76 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
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sion and improvement of agriculture in Great Britain, since the mid¬ 
dle of the last century, lias been so very great, that besides enabling 
the country to appropriate, an additional five, but more probably se¬ 
ven millions of quarters of grain (the quarter is eight bushels) to the 
feeding of horses, it supplies food for very considerably more than 
double its former population, and those too living in comparative ease 
and affluence. “The history of the world may be ransacked in vain 
for a parallel instance of improvement in any old settled country.” 
2d. This improvement is manifested by the increased number and 
weight of her farm stock. In the middle of the last century, the an¬ 
nual sales at Smitlifield amounted to about 74,000 head of cattle, and 
about 570,000 sheep. In 1831 these sales amounted to 156,000 head 
of cattle, and 1,280,000 sheep. The average weight at the former 
period was, neat cattle 370 lbs. and sheep about 28 lbs. Now the 
average weight of the first is 800 lbs. and of the latter 80 lbs.— 
“Hence,” continues the reviewer, “ on the most moderate compu¬ 
tation, it may be affirmed, that the consumption of butcher’s meat in 
the metropolis, as compared with the population, is twice as great 
at this moment as it was in 1750, and in most parts of the country 
the increase in the consumption has been still greater.” 
3d. This improvement is shown by the increased products of the 
soil, which it is alledged have been quadrupled. 
Wheat was reckoned a curiosity in Scotland a century ago, and a 
field of eight acres, near Edinburgh, excited the attention of the 
whole neighborhood, and numbers came from a great distance to 
see it. “We affirm,” says the Review, “that the wheat culture 
has increased in Scotland, generally, hi a tenfold proportion, since 
1780.” At the period referred to, the whole north-western part of 
England, which is now one of the best cultivated districts of the em¬ 
pire, consisted of mere sandy wastes, sheep walks and warrens, 
worth little or nothing, like millions of acres in our own country, 
which are deemed barren and waste, but which, under proper ma¬ 
nagement, might be made to yield very profitable returns. 
“ Previously to the peace of 1863, agriculture almost every where 
in Scotland was in the most barbarous and depressed state imagi¬ 
nable. There was no rotation of crops; fallows were unknown ex¬ 
cept to one or two counties ; the process and implements were alike 
wretched: great numbers of cattle perished every spring; the oc¬ 
cupiers were in extreme poverty; and famines were every now and 
then occurring, that sometimes laid waste extensive districts. At 
the beginning of the last century, and for long after, lands, even in 
the Lothians, were uniformly divided into infield and outfield, (that 
is, to adopt our phraseology, “ suitably divided into meadow, pas¬ 
ture and plough land”) The whole manure made on the farm was 
laid on the former, which was ploughed and cropped without inter¬ 
mission, so long, at least, as it would bear any thing. Neither tur¬ 
nips, nor clover, or potatoes had been so much as heard of; but 
com followed corn in unbroken series. The infield was divided in¬ 
to four divisions or breaks, and were cropped successively with peas, 
wffieat, barley and oats ; and the returns where about three limes the 
seed” * 
What a just picture do we here find of the present condition of 
many districts in our own country. 
The writer then goes into a comparison of the product of 100 
acres, as cultivated under the old system, of permanent meadow, 
pasture and plough land, and as now cultivated, under the system of 
alternating husbandry, with turnips, clover, &c. upon his data, the 
weight of the materials produced annually, as food for cattle and 
manure, was as follows:— 
Under the old system,. 42 tons. 
Under the new system,. 577 tons. 
showing a balance in favor of the new system of husbandry, of 533 
tons per annum, being more than twelve times the quantity produc¬ 
ed under the old. “As to the question of comparative profit, it 
would be easy to show, from unquestionable data, that the new sys¬ 
tem is as superior to the old, in this respect, as it is in the supply of 
manure.” The sandy wastes, sheep walks and warrens of Norfolk, 
&.C., have been converted into highly productive arable land, by en¬ 
closing, marling, and the aid of turnip husbandry, which is, as it 
were, the corner stone of the Norfolk or improved system of hus¬ 
bandry. 
The same practice that had made sandy wastes yield the most 
luxuriant crops of wheat and barley, in Norfolk, has been gradually 
extended, with similar effects, to many other parts of the kingdom. 
The produce in corn of the light soils, in all the moderately well cul¬ 
tivated districts of the empire, has, in consequence, been more than 
trebled ; at the same time that a vast supply of green food has been 
obtained for the feeding of cattle and sheep, and the production of 
the most valuable manure. 
“ With the exception of some counties in the south and west of 
England, which continue in a comparative stationary state, improve¬ 
ments have been every where carried on with extraordinary spirit. 
Among the principal of these may be specified improved drainage, a 
better rotation of crops, the general use of bone manure, and the 
opening of new channels of communication. Drainage lies at the 
bottom of almost every amelioration ; and it i3 prosecuted to an ex¬ 
traordinary extent. The practice of furrow draining (that is, by co¬ 
vered drains between the ridges) is now widely diffused over the 
north and east of England, and is carried on, on retentive or clay 
soils, upon a scale that will hardly be believed by those not acquaint¬ 
ed with the facts. Landlords and tenants are every where availing 
themselves of this new discovery. Many mdlions of tile are now 
manufactured in the neighborhood of Kilmarnock and other parts of 
the country, though the supply be still unequal to the demand. A 
better rotation of crops is now every where being adopted. The 
high prices of the war tempted the farmers to sow wheat too fre¬ 
quently, and without proper preparation ; the fertility of the soil be¬ 
ing in consequence, materially impaired in many districts. [A sa¬ 
lutary admonition to our wheat farmers of the west.] But this de¬ 
fect in the management is now nearly obviated. Clover and artifi¬ 
cial grasses are kept longer down ; barley is sometimes substituted 
for wheat, and the fertility of the soil is preserved.” “ But of all the 
recent improvements in agriculture, the introduction and general use 
of bone manure is perhaps the most important.” By it the turnip 
crop has in some eases been increased ten fold, and in few less than 
four or five fold its former bulk. A single farmer in Lincolnshire, 
raises 600 acres of turnips, dressed almost wholly with bone ma¬ 
nure. And, to quote again our author, “it is the opinion of practi¬ 
cal men of the highest respectability, and intimately acquainted with 
the state of agriculture, that the raw produce of the island might be 
well nigh doubled, without any greater proportional expense being in¬ 
curred in its productions,” owing to the backwardness in improve¬ 
ment of many of the counties. 
In reference to the improvement in stock husbandry, by Bake- 
well, Culley, and others, the writer makes the following pertinent 
and just remarks. 
“ It may be worth whde to remark, that much injuiry has arisen 
from the injudicious attempts to improve native breeds of cattle.— 
This has been generally occasioned by prematurely endeavoring to 
increase their size, which is always determined by external causes, 
such as the climate, the quantity and species of food the animal can 
readily obtain, &c. It is to the immensely increased supply, and 
better quality of food, that the increased weight of our cattle is to 
be principally ascribed. An improved system of breeding would 
have improved the symmetry of the cattle, and increased their apti¬ 
tude to fatten ; but, without an increase of food, it would not have 
materially added to their size. In point of fact, too, the latter is an 
inferior consideration. The grand object that the prudent agricul¬ 
turist should keep steaddy in view, is the obtaining the greatest pos¬ 
sible return for liis outlay; and he will prefer that kind of stock, and 
that breed, of any kind, that will pay him best for the food consum¬ 
ed. The value to which an animal may ultimately be brought, is a 
subordinate consideration; the profits of breeding, as of every thing 
else, being determined, not by the absolute price of the produce, but 
by its price as compared with the expenses incurred in bringing it to 
market. Mr. Cully’s opinion is, “ that of all animals, of whatever kind, 
those which have the smallest, cleanest, and finest bones, are in 
general the best proportioned, and covered with the best and finest 
grained meat; I believe they arc, also, the hardiest and healthiest, 
and most inclinable to feed ; able to bear the most fatigue while liv¬ 
ing, and worth the most per pound dead. It is certain that animals, 
whether too large or too small, will gradually accommodate them¬ 
selves to the size best adapted to their pastures; but while the lar¬ 
ger animal becomes unhealthy, and degenerates in its form and va¬ 
luable properties, the smaller animal increases in size, and improves 
in every respect.” 
The impression that we would hope to make upon the minds ot 
the readers of the Cultivator, is that our husbandry is as susceptible 
of improvement as that of Great Britain was fifty or sixty years ago ; 
and that the same means that have quadrupled her products may be 
successfully employed to augment ours ; that drainage, alternation 
of crops, the general introduction of green crops, as turnips and the 
