No. 149.J 399 



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Berry from the Sussex Express, published at Lewes ; and I beg 

 you will permit me to place it in your hands for careful investi- 

 gation, that it may be published here as truth by the " American 

 Institute" of this city, that body having urged me to write. 



" In a small tour through a portion of Essex, I passed the Colnes, 

 and was much pleased with a piece of experimental farming 

 that has now been carried on for seven years by Mr. J. D. Piper, 

 of Colne Engine. This gentleman long since, had a conviction 

 that wheat would Hourish best in solid soils, and that on ground 

 which was comparatively undisturbed ; this crop might be grown 

 for many successive years without fallowing. He determined to 

 try the experiment, and has now grown on the same piece of 

 land, six successive crops of wheat, without on any occasion al- 

 lowing a plough to turn over a single furrow. The soil in fact 

 has not been disturbed by plough,spade,or any other implement, 

 the only thing used has been a hoe, and this has not be employed 

 to loosen the soil, but only to remove the surface weeds." 



" The course has been to reap the wheat with a short stubble, 

 and to let that remain in the ground ; to hoe off the surface 

 weeds and burn them ; and then to dibble in seed between the 

 old stubble, to the extent of a peck and a half per acre, the rows 

 being one foot apart. The average product of the last five years 

 wheat crops, under this system of farming, has been ten coombs 

 and two bushels (forty-two bushel) per acre. At the present 

 moment, there is standing upon the same piece of undisturbed 

 land, the sixth successive crop of wheat, and truly it is a noble 

 piece of grain, the straw being remarkably good, and the ears 

 being very large, fall and heavy ; the crop will be at least eleven 

 coombs per acre. Many farmers A\ould suppose that the land 

 must be very foul ; this however, is not the case, there is scarcely 

 a weed to be seen." 



" I ascertained that Mr. Piper expended in labor, about £4 10s. 

 per acre, but notwithstanding this heavy outlay, and all other 

 charges of rent, tithe, a top dressing of sixty bushels of soot per 

 acre, &c., tlie clear profit on an acre amounted to six guineas, not 

 a bad return, considering that the corn was sold in free trade 

 times, for I am now alluding to the crop of 1849. These facts 



