328 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Oct, 
allusion to the reaping machine, Mr. Mechi remarked 
that we had to-day received from our American breth¬ 
ren, descendants of this country, the American reaper, 
which had been entirely successful. It was a fact worth 
remembering, that they had sent here a reaping machine 
that would cut all the grain in England ; and this had 
been in operation in the United States seven years, and 
but for the Great Exhibition in progress, would have re¬ 
mained unknown to the farmers of Great Britain. It 
was a boon of no ordinary value, and was undoubtedly 
one of the most important improvements introduced into 
this country, to cheapen the production of food Seve¬ 
ral other speeches were made, and the company separa- 
ted, after the labors of the day, well satisfied with what 
they had seen, and rejoicing in the result of the trials 
made. When the reapers were on trial, and the first one 
was breaking down the fine grain, Mr. Mechi was ap¬ 
pealed to to have the trial arrested, as it was doing so 
much damage to his grain. His answer deserves to be 
written in letters of gold, for the benefit of every friend 
to improvement in agriculture, as well as for those who 
believe money is the only thing to be worshipped. He 
replied: “ Gentlemen, this is a great experiment on trial 
for the benefit of my country—and if necessary to carry 
it out successfully, take my seventy acres of wheat! In¬ 
dividual interest must ever give way to the settlement 
of a great principle.” 
I shall furnish you, as soon as I have leisure, with a 
full account of Mr. Mechi’s farm, its management, and 
what, in my judgment, is the complete success of his ex¬ 
periment: the reclaiming of a poor, hard and stubborn 
soil, and the production of as fine crops as I have seen 
in England, taking his whole farm together. 
Mj. T. Bell, C. B. Miller, Esq. of Peterboro’, the 
excellent secretary of the Madison County Society, and 
myself, were the only Americans present; the day be¬ 
ing so very unpleasant , prevented several gentlemen from 
attending, who had expected to have been with us. 
Farming of the Earl of Leicester.— Mr. Bell and 
myself left about 8 o’clock, and proceeded to Norwich, 
in Norfolk, about 80 miles distant, the same evening; 
and the next morning proceeded Holkham, about 32 
miles from Norwich, the seat of the Earl of Leicester, 
and examined his fine Devon stock, his farm buildings, 
and farm. The stock was not so extensive as I had an¬ 
ticipated, though there were some very fine animals. 
He had six or eight beasts fattening for the Smithfield 
Show, that were very fine, and will prove, I imagine, 
severe competitors for the Short-horns and Here fords. 
Twelve fine yoke of Devon oxen are employed on the 
farms, and their quick elastic tread was a subject of ad¬ 
miration, when compared with the heavy, loggy tread of 
the English cart horse, to be met with in the north of 
England, and in some of the middle counties. Mr. Keary, 
the bailiff of the Earl of L., was absent, so that we 
had not the privilege of seeing him, as we desired and 
expected. 
The crops of wheat, barley, and oats, in Norfolk are 
remarkably fine. In fact, taking a district of 10 miles, 
through which we passed by different routes, I have 
never seen such uniform heavy fields of wheat and bar¬ 
ley. The lots here are very much larger than is com¬ 
mon in this country; and the system of farming is what 
is called here high farming. The common rotation of 
crops in Norfolk is:—1. Turnips, with manure; 2. Bar¬ 
ley, with manure; 3. Clover or Beans; 4. Wheat, with 
manure, (special.) 
The turneps are fed off on the field. On the Clover 
ley they manure with barn-yard manure and marl; the 
marl giving a better stand for the wheat. We saw the 
fields preparing for the crop of wheat. The clover is 
sown with the barley and mowed once. We saw at the 
Earl of Leicester’s, the Mangel Wurzel fresh as when 
pulled from the ground. They place them in the autumn 
in rows, about three feet high, three or four feet at the 
bottom, and cover with straw, and take them out as 
wanted. They were feeding some South Down and cross 
sheep for market with these and oil cake, and they were 
in capital condition. Thereare l,000to l,500sheep con¬ 
stantly on the farm, and they are sending them off to 
market regularly ,and replace by purchase from the north. 
The fat cattle are in covered stalls, or rather yards, as 
they have abundance of room, well littered, with water 
and salt before them; and they are fed with oil cake, 
mangel wurzel, cut too fine, I think, and they feed them 
what they will eat. 
The fixtures at the Earl of Leicester’s are excellent, 
and everything about the establishment shows the great¬ 
est care, to the very smallest minutse of the farm. They 
were threshing their wheat with a first rate portable 
steam engine, and the amount of work performed by it 
was very large. 
Two English gentlemen, whom we met on our return 
to Norwich, informed us that the use of rape cake has 
proved entirely successful in arresting the ravages of the 
wire-worm in the turnep crop. They burrow themselves 
in the rape and that is the end of their labors. 
After leaving Norfolk I took a day at Ipswich, at 
Ransom & May’s great plow and engine establishment, 
and it is one of the most complete, as it is one of the 
most extensive establishments in this country. Nine 
hundred men are constantly employed. While I was 
there, five steam engines were being shipped for Lord 
Drombrieski, of Russia, for his gold and copper mines 
in Siberia, and a large lot of plows for Valparaiso; but 
I have not space or time to give a description of this es- 
lishment, which I intend to do in full hereafter. 
I visited a number of farms in Suffolk, where they 
have good farmers, but their land is not equal to Norfolk 
and their crops lighter. The Suffolk polled cows aro 
altogether used for the dairy—they are very excellent 
milkers and a valuable breed. The Suffolk Punch horse 
is here found in great perfection, and they are the best 
breed of work horses I have seen. The horses are large, 
but clean limbed, good travelers, and very valuable. 
There are worth from £30 to £60. But I must close. 
Yours truly, B. P. Johnson. 
Sowing Wheat thick. —The Michigan Farmer in-, 
forms us that Gen. Williams, of Lima, in that State, has 
been in the practice of sowing two bushels of wheat to 
the acre, the effect of which is small straw, always 
bright, rarely or never liable to rust, and increased 
product—and that others had observed a similar re¬ 
sult. 
