FAltlllXG.J 



PRIJ^CIPLES AND PEACTICE OF 



[r ARMING, 



Such is the astonishing fecundity of weed- 

 plants. Of 21,950 seeds of the followmg 

 weeds, upwards of 6,000 have been found ripe 

 in April, when hosing is frequently carried on. 

 Tlie grey speedwell, ivy-leaved speedwell, 

 shepherd's purse, hairy bitter cress, chick- 

 weed, and groundsel. In the very process of 

 hoeing, then, these are scattered about under 

 the most favourable circumstances for grow- 

 in^; and, if the hoeing is, for some little time, 

 deferred, or not done at all, the 21,950 will, 

 in all probability, by next season, have taken 

 entire possession of the soil. The manner in 

 uhich weed-seeds are propagated are, first, by 

 the neglect of way-sides and waste places; 

 second, from permitting weeds to be thrown 

 on the manure heap ; and third, from sowing 

 weed-seeds with the seeds for the crop. To 

 these circumstances, therefore, the farmer 

 should be particularly attentive. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 

 Of the necessity of an agricultural education, 

 independent of his other scholastic acquire- 

 ments, for the young or rising farmer at the 

 present day, no one of the slightest intelli- 

 gence has the smallest doubt. The customs 

 of our grandfathers are already old and eftete ; 

 whilst those of our fathers are fast wearing 

 out. In a lecture delivered by Mr. Morton, 

 at the Eoyal i\gricultural College, he laid 

 down these three points as essential to the 

 young farmer : — 1st. That he should have 

 practical skill. 2ud. That he should have 

 business tact. 3rd. That he should have a 

 liberal and scientific education. This gentle- 

 man showed that, if a man possessed a merely 

 practical skill, and nothing more, he was 

 little better than a labourer ; that if, added to 

 his practical knowledge, he had business tact, 

 he might not only be a labourer, but become 

 tl>e manager of a farm ; but that, without 

 having, in addition to capital, a liberal and 

 scientific education, he was not fitted to hold 

 a large farm in the present day. This sub- 

 ject is a most important one. We ourselves 

 are acquainted with several young gentlemen, 

 the sons of farmers, who have been boarded 

 out to receive what is called a liberal educa- 

 tion ; and they have gone homo to follow the 

 occupation of their lathers, with as much of 

 the kind of knowledge necessary for such an 

 8SS 



object, as a watchmaker may be supposed to 

 have for the manufacture of a steam-plough or 

 a threshing-machine. Their case, however, 

 is by no means singular. At a meeting of 

 the weekly council of the Eoyal Agricultural 

 Society, in April, 1801, the subject of ngricul- 

 tural education was introduced by Mr. Hol- 

 land, M.P., and discussed. Among the 

 authorities quoted upon this subject was Mr. 

 AVilson, of Edington Mains, the author of 

 British Farming ; who, in respect to the rising 

 young farmers, gives his opinion in the ibl- 

 lowing terms : — 



" The mere possession of capital," he says, 

 " does not qualify a man for being a farmer ; nor 

 is there any virtue inherent in a lease to insure 

 his success; to these must be added probity, 

 knowledge of his business, and diligence iu 

 prosecuting it. These qualifications are the 

 fruits of a good education in the fullest sense 

 oC the term, and are no more to be looked for 

 without it, than good crops without good hus- 

 bandry. * * * But the great diflaculty, at 

 present, lies in finding appropriate occupations 

 for such youths between their fifteenth and 

 twentieth years. In many cases, sons of 

 farmers are, during that period, put to farm- 

 labour. If they are kept steadily at it, and 

 are made proficient in every kind of work 

 performed on the fixrm, it is a good profes- 

 sional training, as far as it goes. The more 

 common one — at least as regards the sons of 

 the larger class of farmers — which consists of 

 loitering about, without any stated occupa- 

 tion ; attending fares and markets, and, pro- 

 bably, the race-course and hunting-fields, is 

 about the most absurd and pernicious that 

 can well be imagined. Such youths are really 

 to be pitied, for they are neither inured to 

 bodily labour, nor aff"orded the benefits of a 

 liberal education. It need not surprise any 

 one that such hopeless lads often prove in- 

 competent for the struggles of life, and have 

 to yield their plans to more vigorous men 

 who have enjoyed the benefit of bearing the 

 yoke in their youtli. Unless young men are 

 Iccpt at labour, either of mind or body, until 

 continuous exertion during stated hours, con- 

 finement to one place, and prompt obedience 

 to their superiors, have ceased to be irksome, 

 there is little hope of their either prospering 

 in business, or distinguishing themselves iu 



