THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



137 



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55 



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 2 



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===i * EXAMPLE FARM- - 



tl TANTED, to Rent on Lease, for -a te rm of ^tjess 



W tb.n *1 Years to enter a o V^e Lard, for the pur- 

 pwelli^h^^vfV^n'EXAMPLE FARM. It must be near 



^^Scti^^oM, Moaxo*. Chester- 



A ^oli 4NDS at UKMBRiDGK.in the Parish ofBRADixcj 

 FORELANDS, , « ^ ■ > 220 a. lr. 33p. 



CoDtammS- Meadow an d Pasture 26 " 



Homestead. &c. . 2 



«, varM i» the Pari>hofTHOKLK-v; 

 TA PNELFARM^ b m 3U 



Conumin^. Me adow and P-slure 73 



% Down . . • 50 



Homestead . • 4 



coutam.n.. Mendow ... 6 



Pasture • * * 1° 

 Down • • ~ t ° 



Homestead . • SI - - 



BARTOK FARM. i.,.j,e Parish o. Wh™-";, 

 Co.l»i«'»r - ^' e w and Fasture 71 J'J! 



Homestead ..72 14-429 • » 

 .„, P .rtic U lars and to treat for Lease apply to Messrs. H. and 



£f)e ftericnlttU'Al ^ alette 



I 



15 a. 

 15—218 



39 



29 



8-472 



6 



39 



4 

 23 

 22—337 



24 



1 14 



1 14 



SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 184/ 



VOTINGS FOH THE TWO FOLLOWING "EEKS. 



%m * f .Affticultur.] Soiety of Enf»a nd - 

 We»m»at, M»r. « • | Highland and Agrlo. Sncie*' 

 Thdmmv. Mir. 7 • Agrie. Imp. Society of lr^nnd. 



Wmmmt, Mir. 13 . Agricultural Society of %**■*• 

 XmiiBiv, -Mar. 14 . Agile Imp. Society ot*reidna. 



FARMERS' CLUBS. 



Wickham Markat- 



Mirchl 



r V ickhim 

 ) Vox ford. 

 "J Wrnlock. 



LWrsi Jler 



Hereford- 



CFramlingham. 

 jj ar .n5< Cnllinehura. 



tKayleigh. 

 M*rch6 Harlea-.on. 



We all know that correct Agriculture presents to 

 our view a series of the most berutiful illustrations of 

 natural laws, and an amateur ft' the art may well be 

 carried away by enthusiasm vuile observing how the 

 facts which come under his eye in the field tally with 

 his scientific knowledge previously acquired in the 

 -closet ; and he may wel 1 be excused instead of being 

 ridiculed for the losses which this enthusiasm, when 

 unbridled, entails upon him. But we must endeavour 

 always to keep in mind that Agriculture is a business 

 by which men earn a livelihood ; that it ought to be 

 •considered only in the matter-of-fact light of a means 

 of investing capital and labour ; that that only is an 

 improvement in it which increases the profits of this 

 investment. Now, the means of thus improving 

 Agriculture are two-fold, viz., those arising from the 

 existence of defects in modes of producing, whether 

 the produce be vegetable or animal ; and those de- 

 pendent on the state of the market for articles of 

 produce ; and these last are often made use of, as, for 

 instance/when a farmer resolves, after a consideration 

 of market prices, to change his rotation of crops, sub- 

 stituting one crop for another, or commencing the 

 cultivation of, to him, an entirely new plant. It is to 



an instance of the latter kind that we intend at present 

 to refer. x 



Several of our correspondents have asked from us 

 *n account of the Culture of Flax. This plant is 

 cultivated to a considerable extent in this country ; to 

 an extent which, owing to the disinterested labours of 

 ,,,' " a I ne8 » , of Trimingham, Norfolk, and to the 

 uoours oi a Flax Improvement Society at Belfast, is 

 rapidly increasing. It is chiefly confined to the 

 alluvial districts of England and the rich loamy land 

 oi rsorth Ireland, these being the descriptions of soils 



KSM y . h . e pIa,u - To show the ra P idit x with 



2 m , cul *vation of this plant is increasing, we 

 may men ion that at the third Annual Meeting of the 



tha M« y .v . r ed t0 above * Mr - S - R - Mulholland said 

 an «J. c Wlth which he was connected had, on 

 40 ruin/ ge P revious years, sent no less a sum than 

 for thp ; ann i UalIy 0f read y ** out of the country, 

 eXDenlT ^ ? f FIax ^ but M* >ear they had not 

 Xt nd p ed abr ° ad as man y Pence.' And to show 

 extent of land in Ireland bore Flax last 



that it is estimated that 



bushels each, were 



Tear I l ° f land in Irela! 



378 I'M? T y mention that il 



aown i a ° gsheads of Flax-seed of 7 uusueis eacn, were 



containin Spn ? g in that country, and each hogshead 

 U2 onn enough for three acres, we find that 



bablV x\T\ eS Was the extent sown - This wouId P r °- 

 36 4<n ! ° n , an ay erage 6 cwt. per acre, or in all 



•mourn. • ° f . scutched Flax, which at 45/. per ton 

 taL-Pn £J!\, vaIue _ t0 1,6 40,925/. These figures are 



t of the Fla: 



v aluablp^t r "' lJ ^ Iuet * wnicn bl " _ 



of u ^f„, i al,st . lcal information on Flax-culture, is full 



takenfrnrl .i Ue , t0 J .640,925/. These figures are 

 Belfast « Published report of the Flax Society of 



' ' a P a . m Phlet * which besides containing much 



to this L P rL a °v , Cal ( ! etaik We find in the Appendix 

 Ported ?W lc J thal 36 ' 113 tons of FJax were im- 

 ^dinetW from 1 Russia > in 1842, and notwith- 

 " thusanlV ll( ; r 1 f ase ? Produce of the article at home, 



article and T" at there is sti11 am Ple market for the 

 -T^lif!!!!^^^ continuance. 



P<>*o^o n e ^f ,of the third Gene7»l~Annual Meeting for the 



' •"• 1-inlay, Calendar-st. pp.74. 



I 



The Flax-plant, as we have said, grows best on 

 loamy clays; the soil on our alluvial deposits may be 

 considered as a correct representative of them. It is 

 cultivated in various ways. In many districts it is 

 grown after Wheat ; in others, Potatoes and other 

 roots are the preparatory crop ; and in Scotland, it is 

 frequently grown after Oats which have been sown on 

 lea. As we may safely follow the example of the 

 Netherland farmers in allowing the plant to seed, for 

 Belgian Flax obtains the highest price in the market, 

 we must consider Flax as a seed-producing crop, and 

 practical men join in calling it a most scourging one ; 

 and, therefore, its place in the rotation should be after 

 a green crop — a manure-producing crop. The best 

 crop to precede it is Grass. 



The land should be ploughed before winter, so as to 

 let the furrow-slice be well reduced by the frost, and 

 when harrowed down as fine as possible it is ready in 

 the early part of April to receive the seed. The thicker 

 this is sown, the finer will be the fibre of the flax, but the 

 less will be its quantity, as well as that of its seed. 

 About 2i bushels is generally considered enough ; it is 

 sown broadcast, and harrowed in. That which is pro- 

 cured from Holland is considered to be the best, but 

 Mr. Babington informs us that the only seed free from 

 the seeds of a most destructive weed, the Flax Dodder, 

 is obtained from America (see page 89). 



Flax must be carefully weeded when young; this, 

 however, ought not to be a work of much labour, as 

 the land ought to be thoroughly clean upon which it 

 has been sown. " The period of pulling the plant is 

 determined by the principal object in cultivating it : 

 when it is wished to procure the fibre, the plant should 

 be pulled somewhat green ; when it is wished to pro- 

 cure the seed, either for sowing again or for crushing 

 for oil, the plant must remain till the seeds are ripe. 

 This will be denoted by the hardened state of the 

 seed-vessels, the yellow colour of the stems, and the 

 falling off of the leaves. When Flax of good quality, 

 but not extreme fineness is wanted, the best period of 

 pulling is just when the plant has attained its 

 maturity, with respect to the formation, but not to the 

 full ripening of the seeds. When it is required for 

 the finest fabrics of all, as for cambrics and muslins, 

 it should be pulled when it begins to flower." 



As we have already said, it is the interest of the 

 farmer to save the seed of the Flax, and therefore it 

 should not be pulled till the seed-vessels have become 

 brown. It is not necessary now to detail the subse- 

 quent management of the Flax crop ; those who wish 

 further particulars will find them in Professor Low's 

 work on Agriculture, from which the above extract is 

 taken, and in Martin Doyle's " Practical Husbandry ." 



We are far from recommending that the growth of 

 Flax be inconsiderately commenced on an extensive 

 scale ; but it is not necessary to adopt the high 

 figures, such as those of our correspondent Mr. Dick- 

 son, which are true only of rare cases — it is not neces- 

 sary to adopt such figures as true on an average, in 

 order to see that the cultivation of the Flax -plant 

 may be profitably entered upon on suitable soils. 



When speaking some time since of the probable — 

 and, indeed, in reference to the few experiments that 

 have hitherto been made, the actual — influence exerted 

 upon the future history of the plant, by the process of 

 steeping the seed in certain solutions, we might have 

 enlarged upon one point which was passed over 

 hurriedly. It was stated that the effect of such a 

 process would probably show itself in the rapid 

 growth of the plant through the period of its germi- 

 nation, and the earlier stages of its growth, during 

 which it is peculiarly liable to injury. It was also 

 intimated that steeping the seeds of plants might have 

 a direct influence upon their growth up to a period 

 considerably beyond that of germination. Now what- 

 ever direct influence it may thus possess, it is evident 

 that if it have any influence at all on the condition of 

 the plant during' its early stages, it must indirectly 

 exert great influence much beyond those stages. And 

 here we may leave the individual case, and consider 

 for a while the importance of the general principle — 



THE IMPORTANCE TO A PLANT OF A VIGOROUS HABIT 

 OF GROWTH WHEN VERY YOUNG. 



We do not now allude to plants cultivated merely 

 for their roots and leaves — these differ from those 

 cultivated for their seed in a very important point. 

 Let us take the Wheat-plant and the Turnip respect- 

 ively as representatives of these two classes. In the 

 latter case, the efforts of the farmer are all bent upon 

 obtaining size of bulb : this is the one point which is 

 the object of cultivation ; and, however backward the 

 plant may be at an early stage of growth, genial 

 weather and good cultivation may start it again, and 

 quite remedy previous bad fortune: its size will in- 

 crease under such influence; its growth is from the 

 beginning to the end a mere process ofaccumulation — a 

 mere work of addition. In the case of Wheat, however, 

 there are several parts to be looked to. It is the seed 

 which is here important ; and the farmer aims not only 

 at obtaining size hut number also. This number de- 

 pends on two circumstances — the tillering of the plant, 



which increases the number of ears from each root, and 

 the size of these ears — the number of seeds on each. 

 The former of these particulars, equally with the latter, 

 renders it of great importance that plants should be 

 placed in such circumstances when young as will 

 enable them to grow vigorously ; but it is to the latter 

 point especially that we wish to direct attention. We 

 have pulled a Wheat-plant early in April, when barely 

 six inches high, and on dissecting it have laid bare the 

 embryo ear, then hardly the tenth of an inch long, and 

 by the help of a microscope we have counted the buds 

 upon it, at this early period — the buds from which the 

 flowers and the seed are to spring. Now this embryo 

 ear in the month of April appeared to possess about 

 the same number of narts,each in an embryo state, as 

 the average of perfect ears ; and though we do not 

 know that the ear of Corn is formed in embryo perfect, 

 so far as the number of its parts is concerned, from the 

 first, yet it is extremely unlikely that in this case any 

 addition would have been made to the number of those 

 parts, for that was already as great as is usually ob- 

 served. How important, then, that during the very 

 early period, when this number admits of increase, the 

 young plant should be in a vigorous condition ! No 

 future exertions, seconded though they may be by 

 genial weather, will here remedy a fault occasioned by 

 inattention during the first stages of theplaiu's growth. 

 It is then, that the limits are assigned to number, and 

 any future vigour on the part of the plant must expend 

 itself in the production of size, and in the full filling 

 up of all the parts which have been formed in an 

 embryo state. This latter point is doubtless of great 

 importance; and the farmer, by all means in his power 

 — the right preparation of the land and due thinness of 

 sowing — must endeavour to push the plant on so as to 

 induce the fertility of all the buds on the ear, which 

 is, be it remembered, of rare occurrence; but let him, 

 by careful attention to these same means, endeavour in 

 the first place to obtain length of ear, such a number 

 of buds on each, as, if all brought to perfection by a 

 good season, may result in a large crop. 



ON THE FARMER'S CAPITAL. 



We believe that error is often committed in estimating 

 the capital required on entering a farm ; various estimates 

 have been made, but all of them have disappointed the 

 farmer. This remark is suggested by the notice in your 

 Agricultural Gazelle of the 6th ult., that Professor Low- 

 says," Let no man venture on a farm without having a suffi- 

 cient capital to work it, which from long experience I com- 

 pute to be about 6/. per acre." 



Before we can enter into an estimate of the capital 

 required, we must not only know the kind of farm ia 

 question, whether it be a dairy farm, a grazing farm, a 

 stock (hill) farm, or an arable farm ; we must also know 

 the state of culture it has been in, and in which it is to be 

 left by the out-going tenant, and the cultivation or tillage 

 and crops the in-coming tenant has to take to and pay for, 

 before we can attempt an estimate with any chance of 

 approaching near to the sum required. Let us, therefore, 

 suppose a case where a lease has just expired, and where a 

 just and rational system of culture has been embodied in 

 the conditions of it, binding the tenant after every seed- 

 producing crop to have a root or dung-producing crop, to 

 be all consumed on the farm ; binding him also to apply 

 all the manure to the production of the roots ; and to con- 

 tinue this system from the beginning to the end of the 

 lease ; but giving him absolute property in all straw aud 

 manure of the last crop, for which, as it belongs to the 

 farmer as much as the grain produced or the stock reared 

 that year, he ought when he leaves the farm to get the 

 full value. And, beside this, as half of the culture and 

 the manure put on to produce the root-crop of the last 

 year of his tenancy has not been exhausted, but remains in 

 the soil to produce the seed-producing crop of the in- 

 coming tenant's first year, the out- going tenant ought to 



have the full value of it. 



It is not necessary, at present, to enlarge upon the 

 merits of these conditions in a lease. Believing that they 

 ought to be embodied in the clauses of all leases of arable 

 land, I merely allude to them now as affecting the subject in 

 hand—the capital which the in-coming tenant will require. 



I suppose the farm to be one of 300 acres, 240 of which 

 are arable, and the remaining 60 acres in permanent pas- 

 ture. Of the 240 acres, say 40 acres, or a sixth part, is in 

 Clover; 80 ucres, or a third part, in roots or dung-pro- 

 ducing crops; and 120 acres, one half of it, in Wheat, 

 Barley, Oats— seed-producing crops. I suppose, further, 

 that the term ends at Michaelmas, with a clause in the 

 lease embodying the conditions already alluded to, binding 

 the landlord or his in-coming tenant either to take to all 

 or to any part of the 80 acres of roots, all or any part of 

 the straw, and all or any part of the Hay (if the Clover be 

 made into Hay) at a valuation, or to allow the whole, or 

 what he does not take, to be disposed of, to be carried off 

 the land ; also to pay for one half of the value of the 

 manure applied to the cultivation or tillage of the 80 acres 

 of the root-crop of the last year ; and if the Clover has 

 been pastured by sheep being folded thereon, instead of 

 bein^ made into Hay, to allow the value of the manure 

 which the stock has dropped during the time they have 



been depasturing it. . 



A farm entered upon under such conditions would be 

 in such a state of culture, that the first crop of the land to 

 the new tenant would be as productive as any of the crops 

 which the last tenant had during the whole of his lease, 

 and the amount paid by the in-coming tenant would be 





