Sept. 29, 1355.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



f>53 







tTs^PPOse that, whilst they were having the advantage 

 f the cattle for labour, they were also getting some 

 Advantage of them in meat ; for after two years, with 

 !« animal properly selected for the purpose, there is no 

 Tjcrease j n bulk, and it is better to kill the animals. 

 \ow these principles, which are very simple— the prin- 

 ciples of the selections of the breeds of cattle in Eng- 

 land are connected also with another very great change 

 jn England— that is, with the introduction of the rota- 

 . f cr ops ; with the limitation of the extent of land 



applied to the purposes of growing corn ; with the 

 rr.. ,.___ ~r r i c h er manures ; 





keepin 

 an 



application ot ricner manures ; with the 

 upon the land of the largest amount of stock, 

 therefore with the production of the largest possible 

 amount of corn from the land. On the contrary, in 

 France, and over almost the whole of the Continent, 

 the plan of fallows still remains, the land is to a 

 very great extent, very generally, much richer than 

 that of England ; there is a much larger extent of 

 arable land, and it is land generally of a much more 

 friable nature ; and the climate in every respect better 

 adapted to the success of agricultural operations, yet, 

 owin* to the introduction of the system of rotation of 

 crops, to the keeping of a very large amount of stock 

 upon the farm for the production of meat, and the appli- 

 cation of these manures to a limited extent of arable 

 land, the amount of corn produced on the same extent 

 of land in England, as compared with the majority of 

 countries on the Continent, is at least double, and in 

 many cases treble, so that the much smaller extent of 

 land produces the same quantity of corn. Now, the 

 whole of these several operations singularly hang 

 together. They are links of a chain of proceedings 

 which can scarcely be dissociated, and it would be ex- 

 tremely difficult, 1 have often thought, for a French pro- 

 prietor, in some remote part of France, to change the 

 system upon which they are now proceeding, to intro- 

 duce horses instead of cattle, and to feed his stock 

 simply for the meat market. Even since they have 

 introduced railways into France it would be very diffi- 

 cult for him to do it ; and we certainly owe a very large 

 amount of our success, at least of the rapidity with 

 which we have introduced this system in this country, 

 to the fact that we have markets so near at hand, t! at 

 we have such a dense population ; that we have such 



to carry our milk and butter espe- 



to a very large extent the farms of 

 dairy farms, and, where not so, can 



and advantage be meat farms. It 



a litfle distance 

 cially, and that 

 England can be 

 with such ease 

 would be more 

 France : 



difficult to bring about this system in 

 but so strongly are the thinking men of France 

 convinced now of the great advantages of the system we 

 pursue, that in the course of years I have no doubt 

 whatever we shall see the English system rapidly intro- 

 duced more and more over a great part of the Contineut. 

 You perceive that we have valued our cattle chiefly on 

 account of the milk and the meat they produced, and 

 we have discarded that which is the least valuable 

 portion of the contribution that the animal can make 

 to the wealth of the country, and that is its labour, in 

 respect to cattle which are fed upon farms, and we have 

 valued less the fleece of the sheep than we have the 

 meat, and the result is that the whole moneyed produce 

 of the farms in England, on the good farms, is nearly 

 fourfold that of the same extent of land, even of better 

 land in France. I connect these facts very much with 

 the toast I have the honour to propose to you, and for 

 this reason, that I think a very large part of the success 

 of the agriculture/of England has been owing to the good 

 feeling which has subsisted between the proprietors and 



England, to the 



of women is introduced upon the land. That is owing 

 to a very great number of circumstances which compli- 

 cate the state of society abroad. You know that almost 

 all the foreign countries have a system of conscription, 

 or something equivalent to it, by which men are taken 

 at a very early age to the army, where they acquire the 

 habits of soldiers ; and as they are taken early off the 

 land, during their absence the women are obliged to 

 labour on the land ; and it is also owing to this sub- 

 division of properties that the family has no chance of 

 making a living out of the land unless the services of 

 each member of the family, even the women, are given 

 to its cultivation. The consequence is, that at the age 

 of 45, or even at 40, the women are haggard, worn out 

 with constant labour in the hot sun, from early morn 

 to late at night, in the most laborious operations on 

 the land. There is scarcely any kind of farm labour 

 which they do not regularly perform ; they hoe, they 

 dibble, they weed ; they even trench the soil, they load 

 carts, and drive them ; and from morning to night such 

 labour as this forms their habitual occupation almost all 

 over the continent of Europe. I think it is a very great 

 advantage indeed to this country that that form of labour 

 for women is rather the exception than the rule, and 

 that even in the agricultural counties it is chiefly in 

 harvest time, and to a certain extent in weeding and 

 hoeing, but rather as the exception than the rule, that 

 female labour is employed upon the land. There are a 

 great many other features, as you will readily believe, 

 of contrast between the English and foreign systems of 

 agriculture, but I will not further intrude on your time 

 than to say, that the result of several years of observa- 

 tion has been to congratulate myself— and I am very 

 happy indeed to find my opinions and convictions are 

 supported by the most recent labours of political econo- 

 mists, and of men of high science who have visited this 

 and other countries — that the system of English agri- 

 culture is one which not only contributes in a much 

 larger degree to the wealth of the nation than that of 

 foreign countries, but that it also contributes in a much 

 higher degree to social contentment, to the maintenance 

 of healthy relations between tenants and proprietors, 

 and to that happy constitution of society which makes, 

 as I think, and as I trust foreign countries will also 

 believe, the condition of England one to be envied by 

 the rest of Europe. 



PRUNING. 



THE GRECIAN PRUNING SAWS are univer- 

 sally acknowledged to be the best for every description of 

 Pruning. They cut fester and cleaner than any other, and do 

 not bend or break. Price 2s. 6J., 3«., and Ss. Sd. each. 

 Thomas Hat, late W. Coleman, Cutler, 4, Hayrnarket,Londoa. 



Miscellaneous. 



It is with ex- 



The late Professor J. W. F. Johnston.- 

 treme regret that we announce the death of this £reat 

 agricultural chemist. It is to the late Professor John- 

 ston, more than any other man, that the acquaintance 

 of English agriculturists with the scientific relations of 

 their art is due. His contributions both to scientific 

 and to popular literature have fed and fostered, and to 

 a large extent created, that public interest in agriculture 

 as a science, the earlier excitement of which was due to the 

 pen of Baron Liehig* And it will be generally admittt-d 

 that it is from his works, rather than from those of any 

 other writer, that the agriculturist can most safely draw 

 the lessons and the explanations which theory offers for 

 his consideration. The following paragraph is taken from 

 the columns of a cotemporary : - — "The scientific 

 productions of this gentleman have secured him an ex- 

 tensive reputation. On the continent and in America 

 his works are as highly appreciated as at home. His 

 attention w; s especially devoted to the cause of scientific 

 ! agriculture ; and, perhaps, no individual in this country 

 has done more to substitute a system of enlightened 

 cultivation for one of mere routine farming. His talents, 



tenantry of the whole of England^ to the extent however were too versatile to expend themselves in one 

 to which the gentry of England have lived among their , artmeu f f exertion. Among his other productions 



tenantry, and been ready to associate with them in such 

 meetings as the present, and their readiness to pay close 

 personal attention to the improvement of their estates ; 

 of which we had such noble examples as Mr. Coke of 

 Norfolk, the late Lord Leicester, the present Duke 

 of Bedford, and many others whose names I might 

 enumerate as examples of a class of proprietors who 

 have spent their time, fortunes, and talents which would 

 have made them probably statesmen of the highest 

 order, on the improvement of their estates and the 

 welfare of their tenantry. I believe these results are 



mm 



to a very great extent owing to the attention the gentry 

 have paid to the improvement of their estates, and like- 

 wise to the energy, skill, and enterprise of such men as 

 Mr, Bake well, the Elmans, and others, who have espe- 

 cially devoted themselves to the improvement of the 

 different breeds of cattle in this country, and the intro- 

 duction of right principles of culture. In connection 

 *Uh the toast, therefore, I think I am not introducing a 

 subject foreign to the purposes of this meeting if I chiefly 

 associate it with those duties which such gentlemen as 

 the lord lieutenants and magistrates of counties have to 

 perform upon their estates, in making great permanent 

 improvements and in also cultivating right sentiments 

 and proper associations for their tenantry. I do not 

 ™»k that sentiment, which is, I am afraid, somewhat 

 gaining in this country, is a correct one, that the rela- 

 ys of landlord and tenant should be strictly con- 

 j^ e( l to the mere terms of a bargain — that they should 

 t* 6 reduced to the mere principle of self-interest. 

 1 d <> think that those associations which^ keep the 

 tenantry connected through generations with a par- 

 ticular estate, which maintain sentiments of respect 

 *° the family to which that estate belongs, and con- 

 ^dence in the proprietor, are a happy part of our 

 - Gn ^ish constitution, and one of those features which 

 We look in vain for abroad. One thing that strikes one's 



ev e abroad very much is the extent to which the labour 



de[ 



we may mention his " Notes on North America " and 

 . his " Chemistry of Common Life." The latter work is 

 \ fresh in the memory of the public. It has shown what 



deep philosophy may exist in the plainest things, and 



that the humblest details of life abound in marvels, if 



there is only the "seeing eye* to detect, and the search- 

 ing intellect to explore them. Independently of his 

 writings, Professor Johnston was a remarkable man. 

 He furnished another inspiriting example of the suc- 

 cesses which energy and industry can always achieve. 

 A more resolute and indefatigable individual has rarely 

 lived. His death will be no small loss. His illness was 

 somewhat brief. After spending the summer on the 

 continent, he had scarcely set foot in England when he 

 discovered from certain fatal symptoms that his lungs 

 were affected, and, resigning himself to his lot with 

 Christian submissiveness, he expired on the 18th inst. 

 in the full vigour of his intellect." Leeds Mercury. 









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'**M 



PARKES' STEEL DIGGING FORKS 1 DRAINING TOOLS. 



iy| ESSRS. BURGESS and KEY, aa Mr. Parkes* 



i*X Wholesale Agents for England, have always in stock a 

 large assortment. These Forks and Tools are now in nsi by 

 war.ls of 1000 of the Nobility and Farmers, members of the 

 Royal A trricultural Society, who pronounce them to be the best 

 ever Im ed, and to facilitate labour at least 20 per cent 

 Price 1 ts pent free on application, and Illustrated Catalogue 

 of the best Farm Implements, on reeeipt of eight postage stamps. 



Id.;, Newgate Street . Loudon. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 

 MEEtlNU AT CARLISLE, .JULY, 1S55. 



Fjkst Prize Awabpkp to 



RICHMOND and CHANDLER'S No. SB CUAFJF 



V 



MACHINE. Price £7. 



All the various modern Implements of A gHcultnre mannfae 

 hired on the most scientific and improved principles, suitable tor 

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 Salford, Manchester : and 32, South John Street, Liverpool. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND 



T THE NORWICH, GLOUCESTER, LI>COLN 

 and CARLISLE SHOWS, 



The Prize for the best LINSEED and CORN CRrSIIERwas 

 awarded to E. R. & F. Tubjteb St. Peter's Iron Works, Ipswich 





Notices to Correspondents. 



CoRr.r w,\ted Iron or Zoro Roofing: A known Correspondent 

 asks if any of our subscribers have had experience of the 

 materials as coverings for farm buildings; and also what is 

 the relative cost as regards their construction and the con- 

 struction of similar rat -s of buildings with tile roofs. 



Oats : J B Baker. They are particularly liable to smut, more so 

 than Par's ev, and very much more so than Wheat, as that seed 

 is washed before sawing with a pickle, which destroys the 

 germ from which the disease springs. 



Pond Mud : 8 E. The weather will not destroy its goodness, 



which eoes not depend verymuchon its volatile ingredieni It 

 is better to let it drain, and then use the half-dried sttifl m 

 compost with farm-yard manure. r 



Ttjbhip Ccttf.rs: Cor. The prize man at Carlisle was Mr. 



Sam nelson for Gardner's cutter. w . .... 



Winter Beans: C Clifton. Broadshare the Wheat stubbie, 

 harrow it well, and burn the weeds. 1 »gh the land then 

 tolerably deeplv, and harrow and burn weeds again ; then cart 

 on about 20 *ards of dung per acre, spread, and plough ana 

 harrow, and" then drill your Beans (2 bushels of the small 



winter Beans per acre) in rows 2 feet apart. Dung or guano 

 .are belt olian &b lved Ijones. 



V R & F. Turxe* invite the attention of Agriculturists and 

 others to the followii machines of their mam, stint i «- 



ROT 1 FR MILLS for Crushing Linseed, Oats, Uarley, ALair, 

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PATENT COMBIJ h GRINDING and CEl SHING MIU. 

 for reducing Barter. &c, to a fine and soft meal, and crushing 

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working. Pric* -5?. .* .. 



Cil VFF CUTTERS, for horse or steam power, cutting three 

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OlLCAKE BREAKERS, made entirely of iron, with case- 

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FIXED STEAM-ENGINES, on the horizontal direct acting 

 principle. Long experience and attention to the practical work- 

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Superior Portable Steam-Engines and Threshing « cmnes ' 

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lllu ated Price Lists sent free on application. 



