BRITISH AND AMERICAN AGRICULTURE, 



In the October number " An Old Farmer" very logic- 

 ally reasons on tlie various "causes" that might 

 account for the superiority of British agriculture, 

 and rightly conclsdes that it is not owing to a lack 

 of general education in America, or to the inferiority 

 of soil and climate, or any national characteristic, or 

 ignorance of European improvement, or known scien- 

 tilic facts, but it may, to a certain extent, be attribu- 

 ted to pecuniary circumstances, for though few of the 

 best British .farmers own their farms, yet they employ 

 a capital of at least fifty dollars per acre in its culti- 

 vation ; while here a farmer sinks the whole of his 

 money in the soil, and has not, in too many instances, 

 sufficient left to cultivate it so well as he desires. If, 

 too, he is in debt, he is anxiouB to discharge it, and tills 

 his soil too hard — "scourges" it — or, in other words, 

 cultivates the cereal, cash-selling grains as long as 

 they will grow, thus permanently impoverishing his 

 soil — killing the goose that layn the golden eggs. — 

 He has too, comparatively, no local attachment and 

 would pull up stakes any day could he get a few dol- 

 lars per acre more for his farm than he thought it 

 worth. Suggest under-draining, or any other im- 

 provement that would ultimately pay cent per cent., 

 and he will tell you the farm would not sell for any 

 more than at present, and the money would be lost, 

 instead of thinking as a British tenant farmer does, 

 if / do not get the benefit my son will. 



Another, and the principal, reason of the superior- 

 ity of British farming is, that they have a better mar- 

 Tcet and can afford to use artificial manures, and other 

 means for increasing their crops, which, from the 

 low price of his products, the American iarmer can- 

 not economically adopt ; and though for the perfection 

 of cereal grains this is the best climate, yet for the 

 growth of turneps, vetches, fcc, which by collecting 

 ammonia from the atmosphere so materially benefits 

 the soil, England, and especially Scotland, has the 

 advantage. 



A good crop of turneps, of twenty tons of bulbs and 

 eight tons of leaves, contains the following sub- 

 stances ; 



A glance at the above table will show the great 

 value of the turnep crop in a system of rotation. — 

 It will be seen that it collects from the atmosphere 

 nearly three times as much nitrogen as an ordinary 

 clover crop ; that it abounds with potash, which, 

 however, is not exported from the soil but left in the 

 manure in a fit state for assimilation by the ensuing 

 crops. It may be here remarked that turneps con- 

 tain but little phosphoric acid, yet when this sub- 

 stance is applied in a soluble form it has a most 

 remarkable stimulating effect on the plant, usually 

 trebling the crop by its sole application, while pot- 

 ash, though the plant contains a large quantity, yet 

 its artificial application seldom does any good. This, 

 and similar facts, seems to explode the common opin- 

 ion that the manure which it is best to use can be 

 known from the analysis of the plants to be grown. 



It is the "turnep crop" that constitutes the chief dif- 

 ference of American and British agriculture. It is 

 that which has so greatly improved English farming 

 in the last half century, since it has been extensively 

 cultivated. It is a common saying of the English 

 farmers, " If we can get a good crop of turneps v\'e 

 are sure of all other crops." Hence the great pains 

 and expense that is bestowed on its cultivation. Its 

 cultivation has rendered unnecessary the long or 

 summer fallow, and land has not now, as formerly, 

 to be in grass for four or five years to rest; and much 

 larger crops of wheat are now grown every fourth 

 year than under the old system, every eighth. 



The turneps are ready for use by the first or sec- 

 ond week in October ; they are either eaten off by 

 sheep on the land, or are drawn home and fed to 

 cattle or sheep in yards, using plenty of straw for 

 " litter," which is thus made into good manure. — 

 The best farmers, too, give to their fatting sheep one 

 pound of oil cake and a pound of clover-hay-chaff per 

 day each, with as many turneps as they will eat. — 

 American oil cake is preferred, as it contains — from 

 being better pressed — more nitrogen than the Eng- 

 lish, but it is necessary to have it analyzed before 

 purchcsing, as Brother Jonathan has been lately 

 coming a yandee dodge over unsuspicious Johnny by 

 mixing sawdust, or other valueless substance, with 

 the Linseed, thus greatly reducing the value of the 

 oil-cake. When good, it contains five per cent, of 

 nitrogen, and is consequently very nuritious, and the 

 manure from its consumi)tion exceedingly valuable. 

 When oil-cake is used in the field, it is usual to draw 

 off the large bulbs for the cattle in the yards, leaving 

 the tops and smaller turneps to be consumed on the 

 land ; were the whole crop eaten on the soils, and 

 oil-cake used, the land would be too rich and the 

 crops laid. 



Mutton and beef are worth a shilling a pound, and 

 it therefore pays to be at considerable expense in fat- 

 ting it ; still it would not pay to use oil-cake but for 

 the great value of the manure, and there are thou- 

 sands of good farmers who prefer to purchase artifi- 

 cial manures than to consume their grain or purchase 

 oil-cake or other artificial food for stock. Much less 

 capital is required, and the effects are speedier and 

 more apparent, though not so lasting and beneficial 

 to the soil. 



The " cause " of the superiority of British farming, 

 then, is not the superior scientific knowledge of the 

 British farmer, (for it must be admitted that the land 

 owning farmers of this free country are a far more 

 intelligent, knowledge-seeking, and 'soher race, than 

 their transatlantic brethren,) but to the greater phy- 

 sical difficulties under which our farmers labor, viz : 

 a comparative low price of produce and meat, and a 

 climate not well adapted to the nitrogen collecting 

 plants of the British Isles. 



It is my opinion, not hastily formed, nor without 

 some means of arriving at just conclusions, that the 

 most scientific practical farmer of England or Scot- 

 land could not take a farm in Western New York 

 and raise wheat for a less price per bushel than 

 numbers of inteilio-ent, wealthy farmers of this dis- 

 trict. The fact is,'an English farmer cannot increase 

 his wheat crop by artificial manures, of which large 

 quantities are used, for less than eighty cents per 

 bushel, and it is vain for the farmers of the eastern 

 counties of this State to think of profitably increasing 

 the fertility of their poor weak soils, so long as they 

 have to contend with the fertile new soil of the west, 



