FARMERS^ REGISTER— SPADE HUSBANDRY. 



513 



there is a certainty of this— that the tax in labor 

 is not half applied to its intended object, and the 

 bahincc is thrown away. 



Since writing the Ibrcgoing observations, Iliave 

 seen in the last papers, that a petition has been 

 presented to our legislature for a change in the 

 road law. I am rejoiced that llie subject has been 

 thus brought up (or discussion — and without being 

 informed of what changes are sought to be obtain- 

 ed, I heartily wish success to the petition, tor 

 two reasons — 1st, because I believe that it is very 

 improbable that any change tor the worse can be 

 made— and 2ndly, if this very improbable event 

 should occur, it is as easy in Virginia to put down 

 a legal oppression while new, as it is difficult, al- 

 ter it has become a ''time honored" usage. 



SPADE HUSBANDRY EMPLOYMENT OF THE 



POOR IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



[The following is an interesting article, although the 

 time may never arrive when the low price of labor, 

 and the high prices of land and of its products, will 

 justify such practical operations in this country — at 

 least, for field culture. If Mr. Scott's views are cor- 

 rect, and his example should be extensively followed, 

 an important change will be produced in the political 

 as well as the agricultural state of Great Britain. But 

 without regard to these considerations, it is an import- 

 ant fact in agricultural science, and it seems well es- 

 tablished here, that the loosening, and reversing of the 

 position of a deep and strong soil to the depth of four- 

 teen inches, was not only found beneficial, to cleanse 

 and prepare the land ibr a wheat crop — but was more 

 efi'ectual than the very laborious and expensive sum- 

 m^'r fallow usual on the rich and stifi' Lothian soils, 

 where that operation has been considered as the most 

 perfect, and was the boast of Scottish husbandry. Mr. 

 Scott's summer fallow, as stated below, had six several 

 ploughings (on "furrows" as there called,) besides 

 suitable harrowings. Supposing the objection of the 

 British editor to the high price of these ploughings to 

 be well founded, there is another charge which might 

 be well made against these repeated summer plough- 

 ings, and which is not mentioned. This is the decom- 

 position and waste of vegetable and nutritive matter in 

 the'^soil, which we suppose must take place to an inju- 

 rious extent, where the soil is so often stirred and turn- 

 ed — and which is avoided in the later single, and much 

 deeper operation of trenching by spades. 



Extracted from the Quarterly Agricultural Report in tlie Edin- 

 burgh Quarterly Journal ol' Agriculture, for September 1834. 



The state of the laboring poor in England at- 

 tracts universal attention. 'J"he grievous thing for 

 English laborers is the want of employment. 

 Many plans have been devised to create employ- 

 ment for them. Among others, a clergyman of 

 the Church of England, the Reverend C. Garde- 

 ner, offered a premium of £ 100 to be given to 

 any person who can devise a better plan tl'ian the 

 present poor law of Scotland ibr finding employ- 

 ment for the surplus laborers of England. The 

 Ibllowing letter on the subject, written by Mr. Ar- 

 chibald Scott, tenant at Southfield, near Hadding- 

 ton, in East Lothian, was we understand, found 

 entitled to the reward. Mr. Scott, as will appear 



trom perusal of the letter, chalks out employment 

 to laborers by trenchingAvith the spade the ground 

 in autumn, which is usually devoted to fallowing 

 during summer. Upon this ground, with very lit- 

 tle manure, he raises a good crop of wheat. _ We 

 must allow our agricultural friends to judge of Mr. 

 Scott's plan for themselves. Our duty is to place 

 facts betbre them, and it is theirs to draw conclu- 

 sions from them. All that we shall say is, that 

 we have seen this year's crop of wheat raised as 

 described by Mr. Scott, and can attest its prolif- 

 icacy. Mr. Scott's letter is dated Southfield, 8th 

 March 1834, and addressed to the Rev. C. Garde- 

 ener. He says, 



"On glancing over last week's newspaper, I 

 observed £ 100 reward oflered for any better plan 

 than the present poor law of Scotland tbr finding 

 employment for the surplus laborers of England, 

 consequently making bread plenty, corn laws use- 

 less, enriching farmers, raising fallen rents, finding 

 a home market for manufiictures, and saving Irish 

 industry, the check of poor laws. 



"As I certainly felt very much gratified on pe- 

 rusing the advertisement, I determined to forward 

 to you my views on the subject; not that I had any 

 expectation of being entitled to the reward, but be- 

 cause I consider your liberal offer entitles you to 

 every information on so very important a subject. 



"It is impossible, fbr me at least, to ofhsr any 

 improvement on the present Scotch poor laws, and 

 as I presume you are thoroughly acquainted with 

 their workings, I shall forbear any further remark 

 than simply To state that only the aged, the sick, 

 and the infirm derive any benefit from them; and 

 that the able-bodied laborer, though he may find 

 it impossible to obtain work, has no claim to paro- 

 chial relief. This, I think, is just as it should be, 

 and is in reality a great blessing to the Scotch 

 peasantry; they are, in consequence, trained up 

 with notions of independence, as they are aware 

 that they have themselves, and themselves alone, 

 to look to for support, and the knowledge of this 

 makes them prudent, industrious, and economical. 



"Notwithstanduig all this, I am quite aware 

 that there are many cases of great hardship and 

 great individual distress, at particular seasons of 

 the year, from want of employment; but this, I am 

 afraid, cannot be satisfactorily remedied by any 

 system of poor laws or legislative enactments; it ia 

 the landed proprietors andtheir tenantry who alone 

 can do it, yet it becomes an object of paramount 

 importance to the landed interest of the kingdom. 



"I am quite convinced there is but one way of 

 emploj-ing the surplus population of England and 

 Ireland, and that is by a judicious introduction of 

 spade husbandry; and I am also convinced that a 

 system of management can be pointed out where- 

 by every laborer of Great Britain might be em- 

 ployed with profit to his employer and advantage 

 to the country. 



"I should think it will hardly be denied by any 

 one at all versant in agricultural operations, that 

 work done by the spade is superior to work done 

 by the plough, and that the only drawback is th« 

 great additional expense. Now, if I can show 

 that, at a particular period of the rotation, spade 

 husbandry is not only superior, but less expensive, 

 I shall have got over this difficulty. 



"To show that I am not a mere theorist, but a 

 practical man, I may mention that I rent a farm 

 from the Earl of Wemysa in East Lothian, con- 



