1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



447 



■wide, wide world, that taught him there was some- 1 The answer is simple. By deep drainage and liquid 

 thing beyond his lowly lot, and that tempted him, j manures, regardless of expense. Mr. >Iechi's knowl- 

 perchance unwisely, to desert it : Alas ! alas ! j edge of chemistry taught him that the worst soil 



But Tiptree Hall is unconscious of all this. Situ- j might become better, by allowing their pores to be 

 ated on an elevated, bleak, and barren heath, with- fermented by the sweet niins of heaven. Every clod 

 out a tree within a mile of it larger than a laurel, it|in the hard clay at Tiptree was choked by stagnant 

 boasts not a single rural beauty, such as we regard j water. He drew it off by deep di'ainage. Then 

 rural beauty in this country. Mr. Mechi has made j the plow let in life and light uj)on heaps of earth 



a great effort to compensate for this by artificial 

 gardening; but though everything has been done 

 that a cultivated taste and a lavish expenditure 

 could effect, yet the result, as a whole, is eminent- 

 ly imsatisfactorv. Terraces and embankments have 



which had never felt the influence of either. Still, 

 though the land was broken up — though fi-om a 

 hard, cold clod of clay, it had been converted into a 

 dry wold — still, it was poor and needy. Mr. Mechi's 

 next ap])lication to it was, accordingly, intended to 



been thrown up to relieve the flat monotony of give it strength and heat. By means of pipes car- 

 the landscape — a bog has been converted into a se-|ried all over the estate, liquid manure was laid on 

 ries of little lakes — walks of even' possible variety , fi'eely wherever it seemed to be required, and the 

 have been wound around plantations — tender shrubs | groimd soon showed how much it was strengthened 

 have been planted and effectually reared on sj)ots'and how much it was disposed to give a grateful 

 where nature never intended that a shrub should | and hearty acknowledgment of the favor conferred 

 grow — flower beds have l^een laid out with all the \ upon it. 



elaboration of which the Italian style of gardening j In by-gone times it used to be a great joke with 

 is susceptible — color has been properlv introduced j the farmers to ask Mr. Meclii where was his "bal- 

 where nothing was to be seen but drab-colored lance sheet?" You may grow a crop upon one of 

 heather — but still the result is unsatisfactory. The your own razors, was the argument, but what will 

 place, in fact, as a retreat, has no capabilities. Na- it cost you? For many years, while the price of 

 tare has pre-determined that there shall be about i wheat was low, Mr. Mechi was compelled to ac- 

 it none of the specialities of an English farm, and j knowledge that he had invested more in the soil 

 Natiu-e has yet, in tliis respect, been too strong for j than the soil returned him. But things have now 

 man. [changed, and Mr. Mechi retoits the joke upon the 



But what of Tiptree as a "model farm ?" Is it j farmers. "It is not," says he, "the man who farms 

 what it professes to be? Is it what Sir Robert Peel | with the least expense, who makes the most money. 



described it ? Is it an example which the farmers 

 of the world may advantageously consult and im- 

 itate ? Now, as to this point I must frankly say 

 that my notions are poised so very equally in my 

 mental scales, that I am unable to give a distinct cr 



When prices were low, and labor was low, I invest- 

 ed large sums of money in the land ; now that prices 

 are high, I invest no longer, but I reap the benefit 

 of my investment at low prices. My fields produce 

 more than yours ; my returns are, consequently, 



satisfactory reply. I have seen better things in i greater than yours. And it is the result of invest 

 farming than Tiptree Hall, many better things ; but nient in improvements at periods when improve- 

 while I declare this, I must also acknowledge that naents can be made at low rates of wages." Such 



I never saw so remarkable an examjjle of what in 

 dustry and enterprise may accom]ilish under the 

 most unfavoral)le circumstances. Certainly no one 

 but a man accustomed to get sharp edges from the 

 collision of steel and stone, ever would laave thought 

 of trying to cultivate such a place at all. One 

 would fancy that Mr. Mechi had tidien up an idea 

 from his sho]5 that you could get a good crop out of 

 stones as well as a keen edge. You should have 

 heard his own account of what Tiptree farm was 

 •when he came there ! "Vainly," said he, "did I trj' 

 by sohd manures to render this vile, plastic clay, a 

 useful pasture. It was like bird-lime in Winter, 

 and like cast-iron in Summer. Poor, indigenous 

 and drab-colored grasses, choked and eradicated the 

 finer kinds I had sown, and the animals wandered 

 about, hollow and dissatisfied. Now, fine and fatten- 

 ing grasses clothe tJie fields with per])etual verdure, 

 the land keeps three times as many animals, and the 

 close and shaven pasture indicates their afl'ection for 

 it." And this description of Mr. Mechi's ])asturc is 

 a fine description of his whole farm. Wliere the 

 drab-colored grasses were alone seen ten years ago, 

 crops of the finest wheat, barley and oats now clothe 

 the wold, and greet the sunshine as it merrily 

 glances from the heavens. Every one admits that 

 there can be no finer crops. They are grown from 

 very small quantities of well selected seeds ; but 

 these small quantities, under Mr. Mechi's system, 

 seem to l)e more productive than large quantities 

 any where else. 



How, then, have these results been produced ? 



are the arguments of Mr. Mechi. They are, to a 

 great extent, of world-wide a])]jlication, and I doubt 

 not you have many on your side of the Atlantic, who 

 will know how to apply them profitably. 



For the New England Fanner. 



MUKIATE OF LIME AS A TOP- 

 DRESSING. 



Mil. Editor: — I tried an experiment with the 

 muriate of lime upon a lawn of about half an acre. 

 The land was laid down and sown with herd's-grass 

 and red-toj) last year without any manin-e. This spring 

 I gave one-half the lot a toj)-dressing composed of 

 three barrels of muriate of lime mixed with si.x 

 cart-loads of meadow mud. The effect astonished 

 me, and at the time of cutting the grass, I called a 

 number of my neighbors to see the effect of the 

 top-dressing, and all who saw it decided that there 

 was full double the quantity of grass upon that 

 I)art which was manured, over that which was not ; 

 the soil was of the same description, and laid down 

 side by side. 



Some of my neigh])ors have tried this ai-ticle 

 upon their meadow land, and with a Hke result. I 

 consider it a very valuable m;uiure, es])ecially for 

 grass lands, and am now having a large jiile com- 

 posted for next season. 



Yours very tiidy, I). Wood. 



Lexington, Av^. 20, 1855. 



11 



