210 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



maybe expected to live upon a like pabulum; the 

 Linseed, however, being perfectly different in its na- 

 ture and structure, requires to a considerable extent 

 a different food. 



The Sunjlower usually gi-ows to a large size, even 

 without manuring, and I think is capable of becom- 

 ing a valuable and profitable plant to those who keep 

 poultry, as it requires no expense for culture; the 

 corner of a field or waste place may be turned over, 

 and the seeds be planted even in a rude manner, and 

 if merely thinned and hoed at the same time, to free 

 them from weeds, they i-equirc no further care. 



Linseed. — As respects my experimental plots, I 

 have been surprised to find this plant succeed so well 

 in poor soils. I have grown it on the thin brashes of 

 the great oohte, and on the thick clay bed of the Bo- 

 tanical Garden; in all cases without manure, and af- 

 ter almost every kind of experimental crop, and my 

 samples have always been very good; one great diffi- 

 culty, however, attendant upon the cultivation of Lin- 

 seed, which can more readily be overcome in small 

 plots than in field cultivation, is that of the preva- 

 lence of weeds; the Linseed is, at fir.st, a small and 

 delicate plant, and is easily overgrown by weeds, and 

 if this be .so in its early stage, it never recovers. In 

 my plots this difficulty is got over by drilling, which 

 allows the hoe to be used, and this could perhaps be 

 done to advantage in field cultivation. That weeds 

 may be expected to prevail in this crop, will at once 

 be seen, when, in addition to the facilities offered for 

 their germination by the preparation and fine pulver- 

 ization of the soil, in its cultivation the smallness of 

 the seed renders it exceedingly difficult to separate it 

 from the .seeds of weeds; and hence, with Linseed we 

 usually find enough of weeds associated to furnish a 

 tolerable crop from this source alone; hence, then, 

 the purest or cleanest seed should always be employ- 

 ed, even at the additional crop, as it will, in the end, 

 be an incomparable saving. A few years since some 

 foreign Flax seed was introduced to the college farm, 

 and the crop was spoiled by Sinapis nigra, which has 

 been ever since almost as common as the Scarvensis 

 Charlock, though it scarcely existed there before. 



Buckwheat usually grows .short with w, but seeds 

 tolerably well; I imagine that the oolites would form 

 good soil for the growth of this plant for seed. I 

 have had little experience of it in an economic point 

 of view; but if found useful from the facility with 

 which it can be grown, it might become a profitable 

 plant for the corner of a garden or field, or an occa- 

 sional headland. 



Medicinal Plants. — The few plants of this kind 

 which have been introduced into my garden serve the 

 purpose of instructing my class as to their nature, 

 and are not grown with a view of testing their agri- 

 cultural merits; at the same time such specimens as 

 Carroway or Coriander often form a part of field cul- 

 ture in the neighborhood of London, their seeds be- 

 ing much employed as a medicine or as a spice, as al- 

 so for the distillation of their essential oil; they are 

 easily grown, a light pulverisable soil being best 

 adapted for them. Henbane is much used as a med- 

 icine, for which purpose it is largely grown in the 

 physic gardens. It requires a rich soil for the pro- 

 duction of large and vigorous herbage; wanting this, 

 however, iu my garden causes it to seed all the better, 



so that while with me the leaves are always, small, it 

 produces an enormous quantity of its peculiarly form- 

 ed seed cases filled with .'■eeds. 



Poppies. — Three years since I introduced some of 

 the opium Poppy into the garden, and grew tolcj-able 

 heads for the first crop. My plot, however, has been 

 kept up with seed from them, in wliich ca.se the flow- 

 er has gradually got very small, and the cap.sules are 

 scarcely as large as a walnut; indeed, so changed is 

 the plant from its first estate as hardly to appear the 

 same species, thus affording a good practical lesson 

 in the jihysiological fact attendant upon the growth 

 of seed. Poppies as a crop may be seen in the 

 neighborhood of most large tov,-ns. They grow best 

 in deep rich land. I have seen enormous heads on 

 some of the well-drained lias soils in the vale of 

 Gloucester. — Professor J. Buckrnan, F. G. S., F. 

 L. S., in the London ^Igricultural Gazette. 



FARMING NEAR LIVERPOGL. 



The farm is Mr. Johx Lathbury'.s, in the town- 

 ship of Toxteth Park, and is occupied by him on a 

 yearly tenure, under the Earl of Seftou ; it lies about 

 130 feet above the level of the sea. The soil is a 

 lightish sandy loam, from 12 to 18 inches deep, on a 

 subsoil of white, and, in some places, j-ellow saud; 

 this is incumbent on a bed of clay and marl, from G 

 to 8 feet deep, the whole resting upon the new red 

 sandstone formation. Within the last five yeais the 

 entire farm has been drained with common horse-shoe 

 tiles, 13 inches long and 2| inches widtr inside, and 

 laid on slate soles; the drains were all laid on the 

 parallel system, averaging from 4 to 5 feet deep, and 

 10 yards wide; cinders, to the depth of 9 inches, were 

 laid over the tiles. The work has proved quite efl'ect- 

 ive, as the land is now perfectly dry and in the most 

 satisfactory condition. Within the same period the 

 farm has been entirely remodeled as regards fences; 

 the many old ones were eradicated, and new ones 

 planted of white thorn, and the farm is now divided 

 into eight large regularly sliaped fields; while before 

 it consisted of something like three times that num- 

 ber of enclosures. M:my ponds and old pitsteads 

 have been filled up, and there are now none on the 

 estate, except two small ones, which are rcijuired for 

 watering places. The ditches likewise have all been 

 drained and filled up. Of these new fences, those 

 which have been planted longest are but three years 

 old, and are already what may be termed good sheep 

 fences; and by the time they are five years old, will, 

 probably, be fit for any purjjose. Generally speak- 

 ing, the quicks have been planted in a perfectly 

 straight line, six plants to a yard, or in other words, 

 6 inches apart. This mode of planting seems to 

 make a better fence, that is, a closer and thicker one 

 (at the bottom especially), than when the quiclvs are 

 placed alternately in two parallel lines. 



We may now proceed to notice more particularly 

 the crops, and the general cultivation and manage- 

 ment of the farm. The rotation commences (say), 

 first year with oats; 2d, potatoes or turnips; 3d, 

 wheat; 4th, clover; .5th, grass; 6th, ditto. Some- 

 times, however, the 4th year is barley (after the 

 wheat); btxt in either case the three following years 

 the land is laid down with clover and grass seeda, 



