AGRICULTURE. 



AGRICULTURE. 



Saxons, or Sassenachs / and that they take 

 every advantage of any Englishman that settles 

 among them. 



V. CoXTINEXTAL AGRICULTURE. 



We have now brought to a conclusion our 

 sketch of the progress of agriculture. The 

 limits of our work preclude us from giving 

 here more of the ample details that have come 

 under our notice in the research for the ma- 

 terials, of which we have given the abstract. 

 We have riot withheld oar attention from the 

 husbandry of other nations, but have found 

 little concerning the history of their progress 

 in the art; and the examination of their present 

 operations made it so apparent, that with the 

 exception of Flanders, they were all so much 

 behind in general practice, that the conviction 

 is forced upon us, that little instruction could 

 be obtained from its detail. Several of them, 

 however, excel us in some particular points: 

 and in noticing these we shall avail ourselves of 

 the opportunity to enfore the importance of 

 extra attention to them upon our own agricul- 

 turists. 



Flanders. This country was certainly the 

 first of modern countries to improve the prac- 

 tice of agriculture. Its farmers were the first 

 tutors of England; and from the time of Sir 

 Richard Weston, who published an account of 

 their husbandry, in 1645, till that of the Rev. 

 T. Radcliff in 1819, the Flemish husbandmen 

 have continued models of neat and economi- 

 cal farming. In this respect we fall short of 

 them. It is a leading principle with them to 

 make their farms closely resemble gardens. 

 Consequently, to effect this, they have small 

 farms, and devote their efforts to these three 

 grand points the accumulation of manure 

 the destruction of weeds and the frequent and 

 deep pulverization of the soil. We recom- 

 mend for the perusal of our readers the work 

 (Tour in Flanders') published by Mr. RadclifF, 

 and the Flemish Husbandry of the Society for 

 the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and .we are 

 convinced that they will benefit by the time so 

 occupied. We do not expect that they will 

 induce them to try to cultivate a large surface 

 of land with the minute accuracy of a garden ; 

 but it might pursuade them to adopt that more 

 cleanly system of cultivation which is the only 

 one that is permanently profitable. 



We shall only remark more particularly 

 upon the assiduous care the Flemish farmers 

 bestow upon the collection of manures. 



They were the first among the moderns to 

 raise crops for the sake of ploughing them in 

 whilst growing; and they continue it more ex- 

 tensively man any other nation. This prac- 

 tice, we may say, is entirely neglected by our 

 farmers-; but if they knew sufficient of che- 

 mistry to understand how much fertilizing ma- 

 terials such green crops impart to the soil, it 

 (rould ue a practice more extensively adopted. 

 Every fragment of animal and vegetable mat- 

 ter is preserved by the Flemish farmers for 

 the fertilizing of their lands ; and the ready 

 aaie which all such decomposable substances 

 meet, is one cause of the broom and the bar- 



v succeeding in keeping their town so scru- 

 48 



pulously neat. Saw-dust, chips, and similar 

 refuse all tend to increase their composts ; and 

 on their barren lands trees are frequently 

 planted for the purpose of creating in time a 

 fertile soil by the agency of their falling 

 leaves. 



Their dunghills are so constructed that all 

 the drainage is collected in cisterns, with 

 which liquid is mixed the emptyings of privies, 

 pulverized rape cakes, and the like ; and this 

 most fertilizing compound is conveyed to their 

 fields by means of barrels fixed on wheels, 

 and is spread by means of a scoop, 2840 gal- 

 lons per acre being allowed for their flax crop. 

 (Johns, on Liq. Manure.} 



The slovenly management of his dunghill 

 is one of the most general specimens of the 

 ignorance or carelessness of a farmer. He 

 allows the most soluble and valuable portions 

 to drain away; and treats with ridicule the 

 idea of carrying out manure in a liquid form. 

 As this arises from ignorance and bigoted at- 

 tachment to old practice, it should excite our 

 pity more than our anger. Liquid manures, 

 notwithstanding stupidity and prejudice, are 

 amongst the best of fertilizers, and will, in a 

 coming age, be generally employed, since it is 

 a fallacy to argue that they cannot be employed 

 on a large scale ; for the comparative expense 

 of preparation and application is unquestiona- 

 bly smaller on a large scale than on a less. 



Holland. The husbandry of this country is 

 almost exclusively confined to the dairy and 

 to stall feeding. There are two points in their 

 practice in which other farmers would do well 

 to imitate them. 



It is a common prejudice that a cow for the 

 dairy should never be fat. This is thus far 

 true, namely, that if a cow inclines to fatten 

 easily, she does not yield so much milk as one 

 that generates fat less readily. But a good 

 dairy cow, that is, one that secretes inilk 

 abundantly, will not fatten whilst in that con- 

 dition, and therefore the abstaining from giving 

 them nutritive food is an erroneous conclusion. 

 The Hollanders know that the contrary is the 

 correct practice, and once a day, or oftener, 

 they give their cows rape cake, and other nu- 

 tritious preparations. The ignorance of the 

 common English practice is evident from this 

 fact, that without one exception, other ani- 

 mals, when suckling, are always kept much 

 higher than at other periods. 



The other point of their practice that merits 

 imitation is the cleanliness with which they 

 keep all their animals. It will excite a laugh 

 with some of our agricultural readers, M'hen 

 we recommend not only the most scrupulous 

 daily cleaning and washing out of cow-sheds, 

 pig-styes, and the like, but that the animals 

 themselves should be cleaned. This, however, 

 is not a mere speculative precept, for the na- 

 tional example of Holland attests its utility. 

 We have known the beneficial effects of such 

 treatment upon the health of cows and pigs in 

 this country. But in the absence of all facts, 

 if the farmer would but allow his own common 

 sense to direct him ; if he would but reflect 

 that no animal will thrive that is not healthy; 

 that his horse becomes diseased if not kept 

 clean; and that by no possibility can it be 



