88 



JlgricuUure in Scotland. — Busy Bees. 



Vol. X. 



tween the ridges as far as the undrained 

 land went; beyond that it was dry. I never 

 saw so perfectly exemplified, the effect of tho- 

 rough draining. 



On drawing near to Kelso the aspect of 

 things changes for the better. There are 

 many very excellent farmers in that neigh- 

 bourhood. We stopped half a day to visit 

 Mr. Dudgeon, of ISkylaw. This gentleman 

 is extensively known as a most enterprising 

 farmer. During a former lease many im- 

 provements were made, advances, in fact, 

 fully equal to any of the time in that region. 

 Now having a new lease and more light, he 

 is proceeding with great vigor and confi- 

 dence. Tlie soil is chiefly strong and stiff, 

 some of the clay making excellent tiles. 

 The great evil on such soils is an excess of 

 water; according to the earlier systems of 

 draining it was attempted to remove this by 

 cross drains to cut off the springs, but these 

 have been found not to accomplish the ob- 

 ject. The whole plan of draining, there- 

 fore, is changed, and every field is, or soon 

 will be, drained straight down to the slope, 

 the drains being twelve yards apart, and 

 never less than thirty-six inches in depth. 

 The effect of the drain, followed after a 

 proper time by the subsoil plough, is such, 

 that he is now growing crops of turnips on 

 stiff tile clays. In some of the English 

 counties over which I have lately travelled, 

 Norfolk, for instance, even where the soil is 

 deep, they merely skim the surface, four to 

 five inches being the usual depth, and they 

 call ten inches subsoiling. Mr. Dudgeon 

 does not allow his men to go less than nine 

 inches at flie first ploughing, and follows 

 that by subsoiling from six to nine inches 

 farther. 



The farm contains about 900 acres, and is 

 laid out in large fields, of 20 to 40 acres. 

 We found nearly all of the crops looking 

 well, the turnips especially so. Of these 

 there are this year 180 acres. In one turnip 

 field I counted 29 hoes in full operation. 

 Most of this company were women, they 

 being generally quicker and more expert 

 than the men. Very few potatoes are 

 grown, merely enough for the family, and a 

 certain portion to each labourer. The wheat 

 looked healthy, but is rather thin in some 

 fields, owing either to frosts in spring or the 

 wire-worm. 



We found on one corner of the farm a tile 

 work in full operation. It turns out from 

 4 to 500,000 tiles in a year, but is not by 

 any means able to supply the demand of the 

 immediate neighbourhood. 



At the same time that Mr. Dudgeon is 

 improving most rapidly the long cultivated 

 fields, he is bringing in others from a state 



of nature. We saw one of about 30 acres, 

 in which the drains are nearly complete. 

 The upper part was a wild moor, overgrown 

 with patches of furze, and the lower part a 

 perfect morass. The soil looked stiff and 

 unpromising; but when once dry and well 

 broken up, it will repay the trouble and ex- 

 pense of subduing it. 



Mr. Dudgeon has had three young Ger- 

 mans with him this summer, studying prac- 

 tical agriculture; one of them is to remain 

 two years. To show the estimation in which 

 Scotch farming is held, I may mention that 

 at the present time no Icks than thirty young 

 men attend Kelso market weekly, who are 

 students with the farmers of the neighbour- 

 hood. They are for the most part from 

 England, some from Ireland, and a number 

 from the continent. There' should be some 

 from the United States. A year of such 

 tuition would be quite invaluable to any of 

 our young farmers, and my own experience 

 of Scottish hospitality and kindness would 

 warrant me in promising to any who might 

 incline to try it, a pleasant as well as profit- 

 able year. John P. Norton, 



Edinburgh, July nth, 1845. 



Busy Bees. — In the Island of Cuba bees 

 are kept with great success. They are not 

 enervated by the warmth and perennial 

 fruitfulness of the climate, but work on ac- 

 cumulating stores, though there is to be no 

 winter in which they will be wanted. Many 

 of the Cubans have hundreds of swarms. 

 All the owners do is, to furnish hives, which 

 only requires them to cut a large hollow 

 tree into pieces three feet long, and lay- 

 ing them under sheds, to fasten a stick 

 through the centre, upon which the bees 

 begin to build. The hives swarm frequent- 

 ly, and all are, as we said, trained to tho- 

 rough industry, and their industry is abun- 

 dontly rewarded among the fragrant Belle 

 Flowers. When a hive is full of honey, the 

 bees seal it up at both ends, and go to an- 

 other; so that the planter has only to take 

 away the rich stores from the deserted dwel- 

 lings ; for as there is no winter the bees are 

 always laying up and never consuming. — 

 Journal of Commerce. 



When molasses is used in cooking, it is a 

 prodigious improvement to boil and skim it 

 before you use it. It takes out the unplea- 

 sant raw taste, and makes it almost as good 

 as sugar. 



The way to get credit is to be punctual; 

 the way to preserve it is not to use it much: 

 settle often— have short accounts. 



