606 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



winter, and summer-fallow, wiih many ploughings 

 and harrowings, lor — 2, wheal ; — 3, oats ; — 4, 

 fallow; — 5, vviieat;— 6 oals, &c. &.c. Tiiis gen- 

 tleman, who tells lis he broke up and improved 150 

 arpents, has not ex|)iained how real improvement 

 is to be made witliout shoep or caiile. Where is 

 his winter Ibod in this preposterous course? If 

 these 450 arfjenis be really improved ihey have co^^t 

 him five times more than they are worth; but I sus- 

 pect they are — improved a la Turbiliy. It is mere 

 romance to think ol' improving wastes profitably 

 without a great flock oCsheef). The ideas ol'French 

 improvers seem rooted in a contrary spirit ; to the 

 present moment, there is no other plan than the 

 old one of corn. A publication of the year 1791, 

 Memoiresur V UtUite du Difiichement des Terres 

 de Castelnau-de-Aledoc, speaks of the same me- 

 thods — deraciner — laborer — herser — enseimncer — 

 froment — seigle, p. 5. The same views in every 

 part of the kingdom ; but when you inquire tor 

 cattle, you have, on some hundreds of acres, seven 

 cows, three mares, lour oxen, and no sheej)! 

 (p. 4.) 



As the subject is one of the most eesemial in 

 French agriculture, I will very briefly sketch the 

 right principles on which alone waste countries 

 can be improved to piofii. The rapid view which 

 is practicable lor a traveller to take, will allow no 

 more than an outline ; fully to oxjilain the process 

 would demand a distinct treatise. — 1. 'J'he build- 

 ings, upon which so mucii money is generally bo 

 uselessly employed, should, in a private underta- 

 king, be adapted to that sized farm, which lets in 

 the country most advantageously ; but, in a public 

 undertaking, they should be adapted to ihat sized 

 liirm which is most favorable to a beneficial culti- 

 vation of tlie soil ; in the latter case fiom 400 to 

 600 ceres. This attention to ihe scale ol the build- 

 ing* flows from the plan ol the improvement, 

 which is that of letting the land in farms, as fast 

 as it is well improved, and broujiht into tlie culii- 

 vation in which it ought afterwards to remain. But 

 whatever the size of the fijturc farms may be, the 

 strictest attention ought to be had to keeping this 

 part of the expenditure as low as possible ; it con- 

 tributes little to the productiveness of the land, ex- 

 cept what arises from convenient ofiices tor catile 

 and sheep. — 2, The next object is to buy a large 

 flock of sheep, to lieed on the lands in their waste 

 state, that are to be improved ; five hundred would 

 be a proper number to begin vvi.h. 'I'hese sheep 

 should be, as nearly as possible, such as the South 

 Downs of England ; of the French breeds, the 

 most profitable, and the best to procure, would be 

 those of Roussilion. It is of more consequence 

 to have a breed not too large, and well clothed 

 with a short firm fleece, tlian larger or more 

 expensive breeds. — 3, I'lie first summer should 

 be entirely employed in paring and burning, and 

 cultivating, at least, 100 acres of turnips and rape, 

 for the winter support of the sheep and |)lough- 

 oxen. Alter the turnip season is past, the paring 

 and burning to continue tor rye, artificial grasses 

 to be sown with the rye.— 4, Begin, as early in the 

 spring as possible, to pare and burn fresh waste, 

 first Tor a crop of potatoes, on liiteen or twenty 

 acres, and then for 200 acres of turnips. The 

 turnip land of list year to be sown with oais, 

 on three ploughings ; and with the oais, over fifty 

 acres, clover-seed to be sown. After the turnip 

 season is past, continue ptuing and burning for rye, 



as before. 'J'he laborers employed in the summer 

 on paring and burning, to work in the winter on 

 ditching, for formiuii inclosures ; the banks to be 

 planted wiih while thorti, and willows for making 

 fiurdles. — Tliis is suflicient to slate the leading 

 principles of the undertaking. Economy in the 

 execution demands that the laborers employed 

 should liave work constantly ; in summer paring 

 and burning, and managing the hay and corn har- 

 vest ; and in winter ditching; quarrying, il' there 

 be lime-stone on the premises, lor burning lime, 

 lor manure ; and, if not, digging and filling marl, 

 or chalk, or other manures which may be found 

 under the surface. In like manner the number of 

 masons and carpenters should be so regulated, irt 

 proportion to the works, so as to find constant 

 employment through the building season. 



'i'he courses of crops will explain the whole 

 business of tillage. On the land pared and burnt, 

 and planted with potatoes in the spring, the Ibl- 

 lowing rotation: 1, potatoes ; — 2, oats: — 3, tur- 

 nips : — 4, oats, and grass seeds for laying down. 



On the land pared and burnt, and sown with 

 turnips at midsummer : — 1, turnips : — 2, oats ; — 3, 

 turmps;— 4, oats, or barley, and grass seeds for 

 laying down. 



On the land pared and burnt, and sown with 

 rye in autumn : — 1, rye ;— 2, turnips ; — 3, oats ; — 4, 

 turnips;- 5, oais and grass seeds fur laying down. 

 All the turnips to be fed on the land with sheep, 

 by hurdling, except the small quantity that would 

 be wanted for the plough oxen. 



All the grasses to be mown the first year for 

 hay, and then pastured by sheep, for two, three, 

 tour, or more years, according to circumstances. 

 When they wear out, or betray indications of a 

 want of renewal, they may be broken up with a 

 certainty of yielding grain in plenty ; but no two 

 crops of white corn ever to be sown in succession: 

 by white corn is understood wheat, rye, barley, 

 and oats. 



A very easy, and, in some cases, effectual me- 

 thod of improving heaths, is by grubbing up the 

 plants that grow spontaneously, and spreading 

 lime upon the waste without any tillage, sowing 

 grass seeds and covering thero by the sheepfold : it 

 is surprising what a change is thus effected at the 

 smallest possible expense; soils, apparently mise- 

 rable, have been made at once worth the rent ol" 

 20s. per acre. 



It is not possible to give more than an outline in 

 such a sketch as this ; variations, arising from a 

 difference of soil, will occur; which, though not 

 considerable, must be marked with care, or useless 

 expenses will olten be incurred. The method just 

 hinted at is particularly applicable upon those 

 wastes, which are, in culture, sterile, fi'om abound- 

 ing with the vitriolic acid ; the case of many in 

 Breiagne ; where podding stone is found in some 

 districts at six to eight inches under the surface: 

 cultivation on such, by the plough, may be so 

 tedious and expensive, that the mere paring and 

 burning, and aji|)lication of a calcareous manure, 

 lime or marl, with grass seeds, and Ibid, as above- 

 mentioned, would be much the best improvement, 

 as I have myself experienced, in a country more 

 vitriolic and sterile than any wastes I saw in Bre- 

 tagne. 



The pi ogress of i lie flock will, by its procreation, 

 show what may be the given progress of such an 

 improvement, providing 'urnips, in the proportion 



