18 



Good Example. 



Vol. VII. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Good Example. 



At page 255 of the Cabinet, volume 6, 

 there is a very interesting 1 paper on the 

 value of a single example of good farming 

 to a whole neighbourhood. The subject 

 lias been brought forcibly to my mind by a 

 visit to the farm of the late and very justly 

 lamented Mr. George Walker, of Holmes- 

 burg, where I witnessed by far the best 

 ploughing that I have anywhere seen. To 

 be sure it was on land that had just grown 

 a crop of millet, for which crop I remember 

 Mr. Walker was famous; and the grass had 

 been mown according to the old farmer's di- 

 rection, to his men, when he said, "leave 

 the top standing if you will, it is the bottom 

 half inch which I want;" on land without a 

 weed or stone, and which had been tho- 

 roughly pulverized for so many years, that 

 even on a soil by no means naturally happy, 

 it broke up like an ash-heap, leaving the 

 surface about as level as the top of a table, 

 the effect of a narrow, deep and well turned 

 furrow; which it was a caution to behold 

 I have often heard that in some parts of 

 England, where it has long been the custom 

 to encourage the art of ploughing, by setting 

 apart days for public exhibition, and the 

 award of premiums, the ploughmen have at 

 length become so expert, that they can throw 

 a furrow so straight, as to enable any one 

 upon laying his head in one end of it, to see 

 right out at the other end; and this in a fur- 

 row a quarter of a mile long ! but have al- 

 ways considered the story a little on the hy- 

 perbole: here, however, in a furrow about 

 one hundred yards in length, the same might 

 have been done, for I do not believe, on 

 measurement, that the furrow would be found 

 to deviate two inches from a perfectly straight 

 line. And then, the headlands first ploughed, 

 upon which the horses turn out, continuing 

 the furrow up to the line, with not so much 

 as an inch of land unturned; this, with a 

 full and decided setting in, left the reaches 

 so nicely formed, as to be in appearance, like 

 well made beds, the headlands forming the 

 pillows. Here [ witnessed a perfect system 

 of tillage and cultivation, with its attendant 

 advantages — a level surface and a clean and 

 thoroughly pulverized soil ; and some of our 

 friends will bo surprised when I detail the 

 mode about to be adopted to fit this already 

 well-broken, garden-like mould, for the re- 

 ception of a crop of rut;i-baga. As soon as 

 the land is ploughed, it is to he well rolled 

 and repeatedly harrowed; then the ridges 

 are to be struck with one bout of the plough, 

 and these are to be rolled on their tops, on 

 which the seed is to be drilled. " What a 



labour !" I hear some one exclaim, " And 

 what is to pay for it?" I answer, "the pre- 

 sent and future crops, and the saving of 

 after tillage." 



Now, in this picture of improved husband- 

 ry, I see the hand of " the master" who in- 

 troduced it on the spot where it is now so 

 perfectly practised ; and who, " although 

 dead, yet speaketh" in the elegant arrange- 

 ment of the pleasure-grounds and gardens, 

 the well devised plantations, and the tho- 

 rough system of cultivation, upon which so 

 much depends the quality of the crop, and 

 for which the late Mr. Walker was known 

 to be, what is commonly termed fortunate. 

 Upon the whole farm there are no cross 

 fences, the land forming one enclosure, laid 

 off in sections ; by which much expense is 

 saved and land gained, and on which a per- 

 fect system of soiling might be adopted. 



But, how much of the beauty and loveli- 

 ness of the present state of this establish- 

 ment is attributable to female influence ! it 

 is only necessary to visit it to be convinced 

 of this fact; and during my short stay, I was 

 continually reminded of the last Dialogue 

 between Frank and his Father, page 25, vol- 

 ume 5, of Cabinet, where Frank attributes 

 to his sister Susan's management the superi- 

 ority of her garden, and innocently remarks, 

 that "all she does is with the fingers, while 

 his is done by the rule of thumb;" and de- 

 clares he fancies that he perceives a differ- 

 ence in the fragrance of Susan's flowers, 

 when compared with his ; and certainly, that 

 they continue longer in bloom : while his 

 father admits that it is not in his power to 

 imitate his sister in the delicate and gentle 

 manner in which she rears her tender 

 charge, raising their drooping heads, look- 

 ing them in the face, and calling them " my 

 beauties." 



But I owe an act of justice to the young 

 man, whose elegant style of ploughing has 

 called forth this very pleasant reminiscence. 

 His name is Gilbert Wagner, and if I mis- 

 take not, he is one who is destined to be- 

 come "an example to a whole neighbour- 

 hood." Vir. 



July 23d, 1842. 



Liquid Manure. — "Although from the 

 writings of agricultural chemists, it has 

 been proved that one pound of urine will 

 produce a pound of wheat, how seldom do 

 wo see it preserved at all ! A writer calcu- 

 lates, that as much manure is lost in the es- 

 cape of urine, as would, if properly applied, 

 have an effect equal to the whole of the 

 lime, the rape-dust and the bones that are 

 used throughout England 1" 



