•i48 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JAJV. X2, 1840. 



From the Journal of the English Agricultural Society. 



PRESENT STATE OF THE SCIENCE OF AG- 

 RICULTURE IN ENGLAND. 



[Continued.] 

 There is no department of agriculture in wliich 

 minute inquiry is mure needed than this: first, to 

 examine accurately the various diseases of plants, 

 and to note the habits of the animals which prey on 

 them; tlien to ascertain, if possible, the remedies 

 that may be applied; and the followers nf kindred 

 sciences may be fairly invited to aid us in the for- 

 mation of this brand) of knowledge, which may be 

 called agricultural pathology. But even when the 

 crop is ready for harvest, it must not be supposed 

 that there is no doubt remaining, no room for fur- 

 ther improvement. With regard to corn, much in- 

 jury arises to it fro UJ its being exposed to wet after 

 it has been cut, when it may be discolored at least, 

 and often begins to grow in the sward or the sheaf. 

 If left too long, on the other hand, in the hope of dry 

 weather, it becomes overripe, and a portion of the 

 grain is lost by being shed on the ground. It is 

 no new remark, however, that as soon as any portion 

 of the straw has turned yellow, the ascent of sap' 

 from the root is cut off, and that though tlie ear be 

 partly green, it will ripen henceforth as well when 

 severed from the ground as it will if itbe left stand- 

 ing. If this supposition be correct, it might ena- 

 ble the business of harvest to be commenced earli- 

 er, when a clear sky invites the reaper into the 

 wheat field ; and would he so far beneficial, though 

 not in a very material degree. 'I'he late ripening 

 of the corn in the northern parts of this island, where 

 from the moisture of the summers following cold 

 springs, crops are sometimes not secured for two 

 months after our southern harvest is ended, requires 

 a more efi'ectual remedy if such can be found; and 

 it has been suggested, that as seed grown in south- 

 ern clunates retain* for some time its habits of early 

 ripeness, though grown under the more chilly sun 

 of the north, seed might be advantageously borrow- 

 ed by our northern farmers from the warmer parts 

 of the country. The suggestion, however, can be 

 regarded as yet merely as speculative. But the 

 power of improvement does not cease when tiic 

 corn is placed in the rickyard ; and here we have 

 not to incjuire or to guess, but simply to look at the 

 practice of the practical farmer in the Lothiaus 

 and in Northumberland. There, instead of the 

 thresher and his flail, may be seen the machine, not 

 driven however by horses, for then the advantage 

 might be more doubtful, seeing that the labor is 

 distressing to the animals, and withdraws them, 

 moreover, from the work of the fields, but impelled 

 by wind or water, or steam, and that on almost ev- 

 ery farm. In France, too, it appears that not only 

 travelling threshing machines are employed, as is 

 the case here, but that it is proposed to work those 

 by steam engines carried with them. It may be 

 objected, indeed, by the farmer, tliat if he gave up 

 his hand-threshing, he would be at a loss to fin 

 employuient for his men in the winter. The objec- 

 tion, however, shows a want of confidence in the 

 power of permanent improvement judiciously ap- 

 plied on the soil to bring back its cost with inte- 

 rest, nor can this objection be allowed any weight 

 as long as a single acre of the farm is stagnant 

 with water, or dry because the soil is shallow, while 

 there is a possibility of its being deepened. In- 

 deed, if you once establish a moving power on your 

 farm, whether steam, water, or Avind, it ia not the 



labor only ol" threshing that may be saved to men well, of Dishley, by whom it was produced about 

 or horses, but the winnowing, -tlie dressing, the century since, from unknown parents, should not 

 chaff-cuttinsj ; even the turnip-slicing machine, forgotten ; nor that of Mr Colling, in connexi 

 when the turnip is consumed at home, may be graft- with our beautiful short horns. This indeed h 

 eJ on to the principal wheels, and thus borrow their i been the popular branch of English farming, n 

 motion. The more labor is thus set free from mere I among its zealous patrons may be named the le 



work of routine, the more will be applied to the fur 

 ther improvement of the parent of all agricultural 

 labor, the soil. Having mentioned the turoip sli- 

 cer, we cannot but say that, while we would wil- 

 lingly rest the necessity for increased intercourse 

 among the agricultural body, upon the varying 

 practices which prevail in different parts of Eng- 

 land with regard to the turnip alone, a strong argu- 

 ment may be drawn for it from the limited use even 

 of this implement only. It consists in some simple 

 machinery of knives, turned by a handle, enclosed 

 within a box, above which is a trough into which 

 the whole turnips are placed, and below which the 

 slices fall into another receptacle: the whole may 

 be placed on a wheel and two legs, and moved 

 about the field like a wheelbarrow. The advantage 

 is two-fold, saving the teeth of the old ewes, for 

 which the Swedish turnips, especially, are too 

 hard ; saving the waste of this valuable root, which, 

 when partially scooped out by the sheep, is rotted 

 and trampled about with great waste. 'I he econo- 

 my effacted by this simple machine, which costs 

 but(> or £7., has been stated to us by an authority 

 which would at once be admitted as very high, to 

 be no less than one-third of the whole produce. If 

 it bo taken, however, only at a fourth or a fifth, why, 

 it may be asked, has not every farm in the country 

 been long since furnished with this cheap appara- 

 tus ? If a contrivance were discovered in INfiin- 

 chester which should save one-fifth of the cotton 

 consumed in a manufacture, (were such a saving 

 possible,) not a year would pa.ss before most of the 

 old machinery would be replaced by the new, and 

 such changes are constantly taking place there, at 

 the expense of miny thousand pounds ; but the tur- 

 nip is the raw material of the fanner's stock, and 

 the farmer is of the same enterprising race with the 

 manufacturer : why, then, but on account of the 

 separate and secluded scene of his industry, is the 

 spread of agricultural inventions so slow — the ex- 

 tension of those which concern manufactures, so 

 rapid ? and what but a central connection of the 

 cultivators of the soil can diminish the distance and 

 remove the obstruction ? 



The mention of this last instrument h-as brought 

 us to a most essential element of farming, that we 

 have hitherto passed by, — the animals, which, while 

 they embellish and enliven, rural scenery, are indis- 

 pensable to the fruitfulness of the soil. It is a sub- 

 ject which the English agriculturist may enter up- 

 on with satisfaction. There seems indeed to be in 

 the people of this country a peculiar disposition 

 and talent for encoKrairing the finest animal forms, 

 and producing, oy careful attention to the selec- 

 tion of the parents, new families, in which are per- 

 petuated, by descent, useful and symmetrical ex- 

 cellence. It is not only the English race-horse, 

 improved from the Arab and Barb, that is eagerly 

 purchased and exported to every civilized country, 

 but the Durham bull (like him too supposed to be 

 descended from a foreign ancestor, derived in this 

 case from Holland,) the new Leicester sheep, and 

 even the Berkshire hog, are the acknowledged 

 sources from which other nations seek to enrich and 

 refine the blood of their several livestock. Nation- 

 al gratitude requires that, whenever the new Lei- 

 cester sheep is mentioned, the name of Mr Bake- 



and pri'sent Dukes of Bedford, the Duke of Ric 

 mond, the Marquis of Exeter, Lord Leicester, a. 

 Lord Spencer. Such indeed is the pleasure ofse 

 ing the form of the sire reproduced or excelled 

 the offspring, (and the coins of the Sicilian Gree 

 show how fine is the form of the bull,) that there 

 some danger lest the end pursued should be forg 

 ten in the means of attaining it. Not that it c 

 be necessary in an agricultural journal to vindici 

 our annual shows of fat cattle, since although the 

 cattle may be more fat than the ordinary iiiarl 

 requires, the power of reaching that excessive si 

 is the oniy test by which the capacity for acquiri 

 useful marketable condition at the cheapest expei 

 of food and at the earliest age, can be tried unc 

 the encouragement of public emulation and com] 

 tition. '1 hat object has been also practically 

 tained to a high degree. The saving effected 

 the cost of production, through the early maturity 

 the new Leicester sheep, or of the cross betwe 

 the new Leicester and Cotswold, has been calcu 

 ted, by a practical farmer in Gloucestershire, 

 nearly twenty per cent. ; that is to say, it woi 

 have cost about one-quarter of the outlay more 

 supply the present quantity of mutton consumed 

 this country under the old system than by the m 

 This may be taken as a moderate estimate, so 

 as the new Leicester blood and its propensity 

 early fatness has hitherto extended. It may 

 worth the inquiry how far the South-Down race 1 

 been improved in this respect, or how far it may 

 capable of such improvement, and of thus combini 

 rapid maturity with its own superior hardihood. 

 There can be no doubt, however, that in many 

 our agricultural districts the pure improved bloc 

 whether of sheep or cattle, is little known ; and t 

 extension of the advantages secured by the sta 

 of perfection to which these animals have alrea 

 been carried into such districts will arise, it may 

 hoped, from the Society's cattle shows. 

 (Concluded next week.) 



From Yoaalt's Treatise on Cattle. 



THE LONDON DAIRIES. 

 The dairies of the metropolis are objects of mt 

 interest to the stranger and to the agriculturist, 

 pursuit of the object of this work, we travelled o' 

 the greater part of the United Kingdom ; and 

 though we often had no other recommendation th 

 the simple statement of the p^irport of our jourm 

 we met with very few cases of incivility or of i 

 willingness to give us the, fullest information; 1 

 ■when we returned to imr usual residence, and wh( 

 we expected most facility in the attainment of c 

 object, we will not say that the refusal to admit 

 was accompanied by rudeness, but the gate of t 

 dairy remained closed. This was the case with c 

 overgrown milk establishments. It was a spec 

 of illiberality on which we had not calculated ; I 

 it mattered little, for we had seen many of the sm 

 ler ones, and we could guess with tolerable act 

 racy at the difference of treatment in some poin' 

 indeed they had been already whispered to us, a 

 we had besides a minute and accurate account 

 them in the Magazine of our friend Mr Berry. 



