652 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



city, which, wiih the preparations on the place 

 for increasing it, will aHord the proprietor a large 

 supply for his next year's operations. 



Stoclt— Horses in fine order— calile we did not 

 see ; but we saw some half Berkshire pigs, equal, 

 ae we think, to any that can be produced, as also 

 a large and fine pen of store hogs for poik. 



Hespecr for the leeling of delicacy niMiiifested 

 by Mr. Staples forbade our asking sui-h details, 

 as are embraced in the reports on other larms, and 

 were the less necessary. The evidences of his 

 merit as an improving and enterprising agricul- 

 turist were before and around us, and upon 

 these we have no hesitation in assigning to him 

 a rank with the first larmers of (he society. 



The undersigned, therelbre, being a majority 

 of the farm committee, unhesitaiingly award to 

 Mr. Staples the third premium ol $15, assuring 

 the society at the same time, that it is much be- 

 low his deserts. 



Wm. H. Richardson, 

 Warneij W. Gay. 



October ^0, 1841. 



The third premium of $\5 waa then unhesi- 

 tatingly paid t* Mr, Staples. 



According to the recommendation in the report 

 on farms, the society also presented to Mrs. Wm. 

 Miller a premium of ^\0 for the best crop o( to- 

 bacco. 



EURjOPEAN FARBIING. 



From tlie Farmers' Montlily Visiter. 



I think that the superiority to be observed in 

 British and Flemish agriculture is to be attributed 

 to the nice adaptation of crops — the perfi^cl sys- 

 tem that prevails in every deparinifnt — the free 

 outlay for manures to invigorate the soil — the 

 patience that never tires in the completion of a 

 task once undertaken, and the industry that in no 

 kind of weather, at no season of the year, fails 

 to remember and perform its tasks and duties. 



England is remarkable for confining to certain 

 districts, the productions which flourish beet in 

 those soils. Thus the lig:ht sands of Norfolk are 

 best adapted to turnips, lijd ofl' and followed by 

 barley and clover ; therefore in that country the 

 rotation of turnips, barley and clover prevails. It 

 was by this course that Mr. Coke (Earl of Leices- 

 ter,) reclaimed from perlecl barretmees his splendid 

 estate at Holkham. Warwickshire is famous 

 for beans as a first course, fi)llowed by wheat. 

 Lancashire for potatoes as a first crop, wheat, and 

 timothy following. 



Not less perlect is the system : each one has 

 his part and his duties assigned to him — he is 

 there at all tieies, and in all weathers, and he 

 stipulates to be only there. And this system 

 pervades all things on the farm. 



Upon a farm in Surrey, where I spent six 

 pleasant and agreeable months, I had opportuni- 

 ty to see the use and the profits of systematic 

 farming. It was a hay farm, of less than two 

 hundred acres— the rent paid, about ,^2000. The 

 whole farm, except the garden, was mowed. Af- 

 ter the hay was taken care of, the fields were all 

 shut up until there was a good feed upon them. 

 Then Mr. R. went to the nearest fair and pur- 

 chased large beeves nearly fat. In these fresh. 



luxuriant pastures, where the grass grew almost 

 last enough to render not fabulous Sir Boyle 

 Roche's story of the kite thrown into an Irish 

 meadow over night, hidden by the grass next 

 morning, the beeves became in a very short 

 time fit lor Smithfield or Old Leaden-hall. Alter 

 a few day's rest, the lair was resorted to lor a 

 second drove of cattle of smaller size, but in good 

 flesh, which soon shared the lot of all fat oxen, 

 and became the roast beef of old England. The 

 fields were no longer in a condition to make beel', 

 and therelbre were to furnish the predicament 

 " nearly fat" to take the " first bile" in some unfed 

 meadow. The fourth course was a herd of email 

 Welsh cattle to be merely improved. Fifth and 

 lastly came sheep to be kept till the meadows 

 began to start in the spring, when they were 

 sold, and the meadows shut up. 



To recruit this farm, the carts which took the 

 hay to market returned laden with manures to be 

 used as atop-dressing. When not bringing back 

 provisions lor liirm use, I think i may say they 

 always came back with manures. I had some 

 years ago in my possession a book, which was 

 borrowed by some kind friend or other, who liked 

 it so well that he Ibrgot to return it. This book 

 gave the best account of the English practice 

 with res|tect to manures, of any 1 have ever seen. 

 It was said in that book that five thousand tons 

 of manure had been applied in one year on a 

 single estate. 1 know that the quantities are im- 

 mense, and that the lands in that country are 

 kept in a high stale of fertility by the axiom im- 

 pressed on the husbandman iha^food is as neces- 

 sary to the earth as to the human body. But do 

 not think iliat I have selected a pattern farm for 

 the subject of ihe lorcgoing remarks. It was in 

 all respects only a medium (arm. There could 

 not be the same opportunity for the more elabo- 

 rate practices of iiusbandry that there is in large 

 Yorkshire larms. It is my opinion that some of 

 the best managed farms in England were on the 

 estates of the Duke of Buckingham at Stowe, in 

 Bucks. It is, however, ihe fashion in England to 

 patronize agriculture : heaven grant it may be- 

 come so here. You can form no idea with what 

 ease an American can introduce himself to the 

 English, if he is fond of farming. The gift of a 

 few ears of Indian corn to Ihe Horticultural So- 

 ciety, brought me tickets and invitations without 

 number to their gardens and fetes at Chiswick, 



SUBSOIL PLOUGH. 



From tlie Farmers' Cabinet. 



Sir, — I, toi, was so fortunate as to be pre- 

 sent at the trial of ploughs at the late Exhi- 

 bition of the Philadelphia Agricultural So- 

 ciety, and can bear testimony to the superi- 

 ority of the centre-draught plough f(:)r the 

 purpose of cultivating the land preparatory to 

 sowing, but whether it is equally suitable for 

 stirring fallowed land, when it is necessarj' 

 that the furrows should be set more on edge 

 that the drag might take a greater hold upoa 

 them, re.mains a question, which ought, how- 

 ever, to be solved. Why does not Mr. Prouty 

 take means to sbcnv the powers of his plough 

 under various circumstances and in different 



