4^ 



F A R M t: 11 S' R E G ! S T E R. 



[No. 3 



lure are nunierous and imponant, and that the dis- 

 covery of those of merit is an object highly de- 

 serving ol" our attention. They also prove more 

 especiidly that of Colonel Le Couteur, that the 

 development of these is a niaiter attended with 

 no small difficulty, Irom the delicacy, the niinute- 

 ness, and the science wilh which the experi- 

 ments require to be conducted, and here the im- 

 mense superiority of an experimental establish- 

 ment lor the accomplishment of these ends, will 

 appear in a very prominent point of view. Not only 

 could the observations of such men as Colonel 

 Le Couteur, iV'Jr. Gorrie, Mr. Bishop, and Mr. 

 Sherriff be most carefully attended to and prac- 

 tically applied; but by means of the subsiduary 

 associations the whole would be conducted on a 

 (Bcale commensurate to the wants ol" an extensive 

 country. 



By assifrnint; to each variety a distinct space, 

 the difl'erent sorts would be kept apart while grow- 

 ing, and a series of accurate observations institu- 

 ted as each successive development took place 

 during their growth, as well as after they had ar- 

 rived at maturity, which could not fail to be at- 

 tended with the most successful and beneficial re- 

 sults. And not only so; by means of the local 

 institutions the situation and the soil best adapted 

 to each might bediscovered, and the differentvari- 

 eties would thus not only be purified, but, what is 

 perhaps of equal importance, characterized. In 

 this way the uncertainty at present inseparable 

 from the practical results of every airricultural 

 operation would be removed, (or the fiirmer could 

 ■elect wilh the most unerrins; accuracy the particu- 

 lar sorts best adapted to his climate, soil, &c. 



It has been ohjected by some that no sinirle es- 

 tablishment could he made applicable to the va- 

 riety of soi's, clmiates, &c. of Scotland. This ob- 

 jection, however, may be completely obviated by 

 attending to what may be termed the working 

 machinery of an experimental farm, as tlilly de- 

 tailed in the original suggestions. It is there 

 elated that a connected line of communication, 

 by means of lateral branches in every country, is 

 essentially necessary to the success, and, indeed, 

 forms part of the scheme; and we would here 

 farther sugo;est, that the ground set apart lor ex- 

 periments by these local associations, and the dif- 

 ferent museums in connection wilh them, should 

 be entrusted to the management of an experi- 

 enced nurseryman or gardener We have no 

 doubt that many anjontj this numerous and intel- 

 ligent class mii{ht be found both competent and 

 willing to undertake the task, more especially as 

 the details ihey would be called upon to superin- 

 tend are so Ultimately connected with the subject- 

 matter of their own prolt^ssion; and, if so. those 

 Bcientific attainments which have hitherto been 

 confined to a comparatively circumscribed sphere, 

 would be broiiijht to bear upon the rural economy 

 of the country, and the co-operation of individu- 

 als would be secured who were in every way 

 qualified both to act as a check and an assistance to 

 the parent establishment— as a check, by testing 

 and verifyinff the report of the chief manatjer^ 

 as an assistance, by turnishirifj accurate and sci- 

 entific statements of the several matters intrusted 

 to their care. 



h has been also objected that from the richness 

 and hit^hly pulverized nature of nursery and gar- 

 den grounda, no just ©stimate could be formed of 



a specimen from the grain produced on them. 



Now, were the method of preparinsrthe soil, which 

 we have detailed so fully in a preceding article, 

 generally prvicti.«ed and properly executed, it is 

 not too chimerical to expect that the whole ara- 

 ble land of the country would eventually become 

 almost as rich and as highly pulverized as any 

 garden or nursery grounds can well be. As a 

 consideralile time, however, even under the most 

 liivorable circumstances, must elapse before this 

 can be accomplished, the uncerlainty arising from 

 the above cause might, in the meantime, be easi- 

 ly removed. Suppose, for example, that some 

 particular variety has been discovered, evincing a 

 decided superiority in iis apparent productiveness, 

 &c., over the rest, the manager has only to obtain 

 permission from some of the neighboring farmers 

 (which we are certain would be most cheerfully 

 granted) to allow it a place for trial, on such soils 

 and ill such situations as may be deemed best adapt- 

 ed to bring its virtues to tiie test. By this simple 

 arrangement the peculiar qualities of every variety 

 would be practically certified before it received the 

 recommendation of the establishment, and the 

 nurserymen or gardeners, while they operated as 

 a check and an assistance to the parent establish- 

 ment, would themselves be operated upon in like 

 manner by those individual fiirniers with whom 

 they found it necessary to hold communication. 



The whole country would thus be converted 

 into one wide field of experimental inquiry, which 

 could not fail most effectually to correct at the true 

 source all those evils which arise from the sudden 

 and frequently injudicious introduction of any new 

 variety of seed. For at present it often happens, 

 as every agriculturist knows, that a newly discov- 

 ered variety is approved of or condemned, not 

 from its own intrinsic qualities or merits, but from 

 the treatment it receives, or the accidental state of 

 the weather during the season in which it might 

 have been introduced. This has been the case 

 wilh several varieties of oats since the commence- 

 ment of the present century; and who can tell 

 whether or not the chevalier barley, which has 

 been lately introduced into this country so rapidly 

 and to so great an extent, would maintain its 

 vaunted superiority over the other varieties if sub- 

 jected to the ordeal of a series of late seasons. 



We shall now briefly advert to the national ad- 

 vantages which might reasonably be anticipated 

 from the operation of such an establishment. In 

 order to perceive these, the annual amount of 

 grain, potatoes, turnips, grasses, &c,, would re- 

 quire to be ascertained. 



According to M'Ci>lloch the annual consumption 

 of grain in the United Kingdom amounts to 52,- 

 00(3,000 quarters, and the imports of foreign corn 

 in 1831 amounted to 3,541,809 quarters, being the 

 largest quantity ever brought into Great Britain in 

 any one year. 



Now assuminff that the annual consumption ia 

 52,000, GOO quarters, inclusive of seed, and that 

 the annual average of native growth amounts to 

 50,000,000 quarters, let us advert to the results of 

 Colonel Le Couteur's experiments. There we 

 find one variety of wheat 250 per cent, more pro- 

 ductive than another, and it will certainly not be 

 thouirht unreasonable to assume that the produce 

 might be increased to the extent ot 10 per cent, 

 not only on grain, but also on roots, grasses, &c. 



We thus perceive that in a national point of 



