AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 



NORTH MARKET STREET, (Aghicultuhal Warehoube.) 



VOL. XVll.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 1!), 1839. 



[NO. 50. 



AGRICULTURAL. 



REMARKS OF MR BINNS 



M a Meeting of the Lancaster [Eng.) Agricultural 



Society. 



(Concluded.) 



I now proceed to consider the best means of ap- 

 plying manure to the soil. Many may tliink that 

 in this there caa be no difficulty. It would con- 

 tribute very much to cleanliness, to the health and 

 neatness of farm premises, if manure could be di.s- 

 posed of as soon as produced. In the Dutch mode 

 for instance, it is lost sight of immediately ; all is 

 cleanliness about the cow-ho\ise8. Whether the 

 manure be solid or liquid, the sooner it is deposited 

 in the ground after it has undergone a slight fci- 

 mentation the better ; if the ground were in that 

 clean state which drilling and proper weeding would 

 ensure, the manure might be deposited in tlie drills 

 and covered up in the autumn, ready for planting 

 potatoes or sowing turnips in tlie following spring ; 

 this would allow tlie vegetation of annual weeds, 

 and their destruction by the harrow when the pota- 

 taes and turnips were sown. The ground by being 

 ridged up, and having the manure in it, would be- 

 come mellowed by the winter's frost ; and the most 

 favorable time for sowing might be taken advan- 

 tage of in the sprmg. The ground would thus r ■- 

 tain all tlie juices and virtue of the manure. Sir 

 H. Davy remarks: "The fermentation and putre- 

 faction of organized substances in the free atmos- 

 phere are noxious processes ; beneath the surface 

 of the ground they are salutary operations." When 

 this plan cannot be adopted, the manure ought to 

 be carted in winter, out of the yards to heaps in the 

 fields, on which it is intended to be used, and there 

 covered with soil, peat earth, and other substances, 

 and turned over about a week before it is to be ap- 

 plied in spring. 



For the turnip crop the use of liquid manure is 

 of great advantage, for if the growth of this plant 

 be checked when young, its success is greatly en^ 

 dangered, and though it may escape the dangers of 

 the fly, it never after grows freely ; for clover after 

 mowing, and also for cabbages it is an excellent 

 forcer. For meadow land, I believe manure is best 

 applied immediately on the hay being taken off, for 

 at this period the grass grows rapidly, and soon 

 protects the manure from the sun ; the ground not 

 being saturated with moisture absorbs the juices, 

 and less of its goodness is washed away than when 

 applied in winter or spring. But in saying this I 

 i do not wish it to be understood that I approve of 

 permanent meadows in general — I would have no 

 meadows except in situations unsuitable for plough- 

 ing. 



In manuring pasture land the liquid state is pref- 

 erable. In wet pastures an excellent practice pre- 

 vails, (but not to the extent it ought to do) that is, 

 to waterfurrow, and mix up the furrows that are 

 thrown out with lime or manure, and then spread 

 the mixture on the surface ; this accomplishes two 

 valuable objecta at once. 



Having now explained the means by which the 

 manure upon a farm may be profitably augmented, 

 and given my views as to its application, I will on- 

 ly detain you a short time by a few remarks upon 

 the effect of these improvements upon the farmer, 

 the landlord, and the public. 



The farmer by having an increased supply of 

 manure, and conseiiuently an increased produce up- 

 on the same land, would in the first instance be 

 most benefited, and the most enterprising, skilful, 

 and industrious, will always reap the greatest ben- 

 efit. Let him imitate the Dutch, who are a happy 

 people, fond of home, who delight in the neatness, 

 comfort, and cleanliness of their houses, and are 

 not only skilful agriculturists, but excel in horti- 

 culture. As the increasing population will require 

 more food yearly, it is probable there would be a 

 demand at present prices for the increased supply, 

 that these improvements would furnish ; the land- 

 lord would therefore also be benefited with an in- 

 creased rent: if prices should be reduced by an in- 

 creased supply fully equal to the demand, he would 

 in that case also reap advantage, the expense of 

 living being reduced and rents remaining the same. 



But to the public the most important advantages 

 would result in the reduced price from the increase 

 of the necessaries of life. The natural effect of 

 this would be a reduction in the price of labor, 

 '••ithout curtailing the comfort of the laborer ; and 

 more profit to the manufacturer, with an extension 

 of our commerce and manufactures. I am aware 

 that the price of labor is not always governed by 

 the price of provisions, because labor, like other 

 commodities, must depend upon supply and demand, 

 but this would be the tendency ; at all events the 

 price of provisions fixes the minimum price of labor. 



If this state of things should happily be realized, 

 all bickering about the corn laws would cease ; the 

 agriculturist and manufacturer would then cordially 

 shake hands and unite their efforts for the general 

 good, and the latter would perceive that his interest 

 was deeply connected with agriculture. I am of 

 opinion that the volumes that are written about the 

 corn laws, are all no better than waste paper, and 

 if I may presume to question the wisdom of discus- 

 sions in parliament on the subject, I should say it 

 was misapplied. The agriculturists may be aptly 

 likened to the wagoner calling upon Jupiter, when 

 they have the power and the means of putting their 

 own shoulder to the wheel. If the agriculture of 

 the country were improved to one fifth of the extent 

 it is capable of, the corn laws would be a dead let- 

 ter, and wonder would be excited that they ever 

 existed amongst an enlightened and industrious 

 people, and our agriculturists would look back with 

 shame upon their cupidity for their dependence up- 

 on foreign nations for a supply of food, when the 

 soil and climate of Great Britain offer such facili- 

 ties for producing food, exceeding beyond any con- 

 ceivable bounds, the present miserable amount. If 

 the plan proposed should be adopted, the British 

 farmer could raise grain, cattle, horses, and sheep, 

 butter and cheese, as cheaply as these articles 

 could be imported by foreigners, and as to the ar- 



gument used of their not buying our goods, unless 

 we take their corn, it is not worth a moment's con- 

 sideration, as they will be glad to buy manufactures 

 from those that will sell them the cheapest, and in 

 proof of this, we have imported no corn lately, but 

 our export of manufactures was never greater. 



Our manufacturers are able, from their superior 

 machinery and skill, to export goods to those coun- 

 tries where provisions and the money price of labor 

 are much lower than in England ; and if farmers 

 would bestow sufficient care in the selection of 

 their breed of horses, cattle, and sheep, there would 

 be an increasing demand for them neariy the world 

 over; these would be his superior machinery, and 

 grain would be an auxiliary. We might then say, 

 "these are our instruments of magic." 



I was informed by Mr Wetherell, the celebrated 

 breeder of cattle, yesterday, that several gentlemen 

 from France were lately over in Durham for the 

 purpose of buying great numbers of cattle, even at 

 the present high prices, but if the breeders and far- 

 mers generally would pay proper attention to the 

 breeding of stock, those cattle whicli now sell at 

 50/. and lOOZ., might be afibrdcd at 20/. and 30/. 

 Why should agriculture remain dormant when all 

 the arts are making rapid strides ; it is the most 

 useful and honorable of all. The senators and ru- 

 lers of old gloried in it, and were considered the 

 most honorable an.'l usefcl of men, and I know no 

 reason why the cultivators of the soil who adminis- 

 ter so materially to our existence and our pleasure, 

 should not take their place in intellectual society, 

 except that they have not the opportunities for ed- 

 ucation and information that other classes in towns 

 enjoy, tlieir insulated position is unfavorable in this 

 respect. It may perhaps be considered that I am 

 wandering from the question before the meeting, 

 and I have been expecting to hear that awful word 

 " question," (a laugh,) and I should not have ven- 

 tured so far, if I did not think that the remarks 1 

 am now making had some connexion with the sub- 

 ject more immediately before the meeting. The 

 want of education, particularly that portion embrac- 

 ing science in connection with agricultural subjects, 

 is one great and lamentable cause of the retard- 

 ment of important improvements and marks tlie dis- 

 parity between the farmer and the manufacturer. 

 Those who have the courage and disposition to try 

 experiments, are seldom practical men — on the 

 contrary are generally deficient in scientific knowl- 

 edtre, therefore, between them, experiments that 

 would succeed and be profitable, from a want of 

 practical knowledge and due economy, fail and do 

 injury instead of the good that was intended. Tliis 

 peculiar difficulty under which the farmer labors, 

 makes these meetings the more necessary, and 

 may be a sufficient answer to those who ask why 

 agriculture wants so much bolstering up by meet- 

 ings and premiums when the manufacturers don't 

 require it? But is there no society of arts under 

 the peculiar care of the government, where rewards 

 are bestowed on mechanical inventions? Notwith- 

 standing the advantages enjoyed by these classes, 

 laws are made for the education of the manufactur- 



