1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



95 



bad compensation for eight loads of excellent 

 dunif.) This present season-, an acre on tiie same 

 land (part of my turiiip-l;iiiows) produced 57(5 

 bushels, but the wet state ol" the soil when talcen 

 up, and beinfi a veiretable of uneven surlace, 

 which causes the soil to aelhere to it more than to 

 a potaloe, renders it dillicult to cotne at the exact 

 quantity. From an experiment ( made of wash- 

 ing a sack, I can safely assert, I have 580 bushels 

 of clean roots; whilst the vegetables on our flat 

 gravels do not equal this by full 50 per cent, in 

 value, except the polatoe, which produced 308 

 bushels on the same soil. I never- could raise 

 more in favorable seasons. 



"The cultivation of the artichoke is the same as 

 of the potatoe, except that it re(]uires to be set ear- 

 ly — not later than March; if laid above ground all 

 winter, it is proof against the severest frost. 

 When once cleaned, no weed can live in its dense 

 shade; horses, beasts, and sheep consume it with 

 avidity; pigs prefer a potatoe to it in its raw state, 

 but prefer the artichoke when boiled or steamed. 

 It attracts the game in a most extraordinary way; 

 they resort to its shade in autumn; it forms one of 

 the finest covers in nature. We are so fortunate 

 as to have but little game in our lordships; I do 

 not recollect ever having seen even a Swedish 

 turnip bitten by a hare or rabbit, notwithstandinij; 

 fhe}^ will consume the artichokes left by the men 

 in securing them. 



If potatoes can be profitably cultivated as food 

 for cattle, compared with Swedish turnips, nian- 

 gelwurtzel, the sugar beet, &c. (which I nmch 

 doubt,) the artichoke is vastly superior to them. 

 The expense of culture is no more; it is not liable 

 to be injured by frost; can be taken up at pleasure; 

 it produces at least 30 per cent, more, and on poor 

 land full 50 per cent., is far more nutritious, and 

 leaves the land perfectly clean. The only objec- 

 tion that can be urged against their cultivation for 

 cattle in competition with potatoes, is, that they 

 require more care in taking them up. The frost 

 not acting upon them so as to destroy vegetation, 

 what are missed will, of course, grow among the 

 succeedincr crop, but I have found very little incon- 

 venience in this respect." 



From the British Farmer's Magazine. 

 RENEFtCIAL EFFECTS OF BONE MANURE. 



The very interesting details of the efficacy of 

 the bones of animals when employed as manure, 

 as set forth in Mr. Johnson's paper in your last 

 number, induces me to trouble you with a short 

 relation of their lasting effects on a small farm 

 with which I was intimately connected. 



On the northern slope of the river Colne. which 

 separates the counties of Buckinghamshire and 

 Middlesex, and within a mile or two of the town 

 of Rickmersworth, lies a little farm which is 

 famed for its great fertility. The lands on each 

 side of this little Goshen were of the same quality, 

 had the same south-east aspect, and were in every 

 respect simdar to the little farm itself; but the 

 crops on this were invariably and constantly better 

 than on the neighboring fields. It was an appen- 

 dage to a much larger farm at some several miles' 

 distance, at which the owner resided, and at 

 which his numerous flocks and herds were kept; 



except a score' or two of store sheep, which were 

 occasionally sent to have the run of the leys and 

 stubbles of the small liirm. 



The system of cropping was the same on this 

 as on the purrounding farms, namely, the five- 

 course: — fallow lor turnips — barley and seeds — clo- 

 ver mowed twice — wheat — oats. But whatever 

 were the crops, they were always superior, and 

 created envious feelings among the surrounding 

 liirmers. I, as one of these, set my head to work, 

 to discover what local circumstance could possibly 

 render this spot more productive than the Iand3 

 adjoining. It was, like all other land sloping to 

 the east, of a deeper staple, and a finer loam, than 

 the more abrupt and gravelly or rocky slopes 

 which faced the westward. For this is a geologi- 

 cal tact, and observable over all the continents of 

 Europe, Africa, Asia, and America, that the west- 

 ern sides of all their hills are more precipitous than 

 the eastern; and the western shores of these con- 

 tinents are more abrupt and broken than the 

 eastern. 



This has been accounted for by the supposition 

 that the grand current of the Noachian deluge 

 flowed from the westward, washing hare the 

 western sides of hills and continents, and deposit- 

 ing the finer earths, thus removed, on the eastera 

 slopes, as we find them at the present day. 



That the surface of the little farm we are no- 

 ticing was oi' this diluvial deposit, was very evi- 

 dent; bat not more so than the other lands to the 

 south and north of it; and yet, as already staled, 

 it was of superior fertility. 



In questioning an aged laborer who had long 

 been employed on and about the said farm, as to- 

 how long it had had the character of being emi- 

 nently productive? he answered, ever since it was 

 farmed by the grandfather of the present owner^ 

 who, he said, was a very curious man in his farm- 

 ing; for he not only chalked all his land, but limed 

 it fi-equendy for turnips. And besides laying on it 

 all the yard dung, he used to buy all other kinds 

 of dress he could muster from the skinners and 

 curriers of the neighborino; town. But. above all, 

 he used to collect bones from all the dog kennels 

 around, had them broken into small pieces with 

 sledge hammers, and spread them upon, and 

 ploughed them into, the land, for an}'- crop he 

 wished to raise; and this he continued to do as 

 long as he lived. 



At his death this dressing with bones was given 

 up; his son thinking them of no great value; and 

 the larger farm at which he resided engrossing his 

 chief attention, the small larm was but seldom 

 visited, notwithstanding it still continued to main- 

 tain its old character. 



The operations of the grandfather in improving 

 his little farm, must have been carried on about 

 1765, and were almost forgotten till about fifteen 

 years ago. when a Lincolnshire bailiff was hired 

 to superintend the business of a large farm in the 

 immediate neighborhood. This stranger began 

 his improvements by applying crushed bones upon 

 his turnip fallows, and upon some of his upland 

 meadows. And when this was observed by the 

 old laborer before alluded to, he declared that it 

 reminded him of what he had seen done when he 

 was a boy, by his old master on the little farm. 



The discussions which took place among the 

 farmers, as to the efi'ects and value of bone ma- 

 nure, as recom.mended by the Lincolnshire bailiff, 



