62 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



(82) now prevents, he would be by many years, 

 "The Father of the House." 



Well now for the estate ; and first, merely as a 

 farmer's. The land liere is about 3500 acres ; 

 nearly the whole of it is enclosed by a neat, brick 

 wall, extending about a circuit of ten miles. — 

 This comprises the plantation of wood and a 

 beautiful lake. Nothing could appear moie orig- 

 inally rural than its borders, which are complete- 

 ly overshadowed with forest, and as wild altogeth- 

 er as if I had discovered them and the lake itself 

 in the depths of some solitude of Michigan. All 

 the woods have been planted. The estate is 

 plentifully sprinkled with various species of trees, 

 in copses, in acres of forests and avenues. In- 

 stead of a park in one body, it is as one wants it 



every where an ornament and a shelter — over 



hill and dale— but no where in excess, nor yet in 

 the way of the farmer. Immediately around the 

 mansion indeed, are only gardens, walks, and a 

 wide extent of velvet lawns on every side; but ev- 

 en these latter are marked with their own schemes 

 of practical utility. The pheasant I see shuffling 

 about there in the cool shades. It is not alone 

 the graceful deer that browse and bounds along 

 these soft lawns. These are charms to the eye, 

 and I like the taste which allows them this sweet 

 free range, and whicli saves the poor beautiful 

 creatures from all harm. Here are the woods 

 too. As I rode through their long winding lanes 

 to-day on horseback, the air was filled with the 

 perfume ol the forest flowers, and with the chirp 

 ing and fluttering ot birds. 



The remoter lawns are spotted with little flocks 

 of sheep, of which over three thousand are kept 

 on the place of the famous South Devon breed. 

 One meets also in the pastures these fiiie, sleek, 

 bright looking Devon cattle, browsing in herds. 

 There are more than three hundred of them, in- 

 cluding an immense dairy besides, of Scotch cat- 

 tle. Beyond the lawns, one gets at once into the 

 cultivation, and a ring of this, skirted and shel- 

 tered here and there with avenues and copses of 

 trees encircling the whole estate. I rode along 

 the edge of the field of one hundred and thirty 

 acres of barley in one piece. In another were 

 sixty acres of wheat ; and there were two fields 

 of peas, of twenty-five and twenty-seven acres. 

 The arable land is divided about equally between 

 these grains, turnips and grass, which four crops, 

 sometimes having grass for two seasons, consti- 

 tutes the routine of succession of tillage on the 

 same ground. There are in ciUtivation at pres- 

 ent about four hundred and thirty acres of wheat 

 and barley each, and in fine condition. The head 

 farmer told me, that thirty bushels an acre is 

 rather an indifferent crop, and that forty or fifty 

 are there " the right thing." It must be borne in 

 mind when I say this, that llolkham has been 

 completely made" over by Mr. Coke. When he 

 succeeded to the estate it was but a mere desert. 

 There were no trees here even, and it was hardly 

 believed the land would lit them grow. Mr. 

 Coke says the rabbits were the only creatures 

 who could live on it, and they were starving! 

 Now what a triumph is this ! Go with me to-day 

 in this village of Holkham, which all belongs to 

 the estate and lives by it in one way or auothei-. 

 Here arc five hundred persons, probably, besides 

 those sent off, well provided for elsewere. Their 

 cottages are a curiosity of rural neatness and 

 comfort. Little gardens around them, and flow- 

 ers hang out of the windows, and climb over the 

 door-ways. 



Some one hundred and lif>y persons arc em- 

 ployed on the farm alone. Tlicn in the gardens, 

 the light acres of which are surrounded with a 

 wall, one thousand four hundred yards long, and 

 fourteen feet high, are perhaps forty more ; in the 

 brick yard twenty; in the blacksmith's shop ten; 

 and some wheel "wrights and game keejiers, I dare 

 say, and a little army of servants of course ; for 

 in the mansion, when the family are here, twenty 

 females alone are employed. The women do 

 some work also on the farm ; such as weeding 

 the grain, as well as the peas ; and in fact all the 

 crops are drilled. I saw twenty women in one 

 field weeding. Beyond that and outside of the 

 walls of the regular estate, we came to a " little 

 bit" of a plantation of only six hundred more. 

 Here they were hard at work. In one field, where 

 turnips were sowing, all the process went on at 

 once. There were twenty men and boys spread- 

 ing out manure out of five or six carts, drawn by 

 three horses each ; (of which there are a hundred 



on the place,) five or six ploughs drawn by two, 

 who ploughed without a driver; two cast iron 

 round rollers by two; three or four harrows by 

 one ; two drill machines self ploughing, by two, 

 and then the harrow again brought up the rear. — 

 I ought to speak of the alms house for the old 

 and the schools for the young, and of the farm- 

 ing system more in detail, but there is no room 

 I will" only add, that young farmers come here 

 from all quarters to learn the sf^ience. The 

 whole place is considered a model of both the 

 science and the art of farming. — Boston Tian 

 script. ' 



Mr. I. HILL'S Address before the Lyceum at 

 Chester, N. H. on the evening of December 

 16, 1840. 



Improvements in Agriculture are coequal and 

 coincident with civilization. In the barbarous or 

 savage state, where the tribes of men wander in 

 search of sustenance, where they draw food froii 

 the ocean or the forest, population cannot become 

 dense, nor can the comforts which render life de 

 sirable be extensively enjoyed. 



There is no condition of society more blessed 

 than that of an agricultural commimity ; and of 

 all the agricultural districts iu the known world, 

 the soil requiring most labor for the same amount 

 of production in the sequel becomes jnost valua 

 hie, and diffuses the most substantial and perma 

 nent blessings. 



Perhaps the higher degree of civilization has 

 not been gained by the nations which are pecu 

 liarly designated as Christian. We do not gen 

 erally put the same estim.tte upon oinselve.< as 

 others put upon us : the propensity of mankind 

 leads to an over-estimate of our own good qual 

 ties and the underrating the good qualities of 

 others. The progress of improvement is slow 

 because wc cling long to our own errors, and are 

 slow to profit from the better practice of others. 



Those who are engaged in the work of cultiva 

 ting the soil commonly realize only what is going 

 on in their own neighborhoods. They read or 

 transiently hear of "the improvements making 

 elsewhere ; but the information comes from too 

 long a distance. The recent agricultural improve- 

 ments of other countries and of distant parts of 

 this country are introdticed here only by practi 

 cal men who come from the scene of these im 

 provements. Theory is a bad schoolmaster : prac 

 ticc oidy brings perfection. 



THE AGRICULTURE OF CHINA. 



The Empire of China, situated nearly at oui 

 antipodes upon this ball of earth, is said to have 

 so dense a population, that if every inch of Ian " 

 was cultivated, the product would hardly he sul 

 ficieut for the subsistence of the people. In that 

 country families are born and brought up who 

 live entirely upon the water; and to the children 

 the junk, an awkward apology for a boat, is the 

 same object of inheritance as the house and land. 

 These water craft, which are sometimes station; 

 ry and sometimes removed from one position to 

 another as may be most conducive to the means 

 of obtaining a livelihood for the occupants, are 

 said to cover the navigable rivers and canals. 

 Where the population becomes too numerous and 

 crowded, the inhuman practice prevails of taking 

 the life of helpless infancy which cannot be con- 

 veniently sustained. 



The Chinese are not civilized according to our 

 ideas of Christian civilization ; but that people 

 were agriculturists while the country from which 

 our ancestors came was inhabited by a race 

 scarcely more civilized than the North American 

 Indians. The Emperor Vin-ti, who reigned two 

 hundred years before the Christian era, raised the 

 estimation of Agriculture to a high |>itch ; for this 

 Prince, perceiving that the country was ruined 

 by the wars, to engage his subjects, to cultivate 

 tlie land, set them an example himself by plough- 

 ing the fields belonging to his palace, which 

 obliged all in high place's in his court to do the 



The husbandmen in China at this day rank he- 

 tbre either merchants or mechanics. A festival 

 is instituted once a year; and on this occasion the 

 Emperor himself turns ploughman. 



Among several good regulations made by the 

 Chinese Emperor, he has shown an uncommon 

 regard for the husbandmen. To encourage them 

 in their labor, he has a standing order to the gov- 

 ernors of all the cities and provinces to send him 

 notice every year of the person of this profession 



in tlicir respective districts who is most remarka- 

 ble for his application to agriculture; for un- 

 blemished reputation ; for preserving union in his 

 own family and peace with his neighbors ; for his 

 frugality and aversion to extravagance. For tlie 

 distinction of such a notice the man will be hon 

 ored all his days. 



Here is a truly commendable custom which 

 does great credit to the wisdom and sagacity of 

 the ruler, and has a good effect on the welfare 

 and prosperity of the ruled. 



The land in China never lies fallow. General- 

 ly the same ground produces three crops in a 

 year. First, rice, and before this is reaped they 

 sow fitches; and when this is iu, wheat, beans or 

 some other grain. Thus the ground is continu- 

 ally occupied, and a rotation is kept up. 



NOVEL MATERIALS FOR MANURE. 



Rice is principally cultivated and depended on. 

 The land is highly manured : they gather for this 

 purpose all sorts of ordure both of men and ani- 

 mals, of wood and vegetables, including various 

 oils. They gather this manure in pails which 

 the men and women commonly carry covered on 

 their shoulders; and this contributes very much 

 to the cleanliness of their cities, whose filth is 

 thus taken away every day. 



EXTERMINATE WEEBS. 



In the rice ground they make use of hogs' hair 

 and even human hair as a means of giving 

 strength to the land. When the plant begins to 

 ear they make use of quick lime. This, they 

 say, kills worms and insects, destroys weeds, and 

 gives warmth to the ground which contributes 

 much to its fcrlility. Navaratte, a traveller in 

 China, sometimes walked through the Chinese 

 rice fields, and could not find in thetn even a 

 small herb : " the rice was surpassingly tall and 

 fine," he says, " because it drew all the nourish- 

 ment from the ground." Here we liave a lesson 

 from these foreigners — a principle which has 

 there been practised probably for ages anterior to 

 all agricultural improvements in this country and 

 even in England — which it will he entirely safe 

 to follow. How much is the product of our fields 

 lessened by suffering noxious weeds to grow 

 amidst the intended crop ? The additional labor 

 required for the complete extirpation of these 

 weeds, where any tolerable preparation is made 

 for a crop, would probably effect a greater gain to 

 the farmer than any other portion of the labor 

 bestowed upon his farm. It is common with 

 most farmers, while hoeing in their fields, to cut 

 up or pulL up by the roots all weeds standing in 

 the way. These arc often transplanted upon the 

 ground, it being natural for many kinds to take 

 root wherever tliey come in contact with the 

 earth. A'portion of the incumbrance will be left 

 if all is not gathered up and carried off. But if 

 a continued burning sun kills the whole, in a few 

 days more anew growth will start up; and if 

 these do not experience u similar treatment and 

 contimied dry weather, the second crop will 

 spring up quite as luxuriantly as the first. In- 

 deed with the mode practised by some of our 

 very best farmers, the weeds in many fields be- 

 come prominent during the whole of the latter 

 part of the season. There is hardly an exception 

 in our grain fields that the weeds springing up 

 after the reaper, cover the entire sinface for the 

 remainder of the year •, and in some cases the 

 best gro'jnd is so beset with them that they shoot 

 ahead nt the intended grain crop early in the 

 season, covering up, choking and preventing its 

 growth. In the corn and potatoe fields and not 

 unfreqnently in our gardens at the time of gath- 

 ering the crop, the pernicious cockles stick to and 

 incorporate themselves with the apparel of per- 

 sons haviilg occasion to puss through them. 



From the view 1 have taken of many fields of 

 arable land in the hitler part of summer, I have 

 formed an opinion that fioni one-fourth to one- 

 half of the strength of soil which should go to 

 sustain a crop, is spent in the growth of weeds. 

 If the Chinese discovery of the application of 

 lick lime iu proper places and quantities cari 

 kill worms and insects, destroy weeds, impart the 

 due warmth to the ground, and at the same time 

 preserve the intended crop — how great would be 

 the improvement to our own husbandry to adopt 

 their mode ? The growth of weeds and the foul 

 grasses may not he in all cases so much dead 

 oss: rooted out and turned under the soil, they 

 will furnish the material for fertilizing the ground. 



