16 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 1 



the two intervening ridges being thrown into one, 

 and partly in every lurrow, daring llie summers 

 1S33, 34, and 35; and on a third, 100 acres have 

 been similarly dealt, with during the two last sum- 

 mers. We have ascertained that there are up- 

 Avards of three n)illit)ns ol drain tiles at present 

 annually manufactured in the country; and yet 

 the tile-works in existence occasionally find it im- 

 possible to supply the demand, and others are 

 about to be erected. Three millions of tiles are 

 sufficient to drain 2,000 acres, putting a drain in 

 every alternate iurrow. 



It "is now about ten j'ears since rape cake was 

 brought under the notice of agriculturists in this 

 part of the country, and it has been tor some years 

 in extensive use. One agrienlturist, we know, 

 of who manures the whole of his fallows with it, at 

 annualexpenseof £600. Some hold that it is useful 

 Ibrojie crop only, and affirm that it bears the same 

 relation to common stable dung as a manure, that 

 a dram does to a beeistake as articles of human 

 subsistence. The agriculturist in question, how- 

 over, Vv'ho speaks li'om experience, thinks diifer- 

 enlly, and is of opinion that rape-cake has added 

 three or tour shillmgs to the [rent] value of land 

 situated at a distance from towns where it is difficult 

 to obtain a sufficient supply of manure. As an- 

 other proof of the intelliu'ent readiness with which 

 ever3'thing likely to prove an improvement is 

 adopted, we may instance chevalier barley, which, 

 though only introduced three or four years ago, 

 was last year almost the only variety cultivated in 

 East Lothian. 



These fiicts are sufficient to show tJiat, amidst 

 other improvements, agriculture has not been 

 standing still. And as improvements in manufac- 

 turing machinery have led to a fall in the prices of 

 manufactures, so to improved modes of agriculture 

 are we indebted ibr the blessing of plenty at present 

 enjoyed by the countr3^ And we conceive they 

 may also be received as proofs that agriculture, in 

 the extensive meaning of the term, so far from brv 

 iitg in a backward and depressed condition, is really 

 thriving beyond all lornier precedent. Individual 

 landlords and tenants are no doubt suflcring, but 

 not because agriculture is not in a promising state: 

 but because of arrangements entered into years ago, 

 in the expectation that the hitjh prices caused by 

 tcmi)or;uy circumstances would be |)ermanent. It 

 wor.ld be no more reasonable to say that the cot- 

 ton manufactures are in a drooping state, because 

 the j;rice of cotton goods has iLdlen, than that ag- 



riculture is in distress, because agricultural pro- 

 duce ietchesless in themarketthanitdid some years 

 ago. When cotton fell in price, those who hap- 

 pened to have large stocks on hand, or to have 

 contracted tor supplies before the fall, no dou!)L suf- 

 tered loss — many were perhaps brought to ruin; 

 but it did not lollowj that the cotton man- 

 uliicturers were, as a body, engulfed in ile- 

 struction. Nor, because individual fanijers, with 

 old leases on their hands, cannot fulfil their con- 

 tracts with the present prices, can it fairly be 

 agreed that agriculture is in distress. Tlie capital 

 which is so ungrudgingly expended in agricultural 

 improvements, and the energy and ability disjjlay- 

 ed by agi'icullurisls, is a symptom the reverse of 

 discouraging, with respect to the condition and 

 prospects of agriculture. When the price of 

 every commodity has fallen so greatly, landlords 

 cannot expect to receive the san)e nominal rents, 

 as when the prices of every article of consump- 

 tion were from one-third to one-half higher. 



Those who are most diligent in the improve- 

 ment of their estates will, as fbrmerl}', receive the 

 highest reiits. It v.'iil not do lor them to imitate 

 the lazy Lawrences of the south, vv'ho walk about 

 with their hands in their pockets, and then com- 

 plain of want. But it is li-om the snath that the 

 cr}' of agricultural distress has chiefly preceded; 

 that is, from tliose who resolutely adhere to the 

 imperfect and expensive custom of their l[)refiith- 

 ers, and refuse to adopt the most self-evident im- 

 provements — who still continue to employ from 

 three to five horses at one plough, and t!u-ash their 

 o;rain vv'ith a couj;le of sticks cut fi'om the-nearest 

 |)lantation. It is ridiculous to hear such men com- 

 plaining of distress. A spendthrift may as rea- 

 sonably complain of empty pockets, or a drunk- 

 ard of the effects of his dram-drinkiuir. 



From Brifisk Husbandry. 

 OSr PUTRESCENT MAIVURES. 



[Continued from p. 734 Vol. Hi.] 



Night soil is distinguished from the ordure of all 

 animals by the extreme fetidness of its smell, and 

 is also known to be of a stronger or hotter kind, and 

 probably ditfers i[i its own qualities in projioriion 

 to the sort of provision from which it is obtained, 

 as there is every reason to suppose that the ex- 

 crement arising out of animal food is of a more 

 active nature than that which is the produce of a 

 v^egetable diet.* la all those places wheic the 



* 'liiniKin ordure is full of oil and volatile alkaline salts.' — 'The dung of carnivorous animals is also j)lcnti- 

 fuUy stored with oil.' — Hunter's Outlines of Agriculture, p. 13. 



Arthur Young gives the result of two experiaients on manures of diiTcrsnt kinds and qualities, applied to 

 potatoes on poor gravelly loam, in the following proportions per acre, as follows: — 



Firet crop. Second crop. 



No. 1 No manure ... 120 bushels 140 bushels 



Survey of Hertfordshire, p. 177. 



