wm

MASSACHUSETTS
STATE COLLEGE

GOODELL LIBRARY

Pe

6eT.3
Y.4i

No. 1, Vol. XLL] JANUARY, 1873. Thiud Sbriks.

THE

FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

AMD

MONTHLY JOURNAL

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THE AGEICULTUEAL INTEREST.

BtateattU

TO THE

FARMERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM,

LONDON :
PUBLISHED BYROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 265, STRAND.

PRICE TWO SHILLINGS.

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"i^^SONANDTUXFOR^.] [PRINTERS. 266. ST^P.

IMPORTANT TO FLOCKMASTERS.

THOMAS BIGG, Agricultural and Veterinary
Chemist, by Appointment to his late Royal Highness
The Prince Consort, K.G., Leicester House, Great Dover
Street, Borough, London, begs to call the attention of
Fai'mers and Graziers to his valuable SHEEP and LAMB
DIPPING COMPOSITION, which requires no BoiUng, and
may be used with Warm or Cold Water, for effectually
destroying the Tick, Lice, and all other insects injui'ious to
the Flock, preventing the alarmmg attacks of Fly and Shab,
and cleansing and pui-ifying the Skin, thereby greatly im-
proving the Wool, both in quantity and quahty, and highly
Contributing to the general health of the animal.

Prepared only by Thomas Bigg, Chemist, &c., at his Manu-
factory as above, and sold as tollows, although any other
quantity may be had, if required : —

4 lb. for 20 sheep, price, jar iucluded £0

61b,

30

81b.

40

101b.

60

201b.

100

301b.

150

401b.

200

501b,

250

601b.

300

801b.

400

100 lb.

600

(Cask and measure
included)

0 10

0 15

1 0
1 3
1 7

1 17

2 5

Should any Flockmaster prefer boiling the Composition, it
will be equally effective.

MOST IMPORTANT CERTIFICATE.
From Mr. Heeepath, the celebrated Analytical Chemist :—
Bristol Laboratory, Old Park, January 18th, 1861,
Sir,— I have submitted yom- Sheep Dipping Composition to
analysis, and find that the ingredients are well blended, and
the mixture neutral. If it is used according to the directions
given, I feel satisfied, that while it effectually destroys vermin,
it will not injure the hair roots (or "yolk") in the skin, the
fleece, or the carcase. I think it deserves the numerous
testimonials published, I am, Sir, yours respectfully,

William Heeapaih, Sen., F.C.S., &c., &c.|
To Mr. Thomas Bigg Professor of Chemistry.

Leicester House, Great Dover-street, Borough, London.

^

He would also especially call attention to his SPECIFIC,
or LOTION, for the SCAB or SHAB, which wiU be found
a certain remedy for eradicating that loathsome and ruinous
disorder in Sheep, and which may be safely used in all
climates, and at all seasons of the year, and to all descriptiona
of sheep, even ewes in lamb. Price FIVE SHILLINGS per
gallon — sufficient on an average for thirty Sheep (accordmg
to the virulence of the disease) ; also in vnne quart bottles.
Is. 3d, each.

IMPORTANT TESTIMONIAL.
" Scoulton, near Hingham, Norfolk, April 16th, 1855.

"Dear Sir, — In answer to yours ot the 4th inst., which
would have been repUed to before this had I been at home, I
have much pleasure in bearing testimony to the efficacy of
your invaluable ' Specffic for the cure of Scab in Sheep.' The
600 sheep were all dressed in August last vsdth 84 gallons of
the 'Noif -POISONOUS Specific,' that was so highly recom-
mended at the Lincoln Show, and by their own dresser, tho
best attention being paid to the flock oy my shepherd after
dressing according to instructions left ; but notwithstanding
the Scab continued getting worse. Being determined to have
the Scab cured if possible, I wrote to you for a supply of your
Specific, which I received the foUowiiig day ; and although
the weather was most severe in February during the dressing,
your Specific proved itself an invaluable remedy, for in
three weeks the Sheep were quite cured ; and I am happy to
say the young lambs are doing remarkably well at present.
In conclusion, I beUeve it to be the safest and best remedy
now in use. " I remain, dear Sir,

"For JOHN TINGEY, Esq.,

" To Mr. Thomas Bigg. ' "R. RENNEY.

l^g" Flockmasters would be well to beware of such pre-
parations as " Non-poi3onou3 Compositions :" it is only
necessary to appeal to their good common sense and judg-
ment to be thoroughly convinced that no "Non-poisonous"
article can poison or destroy insect vermin, particularly such
as the Tick, Lice, and Scab Parasites— creatures so tenacious
of Life. Such advertised preparations must be wholly useless,
or they are not what they are represented to be.

DIPPING APPARATUS £14. £5, £4, & £3.

THE ROYAL FARMERS' INSURANCE COMPANY,

3, NOEFOLK STEEET, STEAE^D, LONDON, W.C.

CAPITAL. — Porsons insured by this Company have the security of an extensive and wealthy proprietary
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THE FARMER'8 MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1872.

CONTENTS.

Plate I.— BORDERER, A PRIZE HUNTER: the property of Mr. Harvey Bayly.

Plate n.-AT HOME OR ABROAD?

Descriptions of the Plates

The Farmers' Club : Breeding — Facts and Principles

The Scottish Chamber of Agriculture : Land Tenure and th

The Produce of the Sea-shore. — By Cutiibert W. Johnson, F.

The Values of Stock and Crop

Presentation to Mr. Joseph Meadows

Importation of Pedigree Shorthorns

Sheep Breeding and Management. — By the Northern Farmer

Chap Money .....

The Management and Breeding of Stock

Heads .....

Mr. J. A. Williams, of Baydon

The Wenlock Farmers' Club .

Morayshire Farmers' Club

The Taunton Agricultural Society .

The Aberdeen Game Conference

The Central Chamber of Agriculture

French Peasant Farmers' Seed Fund .

The Yorkshire Show at York

The Double Plough Trials at Reepham

The Roy'al Dublin Society: Winter Show in Dublin

The Smithfield Show Week .

A Wholesome Movement

The Smithfield Club Show .

The Smithfield Club Annual Meeting

The Metropolitan Great Christmas Cattle Market

Royal Agricultural Society of England: Monthly' Council

The Chemical Report

The Half-yearly Meeting
Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland
The Land Question in Wales
The Foot-and-Mouth Disease
The Leeds Fat Cattle Show .
Fat Cattle Shows ....
Farmers' Club : Annual Dinner

General Annual Meeting
The late Richard Stratton . ,

Review of the Cattle Trade

Review of the Corn Trade during the Past Month
Market Currencies, Imperial Averages, &c. .
Title and Index

E Land Laws
R.S.

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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1872.

PLATE I.

BORDERER; a Prize Hunter.

THK PROPERTY OP MR. HARVEY BAYLY.

Borderer, a chesnut horse standing sixteen hands liigli,
was bred by Mr. Hudsmith at Brampton in Cumberland,
in 1866 ; and is by Clansman out of a Galaor mare.

Borderer was picked up early in life by Mr. John
Booth, of Killerby, who took the colt into the show-ring
as a two-year-old in 1868, when he won the first prize at
Bedale and the second at Richmond — of course in hunt-
ing classes.

In 1869, when a three-year-old. Borderer took first
prize at the Darlington show, first at the Hexham meet-
ing of the Northumberland Agricultui'al Society, first at
the Cleveland Society's meeting at Middlesboronajh, se-
cond at Richmond, and second at Scarborough — as a
three-year-old hunting gelding.

In 1870 Borderer was put second at Islington in the
four-year-old class, when he was purchased by Mr.
Harvey Bayly, as whose property he took a first prize at
the Wakefield meeting of tlie Yorkshire Agricultural
Society.

In 1871, as a five-year.old, Borderer took second

prize at the Wolverhampton meeting of the Royal Agri-
cultural Society of England, second prize at the York
meeting of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, first prize
at Birmingham, first prize at Liverpool, and first prize at
Southwell.

Borderer also took some premiums as a foal and a
yearling when shown by his breeder about home, in
Cumberland.

Mr. Bayly tells us he cannot speak too highly of his
horse's " manners" as a hunter— temperate, sensible, very
stout, and a good goer. Mr. Harvey Bayly, " well known
in Bedfordshire," is now hunting the Rufl'ord country in
Nottinghamshire, where for his own riding he is set up,
amongst others, with two famous show-horses. Borderer
and Banner-bearer, who between them won in 1871 no
less than £411 10s. in prize-money. Our own reports,
month for month past, will best speak to the character of
these crack nags, both by the way from the experienced
hands of another iM.lMI., Mr, John Booth, of the
Bedale.

PLATE II.

AT HOME OR ABROAD?

And Master Crafty himself would scarcely seem able
to answer the query, as, no doubt, when impJetur veteris
Bacchi j)infiidsgue ferince — that is, when well primed
with 'bacca, old beer, and fat bacon — he has stopped
many a good fox in before now. The terriei's have
clearly been very busy, and the mongrel hound proclaims
him at home — so far as this may be trusted — at the top

JTDf his voice. But those " crafty earth-stoppers," like

^ Old Skriss.]

sub-editors and journeymen bakers, lead a hard life of it,
though so long as the world gets its morning paper and
hot rolls by breakfast-time, with a flying fox well found
afterwards, what cares it whether its " fellow-creatures"
ever go to bed or not ? So we will not be too captious,
and if Reynard should be abroad there looks to be a bit
of nice open country before him v^hen he sees the oak
sported at home.

B rVoi,, LXXI.— No, 1.

C>t

THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE.

THE FARMERS' CLUB.
BREEDING — FACTS AND PRINCIPLES,

The last meeting before the Christmas recess, was held on
Monday evening, December 4jth, at the Club House, Salisbury-
square, Mr. J. B. Spearing, presiding. The subject fixed for
discussion, was, " Breeding — Facts and Principles," to be in-
troduced by Mr. J . K. Powler, of Prebendal Farm, Aylesbury.

The Chairman in opening the proceedings, said the subject
for that evening's discussion was one of the greatest import-
ance, and upon it, he might safely say, the whole success of
stock-breeding depended. If there were any mistake as regards
the observance of proper principles, stock-breeding generally
ended in failure. He would not, however, make any remarks,
but at once introduce Mr. Fowler, who was well known to
them aU, and who would he was sure introduce the subject in
such an able and practical manner as to do full justice to
it (cheers).

Mr. J. K. Fowler said : Some years ago my friend
Mr. James Howard, M.P. for Bedford, and lale chairman of
this Club, called my attention to a paper read by the late
Mr. Reginald Orton, at tlie Newcastle Farmers' Club, on the
" Physiology of Breeding," and he sent me a copy for perusal.
It made a great impression on me at the time, and having
many advantages of testing several of Mr. Orton's proposi-
tions, I commenced some experiments, and began to examine
the truth of his premises, and have found them in the main
correct. The principal proposition was, that " the male gives
the external organs, the skin, the muscle, and the bones — and
the female the internal organs, which are the whole circula-
tory, respiratory, and digestive organs. Tlie male in fact
giving the locomotive powers, the female the vital organs."
Mr. Orton gives credit to Mr. Walker for first enunciating
this theory as far back as 1841, and which is published in
Stephen's " Book of the Farm." Mr. Howard suggested to
me when the committee was selecting subjects for discussion
for the present year, that this subject should be taken up, as
one of great interest to the Club, and also to the public gene-
rally, and I hope my humble efforts wiU be the means of
drawing special attention to the subject. The paramount
importance of providing food for the people, espe-
cially an adequate supply of " animal food," is a
serious problem to be solved, and anything which can increase,
not only the number of animals, but their size and quality,
must be read and studied by every agriculturist in the king-
dom ; if, therefore, some broad principles for our guidance can
be established, it will make cattle breeding more certain in
its results, and render that which is now treated almost as a
matter of chance, a comparative certainty. I would say " What
to breed, feed, and avoid," should be our standing motto — and
as my paper is on " Breeding — facts and principles," I will
begin by stating such facts as have come to my own knowledge,
and such as have been communicated to me by some of the
most eminent breeders and others in England, and then state
what principles I think would be desirable for perpetuating
the best animals in general use as agriculturnl stock. Mr.
Orton, in his most able paper read at Newcastle-on-Tyne, com-
mences by stating the following facts with regard to the Mule ;
and as this is so plain and so easy of comprehension, I adduce
it here, that you may be able at once to comprehend the broad
proposition with which I started. He says, you are doubtless
aware, that if the male ass is put to a mare, the produce is a
mule, and the produce is essentially a modified ass — the ears are
long, the mane erect, the tail thin, the legs slender, the hoofs
high and contracted, in fact, clearly taking after the male
ani'mal. But few are perhaps aware that when a stallion is
put to the ass, the produce is called a Hinny, and this is
essentially a modified horse, the ears are short, but somewhat
longer than a horse, the tail bushy, the skin finer, the legs
BTonger, and the hoofs flat like the horse. You will see, there-
fore, how closely the progeny in appearance follows the male.
But now comes a very noticeable peculiarity, the body and
barrel of the first-named, the mule, are round and full, which

resembles the mare, and those of the hinny are flat and nar-
row, like the ass ; but the vital or internal organs of the mare
being so much larger than the ass, require a larger cavity or
barrel to carry them, and so the bones are moulded to fit the
organs, not the organs to fit the bones, so also the smaller
vital organs of the ass require but a smaller and flatter cavity,
and so also the bones are moulded to fit them. Many of you
have perhaps heard of Lord Morton's curious experiment
with the Quagga ; ha put a Quagga stallion to a thorough-bred
chesnut mare, and the produce was a quagga mule, with
stripes, and many characteristics of the male. The next season
he put the mare to a black Arab horse, and to the astonish-
ment of his lordship, she produced a foal bearing strong marks
of the quagga, and this eflect was visible for three generations
from a blood stallion. There is a similar case recorded in the
transactions of the Royal Society, where a mare of Sir George
Ousley's was put to a Zebra, and the produce was striped like the
sire ; and she was next year served by a blood horse, and the foal
had the zebra stripes, and the same result again followed the
next year. It therefore would appear that a female once im-
pregnated retains certain traces of the male, which remains
by her for an undefined period. Now I have taken some pains
to follow this out, and in the Zoological Gardens, from that
most intelligent curator, Mr. Bartlett, I find this in the main
correct. He showed me a white Spanish ass, with a few dark
spots on him, and he had all the outward characteristics of
our male ass in this country, except as to colour ; and they
have put him to several ponies, and in every case the
produce was a modified ass ; but he seemed to have exercised
but small influence as to colour. There is one very amusing
fact with this asinine gentleman — that since he has had pony
mares he will have nothing whatever to do with his own tribe.
Mr. Bartlett says they have tried mares with the male zebra in
the establishment, and he is so ferocious and savage that he
has nearly killed them, and they have ceased to try them.
It is said, and I believe truly, that mules do not
breed ; but it may not be generally known that
male and female mules liave sexual intercourse, and
Mr. Bartlett, however, thinks some day he shall find they
will breed. I have seen some extraordinary instances of ex-
ternal appearances, especially of the locomotive powers fol-
lowing the male, and will give you one of my own experience.
I once rode a very good hunting mare got by a thorough-bred
horse named Maple. He had a sort of club fore-foot, and was
lame with it ; my mare had upright corouets ot the fore feet
more like donkeys, and she eventually went lame with them.
Some years afterwards I saw a chesnut mare with a foal by
her side going to Baron Rothschild's horse Hungerford.
She was very lame, swinging her off fore-leg. I found she had
a large bumble-foot, and on inquiry heard she was got by
Maple. I have since made inquiries, and discovered that
most of his progeny had peculiarly formed upright fore-feet,
and many went lame there. I also remember a very good
stalUon called Uncommon. I believe he was own brother to
Jericho, belonging to Lord Lonsdale, and who covered in our
neighbourhood. He had a peculiar action of dishing or
swinging his off fore-foot outwards when going fast, either
trotting or galloping, and nearly all liis descendants, whatever
mares were sent to him, did the same. It was well known
to all our neighbourhood, who used to say, if they saw
one of his stock along the road, " Here comes an
' Uncommon.' " Mr. Finlay Dun wrote one of the most
interesting and able papers I ever perused on " Breeding,"
which he read at the Midland Farmers' Club last year. Mr.
Dun, in that lucid and forcible style for which he is so noted,
goes very fully into all these questions, and — I shall have
several times to quote hira — says, that " not only do the.
parents transmit to their offspring their own external configu-
ration, they also mould the various internal organs, and im-
plant the particular hftbits and temperaments j all are equally

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

transmissible." He then goes on to state, with regard to
horses, how persistently does the blaze on the face, or
white legs, reappear in each generation. He mentions a
case of a celebrated cart staUioa in Leicestershire, where
three-fourths of his stock have white leg markings, and that in
one of the best horse-breeding counties in England. " There is
at the present time a yellow bay cart-horse, which has been
repeatedly made up for showing, has gained various county pre-
miums, and has thus acquired a local celebrity in spite of his
narrow chest, Ids weak loins, and his round, rough, greasy legs.
For several years this brute has procreated a large number of
faulty foals ; many are produced with deformed heads and
crooked spines. From false presentations, many mares put to
him die ; some of his colts, when dropped, are unable to stale
or dung, and oftentimes their urachus is imperfectly closed.
Those that survive for a few weeks frequently have scrofulous
abscesses about the joints. More than one-third of
his foals die before they are sis months old,
the residue are rickety, delicate, ill-thriven, and
will not pay for rearing." These are the forcible remarks
of Mr. Einlay Dun, and I am sure many of my hearers can
assert pretty much the same of many stallions in their locality.
U»t do not let us give the whole discredit to the staUion. Look
at the wretched mares that are constantly put to the horses
traveUing the country. Any broken down weed, or lame old
cart mare, is deemed in many cases good enough to breed from ;
and one of the most fertile sources of badly-bred horses is to
be found in the mistaken kindness of many landowners and
gentry in a neighbourhood who keep horses for the use of their
tenantry, free of cost. Let them by all means keep horses
for use, but by making a charge for the mares, I feel sure there
would be fewer useless brutes sent to them to continue the
flood of unsound animals that are generally to be found in the
country. This briugs me to the breeding of horned stock,
and here my subject opens out so widely that I fear I must
somewhat trespass on your patience, and ask you to bear with
me whilst I agam call your attention to my first proposition
as to the inlluence of the male. The great and distinguished
lines of blood— the Bates, the Bopth, and the Knightleys—
having each their followers, sometimes in their distinctive
purity, sometimes in their judicious crossings, are each and
all striving to attain perfection ; and in that noble rivalry, I
cannot call it a bloodless one, are all doing great service to the
nation in their eflorts to improve the meat-producing animals,
not only of England and her colonies, but the world, for all
come here for blood ; whilst the colonies, hoping to add to
their own pecuniary resources, are helping to swell the wealth
of the nation. It is certainly remarkable to observe the ex-
ternal peculiarities of each of these tribes, and the initiated and
those most interested well know the noble carriage and
grandeur of outline of the Bates tribe ; the heavily-lleshed,
rich-haired character of the Booths and the lovely sweetness
of countenance, the fine shoulders, and deep milking pecuhari-
ties of the Knightley's. There are many instances recorded as
to home stock, in which the inlluence of the male was felt
through many generations. That of the bull Hubback (319)
for instance, and also of favourite (253), whose peculiarities
of quality and style are found to the present day. In our own
times let us take Earl of Dublin (10178) ; the late Mr. J. C.
Adkins, of Milcote, used him in his noted herd, where he did
great service, and then sold him to Sir C. Knightley, where he
did even more distinguished service than in Mr. Adkins' herd.
Here was an extraordinary instance of his impressing deep in-
milking qualities on his stock, wluch was an inlermtl oigani-
zation; but on looking to his pedigree you will lind he was
descended over and over again from the renowned milker
Princess through almost every sire and dam in his pedigree,
who were all noted milkers. And again, being used on a
herd of noted milking qualities like the Knightley, it
was not to be wondered at that his stock to this day
are amongst the most prolific and deepest milkers we have.
In reference to this point I wUl quote Mr. Darwin, who in
vol. 2 of " Animals and Plants under Domestication," chapter
12— on " Inheritance" — says : " What can be more wonderful
than that same trilling peculiarity, not primordially attached
to the species, should be transmitted through the male and
female sexual cells, which are so minute as not to be visible to
the naked eye, and afterwards through the incessant changes
of a long course of development, undergone either in the

womb or in the egg, and ultimately appear in the offspring
when mature, or even when quite old, as in the case of certain
diseases ? or again, what can be more wonderful than the
well ascertained fact that the minute ovule of a good milking
cow will produce a male, from whom a cell, in union with an
ovule, will produce a female, and she, when mature, will have
large mammary glands, yielding an abundant supply of milk,
aud even milk of a particular quality ? Nevertheless, the
real subject of surprise is, as Sir H. Holland has well re-
remarked, not that a character should be inherited, but that
any should even fail of hemg inherited." 7th Duke of York
(1775i) also has left his mark unmistakably in the case of
every cow he touched ; and whether it was a pure Duchess, a
Plorentia, an Ursula, a Gazelle, or any others of the various
tribes put to him, the progeny of one and all, in external ap-
pearances, were improved by him. The same thing
I am told was the case with Prince Alfred,
Commander-in-Chief (21451), and some others of the noted
herds of Booth fame. On my visit to those extraordinary
sales, conducted by our old friend Mr. Strafford, in the north
of England last September, when at Mr. J. P. Foster's, at
Killhow, in Cumberland, I was much struck with the beauty
of all the young stock — their grand style, fine touch, and rich
hair and colour, aud on reference to my catalogue, I found
they were all by his bull Duke of Oxford 17th (25994) ;
it did not matter on what he was used, the progeny were all
improved, strains of blood the most opposite, aud oftentimes
fully mixed, yet all were good. When also at Colonel Gunter's,
at Wetherly, some two years ago, the impress of Pourth Duke
of Thorndale was remarkable. But this opens up a very abstruce
and interesting branch of the question — that of " Frepo-
tency^ or the overpowering inlluence of one or other of the
sexes. Mr. Finlay Dun says it is mostly developed in the
males, " and amongst horses, some of the best thorough-bred
families are remarkedly prepotent." Everyone conversant
with racing stock must admit the prepotency of Eclipse, and
of Stockwell, and I would add King Tom. Shorthorns,
amongst cattle tribes, are notably prepotent, and crossed with
Heretbrds, or Longhorns, speedily wipe out, as it were, their
specialities. Favourite, Duke of Northumberland, Duke of
Gloucester, Seventh Duke of York, and Earl of Dublin, are
examples of Shorthorn sires, which, judged by the uniform
character of their progeny, possessed unusual prepotent
powers. The ass is stated to be prepotent over the
horse, and the jackal over the dog, and the
best of the Down sheep appear superior in prepotency to the
white-faced sorts." I myself used a bull, Hardicanute
(26638), bred by the late Mr. J. C. Adkins, who was par-
ticularly prepotent. Seraphinas and Knightleys were all fully
impressed by him, and his fine touch and quality were per-
ceptible in iall. Mr. Thos. Booth, of renowned Warlaby
fame, writes to me, that " there can be no doubt, as a rule,
that the male exerts a preponderating infiuence as far as the
general formation of the animal goes, and this may be traced
through many generations : hence the value of pure blood,
from whatever strain, for wherever a bull has been introduced
into a herd, or a pedigree, and has left an inferior mark on his
stock, that pedigree has been depreciated in value at future
sales. There can also be no doubt that the founders of the
breed of Shorthorns improved their steck in a great measure
by the selection of sires ; and as some sires feecame more and
more closely connected by in-and-in breeding, so they were
more and more certain of like begetting like. I am certain
that with many breeders of the present day all principles of
selection on account of form and character are lost sight o f
and made to give way to pedigree only. This may ultimately
prove injurious to Shorthorns by losing what our forefathers
tried to efi'ect, viz., to produce the greatest (|uaatity of good
meat with the least of offal." After some other observations,
Mr. Booth says, " You will gather from these few remarks
that I am strongly impressed with the necessity of having
Afirsl-rale sire — I don't altogether mean a prise animal — for
the improvement of a herd, because I know that such a sire
will almost invariably leave his mark, and certain points may
at times be traced back for three or four generations." These
remarks, coming from so distinguished an authority, add great
weight to the broad proposition I set out with. There is a
very remarkable instance of impress by the theory of natural
selection in the case of the noted wild cattle in Chilhngham

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Park, which vvas commuuicated to me by Mr. Jacob Wilson.
He says that " at present the herd numbers sixty-seven head,
and that the hord lias been kept up by in-and-in breeding for
several centuries — of course, the master bull always serving
the eows." You will see here that the strongest male con-
tinually asserting his prowess keeps up the vigour of the herd,
and when another stronger animal rises up amongst them, he
in his turn becomes " Lord Paramount," and, as old age comes
on, gives way again to liis successor. In the St. James' Maja-
^i/ie lately was an accouut given by a lady of a battle for the
mastery of the bulls, which, from the cleverness of its descrip-
tion, I cannot forbear giving : " There is always danger in
meeting a s'/l/ii/ bull, that is, a bull banished from tlie herd,
and literally sent to Coventry. The way this is affected is
that the youuger bull, after walking round the herd, stands
ready to meet any comer. Then the elder bull, stepping
fortli from liis harem, answers the challenge, and
advancing step by step, the rivals meet, and the battle rages
furious and strong, the herd standing by variously excited.
One or two bulls, apparently acting as self-constituted umpires,
are watching with heaving flanks and foam-stained lips the
chances of war. Thus the fight goes on, amidst growls of
rage, clouds of turf and dust, and the sudden heavy crash as
the thick foreheads meet. Presently one of the combatants
falters, then the fight is decided ; for upon the first symptoms
of weakness the umpire, rushing in, bears down upon the
faltering bull, and completing the work with his fresh strength
literally bowls him over. As the vanquished struggles to Ids
feet, blinded by blood and crippled by furious blows, the herd
comes upon him, and overwhelmed by numbers he is driven
forth disgraced, discarded, and beaten, to hide in the forest
and braclcen, until his wounds being healed lie comes forth to
seek revenge in another combat." But perhaps the most ex-
traordinary instance of the influence of the male as to exter-
nals is to be found in a trial of my own with the Bramali and
Dorking fowls. After reading Mr. Orton's paper, in which he
recorded his trials with the Cochin and Dorking, I began with
the Braraah and Dorking. The uninitiated of my listeners
must understand that the Bramah lias four claws only, has
feathered legs, lays a buff-coloured egg, and the cock crows
or roars like the Cochin ; and that the Dorking has five claws
on each foot, has no feathers on its legs, lays a white egg ;
and the cocks crow with the old Euglisli shrill clarion note,
I put a Bramah cock to some Dorking hens, and the chickens al-
most invariably had four claws on each foot, in some instances
five on one and four on another, and the pullets from these
laid white eggs, and, most remarkable of all, tlie cockerels
crowed like the Dorking, but they had small combs and had
all the external appearance of the Bramah. Now, in putting
the Dorking cock to the Bramah hens it was reversed in au
extraordinary degree, for nearly all the chickens had five claws
and the pullets laid buff eggs, in all these instances showing
uninistakably that the externals followed the male, and that
the internal organization, i.e. egg laying and the crowing,
which was from the internal organisation of the throat, fol-
lowed the female. A most singular case also occurred about
four years ago. Amongst my Aylesbury ducks a llouen drake
got mixed with them for only one night, and one of the
white Aylesburys subsequently produced one or two coloured
ducklings ; she was, therefore, carefully put away, but as she
was one of my best and purest strains, she was bred from the
next year, and she every now and then threw out a
duckling with partially brown plumage. The next year she
was tried again, and although for two years she had never been
near a Rouen drake, she continued to breed an oeccasional
duckling with a few discoloured feathers : here was one of those
strange occurrences which we shall have to consider more
deeply before we close the subject. The Rev. Mr. Smythies
told me that he bred a chicken from a game hen by a Dorking
cock, and that one leg had five claws and was white in colour,
and the other leg was yellow and had but four claws ; this was a
strange combination. In speaking of turkeys, perhaps it is
not generally known that one fecundation by the fock bird is
sufficient to fertilise all the ovary of the hen. I have myself
had a hen turkey sent away to a neighbouring farm to a "cock
bird, and she has never been near one again, and yet every
egg was fertile ; and, still more remarkable, after bringing up
the brood, she laid again, and although never having been to
the male bird since the first time, the new laying of eggs was
rUo fertile; liere we have a remarkable instance of the impress

of the male beyond orie generation ; many such can be ad-
duced ; and Darwin, tlirough repeated trials with pigeons,
shows the same results. There are, however, many singular
cases where the influence of the female has been prepotent even
in externals, or where she has exercised extraordinary influence,
through either'the imagination or some other cause inexplica-
ble. Mr. Savidge, of Oxfordshire, whose veracity is unim-
peachable, tells me that on one occasion when he lived with
the late Mr. Langston, of Sarsdeu, that a neighbour sent a
pure Shorthorn heifer to one of their purely-bred bulls, and as
she was diflicult to drive they sent an Alderney cow to accom-
pany her, and he (Mr. Savidge) remonstrated with the man for
doing it, and said the heifer would be sure to have an Alderney-
coloured calf. She was served by the bull, and the produce
was to all intents like an Alderney both in colour of nose and
general appearance. I have the lollowing from the same
gentleman. The late Lord Ducie, who was particularly
noted for his breed of pure white pigs, as was also Mr.
Langston, gave Mr. Langston, a very celebrated white boar
who had gotten some of his lordships best pigs, Mr. Langston
put him to his best white sows, and they produced him some
first class white pigs, but Mr. Langston in his kindness per-
mitted his tenants and cottagers to send sows to this boar,
many of which were Berkshires and other black sorts. From
that time he began to get black and spotted pigs from the
pure bred white sows to which he had been previously put.
Now here was a case of imagination on the part of the male, if
such a thing could happen. I have also an interesting letter
from Mr. Smith, of Uenley in Arden, one of our most cele-
brated Berkshire breeders, who says ; " I always notice that
the male transmits the greatest external influence to the young
ones, but very seldom coniinued beyond the second generation,
in colour. AVhen I first began breeding, sixteen years ago, I
used to let my neighbours send sows to my Berkshire hours,
and many instances occurred where the produce have been all
the colour of the boars, good-looking Berkshires. For the last
ten years I have never let any sows but my own pure Berk-
shires be served by my boars. I have always found the influence
of the female in the internal organisation very great as (o
transmission of fecundity, milking powers, aud constitution, to
all her offspring." lie then states the following fact :
" Some years ago I had a very favourite sow that had bred me
six farrows of pigs, and most of them had taken prizes ; she
then refused to breed after being sent to every Berkshire boar
I could send her to. I then put her to her own son. The pro-
duce were half cripples, the hind feet being in the place of the
fore ones. She afterwards bred me six more farrows, the last
one of twelve pigs, the best she ever bred." And Mr. E.
Duckering, of Kirton Lindsey, the noted breeder of white pigs,
writes to me thus: "I have even found symmetry depends
much on the male animal ; I would, therefore, have him of as
perfect form as possible, displaying all the points of his race ;"
and he also states that occasionally neighbours send a Berk-
shire sow to his white boars, and " the produce has invariably
been all white." I have also an interesting letter from the
Rev. Mr. Storer, of Hellidon, of Shorthorn notoriety lie con-
siders that the broad proposition with which I started is the
Scotch verdict " Not proven ;" but that " external peculiarities
are often transmitted by the male through many successive
generations ; and where not strictly transmitted, they have
reappeared after remaining in abeyance ; but my experience
does not lead me to think such povi'er of external peculiarities
is confined to the male animal. I conceive that all depends
upon which of the two is more ' prepotent.' "As an example,"
he says, " I saw a few years since at a farmers in Notts, a Short-
horn roan heifer with a large black spot on the thigh, aud
corresponding with a black bar across the tail, and was in-
formed that she was descended from a cow of Mr. Burgess's,
six generations back, which cow had an exactly similar
blemish." This was a case of reversion or atavism. With re-
gard to colour " in many cases," he says " the calf is more likely
to derive its colour from one or other of its grand parents,
than from either of its parents." Mr. Duckham, of Hereford-
shire, in speaking of that grand tribe of cattle for whicli his
country is so famed, says : " I think the male animal has great
external influence upon his oS'spring, both in character and
general outline. Tiie use of a bull with horns of an upward
tendency, or what are called ' Cock horned,' will display
itself in the offspring for many generations, and is difficult to
erRd,j(!ate, and so witli a bard skin and cgarse wirey hair," With

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regard to colour, a polled Angus has been fried with the
HereforJs, and every calf had a white face, and wliite
marks upon the underside of the body. Mr. Charles Howard,
of Biddenhara, also expresses his entire concurrence in the
theory and remarks upon the influence of the female as to
milk : " You have only to go to that strain of blood which you
patronize so strongly, viz., Sir Charles Knightley, for confirma-
tion.' As to colour, the iufluence of the male was felt in a re-
markable degree inthe Bates and Booth bull. May Duke (13320).
He got some of the worst colours I ever saw. I think the same
principle as to the influence of the male holds witli sheep.
With regard to sheep, it is well known how a ram influences
the external characteristics of a flock. The Oxfordshire
Downs, which now rank as an established breed, were pro-
duced about the year 1830 by crossing Hampshire or South-
dovi'n ewes with the Cotswold ram ; and despite the assertion
to the contrary, I koow the greatest difficulty is experienced in
keeping up tlie leading characteristics of the breed. Here we
find the male leaving behind in his progeny size and wonderful
external appearance ; and thickness of lean and closeness of
grain of meat, being an internal production, following the
female. As an instance of remarkable careful selection, and
thus keeping a breed of sheep pure, nothing can surpass the
late Mr. Valentine Barford's flock. Here, for nearly fifty years,
lie never bought a ram, but selected the best of the best every
year, and produced a flock whicli for evenness of character and
perfection of shape has, perhaps, never been surpassed.
Another eminent example of this practice was the late Mr.
Jonas Webb with his Southdowns. Darwin mentions tlie case
of the Ancon sheep as a very curious instance. He says they
were first reared in Massacliusetts, a ram having been acci-
dentally born with short crooked legs and a long back. It
was soon multiplied, and raised into a new stock, known by
the name of the " Ancon breed." We tlierefore see from the
number of facts which have been produced that the proposition
I first laid down, that the male cliiefly exercises tlie external
and the female the internal organization, is in the main
correct. If I choose to carry on this paper farther I should
tire your patience, and could say no more than I have already
said. We have seen how the principal acts with the horse
and the ass, in horned stock, witli sheep and pigs, and also in
numberless cases of poultry. 1 admit there are many weak
points in my armour, and which will probably be found out by
the practical and scientific men I see around me. But let us
see if we cannot apply these facts, and try and form principles
to guide us in our attempts to improve the live stock of
this country. In our horses let us look well to the stallion —
that he has good carriage, fine action, speed, and good colour ;
that our mares have strong constitution, free from all consti-
tutional blemishes, strong in wind, and great power of
endurance — above all, good tempers. With our sheep — that
our tups shall have stronglirabs, thick scrags, broad loins, good
length, and good heads and ears. That the ewes have good
fleeces, whichever we go in for ( Long, Short, or Lustre wool) ;
broad chests, showing strong internal structure, good milking
qualities, and disinclination to roam about in our southern
districts, and good foraging powers on hill and mountain sides.
That our boars should be powerful, with good hair, and plenty
of it ; short headed, and good loins ; bodies straight and long,
with short legs, and fine bone. Our sows quiet, feminine look-
ing, great motherly instinct, great fecundity, with full milking
powers, and great aptitude to fatten. That our bulls should
be of uoble bearing, with grand masculine heads; fine crests, well
covered with good hair ; fine carriage, strong hind legs, good
girth, well sprung ribs, and strong loins. The cows quiet,
lazy, good-tempered creatures, with deep bosoms, great milkers
(the most essential of all), lovely sweet heads^well expressed
as Knightley. These would be general characteristics, but we
must be careful of external associations. I feel sure that a
herd of valuable Shorthorns ought never to have a Polled
Scot, an Alderney, or any but their own breed with them, and
if we are to believe the statements we have heard, even the
external surroundings must be attended to. Mr. McCorabie,
I am assured, has all Jiis buildings, his gates, gateways, and
everything about his farm black, so that no imagination shall
disturb his black Polled Scots. I have heard that a certain
lady, of well-deserved and well-known Shorthorn fame, had
wondered at the preponderance of white calves which was
bred in her establishment, and that the roans year
by year were getting lighter ; and it was suggested

that her annual practice of li-ne and white-washing
her buildings should be discontinued. She did so, and very
soon her ladyship's cows had fewer white calves, and
the roans got darker. Whether it be imagination or not
I will not pretend to say ; but I state the facts, and out of
them perhaps the principles may be determined. We have
also seen how " prepotent" some animals are over others, and
I am almost inclined to think with Mr. Storer that oftentimes
the female, when very vigorous, is prepotent over the male
even in externals ; but this has been probably inherited in
former generations from the male. I have studiously avoided
alluding to the human race ; but I cannot forbear mentioning
as an illustration the well-known fact that the long upper lip
of the imperial house of Austria was said to have been in-
herited from the marriage of the Emperor Maximilian with
Mary of Burgundy ; and in a well-known ducal house of this
country the prominent, finely arched nose has been inherited
for several centuries both through the male and the female
lines. There is one other circumstance that ought to receive
consideration — that is, the influence of food and climate in
modifying species. The Rev. Mr. Titcombe, in the re-
ports of the Victoria Institute, says, in speaking of the origin
of the negro that "the action of food and climate exercises
great influence in modifying size, colour, and even structure.
In food it is well known, that hemp-seed given to birds of the
finch tribe, will turn them black. Bich and plentiful food,
when given to young swine, directly tends to make their heads
broader and shorter, whereas poor food works a contrary re-
sult ; horses fed on fat marshy grounds, grow to a large size ;
while on strong soils or dry heatbs, they remain small." And
I therefore think if a man leaves the district to which he has
been accustomed, and takes a farm in another county, he
should fully study the class of animals bred in that district,
before he brings away with liim his own pre-conceived ideas.
Generally speaking, the breeds which have become indigenous
to a district are generally tlie most suitable. There are, of
course, some notable exceptions. I believe the Shorthorns
will adapt themselves to every part of the three kingdoms, and
have proved themselves capable of living in almost every
climate in the world. The Berkshire pig too seems to thrive
anywhere. The Leicester sheep fails in many localities ; and
the Sussex Downs in many districts of England are compara-
tive failures, and I believe the Suffolk horses flourish nowhere
but in the Eastern Counties. There are also many parts of
England where the Dorking fowl cannot be reared to advan-
tage, and there is no doubt that the early maturity and delicacy
of colour of the Aylesbury duck rapidly deteriorates wlren
removed from the neighbourhood of Aylesbury. My subject
has such a tendency to branch off into so many liues, that I
must bring my remarks speedily to a close. But do not let it
be imagined that I have here shown how easily breeding a
good class of animals is. Successful breeding requires the
greatest possible care, skill, and attention, and to obtain
marked success, every minutia; must be attended to. Darwiu
says, p. 3, Vol. 11 : " Some writers, who have not attended to
natural history, have attempted to show that the force of
inheritance has been much exaggerated. The breeders of
animals would smile at such simplicity ; and if they con-
descend to make any answer, might ask what would be the
chance of winning a prize if two inferior animals were paired
together ? They might ask whether the half wild Arabs,
were led by theoretical notions to keep pedigrees of
their horses. Why have pedigrees been scrupulously
kept and published of blood-horses, of Shorthoru cattle, and
more recently of the Hereford breed? Is it an illusion that
these recently improved animals safely transmitted their ex-
cellent qualities even when crossed with other breeds ? have
the Shorthorns without good reason been purchased at im-
mense prices, and exported to every quarter of the world, a
thousand guineas having been given for a bull ? With
greyhounds, pedigrees have been kept for generations ;
and the names of such | dogs as Snowball, Major, &c.,
are as well known to coursers as those of Eclipse or Herod
on the turf. Even with the game cock pedigrees of famous
strains were formerly kept, and extended back for a century.
With pigs, the Yorkshire and Cumberland breeders prepare
and print pedigrees ; and to show how such highly-bred ani-
mals are valued, I may mention that Mr. Brown, who won all
the first prizes for small breeds at Birmingham in 1850— sold
a young sow and boar of his breed to Lord Ducie, for 43

B

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guineas ; the sow alone was afterwards sold to the Rev. F.
Thursby for 65 guineas ; who writes, ' she paid me very well,
having sold her produce for £300, and showing now four
breeding sows from her." Hard cash paid down over and
over again is an excellent test of inherited superiority.
In fact the whole science and art of breeding, from which
such great results have been attained duriug the present
century, depends on the inheritance of each little detail of
structure. But inheritance is not certain, for if it were, the
breeder's art would be reduced to a certainty, and there would
be no scope left for all that skill and persevcrence shown
by the men who have left an enduring monument of their suc-
cess iu the present state of our domesticated animals."
Before I conclude I must say one word as to crossing. I have
always observed a tendency to revert to one or both parents,
which is very strong, and endures for many generations. In
" Youatt on the Pig," Mr. Lindsay states that in a litter of
Essex pigs two young ones appeared which were the image of
the Berkshire boar that had been' used twenty-eight years be-
fore in giving size and constitution to the breed ; and Mr.
Darwin also says that he observed, in a farm-yard at Betley
HaU, some fowls showing a strong likeness to the Malay
breed, and was told by Mr. Toilet that he had forty years before
crossed his birds with Malays, and that he had often tried to
get rid of this strain, but gave it up in despair, as the Malay
character would reappear. I liave now tired myself, and per-
haps exhausted your patience, and trust that these disjointed
opinions may open up an enlarged view of the subject, and
that in the next two or three years some more able writer will
be enabled to lay before the country a statement of results
showing that this paper has not been ^Titten in vain, and that
the discussion of this evening may stimulate the farmers of
England, and the nobility and gentry who are amongst our
most distinguished leaders in this most seductive art, to make
experiments, for enlarged exertions to provide food for our
ever increasing population ; and whilst I have given you the
opinions of many of our leading farmers on this subject, and
see around me so many of them distinguished by their zeal
and success in the cause, let us not forget that not only we,
but many of the highest in the land, are our competitors, and
from the liberal, yet judicious and useful way in which they
spend their money for breeding purposes, we may one and all
congratulate ourselves that they are fully alive to the im-
portance of this subject,

Mr. G. Smvtuies (Marlow Lodge, Leintwardine) said
Mr. Powler in his admirable paper, speaking of the kind of
animals which they should breed, had said more about form
than anything else. As a breeder, he wished to sayawoid
in favour of quality. AVhat he meant by quality was an animal
that would live in good condition on poor land, and lay on a
large amount of flesh in proportion to its frame. He ceuld
easily believe that that would not be likely to enter into Mr.
Fowler's head. On that gentleman's land quality seemed to be
of no great importance, for he told them that the ducks which he
producedgotsmallwhentheywent anywhere else (laughter). He
(Mr. Smythies) came from a district where the grass was of
middling quality, and unless they had animals of the class to
which he alluded they could not breed at a profit. Let him
illustrate what he meant by referring to last year's Smithfield
Show. He did not say one word in disparagement of
Shorthorns, when he expressed his belief that Herefords
would live on poorer land than Shorthorns, that they did not
ordinarily require as good grass, and could live on inferior
laud. There were three classes of bullocks exhibited ; there
were three prizes in each class ; there were altogether
nine animals that obtained prizes. Well, the nine prize
animals among the Shorthorns did not weigh as much as
the nine prize ones among the Herefords, and he said that was
due to difference of quality. Although the Herefords would
live on poor land they laid ou a vast amount of flesh. The
case was similar with regard to sheep. If there were any
proud Salopians there who despised the crossing of their sheep
with Southdowns, he would refer them to the magnificent
pen of Lord Walsingham, which, though of smaU frame and
capable of living on poor land, were heavier than any pen of
Shropshires of the same age. He hoped his friends from
Shropshire would bear that fact in mind. He knew there
were many excellent breeders in Shropshire who did not admit
that crossing with Southdowns was at all beneficial. He eon-
tended, however, that it would give quality, which was what

was wanted. He would impress upon every breeder that they
must not depend altogether on frame, but must look to tliat
quality which would lay on a great amount of flesh with a
comparatively small amount of frame (Hear, hear).

Mr. B. E. Ward (Drayton, Rockingham) said, although
he was very much pleased with Mr. Fowler's paper as a whole,
he could not at all concur in what he said about Leicestershire
horses ; and he could hardly conceive where he got his in-
formation. When he stated that he had bred ho>-ses and sold
ten yearhngs for £37 each, they must, he thought, feel that the
thing could not be very unsatisfactory. Neither were they very
unsuccessful as regarded sheep. As regarded the crossing of
sheep every one must be aware that the second and tliird
crossings were of no use at all : it was only the first crossing
that was advantageous. On the whole he thought Leicester-
shire was not very badly represented either as regarded iiorses
or sheep.

Mr. J. Howard, M.P., said, seeing many distinguished
breeders in that room, he felt that any observations wliich he
might offer would have little weight compared with the ex-
pression of their opinions, he had not intended to speak ; but
as those gentlemen seemed reluctant to rise, he would make one
or two remarks ; he was quite sure that they all felt much in-
debted to Mr. Fowler for the pains which he had taken to
bring before them in so suitable a manner a subject of such great
importance, not only to the farmers of England, but also to the
consuming public. If Mr. Fowler had not that evening enun-
ciated any very new principle, his paper would be instrumental
in diffusing information which was possessed by the few
among the many (Hear, hear). The principles of breeding
had been well known for many years to some distiuguished
breeders ; but if they had been more generally diffused, and
were more widely known, the many ill-shaped under-bred
animals that met their eyes in almost every county of England
would never have seen daylight (Hear, hear). Mr. Fowler
commenced his paper by laying down the proposition that the
male animal ruled the external organization, and that the
internal organization came from the female. It was many
years now since he first brought uiider Mr. Fowler's observation
that principle ; since then he (Mr. Howard) had narrowly ob-
served in every part of the world he had visited the effect of
that principle. In horses, in sheep, and in poultry, he had
constantly found that the external organization came mainly
from the male animal. To begin with horses, he had
invariably noticed that in the breeding of both cart
horses and blood horses the form took almost exclusively
after the male. There were two well-known blood horses,
especially known in the district to which Mr. Fowler
belonged — Grandboro' andWingrave, both sons of King Tom.
He sent to Grandboro' a well-bred hunting mare, which was
" highly commended" at the Royal Show, at Bury ; he had a
right to expect in the progeny a blood-looking horse; but, con-
trary to his expectations, the produce turned out a coarse-bred
looking animal, although a good one. The next year the mare
went to Wingrave; this foal looked like a thorouh-bred, and
at four years old was sold to a dealer for 200 guineas. These
different results are to be accounted for, my Grandboro' being
a thick under- bred-looking horse whilst his half-brother Win-
grave is a most blood-lookiug one. Then, again, he had found
that the feet came from the horse, and did not follow the mare.
Having a mare which had flat feet, he had it put to a horse
which had good feet, and the result was that her three foals
had good feet. He mentioned this further to corroborate Mr.
Fowler's proposition that the external organization came from
the male. He had had, as most present were aware, consider-
able experience in the breeding of pigs, and with them also
the same principle held good. With regard to colour, he be-
lieved that the male had generally much more to do with fix-
ing the colour of the progeny than the female. Some years
ago he went to see the Duke of Bedford's farm, managed at
that time by Mr. Baker, whom he saw present ; he had a
herd of black pigs, upon which a white boar was used, and it
was a remarkable fact that the young pigs all came white.
Some years ago he (Mr. J. Howard) crossed a Berkshire sow
with one of his white boars. The result was that the
offspring all came white, and it was not till about the sixth
generation that there was any deviation from that rule, when
black spots appeared. During the last year, while residing for
a time at Brighton, he went to visit Mr. Dumbrell, a well
known member of that club, who had a very fine herd of

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

Alderney cows. On that occasion he saw a red Sussex bull
amoug the herd, aud on his noticing the fact, Mr. Duinbrell ob-
served that the calves all came red. He never had an ex-
ception. The Alderney was unmistakeably a breed purer, and
with a longer pedigree tluin the Sussex, yet this did not suffice
to counteract the influence of the male as to colour. With
respect to poultry, he could conflrin, from his own experience
in crossing, Mr. Fowler's statement that the female ruled the
colour of the egg laid by the progeny. Mr. M'Combie, M.P.
for Aberdeenshire, whose high reputation as a breeder of
polled cattle was well known to every one, had told him
that some years ago he had some red cattle near to his black
polled herd, and that his calves from them occasionally
came red ; that he removed the red cattle, and that from
that time a red calf was never dropped. He (Mr. J. Howard)
thought that if the observations of large breeders were col-
lected, farmers would be able to arrive at far more definite
rules than at present existed in reference to the breeding of
cattle, and breeding would not be so much a game of chance.
It was well known that like begets like ; but there were many
failures for want of adequate knowledge in mating, and,
in his opinion, if facts were collected and tabulated, that
would lead to the establishment of a sound theory, and to
great improvements in the practice of breeding.

Mr. T. CONGREVE (Peter Hall, Briuklow, Coventry) said
Mr. Eowler had occupied himself chiefly with " principles," but
he wished to make one or two observations on " facts." Al-
though the Royal Agricultural Society of England had existed
ever since 1838, and although it had held shows throughout
the length and breadth of the land, and had offered liberal
prizes to encourage the best breeds of animals, yet he was
sorry to say the fact remained — he was now speaking as a
grazier — that year by year it became more and more difficult
to buy a lot of good beasts to graze. He hoped that the dis-
cussion of tliat evening would lead to something like estab-
lished principles of breeding, so that the breeders might
be able to lay out their money on more profitable descriptions
of stock. Whether he desired to get Shorthorns, Uerefords,
Welsh runts, or any other kind of stock, he felt tlie difliculty
to be increasing every year, and that certainly seemed extro-
ordinary, considering the immense amount that was spent in
prizes, and the vast amount of discussion that had taken place.
Looking back to thirty years ago, he beUeved that graziers
were now in a worse position in that respect than they were
at that period. His friend Mr. Smythies, who was a Here-
fordshire man, would bear witli him for saying that the Here-
fords were getting Lighter, more gaudy, less deep in the thigh,
less flesliy than they used to be. What graziers wanted was an
animal that would carry some butcher's meat about it (laughter).

Mr. L. A. CoussMA.KER(Westwood,Guildford) said, although
he had not been a very large breeder, he was fully sensible
of the necessity of their all endeavouring to breed such ani-
mals as would answer the purpose best. There were diS'erent
rules and dilferent fashions, predisposing some people to one
breed and some to another ; but what they should all endea-
vour to arrive at was the breed of animals that, with good
quality, would be most likely to attain early maturity. They
would of course have gained a great point if they could secure
two-year-olds which would be as forward as inferior breeds
were at three years. Whatever the breed might be, it was
by trying to get the best quality ot animals that they were
most likely to attain their object.

Mr. J. Treadwell (Upper Winchendon, Aylesbury) be-
lieved that the reason why Mr. Congreve and other graziers
had increased difliculty in getting hold of good beasts to graze,
was, that many farmers liad discovered that it was most pro-
fitable to fatten well-bred animals themselves (Hear, hear).
He quite agreed with Mr. Fowler that like begets like. Some
years ago he had a common herd of cows ; at last he used a
good Shorthorn bull, and the first time lie did so the produce
was influenced by it in a more marked manner than the
second cross.

Mr. Mechi thought that increased and increasing deteriora-
tion of stock in this country was owing to false economy on
the part of farmers. He had seen cases iu which, rather than
pay an extra half-crown, a farmer had ruined the progeny of a
well-bred cow. But the mischief did not end there. The
calf was sold, and it was almost impossible to trace the
evil to the end. What it was necessary to infuse — and
he believed Mr. Fowler's paper would help to infuse

it — was a general belief in the agricultural mind, that
it was better to pay a little more at first than be saddled
with an inferior kind of animal (Hear, hear). He was a
believer in the influence of soil and climate upon race. They
all knew perfectly well how those influences operated in the
case of the human race. Parents who had families in India
were obliged to send them home lest they should dete-
riorate. He even believed in the influence of soil and
climate in this country. He recollected once having
thirty Lincolnshire farmers to dine with him, and every-
one of them was at least 6 feet 3 inches in heiglit (laugh-
ter). On the rich lands of Lincolnshire there were big horses,
big oxen, big men (laughter), everything, in short, was big;
and while he gave tiie Shorthorns credit for doing well in
many places, he contended, that a proper quantity and
quality of food must be administered to them. It was with
s.nimals generally as it was with the human race. It was a
common saying, •' Like father like son." If there happened
to be a deformity in the father it would sometimes be found in
his boys; and, on the other hand, he had known cases in
which the children had not the slightest resemblance to the
father, the mother having a strongly developed and marked
character. He believed that it was quite imposible to take an
animal from rich land and place him on poor land without his
deteriorating in character.

Mr. H.M. Jenkins (Hanover-square) said there seemed to be
on the part of many breeders present a desire to trace out princi-
ples with regard to breeding, and Mr. Howard had suggested
as one means of accomplishing that object that facts should be
tabulated. He hoped that if any gentleman should have en-
thusiasm enough to begin to tabulate facts lie would take care
to ascertain what was the relative value of each fact. Mr.
Howard spoke of the influence of males, and Mr. Mechi had
just led up to the same point. He (Mr. Jenkins) wished to
throw out the suggestion that the prepotency of males, as natu-
ralists termed it, was explained to a great extent by the fact
that the weakly males were all castrated, and therefore only
the strongest aud most powerful males were used for the pur-
pose of breeding.

Mr. H. Tretiiewy (Silsoe, Ampthill) said many ingenious
theories had been raised with regard to breeding as well as on
other subjects ; but he questioned very much whether they
knew a great deal about it yet. It had been laid down by
many autliorities that the external organization came from the
male, and the temper and constitution generally from the fe-
male. That view might to some extent be correct, but he doubted
whether it was invariably so. How many of them, for instance,
had found mares which had been put to different horses having
foals more like themselves than like the sire? and it
was frequently found that diseases were propagated at least
as much by the mare as by the horse. If they all knew
really how to deal with such cases there would be no diffi-
culty in breeding ; but the thing seemed to him altogether a
mystery. He believed that in some classes of animals the male
had greater influence than in others. He thought that a
flock of sheep was more influenced by the ram than the breed
of horses was influenced by the stallion. Perhaps mares had
a greater influence in transmitting their own qualities to their
ottspring than any other female animals. Having had some
experience in the breeding of horses, cattle, and sheep, he had
observed that the sympathy of the mare was peculiarly great.
He well remembered a case in which a friend of his had an
Irish colt with peculiarly-marked white legs and white forehead,
and had also an old bay mare. The mare was sent to Bay Mid-
dleton ; the groom who took her rode the chesnut, and
the foal was as much like the chesnut as possible. That
was a strong illustration of the sympathy of mares. Ani-
mals frequently " sported" in breedin ^ ; that is, they went
on very well for two or three generati. ^.sand then changed
their character. Thirty or forty years ago his father bous-ht a
very good sheep in Devonshire ; but as it had a black foot it
was blown upon, but his father had a good opinion of it. The
black foot never appeared, however, till about twenty years
after. He agreed with a preceding speaker that many farmers
were a great deal too indifferent about the kind of animal
which they used for breeding purposes. Wliether it were a
horse or a mare, a bull or a cow, they were too much influenced
by the consideration of cost, forgetting the consideration of the
character of the produce ; and in his opinion that was an evil
which was greatly to be deplored.

g

THE FABMER'S MAGAZINE.

Mr. INJ^ILU (Worsley, Manchester) thought they were very
touch iudebted to Mr. I'owler for his excellent remarks on the
principles of breeding. As to the influence of the female, they
all remembered what was said in the Bible about Jacob (Hear,
liear). lu his own experience of dairy stock he had learnt
that if tliey wished to have a good dairy the grand point was
to get a cow wliicli was produced by a bull that had a good
milking motlier. As regarded the complaint which had been
juade that evening of the difficulty of buying grazing stock, it
seemed to him to arise from the fact that farmers were getting
rather more wisdom on that point than they once had, and
liked to sell their stock mature on the fat.

Mr. W. Harper (Bury, Lancashire) said he could not help
expressing his regret that no one had alluded in that discussion
to the great name of Bakewell while speaking of breeding.
It was asserted that Mr. Bakewell, who made up his
Leicester sheep from a variety of sources, introduced a
black ram of very superior quality, which he bought at Ash-
bourne market, in Derbyshire, and on that account it w as said
that the breed occasionally threw a black lamb.

Mr. E. Tattersall said it would be presumptuous in
him to enter into a discussion on the breeding of cattle in
the presence of so many eminent l)reeders, but as the man who
made two blades of grass grow where only one grew before did
good to his country, so did he who made two bullocks grow
instead of one, or one of better quality. From some of the
speeches a stranger who had come there might have
been led to suppose that the agriculturists of the present
day knew scarcely anything about breeding (Hear, hear)
— that tliey had in that respect almost gone back to
the dark ages, when the science of breeding was unknown.
He had, in his ignorance and simplicity, fancied that
this was a great breeding country, and that farmers
knew something about the matter ; but it now ap-
peared that they were all going the wrong way. He
thought, however, that he knew some facts which tended to
the opposite conclusion. He happened to live on an estate
belonging to Capt. Gunter, and he believed that in the last
year that gentleman actually sold two Shorthorns for 2,500
guineas. But that was not all. Lord Dunmore, being
anxious to secure and perpetuate the breed, sent to America
and gave 2,500gs. for their two calves, and brought them back
to England. This did not look like our breed deteriorating in
value, taking £ s. d. as the test (Hear, hear). His (Mr. Tat-
tersall's) grandfather was a great breeder of Southdown slieep ;
at seven or eight years of age he had often to go among the
sheep pens, and he must say that he had not lately noticed
that deterioration of breed which some gentlemen seemed to
have found; on the contrary he thought they were advancing,
though not, perhaps, quite as rapidly as they might do. It
was most important that all those who were engaged in breed-
ing should regard it as a science, which it certainly was. The
whole science depended, Mr. Fowler had well pointed out, on the
constant seeking out of good qualities in the male and female.
The sympathies of the dam had been well understood from the
time of Jacob down to the present day. There was nothing
new under the sun, and Jacob knew as much on that point as
any of them. He concurred, however, in the opinion that it
would be a great advantage if the chief facts connected
with breeding were collected and tabulated. He thought the
breeding of cattle was, on the whole, being carried on very
satisfactorily by the farmers of England, their attention being
naturally directed to the production of meat. With regard to
horses. Mr. Howard liad raised a question of very great inte-
rest. Whether the iulluencc of the father or that of the mother,
were the greatest in the case of a thorough-bred horse he (Mr.
Tattersall) was unable to say, but there were many cases in
which he knew at once that yearlings were by certain sires.
Mr. Howard mentioned a case in which a mare of his was
sent to Grandborough and then to Wiugrave, and both
those animals being sons of King Tom, in the one case the
result was a coarse animal, and in the other a very fine one.
That might be explained in this way ; King Tom was the son
of Pocahontas by Glencoe, a powerful animal which never won
a race, but bred Stockwell, Rataplan, and lastly King Tom.
Pocahontas was a large big-boned mare, which looked mucii
more like a hunter than a race-horse, and impressed her
qualities on her progeny. Grandborough might throw back
more to Harkaway, the sire of King Tom. The influence of
sex had shown itself in different ways, through the medium of

the two horses. In Ihe breeding of cattle and sheep the qualifi-
cations requisite for the attainment of the end in view might
not be s\ icli as would secure a good race-horse. No one could
tell by looking at a foal what would be the result, llis expe-
rience with regard to race-horses showed that if they once
chanced to get a really good mare care should be taken to
continue the stock. Most great studs had arisen from one
mare. General Peel's stud came from Vttlture ; Sir Joseph
Hawley's stud, which was equally celebrated, came from Men-
dicant, winner of the Oaks, the dam of Beadsman, the sire of
Bluegown and llosicrucian. Mr. I'Auson had the good luck
to buy in Scotland a mare named Queen Mary, from whom
were descended Blink Bonny, and her son Blair Athol by
Stockwell. Colonel Pearson's stud was descended from
Paradigm — a moderate mare, but the dam of Lord Lyon and
Achievement. Whether the influence of the sire or of the
female had the greatest elTect in the ease of racing studs it
was difficult to say. All such questions, wliich were questions
of great moment, could only be worked out by scientific heads
like those which he saw before him, and he thought the Club
was greatly indebted to Mr. Fowler for having introduced a
question which was of so much importance to agriculturists,
more especially as tliey were certain that corn might be cheap,
but meat never again in England.

Mr. Trask (Orcheston, Devizes) said lie merely wished to
mention two facts that had come under his own observation.
Mr. Fowler had said that where a white boar had served only
white sows, the produce were invariably white ; but after the
same boar had served coloured sows, he got coloured pigs from
the same white sows that before had only white pigs. He
did not think this principle would apply in the case of
sheep, although Mr. Fowler said it did with his white ducks.
It was usual to put a Down ram with horn sale ewes, and he
had put a Leicester ram with horn ewes, but those ewes would
produce as pure lioru lambs as ever, when again put to a horn
ram. With regard to the point alluded to by Mr. Howard,
that the feet of a foal always turned after a stallion. A neigh-
bour of his put a cart mare, that had ringbones, to horse, and
the result was that the foal also had ringbones, showing that
it turned after the mother, and not the father in that case.

Mr. Thornton (Langham Place) said there was one point
connected with in-and-in breeding which Mr. Fowler some-
what overlooked, having special reference to Shorthorns.
There were at the present time four fashionable tribes of cattle
which command the highest prices, and these tribes, especially
the two most in demand (Bates and Booth), were singularly
closely bred. The most successful lines were those in which
one animal was the sire of the sire and of the dam also — that
is to say, half brother and sister by the same sire out of
different dams. This system of breeding had produced some
of the finest cattle iu the country, and he believed had also
been successfully tried in some cases with race horses. Where
cattle were closely in-bred and preserved their constitutions, they
had a tendency to lose colour, save perhaps in the ears, and to
become white. The wild cattle of Chillinghara were white.
As another instance in pure bred Shorthorns, the bull Earl of
Dubhn, to which Mr. Fowler had alluded, was white, and ex-
tremely closely bred from tlie Princess blood. Seventh Duke
of York, the last purely bred bull of the Duchess tribe, was
white, and Eighth Duke of York, the bull nearest approaching
Seventh Duke of Y'ork iu pedigree, was white also. Many of
Mr. Booth's cattle were white ; Windsor, to wit, and Com-
mander-in-Chief, a comparatively light roan bull, has begotten
several white calves. In seeking pedigree bulls, quality was
too often overlooked, and it was owing to that cause and the
insufficient number of animals bred in the country, that it was
so difficult to find good graziers.

Mr. John Thomas (Bletsoe, Beds) said as regarded horses
he was a believer in Shropshire breeds. Forty years ago there
was a good breed of useful haekuies : now the race of hack-
nies was almost extinct. That was a class of horses which he
should like to see rising up again in this country, but he knew
there was great difficulty in securing that object. At the
period to which he had alluded the Shropshire farmers had a
very good race of mares; but unfortunately they sold their
good mares and afterwards bred from weeds, and the result
was that the breed of horses was reduced to a very low con-
dition indeed. His own experience — and he had been a breeder
of horses for some years — had led him to the conclusion that
a vast deal depended on the female. No man of common

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

sense who had a good marc would put it to a bad house ; but
after all the result depended iu a very great degree on the
mare. That principle was distinctly laid down by the late Mr.
W. Youatt, who had beeu regarded as a great authority on that
subject. He was inclined to think that without good marsh
land for horses to feed upon it was impossible to secure
animals of a large size and good quality. Where the land
was poor it was vain to expect to rear horses of the same
dimensions and quality as those which were produced in Lin-
colnshire, Ireland, and other parts which were known to be
adapted for first-class hunters and other classes of animals
(Hear, hear).

The Chairman said the time had now arrived when it was
necessary to bring that discussion to a close. He was sure
that all felt very much obliged to Mr. Fowler for the paper
which he had read. To him it appeared a very satisfactory
arrangement that the Club did not pass any resolution or
formally arrive at any definite conclusion on the various ques-
tions which were discussed ; for many of the papers which
were read and of the discussions w hicli followed the reading
acquired increased value when they were read and thought
over at home. He attached great importance to the consi-
deration of that subject.

Mr. Badiiam, with the permission of the chairman, said,
in opposition to the opiuion of Mr, Eovvler, as to Suffolk horses
not flourishing anywhere except in the eastern counties, that
Americans had lately offered 300 guineas for a two-year-old colt.

Mr. Fowler in reply said he thought the discussion had
tended to show that the principles which he had laid down
with regard to breeding were iu the main sound. Mr.
Smythies was quite mistaken if he supposed that he did not
attach great importance to quality. He held in his hand a
letter which he had received from a gentleman who was well
known in that Club — Mr. Clare Sewell Read. That gentle-
man, after expressing his regret that an attack of bronchitis
would prevent him from being present on that occasion, said :

"I hope you will drive into your hearers the fact that the
more ordinary the dam the greater the necessity for a loiig-
pcdiijreed sire, and 1 know of no better illustration than the
Irish cattle, which iu twenty years, from the use al rjood Short-
horn bulls, have been transformed from lean, hard, hungry
brutes into capital grazing oxen." He (Mr. Fowler) thought
that contained as good a condensed description of the best
breeds of oxen in the present day as he had ever met with. He
thought they must all concur in Mr. Mechi's remark with re-
gard to the false economy often practised in the use of male
animals. In his neighbourhood a large numlier of females
were put to bulls of an inferior description, and the progeny
sold as calves ; and when such was the case it was no wonder that
so many mongrels were turned into the fields. The evil was
so great that he almost thought a Royal Commission should
be issued to investigate the matter, and for his own part he
would in every parish have every brute castrated that was not
fit to produce a good race of animals. In the Ba'ily Telegraph
there appeared the following : " One of our best agricultural
writers tells us that modern history has been much too sparing
of its prose pictures of pastoral life. A great general or
statesman has never lacked a biographer ; but the thoughts
and labours of men who silently build up an improved race
of sheep or cattle, of which the influence is felt in every market,
have for the most part no adequate record. It cannot be
otherwise than advantageous to a country so thickly settled as
these islands, that our noblemen and gentlemen of wealth and
leisure should bestow money and brains in abundance in the
creation of beef." It was well remarked by Mr. Grant Duff —
not the present possessor of that name, but his father or grand
father — that a good beast was a good beast, however it may
have come, but it was to pedigrees alone that you could insure
succession.

On the motion of Mr. Mechi thanks were voted to Mr.
Fowler for his paper, and a similar acknowledgment was made
to the chairman.

THE SCOTTISH CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE
LAND TENURE AND THE LAND LAWS.

At a general meeting in Edinburgli, the president, Mr.
Smith, West Drums, Forfarshire, was in the chair.

The Secretary stated that a letter of apology for un-
avoidable absence had been received from Mr. Dingwall
Fordyce, M.P., who wrote " It would be a great boon to Aber-
deenshire if the law of entail were abolished, and if occupiers
had the same compensation for disturbance in the occupation
of their holdings and the same facilities for purchasing their
farms as were given in the Irish Land Bill."

The CiiAiRJiAN, after introducing Mr. Caird, said — I would
remind tiiis meeting that from time to time portions of this
subject have come up for consideration in the Chamber, and
that certain resolutions have been passed in regard to these ;
but I expect that the present discussion will be of a more com-
prehensive and exhaustive character than any we have hitherto
had on the subject, and that with the view chiefly of bringing
the whole matter to the test of the great public opinion of
this country. I trust, however, that it will be gone into in a
spirit ot freeness and fairness, candidly consideriug and keep-
ing in view the great interests which are involved on all sides.
He commended it to their consideration, believing that it would
be so treated.

Mr. M'Neel Caird (Stranraer) then rose and said — I have
willingly accepted the invitation of this Chamber to introduce
for consideration the municipal laws which regulate the rela-
tion of landlords and tenant-farmers in Scotland. I do so iu
u spirit of perfect friendliness to both landlords and tenants,
appealing to tenants to state their grievances in temperate
language ; appealing to landlords to examine them them with-
out prejudice; appealing, finally, to public opinion to hold the
balance even between them should they be unable to agree.
The first point to which I shall ask attention is that, apart
from stipulation, and by mere force and presumption of law,
an ordinary farm lease cannot be effectually transferred by the
tenant unless he can obtain the landlord's consent. The lease

is the tenant's property — very often, through his skill and ex-
penditure, a very valuable property. I stand here to claim for
the tenant one of the essential rights of property — the right
to dispose of it. Consider the case of a tenant-farmer who has
his means locked up in the land, and whose health or circum-
stances disable him to remain in the management, though he
may have many years of a valuable lease to run. What is the
worth of his valuable property then ? He cannot sell it — -he
cannot sublet it. But the rent is growing, tiie seasons for
cropping are running on. lie is unable to wait. He can do
nothing but cast himself on the mercy of the landlord. He is
constrained to renounce the lease, and the landlord enters to
his labours with such compensation, if any, as it is of his mere
pleasure to give. Is it a righteous law which puts the tenant-
fanner into that predicament ? Take the case of a child, a
few years old succeeding to his father's lease. Fortunate in-
deed will he be if he has friends possessed of the courage and
the ability and will to undertake the grave risk and responsi-
bility of farming for a minor during twelve, fifteen, or
eighteen years to come. For if they are not, his rights also
must be placed at the landlord's mercy. And then consider
what may be the position of the tenant-farmer on his death-
bed, with the bulk of his means invested in his farm. The law
does not permit him to regulate the succession to his own
lease. How is he to secure a home for his widow ? His eldest
son may be settled abroad, or have no knowledge of farming;
he may be a spendthrift or a drundard, but tlie unfortunate
father has by law no power to leave the lease to any other of
his children. That is not the case with other property. Tlie
full owner of house or land may leave it to anybody he likes.
Tiie eldest son there takes only if the owner does not settle
tlie property otherwise. Entails even are not .an example of the
contrary, tor eutails are not created by action of the law —
each has its foundation in the wiU and act of the absolute
owner. But in the case of the tenant-farmer, the law which

10

THE FARMER'S MAGAZmE.

forbids him to transfer the lease has been stretched to exchide
him from selecting his heir. Lord President Islay Campbell,
when he was outvoted on this question on the bench, indig-
nantly exclaimed " It is not common sense" for the landlord
to control the tenant's succession. I may venture to add it is
not common justice. But it may be said the landlord may
give effect, if he chooses, to the tenant's will cutting out the
eldest son. And no doubt he may, for this law is not founded,
like some otlier laws, on any tenderness for the claims of
eldest sons. It is a law expressly for the interest of the land-
lord ; which can be pleaded by nobody but the landlord, which
is, therefore, not available to the eldest son if the landlord
chooses to accept the heir named by the tenant. And here is
a climax to the intolerable wrong of this law. It puts both
the eldest son and the selected heir at the mercy of the land-
lord. It practically gives the landlord power to choose be-
tween them. He could, if he pleased, play the one brother off
against the other, and make any terms he liked. I willingly
believe that such an extreme abuse of power would by indig-
nantly reprobated by 999 out of every 1,000 landlords. But
the arbitrary power is there, ilt is the sword hung by a single
hair over the head of every tenant-farmer. That hair, to
which he has to trust for safety, is the mere will of a fallible,
and it may be capricious or offended man ; and without
suggestion of offence, I venture to say that arbitrary power
over other men's rights is a dangerous thing, and can never
exist ia the established law of any country without leading,
from time to time, to grievous wrongs and bitter resentments.
On the other hand, it would be unjust that the tenant should
have the power by disposing of the lease to escape from his
obligations to the landlord. I think it reasonable that in any
alteration of the law the original tenant should remain re-
sponsible to the landlord along with the tenant to whom he
transfers the lease. The legitimate interests of the landlord
cannot suffer any real injury by a transaction whose lej^al basis
would be that be should have a new man bound to him along
with, and in addition to, his original tenant. It may seem
strange that the law should thus proliibit a tenant from trans-
ferring his lease, for this prohibition is the offspring of the
common law, and the genius of the common law is generally
hostile to restraints on the transfer of property. Entails are the
work of statute overruling the common law. The truth is,
that the courts of law had begun in very early times by set-
tling certain principles which they thought applicable to agri-
cultural tenancies in the state of things which then existed,
and when courts of law have established the principles which
are to guide them, they go on to carry out these principles as
established, without much right to consider their policy, or the
changes which time may make on the nature of industries.
Lord Karnes was a very ingenious lawyer, and directed his at-
tention to the explanation from history of peculiar phases of
law. His historical theory of the relation between landlord
and tenant will perhaps amuse you, and if accepted may help
o explain how the law has come into the present state. He
says: "Lands originally were occupied by bondmen, whowerethe
property of the landlord, and consequently were not capable to
hold any property of their own ; but such persons, who had no
interest to be industrious, and who were under no compulsion
when not under the eye of their master, vv'ere generally lazy,
and always careless. This made it eligible to have a free man
to manage the farm, who probably at first got some acres set
apart to him for his maintenance and wages. But this not
being a sufficient spur to industry, it was found a salutary
measure to assume this man as a partner by communicating to
him a portion of the product in place of wages, by
which he came to manage for his own interest as well as that
of his master. The next step had still a better effect, entitling
the master to a yearly quantity certain, and the overplus to
remain with the servaat. By this contract the benefit of the
servant's industry accresced wholly to himself, and his indo-
dence or ignorance hurt himself alone. One farther step was
necessary (and you must remember that this was written in
in last century) to bring this contract to its due perfection,
which is, to give the servant a lease for years, without which
he is not secure that his industry will turn to his own profit.
By a contract in these terms he acquired the name of tenant,
because he was entitled to hold the possession for years
certain." It is legally certain that up to the fifteenth
century such was the degraded condition of agricul-
tural tenants, described in the statutes of that period

as the "poor people that labours the ground," that they were
then liable to have their goods sold for their landlords' debts
whether their rent was paid or not, and they were also liable
to be turned at once out of their farms by a purchaser of the
lands, though their leases were unexpired. Now, in the days
when tenants were of anything approaching to that class, it is
no great wonder if rules were established by the courts of law
which placed their rights on a corresponding footing. And it
is one of tlie conditions of judge-made law that when the courts
get into a wrong groove they can hardly get out of it. Ques-
tions of policy are for the Legislature ; and the time is at
hand when the policy and justice of these laws must be re-
viewed by Parliament. In a country torn with intestine feuds,
and when the landlords' retainers were expected to follow him
to the field of battle, the risk of introducing an enemy into his
band of followers led to restrictions on the transfer of leases
which are wholly unsuitable now, and ought to be abolished.
There was a case nearly analogous, and Parliament interfered
very effectively with regard to it. Feus had the same origin
with leases, and had at first much the same character. The
feu was just a perpetual lease in which land was given out for
a stipulated rent or return. The feuar in all our statutes is
termed the tenant, and the feu-duty was in most cases the real
rent of the land at the time. One of our best lawyers says,
"a tack of long endurance to the tenant and his heirs is simply
an heritable right, and to be considered as a feu- right." Now
ic was a common condition in feu-rignts, till near the middle of
the last century, that the feu should not be transferred without
the superior's consent. This was found to be so impolitic and
mischievous that an Act was passed by Parliament abolishing
such conditions and making them illegal. But even after
that, the courts of law went on to bind more closely on the
neck of the tenant-farmer the rules by which (even irrespective
of covenant) he was excluded from transferring his lease. I
don't think it too much to expect that Parliament shall now
do at last for the tenant-farmer what it did more than a hun-
dred years ago for the village feuar. I intend to be very brief
in regard to the law of agricultural hypothec, for it has been
amply discussed, and has already been condemned by this
Chamber. In words which I have used elsewhere, " it keeps
the tenant under a perpetual mortgage even before the rent is
due. It touches his credit, and hampers him in dealing with
his stock and crop, and if misfortune overtakes him it operates
most unjustly against his ordinary creditors." I think pro-
prietors are considerably misled by this law. In the long run
a proprietor cannot by any means whatever extract from the
land more than it is worth. A particular proprietor may get
more than his just share now and then, but taking it over a
long term of years these things are sure to adjust themselves.
If a landlord gets a tenant to promise him too much rent, the
retribution will come in a year or two, and he may have to
content himself with too little. The man will exhaust the
farm and be turned out, the farm will get a bad name in
the country, and good tenants will be shy of taking it.
And I adopt and endorse the opinion which has been well
expressed by my brother : " What we do object to is that the
law should give inducements and advantages to landlords to
enable them without risk to encourage men of straw to com-
pete for farms, men whom under a different state of the law
they would not accept as possible tenants. My only interest
now in Scotland (he adds) is as a proprietor. But I feel very
strongly that the present arrangement of the law places the
tenant at an unfair disa vantage in making his contract, and
while its removal would be just to tenants it would not take
from the landlords anything they are entitled to, or that on the
average in the course of years they could actually realise. For
when a man without means gets a farm at a rent which in the
end he cannot pay, his failure has a very bad effect on the
landlord's interest, and the consequent loss is often far greater
than the temporary gain." It is a public and may become a
political misfortune, that the fears and prejudices of English
landlords should have been invoked in Parliament to obstruct
the settlement of a Scottish question upon which the prevalent
voice of opinion in Scotland has been pronounced. It is al-
ways mischievous — its tendencies and results are the reverse
of Conservative — to show to the people that legislation can be
controlled by class influences or votes. But it would be all the
worse — and I shall be slow to believe it — if any of the land-
lords of Scotland were systematically to cast themselves on the
help of English landlords in the attempt to control or ob-

THE FARMER'S MAQAZINE.

11

struct the municipal legislation of Scotland, I now
come to the great question of tenants' improvements.
When a man's lease is approaching its termination, every ton
of purchased manure that he puts into tlie land is a premium
to somebody else to offer a higher rent for his farm. Common
prudence compels him to hold his hand, and to take out of the
farm as mucli as he can get on a reduced expenditure, and the
productive power of the farm is thus diminished at the end of
the lease. This is a source of great national loss. It is hurt-
ful also to the landlord, and hurtful to the incoming tenant,
who incurs a heavy expenditure at the beginning of his lease
to restore the fertility of tlie farm. The reduced production
by whicli lie suffers, and by wliich the landlord also suffers
tlirough him, commonly continues till he has at least gone
over a full course of cropping. Neither is it for the advan-
tage of the outgoing tenant, if he were protected against the loss
of his uuexliausted manures and tillages. The true interest of
all concerned is that he should have a right, by law, to liave
their value ascertained and allowed to hiiu on his removfi.
You might then expect that farms in general would be kept in
full fertility till the end of the lease, and the whole country
would benefit by it. Reflect for a moment on the amount of
wealth which is lost to the country through the want of rea-
sonable arrangements on this subject. Have we any means of
roughly estimatiug it ? On a seven course larra held on a
nineteen years' lease you may reckon that the last five years
will be a period of reduced expenditure by the outgoing tenant
and of exJiaustive cropping. Tlieu the first seven years of the
new lease will be a period of liberal expenditure and gradual
restoration of productive power. In the next seven years you
may expect the farnr to be in full fertility ; and then begius
again the evil cycle of exhaustion. Ion will have on the in-
dividual farm seven years of Egyptian fatness alternating with
periods of comparative leanness ; but the lean years will be in
the proportion of twelve to seven. Where there are no leases
and no compensations on removal — ^judging by the motives by
which men are commonly infiuenced — the leanness will be apt
to become chronic, unless in exceptional cases, or where the
character of the landlord gives a tenant all the security which
he could liave from a lease. Then- consider that this kind of
thing is iu constant action all over the country. And when
you remember the enormous value of agricultural produce in
Great Britain, even as things are, you may form some concep-
tion of the untold millions of wealth which might be poured
into tlie coffers of the country througli the pockets of farmers,
if by wise legislation on the subject, based on the motives by
wliich men are acted on, you could sustain the land in full fer-
tility during the whole nineteen years of a lease, instead of
seven out of nineteen. I need hardly suggest that when the
value of all that additional produce fiuds its way into the ten-
ant's pocket, it is according to all experience that no incon-
siderable share of it will soon pass into the rent-roll of the
landlord. If we could raise the average rate of acreable pro-
duce in Great Britain by only one-fourth, which is not an un-
reasonable expectation, the result in money could probably not
be less than forty millions a year. Again, if an enterprising
farmer erects farm buildings, or labourers' cottages, or executes
drainage or other permanent improvements, the law is prompt
to punish him for Ins rashness. The house is no sooner built —
the moment the improvement is executed, the law takes the
ownership of it from the man who built it, and transfers it
without compensation to the landlord. The high priests of the
law pronounce the formula, inadijicafiim solo, solo ccdil, and
every tenant must bow his head and submit, so potent is this
mystic phrase to juggle away the just interest that every man
has in the work of his own hands. It contains a dogma of
the legal creed which lawyers generally accept with unques-
tioning reverence. In plain Enghsh it just means " What is
built on the land belongs to the land." It is an assertion, not
a principle or even an argument — an assertion not always sup-
ported by fact or reason. We are told in God's law, " The sea
is His for He made it," but iu man's law the reading is reversed ;
the house is the landlord's though he did not make it. That
is the law of Scotland. Is it reasonable ? Is it just ? Is the
law to cast the balance always and irreversibly against the
tenant? Our Yankee brothers have adopted the opposite prin-
ciple for their unoccupied lands in the West. They call it the
homestead law, and it is one main secret of the amazing growth
of that great country. Its principle is, " Where a man builds
his house and settles, the land shall be his," It is a wise and

noble law for an unappropriated country. So, you see, the
rules of law are capable of being adapted, as they ought to be
adapted, to the circumstances and wants of society. We of
this country had once vast, almost illimitable tracts of unap-
propriated land in the colonies. And there never was a more
gigantic blunder tlian was committed by our statesmen when
they failed to establish a homestead law, available to every
subject of the empire, before they abandoned the control of
these lands. We have still large tracts of public and
in this island — great commons, the birthright and
property of the people, which are being encroached
on, and frittered away and enclosed year after year
by the pressure of neighbouring proprietors. Their
extent is immensely greater than is generally
known. I would just ask, in a parenthesis, might it not be
an appreciable relief to our crowded population, if we had a
wise and well-considered homestead law for these immense
common lands, giving all reasonable priority to adjoining com-
moners ? But, with the exception of these commons, all the
land in the island is appropriated, and our circumstances, there-
fore, require a rule regarding buildings different from the
American rule, as well as from that which has hitherto pre-
vailed in this country : I hope to see Parliament establish
some such rule as this : What a tenant builds shall be his, and
he may take it away unless he is paid for it. That would be
just to both landlords and tenants. Our law, in spite of the
big words in which it enshrines its theory of property, is so
accommodating as to allow half the houses in this good city of
Edinburgh to be sliced horizontally across into flats. In the
High-street there may be twelve or thirteen flats built iu tiers
one on the other, each of which may belong to a separate
owner, not the owner of the soil. So there can be no inherent
difficulty in making the slice a few feet lower down, so that
all that is below the surface shall belong to the landlord,
and all that is above shall belong to the man who put it
there, to be sold (if he be the tenant), when his lease is out, to
the landlord, or incoming tenant, or to be taken away if tliey
don't choose to buy it. If such a rule were established, it
would lead to the improvements being generally valued over at
the end of a lease, for it would not be the londlord's interest to
let substantial and suitable buildings be pulled down, and it
would be the tenant's interest to make them so. A right to
have improvements valued over, when suitable to the holding,
is really the practical result, and that I think is the result to
which Parliament is likely to come. But there is another way
wliich may contribute to the solution of this question with ad-
vantage to everybody. Parliament has for a number of years
been in the practice of conferring upon liferenters, clergymen,
trustees, and others having limited or defective rights, the
power of effecting permanent improvements upon rentcharge,
under the directioujof thcEnclosure Commissioners. The Com-
missioners, at a trifling expense, examine into the improvement
proposed, its permanency and suitableness to the holding, con-
sider the objections of everybody who has an interest, and if
satisfied that it is really beneficial for all concerned, sanction
and superintend its execution, control the expense, and give a
certificate fixing an annual charge for a limited number of
years, calculated so as to be equivalent to the cost. Why should
not leasehold tenants be authorised to make application for
improvements in a similar way ? The tenant would meet the
annual charge so long as he continued in the farm, the remain-
ing years of the rentcharge would be to him on his outgoing a
marketable security equal to his remaining interest in the im-
provement, the succeeding tenant would pay the annual charge
tiU the term limited by the Commissioners should run out,
and then the improvement would pass free to the landlord
without his ever having had to put his hand in his pocket,
and also with what ought to be, and but for the wrong notions
which have been engendered by the present law would really
be, a great satisfaction to him — the knowledge that it had
become his without injustice to anybody else. It is a striking
illustration of the blinding effect of a bad law that a landlord
so well spoken of as the Duke of Buccleuch lately went into
court to claim, without payment, the wire fences which a
tenant had put up. That was too strong a dose even for
the legal stomach. I feel convinced, however, that his Grace
will be one of the first, virhen his attention is drawn to it, to
consider in a just spirit the claim uow made for the tenant.
I have no doubt you have read with interest the story of Mr.
Scott Russell and the Council of Skilled Workmen, and the

12

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

vmled Council of the Lords of Lr;,'islation. Some of tlie
schemes which they broached are most commendable in their
object, some (like the demand that goods shall be sold by re-
tail at wholesale prices) are perhaps a little after the order of
the conjuror who was to get into a quart pot, without reducing
his size. But is it not a sad thing that the sliilled workmen —
the very aristocracy of labour — when promulgating their plans
for regenerating society, had not a word or a thought for their
humbler brethren, the unskilled labourers of the country? Is
there to be nothing done for them ? Their domestic accom-
modation in many parts of the country is simply disgraceful —
without the means I will not say of ordinary convenience, but
even of common decency. In examining some statistical
papers, a few years ago, I came on facts which made a very
painful impression on my mind. I have not had any opportu-
nity of lately verifying the notes which I then made, but ac-
cording to these there were in one county — the wealthy county
of Ayr — more tlian 18,000 families, not fewer probably than
80,000 ])ersons, living in houses of one room ; and in all Scot-
laud more than a million of human beings — actually above a
third of the whole population — living in houses of that miser-
able kind. Of these, about 8,000 families, or from 30,000 to
40,000 persons, live in houses of one room without a window,
lighted only by the door, or by an opening in the roof or side-
viall, serving for both window and chimney. Who will stand
up to justify such a state of things as this ? Onr law of strict
entail disables, our law of settlement disinclines a great many
landlords to do much for the labourer's dwiliing. And the la-
bourer's employer, the tenant-farmer, his natural ally, who is
most deeply interested in his well-being and well-doing, and
who would gladly do something to lift him out of his degraded
position, is sternly prohibited by law from improving the house
accommodation of his people under the pain of having his ex-
penditure confiscated to the landlord. If the people of Scot-
land were not an enduring and law-abiding people, the empire
would havebeen ringing with the wrongs of that million of silent
sufferers. I now pass from these great grievances to others
which, though of less capital importance, are sufficiently gall-
ing. The legal warning of forty days to leave a farm is quite
inadequate. The exigencies of modern agriculture require a
farmer to look a long way a-head. AVhen he manures his
green crop, or folds sheep on his turnips, it is in preparation for
the grass crop which is to grow, not in that year, nor the next
year, but the year after that. He prepares in summer the
cattle that are to be fatted in winter. VVhenever the corn is
off the ground, the tillage for next year's crop should begin.
He can hardly get his winter crops in too soon. Yet he may
be kept in the most painful uncertainty whether he is to
remove or not till he reaches the forty days before
Martinmas. The old law was more reasonable. It made a
difference between removals in May and removals in
November, in the very mouth of winter. Till 1S53 a
tenant could not be removed at the winter term witliotit notice
forty days before the 15th of May. That gave him six
mouths besides the forty days. But in 1853 there was a bill
in Parliament, a technical bill to regulate the business of
Sherilf Courts. A clause was slipped into it that there should
be no longer a distinction as to removings between one term
and another, that forty days before the actual term of removing
should be sufficient in all eases. Away went the six months
in one blow. I don't suppose there was any conspiracy
against tenants, or any design to deprive them of what was a
real and svibstantial security. It was treated as a matter of
mere technical uniformity. The policy of it was not discussed.
I doubt whether the authors of the bill conceived it to be a
question of public policy at all. It was more probably a
matter of downright blundering. An earnest protest by one
vigilant man in Parliament would have put a stop to it. But
it became law, and nine-tenths of the tenant-farmers did not
know that the law had been changed upon them. That at
least must be reversed. But since it brings under discussion
the whole subject of warning to remove, I venture to say that,
having regard to the expenditure which a man has now to
make on his farm, and the necessity he is under of farming
on plans which contemplate the future, no agricultural tenant
ought to be removable on less than twelve months' notice at
least. What am I to say of that shameful provision of the
law which locks the doors of the courts of justice against a
tenant when sued to remove from his farm, unless he can
establish a defence instantly excluding the action, or find

security to the landlord for what arc called " violent profits " ?
This is an exceptional law directed against tenants alone. I
Know notliing else in the practice of the law which at all
resembles it, unless it be the case of a bankrupt who drags a
man into court. It would be bad enough if all tenants were
treated as bankrupts. But the bankrupt's surety is limited to
the expenses of suit ; the tenant's surety includes the whole
subject-matter of the suit, and a liability for damages and for
all consequences at the highest rates. I doubt whether I
could count by less than fifties the tenants whom I have
myself known to be ejected from their possessions from
inability to find security under this law. I don't wish
to enlarge on it. I have already taken part in discussing it
fully in a different shape. I see no objection, however, to
leave in the hands of a judge a discretionary power to order
surety if he should sec a litigious tenant protracting an un-
tenable defence in order to retain possession. I don't object
even to the judge having the power, if he sees fit, to give the
landlord possession till the end of tlie suit, if surety so ordered
should not be found ; but I protest against the system of
turning a man out of court because he has no friends able and
willing to back him, and I claim for every tenant the same
equal justice in a court of law which is enjoyed by everybody
else. I protest also against that unreasonable provision of
the law by which a tenant who owes a year's rent may be
required to find surety not merely for what he owes, but for
five years' rents more in advance, under pain of instant
ejection. I further wish you to consider the necessity of some
provision in regard to penal rents for variations from pre-
scribed rules of management. I suppose there is scarcely a
considerable estate on which it would be possible for the
tenants to follow without failure the multifarious rules which
are prescribed. And it is common to have conditions that
very heavy extra rents shall be paid in case of variation. The
courts of law would deal justly by these, for the law says that
no man shall inflict punishments or exact penalties beyond what
the courts of law consider to be just. But the law is system-
atically evaded by declarations that such extra rents are to be
considered pactional not penal. Landlords in general do not
exact these extra rents ; but they may be accumtilated against
a man without his knowledge, and may be presented for
hundreds or even thousands of pounds at the end of his lease.
AVhen Parliament lays on penalties for offences, it usually
provides that they must be claimed within six months, and
shall not be recoverable thereafter. That would be a just
method of dealing with this matter of penal rents. I have
now gone, I hope with reasonable brevity, through the points
which I tliiuk it right to bring at present under the notice of
the Chamber. I have limited my observations to the tenancy
laws ; but if there be time to-day after we get through these,
I will be most happy to take part in any conversation which
may arise in regard to the property laws. I am bound in fair-
ness to say that the existing state of the tenancy laws is not
justly chargeable against the landlords. Only one, I think,
of the laws which I have noticed has been brought in by
Parliament where the interest of landlords might have been
expected to predominate. Had the principle and policy of
these laws been discussed in the Legislature, probably no one
could have had the hardihood to propose such a system on the
whole, as a just or satisfactory method of regulating transac-
tions between man and man. They are, as I have said, the un-
happy growth of priuciples adopted by courts of law in early
times as suitable to a state of society and a system of farming
which arc long obsolete. But they are the source of recurring
and substantial injustice, and I feel assured that if the tenant-
farmers will join heart and hand in demanding their removal,
their cry shall not be in vain. The hands of Parliament are
probably too full to allow of much progress there on this
subject in the coming session ; but if the tenant-farmers speak
ont manfully, and resolve to act manfully, these things will
take their place among the great questions of the next session.
One thing is sure : there is no power in this country which
can perpetuate injustice. I don't believe there is any consider-
able power possessed of the desire to attempt it. The great
body of landlords are reasonable men, infinitely better than
such a state of law might have expected to make them. If,
indeed, the exceptions had not been limited in number — if one-
half, nay, perhaps if one-tenth of them had exercised to the
full the extreme rights which the law has given them — the
agriculture of Scotland could not have been in its present con-

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13

ditiou, and agrarian feeling might have run as strong in this
quiet country as ever it has done in Ireland. The good sense and
right feeling of the landlords as a body, and the good sense and
patience of the people, have preserved us from that calamity.
But no wise statesman will withhold the rectification
of bad laws because they have not been worked to extremity
nor because their amendment is not demanded with riot or
menace.

Mr. A. E. Macknig}it (advocate, Edinburgh) said: The
subject of the laud question and its monopoly in Scotland is
one of the most important that can occupy the attention of the
public in regard to the vital interests of the country. The
transference of political power which has taken place from the
privileged classes into the bauds of the householders has
necessitated great changes, and will necessitate a great many
more ; but among all the questions for the consideration of the
people, there is none more worthy of their careful and de-
liberate discussion as affecting their social condition than the
question of the land tenure and cultivation. And what is our
condition in Scotland as to this question ? We find the soil of
Scotland in a state of complete monopoly, in the hands of a
miserable portion of the community. It has been computed
that one-fifth part of Scotland is actually, or at least nominally,
in possession of about a score families. The number of large
estates is enormous compared to the area of the country, some
of them consisting of whole parishes. Compared with Eng-
land or Ireland, this fact is remarkable, because there property
is much more equally divided, and the monopoly does not exist
to anything like the same extent. Now, the first question
presenting itself here is. Was Scotland always in the same con-
dition of land monopoly ? The answer is. No. The evil is
of comparatively modern date. Up to nearly the period of
the Revolution of 1G88, land was held generally under estates
of from 300 to 300 acres in tlie lowland and arable parts of
the kingdom. In the Highlands and pastoral districts the
size was generally larger. During the feudal ages, previous to
the Revolution of 1688, although there were cases of large
grants from the Crown to favoured individuals of the aris-
tocracy, yet by the general practice of proprietors giving every
one of their children landed estates- when they were in a posi-
tion to do so, the large estates were generally sufficiently
divided in the course of a few years. To give one remarkable
example : The wealthiest and largest proprietor in Scotland
was the Earl Marischal, having a rental of £200,000, yet such
was the process of division by giving portions to all the
members of the family, tjiat when the Earl Marischal of the
period went out in the Rebellion of 1715 and was forfeited,
the wliole remaining property amounted to about £3,000 a-
year, which was sold to the York Buildings Company in 1730
for £41,000. But the great cause which has produced so
much evil in the shape of the land monopoly is the law of en-
tail passed in 1685. Before this period it was incompetent by
law to settle land upon a series of heirs unborn, and to tie it
up ad infmltiim, and the courts of law looked with great
jealousy on the Act, which was always strictly interpreted aud
entails broken whenever they were not strictly accurate. But
notwithstanding this fact, the process of extending has gone
on to an enormous extent in Scotland. So far back as the
middle of the last century the evils of the system were deeply
felt. The ablest political philosophers and lawyers have joined
in the condemnation of the system — such as Dr. Smith, Lord
Stair, and Lord Kames. The organs of such public opinion
as existed at the time denounced it — the Convention of Royal
Burghs and the Faculty of Advocates. Even then a large
proportion of the land was strictly entailed, and in many dis-
tricts there was hardly au acre which was not under entail.
Since that period the evil has gone on increasing, notwith-
standing certain remedial Acts which were intended to give re-
lief, but which in their operation have very completely disap-
pointed expectation, and it was not till 184-8, when Lord
Rutheford passed his Act, that some real relief was given by en-
abling certain entails to be brought to a close. But the evil
still goes on, and half measures will be of no use to rid the
country of this evil and monopoly ; nothing but a total pro-
hibition of the whole system will be sufficient, and I think
nothing less should content the people of Scotland. The evil
was far less then than now, when the population lias so much
increased, and when the question. What shall we do with the
surplus population ? has become so vital and important. But
r«nother subject here presents itself, viz., the great change that

has occurred in the mode of supporting the poor in Scotland.
Previous to 18i5 the Poor-law was in a great degree practi-
cally voluntary, but by the Act of 1845, passed by the Tory
Government, this was rendered compulsory, and now the whole
landed property of the country is practically confiscated for
the supportof the idle, the drunken, aud the dissolute, as well
as those who really are unable to work : and what has been
the operation of this law ? Why, only an enormous and
steadily surging increase in the amount of the rates, an
enormous amount of jobbery and extravagance in the
parochial boards, in exorbitant salaries to the officials, and in
building palaces at an enormous expense, instead of building
prisons or boarding the paupers out, which could be done at
far less expense. But what has been the operation of this
Act in regard to the land question ? Why, to make the pro-
prietors of land continue to pull down cottages to drive the
people off the estates, in order to drive them into the towns to
swell the misery and want of employment which prevails there,
and render them permanently a burden on the city proprietors ;
and the object of all this is to save themselves from the burden
of the poor-rates. Now, if these persons thus driven off from
the country could maintain themselves and their families if
they had a few acres of laud and pay rent faithfully, aud if
they could pay a higher rent for the land than is now paid by
the large farmers, then the country is doubly injured by their
compulsory removal into the towns to be maintained in idle-
ness on the rates. That these are facts the best scientific
agriculturists are compelled now to acknowledge both from
scientific researches and practical experience, Tiie Prussian
scientific agriculturist, Von Thaer, although at first inclined
to think the system of large farms yielded most produce to a
country, entirely changed his opinion in consequence of the
researches he had made. Those who have had an opportunity
of seeing one of our British possessions — the Island of Jersey
— will see a country wholly composed of small proprietors,
and they will there see the wonders produced by that system
— the whole island cultivated like a large garden. The Nor-
man law of equal succession prevails, and David Low says the
ellect of this law in 900 years has been to put the en tire island
into small holdings. There is scarcely to be found a property
of more than fifty acres, many say from four to fifteen, and
most of them are less than fifteen. Is the agriculture there
poorer? Certaialynot. Itiscultivated like a garden. Itisfarmed
atanaverageof froni£4! to £5 an acre, and in the neighbourhood
of St. liiliers at from £8 to £13. In spite of these enormous
rents, which are actually higher than tiiey appear, as money
is more valuable there than here, the farmers live in a state of
comfort upon an extent of ground which elsewhere would not
suffice to maintain the poorest labourer. I have myself
visited Jersey, and can corroborate all that is here said. The
gross produce raised per acre is almost incredible. I went
over the property of a gentleman who was farming it himself ;
it consisted of about 35 acres, on which he kept three horses,
a number of cows and pigs ; from the data furnished to
me the gross produce raised by him amounted to the value of
£23 per acre over head, equivalent to more than £35 per acre
here. The soil is not naturally rich, but is most carefully and
plentifully manured, abundunce of stock being kept to pro-
duce it. The same circumstances take place in the Isle of
Man, the agriculture of which, under the system of small pro-
perties and small farms, flourishes greatly, also on the Scilly
Islands, where the same syste^m prevails with admirable effects,
as a competent observer recently communicated to the English
AyncuUural Journal. The experience of Switzerland testifies
loudly for this system. There you have minute properties
beautifully cultivated, every foot of land turned to account,
and the produce enormous compared to the area employed in
producing it. The Tyrol and the Palatinate furnish evidence
of the same thing ; nay, it is found that in those parts of
Switzerland and those countries where the estates are the
smallest the cultivation and the produce is greate- than where
the laud is held in larger quantities. In France, before the
Revolution of 1789, the state ofagriculture was most wretched,
the tenantry were ground down with the most oppressive feudal
exactions, an intolerable game-law, and a miserable and starv-
ing peasantry. But after the sale of the larger estates be-
longing to the Roman Catholic Church and the emigrants,
and when the soil of France was divided, there was marked
improvement in the cultivation, aud an enormous increase in
tlie amount of produce, whicli has been going on iucreasinsj

14,

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

ever since. In Prussia a great revolution was efTected in the
land tenure of the country in 1806 by the great statesmen
Barons Steiu and Hardeuberg. The effect of this was to sub-
divide the large estates and create a numerous body of peasant
proprietors. Well, then, what has been the effect of this ?
Why, to extend and improve cultivation in Prussia, to double
the produce, to make it an exporting country, besides feeding
all its own inhabitants, and to lay the foundation-stone of tliat
wonderful energy, comfort, and prosperity which has resulted
in tJie realisation of the unity of Germany and the overthrow
of her restless enemy, France. Look again to Belgium.
What country in Europe has done so much for agriculture
under difliculties? She was the earliest to adopt improved
courses of husbandry. But this was not effected tiU the abo-
lition of the large estates, and their purchase in moderate lots,
and also being held in moderate-sized and small farms. The
remarkable report which was prepared by Mr. Radcliffe after
a careful examination of the Belgian husbandry, clearly
Droves the wonderful effects produced by it ; and it further
proves, that in the districts in Belgium where the farms were
the smallest, the cultivation was better and more productive
than where the farms and properties were largest. I3ut let ns
now come nearer home and revert to the state of Ireland.
Since the Revolution of 1688 that country has suffered the
evils of enormous estates held by absentee and embarrassed
owners, men who could not fulfil the duties of ownership, and
who consigned their lands into the hands of middle men who
exacted exorbitant rents from the terrified peasantry, and drove
them out if they did not pay these rents. Thus it is the land
question which has caused those terrible outbreaks which have
occurred for more than a hundred years in Ireland. Well,
then the Liberal Government passed the Encumbered Estates
Act, which has had the most wonderful effect in getting quit
of bankrupt proprietors, and dividing the country iuto
moderate-sized properties ; and what is a most remark-
able fact, these estates have been chiefly bought
by Irishmen, and with Irish capital, and the country
is being gradually filled with a resident and responsible
proprietary. Now, we want the same thing in Scot-
land— we want an Act 'for the sale of Encumbered
Estates iu Scotland, so as to facilitate the transfer of the land
into responsible hands. What is the deplorable position of
the landed property in Scotland in regard to debt ? Why, it
has been computed that nearly two-thirds of the land rental
of Scotland is in the bauds of creditors, the owners having
practically no control over it. The creditors, provided they
get the interest of their bonds, care nothing for doing anything
on tlie estate, and the owner can do nothing, as he does not
receive the rents. At present three of the largest estates in
Scotland are under trust, the owners having no power to do
anything in regard to them. Can anything be more of a
wretclied deadlock than this ? Is it not notorious that in re-
gard to entailed estates you can tell them by the wretched and
miserable cultivation which they receive ? If you create a
series of life-rents it is the object of the life-renter to squeeze as
much out of tlie estate during his life as he can, and to rob it
of all that it should receive. In regard to the tenantry, 'the
question is What rent wUl you give ? and if the reply be What
will you (the landlord) spend on improvements? the answer is,
Noihiin/ ; and the efl'ect is that if the tenant invests his capital
in the land, and if he falls into dilhculties, and cannot pay the
rent during the lease, he is turned out and robbed of the whole
sum he has spent on improvements, and the land let to some
one else at an advance of rent produced by his money. This
state of the law is disgraceful, and I only wonder at the apathy
and forbearance of the tenantry in bearing it so long. We
must demand an Act for compensation for unexhausted im-
provements ; and I hope the Chamber of Agriculture will be
unanimous in this after the full explanations given by Mr.
Caird in regard to it. It would effect great good, and we must
have such a bill as was brought in by the Lord Advocate last
year to abolish Scotch entails, but amended so as to prevent
the English system of entails from being introduced, which was
to a certain extent admitted by that bill. The Chamber has
already petitioned for that bill as amended, and although the
agricultural luiud is proverbially slow, the land monopoly is at
the root of all the evils from which the tenantry suffer. But
further, the people of Scotland must demand an alteration iu
the law of succession, as the present law causes such terrible
injustice. If a maa dies after haviug invested his means in

land and leaves several children, and not having made a will,
the whole would go to his eldest son, leaving almost nothing
to the rest ; therefore the law should be altered ; and if a man
dies without a will, his property, heritable and moveable,
should be equally divided among all his children, sons and
daughters alike. But I go further than this ; I think that
no one should have the power of disinheriting any of his chil-
dren, and the law of succession should be made equal and
compulsory. This law has been productive of enormous benefit
in Prance, in Prussia, and America. It gives satisfaction to
the great body of the people, and no government in these
countries, however anxious, could attempt to repeal it. It is
certain, I think, that it will be carried sooner or later in this
country when our public opinion is ripe for it, and considering
the rapid advance we have made recently in political questions,
no one can say how soon that may be. And lastly, we want
a measure for Scotland similar to the Irish Land Act, to facili-
tate the acquisition of small properties by the people, and to
compensate unexhausted improvements of the tenantry. The
expense of preparing titles to land should be diminished, the
stamp-duly should be remedied so as to encourage the pur-
chase of small properties. It is very provoking that Ireland
should receive so much more attention from Parliament than
Scotland ; one reason seems to be that we have got too quiet
and not sufficiently clamorous. Let us cast off this sloth, and
by means such as this Chamber presents, publicly, loudly, and
persistly demand those reforms from the want of which we have
suffered so much. The laud question is the real battle to be
fought. I wish my voice could be heard all over the country,
urging that the people should never rest satisfied till it is
settled in a satisfactory manner and according to the principles
of justice. Tlieu we shall have Scotland for the Scotch ; bold
and stalwart yeomen will again be restored to the " land o'
cakes and brither Scots," and a happy and contented peasantry,
not dependent entirely on the precarious wages of labour, will
cultivate with energy and pleasure their fields, and prove the
truth of tlie inspired proverb that there is much food in the
tillage of the poor.

Mr. RiDDELL (Hundalee) said the paper read by Mr. Caird
has exhausted almost every idea I have on the subject, but I
wish to make a few remarks regarding it, and as these remarks
come from a tenant-farmer, if they have the slightest effect in
giving tone to the able speech of Mr. Caird, I shall feel amply
rewarded. I shall endeavour to show that the general
practice of the laws referred to by Mr. Caird might be a very
great inconvenience and discomfort as well as loss to the ten-
ant-farmers. In regard to the reference to the law of entail, I
will pass that over at this time as being a matter not so much
before us as the other parts of the subject. It has occurred to
nie that it will be necessary to assume certain cases iu order
to bring out the difficulty and the discomfort that arise out of
our present Laud-laws and their provisions affecting the occu-
pation of property. The effect of this particular part of the
Land-laws has been strongly brought out by Mr. Caird, and
any practical farmer knows the result of it. But, passing from
this knotty point to one that perhaps more immediately con-
cerns us at the present moment, I would refer to some cases to
show that the occupation of land in this country is far from
being in a state suited to the requirements of the present age.
For example, a farmer may become unable to carry on his
farm, executes a trust-deed, the trustees fiud it necessary to
vacate the lease, and wind up the business. The tenant may
have laid out a considerable sum of money in improvements,
such as building, draining, &c., and notwithstanding all this,
neither he nor his creditors are entitled bj law to any part of
the rise of reat which in such circumstances usually occurs, or
recompense for unexhausted improvements. A worse case than
the one just referred to might easily occur. A landlord may
let his farm to a man who is almost penniless ; the latter may
borrow money from all and sundry to start his farm, buyiug
lime, tiles, manures; in fact, sets his farm agoing on money
got from the public, wliich money all goes to improve the
land. Well, what may happen? The farmer comes very
soon to anchor, leaving not a farthing behind to pay his
creditors ; the landlord sweeps the table, legally pays himself,
and besides re-lets his farm, maybe at hundreds a-year more, all
legally of course, but not the less a hardship and an injustice
to his creditors. Our Land-laws may frequently be a great in-
convenience and loss to families where the father is removed
by death, leaving a widow ana family, where the comfort, con-

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

15

venience, or the necessities of that family require the lease to
be given up, although the remaining years of it may be worth
a considerable sum ; legally all must be left to the landlord.
The law as it stands operates much against the keeping up the
continuous fertility of the land, the tenant not having the right
to payment of unexhausted manures, &c., at the termination of
the lease. The landlord is not bound to give it, and the ten-
ant must either sutfer loss from the want of such accommoda-
tion, or lay out the money himself on these improvements,
■which will go into the pockets of the landlord at the termina-
tion of the lease — this is in a case where the landlord is either
unwilling or unable to advance the money necessary for the
carrying out of such improvements. It is frequently said, and
apparently believed by not a few, that tenants are quite safe
in the hands of landlords, for undoubtedly they would in that
case be dealt with in a most liberal manner in all such eases
as those referred to. But seeing that the question is not one
between landlords and tenants, but has reference to the law of
the land, perhaps blinding landlords to the hardships and even
injustice that many a time occur, the question may with great
propriety be asked. Were the present Land-laws necessary
and somewhat just at the time when they were enacted?
Assuming that they were, and the circumstances of the country
■ — of landlords and of farmers — were unaltered, the Land-laws
would still be necessary and equally just, and ought to remain
unrepealed or unaltered. But I venture humbly to say that
the circumstances of the country are not only quite changed,
but the relations between landlords and tenants are also
changed. When these laws were made, very little, if any,
capital of a permanent nature was invested in the soil by the
tenant. Now, however, it is no uncommon thing for tenants
to invest large sums of money, which, to all intents and
purposes, some may say, are as permanent as the soil itself.
In not a few instances tenant-farmers expend nearly as much
on poor land per acre as the same land would sell for if
brought into the market. In these circumstances I do not
hesitate to say that this Chamber should use every legitimate
means for getting repealed or altered all laws relating to land
not in keeping with the altered circumstances of the country,
and at variance with the best interests of the community. If
not altered or repealed, the continuance of these laws is calcu-
lated to cause a great amount of irritation and mischief be-
tween parties whose interests are, or at all events ought to be,
identical. The connection between landlord and tenant is of
too close and important a nature to be so lightly broken. The
paramount interest of society is to have the soil properly culti-
vated. Who, I ask, can stand up and advocate the continuance
of the laws relating to tenant-occupancy of land, of hypothec,
and game in all their integrity ? We sometimes here of com-
promises, of taking this or that as an instalment. I believe
that nothing short of repeal of some of these laws and the alter-
ations of others will have the effect of permanently increasing
the lertility of the soil. Adam Smith truly says : " Whatever
increases the fertility of land in producing food, increases not
only the value of the land upon which the improvement is
bestowed, bat contributes likewise to increase that of many
other lands by creating a new demand for this produce. That
abundance of food, of which, in consequence of the improve-
ment of land, many people have the disposal beyond wliat they
themselves can consume, is the great cause for the demand,
both for the precious metals and precious stones, as well as for
every other conveniency, and ornaments of dress, lodging,
household furniture, and equipage. Food not only constitutes
the greater part of the riches of the world, but it is the
abundance of food which gives the principal part of their
value to many other sorts of riches." And I may add, it is a
well-known fact that abundance of food in the laud makes a
loyal, happy, and a peaceful people.

Mr. Scot Skirving said Mr. Caird had said nothing to
which they would not all agree, and which, if pressed, had
a fair chance of being soon made law in the way he pointed
out. Some of these laws were so bad that he was really
ashamed to say that he had never heard of their existence,
and Mr. Caird had pointed out that the reason was the good
sense of the landlords had made them dead letters ; but they
were still repeated in the leases and covenants. He wished
to ask Mr. Caird if he included in "commons lands" the
crown lands.

Mr. Caird replied in the negative. The crown lands were
private property — the property of the nation in a different
sense. What he had been speaking of was the commous lands,
waste to a large extent, on which great numbers of people iu
the neighbourhood had a right of common, and turned out
cattle on them.

Mr. Scot Skirving said there was one of these in the
county where he resided, and instead of being waste it was
used by too many beasts.

Mr. Caird : And the consequence is that there is not
enough for any of them.

Mr. Scot Skirving said it would be worse to let squatters
put up huts upon it. He had to move — " That the Ciiamber
tender thanks to Mr. Caird for his address on the land tenancy
laws, and remit to the directors as a committee, with power to
add to their number, to have the paper printed and circulated,
and also to appoint a day for the further discussion of- the
subject."

Mr. GoODLET (Bolshan) seconded he motion. The paper
was a most admirable one, and was calculated to do a great deal
of good if widely circulated over the country and read by our
legislators. He suggested that the committee should be also
empowered to gather facts bearing upon the subject. These
would make any representation to the Lord Advocate or Par-
liament far more effective. His object in proposing this aws
not to bring up invidious cases against individuals, but to
obtain well authenticated facts to show the working of these
laws and the necessity of reforming them, not only in the in-
terests of the tenant-occupiers, but also in that of the land-
lords themselves and of the country generally.

Mr. Waiter Wilson (Hawick) did not think it would
serve any good purpose to inquire into the practice of the law s.
The laws were there, and it would be better to argue against
them from their obvious tendency. He thought they should
endeavour to discover the Lord Advocate's views on the subjec:^
of leases and improvements made by tenants.

The motion was ultimately passed in the following form :
" That this meeting return thanks to Mr. Caird for his
address upon the land tenancy laws, and remit to the di-
rectors as a committee, with a power to add to their number,
order the same to be printed and circulated, and that facts and
information bearing on the question raised should be collected
by the committee."

The motion was carried, and Mr. Caird, in reply, remarked
that it did not seem to him right in his paper to complicate
the discussion of the question of the land tenancy laws with
the totally distinct question of the entail laws. He thought
also that it was better to try and show what were the inevitable
results of the tenancy laws than to attack particular indivi-
duals. He thought it would be a grievous mistake for them
to enter upon the line of attacking anybody. The laws were
bad — so bad, indeed, that it was humanly impossible that they
could work well. If they took that ground in their argu-
ment, they were bound to succeed. They would only provoke
opposition, that might otherwise not be roused, by taking the
argument of individual hardship .

The Chamber then adjourned.

IN-AND-IN BREEDING.

At the last meeting of the Farmers' Club, Mr.
Thomas Congreve " was sorry to say that year by year it
became more and more difficult to buy a lot of good beasts
to graze. Whether he desired to get Shorthorns, Here-

fords, Welsh runts, or any other kind of stock, he felt the
difficulty to be increasing every year, and that certainly
seemed extraordinary, considering the immense amount
that was spent in prizes, and the vast amount of discus-

IG

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

sion that had taken place. Looking back to thirty years
ago, he believed that graziers were now in a worse posi-
tion in that respect than they were at that period. Mr.
Smythies, who was a Herefordshire man, would bear with
him for saying that the Herefords were getting lighter,
more gaudy, less deep in the thigh, less fleshy than they
used to be. What graziers wanted was an animal that
would carry some butcher's meat about it." Earlier in
the season Mr. Sanday said at Newark that " Shorthorns
were inferior both in size and quality to those bred
twenty or thirty years ago." At the same meeting Mr.
Colton, another acknowledged judge, said, "the Short-
horns now bred had nothing like the flesh they had
twenty ago ;" and at the Farmers' Club discussion, Mr.
Thornton, the auctioneer, and for some time assistant
editor of the Slwrtlwrn Herd Bool-, said, " there were at
the present time four fashionable tribes of cattle which
commanded the highest prices, and these tribes, especially
the two most in demand. Bates and Booth, were singu-
larly closely bred. The most successful lines were
those in which one animal was the sire of the sire and of
the dam also ; that is to say, half brother and sister by
the same sire out of difi^erent dams. This system of
breeding had produced some of the finest cattle in the
country, and he believed had also been succesfully tried in
some cases with race horses. "Where cattle were closely
in-bred and preserved their constitutions, they had a ten-
dency to lose colour, save perhaps in the cars, and to be-
come white. The wild cattle of Chillingham were white."
And further on, "Commander-in-Chief, a comparativelylight
roan bull, has begotten several white calves. In seeking
pedigree bulls,quality was too often overlooked, and it was
owing to that cause and the insuflficient number of animals
bred in the country, that it was so difficult to find good
grazieis." Here, while admittiug the decline of good graziers,
the remedy suggested is qitallfjj ; while at Newark the cause
of this decline was mainly attributed to " the principle
on which most herds are raised, viz., the fashion, or ra-
ther infatuation, of collecting from certain families without
any regard to the qualifications necessary for producing
and perpetuating good animals. To follow out this plan
in-breeding must to a very great extent be resorted to."
So says Mr. Sanday, as Mr. Colton, again, declares that
" the deterioration of Shorthorns must be owing to breed-
ing in-and-in too much."

Thus, it will be observed, we have these several
speakers at direct issue. Equally willing to allow
the full force of Mr. Congreve's complaint, Messrs.
Sanday and Collon maintain that the cause is in-
and-in breeding ; as, on the other hand, ]Mr. Thorn-
ton tells us that the corrective will be found in the
use of pedigree bulls of more quality — a phrase, which
being interpreted by the context, goes to say that the
best quality bulls are those which are "closely in-bred."
He further assures us that " this system has produced
some of the finest cattle in the country ;" whereas, Mr.
Sanday says, " some thirty years ago he saw some
Shorthorns at Mr. Booth's, and he was quite
convinced there were no such cows like them now." Mr.
Thornton, hovi'ever, cites some of the modern stars, the
latest of his appearances being Commander-in-Chief, " a
comparatively light roan bull," with a poor weak steer's
head; as if this be cited as an example of any in-and-
in breeding it is not a very happy one, for the animal fails
just where one might expect him to — that is, in masculine
character. Or, take another famous tribe quoted by Mr.
Thornton, and perhaps the most carefully in-and-in-bred
family on record, the Duchesses, and what became of those
which at least at that time "commanded the highest

prices ?" They were simply the greatest of failures.
The luckless Betts-Bates Duchesses, if not utterly barren
lacked the power to carry their calves. If, says
Mr. Thornton these in-and-in-bred animals " preserve
their constitutions, they have a tendency to lose their
colour," and their flesh, and their procreative powers. It
is well known in the human race that the continual in-
termarriage even, so far as sanctioned by the law, tends
to every kind of weakness both of mind and body, until
Nature interferes and indignantly blots out these imbeciles
from the face of the earth. Mr. Valentine Barford bred
his Leicesters so closely at home that at last there was
little left but their fleeces and pedigrees ; and with
stock where do we find the thin papery touch and
the weak feminine head most prevalent but 'in those
animals which have been so jealously bred in-and-
in ? Again, how is it that the once-famous Hereford
steers are growing " lighter, more gaudy, less deep
in the thigh and less fleshy than they used to be"?
mainly, as we take it, because there is now but one kind
or variety in fashion instead of three or four. In other
words, there is less opportunity for commanding a good
cross. Nothing now will go down but a white face, and
yet one of the best Hereford oxen we ever saw was a
cross of a white and mottle.

Some ten or twelve years since the late Mr.
Dixon, who was busy just then over his Herds,
said in print : " We chould uncommonly like to
see how Pocahontas would hit to Stockwell or
Rataplan (her own sons) ; and there can be no reason,
when the plan is tried so successfully among Shorthorns,
why racing men should quite shrink from it." Bu-
racing men were so outraged by the very idea,
that the writer shrank from his own proposition ;
stating in explanation that " as for advocating such a
plan he never dreamt of it." Sixty years since an
experienced breeder of race-horses wrote how "the neces-
sity of crossing to prevent defeneration is an important
study in every species ;" and the maxim is as good now
as when it was first peuued. Of course there are cases
of in-and-in breeding for the turf which have proved
successful, but these are very exceptional, and very differ-
ent from the plan of getting back to the same strain of
blood after a separation of some generations. Whereas,
by " Belvidere dam by Belvidere," or a pedigree depend-
ing on a heifer being served by her own sire, excites no
feeling of revulsion amongst the Shorthorn fancy, but is-
the rather prized as the proper thing and the attainment
of all excellence. Hence it happens that we hear of
animals which have neither size, symmetry, nor flesh,
being sold for thousands on the strength of pedigrees
which are iu principle radically wrong and unwhole-
some.

There can be no getting away from facts ; our butcher's
beasts are gradually deteriorating, while some go further,
like Mr. Sanday, and maintain that our breeding animals,
even of the highest caste, are by no means so good as
they were. And why so ? The old ethic was that
nothing tells better than a good cross of the same breed, as
that periodically you must go in search of this. AVhereas
the fashion uow-a-days is to keep to your own strains and
families, and buy and sell without earing to look at them
as they did the luckless Duchesses in Willis' Rooms.

THE YORKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.— The
Earl of Feversham has been elected president of the Yorkshire
Agricultural Society for the ensuing year.

THE FAKMEB'S MAGAZINE,

17

THE PRODUCE OF THE SEA-SHORE

BY CUTHBERT AV. JOHNSON, F.R.S.

U«>S /.T'T^' '^""'^^ *^' ^"*t t^° "lO'^tllS, into the
rivP 0 °T tJi^.f l^io^i. at the mouth of some of the Cornish
r ihnHnLT ^V^^i'l.iioticing other important con-
tributions derived from the sea. Wherever the tourist
visits these grand irou-bound coasts, he finds the Cornish
farmers employed in carting away from the shore eUlier
tne sand or the seaweeds which are found there in such
great abundance Thus, on the beach at East Looe on
an extent of about two hundred yards in length, on one

hundied two-horse cart-loads of seaweed left by the tide

knlTh """'^r ^'''- ^^''' ^''^' ''''' «f different
kinds, the greater portion being of a large variety green
and juicy, the leaves being three to five feet in length and
three or four inches broad.

The farmers' carts come for these when the tide has
receded, and cart them as far as even three or four me
from the shore. Other landholders carry these weedTin
baijes up the estuaries, and, as is the caV at Ealt L oe!
in such vessels as are able to enter a canal, so that these
weeds are used as far as five or six miles from the sea Then
again they ai-e carried on to the fields in large wooden
E'n^r^ donkeys-especially on those portions oflhe

^oSA. /' ^""^^ ^^ 'T'^^ P^*'^^ *^^t even donkeys or
ponies are able to carry their loads

south'""' r/''' ^7^^ °^ *'"' ^''^ September that a strong
south-westerly gale, at the height of a spring tide, drove
an enormous quantity of seaweed on to the beach at

to Cuddon Point, were in fact lined with these weeds
some of which are very beautiful, and appear as if lull of
a gummy juice. On the following morning, at low water
there were many carts employed in carrying the weeds on

i.hvvS°''''"^^°! them in great heaps just above
high water mark ; but these heaps were all removed durin<^
the same afternoon. The farmers around Penzance ise
them veiy lai-gely for their celebrated potato and caul
flower fie ds, from which the metropolitan market is o
extensively supplied. From an early hour in the morning
C^J'^rT ^--^.^'^Ployed, on the shores of Mountf
Bay, with rakes having peculiar long iron-teeth, in co
ectiug together these weeds, for which they are paJd by
the farmers from Is. per cart-load when the weld are
p eatiful, to Is. 3d. or Is. 6d. per load when tW a '
obtained only m such limited quantities as to reU e I
them to be even cut from off the rocks ^ I

.J^''\7''^^ ^'' .V'' ^^'^'^''^ *° ^^' ^^"'l i'l their freshest
ttl\ f!' 5™' ^^^\ ^^'y ^'^ ^^'S^^y "^^-i after being
imxed with farm-yard manure or sea-sand; but all the
Cornish famers with whom I conversed concurred in
opimon that they should be ploughed into the ground in

thuty loads of these per acre, and that if the weeds were
readily accessible they would dress the land with
til .»,°f *''"' ?'^u ^'^^""^^- I' i^ '^^y ^^ moSn
boTani ? tZ^ n 't '^^^^'^'^ '^' ^"^"^'"'^ °f the
lent TT- f 7^^;- f ^"^^o^ough in his very excel-

he exte^ rU . f,"''' ^''''T'^'" ^'' *^"^ '^^^'^ribed
ooseives About fifty years ago, in some academic
chairs they were treated with disdain. We have heTrS
qf a student who about that period having collected a"nt

beautiful Alffo; on the sea shore, showed the contents of
his vasculum to the professor of botany whose lectures
he attended, in order (o get some information respectino-
them. The Professor, after looking at them, puslied
them from him, and exclaimed, ' Pooh ! a parcel of sea-
weed, sir, a parcel of seaweed!' TheNewhaven fisher-
men seem to have caught the spirit of this learned Pro-
tessor, for to this day they denominate all the finer sea-
weeds c/mf. They are weeds, and what are weeds ? Dr.
Johnson tells us that they are plants that are uo.vious and
useless. But they are .y^aweeds, we say, in mitigation.
And does that mend the matter ? Horace spoke of them
as In/cdhs ^/y^'— useless seaweeds. And Virgil goes
even beyond his friend Horace, for when speaking of some-
tiling which he regards as worthless and filthy, he says it is
^/ffaprojc'cta «//or'— viler than the seaweed cast out upon
tfie shore. Its very calamities are turned against it. ' Ee-
pmddur-alga: says another poet— the sea loathes it and
casts It out. In Scotland, seaweeds go very generally under
the name of wrach, or in the south and west of Scotland
ivrecks, and in this we have one of the many iustances
or the effect which the great intercourse in ancient times
between France and Scotland had on our Scottish lan-
guage for what is lorack, or wrecJc, or vreck, but the
J^rench word varech, which signifies seaweed ? In the
I i^liannel Islands vraic is the word employed "

It is interesting to follow these seaweeds into their
[ widely-dispersed localities. This has been done by Dr
J^. Meyer in hi^s " Geography of Plants," in language
which it IS needless to vary. He observes in his work
translated by Miss Johnston, and published by the Rav
Society : ' The Fuel solely belong to sea-water ; there a/e
true i^^« found in the Caspian Sea, though at the present
day It IS unconnected with the ocean. Almost all the
marine plants are rooted at the bottom of the sea, chieflv
on rocks and near the shore, where the water is shallow'-
nor do the Fact seem to go to a very great depth, though
certainly as deep as a few hundred feet. It is true that
some have been measured, and have been found to be
more than 300 feet in length, such as the J«.«. ;;^„--
/m«, at Cape Horn, the leaves of which are seven or
eigh feetlong; but these, as I have observed of other
plants on the West Coasts of South America, do not
grow in a straight direction from the bottom to the sur-
ace of the sea, but lie rather horizontally, and therefore
though of so extraordinary a length, can grow in water
0 much less depth. The Straits of Ma|ellan and La
Maire are tull:of this gigantic Fucus, and there, in the
cold water, where it grows to an extraordinary size, seems
to be Its true zone. This Fucus is found in th; New
World through all the zones from the extreme north to
he extremesouthem point. The same plant also appears
at the Cape of Good Hope, and Baron Humboldt brought
It Irom the tropical seas, but in neither place does it
grow so large as around Cape Horn.

On the coasts of the ocean where the great Fuel grow,
they cover the bottom of the sea with an impenetrable
vegetation, which serves to support millions of animals.
When sailing over such regions in a calm sea, we enjov
the splendid sight which these submarine meadows and
forests present to the eye, the variety and splendour of
which IS increased by tall carollines. Madrepores, scarlet
sea anemones, and corals of various colours. At ebb-tide

C

18

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

the Fuci in general are close to the surface, they are often
leftquite uncovered, andbegin to dry until thereturningtide
again refreshes the flagging plants. But when the sea is
agitated by storms, when the waves dash with violence
against the rocks, those marine plants are torn up, and
float on the surface of the water, until they are thrown ou
the shore. But the torn-u]i Fi'ci are seldom carried far
from the coast ; and, therefore, in earlier times their ap-
pearance was the surest indication to the mariner of his
approach to land. Yet Columbus was much deceived by
them in his first voyage of discovery, when he reached
that part of the Atlantic, now known as the Sargasso
Sea. In the Atlantic, just within the great equatorial
current, is a space of at least 40,000 square miles, in which
is always floating on the surface a great mass of seaweed,
all of one variety, called Sargassum vulgare. Many ex-
planations were given of the origin of this F/iciis, but it is
now ascertained that this is one of the few plants which
grow floating freely in the water.

We find then that these weeds are produced in various
marine sites — on rocks, at the bottom of the sea, and, as
in the case of one weed, on the surface of the sea only ;
for, like our pond or duckweed, the weed Sargassum
bacciferum has not been found attached, but always float-
ing on the surface of the sea. Seaweeds of different
kinds are used as food — of such is the seaweed (Forphiira
■ilka) from which our condiment laver is made. The
edible nests made by the Chinese swallows is supposed to
be formed out of some gelatinous seaweeds. Other sea-
weeds are known to us, as carageen, or Irish moss. The
fronds of these are composed to a very considerable ex-
tent of a substance somewhat like starch, which, when
boiled in water, is extracted, and forms a jelly on cooling.
Although seaweeds commonly grow attached to the
hardest rocks at difi'erent depths of water, their growth
is rapid. That of some of the larger seaweeds is recorded
by Dr. P. Neil, who reports the facts observed in the
course of the erection of a beacon on the Carr Rock, in
the Frith of Forth (D. liansborough, "British Sea-
weeds," p. 20). This rock is about 60 feet long by 20
broad, and it is uncovered only at the lowest ebb of spring
tides. "When the operations were begun, it was clothed
with large seaweeds, especially with the great Tangle and
the Bad'derlocks. In the course of 1813 the workmen
succeeded in clearing and levelling a considerable portion
of the foundation o"f the intended building ; but in No-
vember the operations were necessarily abandoned for the
winter. At this time the rocks by pick and axe had
been made quite bare, the seaweeds had been cut away,
roots trampled, and much of the rocks had been chiselled,
so that the very stumps had been cleared away. On re-
turning to the rock in 1814, to resume operations, it was
a matter of no small surprise to find the rock as com-
pletely covered with large seaweeds as when they first
landed upon it, though little more than six months had
elapsed since they left it quite bare.

Then as to the chemical composition of these plants,
seaweed called Tangle was analysed by Hodges. He
found, after it had been dried in a temperature of 313
degrees, that it contained

Organic matter 66 per cent.

Ash 34 „

The inorganic matter or ash was composed of

Silica 3.7 per cent.

Potash 8.3 „

Soda 35.8 „

Lime 5.2 „

Magnesia 8.5 „

Chlorine 11.7 „

Phosphoric acid 5.4 „

Sulphuric acid 20.2 „

Carbonic acid,,,, 12.3 „

Some of the Fuel also contain a saccharine substance,
which Vanquelin long since showed to possess the charac-
ters of manna.

Another fertiliser, sea-shore sand, is employed in enor-
mous quantities by the farmers of Cornwall and Devon,
and this chiefly for the large proportion of finely broken
marine shells of which it is composed. The late Pro-
fessor J. P. Johnston dwelt at considerable length on
these fertilising marine sands. He stated, on the authority
of " De la Beche's Geological Report of Cornwall," that
it has been estimated that seven millions of cubic feet of
this calcareous sea-sand are annually employed by the
Cornish farmers. He adds [Qaar. Jour. Agri., 1848,
p. 344) : " On the western coast of Scotland, also, and
on the shores of the Island of Arran and of the Western
Islands, this shell-saud abounds, and is applied exten-
sively, and with remarkable beneficial efl'ects, both to the
pasture lands and to the peaty soils that cover so large an
area in this remote part of Scotland. It is chiefly along
the coasts that it has hitherto been extensively employed,
and it is transported by sea to a distance of eighty or one
hundred miles. Of the origin of the use as a fertiliser of
the calcareous sand of Cornwall we have no account. It
seems to have been employed by the Cornish farmers from
a very distant period. They were empowered by a grant
so long since as the time of Richard, Duke of Cornwall,
to carry away this sand free from the payment of any toll
to the proprietors of the seashore. This grant was con-
firmed in the year 1261 by another grant from Henry
III., and by the statute of the 7th of James II., c. 18,
whose preamble declares this sand ' to be very profitable
for the bettering of land, and especially for the increase
of corn and tillage within the counties of Cornwall and
Devon.' This sand is described by Sir T. D. Lauder
{Trans. High. Soc, vol. viii., page 763). He says :
' On examining the sand with a suflicient magnifying
power, I found it, as I had anticipated, to be composed
of comminuted mariue shells, I think I may say, almost
devoid of any siliceous mixture. I was a good deal sur-
prised,' he adds, ' to learn that the railway which runs
into the heart of the county of Cornwall, branching off
in two different directions from Wadebridge, had been
entirely conceived, planned, and executed for the inland
transportation of this sand for agricultural purposes, and
that by means of the railway waggons, and afterwards by
that of carts, it was rapidly finding its way over a
great part of the county, and producing the most ex-
traordinary effects on the fertility of the surface.'
Ou the coast of Prance, and especially in Brittany — on
the South side of the English Channel opposite to Corn-
wall— it is obtained in large quantity and is in great de-
maud. It is applied to the clay soils, and to marshy
grass-lands with much advantage, and is carried far in-
land for this purpose. It is there called 'trez,' and is
laid on the land at the rate of 10 or 15 tons per acre.
On the southern coasts of Prance it is known by the name
of ' tanque' or ' tangne.' The shell-sand of Cornwall,"
continues Professor Johnston, " contains from 40 to 70
per cent, of carbonate of lime, with an equally variable
small admixture of animal matter and of sea-salt. The
rest is chiefly siliceous sand." He then gives the analysis
of some tangue from the south of France, and of some
shell-sand from the Isle of Isla. They were found to
contain, per cent. :

Tangue. Isla shell-sand.
Sand, chiefly siUceous ... 20.3 ... --

Alumina— oxide of iron,.. 4.6 ... 7i./

Catbonate of lime 66.0 ... 28.0

Phosphate of lime — •■. O.d

Water and loss 9.1 •■■ —

There is another fine sand extensively employed by the
French farmers — the infusorial sand, which is thus noticed

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

19

by the Professor. It is a kind of fine mealy-looking sea-
sand, used extensively in Normandy upon the light sandy
soils, and which is often carted many miles inland. Mr.
Lorimer, of Aberdalgie, in a late excursion along the
coast of Normandy, was struck by the preference which
was given by the local farmers to this fine meal over the
banks of shell-sand which abound also on the coast. He
forwarded a specimen to Professor Johnston for cxamina-
ton. It was found to contaiu :

Per cent.

Organic matter 5.06

Common salt 1.01

Gypsum 0.32

Cliloride of calcium 0.73

Magnesia a trace

Carbonate of lime 43.50

Alumina 0.17

Oxide of iron 1.20

Oxide of manganese a trace

Insoluble siliceous matter 47.69

"When examined under the microscope, this sand is seen
to consist of minute crystals of carbonate of lime, of
broken limbs and claws of small crustaceous animals, and
of the shells or sheaths of numberless infusoria.

In Normandy it is generally employed in the form of
compost, and is extensively mixed with the farmyard
manure, which it is said greatly to improve. The prac-
tice of the Norman farmers thus referred to we have long
seen successfully adopted by the farmers of Sufi'olk, with
the crag of the eastern portion of that couoty. It is
there very commonly used to form the bottoms and the
coverings of their dung-heaps, although it does not at
first sight appear to be remarkably well adapted for the

purpose. We have remarked the calcareous sea-sand of
the north of Devon, employed for a similar purpose, even
in localities such as those around Bideford Bay, where,
from the steepness of the shore, and other causes, it is
usual for the small farmers to bring the sand from the
shoi'e in sacks on horses' backs. There is also a peculiar
sand collected into barges by dredging scoops near Erith,
from the bed of the river Thames, that I have noted to
possess peculiar fertilising powers. It is there constantly
collected by the crews of a little fleet of vessels, for the
use of the builders of the metropolis, and is the siliceous
and other sand washed down by the water of the Thames.
It possesses a peculiar nauseous putrescent smell, which
is probably attributable to the presence of a considerable
portion of the mass of organic matters which are poured
into the bed of the river from the sewers of the metro-
politan districts. The expense of this sand I should
think not so great as to preclude its employment on local-
ities convenient for water carriage.

In thus glancing at the seaweeds and sand which the
farmers of our western counties employ to such an enor-
mous extent, for what they call "fattening" their land,
the suggestion naturally occurs, whether we may not ex-
tend their employment to other portions of our island. —
whether there are not other masses of shells, deposited in
inland districts, like the crag-sand of Suffolk, and the
fossil shell-sands of one or two of our midland counties,
that might be rendered available, as permane/if impvovers,
of certain soils. The employment even of seaweed,
although commonly limited to a certain distance from the
sea, there is reason to believe might be much farther ex-
tended than at the preseat time,

THE VALUES OF STOCK AND CROP,

The value of our agricultural produce and live stock
is necessarily a subject of considerable interest, not only to
those more especially identified with this industry, but
also to statists and social investigators ; and it is too
much the custom to depreciate the agricultural interest,
because Commerce has become king, and manufactures,
in consequence of the cheapness and abundance of the
raw material contributed from all parts of the world, are
making giant strides. "While we are ready to admit the
nation's obligations to commerce and manufactures, we
still desire to see justice done to agriculture. The area
of our insular kingdom it must be remembered is limited,
and while the population is increasing at the rate of
nearly 1,200 a day, but one-third of this number emigrates.
Although the nation has strengthened itself by about four
millions in the last twenty years, yet we have at the same
time sent out almost as many more millions to our
colonies and the United States, where they are multiply-
ing as rapidly as they did at home, and with wider scope
for their energies. Man, it has been well observed,
creates the materials of his life ; and the millions of acres
of fertile land in the New World call for hands to gather the
varied harvests they yield to modern industry. Grain is
brought to our shores and sold at a profit, from countries
so remote as California and Australia, by the skDl and
enterprise of commerce. But it is satisfactory to find
that while the value of the merchandise imported in
the last ten years has increased 61 per cent, the value of
our produce and manufactures exported, has also
increased nearly 50 per cent.

Although it cannot be denied that there has been a
large increase in our foreign food supplies, this may be

attributed to the improved condition of ail classes, the more
general distribution of v;ealth, and the extended competition
in shipping, which necessitates their obtaining freights.

QUANTITIES OF THE UNDERMENTIONED ARTICLES OE FOOD
IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KIN&DOM.

ARTICLES.

Cattle Head.

Meat:— Beef Cwts.

Bacon ... „

Pork „

Fish „

Corn:— Wheat ... „
Wheat Flour „
Other kinds „

Rice Qrs.

Potatoes Cwts.

Butter „

Lard ,

Cheese „

Effffs No.

Average of 3 Average of 3Incrse.
yrs. 1858—60. yrs. 1868—70. pr. C.

844,843

216,790

210,014

143,140

300,814

20,400,754

4,090,224

18,913,673

2,238,028

957,208

551,114

137,665

451,306

150,337,133

759,984

230,030

648,495

199,750

625,159

33,745,608

4,433,839

31,83,3,465

4,783,330

1,491,189

1,171,946

236,973

964,616

418,994,640

120

6

208

41
107

65
8

68
113

56
113

73
113
178

We published during last year some statistical facts and
estimates, calculated to show the aggregate value of agricul-
tural industry, and are induced to return to the subject,
in consequence of our figures having been taken up at the
late Social Science Congress at Leeds, and it having since
been stated that our calculations were excessive, as com-
pared with the data of Mr. Caird, given in the Statiitical
Society's Journal for June, 1868.

Now, in comparing the two series of calculations, it
will be but right again to examine these somewhat in detail,

C 2

20

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

We will first take Mr. Caird's estimate, premisiug that
it takes in Ireland, whereas our figures related only to
Great Britain. We made our calculations upon the agricul-
tural returns of 1869, Mr. Caird's were founded upon those
of 1867. These are Mr. Caii-d's figures :—
Value of the Wheat crop of the United

Kingdom £31,500,000

Oats 25,700,000

Barley 20,400,000

Beans, Peas and Rye 7,000,000

Potatoes 18,000,000

FlaxaudHops 2,000,000

Cattle and Dairy Produce 58,500,000

Sheep and Wool 26,900,000

£190,000,000
And here are the figures we gave (for Great Britain
alone), estimated two years later, be it remembered, and
there are of course fluctuations in crops and stock, but
in the later year it may be assumed the agricultural re-
turns had got to be more precise and accurate : —

Wheat £36,875,000

Oats 20,870,000

Barley 19,671,000

Beans and Peas 5,826,000

Hay 40,000,000

Potatoes 8,778,000

Turnips and Root Crops 18,120,000

Flax and Hops 1,898,800

£147,038,800

Cattle 79,702,095

Sheep 56,691,746

Pigs 2,413,065

Horses 30,000,000

£315,845,706
Now, reviewing our figures by the additional light of
the later returns of agricultural statistics, we will see
what modifications require to be made in our estimate.
The acreage under wheat, barley and oats has fluctuated
very little during the last four years, whatever the crops
may have done, and therefore our figures for those may
stand ; except that we estimated 4 quarters an acre for
wheat, for, as we then said a really good harvest,
and Mr. Caird considers that 28 bushels is the
highest estimate that should be allowed. Potatoes may
also stand at our estimate, and here we would remark
that Mr. Caird omits altogether grass, turnips, and other
root crops, which certainly should be taken into con-
sideration as agricultural crops.

We now come to the live stock statistics, and here we
are free to admit that our figures require some modifica-
tion if they are to be considered as the annual value of
the agricultural produce, for we summed up the value of
all the stock returned, although we had stated previously
that only about one-fourth were slaughtered. Therefore,
the figures should stand thus —

Cattle £19,925,820

Sheep 12,931,685

Pigs 1,250,000

Horses 30,000,000

takes at about 8s. a head for England and Ireland, and 68.

in Scotland. We have, therefore, to add —

Wool £11,815,256

Dairy produce 20,858,700

£64,107,505
Mr. Caird does not include horses and pigs in his esti-
mate ; indeed, he could scarcely do so, for there were no
agricultural returns of horses in 1867. But, following
his calculations, we have two other items to add to the
foregoing — dairy produce and home-grown wool. He
estimates the dairy produce from cows in England at £10
per head, in Scotland £8, and in Ireland £7 ; wool he

£32,673,956

Poultry we pass over.

But to make our comparison fair, we must now add
the agricultural statistics of Ireland, which Mr. Caird in-
cludes in his figures, and which we did not. These would
be as follows, taking also the year I8G9, the annual value
of Irish agricultural produce —

Grain crops, 2,186,814 acres £23,248,785

Potatoes, 1,041,837 acres 12,000,000

Beans, Peas, and Rye, 21,156 acres..., 126,916

Turnips and Beet, 343,009 acres 1,715,000

Meadow and Clover, 1,669,800 acres.. 8,449,000

Green Crops, 84,051 acres 420,255

Flax, 194,900 acres 2,088,000

Cattle, i, sold 1,000,000 10,000,000

Dairy Produce 3,293,934

Sheep, 1,100,000 1,650,000

Wool 1,859,263

Pigs, 750,000 at 25s 937,500

Horses 532,657 at £10 5,326,570

£71,115,223
Now, summarising these foregoing statements, we arrive
at the following data. Returns for Great Britain —

Agricultural produce £147,038,800

Live stock 64,107,505

Dairy produce and wool 32,673,956

Returns for Ireland (as above) 71,115,223

£314,935,484
Now as poultry are not in the estimate, and there are
the value of straw and other small matters left out of
calculation, we believe we were fully warranted in estimat-
ing the annual value of agricultural produce and live stock
in the United Kingdom at 301 millions, or fully 100
million more than Mr. Caird's estimate.

PRESENTATION TO MR. JOSEPH MEADOWS.—
It consists of a silver epergne or centre piece with vine
branches, bearing foliage and fruit. Around the base are
portraits of Bolivar and Charlie, the Thoruville prize bulls,
from the paintings by D. G. Fortune. The plinth bears the
following inscription : — Presented to Joseph Meadows, Esq.,
Thoruville, by his friends, to mark their appreciation of his
spirited and successful exertions as a short-horu breeder, and
of the credit reflected on Ireland by the fame of the buU
" bolivar, and other animals bred at Tliornville, exhibited at
various leading shows in the United Kingdom." The secretary,
Mr. Armstrong, read the following address : Dear sir, on
presenting you with a testimonial in recognition of your spirit
and enterprise as a shorthorn breeder, allow us to assure you
that we take a pride in your success, perseveringly contended
for, and honourably won. So long as the annals of the Royal
Agricultural Society of England and Ireland are read the fame
of the bull Bolivar can never die. As a mark of our respect for
your high character in all relations of life, and for the effect
your exertions have had in improving tlie stock of your own
neighbourhood, as well as in other parts of Ireland, we
request your acceptance of the accompanying gift, and we
trust it may descend in your family for generations, to excite
them to deeds of usefulness, and as a tribute to the memory of
one who had been liighly respected and esteem.ed. Wishing
you the enjoyment of all happiness, we are, on behalf of the
committee and subscribers, yours faithfully, William Boxwell,
treasurer, Samuel Armstrong, secretary. Mr. Meadows ex-
pressed his warm appreciation of the honour that had been
conferred on him, and felt honest pride in being able to hand
down to his descendants such a memorial of the friendship and
affection of his fellow-countrymen towards hira, which was far
beyond his humble deserts i

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

21

IMPORTATION OF PEDIGREE SHORT-HORNS.

The demand for this breed seems so greatly on the
increase, that our home-herds cannot supply the more
valuable tribes. The fact is, that those who possess them
are not willing to sell even at inordinate prices ; conse-
quently our Colonial brethren and American cousins are
applied to, and some animals have recently been purchased
and brought over. The importation of the yearling bull,
Duke of Hillhurst, for Col. Kiugscote, and of the young
cow, Eleventh Lady of Oxford, for Lord Dunmore, in
April last, has just been followed by a still larger im-
portation of three cows and five heifer calves from Mr.
Cochrane, for Lord Dunmore. The following are the
names and particulars :

Duchess lOGth, white, calved November 30, 1870, by 8th
Duke of York, dam Ducliess ,103rd by 4th Duke of Thorn-
dale.

Duchess 107th, roan, calved December 16, 1870, by 8th
Duke of York, dam Duchess 101st by ith Duke of Thorn-
dale.

Eiglith Maid of Oxford, roan, calved October 18, 1867, by
2nd Duke of Geneva, dam 2nd Maid of Oxford, ])y Grand
Duke of Oxford.

Marchioness of Oxford, roan, calved January 21, 1871, by
Uh Duke of Geneva, dam 8th Maid of Oxford by 2nd Duke
of Geneva.

Red Rose, red and white, calved April 12, 1867, by Airdrie,
dam Easterdav, by Pilot,

Red Rose 2nd, red, calved October 13, 1866, by Duke
Frederick, dam Grace, by Airdrie.

Red Rose 3rd, red and a little white, ealved February 15
1871, by Joe Johnson, dam Red Rose, by Airdrie.

Red Rose ith, red and a little white, calved July 3, 1871,
by 11th Duke of Thorndale, dam Red Rose 2nd, by Duke
Frederick.

The two Duchess heifers are the produce of Duchess
101st and Duchess 103rd, which Mr. Cochrane bought
in calf last summer, of Capt. Gunter, for 2,500 gs., and the
same price is now paid for their calves. Those who have
seen and known both dams and calves, are agreed in their
opinion that the calves are superior to their dams.
Different food, judicious management, and a bracing
climate, may even in twelve months have had their effect,
and certainly the calves show greater substance and more
vigorous constitutions, the white one being especially
good, and both are very full of hair. The Oxford cow
was bred in America, by Mr. Sheldon, and sold by him to
Col. King, from whom she was purchased during Mr.
Thornton's visit last winter in America, by Mr. Coch-
rane. She is a large, sti'oug, nice roan cow, and by a
very noted sire, the Second Duke of Geneva, who was
said to be one of the finest Duke bulls bred in the States.
This cow has a remarkably fine roan heifer calf by Fourth
Duke of Geneva, a red prize bull now owned by Mr.
S. Campbell.

The Red Roses have been bred in America for nearly
thirty years, and are well known here as the Cambridge
Rose, or Moss Rose tribe. They are descended from
Rose of Sharon, bought by the Ohio Company from Mr.
Bates, and the family passed into the possession of Mr.
Abram Renick, whose herd of 50 strong is bred entirely
from this tribe. They were described by Mr. Thornton
as the best and most uniform herd he saw in America.
Mr. Renick is an old breeder of great reputation, and his
stock, to which he attaches great value, is much esteemed ;
indeed, most of the bulls that he sells become when ex-
hibited prize winners. It is this family that is reported
to have been taken out to America early in the present
century, and the first-named cow in the pedigree is

called the American cow. She was, after being several
years in America, brought back to England ; and Mr.
Bates bought her heifer. Red Rose First, by Yarborough.
The two cows now imported have two very thick- good
red-heifer calves running with them. The cows are also,
deep reds, of great substance, and very symmetrical,
having that fine quality and character for which the tribe
is noted. The intermediate crosses used in America have
always been first-class bulls, chiefly of Bates and Whitaker
blood ; and of late years Mr. Renick has bred his own
bulls by sending his best cows out to Duke sires.

The eight head had some difficulty in being put on
board the Sarmatiau at Quebec. Mr. Simon Beattie
came over in charge of them, and landed them in excel-
lent order. They had a quick but heavy passage, with
strong head-winds. On board they stood the journeyandate
well, even in the roughest weather, but much was in the
care bestowed in the fitting of the boxes. The passengers
made quite pets of them on board, and many dainty
pieces were put aside for the calves. A.t Liverpool they
were reshipped into a tender, and landed at dark in a
cold unprepared dock, where they had to undergo the
Government regulations of twelve hours' quarantine.
Taking it very quietly, the animals walked in without a
bruise or blemish and looked comparatively fresh ; but
they soon laid down on the somewhat scanty litter that
could only be obtained for them. On receiving the
veterinary's approval, they were trucked again for Scot-
laud, and arrived at Dunmore on Wednesday night, where
his Lordship met them, to his great satisfaction and ap-
proval. Indeed, considering the risk and enormous
expense, the county is somewhat indebted to a young
nobleman, who is not only almost a zealot in the matter of
steam cultivation, but who spares neither his time nor
his purse in procuring the best animals of the best blood
that it is possible to obtain.

Besides these Shorthorns, Mr. Cheney, of Gaddeshy,
has also imported some Oxford heifers and two bulls
from Messrs. Walcot and Campbell's herd at New York
Mills, viz. :

10th Lady of Oxford, red, calved March 23, 1867, by 10th
Duke of Thorndale, dam Seventh Lady of Oxford by 6th
Duke of Thorndale.

13th Lady of Oxford, roan, calved January 21, 1871, by
Baron of Oxford, dam Seventh Lady of Oxford by 6th Duke
of Thorndale.

9th Maid of Oxford, red and white, calved December 6th,
1869, by 10th Duke of Thorndale, dam 3rd Maid of Oxford by
Grand Duke of Oxford.

5th Lord Oxford, red ball, calved August 1, 1870, by 4th
Duke of Geneva, dam 2ud Countess of Oxford by 2nd Duke
of Geneva.

1st Duke of Oneida, red bull, calved January 2, 1870, by
10th Duke of Thorndale, dam 12th Duchess of Thorndale by
6th Duke of Thorndale.

These animals came over in the ship New York to
Southampton. One of the heifers — the Ninth Maid of
Oxford, a very beautiful animal — had been exhibited at
the New York State Fair, and on the voyage dropped.
Although she was landed safely, she died a few days
afterwards in the quarantine shed at Southampton.
These losses are frequently incurred by those who visit
our stocks and export largely, and are the more serious
inasmuch as, the animal is invariably of great merit. It
is, however, to be hoped that Mr. Cheney's investment
with the others will in the end be more fortunate, and in
a degree compensate for this loss at the outset.

2^

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

SHEEP BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT.

BY THE NORTHERN FARMER.

If care lias been taken to preserve the pastures mode-
rately rough, the ewes will be able to keep themselves iu
good condition, without the slightest assistance, until the
period of gestation is far advanced ; but, however well-
conditioned, it is good policy to begin to give a little
food in addition to the grass, at least six weeks previous
to lambing time. This, besides being favourable to the
health of the flock, gives the lambs strength, and they
will be dropped strong and hardy, very soon getting the
use of their limbs, and the weaklings or culls will be re-
duced to the smallest possible limit. The food given
may consist of the softer varieties of turnips, such as
the Pomeranian, grey stone, and yellows, together with a
little sweet hay (sheep will eat no other), given in racks
so constructed that there will be no waste. A good
rack soon pays itself by the mere saving it effects in the
consumption of the hay; and no motives of
economy, however laudable in other respects, should be
permitted to interfere with getting an article for this
purpose of the very best construction. The object
being to preserve the animals in healthy condition
only, fattening foods, such as Swede turnips, cake,
or corn, should be carefully avoided until they have
lambed, so as to lessen the danger of casualties at that
critical period. "When fairly started, and the lambing
season safely over, bulky food may be given Avithout the
slightest danger in as great quantity as the flock will eat,
provided it is given regularly. It is in consequence of
deviation from this wholesome rule that deaths occur
amongst breeding ewes when suckling their lambs, and
not from anything injurious iu the food itself. Although
there is not actually much necessity for it, if bulky food
is abundant, a little crushed oats may be given lailj, as
it to some extent corrects the waterish nature of the
grass and turnips, keeps the wool and flesh firm, and in
every way aids in preserving the animals in good health.

During the period of lambing no reasonable assistance
should be grudged in attending on the ewes both during
the day and night, as a little extra care for a few weeks
at this time will be paid over and over again by the lives
saved, to say nothing of the mental satisfaction which is
the invariable accompaniment of success. The feeble
little creature newly ushered into the world, it may be on
a uight of fierce wind or rain, stauds but a sorry chance
of surviving, unless some friendly hand is near to remove
itself and dam to a place of shelter, rendering all neces-
sary assistance until sufficiently strengthened to be able
to find the teat easily of itself. Unless constant care
of this kind is exercised, a heavy per-centage of the
lambs will be lost, many ewes manifesting the greatest
indifference to their offspring, if weak or unable
to follow. This is more particularly observable in
the case of twins, the first dropped being very
frequently the strongest and most precocious, and the
mother showing the utmost partiality to it, and neglect-
ing the weakling if the latter is not attended to and as-
sisted to suck until it gathers strength.

Highly-bred ewes of the white breeds, even although
they may afterwards milk moderately well, are often se-
veral days before they come to their milk, the lambs in
such cases maintaining only a lingering existence, and
losing much of their strength before the mother is able to
support them. The shephei-d should have milk at com-

mand during the lambing season ; and if the position is
isolated and the flock large, a cow should be placed at his
disposal, so that he should have no reason for being ab-
sent from his post. Liberal measures of this kind — viz.,
plenty of assistance and abundant food — will bring their
sure reward at weaning time, the number of lambs in
proportion to the ewes being so vastly greater than could
possibly be the case under the system of semi-neglect
which must inevitably prevail when the shepherd is
overworked and unprovided with the necessary aids for
the successful carrying out of the extra duties devolving
on him at this time.

From the period of lambing until the day of separa-
tion the ewes should never want food at will, this rule
being of such importance that it cannot be urged too fre-
quently or pointedly. When the food supply is kept up
without stint, the flow of milk is uninterruptsd. The
lambs, having abundance of food, never stop or recede in
growth or condition ; and on the day when they are
turned into cash the extra price per head over other lots
not so well cared for, although equally well bred, will be
so great as to demonstrate without the slightest chance of
mistake or evasion what system pays best — whether
liberality or niggardliness.

A mistake is sometimes made by keeping a large
number of sheep in one flock, whatever the size of the
fields which form their pastures. If the range is large
in proportiou to the number of stoclc, the drawbacks at-
tendant on the practice are not so noticeable; but when
kept in one lot in small enclosures, there unavoidably
follows a considerable amount of iuconvenience and po-
sitive loss. It pays to have the fields well fenced, so
that the flock can be divided into small handy lots, as, in
the first place, more stock can be kept, aud the sheep
are healthier on account of the grass being clean and
fresh, a large flock in proportion to the acreage of a field
soon rendering it foul, by being thoroughly impregnated
with their droppings. Rank grass, forced up quickly
from the latter cause, is a fertile source of scour ; and
much loss from debility, waste of condition, and death is
the inevitable consequence when sheep are constantly
kept on a limited range, and afforded no variety of food.
The paths made by a large number of sheep following
each other in succession, which is their invariable habit,
become also a cause of loss, much of the land being
trodden into pathways, to the utter exclusion of vegeta-
tion. For these aud various other minor reasons it will
be found in practice much more satisfactory to keep a
flock of sheep in several small lots, rather than in one
large one. In every way they are more handy to ma-
nage ; and diseases of the feet or skin are much more
easily combated, should they unfortunately break out or
be introduced to the pastures.

There are two modes of deahng with a flock of sheep
now prevalent : the one is to clear off the lambs from
the mothers ; and the other to hold over, place on tur-
nips, feed liberally with the aid of concentrated food, and
sell when from twelve to fifteen months old, either in or
out of the wool, as may be found most convenient, the
shearing becoming peremptory should the sheep be held
until the season is advanced. Both methods have nu-
merous followers, the arguments adduced on each side in
support of tlie favourite theory being nearly always

THE FARMER'S MAaAZINE.

23

sound, for the excellent reason that in practice most men
find out what pays best, and, adhering to a certain
course of management for a number of years, become
adepts in that particular branch of husbandry to which
their attention has been confined.

To get rid of lambs profitably at the age of from three
to five months, the land on which they are bred must ne-
cessarily be of good quality, possessing natural advan-
tages iu the way of shelter, kindliness of soil, and early
spring of grass, which, combined with liberality in pro-
viding extra food in early spring, make success as
as nearly as possibly can be a certainty. Feeding oft' on
turnips, on the other hand, can be adopted on a much
greater variety of surface, being in point of fact suited to
most soils, from the deepest loam to the thin, brashy
soil of the moor or hillside scarcely reclaimed from a
state of nature, and where, from severity of climate, it
becomes absolutely imperative to have the lambs born at
the very period when those reared on low-lying and shel-
tered farms are being converted into cash.

The possibility of bringing waste lands in situations
inaccessible to other modes of reclamation into profitable
culture, by means of turnips grown with portable
manures and fed off with sheep, has made this subject one
of national importance, and those men who have devoted
their time, capital, and energies to this branch of agricul-
ture, deserve well of their country, and should be con-
sidered in the light of its greatest benefactors. Lambs
bringing highly remunerative prices from the end of April
to beginning of July, the system of clearing out the
whole of the season's lambs at that period has been very
generally adopted on the better class of soils, the mixed
system of husbandly suiting admirably, as by its means,
a good bite of succulent grass can be calculated on iu
very early spring, when confinement to old pastures would
be little better than starvation.. A farm growing a con-
siderable breadth of green crops every year, can keep a
very large stock in proportion to its acreage, every season
being amply provided with food. A farmer can scarcely
find himself in a worse predicament than that of having
more stock than he has food for. Yet, notwithsauding all
danger, trouble and loss that constantly occur from
overstocking, it is the large number that is most profit-
able. If a farm is kept understocked, so as to avoid all
trouble or outlay, in providing extra food in the spring
months, when vegetation is parched into dormancy by
sharp frosts and chiling winds, the stock having to subsist
altogether on the rough grass which was rejected in the
season of plenty, it must be very good land indeed that
will make capital so expended a profitable investment.
Rent, taxes, and attendance run up an unavoidable bill,
which will consume all the profit yielded by a light stock,
leaving not even the narrowest margin for interest of
money, depreciation of market value, or losses from
accident and disease. My own experience is altogether
in favour of a heavy stock in proportion to the acreage,
it alone on the general run of farms will pay, but it
cannot be sustained, unless the supply of food is abundant
every day throughout the year. The grass land on a farm
worked on a six or seven year's course, has uot time to
become poisoned by the excretions of sheep, however
great the number kept, therefore when a heavy stock is
kept and liberally fed, the profit is twofold, first on the
animals and their produce, aud second by the manurial
improvement they effect on the soil on which they are fed
in such large numbers, aud the large quantity of external
food which they consume. By the labour-grudging system,
but a moderate stock can be kept even on the best land,
and they are fully fed only in the height of the grass-
growing season, the winter and spring beiug long and
dreary both to the animals and their owner, instead of
being the pleasantest and most cheerful period of the

whole year. By growing turnips, mangolds, cabbage, tares,
rape and rye in considerable quantity, and securing heavy
crops by careful culture and abundant manure, a very
large stock of sheep can be profitably held in proportion
to the acreage — the number indeed so great as to be seen
to be believed or properly understood, the soil is kept
constantly improving in stamina and crop-bearing capa-
bility, and the man who has the spirit aud intelligence to
carry out the full feeding system, both with the land he
holds and the stock he owns, will seldom fail to place
himself in a position of independence. Rather than let
the ewes go back in even the slightest degree when suck-
ling their lambs, it is better to purchase a few weeks'
supply of food, if there is the slightest prospect of the
home-grown running short towards the end of the season.
Whatever the expense it will be repaid over and over
again, if by its aid the lambs are kept progressing, and
not permitted either to stand still or recede. Either of
the latter results will inevitably happen if the milk is
suddenly shortened in quantity, by the ewes being com-
pelled to trust wholly to the pastures for support, before
growth has been sufficiently advanced to yield them a full
bite. A dry April and first half of Maj is a very trying
time for the owners of a large breeding flock, unless he
has had the foresight to prepare for such an emergency ;
this done however, he tides over the period of difficulty
with perfect ease, and reaps a well-earned reward in the
superior condition and consequent high value of his way-
going stock.

Adhering to the principle that it is the heavy stock that
pays best, it becomes the duty of every farmer following
this course to v>'ork out the largest possible sum for each
individual member of his flock, as constant care, abundant
food, and intelligent management will extract. Jioss of
capital on the disposal of cast ewes should be carefully
avoided, as if this is permitted it seriously lowers the
year's receipts, and leads to discouragement. With the
high prices of late years realised for mutton of all qualities,
there is no necessity for selling old ewes anything at all
under the price of those purchased to take their place ;
all that is required to work them up to the same, or even
at times greater value, being a little attention in providing
suitable food. This is best accomplished by sowing down
a few acres of rich land with clovers, grasses, and rape,
without a corn crop, netting the sheep on this in autumn,
a very few weeks on such succulent food rendering them
thick fat without cake, concentrated food, or medicated
mixture of any kind whatever. Assuming that the sales
of old, and purchases of new ewes balance each other, and
that there are no losses, but those arising from the usual
casualties inseparable from the management of a large
flock, the question naturally arises. What is a good average
for a breeding ewe to make during the season ? To fully
illustrate my ideas on this very interesting question, I
shall suppose a farm of 400 acres worked on a sound sys-
tem of convertible husbandry, on which there is a large
dairy stock, a proportionate number of calves, yearlings,
and two-year-olds, working and young hoi'ses of different
ages, and a stock of 200 breeding ewes of a good kind,
costing from 50s. to 60s. each, when purchased in Sep-
tember. I shall further suppose that the whole of the
season's lambs are cleared off" within six months, the first
sale being made early in May, sooner if found profitable,
and the final clearance made not later than the middle of
August. Such a heavy stock cannot be kept without
growing root and other green crops on an extensive scale,
and I therefore consider that its receipts ought to come
as near as is necessary for the end in view, to the highest
productive powers of a good sized fairly bred flock, whose
progeny, with but a few choice exceptions, is destined for
the butcher at a very early period of their existence.
Although there may be considerablv more births, it may

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

yet be accouuted a very successful issue if 250 lambs are
sold from 200 ewes, a certain number always succumbing
to curd on the stomach, hair-balls, foxes, and accidental
injury. The lambs being dropped early, and properly
nourished from birth, will be in the market wheu the
price is at its highest, easily realizing an average price of
32s. each. I am aware that many men do even better
than this, but the iigure stated is a very fair one, and will
not be reached without liberality and care. The ewes
largely benefited by abundant food will grow good fleeces,
weighing on the roundabout 6 2-3rdslbs., making at Is.
6d. a pound, 10s. for each. The total receipts stand thus :

£ s. d.

250 Lambs at 323. 400 0 0

200 Fleeces at lOs 100 0 0

No. of Ewes 200) 500 0 0

Average for each ewe £2 10 0

This I consider an excellent return when a fuU stock is
kept, and I repeat as my firm conviction that it is only
the large number worked up to such good condition as to
command the highest price of the day when disposed f
that will pay.

CHAP MONEY.

At the aunual meeting of the Banbury Chamber of Agricul-
ture, the Rev. C. Holbeck, the chairman, said their business
was to consider the circular of the millers and dealers relating
to chap money, which was that they proposed to substitute a
month's credit or a month's discount, the former being the
usual London terms.

Mr. Westover said he gave notice at the last council meet-
ing that he would bring this matter before the chamber. He
said they were very much indebted to Mr. Miller for the able
manner in winch he brought forward the subject, and the
efficient way in which he carried it out. He (Mr. Westover)
did not stand there as the representative of those gentlemen
who sent the circular out, but he had had some conversation
with some of them, and it was found to be very difficult to carry
out the resolution passed by the Board on that subject. There
\yere two reasons why they should consider the circular. He
thought it would be uncorteous to allow the proposal to pass
unnoticed, and another thing was that lie thought it would be
very uiidigniiied to allow themselves to slip into their old
channel without discussing the proposal. If they found they
were beaten let them acknowledge it. The reason they were
beaten, if they were beaten, was that they could not carry out
the resolution for want of support in the neighbourhood and dis-
trict. It might have been successful if other places had begun
a similar movement when they did ; but it was a very difficult
thing to refuse dealers custom when they purchased corn in
Banbury market, for they had to give it elsewhere. One dealer
said a montli's credit meant one month beyond the ordinary
fortnight. (Mr. Smith — " That is not London terms. ")
Another dealer told him that it meant a month from the day
when the purchase was made. A month's discount meant 5
per cent. He had also been told that the tradesmen gave the
very same discount for cash, but then they could put on their
profit alter calculating the cost of production, and sell accord-
ingly. But they could not do so, for their price was fixed for
them, and they must sell at market value. It was no argument
to say that they could give discount the same as tradesmen.
Pive per cent, for one mouth would be one penny in the pound.
He quoted the following figures as showing the difference be-
tween chap money and discount : —

Qrs. s, £

20 barley at 35—35
20 „ at 40—4.0
20 wheat at 43—42
20 „ at 56—56
20 oats at 20—20
20 „ at 24—24

Chap Money.

4 or«'
4 or'-
4 or'-

Discount

2 11

3 4

3 6

4 8

1 8

2 0

I 6s. 3d.
Us. 2d.
I 3s. 8d.

It seemed to him that the more eciuitable way would be to give
discount of Id. in the pound.

Mr. R. Potter said he had signed the paper, and he should
stick to it.

The Chairman said that Mr. Simmons had received the
following telegram that morning from the Secretary to the
Central Chamber : "The Central Chamber can't consider the
subject at present, but hopes that you will not abandon the
movement until the other chambers which have taken action
in the matter have been communicated with."

Mr. Bereidge ; It seems from that that the question has
beeu taken up.

Mr. Hadland would be very pleased to support the aboli-
tion of chap money if it could be carried out generally. He
found that the resolution they had passed was working very
impartially and very objectionably. A great many gave chap
money, and others did not. Some gave it who signed the
paper. He moved " That in the opinion of this meeting the
new system with regard to chap money, being only partial,
does not work satisfactorily, and therefore we think it right to
release from their pledge all who desire it ; but if the Central
Chamber of Agriculture (from whom we think the proposition
ought to emanate) should at any time adopt it, and it is
generally carried out, we pledge ourselves to its support."

The motion was not seconded.

Mr. Davis said he was one of those stubborn men who
refused to give chap money. He had neither given it nor taken
it, and he had found no difficulty in it. He had given a month's
credit,and he did not intend to give chap money unless it became
a general rule in the market. They should not return to the
old system, and he suggested the appintment of a committee
to meet the millers and see what should be done.

Mr. Garrett said he had accepted the terms of the miUers,
and sold some corn and waited a month for the money, and
then they wanted chap-money. The present system did not
work satisfactorily.

Mr. R. GiVRDNER said that some of those who signed the
circular would not agree to it. The Woolgroves said they
had plenty of money of their own to carry on business with,
and they did not want a month's credit. The matter was a
very difficult one. He had taken his corn to Birmingham
market, and had taken chap-money there.

Mr. Dun suggested that pending further proceedings they
should take the compromise offered by the corn dealers and
merchants.

Mr. Bereidge said that would leave them in the same posi-
tion as they were now. He thought they were in a very small
minority in the matter, and unless the principle was acknow-
ledged by the Central and other Chambers throughout the
country, he did not think they would do away with custom.
They should wait and see what the Central Chamber did.

Mr. Waiton thought the subject was one in which the
Chamber had no right to interlere. They should let Ban-
bury market lake care of itself; it was quite able to do so.
They could not do away with custom in Banbury, and if they
did it would give a fictitious rise to the price of corn in
Banbury market. There would be a fictitious rise of 2s. on
every ten quarters sold in Banbury.

The Secretary could not agree with Mr. Walton that the
Chamber had no right to take the matter up. The object of
such Chambers was to rectify abuses, and chap-money was
one.

Mr. Risley moved that the consideration of the question
be adjourned, and Mr. Simmons get information what other
Chambers are doing in the matter.

Mr. Weston seconded, and the motion was carried.

Mr. Westover — In the meantime we remain on strike.

THB FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

25

THE MANAGEMENT AND BREEDING OF STOCK.

At a meeting of the Breconshire Chamber of Agriculture,
the Rev. Garnons Williams, president, in the chair.

The Rev. Canon Beever said that he could not do
more than give a few suggestions gathered from his own ex-
perience, hoping, at the same time, that the flint struck against
the steel of their own experience might elicit a spark which
would produce a flame, and induce a discussion whereby both
would be benefited. In the first instance he thought of speaking
on the general management of a farm, but that seemed such
a wide subject that he could not do justice to it in a single
address. There were, however, one or two remarks he wished
to make at that stage, and upon that subject, viz., tiiat during
the past few hours he had seen farms as well managed, and
with as good stock as he had seen in any part of England.
There was, therefore little or notliing to be taught on that
point. He had no doubt there were farmers amongst them
who took advantage of those things which gave increased
production. Of course success depended in the first place
upon sufficient capital at command and placed in the soil ; and
that, backed up by energy, which ensured the laud being well
ploughed in good time, sown with the best seed, and having
the best management, would, under ordinary circumstances, be
followed with success. But there was also one other matter he
wished to put before them, though most of them might know
it, and it was in reference to Mr. Lawes' theory about soils.
His theory was this : that soils, like men, possessed certain
specialities — idiosyncrasies so to speak — that is, special aptitudes
for growing different kinds of crops. Por instance, he found
when speaking to old farmers, who could scarcely read a book,
they had learned from practical experience that different soils
possessed distinct specialities. On his own land, for example,
one field would grow better wheat than another ; a second
would grow better barley ; a third better oats ; and a fourth
better root crops. Mr. Lawes recognized what experience had
shown, and he also went still further and said, supposing a field
grew fifteen bushels of wheat per acre without manure, it was
possible to make it produce more by the aid of manure ; but
without manure, and if cultivated, it would always grow
fifteen bushels and not less. It was quite possible that the pro-
duce might be increased to thirty-five and forty bushels, as
was done by high class farming, and different farmers might
drop the amount from forty to thirty-five, but they could not
reduce it below what might be termed its natural yield, or its
natural aptitnde. The next field might grow twenty -five
bushels, and they could not reduce it below that amount. They
might improve it and they might reduce it, but they could not
exhaust the soil below a certain yielding power, and between
the highest and lowest limit was the scope for good farming.
Now lie presumed whut a young farmer ought to do, and what
he would do if he were beginning farming, was to iind out on
taking a farm from those who had lived on it what special
aptitudes the land possessed ; and having ascertained that, he
should next consider whether he had sufficient capital to work
it properly. The rule of a certain landlord was, " Show me
your capital and I will let you a farm." For himself he thought
a capital of £10 per acre was not too much. But he wished to
impress upon them, the extraordinary fact of the aptitude of
soils, and said that if a man wished to succeed he had better
ascertain the aptitude of the h nd he was about going to.
Then necessarily another important matter was with regard to
the breeding and rearing of stock. Mr. Frank Buckland and
others had tried to introduce all sorts of birds and cattle into
this country from those jn which they were climatised, but Mr.
Buckland himself had told him that the experiment had
proved a failure. And therefore his advice to those com-
mencing farming, and what he himself would follow if he were
beginning, was to get the best stock of the neighbourhood in
which the farm was situate, and in that respect Mr. Buckland
said the farmers of this country had a grand field for improve-
ment. Now supposing he took a farm in that county he
should endeavour to become acquainted with the stock kept by
the leading farmers, and also the special aptitude of the soil

from those who lived in the neighbourhood of the farm he
proposed to take, who necessarily were better acquainted with
it, and in that way he should derive very valuable information.
He should probably find that the flocks of the county were a
special feature, because Breconshire was somewhat noted for
its sheep; and certainly, from what he had seen, justly so.
His object, therefore, would be, whether on a hill or a
lowland farm, to improve the breed of his sheep, so as
to make them give better fleeces, more flesh, and possess
hardier constitutions. With regard to pigs, they were not a
local breed ; the different kinds being found everywhere, but he
would not go in much for any of them. Horned stock, he
observed, appeared to be closely related to the soil ; inasmuch
as the different breeds were peculiar to their own distinct part
of country. He might be wrong, but he believed that if the
took pure-bred Herefords and turned them out in the black
cattle country, without allowing them to be crossed, they
would, after a long term of years — say a hundred — be found to
have grown into and have assumed the type of black cattle.
Here was an instance : An old friend of his in Carmarthenshire
commenced breeding Shorthorns, and for that purpose bought
the very best representatives of that type ; but the result had
been that they had assumed the exact shape and appearance
of the black cattle, though certainly they were not of the same
colour. He asked him how he accounted for it, and in reply
he attributed it simply to the soil, and said he had watched
them change gradually until they had assumed the type of the
cattle of that county. And, again, if they took Devonshire
cattle into the Shorthorn country, and turned them loose for a
hundred years, their characteristics would be of Shorthorued
stock. However, as he had said, he had nothing to teach
them ; he should say to a young farmer coming
ing into a fresh country, " Choose the best stock around
you." For example, he saw a flock of sheep the day before
from which he might choose twenty animals, all of them of the
most beautiful type; and having done that, he should endeavour
to make his whole flock, by judicious cross-breeding, as perfect
as possible. That is, he should fix a certain type for himself,
and try to reach it with his entire flock. He instanced that
an eminent breeder came to ehe conclusion that Southdown
sheep were not the most profitable, and to make them more
so he crossed and re-crossed, always keeping before him a
distinct type to attain to. And so again with horses. If they
wanted a good breed they must begin by getting a mare of
character, as fine as possible in every point, and perfectly sound.
He was glad to say they had an excellent breed of horses
in that county. But he had seen horses that were not of
such an excellent type, and instanced that one to which a
prize was awarded at an aricultural meeting he attended had not
a [ single good point about it — at least what he had been
taught to consider good points in an animal. It would be
useless to try and get a good breed except the animals were
good on both sides and even when they had a good male
and good female tliey might be disappointed. At first they
might be exceedingly lucky, as several notable breeders had
been producing such animals as the Bloomer mare, Stockwell,
and King Tom ; but he had a friend who had bred a hundred
mares who had never managed to breed a good one, yet he was
a firsc-rate judge and went in for horses, but he was not fortu-
nate, and gave it up. Then again there were small breeders, who
perhaps with two or three animals made a really good thing
out of breeding. Now, what he should recommend the young
farmer to do would be to endeavour to purchase from his neigh-
bouring farmers some old female animals of known character ;
and for sires he should recommend him to go to an eminent
breeder and see if he could get hold of something, within his
means, known to be the sire of something first-class ;
and having done that and fortune favoured him, it was
more than likely he would be successful. But if he were not
successful he could only say that his experience had shown him
that there was no certainty whatever in breeding horses. A
breeder might have a splendid carriage mare, beautiful to look

26

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

at, fine in action, and possessed of great inherited qualities,
yet the foal she brought should not be fit to be looked at ;
whereas, at the same time, a man occupying the next farm
might have a famous trotting thing which would produce a
foal wliich at three years old would sell for fifty or sixty
guineas. For sires, however, never let them try to use cross-
bred animals. They should go in for purity of blood. The
Arab, who got rid of everything that was not perfect to his
skilled and trained eye, taught them that lesson. The first
cross of any animal he knew was always beautiful. For ex-
ample, the crossing of a Southdown with a Cotswold would
produce in the first instance a beautiful animal, but if it was
repeated they would agree with hira that the result would be
disappointing ; and he could not do better than repeat that
whatever sire they employed it should be a pure-bred oue. He
next came to the question of how to introduce pure blood ;
Eminent breeders, went to other breeders, sparing neither
time nor expense, until they secured a cow to their own liking,
and after four generations breeding in and in they managed
to introduce and gain her constitution, at the same time in-
vesting her progeny with their own desired type and outward
appearance. He had a visit a month ago to an eminent
breeder's, where the process of improving stock and obtaining
a higher and better type of animal was being carried on, and he
advised that during the period of gestiation all kinds of stock
should be well housed. He did not mean that it was necessary
they should be kept in confined buildings, but certainly they
ought to be sheltered from the rain, and also to be well fed.
One of his neighbours, who was really one of the best sheep-
farmers he knew, and who loved it, had had a great mortality
amongst his lambs this last season ; he believed he had lost one
hundred and sixty, whilst he (the speaker) had not lost one.
It was not that he paid more attention to his sheep ; but the
real secret was in what the surgeon said to him, that he had
kept his ewes too low. Now that exactly agreed with his
own experience, and if they allowed their ewes at a certain
season to run on stubble to pick np what they could get, the
probabilities would be that they would have a great mortality
amongst their lambs ; whereas, if they fed them well, the
result would be far more satisfactory. His nest point was as
to rearing the young. With regard to liorses, they could not
treat them too well ; young horses especially required to be fed
well, and being so they would repay their owners. If people
would only eat horse-flesh it would be, he thought, a great
blessing to the country, for the reason that we should not have
such prices in the market for butcher's meat if, when they hud
a spindled-shankcd good-for-nothing two-year-old colt, it was
sent to be slaughtered. Everybody had a natural love for
liorses, and if the antipathy to eating them could be got over,
the consequences would be that, if all the bad ones were sent
to the market, we should have the finest accumulation of horses
— because we had the finest breed in the world, that was, he
repeated, provided all the screws were killed and eaten. Calves,
also, required to be treated well. A friend of his had a splen-
did lot of Shorthorns,hut he had managed to get a miserlybailiff,
and the result had been that he had gotalotof pot-bellied calves,
not worth 17s. 6d. each ; but, if mother and calf had been
treated well in all probability they would have been a fine lot
of healthy calves, which, when they came to two years old,
would well repay the little extra cost incurred by a more liberal
management. The late Mr. R. Booth, one of the finest judges
of stock, said to him, " What would you have the mother's
milk for, but for the calf ?" and advocated that the various
foods suggested to be given, should be given through the mother,
as if so, the calf would possess an increased richness of blood.
Regarding pigs, he might make them acquainted with a dodge
worth remembering. JMost of them knew that if theyhad a sow
which had not enough milk for her litter, and they gave
skimmed milk to the little pigs, the chances were a thousand
to one that a lot of them would die. But, by mixing Epsom
salts in a proper proportion, its prejudicial effects would be
prevented. Skim milk made them costive, while the mixing
of Epsom salts with it gave it an opposite tendency. He had
only one other suggestion to make,and it was thatthey should go
in for a distinct stamp of stock — say like the Sulfolk larmers and
and breeders had done. One eminent breeder of that county got
600 guineas for two cart mares, and why should tiiey not do
the same ? Then with regard to their sheep they had a dis-
tinct type, and it should be their endeavour to improve it in
the same way as other breeders had improved their flocks, and

and who now realised high prices for them. He mentioned
one farmer who began life as a labourer's son, but who had
aplied himself to the improvement of stock, commencing in
an humble way, until he had derived great profit from it, and
was known as one of the most eminent breeders in
the country. The Suffolk horses and cattle had become famous
because the breeders and farmers in that county had set before
themselves a distinct type to attain to, and now their horses
and cattle were as much like one another as they could possibly
be. They, in Breckonshire, were celebrated for their cart mares
as well as their ponies, out of both of which they
raigh make a first-rate thing, and he instanced that he remem-
bered £8-4 being given for an unbroken tiiree-year-old colt
from that county. He advised that in order for the improve-
ment of their cart mares and ponies they should unite to-
wards attaining a distinct type, towards which they should get
rid of all the bad three-cornered animals, and only breed from
those that were the best of their kind. From what he had
seen since he had been in that district, if he had only a hun-
dred of their ewes, such as he could pick from farms of the
neighbourhood, and if he liad two or three of their cart mares,
as well as other stock, he should be as happy as a prince, and
he thought he should hardly ever go to bed for looking at
them.

The Chaikmadj had read of a man who liad such an exten-
sive knowledge on different subjects that he was termed many-
sided, and he thought the same would apply to Canon Beever,
who was a very uncommon many-sided man. They saw hint
that day as a farmer possessed of all the knowledge which
modern science had brought to bear upon farming, and yet in
addition to that knowledge gained from books he did not despise
the old beaten road of experience. Another day they might meet
him holding his own amidst the best scholars of the time in
academic circles, and another day exercising the duties of his
most sacred and responsible office as a clergyman, and again
exercising most responsible duties as examining chaplain to
one of the Bishops of the Church ; and he thought they might
very properly learn a lesson from him in that respect. He
begged to move a vote of thanks to Canon Beever for his most
interesting and instructive lecture, and he would also add that
he hoped it would form the basis of one of those interesting
books he had been accustomed from time to time to publish,
aud which a reviewer stated contained a perfect xade mecum for
the farmer.

Mr. ALEXA^'DER Wood seconded the motion. The conclu-
sion, he took it, the lecturer wished to impress upon them was
that they should endeavour to improve the stock of the country.
He was happy to think that in that county they had several
kinds of stock that were peculiar to that county, and he hoped
circumstances would not tend to diminish the characteristics
which those animals now possessed. At the same time he
must say that he noticed a great change was taking place in
the county. He observed that many breeders of cattle and
horses were becoming cattle dealers, and some of them would
say that they preferred the nimble ninepence to the slow shil-
ling. Of course, farming was conducted for making money.
The farmer occupied his time and employed his capital the
same as mercantile men, to make money. He could conceive,
considering the facilities now given for the transit of stock, and
in consequence of the increased prices for the same, that there
was a great temptation to a man who was a breeder
to become a dealer in cattle. But there were peculiarities
in the county of Brecon that he believed in the long run more
money would be made by breeding thau cattle jobbing. For
example, they had districts in the couuty that were peculiarly
favourable to the breeding and rearing of cattle. The rev. lec-
turer gave them a very wise suggestion as to the care which
should be given to animals. INot being himself a landlord he
was afraid to speak, but he considered more attentioa should
be paid to farm buildings. There could be no doubt that in
wet seasons, sheep, horned stock, and in fact all animals liked
to be covered, and tliere could also be no doubt that the con-
dition of animals would be greatly improved if in wet weather
they could go into places of shelter, and he believed if provided
it would be found that all animalswould do so. lu that couuty
he knew there were many who had employed their capital for
that purpose, but he thought it might be still further extended.
And he noticed that in Leicestershire, wliich is a breeding
county, huge sheds were very generally erected on farms into
which animals could resort, and they did so immediately wlien

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

27

storms came on, and it was found by spreading lime in the
sheds that animals aiTected with the foot-rot were not only en-
tirely cured, but that the disease was prevented from spreading.
There was another subject the lecturer dwelt upon, namely, in
respect to the horses of that county. He spoke in high terms
of the quality whicli might be obtained at Talgarth Fair, but
he was sorry to say he now saw very few of those famous ani-
mals for which the fair was formerly celebrated. But he hoped
that the time would come when its characteristics would be re-
vived. At the present time, however, there was scarcely a pony
ever exhibited for sale that had got any shoulders which they
used to see ; and he was sorry to say that a great many little
things of three years old were exhibited with foals. He re-
gretted to see that because they could not expect constitution
if their ponies were made to have young at so early an age,
and it must tend to degenerate the character for which the
animal was known. He noticed that the ponies of North
Wales had a reputation for being strong and as possessing good
limbs, and were of great service to the tenant farmers of that
part of the principality. In fact those ponies had won so much
of a reputation that at one of Mr. Tattersall's sales as much as
£80 to .£100 were realized for exceptional animals. Now he
did not see why they should not have as excellent a breed in
South Wales ; what they wanted was to get good sires. With
regard to farm horses tliey had, he believed, some very good
specimens ; and an enormoiis quantity was required for the
works in the county. He maintained that Breconshire cart
horses possessed distinct characteristics, and were not only
known in'the county for their good qualities but fiir and wide
beyond. He understood that a prize had been offeredt^by Mr.
Crawshay for competition at the next agricultural meeting,
and no doubt when it was published there would be many com-
petitors for it. The giving of prizes he believed would tend to
the improvement of the breed, and he thought the next show
of the county society would be a rather remarkable one.

Mr. OvERTOJi said that Mr. Crawshay's prize did not include
the animals mentioned by the previous speaker. He liimself
offered a prize at the last show for that kind of animal, but he
was sorry to say there were so few competitors — only one — that
he should not continue it.

Mr. David Dow?jes said what Canon Beever had remarked
respecting their cart horses he could fully bear him out that
twenty years ago they had really first-class cart mares. [Canon
Beever : That is the time to which I refer.] But at tlie
present day he must say that he did not know where to look
for one. Why was that ? It was because good sires were few
and far between, and had it not been for their friend Mr. Wil-
liams, who went to Ross and brought back a good entire horse,
they would have been worse off still. He agreed that it was
essential they should endeavour to get well-bred animals, and
improve the breed of those they had. With regard to cattle
he might touch more upon them than upon horses, and he
could not but say that he quite agreed with the lecturer in re-
spect to keeping the flesli upon the back of the calf. That, in-
deed, was so important that it should never be lost sight of, for
once stint the calf and reduce the flesh gained by its mother's
milk, and it would be ruined for life. His advice too was that
they should be kept properly housed, but not in too close and
badly ventilated buildings. And not only that, it was essential
that a farmer should keep a sharp look-out upon his men, and
see that liis directions were properly carried out. It was all
very well to farm for pleasure, but let them show him the man
that did not like a little profit as well. There was another
point noticed by the lecturer, and one which he thought Bre-
conshire farmers ought to pay a great deal of attention to, and
that was in reference to their sheep. The lecturer said that
their ewes should be well protected, and they must agree witli
him that that was very essential, because he was sure if tliey
allowed their ewes to get into weak condition by short feeding
during the winter, the lambs they brought in the spring would
also be weak and diseased, and the mortality would be greater
amongst them than if the ewes had been well attended to and
in good condition.

Canon Breevek understood a prize bull of Sir Joseph Bai-
ley had died ; and he asked whether it was their experience
with prize cattle that after being forced and then dropped they
were liable to disease of the lungs. lie understood that prize
cattle kept for ten or twelve years and fed and dropped repeat-
edly were liable to a certain well-known disease, and that it

was the experience of those who kept these animals that when
killed their lungs were a mass of corruption.

Mr. David Downes said his own experience taught him
that that was so. He recollected some three years ago there
was a great competition at the Brecon Agricultural Show,
and his brother exhibited an aged bull which won a prize,
and which for these shows he was in the habit of forcing and
then dropping. But he maintained that the flesh was not
taken off judiciously : the animal was stinted in its food, and
it ought to have been walked every day. But that was not
the case. The consequence was tliat when the animal came
into his possession, and alter keeping it two years it only got
him two calves. When dead, its lungs were quite rotten and
full of hard knots of a chalky substance. He attributed it to
the fact that, after forcing, the flesh was taken too suddenly
off the animal.

Mr. Tekris, veterinary surgeon, described the disease re-
ferred to.

Mr. Overton said it had occurred to him that every farmer
should consider the important circumstance, when rearing
stock, of its aptitude to the particular locality in which he
was located. The Shorthorns were peculiar to Yorkshire, and
the llerefords to that part of the country ; and it really ap-
peared that there was a certain adaptability of those kinds of
stock for their own tracts of country, and if either were
transferred from its own soil it would not flourish so well.
He believed many attempts had been made to introduce
Shorthorn stock into Breconsliire, but those attempts had not
been attended with success. There were a few instances in
Monmouthshire where Shorthorns had been introduced, and
after being pampered and protected had done tolerably well,
but he did not think it would have been so if special and par-
ticular attention had not been paid to them. The only con-
clusion that he had come to was that there were certain kinds
of stock adapted for certain localities and climates, and there-
fore the first object of the farmer should be, wherever he took
a farm, to find out the kind of stock calculated to suit, thrive,
and flourish on his soil. He knew of no more striking ex-
ample of that than in respect to the black cattle of Pembroke-
shire. He knew that some time ago large droves used to be
purchased and sent into the centre of England ; but the result
had shown that black cattle did not thrive anywhere so well
as in their own country. In fact stock, when removed from
the eastern coast to the M'cstern coast did not thrive, neither
did stock removed from the western to tlie eastern coast, but
both succeeded best in their own tracts of country.

Mr. Smith rather inclined to the opinion that black cattle
would do well in that country, and said that in Carmarthen-
shire he had seen some beautiful black stock. He believed
black cattle, if they were done well to, would thrive equally
with Herefords and Shorthorns in that county.

The meeting then separated.

HEAD S.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MARK LANE EXPRESS.

Sir, — I see that in Mr. Corbet's paper on HEADS,
he finds fault with the judges at a Smithfiekl Show for
giving a prize to a Highland ox with a bad head. Now,
what I want to know is, have they a choice in the matter ?
At a show of breeding animals, the head is, of course, a
matter of very great importance ; but in a show of fat
cattle, would the judges be allowed to consider anything
but the carcase ? I ask for information, as I am to he
one of the judges at a fat cattle show.

Yours, truly, A. B. C.

HEADS. — Arrangements are being made for an Exhibition,
or rather standing collection in St. Petersburgh of the heads
of all the improved breeds of animals.

MR. J. A. WILLIAMS, OP BAYDON.— Mr. Williams
is about to leave Baydon, and his friends propose presenting
him with a testimonial in indication of " the respect and esteem
in whicli he is so universally held, and the great interest he has
always manifested for the welfare of agriculturists."

28

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE WENLOCK FARMERS' CLUB

At the annual dinner, Mr. R. J. ]\Iore ia the chair,
CoLOiSEi, CoRBETT, M.P., Said : The Government did not
want, of couise, to stop the importation of food for the
people ; and it, therefore, waited tiU the very last moment
before it pulled down the safety flag and prohibited the im-
portation of cattle from infected places, so that some amount
of disease would be imported before the importation was put a
stop to. If the cattle were killed at the ports of landing that
cculd not occur. He believed there were very wrong ideas in
the minds of the consumer upon that subject, that made him
press for what they term a free trade in foreign cattle. The
consumption of foreign meat was only five per cent, of the
wliole consumption of the country. The subtle nature of those
diseases were such that it was difficult, if not impossible, to tell
what loss was created by the importation of diseases by foreign
cattle ; but he did believe that more than five per cent, of
British-grown meat was lost by their importation. There was
another class of people who were veiy hostile to the preven-
tion of the free introduction of foreign cattle. He meant the
people at the ports where such cattle were landed, and who
pressed their representatives to oppose all restrictions upon it.
The more cattle that were imported the more grist was brought
to tlieir mill, and they did not care how much disease was im-
ported. He did not by any means wish to stop the importation
of foreign cattle absolutely, but he tliouglit they ought to go
througli a longer quarantine, or be slaughtered at the ports.
He had no doubt that would reduce the number of cattle
actually imported, but he believed that instead of tlie consumer
being the loser he would be a very great gainer. The tenure
of land was a very important question, and it was one that
liad been very ably discussed at a meeting of the Chamber of
Agriculture for the county ; but he thought that was not the
time or place to enter into a question such as that, lieferring
to some of the various proposals for settling this question, sup-
posing the State did buy up all the land in the country, and
sold it again in lots to people of small means. They heard a
good deal now of every man having his own cottage, in " the
open." But supposing an artisan, earning £3 a week or so,
had a cottage and a few acres of ground. He would not be
likely to make it pay, and the result would be that he would let
his house and land at a rate which it would pay nobody at, and
he would go back to the town, earn his three pounds per week,
and become another instance of a non-resident landlord.
Then what would it cost the State to buy up all the land ?
Sir Jolin Lubbock had calculated that it would require
£70,000,000 a-year to pay the interest. Mr. John Stuart
Mill had said that the State could do as it liked with the land
of the country short of absolutely taking it. He urged also
that laud had a certain specific value, and beyond that all he-
longed to the State. But why sliould tlie public at large have
all the benefits of any improvements a farmer might make in
his land ? If it were so it would effectually put a stop to all
future improvements in land. Tlie present system of weights
and measures, as applied to corn, was of a very peculiar nature ;
but there were people who, in endeavouring to improve it,
wished to carry out what seemed to him to be a too radical
system of alteration. It was true they had the imperial mea-
sure, but no one seemed to care much about using it. Every-
body seemed to think that weight was the best, but why should
we alter our system more than was necessary ? Why were we
to alter them simply with the view of adapting them to foreign
people's weights and measures, with the centals and so on ? If
they did alter the present system, he thought the tou ought to
be taken as the standard of their weights. But he felt sure
they would never get any regularity in their weights and mea-
sures unless the onus were put upon the buyer instead of the
seller. He regretted that there was not so much competition
that year as usual. The entries for the best farms had not
tilled up at all. He thought the special circumstances would
account for that. They had had a late harvest, and it had been
difficult to get all the necessary work done within the usual
time : and no .man liked to show his farm without some pros-
pect of his winning.

Mr. A. H. Bkown, M.P., agreed with Col. Corbett that the
scheme put forward by Mr. Mill, and to which Col. Corbett
had referred, was one that would not hold water, and it could
never form the basis of a sound and practical measure of
reform. He hoped, however, that that Club and farmers
generally, would continue to agitate until the question was
satisfactorily settled. The present system of local taxation
had been the growth of many years, and was based more upon
decisions in the law courts than by any particular Act of Par-
liament. They had the local burdens of the country put upon
houses and land almost exclusively, whereas the imperial
burdens of the country were paid by the excise and duties of
that sort, and it was admitted that the system should be al-
tered so as to bring the local burdens over a wider area of
incidence. There had been some agitation on the question, and
a committee of the House of Commons had sat, one in 1869
and one in 1870, and the Goverument had promised to take
the whole subject into consideration. He believed the rating
of woods and game would form part of the Government pro-
posal, and there would be a mode laid down for assessing the
value of railway stations. Such buildings as they were aware,
had no fixed rent, and it was very difficult, therefore, for any
Assessment Committee to rate them properly. The Govern-
ment proposal was to find out the selling value and to make
the property pay at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, as rate-
able value.' All this would draw into the rating iiet a large
proportion of property that at present escaped from it.

The Chairman said he feared there was a tendency
amongst farmers now to think more of speaking before the
Central Chamber than of taking parliamentary action. The
present mouth, he had often before observed, when the repeal
of the malt-tax was more thought of than now, was the
month to endeavour to influence Government by deputations
rather than when the session had commenced, and ministerial
measures were framed. But one deputation was going to
wait on Mr. Gladstone with respect to preventive measures
against cattle diseases. Mr. Keary, the report said, had read
a paper to combat the view that scarcity of stock was owing
to foreign disease. He expected this deputation would be met
with oflicial facts which seemed not to be generally known.
What he believed was most desirable for the safety of their
herds was to put the present restrictions with respect to the
importation of foreign cattle in force against cattle imported
from Ireland, but this the Irish members were sure to resist.
He fancied it would be found that the cattle diseases now pre-
valent were not imported from abroad so much as was believed.
It was stated that of 28,000 cattle imported last week only two
were suffering from contagious diseases. At Harwich, where
a greater number had been frequently disembarked weekly,
only three animals had the foot-and-mouth disease since Feb-
ruary. The question of quarantine was a difficult one, for
pleuro-pneumonia was proved to be latent for twenty-eight
days, so that the quarantine which would be too long for foot-
and-mouth disease, which shows itself after six days, will not
be long enough for pleuro-pneumonia. There was one point
which the Club had often discussed, but one which he felt
called upon to say a few words— the old question of the condition
of the agricultural labourer. Severe remarks had lately been
made by commissioners as to the state of the labourers in
some parts of Shropshire, but not, he believed, on the labourers
within the radius of the Weulock Farmers' Club. Sweeping
remarks were frequently made on landlords for not building
more and better cottages. No one acknowledged the duty
imposed on a landlord with respect to his cottages more than
he • but he often wished to remind those who make sweepinf?
assertions on the state of the cottages that these remarks
tended to the abolition of the law of entail, the remedy advo-
cated by one of the commissioners the other day in the Times
newspaper. He felt the truth of the remarks made by Mr.
Dent, M.P., in the present number of the Royal AgricvUural
Society's Journal, on the conduct of landlords, in an article
on the labourer, from which he read an extract. (The effect of
the extract was that all praise was due to great landlords for

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

29

the excellence to which many of them had brought their cot-
tages ; but not less was the merit of those, who having Ufe
interests only in land, were denying themselves pleasures to
do the utmost they could afford in cottage building, as was
done now by nine-tenths of those who had limited estates in
land.) One of the commissioners, quoted by Mr. Dent, put the
case of the landlords fairly, when he said they were now being
called upon to repair the neglect of previous generations.
The state of the labourer must be a matter of interest to all
who newly came into estates, and one of them, the present
Sir B. Leighton, had lately read a paper on the subject, in
which the plan he was reported to have advocated was tliat
of giving four acres of land to a labourer who had been thrifty,
and had saved money. He would like to know their opinion,
as practical men, on such a proposal. He believed they
might approve of a quarter of an acre being thus allotted ;
but, putting aside the difficulty of getting four acres to allot,
and the time of the labourer taken up in looking after his own
land, he should like to know what labourers with families
were likely to save money. He had been asked by the
Government Commisioner to write his view of the state of
the labourer, and of cottages, in South Shropshire, and he
agreed to do it ; but on reflection he thought it would be
uninteresting to write an account of any one's property,
(though his friend Colonel Corbett had done so), and he did
not feel himself called on to criticise the estates of his neigh-
bours. The commissioner had stated that farm wages in some
parts of Shropshire were 8s. and 9s. He did not say in the
district of the Wenlock Farmer's Club, which, he believed,
was not visited when severe remarks were made on the state
of things in Shropshire. Of course there were perquisites
besides, but all interested in the labourer wished to know if it
was necessary to pay part of the wages in beer, giving, lie be-
lieved, an unlimited supply in some cases to make hira work.
Supposing only this sum, or the full value of bis labour be
paid in money, what room was there for thrift with a family
to maintain out of as many shillings as the members of the
family ? He would just allude to the question of local taxa-
tion, which had been twice discussed in Sliropshire, and was,
it appeared, to be discussed a third time by their Chamber of
Agriculture. The weakness of such discussions he felt lay in
the arguments being all one-sided, the fact of laud alone pay-
ing rates being uppermost in the minds of those who perhaps
were interested in land only; but the difficulty of carrying the
views generally expressed at such discussions he felt lay in
great capitaHsts, whose fortune was both funded and in land,
being indifferent as to which part of their income paid the
taxes and which the rates. He would just say that he con-
sidered the great agricultural want in Shropshire was a good
middle-class school for farmers' sons, such as had been raised
in Suffolk, and now was being built by county subscription in
Norfolk. He wished to be sure that small farmers' sons would
be better educated than the labourers they would employ, and
he for one objected to both being educated at the same school.
Lastly, he would draw their attention to a proposal made in
Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, that Shropshire should
join with them and Herefordshire for an agricultural show,
not of course to supersede flourishing local societies like those

at Ludlow and Wenlock, but to produce wider competitioa
between four counties.

Mr. RoDEN said : As to the question of the importation of
foreign stock, he did not believe quaratine would remedy the
evil. WhUe the animals were kept penned up upon the water
he believed that more disease would be generated. Stamping
sucli diseases out he believed to be practically impossible. It
was " the pestilence that walketh in the darkness," and he
believed they were in the hands of that Providence Who alone
could check the spread of such diseases, and Who alone could
give them prosperity.

Mr. Kearey had already expressed his opinion at meetings
of that Club as to the prevalence of disease among stock, and
he believed if the restrictions for moving cattle were more
stringently put in force they would have less disease among
stock than they had at the present moment. Although he
did not for one moment mean to say that such diseases were
not brought from abroad, he still held to the opinion he had
expressed. He must strongly deny that the importation of
those diseases was the sole cause of the disease that existed ia
this country. He recollected pleuro-pneumonia being rife
long before cattle were imported free ; and he believed that
such diseases were epidemic, and epidemic alone. As Mr.
Roden had said, he believed it to be quite impossible to pre-
vent the outbreak of such diseases, but he did think that more
care should be exercised by farmers who had the disease upon
their farms in sending stock to market.

Mr. Preece (Cressage) said it was all very well to fine
farmers for moving the stock off their farms in such cases .
but he had been fined for moving cattle from one part o'
his own farm to another, which, he thought, was rather toof
hard.

Mr. E. H. Davies thought that Mr. More had made a little
mistake 'in what he said of the wages of farm labourers in
Shropshire. So far as he knew the wages were 12s. or 16s.
per week, and he did not think any were receiving so little as
8s. or 9s. per week. He (Mr. Davies) was always ready to
do what he could for the Club ; but having a farm of 700 acres
to attend to he could not devote so much time to it as he
should like

Mr. More said that what he had stated was that he be-
lieved the average wages to be about 14s. per week, including
perquisites, but that some actually received as little as 8s. or
9s., and he had been told by a man of great experience in
South Shropshire that he remembered 7s. per week being paid,
and no perquisites whatever. The commissioners had reported
that 8s. or 9s. was paid ; but he (Mr. More) was glad to find
that it astonished members of that Club to hear of such
things. If, however, they would read the report of the com-
missioners they would see that such was the case.

Mr. Trevor said the chairman had alluded to a speech
recently made by Sir Baldwyn Leighton. Sir Baldwyn recom-
mended that every young man should keep a cow, but his (tlie
speaker's) opinion differed from that. If there were to be cot-
tages for men to keep cows they should be given to the labourers
who had lived upon the estate for a number of years and who
were getting past their work, and not to young men when they
first came upon an estate.

MORAYSHIRE FARMERS' CLUB.

At the Quarterly Dinner, Mr. R. H. Harris, Earnhill, in
the chair, and Mr. Ruxton, Inehbroom, Croupier,

The Chairman said the question for discussion on this
occasion was — " On farms having a sufficiency of cottage
accommodation for married servants, whether is it better to
board the unmarried with them, or keep them in the bothy or
kitchen?" That question presupposed a farm with accommo-
dation for a certain number of married people upon it, but not
sufficient for the whole of the servants, It also presupposed
a proportion of the servants being unmarried, and the ques-
tion was how should these be kept upon the farm? It was
generally customary to have the opinion of the members of the
Club in rotation, as they sat, and he therefore called on

Mr, Cruickshank (Meft), who said he had bouses for his

men-servants, and lie kept the boys in the kitchen. His expe-
rience led him to believe that they should be kept in the
kitchen. He would keep as many married servants as he
could, but be would keep the unmarried servants rather in the
kitchen than in the bothy.

Mr. Cooper said that Spynie farm, though it had a pretty
large and good staff of servants, necessitated the employment,
from there not being cottage accommodation, of a number of
single men, who lived in a bothy or out-kitchen, specially
cared for and kept cleanly. He had no doubt whatever, if a
sufficient number of cottages could be got, of the immense ad-
vantage they would be to the farmer, alike for comfort, con-
venience, and profit. He was quite satisfied of that. But still
they could not have all the servants married men ; and as to the

30

THE FARMEB'S MAGAZINE.

boarding of the unmarried with tiie married servants, lie had
no experience, nor any knowledge. That system Iiad been
largely adopted in the south, and his friend Mr. "Walker
(Leuchars) would be able to give the Club some valuable in-
formation regarding it.

Mr. RuxTON (luchbroom) said he had generally had four
married servants in houses, and he had a bothy. It was im-
possible to accommodate them otherwise than in a bothy, not
having a sufficient number of cottages. He was not sure that
it would be desirable to have a cottage for every male servant
on the farm ; he would merely say that he was obliged to use
the bothy. He never had any experience in the way of board-
ing the unmarried servants, and he did not know how it would
work. On his farm in the county of Banff he had about an
equal number of servants, and he had tried the unmarried men
in the bothy and in the farm-kitchen. He continued them in
the bothy for ten years, and for the last six or eight years he
had them in the kitchen. Both the bothy and kitchen suited
very well. He never had the least difficulty, and he really
could not say decidedly which was the best.

Mr. Walker (Leuchars) said that, during his whole life-
time, since he commenced farming in Fife, he had about an
equal number of married and unmarried servants. The system
in that county was to have a bothy for the unmarried servants
alongsideof one ofthe farm-houses. The unmarried men got
their 6j bolls of meal, and a pmt of sweet milk from the cows.
The wifein the house next to the bothy kept boiling water for
them t\vice-a-day, and the unmarried men made their own sup-
per. The bothy was cleaned out by the wife of the married
servant, and everytlung kept in order. With regard to keeping
young men iu the farm-kitclien, they found in fife that that
would never do. It prohibited the landlady and her family
getting into the kitchen at night. And another thing, it
brought young men very much in contact witb
female servants. With regard to boarding young
men with married men, that was out of the question alto-
gether, for it was a well-known fact that, when a ploughman got
a wife, he very soon liad a sufficient family to fill his fireside, so
that there was no room left] for lodgers. If a bothy
were kept, they could have it clean, and the men comfort-
able ; and that was by far the best way that young men could
be kept. He knew very well there was a want of accommoda-
tion in Morayshire for married men. It M'as different in the
south ; but, as he had said, where there were sufficient houses
for married servants, they required all the room for their
own families. He thought, if the bothy were well regulated,
it was the proper place for single servants to be kept in.

Mr. Black (Elgin) said he had no experience at all, but
it just occurred to him to say, lest it should not be noticed
otherwise, that last year a Commissioner was in the county,
making an inquiry on behalf of Government respecting the
appointment of females and children in factories, and other-
wise. That gentleman made very particular inquiries into the
subject. He could not lay his hand upon his report before
coming to this meeting, but so far as he could recollect, that
report was very decidedly against the system of boarding
young men with married servants.

Mr. Hay inquired whether the Commissioner gave any
reason for his opinion.

Mr. Black said the Commissioner did, but he could not re-
collect the details of the report.

Mr. M'Kessack (Kinloss) could not say he had much ex-
perience in the management of servants ; but he had the half
of the complement of servants in cottages, and the other half
in the kitchen. There was a woman kept the kitchen clean
for them, kept water boiling for them once or twice a day,
and prepared potatoes, or whatever they had to get, for supper.
The unmarried servants were on their bolls, and he found that
system do very well.

Mr. Hay (Trochelhill) said he liad no experience whatever
of the botliy system. It seemed to him that it was a system
that was passing away, and ought to do so. Nearly the whole
of his servants had always been in the farm kitchen, except
one or two of the principal, who were in houses. AYliat he
should like was to increase the house accommodation, to have
more married servants, and, if possible, to have the young
men boarding with them.

Mr. Kay (Forres) thought that this was a question that one
might give an opinion upon, although not immediately engaged
in dealing with it practically — the question bearing on the

best plan of accommodating unmarried servants. He thought
the most objectionable plan of doing it was to board tliem in
the houses of the married servants. Tiiere were very few in-
stances, indeed, in Mhich the farm cottages contained more
accommodation than was absolutely necessary for the servant
himself and his family. If the family were young, they re-
quired the most of the attention and care the mother could
give them, without lier having to attend to a boarder ; while, if
the family were grown up, they could receive no beneficial in-
fiueuce from a boarder. The boarding of unmarried servants
in the farm kitchen was also very objectionable. Every one
knew that their presence there completely excluded the wife
and daughters of the farmer from the kitchen. Every one
also knew the noise they created, and the kind of talk that
went on amongst young men iu a farm kitchen. These were
his opinions, and they amounted to this — that the best place
for an unmarried servant was a well kept bothy, where the
men were kept comfortable, their sleeping apartment kept
clean, the furnishings and dishes for their food properly cared
for, and everything done for them that could be done. They
would never be so happy and well pleased as in that position.

Mr. Ferguson (East Grange) said he was very sorry that
the accommodation for married servants on his farm was
limited. He would like more houses, and though he did get
more of them, he certainly would not approve of young men
being boarded with the families of married men. He did not
think there was sufficient accommodation in cottages for
boarders. His unmarried men were in a bothy, with the ex-
ception of one or two in the house. With increased care in
keeping the bothies clean, they would be exceedingly comfort-
able for the servants. Tiie first desideratum was to get a good
bothy. He thought it should be ventilated and go abroad
that there are some places in the county of Elgin used as
bothies that are not fit for human beings to be in. If they
could give their married servants a little more and better ac-
commodation, they would be far more comfortable in these
bothies than elsewhere. The thing was to get a better bothy
system. There were one or two proprietors he could point to
who were now building bothies upon an improved system,
giving every facility and accommodation to the men in the
shape of good cooking apparatus, lavatories, &c., and he
thought that should make the servants comfortable. As to
living in the farm kitchen, that could not be approved of. It
disturbed all their domestic arrangements in a way that is not
at all desirable.

Mr. Tod (Ardivot) thought the result of this discussion
would simply be to point out the great deficiency of accommo-
dation both for married and unmarried servants that existed in
Morayshire. He quite agreed with his friends Mr. Walker
and Mr. Mackessack in their mode of keeping farm servants.
He had had married and unmarried servants. The unmarried
men he would have kept in a bothy. A great deal of the good
or evil arising from the bothy system depended very much on
the farmer himself. If the bothy was well managed, there
need be no difiicully with it at all. He thought they would
find very few cases where they would l)e able to make married
servants take in lodgers.

Mr. Walker (Altyre) said, so far as married servants were
concerned, they knew very well, even thougli they had suffi-
cient accommodation, what they could do with the allowance
given them for fire and other purposes. They also knew what
the men could alford for the furnishing of their cottages ; and
that if they had a man for a lodger, he must sit at the same
fireside with the family, and entirely do away with the privacy
of their home. Tliere could not be anything more objection-
able than to force a stranger into a family, wliose presence
would prevent them from knowing what family comforts
are. It was also bad to have unmarried servants in the farm
kitchen. However well-behaved and quiet the men may be, it
debarred the mistress of the house from entering the kitchen
when they were there. Tliey had heard often and often again
very severe censure passed upon the bothy system, and he was
sorry to say it was the exception to see a good bothy. It was
impossible that all their servants could be married men, but
their young men could not be better employed than living in
a bothy, and seeing the different systems of different farms,
and at the same time feathering their nests with the view of
entering into a cottage. If they put the men into a bothy,
tlicy should give them facility for living comfortably and cook-
ing their meat, For four or five years of a young man's career

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

31

bothy experience would Eot be the worst part of his life.
He thought the bothy was the proper place where unmarried
servants ought to be.

Major CuLBARD said there could be no doubt it was a most
disagreeable thing to have farm-servants in a kitchen. It
must be a discomfort ; and what was a discomfort to the
farmer, must be a discomfoit to the servant who had a family,
and who wished to have all the privacy that his house could
afford. He thought their friends the farmers ought to provide
better bothy accommodation for unmarried servants. Theie
seemed to be no earthly endeavour to make the young men
comfortable, by giving them cooking arrangements, and such
other things as would make their bothies fit places to live in.
He had been in some of these bothies, and he was sure he had
seen better dog kennels. He thought if proper accommodation
were provided for unmarried men in the bothy, it would be the
best way of providing for them. He did not think it was
proper to burden married servants with unmarried servants as
boarders, because they must feel it as much as the farmers,

who felt extreme discomfort in having tliciu in the farm
kitchen.

The Chaikjian said he agreed with the two or three gentle-
men who had last expressed themselves. Where the farm had
sufficient accommodation for married servants it was desirable
to employ them ; and that the young men should be kept in a
bothy. He thought it was a most unfair invasion of the pri-
vacy of the domestic circle, which should be respected, whether
it were high or low, to thrust any stranger into it. He knew
that system existed to a large extent in the south. They were
called bondagers there. It was known to be a system of un-
indurable bondage, and it had a bad effect upon the morals of
the servants. How they could say to a married man, that he
must take Tom, Dick, or Harry to board in his house, to be
with him at his fireside, and to sit at his table at all times, he
could not understand. He could not do that himself. It was
his individual opinion that, where there were single men, they
should be provided with a bothy. The preponderance of the
opinion of the Club also appeared to be to the same eflect.

THE TAUNTON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

PRIZE LIST.

JUDGES.— Stock : J. Stratton, Devizes; S. NiehoUs,
Bristol; J. Gannicott, Ilmiuster; and T. Potter, Thorver-
ton. Roots : — Gibbs, Pitminster ; S. Bond, Portland ;
and — Grabbham, Ilminster.

HORSES.
Thorough or half-bred colt, filly, or gelding, for riding or
hunting purposes, four years old. — Prize, £i, J. Joyce, Aller-
cott. Highly commended : R. P. Boyd, Wellington,

Cart gelding or filly, under three years old. — Prize, £4, W.
R. Bond, Ikirston. Highly commended, W. S, Gibbs, Pit-
minster,

CATTLE,

BREEDING STOCK.,

Bull above two years, pure breed, to be kept in the West-
ern Division of Somerset to 1st June, 1873. — First prize, a
silver cup, W. Farthing, Stowey Court, Bridgwater (Able) ;
second, £5, W. Farthing.

Bull, pure bred, above ten months and not exceeding two
years, to be used in the Western Division of Somerset to the
1st of June, 1873. — First prize, a silver cup, W. Farthing
(JVlaster Harry) ; second, £3, G. Gibb's, Bishop's Lydeard.
Commended : R. Farthing, Farriugdon, North Petherton (Sir
William).

Cow and offspring, cow above three years, and calf fallen
since Nov. 1, 1870. — Prize, a silver cup, J. Davey (Temptress
3nd). Highly commended : G. Gibbs (Myrtle).
■ Cow above three years, in calf or with calf by her side. —
First prize, £5, J. A. Smith, Bradford Peverell ; second, J.
A.Smith (Daisy). Commended: J. H. Webber, Ashill, Il-
minster (Lydia) ; and J. H. Dunning, Creech St. Michael
(Cherry).

Heifer, in calf or witlx calf by her side, not exceeding three
years. — First prize, £5, T. H. Risdon, Washford (Alexandra) ;
second, £3, G. Gibbs. Commended : J. Edwards, Haydou.

Heifer of pure breed, not exceeding two years. — First
prize, £4, W. Farthing (Fair Rosamond) ; second, £3, W.
Farthing (Princess Louise). Commended : G. Gibbs ; and T.
H. Risdon.

Bull above two years, pure bred, to be kept in the Western
Division of Somerset to the 1st of June, 1873. — First prize, a
silver cup, J. AV. PauU, Ilminster ; second, £5, J. W. PauU.
Highly commended : J. S. Bult, Dodhill, Kingston.

Bull, pure breed, above ten months and not exceeding two
years, to be kept in the Western Division of Somerset to the
1st of June, 1873. — First prize, a silver cup, W. H. Hewett,
Norton Court (Crown Prince) ; second, £3, J. S. Bult.
Highly commended : J. Edwards (Baron).

Cow and offspring, cow above three years, and calf fallen
since 1st of Nov., 1870. — Prize, a piece of plate, J. S. Bult,
Highly commended : W. H, Hewett (Miss Maria).

Cow, in calf or with calf by her side, not exceeding three
years. — First prize, a piece of plate, W. H. Hewett (Vilot) ;
second, £3, J. S. Bult.

Heifer, in calf or with calf by her side, not exceeding three
years. — First prize, £5, W. H. Hewett (Annette 3rd); second,
£3, W. H. Hewett (NeUy). Highly commended : W, S. Gibbs,
Pitminster (Princess Royal).

Heifer of pure breed, not exceeding two years. — First prize,
M, W. H. Hewett ; second, £3, W. H. Hewett.

PAT STOCK,

Ox or steer, above three years. — First prize, £8, R. Welsh,
Ilminster ; second, £4, W. Farthing.

Steer, under three years. — First prize, £8, J. S. Bult; se-
cond, £4, W. H. Hewett. Highly commended ; R. Farthing,
Farriugdon, North Petherton.

Cow above four years, having produced a Hving calf — First
prize, £8, W. Farthing (Lofty) ; second, £4, M. Gibbs, Wel-
lington.

Heifer under four vears. — First prize, £8, W. Farthing ;
second, £4, T. H. Risdon, Washford,

SHEEP,

Pen of not more than four-tooth Longwoolled breeding
ewes. — Prize, £4, R. Farthing.

Pen of not more than four-tooth Shortwoolled breeding
ewes. — First prize, £4, A. Bond, Huntstile ; second, £3, J,
Culverwell, Clavelshays. Commended: J. H, Dunning,
Creech St. Michael.

Pen of five fat wethers, not exceeding two years. — First
prize, £4, H, Farthing ; second, £3, T. II. Risdon.

PIGS,

Boar.— First prize, £3, W. II. Hewett ; second, £3, T.
Taylor, Pool Farm. Commended : T. Taylor.

Breeding sow. — First prize, £3, T. Taylor ; second, £3, T.
Taylor. Commended : T. II. Risdon.

ROOTS.

Two acres of Swedish turnips, grown in the county of So-
merset, and within twenty miles of Taunton. — Prize, 'a silver
cup, R. Davis, Milverton.

One acre of yellow mangold wurtzel, to be grown in tbe
county of Somerset. — Prize, a silver cup, 0. Hosegood, Il-
minster,

One acre of red mangold wurtzel, to be grown in the
county of Somerset. — Prize, a silver cup, F. Bond, White-
lackington.

Two acres of common turnips, to be grown in the counly of
Somerset.— Prize, £5, F. Bond.

Two acres of Swedish turnips. — Prize, A. Bond.

Two acres of Swedish turnips, to be grown in the county of
Somerset, — Prize, a silver cup, A. Bond.

32

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE ABERDEEN GAME CONFERENCE.

The Sub-Committee of the Aberdeen Game Conference have
had a meeting to consider Sheriff Thomson's report on tlie
tabulation of proprietors' and tenants' returns. The members
present were : The Marquis of Huntly, Col. Innes of Learney,
Col. Ross King of Tertowie, Mr. Edmond of Kingswells,
Major Ross, Tillycorthie, Mr. M'Combie, M.P., Mr. Camp-
bell, Blairton ; Mr. Barclay, and Mr. Copland— Sheriff Thom-
son presiding. The following is the interim report submitted :

The tabulation of answers to queries having now been com-
pleted, and an abstract thereof prepared, Sheriff Tiiomson begs
to lay before the joint-committee the following infenm state-
ment.

1. Proprietors. — 196 lists of queries were issued to pro-
prietors ; 102 have returned answers. The amount of rental
(as per valuation roll) represented by the said 102 proprietors
is £215,814 ; the total rental of land in the county is about
£503,000. It will be remembered that no queries were issued
to proprietors having less than £500 rental.

Q. I. — The covenants regarding game contained in the
leases or general regulations of the estates of the proprietors
who have made returns may be classified as follows : 1. General
reservation of game to proprietor, with right to hunt and kill,
69 ; 3. do., and tenants bound to protect game and inform on
poachers and trespassers, 12 ; 3. Game reserved to proprietor
and tenant equally, 2 ; 4. No special covenant or condition re-
garding game, 16. Two proprietors returned their schedules
blank, the land being in their own occupation. Two returned
the queries unanswered, and one considers queries Nos. I. and
II. to be injudicious questions, but answers the other queries.

Q. II. — The practice which obtains apart from the regula-
tions) of the estates is returned as follows : On 41 estates the
tenants are prohibited from killing game and rabbits ; on 2
permission is granted to tenants, on application, to kill hares
and rabbits on their farms ; on 11 all tenants are allowed to
kill rabbits ; on 29 all tenants are allowed to kill hares and
rabbits ; on 1 permission is granted to tenants, on written
application, to shoot winged game on their farms.

Q. III. — The number of proprietors who state that com-
plaints of alleged injury by game have been made to them is
19 ; number who state that no complaints have been
made, 80.

Q. IV. — The number of complaints where amount of dam-
age was not stated is 20 ; the number of claims for damage, 3.
Amounts of claims are not given. The claims are stated to
have been settled by compromise.

Q. V. — The number of proprietors who state that they pre-
serve game is 37 ; number who state that they do not preserve,
60. The crops adjoining preserves are stated to be protected by
killing down in 36 cases ; by fencing, in 3 cases ; no arrange-
ment for protection, 4 cases.

Q. VI. — On 30 estates the shooting over agricultural lands
is returned as let ; on 67 estates the shooting is not let ; on 1
estate the shooting is stated to be " occasionally" let, and on
another " partly" let. The only arrangement mentioned for
the protection of agricultural tenants where the shooting is let
is killing down the ground game, which is returned for three
estates. On certain estates the game tenant is taken bound to
prevent any such increase in game as shall injure the agricul-
tural tenant.

2. Tenants. — The number of lists of queries sent to tenant-
farmers was 7,064; the number of answers received and tabu-
lated is 4,578 ; the number returned blank, parties having re-
moved or ceased to occupy land, &c., 54 ; the number from
Dead Letter Office, 5 ; the number not returned, 1,427.

Q. I. — Total acreage of arable land possessed by tenants who
have made returns, 372,085 acres. Nofe. — The whole arable
acreage of the county is 573,554 acres.

Q. II. — Number of farms the game on which is let, 1,165 ;
do. not let, 3,413.

Q. III. — Number of tenants who state that their crops are
damaged by game or other wild animals, 3,816 ; number
whose crops ire not damaged, 762.

y. IV. — Animals by which the crops are stated to be in-
jured : Number who say that they are injured by hares, 680 ;
by rabbits, 215; by hares and rabbits, 2,314; by deer and
roes, 291 ; by grouse, 247 ; by pheasants, 171 ; by crows,
wood-pigeons, or other vermin, 1,342.

Q. V. — The number of tenants who have estimated their
annual loss is 2,257 ; and the total amount of the estimated
annual loss is £19,906 14s. The number of tenants who state
that they suffer loss, but give no estimate, is 1,549. The
estimates vary in amount from a few shillings to £125 per
annum.

Q. VI. — In 855 cases the animals are stated to come from
adjoining estates ; in 1,274 from the tenants' own proprie-
tors' lands ; and in 1,585 cases the answers are indefinite.

Q. VII. — The number of tenants who state that they have,
within the last five years, complained to their landlord, or
some one on his behalf, respecting game or otlier wild ani-
mals, is 846 ; number who have not complained, 3,239. The
great majority of the complaints seem to have been verbal,
and in numerous instances made to gamekeepers. In some
cases complaints are stated to have been made to the lessees
of the shootings.

Q. VIII.— Total amount of claims for damage, £683 12s. ;
number of tenants who have made claims, 41. Claims dis-
posed as follows : By legal proceedings, 1 ; by compromise,
10; admitted and paid, 8; unsettled, 22— total, 41. There
are one or two cases where the tenants state that claims were
made ; but the amounts are not stated. In a few other in-
stances claims are said to have been made against lessees of
the game, and the damage paid by them.

Q. IX. — Number of tenants who state that the absolute
and unrestricted right to kill, either by their own hands or by
others employed by them, hares and rabbits on the land they
occupy, would enable them sufficiently to protect their inte-
rests, 3,106 ; number who stated that such right would be in-
sufficient, 750 ; number who state it to be unnecessary, 134.

Numerous suggestions for further tabulation were made, and
Lord Huntly proposed, and Mr. Edmond, of Kingswell,
seconded, that the report should not be laid before the Con-
ference until it had been ascertained how many of the tenants
of the twenty-nine proprietors who say that they give leave
to kUl hares and rabbits, nevertheless complain that their
crops are damaged by hares and rabbits, whether from their
own or neighbouriug estates. Mr. Barclay moved, and
Colonel Innes, of Learney, seconded, that the report be at
once submitted to a meeting of the Conference. On a divi-
sion, five voted for Lord Huntly's motion, and four for Mr.
Barclay's. Sheriff Thomson stated that the inquiry would
involve a re-examination of the whole schedules, and would
necessarily tend to considerable delay. The meeting ex-
pressed their sense of the ability and care with which the re-
port had been drawn up. Sheriff Thomson, in returning
thanks, said that much of the credit ought to be given to Mr.
Eraser, the assessor, without whose assistance the work could
' not have been so satisfactorily done.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

33

THE CENTRAL CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.

A meeting of the CouQcil, consisting of the deputed mem- I
bers from provincial Chambers and of the elected members of
the Council, was lield on Wednesday in the Smithfield Show
week, at the Salisbury Hotel, Sir M. Lopez, M.P., in the chair.

The minutes of the last meeting having been confirmed, and
Mr. J. Abel Smith, M.P., having been elected a life member,

The Treasurer read the financial statement for the
present year, from which it appeared that the total amount
of subscriptions received v^as £370 3s., to which was
added a balance from 1870 of £131 3s. lid., making a total of
£501 6s. lid., and tkat the disbursements amounted to £151
7s. lid., leaving a balance in hand of £i9 19s.

It was elicited in conversation tiiat the arrears of subscrip-
tions amounted to £1G9, being £40 in excess of the arrears at
the commencement of the year.

The Secret.vry then read the recent correspondence with
Mr. Gladstone, in whicii the Premier expressed his inability to
receive a deputation from the Council in reference to cattle
diseases during the week of the Smithfield Show, in conse-
quence of his absence from London. The Secretary said
that he had written to the geullemen who were to have
formed the deputation, asking Ihem what alternative course
they proposed to pursue, but as the answers in no way
agreed, he had taken it upon himself to defer any action until
the Council assembled.

Mr. Heneage moved, " That Mr. Gladstone be requested
to receive a deputation from the Central and associated cham-
bers on the afternoon of either the 5th or 6th of February."
That would, he observed, probably be about tlie period of the
meeting of Parliament, and he hoped the Council would in
this case be more fortunate in their request.

Mr. CvLDECOTT seconded the motion.

Mr. Jasper Moore thought that the deputation should
not be confined to cattle diseases, but should also lay before
the Prime Minister the views of the Council in reference to
the malt-tax and local taxation, and moved an amendment to
that effect.

The amendment was seconded.

Mr. BiDDELL deprecated the mi.\iug up of the cattle ques-
tion with the others as tending to prevent the interview from
proving of any value.

Mr. Neild, Sir G. Jenkinson, and the Chairman expressed
their concurrence in this view, and ultimately the amendment
was withdrawn ; after which the original motion was adopted
unanimously.

Mr. J. K. Fowler expressed his confidence that the Home
Cattle Defence Association would cordially unite with the
Council in demanding from the Government adequate pro-
tection against contagious diseases.

The Report of the Local Taxation Committee was then
presented. It was as follows :

Since the last meeting of the Central Council, the Local
Taxation Committee have distriljuted between two and three
thousand copies of tlie Report they then presented. They
trust that a perusal of that record of their proceedings during
the past session will insure a still larger amount of support
to their exertions in the future. Your Committee are gratified
to be able to point to several instances in which the urban
ratepayers arc awakening to their common interest in the
removal of the present unjust incidence of Local Taxation.
They would especially refer to two large meetings recently
held in London, at which their secretary was present. One
of these was held at the Cannon -street Hotel, under the pre-
sidency of Alderman Lnsk, M.P., when the representatives
of twenty-one metropolitan parishes were present. This
meeting unanimously resolved to support the principles of
the Metropolitan Poor Rate League, a body whose objects are
very closely allied to those of your Committee, their aims
being defined to be the removal of imperial charges from
local taxation ; the extension of the present area of assess-
ment to property now exempt ; and the maintenance of local
control over funds raised locally and expended for local ob-
jects. The second meeting was held at the Agricultural Hall,
Islington, and was presided over by Lord George Hamilton,
M,P. Upwards gf 1,500 persons ^'itejided, and receivecl en-

thusiastically the addresses of the noble chairman, of Mr,
McCnllagh Torrens, M.P., Captain Warner Dennis, and other
gentlemen. A petition to Parliament was unanimously
agreed to, praying for a i-edress of the grievances inflicted
on the ratepayers by tho present incidence of Local Taxation,
and referring specially to the limited area of property on
which local rates fall, and the absence of any local control
whatever over large portions of the funds now provided by
these rates. It is worthy of remark that the various speakers
recognised the necessity of the metropolitan ratepayers coni-
bining with those in other parts of the country who were
novv pressmg for redress. M». Torrens, M.P., especially cau-
tioned the meeting against the too probable attempt of the
Government to create a fictitious division of interest between
town and country in this matter, and warned them to accept
no iJiecemeal legislation ; and he clearly pointed out that if
they permitted their opposition to be disarmed, by the omis-
sion of the metropolis from the measure brought forward,
they would find that the same completely delusive remedies
proposed for the rest of tho country would be applied to
themselves in a subsequent session. In their last Report,
your commitee undertook to consider very carefully the bill
introduced by Sir Charles Adderley last session, which era-
bodied the recommendations of the Sanatory Commission.
This they have done the more readily as they have good
reason to believe that the Government intend themselves to
deal with the consolidation of tho laws relating to public
health, water supply, and local government. In examining,
therefore, the bill before them, your Committee finds that its
objects as follows : 1. To consolidate all existing statutes on
sanitary matters. 2. To make all existing provisions and
regulations by means of the central authority in all rural as
well as urban districts compulsory, whereas they are at pre-
sent optional and permissive. 3. To enforce certain new
recommendations of the Sanatory Commissioners. In intro-
ducing this bill, Sir C. Adderley stated "that it contained
economy in every one of its provisions," that there was in
it "nothing that could increase the expenditm-e of the
country," and that " no new authority and no new officers
were created by the bill." With this your Committee regret
they cannot agree, and for this reason : Now it is optional
with any district whether or not it shall tax itself for these
sanatory purposes, while this bill proisoses to render it com-
pulsory on all districts to provide the requisite machinery and
officials, and to carry out new regulations at the bidding and
to the satisfaction of a central authority. Any such measure
must necessarily eutaU increased local rates. Sir Charles
Adderley's bill proposes, therefore, new, because compulsory,
charges : I. For objects which will entail expensive ma-
chinery and many paid officials. In only a few cases, per-
haps, "will the expense of electing new boards be incurred ;
for existing town councils and local boards are made the local
authority in urban and existing boards of guardians in rural
districts; but in every case the following new officers must
be paid out of the rates— a clerk, a treasurer, a surveyor,
one or more local inspectors, one or more collectors, one or
more medical officers ; while none of these can be removed
by the local authority, except the clerk, treasurer, and col-
lectors, without the consent of the central authority ; and
while in the case of the medical officer this consent of the
central authority is requu-ed not only to his removal, but
also to his appointment and to the amount of his salary.
II. .Further, this bill entails new, because compulsory,
charges for the carrying out of: (1) Sanatory regulations
such as— the protection of water-courses from sewage pol-
lution (clause 141) ; the scavenging the surlace of streams
(clause 147); the management of sewers (clauses 153-154);
the regulation of privies, cesspools, drains, ditches, &c.
(CI. 180, &c.) ; the abatement of nuisances (CI. 192); the
regulation of common lodging houses (CI. 236) ; the pro-
vision of means of disinfection, of the carriage of infected
persons, and the erection of mortuaries (Cls. 286-309). And
(3) New Expenses in regard to Water Supply ; in the
cleansing of Wells (CI. 115) ; in the snlnnitting of all plans
of new waterworks to the Central Authority (CI. 121) ; in
the inspection of works in progress, and of all existing reser-
voirs by the Central Authority (Cls. 124-128) ; in having all
water supplied by them filtered to the satisfaction of the
Central Authority (CI. 134) ; in remunerating analysis ap-
pointed bv the Central Authority, wherever the Local Autho-
rity supplies water (CI. 135) . Besides these points on vvhich
additional expense must arise, your Committee must point to
the general tendency of this Bill to increase centralisation
This may be specially observed ; (I) In the control reserved
I to the Central Authority o\'er the removal and even over the

34

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

appointment and isalary of Local Officers. (2) In the powers
of the Central Authority in defining and acting upon a
"default" of the Local Authority as in clauses 89-99 — a wide
door being thus opened for the expenditure of local funds,
under the sole control of the Centi'al Authority. (3) In the
powers given to the Central Authoiity to empluj' the Police
as its agents in certain cases (01. 100). (-4) In the e.xtent of
the control reserved to the Central Authority over the Water
Supply — reducing in many instances the Local Authority to
the mere officer of the Central Power. (5) And lastly in new
powers with regard to making of Bye-laws vested in the
Central Authority. Also it must be observed that unless a
very careful and discriminating use be made of the powers
contained in such a Bill, for the subdivision of districts into
"parishes sjkX parts of parishes," a stUl further grievance will
arise. For various sanatory works are of benefit only to
individual properties or to very hmited special areas, and it
would be unjust in the extreme to levy a common charge for
such purposes over areas imaffected by buch improvements,
or which had already jjrovided them at then' own charges.
The necessitj' of a reform and simplfficatiou of the laws now
existing on all matters connected with the PubUc Health is
admitted by all; but the objections of yom- Committee to any
such legislation as that proposed are mainly these : First,
that every such meastire as this must materially increase the
amoimt now unfairly levied by rates upon one class and on
one description of property only, and that until a thorough
revision and readjiostment of the present incidence of local
taxation takes place, it would not be just or politic to increase
these exceptional charges for any purpose or object whatso-
ever. Second, that such a measure tends to promote in-
creased centralisation, and to supersede the power and dis-
cretion of the Local Authority ; that all such legislation
should be strenuously resisted, and advantage taken of any
consolidating measure to obtain such a revision of the relations
between Local and Centi-al Authorities, as will peri^etuate a
sound, vigorous, and healthy system of Local Self Govern-
ment. Your Committee would also desire to direct attention
to the proposals of the Endowed School Commissioners.
The removal or chversion of many small endowments
throughout the country from the purposes of Elementary
Education, would cause a considerable increase, in many
instances, of the Rates required for this object, and a fuither
injustice to ratepayers would be inflicted by the augmentation
of a charge which is purely national in its character. In
conclusion, your Committee would again urge their sup-
porters in the country to lose no opportmiity of impressing
on their Parliamentary Representiitives the paramount
claims of the whole system of Local Taxation for a compre-
hensive revision. They trust that they -svill manifest their
own interest in the question by ^promoting discussions in
every district, by influeucing as far as possible the local press
in their ov^ti localities, by affording increased ijecuniary
assistance to the efforts of the Committee, and by inducing
others who have not yet hithei-to contributed to aid a move-
ment the sole object of which is to make every man pay
according to his abUitj' to those national purposes from which
every man in proportion to his means derives equivalent
benefit and corresponding advantages. Your Committee
have to acknowledge with many thanks oontributions to their
ftinds, received since their last Report.

" MASSEY LOPES,

Cliairman,

The Chairma:^ said before any one moved the adoption of
that report he wished to make one or two remarks. A short
time ago the local taxation committee promised to analyse Sir
Charles Adderley's Bill relating to sanitary matters. They
had now performed that duty, and they had found one great
and essential difference between that Bill and the report of the
Royal Sanitary Commission. In the latter tliere was a recom-
mendation which seemed to have escaped the observation of
Sir Charles ; but he hoped it would not escape the observation
of the Government when tliey were considering what measure
they should introduce into Parliament. He would read to the
meeting that portion of tlie report of the commission which
related especially to the question of tlie payment of the ex-
penses incurred. The commissioners said : " It is impossible
to turn from this division of our subject without one word as
to the exclusive incidence of this in common with all other
branches of local taxation on real property in entire relief of
personalty, and as to the exemption of the property of the
Crown from such taxation. With reference to the former of
these two points it is admitted that having regard to some of
the principal purposes for which a general district rate has
been and hereafter will be imposed, its incidence on real pro-
perty is peculiarly fitting ; but as regards otiiers of these pur-
poses it may be fairly questioned whether the expense of bene-
fits so general, shoud be borne by the taxation exclusively of real
property, la dealing with a limited portion of a large

general subject, it does not become us to do more than glance
at either of these anomalies, or to suggest with reference to
rating for sanitary objects any departure from that which, iu
the wisdom of Parliament, may be the general law in respect of
cognate subjects ; but it cannot be otherwise than pertinent to
remark that instances are not wanting in which local expendi-
ture and taxation have been largely relieved by grants from
the Imperial Exchequer ; and thus, though roughly and
imperfectly, the public funds arising from other
sources than real property have been brought to
contribute in aid of burdens in other respects locally imposed
on real property alone. There are, for example, State contri-
butions towards certain expenses in connexion with the relief
of the poor ; for instance, the salaries of the auditors and the
poor-house school teachers, and-one-half the salaries of the
medical officers are paid by the Imperial Treasury, which also
contributes largely to the expense of prosecutions and of
county and borough police. Large amounts are annually
voted from the ConsoUdated Fund for school buildings andeda-
cational purposes — on this principle, that matters of so general
concern cannot be left to unaided local efforts, and that as the
result of local neglect would be a national mischief, so the
prevention of such a result is matter for national interference,
and to be purchased in part at the national expense. To the
extent at least wliich these precedents indicate, and until this
whole subject may be capable of exhaustive treatment, and the
undue incidence of local taxation on real property may be
remedied, it seems desirable that the State should aid the local
interests in securing efficient sanitary administration. This is
a matter of imperial importance, and is also in its turn too
likely to be overlooked .ind neglected if left entirely to local
effort, and too likely also when neglected to cause national,
and not merely local mischief. In any degree, therefore, in
which an amended health law may lead to greater expenditure
by an improved system of inspection, by imposing greater
medical supervision, and securing further medical aid, by im-
proved registration, and by any other measure not purely or ne-
cessarily local in its original effect, it seems expedient and just
that the localities should receive assistance from the State."
In conclusion the Chairman expressed his hope that Parlia-
ment would adopt the principles thus enunciated by the com-
mission.

On the motion of Sir G. Jenkinson the report of tlie Local
Taxation Committee was adopted.

The Chairman said the next business on the agenda paper
was the appointment of a treasurer and a paid secretary for
the year 1872 ; but as a new code of laws was to he proposed,
involving those appointments, he had to suggest that the
present treasurer and secretary should be requested to act iu
those capacities until the meeting in February, and this sug-
gestion was adopted.

The Secretary then read the annual report of the council.

The following is the Report — that is, merely omitting the
advertisements, or puffs more or less direct for certain people
or certain properties :

The Central Chamber of Agricultm-e, as originally pro-
jected, was designed to be, not so much a large society in
itself, as a nucleus around which might be organized an asso-
ciation of independent Chambers for counties and for dis-
tricts. This intention has been realized. At the termination
of the sixth year of its existence the Central Chamber
numbers 196 subscribers, of whom sixteen are Ufe members ;
but it embraces in association bj- means of its representative
Council ninety-nine Chambers and branch Chambers,
ha^-ing a total constituency of over 18,000 members. Since
the last annual meeting the Faringdon Chamber has been
dissolved, and the Midland Farmers' Club has withdrawn
from association. Five Chambers, however — namely, the
West Gloucestershire, and the Knoyle and South Wilts,
which have been formed during during the yeai-, and the
Malton, Ripon, and York Chambers, which were branches of
the North Riding Chambers, have miited themselves by sub-
scription to the Central Council ; while other Chambers have
been established or iii process of formation. But the most
prominent activitj- has been displayed in the institution of
branch Chambers, it having been found impossible in any
other way to provide the whole bodj' of members of any large
county Chamlser with opportunities for the expression of
opinion. The most favom-ed system of organization consists
of branches transferring part of their members' subscriptions
to the county Chamber, holding meetings imme-
diately in advance of the county meeting, and upon
the same subjects, and then appealing by repre-

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

beutatives al Llic general meeting- convened in the
county to\vn or other head-quarters of the Chamber.
By this and similar arrangements, the principle laid
down in a former report is being carried out — namely,
that as few of the farmers cUstributed over a large province
can attend at the head- quarters of theu* society, the society
must go to the farmers, or, in other words, it must provide
centres near at hand where questions can be discussed and
from whence decisions can be forwarded to the collective
meetings of the county or district. Thirty-sis of such branch
Chambers were named in last year's report ; this number
has now been increased to forty-three. The Devonshire
Chamber has four branches or Farmers' Clubs corresponding
with it — namely, at Barnstaple, Bideford, Colyton, and
Houitou ; the Lincolnshire Chamber has organized four
branches — at Boston, Brigg, Grantham, and "Louth; the
Norfolk Chamber ia now strenghtened 1)y the West Norfolk
Chamber at King's Lynn ; the North of England Chamber
receives representatives from thirteen union districts of
Northumberland and parts of the adjacent covxnties ; the
Shropshh-e Chamber is now supported by nine branches—
namely, at BUesmere, Ludlow, Market Drayton, Much Wen-
lock, Newport, Oswestry, Shifnal, "W'ellington, and Wem ;
the Staffordshu'O Chamber has five branches or district
meeting-places — namely, Burton-on-Treut and Tamworth,
Lichfield, Newcastle, Uttoxeter, and Wolverhampton ; the
Warwickshire Chamber is supported by two flourishing
branches— at Henley-in-Arden and Shipton-ou-Stour ; and
the North Riding of Yorkshire Chamber has five branches —
namely, Malton, Pickering, Ryedale, Scarborough, and
Whitby. The Council call upon agriculturists in Bedford-
shire, Buckinghamshire, Derbyshu'e, Huntingdonshire, Lan-
cashire, Oxfordshu-e, Rutland, Sussex, and a majoi'ity of the
counties in the principality, in which no Chambers have yet
been organized, to consider whether they cannot aid in ex-
tending this great movement of combination of the agricul-
tural classes for the promotion and defence of then' mutual
interests. The present rate of annual contribution from the
associated Chambers to the funds of the Central Council
a,mounts to £286, and the contriljution from subscription
members of the Central Chamber, considering that five life-
compositions have been received in 1871, to £230 ; making
the total present rate of income of the Council £516. But, as
appears from the financial statement appended to this
repoi't, the an-ears are very hea^->', in spite of the re-
peated applications made by the Secretary for payment.

In order that the numerous Chambers of Agriculture may
exert theu* full power upon public opinion, and may have due
weight assigned to their wishes and decisions by the Legisla-
ture and by the Govermnent, it is essential to secure, as far as
possible, united and .simultaneous action upon all questions
brought before them ; and this object can be attained only
through a central representative body, assembling for mutual
counsel and dhection, concerting measures in accordance
with the views of the Chambers, and concentrating in reso-
lutions and appeals, made to Parliament or to public opinion,
the voice of the great majority of the agricnltitrists who are
members of those Chambers. Accordingly, the Council,
having recived various resolutions on the subject in October,
1870, appointed a committee in December to consider and
suggest what changes should be made in the rwles ; and at
the meeting on April 4 in the present year this committee re-
ported in favour of admitting deputed members of provincial
Chambers to be members of the Central Chamber, and thus
to have a voice in the framing or alteration of rules, in favour
of regulatuig the voting power of each Chamber in proportion
to the number of its members and its money contribution to
the Central Council, and in favour of allowing to such deputed
members a plm-ality of votes in order that the larger or more
remote Chambers may be able to exercise then- due influence
in the decisions of the Council. In fact, the Committee, with
no little labour, prepared an altogether new code of laws which
were submifcf "d to all the Chambers ; and, after discussion on
May 3rd, anu !<gain on November 7th, the new Constitution
and Laws of Association, with sundry amendments, were
adopted by the Council and recommended to be passed at the
annual meeting this day. The Council would add then- re-
commendation that the new bye-laws should provide for the
holding of Council meetings, as heretofore, on the first Tues-
days in February, March, April, May, Jime, and November,
and on Wednesday in the week of the Smithfleld Club Show ;
and that, in addition to the General Business Committee, there
should be appointed a limited Parliamentary Committee.

The Coimcil regard with unmixed satisfaction the success-
ful working of the Local Taxation Committee, which was ap-
pointed by the Council in May, 1869, and has reported its pro-
ceedings month by month since that date. Under the chau'-
manshipof Sir Massey Lopes, Bart., M. P., with a secretary,
and Executive Committee, an office, and a special fund of its
own, this Committee has obtained the personal support of
eighty-tln-ee members of the Legislatm-e, who are now num-
bered in its ranks ; and the efforts which have never been
intermitted throughout the year, in the agitation of Local
Taxation Reform by petitions to Parliament, by public meet-
ings, the dissemination of printed matter, con-espondence

with the courts of quarter sessions, and by other agencies,
are recapitulated in the separately-issued report of the Com-
mittee, to which the Council would earnestly direct the atten-
tion of members. In March the Central Council considered
"The present unjust incidence of local taxation, and what
fm'ther action shall be taken to obtain an entire revision of
the same," and passed resolutions declaring that no measure
will be regarded as jixst and satisfactory which continues the
exemption of other than real property from contributing to
new and national burdens, protesting against the militia
barracks and storehouses' clauses of the Army Regulation Bill,
and against the payment of election expenses out of county
or borough rates, and passing a vote of thanks to Sir Massey
Lopes and the 191 members of the House of Commons who
supported his motion on local taxation. At an adjourned
meeting held on April 20th, the Council, in receiving a report
of the Local Taxation Committee upon Mr. Goscheu's Local
Taxation BUls, accorded a vote of thanks to the Committee,
and called upon all provincial Chambers to urge their parlia-
mentary representatives to support the pomts which had been
brought forward in that report ; and the Council resolved, in
particular — (1) That the Government bills continued the ex-
emption of income arising from personal wealth from contri-
buting to the relief of the poor and other local charges ;

(2) that the proposed division of rates between landlord and
tenant did nothing to relieve owners and occupiers of
houses and land of the burdens the3' complained of; and

(3) that the powers to be conferred on the new Government
Board would still further restrict local self-government, and in-
crease centralisation and local expenditure. On May 2nd, the
Council, after agam discussing the ' ' Rating and House
Tax," and "Rating and Local Government" BiUs, resolved
to much the same efi'ect, and in condemnation of the bills,
though admitting that some of the administrative clauses
were worth.v of consideration, and fm-ther called upon mem-
bers of Pai'l'iament and others representing o«mers and oc-
cupiers of real property to take all legitimate means for op-
posing the Government measure. On June 6th the Coimcil
passed a resolution accepting the withdrawal of the Govern-
ment bills, as an acknowledgement of their failure to meet
the requirements of ratepayers, but regretting that the Go-
vernment had found it impossible to fulfil the pi-omises held
forth in the Queen's Speech. The Council also resolved
fii-mly to oppose the clauses in the foUowiug bills,
which threatened gi-eater burdens on the rates— namely :
The Army Regulation Bill, the Elections (Parliamentary and
Municipal) Bill, the Fm'ther Abolition of Turnprko Tolls
Bill, the Pauper Lunatic Discharge and Regulation Bill, the
Prison Ministers Bill, the Registration of Voters Bill, and
the Corrupt Practices Amendment Bill. The CouncQ i-ecord
with gratification that the Government Local Taxation Bills
were withdra^vn, the mihtia barracks and storehouses clauses
were defeated, clause 18 in the Elections Bill was defeated,
and claitses 19, 20, and 21 were withdrawn, the Prisons
Ministers Bill was withdrawn, and the Registration of
Voters Bill (No. 1) and Registration of Voters Bill (No. 2)
were both withdi-awn. The Committee appointed on No-
vember 8th last year to confer with the various Fu-e Insm--
ance Offices as to the most equitable mode of insurmg farm-
ing stock reported on Februaiy 7th that it had communicated
with sixty-two offices in Great Britain ; it enumerated the
offices which were found to adopt the terms with the " ave-
rage clause" as agreed upon by the companies associated
imder the "Tariff," and named six offices which commmii-
cated other terms, and in particular the Esses and Suffolk
Equitable Insurance Society and the Lynn To\vn and County
Insm-ance Company, which accept insurances of farm stock
\vathout the average clause. The Committee held a confer-
ence with representatives of the associated offices, Snd also
with representatives of non-associated offices. The Com-
mittee did not object to the average clause being applied to
three-fourths of the value of agricultural produce, provided
average prices and average crops over a series of years were
taken as the basis of the amount on which premimn is to be
paid. It reported its regret that the representatives of the
associated offices unanimously declined to entertain this pro-
position, which determination renders necessary for the
farmer's full protection that he shall take out a new policy
year by year, and may also necessitate an additional pre-
mium in case of a sudden rise in the value of grain. The
Committee were happy to find that other offices are willing
to accept insm'ances upon the terms which it suggested ; it
recommended fanners in all cases to insure hay, corn, straw,
and similar agricultural produce in a separate amount from
other property ; and urged that it should be the practice of
all (as it aheady is of some) offices to inquire into and decide
upon the sufficiency of the amomit insured at the time of in-
sm-ing. The report was adopted, printed, and circulated.
The report of the Joint Committee of the Central Council and
the International Decimal Association was referred to the
Provincial Chambers on October 4th last year, with a re-
quest that they would consider and resolve upon it prior to
the Coimcil meeting of February, 1871. And at this meeting
it was resolved, as on a former occasion, that all agricultu-
ral produce except liquids should be sold by weight only, and

» 2

THE TAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

tluit tlio Ouiiucil, iipprcckiUii;^ the ndvaulHgCo of the rccom-
lueudutioiis coutaiued iu the RcpoiL of the Jouit Uuiuuiittcc
(in i'avour ol' the "(iiiiutal" ol' 100 kUograunucs, aud the
compulsory use of the motrio weights after a ilefined period),
\vas of opinion that it is desirable in the first place to intro-
duce instruction in the metric system in puVjlic elementary
.schools. At the February meeting the Council unanimously
resolved to urge the Government, when reviewing the gene-
ral liccnshig system of the country, to consider the unjust
pressure of the Malt Tax upon the growers of barley and
upon the labom-ing classes who are the great consumers of
beer. Copies of the resolution were forwarded to the Home
Secretary and to the Chancellor of the E.xchequer. On May
3rd the Council unanimously resolved that efforts made to
secure better and cheaper Ijeer by a modification of the Malt
Tax would be impeded by those provisions of the Govern-
ment Licensing Bill which are designed to create a monopoly
adverse to the interests of that large class for whom beer is a
necessary be\-erage. And it was further resolved that the
costs to be incurred in administering the Bill ought not to be
defrayed from the local rates, but that they may be fairly
made a first charge upon the revenue derived from licenses.
The Government Bill was ultimately withdrawn. At the Fe-
bruary meeting the Council resolved that legal provision is
necessar\-, and ought to be made, for enabling persons in-
terested in occupation roads not lieing highways to co-
operate for the purpose of making, improving, and maintain-
ing such roads at their own charge, and that the subject is of
suificient importance to justify an application to the Govern-
ment to initiate legislation thereupon in the next Session of
Parliament. On March 7th the Council passed a resolution to
the effect that, as good roads cheapen commodities, benefit
all classes, and secure to the public rights of user practically
unlimited, highways should not continue to be a charge on real
property only through the poor-rate assessment. On April -Ith
the Council declared its opinion that the powers conferred
upon the surveyors in assessing the property and income tax
under Schedules A and B, and also the house dut.y, are ge-
nerallj' exercised in an arbitrary and unjust manner ; that
those powers give the survej-ors of taxe.s" inducements and
facilities for making most excessive surcharges for -which
there are no reasonable grounds, thereby causing annoy-
ance and inconvenience in obligmg persons to appeal against
such assessment ; that the present mode of assessing is \-ery
unfair to many parties who make a true and just return, and
that, in cases where parties are charged in excess, the ex-
pense of appealing should be borne by the person making
the charge. On April^-lth the Council resolved that none of
the bills then before I'arliament was suflicient for the pur-
pose of curing the evil of the over-preservation of ground
game, but that an Act embodying the principles of the third
clause of Mr. McLagan's Bill and the fourth clause of IMr.
Lock's Bill, with some modification of the law of trespass,
would be satisfactory. And at the June meetingthe Secretary
was instructed to call the attention of all the Chambers to
Sir H. J. Sehvin Ibbetson's Bill. On June 6th, after hearing
a most able paper read l)y Dr. J. Rogers, President of the
Poor-Law Medical Officers' Association, the Council resolved
that the present system of Poor-Law Medical relief is inade-
quate to the wants of the poorer classes, is unsatisfactory in
results, and requires amendment, and that it is expedient
to adopt for England and Wales a disjiensary system, with a
modification of the provisions of the Irish Medical Charities
Act. A copy of the resolution was lbr«-arded to the Pre.si-
dent of the Poor-Law Board. On May 3rd the Council in-
structed the Secretary to urge all the Associated Chamljers
to press for the rescinding of the Privy Council Order of April
20t)i, which permitted cattle from Holland to pass inland to
any part of this kingdom after only twelve hours' detention at
the place of landing. On various occasions during the year
the Secretary addressed letters to the Times and other
journals, calling public attention to cases of the importation
of contagious disease. At the meeting on November 7th, the
Council unanimously resolved that the failure of the Conta-
gious Diseases (Amended) Act has demonstrated the ne-
cesity for compulsory slaughter or fourteen days' qua-
rantine of all imported foreign animals, as uniformly
demanded by the Council ; that the Government should make
as complete and effectual as jiossible then- present inspection
of all cattle and sheep previous to embarkation in Ireland,
and of all vessels engaged in conveying animals ))etween Ire-
land and Great Britain ; that Government officers should bo
appouated to enforce the provisions of the Act \\-ith reference
to the cleansing and disinfecting of raihvay trucks, yards,
and pens, and the watering and transit of'animals on rail-
ways m (ireat Britain and in Ireland ; and that, when these
objects have been secured, the cattle cordon .should be re-
moved from the metroiiolitan district. Copies of these reso-
lutions were forwarded to Mv. Gladstone and to Mr. Forster,
and Mr. Gladstone was requested to receive a joint deputa-
tion of the Chambers of Agriculture aud the Home Cattle
IJelence Association during the week of the Smithfield Club
cattle Show. The Council regret that absence from London
has prevented Mr. Gladstone being able to accede to this re-
quest; and it remains for the meoting this day to det^nuiue

what alternative course shall be adopted. The Council con-
gratulate the Chambers upon the iucreabiug interest wliich
has been manifest iu the meetings iluring the year ; ami iu
particular they would note the dinnsr at the City Terminus
Hotel, on May 2nd.

Oq the motion of Mr. D. Long, secoudetl Ijy Mr. Willson,
this report was received aud approved.

Mr. GE^'CiE Andrews presented the resolutions of the
Somersetshire Chamber relating to cattle traffic and to local
taxation, as follows :

That the continued importation of cattle disease of fo-
reign origin during 30 years has produced a state of things
amongst keepers of cattle which materially interferes with
and checks production. That the most stringent, costly, and
careful inspection which is practicable has, and must neces-
sarily continue, to fail in discovering latent disease in im-
ported cattle. That the importer, the butcher, and the con-
sumer, and the sanitary state of towns, will benefit bj' the
slaughter of all foreign fat animals in completely enclosed
sjiaces at the ports of debarkation. That this Chamber will
tise its influence to seciu-e legal and permanent jn'ovision for
the sale and slaughter of all foreign fat animals within en-
closed markets, and the quarantine of lean stock at every port
licensed for their admission into Great Britain.

That this Cotincil, in continuing its opposition to the un-
just exemption from the poor-rate assessment of income
arising from personal property, views with satisfaction the
fact that it is already evident that the ratepayers of townk,
esiiecially of the metropolis, are beginning to see the mon-
strous injustice of charging the larger half of a direct tax of
£16,000,000 on house property. That committees in connec-
tion with the County Association of Ratepayers shoitld be
formed in every to^vn, with power to add to their number,
and three to be a quorum. That the Honorary Secretary be
requested to present these resolutions to the annual meeting
of tlie Central Chamber.

lie moved that the cattle disease regulations aud local taxation
be the subjects discussed at th!- meeting of the Chamber in
February.

l\Ir. D. Long seconded tlie proposal.

!Mr. Neii.d opposed it on the ground that the local cham-
bers were looking anxiously to the malt-tax being dealt with
as the next subject of consideration, lie moved, therefore,
that the malt-tax be included as the prominent question for dis-
cussion iu Eebruary.

Mr. T. Willson seconded the amendment, aud said that
unless the Chamber took the " bull by the horns" in re-
ference to the malt-tax, it would lose most of the members of
the Eastern associations.

j\tr. Stoker said he was iu favour of Iiriugiug the cattle
traffic regulations before the Legislature as soon as possible.
He concurred, therefore, in the motion of Mr. Andrews.

Mr. IIeneage reminded the Chamber that the tjuestion of
local taxation had been completely thrashed out, and that
what they had now to do was simply to let tlie Government
understand that that question, in the opinion of tlie Cliamber,
stood in tiie foremost rank, and tliat they did not mean to
put if on one side merely because ministers had made an at-
tempt to deal with it and failed. Moreover, as stated in the
report of the committee, the towns were beginning to move in
tlie matter, and encouraged the hope that tlie Chamber would
receive valuable aid from that quarter. As, then, local taxa-
tion had been fully discussed already, and little more was to be
said respecting it, tlie real subject for discussion in IVbrnary
would be the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, wliich stood
next iu order.

Mr. BiDPELL said that his county (Suffolk) was deeply in-
terested in the malt tax, and was looking for more rigorous
aud decided action by the Chamber with regard to it. He
did not objeot to the proposal to take Local Taxation aud the
Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, as proposed by Mr. An-
drews, but he strongly protested against placing the malt tax
last, when there would be no time to consider it.

The Cii.viRMAN : Then let it be understood that the malt
tax will be discussed at the meeting in ]\Ltrcli.

Mr.EowLERadmitted that the malt tax was a question of pri-
mary importance, but at that moment there were not less than
4,000 sheep .at the river side affected with a serious disease,
.lud he hoped it would not be thought that farmers were con-
tent] to let the cattle-trafTic question slumber until February,
without taking it then in hand. Let that be the subject for
discussion along vyith the malt tax, both of wliich would have

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

to be debated at tbc very begiiiuing of the seBbion ol' Parlia-
ment. Local taxation might certainly rest until March.

After some further couversation it was arranged that the
questions to be set down for l''ebruary should be, 1. Local
taxation ; 3. Contagious diseases of animals ; 3. The Malt-
tax.

The Annual General Meeting of the members of the
Chamber then took place, and the Keport of the Council was
received in order to be circulated.

On the motion of Mr. Pell, M.P., seconded by Mr. D. Long,
Sir M. Hicks Beach, M.P., was unanimously appointed Vice-
President for the year 1873, and President for the year 1873.

Sir M. II. Beach, in accepting the ollice, said until a
few days ago this honour had been totally unexpected by him, and
he felt it the more because, owing to the pressure of other en-
gagements, he had been precluded from being anything like a
regular attendant at the meetings of the Chamber, though he
remembered that he attended them when the society was in its
infancy. During his term of ollice he would do his best to
maintain the Chamber's prosperity and influence.

The following were elected members of Council : Sir
M. Lopes, M.r., Mariston, Roborough, Devon ; Mr. C.
Clay, Walton, Wakefield ; Mr. T. Duckhani, Baysham
Court, lloss, Herefordshire ; Mr. G. Storer, Thorston Hall,
Newark, Nottinghamshire ; Sir George S. Jenkinson, Bart.,
M.P., Eastwood Park, Falfield, Gloucestershire; Mr. H.
Neild, The Grange, Worsley, Manchester ; Mr. G. Whitaker,
Caldewell, Kerapsey, Worcester; Rev. E. Smythies, M.A.,
Hathern Rectory, Loughborough, Leicestershire. These
were re-elections of retiring members, with the exception of

Sir M. Lu[)cs and Mr. Storer, who take the places of Mr. W.
Gardner, Canterbury, and Mr. J. Htlinsley, Newark.

On the motion of Mr. Mu^jtz, seconded by Mr. T, Duck-
ham, it was unanimously resolved that the laws and constitution
recommended by the Council be approved and adopted, and come
into operation on the 7th of Eebruary next, and that the first
general meeting of the Chamber under the uew constitutioa
be held on that day. It was further agreed that Mr. Muntz,
Mr. Clay, Mr. G. Whitaker, Mr. Jones, Mr. Little, and Capt.
Craigie be a committee to prepare bye-laws and arrange the
details under the new constitution.

Mr. Mu>JTZ proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman, Sir
M. Lopes, for his services during the past year, which was
seconded by Mr. Horley, and carried by acclamation.

Sir M. Loi'ES could only say in vacating the presidency of the
Chamber that he had to thank all and every member for the
uuiform kindness and courtesy they had shown him on every and
all occasions. Their deliberations had been conducted with a
degree of order and decorum which might vie with those of the
highest assembly in the land. Their discussions had been charac-
terized by a vast deal of ability and great moderation of lan-
guage and temper, and he was pleased and proud at having
had the honour of presiding over the Chamber during the
past year. He was glad to find, moreover, that the gentleman who
was to succeed him was one more competent than himself for
the office, and who he felt sure would maintain its dignity and
importance as effectually as any one of his predecessors. In
retiring from the chair he assured them that his interest in
their questions would in no respect be diminished. He trusted
they would continue a great and growing power, prosperous
and flourishing, and daily proving that they were a bulwark
and mainstay of the agricultural interest of the country.

The proceedings then terminated.

FRENCH PEASANT FARMERS' SEED FUND.

The last general meeting of this Fund was held on Wed-
nesday, December 6, at the Salisbury Hotel, when the final
Report relating to the Distribution of the Fund was presented.
The attendance was small, it being no doubt understood that
the proceedings would be rather of an executive and winding-
up than of a deliberative character. Lord Vernon presided.

Mr. Brandhetii Gibbs, one of the hon. secretaries, read
the following report of the Committee :

The last Report of the Executive was presented to tlie
General Committee and the Subscribers on the 23rd of May,
after the close of the distribution of spring corn. At that
date there remained in the hands of the Committee a balance
of £2,09S lis. 7d., besides a Swedish Fund entrusted to them
by M. Drouyn de Lhnys, amounting to £i,2"2 19s. lid. The
latter sum was afterwards augmented, by further remittances
from Sweden to £6,300 2s., and by a Limbourg Subscription
amounting to £393 lis., while the balance of our own Fund
was increased l3y further subscriptions and the repayment of
continental railway charges, partly by the companies and
partly by tlie French Government, until it amounted
to upwards of £1,000. The total sum thus available for dis-
tribution in the autumn was £10,933 16s. The useful appli-
cation of this sum occupied the attention of the Executive
soon after the last General Meeting. To aid them in this
duty, they deputed Captain Delf to visit the districts relieved,
for the purpose of reporting on the agricultural and economic
effects of of the operations of the Fund, in accordance with
the authority given by the General Committee at its last
meeting. The result of Captain Delf's journey was to demon-
strate that the barley, oats, potatoes, vetches, and garden
seeds, sent by the Fund had generally produced more abun-
dant crops than the native kinds, but that the wheat had
failed in most cases. Various causes have been assigned for
this exceptional result. The Committee were constantly ui'ged
by the French authorities and agriculturists to send wheat, and
nursery wheat being at that time the only variety procurable
in large quantities for spring-sowing, it was sent by this
Fund ; and the same kind was bought largely in England by
the French Farmers themselves through the ordinary com-
mercial channels. The wheat was for the most part sown
duringthe month of March, but a little even so late as the
beginning of Ajml. Circumstances had in most rasps not
allowed of Uio due preparation of the land, and the serd time
was suficepded l)ythreo mnnthaof very nnfavournlile weather.
The latest jnirchasefs of wheat made by the Fund were of an-

other description — the April wheat — which yielded a satisfac-
tory crop, and it is interesting to remark that this variety
has more affinity with the " Ble de Mars" of the country
than any other English kind. The Executive, after consulta-
tion with M. Drouyn de Lhuys, resolved, with the approach
of the autumn seed-time, to expend the balance remahiing
in the purchase of English autumn wheat, to be
distributed in the first instance to those who
had received our spring wheat, in the proportion of one-
half the quantity previously given. Inconsequence of the
difficulties of transport the Executive Committee appealed to
the authorities of the Northern Railway of France for pre-
ferential transport of then- grain, and to the Minister of
Public Works to use his influence in obtaining this conces-
sion. The administration of the Northern Railway once
more gave the Committee their valuable assistance by grant-
ing preferential transport, and a reduction of 50 per cent, on
the cost of conveyance of our consignments ; and the French
Government showed their appreciation of our work by in-
structing the Custom House authorities at the various ports
of landing to admit our corn free of duty. The principles of
distriljution having been agreed upon by the Executive,
the Mark Lane Committee, through Mr. Pavy, purchased
2,700 quarters of red wheat, and Mr. Odams again under-
took the shipping department, with his usual public spirit.
The Executive were of opinion that this distribution, being
conducted in a time of peace, did not require so numerous a
staff of English representatives in France as the spring dis-
tribution, which was conducted under the double difficulty
created by civil warfare and a hostile occupation of the coun-
try. In addition, most of the representatives of the Fund were
no longer resident in France, and a new agency was there-
fore unavoidable in those cases. Fortunately, however, Col.
Blphinstone was again able to undertake the distribution in
the district of La Beauce, and the Executive therefore for-
warded him 800 quarters of wheat for the pm-pose of giving
half-quantities to those who had been disappointed of a
wheat crop our spring seed. The districts of the North of
France and Paris, includmg the Departments of the Somiuo,
Aisne, Pas de Calais, Oise, Seine, Seine et Oise, and Seine et
Marne, were consolidated into one, and placed under the
chargeot Mr. H.M. Jenkins, oneot their honorary secretaries,
who was fortunately able to associate with him Mr. C. B.
Pitman, a member of the Paris Committee last spring. The
sped corn fortlipse Departments, amounting to 1,550 qnartnrs,
wns sent via Boulo.gnc, nt which port M. v aillant displayed
the game energy in landjng and forwarding the com ns he

38

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

had previously exhibited. The remaiuiug 350 ciuartera of
wheat were sent to the Departments of the Eure, Bure et Loir,
and Seine Inferieure throngh Captain Delf. To him also the
Bxecutive are much mdeljted for his attention to the home
business during Mr. Jenkins's absence in Fi-ance. An exami-
nation of the statement of receipts and expenditure appended
to this report will show that there remains an available balance
in hand of about £1,000, and the executive recommend that
they be authorized to distribute this sum to the most neces-
sitous peasant-farmers in money, or in such other way as may
be deemed most advisable.

By order of the Executive Committee,

B. T. Beandeeth Gibes, ) „

H. M. JTL^Kma, i Honorary

W. H. Delano, j Secretaries.

The followiug balance-sheet was laid on the table :—
Absieact of Receipts and Disbueseiients to 30ih No-

VEMBEB, 1871,

Di:

To Subscriptions —

Received as follows, viz. :

£ s. d. £ 8. a.
Prom Mansion House Relief Fund... 13,000 0 0

,, Sundry Contributions 29,159 4 7

i, Scotch Farmers' Seed Fund,

their proportion of expenses... 45 6 0

42,201 10 7

To Foreign Fund —
Received from Sweden for dis-
tribution 6,300 2 0

Received from Limberg for dis-
tribution 393 14 0

6,6U3 16 0

To Kingsbury and Co. —

Allowance on Advertising 40 0 0

To amounts refunded by Agents
being balance of moneys ad-
vanced for expenses at dlflferent
depots in France ; also refunds
for Railway Carriage, and sums
received from sale of Corn, Seeds,

Sacks, &c 2,607 6 4

To Amount received on account of

Mansion House Relief Fund 5 5 0

To interest on Deposit 31 6 9

£51,682 4 8

Ci:

By pm-chase of Seed and cost of dis-
tribution, viz. — £ s. d. £ e. d.

Purchase of Seed 37,941 14 8

Sacks 1,955 11 9

Freight and shipping charges on

Seed pm-chased and contributed 3,525 13 0
Agents in respect of expenses of

distribution 4,229 15 0

[See amount refunded, per contra.] 47,643 14 5

By Expenses of Collection, viz. —

Advertising 2,276 13 7

Stationery and Printing 273 1110

Postages, Banker's charges, Gra-
tuities, Salaries, and Office ex-
penses 668 19 4

■ ~ 3,119 4 9

By Amount paid Mansion House

ReliefFund 5 5 0

By Balance in hand at London and

Comity Bank *814 0 6

* In addition to this balance, a sum of £164 7s.
has since been refmided by the Paris Committee,
and a further sum of about £230 is still due for
wheat resold by the Mark Lane Committee.
The total balance is thus about £1,200, and the
liabilities may be estimated at £150 to £200.—

H.M.J. .

£51,582 4 8

Audited and Passed,

(Signed) QuiLTEB, Ball, aijd Co., Dec. 4th, 1871.

The Cii\iEMA.\ said lie did not know whether he might
take the smallness of the attendance as au indication that the
public generally were satisfied with the manner in which the
operations of that Fund had been conducted abroad ; but he
did know that the occupations of agriculturists in London
during that week were so numerous that it was almost impos-
sible to get in any engagement of an unusual character. It
was not necessary for liira to make many remarks, because pre-
viously to the distribution of seed-corn, which took place last

autumn, the reports of the Executive and General Committee,
entered fully into the past distribution ; but as he might fairly
assume that that would be the last general meeting, he could
not help alluding briefly to the origin and progress of the Fund.
They would remember that it was originated in October last
year, through the sagacity of Mr. James Howard, member for
Bedford, who was well known to all agriculturists ; and that
M. Drouyn de Lhuys, who had since rendered great assistance
to the Committee, at once recognized the importance of dis-
tributing the seed to the necessitous peasant farmers. The
question was referred to for the first time in public at a meeting
of the Smithfield Club, and shortly afterwards a general
meeting of those who were favourable to the scheme was held
in that house. In the early part of their operations their
progress was very much impeded — he was not compaining of
it in any way — by the subscriptions demanded for other objects
of more immediate necessity in France ; but in progress of
time, through the agency of different agicultural bodies, and
through the assistance of the press, the general sympathy of
the public which was created resulted in a subscription
amounting altogether to £51,582, of which £13,000 was con-
tributed by the Lord Maj'or's fund, and £6,600, the principal
part of which had been raised in Sweden, was entrusted to
them by M. Drouyn de Lhuys, than whom, as they all knew,
no man was more thoroughly acquainted with the necessities
of French agriculture, and who was a person of very grave
and thoughtful character. The distribution of seed for the
summer benefited nearly 100,000 occupiers of land, of whom
about 60,000 were supplied in almost equal proportions
from Amiens and Tours, and tlie remaining 40,000 from
Rouen, Paris, and Creil. After the last general meeting the
executive committee had a balance in hand of about £10,000,
and it was settled that they were to distribute that as far as
possible among those who had received wJieat which had failed.
He might say that, in the distribution of corn in France, it
was not to be expected that all the grain would be productive,
but they hud abundant evidence that in almost every case all,
with the exception of the wheat, had succeeded beyond their
expectations. That the wheat crop was more or less a failure
was due partly to the period for spring sowing having passed
before they were able to get the corn to the district, and partly
to their want of information as to the quality of the seed which
was best adapted to the French climate and soil. He believed
that if the English agriculturists had been appealed to as a
body they would have recommended their sending the nursery
wheat which they did send, and that particular quality was
bought as far as possible in the ordinary commercial transac-
tions with France. They would have preferred to send the
April wheat, and did send some, but it was not readily pro-
curable in England. It yielded an abundant crop. The com-
mittee, feeling it to be incumbent on them to remedy any
failure as far as possible, had devoted part of their funds
to the distribution of a small amount of money to those
who received wheat in the spring and whose crops failed.
There was ample information on these points in the report of
Captain Delf, and he thought they might claim credit for
having given to the public full inlormation respecting their
operations, their failings as well as their successes. It had
often been said in England that the necessities of the French
peasantry were not so great as they were at first supposed to
be, and that the recipients of seed had not been as grateful as
they might have been expected to be. But he was prepared to
give the fullest denial to both these allegations. It was true
tbat the peasant farmers had money, but ^^•hat was the value of
money if they could not buy what they required with it?
There was plenty of money, but no corn, and he was
sure that in spite of a few failures, not only this generation,
but those who would succeed them, would have a kindly feeling
to the British agricultural public who rendered them
assistance in the time of their need. The committee had
abundant means of proving the gratitude, not only of the
Government and the local authorities, but of the peasantry,
who had presented them with testimonials, and had sent them
medals, accompanied by letters, in which, with their usual
elfusion, they expressed their gratitude. The committee had
received five or six medals from difl'erent districts in France,
and the testimonials would form a large volume. He could
not conclude without expressing his deep obligation, as the
chairman, to the members of the committee who had served
with him, for the industry with which they had devoted them-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

39

selves to their work, the care which they liad taken to ascer-
tain to the best of tlieir ability how the difficulties of commu-
nication could be overcome, how funds could be raised in Eng-
land, and how it was possible to cope with fraud. If anything
had lightened their labours it was the admirable manner in
which their representatives abroad had co-operated with them.
They had mainly worked through voluntary agents ; and,
indeed, where there had been auy remuneration the amount
was so small that it hardly amounted to payment. They
were all of them under great obligation to the Ger-
man Government for their assistance at the commence-
ment of their operations. They were also indebted to the
French Embassy at home, and it' he might bring one name in-
to greater prominence than another he should mention Mr.
Odams, who had given them the advantage of his wharf and
his services entirely free of any expense to the fund. The
autumn distribution had been conducted entirely through
the agency of Mr. Jenkins, and his colleague, Mr. Pitman.
The committee could not possibly have surmounted the diffi-
culties which they had had to encounter, witliout the valuable
and intelligent labours and assistance ol Mr. Jenkins. He
could not, indeed, refrain from expressing his gratitude to
all the honourary secretaries, one of whom (Blr. Brandreth
Gibbs) sat next to him. They all took an active part in the
operations of the fund, and contributed aid by which a large
amount of money had been saved. It was not without some
pain that he parted from the contributors to that work. It
was a great national work, and he was confident that it would
sow the seeds of goodwill and of amity between the two
countries.

Mr. Whitehead, in moving the adoption of the Report,
said with one exception, that of the failure of the early wheat,
which was to be accounted for by the lateness of the season
and the inclemency of the weather, the result of tlieir opera-
tions and tlieir effect on tlie Erencli peasantry had been most
satisfactory, and he was quite sure would do much to cement
the two countries together.

Mr. C-VNTRELL, in seconding the motion, said he believed
that Report would be exceedingly gratifying to all the sub-
scribers, and he felt certain that it would be so to his neigh-
bours in the Windsor district. He trusted that what
had been done had made a lasting impression on the French
peasant-farmers, and that future generations would bear in
mind the assistance received in the time of distress from
English agriculturists.

The motion was then adopted unanimously.

Mr. J. R. Robinson said he had been asked to move " That
the executive committee be authorized to distribute the balance
remaining to the most deserving peasant-farmers in money or
in such other way as to them may seem advisable." The exe-
cutive committee liad showed so much judgment in their past
proceedings that he was sure all who were interested in the
fund would leave this matter in their hands with very great
satisfaction. At tlie risk of falling into the monotony of com-
pliments, unavoidable on that occasion, he must observe that
all the information which had come before them through the
operations of that fund, as well as that which had reached
him from other channels, showed that the utmost care was
taken by the Committee, as well as by those who repre-
sented them in France, that the distribution should be made
to the proper persons and in the proper localities. He
was very much struck, having been himself very intimately
connected with a similar fund — the Peasant Relief Fund — witli
the amount of labour given by the Chairman and by Mr.
Jenkins. Knowing the immense application involved in a
matter of that kind, the multiplicity of details to be at-
tended to, the correspondence involved, generally in another
language, often technical and filled with names and references,
and including allusions usually very difficult to trace and
identify, he could only say that he was amazed that the gen-
tlemen who undertook this work were able to devote the re-
quisite amount of time to it. It must have left them very little
leisure; but lie was quite sure that at the end of their career
there was no part of their lives to whidi they would look back
with more satisfaction.

Mr. Cantrell, in seconding the motion, said the only
doubt he had was as to the proper distribution of the money,

but he thought that might safely be left to the committee, who
had conducted this matter so well.
The motion was then put, and agreed to unanimously.

Mr. Wells moved that the executive committee be au-
thorised to present suitable testimonials to Mr. Jenkins and
Mr. Odams in recognition of their valuable services.
He took it for granted that it must be left entirely to the
executive committee to decide in what form these testi-
monials should be presented. Neither Mr. Jenkins nor
Mr. Odams would like him to say much in tlieir presence
with regard to the zealous and self-denying manner in which
they had furthered the great object of the Fund ; but he could
not help remarking that with the onerous duties which devolved
upon him as the Secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society,
supplemented by tliose which he had so ably and diligently
performed in connection with that Fund, Mr. Jenkins could
not of late have had much leisure at his disposal.

Mr. Pavy felt very great pleasure in seconding the motion.
He had been brought into closer contact with botli those gen-
tlemen than most members of the committee, and could there-
fore speak more confidently of the great value of their ser-
vices. Having purchased the corn, it was his duty to hand
it over to Mr. Odams for shipment; and he could testify
that that gentleman afforded every facility for the fulfilment of
the object.

The Chairman, in putting the resolution, said he did not
think it possible to estimate the value of the services of those
gentlemen, and he hoped that tlie meeting would agree, not
only in adopting the recommendation of the executive com-
mittee, but in thinking that the executive committee were
right in making the recommendation, and that they could not
do otherwise.

The motion was then unanimously agreed to.

Mr. Odams said he was certainly much taken by surprise
at the proposition Mr. Wells had made. When he undertook
the duty which he had performed with so much satisfaction,
he certainly did not for one moment think of such a thing as
recognition. He could only say that if it took away one
bushel of wheat from any deserving French peasant he should
be very sorry. He regretted to say that the autiiorities had
required a certificate from them with the corn that was sent
which he thought was rather hard.

Mr. Jenkins expressed his concurrence in the observations
of Mr. Odams. They all of them put their shoulder to the
wheel as well as they were individually able, and he believed
there was very little that they had done within the last twelve
months that would not bear fruit in due season. The French
peasants had nothing to do with tlie certificate Mr. Odams had
spoken of. It was required by the railway authorities, to
justify them in doing what the committee had asked them to
do as a particular favour. This bciug the last meeting of the
general committee, he could only express his thanks to the
general body of subscribers, and also to his colleagues for their
assistance in carrying on this occasionally difficult work.
Mr. Robinson, who had had a great de.il of experience in a
work of a similar kind, had well described the amount of
labour which had to be undergone.

Mr. Wells moved a vote of thanks to the chairman and
the executive committee. Having the happiness to have Lord
Vernon's friendship, he kuew how he had put aside private
business and concerns to devote himself to that work, and he
believed that the gratitude of the French peasant farmers
would always be associated with the name of Vernon.

The motion after being seconded by Mr. Kingsbury, was
carried by acclamation.

The Chairman in returning thanks, said he had never
been sssociated with a body of gentlemen who had given so
disinterestly and so conscientiously their services in a cause
which they knew could not be carried to a successful result
without the very closest care and attention. He well knew
how much time his colleagues had sacrificed to secure a result
which would bring credit to their country. Tiiat result was
of a kind which he felt confident would bear the closest in-
spection, and he believed it would last for many years to
come (cheers).

The meeting then separated.

40

THE FARMEE'S; MAGAZINE.

THE YORKSHIRE SHOW AT YORK.

Tlie iiiiporlant elements coustiUithig the success of a
show are the amouut of prizes otfereJ, the unmher of ex-
hibitors, and the atteadauce of the public. lu all these
features the York meeting of this jear stands well. First
in the list, as first in importance, ^Yhether tested by
merit or number, come the Shorthorns. Speaking gcne-
rall}^ in all the classes there is good competitiou and high
merit, lu four classes we have 23 competitors. la class
1, best ox not exceeding 4 years old, Lord Zetlaud takes
the first prize against four competitors, and also the Presi-
dent's cup for best ox in the Shorthorn classes. The com-
petitiou here was exceedingly close, public opinion in about
equal instances goiugfor the second and the third animals.
The prize ox is a grand white beast, upstanding aud gay
looking. He is very large, aud true made, being covered
evenly with capital beef. Ou his back he is especially
good. He girths nine feet, and weighs we should say
120 slones of 141bs. dead weight. His thighs are not as
good as could be wished ; but taking him all in all his
whole contour is as near " the thing" as possible.
The second is ]Mr. Pulver's roan ox, commended at
Birmingham. He is a very fine Shorthorn with won-
derful loins, but is not as heavy as the Zetland ox, while
he is deficient forward. He is full of Shorthorn charac-
ter, aud in this competition for Shorthorn oxeu only is
entitled to second honours, although the third ox, be-
longing to ilr. Drysdale, Pifcshire, was fancied by many.
This is decidedly the fattest animal, and the best butcher
beast in the class. He has the same girth as the first-
prize ox, but is three inches shorter, and is thicker of lean
beef, aud very true made. He is, however, rather bare
ou the back bone, coarse ou the rump, aud is not true ou
his top — bending in the middle of his back when he
stands. Moreover, he docs )iot look the Shorthorn so
much as either of the two animals placed before him ;
and this is one important consideration in a competition
professedly for Shorthorns.

In the second class for best ox not exceeding three years
old, we have seven in the field, aud here we must say that
"another Sichmond" was certainly wanted. As a lot
the merit was mediocre; and the Yorkshire veteran, Mr.
Wiley, wins only because there was not a better animal
there, but individual merits of this one as an ox are that
he is really a ripe and very fat animal. In character,
however, he is more of a cow than a bullock, and his fiesh
is put ou in lumps, as it used to be in Shorthorns of the
old school, the mass of fat like a hump ou the rump being
anything but becoming to an ox. Cut this off, however,
and he is still immensely before any other in the class as
a ripe Shorthorn. Mr. Taylor's second prize is neat
aud small, as not quite up to the mark in
condition. jMr. Lancaster's third prize ox is a stylish
animal, very liite making a great one ; he is, however,
light underneath, and shelly. Mr. MacPhersou had a
good butcher animal, but no style ; and iMr. Paver's ox
has no pretensions to be called a Shorthorn or a good
animal. The best cow 3Ir. Willis certainly has in his
Birmingham sccoud-prize cow, now nearly 10 jenrs old,
aud a really fat cow. Still she has her faults. Her beef
is not the best kind, and she is very bare on the shoulder,
and has lost all her beef underneath. Mr. Cattley's
second prize animal has youth on her side, and is better
quality of beef than the winner. She is a nice thick cow,
but is short of size aud style compared with her
opponent. Sir W. Trevelyau, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr.

lleid, N.B., have useful animals in this class. For the
best heifer, not exceeding four years old. Sir "\V. C. Tre-
velyau takes first. Lord Zetland second, and ^Mr. Rob-
sou third, iu a class of five animals. The prize heifer is
one of the best animals out this year — possibly the best in
the yard. She wins the Corporation Plate for best
female Shorthorn and Mayor's cup for the best ox, cow,
or heifer iu the showyard. She was bred by Mr. Stam-
per. Lord Zetland's three-year-old and ten months
heifer takes the second prize, and Mr. Robson the
third, with good animals.

In cross-bred animals there were only two classes. For
ox not exceeding four-years, the prize went to Sir W. C.
Trevelyan's three-year aud five months red ox. This is an
extraordinary animal, a perfect parallelogram in his out-
line ; his neck, shoulders, aud crops are perfectly
filled up and level ; wide as a barn door be-
tween his forelegs, and deep iu the chine,
he looked the heaviest beast in the yard. He girths,
however, 8 feet 9 inches — three inches less than Lord
Zetland's prize Shorthorn ox — and is the same length.
He takes the Sheriffs' prize as the best animal in the
cross-breed classes. For the best cow of any age
(cross-breed) there were six competitors. Mr. J. P.
MacPherson's cow is a capital Shorthorn, if she had not
had the black muzzle. Splendid in loin and crop, and
of great length, she wins her place, though her fiesh is
not quite as firm as that of ]Mr. lleid's second prize. She
is very capital, beefy, and a level animal, with the ex-
ception of being light of flesh forward. Sir W. C.
Trevelyan has a good commended cow, and Mr. lleid also
two other good animals iu this class.

In the four tenaut-farmers' classes the competition was
not numerous. j\Ir. Dickenson, Market Raseu, took first,
and Mr. Nelson, Barton Hill, York, second, for
Shorthorn ox of any age. Mr. Dickenson's animal also
secured the cup for best animal in all the tenant-farmers'
classes. Both these beasts were of great size ; but Mr.
Nelson's had more quality and more merit to our eye.
Iu the cow class the first prize was also Mr. Nelson's.
She is a fine-shaped cow of great size, full of fiesh, and thick
through her. Mr. Webster's second prize is smaller, but
very neat aud compact ; and Mr. Euimerson's third prize
is a great good cow, but short of lean fiesh. For the best ox,
cross-bred, of any age, the property of a tenant-farmer,
the first prize was given to Mr. Langdale's white steer,
a prime young animal full of quality aud good looks.
The second went to a big blue-and- white ox, the property
of Mr. Emmerson Darlington ; he is a huge misshapen
lump, and his merits are those of the scale only ; in this
point only does he beat Mv. Lund's black commended ox.
Mr. Lund's ox has capital quality, but is very deficient in
his flank. The best cow or heifer, of any other breed
or cross, not exceeding 4 years, was ^Ir. Lund's 2 years
and 7 mouths red Norfolk polled heifer. She is a thick,
level mulluin in parvo. Mr. Stephenson's second is a
great, good cow, which we should call a Shorthorn, but
we are assured she is a cross-bred, aud eligible to compete
in the class. Of the Scotch breeds there were four classes.
Mr. Read, N.B., had the best polled ox, aud Sir W. C. Tre-
velyan 2nd ; Mr. Reid also took 1st for best polled cow
or heifer, and Mr. iMacPiierson second. Mr. Reid's ox
is a fine level animal, even throughout, neck and crop
filled up to loin most beautifully, aud the shoulder buried
in flesh. Better beef cannot be ; while in shape he has

THE FAEMl'lE'S MAGAZINE.

U

ho more auguliuity about liiin tluui one oF Barclay and
Perkins' hogsheads. The cow I'roni the same stock is all
this aud soinetliiiig more; she is younger, and has a
sweetness of character that springs from her sex. "\Yc
think her well entitled to dispute with Sir W. C. Tre-
velyan's heifer for the title of Queen of the Show. Mr.
lleid's ox took the £20 cup for best Scotch-bred animal,
lu the horned Highland ox class Lord Harewood took
lirst aud second with two good auimals. The lirst prize
is beef to the ground — a perfect black cloud. The lirst
and second prize in horned Highland cows Mr. J. Harri-
son, Skipton, took with a pair of neat auimals.

The district prizes for tenant farmers brought out fair
competition. J^'or ox of any breed, the lirst and the York
butchers' cnp for best animal iu the district classes went
to Mr. Tasker, Naburn, York, for a large useful plain beast.
Mr. llobson, Easingwold, took second with a neat
animal of Shorthorn character, not fully fed np. jNIr.
Lund's 3rd prize beast is big enough, but not level. The
district cow class was a very good oue. Mr. Kirby, of
AVilberforce, York, took first with a fine roan, 3 years and
10 months' heifer, aud the 2ud went to a sweet heifer
2 years and 5 months old, full of quality and style,
belonging to Messrs. Brogden, Tockwith, I'ork, a Short-
horn in everything but name aud nose. The 3rd prize
was taken by Mr. Tasker, Naburn, with a good Shorthorn
cow 6 years old. Long aud low, and well filled out, she
is a good carcase of Christmas beef.

The Sheep entries were good, except in the class for
Leicester wethers under 22 months, in which [Mr. F.
lliccell, Warter, Pockiiugton, took the prize without com-
petition with three very good specimens of Yorkshire
Leicesters. In the South or other Dowu wethers. Lord
Zetland took 1st and 2nd with two pens of prime fat
sheep. They also obtained the cup for the best pen of
sheep iu the yard. His Lordship had a third pen, which
were commended. Capital sheep as these are, we should like
to know what kinds of Downs they are? Shropshires
they surely are not ! Lord Weulock's Shropshire Downs,
though beaten here by carcase weight, are not disgraced,
though inferior to the winners in fat on the back. The
horned Scotch or mountain wethers aud also the cross-
breds were well represented by Mr. Hobsou and Mr.
Agar, who each took first and second in those classes re-
spectively. ]Mr. Knowles, of Wetherby, showed some
capital pens here : they were, however, a year too
young, and will be heard of again. For best sheep of
any age Lord Weulock took first with a two-shear
Shropshire Down wether, and second with a one-shear
ginimer of the same breed in a competition of seven.

Of the pigs we may premise that, even in Yorkshire
the competition has seldom beeu equalled. Iu seven
classes there were 55 entries. In large-bred pigs Mr.
Duckeriug, Kirton Lindsey, came first, .Messrs. Cooper,
York, second, and Mr. Mangles, Ripon, third. In pigs
of the small breed, exceeding twelve months old, Messrs.
Sedgwick, York ; Mr. Fall, York ; and Mr. G. Hutchin-
son, Y'ork, took the honours in the above order. For
best pig (small breed), under twelve mouths old, Mr.
Bramfill was placed first, Mr. Duckeriug second, and
Mr. Kuowles third. For best pig (middle breed), exceed-
ing twelve months old, Mr. Kuowles, ^Ir. Duckeriug,
and yir. Barton came in first, second, aud third. The best
middle-breed pig, under twelve mouths, was Mr. Ambler's
Halifax; Mr. Bramlit and Mr. Leaf taking first and
second. The best pen of three pork pigs produced great
competition, Mr. Snowball, Stockton, York, took first,
most deservedly; ^fr. Taylor, second; and ^fr. Hill,
York, third. There were also some commended pens.
Extra stock: The first prize went to Mr. Hill, York,
and the second to Mr. H. Falkingham, York.

A specialty at this fat show is the exhibition of bulls
and boars. In the boar classes, ^Ir. Blake, York, aud
Mr. Sedgwick, York, took the first aud second iu the
large breed class ; and Mr. Falkingham and Mr. Knowles
did the same iu the small breed class. On the whole,
the pig show has never been surpassed at Y'ork. Mr.
Duckeriug's pig of large breed, Mr. Sedgwick's small-
bred pig, and Mr. Knowles' middle-bred pig above
twelve months, are animals that can scarcely be matched.

The two classes of young bulls produced interesting
competitions. For the bull between the age of six and
twelve months, eleven animals entered the ring. Major
Stapylton's first prize is averystraight calf,aud has capital
colour and handling. He is most promising, iu natural
condition, and will train on. ^Ir. ]NIanse's second prize is
a thick handsome fellow. He has evidently beeu well
done by, aud is perhaps as good to the eye as he ever will
be. Mr. Worsley showed a thick deep calf full of hair,
well fleshed, and no mean representative of the Booth
blood; and the Hon. Egremout Lascelles sent a pretty
calf; he is in store condition, aud only wants a chance to
grow into something more than common. In the class
for bulls between one and two years old, Mr. Thomlinsou,
Cowthorpe, took first with an animal bred by Capt.
Gunter ; he has all the handling of the fashionable
Wetherby family, but is very wrong in his hocks. ]Mr.
Linton's yearling bull is a very good second ; he is already
known as a public animal. Mr. Cattley's third prize
bull is a deep-fleshed true made animal, and fit for a
prize. There were eight animals iu this class, nearly all
of whom were worth notice.

The poultry was a great show, numbering 355. Any
attempt to describe them, had we time to accomplish such
a work, would have beeu frustrated by the peculiar manner
in which they were arranged. lustead of the baskets
being placed numerically iu the order of the catalogue,
they are so mixed up that they cannot be taken as they
are entered, and examined consecutively. The rabbits
are iu wonderful force, 117 lots ; aud the pigeons may be
truly termed marvellous, there being no less than IDS
pens of these iu " fancy" birds. They were a great feature
of the show, aud are evidently popular with the young aud
the fair sex, who remember their usefulness on a recent
occasion in mitigating one of the evils of war. The roots
were not as good as, wc expected : but the exhibition of
butter was excellent. A fancy design in butter, by
Mr. Wihely, Easingwold, is a marvel of execution aud
design rarely equalled in wood or stone ; fruits, leaves,
birds, eggs, and animals are represented with a fidelity
and truth to nature most admii-able ; it is a work of art
which we certainly did not expect to see produced with
such a material as butter.

THE DOUBLE PLOUGH TRIALS AT HEEPIIAM.—
A somewhat stormy correspondence is just now being carried
through tlie Norfolk journals. The Messrs. Howard, of
Bedford, say, " If the calculations had been properly worked
out at the trials, instead of our plough being placed second, it
must have been awarded the first prize, inasmuch as the judges
state I they had been guided by the dynamometer aud given
the prize to the plough of the lightest draught." Whereas, the
Stewards, Messrs. W. E. Overman, J. W. Hewlett, and Henry
Dye say : " Since the trial one of the judges has told us that,
iudependently of the lightness of draught, the LSD plough
of Messrs. Hornsby stood lirst iu their estimation, and it was
gratifying to them to find that the dyuamometrical test con-
tinued the opinion they already formed." And again, " Wc
wish to add that we feel regret that Messrs. Ilansomcs, Sims,
and Head should attempt to disparage a contest in which
every endeavour was used to ensure a correct and satisfactory
result, and must express our surprise at the correspondence
that has appeared iu the papers as having passed between
Messrs, Eastons and Anderson and their firm."

42

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY.—WINTER SHOW IN DUBLIN.

In consequence of the prevalence of foot-and-mouth
disease, there were no fat cattle exhibited. The show
was, therefore, confined chiefly to agricultural produce.
The cereals were of good quality, but not more numerous
than usual. The root and other greeu crops, while equal
in quality to any yet held, were more numerous than any
brought together at any former meeting, which was owing
to the magnificent collections brought forward by the first,
second, and third class model school farms scattered
through Ireland under the Board of National Education,
and which occupied upwards of 2,000 superficial feet
of staging, taking in the whole surround under the
galleries of the central hall. For a few years past the
model farm schools had a private show at Glasnevin,
after which the collections were exhibited at the
Dublin Society, but so huddled together that they
created but little interest. This was the first time that
the Board submitted the produce of their model farms to
the adjudication of the Society's judges, aud an arduous
duty it v.'as, numerous items in the several collections
being fully equal to those staged by pi'ivate growers, and
when the juvenile character of the operations are taken
into account it must give a foretaste what may be ex-
pected, fi-om the mountain sides to the deep valleys, in the
most remote districts, when these well trained agricul-
turists go home, aud become scattered over the country.
It was, therefore, a well devised and happy union of two
such important bodies as the Royal Agricultural Society,
now 140 years old, and the National Board of Education,
to join in this exhibition ; and show, not only Ireland, but
the world, what they are doing in agricultural improve-
ment. There are upwards of 130 model school farms
scattered over the coimtry, 50 of which have voluntarily
come forward in competition with each other aud the cen-
tral establishment at Glasnevin. Mr. Baldwin, the gene-
ral superintendent, has long been at woi'k to bring about
this union of interests, and has at length succeeded.
Amongst the first-class farms, the Albert Model Farm at
Glasnevin, takes the chief place, which was unquestion-
ably deserved, but it was hardly fair for the mother es-
tablishment to compete with her children. The first and
second class schools get but medals at the expense of the
Society, but the third class get money prizes, for which
the National Board has given in the aggregate fifteen
sovereigns.

As usual, the samples exhibited by private growers were
of first-class character, both in grain and roots, but the
trickery of over-feeding was still apparent in the roots in
coarse exteriors, elongated crowns, aud hollow hearts.
General collections from private growers, heretofore so
well contested, have dwindled down to a solitary but very
superior one, brought forward by Colonel Tottenham,
Woodstock, county Wicklow.

The section for the produce of workhouse farms con-
tained only those from the South Dublin, North Dublin,
and TuUemore Unions. Of Iiish manufactured tweeds,
Martin Mahoney and Brothers were the only exhibitors,
but the goods were of first-class material and highly
finished.

The show of poultry was the best ever seen in Ireland,
consisting of every known improved variety, and with the
pigeons numbering over 400 pens. The entire show was
very creditable, and the general arrangement conducted
with Mr. Corrigan's usual ability.

PRIZE LIST.
JUDGES.— GhEEN Croi'S : W. Kelfy, Portrane ; Dr. Moore,

Glasnevin Botanic Gardens ; W, J. Goode, C.E., Fiugles. —

Cereaxs and Pulse : D. Drumraond, Dawson-street ; J.

Farrell, Capel-street. — Butter and Honey: W. Jury,

College-green ; J. Bjrne, Kevin-street ; B. Murphy,

Clare-street. — Wool : J. Ganly, Usher's-quay ; J. F. Dixon,

James-street ; fi. Milner, Queen-street.
CEREALS.

White wheat. — First prize, P. Riall, Old Conne,co. Dublin ;
second, M. Byrne, Newcastle, co. Wicklow.

Red wheat. — First prize, Capt. Thorapsoa, UoUywoodrath,
CO. Dublin ; second. Lady Wliitehead, Graystoues, Wicklow.

Barley. — First prize, J. Trim, Newcastle, Wicklow ; second,
M. Byrne.

White oats. — First prize, J . Trim ; second, Captain
Thompson.

Black oats. — First prize, Lady Whitehead ; second, T.
Franks, Maltou, Cork.

Beans. — First prize, T. Smith, Leamore, Wicklow; second,
Captain Thompson.

Peas. — First prize, Col. Totteuham, Woodstock, Wicklow ;
second, S. A. Rickards, Gorey, Wexford.

Irish flax seed. — First prize,.]. Patton, Glaslougli,Monagban ;
second, D. Patton, Tyranny, Monaghan.
GREEN CROPS.

Purple kohl rabi. — Prize, T. Smith.

Green kohl rabi. — Lord J. Butler, Drumcondra, Dublin.

Field onions. — Prize, Lord J. Butler.

Potatoes. — First prize, Lord J.Butler; second, M. Byrne.

Long red mangel. — First prize, Lord J.Butler; second,
Lord Bunbury, Moyle, Carlow.

Long yellow mangel. — First prize. Lord J. Butler ; second,
S. Mowbray, Queen's co.

Red globe mangel. — First prize, Lord J. Butler ; second,
Col. Tottenham.

Yellow globe mangel. — Lord J. Butler ; second, S. Mowbray.

Any otlier variety of mangel. — First prize. Lord J. Butler ;
second, S. Mowbray.

Cabbage. — First prize. Lord J. Butler; second, Captain
Thompson.

Rape. — First prize, S. Mowbray ; second, Colonel Tot-
tenham.

Flax (Hempscutched). — First prize, D. Patton ; second, J.
Patton.

Flax (Millscutched) .—First prize, D. Patton ; second, J.
Patton.

Irish hemp (scutched). — First prize, J. Patton; second, D.
Patton.

BUTTER.

Butter in cools. — First prize, D. Patton ; second. Miss
Jones, Newcastle, AVicklov/.

Butter in firkins. — First prize, D. Patton ; second, Mrs.
Hanlou, Grange Fulton, co. Carlow.

general collections of lAim PRODUCE.

Private growers. — Prize, Col. Tottenham.

General collections from workhouse farms. — First prize,
South Dublin Union ; second. North Dublin Union ; third,
Tullemore Union.

COLLECTIONS FK03I TUL NATIONAL EDUCATION MODEL
FARMS.

First class. — First prize, — Smith, Albert Model Farm,
Glasnevin, Dublin; second, J. Kenny, Limeric ; third, T.
McCabe, Gormanstowu, Tipperary ; fourth, W. Deane, Mun-
ster,Cork; fifth, M. O'Brien, Ulster, Belfast.

Second class. — First prize, T. Madden, Woodpole, co. Meath ;
second, L. Ryan, Garryliill, Femagb.

Third class. — First prize, 8. Groghegan, Wliitcluu'ch, Tip-
perary ; second, unknown ; third, D. O'Dowd, Doocasile,
Sligo ; fourth, — Hergaton, Fivemiletown ; fifth, T. Faltou,
Lough Glynn, Castleragh, Galway ; sixtli, P. Flood, Tullycriue,
Kilrnsli.

WOOL.

Long wool.—First and second prizes, S. Mowbray.

Short wool. — First and second prizes, S . Mowbray.

Irish manufactured tweeds. — Prize, Martin Mahony,
Brothers, Blarney Mills, Cork.

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

43

THE SMITH FIELD SHOW WEEK.

At the Farmers' Club cliuueron the Tuesday, Mr. llorley,
oue of the stewards at Birmingham aud one of the judges
iu Loudon, said "Foot-and-mouth disease was now so
rife, and had become such a universal epidemic, that some
persons thought it should be stamped out as the cattle-
plague was. He himself believed that the half-measures
at present in operatiou had no tendency whatever to check
the disease, while they were certainly a great hindrance
and annoyance to numbers ; and unless the owners of
stock aud the public were prepared to revert to the rigid
regulations adopted in the case of rinderpest, he could see
no end to the evil." Here arises the very pertinent ques-
tion are the owners of stock prepared to I'evcrt to these
rigid regulations ? As the answer most assuredly is that
they are not willing to do so. On the opening moruiug of
the Smithlield Club Show the opinion of many leading
agriculturists went to declare that the agitation over this
matter was for the most part idle and useless. At the
general meeting of the Smithlield Club on the same day,
Mr. Giblett, who spoke as repi'esenting not merely his
own feelings and experience, but the opinions also of a great
many iulluential graziers by whom he is employed, expressed
"a hope that the meeting would sec the necessity of
sending a deputation to wait upon the Privy Council to
ask for a modification or the removal of many of the re-
strictions relating to foot-and-mouth disease" ; while Mr.
"William Torr said that foot-and-mouth disease did grazing
steers and growing stock very little harm. It is, in fact,
plain on the face of it that the proposed panacea
for slaughtering foreign stock at the landing ports
would do little or nothing to check the progress
of such diseases as those the home-producer is now
suffering from. Foot-and-mouth disease came into
the Agricultural Hall either direct from Birmingham or
from the owners' own stalls, there not being, we believe,
iu a single case, any suspicion even of foreign contagion.
However, this line is still held to in some
quarters, aud it is thus possible that early in
the new year two companion deputations of farmers may
seek audience with the premier, the one body to urge that
the restrictions on the home trade may be abolished, and
• the other to ask that the restrictions on the foreign
trade may be increased. Of a truth, there would seem to
be rather too much of this sort of thing. During the week
animals have been continually falling in the Hall, if but
few or none of these were removed ; although on the
Friday many of the exhibitors were ou applicatiou
refused permission to pass their beasts out of London back
home again, or on to other shows. Of course spontaneous
appearance or induction from excitement and suffering,
would be utterly absurd explanations of the outbreak at
Islington, aud yet further than this there is not an atom
of evidence.

In the collateral busiuess of the past week the meeting
most iu season with the cattle show was that at the
Farmers' Club, where breeding facts aud principles came
under consideration at the instance of Mr. Fowler, of
Aylesbury, The "facts" of the opening address must
have been tolerably well known to everybody ; nor was
any very particular principle from these premises put
with much emphasis. Still the paper will do good if it
only induce people to think more of the subject, although
the occasion was certainly not up to the standard of a show-
week discussion. The dinner of the Fai'mers' Club was far
more successful, the company being held together to the

last, always a sure sign of people not having wearied of an
entertainment. But we, of course, give full reports of
both these meetings. At the Society of Arts on the
contrary, whither sewage failed to attract the farmer, ]Mr.
Bailey Denton delivered himself of an almost intermin-
able essay, the reading of which occupied some hour aud
a-hair, and necessarily interfered with any further debate,
as these meetings are limited to two hours each.

The chief matter for congratulation in the report from
the Council of the Central Chamber of Agriculture is
the organisation of branch Chambers. Indeed, as
we have fi'om the first maintained, the most useful
feature of this scheme has been the estab-
lishment of local Chambers, which are simply Farmers'
Clubs with occasionally more scope. Aud a country Club
has with few exceptions, ever had something ephemeral
in its character. How many have we known flourish
aud fade, as we notice that the non-paying indif-
ferent members have already become a difficulty with
some of these local institutions. The question of ways
aud means, however, would seem to be a yet more serious
case with the Central Chamber itself, where, according to
the financial statement, " the arrears are very heavy," vi
spite of the " repeated applications made by the Secretary
for payment." This does not sound well for a compara-
tively young Society, if something of the cause of any
such apathy should be tolerably apparent. The world
soon grows weary of people who are always
begging under some plea or other, and local taxation,
cattle diseases, travelling expenses, and so forth,
have been tolerably well worked in this way.
Ou the other hand the Iloyal Agricultural Society
has, we believe, now brought its arrear list under
reasonable control; while by the Report, "the
arrears of the Farmers' Club have never beeu
more closely collected." The Iloyal Society, how-
ever, has been losing money of late, chicfiy from the pro-
tracted trials of implements, a business of which none
are probably now more sick than the implement makers
themselves. At Wolverhampton the very useful results
could have been obtained at half the cost of labour, time,
and funds; while the public evinces the very slightest in-
terest in the proceedings ; aud further, we have little doubt
but that if the Council does not deal resolutely with this
preliminary part of the'programme, the competition will
gradually fall away. In a word, this business " does not
pay" — anybody, aud Lord Vernon's Committee must re-
form it altogether.

A WHOLESOME MOVEMENT.— At the meeting of
the Banbury Agricultural Assotiatiou, a premium was offered by
JMr. Perry for the best general crop of swedes from seed supplied
by, aud ou laud manured with artiticial manure purcliased from
Mr. Perry. Tiie prize was awarded to Mr. N. Stilgoe. Mr.
Z. Stilgo asked why Mr. Perry could not offer his prize
like Mr. Barford witliout any restrictiion whatever. Mr.
Davis : They should be invited to throw them open. Mr.
Smith : They will be safe to decline. It will be in a manner
refusing them if you don't accept them ou their conditions .
Mr. Ruslier : If you carry out this you will have to go back
upon your ploughing prizes. Mr. Berridge said there was not
so much expense incurred iu judgiug the ploughing as the roots.
It was agreed that it was not advisable to coutiuue to receive
prizes for root crops containing restrictions as to the
purchase of seed and manure after the present year, and the
donors should be invited to offer them for open competition.

4i

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

T H E S M 1 T 11 F 1 E L D CLUB SHOW.

THE OPENING .Al 0 R N I N G.

At the November meeting of the Couacil of the Smilh-
tield Club a letter was read from Mr. Robert Wortley, a
well-known exhibitor, suggesting that no animal sent to
Birmingham should be eligible for entry at Islington. Of
course the most manifest effect of any such a condition
would be to reduce the standard excellence of either
meeting ; while no question the Midland Society would
suffer the more of the two from such an arrangement, as
"the best of everything " proverbially comes to London.
However much or little the Club may feel inclined
hereafter to entertain such a proposal, the principle has
this year, from mere force of circumstances, been adopted
by the management. A number of the beasts sent in
from Birmingham have been pronounced by Professor
Simouds and his fellows to be labouring under disease, and
to be consequently inadmissible at Islington. As we
have already said, a crowded building and continual
excitement are probably more conducive to the deve-
lopment of such disorders as those our stock now
suffers from than we have so far been disposed to allow ;
but it is very noticeable that up to late on the Thurs-
day afternoon no case of disease had been discovered in
Bingley Hall ! The veterinary inspector, was, as we are
assured, very zealous in the discharge of his duties,
where he found nothing wrong ; and yet no sooner do the
same animals, after a few hours' journey by special
train, come again under official examination than
they are declared to be unmistakeably diseased.
It is said, on the one hand, that any such ailment is of
the slightest and most superficial character, as, on the
other, that many of the beasts are actually recoceriiiy
fi'om severe attacks. It is only to be hoped that the ful-
lest possible report will be presented to and published by
the Club at the very earlled opportunity. Were the
veterinarians of the Midlands at fault ? or, can disease be
developed in a few hours' journey '? or, are we more or
less the victims of a Panic ?

Even furtlier, some animals wkicli had been sent direct
from their home stalls were also condemned, while in
some of the divisions, such as tlie Shorthorns, and more
especially the Ilerefords, the original entries were below
those of last season. It was consequently fortunate that
more of the Birmingham beasts were not cast, as these
served materially to strengthen, if not to " face " the
show with its chief ornaments. Thus Mr. Stratton's white
ox was still the first of his class, with ^Ir. Farthing again
second, as it may be as well to say here that the judges
divided over the best of allatBirmingham,thepretty general
opinion in the Hall this morning being in favour of the
Shorthorn. Mr. Bruce's Polled heifer, however, held
her place here again at the head of the class, but was
manifestly amiss. Again, the best Shorthorn steer in the
middle-class, ilr. Bruce's beast, was also first in Birming-
ham, where Colonel Lindsay's second was then third ; but
disease had cut down the competition to the three prize
animals. The best Shorthorn cow was also the best at
Birmingham, while the third, Rose of Windsor, a purchase
at the late iSIr. Foljainbe's sale, was a winner in the breed-
ing shows last summer at Brigg, Peterborough, and Liver-
pool. Saving in the second class of steers, there were not
many Shorthorns absent, while wo must liorrnw from
onr Inst number somctJiing of thnt whicli we have
already said of the best of this breed : " Mr. Richard
Stratton's ' walking advertisement' for the Burderop herd,

has gone on famously. He is a particularly handsome
beast, and has continued to feed very level, as in
fact for his weight and size it is not often that
a better balanced ox has been brought out. He is very
good to meet, has a neat bloodlike head, and, a great
point, is better out than in his stall, so gay is his car-
riage and so smart his appearance. His touch is wealthy
enough for that of a Hereford, or, as some super-
fine connoisseurs might call it, rather strong, but
in our times this is a fault in the right direction.
jMoreover, the white steer is ' well-connected,'
for his grandani on the sire's side. Diadem, was a
gold medal cow at the Smithfield Club, and his half-
sister. Village Rose, ' a very sweet lengthy heifer, with
eveiy promise of growing into a handsome cow,' was the
first prize calf at the last All-Yorkshire Meeting, where she
beat the second prize calf from the Wolverhampton Royal.
By Bude Light out of April Rose this ox is a twin, but
the other went wrong and died young. As is weU-known
his breeder, jMr. Richard Stratton, died a few months
since, and the ox was entered here by one of the sons,
Mr. Joseph Stratton, so that he was ineligible for the
combined fed-and-brcd premium. Otherwise, up to a
certain point, he won everything he could easily enough,
as, beyond his class, when it came to the best of all the
Shorthorns, the judges had the winners in the several
classes paraded just for form's sake, and then arrived at
an instantaneous decision. ^Ve quite expect to see the
white ox do as well in London as he did at Birmingham,
if not even better, for with three Shorthorn judges against
a mixed bench, the Shorthorns have now always ' the
puir at the Smithfield Club when ^it comes to a compari-
son of breeds. Further on it was not by any means a
great show of the sort. Tiie best beast at Oakham, Colo-
nel Reeve's great red ox, was not here — not that he could
have made any great mark."

Colonel Reeve's ox is at Islington, where, as we expected
he has made no mark. Of the cows we said at Birming-
ham that Sir Walter Trevelyan's " winner was a long way
the best of them ; and a good straight heavy-fiesiied cow,
with a capital touch and a broad back, but somewhat
stecry in her character. The Princess of Oxford, for so
is she called, is a half-sister to the Princess of Yetholm,
the best cow in Birmingham and the cup cow in London,
two years since, and the one bears a striking resemblance
to the other, having just the same ilashy red-and-white
markings in her coat, and the like beefy look about her —
a sort of animal which you fancy more in the stall than
on the pastures." And Princess of Oxford is again the
best here.

Numerically the Devon was the best filled section
in the Hall, but much of the collateral interest
wae destroyed by certain disqualifications. Thus, Mr.
Senior's best of all the Devons at Birmingham was out
of it from disease, and hence no line from previous
performances could be taken. Her Majesty's
young steer, however, was first in the Midlands,
where Mr. Smith's first in the next class was second to
one of Mr. Taylor's not entered against him here.
Neither the first nor second Devon heifers were at Bir-
mingham, where Mr. Senior's senior third was first.
The famous old Actress from Flitton was at eleven years
and a-lialf old Ihe best cow, although slie has quite gone
in her quarter, with tlie better butcher's beast, Aliisk, as
her second.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Tliu Hurufofil;; r;ui up lu a very sliort sliow, wliere one
of the IjL'al \v;l3 a t'rcs!i culry from IMr. liealU ol' Mr.
Meire's brecJitig, a very handsome ox i'orvvard, wiUi a
good touch, but mean in his quarter. The best of all the
Herefords at Birmingham was not here, and the third in
the old class, was, as we expected, no prize-taker in London.
There seemed to be question of age lianging over the
youngest class of Hereford oxen, as no placards had been
put up when we left; but in the next division Mr.
Groves' third at Birmingham, and a nice animal out, was
now first, his conqueror in tiie Midlands, JNIr. Pike's
steer being well out of the way in the preceding class ;
and Mr. 13ettridge's second here displaced. Her Majesty's
heifer was still the best of her class, as no doubt one of
the best of a moderate display of Whitefaces.

Mr. M'Combie's famous dun Highlander was fairly
beaten by a better beast, and at most points a good one
from Luton Hoo ; while the best Polled ox at Birmingham
also found his superior in a more stylish beast, bred and
fed in Norfolk ; Messrs, Martin's entry being scratched.
A good show of Sussex we did not see out ; there were a
few red Polls and fewer still Longhorns, one Welsh ox
in the entry, and two Irish, where the winner looked like
a Shorthorn. The Crosses were better than in the j\Iid-
lands, but what kind of a cross is that between a Short-
hoi'n bull and a Lincolnshire cow ? It certainly seems
to run all one way.

As usual, the Keythorpe flock has a long lead with its
beautiful high-bred Leicesters ; while four C'otswolds in
two classes and four Lincolns iu two classes can scarcely
command either hasty or deliberate notice, but Mr.
Byron's wethers are really good. The Southdowns were
much above the Birmingham entry, and the Prince of
Wales' pen in the first class never caught the eye of a
judge; Mr. Rigden's good backs reviving the Hove
repute in the first class, and Sir William Throckmorton's
thoroughbreds having deservedly the call amongst the light
weights. The Shropshires and Oxfords both ran to short
entries ; it being a very near thing between the first and
second pens of Oxfords, although ultimately the better
quality of the Blenheim pen carried the award.

The three classes of white pigs were all moderate, and
the blacks and other breeds far better ; two or three
small classes being generally commended. In our report
of the Birmingham show we said that " far away the best
were Mr. .Tohn Biggs' Berkshires, which might have
taken any extra premium as the best of all, instead of
merely the best of two classes ;" and at the Smithfield
Club this same pen of Berkshires takes the Cup as the
best of all.

DURING THE WEEK.

It is becoming more and more apparent that the
stewards of stock shows have occasionally graver duties
to discharge than merely putting the animals in their
places, or ordering them out again for the inspection of
the judges. As we have already attempted to de-
monstrate, the evils attendant on the exhibition of
pigs can only be corrected by far more resolute
action on the part of the management, as some closer
supervision of the entries will be clearly necessary in
other directions. At the recent meeting in the Midlands
an ox took a prize as a cross-bred beast, being described
in the catalogue as by a Shorthorn out of a Lincolnshire
COW; on inquiring as to what a Lincolnshire cow miglit
be, we were informed by the exhibitor's representative
that this was an old Longhorn breed, whereas we had
imagined that the Lincolnshire cow had been beyond the
memory of man to all intents and purposes a Shorthorn.
Attention was, we believe, called to the case by one of
the stewards at Birmingham, but he was over-ruled, and

the same ox came on to Islington, where on Monday he
again took a second jjrizc, when, us our readers will
remember, wc pertinently put the question iu our opening
report of the same afternoon, as to " what kind of cross
is that between a Shorthorn bull and a Lincolnshire cow ?
It certainly seems to run all one way." Subsequently
the stewards took the matter up, and on the day following
the prize placard was removed, and the subjoined notice
substituted : Bisqua.Ufled hij the steivards — breeder's
certificate 'nicorrcct. This is perhaps uot so precise as
could be desired, as assuming that the certificate had
been satisfactory, would an animal by a Shorthorn bull
out of a Lincoln cow be passed by the Club as a cross ?
As we take it, a Lincoln is much the same thing as a York-
shire cow, that is, a Shorthorn sometimes with, and some-
times without a pedigree. We are induced to dwell the
more upon this matter, because it is affirmed that beasts
have w^on before now as cross-bred, when these were iu fact
bred all one way. At a fat stock show none are more
interesting than the entries in these classes, as many of
these experiments reiult in the best of butcher's meat ;
but it is of course as requisite that the particulars as to
how such animals have been produced should be as
correctly given, as is required in the case of the pure
breeds.

Having already said so much of many of the animals
exhibited liere, it is uot our purpose to go again very
minutely over the small show of the Smithfield Club iu
1871 ; as whether from subsequent mishap or original
intent, small this was iu many of the leading classes of
both cattle and sheep. Indeed some of the general
commendations which appeared in the first list have since
been struck out, as such au appendix had often little
or no actual meaning. Thus in the youngest class of
Hereford steers there were but two beasts in competition,
one of which received the first prize and the other second, as
precisely the same thing happened with the Hereford
heifers, which was again reduced to match between her
IMajesty's and Mr. Allen's nice lengthy heifer. There
was more conapetitiou amongst the Hereford oxen, where
Mr. Heath's best, who never had a chance for the
Champion plate, was still so immeasurably superior to
the others brought out against him, that a general com-
mendation seems as inexplicable as that over the Short-
horn cows at Birmingham. The fact of such a
thoroughly moderate patchy animal being put second does
not say much for those behind him ; and Mr. Bettridge's
"best of all the Herefords" was not entered at
Islington. Although alarmingly short of numbers, the
Herefords, thanks mainly to some fresh white faces,
made a better show than they did at Birmingham :
the first and second cows in Bingley Hall being amongst
others here deposed by a far more comely cow, which
has in turn been a winner about home in Shropshire,
and later on in Norfolk; though Mr. Wortley declines io
risk a trial immediately previous to the London week.

Amongst the Shorthorns there was but little new blood
of much mark, and there is consequently little
more to be said of this section than that we have
said already, and this was no great deal. In fact,
had the Wiltshire white been kept out in the cold by
the veterinarians, it is difllcnlt to see where the Short-
horn judges could have gone for their champion. In the
heifer class there were, no doubt, some nice well-bred
and well-fed animals, led oft' as these were by Mr.
Kennard's reallly sweet heifer Christabel, against whom
]\Ir. Tidy's Birmingham first had not the ghost of a
chance. The jNIidlands award, however, was no doubt a
mistake, for, as we wrote at the time, '" the winner is the
plainest and coumionest of the three prizes, as we should
doubt very much her holding her own in London ;" and
at Islington the Tamwovth heifer was not even com-

46

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

mended. As sonielMug of a curiosity in these steam-
plough-times; it was stated that the third prize Shorthorn
ox had been put to plough.

Still fated to be near, if never to be quite first, the
Devous, as a breed, either for general merit or numerical
strength, made up the best section in the show, and this
notwithstanding the banishment of " the best of all the
Devons" of the previous week; while his second in the class
and "the best ox bred and fed byan exhibitor" at Birming-
ham, now took no prize whatever, although his great
opponent was so conveniently out of the way. The
class here was certainly commended, and deservedly so
too ; but then the judges put at the head of it a beast
that was only third in the Midlands, where he never
seemed to be put in comparison with iMessrs Senior's and
Smith's entries ; as we must hold that the Exeter ox was
overlooked by the London judges. As placed against
the Somerset, we infinitely prefer the previous award, and
as we should go still stronger against the great, patchy,
coarse steer put second. In judging a Devon, under auy
circumstances a man must keep in his mind's eye a certain
neatness of frame and "best beef" quality, which theYouug
Exeter possesses in a very eminent degree. On the face
of it there is something incongruous in a third prize beast
from Birmingham being selected hy a set of judges as
their champion in London, and of course there was
virtually no race when it came to trying conclusions with
the Shorthoru. Otherwise, the Islington trio held very
much to the Midland line, save where interrupted by acces-
sions or omissions. It should be meutioned that Mr.
Pope had to stand aside in the class of Devou heifers,
being tlie breeder of Mr. Jefferys' second prize, and that
for a similar cause Mr. George Smythies took no part in
placing the old class of Hereford oxen. This reads
rather awkwardly when a man selected as one of three
specially appointed for his knowledge of a particular breed
has no voice where probably his influence is more particu-
larly requii'ed. For instance, was the class of Hereford
oxen generally commended by the Devon judges ?

The casting out of IMessrs. Ileasman's and some other
entries told much against the show of Sussex, of which,
however, the oxen and cows ran to two very good classes.
Mrs. Coote won with a very stylish beast, and the best cow
from Beckley is a straight, clean, good animal, which has
not lost her feminine character, and the class was com-
mended, but then it only reached to four entries. The
hest Norfolk Poll had done but badly, and his place did
not say much for the sort ; and although the judges ad-
ded a commendation to the awards in one class and found
no merit in the other, the " other Scotch breeds" are
more or less of a failure. The first prize ox of this other
breed is described as a " Scotch Highland," hut then,
what is the difl'erence hetween a Scotch Highlander and
a Highland Scot ? As we said in our Birmingham re-
port, Mr. Brnce's Poll rather lacks scale, as this may
stay her from reaching quite to the top of the tree in
London;" but beyond this she was clearly "off" at
Islington ; although under any circumstances we do not
think that the previous reading would have been con-
firmed. There was certainly some threat of calling in an
umpire between the two sets of judges, but public opinion
went all with the decision in favour of the Shorthorn,
'iwt the best steer in the late ^Mr. Stratton's opinion which
he ever bred, although he serves to make a very good be-
ginning for the son. In fact, the younger Strattons and
Seniors threaten to quite eclipse the old hands. One
of the prettiest crosses was, by the way, that shown by an
uncle of the Plate winner, ]Mr. .Joseph Stratton, who put
the pure Shorthorn on to a mixed Brittany-aud-.lersey
cow with a very successful result. It was one of the
very pets of the week. Mr. Linkwood Brown's big blue
ox, the best of this same cross-bred class, was at one

time rather fancied for the finish ; and fi'om the same
stalls came a Shorthorn and Highland " nick," very hap-
pily blended, which was assumed to be the second-best
cow in the Hall ; so that all the honours in this way went .
due North.

At Oakham the Keythorpe Leicesters beat Mr. Byron's
Lincolns, as many maintain they should have done at
Islington ; but never was the Champion sheep plate so
open a race. There were good judges who would have
given this to Lord Chesham's capital pen of Shropshires,
even if they were not quite sorty ; there were a few who
preferred Mr. IMorrison's really good-looking Hamp-
shires, so far in front of their own class, where
the Keut-Hampshires were miserable seconds ; while
the shortwool bench had out Sir Eobert Throck-
morton's light-weight Southdowns, but two very mealy
faces ruined their appearance, and so IMr. Turner
and his fellows had to depend on the good backs and
trim frames of Mr. Rigden's best pen, though with a
sour-headed sheep amongst them. Still here, too, there
was for some time a dead-lock between the two sets of
judges, until iiltimately Mr. Little " went over," and the
fine fleeces of the Lincolns for once carried the day. It
was, however, not by any means a strong entry of South-
downs, the Duke of Richmond winning in the old class
with a pen of very plain sheep ; and putting public
opinion against that of the judges, we believe that Lady
Beruers' beautiful Leicesters should have been the
champion sheep of the show. However, Mr. Lynn and
his fellows had settled their fate Jjefore it came to a
division, although a decision might have been sooner ar-
rived at had the Leicesters been left in. As we said last
week, the show of some breeds of sheep was very limited,
as without " going to book" we should say the Cots-
wolds, the Lincolns, the Shropshires, the Oxfords, and
the crosses were all numerically below the average of the
last few years, as the crosses were also in merit. And
yet a few days before the opening, rumour, assuming a
semi-official tone, spoke out as usual about the show
being in almost every way lai'ger than ever.

The £100 Champion Plate has been won year for year
since its establishment by a Shorthorn, while the silver
cup for the best pen of pigs in the Hall has now gone for
four shows in succession to blacks. The judges had, in-
deed, a very poor opinion of the whites generally ; and
though they threw in a commendation here and there,
or more properly but two commeudations in three classes,
they generally commended the three classes of " other
breeds," or, in point of fact, Berkshires, where the three
first prizes were taken by Mr. Biggs, who had already
shown the strength of his hand at Birmingham ; but the
competition here was stronger, as evinced by the displace-
ment of Lord Ailesbury's and Mr. Bailey's good pigs.
It was, in fact, all through a capital show of Berkshires,
led off by some of the most useful farmers' pigs ever ex-
hibited. The smaller black pigs, apparently crossed and
re-crossed and "improved" out of any especial breed, also
made up a very excellent although limited exhibition, and
the white " fancy" will clearly have to look to its colours,
or these will go fast out of fashion. There is plenty of
room for the Yorkshiremeu to make an impression at
Islington.

May we protest against the abominable way in which
the catalogue is brought out, with sheet advertisements
under the pretence of plans of the place, stitched in here
and there throughout, an annoyance and an impediment
only to be got over by straightway tearing out not so much
this superfluous as ill-disposed matter ? We are glad to see
that Mr. Leeds, the new chairman of the Hall Company,
has had the good taste to order his own name and that
of the Hall secretary to be struck oft' the title page of the
catalogue, where, as we have said before now, such titles

THE FARMER'S ]\rAaAZTNE.

47

Lad no more right to appear tliaa on the catalogue of the
Royal Academy. Let the Agricultm-al Hall Company
advertise itself and its officers by all means in the proper
place ; but if, as we take it, the Council of the Smithfield
Club has some control over the arrangement of its own
material, might we ask why every page of this work is
introduced and disfigured by a flash bill-sticker's notice,
about the Islington Horse Show ? Is it to be inferred
that the Council is desirous of having it understood that
these two exhibitions are joint concerns ? If they
are not, the appearance of such advertisement in such a
place is simply an impertinence. The Chib might as con-
sistently head and tail every page of the catalogue with
Hengler's Circus, or any other mountebank performance
in preparation at the Agricultural Hall,

JUDGES.
CATTLE.

DEVONS, HEREFORDS, SUSSEX OR SXJFFOLK POLLED, AND
LONG nORXS.

Keary, H. W., Bridgnorth ;
Smythies, G., Marlow, Leintwardine ;
Pope, T., Horningham, Warminster, Wilts.

SHORTHORNS, SCOTCH, IRISH, WELSH CROSS, OR MIXED.

Savidge, M., Sarsden Lodge Farm, Chipping Norton;

Torr, W., Aylesby Manor, Grimsby ;

Ruddock, T. W., Tweed House, Berwick-on-Tweed.

SHEEP.

LEICESTERS, COTSWOLDS, KENTISH OR KOJINEY MARSH,
CROSS-BRED LONG WOOLS, OXFORD, MOUNTAIN, CROSS-
BRED LONG AND SHORT WOOLS, LINCOLNS.

Mann, J. W., Spaldwick, Kimbolton, Hunts ;
Bryan, J., Southleigh, Witney, Oxon;
Lynn, J., Church Farm, Stroxlon, Grantham,

SOUTHDOWNS, HAMPSHIRE, OR WILTSHIRE DOWNS,
SHROPSHIRE, RYELAND, CHEVIOT AND DORSET,

Turner, J S., Chyngton, Seaford Sussex ;
Horley, T., The Fosse, Leamington ;
Little, E., Lanhill, Chippenham.

PIGS.
Angus, J., Whitefield, Morpeth ;
Fisher, J., Wood House, Cross Hills, Yorks;
Smith, -T., Henley-in-Arden.

CATTLE.

[In tlie Entries thus distinguished (*) the Exhibitor also
took a Silver Medal as the breeder.]

DEVONS.

Steers, not exceeding 2 years and 0 months old.
First prize of £20, Her Majesty the Queen, Prince
Consort's Norfolk Farm, Windsor.*

Second of £13, T. L. Senior, Broughton, Aylesbury.
Third of £10, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, Sandriug-
hara.

Steers, not exceeding 3 years and 3 months old.
First prize of £30, W. Smith, Hoopern, Exeter.
Second of £20, J. Ford, Rushton, Blandford.
Third of £10, W. Farthing, Stowey, Bridgwater.
Commended. — H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.

Steers or Oxen, above 3 years and 8 months old.
First prize of £30, T. Bond, Park, Bridgwater,
Somerset.'''

Second of £20, J. Overman, Burnham Sutton, Norfolk.
Third of £10, W. Taylor, Glynley, Eastbourne, Sussex,
Highly commended. — Her Majesty the Queen ; W.
Smith, Hoopern ; and J. H, Buller.
Class commended.

Heifers, not exceeding 4 years old.

First prize of £25, T. L. Senior.

Second of £13, S. R. Jefterys, Maiden Bradley, Wilts.

Third of £10, J. T. Senior, Broughton, Aylesbury.

Commended. — H.R.H. the Prince of Wales ; J. Coate,
Hammoon, Dorset ; J, H. Buller ; and J. Ford.
Cows, above 4 years old.

First prize of £25, J, Davy, Flitton Barton, North
Molton.*

Second of £15, W. Smith, Hoopern.

Third of £10, J. H. Buller, Dowues, Crediton.

Highly commended. — S. R. Jeft>eys,

Commended. — H, Hitchcock, George-Nvmpton, South
Molton.

HEREFORDS.

Steers, not exceeding 2 years and G months old.
First prize of £20, J. Baldwin, Luddington, Warwick.*
Second of £13, A. Pike, Mitton, Tewkesbury.

Steers, not exceeding 3 years and 3 months old.
First prize of £30, W. Groves, Bromptou, Shrewsbury.
Second of £20, R. Wortley, Suffield, Norfolk.
Third of £10, C. Hall, Brickwood, Croydon.

Steers or Oxen, above 3 years and 3 months old.
First prize of £30, W. Heath, Ludham Hall, Norwich.
Second of £20, L. Loyd, Addington, Surrey.
Third of £10, J. Ford, Rushton.
Highly commended. — Earl Darnley, Cobham Hall,
Gravesend ; Dowager Countess Cowper, Silsoe, Arapthill,
Beds ; H. Bettridge, East Hanney, Berks,
Class commended.
Heifers, not exceeding 4 years old.
First prize of £23, Her Majesty the Queen.*
Second of £15, J. D. AUen, Tisbury, Wilts.

Cows, above 4 years old.
First prize of £25, R. Wortlev, Suffield, Aylsham,
Norfolk.

Second of £15, H. Bettridge, East Hanney, Wantage.
Third of £10, W. Groves, Bromptou, Shrewsbury.
Highly commended. — W, Heath,

SHORTHORNS.

Steers, not exceeding 2 years and 6 months old.

First prize of £25, Lieut.-Col. Lindsay, V.C, M.P.,
Lockinge, Wantage.*

Second of £15, F. J. S. Foljambe, M.F., Broughton,
Osberton, Worksop, Notts.

Third of £10, J. J. Sharp, Kettering,

Steers, not exceeding 3 years and 3 months old.

First prize of £30, R. Bruce, Newton of Strulhers,
Forres, Moray.*

Second of £20, Lieut.-Col. Lindsay, V.C, M.P.

Third of £10, F. J. S. Foljambe, M.P.

Steers or Oxen, above 3 years and 3 months old.

First prize of £30, J. Stratton, Alton Priors, Marl-
borough.

Second of £20, W. Farthing, Stowey Court, Bridg-
water.

Third of £10, W. Sissman, Buckworth, Kimbolton.

Commended. — Lieut.-Col. J. Reeve, Leadenhara, Gran-
tham ; and T. Mace, Sherborn.

Heifers, not exceeding 4 years old.

First prize of £25, The Rev. R. B. Kennard, IMarnhull
Rectory, Blandford.*

Second of £15, Sir W. Booth, Bart., Paxton Park, St.
Neots.

Third of £10, W. How, Tottington, Thetlbrd, Norfolk.

Highly commended. — Rev. W. Sneyd, Keele Hall,
Newcastle-under-Lyne.

Cows, above 4 j'^ears old.
_ First prize of £25, Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bart., Wal=
lington, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,*

48

THE FAEMER'8 MAGAZINE.

Second of £15, Lieut-Col. Lindsay, V.C M.R

Third of tic, J. \V. Kirkliani, Cudeby, (jnmsby,

SLSSEX.

Steers, not exceeding 3 years old.
First prize of £20, Lee Steere, M.P., .Tayes, Dorking.^'
Second of £10, G. C. Carew, Gibson, Saudgate, Sussex.
Tliird of £5, G. C. Coote, Tortington, Sussex.

Steers or Oxen, above 3 years old.
rirst prize of £25, M. Coote, ClimpiRg, Sussex.
Second of £15, J. M. Moutctiore, Worth, Crawley.
Third of £10, J. Neale, Coldwatham, Sussex.
Higlily commended.— J. Shoosmitb, Berwick, Lewes,

Sussex

Commended.— F. Gates, Steyning, Sussex.
Heifers, not exceeding 4 years old.
First prize of £20, T. Smith, Knelle, Beckley, Asliford. '
Second of £15, Lee Steere, M.P.
Commended.— W. Neale, Hardham, Sussex; L. llu.h,
Possingworth, Sussex.

Cows, above 4 vears old.
First prize of £20, Right Hon. H. Brand, M.P., Glynd,
Lewes.* .

Second of £15, J. Shoosmitb, Berwick, Lewes.
Highly commended.— G. C. Coote, Tortington, Sussex.
Class commended.
NORFOLK OR SUFFOLK POLLED.
Steers or Oxen, of any age.
First prize of £15, J. J. Colman, M.P., Carrow House,

Norwich. ^- r n

Second of £10, W. Durrant, Stalham, Norlolk.

Heifers or Cows, of any age.
First prize of £15, ,T. J. Colman, M.P.
Second of £10, J. S. Postle, Smallburgli Hall, Nor-

Coramendcd.— W. Slipper, Catfield, Stalham, Norfolk.
LONG-HORNS.
Steers or Oxen, of any age.
The prize of £10, Sir J. H. Crew, Bart., Calke Abbey,
Derby.*

Commended.— W. T. Cox.

Heifers or Cows, of any age.

The prize ot £10, W. T. Cox, Spondon Hall, Derby.''

SCOTCH WEST HIGHLAND.

Steers or Oxen, of any age.

First prize of £30, J. G. Leigh, The Hoo, Luton.

Second of £15, W.M'Combie,M.P., Tillyfour, Abcr-

deen, N.B. ,

Commended.— .T. Tiiigcy, EUinghani, Attlcborougli.

Heifers or Cows, of any age.
First prize of £15, Sir W. C. Trevelyau, Bart., Wal-
lington, Newcastle- on-Tyne.

OTHER SCOTCH-HORNED.
Steers or Oxen, of any age.
The prize of £10, G. and J. G. Smith, Balliudalloch,

Banff.* , ^, , ,

Commended.— R. Wortley, Snflield.

Heifers or Cows, of any age.

[Not sulTicient merit.]

SCOTCH-POLLED.

Steers or Oxen, of any age.

First prize of £30, J. S. Postle, Sraallbnrgh Hull, Nor

wich. ^ , T • Ai

Second of £15, J. Stephen, Conglass, Livernne, Abci

deen.

Commended.— W. Scott, Huntley.

Heifers, not exceeding 4 years old.
First prize of £15, .T. Biucc, Fochabers, Elgin,
Second of £10, W. Brown, Liukwood, Elgin, Moray

Cows, above 4 years old.

The prize of £15, W. McCombic, M.P.-^

IRISH.

Steers or Oxen, of any age.

The prize of £10, R. AVortley, Suftleld.

Heifers or Cows, of any age.

[No entry.]

WELSH.
Steers or Oxen (Runts), of any age.
First prize of £20, J. E. Parry, Glynn Hall, Harlech,
^ierioneth.*

Heifers or Cows, of any age.

[No Entry.]
CROSS OR MIXED BRED.
Steers, not exceeding 3 years old.
First prize of £25, J. and W. Martin, Aberdeen.
Second of £13, W. Slatter, Stratton, Cirencester.
Third of £10,TheHon. M.H. jMoreton, ^ewton of
Strnthers, Forres, Moray.

Commended.— J. D. Allen and W. Scott.

Steers or Oxen, above 3 years old.
First prize of £25, W. Brown, Linkwood.*
Second of £15, J. Overman, Burnham Sutton, Norfolk.
Higblv commended.— Sir W. C. Trevelyan Bart.,
Wallington, Newcastle-on-Tyne ; J. Stratton, Manuing-
ford Bruce, Marlborough, Wilts. , -^ , ^^

Commended.— R. Skelton, sen., Gabriel s Park, EJen-
bridgc, Kent.

Heifers, not exceeding 4 years old.
First prize of £20, W. Brown, Linkwood.*
Second of £10, S. Gonlder, Woodbastwick, Norfolk.

SHEEP.

LEICESTERS.
Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 23 mouths).
First prize of £20, Executors of the late Lord Berners,
Keythorpe Hall, Leicester.-

Second of £15, Col. Lowther, M.P., Barleythorpe,

Oakham. ^^ , o i v

Third of £5, W. Brown, Highgate, Holme-on-Spalding-

Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months).
Each Sheep not to exceed 220 lbs. live weight. ^
First prize of £20, Executors of the late Lord Berners. ■
Second of £15, W. Brown, Highgate.
Thirdof £5, Col. Lowther, M.P. , , t ,^

Fat Ewes, above 3 years old (that must have had a Lamb).
The prize of £10, Col. Lowther, j\I.P.*
COTS^YOLDS.
Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months.)
First prize o( £20, J. Wheeler & Sons, Long Compton. ■
Second of £15, R. Hall, Deddington Barford
Fat Ewes, above 3 years old (that must have had a Lamb .
The prize of £10, Executors of the late T. Gillett. Kil-
kenny, Farringdon.*

LINCOLNS.
Fat wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months)
First prize of £20, J. Byron, Kirkby Green, Sleaford,
Lincoln.* ,, _. ,

Second of £15, J. Pears, Mere, Linco n.
Third of £5 T. Gunnell, Willow, Milton, Cambridge.
Fit Ewes above 3 years old (that must have had a Lamb.)
'The pHze of £10, J. Byron, Kirkby.

KENTISH OR ROMNEY YIARSH.
Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months).
First prize of £15, 1?. W. Tassell, Hode, Canterbury,

"^Second of £10, \Y. Burch, Rhode Court, Selling.
Kent.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

49

CROSS-BRED LONGWOOLS.
Pat Wethers, 1 year old (uuder 23 months).
First prize of £15, Sir W. de Capell Brooke, Bart.
Geddington, Kettering.*

SOUTHDOWNS.
Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months).

First prize of £20, W. Rigden, Hove, Sussex.*

Second of £10, H. H. Penfold, Selsey, Chichester.

Third of £5, Lord Sondes, Elham, Thetford.

Highly commended.— F. J. S. Foljambe, M.P.

Commended.— H. Humphrey, Ashington, Sussex.
Fat Wethers, 1 year old (uuder 23 months).
Each Sheep not to exceed 2001bs. live weight.

First prize of £15, Sir W. Throckmorton, Bart., Buck-
land, Farringdon, Berks.*

Second of £10, W. Rigden.

Third of £5, H. H. Penfold.

Highly commended.— Duke of Richmond, Goodwood,
Sussex.
Fat Wethers, 2 years old (above 23 and under 35 months).

First prize of £15, Duke of Richmond.*

Second of £10, J. Overman, Burnham Sutton, Norfolk.

Highly commeuded.— F. J. S. Foljambe, M.P.

Fat Ewes, 3 years old (that must have had a Lamb) .

The prize of £10, H.D.Barclay, Eastwick, Leather-
head.

Commended. — Lord Sondes.

HAMPSHIRE OR WILTSHIRE DOWNS.
Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months).

First prize of £20, A. Morrison, Fonthill, Tisbm-y
Wilts.* •"

Second of £15, J. Russell, Sutton-at-Hove, Dartford.

Third of £5, J. and M. Arnold, Westmeon, Petersfieid.

Commended.— R. and J. Russell, Horton Kirby, Dart-
ford.
Fat Ewes, above 3 years old (that must have had a Lamb).

The prize of £10, J. Rawleace, Bulbridge, Salisbury.*

Commended.— J. Barton, Basingstoke, Hants.

SHROPSHIRES.
Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months^

First prize of £20, Lord Chesham, Latimer, Bucks.*

Second of £10, S. Beach, The Hattous, Brewood,
StalFord.

Third of £5, Lord Wenlock, Escrick Park, York.

Highly commended.— T. Nock, Sutton Maddock
Shropshire. '

Commended.— G. Cooke, Linton, Cambridge.
Fat Wethers, 2 years old (above 23 and uuder"35 months)

First prize of £15, Lord Chesham.*

Second of £5, Lord Wenlock.
Fat Ewes, above 3 years old (that must have had a Lamb)

The Prize of £10, Lord Chesham.*

OXFORDSHIRES.
Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months).
First prize of £20, Duke of Marlborough, K.G., Blen-
heim, Woodstock.*

Second of £15, N. Stilgoe, Adderbury, Oxford.
Third of £5, S. Druce, Eynsham, Oxford.
Highly commended. — Z. Stilgoe, Adderbury.
Fat Wethers, 2 years old (above 23 and under 35 months) .

[No entry.]
Fat Ewes, above 3 years old (that must have had a Lamb).
The prize of £10, Duke of Marlborough.*

RYELANDS, CHEVIOTS, AND DORSETS.
Fat Wethers, or any other pure breed, not specified in any
of the foregoing divisions, of any age
First prize of £15, H. Farthing, Nether Stowey
Bridgwater.*

Second of £10, J. B. Downing, Holme Lacy, Hereford.
Third of £5, J. M'Gill, Dumfries.

MOUNTAINS (Not being Cheviots).
Fat Wethers, of any White-faced Mountain breed,

of any age.
First prize of £15, J, Tapp, Twitchen, South Molton,
Devon,*

Second of £10, W. Smith, Hoopern.
Fat Wethers, of any Black-faced or Speckled-faced

Mountain breed, of any age.
First prize of £15, Duke of Roxburgh, Floors, Kelso.*
Second of £10, T. Roy, Tullylumb, Perth.

CROSS-BRED LONG AND SHORT-WOOLS.
Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months).
First prize of £20, J. Overman, Burnham Sutton.*
Second of £15, N. Stilgoe, Adderbury.
Third of £5, ]T. A. Brassey, M.P., Prestou, Ayleford,
Kent.

Highly commended.— G. Hine, Oakley, Beds.
Commended. — Colonel Lowther, M.P.

PIGS.

WHITE BREEDS.

Not exceeding 9 months old.
First prize of £10, her Majesty the Queen.*
Second of £5, Capt. R. P. Warren, Basingstoke, Hants.
Commended.— T. L. M. Cartwright.

Above 9 and not exceeding 12 months old.
First prize of £10, J. and F. Howard, Britannia Farms,
Bedford.*

Second of £5, Her Majesty the Queen.

Above 12 and not exceeding 18 months old.
First prize of £10, W. H.Dunn, Standon Manor, Huu-
gerford.*

Second of £5, R. and E. Duckering & Son, Northorpe,
Kirton Lindsey.

Commended.— H.R.H. The Prince of Wales.

BLACK BREEDS.
Not exceeding 9 months old.
First prize of £10, T. Chamberlayne, Cranbury Park,
Winchester.*

Second of £5, C. McNiven, Perrysfield, Surrey.
Highly commended.— J. Coate, Hammoon, Blandford,
Dorset.

Pigs, of any breed, above 9 and not exceeding
12 months old.
First prize of £10, J. Coate, Hammoon.*
Second of £5, N. Beujafield, Shorts Green, Motcombe,
Dorset.

Highly commended.— A. Benjafield, Stalbridge, Dorset.
Pigs, of any breed, above 12 and not exceeding
18 months old.
First prize of £10, T. Chamberiayne.*
Second of £5, A. Benjafield.

Highly commended.— J. Coate, Lord Aylesford, and
II. S. Sturt, M.P. '

OTHER BREEDS.

Pigs, of any other breed, not exceeding 9 months old

First prize of £10, J. Biggs, Cublington, Leighton
Buzzard, Beds.*

Second of £5, J. Roberson, Bayfordbury, Herts.

Highly commended.— The Rev. H. G. Bailey, Swin-
don, Wilts.

Class commended.
Pigs, of any other breed, above 9 and not exceeding

12 mouths old.
First prize of £10, J. Biggs, Cublington.*

60

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Second of £6, The Marquis of Ailesbury, Savernake,
Marlborough, Wilts.

Highly commended.— S. Druce, Eynsham, Oxford.

Commended.— J. Treadwell, Upper Winchendon, Bucks.
Pigs, of any other breed, above 12 aud not exceeding 18
months old.

First prize of £10, J. Biggs, Cublington.*

Second of £5, Marquis of Aylesbury.

Highly commeuded.— J. H. Clarke.
Class commended.

EXTRA STOCK.

Best Steer or Ox.— £10 and Silver Medal, J. Bruce,
Inverquhorney, Longside, Aberdeen,

Best Heifer or Cow.— £10 and Silver Medal, R. H.
HaiTis, Earnhill, Forres, Moray.

Best Wether Sheep of the Leicester, Cotswold,
Lincoln, and Kentish, or other long-wool breed. — Silver
Cup, value £5, J. Pears, Mere, Lincoln.

Best Wether Sheep of the South-down, and Hampshire
or Wiltshire-down breed. — Silver Cup, value £5, A.
Morrison, Fonthill House, Tisbury, WQts.

Best Wether Sheep of the Shropshire, Oxfordshire,
Cross-bred, or any other breed not specified above. —
Silver Cup, value £5, S. Beach, The Hattons Brewood.

Best single Pig.— Silver Cup, value £5, T. Chamber-
layne.

Commendations in Extka Stock.
Highly commended. — The Executors of Lord Berners ;
W. Rigden ; Sir W. Throckmorton ; J. Overman ; and
R, E. Duckering and Son.

Commended.— R. Jardine, M.P. ; Lord Penryhn ; J.
G. Leigh ; J. J. Colman, M.P. ; R. Hall ; the Duke of
Richmond ; aud N. Stilgoe.

SILVER CUPS.
For the best Steer or Ox in any of the Classes.— Silver
Cup, value £40, to the Exhibitor, J. Stratton, Alton
Priors, Marlborough. Gold Medal to Breeder, the late
R. Stratton.

For the best Heifer or Cow in any of the Classes. —
Silver Cup, value £40, to J. Bruce, Fochabers, Elgin.
Gold Medal to A. Pattison.

For the best pen of Leicesters, Cotswolds, Lincolns,
Kentish, or other long-woolled breed, in any of the
Classes.— Silver Cup, value £20, to J. Byron, Kirkby
Greeu, Sleaford, Lincoln.

For the best pen of one-year-old Southdowns, Hamp-
shire, or Wiltshire Downs. — Silver Cup, value £20, to
W. Rigden, Hove, Brighton.

For the best pen of one-year-old Shropshire, Oxford-
shire, Cross-bred, or any other breed of Sheep (not
specified in Prize List) , in any of the Classes. — Silver
Cup, value £30, to Lord Chesham, Latimer, Chesham,
Bucks.

For the best pen of Pigs in any of the Classes. — Silver
Cup, value £20, to J, Biggs, Cublington, Leighton
Buzzard, Beds.

CHAMPION PLATE.
For the best Beast in the Show (Extra Stock in-
cluded).—A Piece of Plate value £100, J. Stratton, Alton
Priors, Marlborough.

For the best pen of Sheep in the Show. — A Piece of
Plate value £50, J. Byron, Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

LIVE WEIGHTS OF CATTLE AND
SHEEP.
[The Numbers omitted are those of animals which were
not exhibited. The numbers marked thus (*) are
winners of first prizes. The best beast in the yard is
the Shorthorn Ox, 101 ; the best Cow or Heifer, the
Black Polled, 188 ; and the best pen of Sheep, the
Lincolns, 252. The best of all the Southdowns, or
other Downs, is pen 271 ; and the best of the Shrop-
shires. Oxfords, aud Cross-breds, pen 336.]
CATTLE.
DEVONS.

Steers, 2| years

No.

1

2

*3

4

5

7

Weight.
cwt, qrs. lbs.
1
2
1
1
1
0

10
13
10
11
11
11

2
11
16

4
18

2

Steers, 3 years 3 months.

9

10
12
13

17

18
20
*21
23
25
27
28

30
32
33
34
35
*36
37
38

*39
41
42
43

44
45

13

13

11

12

14

Oxen.

17

15

17

15

15

16

18

Heifers.

12

15

12

15

15

16

13

12

Cows.

14

14

11

11

12

14

3
3
3
3
0

1
1
1

2
2
0
1

3
1

2
0
0
0
0
2

0
0
2
2
0
0

20
25

3
12

2

14
17
16
10
10
9
20

22
23
13
10
14

9
22

6

0

4

4

5

24

No.

76

78

80

*82

83

Cows.

Weight.
cwt. qrs. IbB.

17
17
14
17
17

0

4
20
24
20

SHORTHORNS

Steers, 2 years 6 months

84

87

*90
91

16
15
16
15
15
17
15

2
2
10
16
25
22
16

Steers, 3 years 3 months

HEREFORDS.
Steers, 2| years.

47 15 2

*49 13 1

Steers, 3 years 3 months.

*52
54
57

58
*60
62
63
67
68
69
70

*71
75

17

,... 16

.... 16

Oxen.

.... 18

20

17

18

19

21

17

19

Heifers.

15

13

14
16
26

2
25
16
20
16
18

95
96

*97

98
99
100
*101
103
104
105
106

*107
108
109
110
112
114
115
117

ni8

119
120
122
123

126

130

131

*133

135
187
138
139
*140
141
143

17

... 18

... 17

Oxen.

.... 25

21

18

22

20

23

19

19

Heifers.

17

13

15

14

19

16

13

18

Cows.

19

17

17

17

17

16

6

20
26

9
16
21
14

18
2
12
18
15
12
10
17

0

4

20

18

22

SUSSEX
3 years.

15

18

17

16

Oxen.

16

20

15

16

20

20

18

20
17

4
22

0
20
18
24
26
4
7

SUSSEX.

(Continued.)

Heifers.

No. Weight.

cwt. qrs. lbs.

143 15 3 4

*144 13 1 2

145 16 1 22

146 16 0 22

Cows.

147 16 0 3

148 17 0 12

149 16 0 0

*150 15 1 18

153 15 0 10

NORFOLK or SUFFOLK.

All ages.

154 16 0 10

155 15 0 8

*158 20 2 13

Heifers or Cows.

159 15 0 4

160 14 1 18

*161 15 0 26

LONG HORNS.
All ages.

162 18 0 0

*163 20 0 0

Cow.

*164 15 3 16

WEST HIGHLANDERS.
Any age.

166 16 1 1

*167 19 3 4

169 17 1 22

170 17 3 0

171 15 0 7

173 14 1 17

174 17 1 4

Cow.

*175 13 1 25

OTHER

SCOTCH HORNS.

Any age.

176 9 1 26

177 16 0 3

178 15 0 20

*179 20 0 23

Heifer.

180 11 2 11

SCOTCH POLLS.

Any age.

*181 15 3 10

182 18 3 15

183 19 1 6

184 21 0 23

186 18 2 2

SHEEP,

LEICESTERS.

237 6 0 10

239 5 3 20

*240 6 19

Light Weights.

241 5 2 4

242 4 3 18

243 5 2 3

*244 5 2 12

Ewes.

245 6 1 13

246 6 0 11

*247 ...... 6 2 21

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

KENTS.
No. Weight,

cwt. qrs. lbs,

256 6 2 6

257 6 2 27

258 7 0 2

*260 7 0 23

CROSSES.

*261 6 2 27

262 5 2 8

EXTRA.— LONGWOOLS.

263 2 0 11

264 1 S 24

265 2 10

266 2 2 8

267 2 18

268 2 0 15

*269 3 19

SOUTHDOWNS.

270 5 2 8

*271 5 2 4

272 5 3 0

273 5 3 14

274 6 0 20

275 6 12

276 6 0 20

277 6 0 8

279 5 1 16

280 6 1 15

Lightweights.

282 5 0 12

283 4 3 27

284 4 2 16

285 4 2 22

286 5 0 0

*287 5 0 2

288 5 0 5

290 5 1 22

Old Sheep.

*292 6 3 9

293 6 0 27

294 5 3 23

295 6 1 13

296 6 3 G

297 6 2 14

Ewes.

*298 5 1 23

299 4 3 22

300 5 3 1

301 5 1 18

303 .... 5 1 9
HAMPSHIRES or

WILTSHIRES.

304 7 0 23

305 6 3 24

*306 6 3 5

307 6 14

308 6 3 27

309 7 0 2

Ewes.

312 6 0 4

313 6 3 22

*314 7 0 11

315 6 3 4

316 7 0 8

EXTRA.-SHORTWOOLS.

317 2 0 0

318 13 1

319 2 1 27

320 2 19

*331 2 2 1

322 I 2 24

SCOTCH POLLS

(Continued.)

Heifers.

No.

Weight.

cwt.

qrs.

lbs.

*188

18

2

5

189

18

Cows.

0

24

*191

17

0

18

192

15

IRISH

Any age.

2

10

*i93

17

0

12

194

20

0

14

WELSH OX.

*195

19

CROSSES

1

20

3

years' Steers.

196

16

1

19

197

15

0

20

*198

16

3

6

199

16

2

6

200

21

0

0

201

15

0

2

202

17

Oxen.

3

0

203

21

3

17

205

16

3

5

206

19

3

17

207

18

0

18

*208

24

3

6

211

13

0

15

212

18

0

27

214

15

2

24

215

21

3

14

217

18

Heifers.

1

0

*219

17

3

20

220

]5

3

14

221

16

3

26

EXTRA STOCK

Oxen.

222

18

0

10

224

18

0

8

*225

23

2

13

226

17

3

22

227

16

3

3

228

19

1

0

229

19

1

4

Cows or Heifers

230

18

2

20

232

13

0

0

*233

22

1

8

236

14

0

8

COTSWOLDS.

248 7 2 21

*249 7 2 19

Ewe.
*251 7 3 1

LINC0LN3.

*252 8 14

253 7 1 16

234 7 0 17

EWE.

*255 9 12

51

EXTRA...SH0RTW00LS

(Continued.)

No. Weight.

cwt. qrs. lbs.

323 1 3 26

324 1 3 15

325 2 0 15

326 1 3 21

327 2 0 0

328 2 1 11

329 2 0 15

330 1 3 18

331 1 3 13

SHROPSHIRES.

332 5 3 10

383 6 3 5

334 6 3 19

*336 5 3 22

337 6 19

338 5 2 15

340 6 1 10

Old Sheep.

341 7 0 17

342 6 13

*343 9 1 25

Ewe.

*344 6 1 26

OXFORDS.

345 6 1 12

*348 7 1 13

347 7 0 17

348 7 1 20

Ewe,

349 7 3 9

RYELAND, CHEVIOT,

and DORSET.

350 6 0 18

*351 6 2 13

352 3 3 15

354 6 1 25

EXMOORS.

355 4 3

*356 5 3 22

BLACKFACED.

357 5 1 16

358 5 2 3

359 4 2 13

360 5 11

*361 4 2 16

CROSSES.

862 5 3 18

363 5 1 20

364 6 0 12

*365 6 3 16

366 7 0 25

367 6 17

EXTRA.

370 2 0 14

371 1 3 14

372 12 8

373 2 1 27

*374 2 0 21

375 13 6

377 13 1

379 2 0 20

380 13 1

381 2 0 16

382 2 3 13

383 2 0 20

384 2 10

384a" 2 17

^ 2

£2

THE FAUMEH'S MAGAZINE.

THE IMPLEMENT DEPARTMENT.

If, as was recently shown in our columns, the annual
value of the live stock of the United Kingdom is about 75
millions, the tillage-crops, grain, roots, grass, flax,
&c., rauk far higher in value, reaching to nearly three
times that amount ; hence the implements and appliances
required on the farm, and the samples of seeds and
roots shown, have a special interest both for producers
and consumers. Every year some improvement is made
in existing implements, machinery, and vehicles for
transport ; therefore a tour of the implement galleries, to
see what novelties or improvements there are, whether
prices have gone up, or what reduction competition has
led to, becomes essentially necesary to lai'ge classes of the
community.

Here congregate not only metropolitan visitors, many
of whom perhaps scarcely know the use of a plough or
harrow, or the purposes for which a cake-breaker is re-
quired ; but here also throng the practical men, who ex-
pend large amounts on the best improved tillage or har-
vesting implements ; and here also come the foreign and
colonial agriculturists who are following steadily in the
track of that science combined with practice, which the
old Royal has so long and so steadOy promoted by its
annual shows. True, the limited area of the Agricultural
Hall affords scant space for the ambitious implement and
machine makers, many of whom could cover rea-
dily the whole arena with specimens of their
handiwork, but cabined, cribbed, confined within
a few yards of space they are obliged to be content to
show but one or two of their best and most approved
machines or engines, so as to keep their names before the
agricultural world, and have at least the chance of book-
ing orders. It is remarkable how year by year the
agricultural machinery and implement trade has grown,
uutil in this business there have arisen giants in the
land, whose works are veritable towns and whose imple-
ments are found in use in every country of the habitable
globe where agriculture and its collateral branches are
carried on. Not only have limited liability companies been
formed to carry on many of these great undertakings, but
some are obliged to disencumber themselves of minor
affairs by handing the manufacture of these over to smaller
firms, so as to confine themselves to big tlungs — steam
engines and steam ploughs, and all the other great ap-
pliances of steam to cultivation, forming now an enor-
mous portion of the machinery and implement trade.
Only those who look into the figures even of our export
trade can have a conception of the magnitude to which
the business of the agricultural engineer has grown.

There are just upon 2,000 factories in the United
Kingdom employed iu the construction of machinery,
about which 167,000 hands are engaged, and those occu-
pied with agricultural machinery and implements form a
very large portion of the number. To say nothing of the
large amount of implements and machinery now in use at
home for the 4G million of acres under all kinds of crops,
bare, fallow, and grass, the value of which it is difficult to
estimate even on the farm, we know that the quantity sent
abroad is getting larger year by year. The value of the
machinery of all kinds exported iu the past three years has
averaged 3i millions, and that of the steam engines about
two millions more, whilst the special agricultural imple-
ments make up another quarter of a milliou.

After these few preliminary remarks, we proceed to the
business of the Show, and mark with satisfaction iu the first
place that the Council has made a clean sweep from the
hall and galleries of all articles not properly of agricultural
utility, banishing all such outsiders to the arcade and the con-
cert h.iU. Indeed, so restrictive has the line been drawn

at last that many exhibitors complain of the exclusion of
legitimate articles. However, we think it far better to
err on the right side in determining what shall not be
admitted, as there is thus the more room afforded in
the body and gallery of the hall for engines and imple-
ments purely agricultural. Having made as careful a
survey of each individual stand as the crowded condition
of the hall would admit, we are now prepared to give a
brief notice of what was really shown, preferring this to
the preliminary notices sent us by exhibitors, many of their
exhibits being often left out for want of space or other cause.
It was evident from the way orders were being booked in
all directions, and cheques passed, that a good general
business was done on all sides. This is not the time to
criticise or comment upon the respective merits of the im-
plements shown, which have beeu tested during the sea-
son just ended, and we must be content in most cases to
give a mere enumeration of the specialities of each manu-
facturer.

Amies, Barford and Co., Peterborough ; specimens of
their prize apparatus for steaming food; several oilcake
and corn-grinding mills, patent steam-ploughs and a
model of Campain's anchor for steam cultivation ; and
a model of an elevator.

Ashby, Jeffery and Luke, Stamford, a fine col-
lection of chaff cutters, with covered cog-wheels ; a
vertical engine on high wrought-iron road wheels, a strong
self-moving traction engine adapted for the Fiskcn
ploughing tackle, and some of their well known horse-rakes
and hay-makers.

Aveling and Porter, Rochester, an 8-horse power
agricultural locomotive, a 12-horse steam-plough,
and a 20-ton steam road-roUer. The excellence of these
engines, &c., are too well known to need comment.

John Baker, of Wisbeach, one of his blowing, win-
nowing, and screening machines.

Thomas Baker, Compton, some liquid manure and
water carts.

George Ball, North Kilworth, near Rugely, carts and
waggons, chaff-cutters and horse gear.

Thomas Ball, Northampton, a potato-plough, improved
criterion double-furrow plough, and a reaping machine.

W. Ball and Son, llothwell, a good collection of
prize waggons, carts, double and single furrow ploughs,
harrows, and iron scufHers or scarifiers.

A. C. Bamlett, Thirsk, several of his mowers and
reapers, including his new self-raker, in which the
position of the corn side wheel enables it to be easily
turned at the corners of the field, and his combined
mower and reaper, with an arrangement by which the
speed of the knife can be instantly reduced or increased.

Barrows and Stewart, Banbury, a combined
thrashing and finishing machine with a 4ft. Gin. drum,
and a portable 6-horse steam engine ; the steam-jacketed
cylinder being placed on the smoke-box end of the boiler
greatly economizes fuel. The Oxfordshire wrought iron
cattle crib and swing water-barrow were also shown.

E. H. Bentall, Maldon, varieties of his well-known
chaff' cutters, oil-cake mills, turnip cutters and pulpers ;
Gardner's cutter, the only one that did not choke iu the
Oxford trials.

Beverley Iron and Waggon Company (Limited) had on
their stand some grass mowers, two 1 -horse reapers, a
double self-acting swathe delivery reaper, a cattle cart
with shafts to attach to either end, an improved liquid
manure distributor, some market carts, clod crushers and
rollers.

Robert Boby, Bury St. Edmund's, a display of corn
screening and dressing machines, double action hay-making
machines, and self-acting horse rakes.

W. Brenton, St. Germans, Cornwall, combine I

l^HE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

j3

Reapers and mowerSj and a dressing and blowing
machine.

Bristol Waggon Works Company (Limited) a
good display of their agricultural carts and waggons
suited for various purposes.

Brown and May, Devizes, an 8-horse power portable
Oxford prize steam engine, and a 2i-horse power improved
vertical steam engine.

Burgess and Key, a collection of their direct thrust
reapers and mowers ; in one the driver's seat is now
placed at the side of the main wheel. This is also applied
to a 1-horse reaper. A new combined machine was also
shown for the first time by this firm. A simple system
of oilers is applied to the principal bearings of these
machines, ensuring a good supply, and excluding dirt.

Charles Burrell, Thetford, an improved pateut
agricultural road locomotive, similar to that shown at
Wolverhampton. The driving wheels are fitted with cross
plates instead of plain tires, which render them less
liable to slip on soft ground.

Cambridge and Parham, Bristol, chain harrows, Sea-
man's harrows for general purposes, land presser, clod
crusher, scuflie drags, horse rakes, chaff cutters, and horse
gear.

Carson and Toone, Warminster, chaff-cutting engines,
Moody's turnip cutters, horse hoes, clod crushers and
rollers, and cheese presses, haymakers, lamb cribs, and
horse hoc.

Clayton and Shuttleworth, Lincoln, an 8-horse and a
6-horse power portable engine, an improved horizontal 12-
horse power fixed engine with self-acting differential
motion; a 10-horse power traction engine; a double
blast-finishing thrashing machine, and a stacking ma-
chine or elevator ; screw and lever jacks, and other
articles.

Coleman and Morton, Chelmsford, a new potato digging
machine, two patent cultivators, a liquid manure dis-
tributor, the hop syringing machine which took the prize
at Wolverhampton ; and an adjustable rotary corn screen.

Thos. Corbett, Shrewsbury, " Excelsior" single and
double-furrow and pulverizing ploughs ; blowing, winnow-
ing, and corn dressing machine, which has taken 46
Royal and other prizes; economic sheep rack, cake-breaker,
and an excellent clover drill with an adjustable arrange-
ment of rack and pinion.

W. Cottes and Sons, Epping, chaff-cutters and ploughs.

Crosskill and Sons, Beverley, one of their Manchester
prize pair horse waggons, several one-horse carts, a liquid
manure cart and some of their well-known clod crushers.

Corcoran, Witt, and Co., of Mark Lane, a fine
collection of mill stones, and apparatus for mills, lubrica-
tors, wire, and other articles in which they specially deal.

John Davey, Crofthole, near Devonport, several of
his patent " Excelsior" turn-wrest ploughs, in which all
the moving parts are turned at once, one breast being
placed in proper position, while the other is raised clear
of the beam ; they have also the patent share stop and
coulter adjustment.

Davey, Paxman, and Co., Colchester, their patent steam
corn dryer, which took the Royal medals at Derby and
Manchester, and the first prize at Essex and Leicester ;
also, their patent vertical engine and boiler.

C. Dening and Co., Chard, exhibited several of
Spencer's patent prize chain corn drills, which are al-
leged to have several advantages over the cup drills.

W. and S. Eddington and Co., Chelmsford, an improved
standard portable 'J-horse engine.

Thomas Pardon, Leighton Buzzard, corn and seed
drills. Turner's cultivators, horse hoes, chaff cutters, oil-
cake cutters, and ploughs.

John Fowler and Co., I>eeds, had on view a 13-horse
single cylinder traction and ploughing machine, an 8-horse

engine suitable for thrashing and traction work, a patent
turning cultivator and harrow, and other apparatus
similar to those tried so successfully at Wolverhampton.

Richard Garrett and Son, Leiston, Suffolk, three
of their well-known portable engines, corn and seed
drills adapted for every country, lever horse hoes, manure
distributors, and corn winnowing and dressing machines.

P. and H. P. Gibbons, Wantage, exhibited a portable
steam engine and thrashing machine.

W. Gilbert, Shippon, near Abingdon, an improved
Suffolk corn, seed, and manure drill.

G. 0. Gooday, Stansted, Bishop's Stortford, a multiple
needle sewing machine for making thatch.

John Gray and Co., Uddingston, near Glasgow,
a double-furrow plough combining Gray's and Pirie's
patents, which has been very successful recently in trial
matches.

Hayes and Son, Stamford, harvest carts, general-
purpose waggons, and other farm vehicles.

Holmes and Son, Norwich, a portable engine and
thrashing machine, corn and seed drill, and barley
hummeller.

R. Hornsby and Sons, Grantham, several of their
mowers and reapers, especially the " Governor" and
" Progress" self-rakers, the " Premier" back-delivery
reapers; the "Paragon" and "Manchester" mowers
and combined mowers and reapers ; an 8-horse portable
steam engine and thrashing machine, a 12-row corn and
seed drill, adjustable corn screens, turnip cutters and root
pulpcrs. Their double-furrow plough has recently at-
tracted much attention, being of the kind now con-
structed, and as a proof of its efficiency at the great con-
test at Reepham, Norfolk, Sept. 27 and 28, it cai-ried oft'
the two silver cups for the double-furrow plough which
should produce the best and most highly-finished work,
and the best general purpose plough. It stood the
severest test of the dynanomeler, turns easily at the end
of the furrow, and has the anti-friction wheel at the
rear.

J. and F. Howard occupied a large space with speci-
mens of their various machines and implements, including
their well-known steam cultivating apparatus. Important
recent improvements having been introduced into their
steam ploughs, the beams are made of a section of steel,
the framework of wrought iron firmly bolted together,
and the wheels of wrought iron. Among their ploughs
was the " Champion," suited to every kind of soil and
depth ; a two-wheel single plough, fitted with hind fric-
tion wheel, so that the slade is dispensed with ; and a
single plough with grubber tines behind, very useful for
root ploughing, as the tines thoroughly remove the pan.
They also showed double-furrow ploughs, now so much in
demand, the draught of which, as tested at the Reepham
contest, was very satisfactory ; turnover ploughs, and
turn-wrest ploughs. There vvas also a newly-patented
harrow, with double-flanged beams, into which the
teeth are securely fastened without screws or nuts.
Among the harvesting machines were their self-delivery
international reaper, brought out last season, which has
been improved and strengthened, fitted with two wrought-
iron driving wheels of larger diameter, which considerably
lessen the draught ; their double-action haymaker, and
self-acting horse rake. The Howard safety-boiler of this
firm, which is now coming into extensive use on land, as
well as for marine purposes, must not be omitted. It is
built up solely of wrought-iron tubes, the bursting pressure
of each of which is at least l,0001bs. per square inch.

Edward Humphries, Pershore, showed a thrashing ma-
chine.

Reuben Hunt, of Earl's Colne, horse-working-
power gear, cake breakers, turnip cutters, and other ma-
chines. With the new year Ransomes, Sims, and Head

H

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

hand over to Reuben Hunt the manufacture of all the
food-preparing machinery which they have hitherto con-
structed.

Hunt and Pickering, Leicester, two-horse grass-mowing
machine, combined mower and reaper, a patent raker
with anti-frictional crank movements, oilcake breakers,
corn crushers, horse-gear, and root-pulpers.

I. James and Son, Cheltenham, a stone or bone crusher,
to work by hand or power ; an improved chain pump, a
gapping drill, liquid manure and water carts.

H. and G. Kearsley, Eipon, a grass mower and com-
bined mower and reaper.

B. Kittmer, Fulston, near Louth, one of his combined
dressing and blowing machines.

J. L. Larkworthy and Co., Worcester, Seaman's pa-
tent Excelsior ploughs, duck-footed scuffle drags, root
pulper, and patent cattle-crib.

Josiah Le Butt, Bury St. Edmund's, patent self-cleaning
corn screens, malt screens, Champion double-action hay-
making machine, hand seed drills, malt plough, humane
lamb hurdles.

T. Lloyd and Son, Old-street, London, prize flour
mills, and dressing machines.

Marshall, Sons, and Co. (Limited), Gainsborough, had
several of their horizonal and vertical engines and thrash-
ing machines.

Robert Maynard, Cambridge, patent portable steam and
horse power sifting chaif engines, which cut the chaff as
fast as the straw can be thrashed.

Melburn and Co. (Limited), London, showed their deai-
cated grains, which have now been in repute for some
years as a cattle food.

Murton and Turner, Kenninghall, Norfolk, some
improved prize drills, horse hoes, corn dressing machines,
and a hand-seed di'ill.

Nalder and Nalder, Wantage, one of their thrash-
ing machines.

W. and N, Nicholson, Newark, had one of his com-
bined vertical steam engine and boiler complete on
foundation bank, some oil-cake breaking machines, disc
turnip pulpers, sack elevators, hay-making machines of
various kinds, winnowing and corn dressing machines,
horse rakes, and chaff cutters.

E.Page and Co., Bedford, adjustable tooth drag harrow,
new adjustable knife disc root pulper, corn grinding mill,
steel roller, bean mill, and chaff cutter. They also exhi-
bited Mellard's mould-board plough.

A. E. Peirce, Oxford- street, had a fine collection of
tubular wheelbarrows, step ladders, feeding troughs,
pails, and other utensils.

Penney and Co. (Limited), Lincoln, expanding rotary
corn separator with adjustable wires, seed and flour
dressing and winnowing machines, lime and malt screens,
sack lift, patent draught preventer, root washer.

Picksley, Sims, and Co. (Limited), Leigh, Manchester,
had a fine collection on theii- stand of mowers and reapers
and combined ditto, their self-acting side-delivery reaping
machine, and their patent reaper with additional crank
movement, very light in draught and clean in cut ; also
some of their prize chaff cutters and root pulpers.

Thomas Perkins, Hitchin, patent strong double-furro ^
and three-furrow ploughs, patent folding shafts for reaping
and mowing machines, and prize drag harrows.

Priest, Woolnough, and Michell, Kingston-on-
Thames, Suffolk corn drills, horse hoes and manure
distributors, hand clover and grass seed barrows.

Ransomes, Sims, and Head, Ipswich, had on their
stand an 8-horse portable steam engine, a 10-horse
economical portable steam engine, a patent double-blast
finishing steam thrashing machine, a patent double-
speeded back-action " Star" haymaker and horse rake ; a
variety of their well-known ploughs, including the ligh^

general-purpose plough, Newcastle prize plough, turn^
wrest plough, subsoil plough, and double-fm-row ploughs ;
and of crushing mills, a combined mill, a steel oat mill,
a bean cutter and a universal mill.

Reading Iron Works (Limited), a new series of small-
power fixed engines, an 8 and a 10-horse power fixed
condensing engine, a thrashing machine, 1 and 2-horse
power clipper mower, horse rakes, barley mower, horse
gear, and other articles,

R. J. Reeves and Son, Westbury, corn and seed drills,
&c., for small occupations ; manure and water cart, An-
drews' patent stacker and elevator, manure distributor,
and other articles.

Benjamin Reid and Co., Aberdeen, disc corn and seed
drill, winnower, broad-cast sowing machine for corn and
seed, patent di-ain-cleaning rods, press drill, adapted to
cultivation by irrigation, and good models of drills, and
of a wire bridge for parks and pleasure grounds.

Riches and Watts, Norwich, disc root pulpers with ad-
justable cutters, oilcake mills, American and Eureka grist
mills and a model engine.

Richmond and Chandler, Salford, a fine collection
of their celebrated chaff cutters, the endless feeding web
to these is of great use and safeguard to the man at the
mouth ; two lengths of cut and a stop motion are added
to the power machines. Several sizes of corn-crushing
machines were shown, a 1 -horse power horse-gear for
small machines and some exceUent steaming apparatus.

E. and H. Roberts, Stony Stratford, exhibited grist
mills, chaff cutters, cake breakers, bean mills, root pul-
pers, horse works, and a portable mower and reaper
knife stand, also a novel self-feeding sheep cot.

Robey and Co., Limited, Lincoln, specimens
of their portable engines with expansion apparatus
worked directly by the governor, and of their vertical
high pressm'e stationary engines, thrashing machines and
straw elevator, and a wheel of one of their road steamers
for hauling waggons on common roads.

J. G. Rollins, of London, a fine collection of hay
and manure forks and spades, grindstones, weighing
machines, pumps, and lawn mowers.

Ruston, Proctor and Co., Lincoln, a fixed engine, 2
portable engines, a saw bench and other articles.

Samuelson and Co., Banbury, had a fine collection of
grass mowers, reapers, lawn mowers, and turnip cutters.
With regard to all these machines, it appears that little
novelty in principle must be looked forward to at the
hands of these makers, their reaping and mowing machines
having now reached a fixed standard, and become in this
respect almost similar to the turnip cutter. In the self-
raking reaper we observe several improvements of this
kind, including an improved sickle-pin slide, which per-
mits the sickle pin to be taken out very easily without
removing a bolt ; improved means of raising the off side,
changes in the mode of putting in and out of gear, new
method of locking the nuts, change in the form of the
fingers for discharging all cloggy matters beneath the
knife bar, a broader off-side wheel, and an improved head
lifter. In the grass mower and combined machine there
is less change, one or two minor details only appearing
to have demanded alteration ; while the Eclipse reaper,
which has reached the tenth year of its manufacture, comes
before the public without any change in its construction.

W. Sawney, Beverley, a winnowing and blowing
machine, a sheep rack, and a sack lifter.

Smith & Grace, Thrapston, gave special attention to
chaff cutters, bean mills, and grist mills, which with root
pulpers and cake breakers, are the chief objects of their
manufacture.

W. Smith, Kettering, had a display of horse hoes,
grindstones, and other useful articles,

Southwell & Co., Rugeley, showed a good collection of

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

5S

chaff cutters for hand or power, com crushers with roller
faces of solid steel, oil-cake breakers with covered cog-
wheels, and disc root pulpers, strippers and slicers, and
grist mills with chilled surfaces.

G. Stacey & Sons, Uxbridge, had a few chaff cutters.

W. Tasker & Sons, Andover, had of their corn
dressing machines, which took the Royal prize at the
Bury meeting, an eight-horse portable engine with patent
adjustable eccentric and an efficient feed water heater,
with thrashing machine, and one of King's drop drills for
dibbling seed and manui'e.

E. R. and F. Turner, Ipswich, several roller mills for
crushing corn, malt, seed, and grinding beans, oil-cake
breaker, hand and other grinding mills, an engine and
combined thrashing and dressing machine.

Tuxford & Sons, Boston, exhibited their prize culti-
vating windlass, and portable eight-horse engine, and
two small improved portable engines, with which they
have generally stood the trial tests so well.

W. S. Underbill, Newport, a vertical engine, two-
horse double-fiUTow frictionless ploughs, and single
ploughs, horse rakes, four-furrow turnip drills for large
occupation root growers.

Vulcan Iron Works (formerly T. Smith), Ipswich,
showed counterbalance horse rake, wrought iron culti-
vator, or broad-share scarifier and harrow combined, new
patent beam and Excelsior harrows, and an improved
portable sheep rack.

Wallis & Steevens, Basingstoke, an eight-horse
portable engine with a fifty-four-inch combined finishing
thrashing machine, and slow motion automatic folding
elevator, with one-horse gear for driving it.

Joseph Warren, Maldon, chaff machines, an adjustable
cultivator and scarifier, horse rakes, ploughs and harrows.

T. W. Wedlake & Co., Hornchurch, a 3|-horse por-
table glandless steam engine, a portable corn mill with
grey stones, horse gear.

J. Whitmore & Co., London, a large collection of
wheat grinding and dressing machines, malt and seed
crushers.

W. A. Wood, London, some of his well-known mowers
and reapers, particularly the Champion self-delivery.

Woods, Cocksedge & Warner, Stowmarket, sam-
ples of their root pulpers, cake breakers, and crushing
and grinding mills ; combined vertical steam engine and
boiler, which, put on wheels, is handy for moving, and
•will consume any kind of fuel ; horse gear, and other
articles.

THE ROOTS AND SEEDS.

The leading seed merchants vied with each other on this
occasion as to who should make the most effective and
startling display of mammoth mangolds, cattle cabbages,
prize potatoes, and other Brobdignag wonders, and con-
sidering the limited gallery space, they monopolised a con-
siderable share. Among the most prominent as regards
arrangement and samples shown were certainly Sutton
and Sons, of Reading, whose long red sweet mangolds
weighing half a cwt. each, yellow globes of 451bs., cham-
pion swedes, and intermediate mangolds of 261bs. and
281bs. weight, attracted general admiration from the
crowds of visitors. James Carter and Co., of Hol-
born, also ran very closely with mammoth long red
mangold and other prize roots and seeds. Thomas
Gibbs and Co., the old-established seedsmen to the
Royal Agricultural Society, London, had also a noble
display of roots, comprising yellow globe mangolds,
kohl rabi, swedes, globe and stone turnips and carrots,
besides grasses for pastures and meadows. To go over
the exhibits of the other leading seed firms would be but
to enumerate the objects, and we must content ourselves
therefore with naming the houses, and stating that they

all sought to merit a continuance of support by the excel"
lence of the seeds, agricultural grasses growing, and other
objects shown : George Gibbs and Co., London ; Rad-
clyffe, Dick, and Co., London ; Raynbird, Caldicott, and
Co., Basingstoke; Wheeler and Son, Gloucester; and
J. R. King, Coggeshall. The latter had on his stand
roots which were shown by him at Smithfield last year,
at the meeting of the Royal in July, and at other shows,
and they were as sound as when first shown.

THE SMITHFIELD CLUB ANNUAL
MEETING.

The annual meeting of the Club was held on Tuesday in the
Show week, at the Agricultural Hall, the attendance being
numerous. The cliair was taken by the President, the
Marquis of Exeter.

The Honorary Secretary, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, after read-
ing the minutes of the last meeting, which were confirmed,
read the following report of the Council :

The Council beg to lay before the general meeting the re-
port of their proceedings during the past year. The Council
have held three meetings, which have been well attended, and
in addition to the ordinary routine of business the following
subjects have had their careful consideration :

I. The detention for some days at the close of the last Show
of a large number of animals, purchased to go into the country,
in consequence of foot-and-mouth disease having broken out
in the yard. The Hon. Secretary was requested to point out
to the veterinary department of the Privy Council the incon-
venience and loss that accrued to the owners of the stock in
consequence ; and to request that if possible some deiinite ar-
rangement might be made to meet such a contingency if it
should again occur. The Council have the satisfaction of re-
porting that the application has been successful, and that in
granting the licence for the present Show, the Lords of the
Council have provided for the same as follows :

Cattle moved out of the Show and then out of the Metro-
polis shall be moved only in manner and subject to the con-
ditions following :
(1.) There shall be a licence of<' the Commissioner of

Police of the Metropolis for the movement.
(2.) Such licence shall only be granted on a certificate of
health signed by one of the veterinary surgeons for the
Show, and a certificate of the pass-master of the Show of
the cattle having been exhibited in the Show.
(3.) If the cattle are moved out of the Metropolis by
railway, they shall be conveyed in properly constructed
cattle-vans, without stopping, to the railway-station, and
tliere be transferred from the vans directly to the railway-
truck.
(4.) If the cattle 'are moved out of the Metropolis other-
wise than by railway, they shall be conveyed without
stopping, from the Show out of the Metropolis, in pro-
perly constructed cattle-vans.
(5.) Provided that if any cattle being so moved, while in
the metropolis, come accidentally or otherwise in contact
with any cattle not having been exhibited at the Show,
they shall not be moved out of the Metropolis, but shall
be slaughtered in the Metropolis.
Therefore the healthy animals will not be detained.

II. The Right Hon. Lord Penrhyn, who was chosen as Pre-
sident-elect at the last general meeting, intimated to the Coun-
cil his regret that advancing j ears would prevent his discharg-
ing the duties of President ; but his lordship by presentmgthe
handsome donation of £100 has manifested the interest that
he takes in the welfare of the Club. The Council voted their
best thanks for the same, and they have elected the Right
Hon. Lord Tredegar V.P., to fill the office of President for the
year 1872. , ^

III. The Council have to lament the loss by death of the
Right Hon. Lord Berners, the Right Hon. Lord Walsingham,
and the Right Hon. the Earl of Aylesford, Vice-presidents of
the Club ; and, also of Mr. John Clayden, the Chairman of the

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Agricultural Hall Compatiy, aud Mr. Richard Stratton, both
members of the Council. Mr. Clayden would have retired by
rotation at this meeting, and therefore the Council have not
filled the vacancy caused by his death. They have elected Mr.
Joseph Stratton in the place of Mr. llichard Stratton.

IV. The Council have revised the prize-sheet for the pre-
sent Show, and the following alterations have been made :
In the division for Scotch polled cattle a new class has been
established for cows separate from the heifers. In the Irish
division the wording has been amended so as to keep the
classes exclusively for Irish breeds. The class for light-weight
cross-bred sheep has been discontinued. The rule restricting
any animal once exhibited at the Club's Show from being
again shown, except as extra stock, has been expunged, and
in lieu thereof the following substituted : No animal ex-
hibited at any previous Show of the Club can again compete
in the same class. Several minor alterations and emenda-
tions have been made.

V. The Council resolves, that in consequence of the incon-
venience and risk attending the animals being led out before
the judges by the men provided by the Hall Company, and
who were strangers to the animals, in future the men in
charge of them should perform this duty.

VI. The Council has taken into consideration suggestions
made by some members at the last general meeting relative to
the preparation of the house list of the members to be recom-
mended for election on the Council ; and the Council arrived
at the decision that it would be inexpedient to make any
alteration in the bye-laws in this respect.

VII. The Council have increased the number of the Judges
Selection Committee by the addition of such of the eight
senior members of the Council (i. e., those who will retire
this year) as are not exhibitors. The Committee therefore
now consists of the President, the six Stewards of Live-stock,
the eight senior Members of Council.

VIII. In consequence of great inconvenience having been
experienced relative to the prize tickets and the placards
placed over the animals being taken away by unauthorised
persons, the Council determined that means be taken to pre-
vent their removal, and arrangements liave been made so that
the exhibitors' servants in charge will receive a copy of the
prize card to take home with them, aud that the butchers pur-
chasing animals will be supplied with a clean ornamental pla-
card and prize ticket (when so awarded), in order that these
authentic documents may be placed upon the carcases when
exhibited publicly in the butchers' shops.

IX. The Council have determined that in addition to
having every animal weighed and its live weight published,
the butcher purchasing each shall be invited to send in a re-
turn of the dead weight, and that the name and address of the
purchaser shall be published in conjunction therewith in re-
cognition of the wishes of ^the Club having been complied
with.

X. The Council having received a communication from the
Agricultural Hall Company to the effect that the publication of
an implement catalogue entailed a pecuniary loss, the Council
resolved to accept the offer of the Company to add to the stock
catalogue a hst of implement exhibitors, with the address and
trade of each, the number of the stand, and a plan of the
building, indicating the position of each stand.

XI. The Council have again voted their thanks to the Rector
of Islington, for the special divine service on Sunday last for
the herdsmen and shepherds.

XII. The Council lay before the meeting printed copies of
the annual balance-sheet duly audited, showing balances in
hand on the 1st of December, £2,863 lis. 10^., and stock in-
vested in the Three per Cent. Consols, £4,664 18s. lid. This
statement will as usual be appended to the prize sheet for the
coming year, and sent to each member of the Club.

XIII. The Council have to express their deep regret that
the severe and protracted illness of his Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales has prevented his being able to carry out his
intention of honouring the Club by visiting the Show yester-
day afternoon, as had been previously arranged.

XIV. The Council regret to have to report that 18 cattle
found by the veterinary surgeons of the Show to be suffering
from the foot-and-mouth disease, had to be refused admittance
into the Show, in accordance with the conditions of the licence
granted by her Majesty's Privy Council. Each of these
animals was carefully examined by Professor Simonds, in the

presence of the Stewards of the Club. These animals were
taken charge of by the local authorities.

The Council, having regard to the great importance of this
subject as affecting the future exhibitions of the Club, and tlie
necessity of aU due precautions being taken for the protection
of exhibitors' interests so long as the disease shall continue to
be prevalent, have determined to endeavour to ascertain the
feelings of the members of the Club generally by inviting a
discussion at the general meeting on the following point, viz. :
" Whether animals exhibited elsewhere within a limited period
before the date of the Club's Show, should, or should not, be
admitted in future, during the prevalence of the foot-and-
mouth disease?" The Council will take the opinions then ex-
pressed into final consideration at the February Council
meeting. The Council will then discuss whether any, and if
so, what modifications shall be sought to be obtained from the
Privy Council in reference to the regulations affecting the
foot-and-mouth disease generally.

By order of the Council,
(Signed) B. T. Bkandreth Gibes, Hon. Sec.

In accordance with the new regulation on the subject, the
balance-sheet was laid on the table for circulation among the
members present.

Lord Tredegar having moved, and Mr. Turner having
seconded, the reception and adoption of the report,

Mr. Heath said he should like to say a word on the subject
of the cattle in the adjoining yard, which were suffering from
foot-and-mouth disease. He was unfortuuately one of tliose
exhibitors whose cattle were locked up, aud he thought it was
hard that he should not be allowed to go aud look at the bul-
lock himself. lie had made application to be permitted to do
so several times, but without success. He had seen people
running in and out of the yard, and in his opinion they were
quite as likely to carry the disease as he would be if admitted.
He believed that if he had seen his animal on the previous
day he could have thrown the whole of the fever off him in
four-and-twenty liours. Only ten minutes ago he saw a bul-
lock standing within a short distance of his Hereford, slavering
at the mouth, and just as likely to be dangerous to the cattle
around him as his own animal that was locked up would be in
the same position.

Mr. GiBBS said perhaps he might be allowed to explain that
the animals placed outside the showyard were in the hands,
not of the stewards or officers of the Club, but of the local
authorities. They were completely out of their jurisdiction,
and under the control of the local authorities.

Mr. Heath asked if the Secretary could give any infor-
mation as to how he should make application with regard to
his ox.

Mr. GiBBS said that no doubt the necessary information
would be obtained from Mr. Allen, the veterinary inspector of
the district.

The Chairman then, in accordance with a recommendation
in the report, invited the expression of opinions on the fol-
lowing point: "Whether any animals exhibited elsewhere
within a limited period before the week of the Club Show
should or should not be admitted in future during the preva-
lence of the foot-and-mouth disease ;" adding that the Council
would be glad to hear any remarks which might be made on
that subject.

Mr. R. WoKTiEY (Norfolk) thought it was safer during the
prevalence of the disease not to admit the animals. It was
better that they should be shut out than that so many exhibi-
tors should suffer from the spread of the disease.

Mr. E. WoRTLEY (Rutland) did not think that any restric-
tion on exhibitors was necessary beyond having the proper
certificate of health to show.

Mr. Smith (Exeter) said his servant had told him that a
beast which had come direct from the farm was almost the first
set aside by the veterinary surgeons. It would be as well, there-
fore, to ascertain where such animals came from, because there
was perhaps too great a tendency to throw the blame upon the
Birmingham Show.

Mr. Beasley, one of the stewards, said it was true that
some of the animals affected had come direct from the
farm, but a very large proportion of them had come from
Birmingham.

Mr. E. WoRTLEY said the proportion of beasts from Bir-

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57

miEgham was itself large as compared with what came from
any other quarter,

Mr. Beasley : We do not want to quote Birmingham alone.
Some of them may have come from Oakham.

Mr. Smith said he had been informed that the servants em-
ployed by the veterinary surgeons to open the animals' mouths
when they were being examined did not wash tlieir hands before
proceeding from one beast to another.

Mr. Beasley said that so far as they were under the con-
trol of the Club the servants did wash their hands after
opening the mouth of oue animal before proceeding to another,
having had a fresh bucket of water brought them for the
purpose.

Mr. Turner suggested whether it might not be advisable to
have the beasts inspected before they were removed from home.
Mr. GiBBS said the plan had been tried during the cattle
plague, but exhibitors complained of the expense.

Mr. GiBLETT hoped that the meeting would see the pro-
priety, and almost necessity, of sending a deputation to wait
upon the Privy Council to ask for a modification or the re-
moval of many of the restrictions relating to foot-and-mouth
disease. He represented not merely his own feelings, which
were very decided ou the subject, but tlie opinions of a great
many influential men for whom he was engaged. Having
travelled far and wide throughout the country, he found
that foot-and-mouth disease was almost universal. He had
seen it in almost every market he had been in. He be-
lieved it was the opinion of eight out of every ten men in the
country tliat the present laws on the subject were calculated
to perpetuate the disease rather than to suppress it. He had
stated that iu the highest quarters — to men who had to do
with the framing of those laws — and he had had their concur-
rence in his views .

Lord Bridport said in order that the proceedings might
go ou regularly, he would suggest, and indeed propose, that
the question should be referred to the Council meeting in
February, before which there would have been sufficient time
to consider the whole matter. He was strongly of opinion that
it was the interest of the Club that animals which had been
exhibited within a certain period should be excluded.

Mr. Torr begged to second the proposal of Lord Bridport.
He quite agreed with a preceding speaker that foot-and-mouth
disease was giving the authorities as much trouble as the cattle
plague did ; but that arose from the circumstance that they
never troubled themselves about the matter. He (Mr. Torr)
went ou the broad principle that foot-and-mouth disease was
so prevalent all over England that if very strong restrictions
had been adopted at that Show, they would have had a very
few animals in the Agricultural Hall ; and he thought it was
rather unfair to tax Birmingham with a fault which they
themselves might have committed if there had been any more
Shows to follow. So far as grazing steers and growing
stock were concerned foot-and-mouth disease did very little
harm ; but in the case of milch cows and sheep it was fatal
to an extraordinary extent, as he knew from his personal
experience. If forty three-year-old steers were offered to him he
would not be disposed to give 10s. 6d. per head less for them on
account of their having foot-and-mouth disease. He thought
that Lord Bridport had taken a most sensible course in pro-
posing that the matter should be referred to the Council meet-
ing in February. The Council would be enabled to gather
lessons from what they had seen of that Show, and of the
Birmingham and other Shows ; and perhaps the result might
be something in the shape of a memorial to the Privy Council
from the Council of the Smithfield Club, showing what harm
had been done and suggesting a remedy.

A Member asked whether there ought not to be a general
meeting of the members early iu the year ?

Mr. Torr repHed that there was no reason why there
should not be a general meeting if one were desired.

Mr. Heath observed that the number of members having
increased so largely, he should be glad to see some new names
on the list. There were now nearly 500 members, and of
that number very few he believed had served on the Council.

Mr. E. WoRTLEY did not wish to say one word against the
Council, but thought it would strengthen its hands to have an
expression of opinion from the members generally; Why
not take the opinion of that meeting as to whether, if the
foot-and-mouth disease existed another year, it would be
necessary to do anything more than require the production of

the certiflcate of a properly qualified veterinary surgeon to the
effect that the beasts were free from the disease when sent there?
Mr. Torr thought it would not do to let what was done
one year rule what was done in another.

The proposal of Lord Bridport was then put and adopted
unanimously.

The report was also adopted.

Mr. Smith (Exeter) said he hoped a general meeting would
be held, as the question was a very wide one.

Mr. Torr observed that the President of the Club had full
power to convene a general meeting if he thought it necessary
to do so, or on receiving a requisition signed by a certain
number of members ; but he had supposed that the adoption
of the motion just passed was intended to be a substitute for
that course.

Mr. Gibes said, having had some experience in that Club
for a great many years, he could testify that when they had
endeavoured in cases of great importance to get a good general
meeting of the members, there had only been about half a
dozen, or seven or eight persons present. He thought that
any expression of opinion on the part of that annual meeting
would be of far more consequence in strengthening the hands
of the Council than such an expression ou the part of a meet-
ing convened at a period of the year when probably only very
few members would attend. He then proceeded to read a list
of the chief prizes awarded for the Show.

Mr. Byron said it had always been his ambition, ever since
he first became an exhibitor, to win a £20 plate ; but he never
expected to win anything more.

Mr. RiGDEN said it was his good fortune to win the first silver
cup that that Club ever awarded, and not having won one since,
he was glad to find that it had come back again. He should
have been more gratified had he succeeded in getting the Cup
that went with the Lincolns ; but he had no doubt that if the
judges had had an opportunity of tasting the mutton in both
cases, their decision would have been in his favour.

Mr. Biggs briefly returned thanks for the silver Cup pre-
sented to him for the best pen of pigs in the yard.

Lord Bridport said he had a proposal to make, which he
was sure would be cordially adopted — namely, that his Grace
the Duke of Richmond be elected President for 1873. ^ They
had, his lordship remarked, had experience of his grace's con-
duct in the chair already, and they must all recollect how ably he
fulfilled the duties of President ; and he felt certain that if his
grace accepted the present nomination, his manner of ful-
filling the duties undertaken by him would be equally satis-
factory.

Mr. W. RiGDEN seconded the motion, which was at once
adopted.

Mr. W. Torr, in moving the election of six new Vice-
Presidents, said : Since the last meeting they had lost by death
Lord Berners, Lord Walsingham, and Lord Aylesford, and
they had also lost the services of Lord Penrhyn for the reason
mentioned in the report. In selecting six new names, the
Council had endeavoured to secure the bfest representation of
six different districts of England, and he believed they would
command the confidence of the members of the Club. He had
to propose that the Duke of Sutherland, Lord Cheshara, Lord
Cowper, Lord Kestevcn, the Hon. Col. Kingscote, M.P., and
the Hon. Col. Loyd Lindsay, M.P., be added to the hst of
Vice-Presidents.

Mr. W. Farthing seconded the motion, and it was
agreed to.

On the motion of Mr. W. Rigden, seconded by Mr. Webb,
the trustees were re-elected.

Mr. Moore said he felt great pleasure in proposing the
re-election of the Honorary Secretary. He was glad to
have that opportunity of performing such a duty, having re-
cently observed more than he had previously been able to do
how much that Club was indebted to Mr. Gibbs for the able
and business-hke manner in which he conducted the business
of the Club (cheers).

Mr. Ellman having seconded the motion, it was adopted ;
and Mr. Brandreth Gibbs briefly returned thanks.

Several new members were elected; after which, it was
announced from the chair that there was a large majority
in favour of the House List of the new members of the
Council. The retiring members of the Council were Mr.
H. Aylmer, Mr. J. Beasley, Mr. C. S. Bigge, Mr. J.
Clayden (deceased), Mr. C. Howard, Mr. W. Ladds, Mr. C.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Randell, and Mr. J. Wilson. The following were elected in
their places : Jlr. J. Greetham, Stainfield Hall, Wragby, Lin-
colnshire ; Mr. T. Horley, jun., The Fosse, near Leamington ;
Mr. H. W. Keary, Bridgenorth, Salop ; Mr. R. Leeds, Castle-
acre, Brandon ; Col. H. Lowther, Barley thorpe Hall, Oakham;
Mr. J. Quartly, Molland, South Molton ; Mr. J. Shuttleworth,
Hartsholme Hall, Lincoln ; Mr. H. Trethewy, Silsoe, Ampthill,
Beds.

Lord Tredegar, in proposing a vote of thanks to the
President, remarked that it was his good fortune to he present
at the sumptuous entertainment given by his lordship to the
Council on the previous day, and they all felt deeply obliged to
him for his hospitality.

Lord Bridport seconded the motion, wliich was carried by
acclamation.

The Chairman, in returning thanks, said it gave him
great pleasure to accept the invitation to become President of
the Club, and he had found the duties not onerous, but plea-
sant, in consequence of the able assistance which he had re-
ceived from the Hon. Secretary, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs. He
was exceedingly obliged to that gentleman for the aid which
he had afforded to him during his year of office, and he was
sure that any future 3'resident, who was in the same position
in that respect, would feel equal gratitude at the expiration o
his term of service.

The meeting then separated.

THE METROPOLITAN GREAT CHRISTMAS CATTLE MARKET.

The Annual Christinas Fat Stock Jlarket was held
Dec. 11, according to custom. Although some very fine
stock was exhibited, the general chai'acter of the show
did not call for any particular comment. In point of
numbers, the show was not so strong as on some
recent occasions ; but this must be attribueed to the re-
gulations still in force respecting the transit of cattle.
At the same time, the losses sustained by the foot-and-
mouth disease during the earlier part of the season had en-
gendered much caution on the part of graziers, and in many
instances stock has been sent forward to the market much
earlier than woidd have been the case, owing to the
chance of loss, or deterioration of quality through the
foot-and-mouth disease. Unlike its predecessor, the past
season has been decidedly favourable for the rearing and
fattening of cattle. With seasonable weather graziers
have been enabled to keep their stock in the field. They
have also been blessed with more substantial ad-
vantages as a set off against the chances of loss
from disease. The hay crop has been very lai'ge,
and with the exception of the commencement of the season,
when some grass was carried in damp condition, and some
portion of it was only fit for the dung heap, in conse-
quence of the rains, by far the larger proportion was satis-
factorily got in. At the same time the root crops have
turned out well. A heavy yield has been secured, and the
quantity has been excellent. Graziers have therefore had
increased facilities offered them for the rearing of
stock, whilst the price of keep has been somewhat di-
minished. Last "year the reverse of this was more
directly the case. The hay crop proved to be an almost
entire failure, and the partial success of the root crop but
poorly compensated for the loss sustained in the graver
respect. The actual weight of meat on sale to-day was
barely an average. Those large heavy Beasts, until re-
cently rather common in the market, are now gradually
disappearing, and are giving place to the smaller, more
symmetrical and weight carrying animal. Ou the whole
the quality of the English stock excited admiration, and
it testified to the excellence attained by home breeders in the
art of rearing live stock. A noteworthy feature in the show
was the improvement in the quality of the foreign stock.
The success which has hitherto attended the attempts of
foreign breeders to improve their stock, and to enable
them to cope more successfully with their English breth-
ren, has been great, as, indeed, is patent to anyoue con-
versant with the condition of the foreign receipts some
six years since and those now offered. However, foreign
breeders have not as yet arrived at the acme of perfec-
tion, although they certainly have made some consider-
able strides towards that object.

The Scots carried off the prize in point of excellence
and there was also a line show as regards number, North

country graziers are not disposed to yield the palm for
purity and quality. The show of stock to-day was in eveiy
respect satisfactory, although it must be admitted that the
abundance and cheapness of food have enabled Scotch
grasiers to rear their stock at a minimum of expense.

Shorthorns were well represented, both as regards num-
ber and condition. Devons were not freely offered,
but the quality was good. Hereford Cattle were
not well represented, and there were very few Sussex
beasts on the stands. Some choice Welsh runts were
oflered, and there were a few Irish beasts whose condition
did not call for special comment.

As regards foreign stock a moderate supply was on
offer, including French, Spanish, and Dutch beasts in
improved condition.

The annexed return shows the number of Beasts ex-
hibited, and the prices realised for them, on the " Great
Days" during the last 30 years :

Year.
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1863
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870

Beasts shown.

4,500
4,541
4,510
5,713

5,326 3

4,570 4

4,282 3

5,942 3

5,765 3

6,341 3

6,103 2

6,271 2

7,037 3

6J81 3

7,000 3

6,748 3

6,856 3

6.424 3

7,560 3

7,860 3

8,840 3

8,430 3

10,370 3

7,130 3

7,530 3

7,340 3

8,110 3

5,320 3

6,728 3

6.425 3

d. s.
8 to 5
4 to 4
8 to 4
0 to 4
6 to 4
0 to 5
4 to
4 to
4 to
0 to
8 to
8 to
2 to
6 to
8 to
4 to
4 to
4 to
6 to
4 to
4 to
4 to
6 to
8 to
4 to
8 to
4 to
4 to
6 to 6
6 to 6

The following are the particulars of some of the best
portioa of this morning's market :

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

6^

Mr. George Dickson's alley Was well filled with Scotch-
fed Beasts, principally from the counties of Aberdeen and
Banff, and which attracted much attention. The leading
lots from Aberdeen were forwarded by Messrs, Knowles,
Wishart, Mitchell, Reid, Prost, Beddie, Bruce, Wylic,
and Lawson. Those from Banff by Messrs. Longmore,
Stoddart, Milne, Piiie, Bartlett, and others.

Messrs. Giblett and Son also had for disposal some
excellent Scotch Beasts, bred by Mr. McCombie,
M.P., of Tilly four, Aberdeen ; but Messrs. Hicks and
Son had one of the largest shows of Scotch cattle, many
of these being of first rate quality, and sent from some of
the principal graziers and dealers of Aberdeenshire, among
whom may be mentioned : — Messrs. Jas. Reid of Grey-
stone, A. Meunie of Huntley, A. Bruce of Mid Clova
W. Wallace of Chapel of Seggat, A. Beddie of Newlands
Hill, J. and W. Martin of Aberdeen, A. McDonald and
A, Davidson of Peterhead, A. Stoddart of Munyfold,
Geo. Wilson of Milton of Noth, A. Strachan of South
Haddo. Prom Norfolk, Messrs. Postle, S. Gardner, and
W. Salmon had some fine cattle at the same stand.

Mr. Duckworth had some choice stock forwarded by
Mr. Hudson, and there were also some prime Beasts at
the stands of Messrs. Maydwell and Hoyland, Hicks,
Thomas Dixon, and Vorley.

The Sheep pens were not overstocked, but some fine
breeds were offered. Mr. Collins had some good Downs
and Half-breds forwarded by Messrs. Harris, Curtis, and
Caird, of Essex.

At Messrs. Lintott and Son's stand were some choice
Downs, the property of Mr. Hobgen. There were also

some good Leicestershire, Hertfordshire, and Dorsetshire
animals.

Some of Mr. Foljambe's Sheep were in the market:
but we failed to notice any sent forward by Mr. Over-
man.

At the stands of Mr. Stallibrass, Mr. Dodd, Mr.
Walsh, and Messrs. Watton and Sons were some good
Downs, Half-breds, and Leicesters.

STATE OF THE TRADE.

Notwithstanding the cold weather there has been an
absence of animation in the trade. This is doubtless at-
tributable to the fact that the time between this and
Chi-istmas is too long to suit butchers, and they have con-
sequently exercised more caution in dealing. On the
other hand, the general excellence of no small proportion
of the supply has been the theme of universal comment,
and has imparted a firm tone to the quotations. The
best Scots and crosses have occasionally made 6s. 2d., but
6s. per 81bs. has been the more general top quotation.

Prom Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and Northampton-
shire we received about 3,000 Shorthorns, &c. ; from
Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridgeshire about 1,500
Scots and Crosses ; from Scotland, 1,190 Scots and
Crosses ; and a moderate supply from Ireland.

In the Sheep market there has been a quiet tone pre-
valent, but the shortness of the supply has imparted a
firm tone to prices. Por the best Downs and Half-breds
6s. lOd. to 7s. per 81bs. has been paid.

Por Calves there was more inquiry, and prices were
higher.

Pigs were steady in value, with a moderate demand.

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.

Monthly Council : Wednesday, Becemher 6. —
Present : Sir Watkin W. Wynn, Bart., M.P., President,
in the chair ; Viscount Bridport, Lord Chesham, Lord
Tredegar, Lord Vernon, Sir A, K. IMacdonald, Bart. ;
Mr. Baldwin, Mr. Barthropp, Mr. Booth, Mr. Bowly>
Mr. Cantrell, Colonel Challoner, Mr. Clive, Mr. Davies,
Mr. Dent, M.P. ; Mr. Druce, Mr. Edmonds, Mr. Bran-
dreth Gibbs, Mr. Hornsby, IMr. Bowen Jones, Colonel
Kingscote, M.P. ; Mr. Leeds, Mr. M'Intosh, Mr. Masfen,
Mr. Milward, Mr. Pain, Mr. Randell, Mr. Rigden, Mr.
Sanday, Mr. Shuttleworth, Mr. Stone, Mr. Thompson,
Mr. Torr, INIr. G, Turner, Mr. Jabez Turner, Mr. Wake-
field, Mr. Earle Welby, M.P. ; Mr. Wells, M.P. ; Mr.
John Wells, Mr. Whitehead, Mr. Jacob Wilson, and Dr.
Voelcker.

The following new members were elected :
Angas, George, Beeford Grange, Lowtborpe, IIulI.
Baird, Alexander, Robeston llalJ, Milford Haven.
Balston, Richard James, Boxley Abbey, Maidstone.
Bott, Joseph Fennell, Morrell Roothing, Dunmow.
Boucher, Charles, Caenby, Market Rasen.
Bradbury, G. E. Hobroyd, Longroyde, Rastrick, Yorkshire.
Cocks, Charles, Packington, Lichfield.
Eve, Frederick, Sherington, Newport Pagnell,
Premlin, W. Arthur, Teston, Maidstone.
Hack, Algernon, Buckminster, Grantham.
Heneage, Edward, Hainton Hall, Wragby.
Hilliard, Rev. J.'' A. Stafford, Little Wittenham, Abingdon.
Huntley, W. V., Welsh St. Donatts, Cowbridge.
Leigliton, Stanley, Sweeney Hall, Oswestry.
Mackenzie, James, Camden Quay, Cork.
PauU, James W., Knott Oak House, Ilminster.
Pogson, Prank M., Caythorpe, Grantham.

Pratt, Frederick, Greatford, Stamford.

Price, Henry, Undy, Chepstow.

Pybus, John, Court Farm, Magor, Chepstow.

Rowcliffe, E. Lee, Hall Place, Cranleigh, Guildford.

Stratton, Rev. J. Y., Ditton Rectory, Maidstone.

White, George, Hunton, Maidstone.

Wright, William, Fiskertou, Newark.

Wright, W. Twaites, St. Nicholas, Cardiff.

Finances. — Major-General Viscount Bridport (cliaii--
man) presented the report, from which it appeared that
the Secretary's receipts during the past month had been
examined by the committee, and by Messrs Quiltei-, Ball,
and Co., the Society's accountants, and found correct.
The balance in the hands of the bankers on November 30
was £337 14s. Id. The committee recommend that £500
be sold out of the reserve show fund to meet payments
required. The committee recommend that the bye-law
No. 76, relating to members compounding for their sub-
scriptions, be extended to governors of the Society. The
committee have met nine times, and made nine reports. —
This report was adopted.

Journal. — Mr, Thompson (chairman) reported that
19 competitors* had entered their farms for the prizes

*Carapbell, John, Down Hanstephan, Carmarthen.
Culverwell, James, Penrose Farm, Abergavenny.
Falconer, Archibald, Berllandywyll, Llandilo.
Hall, William, Ty Newydd, Brecon.
Hill, John, Llancayo, TJsk.
Jones, Griffith, Trevigin, Cardigan.
Jones, John, Pant-y-Goetre Farm, Abergavenny.
Owen, Daniel, Ash Hall, Cowbridge.
Parsons, Valentine, Slough Farm, Caerwent, ChepstoW.
Powell, William S., Eglwysnunyd, Taibach.
Price, Henry, Undy, Chepstow,

BD

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

offered by the President and the Society ; that Mr. Bow-
stead, of Eden Hall, Penrith, had acceiitcd the office of
reporting judge ; that the President had nominated Mr.
Thomas Jenkins, of Plasy ward, as one of the remaining
judges ; and that the Secretary had been instructed to
obtain the services of another judge on the list prepared
by the committee. It was recommended that the appli-
cation from the Viceroy of India for a complete set of
the Journal, and from the Veterinary Department of the
Privy Council for the numbers since 1864-, should be ac-
ceded to. It was also recommended that the botanical
report of Mr. Carruthers, 1\R.S., be printed in the
next number of the Journal, and that a Botanical
Committee be appointed, as jointly recommended by the
Journal and Chemical Committees. In reference to the
protest of Messrs. Robertson and Richardson against the
report of the judges of churns at the Oxford meeting, as
published in the Journal, the committee, after consulta-
tion with the judges, see no reason to alter the report in
question. This report having been adopted, Mr. Dent
Dent, M.P., moved that the chairman of the French
Peasant Farmers' Seed Fund (Lord Vernon) be requested
to furnish, for publication in the Society's Journal, an
account of the agricultural features of the work of that
institution. This resolution having been^seconded by Mr.
Wakefield, was carried unanimously.

House. — Major-Geoeral Viscount Bridport (chair-
man) reported the recommendation of the committee,
that a new arrangement be made with reference to the
porter, and that in the meantime, pending such arrange-
ment, the necessary temporary assistance in the house-
work be procured. — This report was adopted.

Lord Vernon's Committee on Receipts and
Expenditure. — Lord Vernon (chairman) reported that
the committee had arranged a schedule of questions to be
referred to the several standing committees of the Council,
and that it was recommended that comparative statistical
tables in reference to these questions, comprising the
receipts and expenditure for the last ten years, be printed
for the use of the Council. — This report was adopted.

Stock Prizes. — Mr. Milward (chairman) reported
the following recommendations of the committee : (1)
That no second prize be given unless at least three ani-
mals be exhibited, except at the special recommendation
of the judges, with the consent of the stewards ; (2) that
sheep unfairly prepared for show, by oiling or colouring,
may be disqualified on the recommendation of the in-
spectors of shearing ; and that (3) the conditions relating
to cows and heifers producing living calves be modified
in accordance with the resolution at the last Council
meeting. This report having been adopted, it was moved
by Mr. Jacob Wilson, seconded by Mr. Bowly, and car-
ried unanimously, that the general rule No. 19 of the
stock prize-sheet be amended to read as follows : " No
animal can be removed from its place without leave from
the director or stewards, and any infringement of this or
any other rule will render the exhibitor liable to a fine of
£1 by the stewards, and to the forfeiture, by decision of
the Council, of any pi-ize he may be entitled to ; nor can
any animal be taken out of the showyard without leave
in writing from the director or stewards."

Pybus, John, The Court Farm, Magor, Chepstow,
iloberts, Thomas, Malthouse Farm, Lanedern, Cardiff.
Roberts, W. B., Lovestone, Pembroke.
Spencer, Michael, West Aberthan, Cowbridge.
Thomas, John, Ty Dii, Cardiff.
Thomas, John, Eastfield House, Cowbridge.
Thomas, Rees, Saint Athan, Cowbridge.
TiU, James, Caerwent, Chepstow.

Veterinary. — Mr. J. Dent Dent, M.P., reported
that, in consequence of the death of Professor Spooner,
the post of Principal of the Royal Veterinary College is
now vacant ; and that it is possible that alterations may
be made in the staff and course of study at the College.
Under these circumstances it was recommended that the
Council do postpone its decision on the relations of the
Society to the College until the committee are able to
make a further report. — This report was adopted.

General, Cardiff. — Lord Vernon (chairman) re-
ported that the lists of prizes, proposed to be offered by
the local committee of the Glamorganshire General Agri-
cultural Society, had been revised, and were recommended
for adoption ; that the offer of some additional prizes by
the Marquis of Bute be gratefully accepted ; and that the
following members of the local committee be added to the
general Cardiff committee : The Mayor of Cardiff ; W.
Alexander, Esq. ; J. S. Corbett, Esq. ; G. C. Williams,
Esq. ; Major Turberville. The committee had also con-
sidered the proposition of the local committee that they
should have a separate yard, in which hunters exhibited
should be allowed to jump, but they did not recommend
this proposal to the Council. — This report having been
adopted, the stipulation attached to the prizes offered by
the Glamorganshire Agricultural Society was taken into
consideration, viz., that the subscribers to that society
should be allowed to compete for those prizes on the
same terms as the members of the Royal Agricultural
Society. This proposal, having been moved by Mr.
Randell, and seconded by Mr. Jacob Wilson, was carried
unanimously, after a few words from Mr. Dent, who
pointed out that this was admitting a new principle, and
doing away with one of the inducements which the Society
had hitherto held out to attract new members.

Selection. — Mr. Thompson (chairman) reported the
recommendation of the committee that Mr. Rawlence, of
Bulbridge, Wilton, be elected a member of Council, to fill
the vacancy caused by the election of Mr. Holland as a
Vice-President. This report having been adopted, Mr.
Rawlence's election was moved by Mr. Thompson, se-
conded by Mr. Randell, and carried ununimously.

The Secretary was instructed to address letters relative
to the countiy meeting of 1873 to the authorities of Dar-
lington, Durham, Hull, Newcastle, and York.

The aunual reports of the several standing committees
were received, and the usual committees wcj-e appointed for
the year 1872, with the addition of a Botanical Committee.

The report of the Council to the general meeting was
prepared.

A communication from the Agricultural Society of New
South Wales, in reference to a system of judging stock by
points, was referred to the Stock Prizes Committee.

Letters from the Secretary of the Veterinary Depart-
ment of the Privy Council, and from the Royal Agricul-
tural Society of Ireland, in reference to the alleged dis-
eased condition of Irish cattle imported into England,
werelaid before the Council, and the Secretary was instructed
to forward a suitable reply to the latter communication.

THE CHEMICAL REPORT.

In his annual report, Professor Voelcker states that,
whereas in the year 1870 the number of analyses
furnished by him were 115 in excess of those of 1869,
this year the unprecedented number of 730 analyses,
or 150 more than in 1870, had been referred to him.

He calls attention to the further addition to his staff

THE FAKMER'S MAGAZINE.

61

which this amoutit of work entails, and takes the oppor-
tunity of mentioning that his staff consists of only well-
trained paid assistants, several of whona have been in his
service for many years.

The following is a summary of analyses made for mem-
bers of the Society from December 1870 to December
1871 :

Guano 78

Superpliosphate, dissolved bones, wheat manures,

and similar artificial manures 202

Bone-dust 36

Refuse manures 31

Nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, and potash

salts 31

Marls, limestones, fireclays, and other minerals 20

Soils 44

Oilcakes 212

Feeding-meals 24<

Vegetable productions 12

Waters 30

Examinations for poisons 4

Total 730

Dr. Voelcker states that several of the samples of ma-
nures sent were found all but worthless, and he reiterates his
advice that purchasers of artificial manures should always
obtain, if possible, a guarantee by analysis of their com-
position and fertilising quatities. The practice of buying
superphosphate of a guaranteed strength is, he adds,
gaining more and more ground, and he recommends the
stipulation that a proportionate deduction be made if the
bulk of manure on delivery do not contain the guaran-
teed percentage of soluble phosphates.

With respect to bones, they have become scarce and
dear, and few manufacturers supply genuine dissolved
bones ; nine-tenths of the bulk of what is sold as dis-
solved bones is a mixture of ordinary superphosphate
with more or less of bone-dust. Such mixtures should
be sold under a name which expresses more fairly the
real character of the article.

Most of the samples of bone-dust analysed in 1871
were pure and of good quality.

Sulphate of ammonia has risen much in price this
year, the present price being £21 to £22 per ton, and it
is very necessary to have the percentage of ammonia
guaranteed, which in the first quality should be 25 per
cent., and in the second not less than 23 per cent.

The quality of the guano from the Guanape Islands
has not improved ; three-fourths of the samples of guano
analysed by Dr. Voelcker were from the Guanape Islands,
and the majority were too wet and lumpy for direct ap-
plication to the land. Many samples contained from 23
to 24 per cent, of water, and but few more than 10 per
cent, of ammonia. In former years such guano would
have been sold as sea-damaged, varying according to the
intrinsic value of the cargo. During the last season
Guanape Island guano has all been sold at one uniform
price, and importers would not allow samples to be
taken of the quality of the various cargoes, so that
analyses might be made before purchase. The sales of
guano have consequently fallen off very much.

There is reason to believe that the Peruvian guano
which will be offered in future, when the Government
sales in this country are undertaken by the new con-
tractor, will be of a superior character. The supply of
good guano. Dr. Voelcker adds, is of the greater import-
ance, because, whilst phosphatic fertilisers are being con-
stantly discovered, and the supply from phosphatic rocks
and minerals is practically inexhaustible, tlie sources from
whicli amui(;nia can be obtained aiu limiLod. The supply
tlicrefure of guano from the Ballestas Islands, which may

be looked-for next year, and samples of which Professor
Voelcker has akeady analysed, will be most welcome.

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As respects feeding cakes, the Professor again calls
attention to the adulteration of linseed cake with earthnut
cake; andofrnpc cake, including green German rape
cake, with mustard seed.

Five or six cases have been brought under his notice

62

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

in which decorticated cotton cake was alleged to have
caused the death of sheep and lambs ; as, however, some
of these cakes were of a superior quality, and none of them
contained any poisonous ingredients, it is Dr. Voelcker's
opinion that the animals probably partook too freely of
the cake, and could not digest the large proportion of
nitrogenous compound contained in good cotton cake and
he suggests the admixture of Indian corn or some similar
starchy food.

Out of the 36 samples of water sent for examination,
Dr. Voelcker found many largely contaminated with
sewage, and he earnestly invites attention to the serious
injury which may be produced to health by the use of
such impure waters.

The following are the papers contributed by Professor
Voelcker to the February aud August numbers of the
Journal for 1871 :

1. On sugar-beets and beetroot distillation.

2. On the best mode of preparing straw-chaff for
feeding purposes.

3. On field experiments on root crops.

4. On the composition and nutritive value of the prickly
comfrey {Symphjtum asperrimuni).

5. Quarterly and annual reports.

The following is the quarterly report of the chemical
committee : —

1. Dr. Voelcker reports the analyses of three samples
of guano sent to him by Mr. H. W. Hollis, Estate Offices,
Keele, near Newcastle, Staffordshire, in May, 1871.

These three guanos were found to have the following
composition :

No. 1.

No. 2.

No. 3.

7.56

21.67

14.85

9.67

8.08

38.17

7.02

21.91
15.34
10.81

7.20
38.23

15.55

*Organic matter aud ammonia-

40.25

23.06

Carbonate of lime

Alkaline salts

6.06

Insoluble siliceous matter

15.08

100.00

100.00

100.00

4.56
5.54

•5.01
6.07

9.55

Equal to ammonia

11.59

The prices of the three samples were — No. 1, £14 ; No.
2, £12 15s.; No. 3, £16.

The first and second samples are adulterated, for both
contain as much as 38 per cent, of sand, and about 10
per cent, of carbonate of lime (chalk) ; and the one
yields only 5^ per cent, of ammonia, and the other 6 per
cent, of ammonia, in round numbers.

The composition of these two samples is pretty much
the same, the second being slightly better than the first,
although it was sold at 25s. less money per ton than No.
1, The third sample is genuine guano, but of an inferior
character, inasmuch as it contained 15 per cent, of insolu-
ble matter and yielded only ll^- per cent, of ammonia.
Such guano is not worth £16 a ton, and the adulterated
samples. No. 1 and No. 2, sold respectively at £14 a ton
aud £12 15 s., were not worth more than £8 a ton.

Dr. Voelcker wrote for the names of the sellers of
these guanos, but obtained no reply in answer to his in-
quiries.

2. A sample of artificial manure, sent by Mr. J.
Beeve, Snetterton Hall, Thetford, on analysis, was found
to Jiavethe following composition :

Moisture ..n.... iumiu •hmhh 13.63

*Organic matter , , 25.06

Oxide of iron and alumina „ 10.35

Phosphate of lime 1.70

Carbonate and sulphate of lime 16.74

Magnesia and alkaline salts 2.01

Insoluble siliceous matter (sand) ,.., 30.61

100.00

*Contaimng nitrogen .<., 87

Equal to ammonia 1.05

This artificial manure, it will be seen, contained only
If per cent, of phosphate of lime, and yielded only 1 per
cent, of ammonia. It contained 30i per cent, of sand
and a large proportion of oxide of iron, dumina, carbonate
of lime, and similar worthless materials.

No information could be obtained respecting the natnes
of the vendors or the price of the manure, which hardly
deserves the name.

3. Mr. Edward Taylor, "VVhitton, Leintwardine, sent
a sample of manure, which he purchased as genuine dis-
solved bones.

This manure ©n examination was found to contain no
more than 10 per ceut. of green loam at the most, and
consequently was not genuine dissolved bones. The
name of the dealer of these so-called dissolved bones could
not be obtained.

4. Dr. Voelcker had previously reported on the com-
position of a sample of fish and bone manure sent by Mr.
Nathaniel Baskett, Braines Hall, Wetheringsett, Stonham,
Suffolk, as follows :

Moisture 11.98

*Organic matter 8.88

Phosphate of lime 3.43

Sulphate and carbonate of lime 51.06

Magnesia and alkaline salts 2.70

Insoluble siliceous matter (sand) 21.95

100.00

♦Containing nitrogen
Equal to ammonia ..,

.31
.37

This manure was sold at £5 a ton, but is scarcely
worth 10s. a ton, delivered free of cost on the farm.

In answer to the inquiry made as to the vendors, Mr.
Baskett wrote on July 6 :

" You applied to me for the name of the manufacturer of
some fish and bone manure I sent you for analysis a short
time since, and which you valued at the low sura of 10s. a ton.
I beg to state that I had it fromH. Marshall & Co., Wivenhoe,
Essex ; also from the same firm the guauo sent to you at same
time for analysis, and which you stated to be adulterated, and
not worth more than £1 10s. a ton, and for which I paid £13
15s. — I am, yours faitlifully, Natii. Baskett."

5. Mr. Baskett sent again in July two samples of
manure, marked No. 1 and No. 4, which were both sold
to him at £5 a ton cash, delivered, by Messrs. H. Mar-
shall and Co., "Wivenhoe, Essex.

The two manures had the following composition :

No. 1.

No. 4.

7.51
16.25

1.40

2.46
67.15

5.23

9 68

11 85

Oxide of iron and alumina

89

5 73

Carbonate and sulphate of hme, &c.
Insoluble siliceous matter

63.46
8.40

100.00

100.00

♦Containing nitrogen

Equal to amjnonja , ,

.44
.53

.49
.59

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

63

No. 1 mftnuve was scarcely better than the sample of
fish and bone manure which Mr. Baskett sent before, and
which was valued at lOs. a ton in comparison with Peru-
vian guano.

This manure it will be seen, contains but little
phosphate of lime, and yields only i per cent, of am-
monia.

No. 4 is very similar to No. 1, but somewhat richer in
phosphate of lime, and worth about 73. more per ton than
No. 1. Both these manures consist principally of
gypsum and carbonate of lime or chalk.

6, The next case is a sample of blood and bone
manure, which was sent by Mr. T. H. Saunders, Water-
combe Farm, near Dorchester, who states that it was
manufactured by Messrs. Festine, Brothers, near "Wey-
mouth, and sold at £5 a ton. On analysis its composition
was found to be as follows :

Moisture 22.72

*Organic matter 19.97

f Phosphoric acid 1.82

Oxide of iron and alumina 11.59

Lime, carbon, and sulphate 8.85

Alkalies, &c 5.73

Sand 29.32

100.00

*Containing nitrogen 88

Equal to ammonia 1.07

fEqual to tribasic phosphate of lime 3.97

This so-called blood and bone manure, it will be seen,
contained only 4 per cent, of bone-phosphate, and only 1
per cent, of ammonia, and as much as 22f per cent, of
moisture, and 29 per cent, of sand. Dr. Voelcker re-
ported il to be worth not more than £1 lOs. a ton, but
Mr. Saunders thinks 20s. a ton.

In the course of their inquiries, the Chemical Committee
frequently find that the vendor agrees to abide by the
analysis of Professor Voelcker, and so, the purchaser
being satisfied, there is no opportunity for further in-
vestigation. Two samples of cake, for instance, were
submitted to Professor Voelcker; one, stamped pure,
contained seeds of some 20 different weeds, and was
made of some very dirty seed. Another contained castor-
oil beans, but the purchaser wrote that he was in corres-
pondence with the vendor, and did not wish to have any
further analysis.

In presenting their annual report to the Council, the
Chemical Committee beg to observe that they have had
very serious responsibility thrown upon them, in conse-
quence of the publication of Dr. Voelcker's analyses in
their quarterly reports. The Committee offer their sincere
thanks to the Council for the support they have received,
and the confidence that has been i-eposed in them. They
are thoroughly satisfied of the good that has been done
by these publications, and they trust that, while con-
tinuing them as usual, the experience they have
acquired may render the reports equally valuable to
the public, and at the same time not provoke any legal
proceedings.

The half-yearly meeting was held on Thurssday, at
noon, in Hanover Square ; the president, Sir Watkin
W. Wynn, M.P., in the chair.

The Secretary read the following Report of the
Council :

The Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England in presenting their half-yearly Report have to
state that since the last General Meeting in May, 6
Governors and 53 Members have died, and the names of
33 Members have been removed from the list ; on the

other hand, 1 Governor and 253 Members have been
elected, so that the Society now consists of
69 Life Governors,
72 Annual Governors,
1,622 Life Members,
4,030 Annual Members,
14 Honorary Members,

making a total of 5,807, showing an increase of 198
Members during the year 1871.

During the past half year the Council has lost some of
the oldest of its members, the ranks of the Trustees
having been thinned by the death of Sir Thomas Dyke
Acland and Lord Berners ; the list of Vice-Presidents by
the decease of Mr. Samuel Jonas ; and the general body
of the Council by the death of Mr. John Clayden. These
vacancies have been filled up by the following elections :
Mr. E, Holland as a Trustee, in the place of Lord
Berners; Sir A. K. Macdonald, Bart., as a Trustee in
the room of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bart., and Mr.
B. T. Brandreth Gibbs as a Vice-President, in the room
of Mr. Samuel Jonas. Mr. M'Intosh, of Havering Park,
Essex, has been elected to fill the vacancy in the Council
caused by the death of Mr. John Clayden, and the vacan-
cies caused by the previous elections have been filled by
the election of the Hon. Wilbraham Egerton, M.P., of
Rostherne Manor, Knutsford ; and Mr. James Rawlence,
of BuUbridge, Wilton, Salisbury.

The half-yearly statement of accounts to the 30th of
June, 1871, has been examined aud approved by the
Society's auditors and accountants, and has been pub-
lished for the information of the members in the last
number of the Journal. The permanent funded capital
of the Society remains the same as at the last half-
yearly meeting, namely, £20,000 New Three per Cents.,
but the Reserve Show-fund has been reduced by the sum
of £500, and therefore now stands at £4,112 7s. 8d.

The financial results of the country meetings at Oxford
and Wolverhampton having been a loss to the Society of
about £4,000, owing chiefly to the extensive and costly
nature of the trials of implements, the Council have ap-
pointed a special committee to consider the whole question
of the receipts and expenditure of the Society, and the
possibility of securing equal results at less cost.

The extensive nature of these trials also presses with
great severity on the local committees in years when land
has specially to be hired for the purpose. The Council
have therefore resolved that when the trials of imple-
ments at the country meetings are not held in the show-
yard, one-half of the expense of providing trial-fields shall
in future years be borne by the Society ; but to enable
the Council to know the extent of its engagements it has
been stipulated that the competing localities shall state
the maximum cost of the land required for the trial of
implements, the acreage wanted being furnished by the
Society.

The Wolverhampton meeting was distinguished from
previous exhibitions of the Society by the extensive trials
of steam cultivating machinery and traction engines, full
reports on which have been furnished to the members in
the last number of the Journal, Notwithstanding a long
continuance of unfavourable weather, the Council are able
to congratulate the Society on the practical results of
these trials. They have pointed out to the agricultural
communities the best combinations of machinery for the
cultivation of the land by steam-power, not only by the
medium of the most powerful sets of tackle, but also by
means of less expensive machinery within the reach of
individual farmers in districts where no system of hiring
is in force. The competition for Lord Vernon's Prize-
cup, offered for a set of machinery not to exceed £700 in
cost, and that for the Society's prizes for sets of tackle in

64

THE FARMER'S MAaAZINE.

which the weight of the cugiiic was restricted, as well as
for others to be driven by ordinary portable engines, pro-
duced results which will be practically useful to farmers
of every class who may be desirous of cultivating their
land by the aid of steam.

The trials of traction-engines were an entirely new fea-
ture, and the exhaustive report of the Engineer Judges
has placed on permanent record the valuable additions
which they made to our knowledge of the principles of
steam- traction on common roads, and the inferences which
they suggest to the practical engineer.

The competition for the prizes offered in the section of
hop-machinery was not so extensive as the Council had
hoped to excite, but this disappointment has been to a
great extent overcome by the fact that the trials exposed
to exhibitors and other implement makers many striking
defects in the existing machines.

The exhibition of Live Stock did not in some cases
equal that of last year, but the show of Shropshire Sheep
was the largest that has ever been held under the auspices
of this Society. The liberality of the Local Committee
in offering Prizes for numerous additional classes of
Horses did not meet with an encouraging response from
exhibitors, but it is to be feared that the charges for con-
veyance by the railway companies have a very prejudicial
effect on this department of the Society's Show. Although
the Council have frequently endeavoured unsuccessfully to
obtain concessions from the railway companies for the
conveyance of Live Stock, and more especially of Horses,
they have recently placed themselves once more in com-
munication with the railway authorities with this object
in view.

The Farm-prize competition in connexion with the
Wolverhampton Meeting excited great interest in the
counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire, as well as in
other parts of the kingdom. A full report on the success-
ful farms, written by Mr. Wheatley, one of the judges,
has been published in the Society's Journal, and it is
hoped that it may aid in producing results commensurate
with the liberality of the landowners in the two counties
in offering the first prizes, the enterprise of the competing
tenant-farmers, and the careful investigation of Mr.
Wheatley and his colleagues.

The scries of Farm-prize competitions will be continued
next year, asilver cup, value £100, havingbeen offered by the
President of the Society (Sir Watkin W. Wynn, Bart.,
M.P.), and a second prize of £50 by the Council. These
prizes will be awarded to the two best managed farms in
South Wales and Monmouthshire which shall conform to
the following conditions .

1. — Tiiat they are not less than 100 acres in extent. 3. That
not less than one-fourth of the land (not including slieep-
walk) is under tillage. 3. That they are lield («) by a
tenant-farmer paying a hona fide rent for not less tlian
three-fourths of tlie land in his occupation, or {Ji) Ijy a
landowner occupying his own farm, tlie total extent of
whose property in agricultural land (exclusive of sheep-
walk) does not exceed 200 acres, and wliose sole business
is farming.

Nineteen farms have been entered to compete for these
prizes.

The implement prize-sheet for the ensuing country
meeting to be held at Cardiff has received the careful
attention of the Council ; and prizes have been offered for
portable steam-engines, thrashing machines, straw and
hay elevators, corn screens, corn dressing machines, and
seed drawers. The regulations of the trials and the in-
structions to the judges have been revised, especially in
reference to the points representing perfection in thrash-
ing machines : and further restrictions have been imposed
on exhibitors with a view of keeping the exhibition of
mplements within moderate limits.

The regulations affecting the awards of medals to mis-
cellaneous articles have also been once more under the
consideration of the Council, and such modifications of
them have been introduced into the Cardiff prize-sheet as
will insure that the medals arc awarded either to imple-
ments belonging to the classes to be tried at that meet-
ing, or to those which have an entirely novel con-
struction, and which are not included in the Society's
classification.

The Council have renewed the education grant for the
year 1872, on the same conditions as were attached to the
examinations this year, feeling that more time must elapse
before the advantages arising from success at these ex-
aminations can be generally appreciated.

Since the commencement of the publication of the
quarterly reports of the consulting chemist, the number
of analyses made by Professor Voelcker have increased
during 1871 by 150 in excess of those made in 1870,
and 265 over those of 18G9 ; and the Council are satis-
fied that the publication of these quarterly reports has
caused agriculturists more to appreciate the value of
chemical research, and has aroused a spirit of inquiry
in this department of agriculture, which cannot fail to
produce very satisfactory results. They trust, therefore,
that the continuation of the publication of these re-
ports of the consulting chemist may not be less ad-
vantageous to the members of the Society than they have
hitherto been.

The Council have to announce that they have appointed
Mr. W. Carruthers, F.R.S., chief of the national botanical
collection of the British Museum, to be the consulting
botanist to the Society. In making this appointment the
Council have endeavoured to secure the services of a com-
petent botanist, whose duty it will be to examine plants,
seeds, &c., for the members of the Society ; to report on
the priuci])al work performed by him during each year ;
and from time to time to furnish papers to the Journal
on special subjects of botanical interest. The following
schedule of charges has been provisionally fixed by the
Council for the examination of plants and seeds for the
use of members of the Society :

No. 1. — A general opinion as to the genuineness and

age of a sample of cloverseed (eacli sample) 5s.

2. — A. detailed examination of a sample of dirty or
impure clover-seed witli a report on its ad-
mixture with seeds of dodder or other weeds
(each sample) lOs.

3. — A test examination of turnip or other cruci-
ferous seed, witii a report on its germiuating
power, or its adulteration with 000 seed
(each sample) lOs.

4. — A test examination of any other kind of seed
or corn, witli a report on its germinating
power (each sample) 10s.

5. — Determination of the species of any indigenous
British plant (not parasitic) with a report
on its habits (each species) 53.

6. — Determination of tlie species of any epiphyte
or vegetable parasite, on any farm-crop
grown by the Member, with a report on its
habits, and suggestions (where possible) as
to its extermination or prevention (each
species) 10s.

7. — Report on any other form of plant disease not

caused by insects 10s,

8. — Determination of tlie species of a collection of
natural grasses indigenous to any district on
one kind of soil (eacli collection) 10s.

The prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease in English
herds has induced the Council, on more than one occasion
during the past half-year, to draw the attention of the
Government to the existing regulations in reference to
the importation of both foreign and Irish cattle, and to

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

6S

the restrictions which it is desirable to impose ia order
to diminish the rislc of their conveying contagious or
infectious diseases to English stock. The correspondence
between the Veterinary Department of the Privy Council
and the Secretary of the Society, together with o. j^recis
of the various acts and orders in Council relating to the
importation of foreign animals, has been published in the
last number of the Journal ; and, with regard to Irish
stock, the Council have received the assurance of the Go-
vernment that measures are being taken which, it is
hoped, will be found satisfactory.

The existence amongst lambs of a wide-spread disease
of home origin, has been brought under the notice of the
Council by the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society, during
the past half-year. The nature and origin of this disease
have been previously described in the Journal of the
Society, but in view of the great losses which it has this
year caused to Liucolushire flockmasters, the Council
have requested Professor Simonds to make a thorough
and immediate cxaminatiou of the nature of the disease
and the circumstances under which it most commonly
occurs, aud to give suggestions for its treatment and
prevention.

The relations between the Royal Veterinary College
and the Society are still under discussion by the govern-
ing bodies of the two institutions ; but the Council are
still hopeful that the result will be to extend the useful-
ness of the veterinary department of the Society in
accordance with its increasing importance to the English
agriculturist. In consequence of the death of Professor
Spooner, the post of principal of the Royal Veterinary
College is now vacant ; and it is possible that alterations
may be made in the staff and course of study at the
College. Under these circumstances the Council have
postponed its decision on the relations of the Society
to the College. , . ■

By Order of the Council,

H. M. Jenkins, Secretary,

The Chairman said ic would be seen from the Report that
the number of members was increasing, auj he trusted tlie So-
ciety would continue to prosper. The financiul results of tlie
Wolverhampton meeting were not quite as successful as could
be wislied ; but it was impossible to provide suitable ground
for the trial of the steam plouglis without incurring enormous
expense. In agriculture, as in other things, every-
thing liad now to be carried on upon a large scale wlien
tlie object was to ascertain experimentally bow tlie greatest
results might be secured at tlie smallest cost. He believed
that the money expended at Wolverhampton bad been well
laid out ; that the effect was likely to be appreciated through-
out the country, was siiown by the fact that tlie tenant-farmer
in Stalfurd, on whose farm the steam trials took place, had pur-
chased the set of Fowler's steam tackle which won Lord Ver-
non's prize. There was a man who, having seen the advan-
tages and disadvantages of the machinery employed, was led to
become its purchaser, and there could be no better proof ol its
value. They must all regret that the weather during the
Wolverhampton week was such as to prevent many of tliose
wlio were called holiday folks or sight-seers from attending
the Show. Having been present himself he could declare that
be never saw ground in a heavier condition, or more dillicult
to get across. He wished to lay before the meeting a few in-
teresting facts connected with the question of the adulteration
of manures, the information having been supplied by Dr.
Voelcker. In 1871 Ur. Voelcker made 730 analyses for mem-
bers of the Royal Agricultural Society,a mongst which were 73
guanos,many of an inferior character,and not a few adulterated ;
303 superphosphates, bone manures, and other artificials ; 3G
samples of bones ; 31 refuse matters, such as shoddy ; 31
nitrate of soda ; 313 oilcakes ; 3'i feeding meals. Manures
sold at £5 were found to be worth only 10s. a ton, and others
worth the cartage to the field. Some of the oilcakes caused the
death to valuable animals, and were found to he mixed with

downright poisonous substances. Since the publication of the
quarterly reports of the Chemical Committee the number of
analyses for members has increased nearly by 300, and in the
last five years the analytical work has been more than doubled.
He might add, with regard to the law-suit in which the Society
had been engaged during the past year, and which ended in a
compromise, that the Council did not stop because they were
at all inclined to shirk their duty, but because Counsel thought
it advisable that they should do so. The question of railway ac-
commodation for the country meetings of that Society was one
of great difficulty, though, generally speaking, the railway com-
pauies with whom they had had to deal had been enabled to
recoup themselves for any additional outlay by increased
traflic. After that meeting had terminated he was going to
Paddington, with the Secretary, to see whether better arrange-
ments than those adopted recently could not be made for the
meeting at Cardif. One word with regard to foot-and-
mouth disease which now prevailed so extensively through-
out the country. The officers of the Society had been in com-
munication with the Committee of Council on tiiat subject,
and the question was under the consideration of the Council
meeting held last month. The condition of the Irish boats
employed for the conveyance of cattle had been under their
consideration. It was their wish that those vessels should be
examined in the same way and subject to tlic same conditions
as regards cleansing and disinfection as foreign ones, and he
hoped that the Government authorities would give directions
to that effect. Trusting that the meeting would excuse him
for having taken up so much time, he would now remind those
present that they might introduce any subject that was con-
nected with this report which was consistent with the charter
and not political (cheers).

Mr. W. BoTLEY, in moving the adoption of the Report, said
that after the excellent prefatory remarks of the Chairman it
could not be necessary for him to say much in performing
that duty. The Report seemed to him, on the whole, of a very
satisfactory character, and, as regarded the two or three sub-
jects for regret, no fault rested with the Council ; while, if they
were not so successful in a pecuniary point of view as could be
desired, the £20,000 invested in Government securities, as re-
ported at the last half-yearly meeting, still remained intact-
The opening paragraph of the Report showed that they had
good cause to congratulate each other on the increase in
the number of members. Some time ago it was remarked that
the number of members ought to be at least doubled, and
he entirely concurred in that opinion. There was, however,
a steady improvement in that respect, and considering, among
other things, how much more readable the Journal had be-
come than it was a few years ago, and how many articles it
contained of great general interest to farmers, he could not doubt
they would continue to improve (cheers). As regarded the
prizes for hop machinery, he might remark that as that was quite
a new feature it was not to be expected that the resuft would
be more satisfactory. No one could have read the accounts
given in the Journal of the prize farm competitions without
feeling that the results were exceedingly satisfactory, and it
was clear that the prizes offered for the best farming tended
greatly to the advancement of agriculture. Several years ago
he advocated the encouragement of education among farmers
by that society, and he was glad to find that the Council had
renewed the education grant for 1873. Having recently seen
some of the results of sewage irrigation on the farm at Alder-
shot, and on another farm, he must say they were most extra-
ordinary. On tlie 4th of November he saw men cutting rye
grass for the fifth time this year at the rate of 16 tons per acre,
and it appeared that on some of the best parts of the land
which he saw no less than 'JO tons of rye-grass had been cut
within the present year. The land also produced excellent
carrots aud potatoes, and out of seven acres of the latter
there were only about three bushels diseased. The cost of
that kind of cultivatiou was necessarily very great, the
manager of one of the farms which he visited stating that it
ainouuted to about £10 per acre ; but, notwitlistanding that
lara;e expense, the results were remunerative.

Professor Coleman, in seconding the resolution, said he
considered the Report to be most satisfactory, as showing that
the members of the Council were anxiously endeavouring to
keep the Society up to the mark in the progressive age in
which they lived (Hear. hear). The recent financial loss has
no doubt in one sense to be regretted, but, on the other hand,

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

he believed that the money expended on the shows was admi-
rably laid out, and conduced to the advantage of agriculture
and of the country. He trusted the Finance Committee would
not feel discouraged even if the next show entailed some loss,
and he felt certain that the approaching meeting at Cardiff
would leave its mark behind in the Principality (Hear, hear).
He congratulated the Society on the hberal and handsome
prizes offered by Sir Waikin Wynn, as a continuation of that
new feature the farm prizes (cheers). Considering that Car-
diff was — he did not wish to use these words disrespectfully —
somewhat out of the world, he thought that feature would
he a matter of special interest at the meeting. He attached
great value, in a practical point of vie.v, to the reports on the
farming competitions which appeared in the Society's Jonrnal.
Sir J. H. Maxwell could not help congratulating the
Society on the course pursued by the Council with regard to
the adulteration of manures, the great object being to protect
tenant-farmers against sham guano merchants. There would,
of course, always be both rogues and fools in that case as in
others, but he was happy to say that the number of respectable
guano dealers and manure importers were increasing, and he
believed that that, combined with the action of the Council,
would put an end to an evU which had been a very serious one
to the cause of agriculture.

Mr. Neild would have been glad if the financial
statement had shown how much of the £4,000 loss was
incurred at Oxford, and how much at Wolverhampton. He
thought that each show should stand on its own merits,
because in the one case there were natural causes, and in
the other there were causes which had often been
in his own mind to account for the loss. He knew he
was on dehcate ground when he mentioned anything ap-
proaching trials of horses, and that he should be exceedingly
at fault if he spoke of leaping prizes ; but one thing which
must commend itself to that Society was the result of the
judicious and practical course pursued in that respect at Liver-
pool. At the Liverpool show there were trials of both driving
and draught acrricultural horses, and the greatest interest was
manifested. He was forcibly impressed with what was said
in the Report respecting the adulteration of manures and of
cattle food. He believed that if ever the day arrived when
farmers had fair-play with regard to malt, and could feed their
stock with malt of their own growth without its being taxed,
that change would sweep off, as it were, half the remaining
adulteration, while it would at the same time confer great
benefit on the community in general. He believed that if
malt were made free to the farmer, the price of beef would be
Id. per lb. lower within a twelvemonth. As to the railway
arrangements for Wolverhampton, he must say that their nig-
gardly and beggarly character seemed to liim a disgrace to
that part of England. The result of such a state of things
might be that that Society would presently be compelled to
hold all its meetings in two or three central places ; but he
congratulated the meeting on the prospects of the Cardiff
meeting, and would add that his Welsh friends had assured
liim that it would be a bumper.

Mr. Arkell would suggest that in future farmers should send
all the particulars to the secretary, stating of whom they pur-
chased manures, the cost price, and so on, and that the sample
should be handed over to Dr. Voelcker for analysis without his
being told where it came from or anything which could tend to
prejudice his mind. He feared that it was only in that way that
the practice of adulteration could be exposed to the full extent
required ; and he hoped, therefore, the Chemical Committee
would take his suggestion into consideration. As a rule
rogues were very bold and honest men very timid
(laughter). The last paragraph but one in the Report referred
to the wide-spread disease among lambs. On that subject he
had to suggest the appointment of an entomologist. It was
agreed on all hands that the disease which prevailed among
lambs, as well as among horses, was caused by a small red
worm in the gullet and pipe. The existence of that worm
could be easily discovered by a veterinary surgeon, but an
entomologist was required to trace out the cause. There was
great difference of opinion as to whether the worm was picked
up on the land, in sheds and stables, or by over-feeding ; but
farmers had to cultivate their land and produce stock at great
expense, and when they got to about seventy they knew how
to live (laughter). He well recollected reading the articles of
Mr. Curtis in some of the earlier numbers of the Journal

with regard to the various insects which destroyed crops ; but
after Mr. Curtis' death that subject went to the dogs ; there
had been nothing worth reading since, and he thought the
labours of an entomologist would prove of great service to
agriculturists. At present no one seemed to know how the
parents of the worms got into the pipes of lambs. He hoped
the Council would deal with that question in such a manner as
to entitle them to increased confidence from farmers as a
body.
The Report was then adopted.

On the motion of Col. Challouer, seconded by Mr. Kimber,
a vote of thanks was given to the auditors.

]\Ir. ToKR, in moving the re-election of the auditors, said
the expenditure on the steam trials at Wolverhampton seemed
to him perfectly justifiable. Such trials inevitably cost the
Society a large sum of money. They could not work steam
machinery with hundreds, but must spend thousands upon
thousands. A paragraph in the Report referred to.the preva-
lence of disease among lambs in Lincolnshire. He himself
had lost 100 lambs ; but that was a mere fraction of the ag-
gregate loss. The disease had extended to almost every county
in England, and must not be regarded as having a special
tendency to develope itself in Lincolnshire. Having been
instrumental in bringing the subject before the Council of
that Society, on the previous day he formed part of a deputa-
tion of six or seven Lincolnshire farmers who had an inter-
view with Professor Simonds in relation to it. In that inter-
view the Professor gave them an elaborate, sensible, and clear
definition of almost every worm in existence, and told them
how they affected sheep ; and when he (Mr. Torr) had re-
turned home he was to send him some of the grasses and of
the earth in which those worms existed in a parasitic form. It
was difficult to find out their haunts, as they were on some
farms continually and on others only occasionally ; but the
Professor thought that they existed in a parasitic form in
winter, and reappeared in the spring. He also said that they
were taken up by lambs in such minute forms that they could
hardly be discerned even with the aid of a microscope. Their
existence was known, but the great object was to trace them
out, and to begin early enough in the spring to detect them
where they existed as parasites ready to develope themselves
into the worm, so that the worm would become an animate
instead of a dead substance. Such was the great object of in-
quiry ; and as the Council of that Society had been hberal
enough to make a grant for the expenses, he would engage
that in Lincol-nshire they would lose no time in doing their
part towards discovering the source of the evil, acting on the
broad principle that while benefiting themselves they would
also benefit the nation.

Mr. Liddell, M.P., having seconded the motion, it was
put and carried.

The Chairman having then, in conformity with custom,
invited the members present to offer suggestions for the con-
sideration of the Council,

Sir J. H. Maxwell wished to say one or two words in al-
lusion to the regret expressed that the members ol that Society
were not more numerous. At the last meeting he observed
that he thought the Scotch Society had succeeded better in
that respect, and that there was a large proportion of tenant-
farmers. In order to obtain definite information on that
point he had written to the excellent secretary of the Society
to which he referred,'and he would read the following extract
from the reply: "In' 1850 we had only 3,700 members on
our list, only 239 of those being tenant-farmers, nearly all of
them life members. In that year it was resolved that tenant-
farmers should be admitted on a subscription of 10s. per
annum, or £5 5s. for life, instead of £1 3s. 6d, per annum, or
£13 12s. for life— the ordinary rate. The number of tenant-
farmers is steadily increasing. We have now 4,033 members
of all classes, and 1,784 of these are tenant-farmers. In 1S61
we bad 1,541 tenant-farmers; in 18G6, when I became secretary,
we had 1,684 ; and in 1871 we have 1,784. I have no doubt it
has benefited this Society as well as the country, reducing the
subscription to tenant-farmers ; so much so that I have in-
duced the Society to add a number of other classes to the
same list."

The Chairman said he understood Sir John to throw out
the suggestion that the Council sliould consider whether any
means could be devised for popularizing the Society a little
more.

THE FAEMBB'S MAGAZINE,

67

Sir J. H. Maxwell • Yes.

Mr. Wells said as chairman of the Chemical Committee
he wished to remark that he had felt great pleasure in listen-
ing to what had been said respecting the analyses made for the
members. He must confess that he had been a Itttle afraid
lest they should be rather severely criticised at that meeting
on account of the legal expenses which had been recently in-
curred (No, no). If mistakes had been committed it was
certainly through no want of industry or care on the part of
the committee. There had generally been very full meetings ;
everything had been done by them wliich seemed likely to
ensure success ; and he was glad that the course which they
pursued met with the approval of the members. Mr. Arkell's
suggestion should have due consideration, but he thought
there would be some difficulty in the sending of manures in the
first instance to the Secretary instead of Dr. Voeleker.

Sir G.Jenkinson, M.P., alluding to what had been said
respecting the number of members, said that he himself had
pointed out to tenant-farmers the advantages arising from
membership, especially as regarded early admission to the
exhibitions, and he believed that if others pursued a similar
course, that would lead to au accession.

The Secretary wished to observe that the proportion of
tenant-farmers to other members was far larger in the case of
that Society than in the case of the Highland Society, and
that the members of the latter were not entitled like those of
the former to the privileges of chemical analysis without any
addition to their annual payment.

Sir J, H. Maxwell, in moving a vote of thanks to the
Chairman, said he was always glad to see an old agricultural
name connected with the Presidency of that noble Society, and
expressed a hope that Sir Watkin would witness a great success
at the approaching meeting in Wales,

Col. Chaxlonee, in seconding the motion, spoke of the
care_ and attention bestowed on the Society's affairs by the
Chairman ever since he became President.

The motion having been put by Sir J, H, Maxwell, and
carried by acclamation,

The Chairman, after returning thanks, said it was not to
be expected that the Cardiff Show would hring as large an
attendance as some others had done, as it would not be
in so central a position ; hut it would be held in a very
important part of Wales, and would he trusted prove satis-
factory. It was very important to show how the [largest
amount of food could be grown on the smallest estenf of land.
There was a large class of men in Wales who farmed their own
land, as their ancestors had done for generations, and who
were very little removed in point of income and capabilities
above tenant farmers, and he had suggested that such persons
should be allowed to compete ou tlie same conditions as others,
not intending to include in that privilege those who farmed
merely for amusement. He was very glad' to hear the sug-
gestions which had been made tliat day, particularly those that
chiefly concerned the Chemical Committee, whicli had been
engaged in exposing those who had for years been in tlie habit
of— he would not blink his meaning — robbing the farmer.
They all knew that the farmers of England were
a little too fond of buying in the cheapest market. It
was the business of the Council to try and protect them ;
and although in endeavouring to do that they had in-
curred a loss of about £600 in the case which had been men-
tioned, yet he did not gather from what he had heard that the
meeting disapproved of tlie manner iu which the Society's
money had been expended.

The meeting then separated.

HIGHLAND AND AGEIOULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND,

At the December meeting of the directors, Major Ramsay
and afterwards the Marquis of Tweeddale. in the chair—

The board agreed, on the suggestion of the Chemistry Com-
mittee, to offer a premium of £50 for a report on " What has
CJiemistry done for Agriculture by Improving or Increasing
the Produce of the Soil ?" A suggestion originating from the
Chemical Committee that the Society should establish a model
farm was remitted to the committee, their proposal not beinE
yet matured.

The report by the Committee on the Transit of
Animals by Railway was submitted. It embodies the whole
proceedings of the Society from the time the subject was first
taken up by the directors in 1867, and proceeds as follows :
After carefully considering the documents submitted, and the
Act to which the Order of Council has reference, the com-
mittee beg to recommend that the board should again commu-
nicate with the Lords of the Privy Council, through Dr
Alexander Williams, specially pointing out— I. That the Order
SI nTn/^^^^^ called "The Transit of Animals Order of
May, 18/0, for providing trucks with spring buffers and sup-
plying water to animals carried by railway, is not only system-
atically evaded, but is defective in respect that provision is not
made for supplying animals with food ; and that a new Order
of Coiiucil IS urgently called for. In the new Order it
should be specially provided— (1) That animals should be sup-
plied with water when trucked and uiitrucked ; aud during the
journey both with food and water. The necessary food to be
provided by the owner of the animals, the water by the rail-
way company. The Act says that if animals are allowed to be
m trucks without water for a period between twelve and thirty
hours (to be fixed by the Privy Council), the railway company
will be guilty of an offence. A rule of the same kind should
be adopted for food against the owners. (2) That in addition to
the spring buffers stated in the Order of Council (300), it is abso-
lutely necessary to provide covered waggons, closed at the ends
and 18 inches along the sides from each end, with an arrangement
ot troughs for the proper supply of the animals with water, and
racks for supplying hay in the trucks during the journey. II
Ihat many important railway stations where animals are
trucked and untrucked are not included iu the schedule at-

tached to the Order of Council (321) called " The Transit of
Animals (Water) Order of March, 1871." (Here follow the list
of additional stations suggested ; but the committee consider
that should the Privy Council issue an order that water be sup-
plied in the trucks, it will not be necessary to have it at all the
stations enumerated). The committee further suggest tliat
should the Privy Council not give effect to the representa-
tions proposed to be made to them, au influential deputation
should be formed to wait on their Lordships. The report was
approved of by the directors.

The following report upon tlie trial of Pisken's steam cul-
tivating machinery, which took place on the Marquis of
Tweeddale's home farm of Tester Mains during the week end-
ing lltli November last, prepared by Mr. Swinton, Holyn
Bank, Gifford, was submitted to the board : —

Lord Tweeddale being desirous to see this system of steam
cultivation at work, and to give tiie agricultural community
an opportunity of inspecting it, arranged with the Ravens-
fhorpe Engineering Company of Mirfield, near Leeds, to send
the patented part of the machinery to Tester, and hired from
Mr. David Roughead, Myreside, a traction engine and balance
plough, made by John Fowler and Co., of Leeds. This engine
is stated by Messrs. Fowler and Co. to he of fourteen horse-
power, but several practical engineers who saw the engine at
work expressed doubts about the engine being of this power
and the price paid by Mr. Roughead for it (£420) indicates a
smaller horse-power, although Mr. Roughead states he got a
good bargain of it. Mr. Roughead has used this engine for
over three years, in working a set of roundabout tackle on
Howard's system. The only alteration which this engine re-
quired in order to adopt it to the Fisken tackle was the fixing
of a grooved rim on the flywheel to receive the driving rope.
The plough hired from Mr. Roughead was one ot Fowler's
ordinary balance four furrow ploughs, but with mould boards
made according to a pattern of Mr. Roughead's. This plough
was only adapted for a furrow not exceeding 9 inches deep,
and had to be considerably altered to enable it to turn a 14-
inch furrow. This it did not do very satisfactorily, and a trial
was made to fit on mould boards of the common horse plough
in use at Tester, but as the head of the plough and the mould

F 2

(53

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Ijoavd were uofc adapted to eacli other, the furrow was n6t so
well turned as it might have been. The Fiskeu tackle is not,
however, iu anyway answerable for deficiency in the quality
of the ploughing, as this was wholly the fault of the plough.
The field to be ploughed contains 75 acres, and had been
under a crop of oats in 1871, and was wished to be deep
ploughed in preparation for a crop of turnips in 1873. The
part of the field operated on consisted of soil of various kinds,
from stilf clay to sand and gravel, and a narrow hollow or glen
passed through it into which the plough had to descend and
ascend at each turn across the field. This part of the field
was chosen in order to test the working of the machinery on
uneven land. The field had during several previous rotations,
been ploughed by horses to a depth of from 1-1 to 16 inches
and all the large stones removed. A full description of the
Fisken method of steam cultivation is given in the pamphlets
issued by the patentees and makers of the apparatus and need
uot be here repeated. The Fisken tackle, consisting of 2
patent windlasses, G corner anchors, 1 tension anchor, 30
light rope porters, 2 claw anchors, 2 rope porters for steel
rope, 2 wood levers, crowbars, and tools, 1,200 yards of hemp
driving rope, 800 yards steel rope, 100 yards steel rope for
anchors, and weighing in all about 8| tons, arrived at Had-
dington Station on Saturday, 4th November, and required 9
horses and 2 carts to convey it to Yester, six miles. The
windlasses were set down in the field near their position for
work, and a portion of the field 400 yards long and 200 yards
wide, and containing about IG acres, was marked off, and the
anchors and porters for the driving rope were set up round
about it. The engine and plough arrived in the field on
Monday, November G, and about three o'clock on the after-
noon of that day commenced to plough. Several hours were
spent in getting the engine into position, in consequence of
the wheels having sunk in the soft headland, which was very
wet from the lieavy rains on the previous days. Tuesday, 7th
November, was spent in making sundry alterations on the
plough, and adujsting some parts of the Fisken tackle which
iiad not been properly fitted. AYednesday, 8th November, the
tackle was fairly started this morning, and the number ot
people employed was as follows : — 1 engine-driver, 2 windlass
men, 1 ploughman, 1 lad at wire rope porters, 1 man and horse
driving water to engine, 1 man and 3 horses driving coals
(eight miles). Not long after the starting the bearing of
the pulley of the corner anclior, nearest to the engine on the
tight rope, became heated, and the anchor had to be removed
and another one substituted. About three hours after starting,
the small pinion on the first motion of the patent windlass
stuck fast on the shaft on which it runs loose when not iu
gear. The work had to be stopped and part of the machine
had to be sent to tlie blacksmith's shop to be adjusted and the
shaft ground, thereby causing a delay of three hours. Both
of these stoppages occurred through sufficient provision not
having been made for lubricating the bearings, and can be
very easily remedied. With the above exceptions, no faults
or deficiencies were observed in the patent tackle while at
work at Yester. It was, however, remarked by several per-
sons conversant in such matters that the bearings of the corner
anchors, and also of the patent windlasses, would be improved
by being lengthened, so as to spread the pressure over a
greater surface ; and that better provision for lubrication was
required, as most of the bearings are vertical. Lord Tweeddale
having required the land to be ploughed 14 inches deep, which
is the depth ploughed by three horses at Yester, the balance
plough was altered accordingly, so as to plough three furrows
of the required breadth and depth ; and although the land was
not so well turned as was desirable, still the soil was moved to
the depth required, except where the land was light and
gravelly on tiie slope of the glen or hollows, where the
tendency of the plough was to throw out of the ground. On
several occasions, and in order to test the strength of the
tackle, the plough was loaded with men and forced into the
stiff clay so as to stop the engine. No breakages occurred.
It was found that with three furrows 14 inches deep, one hour
was required to plough an imperial acre, with the steam gauge
of the engine, showing a pressure of eighty pounds of steam
per square inch. On Saturday, lltli November, the work
was inspected by the Directors of tiie Highland and Agri-
cultural Society, the Steam I'lougii Committee of 'the
Society, and several other gentlemen. The registering dyna-
mometer of the society was in the field, but in consequence of

the non-appearance of Mr. Slight till late in the afternoofl
there was not sufficient light properly to apply the dynamo-
meter. This is much to be regretted, as there is no record of
the power expended in dragging the plough, or the driving rope
and windlasses without the plough. At the desire of the di-
rectors the tackle was removed and set to work in a different
part of the field. The engine moved itself to its new position.
Three horses were required to move the windlasses, and two
horses and carts to move the anchors, porters, and other appa-
ratus. The time occupied in this removal was one hour and
thirty-five minutes from the time of commencing the removal
till the plough was again at work. Some delay was caused by
the coiling up of the hem-driving rope ou the reel, which,
instead of being on the engine (its proper place), was tempo-
rarily fixed on a cart. The engine driver, who has had charge
of Mr. lloughead's engine for the last three years, states that
the power required from the engine to drive the Kskeii
tackle is as near as possible the same, and certainly not
more than is required to work the tackle on Mr. Hough-
head's farm, and that the consumption of coal and water
was also the same. The engine was found to consume
2^ cwt. of coal and 16 cwt. of water per hour. The
coal was got from Fountainhall colliery, and though not
of the best quality of steam coal, is the coal commonly
used for engines in this part of the country. The oil and
tallow required for the lubrication of the windlasses, anchors,
and porters, after these got into proper working order, was 1
imperial pint of sperm oil per day, and about 1 pound of
tallow per week. The working strain on the hemp-driving
rope is said to be a fourth part of the strain on the wire rope
which drags the plough, so that, supposing the strain on the
wire rope with the plough, turning 3 fourteen-inch furrows to
be 28 cwt., the strain on the driving rope would be 2 cwt.
The driving rope when new will stand a strain of 20 cwt., and
the wire rope 14 tons. The working of the Fisken tackle
during the week it was employed at Yester was very closely
watched, and after the tackle was fairly started, notes of every-
thing that occurred were taken. The only defects observed in
the tackle were those already mentioned. They were easily
remedied, and with a little more care in manufacture would
not have occurred. The management of the windlasses is
apparently within the capacity of any ordinary workiug man,
and the facility with wliicli these can be put into and thrown
out of gear, and the plough thereby stopped, without com-
munication with the engine driver, seemed to have re-
duced the danger of any accident almost to a minimum.
The use of the friction clutch for setting the windlass in
motion is also considered a great advautage, as the risk of
breakage from the plough coming in contact with setfast
stones, is much reduced. The tackle was examined by many
practical agricultuTists during the week, and ihey were
unanimous in expressing their approbation of the apparent
suitability of the tackle to perform the work required of it.
It is to be hoped that the eminent consulting and practical
engineers of the Highland Society will express their opinion
as to the mechanical arrangement adopted on this system, and
as to the probable endurance of the windlasses and other
parts of the machiuery. No statement of the cost of working
the Fisken tackle has been given here, as this must vary very
much according to the rate of wages paid in different parts of
the country, and the distance from coals and water. Nor has
any comparison been made as to the economy or advantage of
this system in comparison with any other, as there has uot
been sufficient experience of it to warrant any such com-
parison. An attempt was made to have anotlicr system of
steam cultivation at work in t!ie field, in order to contrast
this system with another, but inconsequence of the conditions
laid down by the agent of the other system, it was found to
be beyond the means of a private individual to conduct such
a trial as he insisted on, and Lord Tweeddale is of opinion that
such a trial could only he carried on iu Scotland by the
Highland and Agricultural Society.

The board instructed the Secretary to convey the thanks of
the Society to Mr. Swinton for his able report, and to com-
municate with Professor Macquorn llaukine and Mr. Slight,
with the view of getting a report from them of the mecha-
nical arrangement, and to the probable endurance of the
windlasses and other parts of the machinery adopted in
Mr. Fisken's system.

A committee was named to read and report on the papers

The farmer^s magazine.

m

lodged for Lady Eurdett Coutts' prizes for essays on the most
efficient method of inculcating in primary schools the duty of
humanity to the lower animals. Mr. Menzies reported tha
forty-three essays had been received.

A communication from the Secretary of State for India,
addressed to the president, requesting the Society to forward
direct to the Government of India sucli papers and informa-
tion as may he published by the Society so soon as they are

issued, and also to direct the attention of the Government of
India to such points as may he deemed useful for them to be
acquainted with, was laid before the board. The secretary
reported that a similar application liad some time since been
made for the Transactions on behalf of the agricultural de-
partment of the India Government of Calcutta, and that a
complete set of the new series had been forwarded in November
last, which had been reported to the India board.

THE LAND QUESTION IN WALES.

At a meeting of the Uuited Counties Chamber of Agricul-
ture held at Carmarthen, Mr. J. L. G. P. Lewis, of Heullan,
in the chair,

Mr. B. T. AViLLiAMS, M.A., of the South Wales Circuit
said : In coming here to address you, the landowners of these
counties, upon the land question, I feel that I occupy a posi-
tion in which I must claim your indulgence. I tread upon
dangerous ground.

Incedo per ignes
Suppositos cineri doloso.

But while I claim from you full liberty to express my opinions,
however much they may difl'er from your own, I promise you
impartially to consider the views which you will advocate after

1 have done. The political writers, who are now seeking to
direct public attention to what is termed the " Land Ques-
tion," may be divided into the usual two classes of extreme
and moderate. The views of tlie extreme class imply either
the confiscation of all rights of private property in laud, or
the purchase by the State of such riglits for the benefit of
those who have no land at present. Those views are mis-
chievous because they instil into the minds of the working
classes notions that they may make themselves rich by poli-
tical agitation, whereas all that the State can do for any class
iri this country, is by destroying mouopolis and favouritism, to
give it a fair chance for the exercise of its skill, enterprise,
aud virtue. Their views are also impracticable and need not
therefore be discussed by me here. English common sense
will never sauction confiscation, and is 'not likely to adopt its
modified form of purchase by the State, whicli, in truth, means
the enrichment of one class out of the pockets, although in-
directly, of another. The views of the moderate school are
put forward by Mr. John Stuart Mill and his Land Tenure
Reform Association. Their programme contains some sug-
gestions that are good and well worthy the attention of law
reformers. It also contains others that are unjust and danger-
ous. Mr. Mill's treatise upon the land question is well worthy
of a moment's consideration, not only on account of its dis-
tinguished authorship, but also because it is fairly indicative
of the plan of reform which is now urged upon the attention
of the people by a school of reformers. There are one or two
points in their programme about wJiich you, as well as myself,
may justly liave some hesitation. It is rightly assumed that
laud increases in value every year. Now, Blr. Mill thinks
that as a great part of this increase is due not to any effort or
outlay by the proprietors, but merely to the growth of popula-
tion or wealth, it should be intercepted or secured for the
benefit of the State. When this principle is to be applied to
landowners, Mr. Mill is good enough to suggest that if they
do not wish to submit to it, they may be allowed to relinquish
their property to the State at the market value acquired at the
time. This appears to me the most unjust and impolitic pro-
posal that has been submitted to the people by a public man
for many years. Railway shares, consols, and all properties
of which a man may be possessed, may aud frequently do rise
in value without any effort or outlay on his part. The likeli-
hood of this taking place is the reason why he invests in some
securities in preference to others. Above all men the land-
owner, especially if he is a poor man, submits for years to the
incouvenience of poor returns, often at a miserable interest of

2 per cent., in the fond hope that in future years his children
by the increase of the value of his estate will be repaid for his
self-denial and forethought. If this principle is to be applied
to any investment, why is it not applied to all ? Further, if
tiie State takes the profit, will it also take the loss ? " Qid

sentit commodum seniire debet ct onui'' is a maxim of our law
and of universal justice. A landowner, after the eff'orts and
outlay of years, may find his estate diminished in value. He
may discover his plana fail. The flow of wealth may be di-
rected to other districts. It is only a just part of the bargain
that the State should pay him for his loss if it is to staud by,
waiting to seize any increase in his profits. If such a pro-
posal were ever adopted, it would check enterprise and stop
improvement by taking away the strong incentive to both. It
is patent, therefore, that it is as impolitic as it is unjust, and I
think I may also say that it as impracticable as either. I will
not refer to the alternative of selling their land to the State,
which Mr. Mill is good enough to offer to those landowners
who refuse to submit to this injustice. The State has no right
to compel a man to adopt a course which he does not volun-
tarily select by threatening to do him a wrong. The next
proposal made by JMr. Mill to which I shall refer, is that all
waste lands and commons that require an Act of Parliament
to authorise their enclosure shall be retained for national uses,
compensation being made for manorial rights and rights of
common to those who are now entitled to them. This pro-
posal is made for a good object. The land that is actually
lying waste in this country ought to be made productive. The
nation with its millions struggling for bread cannot afford to
allow means of profitable employment and of increased wealth
to lie undeveloped. If Mr. Mill liad inaugurated a movement
for the compulsory enclosure of commons, he would have done
a good act. As matters now stand, the enclosure of commons
is a cumbrous and expensive proceeding. Rights in some
districts are supposed to be imperfectly ascertained, and a fear
of legal dispute encourages delay. Consequently, a person is
not easily found who will take the initiative in the enclosure
of commons. The result is, that notwithstanding our surplus
population and tiie high price of land, large tracts ot country
are allowed to lie useless and unproductive. If Parliament
took this matter up with a strong hand, and made the enclosure
of commons obligatory throughout the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, a new and large field of industry,
enterprise, and investment would open up before the people.
But there is a fallacy and also a wrong in Mr. Mill's word
"retain." The commons and waste lauds of the country are
not now vested in the State, and are not the property of the
State, but of the various lorus of manors, and of those who
have rights upon the same. If the State wishes to possess
itself of the commons and waste land she must buy them of
their present proprietors at a cost which with reference to their
present value and future contingencies may be just. This
suggestion and some others to which I need not refer are based
upon the desire that Mr. Mill and his friends have to increase
the class of small proprietors. How far is this desirable ?
Ilovy far is it possible ? I have no hesitation in saying that
the interest of the nation is greatly concerned in preserving
the race of small landed proprietors. The country has so far
supplied England with its best men — with those who were
strongest in mind and body, and bravest in heart. If I be-
longed to the Conservative party, I should watch with jealousy
and regret the decay of a class of men who have been the
most hearty upholders of English institutions, principles and
prejudices. But, however much we may wish to preserve the
race of small landed proprietors, there are now laws of poli-
tical economy in operation, which, subject to one qualification,
are making their gradual extinction inevitable. The price of
land increases every year. It returns the lowest percentage.
The local charges of rates and tithe-rents are burdensome.
The consequence is, that a poor aud small landed proprietor

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cannot afford to give up the advantages which a sale of his
estates would bring to liimself and liis family. I think I may
say that every landowner in this room, who is not a farmer of
all the land that he owns, holds his land at an annual loss to
liimself. If he hrought his land into the market, he woixld
obtain such a sum of money for it, that would with perfectly
sound investments return him a much larger income than that
which he now gets from his tenants, and that would give him
a surplus over, far more than sufficient to compensate him for
the yearly increase in the value of his estate. Rich men cannot
afford to make this sacrifice for position, for sentiments, love of
home and old traditions; but the poor man must submit in
the long run, and must endeavour to get the most he can for
his money. I refer now to those who hold land as an invest-
ment, and not to those who buy land for the purpose of
farming it and improving it themselves. I hold the free-
holding farmer still to be in a hopeful position. If he farms
well, lie may yet hold his own against the encroachments of
our large landed monopolists, and preserve to this country the
traditions and character of a class of brave and useful men.
The legal changes proposed in the tenure and transfer of land
are well worthy of consideration. We have a relic of the law
of primogeniture in the rule that when a person dies intestate,
his eldest son succeeds to the whole of his real estate, to the
exclusion of all other claims, however near and dear. The
feudal notion of giving all the land to the eldest son has
firmly rooted itself in the Welsh national mind. It is acted
upon by the squires as well as by the small landed proprietors.
The rule may be defended upon some grounds of public policy,
hut upon no principle of social justice and right. I trust in
time — although the day now appears to be far off — that the
conscience of the nation will be educated out of this feudal
wrong and that all traces of its influence will disappear from
our wills and deeds. In the meantime, the law ought to set a
good example and to provide that the landed estate of anyone
who dies intestate shall, like personal property, go according
to the statutes of distribution among the next of kin. If the
law and custom of primogeniture were to cease in this country,
many of the difficulties now involved in the laud question would
cease also. We should then not have as much reason to com-
plain of large landed monopolies. The land market would
offer more frequent and better opportunities for advantageous
investment than it does now. As things are, the land is so tied
up that it is frequently in possesssion of persons who have only
a shadowy interest in it. Improvements consequently are not
made, leases are not granted, and the land is left comparatively
unproductive. The expensive mode of tranferring land whicli
now prevails, is also made a subject of complaint. But as long
as property in land may be subject to its present qualifications,
as long as it is possible to create tenancies for life, in tail, in
fee simple, and for terms of years almost at discretion, the title
to landed estate must require the skill of learned men whose
services must be adequately remunerated. The way to simplify
our real property law and to make dealing with land cheap and
expeditious is to do away with varied limitations. I do not think
that an owner in fee should be allowed to create tenancies in
tail. I fear we cannot go farther than this at present. But
even if nothing more were done than the abolition of estates
tail, the law of landed property would be somewhat simplified.
Until limitations are fixed to the power of settlement, it is
possitive nonsense to talk of selling land like apiece of ribbon.
On account of tlie cumbrous and expensive system of registra-
tion of title adopted under Lord Westbury's Act tliere was
considerable doubt with regard to making registration com-
pulsory throughout the kingdom. The present Land Registry
Office in Lincoln's-inn-fields has not been a success. It is a
difficult and expensive matter to satisfy all the requirraents of
the officials with regard to title and boundary. If such a re-
gistration of conveyances and mortgage were made compulsory,
the small freeholder would suffer great hardship. He would
have then to pay a bill not only to his own solicitor as he does
now, but also another bill to a town agent, and yet another to
the officials of the Registry Office in the way of fees or other-
wise. If, however, a cheaper and better mode of registration
were devised, the desirability of making it compulsory through-
out the kingdom may well be considered. I think I may ask
you to infer from what I have already said, that I hold none of
the extreme views which are now propounded with regard to
property in land. But still landowners must not forget that in
a far wider sense than that given to the terra in our law books,

they are the trustees of the nation. Private property in any
thing, and still more private property in land, is subject to th
general interest of the public. Sali(s popul'i suprcma lex. If
landowners exercise any of the powers now vested in them by
law, to the detriment of the general good, the State will, as it
is its duty, interfere, and will protect the public even
at the sacrifice of private right. This general principle
underlies all law and all government. It is a part of
the compact of society and no class of men can
with safety close their eyes to it. The Irish Land
Act was passed, although it undoubtedly cut down private
rights, because its provisions were necessary for the well-being
of the people. It is right, therefore, that we in Wales should
see if our own house is in order. It is useless to shelter our-
selves behind vague verbiage and old prejudices. The eye of
an enlightened public is upon us ; and the severe scrutiny of
that eye and the consequences of such scrutiny we cannot es-
cape. In our history there never was a time in which it was
more incumbent upon landed proprietors to do their duty than
this. If they do their position is secure. But if, on the other
hand, they are neglectful of the interests of the people — if
they are imjust and arbitrary to those who occupy positions
under them, with the certainty of fate they will have to ac-
count for such conduct before the bar of national justice. I
think the miserable cottages in which we crowd our labourers
one of the worst features of the Welsh country. Many farm-
houses, too, are but little better, and are scarcely constructed
with a proper regard to cleanliness, decency, and comfort.
We erect school-houses to educate and elevate children whom
we send back to homes which are often calculated to injure
and degrade. Now the evil is patent. How is it to be re-
medied ? I know well that it will take time to set this matter
right. Many landowners are not rich enough to adopt at
once a course of whicli their consciences approve. In the
first place, the rich proprietors ought to set their poorer neigh-
bours a good example, and erect convenient and healthy cot-
tages and farm-houses upon their estates. In the next,
labourers and artisans ought to be encouraged and permitted
to build houses for themselves ; and in order that they may do
this, the landlords may help them by granting them long
leases and by giving their support and superintendence to
sound local building societies. A good land and building
society, guaranteed by the names of the best men in the neigh-
bourhood, ought to be established in every county in Wales.
But while I urge the landlords to provide good houses for
their tenants, the tenants must not forget that they have cor-
responding duties upon this subject. The cottagers in Wales
fairly do their duty, but the farmers of the really Welsh dis-
tricts are greatly to blame for their negligence in looking after
their landlord's property. A landlord spends money upon a
farm-house ; he makes the rooms airy, comfortable, and neat.
He boards and papers them, and puts in them good grates
ready ,for cheerful fires. He returns a year afterwards. He
finds the paper hanging from the walls, a grate eaten up with
rust, and a pool of water and a heap of potatoes in his best
room. This is intolerable. With the progress of education,
the Welsh farmer must arise to something beyond the kitchen
fire. I cannot upon an occasion like tlie present pass over the
evils that result to the landlord, the tenant, the agricultural
labourer, and to society at large, from the farmer's insecurity
of tenure. All difficulties on this subject arise trom the idea
that there are, or ought to be, even in these days, feudal rela-
tions between landlord and tenant, and that their contracts
ought not to be subject to the rules and considerations of or-
dinary commercial transactions. But views like these cannot
obtain much longer. A tenant cultivates his farm not for the
sake of improving it for his landlord's benefit, but in order
that he may by his skill, labour, and the judicious use of his
capital, do the best during his life for himself and his children.
Such being the case, it is not to be expected that he is to in-
vest his money upon the property of another, unless he has
the safe opportunity of getting it back again. The proper
cultivation of land requires the foresight of years, and the
timely expenditure of money. A farmer must have years upon
which he may base his agricultural plans and operations. If
he has not, he must keep on drawing from the land every
year. He must leave it in a state in which it produces about
one-half or less of what it is capable of producing — the state
of a great portion of the land in South Wales. A yearly
tenant has in truth no chance of doing what is right with his

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71

land. Indeed, he would be criminally neglectful of tli3 inte-
rests of liis family if he did. Then we hear that foolish sug-
gestion of servUe flattery on the one hand, and of pompous
conceit on the other, of trusting to the honour of the land-
lord. For myself I would trust much to the honour of the
landed gentlemen of Wales. But when we talk of business,
we must have business relations mads safe in a proper manner.
When landlords lend money to each other, they require, I sup-
pose, proper legal securities. And if a farmer invests the
money of his children in a farm, he ought for their sake to
have legal security for it. Landlord and tenant may differ
about various matters — Ufe is uncertain — trustees may come
in during minorities — the heirs may not adopt the views and
feelings of their ancestors. Against these and many other
contingencies the tenant who probably invests his all in the
land ought to be protected. I know that an occasional Welsh
tenant sometimes says that he prefers relying upon the honour
of his landlord to getting a lease. There is a little bit of
servile cunning about this. What he really intends is that
he prefers a yearly tenancy with the landlord's honour at the
back of it, to a short lease of seven years, which simply
means that his rent is to be raised at the end of it. The
system of letting that appears to me to be best is that whicli
places a good tenant upon a farm, and which enables him by
honestly paying his rent and farming well to remain there for
the rest of his life. J. think a system of life leases the best both
for landlord and tenant, with the arrangement when proper
that the rent sliould be gradually raised on a scale propor-
tionate to the increase in value of the farm. If the landlord
grants a life lease he has the best guarantee from the tenant
against the drawing away of the resources of the land, which,
I regret to say, too often attends the termination of short
leases, because the holder of a life lease knows not how long
it may last. Before granting the lease tlie landlord should
secure a good man in whom he may repose confidence. The
tenant ought to be bound to farm well, according to the rules
of good husbandry ; but his free action ought not to be
hampered by minute and vexatious covenants. Good farming
depends upon accident of soil, season, and various otlier events,
which cannot be determined in a solicitor's office. I object to
all vexatious covenants with regard to rotation of crops, con-
sumption of straw, and manuring. Confidence ought to be
reposed in the tenant to farm well, and if he does not farm
well the landlord can resort to his remedies at law or in
equity. In every farming lease the tenant ought to have full
power to destroy hares and rabbits. With the present game
laws it is in the power of the landlord by an over preservation
of game to ruin any tenant upon his estate. A good landlord
vrill not of course do anything of the kind ; but as there are
bad landlords as well as good ones the tenant farmer has just
cause of complaint that such a power should by the law be
vested in their hands. It appears to me that the law ought
now to step in to protect the tenant from the ravages of
ground game. The over preserving of game tells, too, un-
fairly with respect to local taxation. The owner of one estate
may over stock it with game and rabbits so as to reduce the
yearly value to one-half. The consequence is that it is as-
sessed to that amount only. It follows, therefore, that half of
its proper burden of the rates is thrown upon their property.
Game, as we know, is not rated at all. It seems very unfair
that land over-stocked with game should be relieved from
local rates at the expense of other lands, the landlords of
which do justice to their tenants and to society by keeping
the game down within the limits of legitimate sport. I think
that in all leases the tenant should be protected against the
destruction brought to the results of his industry by hares and
rabbits. I trust that in addition to this the law will step in
and protect him when such protection is refused by the land-
lord. I am not against sport ; I believe its disappearance
from the country would be a great loss, but I still think sport
to be consistent with doing full justice to the farmer, and with
the proper development of the resources of the land. The
country requires that the land should be made as productive
as possible. London and Manchester, Birmingham and Liver-
pool, and all the great towns and cities of this kingdom, re-
quire the landowners to permit their tenants to make the most
of their land. As I have already said, for this purpose they
are the trustees of the nation. It will not do for them to fall
back upon old feudal notions which will not bear the hght of
this day. They must give over ideas of servile obedience in

all things from those who occupy laud of them, and must seek
only to enter with their tenants, as independent men like
themselves, into such relations as are calculated to get the
most out of the land for themselves and for the country.
Their chief duty is to make as far as in them lies every nook
of this country productive. They ought to seek to make the
farmers and agricultural labourers prosperous. These are the
landowners' duties. The country imposes on them these
sacred trusts ; will they discharge them faithfully ? The
country is standing aside, is waiting, is giving them a chance.
Nay, it has done a great deal more, it has given them a posi-
tive warning in the Irish Tenant Kight Act, If long and
liberal leases are not granted, such as are required fairly to
develop the resources of the land, you may rest assured a
Tenant Right Act will be passed for Wales in the course of a
few years. I do not think tjie typical Welch landlord will
read the signs of the times. I dare say he wiU smile com-
placently at what is now said. He will stick to his yearly
lettings, his game preserves, his feudal authority over his
tenants ; he will, like Mrs. Partington, seek to do battle with
the Atlantic ocean, which, with the certainty of fate, is coming
on to sweep away his insane prejudices and the monuments
of his injustice. A Tenant Right Act is soon to settle these
questions, if he will not. I wish to speak in no unfriendly
way of Welsh landlords. The system, tlie prejudices, the
faults, of which I complain, they have not created, but have
inherited with their estates. As far as I have any personal
interest in this question, that interest is on their side. But it
would be blind folly for us to close our ears against the de-
mands of the time upon us, to refuse to listen to the thundering
that is already at our gates, to cry out peace when there is no
peace. In ways that I entirely condemn the land question is
now being universally discussed. Theories wild and dangerous
are propounded with regard to it ; the grievances which exist
are unfairly magnified, and by certain classes in this country
every effort is made to cast blame upon the landed proprietors.
All I wish is that the landed proprietors should not deserve
it, but that by freely developing the resources of their land, by
doing right to their tenants and agricultural labourers, they
may be ably boldly to court inquiry into their conduct and
position, and appeal with confidence to the justice of the
British people !

Mr. rniLiprs (Bolahaul) said I think that the feeling ex-
isting between landlord and tenant, where the tenant holds
from year to year, is much better than Mr. Williams repre-
sents ; and that if he goes to London and listens to those gen-
tlemen talking there of the feeling that exists between land-
lord and tenant in Wales, he goes to the wrong place. Now
that he has come to Carmarthen, if we could bring a lot of
landlords and tenants together and have the question actually
discussed amongst them, he would find there is a great deal
better feeling amongst them than he represents. I think that
is the only point on which I object strongly to what Mr. Wil-
liams has said. With regard to leases, I can tell you that
there are many tenants in this county and elsewhere in Wales
who infinitely prefer holding their land from year to year to
having a lease, because there are a great many objections to a
lease. In the case of a lease for seven years Mr. Williams
says at the end of seven years the landlord looks forward to
an increase of the rent. But perliaps if the landlord gave a
lease for 1-i or 21 years the circumstances would be such that
there would be an increase of the rent. There are times when
land rises and falls in value, and I think it is but right that
the landlord should have the benefit of the times as well as the
tenant. But if you enter into the question thoroughly you will
find that the tenants have no more reason to complain of the
landlords than landlords have of tenants in the matters of a
lease. If a landlord give a tenant a lease he is a great deal
more in the power of tlie tenant than the tenant would be in
the power of the landlord. You say the tenant invests his
cash, his all on the land. I say he does not. And I say that
the tenant can go on from year to year trusting to the times
and the good faith of the landlord, and remunerate himself so
as not to be a positive loser in the case of an emergency. I
will not say he would benefit by giving up his tenancy, but I
mean to say he can so cultivate his land for a few years that
he can leave his farm with a positive benefit to himself. I am
not going to occupy the time of this meeting by discussing the
whole question, but I think I ought to say these few words in
the interest of the landlords as well as the tenants. I consider

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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

myself a laadlord as well as a tenant ; ray interest goes with
the tenant as much as the landlord. If my tenant fails so do
I ; if ray tenant improves himself I consider I am sailing in
the same boat.

The Rev. Latimer M. Jones said I agree with Mr.
Philipps that there are many tenants in this country who do
not desire a lease of their farms, who would rather have a
yearly tenure than a lease. They want to enjoy freedom, and
if they had a lease for 14) or 21 years they would feel
theraselve? bound for 14 or 21 years. They feel that if they
are only tenants from year to year they are at liberty almost at
any time to take their stock and crop to another farm. I have
the control of a great many farms, very small ones I am sorry
to say, but I tell this meeting that there is not a lease on one
of them. Nor have I ever beeu asked for a lease ; nor do I
know of a single tenant on the estate who wants to have a
lease. Yes, there is one exception ; and in that instance it is
the proprietors of a Dissenting chapel who are very anxious
to get a lease. Tliat I can understand ; aud I tell you they
shall get it too. We have heard a great deal of rhapsodical
nonsense about evictions in Wales, and it has been attempted
to show that landlords here in Wales are a great deal worse
than landlords in England. Now I think this meeting is
pretty generally agreed that landlords in Wales are as good as
the great body of landlords in England; so that the land
question in Wales if it comes into prominence at all will be
connected with the land question in England.

Dr. Norton said: The entailing of laud, he held, prevented
a large number of people who would otherwise buy land, from
doing so, because of the great expense attending the disentail-
ing of it. There were many people in this country, he believed,
who owned land who would be only too glad to disentail it ;
aud there was an immense number of people who were de-
sirous to invest their savings in land who were hindered from
so doing by the expenses apart from the conveyance. An
ordinary conveyance in this country was exceedingly expensive,
but what was the expense when connected with entail ? That
meeting was not the place for a man to mention his own pri-
vate affairs, but he might say that some time ago he was him-
self unfortunate enough to buy a little bit of land that was
entailed. It was a portion of an old estate, and the person
wlio sold it was descended from an old Welsh family. Well
he bought this land and without going into the minutire of the
matter, suffice it to say, that there was enormous dilliculty expe-
rienced in the disentailing of it. When he went to the law-
yer's office after receiving the bill of charges the difficulties
connected with it were pointed out to him, although the pur-
chase money was only a few hundreds of pounds. Now it was
wrong that such a state of things should continue to exist in a
country so highly civilised as ours ; it placed barriers in the
way of the sale and purchase of land in all parts of the country,
for the possession of land even in small farms elevated the
status of tiie men wlio obtained them. And he maintained
that they could not do better than sub-divide the land into
small farms. Although he remembered reading in a great
number of instances that the learned men of this country have
said that the division of land is a bad thing, yet he would say
that by putting a man in possession of a small plot of land
you give him a stake in the country, and it could have no
other effect than that of making a better citizen, a man that
would stand against revolution, a man that would endeavour
to make good laws for the community of whch he was a men-
ber. Tlierefore he contended that tiie first thing to be done
was to simplify the title to property. Ho believed with his late
father that the system of registration that exists in America —
of course they did not like to be Americanised — was very
much better than here. There the cost of registering the title
would not amount to more than three or four dollars for 100
acres of laud. And when a person purchased property in
America on those terms, it could be transferred to another in
as easy a manner. And he could not see why an easy system
could not be devised for the registration of property in this
country by the general public, to which the lawyers themselves
should be compelled to agree. Because it should be remem-
bered that lawyers like doctors would not willingly do anything
against themselves. It was not likely that they would willingly
consent to a plan which would relieve them from the trouble
of reading through deeds and charging so much for it. Now
he did not grumble at them at all on that account. If pri-
vileges were conferred on any class, that class would use those

privileges for its personal benefit, ami not for the benefit oF
the general public.

A Voice : Disestablish the lot.

Dr. Norton said that need not be done. He knew it was
said t.iat if cheap litigation, for example, could be had, that
it would be the means of causing more litigation than at pre-
sent. But there would be no ^room for litigation if matters
were carried on fairly.

Mr. Buckley (Penyfai) said it would appear by the title
given to the very able essay that had been read, that there
was something peculiar in the land question in Wales, some-
tliing different from the land question in England. Now, he
was pretty well acquainted with a good deal of land and
farms in England, and had returned only the previous night
from Warwickshire where he had a good deal of intercouse
with farmers, and had gone over a good deal of land. The
peculiarity of the land question in Wales, if it existed, hinged
chiefly upon the Welsh farmers not having capital to invest in
their land to carry out cultivation as was the case in most
parts of England. The question would therefore arise how
was capital to be directed into the land in Wales. And there
lie agreed very largely with the opening address which had
been delivered, that there must be security for the invest-
ment. The remarks made by Mr. Williams respecting leases
should, however, be very much qualifitd indeed. The man
who was going to take a farm in a very delapidated state, who
iutends.to drain excessively, and was going to build, and almost
to treat the farm as if it were his own, such a man would lay
out 20 or 30 per cent, of the fee simple in the land, and he
ought to have a long lease. But such instances were very
rare exceptions to the general taking of land. Now he
would mention the instance of a letting that he was familiar
with, which took place last Michaelmas. It was not the
case of a small farm, for the rental was nearly £100 per
annum. The person who took it wanted a security for his
outlay, and he took it for his son ; being a wealthy man, he
gave his son down at once £2,000 to go into the farm with.
His son would have a good deal more if it was required. His
wish was that the capital invested in the land should be pro-
ductive, so that he did not want a lease so much as security.
Now there he came to the point. He believed, as had been
stated, that a large proportion of the Welsh farmers did not
want leases, but they required such an agreement as would
give them security. Now, what security did this man to
whom he had been referring ask for and what security did he
get ? because he himself happened to be familiar with the
provisions of the agreement that was made. Well, if he
drained on a certain principle, and his landlord gave him
notice, he would be paid in full for his drainage. In liming
the land he would be paid for all the lime put in during the
last year, for one half of the lime put in the year before, and
one quarter of the lime for the year before that. Then as to
manure ; he would be paid for one half of the artificial
manure, and one half the value of the farm-yard manure that
went into the laud the year before, on his showing the bills.
Then as to the in-coming tenant taking to the crop on the
land, he knew that the landlord and tenant walked all through
the fields just before harvest, and both being admirable judges,
they easily put an estimate on the value per acre of the wheat,
barley, and oats, and soon came to an agreement as regards
that. And the same thing it was agreed should take place at
the end of the tenancy on the landlord giving notice. But if
the tenant gave notice, there would be a qualification to some
degree. But there were no restrictions as to cultivation
further than that none of the meadows or pastures or anytliing
of the kind were to be ploughed up. With such provisions as
those that had been mentioned no tenant would hesitate to lay
out his money. He ought to have mentioned something
about going through the roots, because on that farm there
were something like 30 acres of roots, or even more than that.
They were very heavy crops, and the valuation came to a large
sum ; so that if a man cultivated in that kind of way he would
have a large sum whenever he went out of his farm. And he
could cultivate in that way with perfect security, yet without
a lease, having only a good agreement. And he believed that
to either Welsh or English farmers having capital an agree-
ment of that kind would be more preferable to them than a
lease by which they would be bound up for a length of time.
He ought also to mention something about arbitration in the
case to which lie had referred. In the agreement there was a

THE FAHMER'g MAGAZINI}.

pVovisiou for arbitration should not the landlord and tenant
be able to come to terras. In that instance they did come to
terras, because they were both good judges. It was a large
farm. The farm was let on liberal terras by the landlord, and
he had no doubt that the tenant would do well, and he had no
doubt that the tenant would not feel greater hesitation under
his agreement than under a lease in doing everything for the
land that would promote production and improvement.

The Rev. Mr. Cautley said there had been a comparison
drawn between England and Wales with regard to agriculture ;
but it liad not been fairly drawn. There were great difficulties
experienced by agriculturists in Wales which were not en-
countered in England. One of the difficulties was produced
by tlie humid climate, and the wetness of the land necessitated
a great deal of drainage. Again, there was an enormous
quantity of boundary fences to the land, which required a great
deal of expense to keep them in repair. As an illustration he
would mention tliat on his little property of about 700 acres
tiiere wore no less than thirteen miles of boundary fences.
That seemed to be a most exorbitant quantity, but it was a
literal fact. Therefore he felt a deep sympathy with the land-
lords and an equally deep sympathy with the tenants, who
often found their land overrun by tlie cattle of their neigh-
bours ; in fac^, his own shepherd was often employed in hunt-
ing up his own stock and driving the cattle of others off the
land. Such were some of the difficulties that had to be con-
tended with in Wales, and the consequence was that the con-
ditions which landlords here had to make with their tenants
differed in a very great degree from those made in England.
Now in the first place it would be most unreasonable, particu-
larly wiieu the tenants as a class were notoriously poor, to re-
quire them to meet those difficulties single handed. He
felt that the tenants in Wales required very great assist-
ance from their landlords; and that without such assistance
the improvement that was so mucli desired by Welsh agricul-
turists must be exceedingly slow, until the two — both landlord
and tenant — put their shoulders to the wheel and worked to-
gether in an united and liberal spirit for the promotion of the
one general good. To do that wiiat each party required was
security. Tlie landlords as far as he could see would easily be
got to give their tenants security if the latter had much money
that they were willing to lay out. But he perceived that the
farms throughout the district were to a considerable extent
occupie I Ijy tenants exceedingly poor, who never cared to keep
up their fences, who had no chance from want of means of
dealing liberally with the land, who would rather send their
cow to a poor narrow black bull that fed on the mountain, the
use of which might be obtained for nothing, tlian to a well-fed
bull for which they might have to pay ten shillings. What
uuder such circumstances was a landlord to do? He was
bound to bring his own will to bear on the tenant, and re-
duce the evil as much as he can. Now all that kind of thing
arises in a large measure from the smallness of the holdings in
Wales. He dare say there were gentlemen in the room who
sympathised with small holdings. Now he lived in a parish
of 18,000 acres of land, and the land was divided among SO
tenants, every one of which had an excellent farm. But if
the holdings had been small there would not be half the quan-
tity of corn or half the quantity of meat which was now pro-
duced there, simply because the farmers would not have the
money wherewith to do it. Now in Wales oil-cake and arti-
ficial manures were very little used, and that was because the
tenants had small holdings and also because they stood in fear
in case they expended money on their farms. He must be per-
mitted to say that his conviction was, from conversation with
the people with whom he mingled, that in Wales there was a
very strong fear in the mind of every farmer of having his
rent increased should he in any measure improve the cultiva-
tion of the soil. They might meet the question as they please,
but he would tell them plainly that was the fact as far as his
experience went, and he had inquired a great deal on that
point. And he knew not only that the fear existed but that
there was even ground for it. He knew that the rent had
been increased in instances where the farmer cultivated more
liberally and produced a little more corn in his stack-yard.
Surely such a thing as more corn, &c., in a tenant's stack-yard
was just what a landlord ought to desire to see. A landlord
ought to desire to see his tenant's stack-yard containing plenty
of stacks, an abundance of roots, and as big roots as he could
grow. But for a tenant to do that he must have security as

had been said. He was able to speak very clearly on that
point. He knew tlie circumstances connected with one of the
best farming districts in England, viz., Lincolnshire. He did
not suppose tiiere was any part of England where farming was
better than there. And he learned from a great friend of his
wlio lived in that county, an agent who had the management
of many large and valuable estates, that he gave infinite pre-
ference to a yearly occupancy with perfect security to the
tenant. Now again, he had with him from another friend of
his, who was well known to all present at the meeting — it
would not be right to mention his name — a copy of a lease
which that friend intended to give to his tenants, and which,
unless they accepted, they would have to go out of their farms.
They had discussed together the provisions of that lease over
an excellent glass of port wine, and in that way things could
be discussed pleasantly, in fact he found there was no place
where a thing could be discussed more pleasantly than at a din-
ner table. Now, he would just give the meeting an idea of
the nature of that lease by reading one of its requirements — " A
certain quantity of poultry, turkeys, eggs, and skiffs of coal
are to be brought at a certain time at tiie squire's house."
Surely the tenants would not accept that. As he said to his
friend that was only imposing on them an additional rent.
And why, therefore, could it not be put into the lease in its
right form at once ? Tlien, again, there were other conditions
requiring the tenants to keep up the river bank, to keep up
tlie fences of the plantations, in fact to keep everything in
order. In that lease there were about thirty covenants ; and
he would defy his friend to get his tenantry to carry out these
covenants. And if the tenantry could not carry them out
what was the use of the pretended attempt to make them :
what was tlie use of tying up the tenantry to a lot of cove-
nants which were not intended to be carried out. Why could
there not be a more distinct understanding between
the tenant and his landlord, the landlord saying to the tenant,
" You trust me in some things, and I will trust you, and will
not interfere with your farm." The landlord might ride his
horse on the snaflie, yet still have the curb ready in case it
were wanted. He would just refer them to what that eminent
author Arthur Young had said about the state of Scotland
when he paid it a visit. At that time the state of Scotland
was infinitely worse than anything now existing in Wales.
Arthur Young said that nothing could be worse than the state
of farming in Scotland at that time in the Lowlands. ; and
it was produced and maintained by the landlords giving their
tenants leases, binding them down for twenty-five years with
stringent covenants. The fact was the Scotch tenantry at
that time were Uke children, and did not know how to farm.
This system of long leases was altered there ; and as soon as
the farmers saw it was to their interest to farm well they
quickly began to improve ; still it was necessary that covenants
should be imposed suitable to circumstances, otherwise tenants
might take undue liberty with the land they occupied. He
knew an instance of a farmer who used some 400 pounds of
cake every year in the feeding of his cattle ; but he had a neigh-
bour who did not use anything of the kind. Did anyone sup-
pose that one of these farms would produce as mucii as the
other ? No. AVell, then, the two tenants required to be
differently treated. Now, protection for both landlord and
tenant must be obtained by one of two things, either by leases
or annual agreements. There were great objections to leases,
although he did not wish to dwell on the subject. It was said
that in a twenty-one years' lease there would be seven years of
getting a farm into good condition — a succession of seven
years of good farming ; but, then, there would be seven years
of drawing out of the laud as much as possible. That would
be the effect unless the tenant was stringently tied up during
the last seven years. It would be according to human nature,
that a man after putting something into the land should try
to take it out again. In nine cases out of ten tenant-formers
did it. Now, he did not think if he were a large landlord he
would give a lease on a single farm unless the covenants were
very strict. He would say, " Now, Thomas, here is a lease
for you, if you like. If you do not like the covenants, there
is an annual agreement, take which you please." Now, in
looking at the covenants in the copy of an annual agreement
which he had received from Lincolnshire, lie was struck with
the hard way in which they pressed on the incoming tenant.
The incoming tenant was to pay for a large quantity of oilcake,
of bones, and a quantity of other things which were called

u

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

permanent imjtrovements, and it would bear very hard on a
j'oung man who \Tent into a farm, perhaps with no more
capital than was necessary for him to stock his farm with, and
yet was required to pay down £1,000. That would cripple
him. What would he the consequence ? He would go to the
bank. Now, they had heard something about the lawyers'
consciences, but bankers had consciences too. They were
very accommodating, no doubt, but when they got people into
their hands they generally pinched them very tight. His ob-
ject in referring to that was to show that the landlord should
stand in the stead of the incoming tenant and arrange with
the outgoing tenant what was to pay. Generally speaking,
there was some difficulty about an arbitrator between the out-
going and incoming tenant, and why should not the method
be adopted which ke had suggested ? He would prevent those
. two men, the outgoing and incoming tenants, from coming to-
gether by letting the landlord himself make whatever arrange-
ment was necessary with the outgoing tenant. He recom-
mended to the meeting a book containing papers read on the
tenure of land by Mr. Masfen, at a meeting held at Birming-
ham on the subject, when the leases of Lord Lichfield were
discussed. Personally, he was of opinion that the question of
leases and the question of covenants should be separately dis-
cussed, for the whole subject was one of great importance, and
not easy to solve. With regard to tlie land question in Wales,
ha had heard two or three strictures made on points to which
he had intended to refer. There could be no doubt that the
land in Wales was capable of very great improvement,
although he was not going to discuss the improvement of
land ; but still he would say that it was capable of being
much improved by an improving class of tenants. Owing
to the nnmber of small farmers in Wales, the land did not
produce as much as it was capable of producing. He did
not wish to see small holdings extinguished, but they
should be reserved on estates as a sort of begin-
ning to young farmers, who might be advanced to
a higher position as they deserved it. Again he would say
that small farms for that reason ought to exist, and he hoped
they would continue to exist. Still, if a landlord wished to
have a tenant of whom he might be justly proud, he must get
a man of capital, a man of enterprise — a man who with
capital and enterprise would cultivate his land on the most
improved modern system, one who would not hang back, but
keep up to the advanced state in which we were now living.
Now, he had brought implements into Wales, and the
labourers have not known how to use them ; they have no
understanding of them. Reference had been made to the
question of cottages, and so he was brought to that subject
also. And he would say that until a set of good labourers
could be found in Wales, there would not be a set of enter-
prising farmers. A farmer could not farm without the la-
bourer. The system of cottages in Wales was excessively
bad, and it was a matter to which landlords, he felt sure,
must pay attention. For what was the consequence of the
present system of cottages ? The result of it is that? the la-
bourers have no care for their homes ; they go into Glamor-
ganshire, or into England, or emigrate to one of the colonies,
because they have nothing to attract them to the home in
which they have been Ijorn. Labourers might spend a whole
winter in this part of the country, and get only a day's work
now and again. He could say more on that subject ; but
would only remark that it was everything in considering the
land question in Wales to see how a good class of agricultural
labourers could be got. He would rather have three men at
15s. a week than four men at lis. per week, who were neither
able nor willing nor careful to do their duty. Now, he said,
that, after having some experience in the employment of agri-
cultural labour in Wales — for at the present time he was pay-
ing about £20 per week for labour in the Principality — the
labourers of Wales were quite capable of being trained ; but
the truth was they had no thought, and the vi'hole system of
labourers was but a makeshift system. The labourers left this
thing here and that thing there, and they acted in such a way
as would half ruin a landowner in tune unless he could take
care of himself. A few words in conclusion. Theirs was a
most happy country. He himself lived in Cambridgeshire,
yet nothing did him so much good as to come down into
Wales, and breathe the fresh air for a few weeks every year.
If he carried a gun in his hand he need not go far from home,
and he should like to go some time for a few cock pheasants

oyer the laud of his friend the Rev. Latimer Jones, and it was
his delight to go over their arable lands. Indeed, he might
say that he would rather make two per cent, in Wales than
five per cent, in Cambridgeshire. And not only so, but he
had met in Wales with great kindness and hospitahty. His
duties in his Cambridgeshire parish were large. He kept two
curates ; but now they insisted upon his return home, flatter-
ing him by the compliment that they could not do without
him. For that reason he feared he should be reluctantly com-
pelled to return in a short time. One word more with regard
to the capabilities of the land in Wales. He feared its capa-
bihties were undervalued. The land in AVales only wanted
energy and drainage and deep cultivation and well manuring
with the growth of as little corn as possible to make it yield
well. He had been just selling three and a-half acres of tur-
nips on land which two years ago was comparatively ex-
hausted. He could have hunted a mouse all over the corn
crop on it, and never lost sight of it. Now, he had obtained
£31 7s. per acre for those turnips, and the land was capable
of producing a great deal more.

Mr. Lewis Bishop would say the same as Mr. Buckley
and other speakers that leases were not required in this country,
and that leases would have the effect ol encroaching on the
rights of property, and for the reason that tliey were dangerous
in that respect he objected to them. And therefore tenant far-
mers ought to accept agreements. Besides there was the
danger of tenants not being able to carry out the leases which
they had obtained. A tenant might also get a bad lease, say
twenty-one years, and after expending the whole of his money
in connection with it he might be obliged to fulfil its conditions
at a loss. But on the other hand, if a man had a yearly agree-
ment he might back out of it at any time, and instead of being
obliged to spend a large sum of money in connection with it,
might put that money by, for those who came after him. That
was one reason why a lease should not be forced upon a tenant.
A yearly agreement was far better for a tenant farmer; and this
would he better for the landlord also, because if he had a bad
tenant he would then quickly get a better one in his place.
Now, he did not go so far as the rev. gentleman who had just
sat down in respect of arbitration. In such a case as he had
suggested the landlord could not help favouring the in-coming
tenant. He would be tempted to discard the interest of the
one who was about to leave him. For every lease in this
country twenty agreements would be found, and he looked
upon that as something like a testimony that agree-
ments were found to be better and more advantageous.
Another question mentioned by Mr. WiUiams was that of
entail. Now what he understood to have fallen from Mr.
Williams on that point he also considered to be dangerous.
Moreover, he thought on that subject Mr. Williams somewhat
contradicted himself. He asked for fixity of tenure for the
tenant, and yet he objected to entail which gave fixity of tenure
to the landlord. He himself held that entails in the abstract
were good. Everyone knew that there were persons who were
disposed to squander their property, leaving their children after
them penniless. For that reason he contended that the entail
of estates ought to be upheld. And now as to the expense of
conveying estates that were entailed, to which Dr. Norton had
referred. It was his opinion that the expenses incurred in the
case Dr. Norton had cited, must have resulted from the investi-
gation of a long title, a totally distinct matter. His own ex-
perience was this, that the cost of barring entail was only some
£3 or £4, anyhow it was not many pounds. With regard to
the game question mentioned by the Rev. Latimer Jones, he
was in favour of some law by which it should be embodied in an
agreement between the landlord and tenant that the landlord
is to permit the tenant to destroy the rabbits, the tenant giving
the landlord two or three days' notice of his intention to do so.

Mr. Buckley explained that lie was in favour of the land-
lord and tenant making every arrangement they could, and
that an arbitrator should be called in shouldsuch an attemptfail.

Dr. Norton also said that he spoke of the expense and
difficulty of barring entail being an obstruction to speculation
inland.

Mr. Brodie (Tyrdail) considered it was bad to agitate what
he called the first part of the land question, touching the rights
of property. At tiie same time he could not understand the
objection against leases. Those who objected to leases were
labouring under a mistake. He himself came from a country
where leases were universal, and it was hardly possible to cal<

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

75

culate the improvement that had been effected in Scotland
uader them. It might easily be believed that a tenant farmer
was as proud of his profession as a clergyman or a doctor was
of his, and he contended that the way to make a tenant farmer
thrive was to give him security under a lease. It was a matter
of pride to a tenant to walk over his land after he had drained
it. But he contended that if a tenant farmer was continually
liable to six months' notice he would never care to effect im-
provement. Disguise it as they might, leases were the only
and the great security for improvement. Something had been
said about entail and large properties. Now, he could tell
them as a fact that tenants preferred to be on large properties.
And this point had struck him that it was generally the large-
landed proprietors who were the foremost in eiTecting improve-
ments. What did they find in the county of Carmarthen ?
They found Earl Cawdor draining and improving in every pos-
sible way. They found Lord Dynever also draining in full
force. In his own neighbourhood the same thing had been
begun. Now those whom he had just named were some of the
great titled gentlemen of the county, and what were they but
descendants of Welsh princes and Scottish chiettains ? On
the other hand, there were many of the smaller landowners
who suffered their property to remain in the same state as
Julius Ciesar left it. There could be no doubt about it. There
was another fact, whether it would please Mr. Bishop or not,
that land let on lease would fetch a liigher rent. That had
been found out. And it was a foolish idea that a tenant if he
had a lease for 14 or 31 years was altogether at the close of it
at the mercy of the landlord. There was no such feeling. A
tenant, if he was a good tenant, had nothing more to do, on
the approaching expiration of his lease, than to apply to his
landlord two or three years before its termination, and ask that
it might be renewed. And generally speaking it would be re-
newed. In his own case, when he left Scotland, he asked the
agent not to let the farm for a short time, and he did not let it
for more than twelve months. As for tenants not wishing for
a lease, that was a pity ; iu that case they should trouble them-
selves with some other profession.

Mr. Lewis (late of Llwynfedwen) also spoke in favour of
leases.

The CuAiRJiAN : I said it appears to me we have been
wandering away a good deal from the subject tliis evening.
The question as I understand it to be, was not the interest of
the landlord or tenant, but the laud question in Wales, and
what is the best way of making the land most productive.
Now, gentlemen, the tenant's interest has been most ably ad-
vocated that he should have fixity of tenure. I believe that
the landlords in Wales are honest men, and that they wish to
do no injustice to their tenants ; I believe they would be most
anxious that their tenants should have every security that tlie
money invested in the land should be returned to them. But
I think this also, that the landlord should have security that
the tenant should not rob his land. AVe know very well, gen-
tlemen, that a tenant may go into farm while it is in good
condition, and that he may wrong that farm, and leave it to
his landlord at half its value. Now the landlord should have
some security to prevent the tenant doing that. Now the point to
which I have the pleasure of directing your attention is that of

justice to both landlord and tenant. I think before we tic up
land a commission should be appointed to take into consider-
ation the value of the land at the present moment. We should
have a kind of machinery, something similar to that under
which surveyors are appointed under the Dilapidations Act
for the clergy. Landlords should have the power of calling
in a surveyor, and ascertaining ^whether the land is cul-
tivated according to the terms upon which it is let. And the
tenant should also have the power of calling in the surveyor to
say whether the landlord was coming down upon him, and re-
quiring him to do more than the covenants of his agreement
compelled him to do. I think if you interfere with free trade
in land, and you do not allow it to be a mere agreement be-
tween the landlord and tenant, you must have some machinery
of this kind. I am only suggesting this in case you are going
to carry out Mr. John Stuart Mill's theory that there is to be
fixity,' of tenure, and the landlord is to have no control over
his land. I think, however, that it will be much better that
the whole matter sliould be left as it has been left, a matter of
arrangement between tenant and landord. I must con-
fess I agree witli Mr. Brodie in saying that there is
nothing like a lease, provided you have something of
the kind of machinery I have suggested, whereby
a surveyor should be called in to see that the lease
is carried out. There should be au impartial person whom
either the landlord or tenant should be able to call in. And I
would not have the choice of the arbitrator left to the two
persons ; I would have a public arbitrator. Tlie Hev. Latimer
Jones has said you must have good tenants. It is all very
well to say that, but the landlord may get a good tenant, and
if he has a lease his son who may be called upon to carry it
out may be a bad one. Therefore if you have fixity of tenure
you must have some power to compel the person who takes the
land to fulfil the covenants of his agreement. I have thrown
out this suggestion because I think it is of the utmost im-
portance that the question of the holding of land should be
thoroughly discussed. There can be no doubt that it is one of
the most important questions. Nobody can go through this
country without seeing that there is a great deal of land lying
idle that is capable of a great deal of improvement. If we
are to have the question left to vexatious cogitation it will
paralyse the action of both landlord and tenant, so that the
sooner it is settled the better. For I am sure there are many
landlords at present who have stopped improving because they
do not know whether they will ever recover the money they
have laid out. On the other hand the tenants are afraid. I
trust before long that the question will be effectually settled,
and that we shall know what our interests are. This is essen-
tially necessary now, when wild suggestions are made as to
land, as if it was not similar to any other kind of property.
There are people who look at the matter as though persons
who have been receiving 1 or 2 per cent for their land are to
be deprived of it and not receive the value of it. I am de-
lighted that my friend Mr. Williams, who I thought would have
introduced this question in some extreme manner, has not
done so.

Mr. Williams replied, and a vote of thanks was passed to
him amid much applause.

THE FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE.
LOCAL RESTRICTIONS.

At a meeting of the local authority for the county at
Elgin, Mr. M'Lean of Westfield presiding,

Mr. Mackjessack (Ardgye), in terms of previous notice,
moved, " That all regulations made by the local authority
with the view of preventing the spread of foot-and-mouth dis-
ease be recalled on and after 1st December, 1871." He had not
made this proposal without having consulted other farmers. He
had spoken on the subject to twenty or thirty gentlemen, and
they were all agreed on the point that something should be
done in the way of changing the regulations and restrictions
of the local authority. It was well known that foot-and-mouth
disease had existed in this county for a very long time. On

some farms it existed so long back as twenty-eight years ago ;
and it existed on his own farm eighteen years ago, though he
(Mr. Mackessack) did not know of it at the time. About eight
or ten years ago, a great many of the farms in the county were
infected ; indeed, it went from one end of the county to the
otlier. Well, what did the farmers do at that time ? There
was no word about cleansing the byres or putting out the dung
as they did now when the place was declared free ; and the
result was that there was not one case for ten now. He remeni-
bered perfectly well that at that time the disease existed on his
farm at this period of the year. Well, he drove out his dung
in the spring following on the lea fields, put fresh cattle out,

?6

tHE i^ARMER^S MAGAZIJSi).

aud tliere was not one of them infected with the disease. Most
of the farmers did the same at that time. Now, liowever,
before a fanner could get his place declared free, he must cart
out his dung as soon as the place was declared free of disease,
aud incur a great many other expenses. There could not be a
more effectual way than this of spreading the disease. A
farmer told him, the other day, that he had not the disease on
his farm, but liis neighbour had had it, aud as he was carting
out the dung in terms of the regulations, it was certain to
spread to his farm. Then there was anotlier restriction which
he considered very bad, viz., that which prevented the removal
of animals from any field or place w'here they had been disco-
covered to be iufected with the disease. At Carsewell, in the
end of harvest, fifty cattle grazing in a field were discovered to
be labouring under the disease. Tt was the time of the bad
weather ; they could not be removed, and he was quite con-
vinced tliat the owner of the cattle must have lost 50s. per
head, vt'hich was a very serious matter. Having met the
owner one day, he remarked that it was cruelty to animals to
keep the cattle outside. He replied, " I am not allowed to
move them. The local authority will not allow me to drive
them only one or two hundred yards along the turnpike road."
He was sure that, had the owner of these cattle been allowed
to put them into his steading, he would not have lost 5s. a
head, instead of 50s., or about £120. The cattle stood there
during a long run of bad weather ; aud, indeed, it was a
wonder that some of them did not die. They were nest the
public road, and could be seen putting their heads over the
dyke, and, consequently, it was almost impossible for any
cattle to pass along the rood without being infected ; whereas,
if they had been kept comfortably in tlie stable, there would
have been no chance of infection. It was his opinion that the
Privy Council made quite enough of restrictions without the
local authority makiug any at all. By the Orders in Council,
they could fine people who were found with diseased beasts,
and who had not so reported to the inspector. If the farmers
would only try to manage the disease as they did in former
years, there would not be one ease for every two that there
were now. A Ross-sliire farmer told him the other day that
they were just beginning to see that the local authority act
was all nonsense, and did more harm than good. Some
counties had given it up altogether ; others had never taken it
up at all. It was quite conii)cteut for them to drop it at any
time. He had no objection, if the meeting wished to modify
his motion, and make it to tlie efl'ect that they recall the regu-
lations for three months. The farmers could not surely object
to this ; and he was pretty certain that if they adopted this
course, there would be very few cases of foot-and-mouth disease
in the county at the end of that time. He might mention that
several parties had told him that they would just as soon buy
cattle with the disease as without it, because they would rather
have it past than be bothered with it again. Howevey, he did
not mean by that that he wished to keep the disease — he would
rather see it sent to Jericho, aud the local authority powers
after it. He concluded by proposing the adoption of his
motion.

The CiiAiKMAJs' : Mr. Mackessack has fallen into one mis-
take with regard to the moving of cattle from one place to
another im tlie same farm. We liave no power to dispense
with that regulation, because it is enforced by Act of Parlia-
ment. Any rule that has been enacted by the Local Authority
CLin be dispensed ^witli, and as far as I am concerned, I am
ready to join with you in requiring their suspension ; but there
arc certain matters with which we cannot interfere.

Mr. Mackessack : If it had not been for the Local Autho-
rity, could not these cattle, to \fhich I have referred, have been
removed ?

The Chairman: No. I looked over the various Acts of
Parliament, and I find it is illegal to convey infected cattle
over any public road, or to expose them in any market or sale-
yard, or in any place adjoining a sale-yard, or to carry them by
rail, or to keep them iu unenclosed ground, or — and this is
the most important of all— to fail in reporting to the police
the existence of the disease as soon as it is observed. The Act
of Parliament also makes it obligatory on us to appoint an
Inspector, whose duty it is to report to the Local Authority
and the Privy Council the existence of disease.

Mr. Tool remarked that there was .no doubt that if the
cattle were labouring under the disease, tliey could not be
removed.

The Chairman : Mr. ilackessack has only mentioned oii(5
item which we have power to dispense with, viz. : The carting
out of dung.

The Clerk- (Mr. Cameron) said that the regulations as
regards the carting out of dung were made by the Local
Authority, in terms of the powers conferred on them. The
following was one of the regulations which Mr. Mackessack's
motion would strike at : " That all sheds or places used by
animals infected with foot-and-mouth disease shall, as soon as
the disease has ceased to prevail, be disinfected to the satisfac-
tion of the Inspector appointed by the Local Authority." If
Mr. Mackessack's motion was carried in its entirety, the effect
of it would be this — that farmers and others who moved beasts
would only be prevented from moving affected animals, but
would be perfectly free to move other animals that had not
taken the disease. It seemed to be pretty generally agreed
that the carting out of dung and the whitewashing of the
premises could be dispensed with.

Mr. Williamson thought Mr. Mackessack's motion was a
very good one, so far as the driving out of dung was concerned ;
but when he considered that the elfect of the motion would
also be that when any cattle were alfected, it was in the power
of the farmer to remove those wliicli, though not aft'eeted,
would be in the adjoining byre, he thought it was rather a
dangerous step to take ; and he for one would decidedly set
his face against that part of the motion. They knew that some
parties would not take cattle to the market when they had
others affected ; but they also knew from experience that there
were parties who would not scruple to do so. If that were
done, they would never be free of foot-and-mouth disease.

Mr. YooL thought tluu the cattle in this country were suli-
ject to attacks periodically from foot-and-mouth disease ; but
so long as the importation of foreign, and especially of Irish
beasts, was allowed, the couutry would never be free of it.
They seemed to be the means of propagating the disease ; and
so long as they were allowed to come into the country, it would
not be possible for the Local Authority to stop the spread of
tlie disease. In October, 1870, the Privy Council gave power
to Local Authorities to make further regulations wdth the
view of stopping the spread of the disease. He saw the other
day in the JUar/i Lane Express a statement that not one half
of the Local Authorities had taken advantage of these powers,
aud several tliat had taken advantage of them had rescinded
their resolutions. It appeared to him tiiat the rules made by
the Privy Council would be just as effective in cheeking the
disease as these additional rules that had been adopted by the
Local Autliority, considering that these Irish beasts were con-
tinually coining into the country, and that they had no power
to exclude them.

Mr. Hose was quite agreeable to the rescinding of the
regulation in regard to the clearing out of dung, but could not
approve of cattle being removed from places where the disease
existed.

Mr. Mackessack : I am quite satisfied that if you adopt
the course I have proposed for three months, you will not
have many cases to report.

The CiiAiKMiSj^ : The general opinion seems to be that
these rules with regard to the clearing out of dung might be
dispensed with from to-day ; but that the control of the Local
Authority over the movement of cattle on farms should remain
as heretofore. The disease, so far as I can judge, is on the
decline now.

Mr. Harris : If Mr. Mackessack's motion be carried, how
would it affect our control over the markets ?

The Clerk : It would not affect it all. It might be advisa-
ble to explain to the meeting that the regulation for the cart-
ing out of dung on places where the disease had existed was
simply an iustructiou to Mr. Tait from the Local Authority.
That could be rescinded immediately, and they could also
rescind altogetlier the regulation as to disinfection, without
touching the other rules.

Mr. YoOL remarked that he held the opinion that the in-
spection of markets was 6f no value at all ; it was simply a
waste of public money.

After some farther conversation, Mr. Mackessack agreed to
modify his motion as follows :

" That regulation fourth of the Order of 25th November,
1870, be recalled, which is to this effect — 'That all sheds and
places used by animals alfected with foot-and-mouth disease
shall, as soon as the disease has ceased to prevail, be disinfected

THE FARMEK'S MAGAZINE.

11

to the satisfaction of the Inspector appointed by the Local
Authority.' "

Mr. WiLLlAJisoN : I think that will bt! satisfactory to
everybody.

The motion, inlts altered form, was then unanimously adopted
by the meeting.

A meeting of the members of the Devon and Cornwall
Chamber of Agriculture was held on Thursday at the Hoyal
Hotel, Plymouth, to " consider the regulations under which
foreign cattle are imported into this country, with a view to
checking the foot-and-mouth and other contagious diseases."
The chair was taken by the president, Mr. John Tremayne, of
Heligan. The attendance was very small.

The Chairu.vn considered that the subject under consider-
ation aifected all classses of society, consumers as
well p.s producers. He had hoped at that particular time,
when the fat cattle show had called so many agriculturists into
Plymouth, and more especially as Devonshire had suffered ex-
ceedingly from the disease, there would have been a large
meeting, as it was desirable to follow the practice of other
chambers, where large and unanimous meetings had demanded
from the Goverment more stringent measures for repressing
disease.

Mr. Spry (Sortridge) introduced the subject for discussion,
and urged the advantages of stamping out the disease, rather
than seeking for a cure. He did not undervalue the services
of the local police, or deny the fact tliat Orders of Privy
Council and Acts of Parliament had effected some good, but he
thought that nine out of ten practical men would say that the
Acts of Parliament were lamentably inefficient in action, ex-
pensive in process, annoying in operation, and, as the continued
virulence of epidemic incontestably proved, singularly unfortu-
nate in arresting the spread of the disease. Witli respect to
the number of cattle in Devon and Cornwall, they were retro-
grading instead of advancing. In the face of the utter failure
of existing arrangements it would be most decidedly beneficial
to provide suitable accommodation, and try the experiment of
slauglitering foreign cattle at the port of entry, and also to in-
spect every vessel laden \vith|cattle by a duly qualified inspector ;
and in the event of any contagious disease existing on
board, to separate the healthy from the diseased by the means
of hospital accommodation, as well also as the thorough
cleansing and disinfecting the ship on board which such con-
tagious disease exists. He moved "That in the opinion of
this Chamber the present rules and regulations under whicli
foreign cattle are imported into this country are lamentably
inefficient in operation as regards their dealing with contagious
diseases, and this Chamber is unanimously of opinion that the
only method of effectually dealing with such diseases is by the
providing suitable and necessary buildings for the compulsory
slaughter of all foreign cattle at the port of entry."

Mr. Baunett, V.S., said they wanted prevention rather
than remedies. The motion spoke too exclusively of foreign
cattle, as there was infinitely more danger in lauding Irish
catte than landing animals from Spain. Existing orders re-
garding foot-and-mouth disease were not properly enforced. In
Plymouth, Spanish cattle were inspected on landing by a
veterinary surgeon, whilst Irish cattle were examined by an
inspector of nuisances. A veterinary surgeon could discover
more disease in two minutes than an inspector of nuisances
could in two hours. He objected to the idea of a policeman
understanding the presence and progress of a disease in cattle.
How agriculturists could expect the foot-and-mouth disease to
diminish under the present mode of carrying out the regula-
tions for providing against its spreading he could not tell. It
was as likely that cattle coming from the Smithfield Show would
bring foot-and-mouth disease to Plymouth, as any imported
from abroad.

Mr. Heney Clark spoke of the small attendance at the
meeting. Men should not only subscribe to Chambers of Agri-
culture, but should also attend meetings and discuss the
questions introduced. If members did not come to the meet-
ings they had better cease connection with it aUogetlier, as its
promoters would then know its real position. He could not

agree with Mr. Spry's motion, for if all foreign cattle were
slaughtered as soon as landed, they would kill not only the fat
cattle, but also the store stock, and agriculturists would then
be in a very poor way. Store stocks were at present very
scarce. The cattle imports into the United Kingdom for the
ten months ending 31st of October last were — Oxen and bulls,
120,417; cows, 62,451; calves, 365,019 ; sheep, 792,332.
If all these were slaughtered on landing, could the supply of
store stock be kept up by breeding ? Many Chambers were in
favour of slaughtering all fat stock when landed — although
some Chambers did not go so far as that — and putting the
store stock into a certain period of quarantine. Mr. Spry's
motion was confined to foreign cattle, but more disease was
brought from Ireland than from any foreign port ; but were
they to slaughter all stock coming from Ireland as soon as
landed, or were they to put store stock into quarantine ? If they
agreed to the latter how could it be carried out ? Liverpool
imported something like 10,000 store cattle from Ireland
weekly, and could all these be kept in quarantine for any time ?
Such a plan would practically prevent the importation of store
stock at all from Ireland. Some farmers had said it would be
bstter even to have the foot-and-mouth disease in the country,
if they made the best of it, than to keep store cattle in qua-
rantine. One result would be increased prices for meat. Sir
Massey Lopes had said in that town that he (Mr. Clark)
could not instance a ease of foot-and-mouth disease in England
before 1814 ; which, if so, would lead to the assumption that
the disease was just brought to the country by the free importa-
tion of foreign cattle. He (Mr. Clark) was unable to speaic
on the subject at that time, but he had since seen that in 1840
Professor Sewell wrote an article in the Royal Agricultural
Journal on the foot-and-mouth disease, which then existed in
England. The disease was in Essex in 1839, it spread to Nor-
folk, and in 1841 cattle on a farm in Devonshire, belonging to
his father, were attacked with it.

Mr. Spear stated that in 1840 cattle died from foot-and-
mouth disease on a farm he was acquainted with ini.that
neighbourhood, and the disease spread to his own preniises.-

Mr. Spry knew it was perfectly impossible to slaughter all
the store cattle brought into this country. He only framed
his motion in order to provoke discussion, and would alter it
in any way to meet the unanimous opinion of the Chamber.

Mr. S. E.OSEVEARE was sure all store stock could not be
slaughtered when landed, although something might be done
regarding the fat stock. In support of the view that conta-
gious diseases were imported into England he pointed out that
the diseases were almost confined to localities near the landing
ports. Eat cattle should be slaughtered at the port of
debarkation.

Mr. N. Stevens objected to the words in the motion to
provide buildings for slaughtering cattle, contending that be-
yond providing that the slaughtering should take place, they
need do nothing. The question of putting store stock in
quarantine should be well considered before long periods of
quarantine were advised. He blamed farmers for not attending
meetings of chambers of agriculture, and there discussing
their grievances, which was the only means they could take in
order to get evils remedied.

Mr. Cann said the arguments against the great expense of
putting store cattle in quarantine might be overcome, as a
liigher price would always be given for animals if the pur-
chasers were sure they were free from the disease. Store
cattle were as likely to spread the disease as fat.

The motion was ultimately put in the following
terms and carried : " In the opinion of this Chamber the pre-
sent rules and regulations under which foreign cattle are im-
ported into this country are lamentably ineflicient in opera-
tion as regards the dealing with contagious diseases, ancl this
Chamber is unanimously of opinion that no method for
dealing with such diseases will be effectual that does not
include the compulsory slaughter of foreign fat stock at
the landing ports, and the disinfection of the hides before
removed."

If was agreed to adjourn the discussion regarding the best
means of dealing with imported store cattle to tlie 4th of
Januarvnext.

V8

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

THE LEEDS FAT CATTLE SHOW.

This annual sLow was held in the cattle sheds, Leeds.
Coming after Birmingham, Islington, and York, this has
always'a special interest attaching to it from the meeting
of "stars" for a final performance before they retire
from the stage, to appear again only in the Christmas
shambles. The entries gave assurance that in this point
of view the show would continue to maintain its cha-
racter, and it has happened so. Many battles have been
fought over again, several important decisions have been
reversed, and some " new Richmonds" have come into the
field, and established themselves as worthy of public honours.
^ The attendance too has been equal to that of last year,
and far in excess of previous years. On the evenings of
all the days the avenues were crowded with spectators,
the daily average of admissions being about 8,000. Still
the meeting has not been as brilliant as heretofore. The
gaiety and esjjnf,\fci-e usually marked characteristics of the
Leeds meeting were absent. Smith's model band discoursed
sweet music, but the crowd seemed to move on calmly
and unmoved, as though it was business o/il^ to-day and
not pleasm-e. And truly it was so. It was not a time
for pleasure; a terrible anxiety weighed on all men's
spirits, and each countenance was the reflex of his sorrow-
ful heart. The question of " What is the latest from
Sandringham ?" was the preface to every conversation —
points, quality, wool and feather.

As a farmer, breeder, and sportsman, the Prince
has become familiar with Yorkshire and Yorkshire-
men — as, indeed, with Englishmen generally — while
his kindness of heai't and urbanity of manner have made
him personally loved by the populations amongst which
he has moved so freely. The demonstrations of this love
for the suffering Prince' shown by the masses on this oc-
casion, were strikingly evidenced in many ways ; but there
was one which we cannot omit to record as showing how
slight is the hold which Eepublicanism has yet obtained
over the heart of England Thus, when the band, instead
of playing the National Anthem, on closing for the night,
gave " God bless the Prince of Wales," the whole crowd
surged, rather than moved individually, to the orchestra,
and gave enthusiastic demonstrations of loyalty, some
cheering loudly, some waving handkerchiefs, and some
throwing up hats, but all joining in the chorus, ' God Uess
the Prince of Wales!' Surely never prayer came forth more
spontaneously than this, as none could be more heartfelt.

The many empty stalls amongst the cattle, arising
from the prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease
was a disadvantage common to all the shows of the
season, and Leeds was especially fortunate in bringing
so many public animals into the yard, safe and well.
Out of an entry of 91 cattle, about 20 were unable to put
in an appearance. Of course only about a moiety of these
were prevented coming by disease. Several beaten ani-
mals are usually wisely held back by their owners, from
shows that occur later in the season.

The Shorthorns were in three classes, and numbered
24. The competition was good in all, but remarkable in
that of oxen. There was the tournament of the season,
the meeting of Greek with Greek. Hector dragged over
the course by Achilles ; the fall of Front de Beuf before the
Black Knight ; Brian de Bois Gilbert pale at the touch of
Ivanhoe's lance at Temple Stow ; and Robin Hood's
thrashing by the Pindar of "Wakefield, were results of the
" tug of war" no more expected than the defeat of the
Birmingham and Smithfield Cup ox, and Lord Zetland's
York Cup ox, by Mr. Drysdale's York third-prize ox,

We described Lord Zetland's ox at Y''ork last week.
We have seen him again, and though he has lost bloom
since then, he is stiU a fine Shorthorn, and entitled to
beat Mr. Drysdale's red ox. Lord Zetland's ox may be
a little light forward, and not stand as wide as Mr. Drys-
dale's, but he has style, hair, and touch, wondeful loin
and back ribs, to which the red ox has no claim. The
Scotch animal, moreover, cannot be a Shorthorn, if judged
by looks. He has little of the character of the breed.
He has no beef comparatively on his back and loins, is
rough on his rumps and on his chine. He is thick-
fleshed and a capital weigher, and a butcher may think
him entitled to beat the Smithfield and York animals.
Few breeders wiU confirm the verdict. The remarks
that apply to Lord Zetland's ox apply more fully to Mr.
Strattou's white, placed second here. He is better than
the winner immeasurably, and better than Lord Zetland^s.
entry. The two white animals are equally full of Shorthorn
style, handling, and shape ; but the south country beast
beats Lord Zetland's in the forequarter and in the thigh,
and is on the whole a more level beast. Lord Zetland's
ox has loin and back ribs so excessively good that they
make his outline not perfect. The defeat of the two
best Shorthorn oxen of Birmingham, Smithfield,
and York is simply a fli'ke, for which some-
body is accountable, but by which nobody \\all
be misled. The best cow was Mr. Cattley's second prize
York animal. We described her last week. She is full
of quality, and in some points better than Mr. Willis'
big old cow. They do not, however, meet at Leeds. Mr,
Outhwaite's cow was a good second. The heifer class
was a creditable one of six. Sir W. Trevelyan here fol-
lowed up his York success with the heifer bred by Mr,
Stamper, which we characterised as about A. 1. on the
ground, and which on that occasion took the prize, and
also Mayor's Cup, as best Shorthorn in the yard. The York
placing is carried out in the second prize also — this going
to Lord Zetland. The third prize does not follow ; Mr.
Robson's York entry being here beaten by a very neat,
thick animel belouging to H. F. ]\I. Ingram, Temple
Newsam. Mr. Robson's young heifer is not nearly up ;
she will go on, and come another day. Mr. Drysdale's
red ox takes the President's Cup for best animal on
the ground, and Leeds Innkeepers' Plate for best
Shorthorn. The judges are, it appears, at least con-
sistent, if not something more, it being cei-tainly
consistent to make the animal beating the Smithfield and
Y''ork "best beasts" win the plate for best Shorthorn
animal here ; but it may possibly seem to some not so
much consistent as persistent (in error ?) to give that
animal the cup as the best animal on the show-ground.
The premium for the best cross-bred ox or Irish ox went
to Scotland. Mr. Bruce's first prize is a fine cylindrical
mass of beef, somewhat coarse in bone. Mr. McCombie's
red ox, the winner at York last week, is third. We then
fully described him as a very heavy good animal. He is
somewhat coarse on the shoulder, but weighs at least 110
stones, and is as leval as a table on back and sides. Mr.
Ripley's ox, which obtains second, is a first appearance
this year, and though he is a good animal and has ribs,
hips,' and loins thoroughly covered, is deficient at the
breast point, and not nearly equal to Mr. McCombie's ox
in depth and breadth as a fat ox. This class is here first-
rate. Mr. Bruce's ox, the winner in this elass, takes
the cup for best beast in the cross-breeds classes. Sir W.
C. Trevelyan, Mr, H. M, Ingram, and Mr, Raid take the

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

?9

crossbred heifer prizes in their order. Sir W. C. Tre-
velyan's animal is large and level, and full of quality, and
fairly beats Mr. Reid's York second-prize animal, who
now takes third. She is common looking iu bone ; and
is down in back and belly. The Scotch classes were not
well filled. The four classes had only 14 entries. Here
York was really repeated. Mr. Reid's polled ox and
heifer took first in their respective classes, Lord Harewood
also taking first and second with Horned Highlaaders, as
at York. A second inspection justifies us in stating that
this winner is one of the best Highlanders ever shown.
Mr. Harrison's two heifers are first and second at Leeds,
as at York. "Such a pan-" are seldom seen; and we
credit the Highlander most cheerfully with the guerdon
of success.

In the tenant farmers' classes there was a capital
competition, the entries being 38 in four classes. Mr.
Pulver's second prize at York was here best ox, Mr.
Tasker, of Naburn, taking second with a good animal,
the first prize district ox at York ; and Mr. Lancaster's
thu-d prize ox on the young class takes same place here.
]\Ir. Tasker takes first in the eow class for tenant farmers
with a long, heavy animal, and Mr. McCombie wins the
second. In the heifers the first prize was won easily with
Mr. MacPherson's 3 yrs. 10 months' heifer, the winner
in cross-breed heifers at York. The second prize went
to Mr. Sharp, of Kettering, and the third to Mr. Ripley,
Kirk Hammerton. The prize animal is a pretty animal
with a dark nose, and Mr. Ripley's young heifer is full of
quality, but not good in the loin. Mr. MacPherson's
heifer takes the cup for best animal in the tenants' classes,
and no one can grumble at such an honour being awarded
to her. The fat cow in milk prize went to Mr. Drake, Leeds,
for a great good cow in milk and deef. She took also a
£3 cup in this class. There were 17 entries, and
nearly all came to the post, and close competition ensued.
A cow that can milk and keep up condition is a valuable
animal ; but this can do more— she can make milk and meat
simultaneously. The second prize weat to Mr. B. Bird-
sail, "Woodhouse, Leeds, and the third to Mr. Shepherd,
Leeds, for two capital Yorkshire cows.

The show of sheep was, on the whole, in numbers
rather scant ; but there were some prime animals brought
out. In the horned Scotch there was a great competi-
tion as well as a good one. Mr. Jas. Bruce, of Focha-
bers, N.B., took first and second with the best animals of
this class which we have met with this year. Lord
Crawford, Lord Grautley, Mr. Crossley, :Mr. Bridou,
and others sent some well-fed blackfaces. In cross-breds
Mr. Bruce also came first, beating Mr. Agar's York prize
animals. In " Downs and other breeds" Lord AVenlock,
who was beaten by Lord Zetland at York, turned the tables,
and took first honours, leaving Lord Zetland the second
prize ; but Lord Wenlock's prize sheep were better than
those he exhibited at York. The Leicester or longwool
class produced but one entry, as at York, but that entry
was a marvellous good one. Indeed, Mr. Byron's three
Lincoln wethers were worthy of the prize and the cup for
the best pen of sheep on the ground, which, in the face of
such doughty champions as the two noble lords, they ob-
tained. They alone fully sustained the honour of the
longwools against all comers. We think we never saw
better longwools, but certainly never better sheep of any
other breed.

The pig show comprised 73 pens in 9 classes — a
number ensuring a good competition generally. In
some classes there were a dozen capital animals. We
are not going to attempt to describe the points
of prize pigs. The work is in vain. They are now
moulded to shape, and the best individuals are types
of large numbers of the same shape and make, Fat

is their normal condition, as we find them at the
cottage homes of the West Riding, and fat they are at the
pig shows. Sleekness is their beauty, and somnolence
their habit, and when they have attained both they become
prize takers ! And on this occasion Messrs. Duckering
and Sons, filr. Bramfel, Mr. Ambler, and Mr. Clement
Beswick Royds have brought out specimens worthy
of their high standing as breeders of the useful animal.
In the farms and cottages of the West Riding, however,
Competitors have not been found wanting, to compete,
and successfully, against the swell breeders. Mrs. Mary
Wilson, RichmondHill, Leeds, takes first prize for middle-
breed fat pig, and Mr. Joseph Bartle, Hunslet-road,
Leeds, for one of the same breed exceeding 12 months
old. Mr. Geo. Cochrane Seacrof gets a first for small-
breed fat pig, and Mr. John Ballance, Britton-terrace,
Halton, Leeds, has the first-prize sow, small breed ; while
Mr. Henton, Leeds, wins the first prize for three pork-
pigs. Slary Wilson and other locals get several more
lower prizes, and tlie crack breeders have many seconds
and thirds where the local breeders take firsts. Messrs.
Duckering and Sou have first and second for fat pig
large breed, second for fat pig middle-bred, under 13
mouths, where Mr. Bramfit comes in. Messrs.
Duckering also get first prize fat sow, middle breed, and
third for small breed under 12 months old, as well as
third for fat sow, small breed. Mr. Ambler, Mr. Royds,
and Mr. Bramfit have also their successes.

The poultry show comprised 411 pens in 41 classes, an
average competition of 10; and pigeons 248 in 17
classes, an average of 15. Rabbits numbered 47 in 5
classes. The popularity of these faucy animals in York-
shire is only equalled by the skill which is brought to
bear in their cultivation. The success of these breeders
has been commensurate with the pains taken, and the
value of the " pets" has increased in the same ratio as
their excellence ; £100 for a game bird is the sale price
in many instances put down in the catalogue, and 50 gs.
for a pouter pigeon is no uncommon thing to see iu the
same list. To those who are iuterested in these minor
breeds of domestic pets, this show has at once been a treat
and a school of instruction. Oar limits will not allow us
to say more than this. To attempt to point out individual
merit would be injustice, where that merit is so great and
so varied that it cannot be fully illustrated by a single pen.
Let us not forget a very important item in the story of
the Leeds Cattle Show. The Judges were — Fat cattle
and sheep : Mr. James Dixon, Berwick-upon-Tweed ; Mr.
Edmund Parker, Newton, near Castleford ; Mr. Wilkin-
son, Shearsmith, Hull. Pigs : Mr. Peter Eden, Salford,
Manchester ; Mr. George Smart, Woodhouse Grange,
Aberford, South IMilford. At York last week the judges
^vere— Cattle : Mr. W. Hill, of Wetherley, and Mr. T.
Scott, of Grantly, Ripou ; of sheep, Mr. G. Walmsley, of
Rudston, Bridlington, and Mr. W. Wood, of York ; of
pigs, Mr. R. Fawcett, of Osbaldwick, and Mr. J. Shilleto,
of" York.

FAT CATTLE SHOWS.

WEST OF ENGLAND FAT CATTLE AND POULTRY
SHOW. — This show opened at Plymouth, and Somerset
breeders have been very successful with their variety
of Devon cattle. In the young steer class Mr. WaUer
Farthing took first prize for a beast bred by himself. In
the old steer class he had their honours with a three-years
and nine months' animal, bred by Sir A. Hood, St.
Audries Williton. In the class for heifers not exceeding four
years Mr. Farthing was first with a two years and five months'
beast, and with the same animal he won an extra prize,
for the best cow or heifer bred and fed by exhibitor. In tlie
Shorthorn classes Mr. W. H. Hewett, of Norton Court, Taun-

go

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

ton, obtainedthe fii'st prize in the steer class under three
years aud three mouths witli a steer two years aud eight
months old, bred by liimself. Mr. J. S. Bult, of Dodliill,
Kingston, Taunton, ranked second with a two years and nine
months' beast of his own breeding. In the extra stock classes
Mr. farthing again came to tlie front. In the oxen or steer
class he showed the Shorthorn which has taken second prizes at
Islington and Birrainghani this year, and this ox now took
a special prize of 10 gs. for the best ox or steer in the yard.
In the cow and heifer extra class Mr. Farthing had it again all
his own way, taking the first prize of the class, and also
10 gs. given for the best cow or lioil'er in the yard. This animal
is a Devon cow, four years aud three montlis old, bred
by exhibitor. The poultry exhibition was very good.
The dinner was put oif in consequence of the illness of the
Prince of Wales.

THE LIVERPOOL P;\.T CATTLE SHOW.— Amongst
the cattle was the heifer belonging to Her Majesty the Queen
which took the first prize at the Sniithfield and Birmingham
shows ; and a Devon heifer, the property of His Royal High-
ness the Prince of Wales, but owing to the present circum-
stances they did not enter for competition. In class I., for tlie
best ox of any breed, the first, second, and third prizes were
carried off by an Irish bred ox. The first and second prizes
were awarded to Mr. M'Corabie, M.P., Aberdeen, for tlie best
polled or Aberdeen ox ; wiiilst Mr. Puggs, of Kirkcudbright,
took the first and second prizes for heifers of the same breed.
Tlie first, second, and third prizes for best cow, any age or
breed, were taken by an Irisli bred cow ; as were also the first,
second, and third prizes for the best heifer of any age or breed.
Mr. Riggs took tlie first prize for the best heifer, of any age
or breed, fed in England or .Scotland. Ireland also took the
first and second prizes for the best pair of out-fed oxen ;
and the first, second, and third prizes for the best pair of out-
fed heifers; and the first, second, and third prizes for the best
pair of out-fed cows. The first prize for the best pair of
oxen was awarded to a pair from Ireland ; aud the first, second,
and third prizes were likewise taken by the best pair of cows,
which were bred in Ireland. The first, second, and tliird
prizes (or tlie best pair of lieifers were alse taken by an Irish-
bred pair. The first and second prizes for the best pure-bred
Shorthorn iieifer were also taken liy Irish heifers. The show
of sheep was good, and in this, as in the show of cattle, the
greater number of the prizes were awarded to Irish breeds.
In fact, out of a large number of pens only two prizes were
awarded to Englisli pens.

TREDEGAR AGRICULTURAL SHOW AT NEW-
PORT.— Wednesday was this year the chief show day, the
interest on the first day being centered in the horses. There
were seventeen entries in tlie light weights, but only eleven
came forward. The first prize was won by Col. Lindsay's May
Queen, and the second by Mr. Mansfield's The Lamb. There
were 143 entries in the cattle classes, amongst which there was
a short show of Herefords. There were only two entries for
the silver cup for the best yearling bull of the Hereford breed,
aud Mr. Rees Kesne, Pencreeg, Caerleon, was awarded the
prize, but no small dissatisfaction was expressed at the decision.
Eor the cup given for tlie best yearling heifer Mr. J.
Morris, of Madley, showed a Hereford lieifer, which took the
second prize at the Wolverliampton meeting of the Royal
Agricultural Society, and was one of the pair that took first prize
at Hereford in October, but was liere beaten by a Shorthorn,
a little gem. For the cup for the best stock bull above two
years old there were six Herefords and seven Shorhorns exhi-
bited, among tliem the Hereford Dulas, and a Shorthorn shown
by Mr. G. Game, of Chipping Norton. The premiership was
awarded to the Shorthorns. The plate of 20 guineas fur the
best male animal in the yard was awarded to Mr. Warren
Evans's bull Wouaughty 3rd, who was also awarded the prize
for the best bull with cow and offspring. There were only thirty
entries in the sheep classes, which would seem, by the way, a
small number for a show of this standing. The bulk of
them came from Glamorganshire. Only two pens of Welsh
mountains were shown, Breeonshire furnishing one and Mon-
mouthshire the other. Pigs were represented by 46 entries, and
were pretty equally distributed over a large area. Newport
has done very well in securing prizes for these useful animals-
The horses numbered 124 entries. Many of the prizes this
year had very large numbers of competitors, and in some cases

there was difficulty in awarding prizes, so keen was the com-
petition.

IPSWICH FAT CATTLE SHOW. — The prize for
the best fat pure or cross-bred steer, under 30 months,
was taken by Mr. Green, of East Donyland, with a
very fine animal, weighing over 80 stone. The crack beast
in the next class (over 30 months) was Mr. Frost's fine four-
year-old Shorthorn, which took the first prize, beating Mr. J.
J. Colraan's polled steer, tlie second-prize winner in the
Shorthorn class at Smithfield, with which the competition was
very close. The heaviest bullock in tlie class was that ex-
hibited by Mr. Woods, of Oulton, Lowestoft, a winner at the
Miitford and Lothingland show last summer. In the next
class (fat heifers, pure and cross-bred, not exceeding four years
old) Mr. Green was to the front again with a pretty little
white heifer, but rather deficient in tlie hind quarters, a first-
prize winner at the Essex show at Romford. The premium
for the best fat cow was taken by Mr. N. Catchpoole, of
Ipswich, with a handsome animal, winner of the first prize at
Beceles, second at Sudbury, and second at Ipswich in 1869.
The " any breed " class was a very poor one, the only beasts
worth looking at being a couple of stalwart Highlanders,
whose claims were, however, ignored in favour of Mr. R.
Cooke's Shortliorns. The four Shorthorns shown by Mr. G.
Symonds, of Botesdale, for the £10 cup, were splendid, both
for size and symmetry. In addition to the ordinary prizes,
the president oft'ercd a special prize of £10 10s. for the best
beast in the yard, Messrs. Webber, Hedge, and Co., supple-
menting this excellent premium by a ton of their best oilcake.
The judging of the different prize animals for the blue ribbon
of the show was watched with great interest. Tlie competi-
tion lay between Mr. Frost's (Wyveuhoe) old Shorthorn and
Mr. Green's younger animal. Eventually tlie judges gave the
award to the older and heavier beast. Sheep ; The sliow of
sheep was the best we have seen in Suffolk — considerably
superior to that at Beceles in the summer. For the best pen
of short-wooled sheep under 23 months there were nine
entries; the judges awarded the first prize to Mr. Charles
Boby, of Stutton. Mr. Overman was first for short-woolled
wethers over 23 months, and also took the prize for cross-
breds under 23, so he liad every reason to be contented. The
prize for the best 20 fat sheep of any age or breed was won
by a nice lot sent by Mr. J. Smith, of Hasketon. Pigs:
Some fine porkers were on the ground, conspicuous among
them Lord Rendlesham's two-year-old sow, which credited
liis lordship with both the five-guinea special prizes presented
by Mr. A. Ogilvie for the best sow and the best animals in
the yard.

THE MALTON CHRISTMAS FAT STOCK SALES.—
The results of the sales iield at the fortnight fair, by Mr.
Boulton, last month, were as follow : — Bullock, belonging to
the executors of the late Mr. John Scott (Mr. Walter
Taylor), £42 ; bullock, belonging to Mr. Cadmaii, Broughton
(Mr. Evvbank), £38 3s. 6d. ; bullock, belonging to Mr.
Fenwick, Swinton (Mr. Duck Grosmout), £63 ; five heifers,
ditto, £128 ; two bullocks, belonging to Captain Copper-
thwaite, £52 7s. Cd. ; bullock and heifer, belonging to Mr.
Robson, Howebridge, £11 10s. : six heifers, belonging to Mr.
Hudson, Howsham, £124 7s. 6d. ; bullock and heifer,
belonging to Sir George Cholmley, £58 5s. ; two bullocks and
one heifer, belonging to Mr. Miles, lleslerton, £63 7s. 6d. ;
two heifers and one bullock, belonging to Mr. Wilson, Whit-
well, £79 10s.; two lieifers, belonging to Mr. Wilson, Firby,
£45 12s. Gd. ; four bullocks, from Mr. Cook, of Thixendale,
£107 12s. 6d. ; one heifer, from Mr. Cook, of Sutton,
£29 15s. ; two heifers, from Mr. Smith, of Mowthorpe,
^04 10s. ; also upwards of twenty fat beasts, from A' 14 to
£18 each.

PENRITH ANNUAL FAT STOCK SHOW.— Tiiis
annual show was held at the Agricultural Hall, when the
whole of the animals exhibited were of a superior character.
The following are the principal prize winners : — For sheep,
the Earl of Lonsdale, Messrs. II. M. Frazer, J. C. Lancaster,
J. R. Bridson, L. Harrison, R. Thompson, Captain Gandy.
ior cattle, Messrs. G. C. Wilson, Lewthwaite, J. Birkett, T.
Hunter, Sir George Musgrave, and Mrs. Ann Speak. The
total amount realised by the sale of the competing sheep was
£1,038 16s. 3d., or an average of 71s. each ; and 54 prize
cattle realised £1,926 5s., an average of £35 13s. 5d. each.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE FARMERS' CLUB ANNUAL DINNER.

Tlie auuual dinner took place on Tuesday, December 5, at the
Salisbury Hotel. About 100 gentlemen were present, the
chairman of the year, I\[r. J. Ji. Spearinj?, presiding, while
Mr. H. Cheffins, the chairman of the Club for next year
occupied the vice-chair. The dinner itself was worthy of
the growing reputation of the Salisbury, being altogether of
the best quality, and admirably served. The musical
arrangements, which were very satisfactory, were under the
direction of Mr. Seymour Smith, who was assisted by Mr.
Dawson and Mr. R. Mason.

The Chairman, in proposing " The Queen," observed,
that at this period, when all sup[)osed defects were so freely
discussed, it was satisfactory to know that they lived under a
monarch, who was at once popular and powerful— powerful,
not so much because she ruled over a vast empire, as because
she reigned in the hearts and affections of a loyal people, and did
not wish to deny liberty of speech even to those who desired
to overthrow the Throne and the Constitution.
The toast was drunk with great enthusiasm.
Tlie Chairman next proposed " His Royal Highness tlie
Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, and the rest of the
lloyal Paraily." He congratulated the company that the
most recent bulletins with regard to the iieir apparent were
satisfactory, and warranted the hope tliat ere long His Royal
Highness would be restored to liis usual state of health. They
all knew that the Prince took the greatest interest in agricul-
ture, as evidenced by the excellence of the animals whicli he
exliibited at Birmingham, and now at the Siiow at Islington.
Tliis toast having been cordially responded to, was followed
by that of" The Army, the Navy, the Militia, and the Volun-
teers."

Tlie Chairman then said : Gentlemen, I have now to pro-
pose what may be considered the toast of the evening, viz. :
" Success to the Parraers' Club— and thanks to those gentle-
men wlio have read Papers during the past year." This Club
has now existed for 27 years, and it is now, not merely hold-
ing its own, but gradually increasing in numbers, in influence,
and_ in funds. During that long period many old and
familiar faces have passed away from us, and it is a painful duty
for the chairman of each year to record the names of some
of those who have since the last annual meeting been
removed by death. On the present occasion I liave to men-
tion the names of Lord Berners, Mr. John Clayden, Mr.
George Jackson, Mr. Edmunds, and Mr. Richard Stratton—
men who were well known in this Club and duly appreciated
by us all. The duty which I have undertaken of pro-
posing this toast is not an arduous one, because, as will be
seen from tlie report submitted by the committee to the mem-
bers at the annual meeting, the Club is in a very satisfactory
and llourishing condition. The subjects which have
been discussed during tlie past year are of a most interesting
and practical nature, and I am sure that the thanks which I
propose to the gentlemen who introduced them will be most
freely accorded. In February we had a discussion on
" English Cheese Factories — how to establish and how to
manage lliem," introduced by Mr. J. Coleman ; in March, on
" The Supply of English Cavalry Horses," introduced by Mr.
E. Tattersall ; in April, on " The Growth of Cabbage and
kindred crops," introduced by Mr. Clement Cadle ; in May,
on the question " How to Hire and How to Let a Farm," in-
troduced by Mr. Mechi ; in November, on " The Agricultural
Labourer— hisEmployment, Wages, and Education," introduced
by Ur. Clare Sewell Read, M.P. ; and last night we had a
discussion on " Breeding— Facts and Principles," introduced
by Mr. J. K. Fowler. I earnestly hope that many of our younger
members will, before the meeting of the committee in January,
send in proposals for subjects of discussion next year ; for
unless we keep on importing young blood and getting fresh
subjects of interest to agriculture, we shall not, I fear,
be enabled to maintain the usefulness of the Club ; while
if my suggestion be acted upon, there may be an equally
good account to be rendered at the end of next year.
In looking back to the discussions of former years I have'

found that there is scarcely any important question connected
with agriculture which has not been considered ; and I think,
therefore, it must be admitted by all that the Club has been
doing useful work, and has deserved well of the country.
There are, indeed, some persons who appear to think
otherwise, perhaps because they expect too much from
the Farmers' Club. For instance, if a man takes a farm that
is overstocked with game, or has insufficient cottage accommo-
dation, or is too highly rented, or is encumbered with a lot of
absurd covenants, which when he agreed to them he knew he
could not perform, he thinks, perhaps, that the Farmers' Club
ought to reform all that and release him from his difii-
culties by an appeal to the Legislature. I say that that
man is expecting too much from us. If one thing be more
required than another in tenant farmers as a body, it is that
they should he true to themselves (cheers). If we are not
true to ourselves we can do no good either for ourselves or for
our landlords, and I may add that in all such cases the land-
lord is the first to suff"er in the long run. Gentlemen,
I will not detain you by making a long speech. I have
said what I had to say, and now propose the toast (loud
cheers).
The toast was drnnk with cordiality.

Mr. A. Pell, M.P., said it was not without some feeling of
regret that he rose to propose " The Chairman," as that duty
was assigned to him in consequence of the unavoidable absence
of one to whom it had usually been confided ; he need scarcely
say that he alluded to their excellent friend — a friend of long
acquaintance, and an old member of that Club — Mr. Clar'
Sewell Read. Mr. Read had a sharp attack of what he
called his " old enemy bronchitis," and he was sorry to say
that it was not unlikely that he would not be well enough to
come up to town that week. He was not ashamed to confess
that in his public capacity he had to some extent looked upon
Mr. Read as his master, feeling that he could hardly be wrong
in following in his steps, and taking his advice when he re-
quired the opinion of a second person for his own guidance ;
and lie hoped that his friend would soon again come forth in
public with renewed health and strength. In an as-
sembly like that, which comprised men who ranged themselves,
some with one and some with the other of the two great politi-
cal parties in the kingdom, lie must be careful not to make any
remarks in a Conservative or Tory spirit. He could not, how-
ever, help observing that tlie two old parties into which the
country was entirely divided up to a few years ago — he meant,
of course, the Whigs and the Tories— seemed now to be re-
solving themselves into other forms, and would soon be, if they
were not already to a great extent, the communist or town
party on the one side, and the party connected with real estate
and rural life on the other. He might assume, he thought,
that all the members of that Club, being connected in some
way with the management or cultivation of the soil, must be
practically, in the common sense of the word, countrymen, in
contradistinction to those who were termed townsmen ; and he
was reminded that two-thirds of the members of that Club
must belong to the vocation of agriculture in order to give it
that distinct character which entitled it to the name of " The
Farmers' Club." That being the case, lie thought that with-
out giving offence to the greatest Liberal in that room or run-
ning into the extreme of Toryism, he might congratulate the
Club on the position which agriculturists as a body occupied
as a useful auxiliary of the cause of good order and stable
Government. It had been repeatedly stated that the
occupiers of the soil were slow to approach new ideas, and
that it was very difficult to get them to assent to any improve-
ment because tiiey were bigoted iu favour of whatever was
old. It did not follow that an idea was bad because
it was old. He would take leave to assert that
farmers as a body were ready to adopt new ideas
both with regard to the manner of conducting their own
business and with regard to public affairs, when they could be
proved to be sound ; but on the other iiand, he must confess on
their behalf that it would be difficult to eradicate from the

G

82

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

minds of the cultivators of the soil the idea that the present
form of government in this country was practically the best
form that it could possess (loud cheers), that a greater amount
of true liberty was to be found in this happy island than in
any country on the European continent or elsewhere ; and
that Republicanism might set up a greater tyrant, or impose a
greater amount of tyranny than was ever seen in con-
nection witli the greatest despot or despotism that ever
oppressed human beings. The tyranny of enormous
majorities in large towns — and he wished to keep dis-
tinctly in view the difference between town life and country
life — might, in his opinion, be more galling than that of any
single despot that ever ruled a country ; and he believed
that the class to which lie belonged, and which was
well represenled at that table, if not so valuable as some other
classes, was quite as likely to aid in preserving and encouraging
real liberty and useful development (cheers). It might be
that they were slow speakers and slow thinkers ; but that arose
perhaps from the nature of the occupation in which they were
engaged. If they were as yet a minority (cries of " No, no")
they were an increasing minority ; they had a great state in
the kingdom, and as an English minority, living under tlie
English monarchy, they claimed to take their position side by
side and on equal terms with the greatest majority.
As regarded their chairman, he wished to observe that, having
gone through the list, he found that there were only thirty-
three members who were older as regarded the date of election
than their present chairman — a fact which alone entitled him
to favourable consideration (cheers). The chairman, how-
ever, had rendered great services to agriculture, not merely in
that Club but elsewhere. It was now something like nineteen
years ago since he first appeared before the public as a writer,
and a successful writer, on a subject which was then compara-
tively new to agriculture, namely, the relative advantages of
steam as a motive power in agriculture. A prize having been
offered by the Royal Agricultural Society of England for the
best essay on that subject, it was competed for by many good
men and the chairman was the successful competitor. He
could not tell them how many times the chairman was unsuc-
cessful between 1852 and 1860— that he probably kept in his
own breast (laughter) ; but in the latter year he obtained from
the same Society the prize which it had offered for the best essay
on the agriculture of Berkshire. In 1863, when Mr. Bradshaw
was chairman of the Club, Mr. Spearing read before that Club
a good paper upon the effect of climate on cultivation ; and in
1868, when Mr. Clare Sewell Read occupied the chair, he read
another excellent paper on the controverted education question.
By those four productions he certainly well entitled himself to
fill the position which he had occupied with so much success,
and in which he had manifested so much kind and gentlemanly
feeling during the present year (cheers). Further, for ten
years consecutively he had been one of the judges at the Bir-
niingham show — a fact which showed that he was a good prac-
tical man as well as a good theorist and a successful writer of
essays. Much, however, as he admired the chairman, he should
like to see younger heads coining forward as writers and
speakers. New ideas were not to be expected from com-
paratively old men ; there was much scope for usefulness in
young men apart from their farms and attention to their own
business ; and if the Nestors of agriculture, and those who
seemed to many to adhere to the old rule of thumb, were
leaveued, as it were, by the influence of the leaders of agri-
cultural thought, there would then be a very good mixture.
He now proposed the health of their chairman, Mr. Spearing
(loud cheers).

The toast was drunk with the honours.

The CHAIRJIA.N, in returning thanks, said he could only
account for his own selection for the oflice which he filled, by
the fact that the Club had had such strong chairmen for two
or three years, that it was thought that a very moderate one
would do for one year (laughter).

Mr. J. Brown proposed " The Royal Agricultural Society
of England, the Highland Society of Scotland, and the Royal
Agricultural Society of Ireland," coupling with the toast the
names of Mr. Masfen and Mr, Garnett, tlie latter gentleman
for the Irish Society. There could be no doubt that
all the great agricultural societies were doing useful work
in their several spheres. The Farmers' Club supplied a very
important want, and no one would attend its discussion
meetings without taking back to his own district some useful

ideas. The Royal Agricultural Society periodically planted its
standard in some distant part of the country, and diffused most
valuable information among farmers ; and if it had failed to
fulfil all the purposes for which it was established, it was their
part to criticise it in a friendly way, and to seek to get it
amended where amendment was required.

Mr. JIaspen, in returning thanks for the Royal Agricul-
tural Society of England, said he did not envy the feelings of
that man who thought that he lost a day by attending one of
the annual gatherings of either of the Societies included in the
toast. He believed that the good effect of the meeting in
South Staffordshire would be seen for many years ; and with
regard to the local subscriptions, he was happy to be enabled
to state that the £8,000 required for expenses was made up,
and that there was a surplus remaining to be disposed of.
At the discussion of the Farmers' Club meeting on the
previous night, Mr. Congreve complained that gentlemen in
his position had great difficulty in getting animals for grazing
purposes. Formerly there was one class of men who bred, and
another class who fed ; but during the last few years meat
had reached such a price, that men who bred had thought it
worth their while to bring their animals to maturity, and
instead of selling to men like Mr. Congreve, they sold to
the butcher. As regarded the Highland Society of Scot-
land, having been one of the judges at its last annual show,
held at Perth, he was happy to say that it was a very cre(litable
one, and that there were a great many animals that would
have done credit to a show of the Royal Agricultural Society
of England or any Society in the world (cheers).

Mr. Garnett said, as a member of the Royal Agricultural
Society of Ireland, he could testify that although only in its
infancy as compared with some other Societies, it was a great
success, and any one who visited the show last August, at
which the Prince of Wales was present, must have felt satis-
fied that Ireland was not in such a wretched state as
some people in tliis country had represented it to be.
Having had 50 years' experience of Irish agriculture, he
could declare that the people of that country when treated
with justice and firmness — for it was these that were wanted —
were not as bad as they were described. He had no wish to
touch on political questions, but he could not help saying
that as the Irish difficulty had upset many a Government in
past times, so he believed that when the present Government
came to deal with the education question, they would find
themselves upset too. His belief was that although there were
in Ireland a few visionary creatures like Sir Charles Dilke,
the country would continue to improve, and be in the end
firmly united with England, and that Irish farmers would
profit by the example of English farmers (cheers).

Mr. H. Tretiiewy proposed " The Vice-Chairman, Mr. H.
Cheffins," one of the oldest members of the Club, and one
who had rendered great service to it in many capacities ; and
he congratulated the company that that gentleman would be
the Chairman duriug the ensuing year. He (Mr. Trethewy)
did not concur in the opinion just expressed by Mr. Masfen
in reference to the complaint made by Mr. Congreve in
the discussion of the preceding evening. No doubt breeding
farms were grazing farms ; but lie did not believe the scarcity
of animals complained of by Mr. Congreve was owing to the
cause supposed.

Mr. H. Cheefins, in returning thanks, said, although he
might not be an efficient chairman, be would promise to do his
best, and, considering the benefits which he had received
through constant association with many of its most distin-
guished members, he would be ungrateful indeed if he did not
endeavour to obtain the approval of the Club. In conclusion
he proposed " The Smithfield Club," and spoke of the vast
and increasing good which it was conferring on agriculture
and the country.

Mr. T. HoRLEY, in responding, said no one could deny that
the Smithfield Club had conferred great benefit in introducing
a better quality of meat than the public could command before
it was established. It was an unfortunate circumstance that
the foot-and-mouth disease had shown itself in some of the
animals sent to the Show ; but he thought the Club wisely
determined to defer any further action in the matter until
February. The disease was now so rife, and had become such
a universal epidemic, that some persons thought it should be
stamped out as the cattle-plague was. He himself believed
that the half-measures at present in operation had no ten-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

83

dency whatever to check the disease, while they were certainly
a great hindrance and annoyance to numbers ; and unless the
owners of stock and the public were prepared to revert to the
rigid regulations adopted in the case of rinderpest, he could
see no end to the evil.

Mr. KiLPiN proposed " The Committee of Management,"
coupled with the name of Mr. Major Lucas.

After a cordial response to the toast,

Mr. Lucas said he was proud of belonging to the com-
mittee, because so many of his colleagues had rendered great
service to the Club. While they took leave of their worthy
chairman that day with regret, they looked forward to the
coming one with congratulation (cheers). But however ex-
cellent the chairman might be there always sat at his side a
gentleman who had always been a most useful and efficient
officer of that Club, and he had now, not the task, but the
pleasure of proposing the health of their worthy Secretary,
Mr. Henry Corbet (cheers). He was sure they would all join
heartily with him in wishing health and happiness to a gentle-
man who had done so much to promote the prosperity of the
Club, and who had for so many years performed his duties in
an able and satisfactory manner. He knew from observa-
tion that Mr. Corbet was an anxious and a jealous
Secretary — anxious for the continued usefulness of the Club,
and jealous for the interests of agriculture ; and he hoped
that lie would live for many years to promote the interests of
the Club in the same astute and successful manner as he had
done in the past.

The toast having been drunk with the honours,

Mr. H. Corbet said as the Secretary of that Club he
begged to return thanks for the honour which had just been
conferred upon him. That was, he was proud to say, the
twenty-iifth occasion on which he had had to perform tliat
duty. Holding the position that he did, it might more
properly be in his province to speak to the history and position
of the Club. He had no explanation to make, no excuses to
offer. The report of the committee presented at the annual
meeting of the members tliat day showed that, whether soci-
ally or publicly, the position occupied by tlie Farmers' Club
had never been better than it was then. The balance-sheet,
audited by gentlemen who were quite independent of tlie com-
mittee, proved that the finances of the Club were never in a
better condition. He had that evening heard some encomiums
passed on that Club, and on some other institutions of a
kindred character. He believed there was no institution
which liad in its sphere done more good to agriculture than
their own. Last year it was his happiness to refer to a colonial
newspaper in which a gentleman said that he read the dis-
cussions of that Club with more pleasure than he felt in read-
ing the debates of the Legislature of his own colony. Within
the last few days there had been a meeting in the Midland
Counties of an agricultural Society, which in the summer held
an exhibition of stock. That Society thought that during
the winter season, instead of going to sleep like a dormouse,
it could do better in holding discussion meetings. At the
first meeting the chair was occupied by a member of the House
of Commons, who spoke, in opening the proceedings, of the
extended and extending influence of agriculturists, and
referred especially to the beneficial influence exercised by
that Club. He would not trust himself to repeat from
memory exactly what that gentleman did say, but he be-
lieved he acknowledged that no agricultural institution had
done more for the advancement and improvement of agricul-
ture (cheers). He (Jlr. Corbet) had no fears for the future
of that Club socially or financially ; what he did fear was lest
they should not be able to sustain their programme of discus-
sions. As each year came round he said to himself " What
shall we do — what shall we put on the card ?" Mr. Pell liad
spoken of the necessity of introducing young men, new blood,
and new ideas. He could assure Mr. Pell that he had just
received a number of subjects proposed for discussion, some
of which would almost frighten him for their novelty.
Looking to the past, Mr. Masfen had spoken of the ne-
cessity of greater security on the part of occupiers ; and
whenever gentlemen talked on tliat subject they invariably
came back to this point — that it was absurd for persons
to attempt to farm in the best manner unless they had
proper security for the capital which they invested. That
was a very honest and a very substantial principle, but
it was a principle which belonged to that Club (Hear, hear.)

Through good report and evil report, through absurd abuse
and faint praise, under all disadvantages and discouragements,
Tenant Right had been advocated and contended for in that
Club. After having dropped for a time it rose up again, and
he believed that it was destined to ultimate success (cheers).
His desire was to say as little as possible about himself and as
much as possible about the Club ; but he felt greatly
obliged to Mr. Lucas for the handsome manner in which he
had spoken of his services, and he sincerely thanked them
all, individually and collectively, for the reception accorded
to the toast (cheers).

The concluding toast was " The visitors."

The company separated soon after 10 o'clock, after spending
one of the pleasantest evenings in the annals of the Club.

THE GENERAL ANNUAL MEETING.

At the general annual meeting on Tuesday, December 5th,
Mr. J. B. Spearing, in the chair, the following report from
the committee was received and adopted :

A reference to the balance-sheet will furnish the best
evidence as to the prosperity of tlie Farmers' Club, which
well maintains its position. Although there have not been so
many new members elected in 1871 as in 1870 — the accession
of strength being 46 against 56 — the income is equal to that
of the previous year, a fact which speaks to the larger amount
of subscriptions paid up. The arrears, indeed, have never
been more closely collected ; although the committee is still
surprised to find that a few members who make continual use
of the Club neglect to discharge their obligations in this way,
even after repeated applications have been made. If the in-
come will compare favourably with that of previous years the
expenditure has been kept well within bounds, and it is long
since there has been a better balance at the bank. Some calls,
however, will require to be met from time to time on the six
additional £20 shares taken in the India Peninsula Railway
Company.

Looking to the Club's uses and duties in another direction,
it is satisfactory to say that the committee has been enabled
to fill in the discussion card with subjects which have been
so well-timed and handled as to again command much
attention beyond the mere precincts of the Club. There is,
indeed, no question but that more aud more weight is coming
to be attached to these meetings, and to any expression of
opinion which may emanate from them. In some proof of
this it may be mentioned that the International Decimal Asso-
ciation has sought the support of the Club in an endeavour to
obtain some uniform system of weight, and the committee,
from its past experience and communications with all the chief
agricultural bodies in the kingdom, has been enabled to give
its concurrence to a movement whioli may be almost said to
have originated with the Club some years since. A full re-
port of these proceedings has already appeared in the
Club Journal. The committee has also given its best aid
to the French Peasant Farmers' Seed Fund in calling the atten-
tion of the members to the object, for which at the outset the
committee received an official vote of thanks from that
society.

The committee has again to lament the loss of some of its
most respected members, as the deaths during the past year
include those of Lord Berners, Mr. John Clayden, Mr. George
Jackson, of Tattenhall, Mr. Edmunds, of Rugby, and Mr.
Richard Stratton. Mr. Clayden was a member of the com-
mittee, and, in accordance with rule 13, Mr. T. Horley has
been nominated to fill the vacancy.

Mr. Henry Cheffins has been elected chairman of the Club
for 1872.

The following members of the committee went out by rota-
tion : T. Congreve, T. B. Dring, J. Dumbrell, C. Howard, J.
Howard, M.P., E. M. Major Lucas, F. Neame, R. J. Newton,
T. Owen, C. S. Read, M.P., J. B. Spearing, J. Thompson, and
A. Voelcker — all of whom were re-elected but Mr. Dumbrell,
who was inehgible from non-attendance, and Mr, J. G. King
elected on to the committee in his place.

A vote of thanks was past to the auditors, and MessrSi T.

84

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Willson, N. Rix, aud E. I'lirser, jun., elected auditors for the
ensuing year.

Mr. AUendcr gave notice that at the next general meeting
he would move " That the attendances of retiring members of
the committee be taken on an average of the three preceding
years."

The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the chair-
man.

THE LATE RICHARD STRATTON.

More than thirty years ago, Mr. Stratton had a large herd of
cattle in Wiltshire, which he kept in two parts ; one number-
ing about fifty cows and heifers, as the ordinary dairy herd ;
the other about forty head, as the selected herd. Expensive
cattle were never bought, but the best heifers were purchased
at different fairs, and put into the ordinary herd, where if they
proved good beasts and great milkers, their heifers were ex-
alted to the selected herd, and if they in their turn became
good milkers and breeders, and were worthy of the promotion,
they were retained. In the selection of bulls, Mr. Stratton
wast most particular, and his custom was to spend a month or
six weeks in looking over various stocks for the male animal,
selecting him not so much for his great beauty and symmetry
as his character, blood, and the excellence of his sire and dam.
Phoenix (6290), originally called Byron, was the first pedigree
bull, and he was put to a neat but rather plain red and white
lieifer, supposed to be a pedigree Shorthorn, which Mr. Strat-
ton had refused at one fair aud afterwards thought better of
and purchased at Highworth. These animals produced Moss
Rose, the best heifer calved that year ; she afterwards became
a prize cow, and on being put to Lottery (4280) (who was
bought of Mr. Adkins, of Milcote) gave birth to Young Moss
Rose, and mother and daughter produced thirty calves between
them. It is from these animals that the largest and best por-
tion of Mr. Strattou's herd has been reared ; and although
one or two pedigee cows have been bought they liave not been
retained. Upon good bulls he lias chiefly depended : Mr.
Uayter's Red Duke (8G94), Earl Ducie's Hero of the West
(8150), and Mr. Sanday's Nottingham (15U14), being among
his most favourite sires. Of late years, however, he bred
much from tlie Booth blood through Mr. Barnes' herd, but
he never went direct to Warlaby.' He had no love for fashion-
able pedigree, aud it was rather by his friend Mr. Bowly' ad-
vice that he sent his prize cow Maid of Honour to Seventh
Duke of York, and her son the Eighth Duke of York (23808),
with James 1st (24202) (a prize-winner by a Booth blood bull,
out of Queen Mary, an own sister to Maid of Honour), have
been the latest sires used. It is more particularly in the show-
yards, and especially at the Birmingham aud Sraithfield Club
Shows that his success as a breeder and exhibitor is so widely
known. Since the modest 3 gs. were won at Devizes in 1837
for the best heifer in milk and for the best cow in milk, the
amount has swollen to over £5,000, and five gold medals have
come from the Smithfield Club alone. At the Royal and local
shows he has frequently sold liis animals at high figures,
chiefly to Australia, where tiiey have been most highly es-
teemed, and tliree of his bulls have realised in the colony 400
guineas, 470 gs. aud GOO gs. respectively. Portions of his
herd have, however, been brought into the sale ring, but no
high prices obtained. At the sale in March last, it was re-
markable that amid a very large company scarcely half-a-dozeu
Herd Book breeders were present, yet for the general herd of
fifty-five head, most of the best being retained, an average of
£34 was realised, lu fact, Mr. Stratton, a sound, good judge
of animal life, studied and practised breeding for the animal's
sake more than for fashionable tastes ; he went for sound con-
stitutions, good quality of flesh, and abundant milking proper-
ties, and looked at a pedigree, not for it long descent, but to
assure himself that the immediate ancestors were good, and of
a family of good animals. If he were particular to certain
points, he would prefer a good back, full thighs, large udder,
and a good floor to the chest, as his friend tlie late Mr. Adkins
described it, scorning animals with " no heart and long necks
as good dairy cattle." He did not very strongly object to in-
aud-in breeding, tiiough it was rarely practised ; the cross in

Lottery on Lottery's daughter Young ]\Ioss Rose, producing
Elegance, " a nice stylish cow, a great milker, but not so mas-
sive as her dam," was by mistake of the herdsman and
not altogether an unsuccessful result, as she produced the
Duchesses of Glo'ster, who in their turn produced Maid of
Honour and Queen Mary. Eminently successful as au agri-
culturists, and a great economist in management, lie brought
out animals that have ranked in the show yards with the
Booth, Towueley, and finest cattle of the day ; backward as
some have considered him, and forward as others have re-
marked, in his generation, he was nevertheless a man wlio
commanded success, and who was looked up to by his brother
farmers of the south as a man in advance of his time. He
died on the lath of August, aged 62 years, and left a large
family of five sons and six daughters, one only a minor ; the
sons, following their father's pursuits, are large occupiers, the
four eldest having 6,500 acres among them. Mr. Joseph
Stratton, at Alton Prors, Wilts, and Mr. Richard Stratton, of
The Duffryn, Monmouthshire, divide their father's herd be-
tween them. — Thornton'' s Circtdar.

ITS N O B B U T ME.

Ya winter neet, I mind it wee!,

Oor lads 'ed been at t' fell.
An', beiu' tir't, went seuu to bed,

Au' T sat be mesel.
I hard a jike on t' wi dow pane,

An' deftly went to see ;
Bit when I ax't, " Who's jiken theer ?"

Says t' chap, " It's, nobbut me !"

" Who's mei" says I, " What want ye here ?

Oor fvvok ur aw i' bed ,"
" I dunnet want your fwok at aw,

It's ikee I want," he sed.
" What cant'e want wi' me," says I ;

" An' vvlio, the deuce, can't be ?
Just tell me who it is, an' than" —

Says he, " It's nobbut me."

" I vrant a sweetheart, an' I thowt

Tlioo raebby wad an' aw ;
I'd been a bit down t' deal to-neet,

An' thowt 'at I wad caw :
What, cant'e like me, dus t'e think ?

I think I wad like thee" —
" I dunnet know who 't is," says I

Says he, " Its nobbut me."

We pestit on a canny while,

I thowt his voice I kent ;
An' than I stcall quite whisht away,

An' oot at' dooer T went.
I creapp, an' gat 'im be t' cwoat laps,

'Twas dark, he cuddent see ;
He startitroond,au' said, " Wlio's that?"

Says I, " It's nobbut me."

An' menny a time he com ageaun,

An' menny a timel went.
An' sed, " Who's that 'at's jiken theer ?"

When gaily weel I kent:
An' mainly whatt' seamm answer com.

Era back o' t' laylick tree ;
lie sed, " I think thoo knows n'ho't is :

Thoo knows it's nobbut me."

It's twenty years an' mare sen than.

An' ups an' doons we've bed ;
An' six tine barns hev blest us beath.

Sen Jim an' me war wed.
An' menny a time I've known 'im steal,

When I'd yan on me knee,
To mak me start, an' than wad laugh —

Ha ! Ha ! " It's nobbut me."

-John Richardson.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

■REVIEW OF THE CATTLE TRADE EOR THE PAST
MONTH.
The feature in the cattle trade during the past mouth lias
beeu the holdiug of the annual Christmas Fat Stock Market.
The show of beasts on that occasion was tolerably good, but,
although the general quality was excellent, it did not exceed
expectations. lu point of numbers the show was about an
average ; allowing for the many advantages offered during the
past season for the rearing and fattening of cattle the appear-
ance of the beasts was not worthy of any special remark.
The Scotch grazers, as usual, carried otf the palm, but there
were excellent Shorthorns, Herefords, Welsh Hunts, and also
a few fair conditioned foreign breeds. The trade throughout
has been in a rather quiet state. The best Scots and crosses
have only occasionally made 6s., the more general quotatiou
being 5s. 8d. to 5s. lOd. per Slbs.

There has been a fair show of sheep in the pens. Although
trade has not been active, a firm tone has been generally ap-
parent, and prices have been fairly maintained. The best
Downs and half-breds have sold at 6s. 8d, to 63. lOd., and in
some instances 7s. per Slbs.

For calves the inquiry has been to a moderate extent, at
full prices. Pigs have commanded a fair amount of attention.
The arrivals of beasts from our own grazing districts, as
well as from Scotland and Ireland, thus compare with the
three previous years : Dec, Dec, Dec, Dec,

1871. 1870. 18G'J. 1868.
From Lincolnshire, Leicestershire

and Northamptonshire 7,500 8,500 7,620 7,845

Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and

Cambridgeshire 1,600 1,020 1,900 550

Other parts of England 1,390 1,830 3,480 2,330

Scotland 1,754 2,054 1,954 3,190

Ireland 400 1,820 2,990 1,293

The total imports of foreign stock into London during the
past month have been as under: Head.

Ueasts 6,308

Sheep 31,861

Calves 906

Pigs aid

Total 42,290

Corresponding period in 1870 51,888

1869 44,815

1868 17,231

„ 1867 38,336

1866 34,658

„ 1865 66,721

1864 41,712

1863 34,435

1863 25,435

„ 1861 21,904

1860 30,795

1859 17,430

The total supplies of stock exhibited and disposed
the Metropolitan Cattle Market during the month have

as under : Head.

Beasts 22,070

Sheep 93,310

Calves 1,028

Pigs 385

Comparison of Supplies.

of at
been

Dec.

Beasts.

Sheep.

Calves.

1870 ...

... 26,490

93,360

1,606

1869 ...

... 25,689

94,170

1,946

1868 ...

... 17,770

81,780

935

1867 ...

... 21,910

92,490

943

1866 ...

... 20,750

71,390

1,053

1865 ...

... 31,720

126,170

2,823

1864 ...

... 23,780

78,410

1,441

1863 ...

... 29,302

88,470

1,150

1863 ...

... 25,810

85,621

1,354

1861 ...

... 24,840

84,630

701

1860 ..

... 24,540

83,340

1,577

1859 ..

... 24,484

78,987

1,171

1853 ..

... 20,523

74,275

1,473

1857 ..

... 19,830

67,132

1,309

1856 .,

... 23,995

73,300

1,535

Beasts have sold at frona 3s. lOd. to Gs. 2d., sheep 4s. to
7s., calves 4s. to 6s., and pigs 3s. 6d. to 4s. 8d. per Slbs.
to sink the olFal.

Comparison or Prices.

Dec, 1870. Dec, 1869.

s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.

Beef from 3 6 to 6 4 3 4 to 5 10

Mutton 36 to 64 36 to GO

Veal 38 to 63 43 to 60

Pork 4 4 to 6 4 4 4 to 6 4

Dec, 1868. Dec, 1867.

s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.

Beef from 32 to 58 34 to 53

Mutton 3 0 to 5 6 3 4 to 5 0

Veal 3 8 to 5 10 4 4 to 5 4

Pork 36 to 48 32 to 43

rigs.
1,007

680
1,070
1,880
1,950
2,930
2,700
2,680
3,082
2,950
2,445
3,187
2,450
1,915
2,880

HOP MARKET.
BOROUGH, Friday, Dec. 23. — The close approach
of Christmas suspends operations, and no business of
importance is passing. Prices continue firm, tlie quantity of
new Hops unsold being now confined to a small compass. The
Belgian maiket is quiet, witli slightly easier quotations.
Latest advices from New York state the markets have slightly
improved, and prices for all grades, both new and old, to be
extremely firm.

Mid. and East Kent £10 0

Weald of Kent 8 10

Sussex 7 5

Farnham and country ... 11 0

Yearlings.

Mid. and East Kent £3 0

0

0

10

5

Weald of Kent 3

Sussex 3

Farnham and country ... 4

Old 1

£12 12 ...

.. £16 IG

9 9 ...

... 10 10

8 0 ...

..9 9

13 0 ...

.. 16 0

£4 4 ..

... £6 10

4 0 ...

... 5 15

3 10 ...

... 5 5

6 0 ...

... 7 0

1 10

CANTERBURY HOP MARKET, (Saturday last.)— The
trade has closed to-day for the present. A retail demand has
jirevailed this week. Stock of 1871 very low, and prices firm.

THE FEVERSHAM MEMORIAL.— The memorial of the
late Lord Fevershani, which has been erected in Uemsley,
has been publicly unveiled. It consists of a Gothic canopy
containing a statue of the deceased, and terminating in a cross.
The structure is enriched with elaborate carving, is approached
by a four-stepped base, and has a general resemblance on a
small scale to the Scott monument at Edinburgh. It is fifty
feet in height, and has been built from silicias sandstone ob-
tained from Bilsdale and Farcdale quarries. The statue is of
Sicilian marble, and represents the deceased nobleman in his
robes as a peer, and as if in the act of delivering an address.
It is from the chisel of Mr. Noble. As a piece of sculpture it
has been well conceived and wrought out, and conveys an accurat
likeness of the late Earl. The Gothic structure protecting the
statue has been erected from a design supplied by Mr. G.
Gilbert Scott. Situated in the centre of the Market-place, the
memorial adds much to the appearance of Ilelmsley. It has cost
about £1,000. The statue is the gift of the family. The cross,
the foundation-stone of which was laid in May, 1869, was
completed a year ago, but it was only on Thursday that the
statue was placed. On the south panel of the pedestal, the
following inscription will be carved: To William, second
Baron Feversham, this monument is erected by his tenantry,
friends, and relatives, who cherish his memory witji gratitude
and allection. Born 1798 ; died 1867.

LORD POWIS' SLAUGHTER-HOUSE PRIZE.—
This offer of £20 for the best instrument that should be an
efficient substitute for the pole-ax, lias so far resulted in a
complete failure. Only two competitors appeared at the trial
on Thursday, one of whom declined to use his double-edged
dagger ; while tlie other invention, a long tube worked by a
spring, was simply ineffective. If such absurd trials be pro-
ceeded with, it is questionable whether the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will not have to interfere on
the other side. The judges were Professor Simouds, V.S.,
Mr. Iggulden, Ijutcher, and Mr, Arnold, surgical instrument-
maker.

86

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

REVIEW OE THE CORN TRADE

DURING THE PAST MONTH.

Just as people had made up their minds to the endur-
ance of a hard and protracted winter, fi'om the early and
severe visit of the frost, it began to break, and has finally
given way to very mild and damp weather. The season of
cold being unaccompanied with much wet, we do not find
much damage has ensued to vegetation, whilst the frost has
tilled the soil enough to enable those who were backward
to complete their wheat sowings before the close of the
year, and so become prepared for an early spring, should
we be so favoured. In Germany and northern countries
there has been a heavy fall of snow, which it is hoped will
be a lasting security for the young plants, but this exces-
sive mildness makes it doubtful ; while the American canals
leading from the lakes, &c , are not likely to be com-
pletely open till May, and the million and a-half bushels,
now on board, must remain frost-bound till then. I3ut
we apprehend that neither at New York nor in London will
they be wanted before this period has been reached. The
deficiency in France, which has been the principal cause
of the present rates, has hitherto been balanced by the
over-loaded state of our granaries and continued heavy
foreign supplies, and though much loss has been sustained
by the fire at Rotherhithe (say 40,000 qrs. wheat), it has
had no perceptible influence upou prices, which have very
little varied through the month, as seen by reference to the
averages, though the markets generally closed heavily, as
they usually do near Christmas. The peculiar characteristic
of the weather since Michaelmas has been its prevailing
fogs, which have been seriously detrimental to the in-
terests of farmers in lowering the condition of samples as
soon as thrashed. Throughout the Continent prices for
the last month have very little changed. Even in France,
to which country all eyes have been turned, the good
supplies, want of money, and dulness of business have con-
tributed rather to lower rates, but in the confidence that
spring will advance them. Germany has kept dear, and
also Russia ; while in Hungary, a poor crop, bad roads,
and a home demand has enhanced rates beyond an export
value. Spain has been partially supplying France with
her fine qualities, but has herself been importing low
Russian sorts at Barcelona ; and in Italy, the crops have
been poor and prices high. The winter, however, will be
a time to collect stores in Russia, where there has been
an extended growth of wheat. So should exports hence
to France increase, we shall want a replenishment, and
much must yet depend on our future weather as to
whether spring will bring higher rates, though there is
little prospect of any serious reduction.

The following quotations were lately quoted at the
places named : "White native wheat at Paris 68s.,
Chilian 65s. 6d., red Richelle 63s., Northern, 61s. ;
Danish wheat at Brussels 63s. 6d., at Antwerp 64s. ;
red native at Louvaiu, 64s. 6d. ; fine white Zealand at
Rotterdam, 63s. ; Polish at Amsterdam, 65s. ; finest red
at Hambro', 61s.; wheat at Zurich (Switzerland), 66s.;
Danish for spring shipment at Copenhagen, 60s. 6d.,
cost, freight, and insurance ; wheat at Cologne, 62s. free
on board; the best new high mixed at Danzig, 65s.,
cost, freight, and insurance; Konigsberg, 63s., cost,
freight, and insurance ; Berdianski wheat at Genoa, 62s. ;
fine red at Pesth, 573. ; Spanish white at Arevalo, 54s. ;
Barletta at Naples, 573. 6d. ; soft at Algiers, 63s, ; white

at San Francisco, 65s. 6d., cost, freight, and insurance ;
white at Montreal, 62s., cost, freight, and insurance ;
red spring at New York 51s. free on board, winter red
52s. free on board.

On 27th November, which reckons as the first Monday
of the pi'esent four weeks' review, there was a moderate
supply of English wheat, and a very heavy arrival of
foreign. The morning's show from Kent and Essex was
limited. But with a milder state of the weather, which
rather influences qualities, sales wei'e difficult at the pre-
vious rates. The large arrivals of foreign were against
its ready placement, and with granary room scarce, some
holders were willing to sell cargoes ex ship on rather
easier terms ; but not many buyers were found even at
some decline. Cargoes afloat were also less in request,
and none but the finest could be placed on former terms.
The country advices this week, though dull, were not gene-
rally lower, though a few markets accepted Is. less, as
Alford, Stockton, and Gloucester. Liverpool was cheaper
on Tuesday Id. to 2d. per cental, and a like reduction
took place on Friday. Glasgow gave way 3d. to 6d. per
qr., and Edinburgh was down 6d. to Is. Though Irish
wheat at Dublin was no cheaper, rather less money was
accepted for foreign.

On the second Monday there was about the usual
quantity of home-grown wheat, and a large supply of
foreign, though much less than in the previous week.
The morning's show fi'om the near counties was small
and the condition somewhat improved, but there was no
facility in selling, though factors asked nothing beyond
the previous i-ates. In foreign qualities there was a
better trade, with an occasional improvement on the lowest
bids, ex ship, made on the previous Monday, more espe-
cially for red American and Russian sorts. Business in
floating cargoes was limited, without quotable change in
values. This week was a quiet one in the country as
regarded business, with rather more confidence, the
samples exhibited being in a better state. This enabled a
few places to realize some adv^ance, Sheffield, Melton
Mowbray, and a few other towns being Is. per qr. dearer ;
but St. Ives was dull, at a decliue of Is. to 2s. Liver-
pool was firm through the week, but not active. The
Scotch markets were very steady, neither Glasgow nor
Edinburgh noting any change. Irish Avheat at Dublin
was firm, but foreign scarcely so dear.

On the third Monday the English supplies kept to an
average; but the foreign, though quite equal to the demand,
fell oft' to one-half the previous arrival. But few fresh
samples during the morning were exhibited on the
Kentish and Essex stands ; yet factors still found trade
very slow at previous prices, millers being well in stock
from foreign sorts. In foreign parcels the town demand
was limited, and the country attendance being small, very
little was done ; but the confidence of holders pre-
vented them offering samples at any decline. Car-
goes afloat with difficulty sold at previous rates.
As in town so in the country this week : though business
was limited prices were much the same, yet the growing
belief in a milder winter iufiuenccd some places suffi-
ciently to cause a reduction of Is. per qr., but not many
were cheaper. Liverpool was without change on Tuesday,
but on Friday there was a duU trade at Id, per cental

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

87

decline. Though Glasgow made no difference, Edinburgh,
as if under some panic through the fear of heavy foreign
supplies, went down 2s. per qr. Dublin and Belfast were
both unaltered.

On the fourth Monday there was about the usual
supply of home-grown samples, but some inci'ease to the
libei'al arrivals from abroad. There was a very poor
show of samples this morning from the uear counties, and
the condition, from the continuance of mild damp
weather, was uncommonly bad. The demand for dry and
fine parcels of white quite exceeded the supply, and though
full rates would have been paid for such, the inferior con-
ditioned lots offered for sale this morning could only be
moved by taking less money in proportion to their quality.
Foreign as a whole was very dull, from the near approach
of Christmas, and to sell freely, ex ship, it would have
been necessary to take less money. Cargoes afloat were
tending downwards. The country markets since held
were generally duU, without change of prices, but New-
castle and a few other places were down Is. per qr.
Liverpool had a heavy trade with declining tendency.

The arrivals into London for four weeks were
25,615 qrs. English, 156,916 qrs. foreign, against
27,719 qrs. English, 82,548 qrs. foreign for the same time
in 1870. The exports were 13,233 qrs. The imports
into the kingdom for four weeks were 3,296,292 cwts.
Wheat, 280,294 cwts. Flour, against 2,394,630 cwts.
Wheat, 326,934 cwts. Elour last year. The London
averages commenced at 59s. 8d. and ended at 58s. 5d.
The general averages began at 553. lid. and closed at
56s. lOd.

The flour" trade, like that of wheat, has been dull
throughout the month, with scarcely any quotable change;
the tendency, however, has been downwards, and Nor-
folks, though quoted 40s. by some on the fourth Mon-
day, could only be sold by accepting 6d. to Is. less
money. Barrels have varied, anything very choice being
saleable at as high a price as 32s.; while the ordinary
sorts were difficult to place over 28s., and even less, the
stock on hand being mostly common. The London im-
ports for four weeks Were 84,035 sacks English, 7,437
sacks 7,431 barrels foreign, against 95,802 sacks English,
5,896 sacks 58,854 barrels foreign for the .'iame time in
1870.

The value of maize has very little changed during the
month, the supplies, with the exception of the first week,
being small. But ever since this grain has advanced the
demand has fallen off, and become of a retail character,
and with the late serious decline in beans and peas, unless
they recover, we think prices will for a time be still
easier. As prices, however, have been maintained at New
York, and the crop has partially failed in Hungary,
stocks will be getting low in England. The best yellow
is worth 34s. to 35s., white Is. more. The imports into
London for fom* weeks have been 30,573 qrs. against
29,403 in 1870.

Barley, notwithstanding the reported goodness of the
crop, has not come freely to hand, and the little that has
appeared has sold with ^difficulty for want of extra qua-
lity ; indeed, secondary sorts being interfered with by
French samples, which malt very fairly, have become
of very uncertain value, and the entire trade, with the
exception of fine parcels, has declined Is. per qr. Most
of the feeding stuff on offer is in granary, and has been
much heated on passage, some not being worth over
23s., while good is worth 29s. to 30s. The imports into
London for four weeks were 8,454 qrs. British, 30,724
qrs. foreign, against 10,350 qrs. British, 31,612 qrs. fo-
reign in 1870.

The malt trade has been quiet through the month, with
prices maintained, and though the new samples have

given satisfaction, sales have been slow. Exports during
four weeks from London were 3,625 qrs.

The oat trade through the month has been constantly
fluctuating with the "supplies and state of the weather,
and the thaw having now lasted some time and brought
heavier supplies than expected, with a prospect of increas-
ing, the tendency finally has been downward. The entire
decline in four weeks has not however exceeded from 6d.
to Is. The last market was probably the lowest, as 381bs.
sweet corn did not bring over 21s. per qr. The imports
into London for four weeks have been 1,938 qrs. Eng-
lish, 101 qrs. Scotch, 208,646 qrs. foreign, against 3,252
qrs. English, 195 qrs. Scotch, 183,817 qrs. foreign in
1870.

In the bean trade there has been a heavy decline, say of
3s. per qr. for new sorts, in consequence of farmers neg-
lecting to send moderately when prices were good, and
having waited till fair arrivals of old from abroad have
made them less in request. New Mazagans now can
scarcely be valued at over 35s., and Narrows at 38s.,
while light Egyptians are worth 34s., and Sicilian old
40s. The only thing to help this grain is the compara-
tively high price of maize. Arrivals for the month 6,341
qrs. English, 2,526 qrs. foreign, against 3,939 qrs. Eng-
lish, 726 qrs. foreign in 1870.

In hog peas also the same decline has occurred, and
the best boilers, from the return of mild weather, are
scarcely worth over 43s., Duns 35s., Maples 42s. Imports
into London 5,864 qrs. English, 6,385 qrs. foreign,
against 2,888 qrs. English, 4,697 qrs. foreign in 1870.

Linseed, with moderate supplies, has maintained its
value through the month, as well as cakes. Imports
33,486 qrs., against 78,543 qrs. in 1870. Scarcely any-
thing has been passing in cfoverseed or trefoil since the
late advance, dealers preferring to wait for the season
rather than anticipate trade at high prices.

CURRENT PRICES OF BRITISH GRAIN AND FLOUR
IN MARK LANE.

Shillings per Quarter.

WHEAT, new, Essex and Kent, white 68 to 63

„ „ red 62 57

Norfolk, Linclnsh., and Yorksh., red 53 59

BARLEY 30 to 33 Chevalier, new 36 42

Grinding 29 30 Distilling 33 35

MALT, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk 60 66

Kingston, Ware, and town-made 60 66

Brown 49 64

RYE 36 38

OATS, EngUsh, feed 24 to 27 Potato 28 34

Scotch, feed 00 00 Potato 00 00

Irish, feed, white21 24 Fine 25 26

Ditto, black 19 22 Potato 29 32

BEANS, Mazagan ...36 37 Ticks 36 37

Harrow 37 40 Pigeon 42 48

PEAS, white, taoiler8.39 42Maplo 42 to 43Grey,new 34 36

FLOUR, per sack of 2801b8., best town households... 45 50

Best country households 40 44

Norfolk and Suffolk 38 39

FOREIGN GRAIN.

Shillings per Quarter.

WHEAT, Dantzic, mixed 69 to 63 extra 64to66

Konigsberg 60 63 extra 63 65

Rostock 68 69 fine 60 61

Silesian, red 55 59 white.... 60 63

Pomera., Meckberg., and Uckermrk, ...red 58 60

Russian, hard, 47 to 48. ..St. Petersburg and Riga 52 55

Danish and Holstein, red 55 59 American 57 59

Chilian, white 63... Californian 63 ... Australian 63 65

BARLEY, grinding 25 to 29.. ..distilling and malting 33 36

OATS, Dutch, brewing and Polands 18 to 28 feed 17 21

Danish and Swedish, feed 19 to 21.... Stralsund... 20 21

Canadal8to20,Rigal8to21,Arch.l8to21,P'sbg. 20 22

TARES, Spring, per qr small— — large— —

BEANS, Friesland and Holstein 42 43

Konigsberg 36 to 39. ..Egyptian 32 34

PEAS, feeding and maple.. .36 39. ..fine boilers 38 42

INDIAN CORN, white 33 35.. .yellow 32 34

FLOUR, per sack, French..00 O0...Spanish,p. sack 00 00

American, per tarl 24 25...extraandd'ble.27 29

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

COMPARATIVE AVERAGES.

WHEAT

Years. Qrs.
1867... 66,7211

1868.
1869.
1870.
1871.

, 60,3831
, 49,868i
, 81,196i
67,053i

r.

8.

d.

66

9

49

5

43

10

fi2

5

56

5

BARLEY.
Qrs.

82,892i
65,152|
81,0364 ■
78,040i
84,375

OATS.

s.

d.

Qrs.

41

2

8,777J

45

3

4, 8301

36

0

3,539f

35

4

5,476|

37

1

6,7224

8. d.
,24 4
.27 7
,22 3
,23 4
, 22 10

AVERAGE S

For the past Six
Weeks :

Nov. 11, 1871

Nov. 18, 1871

25, 1871

2, 1871 ,

9, 1871

16, 1871

Aggregate of the above ...
The same week in 1870

Nov.
Dec.
Dec.
Dec.

Wheat.

s. d.

56 6

55 11

55 10

56 7
56 10
56 5
56 4
52 5

Barley,

s. d.

37 4

36 9

36 8

36 10

37 1
37 1
36 11
35 4

Oats.

s. d,

23 5

23 0

23 8

23 8

24 2

22 10

23 6
23 4

FLUCTUATIONS in the AVERAGE PEICE of WHEAT.

Pbice.

Nov. 11.

Nov. 18. Nov. 25.

Dec. 2. Dec. 9.

Dec. 16.

568. lOd.

... r

~~~n

56s. 7d.

...

... r

— J

... 1

56s. 5d.

— — T

... 1

IL

_>a-^_

55s. lid.

1.

... 1

65s. lOd.

... 1 ... •-

___j

...

...

BRITISH SEEDS.
Mustard, per bushel, brown 16s. to 17s. .white 8s. to93.6d.

Canary, per qr new 543. 563. ...old 5os. 56s.

Oloverseed, new red 828. 105s.

Coriander, per cwt 22s. 23s.

Tares, winter, new, per bushel 6s. 3d. 5s. 6d.

Trefoil, new 32s. 40s.

Ryegrass, per qr 21s. 268.

Linseed, per qr. ...sowing 66s. to 68s., crushing 608. 61s.

Linseed Cakes, per ton £11 10s. to £12 Os.

Rapcseed, per qr 82s. 84s.

Rape Cake, per ton £6 lOs. Od. to £7 7s. Od.

FOREIGN SEEDS.

Oloverseed, red 59s. to 70s white 75s. 848.

Hempseed, small 41s. to 42s. per qr Dutch 45s. 46s.

Trefoil 26s. 32s.

Ryegrass, per qr 28s. 30s.

Linseed, per qr.... Baltic 59s. to 62s. ..Bombay 648. 6Js. 6d.

Linseed Cakes, per ton £10 los. to £11 lOs.

Rape Cake, per ton £8 10s. to £7 7s.

Rapeseed, Dutch 76s. 80s.

Coriander, per cwt 2:is. to 24s.

Carraway ,, new 36s. 37s.

POTATO MAKKETS.
BOROUGH AND SITTALFIELDS.
Moderate supplies of Potatoes have been ou sale. The
trade has been quiet, at kite rates. The import into London
last week consisted of 4-58 tons 214 bags 380 sacks from Dun-
kirk, 100 bags Antwerp, 95 tons Havre, 149 tons St. Malo, 7:3
barrels New York, 115 tons St. Nazaire, aud 55 tons Le
Vivier.

Elukes 105s. to 135s. per ton.

Regents 70s. to 120s. „

Rocks 85s. to 95s. „

Victorias 110s. to 125s. ,,

French 65s. to 80s. „

PRICES of BUTTER, CHEESE, HAMS, &c.

BUTTER, per cwt. : s. s.

Dorset 146 to 160

Friesland 123 130

Jersey 112 118

Fbesh, per doz. ... 15 17

BACON, per cwt :

Wiltshire, green... — 70

Irish, green, f.o.b. 56 62

CHEESE, per cwt.

Cheshire 50 to 72

Dble. Glouc, new 54 70

Cheddar 78

American 50

HAMS: York 112

Cumberland 112

Irish 102

62

111

POULTRY, &c., MARKETS.— Turkeys, 10s. to 50s. ;
Geese, 4s. to 10s. ; Gosliugs, 5s. to 12s. ; Ducks, 2s. to 4s. ;
AVild Ducks, 2s. to 3s. ; Ducklings, 2s. to 4s. Gd. ; Surrey
Fowls, 3s. to 12s. ; Sussex ditto, 2s. Cd. to 5s. ; Boston and
Essex, 3s. to 5s. ; Irish, Is. Od. to 3s. ; Rabbits, tame, Is. to
3s.; ditto, wild, Od. to Is. Gd.; Pigeons, Gd. to Is.; Phea-
sants, 3s. Gd. to 4s. Gd. ; Partridges, Is. Gd. to 2s. Gd. ; Hares,
33. to 43. ; Widgeon, Is. to Is. 3d. ; Teal, Is. to Is. 3d. ;
Woodcocks, 3s. to 3s. Gd. ; Larks, per dozen, Is, to 2s.;
L2verets, Is. 6d. to 2s. Gd.; Grouse, 2s. to 2s. Gd.

GLASGOW CHEESE MARKET, (Wednesday last.)—
A moderate supply of clieese iu market to-day. Demand still
quiet, and confined) to the medium and cheapest sorts, with
last week's quotations. Cheddars, first-class 56s. to G4s.,
late and secondary 42s. to 52s., Dunlops, first-class 54s. to
GOs., late and secondary 423. to 52s. per cwt.

COVENT GARDEN MARKET.
LONDON, Feidat. Dec. 22.

The improvement we anticipated has hardly been realised ;
a few things have been in a little better demand, but the
general tone of the market is not like the week before Christ-
mas. We have a good supply of Pines, hothouse Grapes, and
Pears. Apples of English growth continue more scarce, but
our stocks have been strengthened by the arrival of Newtown
Pippins, Baldwin, and others from the United States.

FRUIT.
8. d. 8. d. 8. d. 8. d.

Apples, 'S i sieve 2 0 to 5 0

Cobs, '^100 ft 60 0 65 0

Figs, ^ dozen 0 0 0 0

Filberts, ■$! lb 0

Grapes,^ lb 3

Lemons, %! liundred. 7

Melons, each a 0 to

Oranges, ^ hundred 6 0 lu

Peaches, ^ dozen ... 0 0 n

Pears, ^ dozen 2 0 i

) 6 0 I Pine Apples, per lb. 4 0 G

) 10 0 I Pomegranates, each .04 0

VEGETABLES.

Leeks, per bunch 0 2 to 0

Lettuces, per score „. 1 6 2

Mushrooms, ^ pottle 10 2

Onions, '^ bunch 0 4 0

Parsley, per bunch ... 0 2 0

Radishes, per bunch.. 0 2 0

Rhubarb, ^bundle.... 16 2

Salsafy, "# bundle 0 9 1

Scorzonera, %^ bundle. 0 9 1

Sea Kale, ^ punnet ... 2 6 3

Shallots, ^ lb 0 8 0

Spinach, per bushel ... 3 0 i

Tomatoes, per sieve... 4 0 6

Turnips, lis bunch 0 2 0

Artichokes, green, ea. 0 6 to 0
Asparagus, per hund. 8 0 10 0

Beet, per dozen 10 2 0

Brocoli,purpl.,%}bdl. 0 10 13
Bi-us. Sprouts, %) i sve. 16 2 6
Cabbages, per dozen... 0 10 13
Capsicums, '•$ hund.... 16 2 0
Carrots, per bunch ... 0 5 0 7
Cauliflowers, per doz. 2 0 6 0

Celery, ^ bundle 10 2 0

Chilies, "<i^ hundi-ed 16 2 0

Cucumbers, each 10 2 0

Fch Beans, new,^ 100 3 0 4 0

Herbs, per bunch 0 2 0 4

HorseraJish.^bundle 3 0 5 0

Potatoes: Regents, lOCs. to ISrs.; Flukes, 120s. to 150s,
French Shaws, 60s. to lOs.

ENGLISH WOOL MARKET.
Ct^EHE^'T Pkices of English Wool. i

Fleeces — Southdown hoggs per lb.

Half-bred ditto „

Kent fleeces

Southdown ewes and wethers ... „
Leicester ditto ,,

SoBTS— Clothing, picklock „

Prime „

Choice „

Super „

Combing, wether mat ,,

Picklock ,,

Common ,

Hog matching ,,

Picklock matching „

Super ditto ,,

HIDE AND SKIN MARKETS.
LONDON, Satdedat, Dec. 23.

8.

d.

s.

d.

8

tol

9

8.^

9

Sh

9,

7

8

6

7

7

8

4

5

3

i

2

3

10

IL

6

7-

3

4

11

0

6

7

3

4

d.

UARKET HIDES

56 to 641bB 0

64 to 721bs 0

72 to 801bB 0

80 to SSlbs 0

88 to 96lbe 0 5

96tol041bs 0 5

lotto ll-21bs 0 6M2

d.

8. d. 8. (

I Horse hides, each ...14 0 to 16

4%

4V2to0 4?j Calf skins, light

4% 0 5 Full a 6

0 5 Polled sheep 13 0

0 6V4 Half-breda 11 0

0 6 li Downs 7 6

0 5VS Shearlings 0 0

0 5^jlL8mbs 0 0

0 0

MANURES.

Peiaivian Guano, direct from importers' stores, £12 12s. per ton.
Bones, crushed £8, half-inch £8 5s., bone dust £8 lOs per ton.
Coprolite, Cambridge (in London) who'.e £3 5s , ground £3 15s., Suffolk

whole £2 10s., ground £3 per ton.
Nitrate of Soda, £17 to £17 lus. per ton.

Sulphate of Ammonia, £ii 10s. to £24 per ton. Gypsiun,£l 10s. per ton.
Superphosphate of Lime, £5 5s. to .£6 5s. per ton. *

Blood Manure, £6 10s. to £8 per ton. Dissolved Bones, £7 per ton.
E. PuBSEH, London Manure Company,

116, Fenchurch Street.B.C.

Guano, Per\ivian£13 7 6 to£12 15 0 Bone Ash 0 0 0 to£0 0 0

Llnsd.Bomby,p.qr.3 2 0
Linseed Cake, per ton —
Amer.,thin, bgs.lU 10 0
Cotsd.Cake,decor£8 15 0
Rapeseed.Guzerat 3 10 0
Cluverseed.N.A.... 0 0 0

3 0 Phosphate of Lime 0 14 0 15

Niger 2 7 0 2 8 0

0 0 0 Nitr.of Soda, p.ct.O 16 3 0 16 6

0 0 0 German Kainit 3 5 0 3 10 0

3 12 0 Tallow, 1st P.Y.C. 2 9 0 2 10 0

„ _ 0 0 qI „ super. Norths 2 5 0 2 6 6

SAMUEL DOWNBS ANb CO., General Brokers,

No. 7, The Albany, Liverpool.

Prentice's Cereal Manure for Corn Crops „.„.„.„ per ton £8 0 0

Mangold Manure »..„.„.......„.„..„ ,, 8 0 0

Prentice'.s Tm-nip Manure _.„.„.„... „ 6 10 G

Prentice's Superphosphate of Lime __ — ,, 0 0 0

Agricultural Chemical Works, Stowmarket Suffolk.

Printed by Rogerson and Tuxford, 2G5, Strand, London, W.C.

JAMES GIBBS AWB COMPANY,

VITEIOL AND MANURE WORKS,

NEAR VICTORIA DOCKS, LONDON.
OFFICES- 16, MAItK~L A N E, E. C,

SOLE MANUEACTUREES OF THE

PATENT AMMONIA-FIKED PERUVIAN GUANO,

Guaranteed to be made from ;th8 finest quality of Government Peruvian Guano, as imported. Has produced
equaUy as good results as the unfixed Peruvian Guano, and is 30s. per ton cheaper. Recommended for all crops
for which Peruvian Guano is used, and is found superior to it for Potatoes, Mangold, Beet Eoot, &c. In districts
where the rain-fall is above an average, we recommend it for Turnips. It is not only cheaper, but also much
more efiective than Nitrate of Soda, as Top Dressing, and its effects are more lasting, as may be seen by the
alter Crops.

Patent Ammoniated Phosptafce. Dissolved Bones,
Superphosphate of Lime. Bone Manure for Turnips.

Blood Manure for Roots. Blood Manure for Corn.
Special Manures for Mang-old, Barley, Grass, and Potatoes.

JAMES GIBBS & COMPANY have turned their attention specially to the manufacture of these Mamu-es,
which contain all the elements necessary to promote the groTvth of Potato and Turnip crops. The results have
given universal satisfaction, and prove the Manures to be the cheapest yet sold.

The " condition" of the above is made a matter of special care. They are all sifted before delivery, to ensure
then- being fit for the dry or water-drill.

LONDON AND COUNTY BANKING COMPANY.

ESTABLISHED 1836,

SUBSCRIBED CAPITAL... £2,500,000, in 50,000 SHAEES of £50 EACH.
PAID-UP CAPITAL... £1,000,000 EESERYE FUND... £500,000.

NATHANIEL ALEXANDER, Esq.
T. TYRINGHAM BERNARD, Esq
PHILIP PATTON BLYTH, Esq

WILLIA.M CHAMPION JONES, Esq.
E. HARBORD LUSHINGTON, Esq.
JAMES MORLEY, Esq.

DIRECTORS.

THOMAS STOCK COWIE, Esq,

PREDERICK PRANCIS, Esq.
THTTM w^r T^Tm^rxro^T.^' ^"^^ FREDERICK HARRISON, Esq. .,^»i^o x,xwx.^i.x, j^^^.

JOHN WM. BURMESTER, Esq. | LORD ALPRED HERVEY. | WILLUM NICOL, Esq.

P, p. BLYTH, Esq | J. W. BURMESTER, Esq. | W. CHAMPION JONES, Esq.

AUDITORS
WILLIAM JARDINE, Esq. | WILLIAM NORMAN, Esq. | RICHARD H. SWAINE, Esq.

General Manager— WILLIAM McKEWAN, Esq.

w^F atA?!?.???*^,?- .. . INSPECTORS OF BRANCHES. CHIEF ACCOUNTANT.

W. J. NORFOLK, Esq. H. J. LEMON, Esq., and C. SHERRING, Esq. JAMES GRAY, jfeq.

Solicitors— Messrs. STEVENS, WILKINSON, & HARRIES.

Secretary— P. CLAPPISON, Esq.

HEAD OFFICE, 21, LOMBAED STREET,

Manager—WHITBREAD TOMSON, Esq. | Assistant Manager— WILLIAM HOWARD, Esq.

THE LONDON AND COUNTY BANK opens—
■ rtwiS,^ "^Ph^^v.^^^ ^'* Commercial Houses and Private Individuals, either upon the plan usuaUy adopted by
PeiSrnem Balanc^T^ ^^^ ^ ^ Commission to those persons to whom it may not be convementto sustain an agreed

alWfPfnr^s.^'th ^SP"^^?P°®'^ Receipts are issued for siuns of Money placed upon these Accounts, and Interest is

CmCULAR teBS ANn^^F^^^^^^^ reference being had to the state of the Money Market,

tinmit ,-^ An5.ai?c. ?. '^D^I'ETTBRS OF CREDIT are issued, payable in the principal Cities and Towns of the Con-
tinent, in Austraha, Canada, India, and Chma, the United States, and elsewhere,
Ihe Agency of Foreign and Country Banlis is undertaken.

Aj^'.^iToTlc^r^ctived for^CuS^^^^^^^ ^'''^'' °^ ^^^"^"^ °^ ^°^^^^ Shaxes effected, and Dxtidekds,

pjSy^has Br'^nche'l!^ ^^° ^^°''^^'^ ^ *^° Customers of the Bank for the receipt of Money from the Towns where the Com-
The Officers of the Bank are bound not to disclose the transactions of any of its Customers.

By Order of the Dii ectors, WM. MoKEWAN, General Manager,

" There are very few simple articles of food which can boast so many
valuable and important dietary properties as Cocoa. While acting
on the nerves as a gentle stimulant, it provides the body with some
of the purest elements of nutrition, and at the same time corrects
and invigorates the action of the digestive organs. These beneficial
effects depend in a great measure upon the manner of its preparation,
but of late years such close attention has been given to the growth and
treatment of Cocoa that there is no difficulty in securmg it with
every useful quality fully developed. The singular success which
Mr. Epps attained by his homoeopathic preparation of Cocoa has
never been surpassed by any experimentalist. Medical men of all
shades of opinion have agreed in recommending it as the safest
and most beneficial article of diet for persons of weak constitutions."

E P P S S

GEATEFUL

(JAMES EPPS & CO., HOMCEOPATHIG CHEMISTS.)

COMFOETII^G

COCOA.

" By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern
the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful application
of the fine properties of well-selected Cocoa, Mr. Epps has provided
our breakfast tables with a delicately-flavoured beverage which may
save us many heavy doctors' bills. It is by the judicious use of
such articles of diet that a constitution may be gradually built up
until strong enough to resist every tendency to disease. Hundreds
of subtle maladies are floating around us ready to attack wherever
there is a weak point. We may escape many a fatal shaft by
keeping ourselves well fortified with pure blood and a properly-
nourished frame." — Extracted from an [article on Diet in the
'' Civil Service Gazetted

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

VOLUME THE FORTY-FIRST.

THIRD SERIES.

JANUARY TO JUNE MDCCCLXXII.

LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY ROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 265, STRAND.

MAY BE HAD BY ORDER THROUGH ALL BOOKSELLERS.

V. ■4' I

LONDON:
PRINTED BY ROGERSON AND TUXFORD 265 STRAND.

INDEX.

A.

Agricultural Associations j—

Banbury, 43

Cromar, 267

Devon, 178

Kingscote, 103, 241
Agricultural Fairs, 270, 458
Agricultural Hotel Company, 454
Agricultural Progress, 279
Agricultural Reports, 179, 269, 270, 456, 457
Agricultural Societies : —

Bath and West of England, 407

Bedfordshire, 152

Blandford, 118

Boroughbridge, 94, 494

Coggeshall, 134

Herefordshire, 456

Highland, &7, 168, 436

Leicestershire, 454

N. S. Wales, 208, 244

Norfolk, 104

Over, 490

Oxfordshire, 178

Royal Agricultural Society of England, 59, 191,
347, 370, 511, 551

Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland, 236, 290

Staffordshire, 120

United East Lothian, 333

Warwickshire, 179
Allotmenis, 395
A Model Agreement, 479
An Anonymous Assembly, 291
A Scotch Polled Heifer — Description of Plate, 275
A Shorthorn Ox — ^Description of Plate, 89
At Home or Abroad — Description of Plate, 1

B.

Bedfordshire Farming, 152
Berkshire Pigs— Description of Plate, 183
Borderer — Description of Plate, 1
Breeding Principles Considered, 2

C.

Cancerine, 418

Cattle Breeding, 121

Cattle Trade Reviews, 85, 180, 269, 366, 457

Chambers OF Agriculture ; —

Banbury, 24, 136, 504

Breconshire, 25, 307, 389

Central, 33, 232, 315, 377, 514

Cheshire, 400

Cirencester, 292

Cornwall, 260

Devon and Cornwall, 77, 476

Devonshire, 454

East Riding, 250

East Suffolk, 445

Essex, 328

Hampshire, 179, 283

Herefordshire, 179

Hungerford, 179, 497

Leicestershire, 179, 454

LincolnsHire, 454

Monmouthshire, 252

Newbury, 498

Notts, 179, 433

Scottish, 19, 541

Shropshire, 91, 115

Staffordshire, 259, 268

United Counties, 69

Warwickshire, 199, 335

West Norfolk, 410

West Suffolk, 127

Worcestershire, 204
Chap Money, 24
Christmas Cattle Markets, 58
Commercial Currencies, 87, 182, 271, 366, 459, 556
Compensation for Improvements, 433
Condition of the Labourer s—

Dorsetshire, 140, 198

Kent, 350

Shropshire, 357
Considerations on Rent, 334
Corn Trade Reviews, 86, 181, 272, 367, 460, 555
Cupbearer — Description of Plate, 369

D.

Decline of Labour, 94

Deptford new Foreign Cattle Market, 125

Diet of the Labourer, 210

Double-furrow Ploughs, 221

Double Plough Contests, 41

Drainage of Land, 498

Duty on Horses, 346

E.

Education of Farmers' Sons in Shropshire, 91
Entail, 425

Ewe Flocks on Heavy Land, 96
Experiments in Agriculture, 292, 411

F.

Farm Buildings, 484
Farm Covenants, 540
Farmers' Clubs ;—

Athy, 262

Ayrshire, 238, 488

Botley, 212, 279

Brampton, 99, 477

Carmarthenshire, 528

Central, 2, 43, 81, 178, 184, 339, 372, 464

Croydon, 146, 444

Dorchester, 140, 312, 387

Framlingham, 108, 221, 391, 633

Hexham, 156, 218, 302, 484

Ixworth, 129, 294, 502, 554

Kincardineshire, 206

Lancashire, 478

Lavenham, 246, 499

Maidstone, 195, 350, 402, 479

Midland, 255, 419

Morayshire, 29

Newcastle, 131

INDEX.

Smithfield, 237
. Staindrop, 215

Stowmarket, 96, 298, 395, 536

Tunbridge Wells, 322

Wadebridge, 211

Wenlock, 28

Wigton, 410

Winfrith, 320, 385
Farming in Ireland : by the Northern Farmer, 105,

230, 276
Farm Management, 184
Fences, 103

Food for Stock, 238, 302
Foot and Mouth Disease, 75, 77
Free Trade in Beer, 226

French Peasant Farmers' Seed Fund, 37, 177, 510
Friends and Foes of the Farmer, 533
Fruit Farm at Pershore, 178

G.

Game Conferences, 32, 99, 101

Game Laws, 260

Game Laws Committee, 523

Game Laws Committee of 1846-Report, 489

Grass Lands, 528

Guano, 445

H.
Heads, 27

Herd-book in Canada, 550
Hindrances to Agricultural Progress, 215
Hop Cultivation, 326
Horse Breeding, 244

L

Importation of Stock— Deputation to Mr. Forster,

501
Importation of Pedigree Shorthorns, 21
In-and-in Breeding, 15
Indigestion in Horses, 444

L.

Labourers' Cottages in Ireland, 262

Labourers' Daughters, 129

Labour Supply, 127

Lamb Disease, 443

Land Agreements, 250 o n, , Ad

Landing a Salmon -Description of Plate, 403

Land Question in Northumberland, 218

Land Question in Wales, 69

Land Tenure and the Land Laws, 9, 199, 497

Lincoln Wethers— Description of Plate, 4b3

List of Shows in the Autumn, 557

Litigation on Agricultural Questions, 285, 54i

LocalTaxation, 115, 118,259, 476

Lord Leicester's Lease, 154, 312

Lord Powis Prize, 85

Loss of Force in Agriculture, 245

Lost Lands of Lincolnshire, 507

M.

Malton Christmas Fat Stock Sales, 80

Malt-Tax Discussed, 328

Manure Analyses, 387

Manure Currencies, 88, 274, 462

Manure Selection, 502

Market Gardens, 372

Medical Poor-Law Relief,

Meetings of the Half-year: —

Dublin, 42, 440

Exeter, 544

Ipswich, 80

Leeds, 78

Liverpool, 80

Penrith, 80

Plymouth, 79

Smithfield, 44

Taunton, 31

Thame, 548

Tredegar, 80

York, 40 , ^ , n^

Memorial to the Late Lord Feversham, 85
Milk in Manchester, 455
Mixed Seeds, 542
Mixed Farming, 490 .

Mr. Mechi on the Science ol Farming, 464

N.
New Chamber for South Lancashire and North

Cheshire, 478
Notes on Agricultural Matters. 454, 542
Notice of the Late Mr. Arthur Young, 499

O.

Obituary : —

Stratton, M. R., 84 . rT,, , ,00

On Monday Next— Description of Plate, 183
Open Competition, 90
Owners and Occupiers, 381, 417, 49b

Parasitic Diseases in Animals, 1 95

Party Politics, 227

Patent Laws Committee, 542

Piece-Work, 320

Poetry : —

A Christmas Riddle, 178
Its Nobbut Me, 84
Polled Cattle, 206
Practice with Science, 255
Presentations ; —
Bidden, Mr., 178
Meadows, Mr,, 20
Williams, Mr. J. A., 27, 178
Winterton, Mr., 178 , „ ^ o^ iqo oTi
Prices of Farm and Garden Produce, 87, 182, 271,

274, 366, 368, 459, 462, 556
Produce of the Seashore : by C. W. Johnson, Esq.,

F.R.S., 17
Profits of Poultry, 307 „, . ,

?Jogress of tl J Plough: by C W. Johnson,

Esq., F.R.S., 193
Providence among the Poor, 228

Q.

Questions and Agencies of Agriculture,

R.

Eeform In Sanitary Science, 504

Relations of Landlord, Tenant, and Labourers, 157,

391,419
Relief of the Poor, 314, 389

Returns of Agriculture, 336

Right and Left— Description of Plate, 90

Root Cultivation, 212

INDEX,

Ul

S.
Saft an' Slyly— Description of Plate, 276
Science in Kelation to Agriculture, 131, 465
Scotch Holdinf?s and En>?lish Critics, 333
Scotch Shorthorns, 459
Scour in Sheep, 536
Selection of Stock, 267
Sheep Breeding and Management : by the Northern

Farmer, 22
Sheep in New South Wales, 208
Sheep on Turnips, 359
Shorthorn Sales ;

Acton Pigott, 52 7

Ashdown, 543

Baldersby, 363

Beeston, Beds, 446

Berkeley Castle, 362

Birmingham, 360

Bructor, 527

Burghley Park, 525

Bywell Hall, 450

Chapel Brampton, 448

Draycott, 526

Forres, 2 71

Fundenhall, 526

Hay Carr House, 452

High Elms, 526

Island, Wexford, 362

Kinnellar, 453

Littlebury, 363

Little Haddo, 453

Newton Park, 453

Siddington, 524

Sittyton, 365

Spital, 543

UphoUand, 452

Urswick, 526

Wigganthorpe, 453

Yorton Villa, 453
Statute Fairs, 477
Steam Ploughing, 295, 495

Stock Breeding: by the Northern Farmer, 382, 509
Stock Management, 25, 322
Strike of Laliourers, 354, 356-7
Suffolk Horses, 293
Sugar Beet, 413
Sussex Clay, 424

T.
Tenant-Right, l7l, 177, 204, 541
Tenant-Right in Scotland, 408
Terrier— Description of Plate, 370
Tillage in Dorset and Hants, 385
Transit of Live Stock, 339

Under-Drainage, 402

U.

Values of Stock and Crop, 19

Varieties of Wheat, 540

Vegetable Beef Steak, 510

Voelcker's (Professor) Annual Chemical Report, 60

W.

Wages of the Labourer, 146

Wandsworth Infirmary for Animals, 229

Wheat-Gro\ying, 241

Wheel Ploughs, 488

Woman Suffrage, 321

Wood Pigeons?, 178

Workmen in Town and Country, 432

THE EMBELLISHMENTS

Borderer

At Home or Abroad

Right and Left .

A Shorthorn Ox

Berkshires

On Monday Next

A Scotch Polled Heifer

" Saft an' Slyly"

Cupbearer

The Farmers' Friend

Lincoln Wethers

The Landing Place

Page
1
1

89

89
183
183
275
275
369
369
463
463

'r^ " " ' - Tiir'

No, 2, vo.. xu.] FEBRUARY, 1872. t„„d s»a,.s.

THE

FARMER'S MAGAZINE

AND

MONTHLY JOURNAL

OP

THE AGRICULTURAL INTEREST.

TO THE

FARMERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

LONDON :
PUBLISHED BYROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 265, STRAND.

PRICE TWO SHILLINGS.

ROGEnsoN AND TuxpoRD.i T^T^;:;;:;^^:;:::

'-^ . [PRINTERS, 266, STRAND.

TUF ROYAL FARMERS' INSURANCE COMPANY,

THE KUT^'-ijoBrOLKSTEEET, STKAl^D, LONDON, W.O.

of the profits. y to tl,e Registered Holders, whereby much

FIRE DEPARTMENT,— 1^ 6d. per Cent.

1st Class— Not Hazardous ^^q^^ ^^

2ud Class— Hazardous ... • 43. ga. „

^*w 1? FIVE MILLIONS Iiisuted in this Office.
.l,a,se. J"f„^'y^,f 't,„\jRAi,CES may be effected ou paj-mcut o! Si. Tea.-.' Premmm only.

SgI?nX»^ «As"-"y.*'e occ».ioned by Li.Mni„.. a.,a Lo.e« by E.p.o..on of G.»

?o^s.^^^tf:isrr;;rde!wLota..o.i.c,.o..^

Moderate Terms.

T ncGTT<J —Prompt and liberal settlement. ^ „ .„ t^

LOSSilib. -fiompi. AGENTS WANTED.

Apply to JOHN BEDDISH, Esq., Secretary and ActuaiT-

'«olh l2o " ", :: ::::■.■.■... 1 " 6 S weeks the W were ^u^^^^^^

inoh' m " 2 60 say the yoiing lambs are aomgremar^a^^^^^

BSak./ac^^.«c;'p«re. .Oiling ..eCe„po..ti.n, it I^^^^^^^^^
Will iJeequaUy effective. ^ For JUUin j- ,.g^_^j;NNEY.

MrmT IMPORTANT CERTIFICATE. « tq Mr. Thomas Bigg.

FromMr.TB^p THXcelebratedAnalyticalChc^^^^^^^^ ^ Flockmasters would he well toJ|--e of si^h pre-

*'^°'^^T^,q;tolLahoratoiT. Old Park, January 18th 1861. ,.^„„ „„ .'Non-poisonous Compositions: it is oniy

','^#/'/

ft*

K

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1'

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w

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

EEBRUARY, 1872.

PLATE I.

A SHORTHORN OX-
™. ..ao.., „ .,, „,„„ 3„_„_ „, ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^_^^^^ -^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^

AT THE SJriTHFIELD CLUB SHOW, 1871.

This OX, bred by the late Mr. RicLard Stralton, aud
calved on August 20, 1867, is by Bude Light (21342)
out of April Rose by Warwick (19120), her dam March
Rose, by Young Windsor (17241)-Christmas Rose, by
H.S Highness (14708) -Salthorp Rose 4th, by Lord
of the Manor (14836)-Salthrop Rose, by Waterloo
110L3)-Young Mossrose, by Lottery (4280)-Mossrose
by Phffinix (6290).

Bude Light, a roau bull, bred by the late Mr. Strat
ton, at Wall's Court, and calved November 8, 1864
was by Lamp of Lothian (16356), out of I)iadem'
by Warwick (19120)-Lotus, by Buckingham (15700)
-Cherry Ripe, by Nottingham (15014)-Buitercup by
the Red Duke (8694)-by Hero of the West (8150)-
by Lottery (4280)— by Phamix (6290).

April Rose, a roan cow, also bred by the late Mr
Strattou, at Wall's Court, was calved on April 6, 1862.
_ It will be seen from this pedigree that the white ox
IS bred in-and-in, his own dam and his sire's dam being by
Warwick, a son of Nottingham, out of Matchless 4th.

Mr. Joseph Strattou writes thus on the early history
of his ox : " His dam suckled him and his twin brother
only milking on three teats, without assistance from any
other cow. He was weaned early in October, wintered
on hay and a little meal. In the spring he went to grass,
and in the following October was shut up for about three
weeks, to fat for the young class, but my father changed
his plans, and turned him into a yard to eat rough hay,
straw, aud roots, while the following spring he went out
to grass again. During the succeeding winter, hay and
roots were his only food; and in the summer of 1870 he
went to grass with the other cattle, coming in for an
hour every day to receive about 31bs. of liusced cake,
lu September he was taken in, but never exceeded 71bs."
of corn cake per day, until about a month before he was
U1.D Stories.]

shown, when it was increased with some of Thorley's
condiment. He was taken out for exercise about half-
a-mile every alternate day, until he went to Birmingham
m November 1871, where he was first exhibited. His
twin brother was sold, at two years old, to the butcher •
as being slightly inferior and of the same age, we did not
think it expedient to keep him on."

Immediately after leaving Birmingham we ourselves thus
reported : " 'The walking advertisement' for the Burderop
herd has gone on famously since the Spring sale, as it was
evident from the first he must do great things during the
day. He is a particularly handsome beast, aud has con-
tinued to feed very level, as iu fact for his weight aud
size it is not often that a better balanced ox has been
brought out. He is very good to meet, has a neat blood-
hke head, and, a great point, is better out than in his
stall, so gay is his carriage and so smart his appearance
His touch is wealthy enough for that of a Hereford, or as
some superfine connoisseurs might call it, rather strong
but in our times this is a fault in the right direction
Moreover, the white steer is ' well-connected,' for his
grandam on the sire's side, DiaJem, was a gold medal cow
at the Smithfield Club, and his half-sister, Village Rose, ' a
very sweet lengthy heifer, with every promise of growing,
into a handsome cow,' was the first prize calf at the last
All-Yorkshire Meeting, where she beat the second prize
calf from the Wolverhampton Royal. As is well-known his
breeder, Mr. Richard Strattou, died a few months since,
and the ox was entered here by one of his sons, Mr. Joseph *
Strattou, so that he was ineligible for the combined fed-
aud-bred premium. Otherwise, up to a certain point, he
won everything he could easily enough, as, beyond his
class, when it came to the best of all the Shorthorns, the
judges had the winners in the several classes paraded just
for form's sake, aud then arrived at an instantaneous deci-
H [Tot. LXXI.—No. 2.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE

90

cision We quite expect to see the ^.hite ox do as well
Xdon as he did at Bimingham, if not even better
"At the Birmingham Meeting the white ox aceordjngb^
took the first prize of £20 in the all-aged class of Shoit-
hot seers or oxen, the extra prize of £20. as the hest of
n he sLthorns. and the Gold Medal as the hest ox or
steer of any age or hreed; being only ^-t- ^^^^
Tnukeepers' Cup, for the best animal in any of the classes
bySmce's black Polled heifer. At the Smithfield
clb, however, as we had expected, he did " even better
taking the first prize of £30 in his class, the siver cup of

€40, as best steer or ox in any of the classes and the

Champion Plate of £100. as the best beast m the show.

Tirwhiteoxwent on from London to Leeds, where he

took The second prize of £6 in his class, to a beast placed

: IhLHn the week previous at ^ork-on almost any

showing as great a mistake as ever was made. M^^^^

Stratton sold his ox here to Mr. Bi'-e, of B™de

Fochabers, by whom he was ^^-^ -^ ;/ ;^; ^ 1

stock at Newcastle-on-Tyne, while he will be ke t

:: for another round of meetings At Islington he

girthed 9 feet 5 inches, and weighed 33 cwt. Icp. .0 lb.

PLATE II.

BIGHT AND LEFT

Ban,! lanrj ! a bird for each barrel and each pocket
-right and left. Well done! you brought down the
duck as she sprung with a snap, and the mallard in eapi-
: style as he was whizzing away, bidding ^^^^^^ll
long hoarse quack. We had our eye on yon for the ast
quarter of an hour, watching you stalking them along the

river-now crouching as if you had reached the good oU
1 of four-score-and-ten-now on all fours-and now
:Lnoitriug.coveredbya.oUp.^a^^-^
keep it in a line with yourself and the enemy o
creeping along at your heels, like a prow ing cat on the
bank of a brook looking out for a water-rat.

OPEN COMTETITION

I. the last numl.. of Jhe ^.^ X.^ ^

for the old year ^Jf. P"'^;;^ i^„ to each other,
paragraphs "i suggestive F^ ^^y ^ „f ,i,33ified
The one went on the esuiuusuu
trials of i-#ments at the makings «. ^^j^^^J.^^^^^^
cultural Society, and the ° ,^" °J, 'f ' ^ eonnty exhi-
Tloval show stock from entry at local or V"^'" J' „

offer premiums for »5""'' '"'.'f'"|°r &Mt ot Ebr-

£:r:r4n,er.,«-^^^^^^^^^^^

•ri^r'wlnweS\l-e\;Theelaboratereportsnow
jouinal. " ii^n ^ ^l,g comparative merits of

published year afteyeai "^^ ^ uhistratiug how

«lmr>c;t ill its attractions, and, as at tne Auiumu

Shint mathes, everybody would of --J- one

the best work. A correspondent oi Ihc ^'^^"'[l{

Chronicle states that at he_ Sniuhfic d ^f' '^^H

show, if the exhibitors of implement but clea ed

E' expenses they would '^^ .,;;; ^^ f;> ..^^'^

in many instances it appears that t'^^ ^^'J^

L is a\ present a loss :" I know of one ^av i g a

Krrre snace who did not receive a single ouici.

The reaSoflcred for any such stagnation is Uia an m

plement catalogue is no longer published, «\t W ij

Lmsto be admitted that this catalogue never paid foi

Lilt exhibition is a secondaiy mato b™ .^^, ^^

11, „f lifp 1V0 may now notice tlie same hh^luhv
''ion and ther^her the character of the competition
r^terJ:tter|t^

SSgrle^^St^r be^t Us of the year
^TftSS;hire,howev.tly^pvc^J^-

form all this sort of t^^^S- J^^ Son bi t'tTe rather
longer to be regarded as an ^ttiaction

to ^be avoided as a ^P- ^3;°^; JsS^bow'as suf-
Masfen, tends so much to ^T^^^^' ^^ ^^^,i^ited here,
fering the Royal ^^^'fy'^^'^^X^, ,vith Mr. Masfen,
In our simphc.ty ^^^^^^J^/f "^^ should have come to
of some consulerable cxpenencc ^^^^ ^^^ ^^

a conclusion l»-<^'^^«'^^y ^ ,Vthan the merely local exhibition
more tame orunprofit^^ble than memci y

which is limited to f^^^^^'^ year afe year, and
"Brown meets and ^^^"^^^^.JX Je et n ''' One of the

"^^^^^^^^roflie^hou^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

nothing more tluiu^ ^i^LbIi^ b^hnprovement, |
tl^^S^-^^^""""^./. r^Snv is beaten bUu estab- |

S\Slv=ayr;e=rT-^at.ibyanestab

1

lished breeder he may be prompted to ask himself the
reason why? Mr Masfeu ^oes L merit and numbe
as the chief constituents of his county show. Mere
numbers we regard as little or nothing, while merit we
take to be everything. A large badly-filled class is a
nuisance to a judge, and of little advantage to any one
eventothepnze-takers; but a good animal makeVS
mark anywhere, and the better he is the greater the im-
pression. °

hel'f ^l.?''*'"^"^ "i^^n ^T^ Agricultural Society will be
Hxture. It IS thus probable that many, even of " the
regular customers" may not be present, while according
to the example set by the Staffordshire Society they wil!
be denied the opportunity of seeing any of the Cardiff
s ock at other shows during the season. A great feature

ot the Royal cracks here come together again, although

Jo^Tm V'*''-""'^/.'P^-'^"*^-^«"l^«^ and even' at s"af-
tmd Mr. Timmis said "it was a weak piece of business to
cut at men who had shown at Royal exhibitions, for there
wei-e farmers who could show successfully against winners
at he Royal, where there was the worst judging that
could possibly be done." In some evidence of this we
may add that a first-prize heifer at Oxford was beVJn

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

91

during the same year at a midland county meeting, and
that a stallion who once took a first prize at a Royal
show never took a prize afterwards. ^

Should this example be followed elsewhere, its effect
can scarcely be otherwise than prejudicial alike to the
nationa and loca exhibitions. For instance, Mr. Bra !
burn, of Wednesfield, will most probably ha;e some of
his good dairy cows in preparation for either Cardiff or
Stafford, and he must make his choice, as must Mr
Walker with his pigs, and many a Shropshire breedc;
with his sheep. The inevitable result will be that on

As'cafdiff i '' 'T T' "'^"•' '' ^"-^ in-obably both
As Caidiff is so far off some people will be content to
wm about home, or a really good Inimal will Ee verv
much above that kind of business. The Royal and the
county Societies should work together, and the one act

SHfffn?'^%*'".°^^^V '''^''''■'' the 'resolution ;?£
StaffoMshu-e Society makes their interests directly anta-
gonistic. Of course, in the end the weaker will go to the
wall; and we cannot but regard this alteration ^as po-
rn smg to be attended with far more harm than g^od

a othcis who require improving, and yet we are to care-
glVotSdotf^'^- ™'^'^ ''-'' '' ''^^'^' '^ -"'^t '«

SHROPSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.

At a meeting at Shrewsbury, Mr. R. J. More onened a rll,
eussion on The State and Means of Education ?orFarme J
Suielory"''"^ "^"^ "^^ ^^"^"^--^ Endowment- eSng
Mr More said after speaking at lengtli to the existing
scliools m Shropshire, and the action of the Special S^
b'rS T me^/^'^V'^^' ^°^- ■'•^--ulturdXaln as"
the e one nf tl,. / °^''7, P'-oP^etary schools. Of
hi ZZi I ^ "^f'* ,«^i«cessful was probably Frarnhnsham
m Suffolk where the landowners subscribed £25 000 for a
farmers scliool. Other schools have been fo med in some of
Ssm ' B t'oi^'tr" fusions teaching adoptS' /"as^caTsef
cnncism. ijut on this he would merely remark flip Pom
nZZT ^^?^pl'ftly the religious dillicu%, wMst the"
Nonconformist Conference are going to devote a ihv L to
Endowed Scliool Commission; liut lie floT.ght t'le^w-Ts no
cause for alarm, as the Education Departmenr had d/cidrd tha?
no bishop or vicar should be e.r officio on tl.e rot " bodv

advocate this view. Much mav be sa d of . . ? ? ^?
system iirst, a word on public school systems It i, T h!

tauoit thJi T'^ r'"''^ °^.'^°y«> the manliness that is
oftfe = V^'°\u ^""P"'"' t*"^ °°i^^ense that is taken out
of t lem, and then the respect and love for fhc old school and

A !S-,''^t''V"'" y°" '^""^ "'"lit ordiscre°toni
All this, hitherto, has not been put in the way of the middle
e asses of England or rarely. I Lubt whether tl e fulH en7

numlier ot 200, or upwards. It is said, that when tliere ,\
ome great work in a country which is a pr'essing TS, p/ov
lence raises up some one or more men who are possessed with
the conviction that that is the one thing to have an 1 wish for
Suchamau appears to be Mr. Woodlird, the foimdrof the
Sussex schools, which have now got a footino- S he is
building throug^i a local committee, at De™fone fo. the
benefi of the Midland Counties, a school for foui In ndred
for Shropshire Staffordshire, and Derbyshire H idea
was to found a great centre in England of middle
class education, at a cost of £15,000, one in tic
north one m the west, and another in the south whiol, «

: nd'Lis 'S ir"°"- ' •"'^'^^" "- -hodt'o^e ou!
Tt 11^' 1 ^""''"'' '"^ y™"*' «'as about to be opened

smcnt Mr. Woodard has now begun his second conr.o W
Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Denshire. Tmigiicent
ehool IS rising at Uenstone, within easy reach of us T. fonr
hundred boys of the middle-class, at aliout thirty-f^ye Si„eas
a-year And 1 his will give to the middle-class Jll theSn
tages of Eton and Harrow. The schools at De stone and
others connected witli it, are not built on commercial urTn
cipes, ^yhlch generally fail in education, but on the hir best
and most philanthropic motives, like the motives o lioS'wl o
eft our od endowments. And this is the question whhfhlia^
been found to enlist for the lowest remuneration Ueteatest

. h vl '' \'f 'f^°^- ^^y «"ly ^'^ from the public £
ratify, site, and buildiuffs. Thev are thpn m^,1n coir V-

on very moderate terms; and^tre sv ten"l sffSr. 't^

reproduce itself_to throw out S S wh "eS tS; a e

ueeded from the parent stem, supported by it tiff it iaWeto

take root and grow for itself. It ii proposed in tie midland

coun les to vest the authority over them in a p ovoT and

nty. our fellows twelve of those fellows to b'e nob Imen

eldfnt et'ht"'!'" lf"Sr «t"'^' P"""' ^^ith the tS e
residents, eight only of the other twelve fellows to be clergy

cW P H ^ '^T^ P'"i '^^^'^ education-the bishop of tlfe
diocese, the rector, and ordinary. Now, this plan is already

H V

92

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

organised, and ready to our hand, so far as this — tliat a school
for 400 boys, with magnificent buildings, is half-finished, and
will be opened in a year or two, and this will probably meet
tlie demand of Sliropsliire and Derbyshire for some years.
Dover school only reached 120 in twelve or thirteen years —
some clergy, some professional men's sous ; and I think this
would greatly interfere with the success of a county sciiool.
Again, it is probable that in a short time a school of 1,000 boys
of the lower middle class, at eighteen guineas a-year, wiU be
opened within reach, like the school which is already built at
Ardingley for 1,000, in connection with these schools. Of the
Manchester committee, Mr. Woodard, now a canon of Man-
chester cathedral. Lord Ripon, and eighty uoblemeu and
gentlemen of high standing are members. I say, let us throw
ourselves into this. Let the middle-class subscribe their one
or two, or five guineas annually, to St. Chad's College, Den-
stone, as the cheapest investment they can make for the edu-
cation of their children. And let the lower middle-class do
likewise. In return for this small annual subscription, they
will get, when they want it, on the lowest possible terras, the
best education for their children in their respective walks of
life. They will be brought up with the same advantages of
the public school system as the children of the nobility and
gentry liave so long enjoyed — in noble buildings worthy of
those of Oxford and Cambridge and our old educational
structures, under clergymen and gentlemen of the highest
requirements,^ working not in a commercial spirit but for
love of the work. This is what I have to propose, and it has
this great advantage — it is practicable. It is within your easy
reach. It has already been done in the south of England. It
is now being accomplished in an adjoining county for Salop,
Derbyshire, and Staflordsliire. It has had the approval and
co-operation of the late and the present President of the Privy
Council of Education. I do not tliiuk a county school would
help being dwarfed under the shadow of a great institution
like Denstone. But anyhow, something must be done, and
that sosn, if the middle-class is not to be left behind by the
lower, not only in political power but in mental cultivation.
The Rev. W. B. GAE^'ETT-BoTFIELl) said : Some twenty
years ago, when I first paid strict attention to the matter, I was
convinced that wliilst excellent schools were being provided all
over the country for the children of labourers (and I rejoiced,
as you all will, that it was so), yet there was a danger that the
labourer might have advantages which were out of the reach of
his employer. In re-orgauizing a school in the parish in which
my pastoral duty then lay, I took this into deep consideration,
and, as far as I could, with the means then in my power, I en-
deavoured to meet the difficuKy. We shall soon have to deal
with small endowments, which are not fulfilling their founders'
intention. I would merely hint, in anticipation of a suggestion,
that such a college as that at Cirencester would be suitable for
Shropshire, and I give no opinion on this. I would merely hint
that the sons of gentlemen intended for farming would get the
best practical education by becoming pupils of some of those
intelligent agriculturists who farm their land with the highest
skill and with a large capital, and who are, in my humble
opinion, the best calculated to alford the right sort of instruction
to the young farmers who are to do such wonders in the future.
Whilst 1 have a high opinion of such a college as Cirencester,
yet I should like to send a boy to some practical farmer to com-
plete his education. I believe that any hoy might begin in a
National School, pass on to a higlicr grade, and after a little
practical instruction, either at home with his fatlier, or as a
pupil on a large holding, acquire a sliare of that practical know-
ledge which will enable him to be an ornament and a blessing
to his country as a British farmer.

^^ Colonel CoRBETT,M.P., proposed the following resolution:
" That a committee be appointed for the purpose of promoting
education of farmers' sons in Shropshire, and for entering into
communication witli the Endowed Schools Commissioners with
a view to devising a suitable scheme from existing endowments
for that object."

Mr.EvA^j Davies seconded the resolution, which wascarried.

The Rev. S. J. Hawkes said : AVlien Napoleon commenced
to improve the condition of his country, he commenced not
with the lowest class, but with the middle class.

Sir Baldwin Leighton concurred in what had fallen
from Mr. Pigott— that they had not met to discuss that question
one day too soon. He believed that tlie most proper course
would be to form a committee to consider the question. How-

ever valuable the discussion that morning might have been, it
was only preliminary, for the question was a very large, diffi-
cult, and complicated one.

At the dinner, where Lord Browulow was in the chair

Mr. Layton Lowndes, for the magistrates, said that before
long county matters would be managed by another body ; and
he had no doubt the magistrates would endeavour to turn them
over to that body in such a way that it would be no discredit
to themselves.

Sir Percy Herbert, M.P., in regard to the malt-tax,
might say that he wished some Liberal Chancellor of tlie
Exchequer would see his way to make some reduction in this,
for if tliat old-fashioned mixture that they imagined to be
made of malt were made of nothing but malt and hops there
would be much less drunkenness than there ^was now. Tlic
temptation to adulterate it would be very much less if the duty
were taken off malt. Tliere had been a great cry of a free
breakfast table, but lie should like to see something done to
give them a free dinner table.

Colonel CoRBETT, M.P., said the malt tax was a subject
which had had arrayed against it in St. Stephen's knights of
the shire and worthy burgesses, who had gone to do it battle
to the death ; but he was afraid that that impertinent rascal
that was continually taking their money from them stiU stood,
was as rapacious as ever, and was in as good health as ever it
was. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer would present a
budget without this tax in it, he was sure the right- hon.
gentleman would succeed in bringing down the House, and
they might at least say it was a matcliless budget. With re-
gard to local taxation, a great deal might be said, and a great
deal had to be done, in order to secure justice for all. A
measure had been brought forward, but it was taking the
luggage out of the front of an over-loaded coach to put it
behind. What they said was this — the land was over-
burned with local taxation, and it required to be more limited
and defined in respect to household and landed property. That
is the point wliich he took, and that was the point which
many members justly took in the House of Commons. Tliere
was another subject to wliich he would allude — the question
of the game laws. It was a delicate subject, but it could be
dealt with by moderate men on both sides, in the same way as
all measures had been dealt with by the practical minds of
Englishmen. If they could divest tiiemselves of their pre-
judices and animosities against anything that remained of the
feudal system and that inordinate love of what was called
sport, but what he called poultry slaughtering, they could, he
believed, settle that question to the satisfaction of all parties con-
cerned. He ventured last session to prepare a bill for the
purpose of settling this question, but in consequence of the
pressure of business it was not brought before the House.
This bill, he thought, would settle the question. It was con-
sidered by the Central Chamber of Agriculture, and met with
a favourable reception there. He was sure that this question
only wanted fairly and honestly considering to have it settled
to the satisfaction of every one. It would never be done by
acrimony on the one hand or selfishness on tlie other. If they
would follow the harmonious feeling which had characterised
them at the meeting that day, and also at that dinner, they
would obtain an amicable settlement of this question, which
would meet with the approval of those concerned, whether
landlord or tenant. •

Mr. EiGGiNS, M.P., said the oveners of the soil are being
attacked on all sides. First, there is the Land Tenure Reform
Association, and the Land and Labour League, which appear
to be pure and unmitigated socialism. I do not think the
House of Commons would entertain a scheme for forcibly
taking laud from its present owners, uotwitlistanding that
during the past three years it has dealt rather freely witli
property. Then we have the idea of Mr. Jenkins, the candi-
date for Truro. He would permit the man, who, by hard
work and privations, has made a fortune and invested it in
land to enjoy it during his life, but afterwards he is to liave
no control. His words are — " As to the disposal of property,
a man when he died had no right to dispose of his property.
He held the property in trust for the State and sooicty, and it
was for society and the State to dictate to iiim on what terms
he should transmit it." Then we have Mr. Mill, wlio does
not propose to take away the laud. If I understand his
scheme it is tliis, that when land is improved in value by tlie

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

9c

yreut ;iud general prosperity of the co\intry, or by a railway
jiassiiig through or near it, or IVom auy other cause, the owner
shall surrender it to the country, and be satisfied with its
primitive value. Then the member for Merthyr propagates
another idea, " That when a tenant has held laud twenty years,
he is entitled to share in it, and claim joint ownership." I
commend this original idea to the attention of the noble lord
in the chair, and the other landed proprietors at this table.
But there is one feature in which all are deeply interested,
landlord, tenant, and the public, and that is, that the land
should render the largest possible amount of produce. It is
said by some the system of tenure prevents this, and raises,
iu consequence, the price of corn and meat ; but as there
is no duty now upon the produce of other lands in Europe
and America, and com and meat are freely imported, the
laud-laws can have no effect in maintaining prices, Tlie
real cause of high prices is the improved condition of the
people, at which we must all rejoice ; at present the supply
is not equal to the demand, but the extension of railways
throughout the world will in time remedy this. Others
attribute the difficulty to the uncertain tenure by the
fiirmer, and call for a law which shall remedy this. I hope we
shall never see the day when Parliament shall forbid sane and
reasonable men entering into a contract. No doubt the 21
year's' lease is the right system, and I cannot believe in the
difficulty of a lease. A manufacturer who has a twenty-one
years' lease, within two of its expiry, seeks a renewal, if he
arranges well ; if not, he has to pay for dilapidations, and I
imagine these could be as well assessed in land as in build-
iugs. But, after all, has not the British farmer the best tenure
when he rents from one of the noble or ancient county fami-
lies, who feel a pride in retaining their tenants ? I would
say, when you rent under these landlords be content, and do
your best ; but if you rent under a cotton lord, then liave a
lease, as the same talent which realised tlie land would seek
for the largest possible profit from the investment. I must
refer, as I have done on previous occasions, to tlie position of
the labourer, a subject which is advancing in the public mind,
and will ere long come to the front ; and I venture to hope
the farmers of England will meet the difficulty as far as is in
their power, and not let revolutionary demagogues make poli-
tical capital out of it. Of course, the speaker who at a public
meeting proposes and carries by acclamation a resolution that
wages should be raised 20 or 25 per cent, is only a visionary
theorist. The wages of tlie agricultural labourer must be go-
verned, as other labour is, by supply and demand. This ques-
tion of supply is the point to which I desire for a few minutes
to draw your attention. I believe the supply of this class of
labour will diminish by its absorption into the large towns,
under the nine hours' movement, and by emigration. There
IS a reform farmers can inaugurate ; do away with perquisites,
give no drink, but pay all the wages in hard cash. This
would benefit the labourer and not injure the employer, and
in time the labourer might lose his love of drink. Sure I am,
before long, this will be made compulsory ; for a Truck Bill
is to be brought into the House iu the ensuing session, and I
believe payment in drink will be prohibited, and all wages be
compulsory in cash. But, beyond this, I feel that the period
is not far distant when the wages of the agriculturist, from
various causes, will advance. The want of better lodgment
for the labourer is a subject that has been frequently dis-
cussed, but I fear no progress can be made iu this desirable
object until the law of settlement is altered. The philan-
thropic landlord who would offer inducements to labourers to
occupy neat and commodious cottages would only be laying up
in store an increased poor-rate, a burden which would reduce
the value of his property. This difficulty would be removed
by throwing the entire maintenance of the sick, aged, and in-
firm poor on a general income tax upon all property — only a
measure of justice. 1 have to congratulate the farmers upon
the opening of a market by the Corporation of London for
the landing and slaughtering of foreign cattle, and trust Go-
vernment will have established similar markets at all ports
where foreign cattle and sheep are received, so that the coun-
try may be free from the scourge which some years back so
seriously affected it, and this county in particular.

The CiiAiiiMAN said lately there had been many important
questions brought under tlieir notice. Some of those ques-
tions had been very ably treated by their county members, and
he did not know that he had very much to say upon them but

what had already been said. In the first place tlu-re was the
question of the cattle disease. lie believed that, next to
Cheshire, this county had suffered more than any county iu
England, and he did hope and trust that slaugliter-liouses for
infected foreign cattle would be erected at aU the ports, and
that they would have a system of quarantine. Local taxation
was another important question upon which there had been
much discussion, and he hoped, now that they had stated their
grievances to the Government, some measure would be brought
forward more satisfactory than auy they had hitherto had.
Another question that had been touched upon was the ques-
tion of game. He firmly believed that no tenant-farmer would
object to a moderate quantity of game. Every farmer would
be glad, he was sure, to see his landlord shooting over his
farm, and walking about his estate, enjoying himself. And he
did believe that the animal that did the most damage to the
farmer of all in the world was an animal that was not pro-
perly game, and that was the rabbit. That auimal burrowed
under the soil, and made holes all over it, and he ate the
crops as it came out of the ground. It was the most ubiqui-
tous auimal in the world — they found it everywhere. He
confessed that he did not care himself for a " big day's shoot-
ing" ; indeed, he often regretted that he could not remember
" the good old days" when a man went out with his gun and
his dog for a day's sport. He hoped what he had said would
not be taken amiss in a hunting county like that, for he hoped,
whatever might be done in other respects, nothing would ever
be done to spoil the good old sport of fox-hunting. He had
a good deal of experience of the good effects of that sport, and
he knew how many little difiiculties were often talked over by
landlord and tenant when they met in the hunting-field. He
knew of no particular reason that was to be urged against a
good lease ; but he believed that there was no county in Eng-
land that was so celebrated for a good understanding between
landlord and tenant as Shropshire is. And he believed that
that kindly feeling was very much increased by that Chamber,
and to it therefore he most heartily wished success.

Mr. BowEN Jones said : Perhaps uppermost amongst
the barriers to an improved system of agriculture have
been over- preservation of game, the system of rack-
renting land, which has hitherto so generally prevailed, and
the deficient, and, in some eases, shall I say degraded state
of education, both amongst many of our class and also the agri-
cultural labourers. I must give expression to the views that I
earnestly feel for the necessity of some better system of holding
land than that based on a six months' notice to quit. The
sound of Tenant-Right is alarming to many minds, and amongst
them — ^judging from what I can catch from the remarks of
the honurable member for Shrewsbury, with whose views I
generally agree — of his also, simply from non-consideration. I
am in a position to appreciate, as much as any man, the value
of the sentiments he expresses with regard to the feeling that
should exist between landlord and tenant ; but I cannot con-
ceive why Tenant-Uight should interfere with this good under-
standing, for it means nothing more and nothing less than,
security for capital invested for which a tenant has not derived
a return, and could be easily settled in the form of an agree-
ment or by arbitration if generally recognised, without the as-
sistance of a measure in Parliament. 1 can't here enter into
the arguments pro and con, but even in cases where owners
have every desire and also possess the capability of meeting the
tenant in permanent improvements (and from various causes
how often is tills not the case?), there is a large outlay required
on most land before an adequate return ensues, and this will
never be made to the extent it should without suitable and
sufficient security is given. The dense population of this
island demands food at a rate that we can't now anything like
supply ; but I believe that the resources of our soil, developed
to its full capabilities, would at the present time almost fulfil
the requirements ; but I fear this will never happen without
security being given for capital invested in the soil, the effect of
which would be to increase the value of the land, and thereby
prove to the advantage of the landowner ; improve the position
of the tenant, because he would be enabled to secure larger re-
urns from the soil ; and elevate the condition of the labourer,
because the production of larger crops would require a greater
amount of labour, and that of a superior character, that would
necessitate good cottages being built upon the farm. And
here I would observe, if Tenant-Uight is conceded, it will be
utterly useless to the bad farmer, and every landowner should

94.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

ia justice be protected from bad tenants as much as good ten-
ants should have an ojiportuuity of improving their land with-
out risk. As to the labourer, I hear the cry come up from
south Shropshire, 9s. a week and a drop of cider; and I turn
to my labour account for the last twelve months and find, ex-
cluding stock men from the calculation altogether, that most
of ray ordinary farm labourers earned about 1-is. per week,
and averaged under 10 hours' work per day. The rate of
wages is the same around me, and no doubt my calculation is
applicable to my district, and I am at a loss to understand the
inequality thus shown between two districts within twenty
miles of one another. Practically I know where perepiisites
are given they are not estimated at much ; and I cannot help
fearing that a fair allowance has not been made for them in
the statements that have lately gone forth to the public. Now,
remember, I sincerely desire to see the agricultural labourer's
lot improved and bis wages increased ; and I know no class
whose position has altered more of late years ; but in return
for this the farmer has a right to require a proportionate im-

provement in the character and amount of work done. It is
not by a claim for a fixed rate of wages that these matters can
be settled ; the effect of such a course would be only to increase
what already exists to too great an extent — an unequal pay-
ment according to capability — and the result would be to drag
the best workmen down to a level with the worst. The im-
provement of the labourer, like that of the farmer, must de-
pend much upon himself ; and a fixed rate of wage, were it
possible, would no more tend to elevate the working man than
a system of Tenant-Hight would improve the position of a bad
tenant-farmer. I have not time now to more than dogmati-
cally state that the additional demand that each labourer
shall have sutlicient land to keep a cow is both unfeasible and
preposterous.

Mr. G. Wise urged that farmers should have a better se-
curity for the outlay of their capital than (hey had at present,
and they might depend upon it that men would never invest
their money in land, as they ought to do, until they had better
security.

BOROUGHBRIDGE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
AGRICULTURAL LABOUR.

At the first meeting for the year, Mr. Jacob Smith presided
at the dinner.

The Rev. C. H. Sale read the following paper : The
relations of labour and capital are now universally in an ex-
cited, not to say disturbed, state. There are various concurrent
sauses of this disturbed condition, material and moral, economi-
cal, social, and political ; many of them natural and necessary,
being iucidental to a progressive civilization; others morbid
and fraught with danger, the growth of antiquated, if not un-
just, laws, the fruits of selfishness, and of ignorance of right
principles ; but all taken advantage of by men whose trade is
agitation, and their object too often revolution. And it is to
be much feared that the strikes and lock-outs in which the
difficulties arising from this state of things have found a roufh
and irrational solution, only add evils of their own, which tend
to separate more widely classes, where interests rightly viewed
are identical. But it is not at present intended to investigate
the very diiiicult question of the general relations of employers
and employed, and they are mentioned only because it is
necessary to bear them in mind, in so far as they even now in-
directly affect agricultural labour, and may shortly do so
directly. To the farmer there cannot be a more vital question
than that of labour. The item of labour, under its various heads,
if not equal to that of rent, is by far the heaviest in his balance-
sheet, sometimes exceeding that of the bare rent. It is also,
while the most optional expenditure, the most remunerative ;
and modern farming imposes a growing necessity for more and
more skilled labourers. The questions, then, of rates and local
taxation, to which farmers devote so much as yet unrewarded
energy, vanish into comparative insignificance in presence of the
undoubted fact that mjncuUurallabour is everywhere dedinbifj
loth in qiiiuilili/ oiid qiicdifi/. Notwithstanding the general
rise of wages, in which the agricultural labourer shares, the
supply is far from equal to the demand — able-bodied men are
very scarce, and skilful labourers rarer still. I need not seek
to prove what every farmer's experience attests. What is to
be done ? Can anything be done? These questions may
have a better chance of satisfactory answer, if we pass in quick
miud soiueof the causes which have conduced to bring about
the present state of things. And first we must notice the
gradual, but now almost complete, change in those pleasant
relations between landlord and tenant, master and man, which
used to attach a man to his employer and to his native place or
neighbourhood. _ Those relations have, from whatever causes
become mainly, in many cases entirely commercial. It is a
question of money, a man passes from master to master, from
one neighbourhood to another, with little consideration of
anything beyond wages. The righteous measures whicli have
virtually abolished the law of settlement, the facility and
cheapness and familiar habits of locomotion, the spread of
education, and the enlargement of men's minds and
experience, the diffusion of information as to work and

prices, the very energy and enterprise of our best
young )nen, whose migratory habits have been already formed
by annual change of master and village at the hirings — all
tiiese contribute influences which carry men, and the youngest
and tlie best, from home. "Wherever there are, or are thought
to be, high wages and openings for enterprise, thither there is
a rush of the young, the strong, the self-reliant. No age has
seen such a displacement of population, such concentration of
labour in our cities and manufacturing counties, above all, such
an enormous emigration. It is quite true that good men
may do well at home, but it is common for men who
are doing well to wish to do better ; and in many rural neigh-
bourhoods which have points of contact with manufacturing
districts, or communications with settlers in foreign parts, the
able-bodied men are drifting away year by year, and the youths
betake themselve in increasing numbers to the higher paid
labour of towns and coal or iron fields, or the adventure and
certain prosperity of a settler's life. And while the dearth
thus created is no longer relieved by an annual immigration of
cheap Irish labour, it is to be expected that it may be some-
what intensified by the action of the new education law, which
is likely to withdraw from employment many young boys, and
perhaps some women, mothers of young families. What then
can be done ? It must be remembered that many of the causes
of this state of things, so far from being evil are in themselves
good — others are the inevitable incidents of a growing civili-
zation which is reaching at last, we may thank God for it, the
rural population. We cannot arrest these forces if we would,
and we ought not if we could. AVe must simply accept the
situation, and make the best of it. It is of no use to complain
of the spirit and circumstances of the age, and engage in a
vain struggle to oppose them. We must work along with
them and see if we cannot so deal with them as to turn them
to our purpose. And first of all we must avail ourselves of
every possible help to be obtained from improved implements
and machinery of every kind — of every possible economy of
labour. We must substitute, wherever we can, horses for men
and engines for horses. Science has done much for farmers,
and it must be acknowledged that they have not been slow to
avail themselves of its aid ; and if only an economical and
easily applied system of steam cultivation could be invented
(and why should it not ?) many of the diificulties of the labour
question would be solved at once. And even as things are now,
why should not farmers combine to establish steam ploughs in
every neighbourhood to be used in turn by mutual arrange-
ment ? And why should not neighbours join their forces on
thrashing days and other like occasion ? Surely we may hope
that the time is at hand when machinery may do as much in
cultivation and preparation for harvest, as in reaping and thrash-
ing. If this could be achieved the labours of the farm
would be less dull, less uninviting to men of a more cultivated
and versatile intelligence, who are now attached to other em-

THE FAKMEU'S MAaAZINE.

95

ployments. But we shall be uuable to keep llie able-bodied
meu at home imless the fanner can offer wages iii some measure
equivalent to the high rates which attract tliein to the manu-
facturing districts. I think this not so impossiljle as it seems
to be. The labourer, or his wife, is growing sufficiently intel-
ligent to understand that a high scale of charges for everythiug,
excepting sometimes coal, accompanies a high nominal rate of
wages, and that seasons of depression and absolute want of
work arc are not uncommon in manufacturing counties. But
why should not the gains of the agricultural labourer be largely
augmented without loss to the fanner, but rather to his gain,
by a change in the principle of payment ? Weekly wages, at
very much the same rate to all, is now the basis of payment.
It is a bad rule — it reduces all skilful and unskilful, idle or
energetic, steady or immoral, to the same level. Might not
the farmer adopted the principle of paying, as far as possible,
according to the quantity and quality of work done? Might
not piece-work, or work by take, or bargain, be the rule? This
change seems to be feasible, if steam cultivation can be intro-
duced, and would tend greatly to add to the earnings of the
labourer and to his satisfaction in his work. But all would
be in vain so long as the dwellings and home life of the labourer
are so miserable as they are too commonly suffered to be.
There are too many villages in which the condition of a con-
siderable number of cottages is simply scandalous ! The horses
and dogs are more comfortably housed ! The tenements are
mere hovels, dangerous to health, and the arrangements for-
bid comfort, and even decency ; and the rents, nevertheless,
are often high. How can a respectable labourer be expected
to remain in such quarters if Ue has any chance of getting out
of them ? And, moreover, such as they are, there is often an
nsufficient supply. We may be thankful that in these days
he aged or inlirm are taken care of, they do not die off quickly
and leave vacant cottages. There is very often not a house
to be found in whicli a man witli any self-respect can take up
his abode. Tenant-farmers should make this a matter of com-
pact with the landlord or his agent. It is to be assumed when
a man takes a farm that he has appliances for cultivating it,
and labourers' cottages sufficient in number and respectibiUty
are as necessary as farm buildings. A comfortable cottage
at a reasonable rent, with decent offices, including
pigsty, and with a garden, need never want a worthy tenant.
And lastly. Surely something might be done by the farmers
themselves to render the lot of an agricultural labourer more
cheerful, and to establish more friendly relations between em-
ployers and employed. At present the isolation is complete.
There really exists, I am satisfied, much kindly Iceling ; what
is wanted is to give it expression, to the benefit of both classes.
And the overtures must come from the masters. At present
all endeavours to elevate the condition of the labourer are
mostly left to the squire or clergyman, chiefly the latter ; and
are sometimes viewed with suspicion. The farmer perhaps
subscribes to the clothing club or school, that is all. But why
sliould he not show a more persoiud interest in what concerns
the welfare of the labourer ? Wliy should he not be a member
of the benefit society, which is so dear to the working man,
and which ought to be dear to the ratepayer ? Why should
he not give bis company to his thrifty poorer neighbours at
their annual club feast ? Why should there not be in every
village, under the auspices of the principal inhabitants, a read-
ing room, a lending library, even a working man's club ; and
some provision for the amusement of the young, such as a
cricket-ground, or a singing-class, with an occasional concert
or reading? I am satisfied that such attempts to establish a
kindlier feeliug between different classes and liealthy local in-
terests would not prove altogether fruitless. There might be
some misconception at first, possibly some ingratitude, and a
few failures ; but are not these the inevitable conditions of ul-
timate success P At any rate, the present state of the supply
of agricultural labour is most unsatisfactory. The prospects
of its future are more alarming, and I may be excused for call-
ing your attention to it,

Mr. G. W. ArPLEYARD did not agree that labourers should
have pig styes. The question of labour was now becoming
one of a very serion? character, seeing that the nine hours'
system was now becoming generally adopted. The other day
he was talking to a celebrated landlord, who seemed to think,
as regarded farming operations, that it was time to consider
how they could apply steam and macliinery to substitute to
some extent manual labour. He was of opinion that it would

be well if they could bring into general use the steam plougli,
and also have steam power brought to bear in other respects
on a farm. It was worth considering whether prizes might
not be given for the best constructed farmsteads, providing ma-
chinery for preparing food for cattle, and also distributing food
for tliem around the farmstead. Mr. Sale had ofl'ered some
very good remarks in introducing the question of agricultural
labour, and he was convinced it was necessary that machinery
should economise labour to a far greater extent than was the
case at present.

Mr. R. M. Caldee, said that, although wages were higher
than formerly, yet there was not the number of good labourers
that was necessary. He considered that the cottage accommo-
dation, generally speaking, for agricultural labourers was really
very bad. Now-a-days especially was it necessary that agri-
cultural labourers should have decent dwellings with some re-
gard to sanitary appliances, and inducements to cultivate de-
cency and respectability, things which were far more attended
to now than they were a few years ago. A good pig hung up
in the house was a great assistance to a poor family, and another
at the same time in the sty to be suspended from the roof in due
course. He pointed out as one reason why farm labourers
went to towns to work was that agricultural work was mono-
tonous. Men plodded on from day to day aU the year round,
and had nothing to look to in their old age, it being ten to one
that they went to the workhouse. He suggested that some
sort of club or society should be established for agricultural la-
bourers, by which they might derive benefit by paying in small
sums, something like the life insurance system, so that they
might secure to themselves a small annuity in their old age, a
good thing to look forward to. The labour question was a
most serious and difficult one, and did not seem likely soon to
be solved. He urged that farmers, in the position they were
now placed, should use machinery a great deal more, and en-
deavour to do with less manual labour.

Mr. Bennett considered that agriculturists had worse ser-
vants and worse labourers than they had thirty years ago,

The Rev. C. H- Sale suggested the desirability of farm
work, as far as possible, being done by take or bargain instead
of by weekly wage,

Mr. R. M. Calder said that drainage was done by piece-
work, but the daily routine of a farm could not be so paid for.
He was very much in favour of piecework, and should like
everything done by contract, as the work was then cheaper and
better done,

Mr. Api'LEYAUD thought the hour work system might be
adopted with advantage.

Mr. Bennett was of opinion that much more piecework
might be done than was the case at present.

Mr. T. Scott said tlmt contract work was done in a supe-
rior manner generally speaking, but it was not applicable to
all kinds of farm work. They were now as a rule paying their,
farming men quite as well as the working men in the manufac-
turing districts, taking everything into consideration. Farm
labourers, their wives and families, were much better clothed
and fed, and had more advantages than they used to have,
and were fully equal to the labouring class in the manufac-
turing districts. Many labourers were getting no less than
18s. per week, in addition to which there was what his wife
and children were able to earn, with cheap cottages, gardens,
and the like. There had of late years a very great improve-
ment taken place in the habits and social position of the ag-
ricultural labourer, who had now, instead of old dwellings to
live in, new houses upon a much more commodious scale. He
was an advocate for contract work on a farm as far as it could
be carried out, but there was a large amount of labour on all
farms which could not be let, and must be done by day. He
urged the importance of cultivating between agriculturists and
their servants the best possible relations and good understand-
ing, and binding the two together in sympathy and mutual
feeling. Educating and improving the minds of servants was
to the advantage of both employer and employed, for they
might depend upon it as a rule that the better a man was edu-
cated the better servant he would be, and he would then be
able easily to manage a steam engine, and to do his general
work in a more systematic and intelligent manner. He did
not agree with Mr. Calder as to the monotony of farm work.
If a man were kept thrashing from the 1st of January to the
end of December it would no doubt be monotonous, but this
was not the case, as tlierc was variety about farm work, more

£6

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

so than was associated with tlie labour ofmeuiu factories. He did
not think with Mr. Caldcrthatagriculturallabourers were likely
to go to the workhouse in their old age, as their position was
now so different to w hat it used to be. lie alluded to the fact
that many agricultural labourers, after !<oing to the manufac-
turing districts for work, came back again to the rural districts
in a state of poverty, and were glad to resume their old em-
ployment. In the iron and lead mining districts the wages of
labourers might be more tJian those of rural labourers, but then
their outgoings were a great deal more.

Mr. i'owLER was in favour of contract work, which was
better and cheaper than work done by day. Proper and sui-
table cottages for workpeople in country districts could be put
up at from £90 to £100 each, and pay reasonable interest for
the money laid out.

The Rev. 11. D. Owen thought that £90 or £100 was ra-
ther a high estimate, as the interest upon building was not less
than six per cent., and therefore the rent of a labourer's cot-
tage must be at least £6 per annum, lie thought that com-
fortable cottages could be erected for less than £100 each, and
pay a fair amount of interest for the capital invested. lie was
against women working in the fields, considering tliat they
ought to be keepers at home, whereby they would be able to
have their houses clean and comfortable for their husbands on
coming home from work, tired and jaded. The farm labourer

was then more likely to remain at home in preference to going
to tJie public-house. He approved of provident societies as a
help to labouring men, good cottages for tlicm to dwell in,
with small gardens attached, and accommodation tokeep a pig.

The Chairman was in favour of steam cultivation, and lie
believed it was adopted for that neighbourhood, and tliey might
take shares in the North and East Ridings Steam Cultivation
Company. The question of steam cultivation was one that
must be practically discussed and taken really in hand at no
distant time. He considered that the condition of the farm
labourer at 18s. per week was better than that of the town la-
bourer, as he breathed a purer air and had not so much to pay
in doctor's bills. For the sake of a shilling or two per week
more wages men were led away to towns, but he believed they
would find in the end that it would have been better for them
if they had remained in the rural districts. He was in favour
of agricultural labourers having pigs.

Mr. Calder said that 15s. per week for a man at Myton
was better than 22s. per week at Middlesboro'. Men came
back again from that town to Myton. An institute, reading
room, and library had been established, and young men spent
their evenings in the reading room in preference to going to
the public-house. Since he went to Myton the labourers on
the estate had much improved in intelligence and educational
knowledge.

STOWMARKET FARMERS' CLUB.
EWE FLOCKS ON HEIYY LAND.

At the last meeting the subject for discussion was Manage-
ment of an Ewe Flock upon Heavy Land, introduced by Mr.
Edward Lingwood, of Brockford. The chair was taken by
J. H. Heigh am.

Mr. Lingwood read the following paper : Within forty years
an idea prevailed tiiat sheep could not be wintered upon heavy
land because the rot would destroy them. Thorough drainage,
and the extended cultivation and great variety of green crops,
together with the conviction that the farmer must have some-
thing to fall back upon besides his corn, have quite altered the
aspect of aiTairs ; it must be borne in mind that no amount of
care and management will entirely compensate for the loss of
a naturally dry soil — the true home of an animal. Tliose of us,
therefore, who cultivate stiff land must make the best use we
can of our positions. Tiie first thing to be considered in set-
ting a Hock is, it need hardly be said, the choice of breed ; but
this part of the subject I don't propose to enter into now. Mr.
Sexton will probably tell you there is nothing like the Cots-
wolds ; Mr. Boby goes for Southdowns, and Mr. Green for
" Suffolks," though I don't suppose the last-named gentleman
would go so far as to say his was the identical breed that
Noah took into the ark. However, the selection being made
the food supply will next demand our attention. We occa-
sionally see ewes sold early in the spring because their owner
had no more roots for them, at the same money they were
worth the previous Michaelmas. To obviate this I begin to
prepare in April for the following season by sowing a large
bed with drumhead cabbage seed, the plants from which are
put out on heavily-manured ridges some time in June, about
9,000 to the acre, reckoning a quarter of an acre to every
score ewes. As soon as the wheat is ready for hoeing 1 select
a piece on which I sow broadcast two bushels an acre of
Italian ryegrass and horsehoe it in, calculating to have some-
thing like two acres for the before-mentioned number of sheep.
Early in June a few swedes are sown, as I have a parti-
cidar objection to giving sticklers mangold in cold weather.
In July turnips are drilled after the ryegrass, one-third to one-
half of which are drawn off in November, part of these are
set close together with their tops on and the remainder are
topped, laid in rows, and covered thickly with straw ; some
coleseed is also sown after the tares that liave been mown for
the horses. Soon after clipping, the lambs having gone, I
discard the broken mouths, bad motliers, and any individuals
that have got badly through lambing, as my experience is that
but few of the latter wiU breed again, replacing them with
some good-sized shearlings that have not previously had lambs.

I say good-sized on acconnt of less risk, and hogget mothers
rarely wear well. The rams should be well bred, not too wide
across the forehead, and if of any of the white-faced breeds
not over two years old. At this season (June) the leys will
afford the requisite food, with perhaps a change to a piece of
mustard, and an occasional run on a pasture ; but I strongly
disapprove of eating uplands bare at any time between Feb-
ruary and November. By the middle of July some of the
leys from wliich clover hay has been taken will be ready for
use, and after that the stubbles till about the 21st of Septem-
ber, when high feeding, if you wish for a good fall of twins,
must be resorted to. To this end the Hock is changed daily,
getting old and young leys, pasture, and stubbles, with a
nightly fold on coleworts, some watchfulness being required
that no losses occur from over-eating when first going to the
latter victuals. At Michaelmas marking takes place, and there
is nothing so durable for the purpose as a mixture of red lead
and linseed oil. A large letter looks bad, and a smeared
one worse. To cure the latter difficulty I invariably shut
my sheep up beforehand till they are sufficiently hungry to
prevent all tendency to rub before the paint is too dry to be
removed. The rams are turned in by October 1st and are sup-
plied with some linseed-cake and old beans every morning,
which they soon learn to draw away to ; afterwards the man-
golds and swede tops and small roots are cleared up, the un-
broken stubbles afi'ording a little amusement, till l)y the third
week of November a few turnips will be required. These are
thrown out on the pastures daily, the animals going to fold
(weather permitting), on some of the unploughed turnip or
mangold land, receiving when there chaff in the proportions of
one-third hay, and two-thirds barley or pea-straw in covered
troughs. On no account allow frozen roots or green food the
first thing in the morning, or a certain loss of lambs will be the
result. Should the frost be severe and a run on some rough
grass can be had, the fewer roots that are given at this time
the better ; and in addition to the cliatT some barley, bean,
cloversced, or pea-straw put in racks or between hurdles,
afford occupation if but little nutriment, always taking care
that fair condition is maintained. I should prefer, however,
risking a lot that Vi-ere too thin to one that liad got to the
other extreme. Soon after the commencemt of the new year I
begin to eat off the turnips that were left on the land, a liberal
supply of succulent food being now indispensable. Should the
land be too wet, a remove must be made to the pastures ; in-
deed, a change is desirable in either case, both on the score of
exercise and as a cleanser of the wet and clogged feet, for in

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

^7

the matter of foot-rot preveution is far better than cure. A
few (lays before lambing a dry pasture near home becomes the
feediot; ground, on which is thrown out any turnips tliat may
remain, with swedes and cabbages : the sleeping place a tem-
porary yard with pens round it for the newly-lambed ewes. I
need hardly say that constant watchfulness will now be neces-
sary, but if the flock has been properly managed, has not been
frii^htened with dogs, or allowed to break ont, no very great
dilliculty will usually be experienced. Depend on it when you
Iiear of great losses of sheep and lambs, there is good reason
for it ; not but what diiticult cases may, aud will occur, which
cannot, be practically treated on upon paper. You may read
precisely liow a man's leg should be taken olT, and would tlieu
be just as capable of performing the operation as you were
before. Wrapping up in a sheep skin is the best cure for a
chilled or weakly limb, giving it warm (not hot) milk in small
quantities. This is preferable to taking it to a tire, as in that
case oftener than not its mother will decline to have anything
more to say to it. Sheep will eat ivy plucked fresh from a tree
wlien they will touch nothiug else. Should they refuse all
food, or take it in insuflicient quantities, uo time should be
lost in giving gruel. Many an animal dies every season that
a week's hand-feeding would have saved. When turniug out
don't put too many young lambs together, otherwise they get
knocked into ditches and drowned, or perhaps internally in-
jured ; and if you have any bad milkers it is better to feed them
high (linseed cake and malt chives are as good as anything)
rather tlian give the lambs cow's milk, which docs not always
agree with them. Shutting up is unnatural to animals so
well provided against the vicissitudes of climate, and if
persisted in is sure to result in loss of wool. A piece
of old grass is mostly reserved, aud here let me turn aside
from my text for a moment to remark upou the utter sense-
lessness of breaking old grass even if second rate. Drain,
clean, aud apply two or three dressings of farmyard manure,
then see if in the average of years you are not better otf with
a proportion of meadow. It is not very long since I sold
sound wheat at ojs. a quarter, aud I should as soon expect to
find a hare on the top of the monument as twitch grass in an
old pasture on which the ewes are drafted, as their progeny
become strong enough to take care of themselves. Here they
have chaff (if the weather is cold enough to induce them to
eat it), swedes, and cabbages, lying at night if the ground is
dry, but not otherwise, on the land from wliich the cabbages
liave been removed. I liave tried feeding them where they
grew, but it resulted in so much waste that I gave up the
practice. As soon as a sufficient bite of Italian ryegrass has
sprung up another remove is made, roots being given as well,
as long as they last, the lambs going forward through the
hurdles, and eating a mixture of miller's offal and linseed cake.
This looks an expensive proceeding ; but it must be borne in
mind less of other food will be required, and your animals will
reach 25s. each much sooner than they would otherwise ; be-
sides, I prefer selliug mine early. The ryegrass finished, the
leys will be fit for use, which will about bring us to the point
we started from. Should the breeder, however, wish to keep
his lambs on after weaning, let him take especial care to put
them on fresh ground ; any place that has been grazed with
sheep the same season will inevitably ruin them, as I once
found to my cost. I have given no opinion as to the number
suitable for a given extent of land, because circumstances
must govern cases. A flockmaster may be his own landlord,
may possess a lease, be under a yearly tenancy, or may be pre-
judiced in favour of some particular kind of stock. There are
uo doubt exceptional instances to the contrary ; but in a gene-
ral way, it is my humble opinion, to overstock with any one
description of animal will not be found advantageous in the
long run. You will now probably be looking out for the
balance-sheet — the easiest thing in the world to get up — on
paper. Many of you will hardly have forgotten an imposing
array of figures, purporting to be a farm balance-sheet that
went the round of the papers some few years since, yet its
compiler refused a handsome otfer to allow three practical men
to test his statements. I once handed a bill back to a trades-
man with the remark that, in copying it from his books, he
must have turned the sixes the wrong way upwards. I shall
therefore merely say, in conclusion, that losses should not ex-
ceed five per cent, per annum, and the wool and refuse ewes
when fit for the butcher ought to replace the gaps. More-
over, I should not consider less than twenty-seven or twenty-

eight lambs (alive on the 1st of June) to the score a good fall,
lu giving you these few facts, I have endeavoured to be as
concise as possible, bearing in mind the advice given by the
president of one of our county clubs to an intending reader
that the time taken up with an unreasouably long paper
would be better devoted to a discussion of the matter under
consideration. I will therefore now leave the subject in your
hands.

Mr. J. J. IIatten asked whether it was good policy to
have ewes at all on a heavy land. And also what proportion
jMr. Lingwood would recommend to the 100 acres.

Mr. KiSTRUCR, on being called upon by the Chairman to
speak on the subject under discussion, said he left the man-
agement of his flock chiefly to his man, and he would advise
fiockmasters to get a good man and pay him well. Some
people were disposed to condemn the practice of using man-
gold. His shepherd was of the same opinion, and always
condemned them. Last year, however, he (Mr. Kistruck)
had no turnips, and he was obliged to fall back on beet, and
he must say that he never had such a fall of lambs in his life.
He had nearly a lamb and three-quarters to every sheep, and
this fact rather induced his shepherd to think more favourably
of the use of beet.

Mr. James Matthew said he should like to know why
Mr. Lingwood preferred a shearling that had not had a lamb.
For his (Mr. Matthew's) own part, he preferred a shearling
that had had a lamb, inasmuch as you had then the oppor-
tunity of seeing what the animal really was, whether or not
it was a good-framed sheep, whereas a shearling that had not
had a lamb was filled up with flesh, and there were probably
many defects hidden. Aud besides it was generally expected
that a sheep would have a better time with the second lamb.
There was one point in regard to which he must difler with
Mr. Lingwood, and that was as to there not being twitch in
old pasture. If Mr. Lingwood would go into llarleston, and
many other places in this neighbourhood, he would find lots
of twitch in old pastures — in fact, there were very few with-
out it.

Mr. Noble said the gentleman who asked whether it was
right to keep a ewe flock on heavy land at all struck the right
note. That was after all the important question, and one that
he hoped would receive an answer. With reference to another
point that had been raised, he must say that his experience
led him to prefer a maiden shearling. The question was
whether tlie sheep could be got up for the tup at all. There
might be a little more risk with the maiden shearling ; but
once the shearling had lambed down, he thought the sheep
would stand much longer.

Mr. W. Wilson, in responding to the call of the Chairman,
observed that he once lambed down eight score ewes, and he
did not lose a single ewe, and when there were no turnips,
they had nothing but beetroot and straw. He did not agree
with what Mr. Matthew had said about the shearling hogget.
He (Mr. Wilson) thought it was the wdrst thing any-
body could do to buy a hogget that had had a lamb. The
maiden shearling was decidedly preferable, for it was stronger
and better, and likely to pay more in the long run of years-
Mr. J. Turner asked whether the sheep were fed in the
yard.

Mr. Wilson said they were, adding in reply to another
question that he threw the beet down in the yard. He never
had sucli luck before. They had no corn ; but they had all
the straw they liked.

Mr. J. Matthew said some persons could evidently keep
sheep cheaper than he could. He could do nothing with
sheep fed on mangold. He remembered that one spring he
was badly off for turnips, and he tlirew beet on to the pas-
tures where the sheep had lambs, and after they had had beet
about a fortnight, the lambs began to die. He discontinued
the beet, aud turned the sheep on to small rye, and he did
not lose any more lambs after that. He could not of course
attribute his loss to anything but the use of the beet.

Mr. J. Turner : That was after your ewes had lambed ?

Mr. Matthew : Yes.

Mr. Wilson : Was the beet grown by artificial manure P

Mr. Matthew : No, with farmyard manure.

Mr. Wilson said he was once very unfortunate in feeding
sheep on beet grown by artificial manure.

Mr. John Turner said he quite agreed with what Mr.
Lingwocd had said relative to making ample provision for

98

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

lambs in the spring. He (Mr. Turner) rather thought more
reference would have heeu made to the yardinj; of slieeii. His
plan was lo keep his sheep iu the yard, lie began to put
them into tlic yard about Cliristmas time, and he kept them
there constantly, occasionally walking them out. He littered
the yard night and morning, and raked them up with beau-
straw, pea-straw, or with whatever he liappened to have at
the time. He generally put about a third of wheat- straw to a
tliird of hay, and allowed the sheep to run on a meadow an
hour or two in the day, and he never found anything wrong
witli his sheep so treated. His man was particular in looking
after them, and if he found any that limped at all they were

tended to at once. He quite agreed with llie use of beet
for sheep. If a beginning was made with beet care must be
taken to keep ou with it. If the sheep were not fed with
beet before they lambed they must not have any directly
after. About six weeks before the sheep lambed down it was
his custom to give them a certain quantity of beet, and he in-
creased the quantity as they grew nearer to lambing time, and
when they had lambed down he gave them beet ou the pas-
tures. With regard to the propriety of keeping breeding
sheep ou heavy land, he might say that lie concurred in it if
they were treated iu the manner in which he had been accus-
tomed to treat them. He generally jjulled a certaiu quantity
of turnips oil', and he placed the tops and tailings on one side,
and gave the sheep a few occasionally. He left a piece of
turnips to turn the ewes ou shortly liefore they lambed, but he
took care to get them into the yard again before they lambed.
He occasionally gave theni cut cliafT, malt coombs, and if he
found anything going wrong he gave them something else.
He thought new milk was preferable to gruel — in fact, he
never boiled any gruel for his sheep. lie perhaps sometimes
gave tlieni some of the old-fashioned medicine, a little old
beer sop, which they sucked down, and it was no doubt useful
when they were unwell. He also found that they did well on
a little oilcake mixed np. Mr. Turner added, in answer to
Mr. Matthew, that lie had no objection to a shearling if she
had had a lamb — iu fact, he rather preferred a shearling that
had had a lamb to one that liad not.

Mr. WooDWAKD : If you tup a shearling that has had a
Iamb tlie lamb must have been off early.

Mr. Hewitt inquired which was the best breed of ev/e for
heavy land.

Mr. J. Turner said he generally kept the blackfaced ewes
tupped with the Leicester tup.

Mr. Farrow : When do you tup tliem ?

Mr. Turner said about a fortniglit after Michaelmas, adding
that formerly he could uot get his feed early enough on the
licavy land, but now he had a good quantity of feed when he
wanted it, and instead of eight or nine score, he kept twelve
score sheep.

Mr. Adams (shepherd to Mr. L. Webb) remarked that his
practice was to. put the sheep iuto the yard. He gave them
mangold mixed with chaff, allowing the mixture first to lay a
few hours. He also gave them bran, and he found that his
sheep kept their plight very well. Some of them had, how-
ever, turned up lame.

Mr. Turner : Do you attribute tlic lameness to the fact
that the sheep were in the yard ?

Mr. Adams: When in the yard they flung out a fever
which, I think, weut iuto their feet.

Mr. Turner : What breed of sheep had you ?

Mr. Adams said Hampshire Downs. There were a few
half-bred in the yard, and none of them turned up lame. He
must say that he never saw lambs do so well as when the
sheep were fed with mangold thrown out on to the pasture.

Mr. Hatten observed that it was the peculiarity of the
Hampshire Downs to turn up in tlie way referred to. They
were not to be depended upon, and he for one should nol
condemn the practice of keeping sheep in the yard because a
quantity of what might be called fancy ewes had fallen down
with the disease. He would guard flockmasters against the
use of beetroot alone. He once had some ewes whioh had
beetroot, and beetroot to it (laughter), and the lambs were fine
and healthy, but soon after taking the mother's milk they fell
away and died. He had known this to be repeatedly the
case, but when ewes had grass with the beet they did well,

Mr. Adams, in reply to a question, said he preferred giving
the beet iu troughs. The roots went further, and besides, if

the mangold were thrown about the meadows the sheep were
hkcly to knock themselves about after them.

Mr. Turner, in answer to Mr. Tlionws Lingwood, said if
the ewe was poor, and she liad got lambs, he sometimes gave a
little cake,

Mr. Thomas Woodward expressed his opinion tliat it was
desirable to keep ewes on heavy laud, especially at the present
prices of lambs and mutton, but he was not inclined to think
that it was desirable for a man to keep all ewes on heavy land.
It was much better to keep a certain quantity of ewes and
grazing slieep as well. He had tupped a few hoggets, and sold
them out as couples, and been pretty successful. He had now
taken to shearlings and two-shear. His system was to pro-
vide liberally for the ewes, similar to the plan adopted by Mr.
Lingwood. He (Mr. Woodward) questioned whether they
ought uot to keep a Hock of ewes more economically tlian was
frequently done by growing roots on heavy laud. The great
pohit to arrive at was how to keep tlie ewes at a cheap rate.
He thought that after the ewes had been tupped, and the tup
taken away, they might be kept eight or ten weeks at little
cost, and he considered the system of keeping them iu the
yard with dry food the right one, but previously, and after
they had lambed, he liked to be liberal with his keep. He
had the lambs which he bred, and his practice was to have
half the white turnips pulled up and heaped, and he went to
the expense of cutting for his hoggets about halt what they
required ; they would pick up the rest, and the evves followed
after. His ewes had no corn or cake, but they had all the
straw they could eat, and when the straw was good they
required but little hay. Ewes were great consumers, and un-
less care was taken they would soon run away with the feed.
He had four hundred acres of laud, aud he kept about twenty
score sheep. He had :.bout seventy-five acres of pasture. If
a man wanted to get his lambs up quickly he must feed them
liberally. He had had them so that they paid 35s. each
iu May.

Mr. Parrow said he understood Mr. Wilson to say that
beetroot grown with artificial manure was uot good for sheep.

Mr. Wilson : For breeding ewes.

Mr. Farrow said he remembered that at the first discussion
in counection with this club artificial manure was strongly
recommended for mangold.

Mr. Hatten said he believed sixty ewes to the hundred
acres a proper number in addition to other stock.

Mr. Woodward remarked that he had a dairy of eight
cows in addition to other young stock growing up.

Mr. M. MuMFORD observed that when the seasons were
favourable he, like his neighbours, could make good plans, but
the dilficulty was to know how to manage in dry seasons to
keep the sheep from going back. Mr. Mumford then spoke
of stock keeping iu connection with the length of tenure, and
he expressed his opinion that the tenants did not get the
length of tenure they had a right in fairness to expect, iu
order to give them the opportunities of effectiug improvements.
Many a tenant reasoned thus : " My landlord is a good fellow,
and will not put me out." But money was a great temptation
v^^ith the rich, as well as with the poor, aud if another person
offered a higher rent, in consequence of the improvement
which had taken place in the land, it was a great temptation.
He once did some good draining, when his neighbour said,
" Won't you be cured tlie first dressing ?" That land had
been drained many years, and it aid well ; but he never did
any more. When he did this he felt that he was a tenant for
hfe ; but afterwards, when he felt that he was not, he held
hard (laughter). It reminded him of the fox and the grapes.
The fox liked the look of the grapes, and jumped higlily to
get them. Had he felt that he was a tenant for life he should
have had another jump, but he felt that he was not, and that
it was wrong for him to go to this expense.

The discussion then turned upon the treatment of the ewe
at the time of lambing, Mr. Thos. Lingwood expressing an
opinion that there were many lambs lost through the ignorance
of the person in attendance at the time of lambing ; and Mr.
Sutton remarked that the great error made was in being in
too great a hurry.

The Chairman said he would ask Mr. Edward Lingwood
what sheep were the best for heavy lands. He (Mr.
Heigliam) farmed some heavy land, and he only wished that

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

99

years ago lie could have heard a discussion similar to that
which had takcu place that night, and then he should not have
been the loser by sheep he had been.

Mr. Edward Lijnuwood tlien replied, and he said he be-
lieved the blackfaced Sullblks stood the laud as well as auy.
llaU'-breds, if there was a desire to sell early, did exceedingly
well. Mr. Liugwood then referred to the various points that
had been advanced during the discussion, aud with regard to
tlie system of yarding, he said he had tried it to some extent,
but he found that tlie feet of the sheep became tender. He
questioned whether a great deal of harm was not often done
in turning ewes up to attend to their feet. He would rather

not have the foot-rot in his sheep, aud, in consequence, he
put tliem upon the laud where they were not likely to get it.
As to giving sheep mangolds, he approved of much of what
had been said that they must be given to the ewes some time
before they lambed.

Mr. Pettiward proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Liugwood
for his paper, reraarkiug that the Club were now indebted to
BIr. Liugwood for having introduced two subjects of great
importance, the previous one being that of farming on the
Hat on heavy land.

The resolution was carried, aud u vole of thanks to the
Chairman closed the proceedings.

BRAMPTON FARMERS' CLUB

THE GAME LAWS.

At the January meeting, Mr. George Coulthard, of Laner-
cost, in the chair, the following letters were read : —

Ampthill Park, Arapthill, Dec. 27, 1S71.

Dear Sir, — I beg leave to acknowledge your letter of the
23rd iust., which I have this day received, asking me to write
to you a few lines on the subject of local taxation, that you
may lay them before the Brampton Parmers' Club at their
next meeting. I have not their resolution before me'; but,
from my recollection of it, I believe I fully agree with it. I
certainly wish many things that are now exempt from rating
to be made liable to it — as I particularly mentioned at Carlisle
— woods, minerals, aud game. I believe that tenants have a
much stronger feeling against game, when it is sold by the
landlord ; but I am disposed to agree witli some remarks made
by Mr. Bell — that if sliootiug is retained by the landlord — not
for the sale of game, but for his amusement, or that he may
make presents to his friends — he should also pay. I do not
know if there will be much practical ditficulty in dealing with
the matter ; I suppose wheu game is not preserved by owuer
or occupier, that land will not be liable to a game-rate. It
should be the object of all taxation, including rating, not to
press unduly upon any class, but to make it fall as equally as
possible on ail. There are at present irregularities which
should be removed — omissions which should be filled up. I
look, too, on the system of collection as hard upon the yearly
tenant. I believe the Scotch system would remedy some of
these evils, as, I think, a local board would be useful in call-
ing attention to them, aud in correcting them. I am glad to
see that the Government intend to briug in this Session a bill
ou this difficult business. I hope it will be satisfactory and
fair to all. Great good would, iu my opinion, issue from a
measure that would make the sales of land more cheap than
they are. — I have the honour to be, your obedient ser-
vant, C. Howard.

South Acomb, Stocksfleld-on-Tyne, Dec. 28, 187L
Dear Sir, — Your letter with resolution of Brampton Far-
mers' Club on local taxation has been forwarded to me by Mr.
M. Stephenson, who is secretary to the Tyneside Agricultural
Society, but not secretary of Hexham Farmers' Clnb. I shall
lay your letter and resolution of your club before the com-
mittee of the Hexham Club, aud shall let you know the re-
sult. It would be an advantage if there was, as you say, " a
closer union of the several clubs of the district." I may men-
tion that our club has had, on numerous occasions, before it
the subject of local taxation, and twice, I believe, sent up
petitions. I cannot, for my part, see any justice of relieving
land of the taxation it now bears — the only result would be an
increase in rent. Of course, we agree to taxing woodlands and
minerals ; but I decidedly object to taxing game — game is not
property. The game question is being well agitated, and I
believe there is only one thing for it, aud that is — total repeal
of the Game Laws. As a piece of class legislation, these laws
are decidedly wrong. The Hexham Club goes in for land-
lords paying one-half of all taxes, as is the case in Scotland.
By paying one-half, new taxes don't tell so heavy on the
tenant, and, moreover, roads require great improvement, and
vast sums expended ou them — it is not equitable that the
whole of the cost should come on the tenant. Good roads in-

crease the value of adjoining property ; hence, the benefit to
the landlords. Aud landlords, when tliey pay one-half, may
fairly be allowed to take an interest in the roads, &e. — I am,
yours, &c., Wm. Tkottek.

The Ilev. W. Dacre tlien read the following paper : —
In the few remarks I shall make on the subject of game
preservation and the Game Laws, I shall not enter into any
inquiry as to the origin or history of the Game Laws ; but
shall endeavour to confine myself to such matters of a practical
nature as may bear upon the interests of agriculturists, with
respect maiuly to the evils resulting from an over-preservation
of game, and I shall endeavour to point out such remedies for
these evils as present themselves to my mind, with a hope
that the subject may lead to thorough discussion by those who
are interested iu this much-vexed question. Having been
asked to read a paper on the Game Laws by the secretary of
our club — I am aware that the subject might be better handled
by many others, both among the keen preservers of game and
the tenant-farmers of the district ; but, perhaps without suffi-
cient consideration ou my part I accepted the task, and until
I set to work to jot down my own views and thoughts on the
subject, I was scarcely aware of the many difficult complicated
interests which would be affected iu order to bring about any
great change in the Game Laws. I may at the outset state
that I have had some little experience both of the evil effects
produced by the over-preservation of game, and also of the
supposed material benefit arising from its strict preservation,
and may be supposed to hold a neutral sort of position, and to
state my opinion without being unduly prejudiced for or
against either of the two parties who are interested in the
question of the preservation of game. I trust, also, that I
shall not be deemed egotistical if I state precisely what my
own views relative to the preservation of game are. If the
preservation of game extends only to winged game, I shonld
probably be as zealous an advocate for the power of reserva-
tion of the right of killing game as the strictest preserver,
with, however, certain restrictions ; but with respect to ground
game, aud especially rabbits, I think no restriction whatever
ought to be placed on their destruction by the occupier, but
that they should be altogether withdrawn from the game-List
for all purposes whatever ; and that the tenant should have
free liberty to keep them down by shooting or otherwise. I
would here make the remark that in the Bramptou division of
Eskdale Ward, within the immediate area of the Brampton
Farmers' Club, we see comparatively little of the evil results
arising from excessive preservation of game, compared with
what is experienced in many parts of the country, and even of
this ward ; but, nevertheless, on many a farm in this portion
of East Cumberland, the injury inllicted by ground game is
much greater than is generally imagined. To give an instance
in point. A few years ago I let some shooting for £30 per
annum on lands belonging to me, which had not been strictly
preserved, and on which the tenant of the game, by word of
mouth, undertook to keep down the ground game. The se-
cond year of the taking, the tenants of tae farms complained
to me that they were suffering great injury, especially from
rnbbits. I appointed a valuer to inspect the damage done,
and viewed it myself also. The amouut assessed as damages

lUU

THE FAKMER'S MAGAZINE.

caino to somewliere bcLvvueu £90 ami A'lUO, wliicli, iu my
opiniou, was under raflier tlian over the damage sustained by
the farmers, to say nothing of the injury to their feelings iu
seeing tlie labour of their bauds and the talent of their brains
thus wasted by vermin. It may be objected that a landlord is
at liberty to make whatever terms lie chooses with his tenants,
and that if the tenant chooses to take his laud, subject to the
coudition that all the game is reserved to the landlord, it is no
business of auyone else, and that the tenant will, of course,
make his calculations accordingly. This, to a certain extent,
is true; but it does not convey the whole truth. To illustrate
, my meaning I will take this part of the country from the
Solway to Northumberlaud. Less than twenty years ago the
principal proprietors of the district in Arthuret, Ivirklinton,
Walton, lirarapton, and Lanercost did not preserve strictly,
although perhaps they may liave reserved to themselves the
power to do so. Practically speaking, the game on the greater
portion of these was not strictly preserved, and the lands were
let to tenants, who, knowing this, made their calculations ac-
cordingly. Since that time, however, the former proprietors
have been succeeded by preservers of game, and the tenants
suffer in consequence without any reduction being made in
their rents. I may, however, mention that on Lord Carlisle's
estates the farmers have within the last year or two been al-
lowed to kill the rabbits on their farms. The strict preserver
of game affects uot only his tenants but also his neighbours
injuriously iu several ways. Say, for instance, that I join a
preserver of the ground game, and what do I find ? my hedges
are riddled by the rabbits' burrows, ray adjacent corn crops
much damaged and destroyed (for it is not only the amount
that the rabhits eat, but what tiiey waste that is the injury),
and my swede turnips almost a failure. In some cases which
I could mention, the farmers find it useless to attempt to raise
a crop of swedes in the vicinity of the woods where hares and
rabbits are harboured. It is not, however, to his tenant or
his immediate neighbour alone that the strict preserver of
game does an injury, but to the community at large. I might
refer to the damage done to crops, especially by ground game
and which enables a less amount of valuable stock of sheep
and cattle to be kept, although this might he worthy of con-
sideration as affecting prices of butcher's meat, but I refer to
other injuries. Where excessive preserving takes place, there
poaching abounds. It is notorious that many of the best
gamekeepers have originally been themselves noted poachers.
How much, too, of the expense incurred at our various Petty
and Quarter Sessions through the prosecution of poachers and
their maintenance in prisons is defrayed by rates levied on
the occupiers of land in the country ? Added to this, the pre-
served land does not pay so high a rent as the land which is
not preserved, or as it would do if let without reservation of
game, and, consequently, does not pay its fair proportion of
rates. It seems doubly hard therefore that, whereas the pre-
servation of game increases the rates by requiring more police
and great expenses to be incurred in prosecutions and main-
tenance of prisoners, the rates which the land so preserved
should pay are being paid by the occupiers of adjoining lands,
who are suffering in several ways from the preserved game.
ft may be asked what are the advantages of the Game Laws ?
Ist, they afford tiie owners of property a healtiiy exercise and
manly sport, without which there would be reason to fear
that, witli our high state of civilisation and the numberless
allurements of luxury and easy enjoyments of all kinds, our
middle and upper classes would be apt to degenerate into
effeminacy and unmanliness, as in the case of ancient Greece
and Home, and our national character as a hardy and athletic
people would soon be lost. I admit the fact tiuil our national
sports have this good tendency, and I should be sorry to see
them done away ; but I do uot admit, as a deduction, that
therefore ground game ought to be preserved. Another pre-
sumed advantage is, that were the laws repealed game would
become ere long extinct. This also I deny, and did time al-
low I would give my reasons in the remedy suggested by me
for the present evils. I feel I have taken too long a time iu
dwelling at length on the evils I have described ; hut I trust
I shall be pardoned if I detain you a few minutes longer in
describing what appears to nie to be the remedy for those
evils. In the first place, I would say abolish the Game Laws
as they now exist, and make the laws for trespass even more
stringent than they are at present. 3nd. Let the landlord
when letting his lands on lease or otherwise to his tenant

give the tenant free liberty to destroy all hares and rabbits if
he chooses, and at the same time let hiiu make a reservation
to himself of the winged game. I liave known this done by a
large landowner in Worcestershire, who keeps no gamekeeper
or watcher, but simply has an understanding with his tenants
that lie expects to find a good supply of game when he goes
to shoot, and I believe he has never yet been disappointed,
lie finds the benefit to himself by a thoroughly good feeling
existing between himself and his tenants ; by a great saving
of expense in not having, as formerly, to keep up a large staff
of gamekeepers and watchers ; and his lands are let to the
best advantage. The goodwill alone which would thus be in-
creased between landlord and tenant, and which is beyond
any money value, would of itself be worth the whole of the
imaginary sacrifice made by the landlord. 3rd. Do away with
all perquisites to gamekeepers in the way of allowing them to
have tlie rabbits on the farms. A great show of zeal is
shown by this class of men in putting dowu large numbers of
rabbits in the aul umn, when fattened on the farmer's crops
and stubbles ; but in the spring time of the year, when tlie
rabbits are breeding most numerously, the keepers will
refuse to allow them to be shot, for fear of disturbing the
pheasants and other game that are also breeding. But iu
many cases they have an eye to securing a good crop of
rabbits for themselves in the coming harvest. 4th. If
sportsmen desire to have a large supply of game, let them
take a portion of the arable land into their own hands, and
endeavour to grow good crops of corn and turnips on it, and
an unlimited amount of game. They will soon learn by expe-
rience something of the farmer's feelings, who is expected to
make up his annual rent, and at the same time to allow his
crops to be decimated by a devouring army over whose num-
bers he has no control. I may state that in the neighbour-
hood of Penrith this is done by a large landowner. And,
lastly, let no landlord let or give his shooting away to any one
who has no interest but to keep up as large an amount of game
as he can upon the land. Such a tenant of the game, as I
have learnt by experience, has a directly opposite interest to
the tenant of the land. His only object too generally is to
secure his own selfish objects, being utterly indifferent to the
interests of the cultivator of the soil. I would make one re-
mark with regard to the gun-tax. This tax was originally
brought forward to prevent Fenians and other desperate cha-
racters from carrying fire-arms. But it is not to be supposed
that such men would ever on the one hand apply for a licence
for their murderous weapons, nor on the other that they would
be deterred thereby from carrying such weapons. It would be an
interesting inquiry to make as to how many revolvers belong-
ing to men of tiiis class have paid the] licence duty. But the
effect of the gun-tax has been made to impose an extra tax on
the agriculturist, as if he had not burdens enough without,
and to make him act involuntarily as a watcher to keep up
the hares and rabbits on his farm. Wiiy should I have to pay
10s. a year for a gun licenee and 2s. (Jd. for a hare licence to
keep rabbits'aud such vermin from destroying my crops ? In
conclusion, it is requisite that farmers should combine to state
their grievances and have them remedied. For landlords to
require the full rent for the lands, and to eat their growing
crops without rendering any compensation, seems liiie the
case of a nation of old requiring a conquered people to make
bricks when the chief material for the purpose was removed.
The motto of landlord and tenant should be " Live and let
live." The tenant would like to see his landlord come and
enjoy good sport, whether it be in the hunting field or with
the dog and gun. lie only desires that consideration should
be given to his feelings, his interests, and his rights, and that
what is sport to his landlord should uot be ruin to himself.

Mr. llouTi.EDGE mentioned that tlie late Sir James Graham
had allowed his tenants to shoot the ground game, and having
asked them to protect the birds, they had done so, much to
his satisfaction.

Mr. 11. GuAiiAM, the Secretary, mentioned an estate, " not
a hundred miles from that neighbourhood," where there were
battues now and then, and in three days over three thousand
head of rabbits were destroyed. On another farm there had
been within a dozen of six hundred killed. And such was the
licence within which these battues were conducted, that even
the house in which the farmer resided bears marks of the shot
that came from the guns on that occasion, and the glass in
his windows was riddled. What nobleman or gentleman

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101

would like to be so iuvadcd iu his castle or inausiou ? lie
believed that the taxes were increased in various ways tlirough
the preservation of game, and he would move this resolution :
" That this club fully endorses the opinion that Hying game
alone should be preserved, and that all other ground game
should be considered vermin, and treated as such."

Mr. Fraser complimented Mr. Dacre on his paper, which
entirely enunciated his own opinion regarding the obnoxious
game laws. Mr. Dacre was perfectly justified in saying that
the Game laws were both demoralising and degrading to the
people of this country. They were entirely the class legisla-
tion of the landed proprietors against the tenant farmers ; and
he was fully of opinion that if the latter would only make a
decided stand as they had done iu Scotland, more especially
with reference to the ground game, over-preservation would
soon be a thing of the past. He referred to his own paper
read before the Penrith Farmer's Club, and said tliat after-
wards he had had letters from all parts of the country giving
him statistics and facts, and olfering him assistance in a quiet
and unostentatious manner because a big man was up iu arms
against him. This was a question he felt very much upon,
and the tenant farmers would become more alive to the vital
nature of the subject. They would then combine together,
and before they sent a representative to Parliament, would ask
the test question whether or not he would support a bill to
repeal the Game laws, in to/o. Mr. Dacre had been very
moderate in his ideas, and had not gone so far as he would
have done, for he went in for the total repeal of the Game
laws. If a more stringent law of trespass were placed in lieu
of these laws, it would have a much more beneficial effect.
Mr. Dacre had spoken from two points of view. He was a
landed proprietor, and consequently, to a certain extent, he
must have the views and interests of a lauded proprietor at
heart. On the otlier hand, he was an enthusiastic farmer, and
any man who had effected so many improvements in his pro-
perty as Mr. Dacre had done, would be greatly grieved to have
his crops of swede turnips and other crops destroyed by hares
and rabbits and such vermin. The opinions expressed by
Mr. Dacre came very well, indeed, as they came unbiassed,
and not from one point of view, as his own had done. If
the necessity of the repeal of these laws were pressed
on every county member we should soon, he hoped, have it
effected.

Mr. Dacre expressed his approval of the abolition of the
Game laws, and making the law of trespass more stringent.
He liked to see game, hares and rabbits on his land, but he
would not like to see them beyond control. When one man
lets a farm to another and reserved to himself to keep as many
liares and rabbits on it as he chose, it was just as sensible as

anotlier man trying to let a shop to a grocer, but, being fond
of rat-hunting, stipulated that he should keep an unlimited
number of rats in it. The only difference would be that the
grocer was not such a fool as to take the shop on such terms,
but the farmer was too dependent. He referred to the fre-
quent loss of life iu poaching encounters, and said the whole
of the game in the country was not worth one man's life.
This immoral tendency alone ought to be a strong inducement
to give up a law which had such iniquitous results. There
was another point whicli he ought to have mentioned. There
were large quantities of land in this country unreclaimed, and
owing to the lords of the manor having right to shoot over
these, which right they would lose if the land were re-
claimed, the Game laws acted as a great barrier to the cultiva-
tion of laud. If a tenant had full liberty to kill rabbits and
hares, the rest of the game is tliat which, in his opinion, does
him more good than liarm ; therefore he would go in heartily
for anything that would encourage their preservation. He
believed that the repeal of tlie Game laws, and the passing of
a more stringent law of trespass, would meet the tenants'
view, and those of tlie landlord too, if it were understood that
the winged game might be reserved. The difHculty in getting
such a law was increased by the fact that most of our legisla-
tors were game preservers themselves. He proposed the fol-
lowing resolution : " That a memorial be forwarded to the
members for East Cumberland, to be laid before Parliament,
praying for a repeal of the present Game laws, and to make
the law of trespass more stringent." Before sitting down, Mr.
Dacre claimed his "call," and suggested that a paper should lie
read on the inequality of tlie rates and the income and other
taxes. There were certain injustices done under the income-
tax, and they had suffered very much in this district from the
house-duty tax.

Mr. Graham withdrew his resolution in favour of that of
Mr. Dacre, which he quite agreed with, though, not having
heard all the paper, he did not think that gentleman would
have gone so far. The motion was then put and agreed to
unanimously.

Mr. Carrick, coroner, believed that the Game laws caused
a great deal of misery in families, together with loss of life,
and many other sacrifices ; and he held a great many inquests
on persons whose lives had been lost under them.

Mr. Fraser, so far as the Game laws were concerned,
would never bring the subject before the Penrith Club again,
for iu that quarter he had given up all hopes. Not three
hands would there have been held up iu favour of such a reso-
lution as they had passed to-day.

A vote of thanks to Mr. Dacre and to the Chairman brouglit
the proceedings to a close.

THE GAME LAWS

A large number of the electors of East Cornwall met their
senior representative, Sir John Trelawny, M.P., iu the Lis-
keard Guildhall, at his invitation, in order to confer together
on the Game-laws. Mr. Kaby, mayor of Lisk card, was called
to the chair.

Sir John Trelawny said he had the more satisfaction in
bringing the subject of the Game-laws before his constituents
because Cornwall was a county that had very often been ahead
of the rest of England. He recollected his father telling him
that in the Reform movement Yorkshire and Cornwall were
the two first counties to declare themselves in favour of tlie
Bill. He hoped, therefore, that Cornwall would not be back-
ward upon the present occasion. The question of the Game-
iaws had been dealt with on both sides of the House for the
purpose of poUcical capital without anything being done. It
was time that an end should be put to this state of things.
There was a grievance, and it ought to be got rid of. Since
his election for that constituency he had thought it desirable,
for many reasons, that he should do nothing towards weaken-
ing tlie hands of the Government, which had had under its
charge great measures affecting the interests of the empire.
Not that he had always approved of the acts of the Govern-
ment. The record of his votes which he had in his hand would

show that whenever he liad thought them wrong — as he had
sometimes done — he had always voted against them ; and he
now believed that the time had come when this most vital sub-
ject sliould be dealt with. He was rather a veteran in rela-
tion to it. Thirty years ago lie had first appeared in that
town-hall with the present Sir ilobcrt Collier. That was in
the days before protection was abolished. And not many years
later — in 18i5-6— he formed one of the committee on the
Game-laws moved for by Mr. Bright, which sat for two years
and produced the report which lie held in his hand. At that
date it was said that the farmer could not live unless he
obtained 5Gs. per quarter for his wheat. What was the price
that day ? [A Voice : " 58s."] When tliat statement was
made it was suggested whether there were not some circum-
stances connected with agriculture of considerable difficulty,
and which tended to make it impossible sometimes for a
farmer to raise his rent out of the estate which he held—
whether it was not possible that there was often production
iu one particular line which might do injury to the crops of
the farmer, whether there might not be such a thing as an
over-production of game. Well, in consequence of this, the
committee of which he spoke wus moved for ; and although
the Government of the day had considerable power in it, and

102

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

although the resolutions which Mr. Bright moved were not
ad^jfted, still the report of the committee indicated the neces-
sity of an improvement in the Game Laws, and would, if
acted upon, have made considerable changes in the law, par-
ticularly as regarded the question of cumulative penalties for
poaching, some of which still remained in force. It was
resolved by the committee that the penalties for sportmg
without a certificate appeared excessive, and that the time for
giving notice of appeal should be extended. It was con-
sidered, iu fact, that the evils connected with the Game Laws
were growing evils, and ought to be deaH with as soon as pos-
sible yet from that date to the present these laws had
remained, and it was for the agricnlturists of that district to
show (if it was their opinion) that they did not think the
question was upon a satisfactory footing. There had, how-
ever, been several attempts to deal with the subject, and he
held in his hand the five bills which had been introduced for
that purpose. His views upon the subject had been expressed
in the letter which no doubt many of them had seen, but he
would proceed to state them at greater length. First, there
was the bill of Mr. Peter Taylor, which was for the total
abolition of the Game Laws. He confessed he did not see his
way to a proposal of that sort — to the doing away with the
laws without a penalty attaching to the act of trespassing
upon a man's land with the view of destroying anything
thereon. A man might come upon an estate, if there were
not some means of enforcing an objection, until he set up a
claim to the property. The permissiou of continued
poaching npou a man's property, which the unconditional
abolition of the laws would involve, was a matter \fhich
affected tenants as well as landlords. Were they prepared to
see poachers prowling by night over their estates, where they
had no right to come, without any power to tell them they
must be off ? ("No, no.") There was an intrinsic feeling of
justice in the case, and he had never Ijeen able to say he was
entirely against game laws, because he felt there must be some
means of dealing with a person who thus prowled about. But
this was a very different thing to defending cumulative penal-
ties, or the power of instituting costly and vexatious proceed-
ings. In eleven years he had done all he possibly could to
get over this difficulty, but there was scarcely any plan that
was not open to objection, llecently he had tried that of Mr.
Sturt, who put confidence in his neighbours, kept no
keepers, and had as much game as he wanted. But though
he (Sir John) thought the present state of the law untenable
and most impolitic, he saw difficulties even in this plan
of Mr. Sturt's. He knew a place where there was no keeper,
and where, in consequence, there was not only evening poach-
ing, but parties went into the woods with ferrets regularly on
Sunday mornings, causing a great scandal to the neighbour-
hood. These were facts that made people stop and think
whether it was altogether possible to do away with punish-
ment. [A Voice : Trespass. | Well, they might have a law
of trespass, but if it was to be effectual it would only be an-
other Game-law. Any punishment for mere trespass would
be only nominal. The party procuring it would be laughed
at, and the offence repeated again and again. Mr. Taylor was
the Nemesis of neglect. It was with tlie Game-laws as with
other matters — wlien grievances were not remedied people
came forward who went for the entire afjolition of that out
of which the grievances arose. And in so doing in this case
they would get rid of one remedy for admitted evils before
they provided a new one. They might relort the argument
upon himself by calling liim the Nemesis of neglect on the
cliurch-rale question. Well, perhaps he was, but he had
always felt, when advocating tlie abolition of Cliurch-ratcs,
that there was no danger whatever of the fabrics of the church
not being supported. The event had proved tliat he was
right. Not only had existing fabrics been maintained, but
some of the finest specimens of church architecture wliich
they possessed had since been erected. But (he case of the
Game-laws was not parallel. Their total abolition would not
provide any remedy against the trespass which they desired to
prevent. Mr. M'Lagan's bill applied particularly to Scotland,
and did not deal with the whole question. Mr. Hardcastle's
bill would not be listened to for one moment in these days.
It proposed to make game property, and to treat the poacher
as a thief. It had another defect ; under it any one might
trespass and kill what game he pleased willi impunity, but if
he picked a bird up then he would be proceeded against as a

felon. Sir H. Selwin-Ibbetsoa's bill had many important
points, but still in his opinion it could not be regarded as a
settlement of the question. It dealt with the letting of game,
which was a most important point. It seemed exceedingly
hard that a landlord should be capable of arranging with his
tenant to take £20 instead of £50, in order that he might
have the enjoyment of the value of the £30 in the shape of
game reserved, without any contribution being made to the
rates in respect thereof, seeing that those rates were applied
to punish offenders against tiie Game-laws. It might be said
that the owner had a right to do what he liked with his own,
but there were the rights of the ratepayer also to be considered;
and it was a very important question to him whether his money
should be taken to enable the landlord to be satisfied with £r30
a year in money, whenunder different circumstances he would be
entitled to £50. And there was another point; If the landlord
told the tenant he was going to keep so much game the tenant
could calculate accordingly ; but supposing he kept a larger
quantity, or " young master" came to the estate and did so,
where was the tenant then ? He had no claim for compensa-
tion, and was afraid to say much about it because he thought
it quite possible that the result might be unpleasant. He (Sir
John) could not help recollecting that until very lately they
had had a landlord's Parliament ; and that it was really only
within recent years that it had been unnecessary to have a
qualification iu order to shoot game at all. The landlords had
had a great deal to do with the enactment of the laws which
affected the rent. In England they had the law of distraint,
and in Scotland the still severer law of hypothec. Under
these laws if a tenant had all his crops destroyed by game, he
still could be made to pay his rent in full. A contract be-
tween landlord and tenant which permitted this was contrary
to public policy, and should be void for uncertainty. A pro-
mise to do that which was impossible must be void, and a pro-
mise to pay rent for an estate when the game ate down every
single blade was impossible of fulfilment, and should be void
accordingly. There was a very large acreage over which te-
nants had the right to kill hares and rabbits, and he saw that
some chambers of agriculture had expressed an opinion that if
the tenant had a right to kill off the four-footed game, the
evil of the Game laws would be removed. But what about
the woods which interlaced the farmers' fields. His experi-
ence was that when farmers were allowed to destroy the game
in them, they found that whilst they were very good at pro-
ducing food for the hares and the rabbits, thoy were clumsy
at killing them. He believed the best course would be to em-
ploy a trapper and clear off the rabbits, leaving only so many
hares as were required, or killing all if needful. But even
that did not get rid of the farmers' grievances. Supposing
1,500 pheasants were turned down for a battue for some great
lord or other, what was the tenant to do then ? The fact
was that the subject required to be dealt with on a larger and
more comprehensive basis. Some of the bills of which he had
spoken contained too much, others too little ; nor was the bill
of the Government at all more satisfactory. Now the report of
the committee to which he had alluded would well pay perusal.
It contained the evidence of 73 witnesses, among them such peo-
ple as the Duke of Grafton, Lord Hatlierton, Sir Harry Verney,
and Blr. Pusey, besides a number of experts ; and they spoke out
pretty plainly. The Duke of Grafton would destroy all hares ;
Sir Harry Verney had given up game-preserving, because it
destroyed a fourth of the crops ; Lord Hatherton believed
game-preserving and improvement of land perfectly incom-
patiljle ; Mr. Pusey held that the modern system of farming
was not consistent witli the preservation of wild animals, ex-
cept under artificial means. Mr. Phillips, nnder-Seerotary of
State for the Home-Office, pointed out defects in tlie adminis-
tration of the law. Tlie magistrates were a most honourable
body of men, but they were not all versed in the law ; they
had often acted in excess of their powers, and their judgments
in different parts of the country were frequently contradictory.
]\lr. Phillips also showed the effect of the cumulative system
of penalties, under which in those days a working man might
be mulcted in 635 for killing one rabbit. The effect of all
this was that people in the neighbourhood of a person con-
victed, so far from sympathising with the owner, syrapatliised
witli the poacher. Tliis was au evil, because the laws of a
country ought to have the general sympathy and approval of
the people of that country. He (Sir John) would rattier have
these cases dealt with by the county court judges, He wished

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103

to say notliiug disparaging of the magistrates ; but the county
court judge would be a kind of arbiter between the two. He
would know the law ; there was always a bar present, whose
acquiescence in effect his decisions would have. The press
would also be represented, which was not the case when these
matters were dealt with in out-of-the-way holes and corners ;
and, finally, a greater regularity and accord in the decisions
woiild be secured. Then the right to buy, kill, and sell
game should not be limited by certificates. The whole
thing might be swept away at once, and probably some
provision for a fence time substituted. If necessary, a
rather severe law might be framed with regard to persons
who might be convicted of intruding to commit some
attack upon property, and who might often be burglars, in-
tending to plunder the tenant as well as the land. Cumulative
penalties should not be inflicted ; and there should be a legal
remedy by action for damage done to farms by game on ad-
jacent estates. When Mr. Bright's resolutions were rejected
by the committee of 1845-6, he had prepared others which
were also rejected, but which he found represented pretty
nearly his views at the present day. He believed that keepers
had done a considerable amount of injury in the killing of
kites, hawks, owls, weasels, stoats, cats, and the like. All he
knew was rats had wonderfully increased ; and he had thought
of advertising in the Morning News, " Wanted, weasels for
certain estates in Pelynt." Many of the animals that were
thus killed were really beneficial to agriculture ; and thus they
saw another evil effect of the Game-laws. In conclusion, Sir
John, whose speech occupied an hour and a quarter, stated that
lie had brought the matter forward from an earnest desire to
do what he could for the promotion of agriculture and the
benefit of agriculturists.

Mr. C. Seear went for total abolition, and denounced the
treacherous character of gamekeepers,

Mr. Bowhay seconded this.

Mr. Row thoroughly endorsed Sir John's views, and moved
a resolution expressive of approval thereof on the part of tlie
meeting, and a hope that Sir John might long represent East
Cornwall.

Mr. Bishop seconded this.

Mr. W. Snell said that three years ago Sir Massey Lopes
and other landlords had told the Devon and Cornwall Chamber
of Agriculture that if the farmers only waited something
should be done. They had waited, and things were worse
than ever. He knew one estate in that neighbourhood from
which more sacks of rabbits and fewer of wheat were sent
yearly ; and they saw what had been done at Ladock, where
the attempt to search a tenant-farmer had been met, as it
ought to be, by the farmer knocking the keeper down. He
wished some of the landlords would try the right of search in
their own persons and meet a similar reward.

Sir J. TiiELAWNY remarked that he had voted against the
Search Bill.

Mr, W. Snell believed that if they could get rid of hares
and rabbits they would do, as the winged game would be of
very little consequence, and moved accordingly that the tenant
by legislative enactment siiould have full power to deal with
them as he pleased.

Mr. Raby, sen., seconded, and the motion was supported by
the Rev. Mr. Berkeley and Mr. Dingle.

Mr. N. Stephens advocated total abolition, and on a divi-
sion the motion to that effect was carried by a very large ma-
jority, neither of the other having many supporters.

Thanks were then voted to Sir John Trelawny and the
mayor, and after cheers for Sir John the meeting separated.

KINGSOOTE AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION,

The December meeting was held at Hunters' Hall Inn,
Colonel Kingscote, C.B., M.P., in the chair.

Mr. B. Dkew read the following paper on Fences and
Hedge Row Timber. I have been called upon to bring for-
ward to your notice a short subject on fences and hedge-row
timber, and short it must be to make room for the unfinished dis-
cussion of the far moreimportautsubject whichMr. Burnett gave
us last month. Insignificant as my subject may appear to be, I
trust you will all agree with me, whether steam cultivation gets
into general use in this neighbourliood, or we cleave to the old
system of cultivating our laud, that it is desirable that we
bestow a few thoughts on fences and hedge-row timber. Time
was, and that I am informed not 80 years ago, when fences
were few and far between, and since then many of them liave
been put up in a very random kind of way, for we know lots
of fields that have eight or nine corners in them when there is
no need of more than four. Many fences are as crooked as
ray subject will probably be, when they might be as straight
as an arrow. Many acres of both aralilc and pasture land
could be made in England by putting the fences more like the
lines on the chess-board, and the present quantity more easily
ploughed, sown, reaped, and mown. Tliere are many obstacles
in the way, I will own, to the making many fields of the shape
that we could wish, such as boundary fences, railways, &c. ;
but, where it can be done, I think we should do well to put
our shoulders to the wheels of improvement, and push them
in tlie direction of our fences. With respect to the width and
height of hedges, perliaps I shall tread on very tender ground,
or at all events, I shall tread very heavily on my own toes
when I say that I uphold a well-trimmed, well-kept fence — a
fence tkat a good hunter would have to look well to what lie
was about before taking it, and land safely on the other side.
I mention such a stiff fence because, if kept cut much closer,
the hedge, after a time, in my opinion, would be, as I believe
should be, by being kept short, rather withered. The late
Lord Asliburtou's plan of cutting liedges, where there was a
double row of quick, was to cut one row down to the ground,
and, after two or three years, cut down tlie other row; but 1

cannot say much in its favour, never having seen good hedges
where they were so served, and his tenants did not follow his
lordship's plan. I do not know of a better way to serve liedges
when they get old than have them staked and heathered, and
have all briars and other worthless stuff extracted from them.
I cannot too strongly condemn the cross- thorn and the yew
busli — the former causes the corn to blight round it, the latter
is injurious to cattle. I speak from experience, not from old
wives' fables, with regard to the yew tree being poisonous,
botli in its green and dry state. But, like Thomas of old, there
may be some present hard of belief with respect to the corn
being more subject to blight near the cross-thorn ; but I have
proved by experience that it is, having seen the blighted spots
near the cross-thorn when in no other part of the field. The
weeding of hedges, in my humble opinion, should be carefully
attended to, particularly as to thistles and docks. " 111 weeds
grow apace," and should be prevented doing so wherever they
are known to grow. I have heard it remarked that thistle-
seed will not grow when blown away, but some of us in this
room have proved it to be otherwise. My late brother Edvvard
grew some in pots, on which he tried the experiment, by blow-
ing the seed across the room. Last summer I had so very
many thistles in my young seeds, that I thought I must have
sown thistle-seed ; but when I came to consider that my
brother William, at Bowldown, had some seed from the same
lot without thistle-seed, I began to think otherwise, and so I
do now. Mr. Peters, on Scrubbett's Farm, had a quantity of
thistles on a piece of seeds, close by a plantation ; and the
farther from the cover the less tliistles there were ; and in the
fields that I had the nearer the woods the thicker the thistles.
But much as I am convinced of the thistle-seed blowing and
growing, we should nevertheless be always careful to look well
to the quality of our seeds. AVhcre ditches are required they
should be carefully cleaned out, but in many places on the
Cotswolds I see no use for a ditch ; and my reason for con-
demning them, where I can, is that I have had a few sheep
die on their backs in them at diU'erent times. Rough grass
should not be permitted to grow long, for it encourages those

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worst of all pests to fiirracrs the rabbits, and there are not
manv of us who wish to do that, I am sure ; for who can keep
a good lipdge or grow a good crop of corn where they are per-
mitted to dwell ? I cannot speak too strongly against rabbits,
for, I am quite sure if landlords as a body could see and feel
as they ought to do with respect to them, and as I am quite
sure Colonel Kingscote feels, there would be thousands more
of happy homes in England. How can a farmer be comfort-
able when he has tried his best to secure good crops and after-
wards sees them eaten up by rabbits ? I will now say a few
words on sfoue fences. I cannot say much against them, but
I would say something in their favour. How many comfort-
able buildings are made of stone walls ! This room would
feel somewhat chilly with ever such a good hedge round it, if
it were not for these four stone walls. Our sheds and yards
too would be the same for our cattle ; and one would almost
be led to suppose thereby that walls must keep the wind off
our fields better than hedges. With regard to the fly, I have
often observed cattle very restless between hedges, when they
have been comfortable between walls. Stone walls, if properly
kept up, make good fences, but if neglected, like all other
fences, often cause pounds of damage, Irom cattle and sheep
getting in to the standing corn or grass. It is vexing at the
best of times to see cattle trample down a lot of corn, but when
it is through the farmers' own carelessness it is doubly annoy-
ing. When fences get old their cost is something like that of
old harness, that costs more to keep it in repair than new would
cost. Mr. Burnett can bear with me with respect to the old
harness, for he once gave it up, and had new, and was in pocket
by it. I have been rather surprised to see what bad founda-
tions some walls have been built upon, when a little extra
digging would have secured a good one ; beuce the many falls
after an abundance of rain. The walls themselves vary in
height as much as do giants and dwarfs, and even in the same
wall we see them a height of seven feet in one place, and a few
yards farther on a height of about two feet. Can it be
wondered at that our own and our neighbours' cattle occasion-
ally eat of the same pasture ? In these days of foot-and-mouth
disease we cannot be too careful in keeping our fences good,
and our cattle at home. Another reason for good fences is
that if cattle get out a few times they learn the habits of the
rover, and are never satisfied at home. We should therefore
try to have the best of fences, and I believe we cannot have a
cheaper or better one than a good stone wall about four feet
high, or at all events one high enough to keep the cattle in,
without risking the neck of the horse and its rider. I say the
" good" rider, for a bad one risks his life over a two feet wall.
To bear me out in what I say, that we cannot have better
fences than walls — where there has been one edge made to
part fields in this neighbourhood lately, there have been 100
walls, where stone can easily be dug on the laud. It is a
cleaner fence, both as regards the weeds and the rabbits, than
the hedge. But I will not run down either the wall or the
hedge ; both are useful even to us on the hills, and what must
the hedge be to those who farm in the charmiug vale of
Berkeley ? Although the good trees do much damage to
hedges, I am not going to speak against them ; it is [to those
worthless pollards and lots of others that I wish to apply the
axe at. They neither add to the beauty of the landscape nor
put a fraction in the landlord's pocket ; but their roots often
come in coutact with the plough aud its tackle, causing lots of
damage in a few years. I have known scarifiers never go so
well afterwards by getting in the roots, and where there are
many such trees, it is almost impossible to keep a good fence,
either a hedge or wall, for the tops kill the hedges, aud the
roots throw down the walls. I had leave about twelve months
ago to cut down a worthless tree. I found that its roots ran
under a wall aud it threw down a rod, aud often two, of wall
twice and thrice a year ever since I can remember. I need
scarcely say that I cut it down. Several similar cases have
occurred on the farm I occupy, but not to the extent of
damage ; but two cases of greater loss — oue in which an ox
got hung in the branches of a stick, and died in it ; and the
other happened a few weeks ago, where the death of a yearling
happened, by its slipping into the water under a limb of an
old tree in Ozleworth brook. I have often seen hats fall, and
I was going to say almost heads too, by coming in contact with
the low boughs of trees, generally speaking of worthless trees,
for trees of any value usually carry their branches higher. If
landlords would condemn the worthless trees, as wolves were
condemned in England many years ago, even by slaying the

last one of them, I do not think anyone would sing the old
song over them :

Woodman, spare that Tree.

Now for gates. What shall I say in respect to them ? first
of all I would look at the posts, and see if they are good and
firm in the ground, for if the hanging-post is loose, very likely
the gate drags along the ground, and gets injured by so doing,
and often left part of the way open, when the cattle get oat
and do lots of damage ; and if the falling-posts are loose the
wind blows the gate open, and the gate itself should ever he
kept in good repair. Whatever the excuse be for having bad
gates and posts, such excuse will never justify those whose
duty it is to keep them up or see that they are kept up.

The Cii.viiiJiAN agreed with all Mr. Drew had said.
There was no doubt but that it would be great economy to
have many of our fences put straight ; and in the vale there
surely were too many fences, and by far too much timber iu
the hedgerows. To have good hedges the management must
be very diiferent. There was a great difference in the appear-
ance of hedges in Leicestershire and Gloucestershire. He did
not believe in the system of planting hedges on a bank, and
when they were cut leaving the thorns in the ditch or on the
bank. There could be no really good fences where there were
many rabbits. As farmers had the hedges to keep, they
ought to be placed in the position to do so properly, and have
a right to kill rabbits. On our hills walls made the^best and
cheapest fence. He believed that if they were properly put
up on a good foundation, there would not be so many shards
after heavy rains.

A discussion followed, on the various systems of planting
and training, &c., in v.hich Messrs. H. Hayward, Bennett,
Biackwell, C. Holborrow, and J. Harding took part, and the
following resolution was carried: — "That hedges ought to be
planted on well prepared soil, nearly on a level with the sur-
face of the field, should be kept low as long as they are thick
at bottom, carefully weeded and tree from rabbits. Stone
walls are preferable where stone can be got. ._ The fewer trees
in or near the fence the better, and no useless ones allowed to
stand."

A vote of thanks was acknowledged^by.Mr. Drew ; and the
discussion on the subject under consideration last _month was
then resumed.

THE NOEFOLK AaEICULTUEAL

SOCIETY.

At an adjourned meeing of the Norfolk Agricultural Society,
Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., presiding, for the purpose of electing a
President for the current year. The following letter was read
from Mr. E. Knollys : —

Sandringliam, King's Lynn, Jan. 5.

Dear Sir, — With reference to the meeting of the Norfolk
Agricultural Society which is to be hsld at Norwich to-morrow,
I am desired by my father to say that you arc at liberty to
make an nn-ofiicial communication to tlie elTect that he under-
stood from the Prince before his Royal Highness' illness
took place that he would accept the office of president of the
association with great satisfaction, on the condition that the
meeting should be held at Lynn. — Truly yours, Y. Knollys.

The Chairman said that it was most desirable that
His Royal Highness should accept the office of President, more
especially as he lived in Norfolk during part of each year.
The acceptance of the Presidency by the Prince would confer
a great honour upon the Society and upon the farmers of
Norfolk, as the chair now vacated by one of themselves would
be occupied by the future Sovereign of England.

The Prince was then unanimously elected to the Presidency,
and it was also agreed that the next year's meeting should be
held at Lynn.

Col. Eitzroy moved a resolution to the eflfect that the
members of the Association iu general meeting assembled, de-
sired to express their heartfelt thankfulness at the improvement
which had taken place in the condition of the Prince of Wales,
and also their earnest hope that His Royal Highness might
with the blessing of Almighty God be soon restored to perfect
health.

The CiiAiKMAN said he would take it for granted that this
resolution was carried unanimously.

The proceedings then terminated.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

105

FARMING IN IRELAND.

BY THE NORTHERN FARJIER.

For a considerable minibcr of years back, dating as
nearly as possible from tlic failure of tbe potato crop,
when the change of the times produced by the gigantic
Calamities through which the country then passed caused
the payments for labour to be made more in cash than in
kind, Irish agriculturists have been divided into two great
classes, each class followiug an exactly opposite and dis-
tinct course, in cultivating the land from which they
derive a living. Each partly maintains nay, even bring —
forward statistics to prove that the system they follow is
the correct one, not ouly for promoting their own iu-
dividual interests, but the good of the country at large.
The two sections are thus constituted : first, those who
ignore labour, whose every effort is devoted to its expul-
sion, the preservation of the land in grass, and whose
constant endeavour is not to live by cultivation, but by a
species of management, which aims at an easy life by the
profits derived from grazing cattle and sheep, whatever
the quality of the land, whether suitable or not for such a
purpose. The well remembered and oft quoted saying of
the late gifted Lord Carlisle, that Ireland's destiny
was to become the fruitful mother of docks and herds, is
ingeniously constructed into a prophetic warning that the
growth of grass aud raising cattle would in a few years en-
tirely occupy the time aud take up the attention of the
Irish farmer, and that although the stock might have
somewhat hard lines during a severe winter and spring,
the abundant grass of summer and autumn would amply
make up for all previous drawbacks and deficiencies. The
favourite argument of this class is that there are no heavy
bills running up, and all such items as seeds, manures, aud
expensive implements quite uncalled for. A farmer, in-
stead of being a drudge, compelled to be up betimes to
look after a staft'of workmen, who unless he did so would
speedily impoverish him by their carelessuess aud neglect,
leads a life of case, comfort, and contentment, his total
outlay in the way of labour, the payment of one man,
who attends to the stock aud reports progress at stated
intervals. On good land this system can be successfully
carried out, both store and dairy stock getting tolerably
over the winter without the shelter of a house, and
receiving a daily allowance of hay, thrown on the pastures.
The opposite section also quote the same authority, but
give to the well-ehoseu words, and beautifully rounded
periods of the amiable aud popular nobleman who uttered
them, a totally different construction. They maintain that
the soil of Ireland, to enable it to become a land of docks
aud herds, should be intelligently and dilligeutly worked,
large capital employed in its cultivation, and a course of
husbandry followed which will embrace the employment
of a regular stafi'of labourers, encouraging them to remain
in the country instead of driving them out of it, the use
of the best implements and machines, and the growth of a
large breadth of green crop, to give abundant food for
live stock during the winter. It might very easily be
supposed that the latter have the best of the argument,
more especially when they carry out in practice what they
profess in theory, and show by the quantity of corn they
can grow, and the heavy stock they can at the same time
hold and provide food for at all seasons, that the
conclusions they have come to with regard to
the most profitable methods of farming arc based on sound
reason and common sense. Statistics are altogether iu

favour of working the soil on a regular system of conver-
tible husbandry, its products being so immensely increased,
the stock kept of better quality aud vastly greater
numbers, labour regularly required and fairly remune-
rated, and individual and national pros])erity promoted in
a degree altogether unknown and totally unattainable by
the system which seeks, by a selfish seclusion, to shut out
all participation in the benefits to be derived from tbe
culture of the soil, with the sinalc exce|)tion of the occu-
pier himself aud his own immediate family. The large
breadth of waste land in Ireland capable of being im-
proved by being put under a proper rotation, and by the
expenditure of a little money per acre, but which at
present affords but a wretched subsistence for a few
miserable half-starved animals, is the strongest argument
of all iu favour of regular cropping against the let-well-
aloue system, which dooms vast tracts of country to a
state little better than that of desolation and solitude.

A few weeks ago, having accepted a long-standing in-
vitation to visit an old friend and fellow-countryman
farming in the county of Cork, I had an opportunity of
seeing a farm worked on one of the most popular systems of
modern husbandry, viz., a six-course rotation, not how-
ever slavishly adhered to, but extended or shortened
according to necessity or convenience, an extra crop
of corn being taken if the condition of the soil warrants
the interruption, or the grass extended for a year or more,
if the extra good quality of the pasture or the exigencies
of the season render such a course desirable. The rotation
is as follows : 1st oats, 2ad green crop, 3rd corn, 4th
hay, 5th and Cth pasture. The regular course may be
broken if necessary by letting wheat follow the greeu crop,
laying down in the followiug year with barley or oats. This
break is left altogether to the discretion of the tenant, and
may with great propriety and excellent results be carried
out, when the field is naturally a good one, and besides in
high manurial condition at the time. From a few notes
taken on the spot, I have written out this short article,
which may not prove uninteresting to the readers of The
Mark Lane Express, referring as it does to the agriculture
of a country in which the Farmers of England have such
a direct interest, so much of their store stock being drawn
direct from its pastures. The buildings on this farm are
of modern construction, the house large and commodious,
and the whole range of buildings, stables, feeding-stalls,
barn, engine-house, and straw-shed, so regulated as to
alford every facility for feeding the stock while they
occupy the stalls, the preservation of the food and litter
from injury by exposure to the weather, and economy
of labour, the latter requiring quite as much attention in
Ireland as in any other country, so great has been
the change brought about by emigration, and various
other causes. The extent of this farm is nearly 300 acres,
on which there is not a bit of waste ; and being worked
ou a sis-course system, it gives as nearly as possible 40
acres each year for green crop, a little under or over,
according as the acreage of the fields may be lesser or
greater. Forty-six acres of green crop, with a propor-
tionate quantity of corn, implies a large amount of
labour, demanding tbe continual attention aud super-
vision of the farmer himself; any one living solely by
laud and above being his own manager, having but
litllo chance of success^ the work falling couliunally

I

106

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

behiad, and much of it badly done. Unlike the great
bulk of farms in the neighbourhood of Cork city, the
dairy is not an important feature, the green crops being
principally used in stall-feeding bullocks, two lots, if at
all practicable, being turned out in the course of the
feeding season. This could not be accomplished but
for the excellent grass-growing capabilities of the soil,
and its good fattening qualities, the first lot when tied
up about the first week in November being good beef,
turning out prime for Chi'istraas and first fortnight
of January, after a couple of months' turnips and
a liberal supply of cake. iVnother lot is in readiness
to fill the stalls as vacated ; but these being more property
stores, are not sufiicieutly fat to be got rid of sooner
than end of May or beginning of June. The top prices
realized are £27 each for three-year-old bullocks, when
properly finished, from £18 to £23 for two-year-olds,
although at times as much as £26 10s. has been got for
the latter, when prices happened to be exceptionally
high from local scarcity, and for yearlings from £11 to
£13. I saw nothing that convinced me so thoroughly of
the excellent qualities of the soil in this locality, as the
condition and value of the present year's calves, and
the price realized for those of last year, a portion of them
having been sold fat in the first week of June at £12
each. Merely fat calves worked up to such a price at a
far earlier period of their existence, would be no matter
of surprise ; but cattle that got only store-feeding, out by
day and housed by night, with a little hay and turnips to
eat during the entire winter, and that made one pound a
month at the age of twelvemonths, certainly leaves but
little to be desired in the shape of improvemeut. Up to
the date of my visit, 1st November, none of the cattle
were tied up, there being no necessity for it, the
weather, although wet, being mild, and the pas-
tures clothed with such rich abundance of grass,
as to remind one forcibly of a very growthy month of
August. The strong rich grass, green as a leek, looked
as if it would carry a heavy store stock right through the
winter on to next seasons' growth without roots, fodder or
shelter, other than that afforded by the fences. The
tenant's mode of availing himself pecuniarily of this
abundance, is to purchase sheep to clean up the pastures
on the removal of the cattle to the feeding stalls. By
the end of January these sheep are cleared oft' thick
fat, giving the whole range of the pastures to the breed-
ing ewes during the spring, a good rough bite being still
left for them, unless nipping frosts have been unusually
prevalent, and the weather otherwise severe. The
occupants of the pastures awaiting the first break in the
weather, as the signal of removal to the stall, were 30
bullocks and ten heifers, varying in age from two to four
years. The top animals of this lot Avould run from 5|-
to 7 cwt. dead weight, and were value for close on £20 a
head to the butcher. It would be hard to find better
animals for feeding purposes than these were, and going
in fit to kill, a very short period, with a liberal allowance
of cake along with the roots, would finish them splendidly.
Putting in lean cattle to fatten on expensively-grown and
purchased foods, scarcely pays under almost any conditions,
in any country, the food consumed during a protracted
period being enormous, absorbing with the working ex-
penses the whole of the margin remaining after deducting
prime cost. In connection with stall-feeding cattle, it
appears to me to be an indubitable deduction that the
feeder who is so fortunate'as to possess pastures of good
fattening properties, is the only man who can calculate on
a good profit with any degree of certainty, the stock
requiring to be made nearly fat by a less expensive pro-
cess than that of tying by the neck, and forcing with
roots and oilcake.
As already stated, the dairy is not a leading feature on

this farm, in which respect it differs very materially from
nearly every farm in the district, butter-making and
rearing calves being the branches of husbandry princi-
pally attended to. As an iUustration of the extent to
which dairy farming is carried out in the immediate
vicinity of the city of Cork, I may mention that the
farm bounding that which I am describing feeds a stand-
ing herd of seventy cows — all splendid animals, of pure
Shorthorn descent by the sires, the latter being invariably
purchased from breeders who use hired Booth bulls con-
tinuously. The fine waxy horn, rich colours, straight
backs, broad hooks, weU-fiUed thighs, and great weight of
carcase, showed the origin of each individnl member of
the herd most unmistakably. To look at these cattle as
they slowly wended their way to the homestead to be
milked, was a sight capable of afl"ording an agriculturist,
whatever his nationality, a vast amount of gratification,
and to an enthusiast was well worth going a great distance
to see. The produce of this dairy is converted into butter,
and sent fresh by rail to Dublin, a distance of 160 miles,
where it commands a price considerably over the current
market rates. Belonging to the same owner was an
equally fine herd of young cattle of diff'erent ages, many
of them having the distinctive marks of pure-bred
Shorthorns, requiring only the care usually given to a
select herd by wealthy owners to bring large prices, if
brought to auction and extensively advertised. This en
passant. The sheep stock on my friend's farm is, for the
most part, managed in a way besoming very popular in the
south of Ireland, viz., to purchase the greater portion of
the breeding ewes every season, a few choice specimens
only being held over while they continue useful, the lambs
sold fat early in the summer, and the draft ewes cleared
off in small lots as soon as they get themselves iuto sale-
able condition. The first sale of lambs has been occa-
sionally made as early as the middle of April, in which case
the ewes have abundant time to become fat before mutton
has sensibly fallen in price. So near Cork as four miles
there is not the slightest necessity for taking stock of any
kind, either to fair or market, dealers being only too glad
to purchase in the stall or on the pastures. So quickly is
this kind of business done at the present day, that an
animal may with all ease be grazing on the verdant slopes
of Blarney or a spur of the Galtees on one day, and in
little more than twenty-four hours afterwards its quarters
exposed for sale in the shop of a Bristol or Bath butcher.
In holding over breeding ewes from one year to
another, the pi-eference is given to twin-bearers, so as to
secure a good fall of lambs, the succulence of the grass
enabling the ewe to rear a couple easily. The average
of the present year's crop of lambs was 30s. each, some
of the twins going off early in May, thus returning £3
for the offspring of a single ewe, making iu all £3 10s.
when the price of fleece is added. The idea of specially
selecting twin-bearers was to me altogether original, but
it appears an excellent one, only fit to be carried out,
however, on farms where liberal treatment is the rule and
not the exception. In following out this idea, the owner
of this flock told me that he had in one instance kept a
ewe until she was 11 years old, and another till the age of
13 years, both having bred with unvarying regularity,
and on some years rearing triplets with as much apparent
case, and quite as successfully with regard to the average
amount of cash they made, as many other ewes did that
had only a single lamb. The flock of breeding ewes
numbered 130, "mostly long-woolled, of no distinct breed,
but useful looking, and of good size, the smaller number,
Shropshire Downs, purely bred and strikingly handsome,
the whole running with imported Border Leicester rams,
this breed outstripping every other in popular esteem in
this and many other districts in Ireland. Although
largely used with cattle, no concentrated food in the

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107

shape of cake or corn is used with the ewes, a few roots
only being daily strewn on the grass for some weeks at
that very critical time on all farms, when the old grass is
all but exhausted, and the new scarcely forward enough to
ftirnish full subsistence for a heavy stock, the pastures
thereforebecome their principal dependence throughout the
year. On few faims in the province of Munster are green
crops to be found of ordinary excellence this season, the
excessive rainfall of the late summer and whole of the
autumn, instead of assisting the roots to make a quick
growth, and so enable them to make up for time lost by
the drought of spring and early summer, rather retarded
growth, by keeping the soil too cold, as evinced by the
under leaves of both turnips and mangolds turning pre-
maturely yellow. This farm, although a good one, is no
exception to a rule so very general, and roots will be
quite scarce enough to require husbanding, an increased
difficulty in holding over the usual number of
heads being met by laying in an extra quantity of
cake. While walking over the field on which the chief
portion of the green crop break was situated, I found it
level as the surface of a lake ; and the day being a teeming
wet one, it was evident that the water was not absorbed
quickly, in consequence of the soil being previously over-
charged with moisture, the result of continuously
drenching rain. This retention necessarily caused an un-
seasonable lowering of temperature, the soil became
soured, growth languished, and hence serious injury to a
very valuable, and perhaps the most important crop of
the entire series. This field, and a considerable stretch
of land on the same level, was at no very distant date
covered with water, but of late years it has been converted
into the finest feeding land in the whole district, thi ough
the improving medium of an elaborate system of arterial
drainage, conceived by, and executed under the untiring
personal superintendence of the late St. John Jeffries, one
of Ireland's most distinguished agriculturists. The
works were taken in hand at a time when adversity
pressed heavily on all classes, landlord, tenant, and
labourer being too fi-equently involved in universal and
unavoidable ruin. Large numbers of men were employed
on this most useful work, teaching those who were en-
trusted with the public money a valuable lesson as to its
expenditure, if they would but profit by it. This, how-
ever, they seldom did, spending the greater portion of it
in opening up useless roads, on which there has never
been, or is likely to be such an amount of traffic as would
warrant their being kept in repair, most of them remain-
ing to this day standing monuments of official absurdity.
" Ah !" said an old labourer to me, with whom I happened
to get into conversation, " these were, indeed, bad times ;
men were so plentiful, and work so scarce, that the
heartiest man had no chance of getting employment on
account of his services being required : he could only go
cap in hand and ask to be taken on for ' Godsake.' "
Himself and sons were employed on the drainage works,
and, at the worst of the famine times, counted it an espe-
cial favour if permitted by the manager to fill up drains
by moonlight, so as to eke out the scanty wage earned
by cutting them at so much a perch. But little
trace is now left of that never-to-be-forgotten time,
emigration having thinned the ranks of the
farm labourers, rendering their scarcity nearly as
much a matter of note as was the previous plenty, and
those that remain are not only better paid, but their
services are in very earnest demand, causing their bearing
and manner to be more manly and independent than it
was in years gone by. Before leaving the subject of drain-
age, I may mention a fact which shows that Irish land-
lords are fully alive to the interests of their tenants,
whatever their enemies may say to the contrary. Being
informed that the rainfall was not absorbed as quickly as

desirable, the landlord of this farm had men at once- set on
to clean the mains— more like canals than drains, so great
was the breadth and depth — and examine the connections,
so as to ensure the perfect and rapid working of the whole
system. This operation, although undertaken too late to
serve this year's crop, yet was begun as soon as the neces-
sity for it was observed ; and certainly remedial measures
being taken so quickly, showed a spirit on the part of the
proprietor worthy of all praise. The fences on this and
several other farms on the same property, are of excellent
construction, designed and erected by the gentleman
already noticed, the same master-hand being displayed in
carrying out the details. The design embraces a threefold
purpose", each being obtained in an eminent degree, the
occupants of the fields being at once sheltered and secured,
and the country beautified. The fields being mostly of
extended area, containing from 35 to 45 acres, a sheltery
fences became absolutely necessary, more particularly in a
country where young stock of every kind have to spend
much of their time in the open air during the winter
season. The size of the fields permitted the fences to
occupy considerable space, and yet be more economical of
surface than is customary in the South of Ireland generally,
where small enclosures and wide unsightly, and in many
cases useless fences, are much too prevalent. Each fence
is 22 yards in width, the enclosed space being planted
with larch and other quick-growing trees thus securing a
great deal of shelter in a very few years. The fence itself
is constructed of stones neatly placed on edge, no mortar
being used, but kept in position by a strong backing of
earth, which is added and firmly packed with a rammer
as the building goes on. The earth for this purpose is
obtained fromthe outside of the fence, a trench a few
feet wide being dug throughout its entire length, about 13
inches from the foundation of the wall, and when the work
is completed the brow is sloped neatly down, the depression
of surface adding much to the eflacieucy of the erection as
a fence from stock. When the wall is two and a-half
feet high, a line of quicks is introduced, a little fine earth
laid on the roots, and the building continued as before,
finishing at the height of from three to four feet, according
to the physical conformation of the field, whether it adds
to, or detracts fi-om, the security of the fence. As the
height is reached, a line of tough sods is run along the top
of the stones and beaten fii-mly down, this making an
excellent finish, and aiding greatly to keep the stones in
position, and prevent their being thrown down by cattle
rubbing or people getting over them. The hedge kept
nicely trimmed from the earliest stages of its growth adds
greatly to the beauty and efiiciency of the structure. The
utility of such a fence as is now described can scarcely be
overrated, sheltering a flock of sheep at its lee side
throughout the wildest gale or bitterest snow shower, as
comfortably as in a roofed enclosure. During the lambing
season the ewes with their offspring range themselves in-
stinctively along the line of shelter, keeping in as straight
a line it maybe along the very outer edge as if protected
by a net or hurdle. So far South, and so close to the
Atlantic, at a point where the warm currents of the Gulf
Stream exercise an ameliorating influence on its tempera-
ture at all seasons, snow seldom lies, being quickly melted,
from contact with the warm vapours wafted from the wil-
derness of waters in the immediate vicinity, this local
climatic feature giving the agriculturist one less difficulty
to contend with in the management of his stock during
winter. Strong gales and heavy drenching rains are,
however, extremely prevalent, rendering fences which
contribute to the shelter of the live stock of very great
importance. Hay-racks, turnip troughs, and all neces-
sary conveniences required in the management of a flock
of ewes can be ranged on the sheltered side of the fence,
adding vastly to the comfort of the sheep and their at-

I 2

vr-

THE FAUMER'S MAGAZINE.

teiulants, aud saving the lives of many lambs caeli season.
Walking over the staekyaril, I found it crowded with
noble stands of farm produce, the hayricks above every-
thing else being objects of admiration. The only good
weeks for haymaking afforded by the entire summer
having by great good luck been just hit upon, the quality
was of the best, and the clover forced on by the incessant
rains added largely to the usual bulk. On drawing out a
few handfuls of hay from dilfereut parts of several ricks, I
fonnd the clover equal in length to the rye grass, a
thing seldom seen, and only to be accounted for by
the crop being cut later than usual, and the clover thus
having time to perfect its growth. The only clover present
was alsike, showing that the wet year was favourable to its
growth, and giving, I think, a useful hint to growers as
to its utility in laying out laud with seeds. Straw being a
plentiful a) tide, there was no necessity for being sparing of
its use, and it was used abundantly wherever it had a
cliauce of being impregnated with the droppings of cattle.
This plenty of such a useful article is by no means usual
in the South of Ireland, so much of the land
being in pasture ; indeed, in some districts it is so
precious as to be altogether inadmissible as bedding for
any kind of stock, sand being used instead. In the
markets straw commands as high a price as hay for the
greater part of the year. A noble engine of eight-horse
power, with powerful thrashing machine of the most
approved construction to match, occupied a commodious
building recently erected by the landlord in a position that
conveniently commanded the whole of the stables, sheds,
and feeding stalls in the original quadrangle. The last

of the barley stacks from a field of 42 acres was just being
finished thrashing, the grain being weighed .and stored in
an ample granary. I had thus an opportunity of judging
of a crop that is ranch complained of in the south "this
year, the constant rain having strengthened the clovers
and grasses too much, and made the corn crop very hard
to save. I found that the average of the whole field per
acre was exactly 18 cwt., a result moderate enough on such
land, particularly when conjoined with grain of but mode-
rate quality. The implement house contained a selection
of the very newest and best iniplemcats, the most pro-
minent being a broad-cast grain-sowing machine, double-
furrow plough. Wood's very newest mower, aud a
tiny-looking reaper, of which its owner gave a very
high character for speed, close cutting, and general
efficiency.

The leading points of interest in the immediate neigh-
bourhood are the Turkish baths of St. Aune's, the domes
and minarets of which were just perceptible in the distance,
and the groves, tower, aud lakes of Blarney, into the very
bosom of which the higher fields of the farm I visited
just looked. To this classic spot every visitor to the South
of Ireland, whatever his rank, makes a pilgrimage, not
considering his tour complete until he has done so. A
remarkable feature of late years in the nationality of
tourists is the shoals of Americans who every week during
the season crowd its shady groves, their first inquiry
almost on reaching laud being about procuring convey-
ances for Blarney. Reluctantly I took leave of my kind
host and his family, a perfect crowd of little ones accom-
panying me to the door and waving adiou.

FRAMLINGHAM FAEMERS' CLUB,

At the last monthly discussion meeting, the subject for dis-
cussion, ' Medical Poor Law llelief,' was introduced by Dr.
Rogers, the president of tlie Poor Law Medical Officers' As-
sociation, aud the president of the Club, Mr. F. S. Corrance,
M.P., who was in the chair. The Rev. C. T. Corrance
read the following paper, which bad been prepared by the
President :

At a recent meeting of tliis Club I told you tliat I was not
satisfied with the present social condition of tbe labouriug
classes. I gave you some reasons for this, aud among these
its pauperism. Of this (igures best furnish proof. Prom tbe
total returns we learn that there was expended for the
relief of the poor :

I'l £ s. d.

1842 ... 4,911,498 ... Price of Wheat ... 6i 0 or.
1870 ... 7,044,307 ... „ „ ... 40 3 qr.

Now, what does tliis represent? So many paupers receiving
relief. The report says that 47 of the population are paupers
under the operation of tbe test. Now, cou-sider tlic signifi-
cance of this fact. Who become p.aupers ? None, let us
hope, willingly ; of poverty it is the last gulf. Wiiat per-
centage tlien of tbe working class does this liability to pau-
perism embrace ? How mauy are living day by day witliiu its
reach ? I am afraid to furnisli an answer to this, but I re-
commend it to those who take sanguine views of the state of
tbe working classes. To my mind it discloses an appalling
fact, llow lias this been brougiit about ? Does it arise
naturally out of our industrial conditions aud the great division
of classes into those who have by tlnift, or industry, or genius,
or strength, accumulated capital, aud tliose wbo have uot done
so yet ; or is it rcferrible to successive Acts of unwise legisla-
tiou introducinK into tbe relations of employer and employed
a vicious theory, and practices as corrupt ? For tbe present I
pass by the first— a large subject in itself. The second forms
tile question for to-night. Now 1 am going to ask you to ac-
cept tliis dogma : Tiiat no poor-law can be sound in tlieory ;
very few such laws can be applied without mischief ; but iii

certain societies it becomes a necessity, and the question then
is, liow to apply it so as to minimise tbe mischief. Obvi-
ously the true direction will be found in prevention. Any-
thing wliicli does not tend to prevent creates dependence, and
towards this there is a strong natural bias. I think it is Sir
C. Lyell wlio tells us that if a man be placed upon a bound-
less prairie without auy landmark to guide him, he invariably
describes a circle to tlie left liaud, because tbe muscles of the
right are stronger. Depend upon it we shall do so in tliis
matter without a principle of this sort to guide us. Nay, we
have done so, aud have been constantly moving in circles of
this sort. Let this then be our test — prevention. Does this
mean repression ? Tbe reformers of '34 thought so, aud so
do some of tbe same seliool now who run a-muck against
schools, hospitals, and dispensaries sustained by cliarity or
rates. I wonder tiiey don't include gaols aud reformatories,
which are not self-supported by the rogues. Well then, re-
pression is only a part of our means for prevention, and must
not be used indiscriminately ; aud observe that, as up to tliis
time very few aud feeble efforts have been made except in tliis
direction, it is clear we may have a great work before us.
First, however, let us see what we have done, and for this it is
nece.ssary to go back a little. In former lectures I have
spoken of tbe great Act of Elizabeth, tlie wisdom of which
has not perhaps since been exceeded. At present it will not be
necessary to do more than to glance at its practice, in order
to contrast it with tUat which follows. In tbe first place, it
confined the area of relief within narrow limits. It conferred
no right to aid beyond tbe bounds of the parish ; that is,
within accurate local knowledge. It exacted work from the
idle. It utilized charities. It localized the disorder by settle-
ment. It made wise provision for the maintenance of the
rights and iudependouce of the poor. And it made every man
according to his means contribute. Now, under tbe conditions
of that time each of tiiese provisions were preventive, and
they are not provisions which at any time can be lightly disre-
garded. It is this tliat I will now undertake to show you by
a brief history of tiie Act of 1834, anditssul)sequent amend-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

109

meuts, taken from authentic Parliamentary papers aud official
reports, 'rimes cliaiigeil, aud great progress was made. That
IS, we went round again, and towards the commencement of
this century the advance we made was so great, tliat half the
population of every parish were in receipt of relief, and the
rates were about 20s. in the pound. It became necessary to
putbac,kand the Bill of lS3i once more re-established the
greater principles of the original Act, though without any
adequate recognition of tiie rights of the poorer class, m the
matter of wastes, and cottage garden, aud allotments, to \yhich
f formerly referred. It restored the local Government, it re-
stored parochial settlement. It localised the disorder. It
imposed not work, but the workhouse test, aud it forbade out-
door relief. In its leading principles, suggested by great
thinkers, or borrowed from the original Act, it was sound
enough, but it was [incomplete. It did too little, and it did
too much, and it was most unfortunate in its external aspect
and demeanour towards an unfortunate class. It was repres-
sive, but not preventive. It was imperfect in its local ma-
chinery, and it was unjust in the incidence of the rate. Now,
mark the results. For about five years it yielded a partially
satisfactory result, and then it began to shake. Now let us
see the evidence for this. In the year 1839 there was severe
distress among the poorer classes, mainly manufacturing, but
also among agricultural classes in the North, and the w^lieels ot
the machine began to creak. In the report of the Coramis-
jioners in lSiO,"we find the first warning note. They say :
" That in the period elapsed since May 1st, 1839, continued and
severe distress existed among the manufacturing population.
In lliuchley, Barrow, and Barford, Mansfield, and Notting-
ham, it became necessary to suspend the regulations against
out-door relief." A little later, and the rift had spread, and
from agricultural unions there came the same complaint, the
order having become general, tliougli discretionary and per-
missive with Guardians. We find the Commissioners in a
subseriucut report, speaking thus : " The Commissioners quote
as exceptions Market Harborougb, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and
some others, where the Guardians were so convmced^of its
impolicy that the motion to adopt the order was lost." At.
pa<'e 9 of this report a table is given of four counties, viz.,
Bedfordshire, Kent, Sussex, aud Norfolk, bearing a. favourable
comparison to Devon, Somerset, and some other, in which the
order had been introduced. In ISiiJ tilings had become so
serious that a committee was appointed to investigate the
causes at table No. -i of this report, given as its results,
tiiatofall classes there were 336,408 in receipt of out-door
relief, and that of this number more than one-third were able
to work. In the leport of the year following, 1843, we find
tliis remark, " That with respect to the increase of expenditure
since '39, we fear that it must be attributed to an increasing
laxity in out-door relief." Throughout the succeeding two
years the increase was progressive, in spite of all the untiring
efforts of the Commissioners. In 18 i3 we find the number
relieved out-doors was increased to 1,108,318, and at page
9 of this report we shall find ;that even in the law of set-
element a certain relaxation took place ; aud, as a further
symptom of a want of intelligent administration, there was a
general desire to reduce the salaries given to medical men
and vaccination was laxly carried out (see page 19 and 30 of
report). In 1845 the country had returned to a normal state ;
and tlie eleventh report of the Commissioners speaks in a san-
guine tone of the social state. The Poor Law expenditure for
the year having been nearly stationary, a certain note of
triumph is set up. At page 5 of this year's report we find a
passage of some significance, which ought wlien we receive
similar premature jubilation from official quarters, to cause us
to reflect, viz., report page 5, section: "During the early
part of this period, particularly during the year 1841, severe
distress prevailed in most of the manulaeturing districts, in-
cluding that important part of the country where the manu-
facture of cotton is carried on. The depression of the manu-
facturing districts was, as a natural consequence, followed by
distress m the agricultural part of the country. In 1814 trade
revived, and the number of able-bodied incapable of obtaining
employment was not considerable. Owing to this stateof
things the expenditure of the relief of the poor increased steadily
in 1839 aud 1813, but diminished in 1841. This fact proves
that the amount of the poor rate is uot, as some people have
feared, governed by a law of constant and irresistible progres-
sion, but that, when subjected to proper control, it can be

diminished upon the return of comparative prosperity. The
realization of their anticipations affords a measure of the
wisdom either of those who made them, or those who have
failed to justify them by their subsequent administration ot the
Act At page 6, there is evidence that the subject ot Local
Taxation had begun to exercise an important bearing upon the
administration of the relief, and created some discontent.
And an Act 7th and 8th Vic, 101, sec. 74, gives its sanction
to relaxation of out-door relief to widows nou rcsident,^ an in-
stance of the cautious approach to such things which it is
instructive to note. And there is a passage upon the questiou
of medical attendance and appointments, which indicates
something unsatisfactory in this direction {cidc page ^4 sec.
58). Under such circumstances we enter upon lb±b.
In this year one occurrence only seems to have disturbed the
system, or put it under any extraordinary stress. J he potato
disease broke out. It was chiefly confined, however, to De-
vonshire and Somerset, and the distress was of a purely local
character. It is somewhat remarkable to find that even this
partial visitation led once more to a relaxation of the 1 rolubi-
tory Order in certain unions, on this account 1817 intro-
duced some new features into the case, for the effect of the
9tli and 10th Vic. to prevent removals was beginning to leave
its mark. Let us see what was the first experience ot this.
Atn 8 sec. 16, we find it stated that the Removals Act ot
last Session has likewiss increased the amount of rehet to the
Irish in the large towns, especially in the Metropolis ihe
report says • " By the operation of this Act, Irish and hcotcU,
who have been resident five years in an English parish, become
irremovable from that parish ; and thus many Irish who had
been resident for that period, became applicants for reliel,
although previously to the passing of that Act they had been
deterred from applying from fear of being passed back to their
own country. The expectations of benefit under this Act
formed by the resident Irish in the Metropolis appear to have
been excessive, and led to their applying in large numbers to
several London parishes aud unions at the beginning of the
winter Owing to the combined operation of the causes above
stated, the pressure upon the poor-rates has been consider-
ably increased since last autumn, and the Poor Law expendi-
ture for the year ending Ladyday, 1817, will, when ascertained,
be doubtless proved to have been greater than that for the pre-
ceding- year." Notwithstanding the indications ot these evil
effects of such relaxation, and especially its incompatibility
with an icreasiug tendency to out-door relief, no warning seems
to have been taken, aud another great barrier against national
and unlocalised pauperism was broken down, beyond remedy or
redress. Nay, even during the succeeding year, turther tacili-
ties were afforded to abuse, and the following extract from the
report of 1S48, is most suggestive ot what took place. At p.
11 section 39, it says : " The change introduced by the Poor s
Removal Act of 1846 produced considerable disturbance in the
charges for the relief of the poor in many places, but the tempo-
rary Act of 10th aud nth Vic, c. 110, which threw the relief
of a certain class of the irremovable poor upon the common
fund, removed much of the existing dissatisfaction. A tur-
ther Act was therefore passed, 11th and 13th Vic, c. 110,
makino- the charge a distinct one upon the common tuud. ilie
effect of this is obvious, and coupled with a continually in-
creasing tendency to out-relief, will certainly not disappoint
the admirers of a national system of pauperism, aud a central-
ized administration. Still there are signs of trepidation oven
among official personages, and we find IMr. Lumlcy, bclore the
Scotch Committee of 1870, speaking m this wise: With
re"-ard to abolishing the law of removal, I am atraul it is a
ve?y serious question. I am very much alarmed at it in one
sense viz., that one of the best remaining tests ot pauperism
would be lost. If there was no power of removing persons
who applied for relief, the test for destitution would be very
weak indeed. The guardians would have almost to rely upon
the vigilance of their relieving officers." And of this, he tlicii
supplies a very remarkable instance. But at this date such
doubts did not afflict Poor Law reformers, and for some years
to come we shall find that things went on in the same direc-
tion merrily enough. An increasing feeling against the harsher
features of the law became observable, and soon other inlnnge-
ments of the first principles of localising relief were introduced.
At p 13 of this report it is conceded that the right to reliet
(that is, to live out of other people's work) is not restricted to
area, and the Commissioners state, " The law relating to the

110

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relief of the poor confers a right to relief, irrespective of settle-
ment. All destitute persous have a right to be relieved at the
cost of the parish in vpliich they are. This right, in the first
instance, is absolute." The qualification to tliis dogma is very
sUglit, and we can scarcely wonder at the rush of Irish into
Liverpool, upon such an announcement as this, nor that hence-
forth vagrancy increased. With this year, also we find an
act conferring a grant towards medical relief, amounting to
£61,500 ; and it is curious to find that, concomitantly with
tills concession, there was a diminution of the expense. Lastly,
there occurred a notable change, for, under the 10th and 11th
Vic, c. 109, sec. 9, the establishment of the Poor Law Board
as a great Goverment ofiice took place, and the President and
Secretary took their seats upon the Treasury Bench. I need
not recapitulate the arguments for this step — no doubt tliey
are plausible enough — and that some advantages would ac-
crue was obvious. And to some it may seem, that to throw a
doubt upon the principle of Parliamentary responsibility, is to
throw a doubt upon Parliamentary Government throughout.
I shall risk this, and frankly state my doubts, wliether such
wisdom as Parliament possessed, was likely to prove an effec-
tive support or salutary check, or whether a constant succes-
sion of Parliamentary presidents and secretaries would supply
in succession, the Cornwell Lewis's, George Nichols, and Ed-
Buud Heads, of times past ; whether so peculiar an institution
could be harmlessly subjected to the popular voice, or become
a counter in the great political game of ins and outs ; whether
the corrupting influences of political pressure is an advantage
or not ; and lastly, whether for the stable administration of
the Commissioners, could be substituted a fitful, changeful,
instable authority, dependent upon ministerial tenure of office,
remaining merely upon promotion, and cliiefly anxious to avoid
any administrative reform, which might lead, even temporarily
during their ephemeral tenure of office, to an unfavourable
balauce-sheet. I know not what opinions others have formed —
it is seldom that criticism extends to tliis — but, guided by the
facts I am about to narrate, it ^seems to me that this change
in the administration of the Poor Law was followed by deplor-
able results. It is true that during the following year the
new Board could show a favourable return against those which
immediately preceded, but it does not say much for the can-
dour of such documents that we find the usual column showing
the price of wheat omitted, and that it ranged from 36s. to
40s. per qr. during that remarkable period, which with the
immense but transitory impulse given to manufacturing em-
ployments by the repeal of the corn duties, will fully account
for the trifling reduction manifested. The figures shown were
as follows :

1848 £6,180,764

1849 5,792,963 £387,801 decrease.

1850 5,395,022 397,941

1851 4,962,704 433,318

1852 4,897,685 65,019

Decrease in 1852, as compared with 1848, £1,283,078.

It is melancholy to continue the history. During this year,
under such favourable circumstances, the Poor Law Board
wisely thought it expedient to issue more precise instructions
concerning out-relief, which contained provisions of consider-
able stringency. Art. 1 provides that the reUefshall be in kind,
in certain definite proportions. A.rt. 2, that it shall be given
or administered weekly. Art. 4 imposes a restriction upon
relief to non-residents. Art. 6 enforces the work test, with
some others of equal stringency, over which Art. 10 maintains
the central supervision. Now it would seem that under the
increasing laxity of practice, which had by this time become
pretty general, these orders did not find favour with local ad-
minislration ; and on the 14th of December of the same year
a circular letter refers to the remonstrances received from many
quarters. In this letter the Board vindicates its conduct — re-
ferriup; to the original enactments, 4 and 5 Vic, c. 76, ss. 15
and 52 ; but, upon consideration, it consents to rescind Ai tides
1, 2, and 10 ot that order, betraying the weakness of popular
admil^istration by the surrender of nearly all these important
safegu <rds, while it condemns its own action by cogent argu-
ments xnd conclusive reasoning. Clearly the effect of the
political association is becoming anparent. With this, more
araendm-mts of the Law were associated. The 15 and 16th
Vic, c. .'4, contmued the operation of the several Acts, which
rendered the irremoveable poor in Unions a charge upon the

common fund, for another year, and c. 18 continued the ex-
emption of stock-in-trade from rateability to the poor for the
same period. In 1853, the expenditure is once more increas-
ing, but the cause is the increasing price of provisions. Wheat
is 42s., increased expenditure £41,379. 1854 tells the tale
more clearly. Wheat goes up to 61s. 9d., and £343,789 is
added to expenditure. In this instance the report of the year
does not forget the column, and it is duly noticed as a reason
for the augmented charges. These are the tricks of the trade,
and they may be passed by as such'; we must, however, look
beyond them for the real causes, which tell their tale in a
progressive and steady rate of increase. And now, having ar-
rived at tliis point, time warns me that I must pass more ra-
pidly onwards through the history of the past. In the suc-
ceeding year under this form of administration we shall find,
with occasional reactions and interruptions, a constantly retro-
grade tendency towards out -door-relief, accompanied with
facilities which formed no part of the original Act. After
this, 24th and 25th Vic, 1861, c 55, shortening the term to
three years; and subsequently 28th and 29th Vic, 1865, c 8,
which once reduced the term to one year. Concomitantly
with this was widened the area of relief under successive acts,
by 10th and 11th Vic, c. 110 ; 11th and 12th Vic, caps.
110, 111 ; 12th and 13th Vic, c. 103 s. 16 ; and 22 Vic, c 29.
By the 24 and 25 Vic, the period of three years was sub-
stituted for that of five, specified in 9th and lOtli Vic ; and
residence of any person in any part of the union has the saffe
effect in reference to the provisions of the said section as resi-
dence in the parish. By 28th and 29th Vic, s. 17, one year
was substituted for three, and the quoted figures will tell the
rest. It is a tale of continuous increase from tliat point, viz.,
total amount expended to relief :

1855 ...

... £5,890,041 ...

... 897,686'^

1856 ...

... 6,004,244 ...

... 917,084

1857 ...

... 5,898,756 ...

... 885,010

1858 ...

... 5,878,542 ...

... 908,886

1859 ...

... 5,558,689 ...

... 865,446

1860 ...

... 5,454,964 ...

... 844,633

1861 ...

... 5,778,943 ...

... 883,921

1863 ...

... 6,017,525 ...

... 917,142

1863 ...

... 6,527,036 ...

... 1,079,383

1864 ...

... 6,423,383 ...

... 1,014,978

1865 ...

... 6,264,961 ...

... 951,899

1866 ...

... 6,439,517 ...

... 916,152

1867 ...

... 6,959,841 ...

... 931,546

1868 ...

... 7,498,061 ...

... 992,640

1869 ...

... 7,673,100 ...

... 1,018,140

1870 ...

... 7,644,307 ...

... 1,032,800

1871

... 1,037,360 J

Mean number of
all classes at one
time in receipt of
relief.

Now during the greater period of this time this process
went on either unobserved, or as a thing accounted for by
the law of natural increase. It was scarcely a matter of suffi-
ciently pohticai importance to occupy the House. The great
aggregation of such pauperism in the larger towns changed
this, and in the metropolis it began to be recognised as a for-
midable fact. Towards the end of the last decade there were
passed several important Acts, and the formation of district
schools, asylums, and dispensaries for the Metropolis marks an
increasing sense of requirements of a higher class. These,
however, are local in their character, and partial in their ef-
fects, and must obviously be followed by measures of a more
general and comprehensive sort, if they are to be attended with
any beneficial results. We have nationalised pauperism, and
we must deal with it as a national evil, deeply rooted, and
widely spread. To some the possibility of this may be a mat-
ter of doubt, unless we are prepared simply to retrace our
steps. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to do this,
and in this case the alternative is clear — we must raise our
organization to the level of its greater task, and make use of
means, hitherto greatly neglected, towards its accomplishment.
Emphatically I say, then, that one such of a value unsus-
pected is an efficient system of medical relief. Nor does this
rest upon theory only, luckily it is capable of proof, and for an
example of its operation we are able to turn to the history of
Irish Poor Relief. I bid you mark the contrast. The Irish
Poor Relief Act was passed on the 31st July, 1838, upon
principles not greatly differing from that of the English Act
of 1834, save in one important particular, which I would beg
you to note, viz., the especial care which from the first seems to

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Ill

have been bestowed upon its medical relief. Two causes, no
doubt, tendeil to this. One, tlie great prevalence ot fever iu
that country ; and the other, some existing enactments, to
which I shall presently advert. From that date up to 1844^
tliere was little real experience of the working of the Act.
At this time 98 Unions seem to have been formed — out of the
100 originally projected — and the houses rebuilt. At this
time the first difficulties experienced seem to have cropped up.
They arose upon the question of rates. In 31 Unions it was
necessary to employ the police and military to collect the rate.
Changes in tha law took place, and iu certain cases the owners
were made the persons chargeable to rates — 6 and 7 Vic, c.
92. The cost of establishment charges in Ireland, compared
with England, is a striking feature in the case, as well as the
far more complete organization of the Unions for in-door re-
lief. The attention of the Commissioners in that country
seems to have been called at an early period to the question of
medical relief, and we find them auxious to enlist in the ser-
vices of the Poor Laws, the valuable organizations which they
found already at work. In 1805 we find that County In-
firmaries had been setup, under 45 Geo. III., c. 3, aud follow-
ing upon this, in 1818, Fever Hospitals were establislied upon
the county rates. In 1836 the Commissioners report that
there were 31 County Infirmaries, and five City aud Town, re-
ceiving aid from Government. Nevertheless, up to the date
18I-4<, the system was not iu close relation to poor relief.
Under these circumstances the Irish Act started upon its
course. Now, iu the former instance I have given, I have
spoken of the strain to which the English system was exposed
through a period of depression to the working class ; aud I
have traced its decadence from that point. It never wholly
recovered from the laxity of principle then partially intro-
duced. Let us see whether this applied to the present case.
In I8l!6 the potato crop failed, and the distress then caused
was neither partial nor temporary. It was a famine in its
character, and a famine in extent ; and it was iu such a
country that the law made property liable for the support of
tlie poorer class. The collapse of the in-door test was com-
plete, and the system became one of universal and gigantic
out-door relief, under which three millions of persons were
fed at their own homes at an expense of £1,557,212 During
the succeeding years, up to 1848, fever and disease followed
close upon the wake of this, and once more the system was
exposed to the severest test. And now was found the great
value of the organized medical force. To aid the County es-
tablishments the 10th and 11th of Victoria was passed, and
practically the commencement of the Irish system of medical
relief was set up. Upwards of 300 hospitals and dispensaries
were provided under this Act, with accommodation for 23,000
patients. The expense was £119,055, which came out of
rates. The weekly mortality increased from 4 in 1,000 in
October, 1846, to 13 in January, 1847, 20 in February, 25 in
April. So terrible a conflict between science and death
scarcely ever took place, but it rose above the crisis at last.
Nor was the lesson forgot, and its results were the permanent
estabhsbment of the dispensary system, under a Parliamentary
Act, called the Medical Charities Act, 1851. And now comes
the crucial test. Under what state do we find the Irish sys-
tem, after so terrible an ordeal as this. The answer must be
unanswerable figures :

& &

In 1852 there was expended 517,455 ia-relief, 4,917 out-relief.
„ 1853 „ 6,030 „ 4,920

„ 1854 „ 463,858 „ 3,715

„ 1855 „ 432,824 „ 4,703

„ 1856 „ 358,943 „ 2,345

„ 1857 „ 292,685 „ 2,412

Once more, take these figures as the proof: In England, in
the year 1870, there were relieved of all classes, 156,800 in-
door, and 876,000 out-door ; or a total of 1,032,800, at an
expense of £7,644,309, out of a population of 21,980,000. In
Ireland, for the same year, the number relieved there were
230,429 in-doors, and 53,885 out ; at an expense, including
medical charities, of £798,138, out of a population of
5,516,674. The amount in the £ respectively being Is. 2|d.
in Ireland against Is. 5-9d. in England and Wales. No less
remarkable are the statistics of diseases and death arising from
zymotic complaints, a subject which Dr. Rogers will more
properly deal with, together with a comparison of the relative

sums expended upon medical assistance, with which the com-
parison is complete. What conclusion shall we tiien draw
from this? First, I think that the value of this great pre-
ventive service has never been fully recognized as yet. In
this country it has been treated with absolute neglect, aud
wliat is the result P Let the 32nd report of the various classes
of paupers, 1869-70, tell the tale of this, viz., at p. xviii., of
adult able-bodied paupers, it speaks thus : " The whole of that
large proportion of the pauperism of the country which is
caused by temporary sickness is included in this class. If the
sick pauper be the male head of a family, the whole family de-
pendent upon him are included in this class." This number, in
the returns for London, are given at 34-0 per cent, of the
whole list, and for the whole country at about 30 per cent.
What especial features do these two instances present. In the
first we cannot fail to see that there has been a great and pro-
gressive deterioration from the original intentions of the Act,
aud that in this case each departure from principle was sim-
ply a prelude to the next. In the second we trace a situation
almost precisely analogous, a strain of far greater intensity, a
temporary but universal collapse, followed by a quick but per-
manent recovery, aud a complete vindication of the principles
upon which the Act was based. Why was this ? Shall we
be forcing the conclusion if we say that it was greatly due to
the one exceptional advantage it possessed, namely, that of
well-organised medical relief? One thing is sure,the value of this
great preventive service has never in this country been fully
recognised as yet, and this, too, against evidence of the clearest
sort. In a recent speech. Sir Baldwin Leighton says, refer-
ring to the success of the Atcham Union, " Sanitary mea-
sures had much to do with the reduction of pauperism. Every-
thing was done to prevent or stop epidemic disases, and the
bearing of this was that medical relief was more than half of
out-relief." Mr. Atkins, vice-chairman of the Hackney Union,
also said, "That the great reduction in the rates of that parish
might be attributed to the increase of the number of relieving
officers from two to eight ; that whereas formerly they had
one medical officer whose district was ten miles round at a
salary of £65, they had now eight offices at salaries of £80.
In 1867 they had 6,000 paupers ; iu half-a-year after the num-
ber went up to 16,000, the Union Chargeability Act having
come into force." Now, what is the present state of our me-
dical service ? Dr. Rogers will be able to give you some in-
structive particulars on this point. Not only is it neglected
and inefficient, but it has become a great and increasing abuse.
Turn to the annual report of this year and see what is said,
Mr. Peel, at p. 181, speaks of the diversity of practice and
inefficiency of salaries to provide medicine, and recommends
the establishment of dispensaries. Mr. Farnall's report, after
stating that nearly 50 per cent, of the out-relief is given under
so-called doctor's orders", says that a diversity of such treatment
is simply at the discretion of the different medical men ; that
the supply of medicines is insufficient and bad, aud he comes
to the remarkable conclusion that it would be a pity to disturb
so delightful a state of things. Mr. Cane is less insensible to
the logic of his own report, and sums up the existing state of
things thus : " The doctor's orders for meat and wine in ef-
fect transfer a large portion of out-door relief from responsible
to irresponsible hands. They afford a minimum benefit at a
maximum cost, afford constant opportunities for evading regu-
lations directed against the grossest abuses — the relief in aid
of wages — and hold out a strong and direct temptation to cor-
rupt practices for private advantage." No words could convey
a stronger condemnation than this of a miserable system,
founded on inadequate remuneration, bad medicines extended
to irregular districts and areas, and practices utterly incom-
patible with the working of the Act. Surely, then, we must
either do away with altogether, or radically re-
form this service under the Act. Of that reform I will
presently speak. First let me draw some conclusions from this
review of the Poor Law since 1838. I think it will be seen
that the strictures I first expressed are borne out, and that both
in principle and practice we have widely departed from the
original Act. Let me summarise the progressive steps.
First, we allowed the gradual introduction of a general system
of out-door relief. Then we de-localised rehef under Re-
moval Acts ; next we weakened control and supervision by
common funds and union rates— measures in themselves ad-
missible under certain circumstances, but absolutely fatal to
the operation of a Poor Law wholly dependent upon a repres-

112

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sivc test — loc:tl supervision :uiil local taxation of a partial
class. No doubt it was uniler a sense of the undue hardship
of the Act upon the labouring classes that these amendments of
the law took place, and sometliing perliajis of the necessity
imposed by the i)olitical association of which I spoke-
but still more, I am inclined to think, from the neglect
o_t rcinodies more efficacious, more humane, and under the
circumstauccs more just, which deprived the administrators of
the law ot the moral support of those who saw the suffering
and recognized an unsupplied and often undeserved want,
llie llieory ot this law was repression, but the possibility of
Its onlorceineut depended upon conditions which its authors
took no pains to find out— industrial conditions, social condi-
tions, educational conditions. They cared nothing that the
laljouruig classes possessed neither education, nor provident
societies nor medical clubs ; tliat all the old enactments of
i!;lizabotli to set apart waste lands, and to build cottages, had
been sei at nought ; that the poor possessed no property
beyond their hands, their daily work, and their daily wages-
precarious enougii, and in their uncertain tenure of sueh
tilings, tliere could be but small inducement, even if the
means existed, to save, for this helpless multitude it had
nothing better to olfor than the workhouse test. It assisted
no providence, it instituted no industrial training, it starved
Its medical relief. What wonder that, deprived of sympathy,
It was driven foot by foot into practices against which it was
inteuaed to protest. And now, gentlemen, comes the question,
low are we to apply our remedies to this ? In the instances
1 liave mentioned we cannot go] back ; neither political nor
social circnmstances will permit us to do this. We have
nationalized pauperism, and we have centralized administration
and let us boldly admit it. Upon these lines we must go
lorward, not back. Well, but some may say, jiow, and to
u liat end .-^ My answer must be : In making these changes in
t.ic law, vve must become conscious that we have undertaken a
great task. Superior organization can alone overtake and
accomplish this. J5y this means alone we can restore a good
deal which we have lost. The local information and know-
ledge possessed under the parochial system we must supply by
paid olhcers thoroughly instructed in'tlieir duty, and competent
to carry it out ; and mind, I say a good deal when I say this,
ilie liability for a iluctuatiug, unsettled population, must be
met by a distinction in the ai>plication of out-door relief, guided
by (he circumstances of each case. To none, or few persons
settled within the term of the original Act, should it be
extended in anj case. The administration of a common fund
presents peculiar dangers, and temptations to abuse of a very
grave sort. The discharge of workmen during unproductive
seasons, rates in aid of wages, lax supervision, are not the
Jeast. It seems to me indeed scarcely compatible with out-
door relief, and to entail upon us establislinients of a different
class--the Irish system in fact. We must thoroughly re-
organize our medical relief system throughout, establish dis-
licusarics, districts, sanitary and medical ; and above all take
c ire that the functions of the medical officers are precise and
exact. Uis duty is medical. To the Dispensary Committee
and the Board of Guardians belong the duty of relief. Eor
persons loo pauperized to afford themselves tlie necessary
lood, the infirmary within the house is the proper place. 13ut
a so i call organized cliarity into this field as tlicir proper
place. Under the Dispensary Committee, their gift vv^ll
seldom fall short or be misplaced. Education and industrial
Iraniiiig require .systematic efforts, not put forth as yet ; and
1 shall call upon Dr. Rogers to satisfy you of the power of
that scientific arm which we so strangely neglect. And lastly
lu view ot the great shortcomings of a highly centralised
ilepartment— lis incapacity to originate ; its obstructive policy •
Its unwillingness to contribute from imperial sources- its
subservience to political iniluence, and the obvious impos'sibi-
iity ot strong government, in matters requiring the utmost
tact and £rmness and judgment— I am obliged to come to the
couclusiou that, here we are in need of an intermediate
authority which would extend to common areas of administra-
tion and taxation. A county or its division, or one of our
large boroughs would represent such a one. Through such
an organisation the general system of relief throughout a
disfnct could be assimilated, while the general fund raised as
a county or borough rate would b,; apiilicable to district
schools, sanitary and medical iusjiections, and other o-eueral
purposes, at present greatly beyond the scope of Union

administration. l?y such ineaus we might, perhaiis, attain a
control over an evil, at all times great and menacing to
society, but at present rendered doubly so, by its dangerous
aggregation into our larger cities, and under ill-advised
relaxations in the conditions of relief, which has assumed a
truly national character. Eor this, I think, our remedy must
be, more elficiout and higlily-organised local administration in
every department, in which personal sympathy and well-
directed charity will play their part.

Dr. J. Rogers, President of the Poor Law Medical
Officers' Association, who traced the history of the Poor Laws
from the Commission in 1833-3, had been informed by
two members of that Commission, Sir J. Kay Shuttleworth and
Mr. C. P. Villiers, that although that Commission examined
every conceivable cause beating on the growth of pauperism,
the sickness of the poor, as an element in its production, was
not inquired into ; in fact, its importance was entirely over-
looked. It could not, therefore, be wondered at that the
Poor Law Commissioners on the one hand, and the local
Boards on the other, in making their arrangements for the
relief of such sickness, should have adopted that course which
appeared to them to be most economical— fixing the stipends
of the medical officers at tiie lowest amount, and then adver-
tising the appointments as open to all comers. Dr. Rogers
traced the effect of this in the incflicient character of the
medical relief afforded to the poor, and pointed out the evils
that had resulted from it in the increase of pauperism. Dr.
G. Wallis, who wrote 30 years ago, put the amount of
pauperism amongst the working classes, which was traceable
to sickness at 73 per cent. ; Mr. Gathorne Hardy, in intro-
ducing the Metropolitan Amendment Act, at 50 per cent.
His (Dr. Rogers') own inquiries led him to believe that
Dr. Wallis's eslimate was the nearest the truth. That it was
very considerable was shown by the last report ot the Poor
Law Board, from which it appeared that from a total of
1,085,000 paupers, 4 per cent, only were adult males destitute
from want of work, and that 30 per cent, of the in-door, and
13 per cent, of the out-door, were absolutely on the medical
otiicers' books, tli^sc hcing wholly irrespective of the families
dependent on them. Besides tliese there were vast numbers
of people disabled by age or special infirmities, and of children,
many being orphans. Passing to the stipends of the medical
officers, lie stated that tiiey were fixed on no principle what-
ever ; thus they varied from Sd. to 7s. in a ease of sickness,
the largest proportion, however, being below 3s., and that
from an analysis of the expenditure on drugs for 60 metro-
politan medical charities, it had been found that the average
cost, of medicines only, amounted to 3s. 5£d. per ease of sick-
ness. It was therefore obvious that many of the pauper sick
either went without medicine, or if they were prescribed for as
they should be, it could only be at a pecuniary loss to the
parish_ doctor. Passing to another point, equally important,
if sufficient visits, and consequently proper attention, was paid
to the sick, he found there was a general order of the Poor
I-aw Board limiting tiie creaof a district to 15,000 acres, and
the population to 15,000 persons, and that as regards the area
there were no less than 605 districts which exceeded 15,000
acres, and of this number 31 were above 30,0(J0, 11 above
■1'0,000, 13 above 50,000, 8 above 60,000, and 11 above
70,000; and in reference to population, there were 305
districts above 15,000 persons. Of this number, 15 exceed
30,000, 9 10,000, and even more than this. Similarly, there
was an understanding that one district only should be held by
a medical officer, but in reality there were 637 districts, which
were held by 3S)1 medical officers, whilst 366 medical officers
nominally attended from 1,000 to 10,000 cases of disease
annually; in fact, the Poor Law Board had never seriously
attempted to interfere with local medical relief arrangements,
though it must be evident that it had been reduced" in such
huge disf nets and populations to a mockery. In fact, the prin-
ciple liad been that when a man was badly paid with one district
of 15,000 acres, they gave him another, in order to enable him to
keep a horse. Practical gentlemen, sueli as he saw around
him, knew what ten, twenty, thirty, or forty thousand acres
meant. He would ask them was it possible that a poor man,
with a fever such as that which the Prince of Wales had, and
which engaged the attention of three medical men, could be
attended to by a medical man with such a district P Yet there
were amongst the labouring classes scores of such cases.
Dr. Rogers then spoke of the Irish system of Poor Law

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113

UKtliciil rdiel'. Some of those present could remember the
liorror lliat passed over the laud when the terrible famine and
fever took plaee in that couutrj' iu 18iS. Up to 1851 the
system of medical relief iu Irclaud had been most unsatis-
factory. Iu the fever of which he spoke tlie medical ollioers
were swept away, and it became iucumbeut ou the Governmcut
to adopt soaie system. lie iuid yet to learn who they were
that suggested the Act of Parliament, but tiie time would come
when tlicy would liave all the merit of their sagacity and fore-
thought. Au Act was passed iu 1851-53 called the Medical
Charities' Act, for Ireland. 13y that Act the whole country
was divided into dispensary districts, 719 in number,
with IjUlo stations, some districts having two or more
stations. At tliat date tlie total outlay for the poor in Ireland
was .£1,199,078, or Is. 7d. iu the pound, of which £51,eS9
was spent iu medical relief. At the end of seven years the
gross relief had fallen to £513,614', or 85d. in the pound, medical
relief having increased to nearly £100,000. Medical relief iu
Ireland did not make the recipient a pauper; and tlie result
was tliat whilst in England there were 78i,90G out-door poor
and 157,7-10 iu-door, there were only 50,257 out-door to
2S8,'J53 in-door poor iu Ireland, the rate per head for out-
door poor in England being i£i 5s. per annum ; in Ireland
less than £1 ; iu-door poor, England, £9 lis. Sd. ; Ireland,
£2 10s. 8d. Iu England the medical oflTicers were compelled,
by the poverty of their resources, to send many of the sick
poor into the workouses, tlius couverting those places into
huge hospitals. The result of the working of the two systems
was siiown by the contrast of the Irish with Englisli towns.
In 15elfast, where the population was 14-l!,G29 — eighteen
medical ofliccrs ; cost of drugs, £1,508 Gs. .3d. ; salaries of
medical olllcers, £2,397 ; gross relief, £35,009, with the coa-
termiuous Uuious of Newcastle and Gateshead, where ths
population was 170,377 — medical olTicers, 15 ; salaries £1,213
(out of whicii they had to find drugs) ; gross expenditure,
£G0,500 ; also Cork — population, 147,573 ; twenty-two
medical officers ; drugs, £1,407 Is. 4d. ; stipends of medical
officers, £2,1.30; gross relief, £35,81G, with Bristol and
Clifton — lGO,7l4; medical ollicers eleven; salaries, i£l,210 ;
gross relief, £70,414. As to the rural Unions, he took
Thomastowu, in Kilkenny. Its population was 21,000 ; it spent
£03 iu drugs ; £050 for salaries of medical officers ; and
£3,800 was the amount of the gross relief. Contrast that
witii llisbridge, in their own couuty. Tlicre the population
was 17,000 ; nothing was spent for drugs ; £374 was paid for
salaries of medical officers, but this was made up by paying
£10,000 in gross relief ; or,just tliree times as much as in
Tliomastown. Again, contrast Lismore, in Tipperary, with
Woodbridge. The population of Lismore was 20,000 ; its area,
97,000 acres ; the cost of drugs, £111 ; salaries of medical
officers, £795 ; gross relief, £3,600. The Woodbridge Union
had 22,000 inliabitants ; was 82,000 acres iu area ; nothing
was spent for drugs ; £549, salaries of medical officers ; but
the gross relief amounted to £10,000, or, just three times as
much again as the Irish Union. Taking the population of
England and Wales at 22,000,000 the cost of medical relief
was £283,000 ; gross relief, £7,073,000 ; Scotland— popula-
tion, 3,200,000; medical relief, £33,784 ; gross relief,
£931,274 ; Ireland — population, 5,500,000 ; medical relief,
£133,000 ; gross relief, £817,772— being for gross relief Gs.
ll^d. per head in England, Gs. OJd. in Scotland, and 2s. 11 Jd.,
in Irclaud; and that medical relief constituted the tvventy-
seveuth part of the gross outlay in England and Wales, and in
Scotland, and one-sixth part in Ireland. Having ascertained
so mucli from the Poor Law returns, lie thought he would try
it another way. lie asked Mr. W. II. Smith, the member for
Westminster, to get a certain return. If he had asked tlio
Poor Law Board for that leturn, he would have been told that
it could not be had. lie asked for tlie estimated population
of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, the gross mortality
in a series of years, and the mortality from preventible dis-
eases. He dared say the clerks did not understand what it
was wanted for ; but it brought out the fact that while 1 in
43 of tiie population died yearly in Euglaud, 1 in 44 in Scot-
land, only 1 in GO died iu Ireland, and whilst zymotic or pre-
ventible deaths iu Euglaud constituted oue-fourth of the total
mortality, and 1 in I'JO of the po])ulation ; Scotland one-fourth,
and 1 iu 191 of the population ; in Ireland it was but one-fifth
of the total mortality, and 1 in 308 of the population, and that
the correspondeuce of general and zymotic mortality in Eng-

land and Scotland was evidently due to the same cause — deficient
medical relief. They would observe that England and Scot-
land with equally faulty medical arrangements had a corres-
ponding death rate, and that Ireland, whicli had an admirable
system, had not only a lower death rate, but — what to the
British ratepayer was perhaps of equal importance — a lower
rf>te. This was not always the case. Up to 1852, fever was
the opprobrium of the islands. Those who were old enough
to rcmber the time when Irish labourers came to this country
for harvest work, could remember that there was always a
constant dread of their infecting a neighbourhood witli fever.
But all that iiad passed away, and why ? Because of the wise
provisions suggested liy the wise heads of thse who carried the
Medical Charities Act through the House of Commons. But
there was another point to which ho wished to draw attention.
Not only had fever been dimiuished, and dimiuished in such a
remarkable degree that it had ceased to be the opprolirium of
Ireland, but small-pox had also been so diminished that in the
year before last there were only 20 cases in the whole five
millions of Ireland. Small-pox did not produce one fiftieth of
the cases produced in England and Wales, because they had
an efficient body of Irish Commissioners, who thought it their
duty to look up cases of vaccination. The result had been a
great diminution of that scourge of humanity. To show the
importance of this matter he would tell them that there were
4,500,000 of the population of the labouring classes, and it was
amouget thein that the epidemic disease took its rise, and from
them spread to other classes ; it was amongst that class too
that they had to look for their labourers, and whose children
they had to keep during sickness and to keep till they grew up, if
the head of the family died. It must therefore be obvious to
them how important was the question of the sanitary condi-
tion of that class. He thought he had proved the necessity for
au alteration, and that the suggestions he had to make should
be carried out. Their excellent representative, Mr. Corrance,
had taken a great deal of trouble, aud had shown more than
ordinary zeal with reference to the Association that he (Dr.
Rogers) was connected with ; and he was about to introduce
iu the House of Commons a scheme framed after the Irish
Medical Charities Act. If that scheme should be carried into
effect, he need not tell them that it would cause some
additional outlay. He calculated this at £310,881 ou medical
olficers' salaries ; £128,000 for drugs and appliances, such as
trusses ; and £94,000 for the rent of dispensary buildings.
The total of these amounts would reach to about £532,000, or
an addition to what was now being paid of about £250,000.
But if he liad proved anything, he had proved that additional
outlay for medical relief would be speedily recouped by a dinii-
mitlon of sickness, a diminution of the death-rate, and of other
causes which produce pauperism. Dr. Rogers expressed his
himself in favour of the removal of the burden from the rate-
payers to the Consolidated Fund. He liad long held that the
rates for the relief of the poor should not be thrown upon a
portion of the commuuity. This was more especially true of
sanitary measures, and for the following reasons, which he had
tabulated, he held that the entire cost of medical relief should
be thrown on the consolidated fund : 1. Because the incidence
of local taxation was unequal and limited. 2. Because the
character of modern pauperism was migratory, aud had nearly
ceased to be parochial. 3. Because sickness cannot be localised ;
for these epidemics whicli strike first and hardest the poorer
classes, extend from them to those above them in the social
scale, and were also liable to, and did spread over large tracts
of country. 4. Because such epidemics, when occurring among
the poor, were entitled to at least as much consideration as
when occurring among cattle — and the ravages of cattle plague
had been met by a rate thrown over a whole county— especially
as the health of the poor, and their preservation from such
epidemic outbreaks, was a subject in which the whole eoiu-
munity was vitally interested. 5. Because illness among the
poor in one part of the country required the same skill and
outlay on medicines, to treat it successfully as in another. 6.
Because the principle having been conceded of part payment
from the Consolidated Fund, no valid objection could be advanced
why the whole should not be thus paid. 7- Because local and
often prejudiced opposition to necessary expenditure would be
determined if the whole community contributed equally, upon
a basis settled by some central authority. He concluded by
saying that he had comedown at the invitation of their worthy
members to place his views before them. He hoped he liad

114

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

made them sufficiently plain and had given them a sufficient
outline to enable them to sit in judgment upon what
he had said. If as tlie result of their examination they
came to the conclusion that he was right, lie hoped they
would assist their hon. member in carrying out the scheme
which it was his intention to introduce.

Mr. GooDWYN GooDWTN was not personally iu a position
to say whether the argument of Dr. Rogers was a good one,
hut the evidence he had brought was strong, and convinced
him tliat there was a great deal in it. If they found nothing
to say against it, they had best try to get the Irish system
established.

Mr. Jones said his experience as a medical officer in the
district was exceedingly slight, and he scarcely liked to give it.
He could only express his entire concurrence with much of
what Dr. Rogers had said, and hoped they might, with the as-
sistance of their member, get something done. His district ex-
tended six miles straiglit out in one direction, and he was one
of those fortunate, or unfortunate, people who had tvro. His
second district extended five or six miles in another direction.
For one of these, with five parishes, he had a salary of £65 ; in
the other there were two parishes, and he had the munificent
sum of £15 18s. for that.

The President ; And find your own drugs ?

Mr. Jones: And find my own drugs which I believe is
generally the case throughout England. I am not saying this
by way of complaint, but I am simply endeavouring to support
what Dr. Rogers has advanced.

The President said he had mentioned one great abuse,
the medical orders for meat and wine. He should like to have
a practical opinion on that point. Would any guardian give
an opinion as to the medical officers dispensing meat and wine,
which had become a very common practice ?

Mr. Jones said it was not the custom in his experience, for
the medical officers to send the orders for meat and wine, but
it was for meat. There was a printed form with a blank, and
it was not the custom for guardians to give meat to a pauper,
except by special recommendation of a medical man. When a
man was iU, he would require something more than eighteen-
pence a week, and a stone of flour. How was he to get any-
thing in the shape of broth without meat being granted ?
They would of course say that was improper.

The President : I don't say that.

Mr. Jones said he was glad to find Mr. Corrance said it was
not so. He had understood him to condemn the giving meat.
He thought they ought only to find fault with the practice when
the orders were given rather too freely.

The President said he had pointed out that the practice
was liable to great abuse, and that such cases might best be
met by charitable organisation. That would be far better than
the indiscriminate way in which people now gave relief. That
morning he had been asked to subscribe to a fund for the pay-
ment of a doctor's bill of £9 for a poor man. He asked if the
man had belonged to a provident society and other questions,
hut he could get no satisfactory answers, and so declined to put
his name to the paper. He should not object to subscribe to
a charitable fund, and his intention was that people should go
to such an organisation for medical rehef.

Mr. Jones : Yon mean that a medical man should have a
form placed in his hands, and give it to the man, and send him
to the society ?

The President : To the Dispensary Committee, and that
Committee should furnish the order for meat and wine.

Mr. Jones : Tlien the difi'ereuce would be that it would not
come out of the rates ?

The President : At any rate the rates should be supple-
mented from other sources. The sick man should go into the
Infirmary or the House. My proposition would be the Infir-
mary or the House for such cases, in order to check abuse.
The President, in reply to furtlier questions from Mr. Jones,
said he would have all cases of sickness removed to the Infirm-
ary, if possible. He would relieve the doctor of the responsi-
bility, and did not think he was the proper person to act as a
relieving officer.

Mr. Jeaefreson said it struck him that the medical officers
were well qualified to supplement the relieving oQicers. They
saw so much more of the cases than the relieving officers did.
They wanted to leave rather more in the hands of the medical

officers. The statistics of Dr. Rogers were rather strong. He
did not want to prove so much, and his case would have been
better if he had not proved so much. He thought, too, that
the difference in the character of the population had not been
sufficiently shown. Half the advantage of the Irish system
arose in his opinion from the more frequent visits of the
doctor, which were a check upon abuses.

Dr. Rogers said the figures were not of his own making.
He had taken Belfast, a large manufacturing town in the north
of Ireland, and had contrasted it with the towns of Gateshead
and Newcastle ; the city of Cork, again, with Bristol. In the
latter. Dr. Budd had informed him, tliere actually had existed
in 1856 a dispensary system, similar to that in Ireland. The
Guardians of tliat day, in their penny-wise and pound-foolish
system, thought tliat by diminishing medical relief the expen-
diture might be cut down and pauperism reduced. Tliey there-
fore got rid of the dispensaries, and abolished the system of
supplying drugs, and appointed three medical officers to look
after the poor, at salaries £13 in advance of what it had cost
them to supply drugs. In ten years the total cost of relieving
the poor had gone up from £27,000 to £37,000, the population
in the meantime remaining stationary. As to the difference in
the character of tlie population in England and Ireland in the
rural Unions, he did not think it very great. There was not a
great difference between Suffolk and some parts of Ireland.
Dr. Rogers also quoted the statement of Sir Baldwin Leighton,
the chairman of the Atcham Union, that the great thing to be
relied upon to keep down the rates was to look after the
health of the poor. The expenditure of the Atcham Union
had been cut down by that means. The Union was about equal
to the Plomesgate, where the total expenditure was £8,800, but
at Atcliam it was only £4,300 a-year.

Mr. D. Smith, jun., spoke warmly against the system of
giving the sick-poor meat and wine. He felt, from his ex-
perience as a guardian for many years, that a better system of
medical rehef was greatly needed. The medical officers' orders
for porter, beef, and mutton were what swelled tlie rates.

Mr. Jeaefreson said, a great tiling to prevent the necessity
for such orders would be to pay the labourers 5s. more per week
in wages.

The President, in summing up the debate, pointed out that
the principles of the Poor-laws of 1834 had been departed
from, and tliey must have something else in their place. They
could not now go back to parish management and parochial
chargeability. A better organization was needed, and one that
Dr. Rogers had pointed out was a valuable one, but only one.
But there was this difference between Ireland and England.
Not only was the Irish system one of medical relief, but it was
also one of in-door relief. But it was simply impossible to
estabUsh a system of purely in-door relief in this country.
They must make up their minds to supply a poor man's most
pressing wants, and Dr. Rogers told them that the most pres-
sing want was in sickness. If a man could not get relief at
that time he was disabled for life. Therefore, objectionable as
most forms of relief were, they must have medical rehef. It
was one of the subjects where they would least expect abuse, as
people did not like black doses, and it was hardly to be con-
ceived that a man should sham illness to obtain only physic
and to avoid work. They needed organized charity, and to
make the dispensary system the beginning of an alteration of
the Poor-laws. Out-door relief must be done away with in
every case where it became abused, but in those cases where
it could not be abused they must provide an adequate amount
of out-door relief. The Poor-laws were open to great changes
— probably great improvements — and he thouglit Dr. Rogers
had proved to them that there was one such improvement that
might be fairly sought.

Mr. GooDWYN-GooDWYN proposed a vote of thanks to Dr.
Rogers.

IJr. Rogers, in reply, said he had been engaged for ten or
twelve years in the work of showing people that on the
question of medical relief depended a large amount of pau-
perism. He had at first appealed to the benevolent men, but
he found that in this country tliey were a feeble minority. Since
that he had gone on anotlier track — to the breeches pocket —
and since that he had got no end of disciples. He beheved,
too, that the feeling was now rising in his favour, and he should
soon get a great many more.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

115

SHROPSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.
LOCAL TAXATION.

At a meeting at Ellesmere, Mr. BoWEX JoMES, vice-president
of the Chamber in the chair, remarked that they had al-
already had that subject before the Chamber on two occasions,
and it had several times been referred to by speakers at the
annual dinner and at their committee meetings. As they had
been criticised by the press for bringing that question forward
again, he thought it would be well to observe that there were
good reasons why it now should not be lost sight of. The
question had been fully discussed at Newport, where it was
very ably introduced by Mr. Jasper More, on which occasion
that gentleman called particular attention to the history, charac-
ter, and incidence of the rates. And they discussed the question
at Wellington last year, when the Rev. C. F. C. Pigott, their
staunch champion on that subject, opened the debate. StiU,
there were good reasons why they should re-consider the
question on the present occasion. On the previous occasions
when they had discusssed the question it was in its infaucy;
but now they had arrived at certain conclusions, and had en-
forced their views pretty freely upon the Government of the
country. Last session they had two bills brought before them,
but they did not meet their views as they ought to have done.
It showed, however, that they had made an impression upon
" the powers that be." They had the nail partly through the
door, and he thought they ought to go on until they had driven
it through and clenched it on the other side. He thought
there were reasons why they should again open the question,
and discuss it thoroughly. He would now caU upon Sir
Baldwyn to open the subject ; and he might say that they
owed Sir Baldwyn a debt of gratitude for coming down from
London to attend that meeting.

Sir Baxdwyn Leighton said : At the request of a meeting
of this Chamber, I have consented to attempt to introduce the
subject of local taxation at tliis meeting — with some diffi-
dence not only on account of the importance of the subject,
and the presence here of men who have given more time to the
question than I have, but still more because I am persuaded
that the time has now arrived when the country party, the
ratepayers, and those who agitate this question, must put for-
ward a distinct demand — some counter proposition to Mr.
Goschen's. We must show, too, that this is no mere matter of
interest or class, not a mere breeches-pocket question, but a
great matter of home policy, the unjust shackhng nf a great
industry, that Government must attend to, or make way for
those who will. We must show them that we can coin politics,
as well as manufacture beef and corn. That is the responsi-
bility that we must now assume. Now what is the posi-
tion of this question ? After some years' ventilation of
the subject the long-suffering ratepayer has at length had
his eyes opened to this state of things, which I cannot better
describe than in the words of the Local Taxation Committee
of the Central Chamber, signed Sir Massey Lopes. It says :
" The tendency of legislation has hitherto been to throw upon
the ratepayers various new charges for objects which, however
good in themselves, have more a national than a local character.
Chancellors of Exchequer have thus been enabled to take credit
for budgets which by no means represent the actual taxation of the
country, but by relieving imperial at the expense of local taxa-
tion give a very delusive impression of the actual amount of
our national imposts." I don't think anyone can dispute those
words ; the thing has gone on till the burden of it has become
intolerable, and the ratepayers have, through their representa-
tives, at length said : " What charges are fair and just we are
willing to pay, but what are unjust and national, we, a mere
section of the nation, will not submit to ; and meanwhile no
more burdens, no more new taxes, tUl you have settled this
matter for us." It was that determined position taken up by
the ratepayers of this country that compelled our unwilling
Government, after putting of the question for two years —
remember they baffled us for two years with alternate
threats and promises — compelled our unwilling and an-
tagonistic Government to bring in a biU last year, in-

adequate in its scope and a mere juggle in some of its provi-
sions, but a bill that did actually acknowledge the injustice by
an offer of a sum of £1,000,000 a year— remember that sum
—over 1,000,000 a year in the house tax. Thirty years ago
Sir Robert Peel, that great modern minister whom the country
party gave to the nation, declared, when Prime Minister, that
the ratepayer was already overtaxed, and threw certain charges,
police and other, on the national exchequer ; we have slum-
bered since then, but this I take it is in Parliament the posi-
tion of the question : that no new unjust tax can be thrown
now upon the ratepayer. Witness the treatment of the pro-
posal to throw militia barracks on the counties. Our next
step is to get rid of those charges, which are not justly to be
borne by locaHties or by one-seventh of the income of the
country. Then, as to the position of this question in this
country, we have had, in the spring of this year, a discussion
at Wellington, at which some very exhaustive speeches were
made, and at which this resolution was passed : " That the
present incidence of local taxation, falling as it does on one-
seventh only of the income of the country, is unjust, and re-
quires revision." I propose, to save time, to take that resolu-
tion and discussion as a basis or starting-point. It is printed,
and in the hands of most members. I will only say this, that
the speeches made on that occasion by Mr. Pigott and Mr.
Bowen Jones, and others, must have done more to educate
the minds of tliose that read them on this subject than
any speeches in the House of Commons or any statements I
have ever read. In those speeches the statements of Mr.
Qfoschen — the inaccurate, dishonest statements, if I may venture
to say so are demolished — and the report of the Central Cham-
ber has still further exploded them ; therefore we need not
dwell on them further here except to say that after those
speeches came Mr. Goschen's offer of £1,000,000 a year, toge-
ther with a bill which was at once pronounced inadequate and
withdrawn. That is the position of the question in this county
and in Parliament. Now, before going further, I wish to men-
tion two points which are, I think, important. First, I for one
am, and I trust all in this room are, entirely opposed to any mea-
sure or change that will weaken local government. I look
upon it as one of our most valued institutions, and I would
sooner see it strengthened tlian weakened. Government, by
centralization, is only fit for those who cannot govern them-
selves : it is the ruling of clerks and theorist of practical men,
and quite unsuitable to the Anglo-Saxon nation. The fearful
cataclysm that has overtaken France was a protest against cen-
trahzation, for what truth there was in the Commune was a
yearning for local government ; and the passionate cry that
comes to us from Ireland is that same protest, a gem of truth
involved in wanton agitation ; for what is home rule but local
government ? But I deny that the system of inspection and
grant is one of centralization as at present administered. The
magistaates of the county have full power over the gaol and
criminals, as also prosecutors over their cases, although the
central government pays for nearly all ; and when they tried
to overtax the costs the other day in Lancashire, the Lord Cliief
Justice administered a stem rebuke to her Majesty's Attorney-
General which, I think, will prevent that recurrence. Then
look at our schools ; there are men in this room who have al-
most the whole management of our National and British
Schools, half paid by Government ; but the inspection and
grant does not shackle or interfere with them — rather the con-
trary, I am told ; it produces efficiency — and the same with the
workhouses, where the Government pay less, but have more
power ; their authority then is attended with good effects, and
the whole administration is in the hands of the local guardians.
Therefore a Government grant, even when amounting to half,
or more than half, the expense does not necessary interfere
either with efficiency or administration. The second point is
this : That it appears to me we must distingviish what charges
or objects are local, what national, and what partly
local and partly national; and also in what proportion,

116

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

otherwise we go up agaiuat this organi;ieil excliecjuer
like a mob, strong in numbers, but imh^flQite of purpose, and
weak in principle. AuJ tliough I disagree witli Mr. Goschen's
policy and statement, I tiiiuk he has some right on his side
when he asks, " \Yhat is your specific demand ? What do you
call national charges, and wliat local ?" I propose that we
shall let him know ; and to prevent any dilFereucc of opinion.
Ictus give examples that cannot be questioned. Prosecutions,
maintenance of convicts, and the expenses of militia,
arc examples of purely national charges — sewarage and
bridges are, I think, examples of more local charges ;
but the greatest charge, that of the poor, is quite as
much national as local — so are schools, police, and
some other smaller expenses, such as vaccination and re-
gistration. These are acknowledged to be national by the
Government, grants, the only question being as to the pro-
portion of cacli. Now, the subject I desire to call attention
to chieliy to-day is the charge for the poor, amounting to
£7,000,U00, all of which nearly falls on the local ratepayers.
What I am going to propose to you is the desirabihty of the
Government paying one-half of Ihe cliarrje for in-mahttenance
including lunatic paupers, for the in-door poor must be ac-
knowledged by everyone who has studied this subject to come
under a different category to that ot the out-door. The in-door
poor are, to a certain extent, chronic and inevitable, besides
being rather a stationary quantity. Even with the old
Poor-law I find that the in-door poor were not much in excess
of what we have nou. Moreover, we have two precedents for
this making of tiie in-door poor something else than a local
charge ; the application of the Protestant Cliurch Endowment
in Ireland, and the Metropolitan Poor Act, which charges the
whole of the in-door poor on the tliirty-sis unions of JLoudou
under what is known as the Common Fund. This is the reso-
lution which I have drawn up for your cousideratiou ; it will
be tlie second resolution to-day, the first being more formal :
" That tlic serai-national character of such charges as primary
schools, police, and maintenance of convicts, as well as the
salaries of the medical and certain other officers, Poor-law
officers being acknowledged by the Government contribution
of abovit half of the expense, it is the opinion of tliis Ciiamber
tliat the maintenance of the in-door poor, tliroughont the
country, including lunatics and vagrants, as well as some otlier
public expenses, is not a less national charge." Now, the
cost of this charge, including lunatics, is £2,200,000. One
halt would be £1,100,000, and that appears to me not too
much for the local taxpayer to throw upon the national ex-
chequer. The amount in some of the unions in this county I
have put down, to convey to you what this re-adjustment
would amount to. The Government contribution under this
proposal would be — in EUesmere, about £S00 per annum ;
Oswestry, £1,100; Whitchurcli, £tSO; Drayton, £550;
Wellington, £1,0(X); Atcham, with Shrewsbury, £3,000;
Shifnal, £270 ; Bridgnorth, £S60 ; Cleobury, £ i70 ; Madeley,
£1,300. But there is another consideration of still greater
importance which I desire to point out to you. There is at
present in the Poor-law administration of many unions a cer-
tain very dangerous and ignorant policy of false economy.
Out-relief is otTered to applicants often quite inadequately,
oftener still quite improperly, on the principle that it is more
economical. Now, I maintain that the poor must not and
cannot be treated on that principle. I cannot diverge here to
explain to you that even as a matter of economy it is an un-
sound system ; nor can I explain to you at lengtli the state-
ment which I must ask you to accept as a fact, that excessive
out-relief is an excessive evil ; degrading to the poor, intole-
rable to the collective ratepayers, and never contemplated by
the framers of our Poor-law. Suffice it to saj- that all who
have studied this subject agree in this view of the question.
But if tliese things are so (and at the risk of seeming dog-
matic I venture to tell you that they cannot be rebutted) , a re-
adjustment, which would at once relieve the over-taxed ratc-
payer,'and indirectlyimprove tlie administration of the Poor-law,
at the same time raising the poor, and still furtlier lightening
the shackles on industry, appears to me a re-adjustment that
we can fairly demand, and ultimately must obtain. There are
other smaller burdens that should also be re-adjusted, but for
the present I beg of you to fix your attention on this, by far
the greatest and heaviest and most important item of Poor-
law relief. It is my firm belief that with such a re-adjustment
as this, getting rid of the false economy argument, coupled

with such improved administration as I perceive signs of, tlie
poor-rate of this country might be reduced at least one-half —
fo"- every two shillings you need only pay one — for every shil-
ling you would only pay sixpence. But some will say, and
amongst them certain ministers, financiers, and others,
" Whence will you get your £1,000,000 per annum?" INIy
answer to tint is that it is not for the constituencies, nor for
the ratepayers, nor even for the representatives, to find tlie
mode of taxation. That is the special office of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer ; and if he cannot find it we must get an-
other who will. But, curiously enougli, we have just about
that sura already to hand in the proposal of Mr. Goschen's to
give us the house-tax. The house-tax, to which I called your
attention before, amounted to just about a million a year. It
would be applied generally, and not locally, as Mr. Goschen
desired ; but in so applying it we should only be following the
precedents of Mr. Gladstone's policy in Ireland and in London
in making the maintenance of the indoor poor something more
than a local charge. Now, before concluding I wish to illus-
trate what I said just now about the " tendency of legislators
to throw upon the local ratepayers charges for national
objects," and to corroborate it by a little episode that occurred
in Shropshire a few years ago. The Government of the day
sent round to this county and others a suggestion or request
that they should provide infirmary barracks for the militia ;
whereupon it appeared to those who were charged with the
care of the finances of the county that such a course was hardly
legal. After some discussion it was determined to take coun-
sel's opinion on the subject, and a barrister of high standing
declared, " That the charge was quite illegd, and that the
magistrates could not throw upon the ratepayer the expenses
thereof." Armed with that opinion the magistrates went to
the Government and stated their case ; and what do you tliink
was the answer ? Why something to this cITect : " 0 yes, we
know it is quite illegal, but we have induced other counties
to build them ; they're not so sharp as you." Is that right?
Is that just ? Is that to be tolerated ? Eor what do Govern-
ments take the long-si fferiug ratepayer of this country ? Do
they think he is like Issachar, a strong ass crouching between
two burdens — the two burdens of local and national taxation ?
It would seem so. But they have already found that this
county is not quite the ass they thought, and they may yet find
that the united counties of England are stronger than they
suppose. And now let me once more beg of you to look at this
question from a higher standpoint than mere incidence of taxa-
tion or class interest. It is true that a great industry is
shackled, almost crippled, in some districts, by the weight of
what has been shown to be unjust taxation ; but while we are
knocking off the fetters from industries, let us also knock off
the fetters from some of the industrial poor who are held down
by a debased administration. Let us make tliis question the
basis of a revolution in Poor-law administration and the inau-
guration of a new policy. Gentlemen, I have to propose,
"That the present incidence of local taxation is unjust, that
many of its objects are wlioUy national, and that the proposals
of Mr. Goschen, formed upon erroneous and misleading state-
ments, are wholly inadequate to rectify the injustice ; neither
will auy measure which continues the exemption of personal
property from contributing its fair sliare towards the general
burdens be deemed satisfactory to this Chamber. That the
semi-national character of such charges as primary schools,
police, and maintenance of convicts, as well as the salaries of
medical and other Poor-law officers, being acknowledged by the
Government contributing about one-half of the expense, it is
the opinion of this Chamber that the maintenance of the in-
door poor tliroughout the county, including pauper lunatics, as
well as some other expenses, are not a less nation;il charge."

Captain Cust seconded the motion. He thought so far as
the general taxation of the country went, they had no reason
to complain or be dissatisfied, for the poor were exempt from
the pressure of the income-tax, which fell upon the rich. But
when they came to the question more particularly before them
that day, he did not think there was the same cause for satis-
faction. If auy one were to examine the various items of ex-
penditure charged to the country, tliey could not but be struck
with tliis anomaly — that the owners of property certainly did
pay a very large amount of taxation, which benefited a large
portion of the community who bear no share whatever in the
burdens. It was very desirable therefore that, if possible, the
incidence of taxation should be made more equal, and that

THE FAKMER'S MAGAZINE.

117

Ihey should get more assistance from tlie Iniperi;il revenue.
Tluit principle of getting assistance from tlie Imperial revenue
liad been already recognised in various ways — by the assistance
given by the Poor-law, by the allowances for the maintenance
and conveyance of prisoners, and by one-fourth of the police
expenses being paid. And why should not the principle be
extended still further ? Take the tjucstiou of the mainteuance
of the militia. Some years ago, during the Crimean war,
tliey were called upon to erect store-houses and quarters for
the permanent staff of the militia ; and at present there was a
rumour that they were to be called npou to build barracks.
And when he came to rellect upon an Act which was passed
last session, which took away all patronage out of the liands
of the lords -lieutenant, and which had for its object the assimi-
lation of the militia with the army, he did thiuk the entire
expenses of tlie militia ought to fall upon the army estimates.
And now with regard to the expense of prisons. In this
country was not the protectiou of life and property an object
of paramount interest to all? Were not manufacturers, mer-
chants, aud tradesmen interested in the matter, as well as the
owners and occupiers of land aud houses ? llow was it pos-
sible for a manufacturer's undertakings to be carried onunkss
he had secarlty ; and yet that class paid but a small share of
the expenditure that v.as necessary for that purpose. lie came,
tlien, to the more important question of local taxation, as con-
nected with Poor-law relief. He believed he w^ould be found
to be correct in liis figures when he told them that the poor-
r.ate is levied upon £101,000,003 of property, whereas the
income-tax was levied upon £300,000,000 of property. Aud
the latter sum did not include all of such property, for persons
having less thau £200 a year only paid as £110, and those
having under £100 a year did not pay at all. But why should
not all payers of income-tax bear their share of the poor-rate ?
Let them look back, and see what was the origin of the poor-
rate in this country. Previous to the Reforniation there were
many monasteries aud convents in the country ; aud with all
their evils they abounded iu charity, aud the poor never
looked to them in vain. Then came the reign of Henry
VIII. ; and he, at one fell swoop, swept thera away, and
the country was immediately found to be swarming with
vagrants. All in that neiglibourhood, he was sure, were
well acquainted with the term able-bodied paupers ; but
their ancestors did not use the word — they called able-
bodied beggars " sturdy beggars." The increase of sturdy
beggars became so great a nuisance that Parliament had to put
a stop to it. And Parliament was found to be equal to the oc-
casion, for they passed an Act to this effect— that every sturdy
beggar found prosecuting his avocation, for the fust offence,
should be flogged, and for the second offence he should be
hanged. No sovereign that ever sat upon the tlirone of Eng-
land administered the laws with more vigour than Henry, and
he administered that law with such effect tliat upwards of
80,000 persons were put to death in his reign. That treat-
ment had the effect of very greatly thinning the number of
"sturdy beggars" throughout the country. But as time went
on, in tlie reign of Elizabeth, sturdy beggars began to multiply
again ; and tiie wise statesmen who ruled the councils of that
queen were endeavouriug for many years to find out some sys-
tem equally efficacious, but less severe than that adopted by
Henry, to prevent it. It was in the forty-third year of that
qacen's reign that the famous Act of Parliament had passed
which had come down to thera in the present day. Daniel
O'Conncl used to say that there was no Act of Parliament ever
passed that you could not drive a coach and six through; and
there could he no doubt that the framers of that Act (45
Elizabeth) intended that every person should bear his share iu
the support of the poor. In the time of Elizabetii property
consisted almost entirely of houses and land. There was very
little personal property in the country. There was no national
debt, no property iu the Funds, no raihvay shares, and none of
the many charming ways they had, at the present time, of in-
vesting money. The Act said " every inliabitant of every
parisli shall pay," and then it went on to enumerate the dif-
ferent classes of property that were liable — lands, houses, sale-
able underwoods, coal mines, S:c. Well.liere two slips', were made;
but if Acts of Parliament were made in a slovenly manner
now, it was not surprising it should have been so tiien. If
the Act liad not mentioned coal mines in particular, all mines
would have had to pay ; but, unfortunately, tlie word coal was
mentioned, and it had since been argued tliat all other mines

must be exempt, and exempt they had been. That was one
inaccuracy. The next was in regard to the term underwood.
As they knew, there was at present very little uuderwood
in the country that was saleable. The profit derived from
woods at present was from the timber and from the bark. But
tliey could not call bark and timber saleable underwood, and
so they could not tax them. Why should not the commercial,
the mining, and the monied classes bear their fair share of
Local Taxation with the owners of real property ? He did not
wish to set class agaiust class, nor did he wish to throw off
from real property any just burden that had been placed upon
it, but he did think that all classes of property ought to pay a
fair share towards the local burdens of the country. He hoped
none would shrink from their responsibilities in that mater,
but that, when the subject came to be discussed by the influen-
tial of the land, they would meet the subject iu a fair and
candid spirit, and whether their property be real or personal ,
he trusted they would do justice and get the burden laid fairly
and equally upon all.

Mr. Jebb said he attended there that day with a great deal
of pleasure, because he believed the discussion would be one in
which no party politics would be introduced. He felt also
that in all probability all of them would be able to agree with
Sir Baldwyn Leightou, who had kindly undertaken to intro-
duce the subject, to whom their best thanks were due, the
more emphatically so because he had handled that subject with
so much caudour'and ability. It seemed to him (Mr. J ebb)
that tlie whole subject lay iu a very small compass. The
Government, last session, admitted that a case had been made
out for inquiry, and also, that it would be necessary to alter
the existing law. Let them hope that, when the proper time
arrived, it would be altered fairly and equitably. What they
said was that houses and land, as regarded local taxation, are
over-taxed, while personal property was under-taxed, and they
therefore required, as was remarked by Captain Cust, a more
equitable distribution of the burden. For instance, oue man
has £5,000 a-year iu land, and upon that, for local purposes,
he is heavily taxed, while another man in the same parish
has £5,000 from the funds, and lives in a small house, say of
£50 a-year rent ; the second man pays nothing at all towards
the local rates beyond the very trifling sum he pays upon his
house. Take again the ease of railways. Railway share-
holders are liable to taxation for local purposes, but raihvay
debenture holders escape scot-free. He might say, shortly,
that in all this there was neither sense nor justice. \Vhen the
poor-rates were first imposed upon this country, the great bulk
of the property consisted, as Captain Cust had also pointed
oat, of lauds aud houses. He might remark, in passing, that
real property was easily assessed, and easily taxed ; and it had
always come iu for a large share of the burdens. Very much
iu the same way a farmer was in the habit of keeping a poor
horse at home, and if an emergency came, he was always at
hand to plough, or to harrow, or to do anything else that was
required of him. In these days a great change has come over
the country. There used to be little or nothing but real pro-
perty. Now personal property was in excess. That being so,
he would ask why should not a little of our excellent principle
of free-trade be infused into local taxation — a little of that free-
trade which embraced, now-a-days, almost everything, with the
scandalous exception of the malt tax. Now, suppose for a
moment that the manufacturers had occupied for ihe past
twelve mouths the position that landlords and occupiers had
filled with respect to local taxation. Did they think they
would have been satisfied with it ? Would not they have had
many speeches up and down the country in all the large
towns ? Would there not have been agitation here, and there,
and everywhere ? Would not chambers of commerce have
been moving in all directions P For his own part, lie rejoiced
that chambers of agriculture had followed in the wake of
chambers of commerce, aud he trusted that one eft'ect of it
would soon be the passing of a bill upon that important sub-
ject of local taxation. It w^as a subject, he was quite ready to
admit, which was not without its complications and its diHicul-
ties ; hut that was no excuse for the postponement of legisla-
tion upon it. And he hoped if a bill was passed, it would not
be passed hastily and slovenly, with loop-holes for coaches and
six to drive through ; but that it would be well considered
throughout, so that when it is passed it will be a credit to
Parliament, and the source of satisfaction to all classes in the
community.

118

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

The Rev. C. F. C. Pigott said he thought the resolutions
had been wisely drawn up, for one of them affirmed the general
principle ; while the other set forth a more special and par-
ticular part of the question they were discussing. They must,
in the first place, keep steadily before the public their claim in
full, viz., that income from every source should contribute to
the Toor-rate. That claim stood on a very plain and simple
basis — the self-evident justice and reason of the thing itself,
viz., that charges which were national should be defrayed by
the nation. This had been the intention of the legislature in
the origin of the Poor-law, as was clear from the act of Eliza-
beth ; and it had been reaffirmed by a most able committee of
the House of Lords, after a full and careful examination of the
whole subject. We might congratulate them on the progress
the question had made during the last year. They had now
eiglity or ninety members of Parliament on the general com-
mittee ; and in the division last February, in a very full
House, the Government had only a majority of fifty-one over
Sir Massey Lopes. Since that date the towns had shown signs
of moving in the matter, especially the metropolitan boroughs ;
and if this movement went on, they would soon achieve suc-
The debate in February last had done much to educate

the nation on the subject. Indeed it was especially a matter
for the towns to take up, as houses paid a larger share than
land in the common burden, as having a rating of something
like £65,000,000 against £54,000,000. He hoped every effort
would be made to prevent any final measure being carried
next session, as a year or two more was needed before the
public could take in the rights of the matter fully. It was
especially a poor man's question, for the poor paid a very
undue share ; and the rates, moreover, were one main obstacle
to the working man having a decent house over his head.
Builders would not speculate in houses of this class, because
they did not pay interest for their outlay ; and it was of little
use to educate the poor as long as they were crowded into
dwellings unfit to ensure order and decency. He had listened
to Sir Baldwyn's speech with great satisfaction ; and from no
quarter could what had been advanced come more appropri-
ately than from one whose father was the greatest of local
administrators, and who had taught them the invaluable
lesson that they should wish [to lessen pauperism with all its
miseries, without waiting for the time when its burden, or
what was left of the burden, would be redistributed, and that
on fairer and juster principles. It was far better to try and
lessen the evil than merely to make your neighbour pay a
fairer share of its cost. What they should keep mainly in
view was to improve and elevate the condition of the working
man, to help him to help himself, instead of increasing his de-
pendence on others. He hoped they would always go home
from these meetings with some practical end in view. As far
as the rural unions were concerned they had the matter
largely in their own hands. They should especially take care
to put the ablest man they could find in the chair at their
boards of guardians ; they should encourage provident clubs,
allotments, education ; put a check on the public-houses, and
administer charitable help on wise, and not unwise, principles,
and then tliey would presently sec an improvement in the'
evils complained of, which in their present state were a dis-
grace to a Christian country.

The Chairman said as there seemed to be no one else
anxious to speak upon the question, he would put the resolu-
tions that had been proposed to tlie meeting ; but before doing
so, he thought it would be well just to glance at the question
from the point at which they had just arrived. At former
discussions, not only in this country, but at the Central Cham-
ber and throughout the country, he thought they had esta-
blished a certain position. It would be seen that they had not
looked back into the questions that day so much as they had
looked forward, so as to see what they should do in the future ;
but he thought they might lay it down as a rule that it was
recognised as an injustice that a large amount of the revenue
of the country should be exempt from paying towards the

national burdens. That was one point that they had esta-
bhshed And they had established also the point that a large

*T. °, i''^ i'"'°"'^ ^^""'"^^ from local taxation was abro-
gated to different puqioses to that for which it was intended-
that the income derived from local taxation was devoted to
national purposes. They found from the returns of the Go-
vernment that, although real property paid a good deal more
towards local taxation than it ought to do, it did not pay so
much towards imperial taxation as personalty. Mr. Goschen's
statistics showed that real property paid 14. per cent., against
about 20 per -cent, towards imperial taxation ; but' on the
other hand, they found that if imperial and local taxation
were taken together, real property paid 33 per cent., and per-
sonal only 14, so that real property paid as two to one both to
local and imperial taxation. Well, that point established
how could they alter the present state of things ? Having re-
ferred to the solution of the question suggested by Sir Baldwyn
which he said was a fair and reasonable one, Mr. Jones said
they must not lose sight of one thing— that they had got a
certain amount of personalty that was not assessed to the
Poor-rate. Sir Baldwyn had told them one thing that had
not been adverted to in the discussion that followed the
opening speech. It was not only that they must look at the
incidence of the rates to bring about an improvement, but
they must endeavour to improve their position themselves.
Sir Baldwyn told them that he believed that by better adminis-
tration they could effect a very great saving in the rates, and
if they had better administration, not only would they effect
that saving, but they would at the same time be improving the
social position of the poor, which is itself a very great con-
sideration. Referring to the bill of last session, Mr. Jones
said there were some points in it that were worthy of notice,
and among them he mentioned the administrative portions of
the bill, and the principle of parochial boards. These were
principles he tliought they had always advocated. Then there
was the extension of the rate to descriptions of real property
not now liable. There are certain exceptions at present-
woods, metalliferous mines, &c.— which Mr. Goschen proposed
to rate, and so to extend the area of rating upon real property.
There was a very great objection, he thought, to one proposi-
tion of Mr. Goschen— the proposition for the division of the
rates between landlord and tenant. He thought that was not
calculated to do good in any way, for if the landlord were
called upon to pay the rates, a readjustment would have to
take place at the first opportunity, and he (Mr. Jones) believed
it would have a discouraging effect upon agriculture ; for
although It might relieve the tenant from a portion of the
rates, it would have a tendency to get landlords to work upon
the rack-rent principle and discharge leaseholders. The en-
croachments that had been made upon the rates had been in
general gradual. They had evidence of that with regard to
the allowances granted from the Treasury for prosecutions.
Ihese costs had been removed from local to imperial taxation
by Sir Robert Peel, but gradually disallowances had been
creeping in, which were certainly not right in principle ; but
they had now become ahnost established in practice, and it
was only a short time ago that an opposition took place of
the part of a court of quarter sessions in one of the counties.
He thought that was a subject worthy of the consideration oii
every quarter sessions in the county, and he hoped, at the
next meeting of the magistrates for that county, tlie matter
would be brought forward. Before he concluded, he would
ask them to thank Sir Baldwyn for his admirable address.

Capt. CifST seconded the vote of thanks to Sir Baldwyn.
The name of Leighton was, he said, honoured and respected' ■
and the name of the late Sir Baldwyn would, for the great ser-
vices he rendered to the county, long be remembered by them.
Sir Baldwyn Leighton having replied,
Mr. Stanley Leighton proposed a vote of thanks to Mr.
B. Jones for the very business-like manner in which he had
conducted the debate, and the valuable aid he rendered the
Chamber at all times ; and this was also carried.

LOCAL TAXATION,

At the dinner of the Blandford Agricultural Society
The Rev. Prebendary Farquuarson said he was more and
more convinced that what they required in f liese days was
unity of action ; it was necessary that they should get rid of

their divisions ; he wished he could say their religious divi-
sions as well as their secular. He would say a few words with
the view of showing them that he sympathised witli them in
one respect very much indeed, namely, in the amount of rates

THE FARMER'S MAaAZINE.

119

for one purpose aud another which they had to pay He did
think that the time had come when the area of assessment
should be enlarged, and when other classes of the people should
he called upon to support gaols, police, and lunatic asylums
in an equal degree with the occupiers of land. He could not
exactly see the justice of a person who derived a benefit from
property being allowed to escape from paying his fair share
towards" the maintenance of those institutions from which he
was deriving the same benefit as his neighbours who were oc-
cupying land or houses, simply because he had shut himself
up in some lodging or other. For instance, that party consi-
dered that the weights of his grocer were unjust. He accord-
ingly gave information to the police, and the police tested
them and compelled them being made just. He thus received
a benefit from the police. In another case he weut to the re-
lieving officer and told him that a certain person was a lunatic
and ought to be taken to a lunatic asylum, but not at his ex-
pense ; no, at the expense of the ratepayers ! He thought
the public mind was becoming awakened to the fact that com-
mon charges ought to be more widely borne, and tliat they
who were connected with the land should be relieved of their
burdens to some degree by a portion of the money which they
at present paid in rates being obtained from other sources. He
trusted their representatives in Parliament would bear that in
mind in the next session. Mr. Fowler, who took a great in-
terest in those matters, had informed him that as many as
eighty members of Parliament had given their adhesion to the
view of the question which he, in common with many other
agriculturists, entertained, and that there was now a large and
united body who would do their utmost to ensure justice where
they thought it was so much needed. He had made those few
remarks upon the subject for the purpose of opening it to the
meeting, and he had no doubt Mr. Portman would be very
glad that he had done so because it would be something fresh
for him to speak upon.

Mr. Mansel-Pleydell, the Chairman, said, as far as he
liad studied that question, he believed the great help that local
taxation would give to the country would be much more in
favour of the landlord than the tenant.

The Hon. W. H. B. Poutman, M.P., said: I have very
little doubt that before this time next year the ballot will have
become the law of the land. I have never been a supporter of
the ballot ; I have voted against it ; hut at the same time I
am bound 'to say that two or three things which occurred last
autnmu have very much staggered my opposition to it. I will
give you two instances. At the time of the strikes at New-
castle, the working engineers wished to express their opinions
by ballot, but this was objected to by the 'leaders of the
movement, because they did uot think they could trust
their followers to go with them to all lengths, and to sub-
mit to all the privations which they themselves were
prepared to undergo. In the other case, the hand em-
ployed by a large firm struck for nine hours' work. There
were 40 of them, and the question was put to the ballot
amongst themselves. Well, 30 of them were found to have
voted for 10 hours, and only the remaining ten for nine. My
own impression is this, that if we do have the ballot ; if voting
at elections is to be carried on in secret, we ought to go a step
further and allow members of the House of Commons to vote
in the same way. I tell you honestly that I have always_ been
opposed to the ballot, and I cannot cheerfully vote for it_. I
do not like the principle, and I think wc had better continue
to conduct our elections as they have been conducted hitherto.
I now come to the subject which Mr. Farquharson has sug-
gested. I have a few statistics here which I have extracted
from a report by Mr. Goschen, the late President of the Poor-
law Board. They are very curious figures, and I dare say Mr.
Fowler knows them already, but perhaps some of you do not.
Well, the average amount of rates of all kinds paid in Dorset
is just a half-peuny iu the £ above the average of England and
Wales. You know that, don't you, Mr. Fowler? In 1868
we heard a great deal about County Financial Boards, and in
that year Boards of Guardians were responsible for an expen-
diture in round numbers of £10,000,000 of money. In the
same year magistrates and county treasurers were only respon-
sible for an expenditure of £2,300,000. Then there is another
curious fact, that tlie aggregate local expenditure of England
and Wales in that year was somewhat beyond the receipts.
Of the money raised, 43 per cent, was spent in town dis-
tricts, 18 per cent, in rural districts, 31 per cent, in mixed

districts, and 8 per cent, in other ways. There can be no
doubt that of the many branches of expenditure chargeable on
the county rate, some have of late years materially increased ;
but at the same time the Consolidated Fund does more for us
than it did. The relief of the poor, for instance, has much
increased. In round numbers there has been an increase of
£8,000,000 in local burdens. Of these £8,000,000 £2,000,000
of Poor-law expenditure are charged partly to urban and
partly to rural rates, £5,000,000 to town rates, £500,000 to
county police rates, and the remaining £500,000 to highway
and county rates, mostly rural. Mr. Goschen's report also
contains some curious figures in reference to the proportionate
value of lands and houses. In 1814 the total annual value of the
landslin this country was £37,003,000 ; of houses, £14,895,000.
In 1843 lands had risen to £42,128,000; housps to
£35,556,000. In 1868 lands had risen to £47,767,000 ;
houses to £68,013,000. The value of land, therefore, has
been far outstripped by that of other kinds of property. Tax-
ation on land has not increased in a greater proportion than
the value of land, but the poor-rates haveincreasedbetween 1838
and 1868 about £2,000,000, while the share borne by the land
has decreased to about the same amount. There is another
point. Mr. Goschen got reports from foreign countries
as to the relative proportion of taxation home by the land.
The results are these : In 1878, in the United Kingdom, land
paid five per cent, of the imperial taxation ; in France, 18 per
cent. ; in Prussia, 11 per cent.; in Belgium, 20 per cent. ; in
Holland, 8 per cent. ; in Russia, II per cent. ; in Austria, 17
per cent. ; and in Hungary, 33 per cent. No doubt we shall
hear something on this subject from Mr. Fowler. I will,
therefore, read an extract from the concluding portion of Mr.
Goschen's report to the Government. His words are these :
" The increase in local taxation in England and Wales has no
doubt beeu very great — less than in other countries — but large
enough to justify the especial attention which it has aroused.
Tlie greater proportion of the increase, however, has fallen on
urban and not on rural districts." Mr. Farquharson says there
is no reason why personal property should not pay a portion
of those rates, but the difficulty is how to it ? If Mr. Fowler
can elucidate the point I shall be glad to assist in furthering
his views.

Mr. Robert Fowler (Whitechurch) said, as to local taxa-
tion, the scent appeared to be drawn from tlie real question at
issue. To-day Mr. Portman had made it appear as if the
question was between lands and houses. But that was not the
question, for lands and houses were both real property ; the
issue was rather between real and personal property. Mr.
Portman would perhaps excuse him, but he knew as well as he
(Mr. Fowler) did that that was the great point at issue. Fifty
years ago the amount of real property in this country was re-
presented to be between 70 aud 80 per cent, of the whole
property of the nation ; but what was the present proportion?
Why real property was now only 29 per cent. ; thus 71 per
cent, was personal property. Such had been the great change
that had taken place within the last fifty years. Was he to be
told that this change was not a great loss, that the great local
taxation representing £30,000,000 should not be brought to
bear upon personal as well as real property — was £20,000,000
to be raised upon 39 per cent, of the national property, while
71 per cent, passed scot free? Had now the owners of the
latter the advantage of the country's laws equally with the
owners of the former ? Was this justice ? Could it for one
moment be supposed that the owners of real property would
sit quiet and allow this state of things to continue as it had so
long existed ? They would remember that last year the
Government thought proper to bring in a measure which was
called the Local Taxation Bill. Directly he had read it he
said, " This is a bill to remove the good feeling which now ex-
ists between landlords and tenants. It can have nothing to
do with the question before the country ; if this bill should
pass it canuot in any way touch that question.

The Hon. W. H. B. Portm.vn, said, respecting the
great question in which Mr. I'owler took so much interest, it
should be remembered that if towards the local rates you got
more assistance from the Consolidated Fund you would have
less control over them. Mr. Fowler was quite right in pressing
the importance of the relations between real and personal
property. It was a question which would perhaps take some
years to finally settle ; but it must some day be tackled, and he
hoped a good result would issue.

120

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE PROHIBITION AGAINST "ROYAL" SHOW STOCK.

At the annual meeting of tlie Staffordshire Agricultural
Society, Lord llatherton in the chair, the Report stated tliat a
resolution will he suhniitted to this meeting to alter llule 19,
the effect of which alteration will be to exclude from exhi-
hitions of this society stock which lias been sliown in the
same year at the meeting of tlie lloyal Agrioultural Society.
The committee would point out that there is sometimes this
disadvantage attending the present arrangement, that when
members of this society are known to have animals prepared
for exhibition at the lloyal Agricultural Siiow, it may deter
others from bringing stock iu ordinary condition to the show
of this society, which it desires to see more generally done.
On tlie other hand, the Society is .anxious tlwt the best stock
should be shown at its meetings, and this the proposed change
iu the rule might perhaps liave the effect of prohibiting.

The Chairman; There was one question to be brought
forward on which they should be glad to hear what there was
lo be said, viz., a resolution to prohibit animals which had
competed at the show of the lloyal Agricultural Society from
competing at the meeting of this society in tlie same year.
He was quite certain that Mr. Masfen would not liave given
notice of that resolution without strong reasons, for, as the
report stated, if carried, it would probably be the means of
l)reventing some of the finest animals, which they must all
liave great pleasure in seeing, from being exhibited at the
county shows, but at the same time there was no doubt tliat
the knowledge that animals which had been exhibited at the
lloyal Society's show would come to the show of this society
tended to prevent members from sending good class animals,
knowing that animals which had been at the lloyal show'
would be sure to supersede theirs. Well, as tliis society
wanted not only quality but quantity, it might be a great ad-
vantage to alter the rule as Mr. JIasfeu proposed, but they
should be glad to hear wliat was to be said on the question,
for and against.

Mr. Masfen moved that Rule 19 stand as follows : " Rule
19— AH stock (except stallions) qualified to exhibit shall be
bona lide the property of the exhibitor at the time of entry ;
and shall have been iu his possession three months at least
previous to the exhibition, except rams, whicli nevertheless
must be equally the bona lide property of the exhibitor, and
shall not have been exhibited at the meeting of the lloyal
Agricultural Society in the same year," lie said the Report
stated the reasons for and .against the alteration of the rule.
His object in proposing the alteration was not to curtail the
number of exhibits at the Society's show, but very much to in-
crease them. He had come to the conclusion, from his own
observation, having attended a great number of local shows in
different parts of the kingdom during the past ten years, that
very few of the exhibitors at the Royal show followed up their
venture at the district shows without very much injuring those
showsin point of merit and numbers. It frequently happened
hat if a man liad competed at a Royal show he sent his stock
not only to the county show but also to many of the shows in
different parts of the country, and he (Mr. Masfen) had learned
that in local shows where there had been a good entry there
was no certainty of many of the animals coming to the show
pwing to the fact that after the entry had been made it had
been found that animals which had been exhibited at the
Royal Agricultural Society's Exhibition were about to com-
pete. It practically amounted to this : that where an animal
that liad gained distinction at a great show was to be exhibited
at a local show, a farmer pure and simple had to compete for
the second prize only, the first prize being certain to go to the
animal that liad been specially prepared for exhibition. It
was not intended that local shows should give encouragement
to tliat extreme preparation of stock which it was necessary
animals should undergo to have any chance of success at a
Royal Agricultural Show, nor was it to the interest of tlie ten-
.ant farmer to prepare his stock in that way generally ; there-
fore, it was quite natural for a farmer to say, when he knew
that Mr. So-and-So w.as going to exhibit a sheep, bull, or
heifer at a local show, which liad just before appeared at the
lloyal Agricultural Society's SJiow— it was natural he should

say, " It is no use me competing, because I am, in fact, out of
the competition, except for the second prize, and it is not
worth the expense of sending my animals across the country
to compete for tlie second prize." And it was not only the
money that was of consideration, but many men who thought
nothing of getting a second prize tliought a good deal of get-
ting a first. Having been a judge himself, he knew many in-
stances where animals had been brought to such a condition
by unnatural feeding to fit them for shows as to render them
of no value at all for propagating their species, yet the rule as
it at present stood not only encouraged preparation of animals
for show, which preparation unfitted them for breeding pur-
poses, but did an injustice to tenant-farmers by pr.actieally pre-
venting them from exhibiting animals of a very much more
useful class than those wiiicli were fed for show. He did not
wisii to exclude these animals irom the local shows in succeed-
ing years, but only in the years in which they had been pre-
pared for the great shows, for in after years they would com-
pete on much the s.ame terms as other animals.

The Rev. E. C. Perry seconded tlie resolution, lie said it
was a subject upon which lie had thouglit a good deal. What-
ever tended to prevent the great majority of farmers of the
county coming forward to compete at the county shows must
tend materially to lessen th.at interest in the shows whicli
those connected with the Society wished to encourage. The
standard of feeding to which animals must attain before their
owners could hope for success in a competition at the lloyal
A,gricultural Show was such as almost to preclude the possi-
bility of the animals being of any great service for breeding
purposes at later periods. He tliought Mr, Masfen had so
fully shown the advantages that would accrue from an
alteration of the rule that most, if not all of those present,
must see that the interests of the Society would be promoted
by the change.

Mr. Carrington suggested that the rule, with Mr. Masfen's
idea embodied therein, would be more clear if it stood as
follows: "All stock (except rams) qualified to exhibit shall
be bona fide the property of the exhibhor at the lime of
entry, and shall have been in liis possession three months at
least previous to the exhibition. All stock (except stallions)
that has been exhibited at the meeting of the Royal Agri-
cultural Society in the same year shall be ineligible for com-
petition."
Mr. Masfen adopted the alteration.

Mr. TixMMis said it was a weak piece of business to cut at men
who had shown at lloyal exhibitions, for there were farmers
who could show successfully against winners at tlic lloyal,
wlierc there was the worst judging that could possibly be done.
Mr. Walker said that if the show of the county society
had been open to all England then he could have concurred in
the alter.ation proposed, but he could not agree with it under
present circumstances. Perhaps he might be classed as " one
of those travelliug exhibitors," but he thought it was hard to
exclude a farmer in the county from competing at the county
show with the best stock he had. This stock was produced at
great expense ; and every one had an equal chance of produc-
ing it. If the alteration were made it would put him, as an
exhibitor of pigs at the lloyal shows, to great expense, if he
were also to compete at the county shows.

Mr. CoxON remarked that he also might be considered as
"one of the travelling exhibitors" spoken of by Mr. Walker,
but he entirely agreed with the observation of Mr. Masfen.
He had been for many years an exliibitor at both the Royal
and county shows, hut the exclusion of lloyal show competi-
tors from the county shows would tend so much to increase
the competition among tenant farmers at the latter, that he
felt that if he wished to compete at the lloyal as well as tlie
county shows lie ought not to object to send diiferent animals
to the latter from what lie sent to the former.

Mr. Walker said the case of sheep-breeders who held
annual sales was very ditfereut from the case of owners of cow
stock or pigs. A sjieep-breeder had a whole Hock to fiy to, but
he, as a pig-breeder, had not the same advantage.
The motion was t lien put and carried.

THB FAEMElt'S MAGAZINE.

121

THE BEEEDING OF CATTLE.

Mr. T. F. Jamieson, Lecturer on Agriculture in the Uni-
versity of Abcrueeu, has recently delivered the followiacn lecture
" Ou some Points connected with the Breedincf of Cattle :"

Many people must have observed with some degree of sur-
prise the prices given at certain sales of live stock during tlie
past few years. When heifers sell for a tliousand guineas and
huU-calves at a lii<e figure, we naturally ask wliat peculiarity
there is about tlie animals to excite so keen a competition.
To the uninitiated many of them seem no better than might
be picked up in a market at a very moderate price ; but it is
evident there must be some hidden virtue, real or supposed,
that acts as a charm on their admirers. Lords and common-
ers, assemble round the ring, and the bids rise rapidly by fifty
guineas at a time, and men come from America and far Aus-
tralia to secure some of the lots. On inquiry, we are told it is
Bates' blood, or, it may be, BoolJis that constitutes the charm
or perliaps tlie animals are of the Duchess or Oxford tribe ;
that it is not 'so much the beasts themselves as their pedigree
that is the attraction. Ti^e competitors are anxious, eager men,
and

Their expression is so solemn, and so earnest is their tone,
That nought would seem worth living for but ' red and white
and roan'.

The white bull-calf just knocked out at a thousand guineas is
entitled " Duke of Oxford the 20tli," and its lineage running
through many a far-famed sire is recorded in the catalogue
for ever so many generations. And who is Bates ? the strauger
may ask, and What is the Duchess blood that it should be so
famous ? As the breeding of cattle has become a sort of
science, and is regulated by laws or conditions which seem to
apply not only to tlie animal kingdom Init also to tlis human
race itself, the subject is one of considerable interest, not only
in regard to agriculture, but also on account of its relations to
biology at large. The record of facts connected with the breed-
ing of our domestic animals, which has been now accumulating
for many years, may be studied witli advantage even by those
who have no special interest in the pursuit itself. There is
every reason to believe that pedigree is of importance in re-
gard to the mental faculties as well as to the bodily features
and constitution, and the progress of investigation leads us to
suppose that every peculiarity of mind and body may be inhe-
rited. Some even liint that there is such a thing as hereditary
brains, and pedigree tells in a llolieuzollern as well as in a
Shortiiorn. No one paid more attention to pedigree tiian
Thos. Dates, whobrouglit the Duchess tribe of Sliorthorns first
into public notice. He was a native of Northumberland,
born in 1775, and sprung from a family which had long been
resident in tiiat county. Beiug in easy circumstances, and
owner of some lauded property, he was able to devote his at-
tention to the rearing of cattle under very favourable circum-
stances. He had also the advantage of a tolerably good
education, having at one time intended entering the Church.
He was well actjuainted with Charles and Robert Colling, al-
tliough considerably younger than either of tiiein, and knew a
good deal about both their herds. Tlie northern counties ot
England seem to have possessed a good kind ol cattle for a con-
siderable period, owing apparently to the natives of the region
having a taste that way, and it is evident many excellent
herds existed before Charles Colling began to devote his at-
tention to the subject. Early in the last century, we learn
that several of the landed gentry in Northumberland prided
themselves in the excellence of their cattle. T'lie Smithsons
of Stanwick were among these, and Sir Hugh Smithson, who
married the heiress of the nob!e house of I'ercy, used to
weigh his cattle periodically, as well as the food they ate, so
as to ascertain the amount of improvement made in propor-
tion to the food they consumed — the first authentic instance
wo hear of this beiug done ; and it is from his stock that
Bates' Duchess tribe are supposed to have originally de-
scended. The Studley family had also long been famous for
the excellence of their shorthoruej cattle, and the Blacketts

at Newby, near Ripon, had their entrance hall, we are tohb
hung with portraits of their more celebrated animals. In
addition to this native stock, we find that a Mr. Michael
Dobinson, early iu the IStli century, brought over some very
superior cattle from Holland, which ivere of material service
iu improving the breed of Shorthorns in the north of England,
and Sir Wm. St. Quintiu also imported others from the same
quarter. It is clear then that Colling had good materials to
select from, and, iu fiict. Bates seems to think the Sliorthorns
were at their best about 1770, and alleges that both Robert
and Charles Colling repeatedly admitted to him that the
Shorthorns were better before they came into their hands
than when they had them. This perhaps may be true in
regard to their milking properties, for some of the early Short-
horns, as I shall afterwards have occasion to show, seem to
have far excelled their modern representatives in this respect,
and Bates laid much stress upon the yield of milk, but iu other
respects, as flesh producers, the breed, instead of falling off, is
generally considered to have much improved. Eor example,
(Jeorge Culley, writing in 1786, says — " Within a few years,
a very rapid improvement has taken place in the breeding of
short-horned cattle, so that in a few years, I have reason to
think, they will surpass their rivals the Longhorns." No
doubt this improvement to which he refers was that carried
out by Charles Colling. It is to be regretted that accurate
data do not exist for enabling us to compare the animals of
the present day with those which existed in the last century,
or even fifty years ago. And we occasionally hear some judges
and practical breeders, like Mr. Sunday, asserting that tiie
animals bred at the present day are inferior both iu size and
qualify to those of former times. We want for comparison,
the elements of weight and measure, and have to depend
merely upon hearsay and matter of opinion. If correct mea-
surements were recorded of the size of the animals at certain
periods of their age, we could at once tell whether those we
now produce were equal in magnitude and rate of growth to
the races of a former generation. The fineness of bone could
also be a subject of accurate measurement. At our national
shows there should be committees appointed for the purpose
accurately measuring and noting the features and qualities of
the finest animals in the various classes, and let a record of
the particulars be inserted in the journals of the societies. If
something of this kind were done, we should know what
progress takes place, whereas, by the present system, no certain
data are established, and we can't tell whether our breeds are
improving or falling off. From the fossil remains of oxen,
got in the more recent geological deposits, naturalists are of
opinion that at least two species existed in this country before
it was inhabited by civilized man. One, a very large kind of
ox, called the Urus, whose remains are sometimes got in the
marl-beds and peat mosses of this'^ country, and Julius C.'csar
mentions it as occurring in a wild state in the forests of
Germany iu his day. It seems probable that the Shorthorns
and some of the other large breeds, such as the Hereford, are
descended from this great wild ox. It is believed to have been
domesticated in Switzerland at a very early period, and Lord
Tankervillc's cattle at Chilliugham I'ark, in Northumberland,
arc tliouglit by some to be descendants of this species,
although much degeueraled in size. These half-wild cattle at
Chillingham Park are white, with the inside of the ears
reddish brown, the eyes rimmed with black, muzzle brown,
hoofs black, and the horns white tipped with black. Ac-
cording to some old Scottish historians, the wild cattle of
the Caledonian forests were white, and furnished with a great
mane. Perhaps this may partly account for the great
tendency of white to appear in the short-horned hieed,
notwithstanding the desire of breeders to avoid it. Many
of the best early herds of Shorthorns near Ketton were
white, with red ears and red spots ou their necks, and it
used to be remarked that there was a great tendency to
white in all those that were bred from closely related blood.
The other species of wild ox (called Bosloiii/ifroiis by Pro-

K

122

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

fessor Owen), was of a much smaller size, had a short hody and
fine legs, and is believed by Mr. Dawkins, to have been do-
mesticated in England at the time the Komans occupied it,
and to have supplied food to their legrions. Owen supposes
tbat the small Highland and Welsh cattle are derived from
this species. Nothing certain is known as to its original
colour. From the magnitude of the skeletons of the larger
species of fossil ox, it would seem that the great size of our
Shorthorn and Hereford cattle, is not a feature we owe to the
])rogress of modern improvement, hut is an ancient character-
istic of the breed. The main object for which we keep cattle
is the production of beef and milk, and the most valuable breeds
are those which best fulfil that ohject. A doubt exists as to
the possibility of combining in great perfection both of these
qualities. Some advise that we should have separate breeds
adapted for each purpose ; one for the dairy, and the other for
the production of botcher's meat ; and that it is a mistake to
think of getting both advantages united to any great degree in
the same animal. Such was the opinion, for example, of
George Cnlley, who thought that where this is attempted we
are likely to get neither in perfection ; in proportion as we
gain the one, we lose the other ; the more milk, the less beef;
the more beef, tlie less butter. " I am inclined," he savs, " to
think you cannot unite great milkers with quick feeders.
They are two different types of cattle, adapted for different
purposes, and we should make our selection according to the
particular object we have in view. If we want dairy produce,
let us select both bulls and cows from the best milking tribes
we can find, and keep to that sort exclusively ; breeding on
both sides from the families most remarkable for the production
of milk, and in due time we shall attain our object. On the
other hand, if we want feeding or grazing cattle for the pro-
duction of butcher's meat, let ns select the quickest feeders
wherever they can be found ; but let us keep to distinct sorts
and don't mix them, for by attempting to unite the two we
shall probably spoil both," And Culley points out that the two
sorts belong to dilferent types of cattle, " Tlie great milkers are
lean-backel, flat-sided, big-bellied, poor, and ill-looking, al-
though kept on good fare. Whereas the other are thick-set,
broad-chested, round, and barrel-shaped beasts, light in the
paunch, and well-covered on all their points. I have quoted
Culley's opinion brciuse he was considered a very good judge,
and a high authority in his day. Altliough contemporary
with Charles Colling, he was an older man by six*een years,
being born in ITSl. He published his essay on live stock in
178R, so that his remarks were made before the improved
Shorthorns came much into notice. Culley was a pupil of
Bakewell, who is said to have had a special liking for him,
and often took him along in his tours to examine the various
breeds of live stock throughout the kingdom ; so that he came
to be considered Bakewell's favourite disciple; and "Robert
Colling used to say that whatever he knew of the art of breed-
ing cattle lie owed to George Culley. There is no doubt a
great number of the high-bred cattle of the present day are
very deficient in milking properties. This is especially the
ease with those exhibited at onr cattle shows, not only among
the Shorthorns, hut also in the Herefords, Devons, Polled
Aberdeenshires, West Highlanders, and Galloways, which
would seem to corroborate the opinion of Culley, that the
farther we go in improving a breed for the production of beef,
the more we spoil it for the dairy. Some, however, dispute
the accuracy of this opinion, and maintain the possibility of
uniting both advantages in the same race. Thomas Bates
was one of these, and as he had a very long experience as a
breeder, and is an oracle on the subject, his opinion is entitled
to considerable weight. Bates, when a young man, knew
Culley very well, as he lived in the same neighbourhood, and
often visited him, and highly esteemed his judgment in all
agricultural matters, although he differed from him on this
particular point. It would seem to be the fact that there are
very great diversities among cattle. Some are great milkers,
some quick feeders, and had sorts may be found, which are
good for neither purpose. But it seems also to be the case
that there are cattle which unite both qualifications to a con-
siderable degree, and that it may be possible to perpetuate
these advantages in a single breed. Both qualifications depend
upon certain common properties. There mnst in each case be
a good appetite for the consumption of food, and great powers
of digestion ; but in the one case the products of digestion
are turned to milk, and in the other to fat and flesh. It is

clear enough they cannot go to both at the same time, and a
cow that is giving a large quantity of milk will not lay on
much beef. But there seems nothing to hinder the production
of meat to go on after the secretion of milk is stopped, and
when the yield of milk ceases, the same animal may fatten
quickly, and grow to a great size. Its produce also may be
rapid feeders and good grazing beasts. Facts, however, will
perhaps be more to the purpose here than arguments, and as
the point is one well worthy of discussion, I shall make no
apology for dwelling upon it at some length. More than 70
years ago. Dr. Anderson of Monkshill, who was himself a
practical farmer, as well as a man of a highly cultivated mind,
remarked that some animals had come under his particular
observation which not only afforded rich milk in very large
quantity in proportion to their size, but possessed the quality
of fattening in a very eminent degree. One of these was a
cow of his own, which not only gave an unusual quantity of
very rich milk, but yielded it for about eleven months in the
year. He kept this cow until she was ten years old, and states
that she was at all times in much better condition than the
others kept along with her on the same food, and her descend-
ants retained tlie same quality for several generations, as
long indeed as Dr. And°rson kept them. This cow, which
was of small size, and of a mixed Kyloe breed, sometimes gave
about seven gallons of milk soon after calving, and when well
fed would have averaged about five gallons during most of the
year. Some of Charles Colling's famous herd of Shorthorns were
great milkers. Old Daisy, for examplf, gave eight gallons
a-day ; and the Cherry tribe, one of his best famihes, were
also good at the pail. Magdalena, by Comet, was another
cow which yielded eight gallons a-day. Colling reserved her
for himself when he ^ohl off his stock in 1810. but afterwaids
parted with her to Whittaker of Burley. Now these are
quantities that are seldom exceeded by the best dairy cattle.
Mr. Bates informs as that the dam and grandam of Hubback
were both good milkers, and Hubback was one of the best sires
and quickest feeders ever known. Perhaps the very best
tribe of cows Charles Colling had, and which, so far as we
can jndge, were his own favourites, was that which is known
as 'he Lady !Maynard family, the first of which he got from
John Maynard, of Eryholme, in 1786. Robert Colling is re-
ported to have said that it was to the blood of this family that
the great superiority of his brother's cattle and of his own was
due. Colling bought this cow when seven years old for £30,
with 12s. back of a luck -penny, and he kept her until she was
nineteen years old, and had bred no less than twenty calves,
and was still a fresh-looking cow. Sh.e was the dam of
Phcenix, and grandam of his bull Favourite, which he used
more than any other, keeping him until he was thirteen
years old. Any one who takes the trouble of looking up the
pedigrees of the early Shorthorns will see that Favourite's
blood preponderates far more than that of any other animal,
so much so tbat we may almost say the improved Shorthorn
breed are the offspring of Favourite. This is the case because
they all rnn back to the Colling's stock, which latterly were
perfectly saturated with the blood of Favourite. Now John
Maynard himself, who sold this fine cow to Charles Colling,
told Thomas Bates that he remembered the tribe to which
tliis animal belonged as far back as the year 1750, and that
the originals of them were great milkers, the first three in
succession having always to be milked before calving. It is
trne that of Favourite's blood 50 per cent, was due to the bull
called Foljambe, who was his grandsire on both sides, which
doubtless led Colling on one occasion to make the remark
that Foljambe was the animal that did him most good. He,
however, used Foljambe only one season, and to a very few
cows, and sold him when he was but a year old. It would,
therefore, seem that he did not think very highly of him,
although it is worthy of remark that he should have put him
to two of his very best cows. Foljambe himself was out of a
fine neat cow called Haughton, an extraordinary milker, but
his sire was an inferior animal, which probably induced Col-
ling to part with him so soon. We see, therefore, that
Favourite had a good milking ]iedigree through both lines, and
it is clear that Colling resembled Bates in paying much atten-
tion to this point, for many of his animals were not only good,
but extraordinary milkers, and it appears that Charles Colling
at first kept cows solely for dairy purposes, and that it was
only after he picked up "Hubback that he turned his attention
to the breeding of Shorthorns. The dam of Robert Colling's

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

123

cow, Bright Eyes, gave 15 quarts of milk at a meal, and she
produced the hull Mavske, a noted sire. Another instance of
an extraordinary milker being also a capital breeding animal
was a cow called Barfortli, belonging to Mr. Wastill of Great
Burdon, a well-known breeder and noted judge of cattle, and
a contemporary of Colling. Tliis Barforth is reported to have
given uine gallons of milk a-day, yielding at the rate of
twenty-four imperial pounds of butter in the week. Slie was
a well-bred Shorthorn, and dam of Robson's bull, which
figures in some of the best early pedigrees. A cow of this
kind, I suspect, must be a i-ara avis among the Shorthorns of
the present day, and it certainly taxes one's credulity to be-
lieve some of these statements ; bu*', from the number of in-
dependent M'itnesses, whose testimony seems to be worthy of
credit, we are compelled to believe that many of these early
Shorthorns were uncommonly fine milkers, instances of eight
gallons a-day being mentioned by many persons, and an
affidavit was sworn before a magistrate in America that an
improved Shorthorn cow imported into that country producel
milk that yielded twenty pounds of butter in the week.
Thomas Bates seems to have selected his Duchess tribe on
account of their combing great milking powers with an apti-
tude to fatten readily. I believe Bates is generally considered
to have been a trustworthy man in his statements, and cor-
rect in his facts, although many thought he had an over-
weening opinion of his own stock. Ue tells us that his first
Duchess cow, which he bought from Charles Colling, gave
seven gallons of milk per day, viz., fourteen quarts at each
meal, the practice being to milk only twice a-day, morning
and night, and the milk yielded eighteen imperial pounds of
butter in the week. He never had a cow that to his know-
ledge gave more than this. This same cow was the dam of
his bull Kettou, a very fine animal, and an excellent sire.
As this Duchess tribe has become so famous, and sells at
Buch enormous prices, I may here give a few particulars re-
garding tliem. The first of the family we hear anything of
was bought by Charles Colling from the Duke of Northum-
berland's agent at Stanwick, in 1784, for the modest sum of
^13 sterling. She was a massive short-legged cow, of a
yellowish red colour, with the breast near the ground, had a
wide back, and was a great grower. Colling called her
Duchess, and had often described her to Bates as a very
superior animal, particularly in her handling ; and told him
that he considered her the best cow he ever saw, but that he
never could breed so good a one from her. She was descended
from the old stock of Sir Hugh Smithson, of Stanwick.
Tiioraas Bates bought from Colling one of the descendants of
this cow in 1804 for 100 guineas, being the same I mentioned
as being such a fine dairy animal ; and he bought another at
Colling's sale in 1810. For the latter he paid 183 guineas,
and styled her Duchess the First, and from her all the present
family have descended. Bates tells us he was induced to
select this tribe from having found that they were great
growers, quick feeders, with fine quality of meat, consuming
little food in proportion to the progress they made, and also
from finding that they were equally remarkable as great
milkers. Bates asserted that the tribe improved under his
care in regard both to growth, aptitude to fatten, and small
consumption of food ; but admitted tliey gave less milk than
the first cow of the tribe which lie bought from Colling in
ISOl-, although what they did give was richer in butter. I
have seen no statement of the actual produce in milk from
any of them, except the first one of 1804, and am unable to
say to what extent the present Duchesses excel as dairy cows.
We may readily allow that Bates improved the breed in re-
gard to form and aptitude to fatten, for several of those he
produced, especially after the cross with Belvidere, were re-
markably fine animals ; and at tlie first show of the Royal
Agricultural Society of England, which took place at Oxford
in 1839, he carried ofi" all the prizes in the Shorthorn class
except one, for which he had not an animal present. Bates'
herd was sold off in 1850, shortly after his death, and the
animals were dispersed, and fell into various hands. Some
of the best of the Duchess tribe were bought by Lord Ducie,
and when that nobleman's lierd came to the hammer in 1853,
the Americans earned off several of the choicest at great
prices. At the present time, I believe, Colonel Gunter's herd
contains the purest representatives of the family in England,
and his Duchess 77th well maintained the fame of the breed
by beating all and sundry at Leeds and elsewhere, carrying

off no less than nineteen prizes and seven challenge cups ;
but the Colonel, having experienced some of the evils result-
ing from the state of fatness in which it is necessary to bring
out the animals at these shows, I believe wisely declines now to
exhibit. We see that, although Bates improved the breed in
other respects, he admitted that he was unable to keep up the
produce of milk to the same degree he got it in his first pur-
chased Duchess. Not only could he not improve it, although
he paid much attention to this point, as he sold much butter
and reared his calves from the pail, but he allows that the
qnantity fell off, although the tribe improved in aptitude to
fatten. This, then, in so far, is a point in favour of Culley's
opinion. But I think it may be accounted for by the close
breeding which Bates pursued, and which experience shows
has the effect of impairing the yield of milk. Bates had a
most exalted opinion of the excellence of iiis oWn cattle, but
other people didn't always coincide with him in thinking them
so fine. His father, George Bates, ridiculed his purchase of
the Duchess at the Ketton Sale, and termed her a shabby
animal, saying he had many better himself, which his son
might have had for nothing. George Coates, editor of the
Herd Book, also thought she was only " fair," — rather faint
praise, it must be allowed, and she seems to have been gene-
rally considered inferior to the Duchess he previously pur-
chased in 1804. The fact is that Bates had his own notions
as to what constituted a good animal, and he often railed at
the decisions of the judges at our national shows when they
didn't coincide with his own views. By following Sir Hugh
Smythson's system of periodically weighing the food he gave
his animals, and ascertaining what increase they made upon it
(a plan he followed for 17 years), he educated himself into a
knowledge of what really were the best sort of beasts, and he
recommends every one to examine their stock by this criterion,
for it was in this way, he tells us, that he was led to perceive
the great difference that exists in the various kinds of cattle,
and to know the external character which indicated their real
merits. Bates laid much value on tlie milking property, and
on the style, quality of hair, and handling. Good form did not
in his estimation compensate for defects in these points. He
was a very different man from Charles Colling, who seems to
have been a very reserved character, but a consummate judge
of cattle. Colling kept his eyes open and his mouth shut, and
seems to have invariably declined throwing any ligiit upon
his proceedings. His chief object in breeding cattle seems to
have been to make money, whereas Bates was full ofentliusiasm
on the subject, ready to impart his knowledge, and fond of im-
pressing on others his own peculiar notions as to what con-
stituted the points of a good animal. He firmly believed that
he had the best tribe of cattle in the world, and wished to have
them adopted everywhere for the good of tlie nation and man-
kind at large. When he thonght a good use would be made
of them, he was sometimes very liberal in disposing of his
beasts, but where he thonght the intending purchasers would
cross them with inferior tribes, and thereby spoil the breed, and
bring his stock into disrepute, he would occasionallv refuse to
sell at any price. Bates, as I have already mentioned, said
that Charles Colling told him that the first cow of the Duchess
tribe which he bought from the Duke of Northumberland's
agent at Stanwick was the best he ever saw, and that he could
never rear so good a one from her. Wliether it was owing to
this that her produce turned out so mucli worse thnn herself,
or for some oilier reason, it is clear that Colling did not culti-
vate the breed to any great extent, and on this account it
seems to me difficult to believe that lie thought so very much
of them. On looking over his sale catologue, we find only two
animals of the Duchess blood in it, one of them a two-year-old
heifer, and the other a yearling bull. None of the older breed-
ing stock seems to have contained any of the blood, and it
docs not appear tliat Charles Colling ever used a bull of the
Duchess blood. Now, as his first purchase of the tribe was in
1784, and his sale in 1810, he had 26 years' experience of
their qualities, and ample time to have propagated them in
larger number if he had thought it for his advantage to do so.
Most of the animals at his sale were descendants of the Lady
Maynard tribe, and I think we must from this infer that the
Duchesses were not his favourites, or he certainly would have
had more of them. On turning to the sale-catalogue of his
brother Robert, who was only second to Charles as a breeder,
and who did not sell off his stock until 1818, we look in vain
for any trace of the Duchess blood, and as the two brothers

K 2

V2i

THE I^ARMER'S MAGAZINE.

acted verymucli in concert, we have here another proof tliat
it was not the tribe they thought most of. All Bates'
Ducliesses trace back to what he called Duchess 1st, wliich
was the cow lie purchased at the Ketton sale iu 1810. Now,
when we examine her pedigree, we find tliat 75 per ceut. of
her blood belongs to CoUing's well-known bull I'avourite, and
little more than 3 per cent, to the original Duchess element.
Even taking Bates' first cow of the tribe, which he bought iu
1804, we find that her sire and dam were both by Favourite ;
and her own calf, Ketton, was also by Favourite. This shows
how strongly the blood of Favourite was infused into the best
Shorthorns of those days. As we trace the Duchess tribe
downwards, we find the blood derived from the Stanwick cow
dwindling rapidly to so fine a fraction that we can hardly ap-
preciate its being drowned out by o^ber strains, in all of which
the blood of Favourite preponderates. So that, if there is any
confideace to be placed in tlie recorded pedigrees, tlie excellence
of even the earlier individuals of Bates' herd must be attributed
to the influence of Favourite far more than to any other
animal ; and it would seem almost absurd to assign any ap-
preciable elfect to the infinitesimal quantity of tbe original
Stanwick blood now remaining. Altbough tbe family soon
became Duchesses only in name, yet they continued to be
animals of very select blood, for Bates was very particular iu
regard to pedigree, and took good care to use none but well-
bred sires of the choicest families. Of all the sires he used,
Ketton 1st had most of the original Duchess blood, and yet it
amounted to only 12j per cent., 7o per ceut. belonging to
Favourite ; for Ketton, as we have already seen, was not only
himself got by Favourite, but his grandsire and grandam were
so too, which shows to what an extent iu-aud-in breeding was
sometimes carried in those days. Bates had another sort
which he held out as an example of the combination of great
milking and feeding properties. These were the progenitors
of his Oxford tribe. Matchera, his first cow of this family,
lie tells us, never gave less than twelve quarts of milk at a
meal, wheu on the grass after she dropped her calf. She was
the dam of an excellent cow, which Bates called Oxford
Premium, because she carried tlie first prize at the Royal Agri-
cultural Society's show at Oxford iu 1839. She also gained
the highest premium at the Yorkshire Society's show in tiie
year following. This Oxford Premium was also a good dairy
beast, often giving milk the whole year round, without being
put dry for calving. I have dwelt at some length on Bates
and his herd, as these two tribes of his — the Duchess and tlic
Oxford — have been more run after than any other races iu
exi.stence. Our American cousins are generally reckoned an
acute and enterprising race, witli a good judgment in tlie
practical affairs of life. It was their hid of 700 guineas for
Duchess 60th, at Lord Ducie's sale, that first opened the eyes
of the British public to the value of Bates' blood in the
market. The present rage for animals of fashionable pedigree,
and tbe extravagant prices of late given for the so-called grand
Dukes and Duciiesses, remind us of tbe tulip mania in Holland,
which happened more tlian two centuries ago. The Dutch-
man, solid and plilegmatic as he is usually reckoned, yet, on
that occasion, showed he bad a fine vein of enthusiasm in him,
and the passion for these interesting plants became so strong
that nothing else seemed to the Dutcbinan worth living for.
High and low were carried away by it. Not only speculative
merchants, but steady farmers, and men of all classes, from the
nobleman to the chimney sweep. Single bulbs sold for
2,000 florins, just as we see an innocent calf now sell for
1,000 guineas ; and there were fashionable strains of tulips
iu those daysjust as there are of Shorthorns now. One sort,
called the Sempsr Augustus, seemed so enviable that a man
offered for a single root of it no less than 4,(100 florins,
together witli a new carriage and a pair of horses,
with harness complete. Another madman agreed to give
twelve acres of land for a root, and gambling in tulips be-
came for a time a consuming passion, just as gambling in
railway scrip was many years ago in this country. Wlio
knows therefore but we may sec a furtlier development of this
excitement regarding pedigree Shorthorns? for enthusiasm,
once awakened, is catching, and no one can tell how far a
Briton may go for aSborthorn, wlien we see to what lengtb
the Dutchman went in his passion for tulips. IVdigree is no
doubt all very well, but a long pedigree on paper is not
always a good one in fact. Many of these fashionably-bred
animals are notoriously bad beasts ; they liavc in many cases

been bred so long without proper judgment, and from nearlj'
related blood, that vigour of constitution seems to have been
irretrievably lost. They have become ewe-necked, weasel-
waisted, leggy, and consumptive, can't stand bad weather, and
give little milk ; and, doubless, there are occasional flaws in
the pedigree that don't appear iu the herd-hook, or iu the sale-
catalogues. Our improved races of domestic animals have
attained their high degree of excellence by being bred from
carefully-selected animals, with a constaut weeding out of the
bad ones, and it is only in this way tliat they can he kept up ;
hut to do this requires a degree of judgment and perseverance
that few possess. It is men like Charles Colling, Thomas
Bates, and Richard Booth that have made our cattle what
they are, and it is Ijy men of a similar stamp that we may ex-
pect to see them further improved, or even kept from de-
teriorating. Probably no herds of cattle have turned out
such a number of first-class animals as those of Warlaby and
Killerby. Tbe Booth family liave been noted breeders of
Shorthorns for three generations. The herd was founded in
the days of Colling by Thomas Booth, who then owned the
Warlaby and Killerby estates. He was succeeded by his sons,
Richard and John, of vvbom tlie former established himself at
Warlaby, and the latter at Killerby. Although both are now
dead, yet the family happily still survives in the descendants
of the latter. The animals bred by the Booths have been
noted for their fine forms, massiveucss, and heavy flesh. It
may tberefore be worth inquiring whether, in a race of cattle
so distinguished for substance and feeding quality, we can find
instances of these characteristics being united to good milking
powers. Now, according to Mr. Carr, this happened in a
number of cases ; but, as he does not give the actual measure-
ment of the quantity of milk yielded by any of them, there is
a looseness about his statements which I am unable to rectify.
Some of the original stock of old Thomas Booth are said to
have been good dairy cows, and great grazers when dry ; and
the first of Richard Booth's Isabella tribe was a cow he
bought in Darlington market, which gave brimming pails of
milk, and, nevertheless, had a remarkably ample develop-
ment of the ibrequarter, an unusual feature in a good milker.
Mantalini, a celebrated prize-winner, and the ancestor of a
fii'.e family of Shorthorns, is said to have been an excellent
dairy cow, and so was Toy, dam of the famous twins Neck-
lace and Bracelet. Among others of the same characters, I
may mention Bliss, the first of the tribe which goes by that
name. She was a very heavy milker, and so was her daugli-
ter Blithe, the latter being known to produce two or three
calves in successive years without ever going dry. She again
was dam of Lady Blithe, who has produced more first-rate
animals than almost any other cow in recent times, but had
no showyard pretensions herself, being just a well-bred dairy
cow. Satin was another, all a dairyman could desire, giving
great quautities of rich milk, suckling two calves, and required
milking after them. Princess Elizabeth, by Crown Prince,
combined milking and grazing qualities in a very unusual de-
gree, and produced Queen of the Isles, a first prize winner at
Chester. Caroline by Fitz Leonard, we are told was a pro-
digious milker, giving four pailfuls of milk in the day. Camp
Follower was also an extreme milker, and died of milk fever,
yet siliew as a very fine cow, and produced some first-rate stock.
Indeed, some of tlie admirers of ilie Booth blood go thelengtli
of asserting that all the Warlarby tribes were famous for posess-
ing more than ordinary milking powers. These examples may
sulfice to show the possibility of uniting iu a considerable de-
gree the two desirable properties of giving mucli milk and fat-
tening well, and I may further mention that ]\Ir. Whitaker of
Burlcy and IMr. Wilkinson of Leuton, who both bred many
excellent Slioithorns, kejit their herds expressly for dairy pur-
poses. Mr. Youatt and the Rev. Henry Berry also agreed in
tliiuking it quite practicable to combine good milking and feed-
ing qualities in the same animal. Mr. Berry liad experience
of it in his own herd ; while Youatt says that many of the
cows in the London dairies are as fine specimens of the im-
proved Sbortliorii as one could wish to see. It is evident that
it would be very desirable to have a breed in which this com-
bination of advantages could be secured, for a race of cattle
wlicre the cows scarcely give milk enough to bring up one
calf properly must be reared at a great disadvantage, and bow-
ever excellent they may be as grazing or fattening beasts
after they do grow np, yet the cost of rearing the calves during
the first year is too great, since it m.ay be said to involve tlie

THE i'ARMER'S MAGAZINE.

126

whole expense of keeping the cow for a twelvemontli. On the
other hand, iu a dairy breed, wliere the animals are neither
good growers uor quick feeders, the steers are unprofitable
beasts, aud tlie cows, when past use for the dairy, cannot be
profitably fattened. Our Aberdeenshire farmers must have
something tliat will feed well, come to the dairy what will —
something that will be prime Scots in the London market.
They like to see big fat oxen, heavy animals, round as a hogs-
head. They don't trouble themselves with your slots of 8 lbs.
or 1!? lbs., but always reckon tlieir animals by the hundred-
weight. This taste for fat beasts has certainly led to the
deterioration of the cattle as railk producers, and I rather
suspect the Aberdouiau iu general would agree with Culley in
his opinion that first-rate feeders are not to be had from a dairy
breed. TJie lashiou of judging at the local and national shows
has also tended in the same direction. Hound, well-fed animals
always look so much better than leaner ones, that nothing
has any chance of a prize unless it be fat ; and the fatter you
can make it, so much better is its chance. Exhibitors are,
therefore, obliged to conform to tlie fashion, aud good feeding
and jkilful traiuing arc half the battle. This, however, is ruinous
to the animals for breeding purposes ; and many of the best
ones are spoiled in tliis way every year. But breeders say
they can't help it ; they must keep up the character of their
herds by exhibiting at these shows, and taking prizes — other-
wise, they would lose ground. The evil, it sfems to me,
might be remedied to some extent by a more careful selection
of judges. If possible, men should be got for the purpose
wiio are themselves eminent as breeders, and can distinguish
the value of an animal in a lean state, even when pitted
against one that is much fatter. If the judges also were se-
lected by the breeders, and not by committees, composed often
of people who have little experience in that line, perhaps a
better mode of judging might be gradually established at our
national shows. Valuable prizes should also be given iu the
proper classes for animals uniting fine symmetry with good
d;iiry qualifications. If the breeders of Shorthorns and other
races of cattle would also aflford some information iu tlieir
printed catalogues as to tlie milking pedigree of the animals
tliey offer for sale, I think they would soon find that their
customers would appreciate it, and that auimals well-come in
tills respect would be looked after, aud would fetch Jiigh
prices at their sales. At present, it is diflieult ascertaining
anything in regard to this point. The Ayrshire is tiie type of
a dairy animal, and it is very proper that those who rear them
should make the development of the milking powers their
main object. Let them go as far in this direction as they can,
so that we may see what sort of animal will emerge from the
continued cultivation of this special feature. The origin of
the Ayrshire breed is not very exactly known. It seems to
have arisen by a process of selection made with a view to the
production of railk and hardiness of constitution, without
much regard to anything else. Very likely there has been a
mixture of various elements ; for we learn tliattiiere were im-
portations of Durham cattle by the Earl of Marchmont, iu
1750, and of Dutch cows by Mr. Dunlop of Dunlop about the
year 1760. There lias probably also been an infusion of the
Alderney, or breed of the Channel Islands ; for Quayle, who

wrote the AfjncuUural Survey of Jersey, states that the Ayrshire
was a cross between the Siiorthorn and the Alderney ; wiiile
Col. Le Couteur informs us that General Andrew Gordon, when
Governor of Jersey, about the end of last century, sent some
of the best cattle to Scotland. A veterinary book, published
at Glasgow in 179i, likewise states that the Dunlop cows,
which were considered the best milkers, had been produced by
crossing the native cows with bulls brought from tlie island of
Alderney. The general resemblance of the Ayrshire and Alderney
cattle has been noticed by Professor Low and Col. le Couteur.
Youatt, liowever, seems to think that the Ayrshire breed has
originated from a cross of the Holderness with the Highlander ;
the former giving the milking properties, aud the latter the
hardiness of constitution and small size. The prevailing
colour of the Ayrcshires is red and white in various mixtures ;
sometimes they are vvholly red, but I believe never wholly
white, which is rather curious, for in the Shorthorn, which
is also red and wliite in all proportions, pure white animals
arc constantly occurring, as if there were an innate tendency
to that colour. As Mr. Caird lias remarked the great demand
for dairy produce has in a great measure made the Ayrshire
breed. It has been developed from a variety of different ele-
ments by a process of selection. The great mining and manu-
facturing population of the district in which the breed is
located has given rise to a constant demaud for railk aud
butter, and the climate and soil beinsj both favourable for
cow feeding, there was a strong inducement to cultivate dairy
farming, and to select such animals as were most noted for
giving milk. We see that there were importations of Dutch,
Alderney, and Durham cattle — all good dairy breeds. We
may be sure that the best milking cows were retained, and the
worst ones got rid of as soon as possible. The necessity for
accpuring good cows would sharpen the powers of observatioa
in regard to what constituted the outward signs of a milk-pro-
ducer, and thus the judgment would be educated as to the
points to be looked for. Carry on this process for generations,
and you have the result. Just as the dense raauufacturing
population of Lancashire and York has developed the Hol-
derness breed, so has the great seat of Scotch manufactures
developed the Ayrshire. The Yorkshire dairy cow is just an
Ayrshire on a large scale. All the essential points of the
animal are similar. The fine neck, light fore-ipiarter, deep
rib, thin skin, lean back, good udder. Even the colour is
very much the same, but there is a considerable dilfereuce in
size. These dairy breeds, aud, iu fact, most great milking
animals, are distinguished by having a lightness of fore-
quarter, a sharpness at the top of the shoulder, with rather a
small girth round the heart, and a general leanness along the
back. Now these features are disapproved of in a feeding
animal, and the question is, can we get rid of these features
without damage to the milk ? can we get a right development
of forequarter and a good girth round the heart in a first-rate
dairy cow, or are the two things incompatible? I think the
evidence I have adduced in the course of this lecture is suf-
ficient to encourage us to attempt it, and to make us hope
that we shall eventually succeed in uniting good feeding and
growing properties with first-rate qualifications for the
dairy.

THE OPENING OF THE FOEEIGN CATTLE MARKET.

The new foreign cattle market, erected by the Corporation
of London on the site of Deptford Dockyard, was formally
opened on Thursday, Dec. 28. It had been decided that there
should be no ceremony ou the occasion, and the proceedings
were of the plainest and most unostentatious character.

The Lord Mayor and Mr.Slierilf liennett, accompanied by the
comptroller and several members of the corporation, proceeded
to the maiket about half-past niue o'clock, and were received
by the Markets Committee, headed by their chairman, Mr.
J. F. Bontems, tlie City architect, I\Ir. Horace Jones, and by
the superintendent, Mr. Philcox. They were then shown over
the market, which the Lord Mayor thereafter declared to be
open. The market has been constructed under the powers
and provisions of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act,
1869, for Ihe sale and slaughter of foreign animals arriving iu

this country, with a view to prevent the introduction and
spread of infection. The site and certain buildings upon it
were purchased for £91,640, and designs for the market
having been supplied by the City architect, the work has been
completed in the short space of six mouths. The process has
not been one entirely of construction, the committee having,
to a large extent, availed themselves of the erections that they
found upon the site by adapting them to the purposes to which
they are henceforth to be applied. The " slips " were filled
up with rubbish excavated from the site of the New Law
Courts and soil dredged from the bed of the river, aud wooden
sides having been fitted to the lofty roofs that covered the
docks, they have been converted into well lighted and venti-
lated sheds. Erom each of these (three iu number) a pier
stretches out into the river, and as there is a depth of 13 ov

126

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

13 feet of water at low tide, vessels can lie alongside and dis-
charge their cargo at any time. Lairage accommodation has
been provided in the sheds, the Admiralty store-shops liave
been converted into slaughter-liouses, and the old spar sheds
are now to be used as fodder-houses. All animals imported
will be inspected by a resident veterinary staff, and in the
event of disease being discovered the pier v^fhere the animals
are landing and the shed from which it abuts will be kept
isolated. An ingenious provision has been made for the des-
truction of infected animals. The carcase is hoisted into a
cylinder, having the appearance of an immense boiler set on
end, and there, by a strong application of steam, it is
thoroughly disinfected, so that the fat and other parts may be
devoted to any purpose for which they are fit. There are both
wooden and iron pens, some of the latter fitted with folding
hay-racks, and others with iron cradles suspended from pulleys
that may be raised at pleasure, leaving the pens clear. The
water-troughs will be kept constantly supplied with water
by a self-acting process. Accommodation has been provided
for 3,900 cattle and 11,500 sheep, allowing 30 feet superficial
for each of the cattle and 5 feet for each of the sheep, but in
case of emergency 22 feet can be made to do for cattle and 1
feet for sheep, so that upwards of 5,000 cattle and lijOOO
sheep can be received. The slaughter-houses are fitted with
machinery of a novel character, suggested by Mr. Rudkin and
Mr. Brewster, members of the Markets Committee. After a
bullock has been killed and dressed it is raised by a hand
windlass to a couple of hooks that traverse parallel rails
running from end to end of the shop, and from these beams
the carcase is lowered by means of pulleys. The work can
thus be carried out in a very expeditious manner. The
slaughter-houses for sheep are also appropriately fitted. The
whole of the sewage, it may be stated, after being disinfected,
will be taken away in carts or barges, there beiug no under-
ground sewage works. The total estimated cost of the market
is £210,000 ; of that the site absorbs £95,000. A sum of
£4'8,000 bas been put down for lairage, £15,000 for piers,
£15,000 for slaughter-houses, £18,450 for miscellaneous pur-
poses, and £18,550 for contingencies. The market days are
Mondays and Thursdays, and the hour of commencing ten
o'clock. A portion of a monastery, built of red brick, that
once stood upon the site, still remains, and bears the date
" 1513." The inspection of the market having been concluded,
Mr. BoxTEJis said — My Lord Mayor and gentlemen, the
markets committee give you a cordial welcome to this, the
scene of their recent labours, and some of you know how
difficult those labours have been ; to select a site for a mar-
ket amid so many conflicting interests, and to construct
that market at the expense of one public body, subject to the
approval of another, and to do so with no definite idea of the
amount of accommodation tliat would be required, was no easy
task. But it is not for us to speak to-day so much of the past
as of the present. I may say in passing, as a statement has
been made, or, if not a statement, an insinuation, that con-
siderable delays have occurred, that the fault of that cannot be
placed either to the credit of the markets committee or to the
corporation. My Lord Mayor, the time has now arrived when
this work should be dedicated to the public, and the committee
felt that no one could be asked with so much propriety to open
the market as your lordship. You are the honoured and re-
spected cliief of the great municipal body at whose expense
the market has been constructed, and therefore it was con-
sidered that you, as Lord Mayor of London, should declare the
market to be open. But, before I ask you to perform that
ceremony, perhaps you will allow me to say a word with re-
spect to the market itself. As to the site, it is one possessing
considereble historical interest. It has been appropriated to
some of the most useful purposes to which national property
could be appropriated. As the site of a monastery ages ago,
it was the fountain from which the learning and religion of that
day spread amongst the surrounding population, and even to
the metropohs itself. Since then, as tiie place where some of
our best ships have been built, it has contributed to the de-
fence of the country, and, contiguous as it is to the palace at
Greenwich, one cannot help calling to mind the event which
took place iu the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the whole
mind of the country was devoted to the question of national
defence by means of ships, probably built on the spot. In the
adjoining shed the celebrated Czar of Russia, Peter the Great,
worked as a ship carpenter, little thinking it would one day be

devoted to the sale of cattle imported from Russian dominions.
Perhaps it may be considered that the site is to be appropria-
ted to a purpose inferior to that to which it has hitherto been
applied, but, after all, the supply of animal food to the con-
stantly increasing population of London is a matter of no
small concern. Therefore, I consider the site will be still
honoured in being used for the benefit of the public. Con-
sider the area — 22 acres of land ; sufiicient not only to pro-
vide accommodation for the present wants of the foreign cattle
trade, but to meet any prospective requirements. Then look
at its river frontage, of nearly 1,100 feet ; there was no other
site within easy access that presented so desirable a frontage.
Then look at the landing facilities, the facility for landing at
aU stages of the tide, both at the highest and lowest, so that
the cattle ships will not be detained with their cargoes. Then
the large quantity of useful buildings found on the site. These
sheds were all covered in ready for our purpose. We had an
expensive and troublesome work in filling in the docks, but see
what elegant and commodious sheds are made by appropriating
them. A new shed made next to this, and which, as you ob-
serve, has a low roof, is not nearly so commodious in its ap-
pearance as these larger sheds that were ready to our bauds.
Tiie houses surrounding the yard are all appropriated for dis-
tinct purposes, some for the use of the bankers connected with
the market and some for the Government officers, and also for
our own oflicers. We shall be able to fill all the houses, and
there will be in them sufficient accommodation for all. As to
the position of the market, objection had been made that it was
not on the north side of the river, but I think a little con- J
sideration wiU convince us it is not undesirable to have a large I
market on the south side of the river. The population on the ■
south side is one-third of that of the metropolis, and as the
other side has a large market for live animals and another for
meat, it may not be considered undesirable to have the new
market on the south side. Well, then, as to its construction.
You have seen the noble piers, wliieh I consider do credit to
the gentleman who has built them and the engineer who con-
trived them. They are built substantially and plainly, and are
exceedingly well adapted for the purpose to which they are to
be applied. Tiie sheds have been converted into lairs by the
enterprising buUders, Messrs. Browne and Robinson, under
the superintendence of Mr. Jones, our own City architect.
But I must tell you that we are very much indebted for the
arrangement of the lairs to two gentlemen, both members of
the markets committee, who have taken a very anxious and
useful part in the construction of the market. I can hardly
tell you how much the committee is indebted to Mr. Rudkin
and Mr. Brewster for the great trouble and pains they have
expended on the market. I am sure they have passed many
anxious, if not sleepless, nights in considering the various
arrangements that it was necessary to make, wiiich those only
acquainted with the requirements of a market could compre-
hend or carry out. Then I may tell you that ample provision
has been made for the cleansing, drainage, ventilation, light-
ing, and water supply of the market. As to the amount of
accommodation, it is so great that those connected with the
cattle trade are surprised we should have been called upon to
provide so much accommodation, ior the slaughter-houses
we have a hot water supply, and the macliinery includes what
is called a " digester" for infected animals. A whole bullock
may be placed in it, and, by means of steam at a high tempera-
ture, the infection is very soon destroyed, and the fat and the
remains of the animal are taken out free from all infection and
ready to be applied to any purpose for which they are fit. It
is only fair to the vice-president and officers of the Privy
Council to say that they have been most anxious to make pro-
vision for the disinfection of animals. Tliey have done their
very utmost to explain to the markets committee the means by
which infection might be prevented from spreading, and I need
not tell you the markets committee have only been too ready
to carry out their wishes, so that this market may be as per-
fect in that respect as it is possible to make it. A comparison
has been drawn between this market and its landing and lairage
accommodation with other places used as markets on the north
side ; but persons who have seen those places and who have
seen this market and all its provisions do not require to be told
that there is no comparison between this market and any other
place. You might as well compare Regent-street with Rag-
fair as this market with any other place. One or two objections
have been made to some of the arrangements. It has been said

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

127

the time for holding the market (ten o'clock) is not a con-
veuient time. That hour was selected at the express sug-
gestion of gentlemen connected with the trade. It appears to
me the arrangement is the best that could be made to prevent
contagion by using the two markets, because if a salesman
goes to Islington the first thiug on Monday morning, and
comes here afterwards, he cannot take the contagion from
here to the Islington Market, although he may bring it from
the Islington Market to this one. We have given the longest
tirae for the disinfection of persons going from one market to
another that it is possible to give. Tlien it has been objected
that there was railway accommodation on the north side of
the river, and not on tliis. It so happens that there is not
railway accommodation on the other side, and the facilities for
making railway accommodation are greater on this side than
the other. Moreover, this market is nearer (he City than any
other site that could have been selected, and that would have
been at aU appropriate for such a market. As to the question
of nuisance to the neighbourhood, I am quite sure the people
of Deplford may be satisfied on that score. Such care has
been taken for carrying away anything that could cause im-
purity to the air, tliat certainly the health of the neighbour-
hood will not be diminished. It only remains for me to thank
your lordship for complying with the request of the committee
to be here to-day, and also to thank the gentlemen present
for their attendance, and to express a hope that this market
may by its management be a credit to the corporation and a
blessing to the people.

The Lord MAyoR, in declaring the market open, said: Mr.
Chairman and gentlemen, I feel, I assure you, very much
gratified in being allowed to take part in what I consider a
most important affair. The inaugurating of a market of this
character is a great honour It wiU prove to be one amongst

the many works in which the corporation have been engaged j
and which they have carried through and completed so much
to tlie satisfaction of the public. Your chdirman has certainly
delivered a most interesting speech connected with the details
of this gigantic work, for it is gigantic. I have felt very
much gratified with those portions of the market I have seen.
I have been very much struck with the sohd way in which
everything has been constructed, and there is one matter espe-
cially pleasing to ray mind — there is no evidence of extrava-
gance or unnecessary ornamentation in what I have seen. I
think great care has been taken, and it is not surprising that
great care should have been taken, because the members of the
markets committee are men of experience. They have brought
to bear a large amount of intelligence, and it is evident that
everything has been done to promote the comfort of those who
will come here to deal in cattle. With regard to its being a
great boon to London, there can be no question. A market
for foreign cattle has long been a matter of necessity, and
although great difficulties arose both with the Government as
well as with the corporation and the Board of Works, all
those difficulties have been cleared away, and I think the cor-
poration were fortunate in securing this site. It would have
been impossible to find an area nearer to London with all the
conveniences this one possesses. In now declaring this market
to be open, I hope and trust it will be successful in everyway,
and if we can by its means induce foreigners to fatten and
send their cattle here, so tliat we may obtain a reduction of
the very high prices we have been paying for animal food, it
will be a great boon. I trust it will be a great success, and I
have much pleasure in declaring it to be open.

At the request of the Lord Mayor, three cheers were given
for the success of the market.

THE SUPPLY OF AGRICULTURAL LABOUR.

At a meeting of the West Suffolk Chamber of Agriculture
at Bury St. Edmund's, the president, Lieut.-Col. F. M. Wilson,
in the chair, the subject for discusssion was " The supply of
agricultural labour with reference to the classification of
wages."

Captain HoiiTON, R.N., said this question was one of high
national importance. It was in fact no less than this, " How
shall we best succeed in maintaining a supply of labour suit-
able to meet the present requirements of agriculture." This
problem had to be solved in the face of the fact that the con-
ditions of labour in all branches of industry were undergoing
great and constant disturbance, and that they had already to
deal with a generation of labourers much better instructed,
and as a consequence more restless than heretofore. His
(Capt. Horton's) career in the navy had afforded him some
opportunity of arriving at certain conclusions with reference to
the subject. Both the Army and Navy offered some features
suggestive of example not unworthy of imitation elsewhere.
The analogy of husbandry with the army and navy existed only
in so (ar as the extent of the work to be performed, for the or-
ganization of agricultural labour seemed to be in no degree equal
to the demand for it. A farmer had under him, perhaps, a bailiff,
then a waggoner, shepherd, stockman, and those who work
immediately under them, with certain other men and boys not
in constant work and apt to be paid off during many consecu-
tive weeks at different seasons. Happily this state of things
had been in a great degree modified through tbe introduction
of machinery ; but it was important to consider how it mi^iit
be still further improved, and the employment of labour be-
come more unifornr throughout the year. He pointed out the
evils which result from men having uncertain work, and pro-
ceeded to compare those engaged in agricultural labour veith
the same class enlisted in the army or brought up in the navy.
Taking the average wages (including haysel, harvest, &c.)
of agricultural ladourers to be 16s. a week, as had been stated
by a gentleman who had been at pains to calculate it, he said
the corresponding money value in the navy was represented
by an able seaman of the first class. This man, for misconduct,
might be reduced to the second class. Below the A.B.'s

were the ordinary seaman whose wages were about £i a
year less, and wiio were also divided into two classes, and
then the boys, who form two classes according to their
age. A somewhat analogous classification existed in the
army. He classed the waggoners, shepherds, cowmen, and
eugine-drivers as corresponding with able seamen or private
soldiers of the first class, and the men next them in each de-
partment ready to supply their places witli the second class,
whilst the third class miglit be made to include all the re-
maining bone and sinew of 18 years old and upwards. Lads
of less age might also be classed as boys of the first and second
class. Very great advantage would accrue both to employers
of labour and those they employed, if the farmers were to adopt
a system of engagement, whereby they should have it in their
power to stimulate and reward the better energies by advance-
ment in grade and wages. The same system would also
strengtiien their hands with reference to their less industrious
labourers by enabling them to reduce their grade for continued
dereliction of duty. By this means the farmer could from
week to week impose a fine upon his men if they failed in their
duty or engaffements, while he must impose upon himself a
sense of the duty which would attach to him of conferring the
rewards upon deserviuff men without delay, as well as that of
administering the penalties in strict justice and apart from the
influence of any momentary irritation. How many a man
was now turned off a farm almost without a bearing because
his master had no other means at hand to punish him !
and on the otlier hand how many a valuable man was
induced to quit his parish and seek work elsewhere
because he found his family increasing while he had
no prospect of improving his condition so as to be able
to maintain his position. The system he proposed would
offer great facilities for the adoption of piece work. If the
system were adopted in a district there would follow a system
of certificates of service to the men in each class which would
facilitate their employment by other masters, and he advocated
the establishment of a kind of labour office after the manner
of a domestic servants' registry. Among the advantages of
such a labour ofiice he mentioned that it only required that

128

THE FARMER'S MAGAZIJNE.

some facility of iutercoursc should be establislied for a more
regular distribulioi and cmploymeut of labour to ensup, aud
lie gave nn instance wliicli showed the small amount of re-
gard vvhicli men 'jestow upou the distance they have to go to
work. Captain llorton then made somewhat lensjtliy quota-
lious from the paper of Mr. J. Dent Dent, M.P.,on The Present
Condition of the English Agricultural Labourer, in the Roi/>d
Afp-iciiltiiral Society s Joiirmil, and on the question of the em-
ployment of women in agriculture said he did not hesitate to
state it was his opinion that they would do wisely to encouraare
tlie employment of female gangs according to the provisions of
the Act to assist in getting some of the tliistlcs out of the land.
la conclusiou, he said personal activity aud quickness of
movement on the part of the labourer \ycre qualities valuable
to his employer. They required cultivation in youth as miieh
as maintenance during manhood. This was a difficult matter,
but well-shod children taught to use their limbs with activity
were all the more likely" to prove useful labourers under a
system of oaymeut, which by the promotion or reduction of a
labourers' class aud position on the farm would cultivate in the
minds of the men the sentiment of self-respect which was an
ygent far more powerful than money. Those were wise words
of Lord Treasurer Burleigh's to his son—" Keep rather two
too few than oue too many. Feed them well and pay them
with the most, aud then mayest thou boldly require service at
their hands."

The Chairman said Captain llorton had very wisely not
gone into the general'questiou of the price of labour; for
liowever much they might wish to pay the agricultural la-
bourer much more than they did, it was very questionable
whether the farmer could alford to kIvc higlier wages — unless
he could get a more skilled labourer to do more valuable
work. With tlie exception of the present year, mixed soil
and light land farms had had a very hard time" of it lately, and
mire money had been lost than made upon them. He re-
minded them that wages must be to a great extent governed
by the law of supply and demand. After a reference to piece
work the chairman touched on the question of the labourer
keeping a cow. No doubt nothing was so good for rearing
children as miik,but he did not hold wifhtlie labourer keeping
a cow, thinking it much better tl\at the employer should sell
him the milk. For a labourer to own a cow was putting too
many eggs into one basket —the man's whole capital would he
invested in it, and if the cow died he lost all, and then he
would be going round with a brief for suliscrii]tions.

Mr. F. Pmne (Barton) read a paper on the subject, in
which he said there was no doubt a good and cogent ar^mmsnt
against the almost universal custom in that neighbourhood of
paying by the day instead of by the piece, and pointed out
that under the existing system there was no encouraijoment
for the really superior man to show his full value. This state
of things bad been brought about by several causes, oue great
reason_ being the excess of labour, which bad induced farmers,
in order to keep the men generally employed, to pay low
wages by the day rather than have the same work done on
the piec, which would have enabled some to earn better
wages, wiiilst the less competent men would have got little or
nothing at all. Such a system must be wrong. Somehow
farmers had more incentives to employ labour than other
industries, for a farmer was sometimes" induced to employ
more hands than he really wanted rather than let them go
to the union, where he would have to help to support them,
whilst other employers were actuated by no such motives. He
alluded (o the great change which had been effected in farm
work by the introduction of machinery, and expressed his
strong opinion that one thing which would raise the condition
of the agricultural labourer was better education. His
panacea for the poor man was increased knowledge, and gen-
tlemen who were anxious to raise the agricultural labourer
could do it in no way so efl'ectually as by using every lawful
means to compel the education of poor children. It might
not bear fruit in their own time, but it certainly would in the
next generation. Education would lead to indepeudeuee ; for
il was only the truly ignorant who would consent to be as it were
crushed to the earth. Give a man half an education and he
would thirst for more knowledge and independence. And what
applied to the individual applied to the nation— the better the
people of any country were educated so much the more firmly
was the independence of that nation secured.

Rev. T. E. AiiKAHAM thought it desirable that they should

take some steps to improve the condition of the labourer bo-
fore they were compelled of necessity to do so, and before any
pressure w-as brought to bear on tlicm. The a"itation for
shortened hours of labour was not likely to affect agriculture,
but tlie question of the rate of wages must be looked in the
face — it would eouie berore long, and would it not be better
to anticipate it rather than wait till their population was en-
tirely drawn off ? That they were flocking out of that part
of Suffolk there could be no question, and he was not at all
sure that the employer would lose by an increase of the wages;
if they could get a better, more industrious, belter-fed, more
contented man it would be a necessity for the employer t«
give better wages. He believed five industrious, contcntei
labourers at 12s. a week would do more work than sir
men at 10s. a week. He called attention to an Act of
Parliament passed early in the reign of William IV. wdiieli
enabled trustees of " fire" allotments to give portions of the
allotments to industrious men of good character. This, if
carried out would be of very great advantage, and he further
enlarged n))on the desirability of the labourer having a good
cottage. He hoped a law would be passed reducing the num-
ber of publichouses, and the hours during which they were
open, and ho believed improved education would tend to give
a more contented and provident race of labourers.

Mr. G. Gayfort) admitted that it would bo extremely ad-
vantageous to have such a classification of labour as Captain
llorton had sugixested ; for how was it possible for a good
man ;o avoid feelimj his energies damped if he received no
more money tlian a man whom he knew to be much inferior
to himself. Wages must depend on supply and demand, and
he was not so sorry as some to see men leave the district ; be-
cause if there was a surplus of labour, and the men could
better themselves by going elsewhere, it was desiraljle rliat
they should go. One great want was a more equal distribu-
tion of labour, and in proof of this he showed tliat in the
)iarisli of Tnjjham the proportion was 7t acres to each indivi-
dual ; in Ilonin'^'ton it was 3 acres ; in Ilisby, fi| acres; in
Great Saxham, .jj; in Little Saxham, 8 acres ; in l>euham,
fif ; whilst in Barro.v it was only 3 acres to each inhabitaut.
riie consequence was that farmers in the parishes round Bar-
row employed Barrow men at certain seasons when they
wanted extra labour, and as soon as they had done with them
sent them back to Barrow. Every landlord ought to 1)0 will-
ing to supp'y each farm v.-ith a good number of comfortable
cottages. No gentleman would think of letting a farm with-
out a stable to put tlie horses in, or without a sty to put the
piers in, and why should they let a farm without cottages to put
the labourers in ?

Jlr. Manfield believed the labourer was never so well off
as now, for he was better paid, clothed, and housed than for-
merly. As to classification of labour, it appeared to him that
they had it already, the first class CJusisting of horsemen,
shepherds, stockmen, aud engineers, who were paid higher
wages than the ordinary labourer. In the second class were
all the ordinary run of labourers, good, bad, and indifferent,
all paid at one price, which was a very bad arrangement. He
advocated doing all the work by the piece that could be so
done. As to the supply of labour, he denied that it was short.
Oue objection to a classification was that there were times of
the year and kinds of work at wdiich the best man would be
worth no more than the inferior, and if he did not pay the in-
ferior man at the same rate as the superior, the former would
not stop with him.

Mr. J. S. Phillips objeeted to piece-work because it im-
idied a want of confidence between the employer and the em-
ployed. As to shepherds, horsemen, &c., being paid higher
waives, he asked if their hours were not much longer.

Mr. Paine : They do seven days' w'ork instead of six.

Jlr. Hunter Rodwell admitted the desirability of a
classification of labour, hut confessed his inability to see how
it was to be carried out further than it already was by paying
extra wages to horse-keepers aud shepherds, who, though they
did more work, had the advantage of constant w^ork, whether
wet or dry, to the thateher, the drill-man, and the engine-
driver. Any gentleman who could suggest a mode by which
a classification could ho carried out would be a benefactor fo
both the farmer and labourer. Mr. Gayford had spoken about
landlords building collages, but he would suggest to that gen-
tleman to recommend the Barrow people to pu" down a few
of theirs,

THE lUEMfiK'S MAGAZINE.

139

llcv. C W. Jones (Pakculiam) (hoa;^lit one classification
o'pei-iitcd most injurioasl}' — that by wliich a man was treated
as a boy till he married, and wliich never gave liiiii full wages
till he in irried. (Stronj? expressions of dissent.)

The (JiLURM.VN hoped two statements which had been made
would not so forth as the opinion of the Chamber. Great
slrcss was laid by one gentleman ou the circumstance that by
improving cottages and giving allotments they would render
the labourer more contented, and he wished to guard against
an impression being created that this Chamber considered the
agricultural labourer discontented. Another gentleman said
that none but the ignorant and uneducated men would be
crushed to the eartli, and he should not like it to go forth

that the Chamber was of opinion that the labourer was crushed.
Tliat gentleaian advocated increased knowledge, and he asked
whether education was not spreading, and whether there was
not every prospect that it would spread more and more ? As
to the cottages, he agreed with Mr. Gayt'orJ, but there had
been an improvement iu that respect, and lliough he disliked
to allude to anything personal, he believed there were cottages
enough ou the land lie ovned, and to every one was attached
a garden or an allotment.

Captain IIoiiTO.v having brictly rejdied, a vote of thanks
was passed to hini, and a similar complimcJit to the Chairman
closed the proceedings.

THE IXWORTH FARMERS' CLUB.

LABOURERS' DAUGHTERS.

At the last meeting, the subject wis The Education of the
Dauglitcrs of Agricultural Labourers. The chair was taken
by the President of the Club, Mr. Edward Greene, M.T.

Mr. George Gayfouu, jun., said that up to the present
their attention had not been specially directed to the improve-
ment and encouragement of the female members of the
labourer's family, and he thought that iu no way could this be
douj more clfectually than by inculcating attention to, and
proticieney in, the performance of such plain, practical duties
of every-day life as would tend to niike them good servants,
wives, and mothers, lie iiad used the plain old-fashioned word
teaching, as he did not wish to enter into the general question
of education, preferring to leave that in better hands. They
might compare the teaching of a child to the rearing of a
building — both required a sound and good foundation, llow
were children to stand the trials and troubles to which they
would be exposed, unless a good foundation was early laid by
practical and judicious teaching? lie would not enter into
the question of whether the present system of education was
right or wrong; but he would say, witliout going into such
(jueslions as that, it appeared to him that it was their duty to
endeavour to lay a sound, solid foundation by trying to teach
and encourage those plain duties of every-day life which they
knew must be well performed by the wife, if a man's house
was to be made comfortable and happy. It appeared to him
that tills part of the teaching of the daughters of agricultural
labourers had been, and still was to a certain extent over-
looked ; and he thought they would all see there was an in-
creasing tendency to allow a regard for mere outward show
and fashion to take the place of utility and comfoit. After
stating that this was his reason for bringing the subject for-
ward, Mr. Gayford proceeded to say : Two men may be living
under the same roof whose circumstances shall in all respects
be similar — the family of the one will always appear tidy,
comfortable, and well fed ; the other, ragged, uncomfortable,
and half-starved ; and often because the one has a tidy, care-
ful, and industrious wife, who has been well taught, knows the
value of time, and how to make the best of her small income,
while the wife of the other, who may have been, perhaps, a
more showy and fine dressing girl, is, from the neglect of good
training iu early life, destitute of tliose qualities, and that
useful knowledge possessed by her neighbour. Now, when-
ever the latter state of things prevails, can we expect good
conduct and industry in the husband who is neither a con-
tentinl nor a happy man ; and if we can do anything towards
rendering such a state of things less frequent, we shall not
only benefit tiie labouring man but society generally. And
liow is this to be done? I think in a very simple way, by
taking for our guide that 15ook which should be the founda-
tion of all teacliing, in which we are told to do our duty to-
wards God and towards our neighbour. The public instruc-
tion in the first of these duties we may leave to tlio.se whose
special mission it is to teach it ; but the second, I think,
comes quite within our province, and we are plainly told that
our duty to our ueiglibour is to learn and labour truly to get
our own living, and to do our duty in that state of life to
which it may please God to call us. And I say that if the
teaching of these plain truths is iu any way neglected, and is
not constaully impressed upon the minds of the young, all

other education will loscniueh of its value ; and I fear that all
education bills, school boards, certificated teachers, and go-
vernment inspectors, will be of but little use, and will fail in
producing the good efTeets anticipated by their advocates. If
you, gentlemen, consider it desirable that we should encourage
such a system of teaching as I am in favour of, I would re-
spectfully tuggest that we should appropriate from our funds
such a suai as we can spare to be devoted to giving prizes to
the daughters of agricultural labourers, for skill in bread-
making, plain sewing, mending clothes and stockings, knitting,
or any other branch of industry likely to be useful to them, or
for any special cases of merit or good conduct brought before
us. In conclusion, if there should be any person to whom
this appears a trifling and unimportant matter, I would re-
mind them that history tells us that woman's iutluence has
always to a great extent swayed the destiny of mankind iu all
parts of the world, and we know it is still the case, and it is
right that it should be so, provided that their irifluence is pro-
perly exercised, and confined within fair and legitimate limits ;
and I would also remind them that many of our greatest and
best men, some of whom have risen from the lower classes,
have recorded their conviction that they owed their success in
life in a great measure to the teaching of a good wise mother.
And .again, I would ask them if they do not (eel and know that
whatever there may be ot good in them is mainly to be traced
to a mother's teaching and example, and that the evil or
wroug in their natures has been more checked and overcome
by the iutluence or the memory of a mother than by any other
means. And, gentlemen, this iutluence pervades all classes
of society ; tlierefore I do feel that if we can do anything to
raise the standard of excellence and usefulness in the daughters
of the agricultural labourers, our discussion will not have been
in vain, and we may possibly lay the foundation of much pre-
sent ha|jpiness and much future good.

Mr. 11. Gree^j (Schoolmaster, Ixwortli) also read a paper
on the same subject. He said there could be no subject so
desirable for disciissiou at their meetings as the education of
the labouring poor, and in hi.s opinion, more especially, the
education of the daughters. It was from the class of the
daughters of labourers that their servants came, and who, aa
such, might exercise an influence for good or for evil over
their children, and who would also, after their own marriage
as mothers, rule the future generations of their class. They
(the farmers) of all classes knew that good fruit would not
come of its own accord, their experience had told them that as
much attention need be paid to the growing as to the ripen-
ing season, and he would ask them if they had hitherto taken
any interest in the training of young girls. Had they ever
thought the education of the agricultural poor a matter for
their own consideration and benefit ? Mr. Green then went on
say: In my oyiuiou the great root of the evil, in many
parishes, is the want of proper accommodation iu the cottages
of the poor. What is the use of talkinr^ about decency and
respectful conduct to a girl who has passed most of her young
life in a sleeping-room with men and boys ? What is the use
of teaching morality while sach a state of things is allowed to
exist ? But it is said, " We know it, and are sorry for it, but
we cannot lieip it." I ask, " Do you try ?" Many, by impor-
tunity, get even more than they expect. Why should not

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every farmer say to his landlord, " I can employ so many men ;
build me up as many good cottages, and let me hire them with
the farm, so that I may have some influence over my work-
men ?" Such a system, carried out properly, would be a great
help to destroy the present state of things in over-crowded
cottages, and, under the management of the farmer and his
wife, there might be a special interest taken and an assistance
given to remove what may be called the next great evil and
hindrance to education : I mean, the want of moral control at
home. I don't want to see our labourers treated as serfs or
slaves, but I think in some cases a little judicious compulsion
may be made use of in this great failing, with great benefit to
both parents and children. Among the labouring poor, the
parents seem to lose all moral control over tlieir children about
the age of 9 or ten years. " Forced prayers," it is said, " are
not good for the soul," but I have seen, in parishes where the
Squire's Lady had absolute control, better servants and better
mothers, than those produced from parishes where everybody
does that which seemeth right in their own eyes — in parishes
where this one lady is not. Why should not the employers of
labour use their influence to incline the parents to more care-
ful training, and the children to understand the necessity of
obedience. This kind of aid would greatly help, if not entirely
effect a remedy. Should they refuse to accept these kind-
nesses, then, I say, put in a little sugar and force the medicine
down their throats. The next obstruction to a pure education
is the clieap and easy means of obtaining finery in dress. Oh !
for the days of neat white caps and sensible-sized aprons, in-
t ead of the make-believe things worn by servants in these
days. This is a very difficult and a delicate question, but I
cannot help saying that example is better than precept, and
when we see well-educated young ladies with their Alexandra
limps and Grecian bends, wliy need we be astonished at ignor-
ance aping the manners and dress of its superiors. One thing
I would strongly impress upon ladies if they were here present ;
never give away anything to poor girls which may be con-
verted into useless finery. If they give, let it be something neat
and useful. I now come to the last but not the least of those
things which militate against the education we all so much
desire — the present system of Government education. How
can it be expected that the teachers should take tlie same in-
terest in teaching the heart when their employers and pay-
masters, the Committee of Council, ignore that King of teach-
ing ? Is it not natural that they shoukl attend most to that
wliich brings in the needful to support them ? Is it right
that a nation should support such men as say to a girl (in
effect if not in words), " I care not whether you are taught the
religion of your Saviour or not, but at 10 years of age I ex-
pect you shall be able to manipulate perfectly all the questions
which may be put in our puzzling weights and measures" ?
Is it fair to tell the schoolmistress, " You must teach needle-
work in the afternoon, but you shall also bring your girls up
to the standard of the boys at tlie same age, or you shall be
plucked" ? In other words, " You shall perform your tale of
bricks, but you shall have no straw." I tell yon honestly the
Government system, according to the hard and fast line, by age
standards, is nothing but a system of cram, and will never, as
a rule, produce what is most wanted. It is all artificial and
on the surface, producing contempt for hard work, and a con-
ceited superiority over one's neighbours. In his concluding
remarks Mr. Green alluded to the fact that Lady Hoste was
alive to the necessities of the Ixworth school, and had pro-
vided calico and other materials to be made by the girls into
garments, which were to be sold at cost price to the poor.

Mr. ifisoN said he thought they should begin at the
neginning, and that was to improve the dwellings of the la-
bourers. He quite agreed with Mr. Gayford's suggestion that
prizes should be given for useful work.

Mr. GoLDSiiiTH said he should like to go back to the times
when farmers' wives and daughters did work. He believed
they wanted, in the first instance, to go higher than the la-
bourers' daughters. They wanted to see that the farmers'
wives and daughters understood these things. Good servants
thev could not now expect to find ; they were not taught.

Dr. Short said he should like to ask the farmers present
whether they thought that wives had not, years ago, more in-
fluence over the children than they had now. lie was a
young man, but he could remember that when he was a boy
children were more obedient to their parents than they were
now. It was astonishing on going into cottages to hear the

impudent remarks that children made to their parents. His
experience was not great in the matter of servants, but if
they got them they were not what servants were years ago.
He did not think the influence of the parents were so much
exercised as it used to be. The children grew up giddy,
thoughtless, and unfit for the state of life into which they were
caUed.

Mr. Hi Taylok thought a very great source of the evil was
the employment of females in agricultural labour. He had
witnessed young females and old ones too, as it were, half un-
sexed, employed in labour in the fields, and they were by no
means pleasant sights to the eye. But he had witnessed such
sights, and he must say that he had considered them as highly
out of place. They expected to get their servants from the
daughters of agricultural labourers, and what was the conse-
quence|? They were led to adopt for themselves the more faci-
natiug occupation of agricultural labour. A girl went to work
in the fields, and paid no regard to the preservation of her cha-
racter. If she lost her character as a domestic servant there
wore the fields to resort to. He said that the amount of
iniquity was very great as regarded that indiscriminate group-
ing together of females in agricultural labour. He questioned
very much whether there was the same amount of innocence
and harmlessness now that there was in the days when Phillis
and Corydon courted together. He believed that there was
more prostitution and more illegitimacy caused through that
system than any other. He left primary education in the
hands of otliers. He believed it had been the subject of such
diversity of opinion that he would leave it. He merely referred
to the other subject, which he considered an important one.
He thought that if farmers would really refuse to employ
females they would be obliged to devote themselves and employ
their energies in other things, and they would get better ser-
vants, better wives, and better mothers. The wives now not
only neglected their husbands, but also their children He
had known instances in which children had been locked up in
the house whilst their mothers were gone to work in the fields.
There they came to all sorts of grief and harm, and besides,
the household duties were neglected.

Mr. ILynfield could not agree with Mr. Green, that the
present defective cottage accommodation was easily remedied.
How was it to be done in a place like Ixworth ? The owners
would not do it. He thought they must all agree that the
daughters of aKricultural labourers required such an education
as would fit them for after life. They must, at least, be good
sempstresses, and possess the qualification for good domestic
servants. He entirely disagreed with Mr. Taylor's remarks
as to the employment of women in agriculture, and quoted
Mr. C. S. Read's opinion in support of his argument.

Dr. Shokt stated that he could speak from his experience of
the parishes in which he was poor-law medical officer, that the
women who went out to work in the fields were the most un-
tidy, and their homes the most uncomfortable. In seven out
of eight cases, where the women worked out, this was so.

Mr. FisoN disclaimed the idea that seemed to prevail
amongst the speakers, that it was a general thing to
employ mothers of families in the fields. It was the exception
rather than the rule.

Mr. F. Gayfokd said women did not go out so much now as they
did. They had not half-a-dozen women, out of a population of
350, who'would go into the fields to work. If he now wanted
female labour, he was told the women did not go out to work.
He agreed with Dr. Short's remarks, that the homes of women
who went out to work must be neglected.

Mr. Manfield asked if the opponents of female labour ob-
jected to gleaning ? He said if field labour did not hurt them
then, it could not at any other time.

Mr. Tavlor rejoined that his argument was that the supply
of domestic servants was bad. They expected labourers'
daughters to be practically educated, and he asked how that
could be done in the fields.

Mr. S. W. Hunt, the Vice-Chairman, said he recollected
when he was a boy that girls used to go into the fields, and
used to do a great deal more labour than they did now.
Servants of that day were a different class of people from
what they were at present. Farmers' wives and daughters
did not mind work, but at the present time the question was
whether they could get servants to work. What lie main-
tained was this : unless the mistress of a household knew
how to set a servant to work, they could not expect to get a

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131

good servant. He thought that if they had more milk pails
and fewer ransic stools, they would be better oflf. Speaking of
what had been said as regarded immorality, he said there was
not so mucli immorality in the country as there was in towns.
A town was the hot-bed of immorality, the hot-bed of ille-
gitimacy, and statistics would bear that out.

Mr. Boorr said he could not agree with all Mr. Hunt had
said. That gentleman jeemed to think that farmers' wives
were to supply all the servants that were wanted in the coun-
try, and that tradesmen's wives should know nothing but how
to please their husbands.

Mr. Gayford, in reply, suggested that many persons might
do good in taking a little girl into the house to assist the other
servants, so that she learnt a little from all, and was trained
to be a very useful servant in that way. To show that there
was something in it, he was prepared — if the Club would give
a guinea, for a medal or something of the kind — he would
give a five guinea cup to the daughter of the farmer of about
150 to 200 acres who made the best pound of butter or the
best loaf of bread. Let it be kept by the winner who took it
three years in succession, and let the winner at the time have
also a medal or something to commemorate the event. He
thought that was most important to young farmers. Perhaps
when the first cup was won some gentleman would give another.

The Vice-Ch,\.irma.n said he should be very hapjiy to give
the second cup then.

Mr. G. Gayford, alluding again to the question of field
labour, said the mothers of very small children must lose more
than they got by going out to work. Mothers, again, did not
teach their children well by stopping at home, doing all the
household work, and letting the children go out into the fields.
He should like, before they left the room that evening, that
that they should arrive at some decision — whether they could
devote anything from the funds of the Club to the object. If
they could not do it in that way they might invite the ladies
to co-operate with them, and ask them to form a committee
amongst themselves. They might form a sort of auxiliary
committee, and take an example from the one now existing.
It was time something was done.

The Chairman thanked Mr. Gayford from the bottom of
his heart for having brought that question forward. He (the
Chairman) believed there could be no sound state of society
without a religious basis. The labouring classes should be
provided with proper dwellings. He considered that every
one who had a young girl as servant, had a trust committed to
him, and was bound to do his best to see the girl properly
[rained, and not look upon a girl as a mere machine out of
which they should get the most work they could. Having
alluded to home comfort as a necessity for the labourer as
much as any one else, the Chairman proceeded to say that
the present settlement of tlie education question was a mistake.
Education without religion was like a ship without a rudder.
They had heard a great deal of the want of parental control.
They knew that boys must go early to work. It was essential
that they did so. It would be impossible for the parents to
support all their children unless tliey went to labour. As
soon as they earned about an equivalent to their board they

began to be very independent. That was not confined to the
agricultural classes. It was the same in higher classes. A
young man did not call his father his " father," but he called
him his " governor" (laughter). They all knew that from the
age of 13 to 1-1, when the boy went to earn wages, he was
under no control. It was very often the case that on Sundays
they went to no place of worship at all. 'J'hey met them in
twos, and threes, and fours and fives, standing about as idlers,
and so they went on, till they were grown up or got married
and settled. They ought to do their best to put them in the
right path, and if they were put in the right path when they
were about 30 or 21, there was every prospect ot their going
right. To go back to what was the object of their meeting — i
the question of teaching girls. Women did not go to work
as they used to do ; there were more demanded for good ser-
vants. This was only to be done by each person who felt a
responsibility endeavouring to teach them. They could not
expect that without good teaching they would be capable of
fulfilling the duties. He hated pauperism. He haled helping
people who would not help themselves. Let them not turn
their backs upon those who had fallen into error. Let them
try them again. He had known many a generous heart beat
under such a breast. As they would hope to be tried them-
selves let them try others ; try them again and again, and
then there might come a time -.vhen they might see that it was
really useless to help them. But let them not turn their banks
upon them the first time.

Mr. Gayford, in answer to the Chairman as to some prac-
tical means of carrying out what he had spoken of, suggested
that in class 1 they should offer a prize for tlie best shirt made
by a girl above fourteen and under fifteen — say three prizes of
15s., lOs., and 6s. In the second class let the girl be under
fourteen, and give the same prizes. In class 3 he proposed to
embrace clothes-mending and darning of stockings, giving as
prizes 10s., 7s. 6d., and 5s. Darniug he took to be a most
important matter. He knew of nothing more uncomfortable
tiian wearing badly darned stockings. The candidates, he
sugsjested, should all be recommended by a member of the
club, and should produce a certificate from the mistress, the
minister of the parish, or the wife or daughter of some mem-
ber, setting forth that the work was done in the presence of
the parties recommending, or at least that they believed it to
be all the candidate's work.

On the suggestion of the Chairman, the subject was referred
to the committee to consider, alter it had been suggested that
the club should find materials, a suggestion, however, that did
not find favour.

Mr. Manfield suggested that prizes should be given to do-
mestic servauts. He thought that must have escaped Mr.
Gayford's attention. He would propose a vote of thanks to
Mr. Gayford for his paper.

Mr. FisoN seconded it.

Mr. Gayford, alluding to the offering of prizes to domestic
servants, said he had not forgotten it, but he did not consider
that it came within the province ot their discussion. That
would be for a future time.

A vote of thanks to the Chairman closed the proceedings.

NEWCASTLE FARMERS' CLUB.
THE RELATION OF SCIENCE TO AGRICULTURE.

At the last meeting, Mr. G. H. Ramsay in the chair, Mr.
Stockley read the following paper:

It has been a frequent subject of remark and a matter
of surprise to many inquiring minds that agriculture,
considering its antiquity as an occupation for man, and its
paramount importance to the well-being of the whole
human family, should not have partaken of the same rapid
development as has attended the progress of physical sciences.
It will be the object of this paper to point out some of tiie
drawbacks that have crippled its progress, until at last we find
it taking a foremost place among the scientific pursuits of our
times, and thence, starting from the time when practical phi-
losophy and erudition came to the aid and service of agricul-

ture, to follow up our observations of the striking episodes in
its history that modern times have witnessed. Let us take
a retrospective glance through the dim vista of unrecorded
centuries in this island — when our wild predecessors roamed in
savage freedom through the forests aud fens, and over the wild
moorlands of ancient Britain — far back for full forty centuries
from our time, and we can, in the records of old mystical
Egyptian civilization, find evidence of an agriculture flourish-
ing under the Pharaolis, with which thatof tliis country, down
to the middle of last century, would have borne but poor com-
parison. Taking as our warranty for this assertion the scrip-
tural proof we have of Egypt being the granary of all the sur-
rounding countries, and the silent but strikmg evidence of the

132

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

implements of husbaudry depicted on the walls of her temples
and tombs, we may there recognise the birth place of agricul-
ture as an art, coeval with that of the sciences of astronomy
and geometry, and long antecedent to the rise of fine art in
what we now call ancient Greece, or to the Arabic invention
and Saracenic development of algebra and mathematics, the
very foundation and keystone of the exact sciences. It is tlien
comparatively as yesterday that our Galileos, Keplers, and
Herschels, our Priestleys, Faradays, and Davys, our Watts
and Stephensons began their labours, and yet see, on every
hand, the astounding progress that has occurred in the sciences
of astronomy, chemistry, and mechanics. Take, for instance,
the fact that this very week we had supplied to our breakfast-
tables news, that only a few hours previously had been com-
mitted to the electric wires in India and Hashed through seas
and over mountains for many thousands of miles, to tell us that
our Sdvaiifs had succeeded— by means of the spectroscope — in
solving some knotty points in natural philosophy, by measuring
and analysing phenomena in connection with the recent eclipse
of the sun, although occurring at the inconceivable distance
from their point of observation of 95 million of miles ! Why,
then, or to what causes, are wo to attribute the stagnation at-
tendant on, and tardy development of, agriculture — the first-
born of the arts — tlirough ages in which the discoveries and
scientific progress we have alluded to were never even dreamt
of? Let us, in explanation and answer to tiiis query, and
limiting our view to England, look back for 1,300 years, to
the time of the Saxon invasion, and we find such solutions as
these : Gildas, a learned monk of Bath, writing about the year
of our Lord 530, says : " From cast to west nothing was to be
seen but churches and houses burnt and destroyed to their very
foundations, and the inhabitants, extirpated by the sword,
buried beneath the ruins." Again, the Venerable Bede, wri-
ting from his cell, and, mayhap, the chair at Jarrow so familiar
to us north-countrymen, says : " Britain was so ravaged by the
conquering Saxons that there seemed to be a continual flame
from sea to sea, wliich burnt up the cities and covered the
surface of the whole isle. Public au.l private buildings fell in
one common ruin, and nothing but destruction and dismay
prevailed." After these times had passed, and when the people
in the course of 600 years had become thoroughly Saxon, and
agriculture had somewhat progressed, came the Norman Con-
quest ; and when, after a terrible struggle, these new invaders
had subjngated the country, its state in 11-17 is thus described
by William of Jlalmesbury : " From York to Durham there re-
maineth not a single inhabited village (and most of these had
all been agricultural centres) and the whole face of England
presented a scene of wretched devastation." Multitudes, afraid
to remain in their own homes, built themselves huts in the
churchyards, trusting to them as a sanctuary of refuge, and
liere, alter subsisting for a while on roots, herbs, S:c., died by
holocausts in the pangs of hunger. It is easy, then, to imagine
there could be no progress made in such times, and it is not
till about 300 years after them that we find even a book of any
importauce bearing on the subject of husbandry. There was
one published by Sir II. Fitzherbert in 1534., which, after
epitomising all that was known on the subject, went no further.
We then pass through an age where guesses and dogmas such
as the following were prevalent as xpositions of the principles
of vegetation. About 1600 A.D., Sir Hugh Piatt says: "I
find a double fatness in every compounded body — the one com-
bustible and the other incombustible. The combustible fatness
causcth vegetation by its vivifying and vapouring qualities, and
of these two fatnesses all riches and treasures are engendered.
For there is no difference of dungs, but as the astringent, in-
combustible fatness doth overmatch, or is overmatched by, the
combustible, so it is more or less adapted for hot or cold
ground." This is sufficiently abstruse, but certainly somewhat
obscure. We then have a gradual improvement upward till
the time of Davy, when for tlie crude ideas in the appli-
cation of chemicsl science to agriculture hitherto held, was
substituted true and demonstrable pliilosophy, opening out a
fiekl of research and inquiry tliat has engaged tiie best efforts
of some of the master minds of the last and present genera-
tion. Then followed improved agricultural mechanism,
crowned by the application of steam as the motive power, and
we have now a combination of practical and theoretical skill
at work in flM! interests of the masses, wliicii lias so rapidly
expanded ana altered the art of cultivation as to give rise to
the hopeful expression, " Notwithstanding all that has yet

been done, agriculture is still in its infancy." If this be true,
it affords a cheering prospect to those who — looking on
agriculture as a profession — see full scope for all their energies
and powers of observation, coupled with a fair chance of sub-
stantial reward for every judicious and well-matured step in
advance. And not less so to others engaged in more strictly
scientific pursuits, but who, perceiving an almost fallow field
for the conjoint labours of tlie husbandman, chemist, and
mechanic, have turned their most earnest attention to the task,
and continue to apply all their energies to this vast arena of
competitive improvement ; and with what success let the
gigantic establishments of our world-famed implement makers,
and the acres covered by their production at our periodic
shows, bear witness. In his now celebrated lectures before the
members of the first Board of Agriculture in 1802, Davy enun-
ciated his new theory containing the fuudameutal principles
upon which the chemistry of agriculture is founded — i.e,
" The conversion of inorganic bodies into gases, and the
assimilation of gases by organic bodies." Vegetables derive
their component principles, which for the most part are hy-
drogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, either from the
atmosphere by which they are surrounded, or from the soil in
which they grow. The process of vegetation appears to depend
upon the perpetual assimilation of various substances to the
organs of the plants in consequence of the exertion of their
living powers, and of their chemical affinities. We have now
arrived at a point where the words chemical affinities warn us
that an exact science has to be dealt with, in so far as it re-
lates to our theme, and we cannot, with any degree of lucidity,
perspicuity, or profit, go further without a familiarity with the
first principles of chemistry upon which our future clear com-
prehension of its operations in vegetative processes will de-
pend. As these papers are specially addressed to those who
have not studied the subject to any extent, we shall avoid any
attempt at recondite dissertations on chemical action, or the
use of puzzling nomenclature, while endeavouring to draw our
illustrations, as far as possible, from tlie familiar objects by
which the tiller of the soil is surrounded. In all the multi-
tudinous objects by which we are encompassed, our riverd,
rocks, and seas ; our atmosphere, animals, ])lants, forests and
fields ; in short, in the whole economy of nature, we see but
few primitive elements, or bodies having a composition of their
own, the endlessly diversiQed appearances and attributes of
matter being traceable to their source from the now ascer-
tained compaiativcly few elementary bodies. These, under the
subtle and wondrous power of chemical affinity, act and react
upon each other and their mutual production in endless
diversity of election and combination, and so evolve the ma-
terial from which our globe, with its infinitude of wonders,
organic and inorganic, solid, liquid, and gaseous, is composed.
In the early history of choniistry, while it was fettered by the
dreams of the alchemists (but to whom much is due as pioneers
in the science), or when, unfortunately, it was perverted to
the abuses of empiricism and designing charlatans, and even
down to our own time, hundreds of bodies were accepted as
elementary substances that have, since the time when chemistry
took her place among the exact sciences, been relegated to the
list of compounds, and still her votaries continue constantly
by their researches to reduce the number. Looking at our
subject from an agricultural point of view, we shall not need
to deal with more than about 17 or 1 8, as necessary for admis-
sion to the laboratory of the scientific farmer ; and these arc,
oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, chlorine, silicon, phos-
phorus, magnesium, sulpliur, calcium, potassium, aluminum,
sodium, iron, manganese, bromine, fluorine, and ammonium,
this last being a compound body, but doing duly as an elemen-
tary one. Tiiese bodies, then, when brought into contact
with each other in certain definitely fixed proportions of
weight or volume, and under certain circumstances of tempera-
ture, fluidity, or otlier necessary conditions, exhibit the action
of affinity by combining, or, as it were, actually entering into
each other, the resultant compound or compounds generally
being totally different from the parents elements and from each
other, in every characteristic of weight, volume, colour,
form, smell, and taste, in fusibility, volatility, solubility,
and, lu fact, every property of matter. The act of com-
bination is generally attended with the production of heat,
detonation, ebullition, or crystallisation. A very familiar
and common chemical experiment serves well to illustrate
the foregoing remarks. Suppose that of the two invisible or

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13S

elastic jjnses, oxygen and hydrogen, the first r. most
wonderful su])porter of combustion (observe this (jiiality),
and the second the liglitest substance known to exist (an
equally distinctive feature of remark). Supposing we take
eight parts of oxygen and one part of hydrogen, and mix them
together in these proportions, no matter whether in ounces
or tons, they will theoretically remain tranquil, invisible,
and innocuous for ever, if kept below the temperature at
wliicli tliey combine and form another sul)stance. 13nt
apply a red-hot wire or lighted match to the mixture, and
witli lightning rapidity every one part of hydrogen selects
its eight parts of oxygen — neither more nor less — and vice
versa — Hash into each other with such inconceivable inten-
sity as to cause an explosion and loud report, and instantly
form a compound of exactly the previous proportions,
hut diametrically opposed to every quality possessed by
them — namely, water, an incompressible, visible, fire-
destroying element, born of and preserved in that form by tlie
laws of allinity. We may again willi this very water reduce it
to its original constituents as follows, and permanently sepa-
rate them : Put tlie water into a boiler having an iron outlet
pipe filled partly with iron filings and passed through a fire so
that tiiis part become red hot. Then boil the water which
passing off in the form of steam and va\iour, is, on its way
Ihrougli the pipe and filings decomposed or reduced to itsprimary
gases ; but the oxygen having a stronger affinity for the iron tlian
it had for the hydrogen, parts company with the latter, and
enters into the iron, forming oxide of iron, or common rust, just
as it is doing every day on the uni)rotected ironwork of your
homesteads (only in this case it is deserting tlie nitrogen of tlie
air), and the pure hydrogen passes off at the end of the pipe
where its presence may be demonstrated by applying a light,
whenitwill ignite and burn with a pale yellow fiar.ie.taking back
oxygen from tb.e air and again produeiug water. If the iron pipe
and filings were weighed previous to and after tlie experiment
tliey would be found to be heavier by exactly the previous as-
certained weight of tlie oxygen they have absorbed, so bcauti-
fiiily true and unerring arc the laws governing chemical trans-
mutations. Again, we may have evidence of mere contact
bringing about instantaneous combination, by taking a piece
of the metal potassium, the base of potass, and merely dropping
it into a saucer containing cold water, when the potassium viill
seize and combine with tlie oxygen of the water so fiercely as
to burst into intense combustion, until the potassium has
gorged itself with oxygen and is presented in tlie new but fa-
mili^ir form of oxide of potassium — the jiotasb of commerce.
The very same action, but with a lesser evidence of intensity,
is what ynu see going on where the simple clod of lime, falling
from the cart iato a pool on the road, exhibits a vigoi'ous che-
mical combination going on by mere contact of two cold bo-
dies, one liquid and the other solid, and producing heat and a
new resultant compound. These are illnstralions of allinity in
its simplest form, but it presents more intricate attributes in
what is called elective alfinity — single and double — and I m.ay
here adduce an instance where the exercise of the first-named
would be productive of a dead loss to the farmer. Sulphuric
acid and ammonia unite easily, and form sulphate of ammonia,
largely manufactured from gas water, and forming a well-known
chemical manure. Now these two elements are in tliis form
ipi it e satisfied with each other, a lid ready to serve the farmer a good
turn while fairly treated ; but let them be brought (as may easily
liappen) into contact with lime, when straightway tlie fickle
sulphuric acid trausfers it alTeetions to the lime, and tlie am-
monia flies off in disgust. This has been brought about by the
exercise of elective alfiuify, where the acid, alihough previously
in combination with ammonia, has another body, for which it
has a stronger affinity, thrown in its way of choice. Another
example will illustrate the operation of double eleclivc affinity.
Suppose we go to a steaming manure heap on the farm, where
carbonate of ammonia is being wastefully given off from tlie
decay or slow combustion of the matter composing it. The
carbonate of ammonia being of a volatile character, will, if un-
intcrfered with, wander off into the atmosphere in search of
'■ fresh fields and pastures new," where it will be deposited by
some shower of rain washing it down ; but the probabilities
are, that will happen beyond the boundary of its birth-place,
and for some one else's benefit. So, to prevent this consum-
mation, let US give the manure heap a good dusting of gypsum
or sulphate of lime. Now this is composed of sulphuric acid
and lime, while the carbonate of ammonia is comiiosed of car-

bonic acid and ammonia. Directly they have the opportunity
presented them to exercise their elective affinities, the carbonic
acid leaves the ammonia, and, as it were, crosses over to the
lime, while the sulphuric acid of the gypsum does the same to
the rejected ammonia of the carbonic, and thus brings about a
complete change ; the acids and bases changing places witli
each other ; and, what is more to the purpose, presenting the
farmer with his once volatile ammonia now fixed in the form
of sulpliate of ammonia — the very compound already spoken of
in the foregoing instance. Thus we see how a knowledge of
even elementary chemistry may be not only a subject of interest
and inquiry to the observant agriculturist, but that he may turn
to profitable account that knowledge wliich, wielded by the ana-
lytical chemist, enables him to detect to infinitesimal degrees the
presence or absence of any individual ingredient in any given
compourid. Seeing, then, that all the operations of the agri-
culturist— tlie growth, structure, and food of the plants — whose
perfection his labour, anxiety, and capital is expended upon —
are regulated and subjected to the laws of which clicinieal
affinity is one, if not the most important, it will perhaps be ad-
mitted tliat a little time devoted to their study will not be lost.
If in this ease my audience endorse the hope thus expressed,
my endeavours on this occasion will not have been unsuccessful.

The Secretaiiy, Mr. Hugh Stephenson, said he endorsed
Mr. Stockley's remarks, and quite agreed with him as
to .science being of great importance to agriculturists.
He was, to a certain extent, acquainted witli the science of
chemistry ; he was educated as an agricultural chemist — at
least he had done a great deal in agricultural chemistry, and
had found great benefit from it. He was sorry that farmers
at large did not take the interest in chemistry that tliey really
should ; a great many of them ignored it, and thought it
really of no avail; but if a farmer — he did not care whether
the man was 30 or 40 years of age — would only look up tlie
elements of chemistry he would find that it put pounds into
his pocket every year. Science could not do entirely by itself,
especially chemical science ; it must be combined with good
practical knowledge. A man must be a practical farmer be-
fore he takes up chemistry. He wished to throw his small
weight into the, remarks of Mr. Stockley, for he could bear ont
what he had said, as he (the speaker) had proved it by ex-
perience.

Mr. Henderson believed that tiie science of agriculture
would bo better understood and carried out in future years
than it was now. He congratulated Mr. Stockley on the
very able paper he had read, and he trusted it would be pro-
fitable to them.

The CHA.IR3IAN said the paper had evidently been written
by a gentleman who understood a great deal more than some of
them in that room. It could not be expected that the great
bulk of agriculturists in this kingdom could be all chemists ;
but the agriculturists were now assisted by all the first
chemists in the country, in one shape or the other ; but that
would not prevent young men from cultivating their under-
standing, and such papers as the one read by Mr. Stockley were
one of the great means of giving knowledge and information
on the matter. He did not think exactly with Mr. Stockley,
that agriculturists were so far behind; but still he thought
they might be far more in advance. They did all they could in
such places as that club to spread useful information ; and they
were delighted to find gentlemen like Mr. Stockley come
amongst them from time to time, and to sliow them, in tlie
nice condensed way he liad, the great vahie of chemistry to
agriculture. If they could go on better he should be very glad
indeed ; but he feared they would never be able to approach
the subject in the way their friend, or analytical cliemists,
could ; but they were doing what lliey could.
They were extremely indebted to Mr. Stockley and other
gentlemen who came forward. He thought such clubs as
that deserved some credit for what thevdid towards improving
the information of their members; and, taking all things iuto
consideration, he thought agriculture had made very rapid pro-
gress indeed. If Mr. Stockley's paper was printed, they
would have an opportunity of reading it over, and he could
say that he had not heard many better papers than that of
Mr. Stockley's.

Mr. Wai.l.vce said they had had a very able paper read, and
the discussion had hitherto been as to relation of chemical ap-
pliances to agriculture. The lieading of the paper, however,
was " The Relation of Science to Agriculture." If anyone

134

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

looked tack to some of the dates Mr. Stoekley had referred to,
they would see and admit that agriculture had made the most
rapid strides of any profession or calling that existed. If they
looked hack three hundred years to the mechanical appliances
then connected with agriculture, they would find that improve-
ments had since then made monstrous strides ; and if they
looked hack only to the days of their great grandfathers,
they would he astonished at the improvements which had heen
made in the mechanical department of agriculture ; and he
helieved they would see still greater improvements hefore some
of the young men present reached the age of three-score years
and ten. He helieved they would live to see steam-power us^ d on
almost every farm in the country. As to chemistry, it was
very much to be regretted that every young farmer did not give
more attention lo that branch. He himself had felt a great
want indeed in not being able to bring the science of chemistry
to bear on agriculture. He would only he too glad if this
paper, and the exertions of this club, brousrht hefore the young
farmers of the north the fact as to this deficiency in chemical
education. The more chemistry was brought to bear on agri-
culture, the more would agriculture be benefited by its appli-
cation. He hoped Mr. Stockley's paper might he printed, and
he trusted farmers would endeavour to be benefited bv it.

Mr. Andeksox agreed with a great deal of what Mr. Wal-
lace had said. He thought that agriculture in England stood
higher than in other countries, and especially as to agricul-
tural implements. He remembered the day when a thrashing
machine was rather a novelty, and now it was found a perfect
necessity in every establishment. It was only recently that
eiforts were made to make reaping machines, and they had
now become a perfect success, and were most important in
regard to getting in the crops in England. Instead of having
as formerly, a hatch of Irish labourers, who had to cut tha

com whether wet or dry, the farmer had a machine which
would cut any quantity of corn, and cut it in dry weather.
Their drills and haymaking machines were now as nearly per-
fect as poRsible ; but it was different in some European coun-
tries. He had seen a horse treading out the hay by merely
walking over it ; he had seen that in Italy, where they were
doing it exactly as it was done in the days of Abraham. He
thought there was some chemical knowledge required in con-
nection with agriculture. They had now the opportunity of
having an Agricultural College in their neighbourhood. At
Haydon Bridge there was a school, which, it was contem-
plated, might he made of great advantage to farmers' sons.
The highest class of education was well attended to. and the
lowest was now likelv to be attended to : but the middle.class
seemed to fall through, and the sous of farmers seemed likely
to he less educated than other classes. He would be elad to
see the contemplated college at Haydon Bridge succeed ; and
if it was supported by the farmers of the county there would
he no doubt of it succeedin?. He concluded by moving a vote
of thanks to Mr. Stoekley for his able paper.

Mr. Bell (Newcastle) seconded the resolution. He was
verv glad that they had heard a lecture of this sort, because
he believed it was the best way of communicating informa-
tion. Farmers' sons, he believed, were improving in their
education ; at all events, they could read and write well, ge-
nerally speaking ; and if they could do that, then they had
information very near at hand in the weekly and daily news-
papers which were circulated and read in the country.

The resolution was unanimously agreed to.

On the motion of Mr. J. Potts, seconded by Mr. Hewtro-n',
it was agreed that Mr. Stockley's paper be printed and dis-=
tributed among the members of the club.

THE COGGE SHALL AGEICULTURAL SOCIETY.

At the annual dinner, after the ploughing match, Mr. F. U.
PattisRon m the chair,

Mr. Mechi said : I have always had a great affection for Cog-
geshall, and for this institution in particular, because I have
always received from the members of it, under every circum-
stance, the most marked indulgence, and when opposition,
perhaps, might be expected, it has always been qualified by an
excellent personal and kindly feeling. And I look upon that
as a very wise course of conduct, because if you exclude per-
sonalities from such institutions as this you are sure to pro-
long their existence. You cannot destroy an institution of
this kind more quickly than by permitting personalities to be
indulged in. We are met, gentlemen, for a great and a good
object. It is to encourage the labourer in good habits and in
proficiency in his occupation, and altogether we must look upon
these assemblasres as tending very much to improve British
agriculture. You know I am getting an old man (" No,
no)." Well, I am 70 next May. In my early days there were
no Farmers' Clubs, and no'institutions of this°character. But
I believe I have had the pleasure of attending this meeting
now for more than a quarter of a century, and 1 recollect per-
fectly well, when employment for the labourer was very dif-
ficult to obtain, I saw your prize given for digging. I esti-
mated the time by my watch that it took to dig a rod of
ground, and I went hack to my farm and had 50 acres of land
dug, as a means of employing the people and making profit for
myself, at the small charge of £1 6s. 8d. per acre, or 2d. per
rod. I found that the men, instead of going to the union-
house in the months of November and December, were willing
to earn those wages. Times have improved since then or
money has got cheaper. At all events I could not have that
work done now for less than 50 per cent, increase. That was
one good that was derived partially and principally from my
visiting this institution. Now we come to a very important
question : How can we make farming more profitable — more
profitable for the tenant farmer, for the labourer, for the
landowner — because they must all go together — and more be-
neficial and profitable for the country at large ? That question
is receiving a solution, for the great and interesting feature of
this year, agriculturally, has been the trial at Wolverhampton

of the steam ploughing engines, and if you would all read at-
tentively the voluminous report of the judges at those trials,
it would convince you, as it has convinced me — if I had any
doubt about it — that we must look to the employment of
steam power for the future increase and profit of agriculture.
There are great impediments to that in the county of Essex.
One of the first is that farmers don't understand steam and
don't like to face the trouble of having it on their farms. I
do not refer to thrashing machines, brought to them to be
hired, but to the very advantageous condition of having a fixed
engine on the farm for the ordinary purposes of the farm, irre-
spective of cultivation. I have had one for 24 years, and our
people on my little farm of 170 acres would say they would
not know how to get on without it. What strikes me as very
extraordinary is that plenty of rich farmers — for there is
plenty of money in Essex — Mr. Beaumo^t and Mr. Barnes
and other gentlemen of the law know that what strikes me as
extraordinary is that these rich farmers don't try the experi-
ment. But the explanation, I suppose, is that the having a
fixed steam engine on the farm is a new event, because it en-
tails a new arrangements of ideas, it is diff'erent from the
shoeing your horses and having your harness mended, and dif-
ferent from the ordinary work of a farm as it has been hitherto
carried out. I believe that is the reason tliat it is not more
generally adopted. It ought to be adopted. I see farms of
four, five, and six hundred acres which never ought to be for
an hour without their fixed steam engine — that is, quite irres-
pective of steam cultivation. Well, now we come to steam
cultivation. Among the impediments are, the size of the fields,
the incumbrance of trees, and the incumbrance of fences. It
is impossible to come from London on this line of railway
without being struck by this fact, that small as the fields were
originally a vast number of them have been intersected by the
railway and cut into halves or into thirds, what was a
great evil before being thus rendered still greater. That
is a question for the landowner principally, and next for
the landowner and tenant combined. I hope and believe that
the landlord will find it will be for his interest to give per-
mission to abolish those fences, to do away with those trees,
and put the land into such a condition that steam cultivation

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

135

can be brought to bear upon it. Another thing too must be
done — if the land be heavy and wet it must be drained
before you attempt to steam cultivate it. Tliere are
some very interesting facts in connection with steam cul-
tivation. Some companies have been formed in York-
shire, in Northumberland, and in other parts, with capitals
of from £20,000 to £iO,000 invested in steam cultivation
to do the work by contract for the harvest. But you
must bear in miud, gentlemen, that in the district in which
they are working the fields are 20, 30, or 40 acres each. They
could not profitably do it in certain parts of Essex on the same
terms. But there is another very great obstruction in Essex
•^the engines could not cross your rivers, for on every bridge
a notice is stnck up that no heavy machine is to go over it.
No doubt that is proper, because, as was the case at Battles
Bridge, the structure would fall in, and so would the engine ;
and when I wrote to Mr. Eddington to say that I wanted some
steam cultivation, he replied, " Mymachiues are in Cambridge-
shire. I should be willing to come to you but I cannot. The
bridges will not carry our engines." I must here appeal to
our magistrates to feel the pulse of the county and see whether
it will be much longer permitted that one of the most interest-
ing and profitable operations of a farm is to be rendered un-
available, simply because the bridges are not put in suitable
order. I have that opinion of Essex that a rate would not be
objected to and that the magistrates will find they can freely
make the necessary alteration. But, gentlemen, do you know
what is doing in regard to steam cultivation ? I have taken
great interest in this question. It is now 15 years ago — for
it was in the year 1856 — that Eowler's steam plough was first
brought on to my farm to plough the subsoil, and some of you,
gentlemen, I suppose, must have seen it. But look at vi-hat is
taking place now. An acquaintance of mine in Berkshire has
four steam engines of 30-horse power each. Last year he
succeeded in cultivating to a depth of 30 inches, but this year
his cultivation is a yard deep. That is a very serious question.
He is not a small farmer, for he has 4,600 acres of land of his
own which he farms. I believe he has been vi-ise not suddenly
to bring tlie bad soil to the top, but when I tell you that last
year he grew many acres of sugar beetroot for the purpose of
making brandy it shows you, I think, that there is something
going on in British agriculture. It is clear from the facts that
come before me that the cheaper class of engines are the most
costly and the least powerful. I mean the work can be done
cheaper by a 20-horse engine than by a 10-horse engine, al-
though the price may be so much larger at first. I was told
the other day that one of Mr. Fowler's first customers who
bought an engine of him for £1,500 some 14 months ago, as
a practical farmer has now bought another for £1,500, and it
is not an uncommon thing for a man to buy two engines at a
thousand pounds each as tlie cheapest way of cultivating his
land. I will give you an instance. The evidence we had in
the course of the Wolverhampton trials showed that one
pound of coal in an engine moved nine tons of earth. That
alone ought to teach us that steam as a power is infinitely
cheaper than horse flesh. A horse can lift another horse, or
perhaps two, but a pound of coal will lift nine tons of earth, or
put in a pumping engine it will H(t a million pounds weight of
water and lift it a foot high. I say that if we as farmers do not
take the cheapest power, if we do not give up our prejudices in
favour of our old customs, we are not quite sensible men of
business. I am not quite so sanguine as to suppose the
changes are to be very sudden. We know that in the Rochford
country, where fields are large, Mr. Carey has several sets of
machines, involving an expenditure of several thousand pounds,
and lets them out to the farmers. But there is one point I
would call the attention of our landowners to. Three years
ago the Duke of Northumberland had a conference with his
tenantry, through his steward, with the view of getting to
know whether they would like to join in a steam ploughing
machine on certain conditions. These conditions were that
his lordship was to buy a 12-horse power engine of Fowler's,
at £1,500 , they then calculated how much would be the wear
and tear and how much could he charged to each for the use of
the machme. The agreement was made and this was the re-
sult, that the tenants had their land ploughed at 10s. an acre ;
it was then cultivated very deeply the next time at 5s. an acre.
If it was cultivated a second time after the first cultivation and
the ploughing the charge was 2s. 6d. an acre, and the harrow-
ings were Is. 6d. per acre — not such harrowings as we have

with three-inch teeth— but with machines of 13 and 15 inch
teeth. That has been satisfactorily at work for three years.
The Duke of Northumberland receives five per cent, interest on
the money invested ; the machine is kept in perfect order, with
a reserve to buy a new one. There was a little difficulty as to
who should have it first, and a very wise arrangement was
come to : that was that the man who first cleared his 30 acre
field and gave notice was to have it, and the next in rotation
and when it became an even question they should draw lots
In that way it has worked extremely satisfactorily ; it has been
the means of largely increasing the farmers' profits, and I need
not tell you has been a great benefit to the country at large.
I don't know whether you are aware how many engines there
are in this country. I am told there are 10,000 locomotive
engines running and 200,000 sfeam engines employed in mak-
ing our clothes and other necessaries of life. I say that agri-
culture must take the lead a little more than it has done.
We are all inclined to get a little more profit. I don't know a
better farmer than our excellent friend Mr. Catchpool. He
has laid his fields open, and what I want to see is that his
landlord should make him a covered yard in which to feed liis
cattle and charge him five per cent., and that he should have
also a fixed engine for doing his work. I look upon Mr.
Catchpool as one of our best farmers, for the reason that he
maintains the fertility of the sqii. Cow fanning generally is a
robber of the soil, but the way in which Mr. Catchpool treats
his cows enables him while he is milking them to be also fat-
tening them. He feeds them with cake and grains, and at one
and the same time is finding milk and meat for the people,
besides making the land grow plenty of corn. I have to
apologise for taking up so much of your time. I can only say
if everyone of you gentlemen should procure a fixed engine,
the comfort and the profit would be such that having once got
it there would not he a man upon your farms who would say
you ought to do without it. I thank you for drinking my
health. I shall go on as long as it pleases God to spare me to
point out our weaknesses. I believe we effect good by doing
so, and it is therefore that I do it.

Mr. Beaumont, as an old member, had great pleasure in
proposing, at the call of their esteemed chairman, " Snccess to
the Society," and with that toast he would couple the name of
a gentleman who had invariably been willing to place his farm
at the disposal of the committee for the agricultural competi-
tions. He alluded, as they all knew, to Mr. E. Catchpool. He
was exneedingly pleased to hear one more competent than him-
sel} (Mr. Mechi) say kindly and good things of him. He was
especiallv glad to hear them from Mr. Mechi, because he knew
that if Mr. Mechi could take the farmer to pieces, or stick his
arrow into him deeply, he would most certainly do so.

Mr. Catchpool said Mr. Mechi had spoken on the topic of
steam cultivation. He, as a farmer, wished that gentleman
could have said something about Tenant-Right, for he held
that it was of no use a man improving the land lie occupied to
a great extent if, at the expiration, perhaps, of a 14 years'
lease, the landowner was to come down upon him and say,
" Your land is of very much more value and you must pay an
advanced rent." The tenant, in that ease, not only had to
find the money for the improvements, but had also to pay a
large interest upon it in the shape of increased rent. He quite
agreed with Mr. Mechi, generally, that keeping a large num-
ber of cows impoverished land, but at the same time they must
remembpr that from March to November people's yards were
empty. Many of his friends were in the habit of feeding their
50 qrs. of grains per fortnight, which were imported on the
farm, and he could not but think it must increase the value of
the farm to some extent.

' Mr. Dennis, the vice-chairman, wished to make one obser-
vation in regard to what Mr. Mechi had stated about steam
cultivation. _ He quite agreed with Mr. Catclip ol that the
terms on which farmers held their leases did prevent them in a
great measure from laying out so large a capital on the land
as they otherwise would do. There was great insecurity of
tenure even upon good estates, because life was verv uncertain,
and there were not always children to inherit the farms of
their fathers. Farmers were never paid for what they laid
out, and their childreu did not reap the benefit, and it was not
altogether a matter of surprise, therefore, that there was not
the money laid out in agriculture there ought to be. He felt
convinced that if they farmed lands which they could occupy
for a long series of years they could make them produce nearly

136

THE FAKMER'S MAGAZINE.

ilouble wlial (licy diJ at llie prescul UiiiP. lie M'as udt going
to brinKany charge against landowners, becansc they had their
interests and farmers bad theirs. [A. Voice : " Tiiey ought
to be identical."] He could not help thinking that farmers
were very badly represented in the House of Commons. They
had very good representatives so far as landlords were con-
eeriied, but what had been done for farmers in the Uouse of
Commons for many years past ? He was only aware of two
important measures. One was to make rabbits game, and the
other to do away with the last shilling on the corn, throwing
a million of money away which might as well have been in
their pockets now. The tendency of Parliament seemed to
he to impose no duties on foreigners, and put them all on the
farms of the country. Willi regard to the Malt-duty, he \ias
not an advocate of doing away with it, because he believed
the Government could not alford to give it up, but whenever
the Malt-duty had been brought forward Parliament bad
always beat about the bush instead of going right to the heart
of the question as they ought. Why did not Government
reduce the Malt-duty as they reduced "the tea-diity, in such a
way that they could recoup themselves by increased con-
sumption ? In reference to the insecurity of tenure, Mr Glad-
stone gave Ireland a land bill. Why diU he not give the
farmers of England a land bill ? Had tiiey not been as faithful
to the throne, and as anxious fjpr the welfare of this country ?
Perhaps, indeed, it was on account of their loyalty that so little
was done for them. He did not care what Government we had,
Mr. Disraeli's or Mr. Gladstone's. He was tor doing justice to
everybody, and he meant to say that the lands of this country
would never be farmed in the way they ought until measures
were passed to make the farmers' capital more secure on the
land than it now is.

Mr. Barnes said the speeh which had been made by so
practical a man convinced him what he had always thought,
that the laud of this country had not been made to produce what
ought to produce. In that case the farmers surely had, to a
considerable extent, the remedy in their own hands, for if they
could convince the landowners that by better cultivation they
could make the land grow double what it now did, and were

willing to increase the benefit of the owner to a fiiir extent,
they would have no dilliculty in getting long leases.

Mr. Hills hoped Mr. Barnes would be kind enough to tell
the farmers how they were to lay their capital out with a fair
prospect of getting a due return. They knew well enouR-b that
if more money were expended on the land it would yield more,
but it seemed, according to Mr. Barnes's tlieory, that the
tenant was to lay out all the money necessary for tliis and not
to liave the benefit of it. [" No, no."]

Mr. Barnes said Mr. Hills bad mistaken him. lie of
course supposed that if the tenant could be secured in his
tenancy, and could prow double the amount of produce he did
at present, lie would be prepared to give a rent in proportion
to the yield. [A Voice : "On wliose capital ?"] In part it
might be upon the the tenant's capital, but they must all know
that the laud of this country would never go down in its value.
Tiie tenant ought to be guaranteed a fair return, but the land-
lord had a right to have an increase from the value of his land
commensurate with the value of the capital of the country.
It was the farmers' own fault if they were not properly repre-
sented in Parliament. They had sufficient power, and if they
only used it legitimately they might be fairly represented.
They were certainly taxed for things they ought not to be,
and it was for them to bestir tliemselves in this matter.

Mr. Dennis said he had never contended for long leases.
What he said was that if a man drained a farm and got it into
a good state, after it had been in a bad one, he ought, when-
ever he left it, to be paid something for the improvement he
had effected. He had two sons in New Zealand, and so un-
satisfactory were the state of things in this regard that he
considered it one of the greatest blessings they ever left the
country. Looking to tlie quantity of foreign corn brought
into this country, which of course must bring the price down,
and to all the responsibilities which the agriculturist had to
bear, it was impossible to farm land with wheat at £10 or £11
per load.

l\Ir. Mechi believed the feeling was that there should be a
valuation of and compensation for unexhausted improvements
made by the tenant.

BANBURY DISTRICT CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.

At the general meeting, the ilev. C. W. llolbech, the
President, in the chair,

The Secretary said he bad written to seventy-
six Cliambers to gain information with rc-pect to chap-
money, as requested by the last meeting, and he had nut
received very many replies, some of the Chambers waiting to
have the matter laid before them before they sent an answer.
The answers from the North of England — where the people
were so sharp and shrewd — were that there was no such
custom there, and the sooner it was abolished the better. Tiie
Newcastle Chamber had passed a resolution since he had
written to the effect that it was desirable to abolish chap-
money, and a general time should be fixed for doing so through-
out England. A farmer at Bedford tuld him tliey liad abolished
chap-money with regard to corn, and on cattle it was only a
penny a-hcad. Mr. David Curror, of the Scottish Chamber of
Agriculture, said there was no such custom in Scotland with
regard to sales of grain, but of horses and cattle, and they did
not think the practice so vicious as to call for interference.
The West Suffolk and Norfolk Cliambers wrote that the custom
was not recognized in these counties, and the Leicester
Chamber that tiiey would shortly discuss it. He thought i;hey
should again adjourn the matter, so that he might get more
answers, and lay the results before them in a tabulated form.

The Chairman : I don't think any of the Cliambers wish
it to be continued.

Mr. R. Edmunds thought the practice very objectionable,
and they should endeavour to get it abolished simultaueously
throughout the kingdom.

Mr. Westover said that, while they were waiting for the
decision of the various Chambers, those attending Banbury
market laboured under very great dilliculty, for a resolution had
been passed and they were not able to carry it out. At the
last meeting two resolutions were proposed, but not carried —

one by Mr. Dun, that pending any further action they should
adopt the proposition of the millers; and another by Mr.
Iladland that they should relieve those of their pledge who
signed the paper. It was very important that this sliould be
done, for it was impossible to do business without giving chap-
money, consequently it put those vxlio signed the paper in an
unpleasant position. People must either not do business, or
give chap-money. He would move the adoption of the motion
proposed at the last meeting by Mr. Hadlaud, which was —
"Tliatin the opinion of this meeting, the cliange proposed
with regard to chap-money, being only partial, does not work
satisfactorily, and therefore think it expedient to release from
their pledge all those who desire it; and if the Central Chamber
of Agriculture will adopt the proposition, the support of this
Chamber will lie given to the movement in order that it may
become general."

Mr. TiiURSEY seconded the motion. It seemed to him im-
jjossible to do away with chap-money unless it was universally
done.

Mr. Edmunds : I think the motion a proper one, as gentle-
men are placed in a very anomalous position at present.

The Secretary : If this motion is carried, we should not
give up our point.

Mr. Westover : No.

Mr. Hadland said he proposed the motion .at the last meet-
ing merely to get out of the dilliculty, and they found very great
dilliculty in the matter. Since the last meeting the greater part
of the farmers had come in and agreed to give chap-money ;
but he thought there should be some resolution passed to
relieve those gentlemen who felt conscientiously that they could
not give chap-money, having signed the agreement. If the
Central Chamber took it up, they could support tliem. lie
thought it should have emanated from the Central Chamber,
because it was impossible to carry it out in one place.

THE FARM]iJR'S MAGAZINE.

13:

Themotiou was carried imauiitously, lut it was imderslooa
that the Secretary was to get further iuformatiou on tlie subject.
Mr. Brazier drew tlie attention of the Chamber to a matter
he considered very important, especially to agriculturists. He
viewed with considerable alarm a memorial now got up, and
which would be presented to Parliament next session. Tiiere
had been a permissive power in the hands of the Guardians to
give superannuation to some of the officers— such as raatrous,
masters, and others engaged. There was a memorial to be
presented to the House of Commons, from the Poor-law
Officers generally, for superannuation allowances, whether they
were long or short in the service, if their health broke down,
and they wanted a certain proportion of their salary allowed
to them for life. It was not merely to include the master and
matron, but to take in the clerk, in fact, to go through the
whole staff— the doctors, masters, matrons, porters, relieving
officers, nurses, &c., needlewomen in the workiiouse or in any
part of the union. During the last year there had been about
eig)ity-two officers, in various parts of England and Wales
superannuated at a cost of nearly £3,0U0. The memorial that
lie reierred to proposed that every officer should be entitled to
two-tiurds of his salary as a retiring allowance. When they
considered how many thousand officers there were in tl'is
country, that they were breaking down every year, they would
soon have a second race of paupers to provide for, and made so
by Act of Parliament. If a proposition like this became law,
he did not know what would become of them. lie had taken
the trouble to write two letters to tiie Banbury papers on the
subject, but he had hoped that some gentleman better qualified
than he was would have taken the matter up. He gave notice
that he would bring the matter before the Chamber at its next
meeting.

Mr. James Grimbly: Have not the Guardians absolute
power to veto any superannuation allowance ?

Mr. Brazier : They have now, but they will not have if the
Bill asked for passes.

Mr. Westover said he would call the attention of the
Chamber to the labour question. He would rather that the
matter had fallen into other hands- into the hands of those
who could speak with far longer experience than he could ;
but the question was one of great importance at the present
time, and demanded their attention. It was a tenant's
subject, and interfered with them very seriously ; it was a
proprietor's subject, because, as years rolled on, it must affect
the value of their property; and it was a national subject, for
if obstructions were thrown in the way of the agriculturists, it
would curtail the food supply of the country, and they would
have to depend still more upon the foreigner for their food sup-
ply than they did now. He hoped that when he brought the
subject before them— and he trusted they did not think he did
do so to gratify any vanity of his— that there would be many
practical gentlemen present, not to listen to him, but to give
their attention to so important a subject.

The Secretary said he did not think they would be able

to take both the subjects on the same day. They would take

Mr. Westover's in February.

Mr. Westover said he was quite willing it should be so.

It was here agreed that the next meeting should be held on

the oOtli of January.

Mr. Edmunds said there was one thing that he should like
to bring before them, namely, whether anything could be done
by that and other Chambers to strengthen the hands of the
Government upon the beer-house question in villages. The
Chambers throughout tiie country were moving in the matter,
and if anything could be done to remedy existing evils they
would be rendering the greatest service to the agricultural
labourer. He did not think there was anything to legislate
upon that would prove so great a benefit to the mass of the
people than some better regulation of beer-houses. He had
no wish to take up the questiou, but he would do so at some
future meeting.

Mr. Litchfield said he should be delighted to be present
when such an important subject was to be discussed. He did
not think he should introduce it, he was really so often before
the public on the subject. He mentioned he had sent a notice
on the subject for the agenda paper of the next Quarter Ses-
sions at Northampton. He also said he was in the House of
Commons when Mr. Goulbourn brought in the Bill that had
caused all tlie evils they were now complaining of. He had
the honour of Mr, Goulbourn's personal acquaintance, and

tliat gentleman told him that his bill would de;..froy liquor bliops
and public-houses ; but he (the speaker) pooh-poohed it, and
said it would double them. AVliat he then said had proved
correct, and for forty years he had been trying to get rid of
the evils that it had brought about.

Mr. Dun said that there was hardly a question of greater
interest to agriculturists. It was the greatest evil they had to
deal with. In their villages badly-managed beer-houses were
the greatest curse they had to contend with. Tiiey pauperised
the men, made them blackguards, degraded and "demoralised
the children, and encouraged dirt and everything tliat was
bad.

Mr. Litchfield : And prostitutisethe women.
Mr. Samuelson, M.P., thought they could only deal with
the economic view of the question.

The Rev. George Miller read the followiugpaper: As some
of the turnpike trusts in our immediate neighbourhood have al-
ready come to an end, and as by the Turnpike Actof last Session
many of the remainingones will be dissolvedduringthe next year,
the following questions are naturally of great importance to the
ratepayers: (1.) To whom shall the future raauasjemcnt of
turnpike roads be entrusted ? (2.) Where shall the funds come
from which shall be required for keeping them in proper re-
pair ? With regard to the first of these queries, it appears to
me that where Highway Boards exist, the most ellieient and
least expensive plan would be to entrust to such boards the
future management of the turnpike roads which pass through
their respective districts. The Highway Boards possess the
requisite machinery for the management of the roads iu their
districts, and the addition of some iO or 20 additional miles
of roads would require no increase of the staff of officials and
only a small increase of the surveyor's salary. The chief diffi-
culty in connection with this plan is, that the Highway Boards
are not universally adopted through the country. The cir-
cumstances of such cases might be met by enacting that in those
districts where there are no highway boards, local boards,
somewhat similar to the proposed educational boards, should
be formed, permis .ion being given to those boards to com-
prise one, two, or three divisions of the hundreds of the coun-
tie--, as might be dete vmined by the magistrates residing within
such districts, and the local surveyors of the different parishes ;
that to such boards the management of the turnpike roads pass-
ing through those distri 'ts should be entrusted. The expense
of maintaining such boai 'Is need not be large ; for the total
expense of managing tht Kineton turnpike road, though the
length of road belonging to the trustees is under 12 miles, does
not exceed much above £2 \ er mile, and this total expense of
management and repair per mile is under that expended ou
maintaining and repairing the highways of many of the neigh-
bouring parishes. I will nov proceed to offer a few sugges-
tions on the second point, tiie means for providing for the ex-
penses of maintaining in the future the turnpike roads. It
has been the custom hitherto when the tolls taken at the turn-
pike gates have been insufficient for defraying the expenses
connected with the management and maintenance of turnpike
roads, to levy on each parish through which the turnpike road
passes the extra sum needful for the repair of as much of the
turnpike road as lay within the limits of such parishes respec-
tively. Now, while the general public paid tolls at the turn-
pike gates, this plan was fair enough. But now that the
general public are to use such roads free of all tolls, it would
lay an unfair burden on the parishes through which the turn-
pike road passed, to make them, and them only, responsible for
repairing those roads which are the great arteries of horse
and carriage communication through the country. The burden
would fall extremely heavily on some parishes, while others
would be called upon to pay nothing. As an illustration of
this, I will refer to the case of Butler's Marston, which lying
between two turnpike roads, actually touches on neither of
them, and so would, if the maintenance of turnpike roads were
thrown on those parishes only through which such roads pass,
pay nothiug towards the maintenance of turnpike roads, while
at I he same time, whenever the parishioners of Butler's Marston
go to any of the neighbouring towns, they travel a considerable
distance along the turnpiks roads. By defraying the expenses
connected with the turnpike roads out of the common charges
of the Highway Board, or when there is no Highway Board,
by means of rates levied on all the parishes comprised in the
divioiial district through which such roads passed, such ine-
qualities in bearing the burdens of maintaining the turnpike

138

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE,

roads would he prevented. But the ciuestion arises, whether
it is fair that inasmuch as turnpike roads liave hitherto been
maintained by tolls levied ou the public generally, now that
the turnpike trusts are to be dissolved, the wliole burdens of
keeping those in repair, should be thrown upon the ratepayers.
I think not. Andiu connection with this part of the subject, I
would draw your attention to the principle with regard to assist-
ing, under certain circumstances, local taxation by grants from
imperial taxation, which has been recognised by the legislature.
It is enacted by the Public Elementary Schools Act, that when
School Boards are formed, and rate-supported schools are es-
tablished, while the rates of the parish or district are to be
the primary fund, out • of which the expenses of maintaining
such schools are to be taken — that when such parish or district
shall have been rated for the support of schools, to a certain
amount, 3d. in the pound, imperial taxation will be called upon to
help the finding further funds when they are required. 13ut to
prevent waste and extravagance on the part of such boards, the
assistance granted out of the National Exchequer is limited to
a certain definite amount, and if further supplies are requisite
beyond the 3d. rate and the Government aid for defraying the
schoul expenses, it must be found by the ratepayers. Now, if
the Legislature in the case of schools which are a new charge
upon tlie rates have adopted the principle of giving aid in sup-
port of them after a certain definite rateable sum has been ob-
tained from the districts in which the schools respectively are
situated, may we not with fairness ask that the same principle
may be applied with reference to the fresh burden upon the
rates, namely, that of maintaining turnpike roads after the ex-
piration of tlie Turnpike Trust Acts. Eor if the Legislature
is ready to assist in providing a road to learning for the people
of the land, shall we not ask the Legislature to help in bearing
the additional burden now about to be thrown on the rate-
payers of maintaining and keeping in good order those ma-
terial arteries of communication, turnpike roads ? It seema to
me that the principle embodied in the Elementary School Act
for aiding local rates by grants from the National Exchequer,
is the right principle on wliich such aid should be given, and
that in our endeavours to secure a fairer adjustment of the
burdens which fall upon the ratepayers this principle should
not be lost sight of, as it relieves the rates without weakening
local responsibility on the one hand, and without encouraging
extravagance on the other. But this is wandering somewhat
away from the subject before us. I will therefore conclude by
proposing the resolution I have drawn up, and wliich I believe
has been sent by the secretary to the members of our Chamber :
" That the management of turnpike roads, after their Trust
Acts have expired, be confided to the District Highway Boards,
and that the expenses of keeping them in repair be paid out
of the common charges of such Highway JSoards, assisted,
when such expenses are excessive, by grants out of the National
Exchequer."

The CiiAiBMAN asked on what principle they would con-
sider the expenses excessive P

Mr. MiLLEH : Act on the same principle as is adopted in

the Elementary School Act.

The Chairman : This question is raised, when would the

excess commence ?

Mr. Miller : After you had spent on the road a certain

amount.
The Chairman : The argument you use would not affect

the general public. They would not pay one farthing.

]\Ir. BIiLLER : Unless it was done on some definite basis

like tiiat of the county rates, and be a primary charge, they

would not get any assistance from the Government.

Mr. Litchfield : If you go to Government for relief

whenever the charge is in excess, it will be in excess directly.
Mr. Brazier : Two or three miles of turnpike will fall

upon a little parish like Grimsbury, and Banbury won't pay a

single fraction.

Mr. Tawney : Does it not come upon the Board of

Health?

Mr. Brazier : No. They only pay for the borough.

Neithrop will have over five miles of road thrown upon it, and

the matter is a very serious one. The charge woiild be upon

parishes.

Mr. Davis : The charges fall upon the highway districts,

not on the parishes.
Mr. LiTCiiFiED : The law is so I believe. IWhere there are

waywardens the expense is thrown over the whole district,

In districts where there are no waywardens, it will fall upon
the parishes through which the road goes. For instance, at
Bracklcy, till you go into the parish of Turweston all the ex-
penses are charged to the district, but the moment you get into
Buckinghamshire the expenses fall upon the parish through
which the road goes.

Mr. James Grimbly said that his present position as chair-
man of the Board of Health, which probably some of the
gentlemen present were not aware included the parishes of
Neithrop and Grimsbury, might be an excuse for his saying a
few words in reference to this question. As far as Banbury
proper was concerned it had hitherto maintained its own roads,
and continued to do so. The roads m Grimsbury and Neith-
rop had been maintained by tolls taken at the turnpike gates,
some of which had been abolished, and others at no distant
date would in all probability share the same fate, so tliat it ne-
cessarily threw a very heavy burden upon those two parishes.
There being no waywardens for those two places, they would
be considered parishes on which the total expense of the main-
tenance of those roads would fall. The turnpike roads in the
immediate neighbourhood of a town like Banbury were much
more used than roads a few miles further away, but they had
heard of such a thing as a road being kept in repair for £2 a
niile_(No, no). He thought Mr. Miller said so.
Mr. Miller : That is the management.
Mr. Grimbly : Those roads I refer to cannot be maintained
under something like £50 a mile.
Mr. Brazier : It will cost nearly £80 a mile.
Mr. LiTCiiEiLD : No, no.

Mr. Grimbly : The parishes of Neithrop and Grimsbury
will have nine miles of road to keep in repair, and the charge
will be something like £400 or £500 a year,
Mr. Litchfield : No, no.

Mr. Grimbly : I believe that statement can be substan-
tiated. It appears to me that the charge should be borne
upon a wider area than at present. The area should be ex-
tended. It should either be county rating or union rating.
Without having deeply studied the question, it occurs to me
that union rating would answer this district very well.

Mr. Westover said that in considering the resolution pro-
posed they must ask a definition of excessive expenses. If
the average of three years' expenditure, they might find it very
wide of the mark of what was necessary for the repair of the
road, for the money often had not been economically expended.
It was very severe punishment to be compelled to keep the
roads in repair far the benefit of the public in general. The
roads ouglit to be treated entirely separate from the present
rateable area. They ought to seek the money for their luain-
tanance in some other way. Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen held out
some hope that they might get some relief when they came to
do away with the turnpike gates. Agriculturists as a body
were anxious that the gates should be done away with, but they
thought it was unfair to expect them to contribute so much for
roads which were for the general benefit of the public. It was
a national affair, and they ought to seek help from another
quarter than the rates. It had been mentioned in the room that
tiiere should be a horse-tax— (No, no)— that a horse-tax on
the graduated scale should be collected for the maintenance of
the roads. It seemed right that those who used horses should
pay for the roads. But there was no doubt they would never
be fairly dealt with until they altered the area of local taxa-
tion altogether.

Mr. Tawney believed that those who used the roads should
pay for them. He was extremely sorry to see the turnpike
gates taken away, but he must say that the system had been
very bad. The roads had been cut up into small districts, and
each had a large staff attached. He believed that it was a
mistake to have the lengths so short, but it only arose from
the circumstances of the time. He was not sorry that the sys-
tem was being done away with, but he was that the gates
were, because he believed it was the simplest and best way of
making men pay ready money for wearing out the roads. He
thought it was too late in the day to ask State aid. lorty
years ago there were no railways, and they could not say now
that the roads were the main arteries of the country. They
must be maintained by local taxation, and it should be spread
over as large an area as possible, lie did not believe tliey
would ever get the Government to think differently. With
regard to Neithrop and Grimsbury, they ought to come upon
the Local Board. They were isolated——

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

139

Mr. Grimbly : The charges on each portion of the Local
Board are borne separately.

Mr. Tawney : So that the rich part of Banbury does not
pay so much as Ne.ithrop.

Mr. Grimbly : Each pays for its own roads.

Mr. Tawney : It seems to rae that the charge should come
upon the Local Board.

Mr. GRiiiBLY : The three places are kept distinct.

Mr. Tawney : The traffic is very heavy near the town ; it
is the town's people who wear out the roads, audnovv that they
have no turnpike to pay they will recoup themselves in that
way. According to the terras of Mr. Miller's motion the ex-
pense would come upon the general fund where there were
highway boards, and if they could get the country cut up in-
to large districts he believed there would be no great harm
done by the arrangement. It was unfortunate for places where
there were do highway boards, and the sooner they were
adopted generally the better. They had talked about the
cost of maintaining those roads, and one gentleman had said
it would be £50 a mile. But they must remember they were
speaking of a system that was passed, and he believed that in
future things would be more economically managed than they
had been. If they got a liighway board, the first thing to do
was to get a good surveyor.

Mr. Litchfield : How will you get him?

Mr. Tawney -. If you like in a manner of election ; but
perhaps you might shut your eyes to the fact that £20 in a
surveyor's salary might make a difference of £500 a year to the
district. It would be well if people could only abstain from
voting for a man because he was somebody's aunt's first cou-
sin, and would do it for £5 less than another man. What
they wanted was supervision, and by it they would get the
work done economically. This had been tested at Henley-in-
Arden, where the cost of the roads was not half per mile what
theirs came to. The surveyor resided out of the district, but
he had four first-rate foremen who worked under him. He
then proceeded to say that it was a great advantage if high-
way boards could meet in the morning. They could not do it
here because their clerk was clerk to the Guardians. When
they met in the afternoon it was generally spent in talking.

Mr. RiSLEY was sure the Chamber felt very much in-
debted to Mr. Miller for his paper, and that they would all
profit by the suggestions he had thrown out for their consi-
deration. He did not regret the abolition of turnpike gates,
but only regretted that it was not more general. lie looked
upon those gates as an intolerable nuisance by night and by
day. It was a nuisance to unbutton one's coat on a cold night
and search for a coin that possibly one might not have — and
they could not help feeling sympathy for the old lady who, re-
gardless of weather, had to come down in the very slightest
of attire. He thought the Highway Act should be made
compulsory — and then the difficulties under which tliey at
present laboured would be to some extent removed. He could
not help thinking that the Government was possibly waiting
until all those trusts were doneaway with,in order to make liigli-
way boards compulsory, and give such assistance as should
remove the difficulties under which they were labouring. He
moved a vote of thanks to Miller for his paper.

Mr. Samuelson, M.P., was glad to have been present
during tlie discussion, for there was no question the subject
of the maintenance of roads, and the subject of the adminis-
tration of roads generally, must shortly come before Parlia-
ment, now that there were so many trusts expiring. He thougiit
it wa? very fortunate they should at this moment have Mr.
Knatchbull-Hugessen at the Home Office. Although only
Under-Secretary, he believed that no man was more inti-
mately acquaiuted with legislation on this matter. It was a
question which he might say had almost been tlie study of Mr;
Knatchbull-Hugessen's life, and the advantage of having his
assistance in settling the matter must profit them very con-
siderably. He was very glad indeed to liear an expression in
favour of Highway Boards being made universal. He thought
they had too much permissive legislation. Probably at the
outset it might be necessary to feel their way, and proceed
tentatively ; but when measures had been tried for a consider-
able time in a sufficient number of districts, they were enabled
to discover their merits and defects, and if found to admit of
any necessary modifications they should be introduced and
the measures made general. There should not be one law
for Northamptonshire and another for Lincolnshire and

Yorkshire. ["Hear, hear," from Mr. Brazier.] He was
surprised at Mr. Brazier, because he believed in making
the hquor traffic another permissive question. [Mr. Bra-
zier : I believe it would benefit you as well as me.]
The question then arose whether the area of distribution
was sufficiently extensive, and they would probably find the
more they enlarged the area the better it would be. In
regard to the latter part of Mr. Miller's resolution, it might be
worth while for them as agriculturists of the district, to see
whether they could squeeze something out of the Government,
but he thought it would be found very difficult to manipu-
late. Although Mr. Miller had drawn a very ingenious com-
parison between the liighway and the school boards— in each
case they were new charges — yet there was this difference,
the school boards, besides being a new charge, was altogether
indefinite, and it was necessary to coax the authorities in dis-
tricts into the formation of school boards. It was a matter of
'expediency, and it was quite right they should have a guarantee
given in auy extensive parish. He did not think they would
get any assistance from Government for turnpikes, and it
would be for them to consider the best area of rating for their
maintenance. Now, another reason why it would almost be
impossible to ask the State to contribute was, that already
over a large area there were no turnpike roads. If they would
only go into tlie North Riding of Yorkshire — which equalled
in area one or two of the Midland counties — they would find
that in a large portion of it there were no turnpikes. The
Government would thus have a ready answer, and point to the
district saying, " You can't ask Parliament to vote funds for
the maintenance of your roads. Those wlio use them — dis-
tribute area as widely as you like — are the proper persons
to pay." He thought that that was how it would fare with the
latter half of the resolution. He agreed with the first half,
and said they should have an authority for the management of
the roads, and it was most desirable that the Highway Act
should be generally adopted. He should be happy to be of
any use in Parliament in the matter and would receive any
suggestions upon it. He would give his best attention to the
subject when it was brought forward, and no doubt it would be
very shortly.

Mr. Brazier: Yon should not compare Yorkshire with
Northamptonshire and Oxfordsliire. The manufacturers of
the former turn their money over twelve times while a farmer
only does it once.

Mr. Samuelson : It was the same before any manufactories
existed.

Mr. Litchfield : With regard to going to Government
for money, I confess I cannot help feeling strongly that it had
better be withdrawn from the resolution. I am not fond of
trying to put public money into my pocket, and I feel tho-
roughly, after what Mr. Samuelson has said, there will be no
chance of getting it. There was a certain amount of dis-
credit in asking it. No Government would give them it,
and they would be referred to what was done in York-
shire.

Mr. Dun had great pleasure in seconding Mr. Risley's
motion that a vote of thanks be given to Mr. Miller for his
paper. He agreed with several of the speakers that the latter
part of the resolution was not tlie strongest part of it, being
rather indefinite. It was not likely that any application of
theirs for assistance in support of those roads, which were
really for the benefit of the locality in which they had been
made, would receive any response from any Government. There
was one proposition which fell from Mr. Westover which
might be made available for the purpose, and it was something
like the principle upon which those roads had been maintained
during the long period they had been used, and by which
those who used the roads might be called upon to pay for their
support — namely, that something in the shape of a tax upon
horses should be adopted. At present they had this kind of
machiney adjusted under the assessed taxes, and something
like £400,000 was collected every year in this country from a
tax of 10s. 6d. per horse. That gave something like eight
hundred thousand horses in this country not in the possession
of agriculturists or employed specially in agricultural labour.
He thought their owners might properly be asked to pay
towards the expenses of tliose roads which every day they
made use of. If a charge of 20s. was made for each horse it
would realise something like £800,000, or nearly a million,
and in this way they would get at a large number of horses in

u 2

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

140

the Bossession of brewers, millers, and others who, by the
ordin^ary 'Stem of assessment, would not pay very argely
?owTrds tl?e support of the roads. This suggestion might per-
haps nieet some of those difficulties which seemed at present
0 be^u tl^e way of an equitable adjustment of the question

Mr. Miller said that one great reason why he appended
the second part to his resolution was that that the Chambe
about a year and a half ago, passed a resolution in wh c much
the same thing was embodied. It was then expressed that^no
only should local rates be called upon, but imperial taxation
as well. He thought the horse tax would be rather a
hazardous thing for agriculturists ; they should not say_ too
much about taxing horses, for perhaps horses used in agricul-
ture would be taxed as well. He mentioned that he should
like to see the old plan returned to-namely, not sendrngn
the resolution until the paper had been read. Under the
present arrangement, one had to draw up the resohi ion and
Le it to the secretary, and then write the paper , at least it
had been so with him, in consequence of want of tinie. lie
was quite willing to withdraw the second part of his reso-

^"*Mr' Westoveu : The resolution is sent to the secretary, so
that he may put it on the notice calling the meeting, and then
the members know what is coming on.

Mr. Walto>- objected to taxing horses for the maintenance
of the turnpike roads. p o -o 1 1

Mr CoLEM S.N said that he was a member of the Brackley
Hiehway Board, and had been for some years, and it was not
for the want of talking or changing surveyors but it did not
succeed. The working of the waywarden board was a fai hire
alto-ether and here they were about to pass a resolution that
the ?oads should be confided to them. They spent more money
on the roads and they were not better but worse, fl'^ gre^at
blot was the want of supervision. It was impossible for one

man to superintend 175 miles of road. They were told that
the waywardens were not to interfere with the management
of the roads, and were only to complain at the meetmgs ; but
unless the waywardens did all they could to assist the
surveyor, the money was shamefully wasted. They would do
wron-if they recommended the Act to be made compulsory
and there was., a general feeling among farmers that it should

^°Ur dIvis said the Act made it compulsory to appoint
only one surveyor, but he thought there shoula be a discre-
Sry power left to a Board to appoint such a number of
surveyors as they thought necessary. „ . ^ , ,,

Mr Westoveu said it was hardly fair to condemn the
highway board system because it did not work well in some
Jlaces. ^^heir district (the North VVootton) was said to be a
model district, because they did not quarrel. The Board
had always worked amicably. He admitted that there was a

""""Mr^L'TCHriELD' moved, and Mr.TAWNEY seconded that
that part of the resolution asking State aid shoud be struck
out but on the vote being taken, fourteen voted for the
fiwL resolution against ten: "1. That the management
of turnpike roads, after their trust Acts have expired, be
confided to District Highway Boards, made compulsory, and
of a wider area than at present. 2. And t lat the expense of
keephig the roads in repair be paid out of the common charges
of such highway boards, assisted by grants out of the National

^ MrLi'TcnriELD was rather disappointed to find tliey had
confined their attention entirely to turnpike gates, and should
have been glad if they h.d turned their attention to highway

^^'^Mr. SvMUELSON moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Holbech
for presiding, and the proceedings terminated.

THE DOECHESTER FAEMEES' CLUB
THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS' HIRING FAIRS.

At the December monthly meeting, the President, Mr. J.G.
Homer in the chair, the attendance was large cousideringt he
time of year, this being the last Saturday of 1871. .

The Rev Tueopuilus Bennett read the io lowing
paper : Jeremy Bentham says that " The poor would need
less chanty if they got more justice." And I beheve the priest
who preached the funeral sermon over that illustrious Irish-
man O'Counell, chose for his text, "Blessed are they who
hunger and thirst after justice" {SiKcuoavvi,) y>'\nch. is a
better translation for the Greek original than that of our
version, which has righteousness. I know it is the desire of
all here to render justice, and tliere/ore I think myselt happy
in addressing you. I once travelled with a clergyman and his
wife and the clergyman told me that his wife was constantly
preaching two sermons, very short but very pithy Her morn-
ing sermSn was, " Lessen your vrants, and her afternoon was
"Help tliepoor to help themselves." This should be our
motto, to help the agricuUural labourer to help himself-to
inculcate upon him the great lesson of self-he p. Heathen
writers urge, " Help yourselves, and the gods will help you
Teach the agricultural labourer how he mny vvork ; how he
may supply himself with the necessaries of life • liow lie
may preserve his health-in short, help him to help himself,
and you do a great work. Gentlemen, our subject to-uight is
" The condition of the agricultural labourer." Observe tlie
subject is general. It does uot refer exclusively to that which
has almost passed in other parts of England into a bye-wora
and a proverb, and a standing reproach— the Dorsetsliire
labourer But as this is a species under the genus, and one
that touches us closely we may be permitted to draw attention
to our own county labourer, and see his condition, and how
we may improve it. Tor " the street will soon be clean if every
one sweeps before his own door." If we want to purify the
ocean, we must purify each drop. Whilst our charity or
Christian love should not end at iiome, it at all events ought
to begin there. In speaking of this topic— bear in mind 1 am
.illmlins to the agricultural labourer pure and simple; I nm

not alluding to the shepherd, who has more pay and perquisites
because he is entrusted with the care of property the meat of
which a lOd. per lb., to say nothing of the gold-procuring-
fleece, is most valuable. Nor am I alluding to the carter, who
is avillagePickford, often entrusted with the conveyance ot
very precious articles, with no other insurance but his native
honesty. The man is always commended who calls a^^spade
not "an implement of husbandry," but simply "a spade And
when I speak of an agricultural labourer, I do not allude to
a foreman, a shepherd, or a carter; but e^'^l"^^'^. ^°/J'
lowest grade-the agricultural labourer. I,.^'>^l\.t'"%^°,,^!
distinctly understood, so as to narrow our deliberations to the
worst paid and most necessitous class of the community-viz
the Dorsetshire agricultural labourer pure and simple a
abourer and nothing more. Regarding the condition of t e
tionrer (condition, \atin ccuUno ; that ^romeondotM^,
to make) 1. We take condition as meaning state a particnlai
mode 0 being, applied to external circumstances to the bod^ to
tTe mind, and to things ; iu the sense in which Pope uses it-
" Condition, circumstance, is not the thing ;
Bliss is the same iu subject or in king.
What is the actual state of the agricultural labourer ? I take
.in a little camphlet, entitled, " Letters on the Large J^arm
System "by^Gorge C. Miall (reprinted, by permission, from
aflmerican daily paper, Ne^ar/. BaUy -•^'^-'J;;;';). J^J
read extracts from this book, not as endorsing them, b t m
order that they may be refuted, if untrue o^^-f g*"-*^^^^^^
the exnerienced friends I see around me. In the first page,
SrS'ays "In the county of Dorset, wliere the iarins
ae\ery large and the labourer's pay is very low women re-
are very large, a ordinary time, and Is. 6d. when there is
:ra wo;k\c^ "on ptg" 'l4 and 15, I read the following :
" TheSint of wages paid, and the religious, moral, and
sol 1 condition of the El^lish ^F^^^f^f^^^i^
lutelv disgraceful to a country which boasts of iier civihsatiou.
Oiir' Saturday Reviewers' and 'kid-gloved' writers generally

'HE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

141

ignore this state of things altogether. Here are the facts : The
Dorset labourer's weekly pay is 8s. per week. In addition to
tliis lie has ' house, firing, and cider,' and in some cases other
small perquisites, which of course depend entirely ou the dis-
position of his master or employer. In some cases they get
ground for planting potatoes, and ' allowed' to keep a pig ; but
ill most cases the large farmers prohibit their labourers from
keeping stock of their own. The ' house' is in many cases a
mere mud hovel, not worthy of the name, if they are lucky
enough to get one at all. The ' firing' is the furze or gorse
which grows in large tracts ou the hills, and affords better
shelter to the game of the squire than it does warmth to the
hearth of the poor labourer. The ' cider' is cold, thin, watery,
sour stuff, which does him far more harm than good, and it is
often ' doctored' in harvest time in order to excite the poor
wretches, so that an extra amount of work may be got out of
them. Parliamentary commissions have told us of the immo-
rality caused by llie overcrowded state of the labourers' cot-
tages. No one can reside for many weeks in an English vil-
lage without becoming aware of this state of things. And no
wonder, when we consider that the ordinary dwelling of the la-
bourer consists of but two rooms — one for eating, cooking, and
for all other purposes, and the other for sleeping. I know my-
self dozens of cases where the father, mother, and six or eight
children, grown up or otherwise, occupy the same sleeping
apartment, and even bed during the winter, all huddled toge-
ther like a litter of pigs for the sake of warmth. The only
wonder is that the poor creatures are not worse in morals than
they prove to be at the present time. What a satire this state
of things is upon the recently passed Elementary Education Bill
and the endless wranglings and bickerings over it ! The higher
classes fighting about who shall control the religious opinions
of the children of the peasant, and at thesaraetiraetheyiwillnot
allow the parents proper means to live commonly decent. With
the present low prices of wages compulsory education in the
rural districts is an impossibility. The large farmers won't em-
ploy single men, or married couples without children. They
like a man with a large and rising family. They insist on the
boys going to work at about ten years of age, and the girls at
about fourteen. Besides, how could a man maintain his family
without the aid of his wife and children? When the labourer
returns with his family from their daily toil the evening meal,
which generally consists of an immense pot of vegetables, fla-
voured, perhaps, with a small scrap of pork or bacon, where
are his home comforts ? He is only too glad to exchange the
rude cheerless cottage for the roaring fire of the neighbouring
beerhouse, where he can spend the evening over ' a pint of
beer and a pipe of baccy,' and a dance, may be, on Saturday
niariits." 2. Condition means quality, rank, social grade.
What sort of quality can a man maintain on eight shillings per
week ? Put yourself in his place. How could you get ou with
only the bewildering income of eight shillings ? Mechi says :
" The economy of the labouring classes must be truly wonder-
ful." One-half the world don't know how the other half live.
And this eight shillings a week problem is one that I fondly
trust none of us may ever be called on practically to solve.
Talk of luxury, talk of even common beer ! To paraphrase
Flinch slightly :

Eight shillings a week, with wife and kids to feed,
IJou't leave a fellow much for beer indeed.

And yet so far as dignity is concerned, is it not in reality
great ? " Instituted, like marriage, in the time of man's in-
uocency," it is the most ancient, for it was our original con-
dition.

When Adam delved, and Eve span.

Who was then the gentleman ?

And yet there are those who, from their pride of place, look
down upon the labourer as if he were a mere serf or hind.
Even their employers do not show that interest in their welfare
that one might reasonably expect. There is too much of in-
tolerable pride stalking haughtily over the land — too much of
the unlovely spirit of caste, too great disseverance of class
from class. What says the practical experience of Mr. Scott
Russell on this subject ? After viewing this country in com-
parison with others, he says, " I have come to the conviction
that the social relations between the different classes of society
in England are too intolerable to last long; they must either
be speedily and timely cured, or they will suddenly cure them-
selves." 3. Condition means state of the mind, temper, tem-

perament, and complexion. The complexion of many of the
labourers is florid, clear, and bright, and rosy as their master's
apples. Like David, they are " ruddy, and of a fair counte-
nance." The temperament of our Dorsetshire labourer is
truly polite. I have noticed genuine refinement of feeling in
several of them ; they are " Nature's gentlemen and Nature's
gentlewomen." " Temper," said a bishop, " is nine-tenths of
Christianity," and, considering their trying lot, their tempers
are admirable. Seldom do you hear angry expressions. All
this is the more remarkable as they take few pleasures. There
are not many tilings tend more to sweeten the temper than
amusement, but these our labourers have not Even the
children do not p'ay with the same vigour as those in other
counties. Happily, we do not hear of degrading sports and
amusements amongst our people like the bulldog fighting in
Stafl'ordshire and the Sunday dog racing of Lancashire. But
cheap excursions, cricket, football, and such like, are things
almost unknown to our rural population. Something might
be done to encourage harmless pastimes and diversions, remem-
bering the trite observation, " All work and no play make Jack
a dull boy," aye, and a dull worker too. And then with regard
to the women, it has been remarked that shopping is to ladies
what shooting is to gentlemen, but our poor Dorset women
have very little money for that. Lord Sydney Godolpliia
Osborne lately spoke against this vice of over-dressing, coining
the word " dressard " to fully express iiis meaniug. But with
their meagre pay, few of our labourers' wives or daughters, if
ever so much inclined, can afford to be dressards. And in this
matter it would be well if those above them set a better ex-
ample, and dressed with more shamefacedncss and sobriety,
and gave the money thus saved in charity, remembering what
the genial Goldsmith says— " The nakedness of the poor
might be clad from the "trimmings of the vain." And this
brings me to the fourth meaning. Condition includes " moral
quality, virtue or vice." How are our people as to morals ?
Professor Buckman answers, " The morals of the people are
weak and unstable, like the Dorsetshire fences ! Many of the
young people marry themselves before the clergyman marries
them." Where glove-making is carried ou, the females are
more generous of their cliarms than even in other parts of the
county. Glove rhymes to love, and illicit intercourse is
drawn on. " Love" children are plentitul in the county,
and the first child I was ever called upon to christen after I
entered on my duties at Wynford Eagle was called by this
name. The mother, not being then a married woman, in-
stead of being ashamed of giving birth to an illegitimate child,
actually insisted on branding it with this name ; and Love it
was called at the font, and Love it will remain to its dying
day. A love child, it is called Love. I spoke about there
not being many dressards amongst our agricultural women,
nor are there many of habitual drunkards amongst our men.
There are several hamlets and villagej in our county where
there are no drink-shops or public-houses. Around Maiden
Newton I know of seven parishes where there is no house for
the sale of intoxicating drinks, and as a result drunkenness is
almost unknown. I hold two such parishes unsullied by the
liquor traific, and I am happy to say I do not know a working
man in either of them who is a drunkard. We pray, " De-
liver us from temptation," and where there is no dram-shop
one great temptation is removed. The tired labourer is not
then assailed at his weakest moment, when he returns fagged
from his work, by the bland president of beer-barrels and
spirit-flasks. There is, I am afraid, a good deal of filthy talk-
ing, and some of the women are very foul-mouthed in their
language. I have heard of a nobleman who was kept awake
during several hours of the night by the lewd and indecent
talking going on under his window as he lay on a bed in the
village, about eight mile? from this county town. The foun-
tain of the human heart must be very impure, from whence
flows the libidinous talk of field labourers of both sexes.
There is not much more attention paid to the ninth than to
the seventh commandment, and one neighbour thinks very
little of robbing another of the treasure of a good name,
more precious than silver or gold. As our greatest of poets
says,

" Good name in man or woman, dear my lord,

Is the immediate jewel of their souls."

I have myself taken people to task for thus filching away the
reputation of their neighbours by bearing false witness against

142

THE FARMER'S MAQAZINE.

them ; but only to meet the sternest oppositiou. In cue case
where I did this on the clearest evidence, the offending guilty
party have become so exasperated at not being permitted to
persevere in this nefarious course of slander that to avenge
themselves they excommunicate themselves so far as their
parish church is concerned, for they never enter it. Then, again,
the third commandment is frequently violated, and the hot oath
proceeds from blasphemous lips. In France, in former days, the
lips of the blasphemers were branded wiih a red hot iron brand.
If every one got their deserts in this way, there would be many
hot mouths in the county ; and, perhaps, some amougst the
employers as well as tlie employed. But I must not dwell
longer upon this dark theme of immorality. 5th. I tlierefore
proceed to a filth meaning of the word under consideration.
Condition means terms of a contract, or covenant — stipulation.
As Dryden says :

" Make our conditions with your captive king."

As the sacred writer, St. Luke, says :

" He sendeth and desireth conditions of peace."

What are the conditions as to the hiring, &c., of the agricul"
tural labourer ? On the 14th February (Ash Wednesday in
1873) the Caadlemas fair is held for hiring labourers. Who is
there that approves of this system ? Do the masters P Do the
men? Is is not rightly called mop fair, from its mopish,
gloomy nature ? Does it not make dismal tliose that attend it ?
We have heard of slave markets — is there nothing of the
nature here ? Slaves are trotted out ; put through their paces
like liorses under the auctioneer's hammer. Listen to the
picture given by my neighbour, Mr. E. Whittle, when speaking
of the payment of agricultural labourers in Dorset before this
respected Club, on December 30th, 18G5. He said, " Now he
came to the system of hiring at Candlemas fair. On the 14th
I'ebruary, on coming into Dorchester, they found a lot of men
in the streets, waiting to be hired, some of them standing up
against Messrs. Williams' Bank. He knew a gentleman who
hired a very able carter, as he thought, who was standing
there ; but when he got home he found the man was a cripple.
After that he believed his friend always turned his
men out before he had them home." Now, I ask, is not this
turning out another name for putting him through his paces,
to see if he is sound in wind and limb, something very like
Mrs. Beecher Stowe tells us about the American slave market
of former days ? I ask again is an open fair a good place in
which to make an agreement ! Does not this annual hiring
generate a most unsettled restless feeling between employers
and employed ? Is not the bargain very like " a pig in a poke"
on both sides ? The master can know nothing of the man.
Again, to quote Mr. Wiiittle, of Toller Fratrum, " They could
not tell the worth of a man hired at a fair, any more than the
man in the moon. He might turn out good or bad. If a farmer
had a bad man he wished to get rid of him, and might give
him a character which was deceptive. Not that he stated what
was untrue; but because it did not contain the whole
truth. But that was the fault of the system. The present
plan necessitated a change once a year. On the 14th of Feb-
ruary a labourer came and asked, ' How about another year,
master ?' which no other servant did." Mr. Genge said on the
20th of February, 1864, " His experience of fairs was that he
once hired a carter, who came and took his horses, and went
off with them, and he had never seen him since. That was
one specimen of men hired at fairs." And to show that it is
'' a pig in a poke" bargain on the side of the agricultural
labourer, I quote Mr. G. W. Homer, of Athelhampton, speaking
before our Club on March 15th, 1862: "A servant
also, who makes an agreement" — at a mope or drone
fair, as Mr. Homer calls them from the drones
that frequent them — " at such a place, has to reside
with his family in a house which he may never have seen, and
which may prove to be an uncomfortable and most unsuitable
one." All this teaches us that master and man could spend
their time on St. Valentine's Day more profitably than by at-
tending this dismal drone fair, which most agree ought to be
abolished; or, if it be retained at all, ought to be transferred
from St. Valentine's Day to Michaelmas Day, when the goose
is rampant! As to payment. In ancient history we read of
work so highly esteemed that the labourers were paid daily in
gold. And agriculture is of such vital importance to the com-
munity that its labourers should be adequately and punctually

remunerated. When I had labourers myself in Ireland I al-
ways paid them on Friday nights, and some of them for task-
work making— making drains— drew as much as l!Js. per week
during the short days of the winter months, i think, with
many others, that all perquisites should be abolished, and that
the Dorset labourer should be paid in money every Friday
night. " Capital and labour," said Mr. J. Howard, " are the
two piers of the aids on which society rests. Each should do
their duty. The capitalists should pay adequately and punc-
tually. And tlie labourer should " buckle to " — be " all
there" — and put his heart into his work, giving " a fair day's
work for a fair day's wage." For there are many complaints
that the labourer does not do so much work now as in former
days. This reproach it should be theirs to remedy. Then
with regard to the farmer. The adage says, that " when the
fisherman is not engaged iu his calling he should be mending
his nets ;" and therefore the farmer M.P., Mr. Clare Sewell
Read, says in his admirable lecture on our subject to-night,
"There is one thing I wish to impress on my brother farmers,
and that is the necessity of making a better use of wet days. I
do think we should all try and get a great deal more in-door
work done in wet weather. Preparing manure, crushing corn,
grinding cake, and many other things ought to be done on
rainy days " Further on in his lecture, the tenant-farmer M.P.
says, what might be inscribed in golden letters over every far-
mer's mantelpiece — "The farmer has many opportunities of
doing good at no great cost to himself. In many cases, I fear'
all the skim milk is given to the pigs. Why should it not be
given to the labourer who requires it ? Then again there are
the comforts of the farm-kitchen that might be dispensed."
I now come to what I consider ought to be inscribed in letters
of gold in a conspicuous place before every farmer's eyes : I
think every farmer ought to be able to feel every night that he
has done something towards making those around him happier
and better, and if he cauuot do that, why then I think he has
not played his part satisfactorily. Piece or task- work is highly
commended, for work is thus done more expeditiously, at less
cost, and it affords more encouragement to the skilled la-
bourer. The better the work the better the pay. When
farm-servants themselves were called together the other day,
and were asked freely to state what they desired, the sum of
their demands was liberty for cow and pay at the rate of 15s.
per week. And here let me remark that hiring should be by
the year, otherwise the labourers may greatly inconvenience
the farmer by leaving at the busiest season, during harvest-
time for instance. Emigration is strongly recommended, and it
was lately authoritatively stated that there was room for 4,000
men like Wiltshire labourers in Canada. So far for the word
condition. I have only room to glance at my other two
words — " agricultural labourer." Agricultural, from a^/er, a
field ; and cultor, a cultivator — the most primitive, the most
extensive, and the healthiest employment. Semper viret !
Labourer. If we take the Latin derivation we infer be should
be propped up ; labour, from laho, to faint, to fail. Labourers
put, or ought to put, their bones and sinews into their work.
For the fourth commandment is directed as much to working
hard all the week as to resting on Sunday. " Six days shalt
thou labour and do all thy work." Labourer : some derive it
from the Greek, and if we take their derivation we should
supply them with plenty of good wholesome food. La Balde,
very much ; Po<^og cibus, food. Therefore a labourer is
one who takes and requires a good quantity of food. He does
much work ; he wants much food. AVe hear of feeding a
horse in proportion to his work. The same principle ought to
obtain with the labourer. He has to work hard, and must
therefore " keep up his pecker.', Ex nihil nihil fit, " From
nothing nothing comes." " An empty sack cannot stand up-
right." The man with pendulous gills, Hke a turkey cock in
the Christmas carol, said, " If I go I must be fed." And if
we waut our labourers to go ahead with their work, and to
have lots of go in them, they too must be fed. "We have
spoken of the condition of the labourer. We have taken the
word painting of some of those who use the darkest colours.
We now come to inquire how this condition may be improved.
I proceed, therefore, to offer some suggestions, iu the hope
that they may be largely improved upon and increased by the
members of our club. What are the helps and aids that may
be afforded to the labourer and his family ? 1. "Clubs."
Motto, "Help the poor to help themselves." Clothing clubs, with
good handsome premium added. In our club at Toller Fratrum

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

143

andWynfordEaglewe addTs. tothesumsLibsci-ibcd- aud iu
order to luduce each depositor to strive to work up to a pound
1 have this year added 98. to the 20s. paid iu by 20 depositors'
Uoot club Here I practice a graduated scale on tlie principle
ot the railways. Eirst class, 4s. added; second, 3s. ; third
;^s. iJlanket loans from November to June. Local charities'
1 was much delighted tlie other evening to be able to give each
labourer a crowupiece from a parochial charity. I was going
to speak of provident clubs, such as Foresters, Oddfellows our
own county club, &c., but the infelicitous new Poor-law out-
door rehet, and such like, seem to choke off all these Post-
olhce savings banks. Labourers ought to take advantage of
these. In my own small parishes, population of both 2U. we
have over -iS depositors. Mothers meetings. Where women
may come to do needlework, and get garments at a reduced
rate, lie new movement of parochial councils, too, may be
made to benefit the labourer by discussing those things con-
nected with his temporal welfare. Our Divine Master, whilst
making the soul His great mission, did not neglect the body
ihen again tlie great principle of co-operation, which works
so well in toivas, should be largely extended to the country •
end every village and even hamlet should have its distributive
store, where good genuine articles might be purchased at a
cheap rate lor ready money. The sacred oracles say, " owe no
man anytliing." But tliis is a command more honoured I
tear, in the breach than iu the performance. Debt prevails to
an alarming extent. To use the plaintive words I once saw
posted up m a shop, in many places they have got tired of all
this— "Poor Trust is dead ; Bad Pay has killed him." The
debts of the people keep co-operative stores from being estab-
lished amongst them. But by co-operative stores 50 per cent.
would be gained m quality, true weight, &e. Be it ours to
encourage thrift in the management of expenses, and
providence on the part of the labourer. Lord Nelson, at
his audit dinner lu Hampshire, suggested, with the general
concurrence of all the tenant-farmers, that Is. per week
should be added to the wages of all labourers who be-
longed to a registered provident society. It is well to es-
tabhsh a system of prizes for the best and most productive
cottagers garden, for the cleanest cottage, best roots aud
vegetables, best bread, and best honey, &c., &c. Privileges
Under this head we may mention skim-milk, at a nominal cost
ot 1 say a iarthing per quart, or, better still, what Lord Nel-
son recommends to his farmers, viz., to start a system of small
cow-lands to be let to labourers of good character who have saved
tlO or &20. The privilege of keeping a pig, to supply meat
tor the cottage table, and manure for the cottage garden
The privilege of keeping poultry, to supply the family with
eggs. Au egg is generally valued at about Id. ; taking it at
this, where can you get a greater amount of nourishment for
the money ? A little pamphlet has been published this year
by Thomas Bosworth, of 198, High Holborn, London, and
It we would only realise in actual practice what is set down
on the title page, it would be an immense boon. This is
what appears on the title page : " To the farmers and cottagers
e ^nT^ i^"tam. How the French make fowls pay a profit
,? ^1!" '^^^^- P^' annum, producing fat young fowls at 3d.
P^^ T?' T. , ^^^' ^^'^*^'' ^'^'^ summer, at Id. per dozen, by Kiu-
ard B. Edwards." But time would fail me to do more than
mention gristing (which is highly esteemed), bee keeping
gleaning, and suchlike. The farmer, too, might buy backs of
pork, cheese &c., by the hundred weight, and thus get them
cheaper, and dispense at cost price to his labourers. In har-
vest time beer is to be recommended for labourers rather than
cider, ihere is more stay in the former. Liquid largess of
some kind has to be dispensed when extra work is required
the old saw s'ays :

"A wet groat goes farther than a chy shillmg."

Labourers' dwellings should be constructed with proper regard
to health and decency. And it might be desirable that every
twelve householders should elect some wise and discreet man
from among themselves to be a sort of father to the rest to
look after broken glass, drains, roofs, and various little etcete-
ras. Owners of labourers' cottages might be required to take
out a licence, costing a nominal sum, at the beginning of every
year. Each house to be licensed to accommodate only so
many as it was capable of doing with decencv. A fine to be
imposed for overcrowding as in the case of public conveyances.
And here let me advocate the use of Moule's system of earth

closets. It is calculated that attention to this system is worth
over £1 a head to each person that fully adopts it, to say
nothing of its extreme value iu a sanitary point of view. Let
those who doubt go for a lesson to the common domes-
tic cat. Kecent events at Sandriugham point to the vital
importance ofMoule's system of dry earth closets. Atten-
tion to all charities that have for their aim assuaging
the misfortunes and hardships of poverty, such as hos-
pitals, cottage hospitals, and dispensaries. Talking of
health, let me give a practical hint to all of the male sex
who have chins capable of growing a crop which should never
be shorn. It may be trimmed like a neat hedge, but mown
bare with that implement which is fast going into disuse, I
mean the razor, it never should be. Example is better than
precept. Here is an example— under my nose, aud all over
ray cheeks and chin. Therefore I say to all, come aud grow
it; begin with the first day of January, 1872, and never shave
agaiu ; no, never shave again. If my good friends the agri-
culturists—farmers and labourers— only try my plan of a good,
warm, comfortable, costless beard for 12 months, aftei^that
time I warrant they will be proof against all inducements to
open up daily or weekly scores of pores, through which the
cold air permeates, producing toothache and various other ills
to which beard growers are seldom heirs. Since Providence
gives us males this fine leonine protection, why should we mar
His work by depriving ourselves of it ? Gratis advice for all
men — " Grow your beards ; grow your beards !" The conun-
drum says " A man is thinner than a lath." Why ? When ? Do
you give it up ? When he's a shaving ! There are many other
aids and helps that I can only glance at— thus, technical in-
struction ; fishing-net making, called " breeding ;" straw
platting ; taking in washing, use of Australian meat ; mush-
room gathering ; wool gatbering ; manure gathering from the
roads; glove making. Adam Smith says, "Labour is the
source of all wealth." A greater than Adam Smith, " There
is much food in the tillage of the poor." " In all labour there
is profit."

Mr. Genge considered that they had just heard one of the
most important and able lectures of the session. He gave Mr.
Bennett credit for the kind feeling which it was well known
the reverend gentleman displayed towards the poor of his own
parish, and for the endeavours which he personally, made to
ameliorate their condition. Mr. Bennett, while enlarging
upon the question as to the condition of the agricultural la-
bourer, had made some quotations from the work of an
American writer, the picture presented by whom was certainly
much overdrawn. Something of what was said by that writer
might possibly have been true in a few isolated cases, but his
statements were by no means a fair representation of the con-
dition of the agricultural labourer in this county at the present
tune. He (Mr. Genge) particularly mentioned this county,
because a great deal of unjust opprobrium had been cast upon
it. He contended that the present condition of the agricultu-
ral labourers in Dorset was far better than that described iu
the pamphlet in question— he thought it would compare
favourably with the state of any labourers of the same class, or
indeed in any other calling in any part of this country. Mr,
Genge reminded the meeting of the many advantages possessed
by the agricultural labourer compared with the man of the
same standing in other occupations of life ; working in the
open air he had the benefit of pure atmosphere ; if his earnings
were a little less he could supply himself with daily necessaries
at a cheaper rate ; he had more wholesome food and beverages
at a lower price. Regarding the point as to the amount of
remuneration given to the agricultural labourers, were the
employers to blame if the standard did not meet the wishes of
every philanthropist ? Because the labourer said he wanted
15s. per week was he to have it? No doubt the farmers
would like their premises aud land at a stated rent, but then
could they get that P There really had been an immense
amount of twaddle, many unnecessary remarks in discussing
the condition of the agricultural labourer. Iu reference to the
question of perquisites or payments in kind, it should be borne
111 mind that in many cases money payments could not be sub-
stituted without considerable injury to the labourer himself.
Let them for instance take wheat into consideration ; it had
been the custom to supply it at a reduced rate, and the labourer
got a good sample. In saying this he well knew there had
been some abuses of the practice, corn of inferior quality being
supplied ; but then was a good system to be abolished simply

lU

THE FAUJMER'S magazine.

because there were some exceptional cases of abuse ? As a
rule the master gave a fair sample at a reasonable price. Thus
the agricuUural labourer had a good wholesome loaf of bread.
Respecting the question of liquor the rev. gentleman appeared
to recommend in the latter part of his lecture what he con-
demned iu the first part. Mr. Genge asked who could supply-
to the labourer ale or cider at a cheaper rate than could tiie
farmer himself, who bought or made it wholesale? Was
it not better to get it from the farmer than in small quantities
from the pnblic-house keeper ? He submitted that the prac-
tice of supplying to the labourer a good wholesome beverage,
tliat whicli the farmer consumed himself, was in itself com-
mendable. Coming to the matter of dress the vice-president
remarked, there were not wanting instances of the agricul-
tural labourers, tiieir wives and daughters, apparently stepping
above their station ia life. It was quite true that one-half of
the world did not know how the other half lived ; but the
labourers had money for dress, and they would have finery
with it. He thought the value of a man's earnings depended
a great deal upon the management of the home, the manner
in which the money was spent. While in one house everything
was clean and comfortable, with everything that could be
desired, in the adjoining house, although the earnings were
more, yet all was uncomfortable, the sole fault being in the
habits of the occupants themselves. A good deal has been
said in the way of recommending that the labourer should
have land and be allowed to keep a cow. Now that was
thoroughly impracticable. He knew that fault was found
because of the extent of uncultivated land. Mr. Mechi spoke
of the amount that could be brought into cultivation. But
supposing that the labourer saved say £10, was it practicable
that he should have a portion of land and a cow ? Wiiy,
would not tlie cow bring him into debt? What could be
done with the animal when it did not produce milk ? It
would then be no benefit to the labourer. As for poultry
it should be iemerabered that the labourer should not be led
into temptation. If he kept poultry a very great temptation
would be presented to him, because on passing the corn
ricks and so on, he would feel strongly inclined to fill his
pockets — boots had at times been used for such purposes —
so as to carry home a little for the birds. Of course this
would not be tlie case in every instance ; on the contrary
labourers as a rule were honest and trustworthy — still to keep
poultry would be to otfer temptation, and the practice should
therefore be discountenanced. Mr. Bennett recommended
that the labourers should be afforded tlie opportunity of buyiug
necessary articles at wholesale prices ; that to some extent
was already tlie case. Still much more in that respect could
doubtless be done. He firmly believed that a gentleman
situated in a parish as was their reverend friend, had the means
of doing a vast amount of good. He knew that at Puddle-
town what were called local charities had been freely distri-
buted this Christmas, and he thought they had proved highly
beneficial. If clergymen would interest themselves as Mr.
Bennett had done in the formation of clothing clubs and such
like institutions, tlie condition of the agricultural labourer
would no doubt be very much improved. In conclusion, Mr.
Genge said they had to thank the rev. gentleman for the con-
siderable trouble which he had taken in the matter, and for
the good intentions he had evinced.

Mr. 11. Damen (the Mayor of Dorchester) did not exactly
agree with all that Mr. Bennett had said ; he rather adopted
the views to which Mr. Genge had just given utterance. There
was, however, one part of the lecture which liad his entire ap-
proval— that with regard to the Dorchester hiring or " mop "
fair. This town was not exceptional in that respect, for he
remembered that at Newcastle there was also a great " mop "
fair. Thousands of persons from all parts of the country con-
gregated there, special trains running the previous day. Men
and women, servant boys and girls, mixed indiscriminately to-
gether spending the night in the town and returning to their
respective homes the day after the fair, which was the greatest
curse that the county of Northumberland had. More characters
were lost on fair night tlian in all the other parts of the year.
He thouglit then that it was the duty of every right-feeling
man placed in the position of their friend the lecturer, to dis-
courage in every possible way such a system as that in question,
which led to no good. Jlegarding labour, it liad always b(;en
and was still a difficult question. The political economist
averred tliat the remuneration in the labour market was ruled

by supply and demand — and no doubt in some measure labour
would be paid for according to that principle ; still he (Mr.
Damen) gave the employer credit for being influenced by higher
feelings than that. In many cases labourers were engaged for
say 30 years for all the year round, through winter and sum-
mer alike, irrespective of wet days, and pecuniary loss was thus
often sustained by the employer, who knew that,. without such
consideration the wives ^and families ot his men could not
exist. He (Mr. Damen) was sure that the best possible feeling
prevailed on the part of the employers. He had had con-
siderable experience of country life, and he was also pretty
well acquainted with the employment ot labour in the towns ;
and having this advantage he could confidently affirm that the
agrijultural labourers were infinitely better off than the town
labourers. Let them for a moment contrast the former with
some of the working men who lived say in the I'ordington
parish. Many of the town labourers when tliey had no work
were starving. Those employed by the builders and so forth
earned at the most 2s. per day during the summer, and they
had no extras in the sliape of cottages, gardens, or fuel ; no
cider in harvest, as had the agricultural labourers. Tiie town
labourer, iu far too many instances, lived in some miserable
cottage or lodging that, was a disgrace to the owner and occu-
pier alike. From conversations he had held with persons in
this and various counties he was sure that the agricultural
labourers were better paid, were better clothed, and had more
comfortable homes than was the case years ago ; this was espe-
cially the case with regard to Dorset. Everybody knew that.
He thought nobody could look at the agricultural labourers
without concluding that their condition was superior to that of
the same class of men 30 or 40 years ago. Personally he
wished that they were better housed; stiU a great improvement
had already taken place in that respect. He was quite certain
that progress was being made with regard to their general con-
dition. Referring to the question of dress Mr. Damen spoke
of the extent to which broad cloth has been substituted for the
white smock-frock now so seldom seen on Sundays, while as
regards the gentler sex there is the difficulty of distinguishing
servants from ladies. Throughout the country the improve-
ment as to dress here indicated had, he said, been witnessed.
On every hand progress was made. At the same time lie
wished the progress was more rapid ; however they must take
things as they were. There was another point. As a rule were
not men paid as well as their employers could afford to
pay them ? He knew from an agricultural point of view, for
some years past the farmer had been positively paying for
labour more than he could afford. Mr. Damen alluded inci-
dentally to the ditficult question of emigration, which is set
down as a great remedy for the evil complained of — low wages
— and, concluding his practical remarks, observed that al-
thougli the population of the country is at present double what
it was at the beginning of the century, yet all classes of the
community are better clothed, better housed, and superior also
in many other respects.

Mr. G. Wood Homer thought that meeting a body of
farmers such as the Dorchester Farmers' Club the rev. gentle-
man had shown considerable pluck in coming forward with
such statements as those which he had quoted from the pam-
phlet in question. He did not think that Mr. Bennett really
believed that his quotations were accurate; the rev. gentleman
had identified himself too much with the rural population to
believe for one moment the statements advanced by Mr. Miall
— doubtless he now brought them forward in order that they
might be satisfactorily refuted. (Mr. Bennett : Hear, hear.)
Let the truth be spoken about the matter, and let not such
statements uncoutradictedgo forth to tlie public. Mr. Bennett
had said : " Let justice be done." Now the way in which
that could be done for the landowners and occupiers, chiefly
tlie former, was to see that the poor in their respective districts
had work. To do justice to the poor mau was, he argued, to
find him employment at satisfactory wages. In this country
there were hundreds and thousands of.acres requiring improve-
ment, wliich work would pay 5 per cent. Yet it was not done.
He did not know why. Mr. Miall probably would explain
that the law of promigeniture was the reason ; he (Mr. G.
Wood Homer) did not think it was. There was one improve-
ment as to the expediency of carrying out which, there could,
lie thought, be no manner of doubt — he referred to cutting
straight and deepening the river courses. That would be a satis-
factory work in winter, one which would pay well. It seemed

TiiE FARMEfi'-S MAGAZINE.

145

as if the attenttiou ot' landownefs had uol been suflicieutly
drawn to these matters. There was a glaring impediment in
the way of improvements being executed. They were no sooner
done than they were immediately ^assessed to heavy local bur-
dens. Let a man improve liis laud and down comes the As-
sessment Committee, taxing him 3s. or 4s. in the pound.
That stopped a great deal of improvement in land. The
rev. lecturer has alluded to the rate of wages paid in this
county, mentioning Ss. per week. Now he (Jlr. llomer) did
not think any man would for one moment believe that figure
was the standard of wages in the county of Dorset. In
one instance to his own personal knowledge 10s. per week
was paid, and the greater part of the year the rate,
in consequence of perquisites, far exceededjhat sum. Speak-
ing on the advantages of cottage accommodation, Mr. Homer
mentioned that while he let a habitation for 2s. 6d. per week
to a man who did not work for him, he let the adjoining
one, which had a larger garden attached, for Is. weekly, al-
though it was worth 3s. 6d. Thus he allowed that man 2s.
6d., about which nobody had anything to say. Then again
fuel and potato ground were found, liegarding the latter per-
haps there miglit occasionally be a direful failure in the crop,
prejudicial to the labourer ; but then the farmer himself had
at times to suffer from a failnre in the wheat crop. He had
been afforded the opportunity of talking on the subject of the
remuneration of labourers to the farmers of Essex, Wiltshire,
and other counties, and had found that if weekly wages in
Dorset were a trifle below in nominal amount those given in
the other counties in question piecework was paid for rather
higher iu Dorset. Kegarding the Candlemas fair the rev.
gentleman had done well to draw attention to the subject. The
system of hiring there was undoubtedly wrong, and as such
should be abolished if possible. He thought that the sugges-
tion to sign an agreement not to hire there would, if carried
out, have a good effect. It might be a conditional agreement.
Some gentleman had thrown out the hint that those labourers
who had no business at the fair should not be allowed to visit
it. Tliat, he thought, would be well to carry out, for such
parties would only go to swell an idle throng. The rev. gentle-
man had laid considerable stress on' charily. Now he (INlr.
Homerl was not very fond of charity if by that was meant in-
discriminate alms-giving, or he might go so far as to say even
that rather of a discriminate nature. He preferred that a man
should have plenty of work with good wages, to the plan of
allowing him skimmed milk, or what was left in the kitchen.
Respecting the proposal that every labourer should be per-
mitted to keep a cow, he said that it sucli were adopted on his
own farm he should have 30 cows running about. Pray how
were they to be kept in winter ? The labourers keeping cows
would require ground for the making of hay. Mr. Homer
was afraid that the plan would by no means be found a paying
game in the end. He looked upon it as a step in the direc-
tion of a retrogressive policy, and recommended as a true help
to the labourer the systenl of granting garden ground on which
lie might grow his own crops, which he considered rather pro-
gressive than otherwise. He approved the suggestion to es-
tabhsh the plan of co-operative stores, sj)eaking of the bugbear
debt which so often keeps down the labourer, llespecting
drunkenness it was, he said, a sad evil, ruining many of the
country people, but not to such an extent as it ruined the
town people. He thought the cure for that was a judicious
licensing bill, which lie hoped some Government, whether
Liberal or Conservative, would have the pluck to bring for-
ward notwithstanding the opposition of the brewers. In the
dwellings of the poor there liad, he thought, been a marked
improvement. He thought that subject must be dealt with
irrespective of £ s, d. Cottages would not pay a per centage ;
but, nevertheless, it was the duty of the landowner to provide
proper accommodation for those living upon his property. He
thought the suggestion of Mr. Bennett that a cottage might be
licensed (o liold so many persons was well worth consideration
— if a public vehicle were thus regulated, why not the cottage P
But this seemed to him to affect the town population in a
greater degree than the agricultural ; wliere there was one
poor helpless boy in the country requiring such protection
there were 50 in the town. In the cottages of this county
especially there had been great improvement ; no one could
take a long drive in the neighbourhood of Dorchester without
seeing abuudant evidence of that gratifying fact. There were,
for instance, good model cottages at Puddletown — during the

past few years wonders liad been done there. He did not
think that in all these things they must expect to go so fast as
some persons seemed to imagine. However, great improve-
ment had been going on ; he hoped they would still keep pro-
gress in view, although, perhaps, they might not find it expe-
dient to go at railway speed.

Dr. Aldridge endorsed what had been said by Mr. Genge
and other speakers. There had been uttered, he observed, a
great deal of maudlin sentiment with regard to the condition
of the agricultural labourer. As lovers of their country it
was, he thought, their duty to look forward to every link of the
social chain. In his own recollection the condition of the
agricuUural labourer had been wonderfully improved. It
would, indeed, be improved to a still more surprising degree if
the romantic and Utopian ideas of some persons who knew
nothing on the subject were carried out — the tenant-farmer
would not be able to live. At the present time the landlord
did not realise more than three per cent, on his land, and that
he thought was not too much. The tenant-farmer could not
afford to give an increased rate of wages, seeing that the con-
dition of the agricultural labourer had already so much im-
proved. He did not see any reason why there should have
taken place so much excitement on this subject. There was
one direction in which improvement could be effected, and
that was education, in regard to which great disgrace attached
to this country. Mr. Childers, recently speaking on this sub-
ject, mentioned that on passing through Germany
he saw 800 recruits who had come from Berlin, and
there were only three of them who could not read or write ; the
authorities asked why on earth that was allowed ? How dif-
ferent the condition of things in England in this respect ! Dr.
Aldridge thought that while the privileges of the franchise
v^ere bestowed upon the labouring population, while their in-
terest in tlie welfare of the Constitution was increased, they
should be proportionately educated, in order that they might
be able to adequately discharge the heavier responsibilities of
their station in life. At the same time he was' no advocate
for an excessive education ; that was out of the question — it
would be productive of evil instead of good. Labourers should
not be imposed upon by being compelled to pay excessively for
everything in the shape of food or clothing. The co-opera-
tive systenl met with his cordial approval ; it would, he be-
lieved, be a great boon to the agricultural poor. As to the
question of intemperance, he looked with disfavour upon any
plan for putting down the evil by Act of Parliament. He
thought the privileges of the poor were as sacred as those of
the rich. Any compulsory measure affecting exclusively the poor
would, he .thought, be a great hardship. The poor man often
resorted to the public- house not for the purpose of getting
drink, but for the sake of enjoying 'a little social company, and
he (Dr. Aldridge) advocated the increase of attractions coun-
ter to that in question, laying particular stress on the import-
ance of imparting a suitable amount of instruction.

Mr. G. Wood Homer explained it was in this way that he
looked upon a licensing measure as to some extent curing
drunkenness. He thought that if the ale, or the national
beverage, could be obtained easily and readily over the coun-
ter in the same way as was the loaf of bread, so that the la-
bourer could take it to his own house and consume it, that
alone would obviate drunkenness. That was his reason for
looking upon a licensing measure as to great extent remedying
the evil of intemperance.

Mr. A^!DREWS (the secretary) attacked Mr. Miall's pam-
plilet, exposing in some glaring inconsistencies iu the state-
ments put forth by the writer. He showed that agricultural
labour is popular because of its many advantages, and defended
the employers from the charges made against them, while ad-
mitting there were " black sheep in every flock." He contended
that in Dorset the agricultural labourers were as well paid as
in any other county. He pointed out that within 40 lines of
liis pamphlet Mr. Miall confutes his own argument. He
did not mean to say that they had the same amount; of money,
but that they had advantages proportionate to money.

Mr. Chapman Saunders believed that the labourers in
this county were as well paid as it was possible for the tenant-
farmer to pay them. The value of labour depended in a great
degree, he thought, upon the law of supply and demand. Re-
specting the hiring fair, he believed they all would be glad if
it wure abolished, but the question was, he pointed out, a difli-
cult one to deal with. He suggested that the greement should

146

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

be signed on the coudition that say three, four, or five hundred
other farmers did the same. It was very easy to say the fair
should be done away, but in his own opinion that was not so
easy to accomplish.

Mr. H. W. Hawkins, who had been in the habit of paying
by piece work, mentioned that he had given as much as 30s.
per week for mowing ; he strongly repudiated the statement
that wages amounted to only 8s. weekly. By an amusing
anecdote showing that agricultural labourers could not on one
occasion which he mentioned be identified in church in conse-
quence of their wearing black coats instead of smock-frocks,
he corroborated what had been said with regard to the im-
provement that had taken place with respect to dress. In re-
ference to bad language, he had not heard it on his own farm,
and he did not think that farmers of the 19th century were in
the habit of swearing.

Mr. Genge expressed liis opinou that no one should shrink
from signing the agreement in regard to discountenancing the
fair. He thought that if it were an abuse they must try to do
away with it ; there must be a beginning.

The PiiESiDENT, in summing up the observations of the va-
rious speakers, expressed his own opinion, as a practical farmer
of some 40 or 50 years' experience, that the expenses of em-
ployers were now double what they were 20 years ago, which
showed plainly, he thought, that wages had considerably ad-
vanced. The cottages, too, had exceedingly improved within
the last ten years. With regard to paying in kind he had liim-
self, when wheat was down to £10 per load, tried to altogether
stop the " gristing" — whicli the men always had — and to pay
in money ; but all said " No." They had two bushels to a
sack of wheat monthly for their families. They had GOlbs. of
wheat for 5s., so that their bread cost them only 5d. per loaf.
They paid only Is. per week for rent, besides wliich they had
various perquisites, such as fuel, gorse, and coal. Then, too,
they had " tut" work during the year. With respect to drink
bis own men at one time always had it at the house ; but after-
wards he allowed them £3 per year, and then tliey never came
to the house at all. On the whole he thought that the price
of labour was now fully 2s. per week higher than when he
began business, and other things were proportionately higher ;
all the " tut" work was much higher. It could be plainly
seen that the condition of the agricultural labourer had im-

proved considerably during the last few years. He could not
see in the least why stigma should be cast upoH this county
as paying less for labour than was paid in other counties of
England. He was certain that the agricultural population was
at present in a far better state than 20 years ago. He thought
they ought to thank Mr. Bennett sincerely for the able manner
in whicli he had brought forward the subject.

Mr. Damen strongly recommended the Club to set a good
example by signing tiie paper without the least hesitation.

The Bev. T. Bennett read a letter from Mr. W. H. Dun-
man, of Troytown Farm, who most cordially approved of the
movement, setting forth in forcible terras the evils associated
with the fair. Mr. Thomas Bouncy, of No. 3, Cornhill, Dor-
chester, had also expressed his willingness to keep open his
registry office for the purpose of meeting the wants of both
employers and employed in the county. He had no doubt
that at other such offices similar facilities would be offered.
His brother clergymen were dead against the hiring fair, and
his individual opinion was, that the movement to put it down
would be more likely to succeed if it originated with the farmers
themselves, and not with the clergy, who, however, would do all
in ther power to promote it. Now lie thought was the time
for action. It was beer rather than cider that he recom-
mended. As for his own practical knowledge on farming it
had once been said of him " Tliey spoiled a good grass farmer
and made a parson of you." In Ireland he had found that
cow keeping as adopted by the labourers there was profitable
to them. [Mr. G. W. Homer : I suppose land was rented
there by the mile ?] His own congregation at Toller Pra-
trum, included many smock-frocks, which he really admired.
He endorsed what Dr. Aldridge had said in reference to edu-
cation. He was pleased that co-operative stores had met
with their approbation. Respecting the use of bad language,
they all, he said, had little tempers of their own, and it was
as well to keep themselves in check.

On the motion of the President, seconded by the Vice-
president Mr. Bennett was accorded a vote of thanks. The
following was signed by nearly[all present : Declaration against
Hiring Agricultural Labourers at the Dorchester Candlemas
Fair. — We, the undersigned, hereby pledge ourselves to use all
our endeavours to prevent the hiring of any farm labourers or
other servants at the Dorchester Candlemas Fair.

THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURER.

At the December meeting of the Croydon Farmers' Club, there
was a large attendance. Mr. Robert W. Fuller in the chair.

Mr. Leveson-Gower read the following paper : — I have
for some time felt it due to those who did me the honour to
elect me a member of the Croydon Farmers' Club that I should
contribute something to the many useful discussions that have
from time to time taken place at these meetings, and
although my friend Mr. Stables somewhat quickened ray
pace, I may say, with all honesty, that it had been my in-
tention to offer to read a paper during the present season.
In glancing through the subjects that have been discussed
I found that that of the condition of the agricultural la-
labourer was one that had never been before jou, and although
1 feel that it is so large a one that it is impossible to do ade-
quate justice to it, it is at the same time one of such vast im-
portance to the prosperity of agriculture — in fact, I may say
it so underlies the whole question — it is, so to speak, the sub-
structure upon which the wliole fabric rests — that I feel justified
in introducing it to your notice this evening ; and however
far I may fall short in doing justice to it, I shall be amply
rewarded if I can provoke an interesting and profitable dis-
cussion upon the question. Now, there can be no doubt that
the condition of the agricultural labourer has very much im-
proved during the present century. Whether his condition has
improved in an equal degree with those of other classes it will be
our business presently to inquire ; as also into any causes which
may exist to retard that improvement, and the remedies that
may be suggested. A short inquiry into the early condition
of the agricultural labourer may not be without interest at the
outset. Villenage. Under the Saxon government there
were, as Sir W. Temple tells us, a class of persons in a

condition of dowright servitude, used and employed in the most
servile works, and belonging, both they and their children
and effects to the lord of the soil, like the rest of the cattle or
stock upon it. Under the Normans their condition was some-
what improved, and the system of villenage obtained, by
which, although they were annexed either to the land or to
the lord of the manor, and were transferred from one owner
to another, still they were under the protection of the lord,
and in turn|for their services received certain favours from him.
The last we hear of the villein by name is in Ric. ll.'s time, the
end of the 11th century, and by the time of Hen. VIII.
villenage had practically ceased. The process by wliich the
labourer arrived at his present condition, viz., that of working
for a fixed day's wages, was a long time in developing itself,
and it is not till 1581, the time of Queen Elizabeth, that we
find the agricultural labourer as he now exists beginning to
appear. Some interesting details of his condition in the time
of Queeu Elizabeth are given by Mr. Fronde, in his History of
England, Vol. I. At this time, although practically a free man,
and allowed atfuU age under certain restrictions his own choice of
master, yet the restrictions on masters and servants were so
severe as to prevent either from taking advantage of the neces-
sities of the other, or from terminating through caprice, or for
any insufficient reason, a connection presumed to be permanent.
The English labourer of the early part of Henry VIll.'s reign
is described as of a sturdy, high-hearted race, sound in body,
and fierce in spirit, furnished witli thews and sinews, which,
under the stimulus of those great shins of beef, their common
diet, were the wonder of the age. " What comyn folk m all
this world," says a State paper 1515, " may compare with the
comyns of England in riches, freedom, liberty, welfare, and all

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147

prosperity ? What couiyu folk is so mighty, so strong in the
iielde as the comyns of England ?" " The artificers and
husbandmen," says Harrison (Dec. of England), " make iTiost
account of such meat as they may soonest come by, and liave
it quickliest ready. Their food consisteth principally of beef
and such meat as the butcher selleth — that is to say, mutton,
veal, lamb, pork, besides souse, brawn, bacon, fruit, pies of
fruit, fowls of sundry sorts. In feastimes the husbandmen do
exceed after their manner, especially at bridals and such odd
meetings where it is incredible to teU what meat is consumed
and spent." The Spanisli nobles which came into England
with Philip were astonished at the diet which they found
among the poor. " These English," said one of them, " have
their houses made of stick and dirt, but they fare commonly so
well as the King." In this respect, I fear, there is a great
falling off in the present day. Mr. Fronde says that the state
of the labouring classes can best be determined by a compari-
son of their wages with the price of food. He says that in
Queen Elizabeth's time the majority of agricultural labourers
lived in the houses of their employers, but still many had cot-
tages of their own. He calculates that a penny in the time of
Henry VIII. was equivalent to a shilling of our money. The
wages of a common labourer in 6, Henry VIII. , were 4<d. a-
day for half-year ; for the remaining half od. A common
servant of husbandry also was boarded and lodged at his
master's house, received I6s. 8d. a-year in money, with Is. for
his clothes ; while the wages of the out-door labourer in con-
stant work would have been £5 a-year. In the harvest mouths
they were allowed to work by the piece and might earn consi-
derably more ; mowers, for instance, earned 8d. a-day, so that,
in fact, the day labourer, if in full employment, received on an
average 4d. a-day for the whole year, or, in our money, 4s. ;
allowing him to work regularly five days a-week he received
20s. a-week, the wages at present paid in English colonies.
And this was not all his advantages : he generally held land
in connexion with his house, while iu most parishes there were
large tracts of common where pigs might range, and ducks
and geese or sometimes a cow, and, from the vast
tracts of forest, wood was very . plentiful and cheap.
During the first three-quarters of the 16th century, says the
same author, the working classes of the country remained in
a condition more than prosperous. They enjoyed an abundance
far beyond what the same class were enjoying in France or
Germany. The average price of wheat was 6s. 8d. per qr.,
barley 3s., beef and pork were Ogd'. per lb., i.e., 6d. of our
money ; fat oxen were sold for 26s. 8d. a piece {i.e., £16), fat
wethers for 3s. 4d. (-tOs.), fat calves the same, and fat lambs
12d. ; the best fat pig or goose in a country market could be
bought for 4d., a good capon for 3d. or 4d., a chicken for Id.,
a hen for 2d. ; strong beer, such as we buy for 18d. a gallon,
was then a penny {i.e., a shilling), and table-beer less tiian
Oid. ; French and German wines were 8d. a gallon. Rent,
anotlier important consideration, is difficult to fix accurately,
but in the case of the cottager it was very small. " The
great criterion," says Lord Macaulay, of the state of the
common people is the amount of their wages. No less than
4-5ths of the common people were in the seventeen century
employed in agriculture, and Sir W. Peter informs us that a
labourer was by no means iu the lowest state who received for
a day's work 4d. with food, or 8d. without. Four shillings
a week were, therefore, according to this calculation, fair ag-
ricultural wages. About the beginning of 1G85 the justices
of Warwickshire, in the exercise of a power entrusted to them
by an Act of Elizabeth, fixed at their quarter sessions a scale
of wages for their county, and notified that every employer
who gave more than the authorised sum, and every work-
ing man who received more would be liable to punish-
ment. These wages they fixed from March to September at
4s. a week without food, and from September to March 3s.
6d. Then, as now, the wages varied iu different counties.
Warwickshire may be taken as about an average, but some
counties were better off. The wages iu Devonshire were 5s.
in winter, 6s. in summer without food. In 1661 the justices
at Chelmsford fixed the wages of the Essex labourer without
board at 6s. in winter, and 7s. iu summer, but in this year
the necessaries of life were immoderately dear. Wheat being
70s. a quarter. In the wliole of Charles I[.'s reign peasants'
wages did not exceed 4s. Macaulay sums up thus, seeing that
none of the necessaries of life have doubled in price since the
17th century, while many have become decidedly cheaper, he

concludes that labouring meii were in that age worse off than
at present in all material respects ; tliat they were worse
lodged, worse clothed, and worse fed. This opinion, as we
see, differs very materially from that of Mr. Fronde, and
although both descriptions are probably rather coloured
according to the bias of the writer, Mr. Fronde's is, it would
seem, nearer the truth. Mr. Thornton, in liis well-known
work on labour, criticises with much force Lord Macaulay's
statement. He says : " During the time that that historian
contrasts with our own lived Daniel Defoe, the most minute,
careful, and comprehensive of observers. One subject which
ho investigated with peculiar interest was the condition of his
poorer countrymen, and his remarks disprove Lord Macaulay's.
Although in Yorkshire and Durham a labourer's weekly wages
might, he says, be only 4s., in Kent, and iu several of the
southern and western provinces, they were 7s., 9s., or 10s.
Often when Defoe wanted a man for work, aud had ofi'ered 9s,
a week to sturdy varlets at his door, he had been told to his
face that they could get more by begging ; ' and once,' says he,
" I put a lusty fellow in tlie stocks for making the experi-
ment." Again, he represents himself as habitually paying six
or seven men on Saturday night — the least 10s., and some
30s. — for work ; and he mentions one man who for several
years gained of him from 16s. to 20s. a week by his handi-
work, at the mean, scoundrel employment of tile making. The
high wages vvere not turned, he says, to the best account ;
they vi'cre higher than in any other country in tlie world ; but,
whereas a Dutchman with 20s. a week would be sure to grow
rich, aud leave his children iu very good condition, an
Englishman could only but just live — might, perhaps, hardly
have a pair of shoes to his feet or clothes to cover him, and
might have his wife and children kept by the parish. But
this was caused entirely by the extravagant manner of our
poor people iu eating and drinking, for tliey ate and drank—
but especially the latter — three times as much in value as any
sort of foreigners of the same dimensions in the world. If it
had not been for the ale-house everyone might have lived
comfortably, for there was more labour than hands to per-
form it, and the meanest labour afforded by the workman
sufficient to provide for himself and his family. These are
striking remarks, written nearly 200 years ago, and may
confidently be relied upon for their accuracy. " If," says Mr.
Thornton, "instead of confining our attention to the end of the
16th and 17th centuries, we were to go back to the times of
the Tudors and Plantagenets, we should find reason to assert
still more strongly that the course of the English labourer has
been retrograde instead of progressive. We should find a
period at which wages were twice or thrice as high as the
rulers conceived to be good for them, and when laws were
deemed necessary to check their self-indulgent propensities,
and to restrain their transgression in diet and dress — when,
accordingly, carters, ploughmen, and other servants in hus-
bandry were gravely admonished by Act of Parliament against
eating aud drinking excessively, and special statutes were
passed against the using materials of clothing of higher price
than might now suffice for the purchase of silks or satins.
ParUament decreed that they were to be entitled to only one
meal a day of flesh or fish, and directs them to content them-
selves at other meals with butter, cheese, and other such
victuals." It seems clear, therefore, that the vvages of labour
estimated iu money were iu 1685 not more than half what
they now are, and that most articles of necessity to the work-
ing man were more than half as dear as at present. Beer was
cheaper, so was meat, but wheat was dearer, and the majority
lived on rye, barfey, and oats. Passing on to the days of
Queen Anne, what I consider the condition of the agricultural
peasantry was at its best, then it was, says Lord Stanhope,
that the harsh features of the feudal system had passed away,
while some of the milder ones remained. There was no trace
of serfdom or compulsory service, but there lingered the feel-
ing of protection due by the lord of the soil to his retainers in
sickness or old age. Labour was then no mere contract of
work done for value received, Service was still in some de-
gree requited even when it ceased to be performed. The en-
closure of commons, which did not come much into force
until George II.'s reign, have no doubt been to the disadvan-
tage of the labouring class. Formerly whoever wished to
build a cottage might squat himself down on one of the many
tracts of waste which then constituted a quarter of the king-
dom aud build himself a dwelling, which he occupied rent free,

148

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

and lo tliis was added a garden of no inconsiderable size, while
the adjoining common supplied grazing for a cow, for pigs,
or geese, tlius enabling him to supplement his wages. But it
will not do to be led further into the historical or antiquarian
part of the subject. Our business is with the present condi-
tion of the agricultural labourer. Although from what has
been said there can be no doubt that there was a time when,
as a class, they were better off than they are now, still, look-
ing at their condition as it is now and as it was at the begin-
ning of the present century, there has been, no doubt, a
marked and constant progress since that time. The close of
the last century and the first 25 years of the present mark, I
think, the worst epoch in his liistory. The price of provisions
■was exorbitant, the rate of wages was low, no improvement
had been made in his dwelling, no provision for his education ;
the poor-law, such as it was, was unequally administered, the
poor-houses a sink of misery and immorality. It seems to me,
in reviewing the history of the agricultural labourer, that the
greatest evil that has happened to him lias heen the loosening
those ties of inter-independence which formerly bound toge-
ther the employer and employed. The majority of labourers
lived formerly in the houses of their employers, and formed
part of the family ; a good feeling was thereby engendered,
their interests and that of their employers were identical, and
this no increase in the rate of wages can make up for. The
system now is completely altered ; the farm labourer has been
almost universally turned out of the farm-house, and until
lately, when something has heen done to provide cottages on
the farms, he has had to walk long distances morning and
evening to his work. But it is on the young man — the un-
married labourer — that the change has worked most prejudi-
cially. He has to find a lodging where he may, and this is
usually at some of the worst cottages in the district, the better
class of landowners as a rule refusing to allow their cottage
tenants to take lodgers. His evenings are spent as a rule at
the public-house, where the seeds of incemperate habits are
laid for his future life, and more than all this, the want of a
home has been the fruitful source of those early marriages
which are the parents of so much misery among the labouring
poor. So great an evil was this considered that in the middle
ages a statute was passed forbidding these early marriages.
We must, however, accept things as they now are. We can
never expect to see tiie time when the labourer shall be fed
and lodged as heretofore in the house of his master. We
must accept the fact that agricultural labour is to be like any
other labour, a mere question of contract between employer
and employed ; tliat the relation between tliem need not be
a personal one, hut simply so much work for so much wages.
I shall proceed to consider the question from this point of
view, and endeavour to point out the way in wiiich 1 believe
the condition of the agricultural labourer may be improved.
It is a very general remark that farmers do not get the
same amount of work out of their labourers as they used to
do ; in fact, that the labourer has materially and morally de-
teriorated. I believe this to be to a certain extent true, and
various causes are no doubt at work to produce it. There is
in the first place that want of interest and individual acquaint-
ance between the farmer and his men to which I have before
alluded. Many of the best hands are tempted away to the
large towns by the prospect of higher wages and better
hiring. There are numerous sources of employment open to .
them of which our fathers knew nothing, the alteration in the
law of settlement, the ready means of locomotion, the spread
of education — all these causes, combine to take away a good
many Irora the field of agricultural labour who would otlier-
wise be found there. There are very few agricultural parishes
in whicli the labour market is overstocked, and if we look at
the census retuins they supply undoubted evidence of the
great migration that takes place from the country to large
towns — wliereas in the former the population is nearly or
quite stationary, in the latter the increase is most enormous.
Is the same amount of labour required now as formerly on
the same quantity of laud ? I believe not. The amalgama-
tion of farms, the grubbing of hedgerows, and uniting of
fields, the larger amount of land laid down in grass, the in-
troduction of machinery, these all tend to reduce the number
of labourers required. I am not now going into the question
of small and large farms — of peasant proprietors or large
landowners. I can only take things as they are. I see a
general tendency to increase the size of agricultural holdings,

and to adopt machinery in every branch of farming to whicli
it can be applied. But I am far from believing that a very
general introduction of machinery will be to the disadvantage
of the labourer. I believe that it will enhance his value and
raise his wages. Evidence goes to show that the best drivers
of agricultural engines are taken from the labouring class, and
the rate of wages is 20s. to 23s. per week. It will be an in-
centive to the agricultural labourer to provide a better edu-
cation for his children, and to keep them longer at school. If
you have gone along with ir.e far you will, I think, agree with
me that the condition of the agricultural labourer is not on
the whole satisfactory. We have a growing dissatisfaction
among them at their condition, as uneasy restlessness which
leads them to be constantly changing their situations, a
lack of interest in their employer's concerns ; among the
lads independence, among the girls a love of finery and
a dislike to hard work. How shall we bring about a
better state of things ? Is the following description, taken
from an article in the Conihill Magazine of February,
IS6-I, entitled " The Life of a Farm Labourer," altogether a
romance ? is there not much truth in it? " He is taken from
school as soon as he can earn 4d. or 6d. a day on the farm.
He forgets all he has learnt at school as fast as other boys do.
His next step is a team boy at ^s. or 5s. a week. After
passing through the half dozen violent attachments which
matrons denominate " calf love," he is seen one fine morning
before he is 32 on his way from church with his bride, who is
only 17. Their first quarters are two hired rooms, and here
for a while they get on pretty well, for the husband's earnings
are 14s., to which the wife on an average adds 2s. They do
pretty well as long as they have only one child, but the family
cares of young people are apt to increase rapidly, and in a ratio
of nearly annual arithmetical progression. So in the third yearof
his married life they are obliged to remove into a cottage of
their own, and find themselves a few years after with half
a dozen children to maintain, with rent and fuel to provide,
and clothes to he paid for. Hard is the struggle, and hard
the life the parents lead in consequence. A bit of bacon is
the nearest approach to flesh meat ever seen in the dwelling ;
and bread and cheese and an onion, washed down with so-
called tea, as often as not his principal and midday meal.
Being disabled by hard fare and exposure he is at 50
years of age no longer worth 2s. Gd. a day, and is
reduced to 2s., then to Is. 6d. Then follows sick
and the benefit club, to which he had formerly subscribed,
liaviug broken up, his only resource is to apply for out-door
relief, to be exchanjed shortly afterwards for an asylum in the
sick ward of the union. Once within those walls they are there
for life. They have sold their furniture and must make up
their minds to wait patiently, until death shall come to set
them free." It was long ago remarked by Sir Josiah Child,
that to benefit the condition of the poorer classes was deserv-
ing the most serious consideration of our wisest counsellors,
" and if a whole session of Parliament were employed upon this
singular concern, I think," says he, " it would be time spent as
much to the glory of God and good of this nation as in any-
thing that noble and worthy patriots can be engaged in." The
remedies that I shall venture to suggest are not legislative
enactments (in such matters I am no believer in legislation) ;
they will be such as tend to improve their condition morally
and physically, and such as lie within the reach of almost every
owner of cottage property or employer of labour. Before all
improvements, whether in men, dwellings, their education, or
their rate of viages, I look to the cultivation of a friendly
feeling between the employer and employed. One of the great
evils that we have to lament in the present day is the estrange-
ment that exists between the classes. When the work is done
and the wages paid it is considered that the obligations have
been fulfilled on both sides ; there is no personal intercourse
between the families. How often as soon as the labourer is
thrown out of work his wages are immediately stopped and he
is cast upon the rates, when in the case of a mere temporary
ailment how much kindly feeling would be engendered by the
employer continuing to pay the wages ! Can it be wondered at
that under the circumstances complaints should be made of
the constant change of situation, or that the labourer, on tiie
chance of bettering himself, should change his employment ?
Foremost among the improvemeuts always suggested is that
of providing the labourer with a comfortable home at a
moderate distance from his work. The moral and physical

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149

coudition of the labourer is very much determiued by the
state of his home ; if we would draw hira from the public-
house it must be by his having a comfortable home to go to
after his work — a home in which he cau take a honest pride.
Lord Shaftesbury (and no one can claim to speak with
greater authority) remarks that of all the physical questions
which atfect the condition of the labouring classes, there
is no one point of so much importance as the condition of
the dwelling-places where they and their families reside.
There can be no question that of late years great improve-
ments have been made in the matter of cottages, especially
upon tlie large estates. The difficulty, however, which under-
lies the whole question, and seriously interferes with its further
development, is that of expense. It has not yet been shown
how superior cottages can be built to let at such a rent as a
mere agricultural labourer can atfoi-d to pay. Cottage build-
ing can be rendered profitable in towns, because houses can
he built relatively cheaper by building them in a row, and
they v/ill always command a large rent. But in country dis-
tricts it is not so good. A good pair of cottages, detached
with suitable offices, cannot be built under £300. The high-
est rent that I consider a labourer in receipt of 13s. or 14s.
a-week is capable of paying is 3s. a-week, or £5 to£5 5s.
a-year. Now the lowest rate of interest whicii a builder exi
peels is 6 or 7 per cent, upon house property ; this would give
£18 per annum, whereas tlie actual rent is £10 10s., or only
3| per cent. Then to that has to be added a poor-rate of
some 10 per cent., and it will be seen that the real drawback
in the way of cottage improvement is expense. Several letters
have lately appeared in The Times between Mr. Granville
Ryder, the Secretary of the Lands Improvement Com-
missioners, and Mr. Walter Compion, one of the
Agricultural Commissioners, in which the latter pointed out,
and I think very truly, that the money offered by the Lands
Improvement Society had not been taken advantage of by
landowners as it would have been, owing to the stringent re-
quirements. In the first place tliey require three bed-rooms
in every case, and it is manifest that this cannot be necessary.
Secondly. They will not allow any money in repairing or adapt-
ing old cottages, whereas it is very well known that some of
the most comfortable cottages can be made out of old dwell-
ings by additions and alterations. These causes no doubt
operate to interfere with the usefulness of the society, and I
trust that in time they may see fit to relax the stringency of
their rules. I may claim to speak with some experience
about cottage building, having this year completed tlie 20th
cottage I liave built on my estate. They do not pay above
three per cent., but there are indirect advantages which to a
great extent make up for the outlay. The farmer is able to
obtain and to keep a better class of labourers, aud the
value of the farm is thereby increased. It must be a manifest
advantage both to the labourer and his employer,
that tlie cottage should be on the farm ; but this is
introducing a new system, and it is clear that a long pe-
riod must elapse before the improvement in the cottage
dwellings of the poor can be carried out to the extent
which is desirable. Mr. Culley, in his second report, quoted by
Mr. Dent (Art H.A. Journal), says, " We are calling on the
landowners of to-day to remedy tlie evil growth of many past
generations, and 9-lOtUs of those who reside in the four coun-
ties I have visited, are already busy at the work as far as their
means will allow. I could point out two very large estates in
these counties (i e. Derbyshire, &c.) bponthe general improve-
ment of which, cottages having a large share, the whole in-
come has been spent for many years past." Mr. Dent says,
" English landlords will not shirk their work, and they are
generally recognizing the improvement of cottages as a part
of their duty esssential for the good cultivation of the land,
as well as for good morals, and every one who travels through
the country sees not only commodious farm buildings, enlarged
fields, and higher cultivation, but also well-built aud
commodious cottage dwellings rising among the squalid
homes which even yet disgrace our land." [ confess
I wish that the act which relates to the condemning
certain houses in great towns as unfit for human habitation,
and orders their repair or demolition, could be extended to the
country districts, and especially I wish that some remedy could
be brought to bear upon that system of overcrowding, which is
not only detrimental to health, but undermines the morals of
the working classes. The next essential in my opinion is that

the cottage should have a good garden attached to it, aud this
iu country districts can be done at very little sacrifice. So im-
portant was it considered formerly that the cottager should
have a good piece of land attached to his house, that an Act
was passed in 31 Queen Elizabeth, enacting that no cottage
should be erected without having four acres of land attached
to it. This enactment fell in disuse, but we must have ob-
served I think, in many instances, what a large garden some
of the old cottages have attached to them, and for this reason
how the poor cling to them even where they have ceased to
be fit for habitation. About a quarter of an acre is the quantity
which a labourer can be expected to cultivate without neglect-
ing his master's work, and this, well cultivated, will supply liis
family, if, as is now frequently done, a small piece be allowed
him on the farm for potato ground. Very good results have
been obtained in many cases by giving as much as lialf an acre
of ground, aud planting some fruit trees therein. Iu a good
season the crop very otteu suffices to pay the rent. Where, as
in the case of villages, it is impossible to obtain a garden
attached to tlie house, the difficulty can be met by providing
allotment gardens, though this is in many respects far less
satisfactory than the cottage garden. The plot of ground close
to the house is a source of pride and enjoyment to the whole
family, and involves no extra walking after a hard day's work.
The walk to the allotment ground very often involves the
stopping at the public-house on the way back. The practice
now so common of having cottage garden exhibitions annually,
aud awarding prizes for the best fruit aud vegetables, is at-
tended with the best results, and one of the most useful fea-
tures is the prize given lor the best cultivated garden. Another
custom, whicli is almost confined to Derbyshire, Shropshire,
aud Cheshire, of the cow run or grass allotment, is the greatest
boon to the labourer. I have had some experience of it iu
the latter county, and in one village I am acquainted with it
is universal. In these districts it is quite common for an
ordinary day labourer to rent as much grass as will keep one
row, the plots extending in size from five to ten acres, and
these are not in any sense small farmers, but mere daily
labourers. The cow is looked after by the wife, and the
aunual value is set at about ^£12. The importance to the
children of a supply of fresh milk cannot be over estimated.
These counties of course stand in a peculiar position from the
abundance of pasture land, but I cannot help thinking that
on grass farms the same system might be tried, the cottagers
paying for the keep of the cow aud receiving tlie milk. 1 am
sorry to find that there is still a great prejudice among many
farmers against allowing the cottagers to keep pigs. I am a
strong advocate for it myself. The pig represents a species of
sinking fund, and when he comes to be killed lie is such a help
to the family, and the day of his death is a little innocent
festival in the household. More than all, he is important
in furnishing manure for the use of his garden. I know the
arguments that are used against it — the temptation it offers for
petty thefts ; but Surely a labourer, if he is worth anything, can
be trusted. Next in importance to the labourer's home is tliat
of his education. This question of education of the agricul-
tural labourer has beeu, and will long continue to be, a very
perplexiug question. Owing to many village schools being of
necessity mixed schools to a certain extent, that is to say,
consisting of tradesmen's children and children of parents in
a higher condition, it is maintained by some that the kind of
education given is not tlie best suited to his future condition in
life ; in fact, we have all heard it asserted gravely that his in-
feriority to his forefathers is owing to his over-education.
That this is a great fallacy, and merely used by the enemies of
education to throw discredit upon it, it would be easy to prove;
but were we to admit the truth of it, should we as employers
of labour be justified in keeping back from the young of our
villages that whicli both here and hereatter tends so directly to
their happiness ? It augurs ill for the relations between the
employer and employed if they are only to be cemented and
rendered safe by the bonds of ignorance. There is no doubt
that if it were possible to carry it out, something of a technical
education, and not only the three R's, would be of great advan-
tage to our labouring poor, and more especially in the case of
girls intended for domestic service, that they should be trained
to wash, iron, aud work well with the needle. This is done in
some cases, and with very good results. Our forefathers
recognized the importance of this kind of education, and we
find in Henry Vllf.'s time an enactment which empowered

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tlie parish ofliceis to take up all idle cliildren above tlie age of
five years, and appoint them to masters of husbandry or other
craft or labour to be taught. I think that in the course of a
few years we may expect to see a great improvement in the
education of our labouring poor. I hail the late Act as a great
step towards obtaining good national education for aU classes.
The state has now distinctly recognized its obligation of en-
abling all classes to obtain a sound elementary education, and
the importance of the compulsory clauses cannot, I think, be
over-estimated. The country owes a great debt of gratitude to
the clergy for their exertions in the cause, and in many
parishes had it not been for them education must have
languished altogether. But in many cases under the old sys-
tem education was too much a matter between them and the
village-school children — it was too personal a matter — the
farmer and other residents in the parish had uotliing to do
with it, and probably never went inside the school. The only
waj% I conceive, to have a good system of educa-
tion is to interest all classes in it, and the only way
to do tliis is to make them contribute towards the expenses
of it and have a share in the management of it, and this, under
the system of school boards, will be accomplished. One of the
principal difficulties which lies in the way of giving our
agricultural poor an efficient education is the early age at
vrhich they are taken from school. Various remedies have
been suggested for this, such as half time — that is to say,
working half a day and attending scliool the other half, or
attending schools so many weeks in tlie year and working tlie
others ; but both these are dilKcult of accomplishment. Tlie
only eflicient mode is for the employer of labour to discourage
Tery early labour in the field. The temptation to the poor man
with a large family is of course very great to get some of them
out as soon as possible, and for this reason very often out of
kindness — ofteii mistaken kindness — the farmer takes them
on to mind birds or sheep, or something of the kind just when
they ought to be at school. It is, of course, difficult to fix the
exact age at which a boy should be put to farm- work, but in
no case should it be under 10, nor should he work more than
10 hours a day between 10 and 14-, and it would be very de-
sirable if it could be delayed as late as 12, exception of course
being made at haymaking or harvest, when there was a special
demand ior hands. Upon this point of age all the agricul-
tural commissioners were agreed that the reasonable limit to
fix was 10 years. We state that juvenile labour is very
valuable to the farmer, but that under 10 years of age it is
not indispensable — that the earnings of the children are very
useful to the parents, but that children under 10 liardly do
more than pay for the extra food and clothes which they re-
quire when at work ; that education is very valuable to the
children ; that between five and ten they may have aci|uired an
adequate knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but if
removed earlier it cannot be so. That the state of education
in the south is far below the standard of the north must be
admitted. In Scotland, where the parents themselves are
educated and understand the value of education, the education
of the children is carried on at home. With us, I fear, it be-
gins and ends in the school. Lord Grey, who has an intimate
acquaintance with the labourers of Northumberland, told me
that he never knew a single instance of an agricultural
labourer who could not read and write, and the same with
some modification may be said generally of the condition of
the peasantry in the north. I have little doubt but that the
extension of machinery in agricultural operations will tend to
set a higher value upon education ; that as a matter of self-
interest labourers will educate themselves sufficiently to ob-
tain the highest prizes which agricultural labour holds out.
Mr. Jacob Wilson, the manager of the Northumberland
Steam Cultivation Company (quoted by Mr. Dent), speaks of
the rise in wages under a system of steam cultivation. He says,
" I find we are at present employing about 90 men, and of
these about 60 were formerly ordinary but intelligent farm
labourers, receiving 14s. or 15s. a week. They are now
making 20s. to 23s. But you must remember that all our farm
labourers down here are well educated." Mr. Stanhope, one
of the commissioners, gives figures in support of the same facts,
and Mr. Dent in his paper confirms the statement that the use
of steam power in agriculture is accompanied by a substantial
increase in the wages of the men employed in connexion witli
it. Having spoken now of the two principal elements in tlie
improvemeut of our labouring population— the better home

and the better education — I must say a few words on one or
two points which I think tend to check the elevation of the
class as a whole. Good as was the object of the framers of
our Poor Law, and difficult as it would be to point out any
better system, I can hardly doubt that its tendency has been
to check that feeling of self-dependence and respect which is
so essential to the well-being of the agricultural labourer, and
in many cases to pauperize a great number of the population.
Had tlie law been differently administered from the first, had a
muct stricter rule been adopted in respect to out-door relief,
had the workhouse test been rigidly enforced, it miglit have
been otherwise ; but into that I need not stop to inquire, I
am afraid that the facts'are as I have stated, and that the poor
have got to regard parochial relief as in the nature of a sick
fund, to which, in sickness or want of work, they may have
immediate resort, and that among too many of them there is
no sense of shame in being on the parish books or in looking
forward to ending their days in the union. Several of the
commissioners appear to think that the poor would make more
use of clubs if it were not for the influence of the Poor Law.
Many industrious and deserving labourers, says Mr. Stanhope,
appear to be discouraged from making the effort to secure in-
dependence by self-help from the fear of losing their presumed
right to relief from the poor-rate, and the guardians have no
fixed rule by which to determine such cases. Sometimes they con-
sider the receipt of club allowances a bar to parochial relief, and
sometimes they do not. Mr. Norman wonders that the poor
ever do practice self-denial for the sake of a maintenance in old
age when the Poor Law will give it them without, and feels
sure that this has a direct tendency to weaken those feelings
of self-reliance and independence among the labouring classes,
on the development of which qualities the amelioration of
that class must necessarily depend. It is most important, I
think, that in administering relief, boards of guardians should
recognise the claims of those wlio subscribe to benefit clubs
to a more liberal allowance. In many cases this is now done,
some counting what they receive from their club at only half,
others at one-third, and this, if universally adopted, would
tend greatly to encourage habits of thrift among the poor. It
is, I think, very much to the credit of the labouring class that
many of them are members of benefit societies. The commis-
sioners as a whole, however, report very unfavourably of these
benefit clubs, and I am afraid it must be allowed that in many
cases they are little better than public-house clubs, and the
custom of breaking them up at stated periods and dividing the
funds operates most hardly in the case of the aged subscribers.
Something has been done lately to bring these clube and their
rules under the operation of the law, but I think that the
rules laid down ought to be more stringent still. One of the
best managed of these is the Hampshire Friendly Society,
which grafts upon the ordinary business of a benefit society the
system of deposits. Of all the injurious influences to which
the labourer is subject that of the public-hou^e and of drink is
the most noxious. It is at the public-house that the wages are
spent, that the bad company is met with, that the misery of
home is caused, that loss of character and health is acquired ;
but as it is the most wide-spread and pernicious, so it is the
most difficult to cure, the attractions are so great the — warm
fire, the bright lights, the company, the absence of all those
discomforts wliich are to be met with in so many cottage
homos. These are inducements too great to be withstood.
The cry is for legislation, but how difficult it is to legislate on
the subject the events of the past session have taught us. That
the multiplication of public-bouses does multiply the tempta-
tions of the labourer to drink cannot be denied, and it is pos-
sible tliat some good might be done by a gradual reduction in
the number of public-houses. I believe also that shops for the
sale of beer not to be drunk on the premises might be mul-
tiplied with advantage, under several strict regulations as
to the way in which the business was conducted. We do not
wish to deprive the labourer of his beer, but we wish to re-
move out of his way the temptations to spend his hard-earned
wages at tlie public-house. Mr. Ivebbel considers that a
system of this kind would tend greatly to dimish drunken-
ness, and I must say I think there is a great deal to be said
for it. Mr. Cullcy, one of the commissioners, in his report
says : " I do not desire that the labourer should be denied
every facility of quenching his thirst in beer; on the con-
trary, I should like to see beer sold across every counter with
as little restrictiou as bread and butter, save only that it

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151

should not be drunk on the premises. Under such a system a
man would probably take home to his family only so much
beer as he could conveniently pay for, and he would be robbed
of the temptations to excess which it is the business of ihe
beer-house keeper to provide. I wish for my own part tliat
the system of giving beer or cider at harvest or haymaking
would give place to the far better custom now generally
adopted in the midland counties of giving it all in money. A
great deal more liquor is consumed in many instances than is
required, the work is done none the better in consequence,
and the man who would wliolly or in part abstain that he
might take the extra money home has no chance of doing it.
The same money spent on food would go much farther and be
much more beneficial. I am willing to believe that there is
not more, perhaps not so much, drunkenness among the work-
ing classes as there was formerly, and, speaking of our own
part of the country, I think I can state it to be a fact. But
still in the absence of actual drunkenness, what a vast
amount of money finds its way into the hands of the pub-
lican ! It is reckoned that half of the money spent by
the labouring poor on drink is improperly spent. We
are on the eve of some alteration in the law in respect of
public-houses, and in any measure that is introduced I bope
the right of the inhabitants to determiue the number ol houses
that may be required for a district will be duly recognized.
There are one or two other points affecting the condition of
the agricultural labourer on which I might touch, such as the
public hiring at the statute fair or the gang system, but these
bid fair to become things of the past, and are generally
condemned by the more healthy public opinion which pre-
vails at the present day. As neither system fortunately ob-
tains in the Soutli of England, they have no special need to
be commented upon. The question of female labour is one
upon which the opinions of the Agricultural Commissioners,
as of most other persons, are widely at variance. It may, safely,
I think, be asserted that while it cannot be altogether
superseded, nor is it desirable tliat it should (such employ-
ments as haymaking and hop-tieiug and other light work
being well suited to women) their work should be reduced
within the smallest possible limits, and be confined to the
better season of the year. Tlie woman's place is with tlie
home and looking after the house and children, both of which
suffer by her constant absence at field work. Although in tlie
north it still exists to a great extent, throughout the country
generally female labour is very much on the decline. It re-
mains for me now briefly to sura up the remarks that I have
made. I liave taken a rapid glance at the past history of the
agricultural labourer, and from this I think we have seen that
his present condition is in many respects not so favourable as
it was two or three centuries ago. On the otber hand, it is a
hopeful sign that of late years it has improved, and is still im-
proving. I am sanguine enough to hope that under an im-
proved system of farming and a more general introduction of
machinery, there will be an opportunity for the better class of
labourer to earn a higher rate of wages, and to this we look as
one as of the principal meaus of bettering his condition.
These changes may be of slow and gradual growth ; they will
be wrought independently of us, by the force of circumstances.
The obligatiou meanwhile is perpetual upon us, the employers
of labour, to cultivate friendly relations with the labourer, and
to do all that lies in our power to better his moral and material
condition. Mr. Nicholls puts this well in his paper on Agri-
cultural Labour (in R. A. S. Journal, ISIfi). " It is surely our
duty," says he, " to impart all the improvement of which the
labourer's condition is susceptible, to strive to increase his
comforts, and to endeavour by every means in our power to
make him happy and contented in his position. No one will
deny that the labourer is as necessary to the employer as the
employer is necessary to the labourer ; each is, in fact, essential
to the other, and the kindliest feelings should be mutually cul-
tivated between them." What says Lord Shaftesbury to the
same effect ? They are noble words, worthy of their noble
author, and with them I may fitly conclude : " We owe to the
poor of the land a weighty debt. We call them improvident
and immoral, and many of them are so ; hut that improvidence
and immorality are the results in a great measure of our neg-
lect, and in not a little of our example. We owe them, too,
the debt of kinder language and more frequent intercourse.
This is no fanciful obligation ; our people are more alive than
any other to the honest zeal for their cause and sympathy with

their necessities, which, fall though it often may, on unim-
pressible hearts, never fails to find some that it comforts, and
many that it softeus. These men appeal to us with every claim
of justice, service, and affection. They and their fathers have
tilled our fields ; they have replenished and still replenish our
armies ; and othen have I heard the great Duke of WeUiugton
declare that all his ability and courage would have effected no-
thing had he not been called to command so noble a material
as the British labourer. Such service they have rendered once,
they may be summoned to do so again, and surely then we
shall find our account in a vigorous and loyal peasantry."

Mr. Jos. Davison said he believed Mr. Gower's suggestion
as to the cultivation of better feelings between employer and
employed was one of the best means of remedying the present
unsatisfactory state of things. As to the improvement of la-
bourers' cottages, that was a question for the landlord entirely,
and he believed the tenants would be found willing to pay a
fair interest for any money laid out in that way.

Mr. Walicer said the labourers in this part seemed quite
different from those in Yorkshire, where they took a pride in
their cottages, and on Sundays dressed up and went to church.
He did not think there was in the south sufficient grass land to
allow the men to keep a cow ; but he always let his men have
a certain amount of new milk every day. He also gave them
a piece of land for potatoes, and sold pork at considerably less
than market price ; and altogether he and his labourers got on
very well together. At the same time, the men in this part
were not so w'ell educated and brought up as in Yorkshire.

Mr. Cressinguam believed it would be a great advantage if
on large estates some central and suitable home for the young
men could be provided to keep them away from the public-
house.

Mr. Tailor (Wickham Court) said : The agricultural la-
bourer desired and meant to improve his condition, and it was
the inclination of landowners and tenant-farmers to help him
to do so. They wished to see him happy and comfortable, be-
cause otherwise they could not be happy and comfortable
themselves. The two great things requiring attention were
domestic comfort and education. In the absence of a comfort-
able home a man was apt to lose his self-respect, and, conse-
quently, his respect for others. Education without home com-
fort would lose half its influence and value. He was not in
favour of giving agricultural children a fancy education, but
would give them sufficient education to enable them further to
educate themselves, and raise themselves in the social scale.
As to cottage building he believed, with Mr. Davison, farmers
were willing to pay a further per centage for any such outlay,
and serious responsibility was upon the landed proprietors in
regard to that matter. It was quite true, what had been
written by BIr. Culling, that the landed proprietors of the pre-
sent day are expected to perform not only their own duties, but
the duties which their predecessors had neglected. Some of
them were in a position to go into the matter thoroughly, and
otiiers were not, but at all events it must be admitted that both
in England and Scotland a large proportion of the proprietors
were now doing their duty to the best of their ability, to better
the existing state of things. He joined in the thanks to Mr,
Gower for his kindness in giving them such an escelieut paper,
and they gave him credit for tlie higher motive of desiring to
promote as much as possible the welfare of a class of men
very much dependent upon him.

Mr. Streeter asked Mr. Davison if he thought there were
many agricultural labourers in a position to pay £12 or £20 for a
cow; audit they got the master to advance tlie money, what
security had the master got, supposing the man drove the cow
to market and disposed of it ? Then again, as the
labourer could not keep his cow separately, it would have
to be kept witli the^master's, and if so how would the labourer
know wlien to leave off milking his master's cow, and when to
begin his own ? The temptation would be to milk another
man's cow longer than one's own. Then as to keeping pigs,
it might be a temptation to the labourer to go to the barn for
a little corn ; and it would be a better plan to sell the labourer
pork at a reduced price, as was done by Mr. Walker.

Mr. Davison, in reply to the first question, said the cow
would not be the property of the labourer till he had fully
paid for it ; so much per week would be deducted from his
wages till the value was paid before the property in the cow
would be transferred. As to the temptation to rob the master
he could only say that on his family's farm in Noathumber^

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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

land, wliere the men liiul kept cows and pigs tor the last 150
years not a single case of peculation had ever come to liglit,
and he believed if tlie men were treated m the same way here
they would be as honest. Moreover in the north a part of
their wages consisted of corn, and hence they had no tempta-
tion to steal it. . , . , ,- . i i-

Mr. Stagey thought payment lu kind an antiquated notion,
and that in future labourers must be treated on the fair com-
mercial principle of paying them what they are worth. They
must be paid as much as possible by the piece, and in that way
the best workman would get the best pay. He was in favour,
where practicable, of the man keeping his pig, because it cou-
sumned the garden waste, and supplied manure to produce the
next crop ; he agreed that there ought to be improvement in
the cottages, and that with regard to the single labourer, as
farmers could not go back to the old times when he lived in
the house, some place should be established where the single
labourers could live. On large farms it would be quite possible
to have a house for them, kept by a respectable middle-aged
woman. He would object to three bed-roomed cottages, be-
cause that would hold out a temptation to the occupier to take
lodgers. . ,

Mr. Barling advocated the establishment of savings
ban'ics, on the ground that the men are willing to save, but do
not quite know where to put their money. They had answered
well in Wiltshire.

Mr. Leveson-Gow'er, in reply, favoured Mr. Stacey's idea
of payment by piece-work, as then the race was to the swift
and tiie battle to the strong. It was very depressing to a

superior man to find himself paid only the same as the inferior.
Still, there was so much work on the farm that could not be
done by piece that that mode of payment could not be sys-
tematically introduced. In regard to Mr. Cressiughara's
suggestion of a lodgiog-house for the single men, that might
be tried, as he knew it had been in one case, on large farms,
and on the smaller farms the third room of the three bed-
roomed cottages, condemned by Mr. Stacey, might often be
available for lodging the single men. He agreed with Mr.
Stacey that payment in kind was becoming obsolete ; and
although it was no doubt successfully carried out in the north,
it was not a system that they would introduce where it did not
already exist. At the same time, he thought modifications of
it might be usefully introduced here, such as allowing the man
to keep a cow or pig, or allowing him so much milk ; it was
an encouragement to him, and gave him more interest in his
domestic affairs. The administration of the poor-law had a
great bearing on the labourer's condition, and he thought
boards of guardians should be very zealous to the giving of
out-relief, and should be more ready to encourage those who,
by paying into a friendly society, had shown a disposition to
help themselves. He also approved Mr. Barling's suggestion
as to savings' banks, and knew of cases where the employer
had sometimes taken care of the men's savings for them for
the year. The labourers would generally be found willing to
save ; they only wauted to know how and where to deposit it.
Mr. W. J. ^yILSON moved, and Mr. Stables seconded, a
vote of thanks to Mr. Gower, which was carried, and
acknowledged.

BEDFORDSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

DISCUSSION MEETING.

At a meeting of this Society held at the Swan Hotel, |
Bedford, under the presidency of Mr. James Howard, M.P.
There was a large attendance, numbering over sixty, and the
meeting was considered of unusual importance in the history
of the Society, as being the first convened for the discussion of
practical subjects connected with farming.

The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, said he was
happy in the first place to congratulate the Society upon
entering upon a new phase of its history, and also on the large
and respectable attendance he saw before him on this occasion.
By its annual shows the Society had contributed in no small
degree to raise the condition of agriculture andjof the agricul-
tural labourer throughout the county, but hitherto it had
afforded its members no opportunity of interchanging opinions
on topics relating to the science or practice of agriculture.
This was pre-eminently an age of discussion. Every subject
of public interest was brouglit to the bar of public opinion,
bat the farmers of England were not at all behind other
bodies, for they had their Chambers of Agriculture and their
old-established London Earmers' Club, than which no organi-
zation perhaps had contributed more to the advancement and
improvement of agriculture in this country. It was not every
farmer, however, who could afford the time or cost of going to
London to attend these discussions, and therefore the com-
mittee of the Bedfordshire Agricultural Society had deter-
mined to hold periodical discussions of this character. He
would now call upon his brother to read the paper which he
liad prepared.

Mr. Charles Howard said that farming, farm la-
bourers, land-laws, and land questions generally, had
received of late more than ordinary attention. States-
men and eminent landlords had written and spoken
upon them ; Social Congresses had thought them
worthy of debate ; while political economists had on various
occasions favoured us with their tiieories. With some cf the
latter the remedy for many of England's evils was the sub-
division of our large domains, and parcelling out the country
into small farms ; but if these'gentlemeu would point him out
a large territorial estate where large and moderate-sized farms
prevailed, then he would show them where the most corn and
meat was produced, a fact which the consuming classes of

this country ought not to lose sight of. The farmers
had no wish to see the Lords abolished, nor their an-
cestral estates cut up : ou the contrary, they thought it would
be better for the agriculture of the country if the land had
fewer owners. Their irrepressible and lively friend, Mr.
Mechi, had of late inundated the press with his letters. Those
who knew Mr. Jlechi appreciated him very much for the kind-
ness of his disposition aud his desire to benefit agriculture,
but the fact could not be disguised that in most of his letters
there was an evident leaning to the landlord at the expense of
the tenant. Take the question of the over-preservation of
game, which had been the ruin of hundreds of farmers. When
tenants complained of the injury done them, Mr. ilechi bade
them farm the best and highest where the most damage was
done, viz., about the coverts, or to run vi'ire fences all round
the fields, a course which some would prouounce as " adding
insult to injury." A very good farmer, not far from Bedford,
had tried this plan, but very soon had a notice to take up his
wire fence or a notice of another form would be the result.
Mr. Mechi had access to The Times, and with such an
advantage, instead of schooling tiie tenants he might do vast
service to agriculture and to the country by drawing attention
to the fact that the land can never be made to produce its
proper amount of corn and meat until landlords either grant
leases, or (still better) agreements, subject to two years' notice,
with compensation clauses for unexhausted improvements.
Men of capital and skill would not take laud under sharp land-
lords, subject to a sis months' notice to quit. This was a
question which concerned the consuming classes more than
tliey at present realised, and the high price of meat was partly
the penalty of such a state of things. Agriculturists intendea
that their agriculture and their various breeds of animals
should continue to be the boast and admiration of the world,
and he trusted that the reading of papers on such occasions as
these, followed by practical discussions, would lead to so de-
sirable a result. This movement, he remarked, had been Ire-
quently suggested by their late lamented friend xMr. James,
of Cople, but it was reserved for the year of presidency ottue
Chairman, who had brought the subject prominently before
the Society, for the movement to be inaugurated, and he (Mr.
C. Howard) appeared before thera. at the request ot tlie bom

THE rARMER'S MAGAZINE.

153

mittee, to open tlie first discussion. In a carefully prepared
article in the Mark Lane Express of Nov. 20, it was
estimated that the annual value of the corn crops alone
in Great Britain was over £80,000,000, and tliat
the annual value of all agricultural produce in Great Britain
and Ireland is over £300,000,000, facts which those who were
in the habit of depreciating agriculture would do well to stud)'.
Of late years the harvest had become a most anxious and trying
season, the farmer needing much grace and patience. Our
labour supply is no longer what it was. Those itinerant bands
of Irish reapers who came yearly to cut down our harvest, either
remained at home, or had left their country — in some instances,
doubtless, " for their country's good." Nor did other portions of
our population turn out as formerly for the harvest month. The
continued extension of railways, the optning of iron-
stone quarries, and the great prosperity of the build-
ing and other trades, had drawn largely upon our
agricultural population, and would continue to do so
until farmers competed with them in the price paid for
labour. Hitherto the farmer had proved equal to the
emergency of his position, though at some considerable cost.
His wants and requirements had brought into existence during
the last 25 or 30 years gigantic manufactories of agricultural
implements, and those who remembered the early meetings
of the Royal Agricultural Society could bear witness to the
enormous increase in this branch of its proceedings. Altough
farmers rarely made fortunes, many had been made out of
them ; but they honoured the men who had so prospered,
and during the last harvest many a thanksgiving went up for
the reaping machines, without which much corn must have
been in the fields at this moment. The farmer was therefore
fully alive to tlie fact that he must fly to machinery to meet
the scarcity of labour. The labourer had gradually withdrawn
his opposition to machinery, as he found the hard work done
for him, and thanks to public opinion the opposition to it
on the part of the landlord had nearly died out. He (Mr. C.
Howard) had only heard of one esse last harvest where a
tenant was forbidden the use of a reaping machine. This good
man came and told him (Mr. Howard) his troubles. He
had 50 acres of wheat which required cutting, and scarcely
any men to do it. I asked hira whether his landlord expected
his rent (laughter). He replied : " Oh yes, and no mistake." I
then said : " Are you an Englisman ?" " Oh yes," he replied.
" Well, go home and act like one ; use your machine at all
hazards," His reply was — and I would have those who have
any doubt about the propriety of an equitable Teuant-Right
mark it — " I should have no hesitation, but I have laid out a
good deal of money and if I offend I can be got rid of by a six
months' notice to quit." To men of this class, r.nd others
opposed to the introduction of machinery, I will use the
expressive language of the great Mr. Cobden. Of course it
did not suit us at the time as it was applied to the agri-
cultural interest in tlieir opposition to free trade. " To check
it," said he, " you are as powerless as a cork upon the cata-
racts of Niagara." In tracing the history of the reaping-machine
from the earliest period to the present time, to make the
farmers happy they required a companion machine to tie the corn
up. The reaping-machine most in favour was the two-horse side
sheaf delivery, but on most farms m this neighbourhood reap-
ing machines were used of one make or anotlier, and various
were the methods in which the harvest was conducted. Nine
farmers out of ten let the work in one form or another, but a
few preferred the old system of engaging the men by the month,
others preferring to let the whole of the harvest. By far the
greater number, however, merely let the cutting and tying,
charging a price per acre for the machine, the remainder, with
the exception of thatching, being done by the day. He thought
it preferable to put the machine in tlie hands of one of the best
men, wiio should be rewarded for extra exertion and care of
machine ; the tying, shocking, and dragging to be let either to
their own men or to strangers. He thought it desirable that
a field or large portion of a field should be cut before the men
were put in it ; by this means the men could be placed ia as
many companies as the master might prefer. By placing a
large number of men together the good man would be reduced
to the level of the indifferent one. Great vigilance, however,
was necessary on the part of the master. Valuable as the
horse-drag was, he had seen great mischief done by its too
free use, especially on clay soils, too much dirt being collected
by it. He thought the hand-drag should |be used only over

the whole of the land at the time of shocking, its gatherings
tied up in bundles and stacked separately, the liorse-draK
giving tiie finishing stroke after all was carted. As to tlie
stack, he thought that there should be sufficient in it for a full
day's work with the thrashing-machine. He inclined to the
oblong shape with the hipped roof, or the old hovel without its
stand or frame, the size lie preferred being ten yards long by
five and a-half yards wide. Much damage was often sustained
by the roofs of stacks not being properly built, many stackers
not taking sufficient care to keep the middle full so that the
outside sheaves should shoot off the rain rather than conduct
it into the stack. It was a great boon to the farmer to have
in his service some good stackers and thatchers, and these men
deserved every encouragement. He regretted that the funds of
the Society did not allow them to continue prizes for these
operations. He also tliougbt it desirable to place the stacks
in several convenient spots on the farm rather than all to-
gether. In case of fire it was not right to the insurance office,
nor was it good policy to risk the destruction of the
whole of the hay and straw of a farm. A labour-saving ma-
chine was being gradually being introduced in the stacking of
hay and corn— he alluded to the elevator. During the
last harvest he had applied a one-horse gear to
his ordinary straw-jack, and had used it with considerable
advantage in the stacking of barley, saving at least two men
on a stack. He believed they were made also for carrying up
corn in a sheaf, and he did not doubt they would come
into more general use. Now, as to thatching. In the
course of his 25 to 30 years' experience he did not remem-
ber so much damage being done to stacks as by i he 4-inch
rain-fall during tiie latter end of last September. On his
Broraham farm, on which the harvest was a week later than
at Biddenham, he was a considerable sufferer, and he was sorry
to say he had many " partners in distress." He longed for
some quick temporary mode of covering. He envied his friend,
Mr. Joseph Robinson, of Clifton, and the proprietor of Luton
Hoo their extensive corn-sheds. Mr. Roljinson has a double
shed 60 feet long by 40 feet wide, and 17 feet high to the
plate, capable of liolding from COO to 300 quarters of corn, which
cost £180 ; he has another tlie same length but half the width,
and so satisfied is he with them that he intends building an-
other or two next summer. Mr. Robinson said, in his letter
to him : " I would not be without them for double their cost.
They are better than any barn, and make the farmer very in-
dependent of the weather both in harvesting and thrashing."
The corn-shed at Luton Hoo is of immense size, and this,
together with the farm homestead, is one of the sights of
Bedfordshire. There were some rich landlords who doubtless
would erect a few such buildings by receiving interest for their
money, and it was pretty clear it would answer a tenant's pur-
pose to pay it. The cost of thatching was very considerable
each year ; but he would not dwell further upon this subject,
preferring rather to devote his attention to the beer question,
which had been so long a source of trouble and annoyance to
tlie farmer. From all lie could learn, the farmers of 15edford-
shire were more hampered by this custom tlian those in most
other counties. Money payments, all the year round, had
been substituted by one or two gentlemen, but he had per-
sonally long wished to see his way out of the difficulty, and
he confessed he had not yet done so. So long as the present
drinking customs remained, his only fear was, if the masters
did not provide a good wholesome beverage, that the man
would introduce on the farm and at all hours the
frightful stuir of the nearest beer-siiop, the result being
that the work would be neglected, and that the man
would be rendered half mad. Money payments
miglit, however, he introduced among the boys, and he would
advocate liberal payments too. He iiad often felt condemned
in giving little boys so much beer. He thought that if tliey
could see their way to a new great coat at the end of the
harvest they would be well pleased to forego their beer. He
had no doubt that by the time the boys who were to receive
the benefit of an improved education became men, the sub-
stitution of money payments for beer would be tlie rule.
I This led him, in conclusion, to refer to the condition of the
agricultural labourer. One fanner-member, and long may he
remain so— Mr. C. S. Read— in his address to the Farmers'
Club only the other day, and Mr. Dent, M.P. for Scarborough,
in an article in the last volume of the Royal Agricultural So-
ciety's Journal, have both done good service in placing before

154

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

the public the true position of our labourers. Both articles
are worthy of every farmer's perusal. No man, ia my opinion,
is more rapidly improving his condition than the agricultural
labourer. The heavy work of the farm is now done by ma-
chinery. The flail is preserved as a relic of a barbarous age ;
the scythe and sickle are gradually diappeariug ; yet the agri-
cultural labourer is at this moment receiving more for his work
than at any former period of his history. I do not for a moment
think it will compare with that of the higher class of artizans.
But if the following advantages are taken into consideration —
his piece-work, his extra wages in hay-time and in harvest,
his allowance of beer at a weekly cost of Is. Od. the year
through, his cheap cottage and exemption from all rates, his
garden and allotment of laud of a rood to half an acre, to-
gether with the gleaning of his wile and family, the weekly
income of a steady agricultural labourer will compare favour-
ably with that of the lower class of artizan. Perhaps you
will think it a bold assertion, but I verily believe that ac-
cording to numbers employed, I can find a greater proportion of
men on my farm than my brothers (Blessrs. J. and F. Howard)
can at their works, who will change you a sovereign on any
day in the middle of the week. As to the nine-hours
movement, of which we have heard so much lately, our
labourers have availed themselves of that boon without
any strikes for many long years past. Our men, after reaching
the homesteads, have perhaps to go to a distant field to work,
the walk occupying some 15 to 30 minutes ; the time allotted
for meals and leaving off, except when at the homestead.

cannot be so rigidly enforced as in a manufactory ; on thrash-
iog days, and other busy occasions, there is the time devoted
to " eleven o'clock " and " four o'clock." These deduc-
tions, coupled in the short days of winter, justify me in the
statement that the farm labourer does not the year through
work more than nine hours a day. Still, on some farms they
carry the hours of harvest labour to an extreme. As to
the apprehension lest the agricultural labourers should
be over-educated, his own experience was to the con-
trary, as he had found that those men who had had the most
educational advantages were the best labourers, and the most
reasonable to deal with. Let the agricultural labourer be
better educated, and the better dwelling must follow, for
he would refuse to live in such hovels as his forefathers had
been content to dwell in. He (Mr. Howard) hailed with
much satisfaction the prospect of an improved education for the
rising generation of labourers, and he hoped the farmers
would do all they could to forward it by refusing to employ any
boy under ten years of age. in a few years, then, at most, we
should hope to see a great improvement in our agrieultura
labourer. He would lie raised beyond the attractions of the
beer-shops, now his greatest enemy ; our model prisons would
have fewer inmates; and paupers, instead of as now being the
rule, would be the exception.

A long discussion followed, on the conclusion of which
votes of thanks were accorded to Mr. Charles Howard, and to
the President, Mr. James Howard, M.P.

LOED LEICESTER'S LEASE,

" I have found that in the lease ia use on my estate
there were many restrictions, such restrictions as I
should not like to be bound by were I tenant of a farm.
I have, therefore, with the assistance of my agent and
my tenants, deviated from the beaten track, and en-
deavoured to frame a lease more in accordance with the
spirit of the age, avoiding all interference with the
capital of the tenant, removing all clauses that dictate as
to the cropping of the soil, or as to the sale of the pro-
duce, and, as far as I can, giving him security for the
capital invested. I have endeavoured to place my tenants
in that position which I should like to hold as an occu-
pier of land, and in doing so I am satisfied I have studied
my own interest as well. That lease will be printed, and
with as few legal phrases as is practicable ; and I shall
he happy to submit a copy of that lease to any of my
friends who may like to see it, because I believe, with
certain modifications, it may be adapted to many estates
of this country, both for the advantage of the landlord
and the tenant." So said Lord Leicester, at a dinner at
Docking during the autumn, and we are now enabled
to give the promised lease in full, as revised and
agreed to by the landlord and a committee of his
tenants. It "may be as well to state in the outset that
the committee consisted of Messrs. R. Leeds, H. Over-
man, W. Blyth, L. Taylor, and Betts ; while, previous to
its final adjustment, the lease was submitted to two
general meetings of the Holkham tenantry. This docu-
ment consequently comes before the country under
unusually favourable auspices, as it is but fair to assume
that the occupiers are equally answerable with the owner
aud his agent for the construction of the several clauses.
Lord Leicester himself has objected to " many restric-
tions," nevertheless that which at the first blush of it
will probably strike the reader, is the length to which
the agreement runs, aud the comparatively petty detail
upon which it enters. The professed principle, however,
of avoiding interference and retraining from dictation has
in the main features been well observed. The tenant is
to start with a twenty years' lease, during the first six-

teen years of which he is to cultivate and manage the
farm according to his oion judgment , and to have ftiU
power during such time to dispose of all or any portion
of the produce of the farm by sale or othenvise. The
Farmers' Club has just put upon its card as a subject for
discussion during the year — "Freedom in Cultivation
and Security of Capital ;" and here we have certainly
the most liberal interpretation of freedom of action that
ever was offered. Of course the landlord protects himself
towards the close of the tenancy by ensuring that the
farm be left in such a condition as accords with the
custom of the country ; while he also reserves the far
greater power of stepping in during the run of the lease,
and insisting that the plough-lands shall be forthwith
brought back to the four-course system. The natural effect
of this will be that a man may farm as he pleases so
long as he farms well ; while he will be stopped so
soon as he is found to be going wrong or too far. Of course
there must be a great discretionary power here, and much
will depend on the broad or narrow views taken by the
landlord and his advisers. But there can be no mistake
as to the wording of one portion of this clause — the
tenant may dispose of all the produce " by sale or other-
wise," or in any way he likes. Virtually we are inclined
to regard this as the most important concession in the
agreement, and as the " most in accordance with the
spirit of the age." It is, indeed, wholesome to compare
this open-handed arrangement with the fiddling, anti-
quated enactments in many so-called model and prize
agreements, wherein you are bound not to sell hay, nor
straw, nor roots, or if you take off a load of one or the |
other you must bring a load of good manure back in the \
place thereof— aud so on. " What we want," said Mr.
May, at a dinner at Stafford the other day, " is liberty
of action in cropping and selling, so that a man does not
deteriorate the land;" and these are the wants which
Lord Leicester volunteers to supply.

The terms of in-coming and out -going are not marked
by the same grand simplicity of style. Any system of
compensation for unexhausted improvements seems, so

THE FARMER'S MAGAZHSTE.

155

far as is possible, to be avoided, the tenant being left to
right himself and get his own again during the last four
years, should he not renew. There is something of a
prolixity here, and more particularly in the citation of
repairs, and how these are to be provided for,
which considerably weakens the effect of the thing. A
man who can be left to farm as he pleases,
and sell what he pleases, might be surely entrusted
to deal with habitable repair, and to clean " all his gutters,
pipes, and troughs," and to " cherish, nail up, prune, and
preserve" his fruit trees without the need of any instruc-
tions so to do in a twenty years' lease ! If these clauses
be petty and trifling, there are some still more decidedly
objectionable, and it is difficult to understand how it is
" in accordance with the spirit of the age" to bind a
tenant down " to deliver one good fat turkey at Holkham
House in the month of December in every year " — "to de-
liver so many waggon loads of good wheat straw at the
Holkham stables," and " to do so many days' work of
four horses," and so on. There is a smack of serfdom in
the performance of such duties strangely at variance with
the leading elements of the lease, if, in fact one part be
not a direct contradiction to the other. How can a man
■who is at liberty in the first instance to dispose of all his
produce by sale or otherwise be called upon to supply his
landlord with so much good wheat straw ? The tenant pays
so much for the hire of the land, let the landlord in turn
pay so much for the hire of the horses, let him buy the
straw, and let there be no longer any such fine or heriot-
holding as " one good fat turkey." This is all out of
place in a lease drawn in accordance with a spirit of the
times ; as nothing has a worse tendency than payment
in kind, whethei- this be in loaves of bread, measures of
meal, trusses of straw, the hauling of coals, or cramming
of turkeys. Again, there are few landlords in England, as
we are inclined to think, who behave more liberally by their
tenants in the matter of game than Lord Leicester, at least
three-fourths of the shooting over the estates being let to
the farmers at a low rent. And yet this kindly feeling is
not so apparent in the lease. The tenant is certainly " to
destroy all rabbits, moles, and rats," while the landlord
reserves the exclusive right for himself, friends, and ser-
vants of hunting, shooting, fishing, fowling, and coursing.
It is not so clear how the right of hunting can be re-
served, and we have heard of Norfolk farmers who
themselves have been at the head of stag-hound and
harrier packs. StiU, the tenants may kill hares with
greyhounds, but not otherwise, between the first day of
November and the first day of March, though this is no
great boon, as not so remarkably in accordance wilh the
spirit of the age, when many landlords are getting to
give over the hares and rabbits to their tenants to dispose
of, just as Lord Leicester does the other produce of the
farm, in any way they choose.

The intention from the time it was first broached
always struck us as a very admirable one, emanating as it
did from just such a quarter as it should. Lord Leicester,
moreover, has been able to preserve the main idea with
which he started, although this is fettered and clogged
with conditions, or perhaps more properly " set " in the
mere verbiage of a solicitor's office. In truth we feel
inclined to tell the committee the old story of the Sibyl
and her volumes, who wheu she had burned more than
half of them asked as much money for the remainder,
and only then was it that she found a customer. We
should attach something of the same marketable value to
this Holkham Lease.

[The following Lease has just been arranged by Lord Leicester
and a Committee of the Holkham tenants.]
I. The tenancy is to be for twenty years, commencing on the
eleventh day of October, one thousand eight hundred and

but to be terminable at the end of sixteen years at the request
of the tenant, with the consent of the landlord ; with the in-
tention that the landlord shall then, if he think fit, grant a
new lease from the end of the sixteenth year, at the old rent
for the first four years of the new term, and for the remainder
of the term at the rent that may then be agreed upon.

II. — The tenant is to reside in tlie farmhouse, and not to
assign, underlet, or patt with the farmhouse, or any part of the
farm, without the previous consent in writmg of the landlord
or his agent.

III. — The rent is to be £ per annum, and is to become
due and be payable by two equal half-yearly payments, namely,
on the 6th April and 11th October in each year (except tlie last
half-year's rent, which shall become due and be payable on the
2nd August next before the termination of the tenancy), clear
of all present and future rates, taxes, and deductions
whatever, except the titlie-rent charge, laud tax, quit-rents,
and landlord's property tax. The tenant is also to pay £5 per
centum per annum on any sum or sums of money expended by
the landlord in altering or erecting buildings at the request of
tenant, after the works agreed to be done at the commence-
ment of the tenancy are completed ; he is also to pay £5 per
centum per annum on any sura or sums of money expended
by the landlord in draining. The payment for buildings is to
comraece from the 11th day of October next after the comple-
tion of the work, and the payment for draining from the 11th
day of October next before the completion ; and both tlie said
annual sums shall become due, and continue payable as rent,
during the remainder of the terra, on the same days as the
original rent is payable, and be subject to the same conditions.

IV. The tenant before entering upon the occupation of the
farm is to pay to the landlord such a sum of money as tlie hay,
turnips, mangold wurzel, and muck left upon the farm, and
grown and made thereon during the then present year, shall
be adjudged to be worth for consumption on the farm; the
amount to be determined by arbitration, as hereinafter pro-
vided ; and also the amounts that has been expended for grass
seeds sown on the farm in the same year, and twopence per
acre for sowing the same. At the end of the tenancy the
tenant is to leave in the hands of the landlord all the hay,
turnips, and mangold wurzel, which shall be grown and pro-
duced on the farm in the last year, being paid for the same by
arbitration.

V. The tenant is to find and provide, at proper and con-
venient times, before the 1st day of June next after entering
upon the occupation of the farm (up to which time the barns
or dressing houses are to remain in the occupation of the out-
goining tenant), sufficient horses and waggons, or carts, with
drivers, to convey the necessary fuel and water to the steam
engine for thrasliing the corn, grain, and pulse of the previous
harvest ; to remove the corn, grain, or pulse when thrashed
into the dressing-house ; to provide labourers to remove the
straw as it passes from the thrashing machine ; and to provide
horses and drivers to remove the steam engine and thrashing
apparatus after each thrashing, to any distance not exceeding
seven miles from the farm. Tlie tenant is to carry out and
deliver, at proper and convenient times, before the said 1st day
of June, in loads of not less than 25 coombs each, and not ex-
ceeding loads in any week, all such corn, grain, and
pulse, to any place as may be required, within ten miles
from the farm, and bring back the empty sacks ; and
he is to be allowed to take the straw, chaff and colder for liis
own use, and to be paid or allowed by the outgoing
tenant the tolls and porterage consequent upon carrying out
the corn. At the end of the tenancy, tlie landlord is to make
the same provision for thrashing and carrying out before the
1st day of June following, the corn, grain, and pulse grown
on the farm in the last year of the tenancy, and to permit the
tenant to retain possession of the barns or dressing-houses
until that date.

VI. — The tenant is to cultivate and manage the farm dur-
ing the first sixteen years of the term according to his own
judgment, and to have full power during such time to dispose
of all or any portion of the produce of the farm by sale or
otherwise. During the last four years the tenant shall bring
the arable lands into the four-course system of husbandry
practised in Norfolk, so that in the last year of the term there
shall be, as nearly as the sizes of the fields will admit, one-
fourth in winter corn or pulse, upon oUand or grass of one
year's lying ; one-fourth in a root crop, of which not more

15G

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

thau one-fourth sliall be mangold wurzel, and not more than
one-tenth in white turnips; one-fourth part in barley, or
other spring corn ; and tlie remaining fourtli part in olland,
or grass of one year's lying ; and he is not to suffer any hemp,
mustard, coleseed, nor any clover, trefoil, or other artificial
grass, to stand or grow for a crop of seed in the last four years
of the term.

VI [. The tenant is effectually to destroy all rabbits, moles,
and rats, upon every part of the farm. The tenant is to deliver
waggon loads of good wheat -straw at the Holkhara stables,
or at any one of tlie landlord's brickyards as may be directed,
in every year, without any allowance. The tenant is to deli-
ver one good fat turkey at Holkham House in the month of
December in every year. The tenant is to do days' work of
four horses, with the necessary waggons or carts and drivers
as may be required, to any place within the distance of ten
miles from the farm in every year without allowance ; and in
case any portion of such day's work shall not liave been done
in any one year, the arrears of such year shall be performed in
the subsequent year, if required or appointed by the landlord
or his agent.

VIII. The tenant is not to remove nor alter any fences, land->
marks or boundaries, nor to erect nor alter any buildings
without the consent in writing of the landlord or his agent
The tenant is not to break up, nor convert any of the meadow
or old grass land into tillage, without the consent in writing of
the landlord or his agent. The tenant is to pay a further
annual rent of £20 for every acre, and the same rent in pro-
portion for any greater or less quantity than an acre, which he
shall break up and convert into tillage, in addition to any
other rent of the farm ; and such additional rent is to com-
mence from the 11th day of October next preceding the break-
ing up of the laud, to be payable half-yearly with the other
rents of the farm, and to be subject to the same conditions.
The tenant is also to pay a penalty of £o for every timber or
other tree which he shall cut down, crop, orlop, without the con-
sent in writing of the landlord or his agent, in addition to the
market value of the tree.

IX. The tenant is to give ten days' notice to the landlord
of his sowing barley or spring com in the last year of the
tenancy, and the landlord is to have liberty to sow grass seeds
on such lands, which the tenant is to harrow in without any
allowance : the tenant is not to suffer any live stock, except
swine well ringed, to be upon these lands from that time. Tiie
tenant is not to sow any swede turnips in the last year of the
tenancy before the 16th day of May. The tenant is not to
suffer the ollands or grass lands to be fed by any stock, except
those of tlie landlord or his incoming tenant, after any sale of
the tenant's stock and farming utensils in the last year of the
tenancy, without first offering to sell the same to one of them
by agreement or by arbitration. The tenant is to have all the
crops upon the farm properly cleaned and weeded during the
last two years of the tenancy ; and the landlord is to have the
power to do this work at the expense of the tenant, if it be
not effectually done upon suflicient notice in writing from the
landlord or his agent. The tenant is to stack all the crops of
corn, grain, and pulse produced on the farm in the last year of
the tenancy, in the fields where they are grown ; or in an ad-
joining one if required by the landlord or his agent ; and is to
thrash out the same in a husbandlike manner before the 1st
day of June following, leaving the straw, chaff, and colder
without any allowance, so that the landlord or his incoming
tenant may be regularly and constantly supplied.

X. The landlord reserves to himself the power at any time
during the first sL^teen years of the term, by notice in writing,
to require that the arable lands shall be brought into the four-
course system within four years from the date of such notice.
The tenant, on receipt of such notice, or in the event of the
death of the tenant, his executors or administrators without
notice, shall bring the arable lands into the four-course sys-
tem ; and from such time he or they shall continue so to farm
the lands; namely, the one-fourth part in winter-corn, upon
olland or grass of one year's lying, shall immediately after
such winter-corn be summer tilled, and sown with turnips or
mangold wursel, and then sown with barley or other sprinn-
corn, and laid down for one year with a suflicient quantity of
good clover or grass seeds.

XI. — After such notice shall have been given, or on the de-
cease of the tenant, or during the last four years of the term,
the tenant, or his executors, or administrators, shall consume

on the farm all the hay, straw, chaff, colder, green cro]is, tur-
nips, and mangold wuri^el (except that grown in the last year
of the tenancy), and spread the manure made thereon upon
the lands where necessary, except in the last year, when one-
third part thereof, as near as the same can be estimated, shall
be left turned up in heaps for the use of the landlord. After
such notice, or on the decease of the tenant, or during the
last four years of the term, the tenant, his executors, or admi-
nistrators, shall not mow more than a third of the meadow, or
old grass land, and that only once in any year, and not two
years in succession, nor at all in the last year ; and he, or
they, shall not mow more than two-thirds of tlie clover, or ar-
tificial grass, in the last year, nor any of the lands more thau
once ; and such two-thirds shall be made into hay, and stacked
and thatched upon a convenient part of the farm. After such
notice, or on the decease of the tenant, or during the last four
years, the tenant, his executors, or administrators, shall cut
and scour, at proper seasons in every year, such fences and
ditches as may require it, or as the landlord or his agent shall
direct ; shall defend and preserve all young thorn, quick fences
and trees, from cattle and sheep ; shall not pare nor remove
the soil from the backs of the fences, but keep the banks well
faced-up and backed-up, and not less than four-and-a-half feet
wide at the base or foot thereof; and shall prevent the banks
or fences of any wood or plantation, on or adjoining the farm,
from being injured. He, or they, shall also cause all grips,
water-courses, aud drains belonging to the meadow or grass
lauds, including rivers on or adjoining the farm, to be opened,
drawn, cleansed and bottomfyed, once in every year, at the
proper season ; shall keep the outfalls of all drains clear and free
from obstruction ; spread and level all ant-hills and mole-liills ;
mow all thistles, rushes and weeds, before their seeding time ;
and not suffer any swire, unless well ringed, to be upon any
meadow or grass-land.

XII. — The tenant is to maintain, keep, and leave all the
glass, windows, lines, weights, and fastenings thereto belong-
ing ; all locks, keys, bolts, bells, bell-wires, hinges, shelves,
and fixtures of every kind to the farmhouse, offices and pre-
premises ; water-closets with the cisterns and going gears;
also all gates, gate-irons, stiles, posts, pales, rails, pumps,
wells, bridges, tunnels, drains, grips, watercourses, river, river-
banks, and other fences, upon and belonging to tlie farm or
premises, in good and tenantable repair and condition, being
allowed, or assigned on request, thorns grown upon the farm,
bricks, pipes, lime and wood, for and towards such repairs.
The tenant is to cause the woodwork aud painted walls of the
interior of the farmhouse and offices, to be painted with two
coats of good oil paint, and tlie papered walls to be repapered,
when considered necessary by the landlord or his agent, and
to leave the same in a perfectly good and tenantable state, tlie
paper to be of the same description and quality as at the com-
mencement of the tenancy. The tenant is not to lay any corn,
grain, wool, or other wei;;hty or prejudicial matter in the
farmhouse. The tenant is to make good at his own expense,
both as to material and labour, all injuries to the farmhouse,
buildings and premises, thiough the fault or neglect of himself,
or his servants, or by the horses or cattle on the farm and pre-
mises, damage by fire excepted : and in the event of damage
by fire not the wilful act or neglect of the tenant, the landlord
shall sufficiently rebuild or restore tlie premises damaged or
destroyed, within twelve calendar months.

XIII. — The tenant is to cause all gutters, pipes, and
troughs, belonging to the farmhouse aud other buildings, to
be effectually cleaned out when necessary. The tenant is to
provide and keep on the farm premises xi ladder of sufficient
length to reach to the roof of the highest building thereon, in
a fit state for use, and to cause or permit the same to be used
on all necessary occasions. The tenant is to keep and leave
the garden, orchard, and shrubberies, well and sufficiently
stocked, planted, manured, cleaned and preserved ; and to well
and sufficiently cherish, nail up, prune, and preserve all the
fruit trees, bushes, vines and shrubs, standing or growing in
the gardens, orchards, or shrubberies.

XYI. — The landlord is to maintain and keep the farmhouse
and other buildings in good and tenantable repair during the
term, excepting only such repairs as are before specified to be
done by the tenant. The tenant is to fetch and carry all
materials to be used in repairing the buildings, or in erecting
new ones upon the farm by agreement during the term.
The tenant is to fetch and carry all bricks, pipes, and tiles to

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167

be used iu draiuing upon the farm ; and also a proportion of
the materials to be used in repairing or erecting cottages be-
longing to the landlord, and situated in any village within one
mile from the farm, vvitli other tenants upon the estate ; the
proportion to be settled by tlie landlord or liis agent.

XV. The landlord and his agent, and other persons autho-
rised by him, are to have full power to enter upon the farm at
all reasonable times, for the purpose of taking down and re-
moving timber or other trees; crrrying on draining or otiier
works ; inspecting, altering, and repairing the buildings ;
raising and removing marl, clay, brickearth, gravel, sand, or
stone (which, with all timber trees, mines, and minerals, are
reserved to the landlord) ; burning bricks, pipes, or tiles, or
for any otlier lawful purpose, reimbursing the tenant for any
injury he may sustain. The landlord retains tiie power to take
land for roads, watercourses, building, plantings, or other im-
provements, or for the purpose of exchange, allowing to the
tenant a proportionate reduction from the rent, and paying
him for any actual damage he may sustain.

XVI. The laudlord reserves the exclusive right, for himself,
his friends, companions, and servants, of hunting, shooting,
fishing, fowling, and (subject to the liberty of the tenant, be-
tween the 1st day of November and the 1st day of March in
every year, to course the hares by means of greyhounds, but
not otherwise) of coursing and sporting upon tiie farm and
premises. The tenant is to use his utmost endeavours to pre-
serve the fish, game, and eggs and nests of game, and to pre-
vent all other persons from molesting or destroying the same,
or for trespassing on any part of the lands for that purpose.
The landlord may bring any action, or take any legal proceed-
ing, or give any notices to or against any person so offending
or trespassing, in the name and on behalf of the tenant, who
shall not release, impeach, hinder, or discharge any such action
or proceedings, without the constnt in writing of the landlord,
who shall indemnify and save the tenant harmless from the
costs and charges.

XVII. — If the rents reserved, or any part of them, shall
be in arrear or unpaid for twenty-one days after the date on
which they are specified to be paid ; or if the tenant shall
break or infringe any of the conditions of his tenancy ; or
shall abscond, or cease to reside upon the form ; or be de-
clared bankrupt ; or make any assignment of his personal
estate, or auy composition with his creditors ; or if any writ
of execution shall be issued against his person or goods, the
laudlord shall have power to enter upon the farm, land, and
premises, and remove the tenant, or any other persons there-
from, and the term shall thereupon cease ; the right of dis-
tress, ejectment, or other action at law by the landlord not
being iu any way thereby affected. If at any time the crops

shall be sold under a distraint for rent, they shall be sold sub-
ject to the straw, chaff, and colder being left on the farm with-
out any allowance, and tlie hay and roots being consumed
thereon. No receipt for any rent or penalty shall discharge
any other rent or penalty than that mentioned in such receipt;
and no condition before-mentioned sliall operate to weaken,
prejudice, or postpone the performance, of any other
conditions by the tenant, nor the right of the landlord to
enforce the same by action, suit, or otherwise.

XVIII. In the event of the farm being given up to the

landlord at any time during the first sixteen years, in con-
sequence of the death of the tenant, or for any other reason
with the consent of the landlord, the tenant shall be paid for
any claying or marling done in the four years previous to such
surrender with the knowledge and sanction of the landlord or
his agent, at the rate of three-fourths of the cost for that
done in the previous year, one-half for tliat done in the third
year, and one-fourth for any such work done in the fourth
year'before such surrender. In the event of the farm being
so given up, by agreement made at any time subsequent to the
1st day of February in the year in which it is surrendered, the
tenantshall also be paidone-third part of the cost price of linseed
cake, consumed by stock (except horses) in well littered yards
with troughed-sheds, or in boxes ; or by sheep, when con-
suming turnips or mangold wurzel on the land, during the last
year of the tenancy.

XIX. — When any valuation shall be made of the hay, tur-
nips, mangold wurzel, and muck to be left at the end of ilie
tenancy, the person or persons making such valuation shall
take into consideration the state, condition, and usage of tlie
farm and premises, and determine wh.ether the tenant has
carried out all the terras and conditions before-mentioned, and
whether the farm is then in a clean and creditable state ; and
if not, shall determine what sum of money shall be paid to
the landlord as compensation therefor, and shall deduct such
sum from the amount which the hay, turnips, mangold wurzel,
and muck shall be adjudged to be worth.

XX. The word "landlord" shall include his heirs and

assigns ; and the word " tenant " shall include his executors,
administrators, and assigns.

XXI. — If any question or dispute shall arise between the
landlord and tenant, or their respective heirs, executors, ad-
ministrators, or assigns, as to these terras and conditions, or
any matter or thing connected with them, or with the occu-
pation of the farm, such matter in difference, including any
provided to be referred to arbitration, shall be referred to two
arbitrators and their umpire, in accordance and conformity with
the provisions contained in the Common Law Procedure Act
(1851), or any then subsisting statutory modification thereof.

THE HEXHAM FARMERS' CLUB,

At the December meeting, held at the Club Room, Mr. C.
G. Grey, president of the Club in the chair, said that at last
meeting he made a few remarks respecting the progress made
by the committee of the proposed Middle-Class School. He
was glad to say that the farmers had exhibited an interest in
it, and on the subscriptions lists he saw many names down for
sums from £5 to £25 for starting this school. In the north
of the county they had not yet opened a list, as they wanted
clearly to understand the conditions on which these promises
were made before putting down their names. He hoped that
by next week subscription lists would be opened in various
parts of the county, and then they would see what the middle
class would do. If they came out with subscriptions of £o
and £10 all round the county, then they would show such a
list that the large landowners would find it impossible to hold
back from giving it their support, and they would get all the
money required to carry out the scheme. The Endowed
Schools Commissioners were favourable to it. The trustees
had not yet taken up the matter, but he hoped they would
show such a list that the large landowners would not find any
difl[iculty with them. It was now for those who took an
interest in it to take every opportunity of keeping the subject
alive, and getting names down on the list for donations, for the
Endowed Schools Commissioners and some of the large pro-

prietors had said they wanted to see what proof there was that
the people of the county wanted a Middle- Class School, and
the only way they could show they wanted it was by putting
their names on the subscription list.

Mr. T. Bell (Hedley Hill, Gateshead) read the following
paper on The Kelative Interests of the Landlord, the Tenant,
and the People in the Soil : —

The broad subject proposed for discussion is the interest of the
people in the soil. The people we propose to divide into three
classes. 1st. Landlords. 2nd. Tenants. 3rd. The people who
are neither proprietors nor cultivators of the soil. It will be
conceded that all live by the produce of the soil ; consequently,
to the extent of supplying the individual necessaries of life, we
are all mutually interested in its prodace. So long as the soil
produces sufficient to provide for these individual wants, every
member of the human family has the right to have these wants
supplied. If the terra " landed interest" docs not include the
whole population, it must be limited to proprietors who own
more than they need for their sustenance. If a man owns no
more land than by his constant attention will procure a living
for himself and family, he cannot be said to have any more inte-
rest in the produce of the soil than the man who labours and
thereby procures his daily bread by another process than agri-

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culture. If either party failed to labour, the food supply would
fail ; indeed the contingencies for a supply of the daily wants
seem to be pretty evenly balanced ; the labouier may fail to
be supplied with labour, the peasant proprietor may lose the
fruit of his labour through adverse seasons and cattle disease.
We are having it often dinned into our ears by a certain class
that " the woriiing man is ' divorced' from the soil" — a most
pernicious phrase. We have shown his intimate connection with
it, tiirough its produce. Starting on this premise, that all are
interested in the soil to the extent of having food and raiment,
it naturally follows that we are all deeply concerned whether
the supplies of these products be scarce or abundant.
Scarcity implies low rents to the landlord, empty pockets to
the tenant, and dear food for everybody. It may, therefore,
be safely assumed that the prosperity of any populous country
will depend to a great extent on the products of its own soil.
The country that imports these commodities must pay for
them out of its own resources, and if able to produce them,
must be impoverished unnecessarily to the extent that it
imports. It must follow, that until a country has fully deve-
loped its agricultural resources, it has never attained to its
highest possible position. Taking this, tlieu, as the siimim
boniim of the nation, how can it be best brought about with-
out interfering with vested interests ? We may now proceed
to consider the interests of the three classes separately. The
land/orcrs interest.— 1o a landlord who lets his land, the
main point of interest must be its capital value. The pro-
prietor has been aptly compared to a banker wlio lends out his
capital to a customer at its market value ; the land represent-
ing the capital, the tenant the customer, and the rent the
interest. To this capital value all landlords in legal posses-
sion have an undoubted right, morally and legally. So long
as the rights of any sort of private property whatever are
mutually upheld and respected, so long will the right of the
landlord to the capital value of the land be established. I
must confess here that I have failed to find any other interest
in the scil to which the landlord can lay claim as an unalien-
able right, save this capital value, judging by precedent.
Wliatever portion of the soil can be proved to be absolutely
required for certain public purposes— notably railways— the
nation demands through Parliament that on payment of mar-
ket value the owner must part with all interest in the portion
required. The question not so easily settled is, for what
public purposes may the nation demand a compulsory sale ?
Let us shortly glance at a few of the landlord's particular
interests in the soil. 1st. His patriotic interest.— The owner-
ship of land naturally gives to the proprietor the feeling of
having a considerable interest in the welfare and prosperity of
his country. Many of our old and noble families owe the pos-
session of their estates to the prowess of their forefathers,
who gained these estates either as a reward for gallant ser-
vice in defence of king and country, or on condition that
they would be ever ready when called upon to march at the
head of a force they themselves should provide in the face of
any enemy. This, as you all know, was part of tlie constitu-
tion of the old feudal system. It is unnecessary to say that
the conditions under which these latter estates were held have
vanished, leaving the descendants of these brave old warriors
in possession, while they are only called upon to render such
service as the State demands from all their fellow-countrymen.
There can be no doubt that at this period of our country's his-
tory this sort of paternal relationship which existed between
the classes under discussion is rapidly disappearing. It seems
as if that particular class, who for ages past lias been the pecu-
liar care and under the paternal government of the rich and
great, had now so far developed its own facultities that it is
entertaining serious thoughts of commencing business, and try-
ing to make its way in the world— seeking to make the most of
the advantages and education it received while under the pater-
nal care of its tutors and governors. I am not here to justify
this state of things, but we wiU do well to keep the fact before
us as we go along. 2nd. T/ie tandtord's political interest in
the soil.— This interest is now feeliug the effects of that al-
tered relationship just referred to. The passing of the Ballot
Bill by the House of Commons proves that this power is held
by a very uncertain tenure, and also goes to show that some of
tlie other conventional interests at present possessed by the
landlords in the soil will only exist so long as the classes under
discussion mutually agree as to their possession. 3rd. The
andloid's sport in// interest. — This interest cannot now be

classed amongst the undisputed privileges of a landed estate
let out to tenantry. No landowner has the moral right to de-
stroy the food of the nation without the consent of the people,
It would easily be understood that were every landlord to con-
vert his estate into a game preserve, the nation would have a
perfect right to interfere. Wliat landlord, then, can lay claim
to the right if all cannot do it ? It is clearly the province of
the people to define what sporting rights shall exist, and not a
question between landlord and tenant. The future existence of
the Game-laws depends wholly on how the landlordsexercise their
present rights. Food can be imported, unfortunately, while ani-
mals to supply field sports to our wealthy citizens cannot be
imported; consequently, the British farmer must compete with
all the world in the production of food, even to the decima-
tion of his own herds by disease so imported ; yet he enjoys
the entire monopoly of feeding the game of the British public.
Yet, if game preserves and battues become general, and ground-
game be persisted in, assuredly will the days of game certificates
be shortened. 4th. The landlord's monopohj. — The immense
estates and consequent disproportion in numbers between the
landowners and the rest of the population of this country are
considered by many people to be prejudicial to the interests of
agriculture, and consequent welfare of the nation. There can
be no doubt that the present land laws have a direct tendency
to limit the number of proprietors. I; does not, however, ne-
cessarily follow that large estates are under a worse state of
cultivation than they would be if sub-divided. It is allowed
that lack of capital is one of the great hindrances to the improve-
ment of estates, hut if the rent-roll of a large estate is no; suf-
ficient to leave a balance for permanent improvements, where
is the probability of that balance being augmented when the
number of proprietors' establishments are increased and limited
to the same exchequer ? It certainly places an immense power
for either good or evil in the hands of one person ; perhaps
too much so. An alteration in the law of settlement or entail
would do much to remove this power of evil over the country.
We may endeavour to gather from this law something of the
control the nation can and does exercise in the tenure of land.
By mutual consent we have liitherto wisely guaranteed to the
proprietors of land that the good things they sowinlifetheir heirs
shall reap ; but we have not stopped with that, vi'e have said to
many of them — and surely very unwisely — your heir may sow
nothing but to the wind, if he chooses, yet we guarantee to
his heir, not the whirlwind, but the whole of this good
thing, your landed estate. And although spendthrift may
succeed spendthrift, we guarantee each succeeding heir
possession in tact, if they so desire it, together with every
improvement effected by the teuants or other parties
on said lands. This is surely a premium paid by the nation
to improvidence on the part of these landowners, and ruin
in many cases of their dependents. It may be perfectly right
that the fruit of a man's good works should be carefully trans-
mitted to his children, yet it is surely wrong in society to take
on its own shoulders a larger proportion of the fruit of his evil
deeds, and let his own heir go nearly scot free. The present
law for distraint for rent is one of the effects of this monopoly.
What is known as the Law of Hypothec in Scotland, has of
late years been the subject of much discussion and inquiry.
The Scotch law gives the landlord a much greater claim over
the eflFects of a bankrupt tenant. In certain instances it em-
powers him to lay claim to the produce of the land after it has
left the farm and been bought and paid for by other parties.
So long as there was a difliculty in finding capital in the
country, this law might be advantageous. But now, when
capital is everywhere seeking profitable employment, there
can be no excuse for protecting the interests of one class at the
expense of another. We need not enter on the laws relative
to the transfer of land ; they are generally allowed by allclasses
to be much in need of reducing and simplifying. The tenant's
interest. — Assuming that the tenant is the customer of the
landlord for his capital the land, and the yearly rent the interest
paid for such capital, this places us on the purely business rela-
tionship which exists between the two parties. Unfortunately
this too often explains the whole relationship — it is a matter
of money getting. Although the mercantile aspect of the
contract should be always definitely kept in view, yet the
landlord and tenant ought to have a mutual interest in each
other on account of the great interest they each have in the
present and future treatment of the soil. It is only where
this mutual interest exists that the highest fertility and

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159

greatest productiveness will be found. The tenant-farmer's
annual interest in the cultivated soil of Great Britain is much
larger tliau the landlord's annual interest. We may suppose
the average rent of arable land to be about 30s. per acre, but
look over a highly cultivated farm about midsutnraer, and
consider the interest of the tenant bound up iu the soil at
that time. It will be found to be from five to ten times greater
than the money value of the landlord's annual interest. In-
deed the products now raised cannot be said to be the natural
produce of the soil. The old system of farming might be
compared to a manufacturer with a natural water power
capable of enabling him to set up a certain power of ma-
chinery, and produce a limited quantity of goods. The
modern system might be likened to the same factory
having added to its natural water power an additional im-
ported power, multiplying almost indefinitely its capabilities
of production. It seems to me tliat it is this additional
power brought to bear upou agriculture by the farmer, that
needs the special attention of the nation. Is it desirable
that it should be developed and extended P If so, what
means would be likely to produce this effect? I would sug-
gest, give the tenant seourity for his interest in the soil.
The interest of the tenant in the soil is at present such that
he would not be justified under any but the most iavour-
able and exceptionable circumstance in maintaining the
maximum fertility of the soil. Take a farm of 400
acres at a rent of 30s. per acre, fair market value,
entered upon by an intelligent, practical farmer. It will
be above the average of farms if it is not capable of im-
provement. What Dr. Chalmers has aptly described " The
margin of Cultivation," will not yield a rent if cultivated.
It will not produce enough to pay its way. But by putting
on additional capital much of the land outside this margin
would pay the interest on such capital, yield a rent, leave a
profit to the tenant, and a good produce to the nation. Sup-
pose 100 acres of this farm to be lying in poor grass, wet, and
valued at 7s. 6d. per acre. Suppose the proprietor judiciously
expends £1,000 in draining, fencing, clearing, &c., this at 5
per cent, increases the rent to 17s. 6d. per acre. The produc-
tion of this additional rent oftentimes requires considerable
enterprise and energy on the part of the tenant. Such
land left to nature would really be worth little more for the
draining for a few years, as a considerable amount of the
grasses natural to wet land would die out, and not until the
lapse of some years, would the finer grasses fill the
vacancies. The calculating tenant would say, " This
land would pay for cultivation, but it would take a stiff
outlay to do it justice. I am not sure of much return
for the first few years, but it has a good subsoil, and
I am sure it would pay eventually, but who knows
whether either I or mine would reap the benefit of
this outlay ? I could perfectly trust my landlord and his
agent. I am sure they would do me justice, but they are
mortal. So a king may arise that knows not Joseph, and I
may be turned out after I have put all this land into good
condition. I certainly have an agreement for a proportion
of the lime being repaid, and so much for cake, bones, &c.,
for the last year or so, and some other items, but that
would be a poor return for all my outlay, labour, and
anxiety. Why, I am sure in ten years I could make that
land worth 27s. 6d. per acre; it is now dear at 17s. 6d.
My cultivation would, therefore, increase its value 10s. per
acre, which, on 100 acres, is £50 per annum I somebody
will receive as the result of my attention. £50 per annum
capitalised is worth to me £1,000. If I had to leave I
probably would not get ^100." If the tenant acts on com-
mercial principles he would here say, "There is here no
security for investment, I must put no more iu than I
can take out." The consequence is the land may never
be worth more than 17s. 6d. per acre. The simple want
of security here, is permanent loss to all three classes.
Suppose the tenant goes to work trusting to the future;
improves his farm ; and at the end of ten years he has
raised the annual value £100 per aunura real value (makiug
due allowance for any change in the value of money), which
sum capitalised amounts to i£C,000. Owing to some com-
bination of circumstances the tenant must quit. Now arises
the all-important question, whose shall be the £2,000 ? The
law would say, " the landlord's of course " ! Justice would
ask who made it ? and equity would reply " the tenant." It

will be said here, a lease under ordinary circumstances
gives a farmer security that he will be repaid any judicious
investments. But we may fairly ask, does fanning pay
such a large percentage on capital, that the farmer can
afford to give up a large proportion of its produce ? As-
suredly notp Yet that that is what is yearly going on is
apparent to every observant eye. If a tenant during his
lease has increased the real value of his farm, at the end of
the lease he finds he has improved against himself; he is
placed on the horns of a dilemma, for he must either buy
over again'what his own capital has produced, or part with
it to another without payment. According to the present
law, the tenant-farmer's interest in the soil is not equal
to the miller's interest in the corn that it produces, or the
manufacturer's in that of its fleecy flocks. They are sure
of obtaining their raw material at market value, and no
matter how they invest their capital for producing food and
clothing for the people, they can always command the market
value for that capital. Not so with the producer of corn
and wool. He may invest his capital to increase the produc-
tion of food and wool, but what he invests in the soil has no
market value to him. What he brings out he gets market
value for, what he leaves he has no market for, therefore,
he is not justified in putting more in than he can take out.
The tenantry of Great Britain may be fairly allowed to ask
the question — Why do you grant a Tenant-llight to Irish
farmers, and leave us out in the cold ? This Irish story may
help to illustrate the case : An Irish gentleman was residing
with a friend, and on a certain day a number of visitors
arrived to stay over night : there was a difficulty about ac-
commodation. The good lady of the house said to her resi-
dent friend, " We'll have to do our best to make these
strangers comfortable, so you, dear old friend, will just take
the bed in the garret." " Shure and it's a mighty quare
way you have of showing your friendship," said the friend,
" Better be a stranger than a friend here." Granted that
the Irish tenantry needed a Tenant-Eiglit a little more, it
cannot be said they deserved it better. Mr. Gladstone's defi-
nition of an unexhausted improvement was happy, and the
correct one : " whatever increases the lettable value." No
details or scales of lime, bone, cakes, &c., used, will ever do an
enterprising, energetic tenant justice. They take no account
of how a man used his brains in their application. If farmers
participated in the permanent improvement of the soil they
create, it would give such an impetus to agriculture in Eng-
land as would surprise the most sanguine. Capital would
flow iuto the soil from the tenantry, when they knew security
was given that they should have their share of what it pro-
duced. Landlords would have their estates improved with
that capital, and participate in the increased value. The
landlord's interest must increase with the tenant's improve-
ments ; therefore a definite proportion only of the permanent
increase of value must be allotted to the tenant. The labour
market would be greatly benefited. The produce of the soil
would be immensely augmented. Importation of food would
be proportionately lessened. Capital that must have left the
country as payment of that importation will be left for trade
purposes. In short, it is capable of demonstration that it
would be greatly to the benefit of all classes of society to
bestow on the tenantry of Great Britain that interest iu the soil
which justice demands and an equitable Tenant-Right would be-
stow. The People s Interest. — In point of numbers, the owners
and tenants of the soil are only " like the small dust in the
balance " compared with the mass of people who bold no
direct communication with agriculture. Joiiu Stuart Mill has
represented the owners of the agricultural surface of England
as numbering about 30,000. Mr. Disraeli calculates the
tenant-farmers at somewhere about 800,000. These numbers
with their families and dependants, deducted from the census
returns of England, leave about twenty millions as the number
composing class third. Although this may not be a correct
computation, it may fairly serve to show the vast proportion
of our population who are not directly interested in agri-
culture, yet, indirectly, are so deeply interested in its
welfare, and now hold the power to weild a considerable
influence over its future destiny. Let us consider if
a direct agricultural interest in the soil is attainable
by the masses? It is generally assumed that tlie pos-
session of a direct interest in the soil by a much larger
proportion of the population would be a great advantage

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to the nation. Such may be the case, but it may he argued,
only under certain given conditions. Given a community
like the Jews, at that period of their history when they first
crossed the Jordan to enter upon their possession of the land
of Canaan, and with all the accumulated wisdom of the inter-
vening centuries, I question much if the sages of the niue-
teeuth century could Irarae a code of land laws belter adapted
to promote the well-being of the people, or tend more to de-
velop the resources of the country. Yet it will be readily
granted that they are ill-adapted to meet the requirements
of this our laud ; even were it possible to apply them, which,
for obvious reasons, is simply impossible. Wliere the resources
of a country are nearly or wholly limited to its soil, if that
soil is capable of producing supplies sufficient to meet the
wants of its inhabitants, it is clear the more equally tlie agri-
cultural surface is apportioned the greater will be the iudi-
yidual chances of happiness to the community. Great Britain
is understood to be unable to produce food for its teeming
population ; at any rate it is quite certain, were its soil equally
distributed at once amongst its inhabitants, and they were con-
fined to what they produced, misery and starvation would be
greatly multiplied amongst us. Fortunately other resources
are vast, if not abundant, and this fact implies a proportion of
the population devoting their energies to the development of
these other resources. Whenever such pursuits hold forth
greater pecuniary or imaginary advantages than agriculture to
an individual, if circumstances permit, he leaves his rural
abode, and probably goes to swell still further some of our
rising towns. So long as commerce and manufactures con-
tinue to offer and supply these increased advantages, society
shares in the improvement. Unfortuuately the tides of com-
merce and trade have their ebb and flow. So long as they
continue to flow all is well, but when the ebb comes then
is the fiery ordeal experienced by a thickly populated countrv,
and more especially by that portion who have left tiie slow
but moderately sure pursuits of agriculture for the " glorious
uncertainties" of trade and commerce. This tendency to
leave agriculture and join the hives of industry is thought
by many people to be a source of great evil to us as a
uatiou. We believe we are pointed to the Swiss and French
peasant proprietors with their small holdings as models of
thrift, industry, and comfort. So far as I can make out,
it is not that the provinces of Switzerland and France offer
greater returns to the agriculturists than tlie soil of Eng-
land, but because manufactures and commerce do not there
offer suflicieut inducements to cause the peasantry to leave
the soil and enter their ranks. It would not be difficult to
show that in any country where manufactures and trade
flourish, and where there is free trade in food supplies, that
land must inevitably fall into the hands of the wealthy, and
those who make it their business to add field to field. Banish
the love of money from the hearts of men, and things might be
different. Suppose a man to be the owner of fifty acres, worth
a rent of £75 per aunum ; suppose him to be further possessed
of additional capital to cultivate it, he would, according to the
Government modeof calculating a farmer's profits, add £32 10s.
to his income by devoting his time and attention to the farm-
ing of his own laud. A capitalist makes him an offer for his
freehold at the rate of thirty years' purchase, which, with the
stock in trade, would realise somewhere about £2,700. An in-
vestment turns up for the money, ofi'eriug five per cent, with good
security. Here is a much larger income offered, with tlie ad-
ditional value of whatever his time and talents might realise
devoted to other pursuits. Trade or commerce might possibly
hold out to him a prospect of 10 or 20 or even 30 per cent, for
hiscapital. Nomanwlioaspires after anincreaseof income would
be content with little over £100 a-year from his land, when its
capita value dangles constantly brfore him an income of,it may be
several iiuudreds. Thismay accountforthesadfactthatthe sturdy
yeomanry ot England are gradually disappearing. The calcu-
lating, intelligent, small freeholder sells his land, the indolent
and dissipated squander it. Under present circumstances the
possession of the soil of England to any extent by small free-
holders, IS, to say tlie least, highly improbable. A tenant right
such as we have proposed, would have a powerful tendency to
increase the number of tenant-farmers in England. It is too
mucli the custom of the tenantry of the present day to spread
their capital over the greatest number of acres they can pos-
sibly stretch it, and they are consequently obliged to allow
nature to be their principal agent. The experience of farmers

urges them in this direction. They find that the men who
best develop the resources of the soil do not always make most
money, and the reason is not far to seek. Such men perman-
ently improve their holdings with a large outlay, and nothing
but the value of a permanent interest in such improvements
will adequately repay them. It will be seen at a glance that if
compensation were secured to the improving tenant, improve-
ments would rapidly multiply, and, instead of capital being
spread over two many acres as it is now, it would be concen-
trated on what is capable of improvement. Lands capable of
improvement might be profitably let out into small holdings, and
rented by men of limited capital— labour being the heavy item
in reclaiming land. If such small farmers could live from the
produce of their holdings, the improvements they effected would
become capital, and the soil would act as a sort of savings bank,
where they could safely deposit tlie fruits of their laoonrs.
Therefore, to give a greater proportion of the community a
direct interest in the cultivation of the soil, the laws affecting
agriculture will require to be framed in accordance with strictly
commercial principles. Let us now consider the desirability
of increasing the agricultural population. It will be generally
allowed that the greater the number of the population that
will devote their capital and labour to the soil the better for
the country so long as that appropriation does not interfere,
with the development of other more profitable resources.
Whatever amount of capital is spent on labour to improve the
natural co idition of the soil is a clear gain to the labour
market, and a consequent distribution of capital among the
labouring classes. Demand causes a limit to other productions,
and they generally require another capital to create that de-
mand. The produce of the soil in this country can never ex-
ceed the demand, neither does it need the intervention or
capital to buy it. The result is, the more the resources of the
soil are developed, the better will be the condition of the
labouring classes, and, consequently, the healthier will be the
state of trade. The subject might be viewed, under other
aspects than those bearing upon the pecuniary interest this
third class hold in the soil. The social surroundings of town
and city life amongst the lower stratum of society more especi-
ally, are generally considered to have a degenerating effect
both morally and physically. They sharpen the wits and the
intellect at the expense oftentimes of both soul and body. On
the other hand, it is also allowed that nothing tends so much
to the formation of habits of thrift and industry, and also
healthy organizations as pastoral and agricultural employment,
especially if the parties concerned have a direct interest in the
produce of their labour. We have seen that the tendency of
the present age is to crowd still further our already over-
crowded towns. What seems to me to be wanting in our con-
stitution is some means of retaining our agricultural popula-
tion, and also of conveying back to the healthy moral and
physical influences of the country those who have so far failed
to maintain these qualities that they are no longer able to fight
the battle of life without assistance either given or taken from
their fellow-townsmen. Acting on the proverb that " Preven-
tion is better than cure," let us see what means can be devised
to retain and increase our agricultural population^ We have
seen how remote is tlie prospect of any large proportion of the
soil being possessed by small proprietors. We have shown how
the numbers of the tenantry may be advantageouly addec).
We may now consider the position of the agricultural la-
bourers. The late Parliamentary inquiry into their eondtion
goes to show that in the North of England they command
higher wages, are stronger physically and intellectually, and
consequently, hold a better positioji in society than almost, if
not in any, other part of the kingdom. May this not be ac-
counted for by the fact that in this said district are located the
chief seats of the coal and iron trade, which furnish a species
of employment to which the agricultural labourer can readily
turn his hand. The consequence is, agriculture must offer
similar returns to its operatives as trade, otherwise they
cannot be retained. In these districts in the South of Eng-
land, where their condition is reported to be so wretched,
it augurs a similar state of things existing amongst the sur-
rounding workmen, otherwise a sad lack of intelligence and
observation on their part. In proceeding to discuss this part
of the question, the celebrated case of capital i-ersi/s labour,
which has excited so much attentionof late, comes prominently
before everyone of us. This case presented some strange
aspects. There came an outcry from many quarters that

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101

labourers for the ingatlieriug of the harvest were very much
needed, and were the reverse of plentiful. At the same time
the streets of our famous market town were thronged with
thousands of idle men. These men and their families were
supported by the labour of their own class working in otlier
parts of the country. The interests of agriculture, of every
branch of industry, and of every class of society, appeared to
be valueless in their estimation, their sole aim being the ad-
vancement of their own class interest. Now, -whether this
class was right or wrong is not the question. What we ought
carefully to observe is the fact that one class of men placed
themselves in direct antagonism to the interests of their em-
ployers, even at the risk of permanently damaging the trade
of the neighbouriiood, and solely, as they allege, because their
interests were neglected by their employers. Now, gentlemen,
I am sure we all with one voice can say. May the day never
come when the landowners and farmers sliall find themselves
in this position with the peasantry of England. We must,
therefore, not disguise from ourselves the fact that the interests
of the landowner, the farmer, and the peasant have not been
pursuing the course of parallel lines. These three interests
were much nearer the point of contact at the beginniug of the
century than at the present time, and seem to go on gradually
diverging. This in itself is a sufficient cause for uneasiness.
We have proposed a method of uniting the interest of the
landlord and farmer in .he soil. Is there no way of uniting
the interests of the farmer and his labourers ? An indispen-
sable requisite to this union of interest is sufficient cottage
accommodation on the farm, containing provision for their
inmates enjoying ihe comforts and observing the decencies of
cottage rural life ; vegetable gardens attached are here im-
plied. Many estates are notoriously deficient in this respect.
A commission of inquiry to report on the state of cottage ac-
commodation for our farm labourers, taking account of both
quantity and quality, might furnish an interesting document.
I very much fear a report on the necessary horse accommoda-
tion would compare very favourably with it in some quarters.
Granting the dwellings up to the requisite standard, we still
have to face the difficulty that they have no direct interest in
the farmer's success. The day may not be distant that to
retain labourers with sufficient intellectual ability and in
adequate numbers to carry on the agriculture of this country,
the present state of affairs, described as " capital versus
labour," will require to be modified, and the amended term,
" capital et labour," used to express the relationship. We may
inquire if any plan can be devised to bring back to the healthy
influence of agricultural labour that portion of society who,
though able-bodied, seem either unable or unwilling to earn an
honest livelihood. The proportions that pauperism is now
assuming are truly alarming. Tiie annual return on the 1st of
January, 1870, shows their number in England at that date
to be upwards of one million. And what adds to the alarm
and surprise is the fact that nearly one-half of them were
composed of able-bodied men and women and their families.
When the growing independence of the working classes is
spoken of, think of 300,000 children belonging to able-bodied
men and women growing up paupers ! Think of these chil-
dren being reared in such an atmosphere— taught that a life of
indolence and dependence is preferable to industry and self-
respect ! Let us take two facts and place them side by side.
Thousands of acres of uncultivated land in England, capable of
profitable cultivation, and 200,000 men and women and their
families, able to work, yet professing to be out of sufficiently
remunerative employment to keep body and soul together.
The question is — Can there be no way devised to bring together
these two material substances that seem naturally made for
each other ? Intimately connected with this part of the sub-
ject is the question of waste lands and how to deal with them.
It is pretty confidently affirmed by many profound thinkers
that in the enclosure and appropriation of common lands that
have been going on these last 50 years a larger proportion of
the poor of the several districts have been robbed of their in-
heritance. It looks, to say the least, suspicious that three
or four thousand acres should be parcelled out amongst exist-
ing proprietors, and perhaps two acres allotted to the poor.
At the same time the enclosure ot commons and making them
real property, either individual or corporate, is an undoubted
benefit to the country. My experience in connection with an
extensive unenclosed common led me to the conclusion that
commons are one of tlie best nurseries for producing a thrift-

less, indolent, dishonest population — the most certain way of
keeping land in its primitive condition, or of having its culti-
vated portions thoroughly impoverished. Some of that land
which before the enclosure was not worth a rent of 5s. per
acre has since been let for £3 per acre, and hills and valleys
that were literally deserts have been converted into fruitful
fields. Where they are conveniently situated, might not land
and institutions be provided where destitute persons might be
able to earn money, and where vagrants would find that food,
lodgings, and clothing could be had for working, but under no
other conditions ? The town of Hexham seems to have at
present a peculiarly favourable opportunity for trying an expe-
riment on a small scale. I see from the papers it is proposed
to provide a scheme for disposing of Tyne Green lor some
public purpose for the advantage of the inhabitants of the town
of Hexham. Now, what could be more to the advantage or
credit of the inhabitants than their Local Eoard providing
employment on Tyne Green for the destitute able-bodied poor,
thereby giving those a chance who were willing to earn an
honest wage, and would assuredly keep the town rid of those
notorious scoundrels known as professional vagrants ? 1 he
probability is that the scheme would be found self-supporting ;
if so, it would cause a sensible diminution in the rates. The
North-Eastern Reformatory at Netherton, near Morpeth,
affords a striking example of liow productive employment may
be found on poor land for one class of society that needs to be
taken in charge by the nation, viz., juvenile criminals. I had
the privilege not long ago of being shown over the institution
and the farms worked by it, and take this opportunity of bear-
ing testimony to the excellence of the scheme, and also the
practical manner in which its details are worked out by the
resident manager, Mr. Anderson. There 150 lads may be
seen, drawn from the very scum of society, learning what in
their class may be called the art of honest, productive labour.
A large proportion of them wear the hue of health on their
cheeks, and show well developed muscles, affording a striking
contrast to the pallid cheeks and flabby appearance of the cor-
responding class to be seen in our workhouses. The institu-
tion commenced with 40 acres of land, but a short experience
warranted the committee in making considerable extensions,
and two years ago they further enlarged their borders, and now
farm 486 acres. It is no libel on a certain portion of this
recently acquired land, now in process of being broken up, to
say that for agricultural purposes it is in its present condition
valueless. No manipulation will make it produce a crop that
will repay cultivation until the infusion of some powerful
fertilising agency. The annual application of about £200
worth of town manure which the farm receives, in addition to
the quantity made upon the farm by the extended system of
feeding (38 head of cattle were at the time of our visit upon
full feed, turnips, cake, and meal), together with the trenching
and system of spade husbandry carried out, is rapidly changing
the w hole aspect of the place. The farm accounts for the last
year show a balance in favour of the institution. About 71
per cent, of the lads discharged are known to be doing well,
which fact affords the best proof of the practical benefit the
institution confers upon society. It is devoutly to be wished
that the Reformatory at Netherton will prove the
pioneer of many similar institutions. There the problem
has been solved how to provide honest productive labour
on the soil for a class who would never either seek or find it
anywhere but under compulsion. Society would rid itself
of a great burden by extending this provision to otlier
classes whose liberty of action has furnislied proof that they
mean to live by preying on their fellow creatures. It is not
beyond the bounds of probability that schemes will be here-
after carried out on a very extensive scale for the cultiva-
tion of unreclaimed lands by public companie?, who, with Par-
liamentary powers and Government aid, will buy up such lands,
build, plant,and cultivate, not solely for aggrandisement, butfrora
commercial and philanthropic motives combined, composed
of persons who will endeavour to make it impossible for any
one to say in their hearing or district that they cannot find
employment. It will be observed that I have confined ray
remarks principally to the agricultural interests of the people
in the soil. Though I may have exhausted your patience, I
feel I have very far from exhausted the subject. I would just
add that there is a spirit of inquiry abroad, and a sifting of
authorities and instructions that will certainly produce impor-
tant results, it may be ere many years elapse. There is a

162

THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE.

growing feeling of independence exhibiting itself amongst the
more thouglitful portions of all classes of the community.
This feeding is fosteied by the present prosperous state of trade
througliout the country. It will be well for England if some
of the disturbing elements abroad in society could be amicably
settled during this period of prosperity. Although it is per-
fectly true that individual effort is the only way of securing
the blessings available to humanity, and that no human agency
can ever permanently benefit any person or class that won't
help themselves, yet these truths furnish no excuse for con-
tinuing any system that has been tried in the fire of expe-
rience and found wanting. The laws of nature framed by un-
erring wisdom furnish the best precedent for the regulation of
human laws. Nature's laws have decreed that every unit of
humanity is dependent on the products of the soil for the means
of existence. It may be safely inferred from this one fact that
no portion of the community can assume to constitute itself the
sole and unquestionable custodian of that channel through
which flows the bountiful provision the Almighty is continually
supplying wherewith to bless mankind.

The Chaikman said that the paper was a very comprehen-
sive one, and embraced such a wide field that it was a very
difficult thing to take it up and criticise it at that moment.
Different points would, no doubt, strike different members,
and if each person would give Ins observations, they might be
able to gather together a certain amount of collected wisdom
more than they could expect from one individual. There "(vere
a great many points in it — if they could be retained in one's
memory — that he would be anxious to make observations
upon ; in some of them he fully agreed with Mr. Bell, in some
he was a little doubtful, and in otliers he altogether differed
from him. He would be glad, however, first to hear what
any of the members of the club had to say upon any points
that struck them.

Mr. John Hope, jun., said he was considerably interested
in the question that had been brought before tkem. Mr. Bell
had placed before them the land question in some of the very
important relationships in regard to the three great classes —
the landlord, the tenant, and the consumer, or the people. In
many things he held advanced notions, yet he had not the
slightest sympathy with anything that savoured of revolution
or disorder ; he simply went in for that which was dictated by
good sound common sense and with a due regard to the in-
terests of all parties, never forgetting that most important
section of the people — the British public. Adam Smith laid
it down as one of his first axioms that laud stood first as a
means of investment for capital ; aud reasonably so, because
they had to work up to certain fixed laws — they were not de-
pendent upon the fraud or deceit of mankind — they were
not dependent upon the fraud or deceit of mankind — they
were tolerably safe in that respect, for the agriculturist stood
in a much firmer position than the manufacturer or the mer-
chant, aud, with certain per-centages, he was tolerably free
from bad debts. Mr. Bell brought before them the landlord's
interest, aud he might say that his own opinion was that no
man who had property had a right to use it to the disadvant-
age and to the loss of the community at large. Property was
not given for mere personal pleasure ; it was a stewardship of
which they would have to give an account, and such property
might be made highly productive and a source of real value to
the nation. It was, however, impossible for landlord and
tenant to work together unless there were wise laws governing
both, and it was essentially necessary that there should be
good laws regulating the relationships between landlord and
tenant ; and it was also to the interest of the third class — the
people — to see that there were such laws, in oider that the
tenant might be encouraged to grow the largest possible
crops, and also to enable the landlord to preserve his land in a
good state of feitility, and to protect him from bad tenants.
He believed that this country could produce almost as much
food as would feed the present population, provided there were
none wasted, and they made every acre of land produce its full
portion. If they kept its producing power down below par, as
a matter of course they would have poverty, because instead of
producing it at home they had to send away for the raw ma-
terial, with all the freight and labour added to it into the
bargain. Speaking of the relations between landlord, tenant,
and people, Mr. Bell gave them an instance where the wealtliy
classes forgot their poorer relation^. He referred to the dis-
tribution of common lands, in which sucb "■ small quantity went

to the poorer class. Small farms well cultivated he held to be
better for the nation than large farms not fully cultivated. If
they wished to rear a sturdy peasantry they should give them,
an interest in the soil — some condition of profit. As the
time of the club was precious he would simply say that he
cordially agreed with almost the entire portion of Mr. Bell's
paper, which he considered sound, useful, and practical, and
one likely to do good.

Mr. Gray said that there were many interests connected
with agriculture, but the three leading interests were those of
landlord, tenant, and labourer. He had given the paper Ids
best attention, and he felt a little disappointed with the way in
wliich Mr. Bell had spoken of the labouring class. It was well
enough to give them an interest in common lands and in the
cultivation of the soil, but they w^ere aware that the working
class had received an increase of wages and were shortening
the hours of labour, and the subject of farm labourers' liours
might have been a little more entered into. He quite agreed
with Mr. Bell that if they could only banish the love of money
out of the hearts of men all would be well. But whatsoever
they wished men to do to them they should do to others.
While they complained of landlords not grantiug them the
privileges they ought to have, he did not see that they
always granted the labouring classes the privileges they
ought to have. They ouglit to do something for the
labouring class, although much had already been done
for them in the way of better cottages aud so forth. In re-
ference to the hours of labour, they found that all other
labourers were getting shorter hours and half-holidays and
other privileges which farm labourers did not enjoy. He did
not go in for half-holidays for farm labourers, as he did not see
the necessity for them as there was in large towns and in ma-
nufacturing districts, because their labourers breathed the fresh
air every day. He thought, however, that it was liard for a
man to be constantly confined to his work from six o'clock in
the morning till six o'clock at night, and he suggested that
they should have some portion of time in which the labourer,
his wife, and family miglit attend to domestic duties and their
own private concerns. He might say that Mr. Lee, of Dilston,
had been in the habit of giving his men two hours on the
Saturday afternoon, and tliey heard of Mr. Stephenson, of
Throckley, giving his labourers a half-holiday every alternate
week. He thouglit, that in a social point of view the farm
labourer ought to have two hours on Saturday afternoon, and
he considered he had a right to it. In many cases the
labourer's wife had to work out of the doors, and perhaps they
had a family, in which case the elder children had to take care
of the younger ones, and on Saturday night they found tliey
had a great many things to do which they could not find time to
do in order to prepare for Sunday. He knew of many cases iu
which the man had to make the marketing, while his wile had
to attend to other duties almost up to midnight. They were
hound to look at this matter iu a religious light if they ex-
pected them to attend a place of worship on the Sunday, and
they believed that Sunday-schools were becoming more and
more needed in this country, and were more and more be-
coming a religious institution, and, in his opinion, the farm
labourer had a right to a certain amount of time on Saturday
afternoons, in order to prepare for Sunday worship and to
enable him to send his children to the Sunday-school. Iu
many cases there were excuses of this kind given with re-
ference to the absence of children from the school on a Sunday
morning. The wife said there were so many little things to do,
stockings to darn and clothes to mend, and people did not wish
their children to go to the Sunday-school unless they were
decent and tidy. They heard some farmers say they could not
afford it, because they had to pay such a high rent for their
land. The reply to that objection was that it was not a
question of affording — every man could afford to do what
was right. Another class said they would not use it right.
That was not the question ; if it was right for them to have
it, it was right for them to give it whether they used it right
or not. He thought of bringing a motion before the meeting
to the effect that a committee be formed to consider and dis-
cuss the whole subject of landlord, tenant, and labourer.
Perhaps that was too comprehensive ?

Mr. Andrew Wood: Not a bit.

Mr. Gray said he would move that a committee be appointed
by this Club to discuss the whole subject, and try to bring
about or lay some basis down by which all things might be

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163

arranged, aud the united welfare of all these classes — landlord,
tenant, and labourer — be increased.

Mr. Andrew Wood seconded Mr. Gray's motion that a com-
mittee be appointed, or another meeting be convened to discuss
Mr. Bell's paper, which was so exhaustive and contained so
many points worthy of careful attention, that they could not
sufficiently uotice them at that time, but if they had the paper
printed and before them, lie had no doubt but that they could
discuss it much better. It was, indeed, a first-rate paper, but
there was one point he wished to draw their attention to. A.
great deal had been said about work, and about making work
for labourers by enclosing commons and such as that, and put-
ting vagrants to work on Tyne Green. But they would have
to supply the will to the tramps, and give them the will to
labour, as well as the chance of labour. At present they could
hardly get men on tlie roads to break stones, notwithstanding
all the sturdy tramps that were going about. There must be
some law to compel men to work.

The CuAiRMAN : If they will not work, neither should they
eat.

Mr. Wood : That is the simplest way to deal with them.
They should not let all their attention be directed to the
■[abourer ; tlie tenant, the improving tenant, he wished to point
out, had often to pay for his improvements when he took a
second lease, while the tenant who had not improved got tbe
farm at the old rent. That was a point which ought to be
well considered by the Club.

Mr. Jos. Lee said thanks were due to Mr. Bell for his ex-
cellent paper, and remarked that there were some points in it
with which he could not agree, neither with what Mr. Wood
had said. He had known several cases where landlords had
seen where the tenants were improving their property and had
acted honourably and granted them liberal leases, and they
must not condemn them as a class in that respect, although in
many cases they did not act so liberally. Certainly, he con-
sidered tlie owners of the land had a monopoly in that land ;
the tenants had no control over them. Take, for instance,
their own county. Suppose they wanted a farm, and went to
a landlord and said, " We wish to take a farm free from all
destruction of hares and rabbits," for they might let the other
game alone if they got rid of the hares and rabbits. For nine-
tenths of the land in the country the agents would say to them,
" You must take the farm upon these terms," including the
game, and they had only Hobson's choice. They could not
say that the tenants were to blame. It was said that under an
Act of Parliaraentj considered to be a liberal Act, all the game
was given to the tenant ; but the consequence was that the
makers of the law avoided that law, and made it a condition
when the tenant took the farm that he was to let the game go
back to them again. The makers of the law in that case
avoided the law. In many cases farmers had shamefully abused
the privileges given to them wlien leaving farms. He had
seen where a farmer had farmed for thirty years, and when he
was done with the farm he would in the last two or three years
run the land down so that it might be the least possible value
for re-letting. He had seen tenants at the end of a lease run
the land down so as to be in such a state as to lessen its
value in re-letting. It would be well if laws were invented to
avoid these cases — both the advantage which the landlords
take, and the advantage which tenants take. If they looked at
the three classes, he considered that the labourers had done
their duty better than the other two classes. Mr. Gray had
referred to him allowing his men and women to go off work
at four o'clock on Saturday afternoon, which he had done for
some years, and with no disadvantage to himself, and he
thought with great benefit to the labourers. He had several
things jotted down, but time was spending, and if they agreed
to meet another day to continue the discussion ihey might he
entered into at that time.

Mr. John Ridley proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Bell
for his able paper, and expressed his surprise that no tenant-
farmer had taken up what he considered to be the most im-
portant part of Mr. Bell's paper, namely, the subject of
tenant-right. It was in his opinion the most important
question that had come before that Club. With respect to the
rights of the labourers, he thought that good cottages, good
education, aud a fair day's work for a fair day's wage was the
best right they could have.

Mr. Trotter (Secretary) said he should have been glad if
the Chairman had slated his objections against those parts of

the paper which did not meet his views, as they would tlien
have liave had something to battle against. His own opinion
of Mr. Bell's paper was that it was good in principle through-
out, and with respect to the tenant-right part of it they would
have that discussed at tlie annual meeting. He was glad to be
able to give his full weight — however much or little that
might be — to the principle, and he thought that Mr. Lee's
arguments went lo strengthen Mr. Bell's case very materially.

Mr. Lee said he pointed out the necessity for some laws
being enacted, so that neither landlord nor tenant could take
any undue advantage of each other.

Mr. Trotter thought tliat Mr. Lee's arguments proved the
correctness of Mr. Bell's views. They had, however, ratlier
got from the subject of the paper, and all the speakers had
alluded to subjects very much beyond the question, which
more particularly had reference to the improvement and
progress of agriculture. The laws which regulated the
business transactions between landlord and tenant were unfair,
and therelore, unjust. If a tenant got into difficulties and was
unable to meet his creditors, all the creditors must stand aside
and be content with perhaps a farthing in the pound, or it
might be nothing, while the landlord received twenty shillings
in tlie pound. That was not the only black view of the case,
for if it was known that a tenant was in a little shortened cir-
cuQistances, and there was some probability of his stock being
pounced upon by his landlord, he could not let his turnips so well
as in affluent circumstances, because the stock feeding upon
these turnips were liable to be seized. It must appear at once
unjust and unfair for a man's stock to be seized to pay another
man's rent. Suppose he was in rather straitened circum-
stances, he let Mr. Lee twenty acres of turnips, and before
three months were over he got into difficulty, Mr. Lee's stock
would be pounced upon and sold to pay his rent for that year.
That would be unfair to the rest of his creditors as well as un-
fair to Mr. Lee. If it was thought proper to postpone the dis-
cussion he should be very glad, but so far as the tenant-right part
of it was concerned there was a fair prospect of that being ably
introduced and ably discussed at the annual meeting. He had
great pleasure in joining Mr. Lee and Mr. Ridley in moving a
vote of thanks to Mr. Bell for his able paper.

The Chairman said that Mr. Trotter had found fault with
the speakers wandering from the subject of the paper, but he
thought that all the observations of the speakers rose out of
one part or other of Mr. Bell's paper, except those of Mr.
Trotter, which were upon the law of landlord and tenant, which
was not included in the paper, which was upon the interests of
the landlord, the tenant, and the people in the soil. He should
not attempt to make any observations upon the paper that day,
but if the members wished to have another meeting after having
the paper put into their hands in print he was sure they would
spend another day with profit in discussing it.

The vote of thanks to Mr. Bell having been unanimously
carried, Mr. Bell returned thanks.

It was then resolved to adjourn the discussion till Tuesday,
January 3nd.

At the adjourned meeting for the purpose of resuming the
discussion,

The Chairman, Mr. C.G.Grey, said that without thoroughly
going into Mr. Bell's paper he would allude to one or two points
in it, and perhaps that might excite some little debate amongst
the members of the club. He jotted down one or two things
as the paper was read, but if he had read the paper closely
probably he would have found one or two more things to talk
about. The first thing which he noted down was that a
country which did not grow sufficient agricultural produce for
its own consumption necessarily had to import food, and the
importing of food and paying for it impoverished the country.
He differed from that — on a question of economy — altogether.
Set apart an island, purely agricultural, say the Isle of Man ;
if that island could not grow enough to support its own in-
habitants, and had to pay money to import food, it would be a
most ruinous speculation, and decidedly contrary to all proper
notions of political economy. Take another island of the same
size, cover it with iron furnaces and manufactories ; they would
import food and export goods, and that country could afford to
import ten times the quantity of food it could consume. It
would lose nothing by importing its food, and it did not follow
that importing food was a ruinous proceeding. The more this

16i

TBUl FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

country increased in mineral productions and manufactured
articles, not only of iron, but ai tides such as cotton and wool,
the raw material of whicii was got from other countries, the
more they increased the population on account of tliese manu-
factures, and they could more afford to pay for the food from
other countries, and there was less necessity to support the
population on the food grown at home. He did not say that
was any argument that they should not grow as much as they
could to support tlic population ; what he meant to say was that
this country went ou prospering in its manufactures and com-
merce, and if all tiie land that was wasted, as some people said,
in parks, deer forests, and so on, was brought into a high state
of cultivation, he much doubted that they would have sufficient
food, and they would still have to import, owing to this country
being to sucli an extent a manufacturing country. They ad-
mitted that they must import food, and they had to compete
with other countries that grew food cheaper, and the question
was for them to consider how they could grow the largest
quantity of food on the land they had by such appliances as
would pay them for aoing so. They might go to Allendale
Common, and by expense grow turnips and even corn there,
but he did not think it would pay. They must study the cli-
mate and altitude of land, and apply the assistance they got
from chemistry and other sciences to their climate, and so on,
to discover what they could grow in every separate place with
the greatest advantage to the country, not forgetting the pvoiit
to their own pockets — a matter which no doubt they would
always remember. He should go gently indeed over
the game question, as it was one that always raised
a great controversy, and he would not have alluded
to it, but Mr. Bell said it was not a question between
landlord and tenant. He thought it was essentially
a question between landlord and tenant, although the law in
regard to it might be altered with advantage. He had stated
his opinion upon this question over and over again. The
game by the law was tlie property of the person who had the
farm, and if he voluntarily gave up his right to it it was his
own fault. It was entirely a matter between landlord and
tenant, but how there could be any question of its being tlie
property of the public he could not see. Suppose he went to
a person in the neighbourhood who had a farm to let, and said
he would farm it for him for £500 a year, and made a bargain
to have the game ; he grew as much as lie could, for he took
the farm and the game from the landlord, and he would see
that it would pay him, there being a demand from the great
manufacturing people: they wanted rabbits and hares, and gave
tremendous prices for them, and these men who got their
wages by the nine hours' moveraeut liked to have coursing and
live rabbits. He might make a good deal of money from the
game, and was entitled to have it as much protected as his
sheep. Ougiit idle men to be allowed to take them from him ?
They had no more right to take his game than they had to
steal his geese or turkeys. Some people advocated that hares
and rabbits were not the property of the land ou which they
grew. He would make game property, and he would have a
man taken up for taking a hare out of his field just as he
would be for stealing his ducks. That was his view of tlie
question. The question of land being a monopoly had been
touched upon, that the tendency was to diminish the number
of proprietors, and connected with that remark was the law of
entail, aud by the law of entail the nation took upon its
shoulders the evil deeds of the son of the entailer of the pro-
perty. He thought there were a great many evils connected
with entailing estates, but he thought when they carried out
their theory of a nation taking the responsil)ility of a spend-
thrift son, it was exactly the same as a person who had ac-
cumulated wealth in manufactures, in railways, or any other
enterprise, and who bad a spendthrift sou aud a blackguard.
The old man saw liis son would spend all his money
and leave his children paupers, and he determined
not to allow that, and settled his money on prudent
neighbours as trustees, and said to them allow this young fel-
low so much a-year as long as he lives, and at his death divide
the money amongst his children. If a man had a right to do
that in one kind of investment he had a right to [Ao it in all.
All that he claimed was equality. If a man was' able to tie
up much consols aud so many railway shares in the hands of
trustees, then a man ought to be able to tie up land in the
hands of trustees, so that his son would not be able to spend
it and leave his grand-children paupers. He would, however,

make such measures as would ensure these trustees the power
of managing their property as landed property should be ma-
naged. Tliey ought not to say to a man tliat he must leave
his property to a spendthrift son who would leave his grand-
children paupers. He admitted that the tendency was to
diminish the number of proprietors. If a man chose to invest
all his money in North-Eastern railway shares, had they a
right to make a law, and tell that man be had got too great an
interest in the company and compel him to sell out shares and
invest the money elsewliere? If a farm was put up for sale,
tliey had no right to say to the Duke of Northumberland that
he must not put in for this farm because he had got enough
land already. If they had a right to say that he hud got
enough land already to any person, were they not injuring the
man who had the land for sale ? Had any one a right to go
to a farmer's wife selling butter and eggs, and say to a rich
person, " You live in a big house, you can afford to go else-
where, you shall not buy this woman's butter" P He had been
a free-trader all his life, and was so still, but it would not be
free trade if they put any prohibition upon laud if any one had
a farm to sell. The teudeucy was to buy up small proprietors,
because from the earliest days of the history of England, per-
sons had always considered it to be a privilege and an advan-
tage to be landed proprietors. So long as it was so, and so
long as that privilege was not held to be an exclusive privilege
which other people did not enjoy, it was simply the free will of
the people that they would rather be landed proprietors than
proprietors of any other kind of goods. If a man chose to in-
vest his money at 2^ or 3 per cent, in land, or 85 or "i per
cent, m funds, or 8 to 10 per cent, in railways, or 20 per cent,
in trade, he had a right to do so, and they had only to guard
against giving the landed proprietor any privilege over the
owners of other kinds of property. He had heard of small
proprietors selling their estates and doing better as
tenant farmers, and had even heard of a man thriving
and paying rent on the farm which he had sold and could not
live ou when he had no rent to pay. It was a tendency of the
age to diminish the number of proprietors. A person iiaving
a small property wortli £4^00 or £500 a-year, instead of spend-
ing his life in cultivating it, could get 30 or 35 years' pur-
chase, and by selling out and going and speculating in ships
and trade he could double or perhaps quadruple his income.
And why should he not, if he could quadruple his income by
investing his money in trade, for what good would this little
farm do to him, as he would have to leave it to his eldest son,
and the rest of his children would have to make their way as
best they could ? For many years past these small proprietors
had been disappearing from the face of the country, they sold
their land to large proprietors, and he had no doubt but that
these men were doing better by investing their small capital in
a more remunerative way than in land. He did not know but
what these people were tlie gainers by it, and also that the
country would be gainers by it. As to the law of transfer, he
agreed that it ought to be as simple as the transfer of railway
shares or anything else. He thought that a man ought to be
able to sell his field or his farm without going to title deeds
and running up a lawyer's bill, which did no good to anybody.
As to the tenant's interest, he did not make full enough notes
on that to go fully into it. It was a question whether the
tenant's interest in land was more than simply a mercantile
bargain between him and his landlord. If they said it was
not, the landlord would say that he would farm his own land
and not let it at all. If that was done generally it would al-
together alter the position of the country. That it could be
done he had no doubt ; it could be done very well, a landlord
could manage his own laud, though it might be a large under-
taking on a large property. A landlord could manage to farm
all his own land ; he could find good men to act as stewards
and managers, pay them fixed salaries aud also per-centages on
profits. That was a system lie had tried himself and found to
answer well. These men would be paid 5 or 10 per cent, on
the profits, taking stock once a year. If landlords chose to
do away altogether with the class of tenant-farmers it
would entirely revolutionize the country. Who would
say that these men had not a right to do that? The
farms heing let to tenants was simply an expeflient, as it
was far less trouble to the landlord to take so much a year
aud let the teuant make as much as he could out of it. Tiiis
principle was applied in other ways ; they farmed out tolls
and a great many things of that kind ; a fixed sum was paid

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

165

and the man could make as much as lie could out of it. If it
was psrely a mercantile transaction, the letting of farms, it
was merely the making of a hargaiu, and tliat they would
make the best of the bargain he had no doubt, if there was
not too great a demand for farms. Tenants had it always in
their power to make a fair bargain with their landlords ; good
tenants, at any rate, always had, bad tenants might not have
that power. If they admitted it was a matter of contract
and bargain, the tenant made his own terras, and he made
them for so many years. He was bound by the landlord not
to do certain things which a landlord thought would damage
his property, as he had a right to have it back in as good a
state as it was in at the beginning. If he got it back better
than it was before — and that was a question Mr. Bell took up
— whose was the increase ? He would ask another question,
if a man took a farm at £300 a-year, and gave it up worth
only £250 a-year, whose was the loss ? One question should
answer tiie other. He had known farms given up at the end
of a lease worse than they were at the beginning of it, and
what remedy liad the landlord ? He had to seek a tenant,
and only get £250 a-year for his farm, and on Mr. Bell's prin-
ciple it was never again to be more than £250, so that laud-
lord's properties could diminish, but never improve. He did
not believe in that at all ; that was not his idea at all. He
had himself taken a farm of over 700 acres du.ring the mi-
nority of a young man, and he had it only for 13 years. He
began to pull down a lot of useless fences, and he spent some
money in draining beyond what was allowed in the case of
money borrowed from Government for draining purposes. He
had to cart the artificial manures up a hill to the farm, but he
got good crops of turnips which he ate off with sheep, and
splendid crops of seed, and got good grass land where there
was bad before. Some of his neighbours said to him, " You
are spending a great deal of money on this place. It will
improve the land very much." He said that was just what
he intended to do. They said, "But you have only got 13
years of it." He said he did not care for tliat if he only got
his money back. They said, " The landlord will get better
land back." He said he did uot care a fig for that as long as
he made a good deal of money. In the last few years he
made £600 or £700 a-year on capital of £2,000 or £3,000,
but if he had only spent £500, and not got £100 profit, which
would have been the best investment ? His neighbours ad-
vised him not to spend his money for fear of benefiting his
landlord at the end of his lease, but then he did not care for
that if he did himself a benefit. If they got a farm for 21
years they could calculate how it would pay. Some people
were afraid to do good to anybody else except themselves,
but in any kind of trade if they were doing good to them-
selves they were doing good to somebody else generally.
In taking a farm it was the tenant's own speculation how
much money he made during the lease, and if he improved
the farm during the lease had no one else but the tenant
to benefit by it ? If a farm increased £50 in value, Jlr. Bell's
notion was that the tenant who was leaving sliould get this
£50, the new tenant who took the farm would have to pay the
full value and the landlord would only get his old rent. They
would give the landlord an annuity, so much a year ofi' the
estate, he would not spend a penny in buildings, he was se-
cured, he had a fixed rent, and the man who got it increased
in value got this for ever. This tenant, say, made the farm
worth £800 a year, when his grandson got it lie gave up farm-
ing and sub-let it to another, and thus they got a class of
middlemen, and it was these middlemen that grind the tenants
under them till they had not got a coat on their backs. It
was much better for the country — he had seen both sides of
the question — for tenants to take these farms for a certain
period of time directly from the landlord. If the tenant was
not tied to it he would not sub-let, but he would go away and
take his capital and invest it in other business if he chose.
The best system of letting farms was not to tie a tenant down
for ever to a place, but to allow him to leave the farm after a
certain period and invest his capital in any other business to
his own advantage as he thought best. He did not say that
there could be no improvement made in the condition of let-
ting farms; he would like to see a system devised over the
whole country to avoid litigaticn by putting down in one uni-
versal code what was the custom of the country, &c. The
late Mr. Pusey, one of the pioneers in agricultural improve-
ment in this country, tried to make such a scheme, and intro-

duced a Bill into Parliament with that view, but he met with
a good deal of opposition to it, and never to this day had it
been carried out. He thought they would all agree that a
good deal ought to be done, and as far as possible for what
the tenant really did leave in the land he ought to be paid for
it. In Lincolnshire they had a regular system of tenant-
right. It was supposed that a certain quantity of manures
would last so many years in the land, and if a tenant had not
occupied the land that number of years so much was due to
him from the next tenant. Here they had the same thing iu
the away-going crop. A certain quantity of the land was
allowed to be cropped, and the tenant after he had left his
farm came back and took his crops, supposed to be the pro-
duce of what he had put into the farm. That was on the
same principle, and he would extend that principle where it
could be fairly shown that the tenant had not reaped the bene-
fit of what he had put into the land. From what he had said
they would infer that he entirely disngreed with Mr. Bell that
tenants were not justified iu high cultivation. He said they
were, and it would pay better to cultivate high than to
cultivate low. Then, as to the people's interest in the land,
that was a very wide question. Mr. Bell iu his paper quoted
from Mr. John Stuart Mill to show that there were only
30,000 landowners in the country. Mr. John Stuart Mill
used those figures for a different purpose than Mr. Bell did,
and made a great handle of them. But it was entirely untrue ;
the figures were taken from the census returns, but these re-
turns only gave what a man's principal occupation was.
Many tenant-farmers were also landowners ; he returned him-
self as a land agent, but he was also a landowner, and many
gentlemen in Kewcastle — lav,'yers, tobacconists, and others —
were landowners, and many of them had considerable property.
Instead of 30,000 he thought there were more like 300,000
people who would own land in this country. There could be
no question that the people had an interest in the land, and
that interest was shown by Parliament asserting its right to
take land for the public welfare. It could compel the sale of
land for railway purposes and for sanitary measures and seve-
ral other things. No doubt that right of the public — repre-
sented by Parliament as he presumed it was— might be ex-
tended considerably in any place where it was shown that it
was for tlie public welfare. The country, represented by its
Parliament, had the rigiit to interfere, and take that land by
paying the (uU value for it, and the proprietor must invest his
money elsewhere. Wiiether the interest of the public ex-
tended beyond that, admitted of a great deal of argument —
whether the pubHc had a right to say to a man who chose to
lay out his land in parks and ornamental grounds that it was
not producing as much food as it might do for the country,
and insist on it being put into tillage. It was a grave ques-
tion whether the people's interest went so far, and it was a
question whether a man had not a right to lay out so much
of his land for his pleasure and amusement as a man had to
spend so much money in other pleasures and amusements. If
the people for their food were entirely dependent upon this
country, and if sufficient food could not be procured without
turning every gentleman's park and every poor man's little
flower garden into wheat fields, then Parliament had a right
to say the people must have food, and take from them their
parks and flower gardens, and grow wheat upon them ; but
UQtil that time arrived, he did not see that Parliament, as
the representative of the public, had that right. If
Parliament had that right it would have to be carried out to
its full extent. If tliey took the gentleman's park from him
for the good of the country, they would have to go to the tenant-
larmer and say that he was not cultivating his land as well
and growing as much produce as he ouglit to do, and they
would also have to go to the poor man and take away his half
chain of land on wliich he was growing flowers fur the flower
shows. What was sauce for the goose was sauce for the
gander. That was his idea of free trade ; if they laid down
theories they would have to carry them out to the
fullest extent. Something was said about the enclosure
of commons. A common was a piece of unenclosed land, sur-
rounded by land acquired by purchase, or by descent, or by en-
croachment, which was from time immemorial, and thus be-
came a matter of right, or by murder if they liked (as suggested
by Mr. Trotter) ; but time had confirmed the title of commoners
on the owners of adjoining property, and time, and a long time
indeed, had confirmed the right of commonage of these people

166

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

on that land. It was theirs ; the common belonged to certain
proprietors, and if anyone ventured to put 1,000 slieep on that
common, had the commoners not a right to say, " This is ours ;
you have no business to put your sheep on it at all." The
commoners had as much right to common as a man had to his
freehold house and garden. He admitted the claim of tlie
country to say through Parliament tliat certain things
were necessary. Cities were too crowded, and there-
fore Parliament granted powers to take the land ad-
joining for a public park, but they could only take it
from him on paying him the full value for it. If 1,000 acres
of Allendale Common were needed to keep the people of Nor-
thumberland in health, he would say by all means take Parlia-
mentary powers to take it for pubhc recreation. He differed
altogether from people who said that these commons belonged
to the public. It would come to this — the public had a right
to walk over their farms, with guns, of course, and dogs, and
go wliere they liked. He maintained that his wheat
and turnip fields ought to be as much protected as
the manufactory or the mill — [Mr. Trotter : The
foxhounds P] — -The foxhounds have no right to go over the
farmers' fields ; it was merely a matter of good feeling. Most
people thought it good sport, and kept it up in tlie country,
but if people said they would not allow it they had a perfect
right to keep the foxhounds off their land. He had given
them his idea in respect to commons, and closed his observa-
tions on Mr. Bell's paper. Mr. Hope, in his speech, referred
to the interests of the great Britisli public ; it was a grand-
sounding expression, the great British public, but meant
simply people who had mouths to fill and backs to put coats
on. If an owner was " Steward to the great British public "
^le presumed Mr. Hope meant an owner of land — he would
agree with that gentleman if he would extend the expression
so as to include owners of all property, and that all property
was held for the good of mankind, but not land more than
grass seeds, cheese, or anything else. Mr. Hope made a suc-
cessful remark about produce, and importing manures from
abroad ; it was a question he always brought before the club
whenever he could. They spent a great deal of money in im-
porting manures, and allowed to go into their rivers to destroy
the fish and poison the atmosphere as much manure as would
manure the whole country. He thought if they insisted upon
their representatives in Parliament devoting their time to
useful legislation, such as the pollution of rivers, the waste of
sewage, and the waste of all kinds of manures at home, and
sending money away for foreign manures, and looking better
after these iuterests, it would be better than figliting at elec-
tions to send a man to make speeches about the great Britisti
public, and wasting half the time with high-flown speeches
about the politics which Mr. G. 0. Trevelyan, the Hon.
Auberon Herbert, and Sir Charles Dilke went spouting
about. It was aU very well to discuss politics in theory,
and see how far they could extend them, but in the
meantime their pockets were suffering from oppressive
local taxation, the pollution of the rivers required
looking after, and many other things, and nothing
more than the sanitary conditions of towns and villages ; yet
the people were dying from typlioid and other fevers, tlie pro-
duce of farms and towns was going to waste, and they
allowed their members of Parliament to make themselves cou-
spicuous in the land by making speeches about politics which
would not do them nor their children the least good. There
was an allusion made in Punch to the nine hours' movement :
a workman who had got the nine hours returned home and
began to grumble about this and a hundred other things.
Tlie man's viife replied it was very well for him to grumble
who had got the nine hours, but she had worked fifteen hours,
and had to go on working while he sat by the fireside grum-
bling. He did not see but that the poor man's wife ought to
have the nine hours too. Mr. Wood made tlie remark that
the tenant who did not improve got his farm again at the
same rent. His way was to let a farm for twenty-one years,
and if he saw there was room for improvement, and there
was no improvement made, he would let it to some one else at
the same rent, but not to the same person. If a farm was
not capable of improvement by fair farming, it was quite fair
to let the tenant have it at the same rent, and he did not see
why he should not get it at the same rent if he farmed fairly
and properly.

Mr. Trotter said that the subject of tenant's right had
been brought prominently out, and it might be as well to follow

out the Chairman's remarks upon it. He held with Mr. Bell
that the tenant was fully entitled to the improvement made
upon his farm. Suppose a small farm was let at an even rent
of £100, it was quite possible that a good tenant might, in
the course of ten years, increase its value fifty per cent., by
increasing its value £5 every year. The question naturally
arose, to whom belonged that £50 ? Was it a question that
he who sowed should reap ? or was it a question that the
landlord should reap all the improvement of the farm which
had not cost him the strain of a single muscle or a single
thought ? and, what was more, that i'oO a-year in all pro-
bability represented all that the tenant had made during the
time ? If he sold his stock and crop at the end of ten years
he would very likely find himself no better man than he was at
the beginning of his lease.

The Chairman : He's been spending his money very badly.

Mr. Trotter said many men were losing money by farm-
ing. One gentleman near Newcastle improved his land till he
became a bankrupt in three or four years, and another tenant
who had come after him was making a fortune of it.

The Chairman : It was a bad speculation ; the man had
invested his money foolishly.

Mr. Trotter thought that a tenant who improved the value
of his farm to the extent of £50 a-year was entitled to receive
£1,000. It was said where was the landlord to get £1,000 ?
let him borrow.

The Chairman : What security of getting it afterwards ?

Mr. Trotter : He could borrow at four per cent., which
left him a margin of £10 a-year. Ten per cent, he called a
fair increase in the value of property in ten years. It was
asked if the land decreased in value how was the landlord to
be paid? At the end of the ten years, as the law stood at
present, the landlord coaldcome at the tenant for dilapidation
of fences and buildings in that way. He held that it was a
landlord's own blame if his property went backward ; he was
induced to take the offer of the tenant who bid the highest
rent, for if the tenant failed he had the first chance of all his
stock and crop. He always regarded this as one inducement
which caused tenants to give more rent for farms than they
could possibly make out of the land legitimately. Then with
respect to the law of entail, which seemed to have the Chair-
man's approval, he admitted that where a gentleman had a
spendthrift son, and was in possession of entailed estates, he
was awkwardly placed. But he might have a second son, a
steady, industrious young man, yet he was bound by the law
of entail — a very cruel law — to leave all that property to his
first-born, although he might be a squanderer and a spendthrift.

The Chairman said Mr. Trotter made a mistake. It was
a common mistake that an estate went by the law of entail
to the eldest son from generation to generation. A man who
had an estate could settle it upon his son's son, that he should
inherit it, but he could not settle it beyond that. If his son
and grandson chose they could break the entail. It was a mis-
taken notion that they were forced to entail from father to son.

Mr. Lee : If it was entailed upon the eldest it could not go
to the second son.

Mr. Trotter : If a gentleman came into the possession of
an entailed estate, it went to the eldest son, he could not leave
it to his second son. It was a hard thing if a man came into
possession of an entailed estate he could not leave his sons
equal portions of it ; the first-born came into possession of
thousands of pounds and the others might go a-begging.

The Chairm.U!J said a father might leave to a son £10,000
in railway shares in the same way. It might seem hard, but
it was the fault of the father and not of the law.

Mr. Trotter held that the law was really bad, and it was
no use them meeting to discuss these subjects if their object
was not to endeavour to get faulty laws rectified. Laws ought
to proceed from justice, and not justice the off.shoot of law. If
property was left to a gentleman and entailed to be left to the
eldest son throughout no one could leave it otherwise until
the entail was broken.

The Chairman said that any of them could break the
entail. A father left an entailed estate to his son, and that
man and his eldest son could break the entail, or it was
broken at the son's death. The person could not entail it
unless his eldest son joined him.

Mr. Bell remarked that the owner of the property could
refuse to allow his sou an income after he had attained his
majority until he agreed to re-settle it upon his eldest son, and
so the thing was perpetuated in that way.

THE FAJRMER'S MAGAZINE.

167

The Chairman said it was done by individuals, and not by
the law.

Mr. Trotter : Suppose a man is in possession of an entailed
estate, and he was a fast man, could his creditors seize upon
the estate and sell it ? If not, it was not in accordance with
justice, and the sooner it was rectified the better.

Mr. Jos. Lee said that the law of primogeniture was bad,
and, therefore, unjust, and ought to be done away with. It
was very unfair when a man died without a will that all his
property should go to his eldest son. It would also be very
beneficial it they could get the same Act passed for England
and Scotland as was passed in regard to the encumbered
estates in Ireland. There were a great many estates in this
country and in Scotland very much hampered, having annuities
to pay out of them and so much borrowed capital, and until
there was a chance of making these estates free there was not
much chance of getting them improved. On many estates
land only realised 3 per cent., and very likely these people had
money borrowed for which they were paying 4 or 4| per cent.
Then as to the question between tenant and landlord, a prudent
tenant was always prevented from building auything permanent
upon his landlord's property. Suppose he wanted to build a
cottage for a faithful servant to prevent him travelling miles
to his work, immediately the cottage was built it belonged to
the landlord.

The CiiAiRJiAN : The landlord ought to build it.

Mr. Lee knew different landlords who said that they were
too poor and could not afford to do it, and their agents stated
that when the interest on borrowed money and annuities was
paid out of the income of the estate there was hardly auy-
thing to live upon. They might perhaps build one of wood
and be able to remove it. Certainly it would be a privilege
to build one in bricks and be able to take the bricks away on
leaving the farm, but perhaps Parliament might devise some-
thing better tlian that. Tenants ought to have sufficient com-
pensation for unexhausted improvements, but before anything
was paid for these all dilapidations should be valued, and he
would have these deducted off the value of the unexhausted
improvements before he gave anything to the tenant, because
so far as he had seen in this country there were as many bad
farmers as bad landlords.

Mr. RoBB said if the question had been one respecting the
management of farms which they were discussing he would not
have made any observations upon it, as he had no practical
knowledge of it, but he was so much interested in the question
itself and in the discussion which took place at the previous
meeting he could not resist the temptation of speaking upon it,
especially upon one of the leading topics of Mr. Bell's paper.
He congratulated Mr. Bell upon the excellence of that paper,
both iu its thought and mode of expression, and he also con-
gratulated the Chairman for his lucid address upon the subject
as seen from his point of view. He wished to keep the atten-
tion of the club upon the leading principle of Mr. Bell's paper
— the Tenant-Right and compensation to tenants for past im-
provements. This was purely commercial, and as such a trades-
man could understand it as well as either a tenant farmer or a
landlord. Take Mr. Trotter's illustration : a tenant took a
farm at £100 a-year. That was the value of it at the time he
entered upon his lease — suppose for 21 years — and at the end
of the lease the farm was worth £150 a-year. £50 a-year
capitalised in the way Mr. Trotter put it was £1,000, and Mr.
Trotter was for giving it altogether to the tenant, lie dis-
sented from that —

Mr. Trotter -. £50 put into the value of property at 30
years' purchase represented £1,500.

Mr. E.0BB : Take it at £1,500 if you will, and—

Mr. Trotter : The landlord gels £500 of it.

Mr. RoBB said its mode of distribution was the present
question. It would be unjust to give the whole of the amount
to the tenant, and it would be equally unjust to allow the laud-
lord to absorb all these improvements. Surely there might be
a middle course ; justice and right might be met in some-
thing like this way ; let an estimate be made by properly ap-
pointed parties, perhaps it might be done by a court of arbi-
tration, composed of people connected with the neighbour-
hood, who should say what the farmer had expended in im-
provements, and allowing for skill and general abUity in mak-
ing these improvements ; and also apportioning to the land-
lord that uncertain but yet definite amount which his pro-
perty might have risen in value with the times, and which
could not be denied, A general improvement had taken place

over the couiitry, represented all over the country as the im-
provement of the times, and that was a matter entirely beyond
the interference of the tenant-farmer, and in some measure
beyond that of the owner himself. Since he had his capital in
the land he was entitled to some measure of the improvement
in the general prosperity of the country ; it would be difficult
to estimate, but any such court as he had spoken of, composed
of equal parts from each of the two classes, might come to a
fair decision upon the matter. Take another illustration,
a landlord spent £500 upon draining a farm, and charged
5 per cent., that is, £25 a-year. If that land was worth
draining the increase in the produce would be worth
more than the 5 per cent., it might be 10 or 15 per
cent, if the land be as grateful as much of the land iu tliis
district had been after draining. Who was entitled to this in-
crease ? Doubtless it would fall to the teuant-farraer, but
was not the landlord entitled in this case to more than his
usual charge of 5 per cent. ? There existed a good many in-
commensurable quantities, as mathematicians called them, in
these matters, and caution and prudence had been shown in a
high degree in Mr. Bell's paper. Mr. Trotter had bolder views
on the subject. Regarding the tenure of land itself dangerous
points had been touched upon, but he was glad to hear from
the Chairman that he looked upon owners of property iu the
light of stewards, but how far their stewardship went, for how
long it was given, and how they could interfere with it iu any
way or modify it, or finally abolish it, it was not for him to say.
He quite agreed with the Chairman that much of the time of
Parliament was spent in stupid abstract talk about impossible
legislation, while many practical and local matters were com-
pelled to lie over. Mr. Robb referred to the recent speeches
of Sir C.Dilke and the Hon. Auberon Herbert, and remarked
that anything like Republican revolution or confiscation of
property was not to be tolerated or thought of for a moment
in this land in which justice and right had lield sway for many
ages, and he did not fear but that justice and right would con-
tinue to be the principle upon which Englishmen would con-
tinue to treat the property of one another.

Mr. Christopher Grey thought that still the subject had
not been half gone into, and moved that a committee be ap-
pointed to take the whole subject iuto consideration, so that
steps might be taken to come to some practical conclusion.
It was no use grumbling and finding fault with oue another,
for their prosperity was bound up in the united prosperity of
landlord, tenant, and labourer, and he wished them to come to
some conclusion having for its object theii united welfare.
He thought that the legislators of this country did not give a
fair amount of attention to tlie agricultural interest. He liked
the suggestion as to having courts of arbitration, and he
thought they would be highly beneficial in matters of this
kind. _ He did not see why they should not have something of
the kind as well as other interests in this and other countries.
The great nations of the earth — those which were most ad-
vanced in every respect — were trying to settle their differences
by arbitration, and he thought that landlords, tenants, and
labourers should try to do the same thing. He moved the
appointment of a committee to discuss the whole subject, and
to petition Parliament to pass laws to provide them with a
proper means of settling all differences.

Mr. C. Marsh^vll suggested that the discussion should be
again adjourned, as the afternoon was far advanced, so as to
give Mr. Bell an opportunity of replying.

The Chairman said it was a wide question, »nd it would
be better if each subject was discussed separately, so that they
could come to a resolution on each separate subject, but they
could not come to any resolution to take in the whole of this
question. However, if there were more members who wanted
to speak upon this subject it would be better to adjourn the
discussion to that day fortnight.

Mr. C. Marshall moved the adjournment of the discussion
till the 16th inst., which was seconded by Mr. T. Dryden, and
carried.

Mr. Bell said his sole object in bringing this subject
before their notice, which he knew was a ticklish one, and
would throw himself open to unfavourable remarks, was to
bring the land question seriously before the atteution of the
Club, believing that Parliament would be obliged to legislate
upon that question, and at no distant day, and he wished the
agricultural interest to have its mind made up before that
time, so as to be able to speak out distinctly and definitely
and make known what they did want,

168

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND.

At the Jauuary monthly meeting of the directors there were
present: Sir James Gardiner Baird of Saushton Hall, Bart. ;
Sir Thomas Buchan Hepburn of Sraeaton, Bart. ; Dr. Balfour,
Mr. Binnie, Seton Mains : Mr. Graham Binny, W.S., Mr.
Leslie Melville Cartwright, Melville House ; Mr. Hew Crich-
ton, S.S.C, Mr. Curror, The Lee ; Mr. Dudgeon of Cargen,
Mr. ford, Hardengreen ; Mr. Hog, of Newlistou ; Mr. Law-
son, of Bothwick Hall ; Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie, C.A. ; Mr.
Mitchell, Alloa ; Mr. Murray, of Dollerie ; Mr. Mylue, Niddry
Mains ; Mr. Scott Skirviug, Camptoiin ; Captain Tod, of
Howden, Mr. Trotter, Champtleurie ; Mr. Young, of Cleish—
Mr. Mylue in the chair.

The following letter from the Veterinary Department of the
Privy Council Office was read : —

Princes-street, Westminster, 21st December, 1871.

Sir,— I have submitted to the Lords of the Council your
letter of the 8th instant, transmitting excerpt from the minutes
of a special committee of the Highland and Agricultural So-
ciety of Scotland on the transit of animals, lleferriug to the
minutes above alluded to, I am directed to state tiiat any specific
case of evasion of the provisions of the Transit of Animals
Order of May 1870, if reported to this office, will receive the
attention of the Privy Council. With reference to the first
provision proposed by the committee, I have to inform you
that no means which the Privy Council would feel justified in
enforcing have been suggested to their Lordships for the
supply of water to animals during transit. On this point I
beg to draw you attention to the enclosed copy of the report of
the Transit of Animals Committee. T am directed to state
that the suggestion of the committee as regards covered
waggons, and as regards food being provided, shall be taken
into consideration by their Lordships. I iiave the honour to
inform you that of the 44' stations suggested by your society to
be included in tiie schedule to the Transit of Animals (Water)
Order of March 1871, it is already proposed to include 25 in
the next order of Council relating thereto. Of the remaining
19, at 13 stations the traffic is so small as not to call for the
expenditure necessary to supply them with water. We are
in communication with the authorities of three on the subject
of water supply ; and it lias been reported to this office that
the supply of water to the remainiug three would involve a
very large outlay. I have the honour to be. Sir, your obe-
dient servant, Alexander Williams, Sec.

The Secretary of the Highland and Agricultural Society of
Scotland.

The letter and relative report were referred by the board to
the Special Committee on the Transit of Animals.

The followed are the noblemen and gentlemen who will be
proposed by the directors for election at the general meeting
of the society on the 17tli current, to fill the vacancies in the
list of office-bearers : — Vice-Presidents : The Most Noble the
Marquis of Lothian and the llight Hon. Lord Dunglass.
Extraordinary Directors : Sir Hugh Hume Campbell of Marcli-
mont, Bart. ; Sir George H. Scott Douglas of Springwood
Park, Bart. ; Sir G. Graham Montgomery of Stanhope, Bart.,
M.P. ; Allan Eliott Lockhart of Bortliwickbrae ; David
Robertson ot Ladykirk, M.P. Ordinary Directors : Sir David
Baird of Newbyth, Bart. ; Sir Henry J. Seton Steuart of
Allanton, Bart. ; William Aitchison, Liuhope, Hawick ;
George Harvey, AViiittingham Mains, Prestonkirk; David
Milne Home of Wedderburn, George Auldjo Jaraieson, C.A. ;
John Muuro, Pairnington, Kelso,

Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie, C.A., the society's auditor,
submitted abstracts from the accounts for the year 1870-71,
which were signed, in terms of the bye -laws, by two members
of the Finance Committee and by the auditor.

The business for the general meeting on the 17tli of
January was arranged as follows : — Office-bearers to be
elected ; election of members ; accounts for 1870-71 ; accounts

of the Argyll Naval Fund for 1870-71 ; thanks to be voted to
Local Committee, &c., Perth Show, 1871; arrangements for
Kelso Show, 1872 ; requisition from Stirling district for shovv^
in 1873; district shows, 1871, and grants for 1872; cottage
competitions, 1871, and grants for 1872 ; chemical depart-
ment ; veterinary department ; premiums awarded in 1871
anl offered in 1872 for essays and reports ; forestry depart-
ment ; contents of No. 7 Transactions, and report by Com-
mittee on Publications.

The list of candidates for election at the general meeting
was submitted.

The Secretary reported having attended meetings of mem-
bers at Kelso on the loth, and at Stirling on the 22d, when
the premium list for Kelso and classes of stock for the proposed
show at Stirling in 1873 had been approved, subject to a few
alterations.

A letter was read from Mr. Hugh Fraser, Balloch of Cul-
loden. Secretary of the Inverness Farmers' Society, expressing
the desire of the Committee of Management of his society
that tlie Highland Society's show be held at Inverness in
1874. The board instructed the Secretary to inform Mr.
Fraser that, should the counties connected with the Inverness
district request the directors to hold the show at Inverness in
1874, the directors will be prepared to recommend the same to
the general meeting at the proper time.

Various awards were made on repoits by the different com-
mittees appointed to read and consider the papers lodged since
the general meeting in June. The names of the authors of
the successful reports will be announced at the general meet-
ing. Mr. Met-zies was authorised to state that, on application
to him, silver medals will be awarded to the authors of the
papers with the following mottoes should they feel inclined to
accept of them, namely : — On tiie stem and branch pruning of
conifers — Motto, Non amputatum. On planting and rear-
ing of shrubs, &.C., in plantations for ornament or as under
cover for game — Motto, Do the likeliest, and hope the best.
On the soils suited for the different kinds of forest trees as
indicated by the plants that grow naturally upon them— Motto,
Pro Grege.

The following report on Fisken's apparatus,for steam cultiva-
tion by Professor !Macquorn Rankine, LL.D., C.E., F.ll.S.S.,
L. and E., consulting engineer to the Society, was read : —

I was present at the trial of the above-mentioned apjia-
ratus at Yester Mains on the 11th November, 1871 ; and I
have to report as follows : The chief peculiarity of the appa-
ratus is the transmission of power from the engine to the
windlasses by means of a comparatively light endless driving
rope, driven at a speed that is .high in comparison with the
speed at which the plough is dragged. 1 approve of this
mode of transmitting motive-power, as being conducive to
lightness and to economy both in first cost and in working ;
and such have been found by experience to be the results of
applying a similar principle to the transmission of power for
driving" manufacturiug machinery. The mechanism is well
contrived for the purpose ; it is easily and expeditiously
managed ; and it worked in a most satisfactory and efficient
way during ray inspection. Tiie only defect which I could
observe was a tendency to heat at the bearings of the windlass
pulleys, and of the corner pulleys ; and I consider that this
defect might be removed by improving the construction of
these bearings so as to distribute the pressure more uniformly,
and over a greater surface. I cannot make any report as to
the actual economy of power in the apparatus; for I was
obliged by an engagement at a distance to leave the ground
before any dynamometrical experiments could be made.

Report was remitted to the Committee on Steam Cultivation.

A letter was read from Mr. Peter Cameron, of 5, Brown
Square, Edinburgh, sending a pattern shoe the Glasgow smiths
are making for their horses in frost.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

169

The general meeting was held in the Society's Hall, George
rV. Bridge, Edinburgh, Sir James Gardiner Baird, Bart., in
the chair.

The Chairman said the first thing he had to do was
to propose that Her Majesty the Queen be elected a
member of this Society. They were all aware how warm an
interest his late Royal Highness Prince Albert took in agri-
cultural societies, aad how successful he was at the competi-
tions of these societies with stock raised on the royal farms at
Windsor. Her Majesty had kept up that home farm, and took
a warm interest in the success of agriculture, knowing how
much the success of this empire depended upon its agricultural
prosperity.

Mr. George Hope, Fentonbarns, proposed that Her Majesty
should be made an honorary member.

The Chairman said that it was the request of Her Majesty
that she should be made a member of the Society, and not an
honorary member.

The Chairman's motion was then agreed to.
Sir William Maxwell-Stirling moved the adoption of
the appended address to Her Majesty. He thought it was
quite unnecessary to enlarge upon the feplings which were to
be found in this address. He was sure nol only the gentlemen
present, but all the members of the Highland and Agricultural
Society would cordially concur in every word of the address :

To Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen. Most Gracious
Sovereign, — We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal sub-
jects, the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, in-
corporated by B-oyal Charter, assembled in general meeting,
beg leave humbly to approach your Majesty, and to ex-
press deep and heartfelt sympathy in the great sorrow aud
anxiety into which your Majesty, the Princess of Wales, and
the rest of the Royal Family, were plunged by the alarming
and dangerous illness of your beloved son His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales. We also beg to offer your Majesty our
warmest congratulations on the favourable change that has
taken place in the health of His Royal Highness, aud the
decided progress that he has made towards a complete reco-
very. Our desire and prayer is that your Majesty may be
comforted amidst these trials and afllictious, and be sustained
and strengthened in all duties ; and that His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales may be completely restored to health, and
that his life may be spared to be a great blessing to your Ma-
jesty, to himself, and to the nation. Sealed with the corpo-
rate seal, and signed at the desire and in presence of a
general meeting of the Society by Sir James Gardiner Baird,
Bart., chairman, in the absence of the Most Noble the Mar-
quis of Tweeddale, K.T., President of the Society. Society's
Hall, Edinburgh, 17th January, 1872.

Sir William Gibson-Craig moved the adoption of an ad-
dress to the Princess of Wales. He felt it was quite unneces-
sary to say anything to gain the concurrence of the meeting
to every word which it contained. Whatever the distress of
Her Majesty had been during the illness of the Prince of
Wales, the distress must have been quite as intense in the case
of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales :

To Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. May it
please your Royal Highness, — The Highland and Agricultural
Society of Scotland, incorporated by Royal Charter, in general
meeting assembled, humbly offers to your Royal Highness its
sincere sympathy on the recent illness of your illustrious
Consort His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. At the
same time the Society takes this occasion to express its con-
gratulations on the recovery of His Royal Highness, and its
sincere hope for his continued health. The earnest prayer of
the Society is that he may be long spared to be a blessing to
your Royal Highness, his family, and the nation. Sealed with
the corporate seal, and signed at the desire and in presence of
a general meeting of the Society by Sir James Gardiner Baird,
chairman, in the absence of the Most Noble the Marquis of
Tweeddale, K.T., President of the Society. Society's Hall,
Edinburgh, 17th January, 1872,

The meeting unanimously adopted the addresses, and the
Secretary was authorised to forward them to the President of
the Society, the Marquis of Tweeddale, for transmission to
Her Majesty and the Princess of Wales respectively.

Sir William Gibson-Ckaig submitted the accounts of the
Society for tlie past year, from which it appeared that the in-
come from all sources amouuted to £7,CG0, and after deducting

expenditure there remained in the Royal Bank a balance of
£457 Is. 4d. The accounts were approved of.

Admiral Sir William Joenston read the account of the
Argyll Naval Fund, from which it appeared that the sum of
charge was £5,698 lis. 3d., and the discharge £5,498 ;
the balance in bank at the 30th November, 1871, being
£298 14s. 3d.

Mr. Gillon, of Wallhouse, said that, from the accounts
submitted, it would be seen that the General Show at Perth in
July last was not only able to clear itself, but to leave a pro-
bable surplus of about £99.

The thanks of the Society were given to the Lord Provost,
Magistrates, and Town Council of Perth ; to the Commis-
sioners of Supply for the counties of Perth, Forfar, Fife, and
Kinross ; and to others who had given their aid to the Perth
meeting.

Mr. Gillon reported that the arrangements for the general
show at Kelso were iu a highly satisfactory state. The show
has been fixed to take place on the 31st July and 1st and 2nd
August.

Mr. Gillon also reported that the directors had agreed to
requisitions forwarded to them from the counties of Stirling,
Dumbarton, and Clackmannan, and the western division of
Perthshire, that the Show for 1873 should be held at Stirling.

Mr. Campbell Swinton reported that during the past year
the Society's premiums and medals had beeu in operation in
276 different localities. The money premiums awarded amount
to £319 lOs., besides 3 medium gold, 9 silver, 185 medium
silver, 53 minor silver, and 176 plough medals. For 1872 the
directors suggest for the approval of this meeting the following
grants: Six districts for cattle premiums, at the same rate as
last year — vi^., £17 and 4 silver medals each, besides a special
grant of £5 to the Shetland Society ; three districts for stallion
premiums at £25, three for mares at £7 and a silver medal
each, and one for entire colts and fillies at £16 and 4
silver medals ; seven districts for sheep at £16 and 5 silver
medals each. The premiums for cattle and sheep are given to
each district for three alternate years, and, iu the intermediate
years, the Society gives 4 silver medals for cattle and 5 for
sheep. The premiums for horses extend over six successive
years, commencing with the stallion premiums for two years,
followed by the premiums for mares for other two years, and
ending with the colt and filly premiums for a similar period.
One district for swine at £7 and 3 silver medals ; two districts
for dairy produce at £16 and 4 silver medals ; and in place of
the 4 medium gold and 6 silver medals formerly competed for
at the Kilmarnock Cheese Show, the directors this year recom-
mend that a sum of £20 should be placed at the disposal of
the Ayrshire Association. Seventy-five districts, for 250 me-
dium silver medals, for green crops, best managed farms, best
male and female animals, poultry, seeds, &c. ; the plough medal
under the usual conditions ; and £50 and a medium gold medal
to the Edinburgh Christmas Club.

The report was adopted.

Mr. H. M. Inglis reported that iu 1871 the Society's
money premiums and medals had beeu offered in 41 districts,
that competitions had taken place iu 26, when £27 and 63
medals were awarded ; aud that the directors suggest the fol-
lowing grants for 1872 — viz., 23 districts for cottages and
gardens at £3 aud 4 silver medals each ; 21 districts where the
money premiums are given by the proprietors for 42 medals —
two to each district ; the gold medal to the proprietor in Scot-
land who shall report the improvement of the greatest number
of cottages in 1869, 1870, and 1871; the gold medal to the
proprietor in Scotland who shall report the erection of the
greatest number of approved cottages in 1868, 1869, 1870,
and 1871. The rules of competition for the several prizes
are contained in the general list of premiums for the current
year.

Hon. George Waldegrave Leslie said the Land Im-
provement Commissioners in London insisted upon the
arrangements iu cottages in Scotland that were uusuited to
the climate, and he hoped the directors would take some strong
steps in assisting landowners who tried to get their lauds im-
proved.

The report was adopted.

Dr. Anderson reported on the state of the chemical de-
partment, which during the past year had presented the usual
features. The work, which during the first half of the year
had been above the average, had been somewhat smaller during

N

170

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

the latter lialf, though on the whole it had been considerable,
for durin" the whole year 380 analyses had been made for
members of the Society, embracing nearly every kind of ma-
nure, many feeding stuffs, soils, waters, and a variety of ma-
terials of interest to the farmer ; some of these had been of
great excellence, but too many were of inferior quality or adul-
turated. During the past half year a variety of matters of
interest and importance in relation to the management of the
laboratory had been under consideration, and especially a pro-
posal which had been made that he should publish the names
of dealers in inferior or adulterated manures. After very
careful consideration on the part both of the Chemical Com-
mittee and the directors it was resolved that when cases of
flagrant adulteration occurred they should be reported by him
to the directors, who should, if they saw fit, authorise the
publication of the names of the parties concerned. He hirn-
self should have preferred a more direct course, so as to avoid
the delay which, in some cases, may occur from this arrange-
ment ; but the Board, acting under the best advice, thought
it was the safest course, and he trusted that it would meet the
approval of members, for he was satisfied that it ought to
work well for the protection of the farmer. He had al-
ready reported one case to the directors which he thought
worthy of notice, and hoped he should receive permis-
sion to publish the details. Another case had recently
occurred of a manure of very inferior quality, which he
thought should be made public, but which illustrated a dif-
ficuhy he feared must sometimes be encountered. On com-
pleting the analysis, he wrote to the member who sent the
sample, asking for the guaranteed analysis and name of the
seller, but his application had been without effect, for he was
without an answer to his letter, though he stih hoped he might
receive the required information, which should be at once re-
ferred to the directors. Several other interesting cases had
also occurred, the publication of which seemed to him to be
undesirable, though he thought attention should be called to
one of them as indicating the amount of caution required
by all persons engaged in the purchase and sale of such
articles. He received some time since a sample of oil-
cake from a dealer of the very highest respectability,
with a statement that an analysis was required for the satis-
faction of their customers, but that they believed it quite un-
necessary, for the cargo came from merchants of the highest
character, altogether above suspicion, and in whom they had
the most perfect confidence. On examination it proved to be
highly adulterated, more than half of it being French nuts.
Another sample sent by the same dealer was likewise found to
be adulterated, but not to so large an extent. Of course, these
cakes were no longer offered for sale, and I am sure the So-
ciety will agree with me in thinking that the name of the
dealers should not be made public, as the circumstances must
be considered as, on the whole, creditable to them. They
show, however, how great is the caution that must be exercised
even under the most favourable conditions. During the past
half year some progress has been made in investigating the
subject of scab in potatoes, to which reference had been made
at a previous meeting, but, as he had then anticipated, it was
necessary to continue tlie investigations on the produce of the
past season, as the data from the crop of the previous year was
not sufficient. Scab had not been abundant last season, but he
was promised material for prosecuting the investigation, which,
however, had not yet reached him. During the past year also,
the field experiments, extending over a complete rotation, had
been completed, and, he trusted, would be ready for publica-
tion in the forthcoming number of the " Transactions." These
results, though interesting, are not all that could be desired,
for they had been peculiarly unfortunate in weather, the sea-
sons having been singularly uusuited to bringing out the effects
of artificial manures. For some time back the Chemical Com-
mittee had been actively engaged in devising a scheme for
conducting field experiments on a better system than that
hitherto in use in this country, and more in accordance with
the present state of scientific agriculture, and they were most
anxious to obtain the consent of the Society to the establish-
ment of an experimental station somewhat on the principles of
those which had been in existence for some years in Germany.
Mr. Goodlet of Bolshan, who is much interested in this matter,
had taken it up with great energy, and he and Dr. Anderson
had been engaged in a long correspondence in endeavouring
to get all the necessary information. They had now got a

great deal, part of which had been laid before the Chemical
Committee, and they expected soon to have a definite plan
ready, which they trusted would meet with approval. Tliey
were, however, most anxious that abundant time should be
taken for consideration, so as to make it as complete as possi-
ble, and avoid future difliculties. They were fully satisfled
that it must be taken up in a purely scientific spirit, and that
unless this is closed, the movement must prove abortive, and
their only fear is, that they may not receive full support in
this respect. Farmers in this country are very different from
those in Germany, where scientific education has made a pro-
gress altogether unknown here, and our farmers prefer what
are called " practical experiments," and are slow to appreciate
the advantages to be derived from the estabhshment of the
principles of agriculture, which are still most imperfectly un-
derstood, and to which the attention of the German experi-
mental stations is mainly directed. It would be unnecessary,
and indeed premature, to enter into any further details here ;
but he ventured to hope that it would obtain the cordial sup-
port of practical farmers. He had no doubt that it would be
supported by those who took the trouble to examine the sub-
juct. He only regretted that we have not in this country a
body of farmers familiar with science, such as is to be found
in Germany, fully capable of appreciating the value of inqui-
ries, some of which must be unintelligible and probably appear
unimportant to those who are unacquainted with science. It
was impossible to predict immediate results from such a station
as it was proposed to found ; but if the members wiU only
have patience to wait and give science time and far play, he
had no doubt the results would prove satisfactory and highly
beneficial to practical agriculture. ■ ., . v,

A vote of thanks was passed to the directors for the trouble
they had taken in the chemical department. , ^r l •

Captain Tod, of How den, reported in regard to the Veteri-
nary Department the appointment of Mr. Thomas Walley,
member of the Koyal College of Veterinary Surgeons, m the
place of the late Professor Duns.

Mr. Walkee, of Bowland, reported that the following
premiums had been awarded for Reports lodged in Novem-
ber, 1871 :

£30 to Mr. Robert Scot Skirving, Camptoiin, Drem, for a Re-
port on the Agriculture of East Lothian. r, r ^ o
Gold medals or £10 to each— to Geo. Armatage, M.R.G.V.b.,
The Bank, Hertford, for a Report on Abortion and Prema-
ture Labour in Cows, Mares, and Ewes; Hugh Borthwick,
Old Caberstone, Innerleithen, for a Report on Lambing and
the Diseases incident thereto ; Duncan Clerk, writer, Oban,
for a Historical Account of Farming Covenants in Scotland ;
the Rev. John Gillespie, A.M., Mouswald Manse, Dumfries,
for a Report on the same subject.
Medium gold medals or £5 each— to Laurence Anderson,
Northfield Cottage, Liberton, for a Report on the Agricul-
ture of Peeblesshire ; Robert Laidlaw, Summerhopeburn,
Selkirk, for a Report on the Natural History of the Sheep
Tick.

Mr. Walker also announced the premiums for competition
in 1872.

Mr. Irvine, of Drum, reported that at a late meeting ot
the board it had been remitted to the Committee on Publica-
tions to consider and report on the probable expense, and also
on the expediency of publishing the Transactions in volumes,
in place of numbers annually. The committee had accordingly
taken the subject into their careful consideration, and reported
-in favour of the proposed change. The directors approved of
the suggestions contained in the report by the committee, and
the Transactions for February, 1872, mil appear as a complete

volume. , ,.. o • I

The Secretary laid on the table a report by Mr. bwmton,
of a trial of steam cultivators, which took place on the 11th
November, at Easton Mains, already pubhshed. He also sub-
mitted a report by Professor Rankine, on the trial ot the
Fiskin steam cultivating tackle, also published.

Mr. Irvine, of Drum, reported with reference to the ap-
pointment of a committee to consider and report on the system
of engaging farm servants, that queries on the subject had
been circulated among some of the leading farmers in each
county in Scotland. These queries were now in course ot
bemg returned, and a meeting of committee will soon be callea
to consider the answers received.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

m

THE tenant-right PRINCIPLE.

So great, and so far so general, has been the feeling of
disappointment on the appearance of Lord Leicester's
lease that many will be tempted again to dispute the dog-
matic assertion as to any such indispensable condition of
tenure. The Norfolk farmers are perhaps more particu-
larly prone to uphold the long lease, but surely any com-
mittee of agriculturists must have been terribly over-
ridden before they passed such clauses as now stand em-
bodied in the Holkham model. For our own part we
have steadily decliued to admit the infallibility here as-
sumed, as we question very much whether a two-years'
agreement framed on a fair Tenant-Right principle
will not be found as a rule to work better
than any holding of ten times the duration,
even if backed by quasi-liberty of action, full power to
deal with the produce, and so forth. And the country,
moreover, would seem to be fast coming to the same
opinion, as everywhere we see the question gathering as
it goes. In fact, with a lease or without a lease, there
must be compensation clauses, and a man whose main
provision is that towards the close he shall have so much
time to run the farm out again to its original condition,
is simply putting the clock back. The Holkham lease is
curiously silent as to any plan of securing the occu-
pier and keeping up the cultivation of the land, and one can
scarcely understand how a committee, comprising owner
agent and tenants, should have been so strangely obli-
vious of so essential an enactment.

This omission is the more remarkable as it is day by day
becoming cleai'er that the relations between landlord and
tenant cannot be put on too business-like a footing.
At a dinner at Shrewsbury, it was stated that " a
manufacturer who has a twenty-one years' lease,
within two of its expiry seeks a renewal, if he arranges
well ; if not, he has to pay for dilapidations, and I ima-
gine these could be as well assessed in land as in build-
ings. But, after all, has not the British farmer the best
tenure when he rents from one of the noble or ancient
county families, who feel a pride in retaining their
tenants ? I would say, when you rent under these land-
lords be content, and do your best ; but if you rent under
a cotton lord, then have a lease, as the same talent which
realized the land would seek for the largest possible profit
fi'om the investment." There was a time, no doubt,
when such outrageous nonsense as this would have had its
weight ; but that day is gone, and no man now who
knows anything of the land question would venture on
such an argument as that if you hold under a cotton lord
you must have a black-and-white agreement, but if you
hold under a real lord you should be content with the
county-family pride, kindly feeling, and all that sort of
thing.

The speaker, hov/ever, was not one of the county
families of Shropshire, not one of the tenant-farmers of
Shropshire, not one of the land-stewards, but a gentle-
man who when he began to talk upon laud premised
that " this was a subject about which I dare say many
of my hearers will think I know but little," an opinion
in which we should thoroughly agree with them ; while
he added that he " had never invested in laud and never
rented land," facts which we should certainly have
assumed fi'om the tone of his address. This honourable
gentleman was Mr. Figgins, who spoke we believe as one
of the members for the borough of Shrewsbury, and who
of course was corrected forthwith by one of the leading
agriculturists of the county. Mr, Bowen Jones said:

"The sound of Tenant-Right is alarming to many
minds, and amongst them— judging from what
I can catch from the remarks of the hon.
member for Shrewsbury, with whose views I generally
agree — of his also, simply from non-consideration. I
am in a position to appreciate, as much as any man, the
value of the sentiments he expresses with regard to the
feeling that should exist between landlord and tenant ;
but I cannot conceive why Tenant-Right should interfere
with this good understanding, for it means nothing more
and nothing less than security for capital invested for
which a tenant has not derived a return, and could be
easily settled in the form of an agreement or by arbitra-
tion, if generally recognised, without the assistance of a
measure in Parliament." And, again, " the dense popu-
lation of this island demands food at a rate that we can't
now anything like supply ; but I believe that the
resources of our soil, developed to its full capabilities, would
at the present time almost fulfil the requirements ; though I
fear this will never happen without security being given
for capital invested in the soil, the effect of which would
be to increase the value of the land, and thereby prove to
the advantage of the landowner ; improve the position of
the tenant, because he would be enabled to secure larger
returns from the soil, and elevate the condition of the
labourer, because the production of larger crops would
require a greater amount of labour." "When in London,
or wherever Mr. Figgins employs his capital, we presume
that he does so in a business-like manner ; and if he
desire to stand well with the Shropshire squire? and
farmers he cannot do better than advise them to secure
themselves equally against absolute loss or unfavourable
contingency, instead of giving utterance to clap-trap plati-
tudes, which if people do not laugh at it is simply because
they know better manners.

At the dinner of the Hexham Farmers' Club last month,
after a paper giving a history of Tenant-Right had been
read, the Chairman of the Club, Mr. Grey, a man who
has always shown himself to be very jealous of the Land-
lord's Right, and who has very slowly come round, said :
" A lease of itself without Tenant-Right had a tendency
to the ' up and down' system of farming — running down
a farm at the end of a lease — which was natural. But
he thought if a lease was combined with compensation
there was no reason why good farming should not be
carried on to the end of the lease. He admitted that it
was a very difficult subject, but the difliculty was not
insurmountable, and a scale might be established to give
compensation under different circumstances." We would
call the especial attention of the Holkham committee
and of Lord Leicester's agent to these remarks, as
Mr. Grey has the reputation, like his father before
him, of being one of the most able stewards
of landed property in the three kingdoms. And
yet generally good as was the tenour of this
discussion, it was not kept altogether straight, the secre-
tary of the Club, Mr. Trotter, doing his best to put the
meeting wrong: " Mr. Wrightson had quoted many au-
thorities on the question of Tenant-Right, but in no case
did two of them agree, because they were fidgety and
wrong : they played upon the fringe of the subject, as it
were, and did not go to the principle of it. He held that
as to the improvement made by the tenant in the farm,
the increased value of it was the true measure of that
improvement. He was not in favour of the tenant get-
ting the full value of that improvement, but only a fair

N 2

172

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

and judicious part of it." Well, who iu the world is or
ever was in favour of the tenant getting the full value
of his imiirovenient ? If this be something more than play-
ing on the fringe of the subject, there is scarcely a word of
worth Mr. Trotter said but has been said over and over
again, and upon which certainly many of the authorities
quoted by INIr. "Wrightson are thoroughly agreed. Five
and twenty years since it was thus written : " Let
the Act contain a definition of the principle, ' a
right to claim compensation for unexhausted improve-
ment;' and to this Mr. Pusey put his signature, so that
at least two of these authorities were agreed ; while the
unexhausted and not the lohole has ever been the main
feature of the argument. As Mr. Bowen Jones said at
Shrewsbury, " it means nothing more or nothing less
than security for capital invested, for which the tenant
has not derived a return." Still, Mr. Trotter talks as
if he were the first discoverer, although he does not talk
very clearly when he holds that " the increased value of
the farm is the true measure of improvement." Of
com"se if there be no improvement there can be no com-
pensation ; but improvements are of a more or less
durable character, for which a man should be paid in
proportion to the time he had been allowed to recoup him-
self. When he has been paid so far, the landlord would
reap any additional advantage from the permanent im-
provement of the property, so that a tenant would not be
recompensed precisely by what Mr. Trotter calls " the in-
creased value of the farm" — a very false principle to go
on, as the tendency of all good cultivation is the increased
Talue of the land.

TENANT-RIGHT.

At the annual dinner of the Hexham Fanners' Club, Pro-
fessor Wkightson read the following paper :

Tenant-right hadbeen too often discussed to allow of my coining
before you armed with new arguments. Such is not my inten-
tion ; neither, I venture to say, is it what you expect. The Go-
vernment of this country, and, as more immediately affecting a
meeting of farmers, the landlords of this country, are ia a
great measure ruled by public opinion, and it is as guiding
public opinion that such meetings as the present are valuable.
Would that the farmers of this country better understood the
value of their individual and united opinions. How often are
members of Parliament influenced in their views by contact
with well-informed farmers ? How often are game bills, local
taxation bills, contagious (animals) acts, modified by the mo-
tions of agricultural associations such as this ? I think it
necessary to remind you of this fact, because the great mass
of farmers are not yet roused to a sense of the importance of
united effort. Unlike the members of other professions or
caUiugs, and in spite of the means now at their disposal for
combined influence, they remain isolated, and refuse to take
part iu discussions which closely touch their interests. Hence
we might conclude that no section of the community were
better off — none clearer of Government or other grievances,
which from time to time we hear muttered in private, in a way
altogether futile were it not for the muttered complaints.
The position of the tenant farmers no doubt has its bright
side, but I venture to assert that it has sad drawbacks which
not only affect the men who occupy it but the community at
large. It is not my object to-day to open up all the difficul-
ties which beset the farmer in developing his business to the
utmost of his knowledge and means. We have to do with
one of them only, which may be expressed as follows : An en-
terprising farmer may lay out hundreds or thousands of pounds
in cleaning, fertilising, draining, or otherwise improving his
land. Several years may elapse during which time the busi-
ness has beeu carried on at a loss or very small profit, and yes
the grateful land is ready to give back witli interest the capita-
already incorporated with it. It is exactly at this point that
the need of Tenant-right makes itself evident, The tenant

may die, leaving a wife and young children who most speedily
quit. The landlord may be succeeded by a needy, greedy, or
unprincipled person, who at once proceeds to raise rents or
eject tenants ; political difficulties, game disputes, and offences
of various kinds may arise, any of which are suflicient, at a
six months' notice, to sever the connection between landlord
and tenant, and, except in certain favoured localities, the un-
fortunate tenant is robbed much in proportion as his occupa-
tion has been improved by his management. The position of
the tenant farmer is the reverse of satisfactory in all this. It
may be summed up in the word " insecure." We have heard
much lately about the land question, the land monopoly, pea-
sant proprietors, large and small farms, entail, primogeniture,
and such like. Much might, doubtless, be improved, but lam
far from viewing sweeping changes with favour. The Eng-
lish rural economy in which the land is owned by one class,
farmed by a second, and actually tilled by a third, has resulted
in the finest farming in the world. Whatever theoretical rea-
sons may be urged against this old estabhshed system, for
God's sake let us be careful how we change it for new fangled
notions, which might not be found suitable to our national
constitution. England is nearly all let to farmers, and culti-
vation is brought to the highest perfection upon large farms
and upon large estates. The immense mass of food produced
annually in this England is produced by tenants, and I main-
tain that whatever shackles the farmers of this country di-
minishes the food supply. £10 aud £12 per acre, and even
larger sums (Mr. Mechi says £15) may be profitably expended
in ordinary farming business. This is equal to from one-third
to one-fourth of the entire value of the land, and yet look at
the legislative enactments for protecting the landlords, and
contrast them with the hopeless legal incapacity of the tenant.
" I recently read a paper," says Mr. Mechi, " before the Mid-
land Counties Farmers' Club at Birmingham, where I met the
most wealthy, intelligent, and enterprising farmers of an ex-
tensive district. In the discussion wliich followed it was
painful for me to hear from every speaker that the want of
security of tenure and valuation for improvements sat upon
them hke a heavy cloud." The same feeling prevails through-
out the country, and demands our most serious attention. We
have, indeed, come to this point. Knowledge and wealth have
increased, new improvements have been invented, new means
for increasing the fertility of the land have been discovered,
stock has been improved, and yet the old relations between
landlords and tenants are tenaciously preserved. I say it is
impossible to [apply the knowledge now possessed by farmers
unless they are secured from loss by a lease, a comprehensive
Tenant-right, or, better still, a combination of both. I have
read abnost everything that has been s-\id upon this subject
of Tenant-right within the last two or three years, and have
been much struck with the unanimity of opinion which exists
with regard to it. Landlords and tenants appear to be agreed
as to the principle of compensation, and, while it is by no
means uncommon to hear men of experience declaim against
leases, it is rare to hear this other means of security con-
demned. Mr. James Howard, M.P., in closing a meeting of
the Farmers' Club, London, in May, 1870, after a discussion
on this subject, said, " I believe that nothing would tend more
to the advancement of agriculture in this country than a well-
considered Tenant-right." The Shropshire Chamber of Agri-
. ultnre came to the conclusion in 1869, " that in the opinion
of this meeting it is necessary for the encouragement of a
better system in the cuUivation of the land that some legisla-
tive enactment should be obtained, giving to the tenants com-
pensation for unexhausted improvements iu the case of build-
ings and drainage, the landlord's permission having been ob-
tained." The " North of England Chamber" has appointed
a committee to go thoroughly into the whole question of Ten-
ant-right. The Monmouthshire Chaniher has done the same.
The Essex Chamber voted unanimously that " it is highly de-
sirable that a simply defined law of Tenant-right should be
compassed by the Legislature for securing to the tenant^ com-
pensation for unexhausted improvements in his holding." The
Thirsk branch of the North Riding Chamber of A.griculture
have resolved " that this Chamber recognises in the advance-
ment of agriculture, the necessity, in the interests of both
owner and occupier, of a re-adjustment of covenants, aft'ording
a greater freedom to the tenant in cropping land, and such
additional security by lease or compensation clauses as will
secure to the tenant reimbursement for the outlay required,

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

173

and that it is essential for the further development of agricul-
ture that ground game should be abolished." Two years ago
the Staifordshire Chamber, led by Mr. Carington Smith, moved
" that the recognition by the legislature of the principle of
Tenant-right would promote the interests of landlord, tenant,
and labourer, and also increase the prosperity of the nation at
large." I have troubled you with these resolutions because it
appears to me right that agricultural associations should
strengthen each other's hands in this matter, and not allow
the useful result of debates in sister societies to die away, but
rather to echo and re-echo throughout the land until they
meet with their proper answer. English Tenant-right is no
newly raised question. Its history and true bearings were
very well traced by Mr. Corbet in May, 1870, before the Far-
mers' Club, London. The first year in which that club held
any regular series of discussion meetings was 1845, and in
December of that year Mr. Shaw, of the Strand, introduced
the subject of ," Tenant-right as between Landlord and
Tenant." In the succeeding month an adjourned discussion
on the same subject followed. In January, 1847, Mr. Shaw
took up the subject from the landlords' point of view, when
the club went with him in declaring " that a well regulated
system of Tenant-right would be beneficial to the landlords of
this country." After this, Mr. Pusey brought in his bill for
the improvement of agricultural Tenant-right in England and
Wales. In the summer of the same year the "Wenlock Far-
mers' Club offered a prize for the best essay " on the necessity
of some legislative enactment to secure the tenant farmer the
benefit of his improvements, &c.," this prize being taken by
Mr. Corbet, second editor of the Mark-Lane Express. In
1848, a committee of the House of Commons was appointed
to take evidence on, and inquire into, the agricultural customs
of England and Wales in respect to Tenant-right, of which
Mr. F. Fusey was chairman. The fate of this movement to
legalise Tenant-right was thus sealed by the Commons' Com-
mittee— " That any attempt to make its general introduction
compulsory would be met by great practical difficulties, and
your committee rely for the general and successful adoption
of the system on mutual arrangements between landlords and
tenants." In 1851, Mr. Caird, as Times' commissioner, de-
cided altogether against Tenant-right, and the question re-
mained in a more or less quiescent condition for many years.
It is, however, within the last twenty years that agriculture
has made its most rapid advances, and if Tenant-right was
desirable in 1847 much more is it so in 1872. An extraordi-
nary activity or restlessness has crept into all classes, and in
addition to increased knowledge we have an infinitely greater
facility in communicating with each other both personally and
as bodies corporate. The Irish Laud Bill also made many
people look to our own system of tenancies. Thus a War-
wickshire farmer in April, 1870, wrote to an agricultural
paper that " if it be just and needful to give the Irish tenant
of four acres security for his outlay in improvement, why
should not the English tenant of four hundred acres have the
same ?" And again, " if farmers were adequately represented
in Parliament the six mouths' notice to quit, the confiscation
of improvements, and the destruction of crops by landlords'
game would soon become things of the past." Likewise, Mr.
Nevill (himself a landlord) said last July to the Nottingham
Chamber, " he could not see why, if the Irish tenantry were
to be rendered secure from any casualty, the English tenantry
should not have the same advantage." At an exceedingly
influential meeting of the Staffordshire Chamber (December
13th, 1869), over which the Earl of Harrowby presided, his
Lordship, in words which I can by no means agree with,
pointed out the difference between the English and the Irish
tenants, and said, " he (the Irish tenant) frequently laid out a
great deal of money and then found that the law offered him
no protection. A state of things so wholly devoid of common
sense was uniutelligible to an English farmer." Lord Lich-
field, however, " utterly failed to see why any principle which
might fairly be applied to Ireland should not be applied to
England." It is certainly difficult to see why the capital of
an English tenant should be insecure, unless it is to be found
in the fact that he is quiet under his grievances, and not dis-
posed to commit agrarian outrages. Having glanced at the
history and present position of the question, we have next to
consider what Tenant-right really is, to strip it of its ambi-
guities, and finally to see whether any practical basis of action
can be fixed upon in order to accelerate its more general

adoption. Firstly, we must not confound English with Irish
Tenant-right. The Irish tenant not only requires payment for
improvements but for the " good-will" of giving up possession.
Such a Tenant-right not only looks up the capital of a young
tenant commencing business and diminishes the rental value
of land, but it can hardly be supposed in any sense to develope
agriculture. Neither must we use that ambiguous expression
" Custom of the country" as quite tantamouut to this right.
Tenant-right might be, and to some extent has been, grafted
upon the " customs" of various districts, but too often the
customs do little more than protect the way-going tenant from
loss upon any necessary labour he might have have performed
for the benefit of the incomer. I cannot, however, agree with
ilr. Corbet in maintaining a strict and definite distinction
between custom and Tenant-right. I rather view the customs
as the existing machinery by which improved ideas as to
Teuant-riglit are to be carried out. Neither do I think that
we have reason to be altogether depressed with regard to the
progress of Tenant-right. The principle, as we have already
seen, has been granted by every leading agriculturist, namely,
that the tenant's capital should be made secure upon his leav-
ing his occupation. It is also desirable that a way-going
tenant should have sufficient inducements to farm well up to
the end of his tenancy. I would also urge that in advoca-
ting Tenant-right, which is essentially the payment by the
landlord for improvements made by the tenant, we are bound
to allow that, in case the farm can be shown to have been
damaged during the occupancy, the tenant should be equally
willing to reimburse the landlord for such damage. The exact
state of Tenant-right throughout the country has been too
little investigated. Lincolnshire Tenant-right is in every one's
mouth, and it no doubt is the oldest and probably the most
perfect system in existence in this country. This right is,
however, incorporated in the customs of the country and can
only be viewed as an extension of them in a direction accord-
ing with modern improvements. With regard to other coun-
ties we have in some cases a liberal way-going crop with an
allowance in addition. In Monmouth the outgoing tenant
takes an away-going crop of wheat on one-third or one-fourth
of the arable land, and has liberty to sell clover, hay, straw,
and roots. Usually when a way-going crop is allowed it
appears to stand in the place of other ordinary allowances.
In Derbyshire there is a limited compensation ; bones, lime,
guano, rape dust, &c., are allowed for. The allowances for
half-inch bones extends over six years on grass land vflien
pastured ; if mown, for three years ; on some farms one-third
or one-half of the cost of the oilcakes consumed during the
last year is allowed. In Huntingdonshire, the allowance for
lime in equal proportion over four years ; one-third is allowed
for linseed cake or other artificial food used the year before
quitting. The out-going tenant is allowed for carriage on
materials for building, and on drainage tiles, and also five
years in equal proportions for draining. In Kent, Surrey, and
Sussex, the amount to be paid to out-going tenants has been
complained of as excessive. In Leicestershire and Rutland-
shire, in a Michaelmas entry, the in-coraer pays for all acts
of husbandry, bought manures and their carriage, and one
year's rent and rates on the summer fallows. He has to take
the root crop at consuming prices, the bought manures and
carriage being also charged. On Lady-day entries the sum-
mer fallows are paid for as at Michaelmas. For drainage
there is an allowance of four or six years according to circum-
stances. Linseed and cotton cake are allowed for at the rate
of one quarter for the last two years, and the same allowance
is made for lime, but without the cost of the carriage for the
second year. In Nottinghamshire, on a Michaelmas entry,
the incoming tenant pays on the dead or summer fallows for
the acts of husbandry, the rent, rates and taxes, also the
manure or lime applied and the labour of applying them. He
also pays lor the turnips at a consuming price, together with
two-thirds of the cost price of the bones or other approved
artificial manures. On the grass land he has to pay for one-
third of the value of the cake consumed in the preceding sum-
mer, and for the hay and straw of the last summer at a con-
suming price. On the Lady-day takings the out-going ten-
ant is allowed liberally for the wheat on fallows and for turnip
fallows. He receives consuming price for hay and straw, also
for manure made from produce of preceding summer and
labour thereon ; quarter the cost of the linseed cake consumed
in the last .two years, which payment, however, is not quite

17 4>

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

to be classed as customary. Staffordshire, raw bones and lime
are allowed for extending over three years. Draining is paid
for, the allowance extending over seven years. The out-going
tenant also has an away-going crop of wheat. In the North
and East Ridings of Yorkshire the principle of compensation
is spreading. In the West Hiding custom varies considerably.
In some instances the out-going tenant is even allowed on the
turnip or summer fallow one year's rent and taxes, as well as
for all manure purchased, the dressings of the fallows, and the
manure, making a deduction for the green crops. On the
" half tillage" laud (seeds, bean and pea stubble) he is allowed
half the rent and taxes, the dressings, half the manure, three
fourths for bones, and one-third for guano, less half the de-
duction for the last green crop. In other parts, purchased
manures are paid for at full cost if no crop has been taken,
but after a crop the out-goer receives half the value. The
above information (from Mr. Cadle's able essay on the Farm-
ing Customs of England) shows us clearly that Tenant-right,
or regard for tenant's capital invested, is extending. The very
terms, oilcake, bones, drainage, are too recent in agriculture
to allow of this being doubted, and such allowances have
evidently become engrafted with the old system of custom.
In other countries, unfortunately, no such reasonable allow-
ances are made, but there is little doubt that the good example
already cjuoted will spread, and the true value of what are
somewhat ambiguously termed unexhausted improvements will
become better understood. Before proceeding to speak upon
the actual adjustment of the claims of an out-going tenant
who is leaving his farm in a high state of artificial fertility,
directly brought about by the investment of his own capital, I
have a word to say upon the whole general question as it affects
the country at large. The public have a right to demand that
the country shall be well cultivated. Or whether they have
a right or not it is not improbable that the question of the
public or commonweal (commonwealth) in tliis particular may
be mooted. No man, however, will develope the capabilities
of the soil to the utmost (especially clay soils) unless he is
made secure to an extent which Tenant-right can scarcely
reach lo. It is only the purchaser, the owner, who can reap
the advantages of his agricultural improvements by the real
increase in value of his estate, which may be realised by an
opportune sale. Every one cannot be an owner of land, and
a man of small capital is not to be advised to lock up
money in a 3 per cent, investment. It is, however, only just
to the public, as weU as to the farmer, that tenant's capital
should be secure, and security can only be obtained by giving
the tenant a more permanent interest in the land. I need
not, I think, argue in favour of a lease before the present
company, because I believe most of the gentlemen present
have made up their minds in favour of this mode of tenure.
A lease, among other things, is accused of favouring an " up-
and-dovra" system of farming. You improve for seven years,
you keep up the fertility for seven years, and you take it out
for seven years. This is, I cannot help thinking, both natural
and commendable, but it is nevertheless unfortunate for the
country, and may be remedied by the introduction of Tenant-
right clauses into leases ; and I believe this would knock the
ground from under those who would make out a case against
leases. These gentlemen object to leases, first, because under
them there is this " up-and-down" system of farming ; and,
secondly, because the end of the lease gives an opportunity for
raising the rent, which, in the case of a yearly tenancy, rarely
occurs. Now, if you introduce a proper Tenant-right, the
first of these objections clearly gives way, and I believe the
second would also disappear, because if the farm were really
improved by tenant's capital tlie Tenant-right should come
into operation at the end of the lease as a set-off against any
proposed rise of rent. There is only one other suggestion
which I shall mention as apparently meeting the case ; I refer
to the proposal to do away with the six months' notice to quit
altogether as far too short a period for a farmer to transfer
his business. Substitute a two years' for the six months'
notice and introduce a proper Tenant-right, and we should
soon witness an immense improvement in the agricuUure of
the country. I do not mean to say that this is yet applicable
to the condition of backward districts where the tenantry are
too poor and ignorant to be trusted with greater powers than
they at present enjoy, but I do think that the condition of the
greater part of England justifies a greater liberty of action
being given to the tenant farmers. There are other men be-

sides the Rev. E. Smythies, of the Central Farmers' Club, who
are ready to tell us that expressions of general opinion are in
this case of no use whatever, and that " what farming men
want is to know exactly what the out-going tenant has to re-
ceive— what proportion of the whole." There is much truth
in this, and yet it is of importance to be thoroughly agreed
upon the principle before proceeding to elaborate a system.
I am also confident that with our present knowledge and agri-
cultural organisation there would be little difficulty in coming
to a decision as to the money value of unexliausted manures,
foods, and other more permanent improvements, such as drain-
age, claying, marling, building, &c. So far the attempt has
been made without sufficient regard to chemical evidence, and
I certainly would recommend that any committee for adjusting
the claims of Tenant-right should not only represent the
landlord and tenant interest, but also be a representation of
scientific knowledge in the form of a good agricultural chem-
ist, whose opinion would be valuable in fixing the relative value
of manures and foods as fertilisers. In recommending this,
the only real difficulty I see is the few men there are in this
country who know anytliing at all of agricultural chemistry.
No system of Tenant-right can be sound wliich is not based
upon truth. The estimates must be based upon experience,
upon direct experiment, and upon chemical evidence, and not
upon the mere dictum of a land agent. Glancing at some
actual and proposed schemes of compensation, there is suffi-
cient evidence of confusion. Mr. Piper, before the Swindon
Chamber (December, 1870), quoted from the scheme of an
eminent land agent, in Devonshire, as follows : The tenant to
receive compensation for unexhausted improvements according
to tlie following rules. Rule 1. — Bone manure with turnips
over 5 years ; 1st year the tenant to be allowed 20s. in the
£1 ; 2nd, 10s. ; 3rd, 5s. ; 4th, 3s. ; and 5th, 2s. Rule 2.—
Guano over 4 years : 1st year 20s. in the £1 ; second, 8s. ;
3rd, ■is. ; 4th, 2s. Rule 3. — Superphosphate of lime and other
manure for turnips the same as Rule 2. Rule 5. — Corn, Un-
seed or oilcake, fed in the last year of tenancy by fatting stock
or sheep, to be repaid 20 per cent. Rule 6. — Purchased yard,
pig, or any decomposed manure, 1st year 8s. in the 20 ; 2nd
year 4s. Contrast this scale with that proposed by Mr.
Bellamy to the North of England Chamber, in which two-
thirds of the bones and guano are to be paid for after a green
crop, and if a way-going crop is taken after such green crop,
then one-third only of the expense. Dissolved bones only to
be allowed for at the rate of one-sixth of their value after a
green crop, and are supposed to be worth nothing after a corn
crop has been taken. No mention is apparently made by Mr.
Bellamy of purchased foods spent on the land. In Lincoln-
shire the whole of the bones are paid for after a turnip crop,
and one-fourth of the oilcake bills for the last two years.
Mr. Masfen, in his admirable paper on " A Farm Agreement"
(London, 1869), said, " Mr. Cadle proposes compensation for
artificial food and manure, and that on a liberal scale, and I
think it will meet with many supporters ; as far as the food is
concerned, I will go with him, but I am not disposed to sanction
his views as regards superphosphates — the last year but one
for a manufactured manure. The last year, in my opinion,
goes far enough." This last opinion is supported by the ex-
periments of Mr. Lawes, of Rotharastead, but controverted
by Dr. Voelcker. Far my own part, I have long doubted the
efficacy of superphosphate guanos as a means of really im-
proving land except indirectly. Their effect is generally ended
with the crop to which they were applied. At the same time,
by increasing the yield of turnips and of straw, they eventu-
ally increase the " muck-heap," and that will be of more per-
manent advantage to the land than any expenditure on so-
called " artificials." With regard to the value of food residues
they, as being incorporated with and enriching the farmyard
manure, are probably of greater permanent value than guano
and superphosphates. The differences in the value of the
manure produced by various feeuing stuffs is, however, so great
that no person is entitled, as in the rules above cited, to class
corn and cake together. According to Mr. Lawes, the money
value of manure made from one ton of decorticated cotton-
seed cake is £6 10s., or not much below the price of the cake
itself; that from one ton of rape cake is worth £4 18s. 6d. ;
and that from one ton of linseed cake £4 12s. 6d. On the
other hand, the manurial value of the residue of one ton of
barley consumed is only £1 IDs.; of wheat £1 13s. ; of oats £1
15s. ; and of malt £l'lls. 6d. The fiising of the payments

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

17S

for manures and feeding stuffs is, then, the most difficult part
of the problem before us, and it appears to me that Mr. Lawes'
opinion should be carefully considered with reference to it.
Mr. Lawes has done much towards proving tliat land may be
kept in condition equally by artificial manures and by farm-
yard dung ; but when he comes to consider the permanency of
effect Irom the various classes of manures used, he arrives at
the following conclusion : " That when active nitrogenous
manures, such as Peruvian guano, ammonia salts, or nitrats
of soda, are applied in only the moderate quantities usually
employed in practical agriculture, the unexhausted residue
left in the soil after the removal of a corn crop has but little
effect on succeeding crops. That wlien rape cake, and other
organic purchased manures, wiiich yield up their fertilising
elements comparatively slowly, are employed, the unexhausted
residue left after the removal of the first crop, may yield an
appreciable amount of increase throughout a rotation. That
when farmyard dung is employed the effects may be apparent
for a still longer period. That when mineral manures, such
as phosphates, salts of potash, &c., are used, the effects of any
unexhausted residue are too slow and gradual to admit of any
determination of their value." Again, " It has been shown
by references to direct results that some important constituents
of manure either leave little or no unexhausted residue in the
land, or leave it so combined within the soil, or so distributed
throughout it that it produces little or no appreciable effect on
succeeding crops. Some manures, on the other hand, have
been shown to produce marked effects for several years after
their application. It is obvious, therefore, that it would re-
quire a very complicated sliding scale to enable us to estimate
the value of unexhausted mauures, under tiie many varying
conditions that would arise." It is considerations such as
these which led Mr. Lawes to the following very practical ex-
pression of opinion : " It would, I think, be more satisfactory
that all valuations should, if possible, relate only to what is
above ground. Nor do I see any difficulty in doing full
justice to tlie out-going tenant without taking into account
the value of the unexhausted residue of the manures which
have already yielded a crop." The three items upon which
Mr. Lawes would rely as the basis of a valuation in favour of
the out-going tenant are — the farmyard manure made during
the last year of the occupancy ; the manure from purchased
food which has not grown a crop ; and the straw of
the corn crops of the last harvest." This conclusion of Mr.
Lawes has been criticised (especially by Mr. Smith, of Wool-
ston) as providing an insufficient remuneration for the out-
going tenant. It is, however, capable of expansion, and ap-
pears to me to be based upon a sound principle, for after all,
the expenditure in various fertilisers is of less importance
than the effect of such an expenditure. What better claim
can a tenant have for compensation than by showing that he
has raised the yield of the corn crops and the quantity of
manure upon the farm ? If this has been done by proper
means, I cannot see how a simpler basis for calculation can be
obtained than by the results of such good cultivation as above
indicated. Here then is one means by which nearly all the
tenant's land improvements may be compensated to him. It
is not, however, perfect because it does not provide for the
outlay of money upon drainage, liming, marling, claying, &c.,
which may have been done by the way-going tenant, and
which still have a prospective value. These improvements
must still be paid for on a sliding scale not difficult to con-
struct. Improvements to house and buildings, roads and
fences, will readily be valued by experienced men, and
thus a complete system of Tenant-right may be elaborated.

Mr. Grey, the Presideut and Ciiairman of the dinner,
congratulated the Club upon the successful paper that
had been read to them by Professor Wrightson. It was
the last of the year, and the winding up of a succession of
papers, all of great interest, and many of them had excited a
considerable amount of discussion in the Club, which discus-
sions were of great interest not only to themselves but to the
country, and they were much indebted to the local papers for
reporting all these discussions so very fully. They had the
credit in that Club of being a radical lot, and talking of many
innovations. Professor Wrightson did not come there to repre-
sent the landlord's interest, and though he was certainly no
Tory he had thrown into his paper a great amount of caution,
if not Conservatism, and counselled the Club not to go in
hastily. This led him to one of the principal topics of Pro-

fessor Wrightson's paper, which was cue that had been men-
tioned at ithis Club before. Farmers were very differently
situated from manufacturers, from iron-masters, and from peo-
ple who carried on commercial enterprises in towns and cities,
because a farmer's business was one of great isolation. He
met his brother farmers when he came to the market,
and after doing a certain amount of business he went off
home again. Farmers had not hitherto been in the habit
of combining to carry out their desires as people in other
trades had done. They had made a step in that direc-
tion by the Chamber of Agriculture and Farmers' Clubs.
He had said before at this Club that if farmers had any-
thing to complain of, instead of grumbling about it at the
market, it was necessary for them to combine and press the
subject upon the Legislature of the country. In these days
of great pressure. Parliament took up those measures upon
which they received the most pressure, and their representa-
tives took up those subjects upon which their representatives
gave them little or no rest. When an election came, he
found generally that all topics of local interest, and all topics
which affected the pockets of the farmers, were forgotten
altogether, and the candidates at the election heard nothing of
them. A candidate in this country was never confronted by a
farmer who said to him, " You must oppose everything in
Parliament till the local taxation question is brought forward."
If he had an opportunity at an election, certainly he would
tell the members of Parliament that their members were sent
to look after the interests of their constituents, and until
farmers combined and forced their views upon their members,
and insisted upon what was called domestic legislation being
put forward, it would be pushed aside to make room for more
exciting subjects. They ougiit to combine to put out members
viho refused to represent their interests, and send men who
would represent them, as one or two counties had done. It
was only in this way that farmers would get their interests
attended to. Then, as to Tenant-right, it would be a diflieult
matter to go into details as to compensation : but Professor
Wrightson suggested a combination of lease and Tenant-right
as better than either alone. A lease of itself without Tenant-
right had a tendency to the " up and down " system of
farming — running down a farm at the end of a lease — which
was natural. But he thought if a lease was combined
with compensation there was no reason why good farming
should not be carried on to the end of the lease. He ad-
mitted that it was a very difticult subject, but the difficulty
was not insurmountable, and a scale might be established to
give compensation under different circumstances. He men-
tioned at one of their recent meetings that Mr. Pusey, the
celebrated agriculturist, had in his day attempted something
of this kind, but failed to carry it out. He did not despair of
it being carried out some day, but unless farmers gave their
minds to it, of course no one in Parliament would give their
attention to it. The club had carried out these discussions
in a spirit of friendliness and good feeling amongst them-
selves. He stood sometimes rather alone, and he had heard
some gentlemen say the chairman naturally takes tlie land-
lord's side of the question. His interest, as a tenant farmer
was considerably greater than that as landowner, and as agent
his personal feeling was in the happiness and prosperity of
the tenants. As an honest man, however, he must do his duty,
and see that the property of his landlords was not deteriorating.
He always wished to take an impartial view, and he thought
he generally succeeded in taking an impartial view of the case.
The impression might be that he took the landlord's view of it
because there were no landlords at their meetings; certainly
the views he expressed at the meetings were made from a love
of fairplay, and it might be from some little opposition, as he
took an opposite view when he heard extreme views enunciated
at the Club. He never liked to see a man hit hard behind iiis
back ; and if he took his part it might be from the spirit of
English pugnacity. Amongst themselves these discussions did
good, and he hoped they would do good all over the country,
and these discussions throughout tlie country might tend to
excite greater interest in agricultural questions, so that at some
day they might arrive at a more satisfactory settlement of the
arrangements between landlord and tenant. The great object
was to carry on the cultivation of the land to secure the
greatest quantity of produce from it that it was capable of
growing, and the interest of the country at large in the land
was to see that nothing was wasted, and that everything pro-

176

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

duccd all that it possibly could. Would they establish a manu-
lactory and let part of tiie machinery stand idle if they could
get orders to keep it all at work — and when they had land
should they only get half of what it would produce if they set
properly about it ? Tlie question of draining had been brought
before them, but it was seldom that tenants in this part of the
country had to do any draining. It is generally done by the
landlords, but it was capable of adjustment where it was done
by the tenant. He had drained land as a tenant-farmer on a
short lease, the expense of which was repaid him in a couple of
years. He naturally after that cultivated the land in a different
way, and it paid him for the improvement. He got the land
worth 10s. au acre, and left it worth 30s. an acre. He got no com-
pensation at the end of his lease, though he was far from say-
ing that there should not be a scale established, and that he
should have received compensation, but as it was he was per-
fectly satisfied. He could not, however, go in for the princi-
ple that the tenant ought to have the capitalised value of all
the increase he had made iu the value of the land. He took
the land at 10s. an acre, and he left it worth 30s. an acre ;
but it paid him ; he got his money back with good interest,
and what right had he to get all the increase capitalised on
that farm ? The landlord might wish to drain the land of his
own free wiU ; but the tenant might go and put his money
and get the increased value of the land. The landlord would
then say to the tenant that he had it good land, and there was
nothing more for him to do. He (the Chairman) did it with-
out his landlord's leave ; if the landlord had been consulted,
and the law had been that he could claim the value of all the
improvement, the landlord would probably have told him to
leave it as it was, and that he would make the improvement
himself. Tliere were two sides of the questiou, and. he said
this in answer to those gentlemen who could see only one side.

Mr. G. H. Ramsay would not flatter the farmers or land-
lords ; he thought the latter neglected their interests most
shamefully. The landlords, he thought, were very careless re-
garding their true interests ; if some of them had been with
them tliat day he thought it would have been better for them,
so that they might have helped to ventilate important ques-
tions bearing upon the agricultural interest. As to the far-
mers they were good-tempered, jovial fellows ; but when they
wished to gather them together, to get subscriptions from
them, and do things of that kind, he was sorry to say they
were tremendously behind. He said these things because he
was anxious to see them prosperous and thriving, and the thne
was not far off when, by education — education in such matters
as Tenant-right — they would become a superior body of men
altogether.

Mr. Joseph Lee had had an opportunity of being with
Mr. Wrightson in Lincolnshire, where there was Tenant-right,
so he met with the best farming there that he ever saw in any
county in England. He had been through great part of Eng-
land and Scotland, and he miglit say the value of sheep and
corn might be increased thirty per cent, if the tenant had se-
curity for the capital invested in the land. Farming would
never be brought to perfection, and the land put into the
highest state of cultivation, until the time came when such
security was given to the capital of tenants. Some thirty
years ago it was difficult to find a man with much capital, but
now there were hundreds of them, and they scarcely knew
how to invest their capital, many of them joining joint stock
companies, and probably another crash would come. How
much of this money would go into farming operations if only
security was given for their capital? Mercantile men were
not like farmers, and would not invest unless they saw some
chance of some security for their capital being returned. He
thought that if anything could be done to follow up this paper
of Mr. Wrightsou's, if any method could be devised which
would give tiie landlord a fair share of the value of the im-
provement made by the tenant, and also what the tenant should
have, it would be a great boon to this country. A committee
might be appointed to draw up a petition to Parliament on
the subject. It would be a difficult thing to do ; but if such
a thing could be done, it might help iorward this question.
As Mr. Wrightson had remarked, if Tenant-right was a good
thing for Ireland, why should it not be a good thing for Eng-
land P He thought that many things might with justice be
done which would be a great advantage to landlord and tenant.

Mr. Matthew Smith said that what they wanted was a
Tenant-right that would be liberal both to landlord and tenant.

They could not have such a Tenant-right as was eslablislied
in many parts of the south of England. He knew a gentle-
man who farmed in the south, and who was now living in this
neighbourhood, who left a farm of little more than 100 acres,
and received £500 compensation. If such a Tenant-right was
applied, what would be the consequence of it ? Supposing the
farm was 400 acres, and the Tenant-right £3,000, where
would the tenant get £3,000 to pay for Tenant-right and
commence farming ? What they wanted were leases that
would do away with hares and rabbits which were eating up
the food of the country. He would give the tenant a liberal
lease, and let him have power to dispose of a portion of his
crop in the best way he could, as the tenant would be able to
keep the farm up in condition by manures. What Tenant-
right could they expect Parliament to adopt ? They could
not expect to get the Tenant-right they had in Ireland, which
he considered one of the greatest evils that ever existed in any
country. Look at the thousands of people that had lost their
lives in that country through it. He held that the Tenant-
right wliicli would be beneficial to both landlord and tenant
was the one they wanted.

Mr. W. Trottee, the secretary, said that it was of no use
discussing these subjects and wishing to have the laws altered,
unless they took some steps to put their wishes into execution,
but so far as the discussion had gone that day, his idea of Pro-
fessor Wrightsou's paper vi'as that it tended to make confusion
more confused. Mr. Wrightson had quoted many authorities
on the question of Tenant-right, but on no case did two of
them agree, because they were fidgetty and wrong — they
played upon the fringe of the subject, as it were, and did not
go to the principle of it. He held that as to the improve-
ment made by the tenant in the farm, the increased value of it
was the true measure o<" that improvement. He was not in
favour of the tenant getting the -full value of that improve-
ment, but only a fair and judicious part of it. He would leave
to the landlord that part which might represcut to some ex-
tent, and closely approaching to it, that indefinable money
value, which, at their previous meeting, Mr. Robb alluded to
as illustrating the progress of the times. On that point a good
deal of misapprehension existed, as he held the improvement
in the value of farms, judging from the farms he had known
from his earliest years, was owing to the improvement in their
cultivation. There were farms not worth a penny more than
they were twenty or thirty years ago, because they had re-
mained in the same state ; yet some farms iu the Bywell
parishes had increased 100 per cent, in value simply by the
improvements made by their tenants, and not by the landlords.
Many landlords when they came into possession of an estate
expended large sums of money upon each of their farms, and
they expected to get their money back again in increased rents;
then, why object to pay compensation to the tenant who made
improvements ? He knew of work done by landlords them-
selves, and it was let at prices which no tenant farmer would
give who knew anything of his business. That work could
have been done much cheaper by the tenant, and the land made
of much more value to the landlord. A feeling of justice
ought to predominate with them ; and he held that a tenant
farmer, when improving his landlord's land, was fully entitled
to the value of the improvement he made, or a fair share
of it.

Mr. YoUN& said that Tenant-right was an important sub-
ject. No Tenant-right could be perfect without a lease, and
compensation at the end of the lease. It was a subject which
he had considered for some time, and he thought the simplest
way was for a farm to be let for 15 or 20 years, and at the
close of the lease the rent of the farm was not to be increased
more than a tenth. If the farm had increased more than one-
tenth, any increase above that ought to be valued by parties
appointed by both sides, and the tenant should receive the
extra amount for his improvements. As to unexhausted im-
provements, compensating a tenant according to the quantity
of manure applied to the land in the last years of a lease
might uot always be satisfactory. A person who did not un-
derstand much about these manures, perhaps might just go
and buy something and put it on the land, and get paid com-
pensation for it, and make a good thing out of it in that way.
If a farmer wanted to get all the benefit he could out of the
land in the last year or two of his lease he applied lime or
nitrate of soda freely to the land, and got out of it in that way.
The simple way for a Tenant-right was, if the farm was im-

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177

provptl, for the tenant to receive the increase in the value of
the farm, but let it be a little valued at a little above the pre-
sent rent, and if the farm was deteriorated let it be valued,
and the landlord be paid for such damage by the tenant.

Mr. II. T. Thompson wished to have some explanations on.
certain portions of Mr. Wrightson's paper, and he asked that
gentleman why he put a higher value upon phosphates than
nitrate of soda or things of that kind. On many soils nitrates
grew an excellent crop on the first application, and they often
heard it said that the vegetable matter left in the laud went
far to produce good crops. If nitrate produced a good crop,
there must be a large quantity of vegetable matter left in the
soil to decay and be food for succeeding crops. Then, again,
a higher value was placed in the paper upon manures derived
from cakes than that from meal. So far as he was able to
speak, as a practical man, he had used cake a good deal, and
the manure was greatly improved, but he knew several farmers
who used meal. These farmers said that those who used cake
allowed the mannfacturer to pick their pockets, while they
knew they were dealing with honest fellows when they were
dealing with themselvus. He would like Professor Wrightson
to give them a little more information on that pointy as he
knew a good deal of scepticism existed amongst farmers in re-
gard to it. As to Tenant-right, he was sceptical upon that
matter, but he would not express his opinions upon that mat-
ter that day.

A vote of thanks to Professor Wrightson having been carried,
Professor Wrightson, in acknowledging this, said he
hardly expected to be called upon to make a reply, but since
questions had been raised upon his paper he would do so. la
refereuce to the view taken by the secretary, certainly he could
wisli ^that some simple method could be arranged, so that a
share of the increased value might be taken by the tenant and
a share by the landlord, but he was afraid that instead of be-
ing a simpler method it would be quite as difficult as taking
the improvements in detail. Of course, many circumstances
might arise to give land an increased value ; they might have a
town growing out in a certain direction, a railway going acros
it, and many incidental improvements, which had nothing to
do with agriculture, but which increased the value of the pro-
perty. When they came to . share this improvement
and capitalise it, the sums would be so large that either
party would have to pay, that each party would be careful
to shun any such agreement, binding them to pay a large
sum. They had sometimes a reduction in rent as well as
an increase, and probably the tenant of the farm, on which the
reduction took place was not in good circumstances, and if his
deficiencies were to be capitalised it would be very difficult to
recover it from him. These were the dilficultics, but there also
seemed to be unfairness in it as well. They must remember,
in the case of the tenant's improvement of the farm, that that
improvement laid latent in the farm. It was like a man
making a hole down to coals ; he made a hole down a seven-
foot seam, but was he to claim the whole of the coal vchicli
laid there ? It was much the same in the case of a tenant
draining a farm, and opening up treasures which really exiited,
and which any landlord might have done. He thought the
proposition of the secretary would make the landlords jealous
of letting their farms at all, as they would think it would be
too good a thing. He was not aware that he put a higher
value upon phosphates than upon nitrates ; and whatever
might be said in the paper about the value of phosphates,
these remarks were made in speaking of tenant-rights in
various counties. The difference which existed in the tenant-
rights in difterent counties showed them the immense amount
of confusion in which the question was veiled, and that of
itself ought to convey a valualile lesson to them, and make
them wish for a simple form of tenant-right, and to do away
with all these confused systems. With refereuce to phosphates,
they acted very quickly upon the land, and so far as his defi-
nite experiments had gone he had not much reason to think
that either superphosphates or nitrate of soda had much
residual ell'est. It was true that they increased the crop, but
they did not appear to have much residual effect. With
reference to manures and feeding stuffs, he could not well
speak of them together ; they were so very different. He
reminded them of what Mr. Lawes pointed out — that these
active nitrogenous manures, which they called artificial
manures, did not appear to have much effect in improving
crops after the crop to which it had been particularly

applied. When they came to organic manures, there
was a residue from cake and farmyard manure, so that,
while they got an increase in the first crop, they pro-
bably got an increase in every crop for a greater length
of time than even a rotation. Although they got good
crops from artificial manures, as well as from organic
manures, yet there was a difference in their value as respect-
ively increasing the value of the land. He would make a
difference between simply artificial manures, such as nitro-
genous phosphates, and those of an oragnic nature, which
kept yielding up products to plants for more than a year. He
was asked why the manure from meal should have less effect
than that from cake, but they must consider the nature of
meals and of cake. In linseed-cake there was a good deal of
husk, and the percentage of hrisk was very much increased by
the very fact that the oil was pressed out of it. The husks of
seeds, just as in the way of bran of corn, although not of such
a nourishing character as wheat, contained a great deal of
nitrogenous and mineral matter, while the oil which had
been pressed out of it contained very little of nitrogenous
and mineral matter. Meals contained a large amount of
starchy materials, and although of its feeding qualities there
could be no question, it did not make such good manures as
cakes. In cakes there was a large amount of nitrogenous
and mineral matters ; in meals, made from unbroken and whole
corn, there was a very large amount of starchy materials not of
manurial, bnt of feeding value, and there was a less amount of
what they might call actually fertihsing materials. He had to
apologise for the rather complicated nature of his paper, but
when he wrote it he looked forward to the fact that it would
be published in the papers, and probably looked at again and
read and discussed. He had been at some pains to collect his
information on the subject, and he had placed in his paper the
comparison between Tenant-right in the various counties, and
also opinions of good authorities, which, when placed in
juxtaposition, could be the more readily compared.

THE FRENCH PEASANT FARMERS'
SEED FUND.

The following correspondence has been forwarded us for
pubUcation :

To H. M. Jenkins, Esq., Secretary, Eoyal Agricultural
Society of England.
Sudbury Hall, Derby, January 9, 1873.
Dear Mr. Jenkins, — Accompanying this you will receive
the copy of a letter addressed to me by the Erench Foreign
Minister. It is unnecessary to allude to it further than to
say that if it has been a source of pride to me to have been
associated in the performance of a philanthropic work for the
benefit of a neighbouring country in its hour of bitterest dis-
tress, I shall never forget, that although circumstances placed
me at the head of our work, it was the sagacity of my colleagues
which brought about the result for which, apparently, I receive
the honourable recognition of the Erench Government. The
cordial manner in whicli my colleagues have always co-
operated with me, is a guarantee that they will join in viewing
this testimonial as a record of approval of our united efforts,
and that they will be satisfied that it should rest in ray keeping.
Whenever we do separate we shall all look back to our intimate
association with unmixed pleasure. Believe me, yours very
faithfully, Vernon.

To Lord Vernon, President of the Committee for the Dis-
tribution of Seeds to the Erench Earmers.

Versailles, November 30, 1871.
My Lord, — The work which the committee, under your
presidency, undertook in coming to the aid of those among
the farmers of France who were the victims of the war, by
causing seeds to be distributed among them, was of such great
value to France, that the President of the Republic can but
feel desirous of offering you some mark of his gratitude. The
President has desired me to present you with a vase of Sevres
porcelain. I lose no time in forwarding this souvenir to you,
and I rejoice to be, in this matter, the interpreter of the Chief
of the State, and to have this opportunity of expressing to
you, my Lord, my personal sentiments of high regard.

Remusat, The Minister for Foreign Affairs.

178

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE WOOD PIGEOX.

At a meeting of the East Lothian Agricaltural Society, Mr.
Harrey, Whittingham Mains, reported that since March last
13,000 wood pigeons had been killed in the conntv, and that
the special fnnd for the promotion of their destruction amounted
to £28. A tremendous number of these birds had visited Had-
dingtonshire this year, and it was very annoying to see the im-
mence flocks of them completely destroying the fine fields of
red clover. Lord Elcho, Lord Blantyre, the Earl of '^emyss,
Sir Hew Dalrymple, and other proprietors, had aided the So-
ciety in their crusade against these destructive birds, and he
implored the remaining county gentlemen to follow such a
good example. Landlords could not do a more gracious act
towards their tenantry, who paid large rents for their farms,
than to order their foresters to pull down the nests of the wood
pigeons, and to create still greater havoc than at present
among the winged pests.

Mr. DvRTE (Barney Mains) said he was sure a great num-
ber of wood pigeons came to East Lothian from Berwickshire,
and the proprietors in that county ought to be asked to join in
the onslaught against the pigeons.

Sir Hew Daletmpli: said he did not believe tbat wood
pigeons bred in Haddingtonshire. A great many had been
killed from year to year. He did not know whether
it was complimentary to Mr. Harvey's persecution of
them or not, but the number which visited the county
this year was something marvellous. He had seen the
other day a field of red clover positively blue with them ;
they were as thick as they could stand together. It
was a well-known fact that proprietors who shot these birds in
the neighbouring county found them full of the grain, not
which was growing there, but which had been grown thirty
miles away.

Mr. Flzichxr (Salton) believed that the wood pigeons
came from Xorway.

The CHATRiLO' said he was sure every member of
the Society felt how much they owed to Mr. Harvey for
his endeavours to get rid of these blue pests which covered
the fields. He sympathized with 3Ir. Harvey in his statement
about the intolerable nuisance it was to farmers to see the fields
destroyed by these birds. He did not believe that Hadding-
tonshire was responsible lor their breeding. He knew that in
Suffolk flocks of these and other birds came and went no one
knew where ; and really Mr. Harvey, to succeed in extirpating
them, would require some sort of international wood pigeon
league. There was no doubt that these birds came from foreign
parts as well as from Berwickshire ; but meantime they must
continue their efforts to give them on their visits a warm re-
ception.

Mr. RouGEEAD (ilyreside) believed that one cause of the
great increase of wood pigeons was the gun-tax. If they could
get Mr. Lowe to take the tax away, plenty more wood pigeons
would be destroyed.

The CHATRiLi^' said he would not envy the members of any
deputation sent by the Society to Mr. Lowe in regard to the
gun-tax.

It is intimated that more funds for the destruction of the
wood pigeon would be called for in March next.

A CHRISTMAS RIDDLE.
(After the letter H.)
'Twas whispered down Westward, 'twas muttered at Ross,
And Aberdeen echoed its worth as a cross ;
On the confines of earth 'tis permitted to rest,
As lands o'er the ocean its presence confessed.
'Twill be found in all spheres, from Booth or from Bates ;
Is seen out at Sydney, and prized in the States.
It has given to man e'en its very last breath
To provide for his feasts, though the cost be its death.
To its breeder it brin^ wealth and honour and fame,
Is the prop of his house, and his very best game.
Without it the red-coat and white-face would roam ;
But woe to the woldsman who drives it from home !
O'er Erin's green pastures its voice will be heard,
2^'or yet from the Lowlands of Scotland be scared.
It has warmed up the hearts of the swells round the ring.
As Strafford or Thornton its praises may sing.
Oh ! let it not seek foreign shades and fierce suns.
Bat bid for it briskly, for now " the glass runs."

— The Gentleman'' s Annual.

THE EARiLERS' CLUB.— The foUowing subjects have
been selected for discussion during the year 1872. February
5 : The Use of Method, Arrangement, and Observation in
the Management of a Farm ; proposed by Rev. G. Davies, Hall
Place, Romsey. March 4 : The Transit of Live Stock ; Mr.
A. tt'elch, Southall. April 1 : Vegetable and Fruit Farming :
Mr. T. Scott, Knaphill, Woking. May 6 : Principles affect-
ing Cultivation, Manuring, and Cropping ; Mr. J. J. Mechi,
Tiptree, Kelvedon. November 4 : Freedom in Cultivation
and Security of Capital; Mr. T. Horley, jnn.. The Fosse,
Leamington. December 9 : Some Comparative Results of
Large and Small Farm Systems in providing Food for the
People; Mr. H. M. Jenkins, 12, Hanover-square, London, W,

THE WILLIAMS TESTIMONIAL.— This movement
has now been fairly launched, the list already including
a number ot good names. Although the Committee of the
Farmers' Club declined as a body to take any action, Mr.
Cheffins the Chairman, Mr. Congreve, Mr. Leeds, Mr. Tre-
thewy, and Mr. Spearing, all past Chairmen, with other
members who happened to be at the last meeting, at once
offered to aid the object.

TESTDIONIAL DINNER.— A number of his friends,
invited Mr. Winterton, the weU-known auctioneer and farmer
of Alrewas Hays, to a public dinner in recognition of his
success as an agriculturist, and for having established the
Smithfield in the town of Lichfield. Lord Lichfield was in
the chair. Mr. Winterton took the second prize of the Royal
Agricultural Societv last summer for farms.

PRESENTATION.— The workmen in the employ of
Messrs. Ransomes, Sims, and Head, have presented to Mr.
G. A. Biddell, C.E., as a mark of their respect,
a silver inkstand, wsighing 65 ounces, on which was
the following inscription : — Presented to Mr. George Arthur
Biddell, by the workmen employed at the Orwell Works,
Ipswich, as an appreciative token of the good feeling which
his existed uninterruptedly between him and them for 20
years, during which time he has eminently filled the position
of manager. — January 1, 1S72.

THE ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.— At the
Annual Meeting at Chelmsford on Friday Mr. J. R, Yaizey
was elected President for 1572.

THE FRA^JLINGHAM SCHOOL— The Rev. ^.y^.
Bird, B.A., for some years second master of All Saints'
School, Bloxham, has been elected to the head mastership of
Albert College, Framlingham, Suffolk.

THE OXFORDSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.—
The Banbury Agricultural Association having declined to con-
tinue the amalgamation for a stock show, ii was decided at the
general meeting that the Oxfordshire Society should revert to
its old plan of holding its shows in various parts of the
county, and the foUowing resolution, moved by Mr. Mumford,
and seconded by Mr. Game, was carried: That this Society be
open to receive applications, and contributions towards the ex-
penses, from any towns in the county desirous that its show
should be held there during the last week in May next. Appli-
cations to be sent to the Secretary, on or before March 1st.

THE DEVON COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ASSO-
CIATION.—At a meeting held at the Castle, Exeter, the
Duke of Somerset in the chair, it was resolved, on the
motion of the Earl of Devon, to establish a County Agricultural
Association for Devonshire, which wUl hold annual exhibitions
of stock and implements alternately in the northern and
southern division of the county. It is intended that the
Society shall work in harmony with the Royal and Bath and
West of England Societies, and to that end a special resolution
was passed, providing that when either of those societies holds
its meeting in Devonshire the county meeting shall not be
held, but the council shall have power to contribute to the
prize fund of the larger association for the encouragement of
local breeds.

A FRUIT FARM.— Mr. Varden has worked out the
idea of a fruit farm on a vast scale, near Pershore. His estate
is 250 acres. Of this about 140 acres are planted with fruit
trees. These include 60,000 gooseberry bushes, 100,000 cur-
rant trees, and about 6,000 plum trees, to say nothing of pear,
apple, and other trees. The extent of the farm may be
imagined when we mention that for weeks during the fruit
season Mr. Yarden has sent off four or five tons of fruit a day.
One lot of currants sent away one day to one customer weighed
seven tons. — The Garden,

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

179

WARWICKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.— At
the adjourned annual meeting, Lord Leigh in the chair, it was
decided to hold the next show at Warwick, it being understood
that Birmingham was looking forward to a visit from tiie
Society in the following year. As to the annual show being
held alternately in the northern and southern divisions of the
county, it was decided to abolish this restrictiou, so that in
future the meeting may be held in any town within the county.

THE HAMPSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.
— At the annual meeting, the president, Mr. W. W. B. Beach,
M.P., in tiie chair, the report stated that the position of the
Chamber is sound and satisfactory, iinancially and otherwise.
There was a balance amounting to £26 15s. 8d., which was
nearly spent. Mr. Beach was re-elected president. The annual
dinner followed, but there was only a small company present,
" in consequence, no doubt, of the extreme wetness of the
weatJier."

HEREFORDSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.
— At the annual meeting, in Hereford, Mr. J. B. Down-
ing in the cliair, the attendance was very thin. The
Report could " not allude to a greatly increased number of
members, yet they have the satisfaction of reporting that the
losses from death and other causes have been compensated by
the election of new members ;" and then went on to review the
proceedings of the past year. Mr. Rankin vcas elected chair-
man, aud Mr. J. Morris, of Madley, vice-cliairman for the
ensuing year. Professor O'Hara was appointed analytical
chemist for the ensuing year. Rule 17 was altered as follows :
" That the Chamber sub scribe £6 annually, and appoint a
deputed member to attend the meetings of the Council ac-
cording to the rules ol the Central Chamber." At the annual
dinner, 23 members only of the Chamber assembled in honour
of the occasion — ^just about one-third of the company expected
and prepared for !

HUNGERFORD CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.—
A special meeting of the members was convened to listen
to an address on the subject of " Local Taxation," by
Captain Craigie, the secretary to the Local Taxation

Committee in London. The attendance was very limited.
Captain Craigie gave a long address, Mr. Williams, of
Baydon, proposed the following resolution, which was seconded
by Mr. Woodman, and carried : " That this meeting I'uUy
concurs in the object sought to be obtained by the Local
Taxation Committee, and pledges itself to support the move-
ment ; and towards thi'i end it is of opinion that a sub-com-
mittee of the Chamber should be formed, to be called ' The
Hungerford Taxation Committee.' " Mr. Chandler supported
the resolution, and regretted there was so much apathy.

LEICESTERSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.
— The annual meeting was held at Leicester. The report
recorded that nineteen new members had been made. The
financial statement showed that the expenses of the year had
been £54 17s. Id., and that there was a balance due to the
treasurer of £7. The arrears of subscriptions amounted to no
less a sum than £5-i 10s.

THE NOTTS CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.—
At the annual meeting, Mr. W. H. Barrow, M.P., in the
chair, Mr. J. C. Musters was elected chairman of the council
for the ensuing year, and Mr. Hemsley, vice-chairman. The
annual report stated that, owing to exceptional causes, the
subscriptions had fallen short of the year preceding, but a
system had been matured of parochial collections, which it was
expected would result in the realisation of outstanding arrears
and of the amounts at present accruing. Mr. Walker moved,
" That, in the opinion of this Chamber, the present system of
local taxation is unjust, and ought to be amended, inasmuch as
most of the objects for which it is imposed, such as the main-
tenance of the poor and of lunatics, the preservation of public
order, the administration of justice, and the punishment of
criminals, are of national, aud not merely local, importance,
aud are for the benefit of all classes ; that, therefore, all kinds
of property ought to contribute to them, whereas at present,
with iew exceptions, real property alone is taxed, and personal
property is exempt from those burdens." Mr. Musters
seconded the motion, which was carried. The annual dinner
was afterwards held.

AGRICULTUUAL REPORTS.

REVIEW OF THE GRAIN TRADE DURING THE
PAST MONTH.

The weather during the past month has been excessively
mild for the time of year. Rain has fallen throughout the
country very freely, and the soil is now thoroughly saturated
to the depth of some inches, thus interfering with wheat sow-
ing. This operation, however, except in the most backward
districts, has already been completed. The supply of grass in
the pastures and meadow lands is very good for the time of
year, and cattle can obtain a fair feed with but little difficulty.
Some complaints have reached us with reference to the potato
disease, but the losses do not appear to have increased to
any material extent. Although the young wheat plant is cer-
tainly forward for the time of year, and at present presents a
most luxuriant appearance, nothing material has occurred to
cause apprehension ; but some cooler weather would doubtless
be of service in checking its too premature development.

During the past month the position of the wheat trade has
not varied to any material extent. The general inferiority of
the quality of the produce has interfered considerably with
business, and reduced transactions to hand-to-mouth operations,
the speculative element being entirely wanting. At the close
of last year the stocks of foreign wheat were estimated as
follows :

Stocks in the 11
principal ' ports
Deo. 31, 1871..

96 Cargoes off the
coast at 3,200
qrs. each

263 Cargoes on
passage for or-
ders and direct
ports at 3,200
qrs, average ...

Qrs.

1,787,181

307,200

84.1,600

Total ,

Stocks in the II
principal 'ports
Dec. 31, 1870..

19 Cargoes off the
coast at 3,200
qrs. each

520 Cargoes on
passage for or-
ders and direct
ports at 3,200
qrs, average .,.

Qrs,

1,349,921

60,800

1,664,000

. 2,935,981 Total 3,074,721

However, upon going more minutely into tbe statistics, it
was inferred that the stocks in the smaller ports of the king-
dom showed in the aggregate an excess of some 100,000 qrs.
It was also argued that the estimate for grain on passage waa
underrated to the extent of some 150,000 qrs. Allowing the
new estimate to be correct, the stock of foreign wheat in the
United Kingdom would show an increase of something under
115,000 qrs. So far as our own crop is concerned, however,
we cannot report so favourably. The reiterated statement that
our harvest was sadly deficient so far as the wheat crop was
concerned, is certainly confirmed : the actual deficiency being,
say, 14 to 15 per cent, below the average. The imports have
been on a fair average scale, apd will probably continue to be
so for some time, as there is still a good number of vessels on
passage. There has been a moderate export. In the south-
ern parts of France, prices have had a drooping tendency, but
in the northern districts, as well as in Holland, a fair amount
of firmness has prevailed. In France, white wheat would be
very acceptable ; and it is to be hoped that Spain will supple-
ment her hitherto moderate shipments to Bordeaux by more
extensive transactions, as well as allowing other nations to
participate in her late bountiful harvest. Favourable ac-
counts continue to come to hand from Chili, but from Odessa
we hear that the bulk of the fine portion of the crop has al-
ready been shipped, and that the condition of that now
awaiting transmission by no means comes up to recent sam-
ples. The weather will have great effect upon the trade. So
far as can be at present ascertained, the demand will be of
a hand-to-mouth character for some time ; but a speU of frosty
weather would induce much firmness. Fine samples, at the
present moment, command very full prices.

As regards spring corn, fine malting barley has been in re-
quest, and has realised full prices. Oats have changed hands
to a fair extent ; but inferior samples being plentiful, have re-
ceded in value. Beans as well as peas experienced a fair de-
mand during the earlier part of the month, prices ruling Is.
per qr. higher, but this advance waa subsequently lost. Maize
was duU and drooping in value.

ISO

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

The number of grain cargoes on passage for ports-of-call is
381 — namely, 279 wheat, 38 maize, 43 barley, 12 rye, 8 beans,
and 1 milletseed, against 655 at the same period last year —
namely, 420 wheat, 93 maize, 87 barley, 40 rye, 4 oats, 7
beans, 2 milletseed, and 3 sundries. Eor direct ports there are
at present on passage 34 grain cargoes — namiily, 18 wheat, 12
maize, 2 barley, 1 oats, and 1 beans, against 68 at the same
period last year — namely, 55 wheat, 10 maize, 1 barley, and 2
sundries. Tlie number of cargoes of seed and Valonia on
passage for ports-of-call is 38 — namely, 26 linseed, 3 rapeseed,
and 9 cottonseed, against 73 at the corresponding period last
year, of which 45 were linseed, 6 rapeseed, 21 cottonseed, and
2 Valonia. For direct ports there are at present on passage
1 cargo of linseed, 1 rapeseed, and 6 cottonseed, against 4 lin-
seed, 8 cottonseed, and 1 Valonia.

Imports and Expoets of Grain.
The following statement shows the imports and exports of
breadstuffs into and from the United Kingdom since harvest
— viz., since August 26, 1871, compared with correspondin
period in the three previous years :

Imports.

The total imports of foreign stock during the past month
liave been as follows : Head.

1871-2.

1870-1. 1869-70.

Wheat

Barley

Oats

Peas

Beans

Indian Corn I 8,452,683

Flour I 1,458,495

Cwt.
19,325,084
4,651,959
3,809,180
427,477
1,652,430

Cwt.
14,353,215
3,639,415
3,993,746
388,238
626,489
7,605,340
1,980,617

Cwt.
20,788,416
3,354,853
5,074,129
681,557
861,278
9,076,076
3,061,150

1863-9.

Expoets.

Wheat

Barley

Oats

Peas

Beans

Indian Corn..
Flour

1,709,726

1,168,122

110,230

9,180

19,534

6,170

57,337

373,095

24,884

4,688

28,664

6,683

1,484

4,875

942

14,033

31,568

5,666

32,688

44,5232

7,844

Cwt.
11,838,123
4,468,377
2,716,519

673,194
1,323,997
5,378,270
1,585,321

132,538

55,312

38,483

5,395

2,594

178

17,634

In the Continental markets there has been no alteration of
importance. In America the export inquiry has fallen off, and
as stocks have not accumulated to any great extent, it is
argued, certainly with some show of reason, that the United
States have already disposed of the bulk of their available
surplus. The quantity of wheat at Milwaukie in December
was 540,824 bushels, against 947,858 bushels in 1870. The
exports of wheat from the States from September 1st to De-
cember 29th was 1,058,830 qrs., against 1,242,612 qrs. during
the corresponding period in 1870.

The hop market has been very firm, although business has
not been on an extensive scale. Fine samples have been
scarce, and there has not been much demand for yearlings.
The best home-grown are now making £17 per cwt.

As regards potatoes, the supplies have been good, and the
demand has been heavy, but prices have been tolerably firm.
Complaints of disease are becoming more frequent.

REVIEW OF THE CATTLE TRADE FOR THE PAST
MONTH.

The cattle trade has been devoid of any feature of especial
interest. The mild weather which has prevailed has been un-
favourable for killing, and to tiiis circumstance must be attri-
buted partially the depression which has characterised the
demand. As regards beasts, the supply has been about an
average, and the general quality has not been unsatisfactory.
During the earher part of the month, the tone was firm, and
the best Scots made 5s. lOd. and in some few instances 6s. per
8 lbs. ; but the demand eventually became very heavy, and a
decline of fully 4d. per 8 lbs. took place, the best Scots not
making more than 5s. 6d. per 8 lbs.

As regards sheep, the supplies have been moderate, but suf-
ficient for requirements. There has been an absence of ani-
mation in the inquiiy, but prices have been steady, and the
best Downs and half-breds have made 6s. lOd. to 7s. per 8 lbs.

Calves, the show of which has been good, have sold quietly
at about late rates.

Pigs have been in moderate request, on former terms.

Beasts
Sheep
Calves
Pigs

Total

3,027

13,896

668

a59

17,850

Corresponding period in 1871 10,298

1870 21,727

„ 1869 12,214

„ 1868 20,000

„ 1867 24,084

„ 1866 25,838

„ 1865 16,952

„ 1864 9,967

„ 1863 11,893

„ 1862 8,783

„ 1861 2,708

„ 1860 6,760

„ 1859 9,264

The arrivals of bullocks from our own grazing districts, as

well as from Scotland and Ireland, thus compare with the

three previous years : Jan., Jan., Jan., Jan.,

1872. 1871. 1870. 1869.

Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and

Cambridgeshire 5,800 7,650 6,350 5,184

From Lincolnshire, Leicestershire

and Northamptonshiie 1,700 1,200 1,750 1,850

Other parts of England 1,750 850 2,950 2,140

Scotland 646 910 1,120 2,376

Ireland 300 301 1,730 903

The total supplies of stock exhibited and disposed of at
the Metropolitan Cattle Market during the month have been
as under : Head.

Beasts 18,140

Sheep 73,120

Calves 848

Pigs 438

Comparison of Supplies.

Jan.

Beasts.

Sheep.

Calves.

Pigs.

1871 ...

... 15,028

73,840

314

365

1870 ...

... 19,251

91,760

1,127

965

1869 ...

... 19,880

94,830

654

1,201

1868 ...

... 17,620

86,220

520

1,610

1867 ...

... 18,150

82,400

756

1,508

1866 ...

... 24,620

89,390

1,754

2,225

1865 ...

... 20,669

73,714

1,095

2,370

1864 ...

... 19,442

80,230

1,019

2,567

1863 ...

... 20,455

83,422

1,637

2,456

1862 ...

... 20,680

82,160

853

2,850

1861 ...

... 17,612

75,240

677

2,000

1860 ..

... 20,500

92,426

1,067

2,045

1859 ...

... 19,805

90,520

921

2,400

1858 ...

... 20,312

80,742

1,108

1,759

Beasts have sold at from Ss. 6d. to 6s. lOd., sheep 4s. 4d. to
7s., calves 4s. 6d. to 6s,, and pigs Ss. 8d. to 5s. per Bibs.
to sink the offal.

Comparison of Prices.
Jan., 1871.
s. d. s. d.
Beef from 3 6 to 6 0

Mutton 3 4 to 6 3

Veal 3 8 to 6 4

Pork 3 8 to 5 6

Jan., 1869.

s. d. s. d.

Beef from 3 4 to 5 6

Mutton 3 4 to 5 8

Veal 4 4 to 5 10

Pork 3 6 to 6 0

Jan., 1870.

8.

d. 8. d.

3

4 to 5 6

3

4 to 5 10

3

6 to 5 6

3

10 to 6 0

Jan., 1868.

s.

d. s. d

3

2 to 4 10

3

4 to 5 0

4

4 to 5 6

3

4 to 4 2

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

181

REVIEW OE THE CORN TRADE

DURING THE PAST MONTH.

The proverbial sternness of January has, during the
past month, given way to unusual mildness and abundant
rains, though, after the first fortnight, we had two days
of strong hoar frost. The nights too have been mostly
wet, and some parts of the country have consequently
been completely flooded. Field work, therefore, not
completed in autumn, will probably have to be delayed
till spring, and much valuable time, which otherwise
would have been employed in preparation for the Lent
corn, be lost. On the other hand the grass has com-
menced growing, and every green thing has been available
for man and beast. Nothing, however, can compensate
farmers for the serious damage done to their newly-
thrashed corn ; the condition of much has been so bad
as to render it unsaleable and below millers' wants. We
are thus reminded of the crop of 1860, when, with a
fair yield, good samples were the exception. Yet, so far
as the value of diy corn is concerned, we have rather
gained Is. than lost anything, and foreign samples in store
have been constantly in requisition, at unaltered rates,
notwithstanding the abundance in granary and the prob-
ability of early shipments in spring. Our sales in the
150 towns for four weeks, as compared with January 1871,
were 44,211 qrs. short, chiefly, as we suppose, from the
fact that farmers have deemed it injurious or next to use-
less to thrash in the midst of such damp. This quan-
tity for these 150 towns alone, then, has put them out of
funds, even at the rate of 50 per cent., to the extent of
£110,000, simply on wheat, and for the whole country
in a like proportion, at a time when they have scarcely
known how to employ their hands. And nothing now
seems likely to improve their condition but a dry time and
moderate frost. February is mostly wet, and to wait for
March winds seems too heavy a demand upon agricultu-
ral patience ; yet so it must be to avoid sacrifice. By
that time we may probably ascertain more clearly the de-
ficiency of France, on whose stocks and imports the prices
throughout the world greatly depend. At present that
country continues well supplied, and price.", have slightly
given way, and nothing but a real and heavy pressure will
greatly enhance them under the monetary obligations and
heavy losses of that state. In Germany, amid the fickle
weather, prices have been remarkably steady, as well as
in Russia and America, these several countries being the
principal sources .of supply, and all seem looking for
higher rates with the coming spring, whether fallaciously
or not. The Mark Lane Express has given the usual
estimate of the crops, but the accounts respecting wheat
so greatly vary that no satisfactory calculations can be
made, but the constantly occun-ing terms, " under an
average," and " very bad," as well as " damaged before
thatched," leave the impression that the diminution this
season will, on the whole, be more than four bushels to
the acre. If so, with our increased population, and that
of Europe and America, it will be found out, and bring on
a pinch just before the harvest, the slightness or severity
of which wiU then be settled by the ruling weather. The
following prices were recently quoted at the several
places named. Best native white at Paris 66s. 6d., red
643.; Marianopoli at Marseilles 55s., Ghirka 52s.;
wheat in Belgium 57s. to 62s. ; Polish at Amsterdam
63s. ; Zealand at Rotterdam 47s. to 61s. ; wheat at Lau-
sanne 61s. ; best red at Harnbro' 61s. ; high mixed at
Danzig 60s. ; iiative at Cologne 58s. 6d. ; red at Rostock
55s, ; Danish red, cost freight and insurance, 61s, ;

Ghirka and Taganrog 43s. ; wheat in Spain 49s. 6d. to
53s. ; at Naples 57s. 6d. ; at San Francisco 62s., cost,
freight, and insurance; red at New York 493, to 51s, 6d.
per 4801bs.

The first Monday opened on small supplies of English
wheat, with a great falling-off in foreign. But few fresh
samples appeared on the Essex and Kentish stands during
the morning. Really fine and dry parcels were firm, at
the previous currency, though not in active request. In-
ferior and badly-conditioned were difficult to place.
Good foreign red went off more readily, at unaltered rates.
Floating cargoes being abundant were about Is. lower.
The country markets, scarcely out of holiday influence,
and with very mild weather, ruled firmer than London,
in some places noting an advance of Is. per qr., as Bir-
mingham, Newark, Newbury, Manchester, &c., but there
were a few exceptions, as at Loughborough and Thirsk.
Livei'pool was Id. higher on Tuesday, and again there
was a rise of 2d. per cental on Friday. Edinburgh and
Glasgow noted no change in wheat, Dublin was in calm,
but not lower.

On the second Monday, native wheat was again in
short supply, with only a small increase in foreign.
There was once more a great deficiency in fresh English
samples during the morning, and really fine and dry lots
brought Is. over the previous quotations, but damp sorts
were difficult to get rid of. The business in foreign was
ou a larger scale, and fine red American in some instances
made Is. improvement, all other sorts being fully as dear.
Floating cargoes recovered from the temporary depression,
and sold at 6d. to Is. per qr. above the previous quota-
tions. The country trade this week was quite prepared
to foUow that of London, and, with very few exceptions,
there was a general improvement of Is. per qr. Liver-
pool, at the first market, evinced more tone, but on
Friday the aspect of the trade reversed. Both Edinburgh
and Glasgow improved to the extent of 6d. to Is. per qr.
Dublin was very firm ; Belfast only quiet.

On the third Monday, the English supplies were fur-
ther reduced, but there were good foreign arrivals.
During the morning there was scarcely a fresh sample
from Kent, and but very few from Essex, aud these were
of the damp type. Dry lots would have commanded a
sale had they been exhibited, but inferior were still neg-
lected. The foreign trade was then, however, very
limited, and had sales ex ship been pressed, less money
must have been accepted. Cargoes afloat were less in
demand, though former values were maintained. As in
London so in the country this week, all dry qualities
were firm, but farmers found a difficulty in placing such
as were out of condition. Liverpool was dull on Tues-
day, and Id. to 2d. per cental lower on Friday. A
heavy trade was experienced both in Edinburgh and Glas-
gow, but quotations were unchanged. Both Dublin and
Belfast were calm and unaltered.

On the fourth Monday, there was about the usual short
supply of English wheat, but with fair arrivals of foreign
from the Black Sea and India. The show on the Essex
stands was about the smallest of the season, with nothing
from Kent ; the condition of all the samples was wretched,
the wet weather having lasted so long, and the qualities
on sale were quite below the requirements of millers. Dry
sorts were wanted, and would have made fully the pre-
vious rates, but they were not to be found, excepting at
the foreign stands. There, an increased demand was ex-

182

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

perienced, but the mildness of the temperature was agaiust
any advance. Though most of the floating cargoes had
been placed, those then on hand tended downwards in
value. Liverpool, on Tuesday, was dull, and 2d. per
cental lower. At Hull, Newcastle, and several country
markets, there was a calm without any change of value
in dry qualities.

The imports into London for four weeks were 16,778
qrs. Euglish, 83,301 qrs. foreign ; against 20,827 qrs.
English, 50,677 qrs. foreign in 1871. The exports were
4,073 qrs., against 4,431 qrs. The imports into the king-
dom for four weeks were 2,685,279 cwts. wheat, 235,837
cwts. flour. The general averages commenced at 55s.
8d. and closed at 55s. Id. ; those of London opened at
60s. Id., and closed at 58s. 6d. The four weeks' sales in
150 towns were 195,407 qrs., against 339,618 qrs. in
1871.

The flour trade has been quiet and unchanged through
the month. Town millers have kept to 50s. as their
top price, and about 39s. has ruled as the value of
Norfolks, American barrels 29s., while anything extra has
been worth fully 2s. per qr. more. There have been good
supplies steadily furnished from the country, though fo-
reign arrivals have been light. The imports into London
for four weeks were 70,439 sacks, country sorts 6,272
sacks 16,294 barrels foreign, against 86,311 sacks coun-
try, 13,085 sacks, 74,153 barrels foreign in 1871.

Though the supplies of maize have only been moderate,
the reduced value of beans and peas have lessened the
consumption, and American qualities have given way Is.
per. qr., not being worth over 32s. per qr. "Without a
reaction therefore in pulse, we do not see an immediate
prospect of a rise in this grain. The London imports for
four weeks were 42,008 qrs. against 23,931 qrs. last year.

The supply of British barley has been very short, and
the value of good malting sorts has risen Is. per qr., both
in town and country ; but the plenteousness of foreign has
made the sale dull, and so much formerly heated grinding
quality remains on sale that some sorts are not worth
over 22s., while malting is held at 44s. The four weeks'
supplies into London were 7,155 qrs. British, 62,364 qrs.
foreign, against 13,402 qrs. British, 20,959 qrs. foreign
in 1871.

The malt trade has been more active through the month,
and prices have risen Is. per qr., with good exports, say,
3,646 qrs.

With regard to oats, our supply has been almost
entirely foreign, and that not in heavy quantities,
only one parcel appearing from Scotland, and nothing
from Ireland. The granaries have therefore been largely
drawn upon ; but our Loudon stock at the close of 1871
was 480,000 qrs. Fresh 38 lbs. per bushel corn was
worth 21s. ; 401bs., 23s. 6d. The unusually mild weather
may keep up supplies beyond expectation, but at present
we do not see much prospect of a permanent decline.
The four weeks' imports into London in English sorts
were only 1,470 qrs., in Scotch 95 qrs., in foreign
135,392 qrs., against 1,473 qrs. English, 151 qrs. Scotch,
89,978 qrs. foreign in 1871.

The supply of beans during the four weeks of home-
growth have been good, and of foreign liberal, and the
mild weather has so deteriorated the condition of new
samples that they have given way 2s. per qr. — Mazagans
having been sold at 34s. per qr., and other sorts in pro-
portion; but fine old English sorts remaining scarce,
have not been reduced in value to the same extent, or
even old foreign, Egyptian sorts being about 34s. and
Sicilian 38s. per qr. Should farmers still send damp
new qualities, we may see prices yet lower ; but with a
return to frost there may be some reaction in the trade,
though foreign supplies seem likely to prevent any great

advance. Imports into Loudon for four weeks 4,715 VS.
English, 9,291 qrs. foreign, against 3,782 qrs. English,
2,914 qrs. foreign in 1871.

Of English peas there have been fair supplies, of foreign
a mere nothing ; yet the whole trade has been extremely
dull, duns being only worth 36s. ; maples, unless fine
enough for seed, not over 37s. to 38s., and the best white
warranted boilers only 40s. The mild weather has kept
the value of the latter depressed, and without a frost
there seems little chance of a rally. The four weeks'
imports into London were 3,609 qrs. English, 243 qrs.
foreign, against 1,786 qrs. English, no foreign in 1871.

With moderate supplies of linseed this grain has been
quiet, though the value has been maintained, but the
warmth of the weather has been against any activity in
sales, either of seed or cake, and the late fall in beans and
maize has also contributed to lessen the demaud. As
regards cloverseed and other seeds, prices have risen too
much to make dealers anxious to increase stocks. New
English red, as well as fine white Cloverseed, have kept
at a high range ; so little having yet appeared ; but
American red has been procurable at rather below the
rates lately paid. Good trefoil has been a ready sale
at full prices. Canary has somewhat improved
in value, and spring tares began to attract atten-
tion, being offered from Germany at 40s., cost, freight,
and insurance.

COMPARATIVE AVERAGES.

WHEAT. BARLEY.
Years. Qrs. s. d. Qrs. s. d,
1868.,, 52,478j .,. 71 6 71,266| ... 42 1
1869... 70,4524 ... 52 8 48,3061 ,., 49 0
1870... 49,626i.,. 44 1 56,850| ... 36 4
1871.,, 67,782i .,. 53 1 63,3104 .., 35 2
1872... 45,7961 ... 55 1 60,743i ... 36 11

OATS.
Qrs. s.
8,7101 ...25
6,346i ... 25
3,8624 ... 21
4,703i ... 23
4,700| ... 22

d.
7
9
4
6
9

AVERAGE S

Foe thb pasi Six
Weeks:

9, 1871

Dec. 16, 1871

Dec. 23, 1871

30, 1871

6, 1872

Jan. 13, 1872

Aggregate of the above
Thesameweek in 1871...

Dec.

Dec
Jan

Wheat.

Barley.

s, d.

8. d.

66 10

37 1

56 6

37 1

65 8

36 9

66 4

36 6

54 11

36 8

55 1

38 11

65 8

36 10

63 1

36 2

Oats,

s. d.

24 2

22 10

23 0
22 0
22 2
22 9

22 10

23 6

HOP MARKET.

Mid. and East Kent £10 0 £12 12 £17 0

WealdofKent 8 10 9 9 10 10

Susses 7 5 8 8 9 9

Farnham and country ... 11 0 13 0 16 0

Yearlings.

Mid. and East Kent £3 0 £4 4 £6 10

WealdofKent 3 0 * 4 0 5 15

Sussex 3 0 3 10 5 5

Earnham and country ... 4 10 6 0 7 0

Old 1 5 1 10 2 0

POTATO MARKETS.
BOROUGH AND SPITALFIELDS.

Regents 100s. to I2O3, per ton.

Flukes lOOs.toMOs. „

Rocks 70s. to 85s. „

Victorias 120s. to 140s. „

French 60s. to 75s. „

SOUTHWARK WATERSIDE.

Yorkshire Flukes 100s. to 130s.

„ Regents 60s. to 100s.

Dunbar and East Lothian Regents ... 110s. to 130s.
Perth, Forfar, and Fife ... 85s. to 110s.

„ „ Rocks 85s. to 90s.

Kent and Essex Regents 60s. to 100s.

„ „ Rocks 60s. to SOs.

French Whites 50s. to 70s.

Printed by Rogerson and Tuxford, 365, Strand, Loudon, W.C,

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

FEBRUARY, 187 3.

CONTENTS.

Plate I.— A SHORTHORN OX: the property of Mr. Joseph Stratton, of Alton
Priors, Wilts j and the Champion Cup Beast, at the Smithfield Club Show, 1871.

Plate II.-RIGHT AND LEFT.

Description of Plates ....

Open Competition . . . • •

Shropshire Chamber of Agriculture . . .

BOROUGHBRIDGE AGRICULTURAL SoCIETY : AGRICULTURAL LABOUR

Stowmarket Farmers' Club: Ewe Flocks on Heavy Lands
Brampton Farmers' Club: The Game Laws
The Game Laws .....

KiNGScoTB Agricultural Association .
The Norfolk Agricultokal Society .
Farming in Ireland.— By the Northern Farmer
Framlingham Farmers' Club . 'r m

Shropshire Chamber of Agriculture: Local Iaxation

Local Taxation . „ ' ,. c. * o

The Prohibition against "Royal' Show Stock

The Breeding of Cattle . V/r '

The Opening of the Foreign Cattle Market

The Supply of Agricultural Labour . •

The Ixworth Farmers' Club : Labourers' Daughters .

Newcastle Farmers' Club : The Relaton of Science to Acric

The Coggeshall Agricultural Society

Banbury District Chamber of Agriculture .

The Dorchester Farmers' Club: The Agricultural Labourers

The Agricultural Labourer . . ' ht *

Bedfordshire Agricultural Society : Discussion Meeting

Lord Leicester's Lease

The Hexham Farmers' Club . . -

Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland

The Tenant-Right Principle .

Tenant-Right . „ • „

French Peasant Farmers' Seed 1*und

The Wood Pigeon

Miscellaneous

Review of the Grain trade .

Review of the Cattle Trade

Review of the Corn Trade during the Past Month

Market Currencies, Imperia*. Averages, &c.

lture

' HiRIN

Fairs

PAGE.

89-90
90
91
94
96
99
101
103
104
105
108
115
118
120
121
125
127
129
131
134
136
140
146
152
154
157
168
171
172
177
178
178-9
179
180
]31
182

JAMES GIBBS ANB COMPANY,

VITRIOL AND MANURE WORKS,

NEAR VICTORIA DOCKS, LONDON.

OFFICES -16, MARK LANE, E.C/

SOLE MANUFACTURERS OF THE

PATENT AMMONIA-FIXED PERUVIAN GUANO,

Guaranteed to be made from 'the finest quality of Government Peruvian Guano, as imported. Has produced
equally as good results as the unfixed Peruvian Guano, and is 30s. per ton cheaper Eecommended tor aU crops
for which Peruvian Guano is used, and is found superior to it for Potatoes, Mangold, Beet Boot, &c. in distncta
where the rain-faU is above an average, we recommend it for Turnips. It is not only cheaper, but also much
more effective than Nitrate of Soda, as Top Dressing, and its effects are more lastmg, as may be seen by the
after Crops. , ^. , j ■«

Patent Ammoniated Phosphate. Dissolved Bones.
Superphosphate of Lime. Bone Manure for Turnips.

Blood Manure for Roots. Blood Manure for Corn.
Special Manures for Mangold, Barley, Grass, and Potatoes.

JAMES GIBBS & COMPANY have turned their attention speciaUy to the manufacture of these Manures,
which contain all the elements necessary to promote the growth of Potato and Turnip crops. The results have
given universal satisfaction, and prove the Manures to be the cheapest yet sold.

^ The " condition" of the above is made a matter of special care. They are all sifted before delivery, to ensui-e
their being fit for the dry or water-drill.

LONDON AND COUNTY BANKING COMPANY.

ESTABLISHED 1836.

SUBSCRIBED CAPITAL... £2,500,000, in 50,000 SHARES of £50 EACH.
PAID-UP CAPITAL... £1,000,000 RESERVE FUND... £500,000.

WILLIAM CHAMPION JONES, Esq.
E. HAUBORD LUSHINGTON, Esq.
JAMES MORLEY, Esq.
WILLIAM NICOL, Esq.

DIRECTORS.
NATHANIEL ALEXANDER, Esq. THOMAS STOCK COWIE Esq,
T. TYRINGHAM BERNARD, Esq. FREDERICK FRANCIS Esq.
PHILIP PATTON BLYTH, Esq. FREDERICK HARRISON Esq

JOHN WM. BURMESTER, Esq. | LORD ALFRED HERVEY.

'PTITT^TEES

p. p. BLYTH, Esq 1 J. W. BURMESTER, Esq. 1 W. CHAMPION JONES, Esq.

WILLIAM JARDINE, Esq. 1 WILLIAM NoSlS, Esq. 1 RICHARD H. SWAINE, Esq.

Gfneeal Managee— WILLIAM McKEWAN, Esq.

■ ■ ' SoLiciTOKS-Messrs. STEVENS, WILKINSON, & HARRIES.

Secretaky— F. CLAPPISON, Esq.

HEAD OFFICE, 31, LOMBARD STREET.

Manager-WHITBREAD TOMSON, Esq. | Assistant Makager-W^ILLIAM HOWARD, Esq.

tment, in Australia, Canada, India, and China, the United States, and elsewhere.

^^ilif^^LtiZtrJ^'lPa'^'^l^^^^^^ of EngUsh or Foreign Shares effected, and DxTxnBKBS.

^<^lZllk^^es''!re'l^'lso^^^^^ the Bank for the receipt of Money from the Towns where the Com-

pany has Branches. . „ i. -^ ,~, i „ „

The Officers of the Ban!, are bound not to ^i^clos^e ttj^tonsacU^^^^^^^ ^^S MoKEWAN. General Manager.

" There are very few simple articles of food which can boast so many
valuable and important dietary properties as Cocoa. While acting
on the nerves as a gentle stimulant, it provides the body with some
of the purest elements of nutrition, and at the same time corrects
and invigorates the action of the digestive organs. These beneficial
effects depend in a great measure upon the manner of its preparation,
but of late years such close attention has been given to the growth and
treatment of Cocoa that there is no difficulty in secm'ing it with
every useful quaHty fully developed. The singular success which
Mr. Epps attained by his homoeopathic preparation of Cocoa has
never been surpassed by any experimentalist. Medical men of all
shades of opinion have agreed in recommending it as the safest
and most beneficial article of diet for persons of weak constitutions."

EPPS

GEATEFIJL

(JAMES EPPS & CO., HOMCEOPATHIG CHEMISTS.)

COMFORTII^G

COCOA.

" By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern
the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful application
of the fine properties of well-selected Cocoa, Mr. Epps has provided
our breakfast tables with a delicately-flavom-ed beverage which may
save us many heavy doctors' bills. It is by the judicious use of
such articles of diet that a constitution may be gradually built up
until strong enough to resist every tendency to disease. Hundreds
of subtle maladies are floating around us ready to attack wherever
there is a weak point. We may escape many a fatal shaft by
keeping ourselves well fortified with pure blood and a properly-
nourished frQ.me."— Extracted from an article on Diet in the
** Civil Service Gazette,"

-r-jt ■;.»■. . .

No^3,^VoL. XLI.] MARCH, 1872. Thibd Sekies.

THE

FARMER'S MAGAZINE

AND

MONTHLY JOURNAL

OF

THE AdEICULTURAL INTEREST.

TO THE

FARMERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

LONDON :
PUBLISHED BYROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 265, STRAND.

PRICE TWO SHILLINGS.

KOGBRSON AND TUXFORD,] [PRINTERS, 266, STRAND.

JAMES GIBBS AND COMPANY.

VITRIOL AND MANURE WORKS,

NEAR VICTORIA DOCKS, LONDON.

OFFICES- 16, MARK LANE, E.C.

SOLE MANUFACTURERS OF THE

PATENT AMMONIA-FIXED PERUVIAN GUANO,

Guarautcccl to be made from ^tlie finest quality of Government Peruvian Guano, as imported. Has produced
equally as good results as the unfixed Peruvian Guano, and is SOs. per ton clieaper. Recommended for aU crops
for wluch Peravian Guano is used, and is found superior to it for Potatoes, Mangold, Beet Eoot, &c. In districts
where the rain-fall is above an average, we recommend it for Turnips. It is not only cheaper, but also much
more efiective than Nitrate of Soda, as Top Dressing, and its effects are more lasting, as may be seen by the
after Crops.

Patent Ammoniated Phosphate. Dissolved Bones,
Superphosphate of Lime. Bone Manure for Turnips.

Blood Manure for Roots. Blood Manure for Corn.
Special Manures for Mangold, Barley> Grass, and Potatoes.

JAMES GIBBS & COMPANY have turned their attention specially to the manufacture of these Manures,
which contain all the elements uecessai-y to promote the growth of Potato and Tui'nip crops. The results have
given universal satisfaction, and prove the Manures to be the cheapest yet sold.

The " condition" of the above is made a matter of special care. They are all sifted before delivery, to ensure
their being fit for the dry or water-driU.

LONDON AND COUNTRY BANKING COMPANY.

ESTABLISHED 1836.

SUBSCRIBED CAPITAL... £2,500,000, in 50,000 SHARES of £50 EACH.
PAID-UP CAPITAL... £1,000,000 RESERVE FUND.,.£500,000.

DIRECTORS.

NATHANIEL ALEXANDER, Esq. I THOMAS STOCK COWIE, Esq. I WILLIAM CHAMPION JONES, Esq.
T. TYUINGHAM BERNAUD, Esq. I EREDERICK FRANCIS, Esq. E. HARBORD LUSHIN3T0N, Esq.

PHILIP PATTON BLYTH, Esq. 1 FREDERICK HARRISON, Esq. I JAMES MORLEY, Esq.

JOHN WM. BURMESTER, Esq. | LORD ALFRED HERVEY. | WILLIAM NICOL, Esq.

TRUSTEES.

P. P. BLYTH, Esq | J. W. BURMESTER, Esq. | W. CHAMPION JONES, Esq.

AUDITORS.

WILLIAM JAEDINE, Esq. | WILLIAM NOR]\LA.N, Esq. | RICHARD H. SWAINE, Esq.

General Manager— WILLIAM McKEWAN, Esq.

CHIEF INSPECTOR. INSPECTORS OF BRANCHES. CHIEF ACCOUNTANT.

W. J. NORFOLK, Esq. H. J. LEMON, Esq., and C. SHERRING, Esq. JAMES GRAY, Esq.
Solicitors— Messrs. STEVENS, WILKINSON, & HARRIES.
Secretary— P. CLAPPISON, Esq.

HEAD OFFICE, 31, LOMBARD STREET.

Manager— WHITBREAD TOMSON, Esq. | Assistant Manager— WILLIAM HOWARD, Esq.

THE LONDON AND COUNTY BANK opens— , ^ ^

DRAWING ACCOUNTS with Commercial Houses and Private Individuals, either upon the plan usuaUy adopted by
other Bankers, or by charging a small Commission to those persons to whom it may not be convenient to sustain an agreed
Permanent Balance.

DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS.— Deposit Receipts are issued for sums of Money placed upon these Accounts, and Interest ia
allowed for such periods and at such rates as may be a'^reed upon, reference being had to the state of the Money Market.

CIRCULAR NOTES AND LETTERS OF CREDIT are issued, payable in the principal Cities and Towns of the Con-
tinent, in Australia, Canada, India, and China, the United States, and elsewhere.

The Agency of Foreign and Country Banks is vmdcrtaken.

The PnECHASB and Bale of Government and other Stocks, of EngUsh or Foreign Shai'es effected, and Diyidekds,
Annuities, &c., received for Customers of the Bank.

Great facihties are also afforded to the Customers of the Bank for the receipt of Money from the Towns wbere the Oom-
pany has Branches.

The Officers of the BaaJs are bound not to disclose the transactions of any of its Customers.

By Order of the Dij ectore, WM, MoKEWAN, Geaeral Manager,

LONDON AND COUNTY BANKING COMPANY.

ESTABLISHED 1836.

Siil><$ci*i9>cd Caii»ital £.S,2»#0,000, in 50.000 shares of £50 eacli.
£*ai(l-u|» Capital, J^l, 4^00,000 ; rcj^et-ve fiiiiil, £90»,000.

Nathaniel Alesaader, Esq.
Th.03. Tyringham Bernard,

Esq.
Philip Patton Blyth, Esq.
Thomas Stock Cowie, Esq.
Frederick Francis, Esq.
Frederick Harrison, Esq,

DiEECIOES.

William Champion Jones, Esq
Edwd. Harbord Lushington,

Esq.
James Morley,Bsq.
William Nicol, Esq.
Abraham H. Phillpotts, Esq.
Frederick Youle, Esq

General Managbb. — WilUam M'Kewan, Esq.
Chief In spectob. — W. J. Norfolk, Esq.
IiTSPKOTOES Off Beanches, — H. J. Lemon, Esq., and C. Sher-
ring, Esq.
Chief Accountant. — James Gray, Esq.
Secebtaey. — F. Olappison, Esq,
HEAD OFFICE— 21, LOMBARD STREET,
Manaqee. — Whitbread Tomson, Esq,
Assistant Manages. — WiUiam Howard, Esq.
At the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Pro-
prietors, held on THURSDAY, the 1st Februai-y, 1872, at the
City Terminus Hotel, Cannon-street Station,

The following Report for the half-year ending the 31st
December, 1871, was read by the Secretary,

WILLIAil CHAMPION JONES, Esq., in the Chair,
The Directors, in submitting to the Proprietors the Balance-
Sheetofthe Bank for the Half- Year ending the 31st December
last, have the satisfaction to report that, after paying interest
to customers and all charges, allowing for rebate, and making
provision for bad and doubtful debts, the net ijroflts amount
to £98,098 5s. lid. This sum, added to £4,419 17s. 4d. brought
from the last account, produces a total of £10i,54S 3a. 3d.

The usual dividend of 6 per cent, for the half-year is recom-
mended, together with a Ijonus of 3^ per cent., both free of
income-tax, which will absorb £95,000, and leave £7,548 3s.
3d. to bo carried forward to Profit and Loss New Account.
The present dividend and bonus added to the June payment
will make 184 per cent, for the year 1871.

The Dii'eotors have to announce the retirement of their
esteemed colleague, Lord Alfred Hervey, in consequence of
his acceptance of the oflSce of Receiver-General of Inland
Revenue. Abraham Hodgson Phillpotts, Esq., has been
elected a director in his stead, in accordance mth the provi-
sions of the Deed of Settlement.

The directors retiring by rotation are: PhiUip Patton
Blyth, Esq., James Morley, Esq., and Abraham Hodgson
PhiUpotts, Esq., who, being eligible, offer themselves for
re-election.

The dividend and bonus, together £1 18s. per share, free
of income tax, will be payable at the Head Office, or at any
of the Branches, on or after Monday, the 12th instant.

BALANCE-SHEET of the LONDON and COUNTY BANK-
ING COMPANY, 31st Dec,, 1871.
Dr.

To capital paid up £1,000,000 0 0

To reserve fund 500,000 0 0

To amount due Ijy the Bank
for customers' balances, &c. 16,116,730 5 9

To liabilities on acceptances,

covered by securities 2,778,016 6 7

18,894,746 12 4

To profit and loss balance
brought fromlast account.. 4,449 17 4

To gross profit for the half-
year, after making provi-
Bion for bad and doubtful
flebts, viz 283,231 19 10

287,681 17 2

Cr.

By cash on hand at Head-
office, and Branches, and
with Bank of England £2,241,062 6

By cash placed at call and at
notice, covered by securi-
ties 2,807,571 10

£20,682,428 9 6

8

Investments, viz. :
By Government and guaran-
teed stocks 1,379,989

By other stocks audsecuri^es 124,846

-£5,048,633 17 4

-1,604,834 0 7

By discounted biUs, and ad-
vances to customers in
town and country 10,941,853^5 6

By liabilities of customers for
drafts accepted by the Bank
(as per contra) 2,778,016 6 7

-13.719.869 12 1

By freehold premises in Lombard Street and
Nicholas Lane, freehold and leasehold pro-
perty at the branches, with fixtures and

fittmgs 248,517 17

By interest paid to customers 62,647 9

By salaries and all other expenses at head-
office and branches, including income-tax
on profits and salaries 107,925 4

£20,682,428 9
Dr. Peofit and Loss Account.

To interest paid to customers, as above £52,647 9

To expenses, as above 107,925 4

To rebate on bills not due, carried to new

account 24,561 0

To dividend of 6 per cent, for half year 60,000 0

To bonus of 3 J per cent 35,000 0

To balance carried forward 7,548 3

£287,681 17 2

Bybalancebroughtforwardfromlastaceount £4,449 17 4
By gross profit for the half-year, after making
provision for bad and doubtful debts 283,231 19 10

£287,681 17 2
We, the undersigned, have examined the foregoing balance-
sheet, and have found the same to be correct,

WM. JARDINE, -)

(Signed) WILLIAM NORMAN, J- Auditors.
RICHARD H. SWAINE, )
London and County Bank, Jan. 25, 1873.
The foregoing Report having been read by the Secretary,
the following resolutions were proposed, and unanimously
adopted :

1. " That the report be received and adopted, and printed
for the use of the Shareholders."

2. " That a diviuend of 6 per cent., together with a bonus
of 3i per cent., both free of income-tax, be declared for the
half-year ending the 31st December, 1871, payable on and
after Monday, the 12th instant, and that the balance of £7,548
3s. 3d. be carried forward to profit and loss new account."

3. " That PhiUip Patton Bljrth, James Morley, and Abraham
Hodgson Phillpotts, Esquires, be re-elected Directors of this
Company."

4. " That the thanks of this Meeting be given to the Board
of Directors for the able manner in which they have con-
ducted the affairs of the Company."

6. "That WiUiam Jardine, William Norman, and Richard
Hinds Swaine, Esquires, be elected auditors for the c.irreut
year, and that the thanks of this meeting be presented to
them for their services during the past year.

6, " That the thanks of this meeting be presented to the
General Manager, and to all the other officers of the bank for
the zeal and ability mth which they have discharged their
respective duties,"

(Signed) W, CHAMPION JONES, Chaii-man.

The Chairman having quitted the chau*, it was resolved,
and carried unanimously :

7. " That the cordial thanks of this Meeting be presented
to WiUiam Champion Jones, Esq., for his able and courteous
conduct in the Chair."

(Signed) WILLIAM NICOL, Deputy Chairman.
(Extracted from the Minutes.)
(Signed) F. CLAPPISON, Secretary.

LONDON and COUNTY BANKING
COMPANY.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that a DIVIDEND on
the Capital of the Company, at the rate of 6 per cent, for
the haU-year ending 31st December, 1871, with a BONUS of
3^ per cent., will be PAID to the Proprietors, either at the
Head Office, 21, Lombard-street, or at any of the Com-
pany's Branch Banks, on or after MONDAY, the 12th
instant. By order of the Board,

W. McKEWAN, General Manager,
21, Lombard-street, Feb, 2nd, 1872.

AS SUPPLIED
,^ MAJESTY THE q^

AS SUPPLIED

B..H.THEPHINCtCFB,

CAimiAGE
FREE.

BUTTONS' GRASS SEEDS

FOR ALL SOILS.

SPECIAL CONTEACTS MADE FOB LARGE QUANTITIES.

SUTTONS' PERMANENT PASTURE GRASS SEED MIXTURES,

Prepared for various Deacriptions of Soils. PRICE 223. to 32s. per Acre.
)r further particulars of SUTTOKS' GRASS SEEDS FOR ALL SOILS, see SUTTONS' FARMERS' YEAR BO'

for 1872, gratis and post-free.

SUTTONS' PRIZE FARM SEEDS, CARRIAGE FREE.

Suttons' Mammoth

The niost profitable and most
nutritious Long Mangel ever
introduced.

Price Is. 3d. per pound. Much
cheaper by the cwt.

Long Red Mangel.

The heaviest cropping Long Mangel
in cultivation; 70 tons per acre
having been grown in 1871.

Price Is. 3d. per pound,
cheaper by the cwt.

- p or: ^^ (T) c

O (Tl^

'<' f^ 1^ K' P? "9 '^ P'

£^S OS" Q^

ptit!

Much

<M

99

O "^ P P

i?§'8§^g&g§p-

• !^ B ■ '
f= 2 oor?

^tf^s So

" 00 t^

3 !:, « ^

P M « ft. t;

•^ 55

■< P jj d IT,

g 5 P- e?3 ^ !» s

S- 0 m ^ W fl_ fe'Q.P

►l2-ftO?ci-CD(B P''<

C3

The best Globe Mangel,
SUTTONS' BERKSHIRE PRIZE.
Price Is. 3d. per pound ; cheaper by the cwt.

The best Mangel for Shallow Soils,

BUTTONS' YELLOW INTERMEDIATE.

Price Is. per pound ; much cheaper by

the cwt

Prime New Yellow Globe and Long
Red Mangel Seed, 8d. per lb.

For further particulars of

CHOICE FARM SEEDS, see

SUTTONS' FARMERS* YEAR

BOOK,

Gratis and Post-free.

SUTTON AND SONS, Royal Berks Seed Establishment, READING.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

MARCH, 1873.

CONTENTS.

Plate I.— BERKSHIRE PIGS: the property of Mr. John Biggs, of Cublington,

Leighton Buzzard.

Plate II.— ON MONDAY NEXT.

Description of Plates • . . .

The Farmers' Club : Farm Management , ,

Royal Agricultural Society of England

The Progress of the Plough. — By Cuthbert W. Johnson, F.R.S.

Maidstone Farmers' Club: Parasitic Diseases in Animals

The Farm Labourers' Movement

Land Tenure ....

Tenant-Right

Kincardineshire Farmers' Club

Sheep Breeding in New South Wales

The Labourers' Health and Diet

The Wadebridge Farmers' Club

Botley and South Hants Farmers' Club

Staindrop Farmers' Club

The Hexham Farmers' Club : The Land Question

The Framlingham Farmers' Club : The Double-Furrow Ploug

Free Trade in Beer .

Individual Providence for Old Age .

The Wandsworth Infirmary for Animals

Farming in Ireland: A Dairy Farm. — By the Northern Farm

The Central Chamber op Agriculture

Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland

Smithfield Club

The Ayrshire Farmers' Club .

Kingscote Agricultural Association : Wheat Growing

The Agricultural Society of New South Wales: Horses and Horse

Lavenham Farmers' Club

Land Agreements

Monmouthshire Chamber of Agriculture

The Midland Farmers' Club .

Staffordshire Chamber of Agriculture

Cornwall Chamber of Agriculture : The Game Laws

Athy Farmers' Club : The Labourer's Cottage in Ireland

Cromar, Upper Dee, and Donside Agricultural Association

The Staffordshire Chamber of Agriculture .

Review of the Grain Trade .

Review of the Cattle Trade

Review of the Corn Trade during the Past Month

Market Cubrencibs, Imperial Averages, &c.

page

. 183

. 184

. 191

. 193

. 195

. 198

. 199

. 204

. 206

. 208

. 210

. 211

. 212

. 215

. 218

. 221

. 226

. 228

. 229

. 230

. 232

. 236

. 237

. 238

. 241

REEDING 244

. 246

. 250

. 252

. 255

. 259

. 260

. 262

. 267

. 268

. 269

. 269

. 270

. 274

MARK LANE EXPRESS,

AND

LARGEST AND THE LEADING FARMER'S AND GRAZIER'S NEWSPAPER,

PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY EVENING, IN TIME FOR POST.

Office of Publication and for Advertisements, 265, Strand, London. May be had of all Booksellers and
Newsmen iiirongbout the Kingdom, pncc Sevcnpcncc, or ^1 10s. 4d. per annnm.

'^^v^*. l^i

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

MARCH, 1872.

PLATE I.

BERKSHIRE PIGS.

IE PUOPERTY 0? MU. JOHN BIQGS, OF CUBLIItOTOlf, LEIQUTOX BUZZARD.

This pen of pig3, bred by Mr. Biggs from his owa
sort, were farrowed oa September 2iid, 1870.

At the Royal and Central Bucks show at Aylesbury iu
September, 1871, they took the first prize as the best pea
of fat pigs.

At the Birmingham and Midland Counties show in
November, they took the first prize in their class, and
the cup as the best pigs of the section.

At Smithfleld Club show iu December, they took the
first prize in their class and the silver cup, as the best
pen of pigs in any of the classes.

We had not much opportunity of looking over this
famous pen at Aylesbury, but on seeing them again at
Birmingham we wrote thus : " Far away the best pigs
were Mr. John Biggs' Berkshires, which might have
taken any extra premium as the best of all, instead
of merely the best of two classes." And, again, at the
Smithfield show we said : " The silver cup for the best

pen of pigs in the Hall has now gone for four shows in
succession to blacks. The judges had, indeed, a very
poor opinion of the whites generally ; and though they
threw in a commendation here and there, or more pro-
perly but two commendations in three classes, they
generally commended the three classes of ' other breeds,'
or, in point of fact, Berkshires, where the three first
prizes were laken by Mr. Biggs, who had already shown
the strength of his hand at Birmingham ; but the com-
petition here was stronger, as evinced by the displacement
of Lord Ailesbury's and Mr. Bailey's good pigs. It
was, in fact, all through a capital show of Berkshires,
led ofi' by some of the most useful farmer's pigs ever
exhibited."

These pigs were fed on barley and Eivett's wheat-meal,
skim-milk, and Thorley's food. Their live weight was
17 cwt. 3 qr. 101b. They were purchased by Mr
Brown, of Warwick Street, Leamington.

PLATE II.

ON MONDAY NEXT.

Who is there with soul so dead that does not give a
glance, and follow it up by another and another, as he
views the gallant veterans of the chase, struggling on the
London flags, craning in all directions, as they wend their
way to be bound to a new master, by the " Tat of the
hammer," on Monday next ? A sight of them must
bring back to most of us some fond remembrance or
sweet recollection of a distant country, brother-sportsmen,
favourite meet, or clipping thing, and make the heart of
many a once jolly country lad, but now a pent-up, lau-

Old Skries.]

guid, London-bound apprentice, beat again, as he catches
a glimpse of the slashiug-lookiiig Villager and his
jovial comrades jogging through some murky back street.
Aye, they make tlie poor heart of many a caged bird beat
again for rural scenes, sports, and pastimes, the old house
at home, and healthy, honest-looking faces. Or, if not
they sigh again, as the kind cheery tones of old Will reach
the ear, with " Cheer up, my lad, cheer up" — or " Coom,
lassie, coom" — I would I were a foxhound !

O [Vol. LXXI.— No. 3.

184

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE FARMERS' CLUB.
FARM MANAGEMENT.

The first monthly discussion meeting of the Club for the
present year, took place on Monday, February 5, at the Club-
house, Salisbury Hotel, the Chairman for the year, Mr. H.
Cheffins, presiding. The subject fixed for discussion was in-
troduced by the Rev. G. Davies, Hall Place, Romsey, being
" The Use of Method, Arrangement, and Observation in the
Management of a Farm."

The Chairman said: Gentlemen, this is the first occasion ou
which I have appeared before you as your chairman, and I
shall adhere to the promise which 1 have made more than
once, that I would not inflict upon you a long speech. As
this happens, however, to be our first meeting this year, per-
mit me to offer my congratulations on seeing before me so
many old friends of the Club in health and happiness, and to
add that I am very glad to see that there have been so many
new members during the past year (cheers.) I will not take
up your time by entering into the subject before us, but I am
quite sure from what I have heard of Mr. Davies, and from
some knowledge of him as a resident in my own county, that
we shall hear something that will interest us very much (Hear,
hear).

The Rev. G. Davies read the opening address: This
subject is of a homely nature, and, to a certain extent,
lacks the dignity of the discussions to which the Central
Farmers' Club may consider itself entitled. I trust, how-
ever, that whatever is practical may be by you excused,
even if of a plain and homely aspect ; and that an audience
(which comprises many who know far more than I do of
agriculture) will excuse remarks derived from daily life
ou a farm. We live, indeed, in an age in which " men run
to and fro, and knowledge is increased." Men naturally
therefore select subjects for discussion bearing on the advanc-
ing science of the age. The pioneers of progress are con-
stantly at our elbow, and the tendency of discussion is towards
progress— it is a go-ahead age. But retrospective glances are
good. May we not be omitting some things which our more
slow-going ancestors valued and worked out for us ? Amidst
the rattle of steam-engines and the odour of phosphates, may
we not be omitting some of the simpler appliances which are
also necessary component parts of a farming system ? We
certainly have progressed most wonderfully in all matters con-
nected with the cultivation of laud, and nowhere more than in
Hampshire, because the discovery of dissolving bones, com-
bined with the introdaction in the last fifty years of turnips
and swedes, has enabled us to cultivate hill-farms, which be-
fore were worthless (except as sheep-walks), because they were
inaccessible to the dung-cart. At the same time, are there
not some things in which we have gone back ? I often hear
the complaint on heavy lands, " Our clays cap so— run toge-
ther after heavy rains — even more tbau they used to do."
What wonder ? We shave our wheat-straw, and, indeed, all
our straw crops off so close to the ground with the reaping
machines, that in distant fields perhaps no vegetable matter is
ever returned to the ground. But iu olden times, when they
reaped high, and then began winter-fallowing, there was after
every straw crop about six inches of straw distributed, and not

only distributed, but placed in a most even way, so that it was
restored to the ground, and not only that, but the under-side
of the turned-over furrow was by this means wedged up as it
were to let the frost and air circulate underneath. If you
consider this going on for a long series of crops, can you
wonder that the land changes character? I admit our fore-
fathers' stubbles were foul, and that we have learned the value
of straw for stock and also for feeding stuffs. Still, that does
not alter the fact. Lot a man cart out for his sheep to lay ou
of a wet night ever so little refuse straw, and see the differ-
ence in the work of that part of the field compared with the
rest of the field. Take again the instance of chalking land.
You will excuse my illustrations being iu a great measure
local ; I am speaking of heavy land in the south of Hamp-
shire, which is strong, good, wheat land, about thirty to thirty-
six inches from the chalk. Now, in walking over that part of
the country, you will see in every field one or more chalk-pits.
I have in a forty-acre field a pit from which an acre of chalk
has been dug, and put on the land— mind, a chalk-pit the area
of which is an acre, and the depth thirty or forty feet. That
field must have been in times gone by chalked over and over
again, because three or four rods of area at that depth would
chalk it all over once. And I conclude none was taken into
other fields, because all the surrounding fields have their
chalk-pits, and people would naturally cart from the nearest
pit. I observe these chalk-pits have not been much used of
late years, because in all my pits I find gun-flints and the
stones chipped off them at the mouth of the pits. At the time
of the Peninsular War the flmts of these chalk-pits were
largely used for gun-flints. It has been said to me more than
once by strangers looking into these pits, " Why, what absurd
people you Hampshire folk must have been ; it surely never
could have been intended that chalk should be put upon this
soil because Providence has placed it so close; why, it is only
three feet from the surface." Ou the same principle one
might say in the Midland Counties the coal could never have
been meant to smelt the iron ore, because it is so near. The
test would naturally be this : take a piece of land just broken
up out of a wood, which has never been chalked, although it
has a chalk subsoil ; try it without and with chalk, and you
will soon find the wisdom of our forefathers. I will quite
admit the immense progress of the age— steam-engines and
the solution of phosphates were not problems for the infancy
of farming; but yet our forefathers worked well with the
materials they had at hand. Our returns are enormously
more than our ancestors' on the same farms fifty years ago ;
but then our expenses are enormously more also. When they
had no roots, because roots were not known, the labour bill
was small. There was no necessity to employ labourers, be-
cause there were only cottages for the carter, the shepherd,
and the thrasher, and these three functionaries did the work
of the farm ; and so it used to be a local proverb that a mau
wanted an active carter to get over the fallows, a lazy shep-
herd to make the sheep-feed last out, and a spiteful thrasher
not to leave any corn in the straw. The labour accounts such
as we have— equal to the rent, tithe, and taxes on a farm—

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

185

they knew nothing of, nor had they, I imagine, the enormous
bills we have from blacksmith, wheelwright, harness-maker
engineers, &c. Thus, to make a fair estimate of an improved
position, we must look at both sides of the b alance-sheet— ex-
penditure and returns. I have been led into these remarks
by two stories respecting past and present, which I shall
venture to put before you. They both relate to fifty years ago.
In the year 1870 I was talking to a labourer who had Hved in
the village all his life, and was seventy-six years old. We
were in a wheat field, at harvest-time. I said, " I suppose you
don't recollect so long ago, though you are old enough, what
sort of corn crop this farm carried fifty years ago ?" He
replied, " This very field was wheat fifty years ago, and I mind
it particularly because I was gx)ing to be married that autumn,
and I worked early and late to earn money to furnish my home
with." " Well," I said, " and compared with tlie present crop,
what sort of a piece of wheat was there ?" He said, " Rather
more straw, and quite as much corn, as there is now." Now,
my crop in which we were standing was a good crop— after
swedes grown with superphosphate, and fed off by sheep,
eating a little corn and cake. Supposing the sheep to pay for
the artificial food, there would be still the expense of the root
crop, say £4 an acre. " How was the crop grown fifty years
ago ?" I said. " It was a fallow, well knocked about for nine
or ten months, and then a ewe flock, running sainfoin and
clover leys, folded at night on the naked fallow." There is a
picture of the same field under the same crop in the autumn of
1830 and the autumn of 1870. The old style was much less
expensive, and the result as good. The question, then, arises.
Are we better than our ancestors ? The other anecdote is of
a very different kind. A gentleman, who farmed some hun-
dreds of acres of land, close to the town of Stockbridge,
retired last autumn from farming, and, at his sale, he said, " I
commenced this flock of Hampshire Down sheep, which will
now be offered under the hammer, on this same estate in the
year 1831; but half a century has altered prices very much.
We must make great allowances for the exceptionally high
prices of this particular season, but, after making this allow-
ance, what a fearful difference ! In 1831 1 purchased the ewes
from which this flock is descended for 12s. each, and the
lambs at 8s. each. The ewes are now worth 48s. to 50s., and
the lambs 40s. to 443." Here is a wonderful picture— corn
farming not much progressed; stock, quadrupled in value
within half a century— or, to take off one-fourth for the ex-
ceptional year, three times the old value. I was telling this
to a very experienced man, Mr. Westbury, of Andover, a well-
known valuer, and asked him if my figures were correct. He
said, " I myself am old enough to recollect something of the
same sort. A man once offered me some couples (ewes and
lambs), quite sound and healthy, at 7s. 6d. ; ' But,' he said, ' it
is 2s. 6d. a-head more than they are worth in the fair, and
therefore, as a friend, I should not like to sell them to you.' "
Of course, these figures apply, in matters of profit, to the
Ireeder only— not to a man who buys a lean sheep and fats
him, because this year the profit is to the breeder, and the
fuller may even have to sell at a loss ; certainly, if he bought
in late, his profit will not be great.

Method.— With respect to the method which a man will
pursue in farming, he will probably, to a certain extent, be
bound down by his lease ; and his lease, to a certain extent,
may be a safe guide, because it is generally drawn from ex-
perience of the tillage most suitable to that particular locaUty.
Still, I tluuk, after a time, landlords will grow less stringent

in their leases, and, in fact, now the covenants are seldom kept
strictly, except in the last two years. If a man is bound down
not to sell hay, straw, or roots off a farm, he cannot hurt it
much ; if he is bound to keep so much stock per acre, he can-
not much hurt a farm. Sometimes there are covenants in a
lease which are very injurious to the tenanl, without helping
the landlord. In some leases in my neighbourhood the cove-
nant is inserted never to have two white straw crops insucces-
siou. That is now changed for this greatly improved clause,
"Not to grow two white straw crops in succession, unless
after two root crops just preceding." Ours is a heavy wheat
country. If wheat is followed by a root crop, fed off with
sheep, and barley put in afterwards, the barley goes to straw,
and exhausts the ground, without producing a good sample ;
whereas, barley sown on a wheat-stubble is often much more
productive, and always of a better quahty. Then, with a
breeding flock, we are obliged to keep back our roots till
March, April, and the first ten days of May, in order to sup-
port our lambs till the grass is ready. This land, so fed off,
is often, if put in with corn, in bad tilth, and too late to expect
any yield ; whereas, by ploughing up the late-fed swedes, and
putting in rape, or mustard, or" vetches, or some other catch
crop, for sheep to be fed off in the autumn, the cultivation
suits the seasons, and then it comes well, twice folded, for
wheat in October and November, and that wheat foUowed by
barley or oats. This greater latitude in the leases is now being
introduced, in deference to common sense. As a general rule,
I think a man coming to a neff county cannot do better than
follow the system of that county, at all events, at first,
let him look over the hedge and see what his neighbours are
doing, and try to improve upon that ; but, still, let him take
the farming of the district as his basis. Look how different is
the cultivation of Hampshire chalks to heavy land in Essex,
for instance. In Essex, all your tackle made to fit a ten-turn
ridge, so tliat your horses may always walk in the furrow ; in
Hampshire, no furrows, and the more your horses tread the
ground the better ; in fact, for wheat, we often drive flocks of
sheep over the newly-sown corn to get the ground firm, and
follow the plough with a presser. It is a bad compliment to
any locality for a new man coming from another county to
imagine the people who have lived there all their lives know
nothing about, farming; yet many a new-comer proclaims this
when he sets at nought all the old views of tillage, implements,
and cattle. I did this to a certain extent myself, and, there-
fore, I see the foUy of it. I thought I could introduce
long-wooUed sheep, instead of the Hampshire Down;
but I soon found the improved Hampshire Down
was the sheep of the district and the sheep for tlie district.
They work hard for their food, and fold well, and from an
even distribution of lean in a fat sheep, are always saleable.
In fact, the camel is not more pecnharly fitted to be the ship
of the desert, than the Hampshire Down sheep for its
own locality. I believe that it is a great mistake to take
it into a grass country, as it is peculiarly liable to foot-
rot, far more so than the long-wooUed, whitefaced slieep.
The same with the horses— one wonders at the Shire bred
horse with so much hair about his legs. 13ut to a horse walk-
ing all day in harsh clays and beds of sharp flints, that hair
(though it looks ugly) is as useful as a beard to a colonial
bishop suject to bronchitis. Then, again, in implements ;
the light swing-plough of Suffolk is a very pretty instrument
compared to the two-wheel Hampshire plough with its shifting
head gear for the beam to slip aside whea tbeplouglicoiuesiucon-

0 <«

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tact with an imbedded fliut. However, our lieavy hiud jjlough,
with the shifting head gear, which we call " the gallows," was,
I daresay, not invented in a day, or without great foretiiought,
and certainly it admirably answers its purpose. In the same
way I tried lioeing wheat on the strong laud, but the hoe flies
off the stone, and cuts out the wheat quite as much as it would
cut the weeds. Again, look at the Hampshire way of making
the sainfoin ricks in the fields close to the roots, and then
cutting out the hay and feeding tlie sheep in cages made of
the common ash-poles of the hedgerows. It seems to a
stranger a very antiquated and wasteful way. But it is not,
because if you have lambs folding first, and the ewes follow-
ing, they eat up everything clean, and don't waste even a leaf
of the hay. The stock ewe kept hungry to follow the fatting
sheep is the best clearer up I ever saw. I knew a farmer who
came from a distant county, who with new-born zeal set to
work to carry all his hay home, cut it into chaff, bagged it
up, brought it back, and gave it to the sheep in troughs.
They did not eat it any cleaner, because they wasted none
before. Look at the expense. To carry the hay to the home-
stead, pair of horses to cut it into chaiF, then bags to be filled,
and carting back to fields. Reckoning horses, troughs, bags,
aud men, I suppose I should not be wrong to say this involved
a loss of 20 per cent. However, that person believes in local
customs more tiian he used, and he has got the ash-cages back
again, and one man and a boy manage 300 sheep very well on
the old plan. He does not think now t!iat the county he
came from has a monopoly of wisdom. Whether I am right
in my estimate of 20 per cent, on the value of the hay, being
the dilTerence or the proximate difference on the two syztems,
at all events the difference in expense is enormous. Quite
enough, at all events, to make adifferenceof profit or! jss on the
whole sheep on a farm. And.after all,it is on thing, of this sort
that the question hinges. Take the case of three men — a man
who is extravagant in labour, a mau who is libeial but judicious
in his labour witliout being wasteful, and a m;n who is so mean
in his labour that things are not done whijli should be. But
the virtue lies in the mean between the tvo extremes — between
e.xtravagaace and penuriousness. In the same way, if two
men, one who buys and sells well, \',hether by himself or by
commission, and one who sells badly, wiU lay all tlie dilference
of profit or loss. One man maj- save money, while the other
will gradually be exhausting hi;, capital. Even in the date of
the leading fairs of a county a man may observe some thingij
to guide him. Our ciuef early fairs are Stockbridge and
Overton, large lamb faire. They come in the second and third
weeks in July, and I lave noticed that within two or three
days of that time, oui- trifoliuras, sainfoins, and last vetches
are done, and as wa have no meadows wliat is to be done with
the lambs ?— sell or starve. The date of those fairs are guid-
ing points to a man, they are his light-houses, he must steer
by them. His down may keep his ewes going ; but his lambs,
if he is a 1-rge breeder, he must sell, because until his clovers
afford ar.i;lher bile, or his giant sainfoin, he will be sorely
pressed until his early autumn turnips and rape come in, which
will sot be until September. Sj much for the customs of a
locality.

Arrangement.— Now, when I say a few words on arrange-
ment in matters of detail, I speak again (I am aware) of those
minuiite, which, though seemingly beiieath the dignify of
essayists, may contribute a great deal to the successful and
pleasant working of a farm. On a large farm the study of
arrangement is most necessary, in fact, this is as the oil

to the machine, which without it runs to wear and waste.
Take for instance, the case of a man starting over-night to
set out the work of a farm for the morrow, several teams of
horses to be got out, and a large number of men, with the
probable contingency that a heavy fall of rain in the night or
a hard frost may make it necessary that every order must be
supplemented with another to provide for emergencies. A
man setting to work to do this without a business head or a
knowledge of arrangement, will find himself very much in the
position of a civilian who should be suddenly called on to march
20,000 troops in or out of Hyde Park. Yon may reply, " True ;
hut then a large farmer would always have a bailiff to do this."
I admit it, but then, if a man understood his business, he would
never ask a foreman to do what, if he were put in the position,
he could not do himself. How should he know that his foreman
is doing it day by day to the best advantage, if lie could not
do it himself? Besides, a bailiff soon becomes your master
if he finds you cannot do without him, or that you could not
do if he left you what you expect him to do. I believe very
much in the " power of tittles" in agriculture as well as in
other things, and that the education of the farmer cannot be
too practical, cannot too much embrace the early stages of
learning, the lower departments of knowledge, what will cor-
respond to the catechism and primers of literary education.
Let me illustrate by a very small matter. It was with lis a
very wet and catchy time i>.t harvest, one man seeing his men
stopped from cutting corn by a shower, set all hands to work
to throw off the dry straw to catch the descending moisture,
afterwards to draw the straw ready lor thatching. The next
day sets in hot, and a wheat rick was made in the afternoon,
and next day thatched aud safe. Another man tells his men
to standstill ; that makes them dissatisfied at losing half-a-day.
When after a while he throws out his straw for thatching
water has to be fetched in a water-cart some distance from a
pond. When his wheat ricks are finished a delay occurs in
the thacthing, no straw being drawn. Here are three points
lost at a very important time, and a wet wheat rick as a final re-
sult, all from what might by good management have been
avoided. Take another case: one man has his turnip and
swcede crop in half-a-dozen different fields ; anotlier man has
managed to throw his four or five course shift pretty much to-
gether. Look at the difference in the moving tackle from
field to field, aud after that in shifting hurdles, cages, &c.,
when the sheep are folding off the roots. I pass on to the
third and last head to be considered, viz. :

Observation. — The observant man I take it to be one who
tlioroughly enjoys his farm, as the gardener enjoys his vinery or
his greenhouse — one who spends his time on it, watching it
and the plants that grow on it at all times of the day and in
all seasons. He who loves his profession is the only man
likely to get on in that profession — and thus the lover of agri-
culture watches it with an intense scrutiny in all its varied
and delicious changes of season — ever looking forward to
its successes with fondest hope, aud even by its accidents and
difficulties being braced to greater action ; for difficulties are
bugbears to fools but the instructors of wise men ; and it is
because so many difliculties have to be encountered in bring-
ing farmiug operations to a successful issue that farming has
in it so great a charm, and is so great a dispeller of listless-
ness and ennui. We all know (and some of us in this room
have heard) those admirable statistics which Mr. John Bennett
Luvfs has drawn from the experimental observations in
various plots of ground, stimulated and fed with different ma-

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187

nures. Now, what lie has so well done I'or the public, is what
each inau ought, however unconsciously, to be working out
evermore for himself. And tliat he can do without expense ;
only let him, as he walks about, keep his eyes open and his
mind at work. How much will accidents do to inform him ?
It was but last summer that I noticed a square piece in
the middle of a wheat field, where the corn was a few
iuches shorter than the rest of the field. As the piece was
about the size of a sheep fold, and the line of demarcation ran
as regularly as the hurdles would, I went to the shepherd, and
said, " I see such a piece looks as if the sheep had broken out
from their fold when the mustard was penned for wheat last
autumn." He said, " Yes, one night I suppose a strange dog
must have run by the fold — for they did break out of that par-
ticular fold, and laid under a hedge in another field — aad it
could not have been long after T left them ia the fold at sun-
set, for in the morning I found they had scarcely eaten up
their bait." We know the value of bringing a ewe flock in
full off clover leys and folding them thick between hurdles, as
well as any one ; but it was never brought home to me so
clearly as by that accident. Those sheep had been one hour
in that fold, and twelve hours on the next ; and it was to be
seen, by difference in straw and corn, exactly (as in Mr. Lawes'
plots) what was the value of a sheep fold for corn ; whereas,
otherwise it would have been only known in a general way.
If I had had a farming pupil with me, I think that would have
taught him more than volumes on the same subject. Again,
suppose one of our stock farmers to divide his lambs and fold
them in the same field ; the ewe lambs, being for stock,
we do not want to feed, the wether lambs we do. I did this
three years ago, and penned them over roots side by side. The
ewe lambs had only hay. The wethers, with only a hurdle
between, went down the same field in parallel lines, and I al-
lowed them about four sacks per acre of oats in addition to
the hay. I put that field in with oats ia the spring ; and, as
near as I could reckon, there were four sacks an acre more on
the part where the wether lambs were fed ; so that I exactly
got back my four sacks given in feed. If I had fed the whole
field with sheep eating oats, I should not have been able to
say whether the corn given had improved the crop or not. It
was the accident which helped me. But the same thing holds
good whenever there is only a partial distribution of manure.
Supposing a farmer to be trying any top-dressing, it is always
well to try some on a crop of which a ridge here and there is
left unraanured ; otherwise what is attributed to the manure
may perhaps be due to the season or the tilth with which the
crop was put in. It is our custom to drill all our root crops,
swedes, turnips, and mangolds, with ashes and superphosphate.
My custom, as my laud is heavy, is to drill never less than 100
bushels of sifted ashes and 3 cwts. of dissolved bones. I find
by getting the dissolved bone either from Mr. Lawes or Messrs.
H. & T. Proctor, I am never disappointed in a crop. The ex-
pense of the bone and ashes is about 30s. an acre. It very often
happens, owing to the ashes being damp, that the manure
drills get stopped for a few yards while the seed barrel deli-
vers the seed. The turnips or swedes get hoed in these
patches, where the manure has not run the same as the rest
of the field. In the autumn the exact value of the manure is
easily estimated by taking a dozen roots from the manured
and the unmanured drills, and estimating their weight. I am
inclined to think the crops would stand on an average, as 15
tons per acre on the manured drills and 5 tons on the unmanured.
The average weight of roots with manure would be as 6 lbs.

to 3 lbs., the bone aad ashes making a seed-bed and giving
the plant a great start in the early season of its growth. I
may add, I prefer old aslies which have been exposed to a
winter's wet and cold, because they are damp, which new ashes
are not; and in our dry soils the damp of the seed-bed often
brings up a plant, which with dry ashes would not start till
a rain. If this calculation, which is open to your criticism,
be correct, as I believe it is, the cost of the extra ten tons per
acre is to be achieved at the rate of three shiUiogs a ton. This
fact would be a good motto to Mr. Lawes or Messrs. II. & T.
Proctor in their annual circular ; and if they send me an extra
ton of manure with wliat I shall order of them this year, I
will not put, as autiiors do now-a-days, " All rights in this
publication reserved." Youth does not admit of the time to
have accumulated knowledge by its own industry ; but youth,
by being distrustful of itself and humble, can glean an in- •
mense amount of information from others. Suppose a man t
have a shepherd who has tended sheep on your farm for twent
or thirty years, how much may be learned from him, or fro
your carter or drillmau's experience and observation in times
past P " To pick the brains and inherit the experience of such
as these is the practical way to learn of the past and to in-
quire of the days that are gone." Thus it is that accident
often tries experiments for us, which we have not the energy
to set about for ourselves. But if we observe them when
they do occur, what matter ? I have another one in ray
mind at this time. There is half-an-acre of ground in the
corner of one of my fields which was let as an allotment-
garden with some colt*ges for several years, and cultivated
with spade husbandry. It has been now cropped for six years
in the usual course of husbandry with the rest of the field
under the plough. But I can see the boundary line to an
inch — in every crop now after six years — which I suppose we
should attriliute partly to deep cultivation of the spade —
partly to the manure — but chiefly to its having had entire rest
for many years from cereal crop. If laud gets (as the saying is)
clover-sick by sowing clover oftener than once in eight years,
does not land get wheat-sick and barley-sick vvhich has had a
white straw crop, on a low estimate, thirty times in fifty years.
This allotment system of the labourer enables me here to
quote an observation which occurs in the Cth page of Mr.
Mechi's well-known Farm Manual. He there says : " The
cottage garden, independently of its deeper cultivation,
receives in manure thirty-two times the quantity that the
farmer puts on his land. As is the meat made so is the
manure. Now the labourer with his pig consumes perhaps
three sacks of barley, which, at 71bs. of meal to lib. of pork,
makes Silbs. of meat. That you will find is four score on one-
eighth of an acre (the size of an allotment), or at the rate of
thirty-two score of meat to the acre. The average of farmers
do not make one score of meat to the acre." Mr. Mechi then
quotes an instance from the 11th volume of the Royal Agri-
cultural Societies' Journal, of a farmer who produced four-
and-a-half score per acre. By consuming the whole of my
barley crop this autumn I find I shall produce one-and-a-half
score per acre of fat pork, and I suppose I might say about an
equal quantity of mutton and beef. I should very much like
to elicit the opinion of the meeting as to the quantity of meat
whicli on an average farm could be produced profitably. As to
warm food on animals, I think the labourer's pig gives the
result of a continual experiment on a small scale. My labourers
generally have the doll or cad pig out of the trip and keep it.
I invariably find that this much-despised and iujured ofi'spring

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of the sow in a labourer's bauds always walks in a winner
over tbe whole trip of its brothers and sisters. I often say to
the purchaser of such a small specimen afterwards : " Well, is
the pig come to an untimely end ?" and I invariably get the
reply, "Gont far ahead of all the re^t of the trip ; just look
over and see when nest you pass." And wlienever I hare
looked I have found it so. The secret is that the thrifty
housewife always keeps the pot on, and the pig thrives accord-
ingly. The moral of which would be — Why don't you boil
everything for your pigs ? That is a very difficult question to
answer — it is a mere question of labour, and perhaps
what can be done on a small scale profitably cannot he done
on a large. Unless it was done regularly it would do no good.
I often notice at the model farms I visit steaming apparatus
put up, but not used. I suppose it is difficult to afford the
spare man on a farm to do it. One can see the results ten
years afterwards of where a dung heap has stood ; but I never
could get anyone to tell me why it is that where a hay rick or
straw rick has stood the crop shows the place years afterwards.
Admitted that small particles of vegetable matter may fall
through ; but even where there lias been a bottom of faggots,
and everything has been cleared up, still the effect is evident.
And it almost seems as if the exclusion of air and light had
the contrary effect to that which we usually attribute to it.
Out of this close observation arises a sort of mental arith-
metic, by which conclusions may be quickly formed. And no-
thing is more valuable — some such habit as this in the man-
agement of a farm. The mind of the experienced man in this
way is like the table of a ready reckoner. I daresay it has
struck many of us how frequently the man who has grown
wealthy as a dealer or a farmer is found to be one who cannot
write his name to a cheque. While many a scientific man by
his side bas grown poor. It seems a parados which refutes
the common saying that " Knowledge is power." But this is
not so. The fact being that the uneducated man has
knowledge bnt not book learning, and while the
student has devoted a great portion of his time
to polite learning, the uneducated man has sent the
whole energy of his being, and the force of his
observation into one single channel. After all " life is a sys-
em of compensation." We are more evenly gifted than we
hink for, and the man who cannot sign his cheque for
a flock of sheep, may ofleu have earned enough to write a
good many. Is it not the case, that if a man lose one sense,
another becomes quickened? I^o one knows a carriage is
behind wanting to pass better tlian a deaf coachman, because his
sight and his sense of feeling tell him by his own horses that
there is a noise behind, though he is deaf. That a great
many people can grow good kohl-rjibi that wo'ild not know
how to spell the word, the following anecdote will tell : Two
farmers were talking about it, and one was explaining to the
other its valuable properties, how it should be grown, and
so on. At last the other pulled out his pocket-book, to
write down the word, with a view to ordering some seed, and
said to the former speaker, " Well, how do you spell the
word ?" Spell it ? why, the same as other words to be sure ;
how would yon have it spelt. Now, I won't tell you any more,
you want to know too much." When I say " mental arith-
metic," or the power of reckoning the cost and expense of any-
thing, I mean something like what the sheep-dealer does when
he reckons by scores ; as a score of sheep at 35s. 6d. each,
will be £35 lOs., and so on. If a man could tell without hesi-
tation what lie could lake in 100 lambs for, to find hay and

roots; what to take them in with lialf-a-pint of oats a day, or
half-a-pound of cotton-cake; or, what he could take in 100 ewes
with hay per week, he would then be able to say in a moment
what per month, what to winter them. And suppose he
could take in a lamb for Ss. per head, or a ewe for 12s., to
winter, he would be able to see at once, whether, in such a
year as this, with turnips to be ploughed in or given away, it
would pay liim to buy or to keep sheep for other people.
The other day a person said to me, " I have got a chance to
supply a stable with straw. Had 1 better exchange the straw
for the manure made by that straw, even ; or had I better
sell the straw at £3 per ton, and buy back the manure at lis.
a waggon load ?" I don't suppose there is much difference, it
will come to much the same thing. I said, you had better
weigh out a ton of straw, use it in your own stable, and then
load the proceeds, as rotten manure, into a waggon, and you
will see there is a very great difference. I believe consider-
ably more than half, which would be £1 10s., out of £3. I
believe more than that even, and that £3 worth of straw at
present price, would come back in about a waggon and a cart,
as weU-rotted compost. I have tried it, and I have had tlie
experience of others who have tried it, and I believe
those whom I have asked, put it at even a greater difference
than I do. In the same way one may think to keep mangold
or carrots till the spring, and get three or four shillings a ton
more for them, and the iaexperienced man may fancy he has
done. But take the expense of clamping, the risk of decay,
and chiefly the loss in weight, we should admit the earliest
sale made on the ground in the autumn, even if it was
twenty-five per cent, less, would be the most profitable.
It is time now in a few more lines to bring this paper to a
conclusion. What I have offered has been wTitten for plain
practical men, and, as I said in the beginning, falls rather
below the dignity of a club like this, which contains many
men of high position and great knowledge. In fact, this club
is, to a certain extent, a sort of agricultural House of Commons,
and would come within the meaning of Tennyson's expression
in " Locksley Hall,"

' In the parliament of man— tho federation of the world."

But these debates are read far beyond the members of thi«
club ; they are printed in the farming papers, and our ideas
are picked to pieces over a many a fireside. I presume, there-
fore, I shall be forgiven for having taken my ideal of a farmer
— not from the aristocracy of agriculture, but from the farmer
as he exists as a class, including every one from the man just
above the labourer, through a long ascending scale up to the
manipulator of a large acreage. I have been rather " culling
simples" than offering any scientific researches; and my re marks
are as if one was to place a herbal by the side of some learned
professor's treatise. Thoughts like these form starting points
for other thoughts, and as men pause andbecome thoughtful so
they become wise and practical. I have said do not despise
what our forefathers practised merely because it is old. We
should be surprised if we looked back more — but who, alas !
looks back in this go-a-head age ? It is like the motto over
the spill in the Melton Mowbray brook, " Pace too good to
inquire." If we looked back we should be surprised to find
how old many of our good ideas are. Take the old school-
book the Georgics of Yirgil : there we find the long fallow
described as the only thing that bursts the bam doors ; we find
the pulse crop spoken of as (next to fallow) the best change
for land tired of white straw crops there is the caution to put

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189

vitriol to your wheat, aad if Mr. Hallett wanta a Latin motto
for his Pedigree wheat he will fiud it well in the firsit Georgia ;
and Virgil, quoting from still older writers, Varro and Co-
lumella, speaking of the selection of large kernels, says that
selected seeds degenerate except hy continued selection ;

Vidi lecta diu, et multo spectata labore,
Degenerare tamen ; ui via liumana quotannis
Maxima qnfeque manu legerct : sic omnia fatis
In pejus ruere, ac retro sublapsa referri.

Which would be a very practical motto, saying, " Not only buy
Pedigree corn, but buy it every year, as it goes back." I will
not touch upon the education of a farmer, because that is a
subject which we shall no doubt have some day in a separate
paper by some competent person ; but this only will I say that
I have endeavoured to show that no education of col-
leges or of books, excellent as they are, can supersede
continual habits of observation, method, and arrangement,
And herein exists the answer to the often-asked question,
How is it gentlemen farmers don't make money ? Because
they never began to learn at the bottom of the question. They
are in the hands of other people ; and how large a margin
exists between the balance of a man who buys and sella well
and one who does not ! The book-educated man would not
have picked out the cow offered at dairy price in Devizes mar-
ket, and yet I should like to have for a fortune tlie money
that one animal produced when Mr. Stratton's observed eye
fixed upon her, as the basis of a long line of illustrious Short-
horns. A practical man can tell more about how sheep are
doing, by looking into the wool over a hurdle, than an un-
practical man would by handling every sheep. We have had,
gentlemen, an unexampled year, in which we have been nearly
ruined by the excessive prodigality of nature in one root crop.
I never could understand an old Greek proverb tiU this year.
The proverb is — " The half is greater than the whole"; but
this year half the crop of roots would have enabled us to buy
sheep to fat, the whole crop has raised lean stock to such an
exorbitant price that the roots are of little value. As I have
had to read the first paper at a short notice, I am sure you
will accept the errors of a somewhat hastily prepared compo-
sition, and in your after observations, put me right where I
Lave erred in the estimates of calculations which I have
made. I should be glad if some gentleman present would tell
me how it is, that when reuta, labour, tithes, and taxes were so
much the same as they used to be (Cries of " No, no") — well,
supposing such things to be the same as they were formerly,
farmers were not doing as well as they did P

Mr. T. HoELEY (The Fosse, Leamington) said ; Mr. Davies
having told them that the cost of wages was much the same as
it used to be, he should be glad if he would tell them what it
was in his own district?

Mr. Davies said, what he meant was, that the wages of
individuals were very much the same. Of course, if 20
labourers were employed now were five were employed
formerly, the total was proportionately large.

Mr. HoKLEY : What wages do you pay ?

Mr. Davies ; 13s. a week. You cannot get a man for
less (laughter).

The E,ev. E. Smythies (Hathern Rectory, Loughborough)
said that as in these days almost everything was in a pro-
gressive state, perhaps it might be well if some one suggested
there had been a little improvement in farming (Hear, hear).
He must confess that when he first saw the title of the paper
he was a little puzzled to know what would be the precise

nature of the subject. Perhaps it would have been well if
under the head method, arrangement, or observation, in
reference to farming, Mr. Davies had said something about
farm buildings. That was a very important question in his
opinion, in relation to good husbandry. Every one who had
any practical acquaintance with agriculture must be aware
that there were two sorts of farm buildings erected, each,
perhaps, costing £3,000, one adapted to a farm of 500 acres,
and the other to a farm of 150 acres, and that there was ex-
hibited a total want of method and arrangement. They all
knew that the ordinary style of farm buildings was a hap-
hazard style, so that if the buildings had fallen down from the
clouds it would scarcely be leas adapted to the requirements
of the farmer. Some years ago, having to erect a set of
buildings for himself, he had great difiiculty in obtaining the
requisite information and knowledge for his guidance ; but,
by dint of great pains, and as the result partly of information
obtained from others, and partly of his own observation, he
did succeed in getting what he wanted. He found it very
difficult to discover anything like a practical system which
included a perfect conservation of manure, and the making of
manure in the most concentrated forms at the least possible
expense — such an arrangement that the largest quantity of
cattle, sheep, and horses, could be left in the buildings in the
most economical manner ; and he thought that subject was
well worthy of the attention of the Club (Hear, hear). The
grand point in his opinion was to have the farm buildings
managed in such a method that the straw, which is the
bulkiest article we use, and which every department of fiirm
buildings require, should only pass in one direction, and never
go backward and forward, so to speak, but pass from the stack-
yard to the thrashing barn, from the thrasliiug barn to the cart-
horse stables, then to the cliaff-cutter, to the place where it is
to be mixed with pulped roots, to the sheds and ranges down
which it is carried to feed the cattle, from thence to the manure
place where it is to be deposited, and then to the land where
it is to be ploughed in and finally disposed of (Hear, hear).
He should bo glad to hear some practical remarks on that im-
portant question that evening. He had himself adopted the
kind of arrangement that he had described, and his plan in-
cluded the pumping of liquid manure, so that the straw got
thoroughly saturated before it reached the land where it was
wanted. Another very important point which had struck him
was the position of grass and arable lands in relation to
buildings so as to have the maximum of the arable land
nearest to the farm-yard and the grass land at a greater dis-
tance. There was not, he believed, a practical man in this
country but that knew how many farmers were compelled by
the bad arrangements of their farm in that respect to have not
merely the best land, but even poor grass land, close to the
buildings, while the arable land was a long way off. That was
a great source of loss, and he did not suppose there was a manu-
facturer in the kingdom who could hold up his head if his busi-
ness was carried on in a similar manner. Manufactures
presented in that respect a great contrast to agriculture (Hear,
hear). So fine was the rate of profit among manufacturers,
owing to the pressure of competition, that he had been assured
by people who knew Manchester well that if a mill or ware-
house had not a lift to hoist things up to the top of the premises
in accordance with the universal practice, the proprietor would
be beaten out of the market. So great would be the loss of
time of having everything carried upstairs that the fraction of
a farthing per lb, extra in the coat of a pound of yarn would

190

THE i'ARMER'S MAGAZINE.

make the difference between profit and loss. If tlmt were
true of manufacturers and vvareliouscraen, it was cfiually trre
that farmers must suffer seriously, if, owing to the want of
proper method and arrangement, the maximum of mutton and
beef and pork were not produced by the minimum of labour
(Hear, hear), In the midland counties, with which he was best
acquainted, he had often seen an awful place in the middle of a
farmyard, and a man up to his middle while carrying a heavy
load of straw or hay, and perhaps the poor fellow had to climb
up a steep place where in frosty weather he rau great risk of
losing his legs. That was, he maintained, a gross practical
mistake. Manure ought to be made under cover, and the
farmyard along which men had to go backwards and forwards
should be paved like one of the streets (Hear, liear). What
Mr. Davies said about the spelling of kohl rabi reminded him
of an anecdote which he once heard. A gentleman at Dublin,
having asked a friend to dinner, the party invited wrote, as an
excuse, that he was suffering from a severe attack of gout.
The next morning the gentleman called upon his friend, and
said, he was very sorry that he was suffering from gout — that
he knew he used to suffer from rheumatism — but that he did
not know that he ever had the other ailment ; to which the
gentleman replied, " Would you have me waste my time in
trying to spell ' rheumatism' ?" (laughter).

Mr. G. H. R.VMSAY (Newcastle-on-Tyne) must say that
certain things mentioned in the introduction certainly did
not apply to his part of tlie country. Generally speaking
farmers there had good farm buildings; they had excellent
cattle, including some of the best Shorthorns in the
world ; and they were not as slow as it might be inferred
that f;umers were from Mr. Davies' paper. He had often
questioned Mr. Mechi about his balance sheet, and he should
be glad if Mr. Davies had given them a rough balance sheet
showing what was the result of his principles. He said it was
hardly to be expected that in these days a clergyman would
be able to produce a satisfactory balance sheet ; and he
must remind the rev, gentleman that the great regulating
principle in reference to all such matters as he had referred
to was the principle of supply and demand.

Mr. J. Trask (Northington Down, Alresford) said, as a
Hampshire man he could not admit that the rev. gentleman
who introduced the subject represented the views of the
Hampshire farmers. For example, Mr. Davies, in speaking of
chalk, said lie had so much of it in his field, that it wasn't
necessary to put it on the land ; that although that was done
in former times it would be too expensive now. He could
tell him that it was done by the best farmers in Hampshire at
present (Hear, hear), and there would be more money spent
in that way if there were a better understanding between
landlord and tenant (Hear, hear). With respect to the
prices realised at Mr. Attwood's sale, he must remark that last
year prices were exceedingly high, and that if the same things
had been brought to the hammer in 1868 or 1870 they would
not have fetched a great deal more than they would have done
fifty years ago. He was surprised to hear the statement that
wages in Hampshire were only 10s. a-week. Tliat didn't at
all accord with his experience (Hear, hear). Moreover, he
knew something about tlie amount paid by the rev. gentle-
man's own neighbours, and speaking generally, he had no
hesitation in saying that the average amount of wages paid in
Hampshire was 15s. or 16s. a-week. He farmed several hun-
dred acres of land, and frequently associated with agricul-
turists both of North and of South Hants, and he repeated

that Mr. Davies' views did not at all accord witli tlieir expe-
rience.

Mr. II. Neild (Tlie Grange, AVorsley, Manchester) said,
although he agreed with Mr. Davies that they were too apt
to underrate their forefathers, yet he must remind him that the
practice of farming had receatly undergone great improve-
ment, and he could add that it would be impossible for rents,
rates, wages, and expenses generally, which had in some eases
doubled, and in others trebled, in amount, to be paid if im-
provement had not greatly developed the products of the
soil. Statistics showed that in the last twenty years the
produce of the soil had increased enormously. W'ith re-
gard to the arrangement of farm buildings, he must remark
that circumstances altered cases, and that the same rule could
not possibly apply to all localities. The practice of the gen-
tleman who introduced the paper seemed to be almost entirely
confined to sheep on the chalk-soil of Hampshire. He (Mr.
Neild) had no knowledge of that county, but he might say
that what Mr. Davies described would not answer in his part
of the country, and perhaps it would be better even for that
gentleman if, instead of selling his turnips at the price he
mentioned, he kept some good beasts, and saw something of
the other side of farming.

Mr. H. TRETHEwy (Silsoe, Ampthill) said when that sub-
ject was placed on the card, he felt that it was rather indefinite,
and had some doubts as i:o how it would be treated, and he
must confess that he was now disappointed at the way in which
it had been brought forward. He thought they would have
had something more tangible. The introducer treated the
question in such a discursive manner, that he felt it exceedingly
difficult to follow liira, but there were two or three points to
which he wished to draw attention. In the first place, with
regard to chalk, he quite concurred in what had fallen from
Mr. Trask. He did not know what was now the practice in
Hampshire or the western counties, but chalking was certainly
by no means abandoned in Hertfordshire (Hear, hear). He
happened to know something practically of that matter, and
he considered chalking, even now, one of the best operations
that could be conducted on a farm. Indeed, he knew nothing
scarcely that conduced more to the fertility of the soil, even
where chalk lay within a foot or two of the surface (Hear,
hear). Another point to which he wished to refer had refer-
ence to root crops. Mr. Davies wished such crops to come
pretty near together, so as to save labour. They all knew,
however, that a farm might consist of a great many soils, and
that it was not all fields that would carry roots ; besides which
they had to consider rotation, and to bear in mind that there
were many things of more consequence tlian roots. What
Mr. Sraythies said respecting the arrangement of farm build-
ings was no doubt right to a certain extent, or under certain
circumstances ; but as regarded that all arable land should be
near the homestead, he must observe that they all knew as
practical men that frequently their best grass land was near
the homestead.

The llev. E. Smythies : It may be the worst.

Mr. Tretiiewy : He said that generally the best grass
lauds were near the homestead, and he thought any man who
knew much about farming would confirm that statement, and
it would be an utter muddle to plough up such land in order
that the arable crops might be near the homestead. Mixed
soils required a proportionate mixture of crops, and mathe-
matical rules could not be carried out amid such variety.
As to the remarks of Mr, Davies about farmers when they

THW FAIiMER'>S MAGAZmE.

191

came iuto a fresli locality looking ovci- thrir nciglibours' liodgcs
to see what lliey were doing, lio thoiiglit lliey were all pretty
well aware of the necessity for that (Hear, hear). They all
knew that if a farmer went into a strange neighbourhood and
carried on there his old ideas connected with soil and climate,
he would very soon come to grief. Another idea which the
introducer of the subject seemed to think novel, was that when
lands were drained the drains should be mapped. Why he
(Mr. Trctliewy) had supposed that there was scarcely a land
agent or farmer in the country who didn't know how the
drains ran, and he might add that it was the duty of occupiers
^p see that the drains were properly clear.

Mr. J. J. Cooper Wyld (Loudon) regretted that nothing
had been said in the course of a discussion with regard
to method on the proper management of time, or the
distribution of men over a farm so as to secure the
greatest economy of time. They all knew from experience
that, not only iu farming but in all the affairs of life, the man
who had no method as regarded time was sure to be a
muddler, and that it was the man who was methodical in the
arrangement of time that was most likely to prosper, while
those who neglected that duty very frequently came to the
workhouse.

The Chairman, in summing up the discussion, said he
agreed with Mr. Davies that success iu farming depended
greatly on method. He also agreed with Mr. Smythics that
in the midland counties there were to be found some of the
most wretched homesteads on the face of the earth, and he
might add that on the following day it would be his duty to
go down there, and try and upset some of them, with the
view of substituting better ones. With respect to chalking,
he recollected reading a remark of an esteemed member of
that Club, Mr. Cuthbert Johnson,' to the effect that chalking
was good for the father and bad for the son.

The Eev. G. Davies having briefly replied, a vote of
tlianks was given to him as the introducer of the subject,
and a similar vote was accorded to the Chairman.

At a meeting of the committee, on Monday, I'ebruary 5th,
Mr. Henry Chetlins in the chair, there were also present Messrs.
G. M. Allender, J. Bradsliaw, J. Brown (March), W. Brown
(Tring), T. Congreve, L. A- Coussmaker, J. Cressingham, T.
B. Bring, J. K. Fowler, J. Howard, M.P., T. Horley, juu.,
11. Leeds, E. M. Miijor Lucas, 11. Marsh, G. Martin, P.
Neame, R. J. Newton, T. 0«en, C. S. RcmI, M.P., B. P.
Shearer, G. Smythics, J. B. Spearing. J. Thomas, W. Thomp-
son, Jan., H. Trethewy, J. Tyler, A. Voelcker, and J. Weall.

On the motion of Mr. Congreve, seconded by Jlr. Sewell
Read, it was resolved to present a memorial to the Chancellor
of the Excheipier, submitting that agriculturists should not
be liable to a dealer's licence for buying and selling
horses.

It was resolved to take up sis further shares in the Great
India Peninsula Railway Company.

The following members have been elected for 1S73.

E. R. Blewitt, Covers, South Ilornchurch.
J. Carlton, Norbury Booth Hall, Knutsford.
11. Dibben, Critchell, Wimbourne, Dorset.

F. Eve, Newport Pagnell.

R. Hardacre, Ilellifield, Leeds.

J. T. Homer, llemsworth, Wimbourne, Dorset.

]j. Taylor, Wrothara Park, Barnet.

J. \V. Wilson, Broadway, Worcester.

G. Wise, Wocdcote, Warwick.
W. Bailey, Great Canfield, Essex.

J. II. Baxendale, Worplesdon, Guildford.

R. Boning, Wiufield House, Boro' Green, Sevenoaks.

R. C.Catlin, Needhani Hall, Elm, Wisbech.

J. Ford, Portland Lawn, Leamington.

R. Forrest, Llanfoist, Abergavenny.

W. Golding, Leavers, Toubridge.

A. Stone, Hextable, Dartford.

H. Brierly, Church Lawford, ^\ar\vick.

F. Carr, Heslington, York.
J. Carter, Great Marlow.

W. Farthing, Sfowey Court, Bridgwater.

G. E. Harris, Uanstead Farm, St. Albans.
J. H. Johnstone, Trewithin, Probus.

M. Savidge, Sarsden Lodge Farm, Chipping Norton.

W. Trethewy, Tregoose, Probus.

R. Warner, Weston Hill, Bulkington, Rugby.

ROYAL AGEIOULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.

Monthly Council : Wednesday, Feb. 7, 1872. —
Present, Sir Watkiu W. Wynn, Bart., M.P., President,
iu the Chair ; Lord Chcsham, Lord Kestevcn, Lord
Tredegar, Lord Vernon, the Hon. Wilbraham Egerton,
M.P., the Hon. H. G. Liddell, M.P., Sir T. Dyke Acland,
Bart., M.P., Sir A. K. Macdouald, Bart., Mr. Baldwin,
Mr. Barnett, Mr. Clive, Colonel Challoner, ^U. Davies,
Mr. Dent, M.P.,Mr. Druce, Mr. Edmonds, Mr. Brandreth
Gibbs, Mr. Hornsby, IMr. J. Bowen Jones, Colonel Kiugs-
cote, M.P., Mr. Leeds, Mr. D. Mcintosh, Mr. Masfen,
Mr. Mihvard, Mr. Pain, Mr. Randell, ]Mr. Rawlencc, Mr.
White Ridley, M.P., Mr. Shuttlcworth, Mr. Statter, Mr.
Thompson, Mr. Torr, Mr. Jabez Turner, Mr. Wakefield,
Mr. Earle Welby, M.P., ISIr. John Wells, Mr. W. Wells,
M.P., Mr. Whitehead, Major Wilson, Mr. Jacob Wilson,
and Dr. Voelcker.

The following new members were elected :

Backhouse, R. Onions, Wcstvvood, Bridgnorth
Bailey, J. B., 4, Coley Hill, Reading
Ball, James, Peterstone Mills, Cardiff
Beasley, J. Noble, Pitsford Hall, Northampton
Benson, C, 98, Bull-street, Birmingham
Blackstock, John, Hayton Castle, Maryport

Cadle, Miles, Stockton-on-Tees

Danson, John Towne, Carnsdale Farm, Barnston, Binkenhead

Edwards, D. T.,Taff Well, Cardiff

Edwards, Richard, Treweru Hall, Welshpool

Farmer, Charles Haywood, Comberford Hall, Tamworth

Farrer, II. R., Green Hammertou, Noak

Fisher, Edward, Grove Kill, Beverley

I'itz-Herbert, W., Swyunerton, Stone

Foster, Matthew Henry, Little Wymondeley, Stevenage

Hodgkinson, F., Kirkby Hardwick, Sutton-in-Ashiield

Hodsoll, J. 11., Loose Court, Maidstone

Holmes, Wilham, Cloverdale Island, Magee

Jackson, G., Higher Peover, Knutsford

Jackson, T. Finch, Tattenhall Hall, Chester

Keightley, A. D., Old Hall, Milnthorpe

Kings, VV. Padbury, Lower Heyford, Banbury

Leney, Edward, Hadlow Place, Iladlow

Lloyd, R. T., Aston Hall, Oswestry

McCalinout, A. Leighton, Broodgate Farm, Romsey

McDougall, J. T., 158, Leadenhallstreet, E.G.

Mansell, T. J., Adcott Hall, Baschurch

Minton, John, Forton, Shrewsbury

Mockford, W. G. S., Vanbrugh House, Blackheath, S.E.

M orley, R. N., Leadenham, Grantham

Oldliam, Tom Edward, Loddiugton Hall, Kettering

Paddison, C. T., Stapleford, Newark

192

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Peart, Isaac, Tewin Bury, Hertford

PidgeoD, Hubert II., Torringtou

Proby, The Hon. VV., Glen Art, Arklow, Ireland

Proctor, H. Matthews, Hill House, Wykeham, Spalding

Proctor, M. M., 49, Thonihill-square, Barnsbury, N.

Read, James, Salisbury

Smith, Henry F., Lanivvortli House, Sutton, Yorkshire

Stewart, W. M., Culhourn House, Stranraer

Thompson, James, Castle Meadows, Kendal

Tisdall, E. C, Holland Park Parm, Kensington, W.

Trethewy, William, Tregoose, Probus

Turbervill, Major Picton, Ewenay Abbey, Bridgend

Tyler, John Hawkins, Tytheringtou, Falfield, Gloucester

Vachell, Edwin, Pcnarth, Cardiff

Wallace, Henry, Trench Hall, Gateshead

Williams, Lewis, Iledwick House,'_Chepstow

Wilson, J., Larkham, Kimbolton

Wright, Frank, Hill Top Farm, Ashbourne

Wyley, H. J., Bridgnorth.

Finances. — Colonel Kingscote, M.P., presented the
report, from which it appeared that the secretary's
receipts during the last two months had been examined
by the committee, and by Messrs. Quilter, Ball, and Co.,
the Society's accountants, and were found correct. The
balance in the hands of the bankers on January 31 was
£1,176 ISs. 5d. The balance-sheet for the quarter ended
December 31, 1871, and the statement of subscriptions
and arrears, were laid upon the table ; the amount of
arrears then due being £1,151. Seventy-five members
have given notice during the past year of their withdrawal
from the Society.

Journal. — Mr. Thompso i (chairman) reported that
the judges of the competing farms had all signified their
acce2)tance of the appointment, and that arrangements
had been made for the first tour of inspection to com-
mence the last weeli in January. The committee recom-
mended that 2.50 copies of the list of members be printed
in a separate form, and sold at Gd. each. The)'' referred
it to the Council to decide whether the publication of the
next Journal should be delayed, if necessary, for a few
days, in order to admit of the publication of forms of
guarantees of artificial manures and feeding-stuffs. This
report was adopted, and the publication of the Journal
was ordered to be deferred accordingly.

House. — Col. Kingscote, M.P., reported that the reso-
lution passed in December last, respecting the retirement
of the hall-porter, be carried out, and that he should re-
ceive a pension of £20 per annum, paid quarterly in ad-
vance. The committee further recommended that the
secretary be requested to engage another porter, who
should undertake, in addition to the present duties, the
packing and posting of the Journal ; and that his salary
be £1 Is. per week, with clothes and other allowances as
at present. This report was adopted, after some dis-
cussion, and the rejection, by 18 votes against 12, of an
amendment moved by Col. Challoner, and seconded by
Lord Tredegar, that the pension of the retiring porter be
£25 per annum.

General, Ca.rdiff. — Lord Vernon (chairman) re-
ported that the conditions under which the Marquis
of Bute and Major Picton Turbervill proposed to offer
prizes for cottages, in connection with the Cardiff meeting,
had been submitted to the committee. They recom-
mended that an entrance fee of 10s. be paid by com-
petitors ; that plans and specifications should be sent in
to the secretary by July 1 ; and that the secretary be
authorised to advertise the competition in the usual
papers, and in those that are connected with the building
trade. — This report was adopted.

Election. — Mr. Thompson (chairman) reported the
recommendation of the committee that the Earl of
Leicester be elacted a member of Council, to fill the

vacancy caused by the election of Sir A. K. i\lacdouald
as a trustee. — This report having been adopted, the Earl
of Leicester was unanimously elected a member of the
Council, on the motion of Mr. Thompson, seconded by
Lord Tredegar.

Special Cojimittee on Receipts and Expendi-
ture.— Lord Vernon (chairman) reported that reports
had been received from the implement, stock, prizes, and
showyard contracts, committees, and from the honorary
director, consulting engineers, and secretary. These re-
ports had been ordered to be printed, and circulated
amongst the members of the committee. — This report
was adopted.

Chemical. — Mr. W. Wells, jM.P. (chairman), re-
ported that the committee had drawn up forms of
guarantees which vendors of manures and feeding stuffs
can be invited to sign. These forms, when printed,
will be sent to members of Council for consideration ;
and if approved of at the next Council meeting, it is
suggested that they be issued on application, at a triQ-
ing charge to members of the Society. — This i-eport was
adopted.

Stock Prizes. — Mr. jMilward (chairman) reported
that letters had been read from several persons com-
plaining of malpractices with regard to the exhibition
of pigs, and that the committee recommended that the
attention of the stewards and judges be called to this
subject, and that any persons fouud guilty shall not be
allowed to exhibit in future. The committee also re-
commended the following addition to the rules of the
Cardiff prize-sheet: "No mare will be eligible for a
prize unless certified, either at the date of entry, or be-
tween the date of entry aud that of the show, to have
had a living foal — or that the foal, if dead, was born
at its proper time — in the year of the show. Or in the
event of a mare being exhibited without a foal at foot, a
certificate shall be given at the time of entry that she
has been served, and the prize shall be withheld till a
certificate be produced of her having produced a foal." —
This report was adopted.

Implement. — Colonel Challoner (chairman) reported
that the committee recommended that the Secretary be
instructed to ask, in the "Country Meetmg Queries" for
1873, for not less than eighty acres of laud, in such pro-
portions of tillage as the Society may require. — This
report was adopted.

Veterirmary. — Mr. Thompson reported that the
Governors of the A'^eterinary College had not yet
elected a Principal in the place of the late Pi-ofessor
Spooner, and that the committee were therefore unable to
report further on the relations between the Society and
the Royal Veterinary College. It was also reported
that the committee had received a report from Pro-
fessor Simonds on the subject of Hardon's Pateut
Cake, and lamb disease in Lincolnshire, and had recom-
mended it for publication in the next Journal. — This re-
port was adopted.

Letters were read from the authorities of Newcastle,
Hull, and Darlington inviting the Society to holds its
country meeting for 1873 in those localities ; and from
the authorities of York and Durham declining to invite
the Society on this occasion. Mr. Thompson gave notice,
that at the next mouthly Council he would move " That
towns competing for the country meetings of the Society
be no longer required to send deputations to attend the
monthly Council in May."

The prize-sheet of the International Exhibition of
agricultural imprements, machinery, &c., to be held at
the Hague in September next, in celebration of the 25th
anniversary of the institution of the Dutch Agricultural
Society, was laid before the Council.

THE FARMER'S MAaAZINE.

193

THE PROGRESS OF THE PLOUGH.

BY CUTHBEET "W. JOHNSON, P.R.S.

The history of auy agricultural operation is not only
interesting but is attended with useful results. Take, for
instance, the subject of this paper. When we examine
the earliest notices of this implement, then made entirely
of wood, and thus causing a very considerable waste of
animal power, trace it forward until the days of the great
modern implement makers, and still onward till the time
when the locomotive is banishing animal power, are we
not by such a retrospect well encouraged to expect still
greater improvements in those modern locomotives ? So
that as steam is fast banishing the plough-horse, we may
not despair of seeing his place occupied by the steam-
engine for even the dung cart and the harvest waggon.

There is abundant evidence that the plough was em-
ployed by mankind at a very early period. It is true the
first notices which have escaped to us are very slight —
such as that in Palestine they ploughed with two oxen,
and that their ploughs were constructed with a coulter
and ploughshare. It is certain they needed the plough
for their winter's fallow. Judging, however, by what
we now witness in Syria and other Eastern countries,
their ploughing was probably very shallow, and the
plough animals poor, since it is certain that the ass, or
even the goat, are still employed for this purpose on some
of the light sandy soils of the East.

Then, again, the plough employed by the early culti-
vators was very rude ; that of the Roman republic, in its
shape, more resembled an anchor than a modern imple-
ment ; and the same remark still applies to even the
plough of India. In these cases the ground thus tilled
could hardly have been more than scratched over. The
Greek ploughs were of a better construction : they had
wheels, a beam, a coulter, and too handles, somewhat
resembling a modern wheel-plough ; but these, from the
shape of the stirer, rather broke the soil than turned it
over.

It is uncertain the shape of the early British
ploughs. We are not aware whether they had wheels.
We, however, learn from an ancient Saxon calendar,
that our Saxon forefathers certainly made the im-
plement with wheels ; and from a rude sketch in
another Saxon MS. we learn that they constructed some
of their ploughs of a very rude shape, and even seem to
have fastened their draught animals to this plough by
their tails, a barbarous custom, which certainly was for-
merly practised in Ireland to such an extent that the
legislature interfered in 1634, and declared, by the
II and 12 Car. IL, c. 15. entitled " An Act
against plowing by the Tayle, and pulling the Wool off
living Sheep," that " in many places of this kingdome
there hath been a long time used a barbarous custome of
ploughing, harrowing, drawing, and working with horses,
mares, geldings, garrans, and colts by the taile, whereby
(besides the cruelty used to the beasts) the breed of
horses is much impaired in this kingdome. And also
divers have and yet do use the like barbarous custome of
pulling off the wool yearly from living sheep, instead of
clipping or shearing of them." These vrretchcd prac-
tices were then declared illegal, and to be punishable
with fine and imprisonment. We may fairly conclude,
however, from the few imperfect notices which have
escaped to us that the cultivation of the early Britons
was far better than is commonly supposed ; and we must

not forget that our brave forefathers (who so gallantly
met Csesar even in the water, b efore he landed) are de-
scribed by no friendly hand. Thus, when Cassar arrived
in England, about 55 B.C., he described the Cantii, or
inhabitants of Kent, and the Belgse, inhabiting the
modern counties of Somerset, Wilts, and Hants, as much
more advanced than the rest of the people in the habits
of civilized life. They cultivated the soil ; employed
marl as manure ; stored their corn unthrashed, and freed
it from the chaiT and bran only as their daily demands
required. The interior inhabitants lived chiefly upon
milk and flesh, being fed and clothed by the produce of
their herds. " The country," adds Cresar, " is well-
peopled, and abounds in buildings resembling those of
the Gauls, and they hare a great abundance of cattle.
They are not allowed to eat either the hen, the goose, or
the hare ; yet they take pleasure in breeding them."
Cicero, in one of his letters, says : " There is not a
scruple of money in the island, nor any hopes of booty,
but in slaves" — a description that the industry and intel-
ligence of succeeding ages has rendered singularly in-
applicable.

When we find that the workmanship of the plough of
our remote forefathers was rude and imperfect, this is not
a matter of surprise ; for among the early inhabitants of
this country there were no artificers. The ploughman
was also the ploughwright. It was a law of the early
Britons that no one should guide a plough until he could
make one ; and that the driver should make the traces
by which it was drawn of withs or twisted willow, a cir-
cumstance which afl'ords an interpretation to many cor-
rupt terms at present used by farming-men to distinguish
the parts of the cart-harness. Thus the womb luithy has
degenerated into wambtye or loantye ; withen trees into
lohipping or %o]iipple trees ; besides which we have the
tail witkes and some others still uucorrupted (Leyes
WaUic(^, 283—288;. We read also that Easterwin,
Abbot of Wearmouth, not only guided the plough and
winnowed the corn grown on the abbey-lands, but also
with his hammer forged the instruments of husbandry
upon the anvil.

Then, with regard to the animals our ancestors em-
ployed in the plough, Lapenberg states in his " England
under the Saxon Kings," translated by Thorpe, that
" many horses were bred, every man being obliged to
have txoo to his plough ; hence, it is not surprising
that the pirates of the north were so soon able to
transform themselves into cavalry after their landing on
the coast" ; but as Mr. AV. Skeat remarks, there are two
instauces in the Harleian manuscripts of a pair of oxen
yoked to a plough. In the Bayeux Tapestry (A.D. about
1080) there is depicted a nondescript animal attached to
a two-wheeled plough. It is clearly not a horse ; but
from its long ears it may perhaps have been intended for
a mule, or it may after all have been a rude delineation
of an ox, for the man walking by its side holds a goad.
King Alfred, indeed, in his version of Orosius (who
flourished in the fifth century) says, " Othare himself was
among the first men of the land, though he had not more
than twenty red cattle, twenty sheep, and twenty swine,
and what little he ploughed he ploughed with horses."

The poet Chaucer seems to prove that the ploughman
of the fourteenth century, though he might be possessed

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THE FAUMER'S MAGAZINE.

of a single horse (o use for ridia.n', Irusled to " calUe"
for the purposes cf hiisbaiiJry. In the prologue to the
Canterbury Tales we read of the jdoughniau :

His tithes paicd he full faire and well,
Both of his proper swinke and his cattell,
la a tabard he rode upon a mare.

That horses, as well as oxen, were used in the plough
itt the Tudor days we learn from the earliest English
agricultural writer. Although Fitzherbcrt, in his " Boke
of Ilusbandrye" speaks in a manner that shows that
even in his day plough horses were not generally
employed, he observes, " a husbande may not be without
horses and mares, and specially if he goe with a horse
plough." And a few years afterwards Bishop Latimer, in
a sermon preached before the king, thus earnestly spoke
in favour of the little farmers of his time, and alluded
to their plough horses : "Let them," said the martyr
bishop, " have sufiicieut to maintain them, and
to find them in necessaries. A plough land must
have sheep to dung their ground for bearing corn ; they
must have swine for their food to make their bacon of;
their bacon is their venison, it is their necessary food to feed
on, which they may not lack ; they must have other
cattle, as horses to draw their plough, and for carriage of
things to the markets, and kine for their milk and cheese,
which they must live upon, and pay their rents."

When Ilercsbach wrote (A.D. 1570), it was not un-
common in some of the warmer parts of Germany and
Italj' to plough during the night, " that the moisture and
fattncss of the ground may remain shadowed under the
cloddc, and that the cattcU through overmuch heate
of the sunne be not diseased or hurt." Worlidge,
in his " JNIystery of Husbandry," describes very
clearly the first rude attempt to construct a subsoil
plough : he tells (p. 230) " of an ingenious young man
of Kent, who had two ploughs fastened together very
firmly, by the which he ploughed two furrows at once,
one under another, and so stirred up the land twelve or
fourteen inches deep. It only looseneth and lightenth
the laud to that depth, but doth not bury the upper crust
of the ground so deep as is usually done by digging."

Jethro Tull, more than a century since (A.D. 1735),
paid considerable attention to the plough ; he had even
searched into the early history of this implement, and
concluded that it was " found out by accident, and that
the first tillers (or plowers) of the ground were hogs."
The ])loughs which he describes, and of which he gives
drawings, were evidently (although still rudely and
heavily constructed) superior in several respects to all
that had preceded them. In fact, as is well remarked by
my friend Mr. J. Allan Ransome, in his valuable work on
the implements of agriculture, for ages the plough was
little more than a rude, clumsy instrument, which served
only to rake the surface, instead of making furrows in
the laud sufficiently deep for the seeds to be buried. It
was not brought to anything like a perfect tool for the
purposes required till the close of the seventeenth century.

The Dutch were amongst the first who brought the
plough a little into shape, and by some means or other
the improved Dulch plough found its way into the north-
ern parts of England and Scotland. Those who have
traced the history of the plough agree that one made by
Joseph I'oljambe, at Rotherham, and for which plough a
patent was obtained in the year 1730, was the most per-
fect implement then in use ; and to this day it is well
known by the name of the Kothcrham plough. This
plough was constructed chiefly of wood ; the draught-
irons, share, and coulter, with the additional plating of
iron to the mould-board and sole, being the only parts
made of iron.

ilcntion must also now be made of astcp in
the march of improvements by the ingenious
and justly celebrated James Small, a Scotch-
man. He constructed a plough on true mechanical
principles, and was the first inventor of the cast-iron
turn-furrow, commonly called the mould-board ; and, al-
though more than a century has since passed. Small's
plough may, in most respects, be referred to as a standard
for the elements of plough-making. James Small esta-
blishe4 his manufactory of ploughs and other agricultural
implements at Black Adder Mount, in Berwickshire, in
the year 1703, and died about thirty years afterwards,
having devoted the best part of his life to the furtherance
of pursuits connected with agriculture.

It is difficult to follow the very gradual improvements
which took place in the manufacture of the plough from
the death of Small until the time when, in 1785, the late
Robert Ransome of Ipswich began to employ cast-iron
instead of wrought in its construction. Still more ditH-
cult is it to award the due meed of praise to the producers
of such modern ploughs as those of the Ransomes, the
Howards, and a host of other great makers. Of the
steam plough, whose introduction has been so recent, and
its progress so rapid, it is almost needless to speak.
But there is a growing expectation that the time will
come when the steam locomotive will travel with the
load it propels. By this means it will be able to ac-
complish nearly all the work of the farm. This would
seem to be shadowed forth by the terms of the prizes
oflTered by the Royal Agricultural Society at the Wolver-
hampton meeting, and it is evidently the opinion of
Messrs. Bramwell and Amos. In the excellent re-
port of tho e engineers of the trials of the traction-
engines exhibited at that great meeting they observe :
" There appears no valid reason why locomotive engines
should not be made suitable for moving agricultural
machiueiy, whether thrashing, ploughingby means of wind-
lasses, or for other purposes for which the farmer requires
motive power ; and it was with the view of encouraging
the manufacture of such engines that the Society deter-
mined this year to offer a prize, not for a mere locomotive,
but for ' the best agricultural locomotive engine applica-
ble to the ordinary requirements of fa-'ming.' It may
be as well to say a few words upon the history of com-
mon-road locomotion. It is now nearly forty years since
Gurney (and there were probably others before him) ex-
hibited his common-road steamer as a competitor with
the stage-coach of the period. He was speedily followed
by Ogle and Summers, by Maceroni, by Russell (whose
engine, however, threw great discredit on tho cause in
consequence of its exploding), by Sir Charles Dance, and
by Walter Hancock. It was this latter gentleman who
from about 1825 to 1835, did more than any of his pre-
decessors or competitors to show the feasibility of using
steam-power as a means of propulsion on commou roads
at higher speeds than those attainable by the best stage-
coaches. Tor many months together his steam- carriages,
competent to carry from 15 to 20 passengers, travelled
regularly from the Bank to Paddington and back at the
ordinary sixpeny fares then charged by the omnibuses,
and besides the Paddington journey he very commonly
used to come out from and return to his factory at Strat-
ford, his carriages passing through Whitechapcl, Leadcn-
hall-street, Cornhill, and the busiest parts of the City of
London. In his steam-coaches he exhibited a very largo
amount of ingenuity and of engineering knowledge. The
boilers and engines he manufactured would compare
favourably with the best productions ofthe present day —
a great thing to say of a man who worked 85 or 40
years ago, when high-pressure light engines were so
much less understood than they are now."

Prom such a retrospective glance at the improvements

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195

which have so slowly, yet so steadily talceii place iu the
plough, we may well be encouraged to hope for still greater
advances. When we note how rude was the original im-
plement, how iron was slowly introduced iu the con-
struction, how it was first worked by the ox, aud after-

wards by the horse, and that now the steam engine is
fast superseding both, we may well feel assured, that by
further improvements in the locomotive, much deeper and
better ploughing will hereafter be accomplished than any
we have yet witnessed.

MAIDSTONE FARMERS' CLUB.
PARASITIC DISEASES IN ANIMALS.

At the first meetmg, held at the Star Hotel, Professor
Brown, M.R.C.V.S., delivered a lecture on " Parasitic Dis-
eases : worm in tlie tliroat of lambs, flukes in the liver, hyda-
tids in the braiu." Mr. T. Bridgland, jun., iu the chair.
Several additional members having been elected, the Chairman
introduced the lecturer.

Professor Brown said there was no doubt that the parasites
were charged with doing a great deal of mischief of which
they were perfectly inuoceut. They all kuew if they had au
animal iu bad condition, with a rough, ragged coat aud a vo-
racious appetite, taking a large quautity of food, aud appa-
rently did it no good, the common explanation was that it was
subject to worms, aud, if a beast died from an obscure disease
aud it was found on imst mortem examination that there were
parasites, the cause of death was at once attributed to these
animals whicli were residiug iu the interior. It was not pos-
sible to deuy that in certain instances parasites do very consi-
derable miscliief, but there were many oases indeed in which
they really do no harm at all. It was common enough iu dis-
secting the body of an ox, a horse, or even a wild animal, to
fmd numbers of parasites inhabiting various organs, but the
location is very various, sometimes iu tlie muscles, sometimes
iu the animal's brain, where their mere presence is necessarily
injurious, sometimes in the intestines of the stomach, fre-
quently iu tlie liver, lungs, and kidneys, and sometimes in the
skin, aud indeed it may be stated generally that there is not a
tissue, and certainly not an organ which is entirely exempt
from them. Where parasites are present iu the organ most
necessary to the life of the animal, of course they do the most
mischief. The most dangerous parasite is that in the brain,
next those residing in the lungs, aud next those wliich attack
the liver, where they act injuriously by interfering with an
important part of the digestive process. In other parts
they rejnaiu for a considerable period, possibly for the life
of the animal. Iu the life and history of the parasitic or-
ganism, there are many points which attract attention. The
parent worms do not necessarilly produce progeny that resem-
bles themselves, which was a circumstance lost sight of for a
great many years, aud it was not until ISiS that a Danish
naturalist discovered what is known as ahernative generation,
i.e., that certain animals being themselves perfect in their
orgauizatioU; produce eggs in the ordinary way, but instead of
certain embryos coming from those eggs like their parent,
other auimals quite difl'ereut from the parent are the result, in
some instances passing througli five or six transitions, as in
the fluke family. Commencing with tlie fluke worm, which
was perfectly familiar to most of them, he said there were very
sheepbreeders who have uot had some opportunities of study-
ing the worm in its site, and learning some of the effects which
it produces in the organism. The flukes have been kuowu for
a great many years, in fact could hardly be traced back to
their origin. They are found in deer, iu the ass, in cattle
particularly foreign cnttle; aud iu the bon^ts of the Zoological

Gardens, difl'erent varieties are found, but as far as they knew
the sheep is the only animal which sufferers very considerably
from them. Cattle never sutler from them, for he had met
with them in the slaughter-houses in the livers of fat bullocks,
but had never been able to associate with their presence any
deranged condition of tlio animal, and the same is the case
with the deer aud wild animals. In the sheep, however, there
can be no question that the flukes either produce the mischief
themselves, or the circumstances under which they occur are
injurious iu tlieir effects. The fluke worm occurs principally
in low, damp situations, marshy lands, generally where there
are large numbers of fresh-water snails. The animal is bi-
lexual, that is, every individual fluke is both male and
female, and has the horns of both sexes iu its body. In all
animals there is au immense number of eggs, which are
thrown off and carried into the iutestines, and from the in-
testines are thrown out in large numbers with the manure,
and from this it is easy to understand the succeeding stages.
In lands which are very high and dry with the sun shining
upon them the greater part of the year, in what they called
parched-up pastures, they were quite safe against attacks of
lot, and also ou laud near the sea, where the earth is impreg-
nated with salt, for salt is very uufavourable to the develop,
meut of the embryo, but in lands where there is fresh water,
there they had the couditious under which the embryo flou-
rishes. It seems that the last stage of the fluke-worm deve-
lopment is where it becomes parasitic to the liver of the snail,
and the cause of the alTection of the sheep is the swallowing
of those small snails, the liver becomes diseased, and the
animal at first gains fat, apparautly from the stimulus which
is given to the liver in the first instance, then the animal
begins to fall away, there is a shrinking of tlie muscles, the
formation of the bag, as the shepherd calls it, under the
throat, a general derangement of the condition, eventually
terminating, unless something is done to prevent it, in tJie
animal's death. Having pointed out that the land most fa-
vourable to the rot is also unfavourable to the develop-
ment of healthy, nutritious herbage, whicli combined to
render the sheep debilitated, he said the method of treat-
ment was not diflicult to suggest, but should be adopted
before the mischief was done. It is clear that to prevent
Sheep rot they must be kept out of marshy places ; but iu
certain localities it was uot easy to do so, for they picked
it up as they were being driven from one fold to another.
Under all circumstances, however, it was possible to pre-
vent sheep being driven along those dangerous places where
the rank grass flourishes, and if the shepherd were aware
of the danger he would take more care to prevent it.
A man can never find out by fifty years' observation what parts
of the land are favourable to the production of the fluke, aud
they could not expect that he should know this, but they could
prevent the sheep from feeding ou marshy places, aud put them
on grounils which are well drained, as all v;ell farmed laud

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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

out to be, and see uuder no circumstances in those seasons
wlien they fear an outbreak of rot that the animal falls
away in condition, for they must either supply it with arti-
ficial food or take the risk. In the majority of cases it was
quite possible, by keeping up the aniniars condition, by sup-
plying it with artificial food, keepiug it out of suspicious places,
and by adding to its food a certain amount of salt periodi-
cally, to prevent the animal from being affected with the
fluke or any other parasite. After the disease has broken out
it is desirable to keep them uuder cover, and find them dry
food, but if that plan cannot be adopted the best plan would be
to supply the sheep with a proportion of good hay while
feeding upon damp pastures, so as to keep them from any of
the objectionable herbage if possible. Wlien it is fully de-
veloped no treatment is of the slightest use, and unless the
animal can be removed to some high and dry situation nothing
can be done ; it does not matter how poor it is, so that the
animal may have to work to get its food. Passing on to the
second part of his subject he said the hydatid was known
to the earliest writers, many years before the speculations
as to the animal nature of the parasite arose, and the white
spots which are to be seen upon it were attributed to a
blow on the head, but after a time it began to be sus-
pected it was really an animal. Mr. Hewitt first, and others,
came very nearly to the truth, but it was not till 1S52 that
a German pathologist made the discovery that those clusters
were mere tapeworms, and that the water bladder found in the
intestines of the sheep, and frequently on the brain, is derived
from the eggs of the tapeworm. But then the question arose
how the eggs of the tapeworm were swallowed by the sheep,
and this was, no doubt, caused by their liaving been dropped by
a dog going over the ground, as the intestines of that animal
contain several species of tapeworm. The changes are not
complex. First, there is the hydatid, which is a water bladder
having a, tapeworm head, and this hydatid is swallowed by
another animal, the tapeworm passes into the intestines, the
joints grow one by one, when the last segment falls off, a perfect
animal itself. The segment having fallen to the ground, is
taken up by another animal, and instead of producing another
tapeworm, the eggs or embryos bore their way through tha
structures, and ultimately reach the animal's brain, always
going in a fixed direction to the brain of a sheep and the liver
of a dog. The origin of the hydatid is in all probability the
shepherd's dog ; of course tlie fact of not keeping a dog does
not prevent it entirely, for any stray dog might run over the
farm, and if one dog only dropped a few segments of the lape-
worm, the mischief "is done. Of course the great security tliey
liad lies in tiie fact that an immense number of embryos are
burnt up by the sun, crushed out of existence, before being
swallowed by the sheep, or else from the number of dogs, and
from the number of tapeworms in their intestines, the evil
would spread over the whole country. He instanced a case on
Salisbury Plain in 1852, where a singular fatality occured
amongst the sheep, nearly all being lost out of
a Hock of two hundred ; it was on that particular
spot that the owner was in the habit of exercising his
greyhounds. The prevention of hydatid in the brain is per-
fectly easy where a dog is kept on the farm, the best plan
being to give periodical doses which expel the worms ; the
common beetle-nut is a most deadly enemy to all the tape-
worm family, and two or three drachms of this grated up
and mixed with the animal's food, now and then, will render
the sheep perfectly free from the tapeworm. The best
treatment of giddy sheep is the immediate consignment of
it to the butcher, and he showed that all the methods pro-
posed for the extrication of the hydatid are useless, as if
it is extracted it does not prevent the hydatid growing
again, and another might form almost directly. The sub-
ject of the threadworm, which is most important, he said
he left it to the last. The embryo is a very small one, and
from it lambs have suffered more severely than calves.
After mentioning the symptoms that indicate this parasite,
he stated that when the lamb dies, the little worms are found
accumulated in large masses in the tubes of the lungs, and
the animal's death is caused by partial suffocation, and
general debility. Under these circumstances it is not of
the greatest importance to ascertain the cause or origin of
the parasite, but to devise some means for its expulsion.
Old sheep are all'ected with it as well as lambs, but in the
former case they do not suffer so much, though they are

capable of infecting the pastures to a considerable extent,
and if the embryo finds favourable conditions, the damage
is great. Here they found moist seasons most favourable.
So long as they have the eggs thrown out by the older
slieep, so long must they expect the lambs passing over
that land will take up an abundant quantity of the embryo.
The eggs which these worms coutain in the embryo,
do uot effect the sheep which take them up. If they were
passing a flock of adult sheep over a piece of pasture, it
might be assumed they drop an immense number of eggs over
that pasture. If they took directly a number of young sheep
over the land it does not result that they are affected, showing
that in the condition they then arc they are capable of affecting
any auimal which may take them up, but it seems, as in those
transitions which occur in the fluke family, in the hydatid
family some changes of a similar kind must take place in the
embryo of the round worm before it is rendered dangerous.
The lloyal Agricultural Society has given Professor Simonds
instructions to examine into the subject, and the inquiry is
now going on, but nothing material can be discovered, more
than what is at present known, as to the means of abating the
progress of the disease. It is known that it is the embryo
that is dropped one season by the old sheep which affect the
lambs of the next season, and, therefore, although they could
not state minutely every process, they were safe in concluding,
that one of the most important means of prevention is to keep
off young sheep from the lauds which have been fed upon by older
ones. If this were done throughout the country the loss would
not altogether cease, but would become so materially lessened
as to be no longer a matter of serious consequence, as at pre-
sent. The next step in the way of prevention would be to
treat the lands which had been fed over by the older sheep,
and, for this purpose, lime and salt may be used, both being
destructive to the germ of this parasite, and a topdressing of
lime and salt will do good to the land, as well as destroy the
parasites. The treatment of diseased animals is quite a sepa-
rate question, and requires a great deal of care and attention
the fact being that there are no means of directly destroying
this parasite in the body of the animal without doing the
animal a great deal of damage, and consequently all the reme-
dies which are devised must act indirectly to be effectual.
Small doses of turpentine frequently administered, and spirit
of turpentine mixed with the yolk of eggs or a little glycerine,
is an eflicaeious agent, but the best way of destroying it is
by applying some irritating gas, such as chlorine gas (very
easily produced), sulphurous acid gas, or carbolic acid gas.
The grand secret in the treatment of all parasitic diseases
was that the animals should be kept in good condition.

Tlie CiiAmjiAN asked if sheep known to be affected with
fluke are removed to high and dry land where rot was never
known to exist they would recover, if never taken back again.
They had had discussions upon the matter at the_ Club, and
there were various opinions upon it. Then again whether
sheep were attacked by the fluke in passing swampy places by
the roadside. And third, if they took some perfectly sound
slieep and put them upon a newly-made pasture, such as rye-
grass on a sewage farm, where it had been dry land, whether
they would get the rot. As the sewage question was an im-
portant one to the town of Maidstone, they would be glad of
information on tlie subject.

Mr. Plomley said that generally the rot developed itself in
badly drained fields, where the water had been^ stagnant for
some time, and occurred not more than once in 15 or 16 years.
He thought they would be liable to it this spring, in conse-
quence of the wet season.

Mr. R. Watekman said that at Tenterden about twelve
years ago, he saw many of the flukes, and many of the farmers
in the district sold their sheep at low prices to the butcher.
He kept his flock through, however, and bred lambs from them
and he should advise anyone instead of having them killed to
keep them, and feed them as well as they are able, for if they
were killed they only fetched about ten shillings each, while
others which brought up their lambs were worth SOs. or 403.

Mr. Fancett asked if the fluke could be taken up from the
excrement of rabbits by the sheep when passing near the
burrows P

Mr. Stoniiam said having lost 16 calves by parasitic dis-
ease, he entirely endorsed the opinion of Professor Brown
thut preventive measures were nearly the only measures that

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197

can be taken with any chance of success. When one was
buying stock, he could not anticipate the evil, for very likely
tlie germ might be laid, and the only way he could see was to
buy at such a price as to make the living pay for the dead.
He bought 68 Irish calves in two lots in the middle of the
summer, one in July and the other in August. The first lot,
numbering 36, was put on clean pasture, and he did not lose
one, and of the next lot he bought he lost 16. He called in
a veterinary surgeou, and discovered that they were infected
with round worm, a number of the creatures as large round
as a pipe being taken out of the bronchial tubes. He thought
he could see his way to preveut that occurring for the future,
for if he bouglit another lot of calves like that, he should be-
gin with oilcake directly he got them home. Those he had
saved were doing as well as they could do, taking down seven
pounds of cake per day. One question arising out of the
lecture he considered very important — Are those old pastures
so valuable as it is generally thought they are ? and he hoped
that question would come on for discussion at some future
meeting. The question is whether they are not a nuisance,
whether they should not introduce a system of alternative farm-
ing and do away with these pastures.

Professor Brown replied. The result of his observation
was that when sheep affected with the rot were removed to
high and dry ground, they had every chance of recovery, espe-
cially if they were obliged, in consequence of the scarcity of
food, to take plenty of exercise. Tlie result of this plan of
management was that a large number of the flukes die off
naturally, and the animal being placed in a position where it
gets no new supply, the quantity diminished week by week,
and at last the whole of them, or nearly the whole of them, are
entirely removed. The whole question, however, depended
upon the duration of the disease, but if as soon as they found
the disease out they had them thus removed, he had no doubt
the larger proportion of them would recover, and might be
used again. With reference to the probability of animals
picking up the disease by the roadside — he meant in those
green lanes which frequently connected two parts of the farm —
when the greater part of the farm was dry laud, iu some of the
low parts of the green lanes running to the homestead the
sheep were frequently driven, and it was there that the disease
was caught. The question referring to sewage land was rather
a difficult one to deal with. His own impression was there would
be no risk whatever in feeding sheep on rye-grass on sewage
farms as far as the rot is concerned, but it would be hazardous on
another account — that of splenic apoplexy, which occurred in
all those lands where there was an abundant quantity of
manure, either liquid or solid spread. The question as to
danger of rabbits running over ground and depositing their
excrement, he could answer distinctly in the negative, for un-
less the dogs iu the neighbourhood actually kill and eat the
rabbits, there is not the slightest chance of the sheep taking
the rot or hydatid on the brain. There was no question rab-
bits were subject to a species of worm, but not that which
caused either of those diseases. With regard to the worm iu
the throat of calves, he said they must first get infected ani-
mals, or their laud could never be rendered dangerous ; and,
in conclusion, he referred to the question of tlie old moist
pastures, advocating tiieir abolition, as they tend more than
anytiiing to spread the disease, and the inferior quality of the
herbage tends to weaken the sheep.

The CnAiKJiAN then proposed a vote of thanks to Pro-
fessor Brown, who, in reply, suggested that the farmers should
keep a book in which to note down facts which came under
their notice, which would materially assist scientific men in
pursuing their inquiries.

The following is the programme of the Maidstone Club for
the year : Peb. 8 — Professor Brown, M.R.C.V.S., on Para-
sitic Diseases, Worm in the Throat of Lambs, Plnkes in the
Liver, Hydatids in the Brain ; Peb. 29 — Dr. Monckton on
The Labourer and his Relation to Agriculture ; March 38 —
Mr. J. Bailey Denton, C.E., on Under Drainage, and the
Steps to be Taken to Develop and Maintain its Efi'ects; April
25 — Mr. Henry Corbet on A Model Agreement ; May 3U—
Mr. E. L. Everett on Suffolk Farming ; June 26 — Excursion
to the Sewage Parra at Bishop Stortford ; July 25 — The
Utilization of Sewage, and Mr. J. Rock on the A. B. C.
System ; Oct. 3 — Professor Buckman on Results of Seven
Years' Practical Farming of a Man of Science ; Nov. 7— Mr.
Henry Woods on Sheep Parming.

A "PAST AND LOOSE" COMMITTEE. — At Wigton
County Court, before T. H. Ingham, Esq., judge, an
action was brought by Mr. Henry Railton, of Snittlegarth,
against Mr. John Brown, of Wiggonby, farmer, and Mr.
Thomas McMechan, of Wigton, bookseller, late secretaries of
the Wigton Agricultural Society ; Mr. Johu Gate, of Wigton,
spirit merchant ; and Mr. John Jackson Mitchell, of Wigton,
guano merchant, two of the committee of the said society ; to
recover £5 5s., the value of a second prize given by Mr.
George Moore, for the best mare or gelding, four years old or
upwards, exhibited at the show of the Wigton Agricultural
Society, held at Wigton on the 13th September, 1871. The
first prize was awarded to Mr. Pearon's Romeo, which had
been purchased at Liverpool by the exhibitor. According to
the rules of tlie Wigton Society, entries were to be made he-
fore the 5th September. Romeo was still unpurchased at 5'50
p.m. on the 5th, and the entry was not sent until the 6th.
On the day of the show Mr. Railton protested against
Romeo, and the committee considered the protest on the
3rd October, when a motion was carried by 7 to 6 to the cfiTect
" that Mr. Pearon do not receive the prize." Subsequently,
however, Mr. Pearon threatened the committee with proceed-
ings to recover the money, and the former resolution was
rescinded. Mr. Railton, whose horse was placed third (Mr,
Percy's being second), now claimed the second prize, upon the
ground that Mr. Pearon's horse being disquahficd the next in
order of merit would take his place, and Mr. Railton would be
raised from third to second. The plaiutift', iu cross-examination
by Mr. Hough (who appeared for the defendants), said that he
had been a member of the committee, aud that it had been the
practice to receive entries after the advertised date. — Mr.
Hough said the rule fixing a date for receiving entries was made
for the benefit and convenience of the committee to make ar-
rangements for the show. It was a rule they could dispense
with at any time. — His Honour : It is a pity they should play
fast and loose with it. Strictly speaking, no entry should have
been taken after the 5th ; but this rule has been invariably
set aside with Mr. Railton's knowledge — To Mr. G. Carrick
(who appeared for the plaintiff) : How do you come to claim
the second prize? — Mr. Carrick : Mr. Pearon being debarred,
then Mr. Percy takes the first prize, and we take the second.—
His Honour : Does it follow tliat if A B C gets first, second,
and third prizes, that if A is ousted, B steps into A's place,
aud C into B's ? Mr. Railton never had the second prize
awarded. — Mr. Carrick : He will, as a matter of course, if— —
His Honour : Where is the matter of course ? I very much
doubt it. — Mr. Carrick : I must contend that the rule must be
adhered to. They have no power to vary it. It is a most im-
portant rule. — His Honour : Yes, it is a very important rule ;
but then you see it has been set aside over and over again.
Mr. Railton must try to settle it with the committee. — 5fou
have got all wrong, now get all right. There was a great de-
sire, he knew, to have as large an entry as possible, and they
had had the benefit of seeing as fine a horse as ever he saw iu
his life, he thought. Now try to settle it with the committee,
— Plaintiff : They won't settle it with me properly. — His
Honour : I dare say they'll admit they have not done right. —
Mr. Hough : I quite admit that Mr. Railton and the other
members of the committee have acted badly in varying the
rule. — His Honour : If Mr. Pearon had brought an action the
committee could not have resisted paying after accepting the
noraiuation. They would have had no deCeuce. — Mr. Hough :
Certainly not. He might have sued Mr. Railton as one of the
committee. — Mr. Carrick asked his Honour to grant a case.^
His Honour : I'll adjourn it for these gentlemen to settle.

THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL BENEVOLENT
INSTITUTION.— At the monthly meeting of the Council
on Tuesday, Pebruary 6th, present, the Marquis of Huntly, in
the chair, Mr. Baldwin, Mr. Battcock, Mr. Brown, Mr,
Cantrell, Mr. CoUins, Mr. Garrett, Mr. Naish, and Mr. Shaw,
it was agreed that at the forthcoming election 33 names be
added to the present list of pensioners, viz., 8 male, 15 female,
and 10 married candidates, thus raising the total number of
pensioners to nearly 300.

THE ROYAL SHOW AT CARDIPP.— Mr, Jacob Wilson
will again act as a steward of stock in the place of the Presi-
dent, Sir Watkin Wynn ; and Mr. Robert Leeds, the new
stock steward, will be in the horse ring, a section to which he
has already given his assistance at Oxford and Wolverhamptou,

198

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE FARM LABOURERS' MOVEMENT.

If we remember ariglit one of the speakers at a recent
meeting of a Chamber of Agriculture objected to any
discussion over the condition of the labourer as especially
inopportune ; the protest being emphasised by the fact
of this being made in a district where the men are
" moving." To us, on the contrary, nothing would seem
more politic than the consideration of the claims ad-
vanced should be taken at the outset, or, perhaps, more
particularly at a comparatively idle time. We have seen
men half-mad with drink " strike" on the rick in the
very middle of harvest, when every hour or minute was
a matter of anxious reckoning to the farmer, while the
difficulties attendant on the last in-gathering must be
fresh in the recollections of all. Let master and man
then, if possible, adjust their differences at once, or at any
rate let us not imagine that we can stifle such an agita-
tion by affecting not to give it any attention.

So far as the Agricultural Labourer be concerned the
question at issue is by no means confined to an increase
of wages ; but there are a number of collateral points to
which the employer might with advantage give some
study. A working man publicly stated in Shropshire the
other day that he received eleven shillings a-week, and
that he paid five pounds a year for his cottage. A la-
bourer in Leicestersliire said the other day, that he had seen
milk thrown to the pigs, a little of which he would have
been glad to take home to his family. Others continually
complain that if they are suffered to cultivate a bit of
garden ground they have to pay a much higher rent than
the farmer does for his land. Further than this, it is con-
tended that there is little or no incentive for a good
capable craftsman doing his best, but that he must be
content to abide by the "regular" pay of those parts.
Now, surely it would be well if such grievances as these
were made the subject, not so much of general, as of
individual inquiry ; let, in a word, every employer make
them "personal" to himself. On the common run of a
labourer's wages is it fair that he should be called
upon to pay as much as five pounds a year for the com-
mon run of cottage placed at his disposal ? It may be
said, in answer, that this, on the face of it, is an exor-
bitant rate ; but still this has been spoken to without
contradiction in certain districts, and in these districts
the people are "rising." Again, though nothing can
have a worse etTect than glviny a man a bit of allotment
ground, it is manifestly unjust that he should have to pay
more for this than the rent at which it is let to richer
men. Nothing could, ou the face of it, have a greater
tendency to make men dissatisfied with the terms upon
which they are treated ; and it is alike the duty of land-
owners and occu])iers to ascertain, each one for himself,
the rents which the working man has to pay for his house
and his garden ground. It is, moreover, occasionally
stated at these labourers' meetings that the bit of ground
is often denied a man, whereas there is no better aid than
this or no better employment for his leisure hour.

In his excellent paper in the lloyal Agricultural Society's
Journal Mr. Dent Dent brings the strongest testimony to
the advantage of insuring to tlic labourer and his family
a plentiful supply of milk, either by setting him up with
a cow, or by the farmer providing this from his own dairy.
Nearly all this evidence, however, comes from the Norili.
"Excepting at the annual hiring," says Mi. Cully, speak-
ing of the comparative prosperity of the Northumberland
labourer, "he hardly knows what a beer-shop means, and
vis children suck at the milk-bowl instead of himself at
the beer-jug." Here is another home question for the
farmers of the Southern and Western counties. Would it
not be as cheap in the end to supply labourers with milk

at the very lowest price, as throwing it all to the pigs, or
sending it up, still at the lowest possible rate, to some
London contractor ? We doubt much whether the plan
of each cottager keeping his own cow could be generally
carried out, but we have no doubt whatever as to the
mutual advantage of a regular supply of good fresh milk
for the family, as this with bread is, for rich or poor, the
companion staff of life. And here the labourer himself is
not altogether without blame. Strongly as he may speak
of his hardships, of the little his family has to live upon,
he is manifestly reluctant to forego his " privileges," or
his so many quarts of cider a day. If he will have wages in
kind it would be less selfish and more profitable were he
to exchange the cider for milk. And, again, the farmer
must inquire of himself as to how this would suit his
case ? If cutting off the small cider would be at any
temporary sacrifice to himself? In any case he must be
prepared to make it, as milk is almost the only payment
in kind we would admit of, and then at little more than a
nominal rate.

At the last labourers' meeting in Shropshire Mr.
Strange, the Secretary and lever of the Society, quoted
the admirable remarks made some years back by i\Ir.
Charles Howard, at the Farmers' Club, on the advantage
to everybody concerned of piecework. Mr. Howard,
beyond showing how much such a system does for the
farmer, said that "regulating wages by the quantity and
quality of the work performed, is an incentive to in-
dustry, and affords greater scope for the exercise of skill,
thereby giving the industrious and skilful man his legiti-
mate advantage over the lazy and indifl'erent." And
here, no question, is one of the weak places in the case of
the " industrious and skilful" agricultural labourer. Once
a ploughman always a ploughman, at precisely the same
rate of wages ; whereas in a manufactory the same man
•would have the opportunity of gradually rising from one
rank to another in the establishment. In fact, almost
the only opportunity of the rural labourer is piecework ;
and yet ilr. Sewell Read told the members of the Farm-
ers' Club in only November last that " task-work is not
gaining ground, but is rather losing it in agriculture."
Not because the men dislike it, but because the farmers
do not like to incur the trouble, or are, more positively,
unequal to or uneducated in this branch of their business.
Another home question arises here, and one which on the
labourer's own pleading, must be answered.

There is hardly a man of any experience who writes
upon Emigiation but who couples what he has to say
with a caution against people in any class of life hastily
engaging in such a speculation. A suggestive incident,
however, occurred at the recent gatheiing of the labourers
in Shropshire, which we give in the words of the report :
" We learn that before the meeting dispersed several
labourers were engaged to go into Statt'ordshire and else-
where, at considerably higher wages than they have
hitherto received." And at IJranston, in Lincolnshire,
one of the speakers said in reply to a suggestion that each
man should make au appeal to his employer : " I'd no
chance to ask my mester, for he came to me on Saturday
and said he shouldn't want me any more, so I thank'd
him and went about my business. He thowt he was
going to starve me, but I begun work this morning at
another place at three shillings a day, instead of half-a-
crown." It is but right to say that the movement is by
no means confined to the "poorer districts," as thry may
be termed, but that the meetings appear to be more
general and the lone more determined iu Lincolushiie
than elsewhere.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

199

LAND TENURE.

At a meeting of the Warwickshire Chamber of Agriculture,
at Warwick, Mr. T. Horley, jun., of Tiie Fosse, read tlie
following paper :

I have undertaken to introduce this subject from the con-
viction that it is of national importance, and a feeling has
been increasing in my mind for years that many of tiie re-
strictions and remains of feudalism that exist in the shape of
farm agreements and customs in many parts of this kingdom
are not only a sure hindrance to the progress of British agri-
culture, and prevent the proper cultivation of the soil, but are
also contrary to the spirit of the age in which we live, and will
be looked upon in after years with astonishment that they
could have held their sway so long, when it had been generally
admitted that they vrere a great clog upon agriculture, and
one main cause which has prevented that free flow of capital
to the cultivation of the soil, which in a thickly populated
country like this is so desirable. I say it is nothing but the
necessity for the consideration of this subject, and the hope
that we may (from the calm and deliberate discussion which
I trust will take place to-day) set people to think on these
matters, and, if so, I do not doubt great good will result, pre-
judice will be wiped away, and both landlords and tenants
will see the desirability of some general system which, while
it protects the owner of the soil, will secure for tiie capital
invested in its cultivation and improvement greater liberty,
and make it a safe investment. Tliere will, I know, be great
diversity of opinion as to how this can be best secured, but I
think it will be generally admitted that the rapid changes and
progress of British agriculture — from the days when, com-
paratively, only a small portion, and that the best
of the soil, was occupied as tillage, and when at
most the capital of the occupier consisted of a few
rude implements and a little stock which was
seldom housed or protected from the weather — have not se-
cured to this branch of our national industry a thorough secu-
rity for the capital employed. No doubt all advanced minds
will favour leases ; others, considering the difficulties in many
cases, advocate yearly tenancy with compensation for unex-
hausted improvements. I will not enter into their compara-
tive merits ; but I believe one opinion has been universally
growing of late years among all classes connected with the
land of this country, landlords, agents, and occupiere, namely,
that nothing less than twelve months' notice to quit could
fairly exist. I cannot but think that a system of compensa-
tion for unexhausted improvements must greatly extend, and
I trust become universal, whether land be held upon lease or
from year to year, because it must ultimately tend to materi-
ally improve, and consequently raise the value of the land,
offer a premium on good farming and high cultivation, and
prevent landlords from being called upon, whenever a change
of tenancy takes place, to make a large outlay to put the farm
into a fair state or condition for entry. I know some persons
think it better to spend their own money than to pay a sum
to their predecessors for what they have left behind ; but the
majority of people capable of judging know well that it is bet-
ter to be able to obtain a good harvest and keep a good amount
of stock on a farm the first year of entry than to spend two or
three years in bringing the occupation up to a fair standard of
cultivation. I will not plead either for leases or yearly tenan-
cies ; my object is rather to seek for greater liberty in culti-
vation, whether the hiring be for a term of years or from year
to year. We want to break the spell and charm of these old
stereotyped covenants and conditions, which have placed innu-
merable hindrances in the way of agricultural progress, and we
shall thus be conferring a boon alike upon owners and occu-
piers, and upon the country at large. The great amount
of capital that is now necessary for the thorough culti-
vation of the soil and the production of the greatest
amount of crop that can be raised from it without any ex -
haustion of its fertility, renders it necessary that there should
be a removal of all useless restrictions and a thorough revision
of existing agreements between landlords and tenants. The
attention that is being given to this subject by thinking minds

from one end of the kingdom to the other, from the firs
nobles and legislators to tlie teuaut-farraers, cannot have es-
caped your observation. I may adduce, amongst a few ex-
amples. Lord Derby's speec'i at Liverpool, where he said,
"After making allowance for the picturesque and other tastes,
which all desire to see more and more extended ; the fact still
remains, that we do not get, as yet, out of English earth, one
half what we probably might do with advantage, if all our
present resources were brought to bear on the soil ; and I will
add, if this work of agricultural improvement is to be carried
on as it should be, it is the landlord quite as much as the tenant
who must put his shoulder to the wheel. I believe what is
wanted from the landlord is much less that he should put a
large amount of capital of his own on the soil than that he
should offer no obstacle to its being put on by the tenant.
Security is the first requisite, and I hold that any tenant good
enough to be kept permanently on the land ought to have a
lease if he wants one, and the conditions of letting should be
few and simple." The Earl of Leicester (whose estate
generally may be looked upon as an example of high farming),
speaking at Dorking, the other day, said : " I will ask you,
have we in a favourable season on this description of soil ob-
tained the greatest possible return at the least possible cost ?
Since I last met you, I have travelled much through England
and Scotland, and taking into consideration the whole of
the land I have seen under cultivation I think I may safely
state that the produce of it might be nearly doubled under a
perfect system of agriculture. I have observed a want of
skill and capital on tlie part of the occupier, and an apparent
want of assistance and encouragement on the part of the
owner. The buildings were bad and inconvenient ; the
fields too small and ill arranged, and too often covered with
useless timber. I do not believe agriculture will ever attract
that capital, that skill, and that energy, which are requisite to
bring it to perfection, until ample security is given in the form
of a lease to the occupier, and from that lease many un-
necessary restrictions (which exist in 99 cases out of 100) are
omitted. I found in a lease in use on my estate there were
many restrictions such as I should not like to be bound by
were I a tenant. I have, therefore, with the assistance of my
agents and my tenants, deviated from the beaten track, and
endeavoured to form a lease more in accordance with the
spirit of the age, avoiding all interferance with the capital of
the tenant, removing all clauses that dictate as to the cropping
of the land, or the sale of the produce, and, as far as I can,
giving him security for his capital invested. I have en-,
deavoured to place my tenants in that position which I should
like to hold as an occupier of land, and in doing so I am
satisfied I have studied my own interest as well." Sir J,
Trelawney, M.P., speaking in Cornwall on the subject, said :
" A tenant wanted something to make him look upon the
land as that in which he was permanently interested." Col.
Corbett, M.P., at Ludlow, said : " The question o f the tenure
of land was a difficult one, but had been solved in some parts
of England by an arrangement in the lease or agreement, by
which allowances were made on either side, on the part of the
out-going and in-coming tenants for crops and unexhausted
improvements. There were other means of solving the pro-
blem ; and he quite agreed that under any circumstances a
man could not be expected to lay out his capital without a
fair prospect of obtaining a return for his money." At Stow-
market, Col. Wilson said, in reference to the growth of beet-
root for the purposes of distillation : " It stood to reason that
whatever was for the interest of the tenant, so long as it did
not injure the land, must in the long run be profitable to the
landlord." Mr. C. S. Eead, M.P., at Yarmouth, after re-
ferring to the Land Tenure Reform Association, of whicii Mr.
J. S. Mill is the President, said : " It is of no use saying to us
that when things are wild, revolutionary, and visionary, you
must remember that things which were considered wild and
visionary forty years ago have been adopted by the strongest
Government the country ever had. Every institution of the
country has to be tried on its own merits, I may say its

200

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

theoretic merits. One grievance I pointed out to you a
year ago, as an occupier of land that in a great agricultural
country Jike this the occupier of the soil lias no right what-
ever to any of the improvements he makes ; there is no
custom ; unless he makes a private agreement, all those things
are by law the property of the landlord. The custom of the
country you talk about, viz., Lincolnshire, and its Tenant-
Right, may be very well for Lincolnshire, but why in the world
should it not be right for Norfolk, and, I say, for all other
counties P Under this system of payment for unexhausted
improvements, the agriculture of Lincolnshire has wonderfully
advanced. I will ask yon, as practical men, whether, if you
were to receive notice to quit nest Lady-day, and had to leave
your farms at Michaelmas, you would not leave in the land
at least £1 per acre of your property, which, I contend, ought
to be as much your property as the balance you may happen
to have at your banker's ? Now, I say, with increased appli-
ances of science, we farm better, and we farm more extensively,
every day. Landlords say they do not like long leases. There
is a great deal to be said for and against them, but I cannot
see what there is to be said against compensation for unex-
hausted improvements. There is a great deal of floating
capital in the laud that is at the mercy of the landlord, but of
whicli it is said, to the honour of the landlords in Norfolk,
they have not taken advantage. But, I say, whenever there
comes to be a discussion on the land this will be one of the
things pointed out to show the bad relation wliich exists be-
tween tiie owner and occupier. For goodness, gracious' sake,
then, let us try to remove the evil before that day comes." To
quote aU the allusions that have been made to this subject
within the last six months would detain you here much too
long, as their number is legion, but I trust those which have
been given will have the effect of setting thoughtful minds to
work in endeavouring to find the fairest way (and that very
speedily) for some general system which shall protect the
owner from damage, allow the occupier greater liberty of
action, and recoup him what he is fairly entitled to. With a
view to show more fully how impossible it is in the present
day to farm the land so as to produce from the soil the amount
of beef, mutton, and corn it is capable of producing, under
the agreements that are now in force, and with a six months'
notice to quit, I may refer to the reports on the farms that
have been inspected during the last two years, and the prizes
offered in connection with the Royal Agricultural Society of
England. Some idea may be formed from those reports
(which, no doubt, most of you have read, and all would profit
by reading) of the amount of capital employed in the culti-
vation per acre, and also what position a tenant would be in
were he compelled to leave with a six months' notice, and
without any claim for what he has left behind. I
notice that the expenditure per acre on the farms in-
spected this year is from about 35s. to over £3,
, per annum in artificial food and manures alone. I would also
refer to an excellent paper written in 1863 by Mr. Thompson,
a few years since President of the Royal Agricultural Society
of England. After referring to the benefits of leases and com-
pensation for unexhausted improvements, he says : " As these
causes will probably long continue to operate, it is worth con-
sidering whether there are any practicable means of at once
mitigating the evils arising from the prevalent custom of let-
ting farms at will, or an agreement terminable at six months'
notice. These evils, though apparently of very different kinds,
such as injury to the public by the inadequate cultivation of
the land, and injury to the tenant, who, without sufficient
cause, is suddenly dispossessed of his holding, are all referable
alike to the same cause, viz., want of sufficient security for the
capital of an improving tenant." He then recommends nothing
less than 18 months' notice being allowed to take a crop of
corn from the whole of the arable land as some compensation.
In a discussion some years ago at the Midland Farmers' Club
on this subject, Mr. Randall, of Chadbury, who is agent to
several large estates, and one of the best strong-laud farmers in
England, alluded to the absence in almost all agreements of
stipulations for clean farming : he adverted to the agreement
he had in use, which is a very great improvement on those
generally adopted, and compensates the outgoing tenant for
land that is clean and fit to plant, on the one hand, and, on the
other, charges him for what is not in a good state, with com-
pensation for purchased food and manures ; and he tritely re-
marked, " Under the present system the first thing a man has

to do on taking a farm is to get it into a good state of cultiva-
tion ; the last thing he does on leaving it is to bring
it to as poor a state as possible. This was
unquestionably the ordinary practice, and a very improper
and ruinous practice it was, which had been forced upon the
agricultural community by the fact that, if a farm be entered
upon in a bad state of cultivation, there wiU be no compensa-
tion made for leaving it in a better state. Some means were
needed to make it the interest of a man
to farm well to the end of his tenancy, and to
do this there must be compensation for good farming,
and a penalty for bad." I will next refer to the Agricultural
Customs' Committee which sat in 1848, and took evidence
from about 50 of the leading land agents and farmers residing
in about 40 counties. This, like most other " blue books," is
rather wearisome to read through and comprehend, but a very
good digest has been arranged and printed by the late Mr.
Shaw and Mr. Corbet (second editor of the Marie Tmiw Ex-
press) entitled " Agricultural Customs in England and Wales."
From this any one may gain a great deal of information on the
subject we are now considering, and I think all who read the
evidence that was brought to bear upon the question of " com- ^''
pensation for unexhausted improvements," will see that al-
though they did not recommend legislation, it was very
strongly advocated, aud the following extracts show how bene-
ficial they considered something of the kind would be. Clause
13, alluding to compensation for improvements, runs thus;
" That the improvements above mentioned, which are generally
required throughout the country in order to develop the full
powers of the soil, are greatly promoted by this system of
compensation ; and, therefore, it is highly important that all
difficulties should be removed which stand in the way of its
extension, by the voluntary act of landlord and tenants." In
another clause they say that this wider system of compensation
to the out-going tenant seems to be highly beneficial to agri-
culture, to the landlord, and to the farmer, to lead to a great
increase in the productiveness of the soil, and to the extended
employment of the rural population. The 14th clause, to a
certain extent, appears contradictory, but it is only so far as ^

the desirableness of legislation is concerned. It runs thus :
" That any attempt to make its general introduction compul-
sory would be met by great practical difficulties, and your
Committee rely, for the general and successful adoption of the
system, on mutural arrangements between landlord and tenant."
Twenty-four years had passed away since that was written,
and how far has the system extended ? We find on reference
to our own experience, if we have visited the districts, that in
the limited area where it is the rule aud custom of the country
to pay for unexhausted improvements, and where security of
tenure exists, the cultivation of the land is farther a head of
other districts than it was at the time the Committee sat, and
that the system has very slightly extended. Yet we find the
good understanding between,owners and occupiers which is so
desirable (and which I trust will increase rather than diminish),
stronger in Lincolnshire, where this system has long been a
custom almost more binding in law than probably in any
other county, the land in the highest state of cultivation, "i

a thriving tenantry, and the labourers well cared for.
In support of these customs I may say the opinion is gradually
graining ground in our own and neighbouring counties that
the land will not be made to produce what it is capable of
producing unless many restrictions are removed, and off-going
tenants dealt with on a more liberal scale than has been the
custom. I know that many landlords aud agents are seeing
the daily-increasing necessity for this. I cannot go further
without referring to a paper on " The Duties and Privileges of
Landlords, Occupiers, and Cultivators," read to the members
of the Farringdon Club by Mr. John Beasley, of Chapel
Broughton, a name well known in the agricultural world,
more particularly as agent to Earl Spencer and other large
territorial possessors ; and I feel that, from the position he
has occupied so many years, his remarks will be received with
the attention they deserve. Speaking of the occupier he says :
" There is nothing more important, perhaps nothing so im-
portant, as fixedness of tenure, aud I believe it is the duty and
interest of every landlord to secure this to his tenants in one
shape or another. I do not mean to say that there will not
(and ought not) to be exceptional cases, such as will of neces-
sity arise ; but I am convinced that under good management,
they will he few and far between. I do not give any decided

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201

oplniou as to whether this security should be given by leases
or other means. I think a landlord is perfectly free to choose
whether he will adopt leases or not, and some tenants prefer
to hold their farms without leases ; but unless a tenant feels
that he is secure of holding his farm so long as he farms it
well, and maintains a respectable character, he is not placed
in a position to do justice to his landlord, himself, or to the
labourers of his parisli." In alluding to agents, who exercise
so much influence on the large estates of this country either
for weal or woe, Mr. Beasley fully delineates what should be
their capacities and character. Some persons may perhaps
think tliis reference may be going rather away from the sub-
ject we are met to discuss — " Tenure of Laud," but I feel
that much more of the prosperity and happiness of the middle
and lower classes connected with agriculture depends upon the
thoroughly upright conduct and the intelligence of agents
than the outside world generally believe ; and in these days of
rapid development and changes in agriculture, it is more than
ever important for gentlemen thoroughly conversant with
everything that is due to landlords and tenants, practical, ex-
perienced men, and with a high sense of honour, to occupy that
position. All who have paid any attention to these matters
must acknowledge the power and influence of gentlemen
holding these appointments. You may see on one estate en-
couragement and facilities given to enterprising tenants ; and,
on others, nothing can be allowed out of the beaten track, or
the least departure from the "red tape" rules that had perhaps
not been altered for centuries. There are so many important
matters connected with this subject, that I feel I cannot touch
upon many of them. The question of the " repair and main-
tenance of buildings" is so important to both owner and occu-
piers, that I think it requires more attention than is often
given to it. The old proverb, " A stitch in time saves nine,"
is too often forgotten in these matters. Owner aud occupier
must combine, if buildings are to be kept in a good state at
the least expense ; and this is very important, because land-
lords very properly only look at the income from their land
after all deductions are made. This has led to great charges
on large estates, where a regular staff of carpenters, painters,
bricklayers, masons, and others connected with the craft have
been kept and moved from place to place on the estate. A
wonderful saving has been effected by dispensing with these
establishments, which too often have to do repairs that would
not have cost more than a tithe had they been done at the
first, and by some one on the spot. Tbis matter materially
affects the occupier, because he often suffers loss and inconve-
nience, and is constantly reminded of the large amount spent
in keeping his holding in repair. The agent of a large estate,
where all the materials are found by the landlord, and the
labour divided between landlord and tenant (the tenant having
the control and supervision ot workmen), tells me that that
system answers exceedingly well, and is very much approved
by the tenantry generally. There can be no doubt that a
saving on this head may be generally effected by a proper
combination on the part of owner and occupier, and the
freehold be kept in a better state. This discussion
will be very imperfect, if nothing is said at the present
position and future prospect of the labour necessary
for the proper cultivation of the soil. No doubt the extirpa-
tion that took place in many close parishes until the passing
of the Union Chargeability Assessment Act, has and wiU exer-
cise a very prejudicial effect upon agriculture. Good cottages
and good gardens must become as necessary appurtenances to
properties as good homesteads, if good labourers are to remain
among us, I hope all who have not already done so, will read
Mr. Dent Dent on the condition of tlie agricultural labourer,
in the last number of the Royal Agricultural Society's Joi/maL
The long distance often travelled to and from work is detri-
mental to the farmer, and when near a large town or in a
manufacturing district, places him at a great disadvantage. It
will, therefore, be necessary for owners and occupiers to unite
in providing such accommodation and inducement as sliall
give the labourer more interest in his home and occupation.
The education of the labouring classes in rural districts is also
very closely connected with the land, but it will, I fear, have
little tendency to raise them in the social scale, so long as they
have not the power of living in their own houses, or bringing
up their families with tliose ideas of modesty, decency, aud self-
respect, which are so desirable. The enormous amount of
costly machinery now applied to agriculture requires steady

and intelligent men to superintend it ; and I feel svire that
nothing will tend so much to raise the social condition of the
agricultural labourer as intelligence and self-respect, which we
should all endeavour to encourage. The researches of clever
men in connection with agriculture have removed much pre-
judice and ignorance as to the effects of continuous cropping
of land. I could give many instances in confirmation of this
statement. The experiments of Mr. Lawes, of Rothamp-
stead (to whom agriculture is much indebted), prove that
there is a natural fertility inherent in the soil, below which it
cannot be reduced. Swift says the first cause of a kingdom
thriving is the fruitfulness of the soil to produce the neces-
saries of life. We must, therefore, bear in mind that
the more we produce in this country the less will be
required from abroad, and the more wealth will there be to
expend on other commodities. Railways, and the increase of
the general wealth of the country has tended to advance the
value of land more rapidly than formerly, and this must show
the greater necessity which exists for more freedom of culti-
vation and security for capital employed in agriculture. The
occupier is not in a fair position if he receives notice of a re-
valuation or to quit his farm, unless he has a chance of being
compensated for what he has expended and has hada n oppor-
tunity of receiving benefit from it. I know many, very many,
noble examples may be cited of good understanding between
landlords and tenants, and long may they exist and be multi-
plied ! I believe that these discussions, conducted in a proper
spirit, will tend to cement tliem and place tliera on a firmer
basis. We must, however, remember that life is uncertain ;
property may change hands, and fall into the possession of
strangers ; and, as is often the case, widows may be turned
adrift, with large families almost uuprovided for, their pro-
perty having been invested in the improvement of the farm by
their father, who may have been taken from them in the hey-
day of life. I have now laid before you, although feebly I
fear, the necessity which exists for some general relaxation of
the covenants that usually exist between owners and occupiers,
not altogether from my own experience, but from that of many
eading men in the various stations of life connected with
agriculture ; and I think all who carefully, thoughtfully, and
without prejudice, give to the subject the consideration it de-
serves must be forced to the conclusion that an absolute ne-
cessity exists for many alterations. Although time will not
permit my reviewing many other interests involved in this
question, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that they must
be considered ; but I reserve for a future occasion my ideas on
many important points in connection with these matters. I
trust the discussion to-day will be of a character that will re-
move prejudice, tend to progress, and to cement more firmly
tlie relations between the landlord, the tenant, and the
labourer.

Mr. C. M. Caldecott proposed the first resolution, which
was as follows : " That in the opinion of this Chamber the
absence of any definite provision for securing to tenant farm-
ers the capital and labour they invest in the land, prevents
proper cultivation, is injurious to the true interests of laud-
lords, is a grave disadvantage to tenants in preventing a pru-
dent use of capital necessary for profitable farming, and is the
cause of an immense loss to the nation in limiting the growth
of food far below what the land is capable of producing." He
referred to the conviction, which had for very many years
forced itself upon his mind, that in tliis country tlie tenant
farmer lacked security for his capital aud labour put into the
land, and that the needless, stereotyped restrictions in the ordi-
nary contracts between landlord and tenant greatly interfered
with the proper development of the productive power of the
soil. Having mentioned several instances in which the exist-
ing system was detrimental to the interests of the proprietor
and cultivator of the land, he expressed his cordial acquies-
cence in the resolution which he had proposed. Referring to
the question of agreements, he observed that that which Mr.
Newdegate, M.P., had introduced from Lincolnshire, con-
tained as few restrictions as any he had ever seen, and it em-
braced a compensation clause ; that clause was also inserted
in Mr. Davenport's agreements, but the latter contained rather
more restrictions than he liked, although they were compara-
tively few. What was generally required was the introduc-
tion of compensation clauses and the omission of the foolish
and injurious restrictions which were not, as Mr. Horley said,
remains of feudalism but of " lawyerism" If landlords acted

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202

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

on these old stereofyijed coaditious, tLey would Ije food for
all the lawyers of the country.

Mr. WAKEi'iELD scconded the proposition.

Mr. C. N. Newdegate, M.P., commenced by referring to
the report of the Agricultural Customs Committee appointed
in 1848, and of which he was a member. He explained that,
at the solicitation of friends, he resigned his claim to take the
chair in favour of the late Mr. Philip Pusey, an old advocate
of agricultural reform, but who was a sort of enthusiast, aud con-
sequently all the witnesses called by the Chairman were those
of most advanced opinions, but who in their cross examina-
tion gave the committee better material from which to make
their deductions. The usefulness of the report and evidence
generally was proved by the fact that the House of Commons
had siiice ordered both to be reprinted, and Ind not appointed
another committee on the subject. On the question of land
tenure he (Mr. Newdegate) had long since made up his mind.
About two or three years alter the issue of the report of the
above-mentioned committee, he, without venturing to recom-
mend anything to his brother land-owners, adopted for his
own estate an agreement containing a compensa-
tion clause, founded on the first series of clauses
adopted in Lincolnshire, the latter being admitted
to be the best Tenant-Right custom in England or Wales.
His tenants, however, were so unwilling to accept it that be-
fore they would do so he had to give them notice to quit
but they subsequently yielded, and presented his mother
with his portrait as a mark of gratitude aud respect. In
the present meeting Mr. Wise, M.P., had placed in his hands
a copy of Lord Leicester's lease. He (Mr. Newdegate) was
not in favour of leases ; and his opinion was confirmed in a very
able article in the last number of the Edinburgh Review.
The relations between landlord and tenant in England and
AVales were diflerent from those in Ireland and Scotland, the
advantage being on the side of England. Any agreement be-
tween landlord and tenant, when stamped, was as binding on
both as an Act of Parliament ; and it appeared to the agricul-
tural customs superior to laws, because of the great variety in
the treatment of the soil and the general cultivation in dif-
ferent parts of the country. In some parts of the country
under the form of Tenant-Right had grown up customs which
utterly impoverished .the incoming tenant. It was with a
view of providing a limitation aud safeguard against this
abuse that he adopted a specific agreement. The motion pro-
posed by Mr. Caldecott was very wide. He had opposed the
Irish Laud Bill as a direct invasion of freedom of contract. It
might be necessary for Ireland, in her uniiappy condition, to
have various olficials regulating the relations between landlords
and tenants ; but no such necessity existed in England, and it was
an infraction of freedom which they would do well to curb. He
thought the word should be " contract," instead of "provision,"
in tiie clause of the resolution as to " the absence of any definite
provision for securing to tenant-farmers the capital and labour
that they invest in the land." He believed that what was
wanted was more definite contracts. Some irritation had
sprung up, he did not know why, on these matters. He would
call attention to an extract from a Coventry paper,
in which the writer stated that a Warwickshire farmer was un-
der notice to quit, because his son had accidentally shot a
pheasant, and added, " In the legislation of freely-elected Pai-
haments, when members are not mere nominees of landowners,
sitting for semi-rotten boroughs, but chosen in proportion
to the population by an educated constituency — land-
owners will not be able to punish the nation as they have
done in the past." There was written on the newspaper
these words : " Can Warwickshire landowners and land-
agents after the Irish ' burablings' stand by and see such
a disgustingly hateful thing done ?" This was a threatening
letter, and it was essential to the happy relations existing
between landlords and tenants, that now when larger
capital was invested in agriculture than at any other period
greater security should be given. He contended that if tenants
had not that security it was in a great measure their own
faults, because they did not liave described in their agreement
tlie exact terms of the relationship to the landowner which
they wished. He would next refer to the question of limited
ownerships, and suggest that in such cases the law micht
be amended so that under the supervision of the Court of
Chancery security might be given to a tenant in the form
of an agreement which would be binding against the estate

and its successors. Beyond this he did not see any means by
which any real benefit could be conferred by legislation on the
subject. It was a dangerous subject for Parliament to touch.
Parliamentary interference had already gone too far in many
directions, and a grave mistake might be made if Parliament
unadvisedly interfered with the existing condition of agricul-
ture in England, and with the tenure of land as it had done
in Ireland. Tiiere was a different system, and on purely a
commercial principle in Scotland, but it had resulted in a great
increase of rent, which increase had been obtained by the land-
owners at a great loss to their own social condition, and much
to the detriment of the country. In England the system was
founded on the behef that the landlord and tenant were part-
ners in one concern. The terms of the partnership ought to
be definite and precise, specific and binding. He was not pre-
pared to do anything to break up that partnership.

Mr. Bromley Davenport, M.P., Alluded to his desire
to see tenant farmers possessing proper security for the
capital and labour they invested in the land. He read ex-
tracts from his agreements with his Cheshire tenants, by which
his tenants enjoyed full security for capital, and proper com-
pensation for unexhausted improvements. He agreed with the ^
portion of Mr. Horley's paper as to the utter uselessness of
many of the restrictions in leases. The resolution before the
meeting talked about the land producing the greatest amount
of food of which it was capable, but in order to do so they
must remove all hedgerows, and render the country generally
in a state in which he should not like to live in it. He was
prepared to agree to any resolution to the effect that some sort
of agreement should be the general custom for giving to the
tenants security for capital put into the land. He vindicated
the landowners from the sweeping charges brought against
them, and urged that although there were rogues in all classes,
the landlords as a body were worthy of implicit confidence.
He did not approve of Parliamentary interference between
landlord and tenant, because it would imply want of trust in
the landlord, and want ol common sense in the tenant.

Mr. Perkia's thought the hon. gentlemen who had just
addressed the meeting were labouring under an erroneous ^
impression in supposing that the Chamber desired legislative
interference between landlord and tenant, instead of simply
suggesting means by which to remove the hindrances placed
in the way of the cultivation of the soil, and to obtain for the
tenant farmer proper security for the labour and capital he
invested in the laud.

Mr. I'iNLAif Du:nn (Shipston) depreciated any application
for legislative intervention with landlord and tenant, believing
that the landowners of this country and the educated tenant
farmers knew their own business far too well to require the
interference of a third party in making agreements for them.
He expressed his concurrence in Mr. Horley's remarks
with respect to the imperfect development of English agri-
culture. The agricultural produce of this country represented
two hundred millions sterling per annum, and yet for some-
thing like forty years there had been but a comparatively
small increase in this large return. It was estimated that
there had only been something like IGi per cent, increase in »
the agricultural returns of England, Ireland, and Scotland,
during the last forty years. The increased application of
machinery to agricultural purposes and the investigations
which had been made by scientific men had attracted much
capital to the land, and added to its productiveness,
but its produce was far below the standard which
should be obtained. An increase of one-tenth in the products
of the land added twenty millions sterling of profit to land-
lords, tenents, and labourers. In the leases and agreements
with which he was connected in Warwickshire, he had always
recommended that there should be a certain amount of per-
manence in the arrangement between landlord and tenant.
Mr. Newdegate had objected to leases as interfering with the
partnership which ought to exist, and did exist between land-
lord and tenant ; but lie (the speaker) considered that a lease
prolonged the partnership and rendered it stronger and more
definite. Great injustice was often done to tenants who had
laid out a great amount of capital on the understanding that the
holding was to be permanent. He knew an instance in which
a gentleman took a considerable tract of land, five or six years
ago, on the assurance that he should not be disturbed. On
this understanding he had laid out about £10 an acre in vari-
ous improvements. Two years ago the property was sold, and

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203

tlie tenant was now about to quit on six months' notice, leav-
ing a very considerable amount of capital in the soil. He
agreed with wliat had been said as to the extreme importance
of unfettering the tenants as to the mode in which he cropped
his land, believing that, with the advance of agricultural
science, they might safely depart from the beaten track without
deteriorating the permanent value of the land. In all the
agreements with which he had to do he invariably allowed
tenants to farm in any way they liked until within the last
four years of the termination of their agreement. In order
to induce the continued application of a proper amount of
capital till the end of the term, it was important to introduce
compensation clauses for improvements of various kiuds. In
this way a system of high farming would be maintained,
which would be beneficial to the landlord, tlie tenant, and the
public. One of the defects in the Earl of Leicester's new
lease was that he did not recognise the necessity of allowing
for manures purchased and buildings erected suitable to occu-
pation, which might, with profit to the landlord, be included
in covenants between landlord and tenant.

Mr. BEKRy Congueve thought the Chamber had heard a
little too much of the landlords' side of the questiop.
Although not wishing to say a word against the feeling evinced
by tenants towards landlords, he could not help thinking that
they sometimes went too far in trusting to what was called
good feeling and a sense of honour. Tenant-farmers wanted
some security for their outlay, and to have their relations
with their landlords not dependent on a good verbal under-
standing merely, but placed on a sound, business-like footing.
Farming was a business, and, like other commercial trans-
actions, it should rest on a firm basis so far as the terms of
the occupancy were concerned. Every day they were witnes-
sing the evils arising from the want of a proper system of
Tenant Right.

Mr. G. i\ MuNTZ regretted that Mr. Berry Congreve should
have spoken of there being different interests between land-
lords and tenants, because he believed that those interests were
identical. Mr. Newdegate had complained of the wideness of
the resolution, but the council intended it to be wide, in order
that members might not be committed, and that the field
might be left open to a free and full inquiry. As a landowner,
he wished to have an agreement which, while protecting his
property, would also give to the tenant security for every shil-
ling he put into the land. Mr. Davenport had told the
Chamber he gave compensation for bones. He (Mr. Muntz)
wished to see a man paid for his brains. This was an
important point for landlords. As the law and custom at
present stood, wise and prudent men, who could get useful and
profitable employment for their capital elsewhere, would not
put it into the land ; and if the same protection for capital
existed in agriculture as in other branches of industry the
flow of capital in that direction would be larger than it had
ever been before. The landlords could not have high rents
unless the tenants had large profits. Opportunities should be
afforded the tenant of making the land more productive, but,
under the present system, hardships were often infiicted on
the tenant. He was not in favour of legislative interference,
and he trusted that both landlords and tenants would give each
other credit for the best intentions.

Mr. Foster said he was not opposed to legislative inter-
ference, and spoke strongly on the necessity for Tenant-Right.

Mr. Newton, chairman of the Henley branch Chamber,
deprecated legislative interference, and thought its operation
impossible unless in England we lapsed into the state of things
which existed in Ireland.

Mr. Caldecott briefly replied.

Mr. John Ford, the Chairman, said: The subject we have
been discussing is unquestionably one of national importance,
and I think the council of this Chamber has exercised a discre-
tion in bringing it to-day before its members. It is indeed a
subject of great moment, for it aft'ects not only the tenant-farmer
but the landlord and the consumer, because if the tenant-farmer
feels that he has a safe and tangible security for the profitable
investment of his capital, he wUl be disposed to give a higher
rent for his farm, which will be an immediate benefit to the land-
lord. He will also be induced to adopt a more spirited mode
of cultivation, which will result in an increased production,
and thus be beneficial alike to himself and the community.
Mr. Horley's paper will I trust be instrumental in pro-
moting the extension of the principle he has so ably ad-

vocated— a principle which men of great judgment and
experience in these matters has affirmed to be not only
most desirable, but actually necessary— this principle has
at various times been called by various names, such a " Tenant-
Right," and " Compensation for Unexhausted Improvements."
Here we had it presented to us to-day under the more modified
and less objectionable term of " Land Tenure," by which I
think is understood the relations which exist, or should exist,
between landlord and tenant, and which it is so desirable
should be of such a nature as, while affording a complete
system of preventing the deterioration of the landlord's pro-
perty at each recurring change of tenancy, should also secure
to the tenant the full benefit of his outlay, and of his unex-
hausted improvements, and thus do away with the pernicious
and ridiculous system of annual tenure, which has seriously
crippled, if not well nigh ruined, many an honest man and
good tenant. I have listened with great attention,
as well as satisfaction to the language and argu-
ments which Mr. Horley adduced in support of bis
views, and I will do him the justice to say he lia«
treated the subject with very great credit to himself. It is im-
possible in the short time at our disposal to go through the
various points of the paper, but I have observed that while Mr.
Horley lays down no dogmatical or infalliable method of alter-
ing the existing state of things, he most emphatically urges
the necessity of some change, and pleads especially for more
extended liberty of action in the cultivation of the soil. This
is unquestionably very desirable, and will follow in the wake
of a more enlightened system of land tenure. Several other
gentlemen have favoured us with their views, and it is literally
impossible to reply to them all. I, myself, have long and
deeply considered this subject, and I have come to the con-
clusion that we must look for a solution of our problen^ to
those countries and places where we find the best principles
and practices of farming prevail, and where they are attended
with the most beneficial results. Mr. Horley has referred to
the opinions of Lord Derby and Lord Leicester on the subject of
leases, and he also said, at the commencement of his paper,
that no doubt all advanced minds will favour leases. I cannot
venture to include myself in this number, but I cannot help
feeling that in Scotland, in Flanders, and in the Netherlands
we shall see the Ijeuefit; of this system of tenure. There are
possibly and probably other ways of settling this question, such
as a pre-arranged mode or rate ot compensation for unex-
hausted improvements, or some well-defined system of agree-
ment, by which mutual confidence is secured. That something
must be done is beyond all question. No landlord can rea-
sonably expect a tenant to lay out a large capital upon his
farm without some kind ot security, or bury his money in the
soil without some chance of recouping himself, and I think while
I may safely remark that long leases and good farming liave
generally gone together, and, iHce versa', I may truthfully add
that the landlord who in these days stands coolly aloof, de-
clining to offer to his tenants any confidence or security in
some form or other, is tolerably sure to find himself and his
property left behind in the general rate of progress. I am
very pleased to see so many landlords here. It is an augury
of better times. I am equally rejoiced to see so many tenant-
farmers. It is a proof they are at last become alive to their
true position, and that the immobility with which they have
been so long taunted is passing away ; but I would just say a
passing word to the latter, that they should have some con-
sideration for their landlords ; that, although the possession of
landed property is very desirable as giving a social status, it is
embittered by the recollection that it is the worst investment
a man can make in a pecuniary point of view, and that with
constantly recurring expenses in buildings, drainage, repairs,
and other things, it pays a very poor rate of interest. I sin-
cerely believe that landlords are anxiously and heartily desirous
of doing justice to their tenants, but I fear they are not suffi-
ciently acquainted with their wants, and leave too much to
their agents, who as a rule are not better informed than them-
selves. But how can it be otherwise when we see perhaps a
London solicitor deputed to manage an estate lying hundreds
of miles away, and about the management of which he is
thoroughly ignorant ; or some head clerk or foreman promoted,
or a broken-down old gentleman, or a poor relative or friend,
or a retired officer who has spent all his life in India, suddenly
chosen to manage a large property about which not one of them
understand any more than a full private from a chosen regi-

201.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZESTE.

ment of the Iloise Marines ? If noblemen and gentlemen
would exercise a little more Jiscretiou in their selection of men
for the maaii,i^emciit of their estates, we should not so often
see or hear of those disagreements between landlord and tenant,
which frequently bring — hovrever unjustly — the former into
disreinite. I know the position of the British farmer is neither
one of satisfaction or repose, lie sleeps in no more security
than did Damocles of old ; and the suspended sword, iu the
shape of a sis months' notice to quit, is perpetually hanging
over his head, threatening every moment to fall and pierce him
through — to confiscate liis property, to scatter to the four
winds of heaven the endearments, the old associations, and loved
and cherished hopesaud memories oflong and laborious years of
anxious toil and active energy. I say these things cannot, they
must not last any longer ; the worn-out system of annual
tenure, and the old stereotyped forms of agreement, must all
be swept away ; tliey are not consistent with^any sound recog-
nized principle of political economy, they are not in accord-
ance with the spirit of the times, or the general advancement
of the knowledge and intelligence which permeates all classes.
Parraing is no longer what it was — a primitive occupation,
nor is it an antiquated traditionary art capable of being trans-
mitted from father to son, but it is now become a modern
business, requiring much deep thought and scientific study to
carry it on profitably and successfully. Agriculture, indeed,
is now become the widest of the sciences, for it embraces or
touches up all problems from the constitution of soils to the
laws of life.

Mr. Caldeeott's resolution was carried.

Lord Leigh (Lord-Lieutenant) proposed " That a com-
mittee be appointed to report on the best mode for remov-
ing the evils expressed in the first resolution, and tliat it con-
sist of equal number of landlords and tenants, not exceeding
twelve; four to form a quorum." After eulogising Mr.

Horley's paper and the speeches which had been made, his
lordship exressed liis cordial acquiescence iu the sentiments
enunciated in the paper, and in the resolution winch liad been
adopted. He took it that the object which the meeting
had iu view, was to lay down some general rule or custom
for the adoption of the country. Mr. Newdegate,
Mr. Davenport, and many others, himself included,
were quite ready, aud had always been willing to give
compensation for unexhausted improvements ; but there must
necessarily be many landlords who did not follow that rule.
If the rule was generally followed throughout the district, it
would be a very great gain to the community. The matter
required grave consideration, aud he thought the right course
to be pursued would be to appoint a Committee to make en-
quiries, and report on the best means of removing the evils
which were admitted to exist. He would not detain the meet-
ing with any observations as to the importance of giving com-
pensation for unexhausted improvements, as so
much had been said on that point. He wished
to make one remark respecting agreements, and
that was that the simpler they were the better. The less a
tenant was fettered by useless restrictions the better it would
be for landlord and terfaut ; as a good tenant should have as
much liberty as could possibly be afforded.

Mr. Berky L'o:>(gre\"e seconded the proposition, which
was carried unauimously.

The Committee was constructed as follows : Landlords — ■
Lord Leigh, Mr. Newdegate, M.P., Mr. C. M. Caldecott, Mr.
G. F. Muntz, Mr. G. Wise, aud Mr. Mark Philips. Tenants-
Messrs. T. Horley, jun., "Wakefield ; J. H. Burbery, J.
Hicken, S. B. Congreve, aud Endall ; the chairman, and
vice-chairman, ed--o[Jicio members.

Thanks were voted to Mr. Horley for his paper, and to the
chairman for presiding.

TENANT-RIGHT.

At a general meeting of the members of the Worcestershire
Chamber of Agriculture, at Worcester, the subject discussed
was Tenant-Kight. Mr. G. Whitaker presided, and there was
a large attendance.

Mr. llussoN said, on the subject of Tenant-Right, he was
perfectly aware of the ditficulties surrounding the question,
the delicate treatment it required, and his inability to do it
that justice wliich its important nature demanded. He eon-
tended that the agriculturists, as a class, had an equal right to
ask for a simple act of justice as any other class in the country,
and if they asked for it iu the manner recommended by Mr.
Caird in the Scotch Chamber, no landlord need be otfended.
Referring to the present unsatisfactory position of the land
question, he attributed it to the following causes : First, be-
cause mauy farmers invested their capital only so far as they
saw the probability of recouping themselves within a given
period ; consequently tlie occupation was not so profitable as
it otherwise might be, the resources of the land were not de-
veloped, and the people were deprived of that amount of food
which they had a right to expect. Secondly, tenants had faith
in their landlords, wiio were in the main honourable and just
men, and would scorn to take advantage of them ; but it oc-
casionally happened that the landlord died, or the property
passed into other hands. The new possessor, not feeling
bound by the acts of his predecessor, had the farm revalued,
and it generally ended in the rent being raised. Thirdly, such
was the competition for land at the present time that, as soon
as a farm became vacant, there were fifty applicants, who in
their eagerness to obtain possession of it did not look very
closely into the terms of the tenancy. To the question, " Why
do farmers take their farms unless'upon lease ?" he answered
that many landlords objected to grant leases, and that when
they were granted they were very little good, excepting as let-
ting the tenant know iiow long he would have his farm, and
he made his arrangements accordingly. Another disadvantage
arising from ;he absence of Tenant-Right was this — that, in
consequence of the dependent position of the tenant farmer, he
was unable, as an Englishman, to assert his right in the ex-
pression of his opinion with perfect freedom upon a subject in

which he was particularly interested, for fear of offending his
landlord or the agent. Wlien did the tenant farmers get from
the Government that consideration which their wealth, their
numbers, and the capital invested entitled them to receive ?
To show that tenants were sometimes victims to the caprice
of the landlord, or to a dispute with the agent or gamekeeper,
Mr. Russou quoted a case in which a tenant on the estate of
a nobleman, who had conceded to his tenants the right to kill
hares aud rabbits, and was held up as a mc lei liberal landlord,
received notice to quit, or, iu the elegant and figurative lan-
guage of the agent, " liberty to remove himself and his capital
to a more advantageous occupation," because a speech made by
him at an agricultural meeting at Leamington had given of-
fence. In his own neighbourhood a tenant applied for and re-
ceived the refusal of a small farm contiguous to his own land,
which farm had been in a most disgraceful state for years.
On asking for a lease of the land, the agent replied that the
landlord never granted leases, but that he was so well known
as a good landlord, that no teuant, so long as he farmed
properly, need fear being turned out, or having his rent
raised. The tenant set to work to improve the laud, and
did everything to get it into a good state of cultivation,
at an outlay of about £10 per acre. The old landlord
subsequently died, the services of the agent were dis-
pensed with, and, in the words of the Israelitish law-giver,
" A king arose in the land who knew not Joseph." The
tenant received notice to quit, and on writing to ask why he
had been subjected to such treatment, as he was not aware of
having done anything to deserve it, he received an evasive
reply. On repeating bis request, he had no reply at all. Some
explanation of this might be found in the fact that the farm
was let to the new agent's friend, who was the trustee of the
agent's son-in-law, at a rental of 13s. per acre more than the
previous tenant had paid. He (Mr. Russon) could vouch for
the truth of this incident, as he himself was the unfortunate
tenant. This landlord had since given all his tenants notice
to quit, iu order that a fresh agreement, a copy of which be
read, might be entered into. One of its provisions was that
the tenants should keep so many dogs for the landlord, and

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

205

another, that ou the death of a tenant, the land should be
given uf. on the 25th of March following. In return for this,
the agreement provided that in case of notice to quit lieiiig
given to a tenant, the latter should be entitled to receive from
the landlord or the incoming tenant the full value of any un-
exhausted improvements. The Michaelmas tenants on the
estate were also required to become Lady-day tenants. In
consequence of what had been stated, however, there had been
a little modiiication of the agreement in some instances. The
landlord to whom he referred was a peer of the realm, and
one of our hereditary legislators. His patent of nobility
dated from 1443, and he evidently wished to revert to the
usages and customs in vogue at that period. He (Mr. llusson)
had no desire to make an attack upon landlords, but to expose
injustice. These might be exceptional cases — he hoped tliey
were — but robberies and murders were exceptional cases, and
yet it was considered necessary to have laws for the protection
of life and property. He contended that the landlord who
exercised his power to appropriate that which belonged to the
tenant, as tlie result of his capital and industry, was deserving
of the epithet applied to it by the late Lord Clarendon,
namely, " felonious." In the first place, then, a system of
Tenant-Right or compensation for unexhausted improvements,
would be an advantage to the tenant, by giving him security
for his capital, and compensation for improvements, he would
be able to spend his capital freely, according to the modern
and improved system of farming. In the next place, it would
benefit the landlord, because more capital would be applied to
the land, and greater fertility would be the result. But the
greatest benefit arising from the establishment of Tenant-
Right would be derived by the people, because, by the applica-
tion of a vast amount of capital to the land, its resources
would be developed, and a large additional food supply would
be available for the population. The employment of the ca-
pital now paid for foreign corn upon the land would give in-
creased employment to labour, obtain cheap and abundant
food for the masses of the people, and tend to increase the
wealth and prosperity of the country. What prevented the
land from being brought into a high state of cultivation ? And
why should the millions required annually for the purchase of
foreign food be paid to the foreigner instead of being kept in
this country P Because there was no security for capital, no
encouragement for the tenant to spend his capital on the land,
and no Tenant-Right. He trusted the discussion upon this
subject would cause the landlords, not only as an act of jus-
tice, but as a matter of policy, to combine with the tenants for
the purpose of coming to a fair and speedy settlement of the
question, thereby preventing the interference of those persons
who, having little sympathy with the occupiers and owners of
the soil, might claim to have some part in the arrangement in
which the landlords might not receive that consideration to
which they were entitled. He would conclude by moving the
following resolution : " That, taking into consideration the
non-development of the resources of the soil in this country,
consequent upon the absence of suflicient security for the te-
nants' capital invested therein, this Chamber is of opinion that
a moderate and equitable system of Tenant-Right should be
established, thereby benefiting the landlord, giving justice to
the tenant, and increasing the supply of food for the people."

Mr. Peaece seconded the motion. Seeing that the landed
interest was so insignificantly represented in that room, he
thought there was a want of the feeling ou the part of tlie
landlord which the tenant very much needed at the present
time. He regarded this as almost entirely a landlord's
question, and if it could have been approached under a desig-
nation other than that of "Tenant-Right" he should have
seconded the resolution with greater pleasure. He himself
had received compensation for unexhausted improvements,
from three distinct landlords in that county ; and therefore
they must acknowledge that a great amount of consideration
for the tenants was shown by a portion of tlie landed interest.
At the same time they could not shut their eyes to the fact
that some landowners were disposed to be overbearing, and
were backward in giving their tenants that stimulus which
they needed in the present day. He contended that the
absence of security for a tenant's capital excluded many in-
telligent and enterprising men, with great capacity for deve-
loping the resources of the soil, from the occupation of the land.

Mr. Vauden said he agreed that the low cultivation of the
laud was an injury to the nation as well as to the owners and

cultivators of the soil, and it was their interest to seek out
and remove the cause of the present state of things. English
agriculture had grown from a simple art to a compUcated
science. Farming was now a commercial pursuit ; the farmer
was a manufacturer ; and these changes rendered desirable a
revision of the laws and customs regulating farm tenancy.
All classes were interested in the result of the discussions
upon this subject, for higher cultivation of the land would
give the landlord more rent, the tenant-farmer more profit,
the nation larger remuneration and more regular employment
for its labourers, and the people a more abundant supply of
food. The speaker, by pointing out that the amout of market-
able produce considered by their grandfathers and great grand-
fathers as requisite for reut and taxes was about the same as
that paid at the present time, showed that landowners had not
been induced, by the great competition which existed for land,
to extort a iiigher rent than the old custom proportion. He
asked them to bear this in mind, for if some of the principles
of Tenant-Right as now proposed should be carried into effect
the system of rack rent must be substituted. As science ad-
vanced the large rates paid in some instances for land would
increase, especially when greater experience was obtained, and
higher cultivation took place. Thus, agriculture was not
hmited by what was possible or profitable. Extra cultivation
would involve doubling the produce of the land, and to do
that additional capital, larger than the present capital, was
necessary, but how much larger was not known. It was
estimated that probably £10 per acre would have to be pro-
vided by the landlords, making 460 millions, and the same
amount by the tenants, making 460 millions more, or 920
millions in all — a sum which the nation could furnish in the
next 20 years, without crippling its industries. If the secu-
rity were good, immense as that sum was, the interest upon it
would not equal the amount now paid for foreign food ; and
yet, by expending it in the country, they could raise three or
four times the quantity of food obtained from abroad for the
money. The security which the landlord could offer for
raising this large sum of money would be the best, namely,
the land itself, and the improvements to be effected upon it ;
consequently he could raise his share at a less rate of interest,
thus showing that it was more advantageous for permanent
improvements to be made by the landlord than by the tenant,
because the latter, not having so good a security to offer, must
pay a higher rate for his money. If, then, the landlords
could raise the requisite money so easily, why did tiiey not
make the desired improvements ? The decline of agriculture
had been most marked since the one shilling import duty ou
corn was removed. That tax raised the price of wheat in the
market 2s., and to that extent counterbalanced the local tax-
ation then paid by the English grower. But those local
payments had increased, aud the import duties being now
entirely removed, landlords were disinclined, in fact, they were
unable and unwilling, to convert lightly-taxed movable capital
into heavily-taxed fixed capital. This state of things was a
great injury to the n&tiou, for the nation required abundant
food for its manufacturing prosperity, and to bring about that
fiscal and intellectual improvement of its people by which
pauperism and crime were to be diminished. Moreover, the
greater prosperity of agriculture would react upon commerce
and manufactures, and make them more prosperous also ; but
until this fiscal obstacle to the improvement of the land
was removed, by reducing the taxation on fixed capital to a
level with that on movable capital, landlords, as prudent men,
dare not make the outlay; hence local taxation was the first
requisite. The second requisite was to put the tenant farmers
into a position to raise their share of the capital, and to apply
it to that high cultivation by which alone they could obtain
adequate remuneration for their capital aud skill, and be able
to pay the landlords sufficient rent for making an improve-
ment of the freehold, and giving up the control of their
property for long periods of time. He was in favour of long
leases, which were viewed with great satisfaction in Scotland,
as constituting the security upon which tenants could raise
their part of the amount, and said he felt confident that long
leases were the second power to which they must look for
agricultural improvement. Whether long leases were adopted
or not, a revised code of the laws and customs of farm tenancy
was necessary for the interest of both landlord and tenant ;
and this, if made upon abroad and comprehensive principle,
would be the third power of raising the condition of agricul-

206

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

ture. \Vishing to cover the whole of the question, and not
to fix their minds so entirely upon the wants of the tenant-
farmers, but viewing them as the wants of tlie whole com-
munity, he proposed as an amendment : " That the want of
security for the investment of capital in the improvement of
the soil makes a revision of the laws and customs of farm
tenancy desirable for all classes, and this Chamber hopes land-
owners and tenant farmers will cordially unite their efforts to
obtain this principle on broad and equitable grounds."

Mr. Webb (Fladbury) seconded the amendment, and said
that what was most wanted in that county was a better
custom. In some counties what they required was conceded
by custom.

Sir John Pakington, Bart., M.P., said he deprecated the
proposal of a motion and an amendment, because the tendency
of such a course was to give the appearance of a difference of
opinion. As one of the landlords of the county, he would at
once say that he was perfectly ready to vote either for the
original motion or the amendment, for it appeared to him that
in spirit and intention they were nearly identical. Subject to
a few words, which he would address to them, he took no ex-
ception to the term "T enant-Right." He was perfectly pre-
pared, in what he called a fair and legitimate sense, to accede
to the principle of Tenant-Right. In his opinion the time
had arrived when this important subject ought to be seriously
entertained. Mr. Russon having referred to the case of
Ireland, if he (Sir John) might venture to humbly offer his
advice, he would say that the less they turned to Ireland for
guidance in agricultural matters, the better. He did not think
they would learn anything from Ireland. If they thought of
adopting any part of the Irish system, there was one point on
wliich he confessed he should feel great anxiety as a landlord,
namely, that amongst the many liabilities to which a landlord
was fairly open in this country, he should be sorry to add that
of being shot — one of the most conspicuous liabilities to which
an Irish landlord was subject. He hardly knew whether he
would most consider this as a landlords' or a tenants' ques-
tion ; it was a question which deeply affected the interests of
both. That was the deliberate judgment at which he had ar-
rived, and he hoped the discussions upon the questions would
be studiously conducted, with moderation and a just regard to
what was due to the interests of all parties. Whether it was
called compensation for unexhausted improvements or Tenant-
Right, he thought they might sum it in one concise and ex-
pressive word, namely, security. He had had a very strong
opinion upon this subject from the time of that great change
in the position of the agricultural question dating from the
Repeal of the Corn Laws, it must be admitted that that
measure gave a great stimulus to agriculture, and an additional
status to the British farmer. Their neighbours on the other
side of the Tweed were in advance of them on farming, and he
believed the cause of that superiority arose from the fact that

in Scotland there had always been a system of security. The
consequence was capital had found its way to tlie
cultivation of the soil. He cared not whether they
called it Tenant-Right or compensation, the principle was se-
curity; for unless the tenant knew that the capital he put
into the laud was safe they would never have high farming,
and without high farming they would never have
that state of cultivation which was as profitable to the land-
lord as to the tenant, and equally to the interest of both.
What, then, was the best form of security P Having on
different occasions expressed himself in favour of giving
tenant-farmers security by granting leases, he was bound to
add that he had received very little encouragement either from
the landlords or the tenants. He had generally found that
the landlords were not fond of granting leases, and that in the
majority of instances the tenants did not like to take them.
He iiad offered leases to his own tenants, some of whom had
taken them ; and where they had been taken he, as a land-
lord, had no reason but to rejoice at the change. Men ought
to be good farmers to embark in long leases, and in that case
it was to the interest of landlord and tenant that leases should
be entered into. A friend of his, who was a large landed pro-
prietor in Scotland, and the owner of a fine estate in the well-
farmed county of Lincoln, had his farms held under leases in
tlie Lothians, and in Lincolnshire under what was there
without shyness called a system of Tenant-Right, whereby a
man giving up his tenancy made a claim for fair compensation
for unexhausted improvements. Where a system of leases
was adopted, it was found that a system of landlord-right
must be introduced into the agreement, in order to protect the
owner. It was only right tiiat he should be protected from
injury to the farm during the latter years of the lease ; but
though the Scotch system had led to a splendid method of
farming on the estate of his friend, yet as an intelligent land-
lord he preferred the Lincolnshire mode of Tenant-Right with
no leases. As a landlord and a landowner he (Sir John Pa-
kington) had no decided feeling one way or the other, but he
was strongly of opinion that, for the benefit of the landowner
and for the benefit of the occupier, they ought to have some
recognised system of security — a system under which the
tenant should not be afraid to invest his capital in the soil.
Whether that should be done in the shape of giving compen-
sation for unexhausted improvements, or in the taking of long
leases with proper covenants, was, he thought, a compara-
tively unimportant question.

Mr. Smitiien said that, if tenants could be induced to farm
as well at the end of the lease as at the beginning, the object
would be met. Instead of being left in a state of exhaustion,
farms would then be in a good state of cultivation at the ter-
mination of the occupancy.

Mr. Varden withdrew his amendment, and the original
resolution was carried unanimouslv.

KINC-ARDINESHIRE FARMERS' CLUB.

At a recent meeting Mr. G. J. Walker, Portlethen, read
the following paper on the breeding of Polled Cattle :

Cattle, always an important commodity in farming, have of
late years become to the farmer in this country an object of
even greater concern than formerly, inasmuch as, from the
high price of butcher meat, it is more desirable than ever to
put fat on them as quickly and cheaply as possible. To at-
tain this end, I am sure you will all agree with me that there
is more required than tlie mere food consumed, however nu-
tritious. There is, I venture to say, a foundation required, in
the shape of an animal, and good points, quality, and con-
stitution. Without these, how often is the feeder disap-
pointed and his money swallowed up, without any adeqnate
return ? I have not referred to breeding or blood, as I hold
that good quality and easy feeding are unmistakeable evi-
dences of high breeding. It therefore comes to this, that we
should always endeavour to feed well-bred animals, and to get
a larger supply of these. 1 think the farmers of this county
ought to breed more cattle than they do. They would then
be more independent in such times as the present, with pleuro
and murrain raging over the country. Supposing you make

up your minds to do so, the significant question you ask is
" What breed shall we start with ?" You will naturally sup-
pose that I will at once recommend the polled Aberdeen and
Angus breed ; and so I do, provided your tastes induce you
to breed a pure breed, because for this part of the country I
know of no breed to equal them, all things considered. But
if you are not so disposed, and wish to keep a cross or mixed
stock, to rear bullocks for the butcher alone, then let it be of
black polled cows, well selected, and a Shorthorn bull. The
produce is as good a butcher's beast as exists. Or, what may
be worth a trial, the opposite cross — Shorthorned or cross
cows aud a black polled bull. This is now being tried, I un-
derstand, by a gentleman in Aberdeenshire, and the success of
the experiment may be watched : I am not so hopeful of it.
But with all these crossings with different breeds, you should
not go much further than the first cross, or else you will be
disappointed. There is, beyond that, a tendency to long legs
and coarse bone, and less of good feeding properties. It is a
remarkable fact, in breeding high-bred cattle of the polled
Aberdeen and Angus breed — and I doubt not the same may be
said of all pure breeds — that the breeder can almost invariably

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207

identify the offspring of any well-known bull or cow by the
general outline and gait, and especially by the likeness of the
head and ears to those of the sire or dam. I find that the fe-
males take generally after the dam, and tlie males generally
after the sire, unless there exists any very striking feature pe-
culiar to one or other, which will show in a more or less
marked degree. But, as a general rule, ray belief is that of
the two — the male and female — the animal of the purest blood
always has the greatest effect on the form and character of the
progeny. I do not believe in farmers keeping and breeding
two pure breeds of cattle at one homestead, however carefully
they may do so. Black polled cattle were known first, I be-
lieve, in the counties of Aberdeen and Forfar, as the Buchan
and Angus " doddies." I am not aware of their origin ; I
believe it is very remote. I have heard the admirers of the
Galloway breed claim for the Galloways that high privilege,
but I do not think their claim is good — we have no proof of
it ; and with all due deference and respect for that exeelleut
breed, I think, if from it has sprung the present Polled Aber-
deen and Angus cattle, the parent has sadly degenerated in
quality and form. No doubt the Galloways were at an early
period better known in England and in the south of Scotland
than in Aberdeen and Angus, as from their proximity to the
Borders they were largely bought by the graziers of several
English counties in the lean state, and taken over the Borders
to be fed. But I am inclined to think that the Galloways
and Aberdeen and Angus are two distinct breeds. At no very
recent date, it was said that some of the breeders of Polled
Aberdeen and Angus cattle, thinking to improve their stock
by a dash of Galloway blood, did introduce such into their
herds, with the desired results to appearance in the first
offspring, but the succeeding generations did not, I believe,
encourage any more experiments in that direction. Aberdeen
and Angus cattle are now bred principally in the counties of
Aberdeen, Forfar, Banff, Moray, and Kincardine. The old
Angus and Buchan " doddies," although in their general cha-
racter very much alike, still possess different features in several
instances, especially in the quality of the hair and skin, and
the size of the ears. The Angus and Aberdeen cattle, from
the mixing of the blood of the various herds, have now be-
come one and the same. The foremost amongst the early
breeders of polled cattle, and one who in his day did very great
service in improving the breed, was the late Mr. Watson, of
Keillor. Next to him I may mention Mr. Fullerton, Ardovie,
now at Ardestie, from whose stock, dispersed some twenty
years ago, not a few of the " cracks " trace their descent.
Of late years the breeders of improved polled stock have
largely increased in number. Several, no doubt, have given
up the breed, but others have taken their places. I regret the
withdrawal of Lord Southesk's name from amongst the list of
breeders of polled cattle, in consequence of the cattle plague un-
fortunately carrying off his lordship's fine and valuableherd. The
plague made sad havoc in several other herds at the same time,
but notwithstanding all tliis the breed is gaining ground. Lord
Southesk did a great deal for it, and not the least in my
opinion, was the support and encouragement given by his Lord-
ship in starting the Polled Herd Book. I suppose my father
is now the oldest breeder of polled Aberdeen and Angus cattle
alive. The first notable buU I find he had was Porty, by
Colonel, from the tribe of Rosy, a Dowrie cow. Porty,
before the days of the Aberdeen Show, won the first prize at
Inverurie as an aged bull in a class open to Scotland, and his
sire. Colonel, was born in 1818. Since that time, fifty-four
years ago, the polled Aberdeen and Angus have been the only
breed bred or kept at Portlethen, and the aim has always been,
so far as human forethought could do so, to improve the breed,
but by all means to keep it pure. Of the leading breeders and
most successful exhibitors of the present day I would name
Sir George Macphersou Grant, Mr. M'Combie, M.P. ; Mr.
Tayler of Glenbarrie, Mr. Morrison of Bognie, Mr. M'Combie
of Easter Skene, Mr. Fordyce, M.P. ; Mr. Bowie, Mains of
Kelly ; the Earl of Fife ; the Earl of Airlie ; Mr. Brown,
Westertown ; Mr. Paterson, JIulben ; Mr. Walker, Montblet-
ton ; Sir Thomas Gladstone ; Mr. Scott of Tulloch ; Mr.
Skinner, Drumin ; Mr. Barclay, Auchlossan ; Dr. Robertson of
Hopewell ; Mr. Leslie, The Thorn ; and Mr. Ferguson,
Kinochtry, not to forget our respected Convener of the
County, Colonel M'Inroy, who all take a deep in-
terest in the breed. The points of a good polled Aberdeen
and Angus bull may be described as follows : Colour, black ;

head neatly put on ; clean throat and sweet muzzle ; not over
long 'twixt the eye and nose ; eye bright and prominent ; ear
moderately sized ; good breadth betwixt the eyes, and poll
high ; neck a good length, and clean — a little, but not over full
on top ; chest full and deep ; legs short, but not so as to give
the animal a dumpy appearance ; bone clean, and free from
coarseness ; shoulders not too full, and top free from sharp-
ness, but not over broad ; back level and straight ; ribs well
sprung ; deep barrel ; well-ribbed down towards hook ; full
behind shoulder ; hooks level, but not too broad for other pro-
portions ; and well and evenly-fleshed to tail ; twist, full and
long and well-fleshed down, but not protruding behind ; tail of
moderate thickness, and hanging straight ; hair soft and plen-
tiful ; skin of moderate thickness, and mellow to the touch ;
body fully developed, and the animal, when in motion, to have
a blood-like look and style about him. A cow should differ
from a bull in the head, in having, instead of a broad, mascu-
line looking head, a neat feminine looking one. The ear
should also be of good size, with plenty of hair in it ; the neck
well put on, clean and straight, and without any prominence on
the toj), or abrupt hollow where it joins the shoulder ; the top
of shoulder sharper than the bull's, and the shoulders them-
selves thinner. In both scurs are objectionable. It is the
breeder's study to get his stock to flesh evenly, and in feeding,
to fill up in the most valuable parts. Freeness from any ten-
dency to be bumpy or patchy is also desirable ; but I do not
believe, as some evidently think, judging from the criticisms
one hears in show-yards, that such a tendency is a sure sign of
impurity in the polled breed. In fact, we know from expe-
rience and observation that such is far from the case, and is
often the effect of in-and-in breeding, and want of attention to
the proper selection of the sires and dams, and should not there-
fore be recognized as any rule or guide in this matter. The
polled breed, for their bulk, weigh heavier than Shorthorns or
Crosses, and command the top prices of the leading markets.
They are hardier and therefore better suited for our open and
exposed country, and where Shorthorns would not thrive. We
should consider these questions — what class of animals breeds
most surely, stands the climate best, is hardiest, least liable to
disease, is most easily kept, gives the best milk and in greatest
quantity, grows and fattens soonest for the amount of food con-
sumed, weighs heaviest for bulk, and, when ripe, realizes most
per cwt. My answer is that the Aberdeen and Angus polled
breed comes nearer to this standard than any other breed I
know. Of course it will be admitted that to ensure success,
care and judicious managetuent are necessary. But these are
requisite in all undertakings. There is a great mistake made,
I am convinced, by farmers and graziers paying so little atten-
tion generally to the shelter of their stock over-night in the
fields. One bad, cold, wet night will take more flesh off an
animal's bones than two good, dry, warm ones will put on, be-
sides the injury to their constitution. Comparing the black
polled animal with the Shorthorn or Cross, the Shorthorn and
Cross grow faster, but eat about a quarter more food. This
was tested by my father and the late Mr. Williamson, then the
principal butcher in Aberdeen, at an out-farm of my father's,
by a careful selection of four polled and four Shorthorn Cross
heifers. Each was weighed and valued, put on the same kind of
keep, and all got as much turnips and straw as they could eat.
The result showed what I say, that the Shorthorn Crosses
required a fourth more food, and when all were sold off together
at the end of April, the polled brought a couple of pound a-
head more money. The animals were visited by Deacon
AVilliamson every month. The first three months the Short-
horn Crosses appeared to gain considerably on the polled, but
when spring set in the polled shot fast a-head, with the result
above mentioned. Pedigreed stock should be paid more atten-
tion to by fanners than they are. What are pedigrees doing
in England, and America, and elsewhere, for the breeders and
owners of Shorthorn stock ? Why, giving them in some cases
from one thousand to two thousand guineas for animals worth
to the butcher only £30 to £iO, and even less. I think that
the Highland Society, and all the local agricultural societies
in the country, should make a distinct rule that the test of an
animal being a pure Sliorthorn or polled should be tlie Herd
Book of these breeds, and make it impossible for any animal to
be exhibited in these classes at any show whose pedigree
cannot be traced through the" Herd Book. I
hope this will be taken up and brought to a
successful issue. In reference to the pedigrees of

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THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

polled cattle, I am very glad to see tliat tlie second volume of
the Polled Herd Book is now in course of publication, by Mr.
llamsay, of the Banffshire Jounial, and Mr. Adamson, of Bal-
(juhain, formerly a pupil of the honourable member for West
Aberdeenshire— gentlemen who, I am sure, will do justice to
the volume. But it is to be regretted tliat some of the
breeders have not taken that interest which the breed deserves,
in getting the pedigrees of their stock completed and con-
nected with tlie first volume, as, if tlie Herd Book is to be of
value to the herd, this must be eventually of the utmost con-
cern ; in fact, so much so, that I hope to see the day very soon
when breeders will decline to purcliase any animal, however
good-looking for breeding purposes, that cannot trace descent
through the Herd Book in one unbroken line. The breeders
of pure polled stock must also never breed from a cow, al-
though herself pure bred, that has at any time been served
with a Shorthorn or other than a polled bull, as I am con-
vinced, from experiments with dogs, that such will affect the
purity of the breed. As an example of the great care required
in breeding pure breed of one colour, I beg to state a circum-
stance that came under my own notice a few years ago. My
father had two heifers, two years old, vv'hich is the age at
which they are first served. They were great favourites, and
had been picked out to go together. They came in season,
and were both served in one day. Shortly after, a strange
black and white dog passing got amongst and frightened them,
and the consequenec was that they produced at the proper
time a calf each, marked as like as possible, and almost spot
for spot, with the dog. They happened to be both bulls, and
they were soon castrated. Although the fashionable and
proper colour of polled cattle is black, yet it sometimes hap-
pens that one appears with a brownish tinge, and I have seen
others quite red. I think a good many of the old Buchan
" doddies " were red, and a good many of them brindled.
These are generally of a good quality, and excel in milking
qualities. To keep up the strength, character, and quality of
a breeding stock, a judicious blending of the tribes and intro-
duction of strange blood is occasionally necessary. But care
should always be taken to get such of undoubted purity, and
not to use any bull in the herd but of good blood and pedi-
gree. The question of breeding in-and-in has been the sub-
ject of some discussion lately. I think it may be, and has
often been, done to advantage ; indeed, in several instances
quality and neatness have been obtained, and an inclination
to coarse, rough bone prevented, to my knowledge, by in-and-
in breeding. But it should only be the exception and not the
rule, and may as often be attended with bad as with good re-
sults. It is impossible, I think, to give any guide to go by as

to when it should be or should not be adopted, as it is purely
experimental. I think the tendency amongst farmers is to
confine young stock in winter too much. The great bulk are
tied up ; but I think they will grow and thrive better at all
times if kept in loose boxes or warm straw yards with plenty
of warmth and ventilation. Especially will this be apparent
after they are put to the grass ; and I think landlords should,
in building new steadings, see that some part of the cattle ac-
commodation is devoted to loose boxes, capable of holding a
li-mited number of animals in each. I shall now make a few
observations on the treatment of breeding stock. Bulls
should not be kept fat, but in good fresh condition, and cows
the same. The rule in my father's herd is to pay particular
attention to keeping the blood of the cows in good order, and
with this object, for a week before calving, she gets a dose of
nitre each day — say about two ounces dissolved in a bottle of
cold water. The third day after calving a purge is given,
composed of 12 oz. of Glauber salts, 4 oz. cream of tartar, 2
oz. nitre, and 2 drachms ginger in powder, dissolved in boil-
ing water, and this administered milk-warm in the morning,
two hours before food, which should only be up till mid-day —
or a little hay, with water ad lihitum. This dose is followed
by a similar on the seventh day after calving. These doses
purify the blood, and greatly assist the cleansing of the cow.
The same dose can be given along with blooding, with good
effect to cows or heifers, to induce them the more readily to
conceive after copulation. If possible, all calves should be
suckled, and when weaned are taken not to allow the calf
beef to disappear. Cake, or other artificial food, ought to be
given for some time for this purpose. In conclusion, I may
be allowed to mention here, what may not be generally known,
a wonderful cure for red water in cattle. T got the particulars
of it from the late Mr. Thomson, of Banchory, and it has
been in our district of very great use, never failing when pro-
perly applied. Mr. Thomson, when travelling in Italy, got
the particulars of the cure from a shepherd of that country,
and on his return home he handed them to Mr. Charles Da-
vidson, druggist, Aberdeen, who can supply all and sundry
with the cure. I believe Mr. Thomson was anxious to try it
on some of his own stock before offering it to anyone else, and
said he was very much delighted one morning to be told that
a young cow of his had got the red water. This animal was
successfully treated, and was cured in a few hours. I think,
in districts where this disease is prevalent, no owner of stock
should be without the remedy. Before I sit down, I beg to
thank you for your kindness and attention in hearing these
few imperfect remarks so patiently.

SHEEP BREEDING IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

The following lecture was delivered by the Hon. G. H. Cox,
M.L.C., before the members of the Agricultural Society of New
South Wales :

The animal on which I am about to lecture, although insig-
nificant as compared with those previously discussed, the horse
or the ox, is nevertheless, of far greater importance to this
community than both the other classes combined. I do not
intend to enter into a dissertation upon the introduction of the
merino sheep into this colony, nor trace step by step the in-
crease in numbers and corresponding increase in wealth which
its introduction into Austraha produced. This may be learnt
from the able article that appeared in the ofticial report of the
late Intercolonial Exhibition, written by Dr. Garran. My aim
will be to show, as far as I am able, the extraordinary results
which would be obtained by a more careful attention to the
true principles of breeding, and the carrying out in a common-
sense manner the dictates of Nature. I believe that much more
attention was paid to the production of fine wool some twenty
or thirty years ago than at present, or at any rate up to within
the last three or four years. After the discovery of gold in
Australia, meat became an article of so much value that wool
was comparatively neglected for the sake of mutton. Hence
the culling that was invariably made hitherto year by year was
abandoned, and nearly all the flockmasters throughout the
colony bred indiscriminately from anytliing in the shape of a

ewe, with the idea of increasing their number, and used any
large framed ram he could get for the purpose of adding size
and weight to the increase, regardless of the quality or quantity
of the wool which grew upon their skins. What still further
aggravated the evil was the fact that, even this inferior wool
thus produced continued to realise high rates, owing, I pre-
sume, to the great impetus given to trade consequent upon the
numerous influx of the precious metal into the manufacturing
centres of the old world, from Cahfornia and Australia. The
large fortunes made by squatters (and wool growers especially)
induced a number of young men to embark in so apparently
profitable an undertaking, and as many of them were utterly
wanting in experience, they bought indiscriminately any sheep
that were thrown into the market, and still further helped to
bring about that rapid decline which was taking place in our
staple production. The most disastrous results quickly fol-
lowed. Wool declined in value, the price of meat fell, and
sheep were depreciated in value to such an extent that, in many
instances, squatters could not give them away, after having cost
their owners, with the expense of forming new stations, some
20s. or 30s. per head. I have thus endeavoured to trace the
causes which led to the decline of the article now under dis-
cussion, and I shall now attempt to show how the defects of
previous years may be remedied. The first step then to be
taken is for flockmasters to class their flocks, and to resolutely

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

209

throw out all animals that are unfit to breed a good fleece of
wool, and fatten them, off at once. For, on the old adage, that
like begets like, so surely will these half-covered worthless
animals perpetuate their own bad qualities. It would take
generations, even with the help of first-class rams, before the
ilockmaster could turn such unprofitable sheep into good wool-
producing animals. There is oue thing tliat must have struck
even the most unobservant person in these colonies, and that
is that in our vast extent of territory, comprising almost every
description of soil as well as climate, people should be found
endeavouring to breed the Siirae class of sheep on the cold and
table lands of the great dividing rauge as on the liot and arid
plains of the interior. In tlie comparatively limited area of
Great Britain how many distinct kinds of sheep do we observe,
and the farmer there would no more think of breeding or gra-
zing tlie large framed Lincolns on tlie Yorksliire wolds or tlie
Welsh mountains, or rice versa, tlie mountain sheep in the
Lincolnshire or Cambridgeshire fens than he would think of
growing tobacco or sugar cane ; while here our llockmasters
think they can produce the finest merino wool on lands and in
climates which are totally unsuitable for that beautiful
material, in spite of common sense and the inexorable laws
of Nature, hitherto, vi'e must admit, with but little success.
for the production of the finest merino wool (combing or
clothing) sheep require a moderate elevation and a temperate
clime ; an excess of heat or cold, or even an excess of wet, are
all equally detrimental to the production of this description of
wool. Combing wool has, 1 believe, a more limited range
than fine clothing wool. Like wheat, it will not grow to
perfection without good sharp frosts in the winter, when
Nature provides a suitable covering. Excess of cold, on the
other hand, makes this coarse, approaching the character of
hair, while heat makes it light and frizzy like a negro's head.
The area in New South AVales suitable for the production of this
wool is undoubtedly that lying immediately to the westward
of tlie Great Dividing Range, with some few exceptions,
notably the country drained by the upper tributaries of the
Clarence, Hunter, and Hawkesbury rivers. On the eastern fall
in these regions I believe the most profitable wool to grow is
what we call first and second combing, and to show the profit
to be derived from this description of wool, I will state what I
believe to be an average return of our Mudgee flocks, where
this wool is chiefly grown. I take the average weight of
fleece at from 2J to 31bs., and by last account sales the prices
of the various brands averaged from 24d. to 31d. per pound;
this will show a gross return of from 5s. to 7s. 6d. per slieep,
say £325 per 1,000 ; deduct cost of shepherding, washinjj,
shearing, &c., £120, leaving a net profit of £205 per 1,000
sheep. Of course, to have obtained these results a large
outlay has been made, and years of attention to breeding have
been given ; but where these have been judiciously and care-
fully made, the results are even more marked, as the amounts
realised by the sale of stud sheep considerably exceed the
above handsome returns. The Mudgee wool has a cha-
racter peculiar to itself. Its great characteristics are soft-
ness, strengtli, and extraordinary elasticity. Instead of
the wave or curve which all wool possesses in a greater
or lesser degree, our Mudgee wools have a curl almost
like a lady's ringlet, and hence its great elasticity. It
is not a favourite wool with English manufacturers ; they call
it a bastard wool, neither one thing nor the other, neither
combing nor clothing ; but on the Continent, and particularly
in France, it is held in high estimation, and eagerly competed
for. I would condemn very severely the practice of many
sheep-breeders in continuously importing foreign blood into
their flocks. Our climate tends to promote a softness in the
wool — a quality which is almost wholly wanting in the
German or Spanish merino ; and by crossing with foreign
blood you are fighting against Nature instead of assisting her,
and the consequence is a mongrel type of wool, wanting in
many of the elements of the pure Australian merino. ]\Ir.
Thomas Shaw observes : " The climate of the Australian
colonies is as much superior to that of aU others for the
growth of fine wool, possessing every manufacturing quality,
as that of England for the production of coarse wool. It
gives the miUiug quality equal to Spain, and the softness equal
to Germany. The wool grown by sheep properly acclimatised,
and which have become truly Australian in character, pos-
sesses the good qualities of wool grown in both those countries,
without the defects of either. It makes cloth as substantial

and useful as the Spanisli, and as rich and ornamental as the
Saxon. This is a great advantage, and I believe I am right
in asserting that the Australian combing wool is the most
valuable in the world. Although stuff goods were Jlrsl made
from German wool, Australian combing wool has been proved
so far superior, that, could a sufficient quantity be obtained to
suit the requirements of the trade, not a single pound of
German wool would be used for that purpose. But these comb-
ing qualities must be bred for. It has here been shown what in-
fluence climate, unaided, has upon some qualities of wool, and
the necessity of producing other qualities by artificial means.
It is the nature of the Australian climate to produce fine
wool to great perfection, communicating a superior degree of
milling quality and softness ; but length and soundness of
staple, fulness and freeness of fibre, an essential in combing
wool, we must breed for. If I am wrong in any of the above
remarks, I shall be most happy to be corrected ; if right, the
absurdity of a eouliuuul importation of foreign staple is suffi-
ciently apparent. The climate of Australia, as I have before
stated, is superior to that of all others. Wool grown by sheep
judiciously bred under its influence possesses all the essential
qualities in a far superior degree to all other wools. What good
can be obtained from foreign sheep I cannot conceive ; but the
evil effect produced is, in my mind, beyond all question. If
we introduce German sheep, we injure the milling quality; if
Spanish, we destroy softness, and it will take at least two or
three generations to redeem these qualities. If the sheep
imported are English, we destroy all these good qualities at
once, and the only redemption is the butcher ; it is like
engrafting a crab on an apple to improve its flavour. We hear
a great deal said about breeding in and in — every defect is
attributed to tiiis. I think, without any close investigation, it
will be found that the evil lies in breeding out and out. There
may have been cases where family blood has not been suffi-
ciently renewed ; but the great bulk of the mischief done, and
the cause of the numerous defects in flocks, are bad selection,
the importation of sheep not suited to the country, and inju-
dicious crosses. I believe that in sheep, as in cattie breeding,
the only scientific and certain method of accomplishing the
end which the breeder may have in view is by in and in breed-
ing. This, with a system of small paddocks, to be used at
tupping time, where a limited number of ewes of a certain
class may be placed with a single ram, also of a particular
character, the capability of the ram for transmitting his good
qualities to his oft'spring may be fairly tested. The practice
now so generally followed of putting say a score of rams, to
half as many hundred ewes, is invariably disappointing in its
results, because all breeders know that, however good an
animal may be, it does not necessarily follow that his progeny
will be good. Sometimes an inferior looking ram will beget
very superior wooUed lambs. I hold that results similar to
those I have stated as prevailing in the Mudgee district, may
be obtained over a large portion of New South Wales. I am
aware that in stating this I am looked upon as guilty of hold-
ing heretical opinions, and have been taken to task for giving
expression to such heterodox ideas, but notwithstanding, I
contend that on the whole of the " western slopes," extending
from Queensland to Victoria, as coloured on the map (and
from which the so-called " Mudgee and merino districts "
have been very improperly excluded), sheep as good as ever
were bred in Mudgee may be produced. Of the " coast and
mountainous districts " I need say but little, as on the former
the merino will not thrive, and in some places not even live, as
on the swampy plains and moist atmosphere of the Clarence
and Richmond rivers ; while on other parts, as the Lower
Hunter and Ulawarra districts, the coarse English sheep only
appear to do any good. On parts of the high table lands of
the coast range sheep cannot live through the winter, while in
other portions a coarser description of the merino appears
best adapted to find sustenance on the sour grasses, and to
withstand the inclement weather of those inhospitable regions.
On the country marked " intermediate " a somewhat similar
description of wool may be grown as on the " western
slopes," wanting, perhaps, in softness, and, in many instances,
not capable of being so well got up, owing to a want of water
and the prevalence of dust ; while on the great salt bush plains
of the interior a combing, or even a fine clothing, wool cannot
be grown. For the production of fine combing wool you
require a mild climate, without extremes of heat or cold ; you
do uot require rich pasture, but you must have abundance in all

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THE PARMER'S MAGAZINE.

seasons. Now, are these rcqiiirements to be found, as a rule, in
the sallbusli country ? There you will experience, at any rate,
extremes of lieat ; at one time sheep will be surfeited with a
superabundance of exceedingly rich pasture, at another they
must subsist upon dry withered glass, or even shrubs, and at
the same time be living in a cloud of dust. Now all these
phases tlirougli which the sheep pass, tend to the destruction
of the characteristics of combing wool. A superabundance
of rich feed at one time, and utter absence of all such at others,
tend to the uneven growth of the fibre, and causes stricture.
Again, the excessive heat, together with the dust, dries up the
yolk, and for want of nourishment the wool perishes ; dust ac-
cumulating on the skin prevents the rising of the yolk, and
precisely as a barked tree dies for want of sap, so does the wool
perish for want of its natural support, and hence becomes
unsound, and, of course as such, unfit for combing purposes.
When the great saltbush plains shall be irrigated, and when
the sheep that roam over them shall be protected from tlie fer-
vent summer sun by thatched sheds, then, aud not till then, shall
we see combing wool grown in the great fattening country of
Australia. To prove my assertion, I would ask in what country
in the world, where the thermometer may range in the sun to
150 deg., is combing wool grown ? Do we find it in India,
Egypt, or South America ? No. We may find clothing wool
(though not fine combing wool) in the otlier extremes, as in
Iceland ; but I challenge my friend Mr. Bruce to show me
where combing wools are grown in tropical or serai-tropical
countries. Of course, I admit in isolated instances, or under
peculiar circumstances, such may be the case — you may grow

pineapples at the North Pole, and you may grow combing
wool on the Darling river. I may be asked, what then are
sJieep breeders in this great area to do ? I answer, let them
intelligently consider the capabilities of the country in which
they reside; endeavour to find out what Nature tends to pro-
duce, and then assist her by striving to grow the best that the
peculiar circumstances of the case will admit ; precisely as the
iutelligent inhabitants of the mountains in Wales, or the High-
lands of Scotland, endeavour to develope to the utmost the best
qualities of the animals they find most suitable to the localities
in which they reside. If the sheep farmers of New South
Wales cannot all grow a Mudgce wool, they can, at any rate,
produce a good, profitable article, and cover the wretched,
scantily-clothed animals they now possess with double the
quantity of wool they liave at present. Were the fleeces of
New South Wales increased in weight only to the extent of half
a pound, and in value to the amount of 3d. per pound — and I
presume that no one will deny this may be obtained without
a very extravagant estimate of tlie capabilities of the country —
we should have the astounding result of au increase of wealth
to this colony of three-quarters of a million per annum ; while
the increased capabilities of the country which might be de-
veloped from fencing and ring-barking, especially in the moun-
tainous parts of the country, are incalculable. It would be be-
yond the limits of my lecture to enter upon these matters, or
the getting up and classing of wool ; in fact upon this last
thing alone a long lecture might be delivered, for it is a question
of vital importance to the wool-grower, not only to grow good
wool, but to send it to market in the best possible condition.

THE LABOURER'S HEALTH AND DIET.

At the dinner of tlie Romsey Labourers' Encouragement
Association, at which the successful candidates were present,
the Honourable W. F. CowrER-TEMPLE, M.P., the President,
said:

There was no better drink than water, although it might
not be quite so popular as beer. Some people could not get
on without beer, but some found that water was the most con-
genial and refreshing drink a man could possibly have. Still,
whether they took water by itself, or mixed with other things,
it was quite as necessary that it should be pure and uncon-
taminated. Some things — such as Bass' pale ale — owed its
good qualities to the water, for this ale was brewed with water
which was very pure and soft. The necessity of looking after
their water in the wells and other places was therefore of the
utmost importance. Then with regard to the things consuiued
next to water came milk, which contained all the elements
necessary for the nourishment of the body, especially those
of young children, and to them it was absolutely necessary.
It was a very great advantage to children in a district where
they could have a supply of milk. It had often been remarked
that the children in the rural districts did not look so well as
those in provincial towns, and he believed the reason of this
was because in the former they were a long way off from the
milk, or their parents could not afford to get it, while in the
towns they were close to where it was retailed. Several of
the farmers in the neighbourhood of Romsey, and who lived on
his estate, had been kind enough to take the matter up, and had
made arrangements by which milk in small quantities should be
sold to the families of the labourers who were working on their
estates. This was an example which would be more readily
followed if people could see the great importance of children
having a proper supply of milk. On the proper feeding of
the young depended their condition in after life. He did not
care so much about their wealth, their minerals, or the pro-
duction of their textures and fabrics and machinery, for what
was the wealth of the country when compared with the health,
the strength, and the moral integrity of the young people ?
Therefore everything should be done improve the health of
the children while they were young ; for while they did this
they were not only benefiting them, but they were contributing
to the general welfare of the country, lie thought a great
deal might be done with regard to the health of the
people. With reference to the cottagers he did not ob-
serve that the wives did as much with the vegetables in the

garden as they might. He did not discover that the labouring
man, after Ids hard day's labour, went home, sat down by liis
fireside, and liad a basin of warm soup. He could assure them
that tliis often sent a man to his bed warm and comfortable,
instead of his merely having his bread, and in this respect the
people in England did not quite come up to those in foreign
countries. If they went across the Channel — to France — they
would see that the vegetables were made into a most agreeable
soup, and whicli proved a very great comfort to the whole
of the family. If the wives only understood the cooking a
little more it would conduce to better health. Then there
was another thing which he noticed in cottages ia this country,
and it was that great pains were taken to keep out as much
fresh air as they possibly could. People might say it was
done to keep out the cold, but that might be done without
excluding the fresh air. There were many peoele who
really were not aware that fresh air was necessary in order
to enjoy good health. They did not know that fresh
air invigorated the system, set the blood in motion, and
promoted health and strength quite as much as solid food.
And then, when talking about health, their minds naturally
reverted to the great quantity of illness and disease produced
by the intemperate use of fermented liquors. If they went to
Winchester gaol they would find that two-thirds of the people
who came there had been brought by the intemperate use of
fermented liquors. If they went to the workhouse he was
afraid they would find a large number were there from the
same cause. They found it the same in their lunatic asylums,
and, go to whichever quarter they liked, they would find that
the health of both body, mind, and soul had been more dete-
riorated by the injudicious and intemperate use of fermented
liquors than anything else. In the remarks he hal made
about the wives he wished it to be understood that he did not
in any way find fault with tliose in that district. He was
only giving them a few ideas which crossed his mind, and he
must say that the wives and mothers of the working classes
round about them were deserving of great admiration for their
industry and the self-sacrifices they made in order to rear up a
large family, to send them to school, and to make their homes
comfortable for them. But still at the same time it was well
that they should know how some other people did things, and
then try and see if they could not learn something from it.
Among the friends of health lie did not know of any who were
more conspicuous than the little birds they saw flitting about in

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211

the hedges aud trees, and who were forjuerly considered sucli
great enemies. At one time they were considered so bad that
they used to be charged in the churcli rate for so many heads
of sparrows which had been killed. But a little inquiry had
brought out how very necessary they were for the health of
man, because they kept away those noxious insects which
would otherwise multiply so fast that they would eat up the
crops round about them. In Frauce there was an unfortunate
mania to kill all the small birds with popguns and small pistols,
aud the result of this was tliat the vines were destroyed by the
insects as soon as the birds were gone. Another year they
had ilies, gnats, and grasshoppers so numerous tliat the people
began to inquire whether it would not be prudent to preserve
the birds. In America they found tlie want of sparrows, and
they saw France and Germany sent to England to be supphed
with them in order that they might preserve their crops. In
looking at the list he found there were a number of useful and

very deserving persons to whom they had given premiums.
The President then alluded to each class separately, pointing
out the value of good shepherds, teamsmen, ploughmen, and
such like, and concluded by saying tliat in the bishop's present
of a Bible they had a proof of the interest his lordship took in
the society, and they had before tliem men who showed no
ordinary amount of skill as farm labourers, and men whose
moral qualities and religious bearing were such as to make
them bright examples for younger ones to follow. He had
only to say that farm labourers who really understood
their business, who took pains to do that which was right,
who were conscientious in the discharge of their duty, whether
under the eyes of their master or not, who took a real and
conscientious pleasure in doing the thing that was right, strove
to discharge their duty in the station in life in which they
were placed — such men as these were by no means common,
and he sincerely wished they were more numerous.

THE WADEBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB

At the annual dinner, when there was one of the largest at-
tendances ever known,

Mr. Treji.vyne, the chairman, said : The ballot will not
abolish bribery and corruption, for we liave the evidence of
other countries to show that there are people foolish enough to
give money, and people wicked enough to receive it even for
votes that are to be given in the ballot-box. I think it will
also lead in a great measure to the virtual disfrauchisenieut of
many places, because it will remove that interest which many
people now take in politics, for a knowledge that the vote is
to be given in an underhand way will induce people to be care-
less and indifferent about it. But at the same time I believe
the ballot will remove that which is the great social blot of
our electoral system — I mean that horrible system of intimi-
dation and coercion — that system by which landlords, agents,
and employers drive their tenants, their workmen, and those
who are in any way connected with them, to the poll, and
oblige them to vote probably in exact opposition to the dic-
tates of their own consciences. To my mind there is some-
thing so humiliating, so infinitely dishonourable in it, that I
think the ballot, objectionable as it is for many reasons, should
be tried even if it only remedies that one abuse. Another
matter to which I desire to refer is the way in which the
landed interest is represented. I cannot but feel that in com-
parison with the towns the landed interest possesses a far in-
ferior share in the representation. Take, for example, the
statistics of this county. There are seven boroughs in it, re-
turning nine members to Parhament, and they contain, roundly
speaking, about fifty thousand inhabitants, while tlie county
contains three hundred thousand inliabitauts, and returns only
four members- And if you take the rateable value of those
boroughs and compare it with the rateable value of the county,
the discrepancy is still more evident and remarkable, aud I
think it must be plainly visible to everybody that the county
does not possess that full, proper, and proportionate share of
representation that the towns do. I hope to see this question
of electoral districts taken up early in the coming session by
men on both sides of the House of Commons, for I cannot see
why anything that will tend to promote fairness, equality,
freedom, and purity of election should be treated as a party
measure ; and I trust that it will be taken up in a public
spirit by men who will carry it through for the public wel-
fare.

Sir John Trelawny, M.P., said : We had the Irish Land
Bill, and I was one of tliose who thought that the principles
of political economy were outraged in that Bill. I was afraid
that the consequences might be injurious, but you must re-
collect that man does not live by bread alone, and that the
statesman who leaves out of consideration human feelings and
emotions, and merely considers political economy, would not
know liis business, and would very likely bring the country,
into perils and disasters. The Land Bill may not have been
right with regard to taking away the power of the landlord to
contract with his tenant, but the landlords of Ireland, after
all, are not to be so very much pitied when it is found that

the poor fellows can only get in some instances just fifty years'
purchase for their land. Things, no doubt, may be said re-
specting this measure which might make you disposed to re-
ceive it with disfavour ; but, on the whole, you must remem-
ber that the Ulster Tenant-right liad been long in existence,
and that it was hardly possible it should exist in one part of
Ireland and that there should be no desire to adopt it in the
other part. For some considerable time previously the ques-
tion of Tenant-Right had been constantly agitated ; bills upon
bills were introduced ; it was perfectly clear that some measure
on the subject must eventually be passed, and when this Bill
came upon us for an ultimate decision I could not tell how,
under a due sense of responsibility, I could do anything else
than give my support to it. You must allow time for dis-
cussion, but, at the same time, I do not say that we ought to
rest contented very much longer without a settlement of cer-
tain questions in which you are interested — I mean as regards
the mode of levying and dealing with the rates, so that those
who have to pay them may be satisfied that they are dealt with
in a proper manner. We have to complain tliat a measure in
that direction lias not yet been sufficiently elaborated and
passed, although a most painstaking Minister — Mr. Gosehen—
endeavoured to produce a comprehensive measure. It was not,
however, altogether satisfactory to the agriculturists, but if
you bring your criticisms to bear upon it I dare say it is quite
possible that it may be made the basis of a measure in the
next session of Parliament. Sir John then brielly referred to
the Game-laws, expressing opinions similar to those which he
propounded on the previous day at Liskeard.

The Chairman, in giving " Success to the Wadebridge
Farmers' Club," referred to the usually small attendance of
farmers at Chambers of Agriculture.

Mr. R. G. Pollard said that the agriculturists were con-
stantly charged with being grumblers ; but if there were any
other classes of the community whose interests were so little
attended to as theirs, he had no hesitation in saying that they
would grumble with much greater intensity. The agricultu-
rists had to contend not only against grievances that might
have been alleviated, but they liad also a succession of four
dry summers, and he believed that during the last four years
the Wadebridge district had sutfered more from drought than
any other district even in the country. In Cornwall alone,
since the year 1868, the loss sustained by farmers in sheep was
no less than 38,000, and in Great Britain the entire loss
amounted to 3,000,000 ; consequently things could not have
been so favourable for agriculture as some people might sup-
pose, simply because for some time past meat happened to be
reahzing high prices. Speaking of the best form of agreement
between landlord and tenant, Mr. Pollard said the system of
tender was most objectionable, inasmuch as it was the means
of di awing out fictitious prices aud not a fair value. He be-
lieved that the system adopted by the Earl of St. Germans and
the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe was far preferable, for those
noblemen had an estate valued ; they put a price upon it, and
then looked out for a good tenant to occupy it, A tenant

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THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

should have security, and compensation for unexhausted im-
provements ; and much improvement was required with respect
to the relations that existed between landlord and tenant. The
landlord should encourage the tenant-farmer by the erection
of suitable and necessary buildings if the latter laid out his
money in the purchase of feeding stuffs, which must be benefi-
cial to both of them. Sir John Trelawny had told them that
while tlie Government had put on four millions in taxes they had
taken off nine, but who were the parties that had been relieved ?
He also told them that nothing had been done for the farmers,
but that was a mistake, for something had been done for
them, but it was quite contrary to what they wished or
desired. Instead of relieving them from taxation, more had
been imposed. With regard to local taxation, that was a
subject which had been discussed over and over again, and
they would never cease discussing it until they had obtained
redress. They were quite wilHng to bear their fair share of
the taxation of the country, but when more than their share
was imposed upon them it was no wonder that they grumbled.

Why should the agriculturists have to bear the whole burden
of local taxation, while the merchants and manufacturers, who
were amassing immense fortunes, and who were constantly
manufacturing paupers, did not pay one iota for their main-
tenance ? The Club was in a thriving and prosperous con-
dition.

Mr. R. Ol\'ER advocated security of tenure, and thought
that their leases at present were drawn up in a most peculiar
and unbusinesslike way. He was of opinion that beneficial
results would follow the adoption of a plan by which on every
farm containing one hundred acres of arable land there should
be at least two cottages erected for the labourers who were
employed upon it.

The Chairman had come to the conclusion that no lease
was better than a bad oue ; but he thought that an annual
agreement was even preferable to a lease. There was one
element required, and that was mutual confidence and good
understanding between landlord and tenant. It must be .%
give and take business.

BOTLEY AND SOUTH HANTS FARMEES' CLUB.

At file January meeting, at Botley, Mr. William Warner in
the chair, the subject for discussion was " Root Cultivation,
with reference to the best intervals or distances apart for
various roots, so as to secure the heaviest acreage and the best
quality."

Mr. Jaiies Withers, said : I may first of all state that it
was entirely owing to the prizes awarded for roots by this club
and others of similar kind which first led me to think of aud
to afford me an opportunity of forming an opinion as to the
right number of roots required to the rod to ensure the
greatest acreage weight. And tlius, by comparing oue field
with another, with their respective numbers of roots, and their
weights during a course of years and through various seasons,
it assisted me in coming to a conclusion as to the right number
of roots per rod to make up the greatest weight per acre. This
is evidently one of the liest seasons for a plant of all kinds of
roots we have had for many years past ; and it was possible
this season to secure any amount of plants to a given space of
ground ; in fact, I do not know a season when a good plant of
aU kinds was so easily obtained. And in taking a survey of
the root crop while passing from field to field, and from farm to
farm, we might fairly expect to have seen one uniform system
carried out with regard to the numbers of various roots, and
the respective distances of those roots. This, however, is not
the case for great irregularity prevails throughout the whole
district. This was occasioned by the hoe in thinning or set-
ting out the plants. I do not, by these remarks, condemn the
hoe for this purpose, but, as thinning is necessary, it is also
necessary that we should know how far such thiuniug should
be extended. It seems at first siglit to be a subject of very
little importance, but when we find that some tons per acre
are entirely dependent on the right number of roots, it also
being often in the power of the hoers to leave any stated
quantity, it must be of some importance to know what that
quantity should be, in order to produce the best possible crop.
At all events, it seems at present a subject very imperfectly
understood, or very badly attended to. as within the district of
our root show facts prove that the number of swedes vary
from 80 to 150 to the square rod, and mangold and other roots
quite as much, and also that small or few numbers seldom
gained prizes. We will, if you please, first of all fix our
attention on the swede cultivation, it being, perhaps, the
most valuable part of tlie root crop. At some early period
of our club, says eighteen or twenty years ago, it was often
remarked that the swedes drilled at 24 inches seldom gained
prizes, their acreage weights being too small, while those with
rows of 13 or 20 inches most frequently did so. Experience
of late years has, however, proved to me that the reason was
not simply because they were placed too wide from row to row,
but because the plants were too thinly hoed in those rows,
thus leaving about SO or 00 roots to the rod, where at least
120 or 130 should have been. And as the 24-inch rows now
most frequently take the first prizes it must, I think, show to

us that the crop does not so much depend on the width of rows
as on the right number of roots to the rod or acre ; and it also
goes to prove that the 24-inch rows have in past years been
too thinly hoed, and if drilled wide between the rows the
swedes slioiild be left more thickly planted in those rows to
make up the deficiency, or a loss in acreage weight will be the
result. The greatest weight found by the judges amongst all
the competing fields for prizes within 15 miles of Botley for
the last year's root show for ten acres of swedes was a field of
my own, which was drilled at Z-i inches and 127 roots to the
rod. The manure used was 3 ewt. of bone superphospate,
purchased of Mr. Spooner, and 60 bushels of ashes per acre.
We sometimes, however, find that excess in numbers will pro-
duce a very fair crop ; and we also find some cases were few
numbers have done the same, and in comparing field with
field we seem at time puzzled to ascertain which is right —
whether the thin or the thick planting. And although both
extremes have at times produced very fair crops, there is a pro-
bability that had the medium been adopted there would have
been some tons to the acre more in both cases. And neither
of the two is in ray opinion riglit, it being better to avoid the
two extremes, and follow that which has done the best through
a course of years. I have, therefore, come to a conclusion as
to the right number of roots, which for early swedes, in my
opinion, is from 120 to 130 roots to the square rod, and those
of later sowing might be 140. The 24-inch rows, at 12 inches
in the rows, would yield 136 roots to the rod, and each swede
weighing the small weiglit of 2 lbs. only would yield 19 tons
8j ewt. per acre, or root at 2^- lbs. each would be 24 tons 5 cwt.
and it is but seldom that we produce that weight. With
respect to the numbers of roots I have for the present in my
own mind settled that part of the question ; but as regards
the right way of placing the roots — as to whether they should
be 24 inches one way and 12 the other, or 18 inches each way
(as both would yield the same number of roots) — I am not so
well prepared to give an opinion, but I am inclined to believe
the latter would be likely to produce the greatest weight pro-
vided the horse-hoe could be used; but as 24 inches is the
nearest to ensure good horse hoe cultivation, and we cannot
afford to sacrifice the use of that implement, I must as yet
give the preference to the 24 inches rows. We will now
leave the swede subject, aud turn our attention to the mangold.
The plant of mangold was, or should have been, a good one,
but we find in it the same irregularity of planting, or even
greater, than that of the swede, varying in numbers from 80
to 150 to tlie square rod, and, although the thin planting
will produce very fine roots, which catch the eye and appear
very beautiful when growing, yet I do not believe that the ex-
tra size or weight of such ever compensate for the deficiency
in numbers, and, even if they do so, I believe that three roots
of medium size would, if analyzed, be found to contain more
nutriment than two of the same weight. Moderate thick plant-
ing renders the roots more shapely, and are more easily

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213

cleansed and prepared for the cutter, and with much less waste,
and the same would apply to swedes and other roots. And I
believe that mangold should be grown in numbers very nearly
approacliing that of the swede. I, however, have not
been so large a grower of this root as our chairman and
a few other members of the Club, and cannot speak
with so much positiveness on this part of the
subject. I should recommend the rows at 2-t inches and
about 1-i inches between the plants, or about 110 or 120 roots
to the rod ; but this root, like all others, should be regulated
in numbers, according to the time of sowing — the late some-
what thicker than the early planting. The turnip plant for
the early part of the season should, in ray opinion, be about
the same in number as the swede, or about 130 roots to the
square rod. But as the sowing of turnips is extended
over a long period, the right uumber of roots must depend
very much on the time of sowing, taking care to increase the
number as the season advances, varying from 130 to 200, or
even more ; and stubble turnips, if hoed, should be from 2G0
to 300 to the rod, or at the least one to every square foot. I
have more than once observed that where ouly part of a field
of stubble, or any late turnips, have been hoed, those left uu-
hoed have produced by far the greatest amount of slieep food,
which was the ell'ect of too thinly hoeing. Carrots, if drilled at
16 inch intervals, and from four to six inches between the plants,
four inches vpould yield about GOO roots to the rod, and six
inches would be about 4-00, and I believe 500 roots of carrots
to the rod to be about the right number to produce the greatest
bulk per acre in most cases. Cabbages and kohl rabi I will
leave to others more experienced than myself. We find within
10 miles of Botley the range of our root show for the last
season, that the swedes vary in numbers from 79 to 150 roofs
to thu rod, and that 13? was the lieaviest of all, and 121 the
next heaviest acreage weights. The mangolds vary in numbers
from 77 to 151 roots to the square rod, and 89 and 151 were
the heaviest. The carrots vary from 400 to 800 roots to the rod,
and 575 proved the heaviest. Tims we find there is a very wide
scope in practice with regard to the numbers of roots and the
distances of those roots : and as the few numbers, or thin
hoeing, predominate, and seldom gain prizes, I believe that
many or all of us have more or less been guilty of too thinly
hoeing for some years past, and this affords me a place to
say a word or two on this part of. the subject. The hoeing
business has very much to do with the root crop irrespective
of numbers and distances. The work of both horse and hand
hoe should be pushed forward as early as possible, and even in
bad wet seasons it will not do to wait. Weeds will grow, and
most in wet weather, and are much easier destroyed while in a
state of infancy. Too much waitiug for fine weather proved the
bane of the swede crop in many cases last year which came
under my notice ; and many a field which promised well in
their early stages became choked with weeds and stunted iu
their after growth, and the hoeing business was also rendered
much more expensive from the want of earlier attention.
Leaving the largest plants is another thiug worthy of our notice.
The difference in two men's work in the same field is sometimes
very striking ; one of whom, leaving the largest plants while
thinning or setting out, and the other, regardless of such, more
frequently leaving the small ones. This is another evil for
which there is no after remedy. It is, therefore, evident that
our practice with regard to numbers and distances embrace a
very wide scope, and consequently afford a wide field for
observation. I have very briefiy introduced this subject, and
have stated my views on it, and we as men of busiuess should
be able at all times to give, if required, some reason for what
we practice. That much depends on the right number of roots
on the land to produce heavy crops I feel certain, and as there
must be among all the various numbers which I have stated
some right one, I hope that the members present will freely
give us the benefit of their ideas on the subject, in order that
we may come to some conclusion as to what that number
should be to produce the best results.

Mr. J. Blundell said : Some people outside the Club had
said, " Why the subject is very well understood ; everyone
knows what will be brought forward." Granting that was the
fact, he must appeal to them whether, as members of that club,
they would exclude the rising generation of young men, who
were coming forward day after day as agriculturists, from a
knowledge which some of those gentlemen claimed to possess.
But they were living in au era when there was always some-

thing new to be learnt, and that was why the subject under
discussion was of immense importance. When he considered
there were something like 400,000 occupying tenants, he com-
puted that during the last twenty-one years they had had
about 20,000 new farmers added to the number of agriculturists
every year. Then, if this was the case, why should they wish
to deprive these young men of the knowledge which they pos-
sessed twenty or twenty-five years ago by shutting out such a
subject as the one that day from discussion ? Therefore Mr.
Withers was to be commended for having introduced it, and he
was a man of practical experience, as he had been a judge for
several years at their root shows, and in that position they
could always learn something. They had a chance of com-
paring the roots grown, the various methods of cultivation
adopted, and learn things which it was always difficult to get
hold of without one had practical observation. Coming more
closely to the subject, he thought the points they had to look
to with regard to the root crop were the distance apart they
should have them in order to secure the greatest weight and of
most feeding value, and also the hardihood of the crops, iu
order that they might withstand the great changes of our fickle
climate. The all-important point wliich they desired in the
cultivation of root crops, and it was a difficult one, was to learu
the number of roots they should save per rod to give them the
advantages he had named. Another point was they had not
hoers in the present day who would take such pains as those
did who were formerly employed. This was a matter of im-
mense importance. With animals so it was with the roots.
If they wished to have good animals they would select
the best, in order to produce a good stock, and it was just as
necessary in the hoeing out of turnips that pains should be
taken to leave the best and finest in the rows, so that they
might be able to produce a better crop. Therefore it was of
immense importance that they should have the right number
per rod, and that they should also press on the labourers who
hoed the turnips to leave the healthiest in the rows. One
question was whether they might not manure the land too
highly, and, although they could drive the roots up to 20 or 30
tons by these means, still they might be less capable of with-
standing the changes of the climate than others which were
not forced by an extra quantity of manure. Mr. Withers had
very properly observed that some few years ago they were
satisfied with twenty inches between the rows and about 108
to 110 roots to the rod. But if they took twenty inches
between the rows he thought they lost the advantage of iuter-
culture. Therefore he thought that if twenty-four inches were
allowed it would leave 120 or 130 roots per rod. With regard
to the turnip crop he would, generally speaking, follow suit with
the swedes, and he believed they would have them thick enough
if they had the rows two feet apart. Then with reference to the
mangold crop they found that the heaviest weighted ones were
those which were grown at the greatest distance apart, but he
believed the same argument he had used with regard to the
swedes would holdgoodwith the mangold. If they had the larger
size mangold tiiey would find that they grew very rooty aud
lanky, and it made it difficult to prepare them for the cutter.
He thought if the roots were grown in greater numbers they
would be of better quality, although not so large, and thus the
same rule would apply to the mangold as the swede. And
there was another question with regard to mangold. Some
twenty years ago it was proposed to give a prize for mangold
sown late, and it was decided that they should not sow until
after the 6th of July. That for a number of years was adhered
to, and with very great success. He rememberd taking a prize
with some which weighed twenty-six tons to the acre, and they
were of very good quality. The question was whether they
could not have a good crop by sowing late as well as early. He
had been told by a gentleman in the neighbourhood that he had
been feeding his sheep off mangold whicii had not been injured
by the very severe frost we had at the latter part of the year.
Thus it struck liim very forcibly whether they could not grow
mangold of sufficient hardihood to withstand the chauges of
the season. There was a system by which he thought they
might be able to do this. With sugar-beet they had to cover
up the roots in order to preserve them, and as it was well known
that the part of the root which was under the ground was of
more feeding value than that which was above it he saw no
reason why the mangolds should not be covered with earth. If
they followed this and earthed them up he thought mangold
might be left in the field with impruxity to stand the chances of

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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

the wiuter. He did not say they could do the same with
swedes, but tlie mangold had a far lugher value They kuew
very wdl if the swede was frozen in the bub i lost m quali y.
He did not thiuk the same rule would hold good with the
inau-old, and he thought if they were eartlied up they might
leave them in the land with comparative impunity, ihe
distance apart for the cultivation of cabbage was an important
point He thought they should allow a suthcient space
between the rows to admit of inter-culture ; for all sorts he
should say two feet between the rows, while the smaller ones
could be varied in the rows. They could be placed eighteen
inches apart, and yet they would have a valuable crop. \\ ith
regard to carrots they could grow them even if the soil was
out of chalk. Then there was the distance, and a most im-
portant thing was to keep them clean, which was very expen-
sive. He would take the same rule of two feet between the
rows. He attached great importance to carrot cultivation, as
he tried an experiment by excluding swedes on his farm foi" six
years, and he grew carrots as the main food for his stock. And
he would tell them that the earlier period for sowing them was
wrong. He maintained that the 1st of May was the best time,
and was much better than the last week in March or the first
in April. And it was for this simple reason— that carrots
would not vegetate and come forward unless the weather was
sufficiently warm. Then, with reference to the number of roots
per rod, Mr. Withers had spoken of -iOO to SOO. He remem-
bered in Mr. Croskev's time, when he rented a farm of Mr.
Gater, he not only had 900 roots per rod, but they were also of
good average weight. Then came the question of cultivation,
as they could not get the horse-hoe in between them, and then
it also required a number of people to dig them up. He very
well remembered that when he grew carrots his number gene-
rally used to be something like about 250, and then he had the
advantage of inter-culture and a very heavy crop of large roots,
while he did not have to throw away money by employing a lot
of persons to dig them. He could not see a better plan than to
grow them at wide intervals, and have about 250 roots per rod.
Mr. John Withers had had much practical experience on
the subject, having been one of the judges, and he agreed with
what his brother had stated in his paper. , . , ,

Mr. James Warner had also been one of the judges at
their root show, and had therefore some practical experience in
the matter. He thought it was of immense importance that
they should endeavour to secure, not only as last year but con-
tinually, a succession of good root crops, whereby they might
secure to the kingdom a large and good supply of meat, for
according to the quality of the roots so in a great measure
would the price of mutton and beef range. Speaking more in
connection with the subject, Mr. Warner said he agreed in a
great measure with what Mr. Withers had adduced, as two feet
apart would secure a better cultivation of the land, but for his
own part he thought that swedes sown eighteen inches apart
in the drills and twelve inches in the rows would produce
greater weight than if grown two feet apart and thicker in
the rows. However, it was quite requisite that a man should
use his own judgement in the matter, and act for the best ac-
cording to the circumstances in which he was placed.

Mr. W. B. Gater said he at first thought the subject had
been worn very thin and was become almost threadbare, but
since he had heard the able paper of Mr. Withers, and the
practical remarks of Mr. Blundell,he could find that there was
some advantage in having the matter again brought to their
notice, and that much new Ught had been thrown upon it.
Much depended on the careful eye of their labourers in hoeing,
and with regard to the distance he tliought the medium was to
be preferred rather than the extreme of either the width or
the closeness between the rows and the plants. There were
cases when the cultivation should vary, but this was the ex-
ception rather than the rule.

Mr. Spooner said : With all due deference to the opinions
expressed by those outside, he thought the question was a very
practical and proper one to take up. His object in getting it
brought forward was to see whether, by eliciting the opinions
of those who were competent judges, they could not come to a
conclusion on the extremely difficult point as to the proper
number of roots per acre. It had been held that a smaller
number should be left, but Mr. Withers was generally in favour
of a larger, and he (Mr. Spooner) was never more struck with
this idea than when he considered the large number of roots
that were destroyed by means of the hoe. He could not give

them a better illustration of this than by relating what took
place with regard to some plants of his own. He had a small
piece of swedes of about two acres, and he certainly never
saw a finer lot of plants, there not being a single foot of the
drills but what contained a swede. He therefore thought that
they would agree that here there certainly should not have
been any deliciency. But this was not so, however, and they
were diminished by a large number by tiie manner in which
they were hoed. In going round the field lie began to count,
and there were intervals of eighteen inches, and in a number
of places two feet, without a single plant. Now, he knew
how this came about, as he had gone over the field himself,
and he could say that there was not au interval of sis inches
without a plant, and therefore it was self-evident that a large
number had been destroyed by means of the broad hand hoe
so generally used. Nothing could be more convincing than
this. The men thought they had left plenty of roots no doubt,
but there were only enough to give twenty tons per acre. The
deficiency was quite seven or eight tons, and this was caused
by the reckless hand hoeing. With regard to mangold he tried
a piece with half a dressing of dung under ridges, with some
artificial thrown over broadcast, and men were furnished with
a stick fifteen inches long so that the seed might be dibbled in
at that distance. In the ordinary state of things he anticipated
that it would have produced something like IOO roots per rod,
as they were planted at intervals of twenty-seven inches be-
tween the rows. After the hoeing there were but about 80
roots per rod, and about 33 tons per acre, but he thought the
judges would agree with him that if the proper number of
roots had been left in there would have been five or six tons
more per acre.
Mr. John Withers : Quite as much as that.
Mr. Spooner: With regard to carrots he thought they
ought to have four times the number of roots per rod than
mangold. He drilled in his carrots twice in a place. The
rows°were about a foot apart, and he believed produced up-
wards of 500 roots per rod, and 38 tons per acre. He thought
hand weeding for carrots better than hoeing. At any rate his
were not hoed. He believed about 110 roots of mangold per
rod and about ioO of carrots would be something hke a legiti-
mate number. Of course there was an objection to placing
carrots at close intervals, as there was the expense of weeding
them and getting them up. He did not think, however,
much of the expense of weeding as that of getting them up.
He thought kohl rabi should be left thinner than swedes. He
was talking last Saturday to a large root grower in Dorset-
shire, and he was a strong advocate for having them thick.
In Scotland he also observed that in very many fields the tur-
nips were twenty-eight inches apart in the rows, yet there they
grew quite as many roots per rod as in England, and he be-
lieved this accounted for their having such remarkably good
roots, and especially swedes. He believed Mr. Withers was
quite correct when he said that by having the roots thicker m
the rows they could have a proper number per rod, and conse-
quently a better weight per acre. He thought if more atten-
tion was paid to the cleaning of the crops and a more careful
hoeing it would be very beneficial. Whether it would be
better°to employ women and children in the first instance he
would not say, but he believed it would be more desirable to
have the plants hand weeded rather than that thousands of
plants should be destroyed through the negligence of the la-
bourers in their desire to earn a little more money. Ihey
found that the past season had been favourable for large roots,
but that these did not come from the places where there was a
large acreage— only from the spots where there were a few
roots They seldom came from where the acreage prizes were
won. He might mention that last year they had as much ram
in the three months which were so conducive to the growth ot
roots as thev had in any other six months. The rainfall had
been about' thirty inches— about six inches in the other
quarters, and twelve inches during the months of August, Sep-
tember, and October. The last two months particularly it was
excessive. He did not mean to say but that the root crop
mi^ht have been better with less rain, but it showed the ini-
portance that there should not be a long interval with out rain.
With reference to mangold he believed that the manure should
not be close to the seed, but with tlie swede it was different.
He believed the subject they had discussed was not only ot
interest to members of the Club, but it was also of importance
to those who were outside and the community in general.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

215

Tlie CiiAiRjrvN thought the papei- and the remarks which
had followed it had shown that the subject was uot so fully
understood by all as it had been made out, and that when the
roots had been left in the hands of the labourers it had often
turned out uufortuuatb for tiieui. The year before last he was
very much dissatified with his root crops, and he determined
not to allow his men the use of the broad hoe. lie sent into
Southampton, and had some made varying from five to seven
inches, and he made his men use them. He had gone into a
calculation, and he found it would be much more desirable that
the roots should be left thicker. Some rows were left eighteen
inches and others two feet apart, with less intervals between
the plants. Probably the roots left at eighteen inches would
produce the heaviest crop, but a great deal depended upon the
cultivation, and he thought, as being a fallow crop, there was
an advantage in the two feet distance. By this they had the
advantage of cultivating the soil and of keeping the crop clean.
He quite agreed with Mr. Withers that the planting of man-
golds and swedes- the distance apart he had named would pro-
dace the heaviest crop and also the best quality. They all
knew mangold was a very greedy feeder, and therefore if they
gave them too much manure and space they would deteriorate ;

their objeei; shouhl .)e to disiribulc* Hie manure so as to have
not only an average weight ot roofs but also of good quality,
as he thought that was tlie principal thing they desired with
reference to the root crop. Mr. Blundell had alluded to the
growing of mangold which should stand the winter. lu sowing
mangold to stand the winter they should take care that the
plant should be able to retain its feeding qualities, and there-
fore they should be careful as to what manure they used.

Mr. James Withers having replied, the following resolu-
tion was submitted and agreed to unanimously : " That in the
opinion of this meeting, in order to secure the heaviest acreage
of roots and of good quality, it is desirable to leave a larger
number of roots per rod than is usually considered sufficient ;
that swedes may be recommended to be grown two feet from
row to row with intervals of 13 to l-i inches between the
plants ; that mangold may be grown two or tliree inches wider
in the rows, and turnips somewhat closer, according to time
of sowing, whilst carrots should be left about four times as
thick as mangolds."

Votes of thanks to Mr. J.ames Withers for his paper, and to
the Chairman, were passed.

STAINDROP FARMERS' CLUB,

At the annual dinner, Mr. T. F. Scarth, president, in the
chair. Professor Wrigiitson delivered an address on the
Obstructions or Hindrances to the Development of Agricul-
ture. He said :

I propose to treat this subject briefly, and
at the same time, to touch upon the most important ob-
structions which retard the progress of agriculture. No one
disputes that agriculture is developing rapidly in this country.
Our knowledge, our appliances, our live stock are all improve-
ing and extending, and this is frequently made a matter of
congratulation when landlords and t(!nants meet. It is not in
these particulars that the shoe pinches. Agriculture is a
growing child, rapidly becoming too large for iiis clothes— or,
to use another simile, a vigorous chick which must break the
snell which has hitherto cramped her. I am not in the least
afraid for Agriculture, if fair play is allowed her ; but so long
as a dependent and trammelled tenantry exist, so long shall we
have knowledge and appliances contending in vain with what
may not too harshly be termed obsolete feudalism. Never will
the agriculture of this country be fully developed until the
same principle is adopted in the country as has already become
tlie rule in towns. Towns are the centres of civilization. It
is there that intelligence is sharpened by keen competition and
the constant intercourse of men with men. It is from the
towns that enlightened views find their way into the country.
Let us, therefore, endeavour to secure the same liberty in the
country which is already enjoyed by the townspeople. Land-
lord and tenant, master and servant, are words of old standing ;
but every year they are altering in precise meaning, and ideas
of feudnl superiority must eventually wane and vanish.
Whether you approve, or whether 1 approve, of the change are
small matters. The peculiar tendencies of the age, more or
less democratic in their character, are progressing with irre-
sistible force, impelled by causes over which we have no con-
trol, and I trust for the general well-being of the com-
muuity, if not of every class viewed separately. Liberal ideas,
with regard to every relation between landlords and tenants,
have been gaining ground of late ; but there are objections
urged by the more Conservative section of the agricultural
community, wliich are worthy of attention, first, there is
the general and right feeling that the landlord's interest must
be considered as well as the tenant's interest ; and this is per-
fectly true. No system of tenure, or Tenant-llight, ought to
interfere with the legitimate rigiits of property ; but, at the
same time, no laws of property should be tolerated which exert
a decidedly injurious effect on the community at large. Nay,
further, where the good of the public is involved it may, as in
ther case of railways, water companies, tliorouglifares, nui-
sances, &.C., be advisable to control and curtail the powers of
property owners. To my mind, no doctrine is more dangerous
and ungodly, than that a man has a right to do what he will
■with his own— independent of the consequences to others.

Happily we are becoming more enliglilened, and we arelearn-
iugthatproperty has duties incumbent upon it as well as rights.
With regard to the subject before us, let us take a rapid
glance at our rural economy. England is the theatre of won-
derful agricultural activity, and its landed economy, lying as
it does at the foundation of all relations among agricultural
classes, must be worthy of attention. First, then there are
the landowners holding, in comparatively few hands, the
greater part of the laud of the country. Next, we have the
tenant farmers occupying the land and supplying the capital
necessary to work it. Lastly, the labourers, upon whom de-
volves the actual tillage of the fields. The estates of the
landed aristocracy are so extensive, that the idea of their
owners cultivating them is precluded ; and unless legislative
acts, directly interfering with the accumulation of large tracts
of land under one owner, are passed, we must allow that the
lands of England will continue to be farmed by tenants. Now
I hold that the nation, as well as the farmers, have good right
to demand that this inevitable division of capital and labour,
represented by the relation of landlord and tenant, should be
so arranged that the produce of the soil should not be thereby
diminished. Tiiey have a right to ask whether, in the pre-
sent state of the law, any serious obstructions exist in the way
of good cultivation, and, if so, whether the difficulties in the
way of removing such obstructions are insuperable? I un-
hesitatingly answer there are still in force antiquated laws and
vexatious customs which tend to keep men of capital out of
agriculture ; to limit the amount of produce, and to depre-
ciate the value of landed estates. Witliout, therefore inter-
fering with the legitimate rights of owners, it would be well to
take into consideration the rights of occupiers, since it is to
them the nation must directly look for its supply of food. I
have written down nine serious difficulties with which the
British farmer, and with him the consumer, has to contend,
and I think it is of especial importance that the sympathies of
the consumer should be enlisted on our side. 1st, insecurity
of tenure ; 2nd, want of proper compeusalion for unexhausted
improvements ; 3rd, want of capital both among landlords and
tenants ; 4th, want of sufficient education on the part of far-
mers ; 5th, game; 6th, entail, primogeniture, and, in general,
the state of our land laws ; 7tli, the condition of the
labourers ; 8t!i, the relations witli the landlord, political and
otherwise ; 9tli, the law of distraint and hypothec.

Insecuhity of Tenure.— Could anything be more un-
satisfactory to a manufacturer than to work under a six
mouth's notice to quit, and liable to the confiscation of a very
])rinciple portion of his capital ? Such is, however the con-
dition of the farmer. As a consequeuce, lie takes care to so
employ his capital tliat he can withdraw much the greater part
of it within a very short time. This is is one of the chief
causes of so much bad farming, the occupiers not being so
foolish as to undertake improvements requiring years in order

O

216

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

to realise them. This is why men of capital look coldly on
agriculture as au investment of capital ; why men of energy,
with a sense of commercial freedom, seek town rather than
country occupations. I am in favour of a lease, and I believe
north countrymen as a rule are so. Still, we find many good
agriculturists in the south of England opposed to leases as
favouring an " up and down " system of farming, and as not
being demanded by farmers ; many farmers being, it is said,
averse to taking a lease when offered to them. If you have
not a lease you must have a longer notice. A six months'
notice is too short, and a one, or even a two years' notice
would be more in accordance with the length of time re-
quired to complete and realise farming operations.

Tenai^t-Right. — Although you will find many experienced
men opposed to long leases, you will find wonderful unanimity
with regard to Tenant-Right, or the adjustment of claims be-
tween the landlord and the out-going tenant, whether in favour
of the former or the latter. Tlie principle of compensation
is allowed on all hands, and we have only to glance at the
customs of the various counties to see that a Tenant-Right is
slowly making its way. Many counties, however, have no
such customs, and in scarcely any is the system of compensa-
tion complete or consistent with scientific knowledge. What
we want is a short Act of Parliament, legalising and compel-
ling Tenant-Right, stating that when a tenant quits, he is en-
titled to receive a sum equivalent to the value of the capital
he has sunk in improvements not yet realised by him, but
which his successor, or the landlord will enjoy. Tlie details
of a Tenant-Riglit system need not detain us, but if the prin-
ciple is acknowledged by Government, each district will be
able to frame a code of rules for every contingency, and prac-
tical men will be found ready to act as valuers in adjusting
the rival claims. Farmers are, however, too dead to their own
interests to move in the matter. Can they not even get up a
petition for a Teuant-Riglit Act, to show that they take some
interest in the matter ? Why should you not take the initia-
tive in asking for the co-operalion of Chambers of Agricul-
ture throughout the country in forwarding so desirable an end ?

Wajjt of CAriTAX.— There is a sad deficiency of capital
among tlie cultivators of the land in many parts of this and
the adjoining counties. Perhaps I had better include the
whole country. Capital is proverbially timid, and, this being
the case, it is not to be wondered at that it should keep out of
a business in which profits are not very large, and in wliich
the restraints imposed by landlords are so stringent. Still, we
find no lack of capital over large districts, and 1 believe we
shall find it circulating freely in proportion as it is made secure
to the capitalist. Want of capital is not only a tenant's, but
also a landlord's weakness. Landlords are often spoken of as
poor ; their estates being burdened by liens of various kinds,
and a policy of entails, settlements, and primogeniture, cal-
culated to keep up the dignity rather than the money pros-
perity of the tenant-in-tail. The following anecdote has been
related, in order to show the advantage of abundance of capi-
tal : A farmer, who was doing very badly both for himself and
liis landlord, was horrified by finding his rent raised and half
of his land taken from him in one day. Tlie story, however,
proceeds that, in spite of the loss of land, the farmer became
a prosperous inan on the smallerg occupation, thereby teaching
all around him the advantage of plenty of capital per acre.
Equally true would the same principle be with many land-
lords, who, were they to sell a portion of their estates and
improve the remainder, would increase the value of their
estates, and become benefactors to their country, instead of
the opposite.

Want of Sufiicient Education.— Want of education
is among the chief obstablcs in the way of agricultural improve-
ment. It is not in business knowledge that the want of good
education is most evident among farmers. They are, as a rule,
very shrewd in conducting their business ; but, at the present
day, when so much scientific knowledge is brought to bear
upon agriculture, the farmer should be acquainted with the
principles upon which his practices are founded. Agricultural
literature is badly supported ; and yet, I can only say that a
single number of Vat AyriciiUnral Gazette, Mark-Laue Express,
or, in fact, any good agricultural paper, contains a mass of
valuable information, which the money-making farmer cannot
really afford to lose. Look also at the journals of the Royal
Agricultural, the Batli and West of England, and the High-
land Agricultural Societies. Their valumes are replete with
calgulatious, estimates, results, opiuiousj mA facts, writteu by

men whose names we all respect ; and yet, from all T hear and
observe, although these articles have been written with ability,
they are passea over with indifl"erence, and although embody-
ing much labour, both in investigating and writing, they are
not considered worth perusal. Then again, look at what a
good agricultural library ought to contain at the present day.
Books on the practice of agriculture ; books on agricultural
chemistry, botany, geology, entymology, and zoology ; on live
stock, buildings, and implements ; on landlords and tenants ;
on agencies and law of the farm ; on valuations ; on foreign
and colonial agriculture, &c., &c. I say that while, as at pre-
sent, these works are dead, so far as farmers are concerned,
there is every reason to wish ior improvement. Still more dis-
heartening is the want of education, vphen viewed from an-
other aspect. It is the chief cause of the isolation which is
so fatal to the agricultural community. Where is the farmer,
I ask, who knows by name even the eminent men at present
labouring in his own occupation? I do not_ believe they are
known among farmers so well as they are among landlords,
agents, and the public generally. In the same manner our
progress in contiguous aud remote counties is not watched
with any interest. Struggles with unjust landlords, on ac-
count of game or politics, provoke but little remark, save in
the newspapers, and their note is not re-echoed in farming
circles ; great movements, set a-going by our Farmers' Clubs
and Agricultural Obaiubers, find but feeble response, even
where they directly touch the farming pocket. Local-taxation,
Tenant-Right, Malt-tax, regulations for preventing the spread
of cattle diseases, all fall about equally flat, and fail to draw
farmers together. This I have frequently noticed and de-
plored. Why, I have asked, do you not come to the Chamber
of Agriculture meeting ? The reply is generally that they do
not see the use of it — that it can all be read in the news-
papers. This, I need hardly say, is the height of folly, and
points simply to the faci, that education is wanted for the far-
mer. At this day agitation is everything. Game would not
remain in the hands of the landlords a year if the farmers
really felt about it as they appear to do, judging from the
speeches of their leaders. Local taxation would be at once
adjusted, were the county members confronted by an intelli-
gent and earnest constituency. Tenant-Right and security of
tenure could not be refused to au educated body of men with
money in their pockets. Then, again, look at the advantage
which a sufficient amount of education gives to a farmer in
treating with his landlord or his agent. All these considera-
tions point clearly to one conclusion, that were farmers educa-
ted, intelligent, alert, and more in harmony with the times they
live in, all these other obstacles mentioned, or yet to mention,
would speedily disappear.

Game. — I do not tliink anything has really stirred farmers
to the same extent as the game question. More crowded
meetings, and more vociferous declamation has been held re-
specting it than any other topic of agricultural interest. The
game grievance is often a heavy yoke upon the farmer's neck,
and under existing relations it is always liable to be so, should
the landlord become a game-preserve. Tlie law takes it for
granted (and here I speak under correction) that the game is
the tenants unless it is especially reserved, and it is dilticult to
see what more could have been done to secure fair play. The
tenant, however, first allows the reservation to be made, and
afterwards bemoans the hardness of his lot, as the occupier of
a game preserve. This, at first sight, seems unreasonable, but
when we consider the whole case, we may come to a different
conclusion. There is the element of competition for farms on
the one side, aud the monopoly of land upon the other. The
result is, many applicants for one farm, aud agreements are
accordingly dravni up, which although apparently expressing
the wishes of both parties may, and often are, really in favour
of the landlord. This being granted, we are next told that
such a state of things is natural, and that you cannot interfere
in the matter of private contracts by means of legal enact-
ments. It must, however, be evident that this assertion does
not close the question ; for if the tenants, as a body, are so
injured by the over-preservation of game that their functions
as . food growers are interfered with, then the nation may
properly interpose, and rule that the tenants should be freed
from the liability of annoyance from Game-laws. This is a
very grave question, and demands settlement. Could the re-
quisite public spirit, or public opinion, be raised among far-
mers regarding the game question, I feel convinced that it
would leatl to a much more satisfactory solution of it thau

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

217

any Act of Parliament cau effect. It is, liowever, so diffi-
cult to ohtaiii this expressiou ol' opiuiou that, it' dealt witii
at all, it will probably be by law, and tliat at no remote period.
Entail and Fiiimogeniture. — The first of these results
ia noiuiiial ownership. The life-teuaut not beiujj; an allodial
or free owner, he is, therefore, unable to sell his laud, aud is
fettered witii regard to the privileges belonging to full pro-
prietorship. Eutail also encourages the accuuiulaliou of pro-
property in few hands, which needs no encouragement, but
rather regulation. Primogeniture will probably be legally
abjured shortly. Not that it is likely that a man will be ob-
liged to divide his property, but rather that if he dies without
a will the law will assume that he meant to make an equal
division among all his children. At present the law assumes
tlie father's wish to liave been that the eldest son should have
the land. This is a relic of feudal times, when, on the death
of the Crown tenant, the fief reverted to the Crown, and was
then usually conferred on the eldest son as successor to the
last tenant. As the feudal system fell into disuse, the Crown
ceased to exert any active power, and the estates were custo-
marily handed down in the line of the eldest males. The
effect of abrogating the law of primogeniture would be moral
rather than legal. A father would be just as much empowered
to leave the whole of his estates to his eldest son as ever ;
but, in doing so, he would have to execute a legal will, dis-
inheriting his other sons. In other words, he would have to
act more harshly to liis youngest sons than the law would have
done had he died without a will. The effect of primogeniture
upon agriculture, must, on the whole, be prejudicial, because
it is not likely that a father will be inclined to still further
improve the already too large inheritance of his first born.
He is more likely to try and save something as a settlement
for his younger sons and daughters. The whole subject of our
land laws requires reviewing, and the nearer we return to free
allodial ownership the better, so that laud may be purchased
as easily and with as little cost as railway shares, and cease to
be a singular property, the complications of which seem cluelly
useful lu maintaining lawyers.

The Condition oe the Labourer. — This is, no doubt,
a difficulty in the way of agricultural improvement. In the
late Franco-Prussian war, education was found to exert a
wonderful influence in making the German troops effective.
I look upon this as a remarkable ' fact ; for, if education is
powerful in causing masses of men to act better, when under
the thorough command so essential to success in the battle-
field, aud when discretionary power is certainly reduced to a
minimum, how much more will it be effective in making men
better shepherds and carters? I believe in education, but also
in good wages and good cottages, as the very principal means
of improving the coudition of the labourer, as well as the
cultivation of the ground. The actual condition of the agri-
cultural labourer, although improving, calls loudly for amehor-
ation. Were landlords and farmers as careful to provide
proper sleeping and living accommodation for their farm ser-
vants as tliey are for their horses, we should soon see a won-
derful improvement both in moral and physical development.
The landlords, under present relations, are responsible to a
much greater extent than the tenants for cottage accommoda-
tion. If farmers were more alive to the importance of a well-
conditioned peasantry, they would put more pressure upon the
landlords, or ofl'er to do the work of building, provided they
received a proper compensation upon quitting. This is an
urgent matter, since it is every day directly affecting the well-
being of millions of our feUow-countrymen ; and since there
is no prospect of either landlords or tenants setting to work
generally to provide sufficient cottages for labourers, we shall
probably have interference from head quarters.

Political and Social Relaiions with the Land-
lord.— These are too feudal in their character. They assume
inferiority on the part of the tenant, and benevolence on that
of the landlord. Here, again, the isolated tenant must bend
to circumstances, but the general body of tenant farmers
should rise to a higher sense of their position in the country.
It is difficult at present to sf,e how a tenant can safely vote
against his landlord in a general election ; but I believe that
coercion will cease so soon as farmers assert their right to
independent action. You may perhaps ask what this political
aspect of the tenants' relations has to do with agriculture ?
I cau only reply that the more dependent the position of a
teusut lanuer is, the less eager will men of culture, of capital,

and of intelligence, be to enter forming as a business. It
must be a grievous thiug for a gentlenmn who wishes to farm
rather than to enter the aririy, the church, or some other pro-
fession, to be confronted with the fact that, as a tenant, he will
be liable to the depredations of game and game tenants, bound
to certain political opinions, aud oppressed with a sense of
feudal inferiority.

The Law oe Distraint (Hypothec).— This law, which
gives the landlord a decided preference above other creditors,
is blamed for injuring the credit of tenants among the trades-
men among whom they deal. It also is said to encourage a
class of tenants without capital, who are only tolerated by the
landlord because he knows that, however otiier creditors may be
paid, he at least is safe to get twenty shillings in the pound.
On tiie other side, it is held that the abolition of these laws
would be ruinous to many farmers who are now struggling
with adverse circumstances, and are yet, owing to the opera-
tion of the law, able to hold their farms. I have now laid
before you some of the chief drawbacks to agricultural de-
velopment. I have attempted to treat tlie subject in a truly
liberal spirit, and to advocate a policy calculated to encourage
the flow of capital into agriculture. My views may be thouglit
too advanced tor the present class of tenants, and 1 grant that
there are large districts in which more freedom to tenants
than they already possess is not desirable. I, however, hold
that it is the place of those who speak on such subjects to
advocate views rather in advance than behind the times iu
which they live, and to look upon the able and intelligent
tenants of good agricultural districts as representing the
farmers of the country, rather than poor and ignorant
occupiers in benighted districts, who are yet years behind in
their practice, and comparatively ignorant as to theory.

Major Cochrane said they all admitted that the tenant had
not security for the outlay of capital, and if that society had
to be useful, they would exert themselves to make such changes
as were called for. It would be a benefit to the landlord as
well as to the tenant. It was not to bo supposed that men
would risk their capital until they had better security. He
thought the questions atfecting the farmers might be divided
under three heads ; that they should have a proper knowledge
how to invest capital ; that proper security should be afforded
to tenant farmers — leases had been named, but he was not an
advocate for them ; and the question of game. This latter
question, he thought, should be a matter of arrangement be-
tween landlord and tenant. With referen ce to the law of
primogeniture, he thought it had better be left alone. They
would prefer being under large lauded proprietors than small
ones.

The Rev, H. C. Lipscomb demurred as to the want of
education amongst the farmers and labourers of this district.

Mr. Watson said it was the result of persons introducing
complications into their business that they had to call in legal
aid to get out of their difficulty.

Mr. Graham; said compensation to tenants would be very
valuable if it could be brought into working order ; but he was
afraid it would operate so that the good tenants would get no-
thing, aud tlie bad tenants a great deal. Education was not
so low as represented, and all agricultural periodicals were
well supported by the farmers. With reference to the game
question, without entering into it, he might remark that the
game eat a deal more food than it supplied.

Mr. MiDDLETON supported Mr. Wrightson's views.

Mr. D. Nee SHAM urged the necessity of security, which
would be beneficial to both tenants and landlords.

Mr. Hawdon said if compensation were given for drainage,
hedging, and road-making, he did not know that they would
have much to complain of, especially if notice to quit were
extended to one or two years. They, as a rule, had no ob-
jection to their landlords killing game ; but they had an ob-
jection Ito their letting it to hucksters and gentlemen, who
killed the game and sold it to dealers, taking what had been
fed on their lands for their own profit.

Mr. Abbs supported Professor Wrightson, as did Mr,
Broady.

Mr. Bell objected to leases, and thought landlords ancj
tenants ought to be sufficient to make a bargain.

Mr. W. T. ScARTH thought there was great need of educa-
tion amongst farmers as pointed out by Mr, Wrightson. He
thought that the question of security would Le best dealt with
by simple agreement at the present time.

il^

'I'lll-; FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE HEXHAM FARMERS' CLUB.
TEE LAND QUESTIOIN.

At auother adjourned meeting for tlie purpose of resuming
the discussion on a paper read by Mr. Tlios. Bell, of Iledley
Hall, on the relative interests of landlord, tenant, and people
in ;tlie soil, Captain Nicholson, in the alsence of the presi-
dent, Mr. C. G. Grey, presided.

Mr. Maksiiall, in opening the discussion, said tliat
althougli he agreed with the principle of Mr. Bell's paper, he
did not think that it conld be carried out practically. He be-
lieved that something in the form of a lease and Tenaut-Biglit
could be much more easily managed. He knew that there
were many objections made to this, and perhaps if these were
more fully stated they would be more patent. So far as he
could see he could not go the whole length Mr. Bell went in
his paper, though he considered that the principle was right
that the tenant should have some compensation for unexhausted
improvements. They must not forget that the improvements
a tenant made were very seldom permanent improvements ;
they might be so-called permanent improvements, but they
must be followed up liy good farming to make them perma-
nent. Mr. Bell endorsed Mr. Gladstone's opinion that what-
ever increased the lettable value of the laud was worthy of
compensation. To some extent that might be true, but the
landlord must have some say in that matter, and if he did not
desire to have his land improved the tenants ought not to have
compensation for it. He thought they could hardly follow
out this principle to an extremity without reducing it to an
absurdity. He reiterated that he agreed with the principle of
compensation for improvements, but he could hardly follow it
out to the extent it seemed to have been followed out in the
paper.

]Mr. Tiios. Dryden remarked that the subject was such a
wide and far-reaching one that he scarcely felt competent to
grapple with it sufficiently, and it was hardly possible for any-
one without deep thought to probe its bottom. In seconding
the motion for the adjournment, it was not with the wish of
having an opportunity of speaking upon the subject, but to
give Mr. Bell an opportunity of replying to any arguments
that might have been adduced in opposition to his paper. The
question was as to the relative interests of landlord, tenants,
and people in the soil. Taking the people's interest first, he
lield that the people had a right to have the soil properly cul-
tivated, a matter which he thouglit was admitted on all hands.
The landlord, as owner of the soil, had many duties to perform,
more than perhaps any man could perform as he would wish
to do. It was a wroug idea, and one which was often used,
to suppose that a landlord had the right to use his land for
pleasure and sport and not for the good of the community at
large. It was a weak point to say that owners would not live
on their estates but wouid spend their time elsewhere unless
their pleasure and sport were provided for, but he was sorry if
landlords used that argument for the preservation of any of
their privileges. He would like to sec the landlord have a
large opinion of his duties and seek to perform them accord-
ingly ; to sec that the land was properly farmed and produced
all tliat it could, not only for his own interest, but for the
interest of those beneath him. He would then keep the con-
lideuce of the country, and the respect would be paid to him
that he would like to see paid to him. This was a question
which would be more looked into in tliese days of education,
when everything would be sifted to the bottom, and if found
wanting objections would be taken to it. Then as to the game
question, referred to by their president at a previous meeting,
who said he would make game property, but they were here
to-day and gone to-morrow, and to make them property would
savour of communism, and he could not see the justice of that
at all. It was probable that there would soon be an alteration
in the Game-laws, but it was his opinion that if the landlords
would agree to the abolition of ground game it would put the
question at rest for a consideraljle time. If landlords would
only agree to that, it would shelve the question for a time if
not altogether. He liked moderate views, and when things

were carried out with moderation it was best for all parlies.
In order to have as much food produced as possiljle there ought
to be a lease and also compensation, for land would never be
properly kept up to a higli state of cultivation ; in fact, it
would be unwise for a man to farm heavily without proper
security. A lease without Tenant-Right naturally resulted in
an " up and down" system of farming, unless the farm was re-
taken some few \ ears before the lease ran out. A lease com-
bined with compensation he regarded as the only means for
securing the proper cultivation of the soil, so as to produce
the most food for tlie community. They must not look upon
this matter as simply a landlord and tenant business — they
must take a more enlarged view of it as food producers for the
community at large. As to the labourers, they should see that
they had good cottages so that they might live in comfort, and
as to the transfer of land he thought it might be simplified a
great deal. On the general question of Tenant-llight and
compensation, he believed that it would lead to improved culti-
vation, to increased production on every land, and to greater
contentment of the community, when they saw that everything
was done that could be doue or ought to be done, and it would
be the means of preventing anything of a revolutionary charac-
ter. If, on the other hand, the community saw that the soil
was not used to the best advantage, and was used for other
purposes, it might lead them to desire a state of things which
they might now considei visionary and even foolish. Ob-
jections iiad been taken during the discussion to their enter-
taining these theories on the land question. In Parliament
many things were talked which might not seem very practical,
but something practical was brought out of them. These
theories were the germs of thought, the thinkings of men, and
might result in something practical, and ought not to be
speedily condemned as they were by some. Any innovation,
whether in politics or meclianics, that had gone forth, had at
first sight been laughed at, but in the end something had been
produced for the good of mankind. He thought they ouijht
to weigh matters carefully. There seemed to be some diftl-
cuity as to what was proper compensation to a tenant for
his interest in the soil, and (.eihaps thers might be some
difficulty in getting a sclieme that would fairly meet the
claims of all parlies. However, if they approved of tlie
principlf, he had no fear but that a proper scheme would be
worked out. He should like to propose some resolution, so as
to draw forth the opinion of the Club on the matter. His
resolution would be to the effect that this club, recognizing
the right of the people to have the soil properly cultivated, is
of opinion that in order to effect this a lease and Tenant-Right
for the farmer seemed indispensable. He thought that this
would benefit all classes ; for, if the people of the community
were contented and prosperous, tlien, of course, all classes
must of necessity be so. The president thought that the im-
porting of food did not impoverisli the country. It was true
they could bear the strain ; but if they grew the food without
importing it they W'ould be more wealthy. Being so rich in
manufactures and commerce, they were able to bear that
strain, but it would be wise to farm as well as possible, and to
produce as much good as possible, for things might change,
and it was right in principle that a country should produce in
its own soil all that it possibly could. They heard a great deal
about the increase in the value of land, and in retufn-for this
increase, obtained without any industry on the part of the
owners, land ought to bear the heaviest portion of the taxa-
tion. As he had already said, land increased in value without
any industrial efforts on the part of its owners, and the indus-
trial classes, whose labours increased the value of the soil,
ought not to bear that taxation, but the landowners. It was
very unfair, if there was a change in the taxation during the
tenancy of a farm on a lease, that the tenant should be called
upon to pay the additional taxation. His opinion was that
the taxation should fall upon tlie owner, and not upon the
tenant. He could not but see that land should bear the

THE FAEMEH'S MAGxVZINE.

219

t(i"f;atest share of taxation, auJ ;i!so local rates; trade might
tail, it was not real, but the laud was always there.

Mr. J. W. Wilkinson thouglit that they would all aprree
that Mr. Bell had laid before them a paper which had attracted
a great deal of atteutiou aud opened up a wide field for dis-
cussion, and all the more so as it aimed at creating such a ten-
ure of the soil as would attract to it that capital which would
fully develop its resources. But what changes were necessary ?
Had they to have a system of Tenant-llight, aud what kind of
Tenant -llight ought it to be ? The Irish system of Tenant-
Kight had been referred to, aud some were in favour of having
such a Tenaut-llight in tliis country, but lie thought the
Irish system of tenure was different to theirs. At any rate,
the Tenant-llight had not made the Irish tenantry more loyal,
if it had made them more prosperous. In Ireland, there were
many instauces of farms being m a miserable state of decay,
aud the landlord seeing no chance of any increase in rent had
no inten-st in laying money out upon it. If they had a stern
law to take tlie property out of the hands of the landlords,
he did not think they would be placed in a much better
position, although he could not but agree with the remarks
that had been made as to the present tenure not being of such
a kind as (o attract capital to it. If proper security was given
for capital invested in the soil, farms would be better cultivated
and there would be a larger production of animal food. These
ideas had got abroad among the lower classes, and it would
require something to be done, or the matter might be taken
in hand in a mere radical manner. Suppose a tenant increased
the value of his farm £100 a year, what portion of such in-
crease would be the tenant's and what portion of it the land-
lord's ? Another system of Teuant-Kight was that the tenant
should be paid for unexhausted manures, cakes, &c., at the end
of the lease. Which system was the best, that in which they
received payment for manures, &c., or that in which they
received the capitalised value of the farm ? Giving payment
for manures, cakes, &c., at the end of the lease, might tend to
the improvement of the farm, but iu a general system of good
farming from the beginning to the end of the lease the small
amount that the tenant would receive for manures, cakes, &c ,
it would scarcely pay him. He wished to remind them, how-
ever, that in discussing this subject, they should endeavour as
much as possible to keep up the good relations that existed
between landlord aud tenant. They were apt to condemn com-
munistic views in others, but in dealing with the land question
they should not carry them out themselves. They should
approach this question in a way that might lead to some satis-
factory settlement by mutual arraugement rather than by Act
of Parliament. He had no doubt but that the whole of the
game and land laws would come before Parliament iu a bundle
together, but they could uot deny the rights of the owner of
the soil to a certain extent, and if he chose he might farm
game or anything else. What they wished for was the
teuant to have some guarantee that he would reap the
reward at the hands of his industry, and to make the tenure ol
land such as would attract capital into the soil aud bring it into
a higher state of cultivation. He thought it was to the
interest of the landlord to have his farm left in a proper state
of cultivation. If the Club formed auy resolution catling for
a more satisfactory settlement of the land question, he would
beiu favour of recomraeuding it to the notice of the landlords,
but he was not iu favour of Parliamentary interference, which
he considered would not be altogether satisfactory to either of
the parties. He believed that the difficulty in the land
question was the over-preservation of game ; iu many instances
men had no heart to farm well, when so much of their produce
was eaten by game. He thought that they should point out
to the landowners that over-preservation was not prodective of
the tenant's or anyone else's prosperity, aud the result would
be mucli better if they would give the tenant a proper guaran-
tee, so that he might cultivate the laud as it ought to be. A
lease was considered the most satisfactory tenure of land, and
at the end of it there ought to be some kind of compensation,
mutually arranged between landlord aud tenant, and without
Parliamentary interference. One of the results of the Irish
Land Act had been to drive some of the best landlords out of
that country, although the tenants petitioned that they had
nothing to complain of. He would like to see tlie Club form
its opinions on the subject, and lay them before the landlords
of the country, which could be done iu a proper way.

The Chairman said that Mr. Marshall very properly asked,

" What is improvement ?" aud if that was answered it ^^ould
clear the question for discussion. This was perhaps a more
dilHcult question tliau it appeared at first sight ; a man might
suppose that he improved the land very much because he
ploughed it. They ought to remember tliat laud produced its
crop each year at the expense of itself, aud every crop taken
off took out of the soil so much of that which positively con-
stituted it, and which constituted the elements on which its
value depended. According to Liebig, if they took a square
yard of land — a foot deep, for that was something like the
depth land was supposed to go as far as its important coustitu-
euts were concerned, and they had in that square yard of land
a certain quantity of elements positively necessary for every
crop grown — the lirst year's crop would go with so much, the
second year's with so much more, and so on, till, if they waited
long enough, nothing would be left ; aud the farmer who
merely ploughed the land and did not put anything back
necessarily impoverished it instead of improving it. They
should first settle the question '• What was positively an im-
provement ?" Mr. Bell's paper was on the relative iuterests
of landlord, tenant, and people in the soil, aud as he looked at
it tlie iuterests had to be considered correlatively, and it was
not to be made a question between landlord aud teuant. The
people had a right to expect the proper cultivation of the soil,
but the agriculturist had also a right to expect something
from the people. At the present moment all consideration was
given to the sanitary arrangements of towns ; there was no
consideration for the waste of the material on which the laud
was entirely dependent for its good condition aud improvement.
The only thought of the people was how to get cheaply fed and
comfortably placed without any reference to th-e condition of
the land hereafter.

Mr. Bell, in replying to the discussion upon his paper, said
he was very much obliged to them for the kind aud temperate
way iu which they had discussed the paper, especially as it was
full of subjects on which iiieu held the most widely different
opinions, yet there had been a disposition shown to discuss
them fairly, and to fiud out, if possible, where the truth lay.
He asked them to extend to him that indulgence aud forbear-
ance they had shown to him at their past meetings, as he felt
much in need of it in having to reply to what had gone before.
In the first day's discussion no serious objection was raised to
the principle of the paper. Mr. Joseph Lee professxd to
differ with his views on tlie tenant's interest, but he thought
that what he .said went materially to confirm his argument
that some mutual security was requisite for both landlord and
tenant for the interest they had individually held in the soil.
Mr. Christopher Gray went ofi" on another tack ; it might
perhaps soothe that gentleman's disappointment in regard to
his paper by his stating that he thought the relations of the
labourer to the tenant scarcely came within the scope of his
paper, and should be treated as a separate subject. Jlr. John
Hope's remarks came from the people's point of view, dealing
with the subject in its broadest bearing, and he thought, as
such, deserved consideration. In dealing with the president's
remarks, he must confess to some dilficulty, as it seemed to him
that several of them were made uuder some misapprehension of
what lie (Mr. Bell) had stated. Mr. Grey, in commencing his
speech, made him to say that the country which imported its
food must necessarily be impoverished, but the most important
part of the sentence was omitted, namely, if able to produce it.
No one could deny that our country could materially increase
its productions, and when they recollected aud sulficieutly real-
ised the fact that an increase of only one-tenth would add twenty
millions to their annual income as a country, he thought that
the agricultural interest would not be so coolly ignored by the
country, lie would almost have preterred not to have had to
make an allusion to the game question. However, he must
confess he had not seen that it had been shown that it was not
a people's question. Granting — according to the President's
views — that game ought to be made property, \i ho w^as to
make it so? Landlords and tenants could not make it so, if
they were ever so wishfnl, for it was only the people througli
Parliament who could make it property. Then, if it was made
property, there would be a difficulty iu the fencing of sich a
large stock and in the liability of tenants and landlords for the
damages caused to their neighbours' produce, 'fhe la">i of
primogeniture and entail might have their advantages, but it
seemed to him that there was a difference in the way of treating
land from other sorts of property, in cohtinuing this system of

220

THE TARMEE'S INIvVaAZINE.

tying up land, wliicli, as a result, preventecl the land from
beiui^ available in assets to creditors. It also perpetnated a
system of life interest which etfectually prevented any improve-
ments beinft effected in the land at the expense of such land-
owners. That part of the paper which referred to the tenant's
interests seemed to have called forth the greatest differences of
opinion. Before entering upon the subject they would per-
haps allow him to disclaim tlie most remote connection of any-
thing which savoured of division of property, or, in short, any
breaches of the tenth commandment. He should feel very
sorry indeed if anything that lie had said should cast the
faintest breath of aspersion on their landlords ; he considered
them, as a class, a body of men of whose honour, ability, and
generosity they might justly feel proud. Farmers were
generally looked upon as grumblers ; that was part of their
vested riglits, tliat he thouglit no one was disposed to dis-
possess them of. They were told to state their grievances
plainly and cease grumbling. What they complained of in
this respect was tliat tenants were able and wishful to improve
tlieir farms, in many cases double their present produce, which
many of them could do very well, but they had no security or
guarantee that sucli improvements should not immediately or
six months after pass into the hands of the landlords without
any compensation given to tenants for such improvements.
The remedy they proposed was this, if farmers did improve
their holdings, that they shonld receive compensation — legal
compensation, a legal guarantee should be given to them that
they sliould receive a fair portion of the value of such im-
provements on quitting their occupancy, lie must say that
in asking for this he did not see that farmers were asking for
anytiiiiig that belonged to any other person — they were simply
asking for what they had created themselves. Let them look
after the future of farming. Snppose that in the next twenty-
one years the farmers of Great Britain should increase the
value of their holdings to the amount of several millions
sterling — this they could do, and he believed would do, if
such compensation was given to them. But where did this
capital exist at the present time that the farmers were going
to put into the soil to create this improvement ? Clearly not
a fraction belonged to the landlord at the present time if the
tenants were going to create this proportion themselves. If
the tenants shifted their capital out of one place — the place
in which it was at present — and put it into the soil to nmke
permanent improvements, all they asked for was simply that
it should not be confiscated to the landlord. The great ob-
jection to legal security being given to the tenant, so far as he
could see, was that landlords and tenants must make their own
bargains, and no interference would be allowed. The ques-
tion arose, " What will they bargain for— what has the land-
lord to dispose of?" Clearly, the farm in its present condi-
tion. They did not want to make the least interference with
that, and the landlord had a perfect liberty to farm it, or let it,
or to propose such conditions as he chose ; but the landlord
also claimed the power to confiscate the capital that the tenant
might have put in the soil during Ids occupancy. The Go-
vernment at present gave them that power ; Government did
not acknowledge that the tenantry of Great Britain had more,
or could have more, than six months' interest in the soil. If
they expected more, they must give security of tenure, but if
they declined to give such security he would be glad to hear
on what mercantile principles they expected the tenantry to
increase their interest in the soil so as to materially increase
the products of the land for the nation. The president said
the tolls and many other things were farmed out on the same
principle of a simple bargain, but " toll farmers" were not ex-
pected to improve old roads or to make new ones ; they in-
vested no capital, and, tlierefore, there was no parallel. The
question in the paper which their Tresident noticed, was " If
a man got back his farm better than before whose was the in-
crease?" Mr. Grey answered by asking another, " If a land-
lord lets a farm at £300 a-year and gets it back worth only
£250 a-year whose is the loss ?" lie did not think that was
a fair answer to tlie question. If one class of tenants wronged
their landlords by wasting their farms he did not think that
in the least justified the landlord in spoiling another class of
tenants who had improved their farms, but the owners, in his
opinion, had a sufficient guarantee against anv serious' dete-
rioration in value in having tlin power of eviction at six
months' notice. This brought him to the difficulty of com-
bining a Teaant-Ilight with a lease, which he thought would

be unfair to the landlord ; because if a landlord agreed to
compensate a tenant for his improvement it was not fair to
grant a lease,uuless the tenant agreed to guarantee him against
any deterioration. He considered that a landlord, holding the
power of eviction at six months' notice, had a sufficient
guarantee that his estate would not be very seriously interfered
witli ; it gave him perfect liberty and choice of tenants, and
freedom to do with his estate entirely as he chose. The only
thing necessary to be done was to have mutual payment of
compensation of all kinds between them, and wheu that was
done they would be put upon an equal footing. He would
not wish to interfere in the least with landlords granting
leases to persons in whom they had every confidence, but he
did not consider that strangers had any ground for asking for
a lease under the circumstances. The creation of middlemen,
which Mr. Grey spoke of, was not a necessary adjunct to
Tenant-Right. He did not think the out-going tenant should
have to recognize his successor in any way for Teuant-Right ;
the whole business lay between the owner and the tenant, and,
therefore, middlemen were out of the question. They had
heard a good deal about farmers deteriorating their farms, but
during the past few years had not the agricultural produce of
Great Britain been very largely increased ? He was not able
to show how much of this increase was due to the landlords
and how much was due to the tenantry, but he spoke confi-
dently when he asserted that a good deal of the capital that
had effected this improvement had passed out of the hands
of the tenantry. The interest on such capital might have
ranged from positive loss to the tenantry to over lOL) per cent,
gain, but that did not affect the argument as to the capital
passing out of the tenants' hands. He would appeal to them
as to wiiat was the general experience or general practice in
regard to letting farms under a lease. The farms at the end
of a lease were generally re-valued, and if the farm would bear
a rise the tenant had to take it at such valuation, very little
account being taken generally of who caused that increased
value. There might be exceptions to this, but he believed such
was the general practice, lie remembered feeling very keenly
on this subject himself when in treaty for a farm. An agent
offered to a farmer a year-to-year tenancy, the tenant asked for
a lease, when the agent told him he would just be as well off
with a tenancy from year to year as with a short lease, for the
chances were when the lease was out the farm would have to be
re-valued and the tenant would have to pay a higher rent.
This agent vpas holding a higli position, and he believed he
simply stated the truth, to which many experienced farmers
would bear feeling testimony. He knew well that there would
be difliculties in the way of carrying out the principle he pro-
posed, but once grnat the truth of the principle, and he was
perfectly sure there would be some way of carrying it out —
the dilficulties were not insurmountable. Whatever mode of
compensation was proposed they would require some local
court of arbitration to settle differences of valuation. It
appeared to him to be much more pleasant to pay for tangible
results than for a primary cause which might have doubtful
results and might have sprung from doubtful causes. AVhat
he was most anxious for was to have the principle of compen-
sation acknowledged, and not to go into details. The value
of the improvements might be allotted at the rate of one-third
to the tenant and two-thirds to the landlord, or vice versa, or
in vphatever ratio in which it was thought justice was done to
both parties. No local court of arbitration could go further
wrong than the present state of affairs which allowed one
party to sweep the table of everything. Something was
said about the enclosure of commons, and that the surrounding
owners were only owners of such commons. It always
appeared to him that the rights of the public and the rights of
the owners were in an extremely undefined state as to the
division of commons. VVyseley Common, situate in the
neighbourhood of London, comprising about 365 acres, in
1869 was proposed to be divided, and the Enclosure Com-
missioners went to Parliament with a bill to divide this common
amongst the surrounding owners, and this was looked upon as
the legal way of going to work. The bill was framed on this
principle ; went through the House of Commons into the
Committee. room, and witnesses came before the committee
stating that they thought the public shonld be considered in
the matter, and instead of confirming the claims ofthe owners
and Enclosure Commissioners, ten acres out of the 365
were set apart to the public. It appeared to him that

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

221

the owners claims and the claims of the public had
never been clearly defined. Coming to that day's discus-
sion, Mr. Marshall acknowledged the correctness of the
principle, yet he seemed to say that there were practical diffi-
culties in the way of carrying it out which prevented it being
adopted. He had never heard yet of anything being thorouglily
right in principle, but that there was some way of
putting it in practice. If the principle was riglit there must
be some way of carrying it into ctfect, or else the principle was
wrong. Mr. Wilkinson talked of taking the property out of
the hands of the landlords altogetlier. lie showed as clearly
as lie could that it was no intention of liis to interfere with
property as it at present existed, and they could not say that
what he proposed would in the least interfere with vested rights.
As to the security of tenure in Ireland, it liad come out
in a marked way lately. It wr s said when the Irish Land Bill
was passing through the House of Commons that property
would depreciate in value. In the sale of the Waterford estate
lately, instead of property going from 18 to 30 years' purchase
as formerly, it had gone from 30 to 50 years' purchase, show-
ing that the security of tenure did not affect the interest of
the tenant alone, but also materially affected tiie interests of
landlord and people.

Mr. Dryde:* proposed the following resolution : " That the
Club, recognising the right of the people to good cnltivation,
is of opinion that if security was given to the capital of
tenants it would promote the interests of landowners, tenants,
and consumers, and that nothing would tend more to the ad-
vancement of agriculture than some legislative enactments,
giving compensation for unexhausted improvements, and
facilities to landlords for obtaining damages for depreciation
of property."

Mr. Lee seconded the resolution.

Mr. T. P. DoDS said that, not having been present at the
previous meetings at which this question had been discussed,
and havintf only come in to hear Mr. Bell's reply, he did not
intend to take any part in the discussion, but, as a member of
the Club, he rose to express his dissent from the resolution
proposed by Mr. Dryden. He lield that the public, if tliey
had an interest, it was so remote that it was not an interest in
the cultivation of the soil that they could recognise in the
terms of the resolution. If they were living under protection,
he could see some sense in it, but not as they were. He dis-
sented from the resolution. He was not in favour of having
legislative enactments passed, giving compensation to
tenants for improvement in tlie land, because they had already

an Act of Parliament by wliicli whatever buildings were
erected by the tenant, with the consent of tlie landlord, he
could either remove or claim payment for at the end of his
holding. He could not see that any tenant should be com-
pensated for making improvements at liis own discretion on
the farm, and without the leave of his landlord. He might
go and build a village on his landlord's property, and claim
payment for it.

Mr. Bell : That would not come under an agricultural
improvement.

Mr. DoDS said he did not rise to enter into any discussion,
but simply to express liis dissent from the resolution.

Mr. Bell remarked tliat tiiere seemed to be some difficulty
in arriving at tlie knowledge of what was permanent improve-
ment, or what could be called permanent improvement. As
he had already stated, Mr. Gladstone, in tlie House of Com-
mons, when the Irish Land Bill was under discussion, gave
one of the best definitions of it when he said it was " what-
ever increased the letable value of the holdings." Mr. Dods
made an observation about a village being built upon a farm,
but that would not increase its letable value. The tenant,
however, was justified iu getting the increase if it really did
benefit the holding.

Tlie Chairman remarked that there was such a thing as
tenant, who wanted a residence, building a larger house than
the place was worth. Again, a man with no capital might
build a large place.

Mr. Bell -. There is a remedy iu leaving the matter to a
court of arbitration — if tiiere was any disagreement as to the
value of the improvements, if left to the local court of arbi-
tration— to define really the improved value of the holding
created by the tenant. If the landlord could sliow that tiiere
was any other thing that had created part of the increased
value, that must be deducted from such increased value, but if
the tenant showed that he had increased the value, and the
landlord was unable to disprove it, then it would remain that
the improvement had been created by the tenant. If the valua-
tion was raised, notwithstanding that ploughing and those
things were only a means to an end, and the land did take in
a certain proportion of ingredients from year to year above
that which was taken away, and if there remained when he
left as much as when he entered upon the tenancy, and so
much more, so as to increase the value of it materially, then it
was this increase alone which they were asking for.

Mr. Dods : It would be a fine lot of work for the lawyers.

The resolution was then put to the meeting and carried.

THE FRAMLINGHAM FARMERS' CLUB.

THE DOUBLE-FURROW PLOUGH.

At the first meeting, Mr. Corrance, M.P., in the chair, Mr.
J. E. Ran SOME introduced the subject of double-furro ar
ploughing in the following paper : —

I propose this evening chiefly to confine my attention to the
consideration of the questions : First, What are the advan-
tages of double-furrow ploughs? Second, Can they be pro-
fitably employed on the majority of our farms ? For there is
no doubt that these are the points which directly interest
the farmers of this country. In the first place, however, I
think it will be interesting to inquire briefiy into the history
of double ploughs, to see how long ago they were invented,
and how far they have been used prior to their revival in this
country a few years ago. The first account of a double plough
that I can find is in an old agrioultural work (kindly lent me
by Mr. Harlaud, Brimpton, near Scarborough), entitled "Eng-
land's Improvement," by Captain Walter Blitli, who wrote in
the time of Cromwell. A drawing of this plough is given,
and also directions for its construction. In form it is like
two ordinary ploughs, with the beams strongly secured toge-
ther, the handles of the front plough being cut off as well as
the fore part of the beam of the hind plough. In his descrip-
tion he says the plough may be set to a working gauge, by
means of a foot or wheel placed iu the foremost beam, and
that upon ordinary arable land, and also upon fair clean lay
turf, a double proportion may be ploughed with it, and con-

cludes by adding, " I for the present see not, but it may be
of excellent use and expedition upon many lands in England."
This plough must have been made more than 200 years ago.
In another work, " Arthur Young's Tour to the North,"
published 1771, a drawing is given of a double plough fitted
with two wheels, then in use in the county of Worcestershire.
The following is his account of it : " But a new invention is
coming in very fast, which is the use of double ploughs, which,
witli only the addition of the horse, do double the work by
turning two furrows at once. It is no giincrackery business,
but so solid and strong a machine that the common farmers
approve it, and accordingly some hundreds of them are made."
The plough was afterwards improved by Mr. Bcrney, of Bra-
con Ash, Norfolk, who attached to it the Norfolk wheel gal-
lows, and, when worked against the Norfolk wheeled ploughs,
it did with two horses three acres in the time they did two.
See " Farmer's Tour through the East of England, vol. ii.
p. 121." Towards the close of the last century, and beginning
of this, improvements were made in the double ploughs. Lord
SomerviUe appears to have devoted great attention and
energy to this subject, so much so, that by many he has been
considered the original inventor ; but, although this is not the
case, he, undoubtedly, greatly improved tiie plough, and did
much towards its introduction. His plough, patented in 1802,
had but one beam curved in the middle to adapt it to take

222

THE EAliMEIl'S MAGAZINE.

tlie two plouglis. T)[0 inonlclboards were made in two parts,
aud the tail end could be set out more or less to suit
different sorts of work. A Leicestershire plough-wright,
Mr. Handford, of llathern, made the first adjustable
double-plough about the same period. Tiie beams iu
ttiis could be sot wider or narrower, by means of screw stays,
to plougii different widtlis. Mr. Billingsley, of Sliepton Mal-
let, used one of these Leicester ploughs worked by oxen, and
it is recorded that six oxen ploughed 3S5 acres with it, in ad-
dition to other work, within eleven months, and that they
generally turned two-and-a-half acres in eight hours. He
says : " Some may doubt the possibility of making the double-
plough so generally useful, but I can truly say I never yet
found an instance where it could not be w'orked to advan-
tage." To show what was actually accomplished at that early
date with double-plouglis, I have extracted the following from
an article on double- ploughs given in Rees's Encyclopcedia.
It is there stated that at a trial which took place on the Royal
Earm at AVindsor, 17j acres of unstirred land were plougiied
with four Devon oxen, one man and a boy in six days and a
few hours, and that the oxen were in better condition after
the trial than at tlie beginning. This is close upon three
acres a-day, which you will allow was not bad work. In the
same article mention is also made of a Mr. Tweed, of San-
don, Essex, who used the Sometville double plough, and who
gives the following account of the work in a letter to his lord-
ship, dated San don, 1802 : " I take the liberty of stating the
experiments I have made with your two-furrow plough on
strong land. I put my first plough to work with three horses
and one man, against two of my own and four horses, held by
two remarkably good ploughmen, who are very much averse
to any new implements. After exerting themselves to the ut-
most every day for a month upon clover lays, bean and pea-
etches, for wheat, they allowed, very much against their in-
clinatious, that it performed the work best, which is entirely
owing to the superior form of the breast, and the great advan-
tage derived from the moveable plates. This trial having per-
fectly convinced me that there is an absolute saving of five
shillings a-day every day they are used, I ordered a second,
and soon alter a third, and have ever since had all my work
done with them, which before employed six ploughs, twelve
liorses, aud six men, causing a reduction of one-fourth the
horses and oue-third of the meu, and it is in my opinion one of
the greatest improvements that ever was made iu agriculture,
for which I conceive the public aud myself highly indebted to
your lordship." It will thus be seen that double ploughs,
even at a very early date, were found to be thoroughly ser-
viceable aud economical implements. Various trials of double
ploughs were conducted by tue Bath and AVest of England
Agricultural Society at the beninning of this century, and so
thoroughly did they then consider it a standard implement,
that it was engraved at the head of their printed forms, used
when giving diplomas in connection with the Society. We
have in our possession one of these diplomas, giveu to Mr.
Robert Ransome, my grandfather, iu the year 1807, as an ac-
knowledgment of the superior excellence of his new patent
chilled cast-iron plough-shares. Since that time various im-
provements in the different parts of the plough have been in-
troduced. Our own firm, upwards of 60 years ago, brought
out a double plough, with wood beams, some of which have
been in use to the present day. We have an entry in one of
our old day-books of one supplied to the late Sir AVm. Mid-
dleton, of Shrubland HalL dated Eebruary 13, 1818, " One
new double plough. Repairing one old do." And they were
worked on this estate for 40 years with two oxen to eacli
plough, and doing their Ij acres a-day. Subsequently tiiis
same plough was made entirely of iron. Later forms of
double ploughs, in both irou and wood, have been made by
ourselves and other manufacturers, aud many tliousauds have
been sold for use in this country and other parts of the world,
though probably the greater number have been seut abroad.
How is it then, as it is clearly seen from the foregoing re-
marks that double ploughs have been made in considerable
numbers, and have done their work satisfactorily and well,
that they have not come into much more general use in this
country P The reasons are several : 1st. Because there was
not the same urgent necessity for their use that there is now,
and it was not sufficient to overcome the prejudice in favour
of the established usage. As an example of tliis we may take
the now almost universal '' wheel" plough, which had a hard

fight and a long one before it establisedits superiority over the
old swing plough ; and again, thrashing and reaping machines
were some time in replacing tlie fiail and the sickle. There is
no doubt that the difficulty of obtaining skilled labour had a
great infiuence iu bringing about all these changes, and the
daily increasing scarcity of labour has been a most powerful
stimulus during the past few years to the introduction of tlie
double plough. 2nd. Increased competition between this
country and others in the produce of the soil makes it as ne-
cessary for the farmer as for the manufacturer to avail himself
of any machine or implement which will lessen the cost of pro-
duction. 3rd. The old form of double ploughs was not so conve-
nient and easy for the ploughman to manage as those lately
introduced. 4tli. Tiie old double ploughs did not diaw so light
as the new ones, especially on mixed and heavy soils, so that
they were often too much work for three horses; consecjuently
their use was confined almost entirely to light soils. When,
however, the " Pirie" plough made its appearance in 1868, the
lime had come when farmers were well prepared to adopt any
new implement that would help them in their labour depart-
ment ; and this, together with the fact that a considerable
saving in draught was effected on many soils by the new im-
plement, by the application of the friction wheel and also the
greater ease with which the plough could be turned at the
I'.eadlaud, are the principal reasons, iu my opinion, why the
double plough has revived at the present time and acquired
such a deserved and well-merited popularily. To come now
to the double-furrow plough of the present day, with all the
improvements that have lately been made in it. To Mr.
Thomas Pirie, Kinnundy, N.B., belongs the credit of bringing
out the double plough in an entirely new form, and especially
of fitting to it a friction wheel to run behind the plough in tlie
angle of the furrow in place of the slade, in order to reduce the
draught. Eor his invention he obtained a patent in July,
1867, but the plough was first brought to notice in this country
at the Leicester meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England, 1868. From one cause or the other it did not figure
very well at that meeting. It was not tried ou the dynamometer,
but one of his single ploughs, constructed on the same princi-
ple, was tried against the general purpose ploughs, and came
out very heavy in draught. It had, however, been doing very
well in Scotland, and Messrs. Fowler, of Leeds, took up its
manufacture, and soon introduced a considerable number,
iiaving made several improvements iu it, principally in the
detail of its construction. The general form of the Pirie
plough is so well known that I need not give you a detailed de-
scription ; suffice it to say that it consists of two plough bodies
carried ou a wrought-iron iraine work ; this frame work is en-
tirely supported ou wheels, two of which run at an acute an-
gle iu the furrows, one iu front, the other behind, and a third
wheel ruus a good distance on to the land, about mid-
way between the other two, so that the plough is sup-
ported on three points at the corners of a triangle. The
leading furrow wheel is steered by a handle leading to the
back part of the plough, and handles are entirely dispensed
with, but it is turned round at the headlands by depresing
the land wheel and steering the leading furrow wheel.
I shall not attempt to describe the various patterns of
double-furrow ploughs made by the English and Scotch
makers — our own firm, Howard, Ilorusby, Ball, Perkins,
Pirie, Gray, Murray, Jack, Mitchell, and others, who have all
been paying the greatest attention to the production of the best
form of double ploughs. Some — and especially the Scotch
makers — have more closely followed the general outlines of
the Pirie plough ; whilst most of the English makers — Messrs.
Fowler excepted — have retained the handles and general form of
the English double plough ; but one and all have adopted the
friction wheel for lightening the draught. The following
are some of the chief points which should characterise a good
double plough : 1st. It should not be heavier than is necessary
for the land it is intended to work upon. 2nd. It should be
strong and simple in construction. 3rd. It should have good
clearance between the two plough bodies, to allow the second
furrow to pass freely. 4tb. It should have surticient height
under the beams to prevent any accumulation of rubbish. 5th.
It should be so arranged that the width of the furrows can be
easily altered. 6th. It should have a friction wheel to run at
an angle in the furrow, to take the weight of the hind part of
the plough, and the friction against the land side and sole
c;uised by turning the furrow slice. This friction wheel should

THE FAKMEil'S JSIAGAZINE.

;23

be adjustable in depth aud width to adapt tlic plough to a
hard or soft bottom, and a slade should lje intercbaiigKable
with it I'or special places — such .as stony ground. 7tli. It
should be arranged to lift out of work, aud turn easily at the
headland without cutting up the ground. 8th. It should have
a pair of handles of suflicieut length for the idouglnnan to
guide it, aud assist it round at the headland. 'Jth. It may be
furnished with a stesring lever if desired, but when the plough
is furnished with sulliciently long handles I do not consider it
necessary, aud it adds to the weight aud complication. 10th.
It should be fitted with the best breasts, shares, coulters, and
skim coulters, to enable it to do its work etliciently and with-
out waste of power. These points we have endeavoured to
carry out in our double plough, but I especially wish to draw
your attention to the principle, invented by my partner Mr.
Jeil'eries, which we have adopted for lifting aud turning them
at the headland. Instead of depressing and locking the lead-
ing wheels, we lift the plough bodily off the ground in the centre
of its length. This principle is carried out by us by adding
au extra wlieel on the off-side of tlie plough, and this wheel
(whicii is simply carried idle when the plough is in work) is,
together with the land wheel, brought down to the ground on
reaching the headland. The ploughman pulls a lever connected
with tliese two wheels, which, with the onward motion of the
horses, lifts the plough bodily on to these two wheels tliree inches
above the ground. On these two wheels it rides round as
easily as on a cart, and, being made wide apart, the plough
cannot be upset. We now come to the question ot drauglit.
Is a uouble-furrow plough ligliter in draught, in proportion
to the work it has to do, than a single plough ? Or, in other
words, can the same work be done with less power ? This is,
after all, the great point in connection with this subject ; and
without troubling you with all the figures and experiments
which have led to my conclusions, I will endeavour to make
clear to you the results at which, in my own mind, I have
arrived. From the various dynamometrical experiments which
I have made at various times on very different soils, and in
various conditions as to moisture and drouglit, together with
the reports of other draught trials, both public and private, I
liave come to the following conclusions : The comparisons are
between ploughs exactly alike so far as their breasts, shares,
aud coulters are concerned, and taken at the same depth and
width of furrow in each case. 1st. The old form of double-
furrow ploughs, which had two slades, one on each plough
body, took twice the power of a single plough fitted with
slade. 2nd. A double plough of which the back part of the
front body is cut away, and which has only one slade on the
hind plough, does not take more than If times the draught of
a single plough fitted with a slade. 3rd. A double plough of
the new sort, with a friction wheel behind iustead of a slade,
does not take more than I| times the power of a single plough
with slade. 4th. A single plough with a friction wheel takes
about three-quarters of the power of a single plough with
slade. 5th. A double plough, witii a friction wheel, takes
just double the power of a single plough with a friction wheel.
On dry, hard laud the above proportions do not hold good,
and it is very doubtful if any advantage is gained on land in
this condition by the use of the friction wheel. A slade then
goes almost equally light, but when the land is wet tliere is
considerable suction between the slade aud the furrow bottom
aud land side, especially when the soil at all inclines to a
heavy or sticky nature, whereas the friction wheel runs almost
equally lightly on such land, the friction in this case coming
on to the axle and nave of the wheel. It is important that
the axle should lie true and smooth and fit the nave well, and
that all dirt should be excluded, in order to reduce the friction
to a minimum, and for this reason we bore out the naves of
our plough wheels and turn the axles, providing them also
with an oil-hole, and exclude the dirt by a leatiier collar and
steel plate at the back of t!ie axle. On land with a rough
stony bottom I liave understood that the wheel is not so good
as the slade, as it rises and falls over all the stones and ine-
qualities, but I have not tried any experiment on such land.
Taking the above figures to be correct, and the average draught,
on a mixed soil, of a good single plough with slade when
ploughing six or seven inches deep, being taken at 24; stone,
we should have the draught of a single plough with friction
wheel, 18 stone; double plough with friction wheel, 36 stone ;
double plough witli one slade, 42 stone ; double plough with
two slades, 48 stone, Of course, these draughts will vary on

different soils ; and the advantage of tlic new double plouiih
will be still greater when compared with many of the older
patterns of single ploughs still in use, but it may safely be
taken for granted that in almost all cases the double ploughs
do not draw more than half as heavy again as the single
ploughs, and the heavier and more sticky the soil the greater
is the gain. The above statement is coulirmed by the great
trial of double ploughs held at Peterborough, October 4th
and 5th, 1870, when the draught experiments were conducted
by Mr. Amos, O.E., late consulting engineer to the Iloyal
Agricultural Society of England. The proportion between
the average draught of five double ploughs aud the single
plough of best construction was as 702 to 470, or half as
heavy again. On the 15th ]>Jovember of last year another
very careful experiment was carrried out by the engineers to
the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Messrs. Easton
aud Anderson, through one of their staff, Mr. Riclic, at
Caistor, the proportionate power to move lib of earth with a
single plough was 14.9, against 10.6 with the double, showing
a saving in draught in favour of the latter of 29 per cent. I
could easily multiply proofs that there is a great saving in
draught, but I think I have said enough. Let us now look at
the advantages to be gained by the use of double ploughs.
1st. Double Work: They will do twice as much work as a
single plough in almost ail cases. Sometimes, when tlie horses
are not fully up to the mark, it may better do rather less than
this, but even then a very largely increased amount is accom-
plished. 2nd. Saving iu horse power : As we have seen, the
draught is only half as much again ; therefore, three horses
harnessed abreast will do double the work of two on a single,
and not be any harder worked. When three horses are used
on a single plough on very heavy land a four-horse team is
sutticient for the double, but on very heavy work I should
rather recommend two single friction wheel plouglis, worked
by two horses each. On many light soils two horses are often
employed on single ploughs, because one would hardly be suffi-
cient, and in such cases the same two horses can readily man-
age the double plough, and not be distressed with the work.
Many double ploughs are now being worked with two horses
only on light lands. 3rd. Saving of labour : One man with
a double can do the work of two men with single ploughs, as
when thre3 horses are rec[uired they are driven abreast and
guided by reins. Working three horses abreast : In using
three horses on a double plough, the most elfective way is to
yoke them abreast, two on the land and one in the furrow, as
their power is not only more economically employed, but one
man is sufficient with the plough. In this case they should
have compensating three-horse whippletrees, so that each
horse may have its fair share of work. When preferred, two
horses may be driven at lengtli iu the furrow and one on the
land ; but it is very objectionable to work three horses at
length, as too much strain is thrown on the last horse on
coming out at the headland. 4th. AVork done better : The
work can at all times be done equally as well as with a single
plough, and it entirely prevents a man carrying a plough on
its back, and so cutting an unlevel bottom, which can be done
with a single plough even when fitted with flat cutting shares.
As a rule, too, the furrows are more firmly closed and packed
together, whilst the additional wcigiit, and the very fact of
having two plough bodies working together in the ground at
one time, make the plough steadier and less liable to be
thrown out of the ground by one of the bodies coming against
a stone or other obstacle. 5th. Pan of furrow not so much
trodden : As only one horse walks in the furrow, and two
furrows are ploughed at one time, the horse walks in each
alternate furrow, instead of every one, and the pan is con-
sequently less trodden down. 6th. Furrow bottom not glazed :
By the use of the friction wheel, instead of the slade, all
glazing, both of the bottom of the furrow and of the land
side, is avoided, but they are left just as the share and coulter
leave tliem, so that both air and water can get more freely
into tlie soil, and a better bottom is left for the roots of the
plants. 7th. Ploughing hill sides : In hill-side ploughing they
are very serviceable, as, by ploughing up aud down the hill,
two horses can carry two furrows down hill, and by slipping
one furrow up hill, the two horses can take one furrow up
liill ; thus in each round ploughing three furrows against two
furrows with the same team on a single plough. 8tli. Sub-
soiling : They form one of the best implements for any or-
dinary subsoiliug. By removing the fii_:it plough, anil adding

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THE PARMER'S MAGAZINE.

a subsoil tine to follow flie iVirrow liorse and subsoil the pre-
vious furrow, tlio bind plough turns a furrow over the loosmied
eartii. In this way all treadinj^of the horses on the subsoiled
work is prevented, and generally three horses can plough and
subsoil etfectively to the depth of ten or twelve inches. 9th.
Potato planting : They are very useful for potato planting,
liy setting the ploughs to the widest width, say twelve inches
each furrow, or more if desired, the two carry 24 iuches, and
tlie potatoes are set in the furrow and covered tiie nest round.
This ensures the widths of the rows being exactly alike, and
facilitates after operations. The boys who plant the sets have
not to wait a round, as they would have to do with a single
plough. 10th. Paring stubbles : They are very useful for
paring stubbles. The ploughs being set to their greatest width,
and furnished with broad shares, 12 inches wide, the surface, to
a breadth of 24 inches, may be pared at one time with a pair of
horses. The greater weight of a double plough keeps it more
steadily at the shallow depth of say two inches than is pos-
sible with a single plough. 11th. Beginning and Pinishing.
The ridges, tops, or beginnings can be easily bet with a double
plough. By taking a small furrow with the front plough on
ihe first half-bout and a full furrow with the hind plough
which lies on the first furrow, then returning with two whole
furrows to back up the top, three furrows are shown the first
round against one with the single. The finishes can also be
made, the only care necessary is to keep the ridges an equal
widtii and the furrows parallel, so as to leave an even furrow
at last. The best way to finish is to take the last or baulk
furrow and the mould or brow up at the same time. If two
solid furrows should be left at the finish it is as well to plough
one otf first, letting the frout plough slip empty up the open
furrow. In beginning and finishing with the double plough,
it is a very great advantage to be able to set the hind plough
lower than the front one, and in our ploughs we make the
front plough body moveable up and down, so tlia; their rela-
tive positions may be altered. Although, as I Juive said, the
ridges and finishes can be easily and well done with a double
plough, many prefer to keep one single plough going with two
or three do\ibles, in order to set the ridges and make the
finisiies, and I think at first, at any rate, it is a very good plan,
and I am not sure it is not always the best when several
doubles are at work together. In order to make the most of
the advantages to be gained by the use of double ploughs, it is
very desirable to have tlie lands or stetches as wide as possible,
for although these ploughs may be worked, and are a great
assistance, even where the lands are narrow, they are much
more so when the distance between the ridges is suiRcient to
enable them to go a considerable number of rounds on each
ridge. I have no doubt the adoption of these implements will
tend to the practice of setting out a greater bulk of land in
wider stetches than hitherto, and also to keeping them as level
as possible, which is very desirable for the after operations of
both reaping and mowing machines. 12th. All kinds of
work : All kinds of work can be done with the double plough,
with the exception, perhaps, of ridging or baulking up land
for the winter. They will do ley ploughing for wheat, stubble,
or autumn work, and cross ploughing, and may be worked at
any reasonable depth. They can be fitted with all sorts and
widths of shares, and with different forms of breasts or mould-
boards, to suit different practices and requirements. 13th.
Work done at proper time : One of the greatest advantages
of double plouglis, besides the saving of labour and horse
power, about which I propose to make some further remarks,
is undoubtedly the great facility they give for getting the
work done at the proper time. That a farmer should be able
to get his stubbles broken up quickly in autumn, and his land
prepared for sowing when the weather is favourable, is too
well appreciated to need any remarks from me. As the double
plough gets over a double quantity of work with an increase of
only fifty per cent, of horse power as compared with a single
plough, the work with the same lot of horses is done much
more speedily. Take the ease of a farm where twelve horses
go to plough with six men and six single ploughs, doing sis
acres a-day. The same liorses, worked three abreast on four
double ploughs would do eight acres a-day ; consequently, in a
week, they would do forty-eight acres, whereas the single
ploughs would take eight days to do forty-eight acres. The
doubles, therefore, do any given amount of work with the
same horses in tiiree-fourlhs of the time, and, in the above
instance, two men would be spared for other work, and, the

ploughing being finished sooner, the men and horses
would be sooner ready to undertake any other work
that might be required on the farm. 14'th. E.itra time and
facility for other operations : As the double plough
enables a farmer to get liis ploughing done quicker, it
greatly helps hiiu in getting on with other work on tlie farm
which would otherwise have to be delayed. This is one of
the greatest advantages gained by the introduction of tiicse
implements, and one which every farmer will appreciate.
15th. Money saving : On tiic other hand, and especially on
those farms where the staff of men and liorses kept has been
sufficient to do all the work at the right time, and in a proper
mauner, a considerable saving in expenditure can be elTected
by tlie use of double ploughs. To show this more clearly,
I will first take the case of a farm having three hundred acres
of arable land, and on which, as a fair average, twelve horses
are kept. Assuming — and in some cases I believe the assump-
tion is correct — that no larger number of horses need be kept
rtiau a. e sufficient to do the ploughing, the following calcula-
tion would hold good : Six men and twelve horses would be
required on such a farm to work six single ploughs, whereas
three men and nine horses would work three double ploughs,
thus saving three men and three horses. The horses might be
.entirely dispensed with by careful management, and the
men during the time they would have been engaged in
using the single ploughs. These three hundred acres of wheat,
clover, peas, beans, barley, oats, summerlaud, or root crops,
would take at least two 'ploughings each per acre on an aver-
age, or say six hundred acres of ploughing. Taking one acre
per day as the work of each single plough, or two acres per
day as that of each double plough, the ploughing would occupy
seventeen weeks. The following calculation will show the
saving effected : Interest on the value of three horses at £30
— £90 at 5 per cent.,|£4 10s. ; annual decrease in value, at £2
each, £6 ; hazard of loss at £5 per cent., £4 10s. ; annual
value of food, three horses at 12s. a-wcek, £93 12s.; shoeing
and farriery at £1 each, £3 ; wages of three men for seven-
teen weeks at 10s., £25 lOs- ; total, £137 2s. : deduct interest
on value of three double ploughs at £10, at 5 per cent., £1
10s. ; total, £135 12s. Say a net annual saving of £135,
which is equal to 9s, per acre on the whole farm. This may
perhaps be an extreme case, or at any rate not the most usual
way in which tiie saving effected by double ploughs would be
taken, though I shall give you presently one or two statements
from practical men corroborative of the above calculation. If
two horses out of the twelve could be dispensed wiih, it would
save £100 a year, or 6s. 8d. per acre. If only one horse out
of twelve could be sold, the saving would be £60 a year, or 4s.
an acre. And if no horses are sold, we still have the item of
wages £25 10s., which is saved, or equal ♦^o Is. 8d. an acre.
On some light land farms where a great deal of the work will
be done with two horses on a double plough, I believe quite
the above saving may be effected. Three-furiow ploughs :
Indeed, on such farms there is no reason why three-furrow
ploughs should not be used, drawn by three horses, or even
four-furrow ploughs, but one objection to these is the wide
headlands they make from one plough having to be fixed be-
hind the other. Three-turrow ploughs have been made many
years ago. I found a most interesting account and drawing
of a three-furrow plough invented by the Rev. Edmund Cart-
wright, of Woburn, Bedfordshire, In the year 1804, which
was regularly worked on light land with two horses and one
man. If this could be accomplished then, why not in the pre-
sent day with all our modern improvements, and means for
lightening draught ? In support of my statement that a con-
siderable number of horses could often be dispensed wit li, I
will give you an extract from some remarks made by Mr.
Stein at a late meeting of the East Lothian Society. Refer-
ring to the saving from the use of double ploughs, Mr. Stein
said : " He had reduced his stock from 4-k to 3 j pairs of horses
(0 to 7), and he could quite as easily accomplish his work.
He worked the plough with two horses in seed furrow, and
three horses in stubble. He could work also on stubble with
two horses, but he did not think it was economical to do so.
With two horses he could turn over two English acres of seed
land per day. On stubble land the horses did not go so fast."
At a meeting of the Haddington Farmers' Club reported in
the Farmer of December 25, 1871, Mr. James Wyllie read a
most able paper on the double plough, and said : " On an or-
dinary sized farm the saving effected by them must be very

THE FAEMEH'S MAGAZINE.

225

considerable, and I have no doubt tliat in some cases from their
use a pair of horses misfht be altogether dispensed with, in
which case a direct saving of about £100 a year would be at
once elTected," At the discussion which followed, Mr. Smith,
of Stevenson Mains, said since introducing this implement he
luid reduced the number of his horses and now worked 350
Scotch acres (whicli are equal to 4M English acres) with four-
and-a-lialf pairs of horses. Another gentleman calculated the
saying at 5s. a day for every double plough he used. That I
might be able to speak with some degree of certainty of the
practical use ol douljle ploughs as they had really been proved
in work, I addressed a series of questions to gentlemen in
various parts of the country who had bought double-furrow
ploughs from us, and I am glad to take this opportunity of
thanking those gentlemen publicly for the very kind and cour-
teous manner in which tliey acceded to my request, and feel
that tiiey have helped me in bringing this paper before you to-
night, and I think also through the medium of your Club, it
will not be without its effect on many wlio may have hesitated
at present to avail tliemsclves of the advantages of double
ploughs. I cannot pretend to give you anything like a sum-
mary of these reports, which are almost all of the most fa-
vourable character, and in tlie few instances where double
])lougbs have not proved successful it has either been from a
plough being sent which was not suitable to the laud, or one
of the earliest patterns, wiiich were not so easy to manage as
those we have more recently improved. They come from over
100 English farmers residing in 30 different counties, from
several iu Wales, and a not inconsiderable number (14) from
Irelaud. However, I will give you a short summary, and will
lay the whole of the reports I have received on the table for
any gentleman to look over, and also a book containing an
analysis of the answers from each one. Tlie reports in answer
to the question, " How have you got on with your double
plough?" are — "Well." " Very well." " Eirst-rate." "Ex-
ceeded my expectations." " Perfectly satisfied." " Could not
do without it,". and so on. Quantity of work done, " gene-
rally double." Number of horses required : In answer to
the question, " How many horses do you use on your double,
and how many on your single ploughs ?" there are 107 re-
plies—

1 uses 3 horses on double to 1 on single.

8 use 2 ditto 3 ditto

77 use 3 ditto 3 ditto

1 uses 3 ditto 3 and 3 ditto

6 use 3 and 2 ditto . 3 ditto

3 use 4 ditto 3 ditto

1 uses 4 and 3 ditto 3 and 3 ditto

1 uses 5 ditto 3 ditto

1 uses 5 ditto 4 ditto

1 uses 5 and 4 ditto 3 ditto

1 uses 6 and 5 ditto 4 and 3 ditto

Soil: Out of 111 replies as to nature of soil, 23 are heavy
land ; 10 are heavy and mixed; 27 are mixed ; 11 are mixed
and light ; 18 are light ; lour are fen land ; one is stony and
rocky ; and 17 are all kinds of soils. Parting with horses :
In answer to the question, " Will the use of double ploughs
enable you to part with any horses ?" out of 116 reports, 58
say they will be able to part with one or more horses, 24 do
not say what proportion ; nine can part with one out of four ;
eight can part witii one out of five ; six can part with one out
of six ; one can part with one out of seven ; five can part
with one out of eight ; one can part with one out of ten ; one
cau part with one out of eleven ; one can part with two out of
four ; one can part with two out of six ; one can part with two
out of nine. Proportion of work done with doubles: In answer
to the question, " What proportion of vvork can you do with the
double plough?" the answers vary from " half to three-quar-
ter," " nearly all," and " all." Difficulty or not with doubles :
To the question " Have your men found any difficulty
with the doubles ?" the answers are, " Very little or none."
And now to those who may hereafter make trial of double-
Airrow ploughs, let me say — Don't be disheartened if the work
is not so well done at first as you could wish. A little time,
thought, and patience will soon enable you to conquer the
little difficulties that will at first arise, but which you will find
only small difficulties after all. Tlie two furrows must be
carefully watched to see tliat they are equal in breadth and

depth, and this point well attended to will be half the battle
in producing good work with any well-made double plough.
There is one short extract from the work of Walter Blilh, al-
ready referred to, which I feel I must give here as too good to
be lost, on " The Best Way for the Tryall of a New Plough."
" And, secondly, having his plough and all its accutrements
compleated, then to the tryall of it, and therein be sure to
make the first tryall of your plough upon land, workable and
regular lands, not upon lands above measure hard, rooty,
rushcy, twiteliey, or any way iufeasible, because upon sucii
lands a true demonstration of the goodness and truth of the
plough cannot be discovered, nor any rule can be observed.
Because such lands will more easily and suddenly wrench,
writh, or put a new plough out of its work before it be
wrought into its work ; a rough, new plough being somewhat
like an unbroken horse, whicli may easily be spoyled in the
hand of a violent madcap rider, but if the horse be kindly
used, and taken off his untamedncss by degrees, by ease, kind-
ness, and patience, he is made a horse for ever ; so after that,
in ordinary land, your patient, discreet ploughman have well
scoured your plough, brought it to a true furrow both for
bredtli and depth, and set your irons so it will go itself with
the very bearing of the hand to keep it steady, tlien )'ou may
afterward be bold to put it to any service on any lands what-
soever the strength of it wiU abide, and it may be serviceable
for many years." And to the ploughman he says : " I shall
dismiss my ploughman with this exhortmeut — be as willing to
learn as thou hast need ; and abandon those poor, silly shifts
men make to preserve themselves ignorant and unserviceable,
as they have been ploughmen all their days, and are not now
to learn ; and men may as well be too precise, and better
ploughs cannot be made than their country affords, and could
better have been devised they would long since ; with hundreds
more so childish as are not worth an answer ; but these ex-
ceedingly stifle and choak invention." I am afraid I have
wearied you with so lengthy a paper ; but I must not sit down
without thanking you for having invited me to bring this sub-
ject before your Club, which I have had great pleasure in
doing. Our firm has long been known in the manufacture
and improvement of the plough (now nearly ninety years), and
I, personally, have had much to do with the working and im-
provement of the plough for the last ten or twelve years, so that,
beyond a matter of business, anything relating to the plough is
a matter of interest to me.

Mr. GooDWYN said the difficulty he saw with regard to the
introduction of the double-furrow plough was the question
whether it could be used on heavy land as it could be on light
or mixed soil. There was no doubt it would be a great boon
to the light and mixed soil farmers ; but he had considerable
doubt whether in this heavy-land district they would be able
to use it more than at certain seasons of the year. On the
average of years he questioned whether in their district two
breasts following eaeli other so closely could do the work satis-
factorily. If the double plough could be used only for a part
of the year, it was questionable whether the saving of horse
labour could be effected. The implement would be very
valuable after harvest for stubble breaking, and probably it
would be available for seed ploughing ; but how would it be
for ploughing beet land when soaked with water ? He should
be very glad if it would answer all the year round, and all
would be glad to embrace such a system ; but there must be
great hesitation before they reduced the number of their horses
or men, unless they were certain that they could use it aU
through the year. If he was on a light-land farm he should
not hesitate to go in for double plouglis, and discard the
single plough ; but in this heavy-land district there were times
when it was difficult to get the single plough through.

Mr. CiiAKLEs Capon said there was no difficulty in using
the double ploughs from the breasts following too closely,
there being plenty of width between them. The friction
wheel was a great improvement on the slade, there being
nothing for tlie earth to ball on. He had bought a double
plough and had tried it, and did not doubt it was to be made
to do all the year round. He confessed that he did not give
his a fair trial, for he put it on a piece of beet land on a drizzly
day, and the beet tops being very bad, they got round the
wheels. The plough, however, did its work as well if not
better than the single ploughs, and his man liked it.

Mr. GooDWYN said the double plough necessitated wider
stetches, and this would require better drainage.

22,

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Mr. C\PO^' siiid, whether the, slefclies were wide or narrow,
the hind wauted to be thoroughly drained.

Mr. GooDWYN said no doubt, but wide stetches required it
more thau narrow.

Mr. lloBEUT Garrard said he had had a double plough of
a Scotch make since Michaelmas, and it had worked uncom-
monly well. Three horses made two furrows with it more
easily than two horses made one furrow.

Mr. Capon bore testimony to the ease with wliich Han-
somes' double plough turned. It turned as easily as if in a
cart.

Mr. WOLTON said fifteen years ago he saw a double plough
very much like the primitive one which Mr. Eansome had
shown them in the old book at work at Shotley. It was
drawn by two cart-horses and a riding-horse, and was worked
successfully for years.

Mr. Capon, ia answer to Mr. JealTreson, said he thought
he should set up another double-furrow plough.

Mr. Ransojie, in answer to the President, said thit cost of
ploughing by the double-plough system would be about 6s. 3d.
per acre.

Mr. Capon said the single-plough system cost about 9s. an
acre.

Mr. Ransojie said th'it f-jllows might bo very well I'iuu^hed
by the double- furrow ploujjh if a deeper breast "wen; used ; it
would be a good plan to keep breasts on purpose for such
work. The breasts would not occupy much time in changing.
The double-furrow ploughs could be used on any farm where
three, or even where tv^o horses were kept — iu fact, where
there was a plough used at all.

The President said they would find that Mr. Ransomc
had given them something that they could sympatliize with
when he told them that the introduction of machinery rested
much on the scarcity of manual labour. Did they not see
some signs that they were about to experience a scarcity of
labour such as might lead them to try a new inveution ? He
relied more upon the testimony of practical men in the infor-
mation given to Mr. Ransorae than upon the dynaraometrical
trials, because tliat information had been gained under different
sets of conditions. He quoted Lord AVestern's saying that he
would plough with racehorses if he could, to sliow that the
speed gained by the double system was valuable. He would
suggest a modificatiou of the tires of the wheels to prevent
clogging in bad weather.

Mr. Jeaeereson proposed and Mr. Garrard seconded a
vote of thanks to Mr. Rausome.

FREE TRADE IN BEER,

At the meeting of tlie Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture, the
Reverend John Gunn read the following paper. On the
Advantages of Free Trade in Beer, subject to Police Regulations
and Inspection :

I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to submit to the
consideration of the members of the Norfolk Clianiber of
Agriculture the best practicable means of supplying the la-
bourer with good and cheap beer. You will agree with me
that the Malt-tax. is a most cruel and disgraceful impost,
which deprives the labourer, wlio toils to raise the barley, of
the beer which is requisite to recruit his strength. Hence,
with the imposition of the Malt-tax, commenced a system of
demoralization by which that which ought to be a portion of
the labourer's daily meals is red;:ced to become an article of
occasional merriment, and the abuse of malt liquor was sub-
stituted for the use of it. Under parching thirst, moreover,
the labourer is tempted to buy beer at a higher price than in
justice to his wife and family he can honestly afford to give.
This exorbitant price is mainly, but not entirely, caused by the
Malt-tax. Hence we see its demoralising tendency, inasmuch
as it tempts him to break the first laws and the dearest ties of
nature ; which is worse than the vice of drunkenness. I do
not mention the injury done by the discontinuance of the
practice of cottage brewing, great as it undoubtedly was, be-
cause it may be questioned whether, if the duty on malt were
entirely repealed, the labourer would again return to it. And
fortius reason — we all remember the slopping there was in
making ginger-beer at home, but now that we can buy ginger-
beer cheaper and better than our wives can make it, we have
given it up. Just so I believe it would be with home brewing.
It would be to a great extent superseded by the excellent beer
which thepublic brewer would furnish us witli under a system of
freetradeandcompetition. Greatastheevilsare which arecaused
by the duty on malt, they are greatly aggravated by restrictions
upon the sale of beer, which create a monopoly, and tend to
open tlie door to the sale of an inferior and perhaps an adul-
terated article. The injurious effects produced by the use of
intoxicating drugs are too well known to be described. The
beverage — 1 will not call it beer — is calculated rather to sti-
mulate than allay thirst, and, by inducing the thirsty soul to
drink to excess, causes not only violent and immediate out-
breaks, but leads to lasting habits of intemperance. I am
happy to say that such injurious effects are much less fre-
quent than they used to be since an extension of liceuces has
taken place, notwithstandiug that the sale of beer is greatly
increased. But still there are some well-meaning but ill-judging
persons who are endeavouring to meet the evil by shutting up
as many public-houses as possible, and resisting the opening
of others. The consequence of this is that the monopoly is
increased, the value and rent of the favoured places are

raised, and the publican is tempted to have recourse to unfair
practices in order to recoup himself. Such would have been
the working and the result of the proposed Government Bill,
by vi'hich the number of houses for the sale of beer would
have been reduced, and some would have been put up to
public competition. Large sums would no doubt have been
given for them, aud the consumers of beer would have been
ultimately mulcted for tlie payment. Probably such
an infringement of the lavvs of Free Trade and inter-
ference witli the supply and demand are unexampled.
Tlie injustice of the restrictive system was brought to
my apprehension very vividly some years ago iu a case
in which I was personally interested. On the retire-
nieut of a near relative from the business of a brewer
several public-houses were put up to sale, and they fetched
from i'800 fo £1,300 each, while their intrinsic value as
dwelling-houses would not have exceeded £100 on an average.
Who, let me ask, paid for this excessive price, which was due
to monopoly ? It was, no doubt, the consumers of beer, and
principally labourers. The independent brewer, who relies
solely upon the merit of his beer for its sale, would be shut out
and iujured by such a monopoly. 1 have often inquired at
public-houses where inferior beer is sold whether they are
free or tied, and the invariable reply is, " I wish it were free."
" Why so ?" I asked again ; and the rejoinder is, " Why,
then I could go for my beer when I liked." I humbly sub-
mit that beer ought to be sold as bread or any other com-
modity, without any impost or restriction, except a nominal
payment for a licence for the purpose of giving notice to the
police and the excise. Competition woukl insure a genuine
and wholesome beverage ; and if the duty on malt were
reduced, for instance, one-third, the benefit would reach the
consumer, and would not be retained in the jiockets of the
brewer. A cheap article would tlien be produced at an easy
distance from the labourers' homes, so as not to become fiat
and stale by its being carried from the distance of the present
range of public-houses. It would thus become an item of tlie
daily sustenance of the labourer, and the use would be substi-
tuted for the abuse of iiialt liquor. It may safely be assumed
now that not one out of twenty labourers drinks as much beer
as he ought to do for his bodily support and refreshment, and
therefore there is a wide margin left for the increase of con-
sumption, which would far more than compensate the revenue
for the proposed reduction of the present duty on malt. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer ought not to grudge the trifling
sacrifice of the licence duty, for to insist upon that, as well as
the malt-tax, resembles the Irishman's mode of lengthening
his blanket by cutting off a piece at one end to add to the
other. With respect to the moral effects produced respec-
tively by the free and by the restrictive systems, they appear to

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

227

me to be decideclly in favour of the free. lu the parish of
wliioh I was forty years incumbeut, some well-nioaniiig per-
sons succeeded for a time in closing all places for tlic sale of
beer, and I can truly afllrm that the measure was morally
injurious. Some of the people clubbed together to ]iurchase gin,
and met on the Sunday at each otlier's houses to drink and play
cards. Again, when the labourer has to walk about two miles
to a public-house, situate in another parish, he does not think
it worth while to walk so far for a single pint, lie indulges
in more, and re'nrns reeling home. He is under less
restraint in a more distant place, being less known, and,
if young, not uu frequently amuses himself by pulling
gates off their hinges, and sundry such freaks, which lie would
not venture upon if the public-house were nearci his own
home. I may safely atiirm that there are more confirmed sots
generally in places where there are no beershops than where
there arc, owing to the facts that they drink more at a sitting
and are less under restraint. Such is the case in country
parishes, but how would it be in towns where public-houses
are about 100 yards about ? Suppose half of them to be
closed, and the consumers to have to walk 200 instead of 100
yards. Wliat real difl'ereuce would it make to them so far as
regards the distance ? None whatever ; but competition
would be less, inferior beer v/ould probably be sold, and a
larger number of drinkers would be congregated in consequence
of the diminution of the number of places of retail. Viewing
the subject in every point, it is my conviction that the advan-
tages, lioth physical and moral, are in favour of an unrestricted
trade in beer — i. e., the leaving the number of houses to be
regulated by the ordinary relations of supply and demand ;
provided always tliat the sale be subjected to the strict surveil-
lance of the police, and to inspection in order to prevent the
use of deleterious drugs. I rely, however, upon free competi-
tion mainly to insure a good, wholesome, and chsap article,
and to increase the consumption to such an extent as to com-
pensate for loss that would otherwise be sustained by the re-
venue from the reduction of the malt-tax. That sucli an in-
crease would arise may be assumed from the fact that, under
present arrangements not a tenth, I might say twentieth
part of beer is consumed in agricultural districts that
ought to be at tbe labourers' daily meals. In conse-
quence of the duty on malt; and its liigh price, tlie
master no longer or very rarely gives home-brewed
or any description of beer to his m.en. The labourer
liimself cannot afl'ord to buy malt and brew, except at
haysel or harvest time, when his pay is liigher and
his work more severe tlian usu;tl. There is therefore a vast
field open for au increased consumption of beer in agricultural
districts, and to some extent also in manufacturing. Tiiere is,
moreover, room for a very considerable reduction of the re-
ceipts or profits of the retailer per barrel, which would be
lowered by competition at the same time that a larger draught
would compensate him. Competition also would prevent the
brewer from appropriating the amount of the reduction of the
Malt-tax. Without au open and unrestricted trade, both in
brewing and retailing, such a reduction would be ineffectual ;
and it may be questioned whether the total repeal of the Malt-
tax would greatly diminish the price of beer, if the sale were
much restricted. Private brewing would, however, to a cer-
tain extent operate as a check upon overcharge by the whole-
sale brewer, and if he failed to supply good and cheap beer,
the advantage of brewing for himself would be open to the
agricuhural labourer ; but it is in vain to propose or to rely
upon the repeal of the Malt-tax, for if the labourer was to
wait for his cheap beer till tiie duty on malt is repealed, it is
very doubtful whether the man is now living who will enjoy
it. If the consumption of beer were to be as general and ex-
tensive as 1 suppose, it may be asked. Whence can the re-
quisite supply of barley be derived ? If inferior barleys could
be malted with advantage, the quantity of barley might be
doubled in England. I reply that inferior barley (which I am
informed would double the quantity) would be malted and be-
come productive of duty, and then there would be different
prices of malt according to its quality; and if that be insuffi-
cient, a supply of malt must be obtained from foreign coun-
tries subject to duty. The result of Free Trade in beer con-
currently with a partial reduction of the Malt-tax, would be
tliat the revenue would sustain no loss ; the brewers, who rely
upon the quality of their beer and not upon the possession of
pnblic-houses, would liave the advantage of fair play and no

favour ; the hibourer would be supplied witli good beer at such
a price as would be within his means to liny, as an item of his
daily food and without injury to his family ; a profitable em-
ployment would be open to many as retailers in every parish ;
and the beer would no longer become flat by its being carried
a considerable distance as at present. Temperence on prin-
ciple would take the place of compulsory abstinence, which
must not be mistaken for sobriety ; and, thus, what I am de-
sirous to promote would be accomplished — the use of malt
liquor would be substituted for the abuse.

Mr. Sewell Read, the chairman, reiterated what had
been stated about the farmers not being at one on this
question. If they were uniformly to demand it throughout
England, they would soon get rid of the tax. But even in
Norfolk there were dilferences of opinion amongst farmers.
Three gentlemen in Norwich Corn Hall on the previous
Saturday, and two at Lynn on Tuesday, said to him exactly
the same thing — namely, " We have got a pound for our
barley. Let the Malt-tax alone." Now, he protested against
this style of argument, because it was based on ignorance.
Let those gentlemen be asked, how tliey should like a similar
tax upon flour, and how that would affect the price of wheat.
It would depress the value of all wheat, and in all probability
make ordinary wlieats unsaleable. A great many farmers had
this year, to his knovf ledge, grown decent malting barley ; and
where it was sold as malting barley, the malt duty paid upon
it exceeded considerably the rent paid to the landlord. Last
year, 195,000 acres were grown with barley in Norfolk ; and
he believed there was not a single coomb of barley grown in
tlie county but what would have made very good beer. Sup-
posing that was all used for malting purposes, they would pay
in Norfolk alone upwards of £900,000 to the Malt-tax. Thus
it was seen that the tax pressed so unfairly upon one portion
of the country. Why should their particular and best produce
be taxed in tliis manner, while almost all other agricultural
produce was free ? Mr. Gunn, in one portion of his excellent
paper, had suggested where the barley should come from. That
would undoubtedly be wanted in case the Malt-tax were
abolished. In Great Britain was grown 3,500,000 acres of
wheat, and only 2,300,000 acres of barley. lie was positive
that they might, if there were a uniform good price for barley,
grow just as many acres of the latter as of the former. What
Mr. England had said about the steam plough and clayey
lands was decidedly true. The occupier of strong lands would
now be able to grow a larger portion of barley witli the aid of
artificial fertilizers on 1 heir wheat stubbles. There had been
perhaps too many public-houses even in Norwich as well as in
Liverpool. He did not exactly know what restrictions were
put upon their number ; but there was quite a ditferent thing
in selling beer like bread and butter over the counter to
selling it at a public-house. There need not be any re-
strictions placed upon that sale except good police regulations,
and they, as a Chamber of Agriculture, ought to go more for
the free sale of beer over the counter for the labourer, thau say
many words about the public-houses.

PARTY POLITICS AT AGRICULTURAL MEETINGS.
— At the annual meeting for the revision of the rules and
prize lists of tlie Bedfordshire Agricultural Society, at Bed-
i'ord, the president, Mr. James Howard, M.P., in the chair,
the subject of politics being discussed at the annual dinner of
the society was warmly debated, and the meeting unanimously
resolved that in future party politics should be rigorously ex-
cluded. It was urged that if the county members wished to
address their constituents, they should follow the example of
borough members, and hold a special meeting for that pur-
pose The chairman and others held that, although the
practice had become common throughout England for county
members to avail themselves of the meetings of the agricul-
tural societies for addressing their constituents, it was never-
theless a prostitution of such meetings, and altogether foreign
to the objects for which they were founded — viz., the promo-
tion of agricultur'il improvements. The Earl Cowper, K.G.,
has accepted the presidency of the society for tlie present
year. — [This appears to be a very sound conclusion ; but of
course a strong line must be drawn between the politics of
Party and the politics of Agriculture. — Ernxon FJl.]

228

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

INDIVIDUAL PROVIDENCE FOR OLD AGE.

At a weekly meeting of the Society of Arts, a paper on
" Individual Providence for Old Age as a National Question"
was read by Mr. George C. T. Bartley, Treasurer of the Society.
The Earl of Derby in the chair. Tlie theatre was crowded.

Mr. Bartley read his paper, the heads of which are as
follows : 1. On the means which now are in active operation,
and are understood more or less by the industrial classes, for
encouraging habits of providence, and how they are made use
of; 2. How they fail to provide for old age , 3. On the means
which do exist for enabling a man to put by, in small weekly
suras, for old age ; and 4. Ou the means which it seems de-
sirable should be taken to encourage providence for old age,
and to make known among all classes the facilities which
exist for tiiis purpose. To secure the ends he was aiming at,
he thought that these arrangements would be desirable : 1.
That an association of large firms, employers of labour, and
the leading members of the industrial classes, be formed, to ex-
tend information amongst all persons as to the facilities afforded
by the Post-office, and other means which exist for encourag-
ing individual providence, and the benefits to be derived there-
from. 3. That firms and houses of business be urged and
assisted by this association in forming on their premises offices
for the receipt of proposals for annuities, &c., and the receipt
of premiums. That persons be encouraged to allow the pre-
miums to be deducted regularly from their wages, and that
arrangements be made for systematically carrying this out.
3. That the association adopt the idea, and try to promulgate
it, of regarding a man's policy of insurance, annuity docu-
ments, or any proof of providence, as part of his character in
seeking employment, and endeavouring gradually to spread the
system of considering some such provision as a regular condi-
tion of employment in new appointments.

Dr. Stall.vrd recommended house to house visitation by
the middle to the working classes.

Mr. Dudley Baxter said that the scheme brought before
them was a system of making provision for old age by a very
elaborate machinery. Was that elaborate machinery — the
system of week-to-week continuity through life — the best
system for the working classes ? lie for one did not think it
was. The system advocated was one of life assurance or
annuities, eitlier through benefit societies, savings' banks, or
that involuntary voluntary organization of which they had
lieard so much. But all that reiiuired continuous effort from
tlie age of say 20 to 55 or GO ; and the working man was not
likely to be able to make such an effort. He did not, indeed,
wonder that only 339 persons out of 30 millions had availed
themselves" of it. Another reason wliy a system good in
theory was not available iu practice for the working classes
was that investments in Government securities produced a very
low rate of interest. There should be immediate return to
attract the poorer classes. The practical solution of the difli-
culty appeared to him to be not so much the encouragement of
an elaborate system of anuuiti(!s as of a habit of laying up
small savings with a view to their being invested iu good secu-
rities— houses or lands. lie regarded building societies as a
great advantage to the working classes, because by their
nuians they obtained good security for their money, either by
living iu the houses, letting them, or dealing in plots of laud.
The suggestion, he thought, deserved consideration, and he
hoped that by every possible means the working classes would
be advised and urged to make small weekly savings and profit-
ably to invest them, as being way of making provision for old age.

Mr. E. W. HoLLOND advocated the extension of the hours
during which Post-office Savings' Banks were open for the re-
ceipt of deposits, the present hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. being
most inconvenient for the working classes.

Mr. George Howell said that the working classes were
accused of not making provision for old age through ignorance
and iudiiference. He maintained that inability to do so was
the true cause. How, he asked, could the labourer in towns,
or the agricultural labourer lay by any amount of money for
old age ? If they liud anything to spare they put it aside for a
time of sickness or enforced idleness, The skilled workman

liad reasonably good wages, but not sufficient to make the con
tinuous effort advocated. During 13 years he had had himself
wages ranging from 36s. to 40s. a-week, but when he made
allowance for loss of time, want of work, and sickness, the
average was only £1 Os. 9d. What was required was some
organization whereby savings could be readily invested at in-
terest and be avaiable for a time of sickness and want of
work. He lioped the day would come when it would enter
the mind of some practical statesman to apply the building
society system to the Post-office Savings' Banks. What the
working classes required was the ability to save, and not the will.

Sir Charles Trevelyan feared that the habit of provi-
dence liad disappeared from amongst us, if indeed it ever ex-
isted in this country. He had within the last few weeks gone
through with committees of poor-law guardians and officers,
clergy, district visitors, and sisters of charity, entire lists of
the poor of one parish and tlie greater part of another, and he
found it was hardly possible to trace any appearance wliatever
of savings. If it did exist at all it was almost confined to
former domestic servants. The increase of wages went rather
for harm than good, the sums spent in drink amounting to the
revenues of many kingdoms. Iu truth, for many years we had
been living contrary to tlie first law of God, which was that
we should earn our bread by the sweat of our brow, and from
this law the poor-lavv system exempted the people (No, no).
The admiuistralion of many charities was such as to pauperise
the poorer classes, and the entire system needed reform. In-
stead of giving legal private charity, with both hands open,
there should be previous and full investigation to ascertain
whether the person applying had done the best for himself or
herself (" Question"). The existence of great national im-
providence was not caused by any want of ability on tlie part
of the working classes to make provision for old age, and this
fact, he thought, would be ascertained by all who thoroughly
investigated the subject.

Mr. Johnson feared that to inculate tlie principle of self-
providence would eventually lead to selfishness.

Sir James Shuttleworth said his experience lay on the
two sides of the question. Nearly forty years ago he wasengaged
in introducing the poor-law system into districts where wages
were at the lowest rate, and he lived in Lancashire, where wages
were at the highest. He could not say that many labourers in the
North were not distinguished by their providence. Within
twelve miles of his house £750,000 had been invested by the
working classes in co-operative mills, besides a vast sum in
co-operative stores. But there was a vast proportion of the
labourers of the county who could not make provision for old
age. Much might be done by lessening improvidence, much by
the saving of £70,000,000 at leastout of the £100,000,000 spent
annually in drink, much by a reform of charity administra-
tion. But it was not to any of these, but to all, they should
look, and not to a simple economic problem, to remove the
great evil which admittedly existed.

Lord Derby said : Probably you will expect that, as
chairman, I should say a word or two. I confess I do so
with some difficulty. The subjects which have been touched
on are so vast that, with thought and preparation, one could
talk about them for five hours ; but without, it is really very
difficult to talk about them for five minutes. I tiiink there
is no resisting the conclusion to which different speakers
have come — that in this matter of economy and prudence we
stand rather low iu the scale among European nations. The
Erencli are undoubtedly before us. Tliere are no persons
in the world who are more thrifty than the peasant
farmers and small proprietors and the small traders
in the towns of Prance, who together nvike up so large
a projiortion of the Preuch population. The Swiss, too,
are before us ; so also are the Dutch ; so undoubtedly are
the Northern Italians ; and, but for the very sincere re-
spect which I entertain for whatever falls from Mr. Dudley
Baxter, I should be inclined to think that the North Ger-
mans are in the same case. If any one asked me what is the
cause, or rather what are the causes, of this state of things, I

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

229

should be very much perplexed to give him a solutiou of
them. Perhaps there is something iii the fact that from our
colonising and commercial habits, from our wide-spread com-
mercial relations with all parts of the world, we have been in
the habit as a nation of making money faster than our
ueiglibours, and that there is always a tendency to spend
rapidly that which has been easily obtained. Well, again you
have a not inconsiderable class amougst us — artisans wlio
combine a very high development of skill in their special
industry with very low general culture. That is the class of
man who spends all he gets. He doas not save, not from auy
particular objection to saving, but because the idea of doing
so has never got iuto his head. He has, perhaps, maintained
his patents in their old age, and he thinks it is very natural
that in his old age his children should maintain him. Perhaps
there is this further explanation. I thiuk it will be found
that there is in all classes of society (althougli among a very
small majority) a lingering feeling that there is something
mean aud sellish in the habit of saving. I have heard that
language used by educated meu, aud it has this infiuitesimal
truth, that people who set about making provision for their
own future are very apt to overlook the claims of their
neighbours. There is another cause. You will have ob-
served the infinite amount of injury locally done by the
failure of saviugs banks and associations of all kinds in
which the savings of the poor man were invested. It is in-
tolerable for the poor man who has for twenty years perhaps
piqued himself upon his savings, while his neighbour, who did
not save, was enjoying himself, to see that he has not ouly lost
the pleasure which he might have had, but his money also. I
am aware that this is less likely to occur uuder the present
system in respect to savings banks ; but this I say, that a single
failure of that kind is a lesson of improvidence taught to a
whole neighbourhood. Well, as to the scheme of to-night,
which I take to be that employers should require those whom
they employ to make provisions for their old age, I think it is
open to tiiis criticism — namely, that such employers must have
the command of the market to a greater extent than is actually
the case. You cannot make a provision of the kind unless you
have command of tlie market, and therefore you canuot dic-
tate to the employed what terms you please. It is not prac-
ticable, except in rare instances, unless you are prepared to pay
to those who adopt your scheme a higher rate of wages than
generally rules in the neighbourhood, and in that case, al-
though you talk of it as if the men were laying by for them-
selves, it is not so, for it is you who are laying by for them.
Aud tiiirdly, it is not practicable, unless you find that the men
you employ are willing to come into a scheme of the kind ; and
that, I apprehend, as men's feelings are uow, they would not be
very likely to do, because they dislike, as we all know, inter-
ference of any kind with their private atfairs — and inter-
ference of tliis kind is probably not such as would recommend
itself to their feelings. No doubt, too, those great associated
unions wliicii have exercised one way or another so much
power would be extremely jealous of any interposition of
that kind on a great scale on the part of the employers.
But while I dilTer as to the remedy, I quite concur
as to the extreme importance of the subject. The creation of
provident habits is a matter of national as well as of private
interest. Saving men are safe men — while men who make a
row and head mobs, aud make themselves generally unpleasant
to their neighbours, are generally those who have not got a
shilling laid by for a rainy day. No doubt economy, like
everything else, may be carried to an extreme, but it is not au
extreme wiiich we are in auy danger of running into in this
country. The ditticulty is the other way. Dr. Stallard says
very rightly that we want somebody to set the example. That
is true. But, unfortunately, when you get a man to set an
exLimple in a neighbourhood you generally find that he is the
most unpopular man going. Now, this question of individual
prudence aud provision for old age opens the infinitely wider
question of the operation of the poor-law, and of all laws in
the nature of the poor-law, and their elfect upon the forma-
tion of individual character ; and as to that, perhaps I should
&ay that there is no subject on which we require more to be
taught to reason quietly and calmly, or ou which we are liable
to fall into one of two extremes. Sometimes we take the com-
passionate fit, aud then we are in the habit of talking the
wildest socialism, although we do not mean it. Sometimes we
take the economical fit, and we talk that which, if acted on —

happily it cauaot Ije-^would be apt to bring about a revolutioa

in less than 50 years. Tiie question of enforcing providence
is a very difficult one, and the difficulty increases when those
who are alive to the importance of the subject are well off,
while those who have to receive advice upon it are those who
themselves create the existing difficulty. It is very well to say
that men are to be made more than they are responsible for the
way in which they have chosen to live. Well, if you could deal
with the man himself, that would be right euough. Nobody, I
suppose,would feel very much for a man who has been utterly im-
provident and reckless, and who has brouglit a certain amount of
discomfort upon himself in his latter days. The difficulty is
that the man who is in fault is one person ; those who suffer
are others. It is not the man himself. He is dead or dis-
abled. It is his wife and children upon whom the penalty
falls, and it is very hard to say in that case that because he
was in fault you will not help them. At tlie same time, if you
look at the other side of the question, it is quite evident that
if every man had a perfect assurance that, although he made
no provision for his family, tiiey would be none the less made
comfortable by society in general, there would be almost an
end to individual saving. It is not, therefore, au easy pro-
blem to solve. You must rely, I think, more on hope than
on fear. You cannot tell a man that if he does not lay by,
his children will starve, but you may tell him that if he does
they will be in a much better position thau if he does not.
Something was said to-night about the impossibility of ex-
pectiug the working classes in the agricultural districts to lay
by, and I am afraid I must agree with that. But they are
not the whole. They are not perhaps more than the bare
majority of the class paid by weekly wages, and anyone who
knows the position of the artisans in our manufacturing and
other great towns cannot doubt that they have abundant
opportunities of laying by. The manufacturers have been
coining money during the last two or tiiree years, and wages
have been higher than at any former period, but I am afraid
that the amount of money remaining in the hands of the
workers is not very large. My conclusion is a very simple and
humble one. I do not think auy scheme, however well de-
vised, would be more than a palliative of the evil which we
all admit. The whole question is one of national character.
We have been improvident, and I fear we always will. You
cannot change national character in a day — you may in a gene-
ration or two ; and all you can do is to keep public attention
fixed upon those matteis, and to give every encouragement
which the state of society reasonably and fairly can give to the
working classes to lay by and make provision for a time of need.

THE WANDSWORTH INFIRMARY POR ANIMALS.
— A new building has just been opened near the Nine Elms
Station in the Wandsworth-road, out of the proceeds of a be-
quest by the late Mr. T. Brown, of Rosey-liill-park, Dublin,
wlio by his will bequeathed to the University of London a
certain amount of stock in the Three per Cent. Consolidated
Bank Annuities, together with the residue of his personal pro-
perty, for the purpose of " founding, establishing, aud uphold-
ing an institution for investigating, studying, and without
charge, beyond immediate expenses, endeavouring to cure ma-
ladies, distempers, and injuries auy quadrupeds useful to man
may be found subject to." The institution was to be esta-
blished within a mile of either Westminster, Southwark, or
Dublin : to be presided over by a professor or superintendent,
who should give at least five lectures annually free to the pub-
lic. The buildings which have just been completed aud opened,
and which are called the Brown Animal Institute, cover an
area of an acre and a-half of ground, and consist of three
blocks. The first is for the accommodation of animals under
treatment and observation, and consists of a five-stall stable,
five other separate rooms, a dead-house, and post-mortem
room, and a stove for cooking the animals' food, and there is
also a dog-kennel in a semi-detached building. The second
block contains the chemical laboratory, the private room of the
professor superintendeut, aud an apparatus room, in which is a
furnace aud other arrangements for making scientific observa-
tions. The third block contains the rooms of the resident offi-
cers. Dr. Sanderson has been appointed the professor superin-
tendeut, and will deliver the lectures. The arrangements pro-
vide for the public sending sick animals to the institution for
treatment by merely paying incidental expenses, whilst the la-
bours in the laboratory will include the studies of the cattle-
plague, small-pox, pleuro-pneumonia, foot-and-mouth disease,
auil other aiimeuts to wlucli auimls are liable.

230

TfJR FARAlBR'S MAGAZINE.

FAEMIISrG IN IRELAND. — A DAIRY FARM

BY THE NORTHEllN TARMEK.

Haviufj; iii these columns already described tlie work-
ing of a farm on which a fixed rotation is successfully
carried out, coru and green crops largely grown, and
cattle finished in the best manner on the latter, for the
English and home markets, I now projtose ilhistratiug
the subject still further, by describing the working of a
farm iu the same couuty on which coru-growing is re-
duced to a minimum, being confined to the field which
must of necessity be broken up for green crops, and that
on wliich they have been grown during the previous sea-
son, the dairy, rearing young stock, aud a tlock of well-
bred ewes, constituting the branches of industry princi-
pally depended on as sources of profit. It will be ob-
served that such a mode of farming does not comprehend
the extreme view taken by a large section of agricultu-
rists, ignoring labour, and altogether excluding the growth
of root-crops, but it appears to me that it strikes a happy
medium, lowering the weekly expenses for labour, and
in a corresponding degree all the other outgoings of the
farm, without seriously interfering with its receipts. A
system that admits the necessity of winter food, and
makes preparation for it in due season, growing
the crops which a bountiftd Providence has
placed within reach of the tiller of the soil, is based on
sound principles, and can scarcely fail of proving finan-
cially successful. The constant aud continually increas-
ing demand for fairly-bred, well-couditioned young stock
that now exists in these kingdoms places the farmer who
breeds and rears extensively in a very safe position. Once
fully stocked his purchases need consist but of a sire or
sires according to the extent of his herd, these sires, if
judiciously purchased, losing nothing when sold to the

continue to occupy the pastures, never omitting it even
once. At no season of the year is hay largely used in
feeding cattle of anv kind, it being (quite contrary to the
opinion of a numerous class of Irish agriculturists) con-
sidered considerably more expensive than roots, in conse-
quence of its extensive and repeated growth scourging
the land, injuring the roots of the grasses, and seriously
afi'ecting tlie succeeding year's pasturage. Turnips, on
the contrary, improve the soil on which they are grown,
the high manuring which a heavy stock gives an oppor-
tunity^of applying, and the cleaning and grubbing given
in the workinsj "of the crop, completely renovating the
soil, and preparing it for forcing as good grass for a few
subsequent years as the uature ol the soil will permit
This farm contains about 400 acres statute measure, and
iu the first week of November, 1871, the live stock
consisted of 56 in-calf cows and heifers, 26 two-year-olds
32 yearlings, 200 breeding ewes, 17 horses of all ages, and
a number of pigs. It may well be conceived that such
a number of mouths required a considerable bulk of
food for even ouc day's consumption, and a good deal
of care aud anxious consideration required to be ex-
ercised to prevent the supply of one variety of food
falling short before the season was suHieiently forward to
furnish abundance of that meant to succeed it. The
whole of the milking stock «ere originally Ayrshires,
imported direct from the district from which they derive
their well-known designation ; but the deniaud for young
stock of bigger bone and greater substance than
this breed caV attain to, seems likely to throw them
out of fashion, uot only on this farm, but in whole
districts to the west of the county, where at

butcher, and giving' their "services^ often invaluable, for one time it was supposed they had merit enough to sup-
nothing more than the food they consume while on the plant every other breed. Bulls of pure bhorthorn de-
farm. Much annoyance, loss, and uneasiness of mind is
thus avoided, and attendance at fairs is confined to one |
object, viz., the disposal of surplus stock. To keep cat-
tle in such condition as that they may be got rid of at
paying prices at any season, a considerable breadth of
root crops must be grown, the supply of food thus gained
enabling their owner to preserve his stock iu an improv-
ing condition from the earliest period of their existence,
aud to obtain the highest value going for animals of their
class on the day they leave the farm.

In elucidation of these principles I proceed to describe the
working of a dairy and stock rearing farm in the county
of Cork, with the management of which I had recently
an opportunity of becoming acquainted, every particular
having been showu or described. This farm has none of
the natural advantages possessed in such a large degree
by the one I have already described, being rather light,
and for the most part resting on a hungry gravel, which
quickly eats up whatever manure is placed upon it, re-
quiring very frequent applications of farmyard dung to

keep it in anything like heart. A dry summer tells very

soon, burning up the herbage, depriving it of succulence,

and very speedily placing the siock on such a short

allowance of food as to necessitate assistance from some

other source than the supply obtainable from the pastures.

Such land may at first sight appear but ill adapted for

the profitable working of a dairy stock. And so, indeed,

it would inevitably be were arrangements not made to

provide a supply of food sufficient to furnish a morning

and evening feed during the whole of the time the cows

scent having iuvariablv been used here, the young stock
from half-bred cattle now begin to assume the aspect and
substance of tiie Shorthorn, and to show more of the dis-
tinctive qualities of the latter than of the Ayrshire. The
difference in value of a pure Ayrshire heifer and a half or
three-quarter bred Shorthorn on exactly the same keep
from the day of their birth to the day of disposal, and
sold iu merely store condition, is estimated to be not less
than £3 for each year. Thus, a yearling Ayrshire bring-
ing £5, the Shorthorn cross from the same pastures will
easily bring £8, and be in considerably greater demand,
the former as a two-year-old bringing £10, the latter
will without difficulty realise £16. On a farm rearing
forty calves each season, such a marked diff'erence be-
com'es a matter worthy of the most serious consideration ;
and, however favourably the Ayrshire may be regarded
on account of her hardiness, economical consumption of
food, and acknowledged superiority as a milker on indif-
ferent pastures, she" yet must give place on all farms
where proper shelter is provided, and where liberality of
feeding is the rule and uot the exception, to her powerful
rival the Shorthorn. The calving of the cows is so ar-
ranged as to constitute what is usually styled a summer
dairy, this in a country district beincr fonnd the most pro-
fitable and convenient arrangement. Extensive butter-
making during the winter months entails a vast amount
of extm trouble, and, good quality being so hard to ob-
tain when the stock are principally maintained on roots,
much nnnoyance is avoided by the majority cal?ing in
spring. For the sake of the calves it becomes desirable

TUE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

231

to have the period of parturition as early in the season as
possible, it being found from experience that those
dropped in February and March maintain a precedence in
size and value over those calved in April and May, not
explainable on the mere ground of a few weeks' ditrcrencc
of age. The whole of the milk is set for cream, from
thirty-six to forty hours being the maximum time it is
permitted to stand before skimming during the heat of
summer, it being scarcely possible to ensure first qualities
if allowed a few hours longer. The advantages of skim-
ming early are here considered to be many. First of all,
during very warm weather, the cream rises quickly, and
the whole of the produce as nearly as possible is got in
the time specified, while tlie milk, still retaining its sweet-
ness, is much more valuable for calves than when withheld
until decomposition has commenced. The butter, salted
and packed in firkins, is forwarded to the Cork Butter
Exchange, to be there classed and branded for exportation.
Singularly enough, the farmer or producer, whatever his
rank as an agriculturist, by the rules of this great expo-
rinm for the collection and difl'usion of dairy produce to
every part of the world, cannot sell direct to the export
merchant, but must consign it to a broker, who pays the
farmer for it at the published price of the day, charging
Is. a cwt. commission on the transaction on his own ac-
count, and 23. on the part of the merchant, so that the
producer pays Ss. per cwt. commission for the convenience
which he cannot or rathei will not be permitted to do
without. Some men grumble at existing arrangements,
and occasionally dispose of their butter elsewhere for a
brief period, but in the end are only too glad to return to
the home market and place themselves under the protect-
ing wiug of the Committee of Butter Merchants.
Taking everything into consideration a fairer market for
the disposal of dairy produce could not be had, and there
can be nothing surer, that notwithstanding all apparent
inconsistencies, every man gets the quality for his butter
which it actually deserves, and if through greed milk is
left down until the cream is rotten, it is h^rd for
the owner of butter so made to expect the same
price as is paid for butter made from sweet cream.
Repeated disappointments, however, seem utterly
unavailing to tea^h some people common
sense, a glance at the market returns, showing each day
a large proportion of thirds, fourths, and even fifth qua-
lities, a state of aft'airs only attainable by the most glaring
intentional neglect in the management of the dairy. As
has been already noticed, house-food on such a dry soil
is imperatively required every day throughout the year, and
an effort is made to meet this want by a little extra atten-
tion. It did not appear to me that there was much difti-
culty apprehended in being able to keep up the supply,
nor yet that a very large variety of crops were required,
nothing being done but what anybody else could do with
ease, making one wonder how house-feeding was not
more general than it is — nay, why, in fact, it is not uni-
versally adopted, its advantages being so numerous, and
so easily ascertained. The principal crops for summer
house-feeding arc trifolium iucarnatum, tares, and
the autumn growth of clover, on the land from
which hay has been takeu. It will be observed
that these are the simplest grown of all the crops
suitable for this jmrpose, and they are selected for
the obvious reason that, with liberal treatment, they are
capable of being forced to an immense bulk per acre ;
and, requiring no cultural O))erations, with the exception
of the preparation of the seed-bed, the popular feeling
against labour is fallen in with to a considerable extent,
and yet not to the neglect of highly important and profit-
able considerations. Taking the summer season to begin
on the 8th of May, the first crops ready for cutting arc
the piece of trifolium aud winter tares, according as the

winter may have dealt more or less tenderly with either.
By the end of May, the increasing strength of the sun
will have so warmed the soil as to force both crops into
all the luxuriance the manurial dressing given at seed-
time is capable of affording, creating such abundance as
to let the cattle depending upon them get as much as they
can consume without waste. The autumn-sown crojjs
cleared ofi', a spring sowing of tares immediately succeeds,
an endeavour being invariably made to have it in so early
in the season as to be fit to be off in time for while
turnips at least. As a fair crop of the latter can scarcely
be calculated on if sown later than 20th July, there
occurs a few weeks' interval before the second crop of
clover becomes available. This is met with the greatest
ease by having a reserve of mangel- wurzels held over
from the spring. Thirty or forty tons of well pre-
served roots become at this time of year doubly
valuable, keepiug the succession unbroken, and linking
the finish of one season to the commencement of ano-
ther in the easiest and most economical manner,
her possible. A rick of mangolds spared from the spring,
comes useful in many ways, causing plenty at a period of
the year when there is often real scarcity, should the
summer chance to be an excessively dry one. If the
whole are not required for cattle, they can be utilised by
giving to pigs, stores doing well on them, either raw or
boiled. By the 15th of August, clover will in ordinary
years be fit to cut, giving a morning and evening feed,
liberal to repletion, till well on in October. IMaugold
tops succeed the clover, continuing to give an abundant
feed for about four weeks, it being impolitic to endanger
the safety of the roots by permitting them to remain in
the ground beyond the 20th of November, for the sake of
the feeding value of the leaves. The seasou has now been
reached when white and yellow turnips may be given with
great propriety, the products of the dairy having become
so trifiing that superior quality is no longer the exclusive
object. The better keeping sorts of roots succeed caeli
other until summer again wears round, the succession
thus continuing unbroken throughout the year. As al-
ready stated, hay is estimated here at a very high value,
aud is accordingly not given to dairy cows until they have
calved, and the new season again commenced. Bruised
furze is used instead, two feeds daily being given for a
period of between three aud four months. Further ou
I will describe the growth and preparation of the furze a
little more particularly, no less than 15 acres being de-
voted to its cultivation, horses, cows, and young cattle
being fed on it while it lasts.

It will be seen from the above description of ho\r
house-feeding is carried out, that it cannot but prove
highly beneficial to the farmer who takes the trouble
of attending to details, reducing it to a system, aud
adhering to it rigidly. In the first place it becomes
evident that cousiderably more stock can be kc])t
on the pastures than could possibly be the case where
nothing external to what these will afford is provided.
The cattle when turned out after being milked are full,
and care only to rest, instead of being on foot for the
greater part of their time collecting food, which on light
undulating laud they must unavoidably be where house-
feeding is neglected. Their produce is more regular, and
in consequence the yearly average is raised cousiderably,
the cows all through a protracted period of great heat or
drought being scarcely affected by what under less favour-
able conditions would nearly run them dry. The manu-
rial condition of the pastures is continually improving,
the excretions being not only in greater quantity, but con-
taining the elements of fertility in far greater degree,
than when they arc compelled to trust to the pastures
alone for subsistence.

It

232

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE CENTRAL CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE,

A meeting of the Council of the Ceutral Chamber of Agri-
culture took place on Tuesday, Feb. 0, at the Salisbury Hotel,
Salisbury Square, under the presidency of Mr. Edward
Hencage, the chairman for the current year.

Sir M. n. Beach, M.P., moved addresses of congratula-
tulation to the Queen, and to the heir apparent, on the happy
recovery of His lloyal Highness.

The Ciiairma:n suggested that the address should be carried
■without a seconder, and by acclamation, which was done.

Mr. Pell, M.P., in the absence of Sir M. Lopes, laid before
the Chamber tlie following report from the Local Taxation
Committee :

In presenting this report your committee are glad to be able
to point to several grounds of encouragement, which cannot
but advance the interest of Local Taxation Reformers in the
coming session. The importance of the subject is much more
generally admitted, the state of public opinion and informa-
tion with regard to it very much advanced, and very consider-
able has been the progress of the question even since the
corresponding period of last year, when the committee were
enabled to congratulate the Council on the success of the earlier
agitation. The continued success of the Metropolitan Poor-
Rate League, now including twenty-two London parishes in
its organisation, proves that the question is far from being a
purely agricultural grievance. The sustained interest and in-
creased earnestness of householders is evidenced by the full at-
tendance at all the numerous meetings of this body in Isling-
ton, St. Pancras, Marylebone, Plamstead, Woolwicli, and many
other parts of the metropolis. The secretary of your com-
mittee had recently an opportunity of addressing the Chamber
of Agriculture al Hungerford, and the course followed by that
Chamber of appointing a local sub-committee to ditfuse in-
formation and collect subscriptions, is commended to the notice
of those districts where a local organisation of this nature is
not already in existence. Your committee are gratified to ob-
serve that tlie recent unauthorised disallowances by the Trea-
sury of the costs of criminal prosecutions have been considered
by a very large number of courts of quarter sessions, and the
vigorous action taken in different counties must help to con-
vince the Government of the feelings of the ratepayers with
regard to our anomalous system of local taxation. The deci-
sion of the case which the magistrates of Lancashire raised in
the Court of Queen's Bench on the 29tli of January last was,
in fact, a moral victory, and fully confirmed the opinions your
committee expressed as to the illegal and unwarrantable con-
duct of the Treasury officials. The Lord Chief Justice and
the Bench unanimously held that the Lords of the Treasury
had exceeded their powers, and although the court was unable
to compel ther lordships to refund the sums in question,
it was indicated by the bench that a remedy, which
Parliament alone could afford, was urgently required for
a state of matters which was described as a " crip-
pling of justice" and " a monstrous and scandalous" anomaly.
A return showing the amounts disallowed in boroughs
has just been issued, which shows that towns have suffered
more lieavily even then counties, fully more than lOj per cent,
of the cost of prosecutions in boroughs having been disallowed
in the past six years. Your committee are now issuing copies
of this return with a circular to town clerks calling their atten-
tion to these facts, and asking tiie co-operation of their
Councils in bringing the matter before the Legislature by
petition. In turning to the future it seems to your committee
that tile hands of Local Taxation Reformers would be
materially strengthened if a return of all local taxation were
laid annually before Parliament at or before the time when the
Chancellor of Exchequer makes his financial statement.
Chiefly, lio we ver, at this juncture your committee would urge
on this Council, and ou all their supporters, the necessity of
continued and united resistance to new charges on the local
rates, until Parhament has recognised the grievance of the
ratepayers by extending the incidence of rating to persons and
property now exempt, or by removing imperial charges from
the category of local taxes. They would especially point to
such objects as militia, lunatic asylums, police, and the admin.

stration of justice, as so essentially matters of imper ia
necessity, and so very largely controlled by imperial authorities
that their transference from the local rates to the Treasury
would seem to be an act of justice which cannot be much
longer delayed. The return moved for by the chairman of
your committee, showing the total expenditure and the amount
of the Government subvention under each of these heads, which
was alluded to in your committee's November report, has
only just been issued. It, however, gives only the amouut ex-
pended for such purposes in counties, and (contrary to the
original intention) does not give this for cities and boroughs
as well, and it has become the duty of the chairman to ask for
this additional information. As soon as this further return is
published your committee trust they will be in the possession
of the fullest and most reliable data obtainable with regard to
this special portion of their general subject. In indicating
certain specific charges your committee in no way depart from
their repeated declaration of the national character of other yet
larger and heavier local burdens. They cannot, however, omit to
point out to ratepayers which of the abuses of our local system of
taxation are most readily assailable, and in what directions the
prospect is most open to any instalments of the justice which
they claim. Y^our committee recommend, therefore, the con-
centration in the first instance of the efforts of Local Taxation
Reformers on individual charges, and trust that this course,
which is suggested by them after mature consideration, will
be assented to as being the best policy for insuring the
approval of the House of Commons, and most likely to effect
an early reduction of ratepayers' burdens. They solicit, there-
fore, your cordial co-operation in the more definite line of
action they have ventured to recommend, and they confidently
appeal for personal assistance, and for pecuniary support to
all ratepayers, as well as to the Chambers of Agriculture who
have up to this time so warmly and unitedly aided them in
fighting, not the battle of the country against the towns, as
lias most erroneously been urged, but the battle of the owners
and occupiers of all houses and lands against the manifest in-
justice of exceptional taxation. So anxious is the chairman
of your committee that this movement should not lack the
material assistance which will doubtless be required to give it
a fair propect of success, that, provided a sum of £3,000 be
contributed within the next three months by owners of land
and houses in amounts of £100 or £50, he will be prepared to
double his present subscription of £100 in order to further the
objects the committee have in view. Your committee have to
acknowledge with thanks the subscriptions received since
their last report. — Massey Lopes, Chairman.

Sir M. H. Beach proposed : " That this Council, in receiv-
ing, approving, and adopting the Report, urges every associated
Chamber to strenuously support the policy and course of
action indicated in the Report."

Mr. A. Staktin (Warwickshire), in seconding the motion,
agreed that they ought to attack tliis gigantic fortress in its
most vulnerable points, and that to attack details was not a
retrograde step. He expressed a hope that, if there were a
surplus income this year, the Government, instead of sur-
rendering the house-tax, would be willing to make grants in
aid to Boards of Guardians, to the extent of placing upon
imperial taxation one-half the charge for indoor relief. Such
a measure would be a considerable relief to the ratepayers,
and prove a great public advantage in the administration of
the poor-law.

The Report was adopted.

Mr. H. Genge Andrews (Somersetshire) moved :
" That in the opinion of this Council, many charges now paid
from funds raised under the poor-rate assessment ought to be
transferred to funds raised by imperial taxation, but that such
transfer will not justify the continuance of the exemption from
the poor-rate assessment of income arising from personal pro-
perty."

Mr. C. M. Caldecott (Warwickshire) seconded tlie
resolution. He said, referring to the disallowance by the
Treasury of expenses which had been passed by the examining
officers at assizes and quarter sessions, upon scales fixed

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

233

with the sanction of the Home Secretary and the Judges
of Assize, that the excuse of the Treasury was that the
charges in different counties varied, and that some of them
were exceptionally high. It was true that there were con-
siderable variances, and that sometimes the examining officers
exercised a strong discretion ; hut unfortunately the County
Treasurer had no power whatever to refuse anything that had
been passed by the examining officers, and under the 14th
Vict. cap. 55, sections 5 and 6, the Home Secretary was em-
powered to fix and regulate the charges for every county in
England. If, therefore, there were exceptional charges in
some counties, the Treasury should represent it to the Home
Secretary, who would then call upon the counties to revise
their scales of charges and settle them with his approval.

The Rev. Mr. Pexiry (Staffordshire) supported tlie resolution.

Mr. CORRAJNCE, M.P., approved of the resolution as indicat-
ing a more practical policy ; and he was glad to observe tliat
it was indorsed by one who held such a position as Sir
Michael Beach. It encouraged the hope that gentlemen who
sat on the front benches in the House of Commons were be-
ginning to take a correct view of the question at issue. In
his opinion they would best figlit the battle in detail ; at the
same time that need be no bar to the assertion of the claims
which they had hitherto advanced.

Mr. MuNTZ, alluding to the last paragraph in the report,
complained that the funds subscribed were in no way commen-
surate with the work the Chamber had to do, and urged tliat,
in order to show the country that tliey were in earnest, the
lauded and agricultural interest ought to give more substantial
aid. With the view of setting the example, he was ready to
commence the subscriptions by putting his name down for £100.

Mr. HoDSOLL (West Kent) contended that the Chamber
must not loss sight of the great principle with which they
had started. The report in one of the paragraphs insisted
on the necessity of continued and united resistance to new
charges on the local rates until Parliament has recognized tlie
grievance of the ratepayers by extending the incidence of
rating to persons and property now exempt " or" by removing
imperial charges from the category of local taxes. He ob-
jected to this word " or," for, in common with all old local-
taxation reformers, he was anxious above all things that there
should be no doubt about their object. Real property was,
at this moment, paying -hi. in the pound in imperial and local
rates, while all other descriptions of property were paying only
Is. 7d. ; thus the basis on which they should stand in the
House of Commons was so firm that there need be no dilution
of their principles. A manly exposition, then, of the views
on which they had started, was the best course that their
friends in Parliament could adopt. What they wanted was
justice, and thinking people would never be satisfied until the
injustice of which they complained had been removed. He
trusted, therefore, the Chamber would continue to adhere to
its principles.

Mr. H. Clakk (Devon and Cornwall) would have been glad
had the report gone further, aud suggested that if the Govern-
ment failed to bring forward in the present session a good
practical measure, some influential member of Parliament con-
nected with the Chamber should take tlie duty upon himself.
The question would then be thoroughly ventilated, and the
agricultural community would know what was their position,
aud who were, and who were not, their friends. Speaking
from what he observed the sentiment entertained by the
farmers of the two great western counties was one of general
regret at the withdrawal of Mr. Goschen's proposal to
divide local burdens equally between landlords and tenants.

Several members protested against these remarks, and de-
nounced the Government proposal in strong and unqualified
terms.

Sir G. Jenkinson, M.P., observed that the case of the
agricultural community rested upon the Act of Elizabeth,
whereupon

Mr. H. G. Andrews rose, and, whilst agreeing with the
hon. baronet that the case did rest on that enact.ment, as
proving its antiquity, declared that if the Elizabethan statute
had never existed he claimed an Englishman's right to insist
upon an equal distribution of burdens. Tlie owner and the
occupier were one in reference to these local taxes.

The resolution was put, and agreed to.

The next subject on the agenda-paper being the " Preven-
tion of Contagious Diseases of Animals,"

Sir G. Jenkinson, M.P., then proposed the following
resolution : (1) " That this Council having heard the reply of
Mr. Gladstone to the second application made to him to re-
ceive a Deputation from the Chambers of Agriculture on the
subject of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, regrets that
the Prime Minister still declines to receive such Deputation,
as the subject is of vital importance to the agricultural interests.
(2) That as the recent Orders of the Privy Council do not
meet the requirements of the ease, this Council adheres to the
resolutions passed at its meeting in November, to the effect
that the failure of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act has
demonstrated the necessity for compulsory slaughter or
sufficient quarantine of aU imported foreign animals, and that
the Government should make their present inspection of all
cattle and sheep previous to embarkation in Ireland, and of all
vessels engaged in conveying animals between Ireland and
Great Britain as complete and effectual as possible." He
regretted very much that the Prime Minister had seen fit to
decline to receive an important deputation from the repiesen-
tatives of the Central aud Local Chambers of Agriculture. He
could quite believe that the right hou. gentleman had at that
moment a great many irons in the fire, aud possibly some of
them would burn his fingers ; but he did not consider
that a sufficient reason for his refusing to hear the serious
grievances of the agricultural classes connected with the con-
tagious diseases of animals and the importation of foreign
stock. They all knew that it was idle to expect any further as-
sistance from the department to which they had been re-
ferred. Some months ago he himself wrote to that department
as strong a letter as he well could write, aud he received a very
long voluminous answer, containing what appeared to him
great inaccuracies and faUacies. He believed that the new re-
gulations issued by the Privy Council last month had done no
good, aud the Prime Minister having twice refused to receive
a deputation from that body, he thought it was now incumbent
on them to repeat the resolution which they had passed before.

Mr. C. Bramley (Lincolnshire), in seconding the resolution,
said some time ago the agriculturists of his county took steps
for carefully watching the importation of foreign cattle at the
port of Grimsby, aud after that had been done for several
months they felt satisfied that it was totally impossible for any
inspector to decide after only twelve hours' detention whether
or not there were germs of disease in any of the stock
that was imported. Such stock had travelled along the
public roads, passed close to some of the largest farms in the
county, aud went by rail to diirerent market towns,
and he would ask them, as practical men, whether
that must not cause tlie spread of contagious diseases among
animals belonging to this country ? Tliere could be no doubt
that the principal diseases had been imported, and it was high
time that farmers had such protection for their stock as would
meet the justice of the case. That was also for the interest
of consumers, it being proved by statistics that the pro-
duction of English meat had been largely diminished
by the diseases introduced into this country by foreign stock.
The Orders recently issued by the Privy Council might be a
great improvement on the preceding ones, but they did not
meet the radical evil. The foreigner was stiU allowed to
bring his stock to England, apparently without any restriction,
and when it had arrived it disseminated the germs of disease
among English stock,

Mr. Stretton (South Wilts) thought that by the last para-
graph of the resohitiou the council gave its sanction to the
principle of inspection ; whereas he submitted that that was
the chief cause of the mischief. Most practical men were
agreed that inspection v«is entirely fallacious as regarded
foot-and-mouth disease. An animal might pass the most
competent inspector as being free from that diseaee, and within
four days from that time the germs of disease might show
themselves. [A Member : " Pour hours."] By retaining
the latter part of the resolution, therefore, they would be sup-
porting a system which had proved entirely fallacious. The
farmers of the West of England had suftered greatly during
the last six months from the importations at Bristol from Ire-
land. The local authorities of some counties had even peti-
tioned the corporation of Bristol to close their market, but
all they had done was to employ an inspector. At the late
Smitlifield meeting two inspectors reported against thirty-two
animals, which were accordingly not admitted ; but on the
Wednesday aud Thursday of the show he saw a number of

231

THE FAKMER'S MAQAZIJSIE.

animals in the sliow wlio were sufferiug from foot-auJ-inonfh
disease, aud tliat appeared to liira a siitticient couderanation of
the whole system of insi)cction (Hear, liear).

The CiiAiK.MAN observed that the objection of Mr. Stretton
applied to the whole of the resolutioa, which was, in fact, a
repetition of a resolutiou already passed.

Mr. Stretton said he objected to the previous resolution
OQ tlie same ground.

Mr. WniTT.VKER (Worcestershire Chamber) thought it
would be impossible to prevent importation from Ireland ; and
it was questionable whether England did not send disease to
Ireland, as well as Ireland to England. All lie wanted in
that respect was to see the law enforced in Irelandas it was here.

Tlie Kev. Mr. Peiiry said Mr. Stretton seemed to assume
that foot-and-mouth disease was the only disease to be dealt
with, whereas, in fact, there were many otlicrs, aud the resolu-
tiou applied to all.

Mr. Mx\.SFEN (Staffordshire) concurred in the remark of the
last speaker. Eoot-and-mouth disease was no doubt a source
of great loss and inconvenience, but it did not often cause
deatii. A neighbour of his had lost 435 head of horned
stock by disease in the last twenty-one years. Not five of
them died from foot-and-mouth disease, and not one from
rinderpest. The greater portion of them died from pleuro-
pneumonia, and the tendency of Mr. Strctton's view was to
leave that terrible disease to diffuse itself without any check.

Mr. C. S. Re.vd, M.P., hoped that Mr. Stretton would not
press his objection. He knew it was impossible to detect dis-
ease during incubation ; but there was this great dilfereuce
between Ireland and foreign countries— that pretty much the
same laws were in force in Ireland as here, aud diseases came
under the eye of a Government official, whereas in the case of
foreign countries they had no means of telling where diseases
came from, and uo power of enforcing inspection. They
should not rely on inspection, but it was an additional pre-
caution, and in some respects beneficial.

Mr. Genge Andrews agreed with Mr. Stretton that the
system of inspection was a rotten reed to rely upon, and be-
lieved the only security was to be found in a quarantine and
slaughter at every place where foreign animals were imported.

j\lr. Farmer (Peterborough) drew attention to the fact
that when an animal in a herd at market was found to be
diseased, all the inspector was bound to do was to impound
that particuhir animal, while the others might afterwards
spread the disease in twenty dill'erent directions.

Mr. Yaee VNU (West Gloucestershire) referred to a case in
which a cow, purchased by him in Bristol market, spread
disease among a herd of cattle, and caused a loss of £300. lie
lioped the (Council would deal with that evil in such a way as
to provide a remedy. lie supposed they could not stop
the importation of Irish cattle into tliis country (" No, no"),
but farmers were suffering very greatly, and he did not think
Mr. Gladstone could be aware of the extent of the mischief.

Mr. Daniel Lonc, (Gloucestershire Chamber) contended
that Government did not enforce a sulBcient quarantine, and
proposed an amendment to the effect, that a twelve hours'
quarantine did not meet the requirements of the case.

Mr. W. Lawrence (Gloucestershire Chamber) seconded the
amendment.

Mr. Paget, M.P., considered it impracticable to enforce
several days' quarantine in the case of Bristol, where some-
times from 1,500 to 2,000 head of stock were lauded from
steamers in a single day. Some gentlemen thought that qua-
rantine should extend to a week.

Mr. Stretton : I should say fourteen days.

Mr. Paget would ask any practical man whether a fourteen
days' quarantine would be practicable iu the case of
stock imported from Ireland. Let tliem recollect that it
was possible to have a remedy that was worse than the disease.
Irish stock was a necessity to the English farmer (liear, hear),
and, although inspection might not render imimrtation harm-
less in the case of Ireland, it there were first a good inspection
on the other side of the water, and secondly a good inspection
when the cattle arrived here, that would be a great deal
towards preventing the spread of disease.

Mr. C. Winkle (West Gloucestershire) recommended the
withdrawal of the amendment.

Sir G. Jenkinson, M.P., also recommended that course.
lie had, ho said, on a previous occasion expres.sed tlie same
view as tiiat uow expressed Ity Mr. Stretton ; but he was

beaten ; and he thought it became every Englishman to bow
to the majority (cheers). lie hoped the resolution would be
passed unanimously.

Mr. D. Long then withdrew his amendment, and the reso-
lution was carried.

The next subject appointed for consideration was the
Malt-tax.

Mr. H. Neild moved the following resolution : " That, in
the opinion of this Council, the agricultural interest is entitled
to relief iu the matter of the Matt-tax, either ly repeal or by
commutation, as may appear most advisable to the Chancellor
of the Exchequer." In 1854', the great apostle of free trade, as
he was called, Mr. Cobden, said : " We owe the farmers some-
thing, and we will endeavour to pay them in kind. It had
often occurred to me to compare the case of the liritish agri-
culturist who, after raising a bushel of barley, is compelled
to pay a tax of 60 per ceut., and is prohibited from convert-
ing it into a beverage for his own cousumption, with what
I have seen in foreign countries ; and I really can call to mind
nothiug so hard and nothing so unreasonable. I am quite sure
that the cultivators of the vine aud the olive in Prance and Italy
would never tolerate such an impost." That was the opinion
of Mr. Cobden. They learnt from unquestionable data that
nothiug was more valuable for the feeding of dairy stock and
the securing of dairy produce than malt. Earl lUissell, while
he was Lord John Kussell, once said, that if he were Prime
Minister when protection to agriculture was abolished, the first
thing he would repeal was the Malt-tax.

Mr. T. Arkell (Swindon), iu seconding the resolution,
said he wished to treat the question not as a consumer of
beer, but as a farmer who produced stock, and he contended
that malt ought not to be mixed up with the revenue, like
beer, wine, aud spirits. Farmers could not feed their sheep
on meal because the meal might be blown away, while as
regarded the sproutiug of grain what they wanted was,
perhaps, to wet a couple of bushels at a time, and not several
quarters. If oilcake had to be used in the wholesale sort of
way in which it was assumed that malt might be, such a state
of things would not be at all satisfactory. Nothiug could
compete with oilcake for feeding purposes so well as malt.
Now grain might be given to pigs without filling them, but
if it were given to young sheep vlieir digestive organs would
not stand it. Malt was, as they all knew, assimilated much
better than grain, and the mere putting of water to it brought
out a sweet wort which all animals, except the teetotallers,
liked. Nothing was more likely to benefit the consumer and
lead to abundance than the power of mauufacturiug cheaply,
and there could not be a greater restriction on the farmers'
business than the malt tax.

Mr. Storer (Nottinghamshire Chamber) observed that iu
the rearing of lambs nothing could be more useful than malt,
aud he believed that if malt were free 30 per cent, of the
losses by death might be avoided — a point which was surely
well worth the consideration of the consumer. In a letter to
himself Mr. Cobden admitted that in their agitation ou that
question farmers had justice on their side, and said the matter
rested with the county members, who were not suificiently
strenuous in urging the necessity of repeal on the Government.
He (Mr. Storer) hoped the county members would now show
that they really had some feeling ou that question. He came
from a large barley-growing aud malt-cousuming county, and
he knew many farms in clay districts which produced barley
that was not adapted for makiug Burton pale ale, but would
be most useful in feeding animals on the farm. Many of the
labourers there felt very strongly on the subject. Iu many
parts of his county the brewers' beer was so bad that harvest
labourers had determined not to take such filthy stuff. As to the
stateraenl that labourers could not brew at their own homes,
he knew it to be incorrect. He gave his own men five stnckes
a year each now for home-brewing, and had promised that if
the Mah-tax were repealed he would increase the quantity to
eight strikes. At present beer cost men who brewed at home
with purchased malt Dd. per gallon. If the tax were taken off'
there would of course be a considerable reduction of cost, and
he believed that in the repeal of the Malt-tax would be found
to a great extent the solution of the difficult question of
drunkenness.

Mr. Sturtin could not help remarking that the Chaucellor
of the Exchequer received the dcpuiation with the greatest
courtesy, and said that if he knew how to deal with the small

TliE i''AUMEK'« MAUAZiNli:.

23-5

brewers ;md Uie revenue coulil be BUllicieully i)rotectcd lie
would be happy to tniusrer the t;ix to beer. That would, how-
ever, be such a gigantic change that perhaps cveu Mr. Lowe
would be unable to move the vis i/ier/im of the Excise de-
partment.

Mr. Turner (West Kent) had been in the habit of attend-
ing and taking part in discussions on the subject for the last
twenty years ; lie had alse accompanied many a deputation to
Chancellors of the Exchequer respecting it, and seen a good
deal of politeness, and heard kind words, but all ended iu
nothing. The case of the farmers was this, they had constantly
agitated, and complaiued bitterly, and they had been told that
their claim was equitable, and that they were entitled to
relief; then they were bowed out with the assurance that
what they asked was an impossibility, for " seven millions of
money is a sum that we cannot possibly spare." If they
continued their agitation, he believed they would be successful
in the eiul, it would be as hopeless as ever to go on as they
had hitherto done, for they would be bowed out as before ou
the score of impossibility. According to the old fable the
bundle of sticks could not be broken so long as they were
united ; and the malt duty he likened to a bundle of sticks.
What ought to be done then, was to make a beginning. They
iiuist try if tiiey could not loosen the bundle, by getting out a
stick, when the whole would soon fall to pieces. Comnuitatiou
or repeal was what they asked for, and if they could but get a
million olf the tax it would be a good beginning. Total re-
peal of the tax lie demanded iu the interest of the agricultural
labourers, a class of men whose physical strength was being
rapidly deteriorated by the noxious and infernal beverages
which they had to drink. He denied that it was impossible
for labourers to brew their own beer, and stated that he had
two men iu his service who had brewed their own beer for the
last two or three years, and that they were the best men he
had, and could do the most labour. Let au attempt, then, be
made to divide the bundle of sticks, aud they would eventually
be broken.

Mr. II. BiDHELL (Suffolk) reminded the Chamber that two
years .ago they sent a deputation to the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, and that the following year they wrote to him, but
whether the reply of Mr. Lowe was satisfactory he left them
to say. This year their business committee rccoinmeuded the
adoption of the motion now before them, and that he supposed
was to conclude what the Chamber was expected to do. If
so he did not hesitate to tell them that they were never likely
to remove the duty from malt or beer. They were told by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer that repeal was impossible, aud
with that opinion, k'oking at the present state of political
parties, he (Mr. IJiddcll) was inclined to concur. Against
commutation the right hon. gentleman admitted that lie had
no argumeut. The only difficulty was this, said he, we can
get at the public but not at the private brewer. Now was it
to be believed that the Chancellor, who knew the income of
every gentleman present, and how many servants, horses,
carriages, and dogs he kept, could not ascertain that ? Why,
it was a simple begging of the question altogether, and the
fact was, that the question had been shifted and never met.
The Chamber might rely upon it that they must do something
more than merely pass resolutions like the present once a year
if the movemeut was ever to be successful. lie only wished
that the question of the Malt-tax had pressed upon public
attention during the last three years with the same amount of
sagacity and perseverance as had been displayed on the ques-
tion of local taxation. If it had been taken up in the same
spirit and handled in the same way no Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer would ever dare to tell tliem that the repeal of the
malt duty was impossible.

Mr. Head, M.P. : If they contented themselves with pass-
ing such resolutions ouly,tliey might just as well let the sub-
ject alone. This year he understood that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer would have a large surplus revenue at his dis-
posal, and malt-tax repealers hoped to have a slice out of it.
They had uever wished to tax other people, in order to get rid
of this impost, but had always said, whenever there was a
surplus, that the farming interest and the consumers of beer
had a right to have their claims fairly considered by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer. The right hon. gentleman had said,
"Don't imagine that I should look on the reduction of the malt-
tax unfavourably ; on the coutrary, I sliould be glad to have
it ia my power to cll'cct it." Well, it would now be iu hia

power to do so. Let the Chamber, tlietcl'ore, call upon him
to do it. But the question must be taken into the House of
Commons, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer baited until
he consented to do something for relief.

Mr. Browne (Norfolk) did not regard the resolution with
warm approval, because it was conlined to the relief of the
agricultural iuterests. They also wanted to convince the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer that the advantage would be shared
iu by the kingdom at large, and would not be enjoyed
exclusively by one individual interest. More might be made
of the subject of malt being useful as food for cattle. As a
breeder, and not an unsuccessful breeder, of sheep, he knew of
nothing more beneficial to ewes iu the fattening of his stock
than malt, and if it could be shown to the Chancellor of the
Exchequer that if malt could be used at the discretiou of the
farmer, the cost of all fattening materials would be reduced,
and with that the cost of producing meat, which could then
be sold cheaper, such an agreement would have more inllueuce
with the Minister and with public opinion than any begging
petitions on the part of the farming interest.

Mr. Andrews concurred in the views enunciated by Mr.
Biddell. The question he said did not rest with Mr. Glad-
stone, but with a majority of the House of Commons ; for
without a majority of the House at his back, he could not re-
sist the demand. He was strongly of opinion that if the mem-
bers of the House of Commons connected with or interested in
the land were united on the question, they would have no diffi-
culty in carrying it whenever they pleased. But, unfortunately,
the great body of agricultural representatives were divided into
two parties, who were always engaged in a struggle for office,
aud took the course they did iu order to secure the support
of the commercial and manufacturing interests. The only re-
solution which the Chamber could i)ass vvas such as they hoped
and believed would exercise an iutlueucc upon the representa-
tives with whom they were connected.

Eventually the resolution was put and adopted; and, on
the motion of Mr. T. Wu.LsoN, seconded by Mr. Cooper (West
Hiding), it was agreed that a copy of the resolution should
be forwarded to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, aud that
Colonel Barttelot, M.l'., be requested to bring on the subject of
the malt-tax on an early day before the House of Commons.

The Chamber then adjourned.

On Wednesday the Chamber re-assembled, and held its first
general meeting under the new code and rules when Mr. E.
Heneage was re-elected Chairman, and Sir M. II. Beach,
M.P., vice-chairman for the current year. The treasurer and
secretary were also re-appointed, aud Mr. G. E. Muntz was
chosen to fill the vacant seat at the council.

The Chamber next proceeded to settle the bye-laws,
amongst which was one which provides that the Council
sliall annually appoint at its first meeting five of it mem-
bers, who are also members of the Legislature, together
with the Chairman and Vice-chairman, to be a I'arlia-
mentary committee, of whom not less than three
shall be a quorum, to advise the Council of the introduction
or progress of measures in either House of Parliament.
Whilst the Chamber was engaged in selecting this committee.
Sir M. H. Beach observed that amongst the names mentioued
there was only one — namely, Col. Tomline, who sat on the
Government side iu the House of Commons, and that
it was of the highest importance not to make this
committee one of a party character. He suggested,
therefore, that they should place upon it some
members connected with the Liberal party. This being
a difficult task, for, as one of the speakers observed, liberal
members were generally opposed to the Chamber, it was at
length resolved to appoint the following gentlemen as a pro-
visional committee, to hold office until the next meeting iu
March : Mr. C. S. llead, Sir M. Lopes, Colonel Tomline, Mr.
Pell, and Sir G. Jenkinsou, together with the Chairman aud
Vice-Ciiairmau.

The election of the business committee followed, aud resulted
iu the choice of the Chamber falling upon Mr. Muntx (who
had G7 votes), Mr. G. Wiiitaker (61), Sir M. Lopes (61), Mr.
Ilodsoll (59), Mr. Biddell (55), Mr. Andrews (•16), Mr.
Masfen (U).

The subjects fixed for consideration at the March meeting
of the Council are Sanitary Legisl.itiou, aud Turnpike Trusts
and Highways, This concluded the prcKccdings.

236

THl^ FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

EOYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF IRELAND.

At the monthly meeting of tlie Council, in Upper Sack-
ville-street, Dublin, Sir Gnorge lloJsou, Burt., in the chair,

Mr. Donnelly, C.B., brought forward a motion of whicli
he had given notice, as follows : " That all persons occupying
land who may hereafter be awarded a prize from this Society
for green crop, horse, cattle, sheep, or pig shall be required,
either by themselves, their agent, or steward, to subscribe
the following declaration : " I hereby declare that the lauds of
are kept in a husbaudlike manner, and
generally free from all weeds such as may injure the occupiers
of adjoining lands." This, he remarked, was not a new sub-
ject, inasmuch as at the half-yearly meeting of the Society,
held on the ISth of December, 1856, his Grace the Duke
of Leinster in the chair the accompanying resolution was
adopted — That the Society, takes this opportunity of ex-
pressing its entire approval of the exertions of the Kegistrar-
Geueral in calling public attention to the importance of
the destruction of weeds on the tillage and pasture-lands of
this country, and the Society trusts that the local farming
societies will, as far as practicable, use every exertion, by
annexing suitable conditions as to clearing of lands from
weeds, in the distribution of their premiums, in order to accom-
plish this important object." It might also be in the recol-
lection, he said, of several members of the Council that about
ten or twelve years ago he again brought the same subject
before the Council, when a desire was expressed that, as there
was a growing feeling in favour of the object of his motion,
he ought to postpone it to some future period. He did so,
but it must be admitted that little improvement had taken
place in this resj)ect throughout the country generally. He
had received the subjoined letter from the Secretary of the
North-East Agricultural Association :

The North-East Agricultural Association of Ireland, Ulster-
buildings, Waring-street, Belfast, 22nd January, 1S72. — Dear
Sir, — I brought before the annual meeting of this association,
on Friday last, the subject of the motion which you intend to
make at the next meeting of the Council of the lloyal Agri-
cultural Society, with the view of extinguishing "weeds," and
although it is not usual at our aimual meetings to enter upon
the consideration of any subjects but those enumerated in the
report of the committee, I may mention that your " notice of
motion" met with the general approved of the meeting. —
Yours faithfully, G. Gerald Bingu.^ji, Sec.
As the next exhibition of the Society was to be held in Bel-
fast, some distribution of the prizes offered should be made
in order to secure the desirable end in view, which had met
the approval of persons of influence and autliority.

Mr. Owen observed that no member of the Council
would venture to say that the object which was sought
to be attained by Mr. Donnelly was not a most ex-
cellent one and a step in the right direction, but the
winners of prizes for turnips and Shorthorns were
generally persons who would come under the con-
trol of such a resolution. It would be very dilfieult for the
governors of a local society to ascertain what was the exact
state of tlie land as regards weeds tliat would qualify them to
a prize. However, he had no doubt that it would be useful if
the matter got ventilated.

The Rev. Mr. Bagot said the question was a most difficult
one, and he was afraid that in its present form it would be
difficult to attain what Mr. Donnelly sought, inasmuch as his
experience of local societies was that parties would sign any
declaration that would be set before them. If the thing
could be accomplished in any other way he would give it his
support.

]Mr. Wade conceived that the resolution in its present form
would be perfectly innocuous.

Alderman Puhdon, while approving of the object whicli
Mr. Donnelly had in view, suggested that it might be better to
postpone its consideration, to enable it to be brought forward
in a shape that would meet the approbation of the council.

Mr. Uoknelly said as there was a general concurrence of
opinion on the importance of the subject, the only thing being
as to how it could be best attained, he did not think it would

be becoming in him to press his motion. Much benefit had
followed from previous action in this matter, from the course
pursued by various grand juries and other public bodies. He
had received a number of letters from road contractors com-
plaining of the injustice done them by farmers, who by al-
lowing weeds to grow on the adjoining lands, had created filth
and dirt along the ditches bounding the public highways. In
withdrawing his motion, he hoped to be enabled to bring the
matter forward in a more satisfactory manner at the nest
meeting of the council.

Mr. Ijagot submitted the report of the committee on the
recent exhibition of traction engines and double-furrow
ploughs, as follows : Double Fiin-ow Ploutjhs. — At their first
meeting your committee decidad not to take dupUcate entries
of the same plough ; so this had the effect of limiting the
number of entries, which only amounted to four ; but as these
comprised those from leading makers of the United Kingdom,
the exhibition answered the expectations of your committee.
The manuiacturers wlio exhibited were : Messrs. John Fowler
and Co., Leeds ; Ransomes, Sims, and Head, Ipswich ; E.
Hornsby and Sons, Grantham ; Mellard and Co., Rugeley. As
this was only an exhibition, not a competition, your committee
do not enter into the particular merits of each plough, but
must express their admiration at the excellence of the work
performed by each, excepting the last on the list which ar-
rived on the field too late for trial. No single plough could
pack the work and form as good a seed bed as any of the
three first on our list. Notwithstanding a very in-
clement day, hundreds of farmers visited the field, and
numerous orders were given for ploughs. One novelly in
single ploughs was exhibited by Mr. Ilobertsou, of 22, Mary-
street, at work : a wheel plough, which, instead of a fixed
mould-board, had a concave disc on an axle, which revolved by
friction as it passed through the ground, thereby smashing up
the furrow, and acting as a grubber as well as plough. The
work of this plough was greatly admired, but most farmers
said they thought it more suitable for stubble and broken
ground than lea. As mentioned above, a double-furrow plough,
on the same principle, came too late to the field to be
tried. Your committee hope the society will have an
annual exhibition of ploughs at work, and think much
good would be done if an annual exhibition could be arranged
in each of the four provinces. They regret no Irish-made
plough put in an appearance. Traction Engines. — There
were three entries of traction engines, all manufactured by
Messrs. John Eowler and Co., of Leeds — a 12 h.p., 8 h.p.,
and G h.p. The first day these engines carried 30 tons to
Lyons, a distance of 15 miles from Dublin. They were six
hours performing the journey, which includes all stoppages for
water, &c. On the second day the engines were employed con-
veying parties to and from Maynooth and Straffan station to
tile ploughing field. Tliere was about 100 passengers taken
from Straffan to tlic field, 2^ miles in 33 minutes ; about 70
from Maynooth, 3| miles in 52 minutes. By the kind permis-
sion of the Commissioners of Public Works, and through the
instrumentality of Mr. M'Donald, of the Phoenix Park, who
gave every facility to your committee, the engines were se-
verally tested in the Phcenix Park on the third day, in the pre-
sence of his Excellency tlie Lord Lieutenant, the Commis-
sioners of Public Works, and several other gentlemen, and
your committee append the report of Mr. John Bailey, C.E.,
who was requested by them to make it, so that the Society
might have before them an authoritative statement of the work
these engines can perform.

Blackhall-place Iron Works, 2ith Jan., 1872.
Gentlemen, — In accordance witii your desire, I attended the
trial of Messrs. John Fowler and Co.'s traction engines, which
took place last week in the Phcenix Park, and beg to report as
follows : On Friday, the 19th inst., there were three engines
at work — one six, one eight, and one twelve-horse power,
nominal. The twelve-horse power engine is fitted with a
single cylinder, steam jacketed, 10^ inches diameter by 12-incli
stroke; the boiler is of the locomotive type, having heating
surface, of the fire box 50.5 square feet, and of the tubes,

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

237

130.6 square feet. Total heating surface, 171.1 square feet;
fire grate, area 7.5 square feet. The driving wheels arc of
wrought iron, 5 ft. 10 in. in diameter, by 18 in. wide. All the
spur and differential gear is of cast steel and of ample strength.
The weight of this engine when in working trim is 11 tons,
having on board 12 cvvt. of coal and 3:20 gallons of water.
Wlieu testing this engine on Saturday, tlie 3Uth inst., I found
lier consumption of coal, "Eurubaclc," was 3.9 per ton
per mile of gross load, engine included. I was unable
to secure a trustworthy indicator diagram, owing to
the breaking down of the indicator ; I, therefore, cannot give
tlic actual liorse power exerted. Tlie consumption of water
per ton per mile did not exceed 2|- gallons, but the exact quan-
tity I could not ascertain, owing to the want of some standard
measure. 1 attribute the rather heavy consumption of coal to
tlie very bad state of the road, owing to a frost breaking up at
tlie time aud clogging tlie wlieels to the tliickness of an inch
or more. Steam varied from 110 to 1301ljs. on tlie square
inch and tlie revolution of the engine averaged 170 per minute,
giving a mean speed of three miles per hour, vvitli a gross load
of 33 tons, exclusive of the engine, consisting of 4' waggons 3
tons each, and 21 tons of ballast. Had we gone half speed, or
IJ miles per hour, we could liave liauled a much heavier load ;
as it was, we ascended an incline of about 1 in 15 with the
greatest ease at 1^ speed. The eight and six-horse power
engines are constructed each after the same patterns and pro-
portion to the twelve-horse power engine and boiler, and in
my judgment did their work with equal success, the eight-
horse power engine taki ng, on I'riday, the I'Jth instant, round
the same course as tlie twelve-horse power engine, a useful
load of 14^ tons, and a dead load of 9 tons, making a total of

23^^ tons, exclusive of the engine, which weighed 9 tons, speed
averaging 2^ miles per hour. In conclusion, I may remark
that I consider the trials of I'riday aud Saturday, the 19th
and 20th inst., on the whole most satisfactory, the speed being
fairly maintained througliout, and the accuracy and ease with
which they could be handled amply illustrated when the
twelve-horse power engine and two loaded waggons were taken
round the acute angle and steep iucliue leading from the main
road to the ballast pit, when the dilferential gear came beau-
tifully into play. These engines ajipcar cheap for the amount
of work in them, especially the eight-horse power engine, the
price of whicli is 1 100, but (.220 extra seems a long price to
pay for the advantage of india-rubber tyres.

John Bailey, M.I.C.E.

A vote of thanks having been passed to the committee, the
report was ordered to be inserted on the minutes, and pub-
lished in the annual proceedings" of the Society.

The Chairman intimated that he liad received a communi-
cation from Mr. Alexander Wood, addressed from Paddington,
who appeared to be connected with one of the great l^nglish
lines of railway, calling attention to the necessity of providing
a rapid means of transit for dead stock to the London market,
and pointing out tlie means and resources of the company witli
which he was identified in effecting this object. Mr. Woods
suggested that if the proposition were approved of by the
Council, a gentleman would wait on the members, at their
next meeting, and afford them every iuformation on the sub-
j'^ct.

After considerable discussion as to the feasibility of the
project, it was agreed to invite the attendance of the gentle-
man referred to on the next monthly meeting of the Council.

SI»1ITHFIELD CLUB.

Council Me-etihg, Fehnraiy 6, IS7'2. — Present: Lord Tre-
degar, President, in the chair ; Earl of Powis, Vice-president ;
J . D. Allen, J. N. Beasley, Joseph Druce, Samuel Druce, Walter
Farthing, Brandreth Gibbs (hon. secretary), John Giblett,
Thomas Horley,jun.,R. Hornsby, Robert Leeds, E. W. Moore,
R. J. Newton, James Quartly, William Rigden, AVilliam
Sanday, T. L. Senior, C. Stephenson, Joseph Stratton, William
Torr, H. Trethewy, J. S. Turner, XL Webb, Jacob Wilson.

The minutes of the last Council meeting were read and con -
firmed.

The report of the stewards on animal No. 215, exhibited at
the late Show was read, when it was unanimously resolved :
" That the Council considers Mr. Warner Coleman, farmer and
dealer, of Hackford, near Wymondham, to be highly
blameable, in liaving filled up and signed the Breeder's
Certificate, without the breeder's authority, and that no
certificate signed by him be received in future,"
A letter was read from the Earl of Darnley, relative to an
animal excluded from the Show, in consequence of the vete-
rinary surgeons of the Show having reported that it was
affected with foot-and-mouth disease, and the Council directed
a copy of Professor Simond's report on the same to be commu-
nicated to his lordship.

The Report of the Judges, who decided on the merits of the
instruments exhibited for the Earl of Powis Prize forthe best in-
strument to supersede the use of the pole-axe in the slaughter
of cattle, was read. The prize being withheld, it was resolved
to accept the offer of the Earl of Powis to renew the Prize this
year.

It was resolved to defer the consideration of the two follow-
ing subjects :

1st. Whether animals exhibited elsewhere v/ithin a limited
period before the date of the Club Show should or should
not be admitted in future, during the prevalence of the
foot-and-mouth disease.
2nd. Whether any, and if so, what modifications shall be
sought to be obtained from the Privy Council in refer-
ence to the regulations affecting the foot-and-mouth dis-
ease generally.
And it was resolved that if the President aud Stewards shall
consider it expedient, a Special Council Meeting shall be called
by the President at such time as he and the Stewards shall

consider necessary, previous to the 1st November next ; and
that if no such meeting be called, the matter shall remain as
heretofore.

Mr. Henry Webb, of Streetby Hall, West Wickham, Cam-
bridge, and Mr. William Pookes, of Tarrant Moukton, Bland-
ford, were unanimously elected Stewards of Live Stock for the
ensuing three years.

Mr. Joseph Druce aud Mr. Robert Leeds were unanimously
re-elected Stewards of Implements for the present year.

The following additions and alterations were made in the
prize sheet for the next show : A new class for Sussex steers
not exceeding 2 years 6 months old — first prize, £20 ; secoud
prize, ^10. The other classes of steers to be as follows — not
exceeding 3 years and 3 months, and above 3 years and 3
months ; and a third prize of £5 was added in the Sussex
heifer class, and also in the Sussex cow class.

It was resolved to omit the word " West" in the division
for West Highland cattle ; also, to abolish the class for
" light-weight" Leicester sheep.

Also to abolish the class for the old sheep in the Oxford-
shire breed.

Also to increase the first prize for Ryelaud, Cheviots, Dor-
sets, &c,, to .t30.

Also to increase the prize in extra stock, viz., for steers or
oxen to £20, for heifers or cows to £20.

It was resolved : That any animal that has once won the
Champion Plate shall not compete for it again.

It was resolved : Tliat in the classes for ewes in the different
divisions, the restrictions making it compulsory for them to
have had lambs be abolished.

Also that there be a second prize of £5 in each of the
classes for ewes.

Letters were laid before the meeting, and answers directed
to be sent thereto in accordance with the decision of the
Council in the respective cases.

The following were elected members of the Club :
Erancis Sherborn, of Bedfont, Hounslow ; Earl of Feversham,
of Duncombe Park, Hemsley, Yorks ; R. H. S. Vyvyan, of
Trewan, St. Columb, Cornwall.

The thanks of the meeting were voted to Lord Tredegar,
president,- for his lordship's conduct in the cliair.

238

THE FARMEli'S MAGAZINE

THE AYRSlIIllE FARMERS' CLUB,

At the quarterly meeting, Mr. Brown Ardueil, President of
the Club, in the chair, Mr. Thomas Bone, East Sanquhar,
St. Quivox, read the following paper on The feeding of cattle
and sheep.

WItou at our last quarterly meeting I was asked to read a
paper on the feeding of cattle and sheep, having only fed cattle
lor a short time, 1 could only consent on the ground that it is
the duty of every member of this large and growing club to
do all in his power to further the interests of every branch of
agriculture ; and surely there is nothing so much deserves the
attention of the farmer at the present time, when the price of
beef and mutton is so high, as the regular and steady progress
of the feeding stock on the farm. Although I am quite un-
able to bring out anything new on the subject, this end may
be gained should the few hints made be the means of provoking
a good discussion on this very important subject before this
meeting of cattle and sheep feeders ; and as the most likely
way of doing so is to give our own experience, there is little
doubt that we may ail be benefited by the interchange of
opinion which it is to be hoped will follow. Before alluding
to the feeding of cattle, there is another and perhaps quite as
important an felement to profitable feeding to be considered,
viz. : Tlie selection of the cattle to bo fed. The lirst question
here seems to be — What kind of cattle are found most profitable
to feed ? or in other words, which of many breeds or cross breeds
of cattle give the largest return of beeffor a given quantity of food
consumed ? As this, however, would open up too large a field
of discussion, we will confine our remarks to the kinds of
cattle generally fed in Ayrshire. The Shorthorns, from their
quiet docile nature and fiesii pioducing qualities, are perhaps
most in favour, and justly so, as no kind of cattle will give
the same return for good keep if of fine form and quality,
whether fed in boxes or tied up, if kept warm, dry, and com-
fortable. The cross between the Shorthorn bull and Ayrshire
cow, is a hardier, though not quite such a heavy animal, and
is most deservedly a favourite with us for feeding purposes,
being more suitable for our cold climate than pure Shorthorns,
and found to he useful and capital feeders, often paying better
than larger cattle. The pure Ayrshire breed, although not
capable of feeding to so great a weight, or coming so soon to
maturity, are very neat, useful cattle for the butcher, and in
our local markets, especially in the spring and summer months,
sell at the highest price by the cwt. to those not doing a large
trade in beef. The most of our Ayrshire cows, when either
old or otherwise unfit for the dairy, are turned in to fatten,
and though not first-class beef, supply an excellent second or
third-rate article, according to age and quality. The Galloway
breed are also found to be useful feeders when kept till well
matured and ripened for the butcher, although they are gene-
rally considered not to come so early forward for the shambles
as most other breeds. The Irish crosses are very greatly im-
proved within the last few years, which is accounted for by the
introduction of the Shorthorned bull, and perhaps by more
attention being paid to the breeding cows also. We now find
some of the best of them little inferior to our own home-bied
cattle ; still they are always the better of being grazed for some
time in this country before being tied up, otherwise we often
hear of the dilliculty of getting them brought on to feed and of
their losing a month or two at the start. There is another
breed of cattle which our attention has been drawn to of late —
I mean llerefords. Owing to the severe drought in England in
in the summer of 1870, considerable numbers of tiiat breed were
brought into this district ; but they have not taken well with the
butcher, althougli there is little doubt that in many cases they
were hurried into the market before being properly fatted ;
consequently they neither paid the feeder not the butcher well.
The feeding of cattle as wo find it practised in various parts
of the country dilfers widely, and each system has its own
advocates ; still, there is a tendency to a more liberal scale of
diet than used to be given, and our fat markets everywhere
give evidence that increased skill and capital arc brought to
bear on the production of a first-class article. Tliere lias also
been much discussion lately on the most economical system of

feeding. In such seasons as we have had lately, when both
turnips and straw were scarce, and necessitated strict economy,
many tried pulping and mixing of all their cattle food, and I
have no doubt it is only where circumstances would not
permit that it is not stUl carried on as the most profitable
system. Not having the facilities for pulping, I have adopted
the following plan, with little variation, further than gradually
increasing the quantity of food given as we find the cattle
come nearly ready for the market : We give three feeds a day of
turnips sliced, with one feed of boiled meat about midday, and
about 31bs. oilcake, and l^lbs. cottoucake after the evening
meal of turnips, also straw or hay after each feed. The boiled
meat has mixed into it as it is taken from the boiler about
31bs. beau-meal and lib. barley-meal to each animal, the
whole being stirred together and allowed to stand for three
hours before being served out. The quantity given to each
is regulated partly by its size, age, condition, and aptitude to
fatten. Here I would strongly recommend the proper steep-
ing of all meals before being given to cattle of any kind. I
have already spoken of the proper selection of cattle for
feeding purposes ; but there is another point closely con-
nected with that which I desire to allude to before leaving the
subject, viz., that we feeders and breeders of stock often lose a
great deal by allowing our calves, after getting milk for a con-
siderable time and being brought into fine condition, to bo
turned out to grass without giving them either milk or cake,
the consequence being that they lose their calf- flesh and the
most of the next three months of their growth, and are very
much reduced in value ; indeed, no keep will afterwards make
up fully for this loss. Too mucli care cannot be taken in the
upbringing of young stock for feeding, by keeping them always
in a progressive state, as they are less liable to disease than
when checked in their growth. There are diversities of
opinion in regard to the housing of cattle for feeding — some
advocating the box system, others feeding in yards, others,
again, keeping the animals tied in stalls. But, no doubt,
where ample accommodation can be had, young cattle es-
pecially will grow faster and fatten quite as soon in boxes as
under any other system — making more manure and of superior
quality. The wants of our ever-growing population for
animal food should induce farmers to turn their attention more
to the production of mutton, for we find from statistics that
twenty years ago there were little more in round numbers
than 100,000 sheep annually imported into this country,
while in the year just closed there were little less than
1,000,000, besides the enormous quantity of preserved
mutton brought from our Australian and other colonics.
Still, the demand for home-fed mutton is evident from the
fact that we are now having one-half of our feeding sheep
killed before they are eighteen mouths old ; consequently,
we are brought, as it were, to the very heels of the breeder.
As my experience has been principally in the feeding
of lambs, my remarks will be chiefly confined to that class
of stock. One of the most important points to be aimed at
is the proper selection of lambs for feeding. This is often
one of the most diflicult selections the farmer has to make,
and is rendered more so by a practice generally followed in
Ayrshire of the stock farmer selling all, or nearly all, his
feeding lambs without any classification, such as tops, seconds,
and thirds, or paleya, while in most other counties, especially
in the south, they are so classified, thus enabling the farmer
who wants a selected top lot for feeding off early to get exactly
what he wants. The seconds suit the grazier also, who gets
an evenly, though not such a strong, lot, but quite suitable
for wintering on grass, then grazing the following summer,
and often feeding off on turnips at the end of the season.
The thirds, or paleys, find ready customers in farmers win-
tering only a few on dairy farms, getting the run of the whole
farm, and are generally sold off in the spring to dealers, and
grazed the following summer, and fed off on turnips at from
twenty months to two years old. The question is often asked,
Wliat kinds of lambs are most profitable to feed or winter ?
Much depends on the situation, soil, and climate, and the pur-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

230

pose for wliicli lliey are inteadecl — whether to be fed oil' early
iu the spring, or after being clipped and grazed through suni-
mer, &c. Die first class of lambs generally kept for feeding
we would notice is three-parts bred, namely, those bred from
Yorkshire rams and half-bred ewes. Thougii not yet exten-
sively fed in this county, they are well adapted for feeding on
light, dry soils, with a little shelter and a good exposure, and,
if receiving liberal keep, will be tirst ready for the fat market.
They should not, however, be fed either at high altitudes or
on stiff clay soils. The second class of lambs used for feeding
are half-breds, namely, bred from Yorkshire rams and Cheviot
ewes. They suit well for wintering on low, dry lands, and,
when well-bred, give a good return for any extra feeding,
coming up to heavy weights of mutton, with large llceees, also,
of valuable wool, and are ready for tlie fat market very
soon after being clipped, or at about fourteen or fifteen
months old. The next class are cross-bred or grey-faced,
namely, bred from Yorkshire rams and black-faced ewes,
and, when strong and well-bred, are hardy, good win-
terers, thriving better on the majority of farms in this
couiiiy than any of the finer breeds, and, when eighteen
months to two years old, are considered to be the best
quality of mutton in the market, although they seldom
come to the same weight as bred or half-bred sheep. The
Cheviot and black-faced breeds are both very hardy and parti-
cularly useful on high, poor, or iindraincd land, and will thrive
where no other breed will do well. They are generally wintered
when lambs on foggage, the ewes being kept for stock and the
wethers grazed until they are fed olf at three or four years'
old ; the ewes of both classes being sold to be fatted when too
old for breeding purposes. The feeding of the various breeds
of lambs successfully requires a great deal of study and atten-
tion, as they are constantly exposed to the fluctuations and
severity of our cold climate. The system I have adopted for
a few years, and on which I last year wintered 170 lambs with-
out a death and with comparatively few turnips, is the follow-
ing :],Wheu buying lambs for feeding, I purchase a selected or top
lot, although a little higher priced, aud having procured a
suitable lot, we have them dipped the first favourable day after
being brought home. When either driven or trucked far they
are turned on to a grass field not very rough for a week or so,
as clover or other soft diet after wanting food for some time, is
very apt to produce derangement of the bowels and some loss
by death. They are then turned on to hay foggage, or a field
of the best young pasture, and kept gradually improving until
harvest is over, when they get the sown-out fields, care being
always taken to have them changed often, so that the grass be
kept clean. About the end of October there is often great
difficulty in getting lambs to eat either grain or turnips, espe-
cially if the pasture at the time is fresh, aud should a storm
come they wander about the hedges, and lose condition
very fast. To obviate this no trouble is too great. The
best remedy I have found is to drive a few stobs into
the ground, six or eight yards apart, aud near the communica-
tion between two fields, tying a small sheaf of oats to each
.stob, and placing the feeding troughs very near, putting a
small quantity of fine fresh oats into them every morning and
renewing the sheaves for a few days, when generally one-half
of the lambs will be taking a little, and nearly all the others
soon follow. Any that are still not inclined to eat out of the
troughs should be got about by the feeder while the others are
eating and put into a fold, each one being taken and a little of
the feeding used put into their mouths, which will seldom re-
quire to be done again. We use up our refuse wheat and
barley with beans, Indian corn, and locust beans ground as
fine as oatmeal and mixed in equal weight proportions ; and
in November, when coarse weather and frosty mornings begin,
a little of the above is mixed witii the oats along with a little
best oilcake. After they have taken to eat it well, the quan-
tity is increased, and a little cut clovery hay of best quality is
also given, and increased until there is about as much bulk of
cut hay as grain, which prevents the more ravenous eaters
among the flock from getting too much grain ; it also secures
that they all have hay as well, and as a proof that they learn
to get very fond of the mixture they will not eat clean oats
after unless almost starving. Should the lambs be wanted oft'
early for the fat market, we begin about the end of November
to give twice a day as much as they will eat, and when
a storm comes, they are more easily tided over when re-
ceiving a liberal supply in the troughs, About this time wc

generally remove all our sheep to the lea fields that are to be
])louglied iu spring, placing their feeding-troughs on the driest
aud, if possible, the poorest spot in the field. The feeder
should be careful that no more he given than they eat out be-
fore leaving the troughs, which at this time will not exceed
half-a-pound per sheep per day, and should have the troughs
upset and kept always dry and clean, or considerable waste will
be the result. We find the most trying time on either sheep
or lambs begins in the mouth of January or February, when
cold, sterile weather or snowstorms set iu ; or even such aa
unprecedentedly wet, stormy time as we this winter have
had, aud which will be found to have reduced the condi-
tion of all classes of sheep considerably. To guard against
this, we begin about this time to give turnips in the middle
of the day, and increase the quantity as they are eaten
out — they being at all times cut with the turnip strii)per,
to prevent injury to the lambs' mouths, especially when
shedding their teeth. Where a flock of 150 lambs or up-
wards^are to be fed chiefly on turnips which have been pulled
and stored, I have never seen any plan of cutting turnips for
sheep equal to tiie cart turnip-cutter made in Dumfries,- which
has two of Gardner's patent cylinders fitted on the axle, with
a lever at the side to put the cylinders in or out of motion as
may be required. With one of these carts, about eight cwt.
of turnips can be lifted from where they are stored, and carted
to the field where they are to be used — beginning at one side
of the field, taking clean land every day until the whole field
has been gone over, and in this way any diseased turnips, as
well as the sheep droppings, are more equally distributed over
the land. By this machine the turnips are cut or stripped into
small pieces, as before alluded to, and delivered from it iu
three distinct rows, so that the sheep can pass between them
aud pick up the pieces in a clean state off the sward if care is
taken to put the machine out of gear when any dirty or soft
spot may come in the way. This practice, carefully followed
out, will make first-class hoggs early ready for the fat market,
aud I think more likely to pay than if kept on poorer Aire
until the end of the year; and, although we have only
for profit the greatly enriched state of our pasture fields
for the coming crops, there is little doubt we are amply
compensated, and will be likely to continue the practice.
The above treatment of lambs will not cost more than
fourpeuee halfpenny a week up to January, but the in-
creasing allowance until March will bring it up to about
sixpence. The plan of eating off turnips where they grow
with lambs, and allowing a quantity of them to stand iu
the ground till March or April, I do not think cau be made
profitable. When we see a lot of lambs puddling among tur-
nips at the breaking up of frost, or even in soft weather, with
not a clean place to lie down, or still worse when a severe
frost conies, one half of them getting their mouths entirely
spoiled, I am afraid it cannot be a profitable way of consum-
ing turnips. There may be circumstances when it is almost a
necessity for the sake of putting the land into order for sowing
out. Still, if the turnips were taken up and stored at the proper
time — the tops being left on the ground, and the differ-
ence of the value of tlie early lifted and those standing on to
March aud April, were given in the shape of bones to the
land — it would be better for either corn or grass, and the
sheep, getting the stored turnips, would be iu far better con-
dition.

The Chairman then called upon the members iu successioa
to express their opinions on the paper.

Mr. R. M. Cunningham (Shields) said he had been very
much pleased with Mr. Bone's paper. As a neighbour of Mr.
Bone's, he was aware that he had been very successful in the
feeding of lambs, and his remarks on that account were all the
more to be valued. As had been observed in the paper, iu the
feeding both of cattle and sheep, success depended in a great
measure on the selection of animals ; and Mr. Bone had very
properly pointed out that iu this county they had not much
choice, the custom having been hitherto, especially with lambs,
to sell them without any classification. Of course, a few of the
weakest were drawn out, but otherwise they were all mixed to-
gether. This made a lot of lambs very unequal, and they could
not be fed so successfully as if they were all of nearly equal
strength, for the strongest would always get more than
their share, especially when fed in boxes. If this paper
caused breeders to alter their system in this respect, one good
eud would have been served. Iu regard to feeding cattle, he

21.0

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

liad been practising for some years tlie system of pulpiug tur-
nips, ami he tliouglit where tliere was sufficient accommoda-
tion and other circumstances were favourable, that was per-
haps the best system of feeding cattle. He only fed three
times a day, and not four times — as Mr. Bone did — giving two
meals of pulped turnips and oue of raw, sliced. lie might say
in passing that this year he did feed some cattle four times a
day. Probably large cattle that were wished to be early for-
ward required four meals'; and in addition to a (piantity of
oilcake and grain made into meal, he happened to have a quan-
tity of carrots that were unfit for domestic use, and he gave
them some of these, and found the cattle so thrive amazingly.
His feeding stock lie had reared himself, being a cross between
the Shorthorn bull and Ayrshire cow. The first year he had
been pretty successful ; but the second and third years, even
with the same bull and the same cows, he could not get the
calves up to the same weight or symmetry. He would like to
know if any of the members could give a reason for the fall-
ing off. Another thing he found, and which lie thought would
oblige him to give up the system, was that since he com-
menced crossing his cows he found great difhculty in getting
them to settle ; in consequence of which he had almost as good
as lost some ol^ his best cows for breeding purposes this season.
Perhaps crossing had something to do with that. He had
been feeding off these cattle at two years old, and last year on
animals of 20 to 2i months old, he had almost £1 a month for
them ; but he despaired almost of ever bringing them up to
the same money value again. He had been feeding in boxes ; but
he found the situation of the shed where the boxes were was too
much exposed. There wastoolittle heatfor feeding cattle, though
there might be plenty for wintering young cattle. If he was
spared to continue in his present place, he would be inclined
to erect another shed parallel to the present one, and cover
them all in entirely, so that they would not be exposed to the
cold frosty winds. With regards to lambs, he considered Mr.
Bone's plan an improvement in some points on the plan he
had been following, and he would be inclined to adopt it. There
was one point on which he would say a little more than Mr.
Bone. Speaking of shelter, he questioned whether it would
not pay them, on low lands exposed to storms from the coast,
to have moveable'sheds made of iron, which they could move
to different parts of their fields, in such weather as they had
had during the last sis weeks. His lambs seemed to him to
be in a worse condition to-day than they were some weeks
since, and yet they had been getting additional feeding, and as
many turnips as they could eat, and hay — though he was sorry
they had eaten very little hay, as owing to the open weather,
there had always been a bite of young grass, and consequently
they had been scouring more than he liked to see. Tiiey had
been wet for days together without ever getting dry, and in
that way he believed they lost more than would pay for iron
sheds capable of being shifted about.

Mr. Reid (Clune) did not keep any lambs. He had a
large dairy stock, and consumed the most of his green feeding
with them. He, however, fed a lot of cattle in winter, and
his system of feeding was to give turnips with straw after in
the morning, beanmeal or bran at mid-day, and turnips and
straw again in the evening. The dairy cows ware fed much in
the same way.

Mr. Lees (Carngillan) said his experience had been more
iu the breeding of stock I Imu in feeding. He strongly ap-
proved, however, of mixed kinds of food, and of giving diffe-
rent kinds of meal, as giving better results, and being much
safer. In feeding young stock, it was an important thing to
secure that their growth should be constant. Many Ayrshire
farmers erred in this matter. To aUow calves to suck their
mothers was far better than anything they could give them.
In his opinion the best thing to give calves after giving them
milk for a certain period was linseed and beans mixed together ;
this was both nutritive and safe. Many farmers complained
that feeding did not pay them ; but the reason was that they
fed their old cows, after they were done for any other thing.
With regard to the circumstance mentioned by Mr. Cunning-
ham, he did not think that crossing could have much to do
with it : he rather thought it would be due to too high feeding.
Crossing did well enough with sheep, and he could not see how
it should not do as well with cows.

Mr. Waxla.ce (Braehead) had hitherto confined his atten-
tion chiefly to the dairy in connection with the town milk trade;
Jjiit he had been very anxious to hear this discussion, opened

by a practical man like Mr. Bone. He had been in the habit
of keeping a few sheep to pick up what was rough on the fields
that was not taken up by the cows. They got no feeding, but
they paid pretty well. Times were changing, however, and it
might be necessary to consider whether, with the high prices
of beef and mutton, it would not be more profitable to take to
feeding than to continue to produce milk and butter. They
were just getting the same price for a pint of sweet milk that
they got 30 years ago, while bean meal had risen since then
from 15s. to 26s. or 30s. per load, and Campbeltown draft
had doubled in price. There were other disadvantages with
the milk trade, oue of which was the Sabbath labour it involved
iu retailing it to the customers ; and he had been debating in
his mind for the last two or three years whether he should
not give it up. Of course it was not wise to jump at con-
clusions in agriculture ; but he had been diminishing his stock
of dairy cows, and was iucUncd to adopt Mr. Bone's system.

Mr. RoBERTSOX (Ryeburn) said he lived rather out of the
feeding district. He liked the remark in the paper about the
bringing up of calves. In his district, a number of years ago,
they [used to be very much troubled how to get their calves
into proper condition to stand the winter. There was a sort
of reason for that, for after they commenced to make cheese
they did not give the calves as much milk as they needed.
The last two years, when he took the milk from the calves,
he gave them a little oilcake-meal, and sometimes a mixture
of oilcake and peas-meal, with a pint of whey scalded, so that
it did not scour them so readily. He gave them this for
about two mouths after the milk was taken from them, and it
made them stronger in the body and in better conditiou.
AVhen they were forward in condition iu the month of De-
cember, he generally kept them iu sheds during winter, as in
this way they could eat their fodder far better. He generally
gave them two fodderings of straw, and a foddering of hay,
which helped to keep them in fresh condition. In
spring they were in far better condition, and stronger
all through, even when they came to be etterlings. He
believed it was just the same in principle with cattle
reared for feeding purposes. When treated kindly the
first winter, he believed they would repay it as long as
they were kept on the farm. He should like to get a
little information as to the most profitable way of keeping
dairy stock through the winter where there was no green
crop. They had scarcely such a thing as a turnip in his dis-
trict ; and with 50 or 60 head of cattle, it was sometimes
difficult to know what was the best way of keeping them
through the winter. The plan he had adopted the last year
or two was this : He began pretty early in winter with giving
them a foddering of hay with a little bran, a little bean-meal,
and a little Indian-meal. His experience in feeding milk-
stock was that a mixture of feeding-meals was profitable. The
only danger iu being too good to them the first year was that
when they went to grass in the spring, they were apt to take
black-leg or inflammation. He had often found that the best
winterers, aud those in best condition, were the very cues most
subject to disease ; so that he preferred in bringing through
young cattle, to give them more hay and less grain, than being
too kind to them. He liked Mr. Bone's remarks about sheep
very much. He thought a mixture of feeding was good both
for sheep aud cattle ; but the sheep brought into his district
were mostly Highland ewes, and he had never been successful
in teaching Highland sheep off the Highland hills to eat any-
thing but grass.

Mr. Stevenson (Silverwood) had generally a few lambs in
the end of the year, and he had been iu the habit of giving
them a little feeding during the winter. Where they were
kept on till they were fat, they paid the farmer well enough,
but if they had to be sold off in the end of April, he did not
think they paid so well. The method of feeding, and the feed-
ing stuffs recommended by Mr. Bone, were as good as anything
he knew. With regard to the remarks of Mr. Cunningham
about crossing, it occurred to him that he had heard before
that the practice of crossing Ayrshire cows with Siiorthorn
bulls was apt to make the cows less serviceable for breeding
purposes. He had always the idea that if cows were not in as
good conditiou as they ought to be, they were less likely to
be good breeders ; but perhaps extremes either way would have
the same efl'ect.

Mr. WiiYTE (East Raws) said the paper that had been read
was a thoroughly practical one on a most interesting subject,

THE FARMER'S MAaAZINB.

241

He liked Mr. Boue's remarks on the bringing up of young
stock. He thought [the practice was too geueral of stopping
giving them feeding before they were able to feed themselves
properly. He would go a little further than Mr. Robertson,
who gave some feeding for two months. He tliought it would
be better to teed on during winter. He would approve of
giving them oilcake. He used to be a good deal troubled with
them taking black-leg, both in October and November and in
spring ; but since he commenced giving oilcake during winter,
he had lost very few. If they got a lb. a-piece of oilcake per
day they did very well. They very soon learned to eat it, and
it was an economical way of wintering, as they did not take
black-leg so readily. 13y continuing a lb. of oilcake a day,
they would be bigger, and tliey would be got ready for milking
purposes about two years old. He had had very little experi-
ence of sheep, but he found that if sheep were to pay at all,
tliey would pay best with feeding. Though they might not get
the profit on the slieep, if they managed to make tbcir own,
they had their profit in the improvement of the pastures.

The Chairman said he did not remember any paper the
opinions in which had been less challenged than the one read
that day. Ho was greatly pleased with M r. Bone's remarks
about the feeding of slieep. There could be no doubt that in
weather such as this they would be much exhausted unless
care was taken to keep them in condition. They had an advan-
tage this season who had dry land and good shelter. He had
no great experience himself in feeding sheep. He generally
wintered about two hundred ; but his farm was large, and they
just got the run of the farm, and with that they did very well.
But where a full stock was kept, no doubt Mr. Boue's plan
was an excellent one. With regard to the rearing of young
stock, there was a good deal of loss on calves owing to the
greed of milk, which was often taken off them when their
stomachs were not in a condition to take other food. His
plan was not to give them warm milk, but milk with tlie
cream taken off, with the addition of a little oilcake. He
thought Mr. Bone was entitled to the warmest thanks of the
Club for his very excellent paper.

Mr. Young (Kilhenzie) said reference had been made in
the discussion to pulping, and he thought to cut straw with

the pulp-cutter was the best and most economical way of using
straw, as it made it go further, and there was less waste. He
thought even the pulping of turnips should be more exten-
sively done. He had known a good many stocks doing well
with pulped turnips, without any cake. He followed Mr.
Bone's mode of feeding cattle, but Mr. Bone's mode of feeding
sheep was superior to his own. He remembered reading in
Mr. M'Combie's book on cattle-feeding a statement tiiat it
would not pay him to give cake for more than six weeks or
two months at the last. It struck him as something singular
that, with such a system, he could turn out such fine cattle.

Mr. Cunningham (Shields) said the reason was, that Mr.
M'Combie seldom sent a beast to market under four years old,
by which time it was well filled up.

Mr. Young said he was disposed to think they used too
little oilcake in this county. Tliough it did not pay directly,
it did indirectly, in the enhanced value of the manure.

Mr. Cunningham said with regard to losses from black-
leg, he invariably put " setons " in the dew-laps of the calves
in October, and he never lost a calf from black -leg.

Mr. Bone said he was not surprised that Mr. Robertson
lost calves from the black-leg, after hearing the system he
followed of giving them cut hay or straw. Had they been
getting a little oilcake it would have soothed the bowels ; but
either cut straw or hay was sure to irritate them. He had
known people lose ten or twenty in a year by the same course.
If people were going to bring up feeding calves they should
begin and never cease feeding, but keep the animals always
progressing.

Mr. Lees, V.S., said he believed whore many deaths from
black-leg occurred in a stock, it arose from tliere being an
increased quantity of fibrinc in the blood ; and to put a seton
in properly would improve the quality of the blood. But he
knew many cases where setons had been put iu, and where
many deaths had occurred notwithstanding. He believed the
great thing was to keep the animals growing steadily, to feed
tiiem cautiously, and not to expose them to cold, which was
the worst thing possible for them. He agreed with Mr. Bone
as to Mr. Robertson's treatment of his cahes. Green-cut or bog
hay might not do them any harm, but oat straw was not fit.

KINGSCOTE AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION.
WHEA.T GROWING.

At the last monthly meeting, Colonel Kingscote, C.B.,
M.P., in the chair, Mr. Watts read the following paper on
the Cultivation and Diseases of Wheat :

Although the wheat plant is really a native of lempcraie
climates, it is nevertheless capable of resisting the severest
winters of the north, as well as of thriving under the burning
suns of the torrid zones. Thus wheat has a much larger range
of habitat than any of the other cereals ; which is a marvel-
lous proof that it was intended by the Creator of all good to
form the peculiar and chief food of all mankind. We see
its cultivation encouraged in all the great divisions of the
globe. In Asia, the chief wheat-growing districts are those
lying between the Black Sea on the north and the head of the
Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea on the south, embracing Ar-
menia and Palestine. The countries bordering on the Medi-
terranean and Egypt are the wheat-growing districts of /Vfrica.
In Europe, the best districts arc England, France, Italy, Spain,
Austria, Hungary, Prussia, Poland, and Turkey. The wheat-
growing districts of America arc boundless, and even now only
await the hand of man to bring them into cultivation. The
rich, deep valleys of the Ohio, Missouri, and the Mississippi
would, if properly cultivated, grow wheat enough to support
nearly half of the inhabitants of the earth. Then there are
the beautiful wheat-growing districts of South America, and
Australia, from whence we get the finest quality wheats. In-
deed, the climate tliere is perhaps more suitable to its growth
than in any other country. Having said thus much about the
places where wheat is chiefly grown, I shall pass on to the
preparation of the land for wheat, a subject which is of the
greatest importance ; for the ultimate success of every crop
depends in a great measure upon the condition of the plants

through the first stages of their growth, that is, from the ger-
mination of the seed until the plant has attained some degree
of strength, say for the first three or four weeks after the seed
is sown. If from any faulty condition of the soil, _ or the con-
tinuance of unfavourable weather, the plants remain in an un-
healthy condition at this stage, they seldom or ever recover
their vigour afterwards ; and though the season may be most
favourable during the latter part of their growth, yet this
wil not iu all cases compensate for the miscbief done in the
earlier part of the season. With this fact in view how care-
ful should we be that every circumstance connected with the
seed bed should be properly seen to, so that we may render our-
selves safe from all mishaps, except those arising from the wea-
ther! We should therefore after yood^yVo/zy/i^/y, judicious selec-
tion of suitable and very dry seed, and careful sowing, place
the seed in the ground under as favourable circumstances as
we can, so that it may all germinate together. The question
is, Do we as a rule look sufficiently into these important
points connected with the preparation of the seed-bed ? Are
we not all too apt to neglect our ploughing for wheat,
simply because there is still a little sheep keep on the clover
leys ? — the real value of which is imaginary compared with
the loss sustained through putting off the ploughing till the
sheep have fed off the last bite. The more we study the culti-
vation of wheat, the more we see the necessity of a stale fur-
row for the seed-bed, especially when the seed is sown upon a
one-earth furrow. If we put our ploughing off till within
three or four weeks of the time of sowing, we are then com-
pelled to plough deeper in order to bury the sward more effec-
tually as well as to get a sufficient tilth. The consequence of
this is, that the rain has a much better chance of saturating

11.2

TilE FAllMEll'a MAGAZiiSE.

tlic suil t'unovv deep, lluis giving tlic frost ;i iiiucli gru;iti;r iii-
fliiciice over i(, wliicli often loaves it in such an asliiike hollow
stale that the roils liave literally no hold iu tiic ground, and
unless llie roller can soon be brought to its aid, to cousolidatc
the soil about the roots, tiie plant becomes sickly and very soon
dies away. There is another evil attending the delay of
ploughing, that is, we become alarmed at the lateness of tiic
season, and therefore bring into the field all the strength of
the farm ; those who can jdougli are pushed on to turn over
as much as they possibly can, and those who cannot must do
the same. The result is that the furrow-slice is of very various
depths and widths. Sometimes the ploughman has given his
jjlough too much land, and has turned over a much broader
furrow than he should have done, thus producing a low
place in the laud in which the water often lies long
enough to make the plant perish. In another place his
furrows are too upright, thus producing too much soil
into which the seed is too deeply deposited below the
surface. Then again the plough is allowed to lean too
much to the side, cutting a furrow considerably deeper
at top than at bottom, which iu its turn will iullueuce
the seed-bed and the crop by stirring too little soil in certain
places. Although these things appear of but little conse-
quence at the moment, yet they have a very important bearing
upon the production of a good and regular crop of corn.
Clover leys designed for wheat should be ploughed up from
two to three moulhs at least before seed-time, in order that
the sward should have time to get thoroughly decomposed,
and the soil well consolidated. No amount of furrow pres-
sing or rolling can give to the soil that healthy and firm con-
dition which a natural settling does ; and again when the
harrows are put over these artificially-pressed furrows, they
often leave a tilth as fine as ashes, which as soon as the seed-
ing is completed, and the first heavy rain falls, becomes beaten
into a smooth plaster all over the surface, thus excluding the
air from the young plant, and retaining an excess of water
about the roollets which is most hurtful by reducing consider-
ably the temperature of the soil. I like to see, after the seed-
ing is finished (especially upon wet tenacious soils), the sur-
face of the field studded with small clods about the size of a
pebble ; these not only shelter the young plant from the keen
frosty winds, l)iit prevent the soil ruuning together in a very
wet time. Neither does the seed-corn come up so quickly or
so strong from a raw seed-bed as it docs from one well pre-
pared, of which we have abundance of proof every day of our
lives. There is generally some drawback ; the soil is either too
wet or too dry, and plants cannot thrive in an excess of either.
These mishaps seldom happen upon a stale seed-bed, for if the
weather be ever so dry, there is generally suflicient moisture to
cause the seed to germinate, or be it ever so wet, very soon after
the rain has ceased to fall, the surface is dry enough again for
sowing to go on, for the subsoil has attained a naturally
porous state, so that the water draws freely away ; thus show-
ing that the success of the crop depends iu tlie main upon
early and good ploughing, in order that the soil may be as
nearly as jiossiblc of one uniform depth, and iu a perfect state
of cultivation. The depth of ploughing depends in a great
measure upon the strata of the land : for instance you upon
the hills seldom require to exceed four inches, while in the
vale we require five or six. As to top-dressing or manuring
for wheat, that is entirely a question for the occupier ; lie is
best able to judge whether or not his land is capable of c.ir-
rying out the crop to full maturity. The dilTerenee iu the
quality of the soil upon almost every farm, and indeed almost
every field, is so very various, that while one part of the field
is as good as can be, another really requires a dressing of ma-
nure to enable it to maintain the crops througli all its stages,
and it is tlicrcfore well to mark these weak places, and help
tliem out iu some way or other. The selection of \i heat for
seed is too often a subject of very little forethouglit, although
much disappointment may be avoided by carefully studying
tlie character of the soils, as well as the habits of the particu-
lar variety of wheat which we are about to sow. Wiieat is not
a native production of Great Hrilain, therefore it has a ten-
dency to degenerate, _ more especially in tlie colder districts of
the north. In proof of this, seed sown in the same neigh-
bourhood year after year, very soon becomes less productive,
therefore we should look somewhat to the temperature of our
own neighbourhood, as well as to the climate from whence we
intend to get a change of seed, i'or a change of seed is as

necessary to tiio success of a wheat crop as fresh blood
is to our catlle. The varietic^s of wheat are more nu-
merous than of any other kiud of grain, and are con-
stantly being augmented, jirobably from the I'lct tlial the
dilference in the qualityand colour of certain soils lias mate-
rially changed the original character and colour of the grain
and cause it to assume new names and to pass as new varie-
ties. The quantity of seed required per acre has given rise to
much conflicting controversy. Every farmer should be able to
decide for himself by careful observation what quantity of seed
his land really requires. Too thick seeding is both injurious
and wasteful, for if the land is not iu an eflicient state to sup-
port one plant, how can it suppport more ? but is is mere de-
lusion to tell us that an acre of land can be seeded with a few
quarts of wheat. From five to eight pecks per acre is ample
upou land in ordinary condition. Climate, too, must rule the
time oi sowing. In my opinion all autumn wheat should be
sown by the first of December, and all spring wheat by the
first of April ; after this a barley or an oat crop will pay
better to grow than wheat. The depth of sowing is another
point to which I should like to draw your attention. The
soil is usually the medium of moisture and warmth to the seed,
aud it effects germination only as it influences the supply of
these. The burying of the seed serves to cover it from the
birds, and to keep it from drying up. I believe the medium
depth should be about 1^ inches, for if the seed is deposited
too deeply it comes up weak and spiry. On the atlier hand,
when sown bo that there is soil enough to well cover it, the
plant comes through quicker, and looks more vigorous and
liealthy, for air and light have a freer access to the
roots, and without these no plant can thrive. To in-
crease the produce of the land should be the entire
object of the agriculturist. There is no business or
profession which reqii'res a greater amount of in-
dustry, perseverance, or forethought, than farming. The
fanner has not only all atmospheric iutluences to guard
against, but others besides, for after he has at a great expense
and trouble brought his land into a perfect state of cultiva-
tion, and naturally enough is looking forward to and expecting
a plentiful crop, how often does he find his hopes disappointed,
without being able to imagine the cause ! However interesting
it may be to discuss the accidents to which wheat crops are
liable, yet we can only take a general view of them. For in-
stance, continued heavy rain is injurious to wheat. It keeps
the roots so wet as to retard its growth, and if it should happen
to fall when the wheat is in blossom it washes off the pollcu
prematurely, thus damaging the perfecting of the grain. Again,
young wheat is often injured by very severe frosts in winter,
and still more in the spring. Wlicn we get frost and rain al-
ternately, the land is so wet that frost has a great influence
over it, aud so binds up the surface that it appears an inch or
two higher than it should be, aud breaks off the wheat at the
neck. Snow is beneficial, inasmuch as it shelters the plant
from the severity of the frost. Hail storms, too, are most de-
structive to corn crops, but happily they are of rare occurrence
in this country. I well remember a tremendous atonn of hail
passing through a part of Oxfordshire on the 9th of August,
ISl-i, just as the corn crops were nearly fit to cut, the like of
whicli had never been seen before iu that locality. After
the storm had passed, the corn fields, which had only a
short time before promised an abundant yield, appeared al-
most anuihilatcd. The hail was so large, and fell in
such masses, that it had almost destroyed the growing
crops. Lightning has a great influence over grain crops, and
no doubt much blight may be attributed to it. Crops suffer
more iu this country from wet aud cold than from any otlicr
causes, yet drought also has sometimes injured them to a great
extent ; but wheat docs not suffer so much from heat as some
of the other cereals. Iu the extraordinary drought of 1826
and 1828 the production of wheat w.is good. We now come
to what are more generally called the diseases of wheat. Bunt,
or smut ball, is perkaps oue of the most formidable diseases
wheat is subject to. It is a species of degeneracy of the grain
iu the car, which, instead of producing llour, as in a healthy
grain, produces a black, dusty powder. Wheat crops infected
with this disease are to a greater or less extent reduced in
value. The means of preventing its ravages have fortunately
long since been in the hands of every farmer. The modes by
which smut can be prevented are so numerous and so well
kuown that it is needless for niQ to menliouanyof them here,

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

243

except one, and tliat is vitriol. I fully believe that tliere is no
other remedy more safe or sure than this. The quantity
required is about 1 lb. per sack. Rust or reilguni, again, is a
common disease in wheat, and generally makes its appearance
about June or July. It first shows itself on the leaves and
stems of the plant in the form of orange-coloured spots.
No remedy is known against this disease ; it has defied every
attempt to find one, nor does tlie best cultivated land escape
from its consequences. It often happens that lands
heavily manured for wheat suffer most. Wheat land
does not require to be kept up in too high con-
dition, it is much better to keep it neither too rich
nor too weak. Wheat sown on the sites of dung heaps shows
extreme sign of rust in the most favourable seasons. Early
sowing is one of fiie best preventives, as the ears are filled
before the disease has been very injurious. The growth of
hardy sorts of wheat upon laud very subject to it is also de-
sirable, llildew is another wheat disease ; this is a kind of
fungus, and not only reduces the quality of quantity of the
grain, but renders the straw almost useless for feeding pur-
poses. There is scarcely any season but what mildew may be
found in a greater or less extent, especially in damp and foggy
weather, but if the damage done has not been too great, and
the weather should again be favourable, the genial beams of
the sun often dispel, in a surprising manner, the unhealthy
appearaiice of the straw, and it ripens oif as bright as possible.
Among the various difficulties witli which farmers have to con-
tend in raising tlieir crops, none, perhaps, are more trying
than the ravages of all kinds of under-ground pests. Per-
haps the first of these, and oue of the most destructive of
them, is the wireworm. It attacks the stems of plants close
to the roots. Of all the insects with which we have to con-
tend there is none more fatal in its effects, or more difficult to
overcome. It feeds upon almost every kind of plant which it
may happen to come upon, and the mischief done by these
little animals is incalculable. There is scarcely any land where
the wireworm might not be found, and but few crops that it
will not attack ; in fact, wherever grasps grows the wireworm
may be found, and this is the reason why newly broken up
land so constantly swarms with these insects. We find them
most destructive in dry seasons, and in a cold dry spring we
often see the youg plant turn from a healthy green to a sickly
yellow. The dying off of the leaves indicates that the wire-
worm is at woric. What is the remedy ? iV top-dressing of
lime, soot, or salt will check their ravages ; but as this cannot
be done with safety w hen the plant is up, the proper time is
to sow it upon the leys before ploughing. But when the plant
is up the roller seems to be the most effective and only safe
remedy, for by excessive pressure the wireworm are compelled
for a time to descend into the earth. Mustard is also said to
he a very strong preventive. I myself am of opinion that the
wireworm can be kept down by starvation, by subjecting the
land intended for wheat to an 'early ploughing, and thus
depriving tiiem of their natural haunts and food. Another
wheat pest is the slug, which feeds upon the roots by day, and at
night devours the blades of young plants. Grubs are also most
destructive to the grain crops. Happily, Providence has so
ordered that every season shall not be favourable to their produc-
tion, or it would soon render the world a desert. Salt and lime
are the best known remedies for destroying them. Two or
three years a go our pea crop was so infected by them that 1
rolled the peas with a smooth-faced roller, and after this the
crop suH'ered but very little. Further, there is the wheat fly,
the mischief done by which is frightful to contemplate. Even
in ihe season now past its ravages were most destructive. At
the beginning of June we had as fine a field of wheat as ever
man saw, yeifectly erect, and as level as possible. All at once,
as though it had been broken down with heavy r;un or rough
wind, the whole field became in a very scrawled state. Upon
examining into the cause of this I found the straw in many
cases eaten through, and in many others nearly so, so that the
least wind could break them off. I found a small two-winged
fly working away at the stem, with its eggs deposited between
the leaves and stem of the plant. The plant louse or aphis is
another of these extensive tribes which infect corn crops.
Tiiey generally appear upon the wheat ears in July, and very
much impoverish the grain by sucking the stems. But for the
activity of the lady cow, these small green insects would do a
very great deal of mischief to the grain crops. Providence,
watchful of all His works has appointed one insect over another

in order that the destroyer should be destroyed, and thus keep
them all in check. To enter into all the diseases and injuries
to which wheat crops are liable, would lead me far
beyond the limits of this paper. I will, therefore, end Ijy
asking you to give us, by a free discussion, your experience
upon the cultivation and diseases of wheat.

Col. KiNGSCOTE said his own observations would bear out
what Mr. Watts had said respecting early ploughing. Some
years ago, in one of bis own fields, the ploughman had struck
out a good many lops, and ploughed a bit on each side just
before their ploughing match was to take place. They did
not plough any more in that field for somelhing like a month
afterwards; the wheat on the early ploughed land looked
much better all the winter, and the crop equally so at harvest,
such a dill'erence that you could see to a furrow. And only
that very day, as he was riding along the road, he saw a field
which looked exactly the same. He should lik« to know if
there was any difference in the time of ploughing. (Mr.
B. Drew said the cause of this was exactly the same as
had been mentioned.) He (Col. Kingscote) would like
to know if it was of as much importance to have the wheat
l)lougliing done as early in the vale as on the hills ; and the
means (if any) to prevent the fly mentioned which caused such
ravages amongst our wheat crops ; whether the quantity of
grass ploughed in one season over another had anything to do
with the superabundance of these pests. He believed that
wlien the plant looked weak and sickly the land required a
stimulant, what that stimulant should be would be very impor-
tant to know.

Mr. Robinson, who had farmed on the hills and now
in the vale, believed in early ploughing for wheat in both
districts, but more so in the former. It was a great mis-
take to plough deep for wheat, whether clover leys or after
swedes or mangolds, and more especially if not done some con-
siderable time before sowing. He believed in rising for seed
the best and very dryest wheat. Their practise used to be to
keep enough or buy old wheat for seed, and, although it was
not in accordance with the age to move backwards, yet he was
sure it would be a step to their advantage to return to that
system. There was no need for preparing the seed, and it
came up quicker and stronger. He had seen holes eaten
through wheat stalks before now, and it may have been done
by the fly which Mr. Watts had mentioned ; but mildew, ru.st,
and other diseases which the wheat crop is liable to, especi-
ally where it was very thick, or thin, or late sown, were caused
from wet weather and black frosts at night. As regards ma-
nuring, the late Mr. Drew and Mr. Burnett had carried out
experiments for some years, and speaking from memory the
result was not satisfactory. The best was soot, and second
best guano.

Mr. Hayward could corroborate every word that had been
said in favour of early ploughing, especially on the hills. To
grow wheat successfully you must have a good seed bed, the
best and dryest seed, and the firmer you compressed the laud
tlie better. His experience was quite in harmony with all
Mr. Watts had said.

Mr. B. Drew (Boxwell), not only fully agreed with Mr.
Watts, but could endorse the opinions of all the other
speakers. Sevaral times he had put off his wheat-ploughing
till late for the sake of the keep on the land, but had always
burnt his fingers by so doing. The result was he had to
plough and sow again in the spring, and, if not, he had two
or three sacks less per acre than by the early ploughing. As
had been said, many of the diseases which wheat and all other
cereals were liable to might be in a great measure prevented
by care and attention to modes of treatment.

Mr. C. EoRD said Mr. Watts had recommended salt or lime
as a means of destroying the wireworm and other insects
which injured the wheat. He would ask which of them was
the best, and the best time to apply them ? Erom his ex-
perience, he could not speak in favour of preparing (or what
we term vitriolliug) old wheat for seed. On two occasions he
had done so, and the wheat never came up.

Mr. Watts said not less than 100 bushels of lime, or half-a-
ton of salt, applied before ploughing.

Mr. Burnett proposed a resolution to the eflect, that facts
bear out most fully the ideas of Mr. Watts, whose paper is,
therefore, a source of reliable information,. This was seconded
by Mr. IIayward, and unanimously carried.

The usual votes of thanks closed the proceedings.

244

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
HORSES AjN'D horse BREEDING.

At a meeting at Sydney, Mr. Mostyn read the following
paper : " Horses and horse breeding " is a very large title and
a most comprehensive theme ; in fact, like many other things,
it astonishes one who fancies he has mastered it, by its mag-
nitude and 1 he little he really knows. I feel in this predica-
ment at present, for there are so many ways of handling the
subject and so many ways of looking at it, that I'm sorely
puzzled vvhere to begin. During the last few days the horse
of New South Wales has been on his trial ; and so suppose
that to him T address myself, and I do this more from a hope
that some discussion may be provoked by what I say, than be-
lieving I shall be able, unassisted, to do any good. In such
case, good invariably follows the full discussion and ventila-
tion of a subject, and, judging from what we have lately seen,
the Australian horse, poor fellow, is in need of assistance.
The question for consideration appears to be : 1st, Whether
the present New South Wales horse is wliat he should be ;
2nd, Whether he is deteriorating ; 3rd, What sort of horse
we want ; and, lastly. How to breed him. We continually
hear a great outcry made, the sum and substance of which is,
that our horses are not what they were in years gone by ; and
much argumentative capital is and has been knocked out, by
writers who have worn the subject completely threadbare with-
out throwing much light upon it. I believe there are many
pros and cons that may be fairly imported into atiy argument
on the present and past Australian horse ; for allowing that
we do not see so many good useful nags as we used, compared
with the number employed, it must be remembered there are
now ten horses employed for every one that was, many yeais
ago ; and, independent of the falliag-olT sustained through
carelessness, it must be admitted that the good horses will be
absorbed by an increased demand as well as the rubbish. My
own experience, running over five-and-twenty years in Aus-
tralia, reminds me that, since that time, there has been, at all
events, no improvement in the useful horses of this colony ;
but, on the other hand, they are either fallen off from what
tliey were, or I see them with very dilferent eyes. Herein
may arise the adverse opinions to horses of the present day.
I well remember when first I arrived in Victoria — about ISl-S
— that almost every good looking useful hunter or harness
horse one saw, came eitiier from New South Wales or Tas-
mania ; and right good horses they were. There must have
been here in those days some good mares in the breeding
studs, and their owners had sense to keep them, besides using
none but the best sires, so that the strains of Whisker, Theo-
rem, Stieltrap, Model, Hector, and Emigrant were everywhere
to be found. The liackueys of that time did prodigies of
work, and it was quite inexplicable to Englishmen how they
did it, having been all their lives innocent of shoes witliout, or
hay and oats \fithin. I take it, the hard and nutritious nature
of the indigenous grasses, and the absence of macadamised
roads, had much to do with enabling these horses to undergo
a marvellous quantity of heavy work without giving vray ; and
I will commit myself to the opinion that, in a country like
ours, for any work not requiring extreme tension and taxing
of muscles and lungs, the horse in a state of nature will prove
most enduring. The late Mr. John Christie had some really
good weight-carrying hacks at the time I speak of, and they
struck me very forcibly as a new arrival from England, being
vastly superior to all others I saw. Mr. Christie then lived
at Kyeta, on the Lower Murrumbidgee, and he had brouglit
his horses from the Wellington side. With all our changes
and improvements, I question ever having seen four better
horses of the sort belonging to one man in this colony since.
A great deal is said about the falling-off in the Indian trade ;
but there are half-a-dozen ways for accounting for this. When
our horses were pretty good, and well liked as rtmounts for
the Indian army, colonial breeders became anxious to increase
their stock very precipitately, and by so doing they succeeded
in producing an artitle that was useless at home, and without
a market value abroad. These ill-judging settlers, in their

anxiety for numbers bred from anything in the shape of a
mare, and put her to anything in tlis shape of a horse ; the
consequence being that the country was overrun with hordes
of rubbish which have long since defied all efforts at extermi-
nation. Our neighbours on all sides have acted a wiser part ;
and, quickly perceiving our weak spot, they came here at
once and despoiled us of all our mares worth having ; so that,
while we kept going farther and fartlier back, they raised
tlieraselvcs on our weakness, and beat us out of the market.
A great question is, whether tiie New Soutli Wales horse-
breeders of the present time are not as slurt-sighted as they
of the past ; though possibly their mistakes do not arise
in the same quarter, nor from the same cause. I have no
doubt the horse of New South Wales, as generally seen in
these days, is not what he should be. I am equally sure
he is degenerating, or, at any rate, not improving, and
the blame lies with the breeders themselves. Careless-
ness as to the stock selected for breeding from, and care-
lessness in the rearing, are the main faults ; and these
arise from a careful belief in many a breeder's heart
that everything he has is better than all else. He
will not enter into any friendly contests for superi-
ority of stock ; he lets his foals, yearlings, and
two-year-olds live as they can, or starve if they can't ; and,
after a few years, he finds liimself the possessor of a stud of
weeds, wliile his neighbours ride and drive well-bred weight-
carriers, almost fit to win a Queen's Plate. Can anyone who
looked through the Horse Section in Prince Alfred Park
doubt that the apathy of breeders is ruining our horse stock ?
or say that the show was not a positive disgrace to a horse-
breeding country ? The blood horse classes were terribly
deficient, tlie hackneys, hunters, and harness-horses showing,
certainly, no improvement, and the draught classes, entires
excepted, giving plentiful evidence of falling off. That some-
thing must be radically wrong in this is evident ; with 3, 0,
and 2 males, 4, 1 and 3 females, and a single mare and foal
exhibited ; and none but the breeders are to blame. If it be
the conditions or time of year that are unsuitable, the breeders
are the proper persons to object, and so have the difficulty got
over. If properly supported, there is nothing that can do so
much towards improving our horses as the Agricultural
Society ; but the Society cannot do this work alone, nor with-
out the assistance of the breeders themselves. And now what
sort is the horse that we want ? He must be strong, active,
well-shaped, and well-bred, whether his breed be that adapted
to light or lieavy work ; for there is as much difference be-
tween a Leger winner and commou hack, in the breeding of
your noble prize draught-horse, with his fine head and neck,
majestic carriage, and a walk that can take him half-a-dozen
miles in the liour, and tliat ugly brute, witli a great fiddle-head
and pig's-eye, and legs, each of which would make a good
stable broom. It matters not what you want a horse for, he
must be well-bred. An ounce of blood is wortti pounds of
bone ; and although the latter commodity is an absolute
necessity in a heavy draught horse, there must be the right
blood in an Atlas, a Conqueror, or a Scotch Jock, as well as in
a Tarragon or a Barb. We have here plenty of race-horses,
wliose owners apparently don't care to show them at the
Exhibition ; but how many of the other horses wc saw on
Saturday and Monday have any pretensions to a place on a
prize show ground ? What this colony is at present badly off
for are useful horses, up to weight and long journeys ; and
until we succeed in breeding a goodly supply of these every
year, wc are not likely to'again see our old place in the Eastern
market, or to be in a position to mount ourselves on horses of
w^hat we are wont to call " the good old sort." Occasionally,
one meets with a rare ait of a hachiey ; but they are getting
few and far between, and when found are always very old.
These facts are wonderfully suggestive. The horse we want,
to be what we want, must be as nearly tlioroughbred as
possible, if not quite so; for, if it be proved beyond a doubt

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

245

that thoroughbreds are facile pr'mctpes at carrying twelve
stone over four miles of a steeplechase course, or going over
fifteen or sixteen miles of a hunting country with a crack pack
of hounds, and sixteeu stone in the saddle, then I for one have
no douht that as near as possible to the same animal will he
the one that is best for the journey of a day, a week, or a
month, or to go successfully through a campaign to " Cabul."
When the ten-mile race was run at Wagga Wagga, I remem-
ber hearing folks say they would like a big strong half-bred
horse for it ; but the race- horses finished in front; as they
always will, and would have then, had the distance been ten
times what it was. I am all in favour of good blood if good
work has to be done ; for whenever great feats have had to be
performed ou horseback, blood has been the main thing sought
for, and that we must have in the horse we want at present.
Of the possibility of breeding such animals, I have no doubt,
for there is no instance on record of a demand being created
without a supply arriving to meet it. Within my recollection
of hunting iu England, hounds and horses were very slow, and
people hunted more for passing away time than for getting
over a certain piece of country at a great pace ; but when the
breeding of hounds was reduced to a science, and the hound
improved in speed, he used to run clean away from the heavy,
square-tailed, half-bred nags, our forefathers rode ; and then
it became necessary to breed horses that could live with the
spotted beauties, who, when their speed increased, gave much
less tongue than those that preceded them. No sooner the
necessity was discovered than it was met ; and shortly the
bang-tailed thoroughbred replaced the old EngHsh hunter at
the covert side. Theu came the palmy days of steeplechasing ;
when, after Captain Becher, Mr. Cromraeliu, Bill Bean,
SetTert, had made Moouraker, Vivian, Grimaldi, and their
fellows famous, came Jem Mason and Oiliver, Lottery and Gay-
lad, to race over the country as the others did on the flat ; and
tlie fact became established that thoroughbreds were the horses
for " fast things" over the grass pastures and ox fences of The
Shires, or delve through the Vale of Aylesbury with the
Baron. And if so in England why not here ? 'iVhat reason
liave we for not breeding horses to do good things, while we
have climate, soil, and grasses equal to any in the world ?
There is simply no reason whatever. So, let us see how they
are to be bred. First, thoroughbred sires, and the best.
Then, well-bred mares with plenty of size. To breed from
weeds is simply an absurd waste of time ; for, however
necessary blood may be, and I say that it is absolutely
necessary, there must be some points as well. A great rock
on which many Australians have split is the breeding from any
mare, because she was a tb.oroughbred horse of Mr. Jones, or
by a horse imported by Smith Robinson ; or because she was
out of what people persist in calling " an Arab mare." Any-
one who breeds from weeds — without character, or shape, or
strength, simply for the little drop of blood tliey are supposed
to possess — will soon find his horses lowered to the size of
ponies ; and good for very little, or any good purpose. I
never saw a stud of mares in the colony in which there were
not a lot of mean-looking common things that could hardly,
by anything short of a miracle, breed a good horse ; but I
always notice that these mares, without exception, have long
pedigrees, running back to somebody's thoroughbred horse, or
somebody else's Arab mare. A great evil I have noticed,
which accounts for the lot of common rubbish one meets with
in the country, is the sort of idea that anything will throw a
hackney if she is put to a good horse. Nobody would breed
for a race-horse on such a principle. On the contrary, if any-
one wants to breed a race-horse, he will look out for good
blood aud good points, and good performances ; if he wants a
heavy di-aught horse, lie will choose a big square mare, with as
much power as possible, as broad a chest, witli the biggest
bone below the knee, and a big roomy middle piece ; but
when hackneys arc wanted it is the custom to say " Oh, I'll
buy a dozen cheap tilings out of pound, and put them to a
thoroughbred colt I have in the paddock, and they'll throw me
some hackneys." This is said without a thought that the most
difficult animal of the horse kind to find ready, or to breed for
oneself, is a right good hackney, seeing that we have not
arrived at any conclusion what crosses, if any, are best when
breeding expressly for hackneys. I'm sure that we don't get
activity and action by breeding from what are or used to be
called Hunting Stallions ; and I quite believe iu going as near
to the English thoroughbred as possible. Many persons be-

lieve in breeding from Arabs ; and no doubt, of course, our
blood stock all trace back to the Arab and the Barb ; but I
think we should take into account the immense difference there
must be between the mares that were mated with Arabs about
the middle of last century, and our present thoroughbreds ;
and, for my part, I should never think of breeding a race-horse
by mating a thoroughbred mare with an Arab. What owner
of a crack herd of improved shorthorns would think of hunting
about to get a Durham bull of the old sort, from which the
cattle take their name, and mating him with his best cows ?
Yet this seems as feasible as running back with our horses at a
single stride to the Arab founder. 1 can see no why nor where-
fore ; but, on the contrary, I say ciii bono have we spent a
hundred years in bringing the race-horse to a greater state of
perfection if we are to go back to the point from which we
started to look for improvement? Breeding is a difficult
science indeed, and one which few people undei stand, and I
don't pretend to ; but I'm sure it doesn't consist only in
putting a strong horse to a weedy mare, aud expecting the
former will drive away tlie faults of the latter ; ratlier, I
think, would the reverse be the case, and the bad qualities be
strengthened in the produce, to the extinction or weakening of
the sire's good ones. Endeavour, I say, to provide a double
quantity of the good, which may thus become powerful enough
by its redundancy to nullify wluat is complained of. From
what I see of Arab horses, their symmetry, and the way their
purity of race is maintained, I come to the conclusion that
their masters in the desert must thoroughly understand the
mysteries of breeding ; and we read that these desert breeders
pay much more attention to the choice of, mare than horse ;
indeed, we know that good Arab mares are not procurable for
export. This special attention to the choice of mares I should
take to be the chief reason of the Arab success, seeing that it
is the exact opposite of our neglect of the mare vyhich has evi-
dently been so ruinous. In race-horse breeding we do pay
some attention to choice of mares ; or, at least some of our
breeders do, and they turn out a good many winners ; but
there are others I could name who go on year after year breed-
ing from the same old strains aud old mares or their daughters,
and never by any chance do they see their horses even run
second. They have a bad foundation, and would do belter to
cut the throats of the mares, or export them, and buy new
ones with part of the proceeds. Promiscuously breeding in-
and-in I have a decided objection to, simply it may be because
I prefer practical results in the matter of breeding horses to
ajl theories I ever heard ; but I go so far as this, that when
there are certain strains of blood that have proved successful
when joined and conjoined, I don't believe we can have too
much of them. As I have said, I cannot believe iu breeding
in-and-in promiscuously ; fori don't think anyone ever saw a
good horse (though he might be good-looking) that came out
of a wild mob in which breeding had been promiscuously carried
on for a few years. I have seen them tried often, and always
witli the same results. Either they were perfect weeds — being,
as I supposed, the produce of veiy young fiUies and colts ; or
if they had plenty of size, and good looks enough, there was
always something about them that made them worthless.
The practice of buying and shipping colts of this description,
so as to make the price of one purchase four, has no doubt had
a great part in giving us the bad name as horse-breeders we
have had for some time in the Indian market. Choose big
roomy mares, and if you breed for racing be sure you pick
mares with winners in their families. I see in some studs
mares I wouldn't have at a gift if they didn't breed winners,
and others not worth twopence, because they don't ; and these
want discarding, I shall be told that it's not so easy to get
together a stud of mares ; but I'm not foolish enough to sup-
pose you can get them together in a year, or five, or even ten.
Mr M'Dougal would tell you that it has taken him many
years, and always will take many years to establish a herd of
first-class cows ; and, if a herd of cows can be obtained to
please a breeder by carefully breeding them, I see no reason
why a stud of mares cannot be made a certainty of ou the
same principle! The horse-breeders of New South Wales tried
hard and successfully for more than ten years to spoil the breed
of horses which, a quarter of a century ago, was a very forgiv-
able boast ; and it's high time they gave ten years to a trial at
remedying the mischief. If they'll try the experiment I've
no doubt they will succeed. Pick the best of mares with blood,
bone, aud substance, discarding every weed, no matter how many

246

TITE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

tUorouehbred horses and " Kitties" you find lu her pedigree ;
and spa e no expense in a sire ; and if yon ^^;ou't get too fond
of your own. the ehanees are much in your favour. In your
choice of a sire, don't he afraid of getting too much of the
"W'xv" blood whicli we are fortunate enough to liave ui
plenty here in Australia, and than which there is no luug
better The more times you find the names of Whalebone,
Whisker, or Web, in a pedigree, the better it will be for you ;
and remember tiie Touchstone family, through Orlando ; and
tlie Sir Hercules family, through Birdcatcher, the Baron, aud
Stockwell, down to Hose of Denmark, Florence and liam et
If YOU breed for racing, always choose mares, it possible, that
have bred winners, and better still, stayers. In Australia we
have Cassandra, Flora M'lvor, Mr. Lee's Marshiouess, and
Gaslight ; besides many more, no doubt, it I were to rake them
up- and the name ol Tocahoutas is a household word in
England. I have a prejudice in favour of old sires of w'hicli
there are some great instances. Corinne, wmuer ot the Oaks
in 1818, was by Waxy, who won the Derby m 1/93 ; so that
he must have been twenty-five years old ; and I know lustances
which do not occur to me at the moment, of horses being the
sires of winners at twenty-eight. We are well oif for sires
here at present ; but in want of mares. The best blood ot
England is here now, aud we want no other hut the best blood
still. Late importations of blood-stock fall f^ir short ot the
mark as if buyers in England for the colonial market thought
anything good enough, aud about the same as articles one sees
every day advertised as being manufactured expressly Jor the
coloihd market. These I carefully eschew, as I will also
English horses, if 1 see many more of the sort that have lately
arrived. I don't speak without exception. There are
prejudices plenty against young sires, and certain y 1 preter
the older ones, but the success of Ferryman and Maribyruong
makes me attribute the usual poor results with very young
horses their having been hardworked in training up to the
time of going to the stud, while the two horses I speak; ot did
little or no training. It may be said that Tarragon and
Yattenden, while in training, took their season at the stua ;
to which I can only reply that Tarragon's trainmg work was
very li'-ht; and that, while Yatteudou did double duty as
race-ho?se and sire, his triumphs through his stock were small
indeed— and we have nothing of his nearly equal to Jav liu
No breeder will ever establish a good stud of mares without
commencing at once, and cutting out every weed. Mever
mind if you have only a couple left, you will make more
money outof them eventually than out of dozens of rubbisJi.
Breed for blood aud sixe, and the good points will come. 1
can fancy nothing better than King Alfred as a sire, for his
stock are all strong, aud with plenty of quality ; and unless
they are good behind— thighs, hocks, aud gaskins-they can t
jump as all his horses do. One great reason why we don t
'have more good horses is the way our young stock are ill-
treated. In many cases on goes the rope, then the bridle, then
the saddle, and then the man ; and in a couple of hours some
rider of buckjumpers in careering away on him as if he d been
under saddle all his life. Then again, before this part of the
education is come to, the colts are often starved almost to
death's door, through neglect when they are very young ; and
these take a long time to come round. Among thoroughbreds,
if a colt is to race early he must be well taken care of trom his
foalage : his dam must have good keep, and he himselt be lea
wellin good pasture, with coru and bran twice a da>, so soon
as he will eat it ; for it takes at least four years lor a colt, not
artificially fed, to obtain the size and strength aud muscle lie
requires to have to race at two years old. I believe, though
that a horse allowed to grow up ou natural grasses, handled
aud kept in stable for a couple of months, so as to be quiet to
ride at three years old, and then allowed to run out again till
five, will be constitutionally much stronger, and last longer

than the one who was highly fed with inflammatory food long
before his stomach was strong enough to receive and digest it
properly. Anything, however is better thau early starvation,
from which horses seldom or never recover. I know ouc of tlie
finest aud best horses in the country, who has defied all efforts
to train him, on account of some undiscoverable constitutional
ailment; and his owner attributes it solely to having been
starved as a foal. I see there is sonething doing in the
manufacture of pedigrees for horses that have let here and
gone to India ; and if some foreign potentate would only relieve
us of about half the mares that form our breeuing studs, it
would pay well to give them good pedigrees to get rid of them.
ItTsboth amusing and instructive to observe the vast difference
between the old horses of England forty years ago and those of
the present ; and the difference in treatment is as great as in
the animals. In the days of the old "i'^^^^ffJ' j/^.
hunters, I'm just old enough to remember how at the end ot
each season all the horses were turned out to grass ajii befo e
they went out, the hunting-groom carefu ly bled them all,
vvhether they wanted it or not. They then remained ou
Srough the summer, say till the middle of August, haying had
in the meantime, all their beautiful eoudition, that ook all
e season to pu on tJiem, as well knocked off; and when they
c me up, they were all as carefully bled as they had been on
"hig out. Some might be fat, and others as poor as crows ;
ft mattered not, for they all were treated alike ; and the cou-
eciuencc of this treatment was that these hunters were never
n-o fit to go properly through a run till the season was more
than half over. The celebrated Mr. Apperly, bet or known as
Nimrod,wasthe first to advocate a fp'<^"^ of /"'""If "f
hunters in the house, aud also clipping those who through the
old grazing system had very long coats. For a long time he
tried in vain to reason people into his views, writing ml he
Sporhur/ Magazine, against plentiful_ opposition. After a
while, however, his opponents had to give way and the new
reghne was extensively followed. Universal phlebotomy among
hunters was done away with, clipping in the first "'.stance. a^iKl
then sino-ein- became the rule instead of the exception, and lor
the last five-and-tweuty years such a thing as turning out a
niter to grass is unknown. The days of he slow square-
tails were those in which lived the good old country squire
celebrated in many an old hunting soug ; but to that genera-
ion succeeded the straighter and fas^ter-going Aleltonia.^^
described by Nimrod when he told of " Snob" and the Litt e
Bay horse in that well-read and re-read run iro.n Ashby
Pastures ; aud we become painfully alive to the paeMliat kills,
when we iead that " Snob pulls up at the gate and John \\ h.te
goes over the hinge post, and Captain Ross follows hira, and
ure shown in a capital engraving where " 'L'hc L. leBayhoise
will have no more." Hounds, horses, and men all got faster,
and it was well, as they had to do so, that the syst^em of sum-
mering horses was changed according to Nimrod s idea, tor
they w%uld never have been able to live at all. There is no
doubt that the vast tension of muscles requisite to live with
hounds now requires the condition to be continually kept up to
concert pitch, which it could not have been if the horses were
turned out for four months at a stretch. The same thing, 1
believe, applies to throwing race-horses out of work com-
pletely; for it takes so long to fetch them up to the mark
Uain, that the trainer is very liable, in his eflorts to get them
fit to find them go all to pieces before they are half prepared ;
and so, very likely, he loses a valuable horse.

A discussion took place on the question of breeding from
Arabs in which the Chairman, Messrs. George Kouse, A. A.
Dangar, and other gentlemen took part ; Mr. Mostyn explain-
in- tliat his opinion was against Arab sires for race-horse-
breeding, though not so much so in breeding for hacks ; but m
no case did he believe in putting an Arab sire to a thorougli-
I bred mare, aud then breeding from the produce of this cross.

LAVENHAM FAEMERS' CLUB.

At the last monthly meeting the subject for discussion was
The loss of Force in Agricultural rroduction, introduced by
Mr.D.T. Fish,of llardwicke. The chair was taken by Mr.

AV.Biddell. , „ „. ^. . ...

Mr, D. T, Fish said; bhallow cuUivntiou is one of the

most perfect contrivances for wa.te of force that co Id be in
vented. Supposing you l"'rchased a coa niine with five ^
six seams of good coal, one on the top of the "tl'^"^' '^,"'. '°" ']
only be persuaded to work the upper seam ? i""; ;"'}';
virtually wliut thousands of cultivators are doing. Veai aiie

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

247

year they go on and on, scratching the surface to the same
depth. They seem positively afraid of a god Pan tliat lias
slumbered for ages in the bottom of your furrows. You will
find all other traders and manufacturers anxious to get as
much raw material as they can for their capital ; sample and
bulk must correspond and full measure assured. Agriculturists
are keen business men in most matters. Few are a match,
none can overreach them in the purchasing of stock, farm
implements, &c., but in the hiring and the use of land many
seem to have forgotten much of their wisdom and business
acumen. The ruling passion appears to be to get as wide a
surface as possible, and to keep close to it ever-after. No
matter how rich the soil below, the Pan must not be broken.
The upheaving and overthrow of this idol is the grandest re-
volution that has ever been eifected in agriculture. But there
are still thousands of acres where the violent throes of this
revolution have not yet been felt. Shallow tilths are still the
rule, deep the exceptions ; and many of those who have over-
thrown Pan seemed afraid to go lower. The fact seems still
generally ignored, that the earth is not simply a store house
for plant food, but is itself, to a very great extent, that food.
It is the great bank from whence they draw their mineral con-
stituents, those earthy matters that form the bony skeletons of
plants. The deep cellars of the earth are richly stored with
salts, lime, and iron, and we have only to open the door with
our cultivators, for the roots to enter in and find abundance of
all their inorganic elements already for use. These are to the
plant and its capacity for food-making what large bones and
powerful muscles are to the workman — the core, the solid
foundation of their strength. Many languishing crops are
crying out for mineral food. Instead of this their mouths are
filled, and roots fed, with organic manure. Tiie crop gorge
themselves into fatness with this, and when the rain and the
wind sweep over them down they fall to rise no more for the
lack of that mineral food that lies wasting beneath them. It
seems almost within hailing distance of the roots, but they
cannot go through the Pan compressed into an impenetrable
barrier by the plough-sole and heavy feet of men and horses for
generations. It appears unaccountable that this great source
of productive force, the lower stratum, should have been
neglected so long. For if one thLng more than another is
purcliased by the rent of land, surely it is the right to use the
earth itself freely in production. And yet this right of going
down has, until quite recently, been allowed to he in abeyance.
Even top-dressings have been purchased and carted at great
expense, when as good or better could have been found at the
bottom of the furrows. This deepening of the tilth, however,
should proceed with caution. First loosen, then enrich, next
invert, and finally incorporate the under with the upper soil.
Some enthusiasts have brought reproach on deep culture by
doubling or trebling the depth of their tilths at once, thus
scattering an irruption of barren earth over the surface. Such
cases are sure to be cited as proofs positive against deep cul-
ture. But how deep would you go ? We will answer this
question by another — How deep will the roots go ? Did ever
you see a tilth that they did not bottom ? I never have, and
yet I have seen tilths four or five feet deep, and have found the
roots of green crops, swedes, mangold, cabbages, and sugar-
beet pierce through them into the subsoil. Even wheat and
other corn plants have been traced down to a depth of five or
sis feet. There is, however, another mode of answering this
question of depth. How deep have others goue? The twin
sister of Agriculture, Horticulture, that some of you consider a
little fast, has already reached a depth of from three to four
feet. And it answers so well that the rent and produce of
garden lauds throughout the kingdom is probably ten-fold that
of agricultural land. But, as I have already remarked, the
deepening of soils must be a work of time, and in the course
of fifty years probably the tilths of your fields will have
reached a foot, 18 inches, or two feet. By whatever mode we
attempt to assess the value of a deep tilth, its overwhelming
importance to successful production is borne in upon us. Tiie
earth is the chief staple of the raw material of agriculture,
and our compounding medium for most of the other needful
accessories. By deepening your tilths you double, treble, in-
crease, perhaps a hundred-fold, its natural fertility, and in-
crease immensely the produce of the land. Both partners in
the firm agricultural, the sleeping and the working one, are
thereby enriched, and the whole community reaps the benefit.
Shallow ploughing is simply a reckless sacrifice of

force, profit, yield. It, of necessity, puts the roots of
plants on short-commons, and compels them (o live
in the worst possible place for the utilization of such food as
they have. Every change of weather alTects their power of
consumption, and they are over-run with rival roots in all
directions. Try to run along a crowded thoroughfare, you are
hindered at all points, and -your progress is slow. It is even
so with the roots on shallow ground. They eat each other up
and fetter one another in all directions. The remedy is alike
obvious in both cases. Widen the thoroughfare in proportion
to the traffic, deepen the root run, if you would avoid a block
or ruinous competition among the roots. As to the feeding
of land with manure : On shallow soils the food is too high
for the mouths of the plants. It is as if you placed your food
above the heads of your bullocks. Christmas beef could never
be manufactured were they only to smell the rich cake, or
depended upon a passing shower to wash down a few drops
of coloured soup out of it. Yet this is literally all the
benefit the roots in shallow soils get from much of the
manure. Nature sends the roots down, but the shallow
cultivator keeps his root food on the top. Is it any won-
der that lean harvests are the rule under such arrangements ?
The plants get a taste of good things at starting, but the roots
speedily outrun their larders, and then comes that worst of all
catastrophes on the line of growth — a stunt, ending in a light
harvest. There was no branch of agriculture in which there
was more loss of force than in the preparation and application
of manures, which present tliemselves to us chiefly in three
general forms, the solid, liquid, and gaseous, and they are
mostly valued in the order in which 1 have placed them.
Nevertheless, their real value is the reverse of that order.
" Solid muck ; yes, that's the stuff, we can appreciate that,
sir." Well, doubtless, and so some profess to prize Suffolk
bang cheese, and Norfolk dumplings, though what merit they
possess except that of extreme hardness, toughness, and lean-
ness, it would be difficult to discover. It is frequently just so
with solid dung : all its gases dissipated, all its strong soup
gone into the nearest ditch ; it is the mere bony skeleton of
what manure should be. Did you ever see pigs when they
tried the husks of nuts or acorns; how greedily they crack
them, turn up their noses, and trudge off grunting " done
again." Just such a verdict would millions of roots utter,
were they endowed with speech, as they are " taken in and
done for" with our skeletonised manures. Figures are more
eloquent than facts. The following, taken from the^y;-?-
cultural Gazette of last year, give the value of the manure
from one ton of each of the 32 different feeding stuffs named :

£ s. d.

1 Cotton seed cake, decorticated 6 10 0

2 Rape cake 4 18 0

3 Linseed cake 4-12 0

4 Cotton seed cake, not decorticated 3 18 0

5 Lentils 3 17 0

6 Beans 3 14. 0

7 Tares 3 13 0

8 Linseed 3 13 0

9 Peas 3 2 0

10 Indian meal 1 11 0

11 Locust beans 12 0

12 Malt dust 4 5 6

13 Bran 3 18 G

14 Coarse pollard 2 18 0

15 Fine pollard 3 17 0

IG Oats I 15 0

17 Wheat 1 13 0

18 Malt 1 11 0

19 Barley 1 10 0

20Cloverhay 2 5 0

21 Meadow hay 10 0

22 Bean straw 10 0

23Pea8traw 0 IS 9

24 0atstraw 0 13 6

35 Wheat straw 0 12 6

20 Barley straw 0 10 9

27 Potatoes 0 9 0

28 Parsnips 0 5 0

29 Mangel 0 5 3

30 Swedish turnips 0 4 3

31 Common turnip 0 4 0

33 Carrots , , 0 4 0

248

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

It is impossible to add anything that could give additional
force to these figurci. They cry out against waste with irre-
sistible force. The richer the manure the more soluble, and
the easier spoilt. Which of you, when you buy guano, crushed
bones, phosphates, salt, leave them out in the rain ? But
what of your home-made guano from cake-fed bullocks ? That
is quite a different matter. Speaking on the subject of how to
apply, or in what state to use, manure so as to develop its
power of production to the uttermost, he remarked : " Much
as I respect Mr. Mechi, I cannot agree with him about the
application of his guano pudding, and with all the rich gravy
he serves out witli it. He must help it sparingly, or mix
plenty of earth with it, as I saw no proof of the evils of rank
manuring at Tiptree during last harvest. There is a twofold
loss of force in the use of rank manures — there is a waste of
the excess of plant food, and the injury to growing life of an
overdose. Strong stimulants are about as hurtful to plants as
to ourselves. They scorch, wither, destroy the delicate organs,
derange the circulating media, and disturb its regularity ; be-
sides, plants cannot consume raw food. Manures should be
partially cooked, that is, decomposed, before they are set be-
fore the roots. With reference to the question of where
should manure be applied — on the surface or under it, near
the top or at the bottom of the tilth, Mr. Fish said : Perhaps
the best answer would be, to incorporate it as thoroughly as
possible with the whole soil. See to it that it is all covered,
and that some of it reaches to the bottom of the cultivated
earth. I know that many agriculturists believe in manuring
the surface early in the autumn, and leaving the dung to
weather there for weeks, it may be months, before it is covered
in, and that good crops are reaped from this method. The
reason is this — there has been a most terrible loss of manurial
force, as our own senses testify ; but, then, the manure left
has been decomposed and made available, and hence the good
yields ; nevertheless, all those unctious odours that tainted the
air for miles were a sheer loss of productive force. We now
reach the last point — the best time, or when, to apply manure.
The answer is mostly determined by convenience, weather, &e.
Dry or frosty weather should be chosen if possible. Another
point or two are worth notice here, such as the mechanical
effect ef the manure on the tilth, its direct influence on the
special crop, and the character of the manure itself. Hitherto
I have spoken only, or chiefly, of farmyard manure. All arti-
ficial manures, such as gnano, superphosphate, &c., are pro-
bably most effectual when applied as top-dressing. To de-
velop to the full the mechanical effects of bulky manures the
earlier in the autumn they can be applied the better. The
entire tilth is thus converted, as it were, into a sort of compost
heap. Slow decomposition proceeds, and the gases liberated are
held fast in the fine sieve-like network of the pulverised earth.
Those who cannot prepare and store their manures under
cover can hardly do better than cover it in as speedily as
possible in their fields. There was a loss of force in agriculture
arising from the misapplication of manures. A few years ago
farmyard manure was tlic be-all and end-all of farming. It
had many rivals now, and special manures were also offered
for almost every separate crop. The experimenss that had
been made from time to time established the fact that the per-
manent fertility of the land can be kept up by artificial ma-
nures as well as by farmyard dung. From a summary of
these experiments given in the Agricultural Gazette of last
year, he quoted the following : In the wheat experiments the
average of 26 successive crops grown by farmyard dung, at
the rate of 14 tons to the acre, was 11 barrels of wheat per
Irish acre. With artificial manures and a moderate amount
of ammonia the average was 12 barrels per acre, and where
we used a larger amount 13 barrels. With barley the farm-
yard manures gave, on the average, 19 barrels, and the arti-
ficial manure about the same. On permanent pasture, by the
use of 23 tons of dung per Irish acre, the yield was 3 tons
9 cwt. of hay, with the artificial manure 4 tons 6 cwt. The
average yield of a permanent pasture manured for six years in
succession, with 14 tons of farmyaid dung per acre, was 43i
cwt. The average produce of mineral manure and 4001bs. of
ammonia salts every year for 14 years, 54 cwt. of hay per
acre. Again, the average of crops of grain for 18 years, with
mineral manures alone, was 17i bushels. The average grown
by ammonia salts was 31| bushels, or nearly 14 bushels per
acre per annum more. By doubling the amount of ammonia
the produce of the barley rose from 45^ to 49| bushels.

Further, after a liberal application to the root crop, which
proved a partial failure of rape cake, salts of ammonia and
mineral manure, the crops amounted to 60^ bushels of barley,
43^ bushels of beans, and 40 bushels of wheat per acre. In
conclusion, it is not only that we misapply manure, but the
best part of it is thrown away by wholesale. When you have
a boiled leg of mutton or shin of beef, what would you say to
your wives if they threw away the broth? This is what
thousands of agriculturists do with their manure soup. It is
full to repletion with aU the raw material of growth, produce,
ready for immediate use. But what of that — it is only liquid ?
therefore away with it to the hor«e pond, ditch, river, any-
where, everywhere but on to the land. Only liquid ? Why
plants live, grow, ripen, on no other food but liquid, and yet
more attenuated gases. Liquids are the richest food in the
most consumable form. The liquid excrements are not hus-
banded, and the richest portions of the solid manures are
mostly washed away by the rain, or whipped into space by the
wind. The land is half-starved that the water may be pol-
luted or chocked up with rank weeds and horse-tail, whose
size and strength are at once a nuisance and a protest against
the prodigality of our waste. A maximum yield will never be
reaped until all this is altered, and this wasted force turned in
fructifying streams on to the land.

Mr. R. Hawkins expressed his opinion that the enthusiasm
of the gentleman who had introduced the subject for the dis-
cussion had carried him beyond his reason. It was certainly
altogether impracticable for them, as agriculturists, to carry
out the ideas which had been advanced that evening on many
points. Mr. Fish had altogether overlooked many of the
difficulties which they had to contend with, having, amongst
other things, taken it for granted that they had covered sheds
to their occupations. Farmers had to make their manure, get
it on to their fields, and spread it, in a great measure, altoge-
ther as circumstances permitted. Witli regard to deep culti-
vation, that uo doubt was very desirable, but how were they,
at present, to attain it P It was true that Mr. Hitchcock suc-
ceeded in getting the steam cultivator on to his land after
much difficulty, and he, like a wise man, kept it, and it was
the wish of all that it might answer his purpose well. But,
after aU, it must not be forgotten that agriculturists had the
seasons to contend with, but Mr. Fish had assumed that
with the use of manure and a careful preparation of land,
there was a certainty of a good crop. Instances of the worst
result from the best farming were not uncommon. Allusion
had been made to what had been called the liberal terms of-
fered by Lord Leicester to his tenants. He (Mr. Hawkins)
could not see that there was, after all, such an exhibition of
liberality as some attempted to make out. If the land was
drained, the tenant had to pay for it at the rate of five per
cent. That was not very liberal. He had an idea that he
could do it at 3J per cent, in a twenty years' lease. Lord
Leicester had been very stringent in many of his leases, and all
he (Mr. Hawkins) could say was that he should not like to be
one of the tenants. With regard to the question of manuring
on the top, he had for many years past manured his clovers in
the autumn, and he might say that he had been exceedingly
weU satisfied with the application of farmyard manure in tliis
way. He had manured a portion of a field of beet on the top
in the month of March, and he had a fine crop in that parti-
cular portion. He did not believe that manure suffered from
exposure provided it was spread on the ground, when the
ground readily seized all the good qualities of the manure. At
Michaelmas he put manure on one portion of the field of mangold
and on the remaider, as he had said, in March, and he never
vrished to grow better mangold than those on the latter portion
were. The suggestions in the paper as to the desirability of
making manure under cover were no doubt exceedingly good,
but it must not be forgotten that it was not always possible
to get the manure in certain portions of the farm where it
was it likely to be wanted, and, therefore, it must be done
when circmstances were favourable. There were many other
admirable suggestions if they could be carried out, but he was
sure it would be found impossible in practice. Mr. Fish had
said that they ought to grow 30 tons per acre. Did they not,
many of them, do their utmost and put their best energy to the
wheel, and, notwithstanding, they could not grow 20 ?

Mr. Brand asked if Mr. Fish would recommend deep cul-
tivation to all descriptions of soil, and, in speaking of very deep
cultivation, he recommended it for only oue particular soil ?

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

249

The Chairman suggested that Mr. Fish should reserve liis
answers to all questions uutil the close of the discussion,

Mr. T. P. Hitchcock characterised the paper after all as
being very much the dream of an enthusiast, because he did
not think it practicable to bring all the suggestions — very ex-
cellent no doubt they were — into practical working. Allusion
had been made to Lord Leicester, who had said that the land
was not more than half cultivated. He (Mr. Hitchcock) en-
tirely differed from that statement, beheving it was made
pretty well tlie most of, in this part of the country at all events.
The farmers here therefore did not altogether recognise the
arguments based upon such an assertion as that. The argu-
ment also hinged upon what had been called the bad condition
of the labourer, the poor cottages in which he lived, the half-
starved condition in which he existed, but the agriculturists
of this neighbourhood did not recognise such a state of things
in their midst, the labourers here, for the most part, being
fairly paid, well housed, well fed, and tolerably well clothed.
He did not know what might be the state of things in Nor-
folk ; but if they were such as had been described, the farmers
on Lord Leicester's estate must be in a great measure re-
sponsible for it. Mr. Fish had also made allusion to the
sleeping partner in the land. That was intended as a rather
awkward hit at the landlord. He (Mr. Hitchcock) did not
think the sleeping partner had, after all, much to complain of,
nor had the working partner in this part of the country, the
landlords and the tenants being pretty weU able to keep even
with each other. Mr. Fish, in his admirable paper, had given
a statment showing the value of the different ieediug stuffs,
as applied to the manure. He (Mr. Hitchcock) should very
much like to know how that was arrived at. It might be
stupidity on his part, but he confessed he could not exactly
understand how that was done. There might be something
very rich in the different manures ; hut how was it known
that the animals were doing just as much on one article of
food as on the other ? It was said that cotton cake was worth
80 much, locusts so much, &c., but how was it known that in
passing through the animal as much had been taken from the
cotton cake, for instance, in proportion as it ought to do.
The suggestions with regard to the decomposition of manures
were very important. How was it to be done ? If it was in
the yard under cover, it would be just as it dropped from the
animal. The decomposition must be done on the manure
heap, and then came the question as to how it was to he pro-
tected from the rain in the winter and the sun in the summer.
It ought doubtless to be under cover, but how was it possible
to cover it ? It could only be covered over with clay, but
when there came a heavy rain the liquid would run from it.
There were other difficulties in the way of adopting the sug-
gestions that had been made, especially in the case of a field a
mile or more off, to which the manure must be taken, not
when you would perhaps, but when you could, and covered up,
hut still exposed to the wet and rain. As to the experiments
mentioned by Mr. Fish as having been tried in boxes 3 feet
square, it was impossible to tell what certain plants would do
in a field, say, of 30 acres, from what they did in these small
boxes. They might do to grow cucumbers in ; but they would
not do as experiments for growing large fields of wheat.

Mr. Hustler said that it would be making quite a revolu-
tion iu farming to carry out all the suggestions which Mr.
Fish had made. No doubt most of those sugttestions were
right if they could only be carried out. In the next genera-
tion landlords might see the advantage of providing tlieir
tenants with premises of the character referred to, but such a
state of things did not exist at present, and therefore many of
Mr. Fish's suggestions and arguments could not be brought to
bear. It was impossible for any farmer to keep his manure
in his yard until he required to use it. The farmer must cart
it to different spots as circumstances admitted, and distribute
it on the land when the suitable time arrived.

Mr. T. Hitchcock instanced the case of some model
premises which had come under his observation. Every pos-
sible care was taken to carry the water away to prevent its
getting upon the manure ; in fact, the arrangements of the
premises were what some gentlemen would consider perfect,
but unfortunately it was found necessary to cart water and
distribute it the greater part of the summer in order to get the
manure down.

Mr. ViNOE, sen, (Brent Eleigh), said that a great deal of
what Mr. Fish had advanced was mere matter of theory. They

as a Club were, however, much indebted to Mr. Fish for coming
amongst them with such an elaborate paper, full of many
excellent suggestions, if they could only be carried out ; and
for his own part he wished Mr. Fish could be induced to come
into their locality and take a heavy land farm of 300 or 400
acres, and show theai what was to be done by farming on the
system he had so ably propounded. He (Mr. Vince) and
others always did their best. With regard to the manure
question, in reference to which so much had been said, Mr. J.
Wiggin, of Ipswich, in the course of a lecture he delivered in
connection with this Club, treating on the subject of chemical
action of manures, was asked what effect the weather had
upon manure wlien carted during a frost, and he said, " None
at all." But the gentleman who asked the question added,
" I am afraid sometimes that the gases of the muck are es-
caping on to my neighbour's farm," but Mr. Wiggin said the
land was acting upon the manure and taking the goodness out
of it. Therefore this was quite an instance iu which the ques-
tion might be asked, "When doctors disagree who shall
decide ?"

Mr. Porter expressed his opinion that the Club ought to
hesitate before condemning the suggestions which had beea
made as impracticable, and that there was yet a great deal to
be done before we could get out of the land all that it was
capable of producing.

Mr. W. Baker (Melford), after observing that he thought
a great deal of what Mr. Fish had said would not be found to
work in practice, proceeded to speak at some length on the
subject of deep tillage, and advanced several argurasnts with
the view of showing whether it was not possible, after all, that
the result would not pay for the extra labour used in preparing
the laud. If in the end it was found that it would not pay for
the extra outlay, it was nothing else than a complete loss of
force. Referring to the subject of drainage, he contended
that it was possible in dry seasons to take too much water out
of the soil ; or, in other words, over-drainage might, under
certain circumstances, be a disadvantage. There was no doubt
much land in this country if it had never been drained would
never want it ; and, in his opinion, there was a great deal of
land which had been much deteriorated in consequence of the
drainage. He did not contend, of course, that in the general
result such was the case, but he believed there was much land
which, if it had been properly worked, would never have
required to be drained at all. He was not himself a strong
advocate for cultivating to a very great depth. According to
his idea, a fair depth for most of the soils was all that was
necessary. He did not doubt but that many persons who had
gone to the expense of clearing out the subsoil had found that
it had been to the detriment of their pockets, as well as
their crops.

Mr. Fisu : What do you call a fair depth ?

Mr. Baker said he thought eight to ten inches was a fair
average depth, but he knew a farmer who never ploughed
more than five or six inches deep, and on the whole he had
as good crops as any man certainly within twenty miles. It
was very heavy land, and he never made an acre of clean fallow.
This same individual had tried deep cultivation since, and it
was quite a question whether his pockets had been subsequently
so well lined.

Mr. R. Edgar said .there were some suggestions in the paper
which occurred to him as being, to say the least of it, some-
what curious. Mr. Fish had spoken of a double produce. If
that gentleman would go to his (Mr. Edgar's), and siiow him
how to do it, he should be quite ready to pay him a handsome
salary. He could not help thinking, however, that Mr. Fish
was fast coming down to their own level. Last year, when he
favoured the Club with a paper, he put the produce per acre at
50 tons, but now he had come down to 25, and probably, if
they had the pleasure of meeting him here this time next year,
he would have to come to their average, which was about 12^
tons. Still, he (Mr, Edgar) hoped they might be able to effect
some improvement. Science had done much for them as far-
mers in the past, and he hoped they might be found willing to
take advantage of anything that science might do for them
in the future.

The Chairman said he was by no means so enthusiastic in
regard to deep cultivation as he was formerly. He was much
more sanguine as to the benefits of deep cultivation until he
tried it. He might say that in every instance in which he had
tried very deep cultivation he had seen no good results. This

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250

THE TARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

year he subsoiled five rods and skipped ten, and he would defy
anyone to tell him when the beetroot was on the land which
was subsoiled and which was not. In his opinion, the routs
of plants would go through anything. It might be that there
was a particular soil adapted for deep cultivation. Possibly,
in the experiments he had made he had not hit upon the right
soil. Perhaps otliers would try the experiment, for it was
easy enough to subsoil a few rods for mangold and see what
the effects were, lleference had been made to the landlords
and the land agents. He thought that as far as his brother
land agents were concerned, they were always ready to give
plenty of liberty to good farming. On the other hand, they
were particular with a bad farmer, and very rightly so. As
to the figures Mr. Pish had quoted in reference to the value of
manure from feeding stuffs, he (the Chairman) wished he
could believe all that was said, and he must congratulate Mr.
Fish on having got some one's else authority on that subject,
because no doubt the figures were very wide of the mark. If
a half-sized animal had, say, one pound of cake per day, the
value of the inanurial droppings of that animal was compara-
tively small, but in the case of another animal which had
I21bs., it was certain that that animal did not want all that
quantity, and the consequence was that that which passed
through this bullock would be much richer than in the case
of the other bullock. Speaking generally on the subject, the
manure heaps would, in consequence of their exceedingly dry
state, be found to take a great deal of moisture up before it
escaped. In his opinion, good must result to them as agricul-
turists from gentlemen coming amongst them and telling them
what they should endeavour to obtain. Landlords were much
more likely to listen to what was said by outsiders than by the
farmers themselves. He did not find fault with the clause in
the leases granted by Lord Leicester having reference to
carrying out drainage at five per cent. If he (the Chairman)
could get his land drained ai five per cent, he would rather
have it done so than do it himself. It must be remembered
that the work would not last for ever, and five per cent, was
but a small percentage. He was not a believer in the over-
drainage of arable land, but, at the same time, he had seen
boggy pastures and poor pastures that would, in his opinion,
have done better if they had been less drained — that was to
say, if the water had been kept a little nearer to the surface.
With reference to the effect of dry weather on land, it was a
well-known fact that well drained land did not suffer so much
in very dry, hot weather as land that was not drained, the
latter being liable to crack very greatly.
Mr. Pisii then replied : With reference to deep cultivation,

he had practised it for years, and he had gone to the depth of
four feet, and found it to answer ; in fact, it answered so well
for gardens that gardeners could afford to pay ten times the
rent that larmers did. It was chiefly deep cultivation that
enabled the gardener to pay his reut. It very often did not
answer at first, as the Chairman had said, but that gentleman
had not given any information as to how he treated the land
in the course of the experiments he had made. Perhaps he
treated the land just as he had done before, or perhaps he did
not give it half enough manure to make it productive. In
many cases the land was treated in just the same manner it
was before deep cultivation was tried, forgetting that the pro-
cess had liberated a great deal of fertility, and, therefore,
because the corn was laid low they were dissatisfied, and con-
demned the system.

The CnAiKM.vN : My beet-root did not get laid.

Mr. Pisii said that this was not tho character of year to
bring out the merits of deep cultivation. When the soil was
dry was the time to test the matter. He recommended deep
cultivation on all land, but he did not advocate violent
changes. It was better to treat the earth they had got
rightly before they went down for more of its treasures. He
confessed that he was an enthusiastic cultivator of the soil ;
he knew, he might say, as much about the earth as they did,
he had worked upon it as long as they had, and tested it in
more ways than they had, and he certainly could not under-
stand why objections should be taken to the experiments in
boxes. How had all past experiments been tried ? and how
was it that they were able to farm better now than they did
100 years ago P It was mainly owing to experiments of this
kind. He would urge them to go deeper into the earth and
save their muck. They could go deeper if they would, and
they could take greater care of their muck if they would. It
was perfectly idle to contend to the contrary. He asked if
ever artificial manures were left in the rain ? They would
never get their covered sheds if they came to meetings like tliis
and said it was all nonsense and impracticable. In conclusion
his opinion was that the earth was capable of producing very
much more than it did now ; he pointed out that there was
more moisture in drained land in hot weather than in un-
drained land, and he said his estimate of the produce of the
land had always been 25 to 30 tons per acre, and he quite
believed they would soon grow it.

A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Pish for his paper, and
a similar vote having been passed to Mr. Biddell, the business
of the evening terminated,

LAND AGREEMENTS.

At the February meeting of the East Riding Chamber of
Agriculture at Beverley, Mr. C. Sykes, M.P., the president in
the chair, Mr. Baintox read the following paper :

The subject I have the honour to introduce is that of
Land Tenure, but more particularly with regard to the
conditions for occupation. I am aware it is rather a sensitive
subject to discuss, but I think if we do so in a proper spirit
and feeling there can be no reasonable ground for offence to
any one. I should have been glad if tliis association had com-
prised a larger number ol land owners, in order to have taken
a part in this discussion, along with the occupieis, whose in-
terests are identical ; for I believe there is no circumstance
more calculated to aflect and influence the welfare of agriculture
than that of proper conditions in farm agreements. I think
some of those which are prevalent in this part of the country
may be changed, so as to mutually benefit owners and occupiers
of land. The object of agreements, in my idea, should be to
protect the property from injury, with such terms of security
and liberty to the occupier to allow him to exercise his judg-
ment in obtaining the greatest amount of produce from the
soil, under certain conditions of outlay, sufficient to maintain
its productive powers, thus enabling him to afford a higher
rent for the laud, and at the same time benefit both himself
and the public. The general system of yearly occupancy, with
six months' notice only to leave, is, I consider, insuflicient time
to afford reasonable protection to the capital of the occupier,
or security to cncouiage his enterprise, and it is a condition of
no service whatever to the owner. It would, I think, be some

improvement under this system, to have a nine months' in-
stead of the six months' notice to leave, for this would give
more time to the owner to select a successor, and the same to
the occupier to obtain another farm, or prepare for the sale of
his stock, &c., with less loss than the short notice often occa-
sions hira. The often specified system and conditions for
cropping in agreements, witliout reference to the ditt'erence in
soils, is simply ridiculous, and experience proves that tliere is
no system, however good for a time, but requires an occasional
change, whicli is beneficial to the occupier, and does no injury
to the land, such course of change, I consider, should be exer-
cised according to the discretion and judgment of the tenant.
Then the covenants on leaving, for compensation for improve-
ments and unexhausted outlay by the tenant in manures, &c.,
is very indefinite, and often imaginary, for all permanent im-
provements as a rule are made at the expense of the owner, or
some consideration allowed for them. I tliink the manure
applied to the lands for the off-2oing crop of corn, and the
linseed-cake, or other cattle food consumed with the last year's
straw (the manure from which should always belong to the
tenant), and valued to his successor at the increased value from
sucli consumption, little would then be left to be compensated
for. Having made these observations, I will now suggest an
outline of conditions, as an improvement for farm agreements,
with the view of eliciting the opinion of this Chamber. I am
well aware many members are more capable than myself to
discuss this subject, and I hope tliere will be a full expression
of opinion from tiiem. First, I consider a certainty of tenure

THE FABMEK'S MAGAZINE.

251

for a moderate term is most essential, for which 1 would liave
short leases, from eight to ten years, with liberal conditions
for cropping, so as to fully exercise his judgment, viz., to have
permission to take two crops of white corn in succession after
a fallow, or turnips and rape eaten off the ground the year
previous, and the same crops from seeds depastured and
manured, provided they were sown in the first crop of corn
after a fallow, &c. Beans and peas I would allow to be sown
at the discretion of the tenant. These conditions would give
sullicient liberty to the occupier to make any advantageous
changes of cropping the land he might think proper, which,
with tlie security of a lease, would enable him to receive the
fall benefit therefrom. The yearly outlay in management, with
these conditions, will require to be liberal to maintain the
productive powers of the soil, for which purpose I would fix
an amount of money, sufficient to be annually expended on the
farm in either manures or cattle food as the tenant may think
proper. I think it should be not less than 20s. per acre on
strong lauds, or 30s. per acre on light soils, to the extent of the
acreage of arable laud upon the farm. If a continuance of
occupation was not arranged between the landlord and tenant
two vears previous to the expiration of the lease, then, during
those last two years, I would allow one crop of wbite corn
only to be taken after a fallow, or seeds depastured. The pro-
duce of manure upon the farm from the last year's straw should
belong to the tenant, and be taken by his successor at a valua-
tion, in the same manner as his following crop of corn, which
on light soils should be one-fourth, and on strong land one-
third of the arable land of the farm from fallow, &c., or seeds
depastured the year previous. The terms for payment of rent,
keeping the buildings, gates, fences, ditches, &c., in condition,
and the arrangements for sowing clover seeds, and time of
entry for ploughing, should be the ordinary conditions for that
purpose. This is the general outline of conditions for farm
agreements I have to submit for discussion. There are a few
other matters I will briefly name, viz. : The question of game,
which is generally reserved to the landlord. When the land
is let at a fair value, it seems both unfair and unreasonable to
preserve the game to such an extent as to injure the occupier.
I am of opinion a sufficient quantity for sport would always be
maintained by the tenant, when he was aware that it would
give pleasure to his landlord by doing so, and m which, I
think, he should to some extent participate. Another subject
I will also name, which requires attention, and that is the
condition of labourers' cottages. Many of them are not only
devoid of decent accommodation, but inconveniently situated.
I consider it is a duty incumbent upon owners of property to
provide suitable dwellings for the labourers (which may be
built at a moderate outlay), for without decency and comfort
in their homes, it cannot be expected they will derive much
benefit from religion and the educational teaching which is
now provided for them. I trust I shall not be considered too
critical in doubting the universal benefit, of merging small
farms into large holdings, which is now general on many
estates. No doubt, in some situations, where the soil is light,
they are the most profitable. On small farms the breedmg
and rearing of stock, poultry, and the dairy productions are
considerable and profitable, from receiving the personal care
of the tenant and his family, which, on large farms, is but
little attended to, and from the breeding grounds being thus^
lessened, I attribute to some extent the present scarcity of
cattle. These small buildings are also desirable as_ stepping
points for the industrious man to raise himself, which larger
holdings do not afford him.

In reply to Mr. Dixon (Eske) Mr. Bainton said he thought
that an eight or ten years' lease would give a man the benefit
of cropping. .

Mr. Dixon said that if a man entered upon a farm with an
eight years' lease, and left it at the expiration of that time he
would be mending it for the first three years and robbing it the
next five. He would not take an eight years' lease at any price.
Mr. G. W. Langdale (Leconfield) thought they ought to
be careful as to the way in which they treated the question, it
being one which affected both owners and occupiers of tlie
soil. There was an absurdity in having one kind of manuring
and cropping for all varieties of soils. He did not consider
that any one kind of agreement could be produced on prmciple
laid down that would stand for any length of time. They
were creatures of circumstances, and if they laid down a plan
to suit one year, they could not say they could carry it out for

a dozen years. He did not think tiiat a six months' notice
was any protection to a farmer, for he was at the mercy of his
landlord at any time. Security of tenure he considered fo be-
a national question, and not one simply for the landlords or
tenants, for if better protection was given the productiveness
of the land would be increased. He did not find fault with the
landlords of Yorkshire. The tenants were glad to meet them,
and they must not forget too that they had half the bargain-
making when they took their farms. In his opinion more
money would beinvested inland ifthetenantshad better security.
Mr. J. \V. Clakk (Bentley) agreed in many respects with
Mr. Bainton's paper, but not' in others. He thought fifteen or
sixteen vears' leases would be better than those for eight or
ten years. They certainly wanted something better than year
to year tenancies. He thought leases should be saleable, and
that as there was a commercial value upon unexpired leases,
the tenant or his executors should have the benefit of it, and
not, as at present, lose all interest, if removed by death or
otherwise. There should, in his opinion, be a compensation.
He did not agree with the leases of the Earl of Leicester,
which were for twenty years, and granted on these conditions,
that if a tenant left a few years before the lease was expired he
should receive a compensation, but that he should receive none
if he stayed all his time. Such a lease was an inducement for
a man to rob the land before he left it.

Mr. J. Crust (Catwick) said that under many agreements
farmers might crop as they liked, aud this was found to be
the best plan. The most desirable thing in his opinion was a
twelve months' notice with a good tenant right. He believed
the majority of tenants in the East Hiding would be opposed
to leases, and that if they had twelve months' notice with a
good tenant right, good farming would be the result. He
hoped that landlords would see that the tenants wanted only
what was fair and reasonable.

Mr. Norfolk in reply to certain remarks which Mr. Crust
had made on cotton lords and their leases, said that the cotton
lords had taken what the aristocracy had left undone and en-
riched the land. This had been particularly observable in
Ireland, where the cotton lords bought land, erected nulls, and
caused thriving populations to spring up, which the aristocracy
had failed to do. . . ,

Mr. Riley agreed with the remarks of Mr. Crust, and said
he did not think he would take a farm with a lease. Alter-
ations, in his opinion, were required in the matter of game
and the labourers' dwellings.

Mr. Dixon thought that landlords should pay poor rates on
game, and then it would decrease.

Mr. L.VXGDALE did not think it just that a farmer should
not be compensated for any marling he might do, which was
an inexhaustible improvement. He (the speaker) thought it
would be best if the discussion was postponed, and he proposed
that it be adjourned till the next meeting.

The President seconded the adjournment, and observed
that, being a landlord, and having been brought up amongst
landlords, he had heard remarks which had surprised him. He
did not believe that leases would benefit anyone, but, on the
other hand, they would interfere with the relations of society,
as they at present existed. AVith regard to agreements he
did not believe in them. He had none on his farms m
Holderness, but left it to the tenants. This, he thought, was
muclithe best plan, for it would be found that tenants, under
such circumstances, would do what was most likely to promote
both their own and their landlord's interests.

Mr. U. WiUTEiNG (Beverley Parks) said the question was
such a delicate one that none of them would go into it. If
the chairman would only stop until the reporters had gone he
would then hear something. None of the speakers dare go
into the matter but himself (laughter). He had neither lease
nor agreement, and just did as he liked, so long as he paid his
rent. In a discussion like this they should go fully into the
subject, and not treat it by a side wind. He knew many
tenants were oppressed with game, but they would not say so.
The discussion ought to be adjourned, and then taken up in a
straightforward manner. , . ., r.i •

Mr. J. Crust then proposed a vote of thanks to tlie Chair-
man, who he said had attended every meeting of the Chamber
since he was elected ; and Mr. Bainton seconded the proposition.
The President said he was afraid that it would be the last
meeting he should attend for some months, as he had to go to
London.

252

THE TAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

MONMOUTHSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.

The general annual meeting was held at Usk. Mr. A. D.
Berrington in the chair. By the annual report it appeared
that while the income on paper is sufficient, and the estimated
balance considerable, the subscriptions are very seriously in
arrear.

The Chairman read the report of the Committee appointed
by the Monraouthsliire Chamber of Agriculture to consider the
question of Compensation to out-going tenants for unexhausted
improvements : Your committee have fully considered the
question referred to them, and tliey desire to record their sense
of the clearness and ability with which Mr. Fletcher has
treated it. They are, however, of opinion that it would not
be in the power of the Chamber to adopt his suggestion of
establishing a custom on the subject which sliould have tlie
force of law ; and that even if this were practicable it would
neither be desirable nor fair towards the landlords. They
have, therefore, with a view of carrying out their instructions
drawn up certain clauses, the provisions of which they con-
sider equitable iu cases were high farming prevails ; and which
they think might probably he gradually adopted as a whole,
or in part, in the agreements of many estates. They wish it,
however, to be actually understood that in doing so they have
no desire to dictate to any landowners the course they should
pursue, but merely to record in a convenient form their opinion
of the relative values of different unexhaused improvements.
The clauses are founded to some extent on the prize essay of
the Royal Agricultural Society, published in the journal for
186S. Tor the out-ffoing tenants to be allowed — 1. For all
limes and undissolved bones used on the arable land in the last
year of the tenancy, one-half the cost, and for that used in the
last year but one, one-fourth the cost. 3. For all cake or
corn consumed, or Peruvian guano, superphosphate of lime,
or other soluble manure (not being nitrogenous) used in tlie
arable laud in the last year of the tenancy one-third of the
cost. 3. For undissolved bones applied to meadows or perma-
nent pastures the full cost, less one-eighth part for each year
since such application. The above three clauses are not to ex-
clude the manures or feeding stuffs purchased vrith the pro-
ceeds of hay, straw, or roots sold under any agreement witli
the landlord. 4. For all drainage executed in a permanent
manner (provided it is done with the written sanction of the
landlord) on delivering a plan of the drains and outfall, and an
accurate account of the cost, the full cost less one-fourteenth
part for each full year since such draining was done. 5. For
new quickset fences made with the written consent of the
landlord — the same having been kept clean and well taken
care of — the full original cost, less one-tenth part for each full
year since the planting. 6. For healthy fruit trees planted
within seven years, with the written consent of the landlord,
and properly preserved, the full cost price. 7. For new
buildings, if erected in a substantial and permanent manner,
and with the written consent of the landlord, the full cost less
one-twentieth part for each full year since the work was
done. A. D. Berrington, Chairman.

_ It was decided that this report should be printed and
circulated.

Mr. Charles Lewis, of St. Pierre, was elected president for
the ensuing year.

At the dinner, Mr. Thomas Williams called attention to
the existing laws relating to contagious diseases amongst slieep
and cattle. Rethought it was a great shame that the county
should be put to the expense of paying veterinary surgeons to
ride about for the purpose of inspecting a handful of sheep
which had been touched with the shab. The police he thought
might do the duty just as well. The only objection which had
been made to the police inspecting the sheep was that the
police would not know the shab when they saw it. But he
would stake any amount that he would teach any policeman in
five minutes to know it at once.

Mr. Relpii : Will you open a school if Major Herbert will
send his men.

Major Herbert : If Mr. Williams will undertake to teach
the men what shab is, I will send them. He would, however,

relate a little circumstance which occurred a short time
ago which Mr. Williams might remember. Twelve months
ago the veterinary inspector told a policeman that some sheep
with the shab were in the market. The policeman went to
the market and forbade the removal of tlie sheep. The
owner said that the sheep were not affected with shab. The
inspector maintained that they were. The police constable did
not know what to do, and he (Major Herbert) was sent for.
Now he (Major Herbert) did not pretend to be an expert in
shab, but as he happened to be in his office he went down to
the market. He saw two or three experienced farmers, and
amongst them Mr. Williams' brother, and he asked them to
tell him, as a friend, if the sheep were shabby or not. They
went into the pen and came out again and told him that the
sheep had had not got the shab. There was a case in which
the veterinary surgeon and the most experienced farmers dis-
agreed upon the subject. What then co'ild be expected of a
policeman.

Mr. Williams : You are comming round to ray argument
I can see, I say that I know the shab better than anyone else,
and I could teach any policeman.

Major Herbert : I will not go back from my word. If
Mr. Williams will undertake to teach the men, I will undertake
to send them. At present the policemen did all the hard
work. They had to go once a week to every farmer. But
with regard to contagious diseases generally he might add this,
that he considered it sheer nonsense for the rules of the Con-
tagious Diseases Act to be applied to a disease like shab.
Unfortunately the officials of the Government had probably
not seen a shabby sheep and had probably no idea what it was
like. They would have some idea that it was something like
the cattle plague. He did not know whether he was out of
place in doing so, but he would suggest that the Chamber
memorialise the Government to place tlie rules with regard to
shab on the same footiug as the rules for foot-and-mouth dis-
ease which had been relaxed. The inspectors' duties will be
reduced to a great degree in that disease, and he did not see
why it should not be the same with regard to the shab. There-
fore he thought they should direct their attention to this point.

Mr. Jones (Trostrey) asked whether it would be better if
they had the Act and struck out the obnoxious clauses ?

Major Herbert reminded Mr. Jones that if they had the
Act it would take them some hours to understand it. They
would not only want the Act, but the Privy Council
orders as well, and they would have one of these orders about
once a month.

Mr. T. Williams remarked that all he could say was that
their money was being thrown away uselessly. If a sheep
was seen with a bit of wool off or a scratch on it, it was said
that the sheep had the sliab. He thought it was a great shame
that their money should go towards keeping up these fine
gentlemen who did nothing but ride their horses about the
country. It was, in fact, almost dangerous to walk along the
roads.

Major Herbert said that he might explain that for the
future the farmer would report to a policeman when his cattle
were infected with the foot-and-mouth disease. The police-
man would report to the veterinary surgeon, who would go
and examine them ; then when the farm was cleared of the
disease the farmer would again send for the inspector, who
would attend and, if justifiable, give him a clean bill of health.
So that two visits will suffice for the future, instead of some
eighteen or twenty as hitherto, for the purpose of making up
the magistrate's return. The rules affecting shab in sheep had
not been altered, and the inspector was bound to make his
visits for that disease as heretofore ; therefore he argued tiiat
the best way they could bend their energies would be towards
getting the rules applicable to shabby sheep altered in con-
formity with those affecting the foot-and-mouth disease.

Mr. Jones (Trostrey) quite agreed with Major Herbert.
He had a few sheep affected with the disease, and the inspector
came to his home once a week. He could not see the use of
this, and lie gave the man his word of honour that he would

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253

not remove them. But he was informed that it was according
to the Act, and that the inspector was bound to come, and he
did come. Then, again, there were three farms adjoining
affected with the disease, and tlie inspector visited them on
the same round ; but he would charge the mileage for them
as separate items. He certainly did not think it was fair
that the farmers' money should be spent in such a useless
manner.

Major Herbert said that it must be borne iu mind that it
was not the inspectors or the police who made the rules ;
therefore any blame to be made would have to be made to the
Privy Council, and not to those who simply carried out ap-
pointments they had undertaken. He held it to be absurd
that the same rules should apply to shab in sheep as to the
foot-and-mouth plague, and that was what had induced him
to make the suggestion he had. He now begged to propose
that they should memorialise the Government to relax the
rules with regard to shab in sheep.

Mr. G. A. G. Relph had pleasure in seconding this pro-
position. He would go even further than Major Herbert, for
he would not have inspectors except in the markets, either for
foot-and-mouth disease or for sheep. The foot-and-mouth
disease was supposed to have been imported into this country.
It broke out iu 1839 or 1810, long before a foreign beast ever
set foot in England, so that it was a native disease, originally,
at any rate. Then, again, he thought it was most unjust and
unfair that they should have a visitor coming to their home-
steads except for such virulent diseases as the cattle plague.
The interests of the farmer were such as to prevent them
doing anything to break the rules by removing cattle or other-
wise. They knew their duties to their neighbour better than
that. But he would have strict watch put at every gate of
the markets to watch every beast that went in ; and where an
exception occurred in which a farmer so far forgot his public
duties and dishonoured himself by bringing affected cattle into
the market he would liave a very heavy penalty inflicted. He
would not spare anyone who knowingly brought affected cattle
into the market, but he would punish them severely. He
begged to second the resolution that the Chamber memorialise
the Privy Council to put shab on the same footing as foot-
and-mouth disease ; but at the same time he would rather
have no home visitor whatever.

Mr. Hancock thought that it would be as well to have
police inspectors at every gate of the market to inspect the
cattle coming in. And when anyone was found guilty of
knowingly offending the law to punish him heavily. There
was a great deal of personal feeling engendered by having
inspectors to their homes.

The Chairman concurred in the motion that sheep should
be put on the same footing as cattle. But in the present
state of the law the inspectors were obliged to visit once a
week. So long as that continued the expenses would not be
reduced.

A Voice : Let us also pension the inspectors.

The motion being put to the meeting was carried unani-
mously.

Mr. Culver-well proceeded to read the following paper
on the Condition of the Agricultural Labourer : Being one
day much annoyed by the work not going on satisfactorily, I
sat down in the evening and thought Why and what is the
cause of the labouring class becoming so troublesome P and,
as I thought, I wrote my ideas, feeUng it would be mucli
easier and less irksome to my audience than attemptmg a
speech to read them from paper ; and with the permission of
the chairman, and the kind indulgence of my brother farmers,
I will lay before this Chamber a matter that is becoming quite
a serious question to agriculturists, and I shall be happy to
hear other members discuss it ; and, if approved, of some one
more able than myself forming a resolution that will go forth
unanimously from this Chamber to the benefit of landlord,
tenant, and labourer. This subject is the present difficulty of
having and managing, or getting a better class of, farm
labourers, men who would take some interest in their em-
ployers' business. I am sorry to say publicly, from my own
experience, and also from information received from other
farmers, the labourers' interest is to get as much wages as
possible, and do as little labour in return as they can, and they
will not believe or feel they should make themselves worthy
of their hire. I contend that a farmer shoiJd get some return
for the money that he daily expends on labour, for if he pays

his man 2s. per diem and he only earns Is. or only Is. worth
of labour he is certainly robbing his employers. I do not
wish to drive the labourer as a slave, but most of us know
what is a fair day's work, and have a perfect right to demand
it ; and we should expect of our men that they should feel
themselves as one of the main wheels of the farm, and think
and act for the benefit of the master who employs them,
whereas they are now merely (I can't compare them to any-
thing else) mechanically-moving figures, never caring or
thinkmg how they may assist the master by taking a slight
interest in his welfare, the doing of which would render his
business more easily managed, his property better cared for,
and establish a kinder and more grateful feeling, and add
much to the benefit and happiness of employed and employer.
Then comes the question. What is the cause ? I cannot be-
lieve it to be entirely from ignorance, and I have no doubt
many here, much older than myself, both in business and
years, will say it never used to be so. I never had one tithe
the difficulty I have now, and I pay much higher wages, and
where only one used to be able to read and write twenty can
now, and under the Compulsory Education Act the labourer's
child will be better educated than I can afford to educate
mine, because I have to pay higher rent, treble the taxes, and
higher wages for less work. It may be in this district from
the nearness of mines and ironworks, also from emigration,
that there is a scarcity of hands. Another cause is from the
want of unity characteristic of farmers. Men are becoming
careless of possessing what every man should value as dearly
almost as life, viz., his character. And why P Because we,
by our supiueness, have allowed it fco become so. If a man is
discharged for drunkenness, neglect, or misdemeanour, the
next neighbour wanting a man employs him, not caring to
inquire, or hardly asking him for his character. Thus he "be-
comes indifferent to what should be invaluable to everyone,
both for the present and the future. In this matter we, as
farmers, are morally responsible for a certain amount of crime
and degradation that helps to fill our gaols and unions ; for
when once a person begins to sink he too often gets deeper
and deeper in the mire of wickedness ; then the results — the
gaol, sometimes the gallows, because he has been allowed to
be careless of a character. Then another great cause. The
responsibility here must fall on whom it belongs. It is not
the poor man nor the farmer, it is the first men of the realm,
the landlords of England. Let us imagine ourselves walking
about the different farms and parishes. Let us have a look
at what every man should feel a delight in— his home. What
do we see ? Horrid hovels. House or cottage is too dig-
nified a term for them. They are dens of filth, where vice
and immorality are engendered, not fit habitations for animals
of the lowest order, and yet families— human souls— must live
therein, maybe all sleep in one room for the want of more, or
that the roof has fallen in over the other, men and wonien,
boys and girls, altogether. The picture wants no more paint-
ing, the dark tints are too familiar with us all. Who is to
blame here ? Compulsory cottages would raise the poor man
quite as much, if not more, in the social scale, than com-
pulsory education. We the occupiers, have to pay for
the latter. There is no compulsion on the landlord
for the former. Is it consistent that education and
such homes should be together? Do the landed pro-
prietors wish to drive the respectable labourer out of
the country ? If so, let the cottage be neglected and fall to
ruin ; let them tumble down about the occupants. Then they
must go, and this, I may venture to assert, is almost a com-
mon occurrence. Now for the remedy. As I have mentioned
what in my humble opinion are the causes, they of themselves
will suggest the remedies. Then let us, the members of this
Chamber, urge upon the landlords to see that every farm has
its certain number of cottages. That they will be conducive
to the good of every one is a moral certainty. I will not be-
lieve that cottagers would not pay a fair per-centage on capi-
tal invested. If by those causes previously mentioned, labour
in this district is become scarce, higher wages and good
houses would be an inducement, and labour could and would
be imported. Many counties pay much lower wages than we
do. I would suggest that two cottages, or say a double cot-
tage, should be built for every 150 acres, with suitable gar-
dens, and'that when built should become, with a proper per-
centage, the tenant's, as partof his holding, he being responsible
for the rent ; that they should be built as cheaply as would be

254

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

cousistent witii durability and comfort, aud liavo not less than
three sleeping apartments, so tliat the rent may be estimated
accordingly. Tiiat the farmer should liold out certain induce-
ments to liis men, such as giving them potato-ground in addi-
tion to tlie wages, such to be forfeited by misconduct, and
should also sell them wheat at first cost for their bread; in
fact, give them opportunities that would be consistent with
liis means. I maintain that all these matters would establish
a good feeling between them. Business would become a
pleasure, whereas now it is almost unbearable. Land would
increase in value by being better cultivated. The landlord
would benefit by that ; the tenant by the easier and improved
management of the land ; the labourer by constant employ-
ment in his work, his decent and comfortable home, garden,
and perquisites. What is there in creation insensible to com-
fort? Do we not all know how to appreciate a comfortable
home when tossed and worn in body and mind? Is it not a
blessing ? Tlien are not our labourers the same flesh and
blood ? Then why should they not have houses that would
render them happy ? Is it reasonable that a man should
walk his mile or two to his work — often the case — work all
day on his crust of bread ; then, tired and worn, retrace his
steps to his hovel, damp, dirty, no glass in the windows, not
fit flooring, delicate wife, sickly family, and misery supreme ?
AU this should not be, ought not to be. Let this Chamber
urge it upon their landlords. It is their duty. Their life is
one of plenitude and luxury. Let them look at it fiaancially.
It is not a losing speculation. Would there not be great re-
muneration in having risen families in the social scale — that
comfort and happiness reigns where misery and squalor be-
fore abounded ? Is there not much pleasure in feeling that
good has been done ? Unless something is done, farms can-
not be managed. Tliey cannot be worked without labour,
and that is not to be had. I will now come to the farmers.
The cause here also suggests the remedy. Let us become a
more united class. Let us by united and good feeling abolish
selfishness, and try and teach by precept and practice the
value of truth, duty, and sobriety, and let us be determined
and insist upon having and giving characters. It is incum-
bent on us for the benefit of society. It will and must work
much good in time. If a man can better himself, it is his
province to do so. If deserving, it is our part to help him.
It is a duty we owe one another to help each other. I believe
we can aU mutually assist, and by so doing benefit ourselves
aud the community at large. I have not had time to collect
as much information as I should wish, and will invite, in
conclusion, my brother-farmers to give us now their views
on the subject. I beg to move the following resolution :
" That inasmuch as we, the members of this Chamber, find
to our loss that the difliculty of obtaining labour is every day
becoming more serious, and that it is a great detriment to the
proper and reasonable cultivation of the soil, tliey do most
earnestly urge the landlords of the county to build labourers'
cottages where required, believing that such accommodation
will remove this difficulty of obtaining labour, and will be the
means, socially and morally, of improving the condition of
the labourer, and add to the better cultivation of the soil, and
consequently increase the value of the land."

Mr. John Morgan said that he did not think any member
could have brought forward a subject of greater importance
than the advisability of building better habitations for the
agricultural population, those at present in existence being,
generally speaking, a disgrace, not only to the landlords but
to the farmers, and calculated to have a tendency to demo-
ralise the agricultural population very considerably. lu con-
sequence of the inducements which were offered them, the la-
bouring population were now leaving for the manufacturing
districts, and resorting to emigration, and he therefore thought
that the subject treated of by Mr. Calvcrwell was a most im-
portant one, and of great interest to the landlords, the farm-
ers, and to the country at large. He hoped that the matter
would be placed before the landlords of the country in such a
shape that it would command their attention, for it was clear
that if the best labour left the country the soil would be badly
tilled, to the loss of all classes. He thought that the agricul-
tural labourer was, strictly speaking, the most important man
in the world, as lie conduced chiefly to the welfare of his fel-
low men, and he thought it was a discredit to the country that
the class had for so long been so greatly neglected. He also
thought tliat the heavy taxes upon cottages were a great detri-

ment to the investors of capital in thiit kind of pro(>eity.
And why the proprietors of railway property and similar in-
vestors should escape contributing to the maintenance of the
institutions of society, and cottage property should pay somc--
thing like 10 per cent, he could not understand. There was
no excuse or palliation for such a state of things. The retnrn
to investors in cottage property was most wretched. He had
a few cottages at Pontypool, and got nothiiig from them. He
would never think of investing in cottage property in towns
whilst the tax upon them was so heavy, but in the country
districts lie thought it was to the interests of all classes to im-
prove the dwellings of tha labouring population, looking at
the matter from a social point of view, and setting aside the
question of returns for invested capital. He had great plea-
sure in seconding the resolution.

Mr. GREENTiow-RELrn said the paper read by Mr. Culver-
well appeared to touch upon two points — the position of the
farmer with regard to the agricultural labourer at the present
time and in the future. He thought that no subject could be
more interesting to those present, and Mr. Culverwell had said
very truly that, whilst farmers were willing to take on a man
who had been turned away from his previous situation on ac-
count of drunken habits, there was no inducement for a man
to try and obtain a good character. It might he said that if
they waited for a man with a good character they would have
to wait a long time, as the labourers were always changing
places ; but he held that employers of labour were acting con-
trary to their own good judgment in engaging a hand who
came unprovided with a good character. However, consider-
ing the exigencies of many farmers on certain occasious, he did
not blame them so much for being less particular in their choice
of workmen than they should be, as he should otherwise be in-
clined to do. But they could not close their eyes to what was
going on in the labour market, and there was no doubt that
in the course of time the i^gricultural labourers would follow
the example of artizans in the manufacturing districts, and ask
for a reduction in the hours of labour conjointly with an increase
of wages. It behoved them, therefore, to take council toge-
ther to avert the inevitable demand that would be made as well
as they possibly could. He certainly sympathised with the
labourer in his present long hours of daily toil, and said
that they could not condemn the man for stepping into the
clean and well-kept public-house on his return to a home at
night that contrasted most unfavourably with the comfort the
tavern afforded. Yet, if the step proposed by Mr. Culverwell
with regard to the erection of cottages were carried into effect,
the temptation would be withdrawn to a very great extent ;
for with comfortable dwellings there would be some induce-
ment to the men to return to tiieir families at the close of the
day's work. Why did tiie agricultural labourers occupy their
present degraded position ? It was because they, and their
parents before them, had been neglected, and had scarcely even
been taught their religious duties, boing left from generation
to generation with almost entirely uncultivated minds. No
doubt there was a better state of things in store for the agri-
cultaral labourer, but to raise him from his present state of
degradation would entail expense, and even now school rates
were being levied in various districts. Wherever introduced
into the county of Monmouth, the farmers would of course have
to bear these rates, and he believed that if they saw the money
well expended in such a cause, they would contribute with-
out grumbling. It was merely the ignorance of the agri-
cultural labourers which had prevented them combining to for-
ward their interests before ; and it was to be hoped that the
farmers would see their way to encourage the men by giving
them better wages. He had heard a genileman say that it did
not pay to give his men less than 2s. 6d. a day ; as the maa
who was paid that sum generally made himself worth it by
doing two-and-sixpence worth of work, but he who re-
ceived Is. 8d. or Is. lOd. often did not earn a shilling. He
was sure that the men who received the highest wages would
turn out the best in the end, and he hoped that the landed
proprietors would lose no time in erecting cottages in the
country for the labouring classes. He had no doubt that if the
motion of Mr. Culverwell were passed, it would act most be-
neficially as a spur to the accomplishment of the proposed im-
provements,

Mr. Haycox said it should, in Justice, be remembered that,
though the ironmasters and otlier large employers of labour in
manufactures might offer the agricultural labourers better

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

255

wages than Ihey were gcttiug at their ordinary work, tliey
often, owing to the slackness of trade, were compelled to shut
their doors, and send their workmen hack to the agricultural
districts; whereas the duties of an agricultural labourer were
continuous, as the farmers could not close their fields, but they
must maintain the cultivation of the soil at all times. He
thought they might alTord to give the labourers Is. or 23. per
week more than they were receiving at present, as he thought
the labourer worthy of liis hire. It also appeared to him that
it would he well for the Chamber to consider whether it would
not be better to do away with part payment in cider.

Mr. Cdlverwell said it seemed to him that if they did away
with cider as the staple drink they must do away with the
orchards ; and he maintained that a labourer could not afford
to maintain his family without he received perquisites.

The PxiEsiuEXT said he had always thought it the duty of

landlords to provide for the welfare of those who lived upon
their property ; and he thought that landed proprietors ouglit to
take the view of the question that there was still a great deal
to be done in the way of improving the dwellings of the agri-
cultural labourers. He quite agreed with the motion put for-
ward by Mr. Culverwell, to whom he was much obliged for the
manner in which he had entered into the matter, and he was
also indebted to Mr. Thomas Williams for having introduced
the subject of the Contagious Diseases Act.

Major Herbert did not think there was a man who would
not speak out openly and honestly, and say to the landlords
that more cottages were wanted for the labourers.

Mr. Culverwell said he thought that if the landlords had
been applied to openly before, additional cottages would have
been built.

The motion of Mr. Culverwell was adopted.

THE MIDLAND FARMERS' CLUB.

At the eighth annual meeting at the Royal Hotel, Birming-
ham, Mr. George Wise in the chair, Mr. Morgan Evans read
the following paper on two mottoes. Practice with Science, and
IFork a/id Leant :

I trust I shall be found sufficiently orthodox ia my re-
marks, after having chosen as a title of my address the motto
of the Royal Agricultural Society, Practice wiiti Science,
and also that of the old-established Bath and West of England
Society, Work and Leai-/i. I think the more we farm in har-
mony with these two mottoes, the more successful we shall be
individually, and the greater wdll be the benefit to the nation
from our agricultural. It would be impossible iu one lecture
or in a dozen to go over all the ground included in these wise i
old sayings. I have rather taken them as a starting point from
which to address yon than for the purpose of making any at-
tempt at giving you an exhaustive textual discourse. Our
present agricultural position has been attained by a slow gra-
dual progress rather than by sudden leaps. Experiment and
experience have led us where we are. The light of science,
although a light from heaven, has not unfrequently led us
astray. The fault, though, is not in the nature of the light,
which is bright and constant. We have not looked simply
enough at the operations of Nature. We are rather pleased
than otherwise to find out misteries that practically do not
concern us. We theorise when we should work, draw con-
clusions and preach on them, without putting them to the test
in the open field. We dogmatise and delude agriculturists,
and inoculate them with false views that will take a ge-
neration to eradicate. Some of these teachings have so in-
fected the minds of our great landowners, that utterly absurd
clauses are inserted iu leases, thus cramping the operations of
the tenant-farmer, who has to farm to order. The terms of
some modern agreements appear to be made for the purpose of
teaching a farmer his business. His course of cropping is
laid down ; he must grow only certain crops, and these not
too oftsn. The owner of the soil has little faith in his land,
and no reliance in the farmer. If the soil requires such
hedging around, it must be a very unstable article to
deal with ; and if the farmer is to be educated in his profes-
sion by lawyers and land agents, he is totally unfit to CHter
upon' another man's property. If he has to farm by routine,
half the pleasure of his occupation is, I think, gone. He is
little better than a farm bailiff, and not his own master.
Brains are a nuisance to him. 1 must not be meant to con-
demn honourable terms of agreement for mutual protection.
These are necessary iu all contracts, whether it be for a farm
in the country or house in the town, a shop in New-street,
Birmingham, or five hundred acres in the Lothians. Chemi -
cal science is an important auxiliary and an honourable hand-
maid to agriculture. If she has sometimes jilted us, jilting,
after all, has been as much due to the stubbornness of the lover
as to the caprices of the wooer. We shall ever be indebted to
science for the impetus given to artificial manures. She has
explained the rationale of their influence, and enables us to
detect any adulterations in their composition. And the analy-
sis of soils also plays an important part in modern farming,
whereby we detect any great dsfioicucy in lime, potash, phos-

phoric acid, or salt in our soils. The agricultural world is
greatly indebted to the researches of scientific men. But it
has not at all times happened that their investigations have
had practical value to farmers. A great deal has been crude
and misleading. The results obtained in the laboratory and
the conclusions arrived at too hastily, have not been corrobo-
rated when put to the test of field experiment. The scientist
who theorises and propounds his theories to the public without
first proving his scientific views by genuine farm practice, is a
dangerous leader. Besides the man of science is frequently
above making correct calculations of how his theories will pay
in working on an ordinary farm. For want of a knowledge of
the business of farming, and the ordinary operations of com-
merce, he is not always a safe guide. Indeed a great deal of
what were considered as axiomatic truths twenty years ago,
have turned out to be utterly fallacious when reduced to prac-
tice. What appeared abstract truth in the laboratory vanished
when brought to bear on the soil of our hills and valleys.
Sun and shade, natural fertility, and the variation of our
seasons in a changeable climate, had been overlooked and not
taken into account. Thus much that was popular belief
has proved to be the popular error. Truth may be immortal,
but error has great vitality. When the great German chemist,
Liebig, frightened us almost out of our senses by proclaiming
the utter and inevitable ruin impending from our farm prac-
tices, and that England would iu a few decades become utterly
sterile from exhaustion of the mineral constituents of the soil,
he did no little damage to British agriculture. Much that we
have learnt from him and his school has to be unlearnt, and
the unlearning is a tedious process. Notwithstanding that
Mr. Lawes has for many years demolished the bugbear of
" exhaustion," the theory still underlies almost all the popu-
lar teachings of the day. Leases and farm agreements
throughout the country still continue to be framed in accord-
ance with the exploded doctrine. Landlords look on in con-
sternation at the continuous croppings, or the removal of
more than the usual produce of the farm. The cheese-
factory system, amongst others has been condemned as
ruinous, because the milk is sold, and there is no
whey to feed the pigs with. Earraing can only pay
by selling farm produce. If butter and cheese are
legitimate articles for sale, there need be little fear of ex-
hausting the land just because there is no whey left. Surely,
with all our resources in the way of manures, the damage, if
any, can be repaired. The more we can sell off the laud year
by year with a profit, the greater we may rest assured that the
natural fertility of the soil is uninjured, whether the produce be
beef or milk, butter, cheese, or wheat. The farm is a machine,
which if not fed at one end will not deliver at the other. A
hundred of thatch at a guinea is well replaced by two hundred-
weight of super-phosphate at 7s. per hundred-weight, and
leaves besides a clear saving of 7s. to the farmer's pocket. I
would not be supposed to argue that all of the straw can be
removed from the farm without serious damage ; for besides its
value as fodder, and its nianurial value in chemical consti-
tuents, it is a great vehicle for collecting other manure and re-
taining it in a portable form. And after all it said, there is no

256

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

manure to beat tliat of the farm-yard. Aud this leads me to
mention auotlier error on the part of analysts. It has been main-
tained that tlie value of farm-yard manure is simply equivalent
to the money-value of its constituents as food for plants. Now
some recent experiments by Mr. Lawes go to prove that farm-
yard manure has virtues which do not enter into the calcula-
tions of the chemist. Its power of retaining moisture in the
soil is one of its great advantages, especially in dry summers,
and its merits in this way is to be considered when fixing its
comparative price in relation to other manures. Again,
chemists in days gone by had been loud in their protests of the
wastefulness of spreading manure on the fields in autumn,
averring that the loss in ammonia by so doing is costly and
ruinous. But Dr. Voelcker now tells us that the custom of our
forefathers is not only not injurious in practice, but positively
to be recommended, and there appears little doubt that former
teachings on the matter were devoid of truth, and illusory.
Similar errors, originating with scientific tlieories, may be men-
tioned, but these few must for the present suffice. Since the
latest revival of agricultural chemistry, now upwards of a
quarter-of-a-century, much good work has been done ; but it
must be allowed that the expectations formed of tlie benefits
to be derived from chemistry have not been fully realized. It
was at one time supposed that one had only to learn chemistry
to become a successful farmer — that immense changes would
take place in farm practice ; it was even thought that all tliat
was necessary to grow crops was to get the soils of the dif-
ferent fields analyzed, and that the chemist would compound a
manure to suit the land with as great ease as the physician pre-
scribes the ingredients of a drastic bolus, or diuretic draught.
Such absurd teachings are even now not wholly unknown. In
some provincial districts the tribe of minor chemists are found
on the platform at farmers' clubs, lecturing farmers' on
chemistry, and propounding absurd dogmas and chimerical
theories, to the utter dismay of all who understand anything of
practical farming. I would not say one word against the
honourable professors of chemical science, but there is much
to be said against an incompetent class of teachers, who dis-
pense epsom salts by day, and turn their back parlours into so-
called laboratories at night, and who have no other claim to be
heard by practical men. Some of these would find it extremely
difficult to raise a good bed of leeks in a kitchen-garden, and
still think themselves fit to instruct others in growing broad
acres of turnips and wheat. Isot very long ago, on the other
side of the Tweed, one of these self-constituted teachers urged
the necessity of every farmer having the soil of each field an-
nually analyzed — of course by him — and that it was the only
way to farm properly in accordance with the enlightened spirit
of modern times. Utterly opposed to such unpractical theories
are the teachings of men like Mr. J. B. Lawes and Dr. Agustus
Voelcker. There are so many conditions that cannot be taken
into account in the chemist's determinations ; and the fertility
of a soil in practical working cannot at all times be diagnosed
by the aid of chemical tests. There are the mechanical texture
of the soil, the crops previously grown which influence the
friability or firmness of the soil as a seed-bed, the changes
likely to take place by the action of the climate — heat and
cold, sunshine aud rain. Besides, we know that a few hundred-
weights of nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia sown over
an acre of ground containing hundreds of tons of soil turned
over by the plough will sometimes double the quantity of wheat,
whilst a sample of the soil taken from the surface to say ten
inches deep, and thoroughly mixed, would not contain any per-
ceptible trace of the manure used, or in any way foretell the
probability of its raising an abundant crop. Mauy of our
chemists have been well versed in their own profession, but
lamentably ignorant of the conditions of agricultural practice,
the farm ledger, and the many puzzling questions which claina
our attention when we come to manage a farm of five hundred
acres. They have pocketed samples of the field as a builder
would certify to a house from the nature of a brick brought to
him. Pinches of soil under the torturing influence of acid and
fire have told only half the secrets of the field. Instead of
bringing the field into the laboratory. Dr. Voelcker, Mr. Lawes,
Professor Way, and a few other eminent men, have, so to speak,
taken the laboratory into tjbe field. This is the only reliable
way to obtain exact knowledge in the chemistry of the soil,
and every line they have written is thus worth reading and
eminently suggestive. Certainly the elaborate statistics of
Rothamsted require much time and patience to master them.

and I could wish that a popular exposition of the chief points
arrived at by Mr. Lawes were placed before the public. I may
here be allowed to say a word on the numerous lectures deli-
vered at our Farmers' Clubs on Science and Agaiculture,
Chemistry and Agriculture, &c. These are frequently the pro-
duction of students in science, who have never held an acre of
ground or fed a single porker. The nature of oxygen and hydro-
gen, carbon and nitrogen, are explained by the help of a few
bottles and a spirit-lamp. The ingenious bottle-holders treat of
elementary substances in a very elementary way. They take
great pains to say they will lower their discourse so as to be
ensily comprehended by the farmers present. We hope farmers
appreciate tlie infinite condescension of their oracular teachers.
Now, really, farmers either do or do not understand the first
principles of chemistry. If they do, it is great waste of time
to have to listen to pedantic jargon, suitable only in the first
pages of an agricultural primer. If they have not a rudi-
mentary knowledge of the natural sciences, I am sure there is
very little got out of a single lecture. What is to be gained in
a one hour lecture on astronomy if we have to range from the
Sun to Saturn ? or a discourse of a like length on geology which
shall include the history of granite and greenstone, trap and
trilobite tertiary formations and alluvial deposits ? Farmers of
the present day are not supposed to be ignorant of the nature
of simple gases, or of the course of plant life, and the general
constituents of the soil, and of manure. If there are any who
are ignorant, the wiser plan would be to get education else-
where, and pay for it, and not stand in the way of those who
have graduated in a higher class. It appears to me almost an
insult to a respectable, intelligent class of men, that anyone
should presume to drill them in the alphabet of a science of
which few now-a-days are entirely ignorant. It does not ap-
pear to be at all indispensable to the farmer that he should
tiiorouglily master chemittry, geology, or any other science.
Putting aside for the present any consideration of the pleasures
to be derived from following any particular branch of study—
the benefits of mental discipline and culture attained by in-
vestigating the secret workings of Nature, or the intellectual
and social status the student is able to assume amongst his
fellows — there is not a great deal to be gained by simple
book knowledge. Let the young farmer, befo'-e entering on a
farm, learn the best way to plough, to sow, to reap. Let him
study the cUmate, and the farm practice of successful agricul-
turists in the locality. He will find this more useful in grow-
ing and securing good crops than implicitly relying upon his
superior knowledge and scientific attainments. Let him be
well up in the machinery and working of a farm — be able to
judge when the soil is in a fit state to receive the seed at Ida
hand, and when the harvest is ready for the reaper. A prac-
tical knowledge of how to feed a horse and an ox wiU be of
more immediate use to him than nice distinctions of about the
proximate and ultimate elements of food. It is not necessary to
our existence and the maintenance of our health that we should
know the chemical elements that form our daily bread ; and we
know tolerably well what will agree with our digestion with-
out first discussing the mysteries of gastric juice and the peri-
staltic action of the bowels. A physician might as well tell us
that we cannot know how to eat properly without understand-
ing physiology, as for the pure scientist to come out of his
laboratory and tell us we do not know how to farm if ignorant
of the mysteries of vegetable physiology, and the nature of
living protoplasm. A knowledge of the higher branches of
science is not necessary to farm successfully. A student at the
seaside deplored the sad state of the boatman who took him
for a cruise because the old " salt" did not understand the law
of tides and atmospheric currents, and the philosophy of
specific gravity and floating bodies. " Half your life has been
lost to you," said the scholar. The boat bumped on a sunken
reef, and Jack shouted out — "Can you swim?" "No."
" Well then all your life is lost." A very important question
is that one for the farmer — Can you swim ? The Captain was
a gallant ship in the docks, and science liad been busy at the
building of her, yet she was found to be not much more sea-
worthy than the ancient ships that conveyed Ctesar to Britain,
or the reefs and canoes of the Indian Archipelago. A super-
ficial knowledge, or a parrot-like acquirement of teclinical
science, is often very dangerous. What is required to succeed
in farming, as in other professions, is a clear, wise, logical
head, capable of making correct use of the best information.
People of this class though, like poets, are born, not made.

THE FARMER'S I^IAGAZINE.

257

How frequently do we find the student who has passed brilliant
examinations, when he has to go out to the world utterly lack
the power of correctly applying his knowledge when called
upon to do so ? Medical men, for instance, who are proficient
in the theory of medicine, in anatomy, physiology, and all
other branches of their profession, very frequently make infe-
rior practitioners when they come in contact with any form of
disease which slightly differs from the symptoms given in
medical books, or when it presents some unusual form of com-
plication. They can repeat almost every known formula in
the Pharmacopoeia, but, for want of a logical brain, run great
risk of prescribing the wrong ingredients. On the other hand,
some men who have learnt less retain more, have a practised
hand and eye, can weigh evidence correctly, see all round the
nature of the disease — calm in an emergency, and unerring in
their treatment of a case. What is wanted most in the farmer
is, as T have already tried to show, not so much a minute
technical knowledge of abstruse problems in chemistry, geology
or meteorology, as a well-trained logical mind — in a word,
sound common-sense. It is not necessary that a judge should
be a learned toxicologist before he is capable of sitting on a
case of poisoning by strychnine, nor eminent as a physician
and mental philosopher before he listens to evidence touching
the insanity, or supposed insanity of a murderer. Scientific
witnesses are called to give their opinions, and the bases on
which they are formed ; the judge being an educated gentleman,
can fully understand the theories propounded from the witness-
box, and, being possessed of an acute logical intellect, is in the
generality of cases better fitted to instruct the jury than any
scientific specialist would be. Farmers in the present day are
an educated class ; the arguments and plain deductions of
chemistry are understood by them sufficiently to appreciate the
evidence of experimentalists in field agricultiire ; they can see
and feel the light without having to be drilled in the nature of
prismatic colours. I need hardly say that no farmer should be
unacquainted with the literature of farming ; ^he should be
versed in the latest investigations having a practical bearing
on farm work ; indeed, be should know something of the re-
lation of several sciences to his occupation — and they are many ;
but, as Mr. i'roude somewhere says, " One cannot learn eveiy-
thing; the objects of knowledge have multiplied beyond the
power of the strongest mind to keep pace with them all." Not-
withstanding the great progress made of late years in agricul-
tural science, there is ample room left for further experiment.
The " gratitude of his fellows, and those who come after,"
certainly awaits anyone who settles one of the many questions
which still remain for solution. With all the recent develop-
ment of dairying — to mention only one branch of agriculture
—both here and in America, many points in dairy practice
have not been definitely settled. Discussion still goes on, on
the comparative merits of deep and shallow pans for the set-
ting of milk. Churning the whole milk, or only the cream,
is another fruitful source of argument, and the effect of diffe-
rent foods on the chemical constituents of milk — how far the
quantity can be increased, and the quality altered by feeding —
has not be»n accurately determined. Many here present might,
with a little trouble and expense, add something to our stock
of knowledge by undertaking a few experiments, and making
the result known to the public. It is much to be regretted
that we have no Minister of Agriculture in this country. Our
different Governments — Tory, Whig, or Radical — pay little
heed to the advancement of agriculture. Experiments which
have important bearing on the production of farm produce and
the fertility of soils are left to private individuals. Mr. Lawes'
experimental farm at Rothamsted is a national benefit.
Few, besides him, have the means, the scientific attainments,
and the plodding industry, necessary to conduct such elaborate
studies in field agriculture. Experiments on such a scale,
and extending over so many years, have never before been
known in any country. If some of the thousands of pounds
expended in building ships that topple over in a mackerel
breeze were devoted to endowing a national experimental farm,
the benefit to practical agriculture would be incalculable. A
commission on agriculture is, to my mind, quite as im-
portant as on fisheries and the preservation of oyster
beds. It is very important that all farm experiments should
be faithfully reported, and that all surrounding con-
ditions should be taken into consideration. What was the
treatment the land received in previous years, and what
manure was applied to t ? What was the nature of the

seasons, wet or dry, cold or hot, from seed time until the crop
was harvested? And was the crop correctly measured or
weighed ? There are a great many loose statements made on
agricultural matters; conclusions are also drawn quite the
opposite of what they should be, from not examining the
question in all its bearings, and eliminating all irrelevant
matter with a judicial mind. The sayings and doings of city
merchants and aldermen who dabble in farming are fre-
quently of the most delusive character. For heaven's sake
let us have naore doings and less sayings. I am one of those
who believe that Mr. Mechi has done immense good when he
has been wrong as well as when he has been right. The
energy he has shown in agriculture cannot be too highly
praised ; his love of farming, and the perfect frankness of his
utterances. I might wish, though, that he were less
credulous of the boastful tall talk of his friends and
neighbours. Any one who could believe that hares
might be taught to avoid the poacher's net by
catching them all in one night witJi nets across gaps and
gateways, administering them a sound horsewhipping, and
then turning them down, is, to say the least, not peculiarly
fitted for instructing his contemporaries in sound practical
knowledge. I shall not detain you much longer. I believe
the same may be said of an address at a Farmer's Club as old
John Foster said of sermons — that they should be short, for
which there were too reasons : Firstly, if the sermon was
poor, the shorter the better it was, and if it was good, why a
little of it would do and go a long way. Having commenced
with the orthodox mottoes of two important agricultural
societies, let me sum up what I have said with two quotations
equally orthodox I think. The first is a standing quotation, to
be found behind the title page of the Roynl Socieli/t Journal,
It is from Von Thaer's Principles of Agriculture : " These ex-
periments, it is true, are not easy ; still they are in the power
of every thinking husbandman. He who accomplishes but
one, of however limited application, and takes care to report
it faithfully, advances the science, and, consequently, the
practice of agriculture, and acquires thereby a right to
the gratitude of his fellows, and of those who come
after ; to make many such is beyond the power of most indi-
viduals, and cannot be expected. The first care of all Socie-
ties formed for the improvement of our science should be to
prepare the forms of such experiments, and to distribute the
execution of these among their members." The other is to
be found in a like place in the BcdJi and West of England
Society's Journal. It is from " Rural Economy of England,
Scotland, and Ireland," by Leonce de Lavergne : " He that
goes about to forward agricultural improvement must begin
by finding out the true reasons of what is called routine, or
the ' custom of the country.' It sometimes happens that
these reasons are only accidental, and then you may dismiss
them fearlessly ; but it often turns out that every-day
practice rests on a solid foundation of facts, and then, if
you make an onslaught on local prejudices, they wiU be
sure to best you. The true course for the agricultural im-
prover is, to take one step at a time, to gain a clear in-
sight into facts by experience, not to try to go too fast,
and to trust to the work of time. If practice which sets
up to do without theory is contemptible, theory without
practice is foolhardy and perfectly useless."

Mr.BowENJo^'ES, the President elect, said there was no doubt
the application of chemistry to agriculture would be of great
service ; but when the experiments were carried out in detail,
fallacious conclusions would be arrived at. It would be ne-
cessary to have the experiments based upon the truest prin-
ciples, and carried out most correctly in their details. As to
the spreading of manure, a new theory had exploded by the
further researches of science. He recollected being at Ciren-
cester when an experiment was being carried out in the matter
of spreading manure, and which he alluded to at a former
meeting. He quite thought that science without practice was
useless to the agriculturist. What we wanted was the labo-
ratory brought to the farm, not the farm to the laboratory.
With regard to farmyard manure, what Mr. Morgan Evans
had stated was entirely borne out by an experiment he recol-
lected being tried some years ago. Farmyard manure had
been spread on the land for three months on one plot ; the
same quantity was applied to a similar plot in heaps : and on
a third plot the same size was covered straight from the boxes.
The result in each case was the same, which showed that the

258

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

theory tli;il fiinuynrJ maiiiae wlieii put upon the; ground lost
the whole of the ammouia was entirely erroneous. lAirmers
who intended to get on well at the present time should be
thoroughly " up" in all agriculturul matters. Whether a
farmer undersoood the science of agriculture or not, it was
uecessary that he should know what the price of beef was be-
fore market day, or else he would not get that amount of
money for his produce that he would otherwise receive. It
was a short-sighted policy not to pay a penny for a daily
newspaper, because, with a view of saving a penny a day,
they might lose a sovereign a head in a dozen beasts in the
market.

The Chairman said he most cordially reciprocated the
sentiments of the last speaker, and seconded the vote of
thanks to his friend Mr. Evans for his interesting paper.
What tliey had already heard had convinced him that these
discussions must be productive of good ; for hitherto he had
always understood that manures which had been subjected to
the influences of air and of water were not half as good as
those which were not so exposed, but taken direct from boxes.
But he was convinced that he had been entirely wrong in
thinking that the action of water and air on straw manures
considerably deteriorated them. Mr. Evans had made use of
one remark with which he perfectly agreed, and of which he
had made use on the occasion of a meeting at Coventry three
years ago, on proposing the health of the Earl of Warwick —
namely, tliat there was nothing which he should so much like
to see as a permanent Minister of Agriculture. He confessed
that he was told that he did not know what he was talking
about, and he had therefore to give in. But he was
sure that to a certain extent they would agree with
him that if for the last forty or fifty years they
had had a gentleman of that position in Parliament they
should not now he hampered with that tax which all
interested in agriculture so thoroughly abominated — the malt-
tax. They should also have seen all those antiquated agree-
ments which had been referred to swept away, and they should
be put upon an entirely new footing. They had heard from
Mr. Jones that the important question of land tenure was dis-
cussed at the Chamber of Agriculture at Warwick, introduced
in a most excellent paper by Mr. Horley. He confessed that
he did not see his way out of the difliculiy. He was on the
committee to see what could be done, and he sincerely hoped that
they should be able to arrive at some really good agreement
or lease — he knew that a great many people objected to leases,
but he was not one of them — and that tliey might see some-
thing done that wauld benefit the farmers, not only of this
county, but throughout the kingdom. They must have a cer-
tain court of appeal where landlords and tenants could have
their disputes — if any arose — settled without expense, and, if
possible, without disturbing the harmonious and kindly feeling
that ought ever to exist between the two classes.

Mr. WiGGiN said that there were in Mr. Evans's paper a
great many truisms which no one would dispute ; but, as a
chemist himself, he must stand up in defence of such men as
their great Professor Liebig, who, he thought, had scarcely
had justice done to him at the hands of Mr. Evans. That
Liebig had made some great and grievous errors, they all
knew ; but they also knew that he was the first among modern
chemists to call the attention of practical agriculturists to
the great value of chemistry in carrying on their industry.
Although Sir Humphry Davy, at the commencement of this
century, was one of the first chemists to call attention to the
fact of the exhaustion of the land by carrying on continuous
crops, still nothing was done in the way of the practical ap-
plication of the principle until about twenty-five years ago,
when attention was again called to the subject by Professor
Liebig. There was no question that every crop of corn they
carried away from the land took away with it a large amount
of mineral constituents, and the land liad no means of recover-
ing these mineral constituents, unless they were applied to it in
the shape of farm-yard or artificial manure. Among the intel-
ligent agriculturists he saw around him, and so far as his know-
ledge went amongst the farmers generally of the Midland dis-
trict, there were few who would listen to the advice of the
miserable charlatans Mr, Evans had referred to as teachers of
chemistry ; but they must look at their great leaders Liebig,
Voelcker, and Way, and when they read their able writings in
the Royal Agricultural journals they might place some reliance
upon the advice which they gave. If he understood Mr. Evans,

that gcnUcnian thought that there was very little exhaustion
of the soil ; but Mr. Lawes, the great practical agriculturist,
had come to an exactly opposite conclusion, for, in a scries of
experiments, he showed that the produce per acre on land ma-
nured with nitrate of ammonia, guano, and farm-yard manure
was greater than that on land which had not been manured at
all. Mr. Lawes assumed that the normal condition of land was
to grow fifteen bushels per acre in cropping land from year to
year. By the application of artificial manure alone Mr. Lawes
stated that there was a considerable increase in the yield. It
was, therefore, only due to the chemists who had advocated the
application of artificial manures that they should give them the
credit for what they had done. He quite agreed with Mr.
Evans that if they could get plenty of farm-yard manure it
was the best they could get. That was his opinion, after some
practical experience, and after having used both farm-yard
manure and the preparation of Proctor and Ryland and otJier
artificial manure manufacturers. Mr. Evans had also referred
to the stupid agreements — he did not know whether Mr. Evans
used the word " stupid," but he (Mr. Wiggin) would — made
between landlord and tenant. His opinion was that the first
duty of the landlord was to look round and obtain for his
tenant an intelligent man, with money at his command to work
the land. When he had done that, the less the tenant was
hampered with covenants and agreements the better for all
parties concerned and for agreements in general. There would
be no necessity for any agreements as to how the land
should be cropped. Of course he would not allow a
tenant to plough up fine old turf land ; but as regarded
cropping his impression was that the tenant knew a vast
deal more about carrying on his farm profitably to himself,
and advantageously to the landlord, than any one else.
Coming there to listen to the Editor of the Milk Journal, he
hoped to have heard something of the production and compo-
sition of milk, which formed so large and important a part of
the food of the people of the town of Birmingham. Know-
ing something of the milk business himself, and seeing before
him a gentleman who was a very large producer of that article,
he should have been happy to have heard the subject spoken of.
He should like to know from Mr. Evans whether in his expe-
rience he had found that milk from cattle affected with the
foot-and-mouth disease was productive of any ill effects to the
consumer. He did know that within the last nine months,
in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, nearly all the cattle had
been so affected, and soon after they had breaking out in their
midst an epidemic of small-pox. Perhaps Mr. Evans, from
his experience, could throw some light upon the subject. For
himself he had found that wlicre milk from cows in a healthy
condition would keep for 36 hours, milk from cattle suffering
from foot-and-mouth disease became rancid and bad in less
than ten hours. He had uever taken the trouble to analyse
the milk himself or to send any to an analytical chemist, but
he should be glad to hear Mr. Evans's experiences on the sub-
ject if he had any. His cows so affected brought forth dead
calves, and the same was the experience of one of his neigh-
bours.

Mr. Masfen said he had consulted a chemist, who said it
was wrong to apply manure in a heated state. He (Mr. Mas-
feu) was in favour of allowing tlie manure to lie for a time
upon the land instead of ploughing it in, and he expressed his
belief that if tenant farmers were to attract capital to the land
they must liave greater freedom of action in the matter of
leases and agreements than they have hitlierto had.

Mr. Bartleet said he did not agree with all that had been
said on the subject of leases. He thought the best security
farmers could have were leases, and this was the experience of
the agricultural world. The best farms he knew of were in
Norfolk and Scotland, and the custom in those parts of the
kingdom were long leases, which were renewed a short time
before the time arrived for their expiration, so that the
farmer was able, practically, to look upon the land as his own,
and expend his capital as bethought best for himself and his
family. With all that had been said about the good dispo-
sition of landlords and the honest inclinations of tenants,
looking at human nature as it was, all this would never
answer the same as a good long lease. The agriculturist
ought to be in the same position with reference to the in-
vestment of his capital as the manufacturer or tradesman,
andhe ought to be in a position to have similar banking
facilities.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

259

Mr. Lowe was told, by gentlemen who were able to inform
him, that farms to let for good tenants with capital were tole-
rably plentiful in the neighbourhood of Birmingham. He was
delighted to hear that such was the case. Some two or three
years ago such a thing as a farm to let was not known. If one
was vacant then, farmers were too much in a hurry to go and
occupy it, although they knew that tlie previous tenant had
not been able to make it answer his purpose. Now, however,
farmers were becoming alive to their own interests, and they
would not now unwisely take land with tlie risk of not making
it a success, but would apply to the undertakings what he had
before ventured to call " a commercial eye." They asked
themselves, " Will it answer my purpose, and will the land-
lord grant me those conditions in the shape of leases or
agreements that are necessary for me before I put ray capital
in the land ?" If not they would not risk their capital on an
uncertainty. He knew that in many estates there was a li-
mited ownership which prevented the present holders from
granting conditions which a tenant had a right to demand. If
so, they wanted legislation with regard to that particular class
of land in order to make the holders responsible for the con-
tracts they made. But with regard to legislation where a
man had the independent control of his property he very
much questioned the propriety or the wisdom of asking for it,
unless they at tlie same time sought for the same power over
all descriptions of property.

Mr. Evans said he was prepared to give to chemists credit

equal to that which Mr. Wiggin had bestowed upon them. As
to the foot-and-mouth disease, he bad no doubt it was highly
dangerous to use the milk from cows so affected ; and he had
heard of well-authenticated cases of blood-poisoning resulting
therefrom.

Mr. T. B. WiiiGUT said that tlie motto of the Royal Agri-
cultural Society, Practice with Science, was adopted 38 years
ago, but they did not seem to carry out their practice effectu-
ally. It reminded him of the story by Jeremy Taylor, of the
young theological student who, hearing a man of great age
still debating on the subject, wanted to know when he would
have time to practice. The land of England was not farmed
as it ought to be. They had to import enormous quantities of
provisions to feed the people. Tliis was a very disgraceful
state of affairs witli the capital and resources the country
possessed. The country, it was remarked by a recent writer,
was not half farmed. If it was they should have enough
to feed the people, and have some to export. How that was
to be brought about he could not say. But not only was the
land not half cultivated, but they did not employ half the
number of labourers tliey should, and the consequence was
that the towns were overcrowded. There was no use blinking
the question. It was absolutely necessary for the welfare of
tiie country that the laud should be made, a§ it migl\t be, to
produce more, and they vt'ould thus secure a healthful and
well-paid occupation for a greater portion of the people.

The discussion then closed.

STAFFOEDSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.

At a meeting held at Stafford the newly-elected President,
Mr. Thos. Neville, was in the chair.

The CiiAiuMAN, in opening the discussion on Local Taxa-
tion, said he cordially agreed with the remarks made at the
annual dinner as to the advisableuess of confining their atten-
tion to one subject at a time. Their agenda that day con-
tained three subjects, viz., " Local Taxation," " Prevention of
Contagious Diseases of Animals," and the "Malt Tax and the
Licensing System." Now, to discuss all tliese subjects properly
would require more time than they could devote to them at
any one meeting ; in fact, there was enough there in those
three subjects to occupy three meetings. But he did not
think that they were bound to strictly follow the list of sub-
jects forwarded to them from the Central Chamber, but thought
that they might very well make a selection of one of them, and,
by so doing, avoid that rambling about from one question to
another. The Central Chamber had, he thought, very wisely
given prominence to the question of local taxation by placing
it first on the list for discussion. It was, to his miud, the
most important question of the present day, and pressed
deeply upon the agricultural interest. He did not see how it
could be considered just for one class of property alone to bear
all the heavy burdens that real property, such as land, had now
placed upon it. In the course of an able addiess the Chairman
pointed out the injustice of the present system, and alluded to
tlie fact that the whole of the turnpike roads were being
gradually thrown upon the rates. Such was the case in his
parish, and the effect was greatlj to increase the rates. They
should take care that as far as they could resist it no more
burdens of that sort should be thrown upon local taxation until
they had secured a more equitable basis of assessment than
" that at present in existence. He moved the following resolu-
tion : " That, inasmuch as the annual amount levied for
purposes of local taxation has been more than doubled during
the last twenty-five years, it is manifestly unjust that this
large sum should be raised from one class of property only.
That, in the opinion of this Chamber, no settlement of the
question will be satisfactory that does not so amend the basis
of assessment as to make all classes of income bear a fair
proportion of the burden."

Mr. KoBOTHAii observed that the real property in this
country had all been inherited or purchased subject to the
rates that were levied upon it, and if they relieved it of that
taxation they would be p:ittiug a large amount of money into
the pockets of the owners of such propeity, and would be
putting a grievous burden upon those classes of persons who

were in receipt of incomes, often very precarious incomes, tlmt
might be stopped at any moment.

Mr. Brawn recapitulated the leading arguments against
the present system. He considered that this question was of
national importance. If it was one confined to agriculturists
only, his hopes of obtaining a remedy of the evil would not be
very sanguine of success, for lie could not recollect a single
instance in which the complaints of agriculturists
had had any effect whatever on Parliament in reference to
any measure affecting them that liad been brought forward.
In reply to what had been said by Mr. Kobotham, who com-
plained of the insutliciency of the proposition contained in the
resolution, but did not suggest how they were to get out of the
dilficulty which, he thought, such a proposition would bring
about, he (Mr. Brawn) would remind him that it had often
been urged that all classes of income should be assessed at a
certain level. It was quite true that if the resolution was
acted upon owners of real property would be to some extent
relievedof the burden they now had to bear, but then again
under the income-tax schedule they would still have to share
that burden with other members of the community. He had
great pleasure in seconding the resolution i)roposed by the
Chairman, but suggested that there should be some addition
made to it to show that the present system of local taxation
was oppressive to owners of house property in towns as well as
on landed estates in the country.

The Chairman agreed with the suggestion, and the resolu-
tion was ultimately altered as follows, the words in ilalics
being the addition : "That inasmuch as the annual amount
levied for local taxation has been more than doubled during
the last twenty-five years, it is manifestly unjust that this large
sum should be raised from one class of property only, ajfectiuf/,
us it does, very heavily, house property in towns equally with
landed estates. That in the opinion of this Chamber no
settlement of the question will be satisfactory that does not so
amend the basis of assessment as to make all classes of income
bear a fair proportion of the burden."

The Earl of Lichfield expressed his entire concurrence in
a remark made by the Chairman that there had been for some
years an uncalled for and unnecessary desire on the part of
Chancellors of the Exchequer to reduce the expenses of the
country on the face of their budgets to an unwise extent, and
there was no easier way of accomplishing that purpose than by
throwing certain portions of expenditure upon the country in
a way that would not appear in the annual budget. If it was
proved, as he thought beyond all doubt it had been proved

260

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

that these burdens really fell on only a part of the property of
the country then he thought that it was fair to say that it was
a srievance'and ought to be remedied. He was not surprised
that the question had been taken up with such warmth by
Chambers of Agriculture, because one of the principal subjects
that had hitherto occupied their attention, with respect to the
tenure of land, had been the importance of encouraging a
larger amount of capital to he invested on land, but it could
not he denied that if this particular kind of property was taxed
more heavily than any other that must prove the strongest pos-
sible discouragement to the investment of capital in that particu-
lar industry. With reference to the Education Act, to which
the Chairman had alluded, he was strongly of opinion that by
placing the whole expenses of carrying out the Act on the
rates, the effect would be to discourage that desire to have it
properly carried out, up and down the country, which other-
wise might have been exhibited. The apathy which was
plainly shown in some districts was not from any objection or
indifference to education, but because certain classes felt that
they were called upon to pay for it, to the exemption of others.
This was the feeling with regard to the levying of an education
rate ; and it was just one of those cases which suggested very
forcibly the necsssity of levying the tax on all classes, on those
in the receipt of incomes as well as the possessors of real
property. Because every person of every class in the receipt
of an income received that income in consequence of the
general security of the government in this country through
the good administration of the law, resulting in order and con-
fidence. How the question was to be decided he was not pre-
pared to say, but he did think there were very great difficulties
in the way of a settlement, and they must be prepared to wait
for public opinion to become ripe before they could expect Par-
liament to interfere. Their Chambers of Agriculture had put
the case very strongly before the public over and over again,
and he did not think there could be much more to he said on

the subject. It now remained for Parliament to consider it,
and decide what should be done, whether by means of a Royal
Commission, as was suggested, he believed, in the article to
which he had referred, to investigate the whole system of rating
throughout the country, or in some other way, he could not
say. The resolution, with the addition suggested by Mr.
Brawn, was then put and unanimously agreed to.

Mr. R. H. Masfen briefly referred to the subject of the pre-
vention of contagious diseases in animals, which
was next on the agenda paper for discussion. He said there
being a resolution already on the minutes, passed at a previous
meeting — to the effect that Government should be urged to
provide greater accommodation for the slaughtering of cattle,
and stricter regulations for enforcing the same at aU ports where
foreign catttle were disembarked (except stock from Ireland) —
he suggested that the resolution should be forwarded to the
Central Chamber. When he told them that a near neighbour
of his had, during the past 25 years, lost upwards of 426 head
of horned stock from diseases imported into this country by
foreign cattle, he thought that they, as agriculturists, forming
no inconsiderable portion of the community, were not asking
too much of the Legislature to do all they possibly could to
avert the spread of such diseases as those from, which the
British farmer had so grievously suffered.

Mr. Masfen's proposition was then agreed to.

It was resolved : " That this Chamber would be prepared to
support a beer tax as a temporary measure, and believes that
the malt tax ought to be abolished on free trade principles
only."

The Earl of Lichfield gave notice that at the next meeting
he would move : " That a committee be appointed, consisting
of six landowners and an equal number of occupiers, to report
on the best means of providing for tenant-farmers greater
security for the capital and labour they invest in the land."

CORNWALL CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.

THE GAME LAWS.

At the meeting, held at St. Austell, there was a nume-
rous attendance, tlie subject for discussion being the Game-
laws. Col. Tremayne (Carclew) presided.

The Chairma:n, in opening the meeting, read a letter which
had been received from the Earl of Mount Edgecumbe, in
which his Lordship said : " I fully intended to have been pre-
sent at the meeting of the chamber on Friday, and was very
anxious to hear the discussion which is to be opened by ]Mr.
Snell, because I feel convinced that the subject, if temperately
and practically discussed, is capable of a satisfactory solution.
I regret very much not being present, but my absence is un-
avoidable, as I shall be in Lincolnshire attending the funeral
of ray aunt, Lady Brownlow." Mr. Deeble Boger wrote as
follows : " Please to excuse my absence at the next meeting of
the Cornwall Chamber of Agriculture. I am still enough of
an invalid to be ordered to avoid as much as possible travel-
ling about, especially in cold or wet weather. I see the sub-
ject named for discussion is The Game Laws. On that I have
already at a former meeting expressed the opinion that what
is wanted is, as regards hares and rabbits, legislation that the
occupier should be at full liberty to destroy them. And I am
inclined to think that the simple and effectual way of accom-
plishing this would be to enact that in every prosecution for
trespass in pu.rsuit of hares and rabbits, it should be necessary
for the prosecutor to produce at the hearing an authority in
writing from the occupier to the prosecutor for his taking
proceedings in that particular case."

Mr. Smell then introduced the subject of the Game Laws.
He said that no person who had studied the subject could fail
to come to the conclusion that, whatever position farmers
took in the matter, they had been driven to it. He believed
he was in a position to take an impartial view of the ques-
tion, from the fact that for nearly forty years he had been a
landowner, and that during a great deal of that time he had
also been a large tenant-farmer. When the agitation on the sub-
ject was first commenced there were many people who consi-

dered that there should be an immediate alteration of the
Game Laws, while there were others who considered that no
change was necessary. His own opinion was that there
ought to ce some change, but it sliould be a change that
would not interfere unduly with the rights of any man.
It could not be denied that a large section of the com-
munity was in favour of total abolition, but he could not
help saying that he thought those who advocated the total
abolition of the Game-laws went a great deal too far, because
he gathered from what he heard and read that they contem-
plated the sweepinS of all game from the face of the land, and
that they went so far as to say that it should be a most un-
usual thing, if they could have their way, to see anything lilce
game on the country's side at all. For himself, he could not
go to that extent, because he thought it would be a great in-
justice to the proprietors of the land, and would unduly inter-
fere with those who, like himself, were very fond of sport.
What he intended to propose was a revision of the laws, and
not their abolition. What yeomen and farmers complained of
was that the tax of £3 for a game licence was a kind of prohi-
bition upon them in their small holdings, and bore no propor-
tion to the same tax which was levied upon tliose wlio had
their thousands of acres. But to his mind the way to meet
that difficulty was this, that the gun tax in future should cover
the game licence, and that every man who took out a gun tax
should be allowed to kill game wherever he had a right, and
wherever he obtained leave. One other grievance in this direc-
tion which the small owners felt was that during the last twenty
years a large amount of land had been planted in every county
in England for the purpose of making game preserves, and
having been so planted, had been taken off the rate book. The
landlords, perhaps, might say that the other portions of their
property had to bear the burden, and although that might be
true, yet it was not the case so far as the small landowner
was concerned, because he had to pay extra rates in conse-
quence of the larger landowners getting their woodlands en-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

261

tirely free. The over-preservation of game.and moreparticularly
of hares and rabbits, was, he knew ia irany instances, a very
serious tax indeed upon the tenant-farmer, and he was satis-
fied that if it were not for the over-preservation of rabbits,
there would not be half the surveillance and supervision car-
ried on by gamekeepers as was the case at the present time,
for wlien a landlord once stocked his farms with rabbits, the
gamekeepers were there morning, noon, and night, and a
farmer could scarcely stroll over his farm without running
up against them. This was a constant source of annoyance.
The objection was not unfrequently laised that they ought
not to interfere with the landlord's legitimate sport, but
he knew of cases in which rabbits were not preserved for
the purposes of sport at all, but as a means of adding to
the landlord's revenue ; the rabbit money v\ as calculated
as being so much rent. If they could only get rid of the
rabbit pest, they would get rid in a great measure of the game-
keeper. Then, again, with respect to the labourer, he did not
think he should be acting a manly part if lie stood there to
advocate the rights of the class to which he belonged, and
omitted at the same time to vindicate the rights of the labour-
ing population. Until the Bill brought in by Sir Baldwin
Leighton, in 1863, was passed, a policeman never had the
power which he now possessed to stop people and to search
them on the highway. They frequently read in the papers of
cases in which a man had a ferret or a net in his possession,
but they did not know of the hundreds and thousands of cases
that happened every year, in which honest men were dragged
and searched when they had nothing whatever about tliem ;
and therefore, on behalf of the labourer, he contended that a
policeman never ought to have the power, without any au-
thority, and on a mere suspicion of his own, to collar a man
on the highway and search his pockets. That was a law
which was not required. If a man was found with a couple of
fowls in his possession it was necessary, before he could be
convicted, that proof should be forthcoming of his having ob-
tained them in a dishonest manner, and there was no reason
why the same law should not apply to people who were found
in the possession of game. Then again, it was difficult some-
times to make a labourer believe that he was doing wrong,
although in reality he was doing so, and this arose from the
example that was set them by grasping, selfish landowners.
He did not apply this observation to aU landowners, because
as a rule they were an honour to their class, and of great ser-
vice ; but there were exceptions, and it was to those exceptions
that he applied the remarks. But the fact was that when a
labourer saw the great damage that was done to his master's
crops by the over-stocking of rabbits, he did not see that there
was any great harm in his carrying off one of those rabbits,
All the tenant farmers wanted was that the law should be so
altered that they should not suffer grievous injury, but they
did not want it to be so altered as that it should interfere with
the legitimate sport of the landlord ; and he believed that
they would not have half the difficulty which appeared to
exist at present in coming to a satisfactory settlement of the
question, if their landlords would only meet their tenants face
to face more often than they had hitherto done. He moved,
" That the Game-laws require revision and amendment, and
that no alteration will be satisfactory or just which does not
give to the tenant the inalienable right to kill hares or rabbits
on the lands they occupy."

Mr. James Rundle seconded,

Mr. J. K. Martin thought the general feeling was that
gamekeepers were a great nuisance ; and as regarded rating,
it was very unfair that men who took farms at a very high
rental should pay their share to the county rates, whilst plan-
tations were not rated. His experience was that wherever
game-preserving was left to the tenant-farmer, the landlord
always fouud a good day's sport,

Mr. Tremayne (Heligan) very much regretted that the
landotvners of the county were not present in large numbers.
The discussion that day was supposed to have been on the
question of the Game Laws ; but at the same time he had uo
doubt that the most serious part of the question was that
which related to rabbits. If that irrepressible quadruped had
only been left behind in the ark, they would have been spared
all this discussion. Rabbits were an unmitigated nuisance,
and they were no pleasure to landlords, especially in Corn-
wall, where the earth-banks and warrens were spread all over
the place ; and there was no fun whatever in rabbit-shooting.

He believed that any legislation which sought to suppress
and subdue that evil would be most beneficial to the com-
munity at large. But the question of compensation which
was to be paid to tenants was a very difficult one, because very
often the damage was not asked for until long after the injury
had occurred to the crop, and therefore it was impossible to
say what kind of crop would have grown on the farm, sup-
posing that there had been no rabbits there at all. The com-
pensation for what was called game-rent was equally unsatis-
factory, because rabbits were an ever-fluctuating quantity.
But then came the question, how were they to deal with the
matter ? It was all very well for Mr. Snell and those who
thought with him to say, " Let us dispense with it by one
broad sweeping measure ; let rabbits and hares be given up to
the tenants" — but he could not be got so far as that, and he
believed if that were done, it would be productive of great
jealousies and quarrels amongst neiglibours. Let them sup-
pose three farms contiguous to each other. A was arable, B
was grass, and C was arable. The tenant B, growing no
cereal crops, thought he might as well have a few rabbits on
his farm for amusement. Those rabbits would not remain
to feed on his grass lands ; but they v/audered into the corn-
lands of A and G, and although A and C might have the
power to kill the rabbits on their farms, it would be abso-
lutely impossible to keep them in such subjection as to pre-
vent them becoming nuisances. This would inevitably lead
to quarrels amongst neighbours. As a landlord, he would
say that if they were to give up their rabbits, they entirely
must ask the tenant-farmers in their turn to give them (the
landlords) some protection. It might sound absurd that
landlords should come to their tenants and ask for protection
against their rabbits, but still the thing was by no means un-
necessary. He was recently talking to Earl Fortescue, who
possessed an estate in Lincolnshire on which he had no resi-
dence, and his lordship informed him that on that estate he
made over the hares and rabbits entirely to his tenants ; but
this year he had received a communication from his agent
begging him to rescind the grant, because the hares and rab-
bits had been allowed to increase to such an extent that the
hedges had been destroyed, and the trees and plantations ab-
solutely annihilated. Therefore he did not think it was fair
that hares and rabbits should be absolutely and entirely given
up to the tenants ; but he did think that if landlords and
tenants had an equal right to kill them, that would be quite
sufficient to suppress the evil within proper and manageable
bounds. It would be a very friendly agreement, and would
cement that bond of union which always ought to exist be-
tween landlord and tenant. As to what Mr. Snell had said
with regard to the landowners, he was willing to admit that,
as in all other classes, there were some black sheep amongst
them ; but, as a class, he could not help feeliug that Mr,
Snell had given them harder slaps in the face than under all
the circumstances he was warranted in doing. He considered
that if the tenant received an equal right with the landlord to
kill ground game, it would be very necessary that some modi-
fication should take place in the law of trespass. Mr. Snell
had complained of " that fiend in velveteen," the gamekeeper,
but the gamekeeper was very often a hard-worked servant,
and how infinitely more disagreeable was it to have other
people who were in no way connected with them wandering
over their farms ? He thought that winged game ought to
be treated as property, and that it should be made just as great
an offence to steal a pheasant from a man's land as to steal a
Cochin China cock. A vast deal of false sentiment and
romance was attached to the word " poacher ;" he was an ale-
house hero, and was regarded as a very daring spirit. He
went out with his gun, shot a pheasant that he saw in a tree,
and called it sport ; but he (Mr. Tremaine) could not see what
sport was in it. This ale-house hero would be divested of his
romantic position if, when he shot a pheasant in that way, he
was treated as an ordinary fowl-stealer. With respect to the
rating of woods and plantations, he quite agreed that they
should bear their fair share of the rates, and he had no doubt
that this next session of Parliament would see some Act intro-
duced which would remedy that evil. There was another evil
which he had not often heard commented upon in the discus-
sions of the Game-laws, but which deserved some considera-
tion, and that was the question of letting game. There were
many people who let their game on properties on which they
did not reside, and he could quite understand that that was a

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THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

most iujurious aud unpleasant thing to the tenants on such
properties. It must be very irksome, indeed, to see strangers
exercising senorial and manorial rights over land which did
not belong to tiiem. Mr. Snell and lie did not agree, but that
was no reason why tiiey should not discuss the matter tem-
perately, for it was only in that way that they could arrive at
a satisfactory and amicable solution of it. He moved, as an
amendment, " That the Game-laws require revision and amend-
ment, and that no alteration will be satisfactory or just which
does not give to the tenants an equal right with the owner of
the soil to kill hares and rabbits on the lands they occupy."

Mr. Allanson seconded this.

Mr. J. E,owsE did not think that either Mr. Snell or Mr.
Tremayne went far enough. His opinion was that the rate-
payers would never be satisfied until game was rated.

Mr. GuRNEY said he believed tliat, as a rule, if rabbits had
caused any injury to a tenant the landlord was ready and
anxious to compensate him for it. (" No, no.") At any
rate, if he did not do it, he could hardly be considered an
honest man. But, from his knowledge of landowners, he did
not believe that, as a general rule, there was anything like a
feeling on their parts that their tenants should suffer injury
and remain unremunerated (dissent). But, as to a remedy, he
did not see that it was to be effected by Act of Parliament.
It was not generally known that unless there was an agree-
ment between landlord aud tenant to the contrary, game by
law belonged to the tenant, aud the reason why the landlords
generally had the entire control over game was that they
reserved it in their leases. He did not see that it was at all
necessary to bring legislation into action. There was such a
thing in this country as honourable feeling, and he was satisfied
that such a feeling as this between landlord and tenant, accom-
panied by an emphatic expression of public opinion in con-
demnation of the over-preservation of game, would effect the
desired result. (" No, uo.")

Mr. Allajjso>' said in a hazy moment lie had seconded
Mr. Tremayne's motion, but he did not understand it. What
he thought would be a remedy for the matter would be to
strike out hares and rabbits from the game list, and to con-
sider them as the property equally of the landlord and the
tenant, all agreements to the contrary to be null and void.
He did not think it would be desirable to have total abolition
of the laws, and was in favour, as Sir John Trelawny was, of
all matters couuected with game being brought before the

county court judge, aud not before the magistrates of the dis-
trict. He was disposed to think there would not be much of
the honourable feeling spoken of by Mf. Gurney. When
they lost their tempers, there was very little of that feeling
evinced. If they wanted anything to be done it must be
effected by the Legislature. They ought to strongly object to
the power of the law to collar a man, and see if he hud any-
thing in his pocket. He would accept the resolution if Mr.
Tremayne would add, " Aud that all agreements to the con-
trary be null and void."

Mr. Tremayne said he would adhere to his own resolution.

Mr. NiciiOLL knew of many people having been brought to
poverty through the Game-laws, and could tell of cases in
which landlords would not give remuneration for damages
that had been caused by their hares and rabbits.

Mr. Truscott condemned the action of gamekeepers, aud
claimed an equal right with landlords to shoot game. He
would move, " That it is the opinion of this Chamber that it
shall not be legal for any person to preserve game of any kind
on any land other than in his own occupation."

Mr. Hate then seconded Mr. Tremayne's amendment. He
considered the objections raised by Mr. Gurney were more
theoretical than practical.

Mr. Keast remarked that there were men who were so
oppressed by the Game-laws that they would not come forward
and speak of the matter. The Game-law was one which
caused the English constitution to create disgust amougst the
people, and there would be a time perhaps when the poacher
would be thought by the tenant to be his friend, because he
would grant the tenant, to some extent, his existence. lie
seconded Mr. Truscott's motion.

Mr. Snell expressed his gratification at Mr. Tremayne
liaving progressed in the matter. There was never a greater
delusion in the world than to trust to compensation. Public
opinion and honourable feeling they had been looking to for
years, but what had they given them ?

The motions were then put to the meeting. Eight voted
for Mr. Truscott's, six for Mr. Tremayne's, and Mr. Suell's was
carried by a large majority.

The meeting broke up with cheers for the Chairman aud
for Mr. Snell.

The Chairman expressed his concurrence with Mr. Snell's
motion,

ATHY FAEMERS' CLUB.
THE LABOURER'S COTTAGE IN IRELAND.

At the February meeting, Mr. William Young in the chair,
Mr. C. W. Hamilton, J.P., agent to the Duke of Leiuster,
read the following paper on The Labourer and his Cottage :

The condition of the labourer and his cottage are
so closely connected that I have thought it desirable,
both on the previous occasion when I addressed you,
and now to promote discussion upon them together.
I long ago used to urge on the Royal Agricultural
Society tliat the publication of plans of cottages, tliough of
some use, was not of as much use as it might be if accom-
panied by specifications and estimates. The objection generally
taken was that prices varied so much in dili'erent parts of the
country, that it could be uo accurate guide. This objection, I
think, carries little weight, and his Grace the Duke of Leiuster
concurs with me in thinking that good may be effected by
showing exactly what has been done on his estate. I have
given accurate plans aud quantities, and also the price of the
materials, including doors, windows, and other parts of the
internal fittings, as estimated for by Messrs. Thomas and
Charles Martin, of the North Wall Saw Mills, including deli-
very on railway or canal boat, and have allowed what I con-
sider enough for the average cost of carriage aud contractors'
profits. These plans and estimates have been printed for the
use of his Grace's estate ; but, with his usual liberality, he lias
presented copies not only to this Club and the Royal Agricul-
tural Society, but to the Press, and others interested in this
branch of agricultural improvement. Tlie plans are before

yon, and you can see how easy it is to adapt the estimates to
different requirements and circumstances. Something may be
saved by the farmer lending his assistance in drawing mate-
rials, excavating foundations, and giving such help. But the
best way is to take really what are the contract prices for such
work, which are given in different parts of the country, and
save upon them if you can, but by no means to injure the
comfort and permanent stability of the building. I look upon a
great many statements upou the cost of cottage building as being
fallacious. One architect sent me a lithographed plan of a
cottage and estimate, in which the masonry was sit down as
to have been done for three shillings per Irish perch. 1 never,
even in the old cheap times, could get it done for less than five
shillings ; so that I think you will agree with me that there
was no great use in such an estimate. The cheapest and best
cottages I have seen were those which that excellent landlord,
Lord Bessborough, referred to in his evidence before the Uniou
Rating Committee as having cost only £90 for the double
cottage. There were, however, special circumstances in this
case. The material was at hand, and labourers and tradesmen
were residents in the locality ; tlie roof was of the small, irre-
gular, Newtownbarry slates, ranging about 6 in. by 8 in., aud
costing some five or six shillings per hundred. They were not
ceiled, aud had mortar floors. Tliis is a great step in advance
of the old hovel ; but I cannot help thinking tliat it is better
to pay a little more, and liave a more comfortable and lasting
cottage. In my plans the pencil cau be drawn against any-

THE FARMEESS MAGAZINE.

263

thing considered reduudaut, or the price reduced or varied if
*he circunistauces of the locality require it ; but I have en-
deavoured to face the cost boldly, and, as I believe, pretty
nearly correctly ; and I hope that while they are invaluable
to me in arranging the work to be done on his Grace's estate,
they may assist others in coming to a right conclusion as^to"
what is absolutely necessaryto insure comfort and permanence.
Before making any observations on tlie mode in which the
connection between the labourer and las cottage may be the
best effected, I siiall venture on some observations on the state
of the market for agricultural labourers. Let uo one suspect
me of undervaluing the good qualities of my countrymen
while alluding to some defects in their natural character.
There must be some radical defect in the circumstances in
which they are placed to render them notoriously inferior as
labourers or artizans in their own country to what they are
when they have emigrated elsewhere. I believe I am correct
in stating that both in England, Scotland, and the United
States the Irishman is hardworking and skilful, and of good
temper bad humour, but that he seldom pnshcs himself as far
forward or into as liigh places of trust and superintendence as
the Eughshraan or Scotchmen. I have seen this myself in the
Manchester and Glasgow manufactories, and heard from
residents in New York that it is very remarkable how the
Scotch and German servants push over the heads of the Irish,
who are perhaps too contented with the duties and earnings of
mediocrity. There may be something in the genial but care-
less character that makes the Irishman so distinct from the
others that

Should you meet him outward faring, boy,

lu Lapland's snow, or Chili's glow,

Y'ou'd say — "What news from Erin, boy?"

I cannot, however, look upon the faults of the labourer in this
country as entirely his own. I think much may be due to the
position he is placed in. You know how he can work upon a
spurt when hay or corn is in danger ; but what heart can a
man have in his work when he sees no difference made
between the really skilful and honest and the scheming, dis-
honest workman ? I am sure that you, practical farmers, will
agree with me that there is this difference between the English
and Scotcii labourers and the Irish, tliat tiie former will, as a
general rule, do what they are set to do fairly, without being
overlooked — that they understand what eye service is, and
would be affronted if accused of it, and consider it dishonest
not to do the work they have contracted to do : but that, ou
the other hand, the Irish labourers require a ganger to be con-
stantly over thera, and, if not sharply looked after, are very
apt to diminish the size of their spadefnl, and perhaps sit on a
bank and take a smoke, and if the mistress of tlie house comes
across them in her walks, say, in an imploring tone, " Ah, sure
you would not tell ou us." Is it any wonder that
the farmer gets as many as he can together, never leaves thera
until the work is done, and then rests from the necessity for
this troublesome superintendence until he has some other
great occasion for doing a job of work ? There are faults
upon both sides, and our earnest endeavour ought to be to try
and correct them. The tenant-farmer should have the means
of making his labourers so comfortable that he will have an
interest in working for him honestly, and with a will ; and in
order that he may be brought to feel and do his duty, it is
essential that, while in the farmer's service, he should be com-
pletely dependent upon him — free to accept any better
situation, but bound by his contract to fulfil the duties required
while in his present one. Mr. Justice Lawson says : " I do
not believe in the possibility of planting every labourer in his
own homestead, as lately suggested, but much may be Jone in
that (Ureciiun. The farming classes having now obtained
security of tenure for themselves, should not object to the ex-
tension of somewhat similar advantages to the labourers."
There seems to me to be a great fallacy here, and that nothing
would tend more to prevent farmers from building good cot-
tages than the idea that any legislation such as Mr. Lawson
shadows forth could make the labourer independent of his
employer. Any hold given to the labourer on his cottage and
garden other than the honest endeavour to make liimself use-
ful to his employer would have a most mischievous tendency.
I know that one of the greatest obstacles to landlords building
suitable cottages is the fear lest legislation should create,
as against them, rights which they never contemplated giving
themselves. No ; the free lances, or rather free spades, of

the labouring population, of which it is desirable that
there should be a proportion to regulate *'■" market
for labour, should be located in the villages and towns. But
the tenant farmer must be free to select the best men he can
get, and'tliey must be bound together by mutual interest and
good offices — free to terminate the engagement when either
fails in fulfilling his side of the contract. Tiiis is not merely
a question of the labourers' and the farmers' comfort and well-
being, it is a great national question. Look at the hovels that
you see the labourers inhabiting, see the want of proper food
in them, see the prevalence of disease, see the ravages caused
by intemperance, the refuge of hopelessness and care, and ask
yourselves if any legislation can produce content in their occu-
piers ? and if tiie whole foundation of the fabric of society
lias cause for discontent, can you wonder that crime follows
close on misery ? Look, again, at the lauds. Is not their
due cultivatiou of national importance ? Is it not one of the
principal reasons that much land is lying comparatively waste,
which is capable of producing food largely, that tlie labourer
is not employed upon it ? It is a well known fact that in those
districts where the land is properly cultivated there is at least
one constant labourer to every fifty acres. With less liuman
power the energies of the soil cannot be drawn forth, and you
must lay yourselves out for pushing on in the art of produc-
tion, or you will fall out of the ranks into poverty, and fail
both in your duty to yourselves and your country ; and, as I
have told you before, do not believe in the constant outcry of
the scarcity of labourers. I believe tliat they are to be had
on terms remunerative to the farmer. I know of one district
where the tenants' constant complaint to rae has been that the
labourers had emigrated to sucii a degree that they could not
work their farms properly for want of them. I had a occa-
sion to set on a work of drainage in tliat locality, and had no
difficulty in getting nearly one hundred men, most of whom
would otherwise have been left in idleness through the whole
winter season. They are getting lair wages, and doing good
work. I must press on you again and again, as I have done
often before, that there is no use in thinking ot going on with
casual labour. You must keep a man and his family in com-
foitallthe year round, if you wish to claim honest labour
from him. Lay yourselves out for this, and I have no doubt
but that your landlords will throw themselves cordially into
the work of assisting you. I can answer for the noble owner
of this property that he will do his utmost to help you ; but I
think it essential that, before a cottage is built, there should
be a clear understanding, and perhaps some voluntary contract,
between the landlord and tenant that it is to be used for the
purpose of keeping tiie labourer in comfort and constant em-
ployment. There might otherwise be danger in the outlay of
the landlord being used merely to diminish the_ outlay of the
tenant on still casual labour. Assuming, therel'ore, that it is
a matter of the most vital importance that labourers sufficient
to cultivate the soil to the best advantage should be comfort-
ably housed, let us consider how that may be best done. I
think that since the passing of the Land Act it will facilitate
future dealings with the land if the landlord himself under-
takes the buildings ; and if it is not convenient to him to
spare the money, he should have ample powers of borrowing
from the Government ; and, therefore, I think it fair to assume
that, whether it be his own money or borrowed money, the
payment of £6 lOs. per cent, for twenty-two years will ex-
tinguish the debt. Now, I have frequently heard landlords
say that they expect a building interest from the labourer in
the shape of annual rent. This it is manifestly impossible for
the labourer to pay ; nor is it just, for the landlord, at the end
of the twenty-two years, has the whole reversion of the value
of the cottage, which, if permanently buiit, and kept in repair,
ought to be scarcely diminished. Besides, it will be allowed
by any tenant that he would pay a higher rent for a farm with
comfortable labourers' cottages on it than he would if they
were merely wretched hovels. Again, who could doubt that
one of the features that would enhance the value of an estate,
if brought into the market for sale, would be its being well
circumstanced as to the labouring population? I do not,
therefore, think that it is to the labourer that the landlord
should look for interest for his outlay. My own opinion, and,
I may add, that of the Duke of Leinster is, that where a ten-
ant wants a good cottage, and engages to give the labourer he
puts into it the means of living in comfort, and not charge
him any rent, 4 per cent, would be sufficient for the tenant to

T

264

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

pay, the tenant covenanting also to keep the premises in repair.
I think he would find it a cheap bargain, and that the landlord
would be amply repaid in the general improvement of the
value of his estate. If any great move in this direction took
place, the effect would be to cull out and offer an inducement
to stay in the country to all the best workmen ; and if any
will not work, we can well spare them to America. What we
want to encourage is the pride of independence, arising out of
honest self-exertion ; and the man who knows himself to be a
first-rate ploughman, drainer, or cattleman, will feel that he
has been given the best cottage and allotment, not as a matter
of favour, but as a well-earned right. The legislation with
respect to the tenure of labourers' cottages has been rather
complicated, owing to its cumulative cliaracter, embodied, or
rather repeated, with slight alterations, in several existing acts
of Parliament. Tlie Summary Jurisdiction Act of 1851 pro-
vides for the recovery, under warrant from the magistrates, of
houses held in any market town for a period not exceeding one
month, and at a rent not exceeding one pound per month. By
a subsequent Act passed in 1868 the local authorities in cor-
porate towns, or those having town commissioners, have power
to present such houses as are in a condition or a state danger-
ous to health, or uufit for human habitation; and if the land-
lord does not repair them, the local authorities can improve
tliem, and cliarge the landlord with the cost. But then, on
the other hand, the landlord has the option of pulling them
down, instead of repairing them, and tlie fear of burdening the
rates leads to this Act being seldom put in force. Something,
however, might, I think, still be done by constituting some
local authority, such as a county sanitary inspector, who would
bring the cases where houses subject to rent are unfit for
human habitation before the magistrates, with appeal to the
Quarter Sessions, and obtain an order for having them put
into a proper state of repair at the rent receiver's expense, but
without giving him the alternative of eviction and levelling,
except on paying an amount of compensation sufficient to
house the occupants elsewliere. The Cottier Tenant (Ire-
land) Act, promoted by Sir William Somerville, now Lord
Athluraney, was passed in 1856. It applies to dwelling-houses
situated anywhere without more than half an acre, if any, of
land held therewith. It gives the landlord power of recovering
possession on short notice, provided that the tenement is held
by written agreement, that the tenure is for a defined period
not exceeding a year, the rent not exceeding 12s. per month ;
that it has a sufficient chimney, and at least two rooms and a
privy are provided, and the premises kept in repair by the
landlord. The faults in this act are, I think, that two rooms
are not sufficient for a family, and that the use of thatch is not
excluded, both on account of agricultural waste and want of
pearaanency. This was followed by an act passed in ISGO,
enabhng the Board of Works to grant loans for the purpose
of erecting such cottages. This Act expires during either this
or the next Session of Parliament ; the words fixing the date
of expiry seem rather ambiguous. Then came the Act of
1861 — the Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment Act, by
which summary proceedings for the recovery of cottier pre-
mises may be had before two magistrates at petty sessions,
provided that tlie tenement, wherever situated, consists of a
dwelling-house or cottage without land, or with any portion
of land not exceeding half a statute acre, lield under a written
agreement, at a rent not exceeding five pounds per annum, for
one montli, or from month to month, or for a shorter period,
where the landlord undertakes, by the agreement, to keep the
dwelling-house or cottage in tenantable condition or repair.
Thus M-e have the anomaly of three Acts on the same subject all
in force and differing but little. They are, liowever, sufficient
for the purpose. The recovery of possession in the last-men-
tioned Act also applies to premises held by servants, herds,
or caretakers. My own opinion is that the best tenure
for a labourer's cottage is his liolding it with a small
garden, free of rent, as part of iiis wages, when, if he miscon-
ducts himself, or refuses to work, possession may be had with-
out notice to quit on the order of two magistrates in petty ses-
sions. The only provision in the Land A.ct affecting labourers'
cottages is to take out the clause for compensation on eviction
where the cottage allotment does not exceed one-quarter of au
acre. As to what the Government could do to euoourao-e the
building of good cottages, I do not see that they could do more
than facilitate the granting of loans to those landlords who
are unable to meet the expenditure out of the income, which,

however, I think every landlord ought to be well able to do.
There must be an Act passed to replace the Act of 1860, now
expiring, and some stimulus might be given if the term of re-
payment was extended in the same way that it has been as to
loans for the purchase of the tithe-rent charge ; but then the
reversion of the value of the building would be so far post-
poned that the landlord would probably charge the tenant
with the whole of the annual payment. The conditions for
the loan ought to be that the cottages should be built per-
manently and well, with stone walls and slate roofs, and tlie
upper floor ceiled. Where these conditions are observed, the
borrower should have ample latitude to vary the construction
as may best suit his own ideas. There is much unnecessary
delay in satisfying the technical or legal requirements of the
Board of Works, especially the lodgment of the landlord's title
deeds, which might, I think, be fairly dispensed with, as the
land is liable to the charge for the buildings, whoever may be
owners or occupiers. Indeed I think that every farmer who
holds above one hundred acres should have the power of
borrowing from the Board of Works for the erection of one
labourer's cottage to every fifty acres, exclusive of those in-
tended for steward and herd. At present he would be enabled
to get compensation under the Laud Act for building cottages
suitable io the holding as he is for the erection of farm-offices ;
any objection to thus encouraging au excessive population
would be easily limited under the control of the Board of
Works. But there should, again, be some control over that
body, as it is scarcely to be expected that officers on fixed
salaries should not be rather averse to giving themselves addi-
tional trouble. I look upon this in a national point of view ;
for, as it is the interest of the community that the land should
be brought into the most highly-productive 'state, the farmer
ought not to be prevented from obtaining the means of culti-
vating it properly. The census, while minute and perhaps
vexatious in recording the ages of old maids, has not yet given
us the number of agricultural labourers in Ireland, a matter
of paramount importance for us to kuow ; but I rather think
that if the quality were better, the quantity would be not
more than sufficient to bring all the arable land into a fair
state of cultivation. I wish I could make you feel as strongly
as I feel that the prosperity of Ireland and of Irishmen depends
on individual exertion — each man trying to do his duty in his
own place. I wish I could persuade you that the destinies
of this country are not in the hands of legislators to play with
for party purposes, or of the corrupt and self-seeking agitators,
whom for the last fifty years you have seen enough of to
be able to see through, but that they are in your own hands,
and lie at your own doors. Do not look abroad for faults and
shortcomings in others. " Learn to improve yourselves to-
day, and then improve your friends to-morrow." There is not
a farmer in Ireland that has not the same opportunity of
making his land productive enough to support himself, as well
as the labourer in his employment in comfort and happiness,
as they have in England and Scotland — the rents are lower,
the soil and climate better. The demand for beef and mutton
is greatly increasing, while, unfortunately, our stock seems to
be diminishing. Lay yourselves out for breeding a much
larger number, and then you will want more labour, and feel
more strongly the direct interest you have yourselves in making
the labourer happy and comfortable. We are too apt to think
that each man should be for himself, and steadily pursue his
own interests, but this is not the case. From the highest in
th.; laud to the lowest, there are a series of connecting links.
We are all more or less dependent on each other for comfort
and happiness, and should feel that our liberties under the
constitution are the same, and that neither political nor reli-
gious differences should hinder our cordial co-operation in
promoting each others' temporal welfare.

Mr. Webber (agent to Mr. Cosby, D.L.), said : I have
been myself engaged in several cases building labourers' cot-
tages, and I must say everything Mr. Hamilton has stated ap-
plies to the point most accurately. In order to have a good
substantial cottage — and I am in favour of nothing that is not
very substantial — his prices are not excessive for two labourers'
cottages, which will repay these prices amply. We are all
complaining that labour is scarce. That must continue to be
a general complaint while we make use only of casual labour ;
but the complaint will no longer be heard if we keep perma-
nent labourers. There will be no difficulty in getting perma-
nent labourers if we provide them with comfortable houses,

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

265

and the farmer has aa interest, perhaps greater almost than
the landlord, in having good cottages on his farm for the
labourers. Mr. Hamilton instances Lord Bessborough, on
whose estates double cottages have been built for £90. I
don't think that can he attained in the present day, for it will
require at least £140 to build a pair of cottages — that is to
build them in a permanent way. It is very desirable that
landlords, in getting these cottages built, should consider not
only the comfort of the labourer, but also the appearance of
the estate — he should encourage a taste for tidyness and neat-
ness in the occupant of the cottage. A small garden to each
cottage encourages a great taste for these things in the
labourer, making him tidy. I am sure I could make a
great many more remarks on the subject if 1 went tlirough
the details of the paper, but I leave these lew observa-
tions to you, hoping that some of you, gentlemen, may express
opinions upon the subject.

Mr. Hamilton : i'erliaps I had better answer the question
put. The subject is so great a one, and one must see going
tlirough the country great steps in the way of improvement ;
but at the same time I was not exactly applying what T said
to this county as to my own county and other places, where I
must say the eye of the traveller is constantly arrested by
groups of hovels in which it is impossible for human beings
to live, in health or in any degree of comfort. There is not
a man who would put an animal upon whose profit he was
relying into as bad a habitation as I could name in many,
many parts of Ireland. Now, naturally, one would think,
where we are bound by that institution under which it is sup-
posed the majority have the power of controlling the minority
in not exercising their rights so as to prejudice the rights of
others, there ought to be a power to put a stop to such a state
of things, which propagates disease in the body and discon-
tent in the mind. Therefore, I have often thought that the
provisions which the legislature applied in towns might be
extended in a moderate degree to the country. In towns,
Atliy for instance, if there is a house which lets in water the
town commissioners have the power to get an estimate of the
repairing of that house, and if they furnish that estimate to
the landlord and he does not do it they have the power of
doing it themselves. We have been going tlirough a state of
transition, and I wish to avoid the danger of being too strin-
gent on these points — the danger of evictions, in which case
poor creatures have often to go into the poorhouse, or into
towns, which I don't want to crowd too much. To advert to
what I say as to my not proposing a measure of too stringent
a character till we have passed through a few more years, I
am not sure when, I trust soon, a power will be given to
magistrates, with an appeal to quarter sessions, to act with
respect to old tenements. Cases of that kind might be
brouglit forward before the magistrates and adjudicated on,
and thus get rid of what are a disgrace to any civilised country,
those wretched havels which are worse thau anything provided
for tlie most inferior animals. I look higher than this, al-
though I don't think it does to go too far at once. I should
be very glad, indeed, in good time to have a minister of agri-
culture and board of agriculture in the metropolis, and an
inspector with that board for each couuty or poor law union
if they choose to call it so. I would like to see some body
with authority all over the country, constituting an executive
acting with the local people in each district of the country ;
committees acting with agricultural societies such as we have ;
bodies using an authority delegated to them to put a stop to
such outrages on humanity as are found to take place.
Perhaps it would be too soon for that, perhaps not. I do
not feel myself suftieiently able to suggest a scheme, but you
can discuss what is best to be done, and let the Government
know what we want to do. We can ask their help, wliich
they can give by appointing proper officers who would com-
municate with the legal boards, and these boards would lend
money were it would be necessary. We are but trying to get
out of that state which is the greatest blot on this Christian
country. Does that answer your question ?

Mr. Webber : As far as I understand, it does; what is
provided for the towns you would apply to the country.

Mr. Hamilton : In a more modified way.

Mr. Low could hardly agree witli Mr. Hamilton in ex-
tolling the labourers in England and Scotland as far before
the Irish labourers, which they were not. As far as his ex-
perience went, if the Irish labourers were weU directed they

worked as well as the labourers in those countries north o^'
south of the Tweed. When treated properly by his inaste'^
the Irish labourer goes to his work cheerfully, and if he
obtains a reasonable price he gives a fair day's work for a fair
day's wage. In the West, where he at one time had con-
siderable experience of labourers, labour was twenty-five per
cent, cheaper thau in either Scotland or England. Since he
came to this part of the country he had to consider what it
was that makes labour scarce and expensive, and he had made
up his mind tliat it was from the want of labourers' cottages.
And this want was strongly felt, notwithstanding that his
Grace the Duke of Leinster, by the assistance of Mr. Hamilton,
was building some Consequently, the people were huddled
into the towns, where they seem to lose that love for country
they had so warmly while in their native places. Another
thing which made labour expensive was because the labourer
when he has done his day's work has to go into his house in
Athy, Ballitore, or some other town ; and on Sundays,
perhaps, lie spends his time there listening to tlie piper, and
doing other things which make him uuable to work next day.
It will take some time, too, before they can overcome the
labourers' feelings about the new cottages. It will take time
to warm the house, as it were, and make them feel the same
interest for the new house that they felt for the old. What
injures the agricultural labourer is to send them into the
towns. The wife need no longer make the cake, she can get
the loaf next door, and she loses all her good habits of house-
keeping. The labourers' cottages in the south and west were
generally miserable little hovels, but lots of the nicest little
children were brouglit up in them. Certainly he could never
see there anything approaching what he might call the garden
of Eden in Mr. Hamilton's own locality. In some parts, and
where the best land in the country was to be found, the
labourers were paid only in cows, milk, and things in kind.
These are the most useless men Ireland possesses. People
who have to work hard must be paid their wages honestly to
enable them to live on proper food, which will give them
more energy and more aptitude, and there will then be a
greater bond of interest between the farmer and his labourer.
As far as the inspection of houses goes, if a farmer has any
interest at all in his farm he should sec that his labourers are
respectably housed, and that the cottages are respectably kept.
And as far as extra labour is concerned that will regulate
itself. Farmers who would have cottages on their farms for
their labourers could have men sufficient for the work to be
done employed all the year round, except during a busy time,
when they could easily procure an extra man or two ; there
ought to be no difficulty at all in doing that.

Mr. O'Neill said : I think the price of building labourers'
cottages is a very important consideration. The price named
by Mr. Hamilton appears to me to be very high. My atten-
tion was directed last summer to some buildings put up by
Mr. Wakefield, and the material he used was Portland cement
and gravel. The portion of cement in this concrete was one-
seventh, and the remainder gravel. He made a frame the
size of the wall he wanted, and the stuff was poured in by a
labouring man. It hardened in a short time after being put
in, and Mr. Wakefield says it is a cheap way of building
walls. It strikes me this would be very applicable to la-
bourers' cottages. When it is quite dry the frame is taken
away. The same way the floors and halls are finished. And
I can tell you neither a mouse nor a rat could get through
it. The house does not require brickwork or stonework, and
the lintels and window stools are all formed m the same way.
It is far cheaper than the ordinary brickwork or stonework.

Mr. Webber : The process was invented by a gentleman
named Tor, and Mr. Wakefield took the pattern from my
brother, who adopted it at the Curragli. I myself have con-
sidered this matter very carefully, and I went into a calcala-
culatiou of what the cost would be in this country ; and I
discovered that the saving with regard to the cost of materials
would not be so very great. We can get mason work done
cheaper than they can in England, but we have to pay more
for the Portland cement. There are several things to be
taken into account. You must have suitable material to mix
with the cement. If you cannot get good gravel, if it is not
particularly clean, the concrete will be of a very inferior qua-
lity. You must have particularly clean sand — it may be
coarse or it may be fine, but it must be clean before you can
make good concrete. A substitute may be had in burnt clay,

T 2

266

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

which is not easily to be liad in this country, but it is not so
good as sand. Tlierefore, as the materials are not so easily
procured in this country, there is no great saving by it. The
method of building houses with this concrete has no doubt
very great advantages, and there is no reason why a common
labourer should not be taught to understand it. There are
wooden moulds according to the size required, and these will
do for a great number of cotta.'cs. The same frame does for
all. It should bn borne in mind tliat if the gravel or sand is
not particularly clean, it will prove a failure.

Mr. Hamilton : There is one difficulty which Mr. Webber
did not refer to. In all that Mr. O'Neill said he was
perfectly accurate. At the back of Mr. Martin's, at the
North Wall, you will see offices put up by the inventor. He
has been at great pains in doing the work well. He had
steam engines employed in lireaking up the gravel and giving
a uniform mixture to the materials used. In the Irish
Builder and other newspapers which refer to the building of
cottages you will find, if the work is not done with the great-
est care, the results are most disastrous, because when it dries,
it dries in different portions, and the wall cracks asunder.
Therefore it is I gave up the attempt to make a building by
unskilled artisans or labourers, there being so much uniformity
required in the whole process.

Dr. Kynsey : I presume there is no use in direct-
ing attention backwards, to the time when all labourers'
cabins were built with mud. I think good mud walls
and good thatch make a perfectly healthy dwelling, and
you have it for one-fourth what it costs to build such a cot-
tage as Mr. Hamilton refers to. And you could afford to make
them what a poor man's cabin ought to be — with a kitchen
for the use of the family to cook in ; a bedroom for the man
and his wife ; and bedrooms, which should necessarily be dis-
tinct, for the boys and girls. I often wonder that the morality
of the people of this country is so good as it is. Why, in this
very town, iu the lodging-houses, I regret to say, there is such
a mixture of the sexes in tiie rooms, tliat it is a wonder how
they exist. Landlords and farmers can borrow money from
the Government for building purposes. This is a very good
tiling on a small estate, or to an embarrassed landlord, and in
that case cottages like those Mr. Hamilton speaks of could
easily be built. But if the plan of building good mud iiouses
were adopted occasionally it would be a move in the right
direction. Then you could get the people who have been
sent into towns during the last five and twenty years back
again into the country, and by that means raise religion and
morality, and raise the people, too, from the degraded state
they have falleu into since they flocked into the towns. Then,
as Mr. Hamilton says, I have not the least doubt, there will
be plenty of labour. At present the labourer looks to America
as his home. I would never wish to see our labouring classes
leave their country, but when they do go to America, I would
never wish to see them back again.

Mr. J. M'CuLLOcii said while other parties have been talk-
ing I have been working. My labourers, I am proud to say,
are getting rich, and ii I had a few more cottages I could do
more. To every industrious labourer I have I give fair wages,
and a cow to most if uot to all of them.

Dr. Kynsey : That is what vt^ould put an end to Fenianisra
if it was practised throughout the country.

Mr. M'CuLLOCii : There is no such thing as driving away
the old labourers out of my employment. The oldest of them
can do something or other — lead a horse, or something that
way. There are labourers twenty and thirty years in my em-
ployment, and there is a young brood growing up.

Dr. Kynsey : That is the great thing, when we have
Fenianism on one side, Orangeism on the other, and scoundrel-
ism everywhere. I am glad to see si) many come together on
an occasion like this, to hear something like common sense.

Rev. Mr. Ba.got said : There is one thing in the paper to
which in ten years hence, perhaps, we may fairly take excep-
tion. In a tillage country it is a great mistake to talk of a
percentage to be demanded from the tenant for his labourers'
cottages. The labourers' cottage should be considered a neces-
sary appendage to a farm. If any of us wanted to purchase a
double-furrow plough from Mr. O'Neill, if it wanted certain
wheels to make it complete, we would not take it. In the
same way no man ought to take a farm which had not proper
cottage accommodation on it. I do hope landlords and tenants
themselves will do all in their power to wipe out of sight the

miserable hovels wliich one sees going through the country.- 1
have been always a strong advocate for mud. It is a useful
question for a landlord to consider whether he should liuild tiie
walls of his cottages with mud or with stone. There is an
instance not five miles from my place where a gentleman has
a house, the walls of which are of mud, and which was built
sixty years ago, and they are likely to last for three sixties
more. It is an uncommonly comfortable house. But I do
not agree with Dr. Kynsey that they ought to be thatched.
They should be laid on a good stone foundation and should
have a slated roof, for the days are gone by for thatch. Straw
is too scarce and dear, and slates are by far the cheapest. I
am sure the plans selected by the Duke of Leinster will he
found most useful ; they wiU be the means of spreading more
information through the country ; and when we seethe prices
for which these cottages may be built, many labourers will be
housed in good substantial dwellings. I hope the day will
soon pass by when we shall have to discuss the question what
percentage the farmer will have to pay for the cottages on his
farm.

Mr. Webber said : Dr. Kynsey and Mr. Bagot are both
advocates for mud and economy, but I don't think either of
their views could be carried out well. The warmth of a mud
house altogether depends upon thatch. For that reason mud
cottages would be most expensive, since the growth of wheat
in this country is much less than it was.

Mr. Bagot said : Mr. Bulwer told me he saved £70 in
building a stall-feeding-shed of mud walls on a stone founda-
tion. He built it properly, and covered the roof with slates.

Mr. Low wished to say a few words with reference to Mr.
Bagot's simile of the double-furrow plough in connection with
the taking of a farm, and wishing all the labourers' cottages
to be built by the landlords, at no expense to the farmers.
He did not think the fan.i.ers wanted that, and if they get
these things done for them at the Board of Works' rate they
would not object. If a landlord builds the cottage he raises
the rent. If Mr. O'Neill sold a double-furrovv plough which
wanted some wheels he could not cliarge as much as if it did
not want the wheels. As regarded the mud, that was a losing
system, and could be carried out only where there was plenty
of water ; and where there was a damp locality tiiey generally
found brick- makers, and brick made a good deal drier, cleaner,
and a cheaper house. AVith regard to concrete, where it was
required only to build a large straight wall, it was an advan-
tage to use that material, but wheu they came to put up small
granaries and small out-offices he did not think it would do so
very well. Where stone was scarce, and gravel good, and
uniform walls to be built, concrete might be cheaper.

Mr. Bagot said Mr. Wardropp put up a small house in
Trinity College with concrete, and he did uot think there was
any saving over the stone-work. It would be useful informa-
tion if, when Mr. Wakefield had finished his buildings, he
published the results ; and if he built with this material
cheaper than with stone, manifestly it would be a good thing
for building.

The CuAiRMAN said he thought this, like a great many
other subjects, resolved itself into a question of pounds, shil-
lings, and pence. On one side they had Mr. Bagot, who
thought the landlords ought to do everything, and get nothing.
Mr. Low was of opinion they should get something for their
outlay. Men like himself, who had not very large incomes,
could not lay out £140 on a double cottage without getting
some benefit for his outlay. The landlord can at present
borrow money at 6j per cent, for twenty-one years. There
might be an understanding that tiie tenant was to pay a part
of the Government charge on the loan — that is, the tenant to
pay a portion of 4 per cent., and allow the 2J^ for sinking
charges.

Mr. Bagot said he hoped he had not been misunderstood
by all the members of the Club, as he had been by the Chair-
man and one or two other gentlemen. What he intended to
convey was, if they lived for ten years, wheu a person went to
take a new farm he would find the cottages provided for him.
He never raeaut to say that if cottages were built for a farmer
on the farm he holds he was not to pay something, but when
he appHed for a farm the cottages would be there existing, and
he would not hear anything about 4 per cent., but to pay the
rent according to the increased value of his farm, by reason
of those cottages.

A vote of thanks vras passed to Mr. Hamilton.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

267

CROMAR, UPPER DEE, AND DONSIDE AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION.
CATTLE, HORSES, SHEEP, AND PIGS.

At the last meeting, held at Tarland, Mr. DoDGlASS, Culsh,
read the following paper on the Selection of Cattle, Horses,
Sheep, and Pigs :

I shall commence my remarks by stating a few general rules
to be observed by breeders of cattle, horses, sheep, or pigs, as
1 hold they are alike applicable in a greater or less degree to
each of these classes of animals : (1), When there is a defect
in the female, endeavour to put her to a male that is superior
in that point where your female is defective ; for example, if
your females are deficient in size, get a strong male ; female
short in the body, a lengthy male ; female long-legged, a
short-legged male; female rough, male fine; and so forth.
(2), The introduction of fresh blood from time to time. Tliough
aware that Bates, Booth, and the Collinses held a different
opinion, and were, under exceptional circumstances, successful,
yet I tliiuk this by no means establishes the system as the
safest and best one for general use, and I consider tliat the great
preponderance of evidence adduced from experience establishes
the fact that breeding from too close relationship iu the long
run is detrimental. (3), The particular breed of animals best
suited for the farm or pasture must be judged of by the farmer
or grazier according to the district and climate in which they
are to be kept ; but in breeding any of the animals, due weight
ought to be given to the five general rules which formed the
subject of discussion at our first meeting : 1, Pure blood ; 2,
a high strain of blood ; 3, a sound constitution free of heredi-
tary disease ; 4, substance, symmetry, and quality ; 5, a docile
temper. As the object of the farmer that wishes to improve
his stock is how to do so in the shortest possible time, and at
the least outlay of money, thou.,'h diverging perhaps from the
subject proper, yet, as it is intimately connected with it, I
shall make a single remark. As it is the general recognised
maxim that the exterior form partakes more of the conforma-
tion of the sire than the dam, and as one sire will to some ex-
tent improve the whole of each year's stock, while a female
gives but one superior beast, I would say procure superior
males at whatever cost, and should they be too expensive for
the size of the farm, let two or three farmers join in the pur-
chase and keep of one animal. Commencing with the Cattle,
I shall enumerate a few of the general points of excellence in
a bull, whether black, polled, or short-horned. (1), A neatly
formed head, clean in muzzle, broad between the eyes, pro-
minent placid eyes, well set on ears ; and ii short-horned, a
thick short flat horn, hanging downwards ; a liver-coloured
nose. (2), The neck clean, and tapering towards the head,
and of an ordinary length. (3), The chest deep and wide,
with a full bosom, affording plenty of space for the vital or-
gans to discharge their duties. (4), A broad straight back,
well arched ribs, strong in muscles above the knees, fine iu
the boue below the knee, plenty of flesh evenly laid on, a slack
mellow skin with plenty of soft downy hair, a well set-on tail,
not too thick, and a good toucher. These, I believe, form the
leading characteristics of an animal easily kept, and which ar-
rives at early maturity ; but to complete the improvement of
the stock, it is necessary to pick up superior females as fast as
possible, and iu doing so, with good sires, and with proper care
and attention, the stock will soon gain for itself a name. 1 do
not enter upon the merits of the diiferent breeds of cattle, as I
consider doing so would be unnecessary, after last night's dis-
cussion. Sheep : I do not consider it necessary to discuss the
merits of the various breeds of sheep, inasmuch as there are
only two breeds, or the cross between them, suitable for this
district. I reftr to the blackfaced breed for our hills, and the
Leicester for our arable land. Of these two breeds, there are
not a few points of resemblance. For instance, the formation
of the head I hold to be a point of first importance in either a
blackfaced or a Leicester sheep — a well-formed head, rather
long below the eyes, fine in the muzzle, neat in the crown of
the head, the ears not too far back towards the neck ; if horned,
the horns open, and flat in the crown of the head, the neck

of an ordinary length, deep and wide in the chest, deep in the
flank, broad, long, and straight in the back, broad in the
thighs, plenty of soft wool, plenty of evenly laid on flesh, a
placid eye, and a long strong tail. These are what I consider
a few of the chief points of a good sheep, and, as to the breed-
ing of them, the same rules are alike applicable to them as to
cattle, in regard to fresh blood. Pir/s : I do not consider my-
self in the least qualified to express an opinion in regard to
these animals, as I have had very little experience in pig-
breeding ; but the little 1 have had, and the experience of
breeders I have read, convince me that the disappointments
which breeders of cattle and sheep are subjected to in breeding
are not equal to those of breeders of pigs. (1), It is rarely,
if ever, that a litter of pigs partake of the shapes of the sire
and dam in one and tlie same pig, as it will not unfrequently
be found that in one litter of pigs so many will resemble the
male in colour and shape, and so many the female, if their
shapes and colour are different, so tiiat there is no real amal-
gamation of the parents in the progeny, the inferior points of
the one not being counteracted by the superior points of the
other. (2), A second difticulty, insurmountable iu the pigs
and in every animal which usually breeds a number of young
at one birth, arises, and that is, if the sow has for the first
time been put to a male of a diS'erent breed from herself, she
will never breed pure stock again, or at least stock that can be
depended on as pure. I need not speculate on the reasons
of this impurity of breed ; it is sutficient to record the fact ;
and it must be obvious that breeders of pigs labour under se-
rious disadvantages in trying to improve their breed of pigs.
1 shall, in closing this part of my subject, briefly state a few
good points in pigs : a fine head, with a pretty short, well-
tapered snout ; flat, broad forehead; neat ears, well set on,
and not too long ; a broad neck, reaching forward to the back
of the ears ; a long, straight, broad back ; deep, well-ribbed
side ; small bone below the knee ; and fine soft birse. These
I take as a few shapes of the easily fattened, well weighing pig.
Horses : There is a greater .difficulty iu dealing success-
fully with this branch of the subject than with the other
classes of animals I have referred to, for two reasons : (1.) Al-
most every person professes to be a judge of a horse ; in my
humble opinion, very few are. (2.) It is for either one of two
purposes you want the former animals, either breeding or
feeding ; whereas, the horse is required for a variety of pur-
poses, and the shapes that would be his chief recommendation
for one sort of work would be a disqualification for another
kind of work. What do you want to breed your horses for ?
Farm work, or harness with a little farm work, or is it ex-
clusively for harness? The question arises. Is it for light or
heavy harness, or is it for the saddle, or the saddle and har-
ness combined ? the worst horse to find or breed of any. I
shall, however, confine my remarks to some general quahties
in a greater or less degree applicable to the selection and
breeding of three classes of horses: (1.) The horse for farm
work proper, distinguished from carting work. (2.) The horse
for harness, combined with some light farm work. (3.) Ponies,
or light saddle horses. Without goiug into detail as to the
various points, I shall mention a few leading shapes in a horse
for each of the three kinds of work I have enumerated, which,
with more or less modification, may quality him for its perform-
ance. (1.) If you want speed in aliorse,selectanaiiiraalthatbears
the nearest resemblance to the sliape of the greyhound in its
formation. (2). If you want strenatli, for slow work, select an
animal with a large amount of propellinjj power. (3). If you
want a horse for long endurance, at either fast or slow work,
only an animal with a good constitution can stand out well. The
farm horse should have a comely head, but not so small as the
running horse, as it enables him to throw more weight into
the collar ; broad and flat in the forehead ; neat, well set-on
ears ; prominent placid eyes ; thin eyelids ; large nostrils ;
neck neat, and deep towards the chest ; not very high in the

268

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

withers ; upright shoulders ; broad forearm ; broad flat bone
below the kaee ; rather short pasterns ; good round feet,
neither too flat nor too upright; and, I sliould say, plenty of
hoof, but not hairy-legged; the back straight; tlie loins
strong ; the ribs well arched, and long on the back rib ; long
in the quarter, but not too broad iu hooks; the hauncli strong ;
the hip well down ; broad hock joint, free of curb or bog or
bone-spavin, splint or side bones. A horse with plenty of
well-developed muscle, and a good constitution, is likely to
endure a good deal of fatigue, and is not ill to keep. (2). A
harness and light farm work horse. The liead rather smaller
than that of tlie work horse ; the neck longer, and withers
higher ; the shoulders more slanted to enable him to put out
his feet farther before him, as well as to save concussion by
running on the hard roads ; chest flatter ; the back, if any-
thing, longer ; loins strong ; long in the hind quarters ; the
tail well set on ; strong in the haunches ; broad, and a
little more bent at tlie hock joint ; broad and flat below
the knees ; straight in forelegs ; good round feet and
plenty of crust, but not stripped ; the legs well set
under him ; well ribbed home ; deep at flank and not too thick
in the hair; nostril large, but thin; prominent placid eyes; a
large low set gullet, and wide between the shear bones, &c. (3).
Pony or saddle horse. A small well-formed head ; neat, well
set on, sharp pointed ears ; broad forehead ; prominent placid
eyes, thin eyelids ; large in the nostrils ; wide and thin in the
shear bones ; long tapering neck well set on; witliers high, and
spring far back, and shoulders well slanted ; chest pretty flat,

rather than round ; short straight back ; long in the quarter ;
strong above the knees before and behind ; good hock joint ;
hip well down ; thin flat bone below the knee ; legs well set
under, and good feet ; strong above the kidneys ; pretty long
in the back rib ; rather round than square on the top of the
hind quarters ; pretty long in the pastern joint ; and free of
curb, corns, bog and bone-spavin, side bones or ring-bone ; and
with all, good eyesight. In conclusion, I would, in a word,
say : (1). That the breed of horses best adapted for farm work
is the old Scotch breed, such as was to be found in some parts
of Aberdeen, Perth, and iorfarshires some forty years ago. I
do not approve of the Clydesdale breed for general
farm work. They may be good for carters, if tliey
could be got with good fore feet, but there is
scarcely one of them free of side bones ; besides their hairy
legs produce what is termed dry grease. N o doubt they are
strong but they are ill to keep. What a farmer requires' is a
short-legged, short-backed, barrel, easily kept, active horse, and
the breed referred to, although now dillicult to get, they, more
than any other that I am aware of, combine these qualities.
(2.) Por light farm work and harness, I would consider the old
strong cob horse, as yet unequalled by any breed of horses in
the world for the work indicated, the best, but as we live in
the days of fast travelling, if a fourth or eighth part of breeding
were introduced, increased speed would be obtained. (3).
For hill ponies, our old Highland ponies, none better; but in
ponies for other purposes, a little breeding would be an im-
provement.

THE STAFFORDSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.

At the dinner, at Stafford, Mr. T. Neville, President of the
chamber, in the chair.

The Earl of Lichiield for one had always said how
strongly he objected to the idea of legislative interference on
the subject of land tenure, but he had also equally held the
opinion that if some change was not produced by the conduct
of the great landowners in this respect, legislative interference
would, sooner or later, become necessary. But that there was
not the slightest occasion for it he had already said, and he still
held to that opinion.

Mr Mo.MCTON, M.P., said some persons were in favour of
long leases, but to this he contended there were great ob-
jections, and many farmers, he believed, thought the same.
Others wished the security to take the form of compensation
for unexhausted improvements, and he himself thought that
this plan would be the best. He was no great game-preserver
himself— he would ratiier see a good fox found than any num-
ber of partridges, but he should be sorry to see the utter ex-
tinction of hares and rabbits. He thought such matters
should form the subject of contract between landlord and ten-
ant, and he should be sorry to see any restriction upon con-
tracts between them (cries of hear, hear, and no, no).

The CuATRMAN tliouglit it very unjust that the expense of
maintaining the poor, and of gaols, asylums, and other public
objects, should be cliarged almost exclusively on one descrip-
tion of property. Recently the education rate had been added
to the other burdens imposed upon the owners and occupiers
ef real property, and it was not improbable that they would
soon have a highway rate. To show the injustice of the pre-
sent system, he instanced the case of an owner of cottage pro-
perty whose rents amounted to £50 a year, out of which he
had to pay £25 annually as interest' on the mortgage debt.
The owner, though thus receiving only £25 a year, was assessed
upon the £50 to all the local burdens, while the mortgage paid
not a single farthing upon the £25 which he received. With
reference to contagious diseases, he believed that farmers
would eventually get all they required— a water-side market
for the slaughter of foreign cattle. On the subject of the malt
tax, the chairman said he had always been an advocate of re-
peal, believing that the tax was decidedly unjust and a great
burden to the agriculturist. He hoped that the Chambers of
Agriculture would not rest until this burden had been srot rid
of. ^

Mr. Masfen said with regard to foreign cattle and con-
tagious diseases, he was very far from wisliiiig to prevent the

importation of animals from abroad, but it was impossible to
over-estimate the loss which accrued from the widespread distri-
bution of disease among our home-bred cattle. He would
give any gentleman the name of a respectable man, a neigh-
bour of his, who, during the last twenty years, had lost not
merely scores or hundreds, but hundreds of hundreds of cattle
from disease. Farmers had been most unjustly taunted with
desiring protection against foreign competition ; all they
wanted was protection against foreign diseases. Farmers had
suffered greatly from the adulteration of manures, oilcake, and
seed ; and, with the view of affording the members the means
of detecting fraud, the Staffordshire Chamber had recently ap-
pointed an analytical chemist, whose services might be secured
on very reasonable terms. With regard to the malt tax, Mr.
Cobden was so convinced of the injustice of the tax that he
declared it could not survive the abolition of the corn laws a
single year. Nearly a quarter of a century had elapsed since
then, and still the obnoxious impost remained. A most im-
portant matter which had occupied tlie attention of the
Chamber was the consideration of the causes which discourage
the application of capital to agriculture. These, the Chamber
censidered, were the undue amonnt of taxation, the uncer-
tainty of tenure, and, therefore, of compensation for unex-
hausted improvements, and unnecessary restrictions as to
cropping. On the subject of the uncertainty of tenure, he
considered that some change was imperatively required. At
present, a tenant had no claim for the value of unexhausted
improvements, except by special agreement. In reply to
an observation which had been made by Lord Lichfield,
he might remark that in certain counties of England they
never heard the voice of complaint raise! as to insecurity
of tenure, for in those counties there was a custom which
had the force of law. And it was a curious fact that
those were the counties which were always put forward as
models of agriculture, showing that security of tenure en-
couraged the investment of capital in farm improvements.
He would merely ask Lord Lichfield whether the farmers of
Staffordshire asked for more than those ia other counties were
asking ?

Lord Lichfield said he did not suggest that they were
asking more than was reasonable. He merely wanted to know
what they did ask.

Mr. Masfen said on the subject of game the Central Chamber
was in favour of hares and rabbits being struck out of the
game list, He knt w perfectly well that political capital was

THE PARMER'S MAGAZINE.

269

ofteu made of this game question, and he had always fouglit
rather sliy of it, looking to public opinion more than anything
else. He must, however, mention one cause of complaint
wliich farmers had — viz., that wlien any little dillerence oc-
curred with the gamekeeper the assertions of the latter were
too often believed, and those of the farmer — who, to say tlie
least, was equally respectable, equally truthful, and equally
independent — disbelieved. With reference to restrictions as
to cropping, he believed that they were in most cases injurious
alike to the landlord and the tenant, and that judicious con-
duct on the part of land agents would tend to remove most of

the difficulties attending this matter. With respect to the
condition of the agricultural labourer, much might be done to
improve his condition. Mr. Essington had, however, rerain ded
them of a truth which had not been sufficiently considered
when farmers were blamed for the ignorance of the labourer.
The farmers and other residents in the country had to pay for
the education of the labourers' children, but the best of them
as they grew up went to the large towns, or emigrated, while
tlie drones remained dependent upon the farmers not only
for employment in health, but iu many cases for support ia
old age.

AGRICULTURAL REPORTS.

CUMBERLAND.
The year 1871 has now become a matter of history, and
ended, as regards weather, as it had continued for several
weeks before its close, exceedingly wet, rain having fallen
almost daily, which continued during the whole of January;
so as to almost entirely put a stop to farm work, and to cause a
great breadth of land, intended for wheat, to remain unseeded.
The present month having been much more favourable, a good
deal of wheat has been sown ; but there is a considerable
extent of land yet to finish. Should the season prove a
favourable one, the crop may after all turn out well. Tbe
spring-sown wheat for the last two or three years proved [good
both as to quality and yield, but spring wheat generally de-
pends more upon seasons than that earlier got in. The early-
sown is exceedingly forward, even that put in after Martinmas
looks quite luxuriant. The samples brought forward are in
very bad condition, and the market continues very steady in
price. The plougliing of stubble laud got sadly into
arrear, but has been progressing well lately. Some
lea land for spring corn got turned over, but
even that work was very much retarded by the weather. Most
of the turnips, intended to be carted off the land, were for-
tunately removed before the weather became so very bad,
otherwise tiiey could not have been got off. It was very un-
favourable for sheep feeding on turnipson the land, as they had
to wade constantly in mire, except where the turnips grew on
very dry soil, or were carted on to lea ground to be consumed.
Notwithstanding these drawbacks turniping sheep has been
paying well for the speculation, the high price of wool having
improved the demand for sheep. The price of cattle still
ranges very high at the sales of farm stock, which have re-
cently taken place, and horses have been bringing higher
prices than ever before known, especially agricultural and cart
horses for the dray or heavy work, and even inferior animals
are being bought at something like double the price they would
liave reached some years since, dodder continues plentiful,
cattle consequently will turn out in good condition when the
spring markets commence. Potatoes are abundant, notwith-
standing the disease. The price of pork, for curing, has im-
proved since the curing season began. — Eeb. 23.

SOUTH LINCOLNSHIRE.
We have not much to report upon at this season of the
year. The business of the farm is almost nil. Our farmers
are waiting for a few dry days, in order to get on witli their
ploughing and preparation for spring-sowing and potato
planting. At present the land is too wet, and as cartage of
manure and otiier leading work is done we have only stock
management, thrashing, and the dressing of potatoes for the
employment of our labourers. All are anxious to commence
tillage operations, as this kind of work is very backward ; but
as the teams will be at liberty when the weather is suitable, no
time will be lost, and the work will proceed rapidly. Some of
the turnip and coleseed lands have been ploughed up for seed-
ing, but they present a wet and tough appearance, and will
require a frost to put them right. The abundance of stock
food is very satisfactory, and causes the price of cattle and
sheep to rule very high. In the neighbouring county of Norfolk
hundreds of acres of fine turnips would be thankfully given
away to any flock-master who would undertake to find sheep
to eat them off, We never saw our flocks in a more satis-

factory state at this season. They have done well, and the
losses have not been great. The lambing season has just com-
menced, and we anticipate a healthy and good faU of lambs.
It is unpardonable not to be prepared for every contingency,
notwithstanding the present foul weather. The wheat plant
never looked better : every field is blooming, and no loss of
plant to be seen, either from weather or insects. The potato
lands sown with wheat are very fine. The only kinds of stock
to be bought at a moderate price are pigs, and they are
abundant : very many are fatting, which must ultimately tell
upon the price of other meats, as pork is selling at about 3s. per
stone less money than beef or mutton. Our labourers are
about to agitate for the nine hours' labour movement. At one
meeting 3s. per day has been fixed upon as the price of a day's
wages. There will iu all probability be a compromise, and 2s,
6d. per day will be given for nine hours' labour, exclusive of
one hour for dinner. The present price is 2s. 3d. for nine
hours, and 2s. Cd, ten hours.

REVIEW OF THE CATTLE TRADE DURING THE
PAST MONTH.

Tlie cattle trade during the month has been rather un-
settled. At one time a fair amount of firmness has prevailed,
but this has, in turn, been succeeded by heaviness. Poreiga
stock has been moderately well represented. Prom our own
grazing districts there has been a fair average supply, and
owing to the abundance of grass in the pastures the quality of
tiie beasts has been excellent. The weather generally has not
been favourable for killing, and this circumstance has con-
tributed to check activity. The best Scots and crosses were at
one time making 5s. 4d. to 5s. 6d., but the price has since
fallen to 5s. 2d. to 5s. 4d. per Slbs.

As regards sheep the supplies have been fairly extensive, and
have included some excellent breeds. A moderate amount of
business has been transacted, and on the whole prices have
ruled firm. The best Downs and half-breds iu the wool have
made 7s. 2d. to 7s. -Id., out of the wool 5s. lOd. to 6s.
per Slbs.

A few lambs have been brought forward, and they have
been disposed of at the high rate of 10s. per Slbs.

Calves have been iu moderate request, and pigs have sold
slowly.

The total imports of foreign stock into London during the
past month have been as follows : Head.

Beasts 8,485

Sheep 30,841

Calves 570

Pigs 90

Total ,.

34,986

Correspond

ng period in 1871 16,15?

1870 21,384

1869 27,988

1868 4,877

1867 26,206

1866 29,241

1865 22,904

1864 12,228

1863 10,500

270

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

The arrivals of beasts from our own grazing districts, as
well as from Scotland and Ireland, thus compare with the
three previous years ; Eeb., Feb., Feb., Feb.,

1872. 1871. 1870. 1869.
Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and

Cambridgeshire 7,750 8,050 6,200 5,555

Other parts of England 1,500 1,250 2,970 3,160

Scotland 693 878 875 1,848

Ireland 400 660 1,240 851

The total supplies of stock exhibited and disposed of at
the Metropolitan Cattle Market during the month have been
as under : Head.

Beasts 14,860

Sheep 80,220

Calves 978

Pigs 681

Comparison or Supplies.

Feb. Beasts. Sheep. Calves. Pigs.

1871 15,825 72,690 644 525

1870 16,322 104,186 858 350

1869 23,066 111,600 1,331 1,200

1868 16,840 83,480 593 1,670

1867 17,140 79,710 1,081 1,979

1866 21,240 85,070 1,125 1,215

1865 21,158 66,590 1,196 2,714

Beasts have sold at from 3s. 2d. to 5s. 6d., sheep 4s. 8d. to

7s. 4d., calves 4s. 6d., and pigs 3s. 8d. to 5s. per 81b3. to
sink the oifal.

CoMPAKisoN or Prices,

Feb., 1871. Feb., 1870.

s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.

Beef from 3 2 to 5 10 3 2 to 5 4

Mutton 34 to 60 34 to 60

Veal 38 to 56 42 to 64

Pork 3 6 to 5 2 4 6 to 5 10

Feb., 1869. Feb., 1868.

s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.

Beef from 3 4 to 5 8 3 2 to 4 10

Mutton 36 to 68 34 to 50

Veal 46 to 60 44 to 5 5

Pork 36 to 50 34 to 42

RE^rCEW OF THE GRAIN TRADE DURING THE
PAST MONTH.

The extreme mildness which prevailed at the close of last
month has been the ruling characteristic of its successor. A
mild, humid atmosphere, vvilli abundance of rain, has not im-
proved the appearance of things, and although the young
wheat plant has not sustained any damage, it cannot be said
to look quite so promising as a short time back. A change
is much needed, but at the same time violent fluctuations in
the state of temperature are at present to be dreaded, inasmuch
as the advent of a sharp and severe frost would undoubtedly
cause serious injury to the young wheat-plant. The season,
however, is now far advanced, and the plant will shortly have
attained sufficient strength to enable it to withstand the vicis-
situdes of our insular climate. Preparations are being rapidly
made for spring sowing, but the land is at present in such a
sodden state that it is next to impossible to work it. A few
daysof dry weather would soon alter the phase of affairs, and
enable farmers to commence their outdoor operations. In the
pastures there is an abundance of grass, and no difficulty is ex-
perienced in obtaining sufficient food for cattle.

We cannot notice an appreciable alteration in the position
of the trade. A fair business is doing in wheat, but the de-
mand is almost entirely confined to actual requirements, the
speculative element being still wanting. The quality of the
produce has been very indifferent, and this has doubtless con-
tributed to check any speculative inquiry. Fine samples of
wheat, from their scarcity, have readily commanded extreme
rates. Allowing that the value of inferior samples will be
regulated by the actual deficiency in quality, and that this will
form no just criterion of the real value of the wheat, that
is to say of average samples, we believe that
it will be found that the future tendency of

prices will be indicative of steadiness. The weekly imports
of foreign wheat have been small, and home deliveries have
at the same time been of a very moderate character ; but a
fair number of vessels has arrived off the coast, and thus has in
some measure counterbalanced deficiences in other quarters.
It is, however, a fact of some importance, that the quantity
of grain on passage at the present moment is less by some
450,000 qrs. than at the corresponding period last year, and
it is shown that our stocks of foreign wheat do not so greatly
exceed those of last year, whilst tiiose of home-grown are
considerably less. Arguing from these premises it is main-
tained that values must acquire a hardening tendency, and that
fine wheat will gradually improve in value, but without sus-
taining any rapid upward movement. There is stillagoodsupply
of wheat at Odessa, but the quality is so bad that a greater
portion of it will be unfit for the present ; indeed, it is stated
that some vessels that had been chartered for spring shipment
have been re-chartered. The exports from Odessa last year
reached the heavy total of 2,476,446 qrs., against 2,032,500
qrs. in the previous year. The stock on the 1st February last
was 812,520 qrs., against 498,584 qrs. at the corresponding
period in 1871. The French demand has not yet wholly ceased,
although it is much less extensive tlian heretofore. Whilst
mentioning the i'rench demand we may here state, that about
two-and-a-half million quarters have been already withdrawn
from producing countries, and it is not at all improbable that
later on the effects of this drain will be more severely felt. On
the other hand, however, with the present mild weather,
the forward state of the wheat plant, has lead to the anticipa-
tion of an early harvest in France, and this has had the effect
of depressing prices. The weather will have great influence
over the future course of the trade. A few cold days, with the
prospect of frost would materially enhance values, whilst with
a continuance of the mildness the upward movement would
necessarily be slow. Li the German ports the supplies are by
no means extensive, and, in addition, it is stated that there is
a good home demand. From Australia we learn that the
yield of wheat will average from six to seven bushels, and that
about 60,000 tons will be available for export to Europe.

In the flour trade there has been no feature. Business has
been only to a moderate extent in both English and foreign
samples, and prices have been without change.

Tiie spriig corn trade has been quiet. For malting barley
the demand has been less active, but prices have ruled firm.
Grinding sorts have been rather easier. For oats, the show of
which has been good, there has been very little inquiry, and
inferior samples have been decidedly easier. Beans and peas
have commanded but little attention, and maize has been
neglected.

Imports and Exports or Grain.

The following statement shows the imports and exports of
grain into and from the United Kingdom since harvest, viz.,
from the 26th of August to the close of last week ;

Impoets.

Wheat

Barley

Oata

Peas

Beans

Indian Corn ,
Flour

1871-2.

1870-1.

1869-70.

1868-9.

Cwt.

Cwt. 1 Cwt. ! Cwt.

21,481,3G7

16,272,207 23,132,019 14,320,283

6,767,8U

3,961,950 3,956,720, 6,052,148

4,54S,256

4,096,210' 5,483,976

3,205,228

411,788

391,295

727,872

727,542

1,743,977

801,284

983,080

1,565,828

9,370,236

8,071,404

10,211,389

6,801,435

1,659,386

2,299,193

3,480,878

1,971,828

BXPOETS.

Wheat

Barley

Oats

Peas

Beans

Indian Corn.
Flour

1,934,643

1,268,619

127,496

11,330 30,960

11,745

68,474 5,112,861

43,903

5,506

31,160

8,ii30

1,754

5,597

1,167

18,684

40,729

9,414

37,427

855,517

9,088

135,449

60,368

53,437

5,944

3,065

522

19,685

On the Continent the grain trade has been quiet in tone, and
in France values have been unsettled. In America there has
been a moderate amount of animation. The exports of wheat
from the United States to the United Kingdom, from the 1st
of September to the 1st of February, were 1,174,735 bushels,
against 1,474,725 bushels in the corresponding period in
1870-71.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

271

QUANIIiy OF GRIIJT IN SIGHT AT NEW rOEK, FeB.

10, 1872.

Whe.vt.

Corn.

Oats.

Bush.

Bush.

Bush.

In store at New York

3,288,381 .

. 814,701 .

.. 2,561,991

,, Albany

13,000 .

25,600 .

. 183, 00

„ Buffalo

681,328 .

. 539,760 .

.. 407,439

1,610,981 .
1,553,010 .

. 5,530,888 .
. 107,260 .

. 1,147,835

,, Milwaukie

.. 107,854

„ Duluth

18,900 .

—

—

,, Toledo, Jan. 6...

448,094, .

. 392,802 .

.. 265,105

,, Detroit

174,081 .

36,693 .

.. 156,139

,, Oswego, Dec. 1

736,582 .

. 227,949

.. 209,487

„ St. Louis

416,751 .

. 240,741

.. 213,421

,, Boston

11,709 .

. 324,714

.. 217,165

„ Toronto, Jan. 15

48,214 .

1,324

57,874

,, Montreal, Jan. 15

282,499 .

. 152,572

14,076

„ Philadelphia*...

320,010 .

. 190,110

.. 301,100

,, Baltimore *

100,000 .

. 290,010

85,110

Amount in Now York

canals

118,203 .

.. 1,033,212

.. 623,075

Rail shipments for week...

33.357 .

.. 630,931

47,487

Total

10,950,083 .

.10,473,150

.. 6,601,993

Total in store and in

transit, Jan. 20, 1872. ...

10,966,173 .

.. 9,418,248

,. 6,638,775

Ditto, Jan. 13, 1872 10,655,402 .

.. 8,939,529

.. 6,666,702

Ditto, Jan. 6, 1872 10,8-11,473 .

. 8,330,627

.. 6,469,217

Ditto, Dec. 30, 1871

10,801,463 .

.. 7,617,461

.. 6,217,291

Ditto, Jan. 28, 1871

10,706,403 .

.. 3,456,241

.. 3,176,922

*

Estimated.

BAllNSLEY HORSE AND CATTLE FAIR.— Owing to
the line weather there was a very good attendance at our fair
today (Wednesday). Tliere has been a much better show of
good horses than for some years past, and for really first-class
animals excellent prices were realised. The best draught sold
at £65 to £80, secondary qualities £35 to £50, and ordinary
animals, suitable for light work, £15 to £25. In horned
cattle the number shown were scarcely of an average charecter,
but excellent prices were realised. In-calf and newly-calved
cows realised £18 to £28, Heifers £16 to £31, and Irish do.
£11 to £18. A fair number of pigs were on the ground, but
late price were barely maintained. Suckers sold at 20s. to
25s., stores 30a. to 458 , and strong do. 50s. to 65s. each.
Bacon pigs sold at 6s. 9d. to 7s per stone.

COCKERMOUrii HORSE FAIR.— The February fair
for horses took place at Cockermouth on Monday. The
following IS an average of the prices obtained : Harness and
hunting horses £20 to £60, agricultural horses £30 to 70 gs.,
good ponies £20 to £30, pit ponies £16 to £18.

EAST ILSEY SHEEP FAIR.- At the sheep market on
Wednesday, which is one of the largest in the country, un-
usually high prices were realised. There was a moderate
number penned, and a large attendance of buyers from the
metropolis and different parts of the provinces. Tegs sold at
COs. to 77s. per head. A farmer in that neighbourhood had 100
tegs at the market, and asked 80s. each for them. They were

LINCOLN FAT STOCK MARKET.— A large show of
cattle, and sirall one of sheep ; a good demand for all kinds,
at last week's prices. Mr. Richardson sold by auction 52 fat
beasts, 289 sheep, 34. fat pigs, and 20 hogs, which average 75s.
6d. each.

PENISTONE FAIR.— The annual February cattle fair was
held on Thursday. A good show and a fair attendance of
buyers, and good prices were made in all descriptions of stock.
MUch and newly-calved cows made from £18 to £23 and up
to £28 per head, heifers £14- to £18, and Irish ditto £12 to
£16, barren cows £11 to £13, stirks £6 to £9, yearling calves
£4 to £8, sucking ditto 30s. to 40s. There were only two
pens of sheep on offer, and few buyers. Small pigs 19s. to
23s., strong stores 30s. to 66s. per head. Bacon and Pork
6s. 9d. to 7s. per 14 lbs.

SANDWICH FORTNIGHTLY FAT STOCK MARKET.
— At market to-day there was a very good supply of sheep,
but not many beasts ; the trade was brisk. Pices of mutton
7s. per stone, beef 12s. 6d. per score. No. of sheep at market
680, beasts 61.

SLEAFORD FAT STOCK MARKET, (Monday last.)—
A large show of fat Sheep and Hogs, grand show of fat Beasts,
fair supply of Pigs, all of which realised extreme prices.
Mutton from lOd. to Is. per lb., out of the wool 8d. to 8^d.,
Hogs from 57s. to 83s. each, Beef 9s. 6d. to 10s. per stone.
Pork 7s. to 7s. 6d. per stone, in-calvers from £18 to £30 each.

Number sold by Mr. Law : Fat Sheep 403, Hogs 309, fat
Beasts 79, in-calvers 11, Pigs 67, and 1 horse.

WHITCHURCH FAIR.— Therewas a considerable exhibi-
tion of horned stock, which maintained late high prices. Beef
7d. to Bid., Mutton 9d. to lOd. per lb.

WIGTOWN HORSE FAIR.— This old-established fair for
horses was held on Tuesday last, when there was a larger at-
tendance both of buyers and sellers than might have been an-
ticipated, seeing that the bulk of the good horses in the county
are bought up before the fair. Prices were very high for every
class of animals, and the fair was a quick-selling one, especially
for anything at all approaching to good. It being the usual
weekly market, the town was very busy.

HOP MARKET.
BOROUGH, MoND.vy, Feb. 26.— There is no new feature
to remark in our market. The absence ofdemand reported in
our last still prevails, and a slight decline is noticeable. Some
holders are confident that by waiting full values will be obtain-
able ; others, more anxious, endeavour to induce buyers by
reductions. The same applies to yearlings, for which at pre-
sent there is no demand. Continental markets are quiet.
Latest advices from New York report more activity for fine
hops.

Mid. and East Kent £10 10 £12 12 £17 0

9 9 10 10

8 8 9 9

13 0 16 0

Weald of Kent 8 10

Sussex 7 15

Farnham and country ... 11 11

Yearlings.

Mid and East Kent £3 0

WealdofKent 3 0

Sussex 3 0

Farnham and country ... —

£4 4 £6 10

4 0 5 15

3 10 5 5

6 0 7 0

SALE OF SHORTHORNS AT FORRES.— The third
annual sale under the auspices of the Forres and Northern
Fat Cattle Club was held in the Agricultural Hall, Forres.
The attendance of agriculturists was large, and the stock, on
the whole, worthy of the county. Thirty-five young Short-
horn bulls from eight different herds were catalogued, and
from some of the same stock a few heifers were forwarded, be-
sides eight Highlanders from the byres of Lord Seafield at
Castle Grant, Strathspey. The order of sale was determined
by ballot, and the lots from Newton of Struthers, belonging
to Mr. Bruce, came first. He had five yearling bulls in the
sale-ring, the first-mentioned two of which were after his Scots-
man, bred at Dalkeith Barg ; the next one— Red Prince-
being after Lord Eskdale, also bred by the Duke of Buccleuch ;
the other two descending directly from bulls reared by Mr.
Fawkes of Farnley Hall, and Mr. Wood, Stanwick Park. The
average price of Mr. Bruce's bulls was £37 12s. Scotsmen
III. was secured for one of the leading breeders in Aberdeen-
shire at 69 guineas. The Morayshire breeders have on many
occasions gone to Aberdeenshire for Shorthorn bulls, but it is
not often that the Aberdeenshire farmers return the compli-
ment. Tlie two bulls from Sunbank traced their descent from
the late luchbroom stock. Mr. Brown, Feddau, catalogued two
red bulls lacking style so much that they failed to find purchasers.
Mr. Lawson, Oldmills, was represented by fourteen well-bred
young bulls. The sires of the Oldmills bulls were Glenly on,
a Rettie bull, and Vampire, a Sittytcu bull. The average price
of the fourteen was about £28 10s. each. A pair of beautiful
red bull calves were taken from the Duke of Richmond's herd
at Gordon Castle. Having been carved last summer, they
were too young to appear at the GordonCastle sale in Septem-
ber last, and their youth still intefered with their sale to some
extent, though their excellent quality and fine breeding |recoTn-
mended them. They were after Baron Colling, a bull now in
the herd, and bred by Colonel Towneley, and averaged over
£37 each. Mr. Scott's two bulls from St. Mary's, Orton, were
bred from the Gordon Castle stock, and sold very well, averag-
ing nearly £38 each. Mr. Geddes, Orbliston, exposed) six
heavy, well-shaped bulls. They were bred after the old bull
Wizard, of the Keir stock. The Orbliston animals averaged
about £31 each ; and all the bulls sold realised about £33 a-
head. Several cows and heifers from Newton of Struthers
were taken iu at the owner's reserved olfer. Four Highland
bulls, and as many heifers, from the stock of the Earl of Sea-
field, Castle Grant, and after Perthshire bulls, sold readily at
fair prices. Mr, Ross, Forres, was the auctioneer.

272

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

REVIEW OF THE CORN TRADE

DURING THE PAST MONTH.

Happily tlie heavy rains of last January liave not been
followed up on February, though the month is generally
wet ; yet with increased solar heat vegetation has been
much favoured, but the latter part of the month had some
salutary checks by frost, the thermometer being once down
to 27 degrees. The same changes it appears have oc-
curred on the continent of Europe, and Danzic has had a
slight fall of snow. In all these varieties of weather,
however, there have been no complains of the growing
crops, either in England or elsewhere, and the wheat-
plant where early sown is now strong and forward, and
may have an early gathering, although it must be partial,
as many lands were not sown in autumn. The light
soils have already become capable of tillage, but some
time as well as a succession of drying winds must be ex-
perienced before the Lent corn can be well got in. The
grass as well as the young wheat looks well, and if no
adverse times are ahead we may have another good hay
crop and a fair subsequent bite for cattle, though it must,
we fear, be some time before butcher's meat can be
served to the public at moderate rates. The damp
weather and shorter stores have very much reduced our
weekly sales of wheat, which in four weeks have only
been 215,611 qrs. against 306,293 qrs. in 1871, though
prices have hardly undergone any change. But in
France, the country to which all eyes had been turned,
there has already been a heavy decline in-
stead of the advance some were looking for ;
and as she has been making liberal shipments of
spring corn here as well as elsewhere, it is pretty clear
her rural population cannot be in the straits anticipated ;
and if this decline should continue it cannot fail, with so
early a breaking of the frost, to affect the prices of
Europe generally. Whatever may become of the Ameri-
can embroglio there seems no anticipation that it will, for
the present, involve the country in war, and it is hoped
this dreadful alternative will be carefully avoided by pro-
fessedly civilised and Christian states. But certainly, on
the last prospect of its breaking out the present inactivity
in the trade would cease, and possibly large speculative
movements take place at enhanced prices. But much yet
must depend on the character of the season we are ap-
proaching, and though our stocks are at present heavy,
and more may yet be expected from Russia, this is the
only country likely to yield large aud continuous supplies,
and even there, so much has been housed of inferior
quality that we need not look for heavy arrivals of
fine. The following were the recently quoted prices of
the places named : White Northern wheat at Paris 61s.,
red 5Ss., fine white at Bordeaux 57s. to 61s., Bcrdianski
at Marseilles 55s. In Belgium rates were from 57s. 6d.
59s. ; Zealand wheat at Amsterdam aud Rotterdam 59s.,
American 60s., best red at Hambro' 61s. ; wheat at
Lausanne 59s., Porrentruy 50s. 6d. The best high-
mixed at Danzic was still worth 63s., cost, freight, aud
insurance; red wheat at Cologne 55s., at Pesthiu Hungary
51s. to 57s. ; wheat at Odessa 38s. 6d. to 47s., Barletta
at Naples 52s. 6d., at Valparaiso 6O3, 6d., cost, freight,
and insurance ; wheat at Adelaide 4O3., free ou board ; red
at New York 53s. 6d. per 4801bs. (This month's review
includes the last Monday in January and the first three
Mondays in February.)

The first Monday in Mark Lane commenced on mode-
rate arrivals of wheat, both English and foreign. The

sho V from Essex and Kent during the morning was about
the smallest since harvest, and in condition it was pro-
bably the worst. Small, therefore, as it was, it was quite
neglected, though dry samples were much wanted, aud
would have readily sold at the previous rates, or perhaps
even more money. Foreign in good condition was in fair
demand at fully the former values, but low sorts were Is.
down. Floating cargoes were unaltered in value. With
the weather iu the country very rainy and bad for thrash-
ing, but few samples were exhibited at the several markets,
and those in bad order rather tended downwards in value,
while dry occasionally brought higher rates, and at New-
bury an advance of Is. to 2s. per qr. was paid. Liverpool
was unsettled on Tuesday, but rather firmer on the clos-
ing market In Scotland not much difi^erence in wheat
was noted. Edinburgh was down Is. per qr., and Glasgow
was dull and without quotable change. The bad condi-
tion of Irish wheat at Dublin made business very slow,
aud foreign was also dull.

On the second Monday the English arrivals were very
limited, but those from abroad were good, very
few fresh samples were exhibited on the Essex
aud Kentish stands, and the want of dry qualities was
again much felt, such fuUy maintaining their previous
values. Good foreign, more especially American and
Saxonska qualities, were in fair demand at previous rates ;
but inferior sorts w'ere dull. With small arrivals of ^
floating cargoes, prices were much as previously. The
same sort of markets still ruled in the country, with
uufavourble weather, farmers finding it useless to exhibit
damp lots for sale, aud prices kept nominally the same,
though the scarcity of prime dry parcels occasionally
caused a rise of Is. per qr., as at Birmingham, Newbury,
and Gloucester. Liverpool was without change on Tues-
day, and Id. per cental higher on Friday. Glasgow was
dull, and Edinburgh cheaper for inferior sorts. Though
but few samples of native wheat were offering at Dublin,
buyers still held back in consequence of the poor condi-
tion, and eyen foreign sorts were dull.

On the tiiird ilouday there was another limited English
supply, and but a moderate arrival of foreign. Again the
Kentish and Essex stands were very scantily provided J

with fresh samples, and no improvement was apparent in
the condition. Everything dry was in demand, at fully
as much money ; but the foreign trade, which was rather
higher on the previous Friday, lost the improvement then
noted, and less was doing. With several arrivals off
the coast, there had been a fair demand for, the best
dry samples, at unaltered rates. Though the weather
this week was somewhat improved, and the light lauds
were much relieved by the comparative cessation ofcraiu,
there was not time enough for the stronger soils to dry
or the atmosphere to effect much improvement. Damp
samples were therefore again complained of in the country,
with small deliveries ; but where anything fine appeared
it was caught up at fully the previous rates, or Is. per qr.
more, as at Birmingham, Market Rasen, Gloucester, &c.
Liverpool showed no change through the week. At
Edinburgh the wheat trade was unchanged, and Glasgow
was rather firmer. Dublin noted a quiet state of trade ;
but occasionally 6d. per qr. more was paid for anything
really good.

On the fourth Monday there was again very little
English wheat in the returns, and the foreign supplies

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

273

were limited. Scarcely auy dry wheat was to be found
among the few fresh samples that were sent up from Kent
and Essex. These commanded fully as much money.
The remainder were mostly left on the stands unsold.
"With regard to foreign, the trade on the whole was
limited, but the scarcity of red American enabled holders
occasionally to realise Is. per qr. advance, though low
sorts of Russian could not be forced without some re-
duction. Floating cai-goes of good quality were unaltered
in value. This week in the country again showed the
great want of fine samples, the entire quantity olfering
being very much below that of last year, and in some in-
stances, where good dry samples were exhibited, they occa-
sionally brought Is. advance on previous rates, as at
Stockton, Birmingham, Gainsbro', &c. Liverpool was
very firm on Tuesday, the market on Friday was Id.
lower.

The arrivals into London for four weeks were LS,133
qrs. English, 56,706 qrs. foreign; against 26,754! qrs.
English, 43,414 qrs. foreign for the same period last year.
The London exports were 7,488 qrs. The London
averages commenced and closed at 58s. 6d. The general
averages opened at 55s. 8d., and closed at 55s. 4d. The
imports into the kingdom for four weeks ending Feb.
10th, were 2,811,253 cwt. wheat, 188,949 cwt. flour ;
against 1,934,741 cwt. wheat, 246,083 cwt. flour in 1871.

There has been no change in the flour trade during the
four weeks noted. The supplies ot English make from
the country have been very regular and good, and Nor-
folks all along have ranged 39s. per sack, the better
marks being 2s. or 3s. per sack higher, and town qualities
have remained 50s. per sack. The foreign arrivals have
been scanty, as usual at this time of year, but the demand
has not reached beyond a retail inquiry, the best qua-
lities ibeing only in request. Fine barrels being worth
30s. °per barrels, which allows no profit on imports.
The imports into London for four weeks were 73,867
sacks country, 4,891 sacks 5,688 barrels foreign, against
141,104 sacks English, 10,741 sacks 44,090"barrels in
1871, when the French demand was on, and the exports
reached to 134,455 sacks.

The supply of ma'ze, though not heavy, has reduced
prices of ttiis grain fully Is. to Is. 6d., as there has been
a continuous fall in beans, and oats have become mode-
rately priced, American fresh not being worth over 31s.,
fine yellow 323., and white 33s. to 34s. The imports in
four weeks have been 34,744 qrs., against 13,870 qrs.
for the same period last year.

The barley trade throughout the four weeks has been
slow, and only picked samples of English malting have
maintained their value, say 41s. to 42s., French having
lately come largely into competition of fair quality ; and
this secondary sort, in consequence of liberal arrivals, has
given way Is. to 2s., not being worth over 31s. to 33s.,
while low grinding has ruled dull, at a decline of about
6d. per qr., there yet being some quantity of discoloured
in store not worth over 21s. per qr. The imports in
four weeks for London were 10,803 qrs. British, 56,336
qrs. foreign ; against 9,712 qrs. British, 29,853 qrs.
foreign in 1871.

The malt trade has been steady through the month,
without undergoing any change in value. Fair exports
have continued, having reached to 2,552 qrs.

The oat trade has received increased supplies of
foreign, in consequence of the extraordinary mildness of
the weather, which has permitted some exports even from
Riga. Prices therefore have gone down Is. to Is. 6d. on
Swedish, Danish, and other sorts ex-ship, and 6d. to Is. on
the best Russian in granary, 381bs. Swedes not being worth
over 20s. 6d., and others in propoition to weight and con-
dition. Even France and Belgium have been contributing

to these supplies, though at the commeucement of 1871
so many were sent there. The imports into London
for the four weeks were 1,737 qrs. of home-growth and
154,750 qrs. foreign, against 4,711 qrs. English, 30 qrs.
Scotch, and 17,350 qrs. foreign for the same period in
1871.

As regards new English beaus, with better supplies
in but poor condition they have declined about Is. 6d.
per qr., and foreign have consequently been a very slow
sale and rather lower, there being fair arrivals. The best
small new arc now only worth about 43s., ticks and maza-
gans about 37s. The imports into Loudon for four weeks
were 5,784 qrs. English and 5,188 qrs. foreign, against
4,923 qrs. English and 6,658 qrs. foreign in 1871.

The mild weather has also somewhat lowered the value
of peas, though there have been no foreign supplies.
Duns are not worth over 37s., maples 38s. to 393., white
40s. to 41s. warranted boilers. The imports into London
were 3,087 qrs. English only, against 2,547 qrs. English
and 128 qrs. foreign last year.

The wet state of the weather has quite prevented the
sowing of cloverseed ; it has given way rather in price ;
and the demand has scarcely commenced for spring tares.

CURRENT PRICES OP BRITISH GRAIN AND FLOUR
IN MARK LANE.

Shillings per Quarter.

WHEAT, new, Essex and Kent, white 68 to 63

,, ,, red 62 68

Norfolk, Linclnsh., and Yorksh., red 52 69

BARLEY 30 to 32 Chevalier, new 36 43

Grinding 23 29 Distilling 31 34

MALT, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk 63 69

Kingston, Ware, and town-made 63 69

Brown 51 67

RYE 36 38

OATS, English, feed 23 to 26 Potato 27 33

Scotch, feed 00 00 Potato 00 00

Irish, feed, white 21 24 Fine 25 26

~ " 22 Potato 29 32

34 Ticks 33 34

37 Pigeon 38 44

40Maple 37to38Grey,new33 34

FLOUR, per sack of 2801b8., best town households... 45 60

Best country households 40 44

Norfolk and Suffolk 38 39

Ditto, black 19

BEANS, Mazagan ...33

Harrow 34

PEAS, white, boiler8.37

FOREIGN GRAIN.

Shillings per Quarter.

WHEAT, Dantzio, mixed 59 to 62 extra 64to65

Konigsberg 68 62 extra 62 64

Rostock 57 68 fine 69 60

Silesian, red 56 58 white,... 60 62

Pomera., Meckberg., and Uckermrk. ...red 56 68

Russian, hard, 45 to 47. ..St. Petersburg and Riga 50 54

Danish and Holstein, red 64 58 American 57 69

Chilian, white 63... Oalifornian 62 ... Australian 62 64

BARLEY, grinding 21 to 28....di8tiUing and malting 31 34

OATS, Dutch, brewing and Polands 17 to 27 feed 16 20

Danish and Swedish, feed 19 to 20.... Stralsund... 19 20

Canadal8tol9,Rigal8to20,Arch.l8to21,P'Bbg. 19 21

TARES, Spring, per qr small — 42 large — 46

BEANS, Friesland and Holstein 36 38

Konigsberg 33 to 36.. .Egyptian 31 33

PEAS, feeding and maple.. .35 39. ..fine boilers 37 40

INDIAN CORN, white 32 33. ..yellow 30 31

FLOUR, per sack, French. .00 00.. .Spanish, p. sack 00 00

American, per brl 24 25...extraandd'ble. 27 29

IMPERIAL AVERAGES
For the week ended Feb. 17, 1872.

Wheat 45,746iqr3. 558. 7d.

Barley 57,503i „ 383. 8d.

Oats 5,216 „ 238, Od.

COMPARATIVE AVERAGES.

WHEAT.
Years. Qrs. s. d.
1868... 48,45 Ji ... 72 11
1869... 61,102J ... 50 3
1870... 51,039i ... 40 8
1871... 76,735 ... 53 11
1872... 45,746i... 55 7

BARLEY.

Qrs. s. d.
51,9154 ... 42 9
30,686i ... 47 0
44,254- ... 34 2
53,851ff ... 35 7
67,503^ ... 38 8

OATS,
Qrs. s.
12,2961 ... 26
5,888i ... 27
5,393i ... 19
7,586i ... 23
6,216 ...23

d,
2
0

10
7
0

274

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

AVERAGE S

Foe thh pasi Six

Weeks:

Jan 13 1872

Wheat.
8. d.
65 1
65 8

65 10

66 0
65 4
55 7
65 7
63 11

Barlej'.
8. d.

36 11

37 2

37 10

38 2
3S 9
33 8
37 11
35 7

Oats.
8. d.
22 9

Jan. 20, 1873

22 6

Jan. 27, 1872

22 8

Feb. 3, 1872

22 6

Feb. 10, 1872

22 9

Feb. 17. 1872

23 0

Aggregate of the above ...
The same week in 1871

22 8

23 7

FLUCTUATIONS in the AVERAGE PRICE of WHEAT.

Pbicb.
66i71)dT
658. lOd.
653. 8d.
55s. 7d,
65s. 4d.
55a. Id.

Jan. 13. Jan. 20.

Jan. 27.

Feb. 3.

Feb. 10.

-J: -

,, • r

...

:;! «-

::: ,-

Feb. 17.

BRITISH SEEDS.
Mustard, per bushel, brown 14s. to 16s., white 7s. to 98. 6d.

Canary, per qr new 50s. 6l8....old 52s. 543.

Cloverseed, new red 80s. llOs.

Coriander, per cwt 22s. 238.

Tares, winter, new, per bushel 5s. 3d. 5s. 6d.

Trefoil, new 348. 42s.

Ryegrass, per qr 31s. 38s.

Linseed, per qr.... sowing 68&. to 70S., crushing 60s. 61s,

Linseed Cakes, per ton £11 10s. to £12 Os.

Rapeseed, per qr 84s. 85s.

Rape Cake, per ton £6 10s. Od. to £7 Os. Od.

FOREIGN SEEDS.

Cloverseed, red 56s. to 688 white 76s. 86s.

Hempseed, small 41s. to 42s. per qr Dutch 45s. 46s.

Trefoil 24s. 32s.

Ryegrass, per qr 34s. S8s.

Linseed, per qr.... Baltic 69s. to 623. ..Bombay 63s. Od. 648.

Ltaseed Cakes, per ton £10 15s. to £11 10s.

Rape Cake, per ton £6 10s. to £7 Os.

Rapeseed, Dutch 76s. 808.

Coriander, per cwt 238. to 248.

Carraway ,, new 368. 37s.

POTATO MARKETS.
SOUTHWARK WATERSIDE.
LONDON, Monday, Feb. 2G.— During the past week the
arrivals coastwise have been limited, but still heavy by the
rails. Trade continues in the same languid state at the fol-
lowing quotations :

Yorkshire Flukes 100s. to 140.s.

„ Regents GOs.tolOO.s.

Dunbar and East Lothian. Regents ... 100s. to 130s.
Perth, Forfar, and Fife „ ... 85s. to 105s.

„ „ Rocks 85s. to 95s.

Kent and Essex Regents 60s. to 100s.

„ „ Rocks 60s. to 80s.

French Whites 50s. to 65s.

BOROUGH AND SPITALFIELDS.
LONDON, Monday, Feb. 26.— The markets continue to
be well supplied with Potatoes, the demand for which has been
inactive at our quotations. The imports into London last
week consisted of 87 tons from Dunkirk.

Regents 75s. to 120s. per ton.

Rocks 75s. to 90s. „

Flukes 100s. to ISOs. „

Victorias 100s. to 130s. „

PRICES of BUTTER, CHEESE, HAMS, &c.

^„ „„ CHEESE, per cwt. : s. s.

Cheshire 56 to 86

Dble. Glouc, new 62 76

Cheddar 72 94

American 66 74

HAMS: York 82 91

Cumberland 80 92

Irish 90 100

BUTTER, per cwt. : s. s.

Dorset 146 to 160

Friesland 124 126

Jersey 104 120

Fbesh, per doz. ... 15 18

BACON, per cwt :

Wiltshire, green .. 63 61

Irish, green, f.o.b. 62 66

POULTRY, &c., MARKETS. — Turkeys, 7s. to 14s.
Geese, 5s. to 7s. ; Goslings, 7s. to Qs. ; Ducks, 2s. 6d. ; Wilt
Ducks, 3s. ; Ducklings, 4s. 6d. to 5s. ; Surrey Fowls, 5s. to 8s.
Boston and Essex, 3s. to 4s. ; Irish, Is. 6d. to 3s. ; Rabbits
tame, Is. 6d. to 3s. 6d. ; ditto, wild. Is. to Is. id. ; Pigeons
Is. ; Hares, 4s. 6d. to us. ; Widgeon, Is. 6d. to Is. Od. ; Teal
Is. 6d. ; Woodcocks, 4s. 6d. ; Snipes, Is. to Is. 6d. ; Larks
per dozen, 2s. 6d. to 2s, 9d. ; Leverets, 3s. 6d.

COVENT GARDEN MARKET.
LONDON, Friday, Feb. 23.
The markets have been rather quiet again during the last
few days, and tran.sactions among wholesale dealers have
been somewhat limited. Afairattendance of retail ciistomers
has been obser\'able, but no inquiries sufficient to lead to an
advance in price has been the result. Importations are mo-
derate, and arrive in good condition, comprising salading,
Asparagus, and some good Easter Beurr^ Pears.
FRUIT.
B. d. B. d.
Apples, 'B i sieve 2 o to 5 0

Cobs, ■^ lUOtb 63

Figs, ^ dozen 0 0

FUberts, '^IB 0 8

Grapes,^ lb 5 0

Lemons, %3 hundred. 7 0

Melons, each „. 0 0 to

Oranges, 'iS hundred 6 0 1

Peaches, ^ dozen ... 0 0

Pears, ^ dozen « 0

10 0 Pine Apples, per lb. 6 0 I

10 0 Pomegranates, each . 0 4

VEGETABLES.
Ajtlchokes, green, ea. 0 6 to 0 8 Leeks, per bunch 0

Asparagus, per hund. 8 0

French, ditto 12 0

Beet, per dozen 1 0

Brocoli, purpl., "^ bdl. 0 10

Brus. Sprouts, ^ J sve. 1 6

Cabbages, per dozen... 0 10

Cardoons, each 2 0

Ciirrots, per bunch ... 0 5

French, ditto 1 0

Oaullilowers, per doz. 2 0

Celery, %! bundle 1 0

Cucumbers, each 2 0

Fch Beans, new,^ 100 4 0

Herbs, per bunch 0 2

Horseradish, ^bu^dle
Potatoes

8 0 I Lettuces. per score

U 0 ; Mushrooms, ^ pottle 1 0

2 0 I Onions, ^ bunch „. 0 t

1 3 Parsley, per bunch ... 0 2

2 6 Peas, new, *<(3 pun 0 0

I 3 Potatos, new frame. It 2 0

4 0 Radishes, per bunch.. 0 2

0 7 i French, ditto 0 4

1 6 Rhubarb, li) bundle .... 1 6
6 0 Salsafy, '■& bundle 0 9

2 0 Scorzonera, "<$ bundle. 0 9

3 0 Sea Kale, '<^ punnet ... 1 0

6 0 Shallots, 111 lb 0 8

0 4 Spinach, per bushel... 3 0

6 0 Turnips, ■^ bunch 0 2

Regents, lOCs. to 13is.; Flukes, lliOs. to 150s.;
French Shaws, BOs. to 70s.

HAY MARKETS.

SMITHFIELD.— The supplies to this market dui-ing the
wcelc have been large. The demand has been inactive, and
prices in many instances have ruled easier. Prime clover,
llOs. to 120s.; 'inferior ditto, 65s. to 90s. ; prime hay, 77s. 6d.
to 87s. 6d. ; inferior ditto, 55s. to 65s. ; and straw, 34s. to 40s.
per load.

BICESTER, (Friday last.)— Hay, old, £6 to £7 ; new, £3
10s. to £1 10s. ; Straw, £1 15s. to £2 5s. per ton.

BIRMINGHAM, Monday, Feb. 19.— Hay, 80s. to 100s. per
ton. Straw. 3s. to 3s. 5d. per cwt.

DERBY, (Tuesday last.)— Hay, £5 to £5 15s. ; Straw, £3
10s. to £4 per ton.

WORCESTER, (Wednesday last.) — Hay, new, 803. to
S5s. ; ditto, old, 90s. to 95s. ; Straw, 45s. to 508.

ENGLISH WOOL MARKET.
LONDON, Monday, Feb. 26. — A good business has beeu
doing in all descriptions of Wool. The choice qualities have
commanded the larger share of attention, but other sorts have
not been neglected ; prices have ruled firm.

CnBBENT Pbices OF Enqlish WoOIi.
Flbbces — Southdown hoggs per lb.

Half-bred ditto ,

Kent fleeces ,

Southdown ewes and wethers ... „

Leicester ditto ,,

SoBis— Clothing, picklock , „

Prime ,

Choice „

Super „

Combing, wether mat ,,

Picklock ,,

Common ,,

Hog matching

Picklock matching ,

Super ditto ,,

B.

d. 8.

d.

1

9Hol

10

2

Oi 2

3i

2

0 2

1

8 1

9

6 1

7

7 1

8

4 1

5

3 1

3*

2 1

^^

0 2

1

8 1

9

4 1

6

1 2

2

7 1

9

4 1

6

MANURES.

Peruvian Guano, direct from importers' stores, £13 Ob. per ton.
Bones, crushed £8, half-inch £8 5s., bone dust £8 ms. per ton.
Coprolite, Cambridge (in London) whole £3 5s , ground £3 15s.,'Suffolk

whole £2 lOs., ground £3 per ton.
Nitrate of Soda, £17 per ton.

Sulphate of Ammonia, £23 lOs.to £24 per ton. Gypsimi,£l lOs.pei- ton.
Supei-phosphate of Ltme, £5 5s. to £6 53. per ton.
Blood M\nure, £6 lOs. to £8 per ton. Dissolved Bones, £7 per ton.
B. PURSER, London Manure Company,

116, Fenchurch Street,E.C,

Guano, Peruvian£12 17 6to£0 0 o;Bone Ash £0 0 0 to£0 0 0

5 6 Phosphate of Lime 0 12 0 13

iNiger 2 7 0 2 8 0

10 13 G Nitr.of Soda, p.ot.O 15 9 0 16 0

8 10 0 German Kainit 3 5 0 3 15 0

3 12 0 Tallow, 1st P.Y.C. 0 0 0 0 0 0

2 17 o| „ super. Norths 2 3 0 2 5 0
SAMUEL DOWNES AifD CO., General Brokers,

No. 7, The Albany, Liverjiool,

Llnsd.Bomby,p.qr.3 4 (i
Linseed Cake, per ton—
Amer.,thin, bgs.lO 5 0
Cotsd.Cake.decor. 8 0 0
Rapeseed. Quzerat 3 10 0
Cloverseed, N. A... 2 14 0

Prentice's Cereal Manure for Corn Crops _.„.„..„ per ton £8 0 0

Mangold Mamne „ „....>..».» ,, 8 0 0

Prentice's Turnip Manure _....„.„.>....._.....>..— ,, 6 10 «

Prentice's Superphosphate of Lime - — ..- .. " 0 0

Agricultm-al Chemical Works, Stowmarket Suffolk.

Printed by Rogerson and Tuxford, 265, Strand, Loudoc, W.C.

THE BOYAL FARMERS' INSURANCE COMPANY,

3, NORFOLK STEEET, STEAND, LONDON, W.C.

CAPITAL —Persons insured by tliis Company have the security of an extensive and wealthy proprietary
as weU as an ample Capital always appUcable to the payment of claims without delay.

LIFE DEPARTMENT. — BONUS.— I^isurers of the participating class will he entitled to four .fifths
of the profits.

ASSIGNMENTS.— The Company grant Policies payable to the Registered Holders, whereby much
expense and iucouveuience are prevented. Stamp Du ty paid by the Office,

FIRE DEPARTMENT,- ^ ^^ ^

1st Class— Not Hazardous Is. 6d. per Cent.

2nd Class — Hazardous 2s. 6d, „

3rd Class— Doubly Hazardous 4s. 6d. „

■RTTILDINGS and MERCANTILE Property of every description in Public or Private Warehouses. —
DistiUersT Steam Engines, Goods in Boats or Canals, Ships in Port or Harboui-, &c, &c., are Insured in this
Office at moderate rates.

SPECIAL RISKS.— At such rates as may be considered reasonable.

FARMING STOCK.— 5s. per cent., with liberty to use a Steam Thrashing Machine without extra
charge. Nearly FIVE MILLIONS Insured in this Office.

SEVEN YEARS' INSURANCES may be effected on paj'ment of Six Years' Premium only.
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when used for Lighting Buildings will be allowed for.

RENT, The Loss on Kent while Buildings remain untenantable through fire may be provided against,

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Policies to protect parties from Loss by the destruction of Growing Crops or Glass, by Hail, are granted on
Mxlerate Terms.
LOSSES.— Prompt and liberal settlement.

AGENTS WANTED.

Apply to JOHN EEDDISH, Esq., Secretary and Actuary.

IMPORTANT TO FLOCKMASTERS.

He would also especially call attention to Ms SPECIFIC,
or LOTION, for the SCAB or SHAB, wliich wUl be found
a certaui remedy for eradicating that loathsome and ruinous
disorder in Sheep, and which may be safely used in all
climates, and at all seasons of the year, and to all descriptions
of sheep, even ewes in lamb. Price FIVE SHILLINGS per
gaUon— sufBcient on an average for thirty Sheep (according
to the virulence of the disease) ; also in wine quart bottlesj
Is. 3d, each.

IMPORTANT TESTIMONIAL.
" Scoulton, near Hiagham, Norfolk, April 16th, 1855.

"Dear Sir, — In answer to yours of the 4th inst., which
would have been rephed to before this had I been at home, I
have much pleasure in bearing testimony to the efficacy of
your invaluable * Specific for the cure of Scab in Sheep.' The
600 sheep were all dressed in August last wiih 84 gallons of
the ' Noir-poisoNora Specific,' that was so highly recom-
mended at the Lincoln Show, and by their own dresser, the
best attention being paid to the flock oy my shepherd after
dressing according to instructions left ; but notwithstanding
the Scab continued getting worse. Being determined to have
the Scab cured if possible, I wrote to you for a supply of your
Specific, which I received the following day; and although
the weather was most severe in February during the dressing,
your Specific proved itself an invaluable remedy, for in
three weeks the Sheep were quite cured ; and I am happy to
say the young lambs are doing remarkably weU at present.
In conclusion, I beUeve it to be the safest and best remedy
now in use. *' I remain, dear Sir,

•'For JOHN TINGET, Esq.,

•' To Mr. Thomas Bigg. ' "R. RENNBY.

f^T" Flockmasters would be well to beware of such pre-
parations as "Non-poisonous Compositions:" it is only
necessary to appeal to their good common sense and judg-
ment to be thoroughly convinced that no "Non-poisonous"
article can poison or destroy insect vermin, particularly such
as the Tick, Lice, and Scab Parasites— creatures so tenacious
of Ufe. Such advertised preparations must be wholly useless,
or they are not what they are represented to be.

DIPPINCt APPARATUS „«14, £5, «4, & £3,

THOMAS BIGG, Agricultural and Veterinary
Chemist, by Appointment to his late Royal Highness
The Prince Consort, K.G., Leicester House, Great Dover
Street, Borough, London, begs to call the attention of
Farmers and Graziers to his valuable SHEEP and LAMB
DIPPING COMPOSITION, which requires no Boihng, and
mav be used with Warm or Cold Water, for effectuaUy
destroying the Tick, Lice, and aU other msects mjimous to
the Flock, preventing the alarmmg attacks of Ply and Shab,
and cleanshig and pm-ifying the Skin, thereby greatiy im-
pro\'ing the Wool, both in quantity and quahty, and highly
Contributing to the general health of the animal.

Prepared only by Thomas Bigg, Chemist, &c,, at his Manu-
factory as above, and sold as foUows, although any other
quantity may be had, if required :—

4 lb. for 20 sheep, price, jar mcluded £0

61b. 30 „ „ „

81b. 40 „ „ „

10 lb. 50 „ „ ,„,..,

201b. 100 „ „ (Cask and measure
„ included)

301b.
40 lb.
60 lb.
60 lb.
80 lb.
100 lb.

150
200
250
300
400
500

0 3
0 4
0 5
0 10

0 15

1 0
1 3
1 7

1 17

2 5

Should any Flockmaster prefer boiling the Composition, it
will be equally effective.

MOST IMPORTANT CERTIFICATE.
From Mr. Heeepath, the celebrated Analytical Chemist ;—
Bristol Laboratory, Old Park, Januai-y 18th, 1861.
Su\— Ihavo submitted yoiu' Sheep Dipping Composition to
analysis, and find that the ingredients are well blended, and
the mixture neutral. If it is used according to the directions
eiven, I feel satisfied, that while it effectually destroys vermm,
It will not injiu-e the hair roots (or "yolk") in the skin, the
fleece, or the carcase. I think it deserves the numerous
testimonials pubUshed. I am. Sir, yours respectfully,

William Heeapath, Sen., F.C.S., &c., &0.,
To Mr. Thomas Bigg Professor of Chemistry.

Leicester House, Great. Dover-street, Borough, London.

*' There are very few simple articles of food whicli can boast so many
valuable and important dietary properties as Cocoa. While acting
on the nerves as a gentle stimulant, it provides the body vrith some
of the purest elements of nutrition, and at the same time corrects
and invigorates the action of the digestive organs. These beneficial
effects depend in a great measure upon the manner of its preparation,
but of late years such close attention has been given to the growth and
treatment of Cocoa that there is no difficulty in securing it with
every useful quality fully developed. The singular success which
Mr. Epps attained by his homoeopathic preparation of Cocoa has
never been surpassed by any experimentalist. Medical men of all
shades of opinion have agreed in recommending it as the safest
and most beneficial article of diet for persons of weak constitutions."

E P P S S

GEATEFUL

(JAMES EPPS & GO., HOMCEOPATHIG GHEMISTS.)

COMFORTII^G

COCOA.

" By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern
the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful application
of the fine properties of well-selected Cocoa, Mr. Epps has provided
our breakfast tables with a delicately-flavoured beverage which may
save us many heavy doctors' bills. It is by the judicious use of
such articles of diet that a constitution may be gradually built up
until strong enough to resist every tendency to disease. Hundreds
of subtle maladies are floating around us ready to attack wherever
there is a weak point. We may escape many a fatal shaft by
keeping ourselves well fortified with pure blood and a properly-
nourished frame." — Extracted from an article on Diet in the
** Civil Service Ganette."

No. 4, "Vol. XLI.] APRIL, 1872, LThird Series.

FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

AND

MONTHLY JOURNAL

OJ

THE ACIRICULTURAL INTEREST.

TO THE

FARMERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

LONDON :
PUBLISHED BYROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 265, STRAND.

PRICE TWO SHILLINGS.

ROGERSON AND TUXFORD,] [PRINTERS, 266, STRAND.

«M— — — — —.wai-m -11- J I ■iiiiiii. II II I I . - ~~ /iiij.i 11 INI ii»miiwii» ^ii»..

^mmmmmmtmvmrmmf^mmmgmmmmm

JAMES GIBBS ANB COMPANY.

VITRIOL AND MANURE WORKS,

NEAR VICTORIA DOCKS, LONDON.

OFFICES- 16, MARK LANE, E.C,

SOLE MANUFACTUEERS OF THE

PATENT AMMONIA-FIXED GUANO,

Guaranteed to be made from the finest quality of Government Guano, as imported. Has produced equally
as good results as the unfixed Guano, and is 30s. per ton cheaper. Recommended for all crops for which Guano
is used, and is found superior to it for Potatoes, Mangold, Beet Eoot, &c. In districts where the rain-fall is
above an average, we recommend it for Turnips. It is not only cheaper, but also much more effective than
Nitrate of Soda, as Top Dressing, and its effects are more lasting, as may be seen by the after Crops.

Patent Ammoniated Phosphate. Dissolved Bones.
Superphosphate of Lime. Bone Manure for Turnips.

Blood Manure for Roots. Blood Manure for Corn.
Special Manures for Mangold, Barley. Grass, and Potatoes.

JAMES GIBBS & COMPANY have turned theu- attention specially to the manufacture of these Manures,
which contain all the elements necessary to promote the growth of Potato and Turnip crops. The results have
given universal satisfaction, and prove the Manures to be the cheapest yet sold.

The " condition" of the above is made a matter of special care. They are all sifted before delivery, to ensure
their being fit for the dry or water-drill.

LONDON AND COUNTY BANKING COMPANY.

ESTABLISHED 1836.

SUBSCEIBED CAPITAL... £2,600,000, in 50,000 SHAEES of £50 EACH.
PAID-UP CAPITAL... £1,000,000 EESERYE FUND... £500,000.

DIRECTORS.

NATHANIEL ALEXANDER, Esq. I THOMAS STOCK COWLE, Esq. 1 WILLLAM CHAMPION JONES, Esq.
T. TYRINGHAM EERNARD, Esq. PREDERICK PRANCIS, Esq. E. HARBORD LUSHINGTON, Esq.

PHILIP PATTON BLYTH, Esq. 1 PREDERICK HARRISON, Esq. 1 JAMES MORLEY, Esq.

JOHN WM. 13URMESTER, Esq. |LORD ALl'RED HERVEY. | WILLIAM NICOL, Esq.

TRUSTEES.

P. P. BLYTH, Esq | J. W. BURMESTER, Esq. 1 W. CHAMPION JONES, Esq.

AUDITORS.

WILLIAM JARDINE, Esq. | WILLIAM NORMAN, Esq. | RICHARD H. SWAINE, Esq.

Geneeal Manager— WILLIAM McKEWAN, Esq.

CHIEF INSPECTOR. INSPECTORS OP BRANCHES. CHIEF ACCOUNTANT.

W. J. NORPOLK, Esq. H. J. LEMON, Esq., and C. SHERRING, Esq. JAMES GRAY, Esq.

SoLiciTOBS— Messrs. STEVENS, WILKINSON, & HARRIES.

Secretary— P. CLAPPiSON, Esq.

HEAD OFFICE, 31, LOMBARD STREET.

Manager— WHITBREAD TOMSON, Esq. | Assistant Manager— WILLIAM HOWARD, Esq.

THE LONDON AND COUNTY BANK opens—

DRAWING ACCOUNTS with Commercial Houses and Private Individuals, either upon the plan usually adopted by
other Bankers, or by charging a small Commission to those persons to whom it may not be convenient to sustain an agreed
Permanent Balance.

DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS.— Deposit Receipts are issued for sums of Money placed upon these Accounts, and Interest is
allowed for such periods and at such rates as may be agreed upon, reference being had to the state of the Money Market.

CIRCULAR NOTES AND LETTERS OP CREDIT are issued, payable in the principal Cities and Towns of the Con-
tinent, in Australia, Canada, India, and China, the United States, and elsewhere.

The Agency of Foreign and Country Banks is undertaken.

The PuECHASB and Sale of Government and other Stocks, of English or Foreign Shares effected, and Dividehts,
Annuities, &c., received for Customers of the Bank.

Great facilities are also afforded to the Customers of the Bank fcr the receipt of Money from the Tovms where the Com-
pany has Branches.

The Officers of the Bank ai'e bound not to disclose the transactions of any of its Customers.

By Order of the Dij ectors, WM. MoKEWAN, General Manager.

-5fPt/fo

P S^Pt/£0

SI

RUB nmu iniEs,

Carefully arraugecl for various descriptious of soils, to produce abundant crops of Hay
and superior Pasturage.

BEST QUALITY MIXTUEES (2 bush. Grass Seed and 121b. Clover supplied per acre), 30s. to 32s. per acre.
GOOD QUALITY MIXTURES (a fuU seedling per acre), 22s. to 2Ss. per acre.

A CLOVER THAT SUCCEEDS ON CLOVER -SICK LAMDS.

SUTTON'S

NEW

GIANT HYBRID
COW CLOVER.

This invaluable new
variety is a hybrid be-
tween the Common Red
Clover and Cow Grass,
It is extraordinarily pro-
ductive, and, under fa vom--
able circumstances, will
produce three heavy crops
for mowing or grazing in
one year. It is very succu-
lent, and succeeds well
on soils tliat will not
grow tlie Common Red
Clover. ' Sow 16 pounds
per acre.

Seed at present very /
scarce.

Price 2s 6d per lb-
Cheaper by the cwt.

A NEW

k,

,^

.>*>i-

AND

SUTTON'S

NEW

HYBRID
CLOVER.

From Mr. I. Bates, Bailiff to
H. Cbossley, Esq., Ovenden.

December 21, 1871.
"The New Giant Hybrid
Clover, sown with wheat, is one
foot high, and we are cutting
some, sown with Tares and
Italian Rye Grass (a third crop),
two feet high, and in flower. I
have no doubt but that we could
grow it a yard high. The weight
is wonderfully good for crop-
ping. We give it to horses,
cattle, and pigs, and they all
like it. I think it is worth three
times as much as the old

sort."

ANGEL.

SUTTON'S

NEW

GOLDEN TANKARD

YELLOW FLESHED

MANGEL.

The great peculiarity of this Mangel
is the deep yellow colour of the flesh,
whereas other varieties invariably cut
white inside, whatever the outer colom-
may be. After careful comparative
analysis, we find the proportions of
saccharine matter and flesh-forming
substances are much larger in this
than in any other Mangel, and fully
equal to Swedes or Tm-nips ; hence its
great value for feeding purposes.
PRICED DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUES

SUTTON'S

NEW

GOLDEl TANKARD

^, YELLOW FLESHED

of all

We have grown this Mangel during
the last two seasons against the best
stocks of Globe and Intermediate
Mangels, and find it produces much
more weight per acre of roots, while, as
before stated, the feeding properties are
far superior. It has a very neat neck,
small leaf stocks, and is remarkably free
from rootlets. The stock is exclusively
in our possession, and we can only
supply it in limited quantities at 6s.
per pound.

other FARM SEEDS gratis and Post-free on application.

Seedsmen to the Clueen and H.B.H. the Prince of Wales, READINCr,

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

APRIL, 1872.

CONTENTS.

Plate I.— A SCOTCH POLLED HEIFER: the Property of Mr. James Bruce,

OF Fochabers, Elgin.

Plate n.-"SAFT AND SLILY."

PAGE*

Description of Plates ....... 275

Farming in Ireland. — By the Northern Farmer .... 276

Botley and South Hants Farmers' Club: The Progress of Agriculture . 279

The Impediments to Agriculture ...... 283

Tenant-Right in Rabbits ....... 285

Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland ..... 290

An Anonymous Assembly ....... 291

Cirencester Chamber of Agriculture : Experiments in Agriculture . . 292

Ixworth Farmers' Club ; Steam Pouching ..... 295

Stowmarkkt Farmers' Club: Suffolk Horses. .... 298

The Hexham Farmers' Club: Feeding Cattle . . . . 302

The Breconshire Chamber of Agriculture : Poultry . . . 307

Dorchester Farmers' Club : The Holkham Lease .... 312

Landlord, Tenant, and Labourer in Cornwall .... 314

The Central Chamber of Agriculture ..... 315

The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution .... 319

WiNFRiTH Farmers' Club : Piece-work ..... 320

Woman's Suffrage ........ 321

Tunbridge Wells Farmers' Club : The Breeding and Feeding of STOck . 322

The Culivation and Management of Hops ..... 326

The Malt Tax: Essex Chamber of Agriculture .... 328

Scotch Holdings and English Critics ..... 333

The Doctrine of Rent , . . . . . . 334

Warwickshire Chamber of Agriculture ..... 335

Agricultural Returns of Great Britain for 1871 .... 336

The Farmers' Club: The Transit of Live Stock . . . .339

The Horse Dealer's Licence ....... 346

Royal Agricultural Society of England . . . . . 347

The Maidstone Farmers' Club : The Agriculturajl Labourer. . . 350

The Strike in Warwickshire. ...... 354

Labourers' Meeting at Shrewsbury . . .... 356

Meeting of the Labourers at Bishop's Castle .... 356

Meeting of Labourers in Oxfordshire ..... 357

Sheep on Turnips .... .... 359

The Birmingham Shorthorn Show and Sale. ' . . . .360

Sale of Lord Fitzhardinge's Shorthorns . . . • .362

Mr. W. Bolton's Shorthorn Sale . . . . . .362

The Baldersby Shorthorn Sale . „ . . . .363

Sale of the Late Mr. John Clayden's Shorthorns . . . .363

Sale of the Sittyton Shorthorns ...... 365

Review of the Cattle Trade .'[.., 366

Review of the Corn Trade duiung this Past Month . . . . 367

Market Currencies, Imperial Averages, ike, . '. ... 363

All Seeds Carriage Free.

CARTER'S PRIZE-MEDAL FARM SEEDS.

CARTER'S NEW ANNUAL BLUE CLOVER.

TyE have much pleasure
in Introilucins for pub-
lic trial this re)narkable and
valuable novelty, which we
believe is destined to super-
sede to a great extent both
Tares and Trifolium. Its
rapid j^rowth will be best
iinderstood when we state
that, during the past incle-
ment season, seed sown in
Yorkshire by T. C. Booth,
Esq., of Warlaby, on May
21st, produced a crop over
3 feet long by August 2nd I
Specimens of this astound-
ing growth were exhibited
by us at the last great York-
shire Agricultural Show in
York during the montli of
August of last >ear, together
with an equally remarkable
specimen contributed by
W. S. Thompson, Esq., of
Kirby Hall, York. This
latter gentleman assures us
that he has tried every kind
of stock with it, and finds
that all eat it readily. It
must prove a great acquisi-
tion as an auxiliary to the
Clover crop, as it can be
sown in the spring to fill tip
where tlie previous sea.son's
sowing of Clover has missed,
and will then produce an
immense swartli, ready for
cutting with the general
crop.

Per i III. i-ai/ket, 7s. 6d.

C Whitehead, Es(|.'
Harming House, Maidstone,
says:— "I con.sider Messrs.
Carter's New Annual Clover
to be a valuable plant to
supply the place of red or
other ( 'lover tliat has failed
from the heaviness of the
Corn croi) with which it
had been sown, from the
drouglit of autumn, the
severity of winter, or tlie
many causes which now
make this croji so preca-
rious and uncertain. It
may be used either as a sub-
stitute for the whole Clover
crop, where it has been seen
in March or April that it
has entirely failed, or it may
be sown with advantage
upon the bare places when
the Clover plant is patcliy.
It is of very rapid growth,
and if sown late in March
or early in April, will, with
favourable weather, come
to cut for hay in the se-
cond or third week in
July. There is no doubt
that it is a very valuable
addition to the forage
plants of this country.—
Ationst 14, 1871."

We believe Carter's
New Blue Clover will

PRODUCE A valuable
SECOND CROP OF HERBACE
FOR (IRAZING.

The following reports reach ns from Members of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,
to whom we sent samples of our New Blue Clover in the spring of 1871 for trial :—

Frnm Mr. Geo. Tvik. Jlailif tn the liiaht Hon. Lord
Ever.^Icy: " Hnme Farm, Heck field, Jtihj 14, 1871— Isind
you the result of the trial of Hlue Clover seed you sent me
in the sptins;. Sown April oth, cut July 14th: height of
stem. 4 fi'i't .5 inches; weight of green food, 244 pounds;
quantity of land, 240 squaie feet. The crop is certainly
splendiil for the short time in growing."

FromWC. Booth, Esq. :-•• jrnWo',;/,.4«y. 17 181 -The
Blue Clover was sown on the 21st of May and you will find
some stalks in the bundle I have sent you 4 fee; t. inches
long."

Friim ( H\s. BxnNEiT. Esq.:-" S(in«on Park, Avg. 12,
ISn.-Tlie Blue Clover was sown March 22nd. in rows 9
inches iqiart, on fine giavel soil in high condition and top-
dressid with La" es' manure. It grew very strong. lent
it July 2.ith, and give some to horses, cattle, sheep and
pigs ;"ind all seemed to like it. particularly the horses."

Finn. Mr. E. A. Gowing, Bailiff to the Bii/ht Hon. Lord
Smier^.--' The Fatm, Tiig'>y. Aug. 12, 1871. -Your Blue
Clover was sown the last week in April. and by the 1st of
August a veiagcl about 3 feet 8 inches in height. My opinion
is that it will grow an inmiense weight of fodder per acre."

loss

■ II, Salisbury Square, Fieet Strebt, Jan. S7, 1872.

" 1 . Detailed composition of Carter's Xew Blue Clover.

Water

Oil iinil fitty matter

v-oluble nlbuminous compounds 9.5 i

+InsohiblonitriigeniiU8 compounds 5.01

Sugar, imuiliige and similar soluble non-nitrogenoiis

conipcHlruls 1349

Digestible tibic 14 93

Woodv fibre 'cellulose) 33.90

Soluble saline matters 9.33

Insoluble mineral matters 2.0S

• Containing nitrogen 1.63.

loo on + Containing nitrogen 0.80. 100.00

" In .iddition to these constituents the Blue Clover contains a volatile aromatic principle, which gives a peculiar and
agreeable taste to the Clover, and which renders it valuable for mixing as cut hay. with straw, chaff, or similar insipid
feeding materials. The Blue Clover, I believe, will be found a good and useful article of food, and advantage may be
taken of its aromatic taste to render straw and cbaffmoie pilatable and prob.ably more digestible. Carters New Blue
Clover, both in a green state and its hay, I have no doubt will be much relished by sheep and cattle.

'■(Signed) Augustus VoELCKER."

We regret that the stock of this seed being very limited, we aie unable to supply larger quantities than i lb. packets
for trial. Price 7b. 6d. per packi t

'* The following onalysitt represents the composition of a
sample of Carter's Blue Clover in an air-dry condition, which
teas grown and sent to me by Mr. X)ruce, of Eynsham :^

" 1. General composition of Carter's New Blue Clover.

Moisture lO.'O

Soluble organic matter 24.09

Insoluble organic matter 5381

Soluble mineral substances 9 33

Insoluble mineral substances 2 0)

JAMES CARTER & CO.,

Seedsmen to the Queen and the Prince of Wales,

237 & 238, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C.

Five per Cent Discount for Cash.

Five per Cent

. Discount for Cash.

GARTER'S

PRIZE

SWEDE

AND TURNIP.

Seedsmen to
The Queen.

CARTER'S IMPERIAL HARDY SWEDE.

l.v. /ic//i.

rili'il till

-illu

tlli

Oircjhr per cwt.

Egham, Silver Cup. — Bandon, First Prize. Marshland, First Prize

Moreton, First Piiz?. -Lvn^Edale, Silver Oup.- Temple Sowerby, First Prize.

Burton and I'tilnthorpe, Fir;t Fr ze. -Croydon. First Prize.

Also, Five First and Five Second Prizes at Canadian Agricultural Meetings.

Seedsmen to

From
R. Ormehod, Esq.

'■ Acl-eathii-aite,
"i\Vt-. 11,1871.

'• I have laiioh
pleasure in hand-
ing yon a state-
ment of the prizes
taken liy the roots
from the Carter's
Imperial Swede seed
] purchased from
you in September,
1870. rirst Prize (a
£10 lOi. cup at tlie
Luuesdale Agricul-
tural Society; First
Prize id the Temple
8owcrhy Agcicultu-
i-al Koeiety ; First
I'rize and Highly
Commended at the
Burton and Milu-
Ihorpe Agricultmal
Society; and Second
I'rize at the iJentham
Agricultural So-
ciety. "

From

:'.Ii-. K. Sahxi-.v.

• IIi,ln.e {'(',■/: Forui,
•■ Xm: 20, 1871.

■The Svredeseed 1
itceived I am happy
to inform you has
produced an excel-
lent crop, taemg large
and very handsome,
and I believe from
their appearance
they will witlistand
a great amount of
ti'o.st without receiv-
ing damage. I hope
to have Pome more of
you another year."

From
ICli WAKD Ci!A( ;g, E.sq.

■' The Gluili,
"Nov. C, 1871.

■ ■ I have great plea-
^ure in .stating that
the Turnips grown
from your seed this
season have obtained
several fiist class
prizes."

SWEDE. Choice Selected Stocks.

CARTERS IMPERIAL HARDY Is -^ /'-

li'Ktrtttioii), a handsome Swedj witli
small neck, grows to a grea'. siz-j. .-uid
is of fine quality 1 0

CARTER'S LONDON PURPLETOP •

HALL'S WESTBURY, i ^ood Swede

SKIRVING'S IMPROVED PURPLETOP,

gn iws to a lai^o sizt.

TURNIP. Choice Selected Stocks.

CARTERS CHAMPION GREEN TOP ' •'•

YELLOW HYBRID, the best . 1 0

CARTER'S CHAMPION PURPLETOP

YELLOW HYBRID, vcrv .hoi -o .10
DRUMMONDS EARLY FIELD YELLOW,

asniall, quick growing K'ecii top Vfliow 1 0
ROBINSON'S GOLDEN BALl" OR

ORANGE JELLY, a very true stock 1 2
CARTERS EARLY NIMBLE or SIX WEEK 1 0

Ordiaary Stocks 9d.

GREY

CARTER'S DEVONSHIRE

STONE

CARTERS IMPROVED PURPLETOP
MAMMOTH

LINCOLNSHIRE RED GLOBE

HEANLEYS LINCOLNSHIRE WHITE
GLOBE

POMERANIAN WHITE GLOBE

IMPERIAL GREEN GLOBE

to li. 4d. per lb.

0 10

0 10 i

I

1 4 }
0 10 \

0 10 I
T 0
0 10

JAMES CARTER & CO.,

Seedsmen to the Queen and the Prince of Wales,

237 & 238, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C.

4

For full Descriptions, see

Carter's Prize Medal Grass Seeds, see next page.

GARTER'S PRIZE MANGEL.

'As gruwn uii the Prince of V'lih

red I

iiK^t many othi

Aw-aidcil thp fnlluwii

rrizes this St'asou : —

Eghain, The Silver Cup.

Mbreton, a Silver Cup and the First Prize.

Chertsey, a Silver Cup.

Bandon, Two First Prizes.

Marshland, the First Prize.

Spaunton Manor, The First Prize.

Fmiii J. FoRnESTEB, Escj., liniansion BJnwl-

/aid. Vet. 18, 1H71 :— " Froir. your JlaiiRol Seoils I

have had tlie most rcftular'aud hraviest icm) I

ever grew, and they are considered the iuavii'jt

cfov> in the neighbourhood."

EmHi W. F. MoBECnoFT, Esq., Tlie AUjiorts,
Oct. 19, 1871:— "My Mangels from your .seed aic
first- itito."

F.i-nm C. M. Stl'Aut, Esq., BalhjMmtoel, Oct.
f>, 1871:— "AVe were very pleased with the
Mammoth Long Red Mangel seed I got from
yon."

Fi'.im the Hon. A. L. Mki.vim.e, Jlmnston
ILril.l:—"Y,m will be glad to hoar that my
Mauyel tlii- year is the ifdmiration of ivi-ry one.
It is so regular thiit I don't thiuli I could tind a
4;ap or y feet in the piefc. There are many eom-
jplaiuts of Mangel running to seed this year, hut
I liave not so many as 20 run."

CARTER'S IMPROVED MAMMOTH
PRIZE LONG RED MANGEL.

3?i*r several years past we have exhibited at
<tlie anmuil Sn'iithiield Club Shows, some of the
most magnilicent specimens of Long Bed Mangel
«5rer seen, and notwithstanding the past iin-
favourable season for root crops, we this year
^nceelled any previous exhibition with some
Mammoth roots, weighing nearly (JO pounds each
—remarkable alike for size and quality. Tliis
popular variety may now be considered perfee-
tion, as, after some years of most careful selec-
tion, we have brought it to a standard of the
highest excellence.

NGEL WURZEL

CHOICE SELECTED STOCKS.

PerlU— .?. ./.

CARTER'S IMPROVED MAM-
MOTH PRIZE LONG liRED
M A N G E L, a variety gTi i wing to
an iiaineose .size. (See lUua-
Iratioii.) 1 3

CARTER'S WARDEN PRIZE
YELLOW MANGEL, ■^mall
tup, liu-ge rout, a good keeper,
uf choice qualit V 1 3

CARTER'S CHAMPION NEW
YELLOW INTERMEDIATE,
fine top, large ocat root ; tins
Mangel, from its peculiar
growth, may be ".set out"
closer than the Yellow Glolje. . 1 0

CARTER'S ELVETHAM LONG
YELLOW, a suiierior .stock of
Long Yellow 1 0

CARTER'S IMPROVED RED

GLOBE, a very choicevariety. , 1 0

'\/' Much cheaper per act.

Ordinary Stocks, 8cl. to Is. per lb.

CARROT.

■i07v a to 8 lbs. per acre.

Peril).— «.
LARGE WHITE BELGIAN .... 1

YELLOW BELGIAN 1

LARGE ORANGE BELGIAN, a
heavier cropper tliau tl)e pre-
ceding, and more nviti-itiuu.s . . 1
IMPROVED RED ALTRINGHAM,
the best Ked Carrot for good

soiLs

RED INTERMEDIATE, the best

Carrot for shallow soils 1

LARGE RED CATTLE 1

1 6

Carter's Illustrated Parmers

Calendar.

All Seeds Carriage Free.

■

;S SEEDS,

As Supp]iei to

THE QUEEN &. THE PRINCE OF WALES.

The United States Government.

Her Majesty's Defences.

The War Department. The Crystal Palace.

Aldershot Camp. Lord's and The Oval.

Christchurch College, Oxford, &c.

EVIDENCE OF aUALITY.

From Messrs. G.& J. I'Emtv.-lrf.iH Pif/ntt :—•' -rho IVr-
Jiiancnt tirass Seeds we liad from your lirm in the sprinjr
arc a thick regular plant, and appear to be a superior
mixture."

From J. G. Huhcham, Esq., Hmiham Lynn:—" The Gras.s
Scci's I had of ji)u 2 jears since for 3 years lay, are-
admiriiblr, and e^nitinue'to produce me "wonderful crops,
l)avinii hrltei- tlian Corn.'"

From eolonel Laffan, K.E., Ahhmhot Camp:—" Colonel
I.affan presents his coiiipliments to Messrs. C. & Co., and
1 e'.'s to inform then tliat all tlie (Jrass and C'loTer Seeds
!,upplird by tlicm to the War ottiie. for use at Aldor.shot
hist y ar, li've succeeded admiiably. Last year a Teiy
flood' crop of e.xcellent hay was produ. ed oii what liad
previously been a barr. n sand.''

CARTER'S GRASS SEEDS FOR
PERMANENT PASTURES.

C.MiRFL'I.LY ARRANGEn TO SUIT THE
VARIOUS CONDITIONS OF SOILS.

Per Acre.

FOR LIG'-'T SOILS •• ', p.,,.,.;,„p (30s. toSZs.

FOR MEDIUM SOILS free" • 30s. to 32s.

FOR HEAVY SOILS ■•' ( 303. to 32s.

Reduced rates for more than 10 acres.

Secdiid Quality, 22s. t" 28s. per acre.

CARTER'S RENOVATING MIXTURE FOR
RENEWING AND IMPROVING OLD
GRASS LANDS Per cwt 86s.; per lb. lOd,

Tlii.s will Wdiidorfully increase tlie Hay erup.

GARTER'S I^IKED GRASSES AND GLOVERS
FOR ALTERNATE HUSBANDRY.

To Liiij llinvi, ()i,i, Tuo, Thnr, or F>ur y.iirs in Groxs.
Per acre— .•<. d.

CLOVERS AND RYE GRASS, to lay one
year. Cuniprising Hlljs. Clover and 1
peck Uye Grass 14 0

CLOVERS AND MIXED GRftSSES, to
lay one year. Comprising Red Clover,
White Clover, Trefoil, Cocksfoot. Peren-
nial and Italian Rye Gra.ss, itc 15 0

CLOVERS AND MIXED GRASSES, to
lay two year.s. Comprising Red Clover,
White Clover, Alsike Clover, Trefoil,
Cocksfoot, Timothy, Italian and Peren-
nial Rje Grass, (Sic 18 6

CLOVERS AND MIXED GRASSES, to
lay three or four years. Comprising
Red Clover, White Clover, Trefoil,
Al.sike Clover, Cow Grass, Sheep's
Fescue, Cocks'oot, Meadow Fesetie, Pe-
rennial and Italian Rye Grass, Meadow
Foxtail, Tio.othy, Sweet Vernal, itc... 24 0

MIXED CLOVER SEEDS ONLY, to lay

one year 13s. to 14 6

■We can supply Inferior Mixtures at Lower Rates.

£rf.,r,- Orihrin.) Gross fiirHs. srml for CARTER'S ILLUS-
■TRATED FARMERS' CALENDAR /or 1872, eontainiinj
on epi/'OHf ot Ihr loru.os .-..ol.-. priruiling throuyhi.ut the
coxintni. iriih riliohir infnrmilllon as to Mow to Soif ,
What to Sow, and Wlirn to Sow.

f

4

JAMES CARTER & CO.,

^^^ Seedsmen to the Queen and the Prince of Wales, v|p

237 & 238, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON, W.G. *

I B.adb«ry,Kvans,&to.,] YivB pcp Ceiit. Dlscouiit for Casb

rinters, Whitefr

mA.

\

^

^

K,'

^

k;

V,

*<

0)

>^ ^

^

1'

vV

X

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

APRIL, 1872.

PLATE I.

A SCOTCH POLLED HEIFER.

THE PROPERTY OF MR. JAMES BRUCE, OF FOCH.iBERS, ELGIN.

This lieifer, bred by Mr. Paterson, of Mulben, Keith,
Elgin, was 3 years 8i months old, when exhibited at
the Smithfield Club Show, in December last, where
she was entered as fed on grass, tares, oilcake, bean-
meal, turnips, and hay. She took here the first prize of
£13 iu her class, the silver cup of £40 as the best cow
or heifer in any of the classes, and a Gold Medal for
her breeder. At the Midland Counties Show, at Birming-
ham, in the week previous she took the first prize of
£15 in her class, £20 as the best of all the Scotch beasts,
the Gold Medal as the best cow or heifer, and the Inn-
keepers' Cup' of 23 guineas as the best animal in the
cattle classes. On seeing the polled heifer here we wrote
of her as " a really sweet stylish cow, beginning with a
bloodlike kindly head, backed with a long level frame,
and as ripe as could be, without any signs of excess or
disfigurement from over-feeding. So far as we can re-
member she is nearly as good as Mr. McCombie's cow,

which also won the Innkeepers' Plate, in 1861. The
Burnside Lassie still rather lacks scale, and this may stay
her from reaching quite to the top in London." And she
was beaten at Islington, by Mr. Stratton's white ox,
although it is only fair to add she was manifestly amiss.
Her registered weight on the Smithfield Club scale was
18 cwt. 2 qrs. 5 lbs.

Mr. Patterson, of Mulben, has bred polled cattle suc-
cessfully for more than twenty-five years. He sold this
heifer to Mr. Bruce, at the Forres fat stock show iu
December, 1870. She was then nothing more than an
averagely good two-year-old polled heifer, but not having
been forced iu her early years, her progress under
Mr. Bruce's liberal treatment was very remarkable.
She stands recorded as Mina, by Arthur out of Tidy ;
and previous to the Birmingham meeting, Mina had taken
three first and three second prizes at local shows iu the
North.

PLATE II.

"SAFT AND SLYLY."

The wind was scant, the sun was bright,

Nae cloud to cast a shadow ;
The pebbles red show'd back the light.

Like flowrets in a meadow.

The wind was was scant, the cast was fine,

The fiee fell saft and slyly ;
A curl — and checks at once the line —

'Tis he, but he comes shyly.

The Coquet Dale Yisldng So)ig.

Who, that is au angler, does not love the quiet dream-
ing beauty of the bright golden days of May — the month
2)ar excellence of the angler ? How joyous and blest to
leave the world awhile behind, and in some secluded spot,
where rushes the foaming or babbling brook, to unburden

Old SF.K1ES.]

your spirit, screw up your rod and your pluck, and mount
the tempting lure, that, to be sure of success, must fall
"saft and slyly"! Trout fishing, of all the other sportsof the
angle, is the most enticing. To the salmon-fisher angling
for trout is what hunting the hare is to the fox-hunter.
There may not be the same wild excitement after the find ;
but there is all the quiet moderate amusement that can
satisfy the true sportsman, and if a " south or sou-
wester" raises a curl, there is every chance of a full
basket.

It is half the filling of your basket to know the lie of
the trout in the diflcrent seasons. Here he is compelled,
from the state of the wind aud the brightness of the water,
U . [Vol. LXXI.— No. 4.

276

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

to fish up-stream. No doubt but, with the wind and
sun at your back, it is the best way ; or with an unplea-
sant high bank ou a dark day, if the wiud blows up the
river, wading up the river is equally good, and you will
hook them within a half-dozen yards of you, as from the
ti'out's position (head up stream) he cannot see you with
the curl of the water. Mark how intent the angler is,
fearful that, with his fine-drawn gut, a sharp edge of the

rock may cut offhis hopes, and the trout with them. We
cannot see the bright yellow spots of the trout as they
show to the delighted fisherman ; but we can fancy the
glittering beauty spring, not into life, but rather the other
way — to form a " dainty dish" to set before his conqueror
that evening for supper. How firm he clutches the rod,
just where the bend can have effect on the power of the
fish in playing it !

FAEMING IN lEELAND.

BY THE NORTHERN FARMER.

As previously noticed, furze is used extensively on
this farm as food for live stock during nearly five months
of the year, viz., November, December, January, February,
and a considerable portion of March. It is given to
horses, milch cows, and strong stores, without the
slightest restriction as to quantity, old horses and cows
long accustomed to it eating an enormous bulk during
the hours of a winter's night. It is not considered
sufficiently nutritious for calves and fattening stock, and
is withheld accordingly, turnips, hay, and newly-thrashed
straw being looked upon as more economical in the end
for animals of tender age, or those approaching maturity
for the butcher.

It will at once be observed that such an inexpensively
grown food as furze used continuously for such a
lengthened period of the year must efl'ect a vast saving on
those products of the farm which can be grown only at
heavy cost, and, in consequence, by the time they are
saved and stored for use, have acquired a value which
necessitates the most rigid economy in their use, and the
most careful management in the purchase and selection of
the stock destined to consume them, so as to make even a
shade of profit. The day is past irretrievably when the
ordinary tenant-farmer, living by the profit of his farm
alone, could possibly hope to live and pay his way by stock-
feeding, the sole profit arising therefrom being the manure
made while the cattle occupy the stalls. The low value
of corn, and the increasing difficulty of growing heavy
crops, absolutely compels the farmer to look for his profit
more from the cattle which he can rear and feed than
from the corn which he grows — a system which just
reverses that which formerly prevailed, corn, tiU within a
comparatively recent date, taking first place. The aim
of every man being, therefore, to keep stock, and, more-
over, as great a number as his capital, or the extreme
limit of his farm, will permit, it appears to me that such
a plant as furze becomes eminently useful, and well worthy
of cultivation, more particularly in those districts to which
it is apparently indigenous, and where its extended growth
can be undertaken with a reasonable prospect of success.
Once set fairly agoing, the furze meadow costs nothing, no
expense requiring to be gone to in top-dressing, cleansing
from weeds, or bestowing on it the slightest cultural ope-
ration, nature herself doing all that is necessary. When
the season comes round which sees the maturity of the
crop, no expensive process of saving is required, no
studying of the weather, nor anxiety as to its injurious
effect on the crop in process of being cut. Whatever the
prevailing feature of the weather, whether frost, snow, or
rain, the work of cutting and carrying the daily supply
groes on uninterruptedly, aud without in the slightest
degree injuriously affecting the quality of the fodder,

Although myself advocating the use of a crusher, after
being cut into quarter-inch lengths by the ordinary
chaffing machine, I yet found the stock on this farm
eating it as it came from the latter machine with the
greatest apparent relish, clearing out their troughs most
unmistakably, without the slightest particle of waste.
On examination, I could only account for the softness and
appetizing appearance of the food so prepared by the
quantity of grass growing with the furze, and, of course,
cut and put through the machine with it, rendering it
easier of mastication, more readily digested, and, one
would naturally think, more nutritive. The furze meadow
here is regulaily goue over every season, cutting as close
as can possibly be accomplished with the scythe, thus
keeping the shoots or spray tender, and perfectly free
from hard, woody branches. This mode of managing the
furze-brake does not generally find countenance in the
district, it being thought more pi'ofitable to cut only
every second year, the quantity then obtainable being
certainly immense, but losing in fineness of quality
what may be gained in quantity, the latter being
at best problematical when the loss of a year's
crop is taken into consideration. To cows giving
milk during the winter months, a feed twice a
day is simply invaluable, as, however great
the quantity of roots given, the furze without the aid of
saltpetre or any other mineral acid will act as a correc-
tive to the unpleasant taste they give to the butter, im-
parting to it as much sweetness and delicacy of flavour as
can possibly be attained without abundance of grass. To
wealthy families requu'ing a large supply of fresh butter
during winter, an acre or two laid down permanently
with gorse becomes eminently useful if for this purpose
alone. Once fully tried it would never be given up, the
quality of both cream and butter being so delicious in
comparison with that with which saltpetre has been used,
the effects of the latter, although to a considerable extent
ueutraliziug the strong odour and taste of turnips, being but
temporary, its admixture injuring its keeping qualities and
making butter perfectly uneatable within forty-eight hours
of the time it was taken out of the churn. With all the good
qualities of furze, let no one however imagine that it may
be depended on as a sole article of food during a long
winter, as, although it is without controversy an excellent
help, at once economical and plentiful, it becomes a truly
miserable article of diet when not supplemented with a
more nutritious and less-binding article of diet. With
a moderate feed of turnips morning and evening, and
furze at will (if largely grown), cattle will look like sum-
mer, preserving fine health and condition, their skins
sleek aud pliant, and the colours bright and distinct,
always au unfailing sign of a thrifty animal, A portion

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

277

of roots becomes absolutely necessary wbeu the cattle are
confiaed to tlie house, so that the healthy action of the
stomach and bowels may be preserved, the soft watery
turnip assisting digestion and preventing costiveness,
which often proves fatal to cattle fed solely on furze. The
«»^i-labour party growing few turnips, in many cases
none, manage to bring through their cattle by under-
stocking the pastures during summer, thus permitting the
grass to remain in strong tufts for winter use ; a few
hours' run out every day throughout the season enabling
them to pick up as much soft and easily-digested food as
will prevent the morning and evening feed of furze from
acting injuriously on the general health of the stock.
Horses in like manner work well, and keep in fine health
and condition, preserving a singularly soft and silky-
looking skin when fed during winter with a fair quantity
of oats and unlimited furze. When, however, a poor
horse is kept on furze alone, or at least with the addition
of a small feed of boiled turnips in the evening, his condi-
tion becomes altogether wretched, and his existence is but
a continual round of misery. Horses thus fed, and no-
ticably in this condition, are but too frequently seen in
the possession of small and struggling farmers, whose
very necessities compel them to adopt a mode of feeding
which their judgment cannot but condemn. To an agri-
culturist interested in the utilization of furze, a visit to
the south-west of this county would afford an excellent
opportunity of becoming acquainted with the subject in
every particular, its growth as an economical food for
stock being one of the most prominent industrial re-
sources of an immense district. Here certainly is the
natural home of the plant, soil and climate both being
apparently suited to its successful and vigorous growth ;
every fence is topped with a hedge of furze, and every
farm has a brake or meadow, varying in extent according
to its acreage, supplying an immense amount of auxiliary
food for stock during the winter months, and in summer
a goodly quantity of fuel is obtained by permitting a por-
tion of the meadow to remain uucut for a few seasons.
Further, it is largely used as litter in the more inland dis-
tricts, and on farms where little or no straw is grown.
Por this purpose it must be at least two years old,
an old-established meadow giviug an immense bulk
of useful material for this purpose when cut at this
age. It must, of necessity, be passed through
the furze-cutter, but is usually left as long as
the action of the machine will permit. The manure
thus made on farms where there is no tillage land
is used for top-dressing the pastures, a purpose for
which it has become eminently fitted by the state of com-
minution to which it had previously been reduced. It
occurs to me that labour-saving contrivances must have
an immense sale, and implement manufacturers in conse-
quence an excellent field for the disposal of their machines
in Ireland. The expeditious performance of labour, and
its heavy cost even under the most favourable conditions,
appear to me to be one of the most popular and continu-
ously recurring subjects of conversation amongst all classes
of agriculturists, with those whose system of farming
has reduced the number of hands to the smallest con-
ceivable limit, as well as with the opposite section who
declare it to be their firm conviction that the country is
being ruined by the wholesale expatriation of that portion
of its inhabitants whose wealth consists in the possession
of strong bones and tough sinews. I was much struck
with the remark of an extensive and intelligent farmer
made while walking over a farm of 280 acres, which he
held at some distance from that on which he lived, to the
effect that the high price of labour absorbed much too
large a share of the profits of farming at the present day,
" This very farm on which we now stand, although aU in
grass, has hitherto kept two meu ia work, but indeed one

must do it in future, all I want done or will do is to have
the cows driven out and in, and a gap made up in the
fences when necessary."

As this was the only opportunity I had of seeing a
farm conducted on the complete labom*- saving system,
I append a few notes descriptive of a mode of farm-
management which is rapidly turning entire districts of
country into dreary solitudes, which were at no remote
date thickly populated, and in an agricultural point of
view, hives of industry. Where the conditions are
favourable there is no doubt but that such farming will
pay, if not a very large, at least a safe and well secured
profit on the capital invested, and this is all the farmer
can aiford to care for, leaving the question of depopulation
to the political economist, a class in Ireland pretty lai-gely
represented. The farm alluded to is rented from the
Earl of Bandon, a nobleman venerated by his tenantry
for his kindliness, amiability of manner, and untiring
exertions for their material welfare and prosperity. It
possesses as neat and compact a homestead as a farmer
need desire, stables, cow-stalls, and cart-sheds, no requisite
for a convenient and comfortable farmery being omitted.
It embraces accommodation sufficient for all the working,
breeding, and feeding animals required to stock the farms
if worked on a four or five-course rotation, which a few
years ago it was ; now however the stables and feeding-
stalls are deserted, the milking-sheds and calf-cribs alone
being occupied, and that only for as short a period as can
possibly be helped, the open field being the permanent
abode of the live stock for the greater portion of the year.
The stock consisted at the period of my visit of 30 milch
cows, all crosses, the blood of what is known as the
common Irish cow predominating. The cattle are thus
much hardier, stand the winter exposure better, and give
a larger return than better-bred and necessarily thinner-
skinned animals would do under circumstances so dis-
couraging, care, comfort, and attention being reduced to
the lowest point. A standing stock of 50 ewes occupied
the higher fields of the farm, also of a hardy sort, but,
crossed with a good ram, were capable of making 24s. a
head for every lamb reared, this amount having been
realised for the past season, an exceptionally good one
however for sheep and their produce. A number of young
cattle reared on the farm and held over for the purpose
of taking the place of aged or other out-going stock from
the dairy, together with a number of strong store cattle,
bought in to eat the surplus grass during the height of
the growing season, completed the arrangements for
stocking the farm in a way to enable the tenant to pay
his landlord and secure a profitable return for himself,
without the assistance or intervention of the hitherto all-
important labourer. To effect this, however, a fourth
party is introduced, who fulfils a highly important
part in the successful carrying out of details
and bringing them to a profitable issue. The
entire year's produce of the milking cattle is let to
a dairyman, who pays £8 lOs. for each cow, milking and
feeding, as well as every labour in connection with the
cows, being done by him, free of all control by the tenant,
becoming in fact for the twelve months engagement
nominal owner. £8 10s. may seem to many practical
men who are favourably situated but a small sum to be
paid as the yearly return of a cow, but in reality it is not
so ; on the contrary, it is a large return when the con-
ditions under which it must be extracted from the animal
are taken into consideration. The land being grassy,
there is naturally a fair flow of milk during the months
of May, June, July, and August, and a portion ol Sep-
tember, but when the nights get cold, and the stock of
necessity remain out in the fields, the flow decreases at
once, and late autumn, which is a highly important part
of the year on a daiiy farm, where early hoitsing and

u 2

278

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

liberal feeding inside is adhered to, becomes nearly or
altogether lost. By the terms of this arrangement, a
usual one in the district, the dairyman becomes the owner
of the calves as they are dropped, a select few being
reared for the tenant, as already noticed, but purchased
bv him as weanlings at an understood price. A few of
the calves are fed for veal, and another portion disposed
of as stores, the land by agreement having to be cleared
of all stock of this kind at a fixed date. In this way the
bulk of the milk is consumed, a few pigs rendering the
calves some help in this way — i-ather profitless help, how-
ever, of late, pork ruling so persistently low. The butter
is disposed of at the weekly market in Bandon, the pur-
chaser in this instance adding yet another link to the
rather lengthy chain of persons who live and make money
(often a goodly share of it) between the farmer and the
export merchant. Let it be understood that the producer
is only too glad of the accommodation which these
country markets afford, and by no means grudges the
buyers who attend, whatever profit they may make by
the transaction. Singular to say that, although in the
Great Cork Emporium for the purchase of butter from
the producer the utmost care must be taken in all
mattersof detail— sweetness of quality, firmness of texture,
exact proportions of salt, the providing of sound mer-
chantable firkins, and, over and above all, the most rigid
cleanliness— all these may be omitted in the country
markets with the most absolute indifference. If the
butter is moderately good in colour, firm to the touch,
and free from strong odour or flavour, it is purchased at
the top price of the day in every case, without salt, firkin
or keg, a riusing in cold water on leaving the churn
being all that is done to it before being sent to market.
The making up of these rolls of butter so purchased con-
stitutes a distinct and recognised trade of itself, money
making, or on the contrary, ruinous, according as the
parties getting into it are skilful in the manipulation of
the article or the contrary. To be successful consider-
able capital is required and extensive premises, so that a
large business may be carried on, the small shade of
profit that can be secured compelling the transactions to
be large. Having through the kindness of a friend been
shown through an establishment of this kind (a favour by
no means readily accorded to outsiders) I had the pleasure
of witnessing what was certainly a most interesting
operation. It would, under the circumstances, have
been extremely ill-bred to have questioned the workers as
to the amount of washing and ingredients required to mix
with the water so as to give the butter the necessary
purification, after having been given to understand that
the public were rigidly excluded, and that my own ad-
mittance was by special favour. Water of various de-
grees of temperature appeared to me to be the principal
means relied on for cleansing it from impurity and
equalising the texture of the butter. The rolls as
brought in waggons from the market were first taken in
charge by women who stood over large tubs of cold
spring water, who took it up iu easily managed pieces,
rubbing it between the hands in exactly the manner of a
woman washing clothes. Every particle having under-
gone a careful scrutiny it was passed on to another tub
presided over iu like manner, but apparently with water
slightly warm ; again it was passed on until it had gone
through quite a number of hands, the article gradually
assuming an evenness of colour and consistency until it
came to the Salter. The colouring (saffron) was carefully
mixed with the salt in immense quantities ready for use;
and when the women, whose duty it was to salt the
butter, bad the quantity required to fill a firkin, the salt
was measured and thoroughly mixed. By this time the
butter was iu a semi-fluid state, and was poured into the
firkins, instead of being thrown iu bit by bit, as is done

by tiie ordinary dairymaid. The whole work of the es-
tablishment was performed by women, all being scrupu-
lously clean in their persons and attire, and seemingly well
able, through long practice, to put a large quantity of work
through their hands. After standing in a cool cellar to
harden for a few days, the butter is forwarded to the Ex-
change at Cork for disposal, and although sent in such
immense quantity must yet be consigned by the inexora-
ble and unchanging rule of the market to the same mer-
chants, who receive it from the farmers, the export mer-
chants purchasing from them on the day of its arrival,
unless the receiving merchant is disposed to speculate by
holding for a short time, a system, however, I was told
which is more likely to turn out injurious than beneficial.

Pursuing inquiries with regard to the amounts received
for each cow, by letting them to a dairyman, I found that
it runs from £8 to £10, never exceeding the latter sum,
unless on exceptionally good land, the average being about
£9. Sometimes the milk is sold to the dairyman by the
gallon, a safe plan for the latter if he succeeds in getting
it low enough, but this mode appears to be falling into
disuse, on account of its involving a certain amount of
labour and supervision on the part of the owner and his
family. Partly in produce and partly in cash is also a
favourite mode of payment, as it to some little extent
shares the risk, IJ cwts. butter, and £2 lOs. iu cash by
way of payment for the milk being the current rate, on
really good land and with good cattle, this as prices
now run, being equal to 10 guineas for each cow. Ou
those farms, from which turnip-growing to an appre-
ciable extent as winter food has been excluded, the in-
door food consists of chopped furze during the dead of
winter, and in spring a morning and evening feed of hay,
a portion of the farm being meadowed each year.

I have thus showru by several illustrations taken on the
spot, and either actually shown or described by the
farmers themselves, the various styles of farming practised
iu the south of Ireland, and described iu the opening
article under two heads, viz., the encouragement and
concentration of labour, and on the other baud its almost
complete extinction. The latter feeling undoubtedly
actuates a very large section of Irish agriculturists, and
through the agencies of certain favourable circumstances,
amongst which are a mild and moist climate, and a kindly
soil, mostly liired at what a Scotch or English farmer
would count a low rent, they are enabled to
carry out their favourite theory, it must certainly
be allowed with a very considerable amount of success.
To judge fairly of any mode of arable or pastoral hus-
bandry, personal inspection is required, it being so diffi-
cult to judge the merits of different modes of manage-
ment, while ignorant of the special advantages possessed
by the locality in which they are being carried out. T
could, for instance, conceive of an inhabitant of the north
of Scotland, when he reads of cattle spending the greater
part of the winter in the open field, imagining that but
for the beatific law which confers a certain amount of
pleasurable sensation on every animal while fulfilling the
necessary functions of its animal economy the cattle
might actually refuse to partake of the rather scanty and
innutritions food presented to them, preferring to die
rather than live under such hard aud unpleasant condi-
tions. The benignity of the climate softens much of the
hardship that otherwise would be unavoidable, and if the
pastures are left rough from the summer season, with the
addition of a little hay thrown on the grass after the turn
of the year, cattle do well in the fields during winter in
the south of Ireland, preserving excellent health, and
coming out at the end of the spring, in fine fresh con-
dition.

To the north aud west of Bandon the two leading pro-
prietors are the Duke of Devonshire, aud the Earl of

THE FARMEit'6 MAGAZlis'E.

2?9

Bandou, both excelleut landlords, neiUicr JlspaseJ to raise
the reats which iu numerous cases could be easily done,
nor to reoiOFe any industrious well-meaning man from his
holding, even should the pressure of circumstances cause
him to be in arrear. The former is represented by an
agent, whose powers are no less than vicegeral in their
amplitude ; and who, a kind-hearted man himself, is all
the more capable and desirous of carrying out the kindly
intentions of his employer. The Bandon family who
trace their descent in an unbroken line from the lauding
of William the Conqueror, have ever been distinguished
for loyalty to the Crown, and earnest exertion iu promot-
ing the interests of Ireland genei-ally, and this county iu
particular. Their seat, Castle Bernard, is beautifully
situated on the banks of the lovely river Bandon, about a
mile above the town, and is occupied by the family for
the greater part of the year, thus constituting the Earl
a residential landlord — a class whose value in a largely
agricultural country like Ireland can scarcely be overrated.
Passing through the town on a market day^ the earl
and various members of his family were pointed out to

mc, mixing quite familiarly with the country people, who
on that day crowded the streets in busy throngs, showing
an example to many others of his rank well worthy of
imitation. Himself a farmer on a large scale, with the
management entrusted to an experienced and enthusiastic
agriculturist of established reputation, he has the oppor-
tunity of benefiting his tenantry by showing them the
working of new and useful implements, and by being able
to show splendid crops of turnips and mangolds, for the
growth of which the home farm of Castle Bernard is
famous, they are actually forced into imitation.

With fish in countless myriads on her coasts, with
mines, rich in copper aud other valuable ores, with flag
and slate quarries in abundance, all requiring only the
application of capital and skill for their profitable develop-
ment, one cannot but wonder at the wholesale expatriation
of the working class from a country which possesses such
means of employment. With such vast natural advan-
tages, it becomes hard to sec why the inhabitants of Ire-
land are not as rich, happy, comfortable, and contented,
as any race of people on the face of the earth.

BOTLEY AND SOUTH HANTS FARMERS' CLUB.
THE PROGRESS OP AGRICULTURE.

At the March meeting, Mr, W. Warner, tlie President, in
the chair,

Mr. Tkask said : I am sure I am very pleased indeed to
come out of my latitude and attend here, in the hope that the
few remarks I have to make will provoke a discussion from
you. I was laughed at by a friend, who said ''What a fool
you must be to thiuk about sayiug anything about tlie pro-
gress of agriculture since the forraatiou of the Club in 18M.
Why, you were only a child tlien, and what do you know
about the progress of agriculture since then ?" However,
Mr. Warner, your president, has been kind enough to lend rae
the reports of the Club since its formation, and I have had
great pleasure in reading tliem. I see there is hardly any
subject treating on the practice of agriculture but what has
heeu discussed by you, and it almost always resulted in a very
good and able discussion. I must apologise for the shortness
of my paper. It is not very long, and for the simple reason
that i have had a great deal to attend to. I am very glad to
find tliat Mr. Spooner, your secretary, has written a paper on
the subject, aud I have no doubt wliatever his will be the
most practical one of the day. I may say that there has been
great aud rapid progress in every brancli of farming, by
which the production of the soil has been largely increased,
combined with the necessity on the part of the farmer to em-
ploy a much larger capital on his farm, which will, I think, be
admitted by everyone ; but that the farmer reaUses a larger per-
centage on this increased capital, I am not prepared to admit.
I have not thought it worth while to quote to you a number
of statistics — easily found by everybody in almanacks and
blue books — to show you the increased amount of corn grown
or imported, or the number of live stock now existing as
compared with the number supposed to liave existed some
thirty years ago. I do not think these returns very reliable,
and I do not think it will be controverted that the amount of
produce realised by the handiwork of the farmer generally far
exceeds what it did before the period to which I have alluded.
The repeal of the Corn Laws followed soon after the forma-
tion of the Club, and, although I make no comment as to the
policy or otherwise of that measure, there is, I thiuk, hardly
one amongst us who would wish for a re-imposition of any
protective duty whatever, but we would rather ask that free-
dom to do as we will with every production on our farms
should be accorded to us. I do think the repeal of the Corn
Laws induced fanners, or rather obliged them, to turn their
attention more to the growth of root-crops for the fatteuiug,
&c., of stock, thereby necessitating the use of artificial ma-
nures and feeding stuffs, and the employment of more capital

in the cultivation of their farms. We have now in full swing
amongst us steam ploughs, and engines, reaping, mowing, and
thrasiiing machines, and mechanical appliances for the per-
formance of nearly every operation on the farm, produced by
the intelligence and ability of so many firms of implement-
manufacturers throughout the kingdom, so many of who'U
have realised large fortunes through the bauds of the farmer
by this branch of progress in agriculture. Tliere is also the
increased and increasing demand for prepared soil fertilisers,
called artificial, aud too often, I fear, not wrongly so named.
The infiuence of railways on the progress of agriculture has,
of course, been very great, but it has been reciprocal. The
railways benefit by the transit of the various classes of far-
mers' goods, and the farmer benefits by the cheaper and more
expeditious way in which he sends and receives his articles.
I am sorry that we cannot congratulate ourselves on the part
legislation has taken during the past twenty-five years for
us. I do not think that we are at all better off. AVe have
had no remission or amelioration of the malt duties, although
so frequently pressed on the attention of our legislators. The
game abuse in many districts of the kingdom is as rank as
ever, thereby preventing thousands of acres of land from
being enabled to produce their utmost in tlie shape of farm-
produce. The Irremoveable Poor Act, the Union Charge-
ability Act, and the Remissive Higii way District Act have iu
some instances lessened the burdens on particular parishes,
but the benefit to the farmer has on the whole, I think, not
been very appreciable. The " Police Gamekeepers' Bill" has
obliged the farmer to pay for the increased care taken for the
preservation of the hares and rabbits which eat up his
crops ; and Mr. Lowe has managed so that we pay the
tax in order that we may be the better enabled to scare the
rooks from our corn, and that our shepherds may have the as-
sistance of a sheep-dog iu managing their flocks. We nar-
rowly escaped paying the horse-tax when carting materials for
the repair of the highways, and we this year only just escaped,
paying horse-dealers' duty. Tiie incidence of local taxation
remains the same. The additions to that incidence increase
Tlie county-rates, the rates for the police, the poor-rates, and
other taxes have increased, and almost every burden that could
be has been put upon us, but let us hope tliat the agitation
now going on in the local Chambers of Agriculture may lead
to its more just and equitable revision. The formation of
Farmers' Clubs, and more recently of Chambers of Agriculture,
have been the means of diti'using information, botli important
and necessary, to the farmer, aud at tiie same time of bringing
into more intimate contact owner and occupier ; for we must

280

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

admit that the more we meet and talk over matters coucerning
our joint interests the greater advantage we obtain. As a part
of this subject of progress I tliink it well to notice, and it may
give rise to some little discussion, the tendency now of many
farmers to grow, by the aid of nitrate of soda and similar ma-
nures, more frequent corn crops, thereby necessitatiug a dimi-
nution in the number of sheep kept on the farms. In this, and
the adjoining county I know several large farms which do not
now carry more than half the number of breeding ewes,
which they did twenty years ago, or even later. If, with the
present prices stock are now paying, this be politic, and if a
similar practice prevails in other counties, can it at all be won-
dered at that the price of stock so much advances ? I think
that the practice above hinted at, together with the havoc
caused in our flocks and herds by the dry summers of 186S and
1870, has much to do with the present high price and general
scarcity of lean stock. The question of wages and labour has
been and is now becoming a large and important one to every
farmer. I shall notice this presently, and shall now venture
to say a few words on the present prospects, so far as I can see
them, of the farmer. You will have seen that I have once or
twice noticed the necessity, and I believe that necessity to be
imperative, that the farmer should now have the command of
a much larger capital than formerly, wherewith he may be
enabled to avail himself of, in order to procure these improved
and more costly appliances which he must have in order that
he may be enabled to hold his own amongst his fellows in
other callings of life. For this increased outlay there is now
no better security, and the man who goes on now risks far
more than his fellow did twenty-five years ago. By security, I
do not mean fixity, or even security of tenure, but a perfectly
well understood arrangement between owner and occupier,
whereby the latter may know to a nicety how he would
stand, what his loss and what his gain, in the event of any of
the many unforeseen occurrences which often happen to
terminate a tenancy. Whether this security is the better met
by a long lease, or by compensations for unexhausted improve-
ments, combined with a two years' notice to quit, is a moot
question ; but I hold a man to be nearly akin to mad who
goes into a middling sized farm, unless exclusively a dairy
farm, subject to a six months' notice to quit. In many of the
rural districts there has been, more especially during the last
two or three winters, a superabundance of labour. Pauperism
has increased ; the farmer has often had to pay rates when he
could hardly afford to pay wages, and some men have been
assisted to emigrate — and these things have happened from
causes over which the farmer could not possibly have had
control. "What do we find at the present moment ? A great
and general demand lor labour amongst nearly every branch
of industry, and it is with the view of asking my brother
farmers to take stock of their position with regard to this
labour question that I have made these remarks. ]My advice
to them is_ to be prepared with every available assistance in
the way of machinery, and, now that our men are to be edu-
cated by Act of Parliament, we must so educate ourselves that
we may be able, if possible, not to allow our labour to rise per
acre. We must get as much done by piece-work as we can
for tlien the best men will be the more easily found out ; and
may we express the hope that our landlords will continue to
do, as many are now doing— take care that the labourers with
families are as much better housed, and as near their work as
possible, as the farmer will have to take care that he is better
paid, and therefore fed. I tliink no good tenant would object
to pay a fair increased amount of rent if he could have the
necessary amount of cottages in his own hands for the
labourers on his farm. There are at this moment many farms
in the market. Some have been in it for some lime, but ap-
plicants are scarce ; and for what reason ? Simply that the
capital of the farmer has paid so low a rate of interest for tlie
past few years that men with the necessary amount of capital
are cliary of risking it, and the more so because you so rarely
get offered you fair play with your farms and security for the
use of your brains. I take the farmer to be the great middle-
man of rural social hfe. He finds the capital, by tlie use of
which he pays his rent to the individual wiio enjoys tlie laro-e
rent-roll in luxury, by the use of which the village and small
town shopkeeper get their income, and the labourer gets his
wage. From tiie few remarks I have made it vrill, I think be
gathered that I look upon the position of the farmer now as
one requiring watchfulness and great care; command of

larger capital, and greater intelligence in the application of
that capital to his business ; a knowledge not exactly of
science, but of those practical points connected therewith,
which will enable him so to apply the different manures to
the various descriptions of soil he may have to deal with as to
get the greatest possible benefit from the application. In fact,
he must so farm as to endeavour to obtain the greatest pos-
sible results with the least possible loss. I will end with the
remark of Camden : " That whatever temporary fame we may
obtain by the splendour of our army, or the extent of our con-
quests, tlie basis of real national glory must ever be agricul-
ture, commerce, and the arts of peace."

Mr. Hold AWAY said he was much obliged, as he was sure
all of them were, to Mr. Trask for bringing forward the subject
that day. They might compare it almost to history — the rise
of the lloman Empire, but not with its fall. When he looked
hack thirty-one years, since he first went into business, the
implements of farming then made were nothing to be com-
pared with those they used at the present time, and they went
ou improving every day. Mr. Trask had observed that they
ought to carry on agriculture to the jiighest possible pitch with
the least possible expense. However, he had not told them
exactly how that was to be done, and he felt sure they would all
agree with him the higher they farmed the greater their ex-
penses would be. They had been assisted to a great extent
with machinery, and they had also been aided with manures,
which were not obtainable years ago. But when they were
buying those they should know the men with wiiom they were
laying out their money. Their expenses still increased, and
they had a great deal to complain of in the shape of not being
relieved of some taxes, but there was one thing in which they
had been very fortunate— and that was the introduction of the
Poor Law, whicli had resulted in benefit. He thought that
the most beneficial change, ne.xt to the Post Office, we had now
in working order. He believed what had been given them in
the shape of amendment in the Poor Laws had been most bene-
ficial to all classes.

Mr. Trask : But the rates have got heavier.

]\Ir. HoLDAWAY : There has been an increase in the wealth
and population.

Mr. Trask : And we are not so well off with regard to rates
as before.

Mr. HoLDAWAY : I pay less now than I did thirty years
ago.

Mr. Trask : And I pay more. There is the difference,
you see.

Mr. GoDRicn : Mr. Holdaway is speaking of the poor rates
before the Poor Law Bill was passed. Tiiat makes all the
difference.

Mr. Holdaway concluded by saying that there was no
doubt there had been a great and general advancement in agri-
culture, and it was their duty to advance it in every possible
way.

Mr. James Withers said that there had been a great im-
provement in agriculture no one could deny, and he fully coin-
cided with what Mr. Trask had stated, but the question arose
— Had this pi ogress been of benefit to the tenant-farmer or the
landlord ? During the past twenty-five years rents had risen
25 per cent., and in some cases more than that. Then the
taxes were somewhat higher, and then labour had also in-
creased in price. Therefore, with these little extra outgoings,
he did not think the farmer was in a much better position than
he was twenty-five years ago. He must progress ; he must
get to the foremost rank, and in doing that he often got but
very little profit. He did not approve of anybody remaining
at a standstill. He wished them to bear in mind that he did
not desire to throw any slur or blame upon the landfords, for
undoubtedly they had the right to make the best arrangements
they could so as to secure the largest return for their land.
There was one matter which ought to be alluded to, and it
was the breaking up of waste land. He contended that it
should be broken up and made more productive than it was
now. At the present time he saw that the amount of wheat
imported into the United Kingdom from foreign parts cost no
lass than three and a-half millions of money. He believed the
waste lands in England could be brought into cultivation with
benefit, especially as there was a market for the consumption
of all they could produce. They ought to make those waste
lands produce all they required, and it was a disgrace that they
did not. Mr. Mechi had made some remarks with regard to

THE FAEMEH'S MAGAZINE.

281

the draiaage of wet lauds. That ought to be the first step ia
agriculture, aud eultivatiou would be all in vain until that was
done. Mr. Mechi said that to make England prosperous aud
happy, both pecuniarily and politically, there ought to be a
liberal investment of capital which was now lying idle, iu
agricultural improvements, which would yield a far greater re-
turn than foreign loans. There were millions required which
would pay fifteen or sixteen per cent. He (Mr. Withers)
should be pleased to have some of the money to be laid out in
draining, and would be glad to pay six per cent, for it, which
would be a very good return. They wanted more extensive
drainage aud cultivation, and any gentleman who laid out his
money iu draining and got six per cent, for it ought to be
satisfied with that per centage. If the three and a-half
millions which were now paid to^the foreigner could be saved
it would be a great boon to the country.

Mr. J. Blundell said he had only to cast his eyes round
Botley, and he saw since 1814 what a wonderful improvement
there had been in the cultivation oflaudinthat neighbour-
hood and also in the cattle. The improvement of the latter
seemed to him to be the most important point which naturally
suggested itself upon that occasion, considering the kind of
stock they had in 18W, the period when the Club was com-
menced. Not only had there been a great improvement iu tiie
class of stock — whether it was sheep, horses, cattle, or swine —
as they had witnessed at their cattle shows, but a more bene-
ficial improvement had been brought about, he did not mean
to say entirely through the influence of the Botley and South
Hants Farmers' Club, for there had been other things at work
as well, but h e would say this — that that Club had not only
had its weight and influence in that neighbourhood iu the im-
provement of cattle, but throughout the kingdom. They must
bear in mind that their candle had not been under a bushel.
Their reports had circulated throughout the country, and in
Scotland as well. He might mention that a gentlemen — a
commercial traveller — who had dined with them at their root
show, told them that the next he heard of them' was a gen
tleman reading the report of the proceeding of the Club in
the next partition to which he was in a coffee-house in Lon-
don. This went to show them that if a number of men col-
lected together for the purpose of communicating their ideas
aud comparing notes upon agriculture their doings were not
hidden, but they circulated throughout the country, and
they could not take up one single subject connected with
agriculture without its being a benefit to some one. He
need not speak of the extensive improvement that had taken
place in the cattle ; and when he compared their first show
with that which was to be held that day fortnight, he found
there was a great and a beneficial difi'erence. And this had
been very much brought about by the improvement in the
emulation which existed between the members to wear the blue
ribbon at the cattle shows, and they all knew that this was a
thing of which a man was proud. It was worthy of them all to
strive to endeavour to obtain it ; aud he felt proud as one of
the first who formed the Club to find that its influence was not
only acknowledged, hut that it had greatly enhanced agricul-
ture in general, aud he hoped that in future others who would
take their place would staud up and acknowledge the import-
ance of the Club, which would be a reward or a recompense
for any exertion given, or for any merit they might have gained
in belonging to the Club. But there had been a great improve-
ment in the growth of cereals as well as in cattle. Not only had
there been good crops grown in certain seasons, but the general
product of the country and the neigbourhood had increased,
for he might tell them that where one load of wheat was grown
before ten were grown now. That was owing to the great pro-
gress they had made through the discussion of various subjects.
As Mr. Trask had said, there was scarcely a question connected
with agriculture which had not passed in review before the
Club, and which had been spoken to by practical and scientific
meu as well. A mere reference to their reports would show
them there had been an improvement in their cereals as well
as cattle. Then there was the growth of roots, a matter of
special importance, for he very much doubted whether there
was any society in the kingdom which had carried out with
that energy and forethought the reward for the growth of
roots as they had at Botley. Not only was there an improve-
ment in the gardens, but they did not confine themselves to
that, as the improvement had spread to the competition in the
open field for miles around. This was not only a practical

question for old farmers, but it was a field in which much
could be taught, aud was a capital opportunity for young men
to learn. He was one of those who had endeavoured to emulate
and excel in this matter. He could assure them there was much to
be learnt, for it was a great privilege to be a judge at their root
shows, as a man had the opportunity of going rouud and seeing
what was going on around him, and therefore he hoped gentle-
men would not be backward iu coming forward to act as
judges on a future occasion. He believed he would be a wise
man who adopted this mode of learning. He was sure, when
a person was a judge, there was always something to learn
which must be of advantage to himself. The rotation of crops
had had much to do vvith successful farmiug, and this was
a matter which had commanded their deep attention. He
recollected that at the formation of the Club the four-course ro-
tation was the only known rotation by which they could afford
to pay their rent, but the discussions that had takeu place at
that club had given rise to a better system, and at present they
did not find there were many people who kept to the four-
course system uuless they were tied to it, or they had light
hmd and farmed at a moderate rent ; but in order to pay the
high and increased rents which were now asked for, they must
adopt a system which would enable them to pay that high
rent. No man iu that aeighbourhood could pay a high rent
if he was tied to the four-course system. The tenor of the dis-
cussions that had taken place in the Club showed that the
four-course system must be improved upon as much as pos-
sible, more especially as they were now supplied with artificial
manures, for which they had to pay. The introductiou of these
manures and cake for feeding purposes was au improvement,
and he should like to know what had been the consumption of
these two articles since the formation of the Club. He was
sure it would astonish them all. Now artificial manures could
be carted very cheaply to the outlying portions of the farm,
which were previously reached with great expense, and this
added much to their success. There was hardly a manufacturer
of it when the Club was started. They saw there had been very
large and successful establishments since then. The manu-
facturers had made fortunes by it out of the money the farmers
had had to pay for it. At the same time each had
their opportunity of doing this. The manufacturers in many
parts had supplied them with a really good article when they
were prepared to pay for it. They were much indebted to
these men, as they issued papers showing the manures which
were best calculated for various crops which were grown on cer-
tain soils, and they were very thankful to them for it. He was
quite sure, when they came to look at another branch of the
subject, they would tell how much was due to them for having
taken it up, and he would next take the value of the land to
rent, as farmers were now obliged to pay a higher rent than
they were in 1844. Rents had risen very much since then, iu
many instances as much as ten shillings per acre. What had
been the cause of this ? He could not beheve that it arose
from a greater competition by capitalists only, but it was from
the competition on the part of intelligent men, who were
backed up by the advantages which had been given them by
the introduction of machinery, and other things. Look what
a position steam cultivation had reached, and at what power
they had for the cultivation of the land in 1844. A question
which was only in embryo then had now grown into one of the
greatest magnitude. The exertions of the Club and others in
the country had done much in this direction, aud as they went
on there would be a still greater improvement in agriculture.
There was a great advantage in steam power, not only in the
cultivation of the land, but from the way in which it was
brought to bear on other matters connected with agriculture.
Much had been done in the way of the preparation of food for
cattle. It had saved the expense of labour, and a very good
job, too, for they must recollect that the system of education
now adopted would tend to elevate the labouring class. It
was a very good thing to see steam power as it was, as they
were not obliged to employ ignorant men, as formerly. The
matter of steam cultivation and power was one which required
their attention, and he had no doubt that it would be here-
after made a special subject, and one which would make the
influence of the Club generally felt. He believed that the
Club had gone very far to raise the standard of farming
throughout the country. As far as the landlords were con-
cerned, he thought they ought to be exceedingly pleased with
the information afforded by the Botley aud South Hants Par-

2S2

THE FARMER'S JMAGAZINE.

mers' Club, wliicU had liad the effect of causing tho land to be
occupied more beneficially to all concerned. About the time
of the establishment of the Club it was the boast of a man
that his rij;ht arm was his strength for the cultivation of the
land, but he would ask whether his right arm without capital
would stand him in any stead at that day P If he fancied he
could swim without it he (Mr. Blundell) thought dilfereut,
because it required a large investment of capital in the age
in winch we now lived. He meant to say that it was a dis-
grace to this country — and he was now showing them how
necessary it was to look to the relative products of the king-
dom— that they should be obliged to fall back upon such a large
importation of corn and cattle. Tiiey impoited something
like onc-third of their breadstuffs, and 8j or 9 per cent, of
their live cattle. This showed they had plenty for their own
land to bear ; and it reminded hira of the remark the Attorney-
General made the other day, when he said that the claimant
■went to AVapping " to see how the land did lay." He would
say, " And how does the land lay ?" Let them look at about
half the farms throughout the country. If the landlords
wished for the farmers to succeed in this country they must
free the farms from the trammels of bygone days. They
wanted to show them that the four-course system and every
other old conditions that were put in leases, which were musty
and fusty, and made in lawyers' offices, were not what was
required at that day. They wanted to make them understand
that tliey wished to be able to go further — they wanted them
to deal fairly with them, and with an open hand, and join
with them in propelling forward the vehicle of agriculture,
and help them to produce sufficient to feed the population of
their own country.

The Chairman said he was very sorry to say their secre-
tary, Mr. bpooner, was not with them that day, but he had
sent hira a letter, in which he said : " It was in 184i that the
memorable meeting of the lloyal Agricultural Society took
place at Southampton, and our club was one of tbe healthy
progeny which sprang into existence as the oflfspring of this
successful meeting. For although in point of number, either
of stock or of implements, the meeting in question has been
since far surpassed by others, yet there was an amount of
novelty and vigour of iutellect developed then that we look in
vain for since. Verily, there were giants amongst agricul-
turists iu those days ! It is true that the richness of the ideas
that appeared tlien to crop up so rapidly was due iu a measure
to the fact that for many years previously the.se ideas had been
pent up, there having been since the time of Arthur Young
and the County Reports no legitimate means of affording them
an outlet. At that time tliere was little science connected
with agriculture; good practice there might be, ana many
useful experiments were instituted, some of which were suc-
cessful, and others were failures. Well, for want of the ex-
planation which science afterwards afforded, and also of the
means for disseminating facts, the success was in great measure
hidden, and the failures were repeated, with great loss, over
and over again. The earlier attempts of chemists only served
to mystify matters, and point to opposite conclusions from
what practice proved to be correct. It will be seen by our
annual Prefaces, which precede the publication of our Reports,
and for whicii I am for the last twenty-five years chielly re-
sponsible, that we have noticed and sympathised with every
important movement affecting the agricultural world, that we
have discussed the principal questions of the day, and tliat,
though comparatively remote and unimportant, our pulse has
beat in unison with the heart of British agriculture, the most
honourable and the most important of all our industrial pur-
suits. We have witnessed the introduction of most important
improvements in mechanics and in scientific practice, by
wliich produce has been increased and labour has been saved,
and although the wise men who were the first to adopt these
improvemants derived some advantage from tlieir use, yet such
has been the fierce tide of competition that the use of im-
proved machinery soon became a necessity rather than an
advantage, and the public came in for the lion's share of the
gain. There is much truth in the observation of an old farmer
at an agricultural show, ' No sooner does a man lay out his
money in a new impleraeut than some coufoumlcd fool comes
slong and invents something a good deal better.' The grati-
tude of the public are greatly due to agriculturists for their
exertions and improvements, for the public for the most part
Lave had the benefit. There is one point on which, I think,

we may fairly claim credit, that whilst our discussions have
been open and untrammelled, and distinguished at times by
free expression and very contradictory opinions, yet person-
alities have always been avoided, and a difference of opinion
has never led to a breach of friendship."

Mr. Sutton said Mr. Trask had spoken of the farmer run-
ning tlie gauntlet of the taxes, and that he had to help the
implement manufacturer to make his fortune as well, but he
might remind him that the latter had to sink much capital and
employ an immense amount of labour to bring this about.
[Mr. Tkask : I said so.] He had also received large orders
from abroad, as he believed 75 per cent, of the implements
went abroad. He also found that Mr. Trask advised that the
best men sliould be looked out, and that they should introduce
piece-work. This was just what the manufacturers had done
for years. They paid their men by piece-work, and they thus
had the means of ascertaining who were the best men by the
work they did.

Mr. J. D. Bakford would tell them that there had not been
any improvement in the breed of animals in proportion to the
progress that had been made in agriculture. This was a matter
whicli demanded their serious attention, and he might espe-
cially allude to the farm horses, where there ought to be a
more judicious selection of the sires and dams for breeding
purposes. He could see that there had been no improvement
in the breed of cart horses when compared with the advance-
ment they had made in other directions in agriculture, as this
was remarkable, considering the fabulous prices these horses
had fetched of late. It was a rule with farmers not to rise a
mare for breeding purposes until she was nearly or quite worn
out, wiiile no attention was paid to the quality of the sire, as
the cheapest was generally selected. If they attempted to
breed from an animal it should be a good one, as it would not
cost them a fraction more. He saw this year twenty guineas
given for a sucker which had just left its dam, and he could
say that if they only got fifteen guineas from one it would pay
them better than growing corn at its present price. Nothing
would pay better than making a proper selection for the
breeding of stock, and he could not impress upon them too
seriously the importance of this matter.

Mr. John Gater remarked that his acquaintance with the
Botley and South Hants Farmers' Club now extended to
nearly twenty years, and he really did not think he was getting
so old. He was very glad to hear from the members, and
especially from the fathers of the Club, that the advancement
of agriculture had been, at any rate, if not from the cause and
eflTect of the Club, coincident with it. He believed that they
had had better stock in the farm since its establishment, and
the improvement in the breeding of animals showed what an
advancement had taken place. Whether they looked at the
way in which agricultural operations were carried on, the
breeding or rearing of animals, and all other things, it was
evident from what they had heard that day that an improve-
ment had taken place. Among the many improvements there
was that of the land. He recollected the time — ten years
since — when draining was scarcely known at all. What an
improvement has now taken place with regard to it ? He
recollected some twenty years ago that an enterprising man
in that neighbourhood had the temerity to put in a drain five
feet deep, and he was thoroughly laughed at by his neighbours,
but now tliey drained as deep as possible, for they found out
that the water went to the bottom, and then rose into the drain.
He did not agree with Mr. Withers that 6 per cent, would be
a good investment for draining, for it must be evident that a
drain would not last for ever, and it would require to be re-
newed. Then again, another and cheaper mode might be in-
troduced hereafter, so that the money invested would be sunk .
He could see that great improvements had been made in farm
buildings. The old ones of thirty years ago would be of no use
now. They had no bullock stalls, houses for the implements,
and other things which they had now, ana which were of
great help to the farmer in his business. Then there had been
a great improvement in the cultivation of the land. The
work was done better, and more economically. Artificial
manures had been of much benefit, and men by study had found
out what was the best for the different kinds of crops, wliich
liad not only proved of advantage to himself but the country at
large. With regard to the labourers he thought the piece-work
system would be very advantageous. He could tell them that he
had really good men working by the side of those who were

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283

worth uextto uotliiiig, audit' tlie system Mr. Trask had alluded
to was adopted it would result iu innch benefit.

Mr. James Withers contended that if a drain was pro-
perly laid down it would last a very long time, and if it be-
came choked with sand, chalk, or other things, and useless,
that was the fault of the tenant. When a drain was once put
in the tenant had to do the repairs, the landlord finding the
material, and therefore he thought six per cent, was a good
investment.

Mr. T^^iSK, who had to leave to catch the train, here made
some observations in reply, and said he could not speak much
of the neighbourhood. He liad been into some counties where
the taking in of waste lands had done much more harm to
farms than good, as more labour was required for the arable
portion, and the expense consequently greater. He quite agreed
with Mr. Blundell, that they should get as mucli out of the
land as they could ; but they would have the stuff scut over
from every quarter of the world, so long as they could grow it
and import it cheaper than they could sell it. Then, again,
he thought it was the duty of the farmer to look a little after
himself as well as the vast consuming public. He was very
glad the implement manufacturers had got on so well, and was
certainly surprised to hear that three-fourths of the steam-
engines went abroad.

. Mr. Sutton : I said of the steara machinery. I do not
pledge myself to 75 per cent., but I believe it is so.

Mr. Trask replied that it very much surprised him. He
believed that in some parts vast sums of money had been
certainly sunk in draining.

Mr, Trask then left the room, a vote of thanks to him for
his paper being proposed by the Chairman, seconded by Mr.
Blundell, and carried unanimously.

'The Chairman said that he had seen a vast improvement
in agriculture during the last thirty years. That improvement
was due, perhaps, in some measure to the landlords, but he be-
lieved it was mainly owing to the capital and skill of the
tenants. He believed the latter, as a body, had done everything
in their power for agriculture. They had endeavoured to make
two blades of grass grow where only one grew before, and he
therefore thought they required some little consideration and
assistance from the landlords in their endeavour fogo on with
the improvements. He would observe that the improve nents
in agriculture had not kept pace with those iu manufactures,
for while the former had improved 25 per cent, the latter had
made progress at the rate of 75 per cent. Tt was only the
other day he was reading a discussion which took place at the
Surveyor's Institute in London, in which it was stated by one
that Lord Derby and the Earl of Leicester said that the land
did not produce halt what it ought to, which was a very
serious thing. It was quite clear that the area of land was
daily diminishing, as it was being occupied by buildiugs and
railways. These remarks from the Earl of Derby, a far seeing
man, and the Earl ot Leicester, a great agriculturist, must
apply to both owners and occupiers of laud. They were all
coucerned in it, for it was their duty to produce as much from
the laud as possible, and to breed as much cattle as possible,

and they must call on tlie landlords of the kingdom to assist
them in producing food for the people of the country. They
should consider, in some measure, the position of a large num-
ber of the tenants, and it was their duty to make the most of
tlie land entrusted to tlierc. He did consider tliere was a great
claim on the landlords of the country, and that they should
develope the resources of the estate they had come to.
They should breed more cattle and grow more corn than they
did at present, for they knew that at present all the world was
open to them, but the time might come when tliere would be
war, and there would be a ditlicuhy iu getting corn into this
country. Therefore he thought it the duty of tenants not only
to do more than some of them had, but the landlords should
do more than they had hitherto for the production of food
for the people of this country. Mr. Gater assumed that if a
landlord was called upon to drain the land he did not think he
would be satisfied with 6 per cent.

Mr. Gater replied that he did not think 6 per cent, would
be sufficient for the outlay.

The Chairman did not see how that could be, for they
often found now that a man was ready to purchase his neigh-
bour's field if he wanted it, which would only give him 2^ per
cent., while if the money was laid out in draining it would be
a much bettor investment.

Mr. Thomas Warner thought G per cent, was as good an
investment as a landlord could make. If the drains were put
in a proper depth and were well looked after they would last
for many years, and it was the fault of the tenant if they be-
came choked. He believed it would be a long time before the
present system of drainage was changed. He thought if a
farm was divided into three paits it would be much better and
more productive, for at the present time there was not sufficient
capital to bring out all the resources of a farm.

Mr. Blundell pointed out that the average duration of
life was rather short, and there were not many who held
estates for more than twenty-one years. He thought that 6
per cent, was a good investment, especially when they were
told that the money could be borrowed at -i per cent.

Mr. James Withers thought that tiles would last quite as
long as a brick if they were properly put into the ground.

Mr. John Gater said that his observations were to the
effect that he thought it doubtful if 6 per cent, was a sufficient
interest for many to go into draining. It was all uncertain
how long tbe drain would last, and then a method might be
found hereafter by which it might be done much cheaper than
it was now.

Mr. Thomas Warner expressed an opinion that the skilled
labourer ought to be better paid than the unskilled one, and
that more attention should be given to this matter.

The following resolution was then submitted by the Chair-
man, and agreed to : " That in the opinion of this meeting
the progress of agriculture since the formation of this club
has been very great and important, of great advantage to the
landlord and tenant, and to the community at large."

Mr. HoLDAWAT proposed a vote of thanks to the Chair-
man.

THE IMPEDIMENTS TO AGEICULTURE

At a meeting of the Hampshire Chamber of Agriculture,
at Fordingbridge, Mr. Jolin llidley, of Uamerham, introduced
the subject of " The Impediments to the Progress of A.griculture
—Physical, Social, and Financial." Mr. W. W. B. Beach, M.P.,
President of tbe Chamber, was in the chair.

Mr. Ridley said : On the first part of the subject, more
especially, is it difiicult to make any observation worth having,
for we all know perfectly well that land, being so cumbersome
a commodity, its very size must imply toil and laboriousness of
working, and when to this you add the further difficulty caused
by climate, almost every act of husbandry being dependent
more or less upon the weather, it is at once manifest that the
physical impediments of farming are of a special nature, totally
unlike those to which other employments are subject. It is
further removed from man's control, and to overcome those
impediments requires patience combined with well-timed action,
ever bearing in mind not to thwart but to assist Nature. One

difficulty before us is the unsatisfactory condition which farm
workmen are said to be in. Although in my humble opinion
this unsatisfactory condition has been much exaggerated, it is
no doubt desirable to improve their position as to work and
pay, for cases are constantly occurring where men prefer
slovenly work and i niu.il low pay (though really high) to a
better style of work and proportionate high pay. As a help
to this desired improvement it has been proposed by some that
the men should iu addition to their earnings each have a small
farm of three or four acres, if possible, of pasture land. On
this subject I wish to speak witii deference, because the plan
is advocated by some for whom we all have a sincere respect,
and with whom we agree in the desire to further the well-being
of our fellow men, though differing in the mode of obtaining
that object. This plan, however, could only be carried out in
certain localities where the nature of the land was favourable,
and if introduced on a large scale it would cause a financial diffi-

284

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

culty iu providing capital for these small farms, as, on a modfirate
calculaliou, if a farm of 400 acres requires eight pounds an
acre capital, a farju of four acres would want twelve ; and this
extra money would have to come from other sources tlian that
now employed in farming. Among the social impediments to
agriculture may be reckoned these : Some landed estates being
used more or less for other purposes, sucli as sporting, farming
being a secondary consideration, or social position and political
influence being most thouglit of ; on other estates the cultiva-
tors are so restricted by agreements (the reverse of liberal) that
they amount to a preventive of good husbandry. Anotlier
hindrance is, many properties are unduly hampered by settle-
ments whicli cause the owner in possession to be merely an
annuitant or life holder, and as such having but little induce-
ment to improve the property. When an estate is hampered
by debt as well as settlement, the evil is increased. The
financial impediments to progress are many. To begin with
the returns or profits of farming are perhaps the most various,
and uncertain of any regular occupation. There are many
farms carried on for years without any profit, sucli as in the
case of well-to-do families who don't like to give up a place
which may have been for generations occupied or owned by
their ancestors. Other people continue to occupy land for the
sake of country sporting life, and from various causes a con-
siderable proportion of land is farmed for other purposes than
simply to make an income, and thus the acreage is less for those
whose object it is to get a living by farming. One great
requisite is, how to apply more capital to the land with judi-
cious security for reaping the benefit of the same ; and with
all our skill, capital, and industry, failure often follows from
causes over which we have no control. In no other occupa-
tion does a man put himself and his property into the power
of another so much as a tenant farmer who is without a long
lease or covenants for unexhausted improvements, and this has
a tendency to drive active-minded men inlo mercantile or pro-
fessional pursuits. Perhaps it will not be out of place to
mention here the opinion of a man who both owning and
farming is well qualiiied to give a good one, though it may
seem startling to us. lie said the day was coming, or would
come, when iu England no farming would pay, but such high
farming requiring so large a capital tliat no one would expend
it on another's laud, except on leases answering iu some res-
pects to building leases common in towns, and for a long term
of years. To obviate the difficulty caused by the want of
security of capital applied to land, much may be done by far-
mers themselves, for a large proportion of owners are or would
be willing to come to terms with tenants desirous of improving
their farms ; a liberal spirit on the one side would, it is to be
hoped, be met with the like on the other side. But on estates
where the owner does not or cannot make the outlay, the law
should protect the tenant who invests his own money in
improvement by giving him a legal claim upon the estate for
unexhausted improvements, so that when he leaves or dies he
or his family receive what justly belongs to them. In Ireland
there is that legal Tenant-llight, and it is equally required in
all the British Islands. Foremost iu improvements are drain-
ing and farm buildings, and although this subject may belong
more properly to a Farmers' Club, perhaps I may be allowed to
express an opinion on the want of farm buildings, draining not
being so much required in this county as in many others. In
I conclusion moved the following resolution, viz. : " That
the Hampshire Chamber consider that the progress of agri-
culture is impeded by the want of compensation for unexhausted
improvements, and by the present system of settlement of
landed estates, which tends to limit the application of capital
to the permanent improvement of such property."

Mr. Jeans (Breamore) seconded the resolution.

Mr. Reeves (King's Somborne) was of opinion that the
reason why much of the land did not pay for cultivation was
that of late years increased burdens had been thrown upon it.
Farmers had now to pay what their forefathers never dreamt
of. He might instance the matter of education. He didn't
know how the shoe fitted them, but it was likely to pinch him
and his neighbours pretty severely during the next few months.
What was once a crack school in tlie county was more tlian
three miles away, and the Act would compel them to build
another. It would cost them £600, although there were only
200 inhabitants. As regarded farm buildings he thought the
landlords ought to do the whole of the building, inasmuch
as the tenants might have to give up their holdings in the

course of a few years. There was the question of turnpike
roads. Those roads would shortly be thrown upon their hands.
Twenty miles of road in the neighbourhood of Stockbiidge
would be tlirown upon the ratepayers next November, llis
opinion had always been that those who use the roads ought
to pay for maintaining them. Then came the Game Laws,
about which, perhaps, the less said the better, lie thought
the tenants themselves were a great deal to blame in the matter.
In taking a farm, they ought to be careful not to sign away
their own birthright. Farmers and landlords should have
equal rights, and farmers should have an eye to tlie point before
signing any agreement. Next came the question of the agri-
cuUural labourer. He would do anything he could to improve
the position of the labourer, but he did not believe that giving
him more than a quarter of an acre of land, would have that
effect. The labourers were pretty much the farmers' masters
already ; and if they had more land, the result would jirobably
be that they would want " a day or two for themselves" when
their services were most required either in the hay or corn
field. Compensation should also be paid for unexhausted im-
provements, and a clause should be inserted iu every lease to
that effect.

Tlie Chairman said lie could not, however, coincide iu the
remark that tlie subject was more fitted for discussion by a
Farmers' Club than by a Chamber of Agriculture. A Cliambec
of Agriculture consisted of persons who were all interested in
the science of agriculture, and he was of opinion that the sub-
jects which Mr. Ridley had brought forward were, in every
respect, deserving of their consideration. The first subject
which had been alluded (o was the great call there was iu the
present day for an expensive system of machinery in the culti-
vation of the land. It nc doubt enabled the soil to be culti-
vated in a more economical and more efficient manner than
formerly, but still a considerable amount of capital was re-
quired in order to provide it. The position of the farm
labourer, to which Mr. Ridley had also alluded, was one that
deserved the serious consideration of everyone interested in the
well-being of society. He was glad to hear the testimony of
one who was so conversant with the subject as Mr. Ridley that
the condition of the labourer had improved of late years ; but
he could not concur in the suggestion which had been thrown
out in some places that the labourer should be allowed to be-
come the holder of a " small farm." An allotment of twenty
or forty rods, according to circumstances, was, no doubt, o f
the greatest benefit to him in providing vegetables for his
family ; but if ho were to become the eccupier of a certain
number of acres, it would render him dependent, to a great
extent, upon the adjacent farmers, because it would be diffi-
cult for liira, vvitli any advantage to himself, to cultivate the
whole of his land by spade labour. He knew districts in
wliich small holdings had succeeded to a certain extent ; but
the reason was that the holdings had not been in the nature
of small farms, but something between allotments and small
farms ; and the occupiers had had opportunities, by working
in harvest and other times when labour was in request, of
realising a certain amount of money, which, if they had been
entirely restricted to their own land, they would have had no
means of acquiring. With regard to the question of leases,
lie could only say that he himself had always been in favour of
a good, liberal lease for a considerable term of years — that was
when the tenant wished it. But in such a case he thought
the landlord had a right to expect the tenant to bring a con-
siderable amount of capital to bear upon the land. On tlie
other hand the landlord was bound to give every facihty to the
tenant in the matter of cultivation. He should not bind the
tenant down with restrictions that would fetter his discretion
in the application of his capital. The only restriction should
be this — that in the latter part of his occupation, say the last
two years, the tenant should adhere to certain rules of cultiva-
tion. He quite agreed in what had been said with regard to
the pressure of local rates. It was a subject to which public
attention was being more and more directed; and he was glad
lo see that there was a strong feeling in favour of preventing
additional burdens being placed upon those rates. This year,
they were told, the expenses of militia stores would be thrown
upon the country at large, and not defrayed out of the county
rates. That, he hoped, would be the prelude to other equitable
charges, which were imperial charges, being thrown upon the
country also. Mr. Reeves had referred to the burden likely
to be cast on some parishes by the Education Act ; but he

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285

begged to reraiud the Cliainber that where it juight unfortu-
nately become necessary to establish a School Board power
would exist for the borrowing ot money, the repayment of
which might be thrown over a series of years. The b-irdeu
would not, therefore, be so oppressive as it would be if the
whole amount had to be paid at once. He concurred in what
Mr. Reeves had said with regard to the turnpikes, but he
feared from the tendency of recent legislation tliat the principle
he had advocated of requiring those persons who used tiie
roads to keep them in repair was uot likely to be adliered to.
As regarded the Game-laws, the great difficulty arose from
over-preservation, but he thought the hardship would become

gradually less. If legislation did not do so, public opiuiou
would step in and prevent a recurrence of such serious damage
and annoyance as had liitherto existed. Referring to the
question of compensation for unexhausted improvements, it \yas
only fair that a tenant wlio put a certain amount of capital in-
to the soil, and had not had time to reap the full benefit of it,
should be remunerated for what he left behind. There might
in some cases be a difficulty in ascertaining the exact amount,
but by adopting the custom of the country some general and
fair understanding might be arrived at.

Tiie resolution was carried unanimously, and also a vote of
thanks to Mr. Ridl >>

TENANT RIGHT IN RABBITS.

{Before the Master of the Rolls.)
Hemswoktu v. Mann.

This important suit, which has been pending for a consider-
able time, came before the Master of the lloUs, on a motion
for ,a decree. Sir R. Baggallay, Q.C. and Mr. Bedwell ap-
peared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Fry, Q.C, and Mr. Cozens-
Hardy for the defendants.

Sir R. Baggallay, in opening the case, said that the suit had
reference to a covenant contained in a lease, granted on the
16th of November, 1869, by the receiver of an estate, the Rev.
Augustus Barker llemsworth, iu the course of administra-
tion by the Court. [It was afterwards explained that the
lease practically dated from 1862, the formal execution of it
having been delayed.] The lease contained a covenant on the
part of the defendants, Mr. Fairman Joseph Mann and Mr
John Eagling Maun, that they " shall not kill or destroy, but
shall do their utmost to preserve, the game and fish on tiie
lands and premises hereby demised, and shall uot shoot or
sport over the said hereby demised premises, or set traps or
snares on the banks of the said coverts above ground on any
part of the said lands and premises hereby demised, except for
taking and killing rabbits." The farm for which the lease con-
taining that covenant was granted Vfas known as " Churcli
Farm." A previous lease was granted in 1860 to a gentleman
named Daniell of a private residence and the park imme-
diately surrounding it, together with the right of shooting over
the whole of the estates, including that portiou occupied by
the defendants. A genthnan named Budd was the present
assignee of that lease, and with the permission of the Court
of Chancery the bill was filed in the name of the receiver,
Mr. Hemsworth, who had been indemnified by Mr. Budd, for
the purpose of trying the question whether there had been a
breach of covenant. The property was situated in a good
sporting county, Norfolk. The estate formed part of the pro-
perty of Mr. John Barker, deceased, whose widow was the
tenant for life, certain other persons being entitled to
remainder, and consisted of a private residence in Norfolk,
called Shropham Hall, a park of 52 acres, aud 1,600 acres
of farm land, there being other land iu the adjoining county
of Suff'olk which increased the total acreage to 3,278 acres.
The rental of the defendants' farm was £605 per annum.
There was, as he had intimated, au earlier lease to Edward
Daniell, and under it the lessee was to have the right of
shooting and sporting over the property, with the sole reserva-
tion that the other tenants on the estate might kill and destroy
the rabbits on the lands in their occupation, provided they
did no injury to the game and did not set traps or snares on
the banks of the coverts above ground. Tiiat lease was pur-
chased by, and transferred to, Mr. Thomas William Budd in
1864, and he had ever since been the occupying tenant of
Shropham Hall and park, aud the possessor ot the shooting
rights. These sporting rights comprised, amongst others,
the right of sporting over a covert called " The Grove," con-
taining about 40 acres " which covert," said the Bill, " is
hounded on the west and on a portion of its northern side by
lands iu the occupation of one Robert Land, a tenant of the
said estate under a lease granted by the receiver for the time
being, and on the south and the remainder of the north sides
thereof it is bounded by lands in the occupatiou of the defend-

ants, and of their said lease of the 16lh November, 1869, and
on the east it is bounded by the high road from Shropham to
Larhugford ; and the sporting rights over all the said lands,
aud over the said covert called " The Grove," belong to the
said Thomas William Budd, under the said lease to the said
Edward Daniell." The learned counsel here explained, with
the aid of a model, the position of the farm of the defendants
relatively to The Grove, and stated that out of 1,760 yards of
boundary 836 bounded the defendants' land, and 220 abutted
on the high road ; 704 yards skirting the farm of Mr. Laud.

The Master of the Rolls inquired to whom the shooting
in the copse belonged.

Sir R. Baggallay said Mr. Budd had the liall, the park,
and the shooting over the whole estate, including
the farms of Mr. Mann and Mr. Land. In November,
1869, the defendants, the Bill said, without the
plaintifl!'s knowledge or consent, erected parallel to
the whole of the north side of the covert where it abutted on
tlieir farm, what they described as their " trapping bank," con-
sisting of an earthen bank surmounted by close wire fencing, the
whole being of the height of 5 feet or thereabouts, of which the
earthen bank formed 3 feet aud the wire netting 2 feet. The
defendants thus made it impossible for any game to pass from
the covert to the farm except by climbing or scrambling up
the bank. In 1870 they completed another similar " trapping
bank," whicli had been already commenced in 1869 parallel to
the south side of the said covert so far as it abutted on tiie de-
fendants' land ; and between the two they got the game covert
pretty well shut out from their farm. They constructed
the second bank rather differently from the first. As the
Bill said, " they fortified this southern bauk on the inner side
with briars and furze, laid horizontally and closely-packed to-
gether, and projecting on the inner-side of the bank, aud over-
hanging it to an extent of eight or nine inches, and having
the effect of forming a projecting coping of the said bauk and
acting like chcceux de frise." " Both the said banks," it was
added, " were pierced by the defendants with holes in which
they set traps for rabbits, and the distance of the northern
bank from the regular boundary of ' The Grove' is about five
or six feet, and that of the southern bank is between fifteen
aad twenty feet. Subsequently, in October, 1870, the defend-
ants caused the whole of that bank also to be surmounted with
wire fencing, and raised the height of the southern trapping-
bank to the same as that of the northern bank, that is to say,
nearly five feet, and the diameter of the mesh of the said wire
netting; is about an inch and a half." The learned counsel
then explained, by means of the model befoie mentioned, the
nature of the embankment in question, adding that any game
except game on the wiug was quite imprisoned by it.

In reply to the Master of the Rolls,

Sir R. Baggaj>lay said that at the side of that part of the
copse which adjoined Mr. Laud's farm there was no embank-
ment ; but there could be no doubt that if the defendants suc-
ceeded Mr. Laud would follow their example, as he had made
an affidavit on their behalf. The result of the erection of tliis
bauk was that Mr. Budd was prevented from keeping up a
sufficient quantity of game, the game being deprived of that

286

THE i^'ARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

power of running; on the adjoining land which was essential
to the nourishing and bringing up of birds that were unable to
flv ; and Mr. Budd alleged that the said trapping banks were
constructed for the express purpose of preventing all game that
was unable to Hy from passing from one side to tlie other of
tlie said banks, except by going round the banks, or passing
througli the holes in whicli the rabbit-traps were set, and that
these holes were, until Mie early part of the spring of tliis year,
regularly opened at night by the defendants, and that the
result of setting such traps was that the hares belonging to
the said Thomas William Budd were continually being
caught in such traps, and that he has a record of eight hares
which have been so destroyed, three of which were sent up to
him by the defendant Fairman Joseph Manu, with a message
that they liad been caughtin his " trapping banks," and incon-
sequence he, the said Thomas William Budd, caused a watch to
be set at night, and, as the said holes were opened, caused
them to be stopped by his gamekeepers, vvith a view to pre-
venting his hares getting into the defendant's traps, and at
length, in the early part of the spring of this year, the defend-
ants ceased from setting such traps, but they still insist upon
their right to set the same, and generally to use the said banks
as trapping banks."

Mr. Fry said the plaintiff had admitted that tliree of the
hares were sent to him by the defendant.

SirR. Bagg^vllay : Yes, when theplaintiif had caught some
hares he sent some up to the hall. Mr. Budd further said
that " the banks were especially injurious at that period of
the year when the young partridges and pheasants were un-
able to fly, and had the double effect of imprisoning in the
covert any young birds which might have been hatched
within it, and also preventing such young birds as might be
outside the covert from finding shelter in it ; and that while
the parent birds were able to fly over the fence the young
birds were prevented from following, and were liable to be
deserted, and this was peculiarly serious in the case of phea-
sants, the pheasant being a bad mother and tasily induced to
desert her youug." in support of this the plaintiff stated
that upwards of 20 young pheasants were found dead by his
servants on the defendants' land in the course of the summer
of 1870, the effect of erecting the said southern trapping bank
having been to make a narrow driftway running on the de-
fendants' land all along and outside the southern boundary of
the covert. The 20 young pheasants were found dead in that
driftway, and Mr. Budd " attributes their destruction to the
circumstajce that in the summer of 1870 the defendants had
a field laid down in grass at the south-west corner of the said
covert, and drove sheep along such driftway to such field, and
that the sheep drove the young pheasants before them, and
that their attempts to climb the said trapping bank tailed in
consequence of the projection of the said furze, and that they
were then trampled to death." The Bill went on to say —

The said driftway has not been used for driving sheep
this year, and the said Thomas William Budd states that he
has no record of any young birds having been killed this
spring by the above me'ans ; but should the defendants again
use the driftway for this purpose, the like results will follow,
and they claini and have tlie right so to use such driftway at
any time. The said Thomas William Budd also states that of
the said two trapping banks that on the southern side is most
injurious, inasmuch as that side is the sunny side of the
covert, and the game prefer that side in consequence. The
said Thomas William Budd also states that the boundary of
the said covert called " The Grove" is altogether about 1,760
yards, and of this about 220 yards run along the said road
from Shropham to Larlingford, 830 yards run along the
defendants' land, and the remaining 701 yards run along the
said farm of the said Robert Land, the tenant abovenamed.
And the said wire netting and banks put up by the defen-
dants run parallel to the whole of the 836 yards of boundary
where the said covert adjoins the defendants' land, and the
result is that an undue proportion of game coming from the
said covert is driven on to the land of the said Robert Land,
inasmuch as the ingress and egress to his land is free from
any such obstruction as that erected by the defendants, and
he has repeatedly complained to the said Thomas William
Budd in respect of this circumstance, and it is thus that the
defendants' banks are detrimental to the other covenants on
the estate. Snch game as does not find its way on to the
land of the said Robert Land is driven to find its way out of
the covert at the east end, which abuts on the high road
abovementioned ; but there it is met by high wire fencing
placed at the top of the eastern bank that bounds the road,
and erected by the defendants, who are tenants under their

aforesaid lease of the laud which lies on the side of ihe road
immediately opposite to the eastern end of the covert,.

The Master of the Uolls : Is the fence on the east or on
the west side of the road ?

Sir R. Baggallay : On the east.

Mr. Fry : Do you ask for any order as to that ?

Sir R. Baggallay : I ask for general directions to restrain
you from a breach of the covenant.

The Master of the Rolls : Why did you not bring au
action ? It might then have appeared what the damage was.

Sir R. Baggallay : The Receiver was the lessor.

The Master of the Rolls : You might have indemnified
him.

Mr. Fry : The bill in this case is filed in the Receiver's
name.

The Master of the Rolls : Personally of course he has
nothing to do with it.

Sir R. Baggallay : Our object is to prevent a continued
breach of the covenant.

The Master of the Rolls : But there is the question of
the damage actually done.

Sir R. Baggallay : We don't want our right to be mea-
sured by so many pounds of damage ; we want the defen-
dants to be restrained from doing what they undertook not to do.
Money would not be a compensation.

The Master of the Roils : I want to know whether you
have really sustained an injury.

Sir R. Baggallay : There is the injury to the enjoyment of
the estate.

The Master of the Rolls : But have you sustained an
injury?

Mr. Fry : They have rilled more pheasants than they ever
did before.

Sir R. Baggallay: That is the old story that when you
have blocked up a man's window he gets more light.

The Master of the Rolls : Suppose the defendants erected
these banks for the protection of their crops. Are they not
as much entitled to protect them as you are entitled to the
shooting ?

Sir R, Baggallay : We are hardly here to consider the
question whether the Game-laws are good.

The Master of the Rolls : But I put that as a mere
question of legal right.

Sir R. Baggallay: They have entered into a contract not
0 do a particular act of which we complain.

The Master of the Rolls : The Receiver has given them
power to grow crops on their land, and they are entitled to have
fair protection for those crops.

Sir R. Baggallay : Of course the question might have
been raised in another form if the defendants had thought fit to
build a brick wall so as to prevent the possibility of any game
ever coming on his land ; but they took the farm subject to the
exercise by the lessor of the right of sporting over it.

The Master of the Rolls : The defendants were to have
aright to destroy rabbits.

Sir R. Ba-GGALLAY: But the question is whether what
they have done is a fit mode of destroying rabbits. The cove-
nant says that while they are to be at liberty to " kill and take
rabbits on the said farm," they arc to do no injury to the game
on the said lands or the adjoining lands.

The Master of the Rolls : That must mean other than
rabbits, that is pheasants, hares, and partridges.

Sir R. Baggallay: It is essential to the feeding of phea-
rants that they should have a right of ingress and egress as
regards that portion of that estate. No doubt a covenant of
this kind is a fetter, an injury, and a detriment to the farm ;
but the defendants took the farm with their eyes open.

The Master of the Rolls: The only question is how far
they have injured the pheasants, hares, and partridges. The
rabbits they were entitled to kill.

Sir R. Baggallay then read a statement in the Bill to
the effect that at the beginning of this year the plaintiff, Mr.
Hemsworth, at the requestor Mr. Budd, visited the bank, and
satisfied himself that he had reasonable ground for complaint;
and also that Mr. F. J. Mann had complained that Mr. Budd did
not cause the rabbits in the neighbourhood of " The Grove"
to be kept down sufficiently ; and that he (Mr. Budd) had pro-
posed that the defendant sliould stop the rabbits by the erection
of the ordinary low wire fencing, but the defendant said he
preferred to erect the trapping-bank.

THE FARMl'lR'S MAGAZINE.

287

The Master of tlie Rolls : Everybody knows that ordinary
low wire fencing will not stop rabbits, unless it it put a foot in
the ground, which makes it more expensive than a bank.

Sir R. Baggall.vy: On the lllh of March, 1871, the
plaintiff wrote to Mr. F. J. Mann, in consequence of such visit,
as follows :

Bacton, 11th March, 1871.

Deab Sie, — I regi'et to say that I do not think you have
been acting in accordance with your lease by imprisoning
the game in the wood, so that your farm is not open to its
ingress and egress, and is therefore useless to us for sporting
rights. I hope, therefore, j-ou will take my advice by
throwing down the bank in order to avoid the cost of trying
the question. Your lease appears to me, in conjunction with
Mr. Budd's lease, to afford ample protection to you without
taking the matter in your own hands in this unusual way.
Believe me, yours faithfully,

Mr. F. Mann. A. B. HEiiswoMH.

The defendant declined to accede to the suggestion contained
in that letter, and therefore tiiis suit was commenced, Mr.
Budd indemnifying Mr. Herasworth. Tiie plaintiff said :
Mr. Budd had informed him that he had discovered that
the defendants have, in that one of them has recently on
repeated occasions, one of which was the 21ith of June, 1871,
caused a shepherd, employed by them on their farm, to pass
over a portion of one of their fields of corn immediately ad-
joining the said covert called " The Grove," on the southern
side thereof, two or thi'oe times in the course of the day with
his dog, and thereby deliberately to disturb the young game
in the immediate neighbourhood, and upon the gamekeeper
of the said Thomas William Budd remonstrating with the
said shepherd, and pointing out to him that his dog was
actually running the young partridges, the said shepherd
stated that he acted by the orders of the said Fairmau Joseph
Mann, who had giveu him directions to hunt the said field
every day, and two or three times in every day, and the said
shepherd added that he did not hunt the field so often as ho
ought to do, according to his master's orders ; and the said
Thomas AVilliam Budd also states that on some occasions
recently the same shepherd has been found walking, by
defendant's order, over the same field, carrying a gun, with
the express object of disturbing the game iu such field.

The defendant, John Eagling Mann, the Bill said, pretended
that he had not taken any part i'l the acts complained of, but
that he was liable as part owner of the farm and responsible
for the acts of Fairmau Joseph Mann. With regard to the
lioles, the defendants contended that they had a right under
the lease to erect and maintain the said bank as a bank for
"trapping rabbits," and in his correspondence with the
plaintiff and with Mr. Budd, Mr. Fairmau Joseph Mann
called it his " trapping bank," and said it was essential to its
success as such that it should be surrounded with wire fencing
to prevent the rabbits from passing over the bank, and forcing
them to take to the holes left for their ingress and egress, and
in which the traps were placed. In paragraph 28 of the Bill
the plaintiff said :

The defendants sometimes pretend that the said Thomas
William Budd has kept up an amounts of rabbits and other
game on their farm of such an amount as to be destructive to
the crops of the defendants beyond what was justLfied by the
terms of the said sporting lease. But the plauitiff charges
that even if such allegations were true, it in no way justifies
the acts of the defendants, and the said Thomas William
Budd states that the allegation is wholly without any
foundation, and in jDroof of this he states that on the
farm of the defendants he, the said Thomas William Budd,
was only able to kill nine brace of partridges during last
season and four hares, but found no rabbits at all, while on
two other farms adjoining, the one tenanted by one ilr.
Barker, and the other tenanted by the said Robert Land,
and together making about double the acreage of the
defendants' farm, he shot in the same season 155 brace of
partridges and upwards of 100 hares, and the said Thomas
William Budd states that the defendants' farm affords him
the worst shooting on the said estate.

The Master of the Rolls observed that it was not stated
there how olten Mr. Budd shot on the defendants' f;irra, and
that he might have done so only one day. He should like
to know what was the character of the crops, and whether
there was more or less stubble than usual.

Sir R. Baggallay had no doubt there was the usual pro-
portion of arable. The prayer of the plaintiff was as follows :

1. That it may be declared that the aforesaid acts of the
Defendants amount to a breach by them of such of the cove-
nants contained in their said lease as refer to the sporting
rights over the said farm and to the killing of raljbitl
thereon.

2. That the Defendants may be ordered to alter the con-
struction of the said trapping' banks, running parallel to the
said covert, called " The Grove," and the wire netting sur-
mounting the same, iu such mamier as that the same shall
not prevent the free ingress and egress of game to and from
the said covert called "The Grove," and shall not be an
obstruction to the said Thomas William Budd in the enjoy-
ment of his sporting rights.

3. That the Defendants may bo restrained from killing or
taking rabbits on the lands demised to them, and from
adopting any method of killing or taking rabbits on their
said land so as to do mjm-y to the game on the lands so
demised to them, or to the game on the adjoining lands.

4. That the Defendants, then- agents and servants, may be
restrained from hunting the fields surrounding the said
covert or doing any other act with the object of wilfully dis-
turbing the game on the lands demised to them, the said
Defendants, and from injuriously interfering with the proper
presei'vation of the game on the lands demised to them, and
generally from domg any acts having for their object the
wilful disturbance of the game on the farm held by them, or
the obstruction of the enjoyment by the said Thomas William
Budd of his sporting rights over the said farm.

5. That the PlaintLflfmay have such fm-ther or other relief
as the natm'e of the case may require.

The answers which the defendants had put in almost ad-
mitted what was charged against them in the bill. Mr. Fair-
man Joseph Mann had been in the actual occupation of
the farm ever since 1862, the other defendant having joined
in the lease by way of surety. The defendants said :

In the summer and autumn of 1883 the number of rabbits
in The Grove was so great that the defendant Fairman
Joseph Mann made repeated complaints, both verbally and
by letter, to the said Thomas William Budd, and also to the
plaintiff, but no good result followed from the complaints.
In the following year serious damage was again done to the
crops, and fresh complaints were made ; and the plaintiff, at
the instance of the defendant Fairman Joseph Mann tried
to persuade the said Thomas William Budd to keep down
the rabbits, but without success. On the 5th of December,
1869, the defendant Fairman Joseph Mann wrote and sent
to the said Thomas William Budd a letter from which the
following is an extract : "I have promised Mr. Hemsworth
to wait a little time and see if the rabbits and hares are
killed ; if not, I must, in self-defence, employ men to kill
them at night, and put up banks and wire-fencing round this
portion of The Grove. I need scarcely add how sorry I
should be to cause you annoj-ance in any way, and I still hope
you may consider it wise not to compel me to adopt such
means. Tou cannot blame mo for protecting my own pro-
perty from such vermin as rabbits and hares."

On the 11th December, 1869, the defendant Fairman
Joseph Mann wrote and sent to the plaintiff a letter which,
omitting the formal parts, was as follows :

I yesterday went over my wheat field " Stockstone," near
The Grove. I was surprised and frightened to find so much
injury done within the last few days by the rabbits and
hares, so much so that I really dare not wait a day longer, so
have commenced making a bank for the purpose of putting
on wu'o-fencing. I find more than an acre of wheat has
been eaten off in a few days. This wire fence will be an ex-
pensive undertaking, but I think you will allow me for the
outlay. I feel you cannot refuse this under the circum-
stances I have explained. I think you will approve the
steps I have taken. Nothing but prompt measures wiU save
my wheat.

In answer to the above letter, the plaintiff, on the 15th of
December, 1869, wrote and sent to the defendant Fairman
Joseph Mann a letter containing the following passages :

I cannot allow you for any of the expenses of protecting
yourself against the rabbits by banks and wire-netting ; this
you must do at your own cost Could you not sur-
round ' The Grove' with netting like that which is nsed in
covert shooting, and so catch a sufficient number of rabbit3
to pay the expenses ?

" Under the circumstances aforesaid," said the defendants, " we
admit that the defendant Fairman Joseph Mann in December,
1869, with the full knowledge and consent of the plaintiff,
began and soon completed the erection, on the land demised to
us, parallel to the whole of the north side of the said covert,
where it abuts upon tiie lands in our occupation, of a bank
which we sometimes call a " trapping bank," and consisting
of an earthen bank surmounted by wire-fencing, the whole
being of the height of five feet, or thereabouts, of which the
earthen bank forms three feet and the wire-netting two feet.
Such bank is erected on the laud included in our lease. It
was erected solely for the purpose of protecting the crops from

288

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

destruction by the rabbits, and it succeeded so well that the
defendant Fairmau Joseph Mann became desirous of ex-
tending it to the other sides of the covert joining liis land,
and of obtaining permission to use for that purpose the banks
of the covert which are not included in the lease of the farm.
The learned counsel then read part of a correspondence be-
tween the defendant Eairmau Joseph Mann and the plaintiff,
in the course of which the plaintiff said, " As to the rabbits I
think you must protect yourself," and said that the
defendants contended that the banks were, under
the circ\imstances described, erected with the full
knowledge and sanction of the plaintiif. They likewise al-
leged that Mr. Bndd " never complained to them, and but for
the statements in tiie bill they could not say whether he had
ever complained to the plaintiff that the trapping-banks se-
riously obstructed him in the enjoyment of his sporting rights,
and destroyed hares and young pheasants, and to the best of
their belief there was no ground whatever for such com-
plaints ; that the bank did keep, and was intended to keep, the
rabbits to a great extent from coming on to the farm, inasmuch
as rabbits did not willingly go far from their holes, but it did
not keep out hares, which went a great distance for food ; and
as to pheasants, they liad been informed, and believed, that
more pheasants were shot in the covert last season, when both
banks were erected, than had ever been shot before since Mr.
Budd had liad the shooting." Tlie banks certainly kept the
animals away from that particular property.

The Master of the Rolls said though what was done
might be an injury to the neighbouring farms, it did not follow
that it destroyed tlie hares.

Sir R. Baggallay said tlie hares, not being able to get into
the field to protect which the bank was erected, were driven in
another direction, and it was impossible to say that that was
not a breach of the covenant. No doubt hares did a great
deal of mischief, but that was not the question.

The Master of the Rolls, referring to a plan before him,
observed that the hares had only to go about 100 yards round
to get upon the defendants' field.

Sir R. Baggallay said the defendants declared that in what
they had done they had no thought of winged game, which
they said did no damage to farmers ; that Mr. Budd caused
a watch to be set at night, and instructed his keepers to watch
the holes iu the banks, which they were advised was an act of
trespass, and wholly unjustifiable ; and that in November 1870,
William Lines, one of Mr. Budd's keepers, was convicted by
the magistrates at Ilarling of malicious injury to the bank.
The defendants added, " With a view to remove every ground
of complaint, we ceased in the early part of the spring of tliis
year, and long before the filing of the bill, to set traps in the
holes under the banks. We have no present intention of set-
ting them again, but we submit and insist that we have the
right, under our lease, to trap rabbits in the holes whenever
we think fit so to do." If the principle for which the de-
fendants contended were established they had a right to make
an impervious wall on their side of the Grove, the other tenants
might do the same, and the covert would no longer be a covert
in the ordinary sense of the word, lie contended that tlicre
was nothing in the answers of the defendants to shake the case
of the plaintiff. The defendants had no right to drive back
the game by employing, as they did, the shepherd with a dog;
while the use of a gun was clearly likely to disturb the game,
particularly when the young birds were hatching.

Tlie Master of the Rolls said he thought that would be
injurious.

Sir R. Baggallay said he must also ask his lordship to

declare that the putting up of a fence which prevented ingress

and egress was a breach of the covenant.
The Master of the Rolls asked the learned counsel what

precise injunction he desired?

SirR. Baggallay said he asked that the defendants'might

be restrained from adopting any method of stopping the ingress

and egress of the game.

The Master of the Rolls : I think you are entitled to

ask that tiiey may be restrained from hunting the ground. 1

do not think they ought to be allowed at the latter end of the

month of June to send a shepherds' dog into a field where the

birds are perhaps hatching their young.

Sir R. Baggallay said he also asked that the defendants

might be restrained from liunting the field surrounding the

covert,

Tlie Master of the Rolls: I certainly think sending a
shepherd through the field with a dog in the month of June is
not justifiable.

Sir R. Baggallay : It shows the animus.

The Master of the Rolls : I am not sure of that. I
think the animus of the defendants is the protection of their
own crops,

Mr. Fry : We should have been ready to cease from doing
what has just been mentioned if we had been asked to do so.

Mr. Bedwell, who followed on the same side, referred to
a statement of Mr. Mihill, who was sent by the Receiver to
ascertain the state of the Grove as regarded rabbits, to the
effect that in a whole day he could only kill fourfold rabbits.

Mr. Fry, Q.C, then addressed the court on behalf of the
defendants. He submitted that both in point of law and in
point of fact the plaintiff had failed to make out Iiis case.
The erection of the banks commenced in November, 1869, and
Burton, Mr. Budd's head gamekeeper, stated iu his affidavit
that there had been no ground game on the defendants' farm,
which comprised nearly a third part of the estate, for the last 4
years, and that it had been rendered absolutely valueless for
sporting purposes. That affidavit, being filed in March, 1873,
carried thera back to the spring of 1868, and he repeated that
the first bank was commenced in 1869, while the second dated
no farther back than April, 1870. It was clear, therefore, that f
the game had been diminished, it was owmg to something an-
terior to the first erection ; and if so, where was the evidence of
damage ? The field where the sheep were driven was one which
had been laid down in grass ; and supposing the defendants did
on one occasion drive sheep along the driftway so as in some
degree to injure Mr. Budd, was tliat a sufficient reason for the
court to interfere ? His lordship must see what a trumpery
matter this was. It was admitted that since 1871 no driving
of sheep had taken place. With regard to partridges, the only
material suggestion was that in June, 1871, one of the defend-
ants went across the field and disturbed the game. That
charge was never brought to their knowledge till the Bill was
filed, and wlien tlie thing was looked at carefully it turned out
to be of no importance. It was insinuated that this was a sort
of act that continued from day to day and from year to j'ear.
AVas the Court called upon to try every petty question
that might arise between the gamekeeper on the one side
and the farmer on the other? The gamekeeper had twice
been convicted before the magistrates of an assault on the
shepherd, and the result of his lordship's doing what was now
asked would be to transfer a sort of border warfare to that
court. As regarded the point of law, the plaintiff's case was
equally unsatisfactory. There was a difference between the
rights given in the two leases. Mr. Budd's lease gave him
the riglit of sporting, with the reservation that he should do
no injury to the land by setting traps or snares ; while the de-
fendants were under their lease to be at liberty to set traps or
snares for the purpose of killing rabbits. Moreover, any
rights which Mr. Budd might have as against Mr. Heinswortli
were not now in question. The defendants' lease said that
tliey " shall not kill or destoy, but shall do their utmost to
preserve, the game and fish on the land and premises hereby
demised." The demise did not include the Grove, and the
defendants were not bound to protect the game there. To his
learned friend's statement that it was necessary that the hares
and pheasants should have free ingress and egress as respected
the Grove, he answered that they had never contracted to
provide that, and that they were entitled to protect themselves
by means of a wall.

Tlie Master of the Rolls: If the birds come on the land
you must protect them.

Mr. Fry : But we may keep them from coming, and that
was the object of putting up the fence.

Tlie Master of the Rolls : No doubt it is right to keep
up the fence, but not to catch hares.

Mr. Fry continued : The plaintiff had taken the law into
his own hands by stopping up the holes which were used to
catch rabbits. The defendants migiit have placed the rabbit-
traps at the back of the covert, but, instead of that, they had
put them in one part five or six feet and in another fifteea
feet from it. It was stated that they had caught hares. He
ventured to say it was beneath the dignity of the Court to in-
terfere in a dispute of that kind because eight hares had been
caught in three years. He ought to mention that it appeared
from the evidence that Mr, Budd was the senior partner ia

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

289

the firm of solicitors who filed the hill in that suit, and no
douht was in the habit of going down there at Christmas. He
did not reside there, and did not shoot over the estate as early
as he would do if he were a resident.

The jMastek, of the Rolls observed that that did not
aifect the case in the least. A man who had hired a house
and shooting must be allowed to use them when he pleased.

Mr. Ery : But no doubt the game accumulated more in
consequence.

The Master of the Rolls observed that the alleged injury
must have been confined to the seasons of 1870 and 1871.

Mr. Fry said it was not suggested that the traps were
intended for any other purpose than the trapping of rabbits.
In the 11th paragraph of the Bill the plaintiff said : " The
said Thomas William Budd has, ever since the said banks
were erected, complained on various occasions both to the
defendants and to tlie plaintiff, that the said trapping banks
and the acts thus committed by the defendants seriously ob-
structed him in the enjoyment of the sporting rights so de-
mised to the said Edward Daniell." He wanted to know where
they undertook to protect Mr. Budd in his sporting rights.

Sir R. Baggallay : Mr. Daniell was the lessee.

Mr. Fry : Yes, he was the lessee and transferred his lease to
Mr. Budd ; but the land was taken for agricultural purposes, and
if the carrying out of those purposes obstructed Mr. Budd in the
exercise of his shooting rights, they had nothing to do with
it. The plaintiff further said that the banks " limited the
feeding ground of the game sheltering in the said covert."
Where did the defendants undertake not to do that ? All
they undertook to do was not to kill or destroy the game on
the land demised to them. It was also alleged that the banks
"considerably increased the dilliculties in the way of the said
Thomas Wm. Budd in his efforts to keep up a sufficient head of
game in the said covert." There again there was no undertaking
on the defendants' part. It was extremely difficult to believe that
20 young pheasants had been trampled to death as alleged ; but
even if that were so, they were young pheasants not on the land
demised to the defendants, and the thing occurred two years
ago. He must now refer with a little more particularity to the
answers of the defendants than his learned friend had done.
In the 8th paragraph they said that in the summer and
autumn of 1868 the number of rabbits in the Grove was so
great that they made repeated complaints, both verbally and
by letter, to Mr. Budd and to the plaintiff, but no good result
followed. Therefore the complaint of the defendants' was no
idle complaint.

In reply to the Master of the RoUs,

Mr. Fry observed that although the Messrs. Manns' lease
dated from 1862, the formal execution of it was postponed for
some years after. On the 5th of December the defendant
Fairman Joseph Mann wrote to Mr. Budd. saying that he
would wait a little time and see if the rabbits and hares were
killed, if not he must in self-defence employ men to kill them
at night, and put up banks and wire fencing round that
that portion of the Grove, adding that he should be sorry to
cause annoyance, but that Mr. Budd could not blame him for
protecting his own property from " such vermin as rabbits
and hares." On the 11th of December Mr. Mann wrote a
letter to the plaintiff', in which he said he was surprised and
frightened at the injury done within the last few days, and
that he dare not wait a day longer, and had commenced put-
ting up wire, fencing ; adding " I find more than an acre of
wheat has been eaten off in a few days," and that nothing
but prompt measures would save his wheat. The defendant
appealed to the plaintiff to allow him for the outlay, but this
was declined. The plaintiff said ; " I cannot allow you for any
of the expenses of protecting yourself against the rabbits, by
banks and wire netting." How, then, could the plaintiff say
that it was done without his knowledge or consent ?

The Master of the Rolls said he did not think that
touched the real question, which was whether in acting as they
did the defendants destroyed the game.

Mr. Fry said it was admitted in the bill that the banks were
erected for the trapping of rabbits. This was put an end to in
the spring of 1871 by Mr. Budd's stopping up the holes, and
they had never been reopened. The only other way in which
game could have been injured was by sheep being driven,
and that liad not been done since 1870. What remained ?
Want of access for the game in the covert to the land of the
farm, In April 1870 the defendant Fairraau Joseph Mann

sent to the plaintiff' a letter in which he said that as his barley
was sown he was anxious to prevent the heavy losses of last
year by hares and rabbits, and asked permission to put wire
fencing on the top of the grove nest the Harling Road, a dis-
tance of about 220 yards. On the 6th of May the plaintiff
replied, " As to the rabbits I think you must protect yourself."
As regarded the young pheasants which, according to tlie bill,
were found dead in the driftway, the defendants said they had
caused particular inquiries to be made of the shepherd who
had charge of the sheep, and he positively asserted that no
such occurrence ever took, place, and they further said that if
the sheep had come upon young pheasants in the driftway in
the manner suggested, they would naturally have gone back to
the Grove by the way they had come out, the banks and wire
fencing being on the opposite side of the driftway, and not
separating the driftway from the grove. The erections com-
plained of were of a purely protective character, and the de-
fendants had a clear right to protect their land from the access
of game. The evidence of the vicar of Shrophara went to
show that since he first came there, twenty years ago, the
number of hares and rabbits had enormously increased, and
that considerable damage had occurred in consequence. It
was also in evidence that from four to six acres of land ad-
joining the grove had been so infested that it was now waste
of time and money to cultivate them. The occupant of the
adjoining farm, Mr. Robert Laud, in a letter to the defendant,
dated July 27th, 1871, asking for information with respect to
his own experience, said :

Since Mr. Budd has been the tenant of Sliropliam Hall I
have always been complaining of the inordinate quantity of
game. This will apply to the present and also to previous
years. For in the year 1869 1 felt myself so much aggrieved
from the excessive damage of hares and rabbits that I em-
ployed Mr. Thomas Fisher Salter to value the damage I had
sustained on 24 acres of wheat and oats near the Grove, and
Mr. Salter's award was no less than £150 upon this field alone.
I can also state without any doubt that the damage I have
sustained from game ever since Mr. Budd has been the tenant
of Shropham Hall has averaged at the least from £100 to £150
per year. This applies both to the present time and previous
to the erection of the wire fences by yoiu-self. I have always
said, and I again say, I do not in any way blame you for
protecting yourself as far as possible from the hares and rab-
bits in the Grove, and so strong were my convictions on the
subject that you were only doing what was right and proper
that I unhesitatingly gave you my free consent that you
should erect part of the wu'e fence upon my Ijank.

The real " head and front" of their " offending" was, not that
they had injured the game in the covert, but that they had
erected banks for their own protection — that whereas, Mr.
Budd wished his game to ramble freely over their land, they
had endeavoured to protect themselves against that evil.
Under these circumstances he submitted that tlie bill was one
that ought never to have been filed, and that it should be dis-
missed with costs.

Mr. Cozens-Hardy followed on the same side.

Sir R. Bagg ALLAY briefly replied.

In answer to a questio a from the Master of the Rolls,

JMr. Fry said he would undertake, on behalf of the de-
fendants, that they would not have sheep driven, or a gun
fired in shooting rabbits, so as to disturb the game in the covert.

The Master of the Rolls : Of course if the defendants
were to shoot rabbits early in the morning, any one who shot
afterwards would have very little sport.

SirR. Baggallay: I think your lorship will be of opinion
that we are entitled to an injunction to restrain any improper
exercise of the defendants' right to take and kill rabbits.

The Master of the Rolls then asked to be furnished with
a copy of the affidavits, as he wished to read them, and added
that he would dispose of the case on Thursday morning.

The Judgment. — At 10 o'clock on Thursday morning his
lordship gave judgment as follows : This is a suit of very un-
usual occurrence in this court as regards the subject of it — the
important subject of the game-laws — between a gentleman who
has hired some shooting and a tenant of the estate. The ten-
ant has entered into a covenant by which he undertakes to
preserve the game. The covenant is in these words : "And
that they, the said Fairman Joseph Mann and John Eagling
Mann, their executors, administrators, or licensed assigns, shall
not kill or destroy ; but shall do their utmost to preserve the
game and fish on the lands and premises hereby demised, and
shall not shoot or sport over the said hereby demised premises,

2ro

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

or set traps or snares on the banks of the coverts above ground
on any part of the said lands and premises hereby demised
except lor takin;^ and killing rabbits." Another part of
the lease contains a provision that the defendants " shall be at
liberty to kill and take tiie rabbits on the said farm and lauds
hereby demised, he and they doing no injury to the game on
the said lands or the adjoining lands." iN'ovv I hold that to
mean that the defendants have an express power to set traps
and snares on the banks of tiie coverts above ground on any
part of the demised premises for the purpose of taking rabbits.
Wiiat they have done is this : they liave raised a bank round a
considerable part of the covert. There is a covert of 40 acres
exactly a mile in circumference. A bank 3 feet high has been put
up, and also a wire fence 2 feet high, making 5 feet altogether,
and the defendants have twisted in the upper part of the fence
a certain quantity of furze and the like, which makes it
almost impossible for any ganie to run or jump over. They
have also made holes in the banks where they have set traps ;
and, provided they set the traps only to catch rabbits, I think
they were perfectly justified in doing that. I see nothing in
the lease to prevent them from protecting their own laud
against rabbits, wliicli diminish the quantity of produce
that the land produces. It is said that these burrows
under the bank occasionally catch hares. 'Ihe plaintiff
says that in the course of a little more than two years
eight hares were caught in that way, while the defendants
say they believe that only four were caught. At all events
that shows the extent of the damage. Now, the game which
was to be preserved is in Norfolk and Suffolk, ou the borders
of those two counties. That it is very plentiful appears from
the account of the shooting in the covert. Tlie number of
hares, at least, must be very great, for four hundred were
killed in one season ; so that I don't think there can have
been very serious injury to the hares. The tenant says that
whenever he knew of a hare being killed he sent it up to the
Hall, with an intimation as to how it was caught. Tiiere is
great hostility between the parties in tliis suit, as, indeed,
there always, or at least generally, is on questions connected
with game ; hut, as regards the covenant which I have cited
in reference to the protection of the game, so far as the matter
has gone, I see nothing to deprive the defendant of the right
of putting up a fence of this description, which, he says, was
erected to protect his crops, and not with any view of injuring
the game ; and there is no allegation that the game within
the coppice has been injured in the slightest degree. The
plaintiff has set his keepers to fill up tlie hole in the bsuk at
night. Whether he had any right to do that I do not
know. If the matter had remained there, I should
have had no hesitation in dealing with the case ; I
should have said at once that it was not a case
for this court, but one in which if any injury had been received
the proper course was to bring an action at law. But there
is one thing in the conduct of the defendants which seems to
have been a violation of the covenant ; I refer to the fact that
in the month of June they employed a shepherd with a dog
for the purpose of driving the rabbits out of the field into the
coppice, that thereby they disturbed the partridges in their
nests, and that the young partridges were seen running before
the dog. Now that was in my opinion a direct violation of
the covenant, which the defendants had entered into
to preserve the game upon the land. But then it is
to be observed that it is a long time ago since
that occurred, and there has been no further complaint.
Indeed, the defendants say that no complaint was made of
that before the suit was instituted, or they would have taken
care that it should not occur again, and in fact that they have
taken care, and now undertake that it shall not occur again.
I am of opinion that if this had been the cause of the suit
being resisted by the defendants, the Court would at all events
have deprived them of the costs ; hut as it is, I think this is
a suit which ought never to have been instituted, and I shall
simply dismiss the Bill with costs.

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF

IRELAND.

At the last monthly meeting of the Council held at 4-2,
Upper Sackville-street, Dublin, Sir George Hodson, Bart., in
the chair, the members present were: Lord T;ilbot de

Malahide, Lord Gougli, Lord De Veaci, Lord Clonbrock, Baron
De llobeck, Sir Allan Walsh, Bart., Hon. Charles J. Trench,
Ilobcrt C. Wade, Dawson A. Milward, Wm. Donnelly, C.B.,
Win. Owen, J. M. lloyse, li. M. Carden, Hans H. Woods,
Edward I'urdon, Cliarles U. Towusend, Michael Cahill, Sey-
mour Mowbray, Hugh Harris, and Phineas lliall.

Mr. DoNKELLY again brought forward his motion, of
which he had previously given notice, with regard to
the propriety of keeping the lauds of Ireland as free as possi-
ble from weeds. When he introduced this subject at the last
meeting of the Council, an objection was raised — and very
properly — as to the mode in which it could be carried out, to
obviate which he proposed to add the following paragraph :
" Tlie declaration, which is to be final and conclusive, must
be sent to the Secretary of the Society previous to the pay-
ment of the prize."

Lord De Vesci asked if the person who made the declara-
tion was to get the prize, although it might subsequently turn
out that weeds were found to be on his farm ?

Mr. DoiVNELLY replied that it was the intention of the
words which he had added to his resolution that the declara-
tion should be final and conclusive. No one, lie was confident,
would make a declaration which he did not believe to be true.
The importance of this subject had been referred to by the
Duke of Abffrcorn, in Derry, and by Lord Wodehouse, in
Tralee.

Sir Allan Walsh observed that if a man had three or
four farms, one of which was clean and two or three dirty, he
might make a declaration that the lands of so so-and-so were
clean, and thus become entitled to the prize.

Mr. Donnelly said he did not anticipate that such a thing
could take place.

The Hon. Cuakles Trench, as a rule, objected to all de-
clarations. They ought not to rely altogether on the declara-
tion of the person obtaining the prize, but to insist upon hav-
ing a certificate from his neighbours. The mode proposed
to deal with the matter was objectionable, inasmuch as it was
putting the cart before the horse.

Mr. DuNNELLY withdrew his motion, and in doing so ex-
pressed a hope that it would be taken into consideration on a
future occasion.

Mr. Wade, in pursuance of a notice of motion which he
had placed on the minutes, proposed : " That in future mem-
bers of the Society be limited to two free entries of stock or
other animals, or produce, to be entered for competition at
the Society's annual cattle show." The members of the
Council, he said, were doubtless aware that the receipts aud
expenses were undertaken by the local committee, and amongst
the former were the entrance fees paid by the exhibitors.
This subject he had brought before the Council that time
twelve mouths, and as it was of some importance to the
members, he did so again.

Mr. Woods seconded the resolution.
Mr. Mowbray believed it would have the effect of making
exhibitors send in as few animals as possible. Tor his part,
if he had to pay for every entry, his entries would be very
few, instead of, as hitherto, very large. He moved, as an
amendment, that there should be one free entry in every section.
Mr. Owen seconded the amendment, which was adopted.
Messrs. Towusend and Eoyse were appointed judges of
entries for labourers' cottages entered for competition during
the ensuing year.

A draft report of an agreement entered into between the
Council of the Socitty and the local committee of the Belfast
show and the North-East Agricultural Association was sub-
mitted, and, after some slight technical alterations, ap-
proved of.

The Chairman stated that the report of the Joint Flax
Committee had been laid on the table, which wounl up the
whole affair.

The Hon. Mr. Trench observed that an application had
been made to the Government to continue to extend the grant
previously given for the encouragement of the growth of flax
in Ireland, and he understood a positive answer had been re-
ceived, refusing any further grant.

The following were elected members of the Society: Wra.
S. Garnett, Williamstown, Kelts; Sydney W. J. Wright,
Bridgeview, Killarney ; J. Curteyn, Castle Curteyn, Killarney;
and Arthur J , Owen, I51esinton,

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

291

AN ANONYMOUS ASSEMBLY,

There is nothing more noticeable when reviewing the
progress of agriculture during the last quarter of a cen-
tury than the imjirovemeut which has characterised the
couduct of our public meetings or social gatherings.
There was a time when the long clay pipe, the somewhat
boisterous stave, and the " hot stopping" were regarded
as the chief inducements for getting farmers together.
But these days have gradually passed away, and, with
some expcrieuce of other large assemblies, we are inclined
to thiuk that nowhere will men as a rule keep closer to
the point or carry themselves more becomingly than the
occupiers of land when they draw into a focus at a So-
ciety's show or a Club discnssion. j\Iore informatiou
has been disseminated, more intelligence developed by
such a means than through any other cause which could
be spoken to. By the further aid of a good reliable re-
port this system of mutual advantage comes to be almost
infinitely extended. j\Iany a man who would fight shy of
a Royal essay, although he found the pages ready " cut"
to his hand, will eagerly turn to see what his next-door
neighbour had to say, or some more famous agriculturist
to ofter on the merits of the principle nudcr consideration.

It would seem, however, that the management of these
meetings is even now open to some signal amendment.
To carry the weight and command the respect they should
do, the main regulation for any such occasion mnst be
that these debates are strictly anonymous. Any member
may say anything he pleases, but no member must be
made liable for anything which he does say. The meeting
may resolve to speak out as one man, but care must be
taken that the name of this one man is never mentioned.
Under our glorious constitution every Englishman has a
right to freedom of opinion, to freedom of expression, and to
gag the Press. Strange as it may sound to some, this is the
course already struck out by the members of the Blandford
Farmers' Club ; for at a recent meeting, according to
a local journal, " Our reporter on entering the room was
requested by the chairman to give a general outline of
the discussion, without publishing the names of the
speakers." It is just possible that on the face of it there
might have been some special reason for so very extraordi-
nary a proceeding. The Blandford Farmers' Club might be
about to attack the Game abuse as it existed in the county
or district, or to point a moral from Lord Leicester's lease
as to the state of things still sanctioned in the
way of tenure by some of their own landlords. Under
such' circumstances it might be politic, although
we gravely doubt the force of such policy, to
withhold names, or more consistently to sit
with closed doors. The question, however, debated on
Saturday week was hardly so delicate a subject as either
of those we have indicated, as it turned simply on "the
Management of a Breeding Flock, with special reference
to the present Lambiug Season." Manifestly this is a
very useful and appropriate text-word for an association
of West-Country farmers to take up, but at the same time
there is surely nothing dangerous in the discussion of
such a topic ! There would, though, threaten to be some-
thing more beneath the surface, for no sooner were the
reporters ordered to withhold names than the Blandford
Club commenced an attack on an unfortunate man not
present, without any ceremony or hesitation as to giving
/lis name. Thus the very " first speaker" — and it will be
better to distinguish him as Mr. Thingumbob — referring
to a letter from Mr. Mechi, boldly declared that " as

practical farmers they knew as well how to take care of
their flocks as men who had been brought up as shop-
keepers !" This was very severe, no doubt, and
Tliingumbob was straightway followed by Mr. What-d'ye-
call-uu, who, as to ilr. Mechi and his opinions, said :
" Everyone — the shopkeeper, the lawyer, and writers for
the public press — all thought they could instruct the
farmer in his business, but he must strongly protest
against this. As practical men, they knew their business
far better than such persons could inform them, and he
considered it would be more to their credit if such persons
would mind their own affairs. When they were told by
such men as j\Ir. ^lechi that they did not know how
properly to manage their sheep, it was a stigma on them
as practical men, but he held that, as to all practical
operations on a farm, tliey must know more than such a
man as Mr. Mechi, and it was evident he knew but little
about the subject he had written upon." This is all very
lamentable, no doubt — that everybody from Virgil and
Cicero down to Mr. Mechi and Mr. Wreu Hoskyns will
talk and write about agriculture, and the Blandford
Farmers' Club should do everything in its power to put
a stop to so rapidly increasing an evil. But would not
the members of the Blandford Club do more in this way
if they were openly to give their own names as well as opin-
ions in opposition to those of Mr. Mechi. However, these
speakers clearly struck the key-note, and ultimately tlie fol-
lowing straightforward resolution was carried unanimously:
"That although the discussion of the subject of the
management of a breeding stock has been sustained by
many valuable remarks, it is considered by all present
that to trace the causes of the losses which in many in-
stances have been sustained this year, as on some former
occasions, is quite impossible, and that it is quite clear
opinions which have been publicly expressed by some
non-practical pretenders are worthless." So that, after
all, much did not come of these valuable remarks beyond
the denunciation of certain non-practical pretenders by
an anonymous assembly, a society of nobodies, a
manifesto of shades and shadows. In philosophers'
schools the boast that a man has nothing to learn is
held to be the surest sign of ignorance.

There was only one tangible man at the Dorchester meet-
ing, and this was the President, whose name has been pub-
lished through some unpardonable mistake or more unwar-
rantable intention on the part of the Press. There are few
men in England who have had more experience of the
public life of Agriculture than Mr. Henry Fookes ; as a
recognized judge of sheep he is always about, and as an
acting steward he must have a deal to do with the
arrangements of the Bath and West of England Society's
meetings and shows. And Mr. Fookes was the Chair-
man at Blandford ; and Mr. Fookes directed the reporters
to withhold the names of the speakers, and Mr. Fookes, as
it seems to us, thus became in some degree responsible
for the proceedings. As a famous flock-master and
Southdown authority naturally he must have had some-
thing to say, although it is not so clear how he did say
this, unless when he "carefully summed up." Did he
sum up for or against Thingumbob, who answered Mr.
^lechi's argument on sheep having too many turnips by
calling him a shop-keeper? Did he go with the objection
to shop-keepers, and lawyers, and writers writing about
farming ? Or how did he stand with another sjieaker, who
was bold enough to quote something from some agricnllural

202

THE FAKMER'S MACIAZINE.

work about Mr. Wootls' advice as to wot gorging sheep
with turnips? How a man like Mr. Fookes couhl have
committed himself to such a business, or how he could
ever suH'er his own name to blaze forth from this misty
nonentity is almost inconceivable ! In very consistency
the name of the Chairman, the name of the Club, and
the name of the subject should also have been scrupulously
withheld. However, it was aunouuced that at the next
meeting, Dairy Management will be the thesis of the
evening, when the opening address will be delivered by
the well-known — Mr. No-we-uever-mentiou-him.

Notliing can be more melancholy than the general tone of
thi^ anonymous and nondescript meeting, which seems to

throw us back at least half-a-centuvy in the history of
agriculture. We are by no means disciples of Mr. Mechi,
we are in no way committed to his many hobbies and
theories, but we must protest against the treatment to
which he was sulyected under cover of a cloud at the
Blandford Farmers' Club, It may be urged, as a plea
for the system adopted, that the full report will be kept
back for the Club's annual volume of transactions, when
the members will, at least, have the opportunity of seeing
their own names in print. If the ensuing meetings
threaten to be of anything the same character as that just
held, it might be better if these quasi-anonymous chroni-
cles were altogether confined to private circulation.

CIRENCESTER CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.
EXPEllIMENTS IN AGRICULTURE.

At the monthly meetmg, Sir Michael Uicks Beacli, Bart,
M.P., the president of tlie Chamber, in the cliair. Professor
WkkjUtson said:

It is two years since you have heard a report of the
proceedings of the Experimental Committee. No small
amount of work has been expended upon this department
of tlie chamber : I do not allude so much to my efforts
which liave been so kindly referred to by Sir Micliael, or to
the work of others at the college; but these experiments
have involved an immense amount of work upon the part of
those gentlemen who kindly co-operated with ua in conducting
the series. The amount of work wliich lias been done may
perhaps have warranted us in expecting large results ; and I
think We have learnt one thing at least from the experiments,
and that is the extreme difficulty of conducting agricultural ex-
periments et all. We have, I think you will agree witli me,
fallen upon ratlier unfortunate seasons, not that we ought to
blame tlie seasons for everything, but at the same time when
we began our experiments in 18G8 upon roots, we were
rather balked by a dry season. In 18G9 I laid before
you a report which really did contain a great deal
of interesting matter, and we came to some conclusions
with regard to wheat, bailey and swede cultivation.
In 1S70 we for a second time came upon an
unfortunate season, so that we again felt ourselves a little
bali<ed. For 1872 I have something to show you ; a great
deal of pains has been taken, and 1 think you will find that
we can generalise a little — that is to say, we have obtained
some definite results. Now before I begiu to speak of the
swede experiments in 1871, I have just a few words to say
upon the experiments of 1870 upon cereals. These results
were veiy much modified by the drought. But I think the
report of those results may yet be of use. In the last report
of the experimental committee tliere was a little compendious
table which obtained a considerable amount of circulation ;
and perhajis was one of the most useful portions of our under-
taking in 1869. It referred to the amount of produce in
wheat where we applied nitrate of soda, and the form of the
table was this, the produce in pounds of wheat for every
lOOlbs. of nitrate of soda applied. Tlic result in twelve plots
was au increase of 2341bs. for every lOOlbs. of nitrate used.
That is to say, every lOOlbs. gave considerably more than
douljle its weight in vpheat, and that was where l^ cwt. was
used per acre. With the double dressing, every lOOlbs. pro-
duced 2571b3. of wheat, or 2|lbs. of wheat for every pound of
filtrate of soda applied. Now, we enter upon the
results of 1871. I am able to present you with this:
that, where this application of nitrate of soda was used, for
every lOOlbs. of nitrate we obtained 2081bs. of wheat upon six
plots, tliat gives about au average of 21bs. wheat for every lib.
of nitrate, with li cwt. per acre. Then the double dressing
or 3 cwt. per acre produced 2031bs. of wheat, so that the sea-
son of 1871 gives a less result, but at the same time a result
not altogether discordant witli 1870. Tiien we next enter
upon another subject, and that is the wide drilling of wheat
and barley in 18(51). The result of wide drilling of wheat ami
barley was to a certain extent discordant, that ig to say some-

times better and sometimes worse than the ordinary method.
In Mr. Smitli's, of Bibury, results we obtained a decided ad-
vantage by drilling wide ; tliat was upon land in fine condition.
Mr. Anderson also on behalf of Lord Bat hurst undertook simi-
lar experiments, which almost up to the harvest seemed to pro-
mise a more abundant crop than the ordinary drilled wheat,
but it became mildewed, tliough the straw was heavier, the
grain was less in yield than the ordinary crops. Our results
in wide- drilling wheat was not such as to induce us to alter
our system of drilling wheat to any great extent, but I tliiuk it
may teach us that wlieat may be drilled much wider without any
great sacrifice, and there may be times when itmay be desirable to
sow wide, say on foul land, in order that we may practise a
greater amount of interculture. The barley results were more
encouraging than the wheat. I obtained a distinctly larger
crop in several plots of barley which was wide drilled in 1868.
Mr. lies in 186'J obtained encouraging results. Tlie wide
drilled barley (IG inches) really did in many cases give a better
yield than the ordinary crop. Tlie same experiments were
repeated by me in 1870.- 1 had six plots which were drilled
16 inches at the rate of 1:^ bushels per acre, and the yield was
30| bushels per acre against 33 at the usual width. So that
with a less (piantity of seed, I obtained 30.| instead of 33|.
Then we tried another plan in which alternate rows IG and 8
inches apart with two bushels of seed to the acre were used,
and again I obtained 30^ bushels. So that yon saved in the
seed but lost in the crop. But circumstances might arise in
which it would be advisable to drill wide, and from tlie re-
sults of these experiments we need not fear to do so. Mr.
Millard, a graduate of the Cirencester College, has been
active in making experiraen-ts in Suffolk in combination
with this Chamber, and has sent me the results he
obtained on drilled barley during the past season.
The barley was after turnips, sowu on April 3 and hoed
outoulstMay, every alternate row being removed. But a
heavy wind came and the wide drilled bailey specially suffered,
much of the grain being blown out. Tlic crop upon 3 plots
was decidedly better than that grown according to the ordi-
nary method, and the other plots were in some cases about
equal and in others worse. With reference to our swede ex-
periments, we tried some in 1870, and those results were I
must coufess difficult to make anything of. Here are Mr. H.
Ruck's results in which we find that a differeuce in the treat-
ment of the land had had a greater effect apparently than any
of the manures he applied. Mr. Ruck's plots miglit have been
even divided across by a line, one half of the plots being upon
a stale furrow, and the other half upon a fresh furrow. The
stale furrow plots produced 15 tons, 15^ tons, 13f tons, and
U tons. The fresh furrows 14 tons, 14 tons, 14 tons, 13 tons,
and 12 tons per acre. Tiierewas a greater difference between
the stale and fresh furrows than was shown by comparing any
of the manured plots together. The drought exercised such an
inflneuce that the uumanured plots were as good as the
manured. Now I proceed to tlie experiments of tlie
past year. We were determined to obtain some good
results if it were possible. Accordingly teu series of
experiments were sent out willi a view to solving Die

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

293

fiillowiiig (jiicsiioiis. Firstly — Wliiit is tiio effect oC
a heavy diessiug of superpiiosphate contrasted with a light
dressing ? Secondly, What is the comparative merit of bone
superphosphate and mineral superphosphate P Thirdly,
Whether any means could he taken to make mineral super-
phospliate equal in effect to bone superphosphate ? Fourthly,
To test the value of guano as a manure in this district
Fil'thly, To learn the effect of treating guano with sulphuric
acid so as to fix the ammonia. The following series of ma-
nures is as then arranged : Mineral superphosphate (heavy
dressing), 6 cwt. ; mineral superphosphate (light dressing), 3
cwt. ; mineral superphosphate treated with organic matter, in
a manner suggested by Professor Church, in order to approxi-
mate to the composition of bone superphosphate ; dissolved
bones, 2 cwt. ; Peruvian guano, 2 cwt. ; sulphated Peruvian
guano, 2 cwt. The dissolved bones were found (o coutain 19
per cent, of soluble phosphoric acid, whilst Mr. Lawes' mineral
superphosphate contained 13 per cent. It was then in the
proportion of 2 to 3 ; therefore, to compare with the 3 cwt.
of mineral superphosphate, we used 2 cwt. of dissolved bones.
We were disappointed in our experiment with dissolved
bones. 1 wrote to Messrs. Proctor for bone superphosphate,
but since there seemed a difficulty in obtaining pure
bone superphosphate, I applied to Mr. Lawes for it, that
I might test a pure boue superphosphate against a
mineral superphosphate. But it subsequently trans-
pired that " dissolved bones" is only a trade expression, not
siguifyiug a superphosphate made from bones, but merely a
superphosphate of superior richness. Now as to the sulphated
guano. This was tried with 2 cwt. of guano to which was
added 281bs. of diluted acid, first mixed with 501bs. of sawdust.
I have now to give you the history of the ten series. 1 will
take our disappointments first. One experimentalist was not
able to use the manures, and fhey remained stored for future
operations. Two lots went into Suffolk, and there met with a
dry, season and disease and insect attacks jwhich interfered se-
riously with the result. Seven were applied in this neigh-
bourhood with the following results. Mr. Parsons, of Coates,
very kindly undertook a series, but it was met with difficulties
in the form of wircworm, as the plots. were placed upon newly-
broken land. This rendered the results very unreliable. Mr.
Playne, of Chalford, wrote to me as follows : " The experi-
ments were very unsatisfactory, the whole field being patchy ;
the swedes were hoed Dec. 14 and 16. The field had been in
sainfoin seven or eight years previously. Mr. Swanwick's
plots improved all the way from west to east, so that the un-
manured plots on the east were absolutely better than manured
plots on the west, thereby showing that the natural or artificial
fertility of the land had had a greater effect thau the manures
applied." I will now tnru to some more useful results. Out of
ten experiments you have 4 or 5 bearing valuable lessons.
Whether this is to ho considered a fair proportion I am hardly
prepared to say, but if out of every ten attempts we make in
life we are successful iu four or five, or if among every ten
men we meet four or five do not disappoint us, perhaps we
may consider ourselves fortunate. Let us think the same re-
garding our plots. On these diagrams you have the results of
the last year's root crops before you. The items may be con-
sidered separately, and again you may consider them as a
whole. I think we may take any given experiment to be of
most value when we find its result corresponding with the
average result. We will take Lord Bathurst's first. Lord
Batluirst placed land at our disposal in a way very valuable
to the Chamber, and 1 am sure we have to thank Mr. Ander-
son for the way in which he has, year after year, undertaken
these experiments. I will briefly relate the kind of cultivation
pursued. I think you know the land upon which these expe-
riments were tried, and 1 am not wrong in saying that it is of
tiie customary character of our Cotswold land — a brashy soil.
But Mr. Anderson is here, and will probably explain further.
You have there turnips after wheat, cultivated with Coleman's
cultivators, ploughed last week in November, stirred first week
in May, then cultivated with the usual harrowing, roUing, Ssc,
and sown with swedes after wheat, 4 lbs. of swede seed being
used. Now, gentlemen, I must just remind you that iu our
method of conducting these experiments it is very difficult to get
the drill to exactly sow the quantities of manure prescribed
for so small a plot. We have been in the habit of
applying tlie manure by hand along the top of the rows. The
manures are thus aot so fully incorporated with the soil as I

should like them to be. This was the plan followed upon Lord
Bathurst's home farm. The plots (one-twentieth of an acre
each), 10 drills each, 23 inches apart, and each plot was 173
links long. The results are given in the diagram. [Professor
Wrightson then proceeded to explain a number of tables, &c.,
which were hanging on the walls] Perhaps the fairest way
is t6 take the average, which you will see in this table :

Table showing the Average Increase over Unmantired Plots
hi Swede Exjieriments, 1871.

.g"

a

is"

7.

d
O

o

a

Names
of

p.

3^

>
1 .

03

'Si

Experimenters

" p.

0

c^

+3

ft

--a

o

>

»

<n

mm

«

(M

N

<

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Earl Bathnrst .

2.25

1.72

2.38

1.23

3.74

3.61

3.69

Rov. T.Maurice

3.35

2.25

3.31

2.70

3.63

3.50

3.52

Mr. Eamonds .

4.3i

5.00

4.89

5.27

4.14

4.00

4.09

Mr. Hobbs

3.72

2.39

3.95

2.72

2.57

2.00

2.28

AveraM

3.11

2.84

3.61

2.08

3.53

3.28

3.10

Now as to the questions which our series was intended to elu-
cidate. First, dressing with C cwt. of superphosphate. An-
swer : 6 cwt. gave a better result than the 3 cwt., but the re-
sult from the 3 cwt. taken relatively to the cost paid better.
Second question : Bone versus mineral superphosphate. Here
a distinct answer is given ; the dissolved bones appear slightly
worse than the 3 cwt. of mineral superphosphate. The most
interesting point is where we employed the organic matter you
will observe that the 3 cwt. has increased the yield above that
of the 6 cwt., and that the result is followed out in the other
experiments. Guano gives a considerable higher increase than
any of the rest. The average of the guano is 3'G9. The re-
sults are these ; That 6 cwt. of superphosphate is not profitably
employed against 3 cwt. That the dissolved bones give a du-
bious result. That the manure mixed with organic matter has
been followed with good results ; and that this season has been
a good one for guano. I think the peculiar character of this
season has been one of the reasons why guano has been so be-
neficial. Then, again, the advantage of fixing the ammonia by
sulphating does not appear. Now the Rev. T. Maurice's ex-
periments. These manures were applied on June 3, in the same
manner, sown by the dry drill ; the average distance between
the drills was 27 inches, and 20 drills to a plot. These expe-
riments were, on the whole, satisfactory. First answer with
respect to heavy or light dressing. You will see from the dia-
grams that the llcv. Mr. Maurice's plots give a better amount
with 6 cwt. than with 3 cwt., the same as Lord Bathurst's, but
the increase is not equivalent to the increase of the dressiug
applied. Organic matter gives a decided increase, growing a
larger yield than either of the others. Guano, both ordinary
and sulphated, exerted a most marked effect in this series, and
in this respect agrees well with the other tabulated results,
but here also the sulphated guano was not observed to be supe-
rior to the ordinary guano. Mr. Edmonds' experiments come
next, and the most marked effects were produced upon his
farm. I have before alluded to the somewhat imperfect
manner which we have jet followed in applying manures, I
wish we could mix them more with the soil, but that our ma-
nures do exercise considerable effect is I think evident from
such results as have been obtained by Mr. Edmonds. His
series were carried out upon very poor land — upon Maccaroni
Farm, which for many years liad had no farmyard manure —
but which he had taken to lately. You see Mr. Edmonds does
not get a large crop ; lie gets a small crop, 7 or 8 tons to the
acre, but the increase was more marked in his case. The
table shows that although the effects are greater, yet the ques-
tions are answered in the same manner as in Lord Bathurst's
and Mr. Maurice's experiments. They bear out that a heavy
dressing of superphosphate does not seem to have an equal
effect with a moderate dressing of 3 cwts. Mr. Edmonds got
a better result with 3 cwt. than with 6. Mr. Edmonds' organic
matter gives a better increase. He did not get so good results
with guano as with superphosphate. The last experiments are
those of Mr. Hobbs, and his results agree with the other
three. Agaiu we have a fair result in the case of guano. The

294

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

lessons which appear to occur to my mind are that according
to the experiments of this last year we are not able to sliow
that 6 cwt. of mineral superphosphate can be applied with a
greater advantage than 3 cwt. The averages from 6 cwt.
equal 3'41 tons; 3 cwt. equal 2-Si. But if you compare the
organic matter results you will find that it gives a higher result
than the 6 cwt. Guano comes next to manure with organic
material in it. Now, the cost of the iuareased crop. The
superphosphate was purchased at 6s. per cwt., and when it
was applied the increase obtained was at the rate of 10s. Gd.
to the ton. With 3 cwt. the increase was obtained at the
rate of 6s. 4d. per ton. With 3 cwt. of mineral super-
phosphate with organic matter the increase was obtained
at 5s, per ton. Two cwt. of dissolved bones gave an in-
crease to swedes at the rate of 43. 8d. a ton, and the 2 cwt.
of treated guano gave an increase of swedes at the rate
of 8s. a ton ; and, lastly, the four guano plots ga?e an in-
crease at a cost of 8s. 5d. per ton. So although for quantity
the dissolved bones did not appear favourably, it was cheapest,
giving an increase at 48. 8d. a ton ; and the 3 cwt. was next
cheapest with 5s. per ton. Lastly, with reference to our ex-
periments, I should be very glad if some practical suggestions
could be given as to the manner in which to carry them out.
I think the system of applying the manure to the top of the
soil does not give the full eilect. Then, with reference to the
lieavy dressing, it is a pretty clear conclusion that the heavy
dressing of 6 cwt. of superphosphate was not applied with
advantage ; but is it not a question whether the maximum
efTect which could be produced by heavy dressings of mixed
manures would not be more than this ? Then, again, I think
we cannot look upon the results produced by guano without
thiuking that guano has been neglected in this neighbourhood.
I believe this is very little used, and yet it becomes a question
whether we should not use more. But is it not likely that a
mixture of guano and superphosphate might be of decided
advantage ?

The Rev. T. Maueice wished to ask what the organic
matter alluded to consistad of, because one hardly knew how
to procure it ? The organic matter seemed to have given the
best results, with reference to a mixture of superphosphate
and guano, for many years he had used 2 cwt. of superphos-
phate with 1 cwt. of guano with great advantage until 1869
and 1870. In those dry seasons he found the crops, he fancied,
rather worse— rather burnt as they said, by the excess of the
manure. So that in the present year he had not followed that
plan ; though for several years the result was very good indeed.
_ Prof-'ssor Church said the object of mixing a small quan-
tity of organic matter with the mineral superphosphate was in
order to supply those ingredients to the mineral superphos-
phate in which it was deficient, and which they imagined they
had got in the dissolved bones. But when they found that
the dissolved bones were not really dissolved bones at all, but
only contained at the most a little bone-ash, it then became
a matter of serious consideration whether they should intro-
duce a nitrogenous substance with the mineral superphosphate
iu order to make an approximation to dissolved bones. They
tried straw, but found they could not mix it properly with
the superphosphate. They tried several other vegetable mat-
ters of a low manurial value, and they managed at last to
make a mixture of certain vegetable waste matter with a little
miller's refuse, containing, of course, a small amount of
nitrogenous cubstance which was estimated by analysis.
There was one other point to which lie wished to refer in re-
ference to this organic matter. It was liighly desirable to mis
such a substance with mineral superphosphate, so as to ap-
proximate it to the true dissolved bones, for these contained
not only nitrogenous matter, but also decomposing car-
bonaceous substances. With reference to guano, referring to
the register of rainfall, he fonud on looking at liis register
ol ramfall that the season of 1871 was wet from June to Oc-
tober. During this period nearly 18 inches of rain fell in the
neighbourhood of Cirencester. Now this was preciselv the
condition under which they found that guano in a light soil
gives most beneficial result, and that it so answered whether
sulphated or not. In a dry season they would have found that
sulphated guano had told better than ordinary guano.

Professor Wrightson said Mr. Playue's results made
further confirmation of the advantages of guano that year.

Mr. Warxer asked what was the composition of the dis-
solved bones ?

Professor Church said they were made not of unburnt
bone but of mineral phosphates, mixed perhaps with some
amount of bone ash or something equivalent to it, and they
were more concentrated than common mineral superphosphates

Tlie President wished the gentlemen who had taken prac-
tical part in the experiments to address them.

Mr. W. Ei)MO:jds thought Professor Wrightson had ex-
plained so clearly that little remained to be said. One result
lie^had noticed was the superior elfect of manures on land in
a bad condition. If they compared his results with Lord
Bathurst's they would see this. Lord Bathurst lie believed
obtained 14 tons per acre — his amounted to 6 tons ; a great
dilference. He remembered JMr. Moore, Lord Radnor's
steward, used to say he employed no artificial manure, only
that produced by the farm itself on tlie theory that a farm
ought to support itself. He obtained the prize for the best
swedes. It was to he wished they could farm so as to make
the beef and mutton produce the manure instead of having to
buy it. There was a little quantity of manure left over in that
supplied him and this was applied to 16 swedes which weighed
21 lbs. altogether. On the next plot which had no manure
there was only 5 lbs. weight of swedes, which showed that the
superphosphate had a great elfect.

Mr. R. A. Anderso:v said that within the last twelve years
a surveyor had walked over the ground used to make the ex-
periments upon by Lord Bathurst, and he (Mr. Anderson)
asked the value of it. The surveyor replied tliat it might be
worth 17s. an acre. That showed the state of the land. With
regard to the mixture of manures he thought the table before
them very interesting indeed. The land upon which those
swedes were made was manured in no way whatever previous
to the application of the artificial manures. There was no
farm-yard manure upon it. The dressing the crop had was 3
cwt. of superphosphate to ^ cwt. of guano — all put in with
the liquid drill. It was liquid manure. Mr. Church had ex-
plained the eft'ect. It actually appeared that year that guano
had a striking elfect. If he understood rightly it appeared
that in the use of artificial manures they could not go beyond
a certain limit. Some people thought they could manure laud
to any extent, and tliat the produce would be in proportion.
They found in those tables that 6 cwt. does not produce more
than 3 cwt. ; if that was so it was a great and important point.
He thought they were all very much indebted to Mr. Wright-
son, and he was sure every gentleman who had undertaken
these experiments did so as a duty to the agricultural commu-
nity at large.

Mr. W.J. Edmonds said the tables showed the great help
of manure to land in a liealthy condition. Mr. Anderson iiad
said that the land upon which Lord Bathurst experimented
had been made to be worth 17s.; tlie land he (Mr. Edmonds)
grew his swedes upon was of the value of 23s. per acre.

Mr. HoBBS said the land upon which his experiments had
been conducted had been about 23 years in his occupation.
He could quite agree with Mr. Edmonds that the elfect of
manure showed more on land in bad, than on land in good
condition. Although he succeeded in getting a good crop, he
never saw the slightest difference in the plots.

Mr. Playne felt much indebted for tlie explanation about
dissolved bones. His system had been to get bones and dis-
solve them himself, and the result had been particularly ad-
vantageous.

The President said one or two points had occurred to him.
The first was the great justice of the remark as to the diffi-
culty of making agricultural experiments and relying upon the
results each farmer obtained. When they looked at the great
differeuce between the seasons, and the constitution of the soil
in different parts of the same fields, they could see this plainly.
Now, looking through the report of the experiments adopted
by the Chamber in the previous years, it struck him very
forcibly from this that the two causes to which he alluded had
really prevented them from obtaining any valuable general
results from the experimeuts of that year. He thought they
would all be opinion that that could not be said with respect
to the experiments of the past year just laid before them. At
any rate, they had these general results, that it appeared that
3 cwt. of superphosphate practically did as well as 6 cwt. ;
and, secondly, that the mixture of organic matter with super-
pliosphate liad an advantage. Mr. Anderson had told them
tliat tlie land upon wliich the experiments had been made was
only wortii 17s, an acre some years ago. He could only say

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

296

that if that was the case it did great credit to Mr. Audersou's
manageinent of tlie farm during tiiat period. He wished to
ask a question of Professor Wrightsoa. Tliere seemed to be
no doubt if a certaiu amount of raiacral superphosphate was
applied upon land previously hadly farmed the improvement
which can be traced to that will in proportion be very much
greater than when the same amount of superphosphate was
applied upon land well farmed. But would that result be the
same of bad land against good land ? Taking land of a poor
character and laud of a good character, upon both of which
equal expense had been incurred in farming, would the results
show so much greater proportion ?

Mr. E. Ruck said it was not safe to use more than 401bs. of
guano with liquid manure.

Professor Wrightson said there were paragraphs in the re-
port of the experiments of 1869 bearing upon the point of how
far increasing the amount of superphosphate used, would cause
a corresponding increase in the crops. Tl\e results obtained
by Mr. Plumbe showed no increase by using an increase of
manure. This was borne out by experiments upon Lord
Bathurst's Home farm in 1868. In 1867 he tried tlie result
of heavy dressing upon swedes, and tlie crop produced by 8

cwt. was no better than lliat grown by sis. Sir Micliael s
question was a difficult one to answer. Just as they had laud
out of condition responding to dressings so they should expect
poor land to respond to dressings in a more marked mauuer.
Tlie effect of diiferent manures upon different lands was ex-
ceedingly difficult to value : manure which might be applied
beneftcially to land here is so very various in its effects in
different parts of the country. In Northumberland half a ton ot
superphosphate could be applied per acre. So that there seemed
to be a great deal of difference caused by difference of soil.

ThePRESiDE.NT read a form of thanks which he had drawn
up :_"That the thanks of the Chamber be given to Professor
AVriglitson for the able manner in which he had described the
experiments adopted in 1870 ; and also to the gentlemen upon
whose laud the experiments had been carried out."

Mr. R. iLES seconded the vote. Mr. Edmonds' land, who
had got a greater increase than any one else, was not poorer
laud, but had been out of condition. He could not agree
with' Professor Wrightsoa that poor land would answer very
o-ood farming, better than good land. He found pretty good
and very much out of condition, would show greater results
from artificial manures than any other.

IXWORTH FARMERS' CLUB.

STEAM PLOUGHING.

At the last meeting a paper on Steam Cultivation, by Mr.
E. Greene, M.P., the president of the club, who was unavoid-
ably absent, was read by Mr. W. Manfleld, of Ixworth Thorpe.
Mr. P. Huddleston, vice-president of the Club, was in the
chair, and the vice-chair was taken by Mr. J. Peto, of Bar-

ningham. . . • ■. n •

Mr. Manfield then read the following : My object tins
evening in calling your attention to steam cultivation is not so
much to give my own views on the. subject as to elicit from
those amongst you who have had land so cultivated, your ex-
perience of its beneficial results or otherwise. There is no
doubt whatever that agriculturists are more than ever called
upon to increase the fertility of the soil, to meet mersasing
rents, labour, and general expenses. I think we are all pretty
well agreed as to what can be done with land under the present
system of shallow cultivation and high manuring. We have
now to consider whether we are turning to the best account
the earth which God has given us for the production of food
for man, as we must ever bear in mind that if it is practicable
to make productive twelve inches of the soil instead of six it
will materially aid the farmer in meeting increased expenses.
There is one point I would impress upon your minds, viz.,
that in advocating deep cultivation it is not the plougliing
deep which brings up the dead soil, but the thoroughly stirring
the land to a greater depth than can be done by horses, and
thus breaking through the hard pan, which has prevented the
roots from penetrating deep, and, moreover, the fertilising of
subsoil, which is now of no use. 1 have had no experience of
steam cultivation on heavy laud ; on light land I earned it
out extensively, and feel quite sure much benefit is derived
from it, especially in a dry season, as I observed my crops
held out longer in the drought than those of my neighbours
who have not adopted this treatment ; but, undoubtedly, it is
on the heavy soils where it will prove of most value. We
have all heard of the Lois Weedon system, and although not
one to be carried out on any large scale, still the fact that Mr.
Smith was enabled year after year to grow wheat, without
manure, from deep cultivation, shows that there is a produc-
tiveness in the land which we have not yet touched. _ I will
quote Professor Voelcker on the value of deep cultivation.
He says : " I am quite certain that the steam cultivator would
do wonders on cold, stiff clays, for they contain, practically
speaking, an inexhaustible store of mineral food for plants,
which has to be unlocked by air. There is also no doubt
whatever that the percolation of water in strong soils is greatly
increased from deep cultivation." I believe every one in this
room will agree with me that rapid strides in improving the
culture of the soil have been made in the last twenty years,
and I think they wiU also agree with me that there is yet left

much to be done. I believe it would repay any one desirous
of informing himself on the benefits of steam cultivation to
visit Mr. Smith's farm at Woolstou, who may be called the
father of deep cultivation by steam. No doubt one of the
hindrances to good cultivation are small fields with too niany
hedgerows, for sun and air are as essential to the full develop-
ment of plants as to healthy human life There are other
matters of vital importance which must follow in the tram ot
these improvements, one of which is the care required in con-
verting straw into manure ; but I think this is a question
well worthy of a separate discussion. There is, no doubt, a
problem still to be solved, viz., how to bring steam povvcr
within the reach of all farmers at a reasonable cost, in this
county, at present, although we are much indebted to the
spirited enterprise of some of our neighbours, still, practically,
but very few can participate in its benefits. In many countries
steam ploughing companies are, I believe, working success-
fully. I would warn you against expecting too much Irom t le
first crop after steam cultivation, as it takes a time for the
land, so to speak, to accommodate itself to the new circum-
stances I hope steps will be taken in this neighbourhood to
enable all to partake of the benefits of deep cultivation, as it
must be borne in mind that although the first expense ot
about 303. per acre, to cultivate twelve inches deep, appears
heavy, it is spread over many years, as it will not require to
be done frequently. I am of opinion the improved production
will amply remunerate the outlay. I feel that in this paper i
have only skimmed the subject, but I am quite sure it will
elicit from you some valuable remarks. I feel assured the one
object of this club is to do all in its power to find out the
best method of developing the resources of the land, and tliat
it is determined, as far as in it lies, that agriculture shall keep
pace with the progress of the age. I must again regret being
absent this evening, and I hope nothing may prevent ray pre-
sence amongst you on the next occasion, as it is highly grati-
fying to me to find how the Ixworth Farmers Club has
increased in prosperity, and in advancing agricultural science
in this neighbourhood. , ^ , u-

Mr. MA.NFIELD said they must all agree that steam culti-
vation was very desirable. Mr. Greene in his paper spoke of
the increased deptli of the soil, and said he thought tliat it
they could get a depth twelve inches it would be better than
six inches, but he (the speaker) did not think they would double
their produce by so doing. With regard to the pan, there were
some soils where there was a very hard pan, but not so hard
that roots could not penetrate it, there were some roots whicli
went a great deal deeper than the land was ploughed.
Mr. Harrison differed from that statement.
Mr Manfield repeated his assertion that many of tlieir

206

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ordinary roots went a great deal deeper into tlie soil than they
ploughed. He thouglit it was quite desirable to break that
pan, but he didn't think there would be so much benefit
derived from it as some people imagined. Steam ploughing
and cultivation broke up the land in a way that no other
power could ; and there was another thing, the treading of
the horses was avoided, they got a greater depth of soil and in
a much better condition, lie found one class of gentlemen
whom it did not suit, and they were the hunters, for they fre-
quently went a considerable way round to avoid crossing a
piece. He had had fifty to sixty acres done this year, and he
found that it had cost him about 25s. per acre, and he thought
it was very cheap for the money. It liad generally been
thought that the working should he confined to a very few
months in the year ; his was done in November, and it had
answered remarkably well, and he believed that if worked
wliilst the weather continued fine it might be worked very
profitably. Wet weather should be avoided, and he could
imagine that steam cultivation under unfavourable circum-
stances would do just as much harm as it would do good
under more favourable circumstances. He then referred to
what is known as the roundabout system, and that with two
engines, the latter of which he thought was preferable. The
great question was, however, how could the system be made
payable to them in that neighbourhood ? He did not see his
way clear how it could be. Although they found some gentle-
men had estabUshed the sets of apparatus, they did not find
their examples followed, and where there was only one set in
a neighbourhood it was impossible for many people to have
the advantage of that one. There were several hindrances to
the steam cultivator. One was that much more expense was
incurred iu cultivating a small and unevenly shaped field than
there was in square fields. Another thing was the immense
cost of the apparatus ; and there did not seen to be any pro-
bability of their becoming cheaper whilst iron was so dear
and mechanics' wages were on the rise. Although he was
perfectly satisfied with the price he found that it was quite
different a few years ago, for he found on reference that some
time hack theie were gentlemen in this neighbourhood who
were cultivating their land by steam, and at a less cost than
they did now. Mr. Kersey Cooper, for instance, had cultivated
his land for 3s. id. per aero, and Mr. Greene had cultivated some
as well, including wear and tear, at 4s. lid. per acre. That
was very different to what they paid now. lie believed there
was a great future for steam cultivation ; he hoped to see the
time come when they would be able to get a good paying crop
every year. He did not see why it siiould not be. He did
not at all hold with the four-course system ; he wanted to see
the land cultivated so that it should grow a crop every year.

Mr. J. Stuiigko:< said he had had some little experience in
steam cultivation on his heavy land. He began it four years
ago last July, and he had been doiug it ever since, when he
could get the machines. They could not always get them when
they wanted them. Every year that he had done it it had
answered his purpose very well. He begged to differ from Mr.
Manfield in one point, his land was so much drier under steara-
cttltivatiou, that the hunters raighl ride over it better than they
could any where else. The horses would not go in half so deep
as they did when they didn't cultivate by steam. He had al-
ways drawn water furrows, but he had never seen any water in
them even in iiot weather, since he had employed the system.

Colonel Wilson said perhaps Mr. Sturgeon had no blue
clay subsoil.

Mr. Sturgeon said some of his land was. He was so
satisfied with the system, that if he could get it lie should do
a great deal more than he had done, lie had paid 30s. per
acre for his. But he was not so much afraid of the price as he
was of not getting the macliine when he wanted it. He wanted
it about a month after harvest. He was qirfte sure that on his
land it had paid him very well. He had always said that he
would be one to make a company to have a steam cultivator,
ami he said so still. Nothing iu the shape of farming ever paid
him so well as steam cultivation.

Mr. Feto, the Vice-Chairman, said he had not had much
experience in steam cultivation, but he was very pleased to find
that his neighbour, Mr. Kersey Cooper, had employed a steamer
for some years, and he might say very successfully. There was
a vast deal of difference in cultiv.atiug the soil tliat Mr. Cooper
occupied from that which their friends had been speaking about.
As to the cost which Mr. Manfield had quoted some years ago.

he believed it to be pretty correct. The steam cultivator when
at work went at the rate of about four miles per hour, lie
had walked by the side of one several times, and he could
assure them he had considerable difficulty iu keeping up
with it. He believed steam cultivation to be really
very successful, but he advocated keeping the engine to
do other kinds of work as well. He believed farmers would
derive the greatest benefit from the use of the steam plough,
but it must be on strong deep clay soils. He had asked Mr.
G. H. Nunn, at the Club dinner they sometimes had at the
Angel, at Bury, whether he ever found any dilfereuce in a
porous kind of soil, and he always said he could never tell tlie
difference. There was only one season of the year that they
could get land well cultivated, and tliat was directly after har-
vest. His impression was that it was of more service to the
light land farmer than it was to the heavy. But he believed
that on an occupation like that of his friend Mr. Cooper, it
would be a great benefit if the engine could be used for Ihrasli-
ing and other purposes afterwards.

The Chairman had heard Mr. Booty had tried it ou lit,'ht
land two years ago ; he should like to know how it had
answered.

Mr. Booty said as far as he had seen it had not answered at
aU. It was a loose soil and it had brought the stones up, and
his men told him it did not plough now so well as it used to do.

Colonel Wilson said he spoke with some diffidence ou the
subject, but at the same time he was as a steward present at the
Royal Society's Siiow at Wolverhampton and saw the cultiva-
tion for a fortnight during the trials tliat were going ou, and he
might say that he knew something of its working. It had been
said that they ought not to work the steam cultivator on heavy
land in wet weather. He could bear that out most decidedly.
Two years ago he applied to Mr. George Matthews to go to him
directly after harvest and do some work. Unfortunately, how-
ever, the gentlemen at Lavenham beguiled him into that ueigh-
bouihood, and he was there for several months, so that he did
not go to him (the speaker) till November, and then there being
a lot of wet it did him quite as much, and he thought he might
say more harm than it did good. Speaking abstractedly, there
could be no doubt that Fowler's tlouble engine system was the
best for breaking up the laud, bat they must have plenty of
work. He would not use them for auytliiug else, but they
wanted farm after farm to go on to keep them at work. The
outlay at first was very great, but the question was whether they
could make them pay. It had been thought that the round-
about system was the best, but at Wolverhampton it had been
decided not to be the best. The work done by Fowler's system
was excellent and Ijyfarthe best. Then there was the question
of cost. He knew something about that, and he must say he
did not think it could be done very deep for 25s. per acre. He
thought they must be prepared to pay 30s. if they wanted it
done. It had been said they could not get it into the neigh-
bourhood. He should advise them to adopt the system, and if
they were in the neighbourhood, let Mr. Matthews know as much
as they could in time where they wanted him to go. Don't let it
go away from the place, let him work at home. If it could be
shown that the district would pay, they would soon have other
people taking it up. Due great item was iu the working ex-
penses, in wear-and-tear ; the ropes cost the best part of iJlOO.
In answer to a question, the speaker said that Lord Vernon's
prize at Wolverhampton was given to apparatus, the whole cost
of which should not exceed £700.

Mr. Sturgeon asked if the £700 apparatus would do the
land twelve inches deep ?

Col. Wilson said he should think it would.

Mr. Sturgeon said he should be afraid it would not do stifi'
land that depth. If so, about two or three farmers might have
one of them.

Col. Wilson said perhaps he ought to say that the appa-
ratus was tried simply fur the prize which was then presented.
It was only got up for that one trial and not so much for wear
and tear, lie had some conversation with Mr. Fowler and
his men about it afterwards, and he suggested that supposing
he were to order a set of apparatus, whether they would re-
commend him (o confine hirasef to the £700, or whether it
would be better to go a little further. Mr. Fowler said he
should advise him to go a litile further, and have a more pow-
erful engine and superior ropes. There was a great difference
in the ropes. The inferior rope cost about half as much as
the superior, but the superior rope was much the cheapest in

THE FAEMEU'S MAGAZINE.

297

the long vim. But that £700 a\)iiaiatus woukl uot be what
Mr. Fowler m ould recommend for work from year to year.
They would probably advise a inau to spend £800 instead of
£^00. The engines were often worked far beyond their no-
minal power. For instance, a 20-horse power engine which
he saw at Wolverhampton was worked up to 130-horse power.
It was tested by the engineers and found to be so.

The Chairman was pleased to find that Colonel Wilson
was in the latter part of his remarks something like a certain
postscript which contained the gist of the whole matter. The
probability was that if a farmer wanted one of the cultivators,
he would have to lay out about £1,0U0 instead of £700. After
all, he thought it was a question of " will it pay ?" lie
thought that was a matter for their consideration. There was
no doubt that it was very good on certain lands, and on heavy
it was pretty well settled, but the light laud farmers thought
they could get on very well without it at present. But they
wotild be very glad to have it. He didn't see at present that
there was any chance of their becoming like his friend Mr.
Sturgeon, who had some special kind of land to work on. He
shoiUd hke to ask him liovv many years it would stand after
the first ploughing — how often did it require to be done ?
Mr. Sturgeon said about once in four years.
The Chairman said if they could get the machine once, if
it cost them 30s. per acre it was not a very great deal after
all, for they must remember that that extended over four years,
and they could divide it by four — that he thought was a great
consideration for them. lie did uot believe that even with
the expenditure so high as it was it would fail to remunerate
them if they would go in well for it. One thing in Mr.
Greene's paper he should like to touch upon. It was stated
that if the system was tried on light land in a droughty season
the laud would last longer and sutfer less from drought than
if ploughed by horses. That was a very great advantage to a
light-land farmer, and a good reason wliy he should use the
engine. The advantage of it was that they got rid of their
water. He maintained that if these engines were used they
made an improvement not only in the cultivation of the soil
but also in the staple value of it, and he thought that was in
a great measure a question for the landlord. All these ques-
tions were something beyond the common tenant's covenants,
but he thought that if tbe tenant had spent a sum of money
in such things the landlord should take that into consideration.
If steam cultivation was carried on to a great extent he thought
that when the tenant went out the land ought to be taken at
a valuation. They were really improving the staple value of
the soil as well as the cultivation. He thought they must all
agree that steam cultivation, if they could only get it, was a
very good thing.

The Vkje-Ciiairman contended that it was almost impos-
sible for steam cultivation to be applied successfully to light
lands, and said he spoke feelingly. On a light land farm there
was the greatest dilliculty in finding the water to supply the
engines. If they persisted in cultivating their light laud
farms, they would find, probably, that instead of doing good
they were doing harm. He maintained that the treading of
horses was a great benefit to light laud. It would bring soli-
dity to the soil. They found frequently that on the head-
lands the crops were better than on the rest of the fields. He
believed that horses were more benefit to them on light land
than they were given credit for.

Col. Wilson said, with regard to the question of the cost
of steam cultivators, he had originally put Mr. Fowler's appa-
ratus, which he saw, at £700, and the chairman said it would
probably cost £1,000. He did not think it would cost so much
as that. He would put it at £850. He spoke of Fowler's
system as being greatly superior to the roundabout system,
which required a greater length of rope and was of a greater
wear aud tear.

Mr. Sturgeon spoke of the strength of the apparatus of
the roundabout system, and said they had no place to fasten
the rope. He fastened it to some trees and other diifcrent
things, but it pulled them down. They could not get on at
all on his land.

Mr. Gatford said, if Mr. Sturgeon was troubled with a lot
of old pollards, it would be the very best system.

Mr. Sturgeon said he did not mind that, but they could not
get on with the work.

Mr. Harrison said he had only tried nine or ten acres in
all. He quite agreed with what Col. Wilson had said, and also

with what had been said by Mr. Manfield and Mr. Pcto. He
should very much question whether it was of much advantage
ou light land. He thought there could not be two opinions
about that. He had drained some laud over twice, and so
that now he had no such thing as a furrow upon it. Before
they cultivated by steam they must lay the land dry. He be-
lieved with the chairman that there was something in what lie
said about the cost of 30s. per acre being spread over four
years. He should be pleased to have 100 acres done at 30s.
per acre if it were done well. Another important point \vas
tliat it was a landlords' question as well as a tenants'. There
were many excellent landlorJs, they were happy to say, and
there were also those who would take every advantage of the
good cultivatiou, and when the tenant had laid out a large
amount of capital as a tenant farmer upon his occupation, his
rent was considerably raised, or he had to leave, which he
pleased. He maintained that if the rents of the tenants were
to be increased from 40 to 50 per cent, in consequence of what
tliey might have done, the sooner steam cultivation was done
with the better. It was all very well for landlords and farmers
who were farming their own occupations, Imt until there was a
more satisfactory arrangement between landlord and tenant, ho
thought it was not very wise or prudent to laylout very much
money on the land. There were many men at the present day
who wanted a lease, lie did not care a snap of tbe finger for
them himself. His opinion was that if a system were adopted
whereby whatever improvements might have been cfTcctcd
might ho taken by a fair valuation, it would be far better than
the present system of lease. Supposing a landlord introduced
a tenant on his estate, and he might take a farm for a term ot
ten fifteen, or it might be as some did for twenty years, if that
tenant should prove obnoxious to the landlord, in any sense of
the word, it must be verv annoying to a gentleman to have a
man on his estate whom'he could uot meet with any degree of
pleasure.

Mr. Miller said he had done a little in the way ofs'eam
cultivation. He thought there', was a great loss of power m
tbe roundabout system. It was equal to the continued labour
of three horses to pull the rope round the field, thus showing
that much of the strength was lost. It was equal to four-
horse power to carry the rope round a field of forty rods long.
He had employed Mr. Matthews with his double engine to do
about thirteen acres for him, and he was perfectly well satis-
fied with it. He 'thought the direct system was decidedly
better than tbe roundabout. With regard:to the cost, 30s. per
acre, he must say that he was of opinion that he had never laid
out money better. He believed Mr. Manfield preferred July
as the best time of the year to do the work, but he did not
agree with that. He would rather agree with Mr. Sturgeon,
who thought September, when the crops were just olf, the most
advantageous time to apply it. He mentioned having a piece
of tenacious stiff soil ; the field had holes in it. He had to
dig some water furrows to take off the water in tbe middle,
and notwithstanding that it had been well drained, a large
quantity of water ran into those furrows. Since he had ap-
plied the steam cultivator ho had not seen a drop of water run
off at all. He thought the advantage of that was very evident.
It aiforded a facility of escape for the water, and the soil was
laid dry to a considerable depth. Mr. Miller further stated
that he had put barley on this land without any artificial ma-
nure and he had got ten coombs per acre of good quality, and
he did not think that he had any reason to coniplaiu of that.
Last year he put beans on, and he had a good stout crop,
but beans were stout everywhere ,last year, so be could not
consider that much of a criterion. Next year he intended to
plant wheat, and be anticipated that it would answer well. If
he was a large farmer he should have a set of Fowler's
apparatus of his own. The great dilliculty was that they could
uot have it when they wanted it.

Mr. W. G. IIatten said he thought that they ougbt not to
compare the results of steam cultivatiou on light laud with
the results on heavy land. On heavy laud the object was to
cultivate it deeply in order to enable the water to penetrate
through the soil into the drains, and also to let air into the
soil. He wanted to see draining done by steam. The men
had complained of the hardness of the lower spit, and now
they complained about the upper one. He wanted to have an
eight-horse power engine so simplified that it would do every
kind of work that he wanted to do on a farm. He wanted to
have it cultivate and also drain the land, and ultimately to lay

2-8

THE FARMER'S MAGAZiJSIE.

the pipes ia by steam ; he thought that might be done. There
seemed to liim to be a great lo:s of power which he could not
understand. He lioped the thing would be drawn out by some
practical engineer. If they were obliged to get a 12-horse
power engine on their farms, there was a great deal more than
they required for cutting chaff and similar things. They
wanted an eiglit-horse power engine todo everything onthefarm.

Mr. Gatiord said lie was debarred by circumstances and
neigiibourhood from using the steam cultivator in any way.
It was a hard matter for him sometimes to find water for stock,
much less a steam-engine. He had several times tried a mode
of putting one plough behind the another, but he had never
seen much benefit derived from it on light land. Then there
was the difficulty of getting the engines when they were
wanted. If they could not do that he did not see that it
would pay them. Gentlemen who farmed better land could,
of course, afford to pay better for it than tliey could on their
light lands. They were much indebted to their worthy Presi-
dent for the paper which had been introduced. The subject
was one of importance to them, and he agreed with Mr. Hat-
ten that the day would come when steam cultivation would be
so simplified that it would be brouglit within the means of
all, and would be more beneficially applied than it could be at
present.

Colonel Wilso:n said with regard to the suggestion thrown
out as tj the probable reduction of the expenditure in con-
nection with steam cultivation, the thing was most severely
tested by the Hoyal Agricultural Society of Wolverhampton,
for Lord Vernon's prize was given with the object of bringing
down the cost as much as possible. He was afraid there was
no prospect of getting it down cheaper than it was at present.
Mr. Harrison had raised an objection to a tenant farmer in-
troducing steam cultivation, on account of the supposed want
of confidence between tenant and landlord. He thought there
was not so much of that want of confidence as Mr. Harrison
seemed to think. His tenants were at perfect liberty to do as
they chose; they could have a lease or not, as they pleased.

Mr. Harrison maintained that, although there were some
very excellent landlords, yet there were others who were ready
and willing to take every advantage which it laid in their
power to do.

Mr. Hatxen was happy to think that Mr. Harrison's
landlord was not a local gentleman. The landlords in that
locality were quite different to what was spoken of by Mr.
Harrison,

Mr. Harrison thought Mr. Hatten was rather personal in
his remarks.

Mr. Gayford supported Mr. Hatten's observations; They
did not mean to allow it to go forth to the public that they
had such a bad opinion of tlie landlords of West Suffolk as
that which Mr. Harrison had mentioned. He should be very
sorry to think that such a statement should go forth sanctioned
by the members of that Club.

The VicE-Cii AIRMAN bore out Mr. Gayford's remarks. He
thought every tenant was in his own hands. He pretty well
knew the character of the landlord under whom he was going
to take his farm, and if it happened tliat he ran his head into
anything which he afterwards did not like, he (Mr. Peto)
thought he deserved all he got. He should be very sorry that
such a report should be circulated concerning the landlords of
that neighbourhood, and more especially as emanating from the
Ixvvorth Parmers' Club.

Mr. Manfield, in reply, was pleased, he said, at the very
practical turn which the discussion had taken. The whole
thing seemed to resolve itself into a question of " will it pay ?"
His opinion was that it would pay. He might say that he
knew it would pay. He hoped the time was not far distant
when they would have more steam cultivators in the neigh-
bourhood. He thought they ought not to forget, but perhaps
some gentlemen did not know, how much they were indebted
to Colonel Wilson for the one which they now had in the
neighbourhood. With regard to tlie time of year at whicli it
should be used, he thought it might be used at any time when
the land was dry. He iiad no water furrows where the steam
cultivator had been. With regard to what Mr. Hatten said,
there were steam draining machines, but it was, he believed,
impossible to get a steam cultivating engine to do steam drain-
ing. There must be extra appliances, and there must be
a windlass. He was afraid Mr. Hatteu wanted an im-
possibility.

Votes of thanks were passed to the Chairman, to Mr. E.
Greene, M.P,, and to Mr. Manfield,

STOWMARKET FARMERS' CLUB,
SUFFOLK HOUSES,

At the last meeting the subject for discussion was The
Breeding of the Agricultural Horse, introduced by Mr. T.
Lingwood,of Brockford. The chair was taken by the llev.
Henry Hill.

Mr. T. LiNGwooD said : A paper on the cart-horse
having already come before the Club in the one kindly
given by Mr. Henry Crosse, allow me to say that although
tiiat paper dealt with form so fully, there yet appeared ample
room for one on the breeding of the cart horse — a branch in
the department of farming which seems to me much neglected ;
for with bullocks, sheep, and pigs some regard is paid to the
sort kept or bred. There are certain laws which govern the
principles of breeding wiiich, when followed up and per-
severed in, raise the standard of animals so bred. A disregard
of those laws lowers tlie grade in a like degree, iiowever pure
bred the originals that were commenced with. Now, if I ad-
vocated nothing but tlie purchase of long-priced, good brood
mares as a start in breeding, tenant farmers present with stiff,
lieavy land to work would, I know, send forth their objections
thick and quick, it being a much more hazardous undertaking
to breed colts ou heavy than on light land ; still, that course
pursued, matching the mares with equally worthy sires, effects
not only a saving in years, but establishes a fixed type far more
certain to produce good things, than commencing with inferior
mares, however carefully and judiciously breeders may con-
tinue to pair the sexes. If I look the facts in the face, I find
that the plan generally adopted is to obtain the services of one
stallion for the several mares had in contemplation for breed-
ing. Now that apparent cut-short, toss-penny move won't
bear inspection ; for where the mare was a-nick with the

horse, a proniissing foal is begotten, whereas those mares of
an unsuited stamp produce ordinary foals. Pood consumed in
the rearing of the latter had far better be expended in rearing
neat stock, and, as a farmer must have horses, buy yearling
colts, which in their turn shall fill up coming gaps in the
stables. By way of illustration, I will suppose six mares diverse
in make ; the 1st, a long, low, wide-spread mare ; No. 2, a
short-made, leggy mare ; No. 3, a fair-proportioned, long, light-
legged one ; No. 'i, a short, punchy one ; No. 5, a long mare,
with fine hind-quarters, but narrow-chested ; No. 6, a stylish
one witli substance, good form and size. Now it is a fact that,
however good in points and general contour a horse may be,
not one can be found suited to such a lot ; hut I have taken
extreme cases for example sake. No. 1, a long, low, wide
mare, is so constructed that Nature has furnished her with a
capacity and powers for the development of a large offspring.
An over-sized horse in comparison to her — and should he be a
trifle leggy — would cross well with her, provided defective
points in her were met with good points in him. No. 2, a
short-made, leggy mare, is just the sort, with a crested neck so
often spoken of, as a good mare to breed by. Observant eyes
will have noticed in a flock how frequently a long, low-made
ewe produces large t wins. When the ewe, formed in the trunk
like this mare, has but a puny lamb, it is so with mares where
there is no length of back or ends — there is no room for the
growth of the fcctus. Thus disappointment ensues. There is
danger also from the projecting sides, a lengthy mare carrying
her young closer and safer. No. 3, a long, light-made mare,
needs a punchy horse with long back ribs, for if short the
progeny will be too high and long — a regular rail, as we some-

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

299

times hear. A colt, as a two-year-old, should have length, and
if let down at the flauk grows downwards into a valuable
liorse. No. 4, a small punchy sort is the stamp which many sup-
pose requires a high slashing horse, but such crossing proves
almost always a lailure, the reason of which is this, the deposit
of the male is too much for the fructifying powers of the
female to carry out. No. 5, a lengthy big mare, with fair hind-
quarters but narrow chested. I had often wondered that mares
of this stamp paired with an undersized stallion should throw
a colt with a full, open chest. Cline's excellent paper on form
asserts why : " To obtain animals with large lungs, crossing is
the most expeditious method ; putting well-formed females
from a variety of a large size to a male of a variety which is
smaller. By such crossing the lungs and heart become pro-
portionately larger, in consequence of a pecularity in the cir-
culation of the fcetus, which causes a larger portion of the
blood under such circumstances to he distributed to the lungs
than to the other parts of the body ; and as the shape and
size of the chest depend upon that of the lungs, hence arises
the remarkably large chest which is produced by crossing by
females that are larger than the males." In No. 6, a stylish,
compact, weighty mare, with size, I may say that the man
who breeds and retains such a stamp, needs little paper
space. He would know how to remedy defects by giving
her a horse good in his points where she was
weak ; but a favourite marc frequently gets her gene-
rative organs damaged by becoming too fat; a mare iu fair
condition being more healthy and likely to stint. I have
mentioned an over-sized and an under-sized horse in com-
parison to the mare. As an index, I should say for the horse
to be on a par with the mare he should stand three-quarters of
a hand higher, proportioned accordingly. The more sorty a
lot of marcs are the less occasion there is to use a variety of
stallions. It is the lack of distinctness of character in a stable
that calls for sorting. To show to what a length the late Mr.
Blenkiron went in selection, I find in his sale of the Middle
Park yearling blood colts last June, where 40 were sold for
£15,000, no less than 15 blood sires were employed. In his
case it was strains of blood which influenced him in a great
measure. Seek to avoid hereditary diseases in the parents,
viz., blindness, broken wind, spavins, curbs, ringbones, side-
bones, grease, farcy, &c. I would also warn you discard a
mare which approaches being hatchet-headed, pig-necked,
roach-backed, or goose-rumped, cat-hammed, very cross-ankled,
or pigeon-toed ; such shapes being too far gone to ever hope to
remedy the glaring defects which doubtless have been produced
by something worse than careless*breeding. One thing amongst
others which has urged me to recite the foregoing examples,
has been to show the principles adopted to grow big things,
as the breeder's aim ought to be to meet the requirements of
the day ; for with double-furrow ploughs fast coming into
use, horse-engines requiring speed, good-sized horses for town-
work requiring size, not at the expense of activity, compact-
ness, and quality, ought to be kept in view. I would further
add, that in pairing a lengthy mare with an undersized but
compact horse in comparison to her, in the produce will be
seen, in the one crossing, the lengthy proportions of bone
combined with the stoutness of the other; but to enlarge the
size, not losing sight of compactness — in starting with a short
mare, it will take something like three crossings of gradually
lengthened sires to bring that about. The male distinctly in-
fluences the form of the offspring in draught-horses, but the
higher iu the equine race the more the mare seems to reverse
Ih&t order. This accounts for the Arab valuing far more
liighly the breeding form of the dam than he does the sire for
stud purposes. But as the gait or " go " of the youngster is
inherited from its mother, this may somewhat be accounted
for. In selecting a stallion for a mare, the breeder's first start
should be to become familiar with her defects in conformation,
and also her good points, and then working up to a given
model, had in view, seek to overcome defects by extra good
points iu the horse, but avoid extremes, or you will be foiled ;
rather take two crossings than too long a stride at once.
Where the breeder gets into the fix of having two stallions of
similar type, give the preference to the one whose pedigree
stands the higher. I will acknowledge that what I call a
jump in the dark may be taken, thus, either a difBculty in ar-
riving at a knowledge of the parent's descent, or a false one
may be given, and so damage the breeder's best-constructed
plans ; surely here it is that a stud-book would be of some

service in tracing strains, and not only so, but it would be a
tribute of respect justly due to the painstaking individuals who
have carefully cuUivated the better families brought down to
our time. That the colour of the male in animals predomi-
nates in the offspring there can be little doubt ; but with the
Suffolk horse, in which some five different tinges of the
chesnut colour prevail, viz., dark chesnnt, dark red, bright
chesnut, silver-beamed, and light chestnut, it need
not be wondered at that a horse having various
tinges in his escutcheon should occasionally throw
a paler or darker shade than himself in colour,
that tending to a dark should indicate hardihood, the pale or
light chesnut fostering grease. In selecting suitable sires shirk
not a little trouble, be not turned aside from so doing by the
present saving of a sovereign or so, or because the horse's
owner happens to be first or thirty-second cousin to you. I
am persuaded that real help in improving our horses would
arise from an established spring show of stallions. What a
Bismarck's way of doing business Bakewell's was ! One of the
rules of the Dishley Society forbad any member from showing
rams, only to members of that Society, on certain fixed days,
before showing the rams to non-members. The beneficial re-
sults of this were (for it was like playing the cards into one's
own hands) that the most useful rams were reserved for the
Society's special use. Fortunately for us the stallion owner
cares not to reserve the exclusive right to the horse's services,
although iu the show field this often militates against him.
As a very successful breeder and exhibitor put it, it was a com-
paratively easy thing to take first honours, but to maintain
that position was not so easy, descendants of his own horses
coming out to do battle against him. I said established, I
should have said re-established spring shows, for I find in an
old county chronicle, bearing the date of 1790, a report of
Woodbridge April Show of Entire Horses, and Mr. James
Read, of Laxfield, tells me that 50 years ago he remembered
]\Ir. Julian — who was a Catlin in his day — showing for horses
at the same place in that day's fashionable but unsightly style,
being bung-tailed. Thanks to some Woodbridge people,
who have the place and the will, we look again like having
a show established. The obesity of the horse is often
objected to, the objectors stating as their ground for it, that it
damages tlieir procreative powers. There is a vast deal de-
pending on a horse dealer's judgment and experience. It is
the overloading a coalt with fat which docs the mischief, for
just as the overtaxed two-year-olds on the turf fly in their legs,
and beget impaired stock when used in the stud, so overdone
colts from early service go at the hocks, and frequently repro-
duce in their stock the bad effects; but two-year-olds being
less used of late, hocks certainly look cleaner. Two and three-
year-olds are nothing like so sure as older horses for service.
As to a weekly or nine days' round, the latter has its objections
from a dilBculty of catching a mare m season ; but a week is
often not long enough for previous symptoms to have passed
off even should the mare be safe, being more successsul that
way, many prefer the longer stage. An even temperature,
moderately warm, favours conception ; for as with a flock,
tlioiigh ewes may be in good trim, and rams well caked or
corn fed, it is the addition of a dry tupping time that is fol-
lowed by a heavy fall of lambs. The month of May has
always been spoken of by old heads as the season for the mare
going on kindly. The change then to green food may be an
assistance, but more regulated atmosphere does very much too.
At the time of covering, and a few days after, it is well not to
have the mare over heated. Nature having ordained that time
be given ere the seed becomes rooted in the yolk. Sterility in
the cow may often be overcome by fasting her some hours
after connection, but I have never found the same treatment
avail with a mare; bleeding, or cold water applications seem
to me alike useless. When a mare is discovered slipping her
foal, where other in-foal mares are, have her off at once to the
sick house — sympathy iu ewes is bad enough that way, iu
mares it is worse. The farmer of good working soil has an
advantage over the heavy land farmer in breeding, for how
often it is that on the latter we are kept days, and sometimes
weeks, off the land by the wet. Then, when the mare next
goes to the plough — she may have been kept at light work —
the heavy work so tells upon her that a loss of the embryo
takes place. The common practice of putting twoyear-olds
to work tends to dwarf and pull out of shape many a once
promising colt. From these causes it is, we find, that a large

300

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

majority of the exhibitors ia the "agricultural horse classes at
our shows arc light-laud men. That which helps to forward
colts uicely is to give llie foal when quite young a b;ut or two
daily of crushed oats and bran — away from the mare. That
as the young one ages, the mare may be worked more fre-
quently. This plan is so helpful at weaning time, as liardly
any loss of milk fat takes place. A penny packet of condiment
given d;uly through the first winter sends the colt on well.
My difBcaty was in taking the condiment off without loss of
condition. I manage tiiat by giving a few split peas at the
time of turning out to grass. This is something after the
manner of the rearers of the large varieties of fowls for show
purposes, who, to increase the size, mix certain ingredients
with their food to gain that end. In having brought this sub-
ject before the Club, I remember I am fostering " the cart-
horse eye taste," so objected to by occasional outsiders, who all
go for something iu the hunter or hackney style. My defence
IS, when a carefully selected stud of souud stout thoroughbreds
is set for the sole purpose of getting such sorts, what a telling
temptation it will be for some of us, providing we have a
chance, to try a chip or two that way.

Mr. Henry Ckosse said he could not say much about
breeding as he had not bred a cart horse for twenty years, and
never had bred many. lie had some from his father, but had
not bred many himself. As to the particular style of breeding,
or the particular stock, that was all a matter of taste. The
reason why they had to complain of the Suffolk stock at pre-
sent was that so many of the best of the Suffolk stock had
been sold out of the county. To all appearance, with the pre-
seut generation of Suffolk farmers, the stock of Suffolk cart
horses had very much deteriorated, and, therefore, he thought
tliat Mr. Lingwood's paper might generally be taken notice of
bj those who intended to breed, fie never pretended to be a
breeder himself ; he did not preteiid to have an opinion upon
breeding, llis business had been to judge horses after they
were bred, and not to say how they should be bred.

Mr. E. LiNGWooD said he thought Mr. Crosse must liave
forgotten the Bennington sale when he spoke of the dete-
rioration of Suffolk horses. There, six mares made 1,200
guineas, and, at any rate, he should not mind snch deterioration
as that. It could not be a verj' serious deterioration when six
mares made so much money as that. lie thought there was
one thing which tliey ought to be a little careful about, aud
that was in showiug horses — as hunters and hackneys now
were shown — in harness. He recollected saying to a man who
showed a horse in that way, " You must have a very nice
horse for hunting, for no one can ride him." The o^^-ncr said,
" Hold your tongue ; you wiU spoil the sale of my horse " —
that horse liaving taken the prize as a hunter. He wished to
see horses have prizes for the work they were intended for, and
teams should be put to draw loads, and if they would not draw
well they ought not to have the prizes. One of the best shaped
mares he ever had never would pull when the engine got into
a bad place more than once.

Mr. Crosse : It is very easy to see why she would not pull
more tlian once : tlie moment you set her to pull she pulled
upon her pipe, and she could not draw more tlian once. That is
the fault of the shoulders in many cases.

Mr. Noble said he had never taken a prize, but his late
father had, but he had neglected that part of the business.
He must agree with Mr. Crosse, that the Suffolk horses had
deteriorated, for they were constantly sending horses out of the
country, and he should suppose they sent the best, or those
which made the most money. Mention had been made of the
large amounts realised at the Dennington sale, but perhaps
the name had something to do with that, for he had a mare
that had taken the prize away from the mare that made 300
guineas at the Deuuington sale, and yet did not suppose he
could make half that money of her.

Mr. J. Hewitt said he should like to ask a question, and ir
was tills : Is our pure-bred Suffolk cart horse the best adapted
to agricultural purposes ? He had seen a good team of half-
bred horses in his yard from Mr. Steam Scott's — a very beau-
tiful team. They appeared to him to be half-bred.

Mr. C. S. Scott : They are not half-bred; they are
cross-bred.

Mr. Hewitt : Well, at any rat«, they are not pure-bred
Saffolks, but they seem to be very useful.

Mr. Stearn Scott said the horses Mr. Hewitt alluded to
were cross-bred, and they were better at work than the Suffolk,

and stood the road belter. He did not underst iiid Mr. Crosse's
saying that the Suffolks were deteriorating. It was tlitir own
fault if they did.

5Ir. Crosse : Aye, aye ; that is very likely.

Mr. S. Scott said if ths good horses went out of the
country, and so caused a deterioration of those left behind,
why did not they club together, or stick together, to keep the
best horses iu the country ? Or, why did they not keep the
best of the brood mares ? Let a good horse stand always at
one place.

The Chatrman : Say, at Stowmarkct.

Mr. S. Scott : I don't care where lie may stand, but don't
let all the good horses go out of the country. Mr. Scott said
he should be happy to subscribe to have a good horse kept in
the country, or to meet the owner in some way so as to make
it answer his purpose to keep him in the country — that was,
where they had allowed the stock of Suffolk horses to go
down. As to the horses Mr. Hewitt had called half-bred —

Mr. Hewett : I don't mean half-bred, but cross-bred.

Mr. S. Scott : I believe they are better draught horses, aud
stand the roads better.

The Secret.vkt : How are they crossed ?

Mr. S. Scott -. I can hardly tell you, but I think they are
between the Cambridgeshire and the Suffolk.

Mr. He>'ry Crosse said they must remember that when lie
said the Suffolk horses had deteriorated, he said the reason
why — by the sending of the best animals out of the country,
whether horses or mares. The late Mr. Crisp used to sell not
less than ten horses (the best he could find in the country)
out every year. He sold them to go abroad, and if he sold
mares as well as horses, that was a good reason why the best
horses should liave gon°, and why the Suffolk stock should
have deteriorated. They were glad to farm to make a profit,
and all should farm to make a profit, and they could not make
a profit by breeding so wcU as they could when there was more
pasture. That was one great reason why there was such a
deterioration in the heavy land districts : the best were sold
off, <ind a smaller number kept, because of the want of pasture.
There was not much attention paid to breeding in many places,
for, if a horse had but four legs, and a head aud tail, it would
sell, as he had seen, the week before, at Lavenham. There
might be a larger quantity of bays amongst the Suffolks than
formerly, and one reason why the bays were so much better
than the chesnuts was that the chesnnts had been favourites
with the foreigners, and they had gone first, and the bays had
been left in the country, and the best had also been left with
the others. There were now many bay teams in that neigh-
bourhood, and the best he had seen in Stowmarket were Mr.
Lambert's, and occasionally some from Mr. King's, of Preston.
He ratlier liked to see them, and though he did not pretend to
know anything about breeding, he contended that the bays
that came into that town were certainly better than the
chesnnts,

Mr. C. W. Suttox said the subject of crossing breeds having
been started, he wished to ask a question, for tlie sake of dis-
cussion, whether a cross with such a horse as Honest Tom
would not be of advantage to our Suffolk mares ? Honest
Tom had a large bone below the knee, and that seemed to be
a point in which the Suffolk marcs were deficient. '

Mr. J. E. Cn.U'JiiN said he thought the putting a Shire
horse like Honest Tom on Suffolk mares would not be the right
way to cross. The best way would be to use Suffolk stallions
on Cambridgeshire ra.ares. They wanted the biggest size iu
the dam, he thought. He did not know what Mr. Lingwood
would say to that.

Mr. C. W. Sutton said he thought there could be no two
opinions as to the principle Mr. Chapman had advocated, that
the mare should be the largest sized. But what were they
to doP They could not have the Cambridgeshire mares
crossed, or they must entirely alter tlie breed.

Mr. J. E. CuAPMAN said if they used the Canibridgesliire
horses on Suffolk mares they would not get snch good horses
as they did now.

Mr. J. J. Hattex said a word or two had been mentioned
as to the age at which a colt ought to be put to work. He
should like to know whether the breed had anything to do
with the working. They had heard a word or two about jib-
bing, and also about the shoulders being in fault. He thought
the men were in fault as well as the horses — it was in the
management.

'THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

301

Mr. S. Scott asked at what age a mare ought (o begin to
breed ? lie kuew tliey were ofleu taken too young for that
purpose, and that made them stick up their backs and put
them out of shape.

The CiiAliiMAN said that Mr. Sutton had asked a question
about Honest Tom, but he wouUl rather see Mr. Scolt's
horses subscribed for to be kept iu tlie county, and especially
to bring tliem to the country round Stowiuarket. lie had a
partiality for that style of horse, and llic dillieulty ho found
was to find a horse which travelled long enough in (he season
to be of service to the neighbourhood. Mr. Crosse was of
opinion that breeding of agricultural horses was best left
alone ; and for liis (the Chairman's) part, lie would rather
breed what were called nag horses, though he did a little in
Die agricultural line when he could. He thought it was a
misfortune to the Club that they had not Mr. Wilson, of Iiayl-
ham, present, as he might have told them, perhaps, a little
more than they knew. Then, again, as to pedigree, did auy
gentleman know whether the second high-priced mare at the
Denniugtou sale had a pedigree as long as that matchless mare,
Matchett ? There were other questions which might be asked,
and one was, whether the produce should be sold as sucklings
at Woolpit fair, or kept a little longer ? He was greatly in
favour of the Sutl'olk horses himself. Mr. Crosse had men-
tioned horses from Mr. King's, of Preston. Mr. King was a
great lover of a SuiTolk horse, and he (the Chairman) could
tell them that his horses could trot as well as most teams. As
to the deterioration of the Suffolk breed, the best animals
would sell the most readily, and fetch the most money, in Ger-
many, or France, or in England, whether to work or to eat.
The ditUculty of settling which was the best breed was very
great. Some gentlemen in the room preferred the cross-bred
horses — between Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire and the Suf-
folk, or what was called the London van horses ; others would
very likely prefer the SutTolk pure chesnuts. As to which was
the best was, he supposed, a question which would be left
undecided till there was not another SulTolk stallion iu the
country.

Mr. S. Scott said another reason why they should have a
horse amongst themselves was that they were now dependent
upon what he called the show horses. Tiiey were put upon
what was called a nine days' round, and very soon you liciird,
"I am going to AVolvcrliamptou, and cannot stop to sup])!y
you." lie had three mares to one horse last year (he would
not mention the name), but the horse was taken away to Wol-
verhampton, and he got no colt at all. That was not what
they wanted. They wanted a horse to keep amongst them,
and none of the show horses. If they were going to fat horses
up for the shows, they would not get colts.

Mr. T. Woodward said he quite agreed with some of the
remarks which had fallen from Mr. Scott with regard to keep-
ing a horse in the neighbourhood. There was an old saying
that in every parish there should be a good entire horse, a
good boar, and a good bull. If they had those things, un-
doubtedly the breed of horses might be greatly improved — at
any rate, they would be more likely to ensure a safe progeny.
It was a well-known fact that those horses that were fatted up
so very highly very seldom left much stock behind them.
Cupbearer was in instance. He had given that horse six
mares, and he had failed iu every instance but one, and that
day he had heard that there was one Cupbearer colt. There
was one thing that must bo clear to their minds, and that was
that they as heavy-land farmers must have stronger horses
than were needed in a light land district. They must have
strength, they must have size, they must have good marcs, and
certainly they must have sires equally good. Mr. Liugvvood's
first mare — a long, low, wide-spread mare — surely was such a
one that they must keep amongst themselves, and as to her
being picked up by the foreigner, his advice would be to the
farmer to stick to her himself to breed from. Then again as
to the short leggy mare, ho (Mr. Woodward) was not in
favour of short mares, and he was dead against leggy ones.
Then tl\e long, hght mare — here again they were not equal to
the work iu Suftolk. The short punchy ones he was much
obliged to Mr. Liugwood for introducing. What constitution
could be better than that of a short punchy mare ? Then the
long, narrow-chested mare, could they have strength with
sucli a one ? He thought not. He had no doubt that their
mares were not so good as they ought to be, and at any rate
they were not carefully put to the horse best calculated for

them. Take the best horse they might, and if they put hinr
to a narrow, tliiu chested mare, she could not throw out a colt
with long springy ribs. He thought it of the utmost import-
ance to have long, deep ribs spriugiug well from the centre.
As to the deterioration of their horses, he would like to ask
how that was to be remedied ? No doubt Suffolk people had
worked the Suffolk horses long enough to know that tiu'y
suited them better than any other breed. He was bound to
say that the Sutl'ulk horses seemed suited to the lieavy-laud
work in Suffolk better tlian any otiier breed. He had crossed
the Lincolnshire with the SulTolk horses, and the great difli-
cnlty he had found had been to keep them free from grease.
The" hairy-legged breeds were more frequently greasy than
Sallblks, unless they were well taken care of. He therefore
thought they must still stick to the Suffolk if possible, but lie
admitted that they were not favourites in other counties. In
no other county scarcely would they see a team of Suffolks.
Iu Keut they had a grey horse ; in Lincolnshire a long-legged
and short-ribbed breed, and that wps, in his opinion, the great
fault of the Lincolnshire breed. They might be wide-spread
and Imve more bone below the knee ; but as he had said be-
fore, they were more likely to throw out grease than the Suf-
folks. In Norfolk tlu^ had lighter laud, and there they could
use a light-lenged, active, quick-moving liorse much quicker
than the Suffolks. Mr. Liugwood instanced the i)utting of six
mares to one horse, but the reason for that in many cases was
that they were forced, because so few horses came into the
neighbourhood. If they could introduce a system of having
one horse for each parish, they would improve the breed gene-
rally, and would get more colts. There could be no question
that at the present price of agricultural horse-stock that was
desirable. He admitted that colts were ))ut to work too early,
and that one reason why they did not rear more was that tlie
pastures had been broken up. It was only in places where
there were marshes to turn them on, that horses could be bred
in auy numbers. The chairman had asked if it was profitable
to sell foals at Woolpit Fair. He (Mr. Woodward) thought
a man should buy foals, though an old saying was—

" A man that buys foals
Should find money in holes."

At the same time by buying a foal olf her mother, he had a
chance of seeing what slie was, and if she had ha(l anything
like a fair sire tliey could tell what the foal would be likely to
be. Undoubtedly buying at a year old was cheaper ; they
would come to less money, but tliey could not so well tell
what they were to be. If the Suifolks had deteriorated, he
thought it was in a great measure from the practice of breed-
ing in-and-in so much. If they wanted to introduce wide-
spread mares of a good breed where were they to get them ?
He had stated his objections to the Lincolnshire breed, and
perhaps some gentlemen would tell them where to get mares
with deep ribs, wide-spread and short logs.

Mr. C. W. Sutton said, as a Lincolnshire man, he was
probably racier prejudiced in favour of the Lincolnshire breed.
Mr. Woodward had said that he should have liked to cross
the Suffolk cart-horse with the Lincolnshire mares, provided
the produce of the cross were not subject to grease. This was
attributed to the great hairiness of the legs, and to the wasli-
ing them in water, so that they did not dry properly. He
(Mr. Sutton) would contend that the hairy-legged Lincoln-
shire horse was no more liable to grease than the Suffolk cart-
horse— for this reason, the hair on the legs protected the legs
from the action of the cold, which stopped the pores of the
skin and produced grease. But those horses would not stand
being driven throngli a pond as soon as they came from work,
and to be allowed to get dry in the stable. He contended that
the Lincolnshire cart-horse was as free from grease as the
Sufiblks — if not freer. As to buying foals, he thought a gen-
tleman buying a foal should make it a sine qnd noii that he
saw the mare that produced the foal. It was too generally
the case that i)eoplc would make use of mares some with side-
bone, some blind, and some spavined ; but if he bought off the
mare at Woolpit, or some such place, he would have some
opportunity of judging for himself.

Mr. W. S. Grimwade said that, with a very few exceptions,
he could endorse what Mr. Woodward had said. He thought
he had taken a very comprehensive view of the subject. Mr.
Lingwood and other speakers had not touched upon the sue-

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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE:.

cessful mauageraent of a mare during the period of gestation.
That appeared to him (Jlr. Grimwado) to be well fitted for
discussion, and of equal importance with the question, when a
mare should begin to breed. As to the treatment during ges-
tation, he thought the mare should be allowed periods of rest
till September ; and no doubt there was great risk in putting
her to work on heavy land, and that was the cause of the want
of success witli heavy-land farmers. He tiiought the manage-
ment of the mare botli before and after foaling would be an
interesting subject for discussion.

Mr. E. LiNGWOOD said as Cupbearer had been mentioned
as having no stock, he would say that he had used the horse,
dnd had foals in both instances. In one the mare lost the
foal, and in the other she died. His brother Thomas had also
used the same horse. He (Mr. E. Lingwood) wished to chal-
lenge the statement that Cupbearer did not leave stock be-
hind him.

Mr. LiXGWOOD, in reply, said if it were a fact that Suffolk
liorses were deteriorating, it was time that they looked to
their laurels. Mr. Woodward mentioned light mares, and Mr.
Lingwood remarked that it was his aim in his paper to speak
of them also, because long light mares were more generally
liked in the locality of Stowmarket. But it seemed to him ;
time to use compact horses. Mr, Scott mentioned about the '

keeping a horse in the country, and that thought had struck
him (Mr. Lingwood) ; also, whether it would not be advisable
for the members of the Club to unite, and thus draw a horse
into their locality more suited to their mares. There was an
allusion made to the Lincolnshire horses, and on one occasion
he asked a friend of his (a brewer), who was very fond of
horses, what sort he liked. He replied that he had tried all
sorts, and that he had come to the conclusion that Suffolk
horses were the best ; they would stand the road better than
any other kind. Objection had been made to the show stal-
lions as being sometimes over fat ; but he instanced Catlin's
Duke, which had a most enormous quantity of mares, and yet,
wherever he travelled, he left a large number of foals. He
thouglit a great deal depended upon the management and ex-
perience of the horse leader. Allusion had been made to
Cupbearer, and he (Mr. Lingwood) might have been more for-
tunate than otliers, as he had four foals out of five. As to
buying foals at Woolpit Fair, he remarked that a man who
had got a good foal would not very often sell it. In Prussia
the Government allowed the farmers to have the horses at 7s.
Gd. a mare. If the Government wanted to raise a certain
class of horses, that was the right way to get them.

Votes of thanks to the lecturer and chairman coucluded the
proceedings.

THE HEXHAM FARMERS' CLUB

FEEDING CATTLE.

At the February meeting, held in Hexham, Mr. C. G. Greyi
president, in the chair, Mr. Brydon, of Seahara Harbour,
agent to Earl Vane, read the following paper :

The tirst point requiring settlement is whether cattle for
feeding should he reared on the farm or bought in. Of course
this, in a great measure, depends upon circumstances, but,
where these are favourable, I should say, " Hear as many as
you possibly can, and keep them improving in condition from
the first." When dealt with in this manner they thrive better,
arrive sooner at maturity, and are worth more per stone to the
butcher than bought-in animals, which, as a rule, have been
in low rouditiou, and thus lost their calf flesh. Beasts of the
latter description always feed slower, and, when they do come
to the shambles, have a great deficiency of lean, compared witli
fat, which reduces the value of the beef. As the number of
calves reared must, in a great measure, depend upon the quan-
tity of milk available for this purpose, it is wortii considera-
tion whether the plan of putting a certain number of heifers
to the bull every year is not worthy of more extensive adop-
tion in this system. 'I'he calves suckle the dams during the
first grass season, after which the latter are led off, and the
former wintered for feeding the following season. I know of
several farms where this plan is carried on with satisfactory
results. When cattle are bought for feeding, well-bred ani-
mals, not too low in condition, should be selected, and, if their
previous trcatraeut can be ascertained, it is well to avoid those
that have in any way been forced by artificial food. Tiiis is a
rule of that eminent breeder and feeder, Mr. McCombie, of
Tillyfour, and his long experience and universal success arc
strong points in its favour. Having obtained our supply of
cattle either by rearing, purchasing, or both, the next question
is. What are the best descriptions of buildings for fattening
animals ? Discussions on this subject have generally resulted
in a verdict in favour of boxes, and justly so, as 1 believe no
other building is so admirably adapted for the end in view
than a properly constructed box. The cost, however, per
head of stock accommodated is much greater than in any
other description of building for feeding cattle — a circum-
stance which nearly always limits the number erected to a
mere proportion of the number required. The question then
arises, What building most nearly approaches to boxes in
adaptation to the end in view, and, at the same time, can be
erected at a moderate cost ? And here I unhesitatingly decide
in favour of covered yards. A good deal may be said in
favour of stalls, but I consider them as much inferior to
covered yards as the latter are inferior to boxes. I am here,

it must be borne in mind, speaking of the use of stalls for
feeding cattle, not for cows, the latter being foreign to the
subject of the present paper. Properly constructed covered
yards lack few of the advantages of boxes, and I know of no
building in wliich animals will thrive better. The manure,
not being washed by the rains, is at least one-third more valu-
able than that made in open yards, or, in other words, ten
loads made under cover produce an effect equal to that pro-
duced by fifteen loads from an exposed yard. For the same
reason, less litter is required, and the cost of attendance per
head is less than with either boxes or stalls. Compared with
open yards, cattle in covered courts make equal progress on
less food, and more progress on a similar amount. The saving
of food is variously estimated by difierent experimenters to be
from one-fourth to one-eighth. Even taking the lowest esti-
mate as the correct one, the adoption of covered courts would
enable the farmer to feed nine beasts instead of eight on the
same amount of provender. The explanation of the large
saving is easy. The substances that produce fat in the food
of animals are used mainly for burning in the lungs to keep
up the animal heat, and it is only what is left after this is
effected that goes to the body in the shape of fat. Now, in
covered yards the animals are kept warm, and hence less food
is required for sustaining the animal heat, and thus more is
left for the production of food. The great desideratum in the
construction of covered yards is ensuring perfect ventilation,
combined with entire freedom from draughts. Each animal
should be allovved at least one hundred and seventy square
feet of surface, and if the yards are larger they should have
some internal divisions, a limited number of animals being
kept in each compartment : this facilitates the assorting to-
gether of animals alike in size, &o. Another point never to
be neglected in the constructing of buildings for fattening
cattle is a constant supply of pure water to which the animals
can at all times have free access. Wliile I recommend covered
yards for the bulk of the cattle, a proportion of boxes are
almost indispensable, as, however well you may assort the lots
in their different compartments, there are always some of the
stronger animals getting more than their due proportion of
food. In boxes, this is impossible, and in this respect they arc
invaluable. The number of boxes should be arranged so as
to allow a box for each animal during its last month of feeding,
and as soon as each lot are sold from their boxes their places
should be supplied by the most forward of those in the yards.
The next important repuisite in the feeding of cattle is ob-
taining the services of suitable attendants — no easy matter, as

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303

men of the riglit sort are seldom in waut of employment. A
good cattle-man makes his business his hobby, takes pleasure
in his work, studies the comfort, likes and dislikes, of each
animal, and does for them, of Ids own accord, what no amount
of instruction or supervision could ensure. A man of tliis
stamp is invaluable. As a rule, he will detect anything amiss
with an animal hours before a more ordinary observer ; will
know when to give and when to withhold — when the food
should be increased, and when reduced. I have often marked
the difference in condition of two lots of cattle which in every
respect have received similar treatment but were under the
care of different cattle-men. Cattle should receive their food
with the greatest regularity and the utmost expedition, and,
as soon as tlicy are doue eating, all unfinished food should be
at once removed, the boxes cleaned, bedding shaken up, and,
if necessary, increased : after this, cattle generally lie down,
and should not on any account be disturbed until the next
feeding time. Tlie litter for covered yards and boxes should
be cut into lengths by a macliiue for the purpose. This would
insure the manure being in a state fit for direct application to
the land whenever it is necessary to remove it. Tlie necessity
of keeping feeding animals warm has already been alluded to.
The best temperature, however, is not easily defined, as it
varies with different breeds and different animals of the same
breed, according to previous treatment. As a general rule,
the temperature cannot be too great, provided always it does
not make the animals perspire. Every feeder of cattle who
wants to make the most of his f;irm-produee should possess
three machines, viz., a grinding mill, a cliaffcutter, and a
turnip pulper, and, assuming that they are conveniently planed
and properly used, the saving they effect is amazing. We
cannot feed cattle on concentrated food alone. Bulk is abso-
lutely essential to health, but it does not follow that the food
used for tliis purpose need be of a high nutritive value, as it
is easy to increase the concentrated food to bring its feeding
qualities up to any standard required. Now, by the aid of tiie
chaffcutter and subsequent preparation, straw, that would be
refused by the animal if given in its natural state, can be ren-
dered highly nutritious, and is eaten with great relish. When
feeding on a mixture of chaff, pulp, meal, &c., all waste can
be prevented, tlie animals are enabled to take more rest,
sliorter time being occupied with eating, and choking is im-
possible. Everyone with whom I am acquainted who use
chaff and pulp turnip speak unanimously in favour of the sys-
tem, but considerable difference of opinion exists as to whetlier
the mixture should be given fresh, or allowed some time for
fermentation. I am inclined to believe most in the latter
system, as the fermentation converts part of the starchy ele-
ments of the food into gum and sugar, which is a stage nearer
to fat, besides imparting a sweetness which makes it more
relished by the animals. Mixing the pulp roots and the
chaff together witli a proportion of meal for each animal,
covering up and allowing it to remain till the next day, tiieu
scalding with boiling water, and given to the animals warm,
answers tlie purpose very well. The addition of a little salt
to the mixture is also a great improvement. Another plan,
introduced by Mr. S. Jones, of Chiishall Grange, Saffron
Walden, is to cut the straw into chaff in early summer,
mixing with every ton of cut straw one hundredwciglit of
green rye or tares and one bushel of salt. Tliis mixture is
stored till tlie winter, the green rye causing it to undergo
slight fermentation, whicli greatly increases its value as a
feeding material. According to an analysis made by Professor
Voelcker the flesh-forming substances are increased from 2"93
in the straw chaff" to i-l9 in tlie fermented mixture, and tlie
fat-forming matters from 4-2G in the straw to 10-16 in the mix-
ture. Without placing too much reliance on these results, the
system is, at all events, well wortli a trial, and I would advise
all who have the opportunity to test its practical value. I
liave not done so yet, but purpose preparing some of the mix-
ture for next season. In addition to turnip and chaff, or other
food essential for bulk, it is usual to hasten the feeding process
by the use of concentrated food, such as meals, cakes, &c. To
use these foods to most advantage I will not say a knowledge
of chemistry is indispensable, but it certainly is a very great
help, only, however, when combined with tlie requisite practical
knowledge ; without the latter qualification tlie chemical know-
leage is of little use, as it cannot be applied to advantage. The
food of all animals contains the elements of flesh, fat, and bone ;
and all foods contain these elements, but in very different pro-

portions. Thus, while bean-meal contains 23 per cent, of
nitrogenous or flesh-forming substances, barley-meal barely
contains 11 per cent. On the other hand barley-meal contains
68 per cent, of fat-forming materials, while bean-meal only
contains 48 per cent. All animals require in their foods the
elements of flesh and fat, and, as we have seen in the case of
bean and barley meals, these elements exist in very different pro-
portions ; so in like manner difl'erent animals require different
proportions of these elements. Take, for example, the horse.
In this case we do not want the animals covered with fat, the
requirement being a capability for hard work, necessitating
great wear and tear of the muscles or flesliy part of the body,
hence a food rich in nitrogenous or flesh-forming materials is
clearly the desideratum here. Now, beans in a wonderful de-
gree fulfil this condition, and, what is more to the point, they
answer as well in practice as in theory. Feeding cattle, on
the other hand, undergo little exertion, hence the waste, or
wear and tear, of the muscles is comparatively small, and as
the object in this case is the production of fat, it follows that
a food containing a large portion of fat-forming material, such
as barley-meal, is adapted to the end in view, and practice
again fully bears this out. To increase the size of a muscle
use, and pretty constant use, is essential. Now, this being in-
compatible with feeding cattle it follows that the muscles do
not increase in size, and the e.xtra weight is entirely due to the
production of fat ; and from this fact we can draw two im-
portant deductions: first, the advisability of obtaining auimals
for feeding purpose witii well-developed muscles, and, secondly,
the absurdity of giving feeding cattle large quantities of
bean-meal or other food rich in nitrogenous compounds.
I do not wholly condemn the use of bean-meal for fattening
auimals, a small proportion mixed with Indian corn-meal
corrects the laxative tendency of the latter and forms
a very good mixture, and a mixture of meals is at all
times to be preferred to any one singly. The market
price of the different ingredients in a mixture should in a
manner regulate the proportion of each, keeping in mind at
the same time the formation ot a food suitable to the end in
view. Chemical analysis, thougli most useful for deter-
minining the relative values of foods, cannot be
entirely depended upon. Some substances when analysed
show a high feeding value, and yet are practically useless
on account of containing some prejudicial substance either
poisonous to the animal or hurtful to the flavour of the
meat ; other causes, such as physical condition, and the
likes and dislikes of the animal also operate against the
agreement of the analysis and the practical worth of the food.
In regard to cakes, I believe that made from pure linseed
to be the best for feeding purposes, and a capital feeding
material it is ; at the same time, I have long held an opinion
that the price at which cakes are sold is really too high to
warrant us in using them as extensively as we do. It has
been computed that five pounds of linseed cake make one
pound of meat, and six pounds of barley or maize meals do
the same. Now, taking barley at Is. per stone, about the
average price of grinding samples, and linseed cake at Is.
6d. per stone, or £13 per ton, we find from the above data
that six stoues of barley meal, costing 63., will make 141bs. of
meat, and four stones of linseed cake, also costiug 6s., only
make lllbs. of meat, or a deficiency of 8 stones 81bs. in every
ton of the cake used ; and calculating the meat deficient at
9s. a stone we find it represents a money loss of £3 17s.
Now, I cannot guarantee these figures to be absolutely cor-
rect, but even if the loss is one-half or one-third less than
they represent, it is surely quite enough to caution us against
the too extensive use of a dear feeding material when we have
a cheaper substitute. It must be borne in mind, however,
that the price of linseed cake does not vary so much as ttie
ordinary cereals, hence in some seasons it will be compara-
tively cheaper than in others. Good samples of rapecake are
often very little inferior to the best sorts of linseed cakes and
can be bought at a raucli cheaper rate. Before giving it to
cattle, however, it should be ground and made into gruel, and
mixed with the chaft'; prepared in this way cattle are very
fond of it, which is not the case in its natural state. The
amount of cake and meal given should be regulated by the ap-
pearance of the ffeces, which always show when an animal is
getting more than it can properly assimilate, and if the cattle-
man pays attention to tliis he can regulate the quantity accord-
ingly. Many people contend that even if the cake and meal

304

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

are not assimihited they are nol wasted, as they increase the
value of I lie mauure. Ee assured, gentlemen, this is a great
fallacy. What is not assimilated merely passes through the
auinial without doing it the slightest good, hut often positive
harm, by deranging its digestive system, and the manure is
ouly increased in value to the extent it would have been if the
extra cake and meal had been thrown into it direct — a very
expensive way of increasing its value, and it may be taken as
a safe rule that if any feeding material does not pay as a food
it never will as a manure. As regards the disposal of fat
cattle, I think they should be sold as soon as fat. As a rule
this will pay better than keeping them on for any particular
sale or rise in market price, and as soon as one lot of animals
are removed, another should be put in their place. Those who
possess good buildings for feeding cattle shonld never have
them empty. Like expensive but valuable machines, the more
they are used the better they will pay. There is nothing I
more dislike to see than empty cattle yards, and it is ouly neces-
sary to divest our minds of the idea that turnips are an essen-
tial for feeding to enable us to devise some means of feeding
cattle in the yard all the year round. On many farms the cost
of the turnip crop is enormous, and, assuming that both sum-
mer and winter feeding are carried out and the cost of each
corccctly estimated, I would be greatly surprised if the balance
was not in favour of summer feeding. Those who have tried
summer feeding cattle in yards compared with grazing them in
the fields almost unanimously decide in favour of the former,
not only because the cattle improve faster, but also because a
greater number can be supported on the same area,
besides other advantages to which I need not here allude. I
am so thoroughly imbued with the truth of this that I never
would graze a single beast fit for feeding. In young cattle it
is diU'erent, as in their case exercise is essential for developing
the muscles and securing symmetry. To carry out summer
feeding to advantage a succession of crops must be arranged.
The following, extended or modified for particular circum-
stances would generally suit. A quantity of mangold or cattle
potatoes should be in readiness to supply the place of the tur-
nips. These finished, winter tares and rye, sown in a sheltered
situation, should be fit for cutting. After which ; early top-
dressed seeds and tiicn early spring tares, followed by second
crop of clover. After which, early sown greystono or white
turnips to last until the ordinary turnip crop is ready. To
each kind of food the animals must he gradually accustomed,
getting all along a due allowance of concentrated food, such
as meals, cake, &c., and, above all, it is most important and
absolutely essential to success, that they should have an un-
limited supply of pure water. If cattle are to bo grazed they
should be taken up early. Mr. McCombie states that one
week's feeding in August and September is worth three in the
dead of winter. Whether this be so or not I cannot say, but
of one thing I am certain, cattle never improve outside alter
the weather gets cold, even though they have plenty of grass ;
besides this, an extra growth of hair takes place which causes
them to perspire when put iu to feed. I have often noticed
in bad turnip seasons feeding beasts can bo bought compara-
tively cheap, and invariably when fat sell at a good price. This
should prevent us shirking feeding, as is sometimes done,
simply because we have few or no turnips. It can be effected
by the use of good straw-chaff rendered savory by a little
treacle, together with a good allowance of concentrated foods
and the never-to-be-forgotten water. I have said nothing
about feeding cattle for show purposes, as I believe it seldom,
if ever, pays. When it is done, the animals should be kept
in good condition from the time they are calves, but never
forced until within twelve mouths of the time they are to be
exhibited. A food containing sugar will do much iu keeping
the digestive system in order. A feeding animal refusing its
food from simple derangement of the digestive system is of
frcfiucut occurrence. In such cases a drink composed as fol-
lows will be found most useful, viz. :

Epsom salts 14. oz.

Sulphur 2

Ginger 1

Black antimony ^

Aloes -^ "

well powdered and mixed, and given in not less than four
quarts of thin oatmeal gruel. In conclusion, gentlemen, al-
Jow rae very shortly to draw your attention to two facts in

connection with the importation of cattle and wheat. Those
matters, though not strongly belonging to the subject of the
present paper, yet have a most important bearing not only on
feeding cattle, but on the whole question of the food of the
people. 1st. The climate of Great Britain is perhaps better
adapted than any other for the breeding and feeding of cattle
and sheep. IMutton and beef of the best possible quality can
bo produced, and we have always a home market with an in-
creasing demand. The foreigner, on the other hand, has to
contend with a climate less adapted for this purpose, an in-
ferior breed of cattle, and the risk and expense of exportation,
together with the certain deterioration in transit. Besides
this, up to the end of the year 187^, and since, for anything
we know to the contrary, more of our own valuable cattle
have died from imported diseases than all the cattle imported
put together. 2nd. Many foreign countries have climates
much better adapted for the growth of wheat than our own.
This is proved by the fact that wheat can be imported into
this country of quality superior to our own, and sold with a
profit to the grower, at a price barely remunerative to the
British farmer. Taking these two facts together, we draw
several important deductions. 1st. As we have all the advan-
tages on our side in the breeding and feeding of cattle and
sheep, we ought to develop by every moans in our power all
our resources in this branch of agriculture, and have some
stringent measures for protecting our herds from contagious
diseases of foreign origin. 2nd. As we cannot on inferior
soils successfully compete with the foreigner in the growth of
wheat, it is worth consideration whether all our worst soils
used for thi^ purpose would not be more profitably employed
in the growth of crops more directly available as cattle-food.
Such changes as we hsve here indicated would give au im-
mense impetus to the British cattle trade; and I feel sure,
were it once properly protected and developed, we should have
little need of extraneous supplies.

Mr. A. Wood asked how they could get covered yards,
giving 170 square feet for each beast, cheaper than boxes giving
110 square feet for each beast P

Mr. GooDRiCK ; Ninety square feet is a large one.

Mr. Trotter, the secretary, said that tlie object the com-
mittee had in view was to draw out the views of the mem-
bers as to the proper construction of farm buildings, for they
would observe th.at farm buildings was the next subject ou the
card. He was asked by a gentleman to give assistance in
designing farm buildings, but when he came to that part of
stalls versus boxes he felt at a loss. They thought stalls could
be put up cheaper than boxes, and also that the straw would
go further when the cattle were in stalls than when accommo-
dated in boxes. But they also had au idea that in boxes the
manure would be superior than when the cattle were in stalls.
In stalls the liquid manure generally ran to waste ; and more-
over the dung and straw being mixed together and thrown
into a heap fermentation immediately took place and caused
a waste. He mentioned these things to the committee, and
thoy thought it was a fitting subject for discussion, to see if
they could elicit various opinions upon it as to which was the
most desirable system — stalls or boxes. They had no idea
that covered yards would be recommended before stalls. It
was quite possible, where cattle had the range of a yard, and
not too many of them together, they would get friendly, and
fatten quickly, but it sometimes happened that cattle like,
human beings were somewhat pugnacious, and disturbed one
another very much, especially feeding heifers, and it was de-
sirable to keep them separate. If they got opinions on this
subject lie should feel extremely obliged, and there were gen-
tlemen present well qualified to give an opinion, so that from
the bulk they might get the essence.

Mr. J. J. IIaule moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Brydon.
Referring to analyses of cakes, he thought that these analyses
to a farmer who was not conversant with the system of
analyses were hardly of any use. If such a person was shown
the analyses of rapecake and oilcake he would defy liim to see
any apparent difference in the two. The chemist, in analysing
the cake found there was in it a certain percentage of water,
oil, albuminoids, and woody fibre, and the rest he considered
to be starch compounds. The reason why linseodcake was
particularly valuable to stock was because it contained what
was called mucilage, which was a very feeding thing and a
very hralthy thing for all animals. Now in rape and the
other seed cakes, the starchy matter was not in the form of

TTTE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

305

mucilagn, but was of an inferior nature, probably digestible
woody libre. The chemists did not even agree about tlie
(^uautlty of woody fibre, some of tlieui boiled the cakes for two
hours alternately in solutions of sulphuric acid and caustic
soda, and thought that the residue was indigestible to animals,
but there was no certainty about it. lie was rather disap-
pointed in not hearing from Mr. Brydon an opinion as to
decorticafed cottoncake. He could not say that it was more
valuable than rapecake, but on account of its immense per-
centage of manurial constituents it must be valuable to the
farmer. Decorticated cottoncake was worth two-thirds of its
price as manure.

The Secretaky observed that he had often heard that cot-
toucako was valuable as manure, but did it not arise from the
cottoncake passing through the animal, and not being assimi-
lated P

Mr. Harle said there were great disputes amongst chemists
as regarded the proportion of constituents in cake, and as to
how much was assimilated by the animal, how much was lost
in the air, and how much went into manure. The manure
from decorticated cottoncake was very valuable, and spared
them from having to purchase for the laud such dear manures
as nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia. In no cake did
they get such a large proportion of nitrogen in its composition
as in decorticated cottoncake. Barley meal might be cheaper
to use in making beef, but the manure from it was only worth
30s. a ton, while the manure from the cake was worth £3 or
£1 a ton.

Mr. C. Marshall seconded the vote of thanks to Mr.
Brydon for his paper, and, alluding to the mixing of cut straw
with green rye in the early summer, said he should like to
know what plan they would take to preserve this till the win-
ter? It seemed to him that they would ret^uire another
set of buildings to keep this stuff till the winter.

The Chairman : Fill the straw barns with it.

Mr. Marshall said that in regard to the question of cakes
and meal, he had often noticed when he had sheep on turnips
the diirerenco there was afterwards in those places where they
had got oats and where they had got cake. Two years ago
sheep were put upon some turnip land of his, and the sheep
on the worst parts of the laud got oil' cake. Wherever these
latter sheep had moved across the land ho noticed not only in
the oat crop but also in the clover crop a distinct difference in
the crops as compared to that portion of the land where meal
instead of oil cake had been given to the sheep, and there was
much more value in the manure from cake than from meal.

Mr. Pattison said he entirely agreed with Mr. Brydon as
far as the feeding of the animals went, but he disagreed with
liiin as to covered yards. In these yaids the animals knocked
each other about, and the strongest animal got over much
food and was knocked up for two or three days afterwards.
They were never sure of each animal getting its fair share of
food, while if they were separate they could easily see if the
animal had eaten its share of food or if any was left over.
The manure might be better in boxes than in stalls, but he
thought cattle were more healthy in stalls than in boxes, as
they had not the eilluvia arising from the manure — an im-
portant matter in his opinion. As regarded, cut straw, &c.,lie
regarded it as a valuble accessary to turuips ; in fact, in place
of them. Oil cake lie considered was safer with meal, and his
experience was that animals fed faster with oil cake with
turnips or meal. A small overdose of meal would overset any
cattle at any time, but that was not the case with respect to
oil cake.

Mr. Wood thouglit that if the animals in covered yards
were all of a family they might go friendly together, but still
they might knock against each other. They put ten cattle to-
gether, and then took those out that they were driven back,
reducing the number to about seven in a large yard, but the
chances were that some of them would get more than tlicir
share of the oil cake given to them. lu boxes, he believed
that cattle got on faster than in covered yards and with less
trouble, and they always knew that each animal got its share
of food— the weakest beast as well as the strongest got what
was good for it.

Mr. J. B. Lee remarked that the other day he was speaking
to a gentleman who had covered yards, lie said that on his
farm the system was to cut the horns off the cattle when young
before being put into the yards. He said he could put a large
quantity in these covered yards, and that they never knocked

cueh other about. Probably the cutting off of iheir horns
sweetened their temper.

Mr. Marshall believed that the question as to whether
stall or boxes vpere best depended very much upon the kind of
farm they had. If it was a farm where they kept a lot of
sheep on turnips boxes would be preferable, but if it was a
farm where they pulled the turnips oil", if they tied up the
beasts they would take less straw.

Mr. Drydon considered that heifers fed best in stalls. He
was disclosing a secret, but he might say that he had 100
cattle on turnips just now, and he considered that steers did
best in covered yards. Ho had some in covered yards in East
Lothian ; the steers were nearly all of a size, and he found
that these cattle on this particular farm paid best in covered
yards. If the cattle were heifers he would prefer either stalls
or boxes for them, as they were more inclined to knock each
other about than steers. The older steers were quiet in the
yards, and if they were half-bred polled ones it was better
still. He had not more than from four to six in each yard,
with plenty of room and plenty of accommodation. The
system that he had always found to pay best was to get his
turnips grown upon as good land as he possibly could, feed
them upon turuips, and in the last few weeks feed them off
with oil cake.

The Chairman said as to feeding cattle from birth, that
was a thing that ought to be attended to, though it did not
suit the nature of every man's farm to breed and rear cattle ;
stiU, where a man did breed a beast, he did not approve of its
being kept for two or three years, and be allowed to get into
low condition, something like the system of Paddy with his
pigs — feed them one day and starve them another, in order to
make nice streaks of fat and lean. If a beast were allowed
to get out of condition, it cost more to get it into condition
again. He was sure of that, having tried it often in different
ways. He had tried buying heifers and rearing their own
calves, and feeding off the heifers and calves together in
boxes. Instead of lean miserable yearlings, ho had ten and
eleven months old calves selling for £23 and £21<, and ho was
told by the butcher that they made as good meat to put on
the table as the beef they got from any three or four-year-old
ox or heifer. Some might say that he fed these animals ex-
pensively, but then his beasts were as valuable as heifer calves
as some were at three or four years old, and they must pay as
well. In every case they should always keep on feeding, in
the breeding and rearing of youug stock, because if they
sold them to others to fatten they would get a good deal more
for them if they kept pushing them forward. They all knew
that cattle were briugiug high prices, and they were told that
the country was so limited that every acre must produce all it
possibly could, and he thought it was a waste of capital to
have whole tracts of country on which they kept large numbers
of lean beasts till they were three or four years old, and then
fattened them. He thought that from the time a beast was
born it should keep progressing as far as it could progress
until it was fit for the shambles. The charge which the able
Editor of the 3Iarl Lane Exjiress made against him was that
ho always took the landlord's view of the subject in these dis-
cussions. Having to see about, the erection of farm buildings
constantly, but still more now as to the enlargement of the
present ones rather than the erection of new ones, as there
was double the accommodation required now than there was
twenty or thirty years ago, ho must see what buildings would
be most useful. The present tenant of a large farm might say
that he wanted nothing but large covered yards, and on the
estate with which ho was connected an immense sum of money
had been laid out in enormous covered yards, in some cases
there being as many as twenty bullocks iu one yard and all
covered up. That farm might be let to-morrow and the next
tenant might want it turned into boxes, and the succeeding
tenant might want it into stalls. All this affected the land-
lord's pocket seriously, and the agent had to make up his mind
which was the best. He had long made up his mind to adopt
none of the three. On a large farm, where there was a large
number of cattle fed, and heavy crops of turuips grown, there
should be a certain quantity of covered yards. These were
of great value, and in these some ten or fil'ten bullocks might
be seen feeding up to the knees in straw, none of them stick-
ing one another in the vicious way that had been de-
scribed, and doing very well indeed. On the same farm
there should be a number of boxes, and Mr, Wood would

306

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

in that case have an opportunity of picking out
tlie savage bullock that over-ate himself, so that he
might be put into a box and put on prison diet for a
while, by only giving him what was good for him. Tiie vreak
bullock would also get as much as was good for liira, and they
would cherish him as much as they could. lu his opinion
there sliould be both covered yards and boxes on such a farm.
On small farms he did not think a large extent of covered yard
necessary, and for young cattle tliat were not being brought
forward for the market the open yards as they were would be
found tolerably useful, particularly where they had straw,
though he did not say it was an economical way of using
straw — the putting of it into open yards. On a smaller farm
there should be both boxes and stalls, for he considered that
heifers did better in stalls than in boxes. They did not need to
exercise the animals ; they did not want to develope the
muscles of the heifers during the last five or six months in
which they were feeding them for sale. They could keep them
dry and clean, and they did not need to use so much straw.
Tiiey liad to carry out the manure every day and put it in a
heap, and if they could put it in a covered place where it would
not be washed by the rain so much the better. Bullocks cer-
tainly ought to have boxes, for they were always wet and un-
comfortable when tied up iu stalls, and did not do so well. He
would have a fair proportion of stalls and boxes and covered
yards, and open yards on smaller farms with sheds for young
cattle to go into. Mr. Brydon made a remark about burning
fat, he did not mean putting it into the fire as the Americans
did to keep up the steam in a race between steamers, but the
fat of the animal which went to keep it warm. Peediug cattle
in covered yards kept them warm, and he liad observed that
when cattle were exposed to the bitter cast winds which came
sometimes in March and April they ate twice as much oat straw
as they did before. Just as as on a cold day they put ou twice
as much coal on their fires to keep their rooms lu pro-
per heat, and the consumption of fat iu the animal was like
the coal on the fire. They should not have an animal exposed
to hot sunny days at oue time and cold days at another, for an
animal could not thrive alternating between heat and cold.
Another matter of importance to breeders and feeders of stock
was in reference to the attendants that waited upon tlie ani-
mals. Mr. Wood, sen., always rated him if he saw half a
handful of cake left in the trough, for he would say, "Your
man is giving that beast too much to eat." They should
never leave anything over, and the man who attended upon
cattlp ought to know the taste and appetite of each beast.
Men who fed cattle were apt to go about like a machine, and
give a certain quantity of food to each beast, regardless
whether it ate it all up or wanted more. As to preparing in
early summer chaflf mixed with green rye or tares and salt for
use in winter, he did not know how they would be able to
keep and preserve it till winter. That to him was an insur-
mountable difficulty, in the way of using it. He certainly was
in favour of pulping roots and mixing it with chaff and cut
straw ; it was very useful, and he tliought that if it was done
and kept a few days it would become suiHciently moist and not
require hot water to be poured over it. If they had a sufficient
quantity of pulped root moist enough, they need not pour boil-
ing water upon it, and to carry boiling water about farmyards
increased the labour of attendance very much. He had re-
cently used dried grains that he got from Hexham Brewery,
mixing a little of them with every feed that was given to the
beasts. They ran out of it the other day, and a lot of beasts
stopped feeding, and would hardly feed without it. He had
not tried tiie feeding quality of these grains, thougli he had
no doubt himself of tlieir feeding quality, and for making
cattle eat their food tluy were most excellent. He
had calves which had hardly got any milk, thriving well, and
they licked up anything they got. He had rapecako and
cottoncake broken and chopped, and with these grains, all put
together, the cattle ate it up as they would the best linseed-
cake. Often his man broke up a lot of rapecake, carried it
into the shed, but the cattle would not touch it, and it used to
lie there a long while before being eaten. Sheep that got
oats with the turnips did not do so much good to the land as
those that got cake along with the turnips. He had known
farms laid down to grass two or three years when cake was
given to the cattle feeding upon the land. The cattle fully

paid for the cake, and the improvement to the grass was won-
derful ; they could not have made it such if they had given it
a good top dressing with manures for a few years running.
It was on light land, and instead of going to moss it came to
be like the best old pasture, by giving cake to the cattle on
the land. That did not go in with Mr. Brydon's principle.
Cattle could be kept improving on grass in summer as well as
in winter, but according to the up and down system of farming
a tenant had no right to improve grass land towards the end
of his lease. If they got a tenant right satisfactorily arranged
all these thiugs would be taken into calculation, and the
tenant would reap the benefit in the feeding of his cattle and
get his share of the benefit to the grass by using cake upon
it. Another point not touching upon the feeding of cattle
had been referred to, and that was protecting their cattle
against imported diseases. Many persons who were politicians
thought they wanted to return to protection, but that was
mere clap-trap. He had always been a free trader, and they
could compete with the whole world, and he did not believe
that any of them wanted protection against competition, but
it was a different thing to ask for protection against destruc-
tion of their cattle. If they brought cattle with diseases
into the country, and these diseases spread among their own
cattle, it not only ruined the farmer, but injured the whole
country ; and it was not only for the protection of the farmer,
but for the protection of the public that diseased cattle should
not be allowed to enter the country. Tliere ought to be fat-
cattle markets at the places of landing, where those intended
for the shambles could be at once slaughtered, and the cattle
brought to be fed in the country should be put in quarantine,
the same as a ship that brought people suffering from a con-
tagious disease. That was a reasonable request. He would
now put the vote of thanks to Mr. Brydon, and he was sure
they would all agree in thanking him for the excellent Paper
he had read.

The vote of thanks having been passed,

Mr. Brydon thanked them for the manner in wliich they
had received his paper, and for the vote of thanks they had
awarded to him. The first gentleman who spoke after he sat
down, asked why a covered yard where an animal required
about 170 square feet of surface, could be cheaper than boxes
where 80 square feet was sufficient. That was simply ou
account of the divisions they were required to make to hedge
each animal in. The same gentleman, if he recollected right,
argued against yard-feeding on account of the animals
" boxing" one another and all that sort of thing, and said the
animals would not do so well. If he was correct in his im-
pression, the gentleman meant open yards instead of covered
yards.

Mr. Wood : The same applies to one as to another.

Mr. Brydon said he had never seen any difficulty witli cat-
tle in covered yards, with boxes round about, and plenty of
room and water. Mr. Drydon, who had experience with regard
to covered yards bore out what he had stated. Mr. Harle
made some remarks as to the analyses of rape cakes and oil
cakes. He did not say that rape cake was anything like so
good as linseed cake, but looking at the price it was usually
sold at it would be very ofteu cheaper than linseed cake
according to value, but as he observed in the paper it required
to be prepared in the manner in which the chairman alluded
to. Mr. Harle wondered why he had not referred to cotton
cake. He left it out purposely : he thought it was a valuable
cuke, but more adapted for grazing cattle than those that were
being fattened. He quite agreed that the manure was richer
after linseed cake than a fter oats and meals and also a first-
rate material for feeding sheep. Then as regarded stalls, he
thought they were a capital thing for heifers, but they could
not erect such an expensive erection as a great number of
stalls, the expense would be very heavy. Bullocks, however,
did not do well in them. On the whole, he thought if tliey
got a good assortment of covered yards and boxes they were
very well off. One gentleman said that the cattle thrive better
installs than iu boxes, but he always found that they thrive
better in boxes than they did in stalls.

Ou the motion of Mr. Jos. Lee, seconded by Mr. Brydon, a
vote of thanks was accorded to the chairman, and the meetinsf
terminated.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINK.

307

THE BRECONSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.
POULTRY,

At the February monthly meeting held at Brecon, the Rev.
Garnons Williams in the chair, Mr. M. Kinnard B. Ed-
wards, of Sam Farvv, Bridgend, read the Ibllowiug paper :

The subject upon which I have the pleasure of addressing you
this alteruoou is, " The Home production of Eggs and Poultry
in a commercial point of view," and it is my intention to treat
this subject as far as possible from the farmers' point of view,
rather than in connection with the breeding and production of
prize and fancy fowls by amateurs or exhibitors. Agriculture
in all its branches (like everything else) has made rapid strides
during the past twenty years, and I think I may say that no
branch of husbandry has improved more, or risen to greater
importance than the various breeding of poultry in tliis coun-
try. Tlie annual poultry shows that we now hold in almost
every county in England prove more clearly than anytliing the
advance we have made in this respect, and the tens of thou-
sands that flock to these shows or exhibitions is a proof of the
great public interest that is felt on the subject. Any stranger
coming to this country and visiting these shows, where every
conceivable breed of bird is exhibited in its highest state of
perfection, both as to size and plumage, would go away with
the idea that the poultry of Great Britain was all that could
be desired, and that there was really no room for improve-
ment, but the true state of the case is far otherwise. The
fact is, that until quite recent years, the bieed of fowl in this
country (a few localities excepted) had been allowed to de-
generate century after century, so as to become almosi worth-
less in a commercial or pecuniury point of view. Fowls were
merely tolerated upon the farm to act as scavengers, and living
as best they could rather than being kept with any idea that
a profit might be realised by them. The trifle that is realised
from the poultry-yard was the acknowledged perquisite of the
farmer's wife or daughters, and not in any way considered a
part or parcel of the master's stock or profits, or in any way
worthy of his notice. Tiie farmer plainly saw his fowls con-
sumed a quantity of his grain, and that he, individually, reaped
no profit by their presence, and little wonder that he should
have come to the conclusion (for quickly comes sucli know-
ledge) tliat " fowli don't pay." Well, as I said before, the
tens of thousands who attend our shows, and the presence of
the magnificent specimens of poultry to be seen exhibited,
would lead the casual obsever to believe there was little room
for improving our yards, or necessity for stimulating increased
attraction to the production of eggs and poultry ; but the
startling fact that we annually import into tliis country no less
than 500 millions of eggs, to say nothing of the tons of poul-
try, shows us at once how utterly erroneous such an impression
must be. Whatever we have to pride ourselves upon as a
nation, it certainly is not the quality or quantity of our poul-
try, and, as long as we continue to look abroad for this
stupendous supply (500 millions) the less we say about our
poultry or poultry shows the better. That poultry shows are
useful I think nobody will deny, inasmuch as tliey tend to
stimulate an increased interest in the keeping of good poultry
and encourage the breeding of the best and most profitable
stock. It is, however, one thing to have a valuable article
within your reach, and another to make use of it and profit
by it. It is a comparatively easy task for our amateurs and
poultry fanciers to introduce into this country from abroad the
most valued breeds of foreign fowl and exhibit them at our
shows, but quite another matter, and a far more difficult one,
to revolutionise the poultry yards of the million — the 400,000
farmsteads of England — by inducing them to introduce these
" new faugled" birds. To import and breed a suflicient stock
for the desired improvement of the country is the work only of
a few years, but to induce the agricultural population of the
country to improve their stock by the introduction of fresh
blood will be the work of many. Not until this desired end
is gained can we hope for any great change in the home pro-
duction of eggs and poultry, or the public be benefited by the
increased quantity and improved quality. Although I am

ready to admit that the farming classes of this country are
fully alive to their own interests, when it ran be shown to
them by practical and occular demonstration that by making a
change they will increase their profit ; yet it cannot be denied
but that this important branch of our community are, in every
sense of the word, " conservative," and will make no change
unless irresistible proof is forthcoming to prove the import-
ance of that change in a pecuniary and commercial point of
view. Now, when we consider that poultry generally, and
fowls in particular, have for centuries been looked upon with
disfavour in a pecuniary sense, and the acknowledged idea that
fowls " don't pay" has been handed down from generation to
generation, it is not surprising that no very marked change
has yet taken place in the improvement of the breed, or in-
creased number of fowls in the farmsteads and cottage runs
througliout the country. This change, as I said before, must
be a gradual one, and can only be brought about by degrees, and
by the presence of these more valuable and profitable birds
becoming scattered throughout the country, and tlie example
and success of those fanciers, who are now yearly increasing,
and may now be found located in almost every district. Apart
from the inherited prejudice which exists against fowls, and
the objections against newly introduced breeds, there is an-
other cause why so little improvement has taken place in the
breed of farm-yard poultry, and it is this'. Until within the
last year or so the prices asked by the breeders of the best
stock for really good birds has been so exorbitant as to pre-
clude the farming and cottage classes from purchasing, how-
ever much they might be inclined to improve the stock ; also
the price asked for eggs for hatching has been such as to draw
a sraile, or " wish you may get it" from the astonished appli-
cant, who had hoped to secure a setting of eggs for Is., in-
stead of the 15s. or 20s. asked. It is no uncommon circum-
stance even now for good prize birds to command from £5 to
£10 each, the price of a couple of sheep or a bacon pig, and
a dozen of eggs for hatching for prize birds often command a
guinea to 30s., and it was but a year or two ago difficult to
purchase at a more reasonable price ; but a change has now
taken place in this respect owing to the very large number of
prize poultry breeders that have sprung up and created that
most wholesome of all influences — competition ; so that now
really first-class birds and eggs for hatching can be obtained
at a really moderate figure ; indeed, at a far more moderate
price (considering their real instrinsic value) than what you
would have to pay for common barn-door fowl eggs. Good
stock birds are now to be had at 7s. 6d. to lOs. each, and this
cannot be considered a great price for a huge Braiima cock
weigiiing 91bs. or lOlbs., and eggs from these birds are now
advertised in any number at from 3s. to 5s. the sitting. I will
now direct my remarks more particularly to the several newly
introduced breeds of foreign fowl and endeavour to point out
the particular advantages these several breeds of fowls pos-
sess in a pecuniary or commercial point of view. I will
commence with the Brahma as being probably the most gene-
rally useful and important of the comparatively new introduc-
tions. This large Asiatic fowl surpasses all others in size and
strength of constitution, and from its suitability to our vari-
able climate and from its many good qualities it appears to
have made greater way and increased in favour more rapidly
than any other breed. The advantages that this breed pos-
sesses pre-eminently over all other birds is its extreme kind-
ness, docility, great size, and being a good layer, especially
through the winter months, when eggs are most scarce n
valuable. In character the Brahma is somewhat similar to
the Cochin, only more lively in its carriage and more inclined
to roam in search of food. It also carries more breast meat,
is less coarse in the bone, and with a better-coloured skin. As
a table-bird it will not compare with tlie Dorking, but the
Brahma will thrive and do well where the Dorking will pine
and die. The Brahma will cross freely with almost any breed,
and it is perhaps for the purpose of crossing that the Brahma

Y

308

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

will be found most valuable. The celebrated Surrey cliicken
is highly esteemed in the London market, and is produced
from a cross with the Dorking cock and Brahma hen. The
more common cross adopted however throughout the country
is the Brahma cock with Dorking or barn-door hens. The
importance or advantages gained by this cross is imparting the
great size and strength of constitution of the Brahma into tlie
Dorkmg without much deteriorating the value tlie Dorking
pre-eminently possesses as a table-bird. The Brahma is, as I
said before, a good winter layer, and equal to the Cochin as a
sitter and good mother to rear strong and hardy chickens, and
■when crossed with the Dorking produce admirable egg-layers.
It is not uncommon for Brahma cocks to attain the weight of
121bs. and 141bs. and liens lOlbs. to ISlbs. each bird. This
about the weight of two couples of common barn-door fowl.
The Houdan is the celebrated French fowl (the Dorking of
Prance), more highly prized in that country than any other
breed perhaps, not excepting the Creve Cceur, and since its in-
troduction here it is equally highly thought of, and promises
to supersede most other breeds. The advantages this breed
possesses is its early maturity and great readiness to fatten, being
particularly light in the bone and delicate in flesh ; it is also
a precocious layer of large white eggs throughout the year,
never desiring to sit. It is no exaggeration to say that the
Houdan will fatten upon the same food that will scarcely keep
other fowls in ordinary condition. There is another valued
French fowl fully equal to it in this respect, that is the Crfeve
Coeur, a magnificent jet black bird of very considerable size,
and possibly the most precocious fowl known to fatten ; these
birds are now well established in this country, so much so in-
deed, that it is easier to purchase thoroughly pure and good
specimens for stock purposes here than it is in France.
Among the most celebrated of the English breeds come first
the Dorking, followed by the game and Hamburgh. The
Dorking may in every sense be considered a purely English
fowl. Its antiquity clearly dates back to the Aoman period.
For table purposes the Dorking appears to hold its own
against all comers, and certainly from its size, amplitude of
breast meat, delicacy of flesh, and early maturity, it is not
easily surpassed. But as a layer the Docking is found very
variable ; some strains are said to be fair layers, but as a
rule this breed cannot be depended upon for the production
of eggs in any quantity, and only through the fine sum-
mer months. The disadvantages the Dorking possesses is the
delicacy and difficulty in rearing the chickens, and the liability
of the breed to disease, save in exceptionally warm and dry
localities. To increase the strength and stamina of this breed
and make it more generally useful and suited to our climate it
is found necessary to cross it with some of the larger and
stronger breeds, and the cross invariably produces a valuable
and profitable bird. We nest come to tlie game, the bird that
is sure to be the cock of the walk wherever he may be thrown.
The game is to the other breeds what the racehorse is to the
more common breed of horses. The value of the game lies
rather in its great courage, bold spirit, and great beauty, rather
than possessing any super excellent qualities in a commercial
sense. The flesh of the game is, however, superb, but there is
comparatively little of it, tlie bird being anything but large or
meaty. The hens are good layers of peculiarly finely flavoured
eggs, and I think there is no bird that is better able to cater
for itself or will wander a greater distance in search of food.
We now come to that most beautiful and highly prized breed,
the Hamburg — the gold and silver spangled, and gold and
silver pencilled varieties. These beautiful birds have been es-
tablished for centuries amongst us, and may be looked upon as
auEnglish fowl, although the first stock was probably brought
here by a Dutch merchant trading with tiiis country. Such
precocious and determined egg-layers are these birds that they
have earned the well-merited name of every-day layers or
everlasting layers. The eggs, although somewhat small in
size, are rich in quality, and the shell white. Indeed, the size
ot egg laid by the spangled variety is not very much smaller
than the egg of the Cochin or Dorking, botli of which lay a
small egg in proportion to the sizeof its body, whereas the Ham-
burg's egg is large in proportion to the size of the bird. It is not
at all uncommon for Hamburgsto lay from 350 to 380 en-o-g in
the year, and occasionally 300 is obtained from a single bird.
Two hundred and forty would, I think, be a fair average yield
from this breed. For table purposes they cannot be much
considered owing to their small size. They are, however,

plump and well flavoured and make excellent roast chicken.
They are small eaters and very busy caterers for themselves,
and obtain a larger proportion of their necessary food by
searching about for it. In this respect they with the game
are essentially a farmer's fowl. The black Spanish or the
white-faced Spanish cannot now be considered other than a
fancy fowl, the continued breeding in-and-in to obtain this
peculiar face has deteriorated its value as a profitable bird.
Instead of the hardy, useful, old-fashioned red-faced bird that
formerly existed we now have a delicate fancy fowl less hardy
and smaller in size. The Spanish have ever been noted as
good summer layers of a large white egg, and were it not for
its black legs would be highly esteemed for table purpose from
the whiteness and delicacy of its flesh. I have touched
upon the generally acknowledged advantages that the best and
most approved breed of home and foreign fowls possess, and I
shall now direct your attention to the general treatment of
fowls and the return that may be realised by them with proper
management, showing the importance in a commercial sense
that would result from an increased quantity being kept and
the quality of our breed being improved. The first thing to
be considered by those who keep fowls should be to obtain
that breed most suited to the climate ol the locality as well as
the accommodation and conveniance of the individual poultry
keeper. To the farmer who possesses an unlimited grass run,
with farmstead well sheltered and soil dry, the Houdan or
Brahma Dorking would be found the most generally useful
and profitable breed to keep. As layers, considering the size
of their eggs, they are not to be surpassed, and as table birds,
heavy, large, and meaty, with readiness to fatten and quick
growtli to maturity, they will always command a ready market
and the highest price. To the cottager who is obliged to con-
fine his fowls within a narrow space the Brahma or Creve
Cceur will probably be found the most profitable and satisfac-
tory, combining egg-producing power and flesh-forming pro-
pensity in the same bird, and less likely to sufl^er by confine-
ment than any other bird, as they are bound to thrive in a
space where Houdans, Dorkings, or Ilaraburgs would pine
and die. For the production of eggs in winter these birds are
not to be surpassed, and this is a necessary qualification for the
profitable keeping of fowls in a confined state, inasmuch as the
increased price eggs obtain in the winter months will com-
pensate for the increased cost of keeping fowls depending en-
tirely upon hand feeding. We must now come to the more
important part of our consideration, and which is the compara-
tive question of cost of keeping and return that may be
realised hy their produce, for it is upon this head the whole
question turns, which is tlie "home producing of eggs and
poultry in a commercial point of view" ; and unless it can be
satisfactorily shown that fowls properly cared for are capable
of returning a profit commensurate with the cost and attention
bestowed upon them, it will indeed be useless to attempt to en-
courage the more general keeping of poultry by our struggling
population, who can only afford to consider the subject in its
pecuniary sense. However true the cry may be " Poultry
don't pay us," there is one thing quite certain, which is, that
they do pay our immediate neighbours, who not only produce
sufficient eggs and poultry for their own enormous demand,
but a surplus sufficient to meet our pressing wants. It has been
said (by way of excusing ourselves) that the French, the
Dutch, and Germans have the advantage of climate over us,
and that they can produce poultry and eggs at a profit when we
can't. Tills, however, is mere assertion, and is not borne out
by the experience of those who have resided in those coun-
tries, and I myself, in visiting Holland and Germany, have
quite failed to see that climate has much if anything to say to
the matter. The true secret of the success of our neighbours
lies rather in the fact of their understanding more about the
management of poultry than we do, and paying far more atten-
tion to the feeding and breeding, and, generally, in the care
and attention they bestow upon their stock. Fowls are also
far more.generally kept by the country people and in far greater
numbers, and the breed is generally far superior to our common
fowl, and not allowed to degenerate to the same extent. We
will now consider in detail what is that necessary treatment
and management necessary to enable the poultry-keeper to
realise the largest profits this valuable bird is capable of re-
turning ; but before doing this I will, by way of contrast, just
touch upon the treatment that has been very generally adopted
by ourselves during the past two hundred years by tlie Ijulk of

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

309

the farmers aud cottagers in this country. There will, I think,
then be little difficulty in understanding why the cry has arisen
far and wide that fows and poultry don't pay. With twenty
millions of mouths to feed, and depending as we do on foreign
supply for one-half the food we consume, we cannot afford to
keep fowls at a loss, and they, like everything else in this mat-
ter of fact age, will have to stand the test of " Does it pay P"
and it will staad or fall by the public verdict. Whatever may
be said to the contrary by those who cling to old customs and
ideas, it is undeniable that our old stock of poultry has de-
generated into a small unprofitable mongrel, rather tolerated
upon the farm rather than cared for as a source of profit. I
will not go so far as to say that our poultry has so degenerated
as to be necessarily unprofitable, for I am of opinion thai even
our commonest mongrel breed, if properly treated, will return
a profit ; but what I do say is that degeneration of our breeds
coupled with imperfect housing and protection, aud insuf-
ficiency of food, and want of general care and attention, has
made them wholly unprofitable stock ; hence the cry has
spread far aud wide that poultry will never be made to pay.
There are certain essential rules that must be practised to
make fowls profitable. The first is to keep your stock young,
and clear off your birds at that age at which they leave the
largest profit. Secondly, to liatch youc chickens as early in
the spring as possible, so as to give them advantage of the en-
tire summer, to hasten them to lay m maturity, and so obtain
as early a supply of eggs as possible, and at a season when
they command the highest price. Thirdly to keep a breed of
fowl that is hardy and comes early to maturity, easily fattened
for the table, and a precocious and prolific egg-layer. Fourthly,
comfortable housing together, with a regular supply of suf-
ficient food to keep them in laying condition. Now I think
that most present will agree with me when I say that the
observance of these essential rules is the exception and not
the rule among the general run of poultry- keepers. Fowls of
all sizes, breeds and ages are to be seen scampering about the
farmsteads, here and tliere picking up their living as best they
can ; roostiug about the trees and farm-buildings where they
choose, making nests and laying about the premises here and
there, aud many of the few eggs laid being lost or stolen.
Chickens are hatched at all times throughout the summer —
late rasher than early — and few if any eggs are consequently
produced during the winter months, the season when eggs are
the most valuable, commanding the highest price. A minimum
of eggs are only produced, and these during the spring months
and at harvest-time, when food is most abundant, and when
eggs are most plentiful in the market and only command the
lowest price. It is estimated that our common mixed breed of
barn-door fowls so treated will not produce more than 55 to
60 eggs in the twelve months, and these produced at a time of
year when eggs seldom command a higher price than 8d. per
dozen, or a total annual return from each bird of 3s. 4d. Now,
if we deduct from tliis the value of the food consumed, and
which it has gathered for itself, we cannot possibly put this at
less than one half-penny per week per bird, or a total of 2s. Id.
for the twelve months, wliicli, deducted from the 3s. 4d., leaves
the miserable return of Is. 3d. to cover cost of rearing, at-
tendance, casualties, &c. Their manure or droppings is in-
variably wasted by the birds roosting about the farm-buildings,
or if confined to a proper henroost their manure is seldom or
ever collected, or made use of and turned to a profitable ac-
count. With management such as I have described it is hardly
to be wondered at that fowls are considered unprofitable.
Very little if any better or more profitable result is obtained by
rearing chickens for market purposes. Chickens are, as a rule,
hatched and reared at a season when there is a glut in the
market, and command a correspondingly low price, and owing to
their comparatively small size and half-fatted condition the
price realised is such as to leave little or no profit to compen-
sate for the cost of food and attention that has been bestowed
upon them. As I said before it is essential in rearing fowls
for market purposes to hatch your birds at a season when the
market will not be overstocked, and to keep a breed of bird
for this purpose that shall combine size and weight with early
maturity aud readiness to fatten. As a rule it cannot be de-
nied that the farmer's poultry-yard does not receive the same
care and attention that is bestowed upon other farm stock, and
yet there is certainly no stock kept that will bring in a larger
or more immediate return than poultry, managed as it should
be, Fowls are, the greater part of the year, left to themselves

to live as best they can ; or if fed, insufficiently fed, and only
upon refuse corn. At one season of the year— harvest-time —
there is a superabundance and the rest of the year a scarcity,
aud not sufficient to enable them to maintain themselves in a
profitable condition. I will now direct your attention to a
simple, inexpensive, and rational system of poultry manage-
ment such as may be practised by all, and one that will not
fail to return a splendid profit from this most profitable branch
of husbandry, practised as it should be, and I shall conclude by
showing the national importance, in a commercial point of
view, of producing the five hundred millions of eggs we now
import. I will illustrate the profitable management of a small
poultry -yard by describing that which I see practised at an
imaginary model farm, where fowls are kept as they should be
and made to return a clear annual profit averaging 10s. to 12s.
per bird, or a total annual profit of £37 from GO laying hens
and an equal number of fatted chicken. I visit this farm
early in November and I find a fine healthy stock of Brahma
Dorkings, Houdans, andsilver-spangledllamburgs. lamtaken
to the hen-house, which I find to be a simple structure, built in
a sheltered situation facing south-east ; it measures 8ft.
long by 4ft. wide and 7ft. high ; the perches are all placed at
a uniform height of 3ft. from the ground, and the nests are
arranged at one end in two tiers, one directly over the other,
one row on the ground for the sitting hens and the smaller
nests directly over them for the laying hens. The building is
perfectly dry and free from damp, airy, well ventilated at the
top, and rather light ; the floor is asphalte to prevent the
damp rising from the ground. At the time I visited the yard,
early in November, the pullets hatched during the past March
are now commencing to lay, to replace the older hens hatched
the year previous ; and after they have done laying, which are
now being fattened and killed off at the age of 19 months,
these pullets continue to lay off and on through the coming
winter and following summer, laying an average of 180 eggs
per bird between this time and the following autumn, at which
time they in their turn are killed off to make room for that
year's succession of pullets then commencing to lay. These
eggs, one-half of which are produced during the winter months
and fetch 15d. per dozen, and in the summer 9d. per dozen,
realise a total of 15s. per bird, and each one fatted and dis-
posed of in autumn at the age of 19 months will realise 2s. at
4d. per lb., their average weight exceeding 61bs. ; this gives a
total return of 17s. as the return from each laying hen killed
at the age of 19 months, exclusive of the value of their ma-
nure made during the time. Some few are allowed to live
another year, and are killed twelve months later, as these
older birds make the best brood mothers, and lay an increased
number of eggs the second summer ; and in cases where poul-
try keepers are unsuccessful in rearing chickens, and have not
the necessary accommodation for so doing this, tliey will find
it to their advantage to kill off their hens at the close of their
second laying season instead of the first. The system of feed-
ing practised at this farm is as follows : — The fowls leave their
roost at the first rising of the sun, and are out and about for two
hours pecking up the early worms, &c. ; at eight o'clock the
fowls get their morning meal, which consists of a mess of meal
mixed to the consistency of a stiff dough, 1^ ozs. being al-
lowed to each bird. Tiiis meal is continually varied, one time
oatmeal, another barley meal or Indian corn meal, or brank
or buckwheat meal, and a small quantity of bran being mixed
through it ; this is thrown to them on some clean spot, each
fowl being allowed as much as it will peck up greedily. Mid-
day they get a small allowance of boiled potatoes, parsnips,
carrots, or mangolds hot, with a little bran and chandler's
graves or other stimulating substance mixed through it ; and
at four o'clock, before retiring to roost, they are supplied with
whole grain at the rate of 1^ ozs. to each bird, a change in the
variety given being made twicca-week. The cost of the feed-
ing I have described throughout the year averages Ijd. to
Ijd. per week per bird, taking the price of grain at Id. per lb.
— a fair average price, and this feeding is found to keep the
stock in the highest possible state of health and profit. Five
or six broods of chickens are hatched every March to replace
the hens killed off each autumn, and so a succession of young
and profitable birds is being continually kept up. A little dry
mould or earth is sprinkled twice-aweek over the droppings
of the fowls in the hen-house to deodorise their excrements,
fix the ammonia, and keep the house sweet, and so render the
manure as valuable as possible, and obviate the necessity of

Y 2

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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

coutinually clcaniupr the. house. This manure and earth is
removed every two months, and used u]mn the farm or garden,
and found te be nearly etjual in its fertilising power to guano.
Two or three broods of chickens are reared for market purposes
duriun' the months of March, April, May, and June, of either
tlie Houdan or Brahma Dorking breed. The chickens are
forced on by liberal feeding and continual change of food, so
as to get them ready for market as soon as possible. The
chickens are usually fit to kill at the age of eleven or twelve
weeks. During this three m.onths they are estimated to con-
sume food to the value of about Is. 5d.. besides what they
gather for themselves, at which age they weigh from 4jlbs. to
5 lbs., and realise 3s. 6d. each, leaving a profit of about 2s. on
each chicken. The young chickens are cooped for ten days
with their mother upon a grass plot, and fed on a variety of
nourishing dainties to give them a start in life ; after this time
they are allowed their liberty with tlie hen, and fed liberally
three or four times a-day. At the age of ten weeks they are
confined for a fortnight, and fed upon as large a quantity of
fattening food as tliey can be induced to consume— chiefly
oatmeal and milk — they are then killed and disposed of. The
profits derived from fattening for the market (considering the
risk and attention necessary) is not at all equal to that realised
by laying stock. The former require little or no attention be-
yond mi.xing and throwing them their food two or three times
!i-day, and daily collecting their eggs, and the manure made
during the twelve months is estimated to well cover all cost
for attendance. The casualties that arise from tlie death of
chickens, if found to be very trifling — suppose one-third of
each brood to die before they attain the age of eight weeks —
the cost of food consumed by a young chicken of this age will
certainly not exceed 3d. or 4d., and what a trifle is this de-
ducted from the 10s. or lis. clear profit realised in twelve
months by each fowl that conies to maturity ! Well, to sum
up the total receipts and expenditure of this lot of fowls it will
be found to be as follows. On debtor side we have —

Dr. s. d.

Cost of rearing and feeding GO laying liens to
the age of 19 months, at the rate of Ijd.
per week for grown birds, and half the

amount during chickeuhood — each G 8

Well, on the credit side we have —
Cr.
15 dozen eggs at an average price of Is. per
dozen, i.e., 9d. insummer and 15d. in win-
ter, will realise 15 0

Value of fowl when killed in the autumn at
4d, per lb. — say 2 0

17 0
Now deduct the above cost for rearing^and keep during the
19 raontlis (Cs. 8d.) from the ITs. and we have a balance of
10s. 4d., a clear annual profit from each laying hea, and as I
showed before a profit of 2s. in 3 months from each cliicken
reared for market, will thus give — £,

GO hens at 10s. 4d 31

GO chickens reared for market 6

37
representing the clear profit annually realised from this com-
paratively small stock of poultry. It is estimated that a fowl
will void at least 1 oz. of dry excrement during the twenty-four
hours ; and allowing this manure in a dry state to be wortli
5s. per cwt., which is certainly a moderate price, we liave the
nineteen months' manure from each fowl to the value of Is.
9a., or a total on all the fowls of £6 5s., which allows over
2s. per week to cover cost of attendance. Profits such as I
have here described I think all will admit will favourably com-
pare with that realised from other farm stock, and this is ob-
tained at far less risk and outlay involved in other stock. It
will be asked by some upon what grounds fowls can be sup-
posed to realise a larger profit than other flesli-forming ani-
mals. The answer is a simple one. In the first place, fowls
obtain at least one-half their living, at no' cost whatever to
their owner, upon what may be called waste food, such as
worms, slugs, flies, beetles, grubs, grass seeds, waste 'corn and
vegetable food, all of which they gather for themselves, at no
cost to their owner ; wliereas, cattle, sheep, pigs, &c., depend
wholly upon food purchased or raised specially for their use.

Again, the average price realised in the carcase for beef and
mutton is only 4d. or 5d. per lb., whereas the price of fowl
meat is at least 9d. or lOd., although produced at a much less
cost ; and, again, the profit realised by the eggs produced in
proportion to the food consumed is far greater than that realised
by producing meat. It may also be considered than an average
yield of 180 eggs in the twelve months is a high average, but
those who keep the best and most improved breeds, properly
fed and cared for, exceed this average, 230 and 250 eggs being
commonly obtained from certain breeds. It will also be con-
sidered by some that 3s. or 3s. Gd. is a stiff price for a chicken,
and no doubt it would be fur the wretchedly small-sized, half-
fed birds one sees exposed in our country markets for sale. A
large, meaty, well-fed Houdan or Brahma Dorking chicken,
weighing 4ilbs. to 51bs., will as readily fetch 3s. Gd. as a small
barn-door fowl one-half its size will realise 2s. or 2s. 3d.
Although fowls are not sold by weight, a purchaser is entirely
guided by size, condition, and general appearance as to the
price he will give. It therefore comes to much the same
tiling. It is absurd to say, as some do, " Oil, a fowl is a fowl,
and you will find no one to give more than 5s. a couple, no
matter how big and good they are." I have sent fowls to
market that weighed from 8|lbs. to 91bs. of the Brahma
Dorking breed ; and my exoerience is that an extraordinary
large and well fed fowl will fetch a fancy price, really more
than its relative value rather than less than it. I have now
touched generally upon the poultry management, as it is and
as it should be, and I trust that I have been able to show to
the satisfaction of some that our liome production of eggs and
poultry is not what it might be, and that I have further satis-
fied one of my hearers who may not be partial to the feathered
tribe that poultry, under certain conditions, may be made
profitable farm stock. If it can be shown that poultry can be
kept at a profit, and not only a profit, but a very handsome
profit, then I say it is a disgrace — a national disgrace — to a
great agricultural country like Great Britain, with its million
of paupers, to think that we so shamefully neglect this im-
portant branch of industry, and depend upon our neighbours
for the countless millions of eggs we annually purchase from
them. Although I am an advocate for free trade, I believe
that the existence of a heavy import duty upon eggs for twelve
months would have a most wonderfully beneficial effect upon the
country. The immediate effect of such a duty would be to
so raise the price of eggs as to induce the more general keeping
of fowls by the million, and in greater numbers than at present
kept. The demand would be so great and pressing, and the
price so high, that the energies of this country would be
stirred up to the importance of this subject and the profit that
may be realised by poultry keeping ; and when this were once
thoroughly understood, and the profitable nature of good
breeds of fowl better and more widely known, I believe that
in a very few years we should be ourselves producing the mil-
lion and a-half of eggs we now daily import. The pauper
population of this country has increased of late years to an
alarming extent, now numbering over one million, besides
another half-million that may be said to be on the verge of
pauperism. Seven millions more are said to be living from
liand to mouth, having made no provision for the future, and
having no interest in life or stake in the soil of the country
beyond their daily labour to occupy their mind and body. When
we consider seriously that we liave about our very doors one
million paupers, besides nine millions (nearly one-half of our
population) struggling for existence, and living from hand to
mouth, I say this sad fact does not show the condition of tiiis
country to be in the flourishing state that our increasing reve-
nues and hoarded wealth would lead us to suppose ; and I would
ask, cannot something be done to encourage the spirit of self-
help among our cottage classes, by inducing them to take more
interest in their homes by the keeping of poultry, pigs, bees,
and the cultivation of a garden ? Nine-tenths of the eggs
and poultry we get from abroad are produced from that very
class from which our pauper population springs. If our
poorer neighbouas abroad are able to make a living by the
keeping of poultry, although they sell their produce at little
more tiian lialf the price that we may realise, I say it is a dis-
grace for us to continue to import those articles wo could and
should produce ourselves. Now, suppose for one moment that
our 400,000 British farmers, and say 200,000 cottagers and
country residents, nil kept a stock of say two dozen fowls,
what number of eggs would theise produce, and wlwt profit be

TILE Ji^AliMEii'y MAGAZINE.

311

icdliseJ, uuJ liow nuiL'li iiiouey wliich now goes abroad would
be circulating among our labouring poiiulation ? I will tell
you. The number of eggs these fowls would produce would
be equal to five times the number we at present import. No
less than 2,500 millions, representing, at 9d. per dozen, up-
wards of ten millions sterling, a sum more than sufficient to
cover the entire poor rate of Great J3ritain. Do not these
figures show the importance of this subject, and the benefit
that would accrue to the public in general by the circulation
of so many millions of money, and especially to the benefit of
that class which so much needs a helping hand ? I will now
conclude by throwing out a few suggestions as to the best and
easiest way of improving one's existing stock of fowls by the
introduction of fresh blood. The cheapest and readiest way
that will naturally present itself would be to introduce a cock
bird of one of the best and most approved breeds to cross
with some six or eight of your largest and best hens at present
in your yard. A nine or ten-pound Brahma cock would pro-
bably be the best to cross with half-bred Dorking or full-bodied
barn-door hens ; or, if your stock is of a smaller breed, cross-
bred Hamburgs, or half Spanish, a fine spirited Houdan cock
may be introduced with greater advantage. In either case,
your breed of fowls reared from this cross will be considerably
improved the following year, both as to size, strength of con-
stitution, egg-producing powers, and fattening propensities.
Such a conrse, hovi'ever, would be bat a makeshift, and the
better plan would be to clear out one's stock entirely, and
commence de novo by the introduction of entirely fresh stock,
and that the very best that can be obtained. Either a few
birds may be purchased of the several breeds desired to be
kept, and the eggs set aside for hatching as they are laid, or a
couple of sittings of eggs from some near breeder of known
respectability may be purcliased, and so a stock of the best
birds may be procured at little cost. The following year these
birds may be either crossed or kept pure ; but, in the case of
allowing your birds to cross, it will be important to see that
you allow but one cross, always breeding from the pure stock,
and not from the eggs laid by the cross, or you at once com-
mence to degenerate. A single cross judiciously done is
rather beneficial than otherwise, as it almost invariably pro-
duces a profitable and precocious offspring with increased
stamina and strength of constitution. The Brahma and
Dorking and the iloudau and Silver Hamburgs are both ad-
inirable crosses, and the Creve cock may also be made use of
with great advantage, combining, as tins breed does, great size
with superb quality of flesh and aptitude to fatten. If there
is one point more important than another in keeping up your
breed of fowls to the proper standard, it is the possession of a
really good cock, of a strain wholly different from the breeds
he is mated with ; a sufficient importance is seldom attached
to this essential requirement. Before concluding, T will make
a tew remarks with respect to ducks. Ducks are, under certain
conditions, among the most profitable stock of the poultry
yard. Tiiose who possess plenty of marshy ground can keep
ducks at little or no cost, as they will, under these conditions,
find their own living ; but in places that do not afford these
advantages ducks are amongst the most ruinous and unprofit-
able creatures connected with the farmyard, managed as they
commonly are. The Aylesbury people, who are perliaps the
must successful duck breeders in the world, adopt a system
that is almost unknown, certainly unpractised elsewhere. It
is said that upwards of £-20,000 is annually received in this
district alone for tlie ducklings sent to the London market.
Tiie system adopted by these breeders is to bring ducks into
the JjOndon market at a season when none are to be obtained
elsewhere, and they consequently obtain a monopoly, and
realise enormous prices. The Aylesbury breed commence to
lay a month or six weeks earlier than any other breed, and
these eggs, laid open iii the depth of winter, are at once set
under hens, and, when hatched, the young are hastened to
maturity with amazing rapidity. They are kept in a warm,
sheltered situation, and fed upon the most nourishing food, and
nev9r allowed access to water. Oatmeal and milk form their
chief diet, and sometimes more stimulating food is added.
These ducks grow, fatten, and feather with rapidity. In less
than eight weeks from the time they leave the shell they are
in perfect feather, and ready to send to market. In places
where ducks have to depend on hand-feeding for their living
they can only be kept profitably by bringing them rapidly to
maturity and killing them before they take to the water or

begin fo lose their first feathers. With tiiese few hints, I beg
to conclude, trusting that the remarks I have made may have
met with your approval.

The Chairman expressed the wish that on that occasion he
could have addressed them as " ladies and gentlemen," and
that their rule could have been so far stretched as to have in-
vited their wives and daughters to that meeting, for he was
quite sure they would have obtained very much valuable iu-
struction and information on a subject with wliich they were
better acquainted thau the men. lie had been accused very
recently of a want of gallantry in not inviting the ladies, and
he was sure if ever it had been right to break a rule it would
have been right on the present occasion. Now if it was true
that so much profit could be realised from keeping fowls, he
thought the earnest consideration of those who advocate wo-
men's rights should be given to the subject, and also fhecon-
sideration of those who say, and say truly, that there is so
little remunerative work for women to do.

Mr. Davip Thomas seconded a vote of thanks to the lec-
turer. The subject on which he had treated and the hints he
had given were more matters for discussion than determination.
For instance, it was a question whether they should deprive
the poor our spare corn for the sake of fowl growing, and also
which would be the mere profitable of the two. In those
countries mentioned by the lecturer as producing great quan-
tities of eggs and poultry, corn could be grown much cheaper
tlian we could grow it, and hence the means in those countries
for growing poultry were so much greater than ours, and while
they exported we cou'd not spare food out of our limited pro-
duction for its growth, because what we had to spare we gave
fo animals which yielded a more profitable return. He merely
threw this out as a suggestion, because they should not come
to a hasty conclusion. The question, he thought, should first
of all presented to the landlord, who should build fowl-houses
for tlieir tenants before the latter could pretend to produce
poultry on an extensive scale. Then further, they must con-
sider whether their surplus corn could be so profitably em-
ployed in fowl rearing as in other w^ays. He wished them
calmly and dispassionately to consider the subject and not
jump hastily to conclusions either one w-ay or the other. But
he would again point out one reason a great deal of poultry
came from France to this country was because corn could be
produced cheaper in that country, and being so we could not
compete with foreign growers of poultry. In fact it did not
appear that we had the foundation of an extensive system of
poultry production, because of our limited supply of corn, and
because we had to spare could, he thought, be more profitably
employed.

The vote of thanks was passed.

Mr. Edwakds acknowledged the compliment, and referring
to the remarks made by Mr. Thomas said that in his estimate
of profit he had allowed for the present price of corn, and
therefore if he could show that notwithstanding the disadvan-
tage of high prices for food there was a large profit, it was so
much in favour of the statement that fowls could be kept pro-
fitably. As regarded the profit on pigs, he ventured to say
that very few feeders of pigs realised more than ten per
cent., whereas on fowls the profit was much larger, as it
was often the case that for five shillings' worth of food they
produced ten shillings' worth of eggs, thus giving 100 per
cent. ; it was therefore for the farmer to consider on which he
could get the most profit ; and if he fairly reckoned the num-
ber of eggs he received as compared with tlie cost of corn, he
would find that his fowls, if properly managed and looked after,
would yield a very good profit, and such as to make them an
important item in farming stock.

Mr. Thomas, jun., said, after the able manner the subject
had been dealt with, especially as regarded the "£ s. d." part
of it, he felt that he need not express his opinions upon it.
There was also another reason which deterred him, namely,
that although he took an interest in fowls, he bred them for
exhibition. He could not say that he had realised much pro-
fit as a breeder of fancy fowls, but, on the other hand, Mr.
Bowen, of Llangorse, who had been very fortunate as a breeder
and exhibitor, and had taken a great many silver cups, he had
no doubt had cleared over £40. Of course he (Mr. Thomas)
kept a debtor and creditor account, and his book, he was happy
to say, balanced, but all the profit he had got for four or five
years' labour was the value of his stock, wliich, if put info the
market, would probably realise £20. Ilis profits, therefore,

312

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

did uot amount to mucli, but he kept his fowls more for arause-
meut and pleasure than for what he could get out of them,
and then there was the expectation which others had as well
as himself, that in the long run they might make a happy hit
and be successful.

Mr. Phillips said he did not agree with the lecturer in his
estimate of profits. He contessed that he could not see that
500 per cent.

if. Mr. Edwauds : 1 did not say anything about 500 per
cent.

Mr. Phillips resumed by saying that he held in his hand
an advertisement which spoke of that amount having been re-
alised, and ho thought the lecturer had quoted from it. He
also differed from the lecturer as to the cost of keeping ; he did
not think it could be done for Ijd. per week.

Mr. Edwards : I said l^d. per week.

Mr. Phillips : Very well, I think it can't be done under
2d. a week, if you have to buy corn, and poor people will have
to do that if they are to breed poultry. Then, with regard to
manure, he could not make any profit out of it ; he had tried
to do so, but it was a failure ; the fact was it dried too soon.
Respecting the breeds, Mr. Edwards had advised the crossing
of a Brahma cock with a Dorking hen, but he should recom-
mend them to try the Dorking cock with the Brahma hen.
He had tried both, and from his experience he was sure they
would be more benefited by the latter cross than the former.
In his opinion, too, the silver-pencilled Hamburg was a better
egg producer than the golden Hamburg. Still he did not
think they could expect as many as 320 eggs from these
fowls, as the average for each per year ; rather, he thought,
about 150 would be the actual number. Eor they would re-
collect that although Hamburgs were good layers they were
bad raoulters, and, taking that and other things into account,
he believed the number he had stated would be found to be
correct. But he quite agreed with the lecturer as to the ad-
vice he had given them to get the best cock they could get
hold of for breeding purposes, and also for frequent changes
so as to prevent the custom which now prevailed of breeding
in-and-in. In that respect he did uot think they could pos-
sibly be worse than they now were in Wales, and that any
change he thought must be for the better. The birds had
been bred in-and-in to such an extent that they were posi-
tively not fit to look at, and scarcely worth their keep. To-
wards improving their stock, he advised that they should kill
off all those they did not like, and of those that remained they
should keep one cock in proportion to three hens and then
breed from their eggs. There could be no doubt, he believed,
that the old game breed was indigenous to the soil of Eng-
land, and if they put a game cock to Dorking hens what they
would lose in other respects would be gained in flavour. He

next alluded to the growing practice of adding a show for
poultry to agricultural shows, and he was convinced, according
to present rules and arrangements at these shows, that they
often did a good deal of harm. For example, to show what
he meant, he iiad been judge at many shows, and often the
poultry exhibited was not worth a prize, but the committee in-
sisted that a prize should be given, and the fortunate winner,
however bad his bird might be, was perfectly content with it,
because it was adjudged a prize, and went home and bred from.
it. He remembered one instance in particular, at a show not
fifty miles from Brecon, where he acted as judge at which
there was a class for the best three birds for farmyard pur-
poses. It was a very proper class, but there were not more
than three pens, and even those were all equally bad. In an
instance like that they would agree that tlie prize should be
withheld, as also in any instance where the judge did not
think there was sufficient merit. He also mentioned another
show of poultry, held not thirty miles from Brecon, and which
he added was so generally bad that he regarded it as a perfect
farce, and told the managers not to send for him again to such
a sorry exhibition. Towards improving their breeds, they
would find that the first expense woula be the least, but that
was a fact which was not generally understood. On the con-
trary, he found that purchasers who came to him for a cock
nearly always preferred the cheapest bird, because they thought
it would do. But there could not be a greater mistake, for it
was the fact that a bird at 21s. would often be cheaper than
another at half the price.

Mr. Thomas, jun., supported Mr. Phillips in his estimate
for keep, and instanced that an experiment he had tried witli
a number of Cochins, which were the laziest of all fowls, in
which they would not find their food for themselves, and the
result was that they cOot him exactly Ijd. per week.

The Rev. J. J. Evans said he agreed with the lecturer
that for table purposes Brahmas paid the best as they were of
speedy growth, and if killed as soon as full grown they were
profitable, but if kept after that time of course the profit was
reduced. His experience was that they should not be kept
after five, six, or seven months, at the end of which time his
birds, according to what his tradesman had told him, were as
large as turkeys, and in fact he understood that purcliasers
had denied the tradesman in question when he said they were
fowls by saying that they were turkeys, and he, being quite
content, sold them as such.

Mr. OvERTO?J remarked that, in common with others, he
had tried his hand at keeping poultry, but had sustained a loss
thereby. He now [thought his fowls and poultry in general
required to have more attention paid to them, and was satis-
fied that in that case they might be made much more profit-
able than at present.

DORCHESTER FARMERS' CLUB.

THE HOLKHAM LEASE.

At the last monthly meeting Mr. J. G. Homer, of Mar-
tinstown, the President, chose for his subject the Holkham
Lease.

Mr. Homer, said the lease itself was in print before them. He
should merely go through the clauses seriatim, stating, as chair-
man of the Club,his own opinions thereon. These, perhaps, were
at variance with the views embodied in the lease ; stiU looking
through it they were_ bound in some measure to come to a con-
clusion on the point as to whether it was adapted to the Dor-
setshire system of farming or not. He did not mean to say they
were to take it as a pattern for the leases of the county ; still
it might convey to them a few suggestions worthy of considera-
tion, while, on the other hand, some of the terms and conditions
set forth might not be quite in accordance with their own
views as to what a lease should be. They had to consider
whether the terms were fair as between landlord and tenant.
The opening clause of the document provides that " The
tenancy is to be for twenty years, commencing on the 11th day
of October . . . but to be terminable at the end of six-
teen years at the request of the tenant, with the consent of the

landlord ; with the intention that the landlord shall then, if he
think fit, grant a new lease from the end of the sixteenth year,
at the old rent for the first four years of the new term, and for
the remainder of the term at the rent that may then be agreed
upon." Than this he had never seen a better clause put into
a lease ; nothing, he thought, could be fairer. While a yea»ly
or even a seven years' lease was comparatively good for nothing,
one for twenty years, as proposed by Lord Leicester, would en-
able the tenant to freely invest his capital in farming, and to
cultivate the land on a better system than he would adopt if
tiie holding were let for a shorter term. Tlie first clause, then,
he took to be satisfactory ; indeed essential to good farming.
Agriculture, he contended, could be carried on to better ad-
vantage, not only to landlord and tenant, but also the commu-
nity at large, if the whole of the farms were let under leases of
twenty years instead of for shorter terms. According to clause
II., the tenant is "to reside in the farm-house, and not to
assign, underlet, or part with the farm-house, or any part of
the farm, without the previous consent in writing of the land-
lord or his agent." Upon this he should make no observation*

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

3l3

whatever, because lie considered it to be perfectly right— to be
in accordance with their own views. Tlie first part of clause
III. states that the rent " is to become due and be payable by
two equal half-yearly payments — namely, on the 6th April and
11th October in each year (except the last half-year's rent,
which shall become due and be payable on the 2ud
August next before the termination of the tenancy),
clear of all present and future rates, taxes, and deductions
whatever, except the tithe-rent charge, land-tax, quit-
rents, and landlord's property tax." He supposed that
the provision made as to the time of paying the last
half-year's rent was made for the security of the landlord, no
doubt there being entertained the idea that by the time the
tenancy terminated all the stock might be disposed of. Then
" the tenant is also to pay £5 per centum per annum on any
sum or sums of money expended by the landlord in altering or
cresting buildings at the request of tenant, after the works
agreed to be done at the commencement of the tenancy are
completed ; he is also to pay £5 per centum per annum on
any sum or sums of money expended by the landlord in drain-
ing." The interest he took to be all very well ; there could
be uo objection to it. The clause tlius concludes : " The pay-
ment for buildings is to commence from the 11th day of
October next, after the completion of the work, and the pay-
ment for draining from the 11th day of October next before
the completion ; and both the said annual sums shall become
due, and continue payable as rent, during the remainder of the
term, on the same days as the original rent is payable, and be
subject to the same conditions." He explained what he under-
stood to be the meaning of this, and then read clause IV.,
which says : " The tenant before entering upon the occupa-
tion of the farm is to pay to the landlord such a sum of money
as the hay, turnips, mangel-wurzel, and muck left upon the
farm, aud grown and made thereon during the then present
ysar, shall be adjudged to be worth for consumption on the
farm, the ainouut to be determined by arbitration, as herein-
after i)rovided, and also the amount that has been expended
for grass-seeds sown on the farm in the same year, and 2d.
per acre for sowing the same. At the end of the teuancy the
tenant is to leave in the hands of the landlord all the hay,
turnips, aud mangel-wurzel which shall be grown and pro-
duced on the farm'^in the last year, being paid for the same by
arbitration." This clause would, he hoped, receive the con-
sideration of the Club. He observed the prevailing practice in
Dorset and Wilts particularly was that the tillages, instead of
the crops, should be paid for. Hjs own opinion was tliat the
clause was perfectly wrong, out of all character ; he believed
that the plan adopted in the counties named, also in Hants,
was far preferable, the out-going tenant being paid for all
tillages and all manure. There was only one provision he
should like to introduce into the clause, that tlie in-eommg
tenant should be at liberty to direct the out-going tenant as
to what tillages and what artitieial manures he should put
UDon the land ; the latter doing all the labour nothing would
be left at the end of the tenancy to be put before the arbi-
trators but the work done upon the land; the out-going
tenant would be paid for his labour and nothing more. He
thought that payment for tillages,artificial mauure.and other ex-
penses incurred by the out-going tenant was nothing but fair as
between him and the in-coming teuaut. I'he value of crops,
such as turnips, was so uncertain that it was impossible to set
down any rule by wliich compensation for labour done would
be secured. The clause was, he considered, very essential ;
but he thought that payment for tillages was preferable to
paying for crops. To clause V., which provides that
the tenant shall provide certain horse labour, &e., he did not
see very much objection. The next runs thus : " The tenant
is to cultivate and manage the farm during the first 16 years
of the term according to his own judgment, and to have full
power during such time to dispose of all or any porton of the
produce of the farm by sale or otherwise. During the last
four years the tenant shall bring the arable lands into the four-
course systeai of husbandry practised in Norfolk," &c. This
he considered to be very right in a long lease. He thought
that for the good of agriculture and the maintenance of the
estate, the clause, as far as it went, was perfectly right ; but
he took exception to the latter part of the clause, which lays
down that the tenant "is not to suffer any hemp, mustard,
coleseed, nor any clover, trefoil, or other artitieial grass
to stand or grow for a crop of seed in the last four years of

the term." So that even growing- clover to seed the tenants
own farm is prohibited. He suggested that if the words only
for his own use" were introduced the clause would be perlect.
That the tenant should be obliged not to grow anything m
thesliapeof seed for himself was objectionable. Ihe next
clause— a rather remarkable oue he thought— provides that the
tenant is effectually to destroy all rabbits, moles, and rats upon
every part of the farm ; further he is to deliver one good lat
turkey atliolkham House in the month of December in every
year. He is also to do a certain number of days work ot
four horses, with the necessary waggons or carts, and drivers
as may be required, to any place within the distance ol ten
miles from the farm in every year without allowance. Mr.
Homer observed that the finding of horse labour and stravv
for the landlord was a matter of pure agreement, and would
iniiuence the rent ; every tenant on taking a fam would cer-
tainly make some calculation on the point. Clauses ViU.
and IX. did not call for much comment by the lecturer, but
the subsequent one he looked upon as very extraordinary, and
therefore he had a good deal to say about it. Clause X. re-
serves to the landlord " the power at any time durmg tjie ftrst
16 years of the term, by notice in writing, to require that tUe
arable lands shall be brought into the four-course system
within four years from the date of such notice.' inis lie
submitted, was virtually abrogating a previous clause. Clause
XI. he set down as being rather one-sided, and in criticising
the rest of the paragraphs in this fong lease, the same remark
was occasiouUly repeated. By Clause XVI. the landlord re-
serves the exclusive right, for himself, his friends, companions,
and servants, of hunting, shooting, fishing, fowling, and (sub-
ject to the liberty of the tenant, between the 1st day ot JNo-
vember and the 1st day of March in every year, to course tlie
hares by means of greyhounds, but not otherwise) ot coursing
and sporting upon the farms and premises. The next, whicli
refers to rents in arrcar, Mr. Hawkins observed, appeared to
have been inserted by a lawyer, and the President added, les,
it appears to be a capital lawyer's lease." This model docu-
ment—which the pressure of other reports prevents our re-
printing at length— extends to 31 clauses, some ot whicli,
when read by Mr. Homer and the subject of his running com-
ment caused uo small amount of amusement. \\e regret
having been compelled to summarise the President's practical
and interesting remarks. , . i, . ., m •

The Vice-President, Mr. Genge, thought that the Cliair-
man had thoroughly exhausted the subject, and that it was
very interesting to know a little of Norfolk customs, ihe
lease might not suit Dorsetshire , but emanating from such a
man as Lord Leicester, who in drawing up the document had
been assisted by some of the best tenants in the country, it
was, he thought, deserving of some respect. He reminded the
Club that his fordship is a descendant of the great Mr. Coke,
to whom the agriculturists of this country are very micli in-
debted. Criticising several of the clauses lie remarked that
the tenth to which objection had been raised because it abro-
gates, as alleged, a previous provision, was made tor a bad
tenant and not a good one. He thought that if the tenant
did not act in a good husbandlike manner, the landlord would,
on finding this out, be justified in stepping in and requiring
that the arable lands be brought into the four-course system,
which was the common course of the county. A great many
of the clauses thought to be objectionable would no doubt be
found in the old or lawyers' leases, and were common enough.
The President's remarks he considered to be very just, especi-
ally those with regard to the first clause. Hespectmg the pay-
ment for crops very often a good deal of injustice was done.
As to the growing of seed to which the President had referred,
it would not be of great consequence, because the quantity
would not be much. With regard to providing straw for the
landlord, he himself should prefer the system adopted by Lord
Portman, who required a great deal of straw for his stables ;
his lordship paid a certain price in bone-dust or Imseed-cake
—the tenant should certainly be paid an equivalent ; his pro-
duce should not be taken for nothing. Mr. Genge suggested
that if Dorsetshire farmers had to draw up a lease it would
be somewhat favourable to themselves.

Mr. Chapman Saunders said the provision that land
should not be sown with a corn crop for more than two years
in succession was not, in his opinion, at all objectionable.
The proposal to pay for tillages rather than valuing tlie
crops met his approval. He did not see any olijection to

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THE FARMER'S MAGAZII^E.

paying a fdir interest for money spent upon farm improve"
meuts,

Mr. T. A. HoMKR suggested that the Earl of Leicester liad
a wonderfully good lot of tenants, and that the laud was let
\ery clicap. llegardiug the payment of the last half-year's
rent he thought tliere would be some diliiculty in getting it

1 before due. In his opinion the chvuses were too numerous
I and complicated ; with many he agreed, but others he could

not endorse.

Jlr. Homer was thanked for the manner in which he liad

brought forward the subject, and the proceedings ended.

LANDLORD, TENANT, AND LABOURER IN CORNWALL.

At tiie dinner after the lloseland ploughing match,
Mr.OiVEK said whoever had travelled throughoutthat district
must have been struck with the great improvement which had
taken place in agricultural work, and more particularly in
piougiiiug, since the establishment of the Society ; indeed, all
kinds of agricultural improvement were stimulated by it. 15ut
what was of still greater importance was the opportunity the
Society airorded of bringing together at these meetings all
classes of the community — landlords, tenants, and labourers —
and he believed there never was a time when their united
efforts were more required than now, to enable them to com-
pete with the foreigner and to bear the heavy taxation which
they were called upon to pay. Although the improvement in
the ploughing, as he had said, was great indeed, there was still
room to advance, for good ploughing was of great value.
Wiieu laud was well plouglied it required much less after pre-
paration fbr seed, and he believed there was no drilling equal
to thai, wiiich was performed by distributing the seed upon
wel!-p!o;:g!;cd land. The improvement in ploughing, how-
ever, could not be wondered at, inasmuch as there had been
such vast improvement in ploughs, without wliich it would
liave been imuossible for any men to have performed the work
which he iiad seen that day. It made him proud of his county
wnen iraveuing ahout the country he saw there was no county
in England, considering the nature of the soil, in which the
land was so well ploughed as in Cornwall ; and he was also
preparea to say that uo other county, generally speaking, had
such good ploughs. Ue had seen counties where they still
used antiquated ploughs such as might have come out of the
Ark — and this in the immediate neighbourhood of some of the
great agricultural implement manufactories. Therefore, he
was not proud of his county without reason. He might say,
too, that they had many local plough makers who were a credit
to the county — and there was no doubt such men had been
greatly encouraged iu their elforts by this and other similar
societies. He might mention Collet, in their own district,
who had made great progress, particularly in the turnwrest
plough. By this Society tlie labourers were much encouraged
and had great opportunity for improvement, and therefore if
they did not improve they must be dull indeed. He thouglit
the ooject the Society had in view of encouraging the la-
bourers was a most commendable one, and he was pleased to
know that their exertions were not without their reward, for
lie believed the labourers of Cornwall were not behind those
of any part of England in skill and intelligence. They had
lately heard a good deal of strikes among the labourers in
other parts of the country, and he was glad to see that the
employers were generally yielding to reasonable demands, and
although there had been no strike amongst the labourers iu
this locality, it might still be well to consider their position,
and ask themselves if they were fairly paid ; if, indeed, they
were as well paid as labourers in other parts of the country.
He was himself persuaded that they were. In many parts of
England, where it was supposed the labourers got liigher
wages than in Cornwall, they were expected to work two hours
a day longer than here. It was true they received apparently
higlier wages, but in comparing their position with that of
Cornish labourers, it must be remembered that iu tjie north of
England labourero h?.d to pay for many things which were
here looked upon as privileges, and which, when fairly valued,
brought their rate of wages quite up to the higliest scale paid
anywhere in the country. Ue would illustrate this by the ease
of his own men — and he knew many of his neighbours paid
their men just as he did. He paid those men who looked after
the cattle 12s. per week regularly. In addition to that wao-ps
they had a house to live in, reut free, and a garden manured
for them, for which, in other parts of England, they would

have to pay at least £1 a-year. He wished to impress upon
those labourers who might hear or read of the wages move-
ment elsewhere, that the privileges they had in Cornwall were
valuable, and must not be overlooked in comparing their wages
with that obtained elsewhere. He also paid his men for hay
and corn harvest £i extra, which, with the £i for house and
garden, made an extra £8 per year, or 3s. per week. This
brought their wages to 153. a week. But that was not all ;
they got their wheat at 6s. per bushel, and many of them had
as much as three bushel per mouUi. That, with turnips, cab-
bages, &c., was equal at least to another shilling per week,
wliich bronglit their weekly wages to 16s., and iu no part of
England were labourers better paid, thougii they had to work
two hours a day more than Coruish labourers. But there was
still another advantage — his men lived upon the farm, had
scarcely any distance to walk, and could attend their meals
regularly with their families ; this he considered was worth to
them at least another Is. per week, as compared with men
who lived in a town or village a mile or two, or perhaps more,
from their work. Nevertheless, if the price of the necessaries
of life were to continue to advance in price, or even to re-
main as now, ha should be glad to pay his men even higher
wages. But otherwise he considered that agriculturists were
not in a position to iucrease tlieir labour bill, for if it were to
be much increased without a corresponding iucrease in the
value of produce, the breadth of land under cultivation would
have to be diminished. He was not an advocate for tutwork
for labourers, because he thought such work was generally
slighted. He preferred, in turnip hoeing and such work, to
give his men an extra shilling a day. He saw that the Society
gave prizes for faggoting; but they should have been called
prizes for binding up wood, for what he saw done in the dis-
trict was nothing else than a few sticks thrown together and
tied in a bundle. He had heard of a magpie carrying off a
faggot to make its nest with. He would not go so far as to
say that a magpie coulJ carry off one of the faggots to which
he alluded, but he was quite sure that if two of those saga-
cious birds were to agree together they might take it to the
top of the highest tree iu the neighbourhood. Cornish la-
bourers, like others, consisted of good, bad, and indifferent,
but unfortunately the indifferent and the bad expected the same
wages as the good, and that was a point which required re-
form ; they ought to pay men according to their ability. His
men, to whom he paid the wages of which he had spoken, were
men who could do anything upon a farm. They were men, too,
who belonged to a benefit society (the Foresters), thereby mak-
iug provision for tiiemselves and families in the time of sick-
ness, and also securing a provision for tiieir families in case
they should themselves be removed by death. Such men as
those deserved all the assistance and encouragement which the
farmer could give them. He ought to mention here that
labourers who did not attend upon cattle were paid by him 2s.
a week less than those who did. It had been observed by the
chairman that agriculture had become a science. He was not
one of those who thought young farmers should receive a
scientific education, still he thought that they ought to be
taught such a knowledge of scientific principles as would
enable them to read, understand, and apply the writings of
men of deep research who devoted their lives to scientific
investigation. Of course, under the present state of things it
was the duty of agriculturists wlio wished to keep pace with the
times to introduce the most improved machinery. At the same
time there was much said about the advantages of machinery
which was not justified by the result. If taken into consider-
ation the first outlay and the cost of maintenance, he questioned
whether labour cost was at all diminished by them ; indeed, he
questioned if ~0 years ago corn was not thrashed cheaper with

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

315

the ilail lliaii it was uow by meaus of steam raacliines. As
regarded the teuure of land, of course a good understauding
between landlord and tenant was of great value, but they
wanted liberal leases, and the entire abrogation of those anti- I
quated restrictions which curtailed the freedom of the farmer
in the management of his estate. He was glad to find the
chairman had set a good example in that respect. lie (Mr.
Olver) was recently in the eastern part of the county, and
whilst there he never heard a gentleman spoken of in such high
terms as their chairman for the manner in which he had gone
amongst his tenants and endeavoured to carry out everything
which would be beneficial to them and to promote harmony
and goodwill. Another great want of the farmers was prac-
tical land agents. On this subject he could not do better than
read some remarks made in the Blark Lane Express by the
cliairmau of the Warwickshire Chamber of Agriculture, with
which he fully agreed. Mr. Ford, the gentleman to whom he
alluded, said : " I sincerely believe that landlords are anxiously
and heartily desirous of doing justice to their tenants, but I
fear they are not sufficiently acquainted with their wants, and
leave too much to tlieir agents, who, as a rule, are not better
informed than themselves. But how can it be otherwise when
we see, perhaps, a London solicitor deputed to manage an estate
lying hundreds of miles away, and about the management of
which he is thoroughly ignorant ; or some head clerk or fore-
man promoted, or a broken-down old gentleman, or a poor
relative or friend, or a retired ofEcer who has spent all his
life in India, suddenly chosen to manage a large property
about which not one of them understand any more than a full

private from a chosen regiment of the Horse Marines ? If
noblemen and gentlemen would exercise a little more discretion
in their selection of men for tlie management of their estates,
we should not so often see or hear of those disagreements between
landlord and tenant, which frequently bring — however unjustly
— the former into disrepute. I know tlie position of the
British farmer is neither one of satisfaction or repose. He
sleeps in no more security than did Damocles of old ; and the
suspended sword, in the shape of a six mouths' notice no quit,
is perpetually hanging over his head, threatening every moment
to fall and pierce him through — to confiscate his property, to
scatter to the four winds of heaven the endearments, the asso-
ciations, and loved and cherished hopes and memories of long
and laborious years of anxious toil and active energy. I say
these things cannot, they must not, last any longer ; the worn-
out system of annual tenure, and the old stereotyped forms of
agreement, must be swept away ; they are not consistent with
any sound recognised principle of political economy, they are
not in accordance with the spirit of the times, or the general
advancement of the knowledge and intelligence wliich per-
meates all classes. Farmiug is no longer what it was — a
primitive occupatiou — nor is it an antiquated traditionary art
capable of being transmitted from father to son, but it is now
become a modern business, requring much deep thought and
scientific study to carry it on profitably and successfully.
Agriculture, indeed, is now become the widest of the sciences,
for it embraces or touches up problems from the constitutioa
of soils to the laws of life."

THE CENTRAL CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE

A Council Meeting was held on Tuesday, March 5, at the
Salisbury Hotel, the President of the Council, Mr. Heneage,
in the chair.

Letters were read acknowledging the receipt of the con-
gratulatory addresses agreed to at the last meeting of the
Council in reference to the recovery of His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales.

A letter was read from Mr. Gladstone, through his secretary,
Mr. Gurdon, acknowledging the resolution of the Council on
the subject of the Contagious Diseases of Animals Act, and
stating that it had been communicated to Mr. Forster. A letter
was read from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, through his
secretary, acknowledging the receipt of a copy of the reso-
lution of the Council in reference to the Malt-tax ; and a letter
from Mr. Stansfeld acknowledging the receipt of the resolution
of the Council relating to local taxation. A letter was read
from Col. Barttelot, M.P., to the effect that he had carefully
considered the resolution of the last meeting with regard to
the malt tax, and would consult his friends in the House of
Commons as to the best time for introducing the subject.

Mr. G. F. MuNTZ then proposed the following resolution,
standing in his name on the agenda paper : " That a general
meeting of members of the Central Chamber be convened for
Tuesday, May 7th, at wliich members of Associated Chambers
shall be invited to attend ; the subjects for consideration to be
'Local Taxation,' 'Sanitary Ileform,' and 'The Financial
Propositions of the Government as affecting Agricultural In-
terests ;' that a dinner be held on the same day ; and tliat the
May Council Meeting be held on Wednesday, the 8th, instead
of Tuesday, the 7th of May." He stated that the first object
of that resolution was to afford subscription members of the
Chamber, whose only privilege at present was tlie payment of a
guinea subscription, an opportunity of taking some part in
the proceedings on the occasion referred to. A general
meeting was deliberative, not executive ; and it had been
suggested that the meeting of the Council should in that in-
stance follow the deliberative meeting, in order that some
action might take place on the resolutions adopted. It was
proposed that a dinner should take place on the evening of
Tuesday.

The resolution was seconded by Mr. Caldecott and adopted.

Mr. G. P. MuNTz thereupon proposed a suspension of one
of the rules for the purpose of enabling the members of Asso-
ciated Chambers to vote at the meeting iu May ; but no notice

having been given of the proposal, it was, at the instance of
Sir Michael Beach, M.P., pMtponed till the Council meeting
iu April.

Sir Michael Beach then moved " That the Council Meet-
ing on April 2nd be held pro forma,, and adjourned till Tues-
day, April 9tli," explaining^that this resolution arose from the
fact that the first Tuesday in April would occur in Easter
week, and when many members of Parliament would be tak-
ing a holiday.

Mr. Genoe Andrews proposed that the meeting should be
held on Tuesday, the 1 6th.

Mr. John Brown thought it would be very inconvenient
to alter the day at all, as many members of that Chamber be-
longed to the Farmers' Club and would perhaps come up to
London to attend its discussion meeting on the first Monday
in April.

Sir G. Jenkinson, M.P., hoped that that Council would
not always think it necessary ; o be guided by the rules of the
Farmers' Club, as the constitution of the two bodies differed.
That Council was anxious to promote legislation for the bene-
fit of the agricultural classes ; and if it were to hold a meet-
ing on a day when members of Parliament would be out of
town simply because the Farmers' Club had a meeting the
night before, that would go very far to weaken the authority
and prestige of the Chamber of Agriculture. He did hope
that they would keep as distinct as possible. The Farmers'
Club met on a certain night for discussion, and one of its re-
gulations was that it never passed any resolution or took any
action upon any discussion that occurred. Tiiat was a funda-
mental rule of the Farmers' Club (Mr. G. Smythies : " De-
cidedly not"). On the other hand, that Council met to pass
resolutions, and used its best endeavours to get such measures
passed as were required. Further, he would remark that
Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday were generally days for
holding parish vestries. He should be happy to second the
proposal that the meeting should be adjourned for a fortnight,
and the more so because that would allow time for the mem-
bers of the Farmers' Club to come up to London again.

Mr. C. S. Read, :M.P., said he must dissent from Sir
George Jenkinsou's statement that the Farmers' Club did
not take action upon any matter which it discussed (Hear,
liear). For example, it took action with regard to the colt
and filly licence ; and it was no doubt owing in a very great
degree to the representations made by the Farmers' Club that

316

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

the Chancellor of the Exchequer made a declaration the other
night (o the elFect that the Goverument did not intend to en-
force the licence in cases in vvhich the animals had heea
stocked on the farm (Hear, hear).

It was then resolved that the April meeting should be held
on Tuesday the 16th.

Sir M. Lopes, M.P., on rising to present the report of the
Local Taxation Committee, said, with manifest emotion, that
he hoped he might be allowed to take that opportunity of
expressing his warmest and most sincere acknowledgments for
the kmd expressions of the members of the Council on the
last occasion of their meeting. He then read the following
Report :

In presenting their report, your committee regret to observe,
from the absence of all mention of local taxation in the speech
from the throne, that her Majesty's Ministers are not prepared
to deal with rating reform, or redeem their pledges as to early
legislation. The reply given on the 29 th of February to the
question put by Sir George Jenkinson is a further indication
that they have no intention of proposing any general measure
of redress. Militia .- It is, however, a source of great gratifi-
cation to your committee that the charges for militia, to which
they have so often directed attention, have at length been
accepted by the Government as imperial and not local obliga-
tions. While they are glad^to be able to congratulate rate-
payers on their relief from one at least of their national bur-
dens, they desire to acknowledge the complete and satisfactory
way in which the Government have dealt with this especial
grievance in effecting the transfer. They would point, how-
ever, to the fact that, but for the remonstrances whicli your
committee have repeatedly urged, there is every reason to be-
lieve that a large proportion of tlie three and a-half miltions
now mentioned as required by Mr. Cardwell would, according
to the Government Bill of last session, been saddled on the
rates. ChairmaiCs Motion • In pursuance of the policy indi-
cated in the last report, and approved of by the Council, the
Chairman of your committee took the earliest ^possible opportu-
nity of giving notice of the resolution which it is his intention
to move in the House of Commons. Although he has balloted
for precedence on every Tuesday in the session, he has been
unfortunately unsuccessful in obtaining as yet so favourable a
place on the notice-paper as would warrant the bringing on a
debate of such interest and importance as this motion would
necessarily provoke. It is also the Chairman's intention to
move tLe resolution which stands in his name on the disallow-
ances by the Treasury of the costs of criminal prosecutions, upon
Friday, the 15th of March. Piihlic Health: Very important
sanitary legislation is likely to occupy a large share of the at-
tention of Parliament. Your committee desire to express their
regret that a reform of Local Taxation should not have pre-
ceded the introduction of a Health Bill, which, if passed, must
of necessity aggravate the injustice already cjmplained of.
Such a course would have secured the co-operation of rate-
payers, and disarmed the opposition which the present unsatis-
factory relations between imperial and local taxation compels
them reluctantly to offer. The great value of a complete,
simple, and consolidated code of regulations for the public
health has already been admitted by your committee, and
they wish it to be clearly understood how willingly they
would have concurred in considering such legislation,
provided a satisfactory revision of the present incidence
of rating had preceded it. The opposition which they now
feel bound to offer to these contemplated measures is thus
forced upon them by the persistent refusal of the Government
to redress the grievances under which ratepayers labour.
Three sanitary measures have been introduced ; one of these,
brought forward by Sir H. Sehvin Ibbetsou, refers to rural
districts ouly ; one is introduced liy the Government ; and the
remaining bill is the consohdating statute proposed last session
by Sir Charles Adderley, and which has already beeu carefully
analysed by your committee in their December report. The
delay which has occurred in the printing of the Government
measure has precluded a further knowledge of it bein"- ob-
tained than may be gathered from Mr. Stansfeld's speech.
Briefly, the main points of the Government scheme appear to
be the compulsory formation of a single local sanitary
authority in every district, the charging of these authorities
with the duties and responsibilities (no longer permissive
merely) contained in the various sanitary statutes now

existent, and the vesting in a central authority the consequent
discretion and control. In addition to these objects, Mr.
Stausfeld intimated that it was intended to confer new powers
on the sanitary authorities with regard to the provision and
purity of water-supply, and the inspection of the interior of
dwelling-houses. It will be observed that Mr. Stansfeld's
measure differs materially from Sir C. Adderley's in attempt-
ing no consolidation of existing laws ; and it appears to your
committee that should their strong preliminary objection to
all such legislation in the present state of local finance be
overcome, the consolidating measure of Sir C. Adderley
should be preferred to that of the Government. Tlieir reasons
for this preference are that in Sir C. Adderley's bill the whole of
the duties and powers of local authorities and the limits of
the control of the central authority are distinctly specified and
readily ascertainable, whereas in the Government measure no
idea can be formed of the position and responsibilities of the
local and central administrations without a perplexing search
over a large portion of the statute book. Besides this it would
appear tliat the larger me:isure will not only be more sus-
ceptible of amelioration in committee, but will afford a fair
opportunity of raising the most important question of the
relation in which local and central authorities are to stand to
one another so as to secure on the one hand the necessary
comprehensiveness of system and skilful scientific guidance
which is requisite, and yet on the other hand to avoid that
excessive centralization which threatens to degrade the new
local authorities. On the question, too, of providing the re-
quired funds Mr. Stansfeld's measure appears to be intention-
ally silent, whereas in a consolidating statute tliis subject must
receive the consideration it demands. On this ground your
committee prefer Sir C, Adderley's bill, and they strongly re-
probate the attempt to facilitate legislation on this subject by
ignoring the delicate but vital question from what source the
requisite funds are to be raised. The Sanitary Commissioners
in their report recommended that the new costs of sanitation
should be defrayed from the imperial sources, saying : " This
is a matter of imperial importance ; and is also in its turn,
too likely to be overlooked and neglected if left entirely to
local effort, and too likely, also, when neglected, to cause
national, and not merely local mischief. In any
degree, therefore, in which an amended health law
may lead to greater expenditure, by an improved
system of inspection, by imposing greater medical supervision
and securing further medical aid, by improved registration, or
by any other measure not purely or necessarily local in its
origin and effect, it seems expedient and just that the localities
should receive assistance from the State." Although Sir
C. Adderley's Ijill does not contain this proposition, it is yet,
from being founded ou the commissioners' report, more open
to amendment in this direction than the Government measure.
Election Expenses : Your committee observe that the Govern-
ment have refrained, in deference to the very clearly expressed
opinion of the House last ses3ion,to insert in their Parliamentary
and Municipal Elections Bill the proposal of last yer r to throw
the expenses of elections on the rates. Notice has, however,
been given by Mr. Fawcett of his intention to renew the
attempt to add this additional burden to the present total of
local taxation. It will be the duty of your committee to renew
their former successful resistance to this proposal, as to
every other which entails new charges on the rates, until a
complete revision of their incidence has taken place. The
suggestion of Mr. McCullagh Torreus that the necessary ex-
penses of elections should be borne in such way as Parliament
should direct, but in no case by the rates, may be fairly con-
sidered as meeting the views of those who take" exception to
the present system of imposing these charges on the candi-
dates. Returns : The return alluded to in the last report,
giving the amount of the expenditure in boroughs on account
of police, administration of justice, and lunatics, has never yet
been issued. The Home-office has admitted that, with the ex-
ception of the last four years, no returns exist to show the
amounts of such expenditure, and that such data as can be ob-
tained are far from satisfactory. The state of matters necessi-
tating such an admission as this is another instance of the
chaos of local finance to which your committee has directed
special attention. Your committee has prepared an abstract
from tile similar return for counties obtained by the chairman,
showing the expenditure under the heads referred to iu the
several counties during the year 1870. A copy of this table

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

31?

is presented along with this report, with explanatory notes,
from whicli it will be seen that a repetition of the careless
blunders to which attention was called lust session has marred
the use of an otherwise valuable document. Your com-
mittee feel that they cannot too strongly animadvert on the
practice of issuing such erroneous returns as official statements
— a course the more remarkable, and without justification,
when it is observed that precisely the same errors have, in
some cases, been repeated as those indicated by the chairman,
in the first published statement of the county treasurer, last
year, but which were then amended, and were therefore avail-
able to the compilers of the present return. Scotland : Your
committee find also that the returns for Scotland giving the
expenditure of the objects named are even more defective, and
they suggest that correct returns, in a form similar to that lor
England and Wales, be moved for, giving the totals under
each head both in Scotland and Ireland, so that the whole de-
mand to be made on the Consolidated I'und may be readily
ascertained. They are particulary glad to find that the terms
of the chairman's motion has elicited approval and support in
Scotland. Several Scottish counties have already moved in
the matter — llossshire, Berwickshire, and Fifeshire having
been foremost in directing attention to this subject. Your
committee are happy to be able to announce that Mr. Heneage,
the chairman of the Central Chamber, and Mr. G. F. Muntz
have acceded to their request to act on the executive. Finance:
Your committee submit their autiual balance-sheet for the year
ending 29th February, 1873, which has been made up after
the accounts have been duly audited by the finance committee,
and stands as follows :

RECEIPTS.

Balance from last year, as at 1st March, 1871 ... £160 5 2
Subscriptions received from 1st March, 1871, to

1st March, 1873 G94 1 8

Miscellaneous receipts , 27 3 1

£881 9 11

EXPENDITURE.

Printing Parliamentary papers, stationary, and

postage £361 2 3^

Rent of offices, secretary's salary, and office ex-
penses 288 7 8

Advertising, messengers, and sundries 23 0 7

BALANCE.

Oa bank account £306 7 8

In secretary's hands 3 11 9^

, 308 19 U

£881 9 11
Your committee have to acknov/ledge some further subscrip-
tions received since the last report.

Massey Lopes, Chairman.

Mr. CouRANCE, M.P., iu moving the adoption of the Report
congratulated the Council that the Government had at last
accepted part of its duty in reference to the militia. That was
a good earnest of the value of that organisation, and after that
it could not be said that they talked without producing any
definite result. The result was, indeed, as yet far from being
final and complete, but the transference from local to imperial
taxation of something like £3,500,000 was by no means un-
important (Uear, hear). With regard to the Government
Health Bill he confessed he was placed in a little difficulty.
He had been greatly in favour of sanitary legislation, which
entailed a certain increase of local rates. He had especially
advocated additional medical relief, trusting that it would
lead ultimately to a reduction of rates by making it possible
to administer them on a sounder principle ; and he hoped
that as medical aid was already provided out of the imperial
exchequer to the extent of not less than half, they would soon
be enabled to secure a further contribution of the same kind.
He must also congratulate the meeting in connection with tlie
Scotch system of poor relief. In the report of Mr. Craufurd's
Committee on the Scotch Poor Law there was a complete and
ample recognition of the principles advocated in that Chamber,
and he wished it would be found practicable for that Council
fo act in unison with those who held such views.

Mr. H. Neild, in seconding the resolution, said he hoped
the Council would not pass resolutions without doing its

utmost to produce some corresponding vital action with refer-
ence to them in the public mind. They had certainly made
considerable progress amongst the rate-paying classes of this
country during the last three or four years, and he thought
the ignoring of that movement by the Governmcut would
rather promote than retard their object. There must be no
"uncertain sound" in that Chamber on the subject of local
taxation (Hear, hear). Tlie Government concession with
regard to the militia and one or two other minor matters
sliould by no means check their advocacy of a total change in
the incidence of local taxation. It was a firm and admirable
principle of the Chamber that every proposal which tended
to increase the rates should be resisted until the incidence of
taxation had been fairly adjusted ; and lie hoped their deter-
mination on that point v/ould be borne in mind in " another
place " (laughter). There seemed now to be something
looming before the constituencies of the nation, and it behoved
them to show what were their opinions to those for whom they
might be called upon to vote at the coming General Election
(cheers). Some sound advice was given in that room on
the previous evening by an eminent member of Parliament
from Scotland (Hear, hear), and he hoped it would spread far
and wide (Hear, hear). Tliere must, he repealed, be no un-
certain sound on the part of their representatives, either on the
subject of local taxation or on that of the malt tax (Hear, hear).

Mr. Neyille-Grenville, M.P., expressed a desire for
information respecting Sir Massy Lopes's pending motion in
the House of Commons.

Mr. Genge Andrews felt that that council and the asso-
ciations throughout England should do something more than
pass resolutions. Up to that moment the Chambers had been
met on the front benches of the Liberal party with decided
opposition, while there had been on the Conservative benches
a coolness which had not encouraged Sir Massey Lopes to in-
troduce the direct question on which that movement was
founded. It was well remarked some months ago in the Sa/nr-
dai/ Reoiew, that that question was one which, if it were ever
decided, would not be decided by equity, but by votes, and he
should hke all the Chambers to ascertain who were the members
of Parliament that supported, and who were those that did not
support. Sir Massey Lopes. He believed that in every county in
England it was the general feehng among farmers that they had
a just and equitable claim to a revision of tlie system of local
taxation, and was convinced that if the work were set about ])ro-
perly they could tnrn the scale in any county at a general elec-
tion. He had observed, not merely among gentlemen on the front
benches of the Conservative party, but also among gentlemen
behind them, a disposition rather to moderate and cool down
the movement originated there for the purpose of destroying the
exemption which the money-owners of this country enjoyed
with regard to local taxation. With such opposing influences
as were found in Parliament from the towns, it was not likely
that question would be dealt with effectually until there was
a much stronger agitation. It was all very well to pull out one
stone there and another here ; but, as Mr. Ward Hunt said at
the dinner of the Central Chamber last year, the feeling of the
House of Commons on that subject depended on a general
election. He thought a great deal too much stress was placed
by their friends, as well as their opponents, on what was called
local self-government. So far as the money expended under
the poor-rate assessment was concerned, there was at present
only the smallest fraction of local self-government. There
might be such government in towns, but there was very little
of it in counties.

Mr. T. DucKUAM concurred in the general sentiments of
Mr. Andrews on that subject, but regretted that he should
bring forward anything that might be construed into party
political feeling ("No, no"). In his opinion, they should
guard against approaching a tinge of political feeling in that
movement.

Mr. Jasper More understood Mr. Andrews to blame
both sides of the House of Commons. As there had
been different estimates of the relative incidence of local and
imperial taxation, it seemed to him very desirable that that
question should form the subject of authoritative inquiry, and
he believed his hon. friend, Mr. Pell, had challenged such an
inquiry. Until something of that kind had been done, it would
be impossible to say conclusively who was right and who
was wrong.
8Pr. G. Whitaker (Worcestershire) said, although his

318

TIIK I'AKMfifl'S MAGAZIISE.

county had been praised for subscribing £300 for that movc-
raeut, lie felt that the raising of such a small amount for such
a purpose was a disgrace to it. lie left other counties to their
own representatives. He thought Mr. Andrews hit tiie
right nail on the head iu sajing, in effect, that their
influence must be brought to bear upon members of Parlia-
ment. He (Mr. Whitaker) was a Conservative, and had been
one all his life, but at the next general election he would vote
for no man who did not support a proposal for tiie revision of
local taxation. Talking was of no use. They must take action,
and quick action. The other day he paid a rate of £73. Was
that to be tolerated ? He did not like pledges on the part of
candidates, but all candidates knew pretty well what they
meant to do, and no one who did not take their view on that
question should have his vote.

Major Paget, M.P., concurred in the opinion that if they
wished to succeed in that agitation they must endeavour to
get the inhabitants of the cities and boroughs with them.
Whatever might be said with regard to self-government, it was
very dear to a great many persons, and it was doubtless
more deeply rooted in the towns tiian elsewhere ¥ot
them to inscribe on their flag, "Away with local self-govern-
ment," vras not the way, therefore, to obtain the support of
the cities and boroughs. Even in counties there still
remained with the local magistrates a large amount of
control over the police, gaols, asylums, and the salaries and
retirements of their oiiicers. In the boards of guardians, too,
although the control of the guardians was not supreme, it was
important, and he would be sorry to see it withdrawn. He
thought they should urge their own principles, without endea-
vouring to destroy what others held dear.

Mr. HoBSiiOLL (Kent) believed that without great care
they would come to a dead lock. Either that Chamber or the
Government of the day, whoever might form it, should be asked
to shadow forth some settlement of that question. They had
been resolving and re-resolving and passing resolutions for
several years without proposing any specific plan. He did not
wish to talk party politics there ; but, like Mr. Whitaker, at
the nest general election he would only support candidates
who would support them on tlie question of local taxation.
The other day tlie Lord Advocate for Scotland laid down the
proposition tiiat any tax on laud which was brought into ques-
tion ought to be dealt with by continually modifying it accord-
ing to its own merits. He believed that the Government
would be very glad to settle that question as they had others,
and on'y a Minister who was hacked by a large majority could
make the .attempt to settle it.

Mr. R. Varden (Worcestershire) said the gist of their
complaint was that the rates fell upon only one-sixth or one-
scventii of the property of the country ; and it seemed to him
to follow, as a natural consequence, that without a powerful
movement on their part the remaining five-sixths or six-
sevenths would always he arrayed against them. But they
were making progress towards the conversion of a large por-
tion of those who had been opposed to them ; and he believed
they could not do that more thoroughly or more soundly than
by adopting the policy of Sir Robert Peel in reference to im-
perial taxation, and extending to local taxation the principle
that the profits of production ought to be taxed, and not the
means of production. It was about thirty years ago since tlie
first great step towards the reform of imperial taxation was
made by removing duties on raw materials, and that change
had produced wonderful effects on the industry of the king-
dom. Rates levied on workshops and fixed machinery were,
liowever, as much a tax ou the productive energies of this
kingdom as were duties on raw material, and if that could be
fully brought home to the great bulk of manufacturing and
commercial men of this kingdom, they would sec that they
had an interest, not so great indeed, but iu the same direction
as theirs, in having the means of production freed from taxa-
tion, and taxes raised entirely ou profits. If the nation was
satisfied that Sir Robert Peel's fiscal reform was a proved suc-
cess— and no doubt that was its conviction — there should be
no chuckling at the progress made, for what had been at-
tained was but a foretaste of further successes, and he fully
believed that manufacturing and commercial industries bad a
deep community of interest with themselves on that question
(Hear, bear).

Sir G. jENKiNSO^i, M.P., had suggested to Sir Massey
Lojies the desirableness of including iu his pending

motion in the House of Commons a declaration to tlie effect
that some legislation changing the incidence of local taxation
was absolutely necessary. It was said that it was of no use to
propose a resolution which you could not carry. He did not
admit tliat ; in his opinion it was desirable to have some dis-
tinct proposition on that subject which might be referred to
at the next general election wlien they had before them some
of those by whom it was negatived. To use a sporting phrase,
they should try and force the running a little more than they
had done.

Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., said, however interesting and useful
that discussion might be, it was rather irregular. The only
question before them was the adoption of the Report of the
Local Taxation Committee ; and if the discussion proceeded
there would be very little left to be said at the meeting in
May (Hear, hear).

Sir M. Lopes said Mr. Neville-Grenville had asked what
course he intended to take with regard to the motion which
stood in his name. It was only on Tuesday that an independ-
ent member bad any chance of bringing forward a motion,
and he should do bis best to secure an early day. With re-
gard t3 the garbled statistics of the Governraeut, he wished to
observe that he had the pleasure of seeing present among them
a right lion, friend of his to whom they were indebted for tlie
very best book on Local Taxation that ever emanated from a
Government ; he referred to Mr. Ward Huut and the
Local Taxation returns presented by him to the House of
Commons. As one who took a great interest in the question,
he begged them to thank Mr. Hunt for those returns. He was
glad to find that 22 parishes of the metropolis were fornriiig
a league in reference to Local Taxation ; and he might add
that their Secretary had endeavoured to create a similar move-
ment at Southampton. One great dilliculty in the case was that
occupiers were blinded, as it were, by the system of composi-
tion, and efforts should be made to show them that in reality
they paid taxes in the form of rent. He should be most happy
to consult with Sir George Jenkinson as to any alteration
which might improve the terms of his motion in the House of
Commons (Hear, hear).

Mr. BiDULE expressed his concurrence in the remarks made
with reference to members of Parliament at the next general
election.

The Report was then adopted.

On the motion of Mr. Startiu, seconded by Mr. Turner, the
follouing resolution was passed : " That, in consequence of the
Government ' Public Health Bill' not having been printed and
circulated, the Council regret that they cannot discuss such an
important measure on its merits, but they protest against any
legislation on this or auy other subject which will impose ad-
ditional public burdens upon one description of property only."

Mr. George Whitaker (Worcestershire) moved : " That,
as it appears that the Government do not intend to introduce
auy Road Bill this session, and consequently that the cost of
repairing turnpike roads on which the Trusts are already or
will be discontinued must fall upon local rates, the Council are
of opinion that the attention of Parliament should be im-
mediately called to the injustice of any further discontinuance
of Trusts until an equitable means of maintaining the roads
has been provided." It appeared to him that the present
system of abandoning turnpiks trusts was most unjust, and
that by sanctioning it they would be sanctioning what had a
tendency to increase the burdens ou laud. No doubt hardship
was felt by many parties who had to pay tolls and keep their
roads iu repair; but of two evils the Council should choose the
least. Real property had in many districts been saddled with
very heavy expenses through the abandonment of turnpike
trusts. He bad suffered considerably himself; but that was
no reason why others should suffer. Mr. Kuatchbull-Hugessen,
when he did them the honour to attend there three years ago,
made a very pretty speech and promised a very considerable
measure ; but the promise had not been fulfilled. He led them
to believe that he was going to propose a comprehensive
measure of relief; but instead of affording relief lie had gone
on disturnpiking from 1869 to the present time. He bad gone
on passing what he called a " Continuance Act," but what
was, in fact, a Discontinuance Act, a number of trusts being
excluded and consequently destroyed. The tolls collected iu
bis own county in 18GG amounted to £31,000 a-year, and of
that amount £13,000 had since been taken away by Dis-
continuance Acts. A deputation from Worcester went to Mr.

THE FARMER'S ]\rAGAZINE.

819

Bruce on that subject, but all they got from hlra was the
answer that they were no worse off than their neighbours
(laughter). In almost every county the process of disturnpik-
ing had been going on rapidly, and the result was a total loss
of £195,000 per annum. Under this new system the large
timber -merchant, the miller, the coal-owuer, and the
mine-owner, who wore the roads out a great deal more
than farmers, contributed notliing towards their maintenance.
In piinciple tolls were just, and the burden ouglit not to rest
exclusively where it did. It was said that the extension of
the area of rating would remedy the evil. What was the re-
sult of forming highway districts in Worcestershire? In the
district of Redditch the cost of the roads in tlie four years after
the district was lormed exceeded by 38 per cent, tliat in
the preceding four years ; in the Tenbury district there was
au increase of 57|^ per cent., in the Upton and Severn districts
of 27:j. It was a special iiardship upon the cottager who kept
no horse that lie should have to pay so much for what he never
used. At first tlie citizens of Worcester thought it a very
good thing to be free from tolls ; but they had since found that
the roads were not as good as they had been, that the expense
of maintenance was very great, and that the management was
not as business-like as it used to be.

Mr. Yelland (West Gloucestershire), in seconding the re-
solution, said that in his district they paid Is. Id. in the
pound under the district system already, aud it would require
Is. 4d. more to put the roads in good repair. Whereas for-
merly lie used to pay about £1 a year he now paid above £30.
The only way in whicli the road system could be made to work
properly was by throwing the cost of maintenance on the
whole country.

The Chairman said he thought it right to remark that
although a majority of the Business Committee were in favour
of that resolution, there was a large minority against it
(Hear, hear).

Sir G. Jenkinson, M.P., opposed the resolution on the
ground that it was entirely in a backward direction, and was
contrary to resolutions which the Chamber had previously
passed oa the subject, one of those resolutions being in favour
of the total and simultaneous abolishing of all turnpike trusts.
He knew some places where as long as the Continuance Act was
in operation the trust would never be discontinued (laughter).
In one case, although the trust had just taken upon itself a
large debt of a neighbouring trust, the moment it was put into
the schedule of trusts that were not to be continued the whole
debt vanished away. He called that robbery. After all, those
who most used turnpike-roads were generally the ratepayers of
the district, and while the turnpike trust remained they had
to pay rates and tolls also, a large amount — sometimes as
much as 40 per cent. — being consumed in expenses which were
not repairs. In his opinion their proper course as a Council
was to agitate for the total and simultaneous repeal of all
trusts, and at the same time to agitate for aid from imperial
sources. He would move the following amendment : " That
in order to remove the hardship now falling on ratepavers by
turnpike trusts expiring in a partial aud piecemeal
manner, the Legislature ought to provide for the total and
simultaneous abolition of all turnpike trusts, and for the
classification of roads according to tlieir tralilc ; and that the
maintenance of all main arterial roads should be under county
raauagement, and supplemented by a grant from imperial
sources." Before sitting down, he would read to the meeting
a form of resolution which was something like what he in-
tended to propose — he could not pledge himself to the precise
words — m the House of Commons, with a view to future le-
gislation. It was, "That as great hardship and injustice is
inflicted on the ratepayers of various parishes by the present
system of partial and piecemeal extinction of turnpike trusts,
it is incumbent on the Legislature to provide for the im-
mediate and simultaneous extinction of all remaining trusts,
and at the same time for a classification of all such trusts aud
other roads, and to provide for the future maintenance of all
highways on an equitable basis."

Mr. D. Long (Gloucestershire) seconded the amendment.

Mr. Neild and Mr. Horley supported it, the latter saying
that he thought the Council should pause and consider the
matter seriously before passing such a resolution as that of
Mr. Whitaker (Hear, hear).

Col. Dtott, M.P., wished to state that on the previous
Saturday the Staffordshire Chamber passed the following reso-

lution : " That, inasmuch as the repairs of parochial highways
now charged wholly upon the rates are a great hardship to
owners and occupiers of real estate, it is manifestly unjust
that tlie turnpike roads which form tlie great lines of through
tralfic from town to town should also be thrown on the rates,
unless the basis of assessment for local taxation is extended to
all classes of actual income." As regarded the remedy for
this evil, his opinion was that they were getting into a com-
plete fix. They must either allow the roads to get more out
of repair than they were now — and they were very much out
of repair — or they must submit to an increase of the burden
of local taxation. That was the view of the Chamber which
he represented, and it desired that the strongest action should
be taken ou that important subject (Hear, hear).

Mr. Genge Andrews thought they should endeavour to
force tlie Government to introduce the general measure which
it promised two years ago.

Mr. C. S. Head, M.P., recommended Mr. Whitaker to
withdraw bis resolution, and adopt the proposal of Sir George
Jenkinson as being the most in accordance with resolutions
which the Chamber had passed previously.

Mr. G. F. MuNTz said Sir George's remedy was one of
which they might not all approve.

Mr. Westover (Banbury) also expressed^ hope that Mr.
Whitaker would not press his resolution.

Sir M. Beach, M.P., said he could not support either the
amendment or the resolution. It was impossible to stand still.
Injustice was no doubt inflicted now on certain parishes by the
abolition of trusts, but to stop abolition would be to make mat-
ters worse (Hear). Wiiat was wanted was that all trusts should
be abolished ; while as regarded the future maintenance of
roads, it was not desirable for them to attemi)tto classify roads
or lay down the mode in which the provision for that should
be supplemented, whether from imperial sources or in some
other way. The idea of classifying roads seemed to him very
objectionable. In fact, he did not believe it would be
possible to classify them. He did not think commissioners
who went round the country for the purpose of ascertaining
what roads were and what roads were not of au imperial
nature would be able to accomplish the object"; and even if
they did arrive at a classification, a road which was imperial
now might soon cease to be so through the opening of a new
railway. He considered the highway district quite large
enough for good management, and would regret to see
the area extended to counties. He hoped Sir George Jenkin-
son would consent to the alteration of his amendment by the
striking out of what referred to the classification of roads,
and the adoption after " trusts" of the following : " Provided
that the future maintenance of the roads is not leit as a burden
on one description of property only."

Mr. T. DucKHAM hoped that Sir George Jenkinson would
adopt the alteration thus suggested, and thereby make the
amendment of a more general character than it was then.

After some discussion, in which Mr. Whitaker emphatically
repeated his dissent from the views of Sir George Jenkinson,
and Mr. Horley and Mr. Genge Andrews expressed their con-
currence in the opinion of Sir M. Beach that the classifica-
tion of roads was altogether impracticable, both tlie resolution
and the amendment were withdrawn ; and thereupon the fol-
lowingresolution,proposedbySir M. Beach, M.P., aud seconded
by Mr. Horley, was adopted unanimously : " That in order
to remove the hardship now falling on ratepayers by turnpike
trusts expiring in a partial and piecemeal manner, the Legis-
lature ought to provide for the total and simultaneous aboli-
tion of all remaiiiing turnpike trusts ; provided that in effect-
ing such abolition the future maintenance of tlie roads is not
left as a burden on one description of property only."

The subjects for discussion at the Council meeting in April
will be Sanitary Legislation ; Educational Endowments ; and
Mr. Mundella's Master and Servant (Wages) Bill.

The meeting then separated.

THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL BENEVOLENT IN-
STITUTION.— Lord Vernon has accepted an invitation
from the Council to preside at the annual dinner on Wednes-
day, June 5,

320

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

WIN FRITH FARMERS' CLUB
PIECE-WORK.

At the last meeting, Mr. Chapman Saunders read a paper
on " Wliat extent, aud with what mutual advantage, can piece-
work be substituted for day-work in agriculture."

Mr. CiiAPMAJj S.vuNDERS said : Tliis subject is not of the
ordinary and practical character similar to those with which
this club has been accustomed to deal, but it is, at the same
time, of a highly interesting nature, since it involves the interest
of all classes who are, to a greater or less extent, connected
with the soil — tlie tenant, the labourer, and also the landlord.
Money paid in labour which is necessary to carry on a farm
well and profitably becomes a somewhat important item ; in
fact, it is scarcely of less consideration than the rent, seeing
the amount has to be expended for this item when paid wholly
in money, as in many counties in England, or, as in this and
some other adjacent districts, partly in money and partly in
kind ; but, whichever may be the preferable mode, knowing as
I do much which has been written on the condition of the
Dorset labourer, and having: also had the opportunity, not
afforded to all, of visiting other parts of England, I am satisfied
that the labourers in this county are as well off generally, and
as comfortable in their station, as elsewhere. The value of
labour depends, very much like tliat of everything else, on the
law of supply and demand. If the Dorset labourer were, as
some would have us believe, in a worse position than those in
other parts he would no doubt remove to a distance where he
might receive better remuneration, since recent alterations in
the law of settlement afford him facilities for shifting. I have
knov^^l the attempt made (and many of you will substantiate
what I say) by men leaving their situations here to receive no-
minally 5s. or Gs. per week more money in distant places, but
after a short time they have been only too glad to return to
their former employers. I will not now enter furthei into this
subject. Labour, as I have said, is one of the most important
items iu the shape of payment to be made out of the farm, and
it is likely to increase yearly in consequence of the amount of
stock kept on the farm being so much greater than iu time
past, and the occupier being tempted by a higher price to be
obtained for mutton aud beef than some years ago. This, as a
consequence, leads to the production of a greater amount of
green food to sustain that stock, and, as a result of keeping a
larger amount of stock, more corn and straw are produced.
The labour essential to the carrying out of things in general
in accordance with this advancement of agriculture should raise
in the minds of most the thought how can all this be best
accomplished with mutual advantage to employer and employed
— whether day or piece-work should be followed. An acquaint-
ance with every operation of the farm is most essential in
order to understand what is a fair amount of work to expect
for a fair day's pay, aud also to attain a fair knowledge of the
quality of work of various kinds. In manufactories most of
the labour is paid in the shape of piece-work from a minute
subdivision of labour carried forward under close supervision
in a limited area ; and of course, as the eye and the hand of the
mechanic become more and more accustomed to the perform-
ance of work of any particular kind with greater ease and
despatch, the cost in production is more and more reduced
until it obtains a minimum. That this state of things cannot
be fully realised in farming pursuits I need not remind you,
but still iu agriculture, as in other callings, there is a certain
method to be acquired by practice — for instance, iu the simple
process of lifting or carrying any substance or body, and also
in various other ways of facilitating tlie various kinds of or-
dinary work ; therefore, I say, give as much encouragement as
you possibly can to ascertain the best method which may be
devised of doing what may be required on the farm as well as
in the factory at a given time, and with despatcli. To do this
why should not the labourer derive a fair remuneration for his
interest and extra exertion ? Of course, the attendance on
stock cannot be carried on entirely in this way, nor the simple
tillage of the land, but I believe much may be accomplished
which has neyer been attempted m a general way. Difficulties

will arise at the outset in setting up new practices and modes
of payment iu this manner. Eorbearance for a time on the
part of employer and also the employed must be exercised. As
in other things, the influence of the weather is often brought
to bear ; and, for this reason, let me remark that the system of
piece-work once adopted the further it becomes extended the
better it will be, and the greater the mutual benefit also. Say,
for instance, in carting manure by the piece at a price per
load — here you have the men employed iu filling endeavouring
to do the greatest amount of work, and with the least amount
of labour, and the least misapplication of it on their part,
using the best tools, &c., for the kind of work, the horses
employed being kept in motion, and the drivers also ; and much
more may be done in a given time, especially at a busy season.
True, you will say highei wages have to be paid ; but what
does that matter if the extra money so paid be fairly earned,
and perhaps a season saved ? If at any hour of the day when
those men are employed filling should the horses employed by
them be advisedly removed conveniently to other kinds of
work from any alteration in the weather, or other reason, they
may then spread the manure over the land or be sent to do
any other work to wliich there is an understood fixed price at-
tached. Harvesting operations might also be facilitated in this
direction beyond their present limits, as the adoption of the
reaping machine has somewhat extensively superseded the hook
and the scythe, aud many of those formerly employed in cut-
ting the vpheat may by some plan secure the crops cut by ma-
chine at a price per acre, if not the whole, at least some por-
tion, as circumstances might more or less favour the operations.
If in the morning the weather be unfavourable to harvest-
work, a few hours, or any uncertain time as it might happen,
can be spent in carting and spreading manure over the leys for
wheat, which kind of work might be left at any moment for
the more important task of harvesting. I consider a good
labourer is benefited by the adoption of piece-work, and he
generally prefers it, whilst a bad labourer becomes a better one
from having to exert himself, in being obliged to become some-
what more self-dependent. Mr. Saunders then read the
following extract : At a harvest-home celebration on the
estates of the Earl of Cowper, a labourer named Digby, iu
replying to a toast, made the following remarks : " It was ad-
mitted by all persons that we had a most abundant harvest, but
there was one drawback, and that was the great scarcity of
animal food. A great deal had been said on that subject in
the newspapers during the past week, and they were told that
the muscles and sinews of their young men could not come to
perfection without a certain amount of animal food. Now, he
wished to commend that to the notice of employers of labour,
some of whom thought it very imprudent for a man to marry
when young —in fact, that it was almost a crime for a labourer
to do so. Twelve shillings per week was a moderate wage in
this part of the country, out of which the labourer had to pay
two shilings per week for rent, two shillings for firing, and,
supposing he was imprudent enough to be the father of six
children, there was just one shilling per week each left for
the maintenance of the father, mother, and six children. How,
then, was it possible for the labourer to obtain animal iood,
which they were told was so very necessary for the mainte-
nance of the human frame in the early stages of its develop-
ment? He did not believe the farmers wished to oppress
those beneath them, but he would give them this piece of ad-
vice— let those young men who had been imprudent enough to
get married and have a family do the piece-work, as far as
practicable, and thus have a chance of earning a few extra
shillings to supply their children with animal food to keep
their souls and bodies together." He continued : On small
occupations it is more difficult, and perhaps impossible, to carry
piece-work forward to any extent. The consideration of the
degree to which tlie subdivision of labour can be carried on
satisfactorily to employers and employed wiU prove one argn-
ment in favour of comparatively good-gizetl-«-I should perliaps

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

321

say large — farms over small ones, as the more each man has
one particular kind of work for which he is more fitted allotted
him the more he may be expected to do of it, and the better also.
Oq a small farm, with a comparatively small number of hands
employed, one person is frequently called on to do many kinds
of work during the day, whilst on a large one each may more
easily be engaged at one kind of work in the day, and that
one only for which he is most fitted. A good attender of stock
is not unfrequently very inefficient at ploughing and other
simpler kind of work, and, vice-rersd, we fiud sometimes men
of great strength, accustomed to, and qualified for, heavy
work, do not apply themselves to those kinds of work where
brains are of greater service. There is skill in everything.
Skill is required in feeding stock, in order to know how to
feed and when to feed the animals in charge as circumstances
vary ; skill in ploughing, and skill in every operation, even in
filling a cart — for all these some learning is desirable. It is
poor economy to pay too little for any kind of work, but it
may be sometimes wrong to pay too much, as it affords a pre-
cedent which may prove unsatisfactory afterwards. Some little
discretion must therefore be exercised, and knowledge is essen-
tial in first adopting piece-work. Perhaps these are some of
the reasons for the non-adoption of the system more generally,
but I think you will find where piece-work is more the rule
the work of the farm is at all times in a fairly forward condi-
tion. Again, where labour is scarce, that is, arising from the
want of more and better accommodation in the shape of dwel-
lings on the farm — and, I regret to say, there are many such
instances yet to be found, although I believe there has been a
very decided improvement in this respect of late years — where,
as I say, the number of labourers being scarce (not from the
scarcity of people to work — on the contrary, labourers are
abundant), the system will recommend itself for adoption.
Although much of the corn is now reaped by machinery, and
thrashed by steam power, and naturally less hands are required
than when the flail was more generally used, still it remains
that more and more labour is required to develop to the full

extent the capabilities of the soil, for although the population
(according to Mr. Mechi, in The Farmer, a few weeks back)
was, in 1800, 15,000,000, there are now 32,000,000. With
this alarming increase, the area of the land remains unchanged,
and this is another good reason for making that laud as pro-
ductive as possible. Mr. Mechi, in tlie paper referred to, also
says, " To keep a man on day-work because you don't like to
see him earn more money is a narrow-minded and unprofitable
mistake." With those sentiments I most fully concur. Plan,
arrangement, order, and foresight are essential in carrying out
and employing to the best advantage the labour on a farm as
well as iu a factory or shop. To what extent education will
assist or otherwise, I am not prepared to assert, as that will
depend on the kind of education which is to be imparted. My
opinion is that the education of the labourer should be one
fitted to his station, and not beyond it. The thorough know-
ledge of the " three R's " — reading, writing, and aritiimetic —
is ample, not forgetting also that such education, whatever it
may be, will not be at the expense of the individual, but of the
public. I do not object to the amount of education I have
stated, as in these days more is needed, and I have frequently
found an inconvenience from men being unable to read a simple
vs-ord. Much more remains to be said on the subject of wages,
and the mode of payment. In conclusion, I will only add that
I have had some experience, and possibly may have given the
subject of piece-work some extra personal attention, extending
over several years, but I am perfectly satisfied with the result.
In addition to the common practice of hedging, mowing,
turnip-hoeing, Src, I cart and spread nearly all the manure on
the farm by piece-work, store a large quantity of roots for
stock, and prepare them ready for the turnip-cutter ; and I
think it advisable to further extend the system, believing it
will tend to my own advantage, and not less to the well-doing
of those whom I employ.

A desultory discussion followed, and the proceedings closed
with a vote of thanks to Mr, Saunders,

WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE

At a woman's suffrage meeting at Warrington, Mr.
P. Kylands, M.P., the chairman, said : " In reference
to the rights of women — their personal and property
rights — they have a perfect claim to be heard in the
House of Commons, because if you take the statute-
book of this kingdom you will find that the laws of this
country have been made by men, and that whenever it
happened that the interests of women came into contact
with the interest and the desires of men, the interests of
women have been sacrificed to the desires and to the in-
terests of men. I must mention one circumstance show-
ing the indirect efl'ect of women not having the franchise.
There is no reason why women should not be farmers,
and that the widow of a farmer left iu the occupation of
a farm should not be allowed to carry on a farm ; but in
many cases, as soon as a woman has the misfortune to
lose her husband who happened to be a farmer, the land-
lord takes care to get rid of her, simply because she has
not a vote. I will state a fact that I have received upon
information which I can fully rely, communicated to me
by the parties concerned. A gentleman in the neigh-
bourhood of Liverpool took a farm from one of the
landowners of Lancashire, in the neighbourhood
of Liverpool, and in order to get possession of
that farm he gave to the outgoing tenant a very large sum
of money. I believe he reckoned that he had given about
£1,000 to induce the outgoing tenant to leave the farm.
Relying upon his landlord, he proceeded to lay out £2,000
or £3,000 in a manner which could not by any possibility
have given him a return for several years, After he had

invested some £4,000 or £5,000 in this property he un-
fortunately died. I tell you as a matter of fact upon
which I have no doubt — and I think I ought to say that
the landowner in question helougs to the same political
party as myself, and I do not wish to make any political
capital out of it — that this landlord actually gave notice
to his agent that this poor widow who had lost her
husband under these distressing circumstances should
leave her farm, and although great representations
were made to the landowner that her husband had
invested all this money iu the expectation that he would
receive from it a very considerable return, yet because
this poor widow was a woman and had no vote, and
could not support the political party this man belonged
to, she was turned out of her farm, and the money
which her husband had laid out on the farm, expecting
no doubt that it would be for his benefit and the benefit
of his family, was all sacrificed. I say this is an infa-
mous thing, aud certainly it ought to lead us to see that
no w^oman under any circumstances should be placed in
that position of disadvantage." At Kettering one of the
speakers said : " What they wanted was a Tenant Right,
which was not the landlord's Avrong, and that, if the
tenant were removed by death, his family should have a
claim upon the money which was expended by him for
any permanent improvement, iu proportion to the number
of years unexhausted." At Brecon, where the discussion
turned on eggs and poultry, the chairman regretted that
ladies had not been invited to attend. These are all
signs of the times,

322

THE PARMER'S MAGAZII^JE.

TUNBRIDGE WELLS FARMERS' CLUB.

THE BREEDING AND FEEDING OF STOCK.

At a meeting, Mr. John Noakes ia tlie chair, Mr. G. N.
ROPEK, of Frant, read to the following effect : —

It was both safe and wise to assume that the breed of stock
generally found in a district was the best fitted for its soil, and
that was the object sought by the farmer. Although aware that
the present state of stock farming in this neighbourhood was
greatly changed by the fact of the railways putting thera into
easy communication with the great towns and the metropolis,
he must, in consideration of this subject, take them back in
thought to at least 15 years, wlien Sussex stock was alone
prominent with breeders, and justly so, as they grew and
thrived on their native land, and on what he might not inaptly
call the hard treatment then customary, as no other breed
could. Their size too fitted thera for work, and the ox teams
on many farms were very useful, especially in clearing the
woodlands, while they were kept very cheaply on poor pastures
during the grazing season. At that time many herds of Sussex
stock were found in this neighbourhood, and these with care
and judgment reached great excellence, and had since con-
tributed to the high position the breed had attained to at the
Smithfield Club Shows. The cows were not as a rule good
milkers, but that was a secondary consideration compared with
the production of meat, and the effect which resulted from
paying attention to their quality combined with their aptitude
to fatten was the production of steers which a little over two
years old were worth from £20 and £35 a-head — a speedy and
profitable return all would admit. Scarcely any roots were
then grown, and the calves had a little bran and ground oats
with chaff a short time before and after weaning, aud were
wintered generally on the pastures with some h.ay daily.
Yearlings fared much the same the first winter, but older
beasts were yarded on hay and straw as thrashed from the
barns once a day without any artificial food till they were
stalled for fatting. He recollected the progeny of some highly-
bred Shorthorns being treated thus witli Sussex stock, and they
degererated so much that the trial was abaudoned. Com-
pared with the present treatment of stock it seemed to him
little was done until lately to help nature, and he ventured to
suggest, for the sake of discussion, whether the increased cost
of feeding resulted in a better return than undei the old r&'i/ime,
taking all things into consideration. His practical knowledge
of the subject of breeding stock as applied to a distinct and
pure breed of stock ceased nearly fifteen years ago, when he
sold the herd of Sussex stock on the Bayham Home Farm.
This herd was his only for a year, but he had for several j'ears
previously been a witness of its rise and progress under his
fatiier's care. As lie had before remarked, the introductiou of
the railway caused farmers to turn their attention to dairy
farming and the supply of milk to the metropolis. This re-
sulted in a cross breed being substituted for the Sussex on
the majority of farms. He was not aware that hitherto much
attention had been paid to the breed other than to the size
aud milking properties of the cows, and he could not help
thinking therefore that landowners and large dairy farmers
would do well and would render great assistance to breeders by
importing iuto the district some purebred bulls, by which
means the progeny when reared on their own farms might
possess quality and growth enougli to become profitable stock.
He would now throw out one or two suggestions, and would
reiiark that having determined upon the breed best fitted for
their purposes, it would be well to select one or two cows
possessing the approved qualities of the herds, aud in order
that a family likeness might be secured, which was a great
feature in the rearing of stock, it should be formed gradually
by selecting heifers from good dairies, and correcting faults and
deficiencies by the judicious selection of bulls. Having thus
disposed of the breeding, he would next refer to the feedino- of
cattle. His own practice was to give oilcake in small quanti-
ties while at grass towards the end of the summer, which was
increased generally with the improved state of the animal. He
gave roots with clialf in ftddition once a day when in the yard,

with ground corn or pea meal and a little hay likewise, as he
was of opinion that the hay assisted nature in cudding, and,
therefore, helped forward the fattening process. Whilst fully
appreciating the great value of roots (such as swedes) in the
fattening of cattle, he was almost induced to give up the culti-
vation of them, because he found it was antagonistic to the
cultivation of hops, which was of great importance to farmers
in this neighbourhood. The root crops and the hops required
attention generally at the same time, and there was such an
inclination on the part of labourers to work in the hop garden
that it was impossible, except at ruinous outlay, to get them to
work in the root fields. It had, too, become not uncommon
for covered buildings to be furnished for the accommodation
of neat stock. He, however, somewhat questioned their utility
except in the finishing off of stock for the butcher. Young
stock should be treated more naturally to secure hardihood and
to resist disease. Once shut up they should remain so to the
end, as an unexpected change of w-eather might, when they
were turned out on the pastures, lay the seeds of disease fatal
to their well-doing. As regarded sheep, he had a few lambs of
the Bayhain flock until last year, when he found their keeping
during winter on trough food almost if not wholly unprofitable,
that lie had discontinued the breed and had substituted some
Down ewes which he had secured at Lewes Fair, and had fed
thera on pastures with some chaff and oats during the day, and
at night, weather permitting, on swedes. He preferred white
turnips before lambing, but as the soil in this district was not
altogether suitable for many roots, and the older and more
practical farmers doubted whether roots could be grown at tlie
same cost as artificial feeding stuffs, the value of the manure
on the land being in many years neutralised by the treading,
he fancied that feeding sheep on very thin new laid-down
pastures was an improvement — although a slow one — to the
herbage. He had such a liking for the Southdowns that he
was unable to compare other breeds with them as regards
profit, though he feared they were great rentpayers when kept
on artificial food, as tiiere was not much growth in them.
Perhaps, however, the price they commanded in the market
compensated for this. The growth of rape for autumn feeding
to save the pasture would be very useful ; but in some seasons
it would be unfit in most of their fields to sow wheat after-
w^ards.

Mr. J. KiRBY Pain inquired what Mr. Roper's opinion was
as to the best sort of artiiicial food.

Mr. RoPEii replied that he generally left that to his man,
to whom he could rely for the effectual carrying out of his
wishes, but he confessed that he preferred oilcake to almost
every other kind of cake with the addition of roots. At this
season of the year one meal of oilcake a day in proportion to
the condition of the animal, and if possible a little ground corn
in order that the cake might stay in the animal more easily,
would be sufficient. In the first instance with lean cattle he
would not give more than three or four pounds at the outside ;
but when the animal was brought to a stage of fitness for the
butcher he should allow seven or eight pounds with ground
corn, roots, and chaff. He would not deny that he held the
old-fashioned prejudice as to the racking up at night with a
little handful of hay. The herdmen (some of them) told bim
that animals were likely to lose their cud if fed entirely on
shortly-cut chaff, and therefore in order to guard against that
he gave with the cake, &c., a httle handful of hay so that they
might save their cudding, which, as everybody knew, must be
right.

Mr. Wii.LiA.jr Delves said he recollected a good many
years ago he used to be on intimate terras with the late Mr.
Roper, and also another gentleman, familar to most of those
present, but perhaps not all— Mr. John Turner, of Somerford ;
he meant the one who used to be called old John Turner, aud
not the one who had left a short time ago for Suffolk. The
system of feeding adopted by these gentlemen was widely
different, and yet the success of both of tiiem \ran very grppt ,

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Mr. Turner would liave liis stock well fed, bofli at morning'
and night (that meant his fat stock), " so that," to use his own
expression, "they might fill tlieir bellies, and then lie down
and chew their cuds." Mr. Iloper also fed with great success,
and upon the system of feeding which he adopted — corn or
cake and gro\ind corn once a day [Mr. Hoper : Three
times], and racking up at night, so that they liad got hut very
little time without they were eating — he should like to ask his
friend, Mr. Roper, whether of late years he had tried one or
both these systems, or whether he still adhered to his late
lather's system of frequent feeding. Whilst upon liis legs, he
(Mr. Delves) would take the opportunity of saying he very
well recollected the circumstance that brought the Sussex
stock into great public notoriety, and which had reflected such
great credit on their own neighbourhood, nothing being better
adapted for it than a good Sussex herd. Lord Althorp, who
afterwards became Earl Spencer, was the great introducer of
the Shorthorn breed in England, and his lordship was tlie first
to speak of them as being superior to any other breed. Mr.
Selraes gave Lord Althorp a challenge that he would produce
a hundred Sussex beasts to show against a hundred Short-
horns. The challenge was accepted, and the show took place.
He believed, in one respect, Mr. Selmes was easily (in the
opinion of the judges) beaten, and for this reason — to make
up his hundred, he selected twenty pairs of working oxen. Of
course, when lie showed twenty pairs of working oxen against
forty of Lord Althorp's steers, which were, perhaps, ready to
go to Sraithfield, it was uot a fair show ; still, the Sussex
stock was very ranch observed at that time, and very much
admired also. Such a number of bullocks being seen together
occasioned no small amount of sensation, and it led to their
being much more prized and sought after than before ; in-
deed, they were considered the A 1 breed of the country for
some time.

Mr. Roper, in reply, said he had never been able to test its
actual result, and, as they knew, farmers and their servants
were rather creatures of habit, and had gone on upon the old
principles, lie liimself was still of opinion that feeding three
times a day, and giving the animals a little hay, was the best
plan. lie went on the farm just the last thing at night and
saw they had a little hay given to them. They were fed
morning, 'uoon,'and at five o'clock, and he fancied that by so
doing he gave them a better chance in the long-run of
watching tlieir appetites, which, in his opinion, was most
desirable. lie always liked to see the animals run up to t!ie
trough when the Icediug-time arrived. If he saw his man at
the trough and the animals at the other end of the farmyard
he was at once greatly concerned, because he began to think
the man had over-fed them, and they all knew what that
meant. If the animal once got into that indifferent state, very
little progress was made ; and he thougiit the great object of
farmers should always be to keep the animal ready for its food,
and by feeding them three times a day there was a better
opportunity aflbrded of watching their appetites than wlien
fed only once or twice a day. At feeding-times, if the man
looked after the animals well, and gave their food in small
quantities, and acted with a little judgment, it could soon be
seen when the animal had its full, and to take care that none
was left. It was a grand thing when they could eat a clean
trough every time. As to the third, fourth, and even second
feeding, it was a mere bagatelle, and, perhaps, with feeding
four times it was beyond the mark, as it was uot wise to dis-
turb tlie animal at tlrat time of night.

Mr. VV. Delves : John Turner used to turn out beautiful
Sussex stock, and so did your father.

Mr. George Langridge desired to ask whether the Sussex
stock were likely to be returned to this neighbourhood ? There
used to be a good many bred here in the district, and he wished
to know whether they were not capable of early maturity —
whetiier it paid farmers better to cultivate their land for
hops — and whether the Sussex stock paid for breeding and
held their own as compared with other breeds in the coun-
try ?

The Chairman safd the question had been asked frequently,
and it was a rather diiiicult one to answer. He took it in a great
measure that some time ago, when Sussex stock were at a low
price — he meant lean stock — that Irish and Dutch cattle were
introduced. Sussex steers in the autumn fairs in that county
were then fetching from £8 to £10 a piece. That was very plain
they were not paying, and uot only so, but it was a ruinous

price for the breeders. Then Irish bcaats were brought over
in great numbers, and were sold as calves, although they were
really yearlings, for 50s. or £3 a head. Then the Dutch cattle
became introduced, and were distributed over the couiitry,
selling at a vcy low figure — £3 or £i a piece. The question
then naturally arose as to whetiier it was not necessary to feed
these beasts and do away with the Sussex herds. Again, from
various causes, SJiortliorns had got into very great notoriety,
and the chief encouragement was given to this breed by the
ditferent agricultural societies and at the principal one — the
Royal Agricultural Society of England — a short time before,
there was not even a class for Sussex stock. Shorthorns con-
sequently became a fancy breed, and perhaps to this day, had
it uot been for the great energy of Mr. Edward Cane and some
others, there would not have been a class for Sussex stock at
Sraithfield show. Those present knew very well there was no
encouragement in this respect to tenant farmers generally
about that time — agricultural prospects in general being at a
rather low ebb just at that period — and tenant farmers did
require some little assistance in keeping up a perpetuity of the
breed of Sussex stock. Instead of being assisted by the land-
owners, they all — everyone to a man — went into this fancy
breed of Shorthorns, and in their own locality he could not
recollect but a few farmers who did uot introduce some other
breed. The Goldes' and Noakes', of Burwash, were excep-
tions, and there were one or two others. They were all run-
ning away to these Shorthorns. [Mr. Roper : Mr. Court-
hope.] That gentleman had had a very good herd, but he had
discontinued it not from selfish motives of any kind, but simply
because another kind of stock answered his purpose better.
In this locality, for instance, instead of assisting in the breed,
which was almost, he might say, indigenous to the soil, and
was proved by experience to be most suitable to the district,
they introduced those mongrel kind of animals called Short-
horns. They, however, only lasted a short time. Of course,
if farmers wanted to make them pay in any shape or way, it
was necessary to have sales, and what was the effect of those
sales ? The stock did not realise so much as the Sussex stock
did before on these very farms. Mr. Smythe said Wadliurst
was at one time celebrated for good Sussex stock, but he had
given up his herd. These, then, were some of the causes
which contributed to the fact that the Sussex stock were not so
common as they were atone time. Other causes might occur to
some of them present, but he thought tliose he had mentioned
were the chief ones. There was auother thing which liad just
occurred to him. Mr. Roper in his paper and remarks had
said he preferred the primitive style of building fur the hous-
ing of cattle. Now he (Mr. Noakes) should like to call atten-
tion to tli« box system, and the plan he adopted in the feeding
of his cattle, lie gave them cut food with a mixture of oil-
cake and so on. Many plans had been tried, but had failed,
not from the systems themselves, but from bad arrangement oi
them. Formerly pits were dug, but very often the drainage
was bad, so that the water got into them, and the animals fed
there were in a very wet and uncomfortable state, which they,
as practical farmers, knew was very much against the animals'
well doing. Then other plans had been practised, and better
arrangements made, where the animals could lay equally as
dry and as comfortable as in pits with a little straw in the
ordinary manner, as in an open lodge. Hi", opinion was that
a certain proportion of the building should be arranged for
the fatting of stock, to be kept in that way. As to the habi^
of feeding, he quite agreed with Mr. Roper that any stock
intended for grass would be very much better not to be under
cover, but simply to have an open lodge in the yard for their
use, so that they could get out of the rain, and be in the opea
iu dry weather. By this means they would be much sooner
matured for being run out \n grass land. He had no doubt the
cattle would improve better iu that way than being in pits and
boxes. With regard to the feeding, whether two, three or four
times a day, his experience led him to believe that feeding three
times a day was the best. He fed them early in the morning,
and at noon, and as late at night as he could get a man to be
there — about six o'clock at this time of the year. With regard
to what Mr. Roper had said about feeding wilh hay, he was of
the same opinion when lie commenced feeding stock, but he
found from experience that it was not necessary at all, and no
doubt many would corroborate him in what he said on this point.
Since he had adopted the plan of feeding his animals with chaff
entirely he had never occasion to have the farrier in for 10 years.

324

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

He Iwd generally uoliced that Ijeasts had thrivea to his es-
pectation— he did not say they paid or anything of the kind,
but at any rate they had got on and did well. A discussion
had arisen as to the cheapest mode of fattening animals, and
the best ingredients to use, and how to use them. He found
it was all important to give a variety of food. By giving an
animal cake and hay, which was wonderfully expensive, their
object was not gained at all, because au animal bred on the
farm did not want much of that feeding. He had known good
steers sold off the farm, which did not want anything but
the hay, but with the cattle that he had spoken of— the Irish
and Dutch— he had found that they did not fatten so readily
in this way. As Mr. Roper had said, it was most important
that farmers should arrive at some plan of feeding which
would give some little profit for the outlay. His plan was when
he commenced feeding the cattle to get two-thirds straw, with
one-third hay, and a little pea-meal. He fed them with pea-
meal because he had found beneficial results attending it, espe-
cially in hardening the flesh for the butchers, for if they once
found out that bean-meal was used they disapproved of it.
With this he put a little mixture of cotton cake and linseed
cake, about one-and-a-half pounds of each a day. He must
say he found this a capital mixture. He generally grew swedes
in as large a proportion as he could — sometimes at an incon-
venience, for he did not like growing root crops during the cul-
tivation of his hops, and he was inclined to exclaim that he
wouldn't grow any more, but when the season came to use them
he often wished he liad more. His plan was to pulp the swedes,
as his opinion was that by pulping and mixing in that.way — he
hardly knew what proportion to say — but he thought in that
manner they would economise their swedes, if not one-half
certainly a larger proportion, and in mixing them with the
chaff his object was simply to dampen it in order that the meal
might adhere to it. With this mixture it would do the beasts
as much good as if he gave them a double quantity of swedes.
He did not wish to say anything for or against artificial food,
but he might just state tliat for several years he had made a
practice of using a little of Beach's food for sheeep and parti-
cularly for beasts, and he found a very great advantage from it.
Whether it created an appetite or not, he could not say, but he
knew the troughs were licked out much cleaner — in fact, when
the beasts got in the habit of eating it they liked it and seemed
so anxious for their food that they licked the wood as hard as
though they would almost eat it. He should, therefore, very
strongly recommend them to use Beach's food. He would not
pretend for a moment that with cut straw aud hay they were
going to fatten their cattle without something else. He had
some large steers and good-sized beasts, 100 stone each, but he
had never fancied he could fatten them off without giving
something like lilbs.or 15 lbs. of cake per day with a little
corn. He kept them working on and the sooner he got rid of
them the better. According to his experience, that was the
most economical plan of fattening beasts. There was a point
he should like to mention with regard to the building. By
having beasts under cover the washing away of the manure as
in open yards was of course avoided, aud there was this great
object in view, for many of them could not fatten a bullock
were it not for the manure for the hops. He kept an account
of the total expenses, and found he sometimes got £5, some-
times £3, sometimes nothing at all, and sometimes lost by the
fatting of stock. He very much feared as things were working
now it would be so this year, but fortunately he had not got to
buy things for his cattle. He was afraid, however, he could
not put them down as so much profit. As a matter of
justice he must state that although Mr. Roper had spoken of
his buildings being of a primitive style, and added that he had
DO preference for one or the other mode of feeding he (Mr.
Noakes) gave notice that Mr. Roper's beasts had thriven ex-
ceedingly well. Wliether it was the four meals a day or the
extra meals of ground corn he (Mr. Noakes) did not know, but
he had always kuowu jMr. Roper's beasts to thrive exceedingly
well. He was a few days ago at Tunbridge and was struck with
a pair of steers which Mr. Roper had sent there. They were
certainly beautiful beasts — beautiful specimens of the Sussex
breed, and exceedingly well fattened, aud he very much re-
gretted to hear Mr. Roper say it was the last he should have.
He was sorry indeed to hear it. He could not suggest what
could be done, but it was a great pity to see such fine
stock go out of management, for if they went on as they
were going now, and as they had done, the breed would very

oon be come extinct, and that he was sure all would very
much regret.

Mr. William Delves : Will you kindly inform me with
regard to your pulping whether you let it lay a certain time
with the chaff or whether you mix it up and use it almost
immediately?

Mr. NoAiLES : When I commenced pulping I was told the
plan was to mix it up and let it heat. I thought that must be
right. I tried it, however, and found it was wrong — a mistake
altogether. The longest time I should recommend any one to
mix it before using it is at least three meals. In fact, my
plan is to pulp the roots, and mis one meal out of another ;
that I think is the best plan, just suflicient to moisten the
cut food and ground corn, which then adheres to the chaff,
&o., and I think that is the proper plan. AVhen my man goes
to his breakfast he prepares one meal, and comes back and
then mixes up a dinner ; when he has finished the dinner he
mixes up the supper meal. I think from my experience that
that is the best plan.

Mr. Philip Simpson said that witli regard to pulping the
difference of opinion was something extraordinary. Last
November he was down in Suffolk, and there met a party of
farmers- gentlemen who farmed five or six hundred acres of
laud, with very little grass indeed, perhaps not over thirty
acres, but all arable— and they were talking about the feeding
of stock, and the manner of pulping was also brought up.
Tour out of the party informed him that they would not use a
pulper. They had used one, however, for some time, but
they would not use it again to pulp roots, not even if it was
supplied for them. That only showed the difference of opinion
in different parts. Those Suffolk farmers were very large
breeders. At the time he was Uving at Bayham he had a
pulper down, but he supposed it was not large enough, or
something of the kind, as he could never get enough for his
bullocks, and so he sent it back, and had never tried it again.
He had since always used a Gardner's cutter, aud that an-
swered his purpose remarkably well. He always had it mixed
up twenty-four hours before using it, and put half a bushel of
turnips to a bullock ouce a day, aud with this he mixed up a
certain quantity of chaff and cotton and liuseedcakes. He
was convinced that by giving turnips and dry chaff and corn
it would not go down well, but if it were mixed up liquid with
the dry stuff it would suit very much better. As far as feed-
ing was concerned, whether the animals were fed three or
four times a day, the great thing was to see that they were
fed regularly, and at the proper times, aud to give just the
quantity they would eat. A man would soon see, would soon
find out what they required. As for giving them hay he
thought that was a wrong system. It was not only expensive,
but m his opinion not at all required. The more they cut it
up the better would the animals like it, and he had known
bullocks sometimes get "hoveu" from it. There was one
other thing he should like to speak upon. He had certainly
been never much of a breeder of stock, and could not, there-
fore, say much about it, but when he came into this county he
did not care much for the Sussex stock ; he supposed it was
owing to his not being a Sussex man, but one reason was
because the herd were not all good milkers, and he was
rather inclined to go into dairy stock. It was very profitable
to the farmer to keep stock well, and if they were going to
feed them at all they wanted to do it in such a manner as to
bring a speedy return. He did not agree with Mr. Roper
about the yards being in a primitive state. If he went into
farming again he should like to pay his landlord 5 per cent,
to have his yard covered in entirely; he had seen it carried
out to very great advantage. The stock did not want half so
much to eat. The great thing was to keep them warm, and
they then did not want so much food. Then with regard to
manure, farmers did not think so much of that as they should.
If their yards were open one part higher and the other part
lower the manure was washed by the rams, and could not be
of much good then. Therefore it behoved all landowners, if
tliey would look to their tenants' interests, to make covered
yards for their stock as they could be kept better that way.
Mr. B. Buss : In what way would you recommend the use

of roots? ^ n > i •

Mr. Simpson : I should recommend a Gardner s turnip

cutter.

Mr. Buss : flow would you mis them after cutting

them ?

THE PARMER'S MAGAZINE.

325

Mr. Simpson ; Just the same as pulpiug them ; mix enough
for twenty-four hours.

Mr. NoAKES: Can you state the objection that Suffolk
farmers give to the pulper P

Mr. SiJiPsoN : They could not get the beasts to fatten by
it, and alter trying it for two years they gave it up, and they
have now gone back to the old system.

Mr. W. Delves said he had had no experience in feeding
bullocks with piilpers because he had never tried it, but for
some time he managed a farm where a great deal of stock was
kept witli very little, food comparatively to keep it on. It so
happened that there were a great many horses kept on the best
kind of hay, and a great many fatted bullocks were kept on it
also. A number of dairy cows had to be kept on what they
could get — the tops, bottoms, and sides, and a certain lot of
straw — yet it was important that the dairy covv's should be
well kept, in order to produce good cream and a lot of milk.
In that case he got a pulper from London, and with that tliey
mixed the chaff — they cut up the hay which would otherwise
have been eaten up — and, after making a pretty good mixture
of the straw and the hay, and a sufficient quantity of roots
pulped, that formed sufficient food for the day. At any rate
the cows were remarkably well. They ate it very clean, and
there was no waste. They gave good cream and good milk.
In addition to this he should mention tliat they always allowed
a little oilcake once a day, for he considered that if they would
have good milk and cream that must be done. He quite
agreed with Mr. Simpson that farmers did not think enough
of the manure, but at the same time he (Mr. Delves) was not
such an advocate for covered yards as some of his friends were.
He thouglit one great point in the buildings was that they
should have shoots round them — good rain-water shoots all
round the yards — so that the water would run oft' the building.
[A VoiOE : How about thatched buildings ?] He would cer-
tainly have tlic yards so constructed that no water could get
into them or flow through them, except what came straight
down from tlie sky, and he did not think that would hurt the
manure much. With regard to pulping, if he were going to
farm to-morrow, and had to keep stock artificially (if he might
so express it), he would go into pulping and get a good supply
of roots. So well did these cattle eat to which he had re-
ferred, that he recollected the man who looked after the cows
used to say, " We must find something else, and not begin our
roots yet, because they might not last, and then the cattle
would lose flesh." He, however guarded against this by giv-
ing them an additional allowance of cake. He did not know
whether it was the universal custom, but in the north and in
Lincolnshire and some other parts they highly valued the cake,
which he knew was used very fairly here, and yet he could go
to some farms now in this neighbourhood in which, in tlie
memory of man, they had not used 1 ewt. of oilcake. But he
was told that in the north they so valued it, that the outgoing
tenant only had to produce his bills — if he was a respectable
man — to show the quantity of oilcake be had had, and had
fed on the farm during the outgoing year, and half the amount
was always allowed by the valuer without any question. That
showed the opinion of tlie farmers there as to the benefit of
the oilcake in the duug and the manure.

Mr. Batch ELLER knew very little as to the breeding and
rearing of stock, but he begged to differ from his friend Mr.
Roper as to the growing of roots. Mr. Roper had said that
growing of roots was antagonistic to hop growing. In
liis opinion it was the very thing they wanted for hop growiufj.
Mr. Roper had said that he could not manage the two things
together very well. His opinion was that the two things
wanted working together. Any grower to any extent in this
neighbourhood would go in for roots, and he believed that if
a farmer would grow hops to advantage he must grow roots
also. The root growing paid him better than anything else,
and he believed that if Mr. Roper really tried it he would find
it paid him. It M'as plain enough that the more manure made
on the farm the better would it pay. He had only a Uttle ex-
perience it was true, but he found the more he could produce
on his farm the better it paid, and the less he had to put his
hand in his pocket for cake and artificial food the better. He
recollected in his time fatting twenty without the aid of a
single pound of oilcake or artificial food at all, as he used
nothing but swedes, hay and straw, but he turned out some very
good beasts. Tlie better they farmed their corn land, and the
better they farmed their root land, the better position they were

in with regard to their hops. The fact was that in this neigh-
bourhood, in his opinion at least, they did not farm well enough
for their own advantage, and if they farmed better they might
depend upon it that more money would come back again into
their pockets. There was another gentleman in the room,
whose opinion he should like to hear with regard to the grow-
ing of roots. He referred to Mr. Williams.

Mr. Williams (Wickhnrst) said it was not his intention
to say anything, but, having been challenged by Mr, Batchel-
ler, he might say that he found great difiiculty in growing
hops and roots together. There might be many gentlemen in
a different position to himself, for, unfortunately, he was badly
situated for cottages for his labourers, and having a largish
proportion of hops under cultivation they required a good deal
of attention, and so did roots, and therefore they could not
work both together to advantage. When he first went to his
farm he grew a larger proportion of roots each year, but last
year he attempted it, and got his ground in really beautiful
order and manured it well, but could not get any roots, and
from that time he determined not to sow any more seed. He
did not mean to say that he raiglit not at some future day. He
did not know he could say much witji regard to the fatting of
stock, but there was one thing hemigbt mention. A relative
of his — Mr. Levett,of Glastonbury (Kent) — had told him, and
it struck him as being very beneficial, that he had a large stack
of hay in the spring of the year, and when his rye grass was
ready he cut the straw up with a certain proportion of this
green stuff. He then stacked it in his barn, trod it in, and, if
he (Mr. Williams) remembered rightly, put a certain amount
of salt with it. After allowing it to remain there some time
he gave it to his cattle, and found it very useful. In fact, so
good was the provender that he had a difficulty to keep his
waggoners from it. Mr Levett cut it with an engine and also
steamed the chaff a good deal. He had another farm some
distance off, and there he had some very inferior hay, whilst
on his home farm the hay was of a very superior quality. He
therefore conveyed the inferior hay from the outlying farm to
his home farm, and the superior bay from the home to the out-
lying farm, so that the cattle on the latter farm were fed on
the superior hay. The inferior quality was cut up and steamed
and then given to the cattle on the home farm, and it was
found that these got on much better than those fed on the
superior hay.

Mr. C. Hammond said that if anybody would ensure him a
root crop, he would by all means grow more than he did, but
he found it difficult to get a good crop of roots. It was only
two years out of three that he managed to get a crop.

Mr. Batcaeller : I believe it is done always.

Mr. C. Hammond further said that this year he had got a
crop of turnips, but he had farmed exceedingly well for them
in past years with farm-yard and artificial manure, although he
could not afford the farm-yard manure, because he wanted it
for his hops, and yet he had to plant not once, but twice, and
very often not get a crop at all. He got his laud as ni ce as
anybody could get it, but whether it was poor land or whether
be did not manage it rightly, he could not say. He had
planted a few acres of turnips only, but if anybody would teU
him how to get a good crop be would plant eight or ten acres.
Respecting young stock, he had always found in his experience
that the better they were treated the better beasts would they
become. He always liked to give young stock some food as
soon as they liked to eat it. For instance, he would give a
small quantity of oil- cake, and when they liked it, a bigger
piece. He found that it was in their young days that they re-
quired most attention. With regard to Sussex stock he must
say they were superior to any stock he ever had. He knew
one or two of his friends who advised him to part with them,
and he gsve it out that he was going to do so, but no sooner
had he done this than he had four or five applications for them,
offering good sums, so he thought that if the beasts were so
much to the applicants they were to him, and he declined to
sell them, being glad ever since that he had not done so. He
liked to go into the yard and see them improving from day to
day, but with the Shorthorns and other animals he never could
see that they improved very much. As to the decline of the
Sussex stock he attributed it a good deal to the past unreason-
able orders in council which necessitated a long period of time
to elapse before the bullocks could be removed.

Mr. Williams said he was very glad to be in a position
to give Mr. Hammond a wrinkle, Mr, Hammond had said

2 2

326

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

lie should ccihiiuly go iuto tlie root-growing more if he could
be secured a crop. He supposed Mr. Hammond meant if the
plant could Ije kept from tlie flea. lie had been assured and
had indeed found out by experience it would meet the case to
a certain extent by sowing a larger quantity of seed. Instead
of sowing a quart to an acre, let tliera sow a gallon.

Mr. Hammond -. Why, I have sown two gallons.

Mr. W. Delves : Then sow three.

Mr. Hammond : I have drilled a gallon, and I have sown
a gallon broadcast and then lost it.

Mr. Williams : Perhaps it was not good seed.

Mr. Hammond : Oh yes it was ; it came up all right.

Mr. Williams : Well, it strikes me that that is the best
plan.

Mr. Simpson : Have you tried mangolds ?

Mr. Hammond : Yes,

Mr. Langridge: Have you tried the water-drill?

Mr. Hammond -. No.

Mr. Langridge : A gentleman told me he never missed a
crop, and he always drilled the seed in witli water. I saw
that he had a wonderfully good crop, and he told me it was
always so.

Mr. W. Delves : And this shows the contrast. Now I re-
collect a gentleman who never missed a turnip crop, and he
would always have his seed sown so thin tliat he always did it
on horseback, and only put a pint to an acre.

Mr. J. Delves (Tunbridge Wells) thought the remarks
Mr. Hammond had made as to the rearing of young stock
were well deserving of attention. There were no doubt many
who were not quite avrare of the immense loss of weight in
meat. That was the result of the inattention to the young
stock. As an instance of that he could tell them of a gentle-
man in Hampshire who had produced nearly, if not quite,
eleven stone of mutton in less than twelve months entirely
upon the principle of early feeding and good feeding, with
good management of his young stock, lie (Mr. Delves)
therefore thought that, if the farmers fully knew the value of
what butchers called the first flesh, which was lost by keeping
the animal in a bad state, and not only so, but never regained,
they would feed their young stock well. Tiie loss of weight in
an animal was almost double what they might suppose, and he
maintained this much — that if stock were kept in a better way
when young this country would produce with the same num-
ber of head of cattle double the weight of meat we now an-
nually produced.

Mr. E.OPER inquired whether it had occurred to any agricul-
turist the scourging character of the root crops on their soils.
In his experience a good crop of mangods would perish tlie
soil, and leave the bind so impoverished that the future crop
on it would be very unremuuerative.

Mr. Fuller (Wolverhampton) said witli regard to the
feeding of stock, it depended very niucli upon tlie locality in
which the stock was kept, and it was well to remember that
the atmosphere must be congenial with the process of fat-
tening. He knew one large breeder of stock who always kept
a thermometer in the building, so that tliere might be a cer-
tain degree of heat. He opened the ventilators if it was too
hot; if it was too cold, he shut them. As to the farmyard
manure, he was convinced that in this country agriculturists
could not do without it, as an ilUustration of which he
pointed to the Ayrshire cattle, which would be useless on
English farms.

Mr. Buss said he should like to hear the question of feeding
even more discussed. It was his lot to have two separate
plans of cattle-leeding. The one was superintended by a very
observant man, and under him the cattle tlirived very well.
At first this man mixed his roots and chaff together, but ex-
perience showed him that was not the riglit principle, so now
he cut a i^ood lot of hay and straw, sulhcient for two or three
days. This he spread over the floor, and over it again a quan-
tity of pulped roots. This obviated the heating. As the
roots went down he mixed it up still more by adding more
roots and chaff, and so kept it on continually. The other man
was constantly feeding his cattle — thrae or four times a day —
and yet they always thrived. As to root-growing, he (Mr.
Buss) did not think the county was suitable" for it, but if they
would grow hops well they must also grow a lot of roots.
What they wanted to do was to grow roots against adverse
seasons, if they could, and so to keep the stock that a good
deal of farmyarc manure would be made for the hops, He

was sure of this — that, to command succcas in hops, they
must produce a large quantity of this manure. Mr. Buss con-
cluded by proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. lloper for his
interesting paper.

Mr. Acton Burrows expressed his dissent from Mr.
Fuller's remarks respecting farmers not being able to do with-
out farmyard manure, for the Manager of a London Manure
Company gave him the name of a gentleman at Tunbridge,
worth £60,000 or 70,000, and who had never used any farm-
yard manure or kept a head of stock on the place.

Mr. Fuller said he quite believed that, and could bring
other instances, but they might depend upon it locality had a
great deal to do with it. He had made inquiries respecting
soils in this neighbourhood, and was certain they could not get
on here without farm-yard manure, although he was quite
aware that isolated crops might be grown without it. He be-
lieved it would be a sorry day for England when farmers gave
up using their farmyard manure. He most strongly recom-
mended the steaming of hay, for it was wonderful what steam
would do. As regarded pulpers, he fully believed in their
utility, and could cite many instances in which farmers would
not give up their pulpers for anything whatever.

A vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the proceedings.

THE CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF HOPS.

Mr. John Noakes, of the Furnace Farm, Lamberhurst, read
a paper on this subject at the last meeting. Mr. Noakes, who
is president of the Club, is well known as one of the most
successful hop growers.

Mr. Noakes said : My paper, so to express it, you will find
is not a scientific one ; it is founded upon practical experience
and observation. The subject. The Cultivation and Manage-
ment of Hops, offers a wide field for discussion, and I will
therefore endeavour to give my ideas in as few words as
possible, in order that members probably more experienced
than myself should have an opportunity of taking part in that
discussion. I have read with much pleasure, in the Journal
of the Royal Agricultural Society, Mr. Charles VVhitehead's
essay upon the recent improvements in the cultivation and
management of hops. It is not my intention to criticise that
essay. It is doubtlessly ably written, with evident scientific
as well as practical knowledge of the subject, but the writer's
remarks generally, in my opinion, apply more particularly to
Mid Kent. For instance, speaking of the preparation for-
merly made for the planting, he says " Pasture land was usually
preferred, for some unknown reason." I have no doubt there
are many practical planters in this room who would only be
too pleased to have an old pasture with suitable soil and situ-
ation to break up in preference to arable land, well knowing
that when the hops are planted the laud is much easier to
cultivate ; that more abundant crops are obtainable, that less
manureisrtquired, and that if better quality is not ensured,
" coloury" samples (which are equally if not more desirable to
have) are. Without further preface I shall commence with the
preparation of the laud for planting, and will take meadow or
pasture, commonly called fresh land, and the ordinary arable
separately. The first step, and which I consider im-
portant, is to get the land as bare- of herbage as pos-
sible, and to do this I would recommend crowding on a
number of sheep, to be trough-fed, two or three weeks before
the breaking up of the land. By so doing the turf is much
easier buried, and the land is made solid and firm much sooner
than when a quantity of old grass is ploughed in. I prefer to
plough two furrows when tlie subsoil is loamy or broken than
doing it in one operation. The first furrow I have very fleet
— less than three inclies if possiljle— the horses to walk in
the furrow, on the sod when ploughing the second, which
ought to be not less than from eight to nine inches, making
in all nearly twelve inches, which is better than a greater
deptii. If the subsoil is clayey or retentive it is better to
plough one furrow only from nine to ten inches deep, the horses
of course walking on the surface. Arable land should be
ploughed deeper than ordinary ploughing and subsoiled. For
this purpose fine, dry weather should be chosen, in order that
the horses may walk on the surface. The subsoiling may be
done with the ordinary plough without the wrist plough, but
Reed's subsoil plough is preferable. Sufficient care is not

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327

taken when iilaiitiiig hops, and it often occasions nuicli delay.
It is too frequently left until the busy season of digging and
dressing, when the operation is hurried, and consequently often
very badly done. About the middle of February, should the
weather permit, is the best time for plantiug; tlie frost after
that time is not so likely to draw the seeds as when planted in
November (a time some prefer), and there is sufficient time for
the soil to close well round the roots before the earth gets dry
in the spring. Care should also be taken to provide a mixture
of dung and mould to plant in, either on pasture or arable.
The proper distance for planting will vary according to
sort, soil, and situation. I prefer generally 6 feet 6 in., but
on uplands, rather exposed, where Jones's are intended to
be planted and short poles used, 6ft. or Oft. 3iu. is a preferable
distance. Three poles to the hill, Gft. 6in. plant, which will
give 3,090 poles to tiie acre, will grow more hops, in my
opinion, than 6ft. plant with two poles to the hill, 2,420 to
the acre. The wide plant also has its advantages in the ex-
pense of tying, cultivation, &c. I much prefer bedded to cut
sets, either for pasture or arable laud ; they are more likely to
form a strong hill sooner tl.an cut. Two sets are suflioient
for a hill, aud are belter thau more, if they are strong and
well-rooted. Many planters cut nearly all the roots off — in
fact, reduce them almost to a cut set. I do not approve of
this plan ; I niucli prefer to plant the set nearly as it is taken
up, only tipping the coarse roots, and taking off those that
are bruised. Neitlier is sufficient care taken generally to get
sets true of their kind and from a distance. I would rather
buy sets at a good price far from home thau have those grown
near given to rae. It is no doubt equally as important as a
change of com for seed. Many planters grow turnips, man-
gold wurzel, or potatoes amongst their young hops, aud I have
seen cabbage and kohl rabi. I think it is wrong to do so,
aud the old maxim " penny wise and pound foolish" applies
well to this practice.. I consider anything of the kind 1 liave
mentioned planted amongst young hops, besides taking much
out of the land, rather encourages grub, wire-worm, &c., and
hinders cultivation. It is much better to cultivate well, and
set traps of slices of mangold wurzel to the hills to catch
wire-worm, &c. — to have these constantly attended to, and so
thoroughly destroy the vermin entrapped. On meadow land
not well drained, I should advise its being done after the
sticks are set, and previous to planting. On arable land it
should be done in the autumn or winter, after the planting.
Il is most important that the land should be thoroughly aud
deeply drained. The greater portion of my hop land is
drained 5ft. deep. Where the soil would not permit of that
depth, it is 4ft., and none less. I take it as a rule, land that
will not bear deep drainage is not hop land at all. Since
the introduction of ploughing, planters are more
independent of casual labour, which was often bad in
quality and expensive. Although I plough a little occasionally,
and that only in fine weather, when the land will bear the
horses, I much prefer digging. The saving by ploughing is
Tcry trilling, if any, when we consider the cost of dieging,
which, on an average, is about 20s. per acre. I think it
wrong to dig young hops the first winter after planting, until
after they are poled. I have seen considerable injury done by
digging too closely to the hills, and many sets and even hills
dug up entirely. It is best to get the poles stocked and the
manure carted early on the young ground. At the beginning
of March or before, if the weather is favourable, the dead bine
should be cut off and the hill cleared of all weeds. About the
third week in March the polling should commence, and the
digging immediately follow. Tlie dipping or creosoting of
hop-poles has caused a great change in our system of poling.
Large lift, poles are no louger necessary, except in a very few
instances. Moderate-sized well-cut 13fts. are found to be
suincieut for Colegates and Goldings. Jones's, instead of
taking the refuse from other grounds of very uneven length,
varying from 7lt. to about 12ft., are now poled with nearly
the same degree of uniformity as other kinds. Greater care is
now required in arranging the poles to the ground than for-
merly. It is now easy to over pole, which I have seen fre-
quently done, inucli to the injury of the planter ; but under
the old system the sharpening down would generally obviate
that danger. Many growers dip their poles without being
scraped. I do not approve of the plan, as tlie bark must
hinder to a great extent the creosote entering the pole. It is
very doubtful economy, as the cost for scraping — threepence

per hundred for small bundles, and fourpencc for large — is
very trifling. It is very important to have the polling done
well ; whether the work is well done or indifferently doue the
ditference is of considerable weight per acre. It is often the
practice to crowd the poles too near the hill, in which case
after they are put up they are in too slanting a direction, the
tips of the poles get together as the weight of the bine aud
hops increase, to the injury of the crop and sample. Poles
should be set firmly in the ground, nearly upright, and the
width of plant and length of pole should regulate the distance
apart at the bottom, so that the tojjs arc an equal distance
apart. It is clear by polling upon this plan every pole
gets equal benefit from sun and air, which they do not
when netted together and housed, as they frequently are.
Dipping gives us the opportunity of early polling,
which I consider a great advantage. IVost is not
so likely to injure tlie young bines, and the best
bines are not bruised and broken as they often are when
poled late. All planted hops should have short poles to
them : they root much stronger than if allowed to run the
ground or twisted up, as was the practice formerly. The new
modes of training hops I am not in favour of. Tiie string
system is being gradually discontinued, and Coley's inclined
system (an improvement upon the string) 1 do not tliiuk will
come into general use. I need not dwell upon the cultivation
after poling, but simply remark I am not an advocate for
deep nidgeting until after the first week in July ; after that
to nidget with one-horse shallow, and frequently. I approve
of the plan of striking and raking off before picking, because
the land is firmer after picking, aud resists the heavy rains
of winter — in fact, is altogether in a better state than when
autumn striking is resorted to. Manures should be put ge-
nerally all over the ground, except in a few instances, such as
wnak plants, or when liops from some cau^e require an imme-
diate stimulant. In that case rapedust or some kind of arti-
ficial manure may be chopped in around the hill to advantage,
but I would not advise its being put too close. The last
season has been a most anxious one for the growers — at one
time t'lreatened with almost total blight, then a ray of hope
that we should grow a few. Those who resorted to syringing
were equally dismayed. The blight was so tenacious that tiie
operation was obliged to be repeated over and over again,
without apparently any good effect. At last, however, perse-
verance was rewarded, and syringing prevailed. In the
meantime, it will be remembered, great atmospheric changes
took place — tlie wind veered from the east to south, and then
to west. Favoured with warm showers, the hops, not washed
even, and not irretrievably gone, responded in a marvellous
and almost unprecedented manner. The district is certainly
favoured, whether syringed or not ; and growers can congra-
tulate each otlier alike and singularly enough, though we
have experienced another blight, the advantages of syringing
are much doubted, and still remain subject for much discus-
sion. It is a fortunate circumstance that those who
syringed are satisfied, and tliose who did not are satisfied
also. I can confidently tell any one who may syringo
in future that soft soap is all that is required, and thai
tobacco and other ingredients are an unnecessary expense.
Mould is now very prevalent in the Weald of Kent, much
worse than formerly, and it is to be attributed to various
causes — firstly, to the introduction of new sorts ; secondly,
planting on land with too shallow soil, and using artificial
manure almost entirely ; and thirdly, planting kinds not
adapted for the soil. The free use of sulphur is generally a
remedy, but there are instances where it has had but little
effect. My plan is to use about 501bs. of sulphur per acre on
the first appearance of mould, and to continue at intervals of
about a week until the bur is breaking into hops. By adopting
this plan, I have never had mould to do me injury. Other
forms of blight I am happily not acquainted with, excepting red
spider or rust, which I am not much troubled witli. If I should
have it to any extent I should use sulphur, as I understand, if
taken in time, it is generally effectual. It is important so to
arrange our plantations as to have a succession of sorts judi-
ciously selected and suHicieut oast accommodation to enable us
to secure the whole growth with colour aud in good condition.
More oast room is required now than formerly, wiien good
ripe yellow and rather brown hops were esteemed, but now
are very unsaleable. Too early picking is no doubt wrong,
although occasionally we may get a coloury choice sample,

?28

THE FAPvMER'S MAGAZINE.

but the loss in weight, injury to the stock, and other draw-
backs are incalculable. The drying or management of hops
is perhaps more important than any part of the cultivation.
Formerly, very poor accommodation was given for drying.
With the hair but a few feet fronr the fire, a very sliort rafter,
with very little air admitted, the hops were liaked rather than
dried. Although great improvement has taken place during
the last few years in the picking and management, more kiln
room is generally required to secure the crop in the best pos-
sible condition, and also to prevent excessive overloading, so
injurious to tlie sample and the great disadvantage of the
grower. There is a great difference of opinion as to whether
the old cookie principle or open fires are best. I am of opi-
nion cockles are best suited to the Weald of Kent. Less skill
is required in drying ; they are more economical in fuel, and,
if not superior, a softer and equally good sample may be pro-
duced, without tlie danger of scalding or burning there is with
the open fire. The plan I adopt, and which I think the best,

is to load moderately, not to hurry the drying, but to keep the
hops on the hair nearly twelve hours ; not to turn them unless
quite necessary, nor take them off before they are dried quite
sufficiently, but lump them in the cooling-room, well cover
them with cloths, and allow them to remain until the next
casting is ready to come olf. They are then uncovered, and,
siiould there be any tough on the outside of the lump, they
are raked off and put back on the kiln to come off with the
next load. The lump is then removed for treading. I have
pursued this plan for the last ten years, and during that time
have not had a single pocket objected to or rejected on
account of mismanagement. Some years — this, for instance
— there being an exceedingly good growth, both for colour
and quality, the presser has the advantage, but generally I
am in favour of the old plan of treading. I have now, gentle-
men, waded througli the different stages connected with the
cultivation and management ot hops, and, unless I was to go
minutely into detail, 1 have notliing more to add.

THE MALT TAX.
ESSEX CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.

The following is a full report of the recent meeting at
Colchester :

Mr. J. RotrivD, M.P., the new president, said the subject
for discussion to-day is not a new one. It is the subject of
the tax that is levied upon barley when it is has been con-
verted into malt. It is a tax, as you kuow, wbich yields
seven millions of pounds annually to the national exchequer.
This is the time when the Chancellor of the Exchequer makes
his annual statement to the country — when he either has to
put new taxes on, if tliere is a deficiency, or to perform the
more pleasant duty of taking off existing ones if there happens
to be a surplus. I believe I am right in saying that this year
there is no doubt there will be a surplus. I have heard it
stated that it will be as much as five or six millions — whether
that really is so of course I do not kuow — and therefore this
is the time (now or never) when those who believe that a tax
presses unfairly upon any particular class must bring their
claims forward, and put every legitimate pressure upon those
who are in authority to consider their case. A great deal of
the imperial taxation has been repealed during the last
twenty years. Something like 20 millions has been repealed,
I believe, during the last ten years, and though those connected
with the agricultural interest have of course generally bene-
fitted by the repeal of tbat taxation, still they have not had
the particular and direct benefit that other classes have had.
And, more than that, while imperial taxation has been re-
pealed, local taxation has during the last twenty years very
much increased, and that taxation has fallen, we know, en-
tirely on the owners and occupiers of land and houses. So that
tlie occupiers of laud and houses liave not merely seen exist-
ting burdens taken off other classes, but they had to stand by
and see fresh burdens continually imposed upon themselves.
I won't enter into the subject myself now, bocause Mr.
Gardiner has kindly promised to introduce the subject, and
will do so, I have no doubt, most ably. I would merely refer
to the report of the Select Committee of the House of Com-
mons which sat to consider this subject in 1867-68, and would
remind you that they came to the conclusion that this tax
might fairly be repealed if some substitute could be found for
it. I need not also remind you that many eminent statesmen
of both parties have declared their opinion that this tax was
an unjust one, and that it ought if possible to be repealed. I
am sure that all those who have read the evidence that was
brought forward at that Select Committee will have no doubt
that this tax presses heavily both on the producer and the
consumer. If, as Mr. Read states— and I have no doubt it is
the case — every acre of malting barley has to pay £5 or £6
tax, surely that must be very hard upon the person who has to
grow that barley, and if some 50 millions of bushels of malt
pay a tax every year of 2s. 8jd. on each bushel, surely that
must increase the price of beer to a very great extent.
Mr. J. S, Gardiner, of Borley, read the following paper:

I assure you I approach this subject with great diffidence,
fearing I may not be able to do justice to the cause I advo-
cate, viz., the repeal of or the commutation of the Malt-tax.
I am sure there are many gentlemen connected with this
Chamber far better qualified than I can ever hope to be to
handle this question in a way to make an impression upon
those who differ from us at this meeting, also the public
generally, and thereby assist in removing this tax, which is
the foundation of two of tlie largest monopolies now in exist-
ence ; but having undertaken the task I will, with your kind
forbearance, endeavour from my own point of view to open
up the whole question for your discussion and decision, it
being my intention to submit a resolution for your approval.
It is to be borne in mind that this tax began life in 1697, at
6d. per bushel, as a war tax, and, like the income-tax, with
the understanding that as soon as the war was over the tax
should cease ; but like other promises of the Government,
then and since, the promises were hke pie-crust, made to be
broken. The tax has had a long life, varying in amount from
6d. to is. 5fd. per bushel, according to requirements and the
subtle mind of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had the
duty to perform of hoodwinking and gulling the public, to the
disgust of our forefathers, who grumbled and bore, as farmers
cau according to our critics. When they growled louder tiian
common something was taken off, and when they were a little
more content, war wants cropping up, on the percentages
went again, until it reached our time. As our fathers did so
do we now, but this giant tax still exists ; during the Crimean
war at 4s. per bushel, now at 2s. Sjd., producing the gigantic
sura of nearly seven millions per annum, the measure of its
iniquity — raised from the rawmaterial barley, principally pro-
duced by a few English counties, as I shall be able to show
before I sit down. I have been engaged in this agitation over
37 years, following the lead of the representative men of our
class located in every district. I have attended with them
three deputations to Chancellors of the Exchequer— twice to
Mr. Gladstone and once to Mr. Lowe, who never attempted
to meet the argument, but blandly smiling, sliding off with
" Well, it is a very difficult question to treat with, and we
would if we could, but, hem, ha, we don't know how to spare
the money." You see, gentlemen, we were not cotton, tea,
or sugar men. We have suggested ways and means, but the
gentlemen in office had always some pet bantling to dangle
before the commercial and manufacturing interest, and frittered
away the chance of doing an act of justice to tlie agricultural
class, as witness the reduction of the tea and sugar duties, and
the repeal of the shilling duty on corn. Moreover, be it re-
membered, that when Sir Robert Peel carried the repeal of
the corn laws, it was an understood thing with tlie leading
statesmen that the Malt-tax should be given up as compensa-
tion to the farmers for the loss of protection ; but 1 regret to
say the great majority of the farmers of that time were too

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329

blinded by passioa and tbe hope of recovering protection to
see the advantage of this great opportunity, with the exception
of Charles Lattimore and a few otlier leading farmers. In
ISJ-G Lord John Russell said, " If I were Prime Minister
when protection to agriculture was abolished the first tax I
would repeal would be the Malt-tax." Mr. Cobden said,
" We syrapathibij with the farmers. We will never tolerate
one shilling duty on corn, but we will co-operate with them
in getting rid of the malt-duty ; we owe the farmers some-
tliing, and we will endeavour to repay them in kind." Again
in 1861 he said, " It has often occurred to me to compare tlie
case of a British agriculturist who, after raising a bushel of
barley, is compelled to pay a tax of 60 per cent, before he is
permitted to convert it into a beverage for his own consump-
tion, with what I have seen in foreign countries, and I can
really call to mind nothing so hard and so unreasonable. I
am quite sure that the cultivators of vineyards and the growers
of olives in France and Italy would never tolerate such treat-
ment of their wine and oil. I could multiply quotations, but
sufficient for us to know is that those wlio stumped the country
then, viz., Messrs. Cobden, Bright, and Cbarles Lattiraore
(two cotton men and one farmer, when a friie trade farnur
was a novelty and a lever in the cause), liad a perfect under-
standing upon this point, and could and would have carried it ;
hut, alas, we let the game pass, and have had no chance of
repeal since, although Messrs. Gladstone aud Lowe, as Chan-
cellors of the Exchequer, have shifted millions of taxation
without detriment to the income of the country, and could as
easily liave shifted the Malt-tax had they been so disposed,
aye, aud would, let the consequence have been what it might.
Had the tax been upon the raw articles of cotton or wool we
know from experience it would have been knocked off at
once, and I do say, whether the Conservatives or the
Liberals are in oihce, they have always been lukewarm
aud indisposed to do justice to the agricultural interest
by repealing this tax. If it is a good tbiug and a good
system tbere is as much reason why a similar tax should be
extended to all kinds of grain, or, in fact, to all raw material,
as well as barley ; and, further, there is as much reason why
other persons, obtaining a living by. the manufacture of other
raw material, should pay as heavy a duty, and take out a
licence for so doing, as do those who are engaged in the malt
and beer trade, and the creation also of other huge monopo-
lies ; but, of course, they vt'ould declare this to be against the
spirit of the age. Then why, let me ask, should not we also
benefit by the spirit of the age, and have a free system, and no
favour ? It is difficult to say anything new upon this question,
for the arguments have been so often repeated as to become
admittedly an established fact, so that with our opponents it
resolves itself into a question of expediency ; hut shoidd I
repeat what otliers, or wliat I may have said on previous occa-
sions, I hope it will be received with indulgence by tliose pre-
sent. Here let me remark what is right cannot be too often
repeated. Erom Government returns I have in my possession,
it is shown that the pressure of the tax falls principally upon
the sixteen counties of Beds, Berks, Cambs, Cornwall, Essex,
Hants, Herts, Lincoln, Norfolk, Northampton, Notts, Oxford,
Salop, Wilts, Yorkshire, and Suffolk, they growing 1,353,911
acres of barley — the remaining twenty-four counties, 609,833
— or 7'ii,078 acres more than the twenty-four counties, and
more tlian tbe twenty-four counties and Wales, Scotland, Ire-
land, Isle of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey combined by 84,970
acres. Again, the five eastern counties of Essex, Suffolk,
Norfolk, Cambs, and Lincoln grow more barley by li9,813
acres than Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, and
Guernsey combined — hence it will be easily understood why
we eastern men are Malt-tax repealers, and shows undeniably
upon whose siioulders the bulk of the burden rests, and that
those wlio feel it so little are content to have it so. The pres-
sure of the tax upon the producer ranges from £5 to £6 per
acre, or from 55 to 70 per cent., according to tbe price of
barley. This tax also disarranges and interferes with the
proper rotation of crops, by inducing farmers to grow more
acres of other grain and less of barley — i.e., sowing wheat or
oats in the barley shift ; whereas, if liberty was given to use
his barley as he pleases, a much greater demand would spring
up for barley of all sorts and quality, which would be more
extensively cultivated, less exhaustive to the soil, and more
profitable tlian any other crop. I may be met with the plea
of " Let well alone ; we make a good price of our barleys —

now, be content ; what more do you want ?" Well, I want
the natural price, be it more or less. I want to use it in the
way I think best, without restriction. We do know mathe-
matically that when the duty is taken off any raw article the
demand for that article directly increases, a larger consump-
tion takes place, aud higher prices arc given. Can barley be
the exception ? No. Our export of ales would and must
vastly increase — in fact, there is no rcasen why the manufac-
ture of ales should not rival in exports that of any other
manufacturing business in the kingdom. Those who have
tried the export trade on the small scale know something of
the vexatious bother and trouble they are put to in obtaining
the drawback, becoming as it were suspected individuals and
dealers in contraband, repugnant to an honest mind. But for
this tax, I see no reason why the best barleys should not
equal the price of wheat. The third-rate and inferior barley
would go for making into cattle-malt, at the cost of about £8
to £8 lOs. per ton. The duty upon the ton of barley is about
£6. Here let it be understood that malt prepared for feeding
cattle would not suit the brewer, nor is the malt prepared for
the brewer adapted so well for the purpose of feeding cattle,
tlie one being placed on the kiln at the comniGucement of ger-
mination, the other after germination has progressed far
enough to satisfy the requirements of the brewer, the coombs
from which command a price which shows a high appreciation
of its feeding value. How much more valuable must the malt
itself be if the germination be arrested at tlie proper time, or,
in other words, cooked on the kiln at the time when it con-
tained the largest amount of flesh-forming matter, as proved
by Dr. Voelcker's analysis. It is true, Mr. Gladstone tried to
meet us in this view by the introduction of his famous malt
and linseed mixture bill, but, unlike his claret, it never went
down, the process being so complicated, expensive, and open
to fraud, as to make it the dearest stuff out. To our cost,
unfortunately, we know something of mixed foods, and rather
prefer tbe mixing it ourselves. I do not hesitate to say that
if we could malt our corn to suit our purposes we should not
only find it the best but the cheapest stuff to mix with our
roots for feeding cattle. The foreigner can use it now free of
tax, aud send his cheap meat liere. It is to be also remem-
bered that the barley crop is one of our most expensive crops
to produce, costing from £9 to £10 per acre, after which we
claim as a right, and ought to have it, the doing as we please
with our barleys in these days of open competition. Nor do
I see wiiy farmers and those interested in the malting and beer
trade should not have the same right to do the best they can
with their produce, raw or manufactured, as the manufacturer,
trader, miller, and those interested in tlie flour and bread
trade, or any other unfettered article. If it is right for one
class of persons to be so fettered, and to take out a licence to
do this, that, or the other, so ought other persons to do the
same. If licensing is the best way to raise a revenue, then
let all persons who traffic or trade take out a licence to follow
his calling, aud no one ought to complain. Gentlemen, as
certain as I see you here, so certain am I that the repeal of
this tax would stimulate the farmers to invest more capital in
the soil, through them increasing the demand for labour, by
which demand alone will higher wages ever be paid aud sus-
tained. The general consumer of beer has as much to com-
plain of — and probably more— than the producer, for are not
his digestive organs alarmingly practised upon by the adul-
terated compounds lie drinks ? creating thirst, and an in-
creasing desire to quench it, which are so often found sold by
retailers in the name of beer, made- temptingly profitable by
the heavy percentages, as shown by Mr. Joshua Eielding, M.P.,
ranging as it does from 70 to 140 per cent, on the raw article
barley, which has not been controverted by official logic. But
for this tax malt would be the cheapest article to make ale
from — hence adulteration and its attendant evils would dis-
appear. It must be clear to every one that as the maltster in
the first instance pays from 60 to 70 per cent, duty upon the
raw article barley, to recoup this amount he charges the same
interest to the brewer, who also, to recoup the same for him-
self, charges on, with the additional charges and interest
added, to the retailer, who, in his turn, repeats the same mode
and charges on to the consumer, until it reaches over 100 per
cent., and in a glass of ale we get at the counter, 140 per cent.
Added to this, the system creates and fosters, as I have before
said, a huge monopoly, which is gradually eating up small
maltsters, small brewers, and destroying the good old English

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practice of domebtic brewing, which m my opiuion is the ouly
way of securing pure ale. Hence I say, away with the tax.
Let the wliole trade be thrown open as free as the air we
breathe, and tlie good old custom- of douiestx brewing will
revive, and the cottager again have his cask of ale iu his
house, at the cost oi Gd. per gallon. Here I am, I fear,
treading on tender ground, according to the opinions of our
friends tlie total abstinence believers, who will probably urge
what I have many times heard thera, viz., that if ale was
cheap the vice of getting drunk would increase. I believe,
oil the other hand, it would be its cure— like the boy in the
grocer's shop, who soon gets sick of eating plums, having an
unlimited supply before him ; so will it be with those who
can afford to keep ale in their houses. We kno.v, by ex-
perience, the man who does so gets not tipsy on ale, neither
would the labourer if he had the same chance, to which I can
bear witness as an employer of labour, and my father before
me, having been accustomed to see our men brew their sack of
malt for harvest beer weeks before the time, keeping it sacred
(or use in use iu harvest — thus proving that temptation can
be resisted even with a cask or two of ale in their houses. I
have men, I am pleased to say, who are seldom without, and
do vouch that I have never seen one of them drunk. Hence,
I look upon it as a libel on the true agricultural labourer to
say that if they had this right placed iu their way they would
make au improper use of it. Some people think and say it is
not necessary lor labourers to drink malt liquor at all, and
that they would do their work better without it. Well, it
may be so, but the labourer does not agree with their opinions.
I am sure if I had such persons in my draining field, and
bound them to de their proper quantum of work, they would
soon alter their notions and agree with the labourer and Pro-
fessor Johnston, who says, in " Chemistry of Common Life :"
" Beer is food as well as drink. A little beef eateu with it
makes up the deficiency in gluten, as compared with milk ; so
that beef, beer, and bread, our characteristie English diet, are
most philosophically put together at once to strengthen, to
sustain, and to stimulate the bodily powers." Providence has
supplied us with this and all other earthly blessings necessary
for our use, not abuse, and I cannot bring my mind to con-
template the objections frequently made without thinking it
presumptuous professedly assuming to ourselves the position of
judges as to tlie usefulness of these gilts of nature and of God.
Were I to get up in any public room and urge the application
of the excise laws to the millers, bakers, and those in the
flour trade, to the butcliers and dealers in cattle, I should be
considered a fit and proper person by all my hearers to be
placed in a lunatic asylum, and right too. Well, what must
be thought of those who help to continue this oppressive and
vexatious interference with us? I won't say they are fit, but
that they are not fit for such a place, and yet people would say
so if the proposition was a new thing. So much are we the
creatures of custom and habit that we submit to this huge in-
fliction, to make our sacrifice, like our sheep, yielding up our
fleece, year after year, advised to be content, to bear it
patiently, and that it is all for our good. 1 have shown that
the bulk of the nearly seven million tax, and its pressure,
falls upon and is felt most unfairly by the producers of barley
in the sixteen counties of England as against the other twenty-
four counties, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man, and the
Channel Islands combined ; also the pressure upon the indi-
vidual producers and its indirect evils; also upon the con-
sumer, the muscular labourer being tlie largest; how it leads
to and makes adulteration profitable, tending to vicious habits
— we point out the remedy for all this. It is not to the past
or to the present we have so much to look at, but to the future.
Shall this evil continue ? shall it be allowed to grow larger
aud larger ? shall it remain as the last remnant of a fiscal
policy declared to be bad by our financial legislation of the
past twenty years, utterly at variance with the free-trade prin-
ciple, which practically gives the right to buy in the cheapest,
and sell in the dearest, markets, without let or hiudranee, the
establisljed axiom of the time P I say, no. The time is
coming for justice to be done, not expediency. The Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer can do it if he wills. With a surplus
of three millions in iiis hands, he is iu a position to introduce
and carry reform to our excise system, and, by a righteous act
earn the lasting gratitude of the millions who have to labour
by the strength of muscle and live by the sweat of the brow.
Mr. Gardiner concluded by reading some extracts from a report

of the select committee, and by moving the loliowiiig reso-
lution : "That, in the opiuion of this meeting, the Malt- tax
is an impolitic imposition which ought to be repealed or com-
muted in a way which shall not be unfair or injurious to any
of her Majesty's subjects."

Mr. A. Johnston, I\I.P., said : I have very great pleasure
iu seconding that rt^solution. I did not know till the moment
it was read what it was going to be, and it might very likely
have been such a resolution as I could not have seconded, but
I am sure there is nothing in it which will not meet with the
general approval of all those who may be classed as Malt-tax
repealers. Of course, in seconding the resolution, I am not
going to follow Mr. Gardiner iu all the details he has given us
on the sabjeet throughout his able paper. I will just put the
question briefly in this way : Why do we want it? How do we
want it ? and When do we want it ? As to why do we want it,
perhaps it is superfluous, being as a rule Malt-tax repealers, to
go into that point here, but it may be said that we want it on
behalf of the farmers, that we want it on behalf of the labourers,
and that we want it on behalf, which is stronger than all — of
the general pubhc. We want it on behalf of the farmers because
the present arrangement of the Malt-tax falls much more
heavily on those who grow inferior barley than on those who
grow the best kinds, and that seems to me a most unfair and
improvident taxation. It is well known that we are not sup-
ported by the agricultural interest in this movement so unani-
mously as we might be, because the growers of good barley to
a great extent, I am informed, think, rightly or wrongly, that
the abolition of the Malt- tax would be a very questiable bene-
fit to them. Of course they have perfect right to their own
opinion, but a tax which, as Coleridire said the Devil did when
he visited the earth — a tax which takes from the poor and
gives to the rich is a tax cliat cannot be supported, I thipk, by
a fair-minded man. Well, so much for its injury in that way
upon the farmers ; but what seems to me the hardest thing of
all, though perhaps it may not be so important as the other, is
that matter of feeding cattle. It seems to me that our de-
scendants will hardly believe their eyes when they read in his-
tory that a tax was imposed which amounted to an absolute
prohibition on a large class of manufacturers — for that is what
the farmers really are — from using the produce of their own
land to feed their own beasts in their own way. Just conceive
what would be thought of it in any other manufacture. If you
went into a cotton mill or into an iron foundry and said, " You
shall do this and you shall do that — you may use this kind of
iron when it is iu that stage of manufacture, but you must not
use it when it is in the next stage of manufacture" — how long
would a thing of that kind be tolerated? AVould it be tolerated
for one moment ? Well, this matter has advanced one stage
since the last occasion on which it was discussed by this Cham-
ber in my presence — I believe it has been once discussed in my
absence. The occasion when I was present was at Saffron Wal-
den, and we then passed a resolution, which I have just been
looking at in the report for the year 1S70, to the effect that it
was very important that farmers should be allowed to germi-
nate their grain for feeding their own animals. Well, we
have got that — it is now, I believe, under certain restrictions,
allowed ; but, as Mr. Gardiner has told you, the mere germi-
nation of the grain is not all ; it requires arresting at a cer-
tain stage, and until we get leave to use that freely aud without
let or hindrance, we don't obviate that great grievance to the
far mers. Well.then, as regards the labourers. It strikes me,
and it always has struck me, that this is one of those things
that would go to the root of the great desire which all right-
minded people have to make the labouring classes of the country
sober, keepers at home, and disposed to make the best use'of their
opportunities for the good of their families and for the good of
society. It is well known that they have a strong leaning
towards brewing at home. They find that while good beer —
good light been — is brewed by a great many brewers, the stuff
they get at too many of the country beerhouses is abominably
adulterated, and produces more thirst than it cures, while, on
the other hand, what they brew at home — I have sometimes
drunk it when I have been out shooting, and 1 cannot say 1
like it — possesses this advantage at least, that they know what
is in it. They know there is noth.ing bad in it, and even
though they can only brew a very little malt and two or three
ounces of hops in an old kettle, still, even under ji resent impo-
sitions, they prefer to do that very often, and it is most desir-
able on all accounts that they should. Erom them, therefore,

THJii FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

331

you would lilt a very great hiiidrauce aud burdeu iu taking olf
the Malt-tax. And now as to the general public. As your
president has said we liave seen immeuse reduction of taxation
in the last 20 years, but not one farthing, I believe, during
that time has beeu taken off the Malt-tax. We have seen
botii direct and indirect taxation largely reduced. Why
has not the turn of the Malt-tax come ? I thiak we can-
not but expect that any surplus that may occur this year, in
the firtt instance, will be devoted to taking the extra twopence
off tlie income-tax, which was imposed for a special purpose
and which was quite understood to be only a temporary thing,
but, that having beeu done, there may bj still a surplus this
year — if not there will be next — and I cannot see that there is
any tax in existence which has such strong claims for allevia-
tion as tiie one we are now discussing, llather than keep on
the Malt-tax in perpetuity. I would be in lavour of keeping on
the 6d, income-tax. But I dou't disguise from myself that it
is very unpopular, and that it would be difficult to induce any
legislature by whatever party it might be guided to do that,
and I think we had better not attempt Quixotic enterprises,
but confine ourselves to what is reasonable and possible. But
I think we should insist upon there being no reduction of the
income-tax below fourpence in the pound until some very
large alleviation, if not a total abolition has been made
of the Malt-tax. I have no sympathy with \?hat seems
to me the ignorant outcry against the income-tax. It seems
to me babyish of people to dislike more the payment
of a shilling direct to the tax collector than the payment of 3s.
through tlie medium of tradesmen and people who collect the
indirect taxation, because it is a well-known fact to economists
that these indirect taxes are excessively wasteful, and that for
every shilling they bring to Mr. Lowe they take 3s. out of the
pocket of the consumer. No one disputes that for this mag-
nificent sum of seven millions from the malt-tax the consumers
of the country pay at least 20 millions. That, I thick, is w/ii/
we want this tax repealed. Now with regArdito koto we want
it. The last time the question was brought forward in tlie
House of Commons, two years ago, it was brought forward in
what appeared to me a mistaken way ; it was brought lorward,
not in the way of abolition, but in the way of transferring it
to a duty on beer. Well, I should not object much to a duty
on b';er. i think the brewers could very well afford to pay it,
and it seems to me that the tendency of licensing legislation
now-a-days — the inevitable tendency — is to fix and freeze into
permanence that monopoly in the sale of liquors which they
possess. I do not see how you are to get out of that, and if
you are going to increase aud strengthen their monopoly, I
don't think it would be unreasonable that they should pay some-
thing for it. But when I studied this report rather more tlian
tliree years ago T came to the conclusion that the practical
difficulties of exchanging the Malt-tax for a duty on beer were
so great that it would not be a wise line for the Malt-tax
repealers to take up. Then you have another very great diffi-
culty in the tremendous outcry which would be sure to be
raised by all tlie private brewers if you attempted to place a
tax upon them, and it would not be fair, undoubtedly, to lay a
tax upon the public brewer which you did not also lay on the
private brewer. I, therefore, am against going for the system
of changing the duty from malt to beer. Then again, I am
against pledging ourselves out and out for total and immediate
abolition. I should like to see it of course. So I should
like to see the moon cut up into green cheeses when I was
hungry ; but you have seven millions to deal with, and there
never was such a surplus as seven millions, and I hope never
will be, because I trust no Chancellor ot the Excliequer will
ever frame his estimates so far wide of the mark. I think a
surplus of three or four millions is a very possible and very
reasonable thing, and if he could only get hold of two years
such as that, the Ma'.t-tax wo\ild be gone. And now as to
when. I was rather struck with the statement of Mr. Gar-
diner that he had been upon two deputations to Mr. Glad-
stone and one to Mr. Lowe. I whispered to ray neighbour
(Col. Marsden), " Why in the world didn't he go upon one to
Mr. Disraeli ?" for I think that out of the last 20 years Mr.
Disraeli was five years, or one whole quarter of the time.
Chancellor of the Exchequer. There may have been very good
reasons why he was unable to reduce the Malt tax. It is possi-
ble— and perhaps my friend on my left (Mr. Hound) would
tell you that before long — Mr. Disraeli will be again, not per-
haps Chancellor of the Exchequer himself, but will have para-

mount authority over the gentleman who will be Chancellor of
the Exchequer. That is not my line, but it is possible my
friend may be of that opinion and he may be right and I may
be wrong. Supposing Mr. Disraeli is, I think it is a great
chance for us, and we ought to go in at once. I think it
would be very difficult and very invidious for a Conservative
government — we don't enter upon party politics here except as
far as we can turn them to our interests — our own interest as
Malt-tax repealers I mean — it would be very difficult for them
to refuse at any rate a very serious consideration of this ques-
tion, and therefore, having reached my third head, which was
the when, I think if these changes are coming about which
some of my friends are evidently anticipating, we ought also
to be preparing ourselves for a long pull, a strong pull, and a
pull all together. I have great pleasure in seconding the
resolution.

Mr. Amis Hempson did not think the abolition of the
Malt-tax would benefit the farmers, but would have a contrary
effect. The average price of English barley in that market
during the last three months had been 38s. 3d. per qr. Dur-
ing the same period French barley, weighing as much as the
English within about 2 lbs. a bushel, aud in equally sound and
good condition, had been offering on all parts of the coast at
30s. 6d. What made this difference of 7s. 9d. per qr. in
value ? He believed the principal cause was that the foreign
barley paid precisely the same tax as the English, and it did not
make so good a malt. If the tax were repealed, he thought
more late barley would get into the English markets. He did
not believe that the malt-tax explained the decrease in private
brewing. Within the last 20 years the number of farmers,
tradesmen, and others who brewed had immensely decreased
and he supposed it was because they found they could buy
better beer than they could make. The great curse of the
beer business lay, not in the Malt-tax, but in the enormous
monopoly to which reference had been made. It was this
monopoly which caused adulteration. It was reponsible for
the high price of public-houses and the low character of those
who kept them.

Mr. J. YouNGMAN said he was happy to be able to agree
with the resolution proposed by Mr. Gardiner. He certainly
thought that that gentleman had been very strong — indeed
almost conclusive — on the financial part of the question. The
subject had also a moral side, and he thought they would be
very remiss if they overlooked that moral side. He held in his
hand what he considered to be a very able pamphlet on the
question by a temperance politician who advocated the repeal
of the Malt-tax, and on temperance grounds he (Mr. Young-
man) cordially concurred with him. What the writer de-
manded was, that we should have ample legislative securities
against the evils which would certainly flow from an unre-
stricted sale of intoxicating drinks. He (the speaker) sympa-
thised with the fear which a good many temperance persons
felt lest the repeal of the Malt-tax should lead to an additional
flow of beer and an increase of drunkenness in the country.
Whether in any appreciable degree the home brewing to which
Mr. Gardiner had referred would save us from drunkenness, he
could not say, but he certainly was prepared to admit that beer
at home was a considerable advantage over the habit which
many of our working men had gained of going to drink it at a
public-house. Still he saw no security at present offered
against this increased flow of beer, and should it be much more
consumed than it was now at ])ublic-houses, it would te a
serious injury to the country. We suffered enough from the
state of things at present obtaining. He was glad to see that
attention was being directed to this part of the question in
high quarters. A very voluminous licensing bill had just been
brougbt before the public by one of the members for West
Essex (Sir II. J. Selwin Ibbetson), but he could not express
any hope that they would derive much good from it, because
it appeared to him more a consolidation of the present state of
things than a Hcensing reform. (Hear, hear, from Mr. John-
ston). So far as licensing reform might be expected from it,
he was afraid it would be a delusion. Now the enormous con-
sumption of grain by its manufacture into beer was a very
serious consideration for the country. He listened rather
with a smile on his face to the quotation from an old authority
who had told them that beer was bread (a laugh), because he
believed that no scientific man whose reputation was worth
anything in the present day would deny that the conversion of
barley into fermented liquor destroyed 90 if not 90 per cent.

332

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

of the nutritive properties of tlie barley (Hear, hear, and
" No, no"). If, he repeated, our scientific authorities were
worth anything, this was an important consideration, for
1,000,000 hushels oi barley per week were converted into
malt, and if this was destroyed — (A voice : Yes, if it is !) — the
country could not afford anytliing more in tliat direction.
This cousuniptiou of barley in the form of fermented liquors
amounted to something like 125,000 bushels a day, and if it
was destroyed, why the burning of 500 ordinary corn stacks
every night would only about equal that destruction. It was
this Tiew of the question which made him rather cautious of
the way in which he moved in the repeal of the Malt-tax. He
certainly did wish that that tax were repealed, for in that case
he should hope that many aud good uses for the grain would
be discovered. He liad seen in South Kensington Museum
what appeared to him to be an excellent sugar manufacture
from malt, and malt flour might be a form of sugar in many a
man's house. He was also aware that a firm of most famous
chemists, by the instructions of Baron Liebig, had prepared an
infants' food from malt, or at all events malt was one of the
leading properties. He would ask this Chamber to help Mr.
Bruce, to help Sir Selwin Ibbetson, to help Sir Wilfrid Law-
son, or anybody else who desired to save us from the practically
unrestricted sale of intoxicating drinks which prevailed at this
day, and with that provisiou he heartily went with the effort
for the repeal.

Colonel Brise M.P., said, I need not tell you that I always
liave been aud am now an ardent Malt-tax repealer. I said
many years ago and I say now I would submit to any taxation
in order to get rid of this tux upon malt, and I quite agree
with my friend Mr. Johnston that if it was a question whether
the sixpenny income-tax should be continued this year and the
Malt-tax taken off, or on the other hand the income-tax should
be reduced and the Malt-tax continued, I should go in for the
repeal of the Malt-tax. It does seem to me that we farmers
are the only people to whom free trade does not apply, we the
farmers of England who suffer from free trade, who underwent
privation and suffering — the weakest, we went to the wall —
we who went througli all this, who sacrificed ourselves for the
benefit of the community at large, we, I say, are the only classes
who are denied the full advantages of free trade. It seems
to me that the evil has increased and is increasing every day.
When we first commenced in this county the agitation for tlie
repeal of the Malt-tax it amounted to something a little over
five millions, and it has now risen to seven millions of money.
I have never heard any really good reasons why this tax should
not be repealed. When we have asked for the repeal, what have
been the the arguments we have been met with? We have
first of all been reminded of the old argument of the Duke of
AVellington, " How is her Majesty's government to be carried
on without this seven millions of money ?" We have then
been told tliat beer is less highly taxed at the present moment
than any other British liquor — that while spirits are taxed at
the vate of 10s. per gallon beer is only taxed at the rate of
2s. 6d. a gallon. Then we are told that if we take the tax off
the national beverage of England we must also take the tax
off the national beverage of Ireland. Then we are told again
that this Malt-tax is the foundation stone upon which the 15
millions of taxation on spirits rests, and we are further told
that the principle is wrong — that all taxes should be collected
at the point of consumption and not at the point of produc-
tion. Well then we say if this be the case let us apply a
substitute, and we have consented to and are willing to
have a substitute in lieu of the Malt-tax. We proposed and
it has been generally accepted by the agricultural community
that there should be an increase of the licence duty at the rate
of 3s. per barrel. That would have brought in something
like four million sterling, and then we proposed that the de-
ficiency might be made up by a licence upon private brewers ;
and although my friend Mr. Johnston has said, and truly said,
that this tax upon private brewers was a very unpopular tax —
and he was under the impression that it was still an unpopu-
lar tax— I yet maint.ain that at the present time that unpopu-
larity has very much diminished, and there is not that same
objection felt to a licence on private brewing that there would
have been some years ago. Not any of these suggestions havio"-
been listened to we pioposed another alternative, aud that
was a tax on beer. We suggested that one penny a gallon on
beer would raise a sum of four millions, and this at any rate
would be a very great assistance in getting rid of the Malt-tax.

Well, what are the arguments we liave met with ? Why
literally and truly speaking 1 iiave not heard one single argu-
ment ever urged against the transfer of this tax. I listened
in vain to my friend Mr. Johnston, hoping that we should
have heard from him some good reason against this proposed
substitution, but he didn't give us any definite reasons at all.
He told us he found great practical difficulty attending it— and
we have met with that answer before — but I maintain we have
never had any sound, any definite argument against the trans-
fer of this tax. I am one of those who have always been in-
clined to the notion that the remedy at any rate for some of the
evils of the day would be a free trade in beer — that beer might
very well be sold over the counter in the same way as tea or
any commodity. Lord Derby, Mr. Sewell Read, and many
others, for whose opinion I have the greatest respect — men of
far keener intellect than my own — are also very much inclined
to these same opinions, and Lord Derby, in an address he deli-
vered at Liverpool not very long ago, when speaking on this
subject, said it was a policy that was at this moment out of
fashion, but it was easier to abuse it than to find any argument
against it. In our days the current of legislation seems to be
running entirely the other way. The legislation of the day is
in favour of a restricted policy, but it does seem to me that the
more you restrict — the more you put into the hands of a few
this great monopoly — the less guarantee you give to the public
that you gain any advantage from it. We talk a good deal
about the moral destitution of the present day, and we attri-
bute it — aud in a great measure rightly — to tiie public-house
and the beerhouse, but what do we do ? Why at the very
same time that we make these complaints we do what we can
to put a stop on private brewing, and nothing tends more than
that to drive the workieg classes into those very houses.
Although we cannot see any chance of making any impression
upon her Majesty's Government, or upon any Government at
present, I yet hope that our efforts will be attended with suc-
cess. Mr. Johnston said that no deputation had waited upon
Mr. Disraeli upon this question. The reason I believe is that
Mr. Disraeli has not held the position of Chancellor of the
Exciiequer during the time that we have been carrying on this
agitation, but whenever Mr. Disraeli does come into office I
should be liappy to accompany Mr. Johnston or any other
gentleman as a deputation upon that subject.

Mr. JoHiN'STON said : I must plead guilty to not having
given the arguments against the transfer. If I were able to
give them it would take too much time. I simply stated that
tlie impression on my mind after reading through that evidence
three years ago was that the practical dilficulties were insur-
mountable. I daresay I am wrong, and I hope I am.

Mr. Peutwee argued that there was no ground for Mr.
Hempson's fear that there would be an influx of foreign
wheat if the tax were repealed. As an illustration of the
value of malt for feeding purposes he mentioned that he recently
bought, among other lots, 100 lambs from the west of Eng-
land. He sent them to his farm at Rettendon. They lost
flesh and began to die, although he was quite sure they were
sound. He gave them oats and cut hay, but with no good
result. He then tried malt, and in less than a fortnight an
immense difference was produced, and the lambs were now
doing uncommonly well.

Mr. W. Brown pointed out that it was impossible for the
foreigners to make good malt in hot weather. Farmers
wanted the natural price for their barley, and they could not
get it till the restrictions were taken off. The Malt-tax was
equal to three-fifths of the gross rent of all the land the grower
occupied, and he did not think there were any ether dealers
of raw produce who would submit to that. He was in favour
of free trade in beer. Many of the lunacy cases at Brent-
wood, he believed, were caused by the vile stuff now sold. In
this business there were three or four men living upon a
population of 500 or 600 people. How could they do so if
the beer were not adulterated ?

Mr. W. Matthews said that three-fifths of the lunacy
arose from the free use of intoxicating drinks. He did not
think that private brewing among the working classes had
decreased on account of want of means, because in some iron
towns the working men earned from 30s. to £6 per week. He
thought it would be of inestimable value if agriculturists could
use their malt for feeding purposes.

Dr. Bree entered a vigorous protest against the unsup-
ported statements of the advocates of temperance. He believed

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

333

the statement about drink and lunacy to be quite unfounded,
and tbat there were no statistics to prove anything of the
kind. As to the general question, the farmers themselves
were not unanimous in demanding the repeal of the Malt-tax,
and if seven millions were taken off in this way it would be
put upon his and other people's incomes.

Mr. Moss thought it was enough for the farmers to show,
as they had shown, that the Malt-tax was an injustice to
them, aud that they were not called upon to consider the
question of a substitute. He was not afraid of the moral con-
sequences of the abolition of the Malt-tax.

Mr. Gaediner briefly replied upon the whole discussion,
and, after a few words in support of the resolution from Mr.
Frost, it was put to the meeting and carried, no hands being
held up against it, although a lew members refrained from
voting.

Votes of thanks were presented to Mr. Gardiner for his
paper, and to the Mayor of Colchester, Mr. Hawkins, for the
use of the room.

At a Council meeting, subsequently, it was resolved to ask
Sir H. Selwin Ibbetson to introduce the licensing question at
a meeting of the Chamber at Dunmow.

SCOTCH HOLDINGS AND ENGLISH CRITICS.

At the dinner after the spring show of the United East
Lothian Agricultural Society at Haddington, the Chairman,
Lord Elcho, said : On that and similar occasions politics
were tabooed — they were forbidden — riglitly forbidden ; and
therefore lie liad to find something else whereon to talk. The
natural thing would be that he should talk to them on turuips,
but though turnips were a green crop, he was not quite so
green as to venture to do that. He had no pretensions to be
an agriculturist, theoretically or practically, himself, aud if
he were to begin to talk to them about turnips or any cognate
subject, they would soon see that he was out of his depth, and
call him a fool for his pains. He sliould not, therefore, fall
into that bog. But some might say — " What an anomaly !
A member for an agricultural county, and you cannot talk upon
turnips !" He ventured to say that it was of great advantage
they should have a member who had got no theories or
crotchets of his own with reference to agriculture, who could
bring a purely judicial mind to bear on all those questions,
and listen patiently to the views, projects, and theories of his
constituents on all such matters. But although he could not
talk of fat beasts, turnips, phosphates, and such like chemicals,
he went about with his eyes open, and he could speak of the
gradual improvement that one saw going on around him — he
could speak of the way in which their enterprise, their capital,
and agriculture were storming the hills that separated the
county from Berwickshire, so that turnip crops were growing
upon land which was a few years ago the property, he miglit
say, of a few wild grouse, snipes, and such wild creatures — he
could speak of the steam ploughs, the use of which he saw ex-
tending, and of improvements in machinery — he could speak
of manual labour giving place to machine labour in the reap-
ing of the crops — and lastly, he could speak to what he saw of
improved farm steadings ; and he greatly rejoiced to see the
improvement that was manifest in the dwellings of the labour-
ing classes. He could speak of these thiugs, and he felt con-
fident that they would agree with him that much of that was
owing to the example set by such men as their Lord-Lieu-
tenant, and by societies such as this, which brought tenants
aud landlords together on that and similar occasions. What
he would urge upon the Society was, with a view to their
future being as successful as their past, that in all their deal-
ings— whatever might be their individual views as to what
should or should not be done in the interests of the Society—
whenever any change was necessary, whether brought about
by change of circumstances, by change iu the modes of loco-
motion, or by change of locality, these changes should be
effected with judgment, with discretion, with temper, aud the
utmost consideration for all concerned. It was by the utmost
cordiality and union prevailing amongst the members as a
body that such societies could progress, and that changes could
be beneficially effected ; and they might depend upon it that
it was by gentle means that changes were best effected. They
all knew the fable of the contest betwixt the sun and the
wind as to which would induce a man first to take off his
coat. The rude, boisterous, blustering wind blew its strongest,
but the traveller only folded his coat the more tightly around
him as a protection from the pitiless storm. Bat the sun with
its gentle beams soon induced him to throw off the coat and
carry it over his arm. What he had said as to the action of
members of this society he would also impress on every one
who heard him with reference to their individual actions in
tiieir relation to each other. What he would earnestly hope

was, that on every possible occasion in this county, and
throughout the length aud breadth of Scotland and Great
Britain, landlords and tenants might meet each other in the
most kindly, friendly, and sympathising spirit, and in aU their
dealings act towards each other with kindness and considera-
tion. But he dwelt upon that at tlie present time on this
ground — we lived at present in pecuhar times. There were
elements — he would not call them forces as yet — which showed
themselves at the bottom of society, and might some day, if
they found ready material for their action, split what was
called the social fabric from top to bottom, and overthrow it.
He had been recently iu Erance. and seen the effects of that
force and those elements of disorder or revolution, or whatever
they chose to call it, in the fair city of Paris, devastated aud
destroyed, witli all its public buildings burned and blackened.
Although he hoped and believed that in this country elements
such as these existed, if they existed at all, iu a very slight
degree ; still, how was such an element as that, which took as
its basis the doctrine of the 7;ri(f//w/««i(? that all property was
theft, and that every man who had a decent coat on his back
and had more than his neighbour was a robber — for that was
what is meant in plain English language— how was such an
element of danger and force to be combated with but by the
union of all classes in this country, by that consideration for
each other, and by that kindliness of human sympathy, which
was the real and true bond of all human society ? That was
what he would impress upon this society in their individual as
well as in their aggregate capacity. They lived also in days
of trades' unions. He should like to see agricultural trades'
unions — not the trades' unions of landed proprietors, of ten-
ants, or of labourers, but all three iu one. Eur depend upon
it, it was by such a union as that that they could best combat
those doctrines and tliose forces to which he had referred,
which, if they ever got the upper hand, would draw no fine
distinctions between capital aud land, between the profits of the
farmers and the rents of the landlords. It would upset every-
thing in the shape of stability and prosperity in this country.
He should like, therefore, to see an agricultural union, a union
of all coucerned in that great industry in which no one had
greater interest than himself. He should like to see it a union
not only of hand but heart ; and in proposing to them " Pros-
perity to the East Lothian Agricultural Society," he earnestly
and fervently prayed that the trades' union motto might be the
motto of the Society, and that in the union of all its members
might be its strength.

Mr. Harvey proposed the health of the Vice-Presidents,
coupling with the toast the name of the Bight Hon. Nisbet
Hamilton, one of the most popular members, who had had long
experience in agricultural matters, not only in Scotland but in
Lincolnshire.

Mr. Nisbet Hamilton said he felt very much surprised
and astonished at seeing, iu the course of last year, in the
Journal of the Hoyal Agricultural Society of England, very
extraordinary allusion made, not only to the tenants, but to the
landlords of this county in particular, and to Scctland in
general. Now, in reading tliat article, any person who was
not acquainted with the district would suppose, in the first
place, that the tenantry of East Lothian were the most miser-
able, poverty-stricken individuals, and that the landlords were
the greatest possible skin-flints, living on the capital of the
tenants, and exacting the highest possible rents for the pro-
duce of the land. He only wished that the compiler of the

OtJi

THE i^AKMEii'S MAGAZli^E.

aiticle had made a more accurate inspection of the farms and
the coudition of the tenants in tliis district. He only wished
lie were liere to-day to witness tiie present meeting, and he
(iVIr. Nisbet Hamilton) was sure he would have been very
much astonished to find not only that the tenant-farmers of
East Lothian were, in proportion to the extent of the district
which they occupied, tlie most substantial tenantry, not only
in Scotland, but in any part of the United Kingdom. He was
not called upon to stand up exclusively for the defence of the
vice-presidents — the landlords of the district — but he must say
that unless they resided on their estates, unless they took an in-
terest in those who occupied their land, tliey would neither
see the same prosperous class of tenants in this district, or
amongst the labourers the same happy and contented condition
in which they now were. The thing appeared to him so great
a libel that he was almost prompted to take public notice of it
at the time, and as this was the first public occasion he had
had to make these remarks he did not tlnnk he would have
been doing his duty to the landlords and the tenants of East
Lothian, and the tenants of Scotland generally, if he had not
taken notice of what he called a downright libel, and nothing
else. They would observe that, in common with his noble
friend on his right (Lord Elcho), he bore witness to the in-
creasing prosperity of the farmers, the increasing industry of
the labourers, and to the sympathy which tlie landlords enter-
tained with all those who were connected with them in relation
to agriculture.

Mr. George Hope (Fentonbarns) said they might be all
aware that the gentleman who wrote the paper referred to by
Mr. Hamilton was staying with him ; and what he said arose
from a journey through the county which he (Mr. Hope) took
with liim. They wtre discussing at the time the propriety of
leases, or of Lincolnshire Tenant-ilight, as it was called in
England. On turning to one farm, he (Mr. Hope) observed
that he had seen seven tenants on that farm during the last
fifty years. The gentleman was much struck with that remark,
and he (Mr. Hope) then told him that he had seen four, five,
six, and that, on the average, he had seen at least three tenants
on every farm in the county, and that there were only about
twenty farms in the county in the hands of the same families.

The gentleman put it down that the people were not able to
sit out their leases, which was not the case, as other causes
were in operation ; and he thought it a pity that the writer
did not let him see a proof of the article before it was published
with his (Mr. Hope's) name mentioned in it. But every word
he told the writer was quite true, and capable of being proved.
Seeing that his name had been used in connection with the
article, he repeated that, as far as he gave the information to
the gentleman, it was thoroughly consistent with fact.

[Tlie North British Afjriculturist, of Wednesday last, "un-
derstands tiiat Mr. George Hope, Fentonbarns, has received
intimation from Mr. Nisbet Hamilton's factor that the lease
of Fentonbarns is not to be renewed." Tlie same journal says :
" There are several individuals resident in the county mho
could, were they so disposed, state facts which would clearly
establish that farming, after the collapse in the prices of agri-
cultural products which occurred at the termination of the war
with France, and especially after the year 1822, had been any-
thing but a profitable business, and had for many years proved
most disastrous to those engaged in it — in fact, for ten years
after 1823 farming was so unprofitable that there were few
solvent tenants in the county in 1832. The tenants did not,
as a rule, maintain their position as farmers, and compara-
tively few members of their families are now following agri-
cultural pursuits in the county. We assert that were a history
of the farmers of the county written, either in reference to
estates, parishes, or districts, it would show an amount of
disaster almost unparalleled in the business of farming. It is
well known that during the crisis landlords, by means of the
most unjust law of hypothec, generally secured their rents,
frequently at the expense of the ordinary creditors, whose
claims were set at nought ; while the same law indirectly
encouraged, and continues to encourage, proprietors to let
farms to the highest bidders, without much inquiry as to their
capital and other qualifications to render them eligible tenants.
Since the cultivation of the potato has been extensively gone
into, and the fattening of cattle and sheep more generally
practised, farming has been more prosperous, although there
have been several cases of the sudden termination of leases."]

THE DOCTRINE OF RENT.

At a meeting of the Manchester Statistical Society, last
week, Mr. Mill in the chair. Professor Bonamy Price, Ox-
ford, read a paper on the Doctrine of Rent.

Professor Price said that the doctrine of rent had hitherto
been regarded as one of the most brilliant triumphs of econo-
mic science, and to be lifted so far above the reach of criticism,
that to challenge its accuracy appeared almost as presumptuous
as to dispute the validity of the first propositions in Euclid.
Nevertheless, he ventured to submit that tliis very pretension
to convert the doctrine of rent into a foundation for claiming
for political economy the character of a deductive science,
furnished ample ground for re-exaniiuation of that doctrine.
The theory of rent was not a product of deductive reasoning.
It was a complex fact of the outward, concrete, material world;
it must be studied in its objective and actually existing form
before its nature could be ascertained. Thus the science of
vent, if there were one, stood on the same identical ground
with chemistry or any other acknowledged analytical science,
and was therefore perpetually open to re-examination, lleiit
might be defined as the consideration paid for tiie loan of
land ; and in political economy the expression was usually
limited to tlie hire of agricultural land. A tenant proposed
to take a farm from a landlord, and the amount of the rent
was debated between them. What were the considerations
whicli governed the calculations on both sides ? The sole cal-
culation which the farmer made was on what terms he would
be able to get a living out of the farm. In this calculation
he would not compute how much the landlord had expended
on the farm, nor would the landlord be able to force such a
consideration upon him. The determination of rent did not
belong to the landlord, but to the tenant. The practical prob-
lem always was, what the tenant conceived he could afford to
give for the farm. The fertility of the soil was one chief

element of the arithmetic employed by the farmer, but it was
not the sole one, and very often, indeed, not the dominant one.
The overwhelming importance assigned to the relative pro-
ductiveness of the land was the capital mistake which he was
compelled to lay to the charge of most political economists in
their exposition of the theory of rent. The question arose —
is it true, as the fact which is to serve as tlie foundation of
the theory of rent, tliat rent rises and falls with the relative
fertility and productiveness of the soil ? What would be a
deliberating tenant reply ? If every other circumstance were
the same, he would proportionate the rent ; he would pay
according to the exact variations of the fertility of the land ;
and, as on a single farm most of tliose other circumstances
were generally the same, he would estimate the rent whicli
each acre would bear by tlie goodness or badness of the land.
But even here some disturbing forcej would occasionally make
their appearance. There might be fields particularly well
suited lor accommodating animals in the neighbourhood of
fairs and markets. A tenant would take account of this cir-
cumstance in his mind, and so, also, would the landlord; and
so, as an actual fact, a portion of the farm would be let for a
rent not proportionate to the relative fertility alone. If they
passed beyond the boundary of the single farm, the disturb-
ance created by the accessory circumstances became more
striking. A farm on the light lands of Surrey miglit produce
the identical crop of corn which was obtained from a far^n on
the adjoining strong clays of Sussex ; but the one farm would
require but few horses for its cultivation, while the other would
demand many. A tenant-farmer would therefore consent to pay
a higher rent for Surrey than for Sussex land, because the ex-
pense of tillage would be much smaller in one ease tlian the
other. A wider survey, whicli would include the corn fields
in the broad regions of Western America and Australia, would

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

?.?,5

confirm these observations. Aincug other elements aliVctiiig
rent, Professor Price proceeded to quote clieapuess and laciUty
of transport, and the pressure of parochial rates and tithes.
Lands tithe-free always yielded a larger rent under equal cir-
cumstances than those subject to tithe. Tiiat fact of itself
was a demonstration that a doctrine which made the relative
fertility of the soil the essence of rent was only a partial sum-
mary of the elements of the problem, and therefore an inade-
quate and unscientific thecry. When the otlier forces which
acted on rent were equal, then, uo doubt, fertility of the soil
was the regulator of rent ; but tiiese forces varied without
limit, and by varying they modified, enlarged, diminished, or
not unfrequently extinguished rent altogether. A. man pur-
posing to become a tenant of land, if he were a skilful farmer,
would combine various elements together, and come to an
opinion as to the capacity of the land, to be grateful for the
capital laid out in its culture ; and, assuredly, on that very
ground he would prefer to pay a high rent for good land rather
than a low rent for poor land. Still, the two considerations
were distinct in themselves, and in the estimate he made of
the power of the land to repay high farming, the cost of the
improved cultivation in that particular locality would carry
great weight iu his ultimate judgment. A consideration of
all the facts was necessary to a theory of rent which could
claim to be scientific. Rent was the consideration given for
the loan of a wealth-producing machine. The consideration
was determined not by the cost of constructing the machine,
but by the excess of profit which the employment of that in-
strument would yield after repaying the expense of cultivation,
including the ordinary reward of the tenant's labour, skill, and
capital. That there was such a surplus was decided by the
fact that the selling price of the produce of the machine ex-
ceeded the profits. It sulticed for carrying on the agricultural
as well as other kinds of business. That excessive price sprung
from tlie insufUcient supply of an article which was indispens-
able for human life. The deficiency must be made up from
other sources more distant or more didicult to procure. This
theory of rent was scientific, because it took account of all tiie
facts, and placed them in their proper relation to each
other. But it was scientific in a. very different manner
from the much-vaunted theory wliich h.ad been so grouud-
lessly made the pride of political economy. lie could
not conclude his paper without saying a few words on the
term " monopoly " which iiad been so freely applied by some
political economists to the possession of laud. He protested
against the use of so inv'idious an epithet. The word "mo-
nopoly " suggested a wrongful and odious usurpation ; it was
a restriction created by the law in the carryiug on of a par-
ticular trade in favour of individual citi/^ens, to the exclusion
of the rest of the cominuuity. Such a preference was by its
very nature unjust, and wrought immense mischief by the iu-
feriority of the goods thus produced and their dearness. He
held it to be most unfair to insinuate by the use of the word
that the possession of land had any affinity whatever with
those artificial and justly -condemned preferences and restric-
tions. Mr. Mill justilied the expression by adding to it the
word "natural;" but the sting, which was inseparable from
the word " monopoly," remained all the same. The arbi-
trariness with which it was applied in tlie case of land would
be seen if they thought of the many natural advantages of the
same general character with those belouging to land, to which
no one ever thought of attaching the word " monopoly." The
skill and eloquence of a great barrister, the art of an emiucnt
brewer, the talent of a distinguished writer, and endless other
personal gifts, were natural monopolies in precisely the same
sense as land — and who ever thought of fixing such an in-
vidious name upon them ? Yet they resembled the possession
of land in the distinctive quality that they enabled their pos-
sessors to raise considerable sums of money out of the com-
munity. But it was said they were subject to competition, and
tiiat anyone might rival or surpass them if he pleased. He
should rather say " if he could or he could not," because they
were supposing these monopolists, to apply Mr. Mill's words,
to possess the highest existing advantage. But equally sub-
ject to competition were the owners of rent. The possession
of agricultural land was distinctly free from the vices of a
genuine monopoly. It neither raised the price nor deterio-
rated the goods prodoced. It was perfectly open to Mr. Mill
and those who shared his fceliugs to propose that the present
landowners should be paid off, and that the state should be the

oue sole landowner iu the nation. Whether that would be a
wise or a mischievous policy was fairly open to argument. So
was Communism. Communists might rationally discuss
whether it would not be expedient that Mr. Mill should de-
vote his great talents to the service of the Commonwealth, and
accept equal remuneration with the citizen who carried bricks
for the builder. But in neither discussion could the idea of
monopoly enter. It might be determined that the nation
would reap great benefit from great abilities being allowed to
exert themselves for the benefit of their possessors, and that
private property in land would be more advantageous than
public property in land. If such were the decision, the pri-
vate owner, who, either through his predecessor's or his own
efforts, had developed the wealth-producing power of the ma-
chine, was no more to be branded with monopoly than the
great author who had so cultivated the gifts with which nature
had endowed his mind as to realise large pecuniary results
from the sale of his writings.

Professor Jevons said he concurred with great pleasure in
Professor Price's remarks upon the necessity of continually
reconsidering what seemed to be the best-ascertained princi-
ples of political economy. He believed the theory of gravita-
tion had been called into question many times during the last
century, aud he thought that it was of the utmost importance
that the principles of political economy should be constantly
brought into revision, lie was certainly inclined to agree
almost entirely with the view ultimately taken by Professor
Price, that there were a great number of circumstances to be
taken into consideration before they could estimate the rent of
land. Doubtless he was right in saying that it was a bargain
between the landlord and tenant. The question was whether
the term " fertility" was extensive enough. IT fertility was
to be measured simply by the amount of corn the land would
grow, then' it was not sufficient. Might they not sum up
under the term " the general advantages." The question was
what the tenant made out of the land. If the could get a
higher price for his corn he would not mind having a less
quantity. It was simply a matter of money to him. He
would like to suggest whether they might not carry the mean-
ing of the word "rent" still further. He could not see that
any principle which acted in the case of other machines
might not also act in tlie case of land. He did not know
whether there was land in England which paid no rent ; but
in travelling in Wales from Festiuiog to Bala he saw 15 miles
of almost desert land, and he wanted to know whether such
laud could be cultivated. It was an important question to
decide. He was travelling through Derbyshire the other day,
and he saw a considerable portion of moorland uncultivated.
He thought it was probably incapable of cultivation, but on
going a little further he was surprised to find a number of
green fields, many of which were "higher than the moor land.
A farmer told hiin that this moor land was quite capable of
cultivation, and if there were uo game it would soon be
cultivated. He thought this question of game stood much iu
the way of cultivation in England.

The discussion was continued by Mr. Helm, Mr. John AVatts,
Mr. Alfred Neild, the Chairman, and others.

WARWICKSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.
— At an ordinary meeting, Mr. J. Ford in the chair, Mr.
Startin proposed: " That, as it appears from the statement of
Mr. Winterbottora that the Government will not introduce any
Highway Bill this session, and that, consequently, the cost of
repairing any turnpike roads on which the trusts are and will
be discoutinued must be paid out of local rates, this Chamber
is of opinion that the urgent attention of Parliament should
be called to the justice of continuing all trusts until an equita-
ble means of maintaining the roads be provided." Mr. Calde-
cott seconded the proposition. Mr. Horley proposed as an
amendment: "That the delay which has taken place in bring-
ing forward any Government measure for dealing with the
turnpike roads and highways throughout the country, and set-
tling the cost of repairs on some permanent basis, is an injus-
tice that requires the immediate attention of Parliament."
This was seconded by Mr. W. Palmer ; but, on a division, it
was lost, aud the original proposition carried.

336

THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE.

THE AGEIOULTUEAL EETUENS OF GREAT BRITAIN FOR 1871.

The earlier publicatiou of the returns in detail has been
often referred to in these reports, and no effort is spared in the
departments which collect and prepare the returns to obtain
so desirable a result. The work of completing, checking, and
arranging the large amount of detail collected throughout the
country by the officers of Inland Revenue is still found to re-
quire a considerable amount of time ; and the subsequent ad-
ditions and computations, not only as regards the returns for
Great Britain but also those for the Colonies and I'oreign
Countries, are not a light task. But the officers employed to
obtain the returns are seriously delayed in their work by the
refusal of a minority of the farmers to answer a few simple
questions, notwithstanding in many cases repeated personal
applications upon the part of tiie officers.

The returns are studied and valued by an increasing num-
ber of agriculturists, who would no doubt appreciate the ad-
vantage of obtaining tlie information contained in the returns
at th= earliest practicable period, and it is to be regretted that
the facts collected cannot as yet be earlier available.

The total number of returns obtained from occupiers of land
in 1871 was 519,784, against 529,150 in 1870. The increase
was for the most part in England, for which the figures were
412,284. in 1871, and 393,569 in 1870. In almost every
county of England more returns were obtained in 1871 than
in 1870, and the increase is due to various causes, such as a
greater number of separate returns from occupiers with more
than one farm situated in different parishes, the subdivision of
land in the ueiglibourhood of towns, and in some places a
stricter collection of returns from holders of small quantities
of land above the limit of a quarter of an acre.

The agricultural returns for 1870 included a classification
of the number of holdings, according to the extent of land
occupied. This information is not repeated for 1871, as it is
a work of some labour to the collecting ollicers, and the results
would not be very different in two years. Instead, however,
of obtaining again the division of the holdings according to
size, the officers of Inland Revenue were instructed to tabulate
separately certain particulars from the returns made by occu-
piers of less than twenty acres of land. The number of this
class of holdings was required to be stated, with the acreage
so held under tillage and grass respectively, and the number of
each kind of live stock possessed by the occupiers. The result
shows, that of 519,78-i returns obtained in 1871, 281,920, or
51 per cent., were from occupiers of less than 20 acres of land.
In England 51 per cent, of the holdings were under 20 acres,
in Wales 46 per cent., and in Scotland 55 per cent.

The total acreage returned for holdings under 20 acres was
1,897,981 acres for Great Britain, or G per cent, of the acreage
returned for holdings of all sizes. Of the 1,897,984 acres,
830,223 acres, or 4-i per cent., were under tillage, and
1,067,761 acres, or 56 per cent., were under permanent pas-
ture. Tlie live stock returned as belonging to occupiers of
less than 20 acres, consisted of 109,029 horses out of a total of
1,254,450; of 582,555 cows and ca(tle out of a total of
5,337,759; of 1,414,041 sheep and lambs out of a total of
27,119,569 ; and of 502,789 pigs out of a total of 2,499,602.

It will be interesting to see, so far as relates to the particu-
lars just described, to what extent the smaller and larger classes
of holdings differ in their agricultural condition and resources.
Thus, of the total acreage returned by the two classes of hold-
ings in Great Britain, holdings under 20 acres had 44 per
cent, of the acreage under tillage, and 56 per cent, under per-
manent pasture ; and holdings of and above 20 acres had 61
per cent, under tillage, and 39 per cent, under permanent pas-
ture. As regards live stock, the proportionate numbers to
every 100 acres were — Horses, 5-7 on holdings under 20 acres,
and 4 on holdings of and above 20 acres ; cows and cattle 30.7
on holdings under 20 acres, and 16.4 on holdings of and above
30 acres ; sheep and lambs 74'5 on holdings under 20 acres,
and 88-8 on holdings of and above 20 acres ; lastly, pigs 26-5
on holdings under 20 acres, and 6-9 on holdings of and above
20 acres. The difference in the number of sheep upon the
two classes of holdings in Great Britain is affected by sheep

being rather numerous in the small holdings in the hilly parts
of Great Britain or in Wales and Scotland. In fact, as re-
gards Scotland, from the large jiroportion of the acreage of the
small holdings which is under tillage, and the large number of
sheep returned by the occupiers of small holdings, it is probable
that the occupiers in certain of the Highland'counties, especially
in Argyle, Inverness, and Ross, have access to mountain nas-
turage for their sheep in addition to the land held and returned
by them as occupiers. In England the proportions for sheep
per 100 acres are, upon[holdings under 20 acres, 32'7, and upon
holdings above 20 acres 76'5.

The larger proportion of cattle, and the smaller proportion
of sheep in the small holdings, as compared with large holdings,
is clearly shown by these figures, and the same fact has been
before noticed in regard to the relative number of different
kinds of live stock in cotintries with a preponderance of small
holdings of land.

The general results of the agricultural returns for 1871 are
shown for each division of the United Kingdom in the first
two tables, the Registrar-General for Ireland having furnished
the particulars relating to that portion of the kingdom. The
figures obtained for the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands
in 1870 have been taken again, in the absence of fresh returns,
in making the total for the United Kingdom in 1871. The
total acreage returned as under all kinds of crops, bare fallow,
and grass in the United Kingdom in 1871 was 46,667,178
acres, against 46,177,370 in 1870 ; of the additional 489,808
acres in 1871, 430,988 acres appear in the returns for Great
Britain, and 58,820 acres in the returns for Ireland. Taking
the population as ascertained by the last census in AprU 1871,
and the total acreage returned as under crops, bare fallow, and
grass in 1871, it would appear that the quantity of l»nd under
cultivation per head of the population was about 1'2 acres in
Great Britain and 2'9 acres in Ireland. It is probable, how-
ever, that a larger proportion of poor herbage is included under
the heading of " Permanent Pasture," in Ireland than in
Great Britain. According to the returns of 1871, which show
a total acreage under cultivation of 30,838,567 acres in Great
Britain and 15,711,398 acres in Ireland, the quantity of land
devoted to the different kinds of cultivation was — for corn
9,675,261 acres, or 31'4 per cent, in Great Britain, and
2,124,079 acres, or 13'6 per cent, in Ireland ; for green crops
(including potatoes) 3,738,180 acres, or 12-1 per cent., in Great
Britain, and 1,511,532, or 96 per cent., in Ireland ; for bare
fallow 542,840 acres, or 1"8 per cent., in Great Britain, and
22,323 acres, or O'l per cent., in Ireland; for clover and other
grasses under rotation 4,369,448 acres, or 14'2 per cent., in
Great Britain, and 1,827,733, or 11'6 per cent., in Ireland;
and for permanent pasture 12,435,442 acres, or 40'3 per cent.,
in Great Britain, and 10,068,848, or 64-1 per cent., in Ireland.

Before proceeding to state the acreage under the several
kinds of corn and green crops, it may be observed that some
additional information was obtained in 1871 with respect to
the quantity of land in Great Britain occupied by orchards
and woods. As regards orchards, no additional acreage is
brought under notice, as the laud appropriated to the growth
of fruit trees, being under tillage or grass, has been returned
as under crop or in pasture. The agricultural fruit crop, as it
may be termed to distinguish it from the garden fruit crop,
which is not ascertained, was returned as occupying as many
as 206,583 acres in Great Britain in 1S71. Of this total acre-
age under fruit trees of any kind in orchards, 176,685 acres
were in England, 23,033 acres in Wales, and 6,865 acres in
Scotland. The counties in England with the largest acreage
under orchards are Devon with 30,013 acres, Hereford
with 20,811 acres, and Somerset with 16,267 acres.

In the case of land under woods, the extent has been ascer-
tained of a not unimportant portion of the area of Great
Britain not used for the ordinary purposes of agriculture. The
acreage of woodland was ascertained by the officers of Inland
Revenue employed to collect the agricultural returns from the
best sources of information available in their respective dis-
tricts. A column for this information could not have been

THE FABMER'S MAaAZINE.

337

usefully added to the form issued to occupiers of land, as
woods are not often held by farmers. The result of the special
return for woods, coppices, and plantations (excepting gorse
land and garden shrubberies) shows a total acreage so occupied
in Great Britain to 1871 of 2,175,471 acres ; of which
1,314-,316 acres were iu England, 126,625 acres were in Wales,
and 734,530 in Scotland. Eor Ireland, the llegistrar-General
returns an acreage of 324,285 acres us under wood.

With the view of obtaining further information respecting
the unaccounted-for acreage of the country, inquiry was made
as to whether it would be practicable for the olliccrs of Inland
Revenue to ascertain the extent of commons and unenclosed
waste land ; but it did not appear that it would be in the
power of the officers to obtain satisfactory particulars of this
description of land. It may, however, be useful to show how
probable it is that there is not so large an amount of land in
the United Kingdom still available for profitable cultivation as
may generally be supposed. Between the total acreage of the
United Kingdom and the total of the acreage for which agri-
cultural returns are obtained, there is a difference amounting
to more than 30 millions of acres, of which there are nearly
9 millions in England, about 2 millions in Wales, as many as
15 millions, or one-half of the total in question in the hilly
country of Scotland, and about 4| millions iu Ireland. From
the best estimate that can be made, based upon a Parliamentary
return prepared by the Tithe Commissioners in 1843, it would
appear as probable that there are now about seven million
acres of waste land of all descriptions in England and Wales.
If this quantity be deducted from the total unreturued acreage
of eleven millions, four million acres remain as occupied by
water, railways and roads, woods, and towns and villages. A
Tery large portion of the seven million acres of waste land is
known to be uproductive mountain laud ; it is, however, be-
lieved that in the lowland counties a considerable quantity of
waste land yet remains available for profitable cultivation, but
not to the extent that may be commonly supposed.

As to the extent of land under the principal corn and green
crops, it has been ascertained that in 1871, of a total acreage
under corn crops of 9,675,261 acres in Great Britain (exclusive
of the island), and 2,124,079 acres in Ireland, there were un-
der wheat 3,571,894 acres, or 36.9 per cent., in Great Britain,
and 246,954 acres, or 11.6 per cent., in Ireland ; under barley,
2;385,783 acres, or 24.7 per cent., in Great Britain, and
222,604 acres, or 10.5 per cent., in Ireland ; under oats,
2,715,707 acres, or 28.1 per cent., in Great Britain, and
1,633,960 acres, or 76.9 per cent., in Ireland ; under rye, 71,495
acres, or 0.7 per cent., iu Great Britain, and 9,647 acres, or
0.5 per cent., in Ireland ; under beans, 540,835 acres, or 5.6
per cent., in Great Britain, and 9,549 acres, or 0.4 per cent., in
Ireland ; and under peas, 389,547 acres, or 4 per cent., in
Great Britain, and 1,365 acres, or 0.1 per cent., in Ireland.

The total acreage under green crops (including potatoes)
amounted in 1871 to 3,738,180 acres in Great Britain (exclu-
sive of the islands), and to 1,511,632 acres in Ireland. These
quantities were divided between tlie several crops in the fol-
lowing manner : Under potatoes 627,691 acres, or 16.8 per
cent., in Great Britain, and 1,058,287 acres, or 70 per cent., in
Ireland; under turnips and swedes 2,163,744, or 57.9 per
cent., in Great Britain, and 327,162, or 31.6 per cent., in Ire-
land ; under mangold 360,517 acres, or 9.6 per cent., in Great
Britain, aud 31,766 acres, or 2.1 per cent., in Ireland ; under
carrots 20,154 acres, or 0.5 per cent., in Great Britain, and
4,167 acres, or 0.3 per cent., in Ireland ; under cabbages,
kohl-rahi, rape, collectively, 178,919 acres, or 4.8 per cent.
in Great Britain, and 43,543 acres, or 2.9 per cent., in Ire-
land ; and under vetches, lucerne, aud any other green crop
(except clover or grass) 387,155 acres, or 10.4 per cent, in
Great Britain, and 46,607 acres, or 3.1 per cent., in Ireland.

Passing now to tlie number of live stock returned in 1871,
it may be stated that the total number of horses in the United
Kingdom was about 2 648,000, of which Great Britain pos-
(iucluding horses subject to duty) 2,110,590, aud Ireland
537,633 ; the total number of cattle was 9,356,216, of which
5,337,759 belonged to Great Britain, and 3,943,102 to Ireland;
the total number of sheep was 31,403,500, of which there were
in Great Britain 27,119,569, and 4,228,721 in Ireland ; and
lastlv, the stock of pigs included in the returns amounted to
4,136,616, of which Great Britain had 2,499,602, and Ireland
1,616,754.
The proportionate number of each descriptiou of live stock

to every iOO acres of laud returned as under crops, fallow, and
grass, differ much, especially as regards cattle and sheep, in the
several divisions of the kingdom. In 1871, horses, to every
100 acres returned, show a proportionate number in Great
Britain of 4.1 for those used in agriculture, and of 6.8 if those
subject to duty are included ; and in Ireland all description of
horses are in the proportion of 3.4 per 100 acres, or just one-
half of the number maintained upon an equal acreage in Great
Britain.

Cattle in proportion to every 100 acres, numbered 15.5 in
England, 22.9 and 23.7 in Wales and Scotland respectively, and
25.3 iu Ireland. Sheep were returned for every 100 acres as
numbering 73.9 in England, 103.9 in Wales, 152.4 in Scotland,
aud only 26.9 in Ireland. Pigs (exclusive of those in Great
Britain kept in towns and by cottagers with less than one-quar-
ter of an acre of land) show for every 100 acres 8.8 in England,
8.7 in Wales, not more than 4.3 in Scotland, and 10.2 in Ire-
land. Pigs do not appear, therefore, to be a favourite descrip-
tion of stock in Scotland. With a very much larger acre of
acreage, the stock of pigs is smaller in Scotland than in
Wales.

Comparisons of the relative number of live stock are of
interest in connection with the fact of so much importance in
agriculture that the productive capacity of the land cannot be
increased or even maintained without tlie restoration by means
of manure of the elements withdrawn by the crops. With figures
like those for the whole country, and foreach county, as
given in Table No. 3, farmers have the means of comparing
how far the number of their own live stock and their supply of
home-made manure corresponds with similar resources in dif-
ferent parts of the country.

The differences in tiie extent of land under the various crops
in 1871 as compared with one or two previous years may now
be noticed. All kinds of corn crops (including beans and
peas) were grown in Great Britain upon 127,000 acres more in
1871 than in 1870, but the corn aceeage in 1871 was not
equal to what it was in 1869. In Ireland the acreage under corn
crops in 1871 vvas about 50,000 acres less than in 1870, and
83,000 less than in 1869.

The acreage under wheat shows less variation between 1871
and 1870 than it did between 1870 and 1869. There was a
falling off of nearly 200,000 acres in 1870, but in 1871 about
71,000 more acres were under wheat in Great Britain than in
1870. There was a small decrease in the wheat acreage in
Ireland in 1871 as compared with 1870. Only 11.6 per cent,
of the total corn acreage was cultivated with wheat in Ireland
in 1871, as compared with 43.1 per cent, in England, 22.5 per
cent, iu Wales, and 9.3 per cent, in Scotland.

Tlie acreage under barley in Great Britain, in 1871, shows
only an increase of 14,000 acres as compared with 1870, but
in that year there was a large amount of land under that im-
portant crop, showing an increase of 120,000 acres over 1869,
and of 230,000 acres over 1868. In Ireland, in 1871, there
was a decrease of 20,000 acres in the land under barley ;
but the growth of this grain has increased iu Ireland in
recent years.

Although a large quantity of land is still used for the growth
of oats both iu Great Britain and Ireland, it appears to be a
crop the cultivation of which is gradually diminishing in Eng-
land and Ireland. There were 62,000 fewer acres under oats
in the United Kingdom iu 1871 than in 1870, 47,000 of the
diminished acreage being in Great Britain, and 15,000 in
Ireland.

The acreage in Great Britain under beans shows an increase
of about 11,000 acres in 1871 over 1870, and the acreage
under peas an increase of 72,000 acres between the same years,
which nearly makes up for the falling-ofi' in 1870 as compared
with 1869.

The total acreage of land returned as under green crops in
Great Britain, in 1871 , shows a considerable increase over 1870,
the dift'erence amounting to 151,000 acres in favour of 1871.
This increase becomes more important, perhaps, from the fact
tiiat although the acreage under green crops in 1870 aud 1869
did not vary much, it was, in both of those years, largely in
excess of what it was in 1868 and 1867. The first in tlie list
of the separate green crops is potato, and 40,000 additional
acres were planted with that crop in 1871, as compared with
1870, but the prevalence of the potato disease has greatly in-
terfered with a larger supply of so important an article of food.
In spite of bad crops, the cultivation of potatoes has increased

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

iu Great Briiaiu in each year siuce 1867, over which year tli^
returns for 1871 sliow an increase of 135,000 acres, or 27 per
cent. In Ireland, tlie land under potatoes was more by
15,000 acres in 1871 than in 1870. The acreage devoted to
the growth of turnips and swedes in 1871 shows a decrease, as
compared with 1870, to the extent of 47,000 acres in Great
Britain. In Ireland, the falling-oif in the acreage under
turnips in 1871, as compared with 1870, was 13,000 acres.

The decrease in the acreage of the turnip crop was made up
by a larger crop of mangold, with which 54,000 more acres
were sown in Great Britain in 1871 than iu 1870. The ex-
tended cultivation of mangold in Great Britain is strikingly
marked by an iucreBse in five years, from 1867 to 1871, o(
102,000 acres, or nearly 40 per cent. In Ireland, the culti-
vation of mangold is but on a small scale at present, but it
shows a marked increase. Carrots and cabbages, as agricul-
cultural crops, are not extensively grown, and do not show
much change as regards acreage. Kohl-rabi, the nutritious
properties of which are highly spoken of, is becoming more
important as a root crop iu Great Britain, especially iu the
driest counties. The increase of the acreage of the crop in
1871 over 1870 was 16,000 acres, and the total acreage used
for kohl-rabi has advanced from 13,000 acres in 1868 to
39,000 acres in 1871. Rape was grown as a green crop to a
larger extent in 1871 than in 1870 by 14,000 acres in Great
Britain ; and vetches or tares, which are sown upon a con-
siderable breadth of laud iu Great Britain, show a larger acre-
age in 1871 tiian in 1870 by 56,000 acres. The acreage at
present returned as under beetroot in Great Britain is not im-
portant. In 1871, in the collecting forms, the heading for beet-
root was divided so as to ascertain the quantity grown for
sugar and not for sugar. Ouly 1,884 acres were returned as
cultivated with beetroot for sugar, and 1,707 acres not for sugar.

There was a check to the cultivation of flax in Great Britain
in 1871. Tlie acreage under that crop had increased both in

1869 and 1870, but the returns for 1871 show only 17,366
acres under flax, about the same as in 1868, and 6,591 acres
less than in 1870.

The acreage under hops iu Great Britain continues below
what it was a few years since. In 1869 there was a marked
decline in the number of acres returned as planted with hops ;
in 1870 there was a further small decrease ; and the total of
60,030 acres for 1871 is a little less than the acreage in 1S70.
It is perhaps worth the consideration of farmers in some coun-
ties wlicre hop-planting has not hitlierto been introduced
whether it might not be successfully tried.

The quantity of uncropped arable land, or land left under
bare falllow, is now returned as considerably less tliau it was
when these returns were first obtained. A large part of the
decrease is owing to the right description of land being more
generally entered in the forms issued to the occupiers of laud.
But a change in the course of cultivation pursued has i)ro-
probably also had some eft'ect in the reduction of the acreage
under bare fallow. Tlie quantity of land so returned in 1871
was smaller by 67,000 acres than in 1870.

The total acreage under clover aud grass, under rotation,
was less in 1871 by 135,000 acres than in 1870 ; but the
quantity of land returned as under such kinds of grass in

1870 was largely iu excess of wliat it was in 1869. The dis-
tinction between grass under rotation and permanent grass
lias not been similarly understood by farmers in different parts
of the country, and that is partly tlie cause of variations in
returns for grass lands ; but it is believed greater uniformity
in this respect is now observed. Although the total number
of acres under clover and grass under rotation shows a fal-
ling off iu 1871, the quantity of this kind of grass-land set
apart for liay was more by 95,000 acres in 1871 than in 1870.
There would thus be, at an average yield of one ton per acre,
an increase in 1871 over 1870 of nearly 100,000 tons of
clover and artificial grass-hay, representing, at an average
price of £4 per ton, the sum of £400,000. There is a great
difference shuwn by the returns in the proportion of grass
under rotation in England aud in Scotland, which is reserved
for hay. In 1871 the proportion in England was nearly 60
per cent., against 26 per cent, in Scotland.

For permanent pasture, the returns of 1871 show a con-
siderable increase in the total average, to the extent of
363,000 acres. Of this additional acreage, 201,000 acres
were returned in England, the chief increase being in the
counties .of Cumberland, Devon, and the three Ridings of

York ; 67,000 acres iu Wales, principally in the counties of
Cardigan, Carmarthen, and Denbigh ; and 94,000 acres in
Scotland, with the increase chiefly marked in the counties of
Ayr, Perth, and Renfrew. The larger return of permanent
pasture iu 1871 was due partly to the entry under that iiead-
ing of land previously but erroneously classed as grass under
rotation, and partly to describing as pasture, additional quan-
tities of down or liilly grass land.

With respect to the proportion of permanent pasture re-
turned as " for hay" in 1871, a large increase will be expected
from the known deficiency of hay of the growth of the pre-
vious year. In Great Britain, 432,000 more acres of perma-
nent pasture were kept for hay in 1871 than in 1870. This
additional acreage, at an average yield of 18 cwt. per acre,
would make the meadow-hay crop of Great Britain in 1871
greater by 380,000 tons than tlie crop of 1870 at the same
average yield. Tlie actual difference between the crops of
hay in 1870 and 1871 was probably, under the influence of
the seasons, larger than this estimated amount of increase iu
I87I. But it may be of some interest to notice how much
the acreage for a crop following upon a bad season was ex-
tended. The value of the estimated yield from the additional
acreage of meadow-hay in 1871 would, at £3 per [oa, amount
to as much as £1,140,000. This sum, added to the estimated
value of the extra growth of clover aud artificial grass-hay iu
1871, would show tliat provision was made by the farmers of
Great Britain for a larger growth of hay of all kinds in 1871
over 1870 of the estimated worth of £1,540,000.

A comparison of the leturns of live stock in 1871 against

1870 exhibits some variations in the number of animals kept
by occupiers of land, more especially as regards sheep. With
respect to horses there was a slight decrease of 13,000 in tlie
total number returned as used for agricultural purposes in
Great Britain in 1871. The number of licences issued for
horses subject to duty was 856,M0 in 1871 against 841,208
in 1870. The total stock of horses in the United Kingdom in

1871 has already been stated as amounting to 2,648,000.
But allowing for more than one licence for some horses, upon
change of ownership, the total number of hores may be taken
at 2,600,000 in round numbers. This is a large number in
proportion to the area as compared with some foreign coun-
tries. It exceeds the number of horses in Prussia and Prance.
Horses are the most costly kind of live stock to maintain, and
it is probable that, taking one class of horses with another,
the general annual cost of horses of an ago for work in this
country is not far short of their actual value.

The total number of cattle returned iu Great Britain in
1871, shows a decrease of 65,000 as compared with 1870.
Taking cows and heifers only, the decrease was 70,000, but
the number of other cattle was slightly increased. Iu Ireland
the stock of cattle, which is considerable, was larger in 1S71
than in 1870 by 177,000 head. Of the total number of cattle
in Great Britain in 1871, 39 per cent, comprised cows and
heifers in milk or in calf, 26 per cent, other cattle of two years
of age and above, and 35 per cent, other cattle under two
years of age.

The stock of sheep is more affected by the character of the
seasons tlian the stock of cattle. Owing to repeated drougiit,
and the consequent shortness of green food, the number of
sheep in Great Britain decreased in each of the years 1869,
1870, and 1871. The total number in 1871 was smaller than
in 1870 by 1,278,000, smaUer than in 1869 by 2,419,000,
aud smaller than in 1868 by 3,592,000, or nearly 12 per
cent. In Ireland the number of sheep in 1871 was
smaller by 105,000 than in 1870, aud smaller by 672,775
than iu 1868.

Under more favourable conditions as regards the supply and
cost of food, the stock of pigs in Great Britain, so far as re-
turned, shows an increase of 328,000 in 1871 over 1870.
And in Ireland there were 157,000 more pigs in 1871 than
iu 1870.

A comparative table of the chief results of the agricultural
returns as separately exhibited in the grazing aud corn dis-
tricts of England is given as in previous years. It may be de-
sirable to repeat the names of the counties included in each
district or division.

The Grazing or Western Division includes the counties of
Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham, Westmoreland, York
(North and West Ridings), Lancaster, Chester, Derby, Staf-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

339

ford, Leicester, Salop, Worcester, Hereford, Monmouth,
Gloucester, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, aud Cornwall.

The Corn or Eastern Division, includes the counties of York
(East Riding), Lincoln, Nottingham, Rutland, Huntingd®n,
Warwick, Northampton, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedford,
Bucks, Oxford, Berks, Hants, Hertford, Esses, Middlesex,
Surrey, Kent, and Susses.

The total acreage as returned for the counties named in each
of the three divisions does not materially differ, hut the acre-
ages aud per-centage proportions for the several kinds of crops
show in many instances marked signs of difference in the
course of cultivation followed in the grazing as compared with
the corn districts in England. It may perhaps be of some in-
terest to point out tliat, whilst the acreage under corn is in ex-

cess in the corn districts by 1,628,000 acres, the acreage under
green crops (except potatoes) and grass under rotation is only
larger in the corn districts by 206,000 acres. The return of
tlie acreage of orchards shows that the proportion of land
used also for fruit trees is considerably higher in the grazing
or grass divison tiian in the corn division. A comparison of
the number of sheep in the two divisions as given this year
aud in last year's returns, shows a larger proportionate falling
off in the stock of sheep in 1871 in the corn than in the
grazing division. In the former (comparing 1871 with 1870)
the decrease was at the rate of about 8"5 per cent, and in the
latter at the rate of 6'5 per cent.

W. A. FONBLANQUE.

Statisiical Department, Board of Trade, February, 1872.

THE FARMERS' OLUB.

THE TRANSIT OF LIVE STOCK.

At the monthly meeting on Monday evening, March 4, Mr.
H. Cheffins in the Chair, the subject stood in the name of Mr.
A. Welch, of Southall.

After a few prefatory remarks from the Chairman,
Mr. Welch introduced the subject as follows :
The subject we have to consider this evening is the transit
of live stock. It is a subject of great importance, and one in
which not only the members of this Club, representatives of
the farming interest, but also the public generally, have taken
a deep interest, and it still receives its share of the interest
attaching to other problems which it is desirable to have solved.
The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland are pressing
the Executive for increased accommodation for tlie watering of
cattle. In the Farmers' Magazine for January, 1872, 1 read the
following under the head " Highland and Agricultural Society of
Scotland : " The report by the Committee on the Transit of
Animals by Railway was submitted. It embodies the whole
proceedings of tlie Society from the time the subject was first
taken up by the directors in 1867, and proceeds as follows :
'After carefully considering the documents submitted, and the
Act to which the Order of Council has reference, the com-
mittee beg to recommend that the board should again commu-
nicate with the Lords of the Privy Council, through Dr.
Alexander Williams, specially pointing out — I. That the Order
of Council (300) called " The Transit of Animals Order of
May, 1870," for providing trucks with spring buffers and sup-
plying water to animals carried by railway, is not only system-
atically evaded, but is defective in respect that provision is not
made for supplying animals with food ; and that a new Order
of Council is urgently called for. In the new Order it should
be specially provided — (1) That animals should be supplied
with water when trucked and untrucked ; and during the
journey both with food aud water. The necessary food to be
provided by the owner of the animals, the water by the rail-
way company. The Act says that if animals are allowed to be
in trucks without water for a period between twelve and thirty
hours (to be fixed by the Privy Council), the railway company
will be guilty of an offence. A rule of the same kind should
be adopted for food against the owners. (2) That in addition
to the spring buffers stated in the Order of Council (300), it is
absolutely necessary to provide covered waggons, closed at the
ends, and 18 inches along the sides from each end, with an
arrangement of troughs for the proper supply of the animals
with water, and racks for supplying hay in the trucks during

the journey. IT. That many important railway stations where
animals are trucked and untrucked are not included in the
schedule attached to the Order of Council (324-) called " The
Transit of Animal (Water) Order of March, 1871." (Here
follow the list of additional stations suggested ; but the com-
mittee consider that should the Privy Council issue an order
that water be supplied in the trucks, it will not be necessary
to have it at all the stations enumerated.) The committee
further suggest that should the Privy Council not give effect
to the representations proposed to be made to them, an in-
fluential deputation should be formed to Vi'ait on their Lord-
ships.' The report was approved of by the directors."
The February number of the same magazine con-
tains the following reply of the Privy Council :—
" Princes-street, Westminster, 31st December, 1871. Sir,—
I have submitted to the Lords of the Council your letter of
the 8th instant, transmitting except from the minutes of a
special committee of the Highland and Agricultural Society of
Scotland on the transit of animals. Referring to the minutes
above alluded to, I am directed to state that any specific case
of evasion of the provisions of the Transit of Animals Order
of May 1870, if reported to this office, will receive the atten-
tion of the Privy Council. With reference to the first provi-
sion proposed by the committee, I have to inform you that no
means which the Privy Council would feel justified in en-
forcing have been suggested to their Lordships for the supply
of water to animals during transit. On this point I beg to
draw your attention to the enclosed copy of the report of the
Transit of Animals Committee. I am directed to state that
the suggestion of the committee as regards covered waggons,
and as regards food being provided, shall be taken into consi-
deration by their Lordships. I have the honour to inform you
that of the 44 stations suggested by your Society to be in-
cluded in the schedule to the Transit of Animals (Water)
Order of March 1871, it is already proposed to include 25 in
the next order of Council relating thereto. Of the remaining
19, at 13 stations the traffic is so small as not to call for the
expenditure necessary to supply them with water. We are in
communication with the authorities of three on the subject of
water supply ; and it has been reported to this office that the
supply of water to the remaining three would involve a very
large outlay. I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient ser-
vant, Alexander Williams, Sec. To the Secretary of
tlie Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland," I

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may atUl that a veterinary congress is uow assembk-il at
Vienua to take into consideration tlie whole subject
of the transit of live stock. Tor my part I think
it a proposition which cannot he controverted, that great
advantages would he afforded to stock owners and to the
community generally by adopting an improved and a
more humane system for the transit of our neat stock, our
horses, and our sheep. Indeed, a marked improvement in the
condition of our stock brought to market has already resulted
from public opinion pressing upon the Legislature and the
Executive Government better regulations for the transit of
animals by land and by sea ; and improvements may certainly
be carried further. Before I proceed to enter at length upon
the subject, I hope you will permit me to explain to
you the occasion of my bringing it before the
meeting ; because, as a comparatively newly -elected member it
might appear presumptuous in me to come forward and take
the leading part in this evening's discussion, especially when
tliere are many older members of the Club of such great experi-
ence, and possessing such a thoroughly practical knowledge of
our subject — gentlemen who justly have the ear of the Club,
and are much better qualified than I am to lay the whole mat-
ter before you. The occasion was this : I wrote a letter, which,
I trust, you will permit me, as an introduction to my subject, now
to read to you : " To Henry Corbet, Esq., Secretary, farmers'
Club. Sir, — In reply to your circular, inviting suggestion of
subjects for discussion at the monthly meetings of the commit-
tee of the Farmers' Club, I would suggest the subject of the
transit of cattle, horses, and sheep by railway, as one espe-
cially requiring their attentive consideration. There are really
no reasons of any weight why our domesticated animals should
be subject to the hard and cruel treatment they endure on
their journeys by railway, thereby entailing the heavy loss on
the stockowner from the damage to animals, received from the
rough and careless conduct of the traffic. The consideration
of the subject by the eminent practical agriculturists compos,
ing your committee would elicit the proper measures to apply
a remedy, and probably institute a better conduct of the traf-
fic. A few days ago, at a meeting of the Central Chamber of
Agriculture, Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., instanced two cases of the
hard treatment of cattle travelling by railway— one where
cattle sent from Norfolk into Kent were detained without food
or water in the cattle-trucks from sis o'clock a.m. on Monday
until four p.m. the following Wednesday. Another, in which
some cattle from Aberdeen, were detained from Monday until
the Thursday following. Such cases constantly occur ; in-
deed, it is exaggerating but little to say, that animals travel-
ling by railwajs have been dealt with much as wood or stone,
and not as animated beings which should have refreshment
supplied to them on their journeys according to their organisa-
tion ; but which the present railway system does not permit
however desirous the owner of such animals might be to sup-
ply it. Some steps have of late been taken in the proper di-
rection in this matter, but stockowners themselves are the
proper persons to impress the improvements which are ur-
gently needed. I am, sir, yours very obediently, A. V^ .
When I wrote that letter in reply to the circular of the
committee of the Club, I was not aware that it was a rule
that those who suggested should undertake the responsi-
bility of laying their subject before the meeting. In treating
of the transit of live stock and subjects pertaining to it, I
shall not forget that I am addressing practical men who are
Tvell acquainted with them, and I shall not pile up a mass of

figures to show the magnitude of the hallic. 1 «ill merely
mention that 60,000 head of cattle were landed at the Norwich
station of the Great Eastern Railway alone, during the last
autumn months. Traffic quite as extensive is going on at
numerous stations over the length and breadth of the land.
I have long taken a great interest in, and I have been at con-
siderable pains in endeavouring to improve, the means for the
conveyance of our cattle ; and the present seemed to me a
favourable time for a fresh survey of the whole subject of
transit of live stock— a time to reckon up how much improve-
ments had been made in respect of it, and to see to what ex-
tent the needs of the cattle as regards their being supplied
with food and water and shelter and other comforts had been
provided for. I remember, when fat cattle were driven up by
the road, it was estimated that in a journey of 100 miles, bul-
locks would lose each 10 stones, and sheep 1 stone. The con-
signors of cattle from Scotland to the London market now esti-
mate the loss in weight of the cattle from the journey at from
4 to 6 stones each. A gentleman of great experience and prac-
tical knowledge, who gave his evidence before the committee
appointed by the Lord President of the Privy Council to in-
vestigate this subject of transit, gives it as his opinion that
cattle would, under conditions which he details, lose 8 pounds
per day per head from the day they leave the graziers' yard.
The following is from the minutes of evidence published with
the Report of the Committee of Privy Council, p. 15, No.
316 : " It is my firm opinion that every bullock from the mo-
ment it leaves its grazier's yard, will lose 8 pounds a-day in
weight, besides loose fat. It is beyond all description—
the loss. Very few people understand it ; it has been a con-
stant cause of contention between the farmers in the country
and the butchers in London." This has reference to cattle
under the ordinary conditions of transit— in respect of cattle
which we may presume are better cared for thau other
cattle, and which may fairly be supposed to receive the
utmost attentiou that can be given to their needs. I have
taken the weights of the same beasts weighed for the last Birm-
ingham Show and weighed afterwards for the Smithfield Club
Cattle Show, and the 40 beasts show a total gain of 10 stones
libs. Now I would put it to the meeting—is not the proper
transit of cattle a matter of national thrift in the department
of agriculture which our Royal Society, and the other grand
societies which have reached almost equal importance, would
do well to investigate ? The Report of the Committee of
Council recommends to the Privy Council " Tliat further ex-
periments should be made to ascertain which, or what
combination of which, of the modes proposed of feeding
and watering it would be most advantageous to adopt ;
and then that it should be imperative upon all carriers
of animals, when tlie distance traversed is 300 miles
or upwards, to provide food and water for the animals
so carried, and to see that such food and water is offered
to the animals." Could not these societies make arrangements
for the weighing of animals at their starting from their homes
for the various shows, and for the weighing of them vrhen
received into the show yard, taking into account also
the food and water the beasts have consumed during
the journeys? Is there any reason why they should not
offer' prizes for the best adapted cattle-trucks— trucks
which would carry cattle in the most advantageous manner
for the profit of stock owners and the consumers of meat ?
Are not such vehicles as machines devoted to the carriage of
agricultural produce of as much importance as carts and wagjona

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3j1

for the conveyance of corn and otlier produce to market, and as
much or more worthy of attracting mechanical ingenuity and
practical knowledge in relation to the functions, habits, and
requirements of cattle, so as to get them built in the most ap-
propriate manner ? The London Farmers' Club, composed as
it is of men eminent in every department of agricnltnre, is an
institution which should give an opinion on these matters
with great weight and authority. I look upon this Club as
especially the eye to see to the farming interest, and the brain
te devise measures for its complete development. The action
taken by our Club in the transit of live stock has done much
to guide public opinion upon it, and to advance sound views as
respects the Government regulations ; and 1 think it will not
be uninteresting, or a waste of time, if I briefly refer to former
proceedings of the Club on this subject. So long ago as Feb-
ruary, 1868, the question was most ably brought before you
by the member for South Norfolk : you will fiud the account
at page 5 of the Journal : " At Norwich station I have fre-
quently seen cattle at nine or ten on Saturday morning, and
they remain there until two, three, and four o'clock in the af-
ternoon. (A. voice : ' Six o'clock.') Well, I have seen them
at four. Notwithstanding the immense import of stock into
Norwich, there is not a single drop of water at that station
for cattle. It is said that there is a river within .300 yards of
the station. AVhy, in like manner it may be said that there
are plenty of bakers' shops at the east-end of London, but the
people do not all get as much bread as they want. I trust that
now that the chairman of tlie Eastern Counties' Railway is a
nobleman of great ability and a man of business, that defect at
all events will be remedied. At present the cattle remain
without food or water till Sunday morning, and at ten or
eleven o'clock they are placed in the lairs, of course in a fit
condition for contracting any disease. The distance from
Aberdeen to London is 550 miles. Mr. Tegg, the inspector
of cattle at the Metropolitan Market, stated in '6i that cattle
conveyed by the railway companies from Scotland leave there
on Thursday, and do not get to the lairs of the Metropolitan
Cattle Market until Saturday, and he has every reason to be-
lieve that they have neither food nor water during the transit ;
and if there were any predisposing causes of disease this cruel
treatment may well induce its appearance. Of course there is
here more harm to the consumer than to the buyer. The
animals are killed too soon to produce actual disease, but the
meat must be less wholesome. Consumers in London talk a
great deal about the bad quality of the meat which is grazed,
and the amount of oilcake and other artificial foods used in fat-
tening animals ; but I believe that what I have mentioned has
more to do with tlie defects in question than anything else.
Now, in the case of store-stock transit, all these miseries are,
of course, augmented. Store stock cannot stand heat, cold,
and fasting so well as old fat cattle." You have
thus a statement of the condition of transit, at that
time. Looking " on that picture and on this" — I mean the
state of things under Act of 1869, and that under the Orders
of May, 1870, and December, 1871 — looking at the cleansed
and disinfected cattle trucks, some of tliem roofed over, and all
constructed with spring bulf'ers, and the water troughs, such
as they are at many stations, we wonder how it could possibly
have happened, under our popular constitution, with free
liberty of speech and a parliament full of Farmers' Friends, that
such obvious and simple contrivances for the barest require-
ments of the cattle traflic could have so long been neglected.
And " still the wonder grows" that the very obvious regula-
tions recommended in the Report of the Committee appointed

by the Privy Council have not yet been enforced. The fact is,
as one of the Ministers has lately avowed, it is for the Govern-
ment rather to follow than to lead public opinion. They must
watch the division list, weigh the probable result of elections,
and calculate the relative force of special powerful trading in-
terests in the House ; and, unless they can assure themselves
of a powerful public opinion to outweigh such influences as
these, tliey dare not act. The divinely-gifted man, to
whose far-seeing genius all shall submit, has not yet
grasped the helm of tlie State. Until he does, we
must take the sagacious advice of the member for
South Norfolk, and press. As he said, "Nothing can
be done in these days without pressure." I think you
will be of opinion that the powers given to the Privy Council,
under the Act of 1869 (The Contagious Diseases Animals Act
of 1869 enacts : ), have not been enforced to the extent that
they might be. We are so conservative in this old England'
that only a great catastrophe, a national calamity, can move us
out of the beaten track of an old procedure, and the fearful
visitation of the cattle-plague, by arresting public attention
and turning it to consider the means of a better transit for our
cattle, induced the Government to bring forward measures re-
sulting in the Act of 1869— the cattle's Magna Charta.
With respect to the watering of cattle during transit, what was
your (the Farmer's Club) recommendation in tlie letter you
sent to the Privy Council ? It was that cattle should be
watered every twelve hours. Let me read what you recom-
mended in full : " At a special meeting of the Committee held
at the Club House, Salisbury Square, on Monday, October 4th,
Mr. R. J. Newton in the chair, the circular letter from tlie
Privy Council Oflice on the transit of animals came under
consideration, when the following answer was agreed to —
The Committee of the Club would in the outset impress the
great importance of the more speedy transit and delivery of
animals carried by railway, while it would further recommend
that all trucks for the conveyance of animals upon railways
should be fitted with spring bufl'ers. That, in order to pre-
vent the injurious efi'ects upon the animals by the shunting ot
the trains and from other causes, the trucks should be divisible
into compartments. That it is undesirable to unload animals
during transit by railway. That animals should not be upon
a railway for more than twelve hours \^ ithout water ; and that
railway companies should be compelled to provide means for
the proper watering of cattle before loading. That any ap-
pliances for the watering of animals should be attached either
to the carriages, or troughs should be so placed at the stations
that animals.travelling for more than twelve consecutive hours
can drink from such troughs without being removed from the
trucks. With respect to the feeding of cattle, the Committee
is of opinion that there are great difficulties in the adoption of
any plan, and is not sure that the feeding is necessary or desir-
able. That all vessels for the conveyance of cattle should be
licensed for the purpose ; and that the number of animals such
vessels should be laden with be defined, on the same principle
as is adopted with emigrant ships. That the vessels should be
divided or divisible into compartments in the same way the
Committee has recommended for railway trucks. That pleuro-
pneumonia and other diseases are no doubt engendered by the ex-
posure to which animals are subjected on landing, and that
sheltered accommodation should be provided on their disem-
barking." The Central Chamber of Agriculture re-
commended twelve hours ; the Cheshire Cliamber twelve hours .
the Cornwall Chamber twelve hours in winter and ten hours
in summer; the North Riding of Yorkshire Chamber twelve
hours; Scottish Chamber twelve hours and the same period after-
wards (There is a demurrer to this from Mr. Wm. McCombie,

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M.P., at page 77 of the Appeadix to tlie Report of the Privy
Coimcil Committee) ; the West Riding of Yorkshire also re-
coinniended twelve hours; the Worcestershire Chamber twelve ;
the Midland Club twelve ; the Penrith Club six or eight ; Mr.
Wm. Torr eight hours ; and Professor Hugh Ferguson twice a
day. The Privy Council have not fixed less than thirty hours
for first watering, as opposed to the remarkable unanimity of
the foregoing opinions. I must not omit to allude to those of
a body of gentlemen composing the Royal Northern Agri-
cultural Society, and endorsed by the Chairman, the member
for Aberdeenshire, Mr. McCombie, for whom we must feel
the highest respect, and to whose opinion and those of
his colleagues we would willingly show great defer-
ence. But the member for West Aberdeenshire is
here, and will speak for himself. I would always
well weigh the advice of observant practical men ;
but when there is a conflict of opinion among them, it is well
to consider the opiuioa of men of science. What says Pro-
_ fessor Siraouds upon the point ? " There cannot be a doubt
that the feeding and watering of animals on their journey to
a fat cattle market would prevent, to a certain extent, that
waste of tissue which invariably takes place in the travelling
of cattle, and would also tend to maintain that 'juicy' and
well known superior quality ol the meat which is met with in
animals when killed at home. Prom a humane point of view,
also, it is exceedingly desirable that animals should liave both
food and water on long journeys, the latter being especially re-
quired during the heat of summer." Now, I think I can re-
fer to the opinion of a practical mau fully corroborative of the
Professor's observations as to waste of tissue. He says, in
reference to cattle kiUed from off' long journeys : " There is
occasionally a want of thai freshness that we see in the beasts
that come a shorter distance." On railway transit the Privy
Council have made no Order for animals to be fed, except on
the requirement of the owner, under the Act of 1869, section
64. As to food, you, the Farmers' Club, were not sure food was
desirable. Science is against you. I would remark that to
keep your cattle thrifty you feed them three times iu twelve
hours during the day, and you fill the racks well at night that
they may not want before morning; you then send
them away for a 30 or it may be a 40 hours' journey
without food. And I would again refer you to the
comparison of weights of the beasts exhibited at the Birming-
ham and London shows, as proving how care and food will
sustain cattle in travelling. You recommended a more speedy
transit, Tliere is a perfect unanimity upon the advantage of
this to the cattle. Mr. AVilliam Torr says : " The great ob-
jection now is to trucks with cast-iron wheels going on with
passenger trains ; if the wheels of the cattle trucks wxre made
with wrought-iron, the same as passenger trains, they would
pass along with passenger trains, and I think it is very short-
sighted economy in railways, where there are not many cattle-
trucks, not having them on wrought-iron," The Committee
appointed by the Privy Council say in their report : " Having
cast-iron wheels instead of wrought-iron, they are not, as a rule,
permitted to be sent by passenger, i.e., by the fastest trains."
As to spring buffers, tliey are now universally provided. There
is great agreement not to have cattle unloaded during the
journey. But unless the hay and the water are carried in the
truck with the beasts, or there are proper sidings and carriages
adapted to the sidings, how are the animals to be refreshed ?
Such provision is not yet made, nor is it ordered. We now
arrive at an important recommendation for our consideration ;
it is the dividing trucks iuto compartments. I think there can
be no question as to the great advantage of this for fat cattle.
Bui I do not find in the report of the Privy Council Committee
that that subject was at all entertained by them, notwithstanding
ihat tlie matter was urged on the committee by the Cheshire
Chamber, the Devon Chamber, the Midland Chamber, the Pen-
rith Club, the Farmers' Club, and others. Much deterioration
would be prevented from bruises by tliis means. It would allow
of the sorting of cattle and would give them a better oppor-
tunity to lie down and rest on the journey. None of the car-
riages are so constructed, nor is there auy order to enforce it
although there is great testimony to the advantages that must
accrue. In ray own letter of recommendation to the committee
I have advised the supplying of more elastic springs to the cattle
trucks, whicli I consider a point of great importance. I there
say : " A quicker transit, more elastic butlers, and springs,
preventing the constant wearying tremor through the frames of
the cattle, would contribute much to their ease." Possibly it

may have been the fate once in the lives of some present—
if not I should recommend them to try it — to ride at
a trot in a cart without springs, or with springs con-
structed for a ton weight. In such a position you are
able to realise the dreadful position of the poor cattle standing
on ribbed floors, hurried along at 15 or 20 miles an hour iu
carriages with springs stiff enough to carry treble their weight.
This is the cause of the break-down of many a young ox, and
I would venture to ask members of the veterinary or medical
profession what must be the effect on the nervous -system of this
violent shaking. On this point the Privy Council committee
say in their report: " The jolting and severe shaking now often
experienced by the animals, by whicli it appears in the evidence
that much pain and damage is often inflicted." The follow-
ing are, I have ascertained, the dimensions of some of the
springs of railway carriages : First and second-class passenger
carriages, length 6 feet, 12 leaves each, |ths of an inch thick,
width 3 inches ; truck registered to carry 8 tons, length 3 feet
6 inches, 12 leaves each, fths of an inch thick, width 3
inclies ; truck registered to carry 9 tons, length 3 feet 6 inches,
10 leaves each, fths of an inch thick, width 4 inches ; cattle
truck, length 3 feet 6 inches, 12 leaves, fths of an inch
thick, width 3 inches. Average weight of stalled cattle
alive say 140 stones of 81bs., or halfa ton each. Thus
the trucks for cattle, which are never weighted with
a load of more than four tons, have springs equal to the
carriage of 8 or 10 tons. A supply of saw-dust or tanner's
bark kept at the stations to strew over the floors of the
cattle truck would conduce very much to the comfort of the
cattle, and help them through long journeys in standing up
and also in lying down. Ribbed floors are very necessary for
foothold, but without saw-dust they are extremely
wearying and painful for the beasts to stand upon. Tar-
paulins and other conveniences are supplied for mer-
chandise. Is there any reason why the necessary conveniences
should not be supplied for cattle as well ? At present the pro-
vender for cattle is protected better than the cattle themselves.
In the transit of animals by sea the difficulties are greater than
by land, because we have to contend with a power compared
with whicli aU our efforts must be feebleness itself. With a
fair wind and a moderate sea, cattle come to hand better by
tlie well-ventilated and properly-fitted ship than they do by
railway. Tiie Privy Council have a dilllculty in dealing with
vessels, because some are not under the British flag, and carry
cattle as occasional cargo only. On a full consideration of the
subject in all its bearings, I think we are fully warranted in
requesting the Privy Council to put m action the power with
which sections 64 and 75 of the Contagious Diseases (Ani-
mals) Act of 1869 has invested them, the immediate object
being that every cattle-truck should be roofed over to protect
cattle from the sun, as well as from the rain and snow ; that
the trucks should be surveyed and branded, to denote their
fitness of construction ; that they should be run on wrought
wheels, and furnished with springs suited to the weight they
have to carry, and that they should be partitioned transversely
across the centre ; also, that a supply of sawdust, or tanners'
bark, should be kept at all stations for strewing the floors of
the cattle-trucks, and that tlie water-troughs at the stations
should be made of suitable dimensions for the traffic. I think
it is very desirable also that we should endeavour to persuade
our great agricultural societies to undertake experiments in
weighing cattle sent by rail, and to grant prizes for trucks
best adapted for the traffic- In placing ihis important subject
— imperfectly, as I am aware — before you, I have not given
you an hypothesis merely, 1 have given you facts. You have
my reasons for all I have advanced, substantiated by recognised
authority; and, in the main, I have dealt with the question,
and laid it before you this evening, in its commercial bearings
only. But there is another aspect of it enlisting the public
sympathies in which it must also be viewed. Not in this
room, and, I trust, in no other assemblage of British farmers,
will considerations of humanity be set aside or disregarded.
We cannot ignore the sympathies of a common origin. The
mere materialist, iu his researches in physcial science, per-
ceives this, and, in the words of an eloquent professor, we are
all children of the sun. In our own construction and the
construction of lower animal life there is a similarity of com-
bination ; hut more — there is » mystery involved also. Tke
lower animals are placed nuder our dominion, and we incor-
porate and assimilate tlieir constituents in our own. All
things are given to man, but with the requirement of a

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343

thouglitful disposition of tliem according to the enlightenment
of our knowledge.

Mr. M'CoMBiE, M.P., said : The transit of live stock is a
subject that deeply affects the interests of the farmers of tlie
North of Scotland ; and without further preface, and witli
your leave, sir, I will at once proceed to make a few observa-
tions on this important matter (Hear, hear). We have an
express cattle-train every Thursday from Aberdeen to London.
Tlie Railway Company profess to run the train in 36 hours ;
but the time taken on the journey is often e.^tended to -iO and
43 hours, and is sometimes longer. The distance from Aber-
deen to London is about 520 miles. I live 30 miles west
from Aberdeen, and I am therefore 550 miles from London.
I have cattle in the London market weekly from the middle
of October to the middle of April. Along with the
graziers and the jobbers in the North of Scotland
I am deeply interested in the transit of live stock,
vrhich is in a very unsatisfactory position. As an example,
I may state that the other day I forwarded a truck of breeding
cattle to Mr. Head, the member for Norfolk, from Aberdeen-
shire. I booked them to Norfolk. Some were heavy in calf.
They were three days and eiglit hours on the road, and more
than three days witliout food or water (Hear, hear). I seut
in the previous week a truck of breediug cattle to Norfolk,
and they were exactly the same length of time on transit. I
give these cases merely as specimens of how we are treated by
the railway companies. There are complaints every day, but
it is of no use to expostulate with them (Hear, liear). They
tell you that they are very sorry for the unavoidable delay, and
are most obligiug in other respects, but give no relief by the
curtailment of time. They will do nothing unless they are
compelled (Hear, hear). The passenger trains run the dis-
tance from Aberdeen to Loudon in sixteen and a-half hours.
The express cattle train might run it in thirty hours ; and I
think this would meet the views of the senders generally.
The deterioration in weight of the cattle seut by railway to
London must be great, and a heavy loss to the senders and
consumers, owing to the long time the animals are on transit.
I train my cattle for their long journey. I send them out, a
week before they start, to a field. They are there walked
slowly for three or four hours, and this is repeated every alter-
nate day before they start. By this method the cattle are fairly
set on their legs, and I have never lost a beast by rail. The
jobber buys at the fair a lot of cattle that have travelled the
same morning ten or fifteen miles to the market, and have
seen neither sun nor moon for perliaps sis or eight months.
They are immediately consigned from the market to the rail-
way truck. Leg-wearied, down they go, and, being unable to
rise, they are trampled to death. Many a valuable animal is
lost in this way, from the want of training, but this is no
fault of the railway companies (Hear, hear). Now, sir, what
we want is the curtailment of the time on transit. Every
bullock from Aberdeen costs before he is sold from £1 18s.
to £3 a-head. We do not complain of this ; only let the time
be sliortened, that we may suffer less loss from dete-
rioration, and in the cause of humanity. But hosv is
this to be rectified ? Some say by Act of Parliament ;
others say, " Stand by the Law, and give the cattle food and
water every thirty hours ;" others say, " Let us have Mr.
Welch and Keid's trucks." It is very easy to say pass an
Act of Parliament, but it is not so easy to accomplish it
(Hear, hear). The Railway interest in the House of Com-
mons is very strong. I found it too strong for me when I
attempted to make an alteration two years ago. The tenant
farmers' interests have never been represented in the House
of Commons (Hear, hear). The county and the borough mem-
bers have it all their own way, and we shall never be properly
represented till we send gentlemen of our own class to speak
for us (cheers). It may be that in some counties a tenant-
farmer cannot be found to undertake the responsibility. We
must then send to Parliament a proprietor in whom we can
place implicit confidence, and who will go heart
and soul in favour of the interest of the British farmer.
We must not accept any " uncertain sound ;" we must
have a solemn pledge that he will support us in all the measures
that affect our interest (Hear, hear). And these measures
must be clearlv and separately brought before him for his ac-
ceptance ; for it is wonderful how some men, and how soon
they try to wriggle out of their engagements (laughter). We
must hold them fast. We have the matter in our own liands.

We now feel our power and will exercise it (Hear, hear). I
recollect a time when our Aberdeenshire member gave no
pledge except that he would vote for the abolition of the Malt-
tax. No questions were asked; but he had a lord for his
brother, and the dukes and lairds and lords at his back, and
the tenant-farmers were nowhere (Hear, hear) . We will not
be led away by the cry either of Whig or of Tory (Hear,
hear). The question with us will be who is the candidate
that will best support our interests ; and that is the man we
will support. Although an independent supporter of the
Government sitting below the gangway, I am displeased with
the conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer (laughter).
He has saddled us with the Gun-tax, with a duty on shep-
herds' dogs, a tax on the farm-carts that take the old and in-
firm to church ; and a farmer cannot exchange a horse during
his lifetime without having to pay the liorse-dealers' licence of
£12 13s. The right hon. gentleman will take no advice. He
is far above that (laughter). He was obliged to hear the
matchmakers (laughter), and I trust the day is not far distant
when he will be obliged to hear us (Hear, hear). The Go-
vernment should shake themselves clear of him if they are
wise men (laughter). He has done them a great deal of harm.
The law says you must water cattle if longer than 30 hours
on transit. Our Aberdeen cattle are more than 30 hours on
transit. Some of my friends in Scotland advocate the feeding
and watering of cattle on transit. It may be very well for
those who are living around Edinburgh, who send few cattle
to London, and who, if they do send any, can send them within
30 hours, but they have not considered the position of their
northern friends, and I think I shall be able to prove to you
this evening that it is impractical and impossible to water and
feed cattle between Aberdeen and London with the present
method of carrying cattle by rail. Some who are ignorant of
the subject will say, you can easily loose the cattle from the
trucks into a field, give them food and water, and re-truck
them again. We shall see whether this can be done without
a much greater case of inhumanity than allowing them to
proceed on their journey in the ordinary way. An express
train of say 25 trucks leaves Aberdeen, for example. I have
two or three trucks filled with fat bullocks ; I have got the
trv-cks covered ; I have put saw-dust below the feet of the
cattle ; the cattle have been in'one yard and trained together ;
they can lie down when inclined (I never over-crowd the
trucks), and are able to rise when so disposed. Severalof
my neighbours have cattle similarly situated in the train.
Then we have a truck or two of valuable breeding cows,
heavy in-calf, and a truck or two of valuable one and two-
year-old heifers not served with the buU. But in the train
we have belonging to another sender or owner a different sex.
We have a truck or two entirely composed of bulls, which are
loose like our bullocks. Another sender has two bulls and four
bullocks or heifers. The two bulls are secured by strong ropes
attached to the ring in the nose of the bull, and the ropes are
firmly tied to the framing in the two separate ends of the
truck. The bullocks are quite safe in the middle between
them. It may be that there is but one bull, and five bullocks,
cows, or heifers. This is an every day occurrence. In the
above manner the express cattle-train starts for London. If
the present law is carried out what must be the unavoidable
consequences ? After the 30 hours have expired the whole
cattle in the express cattle-train are set at liberty for the pur-
pose of being fed and watered — bulls, bullocks, cows in-calf,
and heifers not in-calf (laughter.) The railway servants may
unloose the bulls, but how are they to tie them up again ?
(Hear, hear.) When at liberty the bulls will draw to the
cows and heifers ; and some of the heifers may be in heat at
the time, and the scene baffles description. It is an impossi-
bility but that some of tlie cows that are heavy in calf, and
the heifers in heat, if they are not killed on the spot must be
irretrievably injured (Hear, hear.) But the last picture of the
drama has still to be performed. The 150 cattle have to be
retrucked. It is well known to all persons acquainted
with the cattle trafBc, that cattle that have once been
trucked are very difficult to re-truck, and it is often
only by force that it can be effected. Even if it
were possible for the railway servants to put tlie beasts into
their own trucks again, tliey could never attempt it on account
of the time it would occupy to draw the lots by their different
marks. Breeding cattle generally have no marks ; the number
of the truck only designates them— so many beasts from A. B.

344

THE FAKMEli'lS MAGAZINE.

to C. D. This is a barrier that caunot be got over. We can-
not e^pe^t the railway servants to have the same ability to draw
eattle as the London or Dumfries drovers. Since droving by
land was superseded by steam in Aberdeenshire, we have not
had a man who can draw cattle properly. The old cattle
drovers liave almost to a man gone to their rest. There are
no drovers equal to those belonging to Dumfries. Those men
do the cattle justice, and it is delightful to sec how they perform
their work. The London drover is very severe on the cattle.
If I have proved that the drawing of the cattle and the replac-
ing them as formerly in the trucks are impossible — what must
be the inevitable consequences ? The cattle must be returned
indiscriminately to the trucks — bulls, cows, heifers, and
bullocks being mixed, just as is most convenient to the
railway servants (Hear, hear). Can the hulls that
were secured to the corners of the trucks be
put in their places again ? Where are the loose bulls now to
stand ? Why, indiscriminately, with bullocks, cows heavy in
calf, heifers in heat, &c. The heifers in heat cannot be
separated from the stronger bulls, some of the weaker bulls
will take side with the cows (laughter), and there will be
frequent deaths before the cattle reach their destination. Ho(v
many breeding animals will receive injury from which they
will never recover ? A word as to the fat stock. Tliere must
be great waste and deterioration in their condition, and some
will go down, owing to their bad treatment, to the loss of their
owners and to the loss of tiie consumers. You are aware
that some bulls are so vicious that even their keepers can
liardly govern them (Hear, hear). I sent one myself last year
to the fat market here that required si.K or eight London drovers
to convey liira from the station to the slaughter-house (laugh-
ter). The ring was torn from his nose, and the drovers were
in great danger ; he could not be taken to market, and was
sold in the lair and slaughtered there. What could railway
servants do in such a case as that ? and they are carrying such
animals every day (Hear, hear). Now, sir, tliese statements
are neither coloured nor overdrawn. I do not mean to say
that every express cattle train is made up in the way 1 have
raentioned, but it wiU occasionally be so, though
perhaps in different proportions. I should cons'der it
a high honour, and it would afford me gratification
if I liave thus satisfied you, sir, and the Club that it is im-
practicable and impossible to remove cattle on transit from
their trucks to be fed and watered under the present mode of
transit, and with the present formation of our cattle trucks.
Let it not, however, be supposed for one moment that I am
against the watering and even feeding of cattle on transit (Hear,
hear). In the cause of humanity I am most anxious to see
steps adopted by our railway companies to curtail the time of
transit and make adequate provision for cattle being watered
and fed on their journey. But, if cattle are to be watered and
fed, the trucks must be constructed on a different system
(Hear, hear). I am well acquainted with the merits of Mr.
Welch's truck, which might obviate the diliiculty if the rail-
way companies would adopt it. At my request Lord For-
rester allowed the model of tliat truck to be exhibited in the
House of Commons for fourteen days. It attracted great at-
tention and commendation, and met with the approval of Mr.
Forster and the members generally. It was also exhibited in
August last at the Highland and Agricultural Show at Perth,
whereitlikewiseattractedattention and won the first-class medal.
But Mr. Reid has also a rival truck, and since I came into this
room I liave heard of another, which I hear he has greatly
improved. I was favourable to Mr. Welch's truck as opposed to
Mr. Reid's, but have not examined Mr. Reid's improvements.
To do justice to both parties, might I take the liberty of
suggesting that a committee be appointed from this Club,
froni the Highland Society, and from the Royal Northern
Agricultural Society, whicli represents the great beef-pro-
ducing counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Moray, and Kincardine ;
that they examine the merits of the two trucks ; and that they
draw up a report thereon, and submit it to Jlr. Forster, with
the view of having it adopted by the railway companies (Hear,
liear) ? I beg to tender you my best thanks for the patieuce
with which you have listened to my remarks, and I shall be glad
to give any explanations that may be desired as to anything
that I have stated (cheers).

Mr. G. Smythies (Marlow, Leintwardine) said lie should
be glad to learn from Mr. McCombie how long the dead-meat
trains took to come from Aberdeen to London.

Mr. McCoMBiE said tiie railway companie s professed to
convey cattle in thirty-six hours, but he believed they never
arrived under forty or forty-two hours, and sometimes it was
longer.

Mr. Smythies said he fancied that the dead-meat train
came just in advance of the mail train.

Mr. McCoMBiE added that not being interested in the dead-
meat trade he could not give any more precise information.

Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., said he could entirely confirm what
Mr. McCombie had stated with regard to the unwarrantable
detention of cattle in the transit by railway, and Nor-
folk being a very long way from Aberdeen, he
had himself been a recent sufferer. The delay was
most unaccountable, and what was most disagreable
was that they could not tell where the fault lay.
Mr. McCombie at one end and he at the other made inquiries
for six weeks. The result was that they found out that the
cattle stopped at three or four diflferent places. How long
they stopped at each place and whose fault it was they were
injured it was impossible to ascertain. Therefore when he
heard of Privy Council Orders being issued he felt that it
was a great deal easier to make an order than find people to
obey ; or to punish those who disobeyed. There was another
case within his knowledge which was still worse. A gentleman
started some cattle, of which he was the owner, at Norwich ,
for Deal, at six o'clock on Monday morning, and they arrived
at Deal at two o'clock on Wednesday. The owner himself
started from Norwich at seven o'clock and reached his own
house, which was seven miles beyond Deal, at four that after-
noon. What was done in the case of a passenger with a
reasonable allowance for delay might be done in the
case of cattle. With regard to the untrucking of
cattle on their transit, he entirely agreed with Mr.
M'Combie that it was next to impossible, but trucks might be
constructed in such a manner that cattle could be watered
on the transit (A Voice : " Fed."). He believed that the ad-
vantage of feeding had been greatly exaggerated (Hear,
hear). If cattle were well fed before they commenced their
journey, and again when they left the truck, the feeding in
the truck was not necessary (A Voice: "In any moderate
transit"). Yes, in any moderate transit either in England or
Scotland. With respect to watering, however, he thought
something should be done beyond what had yet been attempted
by the Privy Council (Hear, hear). It was impossible to un-
truck a lot of cattle in order to water them at a layer ; but
he saw no reason why cattle should not be shunted at a junc-
tion, so that they might have a chance of drinking from an
outside trough — supposing it to be impracticable, which he
did not believe, to construct a cheap trough within
tlie truck itself. They ought to impress upon the Privy Coun-
cil the necessity of making the railway companies convey
cattle to their destination without any unnecessary delay.
Such delay as now occurred was the real grievance of whicli
they had to complain ; and as a, 'practical man he maintained
that if they could ensure a reasonably quick transit and a fair
amount of water, tliey would have all they wanted (Hear,
hear). But when they came to the other question — the
transit of cattle by sea he mast say, that he feared they
would never be able to overcome the difficulties. They could
not control the elements (Hear, hear). And although it
might be true tiiat there were some well ventilated ships, yet
let anyone visit one of the wOiarves when cattle were un-
loaded, and he would find that a great deal of the ventila-
tion was of the most wretched description. He did not
believe that the fact that cattle which came from Ireland were
so subject to disease was owing to any want of proper treat-
ment on the part of the farmers of Ireland. The evil arose,
in his opinion, in tlie transit across the Channel. He had, in
his time, had a great number of cattle from Ireland, some-
times by the hands of his own drovers and sometimes by
the hands of the ordinary dealers who came to Nor-
wich Hill, and he maintained that let them do what they might
they could not avoid a certain amount of serious accidents
among cattle that had come to them by sea. In the
course of tl:e grazing of such cattle, they were sure to find
out that some had been internally injured. If a lot of cattle
were first exposed to what he might term " the dangers of
the seas," and were afterwards exposed on the railroad to ail
the inclemencies of weather, they would no doubt be ready to
contract the seeds of disease which they might receive in their

THE FARMER'S MAdAZn^TE.

345

transit Ly boat or rail. So it was not to be wondered at that
cattle from Ireland were attacked witli pleiiro-pneumonia more
frequently than other cattle.

Mr, J. J. Mechi said lie was sure they all felt much indebted
to the introducer of that subject. It was a very important
subject, and should be treated on common sense principles.
They knew practically that there was very little ditference be-
tween animals and themselves, as regarded recurrence of
appetite and regularity of feediupf. They knew, that if they
went without their breakfast or their dinner, or without rest,
their physical condition was impaired, and they did not feel as
they would do under otiier circumstances. The same principle
applied to animals , and tlierefore, even when their esteemed
friend (Mr. Read) said that if animals got water once in 30
hours, tiiat was sufficient, and they could do without food, lie
would ask any gentleman present whether, if he went without
breakfast, or dinner, or tea, aud without rest, and had water only
at the end of 30 iiours (laughter) he would be in the same com-
fortable aud saleable condition as he was then. To him it
appeared perfectly absurd to draw a distinction in that respect
between a mere animal and a human being. They all knew
practically that success in feeding of animals and bringing tlicm
to perfection depended on extreme regularity in feeding. Ani-
mals were fed at six iu the morning, fed in the middle of tlie
day, and fed again iu tlie evening before they went to rest, and
the more that arrangement was disturbed, the less saleable
they would be. They had heard that night that animals lost
a stone of meat, worth 5s. every day, under the present mode
of transmission. Would it not answer the purpose of the
farmer to pay 2s. fid. to a railway company to save a loss of 5s.
by the end ol' tlie day ? They could not call upon railway com-
panies to make new arrangements to secure the delivery of
animals in good coaditiou at market, unless they paid them a
proper amount, and he must say, it appeared to him a very pro-
fitable bargain for the farmer to p:iy lialf-a-crown in order to
save 5s. There could be no doubt tiiat tiie present mode of
transmission was barbarous and inhuman ; but tlie question
was a money one, and railway shareholders looked for a divi-
pend, and would expect a return for any outlay on improve-
ments. As regarded the other question involved, he thouglit
they ought to call to their aid some of the more intelligent
and active members of the lloyal Humane Society, in order
that tliey might compel companies to make proper provision
for animals.

Mr. T. CoNGREVE (Peter Hall, Brinklow, Coventry) said
Mr. Mechi had compared a bullock to himself : he did not see
thejustice of the comparison (Hear, hear). Mr. Mechi did
not ciiew his cud (laughter), or if he did, he was an exception
to the rule. There was another point on which he diifered
from that gentleman. He thought the worthy ex-alderraan,
and many in that room, would sometimes benefit very much by
missing a meal or two (laughter). Wiien anything was the
matter with liim (Mr. Congreve) he always omitted a meal, and
he generally found benefit from that (laughter). The transit
from his own neighbourhood to London was only about 100
miles, and there was not much to find fault with. Cattle left
Rugby at 11 in the morning and were generally in London at
4 in the afternoon. He did not see why the journey should
not be quicker, but still he did not complain. In 40 years
he had had only one case of accident, sending as he did his
cattle irom home by his own men, and afterwards entrusting
them to railway servants. In the course of the last week
he had seen Mr. William Evans, of Anglesea, who was pro-
bably known to some present, and who had the longest transit
out of North Wales. Mr. Evans' idea on this subject was that
railways should be compelled to convey cattle something like
20 miles an hour continuously, inasmuch as he had found
in the course of a long experience that animals were more
bruised in stopping and starting than in any other way. The
steam was up, the carriages stopped suddenly, aud went bump,
bump, and the result was that many cattle were wounded aud
shaken. The train should start quietly and stop quietly, and
all shunting should be avoided. As to feeding on the transit
he (Mr. Evans) considered it entirely out of tlie question. He
would far rather that his beasts went for 25 or 30 hours with-
out feeding than have them turned out of the truck to feed,
because the fright would prevent them from eating, and because
they would be more injured in getting in and out ot the truck
than they could possibly benefit liy food. As to watering, if

some provision for that could be made, without tlie necessity of
taking cattle out of the truck, it would be an advantage,

Mr. G. M. ALLENDiiK (Bayswater) said that at present
all railway traffic was divided into two classes, viz., passenger
aud goods traffic, and in his opinion one great cause of the
present evils was that cattle did not form a distinct branch of
traffic. He had never heard any practical man complain of
the want of watering or feeding for cattle. What was com-
plained of was the shunting, and the delays in travelling. The
necessity of continuous travelling was a very important point
for that Club, and all who were interested in the transit of
cattle, to urge upon railway managers, and in his opinion
that object could not be attained unless cattle traffic were
entirely separated from goods traffic.

Mr. II. Neild (The Grange, Worsley, Manchester) said,
having had some experience or' the cross-country railway
cattle traffic, he wished to say a few words on tliat subject.
They must bear in mind that if they clogged railway transit
with all their own fancies, they would do more harm than
good (Hear, hear). He had himself experienced the incon-
venience of delay ; the transit from the North of Yorkshire
to Manchester had taken from Saturday to Monday morning,
and he had been dependent solely upon railway servants
for any attention to the cattle during Sunday, who were
perhaps not paid extra for Sunday work. He had begged
railway managers to allow a truck to be attached to a pas-
senger train ; but the reply was that the managers of
other railways objected to that, the ground of objection
being the difi'erence in buffers and couplings, also that
in oue case there was a cast-iron, and the other a wrought-
iron, wheel. The three recomraendatious which he had
heard that evening having a practical bearing, were that
cattle trucks should be covered, that they should be closed at
the ends, and that they should have wheels in harmony with the
passenger-carriage wheels. He believed that with such im-
provements the difficulties of the cross-country traffic would
be met. As regarded the cattle traffic from London to Aber-
deen, he could not understand why, when passengers were
conveyed in 16 hours, the conveyance of animals should
occupy 30. He was sure that in ordinary cases it was not
necessary to provide food for cattle during the journey, unless
it were when Sundays intervened, in which case there might
be special provision on the part of railway companies. He
had known very great cruelty arise from one company
opposing another, as regarded the attachment of carriages ;
and he believed that recommendations from the Club on that
subject and others would have great weight.

Mr. C. Howard (Biddenham, Bedford) said he, like his
friend Mr. Congreve, lived a very short distance from the
metropolis, and therefore had had very little experience as to
the long transits spoken of that evening; but he bad had con-
siderable experience of one thing. He had very often had
cause to complain of the bill he had received from
London, and they were now asked to advocate a very large
addition to the charges made by railway companies, and thus
to place themselves in a worse position than they were already
(Hear, hear). If railway companies incurred a large expendi-
ture iu providing new cattle trucks, those who sent the cattle
would have to pay for them (Hear, hear). Mr. Read had, in
his opinion, shadowed forth what was required : that is, that
cattle trains should pull up at certain stations, and that
troughs should be placed handily for cattle to drink as they
passed by. It appeared to him that that was the only thing
that cattle needed, as Mr. Congreve had intimated animals
that had been properly fed chewed the cud on the road, and
did not require any solid food. He (Mr. C. Howard) hoped it
would not go forth from that Club tliat it advocated an in-
creased expenditure on cattle-waggons, for tliey might depend
upon it that if expensive cattle-trucks were provided, farmers
would have to pay for them (Hear, hear).

Mr. R. Leeds (Wicken House, Castle Acre, Brandon) said
for the last twenty years he had sent to London between (our
and five thousand sheep a-year and about 300 beasts without
a drover, aud the chief fault which he had found with the Great
Eastern Company was that their charges were too high. His
cattle and sheep started at six o'clock in the morning, and arrived
in Loudon about six o'clock in the evening.

346

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Mr. J. K. FOWIEE (The Prebendal Farm, Aylesbury) said
lie had the misfortune to be a director of a non-paying agricul-
tural railway, and he could state that iu that case farmers and
dealers crowded and crammed their cattle on the trucks to
such an extent as must excite the indignation of many who
witnessed it (Hear, hear), the cattle being paid for at so much
per truck, and not at so much per head. If cattle were
classified as human beings were, as first, second, and third class,
the farmer who used the first-class would have to pay an extra
rate, and perhaps that would go far to meet the difficulty.
As a purchaser of Shorthorns, he sent his cattle in a horse-
box, and had to pay through the nose tremendously for such
accommodation. If farmers wanted extra convenience, they
must be prepared to pay for it. He thought tliere was a great
deal in what Mr. Welch suggested with regard to the wheels
of carriages, and it was most essential that some arrangement
should be made under which small railways hke that with
which he was connected would be enabled to get their cattle
trucks attached to trains which were going to London.
Without that it would be impossible

Mr. A. Pell, M.P., said it appeared unc^uestionable that a
great deal of the difficulty and expense connected with the
transit of cattle was occasioned by the traiu coming under the
direction of different railway companies, and he was therefore
surprised that a meeting blie that, including so many practical
and intelligent men from different parts of the country, the
question of the amalgamation of railways or that of their
absorption by the State, had not been mentioned.
His own conviction was that the want of something
of that kind v,as one of the inherent sources of the
difficulties of the present system of transit. With regard to
different methods of treating cattle, he agreed with Mr. Read,
and disagreed with Mr. Mechi, on the subject of feeding. Mr.
Mechi omitted to take into account the difference between
men and cattle, and even the former could subsist for a time
ou their own fat (laughter). What Mr. McCombie described
in reference to the transit of cattle on their journey from the
north to London found its analogy in the treatment of human
passengers on the Caledonian Railway. In the middle of the
night the passenger and goods' carriages were so arranged that
when the train pulled up you were knocked from one side
to the other, and it was nothing but the excellent whiskey
produced in the north enabled one to survive such treatment
(laughter). Even in the midland counties, where the journey
was short, the state of things was not very much better. Such
were the inconveniences that existed that in sending cattle
to the fers it was his practice to send over-night for a mile or
two on the road to the farm of a neighbour ; thence they
walked to Kettering, ten miles further on ; after that, they
travelled by the line to St. Ives, and after that they had another
walk of ten miles ; but he could tlius always put his hand on
them. He had no choice between the walking twenty miles
and the subjecting his cattle to the evils of three different rail-
ways, with all the interruptions of traffic.

Mr. \V. Hakpek (Bury, Lancaster) said it had been
remarked, in effect, by Mr. Charles Howard that if cattle were
conveyed in first-class carriages the owners must pay first-
class fares. He should like to know the comparative cost of
Mr. Reid's and Mr. Welch's improved trucks, and those now
generally used. If it could be shown that improved trucks
could be provided at a very sliglitly increased cost, railway
companies might thus be induced to adopt them.

Mr. SiD^'ET (Islington) was very much surprised to find him-
self assuming the position of a speaker on that occasion, and
he should not have done so but for tlie remarks of Mr. Pell.
He ventured to say, that the only thing needed to secure the
removal of the grievances of farmers in connection with the
transit of cattle by railway, was that farmers should make up
their minds as to what they really wanted. The great diffi-
culty on all farmers' ciuestions was that farmers only agreed to
differ. They were exceedingly dissatisfied with certain things
as they existed. Mr. Pell thought that a remedy was to be
found for every evil in the amalgamation of railways, and their
being turned over to the Government (Mr. Pell : " No"). He
believed he was correct in saying that Mr. Pell looked forward
favourably to the transferrence of railways to the Government.

Mr. Pelt,, M.P., said Mr. Sidney mistook him. What he
said was, tliat he was surprised that the question of amalga-

mation, or of the absorption of railways by the State, had not
been dealt with. He did not say that he was in favour of
either one or the other.

Mr. Sidney continued : There could not be the slightest
doubt that, if cattle trains ran continuously, it would be much
more convenient ; but let farmers who were inclined to advo-
cate the transfer of railways to the Government ask them-
selves what chance there ever was of getting any money back
from the Post-office or the Telegraph department, and beware
of exchanging King Log for King Stork. They miglit squeeze
something out of the railway companies, but let anyone who
had lost a letter or a telegram, and complained, say whether
they were likely to get anything out of the Government.

Mr. Read, M.P., in answering a question that was put to
him, said that the cattle he obtained from Mr. McCombie were
90 hours on the rail, as he believed without food or water.
It certainly was in tlie month of November, but he was
astonished to find how little they appeared to suffer.
He never saw a lot of cattle walk home better. On the other
hand, he got some cattle from Ireland in the month of June,
and so much did they suffer in their passage across the Channel
that one died within two days after his arrival, and some of the
others had hardly yet recovered from the effects of the voyage.

Mr. C. M. Caldecott (Holbrook Grange, Rugby) said
what farmers wanted was continuous transit, instead of their
animals being shunted and kept back for hours ; and he did
not believe that was possible without an independent line of
rails. Arrangements had been ostensibly made by many rail-
way companies for the watering and feeding of cattle, but
practically they were not carried out. Having some authority
himself at Rugby, he would pledge himself that if any regu-
lations were forwarded there under the authority of the Go-
vernment or of the Legislature they sliould be enforced.

The Chairman, in summing up the discussion, said he was
sure they all felt indebted to Mr. Welch for the care and ability
with which he introduced the question. He agreed with Mr.
Congreve that sometimes a little abstinence did a great deal
of good, and the principle involved in that had a bearing on
the question of the feeding of cattle during transit. He
thought that all of them who had had any experience of
branch lines must be aware of the inconvenience which at-
tended the transit of cattle on such Hues, and he agreed with
Mr. Powler that any improvement, or anything by which the
evils of the transit on such lines might be avoided, was worth
paying for. He thought that if a copy of that discussion were
sent by their excellent Secretary to the managers of railway
companies it would be likely to produce a good effect as show-
ing what were the opinions of some of the leading members
of the Farmers' Club on that subject.

Mr. Welch, in replying, expressed his conviction that the
improvements which he had advocated might be carried out
without making any important addition to the expenses of
railway companies, and his satisfaction at having elicited the
opinions of so many eminent practical agriculturists.

Mr. C. S. Re,\j), M.P., in moving a vote of thanks to Mr.
Welch, supplemented the suggestion of the Chairman by re-
commending tliat a report of the discussion should be sent to
the Privy Council.

Mr. T. Congkeve seconded the motion, and it was adopted
unanimously.

The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to tiie
chairman.

THE HORSE-DEALER'S LICENCE.— At the meeting of
the Committee of the Farmer's Club, on Monday, March 4, a let-
ter was read from the Cliancellor of the Exchequer's office ack-
nowledging the receipt of the memorial and report, and stating
that Mr. Lowe requested it might be made known to the com-
mittee and the members of the Club that an order has been
issued by the Board of Inland Revenue, which he liopes wiU
give the relief required. The effect of the order is tliat far-
mers will be relieved from tlie Horse-dealers' Duty in respect of
sales of Allies and colts under five years old which have been
stocked on the farm.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

347

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.

Monthly Council : Wednesday, March 6, 1873. —
Present : Sir AVatkia W. "VVynn, Bart., president, in the
chair ; Lord Chesham, Lord Kesteven, Lord Tredegar,
Lord Vernon, the Hon. Wilbrahani E2;erton, M.P., the
Hon. H. G. Liddell, M.P., Sir T. Dyke Acland, Bart.,
M.P., Sir Massey Lopes, Bart., M.P., Sir A. K.Mac-
donald, Bart., Mr. Baruett, Mr. Bowly, Mr. Cantrell,
Colonel Challoner, T\Ir. Dent, M.P., Mr. Druce, Mr.
Brandreth Gibbs, Mr. Hoskyns, M.P., Mr. Bowen Jones,
Colonel Kingscote, M.P., Mr. Leeds, Mr. Mcintosh, Mr.
Milward, Mr. Pain, Mr. Raudell, Mr. Ridley, M.P., Mr.
Shuttleworth, Mr. Stone, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Torr,
Mr. Jabez Turner, Mr. AVakefield, Mr. Earle Welby,
M.P., Mr. J. Wells, Mr. Wells, M.P., Colonel Wilson,
and Dr. Voelcker.

Mr. A. Henry Browne, of Bank House, Acklington,
was elected a Governor of the Society.

The following new members were elected :

Brewitt, T. B., Sanham House, Melton Mowbray.

Cockraue, M. H., Montreal, Canada.

Cocks, John, Dinchopo, Wistaston, Salop.

Crisp, John, Acklington.

Cooch, J., Harleston, Northampton.

Chrisp, Robert, Gedgrave Hall, Wickham Market.

Dutcliraan, Durraut, SwafFliam, Brandon.

Eden, Frederick Morton, Boughton House, Kettering.

Edwards, Graham Betham, The High House, Bredfield, Wood-
bridge.

Egerton, the Hon. Wilbraham, M.P., Rostherne Manor,
Knutsford.

Epton, Robert James, Newball, Lincoln.

Heatlicote, Robert Boothby, Friday Hill, Chingford, Wood-
ford.

Jones, Frederick, The Old Hall, Hanmer, Whitchurch,
Salop.

Jones, William, Cefnllogell, Castletown, Cardiff.

Laston, Clement, Pinchbeck West, Spalding.

Liddell, George, jun.. Great Cliilton, Ferry Hill.

Martin, George H., Little Downhara, Ely.

Rix, George, Gaytonthorpe, Lynn.

Robinson, Richard, sen., Sedgebrook, Grantham.

Savidge, John, Gopsall, Atherstone.

Stunt, George, Coiton, Ulverstou.

Thomas, John, Glanrynis, Kidwelly.

Whitcombe, George, Tuflley, Gloucester.

Williams, John, Caercady, Cowbridge.

WiUiams, John, Llantritliyd, Cowbridge.

Windover, Charles S., Huntingdon.

Wippell, Henry, The Barton, Alphington, Devon.

Wright, Sampson, High Onu, Church Eaton, Staffs,

Yoratli, Henry, 13, St. John Street, Cardiff.

Youngman, James William, West Acre, Brandon.

Finances. — Colonel Kingscote, M.P., presented the
report, from which it appeared that the Secretary's re-
ceipts during the past month had been examined by the
committee and by Messrs. Quilter, Ball, and Co., account-
ants, and were found correct. The balance in the hands
of the bankers on February 29 was £1,285 16s. lid.,
£2,000 remaining on deposit at interest.

Journal. — Mr. Thompson (chairman) reported that
the judges of farms had completed their first tour of
inspection on the 7th of February last, and that out of
the nineteen competing farms they had selected such as
were considered deserving of a further visit. The com-
mittee had inspected the specimen of Bennett's portable
thatching sent to Hanover Square for inspection by the
members of the Society, and they recommended that £3

be given to the inventor for the expense and trouble he
has incurred. This report having been adopted, Mr.
Thompson read a list of the newspapers to which the
Society's Journal had hitherto been sent, and then moved
the following resolution : " That copies of the Journal
be no longer given to any but Agricultural Papers, and that
the carrying out of this resolution be left to the Journal
Committee." This resolution having been seconded by
Mr. Torr, was carried unanimously.

Chemical. — Mr. Wells, M.P. (chairman), reported that
the committee had endeavoured to offer to the Council
forms of guarantee which dealers in manures and feeding-
stuffs may give to purchasers. They feel the great dif-
ficulty of drawing out such forms as will meet all cases.
The variety of articles is now so great, and their consti-
tuent qualities so different, that it is almost impossible to
meet every subject. The purchasers of any of the articles
are strongly advised to have analyses made of their pur-
chases, and to take the samples with care. In the case of
artificial manures, they should take a large handful of the
manure from three or four bags, mix the whole on a large
sheet of paper, breaking down with the hand any lumps
present, and fold up in tinfoil or in oiled silk about 3 oz.
of the well-mixed sample ; place the mixed manure in a
small wooden or tin box, which may be tied by string,
but must not be sealed, and send it by post. If the
manure be very wet and lumpy, a larger boxful, weighing
from 10 to 12 oz., should be sent either by post or railway.

In the case of oilcakes, they should take a sample from
the middle of the cake. To this end, break a whole cake
into two, then break off a piece from the end where the
two halves were joined together, and wrap it in paper,
leaving the ends open, and send the parcel by post. The
piece should weigh from 10 to 12 oz.

In the case of feeding meals about 3 oz. will be suf-
ficient for analysis. Enclose the meal in a small linen
bag, and send it by post.

On forwarding samples, separate letters should be sent
to the laboratory, specifying the nature of the information
required, and, if possible, the object in view. This re-
port having been adopted, the following forms of guarantee
were submitted to the Council, and were ordered to be
supplied to applicants at a charge of Id. each, or Is. the
set.

1. — Linseed Cake.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terms

Date of purchase

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to dehver ton^

of pure linseed cake as above, ia good condition, that is to say :
Cake which is made from " clean" linseed and nothing else, is
free from mould, and is not otherwise spoiled for feeding
purposes.

Signature of vendor

3. — Rape Cake foe, Feeding Purposes.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terms .,'.

Date of purchase , ,,„..,...,

348

THE FAKMEK'« MAGAZINE.

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to deliver tons

of rape cake fit tor feeding purposes, as above, in good condi-
tion, that is to say : Cake which is made from rapeseed which
is free from an injurious quantity of mustard or other preju-
dicial matters, is free from mould, and is not otherwise spoiled
for feeding purposes.

Signature of vendor

3. — Decorticated Cotton Cake.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terms

Date of purchase

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to deliver tons

of pure decorticated cotton cake as above, in good condition,
that is to say : Cake which is made from clean decorticated
cotton seed, and nothing else, is free from mould, and is not
otherwise spoiled for feeding purposes, and is equal to the
sample furnished by me to the purchaser.

Signature of vendor

N.B. Purchasers are recommended not to buy this cake
except by sample.

4. — Undecorticated CoTTO^■ Cake.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per tOB

Terras

lOate of purchase

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to deliver tons

of pure undecorticated cotton cake as above, in good condition,
that is to say : Cake which is made from cleau undecorticated
cotton seed, and uotliing else, is free from mould, is not other-
wise spoiled for feeding purposes, and is equal to the sample
furnished by me to the purchaser.

Signature of vendor

N.B. Purchasers are recommended not to buy this cake ex-
cept by sample.
5. — Rice-meal.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terras

Date of purchase

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to deliver tons

of pure rice racal as above, in good condition, that is to say ;
Meal that i.i free from all matters not found in rice, and that
is equal to the sample furnished by me to the purchaser.

Signature of vendor

N.B. Purchasers are recommended not to buy this meal
except by sample.

6. — Bones or Bone Dust. — Bones and bone-dust are
usually sold either as raw or green bones, or as boiled bones.
The latter is made from bones, the gelatine of which has been
extracted to a great extent by high-pressure steam, and is
cheaper than raw bone-dust.

Vendor's name

Address

;B.aw bones, ^ inch
Raw bones i inch
Itaw bone-dust
Boiled bones

Price per ton

Terms

Date of purchase

Raw or Green Bones or Bone Dust. — I, the undersigned,
hereby guarantee to supply tons of pure raw

hones, being ^ inch or ^ inch, or fine bone dust, as above,
containing not less than 45 p?r cent, of tribasic phosphate
of lime, and yielding not less than 4 per cenl. of ammonia.

Signature of vendor

Boiled Bones — I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to
supply tons of pure boiled bones, as above, containing not

less than 48 per cent, of trib-wic phosphate of li'ue, and yield-
ing not less than Ij per cent, of ammonia.

Signature of vendor

7. — Dissolved Bones. — Dissolved bones are made of vari-
ous qualities, and sold at various prices per ton, and for these
reasons the quality should be guaranteed.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terms

Date of purchase

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to supply in a suffi-
ciently dry and powdery condition, to admit of ready distribu-
bution by the drill or for hand-sowing, tons of dissolved

bone at per ton, which shall contain —

1. per cent, of soluble phosphate of lime.

2. per cant, of insoluble phosphate of lime, present en-
tirely as boiled or raw bone, and not as bone-ash, coprolites,
or other mineral phosphates.

3. per cent, of nitrogen equal to per cent, of am-
monia.

In case of deficiency,! agree to allow for each unit per cent. — •

(1) of soluble phosphate per ton,

(2) of insoluble phosphate per ton,

(3) of ammonia per ton,

which the dissolved bones are found on analysis to centain
less than the guaranteed percentage of soluble phosphate of
lime in a fairly drawn sample, taken within tiiree days after
the delivery of the bulk.

Signature of vendor

N.B. The sample for analysis should be taken by emptying
several bags, mixing the contents together, and filling two
mustard tins full iu the presence of a witness : both to be
sealed, one to be forwarded to for the

determination of its constituents, and the second to be kept
for reference.

8. — Mineral Superphosphates. — Purchasers are recom-
mended to buy mineral superphosphates on the basis of a
guaranteed percentage of soluble phosphate of lime, at so
much per unit per cent., and to attach no value to insoluble
phosphates.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terms

Date of purchase

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to deliver in a suffi-
ciently dry and powdery condition, to admit of ready distribution
by tlie .drill, or for hand-sowing, tons of superphosphate

of lime, as above, which shall contain per cent, of soluble

phosphate of lime ; a deduction of being allowed for

every unit per cent, which the superphosphate is found on
analysis to contain less than the guaranteed percentage of
soluble phospliate of lime in a fairly drawn sample, taken
within three days after the delivery of the bulk.

Signature of vendor

N.B. The sample for analysis should be taken by emptying
several bags, mixing the contents together, and filling two
mustard tins full iu tlie presence of a witness ; both to be
sealed, one to be forwarded to for the determination of

soluble phosphate, and the second to be kept for reference.
9. — Compound Artificial Manures.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terms

Date of purchase

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to supply, in a suffi-
ciently dry and powdery condition to admit of distribution by
the drill, or for hand-sowing, tons of as above, to

contain per cent, of soluble phospliates, percent,

of insoluble phosphates, per cent, of nitrogen.

In ca'se of deficieney, I n3;ree to allow for eac!i unit per
cent. —

THE FARMEE,'S MAGAZINE.

349

(1) of soluble pliosphates per ton,

(3) of iasoluble pliosphates per tou,

(3) of ammonia per tou,

which the manure is found, on analysis, to contain less than
the guaranteed percentage of soluble phosphate of lime in a
fairly drawn sample, taken within three days after the delivery
of the bulk.

Signature of vendor

N.B. — The sample for analysis should be taken by emptying
several bags, niixing the contents together, and filling two
mustard tins full in the presence of a \Aitness; both to be
sealed, one to be forwarded to for the deter-

mination of its constituents, and the second to be kept for
reference.

10. — Nitrate of Soda.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terras

Date of purcliase

I, the undersigned, liereby guarantee to supply tons

of nitrate of soda, as above, to contain from 'ji to 95 per cent-
of pure nitrate.

Signature of Vendor

11. — Sulphate of Ammonia.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terms

Date of purchase

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to supply
sulphate of auimonia, as above, to contain not less than 23 per
cent, of ammonia.

Signature of Vendor

12. — Shoddy. — The quality of shoddy or wool-refuse
manure varies greatly, and its value mainly depends upon the
amount of nitrogen which a sample contains.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terms

Date of purchase

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to deliver of

shoddy as above, in a dry condition, containing percent.

of nitrogen (equal to per cent, of ammonia) at per unit

per cent, of ammonia ; a deduction of being allowed

for every unit per cent, which the shoddy is found on analysis
to contain less than the guaranteed percentage of ammonia in
a fairly drawn sample, taken within three days after the de-
livery of the bulk.

Signature of vendor]

13. — Peruvian Guano.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per tou

Terms

Date of purchase

I, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to supply tons

of genuine Peruvian guano, as above, the said guano to con-
tain per cent, of ammonia, and to be in a dry and friable
condition.

Signature of Vendor

li. — Refuse Manuring Matter.

Vendor's name

Address

Quantity

Price per ton

Terms

Date of purchase

1, the undersigned, hereby guarantee to supply tons

of manure, as above, the said manure to contain

per cent, of phosphate of lime ; per cent, of nitrogen,
equal to per cent, of ammonia ; and not more than
per cent, of moisture.
Signature of vendor

The Quarterly Report of the Chemical Committee wa3
presented.

Veterinary. — Mr. Thompson reported that the com-
mittee had received a letter from Prof. Simonds, enclosing
two resolutions from the governors of the Royal Veterinary
College, which announced the appointment of Prof.
Simonds as Principal of the College on certain conditions,
which prevent his retaining the post of Veterinary In-
spector to the Royal Agricultural Society. The com-
mittee therefore recommended that the grant to the Royal
Veterinary College be made for one y^ar, on condition that
one of the professors of the Royal Veterinary College be
allowed to act as the Veterinary Inspector of the Society,
and that the yeterinary privileges of members remain sub-
stantially as heretofore, but with some alterations which
had been suggested by the committee, and which they re-
commended should be seut to the governors of the College
for approval. The committee also recommended that
Prof. Simonds, the newly-appointed Principal of the Royal
Veterinary College, be appointed Consulting Veterinary
Surgeon to the Society. — This report was adopted.

General, Cardiff. — Lord Vernon (chairman) re-
ported that the London and Provincial Bank (limited) had
offered a prize of twenty guineas for competition at the
Cardiff meeting, the subject of the prize to be left to the
selection of the Society. This offer having been made
too late for insertion in the prize-lists for stock and im-
plements, the committee recommended that the donors of
the prize, in conjunction with the local committee, be re-
quested to select a subject for an essay, to be submitted to
the Council at their next meeting. The committee also
recommended that the surveyor be instructed to report to
the local authorities the railway accommodation required
for the arrival and departure of stock and implements at
Cardiff; and that the secretary be authorised to make the
requisite arrangements for the supply of refreshments at
the Cardiff meeting. — This report was adopted.

Special Committee on Receipts and Expendi-
ture.— Lord Vernon (chairman) reported that the Com-
mittee had considered the reports previously presented,
that they had received further reports from the finance
committee, the veterinary committee, and the secretary,
and that they hope to present a full report to the Council
at their next meeting. — This report was adopted.

House. — Col. Kingscote, M.P., reported the recom-
mendation of the committee that the basement storey be
thoroughly cleaned and put in order. — This report was
adopted.

Education. — Mr. J. Dent-Dent, M.P., reported that
three candidates had entered for the Society's Educational
Examination to commence on the 16th of April. Two of
the three candidates are eligible for the Society's prizes,
being under the age of 21. The committee recommended
the appointment of the usual examiners. — This report
was adopted.

Mr. Thompson then moved, "That towns competing
for the county meetings of the Society, be no longer re-
quired to send deputations to attend the monthly council
in May." He supported this change by urging the great
unnecessary inconvenience to which gentlemen connected
with competing towns were annually put, as the useful in-
formation which they gave could be better obtained by
letter. Mr. Randell, in seconding the resolution, also
laid stress on these points, and urged that by adopting
the proposed change the business would be done better
and more definitely, as the inspecting committee would
put the questions in writing, and thus there would be less

350

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

discussion with local committees afterwards. Col. Kings-
cote, while agreeing generally with the resolution, thought
that one or two representatives of each town should at-
tend and answer questions, a view which was also sup-
ported by Mr. Torr, Mr. Cantrell, and others. Mr.
Thompson having agreed to Col. Kingscote's suggestion,
the following words were added to the resolution : " but
that not more than two representatives from each of the
competing towns be )-equested to attend to answer ques-
tions, if required." The resolution was then put from the
chair, and carried uuauimously.

A committee, consisting of the stock pi-izes and imple-
ments committees, was appointed to recommend judges of
stock, implements, &c., at the Cardiff meeting.

A letter was read from the secretary of the Austro-
Hungarian Embassy, enclosing the prize list of a general
exhibition of dairy produce, to be held at Vienna next
December, and inviting English dairy-farmers and others
to compete for the prizes which are open to general com-
petition. The usual Easter holiday having been given to
the secretary and clerks, the Council adjourned until Wed-
nesday, April 10.

THE MAIDSTONE FARMERS
THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURER.

CLUB

At the last meeting, at the Star, Maidstone, Dr. Monckton
delivered an address upon " The Status and Condition of the
Agriculturd Labourer," Mr. T. Bridglaud iu the chair.
_ Dr. Monckton said that, wlien urged by the energetic pre-
sident of the Farmers' Club to stop a gap in the programme
for the season, he had just been reading some letters in T/ie
Times and otiier journals, discussiag the state of the farm
labourer iu a toue not complimentary to his employers and
friends ; containing, as was too common, an implied assump-
tion that he belonged to an oppressed or neglected race ; that
he was, from a civilii^ation pomt of view, a beniglited outcast,
n monslnim informc cni Innien adempttim. While admitting at
once that the character and condition of the labourer required
anxious efforts for improveraut, he must affirm at starting that
the town dwellers and the city newspapers had not the feeblest
title to plume themselves on the superior condition of tlieir
own working population. Taking England throughout it was
probably true that the country labourer was more cleanfy,
moral, healthy, and happy than his fellow of the towns ;
within his own, not very narrow, experience certainly and
positively this was the case. The labourer's dwelling, so
much, and often so deservedly, abused, was healthier in the
country than iu the towns ; was less over-crowded, and less
animalised ; the cottages themselves had been greatly multi-
plied and improved during the last generation, and their situa-
tion in an ocean of fresh air, instead of a dense dark alley, gave
them an advantage that it was not possible to over-rate, and
one that was carried still farther by the muscular and out-of-
door life that the people pursued. In estimating the condition
to which any class had attained, it would never do to judge
solely by the number of shillings earned per week. Hard and
plain observation, at the hospital among other places, had
convinced him (Dr. Monckton) that more outward evidence
of squalor, of unhealthy distjuiet, and of general wear-and-
tear was to be seen among the lower town-classes than among
the rustic labourers ; and if the former were followed to their
homes, those homes were not only, in many cases, dirtier,
darker, and closer tlian the country cottage, but far more op-
pressively crowded with lodgers and alien occupants ; particu-
larly might this be seen in London and the very large manu-
facturing towns. Neither was it correct to adopt a certain sort
of intelligence or smartness as sufficient evidence of class su-
periority. Agriculture separated, while commerce aggregated
its votaries ; the former state rendered men taciturn and un-
demonstrative, the latter promoted a flashy sharpness, and it
could not at all be conceded as certain that such sharpening
was wholly for the good of the individual or the community.
Let them compare for a moment the monkey and the sheep,
and it would be seen at once that restless enertcy might be
combmed with pettiness and mischief, while stolidity was
quite compatible with peace to the individual and benefit to
the world. He (Dr. Monckton) was certainly inclined to go in
for the sheep. It must also be remembered that the farm la-
bourer was affected in the circumstance and seemino- of his life
ty the fact that everything agricultural was lightly endowed
■with cash. The landlord took 2| per cent, per annum from his
land, instead of 10 per cent, from commerce ; many a tenant
farmer in the kingdom failed to net 20s. a-week in cash, after
his lodging and some of his food had been provided by the

farm — all the sons of the soil looked to live and enjoy, under
conditions which the soil and the country furnished, and into
the measure of which cash and luxuries ouly entered to a very
partial extent. How many, for instance, of the middle
classes, could find a healtliier, happier, brighter life iu the
country on £700 a-year, than £1,400 would command iu the
towns ? No politician, writer, or social philosopher is justified
in contrasting the two classes of artizaus without recognising
that in a certain, but not an invidious sense, the farmers work
with the residuum. It is perfectly natural and fitting that the
higher pay and inducements of the town should tempt away
tlie smarter lads from tie sickle and the plough, and the
regular supply of such precious material should be credited to
the land at a high figure in the ledger of the State ; but it is
neither natural nor fitting that having abstracted for their
own purposes the most enterprising members of the labouring
classes, the remainder should be expected to cut an equally
distinguished figure. Neither, in a consideration of this mat-
ter, must it be forgotten that, whatever tlie condition of the
labourer may be, it is not stagnant but progressive. Iu
education, wages, dwelling-house, aud independence he is, by
the operation of natural causes, rapidly and steadily improving.
He is in the important matter of health and death-rate already
far more favoured than his brother of the towns. Take
Liverpool, one of the most important and thriving towns of
Europe ; the mortality there, something like forty per thou-
sand, had become so alarming, that last year the Town Council
employed two high authorities (Drs. Parkes and Sanderson)
to investigate aud report upon the matter. The British
Medical Journal thus speaks of the results : " It is impossible
to read without an almost hopeless sinking of the heart that
calm, clear, pitiful, and sombre report in wliich the irresistible
mass of evidence leads to the conclusion that at the bottom of
the fearful excess of mortality iu that wealthy and intelligent
city, lies the one widespread curse of intemperance. The
people herd together like brutes, they couch at night in flocks
in miserable crowded and foetid rooms. They have neither
food, furniture, nor clothing ; their chUdrea are killed off in
hecatombs by exposure, slow starvation, and neglect, because
husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, earning regularly
from twenty to twenty- seven shillings a-week, and often more,
waste their substance iu drink, brutify themselves with alcohol,
aud sink habitually by tens of thousands into the most fatal
disregard of the habits of life necessary to health, to mortality,
and public safety," Verily they that live in glass-houses must,
not throw stones. Periiaps the best way of testing whether the
farmer acts justly by his workman is to seek an answer to
the question whether the latter does or does not generally re-
ceive a full equivalent for the value of the labour he is able
to supply. Of course this point is not so easy and simple to
solve as in the case of many manufacturing matters, but rea-
sonable conclusions might be drawn by anyone thoughtfully
estimating the value of crops and the proportion of cost which
labour represented in their production. Trobably little diffi-
culty would be found in showing that the labourer's pay,
taking all the year, came fully up to, or exceeded, a fair
valuation of the work he did. This being so, no rise of wages
could take place under existing circumstances without a dead
loss to the employer. How tiien could effort be made to im-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

851

prove the status and raise the income of the labouring man? The
answer seems plain and inevitable — increase the value of his
work. Buthowagaincanthisbedone? 1. By making him a better
workman in the matter of individual tasks. Seize systema-
tically every method for making men dexterous at sowing a
field, ploiigliing a furrow, mending a harness, sharpening a hop-
pole, foddering a bullock, and managing a yard of dung. This
was not a matter of vague generality, hut of hard fact. He
(Dr. Monckton) had seen with his own eyes, within twelve
months, important tasks so badly done that double the wages
might have been paid for good work witli profit to the farmer.
He had seen wurzel seed so unevenly drilled in point of depth,
that five times the man's daily pay was thrown away, because
lie had never been taught that meie holding straight was not
drilling, but that regular and shallow deposit of the seed was
even more essential. He knew a hop-garden of favourable
clays, and not of running sand, that had been drained three
times in nine years, because of the imperfect fall secured on
the earlier occasions. He had seen last season gangs engaged
in hop syringing : the work accomplished by one gang would
be more cheaply paid for at a pound a day than that by the
others at a crown. Again, why should not every farm of rea-
sonable extent see that some of its hands could thatch, or
stack, or build a pig-sty, or paint a waggon, or shear a sheep,
or mend a fence ? It had been too much the custom for a
whole parish to depend on one thatcher and sheep shearer,
who often earned 30s. in three days, and was drunk for the
rest of the week. Surely our own workpeople might be
enabled to benefit by these rather better paying jobs. A great
industry had sprung up in the country in the use of creosote.
How many of those now listening had ever so studied the
matter as to know the very best time, temperature, and method,
for the process ? He had himself seen professors of the art,
men who let out tanks, and took contracts for their neighbours,
and who did not even know what a thermometer was, and yet
pole-dipping could never be done to the best advantage with-
out its aid. Many workpeople in charge of those tanks now
receiving 2s. 6d. a day, would be better worth 4s. if rendered
more observant, more painstaking, and better instructed. But
this leads us to the second method of augmenting the value of
the workman's toil, viz., a more skilled and studied direction
of his tasks. Of course it was clear in connection with what
had already been said that the master must instruct himself,
and exercise increasingly his own wits as well as those of his
workman and this feature must never be blinked. Not only
morally, but in business aptitude, the man will be what the
master makes him. Take a clutch of pointer puppies and
give four away to four different people ; the value of their
labour in two years will depend almost entirely upon the pains
and skill with which their respective masters have set and kept
them to their work. An army of soldiers may be of exe.nplary
skill and courage, and yet see their efforts nullified by unwise
or insufficient plannig and direction. In the matter of labour
a farmer must be exercising a perpetual foresight to make his
operations dovetail and harmonise. The job of to-day must
be habitually so done as to render more cheap and effective the
work of to-morrow. Labour so directed will yield value and
show a result. Without such management men, though indus-
trious and well enough master of each particular task, wiU
inevitably muddle away time, and waste money laboriose nihil
agendo. 3. Another mode of increasing the productiveness
of so many hours' toil is to call in the aid of machinery. Tliis
applies to matters small and great, from the turnip cutter
to tlie steam plough. The man who sows corn broadcast
leaves a full task of hoeing and cleaning to be done another
day ; he who follows the drill may be said to perform half the
operation of hoeing at the same time. _ A big lad in charge
of a tedding machine will outstrip a regiment with forks and
rakes. We need only dwell upon this to remark much has
been done, but much remains to do. 4. Men will be more
pleasant helpmates to the farmer, and more profitable aids, if
their intelligence has been evolved by some early education.
Their labour will be worth more, and they will win, without
loss to their master, a higher wage (Hear, hear). Murmurs of
approval were really welcome here, as it was quite possible for
this affirmation to have missed the assent they had previously
been kind enough to yield. Education was inevitable — it was
not only coming, but had come. It was wisest to accept the
inevitable, and to profit by it. This would not be an irksome
task to those who thought with him that technical iustruction

to the man ought to be prefaced by some merital training to
the boy — that reading, writing, and arithmetic were to the
business teaching of later life what draining and the subsoil
plough were found to be in preparing for the future plantation
of hops, not part of the hop-growing itself, but a most profit-
able and necessary introduction. It would be far better for
the farmer to interest himself in and guide the education of
his poorer neighbours, than to suspect, and keep aloof from,
the movement. Apart from the foregoing principles of
relationship, though not apart from the very important prin-
ciple of mutual sympathy and good feeling, are little details
that come to mind in connection with this subject. Are there
not many commodities which the farmer might help his man
to purchase, and thereby give him a lift ? Coals, for example,
could they not be bought for labourers at wholesale price, and
the carriage be given in ? Perhaps sugar, bacon, and calico
the same. Australian meat, like education, is becoming a
fact. It might easily be looked upon as a competitor and an
enemy ; better give it a welcome, and turn it into a friend.
Might not this be procured by a large farmer in considerable
quantities, and sold to such of his men as chose to have it at
cost price ? Its arrival in this country will be an unmixed
blessing if it be added to the amount«of meat consumed, i.e.,
if the artisans eat that at an easy price, while the wealthier
classes consume as much as ever of home-grown meat at the
present price. This end ought to be promoted, and its com-
petition in the market disarmed, if the farmers with one con-
sent bought it up, and supphed their labourers. After de-
scribing a stove that he thought might be very usefully intro-
duced into cottages. Dr. Monckton besought his hearers on
several grcflinds to discourage beershops, and, at least, to refrain
from weakly consenting to sign requisitions for fresh licences
in cases where they knew that an excessive number already
existed. He concluded, amid vociferous applause, by submit-
mitting for discussion by the meeting the four following pro-
positions : 1. That the labourer holds a fair position in tlie
agricultural community, and one that is progressing in com-
fort and respectability as rapidly as other sections of that com-
munity. 2. That, as a general rule, the labourer receives a
just equivalent for the value of the work he is able to supply ;
that, therefore, as a commercial necessity, his labour must rise
in value before his wages rise in amount. 3. That no poli-
tical change or combination would be calculated to improve
his condition : such improvement must begin in himself, and
will then be reflected upon his circimstances. 4. That edu-
cation need not be feared as tending to disqualify the work-
man for his duties so long as the teaching of the school is
broad and simple, and followed by the best possible technical
instruction in later life.

Mr. Chittenden said that after such an able lecture_ he
could add little except by way of endorsement. One subject
that Dr. Monckton had alluded to had ofteu been to him a
very painful subject to reflect upon, and no doubt it had to
many of them, the imputation cast upon the employers of
la,bour as to the way they treat men who work for them. It
was a subject he had very ofteu thought about, and not only
thought about, but it had set him looking into his books to
see if he had not got something down that did not belong to
him ; but he found, taking the course of several years, that
he had not got anything in his books which ought to belong
to the labourer ; and the results did not show such a product
upon his capital, and the small iutelligence he had, as they
ought. As he went on day by day he kept still the same idea
in his head, and asked himself if he was giving each man
working for him the value of his work, or was he keeping
what belonged to him ? He could say emphatically, and en-
dorse what Dr. Monckton had much more ably demonstrated
to them, that each labourer had the full value in money of
the work which he performed, and he felt sure the results of
such inquiries by most of them would be the same. But
while coming to that conviction, he had not dismissed from
his mind that he should like to pay his men more money.
The only way he could see to arrive at that desired result
would be, as had been so ably pointed out, that they should
have more intelligent labourers, labourers taking more interest
in what they were doing, and having more skill to do it. He
lioped they were somewhat moving in that direction. He
knew very well that the way to obtain that skilled labour was
to educate the man better, and put him with something that
would draw forth hia iutelligence, and produce larger results

352

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

— to put him with machinery. Tn that way, tlie vahie of the
work of meu who when put to certain employment upon a
farm had been 15s. or IGs. a-week, had been raised to ~is.
Of course, they could not raise the labourers' wages by taking
money out of their own pockets, but they miglit do so by get-
ting machinery whicli would do the work more satisfactorily,
and by getting more intelligent men to perform it. lie assured
them tliat the way in which the question of farm labour was
put before the country generally was distressing to men em-
ployed in that pursuit, and he looked forward to the time
when they would be able to do more, as they were doing day
by day, (or their labourers, by giving more money to the best
labourers, and finding more jobs for thtm to do. There was
nothing like a man who could do good work, and earn good
money. He was the man the employer wanted. They looked
through their own labourers, and saw that some meu took
12s. or 13s. as their earnings, while another man earned a
pound. Why was that man earning one pound ? Because
he had had the best work, and because he could do it better.
He regretted the one-sided manner in which the subject was
discussed in the plough field, but it was their earnest desire to
benefit their labourers, and, if they could fairly do so, to give
them more money. They saw a good many lads growing up
around them whom they marked down as sharp lads, but,
after a while, they found that they had migrated to the towns,
and their brothers, who were not quite so sharp, were left.
He would say one word with regard to education, aud he
accepted it as a thing >Yhich must come, as the inevitable.
He welcomed it as such, but from his own experience he wel-
comed it in hope, and perhaps a little in fear, for it generally
happened that some one else got the good scholars, and that
very few fell to the lot of the shepherd or ploughman.

Mr. H.VYES said, as opposition sometimes did a little good,
he begged to differ from Dr Monckton, and from ninety-nine
persons out of a hundred, in holding that the beershops did all
the evil. There was no doubt the beershops did a great deal
of harm, hut he was not quite certain whetlier repressive mea-
sures were required. There was a time when their grand-
fathers could not have sat round a table like that, after JMaid-
stone market, and gone home sober, and the improvement had
not been because the public-houses were shut up, but because,
from some cause or other, they had ceased to care for drunken-
ness. If they could by any means persuade those who did not
get drunk to leave it off, he thought it would be better than
repressive measures. He would much rather see a man become
good, not by the force of the law, but because of the good it-
self. He thought it would be a good thing if every shop-
keeper were allowed to sell beer over the counter, in the same
way as he sold a pound of sugar or any other provisions, so
that the labourer might carry his beer home to his house, so as
to do away with the beershop or, at least, cause them to sell a
better article, because the competition would compel them to
sell good beer. One point struck him, that was, that the
labourer was already much improved. If they looked back 50
years ago, when reckoning time came to settle with the men,
each one brought his score ou a notched stick, but now nearly
all their meu brought their accounts neatly written out. Then
a^aiu, in reference to the cottages, the time was when the floor
was entirely bare, but now in nineteen out of every twenty
cottages there was some sort of carpet placed under the wife's
feet, and the walls instead of being dirty were papered. He
thought the labourer had improved liis condition ; aud any
persuasive measures tliey could adopt to assist him to go on
doing so he thought were all very w^ell. With reference to
the subject of education, he thought it was very necessary,
but they must understand what education really was. There
was a book-learning which was simply book-learning, but
what was wanted was a practical education with a little book-
learning. The lecturer had tlioroughly exhausted his subject,
and he was exceedingly pleased at the practical manner in which
the subject had been placed before them, for he expected to
find him up in the clouds or down in the earth.

Mr. Stoniiam said there were two or three msfters in the
address he should like to allude to. First, whether it whs
possible, as Dr. Monckton had referred to some persons beiniJ-
similar to monkeys, for mankind to degenerate into the monkey
state. He was not a close reader of Darwin, but he dared say
there could be retrogression as well as progression ; he hoped
it was not a fact. Another thing he should like to mention
was that they read that the Israelities were a chosen race, and

he never yet saw one of that race digging hops, neither had he
ever seen a Quaker hard-worked. He could not agree entirely
with Dr. Monckton as to the minuticc of the management of
farm labourers that was enjoined upon them. In the first
place he thought that everything paid to tlie labourer should
be paid in the shape of money ; for if they paid part in coal,
wood, &c., after a while he received it as a matter of course,
and it was not reckoned as any money value whatever. Then
with regard to giving the farm labourer manure with which to
manure his garden, he considered the refuse from every cottage
quite suiiicient for all purposes. Another thing he disagreed
with was giving the farm labourer too much garden. He
found it did not work well. He thought it was quite sufficient
that he should be allowed just enough to grow a few vegetables
for his own use, because in nine times out of ten a man could
earn more by working for his master overtime than by growing
potatoes. He could not agree with Mr. Hayes' observations
about the beershops, for he did not think his inference was
logical, because it was legislated that the beershops should be
open, and inasmuch as our laws are not like those of the
Medes and Persians, he thought when the legislature had
made a false step it was incumbent on them to retrieve their
position as soon as possible. He maintained that if they
wished to demoralise a village they had only to establish
a beer-shop and two gamekeepers, and they would do it
effectually.

Mr. W. Fancett, in reference to the lecturer's allusions to
education, said he quite agreed with him that education
must come as a matter of fact, and therefore they had better
accept it, as had been suggested ; but he for one did not think
there was any cause for fear. He thought the education tlieir
boys were receiving in the National Schools — plain reading,
writing, and arithmetic — was necessary, and it was incumbent
aud the bounden duty of the country to supply it all over the
land. He argued that it was necessary for their own pros-
perity. As the doctor had very forcibly put it, if an intelligent
master wished to impart his intelligence to a man, that man
must have a certain amount of intelligence to receive it. As to
what Mr. Chittenden liad said about the sharp lad going away
and leaving his less sharp brother behind, he maintained that
as education progressed they would have them much upon the
same level. They had only to look to Scotland for an example
in that matter. There the people were much better educated
than here, and if an intelligent master there bought a book,
cleverly written, say upon the management of sheep, he could
say to his man, "now take it, and go away and read it for
yourself," and the man would go away and sit down with his
watch dog and thoroughly understand the information which
it gave. If they thus raised their population to one level,
which would come in a short time, he thought they would
have nothing to fear, but they might congratulate themselves
that they had got a lair standard of education.

Mr. Earloo said the question affecting the agricultural
labourer was now an opportune one for discussion, and was
one of great importance, when viewed in connection with the
new ideas that were so prominently brought before the public
in connection with the labour agitation. He said they were new
ideas because they had seen, under the influence, perhaps, of
temporary prosperity of the labouring classes, a strong desire
expres5ed,and in fact not only expressed but in a great measure
carried out among those classes, to reduce the hours of labour,
and at the same time to take the same if not a larger measure
of pay, and many were believing that it was quite possible for
the agricultural labourer also to receive a larger measure of
pay even if he submitted to work the same number of hours.
Many writers, at any rate local writers, had led the unthink-
ing to imagine that it was possible that employers could afford
to pay at a higher rate than they were now doing. They made
a comparison between the wages earned by what was termed
the skilled labourer and what was earned by the agricultural
labourer ; they compared 15s. witli 35s. or £2 5s., and going
ou with the connection they inferred that the man was just so
much the more miserable as he had the less money. He held that
to be an entire mistake. It was possible for a man with a
very low rate of pay, under circumstances, as stated by Dr.
Monckton, to be quite as comfortable as a man who was earn-
ing more money, for there were many of the latter class who
never appeared a bit the better off, but were more extravagant
and less careful, and he was going to say some of the worst
members of society, in proportion to their earnings. It did

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

uot follow as a ucccssity, but it was really so. With regard
to the absurd notion that by payinghigher wages the value of the
article produced would be according to the labour that was oc-
cupied in producing it. They must sell their wheat at a cer-
tain price, for they had to meet in competition not only their
own countrymen, but with all the producers that could reacli
our market. The establishment of steam ships and railways
had brought a larger area of supply, and they had to compete
with countries wiiere labour was naturally clieaper. It was
naturally cheaper from this cause, I hat the population was larger
in proportion to the country or district, as the case might be. In
Prussia frequently the earnings of men were uot more
than Is. 2d. per day, and of women — who work at labour
which we should call hard work for men, for a women often
carried a hod — 4d. per day. The price at whicli they would
offer the goods iu this market was the measure of the
price the English producers could obtain, and they must
measure the rate of wages by what they got for their pro-
ductions, aud not by what they desired to give. He took ex-
ception to Dr. Moiickton when he said that the agricultural
labourer was the residuum of the labouring community in
this country. He totally differed from him. He believe'd
there was as much true manhood — there was as much gran-
deur of character, and as much capability amongst the general
agricultural population of this part of England at least as
there was among any class, skilled or otherwise, and that he
was by no means the residue. The allusions that the sharp
boys left for the towus would lead one to suppose that all the
sharp boys left; but that was by no means a fact. He had
had a great deal of experience amongst agricultural labourers,
and he had found that they possessed a great deal more intel-
ligence than the general world gave them credit for, although
they worked at the very base of the labouring arena. They
were at the bottom, and it must be so of necessity. If they
took the statistics of Europe they would find that by far the
larger proportion of tlie labour was absorbed in producing
food. Tiie number being so enormous, of course they had to
compete with each other for the price of the product they
turned out, and those whose labour was the least good, of
course would receive the lowest wages. The labour question
must not be considered in the way that it had been considered
by many, who had written apparently, not with the honest
object of benefiting the labourer, but rather with the dis-
honest object of gaining the applause of the labourer by mis-
leading him. There was much still to be done ; much had
been done. Those who could remember forty years must in-
evitably conclude that the agricultural labourer and every
other class of labouring society bad greatly advanced. He
stated that he had the pleasure of being in London on Tues-
day, but expressed liis regret that twenty or thirty of tiic real
working classes should not have been invited to the Cathedral
to take part in the Thanksgiving, stating that he should like
to have seen them there in their gaberdines, and their wives
in their old-fashioned shawls, and he might almost say coal-
scuttle bonnets ; for he held that the skilled artizans were not
fair representatives of the working class, and that they were
far out-numbered by the agricultural population. With re-
gard to what had been said about the Quakers never doing
any hard work, he was educated a Quaker, and had worked as
hard as any agricultural labourer had worked, and as hard as
Mr. Stonham had worked. He was proud to say that lie had
worked ; he held work to be a noble occupation — it was one
he hoped to die in performing. He iiad no feeling at all of
shame at having worked, and would continue to work. He
did not kuow that he had any other remark to make, except
it was on the subject cf education. It vi'as pressed upon
society by the carrying out of the new law, and he thought it
would tend to the general welfare. He believed the result of
putting ill force the new Elementary Education Act would be
a thorough blessing to the employer as well as to the labourer.
There had been a prejudice against the educated labourer, be-
cause the labourer became a little proud of his special ability ;
and that had caused him to be troublesome to his master, as
he had ait idea of getting up in the world — but when the
whole became educated, they would find a different condition
of things. The man had been proud because he had been an
exceptional character, aud had an advantage which others had
not, and had thus been able to be independent aud trouble-
some ; but when they got all men educated, one man would
not be able to say " I am better than my neighbour." They

had no cause to fear as employers of labour, but everything
to hope from the spread of education.

The Chairman said he rose to make an observation upon
a subject that had seemed to have been missed — that was,
living in th>i neighbourhood of large towns like Maidstone,
the difficulty they experienced in getting agricultural labour.
Close around the (own of Maidstone there was more compe-
tition for labour than there was amongst a good many of
their friends who lived away from the town. Here they had
the manufactories to compete with ; they had also a class of
labourers who did uot seem inclined to accept a permanent
situation, but they would go away to the brickfields, to the
Isle of Sheppey harvesting, where they got higher wages, and
perhaps spent their money before they got home on Saturdaj-
uight. How was it? He had so many labourers at work
during the winter, but it was a simple fact they would not
stay at home during the summer if they could earn more any-
where else ; but such must expect to be out of work in the
winter, and he questioned whetlier it would not be worth
their consideration to accept a permanent situation. The
labourer was much improved during the last ten years, and
they knew why he was improving. He knew perfectly well
that the farmer would engage the best men, and therefore
the best men engaged with the best masters.

Dr. MoNCKTON, in reply, expressed his pleasure and satis-
faction at the attention with which so large and intelligent a
meeting bad been good enough to hear him, at the interest
they had taken in the matter, and at the very mild criticisms
to which they iiad subjected his address ; not one really anta-
gonistic assertion had been made. It was true one gentleman
denied that beershops did all the mischief, and disapproved of
repressive measures. He (Dr. M.) had never affirmed that
they did do all the mischief; indeed, three-fourths of his
address had been devoted to otiier griefs, that required other
remedies. Neither had he hinted at repressive measures,
first because their own rules forbade politics, and next be-
cause they did not harmonise with the leaning of his own
mind. His suggestion amounted to this — that vphen an
ample supply of beerhouses already existed in a neighbour-
hood, it was morally suicidal to sign, from mere weakness and
good-nature, such requisitions as led to the licensing of mis-
chievous additions to the list. Mr. Stonham, in his usually
facetious and forcible way, had alluded to Darwin, wondering
whether development might uot be backwards as well as for-
wards, lie begged to say that he had rightly judged : dege-
neration was quite as possible as progression : the eight-pound
hare of one country would soon produce a progeny of four-
pounders in a barren and starvation district, and the best pigs
of Mr. Fisher Hobbs would, if turned wild into the New
Forest, be in ten years represented by very primitive and
rainbow-backed descendants. Mr. Stonham had also taken
exception to the payment of labourers in kind, aud most
rightly so. Heaven forbid that the British farmer should
open a tally-shop ! What he liad suggested was that
masters should take a friendly interest in the welfare of
their people, helping them in their purchases if they
were willinj to allow them to do so, so that goods might
be bought at a cheaper rate, and the carriage given for
nothing. With regard to manure for gardens, he had
perhaps forgotten for the moment that each cottager
ought to find a supply by care and economy at home, but
he considered this would be barely sufficient, and the annual
gift he had suggested might, perhaps, do away with the temp-
tation to each labourer to make a guano bag of his jacket
pocket. The size of the gardens would depend, he thought,
on the nature of the country ; some land was so indifferent
that the use of it, even rent free, was no boon, and much
smaller allotments would sulfice in hop countries, where so
much work was done by the grate. The reduction of hours of
labour, without altering the pay, and matters of trades unions
and strikes he considered wholly out of place in connection
with agriculture. Bad weather and the darkness of winter
shortened the hours more than enough through about half the
year. In these matters agricuture could not be compared with
coininerciil enterprise, llightly or wrongly, the IJnionist or
ticket man went to his master and said, " Alter such a date we
must have so many shillings a week more, or we will strike if
you do not give it us. We give you this notice that you may
make all future contracts accordingly," and so it might be
supposed that the extra wages became diffused over society.

354

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

This would not apply to the agriculturist, who had an open
raarkot to compete with, who could not raise tlic price of his
commodities, and had no resourse from which to recompense
himself for the enforced addition to the cost of his goods.
Agaiu, exception had been taken to his use of the word resi-
duum ; he dad distinctly guarded that term from oiTensive inter-
pretation, and therefore must have been misunderstood. The
word was correct enough, meaning that which was left. In
quartz crushing the earthy matter was washed away, and the
gold itself became the residuum. He should be sorry indeed
to have said one word in depreciation of the farm labourer,
and would far rather promote in his hearers the feeling of res-
pect, and even of affectionate regard, for these humble friends,
that lengthened intercourse had often won from himself. The
term skilled labourers had been employed and dwelt upon ;
and at present the distinction was just, but he hoped would
soon cease to be so ; in fact, the change from mere mechanical
toil to skilled workmanship is in our districts, at least.

already much advanced ; time alone will certainly complete it.
The same with education ; all the villages in the county were
studded with schools, and the new law, very justly eulogised
by one of the speakers, had only methodised and supplemented
a work already well upon its way. In Maidstone 30 years ago
200 children were taught daily in the public schools ; at pre-
sent the number must exceed 2,000. In justice to what had
been freely accomplished let each man look at his own parish,
and also remember that very often these legislative spurs
simply or principally goaded the very sides that were reeking
from work already done.

The C11JLIRMA.N proposed a vote of thanks to Dr. Mouckton,
to which that gentleman replied, taking gladly the opportunity
to correct a mistake, though one on the right side. Mr.
Clifford, an excellent authority, had just informed him that
more than 3,000 children were now attending the public
schools in Maidstone.

The proceedings then termiDated,

THE STRIKE IN WARWICKSHIRE.

At Willesbourne and the surrounding district two hundred
agriculturallabourershavestruck, the employers having declined
to accede higher wages and shorter hours. The Warwickshire
Labourers' Union will support the men on strike until the
masters concede their terms. Then a strike is to commence
in another district, until it is extended throughout the entire
country. This course has been decided upon because the
union vias only recently formed, and has not sufficient funds to
maintain a general simultaneous strike.

At Bishops Itchington, J. Arch, of Barford, said at Binton the
farmers were raising the wages Is., to preveutthe men joining
the union ; but on Friday ninety joined. He knew farmers
who were making money, althou;<li paying £10 an acre as
rent ; how much more profit did tliey get out of the land who
only paid £2 an acre ? Conseciuently the farmers could afford
a more adequate remuneration for labour. The members at
the Wellfcsbourne Branch liad struck that day for 16s., ten
hours a day, leaving work at tliree on Saturday, and 4d. over-
time. Sir Charles Mordaunt, Mr. Spencer Lucy, and others
had declined to accede to these terms ; consequently the farms
in Walton, Charlecote, Moreton, Gaydon, Wellesbourne, and
Loxley were, to a great extent, without labourers. In South
Warwickshire the pick of the labourers had joined the Union,
a thousand in number, and not one of them would go to work
for any one where there was a strike. He made a call for
£50 or £60, to support the Wellesbourne men this week, as
they had thought well to pioneer the way for a general rise.
He had no doubt that if the strike was supported for a few
weeks the employers would accede to the demand. He thought
they should not make a general strike at present, 200 men
were a sufficient number for the funds to bear at present. A
code of rules was submitted to the meeting, and approved, for
the management of a county union. The rules fix the wages
for efficient labourers at 18s., but allow the men to take less,
except in cases of strike. Ten hours are the maximum hours
of a day's work, and four o'clock on Saturday tlie latest hour
to end the week's work ; all further labour to be paid 4d.
an hour. Members are to be maintained on strike, and in
sickness, and other adversity ; they may also he assisted to
emigrate. All strikes are to be managed by a hoard of direc-
tors composed of one representative from each branch of fifty
members. Each branch manages its own affairs, but the board
takes charge of the funds and regulates the movements of the
society. Tlie Friendly Societies and Trades Union Acts are
taken advantage of, and every member has a voice in the elec-
tion and constitution of the board, wlio are to submit full re-
ports to annual general meeting. These rules are to be con-
sidered at a county gathering before beiug certified.

A meeting of landowners and tenant-farmers was held
at the King's Head, Wellesbourne, to confer as to the
best steps to be taken with reference to the strike. Sir

Charles Mordaunt, Bart., presided, and there were upwards of
a hundred others present. A discussion of a conversational
character took place, which elicited a general feeling of dislike
of the union, and an agreement among the farmers to dis-
countenance any attempt to organise a counter union among
employers of labour. At the same time it was distinctly un-
derstood that everyone was to resist the demands of the meu
as much as possible. The Rev. Mr. Holbeech spoke at great
length on the grave questions which had arisen, and finally
submitted the following resolutions, which were unanimously
adopted, and 2,000 copies ordered to be printed for circulation
in the county: That this meeting most earnestly deprecates
any combination amongst labourers which originates or fosters
discord and disruption between the agricultural labourers and
their employers. 2. That this meeting is most anxious to
preserve intact the feeling of goodwill and confidence which
have for the most part prevailed between the above classes.
3. That this meeting is firmly convinced that in the interest
of the agricultural labourer every efi'ort should be made to
dissuade labourers from joining any union against their em-
ployers, and to persuade them to withdraw if they have
joined; and if these measures are unsuccessful, then, as a last
resource, this meeting considers that employers must refuse to
employ union men. 4. Tliat this meeting considers the de-
mands already made by the labourers are excessive, but declines
to interfere in the matter of wages, and leaves such disputes to
be arranged between the master and man.

A proposal has been set on foot for turning out the men
on every farm in the county so as to prevent the possibility of
those in work supporting those who are out. At AVarwick
market on Saturday this subject was discussed at considerable
length by the farmers, who looked upon it with favour and
approval. From the temper and tone of the opinions ex-
pressed it is probable a large meeting of farmers will be con-
vened shortly, and the threat of a general lock-out carried
into effect. In that case there will be from 2,000 to 3,000
labourers with their wives and families thrown out of em-
ployment, and, as the vast majority of these are without
a shilling in the world, the strike must suddenly col-
lapse. Meanwhile there is a vast amount of sympathy
with the men, and pecuniary relief is being raisftl for them in
Leamington, Warwick, Stratford, and other places. On Satur-
day morning the secretary to the union received the following
significant note from Professor Beesley : University Hall,
Gordon-square, W.C, 15th March, 1872. Sir,— Having long
taken an interest in labour questions, I am glad to see that the
agricultural labourers are at length moving to bette» their posi-
tion. If you will let me know the name and address of your
treasurer I will send him a small subscription to your strike
fund. Perhaps I may be useful also in other ways. Yours faith-
fully, E. S. Beesley, Professor in University College, London.

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

A meeting of agricultural labourers was held in an open
space m tiie centre of tlie village of Radford, in order to con-
sider the best means of obtaining an increase of wages and
shorter hours of work. Mr. Russell was voted tothe chair.

Mr. Arch said he had heard that the landlords could bring
men from Scotland, and that they would sacrifice any amount
of money in order to gain tiieir ends. Now he would ask
tliem to throw a little reason into the question ; imagine for
one moment a mechanic taking a bill to a gentleman of £15,
and the gentleman said he sliould only pay £14', " Oh ! but,"
the mechanic would say, " you shall." So the agricultural
labourer said to his, " My bill this week is IGs. ; " but says
the employer, " I shan't pay it, because I will gain ray ends."
He would ask them where was the difference between the
two. The £15 bill would be admitted a just cliarge, and so
he maintained was the 16s. bill, and ought every bit as much
to be paid, and the utterance of " to gain their ends " was not
fit for the British soil. England was no place for slavery in
any form. If the working meu, the agricultural labourers,
would be free from tlieir slavish trammels, they must them-
selves strike the blow in a peaceful way, and remember their
purpose was honest and righteous.

The Chairman said that an M.P. had taken up the cause,
and was backing up the poor people in their great movement,
and tiiey meant to invite him to come to assist them. Mr!
Arch had done them great and signal service ; and the move-
ment was not only in Warwickshire, but throughout England.

Mr. Taylor said the lowest rate of wages onglit to be 16s.
per week. Could they save money on that ? If they tried it
tliey would find they would have to pincli and live very
hard, and risk ill health. He would ask tliem to judge
for themselves. He was sorry that sucli a degraded state
of things existed as was exliibited by Lord Denbigh taking tlie
cliairat a meeting of working men. His very presence was a
coertiou of their feelings. He agreed with him that there
was many a worse tiling tlian rice, but if they liad much
physical work they must have some beef-steak. If they had
rice alone they would find themselves soon below the mark of
healtii. To think tliat a man could exist and subsist upon
rice, Lord Denbigh did not know auytliing at all about it. If
the noble lord had to work upon 'rice he would pretty soon
say " Bring me a beef-steak with it." There was something
v/rong in all that. The Dissenting Ministers liad joined in
their cause, and with God's blessings he hoped and believed in
tlieir success.

Mr. George Barry stated that the average wages in
that district were from lOs. to 12s. a- week, and he knew one man
who worked for Ss. ; and lie did not know how they could
find bread and meat on that. He believed that they had been
down-trodden upon, but that if they were true to themselves
they would soon have their rights. He did not like the name
of master, but thought they sliould rather call them (heir
employers. Their time ought to be from 6 till 5 o'clock,
and till 3 o'clock on Saturday, and their wages 16s. a-week,
and it would be secured when each of them had joined the
Union ; and if their masters said they would discharge
them, they should not mind that, but keep true to them-
selves, and they must gain their rights.

Mr. John Sheffield said he had to tell them that
there was one of their fellow-labourers of that parish who
had notice to quit his employer, and to leave his cottage
because he had joined the Union (Voices : " Shame, shame,
disgraceful"). And he would like to know how long he
had been there (A Voice : " 18 years"). He understood
that James Ward, who was discharged, was born in the
place ; and they might be opposed, but it would be of no
avail if they were true to the Union. He wished that
that hard-fisted man who gave that poor man notice had
taken example by Squire Lucy's doings. Squire Lucy had
told his tenants that he would not have one of the la-
bourers disturbed (Three hearty cheers were given for
Squire Lucy).

A lot of hands were lield up, and the Chairman said
that there were at least 500 ready to join the Union.

The Chairman remarked upon the doings of the farm-
labourers in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. Copies of
the rules of the Union would soon be printed, and they
could have them on application to him. Union-cards
would set the matter in a much better working order, and

were doing so every day. If they wanted some at Radford,
they could have 40, 60, or 100, and the charge was ^d.

It was then decided that a Uniou of the agricultural la-
bourers in the district should be formed, and that the en-
trance-fee should be 6d., their objects being to shorten
their hours of labour ; so that their time should be from 6
till 5 o'clock, and till 3 o'clock on Saturdays, with 16s.
a-week wages, and to assist their fellow working-men when
on strike. A large number of labourers were immediately
enrolled as members of the Union,

Middle Tysoe.— The unionists on strike at Welles-
bourne made a demonstration on Tuesday, at Middle Tysoe,
on the occasion of forming a branch society fo» the surround-
ing district, including Brailes, Siiennington, and other parishes
lying on the borders of 0.\fordsliire. Farm labourers attended
from miles round, and there were also some farmers and
tradesmen present. John Hancox was called upon to preside,
and gave accounts of labourers who ouly received from 10s. to
12s. a week. He had known labourers go to work on very
short commons," and children go to school with empty bel-
lies, while many other children had been kept from school by
want of decent clothing. While the Chairman was speaking,
a farmer said he (the Chairman) received £1 a week, and
Hancox explained that this was through his wife and child
working in the fields— his wife had Is. a day and his girl 6d.
a day ; but that did not improve his position as a labourer —
it was a bad and unnatural system of making an income.
Three cheers were given for the union as the best reply to the
interrupting farmer. E. Uaynes went to prove that good pay
was more remunerative to the farmer tlian a grinding- down
price. Quoting Scripture against oppression, he pleaded for
Government control of the farming system in the interest of
the nation, which was concerned in a better method of
raising its breadstuffs. He expressed his confidence in
a general rise of wages to the extent of -is. in a week
or two, through the operation of the union. George
Clifton, of Brailes, said he had been a farm labourer for
for forty years, and though a teetotaller and industrious man
he had not a sovereign of his own. Till a fortnight ago he
never had more than 10s. a week. A shilling had been lately
added to keep the men from the uniou. He had worked for
his master thirty years, and last Saturday lie was discharged for
speaking in favour of the union. That was the persecution
many were subject to in Warwickshire. The same man told
his shepherd he had intended to give him a sheep's head, and
a frock for his child, but as he had joined the union' they
would go to a more deserving character. He counselled the
men to remain honest, industrious, and respectful, though
"put upon" in this way, because victory was at hand, Mr.
Arch announced that about 1,500 men had now joined the
union, and that all the trade-unions in the country were being
appealed to in support of the movement, which was receiving
assistance on every hand. Several unions had already sent in
money, and he acknowledged many private subscriptions. A
gentleman from Texas, and one or two societies in London,
communicated their readiness to give free shipment to all on
strike, if they wished to emigrate to the colonies. At the
close, a number of men joined the union.

On Tuesday morning a number of agricultural labourers
now on strike in the Wellesbourne and Walton district
marched into Kineton, being preceded by a brass band. Each
man displayed a piece of blue ribbon. A good many elderly
men figured in tlie procession. Beyond the parading of the
streets, nothing further took place ; but it was said that a
lecturer would attend on Eriday. We do not hear of any
Kineton meu having at present joined the Labourers' Union.
After leaving Kineton, on Tuesday, the processionists visited
Radway, Tysoe, and Eatington.

Fenny Compton.— On Wednesday night, nearly a thou-
sand farm labourers from Avon Dassett, Claydon, Knightcot,
Northend, Earnborough, Wormlcighton, &c., met on the
school gr»en, in the village of Eeuny Compton, to establish a
branch of the above union. Mr. James Knight, jun., was
called to the chair. Mr. Hugh Chater (Eenny Compton)
gave his experience of the hardships of the labourer owiug to
his inadequate pay. Their fare was the coarsest and poorest,
their children were often in rags, and their homes comfortless ;
and how could it possibly be otherwise on 12s. a week? They
rarely, if ever got a bit of butchers' meat unless a beast met
with an accidentj and was spld r^t 3d. a pound, lie contended.

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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

that it was as much the master's interest and duty to consider
tlie well-being of his men as it was the duty and interest of
the men to be faithful and honest to their master ; but at
present time the relationship between the farmer and his men
was unsound, un-Christian, and most unsatisfactory in every
way. All classes, and especially tlie tradesmen, were inter-
ested in this movement for a rise of wages. If the men got
4s. a week more, making 16s., business would flourish at the
shops, the poor rates would go down, and crime and immoral-
ity would he lessened greatly. Mr. J. Haynes (Ratley) said
the labourers were considered hardy, stalwart men, but the
meeting knew very well that, although they had to " rough
it " their constitutions were enfeebled by poverty, and if they
had better food they could do a better day's work. There
had been a meeting of farmers that day at Wellesbourne, Sir
Charles Mordaunt chairman, and they had passed resolutions,
one of which was that the men should not join the union, hut
that disputes should be settled by the masters. The Rev. Mr.
Holbech had put out a notice containing the resolutions,
signed by Sir Charles jMordaunt, and had appended to it a
request that his parishioners would not attend these seditious
and wicked gatherings. Labouring men were not to be hood-
winked any longer, thanks to the cheap press ; they were
determined to have a moral and social revolution, and gain
their rights as men entitled by their honest labour to the
necessaries and some of the comforts of life. Mr. E. Haynes
(Ratley) said they had been too long like " dumb driven
cattle ;" they were resolved now not to be afraid to open their
mouths and tell their grievances. If farmers could not afford
to pay what their men must have to live decently, let the
farms be let in allotments, and the men would soon show the
world what a capital profit they could make out of the land.
But it was said that would make them " too independent."
He thought the country at large would be benefited by some
independence, for they would he much better citizens, and get
a voice in the Legislature. Mr. John Green (Wormleighton)
went into figures to show the utter inadequacy of 12s. a week
to keep a family, and he argued that if the farmer gave 18s.
or £1 a week to his men, he would more than get it back in
the higher price of his stock through increased consumption
caused thereby. There were about 100 inhabitants to every
square mile of land in Great Britain, and 640 acres to every
square mile ; consequently there were six acres and four chains of
laud for every man, woman, and child in the country. If he
could rent the quantity which would fall to his lot as a family
man, he could be a gentleman and keep his gig. Mr. J. Dur-
ham, of MoUington, advocated co-operative farming. The
rules of the union were unanimously adopted, and cheers given
for the speakers and the cause. At the close over sixty men
joined the society and paid their entrance money.

LABOURERS' MEETING AT SHREWS-
BURY.

A district meeting of the North Hereford, South Salop, and
West of England Agricultural Labourers' Improvement Society
was held in the large room at the Raven Hotel, Shrewsbury.
The meeting was called to afford the labourers an opportunity
of discussing their grievances, and to hear an address upon the
subject from Mr. A. H. Brown, M.P. for Wenlock, who was
expected to take the chair. There was a large attendance, the
room being almost full.

Mr. Strai«;ge said it was with great regret that night that
he had to announce to them that Mr. Brown was unfortunately
unable to be present, on account of a misunderstanding as to
the time.

A working man then proposed that Mr. Morris, of ;Swin-
don, take the chair ; Mr. Strange seconded it, and the motion
"ffas carried.

The Chairjxa:!? said he was not there that evening to per-
suade them to strike. When strikes were resorted to they
brought ruin upon those that resorted to them. Had it not
been for the simple fact that that ill-advised step had been
taken in some of the adjoining counties, lie thought it very
probable that he should not have come so far from home as to
Lave attended a meeting in this part of the country.

Mr. Strakge said last Saturday a meeting was held in
Shrewsbury, and he was glad to see that the masters had
spoken of the men almost in affectionate terms. He thought

that augured a better state of things, and he trusted that that
night they would emulate the example of their employers and
speak, as their employers did of them, respectfully, temperately,
and moderately.

William Williams said he got 12s. per week. He had
a wife and ten children, and his wife had been " bad" for three
years. He had 17s. 6d. to pay for poor's rate, and 12s. 2^d.
for improvement rate, every year, and he paid 3s. 6d. per week
rent.

Thomas Heyward said he earned I2s. per week. He had
six in family. He had two or three pints of beer a day, and a
drop of milk occasionally. He had to work on Sundays, as
well as week days, for the same wages.

Richard Jacks said he had been a labourer to a farmer
ever since he could walk ; and he thought farmers could afford
to pay 3s. a day now better than they could, forty years ago,
pay lOd. a day. Since he had been a married man he had
worked for 14d. a day. He did so for three years, and that
wages then was worth more than os. is now.

Thomas Pugh felt that labourers' wages ought to be on
the rise. He worked teveuteen hours every day, and seven
days every week, and for 13s. a week, and if tbat was not a
shame upon the farmers, he should like to know what was.
He was to-night in tliis state of mind : if he could not have a
rise of wages in this country, he would seek some other ; and
he felt in this state of mind, that he should start pretty soon.

The CuAiRMAJf : What necessitates your working seven-
teen hours a day ?

The Speaker : Feeding cattle.

The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the chair-
man and secretary, and three cheers for Mr. Barber, who had
recently made some concessions to his men .

MEETING OF THE LABOURERS AT
BISHOP'S CASTLE.

The labourers of Bishop's Castle and its neighbourhood have
held a large district meeting, to discuss their condition, and
how they might best improve it. The authorities thought it
advisable to refuse the use of the Town HaU for the purpose of
the meeting, and so the men were glad to avail theraselues of
the large malt-house at the Royal Oak, tlie use of which, gra-
tuitously, was kindly proffered them by the proprietor. Mr. W.
Morris, newspaper proprietor, of Swindon, Wilts, presided ;
and there were at least 500 labourers present, by all of whom
the greatest interest in the proceedings appeared to be taken.

John Hughes said that for the last nineteen years he had
been working as a farm labourer at about a mile from the town.
For the last thirteen years he had been in the same employ-
ment, during which time he had received different wages — at
one time 9s., and another 10s., and, for the last four years, 2s.
per day ; but, for this sum, he had the more responsible post
of farm bailiff. Being, however, in receipt of 2s. per day, he
had not so much cause for complaint as some of his fellow-
workmen ; still, he thought his wages, and the wages gene-
rally of farm servants, were " too small for the day ;" and he
believed that with a rise of wages, and the taking of their
cottages direct from the landlord, they would be in a much
better position. Would be glad to see the time come when
every labourer should be receiving his half-a-crown a-day, so
that each should be able to meet his payments when required.

In answer to Mr. King, a farmer from Birmingham, who
attended the meeting for the purpose of hiring workmen,
Hughes said he.had a cottage and certain " privileges " in addi-
tition to his 2s. per day.

Edward Evajjs had been working at Bishop's Castle for
upwards of seven years, and the highest wages he had ever
received were 2s. per day, out of which he had to pay rent.
Had a wife and five children, and really, with such a poor
pittance, he " could not get things to come to a point any
way whatever." He had been calculating it up lately, and
found that after paying his rent, and allowing three meals per
day for each member of his family, the money he received left
just a penny a-piece per meal throughout the week — to say
nothing of firing, clothing, boots and shoes, and other neces-
saries of life. As for scliooliug his children, that he was sorry
to say was quite beyond his power.

In reply to Mr. Wright, a farmer from Walsall, who was
present, like Mr, King, for the purpose of hiring men, WiL-

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

357

LIAM Francis said that out of his 10s. per week he paid his
master £4) for rent, but that when he paid that rent his
master generally gave him something back— 10s, or 15s., or
£1. As far as the wages of the country went, he dare say
he was as well off as any other labourer, though badly enough
at the best.

There were a number of other speakers, and between sixty
and seventy labourers of the district enrolled themselves as
members of the society, while some few engagements for Wal-
sall and Birmingham were entered into.

OXFORDSHIRE.

MOLLINGTON. — FORMATION OF A BRANCH OF THE WAR-
WICKSHIRE Union.— The agitation which has been going on
for the last few weeks amongst the agricultural labourers of
South Warwickshire has at length reached this county (Oxon),
and the first meeting held to advocate the movement was at
MoUington, when the labourers of that and the adjoining
parishes met on the Green, and notwithstanding the weather,
there was a good attendance. The proceedings began shortly
after seven o'clock, and lasted until lialf-past nine. The niglit
being somewhat dark, two carriage lamps were put into requi-
sition to throw light upon the proceedings. The chair was
taken by Mr. H. Taylor, Banbury, who said he was glad to
see such a gathering, and he believed they were honest men
come for an honest purpose. Other people combined to benefit
themselves, and wliy should not tlie agricultural labourers ?
He said it was intended to form a branch of the Warwick-
shire Labourers' Union there that night, and he called upon
Mr. Thomas Herbert (Warmington) to read the rules, which
he did. The object of the association was to improve the
social condition of the labourers by increasing their wages,
and he said that was a good thing and was just what every
man amongst them wanted. He hoped tliat if they joined the
association they would never act the Judas, but be men of
principle and men of honesty— (a Voice: "That's right").
The rules said that Sunday time should be paid for, so that
the shepherds would see a brighter time. He should like to
see more reverence for the Sabbath day amongst men who
professed to be Christian men, and if they would have men
to work on tliat day they should be paid for it. Tlie associa-
tion would make arrangements for the support of the men out
on strike. That was a fine idea. They would know where to
go and get a loaf. They were not going to run after the re-
lieving officer to get " snarled" and growled at. Tliey were
going to see a better day. The association would also help
men to emigrate, and he hoped that some of the young folks
there would yet have farms of their own in lands where the
tiller of the soil was better appreciated than in this country.
The entrance fee to the association was 6d., and the subscrip-
tion three-halfpence a week. Those who were smokers could
vrell afford to pay that, and if they only exercised a little
self-denial there was no saying what they would accomplish.
There were a number of other speakers, and the meeting was
altogether of a very determined character.

The Banbury Cliamber of Agriculture has called a special
meeting for next Tuesday to discuss the questions involved by
the strike. The resolutions to be submitted agree with those
adopted by the local landholders in pronouncing the demands
of the labourers excessive and deprecating agitation in the
villages. Their severity is redeemed, liowever, by a recom-
mendation tliat a Labourers' Conference should be organised
by the Chambers of Agriculture.

SHROPSHIRE CHAMBER OF
AGRICULTURE.

THE LABOUR QUESTION.

A general meeting has been held at Shrewsbury, to discuss
the present position of the agricultural labourer, his wages,
and the method of engagement. Mr. Bowen Jones, the vice-
president of the Chamber, filled the [chair, and there was a
large attendance.

Mr. W. Brewster said it had become all but useless for
lum to speak upon that question, as the system he advocated

was generally known as being that of one of the successful
competitors at the " Royal" of last year. The system he
adopted was to pay everything in coin and nothing in kind.
He was quite certain that farmers could not come to any
unanimous opinion as to the rate of wages to be paid to the
men unless they dispensed entirely with payment in kind.
That was a subject in which he liad always taken very great
interest, and he had always carried out the system he had
named since he had commenced farming. One reason why
he did so was that it had always been the rule to run agri-
culturists down for paying low wages, whereas he was con-
vinced that if every agricultural labourer would take into
consideration what he is paid in kind, as well as in coin, he
would see that he stood in as good a position as others in the
manufacturing districts. He had taken the trouble to write to
a gentleman well known in Staffordshire and throughout that
county, but he was not at liberty to make use of the gentle-
man's name. He (Mr. Brewster) could vouch, however, for
the veracity of the statement which he was about to make.
They heard of a master giving only 9s. per week wages, and
it seemed very small, but it must be remembered that their
perquisites would amount to another 9s. per week. The gentle-
man he had referred to paid his labourers 13s. per week, and
the perquisites raised it to 18s. 3d. per week. Another gentle-
man informed him that he paid 14s. per week, and with the
perquisites that would amount to 20s. 6d. per week. He
could name the different perquisites given by his friends in
Staffordshire. The first perquisite was a cottage and garden,
£5 4s. ; malt and hops, £1 16s. ; harvest money, £1 Ss. ; beer
at other times than during harvest, £2 ; spending money (to
waggoners, who were allowed Is. per journey), £1 ; drawing
of coal, and potato ground, £1 10s. ; and task work during
harvest, £1 ; amounting to 5s. 3d. per week, and, with 13s.
wages, made 18s. 3d. per week. The other gentleman paid
14s. per week in cash. He also put the rent down at £5 4s, ;
and the other perquisites were — potato ground and manure,
£2 6s. ; drawing coals, £1 ; spending money, £1 ; extra wages
in hay harvest, £1 ; extra wages in corn harvest, £3 4s. ; and
five scores of pork, at 10s. per score, £3 10s. The gentleman
did not allow his waggoners to keep a pig, but he gave them
pork in lieu ; and as he did not allow them to keep a pig, he
gave them, also, manure. The salary and extras altogether
amounted to over £1 per week.
Mr. Davies (Sugden) : What is the size of the farm?
Mr. Brewster : One is about 300 acres, and the other over
400 acres.

Sir B. Leighton, Bart., said what I wish to offer to the
consideration of this meeting is a suggestion of how I believe
from practical experience such a system of management can
be applied beneficially to the economic management of farms
and the settlement of wages ; and I speak deliberately, and
with a full knowledge of the boldness and responsibiity of the
assertion, when I say that I believe some such arrangement
wiU be found to be the best ultimate solution of the agricul-
tural wages question. Supposing every farmer who had cot-
tages let with the farm, or held at his nomination, as is not
unusual, were to haye attached to some of them (say one or
two at first, and gradually more if found suitable) a few acres
of cow land, say three to five, into which cottages he might
put his best labourers, holding out a hope to others that if
they saved money and stayed with him they also had the pros-
pect of obtaining one of those cottages, the result would be,
according to my experience, that he would have the pick of
the neighbourhood for his men, and that he would have no
further trouble with them on the score or wages ; lie might,
in fact, be giving less than his neighbours for better workmen.
The condition of holding these places should be the same as
that which now obtains in holding the cottages, namely, three
months' notice to quit, if they ceased to work for the farmer ;
but a still more important condition will be that the labourer
shall have saved money, say £15 or £20, which any thrifty
single man can save before marrying, and the habits of
economy and thrift thereby formed will not only elevate the
man, but will prevent his being afterwards ruined, by the
occasional loss of a cow. The direct gain to the labourer, at
little or no loss to the farmer, will be several shillings per
week, obtained by the labour of his wife ; but the indirect
effect in inducing others to look forward to obtaining these
places will be still more important. Some such tenements
are generally to be found on most estates ; but where such

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THE FARMER'S MAGAZiJME.

are not available, I believe it would be worth the while of .
large farmer, with tlie conseut of his landlord, to take a small
field or a portiou of oue, out of his farm, at the cost ot a
very' few pounds for fencing and a rough cow-house, which lie
might even consider, if he chose, in supplementation of wages
though the labourer would pay a full rent for it ; he should
be careful, however, that it is only grass land, which requires
little or no labour except for a week at hay harvest, ihis
will generally occur at a later time than the farmer's harvest,
aud my experience is that it would be worth the man's while
to pay for cutting his patch of hay, rather than incur the
danger of losing his place by leaving his work when the farmer
required him.

Mr. Payne should like to say a word as to what bir Jiald-
wiu had said as to the keeping of cows. Some years ago he
was fortunate enough to travel in the North of England with
Mr. Newill, Lord Powis's agent, and that gentleman took par-
ticular notes upon the subject. It was customary in that part
of the country for the tenant to have ten or a dozen cottages
immediately adjoining his farm-yard. These cottages consisted
mainly of a room, in which there was a bed, which was shut
off in the day time. For these cottages the labourers were not
supposed to pay much rent, and it was the custom upon some
farms that the labourer should have a cow, which was allowed
to run with the farmer's cows. But when they came to make
inquiries they did not receive much in cash, the wages being
£4 or £6 a-year, with so much peas, oatmeal, &c. He was not
quite clear as to the keeping of a pig— he did not think the
keeping of a pig was allowed. They saw that when the
keep of a cow was allowed, the wages were very low. If a
man was to have 12s. per week and the keep of a cow, he
(Mr. Payne) did not know who was to keep it for him, or who
was to pay the rent. . .

Mr. T. Goucm agreed with Mr. Brewster that perquisites
should be done away with. To give the keep of a cow would
only be to increase those perquisites.

Mr. J. BoAVEN Jones said : Let us then briefly consider
the position of the agricultural labourer. His time of work-
ing : Including the longer hours of harvest, he nominally
works about ten hours a day. Three months (winter) 8
hours ; 1 month (harvest) 12 hours ; 8 months, 10^ hours.
But practically farmers do not get so much as this time, be-
cause the position of a farm renders it impossible for a labourer
to be rigidly at work at the striking of the clock, nor has he
the check to prevent him ceasing his labour before the hand
points to the hour of leaving off when in a similar position ;
and a considerable portion of his time is consequently taK.en
up by moving about from one place to another. Independently
of this, more especially in winter, I know of no farmers who do
not find sheltered work in weather that is unfit for out-door
labour, aud many hours are thus lost to the employer by
change of work that is often of but little utiUty to him. These
facts fairly considered, I think we may say, without fear of
contradiction, that agriculturists do not get ten hours a day
per year round, harvest included, which period, notwithstand-
ing the higher wages paid, I have always considered the
cheapest labour-paying season, both under the day-work sys-
tem, supplemented with meat and beer, where work is rapidly
pushed on— a system that I deprecate— and under the piece-
work plan which I have adopted, where a mutual interest has
been established, and which I think has worked advantageously
not only to the men but to the employer. Compare the
labour of men employed in factories or large works in towns.
They are marshalled in sheds or yards, with their time-keepers
over them, from the hour of commencing to that of leaving off,
and work is rigidly enforced, which for the most part is of a
more laborious character than that of farm-work. 1 won't take
up the time of the Chamber by a comparison of the agricultural
labourer of the present day and the same man twenty-five
years ago ; sufl'ice it to say, and I am only too grateful to see
it, that step by step with the introduction and improvement of
machinery he has made corresponding advancement, and not
not only has his wages increased from thirty to forty per cent.,
but his work has diminished in inverse ratio ; and instead of
the decrepit broken-down man that was at that period often
found at the age of forty, we now find men in the full vigour
of manhood and brain, and method or system has been and is
taking the place of muscle-and-bone hard labour ; and though
of course manual labour can never be entirely dispensed with,
if labourers will continue to employ their minds, and also

honestly exert themselves, 1 doubt not that tliey will gradually
increase the value of their work without cnhauciug its cost to
their employers ; but no greater fallacy can exist than to sup-
pose that this result can be brought about by a demand for a
considerably higher rate of wages than farmers can afford to
pay without any attempt to return the money's worth to tlie
employer. The eft'ect of this course of action in our country
has at the present moment given rise to a feeling of dissatis-
faction that only exists in a great many cases from want ot
thought on the part of the men, and let us be charitable and
say want of knowledge on the part of those who have agitated
for them ; but I believe it will have one good result, and be
the death-blow to the system of meat-and-dnnk perquisites
that have hitherto too generally been the means of paying for
extra labour, and which have been as reluctantlygiven up by
the labourers who have been induced to relinquish them in
some instances as they have been hitherto liked by, i think i
may venture to say, the majority of farmers themselv'es. ilus
system has crept in from olden days as a substitute for money
payment, for extra hard work, and overtime; and whatever
the labourer himself has gained where he has had meat given
him, as a rule, has been to the loss of his family, and where
large quantities of beer are given to stimulate workmen
in the harvest it has proved not only to the disad-
vantage of the ftiraily, but to the injury of the man him-
self. The adjustment of meat and drink perquisites in money
enables men to lay out exactly what they ieel they want them-
selves for their work, and instead of taking in harvest as much
as seven or eight quarts of beer a day— a thing by no means
uncommon in this county when given to supplement wages—
they will be content to take a moderate quantity, aud that re-
gulated by each individual according to his own requirements.
Able-bodied farm labourers who really wish to earn good wages
should look to piecework as their opportunity, and in my
humble opinion this is the medium by which we, as farmers,
should endeavour to improve our labourers' position, ihe
effect of an agitation like the present for 2s. 6d. a day all round
cannot be granted by farmers in this county in addition to the
many other advantages a country labourer possesses, but 1
think this sum may be more than obtained under the piece-
work system where the labour of farms is kept up to its proper
strength, and employed in improvements and superior culti-
vation at those times of the year when work is scarcer ; and
not only do I feel sure that this will be the case, but that it
will ensue without any interference with those other advan-
tages that the position of the farm labourer renders it diflicult
to" compute by a money payment. I discussed this labour
question with some of my neighbours a fortnight ago, and we
decided, as some articles have increased m value (although
flour and pork are cheap enough, aud cheese and tubbed
butter are not particularly extravagant), to advance able-
bodied labourers Is. per week from the Lady-day settling ;
and we went into an estimate of some of the payments we
were making in perquisites which we arranged to reconsi-
der before the advance was made, and endeavour to com-
pute at a fair money value, with a view to adopt the
money payment almost in tolu. I say almost because there
are a few old and faithful servants on most farms whose
prejudices are against alterations, aud whose wishes deserve
consideration. Those who are earnest in their demand for
a higher rate of wages will, by such means as this, be met ;
but if the cry of 2s. 6d. per day is looked for in the
way of demanding, on its being granted 3s. Gd. and so on,
the result will be requirements that the position of farming
is unable to fulfil ; if conceded at a pinch, it will be negatived
by those employed being knocked off on days they are not
wanted— in rainy weather, in short days in winter ; and that
the links that bind and feelings that exist between employer
and employed wiU be rudely shaken, I conscientiously believe,
to the disadvantage of the two ; that timekeepers would be
wanted, the hour or quarter system of necessity being intro-
duced • and that the men would find this brought about would
not be' to their advantage. Therefore I desire much to see the
introduction of the co-operative system as far as it is possible
to do so in the piece-work plan, both with regard to horse as
well as manual labour ; in part payment by results with stock
men such as an allowance per head on lambs reared to wean-
ing time, or by any better method that can be suggested. i!ur-
ther than this I don't think co-operation in agriculture can be
successfully carried out. The labourers, having no capital,

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

353

would fiiil to be able to take part in such losses as farmers
liave experienced during the three years eudiug last Lady-day.
Our meeting to-day was called with a view of stating as fairly
as possible the position ■of the labourer, and not with any inten-
tion of passing specific resolutions. It does not partake of the
nature of a counter combination, and I trust and doubt not any
such course of action will be unnecessary, for, as a rule, farm
labourers are a reflecting class, and will weigh matters more
accurately than many of their kid-gloved agitators have any idea
of, and it is only the few and clamorous who will be led away
by them, and take an illegal and unscrupulous advantage of
their employers at critical periods, as has already been evinced
in one case brought before the magistrates in this county, and
which has been followed exceptionally by a few others. 1 have
advocated abolition of perpuisites, but I should not like to be
misunderstood with regard to this. Without the radical
changes I have shadowed out, perquisites, of necessity, must
continue to some extent. IIow could a labourer do without
the cartage of his coal except at the disadvantage of getting
it at the nearest and dearest place, and then having to pay a
heavy rate for carriage ? How could he get his wood liauled,
which, very often, is a gratuity, orbouglitat a nominal rate ?
What equivalent could you give him for gleaning, which is
now usually reserved to the workmen's wives ou a farm, except
where tliey sometimes prefer in a locality visiting each
of their neighbours, probably for a little gossip as
well as work, and whicli amounts in value, in many
cases, to over Is. per week on their husband's wages.
Again, how can cottages remain rented at nominal sums if
labourers go for an entire money value for their work, and by
which they are enabled now to save as much as 2s. per week
in fruit and vegetables, and the difference in the town and
country rent 2s. to 3s., as compared with a working man
in town, besides having the benefit of pure air, a desideratum
unpurchasable by hundreds of artis.ans and their families. I
have said nothing about the work that women and children
may do to assist to make a fiving for a large family. I don't
know much of it in my district, and am happy to state I be-
lieve my workmen can dispense with it. Tlie average pay-
ments to women on my farms, between 600 and 700 acres, being
about £3 a year to women, and generally one lad only of about
13, being employed. I disapprove, as a general rule, of the
working of women to a great extent, but there are many ex-
ceptions where their employment may be advocated. Where
they have large families their duties should lie at home. I
have not gone into the question of cow land or allotment. The
gardens in the district I reside in are large and good, and I
expect sufficient to keep a man employed pretty much after
working hours. This is, in my opinion, the quautily of land
that is most serviceable to a working man, and from which in
most cases he will derive greatest benefit. A few holdings of
a larger size in an agricultural district may be advantageous
as stepping stones to thrifty and industrious labourers, but as
a rule it has been proved tliat very small farmers are worse off
than farm labourers, as Mr. Charles Howard, in a paper he
once read before the Farmers' Club, very aptly put it. They
do twice the work of a labourer, and get about the same pay.
I have two or three small farmers as labourers, and as they are
only able to work for me about two thirds of their time I
should require one-third more labourers if all my men were on
the same terras. They have to cultivate and sow their land at
a disadvantage, as of sourse they get me to lend them my team
to do it, and that after my own is done generally ; they canuot
consequently get the returns that more perfect cuhivation
would ensure, and often are abseut at the busiest times. If
some arrangement to supply milk to our workmen could be
made I believe it would be advantageous to those with families.
There is some difficulty I know, because I remember hearing of
a rector in a country parish giving a certain number of reci-
pients milk every morning and evening, but they became so
quarrelsome about the respective quantities each were to have
that he discontinued the gift. If farmers would make a slight
charge for it perhaps it would be the best plan, and then every
family would have what he chose to buy. If by this sugges-
tion I appear to lean back to the perquisite system it is only
because in some districts labourers liave no chance of
getting this useful commodity except tlirougli the farmers.
All other articles they can buy, and if the odious maxt-tax
was repealed I believe cottage brewing would be to some ex-
tent re-introduced, and a very great boon be conferred not

only on the agricultural labourer but upon the v.hole of the
working population of the country. Before concluding I
would remark that two very excellent addres,ses on the subject
which we have been considering should be read by all who
feel interested in this matter, the one by Mr. Clare Sewell
Read, M.P., before the Farmers' Club last November, the other
a paper to the last Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society
of Englaud by Mr. John Dent Dent, M.P. I trust this dis-
cussion may do good. That wages can be fixed by inen or by
masters is a fallacy, and contrary to all rules of political eco-
nomy. Different districts possess tiieir various requirements,
and have their advantages and disadvantages, and the price of
labour must and will be determined by the value of the work
done. Look at our towns, for instance, where you can get
labour of some sort from the dregs of the population for ^ a
nominal sum ywo tati., and wlicre at the same time the skilful
workman gets the higliest remuneration. Supply and demand
will regulate this matter, and the facilities offered by railway
communication now enables the labourer to take his labour at
its value to the best market, and I for one would blame him
were he not to do so, provided it were done in a straightforward
way. In my experience I have known several workmen vf ho
have tried what are termed the high wages counties,
Northumberland and Cumberland, but in each instance
they have returned to Shropshire, satisfied they
couli do no better. I trust that the irritation that lias been
raised in the working man's mind by the present agitation
for an advance in wages (which iu some respects and disfricts
was at the present time to be looked for, and has been under
the consideration of all farmers, I know, the last month) will
be allayed by the arrangements made with their masters,
and that they will endeavour to compensate them for any ad-
vance they may make, which up to the present time they can
very ill afford to pay them. I h.ave said nothing about benefit
societies, clothing clubs, and similar institutions, because the
latter are more or less to be looked upon as charities ; but
I don't think it unfair, in reviewing the position of
the agricultural labourey as compared with the town labourer,
to point out that these advantages are more within the reach
of the former than the latter, as are also those personal atten-
tions and kindness which a rural population experience in a
marked degree more than an urban. I have not alluded to the
unquestionable effort, often at great self-sacrifice, that has
been made ou the part of landowners the last few years
to build new and improve existing cottages on their es-
tates. These efforts are all in the direction of improving
the lot of the agricultural labourer. Neither have I en-
tered into the question of emigration as a means of rais-
ing the value of labour ; but as this subject has been ra-
ther freely commented upon lately, I would observe that
rehable estimates put the cost of living in America at £80,
against £35 in England— so that in all sincerity I would
say to working-men, before taking such a step, pause, or
perhaps you may fiud yourselves worse off at the end of
your journey than you were before you started.

Mr. SiiUKER asked if any gentleman present could in-
form him whether the new Masters and Servants Bill
would be applicable to agriculturists and their workmen.

Colonel CoRiiETT, M.F., said so far as he could ascertain,
it would not be applicable to them, but those only who
came under the Workshops Acta. He should, however,
watch the Act.

The meeting then broke up.

SHEEP ON TURNIPS.

TO THE EDITOK OF THE MARK LAME EXPRESS.

Sir, — Will you be kind enough to give an answer
to a strong argunicnt, which is as follows: Ten
acres of turnips are fed oft' with sheep without leaving
the field, or being supplied with any other food whatever.
When the sheep "have fiuished the field, are the ten acres
impoverished or not by the feeding and growing of the
same ? I beg to sign myself, Ovis.

[By far the largest proportion of the fertilizing sub-
stances coufa'.r.ed in the turnip crop, probably about |, is

360

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

returned to the laud if the crop is consumed by the sheep on
the field, and only about | of the materials useful as manure
is carried away by the sheep in the form of bone and the
nitrogenous matters which enter into the composition of
the animal organism. The bulk of the animal is pro-
duced from the sugar, pectin, vegetable fibre, and other
non-nitrogenous constituents of turnips, and these con-
stituents have no value as manuring agents. In my
judgment the land is left in a better agricultural condition
after the turnip crop has been consumed on the ground
by sheep, and the latter been sold ofi", than it was be-
fore the turnip crop, for there is but little fertilizing
matter carried away by the sheep, and the manuring
elements in the turnip crop are deposited in the shape of
sheep-dung and urine in a very uniform manner in the
surface soil (where they are most wanted), and in a per-
fectly prepared and readily available state. If I am not
mistaken, I think it will be found in practice that the
land is more productive after the whole of the turnip
crop has been consumed on the ground by sheep than be-
fore.— Aug. Voelcker.]

THE BIRMINGHAM SHORTHORN SHOW
AND SALE,

Thuksdat, March 7, 1873.

BY MR. LYTHALL.

The entries at this English rival of the great Dublin
spring show fell from the 153 of last year to 106, but
the judges, Messrs. Ladds of Ellington and Knowles of
Wetherby, had some difficulty in arriving at their awards.
There were 34 bulls in the yearling class, and about a score
of these were taken out and finally*drafted to half-a-dozen.
After some consideration, Mr. Chas. Bayes's Quintus
(29705) was placed at thefront, and received the £50 prize.
Of a good deep roan, he was at the uttermost but a fair,
useful bull of fifteen months, even fleshed, but a trifle harsh
in his hail*. He was got by Captain Oliver's Satan (27430),
a Sylph or Sweetheart bull, from Hebe, one of the old
Bagshaw breed of Northamptonshire Shorthorns. At
the sale afterwards, ]\Tr. Hemming gave 74 gs. for him.
The second prize of £15 was awarded to Messrs. Game's
Notary (29454), a yellow-tinged roan, three weeks
younger, but larger than the first-prize bull, though appa-
rently coarser, but of more substance. His sire and
dam's sire were both bred by Mr. Jon. Feel. He fetched
60 gs., and went to Mr. Frost, of Chester. Lord
Sudeley's Cherub 2nd, the third-prize bull, was rather
more fancied by the public than the others, but it was
impossible to overlook his upright but powerful shoulders,
though they were no doubt compensated for by his fine,
stylish character, and beautiful quality of hair and flesh,
inheriting as he does the style of his sire, Colonel King-
scote's Prince of Clarence (27163), with the substance
of his dam, Booth's Seraphina. He sold for 53 gs. to Mr.
Slater. A very useful bull of Mr. T. Harri^, by the
Sholebroke sire, Festival, was highly commended, and he
fetched 55 gs. to Mr. Whitehouse. The commended year-
lings were Mr. W. Faulkner's War Eagle (30258), a
plain coloured, thick bull and the Rev, W. Sneyd's
Walter 2ud. Messrs. Graham, Mr. E. Lythall, J. Pulley,
T. Mace, and S. L. Horton were the other principal ex-
hibitors in this class, but the majority of bulls were of an
indifi'erent character, and low in condition. Two thin
but hairy, well-bred bulls of Messrs. Grahams' fetched
50 gs. each ; and Mentor, a thick, short-legged buU of
Messrs. Games', made 53 gs. Mr. Charles Barnett sent
a neat, but rather small roan, that made 37 gs. ; and a deep
red, vigorous bull of Mr. Bayes', Vampire (30,200), was
bought for Lord Tredegar at 41 gs.

There \yere 37 bull-calves of mixed character and un-
even condition, yet there was more competition for them
than for the yearlings, and Mr. Robotham's King Rufus,
a red, hairy calf, unnoticed by the'judges, fetched 80 gs.,
the top price of the day. He was a son of Sir G. Philips'
Lackey (24291), from a well-descended cow of Mr. T.
Harris'. The first prize in this class was Mr. Horton's
Cherry Prince, a large, roan, hairy calf, which went to
Mr. Yates for 70 gs. Mr. John Thompson was called
in to decide the second prize, and it eventually fell to Mr.
JNIace's Duke of York, a well-grown calf of good quality,
which Mr. Evans purchased at C4 gs. Mr. Faulkner won
the third prize with Wellington, grandson of the prize fat
cow. Woman in White, rather a weakly but even calf, and
short of hair, which sold for 43 gs. Mr. Hamer's Sir
Lionel was highly commended (39 gs.), and Mr. B. H.
Allen's Governor (43 gs.) commended. Three cows and
two heifers made up all the female entries, and Mr. J.
How won the £5 prize in each class. Mr. W. Wood-
ward won the £5 two-year-old bull prize with Duke of
Damsons (34 gs.) — six entries ; and in the five old
bulls, Mr. T. Walker's Friponnier (62 gs.) beat Mr.
Graham's Earl (44 gs.), who was highly commended.

Some bulls entered as extra stock, but made no par-
ticular prices. There were not many absentees, and only
four animals were passed without bids. The competition
was languid for the yearlings, but revived when the calves
came on, which were as a whole perhaps a better lot, and
made altogether very respectable, and one would think,
from the quality of the animals, highly satisfactory prices.

YEA.RLINGS.

Walter 3nd (30253), white, calved July 1st, 1870 ; by Gari-
baldi 5th (20222).— Mr. F. Lythall, 30 gs. Commended.
King Lear (28973), red and white, calved July 7th, 1870 ; by

Fitz Killerby (261G6).— Mr. Welch, 21 gs.
War Eagle (30258), red and white, calved July lOtli, 1870 ;

by Second Earl of Darlington (26056).— Mr. Cochrane,

43 gs. Commended.
Gainful, flecked roan, calved July 20th, 1870 ; by Festival,

(26147). — Mr. Whitehouse, 55 gs. Biylily commended.
N.B. (29424), roan, calved Aug. 10th, 1870; by Royal Bene-
dict (27348).— Mr. Checkley, 41 gs.
Lord Hawke (29117), roan, calved Aug. 12th, 1870; by Fitz

Killerby (26166).— Mr. Lees, 26 gs.
Red Duke (29730), red, calved Sept. 3rd, 1870; by Thorndale

Duke (27661).— Mr. Quick, 35 gs.
Steinmetz, roan, calved Sept. 10th, 1870 ; by Earl (27624).—

Mr. Martin, 39 gs.
Lord Ernest, light roan, calved Oct. 1st, 1870 ; by Patrician

(34728).— Mr. Morris, 31 gs.
Stratton Oxford, roan, calved Oct. 14th, 1870 ; by Brockley

Oxford (25688).— Mr. Attwater, 37 gs.
Mentor (29358), roan, calved Oct. 14th, 1870; by Royal

Benedict (27348).— Mr. Ricketts, 53 gs.
The Eaton Butterfly (30133), red roan, calved November 1st,

1870 ; by Cherry Butterfly (23550).— Mr. Hirons, 31 gs.
Cherub 3nd, roan, calved Nov. 2nd, 1870; by Prince of

Clarence (27163).— Mr. Slater, 53 gs. Third prize.
Cherry Butterfly 2nd (28169), red roan, calved Nov. 8th,

1870 ; by Cherry Butterfly (23550).— Mr. Harding, 35 gs.
Roan Butterfly (29783), roan, calved Nov. 10th, 1870 ; by

Cherry Butterfly (23550).— Lord Leigh, 30 gs.
Fawsley (28585), roan, calved Nov. 11th, 1870; by Fitz

Killerby (36166).— Mr. Norman, 31 gs.
Vampire (30200), red, calved Nov. 27th, 1870; by Satan

(27430).— Lord Tredegar, 41 gs.
Quintus (29705), roan, calved Dec. 4th, 1870; by Satan

(37430).— Mr. Hemmmg, 74 gs. First prize.
Young Benedict, red, calved December, 1870 ; by Royal Bene-
dict (27348).— Mr. Hawthorne, 36 gs.
Notary (29454), roan, calved Dec. 28th, 1870 ; by Buccaneer

(25693).— Mr. Frost, 60 gs, Second prize.
Character, red, calved Jan. 13th, 1871 ; by The Earl (27634).

—Mr. Cook, 27 gs.
Lord of the Valley, rich roan, calved Jan. 20th, 1871 ; by

Lord of the Manor (26714).— Mr, Greenway, 46 gs.

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

361

Fertile, ricli roan, calved Jan. S2nd, 1871; by The Earl

(27624).— Mr. Keck, 50 gs.
Foggathorpe, light red and white, calved Feb. 2nd, 1871 ; by

Prince Charming (37130).— Mr. Smith, 51 gs.
Marquis, red, calved ^eb. 11th, 1871 ; by Count Bickerstaffe

2nd (25838).— Mr. Heckiu, 30 gs.
Graf Renard, roan, calved Feb. 13th, 1871 ; by Grand Duke

9th (19879).— Mr. Corbett, 50 gs.
Lord Charles 4th, roan, calved Feb. 20th, 1871 ; by Fitz

Killerby (26166).— Earl Cawdor, 29 gs.
Chorister, red and white, calved Feb. 21st, 1871 ; by Count

Bickerstaffe 2ud (25838).— Lord Calthorpe, 36 gs.
Dairy Duke, white, calved Feb. 22nd, 1871 ; by Prince Charm-
ing (27130).— Mr. Stratton, 29 gs.
May Duke, roan, calved Feb. 32nd, 1871 ; by Fitz Killerby

(26166).— Mr. Latham, 31 gs.
Lord Marmion, roan, calved Feb. 38th, 1871 ; by Stanley

(37560).— Mr. Dunn, 51 gs.

BULL CALVES.
Selwyu, white, calved March 18th, 1871 ; by Polar Bear. —

Mr. Keau, 31 gs.
Early Bud, roan, calved March 5th, 1871 ; by White Satin

(27800).— Mr. Lawrence, 21 gs.
White Butterfly, wliite, calved March 7th, 1871 ; by Cherry

Butterfly (23550).— Mr. Barker, 31 gs.
Sir Samuel Baker, roan, calved March 7th, 1871 ; by Stanley

(27560).— Mr. Eardley, 30 gs.
Lord Lavender 8th, roan, calved Marcli 8th, 1871 ; by Canley

Duke (23506).— Mr. Checketts, 41 gs.
Robin Adair, roan, calved March 9th, 1871 ; by Hob Roy

(29806).— Mr. Hawkins, 43 gs.
Magnet, roan, calved March 12th, 1871 ; by Cecil (25725).—

Mr. Eatley, 33 gs.
Cotherstone, roan, calved March 13th, 1871; by Cardinal

(27612).— Mr. Wilkius, 26 gs.
Albert Victor, wliite, calved March 15th, 1871 ; by White

Satin (27800).— Mr. Dunn, 24 gs.
Captain Bell, red and a little white, calved March 17th, 1871 ;

by Cardinal (27612).— Mr. Winterton, 28 gs.
Ventriloquist, roan, calved March 30th, 1871 ; by Cecil

(25725).— Mr. Richards, 21 gs.
Prince of the Lilacs, rich roan, calved March 23nd, 1871 ; by

5th Lord of the LQacs (26712).— Mr. Benyon, 46 gs.
Albion, light roan, calved March 26th, 1871 ; by Pantaloon

(29518).— Lord Kesteven, 36 gs.
Governor, roan, calved March 26th, 1871 ; by Catton (35721).

— Mr. Grimes, 43 gs. Commended.
Mineral, red, calved March 30th, 1871 ; by Ironmaster

(28895).— Mr. Lowe, 33 gs.
Coxcomb, roan, calved April 5th, 1871 ; by Lord Waterloo

3nd (36755).— Mr. Brown, 37 gs.
Charley, roan, calved April 19th, 1871 ; by Cardinal (37613).

— Mr. Reynolds, 25 gs.
Lord York, roan, calved April 20th, 1871 ; by Lord Waterloo

3nd (26755).— Mr. Wilcott, 36 gs.
Victor Emmanuel, roan, calved April 20th, 1871 ; by Oxford

Barrington. — Mr. Walker, 26 gs.
Duke of York, rich roan, calved April 20th, 1871 ; by Baron

Wetherby 34th (37980).— Mr. Evans, 64 gs. Second prize.
Albert Victor, red and a little white, calved May 1st, 1871;

by Oxford Barrington. — Mr. Smythies, 36 gs.
Sir William, roan, calved May 1st, 1871 ; by Sir Walter

(37501).— Mr. Turberville, 30 gs.
Edgcott, roan, calved May 1st, 1871 ; by Fitz Killerby

(36166).— Mr. Smythies, 31 gs.
Sir Lionel, red roan, calved May 2nd, 1871 ; by Monitor

(34615).— Mr. Bibby, 39 gs. HigJdy commended.
The Duke, roan, calved May 4th, 1871 ; by Tiie Earl (27634).

—Mr. Elkingtou, 32 gs.
Cherry Prince, roan, calved May 6th, 1871 ; by Prince

Charming (27130).— Mr. Yates, 70 gs. First prise.
Cherry Butterfly 3rd, red roan, calved May 20th, 1871 ; by

Cherry Butterfly (23550).— Mr. Siuglehurst, 33 gs.
Marrowtat, light roan, calved May 24tli, 1871 ; by The Car-
dinal (27612).— Mr. Wilkison, 33 gs.
Jerome, roan, calved May 25th, 1871 ; by The Earl (27624).—

Mr. Burgess, 35 gs.
Newton, red roan, calved May 30th, 1871 ; by Fitz Killerby

(36166).— Mr. Inge, 32 gs.

Red Prince, red, calved June 24th, 1871 ; by Festival (26147).

— Mr. Lea, 37 gs.
King Rufus, red with a little white, calved July 7th, 1871 ; by

Lackey (34291).- Mr. Mann, 80 gs.
Weston Duke, rich roan, calvea July 8th, 1871 ; by Fugleman

(38660).— Mr. Harding, 14 gs.
Wellington, roan, calved July 10th, 1871 ; by Athelstane

(33331).— Mr. Wilson, 43 gs. Third prize.
Cock Robin, roan, calved August 23rd, 1871 ; by Rob Roy

(29806).— Mr. Potter, 36 gs.

COWS AND HEIFERS.
British Rose, white, calved January 10th, 1865 ; by British

Hope (21334).— Mr. White, 40 gs. Frize.
Songstress, rich roan, calved April 11th, 1866 ; by Protector

(32660).— Mr. Attwater, 44 gs.
Luxury, red and a little white, calved December 20th, 1867 ;

by Heir of Windsor (36364).— Mr. Whitehouse,30 gs.

TWO-YEAR-OLD HEIFERS.
Hinda 6th, red roan, calved March 6th, 1869 ; by Lord Lyon

(34417).— Mr. White, 45 gs.
Royal Rose, roan, calved October 15th, 1869 ; by King

Charles (34340) .—Mr. Attwater, 46 gs. Frize.

TWO-YEAR-OLD BULLS.

Duke of the Damsons, rich red and a little white, calved
December 3rd, 1869; by Count Oxford (35848).— Mr,
Dutton, 34 gs. Frize.

Ironmaster, red roan, calved February 11th, 1870; by Ada-
mant.— Mr. Marquis, 31 gs.

Starlight (30060), roan, calved March 37th, 1870; by 2nd
Earl of Gloucester (26063).— Mr. White, 35 gs.

Westou Fugleman, rich roan, calved April 9th, 1870; by
Fugleman (28660).— Mr. White, 32 gs.

ALL-AGED BULLS,
Adamant, roan, calved, July 30th, 1867; by Potentate

(22537).— Mr. Whitehouse, 41 gs.
The Earl (27624), rich roan, calved January 12th, 1868 ; by

Caesar (33499).— Mr. Graham, 44 gs.
Friponnier (36308), red, with a little white, calved February

13th, 1868 ; by Duke of Darlington (31586).— Mr, Watson,

63 gs. Frize.
Merrythought, white, calved April 13th, 1869 ; by Drummer

(35919).—Mr. White, 38 gs.
Baron Butterfly, (27920), red and a little white, calved May

20th, 3870; by King Charles (34340).— Mr, Robothara,

30 gg,

EXTRA STOCK.
H.H. Prince Duleep Singh (36397), white, calved April 14th,

1868 ; by CjEsar (23499).— Mr. White, 40 gs.
Nonconformist, rich red and a little white, calved November

21st, 1869 ; by Hengist (36368).— Mr. Barber, 39 gs.
Noble Count, red roan, calved December 3rd, 1869 ; by Count

Oxford, (25848).— Mr. Horton, 28 gs.
Marmaduke (29280), white, calved April 3rd, 1870; by Arch-
duke (25525).— Mr, Howinan, 26 gs.
Meadow King, rich red, calved June 24th, 1870; by Drummer

(25919).— Mr. T. White, 28 gs.
Red Duke, red, calved July 14th, 1870; by Archduke

(3552S).— Mr. Mander, 25gs.
Paragon, red and white, calved October 33rd, 1870; by

Patrician (24728).— Mr. Godson, 29 gs.
Forester, red and white, calved November 7th, 1870 ; by

Norgrove (29447).— Mr. Tilsley, 32 gs.
Lord Stuart, red, calved November 14th, 1870 ; by University

(27693).— Mr. Buckley, 26 gs.
Marquis, roan, calved December 11th, 1870 ; by Patrician

(24728).— Mr. Hawkins, 31 gs.
Lord Wharfdale, red and white, calved January 37th, 1871 ;

by Archduke (25525).— Mr. Davis, 25 gs.
Royal Oak, roan, calved March 7th, 1871 ; by Norgrove

(29447).— Mr. Keck, 26 gs.
Lord Lavender 6th, (29129), white, calved March 15th,

1870 ; by Canley Duke (23506).— Mr. Walton, 31 gs.
Lord Lancaster, red and white, calved October 18th, 1871 ;

by Lord Blithe (22126).— Mr, Harding, 10 gs.
Prince John, red and white, calved November 24th, 1871 ; by

Lord Blithe (22126).— Mr. Ind, 10 gs.

862

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

SALE OF LORD FITZHARDINGE'S
SHORTHORNS,

At Bekkeley Castle, on March 8th, 1873.
BY MR. JOHN THORNTON.

This auction, although following the Birmingham Show,
really opened the season of pure-bred stock sales. The
Berkeley Castle herdof Shorthorns hasnow been established
several years from animals of the fashionable Bates blood.
Every spring a number of young bulls, as well as a few
cows and heifers, arc dispersed by auction at the Castle
Farm for the benefit of the tenantry and improvement of
the stock abounding in the luxuriant vale. The first sale
took place in 1870, and resulted in an average of
£30 16s. 9d. ; last year, notwithstanding one of the
wettest days in the season, thirty-three head reached
£33 18s. apiece ; and this spring, under the more favour-
able influence of a bright but showery day, after weeks
of flood, the average for the forty-nine head ran up
to within a trifle of £35 ; as, taken altogether,
this was considered a very fair sale. The lots for sale were
conveniently arranged for inspection, and brought out,
each bull-calf with its dam. The Vale farmers were numer-
rous, and there were many strange faces from Cornwall,
Devon, and the southern counties, as well as a few from
Yorkshire and the Midland districts. A lot of fat bullocks
were driven into the ring for sale before the party
from the Castle arrived, and soon after one o'clock Mr.
Thornton commenced the more legitimate business.

The bulls were headed by Lord Wild Eyes 5th, now in
his sixth year, who has been used with the herd for the
last three seasons, and his blood having been so thoroughly
introduced he was offered unreservedly, as was all the
other stock. Put in at 40 gs., he gradually rose up to
50 gs., when Mr.H. Fawcett, Leeds, bid " one," and took
the bull, a cheap purchase, into Yorkshire. The most
attractive lot among the bulls was the young Duke of
Ozleworth, a rich hairy roan calf of immense growth, but
rather thin in condition ; the bids ran from 30 to 40, 50,
60 gs., until Mr. Gay, Attwater, and I\Ir. Trcmaine, from
Cornwall, settled down to single guinea competition, and
the former got him at 78 gs. Mr. Pope took the next
lot, a good deep hairy eleven months' calf, by the Kings-
cote bull, Ihird Duke of Clarence, at 53 gs., and Duke of
Miserden, a calf purchased at Ozleworth, doubled his
cost price, and fell to Mr. F. Cowcher for 37 gs.

'I'he sale included both males and females of the Flo-
rentia tribes, and they made fair prices, though not up
to the Didmarton average. Floreutia 15th, a broad-
backed handsome roan tive-year-old cow, was bought by
Mr. Burbidge for 56 gs., and Mr. W. Percy got he'r roan
bull calf at 31 gs. Mv. J. Rolt gave 41 gs". for Floreutia
20th, a newly-calved heifer ; and Florence, three years
old, out of the 15th, seemed reasonable at 42 gs. {X.
Fletcher). One of the best tribes was Bel voir Belle and
her three heifers. This cow, a good white animal by
the Seventh Duke of York, was a cheap investment for
Mr. Rolt at 51 gs., aud her two-year-old heifer by Third
Duke of Clarence, seven months in calf, was apparently
cheaper still at 50 gs., which Mr. Bowly bid, but he
afterwards gave her up to Col. Luttrell, Col. Kingscote
giving but 11 gs. for her own sister, a little white Ja"nuary
calf. There was a reasonable in-calf Ursula heifer, the
31st, at 39 gs. (INlr. J. Godfrey), by Second Duke of Claro,
and Col. Luttrell took two of the handsomest lots, Delia
and Comely 2nd, nice roan yearling heifers, at'93 gs.
the pair: they were bred from good Darlington
cows with three and four crosses of blood, indeed
the highest bred animals seemed to go off the cheapest.
A few additional animals, belonging to Sir Geo, Jenkiuson

(three young bulls at £34 each), Mr. Hooper, and Capt.
Robinson, made respectable figures, the whole sale
amounting to over £1,700, and resulting in an average of
£37 16s. 8d. for the 31 Berkeley lots. Grand Duke of
Waterloo, a son of Col. Gunter's Third Duke of Wharf-
dale, and the purely-bred Waterloo 32nd, by Seventh
Duke of York, reigns lord of the harem, at the Castle
farm, among a few capital cows and heifers of the
Wild Eyes, Musical, Bracelet, Ursula, and other favourite
strains.

After the Shorthorns were disposed of, a number of
young Berkshire pigs were sold at capital prices. A pair of
beautiful young hilts were bought by I\Ir. Solt, and Col.
Luttrell and ]\ir. Crawshaw were the other principal pur-
chasers. Dick Swiveller, second-prize boar at Cheltenham,
realized 10 «;s. (Mr. Green), and the sixteen young pigs
amounted to £100 5s. 6d.

MR. W. BOLTON'S SHORTHORN SALE,

At The Island, Co. Wexfokd, on Tuesday,

March 12, 1872.

BY MR. JOHN THORNTON.

A pleasant ride from Dubliu through the Vale of Ovoca
brought us to Ferns, aud another ten miles on a jaunting car
to The Island, a fine demesne, owned for generations by
the Bolton family. It is pleasantly situate about two
miles from the sea on rich good soil, which grows not
only luxuriant grass, but under cultivation fine swedes,
several being shown iu the yard, weighing nearly
five-and-twenty pounds each. The herd of cattle was
an heirloom, the father of the present owner having got
the best cows he could purchase, and crossed them with
bulls from Mr. La Touche, Archbold, and other old Irish
breeders. The object of the herd was the production of
Wexford butter, aud no record was kept of the slock until
Mr. W. Bolton came into possession. He upheld the
paternal rule for many years, of buying a good bull,
hunting a fox, as well as rearing some capital hunters ;
but after a time, as Shorthorn business opened in the dis-
trict, chiefly through the exertions of Mr. Sam. Arm-
strong, of Enniscorthy, he kept an account of the
breeding of the cattle, as well as the weight of the butter-
tubs. Two or three bulls were obtained in England.
Mr. Cruickshauk's herd supplied Nugget (18474) and
Prince Consort (16729), and then followed bulls of Booth
blood, which have since been continued by hiring the very
best that Warlaby can supply.

The rain came down in a disagreeable drizzle till noon,
when the sun burst out and made everything bright and
cheerful. A walk previously through the complicated range
of cowhouses, told of what materials the herd consisted.
Large fine roomy cows were here showing abundance
of hair and mellow quality, whilst their udders testified
to their doiugs at the pail. In the nursery were fourteen
of the bonniest little calves we have seen for many a long
day, all broad backed, deep coloured little animals, as
lively and playful as kittens. Dozens of two-year-olds
and yearlings were turned out from apparently an inex-
haustible shed, Gwynnes and Glossys galore, and in Pat
McGill's words, " They were, shure, Dicks or Ricos,"
after the bulls King Richard (26523) or Maurico (26805),
both were on hire from jNIr. Booth. " Two hundred and
four to the day of the auction " was the roll muster of
the herd, and then Pat had quite a small army in command
with halter in hand for the bull show. Discipline, silent
and military, in its system prevailed, and neither " tip
nor treaty " could tempt a subordinate to show out, " till
Mister Pat led the way." Out they came : first a deep

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

563

red, then roau, then red, aud roan followed again, not a
white in the whole 20, and only a couple red and white in
earnest, or what might be called plain coloured. Their health
and vigour were excellent, and well as an " Irish herd"
can manage a bull, the ring was often broken " by the
play of the baste." The most striking effect was the
abundance of rich soft long hair and heavy flesh that
every beast showed. One fine roan fellow had got hurt
and went badly, still he was paraded with the rest, and
dreadfully sacriliced at 17 gs. when he was sold. A beau-
tiful roan Gauntlet calf, of eleven months, was quite the fa-
vourite, and many regretted his absence from Dublin Spring
show, as it was considered only a very extraordinary ani-
mal could beat him. Some of the heifers were shown,
and thick good fleshy cattle they looked. Then followed the
majestic King Richard, a grand-looking bull of immense
substance, and the deep -sided massive Maurico. A roan
heifer followed these bulls, and she was the admiration of
the whole company. It turned out she was the 750 gs.
Mantalini heifer, that had, in the opinion of those present,
greatly improved and developed since the Westlaud sale ;
at all events she was an " ilegant" creature of great size,
with a rotundity of rib aud width of carcase one seldom
sees. Her hair blew about on her back three inches
long ; aud she is to be mated, not with either of the
two bulls who now reign, but a splendid yearling which
Mr. Bolton is hiring from Mr. Booth, called Lieutenaut-
General. A stand-up lunch, with " cut-aud-come-again"
joints, was supplied. No speeches were made, and soon
after two Mr. Thornton was before an audience in the
yard of 300 to 400 strong. He said that no country
like Ireland was so well adapted for the growth of good
cattle, and well might County Wexford be proud of its
breeders, one of whom has taken the prizes from Eng-
land, and the other brought over the best blood. There
was a dull sale for the cows and heifers, and, although
cheap as their prices appear in England, they were con-
sidered about £10 over market value in Ireland. One
very good white might win with little training, and she
fetched the highest price (4G gs.) from a local breeder.
The bulls were in better demand, and made lair good
prices. Several Limerick men were the keenest bidders,
aud two or three lots go into the North of Ireland. The
dispersion of such excellent well-bred cattle at the prices
must in the end be fruitful of an incalculable amount of
good in a country so thoroughly adapted for the breeding
aud rearing of both cattle aud sheep.
Summary.

15 cows averaged £30 9s. Gd £456 15s.

19 bulls „ £37 lis. 7d £714 Os.

34

£34 8s. 8d.

£1,170 15s.

THE BALDERSBY SHORTHORN SALE.

Ox\ FiiiDAY, March 22, 1872.

BY MR. THORNTON.

This sale included the late Mr. Mark Barroby's herd,
bred at Dishforth, and a portion of Mr. W. Harland's
herd at Blews H.all, Ripon. The Barroby stock was well
known, chiefly through the pre-eminence and success of
the bull Marc Antony, a Royal and county winner ; it,
consisted of only two families, the Emmas and Verbenas
but they had been so interbred with slight crosses of
Maynard and Booth bulls, that there was a similarity
in character, though the Verbenas had the point
in size, but not quite the elegance and fineness
of the Emmas. Both tribes had, however, the
faculty in common, so rarely met with in large herds, of

breeding uniformly good bulls. Out of the eight off"ered,
there was not an indifl'ercnt one, and their strong mas-
culine character, great substance, and enormous coats of
hair were the surprise and talk of the company, which, not-
withstanding one of the bitterest days of the whole win-
ter, numbered some three to four hundred strong. There
were knots of men from Northamptonshire, Westmoi'e-
land, Holderness, and the "West Riding, as well as an
Australian, to whom the inclement weather must have
been a sore trial. Mr. Harland's cattle having, it appears,
been reared on light sandy land had not the flesh nor
substance of the Dishforth herd, though they were splen-
did in their crops, of beautiful quality, and fine milkers.
Neither evidently were they prepared for sale, aud there
was doubtless much truth in Mr. Harland's remark that
he considered it a sowing, not a reaping day. Mr. John
Booth took the head of the table, and did the honours in
capital style, especially when he got three lusty cheers for
his own health and fox-hunting. Mr. Clu'is. Barrowby did
duty for his late brother aud living sister, who retires in her
80th year from the Dishforth farm, which he and his son
Frank are about to occupy. Nothing could have been more
unfortunate for the cattle than the day, inasmuch as being
removed to Mr. Chris. Barrowby's farm, near Baldersby
station, they had to travel that morning several miles, and
what with the cold, and their saturated coats hanging to
their sides, they looked possibly at their very worst.
Still the competition was very general and brisk. The first
cow, eleven years old, a fine breeder, made 47 gs., and
the next, milked to a reduced state, went for 38 gs. Mr.
Hutchinson, however, got the pick of the Emma tribe, a
family containing sound aud excellent blood. The heifers
also sold well, and a splendid red of enormous size fetched
80 gs., the top price, from Mr. Lofthouse, of Borough-
bridge. For the bull calves there was keen bidding,
though the best could not be brought forward, and was,
like lot 23, suffering from cramp in the fore-quarters, or
rheumatism, a complaint that seems to be very general
this season tlu'onghout the country. Mr. Harland's
heifers sold fairly well, and were a very pretty lot, even
better than the cows which showed great milking pro-
perties. The averages, though no high prices were ob-
tained, were good, the Dishforth herd making a few shil-
lings over 40 gs., and the Blews Hall 30 gs.

The summary of the day's doings stands thus : — ]\Iiss
Barroby's 20 head averaged £42 13s. ; Mr. Harland's
16 head averaged £31 10s. 8d. Total Sale: 48 head,
£1,775 Os. 6d. ; averaged, £37.

SALE OF THE LATE MR. JOHN CLAY-
DEN'S SHORTHORNS,

At Littlebury, March 19, 1872.

BY MR. STRAFFORD.

It seems scarcely four years ago, when on a cold May
morning we left Bishopsgate, at breakfast hour, to see the
Littlebury herd dispersed. And a good sale it was,
with a capital company, and average of £47 5 s. for
59 head of useful well-fed cattle, showing plenty
of dairy properties. Since then, that cheery voice, so
well known to most of the public, has been frequently
heard at the ringside, and it is touching to think that his
last public appearance was also at the ring, not of Short-
horns, but of the Merton Southdowns, which were as
dear to him as the red, white, or roan. Few will forget
the great cloud that darkened that bright day in Norfolk,
when it was spread abroad that Mr. Clayden had been seized
with paralysis, and lay stricken down in a strange house,
away from home and friends, It was, therefore, more

364

THE FARMER'S MAaAZINE.

like a liuk with tlie past, that the company went down
on Tuesday to see the last of those which he had taken such
pains to collect. He bought Coral, a pure Charmer, a
little time prior to his last sale for his nephew, and after-
wards took her, as well as Ganza, one of the very last
bred by the late Fawsley Baronet. At Mr. Mcintosh's
sale he invested further in Archduchess of Cambridge,
and supported his county by sending her back
to Third Duke of Geneva, the Havering Park sire.
To these Knightley purchases he added the more
fashionable element in Surmise 2nd and Duenna,
both of Bates' blood, the former from Brailes,
the latter from Lord Peurhyn ; as also Brigantine,
a Foggatborpe, and Bracelet 11th, from Sholebroke.
He had a great fancy for the bull Captain Knightly, and
used him from a yearling until the present time, but he
invested, as a little change, in Lord Skelmersdale's Duke
of Florence, a white Bates upon Mason. With the
Audley End herd to faU back upon he had no lack of
sires, so although several lots were accredited to Capt.
Knightley, Thorndale Duke had some after him, as well
as Sir Rainald, a bull he bred at home from Eugene 2nd,
one of the best cows in the herd, bought from Earl
Spencer in 1865, by a Bushey bull from a Knightley
dam.

The catalogue had the double attraction of twenty
very choice heifers, and a dozen useful young bulls, and
they were certainly brought out in a manner highly cre-
ditable to the management during last autumn and
winter. Those old-fashioned straw-yards showed them
off to great advantage, and it was difficult to catch the
public's fancy, whether for the old cows, the young
heifers, or the yearling bulls, which with the nobby, curly
headed Capt. Knightley were paraded before lunch. Snow,
hail, and a cold nor'-easterj were, however, not the most
favourable auspices for a bull show, and the company
were glad to adjourn to that huge barn, where a
bountiful board and good cheer were provided, but at
which daylight had to be helped by candles. Mr. Mcintosh
presided, and after the usual toasts the company went to
the covered rostrum and sheltered waggons round the
ring. Mr. StraflFord paid a fitting tribute of respect to
his old and lost friend, aud regretted the breaking up of
so beautiful a little herd, which was iu itself a mere germ.
But there was a good company to appreciate it, including
Lord Skelmersdale, Lord Howe's agent. Col. Kiugscote,
Mr.Foster, Mr. Sartoris, Mr. Barnes, Sir CM. Lampson's
agent, Capt. Reed, Mr. Herbert Little, Mr. F. Leney, Mr,
Mace, Mr. Larking's agent, Mr. Barnard, Mr. Daniel
Hill, Mr. Rand, Mr. Thornton, Mr. Christy, Mr. Tippler,
Mr. Green, and many other fanciers of the sort.

Archduchess of Cambridge with her patchy quarters
bore her 13 years well, aud seemed cheap enough at 40 gs.,
and fresh enough to bear her journey to Mr. H. Fawcett's
farm near Leeds, which is just being well stocked. Mr.
Fawcett hung well on to the dowager twelve years old Sur-
mise, a large deep-bodied cow; but Mr. Foster is hard
to shake off, and she joins the Killhow herd at 100 gs.
The third lot, half the age of the others, was a fine spe-
cimen of a Shorthorn, and considering she was more than
half gone in-calf, went very cheap to ]\Ir. Tracy at
50 gs. Duenna was a 110 gs, purchase last spring at
Lord Penrhyn's sale, and Mr. Sharpley got her reason-
ably enough at 5 gs. under cost price, considering she was
also half gone to Mr. Mcintosh's Thh-d Duke of Geneva.
Her calf, a great beauty, though a trifle small for its age,
goes back to head-quarters, at a considerable profit for
the new milk. Grace Costa, an elegant stylish-looking
cow, somewhat defective in her crops, accompanies
Archduchess of Essex, one of the nicest lots in the sale,
to the Weston Park herd. Mr. H. Fawcett got one of
the thickest and broadest cows of the herd in Cordelia,

though her hip was disfigured, and her pedigree boasted
" if any flaw, a bit of the better sort," for she was
by Lady Pigot's Mars, out of Mr. Adkins' Coral. At
60 gs. she was certainly a bargain, aud her heifer by Capt.
Knightley, a pretty roan yearling, showing perhaps more
substance than any, was secured for Mr. Albert Dangar
in Australia.

Brigautine, a four-year-old Foggathorpe, had not yet
bred, and looked more like a Smithfield winner, which
her price (36 gs.) justified. Christmas Carol, a pure
Charmer upon Charmer, was eagerly sought by connois-
seurs. She was of rather a spotted roan and looked like
milk. The snow came down as she entered the ring, and the
50 gs. bid shot to 70, 80, 85, 90, "one," "five " — sJierry —
which sent her along until Mr. Leney got her for his son
at 120 gs. If Lucy Knightley had been in a more forward
state the 100 gs. paid her would probably have been
much increased, and Grace Knightley, her own sister in
blood, seemed reasonable at 51 gs., though she had lost
her hair. For Silent, an improving-looking heifei", Mr.
Richardson aud Mr. Sharpley fought side by side imtil
Lincolnshire beat Sussex. Bracelet 11th, ten years old,
had lost her calf and appeared out of sorts ; she has the
making of a fine animal, but Mr. Barnes was shaken off at
94 gs., Mr. W. H. Oakey obtaining her. The crack lot
of the sale then Avalked in — a good red heifer of great
size, with fine loin and quarters, though a trifle strong
in her shoulders. Her Duke sire, and Coral her pure
Charmer dam, were great attractions, and she had
dropped at 25 months old a bonny little roan b. c., which
brought 28 gs. From 100 to 150, 80 and 200 for Aus-
tralia, was the work of a few seconds ; then came 5 and
10, and a question from Mr. Oakey, "Am I in? — then
put me in, ' fifteen ' — go on again," brought twenty —
" and five " sent up the glass, and she went at 225 gs.
" Is it Green?" was asked from the rostrum. " No, not
so green as that," replied the individual in question, and
so Mr. Oakey got quite the pick of the sale, as weU as
Capt. Kuightley, at beef price, though he does not seem
to be quite the cross for so good a heifer.

The biddings were brisker for the calves, and Mr.
Smith had much endurance before he could shake ofl' Mr.
Oakey and others for Duet at 145 gs. Mr. Foster took
the last heifer, a white calf at 56 gs. For the bulls there
was a very fair and general competition. The pick of
them was a hairy, robust June calf, by the Third Duke of
Geneva from Old Archduchess, which Mr. Savill pur-
chased at certainly a cheap price (83 gs.). The count-up
showed a total of £2,341 10s., or an average of nearly
70 gs., the bulls being £44, and the cows £90, which,
considering that the sale was really the first important
event of the season, must be taken, as a very satisfactory
result.

COWS AND HEIFERS.

Archduchess of Cambridge, red and white, calved Nov., 6,

1S59 ; by Archduke 2nd (155883.— Mr. W. Fawcett, Scalesby

Castle, Leeds, 40 gs.
Surmise 3nd, red, calved Feb. 20, 1860, by May Duke (13320).

—Mr. J. P. Foster, Killhowe, Cumberland, 100 gs.
Erigone 2nd, red, with little white, calved July 6, 1865 ; by

Cock of the Midden (33585).— Mr. G. M. Tracy, Eden-
bridge, Kent, 50 gs.
Duenna, red and white, calved January 9, 1866 ; by 11th

Grand Duke (31819).— Mr. H. Sharpley, Louth, 105 gs.
Grace Costa, roan, calved September 9, 1867 ; by Costa

(21487).— Sir George R. Phillips, 90 gs.
CordeUa, red and white, calved January 10, 1868 ; by Mars

(24543).— Mr. Fawcett, Leeds, 60 gs.
Brigantine, white, with roan ears, calved March 25, 1868 ; by

Cfesar (23499).— Mr. Green , Donyland Place, Colchester,

36 gs.
Archduchess of Esses, rich roan, calved October 4, 1868 ; by

Costa (31487).— Sir George PhiHps, 130 g8.

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

365

Gertrude, red, calved December 10, 1868 ; by Littlebury

(24341).— Mr. J.J. Stone, Scyborwen, Wales, 55 gs.
Christmas Carol, light roan, calved December 11, 1868 ; by

Costa (21487).— Mr. E. Lency, Wateringbury, Kent, 120 gs.
Lucy Knightley, rich roan, calved February 10, 1869 ; by

Captain Knightley (25716).— Mr. J. P. Foster, 100 gs.
Grace Knightley, red and little white, calved October 12,

1869; by Captain Knightley (35716).— Mr. Mcintosh,

Havering Park, Romford, 51 gs.
Silent, rich roan, calved January 3, 1870 ; by Earl of War-

wickshire (36079).— Mr. H. Sharpley, 100 gs.
Bracelet 11th, red and white, calved January 23, 1870 ; by 7th

Grand Duke (19877).— Mr. W. H. Oakey,Cambridge„94gs.
Claro's Coral, rich red, calved February 13, 1870 ; by 2nd

Duke of Claro (21576).— Mr. W. H. Oakey, 325 gs.
Ganvmede, red and white, calved January 17, 1871 ; by Sir

Rainald (30001).— Mr. J. J. Stone, 41 gs.
Carrie Knightley, rich roan, calved January 16, 1871 ; by

Captain Knightley (35716).— Mr. J. Thornton, for A.

A. Dangar, Australia, 91 gs.
Duet, red, calved April 11, 1871 ; by Cherry Duke (35752).

— Lord Penhryn, 145 gs.
Azalea, red, calved January 18, 1871 ; by Duke of Babraham

(35934).— Mr. J. Christy, Boynton Hall, 48 gs.
Cameo, white, calved July 17, 1871 ; by Sir Rainald (30001).

— Mr. Foster, 56 gs.

BULLS,
Captain Knightley (25716), rich roan, calved May 23, 1867 ;

by Knightley (33051).— Mr. W. H. Oakey, 50 gs.
Duke of Florence (38388), white, calved March 5, 1870 ;

by 15th Duke of Oxford (23776).— Mr. CoUett, near

Cambridge, 40 gs.
Archduke Knightley (27890), rich red, calved March 20,

1870; by Captain Knightley (25716).— Mr. H. Little,

Northcote, 50 gs.
General Knightley (28695), rich roan, calved October 26,

1870 ; by Captain Knightley (25716).— Mr.W. Smith, 48 gs.
Archduke Thorudale (37891), rich roan, calved December 3,

1870; by Thorudale Duke (37661).— Mr. R. C. Ridge,

Australia, 40 gs.
Surmise Thorudale, red, calved January 5, 1871 ; by Thorn-
dale Duke (37661).— Mr. T. Nichol, 47 gs.
Archduke of Geneva, rich roan, calved June 25, 1871 ; by

3rd Duke of Geneva (33753).— Mr. G. Savill, Ingthorpe,

near Stamford, 83 gs.
Kingcraft, red and little white, calved July 39, 1871 ; by

Captain Knightley (35716).— Mr. J. Turpin, 31 gs.
Major Knightley, rich roan, calved December 4, 1871 ; by

Captain Knightley (25716).- Mr. E. Mertens, 31 gs.
Dandy Surmise, ricli roan, calved December 9, 1871 ; by

Claro's Rose (35784).— Mr. Tebbutt, 37 gs.
Starlight, white, calved January 7, 1873; by Duke of

Florence (38388).— Mr. H. Stone, 18 gs.
Boull-calf, roan, calved March 6, 1873 ; by Duke of

Florence. — Mr. Edward Clayden, Bnrnhara Hall, Linton,

Cambs., 28 gs.

Summary,
Average. Total.

20 Cows £90 13 4 £1,813 7 0

12 Bulls 44 0 3 528 3 0

32

£73 3 6

£2,341 10 0

SALE OF THE SITTYTON SHORTHORNS.

This annual sale of Mr, Cruickshanks' young stock was
very numerously attended. The iiighest price was 69 guineas,
and the average over the 33 buUs offered was £44, £3 less
than the average of last year. Mr. Mitchell was the auc-
tioneer. BULLS.
Sovereign, red, calved 1870 ; by Senator.— Mr. J. Guun, Lybs-

ter Wick, 31 gs.
Bachelor of Arts, red, 1869 ; by Ctesar Augustus. — Lord Lovat,

Beaufort Castle, Beauly, 51 gs.
Bolivar, roan, 1870 ; by Champion of England. — Mr. A. Ren-

nie. Mill of Cullie, Uduy, 51 gs.
Coronation, roan, 1870 ; by Scotland's Pride. — Mr. Brand,

Auehenten, Cruden, 54 gs.
Enterprise, red, 1870 ; by Baron Oxford.— Mr. Chalmers,

Eothiebrisbane, Fyvie, 56 gs.

Orange Boy, red and white, 1870 ; by Scotch Rose. — Mr.

Davidson, Oldhall, Caithness, 50 gs.
Erasmus, white, 1870 ; by Senator. — Mr. Collie, Lairdshill,

Fintray, 44 gs.
Lord Oxford, roan, 1870 ; by Prince of Prussia. — Mr. W.

Mackenzie, Auchindunie, Alness, Ross-shire, 49 gs.
Macgregor, red and white, 1871 ; by Scotch Rose. — Sir G. S.

Abercrombie, Bart., of Forglen, 67 gs.
Baron Ossington, roan, 1871 ; by Master of Arts. — Mr. Milne,

Corse of Kinnoir, Huntly, 40 gs.
Victor Royal, red, 1871 ; by Ctesar Augustus. — Mr. Longmore,

Rettie, by Banff, 69 gs. »

Alonzo, roan, 1871 ; by Caesar Augustus. — Mr. Mitchell,

Drunderfit, Muir of Ord, Beauly, 67 gs.
Florida, red, 1871 ; by Golden Eagle. — Mr. Daniel, Downie,

Peterhead, 43 gs.
Victorious, red, 1871 ; by Master of Arts. — ^Mr. Fortescue of

Kingcausie, 33 gs.
Chief Baron, roan, 1871 ; by Senator. — Mr. Rainnie, Wester

Fintray, 37 gs.
Signet Royal, red, 1871 ; by Csesar Augustus. — Mr. Jackson,

Hillbrae, Bourtie, 38 gs.
Royal Rose, red and white, 1871 ; by Scotland's Pride. — Mr.

Anderson, Tillygreig, Udny, 33 gs.
Battledore, roan, 1871 ; by Master of Arts.— Mr. Harrey, Pit-

gersie, Foveran 45 gs.
Royal Symbol, red, 1871 ; by Csesar Augustus. — Mr. Eraser,

Faillie, Inverness, 44 gs.
Chief Justice, red, 1871 ; by Senator.— Mr. Walter Wilson,

Orchard House, Hawick, 27 gs.
Sinecure, red, 1871 ; by Senator.— Mr. Charles Alexander,

Beadlieston, Dyce, 39 gs.
Lord Bantam, roan, 1871 ; by Scotland's Pride. — Mr. Clymont,

Balsaggart, Ayrshire, 26 gs.
British Flag, red, 1871; by Caesar Augustus. — Mr. Gray,

Tillymaud, Cruden, 36 gs.
Solomon, red, 1871 ; by Caesar Augustus. — Mr. Catto, Fow-

lershill, Newraachar, 33 gs.
President, white, 1871 ; by Scotland's Pride.— Mr. Tait,

Chricliie, Inverurie, 37 gs.
Starlight, white, 1871 ; by Master of Arts.— Mr. Emslie,

Cairnton, Kemnay, 40 gs.
Sweet William, roan, 1871 ; by Senator. — Mr. James Hender-
son of Blybster, Caithness, 45 gs.
Syntax, red, 1871 ; by Senator. — Mr. Cruickshank, Conland,

Forgue, Huntly, 36 gs.
Bullion, red and white, 1871 ; by Caesar Augustus. — Mr.

Shaw, Tillyching, Lumphanan, 35 gs.
King William, red, 1871 ; by Caesar Augustus. — Mr. James

Bartholomew, Duntarvie, Linlithgow, STgs.
Orlando, red, 1871 ; by Scotland's Pride. — Mr. Ross, Kinna-

haird, Muir of Ord, 36 gs.
Britannia, red, 1871 ; by Scotland's Pride.— Mr. Wm. Troup,

Pett, Tarland, 33 gs.
Farewell, roan ; by Scotland's Pride. — Mr. Snow, Sinton,

Parkhead, Roxburghshire, 30 gs.
HEIFERS.
Valetta, roan, 1871 ; by Master of Arts.— Mr. Ironside, Mill

of Colp, Turriff, 35 gs.
Airy Buckingham, roan, 1871; by Master of Arts. — Mr.

MoJlison, Dochfour, Inverness, 41 gs.
Water Cress, roan, 1871 ; by Master of Arts.— Mr. Mitchell,

Orchard Head, Fife, 38 gs.
Ella Buckingham, red, 1871 ; by Senator. — Mr. Gordon,

Cluny, 33 gs.
Wood Rose, red, 1871 ; by Master of Arts. — Mr. Stevenson,

Durn, Portsoy, 18 gs.
Golded Eye, roan, 1871 ; by Master of Arts.— Sir William

Forbes, Bart., Craigievar, 40 gs.
Queen Mary, red, 1871 ; by Caesar Augustus. — Mr. Stevenson,

Durn, Portsoy, 37 gs.
Acacia, red and white, 1871; by Caesar Augustus. — Mr.

Gordon, Cluny, 46 gs.
Cypress, red, 1871 ; by Senator — Mr. Bartholomew, Dun-
tarvie, Winchburgh, Linlithgow, 30 gs.
Water Lily, red, 1871 ; by Master of Arts.— Mr. Ironside,

Mill of Colp, Turriif, 21 gs.
Casket, red, 1871 ; by Senator.— Mr. Thomson, Canada, 50 gs.
Constantia, red, 1871 ; by Senator.— Sir William Forbes,

Bart., Craigievar, 40 gs.

366

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

REVIEW OF THE CATTLE TRADE
DURING THE PAST MONTH.

The position of the trade has not undergone any radical
change. The supplies of stock have heeu moderate, and the
greater proportion of the receipts have come to hand in such
condition as has given satisfaction. As regards heasts the Nor-
folk arrivals have testified to the abundance of keep,.and from
most other counties the result has been equally satisfactory,
although in some instances stock has been prematurely forced
upon the market from fear of contagion. From Scotland a
moderate supply has been received, in the usual flue condition.
Although trade has not been animated during the month, a
sufficient amount of activity lias been apparent to pro-
mote some degree of steadiness in values, and the best
Scots and crosses have been disposed of at 5s. 4d. to 5s. 6d.
per 81bs.

With reference to sheep the supplies have been rather larger,
and the quality has been very good. WooUed sheep have
sold freely, and the best Downs and half-breds have been sold
at 7s. 2d. to 7s. 4d. per Slbs. for the choicest clipped sheep
the top quotation has been Gs. 2d. to 6s. 4id. per 81bs.
Lambs have been scarce and very dear.
Calves have been in moderate supply and request, at full
prices.

Pigs have changed hands quietly, at about the rates pre-
viously current.

The total imports of foreign stock into London during the
past month have been as follows : Head.

Beasts 2,279

Sheep and Lambs ... ... ... 51,103

Calves 759

Pigs 165

The arrivals of beasts from our own grazing districts, as

well as from Scotland and Ireland, thus compare with the

three previous years : March. March. March. March.

1873. 1871. 1870. 1869.

Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and

Cambridgeshire 6,750 9,530 5,950 4,806

Other parts of England 1,650 2,677 2,310 2,677

Scotland 855 657 906 6,57

Ireland 400 920 1,670 920

The total supplies of stock exhibited and disposed of at
the Metropolitan Cattle Market during the month have been
as unuer : Head.

Beasts 14,805

Sheep and Lambs 111,815

Calves 1,146

Pigs 675

COMPAMSON OF SUPPLIES.

March. Beasts. Sheep and Lambs. Calves

Pigs.

610

440

525

3,270

1,800

2,205

3,015

2,690

2,432

2,810

Beasts have sold at from 3s. 2d. to 5s. 6d., sheep 4s. 8J. to
7s. 4d., calves 43. 6d. to 6s., and pigs 3s. 8d. to 5s. per 81bs.
to sink the offal.

Comparison of Prices.

1871 ...

... 15,620

102,545

709

1870 ...

... 15,113

115,855

1,029

1869 ...

... 18,950

132,910

1,165

1868 ...

... 20,380

127,260

1,146

1867 ...

... 14,460

95,600

1,100

1866 ...

... 15,511

117,550

1,075

1865 ...

... 22,400

86,753

1,143

1864 ...

... 21,500

91,890

1,218

1863 ...

... 18,653

88,560

935

1862 ...

... 18,200

83,040

881

March, 1871.

s. d. s. d.

Beef from

3 0 to 5 8

Mutton

3 4 to 6 8

Lamb

7 6 to 8 0

Veal

. 3 8 to 6 0

Pork

. 3 6 to 5 2

March, 1869.

s. d. s. d.

Beef from

3 4 to 5 8

Multou

, 3 4 to 6 8

Veal

. 4 8 to 6 3

I'oiK

. 3 8 to 5 2

March, 1870.

s.

d. s.

d

3

2 to 5

3

3

0 to 6

0

7

6 to 8

0

3

10 to 6

0

4

6 to 5

8

M

irch, 1868.

s.

d. s.

d

3

4 to 5

0

3

8 to 5

4

4

2 to 5

4

3

4 to 4

2

HOP MARKET.

Mid. and East Kent £10 10 £12 12 il7 0

Weald of Kent 8 10

Sussex 7 15

Farnham and country ... 11 11

Yearlings.

Mid and East Kent £3 0

Weald of Kent 3 0

Sussex 3 0

Farnham and country ... —

Olds 1 5

9 9 ....

.. 10 10

8 8 ....

9 9

13 0 ....

.. 16 0

£4 4 ...

.. £6 10

4 0 ...

.. 5 15

3 10 ...

.. 5 5

6 0 ...

..7 0

1 10 ...

..3 0

POTATO MARKETS.
SOUTHWARK WATERSIDE.

Yorkshire Flukes 100s. to 140s.

Regents 60s. to lOO.?.

Dunbar oud East Lothian Regents ... lOOs. to 130s,
Perth, Forfar, and Fife „ ... 80s. to 110s.

„ „ Rocks 70s. to 80s.

Kent and Esses Regents 60s. to 100s.

„ Rocks 60s. to 70s.

French Whites 50s. to COs.

BOROUGH AND SPITALFIELDS.

Regents 70s. to 120s. per ton.

Rocks 70s. to 85s. „

Flukes 100s. to 1403. „

Victorias 95s. to 130s. ,,

PRICES of BUTTER,

BUTTER, per cwt. : s. s.

Dorset 150 to 160

Friesland 140 146

Jersey 112 136

Fbesh, per doz. ... 15 18

BACON, per cwt:

Wiltshire, green... 60 62

Irish, green, f.o.h. 62 64

CHEESE, HAMS, &c.

CHEESE, per cwt. : s. s.

Cheshire 56 to 78

Dble. Glouc, new 60 76

Cheddar 74 90

American 68 76

HAMS: York 81 98

Cumberland 82 96

Irish 81 92

ENGLISH WOOL MARKET.

CUBBENT PbICES OF ENGLISH WoOL. 8. d. S. d.

Fleeces— Southdown hoggs per lb, lll^to2 0-J

Half-bred ditto , 2 1 2 2

Kent fleeces , 2 1 2 2

Southdown ewes and wethers ... „ 1 10 1 11
Leicester ditto „ 1 10 1 10^

SOBTS— Clothing, picklock „ 17 1 10

Prime ,, 14 16

Choice „ 13 13^

Super 12 12^

Combing, wether mat , 2 1 2 2

Picklock 19 1 10

Common „ ,, 16 17^

Hog matching 2 2 2 3

Picklock matching ,, 19 110

Super ditto „ 16 1 7J

BRESLAU WOOL REPORT, March 21.— The demand
for our article is continuing with unabated liveliness, and
prices are firmly maintaining their high rank. Almost all de-
scriptions are required, and middle-fine qualities have been
completely emptied. Only the super-select Hocks remain un-
sold, owiug to the extreme pretentions of owners. The total
sales during the last fortnight was about 3,000 cwts., which
quautity has been fully compensated by simultaneous fresh
arrivals from Poland and Russia. — Gunsburg Brothers.

THE SALE OF SEED CORN.— At the Notts assizes
before Mr. Justice Quain, an action was brought by
Mr. Charles Levers, farmer and corn factor, of East Bridg-
ford, near Nottingham, against Messrs. Goddard and Wells,
corn factors, of Nottingham, to recover £500 damages for sup-
plying him with defective wheat. In April last plaiutilT saw
the defendant Wells at the Nottingham Corn Excliange,
Wells asked him if lie wanted any spring seed wheat. Plain-
tiff replied that he did, and was shown a sample of what the
defendant assured him was spring seed wheat. He purchased
50 qrs., and resold it to various farmers, but in every case
where it was sown the crop failed. Actions were brought
against plaintiff by those farmers, and he had paid £393 in
satisfaction of tlieir claims. The defence set up was that the
defendants did not actually guarantee the grain to be spring
wheat, but that Wells had expressed his belief to that effect
from what one or two farmers had said to him. His lordship
held that a man had a right to be served with what he asked
for, and the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff — damages
£428.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

367

REVIEW OE THE CORN TRADE

DURING THE PAST MONTH.

The close of February was mostly fine, but rather too
wet after the heavy fall in January. March for above the
first fortnight was more like spring than itself, being mild,
sunny, and stimulating vegetation to a degree of danger.
On the third week, however, a sharp frost, followed by a
heavy snow-storm. The spring flowers drooped their
heads, and we were sharply reminded that winter had not
quite left us. The grass which was growing fast must be
seriously checked, if not damaged, and the forward fruit
trees can hardly have passed through the difficulty scot
free. The previous dry weather was, however, heartily
welcomed, and very much land which had been laying
almost hopelessly sodden was got into culture, and spring
planting begau in right earnest, wherever practicable,
beans and peas taking the lead, and oats quickly follow-
ing. Much depends on the termination of the month as
to the sowing of barley and spring wheat, but after the
changes we have seen, let us yet hope for the best. The
young wheat, both early sown and late, has hitherto
done well and become strong, the night frosts contri-
buting to give a wholesome check to its luxuriance ; but
the promise with which the month opened, the loosening
of the ice in many northern ports, and above all the very
heavy and unexpected fall of brcadstuffs at Paris, where
there has been a decline of 10s. per sack on flour,
and a proportionate reduction in wheat, have so
unhinged the wheat trade here that rates
liave given way about 3s., and on inferior foreign
the fall has been 5s. to 6s., causing such a heavy loss to
importers, who cannot replace to advantage, that we ex-
pect, after the first efi^ect of present arrivals is over, there
will be a falling off in our receipts, and a moderate re-
action in prices for qualities really serviceable, and
especially fine, the latter continuing scarce abroad as well
as here ; indeed, in floating cargoes the reaction had com-
menced at the close. The sales noted in four weeks were
only 203,033 qrs., while for the same time last year they
were 299,498 qrs., showing a deficiency of 97,405 qrs.,
or nearly one-third. This must indicate a reluctance to
sell on the part of farmers, or a great reduction of the
stock on their hands ; aud as the fall in France began at
Paris, as the consequence of over-trading and slender
means under the present monetary difficultiea of IVance,
we do not think values can materially lessen, in spite of
their possessing a good crop of spring corn, especially as
the late imports from Southern Russia lose much money,
and fine qualities are everywhere scarce throughout
Europe. The ports of the Baltic have not yielded in a
like proportion, and shipments to France thence must
greatly dimiuish, unless there be a material advance. At
New York they are slightly dearer, and the cauals are not
now likely to opau before May. The following rates
were recently current at the places uamed : Best native
white wheat at Paris 58s., red 55s. ; Chili white 59s.
3d., winter American 56s. Od. per qr. In Belgium prices
range from 55s. to 56s. 6d., best Polish wheat at Amster-
dam 60s., new Zealand at Rotterdam 56s., red wheat at
Hamburg 52s., at Cologne 53s., high-mixed at Danzic
61s., at Konigsberg 60s. per qr., cost, fi'cight, and in-
surance, red at Porrentruy 52s., at Pesth 55s., common
red at Ibrail 34s., soft Ghirka at Odessa 42s., ditto at
Taganroc 45s., Barletta at Naples 56s. 6d., best soft at
Algiers 62s,, fine white at Valladolid (Spain) 42s.,
Californian at San Francisco 5Gs. 6d. per qr. cost, freight,
and insurance,, red winter at New York 55s., spring 523.

The first Monday of this four weeks, which commenced
on F'ebruary 26, opened in Mark Lane on small English
aud good foreign supplies. The show of fresh samples
during the morning from Essex and Kent was scanty, and
the condition rather improved. Yet only the driest
parcels could be sold at previous rates, inferior being
fully Is. per qr. lower, and most difficult to place.
Though there was a good attendance from the country,
the demand for foreign was but limited, and while really
fine qualities obtained the previous rates on retail, lower
sorts were fully Is. per qr. cheaper to sell. Cargoes
afloat were little inquired for, and quite Is. lower. With
variable but, on the whole, seasonable weather, the
country wheat trade was dull, the condition of samples
generally being very little improved. Dry samples main-
tained their previous value, but inferior lots found but
few buyers at lower prices. Liverpool at the close of the
week gave way 2d. per cental, or lOd. per qr. F'oreiga
wheat at Glasgow was down Is. per qr., but prices at
Edinburgh were unchanged, with a slow trade. With
dull and cloudy weather at Dublin, business was limited,
aud prices much as previously.

On the second Monday, the English supply was more
scanty, and the foreign fell off very materially. The
fresh samples exhibited from the near counties were but
few in number, and still defiaieut in condition, though
rather better than of late. F'actors found that, not-
withstanding the short supplies, they must give way
fully Is. per qr., and even then sales were difficult,
dry lots excepted. The foreign trade also remained very
dull, and but little business could be done, though
there was a general determination to accept a reduction
of Is. per qr. With a good arrival of floating cargoes
buyers were scarce at the same decline. The weather
this week turning out remarkably fine, aud the London
advices being unfavourable, country holders and farmers
who were resolved on sales found they could make no
way without submitting to lower rates ; say, generally
Is. per qr., as at Birmingham, Bristol, Brigg, Louth,
Maidstone, Manchester, Rochester, Stockton, aud Wol-
verhampton, while some, as at Gloucester, accepted Is.
to 2s. per qr. less money. Liverpool was down 4d. to
6d. per cental, or Is. 8d. to 2s. for the week. The Scotch
markets also yielded, Edinburgh and Glasgow to the ex-
tent of Is. to 2s. on native and foreign sorts. Though
the scarcity of native wheat at Dublin kept it from a fall,
foreign gave way 6d. per barrel.

On the third ^londay the English supplies were still
small, but the foreign were good. The morning's show
of fresh samples on the Essex and Kentish stands was
again scanty, but the condition was certainly better from
the more favourable weather, still there was no doing
any business but at a further decline of Is. to 2s. per qr.,
and trade even then was far from brisk. In foreign the
same languor prevailed, the French markets showing no
symptoms of recovery. The best samples gave way Is. per
qr., and inferior were difficult to place at a still
heavier reduction. Floating cargoes, generally held at the
previous currency, found very few buyers. With a con-
tinuance of extremely fine weather the country wheat
trade found it impossible to resist the influence of the
London decline, and a similar reduction of Is. to 2s. was
reluctantly conceded, excepting for anything unusually
prime. Liverpool gave way on I'riday 6d. to Is. per qr.
lu Scotland there was less inclination to follow the down-

368

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

ward course. Edinburgli found sales practicable at ouly
6d to Is. less money, and Glasgow did not give way
over Is. per qr. Wheat at Dublin was not equally re-
duced, the fall being only 3d. to 6d. per brl.

On the fourth Monday the English supplies were rather
lessened, but the foreign much increased by free arrivals
from Danzig and the Black Sea. The Kentish and Essex
stands were again but scantily supplied with fresh samples ;
the condition, however, was better than for some time
past — say since the commecement of the year. In spite
of this, however, the fine weather and Erench advices
being adverse to prices, they further gave way Is. per qr.,
with still a difficulty in selling. In foreign business was
also limited, and all descriptions were fully down to the
same extent. Floating cargoes were yet more difficult
to place, and low sorts were down about 2s. per qr.
The return of wintry weather this week checked the
tendency to decline in the country markets, many
of which were unaltered, but Newark and some other
places were down Is. per qr. on average qualities, while a
few were Is. per qr. higher. Liverpool on Tuesday was
fully as dear as on the prenous week, and 3d. to 3d.
hi2;her per cental on Friday. At Edinburgh fine dry
wheat brought 6d. to Is. per qr. more, and Barley 6d.,
but Beans gave way Is. per qr. Glasgow was firm for
wheat, but dull for spring corn. Irish grain at Dublin
was unaltered, foreign wheat 6d. per brl. lower.

The imports into London for four weeks were 14,179
qrs. Eua;lish, 89,489 qrs. foreign, against 33,105 qrs.
English,^57,480 qrs. foreign in 1871. The London ex-
ports were 3,748 qrs. The imports into the kingdom for
four weeks ending March 9th were 2,331,118 cwts.
wheat, 193,614 cwts. flour, against 1,987,307 cwts.
wheat, 349,798 cwts. flour in 1871. The London ave-
rages commenced at 59s. 3d. and closed at 57s. 4d. The
general averages opened at 55s. 7d. and ended at 55s.
8d. per qr., sothey do not show the late decline.

The dulness of the flour trade having caused the sup-
plies to lessen, prices have not been reduced iu the same
proportion as wheat, as for some time the trade was not a
paying one. Yet a reduction of Is. per qr. has to be
uoted'in country sorts, the top price of Norfolks being only
383. In foreign there has been very little passing, and
the rates at New York leave no margin for importation
here. The imports into London for four weeks were
66,099 sacks English, 6,179 sacks 6,404 brls. foreign,
against 96,193 sacks English, 2,421 sacks 46,330 brls.
foreign in 1871.

Though the arrivals of maize have not been heavy,
this grain has given way in value every market day, the
decline iu four weeks amounting to 3s. per qr., fine
fresh-mixed American being only worth 38s., aud the
best white about 31s. Prices abroad are relatively dearer,
and one of two things is certain, either that foreign quo-
tations must come down or our imports diminish ; but
the last American crop was good, and so we may yet get
fair arrivals. The imports into London for four weeks
were 43,805 qrs., against 3,048 qrs. in 1871.

The barley trade, in sympathy with everything else,
has given way on British sorts fully Is. per qr., on French
sorts, from their abundance, about 3s., and on low grind-
ing descriptions about Is. The French imports being
serviceable for inferior and porter-malt have quite para-
lysed the trade, and they have been severely felt in Ire-
land. Prices for such have ruled from 26s. to 29s.,
grinding sorts 20s. to 25s., best British malting 41s. to
42s. We think feeding sorts likely to improve as the
season gets near its end ; for foreign imports then fall-oif,
and our own stocks generally get cleared. The London
imports for four weeks were 7,093 qrs. British, 78,439
qrs. foreign, against 8,375 qrs. British, 38,717 qrs. fo-
reign in 1871.

The malt trade has ruled dull, and generally, prices
have fallen Is. per qr., with more anxiety on the part of
holders to get clear of stocks.

The oat trade has been quite unsettled and shaken by
the large and early foreign supplies, in consequence of
the opening of the Baltic. Nearly every Monday has
noted some decline, till for the four weeks it has amounted
to 2s. per qr. Large imports coming from Belgium, and
some also from France, have added to the diificulty of
selling, some low qualities not bringing over 14s. 6d.,
while fair 381bs. per bushel sorts have sold at 18s. to 18s.
6d. We cannot help thinking that the losses caused by
these imports will diminish supplies, and bring about
some reaction. The London imports for four weeks were
3,189 qrs. English, 154,449 qrs. foreign, against 11,709
qrs. English, 36,009 qrs. foreign in 1871.

During the earlier part of the month, w^heu damp wea-
ther ruled, more English uew beans than is usual were
sent up to Mark Lane. Such samples were of course
soft, aud, with spring-like weather in the ascendant, they
could not be sold wi'thout accepting lower rates, more es-
pecially as maize had become cheap. The decline iu new
has been fully 3s. per qr., mazagaus being scarcely worth
33s., and other qualities in proportion. Foreign have
also been very little in demand, and Is. to Is. 6d. lower.
The London imports for four weeks have been 3,293 qrs,
English, 4,550 qrs. foreign, against 3,219 qrs. English,
8,476 qrs. foreign in 1871.

Peas have also been so little in demand, that they also
have fallen in a like proportion, duns not being worth
over 33s., maples 37s., and the best boilers about 40s.
The London imports for four weeks were 1,678 qrs. Eng-
lish, 562 qrs. foreign, against 1,396 qrs. English, 286
qrs. foreign in 1871.

With moderate imports, linseed has maintained its
value ; but cakes have been difficult to sell.

The cloverseed trade has been very inactive from the
wetness of the ground, and high prices which were paid
bv importers, and the abundance of feeding stuffs aud
grass, has caused large losses on tares, which have fallen
considerably.

CURRENT PRICES OF BRITISH GRAIN AND FLOUR
IN MARK LANE.

Shillings per Quarter.

WHEAT, new, Essex and Kent, white 66 to 60

ji ,, red 60 ^^

Norfolk, Linclnsh., and Yorksh., red 50

BARLEY 29 to 31 Chevalier, new 36

Grinding 28 29 Distilling 29

MALT.Basex, Norfolk, and Suffolk 61

Kingston, Ware, and town-made 63

Brown ■.""■■.■.;'.■■ 36

Potato!!"."".'.*.'.'.'. 26

RYE

OATS, English, feed 21 to 24

Scotch, feed 00 00..

Irish, feed, white 18 21..

Ditto, black 18 20.,

BEANS, Mazagan ...31 32.,

Harrow 33 35.. ^

PEAS, white, boiler8.36 40 Maple 36 to 38Grey,new 32
FLOUR, per sack of 2801b8., best town households... 45

Best country households ^0

Norfolk and Suffolk 37

Potato 00

Fine 22

Potato 27

.Ticks 31

Pigeon 36

OOMPARATIYE AVERAGES.

WHEAT. BAR

Years. Qrs. s. d. Qrs.

1868... 40,896J ... 72 5 29,327|

1869... 52,2201 ...47 9 25,189 ,

1870... 66,971i ... 41 9 31,817i ,

1871... 78,6571 ... 54 7 38,193|

1872... 46,530 ... 55 5 39,172|

MY.

6.

d.

OA'i
Qrs.

s.

d.

. 43

4

ll,336i .

.26

9

. 45

0

3,7071 .

.27

S

34

4

5,3821 .

.21

1

. 36

1

7,440i .

.25

7

. 37

7

5,356i .

.22

11

BRITISH SEEDS.
Mustard, per bushel, brown 14s. to 168., white 78. to 9s.6d.

Canary, per qr new 508. 54s....old 528. 543.

Cloverseed, new red %°^- •^j""-

Coriander, per cwt ;-qI k. «h*

Tares, winter, new, per bushel .- 6s. Ja. os. du.

Printed by Rogerson and Tuxford, 265, Strand, London, W.C.

IHE ROYAL FARMERS' INSURANCE COMPANY,

3, NOEFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.

TAPITAL —Persons insured by this Company have the security of an extensive and wealthy proprietary
a^eU as an ample Capital always applicable to the payment of claims without delay.

TTFE DEPARTMENT. BONUS. — Insurers of the participating class will be entitled to four-fiftha

c;he profits.

A^STGWiVTENrS The Company grant Policies payable to the Registered Holders, whereby much

M^e and incouvenience are prevented. Stamp Du ty paid by the Office.

EIRE DEPARTMENT,—

1st Class— Not Hazardous Is. 6d. per Cent.

2nd Class — Hazardous 2s. 6d. „

3rd Class— Doubly Hazardous 4s. 6d. „

TITTTT DINGS and MERCANTILE Property of every description in Public or Private Warehouses. —
stiUersTSteam Engines, Goods in Boats or Canals, Ships in Port or Harbour, &c. &c,, are Insured in this
fice at moderate rates.
SPECIAL RISKS.— At such rates as may be considered reasonable.

PARMING STOCK.— 5s. per cent., with liberty to use a Steam Thrashing Machine without extra
arge. Nearly FIVE MILLIONS Insured in this Office.
SEVEN YEARS' INSURANCES may be effected on payment of Six Years' Premium only.
LIGHTNING and GAS. — Losses by Fii-e occasioned by Lightning, and Losses by Explosion of Gas
len used for Lighting Buildings will be allowed for.

RENT. The Loss on Rent while Buildings remain untenantable through fire may be provided against.

HAIL DEPARTMENT.— (Crops and Glass.)

Policies to protect parties from Loss by the destraction of Growing Crops or Glass, by Hail, are granted on
Moderate Terms.
LOSSES —Prompt and liberal settlement.

AGENTS WANTED.

Apply to JOHN REDDISH, Esq., Secretaiy and Actuary.

IMPORTANT TO FLQCKMASTERS.

n SOMAS BIGG, Agricultural and Veterinary

L Chemist, by Appointment to his late Royal Highness
he Prince Consort, K.G., Leicester House, Great Dover
treat, Borough, London, begs to call the attention of
armers and Graziers to his valuable SHEEP and LAMB
'IPPING COMPOSITION, which requires no BoiUng, and
lay be used with Warm or Cold Water, for effectually
estroying the Tick, Lice, and all other insects injm-ious to
le Flock, preventing the alarm mg attacks of Ply and Shab,
nd cleansing and purifying the Skin, thereby greatly un-
roving the Wool, both in quantity and quality, and highly
ontributing to the general health of the animal.
Prepared only by Thomas Bigg, Chemist, &c., at his Manu-
ictoryas above, and sold as toUows, although any other
uantity may be had, if required : —

4 lb. for 20 sheep, price, jar included £0 2 0

61b. 30 „ „ „ ^30

81b. 4.0 „ „ „ " ! H

101b. 50 „ „ „ ° ^ 2

201b. 100 „ „ (Cask and measure 0 10 0

301b. 150 „ „ included) 0 15 0

401b, 20O „ „ „ 1^5?

601b. 250 „ ., „ 13 6

601b. 300 „ „ „ ^ I ^

801b. 400 ,. „ „ ^ ^l ^

1001b. 500 „ „ „ 3 5 0

Should any Flockmaster prefer boiling the Composition, it
nil be equally effective.

MOST IMPORTANT CERTIFICATE.
From Mr. Hebepath, the celebrated Analytical Chemist :—
Bristol Laboratory, Old Park, January 18th, 1861.
Sir,— I have submitted yoiu- Sheep Dipping Composition to
malysis, and find that the ingredients are well blended, and
'.he mixture neutral. If it is used according to the dti-ections
given, I feel satisfied, that while it effectually destroys vermin,
'twill not injure the hair roots (or " yolk") in the skm, the
fleece, or the carcase. I think it deserves the numerous
lesiimonials published. I am. Sir, yours respectfully,

William Hbeapaih, Sen., P.C.S., &c., &c..
To Mr. Thomas Bigg Professor of Chemistry.

Leicester House, Great Dover-street, Borough, Lgndon.

He would also especially call attention to his SPECIFIC,
or LOTION, for the SCAB or SHAB, which will be found
a certain remedy for eradicating that loathsome and ruinous
disorder in Sheep, and which may be safely used in all
climates, and at all seasons of the year, and to all descriptions
of sheep, even ewes in lamb. Price FIVE SHILLINGS per
gallon— sufficient on an average for thirty Sheep (according
to the virulence of the disease) ; also in wine quart bottles.
Is. 3d. each.

IMPORTANT TESTIMONIAL.
" Scoulton, near Hingham, Norfolk, April 16th, 1853.

"Dear Sir,— In answer to yours ot the 4th inst., which
would have been rephed to before this had I been at home, I
have much pleasure in bearing testimony to the efficacy of
your invaluable ' Specific for the cure of Scab in Sheep.' The
600 sheep were all dressed in August last with 84 gallons of
the ' NoN-poisoNous Specific,' that was so highly recom-
mended at the Lincoln Show, and by their own dresser, the
best attention being paid to the flock oy my shepherd after
dressing according to instructions left ; but notwithstanding
the Scab continued getting worse. Being determined to have
the Scab cured if possible, I wrote to you for a supply of your
Specific, wliich I received the following day ; and although
the weather was most severe in February during the dressing,
your fSpECiFic proved itself an invaluable remedy, for in
three weeks the Sheep were quite cured ; and I am happy to
say the young lambs are doing remarkably well at present.
In conclusion, I believe it to be the safest and best remedy
now in use. " I remain, dear Sir,

"For JOHN TINGEY, Esq.,

" To Mr. Thomas Bigg. ' "R. RENNEY.

IfciT Flockmasters would be well to beware of such pre-
parations as "Non-poisonous Compositions:" it is only
necessary to appeal to their good common sense and judg-
ment to be thoroughly convinced that no "Non-poisonous"
article can poison or destroy insect vermin, particularly such
as the Tick, Lice, and Scab Parasites— creatures so tenacious
of life. Such advertised preparations must be wholly useless,
or they are not what they are represented to be.

DIPPING APPARATUS £14. £5, Si, & £3.

./

" Tliere are very few simple articles of food which can boast so many
valuable and important dietary properties as Cocoa. While acting
on the nerves as a gentle stimulant, it provides the body with some
of the purest elements of nutrition, and at the same time corrects
and invigorates the action of the digestive organs. These beneficial
eflPects depend in a great measure upon the manner of its preparation,
but of late years such close attention has been given to the growth and
treatment of Cocoa that there is no difficulty in securing it with
every useful quality fully developed. The singular success which
Mr. Epps attained by his homoeopathic preparation of Cocoa has
never been surpassed by any experimentalist. Medical men of all
shades of opinion have agreed in recommending it as the safest
and most beneficial article of diet for persons of weak constitutions."

E P P S S

GEATEFFL

(JAMES EPPS & GO.,HOM(EOPATHIG CHEMISTS.)

COMFOBTIl^G

COCOA.

"By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern
the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful appHcation
of the fine properties of well-selected Cocoa, Mr. Epps has provided
our breakfast tables with a delicately-flavoured beverage which may
save us many heavy doctors' bills. It is by the judicious use of
such articles of diet that a constitution may be gradually built up
until strong enough to resist every tendency to disease. Hundreds
of subtle maladies are floating around us ready to attack wherever
there is a weak point. We may escape many a fatal shaft by
keepmg ourselves well fortified with pure blood and a properly-
nourished frame."~^Exti-acted from an article on Diet in the
" Civil Service Gazette."

gc..

No. 5, YoL. XLI.] MAY, 1872. [Third Series.

PARMER'S MAGAZINE,

AKD

MONTHLY JOURNAL

07

THE AGEICULTUEAL INTEREST.

TO THE

FARMERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

LONDON:
PUBLISHED BYROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 265, STRAND,

PRICE TWO SHILLINGS.

ROGERSON AND TUXFORD,] ,■ [PRINTERS. 266, STRAND.

JJ

JAMES GIBBS ANB COMPANY,

VITRIOL AND MANURE WORKS,

NEAR VICTORIA DOCKS, LONDON.

OrFICES-16, MARK LANE, E.C.

SOLE MANUFACTUEERS OF THE

PATENT AMMONIA-FIXED GUANO,

Guaranteed to be made from tlie finest quality of Government Guano, as imported. Has produced equally
as good results as the unfixed Guano, and is 30s. per ton cheaper. Eecommended for all crops for wliich Guano
is used, and is found supeiior to it for Potatoes, Mangold, Beet Root, &c. In districts where the rain-fall is
above an average, we recommend it for Turnips. It is not only cheaper, but also much more effective than
Nitrate of Soda, as Top Dressing, and its efi"ects are more lasting, as may be seen by the after Crops.

Patent Ammoniated Phosphate. Dissolved Bones,
Superphosphate of Lime. Bone Manure for Turnips.

Blood Manure for Eoots, Blood Manure for Corn.
Special Manures for Mans^old, Barley, Grass, and Potatoes.

JAMES GIBBS & COMPANY have turned their attention specially to the manufacture of these Manm-es,
which contain all the elements necessary to promote the growth of Potato and Turnip crops. The results have
given i^uiversal satisfaction, and prove the Manures to be the cheapest yet sold.

The " condition" of the above is made a matter of special care. They are all sifted before delivery, to ensure
theii- being fit for the dry or water-drill.

LONDON AND COUNTY BANKING COMPANY.

ESTABLISHED 1836.

SUBSCRIBED CAPITAL... £2,500,000, in 60,000 SHARES of £50 EACH.
PAID-UP CAPITAL... £1,000,000 RESERVE FUND... £500,000.

DIRECTORS.
NATHANIEL ALEXANDER, Esq. I FREDERICK FRANCIS, Esq. I JAMES MORLEY, Esq.

T. TYRINGHAM BERNARD, Esq. i FREDERICK HARRISON, Esq. I WILLLA.M NICOL, Esq.
PHILIP PATTON BLYTH, Esq. I WM. CHAMPION JONES, Esq. J A. HODGSON PHILLPOTTS, Esq.
THOMAS STOCK COWIE, Esq. |E. HARBORD LUSHINGTON, Esq. 1 FREDERICK YOULE, Esq.

TRUSTEES.
P. P. BLYTH, Esq. 1 F. HARRISON, Esq. | W. CHAMPION JONES, Esq.

AUDITORS.
WILLIAM JARDINE, Esq. | WILLL&.M NORMAN, Esq. I RICHARD H. SWAINE, Esq.

General Manager— WILLIAM McKEWAN, Esq.

CHIEF INSPECTOR. INSPECTORS OP BRANCHES. CHIEF ACCOUNTANT.

W. J. NORFOLK, Esq. H. J. LEMON, Esq., and C. SHERRING, Esq. JAMES GRAY, Esq.

Solicitors— Messrs. STEVENS, WILKINSON, & HARRIS.

Secretary— F. CLAPPISON, Esq.

HEAD OFFICE, 31, LOMBARD STREET.

Manager— WHITBREAD TOMSON, Esq. | Assistant Majjager— WILLIAM HOWARD, Esq.

THE LONDON AND COUNTY BANK opens—

DRAWING ACCOUNTS with Commercial Houses and Private Individuals, either upon the plan usually adopted by
ether Bankers, or by chai-ging a small Commission to those persona to whom it may not be convenient to sustain an agreed
Permanent Balance.

DJiFOSIT ACOOUNTS.— Deposit Receipts are issued for sums of Money placed upon these Accounts, and Interest ia
allowed for such periods and at such rates as may be agreed upon, reference being had to the state of the Money Market.

CIRCULAR NOTES AND LETTERS OF CREDIT are issued, payable in the principal Cities and Towns of the Con-
tinent, in AustraUa, Canada, India, and China, the United States, and elsewhere.

The Agency of Foreign and Country Banks is undertaken.

The PoECHABB and Sale of Government and other Stocks, of English or Foreign Shares effectedj and DXTIDKITBS,
Annuitibs, &c., received for Customers of the Bank.

Great faculties are also afforded to the Customers of the Bank for the receipt of Money from the Towns where the Oom*
pany has Branches.

The Ofiacers of the Bank are bound not to disclose the transactions of any of its Customers.

By Order of the Dij ectors, WM. MoKEWAN, General Manager,

All Seeds Carriage Free.

GARTER'S PRIZE MANGEL.

{As gfown on the Prince of Walea's Ftirni for

several seasons.)

Awarded the followiiii? amongst many other

Prizes this Seasuu:—

Egham, The Silver Cup.

Moreton, a Silver Cup and the First Prize.

Chertsey, a Silver Cup.

Bandon, Two First Prizes.

Marshland, the First Prize.

Spauntou Manor, The First Prize.

From J. Foukestek, llaq., Bnianstou Jilonrl-

ford, tk-t. 18, 1H71:— " I'roir. your Manuel Seeds I

have had the most leiiuhir and heaviest irop I

ever ^rew, and they are considered tlie heaviest

crop in the neighbourhood."

From AV. F. MoKEcnorT, F,sq., The Allports,
Oct. 19, 1871 :— " My Mangels from your seed are
first-rate. '

From C. M. Stlabt, Esq., Balhjhinslock, Oct.
9, 1871:— "We »ere very pleased witli the
Mammoth Long Red Mangel seed I got from
you."

From the Hon. A. L. Melville. Brnnston
Jlnll. -—"Yuu will be glad to hear that my
Mangel this vear is the admiration of evei y one.
It is so regular that I don't think I could tind a
gap of 3 feet in the pieie. There are many com-
plaints of Mangel running to seed this year, but
1 have not so many as 20 run."

CARTER'S IMPROVED MAMMOTH
PRIZE LONG RED MANGEL

Tin- several years past we have exhiiiited at
the annual Snutlitield <Jhib Shows, some of the
most magnificent specimens of Long Ked Maniicl
ever seen, and notwith>tan<Uiig the past un-
favourablie se;ison for root cropv, we this year
excelled any previou^ ixliiliiti'in with some
Mannu'ith roots, weiglung nc.uly liO pounds each
—remarkable alike for size and (lUMlity. This
jiopular variety may now be considered p: rfcc-
tion, as, afti r siinu" years of most careful selec-
tion, we have brought it to a standa.d of the
highest excellence.

MANGEL WURZEL

CHOICE SELECTED STOCKS.

Pur lb. -s. (/.

CARTER'S IMPROVED MAM-
MOTH PRIZE LONG IRED
MANGEL, a variety growing to
an iiaiiiense size, (^ee Jliics-
Iriitimi.) 1 3

CARTER^S WARDEN PRIZE
YELLOW MANGEL, small
tup, large root, a good keeper,
of choice qiialitv 1 3

CARTER'S CHAMPION NEW
YELLOW INTERMEDIATE,
fine top, lai-ge oral root ; thi.s
Mangel, from its peculiar
growth, may be "set out"
closer than the Yellow Globe. . 1 0

CARTER'S ELVETHAM LONG
YELLOW, ti superior stock of
Lung Yellow 1 0

CARTER'S IMPROVED , RED

G LOBE, a veiy choice variety. . 1 0

*^'* Much cUeajier per cict.

Ordinary Stocks, Sd. to Is. per lb.

rc. & CO. WISH IT TO BE DISTINCTLYj;
UNDERSTOOD THAT CARTER'S IMPROVED,^
MAMMOTH LONG RED MANGEL WAS ORI-
GINALLY INTRODUCED BY THEM. AND IS}
A SELECTION FROM THE MAMMOTH LONG;
RED ORIGINALLY RAISED BY MR. FRANKS
IT IS INFINITELY SUPERIOR TO ALlj

_^^^vSis^ THERS.

CARROT.

[Sow a to 8 Ws. jjer acre.)

Per lb. —f. <l
LARGE WHITE BELGIAN ■•■. 10

YELLOW BELGIAN 1 6

LARGE ORANGE BELGIAN, a
heavier cropper thai, the pre-
ceding, and more nutritious . . 16
IMPROVED RED ALTRINGHAM,
the best Rod Carrot for good

soils 1 6

RED INTERMEDIATE, the best

C'ari'ot for shallow soils 1 6

LARGE RED CATTLE 1 3

Five per Cent Discount for

Cash.

Carter's Prize Medal Grass Seeds, see next page.

GARTER'S PAIZE-MEDAL FARM SEEDS,

CARTER'S NEW ANNUAL BLUE CLOVER.

TyE have much pleasure
in iiitroilucing for pub-
lic trial this remarkable and
valuable novelty, which we
believe is destined to super-
sede to a great extent both
Tares and TrifoUum. Its
rapid growth will be best
understood when we state
that, during the past incle-
ment season, seed sown in
Yorkshire by T. C. Booth
Esq., of Warlaby, on May
21st, produc3d a crop over
3 feet long by August 2nd !
Specimens of this astound-
ing growth were exhibited
by us at the last great York-
shire Agricultural Show in
York during the month of
August of last year, together
with an equally remarkable
specimen contributed by
W. S. Thompson, Esq., of
Klrby Hall, York. This
latter gentleman assures us
that he has tried every kind
of stock with it, and finds
that all eat it readily. It
must prove a great acquisi-
tion as an auxiliary to the
Clover crop, as it can be
sown in the spring to fill up
where the previous sea.son's
sowingof Clover has missed,
and will then produce an
immense swarth, ready for
cutting with the general
crop.

Per i lb. packet, 7s. 6d.
Fost free.

C. Whitehead, Esq.,
Barming House, Maidstone,
says :— " I consider Mes.trs.
Carter's New Annual Clover
to be a valuable plant to
supply the place of red or
other Clover that has failed
from the heaviness of the
Corn crop with which it
had been sown, from the
drought of autumn, the
severity of winter, or the
many causes which now
make this crop so preca-
rious and uncertain. It
may be used either as a sub-
stitute for the whole Clover
crop, where it has been seen
in March or April that it
has entirely failed, orit may
be sown with advantage
upon the bare places when
the Clover plant is patchy.
It is of very rapid growth,
and if sown late in March
or early in April, will, with
favourable weather, come
to cut for hay in the se-
cond or third week in
July. There is no doubt
that it is a very valuable
addition to the forage
plants of this countr}'.—
Avgvst 14, 1871."

We believe Carter's
New Blue Clover will

PRODUCE A valuable
SECOND CROP OF HERBAGE
FOR GRAZING.

The following reports reach us from Members of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,
to whom we sent samples of our New Blue Clover In the spring of 1871 for trial :—

From Mr. Geo. Tate, Unilif to the Eight Hon. Lord
Ecrrsleij: "Home Farm. Heekfield, Jxily 14, 1871—1 s( nd
jou the result of the trial of Hlue Ch.ver seed you sent me
m the spring. Sown Apiil .5th, cut July 14t'h : height of
stem. 4 feet 5 inches; weight of green "food, 244 pound.?;
qnantity of land. -^40 square feet. The crop is certainly
splendid for the short time in growing "

FromT.V, Booth , Esq, :-- Wnrlahi, AtigAl 1871. -The
Flue Clover was sown on the 21st or May, and you will find
some stalks in the bundle I have sent you 4 feet b inches
long."

From Chas, EinNETT. '£%%:—•' SIraiton Park, Aug. 12,
1871.— The Hlue Clover was sown March 22nd. in rows 9
inches apart, on fine gravel soil in high condition and top-
dressed with Lawes' manure. It grew very strong. I cut
it July 25th, and give some to horses, cattle, sheep and
pigs and all seemed to like it, particularly the horses."

Ftom Mr. K. A- Gowi>g, Bailiff to the' JRitiht Hon. Lord
Berners:—" The Faim, Txigi.y. Aug. M, 1871. -Your Blue
Clover was sown the last week in Ai>ril and by the 1st of
August averaged about 3 feet 8 inches in height. My opinion
is that it will grow an immense weight of fodder per acre."

" The following analysis represents the eomposiiion of n
samjile of Carter's Bhie Clover in an air-dry condition, which
was grown and sent to me by Mr. Druce, of Eynsham : —

" 1. General composition of Carter's New Blue Clover.

Moisture JO.fO

Soluble organic matter [ 24.09

Insoluble organic matter .' 63 8'

Soluble mineral substances 9.33

Insoluble mineral substances 20.3

100 00

11, Sausbory Sqcabb, Fleet Strbet, Jan. 27, 1872.

" 1 . Detailed composition of Carter's New Blue Clover.

Water 1069

Oil and fatty matter 1 0.5

"Soluble albuminous compounds 9..5i

+Insoluble nitrogenous compounds 5.01

Sugar, mucilage, and similar soluble non-nitrogenous

compounds 1348

Digestible fibre 14 93

Woody fibre 'cellulose) 33 90

l^oluble saline matters 9.33

Insoluble mineral matters 2 0 i

• Containing nitrogen 1.^3.

+ Containing nitrogen 0 80. 100 00

" In addition to these (otistituents the Blue Clover contains a volatile aromatic principle which gives a peculiar and
agreeable taste to the Clover, and which renders it valuable for mixing as cut hay. with straw, chaff, or similar insip d
fcfding mateiials. The Blue Clover, 1 believe, will be found a good and useful article of food and advantage may be
taken of its aromatic taste to render straw and chaflf mote palatable and probably more digestilde. Carters New iilue
Clover, both in a green state and as hay, I have no doubt will be much relished by sheep and cattle.

" ^Signed) Augustus Voelcker."

We regret that the stock of this seed being very limited, we are unable to supply larger fluantities than } lb. pack ef s
for trial. Price 7a. 6d. per packet

JAMES CARTER & CO.,

Seedsmen to the Queen and the Prince of Wales,

237 & 238, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C

For full Descriptions, see

Five per Cent. Discount for Cash.

CARTER'S PRIZE-MEDAL GRASS SEEDS,

As Supplied to

THE QUEEN & THE PRINCE OF WALES.

The United States Government.

Her Majesty's Defences.

The War Departnnent. The Crystal Palace.

Aldershot Camp. Lord's and The Oval.

Christchurch College, Oxford, &c.

EVIDENCE OF aUALITY.

From Mcssi-s. G. & J. Pebrt, Acto>i Pigott :— " The Per-
manent Grass Seeds we had from your flrni in the sprinsr
are a thick regular plant, and appear to be a superior
mixtui'e."

From J.G.BDRCHAM,Esq., Jf'nsAnin iyiin :-" The Grass
See<'s I had of you 2 years since for 3 yenrs lay, are
admirable, and continue to produce me wonderful crops,
pavin? better than Corn."

From Colonel I.affan, R.E., Aldershot Camp:—" Colonel
Laffan presents his compliments to Messrs. C. & Co., and
legs to inform them that all the Grass and Clover Seeds
supplied by them to the War Office, for use at Aldershot
I. st year, h.tve succeeded admirably. Last year a very
good crop of excellent hay was produ. cd on what had
previously been a barrtn sand.''

CARTER'S GRASS SEEDS FOR
PERMANENT PASTURES.

CAREFULLY ARRANGED TO SUIT THE
VARIOUS CONDITIONS OF SOILS.

Per Acre.
FOR LIGHT SOILS •• ', r^.n... fSOs. to323.
FOR
FOR

Reduced rates for more than 10 acres.
Second Quality, 22s. to 28s. per acre.

LIGHT SOILS .. I carrinse f 5°^- *^° ^S^'
MEDIUM SOILS f,"'^'' < 30s. to 32s.

HEAVY SOILS ■•) ( 30s. to 32s.

CARTER'S RENOVATING MIXTURE FOR
RENEWING AND IMPROVING OLD
GRASS LANDS Per cwt 86s. ; per lb. lOd.
This will wonderfully increase the Hay crop.

GARTER'S MIXED GRASSES AND GLOVERS
FOR ALTERNATE HUSBANDRY.

To Lay Doivn One, Two, Three, or Four I'cnrs in Grnas.
Per acre— s. d.

CLOVERS AND RYE GRASS, to lay one
year. Comprising 14lbs. Clover and 1
peck Rye Grass 14 0

CLOVERS AND MIXED GRASSES, to
lay one year. Comprising Red Clover,
White Clover, Trefoil, Cocksfoot, Peren-
nial and Italian Rye Grass, &c 15 0

CLOVERS AND MIXED GRASSES, to
lay two years. Comprising Red Clover,
White Clover, Alsike Clover, Trefoil,
Cocksfoot, Timothy, Italian and Peren-
nial Rye Grass, &n 18 6

CLOVERS AND MIXED GRASSES, to
lay three or four years. Comjirising
Red Clover, White Clovtr, Trefoil,
Alsike Clover, Cow Gra.ss, Sheep's
Fescue, Cocks'oot, Meadow Fescue, Pe-
rennial and Italian Rye Grass, Meadow
Foxtail, Tiiriothy, Sweet Vernal, &c... 24 0

MIXED CLOVER SEEDS ONLY, to lay

one year 13s. to 14 fi

We can supply Inferior Mixtures at Lower Rates.

Before Orderinr/ Grass Seeds, send for CARTER'S ILLUS-
TRATED FARMERS' CALENDAR for 1872, containing
an epitome of the various soils prevailing throughout the
country, ivith reliable infoi'ination as to Mow to Sow,
What to Sow, and When to Sow.

JAMES CARTER & CO.,

Seedsmen to the Queen and the Prince of Wales,

237 & 238, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C

Carter's Illustrated Farmers' Calendar.

All Seeds Carriage Free.

GARTER'S PRIZE SWEDE AND TURNIP.

The Queen.

CARTER'S IMPERIAL HARDY SWEDE.

Is. per lb. A« arded tlie following amongst many other Prizes Cluajxr per cwt.

this season :

Egham, Silver Cup.— Bandou, Pii-st Prize.— Marshland, First Prize

Moreton, First Prize.— Lunesdale, Silver Cup.— Temple Sowerby, First Prize.

Burton and Milnthorpe, First Prize.— Croydon, First Prize.

Also, Five First and Five Second Prizes at Canadian AgriciUtural Meetings.

Seedsmen to

From
R. Ormerod, Esq.

" Ackenthiraite,
"ifov.U, 1S71

" I have much
pleasure in hand-
ing you a state-
ment of the prizes
taken by the roots
fi-om the Carter's
Imperial Swede seed
I purchased from
you in September,
1S70. First Prize (a
£10 10s. cup) at the
Lunesdale Agricul-
tural Society; First
Prize at the Temple
Sowerby Agricultu
ral Society ; First
Prize and Highly
Commended at the
Burton and Miln-
thorpe Agricultural
Society ; and Second
Prize at the Bentham
Agricultural So-
ciety."

From
Mr. E. Sarney.

■' Holme Park Farm,
"A'nv. 20, 1871.

"The Swede seed I
received I am happy
to inform you has
produced an excel-
lent crop, being large
and very handsome,
and I believe from
their appearance
tboy will withstand
.1 great amount of
tpist without receiv-
ii'^' damage. I hope
I ' have .<=ome more of
j ju another year."

From
Edward Craog, Esq.

" The Ghyll,
''Nov. 6, 1871.

" I have great plea-
sure in stating that
the Turnips grown
from your seed this
season have obtained
seveial fiist class
prizes."

SWEDE.

Selected Stocks.

CARTER'S IMPERIAL HARDY {ece 11-
(I'-.'ilralioii.), a handsome Swede with
.small neck, grows to a great size, and
is of fine quality 1

CARTER'S LONDON PURPLETOP ..

HALL'S WESTBURY, a good Swede

SKIRVING'S IMPROVED PURPLETOP,
gi-o ws to a large size

1 0
1 0

0 10

TURNIP. Choice Selected Stocks.

CARTERS CHAMPION GREEN-TOP c

YELLOW HYBRID, the best 1

CARTER'S CHAMPION PURPLETOP

VELLOW HYBRID, very choice .... 1
DRUMMOND'S EARLY FIELD YELLOW,

a small, quick growing green-top yellow
ROBINSON'S GOLDEN BALL OR

ORANGE JELLY, a very true .stock
CARTERS EARLY NIMBLE or SIX WEEK

CARTER'S DEVONSHIRE GREY >'. '?■

STONE 0 10

CARTER'S IMPROVED PURPLETOP

MAMMOTH 1 4

LINCOLNSHIRE RED GLOBE 0 10

1 0 HEANLEY'S LINCOLNSHIRE WHITE

GLOBE 0 10

2 POMERANIAN WHITE GLOBE 1 0

0 IMPERIAL GREEN GLOBE 0 10

Ordinary Stocks 9d. to Is. 4d. per lb.

JAMES CARTER & CO., «^^

Seedsmen to the Queen and the Prince of Wales, \I^.J

237 & 238, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C. ^'"*'

Bradbury, Evans, & Co.,J

Five per Cent. Discount for Casb.

[Piinters, W hitefriars.

!'^, '"%

1

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-

■t

■^'

^

•^

1

1

^^

1

CI

V

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N^

xi-

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^1

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H^ij,

V

:5

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,^

-s:.

' "v.

1
>-

1

1

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> .,.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

MAY, 1872.

PLATE I.

CUPBEARER; a" Royal" Suffolk Stallion.

THE PROPERTY OF MR. RICHARD GARRETT, OF CARLTON HALL, SAXMUNDHAM.

Cupbearer, bred by Mrs. Sargent, at Maries-
ford, in 1864, is by Crisp's Conqueror, dam by
Crisp's Prince. Conqueror by Crisp's Boxer (a son of
Catlin's Beeden), dam by Crisp's Captain, won 9 prizes,
and was then sold to tbe King of Prussia for 300 gs.
Prince, a winner of 3 prizes, was by Catlin's Captain.

Cupbearer was bought when he left the mare's foot by
that good all-round judge the late Mr. Tom Crisp for
under £20, and of course soon made his appearance in
public, with the subjoined result :

In 1866, as a two-year-old, at the Suffolk Agricultural
Association's meeting at Bury St. Edmund's, he won a
cup, value 20 gs., as the best stallion for agricultural pur-
poses, and a prize of £5 as the best two-year-old Suffolk
cart colt; at the Essex Agricultural Society's meeting at
Epping, the Champion prize of £30, open to the world
and against horses of all breeds and ages, and a prize of
£10 as the best two-year-old cart colt.

In 1867, as a three-year-old, at the Essex Agricultural
Society's meeting at Braintree, the open county prize of
£25, and the prize of £30 open to the world ; at the
Norfolk Agricultural Association's meeting at Fakenham,
a prize of £10 ; at the Royal Agricultural Society of
England's meeting at Bury St. Edmund's, a special prize
of £20 for three-year-old colts.

In 1868, as a four-year-old, at the Essex Agricultural
Society's meeting at Chelmsford, the town prize of
£20 open to the world ; at the Suffolk Agricultural Asso-
ciation meeting at Eramlingham, first prize of £10 ;
at the Royal Agricultural Society's meeting at Leicester,
a third prize of £5.

Old Skries.]

Cup-bearer was not exhibited in 1869 or 1870, and in
1869, consequent on the death of Mr. Crisp, he was
sold attheButley Abbey sale to Mr. Richard Garrett for
370 gs. — the highest price ever given for a Suffolk hoi'se.

In 1871, at Woodbridge, he won the cup, value 10 gs.,
for the best Suffolk cart staUion ; at the Suffolk Agri-
cultural Association's meeting at Beccles, the first prize of
£20 as the best Suffolk cart stallion, the President's
cup of 25 gs. as the best Suffolk cart stallion of any age,
and the Beccles cup of 10 gs. as the best cart staUiou of
any breed ; at the Royal Agricultural Society's meeting
at Wolverhampton, the first prize of £25.

Cup-bearer is of course a chesnut, but of a very hardy
colour and full of muscle, with great depth on a short leg,
and plenty of bone. He has a capital head and neck,
with well laid shoulders, a short back and powerful
drooping quarters. He has a fine temper, stands over a
deal of ground, and moves like a pony.

As a matter of justice, the more especially as a report
of the Stowmarket meeting has appeared in The Farmer's
Magazine, we give the following letter, to which, so far,
no reply has been received :

TO THE EDITOR 01' THE SUFFOLK CHRONICLE.

Sir, — At the Stowmarket Farmers' Clnb last week, Mr.
Woodward stated that lie had put six mares to Cupbearer last
year ; I think it my duty to inform the public that Mr. Wood-
ward has not employed the horse since Mr. Garrett bought
him in 18G9, Cupbearer's character as a sire may be left in
the hands of those who use him, in proof of which he will
travel the same rounds this year as he did last.

I am, sir, yours respectfully,

James Lewis, groom.

Brooh Furm, Carlton, Feb. 37,

C C

[Vol. LXXI.— No. 5.

370

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

PLATE II.

THE FARMERS' FRIEND.

The terrier is a deadly foe to vermin. I am well
aware that he is as pure as we can get him with mettle,
and that many of those which are denounced as made up
of Italian greyhound cross will destroy rats, or attack
the badger and otter ; but a slight infusion of bull-blood
gives this advantage. The terrier will destroy or attack
when he is set on ; but frequently shut him in a barn by
himself, and he will let the rats run under his nose. On
the other hand, the bull-terrier running loose — as he
ought to be — about the premises will be constantly on
the look-out for his small game^ and nothing in the shape
of vermin can go abroad. He has been bred for many

years originally to tackle the polecat, the martea, or the
otter, and to go to ground and engage the attention of
the badger, as they dug him out. From the wild cat, he
was set by the roughs of the day to bait tame cats ; and
it used to be, and perhaps still remains so, a strong com-
mendation to say of one that he would kill a cat in a
minute. He is an admirable water-dog in the summer ;
but if he has a fine coat, and is highly-bred, he fre-
quently pays the penalty of disease or death if used
indiscriminately amongst ice and in cold winds, though
his courage will certainly induce him to take all risks
of rheumatism or iea.[]i.~" Idsione" on The Bog.

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.

Monthly Council : Wednesday, April 10. — Present :
Mr. Thompson, Trustee, in the chair ; the Earl of Lei-
cester, the Earl of Lichfield, Major-General Viscount
Bridport, Lord Chesham, Lord Tredegar, the Hon. H.
G. Liddell, M. P. ; Sir Massey Lopes, Bart, M.P. ; Sir
A. K. :Macdonald, Bart. ; Mr. Barthropp, Mr. Bowly,
Mr. Cantrell, Colonel Challoner, Mr. Davies, Mr. Dent,
M.P. ; Mr. Edmonds, :Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, Mr. Hornsby,
Colonel Kingscote, M.P. ; Jlr. Leeds, Mr. Mcintosh,
Mr. Mihvard, Mr. Pain, Mr. Randell, Mr. Ridley, M.P. ;
Mr. Rigden, Mr. Shuttleworth, Mr. _Torr, Mr. George
Turner, Mr. Wakefield, Mr. Welby, M.P. ; Mr. John
Wells, Mr. W. Wells, M.P. ; Mr. Whitehead, and Dr.
Voelcker.

The following new members were elected : —

BakewcU, Charles Henry, Quarndou, Derby.

Benjafieid, N., Motcombe, Shaftesbury.

Boulton, W. S., Rose Lane Works, Norwich.

Carver, Ricliard R., Weuallt, St. Clears.

Charlton, Thomas, Newland, Middlesborough.

Currey, Charles Herbert, Weybridge, Surrey.

Davies, Thomas, Parkypratt, near Cardigan.

Davies, Thomas, Ystradwalter, Llandovery.

Davis, J. Jeffries, Bickmarsb, Alcester.

Gwyn, W. E. B., Plas Cwrt Hyr, Carmarthen.

Haines, Philip, Palgrave, Diss.

Harrtry, David, Newport, Monmouthshire.

Hey wood. Major J. H., Crosswood, Welshpool.

Homfrey, W. H. Wickey, Glenuske, Carleou.

Howes, James, Chapel field, Norwich.

James, John, Aberclyn, Brecon.

Jones, John, TiifUey, Gloucester.

Lee, Charles, Bramfield, Saxmundhara.

Newton, William, Gould's Grove, Benson, O.'con.

Owen, Daniel, Ash Hall, Cambridge.

Paget, Edward, Burnett, Bristol.

Palling, John George, Castleton, Cardiff.

Porter, William, Kencott, Lechlade.

Powell, D. J., The Court, Bronllys, Talgarth.

Pullen, Samuel Cox, The Laurels, Itchiugton, Alvestou.

Parkin, Thomas, Cardigan.

Reece, Richard Lewis, Cardiff.

Rees, John, Tile House, Lanmaes, Cowbridge.

Rees, John, Hendre, St. Dogmells, Cardigan.

Rees, Valentine, The Ivy Bush Royal Hotel, Carmarthen.

Roberts, W. B., Lovestone, Pembroke.

Roper, R. S., Newport, Monmouth.

Sadler, James H., Purton Court, Purtou, Wilts,

Smith J., Jeffreston, Wortley, Sheffield.

Surman, William, Maisemore, Gloucester.

Talbot, George W., Maryborough, Queen's County, Ireland.

Thomas, David H., Derllys Court, Carmarthen.

Welch H. J., Beadysh Hall, Radwinton, Saffron Walden.

White, Edwin, I\Iaisemore, Gloucester.

Wooler, William A., Sadberge Hall, Darlington.

Finances. — Major-General Lord Bridport (chairman)
presented the report, from which it appeared that the
secretary's receipts during the past month had been duly
examined by the committee, and by Messrs. Quilter, Ball,
and Co., the Society's accouutauts, and found correct.
The balance in the hands of the bankers on March 31 was
£886 los. lid., and £2,000 remain on deposit- The
quarterly statement of subscriptions and arrears to March
31, and the quarterly cash account were laid on the table ;
the amount of arrears being £S9G. The committee re-
commended that the names of 25 members whose sub-
scriptions are in arrear be struck oft' the books- — This
report was adopted.

Journal. — Mr. Thompson (chairman) reported that
the committee had examined and passed, and recom-
mended for payment, the bills for the last number of the
Journal. It was also reported that the committee would
ask the Council to authorise the expenditure of a sum not
exceeding £100 in obtaining a paper by the secretary on
foreign agriculture, the precise district to be visited, with
other details, to be laid before the Council in May, when
a grant of the money will be moved for. This report
was adopted, after a conversation, in the course of which
Mr. Thompson stated his opinion of the desirability of
obtaining reliable reports on such departments of foreign

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

371

agriculture as bear on questions likely to come promi-
nently before the public, Mr. Liddell concurred in this
view, and suggested Prussia as a country worth reporting
upon at an early date, its agriculture being frequently
quoted as having progressed in consequence of a relaxa-
tion of the laws of settlement aad entail. Mr. Dent men-
tioned that the committee had not agreed upon any plan ;
and Mr. Randell assured the Journal Committee of the
desire of the Council to support any plan that they might
decide to bring forward.

Chemical. — Mr. Wells, M.P. (chairman), reported
that an explanatory letter had been received from Messrs.
Bravener aad Walker, in reference to a sample of linseed-
cake reported upon in the last quarterly report of the
committee. The committee recommended that IMessrs.
Bravener and Walker's explanation should be published
in the report of the proceedings of the Council, — This
report was adopted.

To the Council of the Royal JgricuUutal Society of England.

4.7, High-street, Hull, March 18, 1873.

My Lords and Gentlemen, — Havitiff read in the Blark Lane
Express a report of your meeting of March 6, at which certain
statements were made that have greatly damaged our busi-
ness reputation, we trust you will excuse us for troubling you
with the facts of the case. We allude to the matter of Mr.
Chas. O. Eaton, of Tolethorpe Hall, and in doing so we submit
that in common fairness a gentleman, before making such a
statement as this in public, ouglit to have written to us first for
an explanation. If he had done so he would have found that
our part in the transaction was perfectly fair and honest. Mr.
Eaton states, " I do not know who made the cake, but it was
sold by Bravener and Waker, oilcake, seed, and corn mer-
chants, 47, High-street, Hull, and sold by their agent at Stam-
ford at a very small profit to himself of £11 10s. per ton."

Tlie truth is, we have no agent at Stamford, but sold cakes
to Mr. J. R. Dalton, Cliemist and Druggist, High Street,
Stamford, and he distinctly understood they were a mixed cake,
because we gave him the brand at time of sale, and sent him a
sample cake for approva'. He had in all from us 20 tons of
the same cakes, some in August, and some in October, there-
fore he could not be ignorant of the quality in December. We
never for a moment led him to suppose the cake war, pure, in-
deed, any man in bis senses could not think so when we state
that we sold it to him at £8 12s. 6d. per ton, less two montlis
discount Is. 5d., leaving net amount received by us £8 lis.
Id. ! This shows how grossly unfair it is to us to say that at
a "very small profit" to himself he charged Mr. Eaton £11
10s. per ton. After tliis what will he admit to be a large
one ? We as dealers should be glad indeed if notliing but a
pure cake could be made and sold. Farmers are greatly mis-
taken in supposing we have any special reasons for selling
common cakes our profit is the same, and we should always
advise them to have the " pure." Respecting the death of
the cow, the crusher assures us that nothing but good feeding
stuff was put in the cake ; but be this as it may, it only seems
reasonable to suppose that after the many tons he has sold of it
and never having received any other complaint, that it did not
kill the cow.

My Lords and Gentlemen, we appeal to you for the sake of
justice and fair play, that you will do all you can to vindicate
our character through tlie same channel that you have been the
means of injuring us. — We are your obedient servants,

Bravener AjMB Walker.

General, Cardiff. — Mr. Randell reported that the
committee recommended placards being printed announc-
ing the times for sending in entries for the eihibition of
stock and implements, which the Mayor of CarditT will
have posted in the differeut towas of South Wales ; that

the draining and levelling of the showyard is in progress,
and will be completed by the local authorities ; and that
the Mayor of Cardiff be requested to arrange with the
railway authorities, if possible, for the conveyance of stock
and implements to the showyard over the siding to be
constructed by the Taff Vale Railway Company. — This
report was adopted.

Botanical. — Mr. Welby, M.P. (chairman), reported
the recommendation of the committee that the Consulting
Botanist inform members of the Society sending samples
for examination that his communications must be con-
sidered confidential ; and that the Journal of the Society be
sent to the Consulting Botanist. — This report was adopted.

Education. — Mr. J. Dent Dent, M.P., reported that
the committee had received a letter from the Rev. Mr.
Constable, Principal of the Royal Veterinary College, ex-
pressing his regret that nine candidates from the college
had not been entered for the examination at the proper
time and requesting that they might be examined
for the Society's prizes and certificates. The committee
considered that to allow these candidates to compete for
prizes would be unfair to those who had already entered ;
but they recommended that those gentlemen be allowed
to be examined for the Society's diploma aud life member-
ship, as is the case with those whose entries were correct,
but who are more than 31 years of age. — This report was
adopted,

Judges Selection. — Mr. Milward (chairman) pre-
sented the report of this committee, consisting of the list
of judges of stocks and implements nominated for the
Cardiff meeting. — This report was adopted.

Showyard Contracts. — Mr. Randell (chairman) re-
ported that the showyard works are in progress, and that
the necessary draining and levelling are being done by the
local authorities. The committee recommended the pre-
paration of a plan and estimate for the erection of a stand
on each side of the horse-ring at Cardiff sufficient to ac-
commodate 500 persons ; also that the plan of continuous
stables be adopted for all classes of horses, instead of
horse-boxes as heretofore ; and that the surveyor be in-
structed to order the making of the roads to the entrances
required within the walls of the show-ground. — This re-
port was adopted.

Veterinary. — Major-General Viscount Bridport (chair-
man) reported that a communication had been received
from the Principal of the Royal Veterinary College, stat-
ing that he had been authorised by the governoi's to
nominate at any time, on application from the Society, a
Professor of the College to act as the Veterinary Inspector
of the Society. The proposed scheme of veterinary pri-
vileges is still under the consideration of the governors of
the Royal Veterinary College. — This report was adopted.

Memorials were received from the authorities of Dar-
lington, HuU, and Newcastle, inviting the Society to hold
its country meeting for 1873 in those localities, aud an
inspection committee, consisting of the President, the
honorary director, Mr. Milward, Mr. Randell, and Mr.
Shuttleworth was appointed to inspect aud report npori
the aeeommodation oferedi

c c 2

372

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE FARMERS' CLUB.

VEGETABLE AND FRUIT FARMING,

Tlie monthly meeting took place on Monday evening, April
1st, Mr. II. Cheffins in the chair. The subject appointed for
consideration was Vegetable and Fruit Farming, the introducer
being Mr. T. C. Scott, of Knaphill, Woking.

The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, after express-
ing his regret that, owing to the engagements of the Easter
holidays, the attendance was not so large as usual, said he re-
gretted that the more because the subject before them was a
very interesting one. Let them travel which way they would
now-a-days, they saw garden-farming becoming a very pro-
minent object (Hear, hear) ; and he felt sure that Mr. Scott
would introduce that question with a very good paper.
Mr. Scott then spoke as follows :

Gentlemen, — The subject we have for consideration to-night
is one of more limited interest than those usually discussed by
the members of this Club, but it is of growing importance to
the owners and occupiers of land fit for market-gardening
within reach of populous centres, because they must always
possess some advantage in the sale of the heavier and more
perishable kinds of fruits and vegetables, and in obtaining
abundant supplies of that indispensable but unwieldy commo-
dity, solid manure. Tliese, however, are almost the only local
advantages which suburban lands now posses, for steam trans-
port, both by land and water, may be said to have obliterated
distance, and bring supplies from every recess in our own
country and from others. Thus we have in January, February,
and March cauliflowers and potatoes from Cornwall, Holland,
Belgium and France, and even from Portugal and Spain, grown
in the open air and rivaling our hot-house productions. When
turnpike roads were the only means of conveyance, land around
large towns had a species of monopoly in the supply of vege-
tables, and much ordinary land was forced into market-garden
cultivation ; but now it is soil and climafe that has the mono-
poly, and some of these grounds must be dropped out of the
market-garden category and revert to ordinary farm uses and
rents, otherwise the perverse cultivators will come to grief, as
many did last year to my own knowledge, when wholesale prices
obtained for almost every tiling grown, except apples and aspara-
gus, werenearly nominal. It thus appears indispensable to success
to secure a congenial soil irrespective of locality, otherwise no
cultivator of the present day can hope to obtain any but the
most ordinary returns for his constant anxieties, midnight la-
bours, and the speculative risks he runs. A few years ago a
gentleman with whom I am acquainted commenced market
gardening on 700 acres of a medium soil— shallow drift on a
subsoil of estuary gravel and London clay— simply because it
was within carting distance of the metropolis ; but as lie had
not the natural basis to work upon, a few years' experience,
has induced him to reduce the area so cultivated to one-third the
original quantity. Another gentleman with whom I am ac-
quainted, who farms an equal quantity of land only a few miles
off, and possesses the right basis, namely, a deep alluvial soil
not only competes successfully with all comers in the London
markets, but last year performed the astounding feat of com-
peting successfully with the midland counties and

northern growers in their own markets, as far north as
Glasgow, to which he sent CO per cent, of his early produce,
and from which, notwithstanding the Irish supplies, he ob-
tained the most profitable returns. When I add that this
congeniality of soil is annually assisted by nearly 20,000 tons
of purchased manure, including the peculiar ingredient
" ground whalebone," this successful invasion of the north
will be accounted for. Again, in Lincolnshire, around Boston,
Spalding, and in other districts, orchards and market-gardens
are springing up, not because they are near populous centres
of consumption, but because they possess rich loamy soils and
subsoils suitable for the production of fruit and vege-
tables. Then, if we go further afield, we find the
otherwise worthless sand banks on the Cheshire shore oppo-
site Liverpool let at from £15 to £20 an acre, because
they have been found suitable for the production of
early potatoes, which are thus grown : The potato-sets are
kept in warm places during winter, to induce them to shoot,
and in the mouths of March and April they are planted, gene-
rally in lazy beds, weli manured, and covered lightly with
soil by the spade, and with litter on the surface. They are
thus covered and uncovered daily until safe from frosts ; and
so watchful are the growers — who are a distinct and peculiar
class — that if during this time a dangerous frost threatens,
they are said to take the blankets off their children to put
them on the potatoes. In May they begin to dig, and sell at
2s. 6d. per lb., and finish at about 3d., thus realizing from
£50 to £100 per acre ; and from having resided several years
in the county, and seen the care and labour bestowed upon
the crop, I must say the cultivators deserve the reward they
obtain. Another proof of the predominating importance of
natural soils as the basis of successful results over artificial
condition, is the case of Mr. Wm. Thomson's great Tweedside
vineyard, near Galashiels, in Selkirkshire. When in charge
of the Dalkeith Palace Gardens, Mr. Thomson was frequently
called upon to act as judge at horticultural shows ; and find-
ing one grape-grower always coming to the front and taking
the first prizes, he was induced to visit the locality and inspect
the soils from whence they came ; and finding some land of
precisely similar character in the immediate neighbourhood,
he purchased it, and established the above-named vineyard.
It occupies nearly 4 acres, and is covered with 50,000 feet of
glass, has miles of hot-water piping, and other necessary ap-
pliances, and is calculated to produce tons of grapes, hundreds
of pine-apples, and thousands of pot-vines annually. When
selected, this land was devoted to common farming purposes ;
but it has already produced grapes which have competed suc-
cessfully in London and Paris, thus showing that the soil
itself contains some inherent Qualities which no art can rival.
Apropos to grape-growing, I have seen many evidences that
a water-bearing substratum within reach of the vine-roots is a
source of constant fertility, provided the water belongs to a
running stream and is not stagnant. Tlie productiveness of
the great Black Hamburg at Hampton Court is no doubt due
to tlie Thaives. On tlie banks of tlie Stoiir, in Kent, I have

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

373

seen the same results, aud perliaps Mr. ^Thomson's success
may also iu some measure be due to his proximity to the
Tweed. The geology of gardening is thus shown to he
worthy of study, especially in the formation of new grounds.
In a few cases indigenous plants may be some indication as to
what species to grow, but experience is the only sure guide.
Troni experience we learn that fruit may be grown on some
soils if grafted on to an indigenous tree, quite different to what
it would have grown on its own stem, and the produce of trees
on some soils is quite different to what it is ou others. In the
cider countries quite different cider is made from apples of the
same kind grown on different parts of the same farm, showing
the predominating influence of soil. Even the market-
garden grounds around London, although apparently
so similar, have all their specialities. Fulham and Isleworth
are famed for the finest fruit of asparagus and rhubarb, inter-
spersed with countless moss-roses and flowering plants. Ber-
mondsey and Dcptford are noted for seakale and celery ;
Barking for rhubarb, early cabbages, onions, aud potatoes ;
and all other districts throughout the country have some spe-
cific natural properties which no art can impart. Nature, too,
has favoured some districts with climate, to rival which by
artificial means is a very uphill and profitless undertaking
Witness the early products of Cornwall and the
Channel Islands in the London markets ; and the success of
the consignments to Glasgow I have already mentioned, and
which was no doubt owing to their forestalling the northern
growers, perhaps only by a few days, but still showing the
advantage of earliness in vegetable production and the level-
ling influence of railways. Around London there are about
12,000 acres devoted to market gardening, and 6,000 to
orchards intermixed with vegetables and flowers ; for although
it is not the practice in the cider and perry districts to cultivate
the orchard ground, it is in those around London. About
40,000 hands are irregularly employed upon these grounds.
On the chalk formations around Mitcham, Carshalton, and
Epsom there are about 500 acres devoted to the production of
herbs, of which lavender is the principal. These crops bring
in from £20 to £30 an acre annually, although the land ou
which they grow is not worth more than 30s. an acre for any
other purpose. The returns from the suburban market gardens
are sometimes very large and remunerative, arising more from
the enormous crops the land is made to produce than from high
prices. In a very productive year prices are usually low, and
when there is only a partial crop foreign supplies of fruit and
vegetables — all of which come in duty free — keep down the
prices. The only protection that native growers now have is
to produce abundantly, and keep down the cost of production.
Most of their grounds are managed with such consummate
skill and industry, that to offer a suggestion would appear al-
most hke presumption, but I will venture to oft'er one or two.
Erom excess of ammoniacal manure a good many of their
crops, both bulbous and brassica, ruu more to top and leaf than
to root and head, than is profitable. The brassica tribe are also
subject to clubbing, and the surface of the ground to be in-
fested with duckweed. Now the whole of tbese drawbacks can
be remedied by the application of mineral manures, bone-dust,
andsuperphosphate of lime, and that inexpensive article, gypsum.
Last year I tried what the effect would be of London dung ap-
plied at the rate of 100 tons an acre on deeply trenched laud,
on which I planted Bovinia potatoes G feet apart each way ;
long and Globe mangold, Swedish, yellow and white turnips,
white and red carrots, parsnips, cabbages and maize, at pro-

portionately wide distances, and the result was a total failure iu
every case except the maize, which reached eight feet in height
and was well podded. On anotherpieceof garden grouud,trenched
two spils deep, and manured from the farm-yard and dusted at
the rate of five cwt. per acre with dissolved bones, I dug Bo-
vinia potatoes at the rate of two cwt. per perch, or sixteen
tons per acre, and some of the tubers weighed 31bs. 14oz. each,
and many of them 2Jlbs. and 31bs. I would also suggest to
economize the valuable orchard grounds around London, which
are being gradually curtailed by buildings and railways, that
the Erench espalier system of traiuing fruit-trees should be
adopted, and likewise dwarf or bush fruit trees planted. The
latter in windy places are invaluable and the fruit can be ga-
thered with little labour or expense. In forming new orchards
and gardens it is not only necessary to select the best species,
but to propagate from the most vigorous and productive
parent plants. This is as beneficial in the vegetable as in
the animal world, for hke produces like, and establishes what
may be called pedigree plants. Thus tiie late Mr. Circuit's
celebrated "Sovereign " rhubarb arose from one root which he
espied iu another man's field and tempted him to sell for the
sum that gives the plant its name. Eortunes have been made
out of this one root, and one of the largest growers informed
me that he began by planting an acre of it at a cost of £120,
and found it pay. Rhubarb, like potatoes, can be propagated
from the seed, but, like them also, it may throw twenty kinds
of rhubarb, but not a single duplicate of the parent. It is
therefore necessary to propagate from the root to preserve a
good sort. If new sorts are required, they must be obtained
from the seed, as in the case of potatoes, and occasionally a
hit may be made, as was done in potatoes by the late Mr.
Paterson, of Dundee, when he originated the Victoria and
Bovinia. But when we know that this was the main success
of 40 years' perseverance and some hundreds of experimf nts,
there does not appear much inducement to practical men to
be the originators of species. In the ease of vines, I have
known instances where slips from fruitful parents produced
twice the weight of grapes that were obtained from others of
the same species growing side by side, and under the same
treatment. The celebrated Eenton Wheat, which has long
been one of the mainstays of Lothian farming, was originated
and propagated in this way by the tenant of the farm that
gave it its name, and whose position at the present moment
in connection with said farm is so sympathetically before the
general public. This moveability of tenant-occupiers is so
entirely incompatible with the high manurial condition re-
quired iu market-gardens and the establishment of orchards,
that many of the great growers around London are their own
lanalords. Aud here I would remark how much the unsettled
and hand-to-mouth positions of agricultural labourers of the
present day militates against the best cultivation of their
cottage-gardens and allotment-grounds, and the propaga-
tion of fruit-trees. Iu Cheshire, where the labourers are
almost permanently established in their cottages, it is not an
uncommon thing for them to pay their rents and something
more by the sale of the surplus fruit-crops ; for they
use a great deal themselves. And here I would observe that
the damsons grown in this county principally in the farmers,
and cottagers' gardens, are like their famed cheese, which can-
not be produced elsewhere " unless," as was quaintly said by
an old county historian, " you take not only the kine and the
dairyworaen, but the land also ;" for iu size and flavour they
are not approached even by the best products of Kent. Tliey

374

THE FABMER'S MAGAZINE.

are not known in the south any more than their best cheeses,
because there are too many people with long purses in the
Lancashire and Yorkshire manufacturing towns to allow them,
or almost any other good thing, to leave the districts. This
is another proof of the peculiar ingredients possessed naturally
by different soils and subsoils ; and as no economic process
can alter the latter, though you may the former, deep-rooted
plants and trees must always take their character from the
natural geological formations. In my own district, on the
]3agshot sands, we can grow very good strawberries, but we
are obliged to cart the strawberry loams from other districts
to do so ; and our white sands and black peaty soils are being
constantly carted away to grow deciduous plants elsewhere.
The only transposition of soils that wiU pay practically is
when found on the spot, and either in the formation or re-
newal of orchard and market-garden ground may be profitably
resorted to ; thus in double-spit work a good rich clay, marl,
or gravel may be brought to the top ; or if not good enough
for this, it may be simply turned over. In three-spit work it
may be dealt with in three ways — brought to the top, placed in
the middle, or simply turned over. Trenching, and deep
draining, if necessary, of one kind or another, is the basis
in the formation of all orchards and market gardens. The
next important step is the proper stocking with trees suitable
to the soil and for the purposes required, whether for conversion
into cider and perry, or for dessert ; and, in the case of market
gardens, the adoption of a rotation by which a succession of
crops can be obtamed without plants of the same tribe follow-
ing one another. The original cost of forming orchards and
market-garden grounds is very various, but in amount it is
pretty much alike, because in the cider districts where grass is
allowed to grow amongst the trees it is regularly m.anured and
mowed, and in suburban districts the land is highly cultivated.
The minimum cost of formation and stocking I have found to
be about £30 and the maximum £50 per acre, and in ex-
ceptional cases I have known it twice as high. The rents vary
from £5 to £20 per acre. The latter sum appears high, but an
occupier in Bermondsey who paid £16 an acre and all rates
and taxes, to whom some years ago I let a farm 8 miles from
Covent Garden at a third of that rent, lamented that this was
being curtailed by buildings, as he said it was the most profit-
able land he occupied. The returns from land of this kind, and
from orchards round the metropolis or' at greater distances,
are so fluctuating that it is no guide to quote
them. I have known the produce realise £150
an acre, and in other seasons barely the cost
of production, which, including rent and interest
of capital, seldom runs short of £30 an acre on
well-managed ground. One great drawback to growers
is the smallness of wholesale prices in proportion
to those at which their goods are retailed.
Last year I question if they averaged one-fourth, and yet con-
sumers complain, and say the cost of vegetables is a grievance
in every household. Many small growers protect themselves
by " standing the market," and the larger farmers have
special agents, old, proved and trusted foremen, or some
one interested in their profits ; but there is still a very large
class who are obliged to trust to salesmen, who charge their
10 per cent, in the fruit and vegetables, and 5s. per ton in the
potato markets, and he content to take what residue they can
get. A novice in the trade or an amateur, has no chance in
the London markets, however successfully they may grow the
articles required ; and it is a question whether consumers have

not an adequate inducement to establish co-operative stores in
their respective districts. The following articles which were
sent from one moderate sized garden at Fulham to the Lon-
don market in one year, will show the amount and variety of
articles it takes to make up a market gardener's returns :

Forced Radishes 5,000 punnets.

Natural ditto 288,000 bunches.

Greens 360,000 ditto.

Cabbages 312,000 heads.

Wallflowers 4,800 bunches.

Moss Roses 9,600 ditto.

Hand-glass Cauhflowers.. 4,800 heads.

Asparagus 600 bundles in a single day.

Lettuces 200,000 in one month.

When these grounds change hands, which they seldom do, ex-
cept those on the smaller scale, valuers are employed by the out-
going and incoming tenants, who are specially acquainted with
the business, and are generally market gardeners themselves,
and in some cases the payment from the one to the other has
been as high as £100 an acre. I have not thought it neces-
sary to enumerate the products which are naturally in season
at different periods of the year, because there are so many
artificial appliances in use, and supplies come from so many
distant places, that our markets are seldom devoid of anything
at any time. Horse-and-cart distance at one time
embraced the area from which we drew our supplies, and this
has still some advantage in connexion with the supply of
manure. But if sewage is carried into more distant districts,
less highly rented and burdened with expensive labour, ttiis
advantage will be lessened. Sanitary precautions will not allow
occupiers in the proximity of towns and populous districts to
avail themselves of it, but last year I valued the owner into a
farm of 160 acres, 8 miles from the Bank, which he has
sewaged, and let at £10 an acre to two native tenants — the
former rent having been 52s. 6d. ; but as the experiment is
not yet well begun, I cannot quote or even predict results.
Steam-ploughing may also come into play, which it has not as
yet done, as a large stud of horses must be kept in proportion
to the acreage, for alternate cartage and working on the land.
I have not gone into the management of orchards in the cider
and perry countries, nor into the numerous and productive
frui'. gardens of Kent, because they have already been fully
described in the county and in local reports, and except that
there are innumerable inferior kinds of trees and plants occu-
pying space and soil entitled to better sorts I cannot sug-
gest any improvements in their management. I was
asked to bring this subject forward, because for
the last ten years I have had a great deal to do in letting
market-garden ground, and I consented to do so, more with the
view of eliciting information from, than conveying suggestions
or directions to, the occupiers of these lauds, who though not
much heard of in public are entitled to the highest considera-
tion, for they pay handsome rents, expend immense suras in
labour, have unceasing labours and anxieties— indeed
they must have eyes that never wink, and wings that
never are weary— and for all this they have no compensation,
but the precarious chance of profit. No shutting up shop
with them between seed-time and harvest, with tours of plea-
sure or instruction between ; no very bracing climate to live
in ; no field or cover shooting ; or hunting, or other country
sport ; very little sympathy between the employers and era-
plyed, and none of those patriarchal associations that help to
make a country life pleasant, even when it is not very profitable.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

375

Potato Experiment.— Knaphill, 1871.— Planted on lazy
beds, dunged and dressed with rape-dust and guano in April,
and dug in September.

Per acre.
Sets. Produce.

cwts. cwts.

1. Earlies, Paterson's 15 186

3. Regents „ „ 180

3. Victorias „ „ 150

4. Alberts „ „ 143 new.

5. Red Kidneys „ , 143

6. Blues „ „ 129

7. Forty Folds „ „ 115

8. Blue Kidneys „ „ 115

9. White do. „ „ 108

10. Queens „ „ 104 new.

11. Flukes „ „ 93seedling.

12. Bovinias, own seed „ 75 *

13. Dalmahoys, own seed „ 65 *

Mr. J. Bradshaw (Knowle, Guildford) said the subject
which had just been introduced was of a novel and interesting
character, and might be divided into several departments. In
consequence of the stimulus which had been given to manu-
factures and the high rate of wages which prevailed in many
districts, great changes were taking place in agriculture, and
in productions of the soU. Three weeks ago he was in the
neighbourhood of Sandbach, which was contiguous to the
potteries, and he found that farmers were there able to sell
their straw at £5 a ton ; crops of cabbages and other vegetables
were sent to the potteries and the iron districts, and if that had
not been allowed the owners of the soil and the tenant-farmers
would not have reaped the advantages they were doing (Hear,
hear). He maintained that every district must be farmed
according to the locality, the soil, and the demand which there
was for a particular produce, and that it was impossible to lay
down any hard-and-fast rule. He was the originator of a tariff
for the conveyance by railway of manure from London — good
niglit-soil, mixed up with a certain proportion of street sweepings
to enable it to be transported. In his neighbourhood they could
not get that down to the farm under £2 10s. per ton, 38 miles,
cost and canal carriage included ; whereas similar manure could
be sent to Scotland for 7s., cost and freight per barge, after
landing potatoes in the Thames ; and that was a kind of manure
which possessed those constituents which were required for the
proper cultivation of vegetables in the vicinity of London. As
regarded fruit growing, he mtght remark that he resided on a
loamy soil, about nine miles to the east of Guildford, and that
he had for some years been very successful in growing Nor-
mandy and Brittany pears. He had produced a description of
pears which was very nearly equal to the pears of Normandy,
he might add could not be produced of the same flavour in the
neighbouring locality of Worplesden. On the other hand, they
produced at Worplesden certain pears with a better flavour
than we could obtain. He mentioned that merely as showing
that the soil and climate of a district must be considered if a
man wished to farm profitably. He would allude for a moment
to the potato culture of Lancashire. He could remember a
period, 50 or 60 years ago, he being a child at that time, when
members of his family used to send every year a present to
Surrey, of — what did they think ? An early growth of potatoes ;
and at that time that was one of the most acceptible presents
that could be received in London or the county of Surrey. He
believed that if farmers who were contiguous to London would
only consult the character of the soil which they had to cultivate,
they might compete successfully with some of the continental
growers of fruit, and obtain very good returns for the outlay of

capital and labour ; whereas on the other hand, if they at-
tempted to produce what the soil was not adapted for, the result
could not be otherwise than unfortunate.

The Chairman, having waited some time for some one
to rise, said that as no one appeared inclined to do so at that
moment he would make a few remarks himself. As regarded
the supposed difficulty of removing manures from London, he
thought that so far as the low-lying lands near the metropolis
were concerned that difliculty was not insurmountable. He
happened to have had the letting of land near London where
it had been customary when a load of rye was taken up to
London to bring back a load of manure. That manure having
been ploughed in, the parties afterwards took a crop of
potatoes, which were exchanged in the same manner. The
ground having been again manured, there was taken off a crop
of white turnips ; after which the land Was again manured
and sown with peas for the next spring. He must observe
that he was now speaking of the custom of farming and not of
market gardening (Hear, hear). With regard to tlie point on
which Mr. Scott dwelt of congeniality of soil, he was able to
state a fact of some interest connected with the meeting of the
Royal Agricultural Society at Derby some years ago. A mile
or two outside the town of Leicester there was what was called
a strawberry garden. The soil was a rich loam, well adapted to
grow strawberries, and during the time that the meeting was
being held seven tons of strawberries were sent every day from
twenty-eight acres of ground, no doubt yielding a very large
profit, and that extraordinary produce was simply the result of
the soil being specially suitable for the growth of that de-
scriptiou of fruit. He quite agreed therefore with Mr. Scott,
that they must look carefully to congeniality of soil. He well
recollected hearing Mr. Hope state in that room, while speak-
ing of the growth of celery with the assistance
of sewage manure, that something like £50 per acre
could be obtained in that way. The crops of onions which he
had seen grown at Biggleswade, in Bedfordshire, quite confirm
Mr. Scott's opinion, that peculiar soils were required for parti-
cular plants. They all knew that the largest, finest, and best
crops of onions in the world were obtained in that locality.
Again he would remark that what he was saying was confined
entirely to farming, and that he was not speaking of gardening.
In the district of Coggeshall, in Essex, they would find a
few fields entirely covered with parsley and others with
cucumbers, and if they went out shooting in the autumn they
might often see an old hare sitting under a yellow cucumber.
He had seen a small district where mignionette and sweet peas
were grown together. That might seem a funny crop for a farm
to produce, but he had known cases in which it would produce
£100 per acre, and that showed the importance of taking care
to produce the proper crop on peculiar soils.

Mr. Marsh (Sandwich) said : Although he had seen
something of fruit-growing in Kent, he was not himself a
fruit-grower, at all events, only to the extent of half-an-acre of
apples or something of that kind. Kent was, as they all knew^
famous for its cherry orchards. In looking over an old chro-
nological Kentish work some years ago, he found it stated
that in 1540, at Teynham, near Sittingbourne, a cherry-orchard
of 32 acres produced in one year £1,000. It did not appear
whether that sum included the cherries alone or the land as
well, but in either case that was a very large amount to be paid
330 years ago. In his own neighbourhood — Sandwich — market
gardening had lately progressed with great strides. They had
sent large quantities of brocoli and other vegetables to Bir-

S76

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

mingham and Manchester, and tlie returns had sometimes
been wonderful. As regarded onions, he must say the return
seemed very uncertain. I'or example, whereas last year
onions fetched 8s. or 9s. a-busliel, this year they were com-
paratively worthless. Gooseberries and cherries were largely
grown in his neighbourhood. Many acres of land were em-
ployed in that way, and when that was tlie case the market
gardener was knocked over, as it were, in comparison. Tt was
not uncommon for such a person to pay £4 or £5 an acre for his
land, and besides that to spend a very large amount on guano.
A short time ago he asked a person in that position, who was
a first-rate manager, how he made it pay, to whicli he replied,
" Well, if I can get my cabbages to market a few days
earlier than my neighbours, although I may have used four or
five, or even six hundred weight of guano per acre, the money is
soon repaid." He (Mr. Marsh) was a very small market-
gardener himself. Last year he cultivated about an acre and a-
half, and lost from £10 to £15. Hence he should not enter
into the thing very fiercely this year (laughter). He sold very
nice potatoes at 2s. a-bushel in the London market ; but as
there was commission of lOd. to comeotf, he did not obtain
any very great return.

Mr. W. Glutton (Penge)said Mr. Bradsiiaw spoke of ^£5 per
ton having been paid for straw. He (Mr. Glutton) was quite
sure that any landlord would be very glad if his tenant could
sell straw at that price ; and equally certain was he that if the
tenant were an honest man he would take care to bring some-
thing back (Hear, hear). They had also heard that evening
of £20 per acre being made by market gardening near London.
At East Bridford, near Nottingham, a man paid a rent of £5
an acre, and made £100, while a friend of his who lived
about three miles from Tunbridge, made £50 an acre by grow-
ing Kentish cob-nuts, doing little More than pruning his trees
as they ought to be pruned. He was very sorry to find that
men living near London spent so much money and made little
more than £20 an acre.

Mr. H. GoRiiET felt that something like an apology
was due for there being so few speakers who were specially
acquainted with that subject ; but he must explain that one
or two gentlemen had promised to send him papers, and
Mr. Murton, one of the oldest members of the Glub, some
particulars respecting the cherry-orchards of Kent.

Mr. M. Keynolds (Warden, Biggleswade) said he lived
in a part of Bedfordshire where vegetable cultivation was
very largely carried out ; the parish of Sauday was the
originator, as it might be termed, of market gardening.
They had heard a good deal about certain soils being
adapted for the growth of particular vegetables. The soil of
the parish of Sanday was of a most varied description. A
portion of it was a very fine alluvial soil ; another, and a larger
portion, was no doubt originally a very poor sand ; the remain-
der and perhaps by far the larger proportion comprised some
of the strongest land in Bedfordshire. Up to about 20 years
ago this latter description of laud was hardly thought of for
gardening purposes,, but having been well drained, he be-
lieved it was some of the most profitable land in Sanday at
the present time. They hud heard that evening of very high
rents being paid by market gardeners. In his neighbourhood
they knew notliing of £20 per acre, £15, or even £10. Some
land at Biggleswade was let at £8 an acre, but that rent was
confined to about 100 acres in the immediate neighbourhood of
a railway-station ; and from his knowledge of the neighbour-
hood, he should say that the rents of land let for garden-

ing varied from £3 to £6 an acre. As regarded the
price of labour he believed that the wages paid by gardeners
in that district was not as great as many gentlemen appeared
to suppose. He did not think that any gardener in the winter
season paid more than 23. a day for labour. In the spring of
the year and in busy times, gardeners paid 23. Gd. a day and
gave tlieir men two pints of beer each, and perhaps in very busy
times they might pay as much as 3s. a day ; but he believed
that with that exception half-a-crown a day was the extreme
amount that a market gardener's labourer obtained. (" How
many hours did they work ?") The usual number of hours ;
if they worked extra hours they were no doubt paid extra. As
regarded crops, he remembered a period when potatoes and onions
were the principal garden produce grown in his neighbourhood,
but he did not think they were now able to compete with Gorn-
wall and tlie Ghannel Islands for early potatoes. The earliest
potatoes grown in his neighbourhood were Shaw potatoes, and
they did not come in sufliciently early. He could remember
that for many years those potatoes fetched in the spring
a good price as seed, but that time was past. This year Shaw
potatoes had been a perfect drug. Any quantity might have
been bought at £2 a ton, and a great many were used for agri-
cultural purposes, given to pigs and so on, because there was
no demand for them. Regents, too, fetched a very poor price ;
he did not think anyone could get more than £3 or £3 58. per
ton for them. During the French and German war, when there
was a very small importation of onions from Germany, onions
went up to a very high price, in some instances as much being
paid as £15 a ton. He believed that many persons would be
glad to dispose of them now at 40s. It was an unfortunate
circumstance that onions had this year rotted to a greater
extent than was ever known before.

Mr. Glutton : The farmers have killed all the rabbits,
and so no onions are required (laughter).

Mr. fiEYNOLDS said the two crops that were grown in his
neighbourhood most largely and apparently to the greatest
advantage, were turnip seed and cucumbers. The great prin-
ciple of market-gardening was high manuring. The quantity
of manure that was put on the land would astonish many
who did not live in a garden district. He had known as
much as 60 tons per acre to be put on garden land ; 100
bushels of soot per acre was a usual dressing. He thought
the only way in which gardeners could protect themselves
was by growing a variety of crops. Of late years there have
been considerable failures in several of the garden-crops
grown by the smaller class of gardeners ; but on the other
hand, where the crops had been varied, and cultivation had
been carried on upon a large scale, as was now the case in
Bedfordshire, the result had generally been remunerative.
Gardeners employed labourers only when they actually wanted
them, and when they did not require their services, they
turned them adrift; and in wet and bad seasons that operated
very disadvantageously to the neighbourhood. Gardeners
did not keep men on for the mere sake of employing them ;
whereas, as they all knew, farmers employed throughout the
year a certain number of labourers, whether they wanted
them or not. If a gardener wanted 200 hands, lie would
have them if he could get them ; but he would have no
hesitation in reducing them to a very limited number when-
ever it suited his purpose.

Mr. J. Bradsiiaw, in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr.
Scott for his Paper, adverted to the comment of Mr. Glutton
on his statement that £5 a-ton had been paid for straw, ob-

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

377

serving that there was nothing extraordinary iu tliat price,
considering that the farm was near the Potteries, where a
great deal of straw was requifed for the packing of earthen- ware.

Mr. W. Clutton, in seconding the motion, observed
that £5 a ton was an exceedingly good price, and that
a man who sold his straw at that rate could well atTord to
bring back some manure. A gentleman had spoken of the
great advantage of sending vegetables and fruit to market
early. He had always considered it an immense benefit to be
able to do that only two or three days before others. For a
short time young peas realised a large amount of money ; but
it was only for a very few days : the thing soon came to an end.
lie was not a gardener ; but he was glad to hear such discus-
sions as that, because he believed they did a vast deal of good.
There was one subject which he had rather expected to hear
discussed, or at least mentioned that evening — he meant the
strike among the Warwickshire labourers (Hear, hear). He
was not going to enter into that matter, because it did not
strictly belong to the question before the meeting ; but he
must say that they ought all to think about it. There was no
reason why agricultural labourers sliould not strike as well as
bricklayers and carpenters, who had always received a great
deal more money, and therefore farmers should be prepared for
what was coming (Hear, hear).

The motion having been put and carried,

Mr. Scott, after returning thanks, observed that between
market-gardeners and labourers there was nothing that de-

served to be called mutual sympathy ; but everything was a
mere question of money. The labourers might occasionally
get high wages, but, as iiad been truly remarked by a previous
speaker, when they were not wanted they were no longer paid.
A subject had just been broached which was dangerous, and
should, in his opinion, not have been introduced unless they
were prepared fully to discuss it. Having travelled about the
country a good deal, and having been in almost every county
iu the three kingdoms, he must say that he had never found
the low principle of supply and demand regulating the relations
of farmers and their labourers (Hear, hear). Farmers had a
much higher claim on those whom they employed than manu-
facturers had on their workpeople. He had often seen la-
bourers kept on in the dead of winter doing scarcely anything,
living almost like cats, in idleness at home, when tliey might
have been discharged. He maintained, therefore, that farmers
had a much higher claim on those whom they employed than
manufacturers and others, who dispensed with the services of
their men when they ceased absolutely to require them ; and
he hoped that the good sense of the labourers and their ad-
visers would show them that those who were treated with such
leniency, kindness, and patriarchal feeling, ought not to take
advantage of their position at times which were inopportune
for their employers.

On the motion of Mr. Marsh, seconded by Mr. Newton, a
vote of thanks was given to the Chairman, and this terminated
the proceedings.

THE CENTRAL CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE

The monthly meeting of the Council was held on Tuesday,
April 16, at the Salisbury Hotel, Mr. E. Heueage in the chair.

The Secretary read a resolution passed by the East Suffolk
Chamber, at a meeting held on the 3nd of April, as follow :
" That this Chamber greatly regrets that the Council has
allowed another Budget to be brought in, and a handsome
surplus to be disposed of without having appointed a deputation
to wait upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and urge him
again to repeal the Malt-tax."

This communication was referred to the Business Committee.

Mr. MuNTZ said at the last meeting he suggested that all
members of provincial chambers who might attend the general
meeting in May should be allowed, not merely to take part in
the discussions, but also to vote. He now moved the follow-
ing, in the belief that, if it were adopted, such an expression
of opinion would iniluence the general meeting to whicli he
alluded : " That it will be desirable to obtain an expression
of opinion from all agriculturists present at the general meet-
ing of members to be held on the 7th of May, for which pur-
pose the words after " chair " in law 1-i should be suspended
during that meeting, and the following words substituted, " and
shall have power to vote."

Mr. HoDSOLL seconded the motion.

Mr. Pell, M.P., opposed the motion, observing that it was
not desirable to suspend a law even for such a purpose, and
expressing doubts whether it could be done.

Mr. Caluecott expressed his concurrence in this view,
and the motion was negatived.

Sir M. Lopes, M.P., as Chairman of the Local Taxation
Committee, moved the adoption of the following report :

In presenting their report the Local Taxation Committee
have to announce a considerable accession to their numbers
since the last meeting of Council, the names of the Duke of
Rutland, the Duke of Manchester, and of thirteen additional
members of Parliament having been added to the Commit-
tee. While anxious to koei) the question of Local Taxation
apart from all party considerations, your Committee cannot

fail to note recent adhesions by some of the more prominent
Parliamentary leaders to then- policy. Mr. Disraeli, speak-
ing in the House of Commons on the proposal to throw the
costs of election expenses on the rates, used these words :
" I heard %\'ith alarm from the Government that they aro
favourable to defraying the charges from the rates; I
think tho time has come when it ought to be mado
clearly apparent to any Government that may exLst iu
this country that no increase of the rates can bo
tolerated so long as the area of taxation from which
those rates are drawn is limited as it is at present. If wo
cannot solve that most perplexing problem of increasing tho
area we must leave tho rates alone ; but whatever the pur-
pose, or whatever the amount, I am convinced the wisest
poUcy of the ratepayers of the country is to resist any in-
crease of the rates, however slight and however plausible tho
pretext, until Government make up their minds to encounter
a difficulty .which may be most perplexing to any member
who comes forward with any proposal to increase them."
More recently Mr. Ward Hunt, the cx-Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, hasi3ubliclyadvocated thepolicyindicatediathe mo-
tion of the chairman of yom' Committee, and claimed the re-
moval of such charges, at all events, as those for police,
lunatics, and goals from the local rates to the imperial ex-
chequer. Such admissions as these are, in yom- Committee's
opinion, the surest indications that the injustice which it has
been their duty to ventilate during the three past years is
fast obtaming a prominence which no Government, whatever
be its party opinions, can much longer affect to ignore.
Costs of Ci-iminal Prosecutions. — The Committee have to report
that the debate on tho Chairman's motion on the disallow-
ances b.y the Treasury of the costs of criminal prosecu.tions
was in the highest degree satisfactory. The conduct of tho
Treasmy officials was unanimously condemned, and the
suggestion of the Home Secretary and Under Secretary, Mr.
Winterbottom, that a remedy for the present state of mat-
ters might be found in the Public Prosecutor's Bill, being
pointed out to be at best but a distant prospect, Mr. Bax-
ter was finally compelled to accept, on the part of the Trea-
sury, the fullest responsibility of dealing with the matter
not only effectually but at once. County and borough rate-
payers may be congratulated, therefore, that after tho re-
peated promises of the Government to amend their proceed-
ings, no further attempts will Ije made to evade the com-
pact entered into more than a quarter of a century ago.

378

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

by which ihis parL of the expeiifeo of administering justice
■was formerly tranal'erred to tlie imperial excheciuer. Public
Health Bill. — Yom- Committee have carefully considered the
Government Bill on this subject issued subsequent to their
last report. They find ic open to the objections they then
indicated, being incomplete as attempting no consolidation
of the various statutes on the subject, objectionable in the
centraUsing tendency of some of its provisions, and destitute
of any loroposal to carry out the recommendations of the
Sanitary Commissioners as do State aid. Under these cir-
cumstances it was thought expedient to put a question to Mr.
Stansfeld in the House, asking if he had prepared any esti-
mate of the additional cost which his measure would throw
upon the rates, and if he proijosed, and in what manner, to
give eifect to the Commissioners' recommendation. To the
first part of the question Mr. Stansfeld replied that he was
unable to give any such estimate, p«nd to the second part he
answered that the Government had the suggestions of the
Commissioners " under consideration." He has since an-
nounced that he will be prepared to make a statement on
going into Committee of the intentions of the Government
as to imperial assistance to the local authorities. After
mature consideration your Committee deemed it impolitic
to attempt to oppose a direct negative to the second reading
of the Bill. However much they may disapprove many of
the details of the measure, its main principle — the more effec-
tual administration of the laws relating to public health — is
a reform too imperatively demanded by all classes of the
community to be combated in the House of Commons. They
consider it best to endeavour to amend the Bill in Committee,
directing especial attention to the following points :

(1) To ensm'e, if not a general consolidation of the twenty-
four statutes embodying the existing law on this sah-
ject, which they think most important, at least some
attempt to place the duties, jjowers, and reponsibilities
of the new lecal authorities before these bodies in an
intelligible form.

(2) To insist on the preservation of local self-government,
and such a degree of independence ,of local action as
can alone insure the efhcient administration of the law.

(3) To obtain from the Treasury an amount of assistance
proportionate to the large powers of inspection and su-
pervision granted by the Bill to the central authority.

Fires Bill.— The attention of your Committee has been
directed to several other measui-es now before Parliament
which entail additions to the rates. One of these, the Fires
Bill, introduced by Mr. McLagan, proposes to lay on the
rates the costs of inquiries into the origin of fires. In com-
mittee, Mr. Clare Read, a member of your Committee, will
endeavour to charge insurance offices with these expenses.
Justices' Clerks Salaries Mill. — This bill contains a proposal
to pay out of the local rates a salary to justices' clerks. Ac-
cordingly on going into committee Sir M. E. Hicks Beach an-
other member of your Committee, will move an amendment to
the effect that it is inexpedient to impose on county and borough
ratepayers any liability for the payment of justices' clerks
beyond that to which they are subjected by the existing law.
Municipal Corporations (Jiorourfh Funds) £t7?.— This measure
is similar to that opposed by your Committee last year. It
would place in the hands of governing bodies absolute power
to charge on the rates of their district all expenses incurred
in promoting or opposing any schemes, measm-es, or objects
without any previous sanction on the part of the ratepayers.
On the motion of Lord Mahon, a member of your Commitee,
this bill has been referred to a Select Committee of the House
of Commons. Registration of Borough Voters Bill. — This bill
is also the same as one successfully opposed last session. _ It
proposes to increase in boroughs the expenses of parlia-
mentary registration now borne by the ratepa^^ers by tlie ap-
pointment of an additional officer as registrar. Mr. Pell, an-
other member of yovtr Committee, has kindly undertaken to
watch the progress of this bill in Committee. Election
Fxpenses.—M.v. Fawcett's proposal to charge on the rates the
expenses of parUamentary elections has not yet been dis-
cussed. Notwithstanding a recent intimation that the Govern-
ment look favourably on this proposition, your Committee
will continue to offer to it their strongest opposition. As a
Committee, they have no concern whatever with the question
whether these charges should or should not be borne by the
candidates themselves, but on principle they feel bound to
resist any attempt to add another new burden, however
small, to the rates. Foor Lam (Scotland) Bill. — Your Com-
mittee would du-ect attention to some of the proposals con-
tained in this bill, which is founded on the recent report of
the Select Committee on the Scotch Poor Laws, and which
has now been read a second time in the House of Commons.
This measure contains propositions to defray one-half the
cost of lunatics, half the expenses of medical officers and
medicines, and the whole costs of prosecutions under the poor
law, from the Imperial Treasury, evident proofs of the con-
currence of Scotch ratepayers with the recently announced
policy of your Committee. Town Matepayers. — Your Com-
mittee are glad to point to an increasing interest among
householders in towns to a sense of their common interest in

a revision of locul burdens. They would direct attention
especially to the speech of Mr. TiU'ett in the Town Council of
Norwich, and to the action of that body in inviting the co-
operation of all municipal authorities in the effort to remove
national charges from the rates. In London the Metropolit.in
Poor Rate League is still extending its operations. Mr. Pell
had recently occasion to address one of the meetings convened
by this body in St. George's-in-the-East, and on Wednesday
last a crowded meeting was held in St. George's, Hanover-
square, Dr. Brewer, M.P., being in the chair, when a most
hearty and enthusiastic reception was accorded to the
principles of theassociation. Chait-man' s Motion.— The motion
of which notice was given by'the chairman of your Committee
stands for discussion this evening. Your Committee regret to
observe that Sir Thomas Ackland has placed on the notice-
paper an amendment which, although professing to admit
the propositions of the original resolution, appears to be an at-
tempt to divert the attention of the House from the real
issue. In the debate of last year the Government declined to
meet the proposals of the chairman with a direct negative,
but moved the previous question, intimating that they them-
selves were prepared to deal with the subject. A similar
policy appears to prompt the present amendment. The pro-
posals of Sir Thomas Acland as to devision of new rates and
abolition of certain exemptions, however fit subjects for dis-
cussion on their own merits, are totally inadequate as remedies
for the grievance of which we complain. Your Committee
only trust that this amendment does not indicate an attempt
to introduce into this question the disturbing element of party-
contention, which it has been their most anxious desire from
the outset in every way to avoid. Subscriptions. — Your Com-
mittee have to acknowledge the receipt of the following
contributions :

£ 3. d.

The Gloucestershire Chamber ,...,10 0 0

The Duke of Rutland, K.G 10 0 0

The Earl of Darnley 10 0 0

The Duke of Manchester 5 0 0

The Northamptonshire Chamber 5 0 0

The Sunderland Chamber 5 0 0

Sir F. M. Williams, Bart., M.P 5 0 0

Edmund Green, Esq., M.P 5 0 0

A. P. Ai-kwright, Esq., M.P 5 0 0

J. H. Scourfleld, Esq., M.P 5 0 0

F. C. Smith, Esq., M.P 5 0 0

C. H. Mills, Esq., M.P 5 0 0

Further subscriptions have also been promised by the Essex
Chamber of Agriculture, Lord Barerton of Tatton, the Hon.
G. W. Milles, M.P., and J. Reginald Yorke, Esq., M.P.

Mr. HousoLL, in seconding the adoption of the Report, said
it could not for one moment be contended that any fixed imposi-
tions for national purposes should be added to the already over-
burdened county and borough ratepayers. No person could as-
sert that the present system of levying the poor-rate was unalter-
able, and therefore should for ever continue ; for all the political
economists of the present day agreed that, notthe means, but the
profits of production only should be taxed. It was the duty of
all who felt the injustice of the present arrangement to en-
deavour to shadow out some plan for the rectification of the
basis upon which that unjust burden on real property rested,
and, as in the collection of contributions for the relief of the
indigent poor, and for setting them to work, the Act of Eliza-
beth enacted that a certain portion of such contribution was to
be levied on the occupation and a further certain portion on
the ability of the parish, he thought they would only be doing
what WIS right in this matter iu urging upon the attention
of the Government and the House of Commons the necessity
of returning to tiie original intention of ti\e law on that much-
vexed question. He was also of opinion that, for the solution
of that question, the present poor-rate should be abolished,
and in lieu thereof the present house-tax be doubled, and that
the ability of every individual should be brought by legislation to
contribute towards such relief of the poor, and towards all
other national objects, many of which — and they were aa-
nualy increasing — had been thrust for convenience on the
poor and county rates, and that the payments necessary for
the support of the poor and other national objects should be
made out of such funds from the imperial exchequer or local
government board, in the same way as grants were now made
tlirough these sources towards the expenses of the militia, po-
lice, lunatics, medical, and schoolmasters, and as capitation
grants were made for the education of children in the various
national schools throughout the kingdom. He thought that,
before the Public Health and Sanitary Bills passed into law, it
would be incumbent on any Government to rearrange and re-
adjust the local taxation of the country. It was a farce to
discuss the proKisions of any bill which proposed to add any-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

379

thing to the rates until au equitable readjustment of the local
burdens has been effected. He m\^\\t add that the adoption
of the Public Health Bill of the Government would add one
shilHng in tbe pound to the rates.

The report having been adopted,

Mr. HoDSOLL moved as a rider,

That the first portion of Sir Thomas Acland's amendment
is a seeming repetition of the proposition contained in the
original motion, but couched in vague and ambiguous
language, vs'hile the latter part, suggesting the division of
rates between owners and occupiers, contains no remedy
whatever for the unjust incidence of local taxation, and is
simply au attempt to evade the real qirestiou at issue.

Mr. Marshall Heanley having seconded this rider, it was
agreed to.
Mr. Jabez Turner then moved the following :

That this Chamber, while sensible of the urgent necessity
for sanitary legislation, strongly disapproves of much of the
Government Public Health Bill, more especially the extra-
ordinary powers it confers upon the .Local Government
Board, and the want of provision for consolidatmg the
existing laws, and considers that the attempt to saddle the
whole of the milimited outlay for sanitary expenditure upon
owners and occupiers of property at present I'ateablo should
meet with the most determined opposition.

He said the Government Bill was, in his opinion, an extremely
incomplete measure. Sir Charles Adderley's Bill was. he
thought, far preferable, inasmuch as it repealed the existing
Acts and legislated afresh on all the matters embraced on that
important q^uestion. Tiie Government measure was a sort of
patchwork, and provided very inadecjuately for the accomplish-
ment of the object. He had been told that several provisions
in Sir Charles Adderley's Bill were likely to be incorporated in
the Government one, and if that were the case it might be
materially amended, the want of consideration being the great
blot in the latter. As the Government Bill stood it would be
very detrimental to manufactures. In fact, the pollution of
streams was dealt with in such a manner that it would have
the effect of paralysing a considerable amount of industry
throughout the country. Moreover, the Council would, in his
opinion, gieatly neglect their duty if they did not resist any
further imposition on the rates until the burden of local
taxation had been properly adjusted (Hear, hear). According
to clause 79 no limit whatever Was to be placed on the ex-
penses. Any local decision limiting the expenditure might be
set aside, and the result might be that in some cases the rate,
instead of being limited to one shilling in the pound, might
amount to as much as 10s. He maintained that the
carrying out of sanitary regulations was a matter of public
obligation, that the nation was responsible for the preservation
of the nation's health, and that the larger items of outlay, espe-
cially for such things as the construction of sewers and other
matters of that kind, provided for in the Bill, should be largely
supplemented from Imperial sources. But tiie objection still
remained that the property at present rated bore a very small
proportion to the whole property of the country, and without
troubling the meeting with statistics he would remark that Ihe
income of the country assessed lor local purposes amounted to
considerably less than the whole income of the country. As
regarded the rating of canals and railways the Government
Bill followed the precedent of the Nuisances Removal Act of
1867, fixing the assessment at one-fourth of the ordinary
rateable value ; but it was a great question in his mind whe-
ther that proportion should be continued in favour of railways.
He found in that Bill the same objectionable features that
existed in the Government measure with regard to rating.
There was the same delusion of calling the authority local
when it was in fact a central authority totally irresponsible to
the electors or ratepayers. The electors and ratepayers were
liable to be fined and to be forced into all sorts of expenses if
they did not comply with the wishes of the central body, and
if that were local government he did not understand the term.

Mr. Woodward (Worcestershire), in seconding the rosolu-
tion, expressed his conviction that the Government Bill would,
if passed, introduce a state of cliaos, while one great objo.ct of
legislation should be to simplify the law.

Mr. CoRRANCE, M.P., said, having already taken some
action in Parliament with regard to the Government Bill, he
would like to know how far the course he had pursued was
acceptable to the council. It appeared to him that they ought,
as a body of practical men, to endeavour to give a practical

sliape to the opposition, and with that view he had himself
given notice of his intentiou to move that the Bill be referred
to a select committee. He thought the authority to be set up
should be a thoroughly representative one, and considered
that a fair opportunity was afforded by it for introducing the
valuable principle of county financial boards, all attempts to
carry out which had hitherto failed. What he intended to
propose in the committee on the Bill was that Parliament
should establish local sanitary boards, embracing the area of
the county itself; that it should similarly delegate all the re-
quisite powers, except that of making a rate, to a committee
to be formed out of the board of guardians, or some other
similar body, and that two members of tlie board should, to-
gether with the chairman, serve for three years, with an equal
number of justices of the peace, and that these should col-
lectively form the local authority.

Mr. 13IDDELL protested against any more charges beiug im-
posed on agriculturists of which other classes reaped the
benefit without contributing anything.

Capt. Craigie said Mr. Stansfeld liad divided the expenses
into general and special expenses. The former were what were
known as establishment charges — a very motley list, including
inquiries, provisional orders, and so on, all such charges in the
rural districts following on the local rates and no deduction be-
ing made. The special expenses were of a more limited nature,
embracing such things as drainage, sewage, and so on. All
these were to be levied as they were under the Sewage Act of
1867, by which railways and canals were treated as land.
Under Sir Charles Adderley's Bill the land would be dealt
with much more fairly ; and were the two Bills before
them for selection, they could not hesitate which to choose.

The resolution was then put and carried.

Mr. Pell, M.P., moved the following :

That the Council is of opinion that the advantages con-
nected with endowments applicable to the education of the
middle or working classes should be confined as near as may
be in the locality intended to be benefited by the former ; and
that the general good conduct, as well as the intellectual capa-
city of children, should be considered in the application of
endowments left for educational purj^oses.

In the present day the tendency of things seemed to be for the
lesser endowments in the country to be swept into great centres,
and many parishes and villages had suffered from that cause.
He hoped that the Endowed Schools Commissioners would not
fall entirely into that prevalent idea, and indeed there seemed
already to be difticulties in the way of carrying it out. With
regard to the second part of his resolution, he thought it most
dangerous in principle to view intellectual capacity, that is, the
brains that a boy was born with, as the only or principal ground
for reward. He had some sympathy with the dunces, and a great
deal with the industrial plodding child whose parents were
determined, at whatever pains and cost within their means, to
have him properly educated, and he thought that smaller edu-
cational endowments might very well be applied as a reward
for general good conduct at school. At present such endow-
ments were often swept up into and went in relief of the
school fund, the pockets of subscribers being saved to that ex-
tent ; and that did not appear to him consistent with sound
justice and equity. He did not see how a poor man
living in a parish with an educational endowment could be
better off than a poor man living in a parish without any such
endowment if the idea which he had mentioned were carried
out; and what he would suggest was that in rases in which a cer-
tificate had been obtained of regular attendance on the part of a
child and generally deserving conduct, the parent might receive
benefit in the way of the return of a portion at least of the fees
which he had paid at the end of the year.

Mr. Sykes, M.P., in seconding the resolution, referred to the
case of Emmanuel Hospital, and the course pursued as regarded
the education of poor boys by the Corporation of London, and ex-
pressed his 'strong disapproval of the movement for swallow-
ing up of small endowments to promote middle-class educa-
tion.

Canon Bkerf.ton said he should deprecate as strongly as
anyone the diversion of educational endowments from the
objects of the founders, except on one or two grounds ; namely,
that it was proved by satisfactory evidence that those objects
had become undfsirable or obsolete, or thati they had been
already provided for in some other way. He thought every
one would agree with him that elementary education was be-

380

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

coming less and less aa undesirable object iu England (Hear,
hear). There had certainly arisen of late an unfounded
notion tliat one effect of the Elementary Education Act had
been to make endowments for that purpose superlluous. The
intention of Mr. Eorster's Act was to ensure that there should
be the means of elementary education in every district in the
country ; but it most distinctly recognised the princij)le that
iu order to provide those means of education every school
should be freely open, and as a matter of fact the Act had
called forth a very large (low of voluntary contributions, both
from owners and occupiers of land. It would be a monstrous
deduction from the working of the new system that there
should he a confiscation of the old endowments, when they
were appealing to the country for fresh endowments. Mr.
Eorster, who so well deserved the gratitude of the country
for the manner in which he had carried out the Act,
had spoken of it as a foundation and not a superstructure.
That was au ominous speech coming as it did from Mr.
Eorster, and Mr. Stansfeld had delivered one which was
still more ominous, indicating that the Government intended
to depart from the principle of voluntary contributions, and
to adopt the principle of compulsory and gratuitous education.
What he referred to looked like the shadow of the coming
event. He felt that compulsory and free education was not
required in this country, and he believed it would be most mis-
chievous. Not merely as a clergyman of the Established
Church, but in the interest of education itself, as he understood
that great and comprehensive term, he strongly deprecated
what would make one the most valuable things on earth eom-
Baratively speaking of no value, inasmuch as tlie poor were
not likely to appreciate what was compulsory, and cost nothing.
At the same time he felt that all endowments ought to be
efficient ; and he would ask the Council to remember that
while there were considerable endowments for elementary
education there were also many large endowments for second-
ary or middle-class education. He thought that if that
Council, representing the agriculturists of England, would set
on foot a movement in order that the latter class of endow-
ments, as well as the former, might be applied to their real
objects, they would be setting a good example to those who
were engaged in the cause of education. He believed it was
essential that the capital of those endowments should be com-
bined. While he would give a parish the full benefit of the
revenue of any property left for its benefit, lie maintained that
it was for the interest of all that capital should be so com-
bined as to secure an efficient system of education ; and for
that purpose he thought it might be desirable to give a
guarantee on public property, which would secure to it the
henefit intended. What was wanted was a combination of
capital and affiliation of schools of the humbler class with
schools of a superior grade and colleges. The rev. gentleman
concluded by proposing an amendment which as the result
of some conference ultimately assumed the following shape :

That to appropriate the endowments intended for elemen-
tary education to secondary or middle-class education would
bo contrary to the intention of the Endowed Schools Act
1869 ; but it would be very desu-able that the endowments
generally, and especially those i^roperly a]3plicable, to
secondary education should be locally combined and organi-
sed, so as to remove the scandal of their present gene-
ral stagnation; and for this purpose, a county organisa-
tion, as recommended by the Schools Inquu-y Uommission,
is necessary, and ought to be provided for by ^the Legisla-
ture.

Mr. W. C. Little (Wisbeach) seconded the amendment.
Lord Galway, M.P., expressed his sympathy in what
had been said respecting Emmanuel Hospital and the conduct
of the Corporation, for whose courage in opposing the Com-
missioners he avowed his admiration. There was one geutle-
luau in the country who had displayed similar courage — he
meant Archdeacon Denison. He hoped that the trustees who
had large endowments under their care would assist those who
had small ones, and that the two would act usefully together.
Mr. Brown (Essex) said he lived in a neighbourhood where
what was meant to be a large middle-class school was almost
entirely monopolised by persons Ijelongingto the upper classes.
Many small endowments had been altogether in abeyance, and
no one knew what had become of them. He had met with
one case, money which was left to support a grammar school
had beeu applied to elementary teaching. Tlie education of
the middle classes was a very serious question in the present

day, many cliildren in national and British schools receiving a
better education than was given in middle-class boarding
schools (Hear, hear). He thought the Commissioners ought
not to be blamed for gatliering up small endowments and
trying to benefit all classes. It appeared to him a great scandal
to the country that endowments for middle-class education
were in so many cases lost to the neighbourhood they were
designed to benefit (Hear, hear).
In reply to a question from Mr. Biddle,
Mr. Brown observed that the fees in the school to which
he had just alluded were forty guineas per annum, adding
that in these days an ordinary farmer who had two or three
sons could hardly be expected to pay such an amount.

Mr. Neville-Grenville, M.P., said the great complaint
against the Commissioners was that they had in some cases
stepped beyond their province and seized hold of endowments
which had been well used for the purpose contemplated by the
founder in order to amalgamate all endowments in a sort of
omnium ffdlhcrum.

Mr. Pell, M.P., said he liad seen the Commissioners on
that subject, and made suggestions like those involved in his
resolution, and they replied that they considered the sugges-
tions well worthy of attention.

Mr. Pell's motion was then pat and carried, and Canon
Brereton's was likewise adopted.

The next subject appointed for consideration being " The
Masters' and Servants' Wages Bill,"

The Chairman remarked that Mr. Clare Sewell Read had
intended to introduce that question, but had been compelled
to leave, and asked Mr. Pell to perform that task.

Mr. Pell, M.P., said that as he was on the Committee of the
House of Commons appointed to consider that Bill, it would
be his duty to watch any proposal or suggestion that might
be made by ]\Ir. Mundella, or those who agreed with him ; but
they were sitting with closed doors, and probably no evidence
would be taken, and therefore he felt hardly at liberty to say
what took place at the meeting which had been held. But he
should like to point out to the Chamber one fatal objection to
Mr. Mundella's proposal to include agriculture in the opera-
tion of the Bill. That Bill was the result of the Government
Commission which made its inquiry about a year and a-half
ago, and was confined to certain industries of which agricul-
ture was not one, and it would be monstrous to include agri-
culture when there was no inquiry with regard to it.

Mr. Biduell (Suffolk) said one provision of that Bill would
certainly affect agriculture. It was provided that no part of
any payment of wages should be made in kind (cheers). In
his neighbourhood the harvest-work was put out at so much
per acre. He paid his own men so much per acre, and at the
commencement of harvest sent his waggon for three bushels of
malt per man, so that they got malt at the wholesale price.
That was no advantage to him, but the want of it would be a
loss to his labourers, and he should like to know whether it
could be regarded as payment in kind.

Mr. MuNTz said he had a very decided opinion that all
wages ought to be paid in coin (Hear, hear) ; but, as agricul-
turists had not yet had sufficient time to consider the matter,
and did not yet see their way to overcome the difficulties, he
thought it would be unwise to include agriculture in tlie bill.
He did not think there was much in what Mr. Biddell men-
tioned. That gentleman supplied his labourers with a certain
number of bushels of malt, and if he did not do that he might
give them the money.

Mr. Biddell observed that he did not feel bound to do that.
Mr. MuNTZ thought that all transactions with regard to
wages ought to be carried ou through the medium of money,
which had a clear, measured value. Experience had taught
him that when labourers were paid in anything but coin of the
realm, employers who were near and close wronged the
labourer, and employers who were liberal wronged them-
selves. The great evil which now existed in VVarwick-
sliire was mainly attributable to the fact that the wages of
labourers had beeu partly paid in coin and partly in kind (Hear,
hear). He was certain that there were many farmers in War-
wickshire who paid their labourers well and liberally, but there
were others who were not doing so. There were some who
paid a certain amount in coin and a certain amount in kind.
Such persons might say, " We give our labourers so much in
this, and so much in that;" but what was given in kind
might be of inferior quality. He said in Warwickshire, and

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

381

now repeated, that the only meaus of clearing up the diSiculty
which had arisen between employers and employed in the agri-
cultural districts was to do away with all payments that were
not in coin of the realm, and he was delighted to think
that the Warwickshire Chamber were so unanimous on
that point.

Mr. BiDDELL then moved, from the agenda paper, " That the
subject for the Council meeting on May 8th should be : 1. The
resolutions passed by the general meeting on the previous day.
2, Farm labour. 3. The Agricultural Children's Bill."

Mr. Pell said there was a clerical error in the Agricul-
tural Children's Bill which he wished to take that oppor-
tunity of correcting, having had a great deal to do with the
drawing up of the bill. Clause 9 was opposed to the inter-
pretation clause. The latter clause said, " A child shall mean
a child under twelve years of age ;" whereas clause 9 fixed
thirteen as the limit. The interpretation clause was right,
the difference not being designed, but simply an error in the
proof. The hou. member went on to deprecate the discussion
of the labourers' question by the Chambers, saying that he
thought it was one which those concerned could settle very
well between themselves. Some masters treated their
labourers badly, others well ; and he thought the latter, at all
events, would have no difficulty.

Mr. Bramley n oved, and Mr. Jabez Turner seconded, an
amendment; to the eifeot that the question of farm labour be
adjourned.

Mr. Caldecott thought it very desirable that there should
be some authoritative expression of opinion from the Chamber.

Mr. Woodward e.ipresscd his concurrence. The question
had been recently discussed in Warwickshire in a most tem-
perate spirit, and the discussion produced a good effect.

Mi . Jaeez Turner maintained that it was not within the
pro\ 'nee 0^ the Chamber to discuss the question, and that it
should be left to be settled between the farmers and the la-
bourers. At t'"e same time he must say he had extremely
regretted many expressions that had been used in some of the
leading journals O; the day.

Mr. Heanley (Lincolnshire) said that in his county there
was nothing to call for a discussion.

Mr. Ford (Warwickshire) observed that the strike was by
no means confined to that county, and expressed his convic-
tion tiat meetings like that held in Warwickshire on the
previous Saturday were likely to put an end to the strike.

Mr. T. Willson said he was very much surprised to hear
Mr. Ileanley say in effect that there had been no strike
in Lincolnshire. At Long Sutton there was already a lock-ont,
the labourers having given notice to the employers that they

would begin to work at a certain hour in the morning and
leave at a certain hour in the afternoon, and that they would
not work with any man who had not joined the union. Such
demands as these must be resisted. Many men wanted less
work for higher pay.

The Chairman thought it was quite possible for the Council
to discuss that question in a proper manner, and he wished for
discussion in order that there might be an opportunity of
refuting the misstatements of agitators who had no work of
their own to do, and therefore tried to interfere with every-
body else (cheers). He had no hesitation in saying that he
referred to Mr. Auberon Herbert and Mr. Odger. Some
newspapers, too, had rather wandered into the region of fancy,
and puffed into importance what would otherwise have gone
off in smoke. There could be no doubt that strikes were
spreading, and he thought it desirable that labourers should
know as soon as possible that farmers were ready to treat
them fairly. It might be shown to labourers that if they
insisted on too much they would lose more than they would
gain ; while on the other hand, if they were content with a
small rise of wages, they would lose none of their privileges.
He, for one, could not view the labour question apart from
that of local taxation, and Sir Massey Lopes viewed the matter
in the same light, while another absent member of the Council,
Mr. C. S. Read, was strongly impressed with the necessity for
a discussion, in order that some of the errors which were being
propagated might be dispelled.

Mr. Pell again deprecated the discussion of the question
by the Chamber, and said the case seemed to him one to
which the proverb was applicable that " speech is silver and
silence golden." That might be a very good subject for a
paper to be read before the Farmers' Club ; but if it were dis-
cussed there it might lead to angry feelings, and the views
expressed be misunderstood.

Mr. T. DucKHAM said, the agitation of the subject having
excited a large amount of sympathy, he thought they ought to
discuss it. The question was one of pressing importance to
the agricultural interest generally, and he thought that after
so many local chambers had expressed their opinion, the
Central Chamber ought not to avoid it.

Mr. Webb (Cambridgesliire) said the question had been
discussed in his county in a temperate manner, and the results
were beneficial.

The question was then put and the motion carried. It was,
however, determined that the consideration of the Agricul-
tural Children's Bill should precede that of farm labour at
the meeting in May.

The Council then separated.

LAND OWNERS AND LAND OCCUPIERS.

A great fact has been established in the House of
Commons. It is now clear enough that when the
Country Party so pleases it can work together with a
will and make a way. There are few modern instances
of more determined energy than that with which Sir
Massey Lopes has, in common parlance, stuck to his
point. For some years now he has never left it, while
his zeal becoming contagious, he has brought over con-
verts and commanded majorities. Something of a
tactician as well as a workman, we commend the example
to his fellows, as the moral should be sufficiently obvious.
When a man talks, eats, drinks, and does everything but
sleep over Local Taxation, he gradually gets a footing and
a heaving, as surely the same indomitable industry might
be as profitably employed in other directions. Let some
other honourable gentleman be straightway enlisted, who,
in Westminster or in Salisbury-square, up in town or
down about home, during the session or in the recess,
shall devote himself as resolutely to the Malt-tax, the
Game evil, or the Tenant-llight principle. At one time,
indeed, the repeal of the Malt-tax looked to be as much
Mr. Sewell Read's mission as the re-adjustment of local

burdens is that of Sir Massey Lopes. It is doubtful,
however, whether anything like proportionate success
would have attended the eflbrt had it been persevered
with, and for this reason — the movement against local
rates and taxes is far more of an owner's, cither of
houses or lands, thin it ever can be considered an occu-
pier's business. When Sir Massey Lopes seeks to relieve
local rates of the expenses for national purposes not under
local control, and when Sir Thomas Acland says the same
thing still more directly, they are manifestly showing a
case for consideration, but this is the case of a class.
During the whole of the debate, save in the speech of
the mover of the amendment, the slightest possible
reference was made to the tenant either of house or
land, the matter being very properly regarded as an
owner's question ; as, in fact, at times there was an
actual desire evinced to keep the tenant and the
tenant-farmer more particularly out of court. Thus Sir
Massey Lopes said "in his own county the police-rates
had been more than doubled in consequence of com-
plying with the wishes of Parliament. The police were
now being used for imperial purposes to a greater extent

882

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

than formerly; they were now required to distribute
notices to recruits, a novelty and a bad precedent ;" and
so on. But why did not Sir Massey go on to show that
the county police force was increased in consequence of
Parliament having to comply Avith the wishes of the
country gentlemen, as that the county police were now
being used for far more objectionable purposes than
serving notices on recruits ? But of course this omission
was supplied, as, according to Sir Thomas Acland, " it
had been said that the police were a perfect institution,
and he really thought that in the protection of their
stock of game the country gentlemen received consider-
able benefit from that force. There were, however, a
great many people who objected to the police being em-
ployed as assistant-gamekeepers, and the question whether
they ought to be so employed would probably be raised
some day in a very unpleasant way." It really sounds
somewhat inconsistent that a body of gentlemen should
ask for special services on their own behalf and then
complain at having to pay the bill. Why have the
county police expenses increased? Because, amongst
other duties, the police are employed as watchers and
keepers.

Who pays the rates ? asks Sir Thomas Acland ; and
Mr. Sewell Read answers " that no doubt between the
landlord and tenant they were paid." But this is not so
sufficiently explicit a reply. In the outset, at the com-
mencement of a lease or a tenancy, the landlord pays, on
one of the first principles of political economy — that is, the
more rates the less rent ; while any new taxes in the
interim of any new arrangement between them are of
course paid by the occupier, an injustice which the Amend-
ment would have gone to remedy. "The theory of the pro-
position is, that occupiers and owners would be relieved of
the two millions transferred from local taxation to the
national account. The fact is, that this would be given
almost entirely to the owners, while occupiers would not
only not be relieved, but would have to pay much more
than they pay now. Let the local taxation for these pur-
poses be lessened, and immediately rents would rise to a
like extent. Thus the occupier would not be relieved.
But he would have to pay his share of the increased
national taxation necessary to cover the local burdens
which had been transferred." So says The Scotsman,
and is there any gainsaying this ? The most ardent
advocates for the transfer of local taxes have at any rate
admitted so far that every shilling taken ofi" houses or
land in taxes will be forthwith clapped on the tenant
again in the shape of increased rent. It is not quite so
clear what even the owners will eventually gain by this
movement, while the occupiers' interest really seems to

adjust itself. If he does not pay in one way he will in
another.

If there were any evidence wanting to show how much,
this is a landlords' business it might be found in
the way in which this has been worked. When
did the landlords ever take up a question in which the
farmer is really interested, as they have done this, in
Quarter Sessions assembled? Then, we are officially
informed that '" the Local Taxation Committee now
numbers one hundred Peers and members of Parlia-
ment ; " while the only subscriptions of individuals as
announced in the April Report of the Local Taxation are
from two Dukes, one Earl, one Baronet M.P., and five
other members of Parliament. Naturally the names of
these honourable gentlemen will be found in the majority
of Tuesday night ; a list, by the way, which should be
carefully studied and preserved, for all these good men
who have achieved so signal a victory for the farmer will
be wanted again when the Report from the Game-law
Committee is presented, when any Tenant-Right measure
is inti'oduced, or when it has been really resolved to
repeal the Malt-tax.

At the meeting of the Central Chamber of Agriculture
ou Tuesday, the proceedings commenced with the reading
of a resolution from the Suffolk Chamber, reproving the
Council for " having allowed another Budget to be
brought in, and a handsome surplus to be disposed of
without having appointed a deputation to wait on
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and urge him again
to repeal the IMalt-tax." But then, according to
Mr. Biddell, a member of the business committee of
the Central Chamber (name!), says "they ought not to
bring up the Budget, as that is a political question" ! Well
might Mr. Biddell be astounded. Still, some allowance
should be made, considering how busily the Chamber has
been engaged over local taxation, so that any little minor
matter like the Malt-tax might reasonably stand over until
another session or until there is another surplus. How-
ever, there may be a chance of doing something in another
direction ; for Mr. McNeel Caird proposes to start a
Tenant League, of which our straightforward contem-
porary. The Gardener's Chronicle, says : " There is no
good reason known to us why this should not be, or
why, so long as the conduct of such a league is kept
within the bounds of justice and reason, to use Mr.
McNeel Caird's own words, good and useful work should
not be done by it. It has always been, we must confess, a
feature in the Chamber of Agriculture oi'ganisation, ■which
has, in our opinion, weakened it for useful and trust-
worthy work in comparison with that of the old Farmers'
Club — that it is led so exclusively by landlords."

STOCK-BREEDING.

BY THE NOETHERN FARMER.

The almost unprecedentedly large prices paid for young
stock during the past twelve months, and the early
demand, scarcity in the markets, and consequent high
prices already given, show uumistakeably that these prices
will, for the present and coming season, not only be sus-
tained, but, in all likelihood, increased, more especially for
the better qualities. A powerful incentive will thus be
held out to stock-breeders to rear every calf or other
young animal included in the category of high-priced
stock, whether really worth the trouble and expense of
doing so, or the contrary ; and many animals will un-
doubtedly be held over at considerable expense which it
would have been more profitable, notwithstanding the high
value of cattle, to have sent to the shambles on the first

day they saw the light. Assuming that the breeding
stock, dams as well as sires, are moderately well-bred, the
insatiable demand at present existing for youug animals
gives ample encouragement to rear every calf dropped,
whatever the sex, excepting only those that present un-
mistakeable symptoms of constitutional debility or un-
soundness. Everything decent being so eagerly picked
up, there need exist no apprehension on the score of over-
production and crowding of the pastures, as sales can be
made at any age and at any time of the year. Calves,
for instance, may be profitably parted with from the pail,
never requiring to go on the pastures at all, or in any way
allowed to interfere with the food provided or general
arraugemeats made for provisioning the permanent stocki

THE FARMEE'S MAaAZINE.

383

It will at once be seea that such a favourable alteration
in the state of the markets confers a highly valued and
important boon on the stock-rearing farmer, encouraging
him to introduce better blood into his herd, and, by the
aid of cake and meals, to rear a larger number of the
calves than he has previously been in the habit of doing,
and, moreover, to turn them out in much better style
from the hands of the dairymaid than before. At this
period a calculation may be made as to the probable
number the farm will be able to keep during the ensuing
winter ; that quantity can be sent out to the pastures, and
the remainder disposed of — a proceeding about which
there is not the slightest difficulty to be apprehended, if
the feeding has been attended to even moderately well.
It is bad management to hold over a heavy lot, and
thus cripple the future resources of the farm by bearing
the pastures, as a well-reared calf, unless provided with a
full bite of good succulent herbage, rapidly loses condition,
and depreciates in value, and, three mouths after going on
the grass, may possibly not be worth what it would have
made easily on the day it was taken from the pail.
Assuming it to be found necessary to part with a portion
of the weanling calves, they will by the end of August be
worth £5 each, if of a good sort, and have had their wants
supplied from birth even in moderation. This time of
year is eminently a suitable one for making such a clearance,
as purchasers are just then beginning to pick up stock to
occupy the straw-yards during winter, and are only too
glad to meet with a lot of well-bred stock, giving more
money for young soft animals than for those which, al-
though somewhat older and equally well-bred, have yet
the appearance of having been scantily supplied with food
while on the pasture, and have in consequence acquired a
lather stunted look. If success is to be obtained by the
securing of a paying price for the waygoing young cattle,
the loss of cellular tissue should be carefully avoided by
providing the animals with a regular supply of nutritious
food. When the calf flesh has been retained the skin
, possesses the pliability and fineness of touch so much de-
sired by feeders, and for which they are perfectly satisfied
to pay liberally. Neglected calves have a tell-tale gaunt-
ness of appearance, and an undue development of the
abdominal organs, which months of abundance will fail
wholly to overcome, and as a uatural consequence when
young stock possessing these characteristics are presented
at a fair, their owner must sell at a price so much below
the current market-rate for superior "stock of the same
breeding and age as to render the result mortifying in the
extreme. "When it is attempted to rear a larger number
of calves than usual, or possibly than those supplied by
the home herd, a few good ones being procured from a
source external to the farm, it becomes absolutely impera-
tive to assist the milk with a reasonable proportion of
other strengthening food. It serves no useful purpose to
keep three young animals on the allowance of two, as
although a larger number of heads can be counted the
advantage ends there, the two being worth more money
at any period of their life, enjoy better health, look
creditable on the fai'm, and in every way give satisfaction,
results quite unattainable by the grudging or serai-starva-
tion system. Preparatious of linseed form a highly
nutritious and exceedingly suitable food for calves, and
moreover have the merit of preserving the digestive
organs in healthy condition, a matter of great importance,
as inflammatoiy attacks are thus warded off and losses
from disease or death reduced to a minimum. Linseed
jelly is easily formed by boiling linseed in water and then
either removing it to tubs to cool or permitting it to re-
main in the boiler. "When cold it becomes a delightful
jelly, and it may either be mixed up in one large
tub for a number of calves, or the proportion
allowed for each can be put into separate vessels

with the allowance of milk for each, a mode which
certainly has the advantage of securing to every animal
its proper share. "While young enough to be confined to
the house, and kept in separate cribs or tied up, the pro-
portion of food can be easily managed, and a small calf or
indifferent feeder petted into vigorous growth ; but when
turned out to a field and fed there, the food must almost
unavoidably be given in common, the old and strong
generally managing to get the largest share both of the
milk and the more solid ingredients, with which it has
been mixed. Oilcake ground into meal is easily converted
into a mucilage, by pouring boiling water over it, and
covering so as to keep in the steam. The flavour is
agreeable, and, when mixed with the milk, is eaten with
great relish by the animals. Indian meal of fine quality,
when well boiled, is also an excellent auxiliary food for
calves, and with its aid a large number of calves may be
reared with but comparatively a very short supply of
milk. Damaged meal is of no use for this purpose, and
should be rigidly excluded, the variety known as Galatz
when sweet and fresh being the most suitable. It must
be given cautiously at first ; but after a week or so the
stomach will bear all that may reasonably be given, with-
out being sensibly affected, and condition will be acquired
very rapidly. "Under any circumstances, milk must of
course be relied on, as the principal source of food during
the first weeks of the young animal's existence ; but after
that the foods noticed will afford great assistance, and
enable the breeder to increase his number considerably,
and at the same time have good cattle fit to turn into
cash at any season of the year. It is evident from the
very high price of stock that the turn is completely in
favour of the breeder, the extraordinary value of stores
being altogether out of proportion to the present price of
beef, which, allowing for the advanced stage of the year
which has now been reached, must be looked upon as
cheap, and that not in any particular district, but in all
the leading markets of the kingdom. Considering the
very high rates given for stores last autumn, many feeders
will consider themselves well off if they stand clear after
all expenses are deducted. Certainly, every effort will be
made to obviate in whole or in part the depreciating re-
sult which becomes altogether unavoidable when cattle
are cleared out at a period of depression, by holding for
some time after the animals have become ripe for the
butcher. Even should the owner of fat stock be so for-
tunate as to realize a better price by over-holding — a re-
sult, however, highly problematical — he scarcely ever
finds himself in a better position financially, the food re-
sources of the farm being seriously trespassed on, aud the
additional money absorbed in a great measure by the
extra quantity of cake and corn, which must of necessity
be consumed. To bring out young cattle in healthy,
saleable condition in the spring, it is highly important
that much of their time should have been spent
in the open air, the exercise promoting digestion,
and materially assisting growth, besides lessening the
tendency to joint disease, so frequently exhibited by
young quick-growing animals when kept in a fixed posi-
tion for a protracted period, the exercise which they have
an opportunity of taking when loose promoting the
secretion and diffusion of the synovial fluid. They also
preserve the hair till a late period of the season, always a
desirable object in connection with young cattle, as it
renders the skiu impervious to wind and rain, giving the
animals the shelter which Nature designed them to have,
and thus enabling them to withstand without the
slightest suffering or injury to health the rough spring
blasts of a northern climate. To enjoy exercise in the
open air it is by no means necessary that the cattle should
be turned out to the fields during the winter months, the
districts where such a course can be followed with Jra*

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINR.

punity being exceptional, but the necessity is fully met
by the comforts and conveniences aflbrded by a well
sheltered and properly constructed straw-yard. To be
thoroughly healthful and comfortable it is imperative
that it should be free from cutting draughts, and pro-
tected sufliciently from prevailing high winds, and such
a portion of it shedded as will afford ample accomoda-
tion to the whole of the animals without undue crowding.
Young growing stock do not appear to suffer to an
appreciable extent from mere intensity of cold, healthy
progress being ensured by sound food in moderate abun-
dance, and shelter from cold rains and chilling blasts.
There are few practical men but have noticed on a
winter's morning the occupants of the straw-yard quietly
reposing half in and half out of the shed, that part of
their body which was outside very possibly covered with
snow, while the poor beast kept placidly ruminating, the
very picture of ease, comfort, and healthy contentment.
In economical consumption of food, and suitability to the
necessities of the animal economy, and for the effectual
collection and preservation of the mauurial constituents,
so necessary for the profitable production of future crops,
there cannot be the shadow of a doubt but that the
system of keeping young cattle over the winter in yards,
shedded either entirely or partially, is much the most
profitable for the farmer, and having for its primary
object the preservation of the stock in constitutional
comfort, the principle has the additional merit of being
supported by the dictates of sound reason and common
sense. In improving the breeds of cattle, and aiming at
bringing only such calves into the world as are possessed
of the necessary bone and substance and kindliness of
feeding quality so essential to their having a likelihood of
being able to repay both breeder and feeder for their
trouble and outlay, most men are now agreed as to the
supreme influence possessed by the sire when purely bred,
in propagating the hereditary qualities of his race. Even
when labouring under the immense disadvantage of being
mated with females of small size, coarse make, and inferior
breeding, he succeeds in imparting a certain fixity of
type to his progeny, which becomes so far valuable, as it
enables men in backward or needy circumstances to
gradually improve their stock of cattle, by continually im-
parting pure blood through the sire, until the animals
have attained the size and quality that the soil on which
they are kept is capable of sustaining. These however are
the only conditions where a violent cross, as described,
becomes permissible, as the improvement in the first in-
stance is more apparent than real, the pliability of
the skin being certainly vastly improved, and the points
rendered much more susceptible of showing condition after
a period of full feeding ; but the carcase is still light, the
contour of the frame being rugged, preserving in a great
degree the angles and inequalities which were distinguish-
ing chai-acteristics in the conformation of the mother.
The improvement is much more distinctly marked, and at
the same time more usefully, when the dams are of good
form and considerable substance, and are of the same dis-
tinctive breed as the sire to the extent of half or three-
quarters, althougb not necessarily of the same family.
Such a union gives the breeder a good start, the stock which
issue from it being really worth the trouble of rearing
well, and from the earlier stages of their growth holding
out a promise of ample remuneration, which will not be
disappointed if the necessary conditions relatingto food
and shelter are fulfilled by their owner. Should it so
happen that a farmer retains a herd of cattle, which,
although at one time both suitable and profitable in the
district, has become through improvements effected on the
farm by draining, manuring, and high feeding, too small
of carcase to ])ay for the increased expenditure, it is better
to get rid of them at once either by auction or private

sale, and substitute for them a breed more useful, moi'C
valuable, and easier of sale. The improvement effected by
the sire, although admittedly great, is yet too slow to
meet the views and requirements of a man of capital, the
assistance of well-bred mothers of the desired breed, or at
least good crosses must be obtained, when the new and im-
proved |stock is without loss of time started on a sound
basis, and a sure, handsome, and worthily-earned percent-
age obtained on the extra capital invested in making the
change. For a practical illustration of the value of good
blood in the stock of an ordinary farmer, take the sale of
say two cows that have missed calf, and are at this season
of the year taken to a fair to be sold to a grazier to be
fattened on good grass land during the summer mouths.
Both have been reared on the same farm, in the same year,
got the same treatment as calves, and at every succeeding
stage they have been well treated during the past winter,
more especially so on account of the milk they were yield-
ing at a scarce time, and are iu consequence in good sale-
able condition. I shall further assume that both are by
one sire and he pure-bred, but that one was out of a square
sitbstantial cow moderately well bred, and the other out
of a light cow of inferior form, narrow across the loins,
and either it may be a pure specimen of some small breed,
or an indifferent cross. When exposed for sale the price
of the beast from the superior dam is asked before they
have had time to take up their position in the market,
while her comrade is as silently passed over as if her
presence was not recognised. The owner, however, I
will suppose, has the good sense not to separate them,
and eventually they are iold together by a struggle, the
buyer declaring that he only takes the middling one for
the sake of getting that which really suits him, the diffe-
rence in actual money value being probably not less than
five pounds. Eveiy practical man will at once acknow-
ledge the truth of this picture, and the value of the in-
ference which it is intended to convey. The science of
stock-breeding is much more abstruse than might readily
be imagined by taking merely a cursory view of the sub-
ject, hence the small number of men who have been dis-
tinguished in the history of agriculture as the founder of
a distinct breed, or even an offshoot or family from any
existing breed which, possessing hereditary qualities suflS-
ciently developed in the strain to give a fixity of type,
was acknowledged as valuable by the agricultural public,
and perpetuated accordingly. Unfortunately it is but too
common to see wealthy men giving large sums for highly
bred animals of both sexes, of some fashionable breed, so
as to form the nucleus of a stock which the owner destines
for the time being shall become celebrated. For a num-
ber of years the herd is kept up at great expense, but for
want of a correct knowledge of comparative physiology,
and consequent inability to pursue a fixed system which
will conduce to improve the already valuable qualities of
the stock, the high prices which were given for the parents
are not sustained when the oflspring come to be sold, and
the herd in consequence becomes a source of loss instead
of profit. As few men care about, or take an interest in
any business which is not self-supporting, shortly after it
has been ascertained that the balance is on the wrong
side, a public sale is announced, and the entire herd is
dispersed under the hammer of the auctioneer, the owner
again adopting the humbler but more certain style of
breeding pursued by ordinary farmers. If, however, few
men can lead, all, if willing, can follow, and self-interest
ought to be sufficiently strong in every man who breeds
cattle, to induce him to patronise, in so far as his means
will allow him, those breeders who show by continued
success that they possess taste, judgment, and practical
skill. I can conceive of no better investment on the part
of farmers who every year rear a considerable number of
calves, than the purchase of a bull from a celebrated herd.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

385

WINFRITH FARMERS' CLUB
TILLAGE AND SOIL.

At the last monthly meeting a paper was read by Mr. George
Groves, of Milborne St. Andrew, ou the Difference in Soil
and Tillage of Dorset and Hants.

Mr. Groves said, I shall confine ray remarks to the neigh-
bourhood of Christchurcli, in Hampshire, and to their mode of
cultivation twenty-five years ago, that being the tijne I lived
there. It is, I have no doubt, very much improved since that
time. It is a large parish, about eleven miles long by nine
wide, and it has a variety of soils, from the land that will blow
in summer like drifted snow to the very deep strong land tiiat
requires from three to four horses to plough it. I will first
speak of the light sandy soil. The best thing to consolidate it
is ten to twelve tons of chalk per acre. If you put twenty tons
per acre you would injure the land for several years. There is
more than one advantage derived from the application of chalk ;
you not only consolidate your land, but you prevent club-
rooting in tlie turnips grown on it after chalking, and destroy
a great many annual seeds, as Botham and Shepherd's Poucli,
to which this land is very suljject. It never requires more
than two horses to plough it, and in cleaning the fallows we
used the double-turn-furrow plough with three horses in it, with
whicli we average three acres per day, or an acre and a-liaif
for each turn-furrow. Tiiere being scarcely any thistles or
knap-weeds much larger furrows are taken than ou laud
which is subject to these weeds. This description of land is
generally managed on the four-course system — wheat, turnips,
barley, hay. Sometimes tlie hay-stubble is broken up, and
put into turnips ; and as the land is so kind for roots,
1 have seen splendid crops without superphosphate or any
other manure. It is then put into spring wheat or some Lent
corn crop as a change. Now in ploughing hay-stubble I have
found it wear out more points than any land on which I have
had any experience which is owing to its gritty nature. It
wears out as much as one point per day. In breaking up the
ley for wheat we never thought of raftering, as it made the
land too porous and light. Jlaftering, I believe, to be
injurious even in cleaning a foul piece of land, as the
short pieces of couch will be so mixed with the soil that no
amount of fine weather will kill it. In the cultivation ot bar-
ley, when the land has worked so unkindly as it does this year,
I have many times nine-shared it over again after the barley
has sprouted. I have drilled the corn and finished it oft' ; but
finding the laud too light after the grain has sprouted have torn
it up with the niue-share, and dressed it down again with the
best result. When my father left Avon in 1827 the incoming
tenant ploughed the laud much deeper than we did, and my
father thought that he had

Better be asleep
Than plough so deep ;
but I have lived long enough to see what poor Kichard wrote
is correct :

Plough deep while sluggards sleep,
And you shall have corn to sell and to keep.
At the present time Mr. Whicher, of Avon, plouglis his land
seven inches deep for wheat, the manure being pulled out se-
veral weeks before to grow into the land. The sheepfold does
a great deal of harm during the summer months, as this land
grows nothing but weeds after. To return to the cleaning of
the land, we found the Finlayson's harrow a very good imple-
ment, tt would not do to dress it too much wlien it was so
very loose, as the couch would work in instead of out of the
land. We never wanted anything to consolidate the wheat
land, as the rain in winter would get it firm enough. There
being a sort of crust formed over the soil in the spring, hoeing
worked wonders, but it was then an expensive operation.
There is now sucli a great improvement in the horse hoes ; an
old neighbour of mine told me that instead of paying 4s. or 5s.
per acre, as he used to do he could now do fifteen acres a day
with two old hack horses. This, we must all admit, can be
done at a very trifling expense. Where the land is liiUy it
stands at a great disadvantage for hoeing, as the lower part
will go so deep and the upper part barely touch, I recollect

when bones were first used in the neighbourhood. We had no
drill, but sowed tliem out of a seedlip, sowing them on every
other ridge. The result was very marked. Now for the
strong land. The best mineral I ever found for that was
marl. It is a sort of clay dug in the New Forest from the very
poorest soil I know. We used to put it on the land in the autumn
so that the frost may slack it. When it is thus pulverised it
can be much more evenly distributed and its action is more be-
neficial. We put on from twenty to twenty -five tons per acre.
Tire crops told of its application for more than twenty years.
Tlie cropping ou the strong land was much tlie same as on the
light land, only a summer fallow instead of turnips. Now,
gentlemen, you must excuse me for being such an old-fashioned
fellow as to think that a good deep fallow ploughed at least
four times in the summer will, on the average of seasons, grow
a better piece of wheat tlian after turnips, rape, or anything
else. I used to think it assisted the tillage of the fallow land
very much if the wheat, instead of being hewn or mown was
reaped very high, as it would make it work so very mellow.
With the reaping-machines you can leave the stubble six iuciies
high, but I have found if you go very much hiaher the sheaf
will not be thrown out so evenly. Now for the meadow laud.
The river Avon rises above Salisbury, and from Fording-
bridge to Christchurcli, fifteen miles, the meadows are very
poor, so raucli so tliat tlie stock fed on the hay beconrie
covered with lice. The rivers Avon and Stour join
just below Christchurcli ; about one and a half mile before
they empty themselves into the sea. Now this poorness of the
land watered by the Avon I attribute to that stream rising, or
being fed, from heath land ; and it is a very strange thing that
when the Stour is frozen over on the top enough to bear a man
on horseback, the Avon is not frozen on the top but at the
bottom, and the ice is just about the same thickness as the ice
on the Stour ; and when there is a thaw it will break up
exactly at the same time as the other. It has often puzzled
me to know the cause. Now the river Stour, which you all
know runs close to Blandford, has very much better meadows
from there to Christchurcli than from Salisbury to Christ-
church, the latter being watered by the Avon. Even the fish
find the diflereuce in the waters of these rivers. Sometimes in
a high tide from the sea the jack will be killed two miles np
the Stour, but not in the Avon. The eels are much better
eating from the Avon than from the Stour. I have heard that,
many years ago, the salmon were so plentiful in the river Avon
that one stipulation made by the labourers with the farmers
when they entered service was that they should not have red
fisli oftener than twice-a-week. And I believe that they would
be just as plentiful now if they would do away with the corn
mills. I have seen the salmon spawning. They move the small
stones with their noses and tails until one fish will sometimes
get an accumulation of two or three cartloads in one heap
under which the spawn is buried. These mills prevent the
salmon from going up to spawn, and the eel stages catcli the
small ones as they journey down to the sea. When Sir Walter
Tyrrel shot Rufus in the New Forest, in his fright he made
his escape over the farm now held by Mr. H. Bone, and after-
wards over the river Avon. From that time it has been called
Tyrrel's Ford, and a fine of a few shilling.^ was inflicted by the
Crown on all who may hold that part of the river. I am
aware that this is a digression from my subject, but I thought
the matter interesting and may be new to some of you. As
regards the soil and tillage in Dorset it is, perhaps, best for me
to leave it in your hands as you know as much, and probably
more about it than I do myself. But one thing is indispen-
sable to good tillage, and that is to have the best and most
improved implements. We never hear anything about tlie
Bentall now since Bartlett, of Wimborne, has brought out a
better, and at the same time a lighter implement. There is
another implement in this neighbourhood for pulverizing the
soil. I cannot think how any farmer can be without it — this
is what I terra the rubber. If it cost as many pouuds as it
does shillings ; in fact, if it was dear bought and far-fetched,
every one would have it, There are so many other implements

386

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

that it is difficult to tell whicli is the best ; but, in my opinion,
if you wish to move the land effectually there is nothing like
the plough. I think, if you wish to save yourself a deal of
trouble aud labour in cleaning your fallows for turnips, you
must not be in too great a hurry to dress it after it is ploughed,
nor to plough it too quickly after it is couched, as it is the
small pieces which the couch-rake will not take. Being
ploughed in again they grow and undo much which has been
done. After the chain-harrow the common harrow should be
used, so that the sun may dry up the couch before it is ploughed
in again. I have never used the steam plough, but from what
I have seen of it it ought to be dressed out directly after or it
will grow again, unless it is very dry weather. Autumn culti-
vation is all very well in fine weather, but almost useless in
wet. As regards breaking of stubbles, if your land is ever so
clean, I should advise a rafter as it makes the land so much
more mellow the following summer, consequently better for
any roots you may think proper to put in. The Scotch system
IS in favour with some in this county ; but I am of opinion
that, from six o'clock till two, horses, if they are properly kept
at work, will do a very good day's work, and if you keep them
more than eight hours at work it is the horsedealer who reaps
the benefit and not you.

Mr. J. A. Damen knew but very little of the mode of
farming in Hants, but he could quite understand that it was
not desirable to knock about the light lands there too much.
On the sandy land of Dorset they would find that if they were
heavy they got no wheat. They wanted more staple in the
land, and for that purpose ought to fold sheep and lay on as
much manure as possible. So far as the implements were
concerned, he must say he could not agree witli Mr. Groves
that they ought to avail themselves of every new invention.
He thought that if they lived long enough they would find
many of the old implements brought into use again. He was
now goiug back to the old Dorset drag, and he believed the
old wood harrow was the best implement for working land for
all purposes. It was true the modern harrow left a beautiful
surface, but it did not do its work so well as as he wished, and
he should therefore return to the old wooden one. He at-
tended the sale at Mr. Parquharson's farm, and there found
that the Scotchman who managed it bore out his opinion as to
the advantage of having these old-fashioned implements, and
he thought everyone would give liim credit for managing the
farm well in that district.

Mr. Marke said the principal part of his arable land was
very strong. If he could afford it he should like to summer
tallow all his land for wheat, and to use a fair proportion of
hme. He thought lime upon strong land was a most valuable
manure as it pulverised the soil so effectually. He had used
some, and for six or eight years afterwards he could find the
benefit of it where he had lived. Two years ago they had a
very dry summer, and the consequence was that the seeds were
very bad. In the spring of 1870 he limed a piece of strong
land, about 26 acres, for barley. He sowed the barley, and
ploughed in the hme. He had uo grass seed worth putting an
liurdle on with the exception of that piece, and there he had a
very fair plot ; in fact so good that he was able to cut a crop of
hay last summer, and to save the seeds. He could only at-
tribute that result to the lime he had used. He used about 40
sacks to an acre. As regarded the management ot the hill
land, he might say that as the harvest was so late it was a
dilhcult matter to do much in autumn cultivation unless they
had a season on purpose. In the autumn of 1870 they could
do something, but in that of 1871 they could do nothing • in
fact worse than nothing, for those who attempted to do any-
thing last summer in cleaning their hill land made the couch
grow. He quite agreed with Mr. Groves that rafting was the
best plan they could adopt in cases where land was strong and
the harvest late. The plan he adopted when he had much
couch was to raft first of all, and, before Christmas, if the
couch was dry enough, to plough it in, then raft and turn it
oyer again, eaving the laud to dry during the winter, and in

£er^"?A J,' ^"J"^. '=°'' '^ \' ^°^'^^'l ^ fortnight'or three weeks
later. He thought no land would pay better for manure than
grass land. Let sheep be kept on corn land as much as possi L
giving them plenty of artificials, but where there was a ar-e
portion of grass land he advocated the using of good farm-vaH

had hmed, he said perhaps some people would like to know
what crop he had ofgraiu and stubble, as that summer was

such a dry one People might think that lime dried the land
too much, and that he did not have much straw or corn but
he could assure them that the straw was more than an averase
crop and the barley was some of the best quality on his farm

Mr. Sly said that most of the laud he had under tillage was
invested with bogs, so that deep ploughing was impossible, but
he had always found that to answer the best. He had chalked
SIS acres of land, with aboat 20 loads per acre, leaving one
half-acre unchalked to see the difference. He planted man-
gold, and had a very good crop where he chalked— some of the
roots being as big round as his body-while those in the unchalked
piece were about the size of a hen's egg. He believed rafting
was the best way of disposing of couch. Speaking about
salmon, he said mills did not obstruct or injure fish, but the
bog water poisoned all that came near it. If ever they hoped
to get salmon in the Frome there ought to be a drain on each
side of the hill to carry off the bog- water into the sea.

Mr. R.\jJDALL knew nothing about the H;ampshire mode of
farming, but was acquainted with that of Dorset. Mr.
Groves had spoken of rafting land. Some people thought the
best way was to rafter and roll, aud rafter again. His plan was
to rafter, dress fine, rafter across, dress again, and plough deep.
The Chairman was not a great advocate for rafting ; he
preferred ploughing the couch in deep, and letting it remain
to rot. The farming of Hants and Dorset differed very much.
He thought that in many parts of Hampshire sheep throve
much better than in Dorset, whether it was owing to the
chmate he could not say. Then again in Hampshire sainfoin
was grown, which could not be grown so well in Dorset. He
quite agreed with Mr. Groves as to chalking land. He thought
it possible that in land of a sandy nature the use of too much
chalk would prove injurious. As to the use of implements,
tliey ought to avail themselves of the best which could be had.
There were many places in which the double plough might
be used with advantage, but where it had not been introduced.
On many farms the old wood-tackle answered much better
than the new implements, which simply went over the surface,
and did not give deep tillage. He could not say much about
marhng land. If they could get rid of the heath-water they
would be better off without it than with it. When fish did
not thrive in a stream where heath-water discharged itself, it
showed there was something in it they did not like, and he had
no doubt it was injurious to vegetation as well. The day was
come when it was the duty of agriculturists to grow as much
as they possibly could, and this could not be done unless they
had good manures ; and he thought they could not do better
than to use those which had been well tried. He believed
the time was come when manufacturers ought to be required
to give some guarantee of the manures they sold, as then
farmers would know what they were buying.

Mr. Sly mentioned an instance of where an ox died in a few
hours from drinking bog- water,

Mr. Groves was sorry all the Club had agreed with him so
well, as they had not given him room to sav much more.
There were many things which kept a farmer's nose down,
but the greatest curse was that of game. He had had reason
to say this many years ago, but he was thankful he now rented
under a landlord who was very liberal in that respect, allowing
him the shooting over his farm. As to an observation that
rabbits would not eat beans, he was not aware that there was
anything which the " villains " would not eat, and he was very
pleased indeed now to find that there was something. He
wished to ask Mr. Sly what sort of beans he planted— winter
beans, spring beans, or French beans. For the last two years
he had planted broad beans upon a small scale, and had now
increased the crop to six acres. He believed that a better
crop could be got from the broad AVindsor bean than from any
other kind. He quite agreed with Mr. Randall in raft;ing land
in Dorset twice and ploughing the couch in deep, believing
that if the land was strong there would not be much trouble
with it afterwards. Their chairman had said that manures
ought to be guaranteed, and he quite agreed with him. If
Farmers' Clubs had done no other good they had done this —
they had brought a better class of manure into their neigh-
bourhoods since they had got them analysed. Although larger
crops of swedes could be grown in Hampshire than in Dorset,
he doubted very much if the quality was anything like so good.
Of this, however, he was sure, that if they could be grown
without manure they would be much better in quality,
A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Groves.

THE FABMER'S MAGAZINE.

387

DORCHESTER FARMERS' CLUB.

THE ANALYSIS OF MANURES.

At the closing meeting of the session, the vice-president, Mr.
R. Genge, in the chair,

Mr. W. C. Sf OONEE had thought that the announcement
of the subject would liave certainly excited some little interest
at this period of the year, because every farmer must acknow-
ledge that for the average of seasons agriculturists were very
much indebted to phosphates — of which he (Mr. Spooner) was
about to speak tliat evening. But he supposed that owing to
the great luxuriance of the crops, the mildness of the season,
and tlie superabundance of feed, cultivators were rather dis-
gusted, and were beginning ro think that their requirements
would have been met if they had not had these phos-
phates. Although by no means agreeing with the doctrine
that it was necessary all farmers should be chemists, yet lie
could not help thinking that any small amount of knowledge
gained from a single lecture on some subject bordering on che-
mistry, or rather allied to both chemistry and agriculture, must
be of some value, if even it only set minds thinking and turn-
ing over the subject during leisure time at home. With this
view, and considering the time of the year, he had thought
that the subject of phosphates would be acceptable to the
Club. It would be a matter of some little interest to give a
short cursory account of the introduction of different manures,
and the wonderful change it had made in the pursuit of farm-
ing. Prior to the present century, everything relating to cause
and effect, the why and wherefore, was completely dark and a
mystery, and for some years any attempt at elucidation only
served, like a will-o'-the-wisp, to lead astray. Chemists were
then in possession of very few facts, and reasoning from those
and without others afterwards discovered, their minds were
naturally led astray ; their writings in many instances leading
others wrong as well. Long after the importance of bones as
a manure for swedes and turnips became first known it was a
matter of doubt as to which part of the constituents the benefit
manifested was principally due. It was very true that turnips,
swedes, and other crops grown but sparingly at that time
would grow in many instances as well without manures as they
had since with them ; but that was because of the long inter-
vals of rest between the cultivation of the crops. It was gene-
rally considered by chemists that the benefit was derived
chiefly from the animal or nitrogenous part of the bones. Tliey
were led to this view of the case from finding that the per
centage of phosphate of lime found in turnips was compara-
tively small aud less than in wheat and other cereals. When
the dogma was attempted to be introduced by chemists, and
which he (Mr. Spooner) had always opposed from the earliest
days in which he paid attention to the subject, viz., that the
principles of manuring should be to supply those constituents
which analysis showed were taken away by the crops, it was
held as a sort of sub-theory, " Phosphates for grain, ammonia
for roots." But Nature had rebuked both those theories.
Science had stepped in explaining the why and the wherefore,
and chemists were sent back to their books again ; for it was
found in practice that the art of manuring was to supply that
manure which would produce the best crops. So far from
phosphate for gram and ammonia for roots being the correct
thing it was just the contrary. It was in the early part of the
present century that bones were introduced into the north of
England ; then it was extended to the south, he believed, about
the year 1830. Some years afterwards a great revolution took
place, for about the same time that Peruvian guano was in-
troduced and many other guanos were brought over, tlie use of
super-phosphate was discovered. Peruvian guano, although
for a gieat many years previous to its introduction into this
country had been applied in the neighbournood where it was
discovered, Peru, yet it did not at first become a matter of
commerce, for but a small quantity was brought over, which
was sold at £20 per ton. He could mention several varieties
that were introduced, and oliserved that during the period
in question the use of manufactured superphosphate of
lime was not adopted to a great extent, A great many

years ago he had in a little box a sample of one of the
guanos ; he was showing it to a friend in the High-street,
Southampton, when some other friend, who was an inveterate
snuff-taker, displayed the spirit of freemasonry by taking a
tremendous pinch, enough for four sniffs, after which he said he
would not give Is. a-pound for it, for it was nothing but
common Scotch, and for aught he (Mr. Spooner) knew
to the contrary that gentleman went to his grave with the
impression that he had had on the occasion mentioned a
pinch of very inferior snuff. That circumstance did not say
much for the power of discernment which persons
possessed wlien habituated to taking snuff. Guanos
were much used, and were of very great utility, one reason
being that the phosphates were in a much more soluble state
than when found in bones and other materials. After they
had been pretty well used up the discovery of phosphates took
place in various parts of the world. Previous to this copro-
lites were discovered in several places, amongst them Suffolk
and Cambridgeshire. He would here exhibit a specimen of
the Suffolk coprolite. It was supposed to be the remains of
some antediluvian animal, the appearance of a rib being very
defined. There could not, he thought, be any doubt as to its
being the bone of one of the extinct animals. These coprolites
were found in large quantities. A specimen which he ex-
liibited contained, he said, 50 per cent, of phosphate of lime,
while in the Cambridgeshire coprolite it was 60 per cent.
They were used to a very large extent with bones; but
soon afterwards other more valuable phosphates were dis-
covered. German phosphate (from Germany), containing from
65 to 70 per cent, of phosphate of lime was introduced. Then
there were very rich Spanish phosphates containing from 70 to
80 per cent. Such phosphates were found in Estremadura ; tliese
were taken to Lisbon and then shipped. Still more valuable
specimens came from Sombrero, an island of the West Indies.
One of the latter was shown ; it contained apparently a large
number of shells. This had something like 70 per cent, of
phosphate of lime, sometimes more, according to the freedom
from water or otherwise. It would thus be seen that there wasa
considerable difference in the value of phosphates. That very
interesting substance now in question, found by the Americans,
was used in considerable quantities ; it was first ground up
in New York in order to renovate the exhausted soils of the
Southern States. When the British flag was hoisted and the
island was shown to be one of our possessions, some thousands
of tons were brought over ; he himself had used a considerable
quantity, because it had the great advantage of being free
from silica, and the phosphate was of an extremely valuable
kind. It was an interesting fact of which, perhaps, they were
not aware, that most of our lucifer matches were made from
this rock from the island of Sombrero ; it was reduced to a
liquid, then filtered and evaporated, and the phosphorus was
then made from it. He could not help thinking it was in a
remote measure attributable to that rock that we had to pay
2d. in the £ more income-tax, for in consequence of the
matchmakers frightening Mr. Lowe he withdrew the match-
tax and put 2d. more on the income-tax. He should always
think of that when he saw Sombrero phosphate. There were
other sources from which phosphates came ; in Norway there
was a good specimen, but its importance into this country
had ceased to be profitable. There was guano from Navassa,
in the West Indies, which was similar to the German phos-
phate, and contained from 65 to 70 per cent, of phosphate of
lime. Tlie variety of sources from which phosphates could
be obtained was very fortunate, because it was impossible
that bones could supply — he was going to say one-tenth— at
any rate one-quarter the demand for phosphate. A con-
siderable quantity of burnt bone had been imported from
South A.merica ; this was very valuable. The bones were
used as fuel and the fat extracted from the carcases. The
importance of the phosphate was shown by its entering into
the composition of all animal bodies, and gave stability to

D P 2

388

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

the bones, that in its deficiency cliildren were ricketty and
unhtalthy. It also fulfilled to a great extent the same
purpose iu plants, it mainly assisted in forming their skeleton
and largely contributed to their utility as food for animals. It
could not, therefore, be surprising to find that it was an im-
portant element in the supply of plant food, and particularly
in the form of artificial manures. Phosphate of lime was per-
sent in almost all soils, but in very small quantities and in a
comparatively insoluble, or rather iu a sparingly soluble state.
In the few instances where it abounds, as in the green sand,
the soil is so enriched with it that the addition of phosphate of
lime in manures has no sensible effect. This showed how
wrong it is to state that insoluble phosphate is of no value.
The presence of minute quantities of phosphate of lime in
most soils is in striking contrast to the presence of potash,
which is found wherever alumina is present, and exists to a
much larger extent in most soils than does phosphate of lime.
In some soils there is no less than four to six tons to the acre,
reckoned only to the depth of five inches. This readily ex-
plains the fact that the direct application of potash is by no
means attended with the same success as that of phosphate of
lime, although in the ashes of most plants potash is found
existing to a much larger extent, and is consequently taken up
in the produce in a much larger degree. Iu the crust of the
earth, which forms the cultivated soil, potash is found to a very
large extent, whilst phosphate of lime exists much more
sparingly. On the other hand, in the various sources of sup-
ply furnished by rocks or natural salts, potash is only present
to a very moderate degree ; thus kainit or potash salts, almost
the only natural supply, only exists to the amount of about 13
or 14 per cent., whilst phosphate of lime is found in various
rocks and fossils in such abundance as from 50 to 80 per cent.
[Mr. Spooner exhibited examples of phosphates containing
large per-centages.] These were consequently available for
manufacturing purposes ; if it were only found to the same
extent as potash is found in kainit it would be useless for the
purposes of manufacturing. In the crust of the earth altoge-
ther potash is far more abundant than phosphate of lime, for
besides its presence in such prevalent rocks as granite and
felspar, it exists in soils to a far greater extent. Thus, on
looking over some analyses of soils he found, calculating a
depth of five inches, which would give about 500 tons to the
acre, potash to the amount of four and six tons, whilst phos-
phoric acid on the same soils he only found at the rate of one-
third or one-fourth of a ton. Then it should be borne in mind
that although some potash is carried away in the carcases of
animals, by far the larger portion is returned in the dung, whilst
with phosphate of lime a considerable portion is carried away
in the bones of animals. In a rotation of four crops the potash
taken away is restored by the 20 tons of dung that is usually
given during this period, for dung contains nearly as much
potash as phospliate of lime, so that 20 tons contains nearly
3 cwt. of either constituent. Bone earth was a tribasic phos-
phate composed of lime and phosphoric acid ; but the latter
was not a simple body, seeing that it was composed of phos-
phorus, an inflammable metal, and the gas oxygen which
formed the vital part of air, and which abounded throughout
nature. Agricultural chemists had been puzzled very much,
particularly in the early days of the science. For instance,
they found in the ashes of turnips a much greater quantity of
potash than of phosphorus, and they jumped to the conclusion
that the former was the essential manure until practice proved
the contrary. Now the ordinary state in which the phosphates
are found in soils and rocks is that of a tribasic — that is, that
one part of phosphoric acid is united to three parts or equiva-
lents of lime, and in this state it is fortunately insoluble, other-
wise a portion would be washed away by every rain. Before,
therefore, it can become food for plants it is necessary that
this insolubility should be reduced, and this is done by means
of the carbonic and other vegetable acids thst are to be found
in the soil. In the preparation of superphosphate of lime a
very strong acid is used, such as sulphuric, which is the
strongest acid known ; and the effect of this is that after a cer-
tain portion has acted on the carbonate of lime, uniting with
the latter and setting free the former, whicli is the cause of
the strong ebullition or boiling up we observe, the remainder
of the acid decomposed the pliosphate of lime — that is, unites
with two parts of lime out of three, leaving the one part com-
bined witii tlie whole of the phospiioric acid. We have as the
result sulphate of lime or gypsum from the union of tlie sul-

phuric acid and the lime, which is only of moderate value, and
is comparatively insoluble ; and we have also the more valu-
able acid phosphate of lime, the peculiarity of which is that it
is perfectly soluble, and to which the value of the manure is
principally due. There is, however, some portion of the phos-
phate of lime not dissolved, because if sufficient acid were used
to dissolve the whole of the phosphate, the manure would be
too wet, and would require the addition of drying materials,
which would add to the weight without adding to the value
WeU, when superphosphate was first applied to the soil it was
naturally thought that its benefit was due to its solubility. It
was found, however, that the soiU which benefited most by its
use were those which most quickly rendered the superphosphate
comparatively insoluble, such as those in which carbonate of
lime abounded, and which quickly united with the acid. The
good effect of superphosphate was due chiefly to the infinite
divisibility of the phosphate of lime, which even when pre-
cipitated in the soil became reduced and divided to an infinitely
greater extent than any mechanical means could accomplish,
besides which the solubility of the phosphate in the first
instance caused the rain to distribute it through the soil,
where it met the carbonate of lime, by which it again became
reduced. His own connection with guanos and superphos-
phates, which had greatly increased the resources of agricul-
ture, was of some considerable duration. In the year 184i
he was making some experiments, with regard to superphos-
phate, on a little farm which he held, and he paid considerable
attention to the subject. The same year the Royal Agricul-
tural Society offered a prize for the best essay on the use of
aeid and bones, for the term " superphosphate" was not adopted
at that period. He contended for the prize, and was fortunate
enough to win it. He received letters on the subject from
many persons in different parts of the country. The first
mode of manufacture was of a very rough description. A
cask of treacle mistaken for superphosphate, and the sweet
liquid, pronounced to be " the real thing itself," being applied
instead of the manure to the soil. That was about the first
mistake made ; he did not know that it was the last. Great
improvement in the manufacture had since taken place. He
had no f'anlt to find with the analysis except that from some
cause, accident or carelessness, their own (Messrs. Spooner's)
standard article, of which they sold ten times the quan-
tity of any other manure they vended, was not analysed
at all, but in its stead the mixture of rough bones and
acid similar to that first made, or that which farmers often pre-
pare themselves ; and although its composition is excellent, and
its results always good, it is not a good mechanical mixture, and
if analysed and valued as superphosphate it will be under esti-
mated. That was unfortunate for them. He recommended that
on another occasion the real standard article as supplied by the
manufacturers should be tested, and that if there were any others
explanations should be submitted to the chemist. Wit h regard
to the values attached to the manures by the analytical chem-
ists, he thought that if less importance were attached to that
the better it would be. Their (Messrs. Spooner's) standard
article, the bone superphosphate, had been analysed many
times, and he could justly say that in two instances out of
three it had stood the highest on the list of the published
analyses. He submitted that the chemists had first to ascer-
tain the cost from the manufacturers, as they knew nothing
themselves about the prices ; therefore the figures which they
give were unreliable, and calculated to mislead. He suggested
that membej-s of Farmers' Clubs should be able to understand
and estimate an analysis for themselves.

Mr. Chapman Saunders said they all knew well enough
that as a rule they coald not do without phosphates ; but he
might mention that he had seen roots as large as a jug grown
this year without any manure whatever— he referred to a piece
of swedes, not less than 25 tons per acre, in the neighbour-
hood of Christchurch. But then that practice would not
answer always, especially in this part of the country. Mr.
Spooner had said so mucli on the subject of phosphates that it
was unnecessary to dwell upon it. He would, however, offer
a few remarks on the question of analysing manures, for the
responsibilities of the analysis which had recently taken place
under the auspices of the Club rested upon himself. He was
sorry that Messrs. Spooner's superphosphate was not included
in the manures sent for analysis ; but that was expkiued by
the simple fact that it was not entered, inasmuch as he did
not receive a specimen from anybody. He did not agree with

THE FARMJSR'S MAGAZINE.

389

Mr. Spooner with respect to the valuation of manures. It
was most essential, he considered, that the chemists should put
the values upon them, for there were very few farmers who
understood tliem so well as the chemists. The latter found
out the iliirerent constituents, and therefore were the best in-
formed, being enabled more fully and fairly than the farmer to
fix the values. When farmers became well versed iu chemistry
the case would of course be diiferent.

Mr. Saunders, sen. : The time has come when every farmer
ought to be a chemist.

Sir. Genge said lie was glad that Mr. Spooner had been
afforded the opportunity of expressing his ideas with respect
to the analysis made for the club ; for he (Mr. Spooner)
thought — and perhaps he had good ground for tliiuking so—
that his firm had hardly had justice done to them. He did
not agree with Mr. Spooner that the (|uestion of value should
be left out entirely by the chemist. It was becoming a prac-
tice in the present day (one which he hoped would be fostered)
for manure merchants to send a guaranteed analysis with the
manure supplied. If farmers could, from reading such analysis,
judge whether the manure was good, it would be of great
advantage. Mr. Spooner, he thought, would agree with him
that such knowledge would be of great benefit. He (Mr.
Genge) could see no unfairness in the chemist putting value
upon the manures which lie analysed, especially as they were
selected with the greatest impartiality. To analyse a manure
prwared for the purpose would hardly be fair.

Mr. Spooner: Take some standard article— our manure
that was analysed was not such.

Mr. Genge : It was unfortunate that your dissolved bone,
and not your superphosphate, was sent.

Mr. Spooner regarded the fat in bones of very little value
indeed to the soil. Respecting the good swedes grown without
manure, it was on land in which phospliates abounded, and it
was an exception to the rule, and if persons followed ex-
ceptions instead of rules they would probably in the long-run
make mistakes. As to the values of manures attached by the
analytical chemists, he would ask whether one did not, iu the
recent analysis, value a certain manure at double the figure
given by another chemist.

Mr. Chapman Saunders observed that was hardly the
case, and explained that while one chemist valued the manure
in question at lOs., the other put the value at " less than " SOs.

Mr. Spooner said that was sufficient to show the looseness
with which the valuations were often made in the chemical
laboratory. For his own part, he should not apply to a phy-
sician to decide a question of law, nor if he was sick should
he go to a judge or barrister.

The argument of Mr. Spooner was disputed, but he made
still further remarks in upholding it, submitting that in the
valuation given by some chemists, although refused to be given
by others, they required so much explanation, and were so apt
to mislead, that the evil, as a rule, preponderated over the good.

A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Spooner,

BRECONSHIEE CHAMBER OF AGEICULTURE.
THE POOE LAW.

At the last monthly meeting the Rev. Garnons Williams
presided.

The Secretary reported that he had gone through
the books, with a view to ascertaining the financial position of
the Ciiaraber, and had found that there were arrears of sub-
scriptions out-standing amounting to £56 10s., iu respect of
the year 1871, and for 1873, £29 5s., or a total of £85 15s.,
of which he had since received the sum of £6 15s. There
must of necessity be a large portion of the amount mentioned
which never would and never could be got in ; and he suggested
that a small committee should be appointed to go through the
list with a view to taking steps for the recovery of such of the
subscriptions as weie likely to be got iu, and the elimination
from the list of " subscribers" of the names of those whose
subscriptions might be thought to be irrecoverable. It was
understood that the duty referred to would be relegated to the
auditors.

The CnAiRMAN moved the following resolution on the sub-
ject of local taxation : " That in the opinion of this Chamber
many of the charges now made under the Poor-rate Assess-
ment ought to be transferred to funds raised by Imperial taxa-
tion ; but that such transfer will not jestify the continuance of
the exemption from the Poor-rate Assessment of income
arising from personal property" — which was unanimously
carried.

Colonel Bridgwater moved the following resolution :
" That in the opinion of this Chamber the agricultural interest
is entitled to relief in the matter of the Malt-tax"— which was
unanimously carried.

The Chairman moved : " That the principle of the new
Poor-law, making in-door relief the rule and out-door relief
the rare exception, ought to be adhered to ; that legislation is
required to give Boards of Guardians greater facilities for
carrying out this principle ; and that the whole system of poor
relief needs revision." This was a subject to which he had given
a great deal of attention ; and he knew of none of greater
social interest.^He entirely agreed with the principle laid down
in the new Poor-law Act with regard to the dispensation of
relief — namely, that such relief should principally be given in
the house and not out of it. Many a long year had passed
away since then ; yet what was the result ? Why, the very
reverse of that. Take the whole country through, and it
would be found that this was so. Most of the relief was given
out of the house and not in it. In some cases there were no poor-

houses at all iu Unions, as, for instance, in this county, in the
union of Builth ; and it was a strange anomaly that whereas
the law could compel Boards of Guardians where there was a
poor-house, to enlarge it, or constantly to alter it, it liad no
power whatever to compel a Union, where there was no poor-
house, to build one. Of course where there was no poor-house
there could be no in-door relief; but how was it with regard
to those unions where there was a poor-house. As he had said
before, the fact was clear and patent that out-door relief was
more and more given, and in-door relief less and less, thereby
utterly contravening the principle of the Poor-law Act. It
would be said, perhaps, " Well, the spirit of the law being in
the direction of giving in-door rather than out-door relief, it
must be the fault of the Gaurdians that the contrary practice
is the more generally adopted. Why don't they carry out the
law ?" Well, one might call " spirits from the vasty deep ;"
but would they come when one did call for them ? The
Guardians, it was true, had the power to order this or that
person, or this or that familv, into the workhouse, but they had
no power to compel obedience with that order. They could
put the Board at utter defiance in that respect ; and as — if
they were in need — the Guardians were absolutely bound to
relieve them, they had no alternative left to them but, where
the parties declined to go into the house, to give them out-
door relief. This was the state of the case at present : and he
did think that some legislation was needed on the matter. He
did think that, first of all, our poor-houses should be placed in
thorough order and made comfortable (as, in point of fact, they
were obliged to be by the law of the laud at the present time),
and when that was done he could see no hardship at all in
relieving persons in the house rather than by out-door relief ;
he thought also that Boards of Guardians ought to have more
extended powers given them for carrying out the law, so as to
be able to enforce the acceptance of in-door relief where
thought to be desirable, deeming it to be a great misfortune to
have the law a dead letter as it now was in the respect he had
mentioned. He knew that tliere was a good deal of prejudice
against the work-house, and he was not there to say there was
not cause for it some years ago ; but he did not think there
was any cause for it now, and he did think that good and
benevolent people, who had really fostered that feeling amongst
the poor, would be doing great good if they would encourage
the poor who were in want to enter the liouse, and so, instead
of hindering the law, to help it to be carried into effect.

390

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

There was one thing that he thought was needed with regard
to Poor-law administration more than anything else,
and that was more supervision. Boards of Guardians
wanted to know more about every case that was brought be-
fore them ; yet it was utterly and absolutely impossible for an
over-worked relieving-ofticer, who had a large district, to find
out all about every case in that district. In illustratiou of
his argument of the need of a more strict supervision, the rev.
president pointed to the system of poor relief adopted in
Elberfeld, Germany. There, districts are allotted to certain
of the Guardians, who are termed district visitors ; to each
sucli visitor is assigned the overlooking of four families of
those who, if need should arise, would be entitled to receive
relief, and it is the duty of the district visitors to inquire
minutely and particularly into the circumstances of each of
those families ; to find work for such members of them as
can work and are not employed, and in case of their becoming
distressed, to find out those of their relatives who are in a
position to help them. In this way, and through this excel-
lent system of supervision, the number of persons in receipt of
relief was wondrously reduced, the result being that, whereas
ten years ago, when the population stood at 50,000, the city
was so steeped in poverty that eight per cent, of tlie population
were in receipt of relief from the local rates, Elberleld was
now one of the most flourishing cities in Germany, only two
per cent, of the population being in receipt of relief, although
the total population had greatly increased during the decade.
This Elberfeld system had attracted considerable attention, and
Mr. Doyle, one of the most experienced officials of the Local
Government Board, and a gentleman well known to Mr.
Downes, was sent over by the Government to inquire into and
report upon the system. He had accordingly done so, and had
published a pamphlet on the subject, wliich would well repay
perusal. He did not at all say that this same system could be
carried out in England ; he did not say that what was suited for
Germany was suited for England, or even that what was suited
for a single town was suited for a whole country. At the same
time, what he had stated as to the Elberfeld system served to
show us how much we needed a more extended system of
supervision — how Boards of Guardians needed to know more
about every case that was brought before them ; for he said
again it was utterly impossible for relieving officers, with the
hundreds of cases they had under their charge, to investigate
every single case. The subject was a very grave one ; it was
one that would have to be solved ere long, because the out-
door relief system was increasing ; and yet, as many of those
present would know, there were numbers of poor persons who
were worse off than paupers and still had to pay rates. Here,
on the other hand, was the city of Elberfeld, which, once a
miserable, wretched place to live in, was now a happy and
prosperous city, though the rates had become, a mere tithe of
what they were.- It was no kindness to give people money to
be idle ; it was far greater kindness to find them work, as
work was found for them in Elberfeld ; and he was sure of
this, that those who were really deserving, and those who were
really in want, would get more than they did under the present
system if the Guardians knew more about them, and if they
could investigate their cases more than they were able to do
now. The idle and the dissolute would then be made to work,
and that, he thought, would be a great boon to the whole
community.

Mr . DowNES, in seconding the resolution, said the guardians
of the Brecon union had lately been compelled to lay out
£1,800 on their poor-house, and he was sure he did not know,
under present circumstances, whether it was likely to be a
quarter filled. He would be only too pleased, lor his own
part, to see fewer paupers in receipt of out-relief; but the law,
while it really preferred indoor relief, would not give the
guardians power to insist on the acceptance of the relief in
that form, and to order them into the house. When a person
came before the board, and the guardians gave him the option
of going into the house, lie exercised the option the other
way, so that the relieving officer had either to give him out-
relief, or have, it might be, to be indicted for manslaughter,
which he (the speaker) considered a very hard case. The
truth was, boards of guardians were altogether too much under
the finger of the Local Government Board. If one of the
officers of a board trespassed, they could not dismiss him with-
out first submitting the case to the before-mentioned Board
and obtaining their sanction. As far as he was concerned, he

would be glad to see the poor rates done away with. In his
opinion, the poor were the property of the nation ; why,
therefore, should not the nation support them ? He would be
pleased indeed to see the poor supported from the property
and income tax. Let the fundholder be brought in to assist,
who now did not contribute a single copper to their mainte-
nance. The rates were increasing ; and, unfortunately, their
respected friend, the president, as the chairman, and himself
as vice-chairman, of the board of guardians, could not keep
them down ; they did all they possibly could, but it was quite
out of their power. If, however, an alteration could be
brought about in the present Poor Law, he had no doubt the
rates would be considerably lowered. He would be pleased to
see a larger number of paupers put into the house, and a
smaller number receiving relief, believing that that would be
considerably to the benefit of the ratepayers, and he had no
doubt a great advantage also to the poor recipients themselves.

The resolution was carried.

Major Conway Lloyd moved, that the vagrancy laws
needing amendment, it was desirable, in the opinion of this
Chamber, that vagrants should be placed more under the
supervision of the police than at present. Brecon suifered a
great deal from the number of vagrants and tramps who
passed through the county. They were, he might say, a
nuisance, and although he believed the Vagrancy Act was
sufficiently stringent, if carried out, to prevent their travelling
through the country, yet it had not been carried out in Bre-
conshire. Having, therefore, the power to prevent the
tramping about of vagrants if only they would exercise it, it
was a mere matter of form to pass the resolution, though
there could be no objection to that being done, with a view to
strengthening the hands of the Central Chamber. But he did
know that in other counties where the Act was properly
carried out, the police be.'ug constituted the relieving officers
so far as vagrants were concerned, the number of tramps had
materially decreased. Speaking generally, and for the whole
country, the resolution was a most desirable one ; but speaking
for Breconshire alone, all that was wanted here was to put
the existing law in force. He did not at all know why it was
not put in force in Breconshire, and the president and himself
had arranged to bring forward this aspect of the matter at the
ensuing Quarter Sessions.

The Chairman said he thought the resolution a most
desirable one to carry. Legislation certainly was needed, be-
cause, although the police no doubt had authority even now
which might be exercised in a far greater degree than was the
case, and which he thought ought to be exercised to its full
extent, it was not to be forgotten that if tramps did come into
the Breconshire unions lodgings must be found for them. If
they were really in want, he was the last person in the world
to say that they should not have lodging and food ; but by far
the greater number of the tramps were the greatest scoundrels
in the kingdom. They were the people who committed the
robberies, who did the evil about the country, and, worse than
that, it was they who spread abroad smallpox and other con-
tagious diseases. Three times had they brought smallpox into
the Brecon union within the last twelve months. If, there-
fore, these people could be prevented going about the country
doing the evil they did it would be a great thing. The reso-
lution went to this — that tramps ought to be more under
police supervision than at present ; and he did think it would
have a very salutary effect if that class of people were taken
out of the hands of the guardians and placed entirely under
the control of the police, who, from the connection they
would be brought into with them, would often be able to place
their hands on members of the tramping tribe who had com-
mitted some robbery or other offence. Another good effect of
the transference of the control to the police would be this^
that the man who was a bad character and a vagabond would
naturally not care to apply to the police for his ticket of ad-
mission to the tramp ward, and so the trade of vagrancy
would be considerably checked in that way. Under these
circumstances, he felt it would be a most desirable thing that
vagrants should be placed more under the police. He could
have wished that the chief constable of Radnorshire was still
in the room, but he had left. He was one of the founders of
that institution, and, as he believed he had pretty nearly
driven the tramps out of Radnorshire, the Chamber would
probably have been glad to hear what he had to say.

Major Penky Lloyd, the chief constable of Radnorshire,

THE FARMER'S MAaAZINE.

391

explained, in reference to the " rooting out " of the tramps
from the county of Radnor, that when appointed to the post
of chief constable he had found the county over-run with
them. They were so numerous as to be a public nuisance,
and complaints were made on all hands. He looked into the
matter with a view to abating the nuisance, and found that
there was an engine already at hand in the Vagrancy Act,
which he immediately proceeded to put in force. He had
notices printed warning vagrants that the constables of the
county had strict orders to carry out the Act, and stating, for
their information, wliat were the penalties agains*^ vagrancy.
This he followed up by issuing strict orders to the men under
his command to apprehend all tramps and take them before
the magistrates. These orders were rigorously carried out,
and, as he was backed up by the magistrates, the number ot
tramps in the county was speedily and considerably reduced.
In Radnorshire, too, the police acted as relieving officers for
tramps in three out of tlie four unions in the county, and he
found from the returns that whereas in 1868 the number
relieved was 1,600, in 1869 it was 1,400 ; in 1870 it was

reduced to 756, aud in 1871 the number was as low as 45 0.
The number was being still reduced in a proportionate degree,
till at the close of the present year he believed it would be
found not to exceed 220. This was the effect of merely being
active in making use of the machinery already possessed by
the police, though it was owing, probably, to this very
activity that Breconshire was favoured with so large a propor-
tion of the tramping fraternity at the present time, because
no doubt they were very happy to come to a country where
they were not so sharply looked after. He really did think
that if the Vagrancy Act was vigorously carried out by the
pohce, backed up by the justices, it would be found to be a
complete remedy for vagrancy in a particular county. Of
course, being driven from one place, the tramps would transfer
their society to another, so that the Vagrancy Act was not,
perhaps, a remedy for the system in a national point of
view.

Mr. McTuRK proposed " That fresh sanitary legislation is
urgently needed, giving compulsory powers to local authorities
for the prevention of disease," which was put and carried.

PRAMLINGHAM FARMERS' CLUB.
THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURER.

At the March meeting the lecturer for the evening was
Mr. Charles I'isk, of the Corporation Farm, Whitton, and
the subject was represented in the following cpiestious : " By
what means is it possible to advance the position of the Agri-
cultural Labourer, so as to make him a more rehable and better
workman ? and. How far will such an improvement in the posi-
tion of the Labourer advance the business of the Agricultu-
rist?" Mr. Goodwyn Goodwyn was in the chair.

Mr. FiSK said : I will first make a few remarks on the present
aspect of the labour (piestion, as I must think, to a certain ex-
tent, our subject is influenced by the movement now going on
amongst the working classes. I need hardly go back to that
far-distant date " when Adam delved and Eve spun," to prove
that to labour is the natural destiny of the human family, or
that the great Lawgiver ordained that by the sweat of his
brow man should eat his daily bread, but we are constantly
having it demonstrated that men do not adhere to this
law ; for no sooner does the opportunity offer of an easier living
to be procured than |by his sweat of the brow, or, in other
words, by the labour of his body, than such offer is very na-
turally accepted. I have heard some men declare they liked
work for work's sake, but I believe such men are few and far
between. As a rule, the labour of the hands ceases so soon as
men can provide for their wauts by other means. In speaking
of the working classes, let it be fairly understood I claim to
know their wants, feelings, habits, tlieir failings, and their
virtues ; they have them all the same as other men, hence
their desire to better their position in life. Surely this desire
is right so long as no unfair or improper means are resorted to
to arrive at the end desired. Let me not be supposed for one
moment to encourage a system of strikes, feehng assured that
they do an immense amount of injury, and being also firmly
persuaded that masters and men can adjust their differences
without resorting to such extreme measures. I have referred
to this labour movement, or perhaps, more properly speaking,
it should be called the nine hours' movement, in order to show
you how it wiU affect you as employers of labour. Call it by
what name you will, it really means less work for the same
money. Ear preferable in my opinion would have been full
time for a higher wage ; but sufficient for my purpose if I con-
vince you that it will require more workmen to carry out the
general trade and business of the country. If such trade
should extend itself in the same proportion as it has done dur-
ing the last few years, the probability will be that a large por-
tion of the rising agricultural labour will be absorbed by such
trade and business owing to the higher rate of pay and other
inducements held out. Without further preface, let us go to
the subject on the card. I ask two questions, for which we
are here to-night, to seek some sort of answer. The first is,
" By what means is it possible to advance the position of the
agricultural labourer, so as to make him a more reliable and

better workeman P" And the next, " And how far will such
an improvement in tlie position of the labourer advance the
business of the agriculturist ?" I will begin by making a
statement, in which we shall probably all agree, that no two
questions can be of greater importance to agriculturists. I
think I may make another assertion, in which you will agree
with me, that ray two questions must go together, and that un-
less the improvement of the condition of the labourer be fol-
lowed by an improvement in the condition of the employer in
some shape or form, we shall have only half solved the pro-
blem. Our interests hang together, and any advantage to the
labourer which is not an advantage to the employer, taking
our interests in their widest sense, is only a kind of bunghng
repair, such as a thinking and skilful workman will not like to
accept, aud which will not have a very lasting effect. I must
also warn you, gentlemen, not to expect me to introduce any
new and startling proposal. I am, to a certain extent, averse
to sudden changes. I have no wish to excite desires that can
never be realised, and to my mind the tendency of the age is
too strongly given to change without regard to the benefits
that may be likely to follow. The principles I would act
upon in the treatment of the agricultural labourer are as old
as the hills. Further, I do not advise you to expect that I
should point out any means by which we can, in a direct and
off-hand manner, expect to attain our long-wished-lor and
much-coveted improvement in the condition of the labourer!
we employ, yet I would not discourage you, or lead you ta
fear that our discussion will be altogether barren of results.
If we enter upon it with the right spirit, as I doubt not we
shall, some good must ensue, though we may not be able to
recommend our legislators to pass any particular measure to
further our views, or even to give those views the form of a
precise resolution. I have faith in giving an hour or two of
earnest thought to any social question, and if we do no more
we shall stir up each other's ideas ; and who knows what is not
possible when we are once set thinking ? As to the improve-
ment in the condition of the agricultural labourer, I have no
doubt that many will hold that it needs none. Such persons
will point to the fact that the works in connexion with agri-
culture are of a pleasant and healthy description ; and they
may say that the agricultural labourer is, all things considered,
as well paid as any other workman whose calling is not more
difficult to follow or more expensive to learn. Perhaps, gen-
tlemen, I shall give you some matter to discuss, something
which will raise a contrary expression of opinion, if I say that
this reasoning is totally beside the mark. It is not for us, as
employers of agricultural labour, to argue that our men are as
well off as men employed in towns, if we find that they are of a
different opinion, and practically demonstrate the fact to us by
taking themselves off to towns in search of employment. We
must remember that the labourer is actuated by the same im-

392

THE FARMER'S MAGrAZiNE.

pulses as other meu, that his only capital is his labour, and in
fairness to himself and family he is perfectly justified in taking
it to tlie best market ; and when we find a constant and long-
continued drain of young men from agricultural districts to
other employment, we must accept that fact as conclusive tes-
timony against the terms we offer. It will not serve our pur-
pose to stand and argue that the labourers ought not to go, if
we find that they will go. We must look around for the mean
to make the position of the agricultural labourer as desirable
as those other callings for which they desert us. But first of
all let us see if the labour does leave agriculture. In order to
put this question clearly before you, I think I shall not do
better than to quote from a paper headed " Occupations of the
People," which appears in the Bri'.ish Almanack for 1815,
issued by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
Under the following head 1 fiud the percentages of persons
employed m three great classes of occupation were as under,
showing the gradual lessening of the agricultural percentage :

Years.

Agricultural, i Commercial. Miscellaneous.

1811
1831
1831
1811

35
33

28
23

44.
46
42
46

21
21
30
32

Quoting from the same source I find in 1851 the total num-
ber engaged in agriculture was rather over 2,000,000. In the
same year our entire population was near upon 21,000,000.
Again, in 18G1, the number returned as engaged in agriculture
stands at 1,900,000. A foot note states : " The great fact cou-
nectected with the agricultural class is, that the labourers are
not increasing relatively to the increase of the population. It
has been held, indeed, that there is a positive decrease. Within
the last few years some apprehension has been felt that this
fact is one of the symptoms of national decay. It may be
received as an evidence of the direct contrary. Scientific im-
provements are moving the mere physical labourer into skilled
labour, and the condition of the iarm labour will be propor-
tionately improved. As the improvement goes on he will
obtain higher wages, more food, and some better home than a
ruinous hovel." Again, taking the population of Suffolk for
1851, I find, according to " Glyde's Suffolk," it stands at
337,215; 1861, 331,000; 1871, 315,000. The years 1861
and 1871 are taken from the census of the county ; thus 1871
shows au increase, but such increase is principally in what
maybe termed the town population, Ipswich and Lowestoft
giving the largest, while districts such as Thingoe, Mildenhall,
Hartismere, Hoxne, Bosmere, Samford, and Blythiug show a
considerable decrease. In Hartismere alone the decrease is
923, a large number for one district. Having, by the figures
quoted, shown that the agricultural population is gradually be-
coming less, 1 think we may take it for granted that the
labourers do leave agriculture. Is there no inducement we can
offer tliat will fix him to his birth-place ; has the labourer the
same chance of advancement as the working men in towns ; is
there a field for him to provide sufficient for his maintenance
in old age, or do the ordinary comforts of life fall to his share
in proportion to the labour he has to perform ? I am afraid
these questions cannot be answered quite to our satisfaction,
nor do I know that we have a remedy ready to our hands, for
while the working men in towns have the opportunity of enter-
ing into business on their own account, there is really but little
chance of the agricultural labourer being able to do tlie same.
It is comparatively easy for a mechanic to start in business in
a small way ; in fact, large numbers of the masters in towns
were originally working men, who by industry and steady
habits have placed themselves in a better position. As this
chance so seldom falls to the lot of the agricultural labourer,
let us endeavour to see what would be the next best step for
him in the ladder of life— is it not possible in the first place to
put him into a better dwelling, to give him a fair quantity of
garden ground, and, if possible, in addition, an advance of pay ?
Of course we must admit that supply and demand will, to a
certain extent, regulate the wages given. 1 am of opinion that
allotments of land liave been of considerable benefit to the
labourer, but of course where bis garden is held in connection
with his house, it is much better for him, as both liimself and
faniily would have better opportunities of profitably employing
their leisure time. While Ireely admitting that it is not possi-

ble under any circumstances to make all men good, I am a
firm believer in good wages and good cottages as the most
certain means of improving the condition of the labourer, as
well as tlie cultivation of the ground. Were landlords and
farmers as careful to provide proper house accommodation for
their farm servants as they are for their horses, we sliould soon
see a wonderful improvement both in moral and physical de-
velopment. The landlords, under present relations, are re-
sponsible to a much greater extent than tenants for cottage
accommodation, and I must think that if farmers were more
alive to the importance of a well-conditioned peasantry, they
would put more pressure upon the landlords in order to induce
them to provide proper homes for the labourers on the land
upon which tliey are employed. What would a farmer think
if he had to send his horses, after the labour of the day
was performed, some two or three miles to miserable
.odgings, yet this is the system many of the la-
bourers are compelled to endure. No wonder that
sucli men require but little inducement to leave the land of
their birth. No matter what calling a man may be placed in,
no comfort in life is to be compared to the charms of a well-
regulated home. Let me then impress upon you who, I doubt
not, possess this blessing, the necessity of providing, or in-
ducing your landlords to provide, a sufficient number of houses
for your labourers, for sure am I that this would be a step in
the right direction. Which of you, as he walks over his well-
cultivated occupation, or with a friend saunters through his
well-stocked yards, to finish with a pleasant chat in a cosy
parlour, would desire to suddenly break the charm by removal
to a distant county, to be compelled to form fresh connections,
to seek new friends ? Am I right when I say this same sort
of feeling exists with equal strength in the mind of the
labourer ? He should have his little home comforts, humble
though they be. He would have an equal satisfaction in look-
ing over his well kept-garden, in discusssing the merits of his
pig, or his bees, feeling that he had something to strive for,
some home pleasures to compensate him for his toil. We
come now to the question of wages, and here I confess that the
problem to be solved is of a difficult nature. As a rule labour,
like other commodities, is worth what it will bring in the
market. To my mind the best inducement to make a quick
and skilful workman is by a system of piece-work, where such
plan can be fairly carried out. Of course this would require
that the master should be thoroughly up in his busines, with
such supervision that no work improperly performed would be
allowed to pass. By this means a larger amount of the current
coin would weekly fall to the share of the labourer, the em-
ployer would be in no worse position, but in course of time
would find his workmeii of a smarter and more useful des-
cription. In all payments for work performed, they should be
strictly cash transactions. On no consideration would I con-
sent to either malt or beer forming part of the bargain. Even
in harvest, with me, malt forms no part of the arrangement.
If a master in a busy time thinks fit to give his workmen
either beer or any other refreshment, that is a matter for his
consideration ; but let it be distinctly understood to be at his
option. Of course there are many little acts of kindness that
a thoughtful master can render to his workmen and family,
both in sickness and in health. That such acts are freely ren-
dered, both by the employer and his family, I am perfectly
satisfied, and they go far to form that good feeling which
should always exist between the farmer and his men, and as a
rule such acts will be thoroughly appreciated. I look upon
this as one of the redeeming features in connection with the
relation between employer and employed in agriculture, and
one that is seldom brought into practice where large bodies of
men are employed in manufactures. With them cash is the
only moving power, and I must think that the suggestions
I have so imperfectly shadowed forth, if freely carried out, will
go far to make the labourer a more reliable and better work-
men, and also conduce to put him in a better position. Before
I dismiss this portion of our subject, allow me to say that I
by no means agree with the absurd, overdrawn statements
that from time to time have appeared in some of the public
papers in reference to the condition of the agricultural labourer.
Tliey are evidently written by persons who could not have
studied the question, and who most likely never employed a
labourer in their lives, or even performed a day's work. While
endeavouring to better the position of the labourer by all fair
and legitimate means, I must be distinctly understood to re-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

393

(juire a full day's work for a full day's pay. Anything ap-
proaching to maudlin pity I thoroughly detest. I look upon
the labourer as worthy of his hire. If he will only be true to
himself, a better future is before him to my mind. The pros-
pects of agriculture are of a cheering description, and to that
source and that only do I look to cause that serai-pauperised
state of the labourer to pass away, and I fervently hope that
the time is not far distant when anything like pauperism
amongst our sturdy agricultural labourers shall be a thing of
the past, as I have ever regarded pauperism as one of the
giant evils of England. Perhaps I ought, before quitting the
labourer and his dwelling, to say that I have not touched on
his education, and for these reasons : that my remarks apply
to those who are already beyond the age when education is
imparted ; and, further, that this steed has already been ridden
so hard, that I have no desire to take a canter. As to the
labourer's dwelling, I believe the cost of good useful cottages
for labourers has been much over stated. From my practical
experience I am able to state that from £75 to £100 will build
and complete, iit for occupatiou, a good and substantial dwell-
ing for a labourer, the cash for which may be borrowed by all
landowners of the Lands Improvements Commissioners, at 4
per cent. ; so that from £3 to £i per year should be the rent
of the farm labourer ; not a large sum for the benefits con-
ferred. Gentlemen, we now come to our other question,
" How far will such an iraprovetneat in the position of the
labourer advance tlie business of the agriculturist ?" It is no
part of our business to-night to go into the question of profits ;
that would be quite another matter, and I should not have
used the terra if I had not thought you would hardly have
deemed agriculture to be advanced unless I show in sorae
shape an advantage to the agriculturist. It also gives me the
opportunity to say that in considering this question we must
take the agriculturist proper, if I may use such term ; that
is, one who makes his living entirely from the cultivation
of the soil, who has no other string to his bow, or other
source from which his expenses can be drawn. Not that
1 think the agriculturist has much to fear from such men as
competitors, for although a few do crop up around towns who,
from success in business or sorae fortuitous circumstance, turn
their attention to farming, very few of them become really suc-
cessful agriculturists. I iiave had come under my notice some
signal failures. I could point to one. farm near Ipswich that
has wrecked the hopes of more than one successful trader, who
have had cause to say " though pleasant to the sight, yet bitter
to the taste" ; who, I have no doubt, ascribed their want of
success to their want of knowledge of the business they had en-
tered into ; for it is no more strange than true than an immense
number of persons are leady to tender their advice on farming
practice, whether they had ever been engaged in such practice
or not. When I first turned my attention to farming, some
twenty-five years back, I was astonished to find tiiat all the
persons I came in contact with professed to understand farm-
ing ; and holding land, as I did at that time, on the verge of
the town, I had a large amount of advice gratis, which I need
liardly say was as varied as it was liberal. I found my would-
be advisers were much at fault iu their knowledge of labour ;
and I liave no doubt that to a similar cause may be ascribed
much of the want of success of those who have gone from
trading to farming. I must ask you to pardon me this digres-
sion, but I wished to show you how lightly the qualifications
for an agriculturist were received by those who have not well
thought out the subject. When we come to think that to be a
successful agriculturist one must possess a thorough know-
ledge of farm labour in all its details ; be able to carry out all
the varied works of tl\e farm with neatness and despatch, so
that no loss of force of any kind ensues ; must know how to
breed all kinds of stock ; be able to buy and sell to advantage ;
must not only know the form which beast, sheep, and pig
should possess, but also be competent to judge whether they
are likely to prove a profitable investment ; if, in addition to
this, he knows the habits of the vegetables and cereals he cul-
tivates, what application to makes to his land in order to draw
out its full producing powers, and is in possession of a certain
amount of mechanical knowledge — then we shall see that it is
no light matter for a man to be able to claim to be at least a
practical, if not a successful, agriculturist. Let me say I have
used the word practical in its broadest sense, for though we
are often told the agriculturist requires scientific knowledge,
I take upon myself to say that with good practical knowledge

he may succeed, while on the other hand, let him be as scien-
tific as possible, if he lacks the practical knowledge, he must
come to grief. How such an idea as that any man would do
to make a farmer could have got abroad I am at a loss to
understand, as 1 am fully persuaded that no business or calhng
requires more real ability than such as will go to form a truly
practical and successful agriculturist. Again, in considering
this question it would not be fair to take any but a consuming
value of the green crop — we know that not only are most of
the terms of letting of the farms in this county of such a na-
ture that the green crop must be consumed upon the land, but
there is also tiiis view o f the case to be taken, if all cultiva-
tors took up this line of business you could not find a market.
Having lor many years grown extensively root crops for
sale, I am able to say that there is a great change in this part
of the business. When I first went into the Loudon trade, all
kinds of forage crops sold freely and well ; now so many lines of
railway are opened to places that formerly had no chanceof sending
bulky goods like these, London is overdone, and as such I have
now for some years sent my goods to the North of England
and Glasgow. Still 1 am of opinion that root growing for
manufacturing purposes will yet become a great feature in the
business of agriculture. Not only do we find that in our own
county beet-root are grown and manufactured into sugar, but
iu other parts of England manufactories are erected and in
operation for the purpose of distilling. One very large factory
at Southampton is working for the purpose of manufacturing
saccharine, carried on by Messrs. Hill and Co., who have ad-
vertised for roots in The Mark Lane Express, offering 20s. per
ton, put on to the rail at any station within 50 miles of the ma-
nufactory, which would have enabled them to draw fromfourdif-
ferent counties. I myself liad an offer from them for a freight at
253. per ton, but owing to freights being high at the time, and
Southampton a long passage from Ipswich, I was not able to
accept their oflfer. I have now an offer from the Lavenham
Factory for the coming season, which most hkely I shall accept
Now, if these businesses are paying to draw the roots for such
long distances, and this I have no doubt, why should you not
have before long a manufactory established here in I'ramling-
hara, and thus materially advance the business of the agricul-
turist in this district ? From the agricultural returns just pub-
lished, we see that the growth of mangold is enormously in-
creased ; thus showing it to be coming greatly into favour.
Are there not lands in this county in poor grass that would
pay to break up, and crop alternately with mangold and wheat?
the mangold to be made into meat, which is now bringing
such a price that it must pay to produce. Surely it would be
wise to both breed and feed all the stock possible ; this would
enable us to grow a larger quantity of corn, the cash for both
meat and corn would find its way into the pockets of our pro-
ducers, and thus materially benefit the agriculturist. If
this extension of both stock and root growing is to be
largely carried out, of necessity the agriculturist would re-
quire a full supply of really skilful and reliable workmen, so as
to be in a position to make larger returns from his occupa-
tion. When we come to consider that rent and other fixed
charges will be the same, whether with large or small crops,
surely it must be to the advantage of the agriculturist to
hire his farm in such a state as to be continually producing
something of a money value. Of course, as this can only be
done with a larger capital than is usually employed in agricul-
ture, would it not be better for us all if capital was more freely
embarked in agriculture ; in other words, if the same amount
of profit was made on a smaller quantity of land ? The agri-
culturist, in a money point of view, would be in as good a
position, and some of the undue competition for land would be
removed. I have often smiled when I have observed that de-
sire to be thought a large farmer which evidently acts in too
many cases without reference to the quality of the cultiva-
tion, and I have thought how much better it would be for many
farmers if by some accident they were deprived of a part of
tlieir occupations. In no manufactory or business would it be
possible to be successful if a large part of the working plant
and machinery were allowed to remain idle. Without trenching
in the least on politics, I think I shall not be out of order if I
say we must have observed a want of unaminity amongst
the farming classes of this country ,on those great questions
affecting their interests, which have so often been discussed
without effecting much real good. It matters not what shade
of politics one may favour when it comes to questions strongly

394

THE FABMER'S MAGAZINE.

affecting the interests of agriculturists, they have but as one
mau to will it, and success will crown such resolve. Wheu
Chambers of Agriculture were first started great expectations
were raised, the realisatiou of which I am afraid will be at a
far distant date. Are agriculturists in this matter sufficiently
self-reliaut ? Do they not yet lean too much on that old feu-
dalism ? which should be a thing of the past, whose heralds
were wont to proclaim that all couuected with the land sailed
in the same ship, and though aspiriug to be captains, I am
afraid have not always doue their best for their ship. Let me
then close this subject with a hope that agriculture has a
bright and cheering future, and that agriculture and agricul-
turists will go on prosperously. Commerce and manufacture
are grand departments of England's greatness ; but to my mind
the grandest of them all — her sheet-anchor and mainstay, is
that in which not only ourselves, but one and all are so largely
interested — truly practical and advanced agriculture. Let us
not forget that tlie produce of the earth is for all, and that
" the King himself is served by the field."

The CuAiKMAJJ said that the first question was most inte-
resting. Any man who professed to be a Christian would
endeavour to improve the condition of any class of men, even
if his own interest were not engaged. Mr. Eisk had sug-
gested many things which were worthy of consideration.
Mr. Pisk had no doubt, suggested some of the most
evident means by which the labourer might be raised.
Many things had been working for years to improve
the labourer's condition in the very things that Mr.
risk complained of. He (Mr. Goodwyu) was sorry to say,
liowever, that there was only too much truth in Mr. Fisk's
observation as to the labourers' cottages. It was true that as
much attention had been paid to the housing of the cattle as
to the housing of the labourer. The worst cottages, however,
were those which had not been built by the landowners, but
by persons who lived by the rents and who could not improve
them. Mr. Tisk, no doubt, put tiie cost of providing cottages
at about the right figure. His (the Chairman's) experience
was that a good double cottage could be built for £180. The
question of the necessity of giving the labourer a good piece of
land had been often ventilated of late. It was, of course,
impossible in many cases to give the cottages a good garden ,
and when that was the case no doubt a good piece of
allotment was useful and even necessary. As to the labourers
leaving the land and seeking employment in towns, that was
the force of circumstances, for it must not be forgotten that
different spheres of employment were constantly cropping up
in towns, while the sources of employment on the land did not
increase. It was not the labourers merely who sought employ-
ment in the towns, but the classes above them were down as it
were into the vortex. He thought that many who had emi-
grated to towns had learnt a bitter lesson, and generally he
found that those who came back were the most contented and
the best of workmen. He agreed with Mr, Eisk's observations
about piece-work, instead of that most demoralising of aU
practices, allowing men to go on month after month on the old
routine system of so much a day. But, as Mr. Fisk had very
properly said,a man must know his own business'to put the work
out properly. He also thought that payment in money must
be most satisfactory ; but if the labourer was to become more
independent and to be better paid, was it not a matter for
grave consideration, whether he should be allowed to put his
hand into tlie pockets of the classes above him whenever he
became ill or unable to earn full wages ? He (the Chairman)
would yield to no one on the desire to see the labourers' con-
dition improved, but he believed that no class of the commu-
nity had been more improved within the last few years. He
agreed with Mr. Eisk as to the necessity for farmers guarding
tbeinselves against holding too much land for their capital.
Extra acres brought extra expenses for rent, tithes, and rates,
and unless well w orked they were likely to be a source of loss.
Mr. CiiAELES Capon said he agreed with Mr. Eisk as to
the breaking up of poor pastures, and growing wheat.

The Hev. Charles CoRUAjycE admitted that the voung
men were leaving agriculture for occupations in towns. There
was a great dilference of opinion in the couutry as to the
method in which this difficulty was to be met. Canon Gir-
dlestone and those who thought with him wished to introduce
the principle of Trades' Unions into agricultural districts.
He could say no more of that principle than that it had given
rise to the Sheffield outrages, for denouncing which Mr. Roe-

buck had lost bis seat. He agreed with the chairman that the
position of the labourer was improved and contiuued improv-
ing. In the provision for his education the improvement
within the last 30 years had been very great, and now we
had the Education Act which still further improved the con-
dition of the agricultural labourer. He would refer
to Morton's Earm Statistics to show that the labourer's
position had improved in regard towages, and the establishment
of benefit and clothing clubs. He admitted that the cot-
tages ought to be improved, and that much remained to be
done to improve the condition of the labourer generally, but
thought that too much should not be attempted at once. It
would be a pity by trying to turn the corner too fast to upset
the coach altogether. He agreed that the allotment of garden
should be near the labourer's house. He also thought that single
men should not receive less than married men for the same work.
If such things as these were attended to, not all the blandish-
ments of Potter or Odger could tempt the labourer away from
the fair field of Suffolk. He believed in treating the labourer
with kindness, as Mr. Eisk recommended, and thought they
would never want for an extra hour's work, if they treated
their men kindly.

The Chaikiian said with reference to the constant em-
ployment of agricultural labourers, that it was not to be ex-
pected that the labourers who had not certain employment
could starve in the interval of not being employed. He also
urged the desirabiUty of paying single men as highly as others,
provided theiv labour was worth as much. In other employ-
ments men were paid for what they are worth, and this princi-
ple should be carried out as far as possible in agriculture. He
deprecated the employment of men merely when their labour
was urgently needed, and then turning them adrift when the
work happened to be slack, and he urged that the piece-work
system would go a long 'vay towerds obviating this difficulty.

Mr. G. E. Jeafferson said he did not see how piece-work,
and the payment of regular wage could work at the same time.
If the piece-work system was adopted the men must necessarily
be slack at certain times of the year, and busy at others, like
bricklayers and carpenters. The system of paying men when
they could not work was not a sound one. He did not see
how it was possible to adopt the commercial system of paying
for the labour done, and at the same time paying the men
when it was not done.

The Rev. W. W. Wood expressed his opinion that whether
farmers liked it or disliked it, the piecework system must be
adopted before long. He was afraid they did not sufficiently
realise the position they as employers of labour would shortly
be placed in ; they would find that the number of agricultural
labourers would soon be diminished to an extent little thought
of at the present time. With regard to tlie question of
breaking up pastures, he must say that he disagreed with that
course being adopted, believing that poor pastures could be
made more profitable. In the neighbourhood of London, land
of that kind had, by means of irrigation, been converted into
valuable and productive lands. Too many old pastures had
already been broken up. He entirely agreed with those who
advocated the improvement of cottages, and the attaching a
piece of land to them. He did not think, however, that the
superior accommodation and the land would keep the labour-
ers amongst them unless they gave them sometliing else.
Strikes had been spoken of as objectionable ; but they would
have to put up with strikes. There would certainly be union
amongst labourers. They must be fools, too, if they did not
unite. It was all very well to say no, but such was the fact.
After trades had already got the best of the recent agitation,
it is useless to say that the labourers would not unite (" You
don't want to tell them so"). He quite agreed that it was
not necessary to tell them so, and he asked why the farmers
did not at once meet the fact that they would have to meet.
What was the use of putting off the evil day ? Labour was
the only capital that these men had, and why should they not
combine to protect that capital, even as those in a better po-
sition protected their property P

Mr. Paul Read said that little had been said as to the
means to be taken to make the agricultural labourer a farmer,
and called attention to the fact that for some time after the
accession of George the Third, nobody was allowed to build
a cottage in a village unless he could allot four acres of land.
The laud had, however, been taken away by the landowners
and the farmers together.

THE FARMER'S I^IAGAZINE.

395

Mr. Pattison called attention to the effect of Trades'
Unions on the prices of manufactured goods, and argued that
agricultural progress must also rise in price if higher wages
were paid.

Mr. i'lSK in reply said, as to the cottages not belonging to
the landowners, that was tlie landowners' fault ; for had they
provided cottages, there would not have been room for specu-
lators. He had advocated the breaking up of poor grass-land

in such districts as could not be improved, as Mr. Wood had
mentioned, by irrigation. Such land would pay more if made
to grow corn and roots. Tliis would require more labour,
and a better description of labour. Mr. Fisk also referred to
other points.

Votes of thanks were passed to Mr. Ksk and to the Chair-
man, and the proceedings ended.

STOWMARKET FARMERS' CLUB.
THE ALLOTMENT SYSTEM.

At the monthly meeting, Major Pettiward, Vice-President,
in tiie chair, the subject ior discussion was — Is the present
Allotment System generally beneficial to the Agricultural
Labourer ?

Mr. Grimwade said : In approaching the introduction of
the subject for discussion this evening, I am not free from a
certain amount of diffidence, lest the advocacy of the system
should suffer in my hands. I have for the last forty years
espoused the cause of letting allotments of land to the agricul-
tural labourers, principally as one application of the golden
rule — doing as I would be done by. Althongh this is not
strictly a subject connected with farming, yet it cannot be de-
nied that it has a profound indirect bearing upon it, as well as
involving in its success a great social principle, and the pro-
mulgation of industrial and thrifty habits amongst an im-
portant section of the ccmmnnity. The first promoters of it
claimed sympathy and support from all right-minded persons,
upon the ground that as idleness is the parent of vice, so em-
ployment, of a pleasant and profitable kind, was calculated to
produce the fruits of virtue. The remembrance of the adage
brings to its aid the couplet from the good old hymn —

For Satan finds some mischief stiU
For idle hands to do.

And therefore it might fairly be presumed that any plan,
simple in its initiation, like the allotment system, would be
hailed by all philanthropic and Christian men as a boon
charged with liope for the future in the dissipation of the
" idle corner" which has in past years been the bane of many
a village, and in many it is to be feared exists to the present
hour. And although it must be admitted equal success has
not followed on all sides, yet upon inquiry sufficient
encouragement may be discovered to recommend a trial
of it. We have but to turn our attention to the advocacy
of the system by that magnanimous minded nobleman the late
Sir Edward Kerrisou (father of the present baronet), who, 1
believe, was one of the first to give impulse to the movement,
and he continued to watch over its working with almost filial
care to the end of his days, and I am happy in being able to
read you an extract from a letter I lately received from Mr.
Peck, of Eye, one of the principal tenants upon the Oakley
estate, bearing testimony to its successful working to the pre-
sent time : " Eye, Feb. 10, 1873. Dear sir, — In reply to yours
of the 7tli iust., respecting the allotraent system on Sir Edwd.
Kerrison's estate, the price charged per quarter-acre I have
understood is about 10s., which includes all outgoings. Mr.
Moore tells me (with the exception of Eye) they are principally
confined to the labouring class, and are very much appreciated
by them. For my own part I am equally satisfied with the
system. The nearer the allotments are to the residence of the
labourer the better for them ; if they have far to go to culti-
vate them, they become of less value. — Samuel Peck." This
is what might be expected under the auspices of the present
baronet, whose acts all tend to the amelioration and happiness
of his neighbours. About the year 1850 (having previously
surveyed and mapped the parish of Norton), I was requested
by the rector. Dr. Dicken, to allot a field in extension of the
system, and therefore I lately made bold to beg an answer to a
few questions as to its success, to which he courteously replied
as follows : " Norton Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds, February
5th, 187^2. Dear sir, — I have pleasure in answering your
questions as to the allotment system in this parish, which has
been on foot for upwards of 35 years, with some progressive

enlargement as I have had opportunity, and witii the most
favourable resuUs. There are 73 allotments in this parish,
partly on glebe land, partly on land hired by me for the
purpose, and partly on laud belonging to Col. F. M. W^ilson,
under nearly similar arrangements. I will take your questions
in order : 1. The allotments are considered by the labourers to
be very useful and beneficial. On any vacancy there are gene-
rally several candidates. 2. The minimum (with two or three
trifling exceptions) is 10 rods, the others ranging from 20 rods
to a quarter of an acre. 3. The annual rent for 10 rods is 3s.,
for more in proportion, all free from other charges whatever.
i. I enclose a copy of my rules, those fox Mr. Wilson's land
being similar ; his rents are paid yearly, and not in advance.
1 have an annual inspection of all the allotments, and prizes
are distributed to the deserving. I may add that during the
whole time I have had no defalcation of rent, nor any complaint
from the tenants, or from other occupiers in the parish, and
beheve the plan gives general satisfaction. — A. Dicken, D.D.
Rector oC Norton." I also applied to the Rev. W. H,
Sewell, of Yaxley, for the favour of his opinion of the system ,
having noticed, as I passed on the high road through the parish
some, what appeal ed to me, profitably managed allotments,
and this was his kind answer : " Yaxley Vicarage, Eye. Dear
sir, — It gives me great pleasure to answer your inquiries to
the best of my power. The allotments on the Norwich Road
are the common land which was enclosed, I believe, some
seventy years ago. The pieces are in acres and half-acres, and
are let to Yaxley labourers. The re it, I beheve, is £2 an acre.
The land is much desired by the men, and is no doubt of bene-
fit to them, for it gives them an opportunity of spending their
spare bours industriously, and with an advantage to themselves.
I do not think it could fairly be said that the allotment system
is unpopular with the employers of labour. On the contrary,
the more enlightened employers seem disposed to welcome any
means which is likely to promote the welfare of their poorer
neighbours. — I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, W. H. Sewell."
I will now offer some remarks upon my own experience in ad-
dition to the above valuable testimony. In the year 18iO I
was a member ot the Debenliam Farmers' Club, the principal
object of which was to stimulate, by the apphcation of its funds
in prizes, a competition amongst the allotment tenants and the
occupiers of cottage gardens, the result of which was very
gratifying. The then vicar, the Rev. J. Bedinfeld, supple-
mented the objects of the Club with much zeal by giving addi-
tional prizes in the shape of working tools for the garden, such
as wheelbarrow, new spades, hoes and rakes. An annual in-
spection took place by a committee of the Club of the allot-
ments and gardens, which ended by an exhibition of the cot-
tagers' productions in the mouth of November. In the year
18i3 I hired my present occupation under the late Sir WUham
Middleton, and upon conference with the then excellent rector,
the late Rev. C. Shorting, I found an identity of feeling be-
tween us upon the subject of allotments. I was wUling to
start it, and he was anxious to have it started. I soon ar-
ranged, with the consent of my landlord, to give up nine acres
off my farm in two several fields lying most suitably for the
population for allotments. It was also agreed that the clergy-
man should rent the land and let it to the poor at the rate of
3d. per rod, inclusive of all outgoings. The fields wanted
draining, which I superintended for the rector, the expense of
which was apportioned over all the allotments. I then set
out the fields into 52 allotments, varying from 20 to 30 rods.
This being done 38 years since, you wiU readily believe in the

396

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

necessity for re-draining it, and the marvel is that during tlie
last summer several of the tenants applied to me to use my
influence to get it drained upon the Government plan of 4 ft.
tile drainiug. I told them I thought I could accomplish it,
but the chief difficulty was in the carting of the necessary pipes
from Needham Market to the spot. By an appeal to the
farmers this was done, and in ttie montii of November last
the pieces were effectually pipe-drained — no doubt the first in
the county, if not the first in the country, upon the plan. The
expense of this being considerable, to be recovered yearly by a
drainage-rate is a striking commentary upon the deep drainage,
knowing, as we most of us do, the strong prejudices that exist
amongst them as a class against any departure from the 30-
inch draining. This digression, I trust, is pardonable, when
we remember that we so lately had an excellent paper upon
the subject of draining from Mr. Woodward, the hon. sec. of
this Club. I find a diversity of practice exists as to the no-
minal landlord of the allotments. Thus, that where the clergy-
man of the parish starts the system upon the glebe land, he
generally takes the management of it with a superior set of
rules to when it is otherwise managed. I happen to have some
knowledge of the working of the system in the parishes of
Wetheringsett and Mendlesham, both large parishes, with a
considerable number of allotments, and in the former parish
the letting and management is vested in the trustees of the
parish property, simply because the allotments are rented of
them. In the last named parish (Mendlesham) the property
is of the same kind, hut I believe the rents are received by and
accounted for by the churchwardens ; and 1 find a great uni-
formity of practice in all parishes in the amount charged for
rent, viz., at the rate of 40s. per acre free of tithe and parish
charges. Also, in another respect, I found upon inquiry that
in evsry parish there was a prevailing eagerness amongst tlie
latcv:rers to possess themselves of an allotment. Upon a late
av.diince with my own rector, the conversation turning upon
ths allotments, he showed me his memorandum book, where
the names of seven applicants appeared for the first vacant
allotment. My own opinion is in favour of the minister of
the parish being recognized as landlord in preference to any
one else, as it is calculated to exercise a salutory supervision
over the daily liabits of the tenants as well as bringing tlie
minister oftener into contact with his poorer neighbours,
which cannot fail to be productive of mutual benefit. There
is one point which next to the amount of rent per rod for each
allotment, demands some expression of opinion from the Club
to-night, viz., tlie payment of rent in advance. This may ap-
pear requiring and suspicious on the part of the landlord, but
it is merely ideal, as the practice would entail no hardship on
the tenant, whilst if the land was let by the clergyman of the
parish, it would be of the greatest value to him to be free from
all risk in being brought into pecuniary disputes with his
parishioners for arrears or non-payment of rent ; and, besides,
the precedent of partial or entire forgiveness would be fraught
with ruinous consequences to the landlord. The tenant would,
also, in prospect of an allotment, pay his first rent cheefully in
advance, which would obviate all future difficulties and objec-
tions, and commend itself to the good sense of the tenant in
the consciousness that at the termination of his tenancy,
whenever or however it might happen, he would have nothing
to pay in the shape of rent. It appears to me desirable that
those members of the Club who possess information as to the
working of tlie system, should to-night express a unanimous
opinion as to the maximum quantity of land to be offered to
candidates for allotments, keeping in view the prime condition
of confining the cultivation to spade husbandry. We find,
glancing from one locality to another, that the variation
ranges from 20 rods to two acres. I think it will be apparent to
most practical men that any quantity above an acre is loaded
with objections, if, as I conceive, it ought to be cultivated by
the spade. Within these last few years a society has sprung
up at Needham Market, I believe, under the presidency of the
Rev. ¥. Steward, for the purpose of encouraging cottagers and
allotment tenants, by a horticultural and fioricultural exhibi-
tion, at Needham, in the month of September, every year,
which is well patronised, and a keen competition is manifested
for the prizes offered. One of my own labourers had the satis-
faction (through the recommendation of our rector) of re-
ceiving a prize of 8s. for a neatly and well-kept cottage garden
and allotment. There has been, and are still, dissentients (I
will not say opposers) to the system. It is alleged that un-

scrupulous and defiant men are to be found in every village,
who, to reach a distant allotment, are habitual trespassers in
making paths across fields and breaches in hedges very objec-
tionable to farmers. I am sorry to say 1 must subscribe to the
truth of tliis. Another objection by others is that holders of
allotments are tempted to spend their early morning hour in
labour upon their allotment before^ ])resenting themselves at
six o'clock to receive their employers' orders, from which cause
they carry a partially spent frame through the course of the
day. I imagine this to be rather difficult of proof. Eut to
draw to a conclusion. I must remind this meeting that within
the last 50 years the laws and habits of society have become
so transformed that we must no longer expect to be indulged
in our own particular, and it may be peculiar views, but each
man of education and station must ask himself the question,
" What says duty ?" It has long been said that " private in-
terest must give way to public good," and if this bears
sway in commercial undertakings, how much stronger ought
it to apply in carrying out the apostolic injunction, " Be
pitiful, be courteous." That the time has arrived when some
united further eft'ort must be made by the middle class to ame-
liorate the condition of the indigent must, I think, be ad-
mitted. We want the wisdom of the serpent with the harm-
lessnessness of the dove, to propound some scheme which,
while it fascinates shall be profitable, and vice versa, so as to
make every householder in the land feel that he has a stake
in the country and is cared for. AVe are told by some to expect
great things from the spread of education, which is no doubt
true when viewed from a certain stand point.

'Tis education forms the common mind,
Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.

This is undoubtedly true, but whether it has the additional
charm of making men and women more contented and thank-
ful for tlie many blessings enjoyed in this hitherto highly fa-
voured kingdom, remains to be seen. If by education we
shall succeed in reclaiming the drunkard, arrest the midnight
thief and murderer, and bring to nought the machinations of
all the workers of iniquity, then shall we have cause to bless
God that He hath put it into the hearts of those in authority
in this land to put in force the present educational machinery.

Mr. Simpson said Mr. Grimwade's paper was so complete,
as to leave them little room for further discussion. He (Mr.
Simpson) had obtained information from the South of England
and from Essex. In the South of England, they had allot-
ments as far hack as 1830, and his informant told him that
one result of the allotment system there was that the labourers
frequented beer houses much less, and the poor-rate had been
lessened. At Springfield, Essex, the allotments were each one-
eighth of an acre, were cultivated by spade husbandry, and
part of the rent of the allotments was returned in prizes of
garden tools They calculated that the cultivation of these
plots of land, allowing three days time, to produce crops
of potatoes and other vegetables, rent, and seed, cost
about £1 7s. 6d., and that the value of the produce was
about £3 53.

The Chairman said he supposed the size of the allotment
would depend on the size of the applicant's family. If he had
a large family to help him, he could cultivate a large allotment.
The nature of the soil must also be taken into account.

Mr. Simpson said that at Haughley he was informed the
allotments ran from half-an-acre to an acre.

Mr. Woodward said a great part of the Haughley land
was very light, and might be tilled anyhow.

Mr. A. Cooper said the late Mr. Tyrell had been very kind
to the poor of the parish of Haughley, in so far as allowing
them plots of land, but they were lots of very poor land. It
was not at all such land as Mr. Pettiward had at Finborough
or at Buxhall ; but it had grown potatoes very vi'ell. As to a
labourer having an acre of heavy land, he did not believe in it,
if the man was going to work for a farmer. The rent, he
thought, was about 38s. an acre.

Mr. Jackson said there were 120 allotments at Hitcham,
all in quarter-acre plots, or none exceeding that. The poor
were generally pretty well satisfied with them, and he thought
the land was a great benefit to them. Tlie rent was about
two guineas an acre. The land had been drained for the
tenants when the plots were first laid out, at the instance of
Professor Henslow. The rent inchuled all charges. There
were two sets of allotments, one at each end of tlie parish.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

397

Some of tliem were at the distance of half-a-mile from some
of the cottages, as Hitcham was a very large parish, with
an area of about 4,000 acres. The rent was paid at July
and Michaelmas. There were always appUcatious on the books
for the allotments, and the rents were very well paid, on the
whole, but occasionally some were in arrear.

Mr. KiUBY MoouE said that after what Mr. Grimwade had
said, there seemed to him to be very little to say on the sub-
ject, hut he happened to have had the management of the
allotments at Barking and Needham for 28 or 29 years. There
they had 129 allotments, and he had not a penny in arre&r for
rent. On this point they had rather a peculiar rule — made by
Mrs. Davies, one of tlie originators of the allotment system —
that any land of which the rent was not paid was not re-let.
The consequence was, so eager were the people to have the
land, that when an applicant found that he could not have an
allotment because the previous holder had not paid the rent, he
was willing to clear off the arrears himself. From 20 to 30 rods,
according to the circumstances, was about the size of an allot-
ment. Some of his were half tin acre, but very few, and
some a quarter, and there were some as low as ten rods, lie
had from half-a-dozen to half-a-score applications for each al-
lotment as it became vacant. He found the allotments were
very highly prized by the tenants, and one of them told him
that he would not take a five-pound-note for his plot of 20
rods. Mr. Moore said he held that the allotment was no good
to a poor man unless he had it within a reasonable distance of
his house, and it was of much more value if the soil was such
as he could work upon at any time. He thought every poor
man ought to have a large garden, call it allotment or what
they might. He thought as much as two acres would be de-
trimental to a labourer. A large allotment could not be culti-
tivated by a labourer himself, or certainly not by spade hus-
bandry,

Mr. H. BoBY detailed the experience he and others had
gained in laying out a piece of charity laud at Wyverstone for
allotments. It was charity land, and about seven acres had
been laid out in plots of a quarter of an acre, and allotted to
certain cottagers in the parish, the idea being that a piece
should be appropriated to each house in the parish. The rent
was 30s. an acre free of tithe and other outgoings.

Mr. KiRBY Moore said that all. comers were allowed a
chance of obtaining an allotment at Needham, and even cha-
racter was not made an object. It was felt that if a man's
character was not good the allotment might give him a chance
of reforming. This expectation had also been realised. He
should verymuch like to see a similar thing at Stowmarket as
that was a large place, and he supposed was not above being
improved.

Mr. Henry Crosse said that within two years, by the di-
rection of Mr. Bond, who had land at Haughley which that
gentleman held under Mr. Marriott, he had laid out some land
in allotments of 20 and 40 rods. The rents were very regu-
larly paid. They must, however, remember that in the neigh-
bourhood of Stowmarket land was worth more than at Wyver-
stone or Hitcham, and, therefore, they charged a higher rent.
He had charged 9d. per rod, and that had been gladly paid.
The land was light, and all under spade husbandry. For one
plot vacant last year he had 23 applications. He deprecated
large allotments, as they must see the labourer could not have
the capital to work them. Any man who had more than 40
rods had, he thought, more than he could do to make it answer
his purpose. Mr. Crosse also deprecated the system of taking
the rent in advance, as by doing so, they were taking the
capital which the tenant needed for working it, and driving
him to borrow money for which he had in same way or other
to pay interest.

Mr. K. Moore said it was very true that land was of
greater value at Stowmarket, but the produce was also of more
value.

Mr. Lambert, of Mendlesham, said the allotments in that
parish were let in plots of 15 to 20 rods at 3d. per rod. There
were no restrictions as to cropping.

Mr. K. Moore said his only restriction was that the tenants
were not to plant trees ; and they did not encourage tliem to
grow com.

Mr. James Hewitt said that at Combs there were allot-
ments, and he observed that sheds were erected upon them to
keep fowls and pigs. One man had three sows, and he
thought that was more thau a man could keep.

The Rev. Henry Hill spoke in favour of having garden
belonging to the labourers' cottages. That must be a very dif-
ferent matter to having allotments a quarter or half a mile
away. He thought no cottage should he without a garden,
and that the assign ing an allotment to a cottage would have
the effect of raising the rent of such cottage. He did not
think the poor liked to be tied, they would rather have an al-
lotment wherever they could find one vacant. If they were to
have allotments here and there to suit the convenience of the
labourers, they must take bits of land here and there, and that
would be difficult to do in many parishes, though it might be
easier to have one field for that purpose in a parish.

Mr. K. Moore said Mr. Hill's remark as to raising the rent
of cottages by attuching allotments to them was very reason-
able, but practically he did not think cottage rents had been
affected in that way.

Mr. Woodward said the allotment tenants could not of
course he restricted to the four-course system, and he should
think the land let to them would be worth rather more than
if let in a large quantity to a farmer. He could go a long
way in support of what Mr. Hill had said as to the advisa-
bility of liaving the allotment near, or attached to the house.
But all cottage property did not belong to the landed proprie-
tors. The allotment system was an advantage to the poor
man, but he could not agree that the land let free of all
charges at 30s. an acre was let at its proper value. He thought
it should not be let at less than 40s. an acre. He was dead
against acre allotments, and they would frequently find that
where they were large old men who were on the parish were
employed to till them. It could not be the object of the al-
lotment system that the land should be cultivated at the
expense of the rate-payers.

The Chairman proposed that the Secretary should read the
rules of difterent allotment societies, in order that the Club
might see which set of rules was best to adopt.

Mr. Henry Crosse objected to the Club's binding itself
to adopt any set of rules, and said he was prepared to move
as an amendment that they should not.

It was agreed to read the rules, and

Mr. Betts, the Secretary, then read the rules under
which the allotments at Stonham Aspal are managed, and
proceeded to read the Wetheringsett and Brockford rules, when

Mr. Crosse said he ;did not think the Club could bind
themselves to any of those rules, and proposed a motion that
they do not so bind themselves.

Mr. Grimw.uje said the Club might express themselves in
favour of a rule.

Mr. Crosse objected to even that.

The Chairman said that perhaps he was wrong in calling
upon the Secretary to read the rules, but as tliere was a dif-
ference of opinion as to whether they should be read or not,
the matter should be put to the meeting.

Mr. Woodward thought there was nothing in simply read-
ing the rules.

The Chairman ruled that he must ask some gentleman to
propose that the rules be read.

Mr. Woodward was of opinion that the reading of the
rules was a part of the discussion, and proposed that they be
read.

Mr. Page seconded the motion.

The Rev. H. Hill proposed an amendment, that they be
taken as read, which Mr. Scott seconded.

The Chairman then put the question to the meeting,
when 14 voted (or the amendment, and 13 for the resolution,
which was lost, and the rules were not read.

Mr. Grimwade then replied to the discussion. He said
what he advanced he believed to be correct. There had been
some excellent observations made as to the ground being near
tlie cottages, which he also referred to in his paper. He
thought there was a unity of sentiment that the generality of
the allotments were too large in extent. It was a fact that in
his own parish the allotments ranged from 30 to 40 rods.
Mr. Crosse had made some strictures upon the plan of paying
the rents in advance, but he (Mr. Grimwade) held it was a
good plan in starting a system of allotments, and that the
tenant could not possibly be injured. As to what Mr. Crosse
had said about a tenant borrowing, he thought that would be
a very rare occurrence, and quite the exception, not the rule.
He believed that an eighth of an acre would be a likely thing
to be of advantage to the generality of labourers, but there

398

THE FAEMBR'S MAGAZINE.

were certain families to whom it might be advisable to allow
30 rods. He thought in parishes where there were parish
lands that the system should have a fair trial. With those
remarks he thanked the members for the attentiou they had
given to his paper.

Mr. Crosse said he merely remarked that the paying the
rent in advance took away the capital the labourer had for
working his land.

Votes of thanks to Mr. Grimwade and the Chairman were
passed, aud the meeting terminated.

IXWORTH FARMERS' CLUB.
BENEFIT SOCIETIES.

At the annual meeting, the Rev. J. Yelloby in the chair,
and Mr. J. Fison, of Barningham, in the vice-chair, the sub-
ject for discussion was Benefit Societies and the Labouring
Classes, introduced by Mr. W. H. Short, M.D., of Walsham-
le-Willows.

Dr. Short, in his opening, referred to various societies, in-
cluding the trades' unions, which, however, did not in the
main affect our labouring population, but he saw that within
the past few days in a large agricultural district there was a
strike of a large number of farm labourers, and a combination
has been formed after the pattern of trade union. There was,
lie said, another benefit society which was little known in
country districts, though of undoubted advantage to the work-
ing man. In London, in many large towns, and a few rural
districts, co-operative societies exist, and, as far as present
experience goes, they prosper. Of these there are now in ex-
istence more than 1,000, their members number over 300,000,
the amount of their sliare capital £2,100,000. The districts
most favoured by these societies are the manufacturing dis-
tricts— such as Leeds, Halifax, Rochdale, &c., wliilst here and
there we find one in a country place. But when we speak,
continued Dr. Short, of benefit societies, we are generally
understood to mean those mutual societies formed by the
banding together of a number of men, into which a man pays
a certain sum of money (or contribution as it is called) per
week, month, or quarter, and iu return for this, when in ill-
health, he receives a stipulated amount per week. Having
made allusion to public-house clubs, he continued : I may
here explain what is not perhaps generally understood by those
unversed in tliese matter, but which the late Mr. Tidd Pratt
took great trouble to impress on the public, viz., that a society
being registered and its rules certified, does not vouch for its
stability, but is only evidence that the Act of Parliament has
been complied with, and that the rules of the society have been
examined by the Registrar of Friendly Societies, and found to
be in keeping with tlie law. It is of course much better to
be sure that the rules are proper ones, but it does not infallibly
follow that the club will be a lasting one or able to pay all de-
mands upon its funds. I will now call your attention to a form
of club, but of which i do not, however, profess to know much,
and that is a club the surplus funds of which are at the eudx)f
every financial year divided among its members. Such clubs
were, if I remember aright, common in some parts of the
country, and iu Dorsetshire especially, twenty years ago.
Seeing an account of one in a Hampshire paper a short time
since, I wrote to the president of that club, and he not only
sent me a copy of the rules, but wrote an explan,atory letter.
The club is established in a large town in the south of England
(Southampton), and has 35 or 40 members, who are admissible
if between 16 and 55 years ; each member pays into the funds
Is. Sd. per month, and 4s. 4d. per annum for medical attendance.
In return for this, in sickness a member receives Ss. per week
for ten weeks, and 4s. per week for the remainder of the year ;
he must, however, have been a member one month before he
can claim sick-pay, aud must not be in arrear of contributions.
This club is in connection with a large chapel, but its presi-
dent tells me that similar clubs are very general in Southamp-
ton. Several of the churches have them, and there is one also
in connection with Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. Many
of these have been established some years, aud they are, I be-
lieve (the president says) a decided success. In answer to
questions he says that the rules are not certified, and the club
is so constituted because it is considered by tliem to be the
best plan ; that some clubs so conducted have several hundred
members, and give £10 on the death of a member's wife ; that
the members are chiefly artinans, though there are such clubs in

agricultural districts ; aud that in this said club last year the
receipts were £38 12s. lOd., and the expenditure for sick pay,
&c., £19 9s. Id., each member receiving a dividend of 13s.
8d. On the death of a member's wife each member con-
tributes Is. to the widower, after the manner of burial clubs.
Amongst the rules I find this statement in relation to their
funds : " In the event of a deficiency in the funds, the mem-
bers to be called together as soon as possible to decide upon
what course to adopt." Ho wfar such a club would answer
in this district I am not prepared to say, but I should be very
glad to hear the subject discussed. In speaking next of what
I may call permanent in contradistinction to yearly clubs, I
shall limit myself to those which belong to, or are represented
iu, our own district, for these more particularly concern us,
and those whom we have to do with amongst the labouring
classes. Since it was announced tliat I was to open this dis-
cussion, several friends have very kindly sent me reports and
balance-sheets of dift'erent societies existing amongst us, and
what may be said of one may be said of all — that they are all
in a flourishing condiiion. Those to which I more particu-
larly refer are the Odd Fellows, Foresters, West Suffolk
Friendly Society, and the Norton Church Club (I have
named eacli club in rotation according to its size). These are
in my estimation fair sample clubs of any agricultural district,
and as they each have special features I will refer to them
seriatim. First, then, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
Manchester Unity Friendly Society, which has branches in
every quarter of the globe, and has been now instituted 60
years, has more than half a million of members, and a capital
of £3,050,000. Tlie worth per member is something about
£9. Since its foundation in Manchester in 1812 it has
steadily added to its numerical and financial strength (in 1836
they numbered 40,000, and in 1840 over 90,000 members),
and the society continues to increase. The members of this
society are chiefly arlizaus. The contributions are higher
than in some other clubs, but the amount received in return in
sickness is proportionately larger. The admissible ages range
from 18 to 44 years, and the payment from Is. 8d. to 3s. 6d.
Members are free to receive payments in illness at the end of
six months, aud the burial money is paid after 13 months.
The sick gift is 12s. per week for the first six months, and 6s.
per week afterwards. £12 on the death of a member, and £6
on the death of a member's wife, is paid by the club. Six-
pence per month is also paid for the surgeon and managing
expenses. It would be difficult to thoroughly estimate the
good done by this society. It is, however, more suitable for
the artizan than for the agricultural labourer. I should state
that its affairs are entirely managed by oflicers elected from
amongst themselves, and the recent meeting of the A.M.C.
showed how well they do their work. I should mention that
in the Bury St. Edmund's district there are 36 lodges in unity,
and a little over 3,000 members, while the average per mem-
ber of its accumulated capital is from £12 to £13. In the Ix-
worth Lodge the total value of Lodge funds in January, I87I,
was £2,119 13s. e^d., being an increase during the previous
year of £83 13s. 9d. The subscribing members in Ixworth
were 142, honorary ditto 3. The Odd Fellows' Society has re-
cently arranged that there shall be a class or table admitting
labourers to their number — respectable agricultural labourers
recommended by their employers. The sister society, the
A. O. F. friendly society, equally merits praise for the good
work it has done, and is doing ; and in this immediate neigh-
bourhood it is, I believe, better known amongst our agricul-
tural labourers than the Odd Fellows' Society. It was origi-
nated in 1745, it is said, but established as at present in 1834;
it has some 4,000 courts or lodges, its numerical strength is

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

399

about 400,000, and its capital 1^ millions. Like tlie Odd
Fellows, the Foresters have branches of tlieir order in every
direction, and their numbers are still increasing. According
to the book from whicli I have obtained statistics of this orders
I find that they have several different tables, with payments
according to the benefits to be received. Hitherto some courts
have averaged the contributions in the first class to 2s. 4d. per
month, the payments iu sickness 12s. for six months, 6s. for the
next six months, and 4s. afterwards, with £12 at the member's
death and £6 at death of the member's wife ; and in the second
class at Is. 9d. per month, and payments of 8s. per week for
the first six months, 4s. for nest six months, and 3s. after-
words as long as the illness may last ; £8 at member's death,
and £4 on death of member's wife. The member in this so-
ciety becomes free, that is to say, may receive payments out of
the club at the expiration of twelve months. With Odd Fel-
lows the members are free at the end of six months. In fu-
ture all Foresters' courts will have to arrange their contribu-
tions according to age. This society, like the pre-
ceding one, is a secret society, and its courts and funds
are managed in a manner very similar to the plan adopted
amongst Odd Fellows. I have had some considerable expe-
rience with regard to benefit societies of all kinds;
and wliilst, unfortunately, there are a few bad ones,
there are very many good ones, but I never met
with a better or one more suited to the agricultural
labouring classes than what I may call our Suffolk Club —
I mean the West Suffolk Friendly Society. It was commenced
in the year 1830, and has gone on prosperously to the present
time, and T hope and believe will continue to do so, notwith-
standing there being so many otlier clubs in existence, but, to
quote the words of Dr. Mackay, " Tliere is room enough for
all ;" 870 members belonged to it on January 4th, 1871, and
it extends to over 63 parishes. Since its commencement it lias
received from members and from interest £32,006 9s. Id. It
has paid out £16,136 4s. It has invested in securities of
different kinds £15,820 9s., and had a balance iu the hands of
the treasurers at the above date of £49 15s. 5d. This Club
has three sickness tables — as they are called — a pension table,
a life insurance table, a savings' bank, and an endowment table.
In the first the ages range from 15 to 50 ; the payments range
from Is. Id. to 5s. 5|d. monthly, according to the age, and,
benefits, 63. per week full pay, 3s. half-pay ; a weekly allow-
ance in sickness or health, after the age of 65 years, of 3s.
per week, and £3 at death. In table 2, payments from Is. S^d.
to 73. 3|d. insure respectively 8s., 4s. as halt-pay, and 4s.
after 65, with £4 at death. In the third table, payments from
Is. lOd. to 9s. Id. insure benefits 10s., 5s. as half-pay, and 5s.
annuity, and £5 at death. The other tables I do not think it
worth while to go into, unless any gentleman wisiies me to do
so. Belonging to the several classes in the Club I find — Table
1, 22 names ; table 2, 383 names ; table 3, 433 names ; total
838. In addition to these there are those who belong to the
Pension table, 7 ; Life Assurances, 4 ; Savings, 6 ; Endow-
ments, 15 ; total, 870. The members of this Club have not
the same voice in the management of their Club that the Odd
Fellows and Foresters have, for the society is managed for
them by a committee of iufluential gentlemen, and the mem-
bers could send delegates to attend the committee. Unlike
those societies, it is not a secret society, and its meetings are
not lield at a public-iiouse. The society works well, and for
myself I hearitly wish it every success. The Norton Ciiurch
Club is held in the Norton School Room and was established
in 1845. It has three trustees, viz., Mr. P. Huddlestou, Dr.
Dicken (clergyman of the parish), and Mr. W. Jannings, of
Barton. Its members are resident in 25 parishes, and their
number somewhat over 160, and its capital is, I believe, be-
tween £500 and £600. Unlike the West Suffolk Friendly
Society, whilst it has gentlemen acting as trustees, its affairs
are entirely under the control of the members, who elect the
several officers necessary for the proper carrying on of the
Club, the benefits of which are commensurate with the pay-
ments which tlie members make. Speaking of the advantages
of these societies. Dr. Short said : I am sure that a Benefit
Society such as I have named makes a man more independent,
more self-respecting, a better man, and a better citizen. It
It teaches him respect for authority, for the powers, whether it
be his master, or a magistrate, or anyone in a higher position
than he, for as he is a member of a club he has to obey its
niles, and the dictates of its ofRcers, As I saw in a Friendly

Societies' magazine, Jolin would not mind contradicting Sam
in the workshop, but when Sam is in office as President, Chief
Ranger, or Noble Grand, he has a wholesome respect for his
position. If you ask me what constitutes a good Benefit or
Friendly Society, I would say that for it to be a prosperous
one, it must start with such a rate of contributions as shall be
known to cover all possible contingencies. There must be a
graduated scale of contributions. There should be from time to
time a valuation of its funds and properties, and whatever the
benefits to be derived from the amount paid in, the funds for
each benefit and for the incidental expenses should be kept en-
tirely separate. There should and must be a constant addition to
the number of members, which should never be less than 50 ;
with that number, and an average amount of good heath, a
club might go on ad vifinUum. The members of course enter-
ing these clubs should be examined in good health. Should
benefit societies be held at public-houses or not? I liave
given you samples of clubs held at such places and elsewhere,
and I shall be very anxious to hear what opinions are ex-
pressed upon the subject since the subject is creating much
interest at the present time. My opinion is that in large towns
where there are a sufficient number to cairy it out, there should
be a Friendly Societies' Hall, to be rented by the different
societies of the neighbourhood ; and my belief is also that in
all districts the disassociation of the two would be best. At
any rate, if the club be held at the public-house, the landlord
should be paid a certain sum for the rent of his room and for
firing and lighting, but it should not be left for him to get these
things paid for by the profit on what he sells, for in some in-
stances this might be a temptation to push the sale of drink, or
it might be a temptation to adulterate what is sold that the
profit may be greater. I would be the last man in the world
to wish to debar the labouring man from rational social enjoy-
ment ; indeed, would do anything in my power to help him to
the attainment of such a desirable object. It is the irrational
and the debasing that I would wish to separate him from. At
any rate, if the rental proposition were to be adopted the
member would feel more free to do as he liked, and the publican
would be relieved from the odium which has been put upon
him by the suggestion that men are often tempted to drink more
than is good for them. I have taken opportunities of seeing
many publicans, since I thought of writing this paper, who
have clubs iu their houses, and they agree with me in this pro-
position almost to a man. In conclusion. Dr. Short said :
How shall you, gentlemen, help in the matter of Friendly
Societies ? By endeavouring to get those who work for you
to join some good club, and by becoming yourselves honorary
members of such estimable societies. Those of you, gentle-
men, who are guardians of the poor, I would ask to lend your
help in recommending your several Boards to help those in
time of sickness who iu time of health endeavour to help
themselves. In Stow Union it is the custom to reckon club
money at half its actual amount, and to apportion the relief
allowance accordingly. I have left some points, sucli as the
question of average wages, and the amount that a poor man
can set by for club purposes, tor some one else to take up. And
anything relating to the medical duties, &c., I have also pur-
posely avoided, but shall be happy to answer any questions
that may be asked respecting those duties.

A discussion followed, and a vote of thanks having been
passed to Dr. Short and to the Chairman, the meeting
separated.

MR. WILLIAM BROWN CANNING, of Elston, has
recently died. As an agriculturist, Mr. Canning was long
celebrated for his West Country Down flock, certainly the
handsomest sheep of the sort ever exhibited ; but he sold off a
few years since. Mr. Canning was a member of the Council,
and a steward of the Smithfield Club, an inspector of shearing
at the shows of the Royal Agricultural Society, and a judge at
the Bath and West of Englaud and other meetings. He was
a genial, unaffected man, and in the discharge of his public
duties was ever obliging and accessible, assuming none of
those little airs of secrecy and importance which some officials
are so prone to adopt. Mr. Canning's loss, in no merely con-
ventional phrase, will be much felt and regretted.

400

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE LAND LAWS AND THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL.

At a general meeting of the Chesliire Chamber of Agricul-
ture, Sir Harry Mainwaring in the chair, Mr. G. W. Latham
read the following paper on the subject of The Land Laws
considered as Hindrances to the Thorough Cultivation of the
Soil:

The subject of the land laws was essentially one which con-
cerned them as members of the Chamber ; it was even more
emphatically one which interested them as citizens, as agricul-
turists ; and living, as some of them did, by the receipt of
rents and by the profit made after the payment of rents, they
were naturally concerned in seeing that the laws which regu-
lated the commodity in which they dealt were fair and just.
They might be sure that as on the one hand no landlord had
ever permanently profited by an undue increase of rent, so had
no tenant ever been better from an unfairly clieap farm. They
knew that on the full production of the soil depended the com-
fort and happiness of the people of the country. If, as was
believed by the best autliorities on agriculture, the produce of
the soil might, by a judicious expenditure of capital, and by
improved methods of farming, be raised to double or one-third
more than it was at present, they should by that means be
pretty independent of foreign corn or of foreign cattle. The
increasing masses of the people would be better f?d, and in
case of war there would be no fear of famine. He did not
mean to say that by any legislation they could turn bad farms
into good, or that they could protect them against bad seasons
and a variable climate, but lie did mean to say that one thing
wanted in agriculture was more capital, and that at present
landowners, instead of increasing the industry which
produced such an amount of profit annually, had placed
it under every possible disadvantage. By the exist-
ing laws, the investment was made insecure as to
its tennre, and the tenant liable to expulsion at
the shortest notice. It was made subject to the priority of
the landlord, who had the power to choose and determine on
the solvency of the man he had chosen as tenant. Only let
them give security to the farmer, cease to make laws favour-
able to the few at the expense of the many, and they would
find that capital would flow in without let or hindrance, and
limited only by the natural laws of supply and demand. At
present the difference between agriculture and commerce was
that by the first men sought to live, and by the second they
hoped to grow rich. And when interpreted, what did this
mean, except that it was a concern in which no one cared to
invest largely and without fear, but that farmers were content
to earn a bare livelihood without the smallest hope of a pro-
vision for old age, and no expectation of increasing their
original investment? He wished to bring no arguments
against the landlords as a body; the evils he deplored
had grown up gradually, and were the wretched growth
of a feudal system now long extinct, and of decisions
of the law courts based on a state of society and on
a system of farming both long passed away. He felt sure that
if the landowners had, as a rule, exercised to the full the
powers they had under these laws, we should, in this country,
have been in the same state of agrarian riot as the sister
country was a few years ago. From that sad consummation,
this forbearance in general of the landlords, the patience of
the tenants, and the good sense of both had happily saved us.

Still, if they were wise they would not wait to ask for— and
their rulers would not wait to grant— the amendment of bad
laws until the chauge was demanded by threats and violence,
or until evils which were now only possible came prominently
into existence. Speaking of the laws of i)rimogeniture and
entail, he said that the effects of the abolilion of the first,
which was, he believed, certain to be proposed, would be so
gradual as hardly to be felt in tkis generation. As regarded
the lavv of entail, it had much the same effect as the custom of
primogeniture. A tenant for life would do very little for the
benefit of the land. He could only borrow money under the
authority of certain acts of Parliament, or by life insurance ;
he could not lay out his money in permanent improvements,
such as cottage Ijuilding, the erection of farmhouses, draining
and planting, without giving the whole benefit of his money
to the one member of his family who was best provided for,
and perhaps to some connexion for whom he had no love.
What was wanted was real freedom — freedom of sale, freedom
of transfer, freedom of taxation— and to gain this they asked
for the prohibition of all those bonds which the system of set-
tlements and entails had woven round them. If all tenures
but fees-simple were abolished, he believed that they would
have done much to the good of the nation at large, to the
owners and their families, to the occupiers, and to the labourers.
With regard to the security of the tenant-farmer, so long
as the improvements he made were unexhausted, he ob-
jected to a lease, because, in the first place, it did
not provide for the land being kept in its iiighest state of fer-
tility ; and secondly, tiiat by it tlie tenant was bound to the
landlord and the landlord to the tenant for a term, when per-
haps it would be more convenient and agreeable for them to
part. A man might want to put his capital into some other
business, he might hear of a better farm, or the landowner
might fairly wish to niter the distribution of his farm ; and
yet an existing lease bound them together as long as it existed;
and if to avoid the inconvenience of this a man took a farm
from year to year, there was no doubt that he was at the
mercy of his landlord. He knew that on many estates, notably
some in Cheshire, a lease from year to year was equivalent
to a lease for life so long as the tenant conducted himself
properly and farmed well, but the misfortune was that the
landlord was the sole judge of the tenant's conduct. A dis-
pute with an agent, a few words with a game-keeper, a slight
variance with the parson, a sentence spoken at a public dinner,
a vote given in opposition to the landlord, might turn tlie
white sheep into a black one. He believed, however, that one
of the greatest hindrances to all permanent improvements had
been the legal maxim that so soon as a person fixed up a building
permanently it belonged to the landlord. When, by the pass-
ing of the Bill for secret voting, the desire of territorial
aggrandisement for political purposes had passed away ; when,
by tlie repeal of tlie Game-laws, the habit of turning good
land into a happy hunting ground had ceased ; when land was
possessed as an investment to produce profit, and not as a
luxury for a great man to enjoy, would not the landowners be
more inclined to let their land at a rent varying with the price
of the produce and liable to be revised at certain intervals ?
In regard to the Game-laws he was willing to accept, as a
remedy for the present evil, tliat they should be made, as it
were, permissive; that in districts where the population was
above so many in a certain acreage they should absolutely and
entirely cease ; and that in districts where the population was
scantier tlie ratepayers should have the power of deciding
whether wild animals should be kept up by artificial laws. If
they so agreed, then they should pay the cost of prosecutions
and of maintenance in gaols. He hoped that he should not
shock tliem very much when he said, too, that it seemed
to him that the law, by whicii hounds having found a
wild animal on a property had a right to follow it on to
another man's land, was entirely incompatible with the
thorough cultivation of the soil. Last year he knew of one
meet in Chediire where about four hundred horsemen

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

401

were counted, and generally they saw fields of some 80 and
120. Could they hope to see their clover, their wheat and
beans flourish when such a cavalcade had ridden over them ?
Would early potato drills look as smooth as before, after an
army like this had passed through the field? Were their
hedges much improved by the charge of such a light brigade ?
He read the other day in the columns of a sporting paper
actually a serious proposal that no gentleman should any
longer subscribe to any agricultural society except a man wlio
used wire in his fences was excluded from the chance of gain-
ing a prize. He for one held that the primary use of land
was to feed the people, and not to amuse the rich ; and that
if damage be done to the land by the concourse of horses and
hunters, there should be some short and simple way of recever-
ing damages from those who by tiieir ownership of the dogs
had collected the mob. They would demur if two clubs from
Manchester or Liverpool were to claim the right of playiug
cricket in their fields. In former days tenant-farmers might
have objected to a little affair between two of the fancy coming
off in their meadows; but they were expected to submit
quifttly to the inroads of a large party of gentlemen from tlie
neighbouring towns— not one in ten of whom they had ever
heard of before; nor one in twenty, even if that were any
excuse, had land or tenants of his own to be injured. He
feared that at no distant time they should have to
require that those wlio wished to destroy wild animals
should do it iu a country where the wild animals had not
first to be preserved at some cost, and then killed at the
cost of the loss of valuable food for the nation. There were
some smaller grievances upon which he should like to say a
few words. These were, the present principle of rating, and
the notice to quit at the end of six months, which was
utterly insufficient. He believed that what he had asked for—
the abolition of the laws of primogeniture and entail, the de-
struction of the law of distress, the enactment of a law of
Tenants-Right, the modification of the Game-laws and trespass,
and a change in the plan of rating — were what they had a
right to demand. They should ask for nothiug less, and be
content with no compromise. They had been treated as milch
cows by tlie landlords, as patient oxen by the Legislature ; they
had borne unfair burdens, and they had laboured for other
men's profit ; but they represented after all tlie great industry
of the nation, one of which the income, when capitalised, would
amount to £600,000,00 sterling, and if they spoke out boldly
and acted fairly there was no doubt that measures on those
subjects would be considered and passed on an early day. Even
were there any power in the country which would perpetuate
injustice, he believed that there were very few who would de-
sire to do so. The great changes in the country's history had
all been carried by combination and fair argument, and besides
the claims to be had that their importance as an industry gave
them, besides the strength they gained by a righteous cause,
they had on their side the support of the people, whose inte-
rest it was that the food should be cheap and plentiful. They
asked for what had been given to trades — for freedom ; they
asked it for their sake as tenant farmers, and even more for
the sake of those who dwelt among them — the labourers. He
did not doubt but that they would gain it, and though he
looked forward to no sudden or violent change, though he be-
lieved that even the alteration of these laws would produce a
gradual rather than a sudden effect, yet he trusted the day was
not far distant when it might be said of this as it was said of
another country in days gone by, " The pastures are clothed
with flocks, the valleys also are covered with corn. They
laugh ; they sing."

Mr. Slater said the paper was of the greatest possible
importance, and if the debate had to be postponed, he would
further suggest that it should be printed and freely circulated.
He bore testimony to the restrictive and foolish character of
many of the leases, and believed that the best method to effect
a remedy would be the adoption of one general system.
Speaking of the damage inflicted upon tenant farmers he said
he sustained injury to the amount of i'lO annually by the
breakage of fences. He thouglit that if the gentlemen of the
Cheshire hunt would not advertise their meetings so freely,
the number at each gathering would not be so large, and the
damage consequently less.

Mr. Batesi.vn seconded the proposition to print and circu-
late the paper. As a tenant farmer he thought they were
deeply indebted to Mr, Latham, because, from the positioa

they occupied, they would have been afraid to speak so confi-
dently upon many subjects dealt with in the paper. Since he
could remember, there was a time when Cheshire landowners
would allow their tenants to plough only one field.

Mr. Aston (Tarporley) expressed the gratitude many tenant
farmers felt to Mr. Latham for the freedom and courage with
which he had treated the subject.

Mr. Button objected to many of the proposals contained
in the paper. Unless they could ascertain some method by
which capital invested in land could be more remunerative
than when applied to commerce, they might talk till doomsday
and they would get nothing. The uncertainty of weather and
the liability of stock to disease, and the attendant losses were
among some of the principal reasons why people hesitated to
invest money in land in preference to commercial pursuits.
He would strongly object to the introduction into England
of anything like the Irish land system. On the question of
hunting he fully concurred with Air. Latham, and hoped that
some remedy would be adopted to put an end to the monstrous
injustice inflicted upon Cheshire farmers.

Mr. George Willis said that as a tenant farmer, after seve-
ral years of careful study and observation, and some experience
iu the practical working of the land laws of England, he felt
free to say that they were most pernicious and unjust.

Mr. Latham, in stating his refusal to have the paper
printed and circulated as a pamphlet, proceeded to add to his pre-
vious remarks the grounds upon which he based his argument
that the land did not belong to kudlords, but to the people.

Mr. Button asked if Mr. Latham meant to say that there
was any distinction between land and property ?

Mr. Latham asked Mr. Button to what property he re-
ferred.

Mr. Button replied that he meant house property, or pro-
perty imested in ships, for instance.

Mr. Latham said that in his deliberate opinion land was
not any man's property. It was the property of the nation,
and held in trust for the people.

The Chairman wished some one else had occupied the
chair. He could assure the Chamber that he did not feel easy.
He did not think the Chamber was instituted for any political
purpose, but rather for the discussion of agricultural subjects.
He had not attended many meetings of the Chamber, but he
certainly never had been present at a meeting iu which they
had had a discussion of that description bordering upon poli-
tical subjects.

Mr. Latham asked to what political subject the chairman
referred ?

The Chairman said that in the course of the proceedings
it had been stated that it would be better for landowners to
quietly submit to measures which would ultimately be passed,
if not peaceably, by force.

Mr. Button thought that the introduction of principles
such as underlay the paper was undesirable.

The Chairman said he concurred with the paper in
some respects, such as arbitration between the outgoing
and the incoming tenant and the landlord, lie did not be-
lieve there was any landlord in Cheshire who would refuse
to pay for unexhausted improvements. ("Oh, oh," and "Yes,
yes").

Mr. Willis said he was quite prepared to enumerate such
cases.

The Chairman said he could state instances where
tenants had exhausted the land, and not treated the laud-
owners fairly.

The Secretary, Mr. Rigby, asked whether, seeing both
sides had been heard on the question, it would not be better to
conclude the debate, and pass a vote of thanks to Mr. Latham ?
This was submitted to the meeting and carried.

Mr. Latham wished to know if there was to be no more
discussion at a future meeting ? If it were so, he hoped that
the reason assigned would not be on the ground that it was
dangerous to discuss it. It must be apparent to everyone that
in discussing agriculture aud the land laws they could not fail
to indirectly introduce politics. They were not going to take
up such a subject like a simple debating society. They were
bound as practical men to ventilate this subject, and if there
were hindrances and obstructions, measures ought to be sug-
gested for their removal.

The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the chair-
man,

402

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE MAIDSTONE FARMERS' CLUB.
UNDER DRAINAGE.

At the last meeting, Mr. Thos. Bridgland in the chair,
Mr. Bailey De::«ton read the following paper : — Having
written and said so much on the subject of under-drainage
within the last twenty years, and having been connected with
drainage-works in various parts of the country, which, in the
aggregate, have cost more than a million of money, I should
have been indisposed to enter again the arena of discussion,
were it not that I have thought that the results of my expe-
rience might be of some general utility. I am led to think
this because the progress of under-drainage has undergone a
check witliin the last few years, from causes upon which some
useful remarks may be made, particularly as we are on tlie eve
of a wide application of the liquid refuse of towns to land by
irrigation, or intermittent filtration, the permanent success of
which latter application principally depends upon the way
in which the necessary under-drainage is performed.
The check which has been experienced has not arisen wholly
from causes connected with the operation of drainage, but
from the coincidence that tliere has been for the last five
or sis years a succession of comparatively dry seasons, in-
cluding the two years of absolute drought of 1868 and 1870,
and that every operation involving manual labour
has greatly increased in cost within the same period of time.
The occupiers of land consequently have been content to
leave their heavy lands vndmineii, on the principle ef " let-
ting well alone," instead of acting upon that better axiom
of economy — applicable literally, and with special
orce, to under-drainage — of " providing f.gainst a rainy
day." I need not point out at any length the pernicious
effect upon agriculture of the " let-well-alone " policy, but
will merely remind you of two facts, which must go far to
confute it in reasonable minds. The first is that in dry
seasons, when tliere is no surplus water to remove from the
soil, land that has become pulverised by under-drainage,
in consequence of the admission of air throughout its mass,
derives great benefit from the moisture with which
the air is charged, even when that air is believed by the
uniritiated to be extremely dry. This advantage was made
manifest in the two years of drought to which I have referred.
It was then observed that in deeply-drained and well-
cultivated clay lands the crops were carried forward from
seed-time to harvest without any obstruction in growth or
fructification, and with the most abundant results. Some of
the best wheat and bean crops I saw in the year 1870 were
growing on drained clay land, that had been steam- cultivated,
and such land that had been previously let at 18s.
an acre, tithe free. That drained land should generally be
more productive than undrained land in dry years, will, pro-
bably, be doubted by those who may have noticed the quan-
tity of grass growing in low undrained meadows, when higher
pastures are scorched and withered. On a close examination
it will be seen, however, that in nine cases out of ten the sus-
tenance derived by animals from the short, baked grass of
drained land is in excess of that derived from the sedgy stuff
grown on undrained lands, particularly if there is a supply of
good drinking water near at nand. My own observations lead
me to the conviction that the advantage of admitting the air
with the moisture it contains into the soil during dry years is
practically very great. On the question of utilizing the
water of under-drainage in dry seasons I must not now speak,
though with Romney ]\Iarsh so near at hand, where I have
heard of sheep dying from thirst in considerable numbers, at
the very time when I have been draining the high grounds
above and throwing away water in large quantities, I could
find in this single object matter enough for an evening's dis-
cussion. I therefore pass on to the second fact which I think
should dispose of the " let-well-alone" policy, and that is, that
the cost of under-drainage is gradually increasing, and is likely
to increase even at a greater ratio than hitherto. When I
started draining, five-and-twenty years ago, the ordinary cost
of four feet digging in clay soils was a penny a yard, or 5Jd, a

rod : it now costs l^d., or between 7d. and 8d. a rod, and the
probability is that those who have comforted themselves with
letting well aloue will have to pay much more when they set
to work, for we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that while
labourers engaged in agriculture are on the decrease, owing to
the more active demands of trade and commerce, efforts at
combination are being successfully made to raise wages in rural
districts, and this will necessarily extent itself to under-
drainage. This is an ugly fact, but it must be looked in the
face. The increase, too, is not confined to the mere labour of
cutting the drains but to the making of pipes also. I have
given as little as 15s. and 16s. per thousand for two-inch pipes
made as well as any pipes I have ever seen ; now, tlie price at
the same yards is 20s. or 223. From these several causes the
average cost of clay land drainage four feet deep has, within
my own experience, increased from £5 to £6 an acre, and it
will not be long before my " let-well-along" firiends pay £7 an
acre. Having expressed publicly an opinion that the condition
of our rural labourers is on the whole better than that of those
employed in the mill and factory, you will believe me when I
express regret that the influence of trade unions should be at
work in the village and on the farm, though 1 must confess
that with the cost of food and clothing increasing every day,
we must be prepared to advance the price of labour in order
that the labourer's family may be properly fed and clad. Had
this country been earlier alive to the advantages of education
— and particularly to that character of tuition known as
" technical," which would have made the labourer's work more
valuable — the agricultural employer would not necessarily
suffer as he now will by the payment of higher wages, for he
would obtain in the improved character and quantity of work
done by the labourer so educated an equivalent for his in-
creased wages. At the present moment it is only in exceptional
cases that the agricultural labourer has been benefited by tech-
nical teaching. As I mentioned on former occasions, when I
have spoken on the subject, I have known Dorsetshire men
who had earned with difficulty from 7s. to 9s. a week, become
expert drainers under technical teaching, and afterwards earn
from 18s. to 208., and at the same time give a better return for
the wages they received than when receiving only from 7s. to
9s. Speaking generally, there is no doubt that the work of
under-drainage is better done now than twenty years back, but
it is surprising how little improvement has been made in the
actual work of digging, though expertness in that, more than
in any other description of field labour, might be made a
means of obtaining increased wages. Much of the improve-
ment that has taken place is due, not to the improved way in
wliich the trenches have been dug, but to the supervision ex-
ercised ever the finishing, i. e., the bottoming, of the trench
and the laying of the pipes, without which the work would be
of little or no avail. In fact, a Huntingdonshire drainer would,
twenty years ago, cut a depth of four feet in the Oxford clay
of the oolite, with an opening of from 8^ to 10 inches, taking
pride in showing how little earth he would thus remove.
Now, most men will open the trench at widths varying from
14 to 18 inches for the same depth. I need not tell you that if
one man can dig a drain four feet deep, and move only ouc-and-
a-half cubic yards of earth in each rod, while another man
will move two-and-a-half cubic yards ; the former can earn
better wages by devoting his strength to a greater length of
cutting, while the employer, paying no more per rod, would
be advantaged by the greater rapidity with which the opera-
tion would be performed. There is often the difference of a
yard, worth perhaps 2d. per rod, in the earth moved by one
man compared with another. I hope that those who hear me,
and those who may read the observations, will accept this fact
as an illustration of the advantage of technical education in
all farm work, and seeing that what we have done within the
last twenty-five years in under-drainage is but a mere flea-bite
compared with what remains to be done, will help to obtain
for the farm-labourer those advantages of practical tution

J

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

403

which he pre-eminently requires. Having appeared as the
advocate of the technical education of the farm-labourer on
several occasions, I am afraid you will say with Polonius
" aside" that 1 am " still harping on ray daughter." This,
however, I shall consider no stigma, for I verily believe that
the only way in which farm labourers can obtain increased
wages without detriment to the agricultural interest, will be
by doing better work, and more work within the time devoted
to labour. I should not be true to ray natural sympathies if
I lost an opportunity of impressing upon my agricultural
friends the truth that with the increased wages of the labourer
will come increased rates and imposts, and that it will be falla-
cious to suppose that the rent of farmers will be proportion-
ately reduced, so as to throw the loss from tlie tenant on to
the landlord, for it is certain that for every farm vacated
witliin reach of a railway station, there will be at least 20
applicants. And it is natural that this should be so, even in
the face of increasing outgoings, for our island does not in-
crease in size, while the population consuming the produce
doubles in 50 years, and capital increases in even greater pro-
portion among those who are ready to embark in farming. I
will here refer to a point in connection with the cost of labour
whicli has had its share in deferring the execution of drainage
works — I mean the indisposition of tenant-farmers to give up
to their landlords the carrying out of drainage works — many
tenants preferring to pay for tlie labour and do the work them-
selves if the landlord will find the materials. At first blush
this appears to be a very equitable arrangement ; on examina-
tion, however, it has nothing to recommend it, either to the
landlord, who would pay two-fifths of the cost, or to the ten-
ant, who would pay the remaining three-fifths. To the land-
lord it is objectionable because he would be paying his share
without any return whatever during the occupation of the
tenant paying for the labour, though he would not fail to re-
coup himself upon the retaking of the farm, or a fresh tenancy
occurring. To the tenant farmer, who may flatter himself
that he is making a good bargain, the arrangement has even
less to recommend it. This will be seen by dissecting the
figures, as every man of business should do. The average
length of holdings in this country has, I believe, been shown
to be fourteen years, taking into consideration change of occu-
pation resulting from death and other causes. The average
cost of four feet clay-land drainage may be taken to be at
this moment £6 an acre, of which £3 13s. would represent
the cost of the labour (which the tenant would pay), and £2
8s., the value of the materials (supplied by the landlord). If
we suppose 100 acres to be drained on this arrangement, the
amount of money contributed by the tenant would be £360,
and that by the landlord £240. It is unnessary to point out
tliat the tenant might employ his £360 on the farm in the
purchase of stock or manure, and, if properly used, might
gain from it a return of 10 per cent., which is £36 a year.
If he had capital enough without it he could lend the money
on good security through his lawyer, and get five per cent, for
it, or £18 a year. In each case he would retain the principal
money for the benefit of his family when he should die.
Now, let us suppose that he buries the £360 in the drainage
of his farm. To recover the outlay in the average lengtli
of tenancies (14 years) which he must do if he acts justly
to himself and children, with 10 per cent, interest which I
have shown he could gain by another use of the money, he
must make as profit rather over 16 per cent., or between
£57 and £58 a-year, which is lis. 6d. an acre. Every ac-
countant knows this. The principal money would then come
in by driblets, and, if not re-invested each year of the 15
years, which would be rather a difficult thing to do, would
very probably have vanished by the end of the 14th year.
Compare this state of things with the landlord executing the
whole of the drainage under, for instance, the General Land
Drainage and Improvement Company's Act, by which the
cost of the work, with interest, may be charged on the
drained lands, and repaid by instalments at sis per cent. You
will find that a tenant being required to discharge the whole
charge would have to pay within a fraction of £36 a-year for
the 100 acres, or 7s. 2|d. an acre, which is sis per cent, on
£600, the cost of 100 acres of drainage at £6 an acre. In
this way the landlord would save his contribution ; while the
tenant would pay only two-thirds of what he would contribute
under the other arrangement, while he would, moreover, have
his principal money to lay out in «ny wfty he pleased— and

supposing he put it out on mortgage, he would have £18
a-year interest coming in towards the annual payment of the
£36. I will ask you to consider these figures carefully, and I
think you will come to the same conclusion as myself, that to
adopt such a division of the work is about as indiscreet au
act as a tenant-farmer can do. Other causes retarding the
progress of drainage well deserve attention ; for they are due
not to the bad execution of drainage-works, whicli is too often
stated to be the case, but more frequently to a want of a right
understanding of some important facts, Uuder-drainage has
been supposed to be a work which, when once executed, re-
quires no help on the part of those who are cultivating the
drained farm, and that the drains themselves are not liable to
any of those casualties which attend the acts of man, though
man's best endeavours are but a minimum of defects. It is
these assumptions more than anything else that are bringing
drainage into disrepute. Lands laid out in ridges and furrows
— the form of surface drainage adopted by our forefathers,
when they converted our woods and wastes into ploughed
fields— are still retained, though wholly inconsistent with
subsoil drainage ; and it must be manifest to everyone that so
long as the shape of the surface will allow of the rain falling
upon it to run from the ridge to the furrow, not only is the
latter overloaded with water, and the under- drains placed at
a disadvantage, but a system of robbery is going on at the
same time, for a large proportion of the manure put on to the
ridge is washed by the rain into tlie furrow, without any capa-
bility of turning it to account. It is needless to say that every
pains should be taken to reduce the surface to an even condition
— not by any rash effort made in one single year, but by
degrees, and in several years, until the only furrows that exist
shall be those known as " water-furrows," which are positively
necessary to relieve the slacks and hollows formed by nature,
and in which water will collect, so long as it retains its pro-
perty of running to the lowest place. No under-draiuage can
wholly prevent this, and time must be allowed for absorption.
In the west-midland and midland counties the high-backed
lands have been so raised that two persons standing in dif-
ferent furrows are unable to see each other, while in the
eastern counties such a form of surface is hardly known. Still,
though the eastern counties have not to contend with these
aboriginal deformities, there exists an indisposition with many
farmers to take advantage of their facilities, and cultivate
deeply. I have often heard men say that with a poor subsoil,
shallow ploughing is better than deep. There cannot be a
greater mistake than this, for as long as the pan established by
ploughings in former generations is maintained by ploughing
equally shallow, the results must be unsatisfactory. This
remark is favourably illustrated by a circumstance within
my own experience. In the years 1856-7-8 the General Land
Drainage and Improvement Company drained the Hinsworth
estate in Bedfordshire, the property of Mr. Robert Clutterbuck.
As soon as the drainage was done, Mr. Clutterbuck took one
of the farms lying on the gault of the green sand formation
into his own hands, and set to work to cultivate it deeply.
Unfortunately, he let it afterwards to a tenant inexperienced in
the treatment of heavy lands, who soon gave it up in disgust,
proclaiming the drainage a failure. There were not wanting
persons in the neighbourhood to take the same view as the
retiring tenant, and it was only after considerable diificulty
that the farm was re-let. This time, however, the tenant
was one who did understand that drained clay-land re-
quires appropriate treatment, and he set to work accordingly.
The result is expressed in the following letter from Mx.
Clutterbuck himself, dated October the 4th, 1871 : " I have
just returned from Hinxworth, and after a pretty close in-
spection I think you will like to hear the result. The crops on
ray old farm have perfectly astonished me, and our old hopes
have been realised, that the cold widrainable laud has pro-
duced crops both in quality no less than quantity equal, possi-
bly in some instances superior, to those grown upon the free
open soils on the estate. I assure you I was dehghted with
what I saw. Mr. Newton, who occupies the farm, is really an
intelligent person, and now that he has adopted steam plough-
ing, is perfectly satisfied with his future prospects. I found a
double engine (Fowler) at work. Mr. Newton prefers the
direct traction to the round-about system. On the other farms
the tenants adopt steam ploughing also, and in fact an agri-
cultural revolution has been effected in the parish ; hedges are
cot close after harvest, channels and outfalls are now clearg^

s s 2

404

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

out as a matter of course, aud you would hardly recognise the
place." As it is, in point of fact, a sine and non, that the sur-
face-soil should be broken up by deep cultivation, it is |lucky
for under-drainage that the gradual advance of steam cultiva-
tion will annihilate high-backed lauds, and force out of prac-
tice shallow ploughing, lu making these remarks I am not
presuming to lay down the law as a farmer, though I have had
some experience in that line, but I speak as a constant ob-
server of the acts of other men — those who, having experienced
its benefits with deep cultivation, extol under-drainage as the
foundation of good husbandry, as well as those who, having
neglected proper surface treatment, complain of its failure. It
may not be out of place here to read some impromptu lines,
which I have used on a former occasion, expressive of the
opinions I am now reiterating.

Ere we part, ye tillers of clay,

A few more words I've still to say.

When land is drained no " high-backs" keep,

But lay it flat and plough it deep.

No shallow work, but break the pan

The plough-share made when ploughing began.

" Water furrows" ye can't avoid,

Or ye will have your wheat destroy'd ;

For rain collects where " slacks" exist,

Defying drains whate'er ye wist.

Autumn ploughing to catch the frost

Beats all spring work, though twice the cost.

Sow your seed early, wide in row,

And stir aud clean with Garrett's hoe :

Ere the last sheaf is off the ground

Let the broadshare begin its round :

Don't force your acts 'gainst nature's will,

Though drain'd the land, 'tis clay land still.

With sun to scorch and wind to dry,

Break up the soil and scarify ;

But when your ground is filled with rain

Then your labour is worse than vain.

For each footmark, shod or cloven,

Only stamps the worst of sloven.

I can positively affirm that after five-and-twenty years' active
investigation I have never known a single instance of failure of
under-drainage where the work has, in the first instance, been
properly done at a propel depth — never less than four feet in
clays, and often reaching ten feet in free soils — and the surface
has been deeply and timely cultivated ; always reserving acci-
dent! which will occur in spite of every precaution and care,
and with which I shall presently deal. I have had a great
many cases brought under my notice, each proclaimed to be a
" failure of drainage," which, upon examination, I have found
to be unsatisfactory owing to causes wholly within the control
of the occupying tenants, who have either avoided breaking up
the surface pan, or who have forgotten that drainage does not
alter the constituents of clay, but merely its condition, and that
it is as wrong to plough aud maul land in wet weather after it
is drained as it was to do so before. The accidents which are
beyond the control of both the drainer and the tenant-farmer
are not so readily disposed of. How often have I heard the
expression " Do you call this drainage ?" when water has ap-
peared on the surface in consequence of the drains being
stopped by tree roots, or by the collection of sand, or of pro-
toxide of iron ? It is impossible to over-estimate the injury
arising to under-drains from these causes. The mischief done
to drains by tree roots is very considerable. Within this last
month I have known £40 expended in clearing pipes of roots
in a property of only 600 acres of heavy clay land. The drain-
age was executed in the years 1862-3, since, which time the
tenant has had reason to complain of the want of effect. Had
the trees within reach of the drains been removed at the time
the drainage was done, all objection might have been avoided,
or had the drains beeu examined as soon as water was seen
rising to the surface the evil miglit have been discovered and
removed. As it was, however, the stoppages accumulated until
the cost ot the remedy reached the amount stated.
In sandy districts the drams will at times] become filled
with sand, particularly where there has been a good deal of
pressure of water from higher ground, and the sand itself has
been very minute. No collars nor any other expedients will
wholly prevent the influx of sand nor the choking of the
jpipes, where the run of water is variable and small in quantity

at times. I have in certain cases prevented the passage of
sand into the pipe by wrapping the joints in muslin or calico,
but this has not always been attended witli success, and I feel
bouud, therefore, to state that, in spite of every possible pre-
caution, stoppages will occur, and can only be remedied by
taking up the pipes and clearing them as soon as the evil is
suspected. In many parts, particularly in Wales, and the
mining districts of Cornwall, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, pro-
toxide of iron, locally called " car," is very troublesome, and
tbough much good may be done by flushing the drains where
there is a command of water, it is and will ever remain a fre-
quent cause of stoppage. There is some consolation, however,
in the fact that in the free soils comparatively few drains are
in the first place required, and therefore the cost of remedy is
not very great if the evil be taken in hand in good time. If,
on the contrary, it is allowed to accumulate, the land wiU be-
come quite as bad as it was before drainage. Upon large
estates all these evUs are to be avoided by making a competent
man responsible for the maintenance of the whole work,
both of drains and outlets. He should be picked out from
among those workmen who had been engaged in the
drainage when originally executed, and as he would know
where to prick for the drains he would be able readily to
remove obstructions. This is a practice I universally recom-
mend, and upon an estate of several thousand acres a penny an
acre will amply suffice to keep the drainage in proper order,
inasmuch as a handy man receiving 15s. a week, and devoting
five or six weeks in the course of the year upon each thousand
acres would do all that is required. When once this arrange-
ment is established, I find that the tenants are very willing to
pay the penny au acre, as they have it in their power to have
rectified at once anything that appears wrong. With small
estates, where a man of this sort cannot be retained, it cannot
be too strongly impressed upon those who occupy drained lands
that to accidental causes and to a lack of proper surface treat-
ment is to be attributed the majority of those consequences
which they are too apt to consider defects of drainage.
While pointing to these serious but unavoidable drawbacks,
let me point out another source of dissatisfaction. I refer to
the stoppage of drains by vermin such as foxes, rabbits, rats,
and mice, which should be provided against, though it not un-
frequently happens that gratings at the outlets if not attended
to cause an evil greater than the one they are intended to re-
medy. I remember one case in which fault was found with
the execution of the drainage in which the cause of stoppage
was frogs. It appeared there had been a stream of frogs up
a particular drain, that they had met with an obstacle, and
had collected one on the other until they had become a com-
pact block, which had the effect, as a matter of course, of stop-
ping the flow. It seems almost childish to refer to such
causes of mischief, but you may have observed how little prone
all men are to express satisfaction with what they Uke, th9Ugh
vehement when they think they have any cause for complaint
with work for which they have to pay. I am afraid tenant
farmers are not exempt from this disposition, and that when
their landlords, having drained their farms, require a return in
the outlay, they are apt occasionally to find fault with us who
carry out the work, I do not say without reason, but without
making the same allowances which they would make, as a mat-
ter of com se, had they executed them themselves. I had it in my
power not long ago to prove to a tenant-farmer, who was not a
believer in deep drainage, his too great readiness to condemn the
work he had not taken the trouble to understand. Some test-
holes, which had been dug from four to five feet deep, had re-
mained full of water from the beginning of November to the
end of January, wlien there occurred a severe frost. It was
just as this frost was breaking, and when the thawing surface
presented a wet aspect, that I went over the drainage with
him. As we approached one of these holes, the tenant, with
considerable vivacity, exclaimed " Look at the water in the
test-holes; do you call this drainage?" Expecting from the
nature of the soil, which was a marl of the new red sand-
stone, that there was no water below the ice, I requested my
friend to come close to it ; I then broke the ice, and found, as
I had expected, that the water had escaped to the drains, aud
left the ice standing, and that on this ice surface water had
collected in consequence of the tliaw. You should have seen
how my companion stared, and how he stared again and again
into the hole when I pressed him to tell me where the water
had gone, if the drains had not taken it away. But perhaps

1

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

405

tlie most fruitl'iil cause of complaiut respecting drainage arises
from the inattention paid to the clearance of outfall streams
and ditches into which the under-drains discharge, and to the
mainteuance of outlets existing by permission in adjoining
properties. It is too frequently the fact that the outlets are
not only under water, but tliat they are blocked by silt, weeds,
and other kinds of impediments, which render them at times
useless, and it is tlie obligation to keep the outlets clear of
such obstacles, occasionally involving considerable expense,
that serves to make deep drainage unpopular. I remember an
instance where a tenant on a ducal estate in Lincolnshire, suf-
fering from defective drainage, was unable to show me even
the site of his principal outlet, which was intended to dis-
charge the under-drainage water of a large area of land into
an important watercourse, and although we looked for it for a
long time, I had to leave without seeing it, and I do not know
that he has found it to this day. These drawbacks are due to
causes partly dependent on the tenant, who is responsible for
the clearance of internal ditches, partly to the want of a clear
understanding between landlord and tenant with regard to ex-
ternal ditches, which are of common use to several tenants
and neighbours, and partly to the want of a ready legal means
of clearing common outfalls at the joint expense of those who
use them. It is rumoured that Lord Vernon, the late Presi-
dent of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, has it in
contemplation to move in the House of Lords for a committee
to inquire into the results of drainage executed under the
several Improvement Acts, and I hope his lordship will em-
brace iu the inquiry the several points to which I have re-
ferred, as well as the working of the third part of the Land
Drainage Act, 1861, and the Drainage Act of 1847, commonly
called Lord Lincoln's Act, with respect to outfalls through ad-
joining properties, which, if the real truth were known, do not
meet the diiliculties to which I have just referred in instances
of an ordinary character which are daily met with. Having
laid so much stress on defective surface treatment, and on the
accidents affecting under-drainage, I do not wish to imply by
doing so that all works systematically executed by agricultural
engineers are free from objection ; I am quite aware, on the
contrary, that tliere are but few works which are not more or
less defective, and I never yet myself drained an estate but
that had I to do it over again I should not do it somewhat
ditferently. All that the professional drainer can engage to
do is to make as few errors as constant practice will ensure.
In draining soils of an irregular character, in which peat
exists or in which made earth occurs, it will frequently happen
that though collars and wood have been used to support the
pipes, that the effect of the whole will be unequal— that one
part will shrink and siuk while another part will remain at
its original level, and I think I have experienced the objection
in this country. Having now made a clear breast of matters,
telling adversely, let me briefly illustrate the advantages which
more generally attend under-drainage, by a single case within
my own experience, which not unfairly tells the tale of many.
Three-and-twenty years ago I became the agent of an estate
in the midland counties. 1 found that its under-draiuage had
been commenced upon certain farms under the Public Moneys
Drainage Act, and it was one of my duties to continue the
work on upwards of one thousand acres. A considerable por-
tion of the estate being bolder clay was let before the drain-
age at from 15s. to 20s. an acre. Several of the drained
farms were let on lease for fourteen years, and some of them
have expired since I relinquished the agency. Last year I
was requested by the owner to make an inspection of the
estate, and I found that several of the farms had been re-let
at nearly double the undrained rent, and that the occupying
tenants were even better satisfied with them at this increased
charge than they were when undrained at the low rents stated.
The drainage being executed under the Improvement Acts, the
borrowed money has had to be repaid by instalments, and that
which was first taken up under the Public Moneys Act will
have been wholly repaid before the end of next year. The land
drained will then be free of charge, and will stand at nearly
double the rent obtained a quarter of a century back. 1 do
not wish to be understood to claim the whole of this increase
for the drainage, as the value of land generally, irrespective of
the improvements effected, has increased in the neighbourhood,
perhaps, 15 per cent., but 1 wish to convey the conviction that
while undrained heavy lands have decidedly not risen to that
extent, there are few instances where even the best free soils

have increased in value in the same degree as drained clay land
when well cultivated. Without saying another word m proof
of the direct advantage of under-drainage let me remind you
of those natural benefits, which, being generally acknowledged,
are almost unheeded. I refer to those indirect advantages
wliich partake of the character of improved climate, rather
than anything else. Whole districts have changed their
character by the extension of under-drainage. Those places,
which, a few years back, were signalised by constant ague and
fever have become as healthy as the rest of the kingdom, and
this is greatly, it not wholly, due to the influence of the drain-
age of certain large estates upon the locality. I remember on
two occasions being thanked by different men— Lord Palmer-
ston and Canon Blomfield— for the removal of fog and damp-
ness from land they each often traversed, in nearly the same
words, each declaring that the change in climate had saved
them a coat. As to the effect of drainage on water supply,
opinions vary, and we ofteu hear it stated that the scarcity ot
water in dry seasons such as those of 1868 and 1870, is due
to the drainage of land. My observations, extending over up-
wards of 20 years, enable me to record an opinion that the
supply is increased and not diminished by drainage. I have
invariably found that the discharge from drained lands into
the outfalls will commence tjeforc the ditches of an undrained
district receive any overflow from its surface. This is, doubt-
less, due to the fact that the whole of the interstitial spaces of
sub-soil and surface-soil, which have been emptied of water by
the summer's evaporation, have to be re-filled with ram before
any water can run off the surface, and the levels of the drains
being earlier reached than the ground surface, they commence
their discharge proportionately earlier. Hence the rivers
receive their first quota of perennial supply from drained
lands. I have also invariably observed that the outtaih
receiving the drainage of clay lands will continue to flow
longer in the spring than the ditches passing through an
undrained district of the same character. This may be due to
the circumstance that saturated clay soils part very sparingly
with their moisture by soakage into open ditches (though they
are more disposed to do so when in contact with free soils,
which are often thereby rendered productive), for it has been
found in practice that the drainage of clay soils cannot be
effectually performed by any number of open conduits, though
they will part with their surplus wetness directly covered con-
duits or under-drains take the place of open drains. Let the
cause of this be what it may, the facts can hardly be doubted,
that the rivers receive from drained lands a contribution to
their volume earlier and later, and therefore loiujer, than they
do from undrained land, and that during the period of discharge
a large proportion of the rainfall which would otherwise be
lost by evaporation— and which I have shown to be equal to
100,000 gallons per acre on an average— i* added to the
nrers at a time when it is not wanted, and therefore when the
addition may be stored, and subsequently utilized when water
is scarce, and the flow of our rivers is diminished. I have here
spoken of clay lands. It will be somewhat different with bogs
and morasses at the heads of river systems. They are, as it
were, sponges, which gradually disgorge the rain they absorb
and hold, and when drained are reduced in their capacity as
reservoirs. But even with these it is more than probable that
the quantity of water rescued from evaporation by under-
drainage more than balances the loss due to reduced sponge
space. Having pointed out how readily the test designed
works become defective by accident, I must express my regret
that the mode of carrying out works under the Improvement
Acts has not encouraged more originality of treatment, that in
spite of the desire on the part of the Improvement Com-
missioners to secure the best result, the necessity of acting in
accordance with recognized rules has kept us too closely to one
particular system. In homogeneous soils, whether retentive
clay or saturated sand, there is no doubt that a regular system
of drainage is the best, unless irregularity of surface should in-
terpose a diificultv, when the treatment should be modified.
But equi-distant drains of equal depth are ridiculous, when ap-
plied, as they frequently are, to soils and surfaces varying in
character and shape. The pertinence of these remarks will be
manifest directly we have to treat land as a means of filtering
liquid sewage from towns in addition to the rain from the
clouds. After some opposition it is now pretty generally ad-
mitted that all land to which sewage is applied whether by
irrigation or intermittent filtration, must be under-drained if

406

the sewage is to pass through as well as over it, as it invariably
should. No sewage should in either case descend direct from
the surface to the drain, and it will be readily understood, there-
fore, that the " gridiron" system of drainage in free soils, in
which it can be avoided, is inappropriate both for sewage farm-
ing and for sewage purification. In clay lands where, from
the multiplicity of the necessary drains, it is impossible to avoid
running the sewage directly over them, special manipulation is
requisite to prevent the cracking of the subsoil as much as
possible, and when impossible the direct passage of the sewage
from surface to drain. This manipulation is a work of a com-
pound character, involving the preparation of the surface-
soil by proper cultivation, to a depth of from 15 to 16 inches,
and by packing the pipes below, so that if the subsoil should
still yield to the atmosphere, the crack shall not reach them.
The 16 inches of pulverized soil will act on the clay subsoil in
the same way as the brickmaker's straw acts upon unburnt
bricks by protecting them from the direct action of the sun
and wind. But I must not now go into these details, and I
only thus cursorily refer to them to express my regret that,
now we are entering upon a new phase of the drainage question,
we have to admit that we have become too much the creatures
of rule and regulation. This is evidenced by the facts that
while the sanitary authorities of some towns have been obliged
to stop or remove the drains originally laid as an agricultural
work in the land they are using for irrigation, the authorities
of other places are now copying the system sanctioned by the
Inclosure Commissioners, under the belief that it is the best of
all descriptions of under-drainage, and is as applicable to the
cleansing of large bodies of foul water, as it is to the removal
of surplus rain-water simply.

Mr. T. Reeves agreed with all the lecturer had stated, but
aiked on behalf of a friend whether, when draining upon hilly
land, the drains should go down the hill in a straight line or
across the hill. His own opinion was that they should go
direct down the hiU, but he should like to have Mr. Denton's
opinion upon the matter.

Mr. T. Hates would differ from Mr. Denton. He
freely admitted, as far as practice was concerned, that Mr.
Denton had had more than any other man in England, and,
as far as the theory was concerned, he had the whole of it ;
but he had not the whole of the practice. He said that in all
clay lands the drain sliould be always four feet deep, but he
(Mr. Hayes) most decidedly objected to that, for though he
was quite ready to admit that the practice was right in nine-
teen cases out of twenty, yet he was confident that there were
some cases where four-feet drainage was wrong. If they
could in all instances put the steam-engine into operation,
drainage to the depth of four feet might always answer, but
as there were so many difficulties in the way of the universal
adoption of the steam-plough, it was not right always to
drain to the depth of four feet. He instanced a case in his
own experience, when he drained a piece of hops 3^ feet deep
every fifth alley, the land was ploughed deeply, and the soil
well pulverised. That portion of the field, which was not of
the most retentive clay, answered admirably, but in that por-
tion which was of a close retentive clay, although it was tilled
as deeply as the rest, the drains did not answer sufficiently to
be practically useful. In the next summer there was a whole
row gone ; midway between the drains the bine did not average
above three feet in height, while nearer the drains it was half
way up the poles. In another field he found that the water
dia not run away, and he put in an intermediate drain about
two feet nine inches, and that intermediate one did the work
as well, and made the land as dry as the others which were
^ to four feet in depth. He was certain from what he had
seen that excessively deep draining on close soils would not
answer in all cases, tliough it might in nineteen cases out of
twenty; Theory might say it did, but Practice sometimes
proved otherwise. Mr. Denton told them that drains ran
quicker than their ditches ran in undrained soils, but if they
had intermediate drains, one fleet one 2^ feet, and the other
four feet, the fleet one would run first. Therefore he could
not understand Mr. Denton's theory, because if it were so the
bottoms below the drains must be filled with water He
thought it better to spend £6 per acre in placing the 'drains
closer together, and not so deep.

Mr. R. Troutbeck asked what should be their guide as to
the outfall ; what should be their guide as to the number of
maiu drains; what should be the distance apart of arterial

THJG FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

drains ; and what, in Mr. Denton's opinion, should be the
proper depth, having regard to the money laid out ?

Mr. George Oyler said, as a pipe-maker, he should lay
them pretty thick.

Mr. Plomley asked whether it was not advantageous to
put manure on the top of the tiles in draining clay lands, so
as to make them more porous, and to assist filtration, or
whether, instead of placing the pipes three feet or three-and-a-
half feet, the pipes should not be put on the top of the clay ?
He also inquired whether two -inch or incli-and-a-half pipes
should be used, and whether the water got into the drain as it
descended, or by capillary attraction ?

Mr. William Reeves asked whether it was not desirable
to place a stratum of burnt earth upon stiff lands, to assist
filtration, and also whether Mr. Denton would recommend sepa-
rate outfalls for each drain, or one main drain with one outfall ?

Mr. A. Chittenden said liis idea in draining was not so
much how he should get rid of the water that came down
from heaven, as how to turn his piece of wet land into some-
thing as nearly approaciiing that which his neighbour had
which was called dry land. He went to the depth of three
feet or four feet, according to his judgment, taking into con-
sideration the nature of the subsoil, as well as the surface soil,
for sometimes by going to the depth of four feet he got through
the subsoil into the soil which contained troublesome water
beneath. In some instances it might be wiser to place their
drains closer together, and to plant them at three feet instead
four feet, but there was nothing like four feet if they wanted
to carry away the water. In moderately rainy seasons the
rain would go through the laud and do more good than if it
rau off, but he had never seen an instance in whicli draining
was not remunerative, but for the trouble and money expended
upon it. Of course, if they drained land and then let it alone
as a common, the orains would he a long time before they
acted, and comparatively little benefit would be experienced,
but if they began to plough tliey would assist the water in its
descent, and the more assistance they gave in that manner the
better the water would percolate the soil, the more freely the
drains would act, and the more benefit they would derive from
them.

Mr. Bailex Denton, in reviewing all the questions
that had been asked him, was afraid that he might not
answer them so tersely as they had been put, and as if he had
been prepared ; but if he did not make himself understood,
he trusted tiiey would put them to him again. Mr. Chitten-
den seemed to know something about the subsoil as well as
the surface-soil, and therefore must have been acquainted with
steam cultivation. He would tell them that he looked upon
under-drainage as approaching a fallacy altogether if it were
not followed by deep cultivation. As he stated in his Paper,
it was a sine qiid non ; to fully develope the effects of drain-
age, they must follow it in clay lands by — he would not say
steam cultivation — but deep cultivation. Water did not go
into the drains at the top of the pipe, but falling upon the
surface of the land, it descended perpendicularly to the level
of the drains. It then went down and filled up the earth
below the drains, there being a large air-space especially, in
dry weather, and then, ascending, it went to the level of the
drains, and began to simmer out with good effect. The depth
of the pipe was thus the subterranean water-level of the land.
Thus it followed that the water would enter a drain which
was four feet below the surface more quickly than one which
was only three feet deep. Water was 817 times heavier than
air, and, therefore, did it not follow that the deeper the drain,
the more readily the water would go down to it, because
depth gave force to gravity ? Water in the soil had greater
force if it passed to the depth of four feet than if it passed
only to the depth of three feet. He explained that there was
no bottom-water which had not at one time been surface-
water ; for the source of all water was rain, and even what
was called spring-water was at one time top-water. If they
made their clays as porous as they should be, they would
have the rain-water penetrate them as readily as it did in free
soils. He did not agree with placing burnt clay on the top
of the pipes ; but if placed on the surface of the ground and
ploughed deep, he was of opinion that it would
answer, because it would make the land permeable.
In the first layer of surface soil, that is the soil which the
plough had disturbed, there existed air space to the extent of
one-fourth of its whole bulk. If the subsoil were as per-

THE FAHMER'S MAaAZINE.

407

meable as the surface soil, the water would go through it as
through a colander, so that the deeper they ploughed, the
greater air space they got in the disturbed soil. Though he
liked depth, and never drained himself less than four teet, yet
all drains did good, from a mole trap to a four feet drain.
The more they aired their land the better, and they might air
it by a two-feet drain and do good. If he were restricted to
spend a certain sum per acre, as he was very frequently, he
should in clay lands, be disposed to drain less than lour leet
deep, and put" them more closely together. But they must
not misunderstand him. He had farmed his land himself,
and cultivated with steam ; and with steam or deep cuLtiva-
vation he could put his drains much wider apart than in ordi-
nary cultivation. He explained that it was necessary for the
Government, in the case of tenants for life, to determine that
the drains must be four feet deep, because it might affect the
successor to the land, for if they were less than four feet in
shallow parts, the drains would be much nearer the surtace,
and if the standard were altered it would be likely that the
drains in the shallow parts would become disturbed by the
plough, and the whole of the drainage interfered with. He
had been asked whether he would adopt separate outlets to
every drain. Certainly not, for this reason. If they multi-
phed their outlets they multiphed the danger from obstruc-
tion ; but about the proper number of acres to each outlet in
his opinion, was ten acres, and in respect to the length ot the
drains, that should be about 40 yards. In answer to the
question as to what distance apart the drams should be
placed, he was of opinion that in clay lands the

distauce should be from seven to twelve yards,
and between these two limits he was now draining
a piece of clay land. With respect to free soils the best way.
and only sound way, was by test holes filled with water.
Begin by digging one drain, and see if it carried off the water ;
if not, place it nearer, until it would take out the water. The
(luestion as to whether the drain should be taken down hill or
across had been answered by Mr. Thomas Reeves. In con-
clusion, he stated that he was sure Mr. Hayes meant no re-
ilection upon hiM when he characterised him as a theorist, tor
he considered theory, to be worth the name, must be based
upon practice, and was the result of practice. It was, in poiut
of fict a clear exposition of the reasons upon which practice
was based. He had not studied the art of speaking, but he
believed he could give a good reason for what he did, and lie
repeated that if he had not made himself understood he shouW
be clad to reply to any further question. ,. , ^, .,,

Mr. HviES said Mr. Denton had not noticed the point he
mentioned, where, in the middle of the drains, when the land
was ploughed deeply, the results were unfavourable. Having
again described the system of cultivation, and the unfavour-
able results, , . , , , 1 1 11 ii J. t,„
Mr Denton replied, stating that he had told them that he
had found in practice that they could widen the interval be-
tween the drains by going deeper, and he had never found
but that in time, though there might be inequalities at lirst,
the whole space between the drains became equal.

The Chairman proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. BaUey
Denton ; that gentleman having replied, the meeting broke up.

THE BATH AND WEST OF ENGLAND SOCIETY, AND SOUTHERN
COUNTIES ASSOCIATION.

The monthly Council Meeting was held on Tuesday,
March 26th, at the White Lion, Bristol ; Mr. R. Neville-
Grenville M.P., in the chair. There were also present bir
J T. B.'Duckworth, Bart. ; Sir Massey Lopes, Bart., M.P. ;
Hon. aud Rev. J. T. Boscawen, Messrs. J. D. Allen, J. C.
Best, R. Breraridge, W. A. Bruce, C. Bush, R. H. Bush,
Thomas Danger, J. T. Davy, John Daw, ¥. W. Dyraond,
Chas. Edwards, Mark ]?arrant, F. Gill, Jonathan Gray, J. D.
Hancock, James Hole, H. P. Jones, J. Webb King- J- ^•
KnoUys, Joseph Lush, H. A. F. Luttrell, H. St. John Maule,
J. C. Moore Stevens, R. Neville, Tbos. PhiUpotts, C. A. W.
Troyte, H. Williams, Thos. Woollcorabe, W. Smith (Official
Accountant), and J. Goodwin (Secretary and Editor).

The Meeting or 1873.— The deputation appointed to visit
Bideford, Plymouth, and Newton Abbot, to inspect the sites
proposed to be placed at the disposal of the Society for the
meeting of 1873, reported favourably of the accommodation
offered at each of the three towns, and bore testimony to their
cordial reception and liberal entertainment by the authorities ;
they abstained, however, from recommending one town in pre-
ference to another, leaving it to the Council to make the se-
lection.

Mr J C. Moore Stevens urged the claims of Bideford,
and was seconded by Mr. Bremridge, who bore testimony to
the very earnest manner in which the inhabitants ot the town
and neighliourhood had worked together in the hope of re-
ceiving the Society's visit.

Sir Massey Lopes advocated the claims of Plymouth,
pointing out its special advantages with reference to popula-
tion, railway accommodation, and easy access, not only from

Cornwall, hut the entire county of Devon. Col. Luttrell, ifi
seconding the proposition of Sir Massey Lopes, that Plymouth
should be selected as the place of meeting, said it must be very
gratifying to the Society that the county of Devon had come
forward with such spirit to meet their requirements, it very
seldom fell to their lot to have three such important towns
anxious at the same time to receive and entertain the bociety.
The only regret of the Council was the impossibility ot com-
plying with the request of the three places at once, but alter
a careful and considerate review of all the circumstances, he
beheved it to be their duty to select Plymouth as their place ot
meeting.

After a discussion, in the course of which testimony was
borne to the public spirit of the authorities and mhabitants
of Bideford and Newton Abbot, the question as to which towa
should be selected was put from the chair, when seventeen
votes were recorded in favour of Plymouth and eight m favour
of Bideford. The meeting of 1873 will, therefore, be held at
Plymouth.

Mr. Charles Edwards, of Wrington, was appointed Steward
of Poultry in the place of Col. Brent, deceased.

The following new members were elected: AV. Atkins,
Littlebreedy, Dorchester; G. W. CoUen, Chippenham; G.
Culverwell, White Lackington House, Ilmmster ; E. iord,
Newton Abbot; H. St. John Hall, Entry Hill, Bath ; J. S.
Lord, Milsome-street, Bath ; J. Matthews, Middle Hill J; arm,
Wootteu Bassett ; J. Michael Slium, jun., Bath ; I. Syraes,
Came, Dorchester; G. Symonds, Sydling, Dorchester; ii.
Taylor, Dorchester; J. Tucker, Over Moigne, Dorchester.

408

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

TENANT-RIGHT IN SCOTLAND.

" It is now moi'e than twenty years since," to borrow
his own words, that Mr. James Caird, when engaged as
an Agricultural Commissioner for The Times newspaper,
did all he could to write down the English Tenant-
Right principle, an effort in which he was strongly sup-
ported by the journal he represented. No man is so
dogmatic over the business of farming as a Scotchman,
and as in the outset The Times inquiry was conducted by
two Scotchmen, any such national characteristics were of
course tolerably apparent. luferentially, if not directly,
the cultivation of the Lothians was set up as the example
for all the rest of the world, and with this the long lease
was cited as the only system of tenure upon which pro-
fitable husbandry could be conducted. An almost con-
temptuous tone was, indeed, adopted when reportiug from
a district where the infallibility of a long lease was not
observed. Continual comparison was drawn between the
results arrived at under long and short holdings, and as a
point to the argument the bad Custom of Surrey or Sussex
was carefully confounded with the good Custom of Lin-
colushire. The terms are thus stated in Mr. Caird 's
book : " A tenant must either be secured in the posses-
sion of his farm for a certain period, sufficieutly long to
enable him to receive the benefits of his investment, or
have some precise agreement under which he is to be
repaid, in fixed proportions, for his outlay, if his land-
lord should see fit to resume possession of the farm.
Without either one or the other an improving tenant
has no legal security for the capital he invests
in the cultivation of another person's land." This
as _ it stands, is fairly put enough, but Mr. Caird,
writing " more than twenty years since," was as little
disposed then as he is now to let the Lincolnshire principle
rest on its own merits, but generally contrived to mix
up, as he still does, in the same sentence or paragraph
" compensation for unexhausted improvement" with " the
plan of perpetuating obsolete practices paid for at the entry
of the tenant, and therefore payable by his successor ;" and
»o on. But could Mr. Caird then, or can he now name
any obsolete practices which are perpetuated in Lincoln-
shire under the action of the Tenaxt-Right principle ?
There are Customs and Customs ; the good we uphold,
andthebadwedeprecateasstronglyasMr.Cairdcan ; while,
so far as we understand the foundation of our laws, these
are frequently little more than the general extension of
Customs which have been found to work well. Mr.
Caird in his book continues thus : " That security he may
obtain, either by being guaranteed by lease in the posses-
sion of his farm for such a number of years as will give
time for his invested capital to have full effect and be^re-
turued to him; or, if the landlord declines to give a
lease, by an agreement on a certain basis for compensa-
tion for unexhausted improvements when either party
wishes to terminate the connection. One or other of
these alternatives the improving farmer is fairly entitled
to expect, and for the reasons now to be given we most
strongly recommend the general adoption of leases in
preference to Tenant-right." And so we go on to
gather that " it is not desirable to extend either legally
or conventionally the English Tenant-Right to other
parts of the kingdom ;" and, again, that " the wish for
leases will increase when the tenant-at-will discovers that
security for his capital by Tenant-Right is neither pos-
«ible nor desirable."

Let us allow that Mr. Caird was here confining him-

self to England, and so far, as we have said before now,
this is about the very worst prophecy that ever was made.
But let us for a moment look a little further afield, or
follow ]Mr. Caird home again for his authority. " Nothing
in Scotland impressed me so much as a drive through a
portion of East Lothian, in company with Mr. Hope
of Fenton Barns, a vigorous advocate for the lease
system, who showed me — with admirable honesty and
impartiality — how small a proportion of farmers in his
district did contrive to sit out their leases. Although
Mr. Hope and a few other farmers of the highest reputa-
tion would doubtless not hold a farm without a lease,
many very good farmers who have not that public reputa-
tion which would induce their landlords to keep them as
tenantsj except under the condition of offering the highest
rent in an open competition, assured me that they would
much prefer a Tenant-Right Agreement." Et tu.
Brute ! Why, here are the very Lothians turning round
on Mr. Caird, and discarding leases for Tenant-
Right, as demonstrated by the Editor in the Journal of
the Royal Agricultural Society of England. And " more
than twenty years since," noticeably enough, Mr. Pusey,
the first Editor of that same Journal, was writing up
Tenant-Right when Mr. Caird was writing it down.

But further still, aa if only to confirm Mr. Jenkins in
his statements and opinions, Mr. Caird actually publishes
a letter in The Times of Monday last, under the heading
of "Tenant-Right in Scotland," wherein he tells the story
of the Fenton Barns eviction, and how Mr. Hope " must
leave it, and leave his improvements behind him without
one farthing of compensation." And this in the
Lothians ! And this under " a twenty-one years' lease,
with liberal covenants " ! There can be no possible mis-
take about it ; for, as iNIr Caird goes on to tell us, " in
East Lothian where, as in this case, the unexhausted im-
provements are patent, obvious, universally admitted, the
law permits the whole to be absorbed by the landlord as
completely as if they had been the creation of his in-
dustry, his intelligence, and his capital, and not those of
Mr. Hope." And the law, as Mr. Caird should have
said as a point to his letter, permits precisely the same
kind of thing in the greater part of England and Wales ;
thanks mainly to Mr. Caird, to The Times, and the like
of them, who have done everything in their power to
prevent the extension of any sounder principle. Our
contemporary. The Gardener's Chronicle, of Saturday,
says, " Mr. Caird is one of Her Majesty's Enclosure
Commissioners, and thus the officer of all others in Her
Majesty's service who may be considered most nearly
Minister of Agriculture. He had, previous to his ap-
pointment in this capacity, been for many years the most
active representative of the agricultural interest in Parlia-
ment, and for thirty years he has been known as a
leading agricultural authority in this country." And
we say that as an agricultural authority Mr. Caird's
career, as shown by his own writings, has been very
much of a mistake. If, as an Enclosure Commissioner, au
almost Minister of Agriculture, a representative of the
Agricultural interest in Parliament, and a leading agri-
cultural authority in the country, he had advocated in-
stead of opposing Tenant-Right, Mr. Hope might not
have " left his improvements behind him without one
farthing of compensation." Mr. Caird now says, tardily
enough, that under a lease " the law should extend to the
tenant such rights as would ensure good farming to the

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

409

close by enabling him lo obtain in case of disturbance full
payment for that condition which he has added to the
soil, and which has a clear and appreciable value." Of
course this is merely the Lincolnshire Tenant-Right,
put in rather a round-about way, as if Mr. Caird
were even now reluctant to admit as much ; and
of course this only confirms an opinion we have over and
over again maintained in this journal, that no system of
tenure — an annual or a two years' agreement, or a twenty-
one years' lease — can be complete without compensation
covenants. If Mr. Caird's story in The Times have any
application or moral whatever, it is the necessity for some
general recognition of the Lincolnshire Tenant-Right.
Mr. Caird's "liberal" covenants, so far as we can under-
stand his own interpretation of them, refer mainly to
liberty of action in preference to, or as a substitute for
compensation clauses ; but the last sentence in his letter
of last Monday records his thorough recantation : " The
Tenant must have a legal Right to fair compensation for
the capital which he cannot remove."

At Norwich the other day, Lord Leicester honestly
enough drew attention to the most fatal flaw or omission in
the new Holkham Lease : " He should like to refer to
unexhausted improvements. Possibly compensation for
these was not sufficiently provided for in the Holkham
Lease. There were many things which a farmer put and
left in the land that he might have worked out of it. If
these were worked out it was clear the soil would be
greatly injured ; but if it was agreed that everything left
in the land at the end of the lease belonged to the tenant,
so that he could claim payment for them, the land would
be greatly improved in condition, and farming would then
prove better than under the existing ' up-and-down'
system. With regard to the question of Texant-Right,
which was really nothing more nor less than the Custom
of the country, he would not now go into it, but leave
that for future consideration." Tenant-Right is, no
doubt, the Custom of some counties, but, as we take
it, this is not the Custom of Norfolk, where unless
a man stipulated for its action he could claim uo
such allowances at the end of his term. Later in the
day, however, Lord Leicester went on to explain the
cause of this omission : " Since he came to the estate
thirty years ago not a single tenant had left it. Thus
there had arisen no question of compensation for unex-
hausted improvements, because the tenant himself was
reapiug the benefit of everything he put into the land."
But this is not business, this is not argument, for the
best of friends or families may part sooner or later.
Lord Leicester and his tenants have been together for
thirty years ; " Mr. Hope, his father, and grandfather in
succession have been on this estate for one hundred years,
and on the farm of Fenton Barns for eighty." And yet
Mr. Hope should have secured himself by compensation
clauses for the day, as Lord Leicester says, when the
question did arise.

TO the editor of the times.

Sir, — Lord Derby has well said that silence in certain cases
has its responsibility. It is under that responsibility that I
seek tbe aid of your columns to bring into prominence an
event that is filling the minds of the tenant-farmers of Scotland
with indignation and alarm. Those who have known anything
of the extraordinary progress of Scotch agriculture during the
last 30 years must know something of George Hope, of Fen-
ton Barns, in East Lothian. In his own country he has long
held the highest place as a practical agriculturist, his example
and advice are followed and sought by the leading farmers of
the sister countries, and the most eminent agriculturists of
foreign countries resort to his farms and profit by the instruction
which he is always ready to communicate. If every farm in
the United Kingdom were brought to the same high pitch of

cultivation as Mr. Hope's, it is not too much to
say that at least one-half of the present vast im-
portations of foreign corn might be dispensed with.
Mr. Hope, his father, and grandfather, in succession, have
been on this estate for 100 years, and on the farm of Fenton
Barns for 80. In 1853 his lease was renewed by a former
proprietor, at an increase of 15 per cent, on the previous
rental. This was at the period of greatest depression follow-
ing the final close of protective duties, when the average price
of wheat had fallen to 88s. 6d. Shortly before this he had
tile-drained the whole farm, at a cost to himself of upwards of
£2,500. During the period this farm has been under Mr.
Hope's management nearly one-fourth of it, which early in
the century was so worthless as to be left waste, has been re-
claimed by him and cultivated, and for many years has con-
tributed to the rent-roll of the proprietor. Within tlie last
seven years he has greatly added to the deptli of active soil
over the whole farm by the removal of hundreds of tons of
stones from beneath the surface, and by the introduction of
steam cultivation and heavy manuring. For many years back,
and to the present moment, his expenditure beyond the re-
sources of the farm, for manures and feeding stulfs, has been
equal to two years' rental, being from £2,200 to £3,500 a year.
The expenditure in wages and the emjiloyraent of labour has
been doubled. Mr. Hope was one of the first to introduce
into East Lotliian the cultivation of potatoes, for whicii the
soil and climate have proved admirably adapted, and which,
without an efi'ort on the part of the landlord, has added largely
to the rental without impoverishing either the laud or the
tenant. He is on suitable occasions an out-spoken man, who
makes no secret of the profit which good farming has brought
him, and he has been often blamed by his brother tenants for
having done more by his own farming and frank speaking to
raise rents in East Lothian than any other man in it. Mr.
Hope has made Fenton Barns a well-known name, and it has
not been ungrateful, as it has given him an adequate fortune.
It was natural that this man should take a lead and be
looked up to in all matters of local of national agricultural
improvement. For forty years he has been one of the manag-
ing committee of the East Lothian A.gricultural Society, He
has served as a director of the Highland and Agricultural
Society, and for many years has been on its various committees,
and is an examiner for its diploma in agriculture. When the
Scottish Chamber of Agriculture was formed, he was elected
by his brother farmers to be its first chairman. He was nomi-
nated for the county in 1865, and, though he never asked a
vote, and never even thought of standing until the day before
the nomination, and with nearly all the landlord influence
against him, he polled more than one-third of the voters.
He was the trusted friend of Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright
during the early times of the Corn Law League. He was
selected by the Government as one of the commissioners to
inquire into the Law of Hypothec, and has contributed to the
literature of the Game-laws by an able paper in the volume
of " Recess Studies." His lease is drawing to a close. To
use his own words, " I was prepared to pay a very large in-
crease of rent. I don't know what I would not have given
rather than flit, so perhaps it is well 1 should go, having no
choice, while I retain my self-respect, never having had the
shadow of a quarrel with either landlord or neighbour, and
never having sought public duties, though I have never shunned
them when they came in my way. I feel very sorry to leave
this place ; it has a grip of my heart." He must leave it, and
leave his improvements behind him without one farthing of
compensation. This man, of whom his county and his country
are justly proud, has received notice from his landlord that
his lease will not be renewed. At a meeting of the local
society, held a fortnight ago, Mr. Nisbet Hamilton took occa-
sion to characterize as libellous a statement made in a recent
number of the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal, in regard
to the frequent changes of tenants in East Lothian, and in
doing so he challenged the accuracy of the information on
which that statement had been made. Thus called upon, Mr.
Hope responded to the challenge by stating that the author
of the paper had obtained his information through him, that
it was put down in a way which did not fully express his
meaning, and that he thought it a pity, as his name was
quoted by the writer, that the article had not been submitted
to him in proof before being published ; but that the facts
which he gave were accurate, and capable of proof. Promptly,

410

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

ou the following Monday, Mr. Hope received notice from Mr.
Nisbet Hamilton's factor that his lease would not be renewed I
Mr. Hope's speeches and writings are distasteful to his land-
lord, and Mr. Nisbet Hamilton hesitates not to sever a
connexion whicli has subsisted for three generations, with a
man who was an honour to the estate, whether as tenant,
neighbour, or employer of labour. There is no pretence here
that he made himself disagreeable on the subject of game, for
he did not ; or that he was obtrusive in the expression of his
opinions on public affairs, for he was not. But he never
shrank from that when he felt it a duty, though with all due
respect for those with whom he differed. Other tenants on
this estate who vote on the Liberal side, but make no other
profession of their political opinions, have received re-
newals of their leases, but the independent expression and
advocacy of such opinions are not to be tolerated. If this had
occurred in Ireland, what would now be the legal remedy
awarded by the Courts of Law to the tenant ? He has every
claim which long and undisputed possession can confer ; his
industry, his intelligence, and his capital have been unceasingly
employed in enriching his landlord's property, while drawing
from it the means of engaging well-paid and remunerative
labour ; and on every ground he would have established for
himself the strongest and most substantial interest in the soil
that the Irish Land Act embraces. He could claim payment
for disturbances, for beneficial interest, for drainage and re-
clamation, for unexhausted improvements. In Ireland the
law recognizes these as the legal right of the tenant, even
when their existence can hardly be discovered. In East Lo-
thian, where, as in this case, they are patent, obvious, univer-
sally admitted, the law permits the whole to be absorbed by
the landlord as completely as if they had been the creation of
liis industry, his intelligence, and his capital, and not those of
Mr. Hope. Mr. Nisbet Hamilton has thus, at a critical time,
stirred up a large question. He and his friends dislike Mr.
Hope's freedom of speech and of thought, and Mr. Hope is
evicted. I will not treat this as a political question, for, though
it may be so in this instance, it involves the general principle
on this side of the Irish Channel of the rights of agricultural
tenants, which find powerful advocates from enlightend men
of ill parties. The natural result of free competition in any
business is the utmost development of individual enterprise. If
the landowner is willing to devote his attention to the details
of farming, he may keep the tenant's profit to himself by
cultivating his own estate. But if, by reason either of personal
disinclination, incapacity, or other occupation for his capital,
time and talent, he prefers to let his land to an agricultural
tenant, the law ought not to weight that tenant with any im-
pediment, but it should recognise the same right of property
in his capital as in that of the landlord. In good farming
the agriculturist must expend liberally in view of a future re-
turn. The high condition of this land is the gradual result of
yearly accumulations of good management, which cannot be
drawn ont of it at once like the deposit in his bank account.
The farmer's capital in Great Britain thus attachable by the
landlord is enormous, and the public advantage is so much
concerned in the 'productive powers of our little island being
fully developed, that every hindrance to the safe employment
of the capital so invested should be removed. Nothing is
more sensitive than capital, and yet nothing is more com-
mon than the complaint that the land of this country is not
half farmed, because the tenant either has not or will not use
adequate capital. What is the cause? His tenure is insecure ;
if overtaken by temporary misfortune, the result often of bad
seasons, the law renders him liable to sharp expulsion and
forfeiture of his sunk capital ; if circumstances should ren-
der his removal desirable, he cannot dispose of the lease which
his capital may have rendered valuable ; that capital is ex-
posed to injury by the undue preservation of game, and to
confiscation if invested in buildings, reclamation, or drainage,
absolutely needed for the productive cultivation of the land,
but which the landlord was either unable or unwilling to exe-
cute at his own cost. It is now more than twenty years since
I urged these views on public attention through your columns.
Great strides have been made in agricultural improvement
since that time, and yet Lord Derby was able to say only a
few months back, with perfect truth, that, after all that high
farming had done, the land of the country did not yield one-
half of what it might be made to do if all our present re-
sources were brought to bear upon the soil, " Security to the

tenant," he added, " is the first requisite, and I hold that any
tenant good enough to be kept permanently on the land ought
to have a lease if he wants one." I have seen no reason to
change the opinion I then held of strong preference for a lease
of 21 years with liberal covenants, as compared with yearly
agreements and compensation for unexhausted improvements.
The lease is safer for both parties, and if the principle is re-
cognised by law that while the landlord has the exclusive
right of property in the natural fertility of the soil the ten-
ant has an equal right of property in its condition, I feel
convinced that agricultural improvement will receive greater
development under a general system of leases than yearly
agreements. A fatal objection to the latter is their tendency
to perpetuate obsolete practices, paid for at the entry of the
tenant, and therefore payable by his successor. The lease
gives the tenant a home and a feeling of security ; its coven-
ants may be so framed as to permit all reasonable latitude in
cultivation, and the law should extend to the tenant such riglits
as would ensure good farming to the close by| enabling him
to obtain in case of disturbance fullf payment for that con-
dition which he has added to the soil, and which has a clear
and appreciable value. If this were now the law Mr. Hope
could not have been evicted without fair compensation for his
improvements, at least. The wrench from his home, with its
associations, he must bear with such consolation as the uni-
versal sympathy of his friends and brother farmers in Scotland
may afford. Lord Leicester, who has a hereditary right to
speak with authority from the wise and liberal landlords' point
of view, used these words in addressing the Norwich Chamber
of Agriculture on leases on Saturday last : " My object in the
first clause was, if possible, to grant the lease in perpetuity,
so that at the end of the 16 years the tenant might renew.
Since I came to the estate, 30 years ago, not a single tenant
has left it. I quite agr-^e as to the superiority of a lease over
a two years' notice to quit, with ample compensation ; for I
cannot conceive that any ' compensation ' would be equivalent
to the removal of a man from his home. To me the country
would not be worth living in if the associations between me
and my tenantry were removed." Landlords who carry into
practice these liberal sentiments need no legal obligations to
keep them in the line of justice towards their tenants. It is
the other class, represented by this gross case of tenant wrong,
whose conduct in this instance has disclosed the possession
of a crushing power of oppression by the use of a legal right,
which can be effectually controlled only by erecting a corre-
sponding legal right in the tenant to fair compensation for
the capital which he cannot remove.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

James Caikd.

WEST NORFOLK CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.
— At a recent meeting at Lynn, the following resolution
was proposed by the Chairman, the Rev. T. L. Brereton
seconded by Mr. T. Blyth, and carried : " That to take the en-
dowraents intended for elementary schools, and apply them to
secondary and middle-class education, would not be right un-
less by legal enforcement ; the support of elementary schools
should be made a general charge upon property. If that were
done it might be tlien right to relieve the owners of property
so charged by transferring to their use the endowments which
would thus have become superfluous for the labouring class.
But this Chamber is not prepared to recommend compulsory
and gratuitous elementary education, believing that whatever
may be the effect of such a system on other countries, in
England the result would be an aggravation of the mis-
chievous tendency of the Poor-law to lead the people to look
to other sources of maintenance than their earnings. But it
would, in the opinion of this Chamber, be very desirable that
the endowments generally, and especially those properly ap-
phcable to secondary education, should be combined and or-
ganised so as to remove the scandal of their present general
stagnation ; and with this view ' the County' appears to offer
the best basis of organization. Under combined management
the capital of the endowments might, so far as needed, be
withdrawn from its present investment, and in conjunction
with other capital voluntarily subscribed, be expended in
school-buildings and furniture, so long as a satisfactory gua-
rantee could be provided against the loss or diminution of
the capital so expended."

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

411

WiaTON FARMERS' CLUB

At a meeting of this Club, Mr. William Lawsou iii the
chair, Mr. C. D. Hunter, of Blennerhasset, read a paper on
Manures and Field Experiments.

Mr. Htjnter, who acts as the agricultural chemist
ou Jlr. W. Lawson's Blennerhasset farm, commenced his
paper by some remarks on the value of scientilic experi-
ments in agriculture ; and after a little introductory matter
about his own experiments, went on — On seeds, nitrate of soda
applied alone in 186S-9-70-1, gave as the average of the four
years 54 stones of hay for every cwt. of manure applied ; when
used along with superphosphate and muriate of potash it gave
58 stones of hay per cwt. Sulphate of ammonia used alone
gave 50 stones of hay per cwt., and in conjunction with mineral
manure 481 stones. Peruvian guano, again, used alone for
three years, gave about eight stones less than sulphate of am-
monia for the same period, or equal to 43 stones ; and in
mixture it gave equal to 30 stones. Nitrate of soda, it will be
seen, proved the best nitrogenous manure for hay, and also
went furthest when used with a mineral manure. On a clay
soil I have only one experiment, tried last season on All-
hallows Commons. The land was in very poor condition ; the
unmanured crop weighing only about 10 cwt. per acre. On
this poor clay, sulphate of ammonia proved superior, giving
when applied alone a return of G5 stones per cwt. of manure
and with superphosphate and muriate of potash 05 stones
Nitrate of soda gave alone 39 stones of hay, and in mixture
66 per cwt. The experiments on oats are more trustworthy,
but having been tried on but one soil and nnder the unusual
conditions of three years on the same land, they must not be
regarded as entirely applicable to ordinary farming. From a
want of reliable no-manure and mineral-manure plots for com-
parison, the figures given may be, as a whole, a little too high
or too low ; but the comparisons between the three manures
are quite exact. Applied alone, sulphate of ammonia proved
superior for oats ; and, taking its return per cwt. of manure at
12 stones of corn, Peruvian guano gave 11, and nitrate of
soda nearly seven stones. Applied in conjunction with mineral
manure, nitrate of soda proved superior ; and, taking its return
per cwt. at 20 stones, sulphate of ammonia gave 18, and Peru-
vian guano 17 stones. It is rather curious to iind nitrate of
soda last when used aione, and first when in mixture ; further
experiments may but confirm this fact, but without further trial
I could not undertake to say which was tlie best manure for
oats. One point seems, however, pretty well established —
namely, tliat sulphate of ammonia and Peruvian guano proved
of nearly equal value in both cases. The guano used was the
Chincha Island of best quality, the supplies of which are now
exhausted ; but any good guano containing over six or eight
per cent, of ammonia will prove a good corn manure ; but in
purchasing see that you do not buy a " pig in a poke." Re-
quire a guaranteed analysis of the vendor, or you may pay
£13 or £14 for a manure not worth more than £7. Barley
was also experimented with for three years upon the same
soil ; the same remark applies to this as to oats — namely, that
the weight, as a whole, may be a little too high or otherwise,
but that the comparisons are just enough. Nitrate of soda
here takes a decided lead all through, and, taking its return
per cwt. of manure at 20 stones of corn, Peruvian guano gives
only nine stones. Sulphate of ammonia was not tried alone,
but in mixture proved superior to Peruvian guano; thus,
nitrate of soda, used with mineral manure, gave about 14
stones of corn, sulphate of ammonia llj, and Peruvian guano
about seven stones per cwt. of nitrogenous manure. This
shows nitrate of soda twice as valuable for barley as Peruvian
guano, and slightly superior to sulphate of ammonia. On
potatoes I have experimented very largely, and have, from over
400 trials, a number of very valuable facts bearing upon the
seed cultivation and manuring for this crop. An average of
six very reliable plots gives 161 stones of potatoes as the pro-
duce per cwt. of sulphate of ammonia, used in conjunction
with superphosphate of nitrate of potash ; Peruvian guano, in
the three years' trial, against this gave equal to 99 stones, and
nitrate of soda 89 stones. Some other experiments place

nitrate of soda still lower, and two trials with Peruvian guano,
used alone, give 84 stones per cwt. of manure, but these are
not strictly comparable with tlie others, being on different soil
each year. From the foregoing experiments on nitrogenous
manures, it is evident that the value of a manure is affected by
the source of its nitrogen as well as by its amount, and that a
statement of the raw materials used in making the manure is
essential to a correct estimate of its value. An analysis pro-
tects the farmer from adulteration, and a composition may pro-
tect him from misapplication ; thus, if these results hold good
on the generality of light soils iu Cumberland, it is evident
that a potato manure containing nitrate of soda is much in-
ferior to one containing sulphate of ammonia, though
both may analyse the same per-centage of nitrogen ; four per
cent, of tins being supplied by either 16 per cent, of sulphate
of ammonia or by 2() of nitrate of soda. Again, suppose two
grass manures, and let one contain 30 per cent, of nitrate of
soda, this would make it analyse about four-and-three-quarters
per cent, of nitrogen, and it would be better value for light
land than one analysing five per cent, of nitrogen furnished
by 20 per cent, of sulphate of ammonia, though the latter— if
the one experiment on light land proves of general application
— would be of more value again for stiff soils. Time will
not permit of further illustration of this point, but enough has
been said to show what a wide and profitable field this opens up
for investigation and experiment, and how necessary is a more
complete knowledge of purchased manures than is furnished
by a published analysis. The phosphates next demand
our attention, as being after nitrogen the most important
of our manurial substances. Bones, guano, and the mineral
phosphates are the principal sources of supply. In the raw
state the latter are of course almost valueless ; but in the dis-
solved state, as bone or mineral superphosphate, their value in
the field is the same — and soluble phosphates from bone are
of no more value than those from coprolites. Superphosphate
of any kind applied alone is as a rule wastefully used. Three
experiments give it a value of six-and-a-half stones of hay
per cwt. of manure so applied, and as the superphosphate
costs about 5s. 6d., and the hay is only valued at 3s. 3d., it is
evident that this will not pay. Used in conjunction with
muriate of potash and nitrogenous manures it did much
better, three experiments giving a value of 17 stones per cwt.
of superphosphate. It is noteworthy that in tlie same series
of experiments it was apphed to 2 plots along with nitro-
genous manure, but without muriate of potash, and its value
here at once fell to 10 stones of hay. This shows how one
manure helps another, and that on soils deficient in potash a
good manure wanting in this element is used at a great disad-
vantage. Plants require many elements for complete growth,
and the superabundance of nine can never make up for the
absence of a tenth. For all crops, but more especially the
root crops, phosphates are invaluable. So much, however, is
already known concerning this manure, that I will not take
up your time with further details, but will rather discuss
those less known materials which are daily coming more into
use. Potash, from the prominent figure it makes in the ash
analyses of all plants, has always held a high place in agricul-
tural science ; but till quite recently its price forbade its use
in agricultural practice. The discovery of potash deposits in
Germany was the first circumstance that brought potash ma-
nures into general use. In 1867, when I first experimented
with potash, I could purchase at £7 10s. per ton the same
article for which I must now pay £12 or £13 Muriate of
potash, sulphate of potash, kainit, and crude potash salts are
the chief sources of this manure. In 1868-9-70 I tried the
first two on potatoes and clover seeds. Potash salts should
not be used alone. Three years' trial of muriate of potash at
the rate of four cwt. per acre gave it a value of nearly six
stones of hay per cwt. of manure ; two of these years gave
it, however, a value of about eight and a quarter stones.
Sulphate of potash gave 15 stones ; probably its superiority
to the muriate is due to the fact that sulphuric acid is more
essential to plant life of the muriate. On potatoes its supe-

412

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

riority is more doubtful, and probably vvlieu used with super-
phospliatc, sulphate of ammonia, and other manures contain-
ing mucli sulphuric acid, its superiority would be less evident;
fiirtlier experiments are, however, required to decide this
point — the greater abundance and less cost of the muriate
also makes it more desirable as a manure. Used along with
nitrogenous manures and superphosphate, muriate of potash
showed much better results, giving per cwt. of manure 11
stones of hay ; this, though not immediately profitable, is so
nearly so that in all probability the after effects more than re-
paid the outlay— and I would recommend that for light land
a good grass manure should contain from 10 to 20 per cent,
of muriate of potash, equal to from 5 to 10 per cent, of
potash. I prefer muriate of potash to kainit or inferior pot-
ash salts, because as a rule it contains four times more potash ;
this saves three-fourths railway carriage, and to your land
you can apply one cwt. of potash without being necessitated
to apply at the same time nine cwt. of salt and magnesia,
which an equal dressing with kainit would entail— such large
quantities of soluble salts nearly always prove injurious to
every crop, except perhaps mangel. In 1870 I tested kainit
against muriate of potash for potatoes, and from the results
on four plots of each, the muriate proved itself about five
times more valuable. For potatoes, potash has shown itself
indispensable. In two experiments where it was mixed with
lime and salt and applied both alone and with farmyard ma-
nure, it gave the first year per cwt. of muriate, 49 stones of
potatoes ; the second year, 64 ; and the third year, 10 1
stones. With farmyard manure nearly oue-and-a-quarter cwt.
was used, mixed with an equal quantity of salt and one-and-a-
half cwt. of lime ; alone, nearly double these quantities were
used. Applied in conjunction with superphosphate and sul-
phate of ammonia it gave over two years an average return
in four experiments of over 250 stones of potatoes per cwt. of
muriate ; this was, however, the second and third years on
the same soil, and is thus unusually high. It was tried with
superphosphate against superphosphate and salt — four cwts.
of each— for three years in three different fields, and gave 55
stones of potatoes per cwt. of muriate ; when added alone to
superphosphate it gave only 12 stones, and in one experiment,
used alone, it gave 43 stones. From these experiments it is
evident that neither for hay nor potatoes should potash be used
alone. Plant life is in some respects not unlike animal life, and
you might as well expect good health in an animal fed on water
alone, or on straw alone, as in a plant fed on but one manure. A
good potato manure should always contain from 15 to 25 per
cent, of muriate of potash, equal to seven to twelve of potash.
On carrots, after the failure of 1868, 1 did not again find time to
experiment till last season, when the addition of two cwts. of
muriate of potash to a mixed manure of superphosphate and
sulphate of ammonia raised the produce nearly eight tons per
acre. On turnips, I have but few reliable experiments, but
these go to show that a good turnip manure should contain
sone potash, though less is required than for potatoes. For
grain crops I cannot recommend potash ; in special cases it
may be useful, but for general purposes its presence is unneces-
sary. Magnesia jg also usually present in the ash of plants to
a considerable extent, and has often been recommended for hay
and potatoes, i^ repeated trials I have not found its applica-
tion attended ^Jth much benefit. Eight experiments on potatoes
gave it the lo^ value of five pounds of potatoes from one cwt.
of sulphate of magnesia, that is six shillings' worth of manure
to produce twopence worth of potatoes. In these experiments
it was used in conjunction with superphosphate, potash, and
salt, without any nitrogenous manure ; further experiments
vrith nitrogenous manures did not show any better result. On
clover Seeds, the balance of six experiments with two cwt. per
acre of sulphate of magnesia, give it a value per cwt. of one
stone of hay ; it gave the best result — 13 stones — when used
in conjunction with muriate of potash, common salt, and a
little Sulphate of ammonia, neither of the first two containing
any sulphuric acid ; and the poorest result was when added to
sulphate of salt and sulphate of ammonia, a mixture contain-
ing an abundant supply of sulphuric acid. These facts point
to the sulphuric acid of the sulphate of magnesia as the active
portion of this manure in these experiments, but neither upon
seeds nor potatoes did it pay one fourth of its cost. Salt is
the last manure I shall touch upon. It has been strongly re-
commended by interested parties, and has doubtless its uses,
but as a rule it is more serviceable as a destroyer than as a

plant food. Against, grub, wireworm, &.C., and as a prolouger
of vegetation in dry seasons, it is of value, but as a direct
manure it more frequently does harm than good. On hay,
four hundredweight per acre applied alone reduced the crop in
two experiments, and increased it in two, the balance showing
8 lbs. of hay per cwt. of salt. This seems a common result
throughout all England, as thirteen experiments reported by
Dr Voelcker show only 47 lbs. of hay for four cwt. of salt per
acre. The addition of about two cwt. of salt to a mixed manure
for seeds reduced the produce in seven experiments by more
than two-and-a-half cwts. of hay per acre. The balance of
testimony is thus against its use as a direct manure for hay.
On potatoes, used alone, it seems to have been of service, giv-
ing nearly seventeen stones of potatoes per cwt. of salt, but
when added to a really profitable manure like superphosphate
it almost invariably reduced the crop. It is rather an interest-
ing fact that, though often found in the ash of plants as soda,
it is sometimes absent, and for some plants its presence is not
necessary to a healthy growth. The presence of a large quan-
tity of salt in kainit, though quoted by the vendors as an
advantage, is quite the reverse, as you cannot supply as much
much potash as you require without applying also a quantity
of salt, which is almost certain to interfere with natural
growth, and farmere can ill afford to reduce their crops, and
still less to pay for such reduction. These are the most salient
features of our for years of field experimenting on manures at
Blennerhasset. I much fear that I have gone over them
somewhat hurriedly, and trust that any point not made quite
plain will be the subject of a question at the conclusion.
The details of many of the experiments are very interesting,
but as I intend publishing these as time permits, I have the
more willingly omitted much of interest, condensing and
generalizing the resnts as above. To put them in a practical
form, I will give the composition of several manures, as sug-
gested by the foregoing results :

Nit. ot

Sulphate

Super-

Mur. of

Total

Soda.

of Am.
cwts.

phos.

Potash.

Per acre.

cwts.

cwts.

cwts.

cwts.

Hay

H

—

H

1

6

Oats

H

n

3

—

H

Barley

li

3

—

H

Potatoes

^

lik

3

12

Turnips

—

1

3

1

5

The Chairman asked the lecturer whether, in his opinion,
the value of salt in agriculture did not very much depend on
the proximity of the land to the sea ? Probably the salt would
be of greater value away from the coast than near to it.

Mr. Hunter said he had heard it said that salt was not
quite so useful near the sea coast as inland; but, from the
thirteen experiments made by Dr. Voelcker, it was shown that
he got only 47 lbs. of hay for 4 cwt. of salt. So that these
experiments, in thirteen different parts of England, showed no
better results than his experiments with salt at Blennerhasset ;
wliich went to prove that it was not of much value. Many
plants, indeed, could grow without any soda at all — and salt
was ths basis of soda.

Mr. Dalton said they had tried experiments with nitrate
of soda especially, and they found it answer with nearly every
kind of crop. They had tried it on their farm at Aglionby,
near Carlisle, and had found it most beneficial. They did not
apply it alone, but always mixed it. With regard to salt, per-
haps they did not use it as a direct manure, but they found it
also very useful oa potato and turnip soils ; it might be that it
acted in destroying grubs, but it was beneficial, keeping the
soil open, and rendering them a larger crop in weight when
salt was used in mixture than when manures were applied
without salt. Their practice was to mix their manure tho-
roughly with salt, and then apply it to potatoes, mangolds, and
turnips. For the grass land they generally mixed the nitrate
of soda either with acid or with a little guano. They used a
phosphatic manure in mixture [with nitrate of soda, and it
greatly favoured the growth of grass, especially of meadows for
hay. They liad a meadow in the neighbourhood of Botcherby.
to which they applied a phosphatic guano and nitrate of soda,
and had the most wonderful results ; in fact, nitrate of soda
had proved most useful, and so had salt, especially for man-
golds, potatoes, and turnips.

Mr. Hunter said the only possible object in mixing ni-

THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE.

413

trate of soda was to get it sown more evenly. For that pur-
pose it mixed very well with gypsum or hot lime. The hot
lime would destroy guano with sulpliate of ammonia, but it
did not affect nitrate of soda. He had himself never experi-
mented with salt oil mangolds, but it was a common saying
that mangold " paid well " with salt.

Mr. HoKNSBY asked if Mr. Hunter had ever tried super-
phosphates alone, or in addition to farm-yard manure? He had
tried nitrate of soda to some extent, with the best results on
grass land, his being rather strong land, with a cold bottom.

Mr. HuNTEK said he had never tried superphosphates
along with farm-yard manure. He had tried it aloue on
grass-land and with potatoes. It always gave a heavier crop,
but he never found it pay when used alone ; it required
some nitrogenous manure along with it, and also, on such
light land as theirs, some potash. Lime, salt, and potash,
applied along witli dung in the proportion of about 1 cwt.
of each, gave the first year an extra crop of about 13 cwt. per
acre of potatoes, the second year more, and the third year a
good deal more.

Mr. Graijmcek asked as to his experiments with bones.

Mr. HuNTEii said he had tried bones and bone-dust on
grass-land, but bone-dust did not pay. For three years he
tried both, and curious to say, looking at the results of tlie
whole period, he found that bone-dust and guano and dis-
solved bones and guano produced exactly the same result, viz.,
each sometliiug like 15| tons of potatoes per acre in three
years, or about 5J each year. He could not recommend bones
alone. Dissolved bones, indeed, were a lasting manure, but
there was no dift'erence between soluble phosphates of bone
and coprolites. It was the insoluble phosphates which were
much superior. He had tried kainit on potatoes, and also
muriate of potash — 4 plots of each. Sometimes one did better
than another ; but taking the four together, the muriate of
potash did much better than kainit, and the conclusion he
came to was that it was worth about five times more than the
ordinary kainit. But they must apply so much soda or mag-
nesia along with it, because it only contained about 12 per
cent, of potash, and they had to apply the others along with it,
or it rather hurt the crop.

Mr. Gr.vinger asked it he had never sown his manure on
grass in autumn ?

Mr. Hunter said not till this last year, and he doubted
whether he would be iu this part of tiie country to test the re-

sult by weighing. He went on to say that what they bought
for dissolved bones were not dissolved bones, because the
makers would not make them, as their reputation would suffer
if they sent out the nasty, dirty-looking thing which dissolved
bones were. Instead, they sent out a nice preparation con-
sisting perhaps one-third of bone and two-thirds of coprolites.
If they wanted dissolved bones they must make them them-
selves.

Mr. Dalton : Whicli do you consider best, Peruvian guano,
containing 13 per cent, of ammonia and 8 per cent, of soluble
phosphates, or that containing 8 per cent, of ammonia and 20
or 23 per cent, of soluble phosphates ?

Mr. Hunter : If you will put down the cost of ammonia
at IGs. per unit, and phosphates at about 2s. 3d. per unit, you
can at once get the value for yourself. These figures are about
the mark of what they are selling for just now.

The CiiAiKMAN said Mr. Hunter pubhshed the result of
some experiments with superphosphates in a local paper, and
a person (Mr. C. Vynne) wrote saying that those experiments
confirmed him in his opinion that bone manure was much to
be preferred to anything else, whereas the experiments went to
show the contrary.

Mr. Hunter said last last year he tried dissolved bones —
that is, commercial dissolved hones — against superphosphates
on ^turnips, and he got 13 cwt. more from the dissolved copro-
lites than from the disolved bones. He did not mean to say
that every experiment would be found against them, but this
experiment was decidedly against dissolved bones. They were
mixed with sulphate of ammonia, muriate of potash, salt, and
gypsum, and everything that could give them strength, so that
it was a fair trial with the dissolved coprolites.

Mr. McMeciian moved, and Mr. Dalton seconded, a vote
of thanks to Mr, Lawson, whose experiments at Blennerhasset,
though unsuccessful in one sense, had contributed valuable
information to agriculturists.

Mr. HoRNSBY moved, and Mr. Grainger seconded, a vote
of thanks to the lecturer, who, in reply, said it was Mr. Law-
son who bore the expense of the experiments.

The Chairman, in reply, admitted that, as a commercial
undertaking, the Blennerhasset farming experiment did not
profess to be a success. It was an experimental farm essen-
tially, and though it had failed commercially, perhaps it had
shown to more practical people how it might have been used
successfully.

LAVENHAM FAEMEES' CLUB.
SUGAR-BEET.

At the last meeting, Mr. Wm. Biddell in the chair,
the subject for discussion was " The Cultivation of Sugar-
beet in Relation to the Production of Sugar," introduced by
Mr. J. H. Porter, the manager of Mr. Duncan's sugar factory
at Lavenham.

Mr. Porter said : It is a certain satisfaction to find
that in the cultivation of this much-talked of sugar-beet
there is really very little to be done beyond, or differing
from, that they understood so well and probably practise year
by year. Indeed this may be said to be one of the strong
points of argument in favour of the adoption of this plant into
the ordinary farming of this country, where its humbler kin-
dred have long since found a home and thrived. If to this be
added that in those neighbouring counties where the beet-
sugar industry has, within the memory of men yet young, at-
tained to gigantic proportions, the climate as equally cool, and
moist, and variable with our own, we have another argument,
plain and practical and strong, in furtherence of its adoption
here. Referring next to what had been done in Lavenham
and the neighbourhood, he observed : For three or four suc-
cessive seasons several gentlemen I see present this evening
have assisted Mr. Duncan in trying out the practical experi-
ment, upon a scale of some magnitude, of growing beetroot-
sugar in England ; for, as in each of the last two seasons,
about £7,500 worth of sugar has been extracted from tiie roots
grown here, I may say that the experiment has been conducted
upou a scale commercially appreaciable both to tiie farmer an4

the manufacturer ; and with results — let me add — encouraging,
not to say satisfactory to both. So encouraging, at all
events, that both manufacturer and farmer have agreed
to go upon a yet larger scale, which, I hope and believe, will
lead them on to a yet more confirmed success. He then pro-
ceeded to refer to high authorities on the subject of the soil
most suitable for the cultivation of sugar-beet, and he added :
Experience of practical results has led to the conclusion that
the kind of soil best adapted to produce abundant crops of
good quality is a light rich loam ; but the best authorities
appear to insist rather upon perfection in tillage, as securing
a greater uniformity in the annual yield as well as quality in
the crop, rather than upon adherence to any very marked cha-
racter of soil. This perfection of tillage, combined with a soil
of a loamy character, is to be seen in the neighbourhood of
Magdeburg, in Germany, and it is there that the cultivation
of the sugar-beet is most successfully and extensively con-
ducted in relation to the production of sugar. I had the ad-
vantage of accompanying Mr. Duncan at this time last year
through the sugar districts of Northern Germany, and by him
my attention was constantly directed to this superiority of
tillage. I had seen something of the same kind on former
visit to the sugar districts of the north of France, but I am
disposed to yield the palm, as it is generally claimed, to Ger-
many. There is no room for difference of opinion as to
whether France or Germany produces the richest sugar-beet,
or obtains in the manufacture the highest result ; there are

414

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

fiscal considerations, however, which influence in an important
degree the operations of the two countries. Having shown
that in Germany more than in France, the sugar manufac-
turers farmed largely for themselves, and adverting to the cul-
tivation of the sugar-beet, he quoted Walkoff : " The bed of
arable should be deep enough to allow of the plant penetrating
far down and finding nourishment at the lowest point ; conse-
quently the ploughing often extends to a depth of 15 or 16
inches in those countries which give the greatest atten-
tion to this cultivation," and Mr. Porter argued that the
more thoroughly the earth be broken up and tilled, the more
completely would the desired end be obtained in the de-
velopment of the plant, and in the production of sugar. It
was customary to give the first ploughing immediately after
the corn harvest, in order to hasten the decomposition of the
weeds and stubble, or other organic matters, which contributed
to the sustenance of the succeeding crop. Towards the end of
the autumn the deep ploughing he had mentioned commenced.
Some gentlemen present were aware of the operations of Mr.
Campbell, at Buscot Park, on the border of Berkshire : he,
with very powerful steam machinery, penetrated and disturbed
the subsoil at a depth of three feet from the surface. In
some parts of Germany they did not give the third ploughing
in the spring ; but that is an omission hardly to be recom-
mended, where, as is perhaps but too common, there were
weeds to be got rid of. He (Mr. Porter) trusted the gentle-
men present that evening would accept it as established by
close observation on the part of men long practised in the cul-
tivation of the root, and in the manufacture of its product,
that a deep, well-wrought, clean, and permeable soil was of
vital influeuce in the natural development of the plant, and in
the quality of its juice. It could not be too forcibly impressed
upon those who embark in the cultivation of the sugar-beet in
connection with the production of sugar, that many very fer-
tile soils, and many fertilizing matters, rich in elements con-
ducive of great development of the plant, unfortunately im-
parted to its juices certain salts which operated in preventing
the crystallization of the sugar in the process of manufacture.
The foreign matters, so inimical to the economy of the sugar
manufacture, were more abundant or more active in peaty
soils, in pasture land newly broken up, and all soils newly
manured ; hence it was customary on the Continent, when
contracting for a crop of sugar-beet, to insert a clause ex-
cluding roots grown upon land newly broken up from pasture,
upon wet and marshy land, and in gardens ; and preference is
given to roots that have come from land that had been well
manured for the preceding crop of wheat or rye, but that had
received none afterwards. Commenting on the due propor-
tions of manures and the precise period at which to apply
them, he said, rich nitrogenous manures — such as farmyard
manure, guano, &c. — should never be applied to laud intended
for the cultivation of beet immediately before sowing, but
should either be applied with the previous crop or during the
preceding autumn, or at least should be put on as a winter
compost : cattle manure — farmyard manure — was in all coun-
tries chiefly employed. It contained nearly all the ele-
ments necessary for ordinary crops, and which those crops
withdraw from the soil. All sugar manufacturers were unani-
mous that it would be better to sow the sugar-beet only in the
second year of the manuring, when a first crop shall have con-
sumed 50 or 60 per cent, of the manure, and have left in the
soil a less concentrated solution of its elements. With beet-
roots more feebly manured, purer juice is obtained, and ac-
cordingly a more complete elimination is arrived at of those
matters which obstruct the crystallization of the sugar, and a
better yield is attained. Practice has demonstrated that the
dung of oxen and horses is preferable to that of pigs and
sheep, the last containing a much stronger proportion of soda,
which prevents the crystallization of sugar ; at the same time
they contain less posphoric acid, an element favourable to the
development of the root. Liquid excrements are very rich in
elements, easily assimilated, and form excellent manures. A
given weight of urine represents in useful effect five times its
weight of farm-yard manure. Hence the manufacturers col-
lect the urine by means of dust in ashes from the fuel : there
is thus obtained an inodorous manure very good for sugar-beet
cultivation. He showed that bones when grouud up had a
special value for the production of sugar-beet, and he said a
great advantage was derived from mixing the bone-dust with
the farm-yard manure or dving of the feeding stalls, Guano

also constituted a useful manure for the sugar-beet, as it could
be employed with all kinds of soil, was easy of transport, and
was sure in its effect. It was mixed in a moist state with
earth, and thrown in a coating upon the land by hand. It
had so much the more value, as it contained combinations of
phosphates and ammonia — that was to say, had been more or
less washed by rains. Its action was particularly marked in
moist seasons, but it was very injurious to the seed ; conse-
quently, they should never be brought into contact ; added to
the other manures in the proportion of 200 kilos, per hectare,
it gave very good crops ; employed with bone-dust it was very
good in sugar-beet cultivation. Oilcake was a manure of quick
action, and was easy of transport. It should be ploughed in in
the spring some days before sowing, and at a depth of 60 cen-
timetres ; for, placed in a fresh state in contact with the seed,
it was prejudicial to its germination. It should be mentioned
that the oilcake attracted insects upon the beet fields, and
might thus bring about some depredations. Mixed with
the crushed bones, it gave sugar-beet of excelk nt quality in a
manufacturing sense. Ashes could hardly, properly speaking,
be considered as a complete manure, for they consisted but of
universal substances which alone could not furnish to the
sugar-beet the necessary nutrition. Given in large quantities,
they produced beetroots so charged with salts that the
ulterior operations became very diflicult. After speaking of
lime, which he said often exercised a very salutary action, he
came next to the seed. He said it is common in Germany,
Belgium, and Prance to soak the seed for a day or two before
using it. Water is not recommended for this purpose, as it
withdraws from the seed its natural purition and imparts no-
thing compensating. The liquid drainage of the farm-yard or
manure heap, on the contrary, impregnates the seed vpith its
fertilizing elements, and plants from seed thus treated are found
to be remarkably stronger, and with a deep green foliage. The
seed is also by this preparation kept moist by saline properties
of the manure, and thus in part redeems the time that a
natural fall of the seed from the mother jilaut would have
operated in preparing it for germination. Solutions of guano
and nitrate of potash have been employed for the same purpose
with good effect. Mr. Porter further explained that in preparing
the seed in this way after steeping it from 2i to iS hours it
should be kept moist for two or tliree days, laid on sacks or
otherwise, in thin layers of about four inches, so as not to be-
come unduly heated. Instead of steeping it, it might be laid
out in thin layers and the liquid applied with a waterpot and
rose. As to the period of sowing, a great deal depended upon
the weather. April was the mouth, but whether early or
late in that month could only be determined by the after-
result, as affected by the character of the season. It was
found last year in this neighbourhood that of the seed sown
early in the month a large proportion ran to seed, unless re-
peatedly cut back ; while in fields sown a fortnight later with
the same seed very little of this was observed. For the secre-
tion of sugar a long and steady growth was considered the
best, but where late frosts and a chilling spring or cold, wet
summer supervene, mischief is done that is greater with the
earlier than with the later sown. Much was sown broadcast
still in many parts of France and Germany ; in others the
seed was dropped by hand into holes or into the furrows
traced for the purpose; but where the cultivator operated
upon a large surface, he now very generally availed himself of
such machines as we employed in England. The sowing was
best in line, and at intervals of eighteen to twenty inches,
while the spacing of the plants longitudinally should not ex-
ceed ten or eleven inches. If they were farther apart they
would of course grow to a greater size individually, and pos-
sibly yield in the aggregate a heavier crop of roots for the
farmer. But that is by no means, continued Mr. Porter, to
be assumed. For myself I believe three plants at ten inches
apart will, other things being equal, weigh more than one
that is at a distance of thirty inches from its neighbour ; and
I think some of my hearers will acknowledge that in this
respect they were agreeably surprised in their sugar-beet crops
of last season. They had in most instances a " good plant" —
in the sense of a few failures of seed and of a close growth of
apparently and comparatively small roots ; but the sugar-beet,
when fairly attended to, shows but little above ground, and a
crop of the kind I refer to is likely to deceive those who are
more accustomed to the common beet or mangold. Numbers
tell, With rows eighteen inches apart and plants at intenral?

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

41£

of ten inches you have 35,000 plants to the acre, and as you
may find many plants so placed exceeding S^lbs. in weight,
there should be a large margin for the many accidents which
go to diminish uniformity, without falling short of an average
of l^lbs., which would amount to 18^ tons to the acre. One
gentleman has this past season sent in to Mr. Duncan's fac-
tory a somewhat larger average than that, over sixty acres,
and in another instance four acres yielded 100 tons of roots,
not averaging more than 21bs. per root ; in the latter case I
am told it was land newly broken up from pasture ; still 25
tons per acre were grown, and, the roots being comparatively
small, must have been thickly planted ; and, being thickly
planted, and thus comparatively small they would be com-
paratively rich in sugar, though having been grown upon new
land the density of tlieir juice was probably increased by salts
of foreign matters. It was usual on the Continent to pay
very special regard to the destruction of weeds, and as soon as
the young plants were fairly seen above the ground the first
hoeing took place. Great importance attached to the hoeing —
so much so that there was a saying that " It is the hoe that
makes the sugar." It was possible to overdo it ; it should be
well done in the earlier growth of the plant, but the third or
last hoeing should not occur at so advanced a period as to
risk injury to the leaves, nor indeed was it desirable unduly to
stimulate and prolong the growth of these at the expense of
the root, and in that case to the diminution of the sugar too.
From tlie end of July or the early days of August the plant
should be allowed to repose. The method adopted by some
gentlemen here of moulding up to the roots with the plough
is a very excellent substitute for the third hoeing by baud. I
shall hope that it will be more generally followed, for it is of
great service in the interests of the sugar manufacturer. I
shall not be surprised to find the sugar-beet take the place of
mangold as raw food for cattle, particularly within reach of a
sugar factory ; for it is a superior food, and should the farmer
experience a season favourable for cattle food generally, he
may find a market for his sugar-beet at the factory. I have
said that the secretion of sugar in the juice of the plant is
not active until the foliage is matured. By researches made
in 1859 upon Bohemian sugar-beet there was found by Balling,
in the juice of those taken up on the 29th of August, 9'13 per
cent, of sugar; in others taken up. on the 15th of September,
11 per cent. ; and in others taken up on the 30th September,
13 per cent. ; and in 100 roots tested by Bretschueider, in
Germany, in 1860 ;

20th June 4'59 per cent.

9thAugust 5-15 „

3ist „ 7-81 „

15th September 9-17 „

30th „ 11-81 „

leth October 11-90 „

Walkoff gives also as experiences of his own the results of ex-
periments made in 1859 and in 1860, from which he shows
that in the first year the roots drawn on the 29th July gave
9.41 per cent, of sugar, those on the 27th August 11.83 per
cent., others on the 12th l-i.17 per cent. ; then abundant
rains occurred, and the effect on the juice would appear to have
been serious ; for roots taken up on the 29th September gave
no more than those of a month previous, viz., 11,83 per cent.,
not in itself a bad yield, but in comparison with 14.17 per
cent, a faUing off. In the second year of their growtli while
he found 11.83 per cent, of sugar on the 28th April, he found
but 1 per cent, on the 20th June, when it may be assumed that
the plants were running rapidly to seed. As a biennial plant,
the sugar-beet, except under some peculiarities of the first
season, produces its seed in the second year of its growth,
during which second growth it would appear that the sugar
it had secreted in the first year ministers to its nourishment
and to that of its seed, for it diminishes and almost entirely
disappears during the development of this last. From this it
may be inferred that when in seasons like that we experienced
last year, the plant under extraordinary conditions of the
varying temperature and the moisture of the season throws out
the seed-bearing stalk, it is at the expense of the sugar the
root may have acquired, and as this shooting of the stalk oc-
curs at a comparatively early stage of its growth before it can
have had time to secrete any considerable store of sugar, it is
not surprising that the ultimate yield of sugar proves, under
such circumstances, to lie much below the average, Accord-

ingly, while the weight of the sugar-beet received at the fac-
tory this last season was one-third greater than was received
the year before ; the amount of sugar extracted was but little
in excess of that derived from the crop of 1870, and was infe-
rior in quality. Some of our roots were taken up too early
last season. It has been found on the Continent that the later
the roots are taken up, so that it be not delayed so long as to
incur the risk of encountering the early frosts, the better they
will keep. On seme parts of the Continent the women and
children lay the newly-raised roots in a line, the heads all in
one direction, and a skilful hand following with a sharp spade
cuts off the leaves and crown ; on the other hand they are as
often cut with a knife. I should like to see the former plan
tried here, particularly on roots that having been allowed to
grow much above ground are coarse and large. These require
a good deal of topping, and are heavy for women and children
to hold in the one hand, and difficult to trim with the knife in
the other. They present a sufficiently solid object to decapi-
tate by means of the spade. Where the roots are more care-
fully grown and earthed up, the crown or base of the leaves is
much smaller, aud the trimming by means of the knife is less
diificult, and there is less waste for the grower. The roots as
they are trimmed should be placed in small heaps and covered
with the leaves, unless they can be at once removed to the fac-
tory or the clamps. Care should be taken, in removing the
soil that in heavy land adheres to the root, uot to bruise or
wound it. Those injuries, as they would in the case of an
apple or a pear, prevent the root keeping well — a matter of
consequence if they were for cattle food, but of serious impor-
tance in view of the loss of sugar resulting from the fermenta-
tion induced, not in the injured roots alone, but by contagion
also to those they are stored with. The cost of cultivating the
sugar-beet in this country is by this time pretty well known to
members of the Lavenham Farmers' Club from the experience
of three or four seasons, and you are in possession of the
figures of your Vice-President, Mr. Biddell, himself a grower
to the extent of fifty or sixty acres. Mr. Biddell, putting to-
gether interest on capital, rent, tithe, and rates, has a total,
under the head of

£ s. d.

Common charges, of 3 14- 0

Horse tillage and drilling 2 5 0

Ilaud-hoeing and singling 0 12 6

Seed, 91b3 0 4 6

Taking up and topping 0 11 0

Filling and carting two miles, at 23. per

ton, on 15 tons 1 10 0

MANURES. & a. d.

10 loads farmyard 2 5 0

8 cwt. phosphate 0 16 6

1 cwt. guano 0 14 0

Labour to manures... 0 3 6 3 18 0

Making thus a total per acre of £11 15 0

For the roots delivered at the factory he receives £1 per ton,
and he values the tops left on the field at 7s. I think Mr.
Biddell's charge of Is. per ton per mile for filling and carting
to the factory is very ample, particularly if he can at all choose
his own time for doing it. He is quite right to put down 10s.
per ton as a normal interest upon capital, aud I only remark
upon it because iu giving details of this kind it is sometimes
left out of the account. Happily, Mr. Biddell's figures do not
deter him and other gentlemen, his neighbours, from continu-
ing the cultivation of the sugar-beet upon an undiminished
scale. I have reason to hope from all I hear that their exam-
ple will be followed by many others, and I trust that on the
commencement of the next sugar season at the factory we shall
have to congratulate them upon the abundance of their crops,
and upon their having carefully cultivated the sugar beet in
relation to the production of sugar.

Mr. R. Hawkins confessed that he should much like to
see a better return than they had at the present time for their
efforts and enterprise in the growth of sugar-beet. He, for
one, thought it would have been more remunerative than had
been found to be the case ; but he was determined not to give
up the growing of the beet until he was absolutely compelled,
hoping for better things in the future. As to the question of
manurial preparation of the land, he had hoped that some
special kind of manure might be oamed which would increase

416

THE FARMEK'S MAGAZINE.

the growUi of sugar-beet, or which was specially adapted to
that plant. But it was very well understood that what was
wanted at the factory was beet, with a good deal of sugar in it,
and farmers were, of course, quite ready to grow so as to get
a large quantity of sugar if it could be shown that they got
weight as well. If, therefore, a kind of manure could be hit
upon which was calculated to produce a large amount of sugar
as well as a weighty crop, farmers would gladly apply it in the
most suitable form. As to the application of guano, it so
happened that the very best crop of sugar-beet he ever grew
was off a piece of land which had been manured in the autumn,
and he put on 2J cwt. of guano per acre. The land was not
ploughed deeply, and he not only got the best crop, but he
also got the best beet. Tliere was no doubt, however, but that
deep cultivation and a good application of manure was the pro-
per treatment for sugar-beet. As to the cost of cultivation,
his opinion was that it could not be done under £10 per acre.
Considering the trouble there was with regard to the labour,
the difficulty connected with getting them singled out, cleaning
them, and sending them to the factory, he felt sure that the
cultivation could not be put dovi'n for less. lie had tried the
growth of the sugar-beet in comparison with the ordinary
mangold, and he must confess the results had been marvellous.
He had 20 tons per acre of sugar-beet, but he had 37 tons of
the common beet. He could grow a far greater weight of
common mangold per acre than he could of sugar-beet, for the
simple reason that he could not get the roots of the latter of
any size to command a great weight per acre. In conclusion,
Mr. Hawkins expressed a hope that the next season might be
of a character which would make the growers of sugar-beet a
little more satisfied with the remuneration they received for
the exertions they were obliged to make. There was no doubt
but that if they could get a good crop it was a paying crop ;
but at the present prices of corn, sugar-beet had not perhaps
paid so well as corn would have done. He much hoped that
the factory which had been established at Lavenham might
prove a success in a financial point of view, and he ior one
should be exceedingly glad to do all he could to enhance its
prosperity. It was just possible that corn might not always
realise the present figure, and then they, as farmers, might
have cause to feel grateful that they had in their midst a
factory for the manufacture of sugar.

Mr. W. ViNCE, sen., spoke of the necessity which existed of
there being a clear understanding as to which was the best
manure for growing sugar-beet, so as to give the greatest
weight and the greatest percentage of sugar, and he said he
had no doubt that when they came to carefully peruse Mr.
Porter's very excellent paper they would be able to leavn
something which would be of great use in that particular
direction. He (Mr. Vince) never grew, as a general crop,
thirty tons per acre.

The Chairman said he thought the quantity named by Mr.
Hawkins was rather high.

Mr. Hawkins said he did not grow, as a general rule, over
fifteen tons of sugar-beet to the acre, and he grew over thirty
tons of the other.

Mr. T. P. HiTcncocK said he had been at considerable
trouble to pick up information in reference to the growth of
sugar-beet, and he had watched with interest, not only what
had been done in that neighbourhood, but also abroad, and he
confessed for his own part that he could not see why we could
not in this country grow as good roots as were grown abroad.
The growers in France and Germany had had the same diffi-
culties to contend with in regard to adverse seasons as we had
in England, but they had been able from some cause to over-
come the difficulties to a greater extent than we had. There
was surely some reason for this. He knew of a Prussian
gentleman who bought an estate in Saxony, and he, like others,
erected a factory, and, like many others, they grew the roots
and made the sugar. Speaking one day to a friend on the
subject of the speculation, he (Mr. Hitchcock) was reminded
that there was 80 per cent, profit on the sugar. The profit on
the sugar was no doubt the secret. He believed there must be
something in this statement as to the profit on sugar or else
Mr. Duncan would not have gone to the expense he had done
in erecting the factory ; it was no doubt a rich trade if a good
quantity of roots were forthcoming. It seemed to liim a most
extraordinary thing why we in England could not make it
answer our purpose to grow sugar-beet as well as in foreign
countries, He could not understand how it was that people

were so slow in erecting factories in this country when it was
being done to such a great extent in other countries. With
regard to the operations at Buscot Park, the beet were grown
there not only for sugar, but for distillation, and the park was
cultivated very deeply by what was termed knifing. On the
steam plough there were three knives which went a good depth
into the soil, and he had no doubt it was possible to get a much
deeeper tillage on old grass soils than if the soil was poorer.
As to the question of manuring, he had always been told that
guano as well as farm-yard and other manures should be ap-
plied early, otherwise the soil was not enriched to the neces-
sary extent. He thought they, as farmers, should endeavour
to grow as many roots as possible. He considered that they
woiLd be able to do more under the new regulations than they
had hitherto done. Their being allowed to clamp the roots,
and he allowed for the clamping, was a great convenience, en-
abling them to bring the roots in later in the season when the
horses were not so much required. This salutary alteration
would no doubt tend to make a great difference in regard to
the general growth of sugar-beet.

Mr. R. Hawkins said the new regulation as to clamping
would be found a great accommodation, while there was one
matter to which he intended to have alluded, and that was as
to the time the roots should be taken up. It had been re-
marked that October was a far better month than September.
But, he thought that if the roots were early, and tiie leaves
were seen to be getting yellow, and tlie roots were grown to a
proper size, September was as good a month as any. And his
experience had taught him that if the roots were well covered
up in straw, they did not require any earth over them what-
ever.

Mr. C. S. Scott said that a good deal must depend upon
the season.

Mr. Hawkins said the season did not matter. The roots
would stand any season we had if they were well covered up
with straw.

Mr. II. Edgar feared he should be looked upon rather as
an obstruction, for he did not see anything in the admirable
paper which had been read to alter him in his first impression,
and that was that the .sugar manufacturers' interest and the
growers' interest seemed to clash. Farmers naturally wanted
to grow as much sugar-beef as they could, and it they applied
those manures which were calculated to produce a large crop,
then it did not seem to suit the manufacturers, because they
said the large roots were deficient in sugar or that it was not
that sort of sugar which would crystallize. It was not at all
clear to him that the common roots did not possess sugar
which, though it might not suit the manufacturer, was not
quite as useful to the farmer. However, he only wished he
could grow the right sort of sugar and 20 acres of it too. As
to the soaking of the seed alluded to by Mr. Porter, he (Mr.
Edgar) could not quite understand how it could be drilled if it
were soaked in the manner described. It would be necessary
to dry it first unless it was dibbled, and that process would be
much too slow. The soaking of the seed might make the plant
appear the sooner, but he did not tiiink it had that effect upon
the early growth that some imagined. In conclusion, Mr.
Edgar said he would grow more roots as soon as he could see
that it was more profitable. What he should like to see was
that all in that neighbourhood should grow a ceitain propor-
tion on their fallow shift ; that would, he considered, be better
than having two or three large growers.

The Chairman was inclined to agree with most of the views
that Mr. Porter had advanced. There were, however, some
with which he did not agree. In regard to green manure, it
must not be forgotten that most of the roots were grown after
a white straw crop. At the same time, if there was an early
lot of peas and mustard or some other green plant put ou and
ploughed in, that no doubt would be a good preparation for
the sugar-beet. His experience of green manure was rather
favourable. He remembered when he tried it it came out very
well, but, like a good many otlier people, he did not follow up
that which was beneficial so closely as perhaps he ought to
have done. Allusion had been made to the soaking of the
seed. He remembered many years back making some experi-
ments with turnip seed. He tried ordinary water by the side
of various solutions, but in that he found there was but very
little difference indeed. If, however, a preparation was made
so as to break the husky fibre of the sugar-beet seed, it might
possibly have the effect of enabling them to obtain a plant

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

417

seveu or eight days earlier, wlilcli must sometimes be a benefit,
so that he did not altogether despise that. Then as to the
time of taking up beetroot, he oould not help thinking that
they were frequently a little too fast. He often found that his
roots which had been taken up 'early did not weigh so well as
he hoped, and, on the contrary, those that had been taken up
late came to much more than he anticipated. Tiiough tlie
leaves of the plant might by their sereness indicate the ter-
mination of growth, yet there was no doubt but that the roots
continued to swell. With reference to the profit of sagar-
beet roots, it should not be forgotten that they had been intro-
duced so far in times when both corn and meat were high. In
regard to the yield of the sugar-beet in comparison with the
common beat, he might say that he tried it side by side last
year in different places, and he was surprised at the httle dit-
ferenee there was. J\Ir. Hawkins had alluded to the great
amount of labour there was connected with sugar-beet ; but he
(Mr. Biddell) never got money worth mentioning without
some trouble. Profit was generally found to be the result of
well-directed effort, according to the old proverb, "Without
pains there are no gains," and, therefore, if it was a troublesome
crop, it might be accordingly profitable. He was much struck
with the remark as to those gentlemen who grew sugar-beet
so largely. There was no doubt that they did not do it be-
cause they found it so very profitable to grow the root itse t,
but because the profit came afterwards in the manulacture into
sugar and, therefore, it was to be hoped that the grower ot
the roots in this locality might have a larger share in those
profits. If the manufacturers gave the growers only 10 per
cent, out of their profits, there was very little doubt but that
the roots would be more extensively grown. He thanked Mr.
Porter on behalf of the Club for his valuable paper.

Mr. R. Hawkins said he had tried soaking the seed, and
found that it was a good thing if you were sure of having some
wet weather. The seed he wetted moulded after it was put
into the ground, because the weather happened to turn out
very dry. In regard to the clamping of sugar-beet, he miglit
say he had made an experiment with a rod of beet. He cleaned
them properly, laid them in a clamp, and covered them up,

and in one week it had wasted a stone, aud that was a little
more tliau five per cent. .

Mr Edgar said that the beet would waste much more in the
first week than it would afterwards, and the 2s. a ton extra
would about make up for that loss. , , i i

Mr. Porter replied. Mr. Hitchcock had asked why we
should not grow sugar-beet as well here as abroad. He (Mr
Porter) could go further, and say he believed that we could
^to^v it as well as they did in France. In Germany the manu-
facturers were as a rule also growers of tiieir own sugar-beet,
but he must think that the 80 per cent, profit named was, to
say the least, a little overdrawn. He did not think he was
betraying Mr. Duncan's interest greatly if he stated that last
year had he the amount of sugar he had previously had, he
would have made a handsome profit, but as it was he (Mr
Porter) did not think that there would he £100 on the right
side of the books. At the same time Mr. Duncan had entered
into the speculation, and at present had no misgivings, and it
was to be hoped that the future would show that the specula-
tion was a right one. As to the question of earthing up of the
roots, he did not suppose that it had a very material effect as
it regarded the weight of the root itself. This last year their
roots were particularly well earthed up, and he did not think
they lost any weight by care in that direction ; on the con-
trary lie thought that perhaps they gained something, as
otherwise tliere would have been a waste in trimming, in re-
ference to the question of soaking, he knew that it was an
operation much thought of where sugar beet was largely culti-
vated. There was a peculiarity about the sugar-beet seed
which made the soaking process the more valuable. Mr.
Porter explained the plan that was adopted abroad, so as to
dry the seed aud thus obviate the difficulty which had been
made as to drilling ; and, having commented on other points
brought under the notice of the meeting, he said in conclusion
he wished some plan could be devised by which the beet at
Mr Duncan's factory could be bought according to quality,
and if that were so no doubt some would receive only 16s. per
ton, whilst others would get 25s. It was, however, extremely
diffigult to know how that was to be done.

AGRICULTURAL POLITICS AND PRACTICE.

At the Botley Market dinner, the Right Hon. W. F.
Cowper-Temple, M.F., said with regard to the owners of the
land what he thought greatly to be desired: was that land
should become a more marketable commodity, and that some
of the resolutions with regard to the disposal of some portions
of the land should be reduced. It would be of immense ad-
vantage to a man who had saved a small sum of money if he
could invest it in some portion of the land. Tliis would be a
great advantage to farmers particularly. He did not mean to
say that they could buy large portious—but it would be of
great advantage to the country at large if these men, who
undertook the management of the land, and who were good
practical farmers, would be able to invest what money they
had in acquiring the fee simple of land, and thus revert to the
old practices of former times, when many handy yeomen were
found throughout the country, and when a man was not only
farming the land, but he was also in the improved position of
both farmer and landlord. Then with regard to the farmer he
thought there should be such an arrangement of farm leases
so that a man might be able to bring to bear the best modes
of cultivation, and that he should be so secured that when he
gave up the farm he should be fully and fairly compensated
for those unexhausted improvements. He thought the farmer
who was cultivatiug his land should be secured against any
damage to his land by the existence of game on tlie estate,
and which might be kept to excess by the caprices of some
landlords, lor they must bear in mind that it was not always
that game came from the lands of those under whom they
rented, but often from neighbouring property, and it was right,
therefore, that a tenant sliould be secured from having his
crops eaten up by hares and rabbits from those covers. Then
with regard to the labourers they had tlie question mooted
whether they obtained a fair share of the produce of tlie land
to which some said they were entitled to. With reference to

the strikes among farm labourers he believed it would be a bad
thing, because strikes meant the same rate of wages for all the
workmen, whether they were idle or industrious. He believed
it would be more beneficial if they could do as was done in
some mines and in the manufacturing districts— take the work-
men into a co-partnership. That was that the workmea
should receive a minimum rate of wages per week, and that
beyond this he should receive a bonus upon the result ot his
work— or the combined exertions of master and man. This
bonus would be a rising or falling one according to the result.
In a bad year, when there was not sufficient produce to have
a bonus, there would be nothing, but in a good year there
might be a considerable bonus, and in this way the labourer
would feel that he was to some extent a partner with his em-
ployer and therefore his efforts would be directed to the suc-
cess of the undertaking. It would not only tend to produce
more food, but the men would be improved as a class. Ot
course there might be some difficulty in applying this to farms,
and he did not say that it could practically be done. But he
might say it had met with very great success at one of the
coalmines in Yorkshire, and in some of the manufactories as
well, and he thought if they could guide the labourer in the
ri^ht path, not by getting him to endeavour to improve his
condition by means of strikes, but by putting him into part-
nership or an agency with the master, and to see whether
the produce of the farm could not be improved, and as the im-
provement in a pecuniary point of view would depend upon
the success of that in which they were engaged, and it would
be a wonderful advantage for the working man if he felt he
had a pecuniary interest in the work going on, and it would
tend to make a man rise in his own estimation, and become a
better member of society. The question of local taxation wa»
one which was very closely connected with agriculture, and
one in which they must feel a great interest. Parliament had

F F

418

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

been working very hard this year, but lie expected before the
end of it tliey would have the six omibuses Mr. Bright spoke
about driviug through Temple Bar at once stopping the way.
He (Mr. Cowper-Teraple) was afraid that uo more new mea-
sures could be dealt with this year, and he anticipated they
would be unable to deal witli the important question of local
taxation. It was a large matter, and involved many considera-
tions, and until it was settled he thought Parliament should
be very cautious indeed before they added any burdens to the
local rates.

Lord Henry Scott, M.P., said, as to the game question
this was now gone to a committee of the House of Commons
and no doubt they saw the discussion on it the other day in a
bill brought in by Mr. Hardcastle, one which the House felt
it would be impossible to go into. The pains and penalties
which he proposed to attach to it were found to be wrong in
principle, and such as it would be impossible to carry out in
practice. There were then four other bills on the game ques-
tion before them. All these, with the exception of Mr. Hard-
castle's, were sent to a committee of the House, but they
could not assent to the principle of Mr. Hardcastle's, and
therefore they were unable to send it before a committee.
The effect of the w hole debate was that the Home Secretary,
on thepart of the Government, consented to name a committee
to go into the whole question. No doubt in that committee
would be gentlemen who were well informed on the subject,
in whom the farmers of England had great confidence, such,
for instance, as Mr. Read and one or two other members, who
he thought really represented the farmers, and who thought
and spoke their wishes, and therefore the interest of the far-
mer would be carefully watched over in that committee. The
great evil in the question was that it would necessarily occupy
some time. They could not hope that any more new bills
would be introduced this session, and at the end of it some-
thing might occur which would put off the questions
which were before them now. He was afraid that tliey
could not expect anything to be done just yet, and he
thought it was quite impossible for any Bill to be brouglit
forward on the subject for at least two years to come. The
best thing they could do would be to get tiieir opinions and
their views brought before the committee, and he would recom-
mend that they should select some of their most able men to go
up and give their views before the committee, llis belief was,
and always had been, that do whatever they liked the Legisla-
ture would never get a settlement of the question unless
they could get a concurrent opinion between landlord and
tenant. Unless they could get the landlord and the tenant to
agree to seme common line of action all legislation would be a
failure. What they wanted was to make an agreement between
them whereby the tenant might be compensated, and that who-
ever made that agreement or broke through it should pay for it.
This was a matter which affected the landlord as well as the
tenant, for if a farm was overrun with game the landlord must
suffer, because when that farm was unoccupied and was in the
market he would not be able to obtain so much for it as otherwise.
He did not mean to say, however, that there were not some men
who would sacrifice a certain amount of rent for the sake of
sport, but still he tliought that an arrangement between the
landlord and the tenant would be the only satisfactory solution
of the difficulty. They migiitmake an arrangement with regard
to the farm, but there was the difficulty with respect to ground
game in the woods. The great dilUculty with reference to
ground game was the keeping of it down in the woods. He
was quite certain that the outlay on an estate was considerable
for keeping down the ground game in the covers.
Passing from this subject they came to that of the labourers.
Prom what he had heard and knew of the wages paid in the
north he really believed they did not pay their agricultural
labourers in that part of the country in the way they ought
to. When they came to consider that they only gave them
9s. per week— (" Twelve")— well, some get 12s., but when
they only had 9s. per week it certainly was too little. He
quite agreed that every man should be paid according to his
worth. He did not wish to pay a higher rate of wages where
the work was not given. He thought they ought to consider
this question, for he thought they would feel they were not
doing what they ought to do with regard to their agricultural
labourers. Whether [they would be in a position to do that
which his lion, friend had alluded to he much doubted, because
there would be much difficulty in taking a luau as a co-partner

in a farm, where losses soon arose from storms and that kind
of thing. They all knew that a farming business fluctuated
in accordance with the season, and they must bear in mind
that lie very much depended upon the weather and the sun-
shine being on his side. He could not command the seasons, and,
although they might be possessed of money and other things,
they were dependent above all upon the blessings which were
showered down upon them from above. There would thus be
a difficulty in taking the agricultural labourer into co-partner-
ship. He would take the profits, but would he agree to or be
able to bear the losses ? Some people really did not know
what the losses were on a farm in a bad season.

Mr. H. BoJME said it was impossible fcr the farmers to pay
their labourers more than they did at the present time. There
was a great difference in the work of the mechanic and the
agricultural labourer, and when the latter became decrepid and
unfit for work, they had to be kept by the occupier of the land.
He had seen the man with 30s. and 40s. per week in the manu-
facturing districts, but he was not so well off or so happy as
the agricultural labourer with his 10s., 12s., or 13s. a-week
and his cottage.

Lord Henry Scott explained that he did not mean it to
be understood that the wages were not sufficient in that part of
the country, but in some parts, where the wages were 9s. per
week, or less, it really was not sufficient. He did not wish to
make any general charge against the agriculturists of the
country, but, where they were 9s., that it was not quite enough ;
and he ageeed with Mr. Bone that a labourer in the country
with a good cottage and garden was much better oft' than the
mechanic in many of the large provincial towns. What he
asked them to consider was whether 9s. per week as wages was
not too low.

Mr. Warner, the chairman, said that 9s. was not the rule
and he would not say 10s. or lis. He was quite sure, if they
took the general average throughout Hampshire, it would be
12s. per week.

Mr. C, MiLWARD, Q.C., believed by sending their young
men out of the country for a time, to India, they would see
more of the world, and vi ould come back less a " clod-hopper,"
with minds of their own, and if they had well trained men,
who were accustomed to discipline, they would be able to do
more work and in a better style than they would without that
training. (Mr. J. Stubbs : They will be fit for nothing.)
He would not send them out for fourteen or fifteen years, and
send them back at thirty-four or thirty-five years of age, when
they were practically good for nothing. If they took them
away at nineteen, and brought them back at twenty-five, he
thought they would be useful and manageable men. They did
not find their Volunteers a bit the worse as workmen because
of their drill. (Mr. Stubbs : Yes, but you never get much
out of a Militiaman.) He never found anyone who would do
too much. With regard to the transfer of land, that it might
be made as easy as the transfer of stock or shares in a com-
pany, all that was wanted was for a register to be kept, the
same as was done in a company.

CANCERINE. — There is a very small portion of the coast
of the little State of New Jersey, U.S., not far from Cape
May, whicli is infested during the months of May and June,
and at no other season of the year, by swarms of huge crabs,
about the size of a large soup-plate, and about the ugliest crea-
ture in creation, be the next what it will. Its flesh is too
coarse and strong for food, and its raisoii d'e/re has, until the
last few years, not been very apparent. A " happy thought,"
however, struck a gentleman who was strolling on the beach,
wondering, perhaps, ;for what purpose these animals were
created ; that, altliough not good for food themselves, they
might become a cause of food if applied to the laud, for lie ob-
served that the shell was not of a calcareous nature, like the
common crab, the lobster, &c., but was horny, and therefore
probably contained a large quantity of ammonia, which, as
everyone knows, is a most material element in manure.
Having satisfied himself upon this point, the next step was to
secure so large a share of the profits of his discovery as would
repay him for putting up machinery. This he had no great
difficulty in doing, for, like a wise man, he kept his idea to
himself; and as no one had ever conceived that there could
be any possible value attaching to these great, ugly, cmwhng
things, he secured for a very small sum the sole right of pick-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

419

ing them off some two miles of beach, or bought the beach it-
self, I am not sure whicli. He then set up a crushing-mill,
and employed people to collect the crabs, which are speared
and thrown, into waggons, just as oar agricultural labourers
pick up turnips to throw into the turnip-cutter ; and they lie
about as thick as turnips in a field. They are hterally in
myriads. They are then thrown together in heaps, the base
of each heap being surrounded with hurdles to prevent their
escape. Here they die a slow and cruel death from suffocation,
much as the pearl oysters in Ceylon do, and it will be easily
imagined that they do not emit a very agreeable odour in the
process, though they do not putrefy so much as one would ex-
pect, but rather dry up, thereby losing about four-fifths of their
living weight, or rather less. They are then thrown into the
crusher and torn to pieces, but not being dry enough to grind,
they are further kila-dried, after which they are reduced to
powder. That powder is " cancerine," which is worth £6 a
ton at the mill, and is in great demand amongst the fruit-
growers in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Last year about 400
tons of it were made, and considering that the crab-harvest
only lasts two months, and that their visit is confined to so
small a portion of the coast, this will show how numerous the
creatures are. As to their eggs, one may almost say that the
sand of the beach is eggs ; and there is a story of a ship cap-
tain, who was unacquainted with the peculiar character of the
beach, loading his vessel with what he supposed to be some

particularly nice clean sand. On the voyage the eggs were
hatched, and on arriving at his destination he found that he
had a live cargo to deliver, whicii the port authorities declined
to receive, and ordered the ship out to sea, to the poor man's
great consternation. One would have supposed that the same
shrewdness which detected a possible value in what others had
passed unnoticed would also have recognised the importance of
carefully husbanding the supply of raw material for his novel
manufacture, but the story of the goose that laid golden eggs
is one that finds a wide application. No sooner was Esparto
grass found to have a value for paper-making than the greedy
but lazy owners tore it up by the roots, in their eagerness to
make a present gain, thereby destroying a permanent source
of income. The same thing happens with these crabs. Not
only is the voracious crushing mill destroying the parent crabs
by the million, but the eggs, which should be carefully culti-
vated, are scooped up by the bushel and thrown to the pigs
and poultry. Looking to the great and increasing value which
our high-pressure scientific farming gives to everything that
tends to renew the exhausted producing power of the soil, it
is a point worthy of the notice of our scientific men whether
we cannot find on the rocks and beaches of our own coasts the
means of carrying out the hint which New Jersey has given
us. In a densely-populated country like ours there certainly
ought not to be any waste, either of food or of food-making
material.— Z'/ji? Food Journal,

THE MIDLAND FARMERS' CLUB.

THE LABOUR QUESTION.

A general meeting of tlie members was held at the Royal
Hotel, Birmingham, on the first Thursday in April. Dinner
was provided at three o'clock. The Chair was taken by the
President of the Club, Mr. J. Bowen Jones, but there was only
a small attendance. The subject for discussion was " The
Present Aspect of the Labour Question."

Mr. Lythaxl read the following letter : Elford Park, April.
Dear sir, — I very much regret that a badly-sprained ankle
hinders me from attending the Club to-day. The subject for
discussion is always interesting, but necessarily so just now.
I am not at all surprised that a movement for an advance of
wages has taken place in some counties. How a difference of
30 or 40 per cent, in wages ever obtained seems a mystery
almost as great as a family of six or seven people trying to
live on 10s. a week. Peculiarity of locality, of markets, or of
population, cannot account for the discrepancy. Railways are
everywhere, and the best articles of food are saleable at good
prices everywhere — besides, a man with brains, legs, and will
need not be rooted to one spot like a tree. However, the fact
remains that wages vary from 10s. to 16s. a week in adjoining
counties. If the average cost of labour per acre were about
25s., one-third reduction in this gives a benefit of 16s. a year
to the employer of cheap labour. Perhaps " cheap and nasty"
is synonymous with " cheap and dear." Be this as it may,
one thing is certain — that on all well-cultivated farms the
limit of labour is reached, and if wages rise beyond a re-
munerative point, either farms will be worse handled, or rents
must fall. I now employ fifteen men, paying 15s. a week,
and an advance of Is. a week at Lady-Day, giving one man
notice, in order to keep within limit. Many well-intentioned,
but ignorant speakers and writers, put farm labour on the
same platform with factory or contract labour. This is a
great mistake ; only a small part of it can be gauged or mea-
sured. The major part is changeable, desultory, and often
wasteful, requiring personal and constant supervision, subject
to all the interruptions of the weather and widely-dispersed
efforts. One cannot ring the bell and open the gate at work
and meal hours when acres of ground separate your forces.
All men ought to be willing to pay a fair day's wage for a
fair day's work. But in order, as a rnle, to obtain the latter,
we need, I fear, a higher standard of morals. Wages will not
make men virtuous, and while beer is more attractive than
duty the case seems hopeless. I sincerely hope that in any
general scheme or arraugemeut for the improveiaeat and com-

fort of the labourer (and both are needed), beer and cider will
be sternly ignored, and whatever wages are given will be in
money. Cottages on the farm — say, half an acre of garden
ground to each — and either new or skim-milk supphed at a
moderate price by the farmer, are absolute necessities. Every
landlord should be compelled to supply the former, and every
tenant the latter. Probably if the man felt at home on the
farm, and the wife saw her children better cared for, fed, and
taught, a joint interest might obtain, and a pleasanter answer
be returned to any remonstrance than a week's notice to quit.
— George A.. May.

The Chairman said they had met that afternoon fo'discnss
a subject which incidentally bore upon a question which had
been very much before the public recently — a question of very
great importance to all classes of the community, and one
which he trusted would be discussed impartially that afternoon.
He might say, from what he had seen and read, that in his
opinion the question had been discussed in the newspapers in
a way which was not altogether satisfactory. Many mis-state-
ments had appeared. It was a subject whicli was not gene-
rally understood. He might mention that the condition of
the agricultural labourer, with especial reference to cottage
accommodation and education, was the subject which was dis-
cussed at their meeting in June, and therefore he would re-
commend speakers to adhere to the subject in the agenda^
viz., the present aspect of the labour ciuestion.

Mr. G. Wise said he had been asked to introduce this sub-
ject for discussion, and he did so with very great pleasure.
He wished to speak upon it with all fairness to the agricul-
tural labourers ; but in the papers he saw statements made
concerning the tenant-farmers and the landowners of South
Warwickshire which he knew were not truthful. He should,
therefore, try and prevent the public mind from crediting
much which had been said with respect to the farmers and
landowners of that part of the county. He vv'ould show before
he had done speaking why the county of Warwick had been
chosen for this agitation, though the wages in it were higher
than in many parts. Several gentlemen, whose names lie
would not mention, had been very much abused at the
meetings which had been held. The speakers described these
gentlemen to be oppressors ; but the fact was they were
amongst the most benevolent men that England could produce.
They were gentlemen who went through the cottages of their
labourers with a view of doing all they could to better the

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I'HE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

condition of their labourers. Mr. Arcli, of Barford, iu one of
his speeches, said that Mr. Galton had dismissed the son of
one of his cottagers to make room for a stranger ; but this
■was incorrect. Mr. Galton told him that he had a good
cottage occupied by an old man, his wife, a lad of eighteen,
and a lodger, who worked for him. The son had never left him,
lie (Mr. Wise) had the pleasure of a very large acquaintance
with the tenant-farmers of South Warwickshire, and he could
most trutiifully say that, so far from being oppressors of
labourers, they were ever formost in every good work in their
different parishes. There were many things in connection
with the farming interest which the people who had got up
this agitation entirely lost sight of. He thought they would
agree with him that during the last four or five years vary
little had been gained by those engaged in farming. The
price of corn was low, disease had carried away a great
quantity of cattle, and though the price of beef and mutton
was high, the first cost of the animals took ofl' a great quantity
of the profit. Again, labour was increased very much in price.
He though, at a rough guess, land now cost 5s. per acre more
in labour alone than it did. This showed that the prosperity
of the farmer was not quite so great as some suppose. He
would remind those who had taken up the question that
there was a great difference between agricultural labourers
and those employed in factories. If there was a want of
work in the factories the men had to go elsewhere. It was
so iu other cas«is. Did the farmer do this ? No. He kept
on his men all the year, though there were many times when
he was not able to find them work for more than three days
in the week, and yet the men were paid in full, as if they had
been hard at work. He was afraid that this fact had been
forgotten. A farmer in Yorkshire, in a daily organ which
had had a great deal to do with this organisation, had soundly
rated tjie farmers of South Warwickshire for not paying their
labourers enough ; but he would show that the labourers in
that part of tiie county had not been so badly paid as had
been represented. No one wished to see the labourers in a
better position that he did. He had always advocated their
claims when an opportunity occurred ; but he thought they
were to blame for not having, in a conciliatory spirit, asked
their employers for an increase in their wages. If they had
done so, he believed the increase would have been granted
long before the strike began. He had a most excellent table
of the wages of the agricultural labourers in the Tysoe dis-
trict. It had been prepared by a clergyman, and it was as
follows :

Particulars of the average income of an able-bodied agricul-
tural labourer, with wife and five small children, one only
old enough to work, and the wife able to work 12 weeks

out of the 52. £ s. d.

Man— for 45 weeks, at 12s 27 0 0

„ Harvest, four weeks, at £1 4 0 0

„ Beer money 10 0

„ Hay time, mowing, three weeks 3 3 0

„ Beer money 0 9 0

Wife — Reaping, two weeks 14 0

„ Beer, 4id. a day 0 4 6

„ Haymaking, three weeks 0 18 0

„ Beer, 2 |d. a day 0 3 9

„ Bean-setting, or other field work, five weeks 15 0

Boy— 45 weeks, at 2s. Gd 5 13 G

„ Harvest, four weeks 1 0 0

„ Haymaking, three weeks 0 9 0

„ Beer for hay and harvest 0 3 9

„ If carter or cowman 2s. per week more, or

Is. and beer 5 4 0

£51 IG 6

Taiish Privileges.
Allotments 30 poles (produce of half will pay rent
&c., 15s. of the whole), thirty bushels of potatoes

grown on the other half, at 2s. Cd 3 15 0

Gleaning four bushels of wheat, at 7s 18 0

,, two bushels of beans and barley, at 53. ... 0 10 0

Poor land, coal to the value of 0 7 6

Parish land, clothing, ditto 0 10 0

Adult clothing club, ditto 0 4 6

Children's ditto, ditto 0 6 0

i7 1 0

Without Privileges.
Average earnings of day labourer's family per week £0 17 11
„ „ of carter or cowman's ditto ... 0 19 11

With Privileges.
Average income of day labourer's family per week 1 0 72'
„ ,, of carter or cowman's ditto 1 2 72

As to privileges, perhaps, they would not agree about that.
He was trustee for a charity, and, in an inquiry before the
Charity Commissioners, one of the Commissioners said he
thought one of the greatest misfortunes to a town
was for it to have a multiplicity of " doles." The same
remark applied to their agricultural parishes. A good deal
which was untruthful had gone forth to the world. Ou
Saturday he ascertained that in the savings' banks at Warwick
75 per cent, of the depositors were agricultural labourers.
He had received a letter from a farmer at Alcester, in which
he stated that he had offered 15s. per week to labourers, and
ISs. to shepherds, without any perquisites, but the men pre-
ferred to remain at their old wages. The men could not
serve two masters,, and this they would soon find out if they
joined the union. A labourer would fiud that he had a
master in the union most exacting iu his demands. South
Warwickshire had been chosen for this agitation because there
were large towns in it, and trades unionists could interfere.
He would counsel them to be firm, but also to be conciliatory
where a proper spirit was shown. He should always like to
soothe rather than to exasperate, and to show to the labourers
that their true friends were the owners aud the occupiers of
the soil.

Mr. Brawn said the demand for a rise of wages by the la-
bourers was only what might have been reasonably expected,
and to some labourers it was not only desirable, but must be
conceded. He would, however, remind them that the British
farmer and the manufacturer stood in difi'erent positions. The
iron and coal-masters, if tliey raised the wages of their men,
could raise the price of coal and iron, 'fhey found that im-
mediately the strike took place the union was formed, and one
of the principal agitators was the Hon. Auberon Herbert, who
said, whatever happened, the labourers ought to stick fast to
the union. He thought the hon. member's remarks were
likely to create mischief. He made a mistake, and it was not
the first he had made. He (Mr. Brawn) held that the Agri-
cultural Labourers' Union was a calamity which must be
measured by the extent of the union. He also held that if
they ever had a national agricultural union they could not re-
gard it otherwise tlian as a national calamity. They were
told that the land they cultivated was capable of producing at
least one-third more food for man than it at present produced.
There was some truth in that statement. They were told
again that they must break up their inferior turf land, and
convert it into tillage, and that they must employ more la-
bour aud more capital. Now, he held the opinion very
strongly that there was nothing which would tend to throw
land out of cultivation sooner than a union of farm labourers.
It would perhaps aid his argument when he said that they
were in full recollection of the disasters which occurred to a
great many of them last harvest, for want of sufiicicnt labour
to secure their crops. It would likewise be within the recollec-
tion of many of tliem that they had great losses in connection
with their corn harvest, but in tlie immediate vicinity of
Birmingham, where the very largest crops of potatoes were
grown, to meet the requirements of the town and district,
hundreds of acres of potatoes were totally destroyed — at least
destroyed to the extent of three-fourths of the crop — for want
of labourers at the labour season. Did they believe, could they
believe, that the farmers of the district would invest in au ex-
pensive crop like the potato crop — for the potato crop re-
quired an expenditure which would satisfy even Mr. Mechi
himself— in the face of an agricultur.al union and an agricul-
tural strike, with an executive managing that union which
might dictate to him at any lime what he should
pay or whether he should have labour or not? It was
seldom he (the speaker) stood up before any company in
the shape of a prophet, but he would ventnre to prophesy
that enough had been done already to prevent flie usual
quantity of potatoes being planted in this district. The
result might be proved iu six months from that time, and
they would see whether he was a correct prophet or not.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

421

They would have to adopt this course, not as a defensive
weapon to combat the union, but as a shield to protect them-
selves from the fiery darts which the executive of that union
miglit hurl upon them. It was not with the farmers as it
was with the manufacturers. A strike among farm labourers
meant nothing else than a destruction of the farmers' hopes.
At tlie meeting to which he had referred, presided over by
Mr. Aubcron Herbert, a letter was read wliich was signed by
some half-dozen of " Dixon, Mundella, and Co." In that
letter they found tliat the establislimeut of the union was ap-
proved of, and the union was spoken of as a stepping-stone to
political power. They also got this remarkable sentence :
" One of the most effectual means of improving your position
will be the passing of a general measure of compulsory edu-
cation. You will thereby avoid the possibility of the labour
of your children being the means of under-selling your own."
Now, he believed that the most intelligent among their farm-
labourers with a large family suffering from that peculiar
churn-like sensation which had been so elfectually disturbed
by " our special correspondent," would fail to see the force of
that argument, as he had to count something made by his
family of children up to the age of 13, who were supposed to
be, and who were stated to be, completely ignorant, but who
were to be compelled to attend school up to that age, so that
they should not compete with him in the labour market. He
scarcely liked to close his remarks without making reference
to that powerful engiue for good oi evil — the Press. A great
deal had been said and written in their public papers, and it
had vauntingly been put forward tliat the eyes of the agricul-
tural labourer had been opened by the cheap press. He said,
in response, by all means let his eyes be opened, let hira sec,
let him hear, let him read all which could be adduced for or
against him upon the subject ; but there was one thing the
farmers were entitled to ask, and that was, that those who
spoke or wrote upon the subject should make themselves ac-
quainted with the question first. Mr. Smith told the farm-
labourer that, with the present prices of beef or mutton, tlie
farmer could afford to pay his labourer 3s. 6d. a-day. He
(the speaker) would perhaps tax Mr. Smith's credulity con-
siderably when he told liim that if he would trace the fat ox
from its birth to the slaughter-house, through two or three
years of trying and unproductive weather ; tlirough one, two,
or three years of disease, till he arrived at the slaughter-
house, he would find that there remaiued no profit whatever
to the farmer who had fed him. He should tax Mr. Smith's
credulity still further when he told him that for three years
out of the last four, the tenant-farmer had in a vast majority
of cases paid his labourer not out of his profits, but out of
his capital. Was it, he asked, to the interest of the labourer
to hold up to ridicule the little acts of kindness which masters
or masters' families might from time to time have shown. He
professed no acquaintance with the soup in which the spoon
stood upright, he possessed no knowledge whatever of the
suit of clothes for the boy, or the little frock for the girl
with which the author of " Ginx's Baby" had made him-
self so thoroughly acquainted ; but one thing he knew, and
that was, that for days, weeks, and even months, during
the recent inclement winter, the tenant-farmer had sup-
ported his labourer, although his work had been of no ap-
preciable value. He knew that the British farmer had
paid for labour unmurrauringly, and with a certain
degree of satisfaction. He would ask the Executive of
the Union how they would meet that part of the case ; would
they insist that farmers should keep the same number of
Lands in winter as in summer, and pay the same wages ? He
was saying that to the men also, who demanded as the maxi-
mum of labour in summer ten hours, and would ask them how
they were going to secure to the farmers the ten hours in the
winter ? They had been told that the farmers' agricultural
societies were merely institutions to give them power to crush
the agricultural labourer. They had given prizes to labourers
for long service, and it was pleasing to find that an old la-
bourer stayed long with the old master ; but he put it to the
meeting whether it was not as often the kindness and forbear-
ance of the master which held tliat labourer to his post as the
qualifications of the labourer as a servant. These were points
for consideration, which he put before the meeting as a
Farmers' Club, and which he put before those philanthropists
who had their hands in their purses for any good work, but
who, lie believed, in this case, were exercising misguided phi-

I lanthropy. He asked them to consider all the bearings of the
case, and if they must put their hands in their purses, he would
ask them to do so in aiding the labourer to migrate to those
parts of the country where ho could obtain remunerative
wages.

Mr. William Towler said he would admit his conviction
that in some parts of the country the agricultural labourer
was, as a rule, paid upon too low a scale, and he had long felt
that he should be glad, by every legitimate means, to take a
part in bringing about a better state of things ; but he was
firmly convinced that if the horrible system of unions and
strikes, which had worked so much mischief, were instituted
in the rural districts, it would be a most serious and grievous
misfortune. They wanted no Odgers, nor Potters, nor Brad-
laughs, nor Dilkes, nor peripatetic demagogues to interfere
with the good feeling which existed in the agricultural parts
of the country. The labouring classes there were a happy
and contented and well-conditioned class of men, and tliey
owed that happiness in a great measuie to the good feeling
which had almost from time immemorial existed between them
and tlieir employers. Although farm labourers' wages might
nominally be regulated according to a low scale, they had
many privileges which labourers in the town had not. Mr.
Fowler expressed the hope that every one would do his best to
ameliorate the cjndition of the agricultural labourer, to re-
move anything unjust of which he had to complain ; but he
hoped they would set tlieir faces against the wicked attempt on
the part of political agitators to introduce their cursed manoeu-
vres in tlie agricultural districts. He concluded by moving
the following resolution : " That this meetiug desires by every
legitimate means to ameliorate the condition of the agricul-
tural labourer ; but will by any and every means, resist the
interference of designing political agitators, who seek, for
their own selfish purposes, to sow dissension between the em-
ployers and employed in the agricultural districts of the Mid-
land Counties."

Mr. King (Castle Bromwich) seconded the proposition.

Mr. A. Hylani) proposed the following amendment : " That
with the view of promoting a better understanding between
farmers and labourers a committee of this Club be requested
to use their exertions to bring about a conference between
properly appointed representatives of the landowners and far-
mers and the labourers." He tliought tliat if anything could
tend to give strength and determination to those who y ue
promoting the formation of labourers' unions, the resolu ion
moved by Mr. Fowler would liave that effect. Tliis wj i a
question which deeply moved every one. There was not one
in the country, w hether, farmer, landowner, or labourer, who
was not deeply concerned in the question then before the meet-
ing. It liad been generally admitted that some change was
desirous with reference to the wages of labourers ; and, inas-
much as they admitted that this was a question for considera-
tion, he thought it was very unwise — to say notliing more — he
would rather say it was very unjust, to condemn the motives
of those who differed from them in opinion. In every agita-
tion there would be persons rising to the surface who took
part in that agitation probably from unworthy motives, but he
thought they ought not to impugn the motives of those who
disagreed witli them in opinion, however great the difi"erence
in political opinions miglit be. It was impossible to mis-
understand the resolution which was before the meeting — it
applied to those gentlemen who, not having farm labourers,
perhaps having connection with the county, were taking an
active part in the movement ; and he urged them not to stig-
matise the meeting with having chaiged them with stirring up
mischief. By doing that they would not only be doing an in-
justice to their Club, but would advance the object they con-
demned. Suppose they admitted, then, that their explanation
was deserving of consideration. They must not go to posi-
tive expression of opinion that all who differed from them, or
the majority of the Club, were wrong. Would it not be better
that they should promote some conference between the different
parties who were interested in the matter ? Those parties
were three in number^landowners, tenant-farmers, and tlia
labourers. They all believed that strikes were a great evil,
and they ought to do everything they could to prevent strikes.
He, perhaps, might be in the minority in thinking that unions
properly constituted and managed would check strikes ; but he
thought they ought to meet those of opposite opinions in con-
ference— the arbitrators being men of minds beyond any doubt

422

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

as to motives, quietly sitting round the table, so that the la-
bourers miglit hear what the fanners had to say, and vice verscr
The result of that conference, or succession of conferences'
would probably be that each one would find himself a little
wrong, aud that the right and proper thing would probably be
arrived at, and they should hear no more of strikes. He hoped
they would seriously consider the wisdom of passing such a
resolution, lor the resolution moved by Mr. Fowler would do
mischief rather than good.

Mr. T. B. Weight seconded the amendment. He was
thoroughly convinced that the question could not be exhausted
at one sitting, and he hoped that later in the evening some
gentleman would propose an adjournment for a fortnight or
longer. A great deal had been said about the blue books, with
reference to the condition of agricultural labourers, but he
certainly thought sufficient information respecting the move-
ment which had brought them together was before the public
to have induced the Legislature, and farmers, and landowners
to endeavour to effect some changes. He regretted that there
had been a strike of labourers in South Warwickshire, and
said he preferred the coure taken by the Hereford men. He
thought the blue-books showed plainly enough that something
had been necessary for many years. He quite agreed with
previous speakers that these movements which they had wit-
nessed of late were very likely to some extent, and unavoid-
ably, to break up the kind feeling which had existed between
farmers and their labourers, and that he should as much regret
as any gentleman at that table. They must, however, come
back to the point, that the land did not employ its fair share
of its population, and the first consequence of that was that
the population ol the agricultural districts was forced into
the towns. In a period of great commercial prosperity they
miglit be wanted, but they had such things as commercial
crises in their town, and he was afraid there was one coming
on now, and what, he asked, would be the position of the
labourers in this country then ?

Mr. H. WiGGiN, in supporting the amendment, said he was
sorry to differ from his old friend, Mr. Fowler, and, if he did
not know that his bark was worse thau his bite, when he read
that gentleman's speech in the papers, he (Mr. Wiggin) should
have thought him a hard-hearted, intolerant, bigoted man,
whereas a better-natured man, or a better neighbour than Mr.
Fowler, never existed. He (Mr. Wiggin) was therefore sur-
prised to find him moving a resolution so sweeping in its
character. It appeared to him that if the present sfrike of
labourers in South Warwickshire was successful, the move-
ment would spread throughout the length and breadth of the
land. It was well, therefore, to consider and discuss the best
and wisest way in which the demands of the agricultural
labourers could be met. For some time past he had formed
the opinion that, as a rule, agricultural labourers had been
considerably underpaid, and he thought it would be to the in-
terest of the farmers themselves if they would only adopt the
custom of paying a higher scale of wages in money, and not
in kind. Higher wages would tend to keep amongst them a
better and more skilled class of workmen. The higher rate
paid in towns than in the country attracted to the former the
test class of men, whom it ought to be to their interests to
retain on the farms. Another evil was the mode in which
farm labourers were paid — by the giving of an enormous quan-
tity of beer. If farmers would do away with that system, and
pay the men in money instead of kind, there would be less
sympathy amongst outsiders, who could not possibly know so
much about this question as the agriculturists themselves.
Altliough a farm labourer apparently received very small
wages, namely, 13s. or 13s. a-week, yet, when the beer, the
bacon, and other perquisites were added, the sum would
amount to 14s. or 15s. a-week. For himself, he held it to be
a vicious principle to pay men in beer. In his own manu-
factory he employed men taken from the plough-tail, and,
while they worked there, they were quite contented and satis-
fied, but directly he sent them on his farm there was a demand
for beer. His advice to farmers was — Do away with the
system of giving beer, and pay in money. Although he was
as strongly opposed to the formation of the union as Mr.
Fowler or any gentleman present, still, at the same time, he
was bound to say tliat he fully admitted the perfect right of
the agricultural labourers to combine and form a union as
much as the farmer or any other class of tradesmen. He be-
lieved it would be a great misfortune to a labourer if he became

a member of a union, as he believed it would tend to destroy
that kindly feeling and good fellowship which existed between
the employer and the employed in agricultural districts. In
cases of sickness, the farmer or his wife and children made
the soup and jelly for the sufferer, and, in ninety-nine cases
out of a hundred, the employer and his family were always
ready to lend a helping hand. There were exceptions, but, as
a rule, the British agriculturists were as kind-hearted a set of
men as any in the world. He (Mr. Wiggin) was therefore
anxious to retain, if possible, that kindly feeling which existed
between the employer and the employed, and the gain to the
labourer in maintaining that feeling would be greater than he
would receive by connecting himself with a union. Thus, in
the interest of the labourers themselves, he objected to the
formation of a union, and he should look upon the destruction
of the present intimate relations between the farmers and their
men as a national calamity. In many districts, as a rule, the
agricultural labourer had been very unfairly remunerated for
his work, and the time had arrived when they must look at
that fact. During the last twenty or twenty-five years the
wages of all classes of workpeople had considerably increased,
and it was due to the labourer that he sliould also have an in-
crease of wages. Still, no one could carry on business year
after year at a loss, and the farmer must therefore be recouped
his additional outlay for labour by an increased price for his
produce. Ihey might depend upon it that by giving their
labourers a fair remuneration they would ultimately be
recouped by the consumer tor the increased expense. A letter
recently appeared in one of the papers suggesting that the
landlords should reduce their rents, so as to meet the increased
demand for wages on the part of the labourer ; but he (Mr.
Wiggin) would ask the writer whether, when the employes of
a railway or any other company demanded an advance of wages,
whereby the dividends would probably be reduced, the directors
would not, as had been done before, increase their chaiges.
Therefore, if the labourers were better paid, the public must
pay more for the produce sold. One of his reasons for ob-
jecting to the formation of the union was because it was un-
English for the labourer to be regulated by a secret, or a sort
of Jesuitical, society, about which nobody knew anything, and
which ordered the men to strike on a certain day for certain
wages, without giving the employer an opportunity of con-
sulting them, and saying he was prepared to meet them. He
should, however, vote for the amendment, because he desired to
bring about a remedy in a more conciliatory way thau the
resolution proposed, while it would have a better effect than
Mr. Fowler's " warmer " motion.

Mr. J. Hardy, M.P., said he attended the meeting as one
of the representatives of South Warwickshire, and naturally he
took a deep interest in what concerned so many of his friends
and supporters — and he did not only mean supporters, but all
the tenant-farmers and landowners in that division of the
county. He agreed with many of the observations which had
been made, and they must all allow that it was a very large
subject that they were discussing, a subject into which six com-
mittees had inquired, and upon which blue books had been
written. No doubt there were great hardships, and particu-
larly as to the employment of woman and children, but, perhaps,
those hardshins existed less in the county where this crusade
had originated than in many other parts of England. From
the descriptions which he had read in the blue books, he
should say that they existed especially in the south-western
and eastern counties. He should deprecate nothing more than
that there should be any disagreement in the Club. He was
glad to see an admixture of town and country. He knew no
better farmers than those connected with the town, for they
always had something wherewith to help out the country, and
that was a very great point. They did not feel all the vicissi-
tudes of the seasons and the times, as the perfectly rural tenant
did. He thought they were all agreed upon one thing, that
they objected more especially to unions and strikes being in-
troduced into the agricultural districts, where they had never
been known or heard of, and, seeing what strikes brought
about in towns, he did not wonder at gentlemen putting the
resolution in as strong language as possible, in order to express
their feelings. The labourers or artisans in towns differed so
much from the labourers in the rural districts, that they could
hardly compare the two ; and the manufactures of the town
and the productions of the country also widely differed. As
had been said, if the price of labour in the towns rose, imme-

TSB FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

423

diately the price of the products rose, hut this could not take
place in regard to farm products, because farmers had to com-
pete with the whole world, and as railroads were multiplied
land steamships to the colonies became more numerous, the
competition which the farmer was subjected to would increase ;
though in regard to corn, the competition could not be much
more severe. It had been said that meat was high in price,
and out of the reach of the working population, except those
living near the towns, who got a chance to buy the coarse bits,
because there was a great demand for the better joints. But
he did not see that there was any chance of remedying that by
a considerable rise of wages. Bread, of which the labourers
consumed a great deal, had not been of an average price lately.
They were all agreed that in many parts of England the agri-
cultural labourer was underpaid and perhaps underfed, and
that he might do more work if he were better fed ; and no
doubt there was a strong feeling that labourers had much
better have their wages in cash, and not have allowances ; and
that certainly was his own feeling, except on very particular
occasions, when they worked long hours. (" No exceptions.")
Well, no exception, if they liked ; but still, if people went on
working by moonlight in harvest time, they might want some-
thing beyond their common day food. Some persons said the
water-drinker might in the long run beat the beer-drinker (No,
no). He liad never tried it himself; but stillone would notgrude
a man a glass or two of beer when he had shown one a idvour
by working long hours. He hoped these disagreements in
South Warwickshire would be brought to some happy con-
clusion. Both parties seemed to be in a reasonable state of
mind. No doubt the labourer did make a large demand —
he did not know at whose instigation. It was a great
rise, four or five shillings. It seemed to the world, merely
reading the account in the papers, that there was a good
case, but when they heard two or three facts brought for-
ward by Mr. Wise, it seemed that with the allowances the
wages of labourers, instead of being 13s. or 13s. a week, got
up to 17s. or 18s. ; and that altered the case a great deal. It
was a pity these things could not be known to the world at
large. They had not met to throw a slur on any particular
district of the Midland Counties, which certainly might com-
pare favourably with many otber' districts in England ; and
Mr. Auberon Herbert, who was a sort of Don Quixote, taking
up everything to get a little notoriety, had better have begun
in his own county, Hampshire, where, and in the neighbour-
ing counties, he would find that the wages were at a lower
rate than in Warwickshire or the Midland Counties, He al-
ways found that where coal was at the lowest price, agricul-
tural labour was at the highest price, as the men had two
ways of getting a living. He would suggest that the two re-
solutions should be united. He did not wouder at the backs
of the farmers of South Warwickshire being set up a little
when persons interfered between them and their workmen, and
strikes and unions were introduced where there was no occa-
sion for them, because if anybody in the county to whom the
people might look up had been appointed as arbitrator, the
question might have been settled as the colliers' question was
settled in Staifordshire last year, when Lord Lichfield and
others were appointed to settle the dispute between the
masters and the colliers. By giving way a little on either
side, he believed they effected a compromise at last, and the
same thing might have been done in South Warwickshire.
No doubt people were annoyed by this sudden inroad into
■what the newspapers pleasantly called Arcadia. Mr. Mechi
had said that the pastoral age was over, and that there was
nothing to be got by grass compared with what was produced
by arable land ; but near him (Mr. Hardy) people were gra-
dually growing grass, instead of ploughing up, on account of
the threatened high rate of wages. They could not be sur-
prised at the present strike, if the agricultural labourers had
got a hint from somebody else that in every part of tlie
country there had been a rise of wages ; but it would be much
better for arrangements to be made between masters and men,
or between some persons appointed as arbitrators, as every-
body seemed to be in a propitiatory mood. Strikes and
unions altered the whole state of things, for they must then
hire a man for not less than six months, with three months'
notice, or everything would go to pieces. He must express
his sorrow for the farmers in their present circumstances, and
hoped the meeting would come to a unanimous decision, as it
would then go forth to the world that they had treated the

subject as it deserved. In his opinion this was only the be-
ginning of the end of the agricultural labour question.

Mr. Lowe then moved the adjournment of the debate.

Mr. LiNDSEY seconded the motion, but it was rejected.

Mr. HoKLEY said there was no farmer in South War-
wickshire, or in any other county, who would not wish to see
the position of the agricultural labourer improved wherever
that was possible, but many persons had been endeavouring to
make themselves prominent in this question who were no
friends of the labourers. No one more deprecated a strike or
unionism, or would more strongly set his face against both,
than himself ; but he was sorry that he could not support Mr.
Fowler's resolution, because the labourers might turn the
tables upon the employers and say, " You are doing pretty
mnch the same thing as ourselves." He should, therefore, like
to take a dilfereut position to that assumed by the people who
had been instrumental in endeavouring to carry on the strike
and to form the union. He was a large employer, and he in-
tended to set his face entirely against tlie movement. He had
always found it desirable to pay the best men the highest
wages he could possibly afford to give — and he thought the
wages in South Warwickshire would compare favourably with
those given in other parts of England, though there were, of
course, exceptions. The time had arrived when farmers should
do away with all privileges. Let a direct money payment be
made, and if farmers liked to compensate their men for work-
ing longer hours, let them do so, but let there be no demand
upon them. Let the men understand that if they worked un-
fair and unreasonable hours they would be cjii^pensated. With
regard to the nine hours movement, as applied to agriculture,
if caried out, he positively asserted that the man would suffer
and not the farmer. In the winter months, if they were ever
so willing, they could not work more than seven hours a day,
and there was no " timekeeping" in agriculture as in other
branches of labour. After an experience of many years, he
assured the Club that no man was better paid for the amount
of labour he performed than the agricultural labourer iu many
parts of England. He believed the labourer lived longer with
the amount of work he had to do than if he had £1 a week to
live upon. He was sorry that the demand for an increase of
wages had not been made in the usual way, by the men going
to the masters and reasoning and arguing with them, instead
of sending notice that unless a certain rate was paid all round
they would cease to work. The question must be regulated by
the law of supply and demand. Had it not been for the peo-
ple who, from the best, but in his opinion from mistaken,
motives had interested themselves in this matter, it would
have been settled long ago. The Club ought to take a high
position ; but although he would generally condemn the prin-
ciple, yet he would not pass too strong a resolution. He
thought they would be wise in accepting Mr. Ryland's amend-
ment, and seeing what a conference would do. He was sure
he only spoke the sentiments of the great bulk of the tenant
farmers when he said they were quite willing to pay the men
the utmost they could afford. Before the agitation commenced
many farmers had given notice of their intention to increase
the wages of the men. He (Mr. Horley) defied anyone to
prove that for some time past the men had earned so little as
16s. a week.

Mr. Brewster said he thought it was very important that
men should be paid in coin, and not in kind. If that principle
had been carried out years ago, he was satisfied they would
not have had to meet that day to discuss the subject. If
farmers would only consider the amount they paia in per-
quisites, they would find that it was something considerable.
He had written to several large farmers, and from the replies
he had received he found they paid two-thirds in coin and one-
third in kind. In cash and kind they paid altogether a guinea
a week. Many persons disputed that. It was disputed by
many farmers in his own immediate neighbourhood. About a
month ago the labourers residing in Shropshire were advo-
cating an increase of wages ; the farmers mustered themselves
to discuss the subject. There were farmers present representing
upwards of 6,000 acres of land in the immediate neighbour-
hood, but they could come to no satisfactory conclusion as to
what increase of wages should be given, owing to the variety
in the amount which each paid to his men in the shape of
perquisites. He thought it should go forth to the public from
that meeting that what they advocated amongst agriculturists
was to dispense with perquisites and pay in cash. He could not

424

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

agree with some of the remarks of Mr. Wiggiu, who had said
that this was not a tenants' question but a landlords' question,
and that if the farmers increased their wages they would have
to fall back upon the landlords.

Mr. WiGGiN explained that he did not say so, but he simply
quoted from a letter which appeared in a newspaper, and en-
deavoured to show that it was a gross mistake.

Mr. Brewster begged pardon, and said he did not agree
with what was stated in the letter. They were not competing
with the producers on that small island, but with the whole
world ; therefore it was impossible for agriculturists to increase
the value of their produce. He might state that he had been
a farmer in Shropshire seven years, and had always paid his
men entirely in cash and not in kind.

Mr. WiGGiN said tliat in confirmation of the remarks of the
previous speaker, he might mention that within the last ten
days he advertised in the three Birmingham newspapers for a
waggoner, offering 18s. a week, and £2 additional for harvest-
ing. He had only four applications. One man came to him
from Tachbrook and asked whether there was a cottage. He
(Mr. Wiggin) told him there was not, and the man refused his
offer, teUing him that he was getting 14s. a week, and consi-
dered that that, with a cottage and perquisites, was as good as
the 18s.

Mr. Lythaxl said there were farmers in the room who were
paying 21s. to 25s. per week in cash.

Mr. TowLER wished Mr. Ry land to withdraw his amend-
ment, as he thought it would be better passed afterwards, as a
corollary to the resolution.

Mr. Lowe expressed himself in favour of the amendment,
but forbore to make a speech owing to the lateness of the hour.

The President said he would put it to the meeting whether
they thought it was the function of that club, as representative

of a considerable body of farmers in Warwickshire, to assume
the position of conferring with any body of men chosen to
meet them. lu the first place, they bad to ask themselves
what was to be the composition of the body of men whom they
proposed to meet. If they deprecated union, and appointed
a deputation to treat with the labourers, they could only treat
witn the unionists.

Mr. Ryland said his amendment did not deprecate the union.

Mr. Fowler said he supposed Mr. Ryland intended that
the labourers' representatives should be labourers, and not
advocates.

Mr. Ryland said he could lay down no conditions : that
must be left to the committee.

The President said he would not speak on the general
subject further than to say, that he did not think the agricul-
tural labourer was worse paid than the ordinary town labourer.
He complained strongly that tlie press in criticising the ques-
tion in many instances argued from a one-sided point of view.
Why had they not made a comparison between the agricultu-
ral and town districts P It would have been interesting to
have known how much editors paid their printers' devils, and
the little urchins who were employed in selling their penny
sensational papers in the streets. He did not think that they
(the farmers) had been well treated. The agricultural labourer
appeared to him to be in as good a position as the unskilled
workman in any part of the country.

The amendment was put and lost by 12 votes to 8. On
the original resolution being put, 9 hands were held up for it
and 9 against. The duty therefore devolved upon the Presi-
dent of giving the casting vote. He desired to modify the
resolution, but several members said it could not be altered ;
and after a pause he said, " Then I vote for the resolution."

The meeting then broke up.

SUSSEX CLAY AND BELGIAN SAND.

Admiral Williams, of Silverhill, some short time since, gave a
lecture at Hastings on " Sussex Clay, and how to mend it." He
said : I have ventured to bring before you a subject familiar to
us all ; a matter with which each has daily something to do ; a
material which is the staple that secures us food, clothing, and
shelter. This inestimable — ofttimes too little valued, nay, too
often grumbled at — is the Sussex clay, the land around us, the
land we live in. Perhaps those who have seen the Suseex clay
in all its native strength — in its sloppy, sticky, miry dress of
the winter season — will scarcely blame me for regarding it but
coldly when I was first introduced to it, five years ago ; for I
had come from that light, rich, friable soil of Surrey, where,
with scarcely any other tool than your own hands, the garden
will yield most abundant crops. I walked round the grounds
of my new house, and found it was terribly mis-named in its
title of <S'//i'ifr-hill. I tried to move about the earth with my
walking-stick, and with my foot, but quite in vain. " Why, it
will take two years to get this land in order," I said to a friend
who was w ith me. " Two years," he answered ; " it will take
much longer than that, 1 can tell you." I found no scarcity
of coltl-wnier friends to damp a poor fellow's energies. For
my encouragement I remembered the accounts of farming work
in Belgium, where the wide-spreading Carapina districts, ori-
ginally consisting of nothing but marsh and sand, by persever-
ing industry, was brought into the most luxuriant cultivation.
The people first planted gorse and broom plants, which drew
moisture from the air, and deposited their leaves upon the
ground. Upon this beginning, of a kind of sediment of vege-
table earth, they planted fir-trees ; and the falling of the leaves
and bark in time made a soil. Birds began to build their
nests in the tree branches, cattle began to find shelter and pas-
ture. Then came the application of liquid refuse so common
in Belgium, and, ere many years, the dreary, sandy desert gave
place to the waving corn and the smiling grass ; and beauty
and fertility reigned in place of desolation and barrenness.
What the Belgians can do with sand, thousht I, an English-
man can surely equal with stiff clay. So I carted in load after
load of dressing turf, sea sand from the beach, and silver sand
from the hill side, and, best of all, ashes and street sweepings
from the friendly town of Hastings. All these are tossed and
dug into the clay, " terrifying it," as you say locally, in all

directions. This went on for a couple of years, and things
did not mend much. I was reminded of that famous Chat
Moss, upon which Stephenson laid his first railway, and into
which thousands of faggots were cast ; the more cast in, the
more insatiable did that devouring Moss seem to become. It
occurred to him to try lime as a last resort. And here I am
reminded how often we have nearly gained our object, how
frequently the battle is just won, when we are inclined to turn
back, to give up in despair, forgetting the poet's lesson,
What makes the hero truly great
Is never to despair !
Well, the time was the turning point in tlie work. We put it
on without stint. All vi'as sweetened and loosened ; and the
strong, tough heart of the Sussex clay crumbled into dust !
And then What flowers blew !

What vegetables grew !
What fruit was borne !
How the cows lay down in the thick, high grass ; so thick and
high as almost to hide them ! And how we cut and carved,
and sent nosegays to our gardenless friends ! And the more
we cut, the more we grew and bloomed. There was no limit
to the beauty and the plenty, for in agriculture, as in all else,
the truth holds, " There is that scattereth, but yet increaseth !'
The lecturer alluded to the law of compensation, and spoke to
the effects of draining on the Sussex clay. He next glanced
at the value of that soil for brick-making, for the ornamental
wares manufactured at Cadboro' Pottery (Rye), and as a chief
ingredient in some of our best earthenware. From clay he
passed to sand and glass, and thus spoke of West Sussex : To
be convinced that glass is a material most conducive to comfort
in civilized life, let any of my hearers visit the fine Saxon keep
of Arundel Castle. The form is this : an outer and an inner
circular wall, something like our Martello towers, the inner
being the highest, from which the roofing slopes to the outer
wail. The inner circle is open to the sky, whence the light
crept in through openings below, and which were closed with
wood in cold and stormy weather. And this was King Alfred's
castle ! Fancy the dreariness and darkness of this royal resi-
dence in the tenth century, and contrast it with the light, with
the manifold advantages of every cottage, even in this century.
And all this is from the mixture of sand with a cognate material.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

425

THE ENTAILMENT OF LAND,

" There is a very large class of landowners or of per-
sons standing in the relation of landowners, who are by
law incapacitated from binding themselves and suc-
cessors to remunerate their tenants at the termina-
tion of the tenancy for temporary, durable, or per-
manent improvements. I should think two-thirds of
the lands of England are so settled, and the landlords so
situated with respect to property, as to be unable to give
facilities for improvement, however willing they may be."
So said, perhaps the highest authority on the land laws
of this country, about a quarter of a century or so since ;
and Mr. W. Fowler has just brought ou a motion
in the House of Commons, to the eftect that the
present state of the law as to the entail and strict settle-
ment of land discouraged the investment of capital in the
development of agriculture. Mr. H. R. Brand, who
seconded this motion, said ; " This was a subject upon
which he felt very strongly, for he thought that the pre-
sent law prevented the development of agriculture ;" and
Mr. SewellRead, who supported it, said: " Not less than
8,000,000 of capital was employed only in the culivatiou
of arable land that was entirely at the mercy of the land-
lords, and subject to a six months' notice to quit. All they
wanted was compensation for unexhausted improvements."
Mr Dent, again, " went entirely with the motion, for he
believed that the present state ol the law as to the entail
and strict settlement of land discouraged the investment
of capital in the development of agriculture;" while, ac-
cording to Mr. Wren Hoskyns, " A life-owner now had
no interest in registering the fee simple ; he was merely
an annuitant. Let hira have absolute power over the
land, and be trusted as the commercial community were
trusted, and they would see a very different investment of
capital in the soil, and they would no longer hear com-
plaints of landlords for not doing that which under the
present system they could not be expected to do." Here,
at any rate, according to the best men, there was some-
thing to go on, with an agricultural question at last really
before the House. And what came of it ? "We can well
imagine the Chambers of Agriculture, " whose duty it
is to look to measures before Parliament," carefully whip-
ping up their representatives, so as at least to present a
good front on the occasion. Not a bit of it ! Before Mr.
i'owler had delivered himself of half-a-dozen sentences,
an attempt was made to count out the House, aud the
evident design was to let the thing drop through. Just
as the great body of members of either side carefully stay
away when a Game Bill is coming on, or a ])roposal to
repeal the Malt-tax, or any other absurd and so-called
agricultural grievance. Mr. Gladstone was no more in
earnest than Mr. Disraeli, who adroitly changed the sub-
ject to the condition of the labourer.

In plain truth there never was a more discursive dis-
cussion, nor one less worthy of the occa-ion ; a bad
example being set at the very opening of the debate,
which other speakers were not slow to follow. Had
there been no strike in Warwickshire the probability is
that we should have heard little or nothing from Mr.
Fowler as to the labourer's cottage. But some men
possess an unhappy facility of introducing anything as
apropos to anything else ; who would associate vote by
ballot with the utilization of town sewage, and contrive
to advocate in the same breath the abolition of church
rates and the use of chicory. The consideration of the
law of entail was conducted much after this fashion, a
majority of those who did speak so managing as to

either keep very wide of the question, or so as to arrive
at no very consequential conclusion. We have said, for
instance, that Mr. Sewell Read suppoited the motion,
and if Mr. Stewart's opinions have still any weight, Mr.
Read's arguments ask for some alteration in the way in
which land is settled, although he voted for perpetuating
the present system. This vote does not sound so
satisfactorily, as it reads more like the follow-my-
leader of some old county member than the act and deed
of a tenant-farmer's own representative. There is at this
moment scarcely an agricultural association of any
standing but which has declared against the needless
difficulties which oppose the transfer of land and the
evils which result from the mania for hampering and
tying up landed estates. Men thus come to occupy a
position, the duties of which they are unable to fulfil,
and their inability is gradually reflected on other classes.

There are people, no doubt, who are as much misers in
land as others are in money ; they hoard up all they can,
as they would take this away with them if they could : —

" I give and I devise," old Euclio said,
Aud sighed, " my lands and tenements to Ned."

" Your money, sir?" — " My money, sir, what all ?
Why — if I must," then wept, " I give it Paul."

" The manor, sir ?" — " The manor ! hold 1" he cried ;

" Not that, I cannot part with that" — and died.

And so they scheme that their treasure shall be
kept together intact as long as possible. Just as
the one counts his gold coin by coin does the other tell
over his lands acre by acre. Neither has much thought
of the good to which such possessions might be turned,
the ruling passion being only to accumulate more and
more. Against this pernicious habit the legislature has
from time to time been compelled to interfere, as in
regulating the extent to which a property may be en-
tailed, and no question but that some further reform in
this direction is necessary. The wretch who sacrifices
everything for riches is himself the chief suiferer ; the
man whose greed is for land often iujures others equally
with himself. He is, iu his need, a burden and incum-
brance, "impoverishing that which it is not in his power
to fertilize." There can be no question but that much of
the improvement in the agriculture of this kingdom
depends on the terms upon which estates are held ; and
large mortgaged properties retained in families for the
mere pride and name of the thing must be to the
national disadvantage. We have had a terrible illustration
of this in the history of Ireland.

It is clear, however, that nobody thinks much about
any such growing an evil in England. The Government,
as usual, got over the business as it does everything
now-a-days, " as well as it could ;" and the county mem-
bers and Farmers' Friends clearly thought it very bad taste
to mention such a matter. Colonel Barttelot, Colonel
Brise, Colonel Corbett, Sir Michael Beach, Mr. Beach,
aud Mr. Sewell Read are all for keeping things as they
are, despite " the family lawyer, with his mortgages,
settlements, and entails." Sir George Jenkinson, Sir
Massey Lopes, Mr. Pell, and other Chamber lights
made no sign ; while Mr. Dent Dent, ilr. Wren Hoskyns,
Mr. James Howard, and Mr. A. Johnston really seem to
think that the art of Agriculture might be made to deve-
lope itself more satisfactorily were wc to amend " the

426

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

present state of the law as to the entail and strict settle-
ment of land."

HOUSE OF COMMONS.— Tuesday, April 9.

Mr. W. fOWLER rose to move " That in the opinion of
this House the present state of the law as to the entail and
strict settlement of land discouraged the investment of capital
in the development of agriculture, to the great injury of all
classes of the people, and increased the complication of titles,
and the expense and delay incident to the transfer of real
estate." The hon. gentleman expressed his regret to see so
thin a House when so large and so difficult a question was to
he considered as that to whicli his notice referred. The sub-
ject, in his mind, presented itself especially in two aspects
arising out of the admitted defects of the land interest in this
country. In the first place, there was the defect in the pro-
duction of the soil ; in the next place, there was a defect in
the social condition of the people. Although it might in one
sense be said that our system of agriculture was in many
respects superior to that of tlie continent of Europe, still that
superiority was after all but relative. The question really was
whether our condition was in itself satisfactory ? Within the
last six months tliey had had the testimony of two great
authorities — namely, Lord Leicester and Lord Derby — on this
matter. Lord Leicester, addressing the people of Korfolk in
October last, said he came to the conclusion that the amount
of the production of the soil of this country was not more
than one-half what it ought to be ; and about six weeks pre-
viously Lord Derby expressed a similar opinion. Now what
did that calculation mean ? It meant a loss of £200,000,000
a year; that was to say, there was an annual deficiency
amounting in value to three times the whole taxation of the
country (Hear, hear). There was no cure but one for this
evil, and that cure was, as Lord Derby said, the introduction
of much more capital into the cultivation of the soil. Well,
who was to find that capital? He said that both the landlord
and the tenant ought to find it.

[Here an ineffectual attempt was made to count out the
House.]

The hon. gentleman having resumed, proceeded to observe
upon the state of the law which permitted a landlord to run
over a tenant who had laid out a considerable capital upon his
land without compensation. It appeared to him that the prin-
ciple of eorapensation should be established by Act of Parlia-
ment. But what were the special hindrances to the application
of the owner's capital in tlie cultivation of the land ? They
were three. First, the law kept the land forcibly in the hands
of impoverished owners, who had not the power, even if they
wished, to sell their estates or any portion of tliem. Secondly,
a large part of the country was held by limited owners, who
were tenants for life. Thirdly, the complications of title existed
to sucli a great degree, that it was impossible for persons of
moderate capital to incur the tremendous cost attendant upon
the transfer or conveyance of real estate (Hear, hear). There
was a very large area of the land locked up by strict settlement.
Lord Derby, alluding to this part of the question, said tliat
there was always plenty of land for sale in the market. But
if that were the case, was it not a remarkable fact that the
price given for it was so liigh that it seemed to show the de-
mand had overtaken the supply? (Hear, hear). Land in this
country was treated too much as a luxury and too little as a
means of investment. Although he had no objection to great
estates, he certainly did object to a system which, by the
natural power of the law, kept the land from coming into the
market in such quantities as to invite tlie investment of capital
(Hear, hear). The system of strict settlement, maintained for
generation after generation, had resulted in the greater part of
the land being held by men who were virtually tenants for life.
The life ownership of an estate could not be reckoned at more
than half the value of a fee-simple, and no encouragement
was held out to the owner to spend money on his estate. On
the contrary, every discouragement was given him to abstain
from so investing his capital. He was unable to borrow money
for the purpose, except at a great sacrifice. If he had im-
proved his estate he could not in his will give any directions as
to how the money thus spent should be distributed after his
death. It must go, under the settlement, to the next heir, who
was generally already the best provided for, and the one who

took the largest benefit under the will. He might be an idiot
or a lunatic — he might be a bankrupt or a disgrace to the
family — but the settlement could not be altered. Under such
circumstances, it was obvious that the owner of the estate was
under no temptation to put his money in it, but, on the con-
trary, to take all the money he could out of it ; in point of
fact, the law of settlement made him rather the manager of hia
property than the proprietor of it. The effect of such a law
was to introduce needless and innumerable family complications,
and it had also most disastrous consequences in regard to the
community at large — upon the homes of the agricultural
labourers, and on the condition of the labouring classes
generally, its traces were but too clearly visible. Upon the first
point, no doubt could exist. The evidence on the subject was
overwhelming, and no one could deny that the state of the
agricultural cottages of England was a national disgrace. The
House was bound to remove, at least, all legal obstacle to a
better state of things. Last year, when the subject was under
discussion, the argument; of the Solicitor-General was, that
better cottages were not built because it did not pay to build
them. Well, no doubt new cottages did not, at present, pay
directly, but even now they were, indirectly, no bad investment
for a proprietor to make ; and if they did not pay directly it was
because the labourer conld not afford to pay a sufBcient rent,
whicli was because his wages were too low, and his wages were
too low because the capital in the hands of the proprietor did
not allow of his paying better ones, and the capital was deficient
because the law of settlement discouraged the investment of
capital in the land (Hear, hear). A mass of evidence existed
in reference to the disgraceful state of the cottages of agricul-
tural labourers, but he woidd not weary the House by repeating
it. Quite recently the correspondence in the newspapers had
shown that things were fully as bad now as they had ever been.
Buckinghamshire cottages had been described which were
totally unfit for habitation, and the Bishop of Manchester,
whose experience extended over three hundred parishes in
Norfolk, Sussex, Esses, and Gloucestershire, had declared that
in only two of them were the cottages iu a satisfactory condi-
tion, and that the moral, physical, economical, and intellectual
ill-consequences were such as could hardly be exaggerated^
that tliey were " fearful to contemplate," and that the only
wonder was that among persons residing in such filthy homes
any sense of decency or modesty was to be found at all. Mr.
Currie, who was a practical agriculturist, and who had travelled
over England and Scotland, as a special commissioner, had
borne the same evidence, and had also pointed out that nine
out of every ten of the owners of estates had tried to do their
duty iu building proper cottages, but that the thing was im-
possible, especially in the case of burdened estates, and that the
very attempt had often occasioned almost as much suffering to
the landowner as to the poor labourers on the estate. The
question was, what was the cause of this disgraceful state of
things, and how was it to be remedied ? The house had shown
its sense of the necessity of some interference, because it had
passed an act authorising the borrowing of money for the
purpose — but at the prohibitive interest of £7 4s. per cent.
It might be said that the evil was one that would adjust itself
in the course of time, but it had now been in existence for a
very long period, during which England had been lending her
money to swindlersall over the world, and yet this evil had shown
no sign of abatement (Hear, hear). Again, it was maintained
that, even if proper cottages v^ere built for the agricuhural
labourers they would spoil and misuse them ; but he replied that
the degraded habits of a lifetime were not to be immediately re-
moved, and that the first and most indispensable step towards
the inculcation of better habits was the providing better homes
(Hear, hear). He had not said, nor did he mean to say, a word
against the large estates, because he knew very well that on some
of the largest of them were to be found the best cottages ; but
what lie wanted was to see a stateof thelaw which should encour
age on all estates, whether big or small, proper provision for
the decent lodging of the labourers. In regard to the other
branch of the subject — the condition of the agricultural
labourers generally — the conclusion of the most competent
authorities was that, so far from having improved, it had retro-
graded during the last 50 years, especially when compared with
the enormous increase in the wealth of the country and the
great rise in the wages of mechanics. If it was true — as a
great authority had stated — that the earnings of the agricul-
tural labourer were now 15 per cent, in excess of what they

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

427

were thiry or forty years ago, it mnst be remembered, on the
otlier hand, how much the price of meat and other articles
had risen in the same period. He thouglit that during recent
discussions a great deal that was unjust had been said against
the farmers. One great broad result of the commissioners'
reports showed conclusively that where wages were highest
the farming was the hest. Northumberland even, with its
inferior soil and climate, was a notable proof of this, as in no
country was agriculture more flourishing, as in none was the
labourer better educated, better fed, and better able to work.
Another general fact was that the north country labourer was
much superior in intelligence, and capacity, and emolument, to
his brethren in the south, and the cause of this was mainly
to be found in the fact that in the one case agriculture was
carried on with ample capital, whereas in the other it was not ;
and the consequence was there was not an adequate amount of
wage-fund. The other day the hon. member for Oldham stated
that he did not like strikes, but he did sympathise with the
unfortunaie agricultural labourer, for in his official capacity
he was continually being asked to allow the boards of guardians
to give relief to families were the wages were 9s. a week, and
he was compelled to refuse the applications, because if they
were granted there would never be an increase of wages.
Here, too, it appeared that where the wages were lowest the
poor rates were iiighest, and vice versa, la fact, the scale of
wages over the whole county was insufficient, except in those
neighbourhoods where there was a great demand for other
kinds of labour. He knew no remedy for this state of things —
certainly none that the house could supply — except by remov-
ing all obstacles to the flow of capital into cultivation. It was
said that education would improve the conditionof the labourer,
but money must be forthcoming to produce that desirable
result, and that money could not be obtained without a con-
siderable change in the law. It was a melancholy fact that
the rurul population had decreased and was decreasing. He
found that out of 26,000,000 of population in Russia there
were 5,000,000 of persons directly interested in the land as
small proprietors ; whilst in the country, with a population of
32,000,000 there were only 2,000,000 employed on the land,
and there were only about 400,000 proprietors. He believed
it would be a great conservative proceeding if they could bring
about a change in the law which would give a much larger num-
ber of persons a personal interest in the land (Hear, hear). It
was quite clear that the prevention of the land being dispersed,
the employment of persons on the laud was prevented. It
might be asked what he proposed to do — how did he propose
to meet the difficulty — what sort of ownership did he recom-
mend ? No man was further from beiug a revolutionist than
himself. All he asked was that there should be more freedom
in regard to the soil, that Nature should have her way, and that
the land should not be trammelled by our fantastic laws. He
would have such a law that each generation should take care
of itself, and that there should be no settlements, and that an
end should be put to tenancies for life — that each generation
should take the land and deal with it and use it as it might be
best. It was said that if that were the law the land would
not be sought for as the means of founding a family, but he
did not believe in that assertion. It had been asked, " How
about the peerage ?" He would say, let the peerage take care
of itself, and that if the peers did not take care of their
families they were not fit to review the decisions of that
house. It had been said that his proposition was calculated
to tear up the land, as in the case of France, and grind it to
dust in the hands of smaD owners. But he did not propose to
do anything of that kind. He had heard the complaint that
he wished to limit the power of settling land and not personal
estate. But the two things were very difl'erent. Whether he
or any other person had a sum in Consols or railway stock
made no difference to any one of the community ; but as re-
garded land it made all the difference in the world, whether
a rich man or a poor man held it. It was said that his plan
would limit the power of the owner ; but his answer was that
instead of so doing it would increase that power. He would
only limit the power of a man dying or dead, but not of a living
man. No doubt there was great difference of opinion with
regard to what he had said ; but in the few words with which
he should conclude he did not think there would be much
difference of opinion. He referred to the present system of
titles to and transfers of estates. As long ago as 1857 a com-
mission reported that the present law was objectionable and

could not be worse, and yet nothing was done until 1862, and
then what was done was by another commission, in 1870, re-
ported to be useless. They might leave the whole question
of settlement as it was, or they might vary the whole question
of transfer. At the Bank of England stocks might be readily
transferred, and why should not land be registered and be
rendered easily transferable ? Why should you not transfer
land with the same facility that you transfer stock ? It was
only prejudice that prevented this, for it was done upon the
Continent. This drawback affected small holders as well as
large holders. He knew the case of a man who sold to a
poor man, for the benefit of the latter, a small estate, but it
was upon condition that the poor man should bear the expense
of the transfer, which was disproportionately large. At Ham-
burg mortgages were bought and sold just as bills of exchange
passed on the Exchange in London. This was a question
which interested all classes. It interested the landlord be-
cause it would put him in a more natural position with refe-
rence to his property and to his family. It would improve
the position of the occupier of the soil. It would also im-
prove the position of tliose miserable men who tilled the soil,
and who lived in houses in some of which they should not
think of putting their cattle. Though the process might be
slow, it would improve the condition of multitudes, and would,
in the end, command general approval (Hear, hear).

Mr.H. R. BRAND, in seconding the motion, said this was
a subject on which he felt very strongly, but he thought that
the present law prevented the development of agriculture.
Certain events which had taken place of late had made this a
question of great importance— he alluded to the attempts of the
labouring classes in Warwickshire to raise their condition.
He thought that what had happened showed the necessity of
raising such increased produce from the soil as would enable
the cultivators to give the labourers better wages. If the
hon. gentleman had contented himself with bringing sweeping
charges against the landlords he (Mr. H. R. Brand) should
not have given him his support. There might be great diffe-
rence of opinion as to the nature and extent of the remedy,
but he did not beheve that there would be any difference of
opinion if hon. members would consider the report relating to
the condition of men, women, and children employed in agri-
culture. The necessity of a change would be manifest to those
who had considered this document. One evil arose from the
discouragement which existed to the employment of capital on
the land. The tenant-farmer had not sufficient security for his
capital (Hear, hear). They had been placed in possession of the
views of the Earl of Leicester on this question, when he stated
that a tenant should have a lease, or the equivalent of a lease.
Permanent improvements were those which were most difficult
to effect. He had intended to bring forward a question re-
lating to the advisability of giving facilities to small owners
to raise money, but he came to the conclusion that the land-
lords were at the bottom of the whole act, and he thought he
should be beginning at the wrong end, and that it would be
better to give the landlord further powers of sale. They
might be employed for several sessions in carrying a sanitary
legislation. He could only say that if hon. gentlemen were
not convinced by what they had seen of late, he would direct
their attention to what had" been stated by the Bishop of Man-
chester with reference to the condition of the cottages in Nor-
folk, Essex, Suffolk, and another county, the description being
severally that the condition was miserable, deplorable, detest-
able, and disgraceful. In other cases it was said that there was
need of improvement. Another gentleman stated that the
cottages in Dorsetshire were worse than in any county he had
visited, except Shropshire. No doubt these were the worst cases,
but they needed a remedy. Elsewhere, no doubt, the case was
often different, and, in many cases, the landlords had provided
proper abodes, but when cottages had been erected by mere specu-
lators there was often very wide room for improvement. The com-
missioners, while acknowledging the good service that had
been done by many landlords, stated that in many dwellings
the common decencies of life could not be observed. Some
persons said that agricultural labourers would rather live in a
hovel than in a decent house, but that he denied. In conver-
sations which he had had with many farmers in his own neigh-
bourhood, he had always heard them say that, as a last re-
source, wherever cottage property was necessary on their
farms they would be quite willing to give their landlords 4 per
cent, interest on the erections. Among various erroneous state-

428

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

inents which had been made in connection with this subject it
had been said that all these improvements could he made under
the present lavv,becausethe landlord or limited owner could give
a lease to a rich and wealtliy occupier who would make the ne-
cessary improvements. But from his acquaintance with far-
mers he did not think there would be many of them who
would be such fools as to invest their capital in permanent im-
provements unless they got ample security for it, and if they
got ample security for erecting the improvements they would
in point of fact become the real owners themselves. Tiien it
was said that the landlords, speaking generally, were not wil-
ling to give leases to their tenants, as they wished to keep the
power and influence belonging to the property in their own
hands, but it would be an absurd thing, even with leases, to
expect the tenant to erect permanent improvements. It was
also said that there was a power of sale and of settlement, aud
that was true, but everything depended on the form of the set-
tlement, aud if tliere was nothing in it to proiubit the owner
from exercising the power of sale, he could exercise the power
unquestionably, but then he had to reiuvest the capital which
he derived from the sale iu land again, so that by exercising
the power of sale he really would not get the command of any
capital to employ iu improvements. Another statement made
was that a limited owner could borrow money under the pro-
visions of an act of parliament ; but on what terms would he
get the money? He would have to pay five per cent, interest
under the act to the company of whom he borrowed, and then
he would have to pay back the principle iu yearly instalments
extending over 35 years. For every cottage costing £120 the
landlord would have to pay over £7 a-year for 25 years, and
as at the outside he would only get back from the labourer £4
or £5 a-year, he would be at a dead loss of £2 or £3 a-year at
least. The only way of settling the question was to restrict
settlements within proper bounds. He thought it would be
very unwise to continue the present system, which allowed
people to live on land which they could not improve or do
justice to — it was a system that had been endured so long be-
cause it tended to keep old properties intact, and to keep up old
families. But the old families iu this country did not require
to be kept up by artificial meaus, and the members of tliose
families had no desire to be dependent on anytiiiug else thau
their own exertions aud the exercise of their own virtues, and
lie would therefore ask whether the well-being of the people
was to be sacrificed merely from a fancied notion of keeping
up the aristocracy of the country ? The evil that existed at
present was a very grievous one, and it was an evil which had
been the growth of years. The landlords had tried remedies
— they had done a great work, and were willing to do more,
but they could not remedy the evil entirely, aud the only way
in which Parliament could assist them aud extricate them from
tlie difficulty in which they were placed was by restricting set-
tlements, and making those landlords the real owners of their
property. He thought the resolution before the House should
be supported, for he could not conceive how it was possible for
the ingenuity of man to devise any system more calculated to
bring ruin aud misery upon families than the present system,
under which a young man of one-and-twenty could, if he
chose, get vast sums of money by selling his reversion, and
which further discouraged the application of capital to land by
the tenant for life who had several children, because he felt that
every sixpence he spent upon the laud was put into the pocket
of his eldest son, aud taken away from tiie money which he
would otherwise be able to leave to his younger children,
He knew that there was a strong legal and a strong landed in-
terest against the motion, and yet he believed that in a slior.
time the reforms which were now advocated from pure justice
and necessity would be carried out (cheers).

Mr. C. S. HEAD wished to address himself to the first part
of the resolution, wliich declared that the present state of the
law as to the entail and strict settlement of land discouraged
the investment of capital iu the development of agriculture.
He confessed that he regarded very large estates as an evil, for
when a man had estates in the three kingdoms it was impossi-
ble for him to reside upon them all, and he thought it was for
the welfare of the country to have a resident gentry. He
also admitted that to increase the number of landowners would
be a very conservative measure. With regard to the system
of entail lockiug up the land and keeping large estates
together, it should be remembered that it also preserved a very
large number of small estates from being eaten up by the

larger ones, for many of the yeomanry had their small estates
as strictly entailed and settled on them as if they were the
first dukes in the laud. But it was much better for a man
with limited means to be a good large tenant-farmer than a
small owner (Hear). As to the building of cottages, one of
the regulations adopted by the enclosure commissioners — that
every cottage built by means of loans should have three bed-
rooms— prevented money from being more generally borrowed
for such a purpose, for though tltree bed-rooms were necessary
for half the cottages on an estate, they were certainly not
necessary in the case of all the cottages. They had been told
that evening that the condition of the agricultural labourer was
better forty or fifty years ago than it was at present, but that
was certainly not the case, and he knew, from his own expe-
rience of the last thirty years, that the condition of the agri-
cultural labourer had been slowly aud gradually improving.
They had also had their attention directed to some harrowing
pictures of the state of cottages in the agricultural districts,
but though 2s. a week might be a great deal to pay for a bad
cottage and garden, he could take hou. gentlemen to places
within a few hundred yards of the House where the same sum
was paid for a single room in which a whole family might be
lodging. But the great advantages which were ofl'ered by
building societies seemed to be greatly under-estimated. In
the city of Norwich, a cottage letting for 2s. a week would be
worth £75, and upon such a cottage a building society would
advance £70, so that the occupier, by paying a rent of 3s. 9d.
a week instead of 2s., would in ten years become the owner of
the cottage. The hon. gentleman, iu seconding the resolution,
asked his opinion as to what Lord Leicester said — viz., that
the land of this country did not produce half as much as it
could ; and hia answer to that proposition was that the land
would not pay to grow as much again. There were many
worse tenures than those for life. He was happy to say that
leaseholds were fast going out — those by whicli the lauds of
corporations, of the Church, aud of universities were held,
were being bought up, because a good tenant was always sure
to pay for his own improvements. Copyholds were another
class of expensive tenures. Copyhold law was behold any-
body's comprehension, except that of the lawyers (Hear, hear,
and a laugh). In the first instance, it was not the duty of
the lord of the manor to point out his copyhold, so that if an
unfortunate man happened to buy an estate of 300 acres, with
50 acres of it copyhold, and could not exactly point out where
the copyhold was the lord of the manor might put his hand on
the 50 acres and say, " That copyhold is mine" (No, no). An
hon. gentleman said no; but was he aware of what had been
done in Norfolk ? A man bought an estate of the size men-
tioned, and could not say precisely where the copyliold
portion of it lay ; whereupon the lord of the manor stepped
in and threatened the unfortunate purchaser with so
many penalties that in the end he induced him to en-
franchise the land, and as a consequence the man had to pay
the whole expense. It might be asked what had that to do
with the question ? It had a deal to do with it, because it
affected small plots of copyhold land. In 18i3 there was an
enclosure of land on a certain common in Norfolk, and a small
plot of a third of an acre was allotted to a relative of his. It
was all hills and holes, and covered with fir bushes, the value
of it being about a shilling a year. It was drained, levelled,
and well cultivated, and became good garden ground. About
1868 the land came to him as heir-at-law, aud as the occupier
wished to buy it, so as to join it to his own little plot of ground,
he oifered it to him, when, to his astonishment, the lord of the
manor came down and said it was copyhold, though he had
never exercised any right whatever. He took tlie opinion of
two lawyers on the point, and was told that the copyhold rights
of the lord of the manor were not barred by the lapse of time.
The upshot of the affair was that he sold the land as copyhold.
It was valued at £18, aud the whole cost of the enfranchise-
ment was £28 6s. (laughter), of which sum he had to pay for
admission £5 18s. 6d., and tlie compensation to the steward,
who had no vested interest whatever in his fees, and could
have been turned out of ofiice by the lord of the manor,
amounted to £5 7s. All the money the vendor got from the
lord was £12 I8s. 6d. ; and all the rest had to be paid by the
unfortunate purchaser of the little plot of land (Hear, hear,
and laugliter). So much for copyhold. Tliere should be, he
thought, a general act passed to provide that all copyhold
should be done away with, and in case a tenant could not pay for

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429

the enfranchisement of the land it should be commuted into a rent
charge (Hear, hear). With regard to the question of rates, the
hon. gentleman referred to the statement he made last year,
that some friend of his bought an estate for £30 an acre, and
having spent as much again upon it, made an excellent farm,
and grew great crops. But did it never occur to the hon. gen-
tleman that theland was assessed at £1 an acre, and thatthe assess-
ment must afterwards have been raised to £3 an acre ? (Hear,
hear). He agreed with what the hon. gentleman had said on the
subject of the transfer of land. We could reform our land laws,
but could we reform our lawyers ? (laughter). Could we not
reform our lawyers' cliarges ? (Hear, hear). We could not
now prevent the lawyer from eating tlie oyster and distributing
the shells (laughter). The man he liad a great dread of
was the family lawyer (laughter). What with mortgages,
settlements, and entails, tlie family lawyer was a most wonder-
ful person. He drew all our leases, and put into them such
old-fashioned restrictions and conditions that the majority of
farmers happily did not read tlie leases, and if they did they
would not know what it all meant (laughter). It was the
family lawyer who frequently had the management of tlie estate,
and had under him, perhaps, a superannuated butler or old
gamekeeper — a sort of sub-agent — instead of employing a good
practical farmer in the capacity of agent. Almost invariably
tlie power lay in the oflTice of the family lawyer. Reform was
certainly needed in that direction. But the greatest draw-
back of all was that of the insecurity of the tenant's capital.
Without going into the question of leases, he might simply ob-
serve tliat his calculation enabled him to say with confidence
that the small floating capital of the tenant in this country-
employed in tlie ordinary occupation of his farm, was some,
thing like £1 an aors. He was not talking of draining,
digging, or road-making, but merely of the general good cul-
tivation of the land. There were 10,000,000 acres of ploughed
land in England and Wales ; and he would engage to say tiiat
not one-half of it was protected either by lease or by custom of
the country (Hear, hear). Sothatnotlessthan£S,OOd,OOOofcapi-
tal was employed only in the cultivation of arable laud that was
entirely at the mercy of the landords, and subject to six months'
notice to quit. All tlieywanted was compensation for unex-
hausted improvements. Other matters which discouraged the
investment of capital in agriculture were the Game-laws, the
Malt-tax, and the heavy stamp on leases. Without wishing
to express any further opinion on the subject of entail, he
could not help saying that there were, in his opinion, a great
many other agencies more destructive to the interest of the
tenant, and preventing him from eraployiug capital more gene-
rally in agriculture (Hear, hear).

Mr. C. W. HOSKYNS held that if this important subject
were brought under the consideration of the landowners in a
proper manner it would be found that no class was more in-
terested in the settlement of the question tlian they were tliem-
selves. In the course of four or five years, he believed that
public stock equal in the whole to the national debt, passed
from hand to hand in the transactions that took place. Well,
if the same difficulties operated in respect to the transfer of
those stocks as existed in respect to the conveyance of land the
effect would be thatthe whole of the funds would get into the
hands of the great capitalists, and the class of the small fund-
holders would become entirely extinct (Hear, hear). One acre
of land was often as diflicult to transfer as 100 acres, as far as the
ttile was concerned. The expense attending the conveyance was
not in proportion to the quantity of land transferred, but to
the length of time to which the title had to be traced. He was
not in favour of the creation of a large peasant proprietary.
At the same time the most valuable owners of land were the
small holders like those of the old yeomanry class, who had
the greatest inducement to spend their money upon the im-
provement of the soil. There was no country in the world in
which the passage of personal property was made so easy as in
this, and he thought that the same principle should be applied
to the conveyance and transfer of land. It was wonderful
that conveyancers, with all their skill, could not devise some
other mode of passing the land from hand to hand than the ex-
pensive and cumbrous one of deeds, which recited all the births,
deaths, and marriages, mortgages, dowers, and other charges
which had occurred or been made from the time the property was
first acquired. In consequence of this state of things the land of
England was, as had been well said, divided between the dead
hand and the unborn hand. To remedy this state of things

there was no statute to repeal — nothing, in fact, but the prac-
tice conveyancers, to reform. He believed that if the land-
lords themselves could be brought to see the mischief which
arose from the present law of entail they would cease to be
opposed to a modification of it. Lawyers were too apt to look
upon land as if it were made for nothing but to be put into
settlements and tie it up as strictiy as possible. The present
law operated practically to create perpetuities throughout the
country. That was a thing which the old law of England and
the old lawyers would not allow. A life owner now had no
interest in registering the fee simple : he was merely an annui-
tant. Let him have absolute power over the land, and be trusted
as the commercial community were trusted, and they would see a
very different ilivestment of capital in the soil, and they would
no lunger hear complaints of landlords for not doing that which
under the present system they could not be expected to do.
Now, the length of the power of the entail over land was the
central point of the difficulty, and placed this country behind
every other in Europe, in everyone of which entail had been
abolished. It was said that the farmers of England were the
best in the world, and that he would be sorry to deny ; but
agriculture aud farming were not synonymous terras. There
was a difference between being a tenant-farmer and an owner ;
and if the number of owners was greatly increased he was con-
fident that such outcries of the labouring classes as had
recently been iieard in Warwickshire and other counties would
cease. There was a real connection between the tenure of land
aud the complaints of the agricultural labourers. The latter
were not included in the contract between the tenant-farmer
and the landlord, and of course the tenant sought to make the
most out of the land at the least cost. The question was one
which if uot dealt with, in time would become a very danger-
ous one (Hear, hear). He was quite certain they would confer
not only the greatest possible benefit to the community but they
would add from 5 to 10 per cent, on the value of their
property by joining the farmers in improving the tenure of
land in the ocuntry.

Mr. GREGORY invited the House to bring back their
minds to the wording of the motion, and to abstain from dis-
cussing so much that was irrelevant to it. He admitted that
too much complication, delay, and expense at present existed
— (Hear, hear)-^in the transfer of land, and he had made au
effort to remedy it by the introduction of a bill wliich he hoped
would receive the favourable consideration of the House on its
second reading (Hear, hear). He did not think that the
complications, delays, and expenses complained of arose from
the entail of land, but from other causes, and he could assert
from his own practice that it was equally as great in estates in
fee simple as in estates subject to entail. He was at a loss
to understand how the h.w of entail was a discouragement
of agriculture by the occupiers, and the mover and seconder
of the resolution had felt the difficulty, because they had wan-
dered from the real point of the resolution to the state of
agriculture and labourers' cottages. The law of entail was a
subject well worthy of consideration, but how had those hon. gen-
tlemen treated it ? They had quoted from reports, newspapers,
and agricultural writers, the bad state of cottage accoramo-
datiou, and which, he admitted, existed ; but unless it could be
shown that it existed in a far greater degree on entailed estates
than on others, it had nothing to do with the question. Again
it was said the evil did uot exist on large estates, but on small
properties that were bought up by speculative builders, and
held in fee simple (Hear, hear). He was not prepared
to admit that the labourers in Northumberland and Scotland
were superior to those of the southern counties, but if it were
so it had nothing to do with the subject, though the law of
entail was much more stringent in the former tlian the latter
case. A great deal of misapprehension prevailed as to what
the law of entail was, but the fact was that in nearly every
case when the eldest son reached twenty-one the entail was
cut of, and the estate was re-held. Now, with regard to the
effect of the law of entail on property, he maintained from
personal experience that cottages were not in better condition,
that tenure was not more secure, or the labourers better cared
for than on entailed estates during the minority of the owner ;
for this reason, that in the hands of trustees with large in-
comes to deal with, great improvements were effected in drain-
age and other matters. It had been said that a tenant for
life had no interest in maintaining the estate or of raising
capital for its improvement, but was it possible to believe

430

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

that men were so reckless of the welfare of all around them
and so careless of the estates they held as to allow them to go
to ruin when it is well known that Parliament had given them
ample powers for raising money for the improvement of their
estates P Besides the power of getting rid of the entail to
which he had referred, the Court of Chancery could, on the
application of a tenant for life, order the sale of the estate or
give leasing powers to the extent of 99 years, and nearly every
settlement contained powers of sale which were constantly
acted upon. So far from land being tied up and unmarket-
able under the law of entail, he found from a publication
which was issued by certain auctioneers that there was more
land in the market than there were purchasers to be found.
It appeared from that publication that there were 100,000
acres of land for sale in the southern counties alone, and that
during the past tliree mouths one million of money had been
invested in the purchase of laud in the same district, but if
they took the whole of England, Scotland, and Ireland he had
no doubt the amount both of land for sale and the sum invested
would be found to be double the figures he had quoted. A
man left his estate to be divided amongst his children, but
the estate was left to trustees, and was not sold except for
a reasonable and proper price. There was another difficulty
with respect to dealing with the law of eutail, and that was
that if they abandoned the law of entail as regarded land
they put the property on a different footing entirely from the
property as entailed. But how was, in that case, a pro-
vision to be made for a family ? It was admitted that there
should be settlements in the case of the sons aad daughters,
and for the eldest son ; and it was admitted that the landed
property should be tied up for this object. And yet they
said that if the land was left to the eldest son by entail it
ought to be tied up. He did not approve of the provision.

Mr. DENT said the hon. gentleman who introduced the bill
overlaid it materially with allusions to the neglected state of
the labourers' cottages. He, however, went with him entirely
in his motion ; for he believed that the present state of the law
as to the entail and strict settlement of land discouraged the
investment of capital in the development of agriculture. He
regretted that tlie tenants of East Norfolk had not the satis-
faction which they ought to possess, for, as the House had been
told, if they had, the land would be much more cultivated
than it was at present, and in fact that the produce of Eng-
land would be doubled. The hon. member for East Sussex
had spoken as if all the entails that existed arose merciy from
marriage settlements, and for the interest of the tenant in tail
till he had attained the age of 21, but there were many cases
where property had been left by will. His own impression
was tliat in many cases property having been left for two
generations remained in entail till the grandson became of
age. Cases were in his knowledge where property had come
down to father and to son with charges upon it, where the
father would have been a better man if he had been able to
sell. He did not think that landlords would get up to sup-
port the existing system.

Lord F. CAVENDISH hoped that the House would press
most urgently upon the Government that no question more
imperatively demanded their attention than that which was
now before the House. Still the question remained. How were
the landlords to deal with it when they had only a life in-
terest in the estates ? The House had been told by the hon.
member for East Sussex that there was no connection between
the law of settlement and the miserable cottages of which so
much had been said. But a few years ago a Royal commis-
sion was appointed to inquire into the condition of women
and children employed in agriculture, and their statements
did not consist of anonymous statements. They were asser-
tions made by a gentleman, the right hon. gentleman the
member for Oxfordshire, by a leading agriculturist of Nor-
thumberland, and by others ; and they all, as with one con-
sent, called attention to the case now before the House. How
could a man, succeeding to a very heavily encumbered estate,
which must go to his eldest son, aud who had to make some
provision for young-er sous, go into an " expenditure such as
would be required for the building of cottages (Hear, hear) ?"
The average number of cottages built by loan societies was only
127 a year, so that it seemed to be absurd to speak of them as
being able to supply the want. Attention had been called to the
strike which had occurred in Warwickshire, and the great rise
gf wages which was going on throughout the country. All

rejoiced to see a rise in wages, and all hoped the rise might be
permanent ; but there were some who feared they would not be
permanent, because the farmer could diminish the amount of
labour with very little damage to himself. In consequence of
the high price of meat at present the temptation was strong to
lay down more grass, and if wages rose very seriously more
grass would be laid down. Some said that this might be pre-
vented by a fall in rents or by abolishing the farmer, so that
there should be only the owner and the labourer ; but in his
opinion uo better means of ensuring good cultivation could
be found than cultivation by tenant farmers. He heartily
supported the motion.

Sii E. GOLDSMID agreed in a great degree with what had
been said by the hon. member for East Sussex. He thought
the injurious effect of the settlement of land was extremely
exaggerated by most of the gentlemen who had spoken on
the question, and they had attributed the evils which existed
to the wrong cause. For instance they had been told that the
want of good cottages arose from the eutail of land, but the
ovious and immediate reason was that good cottages produced
uo adequate or immediate return for the capital invested (Hear,
hear). If they had fee-simple owners, these would not provide
good cottages unless they were influenced by benevolence or a
wish to improve the condition of their labourers (Hear,
hear). He had occupied a hired house in one part
of the country, and there was an untidy village
near. On inquiring to whom it belonged he found
it belonged to a number of small owners, who did not feel the
same responsibility as the owner of a large estate (Hear, hear).
There would not have been an owner of a large estate who would
not have been ashamed to own such au untidy village. He did
not mean to say there was no mischief attending the law of
settlement in land. He was rather favourable to simplification
of titles by making the law with respect to land similar to
what it was with respect to personalty, so that estates might
be disposed of like stocks.

Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone rose at the same moment,
and on each offering to give way Mr. Gladstone finally did so.

Mr. DISRAELI said : I have to acknowledge the courtesy
of the right hon. gentleman, but I am not going to trespass
on the House for more than a few minutes. I rose for the
purpose of referring to one point only, and that was to cor-
rect a statement which had been made by the hon. gentleman
who had introduced this subject, and which, from the great
importance he attributed to the circumstances and the frequent
occasions on which it has been referred to during the course
of this debate, has exercised a considerable influence on the
opinion of honourable gentlemen. The hon. member for
Cambridge has proposed a resolution in which he asks the
House to prouounce an opinion unfavourable to the present
laws of the settlement of land, and he seemed to found his
argument in favour of this resolution on the consideration of
the agricultural labourers, which appears to me to be intro-
duced somewhat unnecessarily with respect to his main sub-
ject. And the condition of the agricultural labourer was
principally deplored on account of the very disgraceful and in-
sufficient residences which they inhabited — all of which was
to be attributable to the laws of the settlement of land. And
the hon. gentleman, in order to make out his case completely,
was furnished with what I suppose is the worst instance of the
location of the peasantry in England, aud it was in the county
of Buckinghamshire (laughter). The hon gentleman — and I
am sure all who were present will bear witness that he entered
into a very full detail of this inssance — described with pic-
turesque language and with great minuteness a row of cottages
in a part of a district of Buckinghamshire, and I think all who
listened to his description must have agreed that tliey were habi-
tations fit for no order of the Queen's subjects. But I was per-
haps more aware of the circumstances than some of those who
listened to the lion, member, because I believe that I read a
description in a newsprper yesterday (cheers and laughter). But
in pointing out the authority of the hon. member I do not
wish in any way to impugn the accuracy of the statement.
The statement was perfectly accurate. There is no language
that could do justice to the disgraceful aud deplorable con-
dition of those residences. An hon. gentlemen behind me was
extremely indignant at what he considered to be an exaggerated
statement, and he wished to relieve the landed interest from
having any imputation charged against tliem, and on these
grounds demanded the u»me of the laudlord, and the hoUi geu-

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

431

tleman opposite did not satisfy his curiosity. I can say from
my experience that there is no landlord of the property
(laughter), and in answer to those who wish to know on what
estate these residences are to be found I beg to say that there
is no estate upon which they are to be found. About 50 years
ago these miserable dwellings were built on the waste by a
tradesman in a neighbouring town, a gentleman 1 Ijelieve of
highly liberal opinions (laughter), and he has since arrived at
even municipal honours, and is one of the strongest opponents of
the landlords (cheers and laughter). I think when
an hon. member comes forward to propose a re-
solutiou of this sweeping character upon a subject of
such importance, and when he founds liis resolution upou a
general view of the condition of the agricultural labourers of
the country, particularly with regard to their residences, aud
brings forward as his illustrative case the one to which I have
referred, it would have been just as well if he had previously
ascertained if these miserable dwellings were caused by the lavv
of settlement of land, if they belonged to a landlord, and were
built upon an estate (cheers). I believe that the landlords of the
particular district of Buckinghamshire have done their duty to
their tenantry, and that it is a part of England which is rather
remarkable for the excellence of the dweUings of the labouring
classes ; and therefore I take this opportunity to repel an un-
just imputation, and to express my regret that it has been
founded upon an illustration that did not at all fit his argu-
ment (Hear, hear). I will not enter into the general question ;
it is one worthy the attention of Parliament, but such a
question should not be brought ou in this bye-way, I am not
disposed at this moment to enter upon a question that requires
very full investigation. It is the fashion now to find solutions
for the anomahes of our agricultural poor by proposing that a
particular class should be abohshed. Krst it was landlords ;
to-night we have heard a suggestion that we might get rid of
the farmers ; and further that there might be such a revolution
that even the agricultural labourers might be got
rid of (Hear, hear, aud laughter). I think the matter
should not be considered merely upon financial grounds,
and social considerations of great importance are in-
volved ; but I do not despair that with the assistance of Par-
liament we may maintain all these classes. The middle-class
is the boast of civilization, and I look upon the farmers as not
the least valuable portion of that class. I shall be ready when
the opportunity occurs to maintain the opinion that I have
elsewhere expressed that it can be shovvn that the condition of
the agricultural labourer in this country has been, if not of
rapid progress, of sure progress ; and if this be the case I do
not think that we should despair that in the future it may yet
be improved. I do not think that the rent of land is in the
danger that some suppose. I think this is a subject of general
cougratulation, for we have not yet, I suppose, arrived at the
conclusion that rent is a pubhc evil, and if we should destroy
it we should much diminish the resources of the country ; be-
sides which, the theory would not be confined to the holders of
land only. I hope that the House will not agree to the reso-
lution. I tliiuk that it requires much more discussion than it
has yet received, and I also think that it has been introduced
to our notice upon a matter that is not germane to the question
upon which we are now 'asked to give an opinion. 1 particu-
larly object to a resolution of this general and sweeping
character founded upon a partial view of the agricultural world,
aud founded also upon what the liou. member deemed to be a
formidable illustration, but which I think I have shown to be
altogether deceptive (cheers).

Mr. GLADSTONE: I think that the condition of the
labourer is not the sole topic, but still it is a topic of this
most important subject. I think it is impossible to deny
that there is some degree of connectian between \lie two
matters. I do not wish to enter upon the question
in a controversial point of view at present, and I am
very glad to hear the right hon. gentleman opposite say that
the matter deserves very serious consideration. I hope that
this motion has been brought forward rather to draw forth an
expression of opinion than to solicit a judgment of the House
upou the resolution (No). I do not tliiuk the four hours' discus-
sion is sufficient to dispose of a question which involves so much
complication and so many large and difficult considerations,
and with respect to which there is nothing easier than to
arrive at an expression of opinion, but there is nothing more
difficult than to carry to a successful issue the result of that

conclusion. It is not in a hostile spirit to the general views
of the hou. member, but with a desire that the matter should
be fully sifted out, that I venture to express the opinion that
the matter requires further consideration than we have been
able to give it. The quesion divides itself into three branches
— the transfer of land ; the succession to land, where the suc-
cession follows the course of law, and is not determined by the
will of a testator ; and thirdly, entail, and settlement, and
limited ownership in general. Upon the two first subjects
we are greatly in arrear ; aud I would suggest that it is not
expedient tliat we should hasten the third branch until we
have done something to redeem our pledges upou the first and
second. There seems to be unanimity of opinion in reference
to the transfer of land ; and as to intestate successsion of land
the Government are under a special pledge to deal with the
subject, though the pressure of other business has prevented us
as yet from deaHug with it. Tlie hon. member may, however,
very fairly wisli to know the general views of the Government
upon the subject of his motion. Por my own part I will say
that I heartily concur in the opinion of the right hon. gentle-
man opposite, that the entire subject of the laws of entail and
limited ownership of land deserves the attention of Parliament.
I am not one of those who think that the adoption of the
views of my hon. frieud would produce a great or fundamental
effect upon the general distribution of landed property in this
country (Hear, hear). We have at present a system under which
land is held generally in large properties audtthe tendency towards
such properties is increasing. No doubt there are counteract-
ing causes at work, but, as an hou. gentleman opposite ob-
served, it is difficult to believe that it will be possible for the
yeomanry of this country to hold their ground as proprietors of
the soil (Hear). It appears as if there were causes in operation
which must gradually and gently, but with certainty, transform
them into tenants and occupiers, instead of owners. It is not
the custom of primogeniture, it is not the law of entail or of
settlement that determines the holding of the land in this
country in comparatively large masses. It is an economic
law far more powerful than any statute or custom which,
closely associated with the constitution of society, and taken in
connection with the limited area of the soil, I believe places it
beyond the power of man — at least, within those wise limits
to which legislation in this country is usually confined — to
make any great alteration with regard to that state of things
under which land is extensively held in large properties (Hear,
hear). I believe there is another fundamental portion of the
system under which land is cultivated in this country which is
likewise independent of the law of custom, and which is deter-
mined by economic circumstances. The land in this country is
chiefly cultivated, not by owners, but by occupiers who are not
owners, and that is a state of things which I believe to be, under
certain circumstances, not desirable, but which it is not possible
change. There is another question of great consequence and
interest upon which opinions are reported to be held in some
quarters that I regret. There are those who say not only that
land may be held in large properties, not only that land will be
cultivated by occupiers rather than by owners, but who add to
this a prophecy of rapid aud general extinction of small tenan-
cies in this country. The authority to wliich I refer is a re-
port that has doubtless been extensively read of a speech de-
livered by Lord Derby some few mouths ago, with reference to
which I venture to entertain tlie hope that the noble earl may
have been misunderstood. The report contained tlie expression
of a confident opinion to the effect that as the improvement of
the machinery of manufacture had led to the extinction, or
nearly so, of hand-loom weaving, so the introduction of
macliinery into agriculture would gradually lead to
the extinction of small tenancies, and that the
surface of this country would be divided into
so many large farms. I do not share that opinion, and if I
did I should regret the extinction of small tenancies as a
great public calamity (cheers). If there were any danger of
such au issue, I should contemplate it with a degree of regret
which no words can express (Hear, hear). Now, sir, the
topics of my hon. friend and those who have supported him
have been very varied. They have spoken of difficulties
which they think are imposed in the way of the application of
capital to the soil generally and for the purposes of cultiva-
tion ; of tlie difficulties in the way of the erection of cottages ;
of the arguments in favour of the law of entail with reference
to ancient families; aud they have given opinions to the

432

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

effect that the maintenance of ancient families ought to de-
pend upon the conduct of their memhers, and not upon sta-
tutory arrangements directed to that end. They have spoken
also of the operation of the law of entail in creating an inde-
pendence of young men witli regard to their parents, witli re-
ference to which a very great deal may be said ; and as to all
these arguments, I go so far with the hon. member as to ad-
mit that there is much to be said in favour of the views he
supports, although I will not presume to say that they ought
to be adopted without qualification. But 1 am sure he will
not think I am taking a captious course when I plead, in the
difficulty in which we stand, that it is not expedient to ask of
the Government nor of the House any declaration upon a sub-
ject of this kind, so large and so complicated, unless it be at a
time when we are prepared to come forward with the steps
necessary to give practical effect to such a declaration. We
ought to be allowed as a Government, when we find an op-
portunity— or our successors, whoever they may be — to con-
sider what proposals ought to be made to Parliament on this
important subject, without being fettered by previous resolu-
tions of the Houoe of Commons. It is a great mistake to be-
lieve that progress is practically achieved in regard to
questions of this kind by passing what are called abstract
resolutions (Hear, bear). Those who feel that they have be-
fore the public a large number of unredeemed pledges ought
to show reluctance to add to the largeness of the stock, and
I trust my lion, friend will be satisfied with the discussion he
has promoted, and the degree of favour which his motion has
experienced. I therefore would respectfully beg ray hon.
friend not to press the motion to a division.

Mr. W. FOWLER said he had referred not merely to the
case mentioned by the right hon. gentleman opposite (Mr.
Disraeli), but generally to the remarks of the Commissioners.
If he had done wrong in alluding to the case, he deeply re-
gretted it, but at the same time he wished the House to under-
stand what the state of things really was, and he believed his
argument had been perfectly germane. He was unable to
accede to the appeal of the right hon. gentleman, as he
wished to obtain the opinion of the House, and if the right
hon. gentleman could not give an opinion, it would be
easy for him to walk out of the House (Hear, and a
laugh).

The House then divided —

For the motion 81

Against 103

Majority against — 22

The numbers were received with loud cheers from tlie
Liberal benches below the gangway.

MINORITY.— AYES.

Anderson, G.
Armitstead, G.
Baines, E.
Beaumont, S. A.
Beaumont, H. F.

Fletcher, I.

Go wer, Hon. E.F. L.

Harcourt.AVGGVV

Herbert.Hn.A.E.W.

Hoare, Sir H. A.

Bouverie.Rt.Hu.EP Hoskyna, C. W.
Bovvring, E. A. Howard, Hn.C.W.G

Brewer, Dr. Howard, J.

Brinckmau, Capt. James, H.
Brown, A. H. Johnston, A.

Buckley, N. Kinnaird.Hon.A.F.

Carnegie, Hon. C. Lawson, Sir W.
Carter, R. M. Leatham, E. A.

Cartwright, W. C. Leeman, G.
Cavendish,Ld.F.C. Locke, J.
Cowper, Hon. H. F. Lubbock, Sir J.
Craufurd, E. H. J. Ljttelton, Hn. C. G.

Dalglish, R.
Davies, R.
Delahunty, J,
Dent, J. D.
Dickinson, S. 1
Dixon, G.
Dodds, J.
Duff, R. W.

Macfie, R. A,
Mackintosh, E. AV.
M'Lagan, P.
Marling, S.S.
Miller, J.
Monk, C. J.
Morrison, W.
MuudeUa, A. J.

Erskine, Adml. J.E. O'Reilly-Dease, M.
Fawcett, H. Parker, C. S.

Fitzmaurice.LordE Pease, J. W.

Playfair, L.
PlimsoU, S.
Potter, T. B.
Price. W. E.
Rathbone, W.
Richard, H.
Russell, A.
Rylands, P.
Seymour, A.
Shaw, R.

Simon, Mr. Serjeant
Sinclair. Sir J. G. T.
Smith, E.
Strutt, Hon. H.
Tollemache, Hn. F.J.
Villiers, Rt. Hu. C. P.
Vivian, A. P.
Wedderburn, Sir D.
Whitbread, S.
White, J.
Whitwell, J.
Whitworth, T.
Williams, W.
Wingfield, Sir C.
Young, A. W.
Tellers.
Fowler, W.
Brand, H. R.

Amcotts, Col. W.C.
Antrobus, Sir E.
Arkwright, A. P.
Arkwright, R.
Ayrton, Rt.Hn.A.S.
Bagallay, Sir R.
Barrington, Visct.
Barttelot, Colonel
Bates, B.
Beach, Sir M. H.
Beach, W. W. B.
Bentinck, G. C.
Bingham, Lord
Birley H.
Bourne, Colonel
Brassey, H. A.
Brise, Col. R.
Broadley, \\ . H. H.
Bruce, Rt.Hn.Ld.E.
Bruce, Rt. Hn. H.A.
BuUer, Sir E. M.
Campbell, H.
Cawley, C. E.
Charley, W. T.
Coleridge, Sh- J. D.
Collins, T.
Corbett, Colonel
Croft, Sh- H. G. D.
Cross R. A.
Cubitt, G.
Dairy mjjle, C.
Davenport, W. B.
Dimsdale R.
DisraeU, Rt. Hn. B.
Dowse, Rt. Hon. B.
Duff, M. B. G.

MAJORITY.-

Dyko, W. H.

Eaton H. W. Mellor, T. W.

Egerton.Capt.Hn.P.Milles, Hon. G. W.

-NOES.

March, Earl of

Monsell, Rt.Hon. W.
Noel, Hon. G. J.
O'Connor, D. M.
Parker, Lt.-Col. W.
Peel, A. W.

Elliot, G.
Enfield, Viscount
Ewiug, A. O.
Fellowes,B.
Figgins, J.

Fitzgerald, Rt.Hon. Phipps, C. P.
Lord O. A. Powell, F. S.

PortescueRtHu.C.PPrice, W. P.
Fowler, R. N. Read, C. S.

GladstoneRtHnW.ERound, J.
Gladstone, W. H. Sackville, S. G. S.
Goldsmid, Sir F. Sclater-Booth, G.
Gore, J. R. O. Smith, W. H.

Goschen,Rt.Hn. G.J. Smith, S. G.
Graves, S. R. Somerset, Ld.H.R.O

Gregory, G. B. Stapleton, J.

Grosvenor, Lord R.Starkie, J. P. C.
Guest, M. J. Sykes, C.

Hamilton, Lord G.Talbot, J. G.
Henley, Rt.Hn. J. W. Tipping, W.
Hildyard, T. B. T. Turner, C.
Hogg, J. M. Walker, Major G. G.

Holt, J. M. Walpole, Hon. F.

Hope. A. J. B. B. Walter, J.
Hunt, Rt. Hn. G. W.Waterhouse, S.
Hurst, R. H. Welby, W. E

Jardine, R. Wells, E.

Jones, J. Winn, R.

Kennaway, J. H. WinterbothamH.S.P
Kingscote, Colonel
Liddell, Hon. H. G. Tellers.

Lowe, Rt. Hon. R. Glyn, Hon. G. G.
Lowther, J. Adam, W. P.

PAIRS.

For. Against.

Mr. H. B. Lord Newport

Samuelsou
Mr. Gilpin Mr. Malcolm
Mr. H. Lewis Mr. Laird.
Mr, Horsman Col Learmouth

For. Against.

Mr.Magutre Mr. Stacpoole
Mr. Bolckow Col. C. H.

Lindsay
Mr. C. Forster Mr. E. S.

Gordon

THE TOWN AND COUNTRY WORKMAN.— The
English agricultural labourer is entirely a different man in
habits and mode of life from the English town labourer,
whether mechanic or manufacturing hand. He is taller,
bigger, and stronger, but not so acute and restless ; slower,
and less energetic. He does not consume one-tenth of the
animal food that the town operative devours, but he does not
drink one-twentieth of the quantity of alcohol. He may oc-
casionally get a little muddled on muddy ale or sour cider,
but he is never incapable for three days in the week. He
lives in the open air, and is exposed to all weathers ; his
clothing is, as a rule, not insufficient ; but his food is chiefly
bread, potatoes, suet dumpling, and vegetables, with a little
pork or cheese, but very rarely fresh butcher's meat. He
sleeps probably over a dungheap or near a cesspool, with his
wife and half-a-dozen children in the same room, and is very
fortunate if he escape an attack of continued fever once in his
life. But his great enemy when he is over fifty is rheumat-
ism, and this consigns him to the care of the parish during
the last decade. Still his existence has its bright side. He
rarely knows what a headache is. His labour is of the slow,
enduring kind which does not exhaust : and if he escape
death from continued fever or accident, he lives beyond three-
score years aud ten. His children are healthy, they are not
syphilitic or strumous, aud his wife does not suffer from
" nerves." Tlie town operative, who earns twice as much
money, and who could earn three times as much if he worked
all the working days of the week, dies at fifty, and rarely
passes a year without being an out-patient at a hospital or
getting some medicine from his club doctor. One of his
children iias hip-joint disease, and another is blind with one
eye from keratitis. His wife spends nine hours a week wait-
ing for the doctor in the out-patient room of a hospital. He
was a clever, intelligent lad, with a smattering of education,
but after thirty he got heavier and more stupid, and has long
given up all idea of climbing to a higher round in the social
ladder, — The Medical Times and Gazette.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

433

THE NOTTS CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.

The quarterly meeting was held in East Retford ; Lord
Galway in the chair.

Mr. HusKiNSON (Epperstone) read a paper on compensation
for unexhausted manures and improvements : He said it may
perliaps be as well, as the public may hear of the subject for
discussion, to insist at once upon the broad differences which
exist between English Tenant-Right and what is known as
Tenant-Right in Ireland. Although the words used are the
same for both systems, there is scarcely anything in common
between the two. The English system aims in principle to
pay an outgoing tenant for work done or unexhausted ma-
nures. What is known as Tenant-Right in Ireland (judging
from the report of the Commission on the subject of which
Lord Devon was chairman), is the sale of the good-will. This
payment, the committee states, depends upon no improvements,
is paid even when a tenant has deteriorated a farm, and is a
mere purchase of immunity from outrage, and has sometimes
amounted to forty years' purchase on the rent. In Ifact, to
take the evidence of one of the witnesses, it aniounts in prin-
ciple to reducing the owner to be a mere annuitant on his own
property, like the owners of land in Holland subject to what is
known as Beklera-recht. Because the word used in both
cases is the same, to suppose that the ideas signified are also
the same, is as absurd as to suppose that before 1870 an
Alsatian peasant in physique, in customs, manners, and
language, was the same as an inhabitant of Central Erance,
because they were both called Frenchmen. As this Chamber
has met for the practical discussion of a practical question, it
would be out of place to make any references to the origin aad
growth of Tenant-Right, and as the conditions differ so much
there would be no benefit, even if there were time, in con-
sidering the principle laid down in the code Napoleon, which
is the law in Erance, and partially so in the Rhenish
provinces of Prussia, or in comparing our English system with
what is known of the customary " Pachter-recht" in Belgium.
The English Tenant-Right iu its various forms — and it has
many various forms — aims only at one principle, viz., to repay
to an outgoing tenant what fairly belongs to him. Thus,
when an incoming tenant pays a round sum, say £500, for
Tenant-Right, it may be divided for the sake of clearness into
the following heads : 1st. Payment for property of the out-
going-tenant left behind, such as tenant's fixtures. 2nd. Pay-
ment for labour done and seed supplied to the lam?, for which
the outgoer derives no benefit. 3rd. Payment for unexhausted
manures or improvements. If we consider these separate
items which make English Tenant-Riglit it appears to me that
with respect to the first, payments for fixtures, it is on general
grounds advisable that the amount should not be excessive,
for the sum laid down by the incomer does not return to him
until he in turn leaves the farm. Fixtures, therefore, to an
excessive amount tend to lock up the tenant's capital, which
ought to be profitably employed in the cultivation of the farm.
With respect to the second item, payment for labour done and
seed supplied, we liave iu this country nothing to complain of,
but I think the system of half tillages, which is the custom in
Surrey and in some parts of the West Riding of lork, is very
objectionable. It is a system which makes a heavy Tenant-
Right without any compensating advantage, and tends use-
lessly to lock up the tenant's capital. In the best farmed
counties of England the system is unknown. With respect
to the third item, payment for unexhausted manures, it is a
payment which a tenant would make with satisfaction if he
felt sure that he had his money's worth. As a recent paper
in one of the periodicals has staled, a Flemish farmer likes a
moderately high Tenant-Right, for he likes to take to land in
the condition which a moderately high Tenant-Right indicates.
An excessive Tenant-Right has undoubted and very great ob-
jections. It limits an owner in the choice of tenants, and its
effect on a tenant looking out for a farm is either to limit his
choice, or if he ventures on a farm where the capital required
is more than he can find, he is either crippled in his operations
or reduced to borrowing money. At the same time it does not
appear to be correct, as is sometimes stated, that Tenant-

Right, as a whole, is merely locked up capital. On analysing
a round sum paid for Tenant-Right we find that the incoming
tenant is repaid part, that for seed and labour, in the next
crop ; and his payment for unexhausted manures is returned
to him iu a few years, either in increased quantity or better
quality of produce, or both. The payment itself is based on
the supposition that within a few years he will reap the
benefit, and it is because he (the incomer) reaps the benefit in-
stead of the outgoer who laid out the money, that the money
is paid at all. What strikes any man who has to do with land
in different counties is the variety, the bewildering variety, of
English agricultural customs, many of which relate to Tenant-
Right. The same customs frequently do not hold throughout
even one county. After reading a paper in the Royal -A-g"-
cultural Journal on the agricultural customs of England, and
observing the variety, sometimes based on good grounds, some-
times without any apparent reason, one is tempted to apply to
them the words of Tennyson when he speaks of

That wilderness of single instances,

That codeless myriad of precedents

Thus, in some places the manure belongs to the tenant— in
other places to the land. In some places rents and rates are
charged on the fallow land— in other places they are not
charged. In some counties half tillages, &c., are charged— in
other counties they are not. Some counties have following
crops, and some have not. And as to the variety in the com-
pensations for unexhausted manures, &c., I shall allude to it
directly. One autliority on agricultural customs states that
the Tenant Right in Surrey, where payments for tillage are very
excessive, is twice that of Suffolk, and six or eight times as
much as Bedfordshire, assuming the course of cropping to be
the same. With respect to unexhausted manures or improve-
ments, I think all are agreed that the outgoing tenant should
be fairly and liberally repaid for his outlay. It is the interest ,
both of the incoming tenant and the owner— of the owner,
because it is his interest to encourage good farming, and the
tenant, because the custom forms a security for his money laid
out in the land. At the same time, 1 am of opinion that any
allowance beyond what is a liberal measure of the benefit the
outgoer would have had from his outlay if he had not left the
land is pernicious in its tendency. The excess is locked-up
capital, which the incomer never gets back until he leaves. I
think that svstem is best which compels the tenant to invest
the least amount of unproductive capital. Supposing £50
fairly represented the benefit the outgoer would have reaped
from some bought manures. That benefit the incomer receives
within a few years. If for that manure it was the practice to
pay £G0, tlien the £10 excess is sunk until the incomer himself
leaves. That £10 benefits nobody. It does not benefit the
tenant, because it pays no interest. It does not benefit the
owner, because, although a fair Tenant Right is useful as a
security for rent, yet an excessive Tenant Right, on the whole,
not only limits the choice of a tenant, because, unfortunately,
in this world there are more persons possessing £1,000 than
£3,000, but it tends to reduce the rent he might receive, be-
cause, undoubtedly, if much of the capital of a tenant has to
lie dead he cannot afford to pay the same amount of rent as if
all were productive. In calling the third item of my division
of Tenant-Right compensation for unexhausted manures and
improvements, I do not refer to what may be called perma-
nent improvements— buildings and drainage. These ought to
be done, and are usually done, by the owner, who is perma-
nently interested. If done by the tenant, they take part of his
capital and invest it at four or five per cent., when it ought
to be paying him from the cultivation of his farm eight to ten
per cent. The works, too, are more likely to be efficiently
done by one who has not a temporary but permanent interest
in the soil, and wlio often has at command men whose business
it is to do these things, and who may be supposed to have
acquired skill and experience. The objection there formerly
was that it was hard for gentlemen who were tenants for life
only to be called upon to invest part of their income in per-

G G

434>

THE FARMEB'S MAGAZINE.

manetit improvements lias now no force. Any conceivable
improvement can now, by Act of Parliament, be executed and
charged on the land, the money being borrowed eitlier of a
public company or from a private individual under the Im-
provement of Land Act. And now, gentlemen, as to the
variety in the practice of compensating for unexhausted ma-
nures, &e. ; I say practice instead of custom, for custom has a
technical signification. Land is held from year to year either
without an agreement or with an agreement, and the agree-
ment may have special clauses as to unexhausted manures, or
it may not. If it has, those clauses determine the compensa-
tion ; if it has not, or if there be no agreement, the com-
pensation is settled by the custom of the country. This
custom of the country holds unless specially excluded. Such
being the case, special clauses may be deemed to have been
inserted to improve upon the custom. As a matter of fact,
comparing diflferent customs and agreements, there is a very
great variety in the way outgoing tenants are compensated. I
will give you an instance as to linseed cake. In one part of
Lincolnshire (and in mentioning Lincolnshire, one cannot help
remarking that although the Scotch farmars talk so much
of leases in Lincolnshire with yearly tenancies and a good
tenat-right, tliere is as good farming as any in the world)
the allowance is one-third of two last years' cake bill. On
Lord Yarborough's estate it is one-third of the last year,
and one-sixth of the year before. From an agreement in
Northamptonshire I iiud aa allowance of one-third last
year's use. In Nottinghamshire I know farms with oue-
fourth last year, and one-eighth the year previous ; others
on the same estate with one-sixth of the last three years ;
another case with one-fourth of last year, and one-eighth of
two years previous ; another with half one year's consumption
on an average of the last three. Supposing that one farmer
spent in cake £100 per annum for three years preceding leaving,
whom we will call A, and another spent £100 in the last year,
and nothing in the two years preceding — we will call hira B.
Now for the result of the various practices. A would get,
depending upon which practice was pursued, £66, £49,
£33, £37, or £50 in the three cases, and B would get £33
in three cases, £35 in two cases, and £16 in two
cases. Making every allowance for variety of circumstances,
which in matters agricultural ought always to be done, there
is variety enough here without any apparent principle regu-
lating that variety. I must confess a leaning to the practice
of half one year's use on the average of the last year as it
gives nearly the highest amount mentioned to A and the least
to B. I might have given one case from a standard book,
which gives the same allowance to both, but I consider it so
hopelessly out of accord with general practice that I omitted
it. As to time it is the same. I could give you two customs,
one of which gives twice the allowance of the other. The
variety of custom is so great that many men have had the idea
that Parliament should take measures to bring matters to a
uniform basis. This subject is discussed in a well known
agricuUuial work. The decision is, and I think of necessity,
that I'arliament ought not to be appealed to in the matter. I
would go further and say that it is utterly unlikely Parliament
would interfere, even if applied to ; for on consideration the
difficulties in the way of compulsory uniformity are enormous.
Some Tenant-Rights are more than others — if the high Tenant-
Right is taken as a standard the others must be approximate
to it ; if the low is taken as a standard the others must be re-
duced. Now what does this really mean P Take the case of
following crop which obtains in some counties, as an illustra-
tion. If it is to be abolished compulsorily, either of two things
must happen : the tenant must be paid the difference betvieen
the amount of following crop and a seed and labour valuation
or not. Can any one suppose Parliament would take away a
light without compensation ? Supposing then he is paid, who
is to pay him ? It is not to be supposed that Parliament
would compel the owner to invest money in this. It would
not be reasonable to suppose it. How then is the money to
be raised ? Let those who raise the question of compulsory
uniformity answer the question. Or take the opposite case;
supposing that the usual custom of rent and rates on fallows
is part of the standard valuation, then on those estates where
such is not the custom the tenants are presented with the
difference between the two. It would be very agreeable to
the fortunate tenants, no doubt. Can nothing then be done
tp abolish customs that are admitted to be bad, aud to iutroduce

good ones. To this I say this is being done day by day. When
owners and tenants are satisfied any plan is for their mutual
advantage they can adopt it by agreement, and as to getting
rid of bad customs they can be done by the owners when they
are disposed to invest money to do it ; a following crop has
been extinguished on many estates in Notts, by the owner
paying the difference between it and seed and labour valuation.
It is to voluntary action and mutual agreement that we must
look for improvement. The discussion of these subjects, if
done in a calm, moderate, and temperate manner, may help
mutual understanding, and that owners and tenants of land in
England may ever preserve what they have now — confidence
in. each other, and good feeling towards each other — is my
earnest wish.

Mr. Butler (Radcliffe) said Liberal landlords treated their
tenants liberally, but then all were not liberal landlords. The
great thing which was wanted was that they should know one
another better, and that was one of the reasons why they in-
vited landlords to meet them at the conferences which were
held in such Chambers, in order that they might discuss all
such matters, aud arrive at a just decision fnvourable to both
parties. There was one point in regard to unexhausted im-
provements with which he wished to refer. Supposing a
tenant of a farm made a road on his land which was much
needed, and that when it was made it was no good as a turnpike.
Well the tenant perhaps died, aud the landlord having some
pique at the tenant's children gave the farm away to a stranger,
all that had been invested by the tenant would then be lost,
and would go to enrich the estate of the landlord. Then
came another question. A tenant took a farm perhaps in a
very bad state of cultivation — everything completely dilapi-
dated— and by dint of skill, perseverance, the employment of
capital, and industrial integrity, he brought it to a state of
good cultivation, and was known as one of the best farmers in
the district, where was the compensation in such a case as
that? His own brother was placed in just such a position,
lie drained all his fields, re-hedged them, and improved the
whole farm, very much at his own expense. He died, and
Lord Manvers allowed his son to succeed him, but perhaps the
son might have been in disgrace, and the landlord might not
have accepted him. This was the point he aimed at. He
would hke to see a good understanding between all landlords
and tenants, aud that a well defined principle should exist by
which, in the circumstances he had named, both the landlord
aud the tenant would be mutually satisfied. Something might
happen to himself — he might die to-morrow — and what he
wanted to see established was some rule by which tenants who
had improved their land in any way should receive the benefit
of that energy, skill, aud capital, either in their own persons
or in that of their families, in the circumstances to which he
had alluded. He had great respect for the landlords in the
county of Nottingham, and lie hoped that they would not be
backward in lending a hand to the settlement of this very im-
portant question.

Mr. PiELD (Farnsfield) had some experience in matters re-
ferred to in Mr. Huskinson's paper ; and he was sure the whole
of it was true. With regard to unexhausted improvements in
the shape of tenants' right to manure, cakes, and other things,
it was only on large estates that a proper rule was laid down.
This subject came before him, he might say every day, and it
was only when they stepped out of the large estates that the
difficulties began, inasmuch as some had one-fourth others a
half, and some again a sixth, so that it was very difficult to
strike a medium. The facts which Mr. Huskinson had
brought before them were of the utmost importance ; and he
was sure all the members of the Chamber would be much in-
debted to him for the trouble he had taken. He quite agreed
with Mr. Huskinson as]to his appeal regarding Tenant-Right.
He thought it was the duty of the tenant to take his case
before the landlord, who might refer it to his agent or to an
arbitrator, giving at the same time the benefit of his advice ;
and he was quite sure that if the landlord would only act
towards the tenant with good feeling, much of the present
difficulties would soon be done away. He was sorry that Mr.
Butler had taken so poor a view of Mr. Huskinson's paper —
he hoped in time he would come to take a better.

Mr. Butler quite endorsed all Mr. Huskinson's statements
— all he said was that he did not go far enough.

Mr. G. Stoker hardly expected to find so much difference
of opinion on the paper which had been read by Mr, Huskia-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

485

son ; but he thought the difference had arisen from the farmers
not understanding the gist of Mr. Huskinson's remarks. The
farmers as a class had been very severely criticised in the Lon-
don papers, by a class of men who knew very little about what
they were writing. In fact every tyro who travelled across
the country in a railway carriage thought it was quite his
place to criticise the farming of the district, although, very
likely, he knew little or nothing about what he was writing.
There was no doubt of this, that though in some districts im-
provements were required, land in general was much better
farmed than it was twenty years ago ; and improvements of
any kind could not take place in a day, they must be gradual.
It was very desirable, both for the interest of the landlord and
the tenant, that the land should be kept in a fair state of cul-
tivation. At the same time, he doubted much whether a larger
sum than what was now paid should be allowed the tenant for
sums invested, as that would be rather preferring him to the
incoming tenant ; and it was always to the advantage of the
outgoing tenant that (he land should be kept in a good state
of cultivation. He doubted much whether legislative enact-
ments would do much to help the case. At present there
were so few agricultural representatives in Parliament that if
they were to take up the question there was much more likeli-
hood of its being muddled than anything else. He thought
the much more likely channel for improvement would be
through the medium of Chambers of Agriculture, and that
by means of such discussions as the present landlords might be
led to look into the question and, where necessary, to concede
the larger amount of compensation where it was proved to be
necessary or desirable. He would not suggest any particular
plan as the best to be followed, but what was wanted was that
a proper incentive should be given to keep the land at all
times in a high state of cultivation. As to tillages, he had
had the misfortune to possess a farm in Surrey, and there it
seemed to him that the farmers were in a perpetual state of
locomotion, and could never settle, and his experiences of that
county were not of the most pleasant character. Coming to
the general question, he thought it was the duty of the landlord
in the first instance to do all permanent improvements on the
farm, and to put the land in such a state that the tenant need
not lay out a great portion of his capital in buildings or per-
manent improvements. He had always looked ou the landlord
and tenant as co-partners — the landlord finding the land, the
tenant the capital and the labour to cultivate it. Some of those
whom he was addressing stood in both positions, and they
would be able to appreciate exactly the argument. The landlord
must have a certain amount of interest in the land — the tenant
expects interest for his capital and energy. If both interests
were properly balanced they would never clash. He had said
that any permanent improvement should be made by the laud-
lord, but there was no rule without exception. Sometimes
gentlemen succeeded to an estate, and were only too glad to
find tenants with capital to improve the land ; but he would
say this, that in all cases were tenants have laid out money
with the knowledge and consent of their landlords, there should
be a proper allowance for money so invested. Probably a court
of arbitration would answer the purpose intended ; but on this
point he did not feel competent to pronounce an opinion. He
begged cordially to thank Mr. Huskinson for his very able and
interesting paper.

Mr. Hemsley said : Tenants are not asking landlords to
concede anything as regards this question of unexhausted im-
provements, except upon that point of permanent works so
forcibly put before the Chamber by my friend, Mr. Butler. I
believe landlords may be considered to have very little to do
with this subject iu practice ; and only in point of law are
they in the position of incoming tenants, the incoming and
outgoing tenants being the parties really concerned. I think
this subject of great importance, because its extension may be
not only the means of increasing the security of the capital
employed in cultivating land, but also that it may act as an
inducement to increase that capital ; and there is also this ne-
cessity, that tillers of the soil do not receive the full benefit of
their outlay for two or three years frequently after it is in-
vested. There appears to me to be a necessity for an increased
amount of security to the tenant-farmer if, as we are led to
suppose, large estates are to be made into smaller ones ; and I
believe the more simple you make the transfer of land the
more necessity there is for these customs to ba extended. In
fally eaterinjf upon this iuhjeot vre should bear in miud that

a farm, in this country even, may be brought into the best
state of cultivation and still not be entitled to a shilling for
unexhausted improvements, and rightly so, when nothing had
been brought to it by the outgoing tenant. I am not going to
find much" fault with the Notts custom in valuation for unex-
hausted improvements, because I think it is the best that has
come under my notice. Of course we expect that no allow-
ance is made for bought manures and cakes until a full equiva-
lent is made for whatever has heen sold off. In the case of
cakes bought for food, which Mr. Huskinson alluded to so
forcibly, I am bound to say that I thought one-fourth for the
last and one-eighth for the last year but one sufficient to pay
on entering upon a farm, and was satisfied with the same ar-
rangement upon quitting ; but in the case of corn and flour
being consumed instead of cake, I confess I think the Notts
custom is rather loose, aud no distinct line seems to be estab-
lished. Of course there is only a relative value to be attached
to manure from these as compared with cakes. The difficulty
of arriving at the quantity consumed is great, and must at all
times be fully proved to the satisfaction of valuers before an
aUowance is made. Some excellent arrangements have been
made upon properties in South Notts by that worthy farmers'
friend, the late John Hassall ; but these agreements do not, of
course, amount to customs in general. There is also straw,
which Mr. Huskinson has not mentioned in his paper, and
which upon some farms amounts to a considerable item.
Now, as I tliink with my friend, Mr. Huskinson, that it is not
desirable to lock up capital iu payments for unexhausted im-
provements, without a corresponding benefit, I believe that
straw might very well remain the property of the owner of the
soil. I am aware that mauy opinions are contradictory upon
this point. Tlien draining is not paid for longer than the sixth
or seventh year. Now upon some land that I have drained
myself, the drains did not get into thorough working order
until tlie second or third year, and quitting the land the sixth
year I got no allowance. I think this allowance should be
extended to 14 or even 20 years. Undoubtedly Mr. Huskin-
son's suggestion — that this improvement should be effected by
the owner — is the right one, but where tenants pay for cartage
of tiles I think four per cent, is the maximum rate of interest
that should be charged to them. Any buildings also required
should be put up, iu my opinion, at the cost of the owner, as
there appears to be no custom to pay the tenant. In the item
of lime also, I think three years is too short a time for it to be
allowed to work out. In respect to leases, I think a system
of payment for unexhausted improvements would be of much
benefit during the latter part of the lease, and might prevent
the land being run out during the last course of the lease. As
to leases in general, I would just say that in this county and
in Lincolnshire I do not think that we fanners, as a body,
care for them, for with liberal customs in payment for unex-
hausted improvements, and a great many of us living under
landlords of the stamp of our noble chairman, and many
others that I could mention, we do not care to be tram-
melled with a lease which binds the tenant sometimes in
a very inconvenient manner as well as the landlord.
There is just another point that I should like to name,
which I have alluded to already, aud that is the induce-
ment or want of it to employ more capital in cultivating
lands more highly. It may at first sight seem strange
that traders in money would rather invest in all kinds of wild
schemes in all parts of the world rather than employ their
capital in cultivating the lauds at our very doors in a higher
state ; but to practical men causes do appear to deter them,
not only iu the small profits to be divided amongst aU con-
nected with land, even under favourable circumstances as com-
pared with trade and commerce ; iu innumerable losses over
which skill and capital have no control — the variety of diseases
amongst the live stock upon our farms and enormous losses in
consequence — also the failure of crops in such ungenial sea-
sons as the last four or five, at all times a variable climate —
when very frequently the highest cultivated crops sutler the
most — these, and mauy other things over which we have not any
control, seem to poiut to the risk being too great to attract a
speculator. Still I must call myself back to my starting-point,
and repeat that I beUeve a well-arranged system of payments
for unexhausted improvements would not only act as a security
to what capital is being invested, but would be an inducement
to inereaea it, for which wo cannot deny there is a very wide if
uot a very safe opening. But, my lord, allow me to cay that

a G 2

436

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

I do not quite like the practice of finding fault without sug-
gesting something as a remedy. I will, therefore, with your
permission, put this resolution into your hands either to put
to the meeting or to deal with iu any other way, " That it is
the opinion of this Cliamber that local bodies should recom-
mend for adoption a system of payments for all unexhausted
improvements suitable for each peculiar district."

The Chairman said he doubted whether they could pass
such a resolution that day, as other subjects were set down for
discussion. He thought it would be a good plan, as there was
scarcely time to discuss the matter fully, that it be left over till
the next quarterly meeting at Mansfield.

Mr. Field said, in reference to the corn, flour, and other
matters mentioned by Mr. Herasley as consumed on the farm
for which the outgoing tenant did not receive any compensation
on his consumption, he was happy to say that he saw before
him tenants on the estate of Mr. Savile who were aware that
compensation was granted for the corn bought and consumed,
not alone for the corn grown ; and about that there could be
no mistake. Tlie farmer might sell his produce, but compen-
sation was allowed for corn bought and ground and consumed,
such as Indian-corn and anytliing else of that sort. On the
farms belonging to the late Earl of Chesterfield that was a
daily occurrence. As they had his lordship in the chair, he
miglit say that if he would kindly render them assistance a
great boon would be conferred on the tenant. Indian- corn
was about the very best thing they could give to lambs, and
nnless they were paid for the amount of money so laid out they
would be completely robbed. With regard to straw, he could
tell them that the farms he went over as valuer where the
straw belonged to the landlord were the worst farms he saw.
Why was that ? Because the farmer cared nothing about the
straw that was not his own. With regard to drainage, he
thought that Mr. Ilemsley took a large leap when he went
from seven to fourteen or twenty years. Respecting compen-
sation for lime, it depended very much on the character of the
lime, for some lime would be exhausted in two years, when an-
other description would not be exhausted in four. He was
pleased at Mr. Hemsley's remarks respecting leases, for he was
satisfied lliat where there were large estates and good landlords
like the Duke of Portland and Lord Galway, yearly tenancy
was the best.

The Chairman said tliat he feared there would not be
time to discuss Mr. Hemsley's motion, or rather to do so
properly, and he would suggest that the discussion be post-
poned to the quarterly meeting to be holden at Mansfield.

Mr. HusKiNSON, in replying to the observations made,
said that with respect to the phrase " permanent improve-
ments," general expressions led to no end of fallacies. He
wanted a definition of " permanent improvements." To men-
tion two of them, building and drainage, in this country there
was a custom by whicli tiiey had an allowance for seven years
for any drainage done by the tenant, but he was satisfied it was
better that it should be done by the landlord, and the interest
on the outlay charged to the tenant in the way of rent.
With regard to buildings, there vvas no custom ; but he could
not help feeling that if a man erected buildings without con-
sulting his landlord it was right he should lose them. If it
was possible to make an allowance for corn consumed on the

farm it would be a good thing ; but what reliance could he
placed on the accuracy of a man's memory or the statements
of his men ? I have a letter in my pocket from the tenant of
a large farm on the subject of corn, flour, and other matters,
and he agrees with me that, although in principle it is perfectly
right to allow for corn and these things, iu practice it is im-
possible to carry it out. We have only one common principle
to go upon for compensation — that it is for the interest of the
incoming tenant not to pay too much, and that any excess over
the fair value is so much lost capital. But as to allowing three
or four years, or fourteen or twenty years, it is all the rule of
thumb, only regulated by the conclusions of people that in
these periods tlieir improvements run out. Again, I repeat
that any compensation given to the outgoing tenant over the
fair value is pernicious aud an absolute loss to the incoming
tenant.

The Ckairjian wished he could do more as a landlord than
he felt he could do : and he believed there were many land-
lords in the same position. He was glad to say that in Notts
they were not like Surrey, and he believed that the system of
Tenant-Right in the county and neighbourhood was satisfactory
to both parties. They had most able valuers, and, on the whole,
he was bound to say tiiat they carried out the system as well
as it could be carried out. He hoped that on that point they
all felt as he did. He had come there to learn, and he was
very much pleased that he had come. It was a good place for
a landlord to come to, because he heard what was said about the
conduct of landlords, aud lie hoped there were several gentle-
men in the room who felt tiiat it was of the greatest advantage
to have these matters discussed. Tlie more the subJRct was
ventilated the sooner they would arrive at the truth. It was
not of the slightest use, he was quite satisfied, to apply to
Parliament in any sort of way, and ior this reason, that the
custom of Tenant-Right v-as so different all over the country
that for Parliament to establish any uniform practice was a
task impossible of accomplishment. He only wished now to
state that if any gentleman not already a member wished to
enrol his name the secretary would be ready to receive it.
Respecting the remarks made by Mr. Butler anybody who looked
at him would see at a glance that he was no coward. He took his
(Lord Galway's) horse when he was a little fellow, and he had
spoken about making good roads to his farm ; but Mr. Butler,
he hoped, gained compensation in horseflesh, for it was a
known truth that any man making a good road where there
was a bad one, gained a great deal in horseflesh.

A vote of thanks to Mr. Huskinson was carried by acclama-
tion.

Mr. Walker, Mattersea, moved : " That iu the opinion of
tliis meeting the present system of local taxation is unjust and
ought to be amended, inasmuch as most of the objects for
wliieh it is imposed, such as the maintainance of the poor, and
the lunatics, the administration of justice, the preservation of
public order, the punishment of criminals, &c., are of national
and not merely local importance, and are for the benefit of all
classes ; that, therefore, all kinds of property ought to contri-
bute to thein, whereas at present, with few exceptions, real
property alone is taxed, and personal property is exempt from
these burdens."

Mr. Storer seconded the motion, which was carried.

THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND.

The April monthly meeting of the directors was held in Edin-
burgh. Present : The Marquis of Tweeddale, K.T., president, in
the chair ; Admiral Sir \\ iUiam J. Hope Johnstone, K.C.B.;
Mr.Binnie, Seton Mains ; Mr. Graham Binney, W.S. ; Mr. Hew
Lrichton, S.S.C. ; Mr. Curror, The Lee; Captain Maitknd
^ougall, of Scotscraig, R.N. ; Mr. Elliott Hindhope ; Mr.
lord, Hardengreen; Mr. Gillon, of Wallhouse ; Mr. Hunter,
of Thurston ; Mr. George Auldjo Jamieson, C.A. ; Mr. Eliott
Lockhart, of Borthwickbrae ; Mr. Whyte Melville, of Ben-
nochy ; Mr. Mitchell, AUo.i ; Mr. Munro, Fairnington ; Mr.
Newton, of Linnbank ; Captain Tod, of Howden ; Ikfr. Walker"
of Rowland ; Professor Wilson ; Mr Young, of Cleisb ; Mr!
Young, Keir Mains.

Tlie following report was submitted :
Report by the Special Committee appointed by the Highland
aud Agricultural Society of Scotland to consider the improve-
ment of the cultivation of land, so as to increase the produce
of human as well as of animal food.

At the directors' meeting, on the 1st of February, 1871, the
secretary read tlie following proposal by the Marquis of Tweed-
dale to form a committee on the general improvement of land
in Scotland : " In consequence of being so often asked, I
have brouglit the subject before the directors. I have for
many years thought that the improvement in breeding cattle,
sheep, pigs, &c., had reached its climax of perfection ; and
though I would not desire to see our prizes for stock

THE FAEMEU'S MAGAZINE.

437

discontinued, it appears to me that tliere is a question of
greater importance to the public whicli should occupy the at-
tention of the Highland Society — viz., the improvement of
the cultivation of land, so as to increase the produce of liumaa
as well as of animal food. I make this proposition, as I be-
lieve from experience that the land of second and third qnality
is capable of a very great improvement, at a mucK less ex-
pense than farmers imagine were they possessed of the means
applied by the most experienced in carrying out successfully
tlie contemplated improvement. It is in the liope of accom-
plishing this object tliat I am induced to propose to the board
to form a committee in order to report how tliey would recom-
mend it to be accomplished.' Tlie proposal being approved of,
the following gentlemen were appointed : " Tlie Marquis of
Tweeddale ; Mr. Dickson, of Corsterphine ; Mr. Smith, Whit-
tingham ; Mr. Swinton, Holyn Bank ; Mr. Youug, Keir
Mains ; Mr. Elliot, Laighwood ; Mr. Stephens, Redbrao ; Mr.
Mitchell, Alloa; Mr. Hunter, of Thurston — The Marquis of
Tweeddale, convener. The committee thus appointed held their
first meeting on the 15th of February, 1871, when all the
members were present, with the exception of Mr. Young, from
whom a letter was read stating his inability to act on the com-
mittee. At this meeting tlie Marquis of Tweeddale reported
that he had prepared a memorandum of his own views of the
subject, which he read to the committee, at the same time
stating that he wished the committee distinctly to understand
that he did so in the hope of having the subject discussed, and
that he would be glad that each member of the committee
should state his own views in the same manner. The memo-
randum prepared by the Marquis is as follows : " The question
for the eonsideration of the committee, and whicli has been
remitted to them by the directors is, ' The improvement of
the cultivation of the land so as to increase the produce of
human as well as of animal food.' And the committee are
asked to report how they would recommend the High-
land Society to act so as to accomplish this object. In
bringing this subject before the directors, I had princi-
pally in view of those portions of the land which may be
reckoned as of second or third quality, as I have had large ex-
perience of this class of land, and of the improvements which
can be effected on it. The directors have not restricted the
inquiry of the committee to any particular class of land, so
that the whole subject is now before us. I know that several
members of the committee have had great experience in the
improvement of laud, and I hope we may be able to make
some practical and useful suggestions for the guidance of the
Society on this important subject. I shall be glad to hear any
gentleman express his views, and in tiie meantime I would
wish to bring under notice of the committee the system of
management which I have followed on farms in my own occu-
pation, large portions of which are land of inferior quality.
I would refer the committee to a statement furnished by me
to the special committee of the Highland Society appointed
to report on steam cultivation in East Lothian, and wliich is
printed in their report. This statement gives a detailed
account of the improvements by draining, and deep and sub-
soil ploughing, carried out by me, and of the expense of deep
ploughing ; and it also contains an account of the operations
necessary to prepare the land for the various crops of corn and
turnips. I have managed these farms according to the five-
shift course of husbandry, which I consider is best adapted for
land of secondary and and inferior quality. The deep plough-
ing which I practise is essentially necessary for the proper
cultivation of this class of land. The ploughing must
only be done wiien the land is dry and in good order for
ploughing. I'or the turnip crop, farmyard manure should be
applied at the rate of not less than twenty cartloads per acre,
with an addition of C cwt. per [acre of portable manure con-
sisting of a mixture of equal parts of Peruvian guano, phos-
phatic guano, and dissolved bones, or some similar mixture,
sown broadcast in the drills, and increasing tlie quantity of
portable manure if there is no farmyard dung or other bulky
manure cannot be got to take its place. Such manuring will
grow a fair crop of turnips on land treated as I have described ;
and they will not suffer from drought or excess of moisture, as
in shallow-ploughed land, which I attribute to the deep
ploughing in autumn, and not requiring to plougli the land in
spring. One-half of the turnip crop may be carted off to be
consumed by cattle in the courtings, the other half of the crop
being eaten on the ground by sheep. After the turnip crop is

removed, and the land is in proper order, it should be ploughed
to the depth of from seven to eight inches, and sown in the
spring with barley and grass seeds. The land should lie in
grass and be pastured by sheep and cattle. Hay should not be
grown on land of an inferior quality. As a means of further
increasing the fertility of the soil, all the feeding sheep on the
grass should have a liberal allowance of oleaginous cake. The
additional price got for the sheep will fully repay the cost of
the cake, and the effect on the grass and the succeeding crop
of oats is very marked. Lime should be applied on the grass
land before it is broken up for oats, at the rate of froin five to
ten tons per acre, according to the nature of the soil. This
will not require to be repeated for at least fifteen years.
The seed furrow for the oat crop need not exceed seven
inches deep. After the removal of tue oat crop tlie land should
be ploughed in autumn not less than fourteen inches deep, and
as much more as possible. It should lie all winter in this
state, and be prepared for the turnip crop in the manner de-
scribed in the statement before referred to. I have for many
years practised the treatment of land which I have detailed.
I consider the cost of doing so quite within the means of a
tenant of ordinary capital, excepting the drainage, which
should be done with the help of the landlord. There may
appear to you, gentlemen, nothing new in that mode of treat-
ment ; but from long experience and observation, I am so
satisfied thai the profitable management of this sort of land
is not generally understood and practised throughout the
country, that I have thought it right to bring the method
before you, and I have to invite your criticisms upon it. Since
I gave in the statement to the committee on steam cultivation
before referred to, I have had furtlier experience of the effect
of deep cultivation on the farm of Newhall referred to in that
statement, and to show you the increase of the crop and stock
on that farm I give you a comparison between crop 186-t, the
first crop which I reaped, and crop 1869, the first crop of the
second rotation, when the same fields were in the same crop in
both years: 1864— Wheat, 98 qrs. ; barley, 118 ; total, 216.
1869— Earley, 372; increase, 156 qrs. 186i— Oats, 286.
1869— Ditto, 384 ; increase, 98 qrs. 1864- Cattle fed, 24.
1869 — Ditto, 29 ; increase, 5. 1864 — Sheep fed off on grass,
173 ; ditto on turnips, 200 ; total, 373. 1869— Sheep fed off
on grass, 274; 80 ewes and 111 lambs (regular flock), 191 ;
sheep fed on turnips, 278; total, 743; increase, 370. I have not
personally reclaimed any land from its natural state of pasture;
but after makiug considerable inquiry as to the system pursued
by farmers of experience in such matters, I have laid down
rules for the guidance of my tenants in breaking up and im-
proving moorland, and which are embodied in their leases. I
will read you a copy of these conditions. You will observe
that the object of breaking up this moorland is to improve the
pasture, and not for the purpose of growing grain. I find that
my tenants readily acquiesce in these conditions, and a con-
siderable extent of moorland has been reclaimed under them.
I have now stated to you my experience in the cultivation of
laud ; and as some of you may hold the same or different views
on the subject, we slall be glad to hear any remarks or observa-
tions which you have to make. I have not suggested any
form of report by the committee, as I should like to have the
subject fully discussed and your opinions fully expressed, so
that all the iuformation possible may be before the committee
previous to their making their report.

"Condition AS to Bre.vking-up and Cropping New
Land. — Eurther, with respect to_the 'remaining lands of said
farm which are at present unenclosed, aud in natural pasture,
the said shall have power to break up

aud cultivate the same on the following conditions — videlicet,
he shall be bound, in the first place, not in aiiy one year to
break up more thau imperial acres, and shall observe

the following rules for the cultivation and management of
such laud : Before being broken up and ploughed the laud
should be tile-drained where necessary, aud shall lie fallow the
year after liaving been ploughed, and during that season, and
previous to being sown for a crop, lime shall be applied at the
rate of not less than six tons per imperial acre ; ou the suc-
ceeding year a white crop may be taken, to be followed by tur-
nips to be consumed on the ground by sheep. And on the
fourth year, after being so broken up, the land, having been
properly ploughed and tilled after turnips, shall be sown
down alone or with other crop to grass with not less
thau twelve pounds of clover and one bushel of peren-

488

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

nial ryegrass per imperial acre, and shall remain
in grass and be pastured for at least three years ; sub-
sequently, the following course and rotation of cropping
shall be pursued — videlicet, on the first year, when ploughed
up from grass, a grain crop may be taken ; on the second year,
turnips to be consumed on the ground by sheep ; on the third
year, to be properly tilled and sown out to grass as before
without other crop ; on the fourth and fifth years, grass. And
it is expressly agreed that not more than imperial acres

of such land, after being so brought into cultivation as afore-
said, shall be broken up from grass in any one year." After
some discussion as to how the committee should take action,
it was resolved that a copy of the Marquis's memorandum
should be sent to each ruember of committee for consideration,
and that the meeting should be adjourned till a future day, by
which time it was hoped that each member would be prepared
with his own views in writing of the best mode of improving
land, and of the course to be recommended to the directors.
The committee held a second meeting on the 25th of October,
1871, when a letter was read from Mr. Hunter, of Thurston,
stating that he quite agreed in the Marquis of Tweeddale's
memorandum, but he thought that before the committee could
recommend to the farmers of Scotland to try and carry out
improvements on such a scale, it would be necessary that the
committee should obtain from his lordship an account of tlie
expense he has been at in making the improyements and
obtaining the increase on corn crops, as well as the extra crops
for the keeping of cattle and sheep. Unless this can be ob-
tained and the committee thereby enabled to show to the farmers
that the improvements can be effected by a reasonable outlay,
and likely to be repaid to them during their leases, Mr. Hunter
was of opinion that the committee would not be authorised to
encourage them or hold out inducements to them to try the
improvements. A letter and statement were then submitted
from Mr. Elliott, Laighwood, who was unable to attend the
meeting. Mr. Smith, Whittingham, with reference to Mr.
Hunter's remarks, thought it was quite unnecessary to have
accounts of income and expenditure from the Marquis, being
quite satisfied with the increased agricultural returns. He
considered it very desirable, but did not see how a scheme
could be laid down for the improvement of land throughout
Scotland, or even in a single county. Mr. Mitchell, Alloa,
stated that he had not prepared a paper on the subject, as he
would never advise any tenant to reclaim second-rate land.
He had done so himself at a considerable expense on land of
a moorish soil, but it would not repay him even under a
thirty years' lease. He was of opinion that the work should
be performed by the landlord, and not by the tenant. The
Marquis said he had given his system as an example, and ex-
pressed a wish to have a statement from Mr. Mitchell, in
order to see how the land had been managed. After a gene-
ral conversation, it was resolved to print the statement by Mr.
Elliot, and circulate it among the members of the committee,
and to adjourn the meeting till a day convenient for the chair-
man. The statement by Mr. Elliot is as follows: In the
memorandum read by the Marquis of Tweeddale to the com-
mittee, his Lordship says, " The question for the consideration
of the committee, and which has been remitted to them by the
directors, is the improvement of the cultivation of the land,
so as to increase the produce of human as well as animal food."
The importance of this question, if its solution leads to a prac-
tical result, cannot easily be overrated ; the wealth and popu-
lation of this country is rapidly increasing, while the acreage
of the land capable of producing food is stationary. No doubt
the wide field opened up by the removal of all duties on grain
and stock lor a time relieved all pressure upon the food of the
country ; but the natural tendency in a country like this is,
that the population will ever press upon the means of subsist-
ence, and already the high price of all kinds of butcher meat
shows that this pressure has already commenced. Whatever,
therefore, can point out any means whereby land can be pro-
fitably improved, so as to increase human and animal food will
be a national benefit ; but I hope in this I shall not be raisun-
derstoood, because, excepting the improvement be profitable
It IS no national advantage ; in other words, if the improve-
ment costs 25s., and the produce reaped 20s., instead of a
national gain it is a national loss. The Marquis in his me-
morandum states further, that in bringing this subject before
the directors he had principally in view those portions of the
land which may be reckoned as of second or third-rate qua-

lity. Keeping this in view, the question of the improvement
of this kind of land, in my opinion, must be considered in two
diiferent ways — (1) as regards the improvement having been
elfected by the landowner ; and (2) when effected by a tenant
occupying under a lease not exceeding nineteen years. In the
first case the landowner may reap ample profit by the increase
in the fee-simple value of the land after improvement ; but in
the second case the tenant must reap his outlay and profit
during the currency of his lease, or at least before its expiry ;
and if this cannot be made clear, it will be in vain to look for
extensive improvement of this kind of land occupied by tenants
on lease under ordinary conditions. It may be unnecessary here
to consider the first case — that of improvement by the land-
owner cultivating his own land — as there can be little
doubt that there are extensive tracts of second and even
third rate land in the country which could be improved
profitably in the way and manner pointed out by the
Marquis, if the permanent increase in the value of the land
caused by the improvement be taken into account. Un-
fortunately, however, it is feared improvements upon an ex-
tensive scale need not be looked for in this direction, as past
experience has shown that landowners as a class are not pro-
fitable improvers of land. I will therefore confine any ob-
servations I make to the second class alluded to — tenants
occupying their farms under lease ; and on this there are
many considerations which do not affect improvement effected
by the landowner. 1st. It will be necessary to consider what
is meant or commonly understood by the term second and
third rate land. Second and third rate land in one district
might be good land in another, so much depends upon eleva-
tion, climate, situation, and subsoil. A retentive subsoil in
a dry early climate like the Lotluans is a different thing from
the same subsoil in a wet cold district. There are many tracts
of third-rate land in the upper districts of Lanarkshire and
Ayrshire which would not be considered third rate if situated
in a climate like the Lothians. In the one case a tenant
might lose money by expending it on the improvement of this
third-rate land, and in tiie other be amply repaid for his
outlay. In fact, so various and unequal is the climate of this
country that there are many vpet cold districts in which it is
barely profitable to keep in cultivation even the best land in
it. Consequently, it would be folly to improve for cultivation
the second and third rate land in these districts. The climate,
elevation, situation as to markets, and many other things,
must be taken into account. 2ud. Much will depend upon
the description of farm upon which the improvement is con-
templated. If two-thirds of the farm be good land, capable
of growing all kinds of crop, and one-third second and third
rate land, it may be profitable for a tenant while he continues
to cultivate the good land as heretofore, to improve the other
third, or inferior land, even at great outlay ; but the case may
be very different were the whole, or nearly the whole, of the
farm second or third rate land, without any first-class mixed
with it. In the first case he could bring his horse and staff of
workpeople from the good land to assist when necessary in the
improvement of the inferior, and this at comparatively small
expense. In the other case, he would require to keep an ex-
pensive staff, horses, workpeople, everything for the breaking
up and improving of the land, which for some years would only
yield a small return. The consequent cost or necessary outlay
would therefore be so great that few, if any, tenants would be
found with sufficient capital and spirit to undertake the im-
provement of such a farm. This would be the case, even sup-
posing the tenant had full confidence in his being in the end
repaid, but much more so when he found his disbursements far
exceeding his receipts, and filled at the same time with grave
doubts as to his being able ultimately to reap not only his
outlay, but the interest on the capital expended. 3rd. As a
great portion even of the first-rate land in the country could be
greatly improved by judicious outlay in the form of manuring,
liming, &c., a farmer occupying a farm on which there is both
good and bad laud will in general feel much more inclined to
expend his money on the improvement of the good land rather
than on the inferior, the return from money expended on good
land being in general much more speedy than from inferior.
This also tends to retard the improvement of second and third-
rate land by tenants, lew having capital sufiicient, even if they
had the will, to improve the whole of the farm at the same
time. ith. Hitherto I have only spoken of the difficulties in the
way of finding tenants occupying their farms under the

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

439

ordinary conditions of lease, who would be willing
to enter on tlie improvement of second or third-rate land
upon an extensive scale, and am satisfied that for tlie
purpose of encouraging or inducing a tenant to do so
the landlord must be ready and willing to go hand in hand
with him in many of the operations, and this tiie landlord should
have no hesitation in doing, seeing that the value of the land
will be permanently increased. As most of second and third-
rate land is wet, wherever it is so it should be drained at the
expense of the landlord, on the cost of which be should charge
the tenant five per cent., the tenant over and above performing
all necessary carriages free. Further, as nearly all land culti-
vated in the common way, when drained and ploughed deeper
than formerly, must be limed, and considering that lime ap-
plied in a considerable quantity, say five tons per acre, benefits
the land for many years, the landlord should pay a portion of
the cost of the lime, the proportion depending upon the num-
ber of years in the lease unexpired when the lime was applied.
In many other ways, however, the landlord should go hand in
hand with the tenant in any extensive permanent improve-
ment of second or third-rate land, otherwise to induce him to
do so the tenant would require to be reimbursed at the end of
his lease for some portion of the permanent improvement
effected by him during its currency. 5th. Excepting liberal
covenants be entered into, so that the landlord and tenant
may go hand in hand, the landlord bearing his fair share of
the outlay necessary to improve the land permanently, while
the tenant pays all the annual labour and expense required
and a share of the permanent improvement also, such as all
carriages, &c., I cannot see my way to recommend tenants on
ordinary leases to enter into wholesale improvement of second
and third-rate land in the way and manner, and at the cost,
laid down and explained by the Marquis, or to be able to state
that, in my opinion, if they did so, that they would have any-
thing like a certainty of being repaid their outlay. In the
event, however, of the landlord and tenant going hand in hand
to the work, I have a very different opinion. Large tracts of
second and third-rate laud might be improved in this way with
mutual benefit to landlord and tenant ; and if so, few will doubt
the great national advantage arising from it, insomuch that
we might go far to feed our population with produce raised
from our own soil, and in doing so with profit alike to the
owner and the occupier. 6th. As this, however, is a great na-
tional question, and one of vast importance ; and considering
that there are extensive tracts of second and third-rate laud in
all parts of the country capable of great improvement, and
which might be profitably improved if landlord and tenant
went hand in hand, I would suggest that the Highland
Society should oflFer annually, in the same way they
do at present as regards the improvement of waste
land, a premium for an approved report by a tenant-farmer
on the improvement of second or third-rate land effected
within the last three years, profitably or nnprofitably — the
report to embrace conditions of lease on the point, cost of im-
provement, and mode and manner of effecting it. The atten-
tion of the reporter might be specially called to the descrip-
tion of improvement effected on such a large scale by the
Marquis of Tweeddale. In speaking here, however, of the
possible advantage likely to be derived from the Highland
Society offering a premium annually for an approved report
upon the improvement of other than waste land, I do not
think it would be right to pass over a remark made by the
Marquis of Tweeddale in his letter to the Directors of the
Society, recommending the consideration of this subject,
which resulted in the formation of this Committee. The
noble Marquis says : " I have for many years thought that
the improvement in breeding cattle, sheep, pigs, &c., had
reached its climax of perfection ;" and although possessed of
this opinion, the Marquis does not ask the Society to discon-
tinue the prizes offered for stock. He considers this question
to be of greater importance to the public. Now, while I also
consider this question to be one of great importance, if its
consideration should lead to any practical result, I consider it
right to say that, interested as I am in the welfare of the
Highland Society, I hope and trust it will never be led to dis-
continue to offer prizes annually for stock, even although the
opinion may become general that the breeds of the different ani-
mals have reached the climax of perfection — an opinion, how-
ever, which I do not share, as I consider one of the chief benefits
to be derived from the labours of the Society will ever be that of

drawing together all classes of people annually in the show-
yard, when agriculturists from every land can meet, and
thereby assist agriculture in its onward progress ; and this, in
my opinion, can best be effected by the exhibition in the show-
yard not only of the best specimens of tiie different breeds of
stock, enticed there by the prizes and hope of distinction
offered, but by bringing forward at the same time all manner
of agricultural implements. The society should keep in
mind that, even if the animals exhibited have arrived at per-
fection, that the possessors of them are comparatively few in
number, and that in every show-yard there are thousands in-
terested, who, having at home no such perfect animals, are
greatly benefited by being allowed the opportunity of seeing
them. 1 am convinced, however, that if the annual exhibition
of stock and implements be discontinued, that the interest
taken by the public in the proceedings of the society will cease,
and that the society afterwards will find difficulty in hanging
together. Reports, essays, and articles on agriculture in all
its brandies are good, but they should be continued in combi-
nation with the annual exhibition in the show-yard." The
committee held a third meeting on the 37th of March last,
when the following remarks on Mr. Elliott's statement by the
Marquis of Tweeddale were read: — " The question remitted to
the committee is — ' The improvement of the cultivation of the
land, so as to increase the produce of human as well as animal
food' — and the committee desired each member to be prepared
with his own ' views in writing of the best mode of improving
land, and of the course to be recommended to the directors.'
Mr. Elliot has not informed the committee what he considers
to be the best mode of improving laud, although it is under-
stood that he has had great experience in the reclaiming of
moorland and laud of inferior quality. Mr. Elliot says that
the question must be considered in two different ways — 1st,
As regards improvements effected by a landowner : and 2d,
Improvements effected by a tenant occupying under a nineteen
years' lease. It is not remitted to the committee to say who
should improve the land ; it is the best method of doing so,
so as to increase its produce ; and if land which was previously
producing almost nothing can be made to grow good crops of
grain or grass, that is surely a national gain, whether it may
have been profitable to the cultivation of the soil or not. Mr.
Elliot seems to have little doubt but that the fee simple value
of the land can be increased by improvement, it might
therefore be left to the landlord and tenant to
make their own arrangements as to how this
is to be done. Mr. Elliot remarks that land-
lords as a class are not profitable improvers of land. This
may or may not be true ; but the information which the com-
mittee may give them will tend to their instruction on this
matter. Mr. Elliot then discusses the question of improve-
ments made by a tenant farming uuder a lease, and divides the
subject into heads. Under the first head, he remarks on the
different classes of lands in different districts. I have to ob-
serve the land must be classed in the district in which it is '
situated, and not compared with any other district ; the land
of Lanark or Ayr shires cannot be transferred to East Lothian,
nor can the East Lothian climate be had there, and a different
mode of improving the land may be necessary. I only gave a
description of what .1 had done to improve my own land in
East Lothian. I do not say that my plan is suited for all sorts
of soil or for every district of Scotland. It would certainly
not be profitable to keep land in cultivation in wet and cold
districts of the country ; but nevertheless this land may be
capable of great improvement as pasture. Under the second
head, Mr. Elliot says that a farmer possessing a farm of good
land can more easily improve any inferior land which may be
on the farm than if the farm were wholly inferior land. This
is quite true, but much depends on the conditions of the lease.
Under the third head, Mr. Elliot says that there is a great
portion of first-rate land in the country which could be greatly
improved, and that tenants prefer expending their money on
good land. This is also true, but it is no reason why the
committee should not endeavour to ascertain and report upon
the best modes of improving inferior land. Under the fourth
head, Mr. Elliot says that the landlord and tenant should go
hand-in-hand in improving inferior land. This is quite right,
so far as building houses, draining, fencing, or trenching is
necessary. As to liming land, this is not so clearly a land-
lord's business, as the benefit of lime, though great, is not a
permanent improvement. Under the fifth head, I remark again

440

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

that it is not ia the remit to the committee to point out
whether the hmdlord or tenant of the land should be at the
expense of improving it — it is tlie best method of treating the
soil wliich the committee must find out. Under the sixth head,
Mr Elliot recommends that the Highland Society shodd offer
a premium for au improved report by a tenant-farmer on the
improvement of second and third-rate laud effected within tlie
last three years. The great objection to such reports is that
the statements made in them are too often mere assertions of
the writer, and there is no means of checking their accu-
racy. The journals of the Highland Society for the last
twenty years have contained numerous reports on the improve-
ment of land, but from the conflicting statements made in
these reports, it appears to me that the public pay little or no
attention to them. It would be far better if anyone who is
carrying out improvements would enter his farm for competi-
tion, so that the work might be periodically inspected on be-
half of the society. A report on improvements carried on
under such inspection would bear some weight."

A general conversation then ensued, after which the Marquis
of Tweeddale said that when he first brought this subject
under the notice of tlie directors and proposed the appointment
of the committee he hoped the committee would obtain in-
formation on the different methods of improving inferior land,
and would report on these to the directors ; but as the informa-
tion procured is limited, he therefore proposed that this com-
mittee report that in their opinion the Highland Society
should offer premiums for the best conducted series of
operations for the improvement of second and third rate

laud carried out under the inspection of a committee of the
society. The suggestion by the Marquis of Tweeddale was ap-
proved of by the committee, who resolved to recommend it for
the adoption of the board. A letter was read from Mr. Elliot,
Laigliwood, regretting that he had been prevented attending
the last meeting of the Land Improvement Committee, and
stating : " The remarks you send me, made by the Marquis
upon my statement, are made chiefly from this — ' The commit-
tee desired each member to be prepared with his own views in
writing, of the modes of improving laud,' &c. I never under-
stood this before, or that it was expected the members of com-
mittee should reduce to writing the practical mode he would
recommend of improving second or third rate land. My idea
was that each member was requested to put down in writing
his opinion of whether second or third rate land could be im-
proved pro litably so as to increase the produce of humun as
well as animal food, and in giving my opinion I kept in view
the way and manner it could be improved by the landlord, the
tenant, or botli united, thinking that until it was decided
whether it could be profitably done or not it was needless to
point out or lay down the practical details of improvement."
The board approved of the suggestion contained in the report,
that the society should offer premiums for the best conducted
series of operations for the improvement of second and third
rate land carried out under tlie inspection of a committee of
the society, and it was remitted back to the Land Improvement
Committee to prepare the terms in which the premiums should
be announced.

THB ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY.
SPRING STOCK SHOW.

The Royal Dublin Society has held its forty-second
spring show of breeding and fat cattle, implements,
and machinery. This show has a character peculiar
to itself, being fixed and stationary, while the great
English, Irish, and Scotch breeding shows are migratory ;
and beiug held in the spring, when young breeding
stock, particularly yearling Shorthorn bulls, are in
demand, this has assumed the character of an extensive
mart for the sale and purchase of yearling Shorthorn
bulls. At this meeting there were 136 yearling Short-
horn hulls, over which the sales were rapid and
numerous, and the prices high. Some years since
English and Scotch first-class breeders visited and sent
over some of their primest animals for sale, but they
have abandoned this meeting for some time as exhibitors ;
and now purchasers, from both sides across Channel, as
well as from Australia, Canada, and the United States of
America, are frequently seen here. The Booth blood
is to be found in almost every county in Ireland, evidence
of which is to be noted at all the fairs and markets in
the vast improvement efi'ected iu farmers' stock, numbers
of whom buy at these annual shows yearling Shorthorn
bulls at high prices to serve their dairy-cows, the calves
being now reared, instead of as heretofore being slaugh-
tered as soon as dropped. It is to be regretted that
the names of some of the most noted Irish breeders
are not to be found in the list of exhibitors, caused by
the demise of some, and the consequent dispersion of their
herds ; while others also find it less troublesome, and pos-
sibly more profitable to sell their extra produce by annual
auctions, and thus the meeting is shorn of the most
prominent breeders, and their best specimens. How-
ever, new and younger men are coming forward in
spirited emulation, so that there is no fear as to the con-
tinuous supply of young Shorthorn stock ; but there is
unquestionably a falling-ofl'iu older animals, and also in the
female sectious. The passing away of the Chaloner, late

Towneley, Plate, from the Shorthorns to Mr. Peake's fiue
Devon bull, is proof enough of this ; and a great victory
for the red coats.

The yearling shorthorn bull section contained 136
entries, some of which from sales efi'ected since the
entries were made and other causes, were not brought
forward, among which were the prize calves of the Bells-
bridge Royal. In such a number, there were, no
doubt, a few that were not all that could be desired, but
the good ones were numerous, and so the judges, Messrs.
Joseph Stratton, Robert Jefferson, and Jacob Wilson,
found it, for it took them about three hours to weed out
and come to a final decision, when the Messrs. Christy,
Port Union, Adare, who exhibited no less than nine in
this section, was placed at the head of the list for his
white bull. Jack Prost, bred by E. J. Smith, Islandmore
by Lictor (24333), dam Recherche, both famous in the
prize ring ; he possesses great substance for his age, is a
fine level-topped bull ; crops good, ribs well sprung, with
full chest, short legs, and altogether very symmetrical.
P. W. Low, Kilshane, Tipperary was put second for Czar-
owitz by Wide-awake (27805), out of Dagmar the 2nd;
he is a handsome roan, standing square and level, and
covered with plenty of soft hair, but a thought not full
enough in the twist. Mr. Low, who had three other good
animals, also took third honour for Red Knight by the
same bull, out of Limerick Lass 3rd ; he is possessed of
great substance, his profile is very symmetrical, and of the
two he is a more taking animal than Czarowitz. The Earl
of Carrick owns King Arthur, which stands fourth on the
list, by Prince Arthur (29598), out of Juliet, is a
handsome red-and- white upstanding bull, with nice crops,
back and loins, good ends and middle piece. Messrs.
Christy take fifth place for Troubadour, a handsome
roan, also from E. J. Smith's herd, by The Earl (27623),
from the Chaloner herd, out of Truelove 2nd. There
were four high commends in this section, viz., Hon.

THi: FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

441

L. H. King, Harman's Patriot, the Misses Connolly's
King Bee, R. Chaloner's Larry the Lad, and F. W.
Low's Forrester. The commendations were, R. C. Cosby's
The Robber, Captain H. Butler's roan bull, not named,
butof agood sort, and N. M. Archdall's Hamlet, which
was exhibited with five others from the same herd, one of
which, St. Patrick, was a very taking, even, and symme-
trical roan.

Of two year's old bulls there were 36 entries, the best
being P. Sinnott's roan, Knight of the Cross ; he comes
of agood sort, being by Charlie (25745), out of an Aga-
memnon dam ; he is a fine topped bull, neat, and level,
both over and under, but somewhat light from the crops
down the shoulders, still he promises well for a year
older. Mr. Downing, Ashlield, Fermoy, who has been
some years at work, getting up a first-class herd, was
put second for Victorious, a neat symmetrical roan, by
Winter King (25462), out of Vestal Queen ; and N. M.
Archdall, third, for Ulster, a red-and-white bull, by
Abercorn, out of Jenny Lind 4th, a strong serviceable
bull. George Low, Burghtown, Kildare, got the H. C. for
Escape ; and commendations were given to John Radcliff's
Rufus by Dey of Algiers, and R. C. Cosby's Sir Gilead
by Colonel Franks.

There were twenty-seven entries of aged bulls, which
after the usual process of weeding gave the judges some
trouble in selecting the leader, not from their excellence,
but the contrary ; for although they were all well-bred
they exhibited much coarseness and want of condition ;
while after a great deal of time, Mr. Meadows' Prince
Mason (29645) by Prince of the Realm (22627), out of
Blossom the Fifth, though sadly out of condition and badly
haired, could not be passed ovei-, and was put first : he was
the second bull in the two-year-old section last year, and
is a serviceable, upstanding, well-formed bull. !Major
O'Reilly's King Richard the Second came in second.
He is from the late Colouel Leslie's herd, got by King
Richard (26528), out of Rosalia, and a goodish bull,
and well covered vifith hair ; though this was old, and easily
came away. W. A. Barnes, Westand, hitherto the strong-
hold of the Booth blood in Ireland, during his father's
lifetime, is fast getting up a new herd, and takes third
place for Prince Arthur Patrick, a roan, from R. W.
Reynell's herd, by Royal Prince, out of Little Queen, and
a very fair specimen of Shorthorn breeding. High com-
mendations were awarded Messrs. Christy for Back-
woodsman (21203), a fine old fellow, now eight years
old, bred by the late Captain Ball, still good and service-
able, though getting a little patchy ; W. Johnson's Prince
of Rocklands, from the famous Grace Dieu herd ; J.
Gumbleton's Earl of Courtown, from the Bolton herd,
Avhich was the third two-year-old this time last year ;
and R. F. Russell's Duke Bertram, from P. J. Kearney's
herd. W. Izon Bryan was commended for Charlemagne,
from Mr. Meadows' herd.

The yearling heifers numbered but thirteen ; while last
year there were twenty-four ; and beyond the reduction in
numbers there was a visible falling off for the most part
in quality and condition, although the breeding was fault-
less. That Ireland possesses better there is no doubt ;
but breeders do not like preparing their best young
females for show purposes, and they are wise in not
doing so, as there cannot now be a doubt that it injures
their breeding capacity, and at no very distant day we
are likely to have none but bulls and cows at our Shows.
Mr. Meadows in this section takes the lead with Fanny
the Thirty-third by Prince of the Realm (22627), out of
Fanny the Fourteenth, a long and successful pedigree.
She is rather plain-looking, but still a substantial well-
built red-and-white heifer, and will fine down. Messrs.
Christy comes in next for Queen of Beauty the Sixth by

Fairy King (21716), out of Queen of Be&uty the Fourth,
a beautiful white, possessed of great sweetness and
symmetry. She should have been first, and there is
little doubt of her having been so, but from being a little
tender in the fore-feet. H. Lyons, Croome House, was
third for Dove, a handsome roan, which was first as a
calf at Ballsbridge Royal last year. She is by Lord
Francis (26,650), out of Darling by Victor. Mr.
Meadows had in this section a very sweet roan heifer
Medora, with good flanks, crops and back, by Peer of the
Realm, out of Graceful, which was placed fourth. The
commendations were W. Bolton's Woodbine the Eleventh,
and the Hon. Jno. Messy's Rose, and Bracelet, both by
Knight of the Garter (26548).

In the two-year-old heifer section there were but four
entries. Earl Fitzwilliam, Coollattin Park, co. Wick-
low, was placed first for Ingot by Lord of the Isles
(26076), out of Indiana by Fusilier, much improved
since she was shown at Bellsbridge Royal last year. The
second place was given to Fitzmaurice Bloomsfield's Lady
Jocelyn, from Sir Robert Paul's herd.

The Shorthorn cows numbered but five, W. Dunlop»
Monasterboice, deservedly taking the first place for his
fine five-year-old, Snowdrop, by Mountebank (24626),
out of Beauty by Downshire ; is a large massive cow
of great substance, and symmetrical proportions. Jas.
Smith stood second for Miss Matilda by Prince Arthur,
out of Lady Alice the Third ; she was first last year and
second in 1870, a great beauty, and every inch a Short-
horn. The third went to Colonel Kane Bunbury, Moyle,
Carlow, for Victoria by Prince Arthur, out of Fanny
Chaloner the Fifth ; and W. Dunlop had a commend
for his roan cow Perfection.

The Miscellaneous Breeds. — From the paucity of
the numbers exhibited in the sections other than Short-
horns, owing to the miserable prizes offered, it is scarcely
worth while to keep sections open for any other sorts be-
yond the native Kerries.

The Herefords numbered one yearling, for which
R. W. Reyuell gets the prize ; three two-year-olds and
two aged bulls, one yearling and one two-year-old heifer,
for which P. J. Kearney gets the prizes ; two three-year-
old heifers, for one of which G. N. Purdon, Killnean,
takes the prize ; and two aged cows, for one of which P.
J. Kearney gets the prize.

Polled Angus Cattle. — There were four bulls and
six heifers and cows, for which Wm. Owen, Blesinton,
takes the several premiums.

The Devons numbered but five yearling bulls, one
aged bull. Blood Royal, a heifer and cow, with all of which
John Peake takes the prizes, and the Chaloner cup for
being the best bull of any breed over two and under six
years old at the Show, with Blood Royal, a capital speci-
men of the Devon.

Of Kerries there were seven bulls, twenty heifers, and
ten cows. The prizes for the buUs, of trifling money
value, went, the first to C. B. Marlay, and the second to
Andrew McCuUagh. The prize for two-year-old heifers,
being a silver medal, went to E. Purdon ; the single
money prize for the three-year-old heifers, in calf or milk,
went to Capt. Bayley ; and the two money prizes, for
cows in calf or milk, went to the same gentleman.

Of West Highlanders there was one bull, one
heifer, and one cow. T. Butler takes the medal for the
bull, and Col. Sir John S. Robinson the medal for the
heifer and a £2 prize for the cow.

Of Ayksiiires, that once made up agood entry at these
Shows, there were but a bull, a heifer, and a cow, all be-
longing to G. A. Stephenson, who takes the money prizes.

Of Alderney Cattle there were 1 yearling and 3

442

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

aged bulls, 2 heifers, and 2 cows : G. J. Wardell, Colonel
Sir John Robinson, and Geo, Dingwell dividing the prizes.

PAT CATTLE.

The fat cattle made a magnificent display, numbering
altogether in the several sections 53 animals. The fol-
lowing is a list of the prizes :

Shorthorn Ox calved in 1869. — First prize, Major H. L.
Barton, Straffan House, Straifan, for Shorthorn fat ox.
Commended : B. P. Fitzpatrick, Newlands, Naas, for Short-
horn OS.

Shorthorn Ox calved before 1869. — First prize, O'Connell
L. Murphy, Breemount House, Trim, for Shorthoru pure
white ox. Highly commended : Eichard Walsh, Kingswood,
Saggard, for Shorthorn bullock.

Shorthorn Cow of any age. — First prize, Hon. John
Massy, Milford House, Limerick, for " DoUy" ; second,
O'Counell L. Murphy, Breemount House, Trim, for Short-
horn red and white cow. Commended : O'ConneU L.
Murphy, for Shorthorn cow.

Shorthorn Heifer uot exceeding four years old. — First
prize, WiUiam Stawell Garnett, Williamstown, county Meath,
for " The Aagel" ; second, O'Connell L. Murphy, Trim, for
Shorthorn roan heifer.

Polled Angus Ox calved before 1869. — First prize, John
Lett Sealy, Ballykelly, AVexford, for polled Angus fat ox.

Devon Cow of any age. — First prize, George A. Rother-
ham, Kilbride, Tuam, county Meath, for " Pansey" ; second,
Thomas Butler, Priestown House, Priestown, county Meath.

Kerry Ox calved before 1869. — First prize, Samuel Garnett,
Arch Hall, for Kerry ox,

Kerry Heifer not exceeding four years old. — First prize,
Samuel Garnett, Arch Hall, for a Kerry heifer ; second,
George Nugent Purdon, Lisuabin, for a fat Kerry heifer.
Commended : S, Garnett, for a Kerry heifer.

West Highland Ox calved before 1869. — First prize,
Samuel Garnett, Arcli Hall, Navan, for West Highland ox.

West Highland Cow of any age.— First prize, Thomas
Butler, Priestown House, Priestown, county Meath, for fat
West Highland cow ; second, Thomas Butler, for fat West
Highland Cow.

West Highland Heifer not exceeding four years old. —
First prize, Thomas Butler, Priestown House, Priestown,
county Meath, for fat West Highland heifer.

Ox cf any other pure or cross breed not included in the
foregoing sections, calved in 1870. — First prize, Richard W.
Reynell, Killynon, Killucan, for half-bred Kerry.

Ox of any other pure or cross bi*eed not included in the
oregoing section, calved in or prior to 1870. — First prize,
P. J. Kearney, MiUtown House, Clonmellon, Kells, for cross
bred fat ox ; second, Major H. L. Barton, Straffan House,
Straffan, for cross bred fat ox. Hie;hly commended : Samuel
Garnett, Arch Hall, Navan, for half-bred creepy ox.

Cow of any pure or cross breed not included m the fore-
going sections, calved in or prior to 1870. — First prize,
O'Connell L. Murphy, Breemount House, Trim, for Short-
horn roan cow. Highly commended : Sir Allen Walsh,
Ballykilcavan, Stradbally, for fat cow ; commended, M. Curtis,
Flemingtown, Naul, for half-bred red cow.

Heifer of any other pure or cross breed not included in the
foregoing sections, calved in or prior to 1870. — First prize,
Samuel Garnett, Arch Hall, Navan, for half-bred Shorthorn
heifer. Highly commended : J. Scally, Irwinstown, Killucan,
for cross bred Hereford and Kerry heifer ; commended,
Robert Fetherston H. Griffianstown, Kinnegad, for cross bred
heifer.

Pair of Fat Oxen of any breed that have been fairly and
lona fide worked as plough bullocks up to May, 1871.— First
prize, Thomas Winder, Killaderrig, Ashford, county Wicklow,
for a pair of Shorthorn plough bullocks.

Best of all the Prize Fat Oxen.— Prize, Major Barton,
Straffan. •'

Best of all the Prize Fat Cows.— Prize, Hon. John Massey,
Limerick. ■

Best of all the Prize Fat Heifers. — Prize, Samuel Garnett,
Arch Hall, Navan.

PIGS
occupied in the several sections 48 pens, and were every-

thing that could be desired in breeding and quality. The
list of prizes is as follows ;

COLOURED BREEDS.

Boar six months and not exceeding twelve months old. —
First prize, Robert G. Cosby, Stradbally Hall, Stradbally,
Queen's County, for Berkshire boar ; second, Robert G.
Cosby, for Berkshire boar.

Boar exceeding twelve and not exceeding twenty-four
months old. — First prize, Charles H. Peacock, Belmont, Wex-
ford, for Berkshire boar ; second. Lord Talbot de Malahide,
for Berkshire boar. Highly commended : Wm. Jameson,
Montrose, Uonnybrook, for " Dignity."

Breeding Sow in pig, or having had a litter within six
months. — First prize, Annesley B. Noble, Danescourt, Athboy,
for Berkshire sow, with litter of nine pigs ; second, W. Hut-
chinson Massy, Mount Massy, Macroom, for Berkshire sow.
Highly commended : John MoUoy, 73, Mountjoy-street,
Dublin, for pure-bied Berkshire sow (Beauty) ; commended,
Lord Clermont, Ravensdale Park, Newry, for Berkshire sow.

Three breeding Pigs of the same litter under ten months
old. — First prize. Lord Clermont, Ravensdale Park, Newry,
for three Berkshire sows ; second, Lieutenant-Colonel C. B.
Chichester, Runamont, Roscommon, for three Berkshire sows
under ten months. Highly commended : Lieutenant-Colonel
C. B. Chichester, for three Berkshire sows under ten
months old.

Litter of not ess than six Pigs not exceeding five months
old, accompanied by the sow. — First prize, Robert G. Cosby,
Stradbally, Queen's County, for Berkshire sow and six pigs ;
second, William Jameson, Montrose, Donnybrook, for black
Berkshire litter accompanied by sow.

WHITE BREEDS.

Boar six months and not exceeding twelve months old. —
First prize, John MoUoy, 73, Mountjoy-street, DubUn, for a
pure-bred Yorkshire boar (Snowdrop) ; second, James Cullen,
Liscarton Castle, Navan, for one white-breed boar. Com-
mended : J . L. Naper, Loughcrew, Oldcastle, for " York,"
and Cumberland boar, " The Claimant."

Boar exceeding twelve and uot exceeding twenty-four
months old.— First prize R. W. Boyle, MiUtown House, Mill-
town, county Dublin.

Breeding Sow in-pig or having had a litter within six
months. — First prize, Thomas Verdon, Mossfield House,
Wavertree, Liverpool, for " Royal Princess" ; second, R. W.
Boyle, Milltowu House, Milltown, county Dublin. Com-
mended: Warren Wright, Brookvale-road, Donnybrook, for
pure-bred white Yorkshire.

Three breeding Pigs of the same litter under ten months
old. — First prize, the Earl of Clonmell, Bishop's Court,
Straffan, for three York and Cumberland sows ; second,
Jonn Adams, Creevy House, Granard, for three Yorkshire
breeding-pigs of the same litter.

Litter of not less than six Pigs not exceeding five months
old, accompanied by the sow. — First prize, J. L. Napier,
Loughcrew, Oldcastle, for sow and litter, York and Cumber-
land breed.

Fat Pig of any age or breed not exceeding eighteen months
old. — First prize, Richa'rd W. Reynell, Killynon, Killucan,
for Berkshire sow.

Implements. — The exhibition of agricultural imple-
ments, machines, and miscellaneous articles, was very
extensive, but lost much in effect from being scattered in
several places totally unconnected, and from being un-
comfortably crowded: so much so that it annually
becomes more and more evident that greater space must
be provided for this department of the Royal Dublin
Society's spring Shows, to meet the requirements of the
country. On this occasion there were 102 stands, of
which the Irish and English firms were in about equal
numbers, but in reality the English manufacturers were
more numerously represented than the Irish, many of the
latter being agents to the former, having on their stands
several implements and machines from lirst-class English
firms. Only four Scotch firms put in an appearance. The
following is a list of the several exhibitors.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

44>S

Irish. — Thos. McKenzie and Sons, Dublin and Cork ;
W, and J. Ritchie, Ardee; Wm. Kerr, Henry-street,
Dublin ; J. Edmondson, Capel-street, Dublin ; T. Brad-
ford and Co., Dawson-street, Dublin, London, and Man-
chester; Smith and Wellstood, Dublin, London, and
Glasgow ; F. Healy, Hammond-lane, Dublin ; Thos.
Pearson, Ship-street, Dublin ; H. Askin, Newtownards,
Belfast ; Dublin and AVicklow Chemical Manure Com-
pany, Dublin ; E. L. Hughes, Dame-street, Dublin ;
Hillsborough Woollen Company, Hillsborough; Fergus
Farrell and Son, Capel-street, Dublin ; M. Mahony and
Brothers, Camden-quay, Cork ; Drogheda Chemical Ma-
nure Company, Drogheda ; Dublin Cattle-food Company,
Jervis-sti'eet, Dublin ; Edwd. Francis, Camden-street,
Dublin ; J. Copeland, Ballymore, Eustace ; Pim Brothers
and Co., Dublin ; Wheeler and Wilson, Stephen's-green,
Dublin; W. and H. M. Goulding, Cork and Dublin ; W.
Carson and Sons, Bachelor's-walk, Dublin ; John Jacques,
Capel-street, Dublin ; Edmondson Brothers, Dame-street,
Dublin ; McMester, Hodgson and Co., Capel-street, Dub-
lin ; National Manure Company, Hanover-quay, Dublin ;
A. L. Eckford, Saudymount, Dublin ; Farrelly and Son,
Hawkins-street, Dublin ; W. Wight, Eustace-street, Dub-
lin; Mrs. Callan, South Frederick-street, Dublin ; T. K.
Austin and Co., Westmoreland-street, Dublin ; J. Ruther-
ford, Eden-quay, Dublin ; J. D. Watkins, Dame-street,
Dublin ; Dublin Dried Grains Company, Rainsford-
street, Dublin ; Paul and Vincent, Blackhall-place,
Dublin ; James McKinlay and Son, Straybane, Lon-
donderry ; David Martin, Prussia-street, Dublin ; Richard
F. Kane and Co., Cappoquin, Waterford; Kennan and
Sons, Fishamble - street, Dublin ; W. Daniel, Mary-
street, Dublin; W. O'Neill, Athy; M. Hill and
Co., Usher's - quay, Dublin; .Mark Purser, Carlow ;
A., and A. Lovely, Shaw-street, Dublin ; Thos. Dockrell,
Stephen's-Green, Dublin ; Jas. Maeken and Son, Poolbeg-
street, Dublin.

English. — J. and F. Howard, Bedford ; R. Hornsby
and Sons, Grantham ; Richard Garrett and Sons, Sax-
mundham, Suffolk; Ransoms and Sims, Ipsvvich ; B. R.
and F. Turner, Ipswich ; Reuben Hunt and J. A. Tawell,
Earl's Colne, Essex ; Ashby, Jeffery, and Luke, Stamford ;
John Weetman, Ipswich ; John G. Rollins, Old Swan

Wharf, London; Thomas and Taylor, Salford, Manchester;
Penny and Co., Lincoln ; Richmonds and Norton, South
John-street, Liverpool ; W. S. Boulton, Norwich ;
Whiting and Cowan, Liverpool ; Jas. Eastwood, Black-
burn ; T. Hynes and Sons, Edgware-road, London ;
Bryan Corcoran, Witt, and Co., Mark-lane, London ;
Head, Wrightson, and Co., Stockton-on-Tees ; Slack and
Brownlovv, Hulme, Manchester; W.A.Hilton, Aston,
Birmingham; Edwd. Lewis, Westbourne-park, London;
Rd. C. Sylvester, Clerkenwell, London; G. Davies,
Regent- street, London ; B. C. Tipper, Balsall-heath,
Birmingham ; Day, Son, and Hewitt, Baker-street, Lon-
don ; J. Beach, Dudley; H. Driffield, Regent's-park,
London; C. Norrington and Co., Plymouth ; J. Vanston,
Bridport-street, London ; De Leon and Andre, Oxford-
street, London ; Picksley, Sims, and Co., Leigh, Lanca-
shire ; W. A. Wood, Upper Thames-street, London ;
Samuelson and Co., Banbury, Oxon , Jno. Williams
Rhuddlan, Rhyl ; W. N. Nicholson and Son, Newark ;
Robt. Boby, Bury St. Edmunds; The Reading Iron-
works, Reading, Berks ; Bristol Waggon Works Com-
pany, Bristol; Thos. Baker, Newbury, Berks; Isaac
Dixon, Hatton-garden, Liverpool; Le Butt, Bury St.
Edmunds, Suffolk ; Henry Inman, Rosebauk, Stretford ;
Haughton and Thompson, Carlisle ; Francis Morton and
Co., Liverpool, London, and Glasgow ; Mrs. E. Ellis,
Notting-hill, London.

Scotch. — Alex. Jack and Sons, Maybole, Ayrshire;
J. and T. Young, Ayr ; Thos. Hunter, Maybole ; A. and
J. Main, Shaw-street.

JUDGES.
Shorthorns. — J. Stratton, jun., Alton Priors, Marlborough,

Wilts ; R. Jefferson, Preston House, Wliiteliaven ; Jacob

Wilson, Woodhorn Manor, Morpeth.
Other Breeds, not Kerries. — H. Hey wood, Blakemere,

near Hereford ; J. Druce, Eynshara, Oxon.
Kerries. — L. Christy, Carrigeen, Groom ; A. Darker, Barn

Hill, Clonsilla ; J. Butler, Waterville, Cahirciveen.
Fat Stock. — J. Simson, Cloona Castle, HoUymount; D.

Kerr, Clonin Farm, Edenderry; W. Heathcock, Butcher,

Birkenhead.
Pigs. — Major H. Stanley M'Cliutock, D. L., Hilsboro' Castle,

Hilsboro'; J. Fisher, Carhead, Crossbills, York; A. War-
burton, Kill, Nass.

THE LAMB DISEASE.

At Bodmin Mr. E. TucKER believed the late dry summers
had been favourable to the production of parasites, and the
dreadful lamb disease was now telling its own tale in the
scarcity and very high price of sheep. In the summer of
1870 thousands of lambs intended for rearing in Cornwall
were sold for slaughter from fear of the disease, and the news-
paper reports informed them that the lamb disease made sad
havoc in many counties in England last year, in some cases 50
per cent, and upwards of the flocks being swept off. The con-
sequence had been that after numerous applications the Royal
Agricultural Society had taken the matter up, and a com-
mittee of the council was appointed to assist Professor
Simonds in the investigation of this mysterious desease. Pro-
fessor Brown had recently lectured at Maidstone on parasitic
diseases in animals, and dwelt at some length on parasites in
the lungs of lambs. The professor also referred in his lecture
to the incxuiry now going on by the Royal Agricultural So-
ciety, and said but little progress had yet been made. Now,
lie understood from Professor Brown's lecture that he had but
little faith in any known means of cure, or how tlie parasites
could be removed from the lungs of lambs with safety to the
animal's life, but he would rely more on preventive means,
and recommended when pastures had been eaten by sheep, even
a year previously, that a mixture of Ume and salt be spread

over it to destroy the larva voided with the excrement of the
sheep, which would otherwise remain on the land. Otherwise
healthy lambs being afterwards brought to feed on such pas-
tures, the parasites would find their way into the lungs, and
thus produce the disease. Other high authorities, such as
Professor Simonds and Dr. Crisp, held similar opinions on the
production of the lamb disease, but such was not in accordance
with liis experience. With due respect, he believed it a very
great mistake to suppose that the disease was ever so produced,
and that parasites in the lungs of lambs were solely consequent
on their being fed on pastures naturally liable to their pro-
duction, and that often a small portion of land affected a
large flock. To his mind the inquiry was in a nut-shell. They
wanted science to enable them to distinguish those unhealthy
pastures, with the means of preventing their present ill-effects.
He believed it the duty of agriculturists generally, especially in
Cornwall, a county that had suffered so much, to assist in this
matter. He knew of no other man who had thrown so much
light on the lamb disease as Dr. Crisp, and should like the
Chamber to invite the doctor to come down and meet the far-
mers of Cornwall, when that gentleman could hear their prac-
tical opinion, which, coupled with his scientific knowledge,
might be productive of beneficial results ; and by being made
known through the press it would assist in the national inquiry.

Ui

tHE FARMER'S MAGAZtNE.

THE CROYDON FARMERS' CLUB.

At a meeting of this club held at the Greyhound, Mr. W.
Taylor in the chair, Professor Pritchard, of the Royal Veteri-
nary College, London, delivered a lecture on Indigestion in
the Horse.

Professor Pb,itohard said that on a previous occasion he
had described the process of perfect digestion, and now he in-
tended to speak of the impaired function of digestion com-
monly known and exhibited under the term indigestion. He
was desirous not to lead them to suppose that he was about
to exhaust the subject, because, as in the human subject, in-
digestion in the horse arose from a number of causes, and had
a number of effects. He merely wanted to bring under notice
some of those causes of indigestion which were most commonly
met with, and he would endeavour to speak his mind on the
subject as clearly as possible. He divided the subject into two
heads — chronic indigestion and acute indigestion. The chronic
or impaired indigestion was more frequently met with than
the acute form. How common it was to notice that a horse
was suffering from some illness which gave rise to certain
symptoms, such as a staring coat, and the condition known as
hide-bound, which would prevent the animal from performing
its ordinary work. Sometimes, as a consequence of such a
condition, the horse would eat almost any dirty rubbisli with
which it came in contact, constantly licking the stalls, putting
its head under the manger, and probably eating its own dung.
All these symptoms were attendant upon impaired digestion,
and while not indicative of any amount of disease, were cal-
culated to impair a horse's serviceability, and to prove that it
was not in proper health. He maintained that the process of
digestion was not completed in the stomach ; the completion
took place, undoubtedly, in the first portion of the intestines,
and anything which would interfere with the process would
derange the animal's health. Tiie causes which gave rise to
indigestion were imperfect mastication, which might be brought
about in several ways, such as the imperfect condition of the
teeth, congenital deformity, improper wear of the teetli, or
disease. If imperfect mastication existed, there would be
chronic indigestion. If the proper amouut of saliva were not
poured into the mouth there would be much the same results
as from imperfect mastication. If horses were irregularly fed
they would suffer from indigestion. The horse had but a small
tomach, and was constantly taking food in small quantities.
But if allowed to eat ad lilii/nm, the stomach became distended ;
it was called upon to perform too much work, and the function
becoming impaired, indigestion would be the result. Since
carters had been furnished with proper nose-bags, indigestion
in horses had become less frequent, showing that irregular
feeding was one of the causes which had before produced in-
digestion. Overfeeding was undoubtedly a cause of indi-
gestion. Regular feeding was most important. Feeding
horses upon coarse food would produce bad results ; it was a
bad practice to allow horses to take a large quantity of food
before taking them to water. He was satisfied tliat if through-
out this country carters were to adopt the plan of making
horses drink a gallon or two gallons of water before they
were fed, the gastric juices of the stomach would be secreted
in a proper and healthy manner, and the digestive process
would go on properly and regularly. Referring to the little
creatures in the stomach of the horse, called " hots " (the
larvae of the gad-fly), he did not think the animals suffered any
inconvenience from them. The habit of ahorse "crib-biting"
he considered was the result of impaired digestion, and that
before commencing the crib-biting the horses must have suf-
fered considerably. Broken wind he also thought was a re-
sult of the impaired digestive process. He recommended that
a broken-winded horse should be fed on good food and in
small quantities, and thought by this treatment an amendment
would usually follow. As to the treatment of impaired di-
gestion generally, he thought more was to be done by stable
treatment than by medicinal treatment. He would give but
small quantities of food, bed the animal upon sawdust, and let
it have regular exercise daily. A small quantity of tonic me-
dicine might also be given. If an animal had been living

upon coarse lood, he would give a dose of purgative medicine
to get rid of any offending material in the alimentary tract. If
the stomach of any animal was distended so that its muscular
wall was placed upon the stretch to a considerable extent, the
muscular coat at once became incapable of performing its
functions. Such a condition was commonly called a gorged
stomach. When that condition existed it might be known
by the animal appearing in a drowsy state, and taking no no-
tice of anything which was going on. There were also other
symptoms sometimes more acute, or at all events more pal-
pable ; the horse lost the capability of walking steadily across
the box, and if his pulse were examined it would be found
very slow. Sometimes he would stagger and threaten to fall,
and this condition was called " the stomach staggers." Pro-
fesssor Pritchard detailed the kind of treatment necessary in
this disease, and alluded to several other points in connection
with the subject, showing how many defects in the horse were
either intimately or remotely connected with imperfect di-
gestion.

Dr. SiiORTiiousi; asked what time it would take a healthy
horse, properly fed, to digest its food.

Professor Pkitchard said two or three hours.

Dr. Shorthouse said he had wanted to know how long; di-
gestion did take, and also, very definitely, about the " little
and often" system of feeding ; because, lor his own part, he
thought one meal ought to digest before another was put into
the stomach.

Professor Pritcuakd said he thought the feeding, instead
of about four time a day, should be seven or eight times.

Dr. Shorthouse said if crude material were put into the
stomach where matter was m a half-digested state there would
be indigestion instead of digestion, which was the formation of
that pabulum which was to nourish the animal. He referred
to various improper methods of feeding horses by which in-
digestion might be caused, and with regard to a statement
of Professor Pritchard that broken wind in horses was a result
of indigestion, said if he was convinced of one thing more than
another, it was that whistling, roaring, and broken wind were
hereditary in nine cases of ten. He suggested that for the
purpose of bedding horses deal shavings were better than saw-
dust, as tlie horses would not eat them, and they contained a suf-
ficiency of turpentine to keep the animals freefrora vermin. He
disagreed with the administration of sulphate of iron in large
quantities as a horse medicine, and with reference to the ill-
effects of drastic medicines in general, said he had no doubt
that that celebrated greyhound. Master M'Grath, was poisoned
by an overdose of castor-oil.

Mr. Wilson asked if an animal when crib-biting was
seeking for an antidote, and what could be given it to prevent
it continuing to do. Professor Pritchard had mentioned
indigestion as a cause of broken wind in horses. He stated
that a horse which he had in that condition had eaten
some dusty hay, and he asked if that was likely to have caused
the broken-windiness. He also asked if indigestion was the
cause of " gripes" in horses.

Professor Pritchard said t lie licking of the stalls by the
animal in some instances was due to its seeking an antidode ;
but feeding upon rubbish, eating its own dung, &c., was due to
an excited and unhealthy state of the stomach. He should be
inclined to think that Mr. Wilson's horse got broken-winded
through eating dusty hay. Indigestion, he had no doubt, would
cause the gripes. With reference to the remarks of Dr. Short-
house, about the " little and often" system of feeding, and that
the stomach of an animal wanted rest, he said it must be taken
into consideration that where the stomach was large it would
want a longer period of rest than where it was small. The
stomach of a liorse was remarkably small, being not much
larger than that of Dr. Shorthouse. If he wanted to get a
horse into good condition he should give him his corn in small
quantities, and frequently, and should expect better results
from that system than from any other.

Some argument followed between the Professor and Dr.
Shorthouse • the circumstances under which animals be-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

445

came " blowu" from over-eiiting, aud the particular gases
which caused distension. There was some discrepancy be-
tween the opinions of the two gentleman, and Dr. Sliorthouse
stated that he was willing to buy an old cow aud allow her to
over-eat herself among clover, in order that the point might
be settled.

The usual votes of thanks were passed, and the meeting
separated.

EAST SUFFOLK CHAMBER OF
AGRICULTURE.

At the April meeting held in Ipswich, Colonel G. Tom-
line, M.P., in the chair, the first business was to consider
whether an arrangement should be entered into with Mr.
Sibson, the chemist, for making analyses of manures and oil-
cakes, for the members for the next twelve months.

Mr. W. S. Grimwade, observing that he had sent five sam-
ples, and that the analyses he had received were very full, and
that if it was of any practical value it was vf.ry desirable to
continue the appointment of chemist for another year, moved
that Mr. Sibson's terms be accepted.

Mr. W. Kersey seconded the motion, which was carried.

Mr. Everett said his attention having been called to the
discussion which took place at the Framliughara farmers'
Club upon the subject of experimental agric\iltural stations,
moved the following resolution : " That this Chamber desires
to join tlie Framliugham Farmers' Club in respectfully suggest-
ing to the governors of the Albert Middle Class College the
advantages wliicli would accrue to the county from the estab-
lishment of a chemical laboratory aud profpssorship of chemistry
in connection with that institution." This was seconded and
carried.

Mr. CoRRANCE, M.P., moved the follovviug resolutions
with regard to the Public Health Bill : " That the first
effect of such Bill must be the increase of local rates
for objects not immediately benefiting the present
class of ratepayers, whose interests are not permanent, and
consequently rather of general importance than concerning tiie
small class liable to local taxation. That the provisions of
this Bill both as regards urban and rural districts are not
clear or satisfactory in such respects and require amendment,
in default of which it is the opinion of this Chamber that it
should not become law." " That uo local authority competent
to discharge the duties imposed by this Bill can or ought to
undertake them subject to the provisions contained in the 75th,
78th, 79th, and 86th clauses of the Bill."

Mr. W. S. Grimwade moved the first of Mr. Corrance's
resolutions, which was carried ; and Mr. Corrance moved the
second resolution, which was also carried.

The Chairman moved : " That this Chamber greatly re-
grets that the Central Chamber has allowed the Budget to
be brought forward, and a large surplus to be disposed of,
without having arranged for a deputation to wait upon the
Chancellor of the Exchequer with a view to the repeal of
the Malt-tax."

Mr. Biddell condemned the supineness of the Central
Chamber in respect to this matter, and said they did not de-
serve to succeed in obtaining the repeal of the tax if they one
year sent a deputation, which was favourably received, to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the next year wrote a very
mild letter, and the third did nothing at all. At a meeting of
the Business Committee of the Central Cnamber, of which he
was a member, he was astounded to hear a gentleman say they
ought not to bring up the question of the Budget because it
was apolitical question. If this was to be the way in which
the question was dealt with they might have a surplus of three
millions and a half three times a year and would never get any
nearer repeal. Ardent repealer as he was, he would not put
ou an extra tax in order to take off the Malt-tax, but when
there was a surplus they ought to agitate for its repeal.

Mr. Grimwade thoroughly agreed with Mr. Biddell and
thought the Central Chamber ought to be ashamed of itself
(applause).

Mr. Biddell pointed out the absurdity of the Central
Chamber fixing a discussion on the Budget for May when
everything would be settled.

Mr. W. GuRDON argued in favour of the suggestion he
made on this subject some years ago.

Mr. Corrance said after the Chancellor of the Exchequer
had made his statement he asked Mr. Read and Col. Barttelot,
whom he regarded as the party leaders on this question, what
they proposed to do. Mr. Read's reply was that he should
say something about it presently. Col. Barttelot said he
thought it a good common-place budget and after all there
was no surplus — it was a restitution. He (Mr. Corrance) said
" That only affects 2^ millions out of three millions," and Col.
Barttelot's reply was, " What would be the good of the balance
to us ?"

Mr. Brewster argued that it was no use to seek for the
reduction of the tax. They must have the repeal, with some
other tax to be substituted.

The motion was then carried, and a vote of thanks having
been passed to the chairman the meeting broke up .

THE GUANO TRADE.

[The following correspondence has been forwarded to us for
publicalioD :]

Honingham Thorpe, Norwich, March 29th, 1872.

My Lord, — I beg to call your attention to a recent discovery
by British merchantmen ot a deposit of guano upon the unin-
habited coast of Patagonia. The Republic of Chili claim this
region, and from despatches courteously read to me by Mr.
Hammond when 1 was at the Foreign-office yesterday, it ap-
pears that the Chilian Government have exercised authority
over that coast for some years past.

But your lordship would confer a great obligation on the
agricultural interest of the United Kingdom, by urging the
Government of Chili to charge but a small royalty for this
guano. The deposit, being in a moist climate, has but Jlittle
ammonia, aud is probably not worth more than £fi per ton
delivered in this country. But any new source of manure is
of great value to us, and under any circumstance I trust your
lordship will insist upon England being treated, in buying this
guano, as one of the " most favoured nations."

The other point to which I would call your lordship's atten-
tion, in relation to the guano trade, is the supply we now re-
ceive from Peru. It was, till lately, of one good uniform
quality, but now cargoes are not only much less valuable, but
they vary considenably in quality ; still the Peruvian Govern-
ment insist on charging one price for guano that^varies as
much as £4 per ton in value. Will your lordship give the
Government of Peru a friendly hint that it would be much
fairer to sell their guano at a standard of value, rather than at
a uniform price, when there is no uniform quality P Such a
plan would be a great advantage to the merchants and farmers,
and do much to restore confidence in the trade, and would
tend to greatly increase the demand which has so seriously de-
chned of late.

I am, my Lord, your obedient serrant,

Clare Sewell Read.

The Right Hon. Earl Granville.

Foreign-office, April 1st, 1872.
Sir, — With reference to your letter of the 29th ultimo,! am
directed by Earl Granville to inform you that his lordship has
instructed her Majesty's Charg6 d' Affaires at Santiago, by this
day's mail, to urge the Chilian Government to permit the ex-
port of guano from Patagonia, by British vessels, on moderate
terms.

His lordship has also instructed her Majesty's Charge
d'Affaires at Lima to call the attention of the Peruvian Go-
vernment to your suggestion as to the advisibility of selling
their guano at a standard of value, instead of at an uniform
price.

X am, sir, your most obedient and humble servant,

G, Hammond.
C. S. Read, Esq., M.P., &c., &c., &c.,
Honingham Thorpe, Norwich,

446

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

SALE OF THE LATE MR. PAWLETT'S

SHORTHORN HERD,

At Beeston, Bedfoedshire, on Thursday,

April 4, 1872.

BY MR. JOHN THORNTON.

" He was a tall, thin, lean man, with a sallow visage,
dressed in a green buttoned-np frock-coat, and carried an
umbrella. In conversation, he had little to say, but his
remarks were always worth listening to, and full of
sense." Such were the spare particulars we could glean
as the Great Northern Scotch express sped away and
dropped us, carriage and all, at Sandy-station, on the
cold, grey morning of Thursday, in Easter week. Yet
the public at large must have known more of that lean
man, or they would never have mustered in such
numbers from east and west, north and south, from
Scotland, from Ireland, and even from distant
Carmarthen, to see the last leaf turned over
of his quiet, uneventful life, and to appraise his kine at
£200 per head, calves and all. He began farming life
near Stamford, and, by Thornton's Circular, bred a
few Shorthorns from the old Burghley herd, some of
which finally passing into the great Shepherd King's
hands at Babraham, produced the white bull - calf
First Fruits, "the best of all the auimals," and re-
cipient of the gold medal at the great Battersea Show
1862. Then he came south, to the light soil and green
meadows by the mill-stream of Sandy Warren, where he
laid in a store of good Leicesters, which he kept up for
many years, and finally sent to the Royal shows,
running Mr. Sanday often neck and neck for the
premiums, and giving his best sheep names after those
towns which the Royal Society delighted to honour. Well
might his corn fields laugh and sing with plenty. The
land became so rich that he was tempted to try another
system; he sold his Leicester flock in 1860-61, and
ended as he had begun it, with Shorthorns. He bought
the set of the Herd Boole, and then Mr. Adkins' best
Charm.3rs, at the 1860 Milcote sale, and followed them
up with three Bates' heifers, from Mr. Phillips, of
Broomborough, and some from Colonel Dancombe, in-
cluding Heather BeU, of the Fame tribe. After that
he made a visit to Warlaby, and took three from Mr.
Jolly, and hired Highthorn of Mr. Booth; sold
off his Bates' purchases, and put himself in
with a cow and a calf of the Fame tribe at Mr. Sanday's
sale at Holmepierrepont in 1861 ; and as he foUowtd Mr.
Sanday's steps in Leicesters so he followed them in Short-
horns, and took Mr. Booth's Sii* James from the bull-
pound at Holmepierrepont to the thatched shed at
Beeston. He also got one or two from Ireland, and took
in the blood through Prince Hopewell. He made one or
two disastrous investments, among them Mr. Douglas'
Isabella Rose, but the luckiest hit of all was securing the
Mantalini tribe, in Mr. Chandos Pole Gell's purchase of
Rose of Pi'omise, her daughter Rose of Hope, and her
granddaughter bred by Mr. Pole Gell, the beautiful cow
Rose of Warlaby. It was then that his modelling
powers, so well practised on the Leicester, if perhaps
though at the sacrifice of wool, began, and the
round arched ribs from the " straight back bone with the
swelling bosom" of Aylesby were brought to Beeston
through old Breast Plate and Booth Royal, to which he
sent his Towneley Pearl-Bracelet cow and the Holme-
pierrepont Faithful ; the former bringing him the prize
bull Baron Killerby, whose eleven offsprings yielded only
£3 short of £200 each. Faithful repeated her visit to
Breast Plate at Aylesby, and brought him back the red
aad white bull Baroa Warlaby, whose oaly daughter

realised 300 gs. and her infant heifer 125 gs., so that to
Aylesby even as much as Killerby and Warlaby was Mr.
Powlett indebted for that blood, and those substantial
parallelograms of beef which will hand his name down to
posterity.

The show -yard brought him a good many premiums as a
set-oft' to his expenses, and as an exhibiter he was suc-
cessful, though now and again Baron Killerby's dusky
nose threw the prize away, and he never could quite get
over his aversion to Richard Cceur de Lion. Theorists
had there a good example of the black speck on the com-
mingling of different strains. Poor old Baron ! not even
the brickbat with which his nose was polished could
move the dark stain, or what the late Mr. Anthony
Maynard called the " strong constitutioned nause," and
he ended his days getting bulls for the Aberdeenians at
at Sittyton. He left his ponderous frame and tremend-
ous breadth of loin as compensation, and when the double
cross was made the loin grew stronger, the flesh heavier,
and the nose darker, as in the case of British Queen,
which went, even as a doubtful breeder, for 85 guineas to
Mr. Haslam, Lancashire, whose opponent, after bidding
well up guinea for guinea, wished as a final bid that Mr.
Haslam had stopped at home with Mr. Disraeli.

A pleasant walk by the river, through pastures green
and meadows sweet, brought us to Beeston, where, surely,
those mean-looking half-bred milch cows were placed as
a set ott' to the fat-backed steers which were grazing by the
mill. Edginton's tent was quite a sign-board to the sale,
aud a slight turn in the road brought us to the comfort-
able little farm-house, top of the green, where the old man
had passed so many years of quiet life, and died in December
last at three score years and twelve. A turn into the yard
showed everything of primitive shape and homely com-
fort, old thatched sheds aud tarred boardings were the
only coverings in the straw-yard. There were the cattle
knee-deep in straw with immense backs, round rib?, and
that sweet, docile expression of countenance so indica-
tive of the blood. The yard, furnished with Rose of
Warlaby, Rose of Summer and Faithful, generally had
the largest crowd, but Rose of Hope, Rose of Killerby,
and Rose Blossom were equally admired. The bulls
were in small boxes, and the calves in houses, and
pens scarcely large enough for a Leicester sheep. The
crowd grew so great that it was desirable to lunch half-an-
hour before time, and the tent, set out for 800, became
crammed. Mr. Charles Barnett, " the Squire of Stratton,"
was never more happy, nor had he ever a larger field.
When the Royal speeches were done, and Mr. Torr gave
his health, what Tally Ho's he got ! It was a smart stroke
of whipper-in business when the auctioneer said there
were many hungry outside, and the place was filled
again and again until everything was consumed.
The strong north wind blew cold round the ring, and the
covered rostrum was terribly full, so that the company
became impatient for the event half-an-hour before the
time of sale appointed. St. Edmund, the squire's
county Suffolk, was put up first at a 100 gs., but found no
buyer ; then the Herd Books were offered " with Jlr. Paw-
lett's notes," which doubtless sent the price along for Mr.
Staniforth, who, recently having found in an old set a bill
of the Waterloo (2816) bull with the Lawnsleeves cross, paid
20 gs. for this, perhaps in the hope of a similar discovery.
The first lot was offered at two to the minute, aud the
biddings for the old cow Rose of Promise went well
along, " just like a good sale," as some one remarked,
to 63 gs. Faithful was in a similarly doubtful
slate, yet she went for 50 gs., and both jour-
ney together to the fells of Westmoreland. Rose
of Hope was fresh for her nine years, and six
nioaths goae to Lord Blithesome, She has been the

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

447

best breeder, for she had produced Rose of Warlaby and
Prince Alfred, and looked " likely " for many a one yet.
How tenaciously Mr. Skelton Jefferson, of Cumberland,
clung to her against Mr. Marsh's nods, but finally 350 gs.
was too much for cannie Cumberland, and " Mr. Marsh,
of Hitchin, 350 gs." brought out ringing cheers all round
the ring. Flora, by Mr. Torr's Booth Royal, had just
got a little red-and-white cow-calf. Mr. Marsh looked as
if he meant for her as well ; but Mr. Torr and Mr. Bow-
man, another Cumbrian, were well in, but not quite long
enough, for Mr. Marsh got her at 280 gs., amidst more
cheers, whilst Mr. Bowman took her calf at 51 gs. Then
came the plum of the sale. Rose of AVarlaby, " Queen of
the Ocean" over again, as an old breeder said. And
a beautiful cow she is, with a graceful head,
fine bosom, and such ribs and back ! " sire and
dam's sire both Warlaby bulls, and a breeder, milker and
feeder," coupled 'with her own personal attractions, were
most desirable, although having calved four months ago
she was even then giving 14 quarts a-day. Some mild
gentleman timidly said 50, and another whispered a 100,
as if afraid it might be heard ; but 400 — 500 everybody
heard, "and fifty," and the glass runs. "The Rev. T.
• Staniforth, Windermere !" and more cheering. Rose of
Summer, a cow of enormous substance, accompanies her
at about 200 less, but the spirit and excitement of the
sale was then over. Men talked, laughed, hummed, and
the 1,500 made such a commotion, with the
strong north wind blowing, and the drizzle
falling, that the business proceedings were no easy task.
Flora, somewhat doubtful, was put at a 100 gs. by Mr.
Crosbie of Ireland ; and Rose of Killerby, Mr. Pawlett's
favourite cow out of lot 5, went cheap enough into Norfolk
at 825 gs., a good addition to Mr. Aylmer's herd.
Rose of Beauty, a beautiful specimen and a good
breeder, suffered from hard breathing, else the
185 gs. given for her by the Laird of Havering
might have swelled into double the money.
Rose of Edeo was a favourite lot, but her back was up,
and her two calves before she was three years old, ac-
counted for it. Mr. Marsh and Mr. Waldo, Kent, fought
well out for her, until Kentish Fire, on a more substan-
tial target, killed at SOO gs., and Mr. Marsh got the caper-
ing strong backed roan babe at 125 gs. Ringlet was al-
so a lovely specimen, but Fitz Killerby, the Charmer
cross, beneficial as it doubtless may be, went somewhat
against her.

Roseberry was another magnificent heifer; Mr. Staniforth
took her at 330 gs., and Mr. Marsh got her rei calf at
the same price which he paid for the other. Lots 19 and
20 were especially fancied, and although the roan was
more like winning, the red and white had got the growth,
and made the better price. How the calves sold ! Bidders
on the cows, disappointed, went in for them, and they
made astonishing prices.

The bulls in the houses did not look well, but they
came out much better, as indeed did the cows, for a really
good animal always proves better out than iu, and Mr.
Pawlett never would show oue unless he were walked out.
Lord Blithesome was the favourite, and many wanted him.
Mr. Rose, however, would not be denied under a good
deal, ' and got him for his new Norfolk herd at 330 gs.
Prince Regent, Mr. Fowler, the acting executor, bought
at 210 gs., cheered by his friends. The others sold well ;
even the lame Hamlet made 63 gs., and the last calf, four
months old, was bought for 60 gs. for the old
Rathenthorpe herd. So this wonderful sale finished,
at four to the minute, and the company thinned
down in less than a quarter of an hour.
Old friends and neighbours stood about the
bouse and the gate " wondering beyond talk,"

But how many went away with their hands behind
them 1 Several of Ireland's best men came over with
their " herds" and got nothing. Three travelled out
of Scotland, and went " bock agen" alike empty handed;
and a gentleman with his three servants, 400 miles from
home, returned with a five-mouths' calf between them.
To the ring frequenter the faces were different to those
usually seen : it was a company of the old school — men,
breeders from boyhood, and judges that are only now and
again seen in the Royal or Yorkshire rings. Not one no-
bleman or distinguished foreigner was said to be present,
personally or by proxy, notwithstanding such an average 1
and it was remarked, that had there been double the
number there were customers for them. The great
moral of this remarkable sale seems to be, that not
even the humblest tenant-farmer need despair as a
breeder. Let him but get good animals of the best
blood, and they will always sell, with customers found
ready for them whenever the time comes.

COWS AND HEIFERS,

Rose of Promise, roan, calved August 24, 1858 ; by Heir-at-

Law (13005), dam Rose of Autumn by Sir Henry (10824).

— Mr. A. Metcalfe, Westmoreland, 63 gs.
Faithful, roan, calved January 1, 1861 ; by Sir James (16980),

dam Faith by Sir Charles (13075).— Mr. H. J. Gibbon,

Holraercales, Westmoreland, 50 gs.
Rose of Hope, roan, calved April 27, 1863 ; by Prince Alfred

(13494), dam Rose of Promise by Heir-at-Law (13005).—

Mr. R. Marsh, Hitchin, 350 gs.
Flora, roan, calved October 14, 1864; by Booth Royal (15673),

dam Faithful by Sir James (16980).— Mr. R. Marsh, 280 gs.
rCalved March 22, 1872, red and wbite C.C, by Majestic
(29255).— Mr. J. Bowman, Cumberland, 51 gs.]
Rose of Warlaby, red and little white, calved in August, 1865 ;

by British Flag (19351), dam Rose of Hope by Prmce

Alfred (13494).— Rev. T. Staniforth, Windermere, 550 gs.
Rose of Summer, red, calved July 15, 1866; by Prince

Hopewell (22592), dam Rose of Promise by Heir-at-Law

(13005).— Rev. T. Staniforth, 360 gs.
Fame, red, calved December 4, 1866 ; by Baron Killerby

(23364), dam Flora by Booth Royal (15673).— Mr. W. T.

Crosbie, Ireland, 100 gs.
Rose of Killerby, red, calved July 28, 1867; by Baron Kil-
lerby (23364), dam Rose of Warlaby by British Flag

(19351).— Mr. H. Aylmer, Norfolk, 325 gs.
Faith, red, calved October 25, 1867 ; by Baron Killerby

(23364), dam Flora by Booth Royal (15673).— Rev. J.

Micklethwaite, Norfolk, 155 gs.
Rose of Beauty, roan, calved July 22, 1868 ; by Baron Kil-
lerby (23364), dam Rose of Hope by Prince Alfred (13491.).

— Mr. D. Mclutosb, Havering Park, Essex, 185 gs.
Lady Faithful, red, calved November 21, 1868 ;"by Baron

Killerby (23364), dam Faithful by Sir James (16980).—

Mr. J. Bowman, Cumberland, 165 gs.
Ringlet, roan, calved February 2, 1869 ; by Fitz Killerby

(26166), dam Fame by Baron Killerby (23364).— Mr. B. St.

John Ackers, Priuknash, Gloucestersliire, 205 gs.

[Calved March 11, 1872, roan B.C., by Prince Regent
(29677).— Major Cochraue, Darlington, 31 gs.]
Rose of Eden, red and white, calved March 1, 1869 ; by Baron

Warlaby (23381), dam Rose of Warlaby by British Flag

(19351).— Mr. E. W. Meade Waldo, Kent, 300 gs.
[Calved February 4, 1872, roan C.C, by Mantalini Prince
(29273).— Mr. R. Marsh, Hitchin, 125 gs.]
Lady Jane, red, calved May 28, 1869 ; by Baron Killerby

(23364), dam Miracle by Prince James (20554).— Mr. B. St.

John Ackers, Gloucestersbire, 105 gs.
Roseberry, roan, calved August 6, 1869 ; by Baron Killerby

(23364), dam Rose of Promise by Heir-at-Law (13005).—

Rev. T. Staniforth, 330 gs.

[Calved February 4, 1872, red C.C, by Mantahni Prince
(29273).— Mr. R. Marsh, 125 gs.]
British Queen, roan, calved November 13, 1869 ; by Prince

Alfred (27107), dam Fairy Queen by Baron Killerby

(23364).— Mr. J. P. Haslam, Bolton, Lancashire, 85 gs.
Rose Blossom, red and little white, calved January 6, 1870 ;

4i8

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

by Barou Killerby (33364.), dam Rose of Summer by Prince
Hopewell (33593).— Mr. S. Jefferson, Cumberland, 180 gs.
Blush, red, calved February 6, 1870; by Barou Killerby
(23364), dam Hebe by Prince Hopewell (22593).— Mr. B.
St. John Ackers, Gloucestershire, 145 gs.
Rose of the Valley, roan, calved September 28, 1870 ; by
Royal Booth (27350), dam Rose of Beauty by Baron Kil-
lerby (33364).— Mr.H.Pickersgill, Thirsk, Yorkshire, 290gs.
Rose of Autumn, red and little white, calved November 24,
1870; by Prince Alfred (27107), dam Rose of Summer by
Prince Hopewell (33592).— Mr. T. Easton, Fifeshire, 305 gs.
Innocence, white, calved January 22, 1871 ; by Prince Alfred
(27107), dam Hebe by Prince Hopewell (23592).— Mr. J.
P. Haslam, Bolton, Lancashire, 110 gs.
Laura, red, calved March 27, 1871 ; hy Royal Booth (27350),
dam Lady Jane by Baron Killerby (33364).— Mr. G. E.
Hawkins, Cambridge, 40 gs.
Diadem, red, calved March 31, 1871; by Royal Booth
(27350), dam Ringlet by Fitz-Killerby (2G166).— Mr. B.
St. John Ackers, Gloucestershire, 165 gs.
Lady Flora, red, calved April 22, 1871 ; by Baron Killerby
(33364), dam Flora by Booth Royal (15673).— Messrs. J.
and J. Gaitskell, Cumberland, 150 gs.
Rose of Beeston, roan, calved July 18, 1871; by Royal
Booth (27350), dam Rose of Killerby by Baron Killerby
(23364).— Mr. B. St. John Ackers, Gloucestershire, 315 gs.
Fidelity, white, calved August 27, 1871 ; by Majestic (29255),
dam Faithful by Sir James (16080).— Mr. J. C. Toppin,
Cumberland, 85 gs.
Farewell, roan, calved November 1, 1871 ; by Mantalini
Prince (29273), dam Faith by Baron Killerby (23364).—
Mr. D. Pugh, Carmarthen, 130 gs.
Rose of Winter, red, calved January 20, 1872; by Prince
Regent (29677), dam Rose of Summer by Prince Hopewell
(22592).— Mr. J. P. Haslam, Lancashire, 130 gs.
BULLS.
Prince Pearl (29674), red, calved July 25, 1867 ; by Baron
Warlaby (23381), dam Pearl by Richard Coeur de Lion
(13590).— Mr. R. C. Ridge, Australia, 75 gs.
Prince Royal (29680), roan, calved Juie 10, 1869 ; by Baron
Killerby (23364), dam Rose of Hope by Prince Alfred
(13494). — Messrs. Budding, Lincolnshire, 100 gs.
Prince Regent (29677), roan, calved May 7, 1870; by King
Charles (24240), dam Flora by Booth Royal (15673).— Mr.
F. Fowler, Henlow, Beds, 210 gs.
Lord Blithesome (29067), roan, calved August 23, 1870 ; by
Lord Blitlie (22126), dam Rose of Killerby by Baron Kil-
lerby (23364).— Mr. T. Rose, Norfolk, 330 gs.
Sultan (30083), roan, calved September 21, 1870 ; by Prince
Alfred (27107), dam Rose of Promise by Heirat-Law
(13005).— Mr. H. Caddy, Cumberland, 120 gs.
Hamlet, roan, calved March 11, 1871 ; by Royal Booth
(27350), dam Rose of Eden by Baron Warlaby (23381).—
Mr. J. Martin, Ely, 63 gs.
Royal Hope, roan, calved March 27, 1871 ; by Royal Booth
(27350), dam Rose of Hope by Prince Alfred (13494).—
Duke of Richmond, Banffshire, 280 gs.
Ranger, red, calved April 22, 1871 ; by Royal Booth (27350),
dam Daphne by Fitz-Killerby (26166).— Messrs. T. Game
and Son, Gloucestershire, 110 gs.
Bridegroom, roan, calved August 12, 1871 ; by Baron Kil-
lerby (23364), dam Florence by Prince Hopewell (22592).
—Mr. G. J. Yarburgh, York, 70 gs.
Monarch, red and white, calved December 9, 1871 ; by Ma-
jestic (39355), dam Rose of Warlaby by British Flag
(19351).— Mr. J. C. Bowstead, Cumberland, 66 gs.
Royal Heir, red, calved November 7, 1871; by Manfred
(26801), dam Rose of Promise by Heir-at-Law (13005).—
Messrs. Fox and Jefferson, Cumberland, 105 gs.
Royalty, roan, calved December 25, 1871 ; by Prince Regent
(29677), dam Rose of Beauty by Baron Killerby (23364).
— Mr. W. Faulkner, Northampton, 60 gs.
Summary.
£ s. d. £ s. d.

28 Cows averaged 220 6 3 6,168 15 0

12 Bulls „ 139 0 9 1,668 9 0

Averaged 195 18 7 £7,837 4 0

il Mantalinis averaged 247 7 0

18 Fames „ :. 142 9 0

SALE OF MR. J. N. BEASLEY'S SHORT-
HORNS,

At Chapel Bk-impton, Northampton, on Friday,
April 12th.

BY MR. JOHN THORNTON.

There are few prettier sights to the lover of good
stock thau the Valley of the Nene, when full of grass, Here-
ford bullocks, Welsh runts, or Shorthorn steers. A man
may even divert himself occasionally by the sight of a few
good breeding Shorthorns, Mr. Beasley's being the oldest
and best herd in this rich grazing distiict. The name of
Beasley is as closely connected v>'ith the pure Shorthorn in
the county of Northampton, as that of Althorp, Ar-
buthnot, Knightley, and others, the Janetts, or J's, being
the tribe upon which he has mainly rested. More than
a score of years since Mr. Beasley, sen., sold off his herd,
and the tribe was dispersed, not only through our own
counties, but several animals found their way across the
Atlantic.

The preface to the catalogue thus recounts their story :
" The larger portion of this herd consists of animals of the
celebrated J tribe, the history of which is as follows : Sir
Henry Vane Tempest purchased the celebrated cow Prin-
cess by Favourite (252), from Mr. Robert Colling (for it
is said 700 gs.), and bred from her and her offspring a
small herd. One of the cows he gave to Sir John Thoro-
ton, chaplain to the Duke of Rutland, as a dairy cow (the
Princesses being noted milkers) ; and this cow was pur-
chased at the sale after Sir John Thoroton's death by the
late Mr. Thomas Beasley of Harston, who afterwards ex-
changed her with his brother Mr. Johu Beasley of Chapel
Brampton. Thepedegree of this cow as given iu Sir
John Thoroton's sale catalogue was as follows : Janette,
calved in 1820; bred by Sir Henry Vane Tempest; by
his Wellington (684), dam by Phenomenon (491), g. d. by
Favourite (252), g. gr. d. by Favourite (252), — by
Favourite (252). At the Overstone sale in 1851 the J's
were entered in the catalogue with the pedegree ending
with the last Favourite cross, but after careful investiga-
tion by the first authorities, it was concluded they were
descended from Alexiua, own sister to Sir Henry Vane
Tempest's Angelina, and that they were entitled to the
same pedegree with which that cow was rec orded in the
third volume of the H erd Book, Page 265 ; accordingly, in
the tenth volume, published immediately after the Over-
stone sale, the J's have the pedegree attached to them as
it is herein given. Those animals of the D family are
descended from a cow belonging to Mr. Beasley's great
grandfather, who lived at Sapperton in Lincolnshire ;
they are generally good milkers, and many of the Over-
stone and Thrussington prize oxen were of this family.
The other animals were bred originally from West High-
land Scots, which Mr. Beasley's father purchased at differ-
ent times in Scotland, and on which pure-bred Shorthorn
bulls have ever since been used. The bulls in service of
late years at Chapel Bramptou have been of first-class
Bates blood.

It was intended to sell the herd last autumn,
but foot-and-mouth disease breaking out, the sale was
postponed until the spring. With the usual ill luck that ac-
compames this troublesome complaint, a few of the calves
were lost ; still the Irish story that they thrive better
afterwards, proved true in this case, for the cattle were
certainly brought out in that happy state of condition in
which the animal is not obese but iu apparently most
healthy condition, as well as pleasing to the eye. The cows
and heifers were shown iu the grass, and very well they
looked as a whole. Among the cows lot 2, with her long
sweeping quarters and staring red and white colour, caught

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

449

the eye, and whea she afterwards came into the ring; her
good milking qualities were an additional attraction to
her large broad frame. Many were the bids for her, and
finally Mr. Walton got her for the Burghley herd, not
very dear at 70 gs. A large white cow, on short legs,
and strong limbed, was also conspicuous ; proving to be lot
9, and by Fourth Duke of Thorndale ; the four lots from
her bespoke her usefulness, but perhaps being empty and
breeding a white bull-calf too, kept her price down, for
Lord Penrhyn got her at only 72 gs., whilst her little
calf made 17 gs. And there's a good I'oan useful cow,
that lot 10, with her swelling ribs, and neat fine character !
What says her pedigree? By Mr. John Peel's Sir Laun-
celot, a pure short-pedigreed Booth bull, and out of lot 2,
served in May by Mr. Oliver's Grand Duke 7th ; but she
must have calved, and when she came into the ring what
a great strong-backed capering roan buU-calf she had at
her side ! That bronzed-looking man seems to know
her merits ; how persistently he bids for her, and finally
gets her, and at only 50 gs. Surely she must be cheap
at that figure which Mr. Simon I5eattie gives, to take
her out to Canada. Her calf, how eagerly the farmers
bid for it — ten, twenty-five — thirty guineas, one, two, and
the glass runs at forty, but that cool-looking gentleman has
not done yet. " Five is against you, sir," a nod six, at
forty-six for the calf, and the glass runs — Captain Furness,
of Rugby, the buyer, and with £10 worth of milk he has
a yearling fit for a Royal show.

But here seems the plum of the sale in that buxom
rich-looking roan heifer ; how gracefully she carries her
sweet head, and how evenly her body is covered with flesh
and overlaid with that abundant coat of rich roan-coloured
hair! What lot is it? Lot 11, Judy! Yes; and hence
the pass word on the luncheon ticket ; but how is it with
no lot from her in the catalogue ? and only two months
gone. Let us wait and hear what the auctioneer says for
her in the ring. We go to lunch. What a bountiful
spread is there, and how beautifully it is laid, as
they say for 350. These four young men are Cana-
dians, and that stout, strong-looking young fellow,
with the broad chest and muscular frame, a native
Australian, and as keen a judge of a beast as any breeder
in the county. The chair is taken by Mr. Beasiey,
father of the owner of the stock, and Sir W.
de C. Brooke is on his left. Lord Penrhyn is there,
Mr. Stopford Sackville, M.P., and a number of country
celebrities, but we do not hear of many from a distance.
Then the toast are given, and off go the company to the
ring. Surely the same nattiness that is seen in the build-
ings and farm-yard has been carried out with the ring.
Post and planed rails are strongly put down underneath
the old oak tree, and Mr. Thornton has so handsome a
pulpit, that a wag christens him " Jack in the box"
forthwith. The Pitsford men are out on strike and come
to look on at what the more orderly Brampton
men are doing. They bring in lot after lot, and at last
in comes Judy, dam of the steer, feeding for Christmas,
and of a heifer calf; and that she has been to Mr.
Oliver's Grand Duke 7th, who died the day of her ar-
rival, and that she is safe since February 6, do not greatly
stimulate the biddings, which creep slowly along, until a
100 is reached; then Mr. Ridge bids five, and Colonel
Loyd Lindsay nods, until 135 gs. is reached, and she is
knocked down cheap enough to the Colonel. Mr. Walton
gives 105 gs. for Jacqueline against Mr. Oliver, and cheers
are given for the county. Mr. Oliver takes the next rich
roan, J Fourth Grand Duke heifer with her slanting
quarters, at 70 gs. ; and Northamptonshire again comes
out against Mr. Little of Wisbeach and Mr. Mumford of
Oxon with Mr. Herbert Langham, and a 100 gs. bid for
Janetta, bred by the late Mr. Adeock. Tlie iicifci's sell
well ; ^Ir. Lyuu gets the Lady Silvia Speiutr with her

fine coat of hair at 55 gs. only ; and Welcome, with those
grand arched ribs, is booked to Mr. Beattie at 67 gs.
Some of the heifers are flaky red and whites, and not taking
in colour, still they go readily ; and the last calf, a real
beauty, Jlr. Sartoris buys at 05 gs. for his friend the
Duke of Manchester.

The bulls are headed by Lord Spencer's Doge, exhi-
bited in Ireland, and j\Ir. Topham gets him at just over mar-
ket price. J. Grand Duke, a very handsome bull, is well
worth the 60 gs. Mr. G. Stratton pays for him, and he also
got a few good cows as well. J. Grand Duke 2nd is the
best looking, though a hard handler. Mr. Sanders brings
sherry round the ring, and as he pours out a glass he bids
a guinea, until this fine young bull is his at 70, and before
the sale is over he has had 20 as. profit offered for him. Mr.
Aubrey Mumford gets a good hairy calf in Javelin at 60gs.,
and two bulls of Mr. Dormer's sell well, the better one
going to Mr. Walker, of Brentwood, at 49 gs. So this
sale closes, and Mr. Thornton thanks the company, telling
the disappointed he can suit them, even better, with
no offence to Mr. Beasiey, next week, at Messrs. At-
kinson's and Dickinson's sales ; but they have
had a good day and a fair sale. A few return to
the fields, and view again those heavy-milking D cattle ;
whilst others study the half-bred West Highlanders,
even with their six crosses, still showing the
head and horns of the Highlander, though the massive
carcase and early-maturing quality of the Shorthorn.
The Pitsford men, even after beer and bread and cheese,
cannot let well alone, and end with a few rounds, to their
great disadvantage, with the Brampton men, for sticking
to work and doing the duty to their master.

COWS AND HEIFERS.
Winsome, by Lycidas (20219).— Mr. George Stratton, Hus-
bands I5osworth, 35 gs.
Queen Janette, by Royal Butterfly 5th (1S756).— Marquis of

Exeter, Burghley Park, 70 gs.
Jeanie, by Romulus Butterfly (18741).— Mr. J. J. Sharp,.

Kettering, 55 gs.
Dulce, by Jacques (20013).— Mr. G. Stratton, 36 gs.
Hope, by Lycidas (20349).— Col. Loyd-Lindsay, 50 gs.
Daffodil, by Second Duke of Airdrie (19600).— Earl of Derby,
Knowsley, 31 gs. ,. „

Lady Janette, by Second Duke of Airdrie (19600).— Mr, G.

S. Sackville, M.P., Drayton, 37 gs.
Ditty, by Sir Launcelot (25159).— Mr, G, Schilling, Bramp-
ton Ash, 38 gs.

[Her white cow-calf.— Mr. G. Schilling, 15 gs.]
Rushden Jantja 9th, by Foarth Duke of Thorndale (17750)-—
Lord Penrhyn, 72 gs.

[Her white cow-calf.— Mr. C. Beasiey, 17 gs.]
Justiue, by Sir Launcelot (25159).— Mr, S, Beattie, Canada,
50 gs.

[Her bull-calf.— Captain Furness, 46 gs.]
Judy, by Second Duke of Airdrie (19600).— Colonel Loyd-

Lindsay, 135 gs.
Duchess Janette, by Second Duke of Airdrie (19600),— Mr. G.

S. Sackville, M.P., 45 gs.
Jacqueline, by Dandilly Dan (23675).— Marquis of Exeter,

105 gs.
Alfhorp Jantja, by Fourth Grand Duke (19874)— Mr. R. E,

Oliver, 70 gs.
Janetta, by Second Duke of Waterloo (23800).— Mr, H. H.

Langham, Cottesbrooke Park, 100 gs.
Dolly, by Juvenile (22021).— Mr. G. Schilling, 33 gs.
Dea, by Juvenile (22021).— Mr. G. Stratton, 35 gs.
Lady Silvia Spencer, by Grand Duke of Lightburne (26290).

— Mr. J. Lynn, 55 gs.
Princess Janette, by Juvenile (22021), — Lord Penrhyn,

70 gs.
Welcome, by Fourth Grand Duke (19874).— Mr. S. Beattie,

Canada, 67 gs.
Juauita, by Jay (26457).— Mr. G. N. Wettou, 35 gs.
Daisy, by Juvenile (22021).— Mr. J. Lawrence, 35 gs.
llov;il Jiuu'ilc, bv Juvf-nile (22U21).— Mr. J. Crai-j, 53 gs.
Ueiiuht, by Juvenile (22021) —Mr. G. J. Grimsdick, 28 gs.

H H

450

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Dignity, by Juvenile (22021). — Mr. S. Beattie, C:iii;ula,
33 gs.

Jardiniere, by Jay (26457). — Mr. F. Sartoris, for Duke of
Mancliester, 65 gs,

BULLS.

The Dodge, by Fourth Grand Duke (19874).— Mr. J, Top-
ham, 45 gs.

J Grand Duke (28915), by Fourth Graud Duke (19874).—
Mr. G. Stratton, 60 gs.

The Don (30128), by Fourth Graud Duke (19874).— Marquis
of Camden, 36 gs.

J Grand Duke 2nd (28916), by Fourth Grand Duke (19874).
—Mr. H. Sanders, 70 gs.

Judge, by Juvenile (22021).— Mr. F. S. Artendale, 31 gs.

Despot, by the Doge,— Mr. J. T. Smith, 37 gs.

J Cherry Duke, by Cherry Duke (25752).— Mr, J. L. Need-
ham, 46 gs.

July, by Juvenile (22021). — Earl of Abergavenny, 40 gs.

Javelin, by J Grand Duke (28915).— Mr. J. Aubrey Mum-
ford, 60 gs.

Janizary, by J Grand Duke (38915).— Mr. F. Underwood,
43 gs.

Druid, by J Grand Duke (28915).)— Earl of Derby, 22 gs.

Summary.

£ s. d. £ s. d.

26 cows averaged 61 6 1 1,593 18 0

11 buUs „ 46 13 6 513 9 0

87 averaged 56 19 1 £2,107 7 0

13 J cows averaged 70 gs., 7 J bulls aveiviged 50 gs.

There were also sold the following young bulls, the property
of Mr. Clement C. Dormer, Courteen Hall, Northampton :
Simon Spencer, by Grand Duke of Lightburnc (26290). — Mr.

Darlove, 30 gs.
Sonorous Spencer, by Twelfth Duke of Oiford (19633).— Mr.

H. Walker, 49 gs.

SALE OF MESSRS. ATKINSON'S
SHORTHORNS,

At Bvwelij Hall Farm, Stocksfield-on-Tyne,
ON Tuesday, April 16th, 1873,

BY

MR. T. WE THERELL AND MR. J. THORNTON.

" Presented to Messrs. Atkinson, Sept. 24, 1813, for
the greatest general improvement ou the Byvvell Estate,
for their farm at Peep-I-see, by their landlord and land-
lady, S. and F. Hodsou." So runs the inscription ou a
silver cup awarded as a prize to Messrs. Atkinson, just
half a century ago ; and the improvements that were
made then in that improving district of Tyueside have
still continued. Peep-I-see arose, so says tradition,
through a pretty Northumbrian lass being accosted whilst
milking a cow, by a gay gallant of the period, who, in reply
to his inquiries as to the district, exclaimed, as she looked
round the cow's leg, " Peep Peep I see," and so the name
became abbreviated by the hawkers of Newcastle crying
" Peep-see-ta-ters," ou account of the fame of the
potatoes grown upon the farm, at Peepy. The present gene-
ration abolished the well- earned title, and, although the farm
stands a long up-hiU mile from the Hall, re-christeued it
Bywell Hall Farm. So the house stands, certainly no
credit to the estate, to which the farm contributes fully a
thousand a-year, a poor domicile scarcely fit for a su-
perior hind. A few of the old buildings still retain the
tumble-down thatch of a previous generation, but there
is a good array of stone steadings, of which any breeder
of improved cattle might be proud. Broomley, Bearl
Styford, Sandhoe, and up to Haltou Castle, sacred
^9, the memory of Thomas Bates, arc ali witlua s, cUive of

Pfccpy. Truly a prophet hath no honour in his own country,
for though the blood was Crofton, Tempest, Towneley,
and finally Booth, and the two or three recent purchases "of
the now most fashionable strain from WaUington, this found
little favour in the eyes of the public, as a little Febraary
heifer-calf by Thirteenth Graud Duke from a Maynard
Flora dam, w'eut but for 11 gs., whilst a King Charles
calf a day younger, from a four-cross dam, went for 50 ga.
The herd, however, has a standing of nigh three score
years and tea. But it has been the practice to add occa-
sionally thereto from other leading herds. The excellent
Leopoldiue tribe was a purchase from the Croftons. The
Ruby and Beauty cows, a 500 guinea purchase, from
Towneley, with half-a-crown as a luck-penuy, had but
six descendants in the catalogue, and altogether they fell
50 gs. short of the original cost-money. The old Rosa-
mond and Fame tribes of Booth blood pulled up the
average to within a trifle of £70 for the 75 head, and
taken all through it was a successful sale.

A view of the cows in the fields showed some majestic
animals, red, white, and roan, and conspicuous were they
by their grandly arched ribs, broad backs, and developed
structure of huge proportions. Ten or a dozen of the
cows might fairly have put to shame the cow class at
Wolverhampton, and difficult would have been the task to
select one, two, and three therefrom. Some were for lot
10, the white 8th Beauty, which finally went, down-
calving, to swell Mr. llaslam's new herd at Bolton, Lan-
cashire for 115 gs. Others took the massive roan Ringlet
2ud, with her deep body and graceful Lady Fragrant
head. She also goes into Lancashire at a good 220 gs.
Elegant's Bride, another white, was a ridiculously cheap
cow, at 50 gs. ; inasmuch as she was evidently going
over her time. The majestic Meggy, lot 20, was pro-
bably the largest of the lot, aud she is to remaiu in
the county on Sir M. W. Ridley's Blaydon estate.
How different was her owu sister Lady Jane, (lot 29)
newly calved, giving 22 quarts a.day ; and lucky was Mr.
Balmer in getting her and her calf 60 gs. cheaper than
Meggy. Lot 22, Duchess of Windsor, was another ex-
traordinary milker, aud probably the sweetest cow, hair,
colour, and symmetry combined, in the herd. The vil-
lage Belle (lot 33), another exquisite specimen of symme-
try, was very doubtful, still only three years old; but even
this did not deter the practical Mr. Ridge, from Australia,
who finally got her, amid the applause of the bystanders,
for 105 gs. She has all the appearance of breeding, and
a thi-ee months, sea voyage will, doubtless, render her, it
is to be hoped, an increasing member of the bovine race.
Lot 86, Bracelet, was also like a winner, and graudam of
the massive lot 11. Two hundred v/as bid for her to go
to the Antipodes, but she is for the county of Durham.
The Fames were not all the plums, though several were
right good animals. Castanet, lot 1, was mere beef, and
her Ravenspur daughter, rather erratic in her ways, made
110 gs. on an in-calf guarantee, and so goes, with others
bought by Mr. Maxwell Gumbletou, into Ireland. Mr.
Benson, for Mr. Low, Tipporary, was alsj a buyer from
across the channel. Castanet 3rd — the third generation
— went newly calved to Mr. Chrisp at the first of three
figures. Casket, another useful heifer from lot 1, was also
bought by Mr. Gumbletou, and the 4th Castanet seemed
well selected by Mr. Bowman for his Cumberland lot.

A long chapter might be written on crossing ; its effects
on the rash pursuer's jjurse, and its prolific results among
the herds of Great Britain. Purity aud ])edigree are
the rage nowadays, and well may they be. The current of
the good blood is disturbed, and judgment in introducing
a fresh strain is rarely fouud in the young, while, whcu
practised by the old the original character takes
too long a period to restore. A good family
becomes uuprolific and a cross of totally ilifi'ereut

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

451

blooci, and more often an indifferent animal and
family besides are introduced iu the plebeian state,
fertility follows witb crudeness of form and divererence of
character. Thus was it with that extraordinary Mistress
Mary family. At Knowlmere they were the pinks of
perfection, with the gloi-ious cow Marion at their head.
On a luckless day this white beauty was mated with Lord
Liverpool, a bull with, certainly, as much pure Duchess
blood iu his veins, as Marion boasted pure Booth in
hers. The ungainly but fruitful Primrose was the issue,
and she gave birth to three heifers in succession. Mr.
Gumbletou got her, cheap enough, at 68 gs. Mr. Robt.
Jefferson took her daughter, even more crude, at50gs. ; her
second goes to Sussex at 41gs., a more promising animal ;
and the one by King Charles, a mere calf, with the ori-
ginal blood restored fetched 70 gs. Two of the tribe had
got a still wider cross in Yellow Jack, and carried the
result of their union in their hue. Several of the old
Tyneside blood were good strong useful cattle, with
darying propensities, and no very dear purchases were
they. The bulls came out better than many expected.
Mr'. Thornton, who sold the females, retired, and Mr.
Wetherell finished the sale with the bulls. King Patrick
excited some keen competition between Mr. Lambe, of
Aubourn, and Mr. Ridge, of Australia, who finally took
him at 135 gs. Mr. Dickin got quite a show bull iu
Marraaduke, and at but 56 gs. ; while Nobleman, a
much fancied calf, goes to Ireland. Mr. John Angus took
Golden King as an improvement to the Bearl herd, and
Mr. Geo. Angus got one of the very best bred and most
promising calves in King John, who is likely to sustain
the dairy properties and wonderful uniformity of the few
remnants of the old Broomley stock. Julius Csesar, put
in at 50 gs., was a cheap lot for Mr. Robinson ; and
Pioneer, an omitted yearling, by Jeweller (26460), from
Susanna, of the Alnwick Castle blood, made 120 gs.,
which his massive frame and splendid quality deserved.

As a day nothing could have been more unfavourable.
The wind blew in fie'-ce gusts along the valley of the
Tyne, carrying dust and dirt before it in clouds. Mr. J.
C. Booth, who was surrounded with congratulating friends
after his severe illness, occupied the chair, Mr. Grey the
vice-chair, and Mr. Geo. Atkinson and Mr. Wetherell
responded to the brief and all-sufficient toasts, Mr.
John Atkinson, the elder brother, shows signs of the three-
score years and ten, at which time he had decided to sell
his stock, and he was withiu a couple of months of the
period. It must have been a great day for him, friends and
neighbours came round him from all parts. To his nephew,
Geo. Potts, belongs much of the credit of bringing out
the animals ; and with the larger portion of the five thou-
sand realized, Mr. John retires iu the evening of life
after a long, peaceful, successful day at the old tumble
down farm of Peep-I-see, to the obscure little homestead
at Seldom Seen, where peace and good wishes be with
him.

COWS AND HEIFERS.

Castanet, roan, calved March 1, 1857.— Mr. Chirnside, 27 gs.
Young Honeysuckle, roan, calved September 23, 1859. — Mr.

Bolara 50 gs.
Countess of llotlisay, red and white, calved March 3, ISGO. —

Mr. J. Curry, Edinburgh, 33 gs.
Leopoldine 3iid, red and white, calved April 21, 1863. — Mr.

T. Balmer, rorchabers, 43 gs.
Jnlia 2nd, roan, calved June 5, 1864. — Mr. J. Curry, 62 gs.

[Her roan bull-calf. — Mr. N. Henderson, 50 gs.]
Familiar Hamilton, white, calved July 15, 1864. — Major

Cochrane, Gainford, 54 gs.
Red Gem, red, calved October 25, 1864.— Mr. 1. Marshall,

Annan, 50 gs.
Golden Rose, rich roau, calyed November 4, ISO^.—Mv. T.

H. Miller, 82 g«.

Castanet 2nd, red, calved November, 1864.— Mr. R. M. Gum-

bleton, Ireland, 110 gs.
Beauty 8th, white, calved January 1, 1865.™ Mr. J. r.

Ringlet 2nd, roan, calved March 21, 1865.— Mr. T. H.

Miller, 220 gs. ^^ ^ ^

Lady Mary, roan, calved May, 1865.— Mr. B. Spraggon,

35 gs
Moss Rose, red, calved September 8, 1865.— Mr. Knight,

29 ""s
Primrose, roan, calved March 28, 1866.— Mr. R. M. Gumble-
tou, 68 gs.
Gipsy Lass, roan, calved June 6, 1866.— Mr. J. Currie, 47 gs.
Elegant's Bride, white, calved December 9, 1866.— Sir 1. C.

Constable, Bart., 50 gs. „ ^ , .

Rosette, roau, calved December 22, 1866.— Mr. H. Robmsou,

145 gs.
Lady of Conna Hill, red, calved January 18, 1867.— Mr. S.

Campbell, 35 gs.
Ruby 8th, roan, calved March 20, 1867.— Mr. J. Grimes,

43 gs.

Her roan cow-calf.— Mr. S. Campbell, 10 gs.
Meggy, roan, calved April 11, 1867.— Sir M. W. Ridley,

175 gs.
Kathleen 3nd, roan, calved April 25, 1867.— Mr. R. M.

Gumbleton, 53 gs.
Duchess of Windsor, roan, calved May 11, 1867.— Major

Cochrane, 105 gs.
Leopoldine 3rd, red with a little white, calved September 19,

1867.— Mr. H. Robinson, 61 gs.
Tulip 7th, red with a little white, calved January 22, 1863.—

Mr. R. Emmerson, 63 gs.
Bride of Windsor, white, calved February 25, 1868.— Mr. J.

P. Haslam, 100 gs.
Oxford Lass, roan, calved March 19, 1868, Mr. F. W. Low,

Ireland, 51 gs.
Castanet 3rd, red, calved April 9, 1868.— Mr. L. C. Chnsp,

Alnwick, 100 gs.
Miss James, roan, calved April 15, 1868.— Mr. H. Robinson,

50 gs.
Lady Jane, roan, calved May 5, 1868.— Mr. T. Balmer, 85 gs.

Her roan cow-calf.- Mr. T. Balmer, 32 gs.
Ringdove, roan, calved July 19, 1868.~Major Cochrane,

140 gs.
Roan Duchess, roan, calvsd August 23, 1868.— Mr. T. Mar-

shall, 70 gs.
Oxford Cherry, red and white, calved in March, 1869.— Mr.

J. R. Singleton, 44 gs.
Village Belle, roan, calved in March, 1869.— Mr. A. C. Ridge,

Australia, 105 gs.
April Flower, white, calved April 17, 1869.— Mr. B. Sprag-
gon, 32 gs.
Primrose 3nd, red, calved May 8, 1869.— Mr. R. Jefferson,

50 gs.
Bracelet, roan, calved May 14, 1869.— Mr. J. Kirton, 225 gs.
Gipsy Queen, roan, calved July 4, 1869.— Mr. J. P. Haslam,

33 gs.
Casket, red and white, calved September 14, 1869.— Mr. R. M.

Gumbleton, 120 gs.
Red Rosette, red, calved January 1 4, 1870.— Mr. R. Jeffer-
son, 51 gs.
Sonsie, red and white, calved October 29, 1869.— Mr. M.

Davidson, 60 gs. Her red and white bull-calf.— Mr.

Davidson, 10 gs.
Primrose, 3rd, red with a little white, calved April 1, 1870.—

Mr. J. C. Mappiu, 41 gs.
Castanet 4th, red and white, calved May 2, 1870.— Mr. J.

Bowman, 125 gs.
Lucretia 2ud, roan, calved July 15, 1870.— Duke of Northum-

berlaud, 150 gs.
Julia 3rd, white, calved October 10, 1870.— Duke of Northum-

berlaud, 50 gs.
Tulip 9th, red, calved October 23, 1870.— Mr. W. Thomson,

Canada, 63 gs.
Lady Fragrance, red and white, calved November 23, 1870.—

Mr. D. M'Conuell, Austraha, 55 gs.
Lady Annie, red and white, calved December 23, 1870,-- 'Mr

Dickingoa, 47 gs, ^ ^ „, ^

Ruby llih, ruiiu, cnlvcd February 9, 1871.-"Mr. F, W, Low^

5g gs,

II II 2

452

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

Lady Caroline, roan, calved April 3, 1871.— Mr. D. M'Connell,

Australia, 31 gs.
Roan Duchess 2nd, roan, calved May 3, 1871.— Mr. D.

M'Connell, 54 gs.
Kathleen 3rd, roan, calved July 5, 1871. — Mr. R. Jefferson,

33 gs.
Leopoldine 4th, red and white, calved July 18, 1871. — Mr. H.

C. Pole Gell, 51 gs.
Primrose 4th, roan, calved August 37, 1871.— Mr. H. C.

Pole Gell, 70 gs.
Countess, calved, roan, November 5, 1871. — Mr. J. P. Has-

1am, 34 gs.
Lady Flora, roan, calved January 3, 1873. — Sir M. W. Ridley,

40 gs.
Oxford Ducliess, red and white, calved February 27, 1872. —

Mr. B. Harrett, 11 gs.
Queen of Windsor, red, calved February 28, 1872. — Major

Coclirane, 50 gs,

BULLS.
Bumper 2nd (33107), red, calved June 4, 1870.— Mr.

Wilkinson, 38 gs.
Bismarck (38030), red, calved September 11, 1870.— Mr.

Dixon, 45 gs.
Under-Sheriff, roau, calved November 31,1870. — Mr. Benson,

44 gs.
King George (28968), roan, calved December 10, 1870.— Mr.

Hawksby, 46 gs.
Jollv Butler, roan, calved January 14, 1871. — Mr. March,

37 gs.
Marmaduke, red roan, calved March 3, 1871. — Mr. E. J.

Dickin, 56 gs.
King Patrick, red roan, calved March 4, 1871.— Mr. R. C.

Ridge, Australia, 135 gs.
Nobleman, roan, calved June 16, 1871.— Mr. F. W. Law,

80 gs.
Fitz-Charles, roan, calved October 30, 1871. — Lord Ravens-
worth, 33 gs.
King James, red and white, calved October 31, 1871. — Mr. R.

Emraerson, 34 gs.
Merry King, roan, calved November 12, 1871. — Hon. G. E.

Lascelles, 33 gs.
Golden King, roan, calved November 14, 1871. — Mr. J. An-
gus, 42 gs.
Warlaby Lad, roan, calved November 27, 1871.— Mr. J. Wil-
son, 50 gs.
Julius Caesar, red, with a little white, calved January 14,

1872.— Mr. W. Robinson, 50 gs.
King John, roan, calved February 31, 1873. — Mr. G. Angus,

33 gs.
Tichborne, red and white, calved February 31, 1873. — Mr.

Moore, 11 gs.
Victor, white, roan ears, calved February 35, 1872. — Mr. M.

Davidson, 12 gs.
Pioneer, roan, yearling (bull omitted). — Mr. Watson, 130 gs.

SUMMARY.

£ s. d. £ s. d.

57 Cows averaged 74 15 9 4,263 0 0

18 Bulls „ 50 11 6 910 7 0

75 „ 68 19 6 £5,173 7 0

SALE OF MR. LAMB'S SHORTHORNS,

At Hay Cakr House, Lancaster, on Wednesday,

April 17, 1872.

BY MR. STRAFFORD.

These animals were removed from Mr. Lamb's resi-
'lence at Hay Carr, and sold in a field near the Bay Horse
Inn. The preface to the catalogue stated that the herd
had been verv carefully bred for a long ])criod. About
one-half the lots owe their origin to a fine old cow bv
Archibald (1652) ; there were also several descendants of
Mr. Birchall's Lucy Long, by Col. Towneley's Royal
prize bull. The Duke of Lancaster, the tribe containing

some good sound blood that was fashionable in the earliest
ages, and which traced to Bolingbroke, the sire of Ta-
vourite. The remainder consisted of some good old sorts,
including Jessamine, of Mr. W^ilson's Certainty tribe, by
the uuconquered Royal Butterfly (16862). She was the
dam of Sir John, lot 0 of the bulls. The sires used had
been selected with the greatest care and judgment, and
comprised Mr. Bolden's Constantine (14318), by the
1,000 gs. Grand Duke; Majestic, bred by Mr. Slye, by
Sir James (16980) from Sir C. Knightley's Chrysalis, by
Earl of Dublin ; Baron Bates, by a son of Third Grand
Duke, from Mr. Bolden's favourite cow. Czarina, sold for
300 gs., and Grand Count 2nd, by Grand Duke of Lan-
caster, likewise a son of Third Grand Duke. The young
stock were by Golden Duke, who is also by Grand Duke of
Lancaster, and from a grand - daughter of Czarina.
From the appearance of the various lots it seemed as
if the farm had been overstocked. There was a good
show of milk in a number of the cows, and many
of them being newly calved ; the calves selling as extra
lots, though they made fair prices, reduced the average of
the 40 head to £28 lis. 8d. Lot 2, Evergreen, a useful
cow of the Archibald blood, made 45 gs. (Muckalt).
Mr. Wilson gave the top price of the day, 60 gs., for
Cherry Blossom, a wide, good cow. Jessamine, the
Royal Butterfly-Certainty cow, a high-bred looking ani-
mal of amorous temperament, went very cheap to Mr.
Townley Parker, at 34 gs., her bull-calf realising 25 gs.
(Sayer). Mr. Lowthvvaite gave 43 gs. for lot 10, Cherry
Bud, and Princess Amelia, a thin cow of excellent
quality, made 40 gs. (Alderson). A roan heifer-calf from
lot 1 fetched 25 gs., and 40 gs., the highest hull price,
was given for Sir Richard, out of Cherry Blossom, lot 6,
by Mr. Gardener, Several of the lots were the property
of the Rev, J. Swarbrick, of Thurnham Hall.

SALE OF MR. JAMES DICKINSON'S
HERD,

At Upholland, Wigan, on Thursday,
April 18th, 1872.

BY MR. J. THORNTON.

We stood for a long time beside Prince of Prussia at
Canterbury and Duke of Holland at Leeds, where they
ran the first winners a close tie ; indeed, few breeders,
not alone tenant farmers, unknown as it were, could turn
out a couple such bulls in so short a time, and Towneley
had many a near squeak for it at the Royal North Lan-
cashire meetings. High farming and potato growing
prevail in that terrible mining district around Wigan, and
the small Lancashire farmers might in their careful
frugality teach a lesson to men of large estate. Mr.
Dickinson went to Mr. Birchell in the dark ages of Short-
horns and bought a bull calf, which was followed by
another bull calf and two heifers, one of which, Amelia,
dropped both Duke of Holland and Prince of Prussia,
by Sir Charles Knightley's Pope Eye, bought at
Fawsley, on that rainy day of 'F'ifty-six. One or two
purchases, not the most fortunate in the world, were
made from Mr. Knowles ; and from Capt. Gunter's cow.
Fashion, bought in calf to Grand Duke of Wetherly,
came Hyde Park. This bull was succeeded by Second
Lord Wharfdale, who, after a short reign, was displaced
by the Duke of Devonshire's Buxton, a noble-looking
bull, to whose prowess half the heard was ac-
credited. The catalogue comprised thirty-six head,
most of which were descendants of lot 1, Rosal-
bina, a tine old Pope's Eye cow, and a good

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

453

milker. The beautiful condition and general uniformity
of the whole herd were the admiration of the company,
over which Mr. Drewry, of Holker, presided. There was
indeed not an indifferent animal in the entire herd, and
the result of twenty years' careful selection and judicious
breeding was a herd such as few older breeders could
bring out. Lot 1, Rosalbina, was reserved by leave of the
company as a favourite cow of Mrs. Dickinson's. Her
eldest daughter, the white Ada, also an exceSlent milker,
and a fine even coWj went cheap at 40 gs. One of the
best animals in the sale, lot 12, Acacia, was from her, a
three-year-old of immense size, with style, abundant
soft hair, and quality. She was a cheap investment
for Mr. Upson, at 86 gs. Ada was also the
dam of Duke of Westwood, a young bull that had already
distinguished himself in the show yard, and promises to
continue the success of his youth. Mr. Upson also got
hirn a guiuea dearer than his own sister, while Mr. Slatter
took his own brother, a roan January calf, at 27 gs. The
Lucy tribe, springing from an extraordinary fine dairy cow,
had been thirty years with Mr. Dickinson, and he had cer-
tainly kept up both the size and milk, adding thereto
quality and style. Lot 2, Lucy 6th, a very fine cow, was
bought for 48 gs. by Mr. Thorn. He also took her
Buxton daughter at 87 gs. Mr. Knowles, of Bolton, got
her white two-year-old at 76 gs., and the top price of the
day, 92 gs., was given by Mr. Smethurst for Lncy 10th,
another Buxton heifer out of rather a plain dam, which
went to Mr. Townley Parker at 38 gs. Buxton with all
the vigour of his youth seemed a cheap lot at 78 gs. (W.
Bonlton), but he had well eai-ned his cost at double that
sum, for his heifers, although not quite evenly ribbed,
were a very uniform good lot, with abundant hair,
beautiful colours, and an elegaut carriage and style
hard to find in any but this strain. Some of the
heifers went very reasonably, inasmuch as they were
not long served, for having the promise of Mr.
Mnsgrave's Royal Lancaster, a young bull of great
promise, Mr. Dickinson kept them back. Still the general
average of £51 9s. was a very satisfactory result, con-
sidering no great outlay had been made in female purchases.

SUMMArvY.

£. s. d. £. s. a.

25 Cows averaged 53 9 4 1,336 13 0

9 Bulls „ 45 17 0 412 13 0

34averaged £51 9 0 £1,749 6 0

SALE OF MR. NEVETT'S SHORTHORNS.—
On April 8th about fifty head of Shorthorns, several be-
ing pedigree animals, were sold at Yorton Villa,
Shrewsbury. They were the property of Mr. W.
Nevett, who is endeavouring to combine heavy milk-
ing properties with pure blood. The cattle were,
however, low in condition, the farm being consider-
ably overstocked. Although there was a large attendance
of buyers, the biddings, owing probably to the poor state of
the animals, and most of them having newly calved, were
languid. The cows went from 19 gs. to 41 gs., and heifers
from 16 gs. to 30 gs. One or two bull-calves sold well,
and some half-bred heifers better still, the 31 head ave-
raging just over £26. Mr. Thornton was the auctioneer.

MR. GEO. MITCHELL'S DAIRY STOCK.— This
sale was held at Newton Park Farm, Burton-on-Trent, on
the 3rd April. The cows were very useful, and several of the
best made 30 gs. ; one in-calf cow going as high as 36 gs.
The young stock were a good lot, and sold well, heifers in
calf to pure Shorthorn bulls fetching as much as 30^ gs.
Royal Master Butterfly 7th went for 39 gs., and the
young bulls ranged from 15 to 31 gs.

SALE OF THE LITTLE HADDO SHORTHORNS.—
Mr. James Cochrane, Little Haddo, Foveran, Aberdeenshire,
lias had his annual sale of young Shorthorn bulls. The at-
tendance of buyers was small, and from want of purchasers the
sale passed off very stiffly. Mr. Cochrane has had iu his herd,
for about a year and a-half, two ot the best Shorthorn bulls in
Scotland — viz., Baronet, bred by the Duke of Buccleuch, and
Lord Henry, reared by Mr. Harret, Kirkwhelpingtou, North-
umberland. They stood third and fourth at the recent show
of the Highland Society, and besides many other prizes,
gained the cup at Aberdeen — Lord Henry in 1870, and Baronet
in 1871. AIL the young bulls catalogued had Lord Henry for
sire, and they were undoubtedly tlie best lot that has ever
come from Little Haddo. They were remarkably strong, well-
conditioned, beautifully coloured, finely haired, and well shaped.
Lord Arthur, Commander, Selim, and Juryman are especially
promising bulls. The seven yearling heifers had also Lord
Henry for sire, and, like the bull, were proofs of his excellent
stock-getting qualities. The bulls averaged over £33 each.
Probably the cheapest was Lord Byron, a very promising
animal. Mr. Mitchell, Meikle Haddo, was judge ; and Mr.
Mitchell, St. John's Wells, Fyvie, auctioneer. The following
is the sale-list : Lord Arthur, red ro^in, Mr. W. Warwick,
Newmlll, Fintray, 36 gs., Jupiter (twin), red with a little
white, Dr. Hay, Monyrine, Longside, 31 gs. ; Commander,
roan, Mr. Harvey, Pitcarsie, Foveran, 34 gs, ; Selim, white,
Mr. Moir, Tarby, Ellon, 33 gs. ; Bushranger, light roan, Mr.
Morrison, Cairnbanua, New Deer, 29 gs. ; Admiral, white, Mr.
Mortimer, Dunbennan, Huutly, 30 gs. ; Champion, roan, Mr.
Duncan, Aberdeen, 29 gs. ; Juryman, red and white, Mr.
Warwick, Newmill, 47 gs. ; Fehx, red and white, Mr. Stewart,
Cairnhill, St. Fergus, 27 gs. ; Lord Byron, roan, Mr. Feddes,
Minnies, Foveran, 30 gs. ; Tally-ho, white, Mr. Simpson,
Auchtylair, New Deer, 27 gs. ; Squire Udny, roan, ;\Ir. Eddie,
Belhelvie, 26 gs. ; Lord Henry, white, taken in at 41 gs. Of
the seven yearhng heifers and three cows offered, only two of
the former and one of the latter found purchasers, and these
brought unsatisfactory prices.

SALE OF THE WIGGANTHORPE LEICESTERS
AND SHORTHORNS.— The flocks and herds of the late
Mr. Robert Cattley were recently sold by auction by Mr.
R. Boulton, of Malton, at the Wigganthorpe Park Farm. The
Leicester sheep were descended from the flocks of Messrs.
Borton, Souley, and Kendall, and the ewes were in lamb to
rams of Mr. Borton's blood. The sale was attended by
breeders from all parts, and about 2,000 people stood round the
ring. The Leicester ewes ranged from 74s. to 102s., and
averaged aU round 91s. 3d. per head; the wether and gimraer
hoggs ranged from 60s. to 93s., and averaged all round 77s. 6d.
per head. Cross-bred hoggs made from 74s. to 82s., and South-
down ewes in lamb 70s. per head. The Shorthorns were the
residue of the herd which suffered so severely during the rin-
derpest. This part of the sale was the least satisfactory. Fat
bullocks made from £23 to £27, cows from £19 to £26, heii'en
£'17 to £22. There was a demand for horses and the keenest
competition. Good-looking strong agricultural horses
ranged from £40 to £63 per head, and other horses sold equally
dear.

SALE OF SHORTHORNS AT KINNELLAR.— The
annual sale of young Shorthorn bulls and surplus cows bred
by Mr. Campbell took place at his farm of Kinnellar, Aber-
deenshire. Twenty good yearling bulls were catalogued for
sale. Two, however, recently met with slight accidents, and
were not offered ; and a third, undoubtedly the finest of the
lot, a rich roan, of fine shape and of excellent quality, was
retained for service in the herd. The seventeen exposed were
good as a whole — strong, well-bred, and in seasonable con-
dition. They sold very readily, and realised high prices
averaging close on £39 a-head. Their sires were Sir Chris-
topher, a useful roan of the Booth blood ; and Duke, a three-
year-old, stylish, white bull, bred by the present owner, and
the winner of the first prize at the Royal Northern Agricul-
tural Society's shows at Aberdeen, besides several local show-
yard honours. The average price obtained is tiic second
highest of the season realised by the numerous breeders in the
north of Scotland — the Sittyton bulls only surpassing those of
Kinnellar in price. Five good cows were catalogued, hut they
did not fetch very remunerative prices. The sale was
largely attended, and Mr. Mitchell, Fyvie was auctioneer,

iU

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE AGRICULTURAL HOTEL
COMPANY.

The general meeting was held at the Hotel in Salisbury
Square, Mr. H. Trethewy iu the chair, when the following
report was adopted :

In submitting tlie balance-sheet and accoiints for the year
1871 to the shareholders, the directors have to congratu-
late them on the continued improvement in the pros-
pects of the Company, The trade receipts for the past
year have amounted to £15,177 10s. 4d., being an increase
of £1,759 3s. U. on those of 1870. The interest on the
mortgage, the debentures, and preference stock, together
with the last instalment of arrears of interest oa the latter,
having been paid, there is still a balance of £1,094 13s. 4d.
to the credit of the revenue account. Out of this the di-
rectors recommend a dividend of £2 per cent., free of income-
fax, on the original capital, being declared. This will leave a
balance of £257 Is. 4d. to be carried forward to the next ac-
count. The manager reports that the increasing business of
the Hotel necessitates additional bed-rooms. From May 1st
to December 31st last, he was obliged to refuse accommodation
to 1,310 visitors, in consequence of the Hotel having been
full. The directors therefore suggest the immediate construc-
tion of about 40 more bed-rooms. With this view they have
made inquiries as to the possibility of their obtaining a lease
of the additional ground required from the Earl de la Warr,
the ground landlord, and they find there would be no difficulty
in this respect. The directors are advised that to build and
furnish the new rooms would involve an outlay of about
£5,000. Should the shareholders concur in this suggestion,
the directors would proceed with their negociations, and the
further consideration of the subject, and, when their plans are
matured, would invite the sliareholders to a special meeting,
to consider them and to settle the final arrangements. The
directors deeply regret to have to record the loss of their
colleague, Mr. John Clayden, who died in July last. Mr.
Henry Cheffins, of Easton Manor, Dunmow, Essex, has been
elected by the directors to tlie vacant seat on the board,

Mr. H. Trethewy and the Rev. J. Browne, the retiring
directors, were re-elected, and it was agreed to proceed with the
proposal for extending the accommodation of the Hotel.

SALES OE SHARES IN AGRICULTURAL COM-
PANIES.—At the sale of the late Mr. John Clayden's
shares at the Mart, by Messrs. Beadel, the highest price
made for £10 shares in the Nitrate-phosphate or Blood-
manure Company was £19 15s. ; and for new shares of £10
each in the same Company, £16 . The highest price for £10
shares in the Agricultural Hall Company was £13 15s. ; and for
£10 shares in the Agricultural Hotel Company, £5. Shares
iu the Royal Farmers' Insurance Company with £2 paid up
made £3 5s. These prices show a deterioration in the mar-
ketable value of Agricultural Hall shares, which have changed
hands at £17 a share ; and as noticeable an improvement in
Agricultural Hotel shares, consequent no doubt on the de-
claration of a dividend at the General Meeting on Tuesday.

SALE OF IMPORTED SHORTHORNS IN MEL-
BOURNE, AUSTRALIA.— Vice-chancellor, a roan bull,
calved in April, 1870, made £157 10s. ; Henry the First,
a red bnll, calved in the same month, £162 15s. ; Felix, a red
bull, calved in January, 1870, £126 ; General Hopewell, a
red bull, calved in March, 1870, £315 ; Midshipman, a red bull,
calved in May, 1870, £220 10s. ; Gloster's Satellite, a red
bull, calved in April, 1870, £126 ; Concord, a roan bull,
calved in May, 1870, £141 15s. ; Royal Rose, calved in June,
1870, £320 10s. ; Grand Duke, a roan, calved in September,
1869, £126. Considering the high breeding of these animals,
from some of the best stock of England, these prices are re-
garded by practical men here as low.

DEVONSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.—
At a quarterly meeting at Exeter, Mr. J. U. Kennaway,
M.P., in the chair, Earl Fortescue moved the presentation
of a memorial to the Government praying for some strin-
gent measures to prevent the importation from Ireland of di-
seased stock. The motion was seconded by Mr. Whipple and
carried. The three Bills on the public health — those of the
Government, Sir C. Adderley, and Sir H. Selwin-lbbetson—

were discussed, the Rev. W. Karslake moving that a petition
be presented to Parliament in favour of Sir C. Adderley's mea-
sure. The motion was seconded by Earl Fortescue, but ulti-
mately withdrawn; and, as proposed by Mr. J. Daw,and seconded
by Earl Fortescue, it was resolved that, in the opinion of the
Chamber, lesjislation for the sanitary improvement of the coun-
try was desirable, and that the consolidation of the law on the
subject was essential.

LEICESTERSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,—
The show this year will be held at Market Harborough, and
Messrs. J. E. Bennett, J. H. Douglas, R. Worthington, jun.,
Jos. Perkins, J. S. Clarke, T. Willson, and E. K. Fisher, have
been appointed a committee to meet the Harborough commit-
tee, and report to a future meeting.

LEICESTERSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.
— At the last meeting, the president, Mr. J. Croft, in the
chair, Mr. W. Wright proposed the following resolution :
"That this Chamber, without entering iuto the merits
or demerits of the sanitary bill, and wishing by expressing its
opinion to give every support to Sir Massey Lopez's proposed
motion on April 16th, strongly protests against any further
increase of the burdens upon the rates until there has been a
thorough revision of local taxation." Mr. T. Wright
seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Mr,
Hambly proposed " That this Chamber considers the question
of equal rates for carriage of goods on all railways is most
important, and that when the subject of amalgamation of
railways is discussed in Parlianent it should be earnestly pro-
moted." Mr. Willson seconded the motion, which was
carried.

LINCOLNSHIRE CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.—
At a meeting of the council of this Chamber held at Lincoln
on Friday, Mr. Wm. Gavfit in the chair ; the following reso-
lutions were passed : That a committee be appointed for the
purpose of taking measures for circulating information upon
the question of local taxation amongst the ratepayers of the
principal towns of the county ; That tliis council altogether
disapproves of the proposed appropriation of educational
endowments for secondary or middle-class education ; That in
the opinion of this meeting it is inexpedient that the highway
district system should be adopted throughout the parts of
Lindsey against the opinions of tlie ratepayers ; That whilst
this meeting approves of many of the provisions of the public
health bill it disapproves of the means by which it is proposed
to levy the expenses which would be incurred in carrying its
provisions into effect ; That iu the opinion of this council it
is very desirable that any additional expenditure rendered
necessary by furtlier sanitary legislation should be contributed
from imperial resources according to the recommendation of
the Sanitary Commissioners ; and That the council approves
with certain alterations of the bill, recently laid before the
House of Commons by Mr. Clare Sewell Read.

THE GAME-LAWS COMMITTEE.— The first meeting
was held on Friday, April 19, when Mr. Hunt was ap-
pointed chairman. The members of the committee were re-
commended to make themselves acquainted with the report of
the previous, or " Bright's Committee," from which point the
present inquiry may be assumed to proceed. Evidence will be
taken more fully on the Scotch section of the subject, but some
English witnesses will be the first called, immediately after the
meeting of the committee on Tuesday, April 30th,

AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS' UNIONS.— Meetings
have been called for Tuesday and Wednesday, the 30th April
and 1st May, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Willis' Rooms,
King Street, St. James', to discuss the following questions
connected with unions among agricultural labourers : Tlie
influences of unionism upon the agricultural interests of this
country. The regulations of agricultural unions — 1. As to
ordinary work. 2. As to work during harvest time. 3. As
to classifying labour according to its efficiency. The estab-
lishment of a system of arbitration for disputes between the
agricultural labourer and his employer. And such other
questions as members of the conference may decide to put on
the discussion paper. The chair will be taken bv Mr. T,
Hughes, M.P., and Mr. A. J. Mundella, M.P. The following
have already promised to attend : Lord E. Fitzmaurice, M.P. ;
the Hon. H. G. Liddell, M.P. ; the Hon. Auberou Herbert,
M.P. ; Sir Charles Dilke, M.P. ; Sir Harcourt Johnstone,
M.P, ; Messrs, G, Dixon, M.P. ; T. Hughes, M.P. : H. Faw-

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

455

cett, M.P. ; E. B. Eastwick, M.P. ; C. S. Read, M.P. ; J.
L'andlisli, M.P. ; T. Lea, M.P. ; A. Johnstone, M.P. ; J.
White, M.P. ; W. Morrison, M.P.; W. Allan (Amalgamated
Engineers) ; E. Coulson (Operative Bricklayers) ; G. Potter ;
Lloyd Jones ; R. M. Latham (Labonr Representation League) ;
R. Applegarth ; J. Arch (Warwickshire Labourers' Union) •
H.T. Strange (Herefordshire Labourers' Union) ; and Canon
Girdlestone. Lord Derby has declined an invitation to take
part in the proceedings, considering that little good is likely
to result from such a conference in such a place.

HE FAEMEES AND THE MILK
QUESTION.

At an adjourned meeting to consider how best to ensure
the delivery of pure milk to the public, and to receive the re-
port of a deputation which had been appointed to bring the
problem under the notice of tlie Corporations of Manchester
and Salford, from forty to fifty farmers were present.

Mr. H. Neild (Worsley), who occupied the chair, said
the deputation had been well received by the Mayors of Man-
chester and Salford, wlio had showed they were determined to
enforce the delivery of pure milk within the two boroughs.
The object of the farmers was not to deal with the price, but
with the supply, for the price would regulate itself.

Mr. R. Wharton, hon. secretary to the meeting, read
communications which had been forwarded by the Town
Clerks of Manchester and Salford. Two of them were as
follows :

Town Clerk's Office, Manchester, April 5, 1872.

Dear Mr. Neild, — Since I saw yon yesterday, I liave had
the opportunity of talking with tlie Mayor, and of hearing
what passed at the interview which you and your friends had
vith him a few days ago. I can only repeat what I said to
you yesterday — and in the expression of this opinion I have
the hearty approval of the Mayor — that there is no doubt
that tlie Corporation will be most willing in every way whicli
may be found practicable to co-operate with yourself and
friends in your endeavour to secure a supply of milk in a
purer and less adulterated state than is now, it is feared, gene-
rally obtained for the district. What can, however, be done
is a question of considerable difficulty, as you and Mr.
Richards, who have had conversation with Mr. Leigh, our
officer of liealtli, upon the subject, are aware of the great im-
portance of the object which yourself and friends seek to
accomplish tiiere can be no difference of opinion ; and it ap-
pears to me you deserve the thanks of the community for
agitating the question. After all, however, it is one of the
many cases in which the public must to a great extent help
themselves. In many cases the very price paid ought to be
quite sufficient evidence to the purchaser that it is not milk
but water and milk, if nothing worse, that is purchased. At
the same time it is, no doubt, very desirable every effort
should be made to inform the inliabitants wlio wish to obtain
it, from whom pure — not diluted and adulterated — milk can
be obtained. How this can be done is, as I have already said,
difficult to determine. I am, &c.,

Jos. Heron, Town Clerk.

Borough of Salford. — Extract from the minutes of the
General Health Committee, April 3, 1872 : The Mayor re-
ported that a deputation of farmers, consisting of Mr. Henry
Neild (Worsley), Mr. Richards (Preston), Mr. Wliarton
(Pendletou), and Mr. Newton (Carriogton), had waited upon
him concerning tlie question of the quality of milk supplied
to consumers in the borough, and suggested the desirableness
of appointing a milk-analyst to test the quality. Resolved —
that the question referred to in the report of the Mayor be
deferred for consideration until the provisions of the Public
Health Bill as to the appointment of a public analyst have
been dealt with by Parliament, and that Mr. Neild be in-
formed to this eflfect.

Another communication which Mr. Wharton read had been
written by Mr. Andrew, Salford Town Clerk. He stated that
the Public Health Bill alluded to in the extract from the
minutes of the health committee would, in his opinion, very
shortly become law. The Corporation of Salford would then
be in a position to consider the scope of their present powers
in conjunction with the additional powers conferred on them
by Mr. Stansfeld's bill, and with every desire to further the

object which the deputation to the Corporation had had in
view, they would go into the whole question.

The Chairman said Mr. Stansfeld's measure did not go
quite far enougli, because it was simply directed against adul-
terations which were injurious to public health. Milk, with
water in it, might not be prejudicial to health. An effective
plan had been adopted by the Bolton Corporation, whose
powers were somewhat similar to those of the Salford Cor-
poration, to put a stop to the watering of milk. Every week
recently they had published the names of those persons who
vended pure milk, and those who sold milk of inferior quality
within their jurisdiction. This course had had a very good
effect in Bolton. Heretofore people who had endeavoured to
deal in pure milk had had no chance anywhere with those
who sold impure milk. With regard to prise, he thought a
good effect might be produced if the method of distributing
tlie milk was improved. There was nothing more expensive
and unbusinesslike than for the carts of two or three different
owners to be distributing milk in the same street. He con-
sidered that dealers in railk ought to be registered. If a man
went about selling cabbages, potatoes, brushes, or almost any-
thing else, it was necessary for him to procure a licence ; and
why should not milk-dealers be under the some obligation ?
He would not, however, compel milkmen to take out a licence
which would cost them anything ; they should merely_ be
registered, in order that those who sold an impure article
might easily be traced. Farmers did not desire to dictate to
the public that they should pay this or that price ; but, as he
had endeavoured to show by figures at the last meeting, the
cost of production last year was not similar to the cost of pro-
duction this year. Not a single quart of genuine milk was at
present to be obtained in London for fourpence. He had not
yet been answered the question, Were there as many gills of
milk sold daily in Manchester as there were people ? (Cries
of " No"). He thought there was not half nor quarter of a
gill sold ; and until the poor people could buy pure milk, the
trade in it would not be so great as it was capable of being. _

Mr. Thomas Newton (Carringtou) said he was_ afraid
the public considered the object of the farmers was chieflyto
obtain 4d. for every quart of milk they sold, and not to give
pure milk. That was not so. The persons who formed the
meeting desired solely the commencement of a trade in un-
adulterated milk, knowing that every article in the market
must find its proper value.

Mr. Richards (Eylde Dairy) suggested that in orderto
lessen the cost of distributing milk, which was something
like three-farthings a quart— (A Voice : " Yes")— farmers
should endeavour to trade in the districts nearest to them.
Another reason in favour of this plan was that in summer'
milk had a tendency to turn sour when being conveyed any
distance. He proposed that a committee should be appointed
to confer with the authorities on the question in hand, to
watch Mr. Stansfeld's bill, and to get inserted in it something
in furtherance of the views of the meeting.

Mr. R. Wharton seconded the motion, which was passed
without opposition ; and Mr. H. Neild, Mr. R. Wharton, Mr.
James Kay, Mr. David Partington, and Mr. John Markindale
were then elected a committee.

On the motion of Mr. Wm. Challoner, seconded by Mr.
R. Parkinson (Northenden), it was determined to form a
Club, to be named the Manchester Earraers' Club, in which
farmers could meet to discuss questions affecting their inte-
rests, and agree upon the course to be adopted whenever occa-
sion should arise for combined action.

THE PRIZE FARM SYSTEM.— Mr. Gore Langtou
has offered the following prizes to his tenants for the best
managed farms on his estates in Somersetshire and Gloucester-
shire : — For the best managed farm, exceeding 150 acres in
extent, prize of £50 ; the second, £25. For the best managed
farm of not less than 50 and not exceeding 150 acres in extent,
prize of £30 ; the second, £15. The Judges are requested, in
making their awards, to consider the general management of
arable and grass land, the quality and suitability of the live-
stock, the state of buildings, fences, gates, and roads. There
are about twenty entries over which the judges— Messrs. E.
Little, of Lanhill, Chippenham ; and Mr. R. J. Newton, of
Campsfield, Woodstock — will commence a tour of inspection
about the beginning of May.

456

THE PARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE HEREFORDSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

At the annual meeting on Wednesday, April 17th,
owing to the notice of motion by Mr. G. Torablings, having
for its effect the rescinding of rale 5, which says that all
cattle exhibited, extra stock excepted, must be of the pure
Hereford breed, and the opening of the Society to the ad-
mission of Shorthorns and otlier breeds, in competition for
special prizes that might be offered, there was a more tlian
usually large attendance. Major Peploe, the president for the
year, was in the chair.

The Rev. Archer Clive said that a meeting of the com-
mittee had been held that afternoon, at which the matter had
been discussed, and at which it had been resolved to recom-
mend that an alteration be made in rule 5, so as to admit for
competition for special prizes offered by individuals — not by
the society — cattle of otlier than the local breed ; and it was
announced, further, by the Secretary that letters in approval
of Mr. Tombling's proposition had been received from Mr.
Chandos Wren Hoskyns, M.P., Mr. Eiddulph, M.P., Mr.
Arkwright, Jlr. Rawlings, Stoke, Tenbury ; Messrs. Kell,
lloss ; Mr. Morgan, Shrewsbury ; Mr. C. Kearsey, Glew-
stone ; Messrs. Robinson, Gloucester ; Messrs. Tucker, Aber-
gavenny ; and Mr. G. Pye, Hereford. Letters had also been
received by Mr. Tombliugs from Messrs. J. and H. Day, of
Crew, announcing their intention of ofi'ering £5 at the next
show for Shorthorns, and from ]\[r. 13. C. Tipper, of Bir-
mingham, offering a like prize for the best fat ox not of the
Hereford breed.

Mr. ToMBLI^'GS proposed his resolution as follows :
" That whereas, owing to the altered state of pro-
prietorship and tenancy in this county since the Society was

established, it is expedient that other breeds of cattle than the
Hereford breed should be recognised in its operations ; and 1
hereby move that rule 5 — which says that all cattle exhibited
(extra stock excepted) must be of pure Hereford breed — shall
be rescinded and struck out, and that classes for Shorthorns
and other breeds be iutroduced for special prizes that may be
offered by their admirers or breeders." He had always been
of opinion that far more money might be got for the Society if
it were looked after, and if the show was in some respects
less restricted ; and, as the secretary had announced, he had
himself received the offer of two £5 prizes from different
counties for breeds of cattle other than local ; he was privi-
leged also to announce that Mr. Pulley was prepared to give a
prize of at least £b, and perhaps more, for other breeds ; and
lie had received a letter from Mr. Rankiu offering most
liberally to give £30 for four or five years to be distributed
in prizes for Shorthorn and other breeds of cattle.

The Mayor, seconded tlie proposition, which on being put
to the vote was carried by a large iu:ijority. No one voted
against it, but there were some few who did not vote at all.

Mr. RoBI^'so:^, Lynhales, could not help feeling that the
Herefordshire show was not in a very flourishing condition.
He was aware the balance was on the right side ; at the same
time he thought there was a want of animation and a want of
life, which a little painstaking might considerably alter. The
cost of working the Society w»s a cost for which might well
be worked a very much larger concern, while of the £495
worth of prizes offered in the total, £116 only were really the
gift of the Society proper. Mr. Robinson suggested a more
active canvass for subscriptions, but no resolution was put.

AGRICULTURAL REPORTS.

REVIEW OF THE GRAIN TRADE DURING THE

PAST MONTH.
Every advantage has been taken by farmers of tlie favourable
change in the weather. Out-door labours have been rigor-
ously prosecuted, and there appears to be some likelihood that
the backwarduess of tliese operations will be somewhat reme-
died. The season, however, has so far advanced that wheat
sowing has become rather precarious, and it has been resolved
in some parts of the W^est of England to devote some portions
of the land hitherto parcelled out for wheat for spring corn
crops. It is generally admitted that the actual area under
wheat will be smaller than was anticipated, owing to the
unsettled character of the season, and the saturated state of
the soil hindering sowing. Winter wheat geueraliy looks
well ; it is very forward for the time of year, but tliere is
mostly an absence of discolouration in the plant, and so far as
can be seen it promises well. Tlie dry weatlier of the past
week has frequently necessitated the employment of the roller
to stimulate the hold of the plant on the soil. In the pastures
and meadow lands there is a good supply of grass, and cattle
can readily obtain a fair feed.

Notwithstanding the more favourable weather, and the
generally satisfactory accounts at hand from the agricultural
districts, the trade has acquired a firmer tone, and wheat has
sold at enhanced rates. In the face of declining stocks, and
of the prospect of limited receipts from America and Europe,
such a result was not anticipated. There is very little doubt
thatthe weather will inlluence the trade to no small extent,
but it is an open question whether, even with fine weather,
prices will not be maintained at their present level. Late
advices from New York state that the stocks there had been
materially reduced, and at the Lake ports tliere had been a
falling off in the accumulation, which the partial restoration
of canal communication had so far failed to obviate. At the
Russian ports also there is said to be a scarcity of wheat, and
at Odessa the stock is reported to be not only deficient in

quantity, but to be of most inferior quality. Germany appears
to have drawn too freely on her stocks, and is now endea-
vouring to replenish by purchases in the Russian ports. As
regards the French demand, the inquiry recently has some-
what subsided, and with the absence of reliable statistics, it is
hazardous to state wlietlier her supplies will be sufficient to
meet her requirements up to next harvest, which it is but just
to state, judging from present appearances, promises to be an
early one.

The spring corn trade has been more animated. There has
been a strong inquiry for French barley, and the quotations
have ruled Is. per qr. liigher. Maize and oats have also
advanced Is. per qr., and beans as well as peas have been fully
as dear.

The following statement shows the imports and exports of
grain, &c., into and from the United Kingdom since harvest,
viz., from August £6th to April 20th, compared with the
corresponding periods in the three previous years :^

Wheat

Barley

Oats

Peas

Beans

Indian Corn.
Flour

Wheat

Barley

Oats

Peas

Beans

Indian Corn
Flour

Impobts.

1871-2.

1870-1.

1869-70.

1868-9.

Cwt.

Cwt.

Cwt.

Cwt.

26,933,169

21,099,617

27,858,277

18,892,195

8,567,091

5,192,807

5,435,216

7,751,920

5,956,305

1,939,539

6,367,827

4,090,724

525,681

487,511

853,126

858,537

2,325,572

1,187,300 1,247,816

1,914,639

12,279,910

9,698,746 13,028,310

9,005,324

2,118,352

3,068,405

4,334,368

2,712,836

Exports.

2,044,676

2,559,.500

199,423

14,257

78,918

18,153

86,923

1,172,403

79,107

7,240

45,246

10,527

5,001

15,983

1,225

20,617

56,980

13,604

47,385

1,294,960

14,118

137,154
90,429
76,615
12,487
4,213
881
22,422

1*HE1 FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

457

The Contiuental graia trade has been firmer. Purchases
have been more freely made, and both wheat and flour have
tended upwards in vahie. In America, with decreasing stocks,
wheat and ilour have commanded more attention at full quo-
tations. The quantity of wheat in sight at New York on the
6th inst. was 9,232,366 bushels against 8,509,332 bushels
last year at the same period, corn 11,255,813 bushels against
3,979,323 bushels, and oats 5,218,696 bushels against
1,983,029 bushels.

quantitt of geaiit ilf sight at new toee, apeii, 6, 1872.

Wheat. Oobn. Oats.

Bush. Bush. Bush.

In store at New York 1,881,946... 421,856 ... 1,320,911

„ Albany 5,700 ... 600 ... 133,000

„ Buflalo (Aprill) 369,2-19... 153,300... 379,839

,, Chicago* 1,514,391 ... 6,425,436 ... 1,075,082

,, Milwaukie 1,775,000 ... 736,901 ... 297,216

„ Duluth 60,000 ... — ... —

„ Toledo (April 1) 421,202 ... 999,875 ... 381,457

,, Detroit (April 1) 211,131... 80,551... 181,751

„ Oiswego,* 230,000 ... 10,000 ... 500

„ St. Louis 219,913 ... 473,209 ... 235,982

„ Boston 6,788 ... 70,125 ... 107,114

„ Toronto (Apr. 1) 358,983... 2,2.50... 58,290

„ Montreal (Ap. 1) 165,400... 145,262... 68,676

„ Philadelphia*... 145,000 ... 110,000 ... 120,000

„ Baltimore * 60,000 ... 140,000 ... 42,500

Amount in New York

canals 1,118,203 ... 1,033,212 ... 653,075

Rail shipments for week... 99,460... 450,236... 173,303

Total 9,232,366 ...11,255,813 ... 5,218,696

Total in store and in

transit, Mar. 30, 1872.... 8,915,160 ...10,699,149 ... 5,148,174

Ditto, Mar. 2.3, 1872 9,273,110 ...11,422,247 ... 5,571,080

Ditto, Mar. 16, 1872 9,460,636 ...11,976,881 ... 5,576,908

Ditto, Mar. 9, 1872 0,673,660 ...11,508,341 ... 5,834,753

Ditto, Mar. 2, 1872 9,819,211 ...11,236,536 ... 5,911,184

Ditto, Apr, 8, 1871 8,609,332 ... 3,979,323 ... 1,983,029
* Estimated.

REVIEW OF THE CATTLE TRADE DURING THE
PAST MONTH.

On the whole a fair amount of steadiness has been noticed
in the cattle trade. The supplies of stock have been about an
average, and the quality has generally been satisfactory. From
our own grazing districts the receipts of beasts have been on a
fair average scale, and the condition of the Scotch and Norfolk
stock has been very good. A few prime Spanish beasts have
also been on offer. As regards trade, steadiness has on the
whole predominated, and, despite some temporary adverse
fluctuations, prices have been characterised by a fair degree of
firmness. The best Aberdeen Scots are now making 5s. 4d. to
53. 6d. per 81bs., but some tolerably good Norfolk stock has
sold at 5s. per 81bs.

With reference to sheep the receipts from abroad have been
more liberal, and there has been at the same time a good show
of English breeds, so that the total supplies offered have been
more liberal. Although the demand has not been active, the
trade has been firm, and prices have been supported. The
best Downs and half-breds, clipped, have made os. lOd. to 6s.
per 81bs.

Lambs have been scarce and dear, at from 9s. to 9s. 6d.
per Bibs.

Calves, the supply of which has been moderate, have sold
steadily at full prices.

Pigs have been quiet, on former terms.
There is an abundance of grass in the pastures, and no difli-
culty is experienced in feeding stock.

The total imports of foreign stock into London during the
past month have been as follows : Head.

Beasts 2,836

Sheep and Lambs 77,700

Calves 1,592

Pigs 91

Total

... 83,219

Corresponding period in 1871 49,562

„ 1870 37,068

1869 48,926

„ 1868 18,267

„ 1867 36,935

„ 1866 37,115

„ 1865 37,816

„ 1864 15,442

„ 1863 16,031

„ 1863 9,616

1861 11,119

1860 10,489

„ 1859 8,888

1858 5,998

The arrivals of beasts from our own grazing districts, as

well as from Scotland and Ireland, thus compare with the

three previous years : April. April. April. April.

1872.

Norfolk, Suffolk, &c 9,200

Other parts of England 1,500

Scotland 670

Ireland 150

The total supplies of stock exhibited and disposed of at
the Metropolitan Cattle Market during the month have been

as under : Head.

Beasts 31,145

Sheep and Lambs 174,600

Calves 3,278

Pigs 584

1871.

1870.

1869.

6,450

2,100

752

390

8,431

3,543

1,479

725

4,830

3,666

571

353

Comparison of Supplies.
Beasts. Sheep and Lambs. Calves.

April.

1871 10,973 '89,045 545

1870 19,528 164,553 1,800

1869 18,849 144,760 1,329

1868 16,380 138,600 1,403

1867 16,350 113,770 977

1866 11,350 130,180 308

1865 19,670 92,850 1,279

1864 33,300 107,010 1,596

1863 19,390 113,060 1,341

1863 19,000 110,500 1,077

1861 17,140 103,630 497

1860 18,512 114,450 1,848

1859 11,8.50 110,114 430

1858 17,950 104,380 1,333

Beasts have sold at from 3s. 2d. to 5s. 6d., sheep 3s. 8d. to
6s., lambs 8s. 6d. to 9s. 6d., calves 4s. 4d. to 6s., and pigs 3s.
8d. to 5s. per 81bs. to sink the oft'al.

Comparison of Prices.

April, 1871. April, 1870.

s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d.

Beef from 3 0 to 5 10 3 0 to 5 0

Mutton 33 to 60 30 to 50

Lamb 6 6 to 8 4 7 6 to 8 0

Veal 3 8 to 5 6 3 10 to 5 8

Pork 3 6 to 5 4 — —

Pigs.
540
430
585
1,765
1,805
3,331
3,602
3,100
2,540
3,055
3,663
3,140
1,990
3,097

Beef from 3

Mutton 3

Lamb 6

Veal 4

Pork 3

April, 1869,

s. d. s. d

3 to 5 8

3 to 6 6

0 to 7 8

8 to 6 2

8 to 5 2

April, 1868.

d.

3 to 5

4 to 5
6 to 7
0to5
4 to 4

NORTH NORTHUMBERLAND.

We have most studiously refrained noting a line from our
rural district until the lapse of time looks like the " eleventh
hour." And it must stand recorded that up to this (19th April)
our spring corn sowing is far from being completed ; and with
immense extra horse labour a large per centage of what has
been got in is far from our usual nice finish. The season has
proved altogether singular, all in a state of mud, with fresh
foggy days, almost constant light rain, until about 30th March >

458

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

when we had immense falls of soft snow until the end of the
mouth. On an ordinary farm we only could go on the stale
ley furrow to sow oats on the 6th inst. A succession of cold
wind has since prevailed, rendering all strong soils ploughed,
or wliere sheep had been folded, as hard as brick-eartl\ in two
or three days. Oats on lea furrow are generally seeded. Land
ploughed up since January for wheat takes immense extra
labour, nor can we make it a good barley-seed bed : many a
broad acre cannot be broken up until a rain-fall. On light
dry soils the work is more forward ; yet, taking aU in all, we
are much in arrear. Wheat shows a limited acreage ; breadth
was needed in autumn, and chance fields were sown in a very
wet state during the first and second month, part (of early
sorts) as late as March ; but taking the district from which we
write, it may be estimated at little if anything over half the
usual extent. Autumn and also early winter wheat retain
a good colour, with a full plant. The breadth left over for
barley will be much in excess of ordinary seasons ; but it now
seems a question whether the laud can be cultivated into a
seed-bed ; to say the least, it promises to be one of the latest
seasons for spring cereals for many years past. Isot so with
pasture lands and seeds, which on all positions afford a rich
full bite for the ewe flock. Straw, hay, turnips and potatoes
extra plentiful. Tlie latter blessings ought to make us all truly
thankful for present supplies. The agriculturist, however, is
and will be the pioneer for the million, and must look to the
future. He is destined to toil and till the soil, and give bread
to the eater, watch the seasons, sow and reap. After all bring
the produce to market to asbist in feeding the million. We
were not always fed on foreign produce, and it might again
chance that such nnceria'm supplies may be under embargo.
W^e hope not in our days ; yet, as a great, almost overgrown
population, we ought to humble ourselves, and place more de-
pendence on Divine Providence, Who giveth bread to the eater
and water to the thirsty, Who has command and control over
the seasons. We hope and trust that our " seed-time and har-
vest" will be vouchsafed, so far as we may have enough of
home produce and to spare, as will suffice our fellow-subjects.
It is really alarmiug, when all willing hands are fully employed,
that they will not " let well be well," but keep and pay
a bond of demagogues in idleness to sow discord among tlie
willing, well-doing working classes, who are at present in
greater request than at any period during the present century.
Very stormy and all white, 9 a.m. — April 19.

AGRICULTURAL INTELLIGENCE,
FAIRS, &c.

AYR FEEING f AIR.— This fair was held in Ayr, and was
crowdtd with farmers and servants. The fair was rather a
stiff one, as servants in most . cases were demanding high
wages. Cotmen were asking as much as £30 per annum, and
a good many were engaged at wages varying from £2-i to £28,
with the usual benefit ; siuc:le ploughmen obtained from £11
to i"12 for the half-year, young lads from £6 to £10, dairy-
maids from £8 to £10, and young girls from £3 to £6.

BALCOMBE EAIR was attended by a much larger number
of buyers than we have had for some years, and the supply of
stock being rather large, and mostly in good condition, a good
deal of business was done, but as many good lots were fore-
stalled and sold before reaching the fair, there was some trouble
in ascertaining the prices. We may, however, quote fresh
two-year-old steers generally from £14 to £16, Mr, Tester, of
Westop, making the latter price for his lot of sixteen ; but
Mr. Smith, of Paddockhurst, Worth, carried the palm with a
heautiiul lot of six pure Sussex two-year-old steers, that were
purchased by Mr. Glutton, of Hartswood, at £23 each. Heifers
were a ready sale, at from £13 to £15, and yearlings also
fetched good prices. Larger beasts and barrens were much
sought after at extreme rates, but milch cows, not being of
good quality, were rather dull of sale, as were beasts of in-
ferior condition, the principal business being done early, and
good things cleared off in the morning. There were
but very few sheep, and we did not learn the prices asked or
obtained, but the supply of pigs was large, many of the sucklers

and shuts being of a superior kind, the former fctcliing from
18s. to 20s., and the latter from 23s. to 30s.

HOWDEN CATTLE FAIR.— The annual April cattle fair
was held in Hailgate. There was a good atloDdance both of
uyers and sellers, a fair show of lean stock and young cattle,
but very few fat beasts. Prices get higher and higher ; young
stock, especially, sold at higher rates than we ever knew the.m
to fetch before, those of one-year-old bringing, in some in-
stances, as much as £10 to £12, two-year-olds £'15 to £18,
three-year-old steers £18 to £20, fresh drapes for feeding
sold readily at prices varying from £17 to £21, fat beasts
realised 9s. to 9s. 6d. per stone. The show of calves was only
small, and prices very high.

LOCKERBIE FAIR.— This show was held on Thursday.
The first prize yearling Galloway bull sold at £28. The first
prize Shorthorn yearling bull sold at £39. The other Galloway
bulls sold at from £9 10s. to £18, and the Shorthorns at from
£11 to £32. The fat stock sold well. Mr. Bell Irving's prize
bullock sold at £35, and the heifer at the same price. The
other stock sold at from £22 to £36. Half-bred hogss, 40s.
to 56s., or 10s. to 12s. above corresponding market; Cheviot
wedder hoggs, 28s. to 30s., or 7s. to 8s. of advance. Only one
lot of cross hoggs in the market : they sold for about 55s. each.

MUIR OF^ORD MARKET.— The Muir of Ord sheep
market was held on Wednesday, being the most important of
the season for hoggs. Cheviot and black-faced were sold at a
reduction from last month's market. Cheviot hoggs were
down from 4s. to 5s., and black-faced 2s. to 3s., caused by the
sudden decline of mutton and wool in the southern markets.
Half-breds almost maintained last month's prices. Black-faced
wedder hoggs were in greatest demand. Ewe hoggs of every
class were not much inquired after, and those sold at a still
greater reduction than wedders. At the conclusion a great
many lots remained unsold, owing to sellers not being willing
to take the prices offered. Black-faced wedder hoggs ranged
from 22s. to 2Ss. ; ewe hoggs, 19s. 6d. to 25s. ; Clieviot wedder
hoggs. SOs. to 33s. ; half-breds, 27s. to 50s. each.

SHIPSTON - ON - STOUR HORSE AND CATTLE
FAIR. — This far-famed fair for draught horses was held
on Tuesday, and attracted a number of dealers from various
parts of the kingdom, and although in point of numbers it
was not so large as usual, owing to the scarcity of liorses,
yet rarely has there ever been exhibited such a show of first-
class animals for size, symmetry, and colour. Mr. Wynn, of
Grafton, near Stratford, was the purchaser of from twenty
to thirty remarkably fine animals, which were re-sold to
Mr. Barton, of Liverpool, at prices ranging from 30 to 80
guineas. Such was tlie demand for horses that anything worth
notice fetched extraordinary prices. The trade amongst store
Sheep was also good. Ewes and lambs, from 65s. to 95s. per
couple ; tegs, from 55s. to SOs. ; barren ewes, 60s. to 70s. each ;
milch cows, £22 to £25 ; steers, £12 to £17 per head ; mutton,
Sd. ; beef, 9d. per lb.

SOME RTON FAIR. — On Tuesday the attendance of
buyers and sellers at our fair was not large, and the number of
stock on offer was greatly below the average of former years.
Fat beasts fetched from 12s. 6d. to 13s. 6d. per score ; barreners,
£14 to £20 ; cows and calves, £16 to £22. There was only one
pen of ewes and lambs, which were sold at 72s. Store lioggs
scarce and dear, and sold at 50s. to 60s. each.

TRINITY MUIR TRYST.— At this old-established raar-
ket the weather was cold and stormy, with raw showers. There
was not the usual attendance, and tiie show of all classes of
stock was much short of past years. Besides being short
in number, there was not the heavy class of cattle which this
market was famed for , neither were there anything of tlie
sorts in two-year-olds for grass, which the Lothian and Fife
stockholders were in the habit of picking up. Fat cattle were
rather a stiff sale, with a clearance, at lis. per Dutch stone for
top quality. All store cattle were high, but this might be ac-
counted for by the short supply of Irish stock. The few Irish
shown were of inferior quality, and stirks sold from £4 to £7
each.

WAREHAM FAIR.— The annual cattle fair took place on
Wednesday last, when fat beef made from 13s. to 13s. 6d. per
score, heifers and calves £13 15s. to £22 5s. per head, bar-
renners £20 to £30 per pair, yearling bulls £12 to £15 per
liead.fatbulls £18 to £22 5s., Down sheep 45s. to 72s. per
couple, fat lambs 453. each.

WEYHILL FAIR.— This fair was held on Thursday. The

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

459

number of sheep penned was vather under the usual average,
which must be accounted for by the shortness of stock and
the great quantity of keep in this country. The trade for all
descriptions ruled very slow at firm prices, and a great quan-
tity changed hands at tlie following quotations: Couples 70s.
to 76s. ; tegs at 50s. to 60s. per head. A large pen of wether
tegs belonging to Mr. Blake, of Redenham, near Weyhill,
made 65s. per head. The show of cows was large, and they
sold at good prices.

WHITCHUflCH FAIR.— The usual monthly fair was held
on Monday, on which occasion there was a moderate display
of horned cattle in the usual places, nearly all being soon dis-
posed of at good prices. The pig market was well stocked,
pork maintaining late prices. Mr. Cooper's auction mart was
filled, the catalogue comprising nearly 120 head of fat and
dairy cows and heifers, besides a large number of sheep, pigs,
fat calves, lambs, &c. Messrs. Churton, Elphick, and Co.,
opened their new covered Smithfield in the Victoria Hotel-
yard, the sale of cattle being a very fair one. Here also there
were plenty of buyers, and the bidding in the several instances
were animated.

WORCESTER FAIR.— A lively trade was done on Mon-
day, nearly all descriptions of stock being purchased freely.
Beef realised from 7id. to 8d. per lb., and mutton from 7 id.
to 8gd. Store cattle were a little easier. Veal made 9d. per
lb. Few horses on offer. Messrs. Hobbs sold fat cows at
£27 ; fat oxen, £23 2s. 6d. ; fat bull, £31 ; cows and calves,
£25 ; fat calves, £5 17s. ; fat sheep, £3 19s. ; ewes and
lambs, £4; fat lambs, £1 16s.; bacon pigs, £3 15s. ; store do.,
£1 5s. 6d. Total, £3,04.1 10s. 6d. Mr. Bentley sold 60 head
of fat and store cattle, 150 fat and store sheep, and U fat
pigs. Beef made 8d. to 9d., and mutton 8d. to lOd. per lb.
Pigs sold at last market rates. Mr. Higgs sold a quautity of
stock at good market prices. Mr. Nathaniel Taylor sold 40
head of fat and store cattle, 10 fat calves, 200 fat and store
sheep, and a number of fat and store pigs, which realised good
market prices. John Hillman disposed of 41 head of fat and
store cattle and 260 sheep and lambs. Fat cows made from
£16 2s. 6d. to £28, or 7id. to 8|d. per lb.. Mutton sHghtly
depressed ; shorn sheep 9d. per lb., in the wool ll^^d. ; one
pen of fat shorn ewes made 89s. each ; ewes and lambs, from
54s. 6d. to 82s. per couple. Mr. Hillman also sold seven sows
with pigs and a quantity of store pigs, prices being about the
same as at last market.

IRISH PAIRS.— Ennis : Finished three-year-old heifers
were bought up in lots at from £16 to £19 each. Fat bullocks
brought from 14 to 17 guineas each. Milch cows and springers
in demand at from £18 to £20 ; yearlings, £6 to £9. Sheep
sluggish sale ; best wethers, 64s. to 68s. ; hoggets, 54s. The
entire number of pigs did not exceed 500, and there was keen
competion for bacon lots, fully 58s. per cwt. having been paid.
Berwicks sold at 48s. to 50s. — Charleville : There was a
fair supply of cattle— prices from £13 to £20 ; sheep slack —
one-year-olds brought from 18s. to 24s. A brisk demand for
pigs at from 46s. to 50s. per cwt.

HOP MARKET.

BOROUGH, Monday, April 22. — The increased business
noticed in our last has continued during the past week, render-
ing holders of stock more confident ; and although prices show
no advance considerably more firmness is observable. Factors'
boards are very meagrely supplied, consisting principally of
medium hops, choice grades being exhausted. Colory sam-
ples of yearlings are in fair request at late rates. Foreign
markets are firm. Alost are in good demand.

Mid and East Kent £10 10 £12 12 £17 0

WealdofKent 8 10 9 9 10 10

Sussex 7 15 8 8 9 9

Farnham and country ... 11 11 13 0 16 0

Mid and East Kent £3 0...... £4 4 £6 10

WealdofKent 3 0 4 0 5 15

Sussex 3 0 3 10 5 5

Farnham and country ,., — 6 0 7 0

Olds 1 5 1 10 2 0

POTATO MARKETS.
SOUTHWARK WATERSIDE.

LONDON, Mo>'i)AY, April 23. — During the past week the
arrivals coastwise have been moderate. The last four days
the weather has been cold for the season, which has caused
a better demand at the following quotations :

Yorkshire Flukes 110s. to 140.s.

Regents 100s. to 120s.

Dunbar and East Lothian Regents ... 110s. to 140s,
Perth, Forfar, and Fife „ ... 100s. to 130s.

„ „ Rocks 100s. to 110s.

Kent and Essex Regents 90s. to 110s.

Rocks ... 90s. to 100s.
French Whites 60s. to 70s.

BOROUGH AND SPITALFIELDS.

LONDON, Monday, April 23.— The supplies of potatoes
have been less extensive. There has been a moderate demand
at about late rates. Tbe imports into London last week con-
sisted of 2 baskets from Rotterdam, 45 tons from St. Malo, 98
tons from Dunkirk, 47 tons from Dabouet, and 289 boxes from
Lisbon.

Flukes 1503. to 170s. per ton.

Victorias 140s. to 160s. „

Regents 140s. to 160s, „

Rocks 110s. to 130s.

SCOTCH SHORTHORNS.— The cattle, when housed at
all, are very well housed. The buildiags which contain them
have all been erected by Lord Kinnaird himself upon his own
plan. Their main features are space, light, clenliness, and
abundant ventilatiou and air, without the possibility of
draught. But when I was there they were only partially used
for the bulls, young and old, and a few of the younger females.
The rest were all out in the fields, the majority ot them day
and night, braving, without shelter, the keen cool air of a
Scotch November on the Eastern coast. With the exception
of a very few which have been shown, or are intended for show,
they earn their own living. Some of the Great Hope heifers,
I thought, had been treated even too severely, for they had
spent the summer on the inferior pasture on the high Rossie
braes. They are hard and healthy. The herd is very uniform
in its character. It may well be so, for it has been began,
carried on, and perfected, during the long period of 36 years,
under the constant attention and supervision of its owner.
Whatever is done there, he is the doer of it ; and it may well
improve, for Lord Kinnaird has constantly refused to sell his
best females. There have been no periodical sales, but the
butcher has had the weedings. Only this last summer the
long-pursed Americans came, saw, admired, and wished to buy
some of the Great Hope heifers ; an offer which was steadily
declined. It will be seen what great use has been made for
many years past of the best Booth bulls. Tlie .result might
have been anticipated. This herd now contains far more of
the Booth blood than any other herd in Scotland ; and its
cattle display tliat majestic massiveuess so peculiarly charac-
teristic of Warlaby descent. Tbey are generally beautifully
symmetrical and neat, of good size, and have also hair and
touch of the best kind. To this point particularly Lord Kin-
naird has given his attention ; and they who, possibly through
ignorance, supj ose that superiority of hair and touch is con-
fined to shorthorns of one strain of blood only, may be recom-
mended to go to Rossie Priory, and there learn to remodel
their erroneous creed. Tbe Herd they will see there is one
of which any country might be proud, and which, it is to be
hoped, will leave its mark in Scotland. — TAe Bee. J. Storer on
the Rossie Herd.

FARM ACCOUNTS.— The Committee of the New York
State Agricultural Society has just awarded a silver medal to
Mr. Alexander Jemmett, of Murrell Hill, Binfieid, for his
system of keeping Farm Accounts.

i60

I'HB FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

REVIEW OE THE CORN TRADE

DURING THE PAST MONTH.

Witli rather less rain than is usual, April, on the whole,
has been a fine and seasonable mouth, though frosty
nights, especially on the 19th, cut some portion of the
wall and orchard fruit ; and the nuts, which were tempted
early into blossom, must have seriously suffered. The
wheat also in some localities has been less favourably
spoken of, and the great quantity of rain which fell in
January too strongly bound together the elay soils to
give much promise of a crop. It is also alleged that less
wheat than usual has been sown, which must tell at har-
vest time. The stores, however, of green meat, from the
great mildness of the season, have been superabundant,
which, however serviceable at the table, would have been
doubly valuable but for the diminished stores of cattle and
sheep. The barley sowing, which at one time was seri-
ously threatened, has proceeded diligently in a drier soil,
and the grass lands never looked better, notwithstanding
the frequent visits of frost. We are now approaching the
season of rapid growth, when the general appearance of
the crops will tell their own tale. But the question of
stocks is disputable ground. For the last five weeks the
deliveries in the 150 towns, which make them up, have
been 28,000 qrs. weekly below what they were in 1871.
This must either be caused by dissatisfaction with prices,
which lately have been 3s. 7d. per qr. less than last year, or
from dimished stores, which seems to us the more pro-
bable reason. And if this be the case, as we have still
four months to provide for, the circumstance of lai'ge
stocks of foreign still on hand will be insufficient to pre-
vent a rise, unless heavy arrivals set in, more especially
as country millers have of late been drawing largely upon
them. The fluctuation of prices for the last live weeks
have left values pretty much as they were, though closing
upwards. It is, therefore, very important to know what
are the stocks of the great shipping ports on the Conti-
nent, and in America, and what encouragement is there
to ship freely. In Germany they are short, and high
priced : much, therefore, is not to be expected from
the Baltic. At New York they have been rising,
and though an abundauce of maize may come forward
from the large gatherings of 1871, there is not the same
surplus of wheat. AVill Southern Russia do much ? The
answer is, that at Taganrog they have preferred shipping
tallow to wheat, and Odessa really seems the only over-
done port. But a serious impediment to shipments ex-
ists there in the great inferiority aud bad condition of
the wheat in store. The best qualities won't pay at
present rates, and if much inferior comes here it will have
to be sold dog-cheap ex ship, or be certainly burdened
with heavy granary expenses. France, too, may yet want
a good deal, and has been dearer lately. So altogether
our impression is that a five shillings advance, or even
more, is in prospect before harvest. The following prices
were recently paid abroad : White wheat at Paris GOs.,
red 58s. In Belgium rates were 50s. to 5Ss. Wheat at
Maestricht 55s., at Rotterdam 57s., Polish at Amsterdam
59s., wheat at Lausanne 58s. Gd., at Dantzic and Konigs-
burg fine high mixed 61s. Gd. cost, freight, and insurance.
Wheat at Valladolid 51s., at Leghorn 58s. Gd., Milan
59s., Ghirka at Genoa 56s., red wheat at Philadelphia
58s. lOd. per 4801bs., white 65s. 4d., red spring at
Chicago 41s. 6d., at New York 52s. per 4801bs.

The first Monday, commenciug on the 25th of

March, opened with small English supplies ; but the fo-
reign arrivals were liberal. There was but a limited
show of fresh s;unples during the morning on the Essex
aud Kentish stands, which, being in improved condition,
factors, hoped to obtain a rise of Is., but they soon found
millers in no disposition to meet their views, and only the
previous Monday's rates were practicable. The business
done iu foreign was on a small scale, at rather better
prices than were then paid for fine red qualities ; but
cargoes ou the coast recovered Is. to 2s. per qr. Though
the country trade was interfered with by the Easter holi-
days, the early past of the week being winterly gave it
more tone ; but Liverpool was an exception, Tuesday's
market being down 2d. per cental. At Edinburgh there
was a fair demand for wheat at the previous currency,
and though business was not brisk at Glasgow, some de-
scriptions of foreign were Gd. to Is. per qr. higher. At
Dublin there was a steady trade, at unaltered rates.

The second Monday being a holiday iu London no re-
port could then be made, but on the following Wednesday
the market was unaltered.

The third Monday opened on small English supplies,
but with good arrivals from abroad. The morning's show
of samples from Essex and Kent was again on a small scale,
in moderate condition. With the return of damp and
mild weather, however, there was a decline in value of Is.
on all qualities of English, and the slight
improvement noted on the previous Friday, was
then succeeded by a similar decline. Cargoes
ofl' the coast also lost favour, aud relapsed into duluess.
Short supplies again being general at the country mar-
kets, dry samples were rather more in request at full
prices, though, where nothing but damp and poor quali-
ties appeared, there was a decline of about Is., as at
Leeds and Stockton. Liverpool was unaltered at the
first market, but on Friday there was a decline of Id.
per cental. With small supplies at Edinburgh, wheat
was Is. dearer, and prices against buyers at Glasgow. At
Dublin the supplies of native wheat were small, and no
change of value was reported.

The fourth Monday opened on small English and only
moderate foreign supplies. The show of fresh samples
during the morning from Kent and Essex was very small,
but the condition was much improved by fine Aveather ;
yet factors could only report a firm market for their best
samples, and the sale was far from brisk. The only
change to be noted in the foreign trade was an occasional
improvement on the finest white samples, such being in
improved demand. Good red also was firm, but low
sorts continued in neglect. Cargoes afloat, though not
numerous, were without improvement in price. With
drying winds that greatly improved the condition of
samples in the country, the trade had a healthier aspect,
and several places noted an advance of Is. per qr., as
Hull, Ipswich, Stockton, Wakefield, Doncastcr, Glou-
cester, Newcastle, Reading, Norwich, &c. Liverpool,
though unaltered on Tuesday, noted an advance of 2d.
to 4d. per cental on Friday. At Edinburgh, wheat was
Is. to 23. dearer, and firm at Glasgow, with a fair
demand. Prices at Dublin were rather in sellers' favour,
both for native and foreign samples.

The fifth Monday opened on small English and mode-
rate foreign supplies. The show of samples from the

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

461

near counties was very limited, and very much improved
in condition. Factors were tlius enabled to establish au
advance of Is. per qr. on all good qualities, but the sale
was by no means brisk. In foreign, the business done
was scarcely equal to the previous Friday, but fully Is.
per qr. more was realised on all good qualities, and fine
Russian occasionally brought Is. to 2s. advance. The
floating trade was quite as dear for all qualities in good
condition. Edinburgh quoted an advance of Is. to 2s., and
Glasgow Is., Dublin being firm, and the country markets
generally established fully Is. advance.

The imports into London for five weeks were 17,373
qrs. English wheat, 75,238 qrs. foreign, against four
weeks' imports for the same period in 1871, viz., 20,279
qrs. English, 69,912 qrs. foreign. The London exports
were 1,136 qrs. The imports into the kingdom for five
weeks ending 13th April were 3,066,273 cvvts. wheat,
285,900 cwts. flour. The London averages commenced
at 56s. 3d., and closed at 56s. 7d. The general averages
began at 55s. 5d., and ended at 533. lid.

The flour trade throughout the month has scarcely
varied, the only difference being that the last two markets
were firm, and the three previous dull. The arrivals from
the country have continued fair and remarkably equal
week by week, but millers complain that the manufacture
has not paid them, wheat in the country being relatively
dearer than in town, and purchases of foreign in London
being too much burdened with the expenses of transit.
Good Norfolks have been worth 383.,and first-rate marks
proportionately more. Fair barrels 29s., extra to 31s. ;
but these pi-ices not having suited New York, nothing
has arrived for the last three weeks. There is, however,
a stock in London, but its quality being mostly inferior,
it has no chance against country sorts. Town millers
still make 503. as their top price. The imports for five
weeks were 85,571 sacks English, 13,222 sacks 12,877
barrels foreign, against 78,694sacks English, 7,014 sacks
67,896 barrels foreign last year.

The supplies of maize from America being far less than
expected, this grain has somewhat recovered from its late
depression, being fully Is. 6d. per qr. dearer. Mixed
New York was worth 29s. 6d., white Galatz 33s. to 33s.
6d. ; but wheu the canals are open larger shipments may
be expected, and perhaps lower rates. The five weeks'
supply for London has been 32,593 qrs., against 17,465
qrs. in 1871.

The arrivals of British barley have been limited as the
season has been approaching its close ; but the foreign
supplies have been heavy, and consisted principally of
good useful quality from France, which coming more
liberally than anticipated caused a sudden and heavy
depression for a time — say, 2s. to 3s. per qr. From this,
however, this qaulity has partially recovered : what was
at one time sold for 263. per qr. has become worth 29s.
Grinding sorts not having been so abundant, were not
depressed in the same way, and have been pretty steady
as to value all through, fair quality being worth 26s. per
qr. No dependence cau now be placed on the value of
fine malting descriptions, and this sort seems pretty well
used up. The imports into Loudon for five weeks
were 6,324 qrs. British, 71,459 qrs. foreign, against 5,306
qrs. British, 18,017 qrs. foreigu for four weeks in 1871.

The malt trade, with the advance of spring, as usual,
has been very quiet, but prices have kept nominally the
same, and closed firm.

The peculiar character of the present season leading to
the expectation that there would be an unusually early
opening of the Baltic, made dealers in oats generally very
apprehensive that enormous sup])lies would speedily be on
their way to London. The impression paralysing the

hands of buyers brought this grain to a low ebb in point
of value, but the month has seen a recovery of fully 2s.
per qr., 381bs. Swedes, which were selling with difficulty
at ISs., befng now worth fully 20s., and other sorts in
proportion. The granaries, too, were much lightened
during the depression, as holders then seemed determined
to sell. But supplies being only moderate served to show
that foreign shippers were little disposed to make sacrifices,
though the improvement of fully 12 per cent, may bring
larger arrivals shortly. The imports into London for five
weeks were 963 qrs. English, 146,527 qrs. foreign,
against 1,438 qrs. English,"660 qrs. Irish, 121,221 qrs.
foreign for four weeks in 1871-

Beans lost Is. value on the third week, duriug a period
of good foreign supplies, but this is the only diflerence
of value to be noted, and the late improvement in maize
seems calculated to prevent a further depression in this
grain, though we have reached the period wheu consump-
tion begins to fall oft". Ticks and Mazagaus are worth
about 32s., harrows 37s. to 38s., small 40s. to 44s.,
Egyptians 31s. The imports into London for five weeks
were 3,154 qrs. home growth, 9,846 qrs. foreign, against
1,575 qrs. English, 5,227 qrs. foreign last year for four
weeks.

Peas have been in very limited request through the
month, but the value has not changed, being but low at
the commencement, boilers 38s. to 40s., hog feed 32s. to
38s. Farmers now send up so little that they must find
it more worth while to consume them at home, or it may
be that stocks are pretty well exhausted. The imports
into London for five weeks were 985 qrs. English, 2,584
qrs. foreign, against 522 qrs. Englieh, 533 qrs. foreign
in 1871.

With moderate arrivals of linseed this grain has main-
tained its high value all through the month, and it still
seems likely to rule dear for some time, crops abroad not
proving abundant, and its value for feeding being better
known than formerly. The imports into London for five
weeks were 42,890 qrs., against 12,301 qrs. in 1871.

The seed trade, now drawing to its close, has proved
most unsatisfactory. The failure of the crop of clover-
seed here and in France it was thought would force prices
up very high. The best red of home growth, from
scarcity, has indeed fetched high rates, but there was no
quantity, and American has been a losing game, it now
being scai'cely worth 54s. Such a mild winter and such
an abundance of green stuff", with so few beast to con-
sume it, was the ruin of the trade, and it was the same
if not worse with spring tares.

BRITISH SEEDS.

Mustard, per bushel, brown Us. to 16s., white 8s. to 9s. 6d.

Canary, per qr new 52s. S4s....okl 62s. 543.

Cloversd., new red and dark purple85s. 90s., com. 61a. 72s.

Coriander, good, per cwt 56s. 72s.

Tares, winter, new, per bushel 5s. 3d. 58. 6d.

Trefoil, old and low 16s. to 20s new fine 328. 34a.

Ryegrass, per qr 28s. 323.

Linseed, per qr... .sowing 68&. to 7os., crushing 60s. 633.

Linseed Cakes, per ton £11 Ss. to £'11 10s.

Rapeseed, per qr 868. 90s.

Rape Cake, per ton £6 10s. Od. to £6 15s. Od.

FOREIGN SEEDS.

Cloverseed, red 48s. to 56s white 68s, 808.

Hempseed, small 38s. to 40s. per qr Dutch 45s. 46s.

Trefoil 16s. 20s.

Ryegrass, per qr 288. SOs.

Linseed, per qr... .Baltic 58s. to 61s. ...Bombay C3s. 648.

Linseed Cakes, per ton £10 15s. to £11 10s.

Rape Cake, per ton £6 10s. to £6 15s.

Rapeseed, Dutch 723. 76s.

Coriander, per cwt 23s. to 243.

Carraway ,, new , 32s. 338.

462

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

CURRENT PRICES OF BRITISH GRAIN AND FLOUR
IN MARK LANE.

Shillings per Quarter.

WHEAT, new, Essex and Kent, white 56 to 62

,, ,, red 60 66

Norfolk, Linclnsh., and Yorksh., red 60 65

BARLEY 29 to 31 Chevalier, new 36 41

Grinding 28 29 Distilling 29 33

MALT, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk 61 68

Kineston, Ware, and town-made 63

6ro^yn 61

RYE.,

OATS, English, feed 21 to 25 Potato.,

Scotch, feed 00 00 Potato.,

Irish, feed, white 18

Ditto, black 18

BEANS, Mazagan ...30

Harrow 33

PEAS, white, boilers.a

,36
, 26
,00
,22
,27
,30
,36

21..,, Pine

20 Potato..

32 Ticks...

31 Pipeon

40 Maple 36 to 38Grey,new 32
FLOUR, per sack of 2801bs., best town households... 45

Bestcountry households 39

Norfolk and Suffolk 37

FOREIGN GRAIN.

SkiUings per Quarter.

WHEAT, Dantzic, mixed 65 to 60 extra 61to62

Konigsberg 65 59 extra 60 61

Rostock 65 66 fine — 67

Silesian, red :53 65 white.... 57 68

Pom6ra.,Meckberg.,andUckermrk. ...red 64 56

Russian, hard ,42 to 44. . . St . Petersburg and Riga 47 62

Danish and Holstein, red 62 65 American 55 56

Chilian, white 61... Californian 61 ... Australian 60 62

BARLEY, grinding 21 to 26..., distilling and malting 27 30

OATS, Dutch, brewing andPolands 17 to 25 feed 16 19

Danish and Swedish, feed 18 to 21.... Stralsund... 17 21

Canada 17 to 19, Riga 17 to 20, Arch.18 to 20, P'sbg. 18 21

TARES, Spring, per qr small 34 35 largo— 42

BEANS, Friesland and Holstein 32 34

Konigsberg 30 to 3 1... Egyptian 30 31

PEAS, feeding and maple.. .32 36.. .fine boilers 36 40

INDIAN CORN, white 32 33. ..yellow 28 30

FLOUR, per sack, French..00 O0...'Spanish,T). sack 00 00

American, per brl 24 25...extraandd'ble. 26 28

IMPERIAL AVERAGES

For the week ended April 13, 1872.

Wheat 46,536|qrs. 638. lid.

Barley 17,969 „ 36s. 6d.

Oats 4,143| ,, 21s. 8d.

COMPARATIVE

AVERAGES.

WHEAT.
Tears. Qrs. s. d.
1868... 3^,958 ... 73 8
1869... 56,9601 ... 46 g
1870... 62,046 J ... 42 10
1871... 66,1151 ... 67 6
1872... 46,536i ... 53 11

BARLEY.
Qrs. s. d.

8,7801 ... 43 10
12,083 J ... 44 6
14,6161 ... 35 2
15,397 ... 36 5
17,969 ... 36 6

OATS.
Qrs. s.
3,6531 ...29
3,095 ... 27
3,566| ...21
4,3091 ...26
4,143| ... 21

d.

0

7

5

5

8

AVERAGE S

Fob thb past Six
Weeks :

March 9, 1872

Marchie, 1872...,

Marcb23, 1872

March30. 1872

April 6, 1872

April 13, 1872

Aggregate of the above
The same week in 1871...

Wheat,

s. d.

65 8

55 5

54 6

6i 2

64 0

63 11

64 7
67 6

Barley,

s. ci.

37 11

37 7

36 6

37 0

35 11

38 6

36 11
36 6

Oats.
s. d.
23 2
22 11
21 10

FLUCTUATIONS in the AVERAGE PRICE of WHEAT.

Peice.

March9.

Mar. 16.

Mar. 23.

Mar. 30.

April 6.

April 13

65s. 8d.

65s. 6d.

... •■

—>_.—.,

64s. 6d.

i-

643. 2d.

... i-

— "1

648. Od.

"""1

63s. lid.

__— —

PRICES of BUTTER,

BUTTER, per cwt. : s. s.

Dorset 140 to 146

Friesland 124 130

Jersey ..112 124

Fbesh, per doz. ... 12 15

BACON, per cwt :

Wiltsliii-e, green... 74 76

Irish, greeuj fiO.b, 72 76

CHEESE, HAMS, &c.

CHEESE, per cwt. : s. s.

Cheshire 62 to 84

Dble. Glouc, new 56 72

Cheddar 64 88

American 68 76

HAMS: York 94 93

Cumberland ,... 92 96

Irigh 72 dS

CHICORY.

DEtlVEEABLE FEOM WhaEE IK BaQS, EXCttTSIVH OF DuTT,

Harlingen ...£10 15to£12 0 I Antwerp ....* 0 0 to £0
Bruges 12 5 13 0 | Hamburgh .. 0 0 0

TIMBER

BALTIC FIR TIMBER.

Per load 60 cubic f e&t,

8. d. s. d.

Rlga..._ 65 0 to 67 0

Dantzic and Memel,

Crown 80 0 90 0

Best middling 65 0 75 0

Good middling ft

second 80 0 70 0

Common middling 50 0 54 0
Small, short, and

irregular 40 0 50 0

Stettin 50 0 65 0

Swedish 47 0 53 0

Small 40 0 44 0

Swedish * Norway

balks 38 0 42 6

AMERICAN PITCH PINB.
United States 0 0 0 0

BALTIC OAK TIMBER.

Memel, crown 110 0 131

Brack 90 0 105 0

Dantzic and Stettin,

Crown 100 0 12(

Braokftunsquar'd 75 0 9i
WAINSCOT.
Per log 18 cubic feet.

Blga, crown 77 6 110 0

Brack 75 0 8(

Memel and Dantzic,

Crown 75 0 80 0

Brack 40 0 47 0

DEALS AND BATTENS.
Per Petersburg stanoard hundrsd

£ s. £ E.

Archangel 12 10 14 10

Seconds 9 10 10 0

Petersburg 12 10 li

Wyburg 8 15 1(

Finland and haud-

sawn Swedish 6 15 7 15

Petersburg & Riga

white deals 8 10 1(

Memel and Dantzic,

Crown red deals... 0 0 0 0

Brack 0 0 0 0

Christiana ft Sanne-
Bund deals, white

and yellow 10 0

Second do Q 0

Dram & Frederick-
atadt battens, do. 0 0

DramBVa-inohdo. ... 0 0

Gothenb'g.gd stocks 10 0
Common 8 10

Gefle and Swedish
U-feet deals 10 10

Swedish deals and
battens, long mill-
sawn

Dantzic, cr'wn deck,
per 40-feet 3-inch
Brack

to 12 10
0 0

7 10

0 14

LATHWOOD.
Per cubic fathom.

Petersbuig a 0

Riga, Dant., Memel,
and Swedish „. 5 0

FIREWOOD.

Per cubic fathom.

Swedish, red deal
ends 4 6

Norway, red & white

boards 3 5

Boonda and slabs 2 10

OAK STAVES.
Per mille pipe.

Memel, crown 200 0

First brack 165 0

Dantzic, Stettin, &
Hambro' full-siz'd

crown 130 0

Canada, stand, pips 90 0
Puncheon, %! 1,200

pieces 28 0

Bosnia, single brl.,

"i^ 1,200 pieces 30 0

United States, pipe 45 0
Hogshead, heavy

and extra 35 0

Slicht 30 0

ENGLISH WOOL MARKET.
LONDON, Monday, April 22.— The tone of the Wool
market is still healtliy, but business is not extensive ; fine
tiualities command the larger share of attention, but for in-
ferior sorts tliere is not much demand. Business is suspended
in some measure pending the arrival of the new clip.

CUERENT PeICES OF ENGLISH WoOL. 8. d.

Fleeces— Southdown hoggs per lb. 1 114to2

Half-bred ditto „

Kent fleeces ,

Southdovni ewes and wethers ... „

Leicester ditto „

SOETS— Clothing, picklock „

Prime ,,

Choice ,1

Super ,,

Combing, wether mat „

Picklock ,,

Common ,,

Hog matching ,,

Picklock matching „

Super ditto ,,

d.

oi

2
2
11

10|
10
6

3i
2^
2
10

3
1 10

1 71

MANUKES.

Peruvian Guano, direct from importers' stores, £13 Os. per ton.
Bones, crushed £3, half- inch £8 5s., bone dust £8 l"s. per ton.
Coi.rolite, Cambridge (in London) whole £s 53., ground £3 15s., Suffolk

whole £2 10s., ground £3 per ton.
Nitrate of Soda, £ 17 per ton.

Sulphate of Ammonia, £22 103. to £24 per ton. Gypsum,£l lOs.per ton
Superphosphate of Lime, £5 5s. to £0 53. per ton.
Blood Manure, £6 10s. to £8 per ton. Dissolved Bones, £7 per ton.
E. PURSER, London Manure Uompany,

116. Penchurch Street.E.C.

Guano, Peruvian£12 17 6to£0 00|BoneAsh £0 0 0 to£0 00

Llnsd.Bomby.p.q
Linseed Cake, per ton —
Amer.,thin, bgs.lO 5 0
Cotsd.Cake, decor. 7 0 0
Rapeseed.Guzerat 3 10 0
Cloverseed.N.A

6 0, Phosphate of Lime 0 0 0 0 00

iNiger 0 0 0 0 0 0

10 10 0 Nitr.otSoda, p.ct.O 15 0 0 00

7 5 0 German Kainit 0 0 0 0 00

3 12 oiTallow, 1st P.Y.C. 0 0 0 0 0 0

2 8 Oi „ super.Norths 2 10 2 3 0
SAilUEL DOWNES and CO., General Brokers,

No. 7, The All^any, Liverpool,

Prentice's Cereal Manure for Corn Crops „.„.„..„.„.„.. ..per ton £8 0 0

Mangold Manm-e .-......._ ,, 8 0 0

Prentice's Tui-nip Manui-e ...„ C 10 0

Prentice's Superphosphate of T^lrae o 0 0

^^^^^ Agricultural Chemical Works, 3to>vmarket Su.fo!k.

Printed by Kogersou aud Tuxford, 205, Strtvud, Loudon, W.C.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

MAY, 18 7 2.

CONTENTS.

Plate I.— CUPBEARER : A "EOYAL" SUFFOLK STALLIOJT : the Property of
Mr. Richard Garrett, of Carlton Hall, Saxmundham.

Plate II.-THE FARMERS' FRIEND.

Description of Plates ....

Royal Agricultukal Society of England

The Farmers' Club ; Vegetable and Fruit Farming .

The Central Chamber of Agriculture

Land Owners and Land Occupiers

Stock-Breeding. — By the Northern Farmer

Winfrith Farmers' Club : Tillage and Soil .

Dorchester Farmers' Club : The Analysis of Manures

Breconshire Chamber of Agriculture : The Poor Law

Framlingham Farmers' Club : The Agricultural Labourer

Stowmarket Farmers' Club: The Allotment System

Ixworth Farmers' Club; Benefit Societies

The Land Laws and the Cultivation of the Soil

The Maidstone Farmers' Club : Under Drainage

The Bath and West of England Society, and Southern Counties Association

Tenant-Right in Scotland

West Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture

WiGTON Farmers' Club

Lavenham Farmers' Club: Sugar-Beet

Agricultural Politics and Practice .

Cancerine .....

The Midland Farmers' Club: The Labour Question

Sussex Clay and Belgian Sand

The Entailment of Land

The Town and Country Workman

The Notts Chamber of Agriculture .

The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland

The Royal Dublin Society : Spring Stock Show

The Lamb Disease

The Croydon Farmers' Club .

East Suffolk Chamber of Agriculture

The Guano Trade

Sale of the Late Mr. Pawlett's Shorthorn Herd

Sale of Mr. J. N. Beasley's Shorthorns

Sale of Messrs. Atkinson's Shorthorns

Sale of Mr, Lambs' Shorthorns

Sale of Mr. Dickinson's Herd

Stock Sales ....

The Agricultural Hotel Company

The Herefordshire Agricultural Society

Agricultural Reports

Review of the Cattle Trade

Agricultural Intelligence, &c.

Review of the Corn Trade during the Past Month

Market Currencies, Imperial Avjerages, &c. ,

369, 370

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. 377

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THB

MARK LANE EXPRESS

AND

AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL

LARGEST AND THE LEADING FARMER'S AND GRAZIER'S NEWSPAPER.

PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY EVENING, IN TIME FOR POST.

Office of Publication, and for Advertisements, 265, Strand, London. May be had of all Booksellers and
Newsir.eii iliroughout the Kingdom, price Sevenpence, or £1 10s. 4d. per annum.

IMPORTANT TO FLOCKMASTERS.

THOMAS BIGG, Agricultm-al and Veterinary
Chemist, by Appointmeut to his late Royal Highness
The Prince Consort, K.G., Leicester House, Great Dover
Street, Borough, London, begs to call the attention of
Farmers and Graziers to his valuable SHEEP and LAMB
DIPPING COMPOSITION, vrhich rec(uires no Boiling, and
may be used with Warm or Cold Water, for effectually
destroying the Tick, Lice, and all other insects injurious to
the Flock, preventing the alarming attacks of Fly and Shab,
and cleansing and purifying the Skin, thereby greatly im-
proving the Wool, both in quantity and quality, and highly
Contributing to the general health of the animal.

Prepared only by Thomas Bigg, Chemist, &c., at his Manu-
factory as above, and sold as loUows, although any other
quantity may be had, if required : —

4 lb. for 20 sheep, price, jar included £0

61b.

30

8 1b,

40

101b.

50

201b.

100

301b.

150

401b.

200

601b.

250

601b.

300

80 1b.

400

001b.

500

(Cask and measure
included)

0 10
0 15

0

Should any Flockmaster prefer boiling the Composition, it
will be equally effective.

MOST IMPORTANT CERTIFICATE,
From Mr. Heeepath, the celebrated Analytical Chemist :—
Bristol Laboratory, Old Park, Januai-y 18th, 1861.
Sir, — I have submitted your Sheep Dipping Composition to
analysis, and find that the ingredients are well blended, and
the mixture neutral. If it is used according to the directions
given, I feel satisfied, that while it effectually destroys vermin,
it wiU not injure the hair roots (or "yolk") in the skin, the
fleece, or the carcase. I think it deserves the numerous
testimonials published. I am. Sir, yours respectfully,

William Hbeapaih, Sen., F.C.S., &c., &C,,
To Mr. Thomas Bigg Professor of Chemistry,

Leicester House, Great Dover-street, Borough, London.

He would also especially call attention to his SPECIFIC,
or LOTION, for the SCAB or SHAB, which will be found
a certain remedy for eradicating that loathsome and ruinous
disorder in Sheep, and which may be safely used in aU
climates, and at all seasons of the year, and to all descriptions
of sheep, even ewes in lamb. Price FIVE SHILLINGS per
gallon— sufficient on an average for thirty Sheep (according
to the virulence of the disease) ; also in wine quart bottles.
Is, 3d, each.

IMPORTANT TESTIMONIAL.
" Scoulton, near Hingham, Norfolk, Api-il 16th, 1855.

"Dear Sir, — In answer to yours of the 4th inst., which
would have been replied to before this had I been at home, I
have much pleasm'e in bearing testimony to the efl&cacy of
your invaluable ' Specific for the cm-e of Scab in Sheep.' The
600 sheep were all di-essed in August last with 84 gallons of
the ' NoN-PoisoNOUs Specific,' that was so highly recom-
mended at the Lincoln Show, and by their own dresser, the
best attention being paid to the flock oy my shepherd after
dressing according to instructions left ; but notwithstanding
the Scab continued getting worse. Being determined to have
the Scab cured if possible, I wrote to you for a supply of your
Specific, which I received the following day; and although
the weather was most severe in February during the dressing,
your Specific proved itself an invaluable remedy, for ia
three weeks the Sheep were quite cured ; and I am happy to
say the young lambs are doiag remarkably well at present.
In conclusion, I beUeve it to be the safest and best remedy
now in use. "I remain, dear Sir,

"For JOHN TINGEY, Esq.,

" To Mr. Thomas Bigg. ' " R. RENNBY,

1^" Flockmasters would be well to beware of such pre«
parations as "Non-poisonous Compositions:" it is only
necessary to appeal to their good common sense and judg-
ment to be thoroughly convinced that no "Non-poisonous"
article can poison or destroy insect vermin, particularly such
as the Tick, Lice, and Scab Parasites— creatures so tenacious
of life. Such advertised preparations must be whoUy useless,
or they are not what they are represented to be.

DIPPING APPARATUS £14. £5, £4>, & £3.

THE ROYAL FARMERS' INSURANCE COMPANY,

3, NOEFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.O.

CAPITAL. — Persons insured by tliis Company have tlie security of an extensive and wealthy proprietary
as well as an ample Capital always applicable to the payment of claims without delay.

LIFE DEPARTMENT. — BONUS. — Insurers of the participating class will be entitled to four-fiftha
of the profits.

ASSIQ-NJIIIENrS. — The Company grant Policies payable to the Registered Holders, whereby much
expense and inconvenience are prevented. Stamp Duty paid by the Office.

FIRE DEPARTMENT,—

1st Class — Not Hazardous , - Is, 6d, per Cent,

2nd Class — Hazardous 2s, 6d. „

3rd Class — Doubly Hazardous , 4s, 6d. „

BUILDINGS and MERCANTILE Property of every description in Public or Private Warehouses.—
Distillers, Steam Engines, Goods in Boats or Canals, Ships in Port or Harbour, &c. &c., are Insured in this
Office at moderate rates.

SPECIAL RISKS. — At such rates as may be considered reasonable.

FARMING STOCK. — Ss. per cent., with liberty to use a Steam Thrasloing Machine without extra
charge. Nearly FIVE MILLIONS Insured in this Office.

SEVEN YEARS' INSURANCES may be effected on payment of Six Years' Premium only.

LIGHTNING and GAS. — Losses by Fii-e occasioned by Lightning, and Losses by Explosion of Gas
when used for Lighting Buildings will be allowed for.

RENT. — The Loss on Pent while Buildings remain untenantable thi'ough fire may be provided against.
HAIL DEPARTMENT.— (Crops and Glass.)

Policies to protect parties from Loss by the destruction of Growing Crops or Glass, by Hail, are granted on
Moderate Terms.
LOSSES. — Prompt and liberal settlement.

AGENTS WANTED.

Apply to JOHN REDDISH, Esq., Secretary and Actuary,

" There are very few simple articles of food which can boast so many
valuable and important dietary properties as Cocoa. While acting
on the nerves as a gentle stimulant, it provides the body with some
of the purest elements of nutrition, and at the same time corrects
and invigorates the action of the digestive organs. These beneficial
effects depend in a great measure upon the manner of its preparation
but of late years such close attention has been given to the gTowth and
treatment of Cocoa that there is no difficulty in securing it with
every useful quality fully developed. The singular success which
Mr. Epps attained by his homoeopathic preparation of Cocoa has
never been surpassed by any experimentalist. Medical men of all
shades of opinion have agreed in recommending it as the safest
and most beneficial article of diet for persons of weak constitutions."

E P P S S

GEATEFFL

(JAMES EPPS & GO., HOM(EOPATHIG CHEMISTS.)

COMFOKTIE^G

COCOA.

"By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern
the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful application
of the fine properties of well-selected Cocoa, Mr. Epps has provided
our breakfast tables with a delicately-flavoured beverage which may
save us many heavy doctors' bills. It is by the judicious use of
such articles of diet that a constitution may be gradually built up
untU strong enough to resist every tendency to disease. Hundreds
of subtle maladies are floating around us ready to attack wherever
there is a weak point. We may escape many a fatal shaft by
keeping ourselves weU fortified with pure blood and a properly-
nourished h^vaer^-Extracted from an article on Diet in the
'♦ Civil Service Gazette''

L.^ ;V^

No. 6, Vol. XLL] JUNE, 1872. [Third Series.

THE

FARMER'S MAGAZINE

AMD

MONTHLY JOURNAL

OF

THE AaEICULTURAL INTEREST.

TO THE

FARMERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

LONDON :
PUBLISHED BY ROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 365, STRAND.

PRICB TWO SHILLINGS.

BOGEBSON AND TUXPOBD,] [PRINTERS, 266, STRAND.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

JUNE, 1872.
CONTENTS.

Plate I.— LINCOLN WETHERS : the Property op Mr. John Byron, or
KiRBY Green, Sleaford.

Plate IL— THE LANDING PLACE.

Description of Plates .......

The Farmers' Club : The Principles Affecting Cultivation, Manuring, and
Cropping .......

Devon and Cornwall Chamber of Agriculture : Local Taxation

Brampton Farmers' Club : Statute Fairs . ,

The Lancashire Farmers' Club

"A Model Agreement": The Maidstone Farmers' Club

The Hexham Farmers' Club : Farm Buildings .

The Ayrshire Farmers' Club ....

The Game Laws Committee of 1846 , , ,

Over Agricultural Society : On Mixed Farming
Boroughbridge Agricultural Society : Steam Cultivation
Owners and Occupiers on the Transfer of Land
Land Tenure .....

Newbury Chamber op Agriculture : Land Draining *.

Lavenham Farmers' Club : Arthur Young

The Importation of Cattle and Sheep

IxwoRTH Farmers' Club: The Application op Manures

Annual Exhibition ....
Sanitary Reform • . . , .

The Lost Lands op Lincolnshire . , ,

Stock-Breeding.— By the Northern Farmer .
The Vegetable Beefsteak ....
Royal Agricultural Society of England : Monthly Council

Half-yearly Meeting ....
Agricultural Questions and Agricultural Agencies .
The Central Chamber of Agriculture , .

The Game-Laws Committee ....
Sale of Mr. Bowly's Shorthorns . . ,

Sale of the Burghley Park Shorthorns
Sale of the High Elms Shorthorn Herd, Farnborough
Sale of Mr. Barton's Shorthorns . . ,

Sale of Messrs. Arkell's Shorthorns
Sale of the Urswick Shorthorns , . ,

Sale of the Acton Pigott Herd
Sale of the Bructor Shorthorns

The Bath and West of England Society : The Dorchester Meeting
Carmarthenshire Farmers' Club : Grass Lands
Fbamlingham Farmers' Club : The Farmer's Friends and Fobs
Stowmarkst and Central Suffolk Farmers' Club : The Scour in Sheep
Review . , . , ,

Farm Covenants .....

The Chamber Table-talk ....
The French Peasant Farmers' Seed Fund
The Scottish Chamber of Agriculture : Tbnanx-Right
The Patent Laws Committee ....
Selling Mixed Seeds .....
A Tenant's Trespass Case ....
Sale of Mr. Larking's Shorthorns
Sale of Mr. Lythall's Shorthorns .

The Devon County Agricultural Association : Meeting at Exeter
iHE Oxfordshire Agricultural Society: Meeting at Thame .
Review of the Corn Trade .
Market Currencies, Imperial Averages, &c. *.
Agricultural Meetings in 1873 ...

PAGB.

. 463

464

476

477

478

479

484

488

489

490

494

496

497

498

499

501

502

554

504

507

509

510

511

551

513

514

523

524

525

526

526

526

526

527

527

527

528

533

536

540

540

541

541

541

542

542

£42

543

543

544

548

555

557

557

f^

>;

f

\1

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

JUNE, 1872.

PLATE I.

LINCOLN WETHERS.

THE PROPERTY OF MR. JOHN BYRON, OF KIRKBY GREEN, SLEAFORD.

This famous peu of Liiicolns took llie followiii,^ prizes
in 1871 :

At the Brigg Meeting of the Lincolnshire Agricultural
Society — First prize, £10 ;

At the Oakham Meeting of the Rutland Agricultural
Society — First prize, £10 ;

At the Birmingham Meeting of the Midland Counties'
Society — First prize of £15, with Silver Medal and
Linen and Woollen Drapers' prize of £10 ;

At the Islington Meeting of the Smithfield Club —
First prize of £20, Silver Cup of £20 as best Leicesters,
Cotswolds, Lincolus, Kentish, or other Longwools, and
Champion Plate of £50 as best pen of sheep in the show ;

At Sleaford Fat Stock Show — First prize ;

At Leeds Fat Cattle Show — First prize and Silver Cup
as best pen of sheep in the show.

The registered weight of these sheep when exhibited
in London was 8 cwt. 1 qr. 41b., and their age 21 months.

On first seeing these sheep at Oakham we recorded
them as very superior ; and again at Birmingham
spoke to their high quality ; while in London their fine
fleeces for once carried the day. At Leeds, too, our re-

porter declared that these Liucolns " alone fully sustained
the honour of the Longwools against all comers. We
think we never saw better Longwools."

Mr. Byron thus writes of his flock: "It is, as near as I
can ascertain, a little more than a hundred years since
my grandfather began farming at Tathwell, near Louth,
under the grandfather of my present landlord, Henry
Chaplin, Esq., M.P. of Blankney Hall, Lincoln. He
bred for a number of years — I believe for forty — from the
old Tathwell flock, so well known in Lincolnshire, and
continued to do so up to the time of his giving up busi-
ness, when the flock came into the hands of my father,
who kept breeding on in the same way, using occasionally
a few sheep from the late Mr. John Kirkham, of
Haguaby, and in later years of his son, Mr. Thomas
Kirkham, of Biscathorpe, near Louth. Thirteen years
from last spring I came to Kirkby Green, and brought a
flock of ewes with me, selected nearly entirely from my
father's and brother's flocks, and I have crossed these
with rams hired from Mr. C. Clark, of Scopwick ; as I
have also used a few sheep from the old Tathwell and
Biscathorpe flocks."

PLATE II.

THE LANDING PLACE.

" Allowing to the recreation of fox-hunting and deer-
stalking all they lay claim to, as manly and exciting
pastimes, I cannot help preferring to either of them, in-
deed to any of our national amusements whatsoever, the
noble sport of salmon fishing. The others, it is true,
have their moments and their intervals of extreme, it
may be thrilling pleasure ; even their blanks and disasters
scarcely, on some occasions, deserve the name of disap-
pointments or calamities. But there is wanting that in-
describable something which gives its zest to the sport I
am treating of, rendering its pursuit throughout more
equably delighlfnl, and yet ofl'ering no hindrance to higher
and inteuser occasions of enjoyment — created, for in-
Olu Series.]

stance, by the play and capture of some vigorous and
magnificent fish." So says Mr. Stoddart ; and of the
salmon, " Among objects closely associated with the sub-
lime and beautiful, I cannot help classing this noble fish.
The elegance of its form, the justness of its proportions,
its glittering and gorgeous apparel — all entitle it to rank
loftily in the scale of beauty ; while its size and noble
bearing, its strength and velocity, the rocks' torrents,
and whirlpools among which it glides familiar, unite in some
degree to elevate its pretensions, and give it a place withal
amid creations of sublimity. That it stands unrivalled
among the vai'iety of fishes, extending to many hundreds
in number, which inhabit the flood, there can be little
I I [Vol. LXXI.— No. 6.

464

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

question. The dolphin, famed in poetry, whose glo\ving
surface may be termed the pallet of nature ; the mullet,
the opah or ting-flsh, the carp, the dorie, and sturgeon —
all yield before it the submissive palm. Nor is it undis-
tinguished, independent of its shape and beauty, by cer-
tain instincs and properties, which elevate it still higher
above the rest of the tinny tribe." After rising and
hooking, and managing the fish when hooked, Mr.
Stoddart thus instructs his readers on another important
part of the performance in first catching the fish — " The
Landing : On Tweedside, a gaff-hook or click is generally
made use of by salmon fishers, in order to expedite the
landing of the fish. I have remarked in some parts of
Scotland a small hoop-net is also employed for this pur-
pose. In respect that it is not liable to abuse or injure
the appearance of the salmon, the latter implement may
be considered the preferable one. The click, however, is
more convenient, and may be resorted to in places and
distances where the hoop-net cannot be made available.
The employment of a landing appliance at all — certainly
not its advantage — maybe considered, in a sporting view,
as questionable. I have heard it insisted on that an
angler ought always to play his fish to bank, and
secure him entirely by his own management, and with
his own hand. To this T do not entirely assent ; but I
certainly think there are occasions when the gaff-hook is
brought into play quite inopportunely, when, in fact, it
acts, along with its wielder, a part in the capture of the
fish that can scarcely be esteemed secondary to that en-
gaged in by the rodsraan himself. In expert hands, this
implement is unquestionably of great advantage in se-
curing partially-exhausted fish. At the same time, it
curtails what many may consider a portion of the sport ;
and I have seen it put in requisition at a stage altogether
premature : the fish, on being hooked, and before its
strength was nearly worn out, having waywardly edged
in, so as to give the opportunity referred to. I am well
aware that there are some salmon-fishers who hold the
playing and the landing of the fish as very inferior con-
siderations, and who reckon the whole art and amusement
to consist in the raising and hooking. With one gentle-
man I am acquainted, an able and eager sportsman, who.

after the first burst, was accustomed to resign the rod
into the hands of the attendant, in order to rid himself
of what he considered a slavish or supplementary task.
To such individuals the employment of the gaff-hook is
a matter of perfect indifference ; but I cannot reconcile
myself to their cramped and petted notion on the subject
of what forms a most essential constituent of the amuse-
ment. The 'playing and landing of the fish are unques-
tionably act and part with the raising and hooking, and,
when separated, all interest on the part of either per-
former is diminished ; the capture of the fish becomes a
disputed matter, achieved betwixt the parties, and claimed
accordingly. In the absence of an assistant, the salmon
fisher should always be careful to select the best landing-
place within view — one to which he can readily land his
fish when exhausted, and where he has no occasion to
exert further strength than he has all along been using, in
order to draw it ashore. Gravel banks partly covered
with shoal water, fiat rocks similarly circumstanced, or
any level spot where the salmon may naturally turn over
at once, without power of recovery, on his broad side,
are well adapted for the purpose in question. In case of
no such convenient landing-place being at hand, I would,
rather than risk the loss of a good fish, guide him to
some distance down the river, until, in fact, I fall in with
a desirable port. Do not, however, be induced to haul
a salmon up aga'nst the stream, with the view of landing
it on some jut of sward, sand, or rock that engages your
fancy at the moment. Should the fish press or incline to
be guided towards it, good and well ; but on no occasion
resort to force when force may be avoided. The fish
being grounded, shorten line to the extreme, and, holding
back your rod with one hand, step forward, and with the
other grasp the salmon tightly above the tail. A glove
or cotton mitten will be found of great service at this
juncture. You may then toss or carry it to the bank
above, and by a blow or two on the head immediately
despatch it. In case of your line being too long to
permit you to seize the fish without quitting hold of the
rod, then do so ; only act with rapidity when you ap-
proach to make your seizure."

THE FARMERS' CLUB.
THE PRINCIPLES AFFECTING CULTIVATION, MANURING, AND CROPPING.

peculiar and exceptional position. In 1801 we were 15,000,000,
and home-fed. Now, notwithstanding the Irish famine and
consequent depopulation and emigration, we number

The monthly meeting was held on Monday, May 6, at the
Salisbury Hotel, Fleet-street, Mr. H. Chefrins,of Easton Manor,
Dunmow, in the Chair.

The Chairman said that the subject for discussion was
" The Principles Affecting Cultivation, Manuring, and Crop-
ping," by Mr. J. J. Mechi ; and he was sure that it would
best suit the wishes of the meeting if he at once introduced
Mr. Mechi, who would put the subject before the meeting in
his usually nice way.

Mr. Meohi read the following paper :

We meet here this evening to consider how we may some-
what increase the farmers' profit and the food of the people

32,000,000, and are annually increasing. During the last
century we were exporters of corn, and so late as 1837 we were
able to produce nearly enough of home-grown food (with a few
years of exception)— even up to 1846 our import of foreign
corn had never reached 3,000,000 of quarters in a single year.
Now, some 10,000,000 of our population are dependent on
foreign nations for their daily bread. It is painful to reflect
upon the disaster and disorder that would probably attend the
interruption of our foreign supplies of food, 'for in that case

Is there not a necessity for so doing P Our nation is in a veiy every third person might be starved, and the country involved

THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE.

465

in anarchy and confasion. I can remember the time during
the First Napoleonic war when much distress and discontent
arose from the scarcity and high prices of provisions. The
stoppage of imports by war would diminish pro raia the foreign
demand for our manufactures, and throw out of employment vast
numbers of our manufacturing classes, as was the case in the Cot-
ton Famine. We have become really now a manufacturing, trad-
ing, and commercial community, rather than an agricultural
people, for only a moderate percentage of our population are
employed in agriculture. According to the last Board of
Trade returns, we have in the United Kingdom 76,405,968
statute acres, exclusive of lakes and rivers. Of these there are

Acres.

Woods and forests 2,499 756

In permanent pasture (much very poor) 22,'525,'761

In grass, under rotation .. 6,233',588

In corn crops 11,833'243

Bare fallow 565,886

Green, root, and other crops , 5,071,174

48,729,408
Not farmed 27,676,560

Total 76,405,968

The Enclosure Commissioners have just issued their 27th
annual report on common and commonable land in England
and Wales, and state that out of 9,000,000 acres only 670,000
acres in the last 25 years have been enclosed. They take no
note of waste lands in Scotland and Ireland. Our annual
agricultural produce, available as human food and drink, is,
according to my estimate, less than £150,000,000. Mr.
Lavergne estimates our total produce at only £3 7s. per acre
(£150,000,000), and the farmers' cajital at £4 per acre. Our
annual consumption of foreign eatables and drinkables amounts
to much mare than £80,000,000.

Total imports, 1873 £326,884,647

FOREIGN,

Corn and bread stuffs £42,000 000

Oxen, sheep, &c 5,660,000

J^con 2,500,000

;Pork 700,000

i^'ieese 3,343,000

gutter 7,000,000

fS?s 1,250,000

■l^ard 1,300,000

^ £63,753,000

Tea, sugar, coffee, cocoa, rice, and tapioca,

more than 25,000,000

Total £88,753,000

We have, therefore, evidently a vast margin for increased
home production by agricultural improvement, including the
utilisation of sewage. If the voidances from this £89,000,000
worth of foreign consumables passed into our soil instead of
into sewers and rivers, how much of our land it would fer-
tilise, and how much more food would be produced ! Our
country would indeed then become annually more fertile in-
stead of more sterile. Surely it is the duty of our Legisla-
ture and Government to initiate and encourage all measures
that tend to the increased investment of capital and intelli-
gence in agriculture. Those most required are greater facili-
ties for the purchase or exchange of land, security of tenure
by leases, valuation for tenants' unexhausted improvements,
and power to life-owners of estates to invest capital in neces-
sary landowners' improvements. Acts of Parliament would
do much to emancipate agriculture from old-fashioned and

feudal customs, suitable only to a past and pastoral age, and
give to it a more business-like and commercial character
adapted to modern circumstances and requirements. The
home-grown food question is becoming rapidly more and more
urgent. In addition to legislative changes, we must look
more to science to guide and instruct us in agriculture. I
have come to this conclusion after a careful study for many
years of Baron Liebig's four great works — " Chemistry in its
Applications to Agriculture and Physiology," " Letters on
Modem Agriculture," " Fifty Principles in Agriculture," and
his last grand work, published in 1862, " Tiie Natural Laws
of Husbandry." We know practically how much benefit agri-
culture has already derived from a valuable member of our
Club, Professor Voelcker. Our Royal Agricultural Society
has for thirty years placed on the title-page of its
annual volumes, "Practice with Science." Have we farmers
all obeyed this command ? Not yet, T fear ; for there are
still too many practical farmers who deprecate book-farming ;
but although formeriy they were a legion, their ranks are be-
coming annually somewhat thinned by the progress of en-
lightenment and by a more liberal education of the rising
generation, especially that conferred by the floyal Agri-
cultural College at Cirencester. I venture to predict that
within another century (which is not long in the history of a
nation) our agriculturists will be found studying in their
library the scientific principles of agriculture enunciated
by Liebig, Way, Voelcker, Playfair, and our other agricultural
philosophers. Town sewage will not then be permitted to
flow into our rivers, instead of on tlie land. For want of scien-
tific guidance, thousands of farmers have been, and are st ill
groping in the dark for the most profitable path, and have only
now and then found it, after innumerable experiment, too many
of which have been costly and unsuccessful. Our greatest
agricultural philosopher (Baron Liebig) says (p. 233, Modern
Agriculture) : « Agriculture is of all industrial pursuits the
richest in facts, and the purest in their comprehension. A fact
simply tells us of its existence, but experience ought to inform
us why it exists. Science does not reject the truths discovered
by practice, but receives them ; they are never disputed by
her — but are examined and receive from her their proper im-
port and further application. The business of science is to
seek for causes, and, like a light, to illuminate the surrounding
darkness. Agriculture is both an art and a science. Its
scientific basis embraces a knowledge of all the conditions of
vegetable life, of the origin of the elements of plants, and of
the sources from whence they derive their nourishment. From
this knowledge fixed rules are formed for the practice of the
art— that is, for the necessity or advantage of all the mecha-
nical operations of the farm, by which the land is prepared for
the growth of plants, and by whicli those causes are removed
which might exercise an injurious influence ;npon them. Ex-
perience acquired in the practice of this art can never stand in
contradiction to its scientific principles, becaiise the latter
have been deduced from all the observations of experience,
and are actually an intellectual expression of it. Neither can
theory ever stand in antagonism to practice, for it is merely
the tracing back of a class of phenomena to their ultimate
causes." My object in addressing you this evening is to endea-
vour to impress upon agriculture the advantage and necessity
of trusting more to scientific principles as a guide to practice
in the art of tillage, manuring, and the rotation of
crops. Time will only permit me to draw an outline,
which must be filled up by a personal study and reflection.

I I 2

iee

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Cultivation. — If I ask for a definition of the word culti-
vation, I am told that it means the disturbance or upturning of
the earth to a depth of 5 inches, or the thickness of a family
Bible, which is the admitted substance of the British agri-
cultural pie-crust , but when I ask why this particular depth
of 5 inches (in preference to 10, 15, or 20) has been fixed upon,
I can get no satisfactory or scientific reply. I presume it must
be because a pair of horses (sometimes four, I fear) can plough
at that depth an acre per day. We cannot call this either a
scientific or satisfactory explanation. If the roots of plants
descended only 5 inches, and found within that space ample nou-
rishment for tlieir perfect development, there would be no
occasion to find fault ; but we know that it is not so, and that
plants send their roots down into the subsoil several feet,
especially if it is in a suitable condition, which is very rarely
the case, because it has neither been disturbed, aerated, drained,
or manured. Wlien I hear, as I frequently do, that high
farming injures the barley crop, I smile and reply, " Mix the
rich topsoU with the poor unmanured subsoil, and you will
then no longer complain of laid frothy crops, which injure
young clover ; but don't sow too thickly." Here is a striking
instance of the advantage derived from more deeply disturbing
the soil and subsoil. In the presence of 700 of my guests, in
July, 1856, Fowler's steam-plough, with Cotgreave's subsoiler
attached, operated on three stetches of one of ray clover-leas.
The result was that, although all the field had been under good
and deep cultivation, these stetches appeared, in the early
growth of the wheat crop, as though they had received an
extra dressing of manure ; and for five years after all the
crops on those deeper-disturbed stetches showed a manifest
advantage. It surprises me that this system of double or un-
der ploughing (one furrow-slice covering the other) is not
more generally adopted with Fowler's plough, as was done on
my field in 1856. The late worthy Mr. Fowler was, I think,
present on the occasion. It is hard work for the engine to
do this unless full-powered. Perhaps tliat is why it is not
done, but it should be. The subsoil is thus so well aired, and
the crops improved. Liebig says (p. 178, Natural Laics of
Husbandry) : " Thus the subsoil, considered as a field apart
from the arable soil, gives to turnips and lucerne a certain
quantity of mineral constituents. Where the fields have a sub-
soil favourable to the growth of these plants, it is as tliough
the arable-surface soil were doubled." We hear great com-
plaints about thin-skinned laud. Whose fault is it ? Mine was
wretchedly thin-skinned 30 years ago, until I greatly deep-
ened the staple by breaking up the subsoil under the ploughed
land, still keeping the old soil uppermost. By these means
the passive elements of the plant-food in the subsoil became
gradually active and available. Draining of course preceded
the subsoil disturbance. All this has been and must be pro-
fitable. However much a farmer may he restricted in his
lease, there is never any limit as to the quantity of soil lie may
use for the growth of his crops. It may be 500 tons per acre
at a deptli of 5 inches, or 5,000 per acre at a depth of 50
inches. His rent, rates, tithes, taxes, &c., will be no greater
on one than on the other, but his crops will be unraistakeably
increased. Drainage must be used if the land is not naturally
drained. There are, of course, loose friable soils that require
compression rather than deep disturbance. Liebig attaches
the utmost importance to deep and efficient tillage as an agri-
cultural basis, lie says at p. 121, Modem Agricidtiire :
" The agriculturist has to do with the soil alone ; it is only
through it that he is able to exercise an immediate influence on

plants. The attainment of all his objects in the most complete
and profitable manner, pre-supposes the exact knowledge of
the effective chemical conditions for the life of plants in the
soil ; it further pre-supposes perfect acquaintance with the
food of plants, and the source from which it is derived, as well
as with the means for rendering the soil suitable for their nu-
trition, combined with experience and skill in employing them
in the proper way, and at tlie right time." Science has indi-
cated that in the subsoil we should seek for increased profits,
for it teaches us that in the great majority of soils the earth at
every depth contains a certain portion of the elements of plant
food, which only require aeration and amelioration by disturb-
ance, drainage, and manure, or by burning, to render them
gradually available as plant food. Science has also discovered
that it is not possible to manure the subsoil through the top-
soil, except in a very slight degree, for the latter has the
power of fixing and retaining very much larger quantities of
plant food (ammonia, phosphate of lime, and potash) than are
usually applied ; only very small portions of these pass an-
nually into the subsoil— we should, therefore, intermix the
top and bottom soil. Farmers, as a rule, have no faith in the
subsoil, but, on the contrary, rather fear it, believing that
there is something unwholesome under the cultivated crust,
and that the interior of the pie is of the wrong sort. The
fact is, that it is raw and uncooked, because it has never,
like the top soil, been stirred and exposed to the amelio-
rating and fertilising influences of the atmosphere, and in too
many instances, for the want of drainage, air is completely ex-
cluded by the presence of stagnant water. The good effects of
cultivating the surface soil should have taught us how bene&cial
would be a disturbance of the subsoil. Here let me draw a
distinction between ploughing and cultivating : great injury
may arise from suddenly upturning the raw subsoil and burying
the friable top soil, while much good will result from breaking
and loosening the subsoil, thus permitting some of the top soil
and manure to fall into, and gradually intermix with it.
Some subsoils may be safely brought to the surface, but this is
not generally the case ; a trial of the subsoil in some flower-
pots will soon enable you to judge. Certain folks are, how-
ever (thanks to steam-power), now disturbing the contents of
the pie most resolutely and fearlessly, both in hop gardens and
elsewhere. At Farringdon, in Berkshire, two sets of Fowler's
30-horse power engines are cultivating, or breaking (not
ploughing) the land to the depth of 36 inches. Messrs. Fowler
of Leeds, wrote to me, in reply to my question : " There is no
doubt that the larger the engine is, the more economical it is
in point of fuel ; but the great difficulty we have to contend
with in these large engines is the unprepared state of the land
for steam cultivation. If there were larger enclosures, and
proper roads were made, we should certainly then say the
larger the engine the better ; but in the present state of things
it is better, except in some special cases, to have engines of a
moderate size. Mr. Campbell's engines work very well, and
and are doing four or five acres a day, three feet deep." Mr.
Campbell, jun., told me the other day that the large 30-horse
power engines could take their proper position on the land
when the smaller ones were unable to do so. Of course, in
manual labour they must be the cheapest, seeing that one
engine-driver could manage a 50-horse power engine, whereas
five would be required for five of 10-horse power. How
very lucky it is that all Mr. C.'s land has been
drained with pipes at a depth of four feet, although I
doubt if that will be deep enough when we get the 50-horse

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467

power engines. But how readily the water will now pass down
to these drains through the stiff soil, after 36 inches of loosen-
ing or cultivation ! and what additional facilities will thus be
afforded for passage of air and manure to the subsoil ! Fur-
rows and water-furrows will be unnecessary. The dense undis-
turbed clay subsoil, trodden for ages by horses, and compressed
by the weight of the surface soil, is in a most unfit condition
for the passage of root fibres, and we know how difficult it is
for even the steam cultivator to break up for the first time this
homogeneous mass. The good effect of loosening the subsoil is
visible for a great many years. Some 29 years ago I drained
all my land, and over every drain for more than 20 years there
was a visible advantage to the plants immediately over the dis-
turbed space. This arose from free circulation of air and
water, and from the diminished obstruction to the passage of
root fibres. The same profitable result will take place over
the whole surface of our land when it is disturbed by steam
cultivation to the depth of 2 to 3 feet. But also the land
will be drier and warmer, and we well know how important is
warmth to the soil, and especially to the subsoil, for it is by
bottom heat that gardeners succeed in growing their magnifi-
cent specimens of luscious grapes and other fruits. They
know that mere surface or outside heat cannot produce such
results : the earth to some depth becomes gradually warmer
as the days lengthen, and loses that heat gradually in autumn
and winter. The heated soil promotes the early multiplication
of root fibres. The earth has an especial attraction for the
sun's heating rays, so much so that its surface temperature in
sunshine is many degrees warmer than the air above it — some-
times as much as 30 degs. to 40 degs. When walking over
fallow on a bright spring day, althougli the air was nearly
frosty, 1 have felt the heat through the thin soles of my
shoes. I have observed over fallowed ground, during sun-
shine, a trembling waving of the air ; this is produced by the
lower stratum of air in immediate contact with the earth be-
coming heated and expansively .lightened, when it immediately
struggles to rise through the cooler and heavier atmosphere.
I have noticed the same waving, struggling, upward movement
in the air over and around heated stoves, or pipes. We have
all observed how rapid is the growth of plants after a heavy
thxmder shower, falling on the heated soil. This is because
water is the great carrier of heat downwards ; falling on the
superheated top soil, it robs it of some of its heat (just as cold
water from a shower-bath robs our warm bodies of their heat),
and in passing down to the drains is itself deprived of heat by
the colder subsoil, for at 4 deep feet the subsoil is generally
as low as about 46 degs. or 48 degs., while the surface may be at
100 degs. to 130 degs. And now becomes obvious the advan-
tage of deep cultivation and drainage, which permit the heated
water to circulate freely in the soil and subsoil, and, if in ex-
cess, to pass away through the deep drains, deprived of its
neat and valuable food constituents. When our stiff clays
crack abundantly, and often to the depth of 4 feet, the wheat
crop is sure to prosper, the warm air having access to the cold
subsoil by the cracks. I have several copious deep spring
drains, running summer and winter, the temperature of the
water being always about 46 degs. to 48 degs. (which I be-
lieve is the temperature of the soil at 4 feet), so that the parts
of the pond into which it enters never freeze, while in the sum-
mer it feels almost as cold as ice. It is most important, there-
fore, that spring or bottom-water drains should be placed very
deeply, to prevent the cold water from rising by capillarity or
pressure to the surface, and by its chilling influence retard the

growth of plants, for none can prosper, excepting bog moss,
where spring water rises to the surface. Subsoils well broken
into and rendered friable are accessible to atmospheric embraces
which are always fructifying. When these dense compact
subsoils thus become more friable and capillary, we might
then almost compare them with a piece of loaf-sugar, while,
previous to this disturbance, they were like a lump of lead or
putty — the one with, and the other without, those capillary
powers which are so valuable. The importance of this capil-
lary power is detailed and illustrated by Baron Liebig, Letter
3, p. 46, Modem Agriculture,: " Remarkable Power of Ab-
sorbing Moisture Possessed by Soils.— By absorption and
evaporation of moisture the soil is warmed or cooled ; great
importance of this fact to vegetation." We may, however,
safely accept as a principle that it is profitable to make use of
the subsoil, now that mighty and untiring steam can cheaply
and effectually enable us to do so. At the Wolverhampton
trials of steam-ploughs and cultivators it was found that for
every pound of coal used, 9 tons of earth were moved ; so
that 10 inches deep of soil, or 1,008 tons of earth, could be
moved by 112 lbs. of coal, worth, in the South of England,
Is., although at Wolverhampton and the coal districts it
would barely cost 6d. In the Cornish pumping engines,
which are used in our town water-works and in the Cornish
mines, the best engines will, with 112 lbs. of coal, lift 50,000
tons of water 1 foot high. Here we have an extraordinary
evidence of the enormous gain of force or power and national
wealth, owing to the scientific invention and perfecting of the
steam-engine. It is rather remarkable that while 1 lb. of
coal can raise 1 million pounds (or 446 tons) of water a foot
high, the 1 lb. of coal at Wolverhampton only moved 20,160
lbs., or 9 tons of earth. What a margin for friction, resist-
ance or variety of engine ! The valuable, costly, and instruc-
tive trials at Wolverhampton of steam-machinery for cultiva-
tion and traction, and the able report and conclusions formed
upon those trials recorded in the Uoyal Agricultural Society's
Jowrnal (new series, vol. vii., p. 472), entitle that Society to
our best thanks ; but, useful and profitable as these reports
(and the former report on steam-cultivation) must be to the
practical farmer, I doubt whether they will be read by many
farmers out of the 400,000 in England, Scotland, and Wales,
for only some 2,000 or 3,000 are members of that important
society, which gives a large volume of first-class information
to each of its guinea subscribers annually. In fact, if we
must tell the truth, ancient farmers have not been a reading
race, but the schoolmaster is abroad now. Our farmers'
clubs, chambers of agriculture, and the agricultural press,
afford ample opportunity for agricultural oratory and literature
Stiff soils are not so easily exliausted as loose light soils, be-
cause although the plant can multiply and push its fibres
readily through the loose soil, and suck at many granules,
dense tenacious soils oppose a much greater resistance to the
passage of root fibres ; that is why the necessity exists for
loosening them as much as possible by steam-power, and why
strong powerful rooted plants, like beans, mangel, and clover,
thrive best on such soils. The beans and clover make a way
for the wheat fibres, and render the plant food in the soil more
available bj shading the soil. I have reason to believs that if
after cultivating the soil to the depth of 2 or 3 feet, it were
amply saturated with town sewage, profitable results would
ensue. We should not forget that town sewage has a very
much greater specific gravity than water, and that its tempe-
rature, which is sufficiently high to dissolve the frost and

468

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

penetrate the ground in frosty weather, must warm the sub-
soil. The specific gravity of the liquid manure in my tank is
often so great after saturating the solid manure, that the whole
of the latter will rise to the surface like a cork, or like a penny
piece in quicksilver. It does not answer to let the stiff clays
crack hefore you apply sewage. I will give yon an instance of
this : One of my fields of very stiff yellow clay or tile earth
(given to crack in drying, and therefore unfit for making
bricks) was in Italian rye-grass, and although drained with
1-ineh pipes 5 feet deep, and 50 feet from drain to drain, the
ground cracked deeply. While my man was, during the
summer, irrigating with hose and jet I was surprised to find
the running spring water in the ditch coloured, and smelling
of manure. I then examined the mouths of the drainpipes,
and found, to my astonishment, that they were discharging a
full stream of liquid manure, almost as strong as when applied
on the surface. Having since then inspected several farms
which are flooded with town sewage, and seeing that in every
one of them the water comes from the drains (6 feet deep), as
clear as spring water, I see clearly that it will not do to let
clays become dry enough to crack if the sewage or manure is
to be made the most of, because, even if solid manure were
spread upon such lands when full of cracks, the first heavy
thunder-storm would wash some of its best solutions down the
cracks and througli drains. I have been very much interested
and enlightened as to the mode in which plants feed, how
their food is distributed and fixed in the soU, and how little of
it they can use in a single season. All this is new to us, and
is explained by Baron Liebig in his last great work. The
Natural Laivs of Husbandry, which treats of the plant, the
soil, and the manure. How little we suspected that the
manures, when placed in the soil (that is, the three important
ingredients of plant food, phosphate of lime, potash, and am-
monia) are immediately and immovably fixed on the granules
of soil and cannot be washed from them, and that every particle
that is coated with this manure, if not touched or sucked by a
root fibre, is of no use to the plant ; so that in fact, as a general
rule, 99 parts out of 100 are unavailed of by the plant in a
single year, because it has only roots enough to touch one
granule of soil out of 100 or more. This is why a heavy
dressing of rich shed-manure shows its effects for so many
years, especially on heavy land, where the fibres have more
difficulty in spreading than on light or friable soU, wluch
is much more easily intermixed, and also much more
accessible to the fibres of plants, so that manure in
such soil is more quickly appropriated. I cannot attempt in
this paper to give even an outline of tliis important subject,
but recommend you to study it for yourselves ; it will be to
your profit. Liebig, for this and other reasons, attaches the
utmost importance, not only to deep and frequent tillage, but
also to the rotation of crops, each of which may feed at
different places and depths, and also on different sorts and pro-
portions of plant food, their roots varying in size and power.
Liebig says, at p. 125, The Natural Laws of Eurhandry :
" Hence the art of the agriculturists mainly consists in select-
ing such plants as will thrive best on his land, in adopting a
proper system of rotation, and in using all the means at his
command to make the nutritive elements in chemical (un-
available) combination available for plants. The achievements
of practical agriculture in these respects are wonderful, and
they demonstrate that the triumphs of art far exceed those of
science, and that the farmer, by aiding the agencies which
improve the chemical and physical condition of his land, can

obtain much more abundant crops than by supplying nutritive
matters." Unfortunately (owing to the want of knowledge as
to causes) these successful results have only been obtained at
the expense of millions of experiments, many of them costly
and unsuccessful. Witness Mr. Hemming's unsuccessful at-
tempts to grow beans, after turnips drawn off, as mentioned
in another part of this paper. In February, 1866, 1 had the
honour to read to you a paper on British tillage, present and
future. To that I beg to refer you for a more detailed report
of my views about tillage. My commendation of deep culti-
vation applies, of course, to dense or hard-bottomed soils.

Mawuke aud Manuring. — The great lesson taught us for
the first time by Baron Liebig is this— That there are certain
indispensable elements of plant food contained naturally in
most soils, viz., potash, phosphate of lime, magnesia, &c.,
that cannot be sent to the air by burning, nor yet from the
air, and, therefore, if we send them away in the produce which
we sell, and omit to bring them back again, that purse will
soon be empty. He also tells us that a great portion of these
elements, although in the soil, are raw and uncooked, and
therefore the plants cannot eat them, until they are prepared,
or cooked, by cultivation, by aeration, or by the action of cer-
tain chemical substances. He also tells us why farmyard
manure, when made by cake and corn-fed animals, is not only
good to produce all crops, but acts favourably by preparing
and rendering available the uncooked plant-food not only in
the soil but also in the subsoil, if we could be induced to mix
the latter with the manure— which very few will do— because
they don't know that they cannot manure the subsoil through
the topsoil, for the latter holds it fast, and will not part with
it except to plant-roots. We have plenty of evidence of this
fact in the railway cuttings, where we see that the poor sub-
soil, under the few inches of top soil, has not even been
coloured by manure. We occasionally hear of the danger of
over-manuring ; but this I can say for a cert&iuty, that we
can never over-manure the subsoil to the depth of 1 to 3 feet.
Thus, we should not only double or triple our mangel and root
crops (for 70 to 100 tons may be grown per acre), but the
withdrawal of such heavy crops would still leave the land
capable of producing abundant corp crops ; but as we cannot
manure the bottom soil through the top soil, the latter must
be thrown or ploughed back, and the manure be incorporated
directly with the subsoil. Steam-power will very readily give
us access to the subsoil by deep furrows. Strong deep-rooted
crops, fruit-trees, &c., feed in the subsoil. If that is well filled
either with sohd or liquid manure (but not through the top
soil) such plants flourish amazingly. For my shrubs or camel-
lias I bore holes a yard deep, and pour down them guano and
water or liquid manure, and they prosper accordingly. We
are beginning practically to awaken to the great truth so
forcibly expressed by Liebig 32 years ago. He then warned
us of the danger of exhausting the plant food in the soil by
the exclusive frequent use of nitrogenous or ammoniacal ma-
nures. Repeated apphcation even of the best Peruvian guano,
which is deficient in potash, has on calcareous, sandy and loose
soils, gradually produced exhaustion ; and so it has on pas-
tures, where large crops of hay were at first obtained by its
use, or by the use of other stimulating ammoniacal manures,
such as nitrate of soda. Liebig says : " The presence in the
soil of a sufficient quantity of potash and silicic acid is always
pre-supposed when guano increases the produce of corn ; and
in a soil rich in potash and magnesia, the application of guano
alone ensures a succession of crops of such plants which, like

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469

potatoes, require for their growth chiefly potash and magnesia.
Meadows and corn fields which gave at first large crops with
guano, become at last, by the continuous use of this agent,
frequently so drained of silicic acid and potash as to lose for
many years their original productiveness." The term manure
is so general and indefinite that we must interpret it as mean-
a substance containing sundry elements of plant food in very
various and uncertain qualities and proportions. One dung-
heap may be a mass of wet straw, with a very few elements
of plant food ; another, of equal or less size, may contain
many times the amount of plant food, and be of proportionate
value. Science comes to our aid, and tells us that the prin-
cipal elements of plant food are phosphate of lime, potash,
magnesia, and ammonia. Practice has taught us that the
manure from cake-fed animals excels every other. This is be-
cause the ashes of cake are rich in potash, magnesia, and
phosphate of lime, and we may, therefore, safely conclude that
the growth of flax is very exhausting to the soil, if the seed
and straw are sold off the farm. But independently of the
dung-heap, we should get from science repUes to the following
questions : How much of plant food have we already in our
soil? In which kind is it defieient or redundant? How
much of it is in an available or unavailable condition ? Why
is it necessary, in order to get a crop, to have in the soil one
hundred times as much food as the plant requires ? How do
the plants feed in tlie soil ? Wiiy is it that plant food re-
mains useless to the plant unless its fibres attach themselves
to the particular granules of soil on which the plant food is
condensed? Why is it that certain artificial manures are
most valuable when applied to some soils and useless in others?
Why is it that we cannot m&nure the subsoil through the top
soil P Why is it that water cannot wash away or remove the
plant food when it is condensed on the granules of soil ? How
is it that compound manures, solid and liquid, when placed in
the soil, are at once decomposed by the soil, and the plant food
elements separated, abstracted, and retained condensed on
each granule of soil ? For a full and perfect comprehension of
these important agricultural questions, I would recommend jou
to study Baron Liebig's great works, for the profit of farming
is very dependent on the knowledge therein contained. A
great deal of money which is now wasted might be saved, if
we knew a little more about the chemistry or science of agri-
culture, or if we consulted those who do know. Here is one
very striking instance. One farmer uses nitrate of soda and
salt, and finds it very profitable ; when this news spreads,
many more farmers use nitrate of soda and salt, and find no
benefit from it. Why is this so ? The success of this appli-
cation depends upon there being in the upper or lower soil a
quantity of phosphate of lime that wants dissolving and diffus-
ing. Where this is the case nitrate of soda succeeds, but
where there is no undissolved phosphate it more than fails,
for it merely forces a surplus of high-coloured and mildewed
straw, to the injury of the kernel. Nitrate of soda and salt
possess this advantage, they are not fixed and retained in the
surface-soil like ammonia, potash, and phosphate of lime, but
are free to circulate through the soil down to the drains, and
can therefore dissolve any phosphate of lime that they meet
with in the soil and subsoil. A gentleman near Carshalton
informs me that for many years he has obtained large corn
crops, merely using as manure nitrate of soda. His soil must,
I presume, super-abound with undissolved phosphate of lime.
He has several hundred acres. On some Norfolk farms where, by
cake-feeding and artificial manures, there is much phosphate of
lime in the soil, nitrate of soda and salt are found profitable.
If we have enough phosphate of lime in an available condition

in our soil by nature or by high cake and corn feeding, super.
phosphate is not needed, and the money paid for it is wasted
while in soils deficient in phosphate of hme it is " the key of
the position." Science explains no end of apparent annoma-
lies which puzzle the farmer, and cause him heavy loss. For
instance, under the ordinary lease restrictions, forbidding the
sale of roots, green crops, hay, and straw, there will be in the
surface soil a surplus or accumulation of potash. In such cases
guano or superphosphate may be found profitable, but on light
and calcareous soils, deficient in potash, the forcing of beet-
roots, or potatoes, or turnips for sale by means of guano or
other manures deficient in potash will prove exhaustive. I
hardly ever use straw manure on my light land because (and
here is the point) all the turnips ahd green crops are consumed
where they grow by sheep folded on the land, consuming sup-
plemental food, such as cake, corn, malt-combs, bran, cut hay,
and straw chaff. All my straw manure goes to the heavy land,
from whence the roots are drawn off. Sugar-beet exhausts
much potash, therefore sellers of beetroot should use farm-
yard manure, for they do not get back the potash in the pulp.
Guano would, in their case, soon exhaust the soil of potash.
I quite believe that much straw might be sold off certain light
land farms, if the roots and green crops are fed off where they
grow with cake and corn. As Rer/ards the Mode of Applying
Manure.— B.OW often we hear that top-dressings of guane, &c.,
have done little good except for surface or shallow-rooted
plants. Liebig thus'explains it : two to three inches of surface
soil will, if finely pulverised, arrest and fix a top-dressing of
guano, so that the lower soil gets little or none of it, and thus,
to deep-rooted plants, it is rendered unavailable. This explains
why we can only grow clover at long intervals. I always use
guano and salt for wheat after beans or after mangel. 1 sow
it broadcast and plough it in. It is very desirable to mix ma-
nure with the subsoil for deep-rooted plants. I acccomplish
this by trench-ploughing, one plough without the beast follow-
ing in the track of the first plough. Brickdust or Burnt Sub-
soil Clay, is a certain way of getting profit on our cold, tena-
cious, birdUme-Hke tile earth, almost free from calcareous mat-
ter. I burned thousands of loads when I first took my farm
in hand, and applied about 80 loads an acre to several fields.
The land never entirely forgets it, although 28 years have
elapsed ; but it is desirable to repeat the dressing at intervals.
I have continued burning at intervals. My ploughmen often
speak of the altered and more friable state of the land. The
alkalies contained in these soils are set free by burning, and
become food for plants, especially root crops. When the
chemist in his laboratory wishes to get all the potash out of
clay, he first uses dilute acids, and finally gets the whole of it
by burning the clay ; in fact, the unavailable is thus converted
into the available. An inch deep of clay per acre is about
100 tons ; so we may safely burn away our stiff clays, some of
them being 150 feet deep. It is summer work. The clay
should be sun-dried before burning. Mr. Rani?all, in Worces-
tershire, burns earth all the year round. It costs me about Is.
per ton on the farm ; chalk costs hs. per ton, including cartage,
^ou may bring up and burn as much of the subsoil as yon
please ; there need be no fear of weeds, or wild oats, or insects,
for the tremendous heat shatters and pulverises even the stones.
Thatch clamps of burned earth and you will never be short of
bedding, in case you wish to sell or economise your straw. The
clay must all be well dried before burning, and when once
started the red-hot earth will continue to burn that which you
gradually add to it (rains, of course excepted). Burned earth
is very much improved as bedding by intermixing with it straw,
cut into short lengths, as suggested by Professor Voelcker.
You may read all about burned clay practically and chemically,

470

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

ns described by Randell, Way, Voelcker, and others in the
Journal of the lloyal Agricultural Society. It is worth study-
ing as a source of farm profit. Burned clay should be applied
to the soil at intervals, for it gradually sinks into the sub-
soil, and always acts most powerfully the first few years
after its application. It surprises me that so little of this burn-
ing is done, for there are thousands of miles of old weedy
banks and wretched robber pollards that want roasting,
and must be removed if we are to have steam cultivation.
Our poor, wretclied, unproductive fields of twitch and
weeds (miscalled permanent pasture), on hide-bound clays,
would become fertile corn and fodder fields by paring and
burning. I had one such piece, which declined to be im-
proved in any other way ; so I shallow-ploughed it, and
burned or roasted the heaps. For tvveuty odd years it has
continued to yield splendid crops of wheat, beans, oats, tares,
roots, clover, &c. This enlightened me as to the national loss
arising to the country by poor pastures — mere beds of weeds.
]5y burning clay into brickdust, we accomplish in one year
more than could be effected by cultivation in twenty years —
we at once convert the unavailable, or chemical, into available,
or physical. In the former state, the principal elements of
plants (potash, phosphate of lime, magnesia, and silicic acid)
are useless ; in the latter, they are useful. It is like unlocking
and setting free a treasure that has been idle and unproductive
for thousands of years, and turning it to profitable account.
Landowners need not fear exhaustion of the soil by this
burning of clay, provided the farming is on the usual course,
because the manurial ingredients that I have named are in-
combustible, or rather, non-gaseous, and can neither be sent
into, or got from, the air, like carbonic acid and ammonia.
This is the great and true mineral theory propounded and ex-
pressed by Liebig — that if we have the incombustible ele-
ments of plant food in the soil in a physical (available) con-
dition, the combustible will be obtained from the atmosphere
by turnip and other fodder crops. I am a firm believer in
this theory. Superphospliate of lime and bones for turnips
liave unmistakably proved this theory to he true ; for its appli-
cation is a cheap mode of restoring to the soil the bone-earth
sent away from the farm in grain and animals. Liebig says
(p. 135, Chemistry in its Apptication to Agriculture and
Physiology^ 3rd edition) : " Common potter's clay forms
generally very sterile soil, altho'igli it contains within it all
the conditions for the luxuriant growth of plants; but the
mere presence of these conditions does not suflice to render
them useful to vegetation. The soil must be accessible to air,
oxygen, and carbonic acid, for these are the principal condi-
tions to favour the development of the roots. Its constituents
mu.-t be contained in a state fit to be taken up by plants.
Plastic clay [onr Tiptree clay, or tile-earth] is deficient in all
these properties, but they are communicated to it by a gentle
calcination." Plenty of Manure " Gratis." — One of the most
important principles established by Liebig is the rotation of
aramonia-collectiug with ammonia-dispersing crops — that is,
root and green crops alternating with cereals : experience has
taught us as farmers this, but we never knew why it was so
benefi.cial and necessary. I would strongly recommend you
to read from p. 315 to p. 334 of liis Natural Laws of Hus-
bandry ;" for, if possible, it more deeply aS'ects the profits of
farming than any other passage of his works. More than
half the substance of our crops (ammonia and carbonic acid)
is got from the air, and that is cheaper than liaving to pur-
chase them at great cost. There is a wonderful affinity
between the earth and the air, if we permit them to
come in contact by deep, good, and frequent cultivation.
Poor permanent pasture is unprofitable, because it deprives
the land of the benefits resulting from cultivation. Three
years in pasture are quite long enough for certain soils. I
never allow clover more than one year, and never mix rye-
grass with it. A Hint to our War Minister. — The following
extract from Liebig's Natural Laws of Husbandry, p. 272
(in which will be found ample details of the cost, returns,
&c.), will show the great value of the excrement of man :
" In the fortress of Rastadt, and in the soldiers' barracks of
Baden generally, the privies are so constructed that the seats
open, through wide funnels, into casks fixed upon carts. By
this means, the whole of the excrement, botli fluid and solid,
is collected without the least loss. When the casks are full
they are replaced by empty ones. The farmers about Uastadt
and the other garrison towns, having found out by experience

the powerful fertilising effects of these excrements upon the''"
fields, now pay for every full cask a certain sum (still rising
in price every year), which not only has long since repaid the
original outlay, besides covering the annual cost of mainte-
nance, repairs, &c., but actually leaves a handsome profit to
the department. The results brought about in these districts
are highly interesting. Sandy wastes, more particularly in the
vicinity of Rastadt and Carlsrulie, have been turned into
smiling corn-fields of great fertility."

IloTATiorf OF CROrs. — Liebig attaclies great importance
to a rotation of crops (see pp. 89, 90, 328 of the Natural
Laws of Husbandry). He clearly explains the propriety of
and necessity for a rotation of deep and strong-rooted with
shallow and fibrous-rooted plants, and the alternation of cereal
and root or green crops, the latter as collectors of a store of
ammonia. Is the four-course rotation adapted to modern
farming ? It no doubt resulted from a general and very long
course of observation by practical farmers, wlio, after trying,
unsuccessfully and successfully, various modes of cropping,
adopted the latter, especially after the introduction of clover,
then turnips, more than a century ago. The four-cour.se
also distributes well the horse and manual lahour of the farm.
The rotation is one that agricultural science (had it then ex-
isted) would have indicated and suggested — that is, the alter-
nation of broad-leaved and narrow-leaved, and deep-feeding
and shallow-feeding plants, and of plants requiring the ele-
ments of soil and manure in varying qualities, quantities, pro-
portions, and positions. That was at a time when we were
emerging from pasture, and when we knew nothing of guano,
bones, and other artificial manures, and when there were no
oilcakes aud other foreign feeding-stuffs, few good roads, and
no railways to convey fruit, vegetables, hay, and straw to
towns and cities, and to bring back town or artificial manures
and feeding-stuffs. There were then no thrashing-machines,
no reaping-machiuef to hasten the harvest, no steam-machines
to make short work of autumn cultivation, no drills to seed
the land rapidly. There was formerly no fresh beef at Christ-
mas before clover and turnips were introduced. Without im-
ported food or artificial manures the farm had to be fertilised
with its own produce, which rendered necessary restrictive
clauses, forbidding the selling off hay, straw, or roots, and the
breaking up of pasture. Landowners had no doubt observed
that when pastures were broken up the continued succession
of corn crops exhausted the land, and ultimately impoverished
both the tenant and landowner. Under the new and altered
circumstances there will probably arise a considerable modifica-
tion and reduction of these restrictions, and, in fact, it has
already been done on that well-managed Holkham estate,
which lias ever been, from the time of the great Coke, a trusty
and admirable model of agricultural progress and success. The
present noble owner has initiated much good by the recent
publication oi the terms of his modern lease, whicli has given
the tenant free action as to the mode of cropping his land and
selling off his crops, provided he does not thereby impair the
natural fertily of the soil. Science, and the public discussions
at our numerous farmers' clubs and agricultural societies,
have, I hope, sufficiently enlightened us, so tliat the old and
ruinous error of believing that you could always be taking out
of the agricultural purse without a periodical refilling, will
gradually disappear. The materials for maintaining or re-
storing fertility are now abundant, and will be more so when
supplemented by town sewage. We shall then no longer be
told by an Irish tenant, " This good land absolutely produced
17 successive crops of oats, but, bad luck to me ! the last was
a complete failure." A friend from Ireland related this to
me as a fact within his own knowledge, and I was once of-
fered a Welsh hill farm to purchase at a merely nominal
price, the tenant having taken seven crops of oats in suc-
cession, the last two not having reproduced the quantity sown
as seed (7 bush, per acre !). Truth, even in agriculturr, is
sometimes more strange than fiction, which it is well to bear
in mind when we are congratulating ourselves on the admirable
condition of certain well-farmed and well-known districts.
These are the sunny sides of British agriculture, but there are
a great many — far too many — dark, shady, and unsatisfactory
districts which will not at present, or for a long time to come,
bear the light of either public investigation or congratulation.
The old-school farmer, who was accustomed to look to the
natural production of the soil for his maintenance, is now,
unless he adapts himself to modern practice, in an unfavourable

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

471

position. Rent and other charges have greatly increased, and
he has to compete, in his sales, with farmers who have, by
adopting and availing themselves of modern^ advantages and
practices, been enabled to produce their meat and corn more
cheaply than he has done. I pass many a pleasant and in-
structive evening with Baron Liebig, or rather, in my study,
with his great works on agriculture ; and I venture to predict
that in 1972 they will be found in the library of every intelli-
gent British farmer. The works of that most profound of
agricultural philosophers can only be thoroughly comprehended
and appreciated by a frequent reconsideration of their con-
tents. He lias lighted up the hitherto dark and difficult path
of the natural laws of husbandry. I do not fail to recognise
and appreciate the merits of the various talented chemists who
liave issued from Liebig's lecture-rooms and laboratory
(especially one whom we are proud to call a member of our
Club), but 1 look upon Liebig as the grand and original
expounder of sound agricultural principles, which will endure
as long as civilised agriculture exists, and will form, in all
times, a safe basis for agricultural practice. There are certain
evils attending the four-course rotation under the usual lease
restrictions. Barley, after turnips fed off with cake, is fre-
quently injured by over-luxuriance, and the young clover
destroyed by the laid crop of barley. High farming produces
a large quantity of straw. On the best modern principles of
covered and enclosed yards with paved floors a much smaller
proportion of straw is required for bedding than in the ordinary
open farmyards exposed to rainfall ; but, even in the latter
cate, there is on a vast number of farms a great difficulty in
getting the straw " down" or " rotted," and it is no uncommon
thing to see on farms with too little live stock the roads around
and leading to the farmyard deeply and frequently littered with
straw, in order to rot or convert it into a miscalled manure.
Straw thus treated is worth as manure (see Lawes) only 12s.
6d. a ton. It could be sold for paperraaking at triple that
price, and as food it is worth 40s. per ton (see Horsfall, vols,
xvii. and xviii.. Royal Agncnltural Society's Journal). But if,
on ordinary farms, there is not even now capital enough to
convert all the straw into good manure in open yards, it is
evident the greatly-increased capital required in live stock —
where covered yards are used, and especially where much
straw is given as food mixed with cake, corn, roots, malt culms,
and bran — could not, with our present agricultural notions,
be found. I have £6 per acre usually in live stock only, and
even so have much hay and straw to sell. If it were, as it
ought to be, all cut into chaff mixed with cake, corn, &c., and
consumed by cattle, much more capital than I have in live
stock would be required. Hay is in some cases wasted, either
thrown onto pastures or put into racks for horses and cattle,
to pick out the dainty pieces and tread the rest under foot.
In my case I have sold since Christmas more than £300 of
surplus hay of last year's growth, and some straw, because I
had not capital or animals enough to consume it, and yet I
have now only 8 acres of pasture. It is a hard case for a
farmer not to be allowed to sell clover and hay when it brings
£5 or £6 per ton (mine was sold at £5 this year), for they
could bring back more profitable cake, or guano, or other
manures, to compensate the land ; near great towns and cities
there is always a market and demand for straw and hay. No
doubt the prohibition to sell hay and straw or roots arose from
the fact that some farmers (at any rate in ancient times) would
sell everything off the land, regardless of consequences ; and in
those times they could get neither cake, guano, bones, super-
phosphate, or artificial manures to compensate and keep up
fertility. I am afraid that even now there are still some who
don't believe in exhaustion, and so keep constantly
taking out of the purse without refilling it, to their ultimate
loss. I except the members of our Club,', who understand
their business too well for that. As regards the rotation of
crops the great variety in the proportion of elements that con-
stitute various plants, and their depths and modes of feeding,
indicates the necessity for a rotation or alternation of crops.
A striking instance of this kind is recorded in the Royal Agri-
cultural Society's Journal, vol. xiii., p. 409, a well-deserved
prize es';ay, by Mr. Hemming, whose beans after seed rye were
a fine crop, while in the same field, following the green rye
(mowed for soiling, the land then guanoed and sown with
white turnips drawn off), the beans actually stopped all growth
after 6 inches high, and did not even seed, although sown in
the same field and at the same time as the successful bean crop.

This did not arise from infertility of the soil, but because the
aldermanic turnips had devoured all the available potash, while
the seeded rye crop did not want any, or very little potash ;
the beans lost their dinner (potash) and died off, thus proving
Liebig's great theory, that, one necessary ingredient in the
growth of a plant being absent, renders all the others useless
— ^just as in house building, if any one material is wanting (say
either water, lime, bricks, or any other), the house cannot be
built, although you have abundance of all the rest. This led
Mr. Hemming (who had been rather astonished) to a chemical
inquiry, which he gave to the public in the Society's Journal,
and richly earned and deserved our thanks, as well as the
prize awarded to him. Where the roots of an often-cut hedge,
or often-thinned trees have had long possession of the soil, and
attached themselves to nearly every granule, there is little
hope of obtaining good crops from the exhausted soil. I can
distinctly trace, by the inferiority of crop (now wheat) the
site of some old banks, which I removed 30 years ago, and it
will probably be visible for another 30 — a great deal of land in
our neighbourhood was once forest — chalking does some good
on old wood land. Farmers know that they cannot raise a
new thorn fence on the ground on which a previous and old
thorn fence was grown. How well Liebig, in his great work,
i\\e. Nitfitral Laws of Husb vidry, explains all these apparent
mysteries, and why deep and shallow-rooted plants should
alternate !

American Ageicl'LTURE.— It may be interesting to my
brother agriculturists to know how our juvenile American
cousins are progressing agriculturally. The latest returns,
which I annex, give an astounding proof of their enterprise,
industry, and power, especially when we consider that they
only exceed us in population by some six millions. No doubt
the better education of the population has very much to do
with it, for every man, woman, and child is there taught, free
of any expense, to read, write, and cypher. Some years ago
they had 120,000 free public schools and colleges — well en-
dowed by Government grants of land and by willing taxation.
Farm labourers must be well off there, with 4s. 2d. a-day, and
cheap and abundant provisions.

Extract from hie Agricultural returns just issued
BY OUR Board of Trade.

Uni/ed Kingdom.

Population 31,609,910

Total area in Eng-
lish statute acres
exclusive of lakes

andrivers 76,405,968

Acres.

Wheat 3,831,654

Barley 2,616,965

Oats 4,362,139

Maize —

Cotton —

Sugar-cane —

Tobacco —

Beans, peas, root
and other crops,

about 6,500,000

Permanent pasture
for hay and graz-
ing 22,525,761

Grass under rota-
tion 6,236,588

JJniied Stales of America.

Population 38,923,210

Total areain Eng-
lish statute acres
including rivers
and lakes ...2,095,600,000

Wheat 19,18l]004

Barley 1,025,793

Oats 9,461,441

Maize 37,103,245

Cotton 7,750,000

Sugar-cane 95,334

Tobacco 481,101

►Not enumerated.

Acreage of mea-
dows and perma-
nent pasture for
hay 18,591,281

Horses 2,648,223 Horses 8,248,800

Cattle 9,346,216 I Cattle 25,434,100

Sheep andlarabs... 31,403,500 Sheep and lambs 40,853,000

Pigs 4,136,616 1 Pigs 26,751,400

In conclusion, I am by no means satisfied with the general
condition of British agriculture. It must be considered as
resting at present on an unsound foundation, for exhaustion
of the soil is extensively carried on. The annual produce of
20,000 acres comes into London daily, and daily passes through

472

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

the sewers info the Thames, instead of returning to fertilise
the land. The same suicidal process is going on in most of
our other great cities. Common sense tells us what the re-
sult of this must be. If tlie voidances resulting from the vast
food imports which we consume annually were economised,
our country would be greatly fertilised and enriched. By a
false and ignorant delicacy we look upon human voidances as
a horrible nuisance to begot rid of. If we knew and con-
sidered that our future food— in fact, our vitality — depended
upon the careful utilising of these voidances, we should take
a more rational view of the matter. In this respect the
Chinese and Japanese are far before us in common
sense and civilisation. Liebig — how forcibly and painfully ! —
illustrates our dangers at p. 236 of his Naliiral Laivs of
Husbandry : " No intelligent man who contemplates the pre-
sent state of agriculture with an unbiassed mind can remain
in doubt, even for a moment, as to the stage which husbandry
has reached in Europe. We find that all countries and regions
of the earth, where man has omitted to restore to the land
the conditions of its continued fertility, after having attained
the culminating period of the greatest density of population,
fall into a state of barrenness and desolation. Historians are
wont to attribute the decay of nations to political events and
social causes. These may, indeed, have greatly contril3uted to
the result ; but we may well ask whether some far deepej
cause, not so easily recognised by historians, has not produced
these events in the lives of nations, and whether most of the
exterminating wars between different races may not have
sprung from the inexorable law of self-preservation ? Nations,'
like men, pass from youth to age, and then die out — so it may
appear to the superficial observer ; but if we look at the mat-
ter a little more closely, we shall find that as the conditions
for the continuance of the human race, which Nature has
placed in the ground, are very limited and readily exhausted,
the nations that have disappeared from the earth have dug
their own graves by not knowing how to preserve these con-
ditions. Nations (bke China and Japan) who know how to
preserve these conditions of life do not die out. Not the fer-
tility of the earth, but the duration of that fertility lies within
the power of the human will. In the final result, it comes
very much to the same thing, whether a nation gradually de-
clines upon a soil constantly diminishing in fertility, or
whether, being a stronger race, it maintains its own
existence by exterminating and taking the place of another
people upon a land richer in the conditions of life.
Everyone who is at all acqainted with the nutural con-
ditions of agriculture must perceive that the method of
culture, practised for centuries in most countries, could
not but inevitably impoverish and exhaust even tlie most
fruitful lands; can it then be supposed that there will be
any exception in the case of cultivated lands in Europe, and
that like causes will not produce like effects P" Liebig says,
p. 226 of his Naiural Laws of Husbandry : " How paltry
and insignificant do all our discoveries and inventions appear
compared to what is in the power of the agriculturist to
achieve ! AU our advances in arts and sciences are of no
avail in increasing the conditions of human existence ; and
though a small fraction of society may by their means be
gainers in material and intellectual enjoyment, the load of
misery weighing upon the great mass of the people remains
the same. A hungry man cares not for preaching, and a
child that is to learn anything at school must not be sent
there with an empty stomach. Every step in science, how-
ever, made by agriculture serves to alleviate the sufferings and
troubles of mankind, and to make the human mind susceptible
and capable of appreciating the good and the beautiful that
art aud science present to us. Improvements in agriculture
constitute the only solid foundation for further progress in all
other branches of knowledge." Liebig says, p. 241 of his
Natural Laws of Husbandry : " There is uo profession
which for its successful practice requires a larger extent of
knowledge than agriculture, and none in which the actual
Ignorance is greater." No doubt he alludes to our want of
knowledge of the causes of our successes or failures. Page
203 : " It is a very essential part of the farmer's business to
study the nature of his fields, aud to discover which of the
nutritive substances, useful to plants, his land contains in pre-
ponderating quantity ; for thus he will know liow to make a
right selection of such plants as require for their development
a superabundance of these constituents, and he will obtain the

greatest profit from his field when he knows what nutritive
substances he must supply in due proportion to those which
are already in abundance." The late llichard Cobden, in
writing to me about agriculture, said, " I was once vulgar
enough to say that a full stomach aud whole pair of breeches
were the beginning of all morality and religion." Let us,
then, invoke the aid of science in the production of more food,
and thus increase agricultural profit. To science we owe most
of the comforts of life, such as health, clothing, literature, and
locomotion. Why should our food alone be e.xcepted from its
inQuence ?

The llev. E. Smtthies (Hathern) said in responding to the
Chairman's appeal, he would venture to offer a few observa-
tions. He thought it would be accepted as true that Mr.
Mechi might be looked upon as the prince of reading farmers,
because for many years he had contributed to this Club and
elsewhere the results of his most extensive and careful study
of the principles involved in British farming (Hear, hear),
especially iu regard to the increase in the food of the people.
He supposed there was no man in the world who had gone
through so much ridicule and opposition, and experienced
such ingratitude as Mr. Mechi ; but Mr. Mechi had always
met that in a spirit of fairness, good-nature, and forbear-
ance (Hear, hear) almost without a parallel. Whatever
might be the right or the wrong of Mr. Mechi's principles, he
had met with an enormous amount of opposition ; but the
jeering with which his utterances had been received had been
met with the most wonderful amount of good nature ; there-
fore, Mr. Mechi deserved well of this Club and of the country
at large (Hear, hear) . He (Mr. Smythies) was not now saying
a word about the correctness of Mr. Mechi's principles, whether
right or wrong ; but there was no man who had striven so
much as Mr. Mechi had done ,for the interests of British
agriculture, and no man who had met ridicule so quietly and
calmly as he had dont (Hear, hear). Mr. Mechi had striven
hard, from his point of view, to represent to the country at
large what he conceived to be the true principles upon which
farming should be carried on so as to produce the maximum of
corn or meat under given circumstances ; but Mr. Mechi
made in the outset a capital mistake, which, he perhaps was
not responsible for. He invested his money in a part of the
world which he (Mr. Smythies) knew, from personal knowledge,
was about the very poorest and wretchedest to be found in the
whole kingdom. He (Mr. Smythies) had heard his father say
the land was so bad that it would not hold the scent of a fox
(laughter) and hounds never could hunt over Tiptree Heath.
Mr. Mechi therefore began his splendid series of experiments
upon a portion of the country that was the very worst perhaps
that the sun shines on ; aud in that he was unfortunate, because
when he (Mr. Smythies) had told of his results in other and
richer parts of the country, the reply was : " Oh ! we think
nothing of that — we can do that here." The real cause of
that was that Mr. Mechi began in a country where the land
was of the poorest kind ; nevertheless, Mr. Mechi deserved
well of the country, notwithstanding the unfortunate mistake
he made iu beginning to farm in such a district. What had
Mr. Mechi done on his tile-clay land, which was the poorest
stuff ever seen ? Many years ago, he (Mr. Smythies) saw it
cultivated to the depth of 14 inches — and to that depth it was
a black mass of soil like a Battersea market-garden — and Mr.
Mechi had produced results upon that land such as the
kingdom could not produce elsewhere. As to his balance-
sheet, he (Mr. Smythies) did not say a word (laughter),
but he contended that Mr. Mechi deserved weU and not
ill of the British farmer, because he had done his
utmost to see what could be done with high-farming (Hear,
hear). This led to a question upon wliich he (Mr. Smythies)
had some little personal knowledge, viz., whether Mr. Mechi,
in his experiments, and mode, and notions of farming, had
deserved well of the British farming public ; in other words,
whether he had done good to the general cause of the tenant-
farmer, or whether he had done evil. He (Mr. Smythies) main-
tained, without the slightest hesitation, that Mr. Mechi had
done immeasurable good (Hear, hear). He contended that,
notwithstanding what had been said about Mr. Mechi pub-
lishing to the world what might be done by high-farming,
which, it was said, would only tend to raise rents, tlie best
thing that could happen for the interests of the tenant-farmers
was that landlords should know the actual truth about farming.
He might give one illustration. A landlord he knew was told

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

473

that one of his tenants who was farming 500 acres had pro-
duced 5 quarters of wheat per acre, and the landlord at once
sat down and made a calculation that his tenant was pro-
ducing 2,500 quarters of wheat, which he reckoned at the
market price would produce so much, apparently not aware
that the tenant would have not more that a quarter of his
farm under wheat cultivation (laughter). This was done in
perfect loud fides on the part of the landlord, and he (Mr.
Smythies) believed it was a fair illustration of the knowledge
which many landlords had of what their tenants made out of
their farms (laughter and No, no). He maintained that it
was a fair instance, and if the gentlemen present were placed
under happier circumstances he rejoiced to hear it ; but he
had heard of similar instances, and therefore anything which
tended to make known to the world the real circumstances of
the British agriculturist was an immense benefit to the
British tenant-farmer. With regard to the general principles
of the improvement of land which Mr. Mechi had dwelt upon,
he (Mr. Smythies) desired to say that the man who undertook
that sort of thing iiad a great amount of ridicule to go through,
which was hard to bear. The first time he attended market
he would find his neighbours pointing at him, and saying,
" Here is the man who is coming to teach us all how to farm.
You will see he will soon be tired of it." He would be the
subject of suspicion, dislike, and general prejudice on the part
of those around him. That was what a man had to face who
undertook to try and improve the general average of the pro-
duce of the land. Therefore the man who did that steadfastly,
and brought a good result, deserved credit from the nation at
large. But what followed ? Why the very persons who thus
ridiculed the man, before long imitated his plans, bought
manure, cultivated deeper, put in a better class of seed, began
to plough, straighter, and deeper, and perhaps to drain their
land ; but though they did these things they never once acknow-
ledged that their first idea of such a thing was derived from the
man who had been the subject of their jeers and gibes perhaps
for ten years before (Hear, hear). One or two practical points
in Mr. Mechi's paper he wished to notice ; and the first was
that of burning clay. He should like to hear of some more
practical experience on this subject. He believed that in re-
gard to the clay that Mr. Mechi spoke of — the tile clay — and
the London clay and plastic clay — burning was beneficial ; but
that when they went farther to the westward burning was
injurious. At all events he had been told that with the Kem-
meridge and Portland clays and clay intermixed with the Keuper
marls, burning was injurious, because burning did more
harm to it chemically than it did good to it mechanically ; and
that was also his own experience. One farmer said to him :
" If you will put thirty shillings' worth of old rags into the
clay, you will do it more good tlian by burning it ;" and he
was inclined to think that chemically and mechanically they
could better improve clay soil in other ways than l)y burning
it. At all events the question of burning clay which might be
good for the London and plastic clays did not apply through-
out the country. As to Mr. Mechi's per centages, he believed
Mr. Mechi had spoken about stocking land at M per acre.
He had friends who could easily graze a beast per acre, but
who could not buy that beast as a store under £17 or £18.

Mr. Mechi : Have they only six acres of pastures as I have ?

The Rev, E. Smythies said suppose they had half pasture
and half arable, something like from £10 to £12 an acre would
be a moderate amount ; but Mr. Mechi's calculation was £4 an
acre as the average throughout the kingdom ; but he (Mr.
Smythies) should be inclined to put from £14 to £16 an acre as
nearer the estimate ; and at present prices that was the lowest
a man could farm at profitably. Notwithstanding these points,
however, he thanked Mr. Mechi for his able paper, and for
what he had done on behalf of British agriculture (Hear,
hear).

Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., said he desired to answer the last
speaker in regard to the scientific and tlieoretical farmers when
they came into a district. Mr. Smythies said they were pooh-
poohed and put down, and were objects of scorn and derision.
He (Mr. Read) thought it depended on how those scientific
gentlemen comported themselves (Hear, hear). If they came
fancying that everybody was ignorant and that they alone
knew the secret of farming, and if they put forth their
Tarious nostrums and said that they alone were right, then
what Mr, Smythies had said might be true ; but on the other

hand he (Mr, Read) v/ould say that the majority of English
farmers of the present day hailed with delight any gentleman
who would come and teach them how to improve their agri-
culture, especially if they would do it practically, and not all
from books and on theory (Hear, hear). Only last December
the Committee of the Farmers' Club received tlie melancholy
news that their esteemed friend Mr. Mechi was going to
witlulraw himself from the Committee and Club ; and the
Club hesitated to receive the notice and asked Mr. Mechi to
reconsider the matter ; and the result was that to-night Mr,
Mechi was quite himself again (Hear, hear). His natural
force had by no means abated (Hear, hear) ; he flisi always
telling, and always amusing, and now he had gone beyond
himself in scientific researches (laughter and " Hear, hear").
He (Mr. Read) did not wish to say anything against science.
A good deal was said in favour of science apparently to the
disparagement of practice ; and what he wanted to say was
not in regard to practice without science, but practice
with science (Hear, hear). What had science taught
the farmer that he did not know before ? Could
Professor Voelcker say what results chemistry had told
the farmer that he did not know twenty years ago?
He knew that science had explained the cat/ses, and most in-
teresting, entertaining, and profitable, that explanation might
be ; but at the same time, had the farmer not known that the
rotation of crops, even from the time of the classic writers, was
necessary ? Had they not known, before the days of Arthur
Young, all the advantages of clay burning, which now seemed
to be the newest hobby at Tiptree? Had they not known that
oilcake manure was best ; that rape dust guano, and even the
more modem introduction of what used to be known as salt-
petre ? However valuable they might regard science as an ad-
junct to a farmer, they must not suppose it did more tlian tell
the farmer the causes of all the results which he had long ago
made out by practice (Hear, hear). Referring to Mr. Mechi's
observations as to the quantity of wheat imported, they must
remember that economical reasons governed that, and that if
wheat could be grown cheaper abroad than here, wheat would
go out of cultivation here in the end, although it might be
much better for the nation that the land should be kept as
arable land ; but on the other hand, with the increased ex-
penses on arable land in the shape of labour, there was no
doubt that the land in this country would rather be turned
into grass. With regard to Mr. Mechi's facts, he would lik
to touch on one, viz., his idea of manuring the subsoil, and he
would convict him out of his own mouth, for Mr. Mechi said :
" You cannot manure the subsoil because the whole of the
manure is retained in the top soil ;" and then he said that
when he applied a lot of Hquid manure to a field that w as drained
5 feet deep, the \iater ran through the subsoil and emerged
from the drain discoloured.

Mr. Mechi : Down the cracks.

Mr. Read : Down the cracks ; but it proved that the
liquid manure went into the subsoil. Every tiller in Norfolk
knew that they did not want to manure the subsoil ; the great
thing was to have the manure in the topsoil. If Mr. Mechi
were to sow a quantity of guano in a hungry gravel soil, he
would find a portion of the manure washed far below the roots
of the plant. Then Mr. Mechi had referred to sewage. What
had science done for sewage and for the manure of towns?
Sanitary and hydraulic engineers had done more harm.than any-
one else by sweeping valuable manure into the nearest
stream to the great detnment of the health of the neighbour-
hood. What had science done in teaching the causes of
clover sickness, though that was a matter in which they might
expect science to assist ? Had the chemist told them how they
could strengthen the straw of their cereals ?

Mr. Mechi : Yes.

Mr. Read said he would like to know what ? He would
guarrantee anyone a fair fortune who would say how in Eng-
land they could maintain a large crop of cereals without the
danger of their lodging. The man who discovered that would
be a benefactor to agriculture. The limit to the cultivation
of cereals at present was, that after growing a certain quan-
tity of wheat or barley, and especially barley, the straw went
down, and inferior yields were afterwards produced. In con-
clusion, Mr. Read said that they must have practice and science
combined. He believed it was Baron Liebig who said, "There
is more nourishment in bean-straw than clover-hay" ; and an

474

fHB FAUMEE'S MAGAZINE.

old farmer who heard this said, " But if I were a horse I
should still prefer the hay" (laughter).

Dr. VoELCKER said he felt bouud to make some defence on
belialf of tlie science of agriculture against the not very flat-
tering remarks that had fallen from Mr. Read. If what Mr.
Read said was true, men of science were very useless crea-
tures. Of what use were they if they had never done any-
thing for the farmer, and were never likely to do anything ?
Now, he believed that a great deal had been done for the far-
mer by scientific men, a great deal was being done, and a great
deal of useful work lay before them to do in the future. It
was, however, a bad plan for a man to blow his own trumpet,
and he did not like to stand there and blow the trumpet of
science as against practice, but he hoped some one would take
up the cudgels against some of the vievvs expressed by Mr.
Read. Some of the remarks wliich had been made about
burnt clay struck him as a forcible illustration that science was
of real practical value to the farmer. It was stated that in
some cases the burning of clay did not improve it, while in
other cases it effected a very great improvement — and it was a
very great improvement to Mr. Meclii's stiff clay. Now, it
was just on such a point as that that science could enlighten
them, for it told them from time to time whether or not the ferti-
lizing elements were developed and rendered valuable by burning.
Mr. Mechi's clay abounded iu silicates of potash and soda in
a locked-up state, phosphate of lime, and other elements which
on burning were rendered extremely useful for vegetation. Mr.
Sraythies had expressed some commiseration for Mr. Mechi,
because he had had to contend with tliat poor Essex clay ; but
he (Professor Voelcker) differed entirely from Mr. Smythies
on that point ; he thouglit Mr. Mechi had shown great pluck
in tackhng that clay, and he would be rewarded for it in time
if he were not rewarded already for the energy he had dis-
played in cultivating a soil which had the name for being very
infertile, which in its natural state was sterile, and which,
nevertheless, contained abundant stores of plant-food. That
land needed burning and the application of lime, and espe-
cially to be worked by the steam plough, which he strongly
advised Mr. Mechi to maks use of, and then he need not be
afraid of exhausting his soil. Some land might be exhausted
in a very few years, but Mr. Mechi's stiff clay would stand
very heavy cropping for a great many years with an occa-
sional dressing of the somewhat despised guano. Mr. Mechi,
if he cultivated deeply his clay land, would fiud nothing more
profitable than Peruvian guano, which was especially rich in
ammonia, and the richer in ammonia it was the more profit-
able it was on these stiff clays. He had no fear of the ex-
haustion of land after a time where guano was constantly ap-
plied. It had been asserted that guano was exhaustive to cer-
tain lands : he had made every inquiry and he could not find
it so. He always found the more guano the heavier the crop,
and he had not found an instance of land exhausted by it
(Hear, hear). He had much more fear of the exhaustion of
the supply of guano than.of the exhaustion of the land. It
was, indeed, a very serious question what they should do when
the guano failed them. They would then be thrown upon the
use of nitrate of soda, audit was as well that they should begin
to see to what advantage nitrate of soda could be turned.
There was great danger in using nitrate of soda injudiciously,
for if there were not the mineral elements in the soil to build
up the plant nitrate of soda would do no good. It was like
plying with the whip a horse whose strength was gone. He
had had opportunities of seeing the unfortunate influence of
nitrate of soda on poor soils. At the same time it was a valua-
ble assistance iu conjunction with other manures — phosphatic
manures, and potash salts. He did not altogether agree with
Mr. Mechi on some of the chemical points upon which he
had toucaed.iior did he agree on all those points with Baron
Liebig. There was not a shrewder or more intelligent
philosophical mind — and at the same time a gocd practical
mind — than that of Baron Liebig. He was a mau of very
powerful perception, and if he had had the advantage of only
a year or a couple of years' experience in this country he would
have been the first man to modify many of the views he had
expressed in rather strong language. And one of these points
was with regard to the manuring of subsoils. He did not
think that the farmer should ever apply manure to subsoils
(Hear, hear). He (Professor Voelcker) would say to the far-
mers : " Don't manure subsoil of any kind, light or heavy ;
manure the topsoil, and keep the manuring elements as near

as you possibly can to the surface, so that the young plant
may derive immediate advantage from the food prepared for
it."

Mr. C. S. Read : Do you agree with Mr. Mechi that it is
impossible to manure the subsoil through the topsoil ?

Professor Voelcker : I decidedly think that Mr. Mechi is
wrong in that. The subsoil can be manured to a certain extent
through the topsoil, and it is as well to bring up a little of the
subsoil and get back the elements of fertility which have sunk
down through the topsoil. This reminded him of certain facts
which showed how careful we ought to be in generalising from
what he would call half-understood facts in agricultural
chemistry. It was very natural to make that mistake when a
discovery was made, because we did not know the full extent
of the facts involved. When it was discovered that plants ab-
sorbed ammonia, leaving the sulphuric acid to pass through the
soil, it was thought that fertilising elements might be stored
up in the soil and the soil become permanently enriched ; but
tlien it was not known how rapid were the changes which
ammonia undergoes in the soil. It was a mistake to suppose
that ammonia would remain permanently in the surface
soil. It would get rapidly washed, in the shape of nitric acid,
into the subsoil. Fertilising elements could not be per-
manently stored up in the soil. It was not possible perma-
nently to improve the fertility of the laud. The best thing the
farmer should expect after applying artificial manures to the
land was a heavy crop, and not to look forward to
profit by the ultimate improvement of the soil. Frequent
manuring was the most profitable mode of procedure, but to
manure with a view to the future was in a great measure all
moonshine. Unless they saw their money back which they ex-
pended in manure in the weight of the crop to which the
artificial manure was applied, they had better keep their money
in their pockets. If the manure was not utilised at once it
passed, in a great measure, into the drainage-water, and he was
not at all sure that there was not more fertilising matter lost
in the drainage and carried away than ever passed into the
crop.

Mr. Trethwy (Silsoe) said Mr. Mechi had alluded
to the difficulties of exchange, and of the obstacles in the
way of improvement in land by the tenant for life. He
was surprised at those remarks, because, under the present
Act, changes might be effected at nominal prices. Two thou-
sand acres of land — one thousand on each side — might be ex-
changed at a very trifling cost. As to the tenant for life,
persons with a life interest in land were able to borrow money
upon very fair terms, and pay off interest and principal in
25 to 30 years, and these opportunities were constantly being
turned to account.

The Ciiairma.:n : Yes, every day.

Mr. Trethwy said he had had much personal experience
of those transactions, and they worked exceedingly well. He
regarded these facilities to be one of the greatest advantages
of modern times in connection with land. With regard to
guano he agreed with Professor Voelcker that, without excep-
tion, it always continued to improve the land. He had applied
it season after season for twenty years, and never found the
land getting exhausted ; on the contrary, it doubled in value,
and the more he used it the larger were his crops, whether he
applied it to arable or pasture. As to burning, some people
thought they might go on burning clays for any 'length of
time, but that was a mistake ; and, while on some soils burn-
ing was advantageous, on others it was perfectly useless. But
farmers did not want to be told that by scientific men, they
knew it by experience and practice ; those who found it suc-
ceed went on with it, and others gave it up. Mr. Mechi was
very hard upon grass land— he was for ploughing up every-
thiug that would not feed a beast, per acre. He could quite
understand that on poor land, such as Mr. Mechi's. A moist
climate and a rich soil were necessary for pasture, and Mr.
Mechi had neither ; but he would ask gentlemen of the I\lid-
land counties, especially those iu the north and west, and those
in Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, what they
would say to breaking up poor grass land '? They would try
to improve it as grass, for they would know they could not
grow corn.

Mr. Neild (Lancashire) he would be sorry to say
anything in disparagement of book knowledge in connection

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

il6

with farming, and he was sure that was not Mr. Read's ob-
ject ; but practice and experience were also of the utmost im-
portance. He was of opinion that agriculture would never
develop and prosper as it ought in this country until there
was greater freedom in the land laws, aud greater encourage-
ment for the employment of capital in agriculture. They
needed also a reduction of the burdens on laud, and the bene-
fits of those principles of free trade which were enjoyed by
commerce. Witli regard to the respective merits of arable and
pasture laud, in Lancashire and Cheshire they were improving
grass lands instead of breaking them up. Grass lands could be
materially improved, and some people broke their hearts
when they broke up their grass.

Mr. Sidney (Islington) complimented Mr. Mechi on the
manner in which he had treated the subject, and upon the
literary capacity he had always shown iu controversy on agri-
cultural topics. No doubt Baron Liebig liad made some mis-
takes, as all great men had done. Among other errors he had
first contended that guano was a mischievous manure, and he
had laid it down that drainage would be the ruin of the coun-
try. The Baron, however, had a great prejudice against tliis
country, which detracted somewhat from the value of his
works as applied to English agriculture. As to the use of
sewage on the laud, it was entirely a question of expense. It
was useless to compare this country with China, where they
did not breed cattle aud sheep on their land, and where the
people were, no doubt, great gardeners, but did not grow crops
like those grown iu this country. He regretted to hear Mr.
Read speak in deprecatory language with regard to science,
because there was no fear of the young farmers of this geccra-
tion debaucliiiig their minds with too mucli science. The
danger was very raucli the other way. What Mr. Read had
said, coming from a man occupying so high a position in rela-
tion to agricultural affairs, was liable to be misconstrued, and
to do harm among the rising generation cf farmers. He re-
membered the time when a man could uot mention guano
without meeting with derision. Tliere was a time when far-
mers would not buy guauo at £5 per ton.

Mr. Read : We never had the chance.

Mr. Sidney was glad to know that now scientific chemistry
had spread throughout the length and breadth of the land.

Mr. Trask (Northington) said he wished Mr. IMechi
had given the Club the benefit of all his practice, and had not
treated them to so much of the latest edition of Liebig. He
did not at all believe that the man who farmed highly
would be jeered at and ridiculed by his brother-farmers
at market as Mr. Smythies had stated, and he did not
think such an assertion ought to go forth to the public uncon-
tradicted. If a man farmed his land better than his neigh-
bours, and broughtsciencetobear, and brought also practice witli
that science, that man would certainly not be laughed at by Jiis
neighbours. With regard to the four-course system, he did
not quite agree with Mr. Read's remarks, because he was no
believer in the generalpolicy of the four-course system, and there
were a great many practical farmers who did not believe in it.
He believed if they took a succession of two white straw crops
they might have a large crop of wheat aud a large crop of bar-
ley, and no straw-lodgiug whatever. As to guano, a great
many used it without making sure of the quality. Guano
stood at a very high price, and if tliey did not get it good it
did not answer their purpose. He had heard — he did not know
whether it was true — that the Tiptree farm grew as large crops
crops before Mr. Mechi took it as any other similar land in the
county. He did not agree with the universal use of guano,
for he believed that there were some of the ploughed up downs
iu the West of England which were thoroughly exhausted at
this moment by the use of guano, and were therefore perfectly
useless, aud there were other lands that were similarly exhausted
by the use of nitrate of soda. He was quite sure his friend,
Mr. Read, did not mean to say anything to the prejudice of
science ; lie simply meant that a young man should have all

the practice he could get, and all the theory he could
remember.

Mr. Glenny (Essex) was of opinion that they should
manure as near the top as was possible, putting the manure on
the surface.

Mr. Smyth (Herts) in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr.
Mechi for his paper, deprecated Mr. Smythies' remarks about
the ignorance of landlords with respect to farming business,
and said that as far as his experience went landlords thoroughly
understood the matter.

The motion was seconded by Mr. Caldecott and carried.

Mr. Mechi, in acknowleding the compliment, observed that
there could be no doubt upon one point, and that was as to
the unmanured state of the subsoil generally in this country.
He recommended farmers not to bring the sub-soil to the
top, for if they did they would not grow a crop for many
years. That was the reason they could not go on growing
clover. When clover was first introduced into this country it
was grown frequently, and that was because, iu the course of
centuries, enough raanurial properties had passed through to the
subsoil to cause those deep-rooted plants to flourish for a time
and then to languisli, so that now the periods between growing
clover grew longer and longer. He could not grow it now in
siiorter intervals than eight years. It was the same with
swedes— another deep-rooted plant — they could not be grown
now as frequently or as successfully as they could at first.
Liebig had explained that. Those deep rooted plants flourished
for a time on the manurial properties, which had in small
quantities in the course of centuries gone through to the sub-
soil. Tlierefore, he thought they might assume that it was
very difficult indeed to manure the sub-soil through the top-
soil. As to the use of guano he was couvmcedthat if it were
used continually on laud which was deficient iu potash the
land would be exhausted. Returning to the question of the
subsoil, wherever he had applied manure to the lower soil he
grew a better crop of mangold wurtzel. As to Mr, Trask's
question about the fertiUty of Tiptree Hall Farm, before he
took it the wheat grown was at the rate of 3| ((uarters per
acre, and since then he had grown as much as 7 quarters ;
he had removed three miles and a half of fences, aud cultiva-
ted three times as deep as the land was cultivated before, and
he certainly had three limes as many corn stacks as they used
to have before he took the farm.

On the motion of Mr. Neild, seconded by Mr. Mechi, a
vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Cheflins for his conduct iu
the chair.

The Chairman, in acknowledgments, remarked tliat they
had had the advantage of a most useful and interesting dis-
cussion. As this would be their last meeting till November
he wished the members a most prosperous season and a great
harvest, and hoped they would all meet in good health at the
Club next autumn.

The following new Members of the Club have been elected :

Sir T. D. Acland, Bart., M.P., Killerton Park, Exeter.

H. Bearcroft, Droitwich.

J. Best, Jun., Hill Top, Tenbury.

F. Clench, Lincoln.

F. Clowes, Norwich.

Rev. W. Dacre, Irthington, Carlisle.

H. Dunkley, The Louuds, Blisworth.

W. Foulkes, Longhurst House, Godalming.

E. Marshallsay, Perrysfield, Godstone.

C. Middleton, Holkham, Wells.

J. Nethersole, Eastry, Sandwich.

T. Neville, Shenstone House, Lichfield.

R. Roberts, The Firs, Chester.

J. Trevor, Nether-Stowey, Bridgwater.

W. Withycombe, Gotheluey, Bridgwater.

476

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

DEVON AND CORNWALL CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.

LOCAL TAXATION.

At a meeting, held at Plymouth, Mr. G. Soltau in the chair,
Mr. Perky read the following paper on Local Taxation : —

When land was the only property in the country, as
a matter of course it had to hear the local burdens ;
and as long as an import duty was charged upon im-
ported agricultural produce such an arrangement was reason-
able. The removal of those duties, coupled with the ex-
traordinary increase in the value ot personal property,
showed that a re-adjustment of taxation was required.
There was no need to prove the injuctice of confining Local
Taxation to its present area — that was admitted. The practi-
cal way of looking at the question was to consider whether
such importantpublic services as the relief of the poor, the
maintenance of the highways, county rate matters, sanitary
action, and education should he dependent simply upon one-
seventh of the property of the country, and made a charge ouly
upon that. It was most important that these matters should
be dealt with efficiently. The poor sliould be properly cared
for, without giving a premium to indolence or breakiug down
feelings of independence. The highways should be kept in an
efficient state of repair. The objects for which the county
rates were levied must be efficiently maintained. He was per-
suaded, too, that sanitary regulations when properly carried
out would be very expensive. And as to education, it was
already clear that that would involve a greater expense than
many had anticipated. Surely, all this was too heavy a burden
to cast upon one class of property. Another way of looking
at the operation of the present law was to regard its effect in
checking the application of capital to land, by which the
whole community suffered, seeing that the resources of the
soil were not properly developed. Again, it checked the in-
vestment of capital in building labourers' dwellings, which
now required so much improvement. He would, therefore,
ease cottages of local taxation, and have landlords let plots
for their erection on reasonable terms. Then they would see
the labourers housing themselves like independent citizens.
Moreover, these small properties would offer admirable invest-
ments for small capitalists. It would be beneficial in all cases
of enclosure of waste lands that portions should be reserved at
a fair rent to the landlords for building allotments. Recently
they iiad had the satisfaction of seeing Sir Massey Lopes's
motion carried over Sir Thomas Ackland's amendment by an
overwhelming majority. The amendment went for dividing the
rates between the owner aud occupier ; but he did not
see that that would be so great a relief to the occupier
as some people seemed to imagine. There were immense
breadths of poor land in ■ the North of Devon and else-
where not worth more than 10s. an acre ; and if the
landlord gave up half the rent, how could the farmer be
materially aided even by that, seeing that the great bulk of
his expenditure was in labour and manure? If the charges
increased, such lands as these must go out of cultivation ; and
they would see whole parishes turned into single sheep farms
which he dared say would be as profitable to the landlord as
when they were let out in the ordinary way. By dividing the
rate between the landlord aud tenant the cost of collection
would be increased. The principle, however, might be applied
in the case of permanent erections, such as school-houses ;
and no doubt Sir Massey Lopes was ready to take this matter
into consideration at the proper time. The amendment, indeed
did not really deal with the question at issue. Sir IMassey
Lopes suggested that the whole of the cost of the adminis-
tration of justice, and half of that of the lunatics and the
police, should be charged to the Consolidated Fund. Tliis was
decidedly a moderate claim, for he held that they ought to
include also in that arrangement the cost of dealing with sani-
tary matters. The real (|UPstion at issue now was — the justice
of their case being admitted — whether there should be an al-
lowance from the Consolidated Pund or an extension of the
area of rating. He inclined to the latter view, and would
suggest that the house, horse, and carriage taxes might be
given over to the local authorities. This would secure local
government, which meant economy. He had not prepared

any resolution himself, but would move one written by their
chairman. "That the area from which Local Taxation
emanates is much too restricted, and that consequently it bears
with undue pressure on one class of the community."

Mr. B. Snell held that if they took up the question of
area they would get upon rather dangerous ground. The great
point, so far as it had been carried in Parliament, was the
liability of real property to certain charges which he held
should he borne elsewhere. He had great misgivings of what
miffht follow if they attempted to go beyond real property.

Mr. Peruy was not anxious to press the resolution which
they had before them, and should be happy to joiii in another
after the discussion was over.

Mr. W. Snell ventured to propose a resolution which he
hoped would be acceptable : " That the present exemption
from rates of certain descriptions of real property is unjust,
and also that the general property of the country of every kind
should contribute to all taxes levied in the shape of local
rates, but which are expended for imperial purposes ; and hav-
ing regard to the large majority in the House of Commons
recently by which this principle was affirmed, this Chamber
hopes there will be no delay in giving redress." He coincided
with the view of Mr. B. Snell that it would be very unwise to
attempt to carry the area of rating beyond real property.
What the agriculturists complained of was the new taxes. They
had either inherited or bought or rented property liable to the
ordinary charges of the maintenance of the highways and the
relief of the poor, and to that they did not object. But what
they did object to was that new burdens should be cast upon
them only, and not spread over other descriptions of property.
They felt this specially in regard to the education rate. In
the parish in which he lived there were many small farmers
and market gardeners, who were paying a great deal more to-
wards the education rate than persons living in mansions and
villas with £500 or £1,000 a year, and those burdens were not
anticipated when these farmers and gardeners first took the
land which they rented. Another point which never should
be overlooked was the fact that there was a good deal of real
property which was not rated, and the rating of which would
be a real gain to the taxpayer. If something of that sort was
not done — merely taking from the Consolidated Fund was only
re-arranging the burdens — the money had to come out of the
taxpayers' pockets just the same.

Mr. Pratt seconded the motion, observing that real pro-
perty was entitled also to some consideration from the fact
that its privileges — in the shape of protective duties — had been
swept away. He hoped no time would be lost in pushing
the matter forward.

Mr. Spear greatly regretted that there was such a small
attendance out of 600 members, and blamed the conduct of
the Opposition in Parliament as the real cause why the Go-
vernment had been unable to carry out their desire of re-ad-
justing local burdens. There could, however, be no real relief un-
less the area of rating was extended, especially to woods and
plantations ; and be would move, as an amendment, " It is the
opinion of this meeting that the rating of woods, plantations,
and common lauds, and of all iiereditaments, should take pre-
cedence of the distribution of local rates." This was not
seconded.

Mr. RosEVEARE thought the different resolutions might very
well be combined. The question, however, was so broad that
uo one chamber could hope to take it up at present in all its
bearings. Mines ought also to be rated, though in regard to
them it was rather difficult to say what was real property and
what was not. He should be glad if a meeting could be called
at Liskeardto consider whether, under the present law, build-
ings, engines, and tramways on mines could not be rated. The
question of the maintenance of the highways was likewise a
most important one.

The Chairman remarked that there was also a good deal
of Government property that escaped taxation.

Mr. Soltau-Stmons did not see very much difference be-
tween the motion of Sir Massey Lopes and the amendment of

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE.

477

Sir Thomas Acland, except that the latter went on to suggest
that the rates should he divided between the owner and the
occupier. Last year Mr. Goschen approved of the principle
of the motion by proposing to hand over £1,200,000 house tax;
and he could not at all understand why the Government had
since courted defeat. He did not see, too, why Mr. Perry did
not consider the division of rates between the landlord and
tenant a benefit for the latter. For himself, he thought that
of all new rates which were imposed after a tenant had taken
a farm the landlord should pay two-thirds. He agreed with
the principle enunciated by Sir Massey Lopes, but at the same
time he could not shut his eyes to the fact that land was yearly
rising in value. As to education, bearing in mind the difficul-
ties which many of the tenant-farmers had in procuring educa-
tion for their children, he held that the primary schools
should be such as would be fitted for them likewise. Another
point which required attention was the management of the
rates. Now-a-days so many things were put together under
the head of the poor-rates that no one could tell what the rates
were for, or what became of the money. Better local ma-
nagement would lead to economy; and he held that county
financial boards would greatly assist in producing that result.
They all felt that the incidence of local taxation was too
limited ; and after the way in which the resolution of Sir Massey
Lopes had been carried, he hoped the matter would be dealt
with by the Government without delay.

Mr. Dingle pointed out the grievance under which his
parish laboured, in consequence of the existence there of a
large mining centre which did not contribute to the rates.
Thus they had to increase the poor-rates largely ; to make a
much greature expenditure on the highways ; and now they
were called upon by a Government inspector to educate the
miners' children. This would oost them, at least, Is. in the
£1, which would be equal to an income-tax of 23. "Well, they
had told the inspector that they should do nothing, that they
were liable to very heavy burdens on account of the mines, for
which they received no consideration; and that the Government

might do what it pleased. He did not at all value the propo-
sal to divide the rates between the landlord and tenant, which
he looked on as a proposition intended for the purposes of di-
vision. The rating question would be the test at the next
county elections ; and a good many members would be left
out in the cold if they did not change their ways.

Mr. N. Stephens thought the proposal to divide new
rates between landlord and tenant only equitable, and likely
to tend to economy. He quite endorsed in other views the
resolution of Mr. Snell. Tenant-farmers and yeoman did not
wish to monopolise county financial boards. They only wanted
to weed out some people who had no business there. If they
wanted grievances to be redressed they must ask the Legisla-
ture to do it.

Mr. Perry, in reply, having withdrawn his motion in
favour of Mr. Snell's, denied that the Conservative party had
offered any opposition to Mr. Stansfeld's Bill. He cautioned
his friends against in any way admitting the principle of new
rates. What they said was that they had too much already.
The difference between throwing charges on the Consolidated
Fund, and between having taxes handed over as he suggested,
was that the adoption of the latter course would secure local con-
trol ; and with that control economy.

Mr. Snell's motion was then carried.

The Chairman then moved, Mr. W. Snell, juu., seconded,
and it it was supported by Mr. Soltau-Syraons and Mr. Pratt,
and carried unanimously, " That this Chamber begs to tender
to Sir Massey Lopes, one of the members for South Devon,
their cordial and unanimous vote of thanks for the able,
earnest, and lucid manner in which he introduced the
question of local taxation in the House of Commons on the
16th of April last; and that this Chamber sincerely congra-
tulates him on his having obtained so signal a recognition of
the undue pressure to which real property is now subjected,
and feels assured he will persevere in that good csuse which
has so justly secured him their confidence and esteem."

BRAMPTON FARMERS' CLUB.

STATUTE FAIRS.

At a meeting for the purpose of hearing a paper on the
" Hiring of Farm Servants, and the time of hiring them,"
Mr. G. Coulthard in the chair.

The Rev. W. Dacre said, it cannot be denied that
in many of the southern counties the agricultural labourer
has much reason to be discontented with the way in which his
labour is remunerated, although the case has been greatly ex-
aggerated— and it is to be hoped that now that the case has
been fully brought before the eyes of the public, there will be
a readjustment of the relations between employers and em-
ployed, and that the labourer will receive a more adequate re-
muneration for his services. He considered the condition of
the labourer in the north, however, as different from this.
Here, for the most part, our farm-servants are well paid, well
fed, and well educated, and as the result they are more inde-
pendent, do more work, and are more intelligent than the
same class in the south. This brought him more immediately
to the subject before the meeting — namely, the statute hirings.
Are they desirable or are they objectionable ? And could any
improvement be made as to the time of hiring ? In his
opinion they were not objectionable, or at least they «vere not
so objectionable as any other method that had been proposed ;
in fact, they were desirable rather than otherwise. He ob-
jected to the manner in which this question had always been
looked at from the employers' side of the question alone. Of
the arguments adduced against the custom, the principal one
was on the score of morality. He admitted there was a good
deal of drinking at hirings ; but not more in proportion than
there was at an agricultural show or any other gathering.
With respect to dancing in public-houses he did not see any
difference in one class enjoying this amusement in the room of
the public-house, and another class in the hall of the County
Hotel. To those who are advocates for the abolition of pub-
lic hirings, he would ask in what manner would you propose
to compensate the servants for the loss of their terra day and
the public hiring. The half-yearly hiring gave servants a
regular holiday of several days in which tliey could meet their

friends and relatives, either at their homes or the public mar-
ket, and who that had ever witnessed the cordial greetings
with which friend meets friend would wish that a source of so
much pure pleasure should be done away with ? Another ob-
jection was that it would be far better for masters to engage
servants with characters at register offices, than a servant in
a public market without a character. He could sav for him-
self that he never engaged to hire them at a public hiring
without a character, and although he had met with excellent
servants at register offices, he had also met with the reverse.
As to the times of the hirings, the two main hirings are
Whitsuntide and Martinmas, with quarterly hirings at Can-
dlemas and Lammas. Respecting these two latter hiring days,
everyone will admit that Candlemas is a most convenient
hiring day, as being the term for entering on many farms,
and when consequently many fresh servants are required. All
therefore will be agreed that if any change in the four quar-
terly hiring days were to be made the Candlemas hiring
should be unaltered, but should remain one of the four days —
in other words that Carlisle hiring, which regulates the other
hirings of the district, should be on the first Saturday in
February. Having fixed that as one of the hiring days it
seems it would be a very simple thing to alter the other hir-
ing days at Carlisle to the first Saturdays in May, August, and
November. Tiiis would make all the four quarters equal in
length, and would not materially alter any of the present
terms, except that of Whitsuntide, for which the first week in
May would be substituted. Many think that it would be ad-
visable to make February and August the principal hiring
days, but in this the present arrangement of the half-year is
the better, and especially for two reasons — the one, that May
and November are seasons when summer and winter clothing
are changed, and therefore suit the farm-servants best, as well
as being the general rent time for cottage property ; the se-
cond reason is that many, especially of the smaller farmers,
can manage to do with a servant or two less during the winter
quarter, from Martinmas to Candlemas, which they are enabled

478

THE VAliMEll'S MAGAZINE.

to do now by hiring servants from Whitsuntide to Martinmas,
and then waiting till Candlemas before they hire again for the
ensuing quarter ; whereas if the principal terms were to be
Candlemas and Lammas, the farmer would find it difficult at
Lammas to hire servants only for the quarter. As it is under
the present system the farmer who hires a servant for the
spring quarter generally finds that quarter to be nearer four
months than three, and the following quarter proportionately
shorter. There may be difficulties attending the altering the
days of the hirings, or there may be objections to the above
slight alteration, but the farmers have only to will it, and the
change would have to take place, and neither the servants or
masters could make any reasonable objection.

A long discussion ensued as to the desirability of altering
the dates of the terms for the hiring of servants, in which Mr.
Bell, Towufoot, Mr. Birkett, Mr. W. Armstrong, Rev. W. C.
Miller, Mr. J. Bell, the Chairman, and the Secretary took
part.

Mr. Graham read the following communication from the
Whitehaven Club : " Resolved that a petition from the Club
be presented to the Justices in Quarter Sessions assembled,
desiring the terms for hiring servants to be changed from
Whitsuntide and Martinmas to the first week in June and the
first week in December, and that a copy of the resolution be
sent to the otlier clubs in the county, inviting them to discuss
the subject, and asking their co-operation in the matter."

Mr. Birkett proposed that the discussion should be ad-
journed to that day month.

The Rev. W. Dacre thought they should not separate with-
out giving some expression of their opinion, and moved, se-
conded by Mr. Armstrong, " That this Club make an expres-
sion of their opinion, to the eft'ect that if any change is made
in the terms for engaging servants, the Whitsuntide term
should be altered to the first Saturday in May, and the Mar-
tinmas term first Saturday in November."

Mr. T. Bell proposed an amendment, which was seconded
by Mr. Smith, " That the terms be Candlemas and Lammas —
that is, the first Saturday in February and the first in August."

After some further discussion, as to the propriety of putting
the two resolutions to the meeting, it was ultimately decided
to withdraw them until the next meeting of the Club ; and the
subject accordingly stands adjourned until the first Wednesday
in June,

THE LANCASHIRE FARMEES' CLUB.

At a meeting of landowners, farmers, agricultural labourers,
and others held in the Assembly Room of the Lion Hotel,
Warrington, to consider the desirability of establishing a
Farmers' Club or Chamber of Agriculture for the district of
South Lancashire and North Cheshire. Mr. G. C. Hale,
Knowsley, in the chair.

Mr. John White (Warrington) said the meeting was the
result of steps taken on a resolution passed at a meeting of
the Manchester and Liverpool Agricultural Association, called
to consider the present state of the labour question in this
district. Among the letters he had received on the subject,
one from Lord Egerton of Tatton, who was unable to attend,
stated that though to the formation of an association such as
that which Mr. Neild now suggested, he did not attach such
importance as that gentleman appeared to do, he should in
this, as in all other matters, be guided by the opinions of his
neighbours interested in agriculture. He would move the fol-
lowing resolution : " That this meeting is of opinion that the
present unsettled condition of agricultural affairs calls for the
united co-operation of landowners, farmers, and all other per-
sons connected with agricultural pursuits, and that an associa-
tion should now be formed, to be called ' The South Lanca-
shire Farmers' Club,' to be composed of all persons interested
in the cultivation of the land." He felt confident that if the asso-
ciation which was now proposed was formed on a sound basis,
it must be productive of considerable good. He believed
great care would be required to prevent it becoming like many
other associations, more productive of harm than good. He
fancied many had come there that day under the impression
that the consideration of the present state of the labour ques-
tion would be the principal object of such a chamber as he
now proposed ; but for his part he was of opinion that this
subject was one which could only be delt with by such an

association with great difficulty, and that it was one of those
questions which, if left to time, would right itself.

Mr. H. Neild (Worsley) said they had no party objects to
serve in establishing a Farmers' Club- Agriculture in Eng-
land had to contend with unlimited licence, and free-trade
principles all over the world. It had many burdens to bear.
It was not fairly weighted in its competition with free-trade
and the world. In order that agriculture might attain its full
development in this country, there ought to be a well-adjusted
Tenant-Right. Money would not fructify in the soil of Eng-
land until farmers had abundant confidence that they would
reap the results of their labour and skill. In Lancashire they
were especially favoured with some most enlightened landlords
and landlords' representatives ; but, on the other hand, he be-
lieved the proceedings of that day were watched with a degree
of jealously by certain gentlemen, and he wished that these
proceedings, and all the future proceedings of any Club that
might be formed, would have the result of increasing the con-
fidence, kind feehng, and co-operation between every agricul-
tural interest in the county.

The resolution was unanimously adopted.

Mr. T. RiGBY (Over) moved: "That the objects of the
society shall be the discussion of practical subjects connected
with agriculture, the consideration of any local customs, tolls,
market charges, railway freights, &c., which bear adversely on
the transit or sale of agricultural produce ; the constitution
of a court of appeal or arbitration for the consideration and
settlement, when desired, of any matters in dispute between
landlord and tenant, or between tenant and labourers ; to dis-
cuss any legislative measuies afi'ecting agriculture, and to take
such action in connection with the Chamber of Agriculture of
London, or as an independent Chamber, as may be necessary
for the benefit of owners and occupiers of land." These four
distinct objects of the Club mentioned in his resolution were
all important. The value of the second, which referred to
the consideration of tolls, market charges, railway freights,
&c., received practical illustration recently in Warrington,
when meetings were repeatedly held to complain of the in-
justice of the railway companies making a very heavy cliarge
ior the transit of milk. Railway companies were proverbially
hard to move, but if any power could move them it was a
combination of men making reasonable representations to
them on behalf of what they conceived to be just and right.
It was not contemplated that the Club should deal with the
question of the agricultural labourers' condition, as it might
be presented to them in combinations. Personally, he should
deprecate any union of farmers to meet the action of unions
of working men. If farm labourers, to live comfortably and
do the work required of them, must be in a better position to
obtain the necessaries of life, it was for the farmers individually
to meet this consideration, and to try to arrange in a liberal
and reasonable spirit with their men. As a court of appeal,
the Club would be useful in settling many disputes about the
customs of districts, which were the subject at present of fre-
quent litigation, and caused much expense. On this and on
otlier subjects, an association of practical men were more
likely to decide fairly, and their arbitration would be more
acceptable than the remedies which could only at present be
recommended.

Mr. R. Whalley (Bold) seconded the resolution, which
was unanimously adopted.

Mr. H. Wyatt (Croxteth) moved that a provisional com-
mittee be appointed for the purpose of drawing up rules and
arranging all other details in connection with the establish-
ment of the association.

The Chairman, in seconding this resolution, said they
might congratulate themselves on the large meeting and the
proceedings which had taken place. Such a Club as that
proposed could not fail to be of great use to the district, while
it would cement the union which, as far as his experience
went, already existed among the landowners, tenants, and la-
bourers of the county. If it could do anything towards
bringing about a better system of Tenant-Right than that
which now existed in this district it would be a great benefit
to the country.

A provisional committee was then formed, and the meeting
adjourned for one month, when the constitution for the Club,
suggested by the committee, together with any suggestions
from district Clubs which may be formed, will be taken into
consideration, and members enrolled.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

479

"A MODEL AGREEMENT."
THE MAIDSTONE FARMEPvS' CLUB.

At a meeting held on Thursday, April 25, Mr. Thomas
Bridgland, the President, iu the chair, there was a very full
attendance of members.

Mr. Henuy Corbet, of the London Farmers' Club, read
the following paper: —

A Model Agreement. — I do not believe in a Model
Agreement. That is to say, I do not believe that any man or
any body of men can sit down and frame an agreement wliich
should be accepted by all the rest of the world. The different
circumstances of soil practice and custom, the several
systems upon which either landlords or tenants hold possession
of their property, the very social conditions of the con-
tracting parties, must all tend to defy tlie application of any
hard line and rule, however well intended, or however nicely
adjusted. At the same time nothing would promise to be more
advantageous than the consideration of sucli individual
essentials as would go to constitute a Model Agreement. In
no way has the advance of agriculture during the last quarter-
of-a-ceutury or so been more promoted than by the habit of
" talking about" hiring and letting land. We may perhaps
have not done much in this direction by Act of Parliament —
the farmer never has done much by Act of Parliament — but
by other means we have done something to expand the minds
and quicken, as it were, the business-like capabilities of land-
owners, land-occupiers, and last, though certainly not least,
of land-agents. Noticeably enough, amongst the most useful
contrivances towards such an end has been the employment
of a certain species of martyrdom. Ever and anon for a
few years past there has been found some patriotic gentleman
ready to sacrifice himself for the public good. With this aim
he studies and busies himself over the production of a Liberal
Lease or a Model Agreement ; and having called a meeting,
heroically presents himself as a target for everybody to fire at.
The world probably never knew there were such obsolete
musty conditions in existence until they saw these paraded iu
a Model Agreement ; the tenants were often in happy
ignorance of how they were actually or might be hampered,
until they heard " our" lease read out in the market-place, aud
no man ever came to really see how little trust he could put in
his fellow man until he began to arrange for the letting or the
taking of a five-hundred acres' farm. It may be serviceable to
show how such small mice have been born of such great
labours, and how these elaborate patterns have never come into
the fashion. Some ten years or so since the Suffolk Agricul-
tural Society laid very happily, as it seems to me, the lines
upon which any improved or modern agreement should be
built. The committee offered a prize for " the best and
shortest form of lease adapted for the county of Suffolk, giving
the greatest liberty to the tenant, consistent witli the interest
of the landlord." Nothing could, at least at that time, have been
more prettily put, and nothing could have been more impotent
than the result — a very small mouse indeed. Tlie tenant's
liberty, as interpreted by the prize lease, compelled him " to
consume and convert into good manure, with cattle or sheep, all
the hay, stover straw, chaff, colder, haulm, fodder, cloves, tares,
artificial grasses, cabbages, and green crops, except such straw
as shall be required for the thatching of the buildings ; and all
turnips and root crops." He had Uherly not to remove earth
or mould from the banjos of fences witliiu live feet of the

spring or quick. He had Uherly to preserve the game for the
sole use of the landlord, his friends, and his servants ; as even
in a lease adapted for the game-ridden county of Suffolk not a
word was inserted in protection of the tenant against any ex-
cessive abuse of this kind. He liad Uherly to allow the
landlord to plant as often as he chose in all corners and hedge-
rows and he had Uherly to pay a fifty pounds' penalty if he
did not duly protect these young trees ; while he had the further
liberty to do nearly all the repairs, and to keep iu proper con-
dition " all glass and lead of windows, the going gears or
pumps and wells ; all gates, stiles, posts, pales, rails, fences,
ditches, watercourses, channels, under-gate ways, racks, cribs,
mangers, shutters, locks, bars, bolts, hooks, aud hinges ;" or,
as there should have been added in this best and shortest form,
of prize lease, cribbage-boards, hurdy-gurdies, and slate pencils.
The Suffolk Model Lease being pretty generally pronounced
about half-a-century or so behind the age, did not attract much
attention, but fell, as it deserved to do, still-born, and is by
this time probably forgotten, even in the land of its
nativity. Another offer, however, during the same year
created a deal more sensation. This was a premium of £50,
given by Lord Lichfield, for the best form of farm agreement,
an offer which brought an immense amount of competition,
while a tenant-farmer, Mr. May, was eventually declared to be the
successful candidate. So far this was sufficiently satisfactory;
but instead of a tenant's own notion of an agreement being at
once published and submitted to the criticism of his fellows, a
committee of land-agents undertook to " touch up" and tone
down the several clauses, and of course some very wordy war-
fare was the consequence. The paper when at last put into
circulation was declared to be far more of a landlord's or a
land-agent's production than that of a tenant, and its leaning
pretty palpably all one way. The saving clauses were those
which at the end of a term ensured the tenant payment for
unexhausted outlay in the shape of purchased manures, bones,
lime marling, and other fertilizers of a lasting characters, pro
raid, as well as in proportion for the corn, cake, or linseed
consumed. On the oilier hand, tlie tenant was bound down
" not to have more than two-fifths of the arable land iu wheat,
and at the conclusion of his tenancy not more than one-fourth
iu wheat, nor more than three-fifths iu white straw crcps iu
any one year" — not to sell any liay, straw, mangolds, or turnips
off tlie farm, unless by special permission of the landlord — to
properly manure all grass land mown for hay — not to kill any of
the rabbits from the Istof April to the 1st of November — to give
over all right to the game to the landlord, and not to claim any
compensation for damage done by game " unless when let to a
third party." Of course game never should be let to a third
party, though the insertion of such a condition was evidently
well-considered here, as since Lord Lichfield's prize agree-
ment was projiouncled a leading landlord of these parts
has, it is said, adopted the practice of letting the game
over the heads of the tenants without ever consulting them,
beyond offering the alternative of grinning and bearing it or
of throwing up their occupations. This Model Agreement
was never accepted as such, nor, if I remember aright, did one
subsequently prepared by Lord Lichfield himself fare much
better; but I see that his lordship and the Staffordshire com-
mittee are now going to work again on another agree-

K K

480

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

ment, as are Lord Leicester and the Norfolk farmers, and
it is to be hoped that practice may make perfect. Still it is
only fair to say that Lord Liclifield's agi-eement was in certain
quarters considered " as complete as any we have seen," though
this perhaps was not saying much ; and another form, " em-
bodying the best part" of tliis, positively received a premium
from the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Here are
some of these precious prize clauses : " The landlord shall
reserve all rights to the game, hares, fish, and rabbits, and
through liimself friends andr servants to preserve the same ;
the tenant having Uherly to destroy the rabliits at any time
by ferreting or digging, but no dog to be used between the
first of April and the first of September. — The tenant not to
plant two crops of wheat or more than two white crops in suc-
cession, nor to have more than three-fifths of arable land under
corn or seed crops of any kind in any one year. — To consume
upon the farm all the fodder, hay, straw, haulm and roots of
every description, except so many tons of potatoes, so many
tons of hay, and so many tons of straw, which may be sold in
any year on condition that the full money in value is returned
to the farm in oilcake or artificial manure ; notice in writing
to be given to the landlord of intention to make every such
sale. — To prevent all thistles, nettles and docks from seeding
on any part of the said farm, as also all weeds in the hedges,
ditches, and waste lands" — or, as the prize essayist might have
run on, to keep his piano in tune, his baby from crying in
church, and his big bull from breaking out of bounds. Only
imagine a Royal Society's Prize Agreement of the year 1868
enacting that a farmer shall keep all his dogs chained up —
for to this it comes — for five or sis months in the year lest
they should give chase to that sacred animal the rabbit ! and
that the man shall not sell a sack of potatoes nor a truss of
hay witliout giving due notice in writing of his being about to
enter upon so stupendous a transaction ! — and then dutifully
handing in Ids bills, all of course properly receipted, to show
that he has brought back the equivalent ! Such good works
as these could but bring good fruit, and in due course followed
the Welsh or Carmarthen Agreement, in iutroduciug which
its author precisely stated that " the cardinal points to ob-
serve were that the tenant should have full liberty to farm ac-
cording to his own ideas" — that " the term of every tenancy
should be embodied in ae plain and brief a manner as is con-
sistent with perfect clearness — and that this should not read a
homily to tenants on the way they should manage their farms."
Accordingly, by way of giving a man full liberty to farm after
his own fancy, we have the strictest covenants introduced ;
enacting that he shall consume on the farm all the green
crops, hay, straw, muck and manure ; that he shall not breast-
plough, pare or burn without special permission — that he shall
not have in tillage in any one year more than so many acres
—that he shall not carry away from off the premises any hay,
straw, corn in straw, green crops, muck or manure — and that
he shall on no account be allowed to kill a rabbit with a gun —
so carefully still are the interests of this sacred animal
looked after in a Model Agreement. Unfortunately this model
document was left to a legal friend to prepare, and as a conse-
quence it abounded in all the prolix abuses of a lawyer's office ;
as indeed one kindly critic said, " it was much too long, and
likely to lead to law," about the very hardest thing he
could have said, and I need scarcely add that this remark-
able specimen of liberty, simplicity, and brevity did not
" go down" in South Wales. Nevertheless, strange as it
may sound, this attempt seems to have lead to the production
of another model Welsh agreement of a still more extraordi-
nary character. The author here, another land agent, stated
in the outset that " the chief thing wanted in many districts to
secure the rapid advancement of agricultural prosperity was a
more liberal construction of agreement," and he straightway
publishes a paper, overflowing with covenants and bristling
with penalties, whereby the tenant is instructed, or more di-
rectly ordered how he shall set about the simplest acts of hus-
bandry. He is not to mow his grass lands more than once a
year ; he is to cut down before seeding all the weeds ; he
is to apply regularly a sufficient quantity of lime ; and he is to
carry all the weeds to a convenient place, where they may be
rotted and mixed with the lime ; he must not sell n load of hay,
straw, or manure ; he must preserve all the game and the
rabbits; and if he wishes to leave home for a month he must
obtain his landlord's permission before he starts 1 To their
credit, be it said, the Welsh farmers have not been very ready

to take such a thing as this for a pattern. In the latest edi-
tion which has been published, that is, in Lord Leicester's
lease, the tenant is bound down " to deliver so many waggon-
loads of good wheat-straw at the'.'.stables" — "to do so many
days' work of four horses for the landlord"— to "cherish,
nail up, prune, and preserve the fruit trees "—and " to deliver
one good fat turkey at the House in the month of December
in every year." I have collated thus much to show how much
some men have still to learn when they engage upon the con-
truction of a model, or, I should prefer to say, a modern
agreement. Many of the mistakes I have cited are but the
carefully hoarded precepts of a bye-gone age, as the attempt
has been continually made to associate agricultural ad-
vancement with obsolete practices. Look, for instance, to the
vulgar error so pertinaciously repeated even in the Journal of
the Royal Agricultural Society, which stays a man from selling
a shilling's worth of hay, straw, or roots, excepting under cer-
tain specified conditions. Half a century or so since, when
guano, phosphates, coprolites, and the hundreds of other arti-
ficial manures and feeding stufi's had never been heivrd of, there
might have been some sense in binding a man down to con-
sume all his hay and straw, or to bring back in proportion as
much farm-yard manure for every load he sent off. But such
arguments apply no longer, such covenants are alike to the
disadvantage of landlord and tenant. The cake or manure bill
of a goad farmer in these days would serve to lay the ghostof
his own father a deal quicker than any attempt to exorcise hira
by priest or candle. Tempora mntantnr, and our leases and
agreements must change with the times. The more modern
form, instead of stipulating as to what shall and what shall
not go to market, should take care that permission be given the
tenant to sell anything he likes but his vote and interest and his
wife and family. Again, let us avoid that old musty provision,
so religiously reproduced in the Royal. Agricultural Society's
/o;,r>(«;— that a man shall not take so many crops of this or
that in succession," but shall " cultivate and manage Uie said
farm and lands in a good and husband-like manner." Why,
of course he will, if he study his own interest, and the best
plan will be to let hira cultivate " the said farm" on any sys-
tem he finds to be the most profitable, without dictating
as to when he shall do this, and when he must do
that, as if he were a school-boy, instead of a man
who should know his own business. When Mr. Meclii
and Mr. Prout, and Alderman Cute and the Times' Com-
missioners tells us of the wonders which can be achieved
by the improved cultivation of the soil, do these great authori-
ties ever contemplate a man going to work with his hands
tiedP Farm as you please and sM tchal you like should be
the main condition of the modern agreement, due provision, of
course, being made for bringing the land back into sometliing
of the customary rotation by the end of a term. But I can
fancy some old stagers and cautious men of business shaking
their heads and intimating with a half sigh that we are talk-
ing too fast here. More than four years since, indeed, when
I ventured to broach such opinions as these, I was met by Mr.
C. G. Grey, of Dilston, the well-known land-agent, who said,
at a meeting of the Hexham Farmers' Club, in answer to my
objections against restrictions advocated by himself, that
you would not find many who would agree with such dicta as —
" This is the rent, there is the farm, cultivate it as you like."
These were not quite my words, but they are near enough ;
an('. in a week or two from this time, at another meeting in
the North, of the Morayshire Farmers' Club, Mr. Geddes,
who read a paper,' said, "Let it not be supposed that laying
down in a lease any number of complicated clauses will pre-
serve the condition of the farm with a bad tenant. He will
side through them to its destruction, and yet keep within the
law." At the meeting Mr. Yool said, " In the first place,
every proprietor should find a good tenant, and by all means
let him crop the farm any way he likes during the greater part
of the lease, although during the last five or six years the
landlord should reserve the right of having it placed in the
proper system;" and Mr. Cooper said, "It was really the
interests of the proprietors to grant liberty to the tenants to
farm as suits the land and times." At the Kelso Farmers'
Club, at just about the same time, Mr. Robertson said : " it
would be a mutual benefit to both landlord and tenant to al-
low the tenant to farm his land for the first fourteen years as
he liked, leaving it at the end of his lease in whatever shift,
was named in the conditions of let ;" while Mr. Usher asked

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481

•' Why should leases in this age of freedom and of high farming
be hampered with any restrictions about cross-cropping P" I was
thus enabled to answer Mr. Grey out of his own latitudes,
where I find the " many" rather with than against me in advo-
cating freedom of action in modern farming. This, however,
happened some years since and some distance off, so that it may
be as well to trace opinion and practice down a little nearer
to our own doors and times. What, then, is the chief clause
in the famous Holkham Lease, as issued during this year of
grace 187^ ? I will read it to you. " 6. The tenant is to
cultivate and manage the farm during the first sixteen years
of the term according to his own judgment, and to have full
power during such time to dispose of all or any portion of the
produce of the farm by sale or otherwise. During the last
four years the tenant shall bring the arable lands into the
four-course system of luisbandry practised in Norfolk."
Here, in a word, is all I asked for long ago — Farm as you
please and sell %ohal yon like. But I must go fartlier still, and
try land-agent by land-agent, as it is but a few evenings since I
heard Mr. Glutton, one of our most extensive land-agents, de-
clare that his favonrite form of lease was to let the tenant
farm very much as he pleased until within the last two or
three years of his term. All this makes the Royal Society's
prize form of agreement sadly out of date. But Mr. C'lutton
said more than this : with all his long experience in different
parts of the country, ha stated that short holdings with
Tenant-Right or Lincolnshire compensation covenants were
more lu favour with the farmers than leases for long terms ;
" all they required was liberty of management and fair
Tenant-Right." Of course no Model Agreement, or model
lease either, can be now regarded as complete without
these compensation clauses, allowing proportionate payment
to the tenant for improvements he has entered on, but for which
he has not had time to reap tlie full return. Here is a very
weak place in the Holkham Lease, where little or no pro-
vision of the kind is made, pointed as this omission is by the
now notorious Fenton Barns case. Had there been compen-
sation clauses attached to his nineteen years' lease Mr. Hope
could have had really no cause to complain. It is true he was
farming highly and well, that he was an old tenant, enjoyed a
good character, and so on ; but if a man went to maintain his
possession on these pleas the rights of property would no
question be invaded. Every landlord has the power to
change his tenants if he so please, and let it be ever borne in
mind that, for one such disturbance brought about by bad or
slovenly farming, there are fifty which raiglit be traced to
differences over Party Politics or Game Abuses. Hence the
greater reason to be protected, and I care not whether you
hold under a long lease or a yearly agreement, to make the
most use of your time and the land we must have a general
recognition of the Tenant-Right Custom. And here it may
be very necessary to define between good and bad custom, be-
tween that whicli should be advocated and that which should
be deprecated. Many years back, at the request of Mr. Philip
Pusey, I undertook to make a digest of the evidence taken on
AgriculturalCustomsby a Committee of the House of Commons,
and in an introduction which he wrote to a second edition of
my work, Mr. Pusoy penned a paragraph whicli comes
especially pertinent to a meeting of the Maidstone Farmers'
Club. " The Kentish Tenant-Right is based not on acts of
improvement, but of husbandry. It is evidently founded on
the old system of the naked fallow — that is, of leaving the
land without crop for a whole year ; for which preparation it
was just that the incoming tenant should pay, as well as for
dung put into the fallow. But this system was extended by
reckoning further back, and paying for what are called ' half-
dressings.' The evidence thus becomes doubtful, and the
charge onerous ; so that landlords are redeeming their laud
from some of these claims by payments made lo their tenants.
Of course this Tenant-Right, where it exists, cannot be altered
but by mutual agreement of landlord and tenant. Neither
can it, however, be recommended for introduction elsewhere ;
it is only mentioned here because its common name has cast a
prejudice over the other more modern custom, which deals
with substantial improvements." Some of your customs are,
you see here, the ratlier to be avoided than imitated, and in-
stead of payments for acts of husbandry that which we want
is payment for acts of improvement, of which the outgoing
tenant has not had an opportunity of reaping the due benefit.
These acts are comprehended in chalking, jnarling, and the

beneficial use of lime, bones, guano, oilcake, and ashes ; as I hold
that the more expensive or permanent works, such'as building
and drainage, should only be engaged upon by special agree-
ment, as, properly classified, they are not tenants' but landlords'
duties. When I accepted the invitation with which you
thought fit to honour me, I had some notion of putting a
second title to this paper, and writing it as a Lesson to
Land-Agents, and I should still wish to dwell a little on this
branch of the subject. In the outset, then, I must put it as
a very wholesome ethic, that no lawyer should be suffered to
undertake the office of a land steward or agent. His own
interests, or at any rate habits, are commonly opposed to ag-
ricultural advancement, as no doubt half the musty, out-of-
date, unintelligible, technical forms of agreement which
tenants are called upon to sign come straight from the liands
of the copying clerk, without perhaps the alteration of a word
or line in a generation. The more wordy these documents can
be made, more proportionately to the profit of the office ; the
more dubious and impractical in their tenour, the more likely
sooner or later to lead to " business." Even, further, no man
is so timid or so dangerous as an ignorant man. The
less he knows the less ready will he be to commit
himself by doing anything out of the ordinary routine.
At best the lawyer-agent is but a dead weight
and a drag-chain. In the Holkham Lease, after giving
in the outset the tenant full liberty of action, power is subse-
quently reserved to the landlord of stepping in duviug the term
and ordering the cultivation to be at once brought back to the
system of the district. This is no doubt an immense power
for any one to wield, but in the hands of an inefficient agent
it might often become an instrument of torture. If the tenant
had voted blue instead oi yellow, if his son rode hunting in a red
coat instead of a black one, if the shepherd's dog had been
seen by the keeper to turn a leveret, if "the Missis" had gone
to chapel instead of to church, down of course comes the inti-
mation that " in the interests of my employer I must require
you to revert to the four-course system." I do not for a mo-
ment intend to make any application here to Lord Leicester
or his agent, but I must repeat that in the hands of incom-
petent people this power to recall would be a very dangerous
instrument, and I should prefer to see the next issue of a
liberal lease free from such a condition. In any case, no such
reversionary power should be exercised, save on arbitration
by two independent valuers. Of course the plea is
that the owner's interests must be guarded, as indeed
in most of these agreements the very kindest feeling is
evinced for the landlord, and little or none for the tenant.
With, however, an agent who knows what he is about, the
landlord's interests should be tolerably well insured at
starting — that is in the choice of a tenant. Character here,
as in every other walk of life, goes a great way, and whenever
in these days there is a farm to let there are always plenty of
people to pick from. Again, if things come to tlie worst, the
landlord has first run on what there is left ; and further, al-
though a multitude of these protection covenants will never
make a bad farmer a good one, they will often stay a good
man from doing his best. Mr. C. R. Grey, of Dilston, whose
name I have already given you, as himself one of the most emi-
nent of our land agents, says " nothing destroys an agent's
influence or a landlord's popularity more than treating every
application from tenants as if it were an attempt to over-reach
the agent and impose on the landlord" — a maxim which might
be framed and glazed forthwith. Again: "Retired soldiers
and sailors do not generally make good agents, though they
have some qualities which are useful, such as punctuality and
carefulness. Retired butlers and house stewards may be esti-
mable men, but they are not such as should be set over tenant-
farmers. Poor relations, for whom some provision is desirable,
would generally cost an owner less if he were to make them
an allowance to live at Bath or Cheltenham. Mercantile men
are too apt to look at everything in a purely mercantile spirit,
not seeing distant or contingent advantages. Farmers who
have failed in farming have the disadvantage of undertaking
to manage another man's affairs when they could not manage
their own ; nevertheless when their failure has been owing to
want of capital or unavoidable calamity, and when they are
educated and upright men, they frequently make good agents.
Head clerks promoted from the office are very apt to find
themselves in a position for which they are unfit, having been
too much bound to routine and detail to take large views of

p: K 2

482

THE PARMER'S MAGAZINE.

management. Tliey are apt to be too much the servants of
the land-owner, and not enough mediators between him and
the tenants. Lawyers, attorneys, and writers, though fre-
quently entrusted with the management of estates, are
about the most disqualified. Their education, bent of mind,
legal way of reasoning and treating all questions, are a posi-
tive bar to success in the management of estates, and I con-
sider it an absolute misfortune to the country that so many
estates are under their care. I'rom their special training they
look narrowly into legal obligations and the rights of property,
and from want of experience in country affairs they are inca-
pable of judging of the propriety of modifying obligations
which may be obsolete or inexpedient. Landowners in
Scotland and Ireland, I believe, more than in England,
commit the mistake of making such appointments." I
do not always agree witn Mr. Grey, but how admirable all
this is ! and bear in mind I am quoting a land-agent
speaking of land-agents. Of course these are the people, the
half-pay officers, the poor relations, the old butlers, the attor-
neys and writers who insist upon upholding " our usual form
of agreement" in all its hideous originality, too ignorant, too
idle, or too busy to encourage or even sanction a better state of
things. I should like to institute a Commission of Inquiry,
armed with due powers to examine into all the leases and
agreements under which land is farmed in this country.
What strange relics of antiquity and feudalism we should still
find to prevail ! from the famous cock turkey covenant to
keeping a bird and a dog. I found these very stipulations the
other day in an old form of agreement on Lord Derby's estate*:
" to keep a dog and cock when required. To grind all such
corn as the occupier of the premises shall use ground thereon
at the mill of the said Earl and pay the accustomed toll for
grinding the same." Now, let it be clearly understood that
such covenants as these shall no longer be suffered to stand in
any agreement suitable for the times we live in. I should
imagine that there is not a tenant on the Holkham estates but
who would he too glad to " deliver one good fat turkey in the
month of December of every year ;" but how much more grate-
fully such tribute would come were it not directly ordered in
the lease. Besides, the companion clause is clearly wanting,
whereby, to make the arrangement fair and square, the landlord
by his agent or servants shall undertake to deliver at the
Grange so many brace of birds during the month of
September, so many brace of pheasants during the month of
October, with from time to time so many good fat hares. I
should hope there are but few farmers who would object to
to walk a fox-hound puppy, or who would not take a pride in
showing him for the cup ; but surely this scarcely need be made
the subject of a covenant whereby executors, administrators, and
assigns shall be hound. As regards keeping a cock, that
mysterious bird no doubt was a game-cock, for the^Lord Derby
of those days, ;;;-o/; pudor ! fought mighty mains,*with Potter
feeder, against the Gentlemen of Cheshire or the Gentlemen
of Lancashire. Then, if a man can be entrusted to farm five
Imndred acres of laud lie may he left to trim his gooseberry
bushes, nail up his vines and oil his locks, without looking to
his agreement for instructions as to how he shall duly perform
such fiddling work. Some of these old covenants are open to
still graver objections, as a man must fold his sheep at a certain
specified time, wet or dry — must not grow potatoes nor sow
flax — must not keep over an average head of stock on the
farm — must not hold any other farm — must pay heavy penal-
ties if he crop contrary to covenant — must fetch and carry
coal, corn, and straw for the Gieat House whenever ordered to
do so — must have his pigs well ringed — must twice hoe all his
turnips, peas, and beans — not mow the grass lands, ex-
cepting the meadows, two years in succession, nor tread
these with heavy cattle in wet seasons — must mow the nettles
and thistles— speak when he is spoken to— do as he is bid
— not play whist at more than sixpenny points — and drink
one bottle of good old port wine every Sunday afternoon
throughout the year. When Ben Jonson was told that
Shakespeare had never blotted out a line which he iiad once
written, the answer was, " Would that he had blotted out a
thousand !" So I say to the land agents of England, look to
your handiwork and blot out wherever you can. Let there
be no payments in kind— a most unwholesome system • but if
the landlord require the use of a waggon and team let him
liave them at so much a day — his hay and straw at so much a
load. 1 h;ne known cases where this order to cart coal and

corn at inconvenient seasons has led very nearly to bloodshed
when the tenant and the agent were not on friendly terms;
and such awkward collisions should be avoided rather thaa
courted by agreement. Again, if you have once confidence
suiiicient to let \ man the farm the more he is left to himself
tiie better, as there must certainly be no furtlier interference
with his buying and selling, his taking off and bring-
ing back. Those days are gone never to return ; and
instead of carefully counting the loads of town-made muck
which shall be returned a man may now, as has been
said, bring back the manure in his waistcoat pocket.
Of course there must be all due provision made for
the condition in whicii the farm shall be given up, and for
this I repeat whether under long or short holdings the best
guarantee is Te:nant-Right or Compensation Covenants.
By this means you induce a man to go on well to the last, or
if he should go wrong he may be as readily met and made
liable, under the same system of valuation, for any detriment
he may iiave caused to the property. As regards the dispo-
sition of the game we are fairly entitled to [expect some re-
form from the labours of the House of Commons Committee
now sitting. Uabbits must be treated as the vermin which
iu the eye of the law they already are, their reservation being
rendered illegal, and their destruction sanctioned as openly and
generaly as that of a rat or a mouse. Tlien, worst of all game
abuses, the abominable practice of letting the shootings to
strangers over the heads of the tenants must be abandoned, as
neither landlord nor tenant should have the power to do so.
Let the landlord be content with the winged game, and such a
supply of hares as the farmers would preserve for him ; and if
he be a sportsman, and not a mere higgl&r, he will have little
to complain of. The Duke of Beaufort has now no keepers but
his tenants, and on some other large properties heavy game-
preserving is being gradually abandoned. Nothing can tend
" to make a landlord more unpopular" than an agent who is very
jealous or over-exacting iu this business of game-preserving.
Let me recapitulate the points to be observed in framing an
agreement in accordance with the times iu which we live, the
main principles of which should be Liberality, Brevity, and
Simplicity. Let all covenants which go to tell a tenant when
he is to take this crop out and wheu that — be struck out. Let
all covenants which go to dictate how much he shall sell and
how much he shall buy — be struck out. Let any reservation,
on auy terms, of rabbits or such-like vermin — be struck out.
Let any claim to feudal service, such as a payment iu turkey
cocks, the feeding of fighting cocks, the carriage of coal or the
delivery of straw — be struck out. Let the careful catalogue of
such fiddling duties as trimming gooseberry bushes, cleaning
water spouts and mending windows — be struck out ; let it be
simply stated that the premises shall be kept and left in tenant-
able repair. And, so far as be possible, let all the jargon, or, as
FalstafT has it, " the damnable reiteration" of the lawyer's office
— be struck out. On the other side, let there be special clauses
enacting that the game shall never be either let or given over to
any one beyond the owner or occupier, as the laud can never
maintain two tenants whose objects are so directly opposed to
each other. And above all let there be Compensation Cove-
nants, the very best guarantee for the retiring tenant doing the
best by the farm, and leaving it in a good and husbandmanlike
condition. There are of course minor details, which I have
purposely omitted to notice, and the adjustment of which must
in a degree at least depend upon the ever varying circum-
stances of time, place, and personal position. Turn where we
will there is no subject growing so fast on public attention as
the Land Question. It crops up alike iu social circles and
Quarterly articles. In the Order Book of the House of Com-
mons, as issued this very raoruiug, I find the following notice
of motion standing in the name of Mr. James Howard, the
Member for Bedford, while I may add that the resolution will
be seconded by Mr. Sewell Read : — " Meat Supply, — To call
attention to the high price of butchers meat, and also as to
the extent to which an increased supply of animal food is
retarded by the insecurity of the tenant farmer's capital and
his want of freedom in cultivation ; and to move a Reso-
lution." The outside world, if I may so term it, is espe-
cially prone to take the business under its care, and while
some of the schemes propounded are wild enough, there are
more moderate measures of reform, which no doubt sooner
or later will come. Prominent amongst these must be some
improved system in the hiring and letting of land. There is

THE FARMER'S IVIAGAZINE.

483

no denying the fact that farm leases and agreements aie too
generally susceptible of amendment ; as it would be preferable
that any movement in this direction should he instituted and
carried through by the owners and occupiers themselves, rather
than as the consequence of pressure from without. And these
views I submit not so mucli as a lesson as a study for land-
agents ; as here the motive power will more commonly
centre.

The Chairman said he thought it was quite right the
tenant should send a turkey to his landlord every year, but a
provision for that should not be inserted in his lease. On the
other hand he should like it to be understood by the landlords
that they should occasionally send a haunch of venison to the
tenants. He did not wish to see that provision inserted in
the lease. He agreed with Mr. Corbet that if the landlord re-
tained the right of shooting, the tenant, by way of promoting
a good understanding, should have a tap of good ale, a good
cheese, and of course he would have a good loaf, at his house,
for the landlord to partake of. And then, when the landlord
left, he (Mr. Bridgland) thought he should not forget to leave
either a brace of partridges or a brace of pheasants, whichever
might he in season. Every tenant-farmer, with his heart in
the right place, would be only too glad to show his landlord all
the sport he could on the farm, for they might depend that
all haggling about game would be easily adjusted if the land-
lord and the tenant properly understood each other.

Mr. Ambrose Ward thought the ideas to which
Mr. Corbet had given expression were very liberal,
and perhaps rather more in favour of the tenant than
the landlord. He liad assisted to draw up a few leases, but
had generally cut them very short, and had given tlie tenant
full power to buy and sell as he pleased, but still fairly pro-
tecting the interests of the landlord. He did not think it was
right to give some men full liberty to sell everything, because
he had seen that power abused ; but, if the landlord was care-
ful to choose a good tenant in the first instance, he did not
think that there was any necessity to impose restrictions upon
him. Just now there was a great competition for land, and,
unless the landlord took the piecautiou of securing a good
tenant, he would do much injury, not only to himself, but to
the country generally ; for those who went in for high rents
would have no difficulty in getting them, hut those who gave
them generally did much harm by taking all tliey could out
of the land, and putting nothing into it. Agreements could
not be too simple, and when there was a fair understanding
between the landlord and tenant it was about the best agree-
ment that could be had. He quite approved oi what Mr.
Corbet had said. He had gone into the question in a lucid
wav, and evidently thoroughly understood it. Ue thought
Mr. Corbet would make a very good land-agent. He had
known land-agents to do a great deal of liarm, especially where
they had the shooting themselves. If the landlord was a
sportsman there was never any haggling or misunderstanding
about the game, llabhits were decidedly vermin, and did much
damage to the crops ; they bred very fast ; therefore it was
ridiculous to attempt to preserve them unless a man went in for
a rabbit warren, and, if he meant to have a rabbit warren,
why let him have one, and not a farm.

Mr. T. Hayes : Did I understand Mr. Corbet to say that
he did not include drainage among the matters that should be
the subject of Tenant-Right, as well as building?

Mr. Corbet : I said expressly I considered buildings and
drainage as landlords' duties, and that they should not be en-
tered upon by the tenant, except under special arrangement.

Mr. Hayes said, as a farmer in a district where a great deal
of the laud required draining, he was sorry to hear Mr. Corbet
say so. He quite agreed with iiim that it should be the laud-
lord's duty, but three-fourths of the drainage in the Weald of
Kent would have remained undone if the tenants had not done
it. If they were to have any fresh scheme of Tenant-Riglit he
hoped the draining would not be shirked entirely by the land-
lords, otherwise it would not be done as fast as it ought to be
done. In the lease he and his brother held tiiere was a clause
that there should not be any law, but that any dispute should
be submitted to arbitrators, one to be chosen by each party,
the arbitrators being left to choose their otu umpire ; and, as
in the case of a valuation, they should decide it without any
appeal.

Mr. Troutbeck had much pleasure in endorsing what Mr.
Corbet had said, and he hoped it would be profitable to all

who had heard him, and that it would benefit both landlord
and tenant. r^ i 4. i j

Mr. LovETT thoroughly agreed with what Mr. Corbet had
said, especially with reference to rabbits, for they were the
greatest pests a farmer could possibly have. The sooner they
were done away with the better, for where rabbits were pre-
served there was no chance of growing anything. If a tenant
had a farm close to a wood in which rabbits were preserved, it
mattered little how much wire he used, for, as it had been
justly observed, there were sure to be other tenants besides the
landlord's tenants. As to agreements the shorter they \yere
the better. No doubt a great many words were put into
agreements that had no business to be there. If any gentle-
man in the room had an agreement, he did not hesitate to say
thai he had broken it scores of times.

Mr. Faucett said they were much obliged to Mr. Corbet
for the lucid manner in which he had brought this question
before the meeting. He remembered very well preparing some
leases thirty years ago wliicli had in them all those long rigma-
role clauses about the muck, carrying nothing away, and so
forth. Perhaps some seventy or eighty years ago there was
some reason for having such clauses, because then tliere were
no artificial manures, and the system of farming was entirely
different from that of the present day. Now, however, the
time had arrived when it was absolutely impossible to farm
under such conditions. He had had some experience with
reference to hares and rabbits to his cost, but he thought there
was a great deal more damage done by that notorious person —
the keeper— than by the wish of the landlord.

Mr. Stonham said that a trustworthy old land-agent, well-
known in this neighbourhood, had said that a good tenant did
not want any agreement, and that a bad tenant would not act
up to one. As Mr. Ward had very pertinently said, the
most important thing for a landlord to do in letting a farm
was to see that he had a good tenant, and when he had once
got a good tenant, he should give him the greatest liberty of
action. To impose a lot of those absurd covenants upon a
man was like tying his legs and telling him to run. But he
did think that where a long lease was given, the landlord
should have some guarantee that the land should be left in
proper condition, because it sometimes happened that death
stepped in, and removed a good tenant with whom an agree-
ment had been made. His estate might then fall into the
hands of persons who during the last few years of the tenure
would be interested in getting all they could out of the laud ,
so that it was necessary in the interests of the landlord that
he should be secured against any losses which might arise
from such a cause. He did not know whether any of the
genthjmen present had had the pleasure of reading a very im-
portant paper which Mr. Corbet had read before the Central
i?'armers' Club, in London, on the preservation of game ; but,
according to his view of the subject, the paper was the best
on that question which had yet come before the public. If
he was not mistaken about Mr. Corbet, he was no niggard
supporter of those old-English sports in which tiiey delighted
and rejoiced, and he (Mr. Stonham) agreed with Mr. Corbet
in saying that if there was a better understanding about game
between landlord and tenant, and if " Mr. Velveteen" had less
to do with the matter, there would be much better sport for
the landlord.

Mr. Kemp, from his experience as a holder of house pro-
perty, could say that thebetter thelandlordthe better the tenant,
and he thought the same assertion would apply to the owners
and occupiers of laud. He believed many of the complaints
now heard arose from a want of care and caution in the selec-
tion of tenants and the making of agreements, which he was
rather surprised at in these enlightened days. Now, however,
their attention was being turned to the matter, and an act was
in course of preparation for the improvement of lettings.

Mr. II. White said he was very much troubled with game
on his farm. It was only that morning he was looking at a
piece of young hops, in their first year of polling, and they
seemed to be coming on very well, but as fast as they made
their appearance the rabbits ate them off. He had applied
soot and lime, but all to no purpose, and to-day he had bought
500 yards of wire-netting, which, of course was a great ex-
pense, and a great deal of trouble. He thought, therefore,
that if anything could be done in the way of altering the
Game-laws, ;,it would be a good thing. As a sportsman he
did not wish to see winged game done away with, for he liked

484

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

to see it about the farm ; but if the laudlords were to leave
the preservation of game in the hands of tlie tenants they
would enjoy better sport, and it would he better for both.

Mr. CoKiiET tlianked them very much for the compliments
they had been pleased to pay him, but he had been somewhat
disappointed that his paper had not called forth more dis-
cussion. However, in Kent, and in the neighbourhood of
Maidstone more particularly, he supposed the farmers were in
the happy position of having no land-agents who were law-
yers. It was evident there were none of those legal gentle-
men present, or they would have answered him tliat night ;
and the farmers of the neighbourhood must be in a perfect
Arcadia. The Chairman had said landlords and tenants
should meet each other, and that thelatter should provide a good
tap of beer and a luncheon when the former came shooting
over their farms. Mr. Stonham had complimented him upon his
(Mr. Corbet's) paper on game. It was singular that he com-
menced the paper in almost the very words used by the Chair-
man. He was a sportsman born and bred, and when he at-
tacked the evil of the over-preservation of game he by no
means attacked legitimate field sport. A great deal might
be done by getting rid of the gamekeeper, and of the fish-
monger in London who bought the game. On the
other hand, if laudlords would be contei^t, like the Duke
of Beaufort, to shoot such game as the tenant pro-
vided for him, and to allow the tenant to keep some for
himself, that vv'ould be the fairest way of settling the whole
question. Unfortunately, however, that could not be done,
for there were a great many game-preservers who moved very
slowly. He did not know whether Mr. White was protected
against his landlord in any way, but in many agreements all
the game and rabbits were reserved to the landlord. But if
he held on anything like liberal terms, he must fight it out as
best he could, and kill the vermin, as did a tenant in Norfolk
the other day. In that case the shooting was let over the
tenant's head to a lawyer in London. Knding the game in-
creased very fast, the only remedy the tenant had was to build
up an extraordinary fence, as big and as high and as awk-
ward as he could make it, so that the hares had to go
round and the j ouug pheasants could not fly over it. The
renter of the shooting said to the tenant that he was
not farming in a fair way, and the result was that an
action was tried at law, which was decided in favour
of the tenant, so that they now had a precedent ; and if Mr.
AVhite should be troubled in a similar way, he might erect a
fence that no hunter in Kent could jump over, and no hare
could get through. He was much pleased with the speech of
Mr. Ward. No doubt, ten or twelve years ago, the paper he

had read would have been considered if not downright treason,
extremely radical and wild. As to what Mr. llayes had
said on drainage, he might say that in a report issued by a
committee of the House of Commons, improvements had been
distinguished in two ways. There was temporary improve-
ment, which arose in the ordinary process of farming, and to
make that improvement was considered to be the farmer's
duty. Then there were the permanent improvements, which
cost a great deal of money, and those the committee, he
thought very properly, said should be made by the landlord.
Supposing a landlord was not in a position to do these, the
tenant would be in a very false position if he incurred any
great expense for drainage without thoroughly securing him-
self, as drainage certainly ought to be classed among perma-
nent improvements. He understood Mr. Hayes to say that
the tenants in this locality, when they did drain, drained at
their own risk. That was not busiuess-like — it was not a good
commercial position to be in. As long as they were good
friends with the landlords or the agents it was all very well,
but directly they came to variance tlie business-like agreement
should step in. There was another point, mentioned by Mr.
Stonham, which he had heard referred to very often, and
for which some provision should be made. He alluded to the
case of a tenant who died during the run of his lease, and
sometimes things happened very unfortunately in that way.
After a good tenant was gone some one else came in to farm
for the widow, and occasionally the farm was run out in a way
which the landlord, his agent, or the original tenant never
contemplated. But it must be understood, though he was ar-
guing for the greatest possible liberality to the tenant, that it
was absurd to suppose that the landlord should not be properly
protected. He laid great stress on the v^orii properly, but as to
all those rigmarole things which were hung like the sword
of Damocles over a man's head, and he never knew when the
sword might fall, orwlietheritwould kill or onlymaim him when
it did fall, the sooner they were eliminated from agreements
the better. He was very much gratified by such a discussion
as they had been kind enough to honor him with, and by the
meed of favour and approval with which they had greeted his
paper.

The Chairman proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Corbet
for his very able and interesting paper, and said they were
doubly indebted to him because he was not a paid lecturer,
but simply came down to enlighten them, and set them
thinking.

The proposal having been carried amid loud applause, Mr.
Corbet briefly acknowledged the compliment, and the meeting
terminated.

THE HEXHAM FARMERS' CLUB.
lARM BUILDINGS.

At the April meeting, Mr. Jos. Lee, Dilston, in the chair.

Tlie Secretary stated that it was agreed at the last
monthly meeting that the Club should petition the House of
Commons in favour of some alterations in the Highway Act.
The petition prepared by the committee was agreed to : " That
the highways in many townships are in a deplorable condition.
Your petitioners believe that in order to etl'ect improvement in
the roads a change in the Highway Act is imperative, viz.,
that the formation of highway districts be compulsory, instead
of being permissive as at present ; that the districts should, if
possible, be conterminous with the poor law unions ; that the
rates should bo uniform throughout each district, and divided
equally between landlord and tenant ; and that the representa-
tives at the Board should not be elected by townships or
parishes, but by sub-districts, arranged according to rental or
mileage. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that your
honourable house will pass a measure to amend the present
Highway Act.

Mr. J. E. Watson, architect, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, read
the following paper on Farm Buildings. In former years
nothing perhaps was more neglected in an architectural point
of view, tjian the designing and arrangement of farm buildings,
and I think it cannot be denied that most of the sites were

badly chosen, some being on low ground where drainage—
which, however, at that time was little thought of — would
have been impossible, and in many cases instead of the floors
being raised from G to 8 inches, which they ought to be, were
probably sunk to that extent or more below the level of the
surface, the result of which is that the floors of the buildings
were occasionally standing two or three inches deep with
water and liquid manure coming in from the folds. Other
sites are on the slope of a hill, and the ground excavated to
make it sufficiently level for the buildings, and some important
parts, such as the stables, byres, or the barn, are built against
the side of the thus formed embankment, with the roofs nearly
level with the surface ; the consequence is that the water per-
colates through the walls, causing the floors to be always wet
and damp, and in many cases, althougli drainage was easy,
still perhaps not attended to or thought of. Again, some
buildings are placed on the top of a hill, without having the
slightest shelter, consequently in stormy weather the roofs have
been blown off and the cattle almost starved to death by being
exposed to the bitter blasts. I have also noticed that the farm
houses were sometimes placed on the low side and close to the
steading, and the moisture from the folds running in waste al-
most to the very entrance door. And in addition to those evils

THE FAEMBR'S MAGAZINE.

485

how often we see the buildings placed at one side or in one
corner instead of a central position of the farm. With regard
to the arrangement of the buildings, no care or thought seems
to have been entertained for the comfort or health of the liorses
and cattle, or for the convenience or saving of labour of the
farm servant, but have the appearance of having been placed
by accident rather than design ; for instead of the straw barn
being placed in the centre and contiguous to the stables, byres,
and folds, where straw is mostly required, how often is it placed
in an isolated position ? as if it made no matter what distance the
straw was to be carried and littered about — no matter whether
the byres, stables, &c., were at a considesrable distance from
the folds, and the manure from them never trodden by tlie
cattle, but merely laid up in a heap at the outside of the door,
and perhaps the cattle, placed by themselves, exposed and
without sufficient shelter during feeding in winter months, in
wretched hovels unfit for the purposes for which they are
required. I have also seen the stable and byres, with perhaps
one or two hovels placed together, and the barn and straw
house in quite a different part, or at the other side of the stack-
yard, with a road running between them and the stables, and
probably a more modern cart-shed, with a granary above it, in
some distant position, and in some cases the granary is placed
above the farm house at a considerable distance, so that the
corn had to be carted to it from the barn. And with regard
the stables and byres, neither light, ventilation, or drainage
was ever considered, which are now known to be so essential
to the health and constitution of the horses and cattle. I'his
is but a brief description of this class of buildings, and which
might be treated upon at greater length, but I think sufficient
to show the absurd manner in which the business of a farmer
was carried on, and the slight regard which was paid to the
comfort and convenience of the stock as well as the oversight
in not providing the means for saving of labour in attending
upon them. Prom the bad arrangement of such steadings,
whatsoever new buildings may be required to increase the ac-
commodation, there is little chance of being able to design
them to advantage, or to make a suitable and necessary im-
provement either in the plan, the accommodation, or the site ;
therefore in such instances as those which I have already
described, and when they are in a dilapidated state, I consider
it the cheapest and best plan to have them taken down and
have new buildings erected in a modern style, and on a suitable
and convenient site. During the last few years agriculture as
a science has made rapid strides in the cultivation and improve-
ment of land, and with the aid of the steam plough and other
implements which have been invented large tracts of land
which formerly lay waste are now in a productive state, con-
sequently larger crops as well as greater extent of grazing
land for sheep and cattle have been obtained. It has, there-
fore, been found essential and necessary that additional and
more convenient accommodation in the farm steading should
be obtained for the housing of stock and cattle, as well as for
the advantage of both landlord and tenant, by the erection
of suitable and well arranged buildings, totally difTerent froni
the inconvenient and unsuitable erections which have existed
for years, and for this purpose different agricultural societies
heve offered premiums for the best plan and design, and in the
year 1861 the Royal Agricultural Society of England, at their
exhibition at Leeds, offered a premium of £50 for the best
arranged plan, and in that competition I had the honour of
gaining the first prize. The plan now exhibited is almost a
correct copy, and which I intend taking as my model in giving
a description in this paper. The first thing to be considered,
is the site, and in choosing this for a new building I am of
opinion that it ought to be as near the centre of the farm as
possible, this being the proper position for convenience.
Keeping in view that it be of easy access by sufficient and
good roads, that it should be a dry situation and easily drained
by taking away both the day water and the water from the
spouts, as well as the drainage of the liquid manure into the
tanks, and also that it should be capable of affording a good
and sufficient supply of water ; not to be too much exposed,
but in a sufficiently sheltered position ; free from the faults
described in the sites of old buildings, and to keep in view that
the folds always face the south, so that the cattle may be
sheltered and have the advantage of the warmth of the sun.
By attending to these points not only is expense saved, as less
excavation is required, less labour in laying the drains and
foundations, and probably less expense ia the cartage of the

materials, but also additional comfort and convenience may be
obtained. In designing farm buildings I have always considered
compactness and symmetry the great elements of composition,
by placing the parts which depend upon each other as near
together as possible, and removing to a separate part ot the
buildings in which no stock is housed, also to provide ample
means for sufficient light and ventilation. The designing and
arrangement of farm buildings are generally open to a deal ot
criticism and contention, perhaps more so than any other class
of buildings, for in various parts of the country different
systems of farming are adopted, consequently contrary opinions
are entertained, and even in the same locality sometimes there
exists a difference of opinion as to the arrangement of the
steading and the metliods of rearing and feedmg of stock some
preferring stall feeding, some m favour of large folds, others in
favour of small folds to contain four or five cattle each, some
are in favour of open folds, with the feeding cribs covered
over with the sheds to protect the cattle in wet weather, whilst
some are in favour of the folds being entirely covered in, and
which system seems to be advancing and gaining ground. I
hnve also known in some cases objections made to liquid
manure tanks, whereas others are favourable to them. As im-
provements in agriculture continue to advance, suitabk and
improved buildings will still be more required, and no doubt
many of these differences of opinion will in course of time
cease to exist. I have endeavoured to combat with these
differences of opinion as much as possible in making the
arrangement, so that it can easily be altered to suit either of
the systems just mentioned, and the form I have adopted is
simple and compact, easy access being obtained to each portion
of the building without being much exposed in stormy weather
as any one attending the horses, cattle, &c., can do so with
comfort and little labour in comparison to that which was
required in an old farm steading owing to the want of proper
arrangement and the isolated position of some of the buildings.
I have always arranged my plans so that the barn and straw-
house should occupy a central position, as the straw is an
article in constant request ; therefore the buildings, to Ids, ^c,
whicli require the greatest supply, ought to be grouped round
it as much as is compatible with the size and extent ot the
building and to have a direct communication with the feeding
boxes, stable, byres, hovels, &c., to enable the supply to be
easily kept up, and as much under cover as possible, llie
same arrangement applies to the turnip houses, having passages
to the feeding boxes and sheds, and in some cases I have made
these passages sufficiently wide for a tramway with a suitable
truck or waggon to convey the cut turnips to the cattle, ine
passages between the covered feeding sheds are sufficiently wide
and spacious to allow of a sufficient quantity of turnips being
always stored for the use of the cattle in the adjoining folds.
The granaries are above the hovels for the sake of ventilation
extending each way right and left so as to store different kinds
of corn, and having a direct communication with the under
and upper barns as weU as with each other, the straw-house
being in the centre, the full height of both stories, to afford
space and accommodation for packing, a large quantity ot
straw. It is essential that the barns and granaries ought to
be constructed so that they may be kept free from vermin, io
accomplish this I invariably have the bottom or ground floors
laid with concrete cement on a foundation of broken stones
or bricks, from 6 to 9 inches in thickness ; the floors ot the
upper barn and granaries may be done in a similar manner,
by laying the floors in the first instance with rough, narrow
battens, open at the joints to give a key to the cement work;
the walls ought also to be plastered up to the window sills
with a good thick coat of cement, which, as well as making
them proof against vermin, is also a preventative of damp.
The feeding boxes are placed in close proximity to the folds,
and are well ventilated and lighted from the top with squares
of rough white glass asskyhghts, slated in with the slates; a
passao-e is arranged in connection with the turnip house tpr
feeding the cattle; the door may be hung in two halves m
height, so that the upper part may be left open when extra
ventilation is required ; the division railings are made move-
able, so that they can be taken out when larger boxes are
required. The feeding sheds are open, and made sufficiently
wide for cattle to feed entirely under cover, the remaining part
of the fold is open, but as contrary opinions are still enter-
tained as to the desirability of having the folds covered, it will
be seen on reference to the plan that a roof can easily be

486

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

placed over the opeu part at a small cost, or the whole may be
left opea without interfering with the general arrangement.
The stables, byres, &c., are placed at right angles to and at the
end of the hovels, in such a position that they can without
much labour be supplied with straw and fodder ; the manure
also can easily be thrown into the folds. In some localities
there is a difference of opinion as to whether a hay loft ought
to be placed above tlie stable ; some prefer it, and imagine
that without it a sufficient quantity of hay cannot be stored ;
others condemn it entirely. My experience teaches me to
think that it is better without, and to keep the stable open to
the roof, with proper ventilation at the ridge, and a few glass
squares, which can be had for a trifling cost, slated in to give
additional light as well as an additional degree of comfort.
The Inclosure Commissioners object to lofts above the stables,
and reques well ventilated houses for hay attached to each
stable. Or in some instances I have introduced a small win-
dow at the head of each stall, made with solid frames, and
hung on pivots ; this not only throws light into the racks and
mangers, but when the stables are empty they can be opened,
and having windows at the other side a through draft is
created, which thoroughly ventilates the stable. Metal fittings
for partitions of stables, also for racks and mangers, are now
greatly manufactured, and if some of a cheaper and less ex-
pensive style could be adopted, I think they might be used to
great advantage in stables of farm steadings. In fitting up the
byres I always recommend the partitions between the cows to
be made of stone slabs, about i fnches in thickness, and the
feeding troughs of tire clay or cement. I fiud by experience
that wood work soon goes to decay, and the stone work is more
easily kept sweet and clean. The calf house is in direct com-
munication with the byre, fitted up with pens, and properly
liglited and ventilated . Separate loose boxes are provideu for
sick horses and cattle, without having any communication with
the other parts of the building. The piggeries are also placed
convenient to the folds, so that the manure can easily be put
iuto them. But as metal fittings are now much used they are
sometimes fitted up more in connection with the other parts of
the buildings. With regard to the floors, which is generally
done with rough paving I am inclined to think that the whole
area of the building ought to be laid with concrete cement
flooring that for the stables, byres, &c., to be well grooved to
prevent the horses and cows from slipping, the remainder may
be plain ; the chanaels can be formed without the aid of
dressed stone, audit would be the means of preventing damp
and 'harbour for vermin ; the extra cost would perliaps be
something like 2 and 2| to 1 at the outset, but as no repairs
would be required for a considerable length of time compared
to what is required for common paving, it would perliaps be as
economical in tlic end. I have adopted this method success-
fully in stables attached to noblemen's and gentlemen's man-
sions. Machinery cm be fitted up witli the machiuery of the
barn in connection with a shed and saw frame for the purpose
of cutting gates, railing, &c., which are always required for the
use of the farm, 'fhe drains ought to be properly laid and to
communicate with each stable, byres, feeding sheds, &c., so as
to convey the liquid manure into the cesspool. Drains ought
also to be laid to convey the rainwater from the roofs to some
convenient outlet for the purpose of keeping the steading
always dry. The superintendent's house, cart-shed, workshops,
Stc, are placed on the south side of the square, the back wall
of which forms an excellent garden wall in connection with
the farm house. It will be observed that these buildings where
fires are required are placed in this range to be as far as possible
from the straw, so as to prevent the danger of fire. Another
advantage is, that the superintendent's house being placed at
the entrance no one can have admittance without being seen,
and the entrance gates as well as the other gates leading to
the fields being locked at night makes the place secure, and
the superintendent living on the premises can always attend
to the horses and cattle, especially when required in cases of
necessity. Dairy farms can be constructed on a similar plan,
liaving the byres and feeding byres under one roof,
similar to what an entirely covered fold would be,
having a direct communication with the straw and
fodder house, dairyman's house, &c. ; the stables
cart- shed, with graiuary above, barn, straw-house, &c.., form-
ing a distinct part, but all in connection with each other. In
the erection of farm buildings care should be taken that the
floors are always well kept up from tlie surface of the ground

to prevent damp as much as possible. Not only have improve-
ments taken place in the plan and arrangement of steadings,
but likewise more taste is shown in the elevations, and by the
introduction of some central feature in the form of a simple
campanile gives it a neat and picturesque appearance. Tiie
future advantage to be gained is that the buildings may be en-
larged to any necessary extent ; in fact, by mere contraction or
expansion of dimensions, may be adapted for a farm of any size
vifithout in the slightest degree atl'ecting the design or arrange-
ment. And as it is now considered by several eminent practi-
cal agriculturists that in a lew years open folds will be con-
sidered " as things of the past," a glauce at the plans will show
that in addition to the roof over the feeding sheds in the folds,
which are at prehent generally sufficient, how simply another
roof may be put over, the open part making it entirely enclosed,
or otherwise the folds for fat cattle may be covered in, and
those for the young cattle left open. The hovels, then, not
being required could easily be converted into additional byres,
feeding boxes, or store rooms, as miglit be required. I trust,
therefore, that the design I have adopted will be considered
not only good in itself but that it is capable of alteration and
adjustment so as to meet the ideas of different people for some
years to come, whatsoever their opinions may be as to the
arrangement of farm buildings, and the methods of rearing
and feeding of cattle. With regard to the cost of buildings,
it is generally understood that the stones arc to be had on the
estate for the expense of winning only, aud that the cartage
of the materials is done by the tenant. In such cases the
general cost amounts to something like 3d. per cubit foot. No
doubt there is a difference with regard to some of the buildings,
as a stable, byre, &c., with its fittings and requirements will
cost more than a plain straw barn or feeding shed, but taking
the whole into consideration, the price I have mentioned is
near to what the cost will be ; of course the advantages of
dill'erent localities must be takeu into consideration. Perhaps
the roofing is a subject which requires most consideration, as
the Royal Agricultural Society of England, at their show in
Manchester, in 1SG9, offered premiums for the best description
of roofs, and at which I was appointed one of the judges to
report upon them. There were models of slate, iron, and felt
roofing exhibited, audi cannot explain their merits better than
by quoting from our report. " Slate roofing being familiar to
all persons, it is unnecessary to describe the mode of construction
which professes no speciality ; the cost per square of 100 feet
may be taken at £5 Os. lOd., or rather over Is. per foot. The
models or examples of galvanized corrugated iron roofs on
wrought iron framing were tied together by the ordinary
wrought iron rods, with king post rod aud key ; the cost per
square was stated to be ^£3 18s., or nearly 9^d. per foot, in-
cluding wall plates. Tlie feft roofing was in the form of a
circle, of which it was stated the pitch should be I5 inch per
foot, preserved in its shape by a girder formed of ' bows aud
strings,' with lattice work between them tied by a solid web
of timber equal to one-fifth of the span to give extra strength
to the bearings. These lattice girders are from 8 to 10 feet
apart, on these are purliugs 32 inches apart, covered with a
sheet of half-inch boards in long lengths, aud from 9 to 15
inches broad, upon which is laid the felt, which is again
covered with tar or varnish properly prepared ; it was stated
that spaces 75 feet in width had been covered with perfect
satisfaction, and that spaces 100 feet in width could be covered
without any intermediate supports. The cost per square is
stated to be £1 12s., or nearly 4d. per foot. The period of
durability of slate roofing may be stated to be at least fifty
years, that of iron twenty-two years, and that of felt eight
years ; the first requiring no other act of maintenance than
ordinary repairs, the second requiring strict attention in paint-
ing to preserve it from the corroding effects of uprising
vapours, and the third, iu addition to repairs, requiring a coat
of tar or prepared varnish evsry other year to preserve it from
the effects of tlie sun and weather. The question of economy
is not, therefore, determined by the first cost, but must have
special reference to the periods of duration of each description
of material, for, as the roof will require to be replaced at the
termination of eacli period, it is necessary that the principal
money first expended should be repaid witliiu such periods.
The true state of the case as respects economy wiU be under-
stood, therefore, by comparing tiie annual anounts per square
of ground covered, which must be gained to repay the cost
witliin tjic periods mentioned, and calculating the value of

THE FAEMBR'S MAGAZINE.

487

money at 5 per cent, interest, tliey are as follows : Slate, 5s.
6d. Iron, 5$. lOd., with painting once in three years. Felt,
4s. lid., with tarring once in two years. Each is liable to
ordinary repairs, iron and slate requiring very little indeed,
and felt requiring more." And, in conclusion, and to bear out
my remarks, perhaps I may be allowed to quote from the re-
port of Mr. H. S. Thompson on the capabilities of my prize
plan at the Leeds Exhibition, in 1861, in which he states:
" The first points to be noticed in the plan which received the
prize of £50 are its compactness and symmetry. Compact-
ness in farm buildings means the reduction to a minimum of
the space to be traversed by tlie labourer in foddering and
littering the live stock, in collecting and preparing them food,
and in the other numerous tasks which require him to be con-
tinually moving to and fro. A small diminution of the space
which has to be so frequently passed over leads to a consider-
able saving of the labourer's time, and consequently of the
farmer's money. Symmetry may at first sight be considered a
minor advantage, one more belonging to the ornamental than
the useful. Tliis interpretation of the term would, however,
very imperfectly express the meaning attached to it here.
True symmetry in farm buildings means not only a pleasing and
symmetrical arrangement of the indispensable elements of a
farmery, that no part of the establishment shall be unneces-
sarily far from other buildings with which frequent communi-
cation is required. The barn, for instance, which supplies
straw, an article in constant request and wliich is bulky and
difficult of removal, ouglit to be placed as centrally with respect
to the stables and cattle sheds as is compatible with ready ac-
cess from the exterior to the barn itself. This is well accom-
plished in this plan by removing to a separate yard all the
buildings in which no stock is housed, thus allowing those in
wliich straw is required to be grouped immediately around the
straw barn. By this arrangement the additional advantage is
obtained .'of close proximity and ready intercommunication
between the cart-shed and implement house and the smith's
and joiner's shops, whilst the stables are so placed tliat ready
access is provided for the horses to the carts, implements, and
shoeing-smith. The shape and position of this yard are
remarkably good, giving unusual facility for the removal of
the manure from the different cattle yards, one of the heaviest
operations which the farmer has to encounter. The old pro-
verb, too, " Fast bind safe find," has not been forgotten, and
the key of these yard gates once in the farmer's pocket every
yard and office is closed against all intruders who are not pre-
pared for burglary."

Mr. Smith quite approved of the plan of covering in fold-
yards for fat stock, because the warmer thej were kept the less
meat they would take. If stock were kept in a cold situation
the portion of the food that was given to fatten them would be
required to keep up thd animal heat of the cattle ; and, there-
fore, for fat stock he considered tliat this was a very great im-
provement indeed. He approved of the flooring being of con-
crete, as it entirely prevented any vermin working its way up.
He very gladly proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Watson for
the excellent lecture he had given them.

Mr. GooDRiCK said there were several things in the paper
with which he entirely agreed ; and one was the cementing of
floors. The cement ing of tlie floors of stables and this sort of
buildings had only been tpoken of in contrast to that of com-
mon paving, but if they compared it with flagging cementing
was the cheaper of the two, and they got surface drains in
easier than having to dress stones for the purpose. Mr.
Watson had not entered into any comparison of the different
kinds of feeding, such as feeding under covered yards, feeding
in cattle boxes, and feeding cattle tied by the head in byres.
Before coming to the meeting he made a short calculation as
to the expense of the different systems. He found that covered
courts, built, say, to accommodate ten head of cattle, cost about
£16 a-head ; for cattle boxes, he liad put them up for the
chairman and others, at £10 a-head, and he had lately put up
byres at £7 a-head So that they saw that byre feeding was
the cheapest, and they could have a double byre with a passage
up the middle, as Mr. Watson stated, for carrying up food, and
a passage behind for taking out the dung. They could put up
byres at £7 a-head, and he thought that tying up cattle by the
head was the cheapest method. Of course, where they had
cattle boxes the beast could roam about and exercise itself in
some measure, and where they had a large quantity of straw
he would prefer boxes, especially for bullocks. Covered courts,

being so much larger, required a strong roof, and^the walls
were extensive, and altogether they were much more expensive
than either boxes or byres. He cordially seconded the vote of
thanks to Mr. Watson for his valuable paper.

The Secretary, Mr. Trotter, said with respect to what
was becoming the prevailing practice of having stables open
to the roof, he did not know that that was the best plan,
although it was recommended by Mr. Watson. He had .seen
a few stables of this kind, for example, at Nafferton, where
they were open to the roof, and he found that the horses
suffered so much more in winter months. He held that
a stable ceiled eight or nine feet above the floor was
better than a stable open to the roof, however well sarked it
might be. There was an interval draught ; the warm air
ascended up the middle of the building and kept up an in-
cessant draught. He questioned wliether they could get clear
of that draught, and he had seen the water from condensation
dripping on tlie horses' backs, and under such circumstances a
horse could not be kept thriving. He was not sure that Mr.
Watson liad hit upon the right arrangement for the straw
barn ; lie had continued it into the centre of the yard. With-
out being desirous to find fault, he suggested that it would
have been well to continue the straw barn to the right and
left in T shape. This was an advantage when thrashing, as
they were tlius able to keep the wheat and barley straw sepa-
rate from the oat straw, the wheat and barley straw being
good for bedding the cattle, while the oat straw was better
tlian wheat straw for the cattle's eating. That was his idea
of the situation of the straw barn, and when they got the
straw barn well placed it was the key to the remainder of the
farm buUdings. He had had something to do with the erec-
tion of farm buildings in Cleveland for Mr. Chas. Palmer, and
he believed that the arrangement of the buildings had been a
success. On this farm there were some forty cattle boxes, and
tlie turnips were carried to the cattle on trucks. He was glad
that the meeting, though small, had expressed its approval of
what had been brought before them.

The vote of thanks to Mr. Watson was carried.

Mr. Watson, in returning tlianks, said that he did not ex-
pect that his plan would please every one ; but by discussing
the points that had been raised they brought out things that
they had not before considered. With regard to the straw-
house it was perhaps better to have it in such a shape that
the different kinds of straw could be kept separate, and that
could be done without interfering with the general arrange-
ment of his plan . Any little alteration that would suit different
parties with different ideas might be made without materially
altering the whole plan. He thought from the exhibition
which took place of plans, referred to in the paper, his was
the most compact and convenient of any exhibited for that
purpose. With regard to stables being open to the roof, his
idea was that it was a better way than having lofts above, and
perhaps the sarkiug would do away with that coldness which
had been spoken of. From the breath of horses and cows the
plaster came off. He again thanked the members for the
kind attention they had given him and for their cordial vote
of thanks.

Mr. GoODRiCK stated that he had to put up a stable at right
angles to a grey slate building. The rest of the stable was
done with blue slate, and this also was done with sarking.
The grey slate was thought sufficient to turn frost or suow or
anything else, but during a severe storm there were two horses
under the grey slate, and the slate was covered with frost in-
side, but those under the blue slate, which was sarked, were
standing comfortable and warm.

Tlie Secretary thought it would have been the contrary.

Mr. Drydon preferred covered courts for steers. Store
cattle should not be kept too warm in winter, or they would
not do so well when turned out to graze. For fattening cattle
a certain amount of heat was requisite and right. As to
heifers, he did not care whether they were in stalls or boxes,
one was as good as the other if equally well constructed, but
for steers he preferred covered courts, and not more than six
in each court. He believed that they did better in covered
yards than in boxes, and he had not seen or heard anything
which disturbed him in that conclusion.

The Secretary said there was no mistake as to the advan-
tage of having yards covered in. He saw enough of that about

488

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

a fortnight or so ago when they had a fall of snow, and the
animals in the open yards were up to the knees in puddle, and
it took an immense quantity of straw for them.

Mr. Dk\don said that another dilHculty iu the way of
getting the best farm buildings was the expense, which was the
cause of a good deal of patchwork.

Mr. GooDRicK thought that the turnip-house ought to he as
conveniently placed as the straw barn.

The Chairman thought that the best plan was to do away
with the old farm buildings and get new ones, for they were

almost sure to make a bad job of it if they began to patch.
These plans could be contracted to suit small farms, but in
making plans for farm buildings they should always take into
consideration tlie kind of farm for which they were intended.
Trom experience he found that sheep paid him better than
cattle on light land. Where they had little straw they should
tie up the cattle by the neck, and in this case byres would
perhaps be best. Store cattle should never he kept too warm
in winter, as tliey did not do so well the next summer when
put out to graze.

THE AYRSHIRE FARMERS' CLUB.

At the annual meeting held at Ayr, Mr. Brown, Ardneil,
president, in the chair, the meeting proceeded to discuss the
utility of the wheel plouglis.

Mr. BitowN (Ardneil) said that at a previous discussion on
the subject, when a paper was read by Mr. Wallace, he had
expressed an aversion to wheel-ploughs. He had now had
two years' experience of the double-furrow ploughs, and one
of the single-furrow, and he was still of opinion that the
donble-farrow plough could not be so easily drawn as the
single-furrow without wheels. He found that three horses
could work the double on moderate land, but on stiff land it
generally required four. He expressed himself more in favour
of the single-furrow wheel-plough. They would he easily
drawn by two horses, and easier guided than any of the other
ploughs, and, with a ploughman possessing a natural taste,
they did the work remarkably well on any kind of land.

Mr. CuNNiNGiiAME (Chapeltou) said that Mr. Brown
had expressed the views that he himself held in regard to these
ploughs.

Mr. Robert Wallace was glad to hear Mr. Brown ex-
press himself now in the terms he had done. He was sure
that when Mr. Brown, about two years ago, expressed himself
so much against these ploughs, he would alter his opinion,
which he was now glad to see was the case. He (Mr. W. )
did now no work with any kind of plough except the wheel-
plough, and had only one common plough for each of his
farms. He held that the double-furrow plough was as easily
drawn iu proportion as the common single-plough. He also
expressed himself very favourably in regard to the single-
plough on wheels, and he believed that this was the plough
that would come into general use.

Mr. CaLuwell (Knockshoggle) said that he had not yet
great experience with these ploughs, but he believed that they
were very advantageous to the farmer when they were con-
structed on a good principle, and wrought on easy soil. He
had seen two of these ploughs at work once at a ploughing
match. They were of different makers, and he was astonished
to find that the heavier-made plough was drawn more easily
than the lighter one. Ko doubt this was entirely owing to
the heavier plough being constructed on a better principle than
the lighter one. He could not say that he was at all partial
to these ploughs where the laud was of a stiff clayey and hilly
nature. A difficulty he experienced with these ploughs was
to get proper persons in the neighbourhood to repair them
when anything went wrong.

Mr. Younci (Highfield) was very much pleased with the
working of these ploughs, but the difficulty he had was to get
men to take proper care of them.

Mr. WiiYTE (East Raws) had seen the double-furrow
plough work very well.

Mr. Wallace, Jun., said that he had had some experience
with the wheel-ploughs, having wrought them on his father's
farm. He thought tliat they would be greatly improved, and
do the work much easier, if the share was not made quite so

broad. He thought that if makers would pay greater atten-
tion to friction in the construction, these ploughs would be
much more easily drawn, and of greater demand among the
farmers.

Mr. Kerr said that his experience had been very much
spoken already in the discussion. He had now had three
J ears' experience in working the double-furrow plough. The
iirst year of his experience the plough often got disarranged
and was very troublesome ; he got it repaired the second year
with a local blacksmith, and he found that it did the work
very much better, and now this year he found that it did the
work very well. His plough generally turned over a Scotch
acre in about seven hours, which he considered very good, and
the horses were not at all heavily drawn. He was of opinion
that these ploughs would be worked with greater advantage t o
the farmer, and that they were suitable for any kind of soil,
whether loose or still' clay soil.

Mr. R. M. CuNNiNGiiAME believed there was something
providential in the introduction both of these ploughs and of
reaping machines, seeing the great agitation connected with
the remuneration of agricultuial labour. He was about the
first who introduced these ploughs into Ayrshire. He had
one sent from Messrs. Fowler and Co., Leeds, when they
came out, just to try and see if it would be of any use. He
was very well pleased vi^ith the [working of these ploughs, and
believed that, although they cost a good sum of money, they
soon repaid themselves.

The Chairman was very well pleased with the manner in
which the subject had been discussed, and said his own ex-
perience had been pretty generally expressed. la light land
be always used the doable-furrow plough, and he found that
with a good ploughman it did the work very well ; but he
always used the single-furrow common plough on his heavy
land.

Mr. David Cunningiiame (Chapelton) said that there
was a gentleman who lie thought was entitled to the thanks
of the Club, and also a vote of sympathy, seeing the position
in which he had been placed : he referred to the ejection of
Mr. Hope from the farm of Fenton Barns by his landlord.
He thought that this Club ought not to allow this opportunity
to pass without expressing to Mr. Hope the esteem in which
they held him, and sympathy for the situation in which he
had been placed. To all appearances his ejection was quite
uncalled for. He begged to move " That the Ayrshire far-
mers' Club express its sympathy with Mr. Hope, of Fenton
Barns, in the circumstances in which he has been placed by
the notice given him by his landlord that is lease would not
be renewed — it is believed, iu consequence of his holding and
expressing ditt'erent political opinions from those entertained
by his landlord — and that this Club has also to thank Mr.
Hope for the manly independence with which he always up-
held the agricultural interests of the country and all questions
affecting it, believing, as they do, that he has done more to
advance agriculture than any tenant-farmer in the kingdom,
and that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to Mr.
Hope." This was seconded, and unanimously agreed to.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

489

THE GAME LAWS COMMITTEE OF 1846.

REPORT AS AGREED TO ON THE 27t1I JUJNE, 181(3.

I. Resolved, That it is the opiuiou of this Committee, that
the Common Law of Englaud has always distinctly recognised
a qualified right of property iu game ; and that from a very
early period it has been found necessary, by statutory enact-
ment, to make some special provision against the attempt to
steal or destroy a species of property peculiarly exposed to de-
predation.

3. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that
the stringency of the game laws has been from time to time
materially qualified and relaxed.

3. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that
the recent Act, 1 and 2 Will. IV., c. 32, vested the property
in game in the occupier of the soil, and distinctly recognised
in game, as the subject of sale, one of the essential qualities
of private property.

4. Resolved, That under these circumstances the tenant
has at all times the power to secure the game to himself, or
to reject the tenancy, if the propriety of the lands insist on a re-
servation being made of the game inhis (the proprietor's) favour.

5. Resolved, Tiiat it is the opinion of this Coraraittcc, tliat
to exclude game from the protection of the law would be in-
consistent with a due regard to the security of other property.

6. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that
the taking of game by persons who have no right of property
in it should continue to be the subject of penal legislation.

7. Resolved, That iu reviewing the statutes now iu force
with reference to the pursuit and sale of game, it appears to
your Committee that alterations may be suggested which,
without impairing their efficiency for the repression of crime,
would prevent the unequal or excessive punishment of persons
who violate their provisions.

8. Resolved, That it is expedient to abolish cumulative
penalties for poaching.

9. Resolved, TJiat your Committee are not, however, pre-
pared to recommend such an alteration of the law as would
exempt from more severe penalties those who in the illegal
pursuit of game commit at the same time a breach of the
revenue laws, or those who in the day-time, being armed, and
in numbers, are guilty of violence.

10. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee,
that the penalty imposed by the statute, 52 Geo. III., c. 43,
for sporting without a certificate, appears excessive.

II. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee,
tliat the space of three days allowed by section 41 of 1 and 2
Will. IV., c. 32, for giving notice of appeal against any sum-
mary conviction under this Act, should be extended.

12. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee,
that it is expedient that so much of the 5 and 6 Will. IV.,
c. 20, which allows a moiety of the penalty levied underthe laud
2 Will. IV., c. 52, to go to the informer, should be repealed.

13. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that
no person convicted of night poaching, under s. 1, 0 Geo. IV.,
c. 69, whose offence is unattended by circurastauces of aggra-
vation, should be subjected to the punishment of transportation.

14. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee,
that no person convicted of night poaching, under the first
section 9 Geo. IV., c. 68, should be required to find sureties
for not repeating such offence.

15. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee,
that, apart from considerations of revenue, every owner or
occupier of land having the right to kill the game on that
land, should have such right without being required to take
out a game certificate.

16. Resolved, That your Committee further recommend the
abolition of certificates as regards the puisuit and destruction
of hares by means of packs of hounds, or by greyhounds ;

and also to recommend the deduction of the duties on grey-
hounds to those imposed on commou dogs.

17. Resolved, That your Committee regret that great
facilities still exist for the disposal of game.

18. Resolved, That it has been suggested to your Commit-
tee, that by imposing additional legislative restrictions upon
the sale of game, such facilities might be diminished, if not
altogether removed ; but the practical difliculty of enforcing
any such regulations appears to your Committee to be almost
insurmountable, and the regulations themselves would neces-
sarily be of so stringent and vexatious a character that your
Committee cannot recommend their adoption.

19. Resolved, That it is tlie opinion of tliis Committee,
that the powers of constables should be better defined and
enlarged, iu regard to the search and detention of persons
found under suspicious circumstances with game in their pos-
session ; and that power should be given to constables to search
public-houses and beer-shops (licensed to sell off as well as on
the premises) for game, it having been proved before the Com-
mittee that they are extensive receptacles for stolen game.

20. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee,
that the present time fixed for the period at which feathered
game becomes a marketable article, and saleable by the dealer,
should be postponed ; and they recommend that the sale of
each species of game should be deferred until one day after
the season for shooting it has commenced.

21. Resolved, That your Committee has received evidence
to show that the preservation of large quantities of game has
been the frequent cause of damage to the neighbouring crops.

22. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee,
that in cases where the damage done to the growing crops of
the occupier is caused by game belonging to or reserved by
the owner of the land, such damage may be made the subject
of pecuniary compensation.

23. Resolved, That it is the opinion of your Committee,
that although instances to the contrary iiave been proved to
your Committee, evidence has been adduced before them
which warrants the conclusion that, in general, a tenant's
just claim for compensation is complied with by his landlord.

21. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee,
that great difliculty must always exist in determining the
amount of damage which has been inflicted by game on grow-
ing crops, and that the estimate of such damage, however
skilfully made, is rarely satisfactory to both parties.

25. Resolved, That it is the opinion of tliis Committee,
that where, from the vicinity of tlie preserves of adjoining
proprietors, sucli damage must be attributed to the game bre{l
and preserved therein, the reparation for such damage cannot
generally be made the subject of previous agreement.

26. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee
that under these circumstances, cases of hardship may be ex-
pected to recur ; hut the extreme difficulty of establishing the
liability of any particular party for the damage done, or cor-
rectly assessing the amount of such damage, have induced
your Committee to reject the suggestion that an action on the
case would be a fitting or practical remedy for damage done
to growing crops by game.

27. Resolved, That it is the opiuiou of this Committee,
that this species of damage is to be attributed mainly, if not
entirely, to hares and rabbits, and that no appreciable propor-
tion of such damage can be ascribed to feathered game.

28. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee,
that the law in Scotland with regard to game differs from that
in England in many essential particulars, and but little evi-
dence respecting that part of the subject has been adduced
before your Committee.

490

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

OVER AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
ON MIXED FARMING.

At a meeting at the Wheatsheaf, Over, Mr. J. Slater iu the
chair, Mr. J. Aston, of Brassey Green, said :

The subject selected for this evening's discussion is of a
promiscuous nature, and affords ample scope for an imagina-
tive and fertile mind ; but ray limited powers and paucity of
language must necessarily confine me Vfithin narrow limita-
tions, and allow plenty of room for your reflections. I have
been born and brought up an agriculturist ; and if I had life
to commence again and an offer made, I do not think I should
choose any other occupation. Agriculture, like many other
callings in life, has difficulties to encounter and obstacles to
overcome. There are losses, crosses, and disappointments,
which at times harass the mind and deb'litate the physical
strength ; still, numbers prefer the labours and fatigues of
rural life to being pent up in narrow alleys and smoky cities.
To advocate an unalterable mode of farming in all districts
and on all descriptions of soil is an outrage on common-sense
and insulting to enlightened reason in this advanced age of
the world. Some are of the opinion that it requires years of
study and experience to make a successful agriculturist, and
tliis science is one of the most difficult to master. The more
knowledge we possess on various subjects the better, provid-
ing it is properly applied ; and however deep the researches
into the subject now under consideration, perfection cannot
be reached during the time allotted for man on earth. Still,
there are numbers of agriculturists who have accumulated
good fortunes in a few years that were illiterate cliaracters.
In my opinion the general outlines of farming may be ac-
quired iu a short time and at a small expense. If a person
will keep iiis eyes, ears, and mind open to the truth, and
closely watch all useful and successful experiments, he will
soon possess all that is requisite to make a competent agri-
culturist. The great secret of success in farming mainly con-
sists in gradual improvement, skilful management, and con-
stant apphcatiou. There is an old proverb which says,
" Those who will not mind their business will soon have no
business to mind." There have been many fulfilments of this
proverb in our time. Inattention to business, indulging in
drunkenness, and delighting in wantonness have brought
numbers to beggary, disgrace, and ruin. Whatever mode of
farming is adopted, there must be the application of skill and
energy iu order to be successful, but especially must this be
the case if all our energies are in one direction. The altered
state of things requires that agricultural operations sliould be
conducted on principles to meet the necessities of the great
consuming public. Still, there must be great caution exer-
cised against rushing from one extreme to another, the result
of which would overstock the markets with those commodities
for which there was but small demand. If agriculturists
were more careful in purchasing and disposing of stock, and
would lay up in store for dry summers and hard winters,
there would not be such great fluctuations in price as fre-
quently take place within short intervals of time. Stock
should be sparingly bought when dear, and rather freely when
cheap, which would soon regulate prices ; and it is wise to
sell when others in general are holding, and retain when
nearly all are selling. Farmers act very unwisely in forcing
stock so much beyond their real value at public auctions or
elsewhere. A foreigner might reasonably conclude that
rent, taxes, and wages were low, and agricultural pro-
duce very high in England, when witnessing such
scenes as frequently take place when persons get fresh
on gin and beer. The aspect of farming in Cheshire is dif-
ferent to what it was some years ago. Under existing circum-
stances it would be very adventurous to keep a large dairy or
feeding stock, or have all the land devoted to tillage purposes,
as such great changes are continually taking place. Mixed
farming is highly to be commended, and is iindoubtedly the
safest and most judicious course for agriculturists to pursue.
Though all my lands is down in grass, and I mostly keep a
good qaantity of cattle for dairying, feeding, and store, still I

would not recommend others to adopt the same plan unless
occupying very stiff and thin-skinned soils. The vast quanti-
ties of American cheese which of late years have been pushed
on the English market, lowering the price of all descriptions,
but especially the medium and common qualities, present a
new phase in Cheshire farming, and should induce us to turn
our attention to such modes of culture as shall meet the grow-
ing necessities of the times. The whrniug note which souirfed
through this country some years ago from America was un-
heeded, and its vibration soon died away. We treated wit!li
indifference Brother Jonathan's threatening attitude and
trusted too much in our former achievements. Though we
were sensible of our inability to battle with such a formidable
opponent on the score of rent and taxation, the idea was never
entertained that our countrymen would turn their backs
on their own commodity aud take so freely to cheese
from another nation ; but the fears which some time ago seized
the minds of a few have been fully realised through the past
season, and we have reaped the sad fruits of overstocked mar-
kets and disheartening prices. And a similar warning voice
is being continually sounded in our ears from some of the
British Colonies which may soon accomplish similar effects in
the prices of beef and mutton, which should incite us to
greater activity and enterprise in agricultural pursuits. The
higli price of land, increased taxation, and rapid advance
which has la?ely taken place in wages incapacitates the British
farmer to compete with those of other lands, and unless this
state of things is checked his prospects for the future will not
be cheering. It will require the prompt and united action of
Parliament and landlords to meet the difficulties and lighten
the burdens of farmers, and such action alone will enable
them to stem the tide of opposition which retards their future
prosperity. Rents must be kept down, taxes lowered, and im-
provements carried forward. There must also be great economy
exercised in the expenditure of all public moneys, and burdens
equally aud equitably borne. While it is the duty of Parlia-
ment to economise public expenditure, and landlords to provide
suitable and convenient homesteads, ridding the fences of all
cumbrous and unnecessary timbers, and keeping down rabbits
and hares which are so very destructive to valuable crops,
causing great waste in the good bounties of God's providence,
thereby inflicting an injustice on the community, farmers
should put forth strenuous efforts to improve the soil. They
must not depend on others for what they are capable of per-
forming themselves. There is nothing like self exertion, and
nothing makes a person feel his responsibility so much and
impels him to become a benefactor tj the human family. Our
soils possess great strength, and when fully developed have
immense resources at command. Two blades of grass must
be made to grow where only one was formerly found, and
tillage lands improved and cultivated so as to cause them to
yield luxuriant and remunerative crops, that there may be
greater quantities of beef and mutton aud other articles of
diet produced, to lessen foreign importations, which will make
us more self-supporting, and enrich the nation. Mixed farm-
ing appears indispensable at the present time to meet the great
fluctuations that are continually taking place in agricultural
produce. Where land is adapted for dairying and feeding, our
attention may be directed to both, so that if cheese is dear and
beef and mutton cheap, we shall gain by the former if loss is
sustained on the latter. And, on the other hand, where large
farms are suited for corn growing, dairying, and feed-
ing, the occupier's position is still more sale and secure. It
is not wise to make cheese and grow corn in the immediate
neighbourhoods of London, Manchester, and Liverpool, wl-.ere
new milk commands high prices, and to cart it out of districts
where railways are not contiguous is attended with great in-
convenience aud considerable expense. There are some dis-
tricts and farms better adapted for one purpose than another,
and due consideration and good judgment ought to be exer-
cised before deciding on plans for action. Some persons have

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491

no liking for corn growing, and it must be a matter of neces-
sity to induce them to engage a tenement specially adapted for
the purpose. There are others who are not favourable to
dairyiug, and in order to be successful it is advisable, as much
as possible, to enter on holdings suited to our different tastes
and inclinations. Having had but little experience in tillage
farming, I greatly stand in need of becoming your pupil and
listening to your instructions ; but however small as may have
been my experience here, I do not hesitate to condemn the
ancient custom of summer fallowing, and having to pay two
years' rent, taxes, wages, wear and tear, with one year's profit.
There are hundreds and thousands of broad acres of land in
Cheshire I would not prepare for seeding on the afore-men-
tioned plan if rent and tax free, and in attempting to cultivate
such soils that have been so impoverished with the plough
generation after generation is a waste of time and a loss to the
community. Nor would I, as a rule, advocate the improve-
ment of them when under tillage, but renew the constituents
of the soil with manures after being laid down to grass. Slight
as may be my acquaintance with tilhge farming, I know too
much to go back to the old system of summer fallowing on
stiff clay soils ; for when a juvenile I have frequently seen
Rodger and Juke, two steeds as stout as steel, groan nearly
every stride they made in some ploughings when the seasons
were unpropitious, and the result be from 10 to 12 bushels of
wheat per statute acre, and in a few instances only 6 or 8 were
secured, which did not pay for labour, consequently nothing
was left for the landlord and tax-collector. I disapprove of
tilhng the poorest land on the farm, but if convenient would
take the best for the purpose, which will give treble the return,
and be cultivated at less expense. The exhausted fields should
be laid down clean and well seeded, and then improved with
farm-yard manure and bones, after which they will be adapted
either for dairying or feeding, for upwards of thirty years it
has been our invariable custom to plough the best land and
improve the worst in the manner already stated. On account
of not growing any turnips and mangolds, and but few pota-
toes, the following method was usually pursued : 1st, oats on
leys ; 2nd, wheat after pinfallow ; 3r(l, oats ; Ith, clever,
which sometimes was mowed twice, on other occasions ; once, if
only one crop taken, a pinfallow was made, but in either case
sown with v^lieat. After a few years of experience it was
found the clovers were not so healthy and strong after three
corn crops as four, and by taking another between the clovers
produced a good etfect. A bean crop might have been grown
with advantage in the courses. The young clovers were either
manured or dressed over with boiled bones well crushed. After
following tills metiiod for about twelve years, the land was put
down for permanent pasture, well manured and boned, which
restored it to its former fertile condition for dairying. Free
soils, as a rule, are better adapted for tilling, and do not pre-
sent so many diificulties to the agriculturist as stiff clays, and
roots with advantage may be grown in the courses, and where
one acre of the former is in tillage there ought to be three of
the latter. Still, Mr. Mechi, with deep ploughings and a
large outlay, has overcome dilliculties which many others at
the present time are not able to surmount. Science of late
years has thrown a deal of light on agriculture. It has
been proved, by the application of suitable manures to land,
it will grow the same grain to an indefinite period without
any diminution in the crop. Still it is doubtful, if it pays
to incessantly till, as cereals are so exhaustive to the soil. I
scarcely need remind you I have stronger predilections for
dairyiug and feeding than tilling ; still, if one branch of
agriculture is fraught with greater consequences than another,
it must be giveu to the latter. People can live in some way
without cows, sheep, and swine, but must drag out a wretched
existence if deprived of the staff of life. VVheat is the most
valuable article which nature produces, and indispensable for
the sustenance of mankind, and while 1 would freely give place
to the cultivator of the soil, still there are other branches iu
farming husbandry that require application and good manage-
ment to be successful. To make good cheese and butter there
must be good grass, rich milk, and skilful application. The
cattle should not be too high bred nor too low. They ought
not be over large nor very small, but characterised for equal
proportions, and possess good milking properties. It is not
wise to purchase cattle lean of flesh, long in the leg, and
contracted in the chest, either for dairying or fatting, and this
will apply with equal force to horses, sheep, and swine ;

stock round in the rib, thick in the body, and rather short
in the leg, are generally hardy in the constitution, will fatten
quicker, and pay best for keeping. I would not recommend
farmers occupying wet clay lands to purchase large high-bred
cattle, partly on account of the additional damage they com-
mit in some seasons, and partly on account of the extra food
they require to keep up the condition. They are best adapted
for rich alluvial soils and dairies in towns and cities. None of
my dairy cattle are beyond a good medium size, and only
about one-third reach this standard. Still last season I have
made upwards of 4< cwt. of cheese, long weight, per cow, be-
sides supplying the house. I consider four large cows will
consume as much food as five moderate ones, but the profits
will not be so much, and the risks of keeping greater. To farm
successfully we must farm well. Land is honest, and will repay
for an outlay. Drain wherever it is required ; manure freely ;
cultivate well, then stocks wiU thrive and fatten, crops will be
luxuriant, milk will be rich, and cheese and butter, with proper
management, be good. It is a waste of time to enter upon
large poor farms without cash to improve. I should prefer oc-
cupying 100 acres of good land to 300 that was exhausted. The
expenses of management would be considerably less, the profits
greater, and interest on capital not so much^ Poor land is iU-
adapted for either feeding, dairyiug, or tilling. Cattle will
neither milk nor fatten, and crops are not remunerative. A
landlord, destitute of means, with a large poor estate, had
better sell a portion to improve the remainder ; by doing so
he will enrich himself and benefit the community. Tenants
with poor farms cannot compete with agricultural produce
of other nations. Stock, rents, taxes, and wages are high,
and there must be high farming or it will soon become a
losing game. To feed to advantage the herbage must be
ricii, the stock healthy and of good quality, and discrimi-
nately bought in and well sold out. Instances have been known
when stock were high at spring and low in the autumn, that
little or no profit was left for a summer's keep. My feeding
is chiefly done through the spring and summer mouths, and
at a small expense in labour. 1 mostly commence buying
stirks about February, and continue to do so through March
and April, as my land will bear them, and, when there is a fair
bite of grass, fill up with barrens and pick calvers out of my
own stock, and purchased elsewhere, with a few sheep iu some
years, when there is an abundance of herbage. Mostly those fit
for the butcher are disposed of by the end of September, and such
that are adapted for store selected at the close of the year to fill
up the places of turn-outs in my own dairy. Since giving up
tilling and feeding a little, I have frequently been asked if it
paid. My invariable reply up to last summer was it did,
but not so well as cheese-making. But in consequence of a
change taking place in the cheese-market last season, feeding
paid better than if I had realised 80s. per cwt. for my dairy,
which was very improbable. I have adopted rather an un-
usual mode of farming, which would not be for the interests
of all to imitate. I neither plough nor rear, but purchase all
ray straw and corn and cattle for dairying and fatting. In
some seasons I am a great gainer by so doing, but in others I
lose. The profits on feeding last summer were exceedingly
large, but, according to present appearances, will be very small
this year, consequently I have bought sparingly for this pur-
pose up to the present time. AH kinds of stock fiuctuate iu
price, but none so much as store pigs. Sometimes they will
sell for nearly treble their real value — on other occasions for
about one-third what they cost in rearing, but the average of
seven or ten years will give a profit on breeding pigs. We
live in very critical and uncertain times. All descriptions of
stock and agricultural produce are alternately high and low,
and it is not wise to depend entirely on any single branch of
farming husbandry, but make careful and proper divisions,
resting assured as seasons revolve and changes take place all
in due order will give a proper return. Irrigation is carried
on successfully in some places, but instances have been known
where it does not pay for the outlay. Liquid manure diluted
with water run over the land produces abundant crops ; still it
is very questionable if the former pays for the expense of
collecting and carting on at the present high price of labour.
Growing early potatoes and other vegetables where land is
suitable is highly remunerative, and this class of farmers
appear to be on the increase in some parts of Cheshire. Selling
milk at 8d. per gallon, especially through the spring and
autumn months, is much more preferable to making common

492

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

and middln-class cheese at the present time; still, if first
qualities cau be produced, they will pay better than depriving
the farm of such valuable ingredients as milk, butter, and
whey. Unless more successful than myself, the more sparing
you are in purchasing artificial manures the better. I do not
consider guano worth the price now charged. If it could be
bought on the same terms as formerly there would be a good
return for the outlay. I never considered the best to be worth
more than £[) per ton. All phosphates made available to the
soil may be generally used freely. They are permanent im-
provers, and mostly answer well in this county. Farmyard
manures are invaluable on all lands, and we should continually
seek to augment their fertilising powers by purchasing plenty
of feeding stuffs. The using of feeding stuffs, farinaceous
foods, and artificial manures have to do more or less with
mixed farming. The discrepancies so apparent in the experi-
ments made by the more competent analytical chemists of the
day as to the flesh-forming and fattening properties of various
feeding stuffs and value as manures bewilder the mind and
weaken the confidence ol some in these scientific researches.
Public opinion is not always riglit — still, frecpiently so ; and
perhaps the marketable value attached to each genuine article
is as good a guarantee of its real worth as most analytical in-
vestigations. To prove the superiority of one kind of feeding
stuff over another, according to vendor's price, extensive ex-
periments should be made on feeding and milking stock of the
same age, equal value, and similar breed, and the manures
from each spread on equal portions of land in the same field.
This would put science to the test, and remove anomalies
which now exist. No doubt cakes are better for some pur-
poses than grain, and the latter has the advantage over the
former for others : all have a wise and important purpose to
serve, and, if discriminately used, will answer the end for
which they were given. Stock will shine better, fatten quicker,
and be more healthy on a change of food ; and mixed feeding
is as essential to success as mixed farming. I have tried
linseed cake for fattening pigs, but met with small success, and
cotton-seed cake well crushed, as it came from the liands of the
manufacturer, for manuring, but it proved a failure. Genuine
farinaceous foods are serviceable for stock out of health and
poor in condition, but there is no necessity for continual use
when in a healthy state. About seven years ago, in the pre-
sence of several respectable farmers, I separated fifteeu pigs,
and put nine of equal value in one sty and six in another.
All were fed alike, with the exception of nine being put on
the prescribed quantity of Simpson's spice. Scarcely any dif-
ference was manifest for five or six weeks, at the end of which
period the nine did not consume their usual quantity of food,
and failed to fatten so quick as the others, and, by the time
they were ready for market, only ate the same quantity of meat
as the six. The ultimate result was that the nine fed on spice
were at the very least two scores lighter than those which had
none, and on being killed it was found some of the internal
organs were seriously affected. I prefer Tipper's Medicated
Mystery to any other yet tried. I might have extended this
paper, but consider no good would have resulted therefrom,
and your patience might have been drawn upon. I have not
noticed the breeding and management of hens, ducks, turkeys,
and geese, which are all included in mixed farming, and at
times form important items in some annual accounts. Growing
fruit, cabbages, beetroot, flax, peas, and vetches, and many
other things have not come under consideration, though pro-
perly within the denomination of mixed farming, and yield
large sums of money to producers. I have not ventured to
give an opinion on the best breeds of stock for paying, as no
doubt there are good and bad of all kinds, and that, more or
less, they are adapted for different districts and various de-
scriptions of soil ; consequently each party ought to make such
selections that are best suited for the farms they occupy and
purposes for which they are intended. I have said but little
on the rotation of crops, and whether the four or five-course
shift is the best, as circumstances transpire at times which
render it diflicult to strictly adhere to any prescribed mode,
and every practical agriculturist ought to be able to judge
what kind of crop will be most remunerative. These are gene-
rally matters which I have but an imperfect knowledge of, and
deem it prudent to pass them over with this hasty allusion. I
have barely touched on butter, and only made some hasty
allusion to cheese, two most valuable products, as my object
in appearing Ijefore you was to chiefly dwell on mixed

farming, as it might be carried out in this country in these
precarious times, and urge it upou your attention. You will
undoubtedly discover plenty of weak parts in the paper, which
you will be able to strengthen and fill up ; then the objects of
this society will have been promoted, and its members edified
and benefited.

The Chairman characterised the paper as one of great
value, being sound in most of its deductions, and practical in
its suggestions. As to method, as they all knew, the same
could not be pursued generally. Stiff clays and thin soils
were very diQlcult to manage. He knew that from his own
experience of stiff soils, and the difficulties had been very
great of late with a very wet season, and then very dry
weather. This showed the importance of making proper pro-
vision for scarce times. He knew some who, when there was
a year of plenty, sold off as if there would never be dearth
again, and then perhaps the next year run short of hay and
have to pay if they had a large stock, perhaps £100 to make
up for the deficiency caused by their own imprudence. Having
expressed himself as in favour of cross-bred cattle on clayey
land, [i\\e chairman said that he also had got as much as 4
cwt. of cheese per cow, and besides that, fattened all the
calves, and he thought they should all trv and not come below
that.

Mr. Wtld reminded them that in purchasing food for stock
they had the manure for the land, and if they did not bring
out their stock till the prices were big, as he had done, and
sold out, they were benefited in two ways.

Mr. iliGBY said he had been very much interested in
listening to the paper, which touched upon so many points
that it would be diflicult to take them all up. There were
two or three, however, with which he was more particularly
struck, and he would take them up as they occurred to him.
He understood Mr. Aston to advocate manuring on the top,
for the purpose of improving the soil, but he (Mr. Rigby)
thought the better plan was to manure below the surface.
All the manure of the farmyard should, he though, be ploughed
in when the land was being cleaned and cultivated ; and
perhaps if any manure were put on the top it would be best
applied in the form of bones for grass land. Mr. Aston's
must be uncommonly good land to get from it three green
crops, then red clover, mown twice, then three more green
crops, and clover after that again. He thought some word of
explanation would have been offered as to how it was helped,
so as to bring 4' cwt. of cheese per cow. He (Mr. Rigby)
took that to be rather more than the average got in Cheshire,
although the chairman said he got it, and his was a poor clay
farm, but it might be that there was some virtue in that
which produced such a heavy yield of cheese. He was very
much interested some time ago by reading an article which
was written to show that gold might be got from clay if it
were properly, mechanically, and chemically manipulated. If
that were true clay farms would rise in the market, and they
would if it were possible to get on them a yield of 4 cwt. of
cheese per cow ; certainly if feeding stuffs were used to do it,
it must be pretty good for the millers, and he had nothing to
say against that, and it would not only benefit the millers and
the country, but the farmers also, more than if they did not
use them. Then he very cordially agreed with Mr. Aston that
it was much better to take 100 acres of good arable soil with
capital than to attempt to farm 300 acres at one-third of the
rent and with hut little capital. The description of the stock
to be put on the farm was admirable. They were to have
round barrels, white bosoms, short legs, good proportioned
bodies, and in that all would agree with him, particularly too
when he said that the stock were to be well selected, well
bought, and well sold. That would be the height of wisdom.
If they all knew how to do that they would all be successful
farmers, and make very considerable profits. Another point
in which he differed somewhat from ]Mr. Aston was as to
selling milk off the farm, whicJi he (Mr. Rigby) did not think
was necessarily an impoverishment of the land. It was true
that if the milk was used on the farm for the manufacture of
cheese and the whey was given to the pigs, a little more
manure might be made in that w.ay ; but then if they sold the
milk well they had the money to buy better manure than they
could get from pigs by feeding on whey. He thought they
had something to learn in this respect, and they might take a
lesson from the farmers in the neighbourhood of London, wlio
had even thought it worth their while to lay lines of rails on

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493

to their farms to get the manure from tlie city directly upon
them ; aud by so doing they raised fine crops of vege-
tables and fruit to send back to the city. Then Mr.
Aston spoke of experiments, and he (Mr. Rigby) was of
opinion tliat if they experimented more frequently, and
on a small scale, they would learn more. This was an
age of progress, and if men would succeed they must keep
moving, not in the old beaten track of the mill-horse, in a
circle, but endeavour to strike out into some path which would
be more beneficial to themselves. But at the same time they
must keep in miud that the seasons were not all alike, that cir-
cumstances changed with the character of the soil ; the re-
sults of one year might be different from those of the next ;
so that in trying experiments they required very great patience,
a great deal of watchfulness, constant care, with the accurate
noting of the effects of each experiment. In other branches
of industry — cotton spinning, for instance — a new idea could
be tried and reduced to its value at once ; and, to some extent,
the same was the case with cheese-making ; but in agriculture
generally they required to watch results, not only for one
or two years but for a course of years ; and hence he
thought it most important — aud he wished to get this idea into
the minds of farmers — that they should be cautious about
stating the results of experiments, and try them carefully be-
fore making any great change. If there was to be any exten-
sion of mixed farming, tliey had a great deal to learn from
some of their neighbours who, living near large towns, felt
more of that stimulating influence which was always felt when
amoug business men. The competition with whicii farmers
living near Manchester or Liverpool had to content was very
useful in making them more enterprising, and developing their
energies. He was pleased to see that about there they had
begun growing potatoes ; and he thought they might go
further, and, where game was not preserved, as on the forest
and about Acton and Weaverham, grow otlier vegetable crops.
He could not see why they should not grow as good cauli-
flowers, or even asparagus, there, as in the south of England.
The other day he was speaking to a geutbman who had sold
ten acres of asparagus for £30 an acre. Mr. Howard, M.V. for
Bedford, had ten acres of onions, and they had been sold for
the almost fabulous price of £30 per acre. Perhaps they might
not have land so suitable and the climate was not quite so
favourable there ; but if tiieir soil was not too light nor too
strong, but friable aud loamy, he was persuaded that much
more might be done for the population, which was taxing our
energies to the most. Another way in which that could be
done, and he thought his friend Mr. Aston would go with him,
was in the greater cultivation of poultry. In poultry farming
there was a source of wealth of which they did not think
enough. They did not like the hens scratching up the soil
just after seeding, and they were too apt to throw the milking
stool at them, or perhaps, what was still worse, to fetch out
the gun and shoot them. That was a mistake ; for if they
only laid themselves out for the cultivation of poultry they
would find it a source of profit. He would suggest it through
the medium of the newspapers that some of tlie farmers' wives
might very well fill up their spare moments by the feeding of
poultry, both for food and for the production of eggs, which,
if done judiciously, might be very well brought into the
market, seeing the liigh price of butchers' meat. Emit growing
had also been mentioned, aud a gentleman from Weaverham
told him — perhaps they would set him right if it was not so —
that the soil and climate of Acton were particularly
favourable to early bearing there ; and accordingly many at
that place had turned their atiention to fruit growing. Mr.
Rivers's new plan of growing fruit upon dwarf trees, and
lifted every two or three years, did what all vegetable pro-
ductions would do under similar circumstances, made an effort
to continue their species. Some farms perhaps had a sheltered
nook and soil well adapted for the growth of fruit trees, and
by this new plan orchards might be raised in a few years which
would be very productive, and nothing could be more nutritious
and wholesome than good fruit. He had read a pamphlet, in
whicli it was stated tliat no man planted pears because he
rarely reaped a crop himself, and the line was quoted—

"If you plant pears you plant for your heirs ;"
but by picking a suitable bush you might get a crop of apples
and pears very much sooner than by the old fashioned way.
He was satisfied that if some of the young farmers would turn

their attention to this that they might do better than they had
ever yet done.

The Chairman said that orchards upon stiff clayey land
would entirely fail, nor would they succeed in producing good
crops of corn year by year upen stiff laud, as it would become
too full of rubbish. He knew that he had made mistakes in
endeavouring to cultivate his as if it had been dry land. If
clayey land, and the best plan was to have a good deal iu'grass,but
yet lie acknowledged that manures had cost him £100 a-year,
and if he had not gone to that expense he miglit as well have
given up farming. They would not get on unless the land
was moderately good, and there ought to be no poor land ex-
cept on mountains, but he had seen some in the neighbour-
hood which was not at all creditable. When he entered on
his farm some of the land was not worth 10s. an acre, but it
had now btcome worth 30s. or 40s. ; and yet he was told by a
judicious friend that if he vt'cre offered a farm of stiff clayey
land he would uot have it, as it would not pay him. It was un-
wise to plough clayey land year by year, although there was a
time when there was what was called old turf; but now, even
if that were broken up, by the use of bones and other manures,
it would in a very short time indeed be brought to more than
its original value.

Mr. Willis said as to the cumbrous fences mentioned by
Mr. Aston as existing upon many farms, they were a source
of great trouble, as they harboured vermin, and were constantly
wanting repairs ; and at this time when the price of labour
was high, and men were scarce, and difficult to obtain, espe-
cially in that neighbourhood, he thought they should do all
they could to limit the number of their fences, and have the
rest of such a nature that they would involve as little expense
aud yet be as serviceable as possible. He was not much in favour
of cutting all the fences close, and he thought at such a time
as this that a good fence on the north-east or north-west
side of a field would be found very useful in sheltering cattle
and sheep from storms and during the night. As to summer
fallows they were nearly out of fashion at the present day.
He saw one a year ago, when two waggon loads of wheat were
got from seven acres, aud tiiere was two years' rent and labour
to pay for. That land laid down to grass with bones or ma-
nure, used judiciously, would have paid better. Mr. Rigby had
taken exception to putting farm-yard manures on the top of
the soil, but it was his (Mr. Willis's) opinion that when a
field had been very much exhausted it was difficult to get good
grass without putting manure on the surface, and he believed
his experience in that matter would be corroborated by other
farmers. If they intended to lay a poor field down for grass,
having cleaned it thoroughly and given it an average dressing
of farm-yard manure on the top, that would induce the rootlets
to send out their fibres in search of sustenance. Mr Aston
had very little sympathy with the use of a great many of the
artificial manures now in use, and he (the speaker) hoped that
the present system of buying by analyses, under the careful
supervision of such an association as the Cheshire Farmers'
aud others, would lead to the reduction of those establish-
ments which >ere sending out cheap and questionable sub-
stances as manure. As to spice, his experience had not been
large. Peihaps in the case of sickness, or when an animal was
out of condition, it might be desirable to use spice. As to
potato-growing, he believed he had been driven from that, for
he had two acres last year, and they lost him a guinea a mea-
sure, and he could have bought them for less than half that of
Mr. Moreton, Mr. Cross, or any other gentleman. Mr. Astou
said he made 4 ewt. of cheese per cow. He (Mr. Willis)
never could say that he did ; but, then, Mr. Aston farmed his
own land, and, if he did not buy artificial foods largely, he
bought bone-dust, and he (Mr. Willis) believed that was the
grand secret of so much being made per cow. Then he did
uot say how many cows he kept, and cows were sometimes
kept thinly, and then 4 cwt. per cow would not be a great
quantity. However, Mr. Aston stocked largely, but, whatever
his grazing cattle had, his milking cattle always had enough
anil to spare. As to fruit-growing, Mr. Willis was disposed to
think that that might be more extensively entered mto by
young agriculturists as a pastime. He made a sort of hobby
of it in a small way, having adopted the plan of dwarf stocks,
growing pears on the quiuce, apples on the paradise, cherries
on the mahaleb, aloes on the sloe, and so on, and he believed
that they might grow fruit profitably on clayey soil if they
would exercise a judicious selection in the variety they culti-

494

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vated, attd taking care what stocks tlioy bought. It would be
foolish to attempt to grow the Ribstone pippin, for instance,
on a clayey soil, where the atmosphere was damp ; and the
great reason why Acton had been so productive in fruit as
against Weaverham was because the former lay higher and
dryer tlian the latter. The damp upon the blossom of the
trees in early spring was very prejudicial, for however fresh
and beautiful the flower might look, when the time for setting
came the bloom all fell off and with it the young fruit. Per-
sonally, he was much obliged to Mr. Aston for his paper.

Mr. MoKETON said that it was not wise to put all their
eggs into one basket. He said he was a milk seller, and no
advocate for the keeping of pigs for manure, as he rather be-
lieved in taking the cows up early in the back end, so as to get
a second crop for them.

The Chairman said that upon his farm of 260 acres they
bought tlieir potatoes. Four out of five of the attempts made
to grow tiiem had been failures, and they did not grow except
on newly broken-up land. After the turf had worn out, it was
not desirable to try potatoes. He also referred to what he

called the unnatural practice of turning out cattle on damp,
wet nights.

Mr. Aston then replied, showing where he had been mis-
understood, and still maintaining, as many agriculturists did
in this country, as in America — tlie laying of the manure on
the surface of the soil for some months before ploughing it
under, especially upon exhausted soils. As to succession of
corn crops, lie said that when he was a boy they used to plough
the worst field, but his father found out that that was a mis-
take, and he was now following in his footsteps. His three
first crops were large, the next three good, the next average,
and tillage ceased at the end of twelve years, but, then, that
land had been lying for 60, 70, or 80 years. He moved a vote
of thanks to the Chairman.

Mr. RiGBY, in reply, said he heard two men discussing the
question of manuring, and one asked, " If you were hungry,
where would you sooner have your food, inside you, or rubbed
about your body ?" Let them apply that to the land.

The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to Mr. Aston.

BOROUGHBRIDGE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

STEAM CULTIVATION.

At the last quarterly meeting, Mr. Jacob Smith in the
chair,

Mr. Stevenson said : Probably your worthy vice-chairman,
Mr. Scott, thought that I had had more practical experience in
steam cultivation in this neighbourhood, and there-
fore fixed upon me. I had much rather some one
else had brought the matter forward, and T
have indeed to apologise for the very brief and meagre paper
I have written ; still I hope it will suffice to raise a good and
useful discussion, and elicit something towards what I judge
is partly the object of our meeting together to-day, namely —
The Introduction of Steam Cultivation into farms in this
district. The information I have to give to you may appear
rather of a one-sided character, but I can best speak of what I
am conversant with, namely, the Roundabout System. I
assure you, however, that I speak without prejudice, and I
should only be too glad to see steam work more common upon
farms. I will allude to the systems in use. First, as to the
Rope System, which has so far been the only successful one.
I saw this morning one of Thompson's road steamers at work in
my own township, and although it did not consolidate the land
so much as I expected, and did not satisfy me that it would
perform satisfactorily unless the ground was dry and hard, yet
I have no right to judge of this from the little it has done, as
it has only just started work. The systems of Smith, Fowler,
Howard, and latterly Fiskin have shown in the first rank, but
that of Fiskin I have not seen at work. I think, however, as
far as I can learn, that some of the principles of it are very
good. I must now make the remark in passing tliat traction
engines I feel quite confident will never be successful in the
working of the soil, and anyone who has seen a traction engine
at work this wet spring must have been pretty well satisfied on
this point. Secondly, I will speak of the advantages of Steam
Cultivation. I feel perfectly sure that no one can doubt the
superiority of steam work over that done by
horses. The deep and thorough moving of the soil
is free from any treading by horses. I know
that one steam-smashing cultivator is worth any three horse
cultivators ; and again, is it not an immense advantage to get
a lot, say one hundred acres of the heaviest work done by steam,
still keeping your horses fully employed, for we do not keep a
more than sufficient stock of horses just to make a push after
a fit of bad weather ? I think that it is now pretty generally
admitted that Mr. Smith's (Woolston) plan of deep smashing
and not inverting the soil is the cheapest and most effectual
plan, bringing up as it does sufficient subsoil, and not leaving
80 harsh and cloddy a surface as when the subsoil is all brought
to the top. The laud is also more easily cleaned, and in fact
the couch has no hold. Further than this tlie land is more
level thau wliere a digger is used, and a frieud of mine says

where he has used the digger he has a plague of thistles, but
where the cultivator or plough was employed there were none.
Next as to the cost of work. My experience dates from 1856,
when my father purchased a set of of the Woolston roundabout
tackle. This was worked up to 1867, vvheu a Howard's
second-hand windlass was bought with double snatchblock, and
a Howard cultivator was added in 1868. I must go a little
into detail, but I hope someone present will be able to offer
information respecting the implements of Fowler and other
makers. Looking over the cost of work I find the prices to be
from 3s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. per acre ; coal, Is. ; labour Ss. ; oil and
water, 8d. ; removals, 4d. ; the average cost of my strong land
being 5s. per acre. Where the land is dry and in good work-
ing order much more is done tlian in the case of wet, and with
very much less wear of ropes — in fact, wlien rain sets in " shut
up" is my advice. The wear and tear is very small
with the exception of ropes, which will amount in cost to
about lOd. per acre. Other breakages, Stc, 2d. per acre would
cover. I come at the wear of rope readily. The seller of the
second-hand windlass I spoke of acknowledged that it worked
above one thousand acres of very strong land for hire, and it
did five hundred acres more at Raintou, tlie wear and tear
being 72d. per acre. This brings the price up to 6s. per acre.
Now it is very evident that the more acres are gone over the
less amouut per acre goes for renewal of the apparatus, than if
the interest of the three sets of engine and tackle represented
in such repairs, amounted to an annual sum of £34. This
spread over two hundred acres was equal to three shillings per
acre to be added, thus making the full amount 9s. per acre.
Of course light work could be done for much less. I now
come to the saving. My farm at Borca is too far away to
work the tackle as well, being light soil. Many ofyou know
the Rainton farm, which is a good deal scattered about. It
contains 4-00 acres of arable land, and extends two and a half
miles in length, and therefore it cannot be called a compact
farm. Now there is a saving of four horses at least upon this
farm, but 1 do not think that we ought to attempt at reducing
the number of horses too much on this scattered farm. There
must be an extra amount of cartage of crops and manure, and
is not the adoption of steam intended to produce larger crops P
It is therefore natural to expect an increase of horsework as
well as a saving. On my farm the saving of horseflesh is at
least seven horses, but I have calculated it as four, as there is
a good deal of chaft'-cutting by steam, besides winch the grind-
ing is done at home. Steam machinery can be let out on hire.
Mr. Stevenson alluded to the cost of steam cultivation as
against horses, and showed that steam had the advantage, in
the next place remarking : I have]said nothing about the hiring
system. It will be a good thing in prospect for the farmer if
the Steam Cultivating Companies pay their way, but there we

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m

great drawbacks, as they must keep working uearly all the year
round. There is cousequeutly a large outlay. There is a
difficulty in obtainiug tlie steam plough when tlie laud is in
the best condition for working after harvest. Everyone then
wants it, but if wet weather it is set to work when tiie land is
not dry enough. I need not tell you what you all know that
stubble broken up directly after harvest is a preventive of
couch grass, and we must aim at preventing tlie growth of
couch, which causes the annual weeds to vegetate. Now at
autumn the clearing of stubbles farthers steam cultivation ou
strong land, and enables you to grow a crop of some description
every year — in fact it does away with dead fallows. 1 sluiU be
most happy to hear what your ideas are respecting tlie adoption
of steam tillage on your farms. My own opinion is that a set
of roundabout tackle will pay where a person occupies 350
acres of arable land. A set of tackle will render you independ-
ent of any company, and where there is a steam-thrashing
engine and machine on a farm the outlay is not very great to
increase the usefulness of the engine. I had hoped to have
given you more upon this interesting subject, but I liave been
disappointed in not procuring some information whicli I ex-
pected and which I had promised, and I now thank you for the
attention which you have paid to my observations.

The Chairman said he regretted that Mr. Stevenson had not
obtained the information he sought for, but they were obliged
to him for what he had brought forth in his paper. The real
question for them to consider was, seeing that steam cultivation
was without doubt au excellent thing, how best they could in-
troduce it into that district so well adapted as it was for steam
cultivation. What method should they devise for bringing it
into practical operation ? Would it be the best for three or
four farmers of the neighbouriiood to unite together and pur-
chase the tackle and all that was required for steam cultivation?
Mr. Stevenson, from the experience he had gained, had arrived
at a conclusion decidedly in favour of steam cultivation, and
therefore he thought they might consider whether it was
desirable to join tlie York and East Hiding Coupany, the
North Yorkshire and Durham, or any other similar company,
in order that they might have a set of tackle sent down into the
district. Letters had been sent to the secretaries of both
the companies he had named, but the answers were not satis-
factory. The rule was that shares should be taken, and twenty
shares would be required in the district. He had no doubt that
if they obtained for themselves a set of tackle and made
Boroughbridge the centre, that success would attend the step,
and in twelve mouths they would find that there was plenty of
work not only for one set but two sets of tackle. Let them
make it public that they wanted a set, and he felt sure that
there was a sulBcient number of enterprising farmers in the
district who would be willing to unite in the movement. He
saw several gentlemen in the room who had capital, and who
had plenty of energy to embark in it.

Mr. Scott, the vice-chairman, said that he was ignorant of
the working of steam cultivation, although he had seen a little
of it at the shows of the Royal Agricultural Society. From
what he had heard he had for some time past felt assured that
steam cultivation was an excellent mode of working on a farm,
and Mr. Stevenson, by calculations he had made, had given
them some idea of the cost. For many years experiments had
been successfully tried by Mr. Stevenson's father, who was an
intelligent and enterprising farmer, and who lived before his
day, and, from what had already taken place, and fronr what
was going on at the present time, he felt sure that steam culti-
vation would come into general adoption by some means or
other. He trusted that the ventilation of the subject that day
would induce tlie farmers of the district, at least those who
farmed most extensively in the neighbourhood, to take up the
subject, lie should prefer the farmers themselves dealing
practically with the question instead of joining a company, as
by purchasing their own tackle and machinery for themselves
they would render themselves independent of other parties. lie
thought that Mr. Stevenson had rather under-estimated the
saving with regard to horses, because he considered that the
cost price of a pair of horses and the labour was £120, so that
by having two pairs of horses less there would be a saving of
£'2M. He hoped that they would not leave a stone uuturned
in having steam cultivation introduced into the district, which
he was convinced would be greatly beuelited thereby.

Mr. BusHELL (York) could well understand why Mr. Ste-
venson had not over-ratsd his estimate, as he had put that es-

timate low enough, far too low, from a feeling of delicacy on
his part. There had been a great increase in the cost of la-
bour and in the price of horses, but if steam ploughing and
cultivation became generally adopted horses could then be
purchased at a cheaper rate than at present. The question
was whether they would have a set of tackle for their own in-
dividual use, or whether they would use it through the medium
of a company. He spoke of the different systems of steam cul-
tivation, and then stated that, with regard to the East Riding
Company, if the requisite amount was subscribed they would
send their tackle into that district as had been done in other
cases. In a wet season like the present it was best to let steam
cultivation alone, but when a dry time came they could get
through an immense amount of work. He pointed out the
great importance of having proper men - men of some tact and
knowledge to manage the system of steam ploughing, because
the great bulk of the smashes, breakages, and mishaps, and
consequent large expense, occurred through want of skill and
judgment. They must have thoroughly reliable men in charge,
or tliey would find themselves involved in extra cost by break-
ages, and there would be in addition the loss of time. By the
use of steam cultivation a farmer in smashing up immediately
after harvest, say one hundred acres, would be enabled to do
with two horses less. Tt was best, when a set of tackle was
obtained, to keep it within a certain district. It did the tackle
injury when travelling and shaking upon the roads. The
tackle was more liable to damage in removal from place to place
than by being worked upon a farm. Six miles he considered the
maximum that a set of tackle ought to travel. If there were
four farmers with one hundred acres of land each for steam
cullivatiou they might keep a set of steam tackle to themselves.
Mr. Bennett was in lavour of steam cultivation, and the
question was as to the best method of introducing it into the
district. He pointed out some of the difhculties in the way,
aud named a company at Wakefield with which he had been
connected having become involved in considerable loss owing
to the mismanagement and carelessness of two men. He be-
lieved that under proper care and management steam plough-
ing would pay, and he was of opinion that the cheapest mode
was that recommended by Mr. Stevenson. It might be de-
sirable to form a eteara cultivation company, whose operations
should be confined to that particular district.

Mr. LorTiiousE said that there was a dilViculty as to steam
cultivation when they had to deal with small fields, as tiie
larger they got the fields the better. He had ploughed about
thirty acres at Helperby, and kad just caught the land at the
proper time of year. He thoueht a number of farmers in the
district might join together to obtain a set of tackle.

Mr. FoiiD said that he should like to know something as to
the cost of preparation. A gentleman in Scotland whom he
knew had got a set of Fowler's system, and he was desirous ot
ascertaining the cost of wear and tesr.

Mr. Stevenson stated that in the roundabout system,
which he knew, the cost was not very great, there being only
few breakages. lu reply to a question from the Rev. tl. D.
Owen, he said that if one hundred acres were done in the
autumn by the steam cultivation it was a great relief, and
there would be no difficulty in getting the rest done in the
spring.

The Chairman said if a small company could be formed,
consisting of not more than six farmers, he should be glad to
join the movement and take shares in proportion to the extent
of his farm. If a few others would do tlie same, they would
succeed at once in their object. At the engine they must employ
one good man, up to his work, and pay him a liberal wage. When
they did not want the use of the tackle themselves, the oest
way would be to let it out on hire, and iu this way make the
best use of it they could.

The Vice-Chairman said that Mr. Lofthouse had alluded
to small fields, but he believed that the difticulty could be got
over, because landlords now-a-days would readily give leave to
stub up hedges that were superlhious, and thus abandon a
large number of small fields for a small number of large fields.
It was now more iii'cessary than ever to do away with small
fields, so that the steam plough could get properly to work. Of
course the fields must be made subservient to the improved
system of ploughing by steam. Whenever land could be
ploughed by steam it would be unwise to use horse power.
There were many things in favour of the use of two engines,
as there was then only half the wear and tear and very little

L L

496

THE PARMER'S MAGAZINE.

waste of steam, and nearly the same amount of fuel was re-
quired for one engine as two.

Mr. BusnELL said if 800 or 1,000 aeres were worked it
would pay iinaucially if advantage was taken of the work be-
ing done at tlie proper time. It was the best to keep a set ot
tackle within a circumscribed area, as the wear-and-tear of
long travelling on tlie roads was prevented. He advocated,
like the Vice-Chairman, the desirability of not having so many
small ftelds, and gave an instance which had come to his know-
ledge of four small fields being made into one, by which half
au acre of land was gained hj doing away with fences, Steam

ploughing would prove a great advantage to the farmers, anl
if he were a landlord he should feel that a tenant was flatter-
ing him, and he should allow him to do what he thought best
as to the fences in introducing the use of the steam plough
upon the farm.

The Chairman had no doubt that in five years the fields
would be made double the size to what they were at present,
and become more productive. The country around Borough-
bridge was particularly good for steam cultivation, being of a
level character.

A vote of tlianks was passed to Mr. Stevenson.

OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS ON THE TRANSFER OF LAND.

Just twenty years since the following resolutions
were passed at a meeting of the Farmers' Club on
the proposal of a well-known Essex agriculturist, the
late Mr. Fisher Ilobbs : " That the difficulties attend-
ing the transfer of land have generally become so many
and embarrassing as to demand the serious attention of
llie Legislature, with a view to removiug them." — " That
the effect of these difficulties is in the highest degree in-
jurious to the owners of the land, who, encumbered
with them, can seldom make the most of their property; to
the culiivafors of it, who are thus too often denied that aid
and encouragement in the way of permanent improvements
— such as buildings and draining — that should properly
come from the landlord ; and to the public at large, wlio
are consequently deprived of those opportunities for in-
vestment, and the advantages of increased production,
they would otherwise enjoy." And at a recent
meeting of the Essex Chamber of Agriculture, the follow-
ing resolution was passed: "That the present state of
the law as to entail and strict settlement of land dis-
courages the application of capital to the cultivation of the
soil, to the great injury of all classes of people, and in-
creases the complication of title, and the expense and
delay incident to the transfer of real estate." In his
paper, for Mr. Fisher Ilobbs had made it his business to
call the attention of the Club to the question, he quoted
the subjoined from a private letter : " As an instance of
the length and expense of conveyances being occasioned

by family settlements, I may mention that Mr. and

myself having purcliascd, last year, a small estate at ,

part of the settled estates of the family, our convey-
ance exceeds three hundred folios in length ; and you may
naturally suppose that we should not have a longer con-
veyance than we could help, the expense coming out of
our own pockets. On the other hand, I have made a con-
veyance of land at for a sovereign, stamp included."

"We have collated thus much to show that the f;\rmers of
Essex should be well up in the subject which they have
been considering or reconsidering during the last few
weeks at the Shire Hall of the county town. The sound
conclusion, however, at which the meeting ultimately
arrived was by no means a unanimous expression, the dis-
cussion gradually resolving itself in something like a
battle royal between the owners and the occupiers. Au
amendment to the original motion was straightway put
by Mr. Beaumont, who announced himself as a lawyer
and a conveyancer, and whose counter resolution ulti-
mately assumed this form : " That while this Chamber
would sanction any change in the law which would faci-
litate the free transfer, it is noi of opinion that the law of
entail and settlement discourages the application of capital
to the soil." And upon this the lauded interest spoke
out. Colonel Brise, IM.P., "warmly supported the
amendment, which he trusted would be carried, if not
without a division, as a unanimous protest on the part of

the meeting against Mr. Fowler's resolution." Again,
" These were the days of abolition. Some there were
who wished to abolish the landlords altogether. Others
wanted to get rid of the farmers — there was no need
of middle men at all — the landlords ought to farm
their own estates ; while others said get rid of the
labourers, and let the farmers do the work."
Then, Mr. Wingfield Baker, M.P., submitted with all
proper caution, that as one change might entail another,
they " had better leave things as they were at present;"
and the chairman, Mr. Hound, M.P., said, " there were
other hindrances to agricultural prosperity besides the
law of entail and settlement, for instance, the excessive
stamp duties on agricultural leases, the present tenure on
copyholds, the defective state of sanitary laws, but prin-
cipally of all the excessive burdens of local taxation."
But the chairman went rather further than this, and
rather further than we ever remember to have heard a
chairman go before when, in discharge of his duty, he had
to submit two motions for the choice of the meeting :
" In his opinion the Chamber, formed as it was to pro-
mote the interests of all the agricultural classes, ought
not to pass any resolution which was not more or less
unanimously approved of by both owners and tenants."
If this be not telling peojde to do as they are bid it cer-
tainly approaches very closely thereon ; and at the best,
or the worst, it is manifestly not argument. A Society
formed to promote the interests of all the agricultural
classes, is, plainly speaking, formed to promote the in-
terests of agriculture without paying any special regard
to any one class in particular ; or if a Chamber of Agri-
culture be the instrument of any one body more than
another, it is that of the tenants, and not of the landlords.
Hence Mr. Hound's very obvious mistake, when he
sought to rule a majority by a minority.

Then look at the arguments actually advanced. Col.
Brise inferred that if the original motion were carried,
this would run in a certain direction for abolishing the
landlords altogether, and the farmers and the labourers ;
and as the original motion was carried, naturally the Es-
sex farmers stand committed to the utter demolition of
everybody 1 Of course this sounds very much like sheer
nonsense, or as Mr. Johnston put it later on — " Who on
earth wants to abolish the landlords ? Who wants to
abolish the farmers ? Who wants to abolish the labourers ?
It is all f/aiiuno}/ \" Agaiu, in the face of an amendment
which directly admitted the evil, Mr. Wingfield-Baker,
a staunch thorough-going Liberal, would prefer leaving m
things as they are to attempting any change ! Only ^
picture any man at an agricultural congress maufully
proclaiming that it would be better not to attempt to
improve on the cumbersome and barbarous practices
under which land is bought and sold ! Then the chair-
man deftly tries to change them on to a fresh fox, such as
the stamp duties, copyholds, sanitary laws, and local tax-

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

497

ation. Clearly copyholds and heavy stamps are but part
aad parcel of the same old obsolete iniquitous system
protested against ; but there is something really amusing
in lugging in our sanitary condition at a closely
argued debate on the transfer of land ; and local taxation
is in some people's hands very like King Charles the
Martyr in the hands of Mr. Dick. Let him frame and
reframe his petition, setting forth his own grievances, how
he will, sooner or later the unfortunate King 2vill creep
into it.

Still at times the discussion was kept more to the
point. Thus Mr. Smith, of Saling, "objected to the
question being treated as one of occupier against owner,
and contended that tenant-farmers had some judgment
and knew whtre the shoe pinched. Much capital had
had to be found by the tenant-farmers of this country,
which ought to be found by the landlords in improving
their buildings, drainage, and other works, capital which
might advantageously have been spent in other improve-
ments of the "farm." These are all home-truths, as at
Maidstone, only last week, we heard a farmer state openly
that many of the Kent landlords were unable to set about
such work as drainage, and that unless the farmers did
this for themselves it would never be done at all. Colonel

Brise, however, asks what has that to do with the law of
entail ? and Mr. Smith answers, " If the landlord had
had power to do entirely what he liked with his property
he would improve it. Colonel Brise knew estate after
estate where farm buildings were in an unsatisfactory
state because of the system of life tenancy." Precisely
so ; under the present system of settlement and entail,
many, very many, landed proprietors are simply em-
barrassed men from the time they come into quasi-
possession of estates which they can do little more than
" pass on."

The meeting did )wt, as prompted, protest against Mr.
Fowler's resolution denouncing the present state of the
law of settlement and entail ; and the meeting did not,
as very broadly hinted it should do, pass a resolution
which could command the unanimous approval of every-
body. How could it, if it were ever in earnest, and
intent on anything more than make-believe ? We
honestly congratulate the agriculturists of Essex on the
firmness with which they stood their ground, for Mr.
Fowler's motion was carried by a majority of nearly two
to one ; but, at the same time, we do not quite see how
over this business they are, with the exception of Mr.
Johnston, represented ia Parliament,

LAND TENURE.

At a meeting of the Hungerford Chamber of Agriculture,
Mr. S. Waldron in the chair,

Mr. Stag& said I think the necessity of long leases and
Tenant-llight a very proper subject for our consideration, and
with your kmd permission I will introduce it by making a few
remarks thereon : In farming asiu other things many changes
have occurred in late years which very materially affect the
cultivation and arrangements in farming. We have now
available greatly improved implements, artificial manures, and
steam ploughs to promote and assist the capability and pro-
ductiveness of the soil, but these new lights (it' I may be
allowed to use the term) necessarily render a considerable in-
crease of capital to carry on a farm of magnitude profitably,
therefore yearly tenants are most disadvantageously situated
as to these appliances, as it is but reasonable that a tenant-
farmer should have a substantial guarantee as to reap such ad-
vantages as might be fairly calcidated on. This cannot be
obtained in one year's occupation, and shows the necessity of
leases or written agreements protecting the interests of the
tenant for expenses incurred by permanent improvements or
unexhausted artificial manures. Without some substantial
guarantee for protectiou to a tenant, the productive capabilities
of the soil cannot be expected to Ije fully developed. Every
practical man knows the benefit of high farming is not, in
many particulars, felt the first year, and therefore there is no
security to a yearly tenant that lie will retain his occupation
long enough to derive its benefit. Whether from manures,
steam- ploughing, corn or linseed-cake feeding, chalking, road-
making, &c., &c., a great disadvantage, as well as loss is ex-
perienced by the occupier, and, indirectly, the public are ad-
versely affected by the capabilities of the soil not being fully
developed, and the larger produce brought to market. With
regard to implements which are now necessary, but very
costly, it is a well known fact that a second-hand article, if
ever so good, seldom reahses anything like its value, so that a
tenant wlio has provided those appliswices at his own cost is
liable to a serious loss if obliged to relinquish the occupation
of a farm, after a short term. I do not mean to imply that
an outgoing tenant should be compensated for sucli by the
landlord, but I do think that many misunderstandings which
occasion change of tenants would be prevented if written
agreements were more generally in existence. And I am of
opinion that such agreements should contain clauses to recoup
an outgoing tenant for outlay such as unexhausted manures,
corn and cake feeding, carriage of materials for erecting new
buildings, chalking, draining, and road making, I doubt not

some will think it unnecessary to enter into these particulars,
but a careful obsever cannot fail to see, and frequently hear
of great iujustic, occasioned by mistaken confidence. Where
so much capital is invested, a simple verbal agreement, even
for a yearly tenant, is not a satisfactory holding, or calculated
to encourage good farming, however high in repute the pro-
prietor or his agent might be. Caution will, however, at pre-
sent, I fear, be little attended to ; so numerous are appHcants
for farms, almost auy terms are acceded to, regardless of future
consequences; nevertheless, sooner or later, overwhelming
difficuUies are sure to be the result in very many cases of this
reckless competition. It cannot be tliat farming is such a
profitable occupation to induce these injudicious bargains. All
tenant-farmers, unless especially favoured, know that arable
land farming, the past few years, has been anything but re-
munerative. I believe, taking the three adjoining counties of
Wilts, Hants, and Berks, a profit of 5 per cent, on the capital
employed has not been realised. I do not wish to dishearten
young tenant-farmers, but I must say tlie future prospects,
considering tlie high rent (no doubt promoted by unwise com-
petition), increased and ever increasing taxes, and parochial
rates, increase of outlay for labour, and mechanics' charges —
I repeat that the future prospects of farming are anything
but promising. We frequently hear it stated the landlord
is really the ratepayer ; how this statement is in accord-
ance with facts I have yet to learn, for instead of abate-
ments being made for increasing rates, whenever a change
in proprietorship or tenantry occurs it is a common prac-
tice to have a new survey, ostensibly to adjust the rent
equitably with regard to changed circumstances. But
whoever heard of a surveyor valuing a farm without setting
the rent up ? It is a generally understood thing a valuation
is intended to increase the rent, which the extraordinary and
unaccountable competition for farms encourages. A reaction
with regard to such competition might be deferred for a
period, but I feel assured that at no distant time such a result
will be a fact. No class of men, not even tenant-farmers, will
foolishly long continue a profitless occupation, and too many
will from necessity relinquish their farms. I believe a great
number of tenant-furmers are in a hopeless state of difllculties.
It possibly might be inexplicable to many how it is tenants do
not at once relinquish unprofitable occupations. A little re-
flection and inquiry would, I think, demonstrate the fact that
too many are similar to a dilapidated building— an occasional
propping might keep them up where they are, but a removal
wowld be a " concluding catastrophe." With regard to leasefj

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I think a long one indispensable. A term of eight or ten years
is not sullicieut, auii does not a give a tenant scope Cor his
skill and outlay to be remunerated lor the following reasons —
namely : A farm taken when out of proper tillage would
take at least four years to get it in proper working order, and
to induce permanent improvements a legal guarantee for a con-
siderable period is undoubtedly necessary. Life with all is un-
certain, even the young or middle aged not uufrequently, from
accident or other unexpected circumstances, die before an
opportunity to reap the advantages of improvement has
occurred. Under sucli circumstances a change of tenantry
Irequently follows, and uuless a lease is existing either the

landlord or succeeding tenant reaps tlie advantages of previous
outlay, to the exclusion of the family or surrounding relatives
of the departed tenant. When a new survey is made — either
in consequence of a change of proprietorship or decease of
tenant — the surveyor, as a matter of course, looks to the present
condition in every particular, and assesses the rent without
reference by whom improvements vrere mada, and thus the
skilful improvir or his heirs are unjustly treated, and deprived
of due recompense for expended capital.

The following motion was carried : " That long leases are
most advantageous to both landlord and tenant,"

NEWBURY CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE.
LAND DRAINING.

At a raontiily meeting, the Rev. C. W. Everett in the chair,
Mr. J. T. Caebonell read the following paper :

I venture to say a few words on tlie subject of draining
land. The system I adopt is very different from the ordinary
one. I am only an amateur drainer, but I am a practical one,
and my plan has the sanction of one of the most eminent
engineers iu this country (Mr. Joseph Quick, engineer to the
Grand Junction Water- Works Company, Southwark, Vaux-
liall, Odessa, and other water-works). I attribute the flooding
of land often to the fact that the surface-water is held up
because the lower etratum is full of water. Very frequently
water from the lovi'er stratum will rise up and cause flooding on
the surface. Make an escape from the lower stratum, and tlien
the surface-water will find an outlet. A house by the side of
a river generally stands on drier ground than other houses.
By constant filtration, the foundation becomes porous, as the
lower stratum would become by deal well draining. My plan
is to make a hole in a field deeper than any other part of the
field — in fact, down to quicksand, if possible ; then to fill the
hollow with large roots and boughs, and afterwards earth, to
the ordinary level of the field. An easy way to get an outlet
from the field into the ditch on the other side of the bank is
to force an iron pipe through the bank at the proper level :
by this means, the water will generally be drawn from every
other part of tlie field through the strata without the aid of
pipes. In fact, an artificial swallow is created. In one of
my fields water is discharged from one of these holes in sulK-
cieut quantity to fill a large lake iu a short time. I have
several of these dead wells in my fields, aud I can prove that
tjiey answer perfectly, at what must be a much less expense
than laying pipes as is usually done. As a proof of the
manner in which water finds its way through the st-ata, I will
mention that there are two breweries iu London on opposite
sides of the river — Barclay aud Perkins' and Calverts'. These
breweries cannot pump water on tlie same day, as one well
exhausts the other. Then, again, the well at the Reform Club
drew all the water from the well at Her Majesty's Theatre in
Pa 1 Mall. If it were requisite to produce further evidence as
to 1 water travelling through the strata it would be most easy
to do so. Some deep wells made at Sheerness drew the water
from the wells on the opposite side of the river at Southend.
I contend that if water will travel for a long distance through
the strata, even under a river, a very deep dead well will draw
water from all parts of the surrounding land. The water
falliug on the surface, if not kept up es I have explained it
sometimes is, will fertilise the land. It is the lower stratum
being already charged which keeps up the surface-water, and
sours and injures the land. Again, look at the river Mole, iu
Surrey, which disappears underground, and comes up again
several miles Irora the place where it had been lost sight of.
Wiiat does this prove but tiltratiou tlivough the strata ? There
IS a law to forbid all towns on the banks of the river Thames
from throwing drainage into the river, as it is thereby polluted.
This is a very diflicult question, and the law is much evaded.
As a director on the boards of two London water companies
I have for many years heard much about filtration, and the
tendency of water to find the lowest level against all obstacles.
A scheme was started the other day. It was proposed to
make a large sewage reservoir above the reservoirs of the

Grand Junction AVater-Works at Hampton, but about a
quarter of a mile from them. Our engineer was much
alarmed at this proposal, fearing that although our reservoirs
are, and the sewage reservoir was to be, thoroughly cemented
and clayed, there would be danger of our water being con-
taminated. We petitioned against this scheme in Parliament,
and it has been withdrawn (Bazalgette's plan). I only men-
tion this to prove that water will travel through the strata for
a long distance, and, iu the opinion of a first-rate engineer, it
may find its way through cement walls. Some people will say
that clay lauds cannot be drained by dead wells : I think they
can. It depends a good deal on the thickness of the clay.
Clay iu some places constitutes a very thin stratum — instance
at West Drayton. In clay there are always flaws, and these
flaws will assist the passage of the water. In travelling
through cuttings by the rail, you will often see a section of
the strata — clay for a certain distance, then part of gravel
and chalk, and you will often observe flaws in the clay leading
into gravel or other strata. Suppose a case of a very flat field
of the stillest clay requiring draining. The dilficulty of get-
ting a fall is great. This is overcome by making a deep dead
well, and draining into it by pipes, should the clay prove to be
too thick for the, water to filter through the strata. If a
side drain cannot be made, the water may be utilised by means
of a pump. People sometimes drain away water of which they
are much in want afterwards. It may be fortunate sometimes
for those who have over-drained their land that their pipes
should be stopped up, but it would be better if the water
were stored for use, in case ol its being required. If one
swallow is not sulHcient, two or more might be made. I
have lately made in a flat field two of these deep holes without
pipes, and the result is most satisfactory. When you have
once established a great fall, a few pipes may assist in
draining the water otf the land. I think that all pipes
should be perforated, so as to allow the free admission of water,
and also that gravel or faggots should in all cases be placed
over them to keep them stestdy. These faggots become after
a time retentive of water like a sponge. They decay, but not
being exposed to air retain their form, and therefore afl'ord
protection to the drains from sand, which would tend to stop
up the perforated holes. In fact, as already said, they act
like a sponge, and feed the drains. I remember when faggot
drains were much iu use — they worked well ; but how perfect
would they have been with perforated pipes under them ! Old
pipes may be perforated with a drill, and stoppages in drains
may be repaired with them. I have heard many say that
they were astonished how water can find its way into closed
pipes in stitT wet clay. That it does so sometimes there is no
doubt ; but it is equally certain that the pipes are often
stopped up, as when closed pipes are placed close to each
other, the joints are very ofteu stopped in clay lands, and the
drains become useless. In this neighbourhood I went to see
some draining which was being performed by a most eminent
drainer. The levels were beautiful, and the arteries leading
to the main drain quite perfect. However, I ventured to say
to the head man there, " I do not quite understand how water
can get into these closed pipes ; I thiuk they may be liable to
be stopped up in stiff clay, which will cement them together."
He answered, " It all depends upon the water ; if it be good the

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499

drains will not stop up, if bad they will after a time." When
drains are placed close together, if by any chance the least
fibre of a root ^ets in, the warm air inside the drain excites
growth III this country I have frequently seen a long rope
of fibres drawn out of drains. Two days ago I was at a place
covered with drains on the old principle, and there was a
stoppage in one of them. I contend that a stone drain, or a
protected perforated drain, would not be so liable to this
trouble. What can answer better than the stone drains as
now in Ireland ? They admit water ou all sides. A landed
proprietor, who has drained extensively, once said to me, " I
cannot deny that I have seen water lying over my pipes, al-
though on the whole I have done good. The springs in Berk-
shire are often on high ground, which renders the land more
easy to drain on any principle, and also makes it more con-
venient to utilize the water afterwards. Now if people wish
to convey water from one place to another without losing any,
how do they do it ? In closed pipes with closed joints. If it
is desired to drain a field, how is it most often, if not always,
done ? Also with closed pipes ; and if the joints are not per-
fectly closed to begin with, they will inevitably become so in
a short time, if they pass through clay. Can these similar
plans be right in these two dissimilar cases ? I think not.
For conveying water the ordinary closed pipes would be good ;
but for draining land I hope I shall be excused if I say, that
it would seem according to common sense to give every facility
for water to enter drains; and this is done by perforated pipes.
I have heard that filtration through closed pipes will do much
By stuffing a pipe placed upright with clay at the bottom, and
filling it with water, you will see the effect. I confess I
cannot believe it will "be attended with satisfactory results.
Pipes in wet clay soon become full of water, and filter no more.
I will not detain you much longer ; but I hope these few ob-
servations may lead to some good result. Some time ago I
recommended a gentleman at VVoodliay to drain some very flat
and wet land with an artificial swallow, lie did so, and the
result is perfectly satisfactory ; his garden, formerly wet, is
now quite dry. I believe that if by making a dead well, and

draining into it, wo get rid of the difiiculty of the want of a
fall a very important improvement in the draining ot land is
accomplished. I am quite aware that my plan is capable ot
improvement ; for instance, the bottom of my dead well or
swallow might be bricked and cemented, so that the water
might be retained in a safer manner after the field has been
drained to a certain level. When land is over drained, as
lon<' as the drains are open, what is the consequence t' In a
violent rainfall the water is rapidly carried to the rivers, and
often floods the lower land. If the storages which I advocate
were made, then, at any rate, from the water intercepted, part
of the flooding might be prevented, and the water retained for
useful purposes. I hope I shall be pardoned for repetition on
this point ; but after the dry summers we have had my atten-
tion has been particularly called to the importance of storing
water. Seeing is believing they say. I invite anyone to look
at some meadows I occupy, formerly sour and fuU of rushes,
which are at the present time in excellent order. 1 ins is the
result of dead well draining. Some might say that this is not
a new plan. It may not be quite so. I have done draining
in this way for years past. I have shown the outlets from my
dead wells to many person?, some of whom may be in this
room at the present time. Ot this one thing I am quite
certain that it was new to the professional drainer to whom
I have alluded, when he was laying his drains some time since.
I asked him, and he told me ttiat he never turned his drains
into dead wells. I hope I may be excused incohereneies m this
paper. My desire is to point out a much cheaper and more
efficient mode of draining than that usually acted upon ; al-
tliough of course I do so with due deference to the opinions ot
those who have been long draining on the old system.

In the discussion which ensued it appeared to be the opinion
of most of the speakers, that although Mr. Carbonell s plan
might be adopted with advantage in peculiar cases, it was not
such as could be acted upon generally.

A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Carbonell, and the
meeting separated.

LAVENHAM FARMERS' CLUB.

ARTHUR YOUNG.

At the last meeting, Mr. W. BiddcU in the chair, Mr.
Raynbird, of Hengrave, read a paper on Arthur Young and
his Services to Agriculture, with a Comparison of the Agri-
culture of his days and our own.

Mr. Raynbiru said : Arthur Young's writings, compiled or
original, approximate in volumes or tracts to a century in num-
ber, and the period of time over which his manifold toils extended
amounted to half a century, commencing in 1767, a period of
low though natural prices, extending over the American, asd
then, with an interval of peace, over the long Erench war,
with its paper-money, its heavy taxation, and its high prices,
and concluding shortly after this war's termination. The
small village of Bradfield Combust, or Burnt Bradfield, would
ever be noted as containing the family residence of Arthur
Young ; as the place where both his early and his principal
years were spent ; the spot from which he proceeded on his
tours, and dated most of his numerous works ; where his
pupils and his friends assembled ; and finally, where he died,
at the ripe age of 79, and was buried. The rambling old hall
had been pulled down, and a handsome manor-house had
taken its place. The hall contained many relics of its old
master, not the least important of which was a library of
5,000 vols, and a complete set of his works, the most interest-
ing of these being a collection of original letters, written to
him by agriculturists and men of position, contained in ten
thick volumes ; and a vast collection of MSS., experiments
original and selected, contained in twelve very thick folios.
The Church contained many monaments to the Young family,
and in the Churchyard was a plain monument bearing the
inscription :

Let every real patriot shed a tear,
For genius, talents, worth lies buried here.
Young must have been put to the Lavenham Grammar School

in 174.6 or the following year, the Master being the Rev.
John Coulter. In a quotation from Young's own MSS. vyas
the following : " The latter years of the time, I had a pointer
and a gun, and went out often with Mr. Coulter, he with a
partridge- net and I with my gun. I had also a room entirely
to myself, and a neat collection of books ; and I remember
beginning to write a history of England, tluuking that 1
could make a good one out of several others. How early
began my literary follies!" Young made a six week s tout
through the Southern Counties, an Eastern tour— the last and
best of the home tours— an Irish tour in 1776 and 1777, and
the Erench tour, published in 1792, on which a curious para-
graph showed that what was considered the triumphs ot
modern science was not quite a novel idea in reference to the
electric telegraph. " The Annals of Agriculture," which ex-
tended to 46 vols., or from 1781 to 1809, was a work ot con-
siderable interest to a Suffolk man. Started just after a peace
that had cost us our most valued possession (America), one
object, as stated in the introduction, was to propose a plan of
home colonisation on the wastes of England, amounting, he
stated, to eight millions in England, and five in Scotland,
settling on them the old discharged soldiers and sailors,
giving them there small tracts of soil as freehold, and paying
the expense of cheaply settling them ou it. We should thus,
he argued, have colonies which would increase our strength and
riches without the danger of revolt, and he quoted the example
of Sir W. Osborne, of Clonmel, in Ireland, who had success-
fully settled poor ou his mountain wastes in a similar manner ;
he adds : " ' I wish I was a king,' said a farmer's boy. ' Why,
what you do if you was a king ?' ' I would swing upon the
gate and eat bacon all the day long.' So I also may wish that
I was a king, if 1 did it would be for the pleasure of executing
such a plan as this for a personal amusement.' " The annals

600

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

were even now capital reading ; forget tliat they are old, and
you will soon I'ecl interested in them. And many of the facts
relative to cultivation and stock management were as good as
nev/, or even better. Tlie machines, of course, are obsolete,
but it was amusing to see how varieties of reaping machines,
thrashing machines, and drills are named, which are now
wholly superseded, hut which prove that there was a desire to
invent, only the hour and the man were not come. One
special good feature in the Annals is that tliere are no anony-
mous correspondents. It was a question vdiether an agricul-
tural periodical of the present day could get so good a staff of
unpaid and enthusiastic contributors. Krst in rank comes
George III. (Farmer George), who sent communications under
the name of his baililf, llalph Robinson. Next, a host, in
liimself, came Arthur Young. Many of Young's papers in
these Annals would supply first-rate subjects for our Farmers'
Clubs. There is one especially interesting, " On the Pleasures
of Agriculture." In 1770, Arthur Young published "A
Course of Experimental Husbandry," containing an exact
register of all the business transacted during five years, on
nearly 300 acres of various soils, the whole demonstrated in
2,000 original experiments. This work was too hastily written,
though it contained much valuable matter, and in his
latter years Young made a point of destroying every copy
that he could get in his possession ; hence its scarcity.
Young, in this work appears to have made every
operation on his farm an experiment. One conse-
quence of the success of Young's tours and travels was of great
importance to tlie country, and of considerable pecuniary bene-
fits to himself. Tiie Board of Agriculture and of Internal
Improvement was established in August, 1703, and Mr. Young
was appointed secretary, which post he held nearly to the time
of his death. Seventy-two volumes of county reports, a foreign
and national correspondence, premiums of valuable treatises,
rewards for important discoveries, and a correspondence and
connexion with numerous local societies, were tlie important
results of the Board being constituted. Of the reports, Y'ouug
wrote the first, that of the county of Suffolk, and in succession
those of Lincoln, Norfolk, Ilertford, Essex, and Oxford. He
also delivered lectures before them on the Application of
Manures and the Improvement of Waste Lands. The dis-
semination of improved methods over the whole country, and
a rapid increase in national productiveness, were amongst the
benefits derived, stimulated as no doubt sucli improvements
were by the high price of agricultural produce. Wlien Young
could no longer carry on tlie office of secretary, the Board
itself lapsed. Having shown that in the celebrated pamphlet,
" The Example of Frauce a Warning to Britain," published in
1793, Young first recommended what he called a horse militia,
a force, afterwards called yeomanry cavalry, Mr. Raynbird
proceeded to remark that the good opinion of our neighbours
or countrymen might be prejudiced or partial, but "that of
foreigners, who liave to overcome many obstacles, before seeing
with our eyes, was a sure test of the eminence andtaleut of the
person gaining it. No agricultural writer has succeeded in
doing this to such an extent as Young. lie was honorary mem-
ber of most of the foreign agricultural societies, and liis works
were translated into French, and publisiied at Paris in 1801.
About 1772, Prince Polemkin, the Russian prime minister,
sent three young Russians to be instructed by Mr. Young in
tlie arts of husbandry ; and in the following year the Empress
Catherine presented him, through the hands of her ambassador,
with a magnificent gold snuffbox and two rich ermine cloaks,
designed as gifts to liis wife and daughter. In 1S03, the King
of Naples sent a Neapolitan for the same purpose, and shortly
after tlie Russian pupils, tlie two sons of the Duke de Lian-
court, accompanied by a Mons. Lazouski. In 1801, Young
received the present of a snufl'box from Count Rostopchiu,
the celebrated governor of Moscow, turned by himself out of
a block of oak, richly studded with diamonds, and bearing a
motto in Russian language, which signifies, " From a Pupil to
hisMaster," thereby attesting the great services which he had
derived from the writings and practices of Mr. Young. It is
reported that on one occasion the Duke of Bedford breakfasted
at Bradfield, and was met by pupils from Russia, France Ame-
rica, Naples, Poland, Sicily, and Portugal. Young had the
talent of inspiring his pupils with his own enthusiasm for agri-
culture, and these must have aided in disseminating British
ideas, and a desire of purchasing British implements and stock
throughout the Continent. The reclamation and cultivation of

a large tract of waste land was a favourite idea with Arthur
Young, which, however, lie never was able to realise. And
what profit must have resulted from following of his advice of
the four-course rotation, tlien almost confined to our eastern
counties, or of the substitution of fallow crops for the bare fal-
lows, or the enclosure of waste lands ? I do not say that Young's
enthusiasm did not sometimes lead him into errors. Like all
of us, he was apt to look upon new inventions and new ideas
(especially if they were his own) with too practical an eye.
Thus, chicory for sheep feed could not be got to extend much
further than East Sufl'olk. But what we in Suffolk ought to
be grateful for is that from his labours, his residence, and his
partiality to the country, he has aided not only in placing its
character in a high position as an agricultural district, but
from his estimation abroad, where he wis quite as much ap-
preciated as at home, his approbation of our modes of cultiva-
tion and of our stock led, through his pupils and correspon-
dence, no doubt in a great measure to that foreign business in
farm machinery and stock which has been so profitable to the
country. In practical points of cultivation I can only add
that every improvement was advocated by him as it arose, and
that the germs, to say the least of it, of most of our modern
ideas and inventions are to be found in his works. A young
man born in England in these days of steam and progress, can
hardly believe that tliere was a time when in central Sulfolk
half the land was in pasture and great numbers of cows kept :
and in West Suffolk the lands were unenclosed, and for a great
proportion sheep walks, heaths, and warrens ; when turnips
were little grown ; when the wheat was all reaped, and as the
cultivation increased , 'gangs of Irish were obliged to be en-
gaged ; when a drill was unknown, and the broadcast system
universal, a drill-plough being the first modest attempt at cul-
tivating in rows ; when the horsekeepers and boys lived in the
farm-house ; when thrashing by flail was the only method
known, and the principal employment for winter ; when, won-
derful to relate, our dairy maids could milk and our spinsters
could spin ; and when the roads on our heavy lands were all
mud in wet weather, and our light lands all dust in dry, so
that the now obsolete system of quartering was necessary
to avoid ruts ; when there was no railroad, no steam,
no gas, no lucifer matches, and the mistress of the
house called .'up her maids at such uneartlily hours as
would now excite a rebellion, her calls being followed
by the clink of the tinder-box and the powerful odour o
the sulphur match. AYe have changed all that. We nowf
drill all crops, tlirash by steam, cut down our wheat by horse-
power, our roads are good, our railways have spoilt people for
the long journeys by gig or horseback which Young delighted
in. Wsste land is enclosed, and the wide spaces by the road
sides, as are also what many regret — most of the village
greens ; our live stock has completely changed, our Suffolk
horse is a very different animal to the little Sorrel Punch, whose
thick cob-shape gave rise to his name ; the cows have changed
their colour — no longer Suffolk duns, but beatiful Devon red ;
in pigs our Steam and Sexton have made great improvement ;
in sheep the old Suffolks have wholly disappeared, the partial
descendants being quite different in appearance ; and in im-
plements there has been a complete revolution, for instead of
the simple production of the village blacksmith and wheel-
wright we have articles so complicated that they are beyond
their power even to repair ; artificial manures and artificial foods
are also wholly modern ; in short we economise the land closer,
we employ more labour, and bring our animals to market
earlier, we produce far more corn and green crops on what
our forefathers left waste, but do we make more profit than
they did P I fancy we make far less. We buy our crops too
dear. Rents are quite double on good lands, and on some
light soils probably four times what they were a century back.
It is true we have not a supply of meat at 4d. per lb. as in
1770, neither can we get our labourers at 73. a week, nor our
domestic at £2 10s. or £3 per annum.

Mr. Hawkins said that under the system of free trade, if
there was not more corn grown than formerly, we should be
still more dependent upon foreign nations. Should anything
happen such as a war with America, or any other country
from which we have been in the habit of drawing large sup-
plies, we must be in a sad predicament if there were not larger
productions at home. We had come to a time when farm
labourers were not satisfied with the remuneration they re-
ceived. Farmers did their utmost to meet the expenses with

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501

which they had to contend. The outgoings were very heavy,
and they had much to contend with, in order to maintain then-
proper position. There were now strikes by farm labourers in
diflFereut parts of England, and in reference to this matter, he
must say he did not think the press of this country liad
adopted the course it ought to have done. A much too strin-
gent view of the matter had been taken by the press, the
labourers being, in fact, rather encouraged than otherwise to
make strikes. Tlie labourers were undoubtedly quite right in
striking for an advance of wages, if they thought it was to
their interest to do so, but he did not think that the press was
quite consistent in taking up the matter in the manner that it
had done, and —

Mr. T. P. Hitchcock suggested whether this was not a
subject best left alone on this occasion.
The Chairman concurred in the suggestion.
Mr. T. P. Hitchcock said that he was exceedingly glad
that he did not live in the days of Arthur Young. It was all
very well to talk about high war prices for corn. The golden
age for the farmers was, perhaps, from 1801 to 18 li ; but (he
farmers of tlie present day had resources that were not known
in the times of Young. He (Mr. Hitchcock) did not tliuik
that free-trade then meant what it did now. There were no
Corn-laws in those days. Young was, no doubt, a free-trader
in the sense that he was an exporter of the farmer s produce,
and that was, undoubtedly, what he meant by tree-trade, it
he had looked at the subject as a manufacturer, he might then
have been a protectionist. No reference had been made to
the question of the growth of the sugar-beet. Some miglit,
perhaps, think tliat this was not an improvement ; but it was
one of the signs of the times, and he could not help
tliiuking that it was a step in the path of progress. He
held in his hand a paper which gave the number of
acres of sugar-beet which was grown in different countries,
aud the money that was realized thereby. He found that
there were 35(5,000 acres in Erance, and in Austria 315,000.
Tliese figures represented several millions of money, aud he
thought this was a branch of agriculture that was little thought
of in Young's time even abroad. At all events there was none
of the beet grown in England, aud it was not grown to any-
thing like the extent it was abroad. He (Mr. Hitchcock)
thouVit this an important matter, for it was impossible to tell

how long the price of corn might remain what it now was.
As to the labour question, he was reading an article the other
day on the Italian agriculture, and he Ibund that the best
labourers only received Is. 4d. per day. Uemarks were often
made as to how much better off the labourers would be if they
were to leave this country and go to others. It was ail Uum-
buo-. He recently had some conversation with .a person wlio
said he came from a country where he could get a whole
sheep with the wool off for Is. Gd., where beet and mutton
only fetched 3d. per lb. In Australia, this individual said,
the population was so great that thousands of people were
almost starving, even with meat at that low price. If these
facts were better understood we should Hear less about emi-
grating to foreign countries, and a high rate ol wage.

The Chairman said there was no doubt but the writings ot
Arthur Young were the means of inducing many gentlemen ot
hio-h position to look into agriculture and become amateurs at
it His (Mr. BiddeU's) opinion was that the greater the
number of influential gentlemen who farmed, the greater
would be the benefit to the farmer, for they then iouud out
what were really the profits of agriculturists and what their
estates could pay. A gentleman who fanned his land hmselt
knew very much better what was the real value of land than
those who heard of nothing but ideal profits. One prominent
and pleasing feature of Young's writings was Ins thorough
camUdness and truthfulness. He (the Chairman) only wished
the same thing was apparent amongst what were termed the
writing a-riculturists of tlie present day. That was however
a character most noticeable in many cases by its absence, it
Youno- was not a good practical farmer, no one could dispute
but what he was an iustructive one. We were apt in tlie pre-
sent day to think that nobody did good except tlie successful
farmers. The fact was, however, that they as farmers received
quite as much benefit in observing- failures, as they did in ob-
serving successful experiments. He (Mr. Biddel ) had him-
self tried experiments, which he should have been rejoiced
to have had his neighbour over the hedge have tried before

"a vote of thanks to Mr. Raynbird for his paper, and to Mr.
Bidden for presiding, brought the public proceedings to a
close • the private discussion which followed turuing upon the
question of the strikes amongst agricultural labourers.

THE IMPORTATION OP CATTLE AND SHEEP.

A deputation of cattle-dealers and others from the North
of England has waited upon Mr. W. E. Eorster, at the
Privy Council Office, to urge the removal of the restrictions
which now lie upon the importations of sheep and cattle into,
this country. The members of Parliament present were Sir
T. Bazdey, Mr. Jacob Bright, Mr. T. B. Potter, Mr. Pt. N.
Philips, Col. Akroyd, Col. Gray, Mr. Birley, Mr. Lancaster,
and Mr. Seourficld. Tlie deputation, which represented the
Northern and Midland Counties Salesmen and Butchers' Union,
consisted of Messrs. James S. Brown, chairman of associa-
tion ; Joseph Greaves, treasurer of association; Thomas
Greatrix, vice-chairman ; John Price, Mark Price, secretary,
Manchester ; John Whitehead, chairman of Northern Midland
Counties Butchers' Association ; John Child, lion, secretary of
the Leeds Association ; Ben. Leathby, acting secretary of the
Leeds Association; John R. Smith, Leeds ; George Woodcock,
chairman of Butchers' Association, Sheffield ; James Kenyon,
liy. Brierclilfe, secretary of association, Bolton; M. Booth,
secretary of association, Halifax ; Wm. Emniott, vice-chairman
of association, Oldham ; Thomas Swain, secretary of associa-
tion, Barnsley ; Wm. Hanson, Thomas M'Clernon, Stockport ;
Thos. Wood, chairman of association, and R. Burton, vice-
chairman of association, Wigan.

While the deputation waited for the Vice-President, Sir T.
Bazley, arguing that for the future we should have to depend
largely upon our meat supplies from foreign couutries, recom-
mended the members of the deputation to teach their sons
Spanish, German, and other continental languages.

Mr. Jacob Bright, M.P., in introducing the deputation,
said the gentlemen present had come from the great northern
towns on the same errand as had brought them there many

times before. They had a strong belief that some of the re-
strictions on the importations of sheep and cattle were un-
necessary, and that in consequence the prices of food were so
enormous that a different course must be taken in the future.
There were a number of memorials from large towns, and one
of them, which might be taken as a sample of the rest, was
from Leeds. This memorial objected to the compulsory re-
tention of cargoes of healthy stock, especially sheep, at the
ports of landing, and then compulsory slaughter. It asked
that none but diseased animals should be destroyed. There
were many thousands of sheep in Germany waiting for transit
to the English markets, but which the dealers would not for-
ward until fairer regulations were made. This compulsory
slaughter of cattle, indeed, amounted to a prohibition on the
trade. It therefore prayed the Government to remove the
present embargo on live foreign stock, and thus make living
more easy to the labouring classes.

Mr. Mark Price explained the views of the deputation.
The lessening of the restrictions which the deputations asked
was but a matter of justice. Twelve months ago they had
been promised relief, but, instead, increased restrictions had
been placed on the importation of sheep. During the past
year there was a falling off in the number of sheep in the
country of 1,280,000 sheep, on account of these restrictions.
We were paying a price for mutton such as no living man
could remember in this country ; and this ought not to bo the
case, because there were sheep waiting to come here could it be
made worth the while of the sellers to send them. In the
Manchester market last year Manchester was receiving from
2,000 to 5,000 foreign sheep per week, and mutton was lOd.
per pound in the wool. In consequence of the restrictions

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l^HE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

imposed by tlie Order in Council, dated Uie 20lh December,
1871, tlie jirice of multoii now wiis from 12i-d. to 13d. per
pound. The diliicnlty could be got over if, in the Nortlierii
ports, as in Loudon, there was practically a free entry. The
deputatiou asked the Governmeut to remove the bad sheep by
all means, and allow the others to go forward for immediate
slaughter. The people believed that the House of Commons
was overborne by the landed interest, and that for tliis reason
these oppressive restrictions existed. He contended that tlicre
was no such thing as mouth disease in sheep, and that thou-
sands of sheep were allowed to come into Loudon suffering
from foot disease, whereas they would have been condemned
iu the northern ports. He asked that the same liberty should
be allowed in the importation of German as Irish sheep.

Mr. Leathby, of Leeds, contended that there had been a
decrease of 4,000,000 in the importation of sheep into this
country during the last four years.

Memorials were presented by Mr. Brown, of Maucliester ;
Mr. Hanson, of Stockport ; Mr. Emmers, of Ashtou ; and Mr.
Greaves, of Liverpool.

Mr. roKSTER, in reply, said it was exceedingly painful to him
to have to receive deputations with regard to any restrictions
upon trade, especially when they applied to a supply of food to
the masses of the eommuuity, and he had never had to do any-
thing ollicially more unpleasant than to maintain or defend
restrictions. Remarks had been made as to pressure from the
agriculturists and landowners, but he must ask the deputation
to believe from him tliat no pressure of that kind had, to his
knowledge, had the slightest effect upon the Government or
liimself. The sole object they liad iu view was to maintain no
restrictions except what were necessary for the prevention of
disease; and, however mucli they might differ from him as to
the advisability of those restrictions, they must agree with him
upon the main principle, because when it was said all that
was possible must be done to bring food to the people, they
would not be doing that if they spread disease iu the home
market. The memorials were against an order which said that
if in any cargo there were diseased animals the whole of the I
cargo should be slaughtered at the port of landing. Mr. Price
was hardly correct when he said a difference was made between j
London and the northern ports, or,if he was, it was because
the Government orders were not obeyed. He would take care ■
inquiries should be made in consequence of Mr. Trice's state-
ment. The representations of the deputation should be duly
considered, but he wanted to tell them why the order was en- j
forced. It was true the foot-and-mouth disease dul not depend i
upon foreign imports, although the agricultural interests main-
tained that it did ; but there could be uo doubt that every
animal that had the disease was a centre of infection. It was
absolutely necessary to have restrictions upon foreign imports.
When the deputation complained of slaughtering a whole cargo,
lie would tell them he had had to resist very strong pressure
and very strong arguments that all cargoes landing in foreign
ports should be killed, because of the extreme probability that '
there would be disease. If foreign dealers knew there was a
market to which they could send animals which they feared i
were diseased out of their own country, that market would get
them. However, he would bring the matter before the Earl of
Ilipou and consider the grounds of the Order in Council care-
fully, although he could not hold out any expectation of
altering it. He would undertake to say that as far as the ■■
central department could secure it they would receive the same I
treatment in the north as iu other parts of the kingdom. '

Mr. Wooucoci'C said if they were only to haVc restrictions
taken off when the country was free from disease, they would
never have them removed.

Mr. FoRSTER was bound to say he saw no hope of stamp-
ing out the foot-and-mouth disease. The foot-and-mouth
disease had given him more trouble than anything else he had
had in his life. There were periodical rushes of foot-and-
mouth disease, and much stronger restrictions had been called
for than had been com|)lained of by the deputation.

Mr. Geles asked why healthy sheep could not be brought
from Hull direct to Leeds or ]\Ianehester.

Mr. EoRSTER said the only answer he could make to that
was the answer which applied to the import of German cattle.
He did not believe it would be possible to isolate the markets.
In the first place, there would have to be restrictions which
would be loudly complained of, and it would be difficult to find
police arrangements that would make the restrictions effective.
There was no middle course between slaughtering all the ani-
mals on landing or free transit.

Mr. Greaves said the Mayor of Manchester had provided
public abtatoirs, and would undertake to receive cattle direct,
and slaughter them.

Mr. Eorster said we were uo doubt in danger of cattle-
plague every day, for it was raging badly in Erance and other
places. His belief was that very much the same causes were
at work on the Continent as here. As to the rise in the price
of meat, he was not prepared to admit that altogether the
price of meat was higher. We got from Germany what she
imported, and the real chance of an increase of supply would
be to open the Steppe country to the east of Germany. If
this could be done safely, no doubt there would be a great in-
crease of imports, and consequent diminution of price until
the cattle-plagne came with them. They durst not allow the
cattle to come from Germany until they had security with re-
gard to the Steppe cattle, because Holland prohibited the im-
portation of cattle. Slesvig-Holstein was free from disease,
and if it suited the Gorman Government to draw a line, cut-
ting that province off from the rest of Germany, all might be
well ; but he was not surprised to find that it did not suit the
German Government. I)r. Williams had lately attended the
conference at Vienna on behalf of the English Government,
and it would not be their fault if something did not come of it.

Sir Thomas 15azley submitted that as from time imme-
morial we had been accustomed to a bonded system in port,
the Government should take into consideration the possibility
of a system under which cattle should travel under bond from
port to port. This, he believed, could be done without any
danger. No doubt the prosperity of the country was leading
to a large consumption of animal food ; but within half-a-
cenfury the population of this country had doubled. If we
went on at this rate of increase, what the people were to sub-
sist on was a most alarming consideration. We must have
the removal of all obstacles on the part of the Government,
and, on the other hand, individual efforts must keep pace with
the necessity of the times.

Mr. Eorster said he must agaiu repeat that there was
great difficulty in making arrangements that would be effective.

Mr. Jacob Bright urged that some trial should be al-
lowed with one town or a few towns. The railways and the
authorities of the town were willing to co-operate, and it was
his opinion that a limited trial would be of much effect.

Mr. Eorster again promised the deputation to go most
carefully into the whole question.

IXWORTH FARMERS' CLUB.
THE APPLICATION OE MANURES.

At the April meeting, for the purpose of hearing a lecture by
Dr. Albert J. Bernays on The Application of Manures, illus-
trated by experiments, there was rather a larger attendance
than usual, Mr. P. Huddlcston, vice-president, in the chair.

Dr. Bertn'ays commenced by saying that all the sub-
stances that we had were either burnt or unburnt, and there
were some that were even unburuable, and that was a fact
which must be taken iuto consideration in the aiq)lication of

manures, and whilst considering the several kinds of artificial
manures it should be borne in mind that farmyard manure
was the basis of all good farming. He then proceeded to
illustrate the difference between the several kinds by platinum,
which he said was unburuable, by magnesium, which, as is
well known, produces a strong and brilliant flame, and zinc,
which when once burnt had no longer any force iu it. Potas-
sium, grains of which burn and sparkle when thrown into

THE FARMER'S ]\[AGAZINE.

503

water, was a subsfauce lie explained, which was to he found m
farmyard luauure, more especially ia urine. The huruiug of
a piece of common straw, he said, showed from the ash that it
coatained certain mineral properties which it had obtained
from the soil. There was also a good deal of hydrogen in
straw. Wood partook considerably of the nature of straw, lor
when once it was burnt it could not be burnt again. Ihe
chief part of the ash of the wood consisted of potash, of winch
about seventy per cent, was contained in farmyard manure,
farmyard manure was composed of two substances, known as
organic, the part which could be burnt, and inorganic the part
which could not be burnt. The principal element of all or-
ganic matter was carbon, or what was known by the more
common name of charcoal. Carbon was a very combustible
material, but it required to be heated to redness before it
would burn. It would burn much better in oxygen tlian it
would in air, and from its admixture therewith formed car-
bonic acid. They were not to suppose that because his ex-
periments were made in Rasks and retorts they did not pass
through those stages themselves in the open air. They did it
there, and did it on a much larger scale than it was possible
for him to do it, and in the earth it was done even better
tiian in air. The result of the burning ol wood would be
similar to charcoal ; that also burnt better in oxygen than it
did in air, as in the air it became mixed with hydrogen.
That carbon which he had shown to them was contained in
farmyard manure and also in human manure, but in super-
phosphate of lime and nitrate of soda it was wanting, l.om-
mon loaf sugar contained carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen ; the
latter in the same proportions that they were contained in
water. If the watery properties of the sugar were drawn
away, and a simple addition made to it in the form of a few
drops of sulphuric acid, the sugar was immediately turned into
a mass of charcoal, or carbon and water. When they had to
do with root crops, such as mangel, aud those which in the
course of a few hours absorbed a large quantity of water, and
which produced as a consequence great changes ; when not
supplied with ammonia, the assimilation of the carbon seemed
to be stopped, so as to give a small or poor crop. Those were
facts which the experience of Mr. J. B. LaA's and Dr. bilbert
had sufRciently proved. Nitrogen was a necessary constituent
in the application of manure, and it was no good manure
which did not contain it. Farmyard manure contained it,
but not always in sufficient quantities for the requirements
of the land, and many changes made farmyard manure
quite dilTercnt from what it ought to be. The lecturer
then explained, by means of various expenmen s,
what were the properties of ammonia, and to what process the
farmyard manure should be subjected if the farmer wanted to
get the largest quantity of ammonia from it that it was capable
of producing. It was very expensive to purchase by itself,
and tiierefore, if the farmyard manure contained it, it was very
important to them that they should keep it in. The great
feature of ammonia, he explained, was its solubility in water,
which he demonstrated by an interesting experiment. Ihey
ought to guard against the loss of these properties in the farm-
yard manure, which resulted from its exposure to the air and
rain. By so exposing it some of the most important constitu-
ents in it evaporated, and were washed away. It was a we -
known fact that there was considerably more ammonia in well-
rotted dung than in fresh. The consumption of 40 tons of the
best oilcake would only yield 10 tons of manure, and they could
buy for the same money 30 tons of guano. It was to a great
extent a matter of price how those things were to be supplied.
One great point which they ought to consider was the unequal
distribution of manure. There was but one manure in former
days— farmyard manure— aud there was no such opinions pre-
vailing as there were at the present day, owing to the use of
certain artificial manures. For the growth of mangolds, peas,
and beans, farmyard manure was the only one that was worth
a moment's consideration. Light soils, on which farmyard
manure was the best, should be devoted to wheat, and heavier
lands to mangolds. With respect to sulphate of ammonia, he
said that any one might prove the purity of it hy placing it in
a glass tube and heating it through the tube. If it was pure
it would volatilize, but if mixed with salt the pure material se-
parated fram the salt on this test being applied. That showed
that it was a volatile manure, and if it was volatile it must of
necessity contain ammonia. A. drop of water placed upon a
small quantity of sulphate of ammonia, with the addition of a

litlle lime, would give off a strong smell of ammonia. Sul-
phate of ammonia was one of the most valuable manures. It
was very often a question as to which would be the best to
take, nitrate of soda or phosphate of ammonia, ^ltrate ot
soda should also be soluble in water if it was pure, ihe only
adulteration in it, however, was common salt, and the best ae-
tector of it was nitrate of silver. Salt was, he granted, a very
valuable manure, but he thought they would prefer to mix it
for themselves. Let them try salt if they wanted it, but they
aid not want to give the price of nitrate of soda lor it. in
the compost heap they had a good method of getting nitro-
Kenized constituents for the soil, and they got them sometimes
in the form of nitric acid. As for phosphate of lime unless
they could by some process render it soluble, they had to wait
for the decay before the plant was capable of taking it up ; but
chemistry did that for them in the so-called superphosphate ot
lime. The great thing was to furnish to the plant the proper
kind of food. For instance, if they watered geraniums with
nitrate of soda after they had begun to flower, they did so more
abundantly, but if they watered tiiem before there ^^ ere any
signs of flowering, they would get nothing but leaves. Ihat
was an examples of the many things to be learnt in these mat-
ters. Superphosphate which was made from bones was much
better than that which was made from coprolites, and that con-
sideration ought to rule the price of it. Peruvian guano was
capable of yielding the ingredients of ammonia and also phos-
phates and if they bore that in mind, it was very easy to see
the use to which guano could be put. Salt was a compound
of sodium aad chlorine, and when applied to plants caused
very rapid growth. Mangels benefited by it more than any-
thing else. In plants with big leaves it produced a very rapid
circulation of the sap. After dressing in the early part of the
year with nitrate of soda, they would generally find that their
money came back to them with a very good per centage.
Manure was almost a necessity for the root crops ; indeed to
attempt to grow mangel without manure was simply money
thrown away ; they required the best manure. There were
cases in which it became necessary to make use of something
in addition to the heavy dressing of manure which they might
have -riven. They often had not the amount of water that
they ought to have. It came all at one time, and then they
did not get any of it. The use of superphosphate placed the
crops beyond the reach of wire-worm, and rapidly brought
them to maturity. If they wanted turnips for instance, to
linger in their growth they should use nitogenized manure,
but if they desired a contrary cfi"ect they should use a manure
like superphosphate, which should be drilled in with the seed.
For potatoes he thought the best plan would be to use farm-
yard manure in the autumn and plant the potatoes in the
pring. From the remarks which he had made, he thought
they would see that artificial manures should be looked upon
rather as aids to the natural manures, for he beheved they
were all agreed that farm-yard manure was their sheet-anchor.
Mr. FisoN asked what was the best substitute for Peruvian
guano, as at present constituted, as a top-dressing in the
spring ?

Dr. Bernays thought nitrate of soda, or sulphate ofum-
monia mixed with superphosphate.

Mr. Peto said the lecturer had not mentioned the manure
from rapecake, which was much used in the neighbourhood
for corn crops.

Dr. Bernats said that would come under the head of ni-
1 trogenised manures— a very valuable one, and one which
I would yield a very large quantity of ammonia. It would be
very good to apply in the autumn.

The Chairman agreed that farmyard manure was the best
manure for farmers, aud that all those new-fangled manures
were only subsidiary.

Dr. Short asked what proportion of coprolite it was neces-
sary to use to the acid and the bones.

Dr. Bernats said about two-thirds bones and one-third
coprolite.

Mr. FisoN thought that bone phosphate must be immea-
surably cheaper to the farmer.

Mr. Manfield thought they were greatly indebted to Dr.
Bernays for his able lecture, and also to chemistry for intro-
ducing these things ; but it became a question as to how far
they could follow chemistry— how far their practice corre-

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THE PARMER'S MAGAZINE.

spondcd witli wliat lie li.itl told them. He thoiiglit, for in-
stance, tliat superphosphate made from hones was almost a
thing of the past.

Dr. Bernays thought, with respect to farmyard manure,
it scarcely mattered what time of the year it was put in. The
best crop to give it to was wheat, and then give the turnips
artificial manure.

Mr. TisoN drew attention to the fact that some gentlemen
in that neighbourhood were growing mangolds from artificial
manure only.

Dr. Bkrnays said the preparation for the mangold was
made in the dressing for wheat. The practice of the farmers
would be before the theory of tl\e chemists in tliat matter.
The plant simply required phosphate : whetiier it came from
eoprolite or bones was immaterial. If the plant could get
ammonia when it wanted it, it would not matter whence it
came ; but it very often happened that plants could not get
ammonia wlien tliey really wanted it. One of the great ad-
vantages of farmyard manure was that it kept up the heat of
the soil.

SANITARY REFORM.

At a meeting of the Banbury Ciiamber of Agriculture, Mr.
TiNLAY Dun read the following paper :

The sanitary state of rural cottages deserves the considera-
tion of all who are interested in the well-being of the
labourer. Landlords, farm tenants, clergymen, medical men,
and sanitary authorities are equally interested in providing
healthy, decent homes for the poor. It must never be for-
gotten that the surroundings make tlie man. The black
country is dark, not only in its atmosphere, but too often in
its squalid homes, its improvident pauperism, its heavy assize
lists. Material and moral degradation go hand-in-hand^they
mutually re-act and reproduce each other. Dilajiidated cot-
tages tell too often of the dilapidated fortunes of their in-
mates. Dirt and disorder are inconsistent with self-respect
and industrious, thrifty habits not less than with health. In
tninble-dovvn, inconvenient, overcrowded, filthy abodes, it is
obviously hopeless to find contented, steady, robust workpeople.
I would brielly notice some of the conditions which may be
regarded as essential in securing a decent, happy home for the
agricultural labourer. The cottage should, if passible, be in
a convenient central situation on the farm, rather than ia the
village. A trudge of two or three miles to and from work, in
all weathers, is a hardship still common in many English dis-
tricts, has resulted from tlie absurd law of settlement, and is a
wasteful expenditure of power that might, to say the least of
it, be more profitably employed. In lone cottages, as they are
termed, removed from the temptation of the village ale-house,
men are apt to become more steady and painstaking ; women
are more domestic, prudent, and less disposed to gossip ;
children are more healthful, better brought up, and the girls
are believed, on good authority, to make better domestic
servants. Moreover, living close to their work, labourers can,
with advantage to themselves, and without injury to their em-
ployers, enjoy their meals at home ; whilst in wet weather
they have the opportunity of changing tlieir damp clothes,
and thus diminishing their risks of rheumatism — tlie arch-
tormentor of the English agricultural labourer. For the cot-
tages, which may be advantageously and economically built in
pairs, a pleasant, dry site shoull be selected, somewhat shel-
tered from the prevailing winds, and handy to a good supply
of pure water. Overtopped by other buildings, placed in a
dismal hole, there will be lack of light and sunsliine, which
prove so essential to health. Underneath the towering walls
of Continental fortified towns, shut out from exhilarating
sunshine, it has been found that an enormous percentage of
idiotic, deaf and dumb, deformed, and weakly children are
born. Many cottages, and not a few more aspiring houses,
are set down without adequate drainage of the site, and with-
out provision for the effectual removal either of surface-water
or sewage. Around the foundations, three or four feet below
the surface, drainiug-pipes of three or four inches calibre
should be placed, and overlaid, especially in clay soils, with a
foot of broken stones to ensure the rapid removal of top-
water. Damp dwellings develop rheumatism and consump-
tion, a_ sluggish circulation, favourable to the production of
congestion, ulceration, and some forms of skin disease, with
that feeling of lassitude which craves for stimulants. From
suitable grating of iron or stone at the back and, if need be,
at the front doors, glazed stone-ware pipes, six inches in
diameter, and provided with a good fall, should carry off the
refuse-water from the house. Drains passing underneath a
cottage should be laid in cement-concrete seven inches thick.
Outside the house, the drains particularly, if containing the

outflow of a water-closet, should have a syphon trap, with
properly fitted cover, and be ventilated by a two-inch iron or
zinc pipe, taken up to the roof. The superfluous water and
house drainage must be carried, as the Jewish law enjoins,
outside the camp, or, in other words, sufBcieiitly far from any
dwellings ; whilst special care must be had that it does not
percolate into any wells or other sources of water supply. In
many towns, and not a few villages, contamination of water
supply, as will be hereafter noticed, is a prolific source of
chronic ill-health and of periodical outbreaks of fever. No
cottage should be built without provision on the ground-floor
for a kitchen at least 10 feet by 12 feet, and 8 feet high, a
back kitchen of nearly the same dimensions, a pantry and
cupboard ; whilst overhead there should be three bedrooms,
in one or more of which a fireplace and a grate should be pro-
vided, so as to secure warmth, comfort, and ventilation, in
case of sickness. AVindows, always made to open well up to
the top, should be of liberal dimensions, for darkness is often
a cloak for dirt. Casemen's in cottage-windows are seldom
more than half the size they should be, and are not often
enough or long enough set open. Without three bedrooms, a
family could not have sufficient healthful accommodation and
decent separation of the sexes. No sanitary error is produc-
tive of worse effects than overcrowding. In some of its aggra-
vated forms, it is tantamount to slow poisoning. Indeed,
these brcatliing again and again the same heated, confined air,
reeking with noxious organic emanations, unless gradually
inured to its deleterious, de;)ressing effects, would perish
miserably, like the untoi'tuuate sufferers in the black hole
of Calcutta, or the prisoners pent tip in the cabin of Lon-
donderry. Eight or twelve persons, some of them unmarried
adults, of opposite sexes, are sometimes found, even in rural
villages, huddled into one dingy sleeping apartment, the
doors and windows religiously closed, the atmosphere charged
with carbonic acid and foul animal offscourings ; physical
mental, and moral health reduced to a low ebb. Living in the
open air, as agricultural labourers do during fully one-half of
tiie twenty-four hours, they do not suffer so much
from this nocturnal crowding as those pursuing in-
door occupations. In rural districts such overcrowding is
inexcusable. Despite our increasing population, there is still
throughout England and Wales an average area of two acres
for each human being. Far otherwise, however, is it in many
of our larger towns ; in Glasgow, for example, there are
ninety-four persons to an acre, in Liverpool one hundred and
three, in London one hundred and eighty, with an average of
nine persons to each house. Of 1,'1'65 families living in the
tolerably well-to-do parish of St. George's, Hanover Square,
929 had but one room, and of these two-thirds had only one
bed. In Whitechapel and other districts of East London
matters are still worse. In some of the low lodging-houses,
in the town dwellings of the very poor, and in the work-
shops of some trades, the want of cubic space and pure air are
most notable. Instead of the 700 or 1,000 cubic feet which
are requisite for healthy existence, many a poor stifled wretch
sleeps with a tenth part of that cubic space. In consequence
results a high rate of sickness and mortality, especially
amongst the infant population, with abundance of pulmonary
consumption and other forms of scrofula, paralysis, and other
nervous disorders, with frequently occurring attacks of con-
tagious and epidemic disease, against which the debilitated
constitution makes a poor stand. Continually breathing a
contaminated atmosphere, the blood becomes vitiated ; the

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

505

consequent depression is vainly endeavoured to he relieved by
the free use of stimulants. Miicli of the drunkenness, reck-
lessness, and various forms of brutality, still too common both
in town and country, are ascribed by all competent autho-
rities to the wretched state of the dwellings of the poor, and
especially to their indecent and unhealthy overcrowding. Like
causes everywhere produce somewliat similar effects : let us
beware, then, of lowering the stamina, stature, and usefulness
of our agricultural labourers by baneful overcrowding and foul
air. Not only should every adult have his allowance of at
least seven or eight hundred cubic feet of space in the sleep-
ing rooms; but the wliolesome change and purification of
such air, of which three hundred cubic feet are contaminated
during six or seven hours of slumber, must further be ensured
by free ventilation through doors, windows, and chimneys,
and if need be by openings in the ceiling. These are matters
which the Sanitary Bill at present before the House fittingly
brings under the notice of the local authorities. As is the
rule on most considerable properties, two families should not
occupy the same cottage, nor except under special permission
should lodgers be allowed. Separate back premises, properly
constructed, and with well-built water-tight vaults at some
distance from every building should be provided for every cot-
tage. A community of such conveniences is detrimental to
decency, and saps the spirit of self-respect and independence
which are so important for the family well-being. In most
villages and small towns cartli closets are probably more con-
venient and liealthful than the old-fashioned privy, or the
more modern water-closet, which requires a considerable and
constant supply of water to keep it sweet. An ash-pit in a
suitable situation will keep rubbish and garbage from being
left scattered in odd corners, and will moreover, economise the
manure for garden and allotment, for dirt, as was aptly re-
marked by Lord Palmerston, " is only matter in the wrong
place." Where pigs are kept great care should be exercised
in keeping them clean, and their food, if sour and stale, as it
so often must be, kept at a considerable distance from the cot-
tage. The acid, noisome smell of this hog-tub, although,
perhaps, seldom directly productive of disease, cannot be fa-
vourable to liealth ; in those unused to it, certainly often pro-
duces nausea and disordered digestion ; whilst it may help to
feed fermentation and become the nidus on which special poi-
sons fix themselves. Li all considerable towns with any preten-
sions to cleanliness, pigs are now properly banished. Liliabit-
ing a damp and foggy climate, it is discreditable to our care
andforesight that we have to complain of "a dry and thirsty
land where no water is." It is ouly comparatively recently
that tlie sanitary importance of a good water-supply lias been
suiliciently recognised. Endowed with a wonderful power of
picking up and dissolving the gases, mineral matters and or-
ganic substiiuces, with whicli it comes in contact, water acts as
an almost ubiquitous scavenger, and as tlie great purveyor of
[ilant food. But this absorbent faculty, so advantageous
for the vegetable kingdom, often renders water unsuit-
able and dangerous for the use of man, and of the domestic
animals. Tiie limpid stream, erst in pertect purity, trickles
through some manure-heap, perchance through some church-
yard mould, or receives from some leaking overfilled privy
vaults decomposing organic matter, or worse still the germs
from some case of typhoid fever, scarlet fever, or cholera, and
hence, until again purified by free exposure to tlie air the
cleansing refreshing water becomes the unsuspected veliicle of
disease and maybe of death. Thousands of cases of sickness
are thus developed. In some villages the brook is at once the
source of water-supply and the common sewer. No wonder
when after a dry summer the stream becomes small, and
the noxious ingredients are hence in a more concentrated form,
that the water has a suspicious flavour, smells badly when
boiled, and produces in the people that drink it diarrhcea and
fevers, and induces in cattle and sheep digestive derangements,
quarter evil, splenic apoplexy, and abortion amongst cows. In
India there is a popular notion that cholera and other serious
disorders result from malicious poisoning of the wells. At
home, as well as in India, the wells and other sources of water-
supply are too often poisoned, not intentionally, but ignorantly
or carelessly ; not with poison from the cliemist's shop, but
with the equally dangerous subtle poison of the sewers. This
form of poisoning the Legislature at last condescends to take
cognisance of. The Government Sanitary Bill properly pro-
vides for the frequent examination and supervision of the

water-supplies for towns and villages, for the prevention of
water-contamination, and for the punishment of those who
spoil or injure the sources of this chief necessary of life.
The drink of the labourer naturally suggests the question of
liis food. In the midland and southern counties of England
it unfortunately is often deficient in nutritive elements. Tliere
is seldom any serious deficiency in quantity, but it is short of
those albuminous materials which impart power and robustness.
Roughly to compare the men with the horses, they have seldom
cause to complain of their supplies of straw-chop ; but they
would be better if they could have more of what corresponds in
the equine dietary to the oats, beans, and hay. In the labourer's
fare, matters would be mended by adding to the bread, vegeta-
bles, tea, an occasional quart of beer or cider, which constitute
the ordinary dietary, an increased quantity of pork, bacon, or
cheese, a daily pint of good milk, and a weekly pound or two of
beef or mutton, whether home-grown or colonial. The Aus-
tralian meat will yet prove an immense boon to the English
labourer, will help to improve his bone, muscle, and nervous
force, will save him from the frequent wearing out bad legs,
and diminish his share of sickness. The Poor Law medical
relief returns show how closely sickness and poverty are asso-
ciated. Of our regiment of one million paupers, 15-oi per
cent, were on the doctor's list on December 10th, 1SG9 ; to
this suffering multitude the in-door paupers of England con-
tributed 29-5, whilst the out-door only supplied 12-7 per cent.
In Berkshire and Oxfordshire the per centage of pauper sick-
ness was over 20, or more than double what it was in Nortli-
uniberland, Durham, Cumberland and Westmoreland, or the
Yorkshire Hidings. Sussex, Essex, Worcester, and Suffolk, all
reach 18 per cent., whilst Wilts and Dorset are about 17 per
cent. The lower wages, the insufliciently animalised dietary,
the excessive swilling of beer or cider, the absence of milk,
appear to account for the higher rates of sickness as compared
with 7'6 in Durham, 7'7 in Northumberland, and 8"6 in Cum-
berland. Admitting, as we have endeavoured to show, that
health and life are senselessly wasted, that preventible disease
still claims its hecatombs of victims, that insanitary condi-
tions continue to develope drunkenness, pauperism, lunacy,
and crime, how, it may be asked, can these evils he remedied
and prevented ? The evils are evidently somewhat compli-
cated ; they spring from various sources, they are inborn and
bred through many generations. To be successfully attacked
an assault must be made upon them from several different
points of vantage. The ignorance, carelessness, and apathy
which produce and perpetuate so many sanitary errors must be
gradually got rid of, mainly by education. The ingrained
hereditary affection for dirt, physical and moral, the corporeal
and mental faults developed during several generations, cer-
tainly cannot at once be set aside. There is a grim philosophy
in the gouty old gentleman unwillingly obliged to be moderate
in his libations of port wine, shaking his stick, imprecating
the portrait of his great-grandfather, and declaring, " Your
drink brought down gout upon us all." Drinking in its im-
mediate and remote consequences has brought down much
sickness and misery on all classes of the community. Although
adults may not care to learn to practice sanitary laws, the
rising generation may be taught to understand and respect
them. They should be insisted upon in schools, and the chil-
dren instructed in self-preservation, as well as in prudence and
self-respect. The four thousand medical men scattered through-
out England should form reliable sources of sanitary informa-
tion, and should enjoin the prevention as well as the cure of
disease. But until the masses of the people have learned
neither to jeopardise their own health, or that of their neigh-
bours, it behoves a paternal government by warning injunction
and statute, such as that shadowed forth in the bill now before
the House of Commons, to secure for all classes of the people
pure air, pure water, sound wholesome food, and reasonable
protection from any insanitary condition connected with their
calling. Two great matters, in brief, are to be aimed at,
namely : 1. To raise the general health of the community.
2. To destroy special causes of disease. These good ends may
be somewhat hastened by the promulgation of the following
resolutions: — 1. That sanitary causes account for half the
sickness and mortality, and for a large amount of the pauperism
and crime of this country. 3. That the Sanitary Bill now be-
fore the House of Commons, although necessarily stringent,
and granting great powers to the central authority, well de-
serves the approval of this Chamber, as it will ensure through-

506

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

out the counliy a uniform, universal, and imperative adminis-
tration of sanitary law. 3. Tiiat as great expenses under the
proposed Act may be entailed on poor districts, in carryinfr out
drainage or other sanitary improvements, provisions should be
introduced into the Bill whereby assistance from the national
exchequer should, when required, be granted.

Mr. Beazier thought it would be difficult to get such cot-
tages erected as Mr. Dun proposed. He supposed they would
not be erected at less than from £1 50 to £180, and that being
so, where was the rent to come from P Under existing cir-
cumstance no labourer could pay £7 or £8 a year. It was in
reality a landlord's question, and he was afraid there were very
few landlords in the country who were prepared to lay out
£3,000 or £4-,000 for cottages for the people. He knew a vil-
lage in which eight children, with their father and mother,
slept in one room. The children took typhus fever, and three
of them died. Such a state of things onght not to exist in a
Christian cou\itry. What must be the state of the morals of
families brought up under such circumstances. The effect
must be bad beyond description. The men should be paid in
money. He did not think it was right for any master to lay
out any part of the man's money in beer, cider, or anything of
the kind. The masters helped to increase the poor-rates who
gave cider or beer to their labourers. If the men had good
food, he did not think they would require anything stronger
than tea, cofTee, or water. That had been his experience for
twenty-five years. He never gave any beer to his men. He
seconded the adoption of Mr. Bun's resolutions.

Mr. Westovek thought the women did not like to live on
the farm because they could not gossip, and they got their
husbands to give up their situations in order that they might
go where they could gossip.

Mr. Thursby agreed with Mr. Dun as to the necessity of
having cottages on the farms. With the exception of two, all
of his men had three miles to walk to their work. It would
he better for the children if they had to walk a little distance
to the school. To have the men living on the farm would be
better for the farmers and the men. If the latter got wet,
they could change their clothes without having so far to go.
It was thought by some that the farmers would not behave
well to the men if they lived on their farms, but he did not
believe the men would suffer. They might get a piece of land
on the farm to cultivate. If the sanitary improvements
proposed by the Bill were to come out of the rates, he would
oppose the resolutions. Until Parliament had done something
to relieve their burdens, it would be unwise in ihc Chamber to
sanction increased expenditure.

Mr. Grimbly, in his position as chairman of the Banbury
Board of Health, had observed with attention the very con-
siderable success that had attended them in the matter of
dwellinga, in the matter of water supply, and in the matter of
drainage, on the health of the inhabitants. Perhaps he might
remark, in reference to what Mr. Westover had said, that an
incre&sed health-rate lessened the poor-rat«. One or two
facts relating to sanitary improvement in Banbury might be of
some value to their friends in the rural districts. Some years
ago when Mr. Ilammell visited the town to make an inquiiy
into its condition, the death-rate was either 29 or 33 in the
1,000, he (the speaker) was not sure which. Now, it was very
gratifying to find that the death-rate for the last quarter
of the Board of Health district was loj in the 1,000,
and deducting the death in the union, it was only 14.
They must admit that sanitary improvement had done
something for this distirct. The death-rate had been re-
duced something less than one-half. They had done this,
too, without increasing the burdens of the ratepayers. The
rates 15 or 20 years before the existence of the Board of Health
were much higher than they were now. He believed they
could have good health in the community by very simple means.
They wanted good water — water not impregnated with drain-
age—good drinage, and less over-crowding in cottages. They
in Banbury must not say a word about the villages, because
they had almost as bad a state of things as in the villages.

To give them an instance. The other day a case of small-
pox occurred in a court in rishstreet, and in one bed-room
there were, a woman (ill with small-pox), her husband, and two
children, all sleeping there. The woman was taken to the
union, but had since been discharged cured. The house had
been thoroughly cleansed, and the disease prevented from
spreading. He might state that at the present time there was
not a single case of sraall-pox in the town [The Chairman :
" I am very glad to hear it."] He advised them to give this
question of sanitary reform their most earnest attention, and
they would confer upon themselves and their poorer brethren
a boon which they could form no money estimate of.

The Hev. F. Litchfield felt bound to say, by long expe-
rience of Boards of Guardians, that they were not the very
best persons to entrust with the execution of the law relating
to the health and comfort of the poor. He saw this more
and more. They had so many personal interests that they
could hardly ever be relied on, however perfectly indepen-
dent votes they might give. He could claim the supe-
riority of having longer experience in this matter than any
of those who were present, and consequently he had been
able to consider this vast subject for a much longer period
than any of them. He had some local experience in the
matter, and in 1826 in a neighbouring parish he began the
demolition of bad cottages, and also the improvement of bad
cottages, without pu'ling them down. He began by examining
the state of every cpttage, and found tiiat scarcely a bedroom
had a latiice window. Tlie first thing he did was to introduce
lattice windows into every bedroom. He endeavoured to get
for the people pure air and good water. Good air was very
little use without good water. Near every door and window
was a pigsty, which he had removed to another place, but
they were not removed altogether.

The Rev. C. W. Holbeck, the Chairman, said that one
practical difficulty was to get the poor people into cleanly
habits. There were old cottages that were kept very clean,
and in some good ones tiiey would find the reverse, and a lot
of straw stuffed in the chimney to prevent ventilation. They
should give a prize for the cleanest cottages.

Mr. Westover: It would be very dangerous to go and
inspect their cottages just now. We dare not speak to the
men.

Mr. Coleman said that Mr. Litchfield threw some dis-
credit on Boards of Guardians, but they had very little power.
Some four or five years ago the Guardians of his district in-
quired into the cottage accommodation, and found a very dis-
graceful state of things, but they also found that they had very
little power.

Mr. Dalbt said : With reference to Mr. Litchfield's re-
marks about Boards of Guardians the same argument would
apply against all local government whatever. The same thing
might be said of Boards of Health and Town Councils, and
they had an instance of it at Wolverhampton, where the Town
Council declined to carry out the advice of their medical
officer, and he had resigned. It would thus be seen that
abuses were not confined to Boards of Guardians. The new
Licensing Bill provided for the appointment of an inspector
for every 100,000 people to look after the delinquencies of
publicans ; and how much more important would it be — and
it would take off a great deal of local odium — to appoint a
medical officer for each district, who would report to each
board, and to the Central Board if his recommendations were
not taken up. He hoped that Mr. Dun meant in his resolu-
tion that the money was to be given by Government in the
shape of loans, to be repaid, and not given in the way of
subsidy. Mention had been made about increasing their
rates, but what they had to fear in the country, he considered,
was an increase of officers and boards. If pensions to all the
officers had to come out of the public funds, then there would
be an immense increase in the rates.

The resolutions, as proposed by Mr. Dun, were unanimously
agreed to, and a vote of tlianks was passed to Mr, Dun for liis
paper.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

507

THE LOST LANDS OF LINCOLNSHIRE

What is most surprising at first thought in connect lou witli
the devastation caused by the tides upon tlie Lindsey coast,
and witliiu the lluuiher, is the rapidity with winch land las
disappeared in comparatively recent times, as opposed to le
certainty that no such serious waste took place prior to the
nth century. Looking at all the facts, it would almost ap-
pear certain that up to that period the Humber was tideless.
Since then, at the lowest computation, not less laud has been
devoured on the Lincolnshire side than would form a belt tour
furlongs wide the whole distance from Tetney haven to the
Trent falls. Where are Owle and Ilonfleet ? " Gone to
Humber," as the Marshmen say of anything irrecoverably
lost. The former was a hamlet to Clee, upon Glee ness which
for a long time subsequent to the beginning ot the 12th cen-
tury extended broad and elevated from the present clill at
Cleethorpes to where the raid-channel of the Humber uovv is.
The latter was a iishing port situate two furlongs distant Iroiu
the present foreshore of Stallingbro' marsh opposite the out-
fall of the old fleet drain, and stood upon a similar projection
of laud Dsdy. Bk. mentions terra in WenjM (Uontlet) et ^
StaUnbimj (Stallingbro') inland and some of the manor ot
Cheleli (Keelby), and Dugdale says -. " King Henry I- granted
to the Priory of Gt. Grimesby, wiiich he founded, the lOtli
penny of all his Farraes in Leishy (Luceby) and Gnuiesby, and
the Tylhe of all Jhh in his Port of Honjlet." Many years
ai^o, induced by some lingering traditions communicated by
the Marshmen, the writer made search at lowest ebb of tide
for any vestige or relic of the place, but without other result
than narrowly escaping the fate of King Humber. Passing over
the intermediate space, it may be observed that Barton- /vjo«-
Huraber, or a considerable portion of it, appears tated to become
Barton-/'/ Humber. The waste at Barrow, Barton, and i'ernby
within living memory has been enormous : at the latter
place are some living who hnve heard their fathers men-
tion having seen the hounds in full cry followed by a ga lant
field of huntsmen where now the river steamers pass along
vvith ebbing tide. jSeithcr history nor tradition tells of a
lloraan town having once existed upon the bank below teniby
Cliff, but whilst for now many years past by degrees and re-
lentlessly devouring its site, Humber has revealed the tact,
bringing to light countless fragments of pottery, urns (some
cinerary), vases, Roman silver and bronze and Saxon gold
coins, fib'uhe in great variety, amber beads, leather sandals,
and various other evidences of ancient population and wealth.
In the aquatic character of its site, which is or was not more
than an average level of 2 feet above high water, this lost
town has a stronger claim than Alkburgh to be considered the
Aquis Sta. of the Romans. The old Barton-street from Louth,
via Keelby, undoubtedly extended to this point, from whence
the Romans may have had a frajedus as well as from Win-
tringham haven, but the position must have been singular and
dangerously low through liability of being swept by floods, it
we believe that the Humber has undergone no change ot level.
The positions of various sites once occupied along the Trent
banks are equally remarkable, and the fact that m Roman
times the Isle of Axholm was well wooded and populated in
places now liable to frequent inundation, is altogether irrecon-
cilable with a belief that the Higre (^y-gre) or "tide-wave
ever reached thereunto in those times, unless, at least, we
accept the theory of a subsideuce, uniform and general, ot all
the low lands adjacent to the Humber. Camden gives the
sayiug of some old men of Thorne in reierence to the sub-
sidence of the land thereabout, "that whereas tliey could
before see little of the steeple of Gowle, they now see the
churchyard wall." In all peaty soils subsidence is a well-
known natural consequeuce of drainage, but the Isle having
beeu as .veil drained in Roman times as at any subsequent
period, we require something more to account for it;s pre-
sent almost uaiform and general low level. Has its de-
pression been brought about suddenly, or acclerated by some
such extraneous causes as earthquakes ? This is not unlikely,
though history were altogether silent respecting such phe-

nomena during the last eight or nine ceu uries In the 38
Hen 11. a great flood happened iu Holland, Lindsey, and
Holdernessercountreys of England, the 10th of October, which
came in Alnigham, wherethrough a great portion ot laud, with
houses and people, were drowned" (Stow's Chron ). i us was
an extraordinary rise of the ocean. Again, " About the year
1357 the tides in the river Humber flowed higher oy four ieet
thau formerly." Dugdale thinks for several years afterwards,
and mentions frequent repairs ot sea-banks. Was tins a per-
manent rise of tlie water, accompanied by a corresponding sub-
sidence of the low lands, the etfect of an earthquake P Any
positive information iu the alUrmative would explain the dis-
appearance of so many old boundaries to the increasing widtli
of the Humber since that date. Its channel is said to be con-
stantly shifting owing to changes of curient, but it has proba-
bly never altered much in depth, certainly not lessened ; lor
whilst a gravelly bar across its entrance is found at 5 fathoms
with water suddenly deepening to 13 on the outside, the
scour of the tides maintains 7 fathoms for some miles within.
The idea entertained by some that what is lost to Lincolnshire
is gained by Yorkshire lacks support. True, a considerable
area has been lately reclaimed on that side, but nothing in
comparison to what ilolderness has lost. Where is the famous
and once great port of Ravenspurn, or Ravenserodd {ha-en-
cidr-od—viuon the earthen or alluvial ridge), within the Spurn
the once great rival to the port of Grimsby ? Trinity sand
alone marks its site. Yorkshire may mourn its own lost lands,
and has urgent need for looking to the strength and preserva-
tion of its aquatic barriers. Spurn, or " Spooen,' as the Clee-
thorpes flshermen insist upon calling it, spite of all correc-
tion from fashionable and educated tourists, and as though
determined to preserve the dialect of their forefathers, but pro-
bably unconscious of so nearly representing the sound ot the
old Keltic Cep-o-eu, meaning " headland," is a mere ghost of
Ptolemy's Ocelli'M Promontoriiim (Ocellum from the Keltic
.iV pronounced zE/we/," a stream, ' or river, any tailing or
ftowi'u"' water"). The recent prohibition to shipping gravel
therefrom came not a day too soon, for the head was already
threatened with isolation from the mainland ; a bad job ior^a
large portion of Holderness if it should ever happen. Ptolemy s
name for the Humber, Ahvs, is derived from the Keltic Ap^ ovce,
" the river-laud waters" of itself equivalent to " iEstuary. 1 he
name in modern use comes from the Kymric, Old VVelsli
Humyr (Kelto-Gothic .% Om Gyr), " the river plaine of the
Marsh," but contains ,no allusion as popularly supposed to the
noisy aud turbulent nature of its flood as described lu Dray-
ton's lines —

" What flood comes to the deep
Than Humber that is heard more horrible to roar ?
For when my Higre comes I make my either shore
Even tremble with the sound that I afar do send."

Great as the waste has been within the Humber, it has been
far exceeded along the coast. Not a shore township of Lindsey
exists but has its traditions of large tracts of land eaten away
by the sea. Oldfield mentions a tradition of the Marshmen
tiiat from Ingoldmells and Skegness the land once projected
to the outer Dowsing, a sand bank at seven fathoms depth,
about 20 miles distant eastward. His informants, however,
confounded two sets of traditions, one relating to the inroads
of the sea within the last six or eight centuries, the other to
the sudden submergence of the original coast lands of Lind-
sey, embracing about equal to one-fourth its present area,
which must have happened before the commencement of the
Christian period. The traditions embodied in the Old Welsh
Triads make allusion to occurrences which might, and no doubt
did produ.;e this catastrophe. " The three chief islands of Bri-
tain were Ore, Manaw (the Isle of Man), and Gwyth (the Isle
of Wight.) Afterwards the sea broke ia, so that Mon (Angle-
sey) became an island, and in like manner Ore was so broken
as to become a multitude of islands, and other parts in Al-
bania and Wales became islands" (Triad 66). The truth of

508

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

this is corroborated by Neuuius, where, iu tlie enumeration of
the isles dependent on Britain, having mentioned the isles of
Man and Wight, he says, " The third is Orcania, that is the
Orcades ; for thus an ancient proverb expresses it when applied
to judges or kings, ' he gave law to Britain and its three is-
lands.' " That tlie sea was sole agent to rending the Orcades
asunder, and out of one forming so many isles, might be
doubtful ; but m another Triad, the 13th, we are told of the
second great calamity of Britain, " the calamity of the dread-
ful fire, when the earth opened to the abyss, and the greatest
part of all living were destroyed." From the Triads tlie
eruption appears to have been prior to the inundation, and the
latter to have been owing to an elevation of the bottom of the
sea, which probably preceded the explosion. Traces of volcanic
action are numerous iu the nortli of Ireland and Scotland, and
Dr. Hamilton's account of the Giant's Causeway is interesting
ia relation to this subject. Was the North Sea tideless like
the Mediterranean, and only entered over reefs, or through
straits of shoal water, prior to these calamitous changes ?
There is some suspicion of it. The Welsh name oi the Baltic,
Llychlpi — i. e., " the lake of standing water" — seems to
imply that the Sound was opened by this inundation, whicli
Florus assigns as the cause of the emigration of the Cimbri :
" The Cimbri, Theutoui, and Tiguriui, exiled from the
extremity of Gaul by an inundation of the sea over their
territories, went in search of places to settle in wherever
they might find them." Here is abundant testimony to
shape and fix au idea of the time and extent of the devata-
tion. According to the Triads, the latest arrival of im-
migrants to this island whilst it was under a pure Celtic dy-
nasty were " The people of Galedin (Flanders), who came in
open vessels tchen their country was drowned, and had lands
given them by the Kymry." These people of Galedin" were
the latest additions to the Gothic element, which grafted into
the Keltic stock, produced the ethnic life and character thence-
forward known as the British. They were also identical witJi
the Huns (o-hanns) " strangers," to whom were given all tlie
low lauds adjacent to the Humber. Aucient writers too often
indulged in hyperbole and a mischievous practice of indivi-
dualizing the names of persons and provinces, and hence ori-
ginated the fable of " Humber, king of Huns," being pursued
in flight after battle and drowned, with all his people, in the
flood. At the time when these occurrences took place, we can
only mark the limits within which it is most likely tliat they
did so, that is, between the years 700 and 400 before the Chris-
tian era. According to Tysilio, about the former, tlie Kymry
(old Welsh) first came into the island, and about the latter a
new dynasty, the British, was founded by Dyfnwal Mcclmud,
a Girvau prince, and a native of the province of the Old Gur-
tanni, who began liis reigu not long subsequent to the arrival
of the Huns, or " people of Galedin." With these data to go
upon, the disappearance of the original coast lands of Lincoln-
shire may be safely held to have taken place between the years
550 and 400 B.C. Great part of this original coast outline was
undoubtedly of the same geologic formation as Hunstanton
cliff, and when it became submerged would form a subaqueous
reef over which the tide broke with diminished force upon the
new shore. Its outline may yet be pretty accurately traced
by 5 fathom soundings from opposite Gibraltar point, past the
inner Dowsing to the outer and thence to the Huraber's mouth,
the depth on the outside varying from 10 to 18 fathoms. Cen-
turies appear to have elapsed before this natural barrier gave
way to the increasing tide- wash of the sea, but once breached
its destruction would rapidly follow ; tidal action reduc-
ing its firmer parts into those beds of gravel which now strew
the sea-bottom or are washed up by the waves along the shore.
Then commenced that long series of devastations concerning
which so many traditions exist. A broad headland reaching
two miles out from North Somercotes, and which is said to
have been linked to the Spurn of Holderness by a subaqueous
ridge, at much less than five fathoms depth, extending from
point to point, has been swept away ; the naze of the Skean,
or " principal river" of the district, one extending as far out
from Skegness and Ingoldmells, has met the same fate, and
within the intervening space, the sites of many once populous

towns and important havens have altogether disappeared iu
the sea. It is found that simultaneously with the drowning of
the original coast lands, they, with other portions of terra
inland over which tlie flood swept, became covered with a
layer of clayey warp, in some places of considerable thickness.
Opposite Sutton and elsewhere on the coast the action of the
water has displaced this covering, uutil at lowest ebbs of the
tide a number of low islets lying from east to west are exposed
to view, showing thereon the hurried surface and forest growth
of 2,500 years ago. Sir Joseph Banks had his curiosity so
much excited about these islets that his friend Correa da Serra
was pursuaded to join Jiim in au exploration, Sept. 1796, and
afterwards wrote an interesting account of them. They are
most numerous opposite Huttott, Addlethorpe, and Mable-
thorpe, but extend to Donna Nook, and cover a space of about
a mile in breadth. They are generally covered with the roots,
prostrate trunks and branches of trees, chief among which
appear the oak, birch, and fir. The soil to which the
roots are affixed and in which they grew, is a soft
greasy clay, the same in nature as that found beneath
buried trees throughout all the fen and carr lands of the
county ; and in most of the islets is covered witli a thick
layer of rotten leaves. The roots, bark, and leaves of the
trees are for the most part found as fresh and perfect as they
would be when growing. The timber is mostly decomposed
or rotten, and the soundest portions brought to shore are found
liable to rapid decay, so that the term " fossil" applied to these
remains is a mistake, there being nothing fossil about them iu
the sense in which geologists now use that word. The islets
are locally known as " clay huts," but (Keltic ot) meaning " a
ridge." That the shores of the Welland estuary have sufi'ered
waste iu proportion to tliat already mentioned admits of no
doubt, though we cannot estimate so nearly its extent. From
very early times, times long antecedent to the lloraan, the
energies and skill of successive generations of Girvans, or
" Marsh dwellers," haye been directed to the defence of their
lands from the inroads of the watery element; uot always suc-
cessfully or without relapse, but often with a sublime persist-
ence of eifort iu face of frequent reverses and damage to their
works in the struggle with their great and powerful enemy.
So early as 180 b c, and prior to the arrival of the Belgic im-
migrants driven from Gaul by the first successes of the Ilomans
in tliat country, there was a Girvan King named Bladud, or,
as Tysilio, the ancient Welsh writer, names him, Blaiddyt, in
whose time we are told there was a culminating drought
of three years and seven months' duration. He was a
descendant of the great founder of British nationality
above mentioned, built the " lloyal" town of Stamford,
and was the Vandermuyden, or most enterprising drainage
engineer of the age in which he lived, having .'sis name
from his skill in " fencing out, or environing the fen
waters with strong embankments." . Even in those days
there were men of uo common order in Eastern Britain, as
the statements of ancient writers abundantly testify. Ptolemy's
name for the AVellaud river, Mcetaris, presents so thin a dis-
guise of the Kelto-Gothic Mce-te-mr-cey, undoubtedly the
native appellation, that it clearly describes a river held up in
its course above the adjacent levels by artificial means ; more-
over, in the jR(/i'-<?« "raised or elevated land" bank, errone-
ously called Koman's bank; the Te-apens (Deepings), " arti-
ficial water-courses or canals ;" the Meets (Mabl, Make, Mel,
Moul, &c.), "meles or embankments;" the otes &ni[ te-otes
(Tofts, Todes, Tothes, Wads, Woades, &c.), " artificial banks,
ridges, and causeys," &c. &'c., so many remains of which are
spread over all the low lands of Lincolnshire, we see evidence
of enterprise and skill that may be safely ascribed to the age
of Bladud, whose subjects whilst executing these works named
them in terms familiar to their common dialect, and so fixed
the nomenclature of their o ceyl, or " river-lands " (Hollands)
for all time to come. In conclusion, it may be observed that
for all the land irrecoverably lost from our borders, it is some
consolation to know that the genius and enterprise of those
old Girvans yet survives amongst us ; witness the reclama-
tions in progress at Wingland, and others accomplished or
projected elsewliere. — H. E. S. in Stamford Mercury.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

509

STOCK-BREEDING.

BY THE NOKTHERN FARMER.

The marked dimitiution in the number of newly dropped
calves sent to market during the present season, and the
greatly increased difficulty of procuring calves to rear in
districts where no later than last year they were
to be had in moderate abundance, shows unmistakably
that the high price of store stock has aroused
breeders to the importance of rearing every
young animal that the resources and limits of their
accomodation will permit. To all appearance there will
be no necessity for interference on the part of the Govern-
ment with the view of preventing the slaughter of calves
or lambs, self-interest on the part of the breeder inducing
him to hold over the bulk of his young stock for the sake
of increased profit in the future, and compelling con-
sumers to very materially lessen their consumption of
such meat. The demand for young store stock being al-
most unprecedented, and the prices realized so high as to
reader a profit on their being sold fat to the butclier
highly problematical, the dairy farmer by turning his
attention more to rearing his calves than he has hitherto
done, and sacrificing a part of the income derived from
the usual products of the dairy, milk, butter, or cheese,
may augment his aggregate receipts very considerably.
Witli yearling cross-bred cattle of fair bone and substance
making easily £10 a head, it is obvious that the man who
breeds inferior stock, or who having them moderately
well-bred, feeds badly, grudging the quantity and lowering
the quality of the milk supplied, until it barely supports
life, stands very much in his own light. Such injudicious
management can have but one result, and that iucontest-
ably the picking of his onru pocket. A niggardly person
is quite unable to rear a calf well, and no employer should
entrust this department of his business to a stingy-
miuded servant, however respectable, as such a nature
can never yield to give the poor things a full supply. In
the enueavour to make the most of everything, the milk
will often be in an advanced state of decomposition before
it is presented to them, causing serious disarrangement
of the digestive organs, and a continual resort to medicine,
a thing seldom required when good food and plenty of
it is given from the period of birth. The extreme rates
at which cattle are now selling oilers the most powerful
argument in favour of liberality in feeding, any amount
thereby deducted from the cash receipts in other ways,
being amply made up by the extra value of the cattle
reared. The relative value of a well-nourished calf on
the one hand, and on the other, the immediate produce
sold from the dairy, are as nearly as possible
balanced, nay, in point of fact, if there is a difference it
rests in favour of the former, and that unquestionably
when the dams are of a good sort, and crossed with a
pure Shorthorn sire. Assuming this to be an admitted
and incontrovertible fact, many of the economical mix-
tures largely used with the milk in particular districts
may, with much profit to those who have been in the
habit of using them, be dispensed with, and a more
generous allowance substituted. Under the altered con-
ditions of the pi'esent time for the better, the most ob-
jectionable foods are infusions of hay, commonly styled
hay-tea, and skim-milk which has been permitted to
stand uutil every particle of the cream has been extracted.
la the spring, milk being mostly the produce of man-

golds, is at best extremely thin, and when skinned pos-
sesses but little nourishment, and is consequently in-
capable of building up a strong bony structure, and im-
parting a souud constitution to the animals compelled to
exist on it. Economy is excellent in principle, but it is
overdone when, for the ^sake of present gain, much future
pi'ofit is sacrificed, and cattle reared in such a way as to
make, when a year old, only half what they would easily
have done had they been attended to with greater libe-
rality. The first cost of a badly-fed calf is exactly the
same as that of one well fed, the cost of attendance is
also the same ; so that the sole difference in cost between
the one and the other is the value of the small quantity
of extra food which is required to distinguisli liberality
from semi-starvation. This difference on the day of dis-
posal will to a certainty be made up to the owner to an
extent far and away beyond what it cost to turn out his
young stock in the style and condition necessary to secure
such an advantage. Although strongly advocating the
use of skimmed milk not too long left down, and assist-
ing it with preparations of linseed or Indian-meal, I
yet consider that, under the greatly altered circumstances
in connection with the increased price for live stock, while
the price of milk and butter remains comparatively unal-
tered, the pure milk as drawn from the cow could not be
turned to more profitable use in country districts than by
giving it to her calf in such proportion as it may require,
for a considerably extended period before substituting any
portion of skim-milk. The encouragement given to do
this is at the present time very great, good cattle being
in such demand for the rich grazing districts, while
those which are badly bred, badly reared and unthrifty,
must still go to the holders of poor land at a miserable
price, the prosperity of the cattle trade scarcely affecting
them pecuniarily. Apart from the meals already al-
luded to for strengthening the milk, and enabling a larger
number of calves to be reared on a limited
quantity, much benefit is derived from placing
a few slices of turnips or mangold, according to season, in
troughs, and hauging a bunch of sweet hay in such a
position that the occupants of the pens can conveniently
reach it. At four weeks old they will begin to nibble at
both, and in a fortnight thereafter there will be a perceptible
quantity consumed, this food greatly assisting condition,
more especially when a few crumbs of oilcake are scat-
tered over the sliced roots. When three months old the
quantity of this kind of food consumed will be consider-
able if it has been given regularly ; and if found necessary
to withdraw the greater portion of the milk at that age, it
may be done without the slightest danger of retrogression,
the young creatures being quite capable of sustaining
themselves on roots, hay, and oilcake. There is a prin-
ciple developed in this mode of treatment which is of the
utmost importance iu rearing cattle, and that is having
them accustomed to the variety of food they must subse-
quently subsist on before the supply of milk is wholly
withdrawn, the same course being followed in subsequent
changes. By attending to this much trouble is
avoided, the sleek condition laid on by the liberal feeding
is retained, and no loss or depreciation in value has to be
submitted to. If the pasture available for the calves is
unavoidably bare, which contingency frequently occurs

510

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

where a heavy stock is regularly ke2)t, particularly in dry
seasons, they may be kept ia the yards for a considerable
portion of the summer on bulky food when they have
previously learned to eat it freely, going on the pastures
when from a change in the weather or other favourable
circumstance they are able to obtain a full bite. Late
dropped calves may thus be held on in houses or yards,
according to convenience, all through the autumn and
winter, never being put out to the fields at all, until the
succeeding spring, reaching that age in far better health
and condition than if they had been forced to obtain a
living in the open field with older and necessarily stronger
cattle, unless grass of a succulent and nourishing charac-
ter was to be had in abundance. Every one knows the
proverb about what it requires to moke a good milk cow,
but with young cattle no less than with the grown cows
is this true, as the value of every animal is in exact pro-
portion to the treatment it receives. If fully fcd when
at the pail a good |foundation is laid for the succeeding
stages of its existence, and continuously good treatment
will not fail to make it profitable for whatever purpose it
may be required, whether for the butcher or the dairy.
Many valuable lessons may be learned in the art of cattle-
breeding by keeping a few notes every year of the history
of each calf, as for instance its age, descent, the food or
mixture of foods on which it was reared, and its capability
for taking them. At a year old there will be found a
vastly greater diversity in the size, condition, and health
of a large lot of young cattle than there was
when they were taken from the milk, it being
so much easier to preserve equality of appearance in
the earlier stages, by giving the young, puny, or delicate
calves milk of superior quality or in greater quantity.
When, however, the time comes that they must neces-
sarily subsist on food of a bulkier and possibly less nutri-
tious nature, not so easily assimilated by the digestive
organs, those in which a sound constitution is hereditary
at once take the lead, visibly increasing in bulk and
stature; while those not so fortunate become noticeable
as shy feeders, require much care and petting to retain a
moderate degree of health, and by the time the spring
comes round have not increased in size or value in a mea-
sure proportionate to the expenditure which they have
occasioned. The cows, which by experience and obser-
vation in this way have been ascertained to breed delicate
calves, difficult to rear, and apt to lose condition and be-
come delicate during winter, should either be got rid of
altogether, or if valuable for the milking quality their
calves disposed of at birth. The cow that habitually
breeds a useful souud-constitutioned calf is well worth
keeping, when also a good milker. Her progeny should
therefore be marked and kept as permanent stock on the
farm, and every bad thriver got rid of as soon as it is
ascertained they are so, no matter at what apparent sacri-
fice for the time-being- Selling the best animals every
year for the sake of the extra cash which they make is
the surest road to deterioration and loss that a farmer can
follow, and should be rigidly struggled against, no matter
how great the temptation, or however high the price that
may be offered. The tiller of the soil having much longer
to wait for a return on his capital than the merchant or
tradesman, it becomes doubly his duty to take all the
advantage possible of the opportunities which Nature has
given him. It should be his constant endeavour, by the
exercise of theoretical knowledge and practical skill, to
grow crops in abundance, doubling and trebling if pos-
sible the yield on each acre by liberal mannrial dressings,
and breeding stock of such excellent quality as to enable
him, by the considerable sums realized, to meet his lia-
bilities with punctuality on the day they become due, and

to live in a style befitting a man of education and ac-
knowledged position. AVhile the merchant may turn his
capital over and over again in the course of a few months,
no earthly power can enable the farmer to take more than
one crop of corn in a year from his land, or get a live
calf until the full period of gestation has elapsed. Hence
his opportunities for obtaining profit on his capital
being few, his vigilance can never be permitted to
slacken, if he means to achieve success and realize
a competence for his declining years. It is pretty
generally admitted that few men have the ability to
accumulate a fortune out of the profit of farming
alone, but that money may be made in moderate abund-
ance, while at the same time a respectable style of living
is kept up, is proved by so many instances in every dis-
trict of country possessing ordiuarily good land that the
assertion will scarcely be looked upon by any one as
exaggerated. Mere hard work does not forward the
interests of those engaged in agriculture so very much,
even in the case of the small occupier, who takes a share
himself in the toils of the field ; and ou a larger scale, the
employer of labour who continuously attempts to drive
workmen beyond the usual pace necessary to the fulfil-
ment of a fair and honest day's task, is seldom seen to
benefit perceptibly by his ungenerous exertions. Skilful
management, combined with a moderate amount of per-
sonal labour and activity, secures by far the most success-
ful results, the miud relieving the body of the weightiest
part of its burden, when prudence and forethought are
both cultivated. "\Vhen a man cleans his land well, and
manures highly, placing on it stock only of good quality,
he lays the best possible foundation for building up a
superstructure of agricultural prosperity, and if his com-
mercial transactions are conducted on as sound principles,
he can scarcely fail in attaining an independent position.

THE VEGETABLE BEEFSTEAK.— This fungus, Mhich
resembles a great red tongue protruding from the tree-stems,
when once known can never be mistaken for any other species.
It generally coufiaes itself to old (and often prostrate) oaks;
but in Epping Forest it is not uncommon ou the beech. We
have also seen it more than once on the ash ; and it has been
observed on the chestnut, walnut, willow, and other trees. We
have tasted it from various habitats, but have never been able
to detect the least ditference in the flavour. Although such a
large fungus, its growth is very rapid, soon appearing, and
again disappearing, on ancient trunks in the autumn. When
cut, broken, or bruised, it distils a copious red juice like beef
gravy. " When grilled," says Dr. Badham, " it is scarcely to
be distinguished from broiled meat, and Berkeley describes it
as " one of the best things he ever ate, when prepared by a
skilful cook." There is a very slightly acid flavour in the fun-
gus when cooked, which adds considerable piciuancy to the
dish ; it is extremely tender, succulent, and juicy, and resembles
tender steak or tongue in a remarkable manner, the juice it
distils being in taste and appearance like gravy from an excel-
lent broiled rumpsteak. Of course, it should be gathered
when quite young, fresh, and clean, and at once prepared for
the table in the following manner : wash and dry, and cut into
quarter-inch slices half an inch wide, soak in scalding water
for five minutes, and stew with butter and lierbs ; yolk of egg
may then be added, and serve hot ; or simply slew with a good
steak, adding a scallion and parsley, salt and pepper. — Tie
Garden,

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

511

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.

Monthly Council, Wednesday, May 1. — Present:
Sir Watkia W. Wyan, Bart., M.P., President, in the
chair ; Earl Cathcart, the Earl of Leicester, the Earl of
Powis, Viscount Bridport, Viscount Ossington, Lord
Chesham, Lord Kesteven, Lord Tredegar, Lord Vernon,
the Hon. Wilbraham E^erton, M.P. ; the Hon. H. G.
Liddell, M.P. ; Sir T. Dyke Acland, Bart., M.P. ; Sir
T. Ilesketh, Bart., M.P. ; Sir A. K. Macdonald, Bart. ;
Mr. Barnett, Mr. Barthropp, Mr. Booth, Mr. Bowly,
Mr. Cantrell, Cobnel Challoner, Mr. Davies, Mr. Dent,
M.P. ; Mr. Druce, Mr. Edmonds, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs,
Mr. Hornsbv, Mr. J. Boweu Jones, Colonel Kingscote,
M.P. ; Mr. b. Mcintosh, jMr. Milward, Mr. Kandell,
Mr. Ransome, Mr. Ridley, M.P. ; Mr. Rigden, Mr.
Sandnv, Mr. Shuttleworth,"Mr. Statter, Mr. Stone, INIr.
Thompson, Mr. Torr, Mr. G. Turner, Mr. Jabez Turner,
Mr. Wakefield, INIr. Webb, Mr. Welby, M.P. ; Mr. John
WeUs, Mr. Wells, M.P. ; Mr. Whitehead, Mr. Jacob
Wilson, and Dr. Voelcker.

Colonel R. Loyd Lindsay, M.P., was elected a governor

of the Society.

The following new members were elected :

Abell, John, Middletou Park, Sudbury, Derby

Barker, D. Wilson, Mayfield House, Worcester

Badcock, Richard, Abingdon, Berks

Bell, J. Atkinson, The Firs, West Heath, Basmgstoke

Battle, LTriah, Yeovil, Somersetshire

Burlinehara, Henry, Lansdowue, Evesham

Cook, T. Eborall, Newport, Monmouthshire

Colvile, Captain Augustus H. A., Churnet Grange, Leek,
Staffordshire

Dodwe',1, John, Manor House, Long Creudon

Elliott, Henry, 7, Clifton Place, Newport, Monmouth

Ferris, J. Wakefield, Farhill Farm, Fairford

Heatley, John, BrouRhton, Harmer Hill, Salop

Holloway, Joseph, Tntbury, Burton-on-Trent

James, David, Cawrence, Cardigan

Johnson, E. T., jun., Moffatt House, Bow-road, Middlesex

Jones, T., Talardd, Llanybyther, Carmarthen

Keeble, George Colby, Narbertli, Pembrokeshire

Lempriere, Major H., Stone Court, Penbury, Tunbridge Wells

Marsh, R., Pen-y-bedd, Burry Port, R.S.O., Carmarthen

Phillips, Charles, Newport, Monmouth

Prout, Wra. A., Blount, Sawbridgeworth, Herts
Roberts, Roberts, The Firs, Chester

Rarasden, Sir John Wra., Bart., Byram, Ferrybngde, "iork
Rossey, Wm., Llanelly, Carmarthenshire
Rowell, Wra., Peterborough, Northaraptonsbire
Smith, George, Fitz Farm, Aspatria, Cumberland
Saunders, T. Chapman, Watercombe, Dorchester, Dorset
Street, George, Maulden, Ampthill, Bedfordshire
Searson, Samuel, Peterborough, Northamptonshire
Surraan, Wra., Bushley, Tewkesbury
Worrall, Edward, Sulham, Reading, Berks
Woolley, Thomas, Newton Regis, Tamworth
Workman, Henry, Coedkernew, Castletown, Cardiff.

Finances. — Major-General Viscount Bridport pre-
sented the report, from which it appeared that the
Secretary's receipts during the past month had been ex-
amined, and were found correct. The balance in the
hands of the bankers on April 30 was £1,595 Ss. 6d.,
£2,000 remaining on deposit at interest.

Journal. — Mr. Thompson (chairman) reported that
Mr. C. G. Roberts, who greatly distinguished himself
at the Society's educational examinations some years
ago, had accepted the office of reporter of the trials of

implements at Cardiff. The committee recommended
that copies of the publications of the Society be
exchanged with the Agricultural Society of East
Flanders. This report was adopted.

GENEK.iL, Cardiff.— Lord Kesteven reported that the
committee had arranged a programme of the Cardiff
meeting, which they recommended for adoption by the
Council. This report was adopted, and the programme
of the Cardiff meeting ordered to be printed and circu-
lated amongst the niembers of the Society in the usual
manner.

Judges Selection. — Mr. Milward (chairman) re-
ported that the judges of stock and implements had
accepted the invitation of the Council in all classes.
The committee, therefore, recommended that they be now
formally appointed, and that an additional judge be ap-
pointed in the division which includes the classes for
mountain sheep. With reference to the question put
by the New South Wales Agricultural Society, as to the
mode of judging stock, &c., by points, they could not
recommend that plan for guiding the judges. This report
was adopted, after an addition had been proposed by Mr.
Jacob Wilson, seconded by Mr. Thompson, and carried
by 16 votes against 15, to the effect that an additional
judge of Welsh cattle be appointed.

Education. — Mr. J. Dent Dent, M.P., reported that
the eductional examinations had been held at the Society's
rooms on the days from Tuesday, April 16, to Saturday,
April 20, inclusive. The three candidates who had
entered at the proper time, and eight of those who en-
tered too late to compete for prizes, appeared and were
examined. Mr. T. S. Minton was the only one of those
who were eligible for prizes who succeeded in satisfying
the examiners, and he gained a First-class Certificate, the
Life Membership of the Society, and the Prize for Agri-
culture, in which subject he passed a very good examina-
tion. Of the other gentlemen, four passed and four
failed. Mr. Brown, Mr. Champion, Mr. Ashdown, and
Mr. Elwell obtained First-class Certificates, and with
them the Life Membership of the Society. Dr. Voelcker
had reported favourably of the papers in chemistry, which
clearly indicated that the candidates had been well
grounded in the principles of chemical science, and that
even amongst those who failed, the failure had arisen
more from want of extensive knowledge of the subject
than from imperfect study of that which they had learnt.
Professor Twisden, the Examiner in Mechanics and Land
Surveying, had reported favourably as to the papers on
the latter subject; in the former, Messrs. Elwell and
Champion had passed thoroughly satisfactory examina-
tions, and several other candidates had done fairly well,
but the leading defects in almost all the papers were the
absence of clear and concise statements of principles and
matters of fact. Professor Morris, the Examiner in
Geology, had remarked that it would be advisable for
candidates to pay attention to the succession of the stra-
tified rocks, their mineral characters and economical pro-
ducts, as well as the other special bearings of geology
upon agriculture. The committee recommended that the
thanks'of the Council be given to the examiners for their
valuable services, and that the usual fees be paid. This
report was adopted.

Showyard Contracts. — Mr. Raudell (chairman) re-

M M

612

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

ported that the showyard works at Cardiff were progress-
ing satisfactorily, and that the contractor was entitled to
his first payment on account. The committee recom-
mended the erection of a stand at the side of the horse
ring, covered with canvas, to hold 600 persons, 400 at a
charge of Is. each, and 200 in the centre at a charge of
2s. each. This report was adopted.

Selectiox. — Mr. Thompson (chairman) reported the
recommendation of the committee that the Earl of Cathcart
be recommended to the general meeting as President for
the ensuing year. This report having been adopted, the
nomination of the Earl of Cathcart as President for
1872-3 was, on the motion of Mr. Thompson, seconded
by Mr. Torr, unanimously adopted by the Council.

House List. — In conformity with the bye-laws the
Council then arranged by ballot the following election
list, to be recommended by them for adoption at the
ensuing general meeting on the 22nd inst. :

Atiendance feom the Risiitg op the OxrOED Meeting
IN 1S70, TO THE Pbesent Time.

Names.

Amos, Charles Edwards, 6, Cedar's

Road, Clapham Common, Siurey ...

Barthro]3p, Nathaniel George, Haches-

ton, Wickham ilarket, Suflfolk
Booth, Thomas Christoper, 'Warlaby,

Northallerton, Torkshire

Bowly, Edward, Siddin^ton House,

Cirencester, Gloucertershii'e

Chaplin, Henry, M.P., Blankney Hall, I

Lincoln I

Davies, David Reynolds, High Legh'

Hall, Knutsford, Cheshire i

Druce, Joseph, Eynsham, Oxford ...
Edmonds, Williain John, Southrope

House, Lechlade, Gloucestershire...!
Egerton, the Hon. Wilbraham, M.P.

(elected Nov, 1, 1871), Rostheruei

Manor, Knutsford, Cheshire

Exeter, the Marquis of, K.G., Burgh- 1

ley House, Stamford, Lincolnshire i
Horusby, Richard, Spittlegate, Grant

ham

Hoskyns, ChandosWren, M.P., Hare-
wood, Ross, Herefordshire

Kesteven, Lord, Casewick, Stamford,

Lincolnshire

Lowes, John Bennett, Rothamsted,

St. Alban's, Herts

Leicester, Earl of (elected Feb. 7,

1872), Holkham Hall, Wells, Nor-
folk

Lichfield, Earl of, Shugborough, Staf-
fordshire

Masfen, R. Hanbury (elected Feb. 1,'

1871), Pendeford, Wolverhampton.

Staffordshire , ./

Randeil, Charles, Chadbury, Evesliam^

Worcestershire

Rawlence, James (elected Dec. 6

1871), Bulbridge, Wilton, Sahsbury!

Wiltshire ''

Sanday, WilUam, Radciiffe-o'n- Trent'

Notts '

Slmttle worth Joseph,' ' " Hartsiiolm'e

Mall, Lincoln

Statter, Thomas, Stand'HaU, WJiit'e-

field, Manchester, Lancashii-e
Welby, William Earle, M.P., Newtoii

House, Folkiugham, Lincolnshire
Wells, Willian, M.P., Holmewood

Peterborough, Northamptoushu-e ' 13
Whitehead, Charles, Bai'ming House

Maidstone, Kent ' 9

I Com-
mittees.

>.p

O m

Qi

u be

'-* -t-a

1

u

a

<(

39

17

5

1

34

22

20

36

31

9

71

65

31

42

23

6

...

15

9

62

69

42

33

IMPI.EJIEXTS.— Colonel Challouer (chairman) reported

the recommendation of the committee that the report o£
the consulting engineers, honorary director and secretary,
as to the disposal ofcertain portions of the Society's testing
machinery, be adopted, and that the objects named be dis-
posed of on the best terms that the committee can obtain.
Ihis report was adopted.

Veterixarv. — Major-General Viscount Bridport
(chairman) reported that a communication had been re-
ceived from the Eoyal Veterinary College, stating that
the governors, at a meeting held on April 9, took into
consideration the veterinary privileges of members of the
Royal Agricultural Society, as revised by the Council, and
agreed to the same with the exception that the reports re-
ferred to in the last paragraph of the printed copy be made
quarterly instead of half-yearly. This report was adopted,
after Lord Bridport had drawn attention to the evidence of
increased activity at the College afforded by this proposal
to furnish quarterly reports, as well as by the recent ap-
pointment of Professor G. T. Brown as Lecturer on Phy-
siology, Therapeutics, and Pharmacj', and of Dr. T. S.
Cobbold, r.R.S., as Lecturer on Botany and Parasitic
Diseases.

Special Committee ox Receipts and Expexdi-
TURE.— Lord Vernon (chairman) laid before the Council
the report of this committee, and moved that it be printed,
as well as the documents on which it is founded, and cir-
culated amongst the members of the Council, so that it
may be discussed at the Monthly Coimcil in June. This
proposal was seconded by Mr. Milward, and carried una-
nimously.

The report of the Inspection of Sites Committee having
been read, the Council were favoured with the attendance
of Mr. Backhouse, M.P., the Jilayor of Darlington, and
Mr. T. Parrington, as representatives of the" town of
Darlington ; and of the Mayor and Town Clerk of Hull,
with l\Ir. Bannister as representatives of the town of Hull.
These gentlemen having answered the questions put to
them by the Council, and further urged the claims of
their respective localities, it was moved by Mr. Randeil,
and seconded by Mr. Milward, "That the Country
Meeting of the Society for 1873 be held at Hull." It
was then moved by Mr. M. W. Ridley, M.P., seconded by
Mr. Wakefield, and supported by the Hon. H. G. Liddell,
M.P., " That the Country Meeting of the Society for 1873
be held at Darlington." The claims of Darlington having
been further upheld by Mr. Booth, Mr. Thompson, and
Mr. Ransome ; and those of Hull by Mr. Shuttleworth,
Mr. Dent, Mr. Bowly, Mr. J. Wells, and Mr. Torr, it
was finally decided by 27 votes against 14, that the
Country Meeting for 1873 beheld at Hull.

On the motion of Mr. B. T. Braudreth Gibbs, seconded
by Lord Bridport, the cordial thanks of the Council were
ordered to be conveyed to the authorities of Darlington
and Newcastle for their invitation to the Society.

On the motion of Mr. Torr, seconded by Mr. Jacob
Wilson, it was resolved that the Country Meeting for
1874 be held at some place in the district comprising the
couuties of Bedford, Cambridge, Essex, Hertford, Hun-
tingdon, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Mr. Jabez Turner, there-
upon gave notice that, at the Council meeting when the
towns are nominated, he would move that Peterborough
be allowed to compete as the representative town of the
county of Huntingdon.

The report of the Council to the annual meeting, to be
held on Wednesday, May 22, was prepared, and ordered
to be printed,

THE FAEMER'S MAQAZINE.

313

AGRICULTURAL QUESTIONS AND AGRICULTURAL AGENCIES.

" An alliance of tenant-farmers, possessing as it would
Buch an amount of capital and ability, must of necessity
be very powerful, and would, I bave no doubt, soon
remove a great many of the grievances under which that
class now suffer. The plan I propose is as follows : Let
a meeting of those most interested in the matter be held
in London, to decide on the mode of action to be taken,
and a copy of the scheme proposed be freely circulated
throughout Great Britain, inviting co-operation. I should
suggest that until the present law is altered a fund be estab-
lished for recouping any member (if he desires it) for loss
that he may sustain from eviction, if due to any injustice
on the part of the landlord ; the name of the landlord to
be published, with a request that no one again take the
estate until compensation has been made. It may be
said that the present Chambers of Agriculture supply all
that is required by the tenant-farmers in this matter ;
but such is not the case, for while we have on the com-
mittee of those chambers the predominating influence of
landlords, it is not likely we shall have subjects which
the landlords think are opposed to their interests fairly
discussed and represented. What we want is a union of
tenant-farmers and their supporters. It is quite a mis-
take to say that the interests of the landlords and tenants
are identisal." So said " A "Western Tenant-Farmer who
encloses his address, and will be only too pleased to aid
this movement " in our Paper of a foruight since ; and
now " A North-Devon Farmer " in support of our Corn-
wall correspoudeut says in Tlte Western Times: "I
quite agree with many of the remarks made. But why
wait for a meeting to be held in the great metropolis
first ? Let meetings be held in convenient places
throughout the country that their wants may be made
known. Almost every trade and profession has its union,
and has shown that there is a benefit derived from it.
But the tenant-farmer, alas! what is he? A machine
to be kept in motion for other people's advantage. The
present Agricullural Chambers, as regards the tenant
and working farmer, are a little better than a sham."
In our paper of this day, E. P. P. K., writing from Wilt-
shire, asks "is it right that, notwithstanding the in-
creased rate of wages and high rents, tenants should
have their crops eaten up by rabbits and hares without a
chance of compensation ? To obviate this great loss, I
would propose that meetings should be called in all the
chief market towns to discuss this important question,
and when the great evils which arise from these laws are
brought to light, I believe the farmers wiU eventually
achieve as great a victory as the labourers." A committee
of the House of Commons is now making inquiiy into
the action of the Game Laws, and the committee of the
Farmers' Club is about to invite its members to give
evidence " more particularly on the practice of letting
shootings separate from farms." Mr. James Howard
will shortly call the attention of the House of Commons
to the insecurity of the tenant-farmers' capital, and his
want of freedom in cultivation. A general meeting of the
Essex Chamber of Agriculture has just declared that the
present state of the law as to entail and strict settlement of
land discourages the application of capital to the cultiva-
tion of the soil. The East Suffolk Chamber of Agri-
culture " regrets that the Budget has been brought for-
ward and a large surplus disposed of without a deputation
having waited upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer
with a view to the repeal of the Malt-tax," And Mr.

Albert Pell, M.P., is, according to his own account,
sometimes called " Cattle-plague Pell."

On Tuesday, May 7, the annual dinner of the Central
Chamber of Agriculture was held, at the London Tavern,
when the attendance was very limited, and the speeches
were very numerous. The occasion, however, was essen-
tially a business meeting, and with plenty to talk
over it would be manifestly unfair to complain of the
time spent in this way. At the present moment, as we
have just shown, the condition of the tenant-farmer
actually bristles with points, and as some of these are
coming before Parliament, the greater of course the call
on the Central Chamber of Agriculture to deal with such
subjects. A Game-Law Committee, of which Sir Michael
Beach, Mr. Sewell Read, Mr. Albert Pell, and Mr. Muntii
are members, is now taking evidence, and at the dinner
of the Central Chamber of Agriculture the game evil was
never once mentioned. A recent eviction has drawn
some very sensational attention to the unsatisfactory
terms upon which the tenant-farmer pretty generally
continues his occupation, as the insecurity of his position
is about to be brought forward as a resolution in the
House of Commons ; and at the dinner of the Central
Chamber of Agriculture Tenant-Right was never once
mentioned. The Malt- Tax has long been regarded as a
farmers' burden, and when at the dinner of the Central
Chamber of Agriculture some one in parenthesis ventured
to suggest such a question for consideration it was
shunted with aU convenient speed. Mr. Pell apparently
rejoices in the name of " Cattle-Plague Pell," because
the Chamber of Agriculture was instituted to look after
this matter in Parliament, a duty which it forthwith
handed over to the Home Cattle Defence Association.

It would be well if some careful study were bestowed
on the addresses delivered at the dinner of the Central
Chamber of Agriculture, a report to which we give
infinite space. Mr. Masfen protested against lukewarm-
ness, but beyond local taxation he does not appear to have
touched on a farmers' grievance. Sir Michael Hicks and
Colonel Grove were as charmingly obscure, as there is
scarcely a word worth remembrance in all the " amusing"
generalities to which they gave utterance. Sir Massey
Lopes advanced the moi-e startling proposition that the
Local Taxation Committee is the creature of the Chamber
of Agriculture, whereas from the manner in which not
merely at this dinner, but on many other occasions, local
taxation has been suffered to swallow up other subjects,
it is surely clear enough that the Chamber of Agriculture
is rather the creature of the Local Taxation Committee.
Mr. Storer maintained that " the object of the Chamber of
Agriculture was to advance the landed interest of the
country by every means," a somewhat indefinite de-
finition which possibly suggests more than it says ; and
Mr. Sewell Read had heard it remarked, " that the landed
interest was too much represented in the Chambers of
Agriculture ; but a proof to the contrary was the fact
that not a single landowner was called upon to re-
spond to the toast," one of the last on the list;
while by far the greater part of this long, dull even-
ing had been occupied by the chairman, Mr. Heneage,
Lord Mahon, M.P., Colonel Paget, M.P., Colonel
Parker, M.P., Sir Michael Hicks Beach, M.P., Colonel
Grove, M.P., Mr. Corrance, M.P., Mr, PeU, M.P., Sir
Massey Lopes, M.P., Mr. Muntz, M.P., and Mr.
Storer. What more could Mr. Read vnsh for, w

M M 2

514

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

what better audience to appreciate the " genteel "
tone in which his own speech was pitched ? There were
no vulgarities here about Tenant-Right or game abuses
or encumbered estates or going in against the Malt-tax,
but everything was rose-tinted to local taxation, which,
as somebody said, is quite as much a town as a country
question. The Cornish farmer declares in so many words
that the predominating influence of the landlords will tend
to prevent farmers' subjects being fa irf// discussed in such
places, and the Devon farmer declares that as regards the
tenant and working farmers these Chambers are little

better than a sham. At the dinner Mr. Whitaker was
" disappointed at the scanty number of agriculturists pre-
sent ;" but from the turn of the proceedings it is doubtful
whether they had really any business there. Such as were
must have felt very much as did the couple of honest
countrymen who on coming up to London went to the
play for the first time in their lives. Naturally they went
early enough to hear the overture, but on two or three of
the actors walking on to open the piece one whispered to
the other, " I think we had better go uovv, as these gen-
tlemen seein to be talking over their own affairs."

THE CENTRAL CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE

A special general meeting of the Chamber was held at the
Salisbury Hotel, on Tuesday, May 7, Mr. E. Heneago in the
chair.
Sir Massey Lopes, M.P., read the following report : —
In presenting their report the local taxation committee
are glad to be able to announce the triumphant
success whicli attended the motion of the chairman
in the House of Commans on the 16th April last.
The injustice which for three years your committee have
endeavoured to ventilate has now been formally admitted
by the House. By a majority of 100 the necessity for prompt
redress has been declared, and the specific relief claimed upon
this occasion sanctioned. Local taxation reform is thus at
last unmistakeahly placed in the foremost rank of those social
and administrative problems whose solution is imperatively
demanded by the country. The injustice of the cause so long
advocated by your committee was abundantly proved by the
course of the debate ; and the .irguraents so frequently urged
by them were distinctly endorsed, and so ably haudled on both
sides of the House, as to convince all who gave an unpre-
judiced consideration to the issues involved. The thanks of
your committee are especially due to the 359 members of Par-
liament, of all shades of political opinion, whose votes over-
came the resistance which was offered on this, as on previous
occasions, by the Government to any practical measure of
relief to the overbuidened ratepayers. A full and corrected
report of the debate of the 16th April, together with an ana-
lysis of the division list, and extracts from the opinions of the
press, has been issued by your committee. Copies have been
sent by them into every parish in England and Wales, ad-
dressed in each case to the guardian, and to all municipal
boroughs, addressed to the mayor. Chairmen of boards of
guardians have also been furnished with these reports, and copies
are in course of issue to chairmen of quarter sessions and clerks
of the peace. Your committee have been able also to supply
several local Cliambers of Agrieulture, and individuals, at cost
price, with copies for a still further distribution ; the Lincoln-
shire Chamberalone ordering some 2,000 copies. Your committee
are anxious to receive any suggestions as to the best means of
circulating among town ratepayers the report of this most im-
portant debate. They are convinced that the amouut of sup-
port they have hitherto received from householders would
be greatly augmented were they enabled to disseminate in
urban districts the information and arguments which, with the
help of Chambers of Agriculture, tiiey have been able to cir-
culate so widely in the country. The Government have not
at present given any indication of the course they intend to
take in the now altered position of the local taxation question.
Your committee would, however, observe that, notwithstand-
ing the very emphatic opinion expressed by the House in the
recent division, a Bill has been introduced into the House of
Lords by the Government " To Regulate the Sale of Intoxi-
cating Liquors," some of the provisions of which entail an
addition to the charge for police now unjustly borne by the
ratepayers. This is unmistakably the effect of clauses 31 and
and 56 of this bill, which proposes the appointment of addi-
tional constables as public-house inspectors. A second attempt
by the Chairman of your committee to ascertain the intentions
of the Government with regard to the assistauce to be given
by the Treasury towards new sanitary expenses has been again
evaded by Mr. Stansfeld's declining to make any statement on

the subject until after going into committee on the Public
Health Bill. Tn the present position of public business in the
House of Commons a considerable period is Ukely to elapse
before this measnre is again brought under the couiideration
of the House. Your committee have undertaken to prepare
the draft of a bill making provision for an annual general re-
turn of all sums raised and expended locally by rate-adminis-
tering bodies. Mr. Pell, Mr. Read, and the secretary have
had a long conference with Mr. Stansfeld on this subject, the
result of whicli was that the Local Government Board have
themselves undertaken to see how far the materials at present
in their hands are available for an abstract of tliis nature, and
the details of the scheme proposed by your committee are now
under their consideration. A return, purporting to show the
expenditure in cities and boroughs for police and the adminis-
tration of justice — moved for some time since by the Chair-
man of your committee — has only just been issued. It proves
to be even more faulty and defective than the similar return
recently obtained for counties. No attempt is made in this
return to give any account of expenditure incurred for lunatics
in boroughs, although this was one of the special objects
with reference to which information was asked by the Chair-
man. No figures are given under the two remaining heads
of expenditure for any period previous to the last four
years, although since the year 1835 the Home Office has
been in full possession of power to compel such accounts
to be annually furnished. The new clause proposed by
Mr. Fawcett to be added to the Parliamentary and
Municipal Elections Bill, throwing on the rates the cost
of elections, has been signally defeated by a majority of
93. In spite therefore of the support given by the Govern-
ment to tliis proposal, the House of Commons has declined to
place this additional burden on the rates, the incidence of
which they have so recently admitted to be unjust. While
your Committee are glad to be able to congratulate the Coun-
cil on their recent success, they feel that they must on no ac-
count relax their interest and energy in the work before them.
It will be their duty to maintaiu a careful watch on the pro-
gress of those measures affecting ratepayers to which they
directed attention in their last report. It will be their anxious
care also to see that the clearly-expressed opinion of the
House of Commons is not evaded or disregarded by the Go-
vernment ; and they ask the co-operation of the Council in
carrying to a successful issue the struggle for justice to
occupiers and owners alike of land and houses, which has now
been so auspiciously commenced.

Massey Lopes, Chairman.

On the motion of Mr. Hodsoll (Kent), seconded by Mr.
Neild (Manchester), the Chamber voted by acclamation,
and amidst much cheering, its thanks to Sir Massey Lopes for
the able and devoted manner in which he had fought the
battle of the ratepayers both in and out of Parliament, and to
the Executive Committees of the various Chambers for their
valuable co-operation ; and the compliment was briefly acknow-
ledged by Sir Massey Lopes.

Mr. VVoODWARD (Worcestershire) moved, and Mr. Calde-
COTT (Warwickshire) seconded, " That it is desirable that the
Government should submit to Parliament, previous to the in-
troduction of the Budget, in each year, a statement of the
whole amount paid in local rates throughout England and
W.ales, in order that local taxation may be compared with the

THE FAKMBR'S MAGAZINE.

615

imperial revenue ; and that this meeting requests the Council
to take immediate steps to support the Bill for this object
which has been drafted by the local taxation committee.

Mr M'Geaciiey (Hertfordshire) said it was only natural
that the Chamber should view with satisfaction the victory
lately achieved under the leadership of Sir Massey Lopes in
tlie House of Commons, but gentlemen seemed hardly to be
aware that, by extending those local rates over a wider area
of property, they must of necessity call attention to the fact
that, within the last 10 years, the rural police had been largely
employed under the poaching prevention act for the preserva-
tion of game, and that thereby a considerable additional ex-
penditure was incurred. If, therefore, the items with respect
to the cost of the county police were published, it was not
likely that people who lived in the back streets of towns would
be very willing to continue paying what they now did for the
employment of the police on such a duty. He quite agreed
that the rating question was in an unsatisfactory stae but
they wished to deal with it fairly, the Council should consult
the Chamber whether it was not desirable, with a view to
effecting a really useful reform in the system of local taxation
to put upon their programme a proposal to relieve the landed
interest of tlie odium which unquestionably attached to them,
let them like it or not, through the Foaching p<j;entj«n A^^

Mr Writtle (West Gloucestershire) said that the police
could only apprehend a man found with game in J'« P°^«^^«'°°
on the highway. He believed the pohce were only required
to look to^oacVmg so far as they could do \oaheh.^lv.J.
They couli only apprehend persons having about them game
or implements for taking game, on the public highway He
had niver taken a different view of the Poaching Prevention

^mVmcGeachy said Mr. Writtle was perfectly right upon
his own facts, but they were not his (Mr. McGeachy s).
The resolution was then agreed to. ,

Mr R EowLER (Dorsetshire) moved, " That the members
present pledge themselves to use their best exertions to raise
funds for carrying Local Taxation Reform to a successful issue
and regret that the liberal appeal of Sir Massey Lopes has been
responded to so inadequately, considering the magnitude of the
i^^Lests concerned.'' In doing so 1- observed that, in^ead of
being content with contributing a paltry £5 or £10 to the
fund and priding themselves on their generosity, more with
Sor hundreds of thousands derived fiom the land, ouglit
to come down with their £500 or £1,000. ,.„„,,„

Mr Genge Andrews (Somersetshire) seconded the mo-
tion and presented to the Chamber the following series of re-
solutions adopted at a meeting of the Council of the bomerset
Chamber of Agriculture and County Association of Rate-
payers, on Saturday, the 4rth inst. :

1 That this Council presents its best thanks to Sir
Massey Lopes, Bart., M.P., for the great ability tact, and per-
sev ranee with which he has secured in the House of Com-
mons a decisive majority of 100 votes in favour of placing a
portion of local taxation on the Consolidaced Pund, and con-
gratulates the ratepayers of Somerset on having supported the
motion of the lion, baronet by presenting to the House
through their county members, upwards of 200 T^ell-signed
parochial petitions. 3. That in the opinion of this Counci
ne ther the present nor any future Government can safely
refi e-afterthe recent vote of the House of Commons-such
a adical eform of the incidence of local taxation as will remove
al exemptions from the poor and highway rate assessments
3. That sound pohcy dictates to the ratepayers that they
should organise far more extensively than they have yet done
n counties, towns, and boroughs; raise larger funds, and
ao-itate this question until their representatives^ in Parliament
arfconvinced that nothing short of an extension of the area
o the rate to all income arising from real and personal pro-
perty will satisfy the just demands of those classes whose rates
are at wese^it far mo e than doul,led by the unjust exemption
o fincre aS;ing from personal property, i, That equality in
taxation imperial and focal, is a natural right; and neither
aps of ti,a^e nor any assumed ditriculties of administra ion
central or local, can be advanced as jus ifying exemptions Ion
taxes raised for the common good of al classes. 5. Ihat this
Council-and as it is justified in beheving the majority of the
ratepayers of tl^ and Ver counties-will continue to agitate
until charges, now called local, are placed on imperial funds ;
and until all income is fairly rated to the future assessments

made for the relief of the poor, the maintenance of the high-
ways, and the payment of' other charges which are at present
or in future may be placed onthose assessments.

The resolution was supported by Mr Storer (Nottingham-
shire), Mr. Walker (Nottinghamshire), Mr. Masfen (Staf-
fordshire), and Mr. Webb (Worcestershire), and agreed to.

Mr WiuT^KER proposed " That this meeting entirely ap-
prove; and adopts the subjoined resolution Pa^sed by the
council on the 16th of April, and urges the council as its
executive to empfoy every available means to cause an
adequate proportion of the expenses involved in the
Sc He^ltlNiU to be made chargeable on the mpena
taxes —That this Chamber, while sensible of the urgent
neces'sity for sanitary legislation, strongly disapproves of much
of the Government' Public Health Bill, "Pore especially the
extraordinary powers it confers upon the Local Government
Board and UiJ want of provision for consohdating the exiting
laws and considers that the attempt to saddle the whole of the
unlimited outlay for sanitary expenditure upon owners and
occupiers of property at present rateable should meet with the
mostTetermined'oppositfon." He freely admitted that sani-
tary reform was absolutely necessary, and that the country
generally called for it; but if the measure was to be encum-
bered with a large number of officials paid at the cost of one
description of property he felt that they were bound to resist
it. The scheme of the Government, moreover was arbitrary
to the extent of seriously interfering with the liberty of the

^"mT "a Startin (Warwickshire) seconded the resolution,
and said that after the late division in the House of Commons
on the motion of Sir M. Lopes, he was satisfied that no addi-
tion to the present rating would be submitted to by the com-
munity at large. As to the sanitary bill of the Government
he considered that the public health was a question of national
concern, for disease wss no respecter of persons, further he
agreed ^ith what tell from Mr. Butt in the House of Com-
mons the other night respecting Boards. Mr. Butt said that
Ireland should not be governed by Boards 5 fo^^^l^^t w^ *e
effect of Boards ? Simply to dilute responsibility. The mdi-
vidual members felt no responsibility, as all knew who were
members of Boards of Guardians. On the whole he had come
to the conclusion that Government Boards had not been a
success; in short, he thought the country had been a little
over-boarded.

After some further discussfon, in which Mr.Corrance,M.P.,
Mr. Webb, and Mr. D. Long took part, the resolution was

^ Mr^ MUNTZ (Warwickshire) proposed : " That this meeting
has learned with regret that Mr. Stansfeld declines to state
how and to what extent he proposes to P>-ovid« th^necessary
means for carrying out the enactments of the Public Heal h
Bill after the resolutfon of the House of Commons on the 16th
of April, and considers that, unless satisfactory information is
given previous to going into committee, the bill should be op-
posed by all friends of focal taxation reform."

Mr H. BiDDELL (Suffolk) seconded the proposition, and
observed that, if the Chamber would prevent another burden
from falling upon the focal rates, they must join in energeti-
cally remonstrating. He should regret to see any fresh obsta-
cle raised to the improvement of the sanitary condition of the
country • but he insisted that they had a right to know who
would have to pay for the improvement, and what proportion
of the expense was to be borne by the agricultural interest.

Mr Grove ^Monmouthshire) expressed a doubt as to the
expediency of adopting such a resolution, because it seemed to
pledge the Chamber to support a particular me of Parliamentary
tactics. The same power that had carried the motion of Sir M.
Lopes in the House of Commons would be sufficient, when the
House was m committee, to reject any proposal nwde there tor
levvinK additional local taxation to carry out a public health Act.
He should prefer, therefore, to let the matter take its course in
the House, and that the Chamber should content itself with the
expression of a hope that those members ot Parliament who
had voted for the motion of Sir Massey would continue their
support to him in the course of policy which he might pursue

in committee. , , , , , ,, i n . <■„

Mr W Egerton, M.P., avowed that he should not like to
pledg^ himself to oppose the Public Health Bill altogether,
merely on account of the question of local taxation. Besides,
it would be difficult to pass the bill at aU this session, aud he

516

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

thought it would be far better to leave the question open than
to set forth any particular grounds why the measure should be
opposed in committee.

Mr. G. Andrews concurred with Mr. Egerton that it would
be wise not to pass the resolution. H« had always understood
that the Chamber was determined never to consent to any
addition to local taxation until its incidence had been altered,
but the resolution practically invited the Government to place
a portion of the charge under the Public Health Bill upon the
poor-rate, which would be utterly at variance with the pre-
viously expressed views of the Chamber.

Mr. Neild, too, thought, with previous speakers, that the
Chamber had better wait and not anticipate evil. He believed
that the resolution rather invited taxation.

Mr. Gro\t; said that if they desired local control, they
could only have it through local taxation. Should the
resolution carried by Sir M. Lopes have any practical effect it
would be to take off two-millions-and-a-half of local taxation,
in which case the rate-payers would to that extent be benefited.
Supposing that were done, then there would not be the same
valid reason to object to a small charge for sanitary reform
being placed upon local taxation, for a certain amount of local
control would thus be retained. If, however, it were made
wholly an imperial charge, the Government would have sole
control, and find their own inspectors. The result would be
the establishment of a system of centrahzation which he was
sure no member of the Chamber would like to see. To secure
any share of local control, therefore, it was necessary that a
certain portion of the charge should be placed upon the local
rates, though the main portion should come from imperial
sources.

Mr. Andrews : But if it were borne by imperial taxation,
agriculturists would only have to pay their fair share in com-
mon with the rest of the community.

Sir M. Lopes regarded the resolution in this light. Mr.
Stansfeld had promised to make a statement, but if that were
made after the House met in committee it would be useless,
whereas if he were compelled to make it previously the friends
of local taxation reform would be able to shape their course
accordingly.

The resolution on being put from the chair, was carried with
but two dissentients.

Mr. Webb moved, and Mr, Cooper (West Riding of York-
shire) seconded : " That this meeting expresses its dissatisfac-
tion that no portion of the surplus was applied by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer to reducing the burdens which press
upon agriculture."

Mr. Neville (Staffordshire) dweltbriefly upon the injustice
of the malt duty to agricultural industry, and urged that, as
this had been allowed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and
other members of the Government, some portion of the surplus
revenue for this current year ought to have been applied to the
reduction of this impost.

Mr. Hicks (Cambridgeshire) pointed out that the state-
ment in the resolution was not correct ; for there was no sur-
plus. What was termed " surplus,' was no more than the
proceeds of the unjust taxation of last year, and but for the
second income-tax of 1871, there would have been no surplus
worth mention in 1872. He thought they had better ask that,
in future, when there was a real surplus, some part of it should
be allotted to the relief of agriculture. Having been robbed of
2d. in the pound as income tax last year, he must say that he
could not regret that the robbery had not been perpetuated
this.

IT tiraately, after some remarks from Mr. Arkell (Wilts),
Mr. Webb, Mr.T.Beardall (Notts), Mr. BiddeU, and Mr. Storer,
the resolution was adoptsd, and.

The meeting separated with a vote of thanks to Mr.Heneage,
the chairman.

The Annual Dinner took place on the Tuesday evening, at the
London Tavern, with Mr. E. Heneage in the chair, and Mr. H.
Neild as vice-chairman. The attendance was very scanty.

After the customary loyal toasts,

Mr. R. H. Maseen proposed " The Houses of Parliament."
He said he should be extremely sorry to see the time when
any attempt was made to disturb the House of Lords. As to
the House of Commons, there were many of its members pre-
sent for whom agriculturists entertained the greatest regard,

and that regard had been increased by the way in which dur-
ing the present session of Parliament they had watched the
interests of agriculture. He might instance the great and
important victory won by Sir Massey Lopes on the 8th of
April, and the manner in which he had supported the cause
of all classes and property in the kingdom entitled him to
their warmest gratitude. He (Mr, Masfen) might say that he
cared not personally on which side of the House a member
sat so long as he gave a true and faithful representation to the
interests represented by the Chamber. He valued as much as
any man the importance of party claims ,but if a truant child
misbehaved itself it would be the duty of the parent to correct
him ; and so if after they had sent a certain member to Par-
liament his constituents found that he did his duties with a
degree of supineness, or ran away from them altogether, when
the next general election came round it was their duty to let
him know he stood as much in need of correction as the
truant child. The Chamber was bound to thank all the
members of Parhament present, for they were always to be
found at their post at the proper time, determined to go straight.
The duty of the electors was first to select the men most Ukely
to serve with honour to themselves and with honesty and
integrity to those wliom they represented ; but it was further
the duty of the latter to exercise constant watchfulness lest
the representatives turned tail. The moment anyone exhibited
signs of lukewarmness, or indications that he had entered
Parliament to seek his own advantage, it was time for the
agriculturists to turn round and say to him that, party man or
no party man, he was no longer worthy of their confidence.
Agriculturists, he quite agreed, must be in their future ope-
rations moderate and consistent.

Sir MiCHAJEL Hicks Beach, M.P., regretted that there was
no noble lord present to return thanks for the Upper House,
Since the dinner of last year there had been many rumours
abroad as to the speedy abolition of the House of Lords, but
he would venture to prophecy that so long as that distinguished
body performed their work in the manner in which it was at
present performed so long would tliey have, not the respect of
the country only, but the confidence of the people. It
was sometimes urged against the House of Lords that they
represented too much the interest of the land ; but that was
the last fault which should be found with them in a Chamber
of Agriculture. It was sometimes urged against them that
they neglected various duties as individuals ; but he was con-
fident that as agriculturists they knew full well that if there
were any men throughout the country who in their individual
capacity did their best to promote the interests of agriculture,
they should look for those men amidst the members of the
House of Lords. As regarded the House of Commons, he
confessed he spoke with some little diffidence on behalf of that
assembly. Not only might he claim to be one of the youngest
members present, but he was able to say something which
perhaps a member of the House of Commons ran some risk
in saying. They liad been kind enough to drink the health of
the House of Commons. Eor his own part he must confess
he did not at all concur in the wish (laughter). Nothing
would give him greater pleasure than to see the House of
Commons, which was, as believed, one of the worst ever
returned in this country, and which at present at any rate
did not represent the feelings of the people of England, arriving
at its final dissolution (cheers). When the time arrived, and
he believed it would not be long delayed, it would be for the
country to consider what the next House of Commons should
be. As a member of the House of Commons he would take
the liberty of giving his friends one piece of advice — to watch
carefully the course of their representatives in Parliament
upon such questions as that of local taxation or the public
health. He was a party man himself, and they would hardly
believe him, perhaps, if he said he did not attach much im-
portance to party ties ; but he would ask them as agriculturists
to consider not so much whether a man was a Liberal or a
Conservative as whether he wai sound upon those questions
which agriculturists thought of most practical importance to
the well-being of the country. Reference had been made to
the victory so recently achieved by Sir Massey Lopes on the
question of local taxation. That was to his (Sir Michael's)
mind about the only thing for which the agriculturists had to
thank the present House of Commons. He asked the mem-
bers of the Chamber, as their constituents, to watch that they,
under their able leader, did their best to give effect to

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

51^

that victory, wlule the present House of Commons eu-
deavoured to derive every appreciable benefit from that splendid
majority of 100 which Sir Massey Lopes attained. There
was another point of detail equally important. He would
be the last to deny that sanitary improvement was one of the
greatest needs of the present time. It was one of the most
important measures which demanded the consideration of the
House of Commons ; but it would be for the representatives
of agriculture m tlie House of Commons to take care^ that in
achieving sanitary improvements they did not land us in worse
places. It was well said the other day by the Bishop of Peter-
borough that lie would sooner see the country free than the
country sober. He should like, if he might parody the right
rev. prelate's words, to say he would sooner see the country free
than the country clean. Sanitary improvement was a great
thing ; but lie should be sorry to see saaitary improvement
achieved at the cost of meddlesome and officious central inter-
ference, and he should be sorry to see those improvements
carried out if additional expenditure was to be placed upon one
portion only of tlie shoulders of the community. It was for
the parliamentary representatives of the agricultural interest,
therefore, to take care that these new evils were not brought
about in an attempt by Parliament to deal with the sanitary
question, and it was for the represented to see that their repre-
sentatives did their duty in the matter ; and for his own part
he must add that he beUeved nothing would help them so much
as members ot Parliament in this and all other kindred matters
as regular and careful attendance at tlie meetings of the
Chambers of Agriculture. There they were brought face to face
with men fresh from the constituencies whom they represented,
and those members of Parliament who were, perhaps, some-
what jaded and fatigued by parliamentary work were, so to
speak, freshened up by the sight of their healthy country faces,
and reinvigorated by the clear and intelligent views they took
upon important questions that happened to be uppermost. He
had always expressed, and always felt the greatest pleasure in be-
ing present at 'such meetings. This was the first dinner of the
Chamber he haa been able to attend, but he sincerely hoped it
would not be the last. In conclusion, he would only say that he
hoped the Chambers would in future be no less ussful and
powerful in political Ufe than they had been during the past year.
Col. Grove, M.P., also responded for the House of Com-
mons. He was placed in the position of sitting on the off-
side of the House to that occupied by Sir Michael Beach,
and the Chamber would therefore hardly expect him to con-
cur in all the remarks which had just been heard. Representing
the very large constituency of South Wilts as he had done for
years, and this being the second Parliament in which he had sat
in the House of Commons, he must be allowed to say that, so
far from the present being the worst Parliament of our times,
it was by far the best he ever remembered. The Irish Land
Bill, the Irish Church Bill, antd he Army Organization measure
were Bills of which any Government might be proud ("Oh"),
and although they created a good deal of opposition at the
time of their introduction, the country was now satisfied with
them (No, no). He should not, of course, have ventured to
make these remarks, had not the hon. baronet who preceded
him said what he did oi the present House of Commons. He
must confess that the Liberal party with whom he had been
acting had not been in the happy state of unity he could have
desired. If the Government could get beyond Whitsuntide
it was generally safe for the session, and no doubt if they were
in office again next session tliey would somewhat retrieve their
lost popularity. There could, at any rate, be no doubt that the
present House of Commons represented the general feelings of
the country (No, no). As a conscientious Liberal, he had
always supported the motion brought forward annually by Sir
Massey Lopes, whom he congratulated on his recent victory.
Sanitary reform he held to be a very important matter, and he
had always been a consistent supporter of it. As to the Bishop
of Peterborough's epigram and Sir Michael Beach's parody,
he (Col. Grove) could not see why the country should not be
free, clean, and sober at one and the same time. In the agri-
cultural districts some of the cottages, the agricultural build-
ings, and the drains were something frightful to see, the fault
attaching to the small freeholders rather than to the landlords.
Mr. CoRRANCE, M.P., proposed " Prosperity to the Central
and Associated Chambers of Agriculture." He asked them
to drink prosperity to an association which, take what view
they might of it, had not been towards themselves unpro-

ductive of profit. He remembered about seven years ago,
when they as agriculturists filled a very different place in the
country. Politically, the time was one of great depression,
and he might say something of the same kind with regard to
the agricultural interest, for it was the time of the cattle-
plague. Out of evil, however, he was happy to say came
good, for they were stimulated by the depressing state ot
things he had described to establish farmers' clubs and asso-
ciations, greatly through the aid of his hon. friend Mr.
Pell, whose name he would couple with the toast (cheers).
Those powerful associations forced upon an unworthy
Government and an unwilling House of Parliament a
measure which at last rescued the agriculturists Irom the
miserable position into which they had fallen. The triumphs
of the agricultural interest, it must be confessed, had been
" few and far between." The cattle-plague certainly was
one of their opportunities, and Sir Massey Lopes's victory was
another. The egg had now been laid, but it must be sat
upon before it would produce a duck, and their friend Sir
Massey Lopes was a very devil to sit. Agrculturists
might now be said to have gone from times of depression to
times which wore a more favourable aspect. He warned them
that there might stiU be times of depression, and although
they by their associations, had assumed a position which he
trusted might lead to future success, there were imminent
dangers to be guarded against in the future. But it was his
firm behef the friends of the agricultural interest would find a
power in these associated Chambers that, well conducted and
perseveringly applied, would protect them from all harm.

Mr. A. Pell, M.P., said he was sometimes called
"Cattle-plague Pell," but he had no objection, because
he always reflected that that fearful disorder from which
England suffered was not entirely productive of evil,
because from it sprang the Associated Chambers of Agricul-
ture whose existence and continued succees they were met to
celebrate that night. It was his duty, as well as his pleasure,
to thank the Chamber for the hearty manner in which the
toast had been leceived, although they were drinking their
own healths and success to an undertaking in which they
were all engaged. He, in common with other gentlemen
who had spoken, might regret that they had not a more dis-
tingnised and numerous company present, but there were good
reasons for the absence of those whom they might reasonably
have expected to see, and who were willing and desirous to
attend had it been, as in many instances he knew it was not,
possible. He wished, for example, to make a special apology
for an old and valued friend, who had sent his regrets
and sympathies— he referred to Mr. Newdegate. These
Chambers of Agriculture filled a very useful and important
position amongst the societies which were supposed to represent
the varied interests of husbandry. They had side by side with
them the Farmers' Club (cheers), composed mainly of tenant-
farmers and a small representation of the owners of land.
On the other side, they had the Royal Agricultural Society,
whose council was composed of men distinguished for their
large possessions and the useful way in which they applied
them. The Chamber of Agriculture filled a middle position.
It was composed, and might it long continue to be composed,
of those who owned the soil and those who cultivated it.
He should be very glad, for his part, if they could add to
it those who absolutely tilled the soil by their manual
labour. This led him to a subject which had really had more
importance given to it of late than it deserved by the press,
which he supposed must have been at a loss what to write
upon at the time it introduced it. He referred, and with con-
siderable regret, to the verv poor way in which the agricultural
labourers had been represented throughout the country by
those who pretended to be their very warm friends. At any
rate, he might, in connection with this subject, plead, tor
practical farmers in the constitution of their associations.
They made it a rule to select their chairman from both sides
of the House— a Tory one year, and a Radical the nest
and he was bound to say that whether a Tory or a Radical
filled it, equal satisfaction was given, and the business was
equally conducted with ability.

Mr. C. WniTAKER being called upon to respond tor the
Chamber of Agriculture, begged leave to urge upon his friends
around the necessity of unanimity. It was clear the associated
chambers were making a certain degree of progress ; but,
however satisfactory it might appear to be from the observa-

518

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

tious of previous speakers, it was not such an advaiice as
lliey might make, and it was their duty to make. It
was alike the interest of the landlord and of the tenant-farmer
to join the chamhers of their particular eounties, and to render
all the assistance tliey possibly could in the movement which
wss being made by members of Parliament, under the able
guidance of Sir Massey Lopes, for obtaining that justice
which, as a class, they were very far from possessing at
present. Much of this might be traced to the fault of the
rural districts in not rendering more sufficient service and
assistance to the central chambers, and iu otherwise letting
themselves to further the objects wliich the associations had in
Tiew. He could not look round the room without being dis-
appointed at the scanty number of agriculturists present. It
was imagined by many that the members of Parliament were
to do all the work ; but nothing was so irksome to a member
of Parliament as to feel that in the day of need he was deserted
by his constituents. It was the duty of the constituencies not
only to return members to Parliament who would look after
their interests, but to support those members in their exer-
tions to carry out the objects for the promotion of which they
had been returned. He regretted that his own Chamber had
not rendered more assiitanee to the Central Chamber. It was
not the fault of the tenant-farmers, for they had certainly exerted
themselves to the best of their power. They had supplied
subscriptions in the most liberal manner ; but at a momfnt
like this he felt that the movement in which they were en-
gaged deserved the strenuous support of every landowner and
every householder in the country. He believed the
day was not far distant when the Chambers of Commerce
would unite with the Chambers of Agriculture to obtain an
equitable adjustment of local taxation. If those Chambers
confined themselves to a few important subjects instead of
attempting, as they did, to embrace a large number, they would
be rnuch more likely to attain their ends, than by going into
a wide field of politics which produced no really practical re-
sults. As regarded the relations of the Whigs and the Tories
he hoped the members of the association would, in the first
place, look to those who were earnest in obtaining justice for
the agricultural interest.

Mr. Stoker also returned thanks. He was afraid gentle-
men representing the landed interests sometimes took'excep-
tion to them (the chambers of agriculture) under the idea that
something of a party end was kept in view— something pre-
judicial to the land. On the contrary, the object of these
associations was to advance the landed interest of the country
by every means in their power, and to do nothing whatever of
a party nature. He was firmly convinced that unless gentle-
men ot all parties and all classes combined on great agricul-
tural questions very little would be accomplished. There were
many questions which must engage their attention (A Voice •
" Yes, the Malt-tax.") The malt-tax, no doubt, was one of
them ; but in that, as in all other questions, what was wanted
above everything was that the interest of the agricultural
classes should be thoroughly aroused. The labour question
was a difficult one just now, but it must be met fully
and fairly. The difficulty would vanish if farmers met more
together in their own localities to dispel delusions which
were created by interested agitators. Why should not
farmers make an effort to meet their labourers on fair terms,
and, in those counties where the wages had been below what
men could live upon, advance the pay of their men honestly,
or at least make an attempt to come to some terms ? (cheers).

. u-^ ^l^^' ^^^""^^ ^""'^'' Albert's model cottages were
established, he knew of instances where the labourers were
exceedingly lU-used. He could give instances in which men
walked SIX miles a day to their work, the result being tliat in
the course of 30 or 40 years a man had walked a
clistance equal to the circumnavigation of tiie globe.
Ou the other hand, there were many counties where the la-
bourers had been exceedingly well located. On the whole, he

r,l r^pn" f''"''^ ^'^'''^'^ *^'"* the labourers of the country
had no better friends than the farmers, who, as a rule did
heir best to meet the evils of poverty. He would further as'sert
that the condi ion of the labourers in rural districts bo e com-
panson with that of the labourers of the artisan townsTiirr
hear) When an agricultural labourer was in distress, he had
110 better friend than his employer and the clergyman of the
parish, to whom he applied for and found relief and assistance

which he never could get in a town (cheers). The labourer
was treated not as a " hand," but as a workman and frieud.

Mr. C. Walford proposed the health of the " Local Taxa-
tion Committe," coupled with the name of Sir Massey Lopes
(cheers). The question of local taxation had been before the
(Chambers for some years, but he was only during the present
Session of Parliament that he had received that warm atten-
iton and welcome reception which must be so gratifying to
Sir JMassey Lopes, who was to respond to the toast (cheers).
One of the means by which the lion, baronet obtained his
large majority, was beyond question the manner in which
he was treated by the Central Chamber of^ Agriculture and
all whom it represented. There was no subject of more
importance just now for the local chambers than local taxa-
tion. The local tenantry and residents felt that they had in
the landlords and tenants combined an amount of sagacity and
practical experience and real knowledge on the subject, which
entitled them to the full confidence of the nation.

Sir Massey Lopes, who was received with prolonged
cheers, heartily thanked the company for the warmth of their
reception of himself personally, and for the hearty way in
which they had done honour to the toast. On behalf of the
Committee he could assure the Central Chamber they were
proud of the appreciation and confidence manifested towards
them. It was gratifying to him that the humble part he had
played in the House of Commons should be thus acknow-
ledged ; but as chairman of the Local Taxation Committee he
did not take the slightest credit for the great victory which
had been achieved. It was his good fortune to have been
associated with a number of gentlemen ou the com-
mittee who assisted him, and there was none more able
and hard-working than their friend Mr. Pell. A sounder friend
in politics on the ordinary relations of life he had never met
with. Nor, of course, could he omit mention of the name
of Mr. Clare Sewell Read ; and, without wishing to
draw invidious distinctions, he would merely say that none
could work more heartily than tliese gentlemen had worked
in that great question. It was iu 1868 that he first
ventured to introduce the subject of local taxation into the
House of Commons, feeling at the time tliat it was perfectly
useless to hope for success unless he was backed up by a large
organisation out of doors. It was on this account that he
ventured in the following year to propose to the chambers of
agriculture that they should form a local taxation committee.
This was appointed in 1869, and that committee during its
short existence had assuredly achieved a success which he
might truthfully describe as unparalleled and unexampled,
considering the vast issues and interests that were involved,
and the vast amount of prejudice against which they had to
contend. He was not going to favour the company with a
lecture on local taxation, for they must, he should fancy, he
almost sick of the subject ; he would merely say that no man
unless he studied the subject could form any idea of the im-
mense difficulties and intricacies of that great question. It
was hydra-like, it had a thousand heads ; it was a sort of
cancer which had been eatiug for years into our political and
social system, and at one time it seemed almost impossible to
stay its progress. All they had done was this : they had
endeavoured to be very cautious and careful in what they had
either done or said, knowing very well that if they made one
false step, or committed one indiscretion, they would have
done much towards blighting the prospects of success. The
Local Taxation Committee did not take upon itself entirely the
credit of this great victory. They were creatures of the Chamber
of Agriculture. It gave them its entire confidence when it en-
trusted to them extraordinary and unlimited powers which en-
tailed vast responsibilities, mueh labour, and incessant anxiety.
He would remind his hearers, however, that the question of local
taxation was not so novel as many supposed. He could re-
member when Mr. Disraeli twenty years ago introduced the
subject ; but he did not succeed, because he had not the
chambers of agriculture behind him. Nothing could be
done without an organization out of doors, aud this Mr.
Disraeli found out, although it ought perhaps to be admitted
that the grievances of which the right hon. gentleman then
complained had since been much aggravated. He regretted
that more landlords would not give encouragement to the
chambers of agriculture, which he believed were the greatest
guarantee against wrong aud robbery the agricultural interest

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

519

possftssed (cheers). The present Government was plainly try-
ing to divide the interests of landlord and tenant, knowing
very well that as long as the two were united they were not
to be overcome ; and he would warn his friends that if the
present or any other Government succeeded in dividing the
two interests — the landlord and tlie tenant — their organisation
would be of very little avail. If tlie landlords took up this
question as they ought to do, the association would get £500
where uow it secured but i;lOO, and he had no doubt that if
it had been a question that especially concerned commercial
interests £100,000 would have been raised lonf; ago. The re-
solution passed in the House of Commons the otlier day con-
veyed a vast deal more than a casual reader would suppose.
It opened by condemning the present system of levying the
local rates ; it drew a distinction between rates levied for na-
tional and rates levied for local purposes ; it said also that no
legislation on the subject would be satisfactory, unless it at-
tempted to remedy the grievances of which they as an associa-
tion complained. There remained two things for them to do ;
they must take care that the Government carried out in its
integrity the resolution passed in the House, and they must
not allow any new local charges for national objects. In con-
clusion, he hoped the etTorts that had produced somuch in the
past would be relaxed in the future.

Mr. G. r. MuNTZ proposed " The Chairman," who, in ac-
knowledging the compliment, expressed a hope that Sir T. D.
Acland would not allow himself again to be made a catspaw in
the House of Commons. He thought that the agitation among
the labourers was utterly factitious, and that the labourers had
been brought to the present state of things by agitators who
had no interest whatever in agriculture. A strike at the begin-
ning of harvest would be a fearful national calamity.

Mr. J. BowEN Jones proposed " Prosperity to the Agri-
cultural Classes."

Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., responded. It had been said, he
remarked, that the landed interests were too much represented
in the Chambers of Agriculture ; but a proof to the contrary
was the fact that not a single landowner was called upon to
respond to the toast, althougli he thought that a landlord as
well as a tenant should have been called upon. He had heard
a great deal all his life of the union of landlord and tenant.
Twenty-five years ago he believed it was a sham ; but now it
was becoming a reality. And in these days the union of
landlord and tenant was more than ever needed. Agriculture
was a broad stream, and it had been said tliat it was too broad
to be spanned by one arcli. The tenant-farmers, however,
were the pier in the centre of the structure midway between
the landlord and the labourer. The unfortunate part of the
story just now was that they were rather pulled on both sides.
They had a certain advance in rent, which of course they must
accept, aud they also had a certain advance in labour, whicli
they were happy to pay. But they did not mean to be dictated
toby any outsiders as to the way in which they should arrange
the wages of their labourers. He very mucli wished to have
not only a reform of local taxation, but a very much better style
of local self-government. There was a talk a few days ago
about financial boards ; but the agitation died out, because on
inquiry it was found that the magistrates who spent the money
of the ratepayers had no control, as almost tlie whole amount
was paid under statute. He was sorry the idea had dropped
altogether, because he wanted some great county authority,
composed of the leading men of the county, to be a sort of
stop-gap between the central authority in London and the
minor autliorities in the county. The Government were
every year taking fresh powers, and making their organi-
zation more complete, and he hoped before many years to see
a good county board, which should on the one hand take care
that the different local authorities did their duty in their seve-
ral districts, and on the other, oppose with a strong and
mighty arm that powerful centralization and tyranny which
was now exercised.

Mr. Jabez Turner and Mr. C. A. Dean also returned
thanks.

" The Chambers of Commerce" was proposed by Mr. Jasper
More, and brielly acknowledged by Mr. Tipping, M.l'. ; and
the toast of" Tbe Press" concluded the proce(-dings.

A meeting of the Council was held on Wednesday forenoon,
Mr. Heneage presiding. The monthly report of the com-

mittee on Local Taxation given above having been received and
adopted.

The Chairman moved, and Mr. Neild seconded, that the
resolution on Local Taxation passed at the general meeting on
the previous day be received, adopted, aud circulated.

Mr. Rasson (Shropshire) declared that it was a lasting dis-
grace to the landlords that they had not more heartily sup-
ported the local taxation reform movement. If such a ques-
tion had been raised affecting the interests of the manufactur-
ing and commercial classes, they would have seen men sub-
scribing their hundreds and thousands of pounds to carry out
their object ; and he had no doubt the time would come when
the landlords would view with regret the course they had takeu
on this question.

Some observations were also made by Mr. Whitaker and
Mr. Muntz, and the motion was agreed to.

On the motion that the resolutions on Sanitary Reform
agreed to at the general meeting of the Chamber be adopted
and circulated,

Mr. Genge Andrews took exception to the passage
in the second of the resolutions, which set forth that an " ade-
quate proportion" of the expenses involved in the Public
Health Bill ought to be charged upon the imperial taxes.
This, he agreed, was tantamount to admitting that they were
willing to pay out of local rates a part of the cost of sanitary
reform, and he held that it would be unwise to consent to any
new charges unless they were compelled by a vote of the
House, of Commons. In short, it was nothing less than sur-
rendering the great principle for which they had all along been
contending.

Mr. Arkfll concurred in the opinion.

Mr. Corrance observed that if the Council altered the
resolution in the sense of Mr. Andrew's view, it would be to
all intents and purposes a rescission of the resolution.

Sir M. Lopes could not agree with Mr. Andrews, and re-
commended that they should not ask for more than they were
entitled to.

The Chairman held that as the resolutions had come from
a general meeting of the Chamber, the only alternative the
Council had was to accept or refuse them.

The resolutions were then confirmed.

On the motion of the Chairman, seconded by Mr. Calde-
cott, the following resolution relating to the financial pro-
posals of the Government as affecting agricultural interests
was passed unanimously : " That this meeting expresses its
dissatisfaction that no portion of the surplus was applied by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reducing the burdens
which press upon agriculture."

Mr. Pell, M.P., explained the provisions of the Bill now
before the House of Commons for regulating the employment
of children in agriculture in England and Wales, and which
is backed with the names of Mr. Read, Colonel Ackroyd, Mr.
Kay Shuttleworth, Mr. Kennaway, and Mr. Pell. The prin-
cipal clauses of tlie measure enact that from the commence-
ment of the Act (in January, 1874), it should not be lawful
for any employer or his agent to employ any child under tbe
age of 8 years in the execution of any kind of agricultural
work ; also that it should not be lawful to employ
a child above that age, unless the parents had ob-
tained a certificate or certificates to the effect that the
child if under 10 years of age had completed 350 school atten-
dances, and if above 10 years and under 12 150 school atten-
dances, during the 12 months ending the 31st of December
preceding. The minimum holding to which the bill applied
was one acre ; and one of the provisions created a court of
summary jurisdiction empowered, upon the written apphcation
of any person or persons occupying in the aggregate not less
than 500 acres of land in the district, to issue a notice
declaring the restrictions imposed on the employment
of children to be suspended within that district for a period
not exceeding six weeks. The limit of the age up to which
the restrictions would apply was 12 years instead of 13, as in
the factory acts. It would thus be seen that the scheme was
an alternative to the compulsory system, and that a reasonable
to one. If such an alternative were notadopted with reference to
the education of agricultural children the result must inevitably
be to strengthen the hands of those gentlemen who thought that
the advance of popular education depended solely upon direct
compulsion. It was stated by Mr. Baker, the inspector of
factories, that 94,000 children came within the operation of

520

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

the Factory and Workshop Regulations Acts, and he believed
that something like 90,000 were engaged in agriculture by
occupiers of more than one acre of land, and who would con-
sequently come under the provisions of this bill. When the
promoters of the bill framed the clause relating to suspension
they had in their minds such work as hop picking, fruit
picking, and other occupations, in which large numbers of
children were engaged, to the great advantage of the commu-
nity, and without whose aid the work could not be done. As
to the penalties, all he need say was that they were by no
means so severe as those under the Ballot Bill.

The Rev. F. Jackson would be glad if the bill could come
into operation even sooner than 1874. Referring to agricul-
tural gangs, he said that in his parish these gangs were regu-
larly employed, and the Act of 1867 had been productive of
the greatest possible benefit ; but it was to some extent evaded,
for it did not state whether the distance of three miles within
which children might go to work was to be taken " as the
erow flies," or measured by the roads and lanes. The bill was
a wise and necessary advance, and he had great pleasure iu
giving it his suppoit.

Mr. Vakden (Worcestershire) feared that the bill would
in some respects prove a serious restriction on the growers of
fruit, which ripened at uncertain periods. In that case, the
loss of the labour of children under eight years would be a
great evil, not only to the proprietors, but to the families em-
ployed ; for he felt convinced that fruit-picking would be con-
sidered a branch of agriculture, and that the employment of
children in the work would come under the regulations of
the bill. Of course, everything hung upon the sufficiency of
the suspending time. He also thought that the area of 500
acres was too large.

Mr. Read, M.P., believed that the suspension clause would
meet every case of the sort ; but there was no objection to
extend the time from six to eight weeks, which might be
divided into such periods as would amply suffice to secure all
the crops iu the kingdom. It should be observed that the
application for a suspending order might be made by a number
of occupiers holding among them in the aggregate 500 acres
within the Petty Sessions division. Occupiers could easily
join and ask the magistrates to give them six weeks or two
month* to enable them to get in their harvest. The Act
could not be brought into operation before 1874, because the
children to whom it applied would not have been to school
this year, whereas in 1874 they would have been in the pre-
ceding year. As to the general principle of the Bill, he had
always been opposed to direct compulsion, which he believed
would not work well even in towns, and he was sure would
not do so in villages. What he wanted was not direct com-
pulsion, but irresistible persuasion ; and that was the prin-
ciple on which this measure was based.

Col. Brise, M.P., regarded the Bill as a great step in a
right direction, but thought the general provisions would turn
out to be inoperative.

Approval of the Bill was also expressed on behalf of their
respective Chambers, by Mr. Bramley (Lincolnshire), Mr.
Fowler (Dorset), Mr. Trask ' (Hants), Mr. Wintle (West
Gloucestershire), Mr. Whitaker (Worcestershire), Mr. Storer
(Nottinghamshire), Mr. T. Willson (Leicestershire), and Mr.
Muntz (Warwickshire).

Sir M. Lopes heartily approved of the measure. Its chief
value was in applying gentle pressure rather than compulsion.
There was no class of the community who more objected to
compulsion than the agricultural class. By argument and
conciliation they might be led anywhere, but once attempt to
drive them and they would kick out all fours. He was satis-
fied that the Bill would meet the requirements of the agricul-
tural classes.

Mr. Webb (Cambridgeshire) would raise the limit of 8
years to 10, 8 being in his opinion too young. The applica-
tion for suspension to the magistrates was unnecessary, and
he thought it would be quite enough if the Bill itself provided
for the removal of the restrictions during the time that the
schools were closed for the holidays.

Mr. A. Smith, M.P., was at a loss to know how the Act
was to be enforced. Who was to be the informer ?

Capt. Craigie suggested that the limit of the holdings re-
quired for applications to the magistrates should be less than
600 acres.

The Chairman intimated that the limit would be reduced
to 300.

Mr. Pell briefly replied. Alluding to the remark of Mr.
Abel Smith, he said that the Bill would be operative or in-
operative just as local public opinion went with it or against
it. Inspection must be inefficient in the rural districts, for
even in the manufacturing towns it did not secure all that had
been hoped from it. But if the Bill were evaded or proved
a dead letter, it would be the result of a want of spirit
on the part of the squire and the parson, which he could not
bring himself to think they would display.

Ultimately the Council agreed unanimously to approve the
Agricultural Childrens' Bill.

Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., said he had been requested by the
Business Committee to move the following resolution : " The
Central Chamber of Agriculture, while fully recognising the
right of the labourers to combine for the advancement of
their interests, is of opinion that the interference of a
London committee, composed largely of the leading
members of Trades Unions, would be of no advantage to
the agricultural labourer, and will produce much mischief
between the employer and employed." The hon. member pro-
ceeded to say that not only did he not object to the combina-
tion of the labouers, but he would go further and admit that
they had a perfect right to combine. They pointed
to the Chamber as a combination of landowners
and farmers, and said — " Surely we may have our unions
and combinations as well." Now, he would very much like,
if it were possible, to have the whole lot of agricultural
labourers present in the room to discuss their grievances
with them, rather than that they should fly off at a tangent,
as they had done, to join themselves to men who, professing
to give them good advice and sound instruction, really did
nothing more than harangue them in such a way as must end
in arraying class against class. lie appealed to any man,
either in or out of the room, to say whether he had ever seen
or heard in that Chamber, or at any Farmers' Club, of any
attempt having been made to combine for the purpose of
reducing the wages of labour. So far from that, he hesi-
tated not to say that every discussion which had taken place
or resolution passed there had always been aimed at the
improvement of the labourer's condition. The other day,
having received an invitation to attend a meeting at Willis's
Rooms, he went to listen and to learn ; and he must say
that he heard a great deal of preaching there, which to him,
whether it was by a canon of the Established Church, a
rev. parson, or a local preacher, was somewhat objectionable
when it was outside a place of worship. The other chief
element that made itself apparent was water ; water mixed
up with a dose of Communism from the Trades Unions, and
as he was in favour of the use of beer against water, he could
not say that he sympathised with that part of the movement
at all. He owned that he was one of those who, at the last
meeting of the Council, thought the subject had better not
be discussed in the Chamber, and his reason for so thinking
was that he feared lest the outside public would attach too
much importance to the movement that had taken place
among the agricultural labourers. He was quite sure that
by the London press particularly it had been made too much
of, and had been entirely misrepresented by one or two of
them. Here came the question whether the Chamber could
allow such statements to pass without refutation and without
contradiction ; and he now proposed to put the case of the
farmer more distinctly before tlie public than it had yet been.
In the first place, then, he held that the rate of wages paid in
any particular districts afforded no criterion of the value of
work performed. He did not, however, wish gentlemen to
take his word on that head, but to peruse the report of the
commissioners on the employment of women and children m
agriculture, and especially the able report of Mr. Culley.
He stated that the agricultural labourer in Northumberland
is supposed to earn ISs. a-week ; and contrasting that with
the 12s. a-week paid in Berkshire, he concluded that the man
who pays the most money really gets the most labour for
what he pays, and that the amount he expends per acre is
more in Berkshire than in Northumberland. The argument
was that the farmers must pay better wages to get better
work ; but he should say that if fhey had better work they
would certainly have to pay more for it. Let them observe
how this principle had been applied, and what had been the

THE TARMER'S MAGAZINE.

621

Jesuits in the case of other industries. He happened to be
a member of the Habitual Drunkards' Committee of the
House of Commons, and had heard some interesting informa-
tion given by witnesses from all parts of the country,
and even from America, as to the great increase of drunken-
ness within the last few years. One question which he put
to nearly all these witnesses was, " To what do you attribute
this increase of drunkenness of late ?" and the answer was,
" To increased wages and the greater amount of leisure which
the poor man has at his command." The practical result was
that in the manufacturing districts, although wages had ad-
vanced fully 40 per cent, in the course of a few years, the men
actually earned less in the week than they did before. It was
a remarkable fact, but a greater number of people who were
supposed to be earning 30s. a week really earned no more
than when the wages were £1 a week. And this was the rea-
son ; they hardly ever went to work on the Monday ; they were
slack on the Tuesday; they did pretty well on the Wednesday;
but it was not until Thursday that, in some factories and work-
shops, the whole of the men were at work. Now, he con-
tended that the only true test of cheapness was piecework, and
he was glad to find that the agricultural delagates at Willis's
room, Mr. Arch, for instance, agreed that tliere must be a
classification of work, which meant piece work, for it could
mean nothing else. There was much work upon a farm, such
as weeding and picking stones, that could be performed by any
woman ; but the question was how to classify the men so as to
pay one 10s. and another 12s. a week when all were doing the
same kind of work. The resolution he had moved stated that,
although the labourers had a right to combine, the interference
of trades unionists would produce much mischief between em-
ployer and employed ; but he believed that, if the matter were
left to those delegates from the agricultural labourers who
assembled at AVillis's, no great danger was to be apprehended.
When, however, they came up to London and united with
trades unionists, see the result. Here was a short extract
from a letter which had been sent down to Berkshire by a
member of tlieir committee. Professor Beesley. " The ques-
tion," said the professor, " is not what you need or what your
employers ought to give you, but what you are strong enough
to make thera give you." Surely advice like that was more
calculated to produce " mischief between employer and em-
ployed." Tliere could be no doubt, he thought, that the uni-
form rate of wages generally adopted in agriculture had, in a
measure, been forced upon the farmers by the existence of a
certain amount of surplus labour, that when agricultural labour
got scarcer and dearer it might be more easUy classified; and
that more would have to be paid for increased care and atten-
tion, as well as for skilled labour, which would be more than
ever required in the direction and management of agricultural
machinery. Again, the farmer could not afford to pay much
more per acre for his labour than he did now, for he had to
compete with the whole world, and could not add materially
to his produce per acre. What, then, would be the result of
any great advance in the price of labour? There would be less
arable land and more grass land, and there could not be a
greater loss to the country than a diminution in the arable
acreage. The farmer might get more profit on the grass land,
but he would certainly produce a less amount of food for the
people. In Norfolk the consequence would be, even on the
light lauds, that the grass would be kept two or three years,
instead of cultivating on the four-course shift. A great por-
tion of these lands, which had been sheep-walks early in the
present century, must become sheep-walks again, and this
would obviously be a serious loss to the nation. So, too, with
a considerable portion of the heavy lands of Suffolk, which
for years preceding the present century were almost all in
grass, and used for dairy purposes only. Another point for
consideration was that the average weekly wages of the
labourer, whether they were put down at 12s. to lis., were
always supplemented by extra work in the summer months,
and at the time of harvest by at least 2s. or 2s. 6d. a-week.
Of that he was positive ; and when they came to the question
as to employing people all the year round, he held that it
would be better for the farmer, or at any rate cheaper, to pay
Ss. a-day for a man when he wanted him, and only when he
wanted him, than give him a regular wage of 2s.
a-day throughout the short days of winter. Then,
when they came to the employment of old men, what
would be the result ? At present many men were employed

who were over 70 years of age, yet still received the full rate
of wages ; and it would be a very bad thing for them and for
the community, if they were turned off or had their wages
considerably reduced when they were not wanted. The other
day iMr. Hibbert, the secretary to the Local Government
Board, stated that he had received applications from several
agricultural unions where the wages were not above 10s. a
week for permission to grant out-door relief in certain cases ;
and he particularly referred to one case at Ross in Herefordshire
in which, as he told his syrapathi-sing constituents, a man,
with eight children under ten years of age was paid but 10s,
a week. The employer of that man had, however, written to
him (Mr. Read) in these terms : " I have no man on my farm
who is in receipt of less than the following wages :

Weekly pay, in wet or dry weather 10

Cottage and garden, rent and rates free 2

Extra pay for harvest £10 0

Potato ground worked 0 6 0

£1 6 Osay 0
Two quarts of cider daily at 6d. per gallon... 1

Total.

U 0

Those men capable to do the work take the mowing and
harvest work at a rate per acre, as agreed, and so get higher
wages. The waggoners and shepherds get extra pay and al-
lowances ; and I have offered the men money instead of cider,
which they refused." The next question was, whether all agri-
cultural labourers were really willing and able to come to the
farmer as simple contract labourers, and give up the patriarchal
or feudal system, so to speak, at present in operation. He
did not think they were. They would not abandon their per-
quisites. As he had shown in the instance just cited the men
preferred their cider to money ; but he should be glad to see
that system abolished, for he thought it a very bad one.
Would the labourers be willing to pay 2s. or 2s. 6d. a week
for their cottages instead of Is.? In districts where they
were supplied with milk, would they hke to pay the full price
for it ? Would they be inclined to pay the whole school fee
for the education of their children ? And to do away with all
those friendly charities, which were of such real service to
them, but upon which no money value could be placed, though
it amounted to a good deal in the course of the year P He
could not doubt that much of the agitation had originated in
districts where the cottage accommodation was fearful. Where
a lot of men were banished from the farm, and congregated in
what were termed "open villages," the condition of the agri-
cultural labourer was very bad indeed. On this head he would
say a word or two with regard to the comments made on some
landlords who had given their cottage-tenants notice to quit.
His opinion was that if the landlord built cottages for the ex-
clusive use of the labourers on his estate, and the latter
thought proper to leave their employment, it was the duty of
the landlord to get rid of such men and put in other tenants
who would be of use to the farmers. On the other hand he
protested against the custom of giving the tenants weekly
notices to quit. That was extremely bad, alike arbitrary, un-
fair and un-English. Moreover, if a man were turned out of
his cottage in the summer months, it was the bounden duty of
the landlord to pay hira compensation for the work he had
done in his garden, and for all the trees, bushes, and crops
that might be in the ground. As to the farmer, he was in
a very different position from that of the manufacturer. He
could not work half time. He could not shut up his mill,
put the key in his pocket, and send the labourers adrift,
as was so often the case in the manufacturing districts.
With regard to the wonderful demand for labour which had
sprung up during the last few years in those districts, he
felt sure that it would have a great, fearful, and speedy col-
lapse. In this county we had never gone beyond teu years
without a commercial panic, and it was pretty certain that the
artificial stimulus which had sent up the labour market would
produce not only a national, but an international pauic before
many years were over. We should then experience such a
collapse as had, perhaps, never been witnessed in this country,
and the labourers who had migrated to the towns would be
seen returning to the agricultural districts as had invariably

622

THE FARMEE'S MAGAZESTE.

been Uie case in previous panics. He agreed lliai the migra-
tion of the surplus population, where it did exist, ought to be
encouraged; but it did not require external encouragement ;
neither was a Canon Girdlestone wanted in every parish.
The agricultural labourers themselves did not stand in need of
such outside assistance. They had their penny papers read to
tliera in a puhlic-liouse, and they knew as well as any one else
what was the price paid for labour both in country and in
town. The agents of the employers of labour were penetrat-
ting into every district ; and besides them, there were com-
peting for the labour of the agricultural workman emigration
agents from every country in the new world, and from all our
colonies. On the other hand, any young fellow who had suffi-
cient self command to save the cost of his beer and tobacco
for one month, could lay by enough to carry him, by Parlia-
mentary train to the busiest hives of industry in the kingdom.
It was said that our labourers as a class were wretched,
miserable, and poor, and did not save anything, and he owned
he could wish that there was more providence and forethought
among them, especially the younger men ; but it was a note-
worthy fact, with regard to Warwickshire, where the agitation
commenced, tiiat the savings bank at Warwick had paid over
to the Post Office Savings Bank no less a sum than £127,000,
of which 75 per cent, consisted of the deposits of farm-servants
and agricultural labourers. It was well known, also, that
agricultural labourers throughout the country deposited con-
siderable sums in the savings banks ; and he might add that
of his three nearest neighbours, occupying between them six
or seven hundred acres, two had been agricultural labourers,
and one a farm bailiff within his recollection. There was no
doubt that the Poor-law had, in a great measure, to answer for
the actual condition of the agricultural labourer ; for it liad
destroyed self-help and self-reliance, and in many districts had
been used in aid of insufficient wages. At his own board of
guardians the other day, an old man presented himself and
said that he wanted his pension. That, perhaps, was an un-
common occurrence — [" No, no," from Mr. Caldecott, War-
wickshire]— at all events it was not an uncommon feeling
among the agricultural labourers. They regarded the Poor-
law as they would a friendly society, and considered that they
were entitled to relief after they were 60 years of age. And
when it was considered that, under the Poor-law, the improvi-
dent and dissipated received, in case of sickness or advanced
age, just as much as the most provident, careful, and saving
man would get from his friendly society, he contended that,
by the iniquitous system of out-door relief, the Poor-law dealt
a vital blovv at the providence, forethought, self-help, and
independence of the labourer. With one remark more he
would conclude. It was this : he objected very much to
farming being regarded as a sort of charitable institution for
the employment of, and payment of full wages to, all the
idle, all the half-witted, all the aged, and all the unskilled
labour that the manufacturers in towns would not employ.

The resolution was seconded by Mr. Staktin (Warwick-
shire), who concurred la all that had fallen from Mr. Read.

Mr. Neild thought that the best way of counteracting and
defeating the wild and visionary schemes of the men who were
promoting the agitation would be to let the movement run its
course and wear itself out. He was opposed, therefore, to any
demonstration against the labourers at the present moment,
and believed that before the harvest was over the aspect of
things would be completely changed. His impression was
that a serious collapse was not far distant in the great manu-
facturing districts ; and that he said as a Lancashire man ob-
servant of what was passinag around him. Foreign markets
had become generally overstocked with our manufactures.
The price of cotton in the United States was at this moment
higher than it was at Manchester, and our home market for
cheese, which constituted so important a staple in Cheshire,
was so glutted that whole cargoes sent from America to Liver-
pool had been shipped to America again. Such facts as these
pointed a moral which no one could misunderstand.

Mr. Storer suggested that, whether the strike was of
longer or shorter duration, or was likely to extend or not,
what farmers ought to meet their labourers in a friendly
spirit, and if possible adopt the Lincolnshire system of
hiring for a year.

Mr. MtiNTZ pointed out as one difficulty that it was impos-
sible to ascertain the actual rate of wages, owing to their
varying in different parts of the country, and contended that
there ought to be some measure of vah.ie in all business trans-
actions between employer and labourer, as had been the case
for years in the manufacturing districts. If it was necessary
in one occupation it was equally so in another ; and he be-
lieved tiiat if all transactions were carried on in current coin
of the realm, it would be the means of allaying a considerable
amount of discontent and dissatisfaction.

Mr. PowLER observed that in his county (Dorsetshire),
where the system of paying wages in money and in kind pre-
vails, there was a decided indisposition on the part of the
labourers to abandon what they termed " perquisites." In that
county they were as well paid as in any part of England. As
to the strike in the midlands, he did not believe there was any
vitality in it.

Mr. Jabez Turner drew attention to the manner in which
the labourers' meetings were got up. He stated that the
rector of a parish in Cambridgeshire, well known as a friend
to the labourers, was lately waited upon by two members of
his congregation, who informed him that they had just received
a letter from London which they desired to lay before him.
The letter was to the effect that, if they thought it desirable
to get up a meeting at Whittlesea, the writer was prepared to
come down, on their paying his third-class railway fare there
and back, £1 for each meeting, and providing him with lodgings
while there. It was also stated that if they could get up four
meetings, he would do the lot for 50s. (laughter) . Such were the
men who were going about the country exciting the labourer
against the farmer, and he held them up to the execration of
the Chamber and of all peaceably-disposed persons. Let the
larmers endeavour to come to an amicable arrangement with
their labourers, and he felt sure the result would be satisfac-
tory'' without the influence of the Odgerses and Herberts.

The Chairman concurred in the opinion that the rate of
wages paid was no fair criterion of what the people actually
got. In the same way as Mr. Turner had described, an at-
tempt was made to get up a meeting in his neighbourhood,
but it turned out that the agitators could not find a black-
smith to lend them a shop, or a man to go to the meeting,
and there had not been the slightest bother with any of the
labourers there. If they did strike, however, and were dealt
with upon what was termed the mercantile principle, what
would follow ? Would the landlord let his cottages, costing
£250 a pair to build, with an acre of land attached to them,
at the rent he did now ? Would there not be many little
benefits, trifling in themselves, which the labourers enjoyed,
but of which they would then be deprived ? Where they
were living, as in his district, twelve or fourteen miles from
the railway station, how were they to get their coals
if they were not brought to them by the farmer? What
would they do when their houses were visited by sickness if
they had not a master to send for the doctor ? And how in
the depth of winter, or in limes of sickness, would they live in
many a family without the soup that they got from the land-
lord or the fanner — their best friends P It had been well
said that the farmer could not recoup himself any advance in
the price of labour as the manufacturer could do ; and he
might mention, by way of illustration, that last autumn, when
a strike took place in a machine manufactory, and the artisans
obtained their demand of nine hours a day and a rise in wages,
the very following week one of his (Mr. Ileneage's) tenants
handed him a circular from the firm, announcing that they
would be obliged to charge 7s. 6d. more for their ploughs in
future. Thus the farmer had to pay for the strike in that
particular manufacture. He fully concurred with Mr. Read
that labourers could rise in the social scale ; for at this
moment of two of his principal tenants one had started as a
farm-bailiff and the other as a labourer ; one was now farming
on his own account between 300 and 400 acres of land, the
other over 200 acres, and liad also put his son into a farm
of about the same extent. These cases showed that labourers
could rise, provided they were honest, industrious, and thrifty,
and avoided public-houses and other sources of temptation.

The resolution was agreed to, and the Council separated,
after sitting nearly four hours.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

523

THE GAME-LAWS COMMITTEE.

At the sitting on Tuesday, May 7, Mr. W. Hunt in the chair,
there were also present Sir M. H. Beach, Mr. Cameron, Mr.
Cowper, Mr. Dent, Lord Elcho, Sir George Grey, Mr. Hard-
castle, Mr. M'Combie, Mr. M'L^gan, Lord Mahon, Mr. Muntz,
Mr. Pell, Mr. C. S. Read, Sir H. Selwin-lbbetson, Mr. Sher-
lock, Mr. Sturt, Sir John Trelawny, Mr. Whitbread, Mr.
Eowland Wynn, and Mr. Winterbotham.

The Hon. Adolphus Liddell, permanent Under-
Secretary of State for the Home Department, in replying
to questions, explained first the existing laws relating to deer.
These were not included in any Game-law, nor were they re-
garded as/«w nature, or as private property. If a deer es-
caped from the laud of its owner to that of another person,
the latter might shoot without being amenable to the law, as,
under similar circumstances, he would be if he were to kill a
sheep. In Somersetshire, where the red deer still bred, they
were occasionally killed when they strayed on the road, much
to the disgust of the sportsman. A licence was required for
shooting deer, and penalties were imposed for the illegal tak-
ing of deer, extending to imprisonment with or without hard
labour for a second olfence. If a man were found in posses-
sion of the skin or head of a deer, and could not satisfy in-
quiries as to how he came by it, he was liable to penalties ; the
law being in this respect more severe than with regard to
game. In the case of man in possession of the skin of a
sheep, the onus of proof of the illegality lay with the prose-
cutor ; but in the possession of the skin or head of a deer the
burden of proof lay with the defender. Nothing in the
statute made any distinction between dressed and raw skins.
These were consolidated and modified from older statutes of
much greater severity, but he could not say how far back the
present version extended beyond the 7 and 8 Geo. 4. Coming
next to the Game-laws, including hares, pheasants, partridges,
grouse, heath or moor game, black game, and bustards. Per-
sons going armed by night for the destruction of game might,
after a previous conviction, be sentenced to penal servitude.
If a man took or destroyed rabbits by night, he was liable
under this Act. Persons having the power of arrest were the
owner or occupier, or any person having the right, or reputed
right, to free chase on the land ; also the game-keepers, or
servants of those persons. With regard to taking game on
the highway, the statute had been interpreted to mean that
the person taking game on the highway was using the road
for a purpose other than that for which it was intended,
namely, walking on ; and that the right to the game on
the higiiways belonged only to the possessors of the soil.

The chief constables of the counties of Hereford and Nor-
folk next gave evidence. Mr. Winterbotiia.m said that, tak-
ing the whole country, there was during the past year an in-
crease of almost every group of crime except aay poaching. lu
offences under the Game-laws there was a diminution of 15.2
per cent. ; in all other classes of crime there was an increase.
The number of offences against the Game-laws had fallen from
12,070 to 10,071. The Poaching Prevention Act had not
taken the constables away from other duties. There had
been a little jealousy among farmers and the people of the
countv generally in this respect at first, but that was dying
out. "Night poaching; in Norfolk had averaged 12^; the
average in each of the three previous years was 25. The di-
minution of poaching had no great effect on the diminution of
other crimes. In one of the counlies the amount paid in fines
under the Game-laws had paid the cost of prisoners under the
same, and had left a balance of £12 in favour of the county.
The game was generally taken for sale by confederates, and
often by women, and was most frequently sent up to the Lon-
don market. Twenty-five brace of partridges were once
stopped en route, and were kept so long, to find out the sender,
that they became useless. Preservation of game in Hereford
had decreased, and there were now very few hares left. The
land was let out too much to shooters from London, who did
not consult the interests of the farmers. If hares and rabbits
were taken out of the category of game, it would decrease
offences against the Game-laws ; bnt if the protection of the

criminal laws were withdrawn, hares and rabbits would soon
be exterminated. No one would regret their destruction more
than the farmers, who were the best preservers wherever they
were allowed to course, and to have the right to the game.
Neither of the witnesses thought it practicable to make game
property.

At the sitting on Friday Mr. Liddell gave further evidence.
With respect to the unlawful buying of game, it was clear that
the game which was sold in London market early on the first
day of the season must have been killed out of season ; and
it was worthy of consideration, that the right to sell game
should be postponed until the day after the opening of the
season. As to the question of assessment, in the case of Reg
V. Williams it was decided that where a tenant has both the
land and the game he is liable to he rated for the game with
the land. In Reg v. Thurston it was ruled that where a ten-
ant had not the right to the game he was not liable to be
rated for what he had not ; where the owner of the land was
himself the occupier, but let the game, he was assessable for
the value of the land and game. No case had ever Veen de-
cided that game was assessable irrespective of the lai.J. In a
case where an owner did not occupy the land, and did let the
game to another person not the occupier, the landlord would
not be liable to be rated for the game ; but, in his opinion, the
renter of the game would be liable to be rated for the cottage
which he occupied with the shooting, the value of which would
be taken in connection with the value of the game. As an
illustration of this, the toll-house of Hammersmith Bridge
was rated, not at its nominal value, but in connection with
the tolls which came out of it.

The chief constables of Staffordshire, Somerictshire, and
Derbyshire gave information, chiefly statistical, as to the state
of crime connected with the Game-laws in those counties.
Somersetshire was not a county where game-preserving was
carried on to a great extent, and there was not much poach-
ing, considering the area of the district. In 1871, in the
county of Somerset there were 376 persons proceeded against
for day poaching, of whom 45 were discharged, 331 convicted,
311 fined, and 20 sent to prison. There were seven persons
convicted of night poaching, and sent to prison. Under the
Poaching Prevention Act 44 persons were proceeded against,
6 of whom were discharged, 38 convicted, 34 fined, and 4 sent
to prison. From 1862 there had been a steady increase in
poaching in the county of Somerset, though he believed the
gangs of night poachers had been broken up, chiefly through
the police having taken their nets, which were valuable, and
could not easily be replaced. Persons who poached at night
were usually persons who stole when they could. One of
these night poachers was seven years in prison during the six-
teen years the witess had been chief-constable. The man had
been in penal servitude for theft after previous convictions.
Those who practised day poaching did not belong to the
criminal classes. There had been persons convicted of night
poaching who had not been previously in gaol. Constables in
Somersetshire were never allowed to go specially to watch for
poachers. If a constable heard shooting in a wood, he might
apprise the keeper ; but he was not called upon to do so, and
would not be accused of neglect if he did not. There was a
great demand for game in Bristol and Bath, and for rabbits
among the working classes. If liares and rabbits were taken
out of the category of game, a great deal of poaching would
be prevented. The employment of game-keepers did not tend
to diraiuish general crime, nor did game-keepers make a prac-
tice of giving information to the police of suspicious charac-
ters whom they might see on the land. There was no killing
of the red deer of Exmoor Forest by poachers. The people
of the county took great pride in the red deer, and would not
think of killing them. If hares and rabbits were put out of
the Game-laws, there would be great difiirulty in ascertaining
whether a man went on land for the purpose of killing feathered
game. The destruction of red deer would be very unpopular
in Somerset.
The chief-constable of Derby stated that that was a strictly

524

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

preserved county. Poaching would be much diminished, and
there had been, owing to the Poaching Prevention Act, a great
check on petty robberies, such as robberies of hen-roosts.
The night poacher was a confirmed poacher, and nothing but
a very heavy penalty would make him think he was wrong ;
the day poachers were farm-servants. One poacher, a glass-
blower, who earned £3 a-week, was so fond of poaching, that
he would not give it up. That man had been stopped on two
or three occasions, but nothing was found upon him ; he
was clever. The police gave information to game-keepers in
every possible way, and if game-keepers took more notice, they
might do a great deal of good. But the gamekeepers were not
by any means an active class of men. The poaching was chiefly
the taking of ground game by snaring. It would, in his
opinion, be a good thiuff if ground game were made the pro-
perty of the tenant. He would certainly not like to see the
protection taken away from hares and rabbits, so that anyone
could kill them. Old poachers had taken very much to fish
poaching lately because the Poaching Prevention Act did not
apply to that. He could not say how it was that there were
more night-poaching cases (25) in Derbyshire than in any
other county in England last year, except Yorkshire, unless it
were that Derby had a larger population for the area. Where
game was well watched there was not so much poaching. Game
dealers should, in his opinion, keep a record of the names of people
of whom they bought game, and of the day and hour of the pur-
chase. He was aware, however, that this system of registration
had failed with marine store dealers and pawnbrokers. A
great quantity of game was sold by the landlords in Derbysliire
after shooting parties. If hares and rabbits were taken out of
the game list it would be necessary to alter the law of trespass.
Of the 513 oonvictions for night poaching in the United
Kingdom last year, and the 9,281 cases of day poaching, he
could not say what percentage was due to poaching ground
game. He did not see that making game property would ren-
der an increase of the police force necessary ; nor did he think
that such a law would raise great difficulties in the way of
private persons who might be innocently trespassing. He
would make it an offence for game to be found on the person
of a poacher, in the same way as the finding of skeleton keys
on a suspected burglar.

The chief constable of Staffordshire said that game was
largely preserved in that county, and he had noticed that
while plieasants had increased, the number of rabbits had de-
creased. This was due to the action of tenant-farmers, and
the good feeling of the landlords. The day poachers were
cliiedy farm-labourers and lads who went out for mischief, and
he did not think they became night poachers. The night
poachers, if they could not get ground game, would take
feather, and failing that, would rob lien-roosts, or practise
sheep-stealing, where sheep-stealing occurred. He did
not think tliat colliers poached much, or any men
who were in regular work. The chief constable of
Lincolnshire said that the Poaching Prevention Act
had entirely got rid of night poacliing, but had
not decreased other offences. He agreed with Capt. Congreve
(Staffordshire) that the poacher would take pigeons and fowls,
but there were poachers who would take nothing but game.
The result of taking rabbits and hares out of the Game-laws
would be to exterminate hares in three years. He did not be-
lieve that taking them out of the game lists would improve the
morality of tlie people, but would increase the number of per-
sons who would idle away their time in pursuit of them,
Capt. Congreve thought it would be almost impossible to pro-
tect the feathered game if the ground game were made free,
because people who went after ground game, which they would
have a right to, could not be prevented from taking the fea-
thered game which came in their way. The chief constable of
Lincolnshire thouglit that if ground game (which was the most
profitable, and paid for the expenses of preserving) were de-
stroyed, it would not be worth while preserving the feathered
game. There would not be enough game to provide sport
worth having. Capt. Congreve believed that the reports pub-
lished in the newspapers on the subject of the ravages of
ground game, had had a beneficial effect to the farrae'rs, by
inducing landlords to decrease the head of game. The chief
constable of Lincolnshire did not believe that the abolition of
protection to ground game would be acceptable to farmers.
They disliked over-preservation, but they would not like to
see game destroyed.

SALE OF MR. BOWLY'S SHORTHORNS,

At Siddington, Cirencesteb, on Thursday,
Apeil 25, 1872.

BY MR. H. STRAFFORD.

On tte last Thursday ia April, three years since, Mr.
Bowly, whose herd with Col. Kingscote's, stands as the
oldest in Gloucestershire, brought his Musical tribe with
a few Siddingtons and a good lot of young bulls before the
public with the most satisfactory result. The 25 cows
theu fetched 90 guineas apiece, and the bulls £35 ; these
figures being augmented by three heifers of the Siddling-
ton or Kirklevington tribe, a pure Bates family, all of
which were bought by Lord Dunmore at an average of
£860 10s. It was then thought by some that the Musical
tribe, with their rotundity of rib and richness of quality,
was the best family at Siddington. Mr. Bowly, however,
held on to his Gazelles, which he got from the Rev. Henry
Berry in 1838, or rather from Mr. Stokes, who had been
a purchaser at Mr. Berry's auction. The sort came from
Mr. Whitaker, and inherited those great milking proper-
ties for which the Burley stock was so famous, and which
have been perpetuated at Siddington. Old Gazelle, bought
when fourteen years old, lived and bred until her twenty-
first year was reached, and most of her stock have
inherited her grand constitution. Nearly twenty
years ago Mr. Bowly parted with a lot to go into
Buckinghamshire, with among them a few Gazelles, but
since then they have been kept together, and crossed
with those first-class Duchess sires in which
Mr. Bowly has so spiritedly invested. We believe that
only three have been sold, and all to go abroad ; two of
them being purchased by Mr. Thornton, one for Aus-
tralia and the other for America. After Fourth Duke of
Oxford left, the bull Union (19031), bred from the
Musical tribe by Mr. Stratton's Irish bull Young W^ind-
sor, a son of Mr. Booth's Windsor, was put on Fourth
Duke' heifers, and their produce were in their turn put
to Seventh Duke of York and Second Duke of Tregunter,
the issue bring a splendid lot of heifers, having
excellent tops, rich colours, and great substance.
Mr. Edgar Hanbury purchased two of the best so
bred at comparativley reasonable figures, and Mr.
J. P. Foster got one of the finest cows
in the sale, lot 6, Gazelle 10th, very cheap at 62 gs.
Nevertheless, good and excellent as they were, those
without the Union cross shot up in value. Mr. Samuda,
M.P., gave 105 gs. for Gazelle 14th, and 210 gs. for
Gazelle 25th, each time against the bid of Lord Fitz-
hardinge, w'ho got the thickest heifer in the sale, a white
yearling, of great elegance and style, " by Seventh Duke
of York, dam by Seventh Duke of York," at 175 gs.
The bulls of this tribe were also in good demand, and
oddly enough very few were bought to remain in the
county, Sir Geo. Jenkinson getting a white February calf
from Mr. Foster's cow at 40gs. Taking the tribe through,
it was an even good lot of cattle, showina; in a remarkable
degree that stylish appearance for which the blood is so
renowned. The twenty-one head, ten of which were
bulls, fetched just over 80gs. a-piece, and it was reported
that the Siddington herd would be continued with the
same family, as several of the other cows were retained.
But in three years how prices have risen ! The three
Siddingtons sold in '69 here rose exactly one-third in
value, the three now sold averaging £491 15s. against
£360 lOs, There was keea competition for them all.

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE,

525

Siddington 5th, not large, but a very even good-
looking cow just at calving, went up from
300 gs„ and finally fell to Mr. W. W. Slye for 570 gs.
A pail- of twin lieifers, just a year old, were brought in
together, one a light the other a dark roan. Tastes
differ and doctors disagree, so some fancied one and
some the other, but very few thought there was 175 gs.
difference between them. The majority fancied the hght
roan, which was put up first, aud Mr. Foster got her for
Cumberland at 330 gs. ; then Mr. De Vitre fought hard
for the other, aud got it too, though at 505 gs.

The ffraud feature of the sale was the bull. Second
Duke of Treguuter ; and speculations abounded as
to his price aud destination. Gloucestershire
farmers betted new hats upon his value at the
market ordinaries, and considering that the 500 gs.
asked for a Duke calf in 1869— the price which Mr.
Bowly then gave Captain Gunter for him— had now risen
to 1,000 gs., it was fully expected that a bull, in the glo-
rious majesty of his bullhood and plenitude of his power,
would fetch over the risky calf price. It was said " one
in for him" had been suited with a Grand Duke calf, and
others thought his one testicle mie;ht go against him in
the opinion of noted breeders. His stock, however,
fully bore out his procreative powers, aud his excel-
lence as a sire made him very desu'able, especially
as Mr. Straftbrd announced that his six heifers had just
fetched £220 a piece. Still the biddings were not brisk,
and the excitement when the glass was put up for him at
Mr. Angerstein's bid of 600 became intense ; but slowly
the covering fire came out, and Lord Bective and Mr.
De Vitre fought on until the former got the bull for
900 gs. amid some cheers from the bystanders. Mr.
Samuda took a very useful red bull of the Wild Eyes
tribe by him at 105 gs. ; and his bull calves also sold
well, nearly doubling the average made in 1869. Lord
Bathurst presided at the luncheon, supported by a very
distinguished company.

COWS AND HEIFERS.

Ruby, by Lord Raglan (13225).-Mr. J. Smith 30 gs.
British Queen, by Earl of Walton (17787). -Mr. W. Ladds,

70 g".
Gazelle 3rd, by 7th Duke of York (17754).— Mr. Martin,

54? 2*5

Wild Eyes 28th, by 3rd Lord Lally (2M08).-Mr. H. D. De

Siddington 5th!'by 7th Duke of lork (17754.).-Mr. W. W.

SIve 570 gs
Gazelle lOth! by 7th Duke of York (17754) .-Mr. J. P.

Gazelle 13th, by 13th Grand Dake (21850).— Lord Chesham,

70 ffs
Gazelle 'l4th, by 13th Grand Duke (21850).-Mr. J. D'A.

Sid^o''nTrtdfbf5th°Dak; of Wharfdale (26033) .-Mr. Hod-

Gazeut 17th,^by 0th Earl of Walton (26078) .-Mr. H. Faw-

GaTeUe 2011^ by 7th Duke of York (17754).-Lord Fitz-

Gazelle 22nd, by second Duke of Tregunter (26022).— Mr. E.

Siddington^gth, by 2nd Duke of Treguuter (26022) .—Mr. J.

Siddington lotb, by" 2ud Duke of Tregunter (26022).— Mr.

H. D. De Vitre, 505 gs.
Gazelle 24th, by 2nd Duke of Tregunter (26022).— Mr. E.

Hanbury, 65 gs. ,, t tt i, a

Ruby 4th, by Bates Tertius (21249).— Mr. J. Haygarth, Aus-

tralii GO ffs
Gazelle 26th, by 2nd Duke of Tregunter (26022).— Mr. J.

D'A. Samuda, M.P., 210 gs.
Gazelle 27tli, by 2nd Duke of Tregunter (26032) .—Mr. J,

W. Wilsoa, 90 gs.

BULLS.
Second Duke of Tregunter (26022), by 4th Duke of Thorn-

dale (17750).— Earl of Bective, 900 gs. ,„^_., ,,
Fitz Claro (28603), by 2nd Duke of Claro (21576).-Mr.

CaptaT'Tregunter (28136), by 2nd Duke of Tregunter

(26022).— Mr. W. S. Cragg, 51 gs. ,„pnooN

Captain Tregunter 3rd, by 2nd Duke of Tregunter (26022).—

Mr. H. W. Schneider, 50 gs. _„^,,, ^, ^ -n.A

WildEre, by 2ud Duke of Tregunter (26022).— Mr. J. D A.

Samuda, M.P., 105 gs. ,„^nooN -mt

Colonel Tregunter, by 2nd Duke of Tregunter (26022).— Mr.

Wilson 58 ffs.
Colonel Tregunter 2nd, by 2nd Duke of Tregunter (26022).—

Mr. J. B. Jenkins, 58 gs.
Colonel Tregunter 3rd, by 2nd Duke of Tregunter (36022).—

Mr. T. Simmons, 93 gs. ,„„nn-.^

Colonel Tregunter 4th, by 2nd Duke of Tregimter (26022).—

Marquis of Anglesey, 40 gs.
Bates Luke 4th, by 2ud Duke of Tregunter (26022).— Rev.

R. B. Kennard, 80 gs.
Colonel Tregunter 5th, by 2nd Duke of Tregunter (26022).—

Mr. J. Pulley, 56 gs.
Colonel Tregunter 6th, by 2ud Duke of Tregunter (26022).—

Sir Geo. Jenkinson, 40 gs.

18 cows ave
12 bulls ,

Summary,

£. s. d.

... 162 11 6

... 138 17 3

£. s. d.
2,926 7 0
1,666 7 0

30 head averaged... 153 1 9 £4,592 14 0

SALE OF THE BURGHLEY PARK

SHORTHORNS.

On Thursday, May 9, for the fourteenth time, Mr. Straf-
ford brought the public together for the purposeof disposing
of some of the pure-bred Shorthorns from the Burghley
herd. It was considered one of the best lots offered, and
as a whole the cattle were brought out in excellent order,
under the superintendence of Mr. Walton, who has the
management of the dairy farm. A large company was
drawn together, doubtless by the presence of Telemachus,
the successful prize bull of last year, and the appear-
ance in the catalogue of the pedigree of a red yearling
Oxford bull imported from the herd of INIessrs,
Walcott and Campbell, to be offered unreservedly.
This young animal was of good promise, having a fine
quality of "flesh and hair and a vigorous appearance. He
was put up at 300 gs., and, after sharp competition, was
bought for Mr, Augerstein, Norfolk, for 500 gs. The
twelve Burghley cows and heifers went higher than the
eleven bulls, though both brought capital averages and
sold very well, being probably one of the best sales held
yet at Burghley. Some of the cows and heifers were of
the Blanche and Walnut tribes, and consequently very
attractively bred. The first cow, MuUeen by Fourth Duke
of Thorndale, having taken cold, was not offered, Eugenie,
lot 2, of the Blanche tribe, bred by Mr, Eaton, a rather
small but good-looking cow, went to Mr, Doig for Lord
Penrhyn at 81 gs. ; while her little white heifer-calf Mr.
Eaton bought back for 22 gs. Lot 3, Queen Anne, a large fine
cow in calf to Telemachus and a purchase from Penrhyn,
went to Mr, Upson for 80 gs. Two Imperial Oxford
cows, bred from the old Burghley Innocence family, made
56 gs. (J. R. Singleton) and43gs. (Burton) respectively.
Two daughters of Mulleen, lot 1, descended from Sir
Charles Knightley's Walnut, fetched 53 gs. ; Poppy going
to Mr. Scratton, who also gave 32 gs. for Poppy's heifer by
Telemachus, and 66 gs.. Wild Cherry to Mr. McConnel,
Australia. A very useful heifer, lot 8, of the Blanche
tribe, was purchased for Mr. Chirnside at 65 gs. ; and
Wild Thyme, another Wabiut, went to Mr. McConnel for

626

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

51 gs., the twelve cows and heifers averadne; £57
169. 9d.

The bulls were exceedingly well brought out, among
them being several in-omising young animals. The great-
est favourite was lot 9, a September calf by Telemachus,
out of Lady Penrhyn, of the Nonpareil tribe, a beautiful
hairy roan calf, with a thick broad back, and capital qua-
lity; from 40 to 50. 60 gs. was short work, but Mr.
Sheffield was not to be beaten, and iinally got him for
Sir W. de Capel Brooke, at 72 gs. The elder bulls only
went for a few guineas over butcher's prices, but Duke
of Artenay, a good yearling, of the Bright Eyes
tribe, fetched 105 gs.— the top price— from Mr. Fields-
end, of Rasen. The reserve on Duke of Elvira seemed to
be very judicially withdrawn, but he still fetched 60 gs.
(Herrick) ; and the eleven bulls, including four calves,
averaged £51 14s. 8d. Telemachus, who was shown prior
to the sale, has greatly developed since his public ap-
pearance last year, and bids fair to be one of the most
formidable aged bulls of the season. Beyond his £400 of
premiums, he has done good duty at Burghley, as a capi-
tal stock-getter, especially of bulls.

SALE or THE HIGH ELMS SHORTHORN
HERD, FARNBOROUGH. — Mr. Stratfford brought
this old stock, the property of Sir Johu Lubbock,
before the public ; it has beeu bred for five and twenty
years from Mr. Cartwright's herd at Tathwell, Lin-
colnshire, and consisted of two tribes, the Strawberries
and the Wides. Good bulls had been used, but no parti-
cularly fashionable strains of blood introduced, and the
herd was kept up principally for its dairy properties, the
cows mostly having with their large roomy frames
good udders. Mr. Dunn, Dorsetshire, and Mr. Cock,
Barnet, were the principal buyers, the best prices for
cows being— Lot 6, Azov, 48 gs. (Dunn) ; lot 8, Ailsa,
35 gs. (Cock) ; lot 9, Princess Louise, 52 gs. (Cock) ; lot
12, Ruby, 35 gs. (Marshall); lot 18, Amanda, 33 gs.
(Facey). Mr. Gates gave 29 gs. for Princess of Lorn, a
roan yearling heifer, and Red Duke (29735), the bull
lately in use went to Mr. Judkins for 35 gs. The sale
realised £714, the 26 head averaging £27 10s. Mr.
Robarts presided at the lunch.

SALE OF MR. BARTON'S SHORTHORNS.

This herd was sold by auction at the Grange, Fundeu-
hall, Wymondham, on Tuesday, May 7th, by Mr. Thornton.
The herd had been only a few years in existence, and was
kept principally for dairy purposes ; the cows consequently
had been selected from well-known milking strains, such
as the Knightley, Frill, Sweetheart, and others well re-
presented in the catalogue. By noon a company of
some three to four hundred had assembled, and by half-
past one the company adjourned from the table to the ring,
where the following prices were realized. Lot 1,
Princess Alice, from the Havering Park herd, 30 gs.
(Nichols) ; lot 2, Nelly O'Brien, a pure Knightley cow
9 years old, 67 gs. (G. M. Tracy) ; lot 3, SUence 5th,'
35 gs. (J. Morton) ; lot 4, Midnight and bull-calf, 50 gs.
(H. Little) ; lot 5, Sweetheart 13th, 30 gs. (Rev J
Swarbrick) ; lot 8, Violet 8th, 43 gs. (S. West) ; lot 10
Prmcess of Oxford, 42 gs. (Rev. J. jMicklethwait) ; lot
II, Lady of the Glen 3rd, 41 gs. (C. Horsley, who was a
large buyer, from Fakeuham) ; lot 13, Griselda, 88 gs.
(H. LitUe) ; lot 14, Gipsy, 30 gs. (Rev. J. Swarbrick) ;
lot 15, Princess Beatrice, 37 gs. (E. Paddison) ; lot 18,
Sunbeam, 50 gs^(C.M^Hamor) ; twin yearling heifers, from
lot 4, 80 gs. (C. M. Hamer) ; lot 19, Charmin- Oxford
44 gs. (W. How) ; lot 27, Patricia 38 gs. (Rev J Mick'
lethwait) ; lot 31, Girdle, 33 gs. (F.W. Park). The bulls

especially the calves, for which there was a spirited com-
petition amongst the farmers, sold well. Old Patrician,
SIX years old, went to the butcher for 50 gs. Ginx,
a yearling, made 87 gs. (R. W. Gaussen), and Southerner,
a pure Knightley bull, was sold to Mr. B. S. Fryer for 43 gs.
The calves ranged from 13 gs. to 33 gs., resulting iu° a
general average of £84 3s. for the entire herd of 44 head.
After Mr. Barton's herd was dispersed, the small select
herd belonging to Mr. G. E. Frere, of Roydon Hall,
Diss, was brought forward and sold. The stock were o'f
large size and in capital condition. Several of the cows
went at very moderate figures, but the heifers and young
bulls brought better prices. Lot 5, Roydon Duchess, made
45 gs. (G. Day) ; lot 6, Countess Sandor, second prize
cow at Cambridge, 44 gs. (W. lippler) ; lot 10, Una,
41 gs. (C. Horsley) ; lot 11, Golden Syrup, 40 gs. (J.
Gamble). The bull WeUington (30288) had been in use,
and he went to Mr. Parker, of Lincoln, for 51 gs. The
28 head averaged £32 13s. 9d. During the sale heavy
showers fell, and a thunderstorm delayed the business
for some minutes.

SALE OF MESSRS. ARKELL'S SHORTHORNS.—
This sale took place the day after that at Siddington at
Draycott, near Swindon, with Mr. Thornton as auctioneer.
The catalogue contained fifty-one lots, twenty of which
were the property of Mr. Win. Arkell, of Dudgrove, who
has bred from the old Strickland blood for 20 years, and
the remainder were Mr. Thos. Arkell's property, who re-
sides at Draycott. Pearl made, with her little red calf,
62 gs., the highest price of the sale, and was bought by
Mr. John Homfray, of Penllyne Castle, South Wales.
The next highest priced lot was Queen Seraphina, which
went to Mr. F. Dodd, of W^illingford, for 58 gs.
Novice 8rd, a fine roan heifer of the Stratton blood,
fetched 45 gs. (J. Smith, Swindon) ; and Mr. Colbourn
gave 87 gs. for Gentian 2nd, of the same strain. Ursula
12th was withdrawn, but her roan heifer-calf realised 21
gs., and Mr. Bowly gave 25 gs. for Ursulina. Lot 26,
a good two-year-old heifer, from Ursula 12th, was pur-
chased by Mr. F. Pope, of Chilfrome, for 48 gs. The
Rev. E. T. Williams gave 34 gs. for Dahlia. 40 gs. for
Songstress and her calf, and 36 gs. for Judy, to go into
Monmouthshire. Some of the heifer-calves were brought
out in blooming condition, and fetched satisfactory prices.
The bulls sold fairly, Pericles 2nd fetching the top price,
50 gs., from Mr. I. L. Hawkins. The sale realised just
upon £1,500, the 48 head averaging within a shilline
of £80. ^ ^

SALE OF THE URSWICK SHORTHORNS.—
This herd, the property of Mr. John Crondson, was
brought to the hammer by Mr. Thornton early in last
month, at Urswick, near Ulverston. It was not of
long standing, having been collected during the last few
years from the stocks of Messrs. Ashburner, Caddy,
Cheney, Jefferson, Patterson, and Schollick. The appear-
ance, however, of some of the CressidaandBlanche tribes in
the catalogue attracted a few breeders froma distance, aswell
as a good local company. Lot 8 of the Shorthorns, a cow by
Tenth Duke of Oxford, seven years old, went to Mr. Riley
for 70 gs., and Mr. Robertson got a very useful and well-
descended cow in Princess Alice at 35 gs. Dr. Cranke
secured the two best Cressidas, Lot 6 at 65 gs. and Lot
16, by Mr. Torr's Good Fitz, and a capital milker, at
70 gs., it was said, for Mr. Miles Kennedy. The third
lot of this tribe, Cressida Second, by Mr. Slye's Grand
Duke of Cambridge Second, who had been in use, was
bought by Mr. W. Ashburner for 41 gs. The first
Blnnche, a red fonr-year-old heifer, became Mr. W.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

527

Parker's at 51 gs., after biddings from Mr. Ashburner, who
got a good, even two-year-old heifer of the same tribe at
56 gs. The heifer calf, Lot 34, from Blanche, was too
ill to bring forward. Licinia, a cow of Mr. Schollick's
breeding, made 43 gs. (Mr. Mossop), and Mr. Wainmau
gave 53 gs. for Oxford Wild eyes, a calf from Commemo-
ration, Lot 3. Mr. W. Ashbm'ner repm'chased Baron
Fennel at 41 gs. ; but the finest bull, Lot 39, Baron Napier,
a deep roan, and very promising young animal of the Stock
burn blood, went cheap to Mr. C. O. Eaton for 60 gs.
The 41 head of Shorthorns averaged nearly £34, and the
sum total of the sale amounted to about £1,700.

SALE OF THE ACTON PIGOTT HERD. — A
large gathering of Shorthorn breeders and agriculturists
took place to witness the disposal of the entire herd of
Messrs. Graddon and John Perry, consisting of ninety-six
head of Shorthorn cattle. This herd was founded forty years
ago by tlie father of Messrs. Perry, who neglected entering his
animals in the Herd Book, or much longer pedigrees might
liave been given. At luncheon over three hundred sat down,
Sir C. F. Sraytlie, Bart., presiding. Tlie whole of the animals,
with one or two exceptions, were in tlieir natural store state ;
and all were in a breeding state, two Martin heifers excepted.
The chief attraction ot the sale was the Bates bull, Duke of Lan-
caster, which has now been used two years in this herd, where
he has proved himself one of the best sires of the day. There
were fifteen yearling heifers by him, beautiful in colour, rich in
hair, reminding one of a class at the R. A. S. as they stood
together. There were also five very promising younp bulls
by the same sire, one of which was purchased by the Earl of
Sefton. Three of these made the respectable average of £53
lis. 4d. each ; the other two, having met with a sliglit accident
and being brought very lame into the ring, were disposed of
at twenty guineas eacli. The sire, although in active service
up to the 23rd of April, also came out very lame from a sprain.
This was the only animal on which there was any reserve, and
he was put up at 100 guineas. The glass ran out at 110
guineas ; Messrs. Perry guaranteeing to deliver him sound.
Mr. E. Lythall was the purchaser.

Averages : ■ £ s. d.

37 Cows and heifers 38 17 0

11 In-calf heifers 47 8 7

15 Yearlings 30 10 10

15 Heiferealves 16 13 11

7 Bulls 48 12 0

13 Bull-calves 15 10 2

76 Females 33 12 5

20 Males 27 1 10

Total amount of sale, £3,125 17s.
The sale was conducted by Messrs. Lythall and Clarke, of
BirminKham.

SALE OF THE BRLCTOa SHORTHORNS.— Tlie
small herd was disposed of at the farm of Bructor, in the
parish of Bourtie. The herd was started about a score of years
ago, and has been managed with great care and judgment.
At a sale in Berwickshire two females were purchased. One
of these w.as a daughter of a bull South Durham, and the
grand-daughter of Uptaker, out of a family some of tlie mem-
bers of whicli, with their descendants, brouglit the highest
prices at the sale of the valuable herd of Mr. Parkenson of
Hay field. The other cow was a daughter of a bull Luck's
All, and the fifth in descent from the bull Comet, which was
disposed of at Charles Ceiling's sale for a thousand guineas.
After the cows came to Bructor they had calves to a bull
Count Fairfax, which was bred at Sittyton, and a son of the
celebrated bull Fairfax Royal. The produce were kept with
great care, and since then the bulls introduced into tlie lierd
have all been of the Sittylon breed. Tlie lierd have always
been maintained in good breeding condition, and the majority
of the calves have heen heifers. About a dozen years ago, to
keep the lierd within the desired limits and maintain the high
standard of quality desired, some of the heifers were sold, and
annually since a proportion of the young females have been
sold off. Latterly the prices obtained for the heifers have

been from 30 to 10 guineas. Tlie bull-calves were also sold
privately in the district, the crop of last year having been sold
during the spring at an average price of £39 12s. Od. The
herd has been very little known beyond tlie immediate locality
in which it is situated. A few of the animals have been sent
to the local show at Inverurie, and have always taken prizes.
On one occasion a few entries were made at the Garioch show,
but none of the herd were ever sent so far as Aberdeen for
exhibition. The herd numbered six-and-twenty animals, and
the sale attracted the attention of a very large number of agri-
culturists. Thirteen cows were offered, and fetched a total
price of £356 Us., or an average of £41 5s. 6d. Pour two-
year-old lieifers were sold for £180, or an average of £47 5s.
each. Seven yearling heifers sold for ±'194, or an average of
£27 15s. each. Two bulls were sold at an average of £37 5s.
6d. The total sum realised for the twenty-six animals
catalogued was £985 2s., giving an average price for each of
£37 17s.

THE BATH AND WEST OF ENGLAND
SOCIETY.

THE DORCHESTER MEETING.

Of cattle there are 270 entries, made up of 47 Devons, 73
Shorthorns, 42 Herefords, 48 Sussex, 58 Channel Islands, and
two pairs of dairy cows. Of sheep there are 188 pens, includ-
ing 21 Leicesters, 14 Cotswolds, 14 Devon long wools, 56
South Downs, 30 Hampshire Downs, 13 Shropshires, 9 Ox-
fordshire Downs, 21 Somerset and Dorset Horns, and
10 Exmoor and other mountain sheep. Of horses
there are 80 ; and 135 pens of pigs, including 61 Berk,
shires ; making a total of 673 entries of stock, as
against 536 at Guildford, 528 at Southampton, 520 at
Taunton, 512 at Bristol, 488 at Hereford, and 293 at Fal-
mouth. There are also 12 entries of potted butter, and the
entries of poultry are satisfactory, more especially in those
classes which properly come under the designation of farm
stock. These entries of poultry and pigeons together exceed 420
in number, as against 350 at Guildford. In the Implement
department all the leading firms are represented,
and care has been taken to exclude trivial articles
having little or no connection with the objects
of a great agricultural meeting. Not less than 50 special
compartments have been allotted to machinery in motion,
whilst iu the trial fields adjoining the showyard the opportu-
nity will be afforded for witnessing various systems of steam
cultivation, including those of Messrs. J. Fowler and Son, J.
and F. Howard, Amies and Barford, Williams of Baydon, and
others. The annual meeting of the Society will take place on
Tuesday, and among other matters to be brought forward will
be a proposition to shorten the title of the Society by
changing it to the Bath, West of England, and Southern
Counties Society. The competition for Mr. Miles's shoeing
prizes will take place on Wednesday morning. The exhibition
field will be near that of ten years since, when the Society last
visited Dorchester. It is a piece of rising ground well drained,
and supplied with water from the town reservoir. The Dor-
chester papers, however, learn with regret, and a feeling some-
what akin to surprise, that the subscriptions towards the ex-
penses of the approaching meeting are still deficient of the
amount required. With the event in such close proximity, this
backwardness of the county generally becomes a very serious
question ; but the gravest feature in tlie matter is the
fact that the contributions are less by £500 than were ob-
tained on the occasion of the Society's last visit. Many land-
owners and agriculturists have failed to contribute at all.
As regards the entry of horses, a most unfair puff has been
put about by the Islington Hall people, stating that " The
Bath and West of England Show takes place at the same time,
but it seems that most of the principal masters of hounds and
owners of the great hunting studs iu that part of the kingdom
liave made entries of horses for tlie metropolitan exhibition."
Of course there is not much in this, the more especially
i when we come to remember that one of the hunters exhibited
at Guildford last year subsequently beat the Islington cham-
pion horse, that is the best hunter of the four classes,

N N

536

TSE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

CARMARTHENSHIRE FARMERS' CLUB.

GEASS LANDS.

At the last quarterly dinner, Mr. T. T. Mousley in the
chair, the customary raffle took place, when the winners of
prizes were as follows : Iron roller, Mr. Philip Lewis, Car-
marthen ; cheese press, Mr. Dyer, Swansea ; turnip drill,
Mr. Thomas, Maesypriol ; hand seed-drill, Mr. W. Prosser
White Mill ; dung fork, Mr. T. Davies, Wernddu ; ditto, Mr.
Davies, implement dealer ; ditto, Mr. Lewis, Glandulais ; ditto,
Mr. Jeremy, Cwmdu ; hayfork, Mr. Prosser, Tygwyn ; ditto,
Mr. Morris, surgeon, Carmarthen ; ditto, Mr. Campbell • ditto
Mr. Thomas, Capel ; ditto, Mr. Harris, Abersannan ; ditto,
Mr. Phillips, Three Salmons Inn. The subject for discussion
was a continuation of a former paper read by Mr. Buckley.

Mr. Buckley said : The subject to-dav is Grass Lands, and
I introduce it in continuation of my address to this Club last
year, when I considered the great advantages that would be
derived by tlie farmer, and by the country at large, from the
conversionof a large part of the most suitable arable land of
these western counties of the Principality into permanent
grass ; and I explained in detail what I considered to be the
best means of accomplishing so desirable an object. I pointed
out the comparatively unproductive state in which a large pro-
portion of these arable lands v/ere always laying under their
present course of cultivation ; and that they could not be re-
claimed from that state, and converted into profitable perma-
nent grass, except by deep, clean, and enriched cultivation,
without which the valuable perennial grasses could not be
established in the soil and become a close thick sward or turf.
I deferred the consideration of the second part of my subject to'
a future occasion, and 1 have now the pleasure of bringing it
forward. It is the improvement of our " Existing Grass
Lands," that is, of our pastures and meadows. Do not the
nigh prices of butchers' meat and of dairy produce increasingly
press these subjects upon our attention ? I noticed a few
weeks ago that to relieve the high price of animal food an
honourable member in the House of Commons proposed to lay
a restriction on the killing of calves and lambs. It appears
to me that if such a measure could be enforced it would be more
likely to decrease than increase the quantity of butchers' meat.
It IS not the increase of the number of animals, but, first of all
the increase of food, by extending and improving our grass
lands, that will effect so great and desirable an object. Very
many of our farmers already have more stock than they can
well support. Wlien we take into consideration the steady
increase of the population of the United Kingdom, at the rate
of a quarter of a million annually, and the flourishing state of
trade, manufactures, and commerce, enabling our artizans and
workmen, with their advanced wages, to pay for meat, it may
rise still higher in price, and that would not be well even for
the farmer. Should not these considerations, seeing that we
are farming a part of the kingdom where the climate and soil
are naturally and peculiarly adapted to the growth of grass
and decidedly inferior for the production of corn, induce us to
give our best attention to the extending and improving our
pastures and meadows P But so far from this being the case
do not most of our farmers devote their chief attention to their
arable land, carrying to it their farmyard dung and artificial
manures for the wheat and root crops, to he again followed by
corn, which on this western coast should only be grown as an
alternate crop, while their grasslands receive little else than
an occasional application of lime and earth? I would here
just remark in passing, that if on an average one-third only of
our land was arable and cultivated on the four-course, or any

thlTafrTw '^ m''"' ^' '^''"''^ P^°'l"'=^ """^^ and better corn
ii knT T .T' f, *° *•>« improvement of our existing
ftpn c ffi •■ / °^«'l>"d'y ^7 that if the land is wet. the first
step s efficient draining: for little or no iraprovemen can be
effected wi bout it But the subject of draining having been
so ably introduced and discussed at the last meeting o^f this
Club I would not now occupy any of your time upon it but
St *^° b'-anches of that inost important operation, particu-
larly applicable to grass lands, were not aUuded to. Draining

being a very expensive operation, as shown by the useful ex-
amples and statements given by Lord Dynevor and Mr. Brodie,
it should not be commenced until the land has been well ex-
amined and the cause of its wetness thoroughly investigated ;
as there are cases in which a considerable suface may be made
dry by, perhaps, a single drain, and so save a considerable
outlay. The wetness may arise from a spring on higher land
that rarely gives an indication of its position on the surface,
and if that spring can be tapped by cutting a drain into it, the
water may be led away to the outfall by a single drain. Such
springs usually show themselves after long continued rain or
the breaking-up of a heavy frost, and by, at such times, mark-
ing the place or places where the water breaks out, may after-
wards be cut down into. In one instance, I have by a single
drain dried the side of a hill, and led the water a considerable
distance down to a pond near the farmyard for the benefit of
the ducks and geese ; and in another (where a considerable
surface was wetted) to a place where 1 can divert it from going
to the outfall, to irrigate about three acres of pasture. The
draining of pure bog or peat land was also not alluded to, some
of which when effectually drained may be made good pasture
or meadow. It is, I am satisfied, of no use to attempt the
draining of this kind of land without cutting through the peat
down a foot at least into the clay or sandy clay always found
underneath, and which forms an impervious basin by the
existence of which the bog has been formed. If the peat is
not more than five or six feet thick in the deepest places and
an outfall can be found, and if the quality of the peat is such
as to have a tolerably good turf on the surface, it may pay well
for draining. As an experiment I drained about five acres of
such peat, which, I should state, had been attempted to be
drained some years before with pipes laid in the peat, which
proved a failure, most of the drains having filled up. The
drains I had cut four feet deep, and went a foot or more into
the sandy clay, except in a few places where I had to go deeper.
Over the pipes which were placed at the bottom of the drains
a foot of well-broken stones was filled in, and on the top of
the stones was placed the surface sod reversed to keep out the
peat soil with which the drains were filled up. 1 then gave
the field a dressing of lime mixed with the sandy clay left from
the drains, and bush-harrowed in such grass seeds as I con-
sidered suitable to the soil. These drains were cut in
parallel lines down the slope of the field, and the quantity of
water carried off is very large. This draining was done in the
winter, and the following summer (which was last summer) I
found the grass seeds coming a good plant, and appeared likely
to establish themselves. I intended to have gone to see the
field this spring and to have reported its state here, but being
at a little distance I have not been able to do so. I have, how-
ever heard no complaint on that score. I should say that on
all soils after draining a dressing of lime or, still better, of lime
and earth, is the most suitable application, as there will in-
variably be more or less inert vegetable matter to be brought
into action ; and as the sour aquatic herbage will die out,
having lost its congenial element, that a sowing of suitable
grass seeds should he at the same time bush-harrowed into
the surface. I would never plough or break the surface of
any grass land, either newly-drained or naturally dry, although
foul with rushes, docks, or other trash, if it could be reclaimed
without it ; for the close sward of turf (proof against the tread
of catlle that if ploughed would poach it) will require years
to be renewed, and the temptation to take several crops of corn
may end in exhaustion and its not returning to permanent
grass at all. But if the unevenness of the surface or strength
of the rushes, gorse, or other trash, render it advisable to
plough, I would not, on any consideration, pare and bum the
surface turf, but having with a billhook or other tool cleared
the growth or trash which may be burnt, would, with a strong
wrought-iron plough and sufficient power, turn over the land-
make a summer fallow to kill the roots of weeds, and the fol-
lowing winter and spring work it to a fine even surface. The

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

529

soil, by this process, will have become a turfy loam full of
organic matter— just such as the gardeners so much prize for
making compost. In this I would sow the suitable perennial
grass seed without taking a corn crop ; but if a corn crop must
be had, it should be sown very thin. If two or three corn
crops are taken the soil will be robbed of the very elements
that the finer grasses delight to grow in, and it will take years
and money to repair the loss. I will now assume that the
grasslands are dry from having been drained or not requiring
it. They vary much, of course, in quality and value, according
to soil, aspect, altitude and other circumstances. I do not bring
into account the vast brtadth of high precipitate mountain land
that is not improvable and is only fit for sheep-walks. Now, 1
will first speak of that large proportion of our grazing lands
upon which are reared and fed all those two and three year
old steers and heifers that crowd our fairs and are sold and
driven in innumerable herds out of the country. These grass
lands, we will say, are of medium quality, though they vary,
of course, considerably. Now, let us consider the improve-
ment of this extensive class of our pastures. I do not tliink
that they are at all improved or raised in quaUty by the con-
tinuous grazing of these young cattle, or by sheep, ^'thout
any other assistance, but rather otherwise— that is, that they
are in some measure deteriorated by the exhaustion of the
phosphates and other elements abstracted to supply the bone
and muscle of these growing animals. Now, if instead ot all
these two and coming three year olds being sold and driven
out of the country, a proportion of the freshest of them were
kept and turned on some of the best of these medium pastures,
and their grazing assisted with a little corn and oilcake— be-
ginning with a little at first, and increasing the _ quantity
gradually as they improved in condition, so as to bring them
out fit for the butcher in July, August, and September (just
the time to command a good price)— would not these pastures,
by this process, be raised in fertility, and gradually become,
in time, even capable of fattening without such assistance, or,
as a change, would they not afford rich grazing for the dairy
cows? And, at the same time, would not the youug cattle
fed off pay for their corn and cake f I have no doubt but
that they would, and leave a profit besides. I quite believe
that much of our grazing land may be greatly improved by such
process. Turnips and other roots are sometimes carted and
scattered over these pastures as an assistance in supporting
sheep and cattle, and will be of some advantage ; but lands
grazed without anything returned to them will require the
elements abstracted renewed in them ; and as farmyard dung
cannot be spared for this class of grass lands, they may be sup-
plied by superphosphate or ground bones, (which will be more
slow but more lasting in effect. A dressing of bones is often
used on large dairy farms to restore what the cheese and butter
have taken from the soil, indicated by the produce of the dairy
having fallen off in quantity. And do not our farmers wives
sometimes complain to their husbands that the cows, when
turned on certain fields, do not give the thickness of cream
and quantity of butter that they used to give when they grazed
them at former periods. Other artificial manures, as guano,
nitrate of soda and potash, and a variety of chemical manures,
have been found to have a beneficial effect on permanent _ pas-
tures. It requires, however, some knowledge and experience
to be able to form a judgm-^nt as to what soils, and under what
circumstances, to apply some of these. Professor Voelcker
instituted during five or six years, a number of field experi-
ments on permanent pastures, which he published in the
Jonrnal of the Royal Agricultural Society, in 1869. He there
observes that the condition under which ammonia, lime, and
phosphates act beneficially upon vegetation, are far better un-
derstood than those under which nitrates, or salts of potash,
may be applied to the land with advantage. And he states
that he carried on these experiments with the view of afford-
ing to the practical farmer the means of judging for himseli
when he might with advantage employ nitrate of soda or potash
manures. The results of these experiments invariably went to
show that the benefit to permanent pastures from each of the
last named, applied separately, was so small as not to encou-
rage their use. Of all the manures he experimented with, a
mixturehulfandhalf of Peruvian guano and mineral super-
phosphate, gave by far the greatest results. The experiments,
which are all tabulated, will be valuable for reference. In
the last number of the Jovrnal of the Royal Agricultural So-
ciety just published, there is a very able article on the manage-

ment of grass lands, from the pen of Mr. H. S. Thompson, of
York • and if the combination of chemical substances used by
him would produce the same wonderful results in general use
(for he states that it is applicable to both heavy and light
land), it will prove an important discovery, although a rather
expensive manure. And it appears that Professor Voelcker
now recommends nearly the same combination. It is— 1 cwt,
nitrate of soda, 3 cwt. mineral superphosphate, and 6 cwt. ot
kainit per acre, the cost being about 428. There can be no
doubt as to the excellence of this manure, as an application to
grass lands. I should, however, like to try alongside of it he
mixture of Peruvian guano and mineral superphosphate, half
and half, 4 cwt. of which would come to rather less money, or
as I think better still to substitute pure dissolved bones for
the mineral superphosphate. A dressing of lime and earth at
intervals of six or eight years wiU be found very beneficial on
most pastures, especially if at the same time a sprinkling ot
perennial seed are bush-harrowed in, such as white clover,
alsike cocksfoot, that is Bactylis ghnerata, perennial rye-
grass, meadow fescue, perennial cowgrass and tre-
foil &c. A nice pasture upon which \ wintered
several two-year-old colts, the winter before last,
was so cut up by their galloping and racing about that it
looked almost as if ploughed, and I feared it was injured for
years ; I however took the opportunity of bush-harrowmg m
a sprinkling of suitable grass seed and rolhng, and it now pre-
sents an appearance of rich herbage ammig which I identify
those sown quite superior to what it was betore. ^/ /^ed
scarcely say, that where irrigation can be availed of it should
not be neglected, and in this country of springs and uneven
surface, waier may often be turned on and off the surface by a
little contrivance. Meadows that are mown for hay should, if
they are to maintain their productiveness, have a coat ot good
farmyard dung for every crop taken from them, which for
this and most other purposes is the best of all manures. Lime
or lime and earth may be usefully substituted every sixth or
eighth year. It is not an uncommon usage to mow a crop ot
hay every other year, and to graze the intervening year, with-
out returning anything or but little to the land. This is a
good deal the case where the grass is let for the season or
year. It is a sure means of deterioration, and will show itselt
soonest on light soils. The bright green spots of grass here
and there over the field, where the dung or urine of the cattle
has dropped, tell plainly enough what manure is wanted.
Even our very best and richest grass lands require attention
not only to keep them clean from docks, thistles, nettles, and
other weeds, but to renovate and fertilise according to the
draft upon them. If not mown for hay, they may require a
dressing of bones, or such manures as I just now uamed. We
have some grass lands, which with the same attention bestowed
upon them, would be perhaps equal to any in the kingdom.
Would they were more extensive. They are to be found on
the alluvial lands here and there skirting our coast, and at the
hottom of our beautiful valleys ; and some of the slopes rising
on their sides are not much inferior. Some of the hilly lands,
particularly on the silnrian formation, are clothed with grass
of superior quality; and on the mountain limestone the her-
bage, though rather short, is so sweet as to support large and
productive dairies. I would here just call your attention to
the difference in value, and frequently in rent between land,
in the localities I have just named, that IS in tillage and that
which has continued in permanent grass. A strong argument
surely not to plough, and to return to grass the lands suitable
for pasture and meadow. To do this requires time and capital
as I have shown in my former address, but when accomplished,
only estimate the saving in manual labour horses, and imple-
ments ! In conclusion, if what I have endeavoured to sketch
out in this and my former address to this club could be realised,
by the larger and best adapted portion of the arable lands of these
western counties becoming productive pasture and meadow,
varying on the different farms according to the nature of the
soils, and reserving such a proportion for tillage as would be
required for the management of the tarm in the production of
roots, corn, straw, and clover, in rotation ; the result must be
more numerous and improved herds and flocks, more produc-
tive dairies, and a much greater part of the animals reared
being sold off fat. I say herds and flocks improved in s.ze
form, and quality ; for although breed does not go m at he
mouth as it is sometimes said, no improvement can be effected
or maintained without corresponding unproved feedings, pro-

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630

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

tection, and attention, whicli in effect means the improved
cultivation of our fcrass lands. The stock reared on the farm
will always be of the same character as the farm and tlie farm-
ing. I have seen a herd of our native black cattle on a well-
managed farm, that for beautiiul symmetry and uniformity
tliroughout, it was a pleasure to look at. And I have also
seen on a poor, badly-managed farm the same native blacks
almost as small and meagre as Shetland cattle. Now that a
special interest has at length been raised, for which I believe
we are mainly indebted to Mr. Bowen, of Llwyngwair, it
would be interesting, and no doubt useful, as intimated a few
weeks ago in an article in The Welshman newspaper, if a trea-
ties or essay on the origin, history, and improvement of our
native cattle could be procured from a pen qualified for the
task. It is to be hoped that the forthcoming competition will
only be the first of annual exhibitions of our native breed of
cattle, increasing in interest, and leading to long pedigrees, and
a regularly published herd book, and arriving at a general and
undisputed acknowledgment that the improved native black
cattle of the three western counties of South Wales rank, for
all useful purposes, with the best breeds of the kingdom, and
that on their own native soil they have uo competitors as
profitable stock.

Mr. Norton (Greenhill) said, without any flattery he might
follow what was sometimes the usual course, and state that he
cordially endorsed every word in the paper that had been read.
To begin with the ground work of all — draining ; he felt
particularly glad that Mr. Buckley had got that very hobby of
which he himself was continually reminded by his own friends.
And likewise he was also at one with Mr. Buckley on the ques-
tion of deep draining. Mr. Buckley proposed to go down to
the depth of three feet or even deeper, and recommended that
land sliould be carefully examined before it was drained. Now,
he had himself recently gone over a field of which he found
that only one-half required draining, and the consequence was
that he had ordered some of the pipes to be hauled out of the
field again. In the portion that was drained, the drains were
put four feet six inches deep, and twenty yards apart. As an
experiment, while the drainage was proceeding, he had a hole
made between the drains, and covered it over with a shutter
as large as a door. Now he did that not to satisfy his own
curiosity, because he knew what the result would be. It was
to satisfy others. And the result was that after the storm-
water had fallen this hole was full to the surface, or to within
a foot of the surface. But on the third or fourth day after the
rain had ceased, how much water was in the hole ? Not a
drop, although the soil was very retentive, and a pickaxe
would only bring up a wine-glass full at a time. '. That was
the result where the drainage was a great distance apart and
deep. And he would even advocate going to a greater depth
with drains than four feet six inches. It was the fact, how-
ever, that whether the drainage was done in the summer or
the spring, the men were reluctant to go down deeper into the
soil. The cost also of going down deeper than four feet six
inches was great, yet it was his opinion that it would be worth
while to expend the money. "With the suggestion of refresh-
ing the land by new seeds he quite agreed. He had made
some experiments of tliat kind in land adjoining his own
premises, where some alterations had been made. When the
debris had been led away, either to the Carmarthen Quay or
somewhere else, and the soil had received fresh seeds, the pas-
ture had been good and even much improved.

Mr. W. Jones (Llwynygroes), after thanking Mr. Buckley
for his lecture, said he might differ from some parts of it,
although he agreed heartily with the concluding remarks, be-
helieving that there was no kind of cattle that would pay any
farmer in the three counties better than the blacks, if pro-
perly taken care of. But there was one point on which he
did not agree witli Mr. Buckley, if he understood him rightly,
and that was in reference to breast-ploughing of bog land,
which Mr. Buckley appeared to condemn. He had tried the
experiment with five acres of land. It was drained thoroughly
from water, and it was so soft that for the first half-year it was
impossible to take horses or cattle into it. A neighbour ad-
vised him to breast-plough it and lime it. After the plough
had gone over it, it was burned, and then it had a heavy
dressing of lime, with a little ashes. That was before tlie
very dry year of 1857. After that treatment, he was actually
able to keep all liis cattle for twelve months on the clover
grown from it, Mr. Buckley was old enough, good enough,

and clever enough to bear with him also when he said he was
rather dissappointed with the lecture, because it did not state
what sort of land was best to put in grass.

Mr. Buckley -. That was done in my tormer lecture.

Mr. Jones expressed his regret that he had not heard or
even read the former address delivered by Mr. Buckley, be-
cause he not only wished to know what kind of land was best
lor gras.s land, but also what were the best seeds to sow, and
how generally to deal with the land.

Mr. Buckley replied that he went into the whole of those
subjects on the previous occasion. With reference to the
paring and burning of land, if any land would bear it, it was
that with a peat surface, because the surface was a complete
vegetable matter.

Mr. Harris (Penllwynne) regretted that draining was not
more resorted to by the tenants of the three counties, adding
tliat it was almost a disgrace to the agricultural interest of
the country and the landlords that it was not more encouraged.
He had recently been engaged in draining some bog land, and
was happy to say that he had rendered it hard and suitable.
Last year he had a heavy crop from that piece of land. At
the last meeting of the Club at Llandilo, Mr. Brodie stood up
for pipes in draining. Now, he should have been very glad
to watcli Mr. Brodie making the experiment of draining the
piece of bog land to which he had referred with pipes. It
would have taken him a very long time to complete the job.
However, without entering into peculiar methods of draining,
he would say, as a general thing, that draining ought to be
encouraged. Every farmer ought to take it up with spirit.
Witli regard to cattle, he did not altogether agree with Mr .
Buckley. His own experience with black cattle had not been
so successful as he could have wished. He had endeavoured
to buy the very best black bull that was to be got, and he had
some average black cows. But for the life of him he had
been unable to get anything like a good stock of blacks. For
years he had been trying to get a good herd of black cattle,
and now he was obliged to admit that he found himself in the
lurch. He was well aware that his brother held contrary
opinions. But tlie proof of the pudding was in the eating of
it ; and speaking from personal experience, he was compelled to
say that he did not believe in black cattle. It had been said
tliat the black breed was to be improved, but how were they to
improve the black cattle ? Would they propose to go into
Pembrokeshire or Carmarthensliire and look out the best bull?
If they did so the chances were, as in his own case, that the
calf would be a red one, or sometimes black and white, or any
colour except the proper one. If it were possible to get a
good pure breed of blacks then he would say — stick to them.
But when a farmer obtained a black bull, he was never certain
what kind ot calf would follow. In that respect he had
always had great difficulty. But again he would ask — Where
are you going to find a pure black stock to start with ? He
did not believe such black stock were to be had ; although
others might have a strong faith to the contrary. He pre-
ferred cross breeds ; for with crosses good colours were always
to be obtained, and there was likewise a great improvement of
the breed ; in particulur there would be an improvement in
the carcase. He quite agreed with Mr. Buckley's observations
respecting the cultivation of grass lands. It was a great
drawback to the principaUty, and he could not help also say-
ing that it was a disgrace to agriculture to see their beautiful
grass lands cut up in that way. Not one tenth of the value
was obtained from the land which could be got if the laud
were allowed to remain in pasture. Look at the Towy valley
for example, was there an acre of land in the whole valley
that ought to be cut up in the way he had described ? Even
on the hill sides of the valley he should be disposed to culti-
vate as little corn as possible. With regard to manures it was
evident that every farmer must give back to the laud wiiat he
had taken from it. The productive properties of the soil could
never be maintained unless what was taken out was afterwards
replaced. The adoption of bone manure, as suggested by Mr.
Buckley, was very much to be desired ; it ought to be adopted
more and more, although he was glad to say it was extensively
used now. Many persons could not believe the benefits derived
from scattering a little dust over the soil as it was called, until
they were seen. But once farmers were enabled to see for
themselves the advantages of using bone manure they resorted
to it more and more. As the .subject of farming was venti-
lated from time to time in the meetings of the Club, he

THE FAUMEU'S MAGAZINE.

531

sincerely hoped the result would be an improvement m the
state of cultivation, and an improved stock of cattle.

Mr. PiiiLiPFS (Cowin) differed from Mr. Hams respecting
the black cattle. Like Mr. Harris he remembered that at one
time he procured what was rather an expensive bull, wlucli
was represented to be pure black, but turned out to be quite
different. But he tried again, and he was persuaded that the
blacks were equal to anything. The only way m which he
could look at the question was this— if you have 20 tons o
hay with which to feed your cattle, those 20 tons of hay wi
produce as great results with good black stock as they will
with Shorthorns, or any other breed. That at least was us
opinion. He was therefore decidedly in favour of the blacks.
Mr. Jones (Penycoed) warmly recommended bone manure,
although he believed very little of it was used in this part ol
the country. With regard to the fattening of stock he cau-
tioned formers against expecting that their black cattle would
fatten much until they were three or four years of age. Be-
fore that time they were growing. To try to feed black cattle
before they were three or four years of age was not in his
iudRraent a good thing. ,

Mr. Brodie (Tyrdail) said, there was no doubt tha
if the present unhappy war which had begun between labour
and capital went on, grass lands would be more the order o
the day than they had been in South Wales. In a weak
country, having the disadvantage of a humid climate and weak
soil, th^re wat no question that if the labour bill reached
much higher the farmers would all go to grass. Mr Buckley
had been rather hard upon what he himself had said at the
meeting about the shortcomings of drainage. He expected
Mr. Buckley would have come out a little stronger and spoken
about some of the more suitable grasses and the different
manures requisite for the maintenance of a good stock ol
liry cows. His complaint against Mr. Buckley therefore
was that he had not gone minutely enough into the subject.
It was often the case that when land was kept in grass farmers
did not treat it properly, but took heavy crops of hay out ot it
without conveying to the soil any sustenance • or it t'ley did
do something it only resembled the wasbin? of a thirsty maus
face with a damp sponge. The land might be reduced to a
state of poverty by not replenishing the soil when it wa
needed. He should have been glad also if something lad
been said about irrigation. The other day he saw at Nea
the very good effects of irrigation. How it was accomplished
he could not say, but the small streams from the mountain
side were turned over the adjoining land, and the result was
that earlier grass was produced than ^l^^ to be seen in this
part of the country. It was puzzling to him that the ra n
they got from the heavens did not produce the same result,
while it was obtained from the water which trickled from the
coal measures. And it was done also m a place where there
was no mountain limestone near. His own experience as to
grass lands was not very much ; he had been rather fond of
the plough. But the advice given by a Scotch landowner to
his son was, in his judgment, not far wrong 'fl'^ son was
taken over the meadows by his father, who said to him Now,
boy, you always be planting a tree; ,t will grow when you
are sleeping." So it was with grass land. By always giving
it something it would grow while they were asleep.

Mr. Morgan (Llwyn) agreed with Mr. Brod.e hat if the
agricultural labourers introduced into this part ot the country
the contention for higher wages, farmers would be driven back
to rely more upon grass lands. In tact, fanners would have to
live upon grass as did Nebuchadnezzar of old. Mr. Harris
had said that it was a shame to see so much land here cut up
wUh the plough ; and he perfectly agreed with Mr. Harris on
tl^iat point Why were the lands in the valley o the Towy cut
i as^le had seen them that morning? He had ^een that day
when on his way down from Llandovery, land tha would grow
magnificent grass so cut up. The chief part of the laud t^
which he alluded was cut up by the same Per^on viz Mr
Broekie, who occupied under Lord Cawdor. No oflence, he
hoped, would be taken by his mentioning those hings, for he
was only echoing what Mr. Harris had said. The suggestion
made by Mr. Buckley for bush-harrowing the seeds on
the surface of the land was weU worthy of attention So tar
he believed it had only been tried by very few people, and he
himself was amongst those who had not tried it. But he
would make the experiment. , .^i nr -d 1 1 >

Dr. Hopkins had been much pleased with Mr. Buckley s

paper, although there were one or two things to which
he^m'ust take%xception. There was one about which e
had corrected Mr. Buckley on former occasions viz. his
reference to worn-out land growing docks thistles ana
weeds. Now he begged most particularly to remind the
meeting that weeds were mostly the effect of manure. It
hme were put upon grasslands, or common lime-dust upon
t he cl^apest land that could be got, it would be generaUy
fSund that weeds would spring up with the herbage Where
a rarden, for example, was kept in an excellent state of soil,
there was all the greater difficulty to keep down the weeds.
Worn-out land would not grow anything but the indigenous
weeds of the soil. He should not like the meeting to
Conclude without calling the attention of those present
to that fact; for were it not a tact l^e would not have
stated it. Again, Mr. Buckley appeared in his paper
to have lost sight of the main principles of main
draining. It was not so much from the large quantity
of rain that fell in South Wales that the farmers suffered,
but from the rain remaining too long on the surface ot the
land He maintained that what was called thorough draining
was more or less ineffectual. It was an old fashioned notion
to imagine that if you cut your drains down between the dry
and wet lands you will save all beneath. Experience would
show that it was quite an absurd idea ; and it had been ex-
ploded by all the best writers. Another point mentioned by
Mr Buckley was deep draimng. That also was another ab-
surdity. It- a drain was cut three feet deep, it was quite deep
enough. There was no plant permeating the soil wliose roots
went do wn more than one foot. Therefore, if the drain went
down two feet below that it was quite sufficient. Again, lie
would repeat that farmers suffered not so much from an
abundance of water as from its stagnancy. It much resembled
the case where a man had a barrel of beer. If he took a
glass of it at a time, it would do him no harm but good. it
however, he dipped his head into it, why the result would be
as the Americans said-he would be yrowM On another
point, viz. peat draining, he also differed from Mr. Buckley,
and it served to illustrate an old proverb. So many men, so
many minds. Mr. Buckley was quite right when he advised
the farmers to go down until they reached the clay. But he
wished the formers to remember that the last of the surface
through which they passed next to the clay, if dried and mixed
with the rest, formed an excellent manure, if the peat were
turned ojer when so used. With regard to the black cattle
many hard words had been said against them from time to
time, and they had been disadvantageously compared v ilti the
Shorthorns and other improved breeds. He would not deny
tlie superiority of the other breeds in many respects, but
they were living in a peculiar country, and he would venture
to state professionally that the same quantity of hay whicli
would put seven pounds of flesh upon one animal would also
put seven pounds of flesh upon another, the only condition,
being that each beast was healthy. If a farmer had a Welsh
bfock ox well led, he maintained that the flesh of that animal
was better for the table than that of the Shorthorns. It was
the same with the native mountain sheep. Much was said
about various breeds of English sheep, but he would assert
positively that a certain quantity of food would only produce
a certain quantity of flesh, and it would produce the same
quantity in each animal provided it were healthy. ^ or that
reason they ought not to turn their backs either on the black
cattle or their mountain sheep. Why was there such a cry tor
getting the Lincolnshire sheep down here ? It was said that a
leg of mutton from one of these sheep would weigh hve-and-
twenty pounds. But everybody had not sufiicient money to
spend to buy it. The best thing would be for the population
to have resort to what could be produced here. And he woiild
maintain that, taking everything into consideration, the Welsh
mutton was superior to any other. The only complaint against
their mountain sheep was that when they were tolerably well
fed the young rascals were apt to run it off. In AV ales, not
being in possession of an over-abundance of wealth, they must
practise an old adage and cut their coat according to the cloth ;
the farmer and butcher must sell to the customer what tlie
latter was able to pay for. There was much talk about big
oxen and big prices, but after all they must be practical. He
would venture to tell the meeting that a sirlom trom a black ox
moderately well fed, was superior to a sirloin obtained from one
of those over-fed animals. Why, everybody knew that the iat

532

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE,

generally went into the dripping pan. And if it was useful at
aU, its only use was to make people bilious.

Mr, Davies (Cencoed) said the climate of South Wales
was Imraid and suited for the growth of grass. And the prices
now paid for animals, whether horses, sheep, or cows, ought
to encourage farmer to convert their land into grass land.
Tliey might hear of English farmers growing eight quarters of
corn to tlie acre, but that was not the case in Wales. Here it
could not be done. When farmers went into their fields to
cultivate them, they often found themselves obliged to sow their
seed in unfavourable weather, and so there was often a contest
hetween couch-grass and corn. He would maintain that no
AVelsh farmer could grow a paying crop of corn if he could not
first of all keep his land as clean as a garden, which was a
most difficult thing to do. The very wet weather, about wliich
so much had beeu lately said, was favourable to the growth
of grass, and it was only necessary therefore that the leaders
of the farmers should advise them to put down the best seeds
so as to have perennial grasses. In the improvement of cattle
they were progressing pretty fairly. Convince the Welsh far-
mer that there was something better for him to do than to
grow root crops and clover ; tell the Welsh farmer what grass
seeds were the best, and he would be willing to learn his duty
and to carry it out. As agricultural matters were now going
on it would be absolutely necessary to convert the Vale of
Towy and even the Vale of Teify into grazing land. Farmers
had no business to break up their pastures at all. There might
be some mountainous ground, running into a gorge, where the
plough might be safely applied, and he would say— Let them
speed the plough there. He was persuaded that Welsh far-
mers would awaken to a knowledge of their true interests
by-aud-by. Tersonally, he was alive to the necessity for
encouraging the growth of grass, and would prefer to cast
aside the plough and harrow.

Mr. Philipps (Bolahaul) said that upon nearly all the
points raised in the opening lecture he was at one with Mr.
J3uckley. But there were some on which he disagreed with
Mr. Buckley, and to them he would confine his observations.
He had had some experience in draining bad land ; and must
say that Mr. Buckley was quite wrong in assuming that as
soon as he got down to a depth of four feet in peat he would
reach the clay.

Mr. Buckley said he did not state that. On the contrary
he said that they .might go down five or sis feet, or almost
any depth before reaching the clay. Wliat he finally insisted
upon was that in order to drain peat land efi'ectually a farmer
must go through the peat before laying the drain.

Mr. Philipps agreed with that, and believed that in most
of the peat land they might reach the clay at a depth of four,
five, or sis feet. But Mr. Buckley had not told them what
ought to be done in such peat land where they could not reach
th« clay. He could understand Mr. Buckley's suggestions
being right, after a farmer had got at the clay, because then
he would have a sound hard bottom on which to work. But
in Wales they had to deal with peat which apparently had no
bottom, and was full of quagmires, giving forth in a number of
basins a lot of stuff like soap every five or six feet. In some
places as many as twenty of those quagmires might be found
over a surface of as many feet. It was then that the farmer
encountered the greatest trouble. Before peat land could be
drained properly those quagmires must be removed, and good
flags must be employed in order to bottom well. Also the peat
must be supported on the sides of the drain, to enable the
water to flow. Pipes would not do for such drainage, for once
the pipes got displaced, which was an easy thing to do, there
was an end of them. Stones also were often unsuccessful,
because there was a kind of stufi' that accumulated in the stag-
nant water of the peat which would get into the stones and
prevent a free flow of the water. Then, again, he thought Mr.
Buckley was wrong in saying that a farmer ought not to burn
peat land, because in that case he would be destroying vege-
table matter. His answer to that was that after the peat was
burned there was plenty of vegetable matter still remaining.
Witli respect to grass lauds lie agreed with Mr. Buckley in the
recommenda ions he had made for their improvement : but he
could nimself also recommend a very cheap mode of improve-
ment, and that was to change the kind of cattle put to graze
the auds. It was a well-known fact that if the same sort of
cattle were always kept ou the land they would bare the land
much sooner than if they were changed. Some fault had been

found with farmers in the Towy valley for cutting up their land.
JNow, he maintained that the properties of the meadow land
vpere inexhaustible by a rotation of crops, and therefore when
the meadow lands were ploughed up much depended upon the
kind of treatment they afterwards received. If a tenant farmed
properly there was no objection to his taking an occasional
crop out of his meadows ; for in the case of old meadows they
sometimes required cutting up. If hay were continually taken
from them the surface of the soil ultimately would not be so
fertile as it ought to be. Dr. Hopkins was wrong in maintain-
ing that black cattle and mountain sheep were as profitable up-
on good land as other breeds. The object of a farmer was to
get quality and arrive at early maturity in his stock ; and a
Welsh farmer would find if he improved his soil he could get
something better than black cattle. This was the reason why
farmers should go in for the improvement of seeds.

The Chairman thanked Mr. Buckley in the first place for
the very able and appropriate paper which had been read— in
fact, Mr. Buckley, whenever he gave an address at the meet-
ings of the Club, always embodied in it such remarks as
evinced a great study of his subject. If the members of the
Club were more in the habit, like Mr. Buckley, of making
experiments, and deciding in that way any doubtful point,
testing certain ideas bearing upon it, it would be very much
to their advantage. He agreed with Mr. Buckley and some
of the other speakers who stated that in this country farmers
ploughed sadly too much. It would be very much to the
advantage of every farmer if he ploughed less, but cultivated
in a better way. But it was all nonsense to talk of laying
down the land in grass. How many farmers in the country
could be trusted to lay down grass lands properly for perma-
nent pasture ? A considerable outlay was required in order
to accomplish it. There was an article in the Journal of the
Eoyal Agricultural Society which put the expense of top-
dressing at from 40s. to 50s. per acre. That, no doubt,
would stagger many. But if the land was properly prepared
for it, it would be an advantage to make use of that system
of topdressing. Great facilities were now open to farmers to
make use of recent discoveries of suitable manures for
replacing what had been taken out in different ways from the
land J and he himself believed, in spite of what Mr. Morgan
had said respecting the shame on the part of Earl Cawdor's
steward for cutting up the lands near the Towy at Golden
Grove— and many would agree with him on the point— that no
harm was done by bringing grass lands for a time under a
judicious and wise course of cultivation, care being taken to
feed the soil by a liberal supply of manures applied to the
green crops. But that was not all. It was forgotten that in
growing green crops a great deal more than that was neces-
sary. It was not only manuring that was required, but proper
management afterwards, and the setting the land down with
a proper assortment of grasses for whatever purposes a farmer
might wish his land to be ultimately used. If land were pro-
perly managed in that way, he was persuaded they would
agree with him in thinking that by taking an occasional rota-
tion of crops out of it, the land would be made to produce
more than it would if left altogether as a permanent pasture.
It was not always desirable to plough up pasture land. The
ornamental question had sometimes to be considered ; and it
was also sometimes difficult to set land down again into good
pasture. But if the land had been for a great length of time
in grass it was the best plan, although it was rather a danger-
ous course to advocate, to put it through a judicious course of
cultivation, and afterwards lay it down again with the best
possible grasses. He believed that even two or three crops
might be taken from meadow land with advantage. Wtih
respect to drainage, it was the first step towards improvement.
But a great part of the draining in this country was a mis-
take, in that farmers did not go to a greater depth. He was
sorry to observe that at the last quarterly meeting of the
Club at Llandilo, when the question of drainage was dis-
cussed, it was advocated that the best draining was that
which secured the flow of water from the surface with the
greatest possible speed. That was a great mistake. How few
of them knew much about the subject of capillary attraction !
It was not the water which fell from the sky that they wanted
to get rid of so much as the water from below. They ought
rather to searcii for the places where the springs rose, and get
rid of them. By deep draining they would be able to carry
away the water from a great depth in the soil, and then the

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

533

water from the surface would be enabled to percolate through
the ground and support the growing crops. It was not in-
tended by nature that the water should be carried by surface-
gutters into the drains, and by them taken to the sea. By
proper draining a great expense might be saved. There was
no doubt that by draining at a greater depth you might also
drain at a greater distance. Recently he saw some draining
that had been done on Earl Cawdor's estate in Pembrokeshire,
and it astonished him. The land previously was wretched;
and if some Welsh farmers had seen it, he feared they would
instantly have said the draining was too deep. Those drains
were made four feet deep, the ground had become dry, and he
was surprised to see the great alteration that had taken place
in it. His advice was to drain to a depth of 4 feet 6 inches
if it was possible. Never mind if they had to go through a
strong rock with a pick so long as it could be done. Go
through the rab if it could be done, for ultimately that would
be found to answer. Tlie drainage of peat was a different
question. Often pipes could not be laid in peat. You niay
cut the peat like cutting butter, and the cut-piece when dry
may be thrown into the drain, and so form a perfect drain
that will last for ever. As to burning peat, some of the
surface-peat might be burnt to advantage ; aud when burnt it
made au ash that was of good use in cultivation. When you
have made your peat-ground more solid by drainage, you may
cart diflferent soil upon it, marl or clay ; in fact, there was
nothing better than road-scrapings, or even sand. This would
convert the peat into a different soil. He could well under-
stand the beautiful grasses which Mr. Jones had stated he had
obtained from a bed of peat. Another question had been
raised— Which was the best kind of cattle for the country t"
Although not exactly a black-cattle man, he was most careful
not to say a word against them. The breed might be very
much improved by a judicious selection of bulls and cows
from the best stocks in the country ; a magnificent start
might thereby be made. But that was not all. Farmers were
too apt to neglect their young cattle, and the black cattle
could not stand it. When a young black beast was starved in
his younger days, he never afterwards became what he ought
to be. He was not prepared to say that black cattle could

not be made very much better than they were ; but itj^^^ ^"e
to farmers and their shocking bad management that the b ack
stock were reduced to their present condition, ihe b^ck
cattle without doubt were improving, and he did not see why
they should not improve still more.

Mr Prossek inquired what were the points which the
iudges ought to take into consideration at the competition tor
the champion prizes. He hoped Mr. Buckley would touch on
that subject in his reply. An interesting discussion might be
raised upon it if Mr. Gwyn, Mr. Philipps, or some one v^ovdd
undertake to read a paper about it at the next meeting ot the

Mr. BUCKLET said he understood there was a committee
who would determine those points.

Mr Philipps asked if any of those gentlemen who wished
to have the points of the black breed decided, would in-
form him what points they required in the black cattle more
than the other breeds. Were not the points in each breed
the same ? If an amimal was required for the butcher, ot
course her points would be different from those required for

the dairy. . ,, • i • (-i,„

Mr. Prossek : You do not require the same points in the
black cattle as in Shorthorns.

Mr Philipps : In a milker, for instance, you do. It you
want a ffood ox for the butcher you need certain particular
points. I mean to say that if you take a cow, whether it is a
black, red, or Shorthorn, you want very much the same points
in all. You want breadth, length, depth, quality, and early
maturity. You want aU these in blacks as well as whites.

Mr Harris (Penllwne) said that black cattle had parti-
cular points of their own, and he should hke the merits ot
the black cattle to be discussed.

Mr Norton also thought that different breeds ot cattle
had each pecuUar points of their own. Would they judge a
Jersey cow by the same points as they would judge bhort-
horns or other cows ? He should say— No.

The Chairman finaUy stated that the Club could hardly
discuss the duties of the judges of the champion prizes for
black cattle.

The meeting then terminated.

FRAMLINGHAM FARMERS' CLUB.
THE FARMER'S FRIENDS AND FOES.

At the last discussion meeting for the present season the
subject for discussion was " The Friends and Foes of the Farm
and Garden," introduced by the Rev. E. N. Bloomfteld, ot
Guestling ; Mr. Goodwyn-Goodwyn in the chair.

Mr. Bloomfield said, I propose to begin with the animal
kingdom, and shall mention a few of the injurious creatures.
Let us begin with destructive animals rabbits: A.s far as
the farm is concerned they are an unmitigated evil, giving no
compensation for the destruction they cause. The only remedy
is to destroy them. It is not very difficult, however, to protect
young trees', whether fruit trees or otherwise, against them.
I have found a small bunch of gorse or whins fastened with a
withe very effective. I could point to a small plantation ex-
posed to rabbits where it was tried, and there was hardly one
young tree injured. The gorse remained round them for several
years. Rats and mice : Destroy them as far as you possibly
can. I think it is a great mistake not to send for the rat-
catcher until you are over-run with rats ; far better to destroy
them when they are few, and so save the corn which the many
would eat. In fact, it would be a good thing to go on the
Chinese plan— pay the ratcatcher so long as there are tew
rats, and stop his pay at once when there are many. Unfortu-
nately, I am afraid most of us would be unwilling to pay if we
had none. Moles : Where there are drains the mole is
certainly injurious ; but I suspect it does more good than
harm where there are no drains. It destroys great numbers
of injurious creatures. No doubt the heaps are unsightly, but
if they were knocked about they would often form a good top-
dressing. What I have said about the ratcatcher apphes to the
molecatcher. You should not make it his interest to keep up
a stock. Let us now turn to the birds, and here we find many

friends of the farmer, although he too often looks upon them
as foes. Kestrel, or windhover ; I should wish to say a word
in favour of this pretty hawk. Its food consists almost entirely
of mice and insects ; and while it thus does great good to the
farmer, I beUeve it does no harm to game, and ought to De
encouraged by game-preservers as well as farmers, ihe tact
is it is often confounded with the sparrow-hawk and thus
suffers for the sparrow-hawk's misdeeds. Barn owls are still
greater friends of the farmers, destroying numbers of mice and
insect foes; and as they are out at night only, need "ot "^
suspected of injuring game. I believe that the good the rooks
do to the farmer is incalculably greater than the injury. The
truth is, we can easily see the harm they do, whi e we cannot
see the thousands of subterranean grubs which they devour.
For instance, you will see a flock of rooks pulling up the grass
in a pasture. What are they doing ? They are devouring the
destructive grubs which live at the roots of the grass. Although
the rook may do harm to the corn when first sown and when
ripe, it far more than repays by destroying the insect enemies
throughout the year. Besides, it is easy to keep the rook off
the crops for a few months, and have the benefit of its services
at other times. The starling is also most useful in destroying in-
sects, especially the grubs, which live at the roots of the grass.
They have, I know, been accused of sucking pigeons eggs ; but
I believe the charge to be groundless. There are threa
kinds of pigeons which occur with us, the ring dove, the stocK
dove, and the turtle dove. The turtle dove is only with us in
the summer, and does little or no damage. I cannot say tlie
same for the other two. In this neighbourhood 1 believe al-
most every one knows the difference between them, but in
many parts of England the differences do not seem to be re-

534

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

cognised. Tlie ring dove is much larger and of lighter colour,
nud builds a rude nest in branches. The stock dove is more
like our common blue rock domestic pigeon, and generally
builds in liollow trees. I am afraid I cannot say a good word
for tlie ring doves, as tliey are very destructive, especially to
peas and young clovers, while they do very little good in re-
turn. They are almost exclusively vegetable feeders, and do
not destroy wire-worms and grubs as the rooks do. I know
that sparrows are detested by tlie farmer ; but I believe they
are not an unmitigated evil. They destroy many grubs which
would increase amazingly if they were allowed to go unchecked.
I cannot leave the birds without saying one word in favour of
the woodpecker. It does neither harm nor good to the farmer,
but I believe is often considered as an enemy by timber grow-
ers. I believe it is, on the contrary, a good friend to them.
It destroys many of tlie insects which injure trees, and never,
I believe, bores into sound trees — in fact, a woodpecker's hole
is_ a sign that the tree ought to come down. As to our insect
Iriends and foes, the cockchafer is very destructive to the
leaves of shrubs aud trees ; but the damage it does is of little
consequence compared with that done by the larva or grub,
which lives at the root of the plant. " Many a fair pasture
land," we are told, " is withered, and many a broad field of
corn assumes a sickly appearance" through these destructive
creatures. You must all of you know the great white maggot,
which is the grub of the cockchafer. It takes three years to
come to the perfect state, and all that time feeds at the roots.
The click-beetles, or skip-jacks, so called from their jumping
when turned on their backs, harmless as they are in the per-
fect state, are the parents of the dreaded wire-worm, that is,
their eggs, when liatched, are wire-worms. The only practical
way of getting rid of wire-worms is by growing a crop which
will not furnish them with food. It is said a wire-worm
liauuted field may be cured for a time by planting it with
potatoes, which the wire- worm cannot eat. Some farmers, I
have heard, use soda ash, sowing it with seed, or broadcast.
The rooks and starlings are the best helps in getting rid of the
wire-wormjand the cockchafer grub. Were it not for these we
should be far more troubled by these grubs, and even perhaps
overrun by them. The turuip-fly, as it is called, is oue of the
most annoying and destructive insect we have. It is a small
beetle which lays its eggs on the young leaves of the turnip.
The eggs hatch almost directly, and the grub destroys the
leaves. No practical remedy is, I believe, known. In a garden
it may be of use to scatter some good lime on the surface as
the seeds are coming up. The l»st beetle I shall mention is
the ladybird, or as it called in the hop districts, the fly-gilder.
It lays its eggs in the midst of the green flies, or plant-lice,
and the grub when hatched feeds solely upon them— in fact,
the ladybird is our best help in checking the increase of these
destructive insects. Hop growers well know their value, and
I doubt not the are just as useful to farmers in general keeping
down the green fly which attacks their peas and beans. When
ladybirds are plentiful in the spring, the hops, I believe,
seldom sufi'er much from green fly. Destructive as they are
in other countries, the locusts and grasshoppers do very little
harm in England. The migratory locust does now and then
get blown across the channel, but our climate is far too cold
for them to multiply here. We often see notices in the papers
that locusts have been taken in different parts of England,
but in most cases this is a mistake, all kinds of different
creature being mistaken for locusts. Everybody knows
the green fly or aphis. These plant-lice are wonderfully
prolific and increase most rapidly. Hence have arisen many
mistakes. People have imagined that they could not come in
the ordinary course of nature. Some have supposed they are
brought by the cast wind ; other that they have come by
spontaneous gent ration. And hence they have thought that
it was no use to try and stop their ravages. This, however,
may often be done when care is taken in the house and in
gardens. If the first green fly be picked off, we can often keep
them down ; but in the fields we must leave them to the
ladybirds and other like enemies. Tlie black jack or nig-
ger, so destructive to the turnips, are the catterpiUars of a
small transparent winged-lly called the turnip saw fly This
insect lays its eggs on the turnip leaf, cutting little grooves
to receive them. They grow very quickly, and are very
voracious as you all know. No remedy is of any use on a
large scale. Rolling will spoil the turnips as effectually as the
grub. Trenches have been dug between the infected and free

portions of the field ; lime and soot have been tried, but all
of little use. In a garden hand-picking is the best plan. The
last insect which I propose to mention is the midge. We
have, I think, of late years heard but little about the destruc-
tion caused by this insect, but twenty years ago it was regarded
with great apprehensions. I find from Mr. Goodwyn that you
suffered from it three years ago. You probably all of you
know the damage which is caused by it. In harvest the crop
is found very defective, the ears being full of shrivelled grains.
If the ears are examined before the harvest little orange-
coloured maggots about the size of a small pin's head will be
found — these are the larvae of the wheat midge. The mother
insect, which is very small, lays her eggs within the chaff scales
in June. These are soon hatched and destroy the grain, at
least it does not swell. At harvest time these are carried into
the barn, and when they are numerous may be easily found in
the dust. Sometimes the damage done is very considerable.
One observer, Mr. Kirby, a Suffolk man by the way, calculated
that the loss through the midge in one field he examined was
not less than 1^ bushels per acre. Others have put the des-
truction much higher. Probably the best method the farmer
could use where the midge is common would be to burn the
dust after thrashing. Fortunately both in the case of the
midge and of many other of our insect scourges there is a
check provided far more effective than any we can use. There
are small flies called ichneamer flies who deposit their eggs in
the maggots of the midge, and thus destroy them, and this is
one of the most effectual ways of limiting their increase. Our
vegetable foes not only include the weeds which cumber the
ground and take the place of better plauts, but also many ills
which unusually go by the name of blights, such as mildew, smut,
bunt, &c. With respect to weeds, I will only mention two weeds
by name, the dodder and clover rape, both of which are very des-
tive to clover. They are both parasites, and live by sucking
the juices of the clover plant. I cannot but think that the
ravages of the dodder might be almost entirely stopped by
sending in a man to mow out the infected piece as soon as
it begins to show itself ; or, still better, if he dug it
out. The mowed pieces must be carried away. I
know no method of preventing the ravages
of the clover rape, that great brown succulent
plant that appears so plentifully in clover fields after the first
crop has been taken. It has been growing underneath the
surface and sucking the clover long before it shows itself.
The most probable means of diminishing its quantity is to be
very particular to see to the cleanness of the clover seed. I
think it is very probable, however, that the seed may be some
years dormant in tlie ground, and in that case I do not know
how we can guard against it. Let us now go on to those
special diseases of the corn to which I just now referred, wliich
are often called blights. The mildew, with many other blights,
as smut, and rust, and bunt, are caused by fungi, in fact, are
due to parasitic grovrths, which destroy or injure the corn.
You all know what mildew looks like. The stem and leaves
become discoloured, and at length the outer skin splits, and
the parasite is disclosed. If you look at the infected plant
with a glass which magnifies slightly, you will observe that the
spots are dark and rough. Put a small piece under a powerful
microscope, and you will see an appearance such as is repre-
sented in this diagram. The threads and spawn, or mycelium,
is hidden in the straw, but what we see is the fruit or seed
vessels. Each spore consists of two compartments, which are
filled with sporules. But how did the seed enter the plant ?
Perhaps through the stomata or little openings which abound
on leaves. At any rate the mildew shows itself generally at
these apertures. How then does the mildew injure the corn ?
It absorbs the sap which should go to nourish the grain, and
is as true a parasite as the dodder. Moist seasons, damp situ-
ations, over-manured land, and lateness of crop, all favour
mildew ; a plant on a manure heap is, in fact, almost always
mildewed. And so, again, over-luxuriance will favour mildew.
Well draining the land, and keeping the crops free from weeds,
will generally prevent the mildew from doing much mischief.
Again, you all know the rust, or red robin. Different as it
looks, there is good reason to believe that it is the same plant
as that which causes the mildew, taking one form or the other,
according to circumstances — the state of the weather or plant.
Here it does little harm, but on the Continent it is more
dreaded than the mildew. The next parasite I would mention
is the smut. Some farmers, I have heard, like to see it in the

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

5S5

erops because it is usually accompanied by a sood crop. If so, I
suppose tlie esplauatioa is this, that a season which is favourable
to the production of smut is also favourable to the corn. As to
bunt or bladder brand, or stinking rust, this parasite com-
pletely fills the seeds and replaces the flour with a black dis-
gusting powder, smelling almost like putrid fish. The infected
grains are of a dark green colour, and at length become
brown. If a grain is opened it is found filled with a black
greasy powder. When tlie wheat is thrashed, the infected
grains are broken, and the sporule stick to the sound grains
and ultimately inoculate them. The object of dressing the
wheat, therefore, is to wash off the spores, and if possible
destroy tlieir vitality. Some farmers dress their corn with
arsenic, but I cannot think it is likely to do much good, while
there are many great objections to it. All farmers, or nearly
all, know something of the parasites which I have mentioned,
but perhaps there may be many who have never seen the next
— I mean ergot. The grain is completely changed, both in
form and properties. It is black, and looks like the spur of a
cock. It has long been known to be a powerful medicine. It
has not so long been discovered that it causes most dreadful
diseases when it has been eaten with corn. Rye is very sub-
ject to ergot, and it was suspected that certain dreadful diseases,
formerly prevalent in some parts of France, were due to this
cause. There seems little doubt that it was so, and it appeared
probable tliat ergot have been the cause of dreadful disease
even iu Suffolk. It appears from the parish register of Wat-
tisham that in the year 1762 several persons suffered from an
unusual kind of mortification of the limbs. Iu this case, no
doubt it was due to the ergot of wheat. Where lands are
well drained, little or no ergot is to be found ; but doubtless
at that date there was plenty of wet undrained land to favour
its growth. But although ergot is now uncommon on wheat
and rye in this country, it is often common on grasses. And
it is not unlikely that it may be the cause of some of the mys-
terious diseases of cattle. Drainage is the great cure for it. I
now turn to the last disease of the grain, which I purpose men-
tioning—the ear cockle, or pepper corn, which is one of the
most extraordinary diseases to" which wheat is liable. The
grains affected by it look just like black pepper corns, and the
whole ear is altered in appearnance. When the grain is cut in
pieces, it is found full of a cottony substance packed close to-
gether. If the grain is fresh, and a little of this cottouy sub-
stance be placed with a drop of water under the microscope,
it is found to be a mass of eel-shaped creatures, which wriggle
about with great vigour. If, however, the ear cockle has be-
come dry, it must be steeped in water for a few hours before
the ear is opened, or they will show no life or motion. Some-
times 40,000 or 50,000 of these little creatures are packed
together in one grain. Anyone who has a moderately good
microscope can verify this for themselves. It would be a good
thing if more time were spent in searching into the wonders
of creation, which the miscroscope reveals.

Mr. G. E. Jeaffreson said, with regard to the subject of
dressing wheat, that there was no doubt but that the sporules
were poisoned by arsenic. Experiments would reveal the fact
that strychnine, arsenic, opium, and sundry other poisons
actually had analogous physiological action on plants that
they had on animals. The great reason for the use of vitriol
instead of arsenic was that there was not the same danger,
and they both acted in tlie same way, if not to the same ex-
tent, in destroying the sporule. With reference to the damage
done by the turnip fly, the old remedy was to sow a little mus-
tard for the reason that the fly liked the mustard better than
the turnips. They took off the mustard and left the turnip
until it got beyond a point where the fly cared for it.

The Chairman said he had sown every other furrow with
coleseed, and he found this more effectual than the mustard,
but the difiiculty was in distinguishing the plant from the
turnips.

Mr. Cracknell said he had frequently noticed in a field of
corn that four or five bladders would be found on one side of
the ear, while all the other kernels were good. He should
very much like to know the explanation of that.

Mr. W. Chambers said he had always dressed his wheat
with arsenic, and he had given it to his fowls afterwards, and
had not found that they suifered the slightest injury from it.
He put a quarter of a pound of arsenic to the coomb, and he
had no bladders, whilst his friend who dressed the same wheat
vfith vitriol had a good many.

Mr. Jeaffreson said arsenic was the strongest poison.
Mr. J. Barnes said, with regard to the caterpillar on the
gooseberry bushes, that Ms practice had been to place a piece
of whin when in full bloom near the bush, and he had not
been troubled with these caterpillars.

Mr. Paul Read alluded to the defective side of the ear ot
wheat mentioned by Mr. Cracknell, and thought it most pro-
bable that the defective side would not be that which was
towards the south. He (Mr. Read) had no doubt it would be
fouud on the cold side.

Mr. Cracknell said he believed it was on the south-west
side mostly, and not on the north side. He referred to the
side of the ear.

Mr. Paterson said he was rather curious as to the where-
abouts of the insects which had been referred to when they
did not show themselves. When turnip-seed was sown, the
insects appeared in legions, and did a great deal of harm ; but
at the end of a fortnight or three weeks they went away, and
the rest of the year we were not even aware of their exist-
ence. This was specially so with regard to the blight which
affected the wheat-plant. He referred to the animal-blight,
and it was perhaps only a fortnight or three weeks of the year
that they showed themselves. Did these insects require sus-
tenance, and if so, what did they live upon ? It was a serious
question whether in providing a series of crops by rotation
we did not provide a succession of green crops for these little
insects. It was also a serious matter whether the hedgerows,
trees, and plants of various kinds did not supply food for them
during the year ; and the question suggested itself to him
whether it was not possible to starve them out. If farmers
were, for instance, to grow a wheat-crop one year, would it
not starve the turnip-fly ? and if another year they grew tur-
nips and green crops, would it not destroy the midge ? Could
they not at least manage to destroy these little creatures so
that they did not obtrude themselves upon our notice quite so
much ?

Mr. Cracicnell said that he had a good deal of dodder
in his young clover. He never saw it in young clover before ;
but he was glad to say that it entirely disappeared. He
noticed 20 or 30 places in the young layer, and though he
took no steps to remove it, afterwards on going over the field,
he could see no traces of it whatever.

Mr. W. B. Kent said he had seen it when the barley was
mowed.

Several members expressed the opinion that it would make
its appearance again.

Mr. Clutten said that when manure was left in the yard
there were to be seen, in vast numbers, what were called fleas.
Some had come to the conclusion that they were identical
with the turnip-fly. He should like to know whether these
little insects were in any way connected with the turnip-fly.

Mr. Bloomfield, in reply, said with regard to the fact to
which Mr. Cracknell had called attention as to a particular side
of the ear of wheat being affected, he (Mr. Bloomfield) knew of
no positive cause. The fungi in entering the plant might affect
one part and not another : it was quite possible that one seed
might be affected and not the other. His opinion was that
they ought to take many thousands of ears, and see if the
north side was affected or not, and then draw their couclu-
sions afterwards. Where bladder-brand had shown itself,
great care should be taken in the selection of seed, so as to
get it as clean as possible where there was no brand whatever.
It was an excellent plan to get the seed good and fresh, and
change it as much as possible. Whilst advertiug to the
gooseberry saw-fly, a member remarked that he never saw this
kind of insect until the white butterfly made its appearance,
and the rev. gentleman expressed his opinion that the white
butterfly had nothing to do with it, adding that it never fed
on the gooseberry at all. In reply to Mr. Paterson's question,
there were very few insects which died in the winter, and
many remained in a dormant state, and, as to starving them
out, the midge had no month. Mr. Cracknell had alluded to
having seen dodder in young clover, and to its having after-
wards entirely disappeared. It was killed no doubt by the
winter. The mildness of the autumn, or a certain state of
the season, had caused the dodder to grow sooner than usual,
and when the cold weather came in it was killed, and probably
would not again be troublesome. It was, however, possible
that there might be some of tlie seed which did not germi-
1 nate so readily as the other, and it might spring up, but the

536

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

probability was it was killed. With reference to the little crea-
tures found in the manure doing harm, it might be that some
of those which did harm during the summer months hid in
the manure during the winter. Some of them passed the
winter in the form of eggs, others as caterpillars, while a con-

siderable number passed the winter in the perfect state, and
were found as vigorous as ever when the warm weather arrived,
and it was possible that some of them might be the turnip-flies
which did so much mischief.
A vote of thanks was passed to Mr, Bloomfield.

STOWMARKET AND CENTRAL SUFFOLK FARMERS' CLUB.

THE SCOUR IN SHEEP.

At the last of the monthly discussions for the season, the
subject was "Diarrhoea or scour in sheep and lambs — its
varieties, causes, symptoms, and treatment," introduced by
Mr. C. W. Sutton, veterinary chemist; Major R. J. Petti-
ward, a Vice-President of the Club, in the chair.

Mr. Sutton read the following paper :

I believe it is generally admitted that the subject for our
discussion this evening is one of great and growing importance ;
for the serious losses caused by diseases, of which diarrhoea or
scour is a symptom or type, are I fear rather on the increaes
than otherwise, thus I feel any time spent in the consideration
of this subject will not be thrown away. Many of you hold
your own opinions as to the source of some of the diseases of
which I shall speak, but avoiding controversy, I shall endea-
vour, in introducing this subject, to adhere closely to facts,
knowing that theory will be distasteful to you as practical
men. Wliatever rules we may lay down on paper, success
only attends good management, and the result of success to
all flockmasters will depend upon the judgment, care, atten-
tion, and knowledge, they bring to bear on every portion of
that management, and then we shall hear no more of that
meaningless expression, " good and bad luck," so frequently
used in settling the matter. Sheep belong to the class ru-
minants, which have a very complicated digestive apparatus,
and a brief consideration of it will not be out of place here.
Affections commonly known by the name diarrhoea or scour
have their origin in the digestive organs and intestinal canal.
The food first enters into the rumen or paunch, next into the
reticulum or second stomach, then the third, and lastly the
true digestive stomach, the tliree former being preparatory
ones. The food is at first passed into the rumen, and at each
subsequent swallowing caused to enter into that organ. The
reticulum acts as a supplier of properly masticated and
insalivated food to the third and fourth stomachs, in order
that in them the process of digestion may be perfectly con-
ducted. From the fourth stomach it passes into the intestinal
canal, where it is acted upon by certain secretions, which
have the power of separating the nutritive from the innutri-
tive. The nutritive parts are precipitated upon the mucous
membrane of the intestines, and become absorbed into the
system, the innutritive parts into the large intestines, where
they are retained for a certain length of time, subject to the
continued absorption of any nutritive quality they may then
possess. Thus, then, the affections we are considering
have their habitation mostly in the intestinal canal, and
their rise in the material which may be taken into it, which,
if of an irritating nature, will set up a faulty action when
it comes in contact with the highly sensitive lining
membrane of this canal, and this may also be produced
by causes not acting directly upon the intestinal canal,
as we shall see presently. It is very important to be
able to distinguish and separate one cause of diarrhoea from
another, and to discover whether that cause is acting directly
or directly on the intestinal canal. In any investigation of
these diseases, before we can come to a satisfactory conclusion,
it will be necessary to endeavour to understand upon what the
symptoms really depend. I have frequently had this question
put to me ; " What shall be done for my flock P they continue
to scour, and do badly, in spite of all I can do, and I am con-
stantly losing them." And I find nineteen out of twenty be-
lieve that it always arises from something that disagrees with
the digestive organs, and treat them accordingly, changing
their food, g;iving corn or cake, but all has been done without
good resulting ; and what is the reason of this ? Simply be-
cause the symptoms were not understood, and thus they have
gone on treating their flock in perfect blindness, I wish,

therefore, to call your attention to the fact that although
diarrhoea or scour may (to the casual observer) be the promi-
nent symptom, yet it is the result of several causes, such as
the effect of simple irritants, improper food inferior in quality,
rank or wet and sloppy grass, the action of filaria bronchialis,
commonly known as worms in the throat, worms in the in-
testines, &c.. Sec Therefore, we will now go on to consider
the most common forms of this disease, with causes, symp-
toms, and treatment. After weaning, a large number of
lambs are lost yearly (by diarrhoea) when placed upon clover
where old sheep have been previously fed, or on artificial
grasses, and if the weather has been wet and warm, and the
lambs eating largely of green, juicy vegetable matter that has
not arrived at a state of maturity, the mortality amongst them
is great, and nothing short of an alteration of management
will disperse the malady. You will remember at our December
meeting, during the discussion of the management of an ewe
flock on heavy land, it was shown by a practical man, whose
opinion we respect, that mangolds grown by artificial manure,
when given to ewes, were productive of evil. Now, although
his practical experience led him to this opinion, he did not give
the reason why ; therefore, I will endeavour to solve the mys-
tery. It is this — that the mangolds in a wet and warm season
are too quickly grown, or, in other words, are not grown to a
state of maturity, and this is what causes all food of like nature
to disagree when given alone, or in too large quantity, because
it consists of nine-tenths water, and lacks the element in the
form necessary to produce flesh and blood, and consequently
give strength ; but if our friend had given his sheep a nitro-
genous or flesh-forming element in the shape of peas, cake,
corn, or food of like nature, he would not only have given his
ewes mangolds with impunity from evil consequences, but
with positively good effect. And, again, if there had been an
advanced ripening of the mangolds, the weather having been
genial, with scarcely any wet, he would have found his ewes
would have done remarkably well with a proper quantity and
an admixture of dry food. The practice formerly adopted of
stuffing breeding ewes with roots is most unnatural and un-
healthy, and how often have we found a good turnip year fol-
lowed by a bad lambing season ? This has been the case in
Dorsetshire this year : the root crop was so heavy that farmers
were at a loss how to get the ground cleared of them — one of
them with a flock of 900 had 300 ewes slip lamb, and lost 40
ewes as well. I have frequently known great losses amongst
sheep when first put upon swedes, and especially if the roots
are in a rapidly growing condition, and why ? They are un-
ripe : the starch has not been converted into sugar, the nitro-
genous matter they contained was not in a healthy form, and
so irritated the bowels and produced scour ; and the plan I
have known some good practical men adopt, of lifting the
roots, causes part of the water to evaporate, and render them
less liable to disagree. It should be our endeavour, whilst
attempting to make the most of our flocks, to keep them as
closely as we are able to a natural state. Unfortunately, the
higher land is farmed, proportionately so do we diverge from
the natural to the artificial state, and the more difficult it be-
comes to rear lambs ; for keep that may be thoroughly adapted
to fatting sheep, which may be re-folded several times upon
the same land during the year, would be highly injurious to a
breeding flock, and, in all probability, cause great loss amongst
it by the too succulent character of the root crops, or the too
luxuriant growth of grass upsetting the delicate digestive pro-
cess of the lambs, directly by the food they consume, or the
ewes'.milk being too rich in quality, either of which may pro-
duce scour, I was glad to find the view I adopted was pre-
cisely the same as that of Mr, Clare Sewell Read, the member

THE FARMEE'S MAQAZINE.

53^

for South Norfolk. In the Times of February 1st, he wrote
a letter disagreeing with a statement made in a letter in that
paper by Mr. John Dent Dent as to the reason of the dimi-
nution of the stock of sheep kept in Great Britain. The
latter attributed it not only to the great drought of 1868 and
1870, but also to a desire on the part of the farmer to avoid
the constant personal care which is necessary for success in
the management of a breeding flock, &c. Li replying to this,
Mr. Read says : " I take exception to the reason Mr. Dent
asoigns for farmers not keeping more ewe flocks. I believe
that the farmer's judgment is as good, and his personal atten-
tion as assiduous as ever ; but the higher land is farmed,
whether grass or arable, the greater difficulty there is in
rearing Iambs. A good farmer may greatly increase his
number of grazing sheep, but lambs require a constant change
of succulent food, and ewes never do so well as when they are
kept in what farmers term a natural state. Fat sheep may be
re-folded several times on the same land in the course of the
season, whereas the same treatment of lambs would kill them
by scores ; and I have known some of Mr. Dent's much neg-
lected grass land, which was formerly well adapted for rearing
Inmbs, to have been so enriched by stock fed on oilcake, that it
produced such strong grass as to be utterly unsuited for that
purpose," &c. In diarrhoea, produced by these causes, I would
adopt the following treatment : First, a change of keep, sub-
stituting cut hay, straw, straw peas, corn, or bran for some of
the diet they had been consuming. Nature is adopting her
own method of cure ; therefore, do not be in too great a hurry
to administer anything to arrest the discharge ; but if the
diarrhoea is prolonged after the change in keep has been carried
out, give something to assist nature in carrying off the offending
matter, for which purpose give to each sheep, linseed oil, two
or three ounces ; opium powdered, five grains, or a teaspoonful
of laudanum in gruel on two following mornings, after which,
should the diarrhoea continue, it may be found necessary to
give a stringent antacid medicine, for the mucous membrane
having become relaxed and weakened by the previous irritation,
a faulty action may be set up, which continues, although the
irritation which caused it may have been removed. Therefore,
in such cases, the following will be found valuable : Take pre-
pared chalk, one ounce ; powdered catechu, half-an-ounce ;
powdered ginger, quarter-of-an-ounce ; powdered opium, one
drachm ; bicarbonate of potass, four drachms ; peppermint
water to eight ounces. Of this let two tablespoonfuls be given
twice-a-day, a proportionate dose to very young sheep. We
now come to a disease very fatal to young sheep, and one
which, I fear, is greatly on the increase, and from which there
have been immense losses to flockowners ; and it seems to me
somewhat strange that they have gone on losing their flock,
not by an odd one or two, but in some cases by scores with a
listlessuess of effort that to me appears unaccountable. The
first we hear of is this, " I am losing a large number of lambs
from scour, and I think there is something in my keep that
has been prejudicial, or does not suit their digestion ;" and
when asked what has been done for them, the reply is gene-
rally, " I have changed the food, they were on clover, and I
changed them to old grass ;" or, " They were on bare pasture
where the ewes had been, and now I put them on clover ; but
that makes no difference." Here, again, diarrhoea was looked
looked upon as the cause of the mortality ; whereas, upon
inquiry, it is found that they have coughed very much, almost
incessantly, producing evident distress. The animal does not
obtain any relief by the act of coughing, and a great
obstruction is put upon the proper aeration of the blood.
Emaciation of the frame ensues rapidly ending in death. The
appetite is capricious, or almost wanting, the diarrhoea be-
comes aggravated, the thirst is intolerable, and the poor
sufferer madly laps at anything of the character of a liquid,
straining with the back arched and feet drawn together, and
in this attitude, voids small quantities of very stinking matter,
sometimes tinged with blood. This trying, and, if neglected,
fatal disease is caused by the presence of a parasite
in the throat, and called the Filaria bronchialis, a short
account of which may not be uninteresting. It appears that
if one or two of the worms, though being of different sexes,
get into the bronchial tubes, they are quite suflicient to lay the
foundation of extensive disease. Passing as far as they can
through the bronchial tubes, they enter the air cells of the
lungs, and deposit their ova or eggs by myriads, and by means
of these foreign bodies an irritation is set up, first in the

lining merabrance of the air cells, and then to the Inng itself.
It is estimated that one of these worms will produce millions
upon millions of eggs, and thus we can form some idea of the
amount of mischief that ensues. And I have no doubt this is
propagated b"' the expulsion of some of these worms or their
ova in the act of coughing, which are again taken up by other
lambs whilst feeding. This may account for the flock not all
being affected with the same symptom at the same time, but
gradually falling as the disease makes progress, by the develop-
ment of these destructive pests. Any delay in the treatment
of this disease makes the cure more difiicult ; therefore, it will
be wise to have a rigid examination of the first dead carcase to
determine the cause of death. Professor Simonds says, in
making a section of the lung, taking the smallest possible
quantity upon the point of a knife just suflicient to soil apiece
of glass, you will see in the space of the size of a drop of
water, millions of eggs just hatched ; and if you can find the
worm itself you will see eggs in all stages of development, so
that she brings forth the young in a living form, and also in
form of eggs more or less mature. Now, the diarrhoea here is
not a disease primarily affecting the alimentary canal, there-
fore it can be of no use to give astringent medicine, nor wiU
a change of food produce any good result. J3nt our endeavour
must be to get rid of the worm as it exists in the bronchial
tube or windpipe, and to root out the disease which has been
produced in the lungs. The inhalation of sulphurous acid gas,
or chlorine gas, will be found a ready means, where the flock
is large ; the sulphurous fumigation will be the safer in in-
experienced hands. To do this, place the sheep in an out-
house, where they can be made to inhale the fumes of sulphur
thrown from time to time upon burning tar, so as thoroughly
to impregnate the air. By this means the parasite may either
be destroyed, or caused to quit the parts. The chlorine gas
fumigation, though an eflicient agent, is, in the hands of a
careless person, very likely to kill the sheep, but, if conducted
as follows, can produce no ill effect ; Having driven the sheep
into a convenient place, get some chlorinated lime (usually
called chloride of lime), and make it into a creamy consistence
with water in a dish ; upon this pour gently sulphuric acid,
and clilorine gas will be disengaged, which, when suflicient
has been disengaged to make it unpleasant to the operator, he
should retire, taking the apparatus with him, and leave the
animals to inhale the medicated air. After this give some such
mixture as the following : Take powdered nitre, half-a-pound ;
common salt, three pounds ; powdered ginger, half-a-pound ;
boiling water, three gallons. When nearly cold, add spirit of
turpentine, 24 ounces, and shake all well together. The dose
of this for lambs four to six months old is, two ounces, or four
tablespoonfuls. These doses may be repeated every second or
third day, for a few times ; and in localities where this disease
prevails a few doses should be given in July and August. This
will often prevent the scouring and mortality so common
amongst lambs when first upon turnips. Cake, peas, beans,
or corn should be given unsparingly in every case of this kind,
and it should be given before the diarrhoea has rendered the
digestive organs too weak to assimilate the food, for we know
by our own experience that when we suffer from indigestion
no food, however good, agrees with us or does us good. So
will food not digested in the lamb's stomach, when weakened
by disease, act as an irritant to the stomach and bowels, and
will pass through the intestinal canal unappropriated and un-
digested. There are some forms of diarrhoea dependent entirely
upon worms in the alimentary canal, which cause direct irrita-
tion of the mucous membrane of the intestines. It is always difli-
cult to discover the real cause of this species of scour, but if
the sheep are affected in large numbers, and the dung is shin-
ing or covered with mucus, and if all the ordinary means of
arresting the diarrhcea which I have described fail, and the
sheep have a good appetite, but still lose flesh, we may come
to tlie conclusion that worms are the cause. I would then
advise the daily use of salt, mixed with the ordinary food at
the rate of a quarter of an ounce to each sheep per day, and
the following boluses given when the salt is discontinued :
Take Venice turpentine, 1 drachm ; sulphate of iron, 2
scruples ; gentian, 2 scruples — for one bolus, given every se-
cond day, until the more urgent symptoms are abated. The
next variety of scour we will consider is that which occurs in
young lambs, and is first noticed when a lamb that has been
healthy, and the ewe yielding a suflicient quantity of milk, is
evidently distressed, and the evacuations all of a pale colour,

538

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

exceedingly acrid, causing great irritation and excoriation of
the parts they pass through. This disease is called white
scour, aud mostly attacks lambs when the ewes are highly fed
on turnips, and at the same time with oats, peas, oilcake, &c.,
or wlieu turned into strong, rank grass. The real cause of
this affection I believe to be an unhealthy condition of the
milk secreted, owing to the too-luxuriant feeding or highly-
nitrogenised food. The young stomach is not equal to the
digestive power it is called upon to exercise ; the milk be-
comes coagulated, and the stomach has been found quite filled
with curd, even to the weight of three or four pounds. I'or
treatment, first let the management be altered, and in no case
does chemistry come to our aid with more decided power. A
free acid (lactic) in excess has caused the mischief; and to
neutralise that acid by an alkali will always be the most suc-
cessful plan of treatment. Take bicarbonate of potass, one
scruple ; carbonate magnesia, half drachm ; given in water
for a dose, and repeated freely if required ; aud after a few
doses have been given, add powdered rhubarb half a scruple,
powdered ginger five grains, mixed with it, and the whole
given in peppermint water. And, with such management as
1 have advised, I feel sure the disease will be quickly arrested.
There was a great loss of lambs last year, arising from a dis-
eased condition of the bronchial tubes and lungs, followed by
diarrhcea. The symptoms were a distressing cough, witli
great prostration of strength, suspended rumination, loss of
appetite, and quickly followed by death, in spite of every care
adopted in nursing, aud the disease assumed quite au epidemic
character. The flocks were to all appearance perfectly
healthy, but were attacked when the weather was wet and the
cold winds prevailed. Many were lost before any medicinal
treatment was adopted, but those treated by the following
means were brought round The medicine was as follows :
Take Fleming's tincture of aconite, two minims ; extract of
belladonna, 7i grains ; rectified ether, one drachm ; water, half
an ounce. This dose was given in a quarter of a pint of cool
gruel, and repeated as circumstances required ; and with good
nursing, in which stimulants were freely used, the cases so
treated recovered. Here, again, we find the necessity of
watching and understanding the causes and symptoms, for
upon this the success in treatment entirely depended. And as
diarrhcea seemed to be the most prominent symptom, it is
sometimes seized upon as being the cause rather than sympto-
matic of tiie cause. Now the praclical experience we should
derive from the consideration of this is, that more care should
be taken to protect young sheep during the inclement wea-
ther, especially in exposed situations, and upon the first ap-
pearance of the disease adopt remedial measures without de-
lay. In concluding my paper, I feel I have imperfectly
handled this all-important subject to fiockowners ; but I trust
the discussion that may follow may enable every gentleman
interested in breeding and keeping sheep to leave this room
feeling that at least he has either given or received informa-
tion which will be useful m the successful conduct of tliis
particular branch of his profession.

The C11A.BMAN said the first difficulty seemed to be to find
out the nature or origin of the diseases from which the sheep
were likely to suffer. It might be either the nature of the
food, the presence of a worm, or the inclemency of the wea-
ther. Those gentlemen amongst them who had flocks — and
he was happy to say there were many amongst them, who
could give the results of experience — might perhaps begin by
giving the experience of this year. They could not complain
of the inclemency of the weather this year, but the abundance
of the turnip crop might have been a source of disease. The
Chairman then named Messrs. Kistruck, Matthew, Noble,
Peck, Turner, Hatten, Makens, and Robinson, as gentlemen
who might speak on the subject.

Mr. James Matthew said he thought he had never had a
better supply of food for lambs. He thought grazing sheep
were most affected. He had had a good fall of lambs, except
at tlie latter part of the season, and that he attributed to buy-
ing in sheep to fill in the flock, which brought in disease, and
after that they did not come quite so plentifully. He could
quite agree with Mr. Sutton as to scouring. The greater
number of tlie cases was brought on by the farmer, especially
when short of food, getting off the first crop and turning the
sheep back again to feed the second crop. If no other cause
existed that would certainly do it. It mattered not whether it
was rye, clover, or grass ; if after leeding off the first crop,

the sheep were put upon it for the second, they would scour.
Some years ago he bought a lot of lambs of his respected
landlord, their Chairman, and turned them on to a second
crop of clover, and scouring ensued, and he lost seven or
eight.
Mr. Hatten : Was the first crop fed off ?
Mr, Jas. Matthew : The first crop was fed off. I had a
nice piece of feed and thought I was going to do well with
them ; but it was too rich I suppose. I have heard dealers
say that the lash grass on low marshes would do the same.

Mr. Sutton said this kind of food would produce dis-
order, but it was quite a different disease to that which he
spoke of.

Mr. Betts (the Secretary) said he ought to state that Mr.
Sutton's paper was prepared last year, and, therefore, it treated
more upon what was done last year.

The Chairman : I have heard it said that there are not so
many breeding flocks as there were. I should like to know if
it is so, and if so what is the reason for it.

Mr. James Matthew said he thought it was so, and that
the reason was that muttou had sold so well that grazing had
paid better than breeding. Hitherto they had sold a good
lamb for £1, but now it was altered. Mutton had been ad-
vancing in price for several years, and that he thought was
the cause of the change.

Mr. Makens said he thought there had been a great de-
crease in breeding flocks since 1868. Before that he thought
there had been an increase in consequence of the cattle plague,
as people had kept sheep instead of neat stock. There was a
very dry season in 1868, and many people had to give up their
flocks for want of feed.

Mr. AVooDWARD : But you would not call this a lamb
growing district ?

Mr. Maej:ns : No, certainly not.

Mr. Woodward said the light-land farmer had been most
cut up by the dry season, but that was not a flock district, and
he did not think there had been a great decrease in that dis-
trict.

Mr. James He-witt said they might think his argument
rather far-fetched, but he thought the decrease in the number
of sheep kept might be caused by the high price of barley. On
heavy land the farmers had turned their attention more to the
cultivation of barley.

Mr. Woodward said he thought it was rather the dry sea-
sons which had prevented the keeping of breeding ewes. Pre-
vious to the dry seasons lambs had been paying so well that
every farmer increased his number. Every one must know
that if they got a had season they could not keep the increased
numbers, aud so there had been a great decrease, as the flock-
masters were so thoroughly beaten by the seasons. But this
did not touch the point which Mr. Sutton had brought before
them — how to deal with disease. As prevention was better
than cure, he would say that he found when they had a large
quantity of ewes, on a small space of ground, that frequently
caused disease amongst the lambs. They had to traverse the
land so frequently that the land became unhealthy for the
young lambs. As to the question whether it was desirable to
keep all breeding ewes on heavy land farms, his answer was
that a very large quantity was not desirable, as they had to
traverse the land so often. He would ratlier, therefore, keep
a portion of ewes and a portion of grazing sheep. Mr. Sutton
had thrown out a valuable hint in rpcommetding the use of
salt. He (Mr. Woodward) liad practised it himself by intro-
ducing a little salt with dry food for sheep and lambs. He had
found it an easy thing to manage, by putting three or four
hundredweights of salt to a day's cutting of straw, and a few
sacks of malt combs. These were trodden down, and they
would find that the mixture would keep sweet and good, and
the ewes would devour it greedily, and he had no doubt that
it was very healthy for them. His ewes fed upon it tiie whole
year. Another point of importance was to keep sheep and
lambs off all succulent food while the dew was on it. The
whole flock should be folded at night and remain in the fold
till late enough in the morning to secure that the dew was off.
Mr. GosTLiNG said he thought the question of the effect of
artificial manures on the turnips used for sheep ought to be
canvassed. He found in a very old work that the very same
effects said to be produced by turnips grown with artificial
manure, had been in existence when there were no such ma-
nures. He wished Mr. Sutton had distinctly pointed out the

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE,

£39

difference between diarroea and dysentery, as shown in ihe posi
mortem examination. A farmer ought to know that differ-
ence. As to Mr. Woodward's point about over- crowding ewes,
he thought the disorder produced from that was not diarrhwa,
but was more in the nature of a dysenteric attack. Diarrhoea
was not contagious, but dysentery was very much so. Mr.
Sutton had also touched upon white scour, but when once
milk was coagulated in the rumen, he (Mr. Gostling) did not
know how they were to dissolve it. They could not break it in
the stomach as they would in a pestle and mortar. Another
thing, too, Mr. Sutton had not mentioned, and that was the ad-
ministering of medicines to sheep. It was always best to ex-
hibit anything given to sheep in a rather large volume of fluid,
and not a small tablespoonful or teaspoonful.

Mr. KiSTRUCK fancied children were as liable to this disorder
as lambs were. As to feeding lambs on the second crop, he
did not thiuk they took any harm if they were not folded on the
feed : no doubt that would kill the lambs when they came to the
second crop.

Mr. H. Crosse said it was now a great many years since
he was a shepherd, but he once had eight years' experience
with a flock of six score, but as that was more than 40 years
ago, and great improvements had been made since then, lie
could not be expected to know much about the matter, and he
did not say that he did. The reason he should assign for
diarrhoea or dysentery, would be tliat the sheep or lambs were
eating food grown by their own dung. It was like dog eating
dog, and was undoubtedly the cause of dysentery. He used to
have a piece of dry pasture to put sheep on when they were
affected with this disorder, and in some parts of Noifolk, they
saved a piece of heath land for that same purpose, so as to
have a little bit of dry stuff when their sheep began to scour.
As to the effect of artificial manures on roots, he had seen the
same diseases attributed to roots more than thirty years ago,
in one of the publications of the Bath and West of England
Society, before artificial manures were thought of. Tliese dis-
orders were owing to the large quantity of nitrogenous mat-
ter in the roots, no matter how that might be produced.

Mr. GosTLiJNG: Would not a sudden change of pasture
cause diarrhoea ?

Mr. Crosse said he had never had any experience. He
had spent some time with Mr. Hudson, of Cgstleacre, and
otlier farmers round Swaffham, and they some years ago had
clayed their lands. They said by doing so they had beaten
the seasons, but they lost many lambs on the feed produced by
the clayed soil.

Mr. Gostling said that in Cumberland, when their sheep
did not go well, they were put into pasture where common
tormentil or septfoil (Putentilla Tormeutilla) was growing,
the properties of that plant being highly astringent.

Mr. Woodward said Mr. Crosse had alluded to putting
sheep on to heatli laud, but surely that could not be so nu-
tritious as their pastures. Tiiey could not grow nutritious
grasses upon it, and they wanted to know what to do in their
own district.

Mr. Crosse said, when he was shepherd he had 16 acres
of land which was covered with oak trees, and when he had
anything that did not suit his sheep he turned them on there.
The oak trees of course had drawn an immense amount of
moisture from the soil and the land was dry, and he put sheep
on there in the same way as the Norfolk farmers would put
them on heath. He took that as physic, and not as a nu-
tritious grass at all.

The Chairman said he should like to know whether all
breeds of sheep were equally subject to the same kinds of dis-
eases, or whether upon a rich pasture they might graze one
breed or one kind of lambs without disease when another breed
would suffer.

Mr. Crosse said he thought the Lincolns, of which breed a
shearling often weighed iOlbs., a good example of a breed for
a particular soil. Tiiey were reared on laud which was so
rich that a bullock and six sheep was kept to the acre all the
summer on the same pasture. In the parish of Thorney they
kept six sheep and a bullock on an acre of grass, but in the
summer of 1868 they were reduced to two sheep without a
bullock. In Norfolk they had less feed and a long-legged
sheep to run about after it. In Kent also they had a sheep which

could move about well, where the pastures were not rich, but
in Romney Marsh, where the grass was more nutritious, they
had a large breed almost as large as the Lincolns.

Mr. Woodward said he should like to know if putting
lambs upon feed where they had been been before would cause
dysentery.

Mr. Gostling repeated thatdiarrhceaand dysentery were very
different diseases. The former was a relaxtion of the mucous
membrane of the intestines ; the latter was an active inflam-
mation of the raucous membrane itself. His impression was
that dysentery could be caused in sheep in the same way as it
was caused in large bodies of men, as in armies, by a poison-
ing of the soil. Sheep put back upon meadows which had
been fed were eating their own manure.

Mr. Woodward said he wanted to know how to prevent
diarrhoea.

Mr. Sutton said dysentery was neglected diarrhoea.
Mr. Gostling said his impression was that as in the human
subject, neglected diarrhoea was dysentery. When sheep had
diarrhoea and it went on to dysentery, it became contagious.
The cause in the first instance was the sheep taking some im-
proper matter. Mr. Gostling added, in answer to further
questions by Mr. Woodward, that simple diarrhoea could gene-
rally be prevented by a change of pastures ; in dysentery they
should be kept separate from others, with the same pre-
cautious as in the case of fever. He did not think that diar-
rhoea was caused by worms.

Mr. Noble said the most difficult cases he had experienced
had been in wet weather. He had lost several lambs after
feeding on rye-grass. They were generally the best iambs,
the most greedy eaters. As to roots grown with artificial ma-
nures, he was very glad to see that Mr. Sutton's opinion
agreed with his experience as to lifting the roots. Last year
he had put some hoggets upon some beet-root, but he took the
precaution of pulling the roots three or four days before using
them, and gave a proportion of cotton-cake to the lambs. He
had never seen any do so well as they did. The roots were
grown with three cwt. of guano, three of manure, and three
of superphosphates, and he had never lost a lamb, and only one
of them was taken a little queer.

Mr. Gostling : Don't you think that much was due to the
astringent qualities of the cotton-cake?

Mr. Noble -. No doubt it was ; but I have no doubt that if
I had'not taken the precaution of pulling these roots the result
would have been different. I think roots should not be used
without the greatest caution. I know a flock-master in this
neighbourhood who often pulls them three or four days even
in the spring.

Mr. Gostling asked if sheep did not often scour after
being driven a long way to market.

Mr. Woodward said tliey did, and he thought it was caused
by their going a long way w'ithout water, and then drinking
too much when they got at it.

Mr. Peck said he agreed with Mr. Noble that in wet times
sheep and lambs were more subject to scour than at others.
His plan had been to give a little new milk mixed with sugar,
and a little brandy. That would prevent scour, which, if al-
lowed to go on, would become serious. Lambs should not be
allowed to go into the fold in the morning till the grass was
quite dry, for if they went upon it wet, they would be sure to
scour. He had given brandy on the advice of an experienced
shepherd. . ,

Mr. Sutton replied : With regard to the scouring being
caused by the second crop when the first had been fed off, he
said it was caused by the manure from the sheep, causing the
crop to grow too rank and crude. Let any one eat his fill of
green, forced rhubarb early in the spring, and see what that
would do for him, and that was just what the green second
crop did for the lambs. He agreed with Mr. Woodward that
the land being frequently traversed by the ewes must have a
bad effect upon the lambs. He was also glad to have so prac-
tical a man as Mr. Woodward with him as to the use of salt as
a prevention of loss, but he could not see what proportion
three or four cwt. to the day's chaff cutting was to each ani-
mal per day. , i .

Votes of thanks to Mr. Sutton and the Chairman closed th«
proceedings.

640

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

REVIEW.

ON THE VARIETIES, PROPERTIES, AND CLASSI-
FICATION OP WHEAT. By John le Coutetjr,
Esq., F.R.S., Second Edition. London : W. J. Johnson,
121, Fleet-street. Jersey : C. le Feuvre, the Beresford
Library. 1873.

Thirty-five years since there was reviewed in tlie ilarJc Lane
Express the first edition of the above work, wliich was also the
first of its kind that had taken a comprehensive and scientific
view of the subject, and as such it met with different receptions
from the different classes of agriculturists to whom it was ad-
dressed. Agriculture had but just emerged from its normal
state of routine practice, which the previous generation had
learned from their fathers, who had followed it with more or
less of success time out of mind. The introduction of scien-
tific farming had started new ideas on the subject ; and the
lessons taught by the leaders in the movement began to ope-
rate in various ways and degrees upon the agricultural mind.
Among the inquiries into the mysteries of the new order of
things Colonel le Couteur may he placed in the first rank.
As soon as he found leisure as a soldier, and possessing landed
property of his own, he laid aside the sword and assumed the
ploughshare, with the view of practising a series of experi-
ments in the culture of wheat. The practical results of his
attempts are given in the work, the most important of which
is, that he increased the returns of his own crops to nearly
double those which he had previously obtained. In a table of
the first fourteen experiments he records, he shows that of two
species of wheat that he planted, equal in number of grains,
one produced 41b. 4 ounces of wheat and 31b. 13 ounces of
straw, whilst the other yielded only lib. 10 ounces of wheat
and 21b. 5 ounces of straw. On this result he remarks, in
the preface, that " the farmer who would have sown his
whole crop of the latter variety would probably have been
ruined, whereas the superior variety would have enabled him
to farm with profit."

One great evil arising from the mixed varieties so often
found in the same field is the inequality, in point of time, of
their ripening. In a crop the Colonel requested Professor la
Garca to examine, and which he himself considered pure in
species, " he drew from three fields twenty-three sorts, some
white wheat, some red, some liver-coloured, some spring
wheat, some dead ripe, the corn shaking out, some ripe, some
half so, some in a milky state, and some green." The conse-
quences of such a mixture to the miller and the baker may be
conceived.

M. le Couteur's remedy for this and all other evils arising
from such mixtures is the raising a stock of seed-wheat from
a single grain, or the grains of a single ear, of a well-
ascertained first-rate quality and productiveness. The errors
in the choice of seed committed or recommended by men who
ought to have known better are very curious. Thus Sir
Joseph Banks in a scarce year advised the farmers to sow the
thin, shrivelled wheat, as quite equal in productiveness to the
best full-bodied sample ! It is impossible to say the public
injury such advice occasioned in the future produce of wheat
in the country, however it might have saved a large amount
of the best wheat for consumption in a scarce year,
which was Sir Joseph's object. On the other hand, very
few farmers paid any attention to purity of seed-wheat, pro-
vided the sample was a fair one, and the price not too high.
These were the faults of tlie farmers when the work was first
published, since when the system of agriculture has under-
gone a change so far as the covenants of the landlords gene-
rally admit of it, and both the quality and the extent of
seed-wheat sown — widely different in point of selection on
the one hand, and the more than wastefulness of grain on the
other— are concerned. The founding of institutions bearing
upon agriculture has difTused knowledge on the subject, and
the produce of the soil of the kingdom has greatly increased,
subject to the effects of the vicissitudes of oar changeful
climate, which so frequently baffle the most intelligent practice.
The second edition of Colonel le Couteur's work brings it
down to the present period ; and we venture to say that no
farmer, however advanced in his practice of husbandry, will
fail to derive instruction from its perusal, whilst the student
in agriculture will do well to master its details with the view
of adapting his future proceedings iu husbandry to the maxims
herein recoameuded.

FARM COVENANTS.
In Cockermouth County Court, before Mr. Ingham
and a jury, Mr. Archer, a landowner at Bassenthwaite,
brought an action against Mr. Iredale, a gentleman living
at Dovenby, to recover the sum of .£23 16s. 3d., being
for alleged damage to a field that had beeu sown down without
a white crop, and taking off turnips instead of eating them off
with sheep, and other items. Mr. Wicks appeared for the
plaintiff, and Mr. Hayton for the defendant. — The plaintiff
stated tliat he was the owner of some land at Dovenby, and at
Candlemas, 1865, he let five fields to the defendant. It was
agreed that he was to be an early tenant, and also that when
the laud was broken up it should be laid down in permanent
pasture. It was also arranged that he (plaintiff) should drain
it. When defendant paid the rent at Lammas, 1869, he
asked to be allowed to break up Wallet field, but he (plaintiff)
declined to allow him. The defendant was to lay down the
whole ot the land in permanent pasture, but, instead of that,
he had a field called Dophensett sown down without a white
crop, the damage to which he estimated at £10 ; he had carted
the turnips off Wallet field instead of eating them off with
sheep, which he considered had injured the land to the extent
of £7 6s. 3d. He claimed 13s. 6d. damage to the field while
carting the turnips off; 30s. for defendant's proportion of the
cost of the removal of a fence ; cost of a gate, 15s. ; and
gates and lintels sold by the defendant amounting to £4 — in
all, £24 3s. 9d., but off that he had allowed 7s. 6d. for part of
the gate that had been returned, making the amount claimed.
— In reply to Mr. Hayton, plaintiff said the bargain was, that
the land was to be laid down in permanent grass and not
broken up again. — His Honour observed that it appeared to
him that the only thing that Mr. Hayton had to direct him-
self to was whether the defendant should have mown the
grass, or eaten it off ; and whether he should have eaten off
his turnips instead of carting them off. — Plaintiff further
stated, in reply to Mr. Hayton, that the defendant was his
brotlier-in-law, and they had had a quarrel since the land was
let. — Mr. William Slater, farmer, was present when the bar-
gain was made between the parties, and heard the terms. He
had no doubt that the land was a deal worse in consequence
of the way in which it had been managed. — Mr. John
Wetherall, farmer, Bassenthwaite, Mr. Joseph Rayson,
farmer, Lambfoot, Embleton, and Mr. Joseph Bowe, auc-
tioneer, Cockermouth, gave evidence on the same side. —
For the defence, it was alleged that when the fields were
taken, both parties were anxious that they should
be laid down in permanent pasture, but the defendant had to
take one crop of either coru or hay off. He never made any
special agreement about Dophensett, but considered that the
crops that he had taken off it and Wallet were what he was
entitled to by their agreement. With regard to the 30s. for
the fence, it was alleged that Mr. Archer should take it down,
and that he (defendant) should pay a portion of the cost. The
gate that plaintiff claimed had been taken back again. — De-
fendant denied that he had ever sold anything at Broughtou
belonging to the plaintiff. — Mr. Thomas Hodgson, farmer,
said lie was appointed umpire between Mr. Coulthard and Mr.
Wetherall, who were agreed upon to assess the damage in this
case, and he arrived at the decision that no damage had been
done. — In reply to His Honour, witness said it was the cus-
tom of the country for farmers to sell off a portion of their
vestures. In the case of the field of turnips, he thought that
it would be fair to give £2 an acre to an in-going tenant were
the turnips had been carted off. He considered that the land
was in as good condition now as if it had been managed in the
way suggested by the plaintiff. — Mr. John Coulthard, one of
the arbitrators, said the pasture field would perhaps have been
better if it had been eaten instead of having been mown. It
was at present in first-rate condition. He thought that two
cwt. of guano to the acre should be allowed for the turnip
field. — This was the case, and His Honour pointed out that
the real question was, what damage had the estate sustained
by the management of the defendant while he had the laud in
his possession P He thought the other items had been imported
into the case to make it up. He also observed that it was one
of those cases where a couple of friends had fallen out, and
the result was an action of this kind ; and, to use the words of
an author who was a very good judge of human nature —
Shakespeare — "Thenearerin blood themore bloody." — The jury
after a short deliberation, awarded the plaintiff Il3 and costs.

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

541

THE CHAMBER TABLE-TALK.

rO THE EDITOR OF THE MARK LANE EXPRESS.

Sir, — la your leading article of Monday, you thus
comment upon what I said at the dinner of the Central
Chamber of Agriculture : " What more could Mr. Read
wish for, or what better audience to appreciate the
' genteel' tone in which his own speech was pitched ?
There were no vulgarities here about Tenant-Right or
game abuses or encumbered estates or going in against
the Malt-tax, but everything was rose-tinted to local
taxation." Now, sir, it so happened that I did not say a
word about "Local Taxation," beyond hoping that it
might lead to better Local Government, for which pur-
pose I strongly recommended County Financial Boards.
I trust I did not perpetrate any "vulgarity" about
" Tenant-Right" and game abuses, but I certainly did
mention both subjects, as the following extract from a
fuller report will prove : " Then it had been said that
Chambers of Agriculture dared not discuss two or three
questions which were called rather touchy and difficult.
His reply was that Chambers had done so and would do it
again. "When the landlord came and the subject of game
was brought up, the Chambers said they did not want to
sweep away Game-laws, or in any way limit legitimate
sport, but that they were against the over-preservation of
hares and rabbits. Then as to the question of Tenant-
Right, that was a question which affected the landlord
as much as the tenant, because the laudlord benefited as
much by the application of the tenant's capital to the
soil as the tenant did ; and in Lincolnshire this Tenant-
Right existed ; and he contended that if this same prin-
ciple of Tenant-Right, viz., compensation for good sound
unexhausted improvements, was extended all over Eng-
land, it would be one of the best measures that Chambers
of Agriculture could advocate."

I am, sir, your faithful servant,
Honingham, May lUh. Clare Sewell Read.

[So much time was cut to waste in the earlier part of
the evening, that, as is generally the case, the reporters
had of a necessity to curtail the speeches lower down on
the list. We gave two full pages of our last week's num-
ber to the proceedings of the Central Chamber, but we
by no means profess to devote the whole of our Paper to
the reports of that body. Had not so many landlords
been called upon at the outset, men like Mr. Sewell
Read and Mr. Bowen Jones would have had a better
chance.— Editor M. L. -£'.]

Paris, May 6, 1872.
Ministry op Foreign Affairs. — Protocol.
Sir, — Being aware of the sympathetic steps you have
taken in favour of French agriculturists who were victims
of the late war, the President of the Republic has in-
structed me to express to you his gratitude, and to thank
you for having taken the initiative in a work which has
rendered such great services to those Frenchmen whose
lands were devastated. I am happy to be the medium
for conveying these sentiments of the Chief of the State,
and to have this opportunity of offering to you, sir, the
assurance of my high consideration.

(Signed) Remusat,
The Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. James Howard, Member of
the English Parliament.

THE FRENCH PEASANT FARMERS'
SEED FUND.

[Our readers will remember that the credit of having
originated the Fund for the relief of French farmers
whose lauds were devastated during the war, was due
to Mr. J. Howard, M.P., who acted as treasurer.
The committee have only recently concluded their
duties, and sent in their official report. We have
pleasure in giving the following correspondence.]

12, Hanover Square, London, May 14, 1872.
Dear Mr. Howard, — The letter enclosed has been
sent under cover to me by the French Ambassador, with
a request that I would transmit it to you. I need hardly
assure you how much pleasure I have in being the
medium through which the well-merited acknowledg-
ments of the Government of France are conveyed to you.
Believe me to remain most faithfully yours,
James Howard, Esq., M.P. Vernon,

THE SCOTTISH CHAMBER OF

AGRICULTURE.

TENANT-RIGHT.

At a meeting of the directors to consider the remits from
the general meeting in November, and among others that of
Tenant-Right,

The Chairman, Mr. Smith, West Drums, said : It will not,
I think, be considered out of place that I should from this
chair tender to Mr. Hope our contribution of heartfelt sym-
pathy and very high respect. I am glad to see Mr. Hope
present to receive such expression at our hand, and sure I am
that it will meet with his ready acceptance. Mr. Hope is one
victim more amongst the many to the evils of the system
which prevails. The cases of the comparatively obscure pass
without much notice, although they may carry with them
more crushing effects than have been recently brought to light
either in his case or others in the same quarter. It appears
to me that by far the most important work of the day for us
to take in hand is to seek a remedy for these evils and others
of kindred character. The quiet, I will say deferential, ap-
peal has been disregarded by those who should have listened
to it, and we are driven to another course of action, whatever
that may be, failing as we constantly do to get those claims
acknowledged by contract. I do not require to remind you of
the true character of these claims. We are no longer dealing
with the normal condition of the soil, as did our fathers, re-
storing to it wliat of a reproductive character it of itself year
by year brought to their hands ; but there is now a huge
apital employed in the creation of a condition inert of which
they knew nothing, and which belongs, on every principle of
equity and justice, to him who creates it, and of the benefit of
which, in the event of non-renewal, he cannot much longer
be deprived. The principle has been given fair effect to else-
where, and it is to be hoped we shall have a speedy extension
of it to other parts of the United Kingdon, where at present
so much insecurity manifestly prevails. We can no longer go
on under the present system ; we must either have these rights
secured to us by free contract or by legislative enactment. Of
the former I quite despair, unless in special cases ; of the latter
I do not, if properly and at once set about. It is for you to
say what course the Chamber should take. First, That where-
ever improvements have been made by a tenant in view of a
nineteen years' lease, and where it happens, through the death
or inability of the tenant that the lease is not carried out to
its natural issue, the value of such improvements made by the
tenant, so far as unexhausted, honestly belongs to his successors,
and ought to be secured to them by law. Second, That to
maintain the agriculture of the nation to the height it ought
ever to occupy, it is obviously the interest of landlord, tenant,
and nation that the value of all feeding stuffs, tillages, and
fertiUsers applied by the tenant, so far as unexhausted at the
issue of the lease, should belong to the tenant, and be made
good to him by the landlord on removal from the lands.

Other phases of Tenant-Right applicable to buildings and
other matters were mooted, and the secretary was directed to
bring the whole question again before the directors, in the
view of securing the tenant's rights by legislation if neces-
sary. Such rights, it was thought, should be secured by law,
anii shovdd be available to every tenant.

542

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE PATENT LAWS COMMITTEE.

Tlie Committee on the Patent Laws has agreed to the fol-
lowing resolutions, which have been laid upon the table of
the House of Commons :

I. That the privilege conferred by letters patent promotes
the progress of manufacture by causing many important in-
ventions to be introduced and developed more rapidly than
would otherwise be the case.

3. That the same privilege leads to the introduction and
publication of numerous improvements, each of a minor cha-
racter, but the sum of which contributes greatly to the pro-
gress of industry.

3. That in the absence of the protection of letters patent,
competition of manufacturers amongst themselves would
doubtless lead to the introduction of improved processes and
machinery, but that it would probably be less rapid than
under the stimulus of a patent law.

4. That it does not appear that the granting of pecuniary
rewards could be substituted with advantage to the public in-
terest for the temporary privilege conferred by letters patent.

5. That the existing patent law of this country and its ad-
ministration are in many respects defective, and retjuire con-
siderable improvement in the interests of the public, of manu-
facturers, and of inventors.

6. That protection for a limited period, and dating back to
the time on which it is applied for, should only be granted
for an invention on its nature and particular points of novelty
being clearly described in a provisional specification, and
upon the report of a competent authority that such invention,
so far as can be ascertained by such authority, is new, and is
a manufacture within the meaning of the law.

7. That letters patent ought not to be granted for any in-
vention so protected until the provisional specification has
been open to inspection, or until a complete specification has
been deposited fully describing the means of carrying it into
effect, and such complete specification has been found by the
same authority to accord in all essential particulars with the
description of the invention in the provisional specification.

8. That all letters patent should be subject to the condition
that the manufacture shall be carried on within the United
Kingdom, so as fully to supply the demand for the same on
reasonable terms to the public, and with due regard to existing
interests.

9. That letters patent shall not be valid for an invention
which has been in use in a foreign country unless a patent for
the same shall have been granted in such country, and unless
such letters patent shall have been granted in this country to
the original inventor, his assignee, or authorised agent.

10. That the duties payable on patents should be so ad-
justed as to encourage inventors to the utmost to make known
their inventions, and that their primary application should be
to the purposes of a complete and well-organised record of
industrial progress, and to an improved establishment for the
conduct of patent business.

II. Tliat no person concerned in the administration of the
patent law should have a pecuniary interest in the number of
patents applied for, granted, or refused.

12. That inasmuch as the property created by the patent
law, and the questions arising under it, are peculiar, the tri-
bunal for deciding contentious matters in reference thereto
should, both as to its constitution and procedure, be adapted
to those peculiarities.

13. That the present condition of the Patent Commission
is open to serious complaints.

14. That the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852 pro-
vided that the Commissioners should consist of certain ex-
officio Commissioners — viz., the Lord Chancellor, the Master
of the Uolls, and the law officers of the Crown for England,
Scotland, and Ireland, together with other persons to be ap-
pointed by the Crown, but no such other persons have ever
been appointed.

15. That the Lord Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, and
the two English law officers are now the only Commissioners,
and by reason of their other engagements, it is very difficult
to get a meeting of the Commissioners, and practically an
officer in the Patent Office does the duty of the Commis-
sioners.

SELLING MIXED SEEPS.— At the CarUsle County

Court, last motnh, the case of Ismay v. Clark Brothers was
tried. The plaintiff, who was represented by Mr. Hough, is
Mr. Ismay, dealer in seeds, Wigton ; the defendants, for whom
Mr. Wannop appeared, are Messrs. Clark Brothers, seed
merchants and nurserymen, Carlisle. Mr. Hough said the
action was brought to recover damages in consequence of de-
fendants having sold plaintiff purple-top turnip seed — or what
ought to have been turnip seed, but amongst it was a very
large quantity of rapeseed. Mr. Ismay sold this seed to his
customers, and they came upon him for damages, and he in
turn now sued Messrs. Clark. The damages were laid at £50,
but less would be proved and accepted. The plaintiff was
called, and deposed to purchasiug the turnip seed in the early
part of last year. He sold portions of the seed to Mr. Saul
Steel, Mr. Mathews Mr. Dodd, Mr. Rome, Mr. Carr, Mr.
Wills, and Mr. Barnes — all farmers in the neighbourhood of
Wigton. Some time after the sale, tliese several parties made
complaints to him about these seeds, about one-third of which
came up rape. He saw the crops growing himself, and
he thought one-third of the seed was rape. He had
agreed to pay Mr. Saul Steel £5 ; he had paid Mr.
Mathews £5, 'Mr. Dodd £7, Mr. Rome £3 ; agreed to pay
Mr. Carr £5, had paid Mr. Wills £3, and Mr. Barnes £8,
— total £35, the actual amount of damages sued for. — Mr.
Wannop cross-examined plaintiff, and elicited that he had sold
191b. more seed than he bought from defendants. He
added, however, that he sold the whole of Messrs. Clark's seed
before selling any other. — Mr. Barnes, Mr. Steel, Mr. Mathews,
and Mr. Wills were called, and testified to the damage they
had each sustained in consequence of the seed being mixed
with rape. — Mr. Wannop said tlie defence was that Mr. Clark
put the seed up himself. He had two warehouses — rape in
one, and other sorts of seeds in the other. He put the turnip
seed up himself, and had no complaints from other people
except from Mr. Ismay. — His Honour said the evidence very
strongly showed that tlie seed was not mixed by Mr. Ismay ;
and Mr. Clark might be quite right that the seed was not
mixed by him. It might be mixed when it came into Mr.
Clark's possession ; and they would have their remedy in sue-
ing those who supplied the seed to them. A material point
in the case was that Johnson got some seed at the same place
and it was partly rape. Mr. Clark's honour was not involved ;
there was no dishonesty, no fraud in the matter whatever.
Mr. Clark might see it was quite possible a mistake had been
made. Tliis wasnot thefirstcaseof the kind he had had by many.
As the evidence stood it showed that Mr. Ismay had entirely
exhausted the bag he got from defendants, and every person
he sold it to found it contained rape. Then another person,
who got twice the quantity of Mr. Ismay, complained that it
was part rape. — Mr. Johnston was called and said he bought
two busliels of turnip seed from defendants. No one com-
plained except a Mr. Miller, who said it was mixed with rape.
— His Honour entered a verdict for plaintiff for £35, subject
to reduction if the psrties who claimed damages from Mr.
Ismay agree to take less than the sums mentioned.

A TENANT'S TRESPASS CASE.— A meeting of Caith-
ness Justices in Quarter Sessions wasrecently held for
the purpose of disposing of an appeal by Mr. Munro, jun.,
Mains of Preswick, against the decision of the Wick Justices
convicting him of trespass, Mr. Munro's defence being that
being entrusted by his father with the charge of the farm, and
the ground on which he was charged with being found tres-
passing being part of the farm, he was entitled by law to enter
the land and destroy the rabbits on it. The bench was occu-
pied by Sheriff Thorns, who presided. Major Home, Captain
Rutherford, Bailie Bain, Messrs. W. R. Tait, Hugh Davidson,
George Brown, and James Hay. The appeal stated that the
evidence on which the conviction was based was unsatisfactory
and contradictory, and that the appellant had a right to do
what he was charged witli. Mr. J. M. Sutherland appeared
for the appellant, and Mr. Mitchell, Fiscal, for the Justices.
The evidence was again led, Andrew Stevenson, gamekeeper,
deponing that on the 26tli December he had found Mr. Munro
on the links of Freswick with a gun, a bag, and two dead
rabbits. Mr. Munro, sen., deponed that his son was his
manager, and was authorized and instructed by him to destroy
the rabbits, which liad done great damage to his crops. Mr.
Sutherland and Mr. Mitchell having addressed the bench, the
Justices retired to a side room, aud after a quarter of an
hour's consultatiou returned, when Sheriff Thorns announced

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

543

the decision of t.he bench. His lordship stated that tlie law
had decided tliat a tenant had a riyht, unless prohibited by his
lease, to kill rabbits on his farm. In this case there was no
proof of any prohibition, and the assumption therefore was
that Jlr. Munro was not prohibited. The law had also held
tliat a servant might, if instructed by his employers, go on his
farm for a like purpose, and the question now was whether the
son of Mr. Munro was in that position. Taking the evidence
as a whole, and looking at the presumption of the law, which
was on the side of the accused, the inference which the bench
had drawn was that the appellant was authorized by his father,
and had not therefore been guilty of a breach of the statute.
The bench therefore had unanimously sustained the appeal.
Mr. Sutherland claimed expenses, which were refused by 5 to
3 — Messrs. Brown and Davidson and Bailie Bain being for
granting them. — Northern Ensign.

IMPLEMENTS ON TRIAL.— An action has been re-
cently brought before the Sheriff-Substitute of Dumbarton-
shire, raised at the instance of Messrs. Brigham and Bicker-
ton, agricultural implement makers, Berwick-on-Tweed, and
their mandatory, against Mr. James Robertson, farmer, Gart-
shore, Kirkintilloch, for the price of a reaping machine fur-
nished by the pursuers to the defender. The question at
issue was whether, considering the nature of the transaction,
and the practice of the pursuers to allow a preliminary trial of
the machine, the defender could be understood to liave pur-
chased the machine. The Sheriff-Substitute found tliat no
effectual contract of sale had been established, and therefore
assoilized the defender and found tlie pursuers liable in ex-
penses. Against this judgment the pursuers appealed, and
Mr. Sheriff Blackburn has just issued an interlocutor, reversing
the decision of his Substitute, chielly on the ground that
while the pursuers are in use to allow five acres of grass or
grain to be cut on trial before holdiug a purchaser bound to
keep their machines, the defender cut all his hay crop with it,
amounting to sixteen acres, and made no complaint, and tiiat
afterwards wiiile using it on his grain crop, and finding it did
not work well, he still did not offer to return the machine, but
employed a local smith to repair it. It was only when asked
for payment that he expressed dissatisfaction. The Sheriff
therefore decerned for the full sum claimed, viz., £26, with
legal interest, and expenses.

BUYERS' AND SELLERS' RISKS.— lu the case of
Martineau r. Kitchen, the Court of Queen's Bench has just
decided an important point of law affecting the commercial
practice as to the risk of undelivered goods at the sellers'
warehouses. According to the report, the question arose as
to about 900 out of 1,000 sugar-loaves sold by the plaintilfs,
who are sugar-refiners, to the defendants, who are sugar-
brokers, in January and Eebruary, 1870. According to the
terms of the contract, the payment was to be in a month, the
goods to lie for two months at the sellers' risk, and to be
weighed ou delivery to ascertain the amount for payment.
Towards the end of April, after the two mouths had expired
and payment had been made, a fire occurred ou the plaintift''s
premises, by which the 900 loaves undelivered were de-
stroyed ; and the dispute now was whether the plaintilfs were
bound to pay the defendants a portion of the insurance money
recovered in proportion to the value of the loaves to the total
stock. The insurance upon which the plaintiffs had received
was a floating policy, insullicieut to cover their own risks,
and in no case, they maintained, could it apply to the de-
fendants' goods, which were at his own risk. On the other
hand, the defendants relied on a case decided in 1826, where
goods had been sold at a certain price to be weighed before
delivery, but were burnt before they were weighed. The
Court gave judgment for the plaintiffs, holding the contract
to be clear that the risk, after the expiry of two mouths, was
to be taken by the buyer, and that the case was distinguish-
able from that relied on by the defendants, for the price was
to be and had been paid on an approximate estimate of
weight, though no doubt the exact amount was to be adjusted
afterwards on the ultimate delivery of the whole. The Lord
Chief Justice remarked that no doubt, in general, if the
amount remained to be ascertained by weighing, the property
did not pass to the buyer. But there was nothing to prevent
the parties from agreeing that the property should pass as
specific goods before the amount was ascertained, and here
the bought they had so agreed.

SALE OF ME. LARKING'S SHORTHORNS AT

ASHDOWN, SUSSEX.— On Thursday, May 23, Mr. Straf-
ford sold by auction fifty head of Shorthorns from the
herd belonging to Mr. J. W. Larking. The sale attracted
a uumbcr of well-known breeders, including the Earl of
Dunniore, who presided at the luuch. The cattle
were brought out in good healthy order, and some
of the young stock by Duke of Kirklevington were
much admired. Two heifers, not included in the sale,
were preparing for exhibition at Dorchester. These
created some little curiosity, as well as the young
bull. Grand Duke of Geneva, bred by jNIr. Leuey
from the imported American 700 gs. Duchess heifer,
and whose stock appear to be of great promise. Eor
tlie several lots advertised there was not very brisk
competition, and some of them were kuocked down at
what were considered " bargains." The following are the
more important prices: Lot 5, Florentia Gth, 51 gs.
(Abbott) ; lot 7, Eloreutia Sth, 50 gs. (Lord Duumore) ;
lot 8, Elderberry, 48 gs. (Kay) ; Lady Knightley, down
calving, after some sharp bidding went for 105 gs., the
highest price of the day, to Mr. Godwin ; lot 13,
Science, said to be a purchase from Havering Park,
was bought by Mr. Leuey for 100 gs. ; her heifer,
calf, a red, seven months old, quite the plum
of the sale, and by the third Duke of Geneva, went for 90
gs. to Mr. D. jMc lutosh ; lot 14, White Butterfly, a very
useful cow, 49 gs. (Nisbet) ; lot 16, Ursula 25th, 36 gs. (U.
W. Gaussen) ; lot 19, Pride of Aylesford 2nd, 47 gs. (R.
W. Gaussen) ; lot 18, UrsiUa 26th, 36 gs. (Smith); lot
21, Florentia 24th, 61 gs. (Laythan) ; lot 22, Flourish
2nd, 42 gs. (Tyser) ; lot 23, Lady Adela, 61 gs. (Nisbett) ;
lot 24, Flourish 3rd, 62 gs. (Collard) ; lot 27, Crystal
6th, 43 gs. (Rutley) ; lot 28, Moonbeam, 22 gs. (Cross) ;
lot 30, Pride of Aylesford 4th, 43 gs. (Woodhouse) ; lot
32, Rubina 3rd, 39 gs. (Abbot) ; lot 34, Crystal 7th,
40 gs. (Kingsnorth) ; lot 35, Flourish Sth, 30 gs. (Kings-
north) ; lot 36, Flourish 6th, 54 gs. (Kingsnorth) ; lot
41, Crystal Sth, 49 gs. (Abbott). Lot 1, bulls, Duke of
Kirklevington, 50 gs. (Fox) ; lot 3, King of the Forest,
46 gs. (Glbbs) ; lot 4, Frankenstein, 34 gs. (Godfrey) ;
lot "'9, Upstart, 38 gs. (Blyth). Two bulls were offered,
the property of Sir Curtis Lampsou : Forest King, a roan
yearling 56 gs. (Laythan), and Knight of Geneva, a roan
calf by Grand Duke of Geneva, 50 gs. (Blyth). The sum
total of the sale was over 2,000 gs., the average being
about £43 for the 30 head.

SALE OF MR. F. LYTHALL'S SHORTHORNS,
AT SPITAL, BANBURY, ON MAY 24, BY LY-
THALL AND CLARKE.— Mr. Lythall parts with his
herd on account of his farm having been purchased by
the town of Banbury for sewage purposes. The stock
combined some of the fashionable and valuable strains,
several of the females being by the Milcote bulls,
Lodowick (20136), Fashion (23913), Hilarity (28856),
and Monitor (24615). There were also three heifers by
Mr. Pawlett's Fitz Killerby (26166), the sire and grand-
sire of some of the higher priced stock at the recent
Beeston sale. About oue-fonrth of the animals sold were
of the Star family, obtained originally from Mr. Townsend,
of Sapcote, a herd distinguished for its extraordinary
milking properties. Subjoined is the day's proceedings :

Avera'^e, Total.

28 cows, heifers, and calves ... £40 8 H ... £1,131 7 6
5 bulls and bull-calves 26 15 6 ... 133 17 6

33 head averaged £38 0 9J ... £1,265 5 U

18 pigs of the large white breed 69 9 6

Total amount of sale £1,334 14 6

The highest price was 120 gs. for Princess of Killerby to
Mr. J. W. Wilson, while ]\Ir. Upson gave 81 gs. for Prin-
cess Emily by Tulip, and Lady Lavender went to Mr. J. W.
WilsouforC^gs.jUud Miss Harris to Mr. Johnson foraCgs,

o o

544

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

THE DEVON COUNTY AGRICULTUEAL ASSOCIATION.
MEETING AT EXETER.

So far as tlie county be concerned tlie first meeting of
the Devon Agricultural Association has been held under
somewhat discouraging auspices. As we wrote in
anticipation, the North Devons and South Hams
united " to defend their capital against the approaches of
the invading Shorthorn." And, alas ! they failed to do
so, as a mere handful of roans and whites beat whole
armies of Hams and Devons, which numbered in all a
hundred and thirteen entries, while the Shorthorns
reached to no more than twenty-three rank and file. The
best of all the bulls was a Shorthorn, and the best of all
the cows and heifers was a Shorthorn ; as what tended to
render their defeat the more noticeable was the fact that
amongst the Devons were some very famous animals ;
first and second " Royals" at Wolverhampton, and often
distinguished elsewhere, such as Duke of Flitton 5th, Cin-
namon, Master Harry, and Fair Rosamond. The Shorthorn
list on the contrary did not include the name of any ani-
mal of established repute ; and although there may be a
promising young oneor two, like Messrs.IIosken'sbest bull,
coming on, there has seldom in these times been a more
mediocre display, either as regards numbers or merits, of
this renowned breed. There were three all-aged bulls
entered, to which the three premiums were duly awarded,
and the first and second have been winners about home,
but they could hold no great rank in good company.
There were in all two two-year-olds^ and an im-
proving yearling bull, Duke of Oxford, the last calf
by the Second Earl of Oxford, and an own brother
to the Hayle Countess of Oxford of last season. This is
a smart blood- like young bull, with a fine touch and some
good masculine character about him, but at present he is
scarcely ripe enough for the show ring, as he requires to
fill up and level out before he can quite please the eye of
the connoisseur. The three cows were all good, as we
fancy Mr. Pollard's third prize more than we do the
second, while the actual winner is a small delicate but
very blood-like heifer, showing at some years younger
than the pair from Blagdon. Little Nelly's chief triumph,
however, was in beating the two-year-old, an own sister
to Countess of Oxford, and a good spreading heifer for
best of all the females. In fact, from the first the Short-
horns threatened to do a deal more with the cows than
the bulls, and either the best cow or the best heifer of her
class might have wou outright.

So far as performances go the fifth Flitton is the best
Devon bull of his day, but he is now not only lopsided
but so paunchy and altogether overfed as to be' no longer
a show animal ; and it was said that the two other judges
held out for some time against the Devon man, as they
would have done well to have decided by a majority. We
reported the fifth Duke as growing " worse and worse"
at Wolverhampton ; and the Royal judges subsequently
expressed their fears that " from apparent over-feeding hi's
future usefulness will be to a considerable extent limited,
which with so valuable an animal is to be very much re-
gretted." These fears have apparently been fulfilled, and a
tar more taking bull at Exeter was Lord Falmouth's Jon-
quil, long, level, and sightly, but with a touch which will
always tell against him. la the two-year-old class the
Exeter judges put the Royal reading all to the right or
wrong-about. Thus, Lord Falmouth's Cinnamon, first at
Wolverhampton, was now commended ; Lord Fa'lmouth's
Kingcraft, commended at Wolverhampton, now second ;
and Mr. Farthing's jMaster Harry, second at Wol-

verhampton, now first. Very crack animals, all
these, and yet all succumbing to a local Shorthorn.
The Stowey bull has gone on well, having furnished
fiimously on to a very true frame, but he is just shifting
his coat, so that he will show better and better, as he is
probably now at all points the best Devon of his year.
Kingcraft, like his namesake, is very stylish ; but Cinna-
mon is growing mean behind, and the fresh placing here
would look to be justified. The third bull. Earl of
Hexworthy, was second to Master Harry, at Guildford ;
but our choice would the rather rest on Mr. Jackman's
couple of yearlings, sturdy, resolute young bulls, full of
fine character, and the better, as the younger of the two,
showing more promise than anything on the ground,
while they were both a long way before the rest of the
class. Mr. Powesland's Queen is a handsome, useful
cow, well worthy of her place ; but there was a deal of
discussion over the placing of the second and third, as
there was also over the first and second heifers in-calf or
with calves, and certainly on the day Mr. Farthing's,
straight sweet and light of bone, looked to have all the
best of the class. The one put over her is small and
bloodlike, but much pulled down from calving ; and here
the credit of the once famous Barton herd rested. The
award over the first and second yearlings seemed to be
set on a directly dilfe.-ent principle ; lor Fair Rosamond,
of naturally great substance, is positively disfigured, if
not already ruined, by over-feeding, while Mr. Burton's
Graceful realizes her title in her appearance, being of a
very neat or more decidedly elegant stamp. There were
fome went for Rosamond as the best of all the cows, but
her gaudy patchy quarters would have put her out with
any but a bench of butchers.

The South Hams, rather darker in their coats than we
had remembered them, are not show stock, and will never
be known far away from home. They are bountiful
milkers, and the steers grow and feed to great size and
w^eight. The male animals, however, are plain, many
with mean sour heads and gaunt frames ; but the cows
are altogether more "likely" stock, with broad hips,
good udders, and not without a certain comliness in
appearance. During that terrible downpour on Thursday
we took shelter by the side of old Beauty, quite a grand
cow for her age, and good enough, as it seemed to be
first, although, when the weather cleared a little, only
placed second in her class. There was a small but
creditable entry of Channel Island cattle, where the more
refined Jerseys were set off by a Guernsey or two, while
the best of the best class of cows was home-bred by Mr.
Digby at Sherborne.

There were knowing people who said of the horse -
show at Guildford last season that it was simply dis-
creditable, that the entries were only fit to put in a parish
pound, that they had seen far better horses in a little
country fair, and so forth, the probability being that these
self-established authorities know rather less about horses
than they do about elephants. Whereas, as we stated at
the time, " though small, the show was, in places, by no
means bad, as many of the prize horses would promise to
hold their own against far greater competition," and the
Guildford prize winners have been Avinning ever since.
So, at Exeter in a very good class of four-year-old hun-
ters, the first-prize horse, Mr. Battams' Bismarck, fairly
placed himself, as every one saw in a moment how
superior he was to his fellows, and yet at GuDdford Bia-

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

545

marck jvas only second in his class, where his owner ad-
mitted he was fairly beaten. The chesnut has gone on
capitally, having fined a bit, but with great power and a
rattling goer when extended, despite his shoulders being
not quite right. Mr. Michelmore's second is a more useful
than showy horse, and he requires carefully looking over,
as at the first glance he is rather short and common ;
while there were some other very nice nags in the class.
The great show of the day, however, was a mixed entry of
two and three-year-olds, which the judges generally com-
mended. Both the first and second were brought up
about Totnes by Mr. Trist, and both are full of promise ;
it being a very doubtful point whether the three-year-old
by Preceptor placed first, or the two-year-old by Acrobat
put second was the better, as even one of the judges
allowed that Acrobat might grow into the more valu-
able horse of the two. Knowing Devonshire as we
have done for many years, the improvement evinced by this
class in the art of horse-breeding is something extraordi-
nary, as it is clearly traceable to the use of the thorough-
bred horse, whatever Mr. Spoouer, in a minority of one,
may say to the contrary. By Gemma di Vergi, by Loyola,
by Hunting Horn, by Preceptor, by Master Penton, by
Acrobat, came over and over again in the catalogue. This
was further proved by the brood mares, which pretty gene-
rally were more of a harness than riding stamp, though
the winner is a game varmint old mare, while a barren
chesnut, the best mover of the lot, was ordered oft' a deal
too soon. The hacks we did not see out, but the best pony,
Mr. Raddon's Maggie, by Southampton, is a very picture
of blood-like beauty, as finely framed as a race-horse, and
a bargain, at any rate some little time since, at £35 !
The Devonshire cart-horses still show a strong taste of
the pack-horse, and some of the mares were very much
of a muchness with others entered as suitable for breeding
hacks and hunters. There were in all only eight entries
in a couple of classes, yearlings and two-year olds, the
black prize colt being of immense size, standing close
upon seventeen hands high ; and as the boxes of the prize
stallions were under some admirable arrangement kept
carefully locked, we can really say nothing as to their
merits.

Let the far-away reader only fancy to himself a
system under which the visitor is called upon to pay
half-a-crown at the outset, and is then denied a fair sight
of the show. Only let him further fancy animals in the
rings with whisps of paper or parchment fixed to their
heads, as on the horses these invisible numbers are care-
fully placed moay from the spectator's side of the ring, so
that it is utterly impossible to distinguish one entry from
another, and the catalogue for the time is simply useless.
Only let the far-away stranger, again, conceive a catalogue
not merely interleaved with advertisements, like the
Barnum business they have made of it at Islington, but
with these advertisements actually printed as part and
parcel of the catalogue itself ! Thus, half a page or so is
given to an entry of stock, and the other half
in great glaring type to Mr. Somebody's " Large
Assortments " and " Moderate Charges," or Mr.
Thingammy's " Woollens and Worsteds." Anything
more annoying or discreditable has rarely been tried on
in this way, and we protest on the part of an indignant
public. Moreover, these disfigured catalogues ran short
by ten o'clock in the morning, as somebody had forgotten
the key or forgotten where he had locked them up, or on
some equally good showing they where not forthcoming.
Only let the stranger, happily far away at home by his
own fireside, call in his fancy still further to picture the
clouds gathering and the rain falling, or pouring down
in deluges, until the ground is reduced to a swamp
Jiere, or floods up as a lake there ; and the

Devonshire lassies pick their way daintily, all in
red morocco boots and red striped or stained petticoats
— too sad tell-tales of that humid atmosphere and of that
ruby soil. Shall we go on to say, then, there was a large
show of sheep ? — Is there anything more wretched than a
sheep on a thoroughly wet day ? — And Mr. Tremaine,
from Grampound, and Mr. Pottei-, from Thorverton, had
all the best of the Leicesters, the champion ram being
from Colonel Inge's floek. Then, there were the useful
South Devons or South Hams, where Mr. Badcock was
first with three very uniform rams, a compliment which
could not be extended to the class. And there were other
Longwools and Dartmoors and Exmoors, and Somerset
and Dorset Horns, which pleased Mr. Masfen, all the
way from Stafi'ordshire, very much, if he sought in vain
for Shropshires or Southdowns. And while my Lord
Portsmouth is judging horses his black pigs are winning
prizes, firsts and seconds, for black is all the fashion in
these parts, and Mr. Pisher and Mr. Mangles and Mr.
Eden counted as of "no account," however great their
authority in Leeds, Liverpool, or York. And still it rains
and rains, and the pigs are ci'oss and won't be put up or
put upon, and people who have hoped on in vain fly at
length that slough of despond for fresh boots and early
trains.

The exhibition of implements was mainly confined to local
makers and agents, of whom the following is a list : J. Aysh-
ford. Old Crabtree, Broad Clist, Exeter ; J. Asken, 27, Charles-
street, Hampstead-road, London ; W. Adams, Poltimore, Exeter;
W. Brenton, Polbathic, St. German's, Cornwall ; H. Beare,
Newton Abbott, Devonshire ; T. Brinsmead, St. Giles, near
Torrington, Devon ; W. Bragg, Sandford, Creditou, Devon ;
J. Bradford, Washfordpyne, Morchard Bishop, Devon; J.
Bell and Co., 490, Oxford-street, London ; C. Burrell, Thet-
ford, Norfolk; R. B. Body and Co., East-street, Plymouth;
R. J. Curson, South Zeal, Okehampton, Devon ; W. Cham-
berlain, Dodbrooke, Kingsbridge, Devon ; Day, Son, and
Hewitt, 23, Dorset-street, Baker-street, London ; J. and W.
Dicker, Chagford, Devon ; Denning and Co., Chard, Somer-
set; J. Davy, Crofthole, St. Germans, Cornwall ; R. Drew,
Marchard Bishop, Devon ; G. Davis, Royal Polytechnic, Re-
gent-street, London ; J. Eddy, Kennford, Exeter, Devon ; J.
Easton and Son, Northernhay-street, Exeter: J. Powler
and Co., Leeds; T. Pranklin, Clist, Honiton, Exeter;
J. Goss, King - street West, Plymouth ; Go we Ma-
nure Company, 2, Westminster Chambers, Victoria-street,
London ; R. Godbeer, Queen-street and Gandy-street, Exeter ;
Garton and King, Exeter ; Hayman and Co., Sidwell-street,
Exeter ; W. Hogg, Upton Pyne, Exeter ; W. Hustable,
Fare Mile Iron Works and Honiton Foundry, Devon ; J. J,
Hawkes, Loudon Inn-square, Exeter ; J. King, Great Cogge-
shall, Essex ; E. ■ Kerr, Henry-street, Dublin ; Langdale's
Manure Company, Newcastle-ou-Tyne ; S. Lewin, Poole,
Dorset ; J. Lucton and Co., Hatherleigh, Devon ; G. Mil-
ford, Thorvertou, Cullopmpton, Devon; J. Maunder, Ottery
St. Mary, Devon ; T. Milford and Son, Thorverton, Cul-
lomptou, Devon ; T. Mortimer, Brown's Parm, Kenn, near
Exeter ; J. Matthews, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset ; P. P.
Milford, Kenu, Exeter; H. Merrifield, Exe Island, Exeter;
H. Norrington, Exeter; W. Marshall, Upton Pyne, Exeter;
Pollyblank and Co., Newton Abbott, Devon ; Parnall and Son,
St. Thomas, Exeter ; S. Pearse, Exeter; Plirasaul Brothers,
Plymouth ; N. Page, Morchard Bishop, Devon ; Phillips
and Co., AUer, near Newton Abbott, Devon; Roberts
and Son, Bridgewater, Somerset ; G. II. Reed, Chagford,
Devon ; Ransomes, Sims, and Head, Ipswich ; Reeves and
Son, Westbury, Wilts ; Standfield and Crosse, London Inn-
square, Exeter ; R. C. Silvester, St. John's-terrace, Clerken-
well, London ; Singer, High-street, Bristol ; C. Staddon,
Brampford Speke, Devon ; Smith and Sons, Chard, Somerset ;
B. C. Tipper, Balsall Heath, Birmingham ; W. Tom?, Yeovil,
Somersetshire; Vivian and Sons, Swansea, South Wales;
Watts and Co., George-street, Plymouth, and High-street,
Exeter ; T. Winter, Pitsford Hill, Wiveliscombe, Somerset ;
H. Webber, Morchard Bishop, Devon ; Wallis and Steevens,
Basingstoke, Hants; White and Co., 65, Trinity-square,
Borough, London; J, Wright, Sandford, Crediton, Devon ;

Q 0 %

5J6

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

\V. Webber, Cliuwieigb, Cbulnileigb, Devon ; and W. A. Wood,
77, Ujiper Tliames-street, London.

P K I Z E LIST.

JUDGES.— CatUe: E. Elliott, Laudulpli, Saltasli, Cornwall ;
J. Wood, llarewood Hill, Darlington ; J.Qiiartly, Molland'
Soutlunoltou. '

Horses : Lord rortsmontb, Eggesford House, Wembwortliy • J.
Woodley, Halshanger, Ashburton ; W. C. Spooner, Elin<',
Soutliampton. °

Leicester, Exinoor, Dorset, and Somerset Horn Sheep and Pigs :
11. H. Masfen, Pendelford, Wolverhampton; J.J.Clarke,
bcopwick, Sleaford; J. H. Huchiuson, IMauor House, Cat-
terick, Yorkshire.

South Devon, Dartmoor, and other Long-wool Sheep: W.
Paige, Treboul, St. Germans, Cornwall; J.Sanders, Bicton ;
b. lioone, Lutton, Brent, Ivybridge.

CATTLE.

DEVONS.

Bulls exceeding three years old.— First prize, J. Davey,Flitton
Barton, Nortl.molton (Duke of Flittou tlie 5tli) ; second, Lord
ialnaouth, Iregothuau, Probus, Cornwall (Jonquil) ; third,
W. Salter, Northtawtou Barton, Northtawton. Highly com-
mended : J. Gould, Bampfylde Lodge, Poltimore (Triumph).

Lulls above two and not exceeding three years old.— First
prize, W. Farthing, Stowey Court, Bridgwater (Master Harry) •
second. Lord l<almouth, Tregothnau^(Kingcraft) ; third J
Jackman, Hexworthy, Launceston (Earl of Hexwort'hy)
Highly comraeuded: Lord Falmouth, Tregothuan (Cinna-
mon). ^

Bulls above one and not exceeding two years old.— First and
second prizes, J. Jackman, Hexworthy; tiiird, VV. SJter
i!;°'""'*'»"ton Barton. Highly commended : E. C. Norrisli'
Efford, Shobrooke, Creditou. '

Cows exceeding three years old, in calf, or having had calf
within four montlis.-First prize, T. B. Powlesland, Stockley
Pomeroy (Queen); second, N. Cook, Chevithorne Barton
(favourite) ; tliird, J. Gould, Poltimore, Exeter (Spot).

Heifers not exceeding three years old, in calf, or having had
calf within four mouths.— First prize, G. Turner, Brampford
Speke, Exeter (Marguerite) ; second, W. Farthing, Bridg-
water • third, I\. Cook, Chevithorne Barton, Tiverton (Rose).
Highly commended : W. Morgan, Colhayes Farm, Buckerell
Honiton. Commended : T. B. Powlesland, Stockley Pomeroy
(Lady 2ud). "^ •'

Heifers not less than twelve months nor exceeding two years
old.-lirst imze, W. Farthing, Bridgwater (Fair llosamoud) ;
second k Burton, The Vineyard, Broadclist (Graceful) ;
tiiird J. Gould, Bampfylde Lodge (b'lorence). Highly com-
mended: G. Turner, Brampford Speke, Exeter (Devouiensis).

SOUTH DEVONS.

Bulls exceeding three years old.— First prize, W. R. Coul-
ton, Deau Court, Buckfastleigh (Tom) ; second, R. A Cut-
more Rocombe Barton, Stokeinteiguhead, Teignraouth ■ third
\\. Heywaid, Higher StaplehiU, Highweck, Newton Abbott!
Jlighly commended: J. Irish, Poulston, Halwell, Totnes
(Hercules).

Bulls above two and not exceeding three years old.— First
prize, R. Cock, Burraton Farm, Plymouth ; second, J. White-
awajy, leignharvoy, Teigumoutli (Feignway) ; third, II. M.
Cork, Woodford I arm, Plymptou. Highly commended: R.
A. Cutmore (Billy).

Bulls above one and not exceeding two years old.— First
prize, VV. Coaker, Charleton Court, Kingsbridge (Admiral
3rd); second, Messrs. Oldreive Brothers, Landcombe and
Tnl!\^^ r"."' l^'-^-f^out'' ; third, E.R. Cornish, Lower
iorr, Mounts lotnes (Sir Roger). Highly commended: J.
Fairweather, Malston, Kingsbfld4

Cows exceeding three years old, iu calf, or having had calf

Serf- ''■ '"'^'^^■■' '^°'^'""^-'> ^'SriiVe; tlir^,^ If]
Heifers not less than twelve months nor exceeding two
years old.-First and second prizes, W. Coaker. °

SHORTHORNS

Bulls exceeding three years old.— Fir.st prize, J. W. I'aull
Knott ^Oak House, Ilminster (Prizetaker) ; second, E. Boli-,
tho, Trewidden, Penzance (Aaron) ; third, J. Rendcll, CoHins-
well, Newton Abbot (Chancellor).

Bulls above two and not exceeding three years old. — First
prize, D. R. Scratton, Ogwell, Newton Abbot (Earl of Faws-
ley 3rd) ; second, \V. II. Hewett, Norton Court, Taunton
(Crown Prince).

Bulls above one and not exceeding two years old. — First
prize, Messrs. Hosken and Son, Loggans Mill, Hayle, Corn-
wall (Duke of Oxford) ; second, J. Horswill, jun.. Burns
Hall, Lew Down (King of Oxford) ; third, Messrs. W. Hos-
ken (Knight of Penwith).

Cows exceeding three years old, in-calf, or having had calf
within four mouths.— First prize, W. II. Hewett, Norton
Court, Taunton (Nelly) ; second, R. W. Pollard, Blagdon,
Paignton (Wild Iris); third, 11. W. Pollard (Princess
Jersey).

Heifers not exceeding three years old, in-calf, or having had
calf within four mouths. — First prize, Messrs. Hosken and
Son, Loggans Mill, Hayle (Countess of Oxford 2nd) ; second, W.
H. Hewett, Norton Court, Taunton (Lady Eleanor) ; third,
J. Rendell, Coffinswell, Newton A.bbot.

Heifers not less than twelve months nor exceeding two years
old.-First prize, R. W. Pollard, Blagdon, Paignton (Crocus
3rd) ; second, R. W. Pollard (Rose).

CHANNEL ISLANDS CATTLE.

Bulls exceeding one year old. — First prize, E. A. Sanders,
Stoke House, Exeter (Victor Emmanuel) ; second, G. D. W.
Digby, Sherborne Castle, Dorset (Midshipman).

Cows exceeding three years old, in-calf, or having had calf
within four months. — First prize, G. D. W. Digby, Sherborne
Castle, Dorset (Diamond) ; second, R. N. G. Baker, Heavi-
tree, Exeter (Daisy),

Heifers not exceeding three years old, in-calf, or having had
calf within four months. — First prize, E. A. Sanders, Stoke
House, Exeter (Lily of the Valley) ; second, R. Burton, The
Vineyard, Broadclist (Fancy) ; third, E. Ford, Abbotskers-
well, Newton Abbot (Gay Lass).

Extra Prizes.— A silver cup, of 10 gs., for the best Devon
bull, to be kept in the county for one year from the 1st of
June, W. Salter, Northtawtou.

A Silver Cup of 10 gs., for the best South Devon bull,
to be kept in the county for one year from the 1st of June,
W. Coaker, Kingsbridge.

A Silver Cup of 10 gs., for the best Shorthorn bull, to be
kept in the county for one year from the 1st of June, J. W.
Paull, Ilminster. Special Prize of £5, given by the President,
for the best bull exhibited in any of the cattle classes, J. W.
Paull (Shorthorn).

Special prize of £5, given by the President, for the best cow
or heifer exhibited in either of the classes, W. H. Hewett,
Norton Courc ; cow iu calf (Shorthorn).

SHEEP.

LEICESTERS.

Yearling Rams.— First, second, and third prizes, J. Treraaiu,
Polsue, Grarapound, Cornwall.

Rams of any other age.— First prize, T. Potter, Yellowford,
Thorverton, Cullompton ; second, G. Turner, Brampford Speke'
near E.xetcr ; third, T. Potter, Yellowford, Thorverton,'
Cullompton.

Pens of five yearling ewes.— First prize, J. Tremain Polsue,
Grampound, Cornwall ; second and third, G. Turner, Bramp-
ford, Speke, Exeter.

Pens of five ewes, aged two years and upwards, with their
lambs.— First prize, G. Turner, Brampford Speke, Exeter ;
second, and third, J. Gould, Bampfylde Lodge, Poltimore.
Exeter.

SOUTH DEyONS.

Yearling rams.- First prize, J. Badcock, Bearscombe,
Kingsbridge ; second, J. Badcock ; third, J. Badcock. Highly
commended: J. Willcocks, AViudsor, Yealmpton.
^ Rams of any other age.— First prize, J. S. Hallett, Sherford
Barton, Plymptou ; second, G. Martyn, Trewen House
Camelford, Cornwall ; tiiird, W. Harvey, Frogniore Farm.
Ashprington, Totnes. Highly commended : J. Badcock,
Bearscombe, Kingsbridge. ,

Pens of five yearling ewes.—First prize, R. C, Clark, Bsrne

THE FAEMER'S J\[AGAZINE.

547

Bartou, St. Biuleaux, Plymoutli ; seconJ, J. Stooke, East
Sherford, Plyraptou ; third, H. Pain, High House, Kingsbridgc.
Peus of five ewes, of two years old aud upwards,
with their lambs. — First prize, J. S. Hallett, Sherford Barton,
Plympton (the special prize of £5, giveu by Mr. U. Duraut,
was also taken by tliis pen) ; second, J. Stooke, East Sher-
ford, Plympton ; third, ¥. W. Coaker, Stokenham, Kings-
bridge. Highly conimeudel : 11. C. Clark, Barue Barton,
St. Budeaux.

OTHER, LOXG-WOOLS.

(Not qualified to compete in the foregoing classes. )

Yearling rams. — Eirst prize, J. H. Amory, Knightshaycs
Court, Tiverton (Devon) ; second, R. Corner, Torweston,
Williton, So)uerset (D.von) ; third, J. H. Amory, Knight-
shayes Court, Tiverton (Devon). Commended : 11. Corner,
Torweston, Williton, Somerset (Devon).

Haras of any other age. — Eirst prize, 11. Corner, Torweston
AVillitou, Somerset (Devon) ; second, 11. Corner (Devon)
third, 11. Corner (Devon).

Pens of five yearling ewes. — First prize, R. Corner, Tor-
weston, Williton, Som rset (Devon) ; second, R. Corner
(Devon) ; third, C. T. i'ord, Oakhay Barton, Stoke Canon,
Exeter.

Pens of five ewes of two years old and upwards, with their
lambs. — First prize, F. Doble, Craddock, Ulfculme, Cul-
lompton (Devon) ; second, J. II. Amory, Kuightshayes Court,
Tiverton (Devon) ; third, R. Corner, Torweston, Williton,
Somerset (Devon). Commended : W. Way, Sobejs, Alphing-
ton, Exeter (Devon).

D.VRTJIOOUS.

Yearling rams. — First and second prizes, R. May, Greudon,
Tavistock. Highly commended: R. Palmer, Vena Barton,
Beaworthy, Northlew, Exbourne.

Rams of any other age. — First prize, T. Squire, South
Brentor, Lamerton, Tavistock; second, J. Adams, Moore,
South Brent. Highly commended : 11. Palmer, Venn Barton,
Beaworthy, Northlew, Exbourne.

Pens of live yearling ewes. — First prize, T. Squire, South
Brentor, Lamerton, Tavistock ; second, R. May, Grendon,
Tavistock.

Fens of five ewes of two years old and upwards with their
lambs. — First and second prizes, R. May, Grendon, Tavistock.

EXIIOORS.

Rams of any age. — First prize, J. Davy, Flitton Barton,
Northmolton ; second, W. Smith, Hoopcrn, Exeter.

Yearling ewes • — First prize, Lord Poltiraore, Poltiinore
Park, Exeter.

Pens of five ewes of two years old and upwards, with their
lambs. — First prize. Lord Poltimore.

SOMERSET \7iB DORSET HORNS.

Rams of any age. — First, second and third prizes, fl.
Mayo, Coker's Frome, Dorchester.

Yearling ewes. — First and second prizes, H. Mayo. Highly
commended : Viscount Bridport, Cricket St. Thomas, Chard.

Pens of five ewes of two years old and upwards, with their
lambs. — Second prize, H. Mayo. Highly commended : W.
Harding, Bovey iSarton, Beer, Axminster.

SrEci.\.L Prizes. — A special prize of £5, given by the Pre-
sident, for tiie best ram exhibited in any of the sheep classes.
— T. Potter, Y'ellowford (Leicester). A special prize of
£5, given by the President, for the best pen of ewes exhibited
in any of the sheep classes. — F. Doble, TJffculme (Devon long-
woolled).

HORSES.

FOR AGRICULTUR\L PURPOSES.

First prize, C. Bowu, Middlezoy, Bridgwater a dark bay
stallion (Protection) ; second, W. Miller, Stoodleigh Farm,
West Buckland, a roan stallion (Young Surrey) ; third,
Messrs. Oldreive Brothers, Landcombe aud Little Dartmouth,
a bright bay stallion (Bismarck). Highly commended: W.
Langdou, Trimstone Barton, llfracombe, an iron grey stallion
(Briton). Commended: J. Joyce, Wadham, Knowstoue,
South Molton, jet black stallion (Young Matchless).

Mares in foal, or with foal by their side. — First prize, T.
Pellow, Kerslake, Okehampton (Flower) ; second, G. Elliott,
SwiUey Farm, Plymouth (Blossom), aud foal ; third, W. Pitts,
Shutterton, Starcross (Smart), aud foal. Highly commended :
J. Palmer, llenstill, Sandford, Crediton (Darling), and foal;
Messrs, Tnrpin and Sons, Hitchcombe Farm, Plympton St.

Mary (Duchess), and foal. Commended : J. Pile, Berry
Farm, Branscombe, Sidraouth (I'cemer), and foal.

Fillies foaled in 1869.— First prize, N. Cook, Chevithorne
Bartou, Tiverton ; second, W. M. llcllier, Marsh Barton,
Clyst St. George, Topsham.

Colts, Geldings, or Fillies foaled in 1870. — First prize, G.
Elliott (Sampson) ; second, N. Cook (Black Prince).

HACKS OR IIUKTERS.

IMares in foal, or having a foal by their side. — First prize,
A. Gould, Blackheath, Exminster (Dolly) ; second, Messrs. T.
Palmer aud Sons, Borough, Kelly, Tavistock (Polly), and foal ;
tiiird, N. Cook (Mary Gold). Commended : E. A. Sanders,
Stoke House, Exeter (Sensation), and filly.

Geldings or fillies foaled in 18GS. — First prize, G. B. Bat-
tams, Kilworthy, Tavistock (Bismarck) ; second, J. Michelmore,
Berry Ponieroy, Totnes (Rob Roy). Highly commended :
E. Ashley, Uouiton (Fanny). Commended: W. A. Jarvis,
Higher Bolbcrry, Kingsbridge (Tichborne).

Geldings or fillies foaled in ISG'J or 1870.— First prize, _W.
Trist, Langford Barton, Ugborough, Ivybridge (The Claim-
ant) : second, AV. Trist (Nimrod). Highly commended : E.
Osmond, Woodrow, Brampford Speke (Miss Florence). Class
commended.

Marcs or geldings over four years old, aud exceeding fifteeu
hands high. — First prize, Messrs. AV. Pedrick aud J. Brice,
Heavitree-road, Exeter, a gelding ; second, Messrs. W. Pedrick
and J. Brice, a geldinir. Commended : G. B. Battams, gelding

Mares and geldings over four years old, not exceeding utteen
hands high. — First prize, Messrs. Pedrick and Brice, gelding ;
second, N.Cook, mare (Polly). Highly commended: E. A.
Sanders, Stoke House, Exeter, mare (Cherry Stone).
rouiES.

Ponies of any age or sex under fourteen hands high. — First
prize, T. Raddon, Plymouth, mare (Maggie) ; second, W.
Rookes, Baring House, Exeter, AVelsh gelding (Beauty) ; third,
W. Smith, Hoopern, Exeter (Torn).

PIGS.

LARGE BREEP.

Boars, not less thau six months old. — First prize, Messrs. J.
Wheeler and Sons, Long Compton, Shipton-on-Stour, War-
wickshire, Berkshire (Black Jack) ; second, J. Dove, Ham-
brook House, Hambrook, near Bristol (Wonder) ; third, J.
Dove (Lord Hambrook). Highly commended: Messrs. J.
Wheeler and Sons (Young Sara).

Sows of any age in farrow or with their litters. — First and
second prizes, Messrs. J. Wheeler and Sons (Bcrksliire) ; third,
E. Praguel, Black Horse, Sherborne (Berkshire — Duchess).
Hifjhly commended : J. Dove (York). Commended : Messrs.
J. AVheeler and Sous (Daisy).

SMALL BREED.

Boars, not less thau six months old. — First prize, E irl of
Portsmouth, Eggesford House, AVembworthy (Governor) ;
second. Earl of Portsmouth (Stingo). Highly commended:
W. F. Collier, AVoodtowu, llorrabridge. Commended: J.
Partridge, Bow, North Devon (improved Essex).

Sows of any ag3 in farrow or with their litters. — First prize,
T. R. Cornish, AVolfsgrove, Bishopsteighton (Lucy) ; second,
AA''. F. Collier; third, Messrs. J. AVheelcr and Sons (Miss
Jewell).

At the Luncheon, Lord Devon would own that when the
idea of forming an association to comprise the whole of the
county was first started, he was one of tho^e who — however
desirable the object might be — entertained very serious mis-
givings as to its practicability. He knew well that in this
large couuty the fact was that in many distant parts of it there
were gentlemen who devoted energy, money, time, aud ability
in the the promotion of various local agricultural associations,
and knowing the good they did in ditfereut localities, he felt
doubtful whether for the purpose of a more general exhibition
they would throw the same amount of ability and heart into
the work they would be called on to perform. But the result
of this meeting showed that such misgivings were unfounded ;
and what they had seen to-day, although the meeting had
been held under circumstances which he would merely mention
by the gentle name of unfavourable, was a convincing proof of
how deep and universal was the interest of the whole county
in this Association. And he did not refer merely to the

548

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

number of exhibitors — unprecedented though it was in the
aunals of ahuost any county association — but he also referred
to the attendance in that tent and those outside in the yard,
who by tlieir going tliere under such circumstances evinced
their anxiety to see wlmt the County Association could ex-
hibit. He thought they might congratulate themselves on
having inaugurated an experiment which, if carried on as it
had been begun, promised to be exceedingly successful, not
merely in its pecuniary results, but in the general good it
would do to the community at large, in the economical bene-
fits that would be produced by the improvements in the various
objects they had seen around them to-day, and in the
stimulus that would be given to different localities by their
endeavours to be represented in such an exhibition as this. He
hadlougfeltthat the intercourse of those who lived in the neigh-
bourhood of Exeter with tlieir friends in the north and westof the
county was comparatively unfrciuent, and he therefore tliought
it would be for the benefit of the county at large that men from
different parts should be brought together with an interest in
one common object. He believed that if this society continued
to be conducted fairly, liberally, and energetically as on the
present occasion, it would deserve and continue to receive the
support now given it. One incidental benefit connected with
such a meeting as this was that all classes connected with ag-
riculture—from the labourer upwards— would feel themselves
bound together by a common interest when they saw that the
objects with which they themselves had particularly to deal
were the object of so very much attention to the Devonshire
Agricultural Association.

Mr. S. T. Kekewich, M.P., recollected the first establish-
ment ot the Devon Agricultural Society. There were very few
there who shared that pleasure with him. That (the old So-
ciety) was established a very few years, and answered a very
good and useful purpose, but before it had got out of its in-
tancy, it was— well he would not say kidnapped— but taken
possession of by another Society— the Bath and West of Eng-
land Society. He believed it was a happy thing for the Devon-
shire Society at that tune that it ceased to exist, as a separate
society, and was united with tlie Bath and West of England.
And let him add it had caused no jealousy whatever, and the
visit ol the Bath and West of England Society to Plymouth,
nest year, would show that there was no jealousy existing. It
was gratifying to find that this show was so successful, but he

regretted that he had not met his old friend more in simsliine,
and less in tears. He had heard, and also read in the papers,
many nostrums to render animal food cheaper— one of them was
that all the women of the country should abstain from eating
animal food. He sliould, however, be very sorry to inflict such
a penalty on the fair daughters of his native country. He
believed tiie real and only way to meet the difficulty was to
grow as much beef and mutton and other animal food as they
could.

The Chaikman, the Duke of Somerset, could assure them
that he took the greatest interest in the agriculture of the
county of Devon — in fact, every one was taking a great inte-
rest in agriculture, and for this reason— that they saw butchers'
bills growing very high, and they all wished them to be more
moderate. It reminded him of a couplet in Byron —

That greatest of all earthly ills.

The inflammation of our weekly bills.

There was a great outcry at the high price of meat, and in
order to meet the demand, preserved and potted meats had
been brought into use. It would be most unwise, if this
country were really able to produce suflicient. Looking at
some agricultural statistics recently, he found that cattle and
sheep were largely decreasing ; this was so according to the
statistics of 1870-1. Now let them look at the population of
this country, which was 31,000,000, and yet there were only
31,000,000 sheep, so that if everyone were to eat his sheep
this year there would be none left. There were only 9,000,000
head of cattle. The next question, therefore, for the farmers
and agriculturists of the country to consider was how they
could most rapidly increase tlie stock in this country. There
was no doubt that for many years to come it would pay well
to increase cattle and sheep very largely, but the great ques-
tion to solve was— how are they to feed and fatten the ani-
mals ? This agricultural show had done this much — it had
shown the energy and power of the county, and if that energy
and power continued, it would no doubt add largely to the
stock of food of the county. In spile of the weather it was a
most successful show ; and if this could be done in the " green
tree, what could not be done in the dry?" Although this
meeting had been a little damped by the weather, it was
largely attended.

THE OXFORDSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
MEETING AT THAME.

The first show of this Society, since its separation from the
Banbury Society took place at Thame on AVednesday, May 22.
Ihere was a far larger number of visitors than was ever
Known when the two Societies, were amalgamated. The en-
tries were also larger. There were nearly one hundred cattle
exhibited, Mr. G. Game, of Churchill Heatii, again carrying
off the charapiou prize. The other principal prize-takers were

1-1 \f^^T^°/''' Mr. J. Denchlield, and Mr. John Hutt :
While Mr G A. Lepper, of Aylesbury, won the silver cup for
the best hunter. There was a good show of sheep, botfi in
Lumber and quality, and Mr. J. Treadwell carried olf several
ho^fff' f T li"mfrey, of Kingstone Earm, Shrivenham,

ad first honours or his Berkshire pigs, of which there was
a je y creditable sho«^ There was a large display of imple-
rnTNrl^-^n"/')^'^''°'"; Browning, Oxford; Eddison
Thit N"r,^'r!^'"^^°^^'''^' Pearce, Thame; Messer.
in Hn w''?,.^'^?'^"'"^''; <^''eney, Thame; Gilbert, Ship-
and 'C?^n' ''"''^^'^S^ovough ; Bell and Co., London ; Pouting
and Co, ihame; and Iloberts, Haddeuham.

TTTnrpQ n Pl^IZE LIST.
^?^■~^^t^''V ■'^- ^°^^"^' Biddenham, Beds • and J

aSj M K FIli^tr'H n^^"^^"^= '^- ^ultbrd, lio dley ;'
ana J. M. K. EUiott, Heathencote. Sheep \nb Pir* • ir
Little, Lanhill, Wilts; and J. Tombs, Langfo'^d "

^, CATTLE.

Champion prize, for the best horned animal, a silver cut,
value £5 5s., to G. Game, Churchill. ' ^'

Bull, two years old and upwards. — Eirst prize, £5, G.
Game; second, £3, C. A. Barnes, Charleywood. Highly
commended: J. T. Senior, Aylesbury. Commended: J. A.
Mumford, Brill House.

Bull, under two years old. — Eirst prize, £5, G. Game;
second, £3, T. Game and Son, Broadmoor. Highly com-
mended : S. Dickers, Tetsworth.

Cow (having already produced one calf), in-milk or in-calf,
three years old and upwards. — Eirst prize, £5, G. Game ; se-
cond, £3, J. A. Mumford. Highly commended : G. Game.
Commended: J. A, Mumford.

Heifer, in-milk or in-calf, under three years old. — Eirst
prize, £5, J. T. Senior ; second, £3, R. Treadwell, Shalstone
Grounds.

Heifer, for breeding purposes, under two years old. — Eirst
prize, £5, and champion prize, G. Garne ; second, £3, J. T.
Senior. Highly commended and reserved: C. A. Barnes.
Highly commended : S. Dickers, T. Garne and Son, and G.
Game. Commended : C. A. Barnes.

Pair of cows in-milk, of four years old and upwards. — Eirst
prize, £5, J. Deuchfield, Burston ; second, £3, J. Hutt, Water-
eaton. Highly commended : J. Deuchfield.

Pair of cows or heifers, under four years old, in-milk. —
Eirst prize, i'5, not awarded ; second, £3, II. Tetley.

Best animal exhibited in classes 6 or 7, — Prize, a silver
cup, or plate, value £5, J. Denchfield.

Two fresh oxen and two heifers (not shown for a prize).
T. Taylor, Aston House.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

549

HORSES.
Brood mare, for breeding hunters. — Prize, a silver cup,
value £5 5s., A. R. Howland, Thame. Highly commended : G.
Gent, Brill. Commended : F. H. Davenport, Headington Hill.
Hunter, under sis years old, being at least ecpal to 13 stones
weight, exhibited by a tenant farmer.— Prize, a silver cup,
value £5 os., G. A. Lepper, Aylesbury.

Nag horse for general purposes. — First prize, £5, Capt. H.
C. Norris, Holton Grove ; second, £3, A. R. Howland. Cora-
mended : Mrs. Lord, Chilton House.

Cart mare, with colt or to foal this season. — First prize, £5,
W. Way, Albury ; second, £3, \V. Way. Commeuded : J. Hutt.
Cart colt or filly, above two and under four years. — Prize,
Mrs. Rowland, Shabbington.

Cart colt or filly, under two years.— First prize, £5, W. T.
and T. Franklin, Ascott ; second, £3, A. R. Howland.
SHEEP.
Oxfordshire Down shearhng ram.— First prize, £5, J.
Treadwell, Upper Winchendon ; second, £3, A. F. M. Druce,
Eynsham.

Oxfordshire Down ram, above two years old. — First prize,
£5, J. Treadwell ; second, £3, J. TreadweU.

Oxfordshire Down ram.— Plate, value .£i 4s., J. Treadwell.
Pen of five breeding Oxfordshire Down ewes, with their
lambs. — First prize, £5, J. Treadwell ; second, £3, J.
Treadwell.

Long-woolled shearling ram.— First prize, £5, Executors of

the late V. Gillett, Kilkenny ; second, £3, S. Smith, Somerton.

Long wooUed ram, above two years old. — First prize, i'5,

Mrs. Godwin, Troy Farm ; second, £3, Executors of the late

T. Gillett. Highly commended ; Mrs. Millington, Ardley.

Pea of five breeding long-woolled ewes, with their lambs.
—First prize, £5, Executors of the late T. Gillett ; second,
£3, S. Smith.

Eight ram lambs (not shown for a prize).— T. Taylor,
Aston House.

PIGS.
Boar, not exceeding 18 months old.— First prize, £5, H.
Humfrey, Sbrivenham; second, £3, Rev. PI. G. Daily, Swindon.
Highly commended : H. Humfrey.

Boar.— Plate, value £3 3s., H. Humfrey,
Sow iu farrow, or with pigs.— First prize, £5, H. Humfrey ;
second, £3, J. Biggs, Cublington. Highly commended : Rev.

H. G. Baily. '-

At the dinner, Mr. A. W. Hall, the chairman, said, so far
asthe prosperity of the agricultural world went, there was
one important question which they saw on the tbreshold, and
that was the labour question. He supposed that most of them
were agreed that so tar as some parts of England were con-
cerned things would not have gone on much longer as they
were, owing to the dearness of provisions. In some parts un-
questionably wages were very low, and the ((uestion with the
men was what was to be done. Two remedies had been tried
by them. The first was strikes, than which nothing could have
been more barbarous, inasmuch as action had preceded argu-
ment, instead of following it. In the second place unions
were devised, and here he would ask them to permit him to
digress for a moment, in order that he might refer to a personal
matter. He had been told that he was himself on strike, and
a large subscriber to the union. Permit him to take that pub-
lic opportunity of assuring them that he was not on strike, nor
yet a member of the union, neither had he directly or
indirectly ever supported it. He hoped that he was too good
a friend to the agricultural labourer to do that, because he
thought tliat what they disliked about the union was not its
powers of bringing men together for eliciting argument on
true ideas— that was the bright side of it— but what they
hated about it, and justly hated, was that it fostered, encouraged,
and tended to lengthen strikes. Now strikes, even if they
could be shown to be for the benefit of the skilled artizan and
the mechanic, which he very much doubted, certainly never
could be any benefit to the agricultural labourer. It was
patent in this way, inasmuch as the labour those men produced
was of the primest and best quality ; but they, as practical
men, knew that the labour agricultural men produced was not
always of the primest quality. There were no doubt some
labouring men who might be worth 13s. or 14s. a week, but
what proportion, lie would ask, did tliey bear to the great
majority. They knew that it was s very small proportion.
What was to become of that proportioa if their demand was

to be persisted in ? What was to become of the laudable
custom of the farmer finding a man a job when he could very
well do without him— and of keeping the old man on when
he knew that the young one would be of more value to him ^
lie was sure that they would not like to be turned adrift when
a job was finished, like a bricklayer's labourer ; but if they
would persist in the demands which noisy agitators had
persuaded them to prefer in some parts of the country, it
must be so. In this county it was not so bad yet, but
it behoved them as practical men to forestall this dissatisfac-
tion, and strangle this monster of disaffection in its birth.
He thought that in the end they might strangle it, but they
ouglit not to be hard on the labourer. They must remember
that he had been stirred up by men who were thinking more
of their own elevation than of his. It was a question be-
tween landlord and tenant, no less than between tenant and
labourer. If these exorbitant demands were persisted in two
things ought to be considered, firstly, the reduction of rents,
and secondlj, emigration. The competition for farms pretty
well proved that the desire for an agricultural life was so
great that a man would pay more for a farm than as a man of
business he ought, rather than have no farm at all ("No,
no"). Emigration had many friends to pat it on the back,
but he confessed that he was not one of them. They had had
enough of emigration already. When the tidal wave of emi-
gration had swept over them they would find that the indus-
trious and thrifty were gone and that the idle or ne'er-do-well
remained. Was there any way by which they could keep
their people at home, and make them contented with such a
wage as the farmer could afl'ord to pay ? Remember, so long
as they were discontented the problem was not solved, and it
would still hang over their heads like the sword of Damocles,
or like a train of gunpowder which at any moment an un-
principled agitator might fire. The question must be settled,
they must hit upon a plan which would satisfy the labourers
and do them justice without injury to other interests. He
thought that there was a plan by which the labourer might
be made more contented, and which would give him a niore
direct stake in his parish, and by which he would be enabled
to increase his income without coming to them for it, and he
believed that that plan was one that had two branches :
Firstly, good cottages ; secondly, and principally, a large in-
crease in the allotment holdings at a fair rent (A Voice :
"No, no; that will not do "). He did not thmk it was a
plan altogether free from objections, and they could say that
of but few plans. He maintained that it was a plan that
would prevent the farmer from suffering any loss from raising
the rate of wages. It was a plan that was guilty of a de-
Hghtful inconsistency, or to borrow a phrase from Mr.
Disraeli's vocabulary, it was an amiably flagrant one. it
would make the labourer more dependent and yet more inde-
pendent. It would make him more dependent because it
would keep him at home, and more independent inasmuch as
he could then give himself a day's work when nobody else
would do so. He commended this plan to their consideration,
and he advised them not to pooh-pooh it. They might wish
to hear arguments on either side of the question. 1 hey were
anxious to solve the problem of contenting the labourer with-
out ruining themselves. He considered any chmk of day-
light, however small, that was thrown upon this question,
ought to be examined into most carefully. The labourer was
not so big a fool as some took him to be on the one hand, nor
was he on the other that angelic being that his so-called
political friends endeavoured to depict him. He had found
him like other people, anxious to serve number one. lie was
not, however, an ambitious man, and if they could by any
scheme of that kind keep him out of the hands of pohtical
agitators they would be some stages on the road which would
lead to the solution of this very difficult question.

Mr. Henley, M.P., said their excellent chairman had
touched upon a subject which was of interest to them all. He
had touched upon that most difficult question which was at
present agitating the country from one end to the other, viz.,
that of wages and labour. Now, he need not t-ell them, for
all who were there would reaUze the truth, that supply and
demand would settle that, and must settle it, no matter wliat
agitators wanted to do or what kind-hearted people wanted.
The supply and demand would settle the price of labour, as it
had settled the price of everything else. If the supply was
greater than the demand they would pay less for it, and so it

560

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

was with every article, and everything was subject to these
rules. Old men who remembered what this country was many
years back, would be thankful to deal with this subject iu a
quieter manner tlum tliat iu which they had to deal with it
something like thirty or forty )cars ago. Since then, how-
ever, wages had increased nearly 25 per ceut. He thought
that he was not wrong iu saying — and perhaps some hardly
knew what the state of things then was — that in what was
called tlie low wage parishes the current rate of wages was
about 8s. a vt'eek. IVow, he believed, that no labourer re-
ceived in any parish less than lUs. a week, and some received
)norc. That therefore siiowcd, whatever people might tell
tlie labouring classes, that, as people had become fewer, wages
had steadily increased. Tliere was no doubt that there was a
constant and increased demand for labour all over the country.
Tliey must meet this question, and as wise men they would
meet it, witii a fair and open hand. But, depend upon it,
they could not shut their eyes to the fact — and he was
talking to an assembly of men who could take the
trouble to inquire into and find whether what he told
tliera was true — that, in principle, as labour increased
in price, the cost of labjur decreased. It seemed au anomaly.
He saw a gentleman shaking his head, but could he get a
ditch dug for the same rate of wages per pole as he could by
the job ? rive-and-thirty years ago this question received a
great deal of attention from the House of Commons, and some
men whom he saw present could recollect the distress that was
then caused. What was the result of the inquiry by the House
of Commons ? It was found that iu Scotland higher rents and
higiier rates were paid than here per acre, but they were not
so depressed, because they charged much less per acre in the
labour of the farm tliau in the low-wage counties of Eng-
land. He hoped it would not be thought ill of him in
bringing these things before their notice, because as think-
ing men they could inquire and test for themselves whether
it was right or wrong. Witliiu the last two years a
similar statement had been made by a gentleman of the
name of CuUey, a commissioner who was sent around by the
Government to inquire into the labour question some years
ago. That gentleman worked out the thing with great care,
and he showed conclusively by figures that in Bedfordshire the
cost per acre in cultivating the land was higher than it was
in Northumberland, wnere the price of kbour was higli. He
knew that a person who had not had his attention called to it
would not easily believe it. He felt it his duty to call their
attention to those things, that they mighc think of thera, and
some of them who employed men at 8s. a week knew how
much labour they could get out of them. If a man was better
fed, he, like a horse, would get through his work quicker, and
do more work in a day. He mentioned those things iu order
that all of them in their respective stations miglit not
look with a jealous eye at each other, and that each
might meet each other — labourer, farmer, and landlord —
i'.nd do by others as they would be done lij themselves.
They should look at it in a kindly spirit, and in tiiat way
they would do more to keep out the agitator than in any other
way. He did not speak without some warrant on this matter.
He had no doubt that some of them would recollect the
"Swing" riots about forty years ago. What happened then ?
AVe had reason to bless ourselves now that, instead of the
question being raised by breaking machinery and burning their
liomesteads, the persons had come forward more quietly tliough
in some instances they had liad agitators among them. It
was, however, a blessed change to see the way iu which parties
approached each other from what they did in those days.
What ha))pened in our own country ? He thought that it
they, the farmers, approached the question in a right spirit,
they would settle it themselves. The mischief broke out iu
Kent, and they had in this county a few days' warning of it,
but it spread almost like lightning through Surrey and Hamp-
shire into Berkshire. The magistrates of Oxfordshire assem-
bled, that each, in their respective neighbourhoods, should go
round and ask the people to be sworn in to keep the peace.
Sixteen parishes were allotted to liim and his late friend Mr.
Ashurst., and they liad a good day's work. In twelve out of
the sixteen parishes they did not scruple to meet them to a
man, but in the other four they said that tliey would not be
sworn, but would do what was right. What was the language
of the labouring classes at that time ? He never sliould lor<'et
it if he lived us long again as it had jdeased God he should

live already. A great deal was said about the ignorance and
want of knowledge by those men. This was the language
the men used at that time, " We l\ardly know what it
means, but we can sec this plain enough ; we must either J

stand by the law or go against it." In one parish the men I

said, " We have always been kingsmen, and fo we iu- '

tend to abide." Yet some people would say that those
men were ignorant, but no greater mistake was ever
made. He thanked God that we in this county escaped
the disgrace of a special commission. The olfences that
were committed were not uumerous ; but those that werfi
committed were at Little Milton and the neighbourhood, and
extended nearly to Banbury, with one remarkable exception.
At that time the Huke of Marlborough was living at Blenheim,
and had Itt his own farm. A single man marched into his farm-
yard, and called out to the people in the house, " I am the
mOb, bring me a hammer ;" but, what was more remarkable
still, they brought him one, and he smashed the machinery
with it. He heard the man tried at tlie Oxford Sessions. It
show'ed a better state of things now than then. He believed
that if they met the men in a fair and liberal spirit, they would
be met in the same way by the men themselves. He had never
yet liad reason to doubt it. He had seen a little of the la-
bouring classes in his lifetime, and he was of opinion that if
tliey did not act fairly towards the men they would not act
fairly towards them. That was the conclusion his experience
had led him to come to. It was his belief, though it might
ajipear an anomaly, that if they made the labour dearer they
would get their labour done for less. They would never make
him believe that the farmer who paid 8s. a week would take
the trouble to look after the men, as he would those to whom
he paid 12s. or 1-is. p. week. According as men were looked
after they would get more work done, and that was the way
they could get cheap labour. Another thing he would call
their attention to, and it was a remarkable change. Forty
years ago the men rioted and broke machines, and got hard
thrashings for themselves. Now they could not get a man to
do that hard work. They did not want the thrashing or the
mowing, and were quite content to let the machines do it for
them. It only came to the same thing ; and he could not
too strongly impress it upon all their minds that the supply
was less and the demand more for labour. If they wanted to
sell their corn or beasts they would now get more money,
and if they wanted to buy men's labour they would have to
pay more money for it. The only way to get at truth was for
each party to speak his mind, and then they would arrive at
something that was wise and good.

A SHORTHORN HERD BOOK IN CANADA. — It is
important that Shorthorn breeders in the United States under-
stand that the committee on the publication of this Herd Book
have decided to adiuittoregistry,asthorouglibred,allShortliorns
having 15-lGtlis or more of Shorthorn blood, or, iu other word,
th-it foi/r coiisecii/ire crosses of Shori horn, hulls constitn'c a
Ihoruiir/hhred, irhntcvex hlood Ihere tuay he hack of these. The
committee cite, in justification, the authority of the British
Held Book ; but tiiere is a very decided difference iu the two
cases, of wiiicli the Btiffalo Lire Stock Joirrnal properly re-
marks : " The English Shorthorn Herd Book /;-«/';«tv that
the ancestors ii?_//o/('/ these four or 15-16ths crosses, are well-
i/w/ Shorthorns of the ancient original stock not recorded in
their Herd Books, of which there are multitudes in England,
that being the land of their ancestry, time immemorial ; while
in America — Canada as well as the United States — beyond
such four Imuiv/i crosses, we have nothing to fall back on but
the native cattle, composed of any and everything kept by the
ordinary farmer. It will be readily seen by every breeder
of ;j/'/-<? Shorthorn blood that a wretched sjsteni of bastardy
will not only follow, but be thus directly encouraged, so
long &s r/nide cattle with only 15-16ths of y^/^^'e Shorthoru
blood can be recorded in their Herd Books. Such a re-
cord, however much satisfaction it may give to the Canadian
Shorthorn breeders, who encourage it, can meet with little
approbation on this side of the border." It will, therefore, be
highly proper for purchasers of Canadian Shorthorn stock to
scrutinize the pedigrees carefully, so as to know whether they
are buying grades or thoroughbreds. It is not likely that
those of our breeders wiio have learned to scare at a pedigree
tracing to the " importation of '17," will take kindly to Ca-
nadian L'radcs. — T/ic Prarlc Farmer.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

551

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.

The half-yearly meetiiig was held ou Wednesday, May
23ud, in Hanover Square, the President, Sir Watkin W.
Wynn, M.l'., in the chair.

After some formal preliminary business.

Lord Kesteyen proposed that Earl Cathcart should be
the President for the ensuing year. The noble carl had
been a member of the Council for a considerable number
of years, and filled the office of Steward at Bury St.
Edmund's with diligence and ability ; while another recom-
mendation of the motion was that in the ensuing year
the Country Electing was to be held at Hull, and that the
uoble earl belonged to Yorkshire.

Lord Chesh.vm seconded the motion, which was
unanimously adopted.

E;u-1 Cathc.vrt, in returning thanks, said he thought
he should best show his appreciation of the honour
conferred upon him by his attention to the duties of the
office.

Oa the motion of Dr. Crisp, seconded by Mr. Her-
bert Little, the Trustees were re-elected, as were also the
Vice-Presidents, on the motion of Mr. Einlay, seconded
by Mr. Kimbek.

The meeting next proceeded to the elcctiou of the
council, the result being that the house-list was adopted,
therein being two new members, Mr. H. Chaplin, M.P.,
and the ilartjuis of Exeter.

The Secretary, ]\Ir. H. M.Jenkins, then read the fol-
lowing report :

Smce the last General Meeting in December, 57 Members
liave died, aud lit Members have withdrawn, or have been
removed from tlie list by order of the Couucil ; ou the other
hand, 2 Governors aud 157 Members have been elected. Tlie
Society, therefore, now consists of : Life Governors, 71 ;
Annual Governors, Ti ; Life Members, 1,655 ; Annual Mem-
b^rs, 3,953 ; Honorary Members, 14— making a total of
5,76G. The accounts for the year 1871 have been examined
aud certified by the auditors and accountants of the Society,
aud have been published, together with the Wolverhampton
Country Meeting account, in tlie last number of the Journal.
The funded capital of tlie Society remains the same as at the
last lialf-yearly meetiug, namely, tlie permanent Eund of
£20,000 New Three per Cents., and the lleserve Show-fund
of £1',113 7s. 8d. New Three per Cents. In addition, the
sum of £2,000 lies on deposit with tlie Society's bankers, and
the balance of the current account ou the 1st instant was
£1,595 Ss. 6d., both these sums being available for defraying
the expenses of the Cardiff meeting. The Earl of Leicester
has been elected a Member of the Council, to fill the vacancy
caused by the election of Sir A. K. Macdonald, Bart., as a
Trustee. The Cardilf Local Committee are co-operating with
the Council to promote the success of the ensuing Country-
meeting. In conjunction witli the Glamorganshire General
Agricultural Society, they have added to the Society's Prize-
lis"t oUers of Prizes for Hunters and Roadsters, as well as for
Agricultural and other classes of Horses, for Castle Martin
aud otlier breeds of Cattle, for Radnor Sheep and for Butter
aud Cheese. Nineteen farms have been entered to compete
for tlie prizes offered by the President, Sir Watkin W. Wynn,
Bart., M.P., aud by the Society for the best-managed farms in
South Wales and Monmouthshire, and the judges have reported
that after their first visit they were able to select such as were
deserving of further examination. The prize list iu connec-
tion with the Cardiff meeting has been further augmented by
the Marquis of Bute ;>ud Major Picton Turhervill, who have
offered prizes for plans of cottages suitable for agricultural
labourers, to cost not more than £220 per pair, and for others
suitable for the mineral districts, to cost not more than £90
each. The conditions relating to certain classes of live-stock
have been under the careful cousideration of the Council, and

the following rules have been inserted iu the prize sheet for
tlie Cardiff meetiug in place of those relating to the same
classes which were previously in force :
No Cow will be eligible for a Prize unless certified either at
the date of entry, or between the date of entry and that of
the Show, to have had a living Calf— or that the Calf,
if dead, was born at its proper time — within the twelve
months preceding the date of the Show.
No Heifer, except yearlings, entered as in-calf will be eligible
for a Prize unless she is certified to have been bulled before
the 31st of March in the year of the Show, nor will her
owner afterwards receive the Prize until he shall have fur-
nished the Secretary with a further Certificate before the
31st of January in the subsequent year, that she produced
a living Calf; or that the Calf, if dead, was born at its
proper time.
No Mare will be ehgible for a Prize unless certified either at
the date of entry, or between the date of entry and tliat of
the Show, to have had a living Eoal — or that the Foal,
// dead, was born at its proper time, and in the year of the
Show — or iu the event of a Marc being exhibited without
a Foal at foot, a certificate shall be produced at the time of
entry of her having bceu served, and the Prize shall be
withheld till a certificate be produced of her having pro-
duced a Foal.

In accordance with the scheme of rotation of districts re-
cently arranged by the Council, the Country Meeting for 1873
will be held in the district comprising Northumberland, Dur-
ham, and the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire. Invita-
tions having been received from the authorities of Darlington,
Hull, and Newcastle, a Committee was appointed to inspect
and report upon the sites, and other accommodation ofi"ered
by the competing localities. After duly consideriug the re-
port of this Committee, the Council have decided that the
Country-meeting for 1873 shall be held at Hull. The Coun-
cil have also to announce that the district which has been as-
signed for the Country-meeting of 1871 comprises the coun-
ties of Bedford, Cambridge, Essex, Hertford, Huntingdon,
Norfolk, and Suffolk.

The Governors of the Royal Veterinary College have
appointed Professor J. B. Simonds to fill the vacancy in the
ollice of Principal of the College created by the deatii of Pro-
fessor Spooner. In consequence of this appointment Professor
Simonds is unable to retain tlie post of Veterinary Inspector
to the Royal Agricultural Society. The Council have resolved
to make the usual grant to the Royal Veterinary College for
the current year, on condition that one of the Professors of the
Royal Veterinary College be allowed to act as the Veterinary
Inspector of the Society. The Governors of the College
have accepted this arrangement aud have also agreed to the
following schedule of Members' Veterinary Privileges : —

I. Serious or E.n;tensiyk Diseases. — No. 1. Any
Member of the Society who may desire professional attendance
and special advice in cases of serious or extensive disease
among his cattle, sheep, or pigs, will, ou application to the
Secretary, obtain the services of the Society's Veterinary
Inspector, to visit the place were the disease prevails.

No. 3. The remuneration of the Inspector will be £3 2s.
each day as a professional fee, and £1 Is. each day for personal
expenses ; aud he will also he allowed to charge the cost of
travelling to and from the locality where his services may have
been required. The fees and expenses will be a charge against
the applicant ; but this charge may be reduced or remitted
altogether at the discretion of the Council, ou such course
being recommended to them by the Veterinary Committee.

No. 3. The Inspector, ou his return from visiting the
diseased stock, will report to the Committee, in writing, the
results of his observations and proceedings, which Report will
be laid before the Council.

No. 4. When contingencies arise to prevent a personal dis-
charge of the duties confided to the Inspector, he may, subject
to the approval of the Committee, name some competent pro-

562

THE FARMEK'S MAGAZINE.

fessional person to act in his stead, who shall receive the same
rate* of remuneration.

II. Orpinaky or OruER Cases of Disease. — Mem-
bers may obtain the attendance of tlie Veterinary Inspector
on any case of disease by paying the cost of his visit,
which will be at the following rates, viz., £2 3s. per diem,
and travelling expenses.

III. Consultations without visit. — Personal

consultation with the Veterinary Inspector 5s.

Consultation by letter 5s.

Consultation necessitating the writing of

three or more letters 10s.

Post-mortem examination, and report thereon 10s.
A return of the number of applications during each half-
year being required from the Veterinary Inspector.

IV. Admission of Diseased Animals to the Vete-
rinary College, Investigations, Lectures, andReports.
— No. 1. All Members of the Society have the privilege of
sending cattle, sheep, and pigs to the Infirmary of the Royal
Veterinary College, on the same teims as if they were Mem-
bers of the College, viz., by paying for the keep and treatment
of cattle 10s. 6d. per week each animal, and for sheep and
pigs " a small proportionate charge to be fixed by the Prin-
cipal according to circumstances."

No. 3. The College has also undertaken to investigate such
particular classes of disease, or special subjects connected with
the application of the veterinary art to cattle, sheep, and pigs,
as may be named by the Council.

No. 3. In addition to tlie lectures now given by the Pro-
fessor of Cattle Pathology to the pupils in the lioyal Vete-
rinary College, on special occasions the College undertake
that one of the Professors shall also dehver such lectures be-
fore the Members of the Society, at their house in Hanover
Square, as the Council shall desire.

No. 4. The Royal Veterinary College will authorise their
Principal to furnish to the Council quarterly, a detailed
Report of the cases of cattle, sheep, and pigs treated in the
Infirmary, and also Special Reports from time to time on any
matter of unusual interest, which may come under the notice
of the College.

The Council have also to announce that they have appointed
Professor Simonds Consulting Veterinary Surgeon to the
Society. The Agricultural Education examination was held
at the Society's rooms on the days from Tuesday, April 16th,
to Saturday, April 20th, inclusive. Three of the candidates
who entered at the proper time, and eight of those who
entered too late for prizes, appeared and were examined. Of
those who were eligible for prizes, Mr. T. S. Minton has
gained a first-class certificate, the life membership of the
Society, and the prize for agriculture, in which subject he
passed a very good examination. Of the other gentlemen,
four passed, namely, Mr. Brown, Mr. Champion, Mr. Ash-
down, and Mr. Elwell, who obtained first-class certificates,
and the life membership of the Society. All these gentlemen
have been students at the .Royal Agricultural College at
Cirencester.

Mr. HiCHEN moved the adoption of tlie report, which he
regarded as perfectly satifactory, and as doing honour to the
Society.

Mr. W. BoTLT, in seconding the motion, congratulated the
meeting that the Society's finances vi'cre in such a prosperous
state, and remarked that the offering of prizes for improved
labourers' cottages was a step in the right direction.

Dr. Crisp could not concur in the complimentary language
just used. In the first place, he must again enter his annual
protest against the connection between that Society and the
Veterinary College, as being most damaging, in his opinion,
to the progress of veterinary science. It was, indeed, utterly
impossible that that science could make any progress while
such a connection existed. The veterinary profession was
snubbed in every w:iy. Por example, not long ago a gentle-
man named Brown left a large sum of money to encourage
the investigation of the diseases of domestic animals, the
appointment of a superintendent being left to the authorities
of University College. It was natural to suppose that a
veterinary surgeon would be choseu for sucli an office • but
that was not done. Veterinary science was altogether in
a most unsatisfactory state. On the last occasion when he
appeared there, having introduced the subject of the Game-

laws, he was told that it could not be discussed in that room.
He then remarked that the charter stated that one object of
the formation of that Society was the welfare of the agricul-
tural labourer ; but, on looking over the transactions of that
Society, he found that very little had been said, or at least
done, in furtherance of that object. They all knew that at
the present time there was a movement amongst agricultural
labourers, and it was a movement that must increase. It was
very easy to pooh-pooh it, and say it must be put down, but
he had no doubt that the strike among the agricultural
labourers would ultimately place them in a better position
than they were at present. That was a question which
especially concerned a Society like that, and yet nothing was
said in the report about agricultural labourers, except in
relation to cottages — a matter which concerned landlords
perhaps more than labourers.

The Chairman interposing, said it certainly appeared to
him that good housing was a most important thing for la-
bourers.

Dr. Crisp said, at all events he had hoped that the report
would contain something more v/ith regard to the condition of
agricultural labourers. He had no wish to create a discussion
in that meeting ; but he should be glad if some such proposi-
tion as this were adopted: " That a committee of this Society
be formed to inquire into the present state of the agricultural
labourers throughout England and Wales, in relation to the rate
of wages, cottage accommodation, and other matters, to use the
words of the charter, that concern their general welfare." He
brought that before the meeting as a suggestion for the Council,
and he thought that in that light it was well worthy of con-
sideration, and hoped that something of the kind would be in-
troduced in the next report. The Government inquiries on
the subject did not appear to him at all satisfactory. The
real question was how a man with only 10s. a week was
to support out of it a family of six or seven persons — how it
was possible for him out of such a sum to get a meat dinner
and a pint of beer every day, and to put by something for old
age. That question was one whicli must ultimately come be-
fore the Society. He wished to avoid saying anything that
might introduce ill-feeling, especially as he knew that the oc-
cupation of farming was, considering the amount of capital
required to carry it on, not very remunerative ; but still the
question must hereafter be dealt with.

Mr. Yates Ereebodt, C.E., wished he could join in the
congratulations expressed by the mover and seconder of the
motion ; but to his mind the report told of decadence, and
when he looked round that room and thought of the attend-
ance 20 years ago, the decadence seemed to him very marked.
Two years ago lie brought under the notice of the Council
the liict that while they were accumulating a great deal of
money they were doing very little good to agriculture. That
lamentable fact was patent. Some years ago the late Mr.
Raymond Barker used to tell those on that (the members')
side of the table to wait till the Society had got £5,000 at its
bankers, and then they would see what the Council would do.
The accumulated fund reached £5,000, £10,000, £15,000, and
for some years past had been £20,000 ; and what was the re-
sult ? Why, the very first paragraph of the report showed a
faUing off' of 50 in the number of members. The position of
the Journal was contemptible as compared with that which it
ought to occupy. As a civil engineer he should be ashamed
to turn out plans like those which had been published in the
JoKrnal recently. When Mr. Pusey had the management of
that periodical it contained articles which were interesting to
a great number of farmers, but now almost every practical far-
mer who took it up must admit that he found it rather
tough reading. Last year he wrote to the Council sug-
gesting that a committee of life governors, life members, and
annual members should be appointed to confer with the
Council as to the best means of using the large
amount whicli was then lying idle for the improve-
ment of the agriculture of England ; but the reply
which he received from the Secretary was to the effect
that the Council had considered the matter, and thought the
9th clause prevented such a step from being taken. He could
not help thinking, however, that that clause gave very ample
powers, and he thought the suggestion was worthy of adop-
tion. As regarded the veterinary question, he thoughl that
Society should have its own officers, receiving such salaries as
would entitle the Society to the whole of their services. To

THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE.

553

ask the members to pay three guineas whenever they required
veterinary assistance seemed to him contemptible. The Society
ought to jump into tlie breach, and send down a salaried officer
to make the necessary investigation. Thirty years ago, when he
was a young man, he was employed in making reclamations of
land from the sea, and as the result he could point to thou-
sands of acres with growing crops where boats once swam.
During his early days a prize was offered by the Council in
connection with that subject. He sent what he knew was
worth the prize, but it was not entertained, and he had never
heard anything about the matter since (laughter). Members
might laugh, but he had not come there after the lapse of so
many years merely on account of his disappointment. Results
had shown that he was right. As to the chemical depart-
ment, he regretted that when the plaintiff in the late suit,
Mr. IJradburu, wrote to the Council, he was not met in a
proper, straightforward manner, the result being a lawsuit
which had cost five or six hundred pounds. The average con-
dition of the river waters was most abominable ; but wheu he
asked his old friend Mr. Druce why he did not send some of
it to Loudon for analysis, his reply was that it would cost him
two or three pounds. That was the iirst block to improvement,
and it ought to be removed. As to the improvement of farming
by means of competition for prizes, something had indeed beeu
done by Sir Wutkin individually ; but how much had been done,
comparatively speaking, by the Society ? He wanted to see
three or four counties classed together every year, and a prize
given for the best farm in each division. He had no wish to
propose any motion that would cause a division in the meeting,
but, like a good many persons out-of-doors, he wished some-
thing to be done to render that Society more practically useful.
He hoped it had now reached the lowest point. There was
plenty of talent and energy ; but the steam-engine would not
go along unless the fire were hghted, and they should all en-
deavour to make that Society what it ought to be. He
regarded the education scheme of the Council as a gross mis-
take, and he could not understand anyone congratulating the
Council on that subject. Two or three years ago they were
told that there was to be a library of reference, but he had not
been asked into any such library that day. As to the shows
he felt that the Council were incurring vast expense to very
little purpose ; and he believed that if they were to consult
some intelligent practical engineers they would not lose so
much money (A Voice : " Nonsense"). Notwithstanding that
rude interruption, he maintained' that a great deal of money
was lost.

Mr, Herbert Little could not admit that the state of
things in that Society was anything like as dark as
it was painted by the last speaker. He would certainly
like to see twenty instead of five thousand members ; and if
those who had experienced the benefits of membership would
but bestir themselves a little the list of members might be
augmented almost indefinitely. As to the Jomiial, he
did not at all agree with the last speaker that it was des-
picable. It was quite true that it contained a good deal of
technical writing ; but that was inevitable, and if it were
brought down entirely to the level of the most uneducated and
unintelligent persons it would cease to be really useful.
With regard to the veterinary profession, he concurred in
the opinion that it was not in a satisfactory state. A short
time ago he had on his farm a most terrible auJ fatal disease,
which had prevailed more or less tor some years past : he
meant splenic apoplexy. A veterinary surgeon was sent down
from London to investigate the cause and suggest a remedy ;
but he could only give very cold comfort. AVhat he said was
in effect that when cattle were too fat they should be walked
about the farm till they got lean. That was the remedy
suggested for the disease ; and veterinary science must
be in a very bad state if that were all it could suggest in the
case of a fatal malady like that. The condition of
the agricultural labourers was one of the most im-
portant questions of the day, and it was crop-
ping up in all directions. He did not know whether
or not it would be useful to have a committee of that Society
to inquire into the causes of the labour movement ; but he
thought that, considering that in some districts only eight or
nine shillings per week was paid, and in others as much as
18s., and yet the wages per acre were as high in the one case
as in the other, there ought to be some examination of the
causes of that anomaly. A comparative inquiry as to the

food and condition and work of the labourers in the north and
those in the south might be very beneficial. As regarded the
chemical examination of manures, he thought that if there
were one tiling which had been more beneficial than another
in that Society it was the analyses made by Dr. Voelcker.
In his opinion the Society had done an incalculable amount of
good by exposing the frauds and impostures practised on
tenant-farmers (cheers).

Colonel KmGSCOTE, M.P., regretted that the gentleman
who had gone back 30 years had not tried to help the
Society instead of dragging it through the mire. As
regarded the number of members he was mistaken in suppos-
ing that there was a diminution ; there was, in fact, an in-
crease as compared with the corresponding period of 1871.
For some years past every one who had joined the Society had
had to sign a paper, in which he undertook to pay the sub-
scription. For want of something of that kind a number of
persons previously got into arrear, and the names of many had
had to be struck olf the list. He could not at all admit a
general impression as to the non-utility of the Society ; on the
contrary, nearly all the tenant-farmers whom he had met
during the last twelvemonth told him that they considered
it very useful, especially through the labours of Dr. Voelcker
with regard to manures and cake. Mr. Freebody seemed
to think they were a great deal too rich ; but if all
his ideas were carried out, instead of a fund of £20,000 they
would want one of £50,000. As to the Journal, the general
fcelmg in the part of the country where he lived seemed to be
that it had never before been so well worth reading as it had
been during the last two or three years.

Mr. Wells, MP., was glad to hear such approval as had
just been expressed ot the conduct of the Chemical Committee
and the labours of Dr. Voelcker, which he believed tended to
benefit, not merely farmers, but the community at large. With
regard to the Joiinnil, Mr. Freebody should recollect that wheu
it was conducted by Mr. Pusey, steam cultivation and other
things of that kind were not thought of. The Education
Committee were much disappointed that the number of com-
petitors for the prizes was not large, but they continued their
work in the hoiie that more would ultimately present them-
selves, and in the belief that though the number of candidates
was so small the examinations were useful. The fact that in
the last year all the students came from Cirencester College
was of course very creditable to that institution, but what the
Council desired was a general diffusion of agricultural edu-
cation through the country. The Council could not be
justly charged with having neglected to consider the welfare
of the agricultural labourer, important articles relating to his
condition having appeared recently in the Jonnial. They
had no right to meddle with the question of the rate of wages.
No doubt that question was assuming an aspect of great im-
portance ; but he thought they would do well to avoid ques-
tions which had reference to labourers' unions and things of
that kind; and he for one contended that no subjects except
such as he had just referred to in the Journal should be dealt
with by that Society.

Dr. Crisp would ask the speaker what was meant by " the
welfare of the agricultural labourer " ?

Mr. Wells said that might be difiicult to define, but the
charter expressly prohibited the entertaining of political ques-
tions ; and the question of agricultural labourers' wages, as it
was now agitated, came so near politics that the discussion of
it there might perhaps be regarded as an infringement of the
charter (Hear, hear). As he understood the matter, the term
"welfare" meant welfare with reference to the cottages of
labourers, their allotments, and other matters of that kind.

Lord Kesteven said he lived in the part of the country
referred to by Mr. Freebody (Lincolnshire), aud knew thousands
of acres which had been reclaimed ; but objects of that kind,
important as they might be, were not included in the charter.
The reclamation of the fen lands had caused a great rise in
the rate of wages in that part of the country. AVages, like
everytliing else, depended on demand and supply, and he pre-
sumed that the chief reason why such low wages were paid in
the south was that the south was over-peopled with
labourers. They must all feel deeply interested in the
dwellings of labourers, but there was no part of her Majesty's
dominions where labourers were so badly housed as they were
on the borders of towns. He could hardly call to mind a
single large estate where the labourers' cottages were not

65i

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

boooming in accordance witli the demands of tlie times ; and
agritmltui-iil labourers generally would, as regarded their dwel-
lings, compare favourably witli the average run of mechanics
in the metropolis.

Mr. Jj;:nkins, the Secretary, confirmed the statement of
Colonel Kingscote on the question of tlie number of mem-
bers, observing that a comparison with that time last year
showed an increase of two hundred. The library of refer-
ence, to which Mr. f'reebody alluded, was, he observed, open
on all ordinary days throughput the year, with the exception
of the dajs of ihe two half-yearly meetings. As regarded
the Jounidl, he was precluded from speaking of it in any
other than a commercial point of view. Comparing the
numbei of copies sold outside the Society witli the number
sold two or three years ago, the result was satisfactory.
There was not a single volume of the Journal for some time
past that did not contain at least one article bearing upon
the welfare of the agricultural labourer.

Mr. W. T. UowsE wished to add his testimony to the value
of the chemical department, whicli had enabled farmers to
use artificial manures to mucli greater advantage tlian
would otherwise have been possible, lie thought it very de-
sirable that a Committee should be appointed to iuquire iuto the
condition of the agricultural labourer, for the sake both of the
farmers and of tlie labourers. A great many misstatements
liad been made whicli iullicted great injustice on farmers. For
example, in The Times of tliat morning, it was stated that the
labourers in Kent were paid from Us. lOd. to 10s. per week.
He occupied something like 1,000 acres, and last winter he
never paid less than 15s. a-week. lie knew farmers occu-
pying among them several thousand acres, and tlie same
remark applied to them.

The Earl of Lichfield said, as a member of the Council,
he should be sorry if any one were to suppose that any sug-
gestion which tended to improve tlic condition of tlie labourer
would not be carefully considered by them, 13ut,as Dr. Crisp
had suggested, the appointment of a Committee of that Society
to investigate the matter, he must remind him tliat it had
been fully inquired into already by a lloyal Commission.
If any one wished for information with regard to the
condition of the agricultural labourers tliroughont the country,
he could not do better than read the Heport of tlie Commission
on the Employment of Women and Children iu Agriculture.
[Dr. Crisp -. " I have read it"]. AVell, that lleport contained
far more information than could be obtained through the
medium of any Committee of that Society. lie had
listened in vain for some practical suggestion from Dr.
Crisp ; while as to his statement that the Council had damaged
veterinary science by connecting the Society with the
Veterinary College, there was, in fact, nothing to support it.
The truth was that they were labouring under the same dis-

advantage as all other Societies which had a large reserve
fund. The fact that they had a fund of £30,000 made
some persons think that they ought to do everything. If a
Society like that was to be permanently useful it must always
have a good accumulated fund.

Mr. IviMBER, as a practical farmer, wished to observe that if
the Juurnal were full of repetitions of the ordinary routine of
farming, no agriculturist would be able to get special scientific
information when he required it.

Mr. Wells, M.P, remarked that if the Natioual Rifle Asso-
ciation had not had a reserve fund it would now be bankrupt
in consequence of recent losses.

The report was then adopted.

On the motion of Mr. Hekisert Little, seconded by Mr.
Ki.MBEii, thanks were voted to the auditors.

Mr. Freebouy moved a vote of thanks to the Chairman,
which was seconded by Mr. IIichen, and carried by accla-
mation.

The CnATKMAX, after returning thanks, proceeded to advert
to some of the points raised in discussion. They all knew that
the wages of agricultural labourers varied very much. In the
district with which he was connected, the amount paid de-
pended very much on what was paid to colliers and per-
sons employed in the Lancasliire factories ; and everwhere the
rate of wages must depend, iu a gieat degree, on demand and
supply. Then in Scotland and some other parts of this
kingdom besides the money payment there was a certain
allowance of meal, potatoes, and all such things must be taken
into account in estimating what the labourer received. As to
the question of economy in connection with the Society' shows,
a committee which was presided over by Lord Vernon had in-
quired into the matter and made a report, and he hoped that
good would result. With respect to the fees and expenses of
veterinary inspection, he must remind the meeting that the
report just adopted contained these words: "The fees and
expenses will be a charge against the applicant ; but this
charge may be reduced or remitted altogether at the discretion
of the Council, oa such course being recommended to them
by the Veterinary Committee." He believed what was intended
was, that iu a ease of common disease the applicant would
have to pay the expenses, but that in a case of rinderpest or
splenic apoplexy, or anything of that kind, which was of great
interest to the whole country, the Council would send down
their own veterinary oificer to examine iuto the matter at the
Society's cost. As there had bceu a great deal of discussion in
reference to the condition of the agricultural labourer, he
would just remark that it seemed to him quite right that that
question should be considered, and lie had no doubt that it
would before long be taken up by the Council.

The meeting then separated.

IXWORTH FARMERS' CLUB.

The Ixworth Farmers' Club has now been in existence
about two years, and so warmly was it taken up at the outset
by the agriculturists of the neighbourhood, and so thoroughly
and judiciously has it since been supported, that it has suc-
ceeded in taking a position amongst the kindred institutions
of the county, which is highly creditable to all connected with
it. There have been regular practical and useful discussions,
all the sulijects selected being of more or less interest to agri-
culturists. In fact, the proceedings of the Club altogether
have been of a character calculated to bring aliout the great
ends which its promoters, and the promoters of other Clubs
had in view, viz., that the science of agriculture should take
its proper position amongst the other honourable and useful
pursuits of life, and to bring about an interchange of ideas and
practices with a view to mutual benefit. That clubs of this
kind are admirably adapted to carry out these objects there can
be no question, and therefore they are deserving of every sup-
port. The Ixworth Club is doing its part nobly. Being about
to suspend operations for the summer months, it was deter-
mined that there should be an exhibition of horse stock and
sheep-shearing competitions. The proceedings this lime last
year, when the Club had been in existence about twelve
months, were confined to the sheep-shearing, and a tea in the

evening. This year, however, it was resolved to introduce
what was rightly thought to be an attractive feature, viz., an
exiiibitiou of cart colts, cobs, and ponies, and the sequel proved
the wisdom of the step, for the entries were more numerous
than could have been expected even by the most sanguine,
whilst the quality, taken as a wliole, left nothing to be desired.
At the dinner, Jlr. E. Greene, M.P., the Chairman, said he w.as
exceedingly glad to have the opportunity of congratulating its
members on the success which had attended that day's proceed-
ings, for he contended that it was a great success, though the
elements had been against them. There was in the present day
too great a tendency towards centralization, for having every-
thing done at one place, and this he considered would be one of
the greatest evils that could befall our country. One great reason
why this country was so prosperous was because we took upon
ourselves local Government in various ways, though there might
be some difference of opinion as to the way in which that
authority should be exercised. There were gentlemen present
who iiad been at considerable trouble to form this Club, and
tliere could be no doubt but that it would have a most whole-
some influence in an important direction. Such meetings as
these must be productive of much good, aiding agricnlturists,
as they did, to keep pace with tlie age in which we lived. The

TUB FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

wliole world was allowed to send siijijilies inio our country, and
it was, perliaps, a necessity, seeing tlie population of the country
was constantly ou the iuciease, and at tlie same time it behoved
agriculturists to seejiow far they could improve the cultivation
of the soil in order to meet tlie ever-increasing demand. Con-
sidering the increase of wealtli and of population it was
of the utmost importance that they should rear all the
sheep and other stock tliey could. It was said in the
House of Commons the other day that the foreign supply of
this country formed only five per cent, of the whole of Eng-
land. They needed to be under no apprehensions that any
evil would result from their efforts to increase the stock of
sheep, for he believed that tiiey could not now overtake the
demand. Our stock of sheep had become wonderfully short
by the dry seasons of 1808 and 1870. There was another
respect iu which they had no competitor, and tiiat was in re-
gard to horses. He had heard that Mr. Green had got a long
price for a yearling that day ; and he (the President) considered
from circumstances with which they were as well acquainted
as he was, that they would find it to answer their purpose to

turn their attention to the breeding of horses. Anything, the
commonest animal, would make £-iU, aud if they bred with
judgment, they would have no dilhculty iu making £70 or .-tSO
of tiieir horses. Tiiey must, however, take care to breed for
action, becauac nothing else would make a long price. Iu the
present day they would do well to supplement the corn aud
other productions of their farm by rearing stock of all kinds.
There were other matters to which they might continue to
direct their attention with advantage to themselves. No
doubt at their autumn meeting they should again consider the
advantages which were to be derived from the introduction of
various modern implements. He was glad to find that the
double-furrow plough was coming iuto very general use. Tliey
might depend upon it that they must study economy iu various
ways. It was just possible that they miglit have to pay a
higher rale of wage, but they must take care to get more labour
for their money, aud this after all would be the way to benefit
all classes. He congratulated them on the fact that tlie House
of Commons had recognised the principle that there should be
some re-arrangement of Local Taxation. — Ipswich JunrnaL

REVIEW OE THE CORN TRADE

DURING THE PAST MONTH.

After a moderate fall of rain at the close of April,
whicli was much needed to soften the crust of the soil
aud assist the germiuatiou of seeds, the mouth of Jlay
opened with as liue a promise as brilliant days of summer
could give. Vegetation was forced into vigorous action,
and an early harvest appeared a foregone conclusion.
But the charm was soon broken by a spell of rough,
frosty, and very rainy weather, which has completely
dissipated the illusion, and quite made a change in tlie
prices of nearly all sorts of grain. With such uncertain
weather there is no calculating upon the future. But
the clay lauds and those badly drained seem little likely
to give a plentiful yield under such circumstances, though
straw and grass seem pretty certain to be abundant, pro-
vided there be a good time of gathering. Neithei is
England alone in her surprise at the untoward aspect of the
" merry mouth," for rain has been in the ascendant nearly
all over Europe as well as cold. Much rye in forward coun-
tries has already been badly laid, while fears, to some extent,
have prevailed in Southern Russia, from e.vcessire heat as to
the late of the corn crops, and at Taganrog quite a panic
had set in, with prices demanded too exorbitant for busi-
ness. Before the rough weather France gave the key
note iu a rise of 2s. Gd. per sack suddenly on flour at
Paris, and though she ajjpears now indisposed to prose-
cute the movemeut, she may soon find cargoes destined
for her henefit change their course for countries which
promise better pay. Dantzic has been doing a great bu-
siness at 3s. to 4s. advance, most parts of Germany fol-
low'ing, and America, always most sensitive to telegraphic
despatches, has raised flour to a parity with London prices,
just at the time her canals are opening, aud many were
fearing her exports would lower recent rates. The anti-
ci])ation, therefore, of our last of a 5s. rise before harvest,
has been already justified by events, for from the lowest
point this advance has already been realised, and all
depends upon the clouds, or rather on their Governor,
whether as much more may not yet have to be paid.
On the other hand, should fine weather set in, which now
seems likely, with fair arrivals, the realisation of profits
would be likely to cause a temporary change in favour of
buyers. But it is clear the late policy of millers to keep
out of stock Avlien prices were low was entirely wrong.
The following rates have recently been paid at the several
places named : White wheat at Paris 66s., red American
§9s. 6d. ; best flour 49s, 4d, per sack. Native white

wheat at Bordeaux 59s. Cd., Spanish 60s. 6d. ; Berdian-
ski wheat at Marseilles 593. Gd. per qr., Galatz 53s. 6d. ;
Chili at Havre, 62s.; red wheat at Brussels, 63s. Gd., at
Antwerp 62s. 6d., at Courtrai.59s. 6d. ; white wheat at
Rotterdam, 46s. to 63s., Polish at Amsterdam 60s.,
Richelle at Zurich 66s. Gd. ; red at Cologne, 59s., at
Stettin 61s., at Hanibro' the same; high mixed at
Danzig, cost, freight, and insurance, GCs. ; Ghirka at
Odessa, 4os. 9d. ; white mixed at Alexandria, 43s., Bar-
letta at Naples 54s. Gd. ; white at San Francisco, 57s.
cost, freight, and insurance ; red spring at New York,
56s. per 4801bs.

The first Monday commenced on a small supply of
English wheat, with a good arrival of foreign. The show
of samples during the morning on the Essex and Kentish
stands was moderate, the condition, on the whole, being
fair. Though the weather was improved, prices were
firm, and choice lots here and there obtained a slight
advance. The foreign trade was not extensive, but
holders of useful red qualities and the best white samples
occasionally obtained some improvement on the prices of
tlie previous Monday. With few cargoes afloat on sale,
values were unaltered. As the weather at the opening of
the month kept improving, and was quite summerlike, it
was remarkable that rates were everywhere maintained,
while a few places, as Bristol, Newbuiy, and Spilsby,
were Is. higher. There was firmness at Liverpool on
Tuesday, and this lasted through the week. The Scotch
markets were more decidedly dearer, both Edinburgh and
Glasgow being up Is. per qr., but sales were not active.
At Dublin and Belfast prices were supported, but trade
was not brisk.

The second Monday opened with moderate English
supplies, with foreign arrivals rather less than on the
previous week. The fresh samples from the near coun-
ties not being abundant, and the condition continuing to
improve, factors were enabled to obtain an occasional ad-
vance from millers, but it was not very freely or generally
paid. With foreign qualities it was otherwise, fully Is.
rise being readily made, and the scarcity of liue white
enabled factors, iu several instances, to obtain 2s. above
the rates of the previous week. With few floating car-
goes of fine quality ou oft'er, an advance of fully Is. per
qr. was realised. A rapid alteration having taken place
in the opening of the week, with frequent hailstorms and
heavy showers, it was no difficult matter for the country

656

THE FAEMBR'S MAGAZINE.

markets to exceed tke Loadou rise. All tlie early ones
were as much as Is. dearer, and as the week went on,
and the weather increased in roughness, an advance of Is.
to 2s. was more generally realised, as at Birmingham,
Hull, Leeds, Rochester, Wakefield, and several more
places, Liverpool on Tuesday was 2d. to 3d. per cental
higher, and agian on Friday 2d. dearer for red sorts, and
3d. to 4d. on white. At Edinburgh there was a rise of
2s. per qr., and at Glasgow Is. 6d. Native wheat at Dub-
lin was firm, and foreign fid. per barrel dearer. At Bel-
fast the impi'ovement was only 5s. per ton.

On the third Monday the English returns were very
small, with no increase in the weekly arrivals from abroad.
The show of fresh samples on the Essex and Kentish
stands was very scanty, and, with very rough weather
ruling, an advance of fully 23. was paid on all qualities,
anything choice being 3s. per qr. dearer. A large busi-
ness also was transacted in foreign, at an improvement of
fully 2s. to 3s. on the previous currency, the demand
being chiefly for fresh Saxonska and red American quali-
ties, Avhile white quite brought extreme prices. There
was a rise also of fully 23. per qr. on all fairly conditioned
cargoes afloat. The weather then became more moderate,
and all were expecting it to be fine ; but on Friday and
Saturday the roughness returned with abundance of rain,
which served to confirm the London advance all through
the country, with very few exceptions, making the general
improvement quite 2s. per qr., and in several localities
more, as at Frome, HuU, Ipswich, Rochester, &c., whei-e
it was fully 3s. per qr. ; but Liverpool, after a rise of 3d.
per cental on Tuesday, lost 2d. of the advance at the
week's close. Edinburgh noted a rise of Is. to 2s. per
qr., and at Glasgow the improvement was 2s. per qr. At
Dublin and Belfast wheat was firm, but business limited.

On Friday, the 17th (which, in consequence of Whit-
Monday, served as the fourth Monday), though the
weather was rough, and supplies, both English and foreign,
only limited, there was so thin an attendance at market
that no positive advance could be made : indeed, it seemed
as though millers purposely stayed away to prevent a
further rise in prices, which must have taken place had
there been any life in the trade.

The fifth Monday being in time for the press we note
the trade was dull, but without change.

The arrivals for four weeks in London were 19,144 qrs.
English, 62,907 qrs. foreign, against 20,279 qrs. English,
69,912 qrs. foreign in 1871. The receipts for the king-
dom in four weeks ending May 11th, were 1,749,810
cwts. wheat, 228,240 cvvts. flour. The London exports
have been 4,930 qrs. The London averages commenced
at 57s. 7d. and closed at 6O3. 6d. per qr. The general
averages opened at 54s. 5d., and ended at 56s. per qr.

The flour trade during the month has been without
excitement, bat an advance on country sorts of fully 2s.
has been made, and the best foreign has advanced Is. per
barrel and Is. fid. per sack ; but as the quotation for
extra State barrels is only 29s. to 30s. in Loudon, the
rise at New York has brought them to 30s. there, and
therefore no profit can result on shipments unless a ma-
terial advance takes place in Eugland, which is not likely
while good country samples do not exceed 42s. per sack.
Town millers, notwithstanding the rise in wheat, have not
yet altered their top price, which has stood for a long
time at 50s. per sack, or at about the same price as is
paid for the finest in Paris. The imports into London
for four weeks were, in country sorts 90,974 sacks, in
foreign 7,792 sacks 4,817 barrels ; against 78,fi94 sacks
English, 7,014 sacks 67,896 barrels foreign for the same
time last year.

The supply of maize- having been less than expected
this grain has advanced Is. to Is. fid, per qr, during the

four weeks. The Louden imports were 15,083 qrs.
against 17,4fi5 qrs. in 1871.

Malting barley, in sympathy with other grain, has im-
proved in value about Is., and grinding 6d. to 9d., though
not much business has been passing in either. Most of
the low grinding is out of order and only worth 21s. to
223. per qr., but some is worth 25s. to 26s. The London
imports for four weeks were 2,468 qrs. British, 28,734 qrs.
foreign; against 5,306 qrs. British, 18,107 qi's. foreign in
1871.

Though not an active time of the year for malt the bad
weather has served rather to harden valaes.

The oat trade has again fluctuated with foreign supplies,
first losing about 6d. to Is., and then gaining about as
much, leaving rates much as they were. Of native sorts
supplies have continued very short, and rates in future
must be governed by imports, which do not seem likely
to be so heavy as at one time expected ; good feed are
worth 20s. to 21s. heavier in proportion ; and Scotch
being scarce, are quite above market quotations. The
imports for four weeks into London have been 1,312 qrs.
home grown, 191,512 qrs. foreign; against 1,438 qrs.
native, 660 qrs. Irish, 121,221 qrs. foreign in 1871.

The bean trade, with moderate English and fair foreign
supplies, has improved fully Is. per qrs., but few lately
have found their way to London from the countxy, and
stocks appear getting short ; but on the other hand the
summer time has but a very limited consumption, and
foreign supplies are likely to be quite equal to the neces-
sities of the trade. Mazagan and ticks, which lately were
only worth 32s., are now worth 34s., but this is partly from
their improved condition. Egyptian are still plentiful at
32s. to 33s. The imports into London for four weeks were
2,179 qrs. English, 6,485 qrs. foreign ; against 1,575 qrs.
English, 5,227 qrs. foreign in 1871.

Peas, though they have ruled firm, have not very
decidedly advanced, the season for boilers being over,
and the demand for hog feed being limited by the low
price of grinding barley, and also of maize. The imports
for four weeks were 404 qrs. English, 2,134 qrs. foreign;
against 522 qrs. English, 533 qrs. foreign in 1871.

Linseed has fully supported its high price, though not
iu active demand, holders from the limitation of stocks
insisting on rates which hardly pay consumers to give,
aud though the season has been highly favourable to grass
and green meat, cakes have also been fully as dear. The
four weeks imports into London were 14,986 qrs.

The seed season has closed with a poor result to dealers,
for notwithstanding the smallness of the crop of clover-
seed, there has been such a plenty of green feed for cattle
that the deficiency of the yielcl has been only felt to a
limited extent. But stocks left on hand being small,
there has been no reduction in prices, but rather the
reverse in the little demand experienced.

CURRENT PRICES OF BRITISH GRAIN AND FLOUR
IN MARK LANE.

Shillings per Quarter.

WHEAT, new, Essex and Kent, white 58 to 64

,, ,, red...., 62 68

Norfolk, Linclnsh., and Yorksh., red 62 68

BARLEY 29 to 32 Chevalier, new 36 42

Grinding 28 29 Distilling 29 33

MALT, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk ei 68

Kingston, Ware, and town-made 63 68

Brown 61 66

RYE 36 38

,25 32
,00 00
,21 24
,26 30
,32 34
37 45

OATS, English, feed 20 to 25 Potato..,

Scotch,feed 00 00 Potato,.,

Irish, feed, whitel7 21 Pine

Ditto, black 17 20 Potato..,

BEANS, Mazagan ...32 34 Ticks...,

Harrow 34 36 Pigeon,

PEAS, white, boilers. 36 40Maple 36to 38Grey,new 32 34

FLOUR, per sack of 2801bs., best town households,., 46 60

Bestcountry households 40 43

Norfolk and Suffolk „ „ ,„ 38 40

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.

557

COMPARATIVE AVERAGES.

WHEAT.
Years. Qrs. s,
1868... 33,2551
1869... 62,9171
1870... 69,377i
1871... 62,883|
1872... 63,584J

s. d,
73 10
45 2
45 3
68 10
66 4

BARLEY.

Qrs.

1,986| ...

936| ..

2,355| ..

2,4671

d,
43 1
37 7
32 6

37 7

OATS.

4,450i ... 35 8

Qrs.
2,838
2,272i
3,30U
2,043i
2,327^

s. d.
,29 9

27 1
,23 0
,27 11
,24 0

AVERAGE S

Foe the Six Weeks

ENDING

April 13, 1872

April 20, 1872

April 27, 1872

May 4, 1872

May 11, 1872

May 18, 1872

Aggregate of the above...
The same week in 1871

Wheat.

Barley.

s. d.

s. d.

53 11

36 6

64 6

36 5

64 6

36 4

55 1

37 1

56 0

36 7

66 4

35 8

65 0

36 6

58 10

37 7

Oats.

s. d.

21 8

22 8

22 8

23 5
22 10

24 0
22 10
27 11

HOP MARKET.

Mid and East Kent £10 10 £12 12

Weald of Kent 8 10

Susses 7 15

Farnham and country ... 11 11

Yeaelings.

Mid and East Kent £3 0

Weald of Kent 3 0

Sussex 3 5

Farnham and country ... —

Olds 1 5

9

8
13

£4
4
3
6
1

£17 0

9 10 10

8 i) 9

0 16 0

4 £6 10

0 5 15

15 5 12

0 7 0

10 2 0

POTATO MARKETS.
SOUTHWARK WATERSIDE.

Yorkshire Flukes 120s. to 160s.

Regents 120s. to 130s.

Dunbar and East Lothian Regents ... 120s. to 160s.
Perth, Forfar, and Fife „ ... 110s. to 130s.

„ „ ^ Rocks 110s. to 120s.

French and Belgian Kidneys 90s. to 100s.

French Whites 50s. to 80s.

BOROUGH AND SPITALFIELDS.

English Flukes 180s. to 200s. per ton.

„ Regents 150s. to 170s. „

„ Rocks 120s. toMOs. „

French Whites 90s. to lOOs. „

Victorias 180s. to 200s. „

2 0
2 0
1 11
1 101
1 8

ENGLISH WOOL MARKET.

Cfeeent Peices oTf Bnglish Wool. s. d. s. d.

Fleeces— Southdown hoggs per lb. 1 10 to 1 11

Half-bred ditto „ 1

Kent fleeces „ 1

Southdown ewes and wethers 1

Leicester ditto „ 1

SoETS— Clothing, picklock „ 1

Prime „ 1

Choice „ 1

Super ,, 1

Combing, wether mat ,, 1

Picklock „ 1

Common , ,, 1

Hog matching ,, 2

Picklock matching ,, 1

Super ditto ,, 1

104
11
10
10

7
4
3

2

m

Oi

5
34

24
0

H

H

n

1 10

1 74

AGRICULTURAL MEETINGS IN 1872.

JUNE 3, 4. 5, 6, and 7.— Bath and West of England Agricul-
tural Society and Southern Counties Association.— Meet-
ing at Dorchester. Entries closed. President, The Duke
of Marlborough. Secretary, Mr. J. Goodwin, Terrace,
walk, Bath.

JUNE 5. —Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution. — Dinner
at WUlis' Rooms, King Street, St. James'. Chairman,
Lord Vernon. Secretai-y, Mr. C. B. Shaw, 55, Charing
Cross.

JUNE 11 and 12.— Essex Agricultural Society.— Meeting at
Halstead. Entries closed. President, John Robert
Vaizey, Esq. Secretary, Mr. R. Emson, Halstead.

JUNE 12. — Royal Jersey Agricultural Society. — Meeting at
St. HeUer's. Entries close June 1. President, C. P. Le
Cornu, Esq. Secretary, Mr. H. P. D'Auvergne, Bath
Street, Jersey.

JUNE 12 and 13. — Royal Cornwall Agricultural Society. —
Meeting at Bodmin. Entries closed. President, Captain
Basset, Secretary, Mr, H, Tresawna, Laraellyn, Probua,

JUNE 19 and 20.— Norfolk Agricultural Society.— Meeting at
King's Lynn. Entries closed. President, H.R.H. The
Prince of Wales. Secretary, Mr. J. Cross, Norwich.

JUNE 19.— Thorne Agricultm-a'l Society.— Meeting at Thorne.
Entries close June 14. President, H. W. Godfrey, Esq.
Secretaiy, Mr. Richard Micklethwaite, Thorne.

JUNE 26 and 27.— Cambridgeshu-e and Isle of Ely Agricul-
tural Society. — Meeting at Cambridge. Entries close for
Stock, May 27 ; for Poultry, June 3. President, Major
Pemberton. Secretary, Mr. S. Holben, Market Hill,
Cambridge.

JUNE 26, 27, and 28.— Hants and Berks Agricultural Society.
—Meeting at Windsor. Entries close for Stock, May 25 ;
for Implements, June 8. President, Lord Bridport.
Secretary, Mr. H. Downs, Basingstoke.

JUNE 27 and 28.— Doncaster Agricultural Society. Entries
close June 6. Secretary, Mr. W. B. Houlden, 14, Com
Market, Doncaster.

JULY 2.— Ripon and Claro Agricultural Society.— Meeting
at Ripon. Entries close June 13. President, The Mar-
quis of Ripon. Secretary, Mr. J. Wood, Ripon.

JULY 4.— Peterborough Agricultm-al Society.— Meeting at
Peterborough. Entries close June 22. President, The
Marquis of Huntly. Secretary, Mr. J. Fox, Peter-
borouffh.

JULY 4 and 5.— Suffolk Agricultural Association. — Meeting
at Buiy St. Edmuncis. Entries close June 10. President,
Lieut.-Col. F. M. Wilson. Secretary, Mr. R. Bond, Butter
Market, Ipswich.

JULY 9. — Banffshire Agricultural Association. — Meeting at
Cornhill. Entries close June 29. Secretary, Mr. G. Gum-
ming, Banff.

JULY 15, 16, 17, IS, and 19.— The Royal Agricultural Society
of England —Meeting at Cardiff. President, Sir Watkin
W. WjTui, Bart., M.P. Secretary, Mr. H. M. Jenkins,
Hanover-square, London.

JULY 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. — Glamorganshire Agricul-
tural Society (in connection with the Royal Agricul-
t\u-al Society of England) .—Meeting at Cardiff. Entries
closed for Implements; for Stock, Jime 1. Presi-
dent, The Marcjuis of Bute. Secretai-y, Mr. W. V.
Huntley, Welsh St. Donatts, Cowbridge.

JULY 24.— Thirsk AgTicultural Society.— Meeting at Thirisk.
Entries close July 10. Pi-esident, Major Stapylton. Se-
cretary, Mr. G. Freeman, Market Place.

JULY 24, 25, and 26.— Lincolnshire Agricultural Society.—
Meetmg at Spalding. Entries close June 22. President,
Lord Kesteven. Secretary, Mr. S. Upton, St. Benedict'a-
square, Luicoln.

JULY 25.— Bedfordshu-e Agricultural Society.— Meetiug at
Luton. Entries close July 6. President, Earl Cowper,
K.G. Secretary, Mr. T. Lester, St. Peter's Green, Bedford.

JULY 26.— Driffield and East Riding Agricultural Society.—
Meeting at Great Driffield. Entries close July 11. Pre-
sident,"Lord Londesborough. Secretary, Mr. J. Turner,
Great Driffield.

JULY 26.— South Durham and North Yorkshire Horse and
Dog Show.— Meeting at Darlington. Secretary, Mr. W.
Sewell, Victoria Road, Darlington.

JULY 27.— Wakefield Agricultural Society. Meeting at
Wakefield. Entries close July 17. President, J. Shaw,
Esq, Secretary, Mi-. T. Dodds, Mount Pleasant, Wake-
field.

JULY 31, and AUGUST 1 and 2.— Highland and Agricul-
tural Society of Scotland. — Meeting at Kelso. Entries
close June i4. President, The Marquis of Tweeddale.
Secretary, Mr. F. N. Menzies, George IV. Bridge, Edin-
burgh.

JULY 31, and AUGUST 1 and 2.— Gloucestershire Agricul-
tural Society.— Meeting at Gloucester. Secretary, Mr, E.
W. Trinder, Cirencester.

AUGUST 1.— Preston Agricultm-al Society. — Meeting at
Preston. Entries close July 13. Secretary, Mr. J, Croft,
1, Luue Street, Preston.

AUGUST 1.— Cleveland Agricultural Society.— Meeting at
Redcar. Entries close July 17. President, A. H. Turner
Newcomen, Esq. Secretary, Mr. H. J. Curry, Stockton-
on-Tees.

AUGUST 6.— Tyneside Agricultural Society.— Meeting at
Hexham. President, N. B. Beaumont, Esq., M. P. Secre-
tary, Mr. I. J. Harle, Haydon Bridge, Northmnberland,

AUGUST 7, 8, and 9.— The Royal Agricultural Society of
Ireland and North East Agricultural Association of
Ireland. — Meeting at Belfast. Entries close July 1.
President. Lord Lurgan. Secretaries, Mr. J, Thornhill,
Upper Sackville Street, Dublin, and Mr. Bingham,
Belfast.

AUGUST 7, 8, and 9.— Yorkshh-e Agricultural Society.—
Meeting at Malton. Entries close July 6. President,
Earl Feversham. Secretary, Mr. T. Parrington, Croft,
Darlington.

AUGUST 15 and 16.— Northumberland Agi-icultural Society.
—Meeting at Newcastle-upon-Tj-ne. Secretary, Mr,
J, Wilson, Woodhoni Manor, Morpeth,

THE FARMER'S ^rACJAZTNE.

AUGUST 20, 21, 22, and 23.— Birminoliam Acri-icultnral
Exliibition Society.— Horse Show in Bine-ley Hall En-
triea close August 1. President, Lord 'WillouKhby de
Broke. Secretary, Mr. J. B. Lythall, 39, New Street
Birmingham. '

AUGUST 21 and 22.— Royal North Lancashire Agricultural
bociety.— Meeting at Lancaster. Entries close Julv 27
President, J. P. Chamberlain Starkie, Es(|.. M.P Secre-
tary, Mr. G. Hunt, Preston.
AUGUST 23.— Ivoighley Agi-icultural Society.-Meetinc. at
A TT<^?o"n^^^;J'- „ Secretary, Mr. R. Fawcett, Keighley. °
AUGUST 27 2S, and 29.-Worcestershire Agricultural So-
ciety.—Meeting at Stourbridge. Entries close Auo-ust 1
Resident, Lord Lyttelton. Secretary, Mr. A. Buck,

'^-^i^^H 28-^Whitby Agricultural Society.-Meeting at
Whitby. Entries close August li. President, The Hon.

r^rI!T^ 'i?J^<^- Secretary, Mr. W. Stonehouse,
Grape- lane, Whitby. '

AUGUST 29.— Farnworth Agricultural Society.— Meetin<r at
Farnworth. Entries close August 19. Secretary, Mr J
Davenport, Ditton, Warrington.

AUGUST 31. -HahTax and Calder Vale Agricultural Society.
—Meeting at Halifax. Entries close August 17. Presi-
^f °^,r-'^'r°'^'-"'^°'- S"' Henry Edwards, Bart. Secretary,
•Mji-; vV. Irvine, Cheapside, Halifax.

SEPTEMBER 4.— Leominster Agricultui-al Society.— Meet-
t"^t? Leominster. Entries close August 16. President
J. H Arkwright, Esq. Secretary, Mr. B. Gregg, South-
street, Leominster.

SEPTEMBER 5.-Richmondshire Agricultural Society.—
Meetmg at Richmond. President, Christopher Cradock
Esq. Secretaiy, Mr. J. Wetherell, Queen's Road, Rich-
mona, xorkshire.

SEPTEMBER 10, 11, and 12.-Staffordshii-e Agricultui-al
Society.-Meetmg at Stafford. Entries close August 10
President, The Earl of Shrewsbm-y. Secretary, Mi- w'

^T,r.l;?'"^™®°°' Newcastle, Staffordshh-e. ' '

SEPTEMBER lO.-Carlow Agricultural Society.-Meetinc
at Tullow. Entries close September 5. Secretarf.
Car Jw°™*'' '"°'"' "^'•' •^^^^''^ Temple, TuUovv, Co:

SEPTEMBER 11 -Way land Agricultural Society.— Meeting
at Watton. Entries close August 29. President, Lord
mfitfor^ '■ ^^^''^^''^^'y- Ml'- R- Robinson, Watton,

*^^<Hw^^Kr"T-^°y-''^'^'''^ Central Bucks Agricultural
Society.-Meeting at Aylesbury. Entries close August
. , V'^siaent, Lord Carington. Secretary, Mi-. G Fell
Aylesbury. .vji.j-cii,

SEPTEMBER 11.— Huntingdonshire Agricultural Society
—Meeting at Ramsey. Entries close August 27. Presi-
dent, Edward Fellowes, Esq., M.P. Secretary. Mr J.

cT.T,?,^'^-^' ^^^'■^et-place, Huntingdon.

SEPTEMBER 11 12, and 13.-Slanchester and Liverpool
Agricultural Society.-Meeting at Bolton. Entries close

fr"^n''J- ,^''''-,'/r^^''"> T^"" ^^^^ of Bradford. Secretary.

or^T?^"^- T- Rigliy, Wmsford, Cheshu-e. • '

SEPTEMBER 12.-Vale of Conway Agricultural Society -
Meeting at Llanrwst. Entries close August 12 Presi-
dent, Lord Aveland. Secretary, Mr. H. Pierce, Brynhy-
frj-d. Llanrsvst. •' •'

SEPTEMBER 12 -Waterford Agricultural Society.-Meet-
ing at Waterford. Entries close Septembers. President
The Marquis of Waterford. Secretary, Mr. R. S. Blee'
Waterford. '

SEPTEMBER 13.-Herts Agricultural Society.-Meeting at
Matheld. Entries close September 3. Secretary. Mr G

„^Passingham, Bengeo Temple, Ware.

SEPTEMBER 16.-Norton Farmers' Club.-Meeting at Ches-
terfield. Entries close September 3. President, W

kef SlPskeffieir '"■^'' ^'^ ^^ ^^ ^°''"^^' ^°^-^°"^ ^-■
SEPTEMBER 17 and 18.-Northamptonshire Agricultural
bociety.— Meeting at Weedon. Entries close Auc^ust 10
President, Sii- R. Knightley, Bart., M.P. Secretary, Mr'
J- M- Lovell, Harpole, Weedon.
SEPTEMBER 17.-Carmarthenshire Agricultural Society —
Aleeting at Carmarthen. Entries close August 31 Pre-
siaent. Lord Dynevor. Secretary. Mr. D. Prosser, White
House, Carmarthen.
SEPTEMBER 17 and IS.-AVarwickshire Agricultural So-
ffi^rf '1:fr°r*' Warwick. Entries cfose for Stock,
EarlofWn/^^'^^o®'^®'''^' ^»g^st27. President, The
Earl of Warwick. Secretary, Mr. J. Moore, Warwick.

''''^tril'Tef\'-^''?'r''"''' Agricultural Society. En-
^i^|id^^he^^lS^.1^T\^b^^-feS^!% -•

C. Smith. l;j. Sf AfnvT^Q Hotr. T^ 'n _'''^"e''^'^i' ^" • •••

„„.-,".;;u: ■- ■-"""", -i^m'porley.

SEPTEMBER .-Cheshire Agricultural Society.-Meeting
at Chester Entries close September 1. President Thf
Marquis of Westminster. Secretary. Mr. J BeckeU
Oulton Pool Cottage, Tarporley • •'. -DeoKeii,

SEPTEMBER .-Lauderdale Agricultural Society.-Meet-
ing at Lauder. President, Tha Earl of Lauderdal^
Secretary. Mr. T. Broomfiold, Lauder. ^auuerdale.

^'^^t^^a^^c (cUiring 1st week).-Royal East Berks Ao-ricul-
R Gre^?M? V^^'''<J"^ ""' Maidenhead. President H.
hanfutS M^ailienhLr *"^^^'' '''■ '^^ ^^^^'-^^°' C-'^"
OCTOBER 7.--Ludlow Agricultural Society.— Meetin<^ at
Ludlow. Entries close September 30. ^ President J
OCTOBFR^l'- f 'I J'%^'^7' ^^'■- T- Weyman, Ludlow'. '
°°^°S, ' ^""^ ^^.-Herefordshire Agricultural Society.
-Meeting at Hei-eford. Entries close September 15
President, Major Peploe Peploe. Secretary, Mr. J. T. O
Fowler, Savings Bank, Hereford. '-J. x.^.

OCTOBER .— Framlingham Farmers' Club — Meetincr at
f'T^o?™^'^- /^^ries close October 1. Pres^ent
F. S. Corrauce Esq., M.P. Secretary, Mr. W. B Kent
om^^'l''il°''''^'^' Wickham Market. ' ■ >v . £>. is.ent,

ntlF^^o .-Ayrshire Agricultural Association.-Meeting
fai-v M^rAPAf ^'^^"^V^^' The Earl of Glasgow. Secre?
OCTOBPR ^i^"^?'",- "^r"'-'' Buildings, Ayr.

mS.,.r~?^H"-^^°''*^, Farmers' Club.-Meeting at
Biandtoid. Entries close September 30. President
c!^!:^a^ Secretary,Mr.C.J.Eyers,Bethra

^°^Sef^lcfreN^oSe\?r' ^'^°--^' ^^^"^ ^°^^--
^°S^^^ f'o'TI? 28.-Rutland Agricultural Society.-
£W nf^"^.' Oakham. Entries close November 4. Presi-
dent, the Earl of Lonsdale. Secretary, Mr. E. Wortley
Ridlmgton, Uppmgham. "urtiey,

™eet1^.'ft''pf •''-S'^'Pl''''^^^^'^ Agricultm-al Society.
Pvoc^T F o- 51i,iPPenham. Entries close November 21

L^r^h^nS^!'"^^' ^^^^^- «--^-^'. M- E. Little;

^^T^^^^^f^Qf -Stiu-minster Agricultural Society.-Meet-
ing at Sturminscer Newton. President, Lord Rivers
Secretary, Mr. H. C. Dashwood, Sturminster Newton
°^A^.^?^.^ 30, DECEMBER 2, 3, 4, and o.-Birmingham
Agricultural Exhibition Society.-Show in Bingley Hall
Entries close for Stock, November 1 ; f.,r Implements
November 8 President, Lord Willoughby T Broke'
Secretary, Mr. J. B. Lythall, New Street, Bi^mincham

DECEMBER 3, 4 and 5.-Yorkshire Society's Fat Slock
and Poultry Show at York. Entries close November 14.
President The Earl of Zetland. Secretary, Mr. J. Wat-
son, Lendal Bridge, York.

DECEMBER 9 10, 11, 12, and 13.-Smithfleld Club -
w r f Is mgton.-Entries close for Implements Octo-
ber 1 ,- for Stock, Novemljer 1 . President, Lord Tredegar,
Secretaries Mr. B. T. Brandreth Gibbs and Mr. D
Pullen, Half-moon Street, Piccadilly

°^^SW?,Lnp'..V\?"1 12.-Leeds Fat Stock Show, in
bmuhfleld Cattle Market, Leeds. Entries close Novem-
ber 6. President, The Mayor of Leeds. Secretary. Mr.
J. Swales, Hunslct Road, Leeds. .> . ■^' •

DECEMBER 12.--Rugby and Dunchurch Agricultural Society.
,"^,\ ^'^ ^^ Rugby. Entries close November 22. Presi-
Ruib Dalkeith, Secretary. Mr. E. Harris.

^^°sS^^^^-'^'^'l'^^/--^^^eastle.on-Tyne Fat Stock
Show.-Meetmg at Neweastle-on-Tyne. Entries close
November 14. President, The Mayor of Newcastle.
Secretary, Mr. M. T. Anderson, 12, Marlbro' Crescent

DECEMBER 17.-Carmarthenshire Agricultural Society.-
Meetmg at Carmarthen. Entries close December 7
Secretary, Mr. D. Prosser, White House, Carmarthen

DECEMBER 17 and 18.-Tredegar Agricultural Society.-
Meeting at Newport, Monmouthshu-e. Entries close
SrTaPalling ■''''^''''' ^°"^ Tredegar. Secretary.

END OF VOLUME LXXI.

Printed by Ko^^ersou and IHuford, 865, Straud, London, W.C.

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trl^r^Sl ?:;SS. -a ^S eS?^e more lastiug, as ma, be seeu h, the after Crops.
Nrtrate of s , j^o^iated Phosphate. Dissolved Bones.

Superphosphate of Lime. Bone Manure for Turmps.

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DIRECTORS. TAMES MORLBY EsQ.

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'^&&S'S-k?S&^^p-i'S£S'£^'tSt'^Si,^. 0. K.gU.h or F0»i.u Share, effected, and d™.«..
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'^cTffiSSr S-e Ba,J. are Mund .ot to disclo^ *Mj™gio» ot.w «1 .1= 0«eg. j^^^^j,_ ^^^ „^g,,.

A

IWPORTANT TO FLOCKWASTERS.

THOMAS BIGG, Agricultural and Veterinary
Chemist, by Appointment to his late Royal Highness
The Prince Consort, K.G., Leicester House, Great Dover
Street, Borough, London, begs to call the attention of
Farmers and Graziers to his valuable SHEEP and LAMB
DIPPING COMPOSITION, wliich recmires no Boiling, and
may be used with Warm or Cold Water, for effectually
destroymg the Tick, Lice, and all other insects injurious to
the Flock, preventing the alarmmg attacks of Fly and Shab
and cleansing and purifying the Skin, thereby greatly im-
proving the Wool, both in quantity and quality, and highly
Oontnbutmg to the general health of the animal.

Prepared only by Thomas Bigg, Chemist, &c., at his Manu-
factory as above, and sold as foUows, although any other
quantity may be had, if required:— '

4 lb. for 20 sheep, price, jar included £0

61b.

81b.
101b.
201b.
301b.
401b.
601b.
601b.
801b.
100 lb.

30
40
60
100
150
200
250
300
400
600

(Cask and measure
included)

0 3
0 4
0 5
0 10

0 15

1 0
1 3
1 7
1 17
2

wiWe'uKSvf'^'''''^'°^"^*^'^°^P°«^^^°"'^*

MOST IMPORTANT CERTIFICATE.
From Mr. Heeepath, the celebrated Analytical Chemist —

. Bristol Laboratory, Old Park, January 18th, 1861.

Sir,— I have submitted your Sheep Dipping Composition to
analysis, and find that the ingredients are well blended, and
^IT??^? ''^^^PV i"* is ^sed according to the directions
given I feel satisfied, that while it effectuaUy destroys vermin
fllr^^ 'i?* iS-"^° *^^ hair roots (or "yolk") in the skin, the
fleece, or the carcase. I think it deserves the numerous
testimomals published. I am, Sir, yours respectfuUy.

r^ ,, „ WuLiAM Hebapaih, Sen.. P.C S . &o &r
T «>L°t ^^Thomas Bigg Professor of Chei^siry:'

Leicester House, Great Dover-street, Borough, London.

?!^T^!^' r"^ *"' ^" seasons of the year, and to all descripTio^
of sheep, even ewes m lamb. Price FIVE SHILLINGS nw
gaUon— sufficient on an average for thirty Sheen faccordrn»
TAtl?'' °^ *^' ^''^''^ ' ^''° '° ^ne qSaVTbotU^
' IMPORTANT TESTIMONIAL.
.< T. Scoulton, near Hingham, Norfolk, AprH 18th. 1855
Dear Sir,— In answer to yours ot the 4th inst.. which
would have been repUed to before this had I been at home I
have much pleasure in bearing testimony to the efficacv'of
^aa'^u"'^^''^''^® 'Specific for the cure of Scab in Sheep.' tee
600 sheep were all di-essed in August last with 84 gallons of
the 'Noif -POISONOUS Specific,' that was so highly recom.
mended at the Lincoln Show, and by their own dresser, the
best attention bemg paid to the flock oy my shepherd after
ch-essmg accordmg to instructions left ; but notwithstanding
the Scab continued getting worse. Being determined to have
the Scab cured if possible, Iwi-oteto you for a supply of your
Specific, which I received the following day; a^dklthough
the weather was most severe in February during the dressing
your Specific proved itself an invaluable remedy, for m
three weeks the Sheep were quite cured ; and I am happv to
say the young lambs ai-e doing remarkably well at present
In conclusion, I beUeve it to be the safest and best remedv
now m use. «' I remain, dear Sii-,

«rr i>T mu T,. "For JOHN TINGET. Esq.,

To Mr. Thomas Bigg. ' •• r. renNEY.

1^" Flockmasters would be well to beware of such pre-
parations as " Non-poisonoua Compositions:" it is only
necessai-y to appeal to their good common sense and judg-
ment to be thoroughly convinced that no "Non-poisonoua"
article can poison or destroy insect vermin, particularly such
as the Tick, Lice, and Scab Parasites— creatures so tenacious
of life. Such advertised preparations must be wholly useless,
or they are not what they are represented to be.

DIPPING APPARATUS f 14. £5. £i, & £Z.

THE ROYAL FARMERS' INSURANCE COMPANY,

3, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. '

«a ^,.n?14^^•^'^^^•'Tf^'^?°f^'°^"'■^^ ^^ ^^"^ Compaiiy have tlie security of an extensive and wealtliv prODrietarv
as weU as an ample Capital always applicable to the payment of claims without delay. ^ propnetaiy

of th?^lg.^^^^^^^^^^ ~^^^^^ ~^"'"'''' ""^ ^^'^ participating clasa will be entitled to four-fifths

e.penil?dSvS;Tr?;^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^-^ Holder, wherehy .«oh

FIRE DEPARTMENT, -

1st Class— Not Hazardou Is. 6d ner Cent

2ud Class-Hazardous ,„ [[[ 2s 6d

3rd Class— Doubly Hazardous ... '.,', '.'.'. [[[ 4s! 6d' "

DistiSE^SJ^^^ -''^ MERCANTILE Property of every description in "pubHc or Private Warehouses -
SSSira'eSir' " °''' or Canal, Ships in PortV Harbour, &c. &c., are Insured in tins

SPECIAL RISKS.— At such rates as may be considered reasonable.
charg?.^Si??iyTO?L70Ns'Is"^^ *° "^^ ^ ^*^^"^ '^^-^"^ Machine without extra

SEVEN YEARS' INSURANCES may be effected on payment of Six Years' Premium only
when^uS^lIg^hgnr^^^^^^^ by Lightning, and Losses by Explosion of Ga,

S^^T^'"^"?!^^ .^'''' '''' ^'""^ "^^^^ BuUdings remain untenantable through fire may be provided against.
HAIL DEPARTMENT.-(Ckops and Glass.)

ModeraSerms!*'"*''* ^'''^'' ^''^ ^"'^ ^^ *^^ <Jesti-uction of Growing Crops or Glass, by HaU, are granted on

LOSSES.— Prompt and liberal settlement.

AGENTS WANTED.

Apply to JOHN REDDISH, Esq., Secretary and Actuary.

KM