AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBi.ISHEO EY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO 52 NOliTH MARKKT STREET, (Aqbicultural Warehouse.) 



irot. xvm.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 25, 1839. 



[NO. la- 



AGRICULTURAL. 



From the Cultivalor. 



rHE AGRICULTURAL STATE OF SCOT- 

 LAND. 



And what has that to do with American husband- 

 ry ? it may be asked. Much, we reply." We may 

 learn from what Scotland was, and what shetsijn 

 igriculture, many useful lessons in farming. •We 

 may learn our own errors in practice ; and, if wc 

 ire not too proud, or too conceited, we may learn, 

 from Scotch lessons in farming how to correct them 

 — we may learn from tiiem how to" double at least, 

 the products of our agricultural labor. The histo- 

 ry of Scotcli agriculture for the last fifty years, is 

 invaluable to every farmer who would improve his 

 practice. History is wisdom, teaching by example. 



We find a valuable, essay in the Edinburgh Quar- 

 terly Journal of Agriculture, showing what Scot- 

 land teas, and what she ?s, in regard to her agricul- 

 ture. Slie was, in 1784^ two years after the close 

 ^f our revolution, " as poor as a church mouse." She 

 is now, perhaps, the richest in agricultural products, 

 Df any portion of Great Britain, at least so far as 

 regards hej arable lands. The writer descrihes the 

 face of the country at the middle of the last ecu jury, 

 "no better than that of a bleak, howling wilderness," 

 md well, he adds, might the poet at the inn win- 

 dow indite — \ i 



" Bleak are thy hills of north, 



Nov lerlile are thj' plains. 

 Bare-legged are thy nymphs, 



And bare — ^ are tny swains." 



" In 1784, a few gentlemen, full of zeal for their 

 country, and it may be a little love of society, formed 

 themselves into a sort of hole and coiner club, in a 

 coflee-house called the E.xchange, situated in the 

 court of that name, near "the market cross of Ed- 

 inburgh." Here, in the enjoyment of agreeable 

 conversation and a good supper, did those worthies 

 talk over plans fcr the amelioration of the High- 

 lands, and from this nucleus arose the now widely 

 extended and powerful Highland Society." ** * 

 "To say what was the state of agriculture in Scot- 

 land at the date of the formation of tiie Highland 

 Society, would, to treat of it minutely, require 

 greater scope than the limits of a periodical admit." 



" But, to take one sweep over hill and dale, corn- 

 field and meadow, we may at once pronounce the 

 agriculture of Scotland, at that period, to have been 

 wretched — execrably bad in all its l'>calities ! 

 Hardly any wheat was attempted to be grown; oats 

 full of thistles was the standard crop, and this was 

 repeated on the greater part of the arable land, 

 while it would produce twice the seed thrown into 

 it: turnips, as part of the rotation of crops, were 

 unknown: few potatoes were raised, and no grass 

 seeds or clover were sown. The whole manure of 



can recollect, a great part of the summer was em- 

 ployed in the now fertile shire of Fife, in pulling 

 thistles out of the oats, and bringing them home 

 for the horses, or mowing the rushes and other 

 aquatic plants that grew on the bogs around the 

 homestead. Such was the state of Scotland, with 

 but little appear.ince of amendment, \up to 1792." 



The general outline of this picture of wretched 

 husbandry is suited to the prosent condition of 

 many districts on the eSistern borders of our coun- 

 try, though the filling up of the picture would re- 

 quire to be somewhat different. 



" Time, with her ceaseless wing, had now brought 

 in another century, and on the arrival of the nine 

 teenlh, the richer part of the low country bad put 

 on a:iother aspect. Beautiful fields of wheat were 

 to be seen — drilled green crops and clean fallows 

 every where abounded — the bogs had disappeared — 

 the thistles no longer existed. In the Lolhians, all 

 this was carried on to a great extent. The far- 

 mers forgot themselves — they were coining money, 

 and ' light come, light go,' was their motto. They 

 went on in the most reckless manner — they began 

 to keep gfeyhounds, to be members of coursing 

 clubs, subscribed to the 'silver cup,' or 'puppy 

 stakes,' and yelped the same note of folly as their 

 betters in birth, their equals in extravagance and 

 vice. Then followed yeomamy races — the good 

 sturdy nag that would be of use at a time in the 

 operations of the farm, was exchanged for a blood 

 steed, and on market-day, instead of rational con- 

 versation about matters connected >.ilii their own 

 calling, they began to talk 'A:noiOi»ig'/i/' about the 

 turf At this time, that is, from 1810 to 18J4, the 

 agricultural horizon was the brightest ; the gas was 

 fully up, the nation was alive, all was activity and 

 business." 



But at this time the battle of Waterloo came, and 

 with it peace and low prices. Farmers qould not 

 sustain their extravagance — tliey had been unable 

 to bear prosperity — and their farms fell into the 

 hands of mure prudent managers. We have seen 

 much of the same routine of industry, extravagance 

 and poverty, among the farmers of our own coun- 

 try. Not willing to 'let well enough alone,' they 

 have embarked in speculation, or in pursuits to 

 which they were strangers, and have gone into ex- 

 travagances and follies, to ape the great, which 

 their means did not warraivt, and which neitlier 

 their comfort nor the welfare of their children re- 

 quired. The conspque.".ce often has been, that, 

 like the indiscreet Scoich farmer, their lands have 

 come into the possessionof more prudent managers. 



But thcugh Scotch farmers failed, from not know- 

 ing how to bear prosperity, Scotch husbandry did 

 not retrograde. 



"In 1815, the turnip husbandry had got a firm 

 hold in the country — the benefit accruing from it 



of driving their cattle to a distant market. Two 

 discoveries removed these impediments. The first, 

 "the most important," says our author, "that ever 

 occurred in the annals of agriculture, viz., that of 

 bone dust," and the second, the applicatiotr oj steam, 

 by our countryman, Fulton, to the propelling of 

 vessels, which enabled the Scotch farmer to trans- 

 port his fat animals to Smithfield market, at a mod- 

 erate expense. "So palpable was the benefit to be 

 derived from the use of bone manure, that in a few 

 years there was not a farmer who did not avail him- 

 self of it. The larmers could now grow turnips to 

 any extent, and the bare fallow was exploded." — 

 We have bone dust, and poudrette, and other newly 

 discovered means of fertility, which the farmer is 

 shy of buying and using. We have tried them all, 

 and are .;atisfied both of their utiRt^ and the econ- 

 omy of their application, especially upon naturally 

 dry or well drained soils. They add much to the 

 products of agricultural labor, without any thing 

 like a corresponding outlay. The Scotch fanner 

 could now grow turnips to any extent. He could 

 fatten upon these his stock, and he could send this 

 stock to market at a trivial expense, for the " steam 

 engine had become his drover." 



But another — a third improvement followed, 

 which we have yet to learn the value of — we mean 

 fun-bio draining on flat and tenacious soils. Heai; 

 what our author says upon this subject : § 



" No man holding land ought to be ignorant of 

 the thorough or Deanston drain. Mr Smith, deep- 

 ly cngicrpri. in the "ctton spinning trade, could not 

 procure a fall of water on the river Teitli, ten mileg 

 west ofthe castle of Sterling, without renting along 

 with it a considerable portion of very bad and wet 

 land. Not liking to have a heavy rent to pay for 

 such trash, Mr Smith turned his powerful mind to 

 the subject, and perceiving the folly of throwing 

 away large sums of money on deep and useless 

 drains, with all the stufi'of tapping and boring, to 

 cak/i the water as it were a wild beast for which 

 gins and traps must be 1 '.id, hit on the idea of mak- 

 ing drains in parallel lines in the hollow of every 

 ridge, cutting them to the depth of thirty inches, 

 filling them with small stones half way to the sur- 

 face, above this putting a green turf reversed, and 

 replacing the mould. Following up his first dis- 

 covery by ploughing deep, ho has now a farm.of 

 tlie finest land ever seen ; and so convinced is the 

 writer of the utility of this mode of draining, that 

 each year he has been increasing the quantity he 

 has made, and during the last twelve months has 

 put in above fifteen miles. Nor is the Deanston 

 drain confined to those parts of the country where 

 stone or gravel can be procured: the same system 

 can be and is followed « itli the same effect, by 

 using the Marquis of Tweeddale's tile ; or even the 

 poorest farmer, who has not capital to undertake 

 costly improvements, can fertilize his farm by mak- 



