Peacock : The Fen land Soils. 



pushing, contriving-, and successful man. If he gets a useful 

 hint, and makes the soil sing a prettier tune, you can easily 

 follow in his footsteps and pick up a useful practice. The last 

 methods of the successful man are new enough for the ordinary 

 man. I see no end but the Bankruptcy Court for the man who 

 listens to what everybody says and believes it, or who reads 

 everything and practises it — changing his system of farming or 

 manuring every season. The man who wants a round house 

 when he lives in a square one, or a square abode if he occupies 

 a round one, will neither square the circle nor his creditors. We 

 find nowadays in everything our practical teachers were wrong 

 — our forefathers on the soil. We hear that yard manure is 

 a costly and useless product. It has been in use some thousands 

 of years, and yet the late Sir John Lawes or someone only dis- 

 covered its full defects the other day. Now, when all is said, 

 good cake-fed ' yard muck ' is the best soil dressing I know. It 

 has one defect for ' top land,' you cannot get enough of it from 

 the limited quantity of straw your soil grows. Firstly, it is the 

 most natural manure there is, and, secondly, costs nothing 

 except moving by manual labour and carriage, as it is a by- 

 product of cattle raising and feeding. In all farming matters 

 I go to the fields and practical farmer for information, and not 

 to books. At best they can only tell you what to do ; the 

 practical man shows you how to do it ! ' Men before books ' is 

 the safest farmers' motto I know. 



Ladies and gentlemen, I have taken the liberty of addressing 

 you on the Fenland Soils, because I love soils and soil questions 

 as an agriculturist's son, sprung from a long race of farmers 

 till the pedigree is lost in the mists of time, should love them. 

 I never try to teach farmers, let me say, for I have discovered, 

 after 20 years' experience, that the practical farmer has taught 

 me all I know about soils and manures which is of the least 

 value. Of course, there are farmers and farmers, as there are 

 parsons and parsons ! Some are good, some only moderately 

 good. I have known parsons who could not say a word without 

 their ' book,' but I hope farmers will never get into the same 

 tight corner with their practical doings. I am speaking to two 

 scientific societies this evening, and the Fenland Soils are our 

 subject, and so farming and manuring come naturally under 

 observation, or I should not have taken the liberty of speaking 

 of manures, as I know there are more practical men than I am 

 in the room, and it is a matter upon which practical men alone 

 ought to speak or to be listened to. 



Naturalist, 



