292 
Agriculture of Hertfordshire. 
Chevalier barley usually follows wheat, or other corn, and 
proves of better quality than when grown after roots. The land 
is ploughed once with a 6-inch furrow, usually in December, 
and 2J bushels of seed per acre are drilled, in 7-inch rows, in 
February or March ; 2 cwts. of guano and 1 cwt. of superphos- 
phate is the usual dressing. The crop averages G quarters per 
acre. 
Tartarian oats are drilled after corn, 7 inches apart, with once 
ploughing ; 4 bushels of seed per acre, 2 cwts. of guano, and 
about 1 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia, lied and Canadian oats 
are drilled after roots ; 3 to 4 bushels of seed per acre, with 2 cwts. 
of guano. The Tartarian are sown in February, and the average 
crop is 10 quarters per acre. The red oats average 8 to 10 
quarters ; and the Canadian, which are the last sown, 6 to 9 
quarters. 
All the corn-crops are rolled in spring ; they are kept clean 
without hoeing. 
A good deal of straw is used for the estate and to thatch the 
little stacks on the experimental plots ; some is sold. 
A flock of 200 Southdown ewes is kept on the grass-land, or 
on clover with mangold, and during the winter is brought into 
well-littered yards for the night. The details of management 
are the same as on any other well-managed heavy-land farms. 
At present there is no indication of diminution in the pro- 
ductive power of the land. Corn undoubtedly bears frequent 
repetition on the same land better than roots, even if they be 
folded on the ground. Of this we saw a marked instance near 
Rothamsted. By grubbing up a fence some ill-farmed land, 
which had not been in roots for many years, was added to one of 
the fields cropped with turnips in the usual rotation. The whole 
field, similarly treated as to manure and tillage, was sown with 
swedes, and these, though healthy throughout, were more vigorous 
in growth and proved a heavier crop on the new land. 
The practical lesson taught by this branch of Rothamsted 
farming is, that on strong land corn crops are more profitable 
than green crops ; and that they may be repeated on such land 
for a series of years, without the usual intervention of fallow 
c rops, with no apparent decrease in the productive power of the 
land. To carry out this system two conditions are essential, — a 
reserve of mechanical power on the farm, and a proper use of 
artificial manures. Mr. Lawes has endorsed his opinion and 
practice by letting a farm of 400 acres for 21 years without 
restrictions as to cropping. 
One instance of a farm in which, by the aid of steam-cultiva- 
tion, great and rapid improvements have been effected, deserves 
some exceptional notice. In the autumn of 1861, Mr. John 
