AGBIdrLTUEE.] 



ENGLISH FARMING. 



[aqbicultiue. 



nssiimo ft diftoront ami most important aspect, amounted to no lens than 2,<X'{2. Jiiit tliia is 



lour distinct elements at once conspiring to an argument equally applicable to older or- 



open up new resources. Tlieso were- the in- paniscd associations, wliicli havo f^ono throuj^U 



troduetion of the use of guano ; the publi- aimilar changes. Drainage, tho fourth ele- 



cation, in this country, of the works of Liebig ; ment, has uiupiostionably been a j)rincipul 



the establishment of tho Koyal Agricultural cause of agricultural progress, and does not 



Society of England ; and tho introduction of a require illustration here. It may be observed, 



new system of drainage. Q^he two first of these liowever, that there are two great heads into 



elements may almost bo taken together; for, which agricultural improvement naturally di- 



though the manure had been discovered which vides itself; viz., tho Chemical and tlio Me- 



has since efiected a marvellous revolution, the chanical— the former applying especially to tiio 



prejudice was so great against it, that, but for light soils, and the latter to tho clays. ]t is, 



the authority of Liebig's name, it might 

 not have been admitted as a manure; or, in 

 other words, the manure having come, a man 

 was needed to answer the challenge ; and 

 that man was found in the distinguished Pro- 

 fessor of Giessen, whoso publications, if they 



however, to the latter that we must chiefly 

 look for any increase in the production, inas- 

 much as, on tho lighter soils, the wheat crop 

 occurs only onc« in the four-course system ; 

 whilst upon the clays, whether managed upo. . 

 the six-course system, or upon the older threo 



did not initiate, at least drew attention to tho course shift, it is grown upon a larger odd- 

 important and new-sounding fact, that, the mark, approaching to the ratio of a third, in- 

 bulk of a plant not being derived from the stead of a fourth, of the arable land, and is, 

 soil, the bulkiness of a manure had little to do therefore, looked to by the farmer as laruishing 

 with its value. Nor must we omit to mention the profit which, on the light soil, is drawn from 



the important point subsequently established 

 by Mr. Lawes ; namely, that " the lasting 

 qualities of farm-yard manure are, in a com- 

 mercial sense, not an advantage ; for it is get- 

 ting back your money by instalments, instead 

 of getting it back all at once. A great deal of 

 your capital is placed in the laud, where it 

 lies dormant for a long time ; but science can 

 correct that evil, by enabling you to put the 

 right manure in the right place." 



With regard to the third element, perhaps 

 it does not merit the same value in the cate- 

 gory of agricultural elements ; lor high patron- 

 age gives no lasting prosperity : and we must 

 not forget, that if any benefit has been derived 

 from societies, in several parts of the couutry, 

 these already existed, and still exist, to extend 

 their influence in their particular localities. If 

 the Hoyal Agricultural Society has done any 

 especial good, the seeds were sown before it 

 had been called into lite ; and it has only had 

 ihe effect of giving a stimulus to agricultural 

 pursuits, by summoning up a new race of po- 

 tent genii, and setting them all at work for the 

 farmer. This may be illustrated by the fact, 

 that at the Society's first meeting at Oxford, 

 in 1S39, for the exhibition of agricultural 

 implements, the entries were but twenty -two ; 

 while at Gloucester, in 1852, the number 



the wheat and barley crop together, besides a 

 wider range of profit derived from the sheep 

 flock. It seema obvious that the improvement 

 of the clay soils to their utmost extent, is tho 

 special, nay, perhaps, the only means left to 

 us for operating in any important degree to 

 maintain the produce of wheat proportionately 

 with our increasing numbers. Accordingly, it 

 is by increased mechanical means that we 

 diminish the amount of time required for 

 bringing the land, alter the crops, into pre- 

 paration for the future crops. Much has, in- 

 deed, been done by improved implements ; but 

 the application of steam culture to the soil is the 

 greatest agricultural feat of tho dav. The 

 clavs are thereby enabled to hold the race 

 more evenly with the ligliter soils; for the 

 great inherent powers of the heavy soils then 

 come in aid to counterbalance the easier work- 

 ing of the lighter soils. These remarks naturally 

 lead us to speak of the MACiiiNEur of tue 

 FAini, under which general heading, we have 

 introduced some articles which may not pro- 

 perly be called machinery, but which, never- 

 theless, take a part in the numerous appliances 

 of the agriculturist, farmer, or husbandman. 

 The whole of this division we have arranged 

 alphabetically, as it gives greater clearness and 

 facility of reference. 



901 



