SOS 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



etroniily atlracted the attention and inquiries of 

 men ol science. They li;ive ytiulied particularly 

 the nature ot" the soil. More than twenty years 

 aL'o, Sir Humphry Davy undertook to treat the 

 suhjectof the apphcaiion oi' chen):cal knowledge 

 to airricuiture in the analysis ot soils and manures. 

 The'sanie attention has heen continued to the 

 euhject ; and the extraordinary discoveries and 

 advances in chemical science, since his lime, are 

 likely to operate greatly to the advantage ofagri- 

 cullure. The best results may be expected from 

 them. These inquiries are now prosecuted in 

 France with great enthusiasm and success. We 

 may hope lor like beneficial results here from the 

 application of science to the same objects. 



But although the circumstances of climate and 

 situation andnature of the soil form permanent 

 distinctions, which caimot be changed, yet there 

 are other differences, resulting from diHerent modes 

 of culture, and ditierent forms of applying labor ; 

 and it is to these differences that our attention 

 should be particularly directed. Here, there is 

 much to learn. English cultivation is more scien- 

 tific, more systemauc,.,and more exact, a great 

 deal than ours. This is partly the result of neces- 

 sity. A vast population is to be supported on com- 

 paratively a small surface. Lands are dear, rents 

 are high, and hands, as well as mouths, are nume- 

 rous. 'Careful and skilful cultivation is the natu- 

 ral result of this stale oi" things. An English farm- 

 er looks not merely to the present year's crop. 

 He considers what will be the condition of the 

 land, when that crop is off; and what it will be fit 

 Ibr, the next year. He studies to use his land, 

 so as not to abuse it. On the contrary, his aim is 

 to get crop after crop, and still the land shall be 

 growing belter and better. If he would content 

 himself with raisinij from the soil a large crop this 

 year, and then leavintr it neglected and exhaust- 

 ed, he would starve. It is upon this lundamental 

 idea of constant production without exhaustion, 

 that the system of English cultivation, aiul indeed 

 of all good cultivation, is founded. England is 

 not original in this. Flanders, and perhaps Italy 

 have been her teachers. This system is carried 

 out in practice, by a well considered rotation ol 

 crop^. The form, or manner of this rotation, in a 

 given case, is determined very much by the value 

 of the soil, and partly by the local demand ibr 

 particular products. But some rotation, some 

 succession, some variation in the annual produc- 

 tions ol' the same land, id essential. No tenant 

 could obtain a lease, or if he should, could pay his 

 rent and maintain his family, who should wholly 

 disregard this. While crops are not to follow one 

 another. White crops are wheat, barley, rye, oats, 

 &c. Our maize, or Indian corn, must be considered 

 a white crop; although from the quantity of stalk 

 and leal' which it produces, and which are such 

 excellent food (or cattle, it is less exhausting than 

 some other white crops ; or to speak more pro- 

 perly, it makes greater returns to the land. Green 

 crops are turnips, potatoes, beets, vetches or tares, 

 (which are usually eaten while growing, by cattle 

 and sheep or cut Ibr green food,) and clover. 

 Buck or beech wheat, and winter oats, thought to 

 be a very useful product, are regarded also as 

 green crops, when eaten on the land ; and so in- 

 deed may any crop be considered, which is used 

 in this way. But the turnip is the great green 

 crop of England. Its cultivation has wrought such 



changes, in fifty years, that it may be said to have 

 revolutionized English agriculture. 



Belbre that time, when lands become exhausted 

 by the re()eiilion of grain crops, they were lelt, as 

 it was termed, fallow; that is, were not cultivated 

 at all, but abandoned to recruit themselves as they 

 might. This occurred as often as every fourth 

 year, so that one quarter of the arable land was 

 always out of cultivation and yielded nothing. 

 Turnips are now substituted in the place of these 

 naked (allows; and now land in turiiipe is consi- 

 dered as fallow. What is the philosophy of this? 

 The raising of crops, even of any the most favor- 

 able crop, does not in itself enrich, but in some 

 degree, exhausts the land. The exhaustion of the 

 land, however, as experience and observation 

 have fully demonstrated, takes place mainly when 

 the seeds of a plant are allowed to perfect them- 

 selvea. The turnip is a biennial plant. It does 

 not perfect its seed belbre it is consumed. There 

 is another circumstance in respect to the turnip 

 plant, which deserves consideration. 



Plants, it is well understood, derive a large por- 

 tion of their nutriment (rom the air. The ieavea 

 of plants are their lungs. The leaves of turnips 

 expose a wide surface to the atmosphere, and de- 

 rive, therefore, much of their subsistence and nu- 

 triment from these sources. The broad leaves of 

 the turnips likewise shade the ground, preserve 

 its moisture, and prevent, in some measure, its 

 exhaustion by the sun and air. 



The turnips have a farther and ultimate use. 

 Meat and clothing come from animals. The more 

 animals are sustained upon a farm, the more meat 

 and the more clothing. These things bear, of 

 course, a proportion to the number of bullocks, 

 sheep, swine, and poultry which are maintained. 

 The great inquiry then is, what kind of crops will 

 least exhaust the land in their cultivation, and fur- 

 nish, at the same time, support to the largest 

 number of animals 1 



A very large amount of land in England is cul- 

 tivated in turnips. Fields of turnips of three, four, 

 and even five hundred acres are sometimes seen, 

 though the common fields are much less ; and it 

 may be observed here, that in the richest and best 

 cultivated parts of England, enclosures often, fif- 

 teen, twenty, or thirty acres, seemed more com- 

 mon. Since the introduction of the turnip culture, 

 bullocks and sheep have trebled in number. Tur- 

 nips, for the reasons given, are not great exhaust- 

 ers of the soil ; and they furnish abundant food Ibr 

 animals. Let us suppose, that one bushel of oats 

 or barley may be raised at the same cost as ten 

 bushels of turnips ; and will go as (ar in support of 

 stock. The great dift'erence in the two crops is to 

 be (bund in the farmer's barn yard. Here is the 

 test of their comparative value. This is the 

 secret of the great advantages, which follow from 

 their cultivation. The value of manure in agri- 

 culture is well appreciated. M'Queen stales the 

 extraordinary fact, that the value of the animal 

 manure annually applied to the crops in England, 

 at current prices, surpasses in value the whole 

 amount of its foreign commerce.* There is nO' 



* This is a very extraordinary fact, but it rests upon 

 good authority ; and when it is considered that this is 

 of course the product of agriculture, as well as going 

 in the great circle, to renew and extend these products, 

 we must have strong impressions of the amazing 

 extent of this great interest. In this case, cattle ma- 



