FARMERS' REGISTER 



309 



iloubt that it greatly exceeds it. The turnip crop 

 returns a vast, amount of nutritive matter to the 

 soil. The farmer, then, from his green crops, and 

 by a regular system of rotation, finds green feed 

 lor his cattle and wheat for the market. 



Among the lighter English soils, is that of the 

 county oi' Norfolk; a county, however, which he 

 had not the pleasure to visit. Its soil, he under- 

 stood, is light, a little inclined to sand, or light 

 loam. Such soils are not unfavorable to roots. 

 Here is the place of the rpmarknble cultivation 

 and distinguished improvements of that eminent 

 cultivator, Mr. Coke, now Earl of Leicester.* In 

 these lands, he understood, a common rotation is 

 turnips, barley, clover, wheat. These lands re- 

 semble much of the land in our county of Ply- 

 mouth ; and the sandy lands to be found in the 

 vicinity of the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers. 

 The cultivation of green crops in New England 

 deserves attention. There is no incapacity in our 

 soil ; and there are no circumstances unfavorable 

 to (heir production. What would be the best kind 

 of succulent vegetables to be cultivated, whether 

 turnips, or carrots, he was not prepared to say. 

 But no attempts within his knowledge had been 

 made among us of a systematic agriculture; and 

 until we enter upon some regular rotation of crops, 

 and our husbandry becomes more systematic, no 

 distinguished success can be looked for. As to 

 our soil, as had been remarked, tliere is no inhe- 

 rent incapacity for the production of any of the 

 common crops. We could raise wheat in Massa- 

 chusetts. The average crop in England is twenty- 

 eix bushels to the acre. From his own fiirm, and 

 it was comparatively a thin and poor soil, he had 

 obtained this summer seventy-six bushels of 

 wheat upon three acres of land. It is not, there- 

 fore, any want of capability in the soil ; but the 

 improvement and success of our husbandry must 

 depend upon a succession of crops adapted to the 

 circumstances of our soil, climate aad peculiar con- 

 dition. 



In England, a large portion of the turnip crop is 

 consumed on the land where it grows. The sheep 

 are fed out of doors all winter ; and he saw many 

 large flocks, thousands and millions ofsheep, which 

 were never housed. This was matter of surprise, 

 especially considering the wetness of the climate ; 

 and these sheep were often exposed in fields where 

 a dry spot could not be found for them to lie down 

 upon. Sheep were often folded in England by 

 wattled fences or hurdles temporarily erected in dif- 

 ferent parts, of the field, and removed from place to 

 place as the portions of the crop were consumed. 

 In some cases they were folded and the turnips dug 

 and carried to them. In such case they were al- 

 ways fed upon lands which were intended the 

 next year to be, as far as practicable, brought un' 

 der cultivation. He had seen many laborers in 

 fields, employed in drawing the turnips, splitting 



nure is valued at 4s. sterling; sheep at 3s.; horse at 4s.; 

 pigs, poultry, &c. at 3s. per load ; size of load not given; 

 making a grand total of £ 59,860,000 sterling, or nearly 

 300,000,000 dollars. This is understood to be " exclu- 

 sive of quantity dropped by cattle on land during supi- 

 mer, autumn, &.C., perhaps one third more ; and ex- 

 clusive of lime, moss, shells, fish, bone dust, &c." — 

 McQueen's British Stasistics, p. 51. H. C. 



* He has increased the rental of his farms by his 

 improvements, from twenty-five to two hundred thou- 

 sand dollars a year, H. C. 



them and scattering them over the land, for the 

 use of the sheep, which was considered better, of- 

 ten, than to leave the sheep to dig lor themselves. 

 These laborers would be so employed all winter, 

 and if the ground should become frozen, the tur- 

 nips are taken up with a bar. Together with the 

 turnips, it is thought important that sheep should 

 have a small (juantity of other food. Chopped hay, 

 sometimes a little oil cake, or oats, is usually giv- 

 en. This is called trough food, as it is eaten in 

 troughs, standing about in the field. In so moist 

 a climate as that ol" England some land is so wet, 

 that, in the farmers' phrase, it will not carry sheep ; 

 that is, it is quite too wet lor sheep to lie upon it. 

 In such cases the turnips must be carried, that is, 

 removed from the field, and fed out elsewhere. 

 The last season was uncommonly wet, and for that 

 reason, perhaps, he could not so well Judge, but it 

 appeared to him it would be an improvement in 

 English husbandry to furnish for sheep, oftener 

 than is done, not only a tolerably dry ground to lie 

 on, but some sort of shelter against the cold rains 

 of winter (a.) The turnips, doubtless, are more 

 completely consumed, when dug, split, and fed out. 

 The Swedish turnip, he had little doubt, was best 

 suited to cold climates. It was scarcely injured by 

 being frozen in the ground in the winter, as it would 

 thaw agam, and be still good in spring. In Scot- 

 land, in the Lothians, where cultivation is equal to 

 that in any part of England, it is more the practice 

 than farther south, to house turnips, or draw them, 

 and cover them from frost (b.) He had been greatly 

 pleased with Scotch farming, and as the climate 

 and soil of Scotland more resembled the soil and 

 climate of Massachusetts, than those of England 

 did, he hoped the farmers of Massachusetts would 

 acquaint themselves, as well as they could, with 

 Scotch husbandry. He had had the pleasure 

 of passing some time in Scotland, with persons 

 engaged in these pursuits, and acknowledged him- 

 selt 'much instructed by what he learned from them, 

 and saw in their company. The great extent of 

 the use of turnips, and other green crops, in Scot- 

 land, is evidence that such crops cannot be altoge- 

 ther unsuited to Massachusetts. 



Mr. Webster proceeded to state, that one ofthe 

 things which now attracted much attention among 

 agriculturists in England, was the subject of tile 

 draining. This most efficient and successful mode 

 of draining is getting into very extensive use. M uch 

 of the soil of England, as he had already stated, 

 rested on a clayey and retentive sub-soil. Exces- 

 sive wetness is prejudicial and destructive to the 

 crops. Marginal drains, or drains on the outside 

 of the fields, do not produce the desired results. 

 These tile drains have effected most important 

 improvements. The tile itself is made of clay, 

 baked like bricks ; about one foot in length, four 

 inches in width, three fourths of an inch in thick- 

 ness, and stands from six to eight inches in height, 

 being hemispherical, or like the half of a cylinder, 

 wi'h its sides elongated. It resembles the Dutch 

 tiles sometimes seen on the roofs ofthe old houses 

 in Albany and New York, A ditch is sunk eigh- 

 teen or twenty inches in depth, and these drains 

 are multiplied, over a field, sometimes at a dis- 

 tance of only seven yards apart (c.) The ditch, or 

 drain, being dug, these tiles are laid down, with the 

 hollow side at bottom, on the smooth clay, or any 

 other firm subsoil, the sides placed near to each 

 other, some little straw thrown over the joints to 



