1 68 A Walk from 



system." This very term indicates the degree to which 

 English agriculture has been reduced to a precise and 

 rigid science. It means here, that the whole arable 

 extent of his estate is divided equally between four 

 great crops ; or, wheat, 750 acres ; barley and oats, 

 750 ; seeds and pulse, 750 ; and roots, 750. Now, an 

 American farmer, in order to form an approximate idea 

 of the amount of labor given to the growth of these 

 crops, must remember that all these great fields of 

 wheat, oats, barley, turnips, beans, and peas, contain- 

 ing in all over 2,000 acres, are hoed by hand once or 

 twice. His cereals are all drilled in at 7 inches apart, 

 turnips at 17. The latter are horse-hoed three or four 

 times ; and as they are drilled on the flat, or without 

 ridging the surface of the ground, they are crossed with 

 a horse-hoe with eight V shaped blades. This operation 

 leaves the young plants in bunches, which are singled 

 out by a troop of children. One hand-hoeing and two 

 or three more horse-hoeings finish the labor given to 

 their cultivation. It is remarkable what mechanical 

 skill is brought to bear upon these operations. In the 

 first place, the plough cuts a furrow as straight and 

 even as if it were turned by machinery, A kind of 

 esprit de corps animates the ploughmen to a vigorous 

 ambition in the work. They are trained to it with as 

 much singleness of purpose as the smiths of Sheffield 



