noAUs AND K.U1.S.] MODEKN ENdl.lSlI rAK.Ml.N( 



[lauoub. 



expansion of our railway system Ims had in 

 Btimulating tho faiiniiif^ operations of tlio 

 couutrv. "For several years past," snya a 

 well-informed writer on this subject, '• all the 

 railway companies have agreed to convey live- 

 stoelv free, and implements at half their usual 

 cliarges, to and from the shows of tliu Itoyal 

 Aj^rienltural Society ; tho railway companies, 

 at the towns where they are held, generally pro- 

 viding accommodation for the mechanical com- 

 partment. This, at Chelmsford, coat the Ivistern 

 Counties Eailway Company upwards of £3,000. 

 Kaihvay fares and pace could alouo bring the 

 number of shilling-])aying strangers who contri- 

 bute to the enormous expense of these exhibi- 

 tions. The population of the city of Salisbury, 

 including men, women, and children, amounts 

 to 10,000 ; but the visitors to the show, in 

 ISC 7, were over 35,000. This is of itself a 

 striking proof of the wide and eager practical 

 interest which is felt in agriculture, for there 

 is little to gratify the eye of mere holiday- 

 gazers ; and when, in addition, wo consider 

 the mountains of coal, iron, timber, artificial 

 manure, lime, and chalk conveyed in the one 

 direction, and live-stock and corn in the other, 

 we cannot help coming to tho conclusion, 

 that George Stephenson's locomotive has 

 been the great cultivator of the farmer's mind 

 and the farmer's land — the great agent for the 

 extraordinary advance which British agricul- 

 ture has achieved in the last quarter of a 

 century. Very significant were the figures 

 given by the chairman of the above company 

 at the Chelmsford dinner, when he told 

 his farmer friends, that, in tho course of the 

 preceding twelve months, the lines over 

 which he presided had conveyed 21,000 

 tons of guano and other portable manures ; 

 700,000 quarters of grain ; "50 sacks of flour; 

 71,000 beasts; 3S0,000 sheep; 13,000 tons 

 of meat and poultry ; and 43,000,000 quarts 

 of milk !" This was ten years ago ; and, as 

 Dopu'.alion has since greatly increased, and 

 agricultural appliances considerably multi- 

 plied, we may fairly presume that these figures 

 have increased in amount to a proportionate 

 extent. AVell may tho writer exclaim — 

 *' Who can calculate the value of the maiiy 

 rewards held out to breeding, feeding, and 

 corn-growing, in the shape of four thousand 

 miles of railway ! and how little are men, who 



live in tho midst of these changes, conscious 

 of their magnitude until tho results are col- 

 lected and put on paper !" 



TIIIC NIXKS.^ITY OF L\UOUIl. 

 If a pcr.son enters upon tlm operations of 

 farming, ho must not ex|)ect that ho is begin- 

 ning a life of idleness. In tho mere fecundity 

 of tho weeds upon his fields, intermingling 

 with ids crops, ho will very soon find the truth 

 uf tiie original sentence passed upon A<iam, and 

 thus written iu Milton's Furadise Lust : — 



" Cursed is the ground for thy srikn ; thou in sorrow 

 Shalt cat thereof all the days of thy life ; 

 Tliorn«, also, and thistles it shall bring thee forth 

 Unhid." 



Nothing can be truer than i\u^, for ill weeds 

 grow apace. As the crop ripens, so do they ; 

 therefore there is a constant vigilance, accom- 

 panied with labour, to keep them down, or 

 rather to eradicate them from the soil, in 

 wliich they seem to find such a congeniality 

 of conditions, that they appear literally to 

 love it with an enduring and inseparable af- 

 fection. Sir John Sinclair, however, considers 

 these wild and spontaneouslj^-growing children 

 of the soil as a positive advantage. Strange if 

 this is really the case, when every farmer com- 

 plains of them, and labours at their extirpa- 

 tion. No doubt Providence has supplied them 

 for something more than merely that of cursing 

 the ground. " What," says Sir John, " is the 

 inference from the fact, that couch-grass and 

 thistles can by no means be extirpated ? Is 

 it not perpetual exertion, fallowing and agri- 

 cultural labour ? Some may be inclined to 

 say, 'A melancholy rellcction!' But I say, 

 No ! not at all. Providence could not have 

 better contrived than that exertion should 

 be perpetual, and that success should be iu 

 proportion. There is not a weed that we 

 ought to wish out of our fields, unless we 

 remove and destroy it ; because if there were 

 none, or very few, all fields would be clean, 

 and no praise could light on superior modes 

 of tillage. Some may say, again, ' So much 

 the better!' But I say, iS^'o-' Does any man 

 think that our various soils would have been 

 sufficiently pulverised and worked, had there 

 been no enemies of this sort to challenge forth 

 our labours ? Sterility would have seized 

 upon our turnip lauds, which are only con- 



885 



