106 
coleman’s European agriculture. 
General Johnson has long since discontinued the 
cultivation of ordinary field crops, beyond his own 
consumption, finding it more profitable, from the 
proximity of his farm to a ready market, to raise 
garden vegetables; and as he has more land than 
he can manage himself, he rents a large proportion 
of his ground in lots, to ten market gardeners, at an 
average price of $30 per acre. Like every con¬ 
siderate landlord, he reserves to himself the right 
of dictating what crops shall be raised by each of 
his tenants, the quantity and kinds of manure to be 
used, and the general modes of culture to be pursued, 
contributing, at the same time, towards the expense 
of improvements, loses no opportunity to stimulate 
his tenants to undertake them, and aids, advises, 
and encourages them during the progress ; thus 
securing to himself the best results, and working 
out the great problem of obtaining the largest 
amount of produce from his land at the smallest 
cost, and for the longest period. His land is kept 
in the highest possible state of fertility, by annually 
adding at least 1000 loads of barn-yard, street, or 
other manures; and he makes it a peremptory rule, 
that the same kind of manure and the same class of 
crops shall not be applied or cultivated on the same 
land two successive years. 
General Johnson prefers the street manure from 
New York, and estimates it according to the part of 
the city whence it is obtained. He has applied both 
coal ashes and lime to his land, neither of which 
appeared of the least perceptible benefit; while the 
moderate use of common leached wood ashes was 
attended with good results. On, or near his pre¬ 
mises, are several cow stables, from which he ob¬ 
tains a large amount of solid and liquid manures. 
The latter, in one instance, he conducts, by means 
of drains, into a reservoir, in which is placed a 
pump for the purpose of conveying it to his com¬ 
post heaps, made up of all manner of rubbish, 
weeds, loam, and straw. In addition to the fore- 
named sources for obtaining manure, an increased 
quantity is derived from soiling his hogs, horses, 
and cows. The latter are kept up until August and 
fed upon clover, timothy, and the fodder of green 
com, the advantage of which, over common pas¬ 
turing, General Johnson estimates as seven to one. 
In winter, the cows and horses are principally fed 
on carrots and hay. The horses, however, are al¬ 
lowed more or less grain. 
The vegetables cultivated upon this farm embrace 
nearly all the varieties sold in the market; but the 
principal and the most profitable crops consist of 
early York, early sugar-loaf, drumhead, and Savoy 
cabbages, Brussels sprouts, radishes, lettuces, leeks, 
early onions, parsley, spinach, large summer 
French red beets, Tobago and crook-necked squash¬ 
es, and early potatoes. 
General Johnson attributes the great abundance 
of weeds which usually spring up in cultivated 
fields, to the seeds which exist in the land—believ¬ 
ing that they may remain there in a dormant state, 
perhaps for scores of years. To destroy the early 
growth of weeds, so injurious to tender plants, he 
considers it a good plan to prepare the ground for 
sowing, then to cover it with a good coating of dry 
rubbish or straw, and set fire to it, in order to burn 
the seeds of the weeds, kill the grubs and other 
vermin in the soil, and thereby render it more fertile 
by the ashes left behind. 
Although General Johnson has reached his eighty- 
third year, he is still active, retains his faculties, 
and devotes a considerable portion of his leisure 
time in translating some interesting works written 
in Dutch. We intend to visit his farm again in the 
course of the season, when we shall be able to give 
some further account of his crops and stock. 
COLEMAN’S EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 
We received Part VIII. of this work too late for 
notice in our March number. Save a portion of 
the article on “ Live Stock,” there is little to regret 
and much to commend in it. Mr. Coleman’s 
account of the crops of Great Britain is clear and 
concise, though we notice that some of our contem- 
oraries do not think it as full as it ought to have 
een. Those, however, who wish to learn more 
upon the subject, will find elaborate accounts of 
them in ^Johnson’s Encyclopaedia of Agriculture, 
and Stephens’ Book of the Farm, both of which 
works are now republished in this country at a 
cheap rate. 
On the subject of Live Stock, Mr. Coleman says: 
“ I come now to speak of one of the most important 
topics connected with British Agricultural improve¬ 
ment.” We are glad to hear him call this subject 
“ important,” for we also consider it eminently so, 
not only in England but in other parts of the world. 
Scotland and Ireland are rapidly following in her 
footsteps; several of the continental nations of 
Europe, also, have within the past twenty years, 
made large importations ol her improved animals, 
and with these in hand, are fast emulating England’s 
noble example. Nor are the United States and the 
British Colonies idle. They, also, have imported 
largely, and will ultimately outrival the Mother 
Country in the value and number of their improved 
animals. 
Considering its importance now, we cannot but 
regret that Mr. Coleman had not given himself 
more time to investigate this subject, and 
that he should have treated it in the summary 
way he has. In his earlier numbers, he gave us 
long dissertations on matters and ihings in general, 
of less interest, as many thought, than live stock ; 
yet, when he comes to this “ important topic,” 
he dismisses it all in less than 43 pages of large, 
open type. The thorough bred horse, the great¬ 
est improvement in “ live stock” that the world 
ever saw, is not touched upon at all, notwithstand¬ 
ing his blood largely pervades much of the best 
farm horses of the United Kingdom. Among the 
highest prized and most perfect farm horses ever 
produced in Great Britain, were those of a direct 
cross of a stout Arabian stallion upon the large 
farm mares of the country. Some of the strongest 
English thorough breds have produced wonderful 
excellent farm horses, crossed in the same way. 
The fine-woolled flocks of the country are not even 
alluded to ; indeed Mr. Coleman says, “ there are 
no fine-woolled sheep in Great Britain.” Pray 
what has become of the numerous pure Saxony 
and Merino flocks of Mrs. General Doran, the neigh¬ 
bor and relative of the Duke of Richmond, at Good- 
wood, where Mr. Coleman speaks of often visit- 
