NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



397 



MR. MEOHI'S MODEL FARM. 



Yesterday a large party of agriculturists and 

 others assembled at Tiptree Hall, in pursuance of 

 an invitation to examine the crops on Mr. Mechi's 

 model farm — the new system of irrigation lately 

 ad ipted by him — and the trial of some agricultural 

 machinery. Amongst the company present, num- 

 bering about 250 gentlemen, we noticed the Rt. 

 Hon. the Earl of Fortescue, the Right Hon. Vis- 

 count Ebrington, his Excellency the American 

 Minister, Baron Bentinck, the Netherlands Minis- 

 ter, Col. T. B. Lawrence, Le Yiscomte Curzay ; 

 the Hon. J. L. White, Commissioner from the 

 United States ; Mr. II. S. Rough, do. ; Colonel 

 Childs, United States ; Sir J. Duke, M.P. ; Sir T. 

 Tanard, .Major Skinner, Mr. E. Chadwick, Mr. 

 Raymond 'Barker, Mr. Fisher Hobbs, Mr. Mark 

 Phillips, &c, &c. 



The company arrived about 11 o'clock, and 

 having partaken of refreshment, proceeded to view 

 Mr. Mechi's farm, which extends over 172 acres 

 of ground, which, 10 years since, was a barren 

 waste. About one-half of this ground now bears, 

 a luxuriant wheat crop, the remainder being oc- 

 cupied with clover, mangel, cabbage, swedes, <fcc, 

 all bearing testimony to the excellence of the 

 management. The company was first conducted 

 through the wheat fields, in which Mr. Mechi ex- 

 plained and showed by practical experiment, how 

 he throws liquid manure over the land by means 

 of steam-power and a small hose, invented by 

 Messrs. Burge-a and Lee. This manure, the re- 

 fuse of the house and the farm, is collected in a 

 tank, and kept in constant agitation by means of 

 compressed air. It is then mixed with water, and 

 distributed over the farm from various standards 

 by hose, as occasion may require, Mr. Mechi main- 

 taining that it tends to materially improve the 

 crops, as the sewage or manure, being delivered on 

 the land in a liquid state, immediately sinks into 

 it. and, from "chemical affinity," combines with 

 the earth. The length of each hose, from the 

 standards of which we have spoken, is about 200 

 feet, and the manure is thrown in a shower a dis- 

 tance of about 60 feet more. Mr. Mechi stated 

 that though applying this liquid manure to his 

 gardening operations, he had not done so to his 

 wheat until some of it was accidentally allowed to 

 run over a portion of the land, and the effect in 

 improving the value of the crop was so instanta- 

 neous and undeniable, that he determined to ap- 

 ply it throughout, and the result was, that his 

 wheat, which before was extremely backward, had 

 at once sprung into a magnificent crop. The 

 quantity of wheat sown was about five pecks to 

 the acre, of which nearly two-thirds was supposed 

 to have been destroyed by the wireworm, yet it 

 was expected to produce, at an average, about five 

 quarters per acre. The reaping machines of 

 Messrs. M'Corinick and Mr. Hussey, as manufac- 

 tured by Messrs. Crossbill and Mr. Garrett, were 

 then tried, and all of them cut the wheat with the 

 utmost expedition and regularity, but that of Mr. 

 Crossbill appeared to us to be the most valuable, 

 from the manner in which the corn, when reaped, 

 was laid in heaps for the laborers to form into 

 sheaves. A trial of Mr. Hussey's machine, as 

 manufactured by Mr. Garrett, having been also 

 made on the clover, which it cut equally well, Mr. 

 Mechi took the company over his clover, mangel, 

 cabbage, and swede fields, the whole of which 



were in excellent order — the majority of them 

 having been treated with the liquid manure only 

 — and the host explained that it was his intention 

 to thin the swedes and cabbages, in order to give 

 the remaining crop room and nourishment to grow 

 to a greater size. Mr. Mechi contends that, under 

 the system adopted upon his farm, the whole of 

 the filth and garbage of London and other large 

 towns might lie immediately rendered valuable for 

 manuring the adjacent country districts, thereby 

 affording an advantage to both, to the one by 

 cleansing, and to the other by fertilizing. 



The fields having been inspected and generally 

 approved, the company visited the farm buildings, 

 the form and nature of which are so well known to 

 our readers from the models in the Great Exhibi- 

 tion of last year. The stock appeared generally in 

 good condition, but the cattle seemed to be ill at 

 ease in standing on the flooring with the intersti- 

 ces between the laths ; and we cannot help 

 imagining that the pain in which they seem to be 

 must prove detrimental to the value of the meat. 



The company having been thus occupied, and 

 apparently highly pleased, for about three hours, 

 returned to the house, where a very excellent cold 

 collation was served. On the removal of the cloth, 

 the chairman (Mr. Mechi) gave the usual loyal 

 and patriotic toasts, which were responded to with 

 the utmost enthusiasm. 



Mr. Lennard, late M. P. fur Muldon, then, at 

 the request of the chairman, proposed "Success to 

 Agriculture, British and Foreign," combining with 

 it the names of Mr. Abbott Lawrence and Baron 

 Bentinck, the representatives of two nations both 

 distinguished for their agriculture. He had a 

 great regard for America, notwithstanding she was 

 still in the swaddling clothes of Protection, which 

 the mother country had, in his opinion, long since 

 wisely thrown off. 



Mr. Lawrence returned thanks, and expressed 

 the great gratification he felt at being present at 

 that meeting, as he had also last week at the Roy- 

 al Agricultural Society at Lewis. America was 

 naturally proud of her connection with England, 

 and should the time ever arise when the mother 

 country was oppressed by fear or otherwise, she 

 might rely upon the assistance of her daughter. 

 Mr. Lennard had spoken of America as being in 

 the swaddling clothes of Protection; and though 

 he did not wish to take any part in politics, be 

 might be allowed to state that, before she had 

 worn the garment one-half or one-quarter the time 

 that it had been worn by England, and found her- 

 self in a position to supply the world here with 

 agricultural produce or manufactures, she would 

 throw it off. (Cheers and laughter.) He w;.s 

 glad to see himself surrounded on that occasion by 

 so many distinguished individuals, and especially 

 by two of his own countrymen, the lion. J. L. 

 White, who bad formerly represented, in Congress, 

 one of the largest agricultural districts in the Union, 

 and Col. Childs, who had lately surveyed aline i f 

 communication, by canal, between the Pacific and 

 Atlantic Oceans. The plans of that canal bad 

 been submitted to two celebrated American en- 

 gineers, who had reported in its favor, and since 

 the arrival in this country of his hon. friend, and 

 Mr. Rough, as commissioners from the United 

 States, the plans had also been submitted by the 

 government to two English engineers of eminence, 

 who, likewise, he was happy to state, had, on 



