194 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



April 



For the New England Fanner. 



RURAL ECONOMY OF THE BRITISH 

 ISLES-No. 7. 



CUSTOM REFORM AND HIGH FARMING. 



We have shown the principal causes of British 

 agricultural M-ealth. First, among these, is ihe 

 strong predilection of all classes, especially the rich, 

 for a country Hfe. Next, pohtical liberty, with its 

 blessed fruits, as necessary to the prosperity of all 

 industrial life, as is the pure atmosphere we breathe, 

 to human life. Next, the immense commercial and 

 manufacturing development, which, in England, fm'- 

 nish such materials for agricultural produce. 



Our view of British agriculture is very imperfect. 

 But we will now advert to two circumstances m its 

 development, which astonish every observer, to 

 wit, the customs reform, or repeal of the corn laws, 

 and high farming, so called. 



British agriculture was long protected by duties 

 on foreign wheat, and this protection was thought 

 to be essential to its existence. But some six or 

 seven years ago the British corn laws were repealed, 

 and British agriculture flourishes and has flourished 

 since their repeal, as much as before, and without, 

 in general, a diminution of the rents of the land- 

 lords, or of the wages of agricultural labor. The 

 exjjorts of other countries, especially of the United 

 Statps, of agricultural produce to Great Britain, 

 have increased enormously, since the repeal of the 

 corn laws. Yet British agriculture flourishes, and 

 gives indications that it will continue to flourish, 

 with the gates of its islands open to receive the sur- 

 plus produce of the world. Perhaps no one can 

 account for this by naming few or many reasons. 

 But among the causes which have sustained Brit- 

 ish agriculture, thus brought into competition with 

 that of the world, has been the increased consump- 

 tion of agricultural produce by the poorer and mid- 

 dle classes, smce the repeal of the corn laws ; but, 

 more than this, the fact stands out prominent above 

 all others, that the British agriculturists have met 

 the crisis of the customs reform, not with faint 

 hearts, but by allowing more capital to their lands 

 than ever before, and by applying more skill and 

 thought to agriculture than ever was applied before 

 they commenced high farming. 



Under their trial, the industrious spirit of Eng- 

 lishmen was set to work, with a will. First, they 

 studied anew the character of their soil, of which 

 they saw that nearly half was wet and clayey, and 

 they appHed themselves to the problem of drainage; 

 and solved it. "What is the meaning of this small 

 hole at the bottom of a flower-pot ? — to renew the 

 ■water. And Avhy renew the water? — because it 

 gives life or death ; life, when it is made only to 

 pass through the bed of earth, for it leaves with the 

 soil its productive principles, an^ renders soluble 

 the nutritive properties necessary to nourish the 

 plant ; death, on the other hand, when it remains 

 in the pot, for it soon becomes putrid, and rots the 

 roots, and also prevents new water from penetrating.' 

 The theory of drainage is here exactly described. 



The new invention consists in employing cylin- 

 drical tiles of burnt clay to carry off the water, in- 

 stead of open ditches, or trenches filled ■with stones 

 or faggots — methods known even to the ancients. 

 These tiles, which are a foot or more in length, are 

 placed end to end, at the bottom of trenches which 

 are filled in with earth. It is difficult, at first, to 

 understand, without having seen the efiect of these 



tiles, how the water can get into them and so es- 

 cape ; but as soon as one sees a drained field, not 

 the smallest doubt of the fact remains. The tiles 

 perform the office of the small hole always open at 

 the bottom of the flower pot. They attract the 

 water, which comes to them from all parts, and car- 

 ry it out, either into drain-pits or main drains, where 

 the inclination of the land admits it. These tiles 

 are made by machinery of various dimensions, and 

 laid in trenches, at a greater or less depth, and more 

 or less apart, according to the nature of the soil and 

 the quantity of water to be drained off". The total 

 cost of purchase and laying is about $20 to the acre. 

 It is considered that this outlay is money invested 

 at ten per cent., and the farmers scarcely ever re- 

 fuse to add to their rent five per cent, per annum 

 on the proprietor's outlay for draining. There is 

 something magical in the eff"ect of draining, both 

 upon arable lands and meadows ; but it may be 

 carried too far on grass meadows. In meadows, 

 marsh plants disappear and the hay is more abun- 

 dant and of better quality. 



On arable lands, even the most clayey, wheat 

 and roots shoot more vigorously and are healthier, 

 and less seed is required for a larger crop. The 

 climate itself gains sensibly by it. Tht- health of 

 the inhabitants is improved, and the mists of the 

 foggy island seem less thick where draining prevails. 

 Two milHon and a half of acres are already drained, 

 and everything promises that, in ten years, the 

 whole of England will be so. It is, as if the island 

 were once more rising out of the sea. 



The second improvement in farming, which dates 

 from the last few years, is a large increase in the 

 employment of machines, and particularly of steam. 

 Previously to 1848 few farms possessed a steam en- 

 gine. One may safely say that, in ten years, the 

 exceptions will be those without them. Smoking 

 chimneys are to be seen in all parts of the country. 

 These steam-engines are used for thrashing wheat, 

 cutting fodder and roots, grinding oats and oil-cake, 

 chiu"ning, raising and distributing water ; and their 

 heat serves to prepare food both for man and cat- 

 tle. Some moveable steam engines go from farm 

 to farm to do heavy work. Machines for mowing 

 and tending hay, reaping and digging, are now un- 

 der trial. The great desire, at present, is to find 

 means for turning up the soil to a depth hitherto 

 unheard of, in order to give gi-eater \-igor to the 

 arable bed. 



I have already stated that the pasturage of cattle 

 is held in high repute in England. But there is a 

 process going on, which is at variance with all Eng- 

 lish habits, and encounters much opposition, and this 

 is the stall-feeding of cattle, or stabulation, as it is 

 called. The eff"orts making in this direction are 

 very systematic and thorough. A cattle-house is 

 provided, thoroughly aired, usually constructed of 

 open planking, with mats of straw for a roof, which 

 are raised or lowered at pleasure for the purpose of 

 sheltering the animals from wind, rain or sun. The 

 cattle stand loose in boxes ; the floors are pierced 

 with holes, to allow their eVacuations to fiiU into a 

 trench below. Beside the cattle is a stone trough 

 containing water and others containing food. Where 

 the cattle are intended for the butcher, the food is 

 sometimes composed of chopped roots, bruised 

 beans, crushed oil-cake — sometimes a mixture of 

 chopped hay, straw and bruised barley — the whole 

 more or less boiled in large boilers, heated by the 

 steam-engine, and fermented some hours, in closed 



