206 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



proved methods of tillage are spreading, and drain- 

 age is extending, and appears destined to alter the 

 character of the clay lands. The population of Kent 

 is 600,000, upon an area of a million acres, but not 

 all dependent on agriculture — Aallas abound and 

 commerce flourishes in the numerous ports of its 

 coast. Wages are about fifty cents a day, and the 

 rent of land is from five to six dollars per acre. 



Sussex lies next to Kent, and contains about the 

 same number of acres, but only 330,000 inhabitants. 

 What is called the Weald occupies about half its 

 surface, and is an extremely clayey tract of land, 

 formerly a forest, which weald signifies. This tract, 

 called Weald, is the most backward part of Eng- 

 land, in ])oInt of agriculture. It is divided into 

 farms of from 50 to 200 acres, rented at from a 

 dollar and a quarter to three dollars and a half an 

 acre ; and generally speaking, the tenants are men 

 without capita], and as ignorant as they are poor. 

 Wherever rents are high in England farmers are, 

 generally speaking, better off" than where they are 

 low. Improved implements are little known in the 

 Weald ; farmers thrash with the flail and employ 

 oxen for tillage. These animals are strong and 

 large, and a contrast to the other national breeds ; 

 and the cows, as is the case of all working races, 

 are bad milkers. Our cows in New England would 

 be better milkers, if not of the race of our work- 

 ing oxen. 



The Duke of Richmond has his seat. Goodwood, 

 in Sussex, and pays much attention to agriculture. 

 He was an (>arnest opponent of the repeal of the 

 corn laws. 



The Weald, probably, cannot remain in the state 

 it now is. Sir Robert Peel long ago remarked that 

 it needed a large infusion of capital. But this is not 

 easily found — it does not exist on the spot. The 

 proprietors are not wealthy, nor the tenants. If 

 the capital comes from abroad, it will come with a 

 change, in the mode of farming and of property. 

 If the large system of fiirming is introduced — and 

 this is the favorite system now in England — M'hat 

 is to become of that population of small tennnt 

 farmers, who have gone on increasing under the 

 present svstem? They will be forced to emigrate. 

 Such is the decree of modern fate in England; and 

 a hax'de fate it is. 



Several successful attempts demonstrate what the 

 land of Sussex may become, in the hands of men of 

 ability and capital. Among these is the farm of 

 Hove, near Brighton, tenanted by Mr. Rigden, 

 containing about 740 acres, and let for a rent of 

 $7750, including taxes and insurance. The annual 

 work expenses are $15,000, divided as follows; 

 ■wages $8500 ; tradesmen's accounts $1750; cost 

 of manure and seeds $4750 ; totid annual expenses, 

 including rent, $30 the acre. Besides this, Mr. 

 Rigden expended, on entering the farm, $60,000 

 to bring it into condition. This capital, according 

 to the recognized rule in such cases in England, 

 ought to give a return of ten jier cent. Mr. Rig- 

 den, in order to be recomjiensed, ought to obtain a 

 gross return of $28,000. This is a specimen of large 

 English farming, in all its magnificence. 



The following is the rotation of crops : forty acres 

 in permanent pasture ; of the remaining seven hun- 

 dred, half is in grain, and the other half in forage 

 crops. The 350 acres of grain are thus divided : 

 wheat, 250 ; barley 40 ; oats 60. Of tlie 350 in 

 forage crops, 20 are in beet-roots ; 12 turnips ; 42 

 swedes; 6 carrots j 50 potatoes; 10 cabbages; and 



the remainder in clover, rye-grass, lucerne, sain- 

 foin and vetches. A greater breadth of land is here 

 given to wheat and a less to turnips than is usual 

 in England ; but this is owing to the nature of the 

 soil, which is more suitable for wheat than barley, 

 and for roots, than green crops. 



The stock Mr. R. keeps is as follows : 350 South- 

 downs ; 20 tups ; 21 milch cows ; 28 farm horses and 

 a small number of pigs. He does not fatten sheep, 

 but sells, annually, about 250 lambs of six months, 

 and about 100 ewes, which he replaces from his 

 j-ounger stock. This branch of farming brings him 

 about $2,500. On account of the high reputation 

 of his stock, his lambs fetch $500 apiece, and the 

 ewes and rams more than double that sum. 



His milch cows give an average of nearly twelve 

 quarts of milk per day, which is sold in Brighton, 

 making the return for each cow about $175 a year. 

 Taking into account the sale of calves and fattened 

 cows, this department brings in some $3500 to 

 $4000. He sells, annually, $ 12,000 worth of wheat 

 and barley, and $10,000 "worth of straw, hay and 

 potatoes. Of his twenty-eight farm horses, seven 

 are almost constantly employed in carrying produce 

 to market and bringing back manure. 



Mr. Rigden's example has thus far had few imi- 

 tators — indeed few have $60,000 to invest in a 

 farm, especially in a district like Sussex. 



Next the Weald, the county of Sussex presents 

 one of the most primitive and prosperous districts 

 of England — what are called the Southdowns. The 

 soil of these hills is poor and arid, and resists all 

 attempts at cultivation. This very sterihty has 

 proved their fortune. Fi'om time immemorial, 

 they have been covered with flocks of sheep, that 

 feed upon the short sa])id grass, which is manured 

 by their excretions. We have already spoken of 

 the Southdown sheep — the most esteemed breed 

 of England. The chief amusement of the wealth- 

 ier classes of the English who flock to Brighton, in 

 the season, is riding over these immense downs, 

 where there is nothing to interfere with them — no 

 hills, and very little heath or shrul)s, but one unin- 

 terrupted green carpet of fine close grass. This 

 land, thus neglected and left to itself^ a desolate 

 looking country, inhabited only by sheep, is the field 

 of a skilful and lucrative kind of farming. 



Thus far our journey has been over Kent and 

 Sussex. M. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 



ONE WORD FROM SALLY ABOUT THE 

 BUTTER. 



Mr. Editor : — I have made butter for twenty 

 vears, and worn out a good constitution in churning 

 and working and salting butter. I bought, (when 

 my husband was from home,) one of Fyler's Butter 

 Working Churns, made by Henry Holmes, of Graf- 

 ton, Vermont. The man said it would work and 

 salt the butter, and I want the world to know that 

 pedlar told the truth, and that there is one good 

 patent churn. I think it makes more butter, and 

 I know it saves one-half the work, and it does the 

 work so easy and quick, that I am troubled to keep 



Mr. from churning. Now, sisters, I want you 



should assert woman's rights enough to pay five or 

 six dollars for one of these churns the first chance 

 you have, and if you get scolded a little by the 

 lords of creation, never mind, if it only causes them 

 to churn and work the butter. SallT. 



Keene, JV. H., Feb. 8, 1856. 



