630 



J^ARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 10 



was the brightest ; the gas was (ully up, tlie nation 

 was alive ; all was activity and business.'' 



But at this tinio the battle of Waterloo came, 

 find wiih it [(cace and low prices. Farmers could' 

 not sustain their extravagance — Ihey had been 

 unable to bear prosperity — and their (iirtns (ell into 

 the hands of more prudent managers. We Irave 

 seen much oi' the same routine ol' industry, ex- 

 travairance and poverty, among (he.farmers.ofqul* 

 own country. Not willing to ' let well enqugh 

 alone,' they have embarked in speeulalion, or in 

 pursuits to which they were stranirers, and have 

 <Tone iuto extravagancies and lollies, to ape the 

 •rreat, whicii their means did not warrant, and 

 which neither their comlbri nor the vvellhre oftlieii' 

 children required. The. consequence often has 

 been, that, like the indiscreet Scotch farmer, their 

 lands have come into the possession of more pru- 

 dent managers. 



But though Scotch farmers failed, from not 

 knowing how to bear prosperity, Scotch husban- 

 dry did not retrograde. 



"In 1815, the turnip husliandry had jrot a firm 

 hold in the country — the benefit accruing from it 

 was so apparent, that no convulsion in the market 

 prices could make the farmers forsake it." 



Yet the culture was limited, owing first to tlie 

 want of manure to leed the turnip crop, destined 

 )o fatten the larm slock; and secondly, to the ex- 

 pense of driving their cattle to a distant market. 

 Two discoveries removed these impediments. The 

 first, " the most important," says our author, "that 

 ever occurred in the annals of agriculture, viZ., 

 that of bone Jusi," and the second, the application 

 nf steam, by our countryman, Fulton, to the [)ro- 

 pelling ol' vessels, which enabled the Scotch (in-iner 

 to transport his I'at animals to Smithfield market, 

 at a moderate expense. "So palpable was the 

 benefit to be derived from the use of bone manure, 

 that in a few years there was not a farmer who 

 did not avail himself of it. The farmers could 

 now grow turnips to any extent, and the bare fal- 

 low was exploded." We have bone dust, and 

 poudrette, and other newly discovered means of 

 i'erlility, which the farmer is shy of .buying and 

 using. We have tried them all, and are satisfied 

 both of th^ir utility and the economy of their ap- 

 plication, especially upon naturally dry or well 

 drained soils. They add much to the products of 

 agricultural labor, without any tiling like a corres- 

 ponding outlay. The Scotch farmer could now 

 grow turnips to any extent. He could (iuien upon 

 these his stock, and he could send this stock to 

 market at a trivial expense, for the "steam engine 

 had become his drover." 



But another — a third improvement followed, 

 which we have yet to learn the value of— we mean 

 furrow draining on fiat and tenacious soils. Hear 

 what our author says upon lliis subject : 



" No man holdinsi land ought to be ignorani of 

 the thorough or Deanston drain. Mr. Smith, 

 deeply engaged in the cotton spinning trade, could 

 not procure a fall of water on the river Teith, ten 

 miles west of the castle of Sterling, without rent- 

 ing along with it a considerable |)ortion of very 

 bad and wet land. Not liking to have a heavy 

 rent to pay for such trash, Mr. Smith turned his 

 powerful mind to the subject, and perceiving the 

 iblly of throwing away large sums of money on 

 deep and useless drains, wiih all the stuff of tap- 

 ping and boring, to calch the water, as if it were a 



wild beast for which gins and traps must be laid, 

 hit on the idea of making drains in parallel lines 

 in the hollow of every ridge, cutting them to the 

 depth of thiriy inches, filling iheni with small 

 stones hall way to the surface, above this putting 

 a green turl' reversed, and replacing the mould. 

 Following up his first discovery by ploughing 

 deep, he has now a liirm of the finest land ever - 

 seen ; arid so convinced is the writer of the utility 

 of ihisinode of draining, that each year he has 

 been increasing the quantity he has made, a/id 

 during ihe last twelve months has'put in abovefif- 

 leen miles. Nor is the Deanston druin coriflned 

 to those parts of the country where sioue or gravel 

 can be procured: the same system can be and is 

 followed with llie some effect, by using the Mar- 

 quis of Tweeddale's tile ; or even the poorest far- 

 mer, who has not capital to undertake cosily im*, 

 provements, can fertilize his liirm by making the. 

 thirty inch drains and filling them with brushwood. 

 It is" perleclly wonderful to ■behold the mighty 

 change this thorough-drain system is^makiug in 

 the different parts ol the country where it is m op- 

 eration : wet land is made dry, [loor weeping clays, 

 are converted into turnip soil, and even what 

 would formerly have been accounted dry, is ad-. 

 vanced in quality. Whole parishes iu the vicinity 

 of Siirling are com|)letely iranslbrmed iioin uirn 

 sighily marshes inlobeautilul and rich wheat fields,, 

 and w'here.the plough could scarcely be driven lor 

 slush and water, we see heavy crops per acre and 

 heavy weight per bushel, the quantity and quality 

 ahke improved." * * * * * . 



"It is the greatestquantityproduced at the cheap- 

 est rate that will ever make a prosperous trade, 

 if wheat is low in price, the farmer must bestir 

 himself. Jjet him remember ihat if he can but, 

 grow one or tw,o quarters more per acre, he will be 

 in a better position, even with the low price, tjaan* 

 he was belbre." 



In speaking of the Highland Society, the writer 

 enumerates the IJjllowiug means which that society 

 adopted, as contributing largely to the migliiy ad- 

 vance ol' the agriculture of Scotland : 



"Inihe days of its youth and feebleness, the 

 Highland Society sent the leaven of the turnip 

 husbandry inio all the glens and straths of the 

 north, by offers of small prizes to certain Highland 

 parishes ; and the same may be said as to the 

 growth of clover and the finer grasses. As it ad- 

 vanced in strength, (as to numbers and to cash,) 

 attention was turned to premiums for stock ; then 

 came offers of reward to men of science to disco- 

 ver better implements and machines, to diminish 

 friction and consequently draught, such as in the 

 thrashing mill and other parts of agricultural ma- 

 chinery. Still advancing in the scale of intellect 

 and of science, premiums wei'p. offered for essays 

 to bring to light the ii»?.ts connected with chemis- 

 try and natural philosophy ; and, under Ihe aus- 

 pices of the society, was set up the 'Quarterly 

 Journal of Agriculture,' a work which has been 

 the vehicle of conveying so much useful informa- 

 tion to the agriculturist, that we humbly venture 

 to say it ought to appear 6n the table and book 

 shelf of every ftiriner's parlor. After this, the 

 great stock shows were resolved upon, as another 

 link of union between the society and the practical 

 farmer, at the same time throwing aside all paltry 

 feeling, and making them open to stock from both 

 sides "of the Tweed, [i. e. Irom England as well 



