374 



Experiments on Land. — Economy. 



Vol. VIII. 



too wet to set the bullocks to work the land ; 

 and I considered the delay only served to 

 mix the guano better with the mould. The 

 turnips grown on it were a good crop, when 

 the quality of the land is taken into conside- 

 ration, it being wet, cold, poor, and previ- 

 ously ill-managed. It gave, by calculation, 

 forty tons to the acre — a drill of twenty- 

 four feet long by thirty inches asunder, the 

 turnips being a foot apart, and averaging 

 three and a half pounds each. All kinds of 

 them grew well on the guano, but the old 

 Swedes and Shirvings improved — a few ofj 

 which I sowed for experiment — grew under 

 size, though of good quality, and will keep;! 

 but the other kinds beiijg of a softer nature, 

 are made very much so on it, and I don't 

 think they will keep as well as when grown 

 on any other manure. 



The part of the field on which I sowed 

 the Swedes and Skirvings improved, on 

 farm-yard dung, proved a crop of forty-six 

 tons, each turnip being on an average four 

 pounds, the length of drills and distances 

 being the same through the entire field. 

 Being short of manure, I got bog mould put 

 into the dung pit, in which there remained 

 the liquid after the dung was removed. I 

 left the mould in this for three or four days, 

 and put it out at the rate of one hundred 

 cart-loads to the acre ; and on this there 

 were forty-three tons to the acre, the tur- 

 nips averaging three and a half pounds thir- 

 teen ounces each. 



On the part which I scorched, there is a 

 crop of fifty tons, each turnip averaging 

 four pounds twelve ounces, and they are 

 still growing, and none of them show the 

 least tendency to rot or softness, which those 

 grown on the guano do very much, and be- 

 sides the difl^erence in quantity and quality, 

 this method of manuring such land, is of 

 course the cheapest; and very few poor 

 farmers can afford to pay even at the low 

 rate of £3 to the acre, for guano, while, if 

 allowed to treat his farm in this simple man- 

 ner, he will be induced to plant this valua- 

 ble crop, which would serve him in various 

 ways, as it will give nutritious food to his 

 cattle, add to their weight and appearance, 

 increase their milk and butter, and mate- 

 rially increase the manure. Yet they lose 

 all those benefits in consequence of not 

 being able, as they imagine, to procure ma- 

 nure sufficient for the growth of turnips; 

 while the landlord, from a very mistaken 

 idea, prevents the tenant from scorching an 

 almost useless piece of land, though by domg 

 so, he would derive so much benefit and 

 profit. — Transactions of the Gardeners^ and 

 Stewards^ Mutual Instruction Society, Dub- 

 lin, 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Economy. 



The Southern Planter very sensibly ob- 

 serves, that " No man can attain riches, 

 either in land or money, without the neces- 

 sary implements to work with. A frugal 

 wife is the first and indispensable point," and 

 after that an adaptation in all his prepara- 

 tions, to his means and the object to be ac- 

 complished. It is an excellent maxim in 

 morality, and in intellectual pursuits, to aim 

 high. If the object pursued is but little 

 above your own level, what is the exertion 

 required to reach it! But in setting out in 

 life, particularly for farmers, it would seem 

 as if the old verse was more appropriate : 



"Vessels larg;e may venture more; 

 Little boats should keep near shore." 



For the farmer who gets his living from 

 his land, and pays his rent, or diminishes his 

 debt, there is no one word in the whole dic- 

 tionary, of such n)ighty force and meaning, 

 as economy. I take it for granted, that a 

 man who takes a wife, whom he has vowed 

 to protect and cherish, has long ago made up 

 his mind and established his habits, in relation 

 to industry and temperance, two essential 

 virtues: — he may think too, that he has 

 done so with respect to economy: but this 

 is a lesson not to be learned in a day — espe- 

 cially by those who have been accustomed 

 to the fulness of a parent's house, whose cir- 

 cumstances enable him, after his years of 

 toil, to sit down and enjoy their fruits. If a 

 young beginner will start where his father 

 leaves off", he must remember that his father's 

 purse is necessary — without it, he only marks 

 out for himself a hard row to hoe, which it 

 is ten to one, if he ever sees the end of. A 

 judicious choice of tools and stqck, and the 

 exercise of a sound discretion in determin- 

 ing upon the crops best adapted to the mar- 

 kets near him, will give full play for his 

 ingenuity and shrewdness, and I will ven- 

 ture to say there need be no complaint that 

 in the farmer's calling, there is no room for 

 the exercise and developement of mind. I 

 have also not unfrequently remarked, where 

 occasions have called it forth, that great re- 

 liance may be placed in the intuitive sound 

 judgment of the helpmeet, whose very life, 

 and every breath of it, are wrapt up in the 

 husband's prosperity: and this confirms the 

 judgment of the Planter above quoted, that 

 the first indispensable requisite to a young 

 man's success, is a good wife. 



I may be charged with being something 

 of a croaker, but these reflections have 

 grown out of the fact, that I too frequently 

 see young men start in life too much as if 

 their fortunes were made, rather than their 



