1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



81 



ter, and that an acre ol" boet altords ilouble the 

 weight per acre of rutabaga, and tlie nutritive 

 matter in the same weight being nearly equal, an 

 acre of beet should leed twice as nuich stock as 

 an acre of Swedes, and as much as an acre of po- 

 tatoes ol" ten tons. On hianiy days, great quanti- 

 ties of winter lood may be produced fi'oni beet and 

 cabbages; and experience has shown tliat Ian- 

 crops may be obtained on more indlH'erent soils, 

 and with less manure tlian general opinion untler- 

 etands. White turnips and cabbages will leed 

 through November and December, then beet and 

 Swedes will ser\'e lill the end of June. I have 

 been some tmie of opinion that cabbages, beet, 

 and potatoes are often too late in beit'g planted in 

 the spring; and that the crops are much hurt by 

 being exposed to the hot suns of summer belbre 

 they have attained sutiicient strength, and belore 

 they have produced a shade by their leaves to re- 

 tain moisture and protect the roots against the in- 

 fluence of that scorching element. Tlie objection 

 is, that these stiti" lands cannot be got ready soon- 

 er in the spring; but this might be remedied by 

 preparing the land the previous autumn, and lay- 

 ing it dry during the winter. When I visited the 

 Duke of Porllaiurs farm at Welbeck, in 1834, 1 

 much admired a field of lieavy loam prepared and 

 drilled up to be planted with cabbages in the Ibl- 

 lowing spring. This must be a great advantage; 

 the dung may be applied during the first dry 

 weather; the drills reversed: a fresh tilth is thus 

 produced lor immediately planting the crops. The 

 cabbages might be planted in autumn, but would 

 certainly be destroyed if near a preserve of game; 

 and if the manure were applied in autumn, it 

 might be wasted belbre the roots of the plants 

 come in contact with it. Winter and spring 

 vetches rank liigh in the scale of green crops, and 

 are either eaten on the ground by sheep, or cut lor 

 stall feeding. As to eating on the ground, I am 

 of the same opinion as in the case of turnips, and ! 

 would always preler to have the tares cut and ! 

 eaten in the racks. As tares can be grown on 

 damp soils, the sheep trample and waste a quanti- 

 ty, which will amply pay the expense of cutting 

 and racking, and the animals will be more com- 

 fortable. J'ares are invaluable as green Ibod for 

 horses in well-litiered yards: manure may be ob- 

 tained in great quantities, if proper yards be pro- 

 vided and litter amply su[)plied. But it all green 

 crops were raised in profusion, the lull value never 

 can be obtained, until larm buildings undergo a 

 complete revolution; lor we must call it farming 

 when we see one or two large yards and the straw 

 blown about by the wind, the moisture of the 

 whole Ikrraery running on the road, or forming a 

 useless stench-pool behind the yards. Even in 

 the most complete plans of farmeries, furnished 

 by our best modern publications on the subject, 

 we find little or no attention paid to the accoirimo- 

 dation of swine, those excellent maniilaciurers oi' 

 manure. They run about at pleasure, and lie 

 where they can find a corner; and on farms of 500 

 acres only one or two sties are found. In place 

 of such neglect, I would have a large square or 

 circular yard, with sheds appropriated lor store 

 pigs sunk at least two teet below the adjoining 

 level, and regularly and deeply littered with straw, 

 firm, and alternate layers of any vegetable sub- 

 stances that can be got; the yard being first bot- 

 tomed with a thick etratum of loamy soil from old 

 Vol. VI-11 



fences, head-lands, and ditches. Around this 

 yard, and with back doors opening into it, may be 

 ranged a number of sties for breeding and feeding; 

 the store pigs in the yard to be am[)ly su|)plied 

 with clover and tares during summer, and (luring 

 winter with beet and cabbages, turnips and pota- 

 toes. Abundance of litter is indispensable; and if 

 it be objected, as usual, that it is expensive and 

 will not pay. it is difficult to know what will pay; 

 for by increasing manure produce is increased, and 

 without produce profits cannot be got. Kye and 

 rape are much sown as catch crops, in the south- 

 ern counties, for sheep feed, and on suitable soils 

 they supply a bite when most wanted, li'om a de- 

 ficiency oi the heavier crops. But being usually 

 sown from want of manure, and for feeding on the 

 land before a regular crop, they do not enter into 

 the number of the cultivated green crops. 



In order to extend the cultivation of green crops, 

 draining is a primary and indispensable requisite. 

 From want of this operation much of the value of 

 the dung and lime now applied on retentive soils 

 is lost; and were it efiiectnally performed, the 

 number of acres capable of producing green crops 

 Vi^ould be greatly increased. But we see hun- 

 dreds of acres very suitable for such crops that 

 have never been employed in that way, and it 

 may be very justly observed, that the cultivation 

 of tliese soils might be expected to precede the 

 improvements by draining wet lands at a very 

 considerable expense. This neglect shows the 

 most culpable negligence: the production of such 

 crops on drained lands might tend to rouse from 

 their apathy the owners and cultivators of these 

 neglected soils. The system of tile draining was 

 introduced some years ago by the Duke of Port- 

 land, on his estates in Ayrshire, in Scotland, 

 where it has been attended with very beneficial 

 results. The climate of Ayrshire is one of the 

 wettest in the kingdom; the soil is mostly loam, or 

 loamy clays, on a bottom of the most obdurate 

 and impenetrable clays anywhere to be found. 

 The drains are in the furrows, or at regular dis- 

 tances, and the land flat, twenty- four inches deep, 

 and covered above the tiles with straw and porous 

 earth. The tenant performs all carriages, and the 

 draining is executed by the proprietor, at an e.x- 

 pense of about £5 or £6 per acre, according to 

 the breadth of the ridges, for which the tenant 

 pays 5 per cent, or 6s. an acre, nearly. At the 

 end of a lease of twenty years, the capital is re- 

 paid, and tlie land much improved in value; (or it 

 IS conlessed by the farmers themselves, that they 

 have now four crops for three befiire, in three 

 years, wholly owing to tlie cultivation of green 

 crops after draining. Here is a great and lasting 

 improvement effected without the aid of the Chan- 

 cellor of the Exchequer, and forms a valuable 

 contrast with the vapid declamations of dinner 

 orators about the currency and one-pound notes. 

 The protluce is increased to pay the tenant's out- 

 lay; the proprietor has a regularly paid interest — • 

 a sure investment (or his capital — and the land to 

 be let at a highly improved value. The enabling 

 a farmer to grow heavy crops of potatoes and cab- 

 bages on clays where no attempt could be reason- 

 ably made previously on such soils, is the true 

 way to benefit the farmer, and not to delude him 

 with glittering oratory and visionary projects, 

 which never advance beyond the speaker's lips. 

 This system of draining is extending in East Lo- 



