Part 39 (1/2)

The second point of difference between the two countries lies in the soil The soil of England is illaceous, a soft and unctuous loam upon a substratum of clay This may be considered as the predominant characteristic in the parts which I visited The soil in soland is thinner; soravelly soil, with soh a great extent of country, this soil rests on a deep bed of chalk Ours is a granite soil There is granite in Great Britain; but this species of soil prevails in Scotland, a part of the country which ood as any in England Our alluvial soils on Connecticut River, and in some other parts of the country, are equal to any lands; but these have not, ordinarily, a wide extent of clay subsoil The soil of Massachusetts is harder, ether land

The surface of Massachusetts is es, more diversified with hill and dale, and land

The price of land in that county, another ireatly froh as in Massachusetts, at least

On the other hand, the price of agricultural labor is land The price of labor varies considerably in different parts of England; but it may be set down as twice as dear with us here

These are the general reard to the state of things abroad Now, have we any thing to learn froland applicable to us, or in regard to which the agriculture of England may be of use to Massachusetts and other countries?

The subject of agriculture, in England, has strongly attracted the attention and inquiries of men of science They have studied particularly the nature of the soil More than twenty years ago, Sir Humphrey Davy undertook to treat the subject of the application of chericulture in the analysis of soils and manures

The same attention has been continued to the subject; and the extraordinary discoveries and advances in chereatly to the advantage of agriculture The best results may be expected froreat enthusiasm and success We may hope for like beneficial results here from the application of science to the sah the circumstances of climate and situation, and nature of the soil, fored, yet there are other differences, resulting fro labor; and it is to these differences that our attention should be particularly directed Here, there is lish cultivation is reat deal, than ours This is partly the result of necessity

A vast population is to be supported on comparatively a sh, and hands, as well as mouths, are numerous Careful and skillful cultivation is the natural result of this state of things An English farmer looks not merely to the present year's crop He considers ill be the condition of the land when that crop is off; and what it will be fit for the next year He studies to use his land so as not to abuse it On the contrary, his airowing better and better If he should content hie crop this year, and then leave it neglected and exhausted, he would starve It is upon this fundamental idea of constant production without exhaustion, that the systeood cultivation, is founded England is not original in this Flanders, and perhaps Italy, have been her teachers This system is carried out in practice by a well-considered rotation of crops The foriven case, is determined very much by the value of the soil, and partly by the local demand for particular products But some rotation, some succession, some variation in the annual productions of the same land, is essential No tenant could obtain a lease, or, if he should, could pay his rent and ard this White crops (wheat, barley, rye, oats, &c) are not to follow one another Our maize, or Indian corn, h, from the quantity of stalk and leaf which it produces, and which are such excellent food for cattle, it is less exhausting than soreater returns to the land The cultivation of land Green crops are turnips, potatoes, beets, vetches, or tares (which are usually eaten while growing, by cattle and sheep, or cut for green food), and clover Buck or beech wheat, and winter oats,--thought to be a very useful product,--are regarded also as green crops, when eaten on the land; and so, indeed, may any crop be considered, which is used in this way But the turnip is the great green crop of England Its cultivation has wrought such changes, in fifty years, that it riculture

Before that tirain crops, they were left, as it was termed, fallow; that is, were not cultivated at all, but left to recruit theht

This occurred as often as every fourth year, so that one quarter of the arable land was always out of cultivation, and yielded nothing

Turnips are now substituted in the place of these naked fallows; and now land in turnips is considered as fallow What is the philosophy of this? The raising of crops, even of any, the most favorable crop, does not, in itself, enrich, but in soree exhausts, the land The exhaustion of the land, however, as experience and observation have fully demonstrated, takes place mainly when the seeds of a plant are allowed to perfect themselves The turnip is a biennial plant It does not perfect its seed before it is consumed

There is another circumstance in respect to the turnip plant which deserves consideration Plants, it is well understood, derive a large portion of their nutris The leaves of turnips expose a wide surface to the atmosphere, and derive, therefore, much of their subsistence and nutriment from these sources The broad leaves of the turnips likewise shade the ground, preserve its moisture, and prevent, in some measure, its exhaustion by the sun and air

The turnips have a further and ulti come from animals The more animals are sustained upon a fars bear, of course, a proportion to the number of bullocks, sheep, swine, and poultry which are reat inquiry, then, is, What kind of crops will least exhaust the land in their cultivation, and furnish, at the saest nuland, is cultivated in turnips

Fields of turnips of three, four, and even five hundred acres, are soh the common fields are much less; and it may be observed here, that, in the richest and best cultivated parts of England, enclosures of ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty acres seemed more common Since the introduction of the turnip culture, bullocks and sheep have trebled in nureat exhausters of the soil; and they furnish abundant food for animals Let us suppose that one bushel of oats or barley may be raised at the sao as far in support of stock

The great difference in the two crops is to be found in the farmer's barn-yard Here is the test of their coes which follow froriculture is well appreciated M'Queen states the extraordinary fact, that the value of the aniland, at current prices, surpasses in value the whole areatly exceeds it The turnip crop returns a vast amount of nutritive reen crops, and by a regular systereen fodder for his cattle and wheat for the lish soils is that of the county of Norfolk, a county, however, which I had not the pleasure of visiting Its soil, I understand, is light, a little inclined to sand, or light loam Such soils are not unfavorable to roots Here is the place of the reuished improvements of that eminent cultivator, Mr coke, now Earl of Leicester In these lands, as I was told, a common rotation is turnips, barley, clover, wheat These lands resemble much of the land in our county of Plymouth, and the sandy lands to be found in the vicinity of the Connecticut and Merriland deserves attention There is no incapacity in our soil, and there are no circumstances unfavorable to their production What would be the best kind of succulent vegetables to be cultivated, whether turnips or carrots, I ae, have been riculture; and until we enter upon soular rotation of crops, and our husbandry becouished success can be looked for As to our soil, as has been remarked, there is no inherent incapacity for the production of any of the common crops

We can raise wheat in Massachusetts The average crop in England is twenty-six bushels to the acre From my own farm, where the soil is comparatively thin and poor, I have obtained this summer seventy-six bushels of wheat upon three acres of land It is not, therefore, any want of capability in the soil; but the improvement and success of our husbandry must depend upon a succession of crops adapted to the circumstances of our soil, clie portion of the turnip crop is consurows The sheep are fed out of doors all winter; and I saw ate thousands and even millions of sheep, which were never housed This wasthe wetness of the climate; and these sheep are often exposed in fields where a dry spot cannot be found for theland by wattled fences, or hurdles temporarily erected in different parts of the field, and removed from place to place, as the portions of the crop thus fenced off are consu and carried to them In such cases, they are always fed upon lands which are intended the next year to be, as far as practicable, brought under cultivation I have seenthe turnips, splitting the them over the land, for the use of the sheep, which is considered better, often, than to leave the sheep to dig for themselves These laborers are so eround should becoether with the turnips, it is thought important that sheep should have a small quantity of other food Chopped hay, soiven This is called _trough_ food, as it is eaten in troughs, standing about in the field In so land, some land is so wet that, in the farmer's phrase, it will not _carry sheep_; that is, it is quite too wet for sheep to lie out upon it In such cases, the turnips must be _carried_, that is, removed from the field, and fed out elsewhere The last season was uncommonly wet, and for that reason, perhaps, I could not so well judge; but it appeared to lish husbandry, to furnish for sheep, oftener than is done, not only a tolerably dry ground to lie on, but soainst the cold rains of winter The turnips, doubtless, are , split, and fed out The Swedish turnip, I have little doubt, is best suited to cold cliround in the winter, as it will thaw again, and be still good, in spring In Scotland, in the Lothians, where cultivation is equal to that in any part of England, it is more the practice than farther south to house turnips, or draw thereatly pleased with Scotch far, and as the climate and soil of Scotland more reseland do, I hope the farmers of Massachusetts will acquaint themselves, as well as they can, with Scotch husbandry I had the pleasure of passing soed in these pursuits, and acknowledge myself much instructed by what I learned froreat extent of the use of turnips and other green crops in Scotland is evidence that such crops cannot be altogether unsuited to Massachusetts

Aed land, few areThisinto very extensive use Much of the soil of England, as I have already stated, rests on a clayey and retentive subsoil

Excessive wetness is prejudicial and destructive to the crops