6t8 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 11 



bestial of my predecessor be'fbre his departure. 



For the first twenty days little diilererice ol'grovvth 

 appeared; which inclines me lo think, that the 

 eating oi' grass land, in the sj"''!',^ qiiarler, when 

 the weather is cold and blasly, is liighly pernicions 

 and destructive. About the end oi' the nionih, 

 however, some soil genial rains having ('alien, the 

 fields assumed a fine verdure; and a full bite was 

 shortly thereal'ter obtained. My Hither sent me 

 half a score oi" Highland cattle, and recommend- 

 ed, that I should atiend some of the neighboring 

 markets, and endeavor to purchase such further 

 stock as migiit be wanted. Accordingly, I at- 

 tended the fair at and having pitched upon 



eight decent three-year old country stots, which 

 nught be partly led in sum.mcr, and completed 

 upon turnip in winter, I ventured to request the 

 opinion of a celebrated and well known grazier, 

 concerning their value. His reply mortified me 

 exceedingly, especially as it was delivered so au- 

 dibly, that one-half of the market might have 

 heard it. " What," cried he aloud, " does the ap- 

 prentice of the great Mr. Jamieson stand in need 

 of the advice of a hobledehoy like me 1 Go back 

 to Barnhill, and complete your apprenticeship." 

 Touched to the quick by such a sarcastic reply, I 

 turned about, and left the gentleman ; and, though 

 dubious of possessing sutficient skill, ventured to 

 conclude the purchase upon the lowest terms that 

 cculd he made with the seller. Since that time, 

 iffly lather has been here, and assures me that the 

 bargain is a very decent one ; which is satislactory 

 information. 



The working horses remain in middling condi- 

 tion, notwithstanding they have been twice each 

 daj' fed with oats since the turnip sov/ing was fin- 

 ished. The clover grass is rather getting coarse, 

 which is much against them, and in all appearance 

 it will be fully three weeks, before the second crop 

 is ready lor the scythe. I feel the want of tares — 

 an article of horse Ibod indispensably necessary at 

 this period of the year; but next season, shall take 

 care to provide an abundant supply. Where tares 

 are neglected, the deficiency may be made up, by 

 pasturing a piece of the clover field for ten or 

 twelve days, at Whitsunday or the first of June ; 

 in which way fresh grass may be obtained, at the 

 time when tares are required. A farmer in the 

 neighborhood Ibllowed the plan mentioned ; and, 

 at this lime, has soft young grass (or his horses, 

 whilst m.ine is hard, coarse and unpalatable. The 

 seasoned horses purchased in the neighborhood, 

 have all along kept in better condition than those 

 brought from the west countr>7. 



One of the lallow fields of "the thin clay soil, has 

 received dung, and was ploughed thereafter as ex- 

 peditiously as possible. This field contains 14 

 Scotch acres, to which 168 carts of duns were ap- 

 plied, and seems to be in excellent condition. I 

 have cleared out the headland and gau, furrows, 

 in case the usual Lammas flood shall tbilow ; and, 

 if weeds do not appear, mean to sow it with 

 wheat, in the first week of September if possible. 

 Should it take on the slightest growth beibre that 

 period, I will give another ploughing ; though, 

 being well rounded up, I would rather wish" to 

 sow it upon the present ridge. The other fallow 

 fields are to be duni'ed immediately. Jlcspecting 

 this branch of work, the injunctions of my father 

 are very particular. He repeateiily told me when 

 here — '"Take out your dung to the fallows about 



the first of August, or thereby, if practicable ; 

 draw it equally out of the cart, and spread it with- 

 out delay. Plough the land without loss of time 

 after the dung is applied, taking care that an equal 

 furrow is given lo every paVt of it, and by no 

 means neglect to spade and shovel the head 

 land and cross furrows, even though the weather 

 at that time be steadily dry; as a heavy loss, at 

 least a great inconvenience, is often sustained, 

 from a want of attention to these seemingly tri- 

 fling matters."' With the assistance of the^stable 

 dung made through summer, I believe we will be 

 able to manure the whole of the lallow. You 

 may likely think that the summer dung will not, at 

 this time, be ripe lor use ; but I have the authority 

 of the celebrated Mr. Prolessor Davy, lor using 

 long dung, which may save me from censure 

 when acting contrary to tlie established practice* 



C 7'o be continued.) 



MR. JAMIESOn's farm. 



To ttie Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



As a Scotchman, I feel a considerable degree 

 of interest in the extracts from the agricultural 

 periodicals of my native country which frequent- 

 ly appear in the pages of the Register ; and the 

 "Letters from an agricultural apprentice to his 

 father" copied from the ' Edinburgh Farmer's 

 Magazine,' which appeared in the numbers of 

 the Register for Se|)t. and Oct. have been pecu- 

 liarly interesting, from the strong conviction on 

 my mind of my having in early life known the 

 farm, the management of which these letters so 

 well describe. The name of the (iirm, the fann- 

 er, Mr. Jamieson, and at least two of his mana- 

 gers (Elliot and Fairbairn), together with the 

 whole tenor of these letters, convince me that 

 I am not deceived. Tiie farm to which I refer 

 is situated in Roxburghshire (Scotland) on the 

 south bank of the river Tweed, a few miles from 

 the market town of Kelso, and had been formed 

 by the junction of a number of small holdings or 

 farms, and consisted of upwards of two thousand 

 acres. The junction of these farms had taken 

 place before 1 can remember; but I have often 

 heard comparisons made between the compara- 

 tively unproductive state of these farms before- 

 their union, and the high degree of fertility to. 

 which they subsequently attained, afler being 

 united and occupied by a wealthy, enterprising, 

 and systematic farmer. The place of my birth, 

 was two miles lower down the same bank of the 

 'I'weed from this farm. My father left that part 

 of the country when I was very young, making 

 however annual visits to his relatives in that 

 neighborhood, in which I frequently used to ac- 

 company him. The last time i was on this farm 

 was in the autumn of 1824. It was then in the 

 occupation of a new tenant, paying a yearly rent 

 of £8000. Harvest was at the time of my visit 

 nearly completed ; 1 however counted 140 shearers 

 (reapers) in one field of oats. I had also an op- 

 portunity of seeing the stack-yard just after the 

 stacking of the grain was completed. A more 

 imposing agricultural spectacle I believe I never 

 witnessed. The number of stacks I do not now 

 recollect; they were certainly not under one hun- 

 dred, ranging in parallel rows, and raised from 

 the ground on short pillars, large, and finished 

 v/ith the greatest degree of neatness. I have 



