378 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



tenantry, would be not only successful but much 

 more popular. Mr. Cairp, in a letter published m 

 yesterday's Times, refers to this view of the subject, 

 proposing, however, to make the matter compulsory 

 only in reference to the acreage of crops. His plan 

 suggests the employment of responsible officers, 

 appointed specially for the purpose of collecting 

 the returns and determining the character as well as 

 the extent of the harvest. 



The results of the present inquiry, such as they are, 

 must be presented hereafter— though owing to their 

 imperfect character and the late period of their pub- 

 lication they can be but of little value; and must 

 afford the most unsatisfactory datum on which to 

 build any such estimate of the whole produce of the 

 country as is attempted to be deduced from them. 



into the Welland, a few miles below Spalding. The | should gain the victory. The power e»i=r 



however, was successful ultimately; and wWUTrt/ 

 neighbours^ fields were soaked with water ij J 



furrow. 



improvement of the outfall of the Welland would 

 now enable the wheels at Podehole to be set some- 

 what deeper, so that, with the same lift, a drainage 

 of the district could now be accomplished to a lower 

 level than that at which it at present is. And how 

 desirable this is, appears from the circumstance 

 that the tenant of one of the farms in this ten has 

 erected an engine and wheel especially for his own 



" " lifting from some 18 inches 



its 



the Podehole engines 



for the lowest 



of 

 of 



this 



12.. 



land a drainage 

 To drainage, marling, 

 cultivation, the contrast 



We 



We resume the subject of fertility and barren- 

 ness in soils : 



There is perhaps no form in which the force of 

 climate so obviously appeals to observation as in the 

 accumulation of bog and peat which in certain 

 localities is due to it. The vegetable matter present 

 in soils i- one of the topics to which reference has 

 been made in the enunciation of this subject. The 

 necessity of its presence in some form and to some 

 extent, in order to fertility, is a question rather 

 for scientific investigation than for decision by the 

 farmer. Mere agricultural observation would, how- 

 ever, confidently answer it in the affirmative, 

 although to its presence in excess, and to the form 

 in which it occurs, we must attribute the infertility 

 of large districts in Ireland, Scotland, and in England. 

 And around the edges of these districts will be found 

 illustrations of the way in which this infertility is 

 being overcome. The ordinary steps are drainage, 

 levelling, burning the vegetation, Heath, and coarse 

 Grass which occupy the surface, adding mineral 

 matter — gravel, clay, marl, and lime ; and then with 

 the addition of some portable manure, and such 

 rough cultivation as the first attempt amounts to, 

 sowing or planting such crops as do not need a very 

 fine tilth, to ensure a tolerable result. Thus Pota- 

 toes among green crops, or Oats among grain crops, 

 are commonly first attempted. These are followed 

 by Oats in the former case and perhaps Kape in the 

 latter ; and Rape is followed by Oats again, and 

 the land is sown down with such Grasses as will suit 

 a boggy soil. The following mixture is well adapted : 



Agr< is stolomfera 3 lbs. 



occupation, and by 

 below the level to which 

 reduce the water he has obtained 



of 30 inches instead 



and subsequent 

 spirited cultivation, the contrast between the 

 present and the past of Deeping Fen is due. 

 are acquainted with one farm in this fen which has 

 been in the hands of the same tenant since the 

 erection of the Podehole engines. It is 680 acres in 

 extent, the level of the lowest part of it is 6 feet 

 below high- water mark, audits history, with most of 

 which we are acquainted, is an illustration of the 

 way in which fertility is attainable, notwithstanding 

 excess of vegetable matter in the soil. When first 

 occupied bv Mr. Aitken the rotation adopted was 

 1st, fallow; 2d, Oats ; 3d, Wheat ; 4th, seeds; 5th, 

 seeds pared and burned and sown with Rape in 

 June ; 6th, Oats ; 7th, Wheat. In the course of a 

 few years this was altered to 1st, fallow ; 2d, Oats ; 

 3d, Wheat ; 4th, seeds ; 5th, Wheat ; the fallow being 

 sown with Rape the first and second week in June, 

 and fed off with sheep, commencing about the 

 middle of September. The rotation that has 

 latterly been adopted and followed now for some 

 years, is 1st, fallow ; 2d, Wheat, 3d, seeds ; 4th, 

 Wheat ; 5th, Beans, Mangold Wurzel, or Flax ; 6th, 

 Wheat. And for keeping the land clean and in good 

 condition it is much the best rotation of the three, 

 The only inconvenience being that you are obliged 

 to consume all the Rape early in the season to 

 enable you to sow the land with Wheat. An 

 average crop of Wheat is now fully 8 bushels per 

 acre more than it was during the previous rotations ; 

 and this Mr. Aitken attributes to (1) not having 

 two white crops in succession ; (2) to undjr drain- 

 and better drainage bv means of their own 



ditches following the plough sole m 

 these had never less than 18 inches draba!^/ 

 was a good seed time, therefore, here thl*? 

 •wretched everywhere around it, a good harvest &£ 

 also, therefore, eight or nine months afterwafr 

 when every other farm had reason to complain 



drainage by means 



to an enlarged outlay for 



• • • 



• « . 



• • • 



Alopectirns pratensis'... 

 Festuca pratensis 

 Loliuru italicura 



,, perenne... 

 Phalaris arundinacea... 

 Phleum pratense 

 Poa trivialis ... 

 Lotus ma r 



Medieago Inpulina 

 Tri folium repens 



t • • 



• ■ • 



• • » 



i ■ t 



• * • 



».. 



• • • 



. . ■ 



• • • 



... 



• •• 





• • ■ 



» • • 



* • • 



* * f 



• - . 



• • t 



. . . 



a . • 





. • • 



• • • 



• •• 



. • . 



■ • • 



• . • 



» • 



• •• 



• ■ • 



♦ • t 



• • ■ 



In all per acre ... 



• t t 



ft* 



• • • 



2 



3 

 5 

 8 

 2 

 4 

 3 

 2 

 2 

 6 



40 lbs . 



In the course of four or five years the land be- 

 comes consolidated, and, after a dressing with lime 

 compost, may be broken up for regular cultivation. 

 The way in which (1) drainage and after drainage, 

 (2) mere lapse of time, (3) earthen and calcareous 

 dressings, and (4) cultivation overcome the infertility 

 arising from peaty, boggy accumulations will be 

 considered hereafter. The facts enumerated are all 

 that agricultural observation can hear witness to ; 

 and on how large a scale they are visible in some 

 counties has been abundantly recorded in our agri- 

 cultural literature. In Lincolnshire especially exten- 

 sive tracts which were formerly a waste of peaty 

 bog and moor, a wilderness, as Mr. Clarke 

 describes them, "of poSls and bogs and reedy 

 shoals," are now anion 24 the must fertile and pro- 

 ductive district in the kingdom. The fertility 

 which these former wastes exhibit now may doubt- 

 less be attained elsewhere by the means which have 

 been efficient there. What those means have been 

 is admirably illustrated in the history of Deeping 

 Fens. Between Spalding and Market Deeping, 

 bounded by the Welland and the Glen, there are 

 upwards of 20,000 acres of the lowest land in 

 Lincolnshire. The particulars of its history are 

 pwn by Mr. Clarke in the Journal of the English 

 Agricultural Society. In the reign of Charles II. 

 me imt attempt was made to drain the district by 

 means ot windmills, the water being thus lifted out 

 Si-f mam 1 ? rai M- In the beginning of the present 

 Z l?\f n ^ We Act was obtained, by which 



W i„ 1 J £f Jf*«% under water during winter, 



nod ClZlr V a p ?? eat > °«*> ™ d F lax, with 

 god Clover and Potatoes, and promising young 



S ?ln J hlrt ry ears a S° two steam engines, togethef 

 of 140 horse-power, were erected at kd.L\? ™. r 



ing 



private engine ; and (3) 



cattle food, 500/. a-year being spent on oilcake. 



The soil of this farm 30 years ago was a light 

 spungy peal , v a rying from a fooTXo 30 inches deep 

 lying upon a subsoil of blue buttery clays, varying 

 from this to a strong silty clay, with occasional beds 

 of silt, and until clayed it was not adapted for 

 Wheat culture at all, and from 30 to 40 acres sown 

 in spring was all the farm could yield. But drainage 

 has consolidated the peat, and by cultivation and 

 burning it has wasted ; and by the direct applica- 

 tion of clay it has had substance given to it, so that 

 it is more and more becoming a loam adapted to the 

 growth of Beans and Flax. We saw 50 acres 

 of Flax 



upon it, 

 abundant profitable 

 was performed by 

 at intervals of 20 



of clay out, 

 according as 

 Some 200 



and 

 the 



1 or 2 feet 

 either side, 



to need it. 



- 



lab 





ft* 



ECONOMY OF HARVEST WORK. 



As almost all industrious and unremittin 

 grounded on self interest, this powerful" prinrinL 

 should be brought to our aid in every operation 

 the farm, but particularly in harvesting the 

 in carting the harvest home and in harvesting roots" 



Before I begin harvest I put a price per acw to 

 every field according to my idea of the labour • ail 

 I put a paper with those prices into the handi of 

 any company of four or more men who come for 

 harvest work. The following are the prices for mow* 

 ing, bagging, or reaping the several fields ; thoae whiek 

 are to be reaped, bagged, or mown are mentioned in 

 the agreement which each company of men is requested 

 to sign, and they also agree to work till all the fielfc 

 are cut down ; those fields which are mown have fe 

 be raked, and all of them are to be tied np in small 

 sheaves, and set up in stooks of four sheaves two aad 

 two across, and the four sheaves to have a band 

 their head, so as to tie them together to prevent the 

 wind blowing them down. 



'VcVGS S 



Field No. 2 11*717 ' Wheat 10 



Spalding, the drains were deepened ^d the water 

 lilted »ome 8 feet into the Vemalf. cut running 



near 

 ater 



in July last, promising an 

 yield. The process of claying 

 cutting trenches 2 feet wide 

 feet, and taking 

 spreading it on 

 land appeared 

 cubic yards per acre were an ordinary 

 dressing, and the labour cost from 30s. to 335. per 

 acre. Where the clay is near the surface it is better 

 to make the cuts at shorter intervals, and take less 

 out of each, as the levelling afterwards is more 

 easily accomplished. Burning is given up in this 

 fen ; the peat wastes fast enough without it, and it 

 is rather the object now to retain it than to lose it. 

 The clay applied is a marl ; it is a calcareous clay, 

 and lime is not applied except experimentally, and 

 then without results good enough to encourage its 

 use. The means by which this farm has been made so 

 fertile are drainage, application of clay, and expen- 

 diture in cattle food. The mineral and the animal 

 matters needed for vegetable production are supplied 

 by the two last ; the first ensures both their prepa- 

 ration for use in the soil and the ready access to them 

 of the roots of plants. 



The Wheat crop of 1853 was abundant on this 

 farm, when all the farms around it were complain- 

 ing.- The autumn of 1852 was so wet that the 

 Podehole engines could barely keep the level of 

 the water in the drains below the surface of the 

 land, and the lowest portions of the fen were 

 flooded. The seed time, generally, was one of the 

 worst ever known since those Podehole engines had 

 been used. But the six-horse engine and its little 

 wheel on Mr. Aitken's farm just supplemented the 

 deficient means furnished by the general drainage of 

 the district, and the seed time of 1852 was good 

 enough for him. Night and day, duiing that dreary 

 time, was that little wheel contending for the 

 mastery with the watery supplies, often 40 or 

 50 thousand tons a-day, which fell upon this 600 

 acre plot, and it was often a moot point which 



it 



11 

 11 

 It 

 if 

 19 

 11 

 tt 



11 

 11 



N 

 it 



19 



It 

 11 



11 



4 10.309 



6 10.901 „ 



7 9-388 Beans 



8 11-33 Wheat 

 10 10-74 

 12 10-42 



14 10-73 „ 



15 1048 Beans 



16 10-11 Wheat 



18 11-41 Oats 



20 8-65 

 22") 



and V-12.21 Wheat 

 24) 

 23 4-5 Beans 



i> 



8 



8 



8 



8 



8 



8 



9 



8 



9 



7 



7 



d. 

 

 6 

 6 

 

 6 

 

 6 

 

 

 6 

 6 

 6 



per acre reaped 



mown 



8 



it 



ii 

 it 



ii 



99 



11 



11 



11 

 ft 



11 

 11 



11 



bagged 



mown 



bagged 

 it 



mown 

 ii 



£ i.4. 



512 3 



4 710 



5 9 a 



4 15 4 

 416 ! 

 4 7 11 

 4 8 8 

 416 8 

 4 4 5 

 416 1 

 410 1 



3 5 1 



4 8 S 



Brookside 



1-37 



ti 



7 



8 











11 

 11 



Ugge& 



it 



no 

 on 



o 

 o 



cyder 

 8s. 8d. 



62 9 7 



given to any of tm 

 per acre for citttag, 



tun* 



144-79 



There is no beer or 

 workers. This averages 

 binding, and stooking the crop of 14479 acres. 



I adopt the same principle in carting the 

 home to the rick-yard. . , _ x 



The carriage of grain from the fields to the nck-jw 

 is performed in this way : — I bargain with m* 

 two stout active men to find other two equally M 

 and active, and two stout active lads. Two of » 

 men pitch the sheaves to the carts to the boys wHP 

 build the corn in the carts, and the other two vm 

 pitch the sheaves from the carts in the n*J« » 

 the ricks. There are two ricks being built at the saai 

 time, so that there are two sets of carts, and nuro» 

 as many carts and boys or women to drive tbem» 

 keep the six men in full employment ; and they b» 

 with me to do all this work at the rate of from 1 H*J 

 Is. 2d. per acre over the whole, lid. being 4e WJ 

 sum paid, and Is. 2d. per acre being the .great* 

 1849 I bargained with these men to do this*ork 

 the 144| acres for 8Z., or Is. l\d. per acre. 



Two sets of carts, three in each set, and m*~ 

 are being built at the same time ; the pto^JJ 

 the rick!, one man and a boy hand the sh *m 

 them on each rick, and a man to each rick a °* 

 1 ■ the rick in a proper form as it m 



QTtf 



keepin 



bM 



o 



built. The man below, when the rick is above , in 

 gets on the next staddle on the other side of twjj 

 End part of the load is pitched to him white »' ££ 

 to build the next rick, so that the pitcher ma ^ ^ 

 sheaf to the high rick and the next to he »ow^ -^ 

 thus the rapid emptying of the carts mw ^^ ^ 

 the rick is high as well as when it » '£' tw0< *» 

 two boys driving the carts, so tnat ««» „ ^ t* 

 on the road, two carts being filled m the ^^ 

 in the rick-yard being emptied; tuus oboj8- 



carts are employed-two boys drIV, ^"_i 0Ug hmeD * 

 the ricks, and four men bui ding. 1M P £&** 

 yearly servants, and have 12*. P^J^'^ ]*••£ 

 I* per week ; but during the harvest the ^^^J 

 and the boys 6d. per day more, and as ^ 

 work during the night when there >J \ & tg 

 carry, I give the men I employ m buJd »g ^ „ 

 double the wages per hour during -to W o(a ^d 



get during the day ; "^^J^ in 1(J » ? 

 horses we have carried home i« • f 4 , * t* 

 hours' work, which have been built in ,g 



ricks, measuring about 120 cn ** > £il»t •<*»* 

 12 cart-loads of 200 Reaves each, so ^j0 

 contained about 2400 sheaves^ Eact ' ob-ab |.* 



ctrt r°^ 



d~they are placed V^JX^ 69 *^* 

 between them 20 feet wide and 1 the ,s ^ ^m 



from centre to centre in each ^wb.inea^S 

 about 1 8 feetin diameter,and .16fe**t ^ Ag *jgj 



1 20 cubic yards each of un ^ e ea or two n*» »S5 

 are being ma.Iel bargain J>^ k °> «Ag£j*. 

 them with straw, for Is. 6d. g* * J tl» iJJ, * 

 shearing". The carting of the corn ^ ^ 

 yard required 60 days of one horse, *n 



3 tons of Wheat and 5 tons of strjw. ^ 



The staddles in the rick-yard I are & , 



and they are placed in two .xo*-, ,$ m » 





