css-saa 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
188 
name is De Keyart, and his farm is situated at a little 
distance from the neat and flourishing village of Hamme. 
It consists of sixty-five acres, of which five are mea¬ 
dow, near a little rivulet. The ewes are kept as an¬ 
other farmer would keep cows. He considers the keep 
of one hundred sheep as equal to that of fifteen cows. 
He has however, five cows, also; and three horses to 
do the work of his farm. His rent is about thirty shil¬ 
lings an acre,—a considerable rent, but small in propor¬ 
tion to the price of land, which here sells at an extrava¬ 
gant rate, not paying two per cent, for the outlay. Ham¬ 
me is in the Waes country, where the cultivation is car¬ 
ried to the greatest perfection. One-sixth part of Mr. 
Keyart’s farm is trenched t ivo spits deep every year, 
which costs him 30 francs—about 11. 5s. per acre. This 
shows that the land is light, and the trenchers expert, 
to be able to do it at that price. The first crop on the 
trenched ground is potatoes, after the land has had 
twenty tons per acre of good yard dung spread over it. 
This is ploughed in four inches deep. After a fortnight 
an equal quantity of dung is put on and this ploughed 
in seven or eight inches. It must be observed that in 
ploughing the ground is turned completely over, so that 
the dung lies under the furrow-slice. The second plough¬ 
ing does not bring the dung first laid on the surface 
again ; but the point of the share, going four inches un¬ 
der it, lifts it up enclosed in two layers of earth; that 
which had been above the first dung is turned down 
upon the last portion, and the four inches lastraised are 
turned to the surface, so that there are two distinct strata 
of dung, if we may so express it, one four inches un¬ 
der the surface, and the other eight. The advantage of 
this method must be obvious ; and the ploughmen who 
can execute it should not be despised. Potatoes are 
planted on a part of this ground, and hemp sown on the 
remainder. The potatoes are put into holes made with 
a blunt dibble, and it will be perceived that if they are 
put in six inches deep, they are placed between two layers 
of dung, and cannot fail to grow readily in such a rich 
and mellow bed. When the potatoes are fairly up out 
of the ground, the earth is stirred and raised around 
the stems, and liquid manure is poured on the little 
heaps thus made. It is not surprising that with so much 
manure a great crop should be produced: but this ma¬ 
nure is not all put in for the sake of the potatoes only, 
but for the flax, which is to follow, for which the dung 
should be well incorporated with the earth, and the land 
very clean. For the flax rape-cakes dissolved in urine, 
or what is preferred— vidanges, form the chief manure. 
Carrots are sown soon after the linseed, if not at the 
same time. In weeding the flax great care is taken not 
to pull up the young carrots; when the flax is pulled 
the carrots are already very forward, and by the help 
of the urine-cart, soon swell to a good size. After the 
flax and carrots the land is manured with fifteen tons of 
dung, which is ploughed in, and wheat sown in Octo¬ 
ber. The next crop after wheat is, as usual, rye and 
turnips, with six tons of dung. Then oats without 
dung ; and, after them, buckwheat also without manure. 
The course then begins asrain with a fresh trenching.— 
This is the usual course in the sandy loam of the Waes 
country. But what distinguished Mr. De Keyart’s farm¬ 
ing is his flock of ewes. Of these he has 100, who are 
carefully fed in the yard in summer and under cover in 
winter. All their food is brought to them, and as the 
lambs are the principal object, the ewes are well sup¬ 
plied with roots and corn in winter. The old crones are 
fatted off regularly. The manure is collected careful¬ 
ly : what can be washed into the tank goes there; the 
more solid part is mixed with earth before it is put on 
the land. His crops are as those of his neighbours, viz; 
—wheat about four to five quarters an acre, flax worth 
20/. an acre, hemp 12/. In 1837 there were on the farm 
twenty acres of wheat, eight of flax (part with carrots 
and part with clover,) three of hemp, four of clover, 
four|of oats, two of buckwheat, fifteen of rye and tur¬ 
nips, two of potatoes (fifty-eight acres in all.) The re¬ 
mainder of the sixty-five acres is pasture and home¬ 
stead. The wheat is Ihrashed with the instrument de¬ 
scribed in page 19, and the chaff beat off is boiled in 
the brassin. Here we observed some small stacks of 
wheat neatly thatched, which might contain eight or 
ten loads of straw in each. The making and thatching 
of these is here a separate trade. 
’ In the neighborhood of Tamise there are many small 
farms chiefly cultivated by the spade, which are perlect 
models of this species of husbandry. The farm of a 
man named Everat may be taken as an example. He 
has eight acres of land, and keeps three cows. The 
whole is cultivated by himself, with the help of a la¬ 
bourer during three months in the year, who is chiefly 
employed in trenching and digging. The manure is 
carried on the land in wheel-barrows. The land is much 
poorer than on the farm we noticed near Alost. The 
first crops after trenching are buckwheat and potatoes 
—the latter with all the manure that can be spared— 
as many as sixty tons an acre are frequently put on.— 
By this means the produce will be one hundred and 
twenty sacks, each of 2001bs. weight, or nearly twelve 
tons, which is a very large crop on such a soil. After 
potatoes he sows wheat, then rye and turnips, then flax 
and clover, wheat, rye, and turnips: this is the regu¬ 
lar course, which is only varied by carrots being sown 
in part of the flax, so that the clover may not recur too 
soon on the same ground. The cows are kept in. stalls 
with their heads completely separated from each other: 
each cow hasher own trough, and cannot interfere with 
her neighbour. The partition goes back as far as be¬ 
hind the shoulders of the cow ; when she lies down she 
cannot see any of the others The food is given to them 
from a narrow chamber before them, in which are the 
troughs for the brassin, so that they may literally be 
said to feed like pigs. They are cleaned and curried 
like horses. 
The habitation is neat, only one story high, contain¬ 
ing a kitchen and two chambers, with a small garret 
over these. There is a small barn, cow-house for three 
cows, with a calf-pen. There is a pl%ee where a horse 
might be kept; but a horse would only be profitable if 
there were more land ; at present his keep can be saved. 
The urine-tank with the privy over it is an indispensa¬ 
ble part of every farm-yard, however small. The 
wheel-barrows, which are used instead of carts, have a 
large wheel, and the frame is light. They are calculated 
to carry dung and sheaves of corn. The liquid manure 
is carried to the field in a tub, sometimes by means of 
a pole between two men, or a man and a woman, some¬ 
times on the wheel barrow. It is poured out by means 
of a bowl, with a long handle, and which can take up 
liquid and semi-liquid substances equally well. There 
is an appearance of comfort in these little farms which 
is very pleasing. Hard work, instead of being here 
thought an evil or a hardship, is thought essential to 
the health and comfort of the individual. The children 
are brought up in industry. It is interwoven with all 
their associations ; and when the young men marry, they 
find wives who are brought up in the same manner, and 
are useful helpmates to them. The great ambition of the 
small Flemish farmer is first of all to be able to set up 
his children, by giving them what is indispensable in 
taking a small farm. If he has been very successful, 
and at the same time very frugal, he will hoard his sav¬ 
ings till he can buy a few acres of land of his own. If 
he can build a house, he then has arrived at the utmost 
point that the most sanguine man can look forward to. 
There are many small proprietors who have risen slowly 
by the labour of their own hands; and their habitations 
show, by their extreme neatness and the care taken of 
everything about them, that they feel a pride in enjoy¬ 
ing the just reward of honest industry— Flemish Hus¬ 
bandry. 
[From the New-England Fanner.] 
Rohan Potatoes. 
Beverly, 28th Sept. 1839. 
Messrs J. Breck & Co.—Gentlemen—On the first 
of May last I planted thirteen hills of Rohan potatoes 
in my garden (or nursery,) some two, some three eyes 
in a hill, in all thirty-three eyes, two of which did not 
come up; the thirty three eyes weighed less than eight 
ounces; the ground is a rich loam inclining to clay, 
with a stiff clay subsoil, moist through the year. I 
manured with a good shovelfull of strong compost in 
each hill. 
I have this day dug the potatoes from these thirteen 
hills, and find they weigh one hundred fifty-eight and a 
half pounds. The eight largest weighed thirteen, and 
the twenty largest, thirty pounds; the whole filled a 
flour barrel rounding full. 
I planted some on high land, soil loose—also some on 
high, stiff clay soil: they did well—the poorest averaging 
less than twelve hills to the bushel, although in both 
soils they were injured by the dry weather. I am sa¬ 
tisfied they require a moist, rich soil, and in such soil 
they will yield double or treble as much as any other 
potato I am acquainted with. 
Very respectfully, your ob’t serv’t, 
‘ JOSIAH LOVETT, 2d. 
Pracut, 2d Oct. 1839. 
Messrs. J. Breck & Co.—As there has been so much 
said about the yield of the Rohan potatoes, I will send 
you the result of my crop from ten ounces which I bought 
about the first of May, and gave sixteen cents. I cut 
out of two small potatoes the eyes and put them into a 
tea cup of new milk and soaked them three days and 
then planted them in fifteen hills; but one of the hills 
was broken down, so that I had fourteen hills only, and 
I dug them to-day. On account of the mice getting in 
one of the hills, I think, I lost about two pounds, the 
remainder I weighed which amounted to eighty-two 
pounds, some of them weighing 20, 25, 28, and 32 
ounces. The bearer of this saw the above. Yours, &c. 
_ HUMPHREY WEB STER. 
[From the New-England Farmer.] 
Berkshire Pigs. 
Mr. Editor —Sir—In a letter recently received from 
a gentlemen in the vicinity of Boston, I find the follow¬ 
ing advertisement, with a copy of a pictorial represen¬ 
tation of one of my breeding sows, which requires some 
notice from me, to guard the public against deception : 
“Berkshire Hogs.— W. S. Turner has just received 
14 pigs from Albany, male and female, of the Berk¬ 
shire breed. These pigs weie procured of Bement & 
Glauson. 
Framingham, June 29th, 1839.” 
Now, sir, as regards myself, I deny in toto, of having 
ever sold anv Berkshire pigs to W. S. Turner, or any 
other person in that town. If Mr. Turner purchased 
them from me, he has some written evidence of the fact, 
either in a bill, certificate, or letter. 
I called on Mr. Lossing, (not Glauson,) who peremp¬ 
torily denies ever having sold any pigs to a person by 
that name. 
Mr. Lossing also informed me that late in the spring 
or early in the summer, a person from the east called 
on him for Berkshire pigs; but having none except those 
that, were engaged, inquired of him if lie knew where 
he could find them, or some that “ resembled the Berk¬ 
shire” !!! And he “ was not very particular —the runts s 
would answer, if he could obtain them at alow price.” 
“Dunder un blixum!” a Dutchman would exclaim, , 
“ dese tarn Yanks peats de very tuyval.” 
Not long after this, Mr. L. was informed that a per- 
son going east with a lot of pigs and offering them for : 
sale, exhibited a certificate with his name attached, as s 
an inducement to purchase. This Mr. L. declares a i 
forgery. 
In another letter lately received from a gentleman i 
near you, I am informed that “most of the drovers who i 
pass through ******* j where I keep my swine, have 
pigs which they call ‘ pure Berkshire,’ at least a few in 
each drove, and the invariable story is, that the pigs 
were got by your boar, out of some sow in your vicinity, 
by which means they injure the true breed.” 
Now I am not at all surprised at this, for a man liv¬ 
ing near me does not hesitate to sell half breeds for the 
pure blood Berkshire; and, I am sorry to say it, there 
are others in this vicinity, who would do the same, should 
an opportunity offer. 
Mr. T. for aught I know, may have the pure Berk¬ 
shire pigs; and had he not published that he procured 
them of me, I should have let it pass unnoticed; but 
having used my name without my authority, I deem it 
a duty I owe the public as well as those who have pur¬ 
chased of me, to make the above exposition. 
Respectfully, Yours, 
CALEB N. BEMENT. 
Three Hills Farm, Albany, Oct. 12th, 1839. 
Report on the value of Bone Manure, in compari¬ 
son with ordinary Farm-Yard Manure. 
BY THE HONOURABLE CAPT. W. OGILVY, AIRLIE CASTLE. 
[The thanks of the Highland Agricultural Society and 
the honorary silver medal were voted by the directors 
to the author of this paper.] 
Mr. Watson of Keilor, introduced the use of bone- 
manure into Strathmore, having seen it used in England. 
I am not certain in what year he began to make experi¬ 
ments with it, or to employ it extensively, hut I remem¬ 
ber well that the great deficiency of farm-yard dung in 
1827, (consequent on the almost total failure of the crop 
of the previous year) first induced me to try four acres 
of turnip without other manure, sown with 15 bushels 
of bone-dust per acre, which I obtained from Mr. Wat¬ 
son: it cost 3s. per bushel, or £2. 5s. per acre. The 
crop of turnips on these four acres was at least equal to 
the rest raised with farm-yard manure ; but as the whole 
of the turnips were pulled, and the land received some 
dung before the succeeding crop, much stress cannot be 
laid on the circumstance of the following white crop and 
grass being good. 
Next year, 1828, encouraged by the former successful 
experiment, eight acres were sown with turnip, solely 
with bone-dust; the soil alight, sandy loam; the sub¬ 
soil gravel and sand, coming in some places nearly to 
the surface, which is very irregular, but in general has 
a south exposure. This field had been broken up with 
a crop of oats in 1827, after having been depastured six 
years principally by sheep. The quantity of bone-dust 
given was 20 bushels per acre, and cost 2s. 6d, per bu¬ 
shel, or £2. 10s. per acre. The turnip-crop was so 
heavy, that, notwithstanding the very light nature of 
the soil, it was judged advisable to pull one-third for the 
feeding cattle, two drills pulled, and four left to be eaten 
on the' ground by sheep. The following year, 1829, 
these eight acres were sown with barley and grass-seeds, 
and the produce was 57 bolls 1 bushel, or 7 bolls 1 bushel 
nearly, per acre, of grain, equal in quality to the best 
in the Dundee market, both in weight and colour. Next 
year, a fair crop of hay for that description of land was 
cut, about 150 stones an acre; and though I am now- 
convinced that the field should rather have been depas¬ 
tured the first year, yet the pasture was better than it 
had ever been known before for the two following sea¬ 
sons, 1831 and 1832. It is worthy of remark, as a proof 
of the efficacy of the bone-manure, that in a small an¬ 
gle of this field, in which I had permitted a cottager to 
plant potatoes, well dunged, and which, after their re¬ 
moval, was included in one of the fiakings of sheep, 
and had (one might have supposed) thereby had at least 
equal advantage with the adjacent bone dust turnip land, 
both the barley and grass crops were evidently inferior, 
and this continued to be observable until the field was 
again ploughed up. A very bulky crop of oats has been 
reaped this season, probably upwards of eight bolls per 
acre, but no part of it is yet thrashed. 
Having detailed what may be considered a fair ex¬ 
periment during the whole rotation of the above eight 
acres, I may add, that turnip raised with bone manure, 
and fed off with sheep, has now become a regular part 
of the system on this farm; 15, 20, and, last year 25 
acres were fed off, and invariably with the same favo¬ 
rable results, with the prospect of being able to adopt 
a five-shift rotation, and to continue it without injury 
to the land. Every person in the least acquainted with 
the management of a farm, of which a considerable 
proportion consists of light, dry sandy loam, at a dis¬ 
tance from town-manure, must be aware of the impor¬ 
tance of this, from knowing the expense at which such 
land was formerly kept in a fair state of cultivation ; 
indeed, the prices of corn for some years past would not 
warrant the necessary outlay, and large tracts of land, 
capable of producing barley little inferior to that ol Nor¬ 
folk, must speedily have been converted into sheep pas¬ 
ture, but for the introduction of bone-manure. 
Note. —For the last four years, 25 bushels of bone- 
dust have been given to the acre: the price this year 
was Ss. per bushel, or £2. 15$. per acre. 
