THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. I, 



SO far as we can learn, the cattle kept upon 

 them are in excellent condition. 



The precediiior consideration justifies iis in 

 recommending, that in the maimjjement of the 

 Indian corn crop, the followinij rules be ob- 

 served, at least partially, so far as to test their 

 correctness: 



1. That the corn harrow and cultivator be 

 substituted for the plough in the culture of the 

 crop. 



y. That the plants be not hilled, or but 

 slightly so; this not to prevent the soil being 

 often stirred, and kept clean. And, 



3. That in harvesting, the crop be cut at 

 the ground as soon as the grain is glazed. — 

 Cultivator. 



Progress of Agriculture in Hug- 

 land. 



The introduction of fallows between sue 

 cessive corn crops, was a very great im- 

 provement on the previous practice; but the 

 substitution of green crops for fallow, on all 

 but stiff clay lands, has been the greatest of 

 improvements ever made in agriculture; and 

 has effected as great and beneficial a revolu- 

 tion in it as the introduction of the steam en- 

 gine and of the spinning frame, has done in 

 manufactures. There is abundant evidence 

 to show, that the culture of turneps. as a field 

 crop, was carried on to some extent in seve- 

 ral English counties, in the latter part of the 

 17th century. But the practice spread only 

 by very slow degrees; and it was not till its 

 introduction into the county of Norfolk, in the 

 reigns of George 1., and George II., when it 

 was prosecuted on a large scale by Lord Vis- 

 count Townshend and others, that its signal 

 importance become obvious. 



At the period referred to, the whole north- 

 western part of the country, which has long 

 been one of the best cultivated districts of the 

 empire, consisted of mere sandy wastes, 

 sheep walks and warrens, worth little or no- 

 thing. These were converted into highly 

 productive arable land, by enclosing, marling, 

 and the aid of the turnep husbandry, which is 

 as it were the corner stone of the Norfolk, or 

 improved system of husbandry. The same 

 practices that had produced such splendid re- 

 sults in Norfolk; that had made sandy wastes 

 yield the most luxurious crops of wheat and 

 barley, have been gradually extended, with 

 similar effects, to many other parts of the 

 kingdom. The produce in corn of the light 

 soils in all the moderately well cultivated 

 districts of the empire, has in consequence 

 been more than trebled; at the same time that 

 a vast supply of green food has been obtain- 

 ed for the feeding of cattle and sheep, and 

 the production of the most valuable manure. 

 But, signal as has been the improvements 



in arable husbandry since 1760, the improve- 

 ments made in stock husbandry, or in the 

 breeding and fattening of cattle, have been 

 still more-considerable. No efforts for this 

 purpose seem to have been made vvitli judg- 

 ment, and proper perseverance till after 17G0, 

 when Mr. Uakewell, of Dishley, in Leices- 

 tershire, began his career. Mr. GuUey, of 

 Northumberland, soon after entered on the 

 same course; and the signal success by 

 which their efforts were attended, roused a 

 spirit of emulation in a host of others. But 

 the rapid increase of manufactories and com- 

 merce, and consequently of the town and pop- 

 ulation, after the peace of Paris, in 17G3, by 

 creating a corresponding demand for butch- 

 ers' meat, gave the principal stimulus to the 

 improvements that have been made in stock 

 husbandry. It was not easy to over-rate 

 their importance. » 



We have already seen that, at an average, 

 the weight of cattle and sheep have been a 

 great deal more than doubled since about 

 i7G0; so that a stock cf 5,000,000 head of 

 cattle at present, would be more than equal 

 to 10,000,000 at that epoch. But the num- 

 ber, as well as the weight of the cattle, hav- 

 ing been materially increased in the interval, 

 the supply of butchers' meat must have in- 

 creased in a corresponding proportion, or been 

 at least trebled. There has also, owing to 

 the same cause, been a very great increase in 

 the produce of wool. The supply of the lat- 

 ter article, propuced in England and Wales, 

 in 1800, was estimated at about 381,000 

 packs, at 240 lbs. each. But, owing to the 

 increased size of the animal, and the greater 

 weight of the fleece, the same number of 

 sheep that produced 384,000 packs, in 1800, 

 were estimated by the best wool-growers and 

 wool-staplers, to produce 453,000 in 1830, 

 being an increase in the interval of no less 

 than 20 per cent. It is too true that the qual- 

 ity of the wool has rather deteriorated, for it 

 seems to be impossible to procure both a hea- 

 vy and a fine fleece. Taking, however, the 

 increased weight of the carcass and the in- 

 creased weight of the fleece into account, 

 sheep are believed to be more profitable at 

 present than at any former period; and, for 

 the last three or four years, tbey have been 

 the most productive species of stock kept in 

 the kingdom. — Edinburgh Review. 



Fleniisli Husbandry. 



From our earliest recollections of agricul- 

 tural matters, Flanders has been considered 

 proverbial for fertility; and it would seem 

 from the examination which we have given 

 to the work before us, that its agriculture just- 

 ly merits the high character which it has ac- 

 quired. And yet, with partial exceptions, tho 



