218 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JAN. 10, IS4 



FACTS IN 



THE HtSTf)RY OF ENGLISH 

 AGRICULTURE. 



In the reign of Edward I., so low was the slate 

 of agricultural industry in England, that a writer 

 of that tiiiie entered into a grave calculation, " that 

 if land yielded only three umcs the seed sown, the 

 farmer would he the loser, unless corn should sell 

 dear." 



The usual quantity of seed was two hushels to 

 an acre. There is an account of n farm in Nor- 

 folk which in the year 1390 produced only six 

 bushels of wheat, twelve bushels of barley and five 

 bushels of oats per acre. Gardens were not intro- 

 duced into England, till the early part of the fif- 

 teenth century. They first made their appeer- 

 ance on the eastern part of the kingdom, from the 

 neighboring country of Flanders, but for a long 

 time were not sufficient to siipply the wants of the 

 feiv persons whe possessed them. 



The common cabbage was introduced from 

 Netherlands in the year J5.39. Its cultivation at 

 first made but little progress. In J561 an old j 

 English writer said : The cabbage is good to make | 

 pottage withal, and is a profitable herbe in a com- 

 monwealth, which the Flenmiings sell deere, but 

 we have it growing in our owne gardens, if we 

 ehould prefer our owne commodity; for there be 

 great plenty growing between Aldbrought and Hof- 

 ford in Sufl^olke, on the seashore." 



An agricultural writer in the time of Oliver 

 Cromwell, says that the old men in his days, re- 

 membered the first gardeners that established 

 themselves in Surry, in England, and sold carrots, 

 parsnips and early peas, of their own production, 

 which before that time were deemed great rarities 

 and were almost exclusively imported from Hol- 

 land. 



Cherries and hops, were not cultivated in Eng- 

 land, till the reign of Henry VIII. Artichokes and 

 currants made their appearance later, in the lime 

 of Queen Elizabeth. Even at that tune onions 

 were imported from Spain none being produced in 

 the British islands. 



Potatoes were first known in England about the 

 the year l.iSC. For nearly a century, they were 

 cultivated only in gardens as a curious exotic fur- 

 nishing an expensive luxury, for the tables of none 

 but the richest people in the kingdom. The plant, 

 which has now become the principal means of sav- 

 ing the lowest and poorest classes in Great Bri- 

 tain from starvation, by snpply<ng them with a 

 cheap and abundant article of food, was at one 

 time so rare, that, as it appears from the account of 



ing, a certain and unchanging value to the pioijuc- } friend, Mr Henry, would be very gl 'd to sh. 

 lions of all countries. Agricultural industry now | any gentleman who felt any curiosity on the 

 secure of its reward, no longer squanders lis earn- [ject. Now he did not hesitate to say that 

 ings in the lavish c»rousaU which distinguished | land was, at that moment, worth 36s. an 

 the middle age?, and short crops are no longer i The outlay upon it for pulling up old h 

 dreaded as fore-runners of famine and starvation [ thorough draining, tilling, and breaking i 

 I among Ihe poorer classes of the people. — Coos i amounted- just to 7/. 10s. per acre, giving Just 



JV. H. Democral. 



BUTTER MAKING. 



It is possible to make nearly as good butter in 

 winter as in summer. In making butter, whether 

 in summer or winter, very much depends upon the 

 temperature at which the milk is kept. In sum- 

 mer, the milk should be kept nearly down to the 

 temperature of spring water, and in winter, if pos- 

 sible, it should not be colder. But when the dairy 

 is not so constructed as to preserve this tempera- 

 ture in winter, it is a great advantage to heat the 

 milk until it simmers, before selling it away. If 

 the milk is scalded, the cream readily separates, 

 and little difficulty i.s experienced in gelling butter 

 by churning. If the cream is so badly kept as to 

 become bitter, enough salaeratus to sweeten it will 

 make the butter come more freely. If the cream 

 IS very cold, warm _water should be addi.'d when 

 churning. In the summer it is sometimes well to 

 add cold water. When ihe butter comes, tJie 

 milk should be thoroughly worked out. It should 

 be churned early in the morning, and the working 

 should be finished the same day; otherwise the 

 milk in it may curdle, and then it cannot be worked 

 out. In the summer, cold water may be used with 

 advantage to keep it hard while woiking. When- 

 ever it begins to get oily, the working should 

 cease until it is again cooled. It is stated of Mr 

 Longworth, of Cincinnati, so extensively known 

 for his great attainments in every thing connected 

 with husbandry, that in contracting for his annual 

 supplies of butter for his own table, he requires his 

 tenants to work it with the hand ; and for the rea- 

 son that healing is necessary to deprive it of the 

 buttermilk — that rubbing with a ladle is not suffi- 

 cient — LouisvitU Jour. 



GOOD EFFECTS OF DRAINING. 



At the late annual meeting of the Liverpool Ai^- 

 ricultural Society, the president. Lord Stanley, 

 said that he would state one instance of the prac- 

 tical returns which might be expected from thor- 

 ough scientific draining. 



.1,0 h„„-„i lA 'y\'~ .";'"■;"' l in 1841, his father was about to enclose in the 



he household e..penses ot Anne, wife of James I. park at Knowsly, a tract of about 80 acre.s. Of 



the once O notalnPa wa= nno .= h,lli„™ .,„. J I .. ■ . ■„ o<.lc.i. KJi 



for every L50s. of outlay, and giving to the 

 lord a permanent interest of 14 per cent, c 

 money laid out on that unpromising grouiK 

 happened that in the same year they tool 

 their own hands land which hod been abam 

 by Ihe tenant as perfectly worthless. It v 

 large field of 22 acres of very poor sandy soi 

 was drained at an expense of 2/. per statute 

 and in the first year they fed otT on that Ian 

 sheep, the remaining part of the turnips being 

 ed to the farm-yard ; and lie ventured tn say 

 at the expense of 2/. per acre, the land wi 

 creased in value 10s. per acre to the landlorc 

 as much to the tenant. — Liverpool Mail. 



the price of potatoes was one shilling per pound . 



In these early times, there scarcely existed any 

 middle class or any cash market for produce. The 

 land belonged to a few great proprietors, for whose 

 benefit it was cultivated by their dependants. The 

 surplus of years of great abundance, often sunk to 

 a iirice nearly nominal, wheat being in many in- 

 stances sold as low as sixpence per bushel. Un- 

 der such circumstances, the results of a plentiful 

 harvest were wasted in feudal profusion, and when 

 on the other hand a short harvest occurred, wheat 

 rose to five or ten times its ordinary value, a gene- 

 ral famine prevailed, and the poor were compelled 

 to subsist upon roots and other miserable fare. 



It is commerce, which, supplying an outlet for 

 the surplus, and a prompt remedy for the deficien- 

 cies, of all civilized countries, has protected all 

 countries against the ruinous consequences of these 

 sudden changes, and given, comparatively speak- 



this aiiout 20 acres were strong clay land, with a 

 very retentive subsoil, and the remaining GO he re- 

 membered from his boyhood as the favored haunt 

 of snipes and wild ducks, and never saw there any- 

 thing else. In the course of the first year, the (iO 

 acres maintained (but very poorly,) during the sum- 

 mer, six horses ; and on the 20 acres there was a 

 very small crop of very poor hay. It was impos.si- 

 ble for land to be in a poorer condition ; and in 

 breaking it up they had some two or three times to 

 dig the plow-horses out of the bog. 



In 1841, the whole of this land was thomushly 

 subsniled and drained, and in 1842, what was not 

 worth 10s. an acre (per annum) the year before, 

 was in turnips, and on that land they ted off in 

 five months, and liittened .''or llie butcher, 80 beasts 

 and 300 sheep, and afterward carted into the farm- 

 yard 3.')0 tons of turnips. In the present year they 

 had a very fair crop o) barley and oats, which his 



WOOL. 



The market for this article within the 

 which .has just closed, has been subject to 

 importnnt changes. At the commencement u 

 year 1843, the quantity of domestic and coarsi 

 cign wool in ihe country, was unu.sually largi 

 market much depressed and prices very low 

 great amount of Woollen machinery was unen 

 ed, and the woollen business, generally, was 

 sued, either at a loss, or without a fair remii 

 lion. The eff'ects of the last Tariff had not 

 been sufficiently realized to produce a reviv 

 the business. This state of things continuf 

 several months, and the last clip of wool was 

 much below the usual range of prices. The j 

 ers, generally, realized from 20 to 3,5c per f 

 for their fleeces. The average price, it is b( 

 ed, did not much, if any, exceed 28c per lb. 

 last clip was a large one, and came into m 

 with at least an addition of half as oiiich mo 

 former clips, wliich had accumulated in the I 

 of growers and dealers. The increased qua 

 of Wool sent from Ohio, Michigan, Illinois 

 some other western Stales, was a matter of 

 prize. The time is not far distant, when a 

 portion of this article will be furnished fron 

 western section of the country, as the farmers 

 are fast increasing their flocks. 



Pulled Wool, a twelvemonth since, had i 

 mulated to a greater extent than at any forme 

 riod, in consequence of the great falling oft'ii 

 manufacture of flannels and other fabrics, co 

 sed principally of this description of wool, 

 heavy stocks of Wool, admilled free of duty i; 

 the former tariff; were in the hands of the im 

 ers, with scarcely any demand. The unprecei 

 ediy low price of Fleece Wool, led manufact 

 to purchase freely of growers, as soon as the 

 was ready for sale. Dealers, also, were rcai 

 operate more extensively than usual, and the r 

 was, that nearly all the Fleece Wool in first h 

 was sold in the months of June, July and An 

 and the amount brought into the several mar 

 was uncommonly large. The manufacturers 

 ing bought freely of the growers, rendered tin 

 mand in market much less than usual. The 

 of things continued until within the last GO i 

 when a sensible change in the market has t 

 place. The early supply of many of our mam 

 turers being nearly exhausted, they were unde 

 necessity of looking to the principal markets 



