BY SIR J. B. LAWES, BART., LL.D., F.R.S., ROTHAMSTED, ENG.
A relation of mine, who already possessed a very considerable estate, consisting of light land, about twenty years ago purchased a large property adjoining it at a very high price. These were days when farmers were flourishing, and they no more anticipated what was in store for them in the future, than the inhabitants of the earth in the days of Noah.
Times have changed since then, and bad seasons, low prices of wheat, and cattle-disease, have swept off the tenants from these two estates, so that my relation finds himself now in the position of being the unhappy owner and occupier of five or six farms, extending over several thousand acres—one farm alone occupying an area of two thousand four hundred acres. Fortunately for the owner, he possesses town property in addition to his landed estates, so that the question with him is not, as it is with many land owners, how to find the necessary capital to cultivate the land, but, having found the capital, how to expend it in farming, so as to produce a proper return.
It is not very surprising that, under these circumstances, my opinion should have been asked. What, indeed, would have been the use of a relation, who not only spent all his time in agricultural experiments, but also pretended to teach our neighbors how to farm on the other side of the Atlantic, if he could not bring his science to bear on the land of an adjoining county! Here is the land—my relation might naturally say—here is the money, and I have so much confidence in your capacity that I will give you carte-blanche to spend as much as you please—what am I to do?
An inspection of the property brought out the following facts—that all the land was very light, and that you might walk over the fresh plowed surface in the wettest weather without any clay sticking to your boots: still a portion of the soil was dark in color, and therefore probably contained a sufficient amount of fertility to make cultivation profitable, provided the management could be conducted with that care and economy which are absolute essentials in a business where the expenditure is always pressing closely upon the income.
Upon land of this description meat-making is the backbone of the system, which must be adopted, and a large breeding flock of sheep the first essential towards success.
Science can make very little improvement upon the four-course rotation—roots, barley, clover, and wheat, unless, perhaps, it may be by keeping the land in clover, or mixed grass and clover, for two or three years.
A good deal of the land I was inspecting was so light, that, in fact, it was hardly more than sand, and for some years it had been left to grow anything that came up, undisturbed by the plow.
To a practised eye, the character of the natural vegetation is a sure indication of the fertility of the soil. Where herds of buffaloes are to be seen—their sides shaking with fat—it is quite evident that the pastures upon which they feed cannot be very bad; and in the same way, where a rank growth of weeds is found springing up upon land that has been abandoned, it may be taken for certain that the elements of food exist in the soil. This ground was covered with vegetation, but of the most impoverished description, even the “Quack” or “Couch-grass” could not form a regular carpet, but grew in small, detached bunches; everything, in fact, bore evidence of poverty.
Possibly, the first idea which might occur to any one, on seeing land in this state, might be: Why not grow the crops by the aid of artificial manures?