HUSBANDRY 



to Iiave arisen from that of the out- 

 field. Fallows were unknown, hut 

 the invigorating effect of grass fed off 

 by cattle must soon have been per- 

 ceived ; and, instead of leaving the 

 land to recover slowly by the spon- 

 taneous growth of natural herbage, 

 which on poor land takes a long time, 

 it was obvious that this might be 

 accelerated by sowing grass seeds. 

 Hence the origin of the Scotch con- 

 vertible system of husbandry, which 

 is gaining ground daily, and bids fair, 

 in remote situations, where no ma- 

 nure can be purchased, to be firmly 

 established. The order of the con- 

 version has been somewhat altered 

 from what it was originally. Instead 

 of sowing grass seeds after the land 

 is exhausted, it has been found advan- 

 tageous to accelerate the growth of 

 grass by manuring the crop in which 

 it is sown ; and experience has 

 proved, that the richer the grass is, 

 the more productive are the crops 

 which come after. The grass, in- 

 stead of being a mere substitute for 

 fallowing and manuring, is made high- 

 ly profitable by feeding cattle and 

 sheep ; and the profit of the years 

 when the land rests, as it w^ere, by 

 being depastured, is often as great as 

 that of the years when it is cropped ; 

 and the risk and expenses are much 

 less. The convertible system is not 

 very generally known or adopted in 

 England, and is often confounded 

 with the alternate system. The al- 

 ternate system interposes a green 

 crop between two white-straw crops. 

 On good land the convertible hus- 

 bandry may consist of three or four 

 years' tillage and three years' grass. 

 If the land is not quite clean, a sum- 

 mer fallow on heavy soils, or a tur- 

 nip fallow on light soils, should be- 

 gin the course ; and only one crop 

 should be taken after the fallow in 

 which the grasses are sown, wheth- 

 er it be wheat, corn, barley, or oats. 

 It should be fed off the first year, 

 mown the second, and fed off again 

 in the third ; wiien it is broken up, 

 oats are usually sown as the first 

 crop in Scotland, then beans, if the 

 land admits of them, and then wheat. 



M M 



If a fallow IS mtended, a crop of 

 pease may be sown after the wheat, 

 and then the course begins again, as 

 before, with a clean fallow or with 

 turnips. In this manner the land 

 may be kept clean and continually 

 improve in fertility by means of the 

 cattle which are kept upon it, with- 

 out the aid of any purchased manure, 

 except lime, the expense of which is, 

 in most cases, well repaid by the 

 crop. These are the only regular 

 systems in Britain, and every mode 

 of cultivation and cropping may be 

 reduced to one of them, unless it be 

 capriciously anomalous. 



" \Miat renders the improved sys- 

 tems of British husbandry so supe- 

 rior to that of other nations is the 

 attention paid to the perfection of 

 the different breeds of domestic ani- 

 mals, especially the horse, the ox, 

 and the sheep. In this respect, Brit- 

 ish husbandry surpasses every other. 

 No expense or trouble is spared to 

 improve the qualities of cattle and 

 sheep. It has been objected, that 

 the rewards given by different so- 

 cieties for excessively fat cattle are 

 not judicious, as these animals are 

 never profitable to the feeder. The 

 same might be said of very high-bred 

 race-horses ; they are not so useful 

 as a good hackney or hunter ; but 

 unless some individual animals pos- 

 sess the power, courage, and speed 

 which is the mark of the best blood, 

 it would soon degenerate ; so, like- 

 wise, if some oxen were not occa- 

 sionally fatted to an extraordinary 

 degree, the fatting qualities of the 

 breed could not be proved. A badly- 

 bred ox will never become so fat, 

 whatever food may be given him, as 

 one of a choice breed ; this the breed- 

 ers are well aware of, and never hes- 

 itate to pay a good price for a young 

 bull related in blood to a prize ox." 



HUSK. The dry exterior of 

 fruits. 



HYACINTHINE COLOUR. The 

 colour of the hyacinth gem : a clear 

 reddish-brown. 



HYALITE. A variety of glassy 

 quartz of a gray or yellowish colour, 

 and concretionary. 



401 



