34 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



AUG. 3, 1845 



with success • but there the peat, about 8 inches ' and it is thorefore liable to be laid ; the grain, too, oak, I believe, but in some instances maple, popl 



thick, rests on 'Sne or two inciies only of retentive [ is but thin. The advocates of barley, however, as 

 earth, to which its growth is owing. Below this sert that a bad sample of barley is better than a 

 crust' a porous stone^brash is found. The wetness had one of oats, because thin barley may be ground 

 of the climate may also remedy the hoUowness of | or may be used for seed, whereas seed oats 



soil produced by the subsoil-plow. The shallow 

 plowing of our farmers seems to me to be decided- 

 ly right upon our own peaty and other loose soils. 

 I may mention another mode in which this prin- 

 ciple has been applied with success for some years 

 by IMr Williams, at Buckland, on a light blowing 

 sand, as it is called, as it seems to answer equally 

 well upon peaty ground. In the common Northum- 

 berland system of growing turnips, it is well known 

 that the ground, when sufficiently plowed, is thrown 

 up into alternate ridge and furrow with the double 

 breasted plow, that the dung is placed in the fur- 

 rows, the ridges split, so what was furrow before, 

 row becomes ridge, and the turnips drilled upon 

 this new ridge standing, of course, over the hollow 

 earth which has been filled into the furrow. But 

 upon a very light sand, Mr Williams, thinking it 

 desirable to keep the ground firm under the root, 

 whether turnip or mangel wurtzel, proceeds in this 

 way. The ground is plowed first very shallow — 

 upon prat it may be merely scarified ; the dung i.s 

 then spread upon the land, the double-breasted 

 plow is used, as in the (jommon mode, to throw up 

 ridges ; but the process is now complete, and the 

 turnips are drilled at once on these first-formed 

 ridges, so that, while the dung is collected round 

 them as in regular ridging, they have a solid bed 

 to stand on in this bastard ridging, as it may be 

 called ; and I must say that a trial I have this year 

 made of this method with swedes upon peat, has 

 confirmed Mr Williams's experience upon sand. 

 This operation, however, which I have mentioned 

 in order to show the leading principle acted on 

 Here by farmers in the cultivation of peat — tight- 

 ness of ground — applies to a later crop of swedes: 

 at least in the first crop no dung could be required, 

 the ashes being amply sufficient. 



Rape or swedes being established as the first 

 crop, after the breaking up of peaty land, in the 

 system I am describing, the ne.xt crop is usually 

 oats: they are drilled in upon a very shallow fur- 

 row, with plenty of seed, and well pressed with a 

 press. roll, as well before they are come up as after- 

 wards, in order to guard against the wire-worm, 

 tfie enemy to be feared on such land. It is re- 

 markable that, by very late sowing, as late as the 

 end of April or beginning of May, you may be al- 

 most certain to escape the wire-worm — it is sup- 

 posed, because the oat grows more rapidly out of 

 their reach : but on the other hand it will be har- 

 vested late ; and there is this further disadvantage, 

 that the grain, which is always light on such land, 

 will become so much lighter, that you perhaps lose 

 in weight as much as you gain in quantity. I may 

 observe that the oats do not ripen together upon 

 this ground : the farmers cut them while they are 

 partially gieen, because they find that, if they wait 

 until the whole crop has changed its color, the 

 best grains, which are those that first ripen, shed 

 in the mowing and carrying, whereas these are 

 preserved by early cutting, while the unripe grains 

 and green stalks improve the straw as fodder for 

 cattle. This first crop of oats is generally beaten 

 down by the weather, being weak and long in the 

 straw, and, though not a bad crop, looks better 

 than it really is. 



On land which is not peat but peaty, some far- 

 mers grow barley : there is a large crop of straw, 



lioiild 

 be as plump as can be found. On the other hand, 

 it has been stated to me by a gentleman residing 

 in Lincolnshire, that " he considers barley the most 

 objectionable grain which can be sown upon peat 

 soil, and that its injurious effects are visible for 

 five years." 



The rape and the oats will generally have proved 

 successful, and indeed by their lu.vuriance may 

 lead one to suppo.se that more improvement has 

 been made than is really the case. It is now that 

 doubt and difficulty begin. The oats or barley are 

 followed by rye grass, which has been sown among 

 them, but if these have been laid, as they often are, 

 large patches of the rye-grass will have been de- 

 stroyed. Even if they have not been laid, the 

 peaty soil will perhaps throw out many of the 

 grass-plants by the roots in the next winter, and 

 still more in the succeeding one, if, as is usual 

 here, the rye-grass be left for two years. The 

 motive for so leaving the ground two years in 

 grass is, that it may regain solidity before it is 



and aspens, all lying in one direction. At t 

 time of the first enclosure, from what I hear, t 

 land was brought into cultivation by paring s 

 burning, sowing with cole (rape,) then afterwar 

 oats and rye, which oats it grew of very bad qua 

 ty, being very light, and I believe it nearly ruin 

 the first class of occupiers. It had been occupi 

 before I took it by a tenant, and had been all clay 

 over once at my expense. After getting it into i 

 own hands, the first thing I did (it being very mu 

 out of condition) was to fallow it thoroughly, a 

 sow it with cole, and I had some very fair cro 

 After that I clayed it again : we usually have i 

 clay-dykes 11 yards from Ihe centre of each, taki ' 

 off" the peat and putting on the clay, 3 feet wi ^ 

 by 4 feet deep — a very heavy dressing, being ne:- 

 ly 300 cubic yards per acre. After tliat it w : 

 sown with, 1st year, oats; 2d, wheat ; 3d, ci 

 with manure; 4th, oats; 5th, wheat; 0th, cole • 

 turnips well manured, and then clayed over a th I 

 time the same as before ; and most certainly I hi 

 very productive crops, that is, as much as 5 qrn 

 wheat per acre, and from 8 to 9 qrs. of oats, ;i I 

 very fair quality. I began again to clay the fou 

 time, but not with the same favorable results 



iigain plowed: still this is but a poor rotation which I have only done some little over again, thinking t 

 ffives only one crop of corn in four years. On the I lands have got quite sufficient solidity ; in fa, 

 other hand, if the ground were left permanently in | some of it is, I consider, almost over-clayed. I i 



grass, there is reason to suppose that in a few years 

 the fine grasses would wear out, the coarse herbage 

 return, and the land be no better for the expenses 

 incurred in drainage. Nay, one farmer thinks he 

 had observed it become worse, because the aquatic 

 grasses natural to peat no longer obtained the 

 moisture which they require, and the better grasses 

 do not grow well. In order to meet this evil, the 

 gravel or rubble which has been taken out from 

 the main drains, is spread over the ground in the 

 winter before the oats are sown : and, however 

 sterile and hungry be the material tiius used as a 

 manure, there is no doubt that it produces a strong 

 effect, for the rye-grass is much thicker and sweet- 

 er where this has been done: this is called firming 

 or weighting the land ; it is good as far as it goes, 

 but the staple of the soil is still very weak. When 

 wheat is sown on ground that is at all peaty, it 

 will almost certainly lose plant in large patches, 

 even though the land has been dunged, and the 

 young wheat has been trodden in by women, as is 

 sometimes done in the spring. There is clearly 

 some principle defective in the composition of the 

 soil: that principle is cohesion, and can only be 

 supplied by clay. 



The operation of claying peat is one of the me- 

 thods by which English farmers have for many 

 years been silently changing the face of the coun- 

 try, which now constantly come to our knowledge, 

 but for which they liave not hitherto received Ihe 

 credit due to them : its effect is so wonderful that 

 I oiiirht not to withhold a further account of it 

 which I have obtained from Mr Wingate himself, 

 whose farm at Leake is mentioned by Mr Morton: 

 " Dear Sir — I will endeavor to describe to you 

 what we have done in our east fen since its great 

 improvement by drainage, confining myself to that 

 land which I consider decayed vecetable matter on 

 a clay or silty subsoil at various depths, and which 

 had been under water generally for ages in the 

 winter season, and getting partially dry in the sum- 

 mer. A great deal of wood in the first instance 

 was taken out of it — nay, in fact, is still in many 

 parts where the plow goes a little deep, chiefly 



not attribute my getting less produce of late ye; i 

 to the over-cropping of the land, but to the destri ■ 

 live ravages of the wire-worm. Still I do consid , 

 on the whole, I have fared much better than i ■ 

 neighbors, who generally have some portion " 

 their land in seeds either mown or summer-grass . 



Perhaps I ought to add, I have generally ci ■ 

 sumed G or 8 tons of oil-cake, with about 12 ac ' 

 of meadow-land hay, to assist in converting ■ 

 straw into manure. The size of that farm is ab. ; 

 100 acres. I ridged some peat land for turn ; 

 one season, with but indifTerent success; and I ■ 

 ways find the corn much better and much less ■ 

 fected with the wire-worm in the clay-dykes, wh ( 

 the land has been turned over perhaps from 3 I I 

 feet in depth. We attempt very heavy rollir ; 

 tread the wheat land with men or women in s 

 spring ; but if we have cold, backward wcatli , 

 all we can do appears of but little avail agai ; 

 the destructive insect. 



I have mentioned your note to a neighbor c I 

 much respected friend of mine, one of the b t 

 cultivators of the soil I ever saw, and he falls i 

 partly with your views of shallow plowing. I c • 

 tainly do not. It is possible in the first instan , 

 if you put on a small portion of clay, by plowi f 

 deep you may lose it ; then I would say in re| r 

 to that, I would clay the land, and sow the ci ) 

 without plowing at all, simply well harrowing? 

 scarifying it, then breaking it up and well mix! f 

 it. On some peaty land of wretched quality whc j 

 I live, I have doubled, nay trebled, the produce r 

 drainage and very heavy claying. 



I beg to remain, dear sir, 

 Yours, respectfully, 



W.M. B. WiNGATF.." 

 (To he conlinued. ) 



Too true. — Three years ago, says the Crescil 

 City, the question with men was, "How shall 

 make a fortune .'" Now the inquiry is, " H f 

 shall I support my wife and children?" How - 

 pricioua is fortune. 



i 



