worth 2d per quart all the winter and spring; 

 and id per day for two hundred and ten days is 

 exactly 70s gained in extra milk by one rood of 

 turnips, which is £14 to the acre. Thus the ex- 

 tra of quantity pays £14 per acre for the turnips, 

 and you have all the cow would have given with- 

 out them lor nothing, or next to nothing, and the 

 manure besides. This is as plain as that two and 

 two make four, and yet it would appear that people 

 could not see it. 



Mr. Parks here rose and said, he had bought a 



