AN ESSAY 
 
 IMPROVEMENT TO BE MADE IN THE CTETIVATION 
 
 SMALL FARMS 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION OF GREEN CROPS AND HOfSEFKEDING 
 
 Originally published in an Address in the Small Farmers 
 Estates of the 
 
 EARL OF GOSFORD AND COLONEL CLOSE. 
 
 By WILLIAM BLACKER, Esq. 
 
 tenants’ (Stiition, 
 
 [The ProfAs on the Side will he demoted to VhnrilnhU - i'.-,7.1,1-... _ 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 WILLIAM CURRY, JITS’., AND CO.: 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory Argument—Encrease of Stock by Housefeeding 
 —Encrease of Manure—Calculations in regard to each— 
 Great advantage to Cotters—Benefit attending the proper 
 Rotation of Crops—Necessity for appointment of an Agri- 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Directions for the Preservation of Health—Advantages of 
 Cleanliness and Ventilation in tills respect—Danger of ne¬ 
 glecting them in cases of Infectious Complaints—Recom¬ 
 mendation of Temperance Societies—Great Saving by ab¬ 
 staining from Dram Drinking . . . .21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Maxims of universal application in Farming—as to Drain¬ 
 ing, Destruction of Weeds, Cropping—Management of 
 
 Manure Heaps—Square Enclosures_Levelling useless 
 
 Ditches—Horses not suitable to Small Farms—Consump¬ 
 tion of Straw in Thatch. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 General Observations upon the Mode of Cultivation at pre¬ 
 sent in use as to Potatoes, Turnips, Flax, and Wheat—Ad¬ 
 vantages of laying on Lime with the Potato Crop, and 
 giving House Manure to raise Turnips—Necessity for 
 stopping the spread of Ragweed, Coltsfoot, and Thistles, 
 by means of the Seed—Use of Chaff as an alterative for Cattle 31! 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Erroneous Opinions as to Land employed in raising Cattle 
 Crops—Different Opinions as to value of Turnips compared 
 with Potatoes—Reasons for preferring former for the use of 
 Small Farmers—Land to be applied to what will produce 
 the most money—Great Return from buying poor Springers 
 —Objections to continual Tillage answered—Encrcased 
 Employment and good Wages, and accumulation of Pro¬ 
 perty thereby—No one to be discouraged from commenc. 
 ing, however poor ..... 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ARGUMENT-ENCREASE OF STOCK BY 
 
 HOUSEFEEDING-ENCREASE OF MANURE-CALCULA¬ 
 TIONS IN REGARD TO EACH-GREAT ADVANTAGE IN 
 
 REGARD TO COTTERS-BENEFIT ATTENDING THE PRO¬ 
 PER ROTATION OF CROPS-NECESSITY FOR APPOINT¬ 
 
 MENT OF AN AGRICULTURIST. 
 
 You are all well aware of the disposition which at pre¬ 
 sent very generally exists on the part of landlords, to 
 diminish the number of tenants on their estates, and 
 to encrease the size of their farms. It is not here ne¬ 
 cessary to inquire into the reasons which influence them 
 in this desire: it is sufficient for my present purpose to 
 say, that, if such a plan were extensively acted upon, the 
 result must be the total ruin of all the small holders 
 and cotters, who, in many cases, are as industrious as 
 any other members of society. 
 
 I consider myself most fortunate that I am not obliged 
 to act, at present, upon the system above alluded to, 
 and that my employers, however they may feel resolved 
 not to continue on their estates persons who will not 
 endeavour to better their situation, are nevertheless 
 determined not to part with any tenant who is indus¬ 
 trious and thriving; and, impressed with this kind feel¬ 
 ing, are anxious that I should make trial whether any 
 tiling can be done to reclaim those of an opposite descrip • 
 
lion, by stimulating them to greater exertion, and putting 
 them upon some plan of supporting themselves and their 
 families with greater comfort and respectability. 
 
 The only way to do this is, in my mind, by intro¬ 
 ducing such a system of agriculture as would bring the 
 entire of the small farmeis’ holdings into a productive 
 state, in place of allowing nearly the half of them to 
 remain nominally in grazing, but in reality producing 
 nothing; and, as this cannot be done without manure, 
 and manure cannot be had without stock, the considera¬ 
 tion naturally arises how can the greatest quantity of 
 stock be most economically maintained upon your farms, 
 and under what management can the largest quantity of 
 manure be derived therefrom. 
 
 Now, by referring to the experience of all good farmers 
 in all countries, and under all circumstances, it is ascer¬ 
 tained beyond dispute, that by the practice of sowing 
 green crops, such as clover and rye grass, winter and 
 spring vetches, turnips, mangold wurtzel, &c., the same 
 ground which on poor pasture would scarcely feed one 
 cow in simmer, would under the crops mentioned, feed 
 three, or perhaps four the whole year round—by keeping 
 the cattle in the house, and bringing the food there to 
 them ;* and the manure produced by one of these cows 
 so fed, and well bedded with the straw saved by the 
 supply of better food, would be more than equal to that 
 
 * The advantage of cutting the clover and bringing it to the 
 cow,had been trongly exemplified this year in the case ofM'Parlanc 
 and Feenan, of Drumhoney. They held a divided farm, and had 
 exactly the same crop of elover both in quantity and quality. 
 M'Parlane cut his and fed two cows plentifully in the house. 
 Feenan grazed his—and it proved a short allowance for one. 
 
produced by three cows pastured in summer and fed in 
 winter upon dry straw or hay, and hadhj littered. 
 
 Here then are two assertions well worthy your serious 
 attention—first, that three cows may be provided with 
 food in the house all the year from the same quantity of 
 ground which will scarcely feed one under pasture for the 
 summer and secondly, that one cow so fed in the house 
 will give as much manure as three fed in the field. I 
 call these important assertions, for if they are really 
 founded in fact, then any of you who may now be onlv 
 able to keep one cow, would by changing his plan be 
 able to keep three, and each one of these producing as 
 much manure as three fed in the way you have been 
 hitherto accustomed to adopt—the result must be, that 
 you would have nine times as much manure by the new 
 method as you have hitherto had by the old. Now, as 
 I don’t think there can be a single individual among vou 
 so blind as not to see at once the great advantage it 
 would be to have such an immense addition to his ma¬ 
 nure heap, it appears to me that the best thing I can 
 do is, in the first instance, to endeavour to impress 
 firmly upon your minds the conviction that this fact so 
 much entitled to your attention, and yet so little attend¬ 
 ed to, is in reality a truth that may be relied on, and 
 may be practically adopted without- any fear of disap¬ 
 pointment. It is.upon this foundation that the prac¬ 
 ticability of almost every improvement I mean to sug¬ 
 gest in the cropping of your land must ultimatelv 
 depend, and it is therefore indispensable to the success 
 of any arguments I may offer, to place it before vou 
 in the clearest point of view, and remove from vour 
 minds every doubt whatever upon the subject. 
 
To draw the necessary proof therefore from what 
 comes under your own observation, I may say every day 
 of your lives, and which must therefore have more weight 
 with you than any thing else I could say, I refer you 
 with confidence to the exhausted miserable pasture upon 
 which your cattle are now almost universally fed, two 
 to three acres of which are often barely sufficient to 
 keep one cow alive for the summer months, but by no means 
 to afford her a suffciency of food. Now, one acre of 
 good clover and rye grass, one rood of vetches and three 
 roods of turnips (making up in all two acres, which 
 are now allotted for grazing one cow in summer), 
 taking a stolen crop of rape after the vetches, will afford 
 ample provision for three cows the year round. For 
 you all know that an acre of good clover will house-feed 
 three cows from the middle of May to the middle of 
 October; and with the help of a rood of vetches you 
 will be able to save half the first cutting for hay to 
 use during the winter. Then when the first frosts, about 
 the middle of October, may have stripped the clover of 
 its leaves, the early sown rape, which ought to be put 
 in ridge by ridge as the vetches are cut, and the land 
 well manured (if the seed has been sown by the middle 
 of July)* will be ready to cut and feed the cattle until 
 
 * If the vetches are too late to allow the sowing of the rape to 
 commence at that time, it ought to be raised in a seed bed, and 
 transplanted, which may be continued with advantage to the end of 
 August, putting the plants in as thick as possible. Mr. William 
 Scott, a tenant of the Earl of Charlemont’s, who has been induced 
 to try rape, from reading the first edition of this Address, asserts, 
 that he has obtained from one square perch of transplanted rape, on 
 the first cutting, the amazing return of thirty-one stone five pounds, 
 
9 
 
 the turnips are ripe. Here then you have plainly pro¬ 
 vision secured until towards the middle of November; 
 and we have to calculate what remains to feed the cattle 
 until the middle of the May following. For this pur¬ 
 pose there is a rood of turnips for each cow. Now, 
 an acre of the white Glohe and yellow Aberdeen turnip 
 ought to produce from thirty-five to forty tons per 
 acre; but supposing one-half to he of the Swedish kind, 
 let us calculate only on twenty-eight tons to the acre, 
 which is not an unusual produce, even if they were all 
 Swedish, and see what that calculation will yield per day 
 for one hundred and ninety days, which is rather more 
 than the six months. If an acre yields twenty-eight 
 tons, a rood will yield seven tons, which being brought 
 into pounds will amount to fifteen thousand six hundred 
 and eighty pounds; and this divided by one hundred and 
 ninety days, will leave eighty-three pounds of turnips 
 for each cow, every day, which with a small portion of 
 the bay and straw you are possessed of, is a very suf¬ 
 ficient allowance for a common sized milch cow ; and 
 over and above all this, you have the second growth of 
 the rood of rape coming forward in March and April, 
 which in itself would feed all the three cows nearly 
 three weeks. 
 
 Here then the facts of the case are brought before 
 
 whichwould be nearly at the rate of thirty-two tons the English acre, 
 and he would have two cuttings afterwards in March and May, sup¬ 
 posing which to be only half as good as the first three, would be the 
 enormous produce of sixty-four tons per acre—which seems so as¬ 
 tonishing, that I questioned him particularly as to the fact, which he 
 positively asserted to be the case, and that the ground measured was 
 not superior to the rest of the field. For his letter, see Appendix. 
 
10 
 
 you for your own decision, and I fearlessly appeal to 
 yourselves—is it true that two to three acres (I make 
 my calculation on two only) are frequently allotted, to 
 graze one cow during summer 9 And again—is it true 
 that an acre of clover and grass seed, a rood of vetches, 
 and three roods of turnips, with the stolen crop of rape 
 after the vetches, will fully supply food for three cows 
 the year round 9 J defy any one of you to reply to either 
 of these questions in the negative. The straw of the 
 farm, in any case, belongs to the cattle; but in the latter 
 case, where turnips are provided for food, it is chiefly- 
 used for bedding, and the additional quantity of grain 
 which will he raised by means of the encreased quantity 
 of manured land, will always keep pace with the encrease 
 of the stock, and provide the encreased quantity of bedding 
 required. I think, therefore, I am warranted in consi¬ 
 dering my first assertion proved; namely, that the 
 ground generally allotted to feed one cow, will in reality 
 supply food for three —and have r.ow only to offer some 
 calculations as to the accumulation of manure, which I 
 hope will be considered equally conclusive. 
 
 During the summer months, your cow, which is only 
 in the house at milking time, (and perhaps not even 
 then, for the practice is sometimes to milk her in the 
 field,) can afford little or no addition to the manure 
 heap, being upon the grass both day and night; and 
 even in winter and spring, whilst there is any open 
 weather, they are always to he seen ranging over the 
 fields in search of food, so that I think you cannot but 
 admit that upon a calculation for the entire year round, 
 the animal is not in the house more than eight hours out 
 of the twenty-four, and it is only the manure made 
 
11 
 
 (luring this period which can he reckoned upon; there¬ 
 fore upon this supposition, (which I think is sufficiently 
 correct to show the strength of my argument), if there 
 is any truth in arithmetic, one cow fed as I calculate on, 
 in the house for the entire twenty-four hours, will yield 
 as much manure as three cows that are only kept in the 
 house for eight hours—the quality of the food being 
 supposed the same in both cases; and this would ma¬ 
 nifestly prove my assertion; namely, that one cow fed 
 within, would give as much manure as three fed without : 
 and therefore when three can he kept in the one way, 
 as I have already shown, for one kept in the other, it 
 is as clear as three times three make nine, that the re¬ 
 sult of the calculation will he just as I have stated— 
 namely, that the farmer will obtain by the change of 
 system nine times as much manure in the one case as he 
 would have had in the other. 
 
 Now if after all that has been said, (which seems to 
 me at least quite convincing), any of you should be so as¬ 
 tonished bv the quantity of the manure thus proved to be 
 gained as still to have some misgivings on the subject, 
 and be inclined to think that matters would not turn out 
 so favourable in practice as I have shown in theory, I 
 would wish any such person to consider one very material 
 point which I have not yet touched upon—for in the 
 foregoing, the argument is founded entirely on the lime 
 the animals are kept within, viz.—it is stated that one 
 cow kept within for twenty-fmr hours will give as 
 much manure as three cows which are only kept in for 
 eight hours, the food being assumed to be the same in 
 both cases ; but it is quite evident that if the cow kept 
 within should be fed with turnips and bedded with the 
 
12 
 
 straw which the others are fed upon, leaving them 
 little or no bedding whatever, that the calculation must 
 turn decidedly in favour of the animal which is well 
 fed and bedded, both as regards the quantity and qua¬ 
 lity of the manure—so that it appears the estimate I 
 have made is decidedly under the mark. 
 
 I may here be challenged to name any one who has 
 really accumulated nine times as much manure in the 
 manner I have stated to be practicable. My answer to 
 this would be, that no one individual has thought it ne¬ 
 cessary to apply all the land formerly allotted to grazing 
 his stock, to the purpose of raising green crops, to feed 
 them on in the house. As fast as the manure heap lias 
 enabled them to do so, those who have adopted the 
 house-feeding system, have been anxious to bring then- 
 useless grazing into potatoes, and wheat, or other grain — 
 enough of the old prejudice still remaining to make 
 them think they were serving themselves by so doing* ; 
 and they have not given the ground saved to the raising 
 of turnips, mangold wurtzel, &c. and of course have not 
 
 * I am well satisfied in my own mind that cattle crops will pay 
 more at present in milk and butter than any other crops what¬ 
 ever, except flax or wheat: and if the farmers’ wives could he 
 prevailed on to put less salt in their butter intended for the English 
 market, the price would be greatly improved, and the Dutch butter 
 would be driven out of the market. Should a fanner be induced 
 to increase his stock, so as to make a firkin or half a firkin once 
 a fortnight, the conveyance by steam is so rapid and so certain, that 
 the butter might be safely exported to Liverpool or London nearly 
 fresh, and those merchants engaged in the trade would do a public 
 service by bespeaking from the farmers of their acquaintance, butter 
 to be made up in this manner, and to export it under a different 
 brand, which would soon bring the matter to proof. 
 
13 
 
 kept cattle to consume them—but I fearlessly refer any 
 doubtful enquirer on the subject to go to the houses of 
 those men who have gained the premiums offered by 
 the Earl of Gosford and Colonel Close for the encou¬ 
 ragement of house-feeding—Moses Greer of Corlust— 
 Ingram of Drumhoney—John Hogg of Drumgaw, or 
 James Bradford of Druminnis, or any of the others 
 most convenient to him, and let him examine their 
 manure heaps, and • examine themselves as I have no 
 doubt they have often been, and then let him judge for 
 himself whether there is any reason to doubt the truth 
 of what I have stated. But the case does not require 
 that I should rigidly adhere to the strict letter of the 
 argument. I need only ask you to think what you 
 might do in your farms, if you had but six, five, or 
 even four times as much manure as you now have; or 
 rather let me ask what is it you might not do if you 
 had such a supply; surely you woidd not in such a 
 case let the land lie waste, as you now do, to recover 
 itself, when you had the means of instant recovery in 
 your own hands; nor would you rely upon one half of 
 your farm to do the work of the whole, when you had 
 the means within yourself of making the other half 
 equally productive. 
 
 Having therefore, I think, set this matter at rest, I 
 now proceed to state what perhaps may add much more 
 to your surprise, namely, that many people well in¬ 
 formed in these matters assert, that the allowance of 
 two acres of land which I have made, is by no means 
 required for the support of three cows the year round, 
 and that much less would do: and I confess that in 
 
making the calculation I have done, I have been allow¬ 
 ing much more than I believe to be absolutely necessary— 
 for this simple reason, that without going into the mi¬ 
 nutiae of what may be the very most that can he done 
 upon a small piece of land, the advantage to be ob¬ 
 tained merely according to the statement I have given 
 is quite great enough to attract your attention, and 
 put you (if any thing can) upon making some alteration 
 in your present system: and the truth both in theory 
 and practice of what I have pointed out is so obvious, 
 that all possibility of contradiction, or evasion, is com¬ 
 pletely set aside, which I consider a matter of no small 
 importance. The allotment I have made of two acres 
 for the support of three cows is the same as allowing 
 two-thirds of an acre for each cow, which I have no 
 doubt you will think is a moderate allowance, but to 
 show you the opinion of very sensible writers who have 
 made this subject their study, I beg to mention that 
 Mr. Allan, in his little work entitled, “ Colonies at 
 Home,” estimates the ground necessary to supply food 
 for a cow the year round, at only half an acre, and 
 Mr. Cobbett in his work entitled “ Cottage Economy,” 
 says, that one rood of ground will be found amply 
 sufficient, and I think their instructions altogether so 
 valuable that I have made extracts from their works, 
 which you will find in the Appendix, and I strongly 
 recommend them to your attentive perusal. 
 
 To the instructions given by Mr. Cobbett may be 
 added a recommendation to have the cow carefully cur¬ 
 ried, which is necessary to the animal’s health when kept 
 in a state of confinement, and will materially increase 
 
15 
 
 the quantity of milk ;* and her food might he given 
 to her in a small straw yard for a portion of the day, 
 for the sake of exercise, or she might he put out upon a 
 tether to graze for an hour or two, in good weather, if 
 the farm afforded a suitable place. And I would also 
 strongly recommend particular care to be taken in trans¬ 
 planting the turnip plants—to raise them without break¬ 
 ing the smallest fibre of the root, by putting the spade 
 completely under them, so as to loosen the earth about 
 them, and in putting them into the ground,’ to take the 
 same care that the roots are placed in the natural posi¬ 
 tion, and not doubled in. Without attention to these 
 points, the crop will be injured ; indeed, it is so seldom 
 that transplanted turnips produce in this country, the 
 crop Mr. Cobbett calculates upon, that I should prefer 
 your applying half an acre, or even two-thirds of an 
 acre to the support of your cow, in order to enable you 
 to sow your turnips in the usual way; or, instead of 
 them, mangold wurtzel, which is a much more profitable 
 
 * The Rev. Richard Allott, of Armagh, who ir, one of the best 
 practical fanners on a small scale, of my acquaintance, and to whom 
 I am indebted for several valuable hints, having observed the un¬ 
 easiness which animals experience when so tied up that they cannot 
 lick themselves, has fitted up his cow-house with swinging bales 
 which are so close as to prevent them turning round, thereby ren¬ 
 dering any fastening by the head unnecessary, but wide enough to 
 admit of their licking themselves, as freely as if at entire liberty. 
 When this is prevented, as is in general the case in stall fed cattle, 
 the itching becomes so great that they lick themselves, when they 
 have the power of doing so, until they create a sore which injures 
 the flesh. Cattle kept in such a state of continual irritation cannot 
 I think thrive as they otherwise would be likely to do, and shows 
 the necessity of frequent currying, or being allowed the liberty of 
 a straw-yard for an hour or two in the day. 
 
16 
 
 crop, where the ground is suitable; and if half an acre, 
 or two thirds of an acre, with the addition of a trifling 
 quantity of straw, will insure an ample supply of food 
 for a cow during the entire year, I think none of you 
 will consider the ground misapplied, hut it is so hard to 
 get persons unaccustomed to be directed by printed in¬ 
 structions, either fully to understand them, or if they 
 do to put them in practice, that although I give the di¬ 
 rections alluded to in the Appendix for the information 
 of all who may cliuse to adopt them, (and particularly 
 for the benefit of cotters who may only have a house and 
 garden.) My own opinion is, that the simple plan I have 
 laid down which every small farmer can easily compre¬ 
 hend, and can as easily carry into practice, without in¬ 
 terfering in the least with the general cultivation of his 
 farm, is the best system to recommend to you for adop¬ 
 tion, and I think it is quite evident from what has been 
 said on the subject, that if you take advantage of the 
 kail and cabbage* which you may raise in your gardens 
 and potato ridges, as will hereafter be pointed out, 
 together with the additional stolen crops which may be 
 raised in the rest of your farms, of rape, stubble, turnips, 
 or annual clover, after the crops of grain, or on the early 
 potato and vetch ground as pointed out under the head 
 of rotation of crops, that the quantity of land specially 
 applied to the feeding of your cattle may be reduced to 
 the half acre, which is the quantity Mr. Allan calculates 
 
 * Mr. Matthew Hilton, agriculturist to the Marquis of Ormonde, 
 informs me that drumhead cabbage sowed in February, and the 
 plants put out in May and June, will keep all through the 
 
| upon.* It appears to me, therefore, quite undeniable, 
 that the foregoing can be carried into practice, and if so, 
 and upon a plan which requires no particular trouble or 
 skill in the management, how shameful is it for you often 
 to let two, or perhaps three acres of land be wasted as I 
 have stated, in the summer months to graze one animal, 
 and to have her starving all the winter upon bad hay or 
 fusty straw. 
 
 Mr. Cobbctt’s plan of keeping a cow is particularly 
 well adapted to the poor cotter, having merely a house 
 and small patch of ground, and paying the rent of his 
 holding by his daily labour, and who, after his day’s 
 work, can, in a few minutes every evening, put out the 
 new plants as directed ; and all such people will be well 
 rewarded for their industry,'by the quantity of milk and 
 the large addition of manure which they will obtain; for, 
 if it should so happen that the cotter was so poor as not 
 to have even straw to bed his cow with, if he is attentive 
 to gather the weeds growing on the road side, or in the 
 fields adjoining, and use them as a substitute, lie will find 
 sufficient to increase the quantity of manure to such an 
 extent, that he will have no difficulty in getting, from his 
 less industrious neighbours, ground to put it out upon, 
 and thus get a crop of potatoes, amply sufficient to sup. 
 port his family, upon very moderate terms—the quantity 
 of manure thus obtained from a cow well fed and kept 
 constantly in the house, being greater than what any one 
 who lias not made the experiment will believe; but if 
 
 * I intend this season to try experiments upon the cabbatre tur¬ 
 nip, which I believe will transplant at any time, and if so, BIr. Cob- 
 
18 
 
 the cotter, instead of enriching the land of his neigh¬ 
 bours, should have even a field or two of his oivn. the 
 constant supply of manure would so improve the quality 
 of the soil, that it would yield twice as much as in the 
 way now usually practised; and, having only a small 
 rent to pay, he would soon become able to buy an acre 
 or two more, and thus gradually advance himself to the 
 rank of those small farmers to whom I am now addressing 
 myself, and would very shortly be possessed of that quan¬ 
 tity of manure which would enable him to enter upon a 
 1 roper rotation of crops ; without attention to which, no 
 farmer, great or small, can get the full return from his 
 iand which it is capable of affording. 
 
 To make you sensible of this, I should wish you, for 
 sake of example, to suppose a small farmer, holding 
 eight acres of land, having acquired a stock of manure 
 sufficient for one-fourth part, or two acres—he is then 
 able to commence the following rotation :—these two 
 acres are, the first year, planted with green crops, in 
 which are included potatoes, turnips, cabbages, mangold 
 wurfzel, S:c., according to the nature of the soil and other 
 circumstances. The next year, he manures two acres 
 more; and does the same the third year; and in the 
 fourth year, the whole farm has been gone over; and af¬ 
 ter each manuring, the two acres so manured are occu¬ 
 pied with the following succession of crops: first year, 
 green crops, as already stated; second year, oats, barley, 
 flax, or wheat, with clover; third year, the clover to be 
 cut and brought to the cattle, making into hay whatever 
 may be to spare; fourth year, oats, wheat, or barley. 
 The fifth year, the same rotation commences again, and 
 the one-fourth part is again placed in green crops and 
 
well manured, and the other crops succeed as bcf< 
 By this means, it is evident the fanner gets four prod 
 live crops from the one manuring, and has always c 
 half of the entire farm, viz .four acres, in grain; o 
 fourth, or two acres, in clover; and one-fourth, or 
 acres, in potatoes, turnips, &c., which is much more t 
 any farm yields according to the present system. 
 
 In order to make this rotation more simple, and 
 likely to confuse you, I have desired all the mam 
 land to be laid down with clover, along with the 
 grain crop; but it is open to tbe farmer to sow only 
 in clover, and put the other half in vetches* or cabba 
 if he should wish to have greater variety of food for 
 cattle, which is always desirable. Tbe only thing 
 sisted upon is, that two crops of grain are not to 
 sowed in succession upon the same ground. It is als 
 be observed, that the plentincss of manure obtained 
 this system of house-feeding will enable you to mai 
 the stubble of the last grain crop, and sow or transp 
 rape,-)- which will yield a full return and be off tbe gre 
 in time for your potatoes and turnips, which, upon 
 foregoing plan, always succeed the second grain c 
 
 And the quantity of food for vour cattle mav be still 
 
20 
 
 kale on the north edge of the ridges, in such manner as 
 that the mid-day shadow may fall in the trencli, and 
 planted threefeet asunder, a material addition totheautunm 
 and winter feeding will be obtained without injury to the 
 potato crop: and I have seen them left standing in the 
 furrows even after wheat had been sown, and yielding 
 abundantly. But if this should be objected to, they may 
 be cut down and transplanted into any corner of the 
 farm, to go to seed, which will sell for double the money, 
 perhaps, which any other equal portion of the farm will 
 produce. I wish it, however, to be particularly under¬ 
 stood, that I recommend (he foregoing rotation, merely 
 as a great improvement upon the present practice, and 
 likely to be very generally attended with success, but not 
 as the best for every soil; for I am perfectly sensible the 
 varieties of soil and the varieties of circumstances are so 
 numerous, that there is no possibility of laying down any 
 plan to suit all cases; and I have, therefore, thought it 
 better to obtain the assistance of an experienced farmer, 
 who will call upon you for the purpose of personally in¬ 
 specting your farms, and giving instructions suitable to 
 the nature and condition of each, not only as to the rota¬ 
 tion of crops, but also as to the mode of preparing the 
 ground and putting them in, which accurate information, 
 I am of opinion, nothing but personal inspection can 
 supply. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOll THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH-AD¬ 
 
 VANTAGES OF CLEANLINESS AND VENTILATION IN THIS 
 
 RESPECT-DANGER OF NEGLECTING THEM IN CASES OF 
 
 INFECTIOUS COMPLAINTS—RECOMMENDATION OF TF.M • 
 PEHANCK SOCIETIES—GREAT SAVING BY ABSTAINING 
 FROM DRAM DRINKING. 
 
 There arc, nevertheless, certain fixed principles which 
 every farmer is bound to attend to, and which never 
 should be lost sight of, and these I shall shortly enume¬ 
 rate ; but first, I should wish to say a few words as to 
 the preservation of health, without which, the small far¬ 
 mer and cotter are entirely incapacitated from taking ad¬ 
 vantage of these or any other instructions to better their 
 situation. 
 
 In this respect, I would recommend lo you, most ear¬ 
 nestly, that all stagnant water, filth, and putrid sub¬ 
 stances should be immediately removed .from the front of 
 your houses, in order that the door, which is often the 
 only mode of ventilation, may admit pure air. If the 
 floor within is lower than the land without, let a trench 
 be cut all round, to carry off the moisture, and make the 
 house as dry as the nature of things will admit. Let 
 the windows be made to open, so that every part of the 
 house may be thoroughly ventilated ; and let the inside 
 and outside, hut particularly the inside, be whitewashed 
 as often as can be conveniently done, and let the most 
 minute attention be paid to cleanliness. With these pre¬ 
 cautions, the health of a labouring man may generally be 
 calculated on, except in cases of fever or other infectious 
 
22 
 
 complaints, and even against these the foregoing recom¬ 
 mendations will be a great protection, if strictly attended 
 to; but should any member of the family be attacked by 
 any complaint of an infectious nature, there is little 
 chance of preventing its being communicated to every 
 one in the house, if they are neglected. The fresh air 
 must be freely admitted; the walls whitewashed, and even- 
 tiling in the house, of furniture, bedding, and clothes, 
 washed and put out, and exposed to the sun and air, and 
 hot lime put on the floor, if there is any damp, to dry it 
 up. When a person is ill of an infectious complaint, the 
 whole air around him is infected, and it is only by ad¬ 
 mitting the pure air from without, to dilute it, if I may 
 use theexpression,that the infection can be so weakened 
 as to prevent bad consequences to those who are obliged 
 to breathe it. From not attending to this, many com¬ 
 plaints, which, at the beginning, were not infectious, be¬ 
 come so afterwards, and whole families are carried off, or 
 put past labour, from neglecting precautions which might 
 have been so easily taken. It is observed, that infectious 
 diseases seldom spread in the bouses of the upper ranks of 
 society, and it is merely owing to the admission of fresh 
 air, and the cleanliness which is observed : and the same 
 will account for the safety of physicians and attendants 
 in hospitals, where there are hundreds of patients col¬ 
 lected ; whereas, if fever once gets admittance in a poor 
 man’s cabin, the infection is preserved by the moist and 
 putrid matter without, and the damp and dirt within, and 
 is rendered more and more malignant by the want of a 
 circulation of air, until, in general, it attacks the whole 
 family, and, if it does not destroy their lives, it so wea¬ 
 kens their strength, and, by repeated relapses, continues 
 
23 
 
 to hang over them so long, as eventually to reduce them 
 to poverty and wretchedness; all which, in most cases, 
 would probably have been prevented by a particular at¬ 
 tention to what has been here recommended. 
 
 But cleanliness and ventilation, however valuable 
 they may be as the means of preventing or banisluns 
 disease, cannot he as effectual as they ought to be whilst 
 the use of ardent spirits prevails in the degree it now does. 
 
 1 need not take up your time in expatiating upon the 
 consequences attending this ruinous practice—those who 
 are even most addicted to it are fully sensible of its injuri¬ 
 ous tendency, but think it is in vain to struggle against it. 
 Nothing, however, can be more contrary to facts and 
 experience than such a belief. It is only a few years 
 since some benevolent people in America first started 
 the idea of forming what arc called Temperance Societies. 
 The hopelessness of such an undertaking was so much the 
 belief of the public, that the attempt was ridiculed as ab¬ 
 surd and visionary: but it has, nevertheless, proved quite 
 the reverse. Thousands have been thereby reclaimed, 
 and are now enjoying a degree of comfort and happiness 
 before unknown to them. Even among sailors, (a class 
 of people least likely to be operated upon.) members are 
 now' enrolled, and temperance ships arc manned from 
 New York, without difficulty, for the longest voyages. 
 From America the plan has extended to Scotland, and 
 temperance ships are now, in like manner, sailing from 
 Glasgow, and numerous societies arc spread over the face 
 of the country. From Scotland, the plan scents to have 
 crossed over to the North of Ireland, and societies arc 
 already in existence in this very county; therefore, with 
 such numerous examples of successful resolution before 
 
24 
 
 you, both abroad and at home, I most earnestly beg of 
 you to make the attempt, and trust you will not show • 
 less firmness than so many others have proved themselves 
 to possess. Subjoined you will find what a list of de¬ 
 sirable articles of clothing may be bought with the mo¬ 
 ney which it would cost you to indulge in a single glass 
 of spirits daily. When you read it over, think of the 
 short-lived, selfish gratification you derive from the prac¬ 
 tice, and think of the permanent comforts of which you 
 deprive yourselves, your wives, and your children there¬ 
 by, and at once determine to abandon the use of spirits ; 
 and, take my word, you will soon find the benefit of it, 
 both in your health and circumstances. 
 
 One Glass of Whiskey fek Day, commonly call¬ 
 ed by drinking men, “ their morning’’ costs (at three 
 halfpence per glass) no less a sum than two pounds, five 
 shillings, and sevenpence halfpenny , yearly! which sum, 
 if laid by, would provide the following comforts and ne¬ 
 cessaries of life for a family, viz.:— 
 
 One pair of large blankets . • . . £0 10 0 
 
 One pair of sheets.0 0 0 
 
 Two pair of shoes . . • . . 0 12 0 
 
 Two shirts.0 4 0 
 
 Two neck handkerchiefs . . . .011 
 Two pair of stockings . . . • 0 2 S 
 
 One hat.0 5 0 
 
 Change remaining . . . . .00 41- 
 
 £2 S 71 
 
25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MAXIMS OF UNIVERSAL APPLICATION IN FARMING- 
 
 AS TO DRAINING, DESTRUCTION OF WEEDS, CROPPING 
 -MANAGEMENT OF MANURE HEAPS—SQUARING EN¬ 
 CLOSURES-LEVELLING USELESS DITCHES-HORSES 
 
 NOT SUITABLE TO SMALL FARMS-CONSUMPTION OF 
 
 STRAW IN THATCH. 
 
 Having said thus much upon the foregoing subject, of 
 such first-rate importance to the labouring classes, I pro. 
 ceed to give a list of those maxims in farming, which are 
 of universal application, as far as I have been able to col¬ 
 lect them:— 
 
 1st. The ground must be thoroughly drained. For 
 this purpose it is not sufficient to cut drains in the low 
 grounds, but the springs must be sought for as high up as 
 any symptoms of them can be discovered, and the water 
 conveyed from them, and not allowed to force its way 
 through the soil; in which case it will destroy the effect 
 of any manure which may have been applied. In proof 
 of which, you may always observe, in such situations, 
 the grain in that part of the field is ten or fourteen days 
 later than the rest of the crop, and in very late seasons 
 it may, perhaps, not ripen at all. 
 
 2dly. The weeds must be destroyed ; which in a little 
 time will be accomplished by proper attention in collect¬ 
 ing, as far as possible, all weeds, before putting in the 
 crop, and by sowing the green crops in drills,* and care- 
 
 * I have already mentioned the practicability of getting an early 
 snpplj of the leaves of curled kale in autumn, by planting them with 
 the potatoes in the edge of the ridges, and I should think that to he 
 
26 
 
 fully weeding them afterwards; and they may even be 
 made worth the expense of gathering, as they will yield 
 a valuable addition to the manure heap, if applied as 
 bedding in the cow-house. For this purpose, they should 
 be collected before flowering. It is shameful to see, in 
 many fields, the‘quantities of rag-weed ripening to seed, 
 and impoverishing the ground as much as a crop, which 
 might, if usefully applied, as above directed, have brought 1 
 nourishment to the soil, in place of exhausting it. I 
 
 3dly. All cattle must be fed in the house or straw 
 yard, upon good food; such as rape, cabbage, turnips, 
 mangold lvurtze), potatoes, clover, and vetches, in proper 
 succession, will abundantly supply, according to the na¬ 
 ture of the land; there being no farm in which some of 
 these crops may not be raised in abundance, with the 
 aid of manure, which the practice of home feeding pro¬ 
 duces. 
 
 4'thly. Never take two crops of the same kind in sue- ; 
 
 cession off the same land, although this is sometimes \ 
 
 done with potatoes, to reclaim land that has never been 1 
 in cultivation ; but in other cases this is not advisable ; I 
 and, in particular, two grain crops cannot be taken in I 
 succession without injuring the soil, and in the end a | 
 manifest loss arises from the practice, in place of 
 that advantage which the needy farmer looks for; be- | 
 
 cause, by interposing a green crop, such as clover, &c., j; 
 
 full as many grain crops may be had off the same piece !■' 
 
 the best plan for such a purpose : but to plant the potatoes in drills 
 is a much more effectual way of cleaning the land, and is, therefore, 
 much to he preferred on that account: and curled kale for winter 
 use may be cultivated in Ibis way, by planting them at the edge of 
 
27 
 
 of land and from the same manure, in any given number 
 of years, by taking them in rotation, as by taking them 
 in succession. But the rotation system has this advan¬ 
 tage, that while you get as many grain crops, you keep 
 the land always in good heart, and between the crops of 
 grain you get green crops equally valuable. This is 
 accounted for by considering that no two crops derive 
 the same particular nourishment from the land. The 
 roots of some sink deep, and draw their nourishment 
 from the bottom, while others spread on the surface; 
 and it is generally believed that plants derive their food 
 and support from as different ingredients in the earth, as 
 the different kinds of cattle derive their food upon the 
 surface. Horses will eat grass which cows reject, and 
 so with every description of cattle; and supposing the 
 analogy to hold good in plants, it is easy to conceive 
 that a change of crop may find the soil abundant in that 
 kind of nourishment which it requires, although it might 
 be, at the time, exhausted of that kind required by the 
 crop which had gone before ; and thus the ground may 
 be as much restored by the introduction of a green crop 
 after a grain crop, as if the field had actually lain fallow; 
 and experience, in a great degree, justifies this reason- 
 
 I am fully sensible, however, that a system of over 
 cropping with grain will extract even/ kind of nourish¬ 
 ment from the soil, and leave it so that it Kill not even 
 yield grass. This is the case with the land which is 
 left to rest, as it is called by those who take three or four- 
 grain crops in succession; and the phrase is well applied, 
 for the land is really not fit to do any thing. The error 
 of this class of persons is, that they turn the land to grass 
 
28 
 
 at the end, in place of the beginning of their course. 
 Had grass-seed been sown with the first crop of grain , 
 there would have been a good crop of hay, and good 
 after-grass, and the second crop of grain would have 
 been as good as the first; and this is what ought to be 
 done by those whose land is not suited to clover, or who, 
 from poverty, are not able to buy the clover seed; and 
 even where two grain crops have been taken, it would be 
 better to sow it with rye-grass, which will yield a crop 
 on very poor land, rather than leave the ground to be 
 possessed by weeds and such herbage as may naturally 
 rise. The fact is, the last exhausting crop should only 
 be put in upon that portion of the farm which is intend¬ 
 ed for potatoes, and other green crops, the succeeding 
 year, which crops then give the manure to restore it to a 
 productive state; and by this means there is no land at 
 all lost by what is called resting it. 
 
 othly. The place for manure should be contrived so, 
 that it should not be exposed to any accumulation of 
 rain water, but should receive the contributions from the 
 sewers of the house, stable, cow-house, &-c. The bot¬ 
 tom should be paved, so that the drainage of the manure 
 should run into a small cask or well adjoining it. Fresh 
 earth should be regularly brought and spread over the 
 manure, and the liquid in the well should be thrown over 
 it; by which means the whole compost would be equally 
 rich, and the quantity increased to any extent, that could 
 be required; and the steam or smoke which arises from 
 the stable manure, and which is the very richest part of 
 it, would be kept under and imbibed by the earth so laid 
 on, and the quantity of earth should be proportioned to 
 the strength of the dung with which it is mixed. While 
 
great loss arising from the practice of letting off the 
 water in which flax has been*steeped, which, if sprinkled 
 over clever, or made into compost with fresh earth, would 
 be found most valuable.* 
 
 Gthly. It should be the object of the farmer, as soon 
 as he possibly can, to have his fences made in straight 
 lines, and of as great length as the farm will conveniently 
 admit of. It is almost inconceivable the quantity of 
 time lost by the frequent turning of the plough, and the 
 quantity of land thrown out of cultivation, by having a 
 crooked irregular fence, the bendings of which the plough 
 cannot follow. 
 
 *7thly. A farmer who has any understanding must per¬ 
 ceive, the moment it is mentioned, that every unneces¬ 
 sary ditch is so much land actually lost, and that his care 
 ought to be to have as few of them as possible; and it 
 will, therefore, occur to him, that if he feeds his cattle in 
 the house, almost all his ditches may he dispensed with, 
 except the mearing ditches, which are necessary to keep 
 out those of other people; but he has evidently no oc¬ 
 casion to prepare a fence against his own, for he keeps 
 them at home, and this circumstance would enable him 
 to raise hedire rows, which never can be done if the eat- 
 
30 
 
 tie are turned out, the value of which, for shelter to his 
 crops and supplying him with timber for all country pur¬ 
 poses, is most important.* The loss of land from use¬ 
 less fences is greater than any one would suppose who 
 has not considered it: and I would almost venture to 
 say, there are farms in this counlry of twelve' acres, in 
 which the ground lost between the trench or gripe, and 
 the backs of the ditches, together with that lost by the 
 crookedness of the line, would amount fully to one acre, 
 or one-twelfth part of the whole.f Now, supposing a 
 
 * When a thorn hedge is planted, the lateral, or side shoots, 
 should only he trimmed until the leading shoot has attained the foil 
 height yon wish it to grow to; if the leading shoot is cat sooner, 
 the hedge will never acquire the same strength. Cutting the lateral 
 shoots is quite sufficient to keep it thick at the root, and if trimmed 
 every year, it will become so solid that birds will not find shelter in 
 it: thorns may be feared down so as to fill any blanks that may 
 have taken place, and if a part of the bark is left uncut, they will 
 certainly take root if covered with earth; or the hedge may be 
 doubled, and rendered quite impenetrable by learing back the entire 
 hedge, cutting the stems but half through, and covering them with 
 earth. By this treatment there will be a young growth from the 
 root part, the same as if it had been entirely cut, and there will 
 also be a growth from the lear which has been carried through the 
 baok of the ditch—the earth removed by so doing being again re¬ 
 placed. This I have seen most successfully practised in the grounds 
 of the Rev. Francis Jervis, of Cecil, County of Tyrone. 
 
 t I have known people object to this, by stating all the trouble 
 they had taken and the labour they bad expended in making them ; 
 but if you were to meet with a man who on a journey had gone out 
 of his road, and you pointed out to him his mistake, would you not 
 think him very absurd if he refased to turn back, merely on account 
 of the labour he had undergone in walking so far astray, and rather 
 
31 
 
 farmer to pay thirty shillings an acre for his land, he of 
 course loses thirty shillings annually by this waste of the 
 surface, which is equal to two shillings and sixpence an 
 acre upon his entire farm. It is quite evident, therefore, 
 that these ditches should be piped and levelled in, which 
 would have the additional advantage of relieving the 
 crops from the vermin to which those ditches afford a 
 shelter. 1, 
 
 8thly. It requires a farm of fully fifty acres to give 
 sufficient employment to a pair of horses; perhaps sixty 
 would be nearer the truth; and, therefore, if a farmer 
 even ploughs in partnership, he ought to have twenty- 
 five or thirty acres. I here speak of those who have no 
 other employment for their horses than what the culti¬ 
 vation of the farm affords, f There are, however, cases, 
 
 persist in going wrong than tarn about to go right 1 It is just the 
 same with the man who objects to level the useless ditch—he has 
 gone wrong, and refuses now to be set right. 
 
 * There is no change whatever that will at once produce such an 
 improvement in the appearance of a country as the levelling the 
 crooked fences, and enlarging the enclosures ; in proof of which, I 
 would refer yon to the appearance of the Glebe land in Mullabrack^ 
 and the farms of Bradford and M‘Cammon, in Druminnis, and 
 Cullons and Mallon, in Ballindaragh. The improvement is such, 
 that no one who knew these lands formerly would recognise them 
 
 t Martin Doyle estimates the ground required to feed a horse at 
 two acres, and the value of food and other expenses at £20 8s. 2d. 
 yearly. The small farmers in the counties of Down and Antrim 
 adopt the plan of buying a yonng horse rising three or four years 
 old, and having used him in their spring labor, they sell him off in 
 May or June, and the natural improvement in the animal at that age 
 generally leaves them a profit besides getting their labor done for 
 the keep. 
 
32 
 
 where the distance of fuel, and distance of lime, may 
 make a horse necessary when it might not be otherwise. 
 All small formers ought to use the spade, for many 
 reasons. It costs but little more, even if he has to hire 
 assistance, and does the business better, and the crop is 
 better. In all drill crops, also, by using the spade, he 
 may put in a quicker succession of crops, and have one 
 coming forward as the other is ripening. In wet seasons 
 •he can dig, whe'n he cannot plough; and its value, in 
 turning up stiff clay lands in autumn, and exposing the 
 soil to the frost and snow, is scarcely to be imagined; 
 and in all such lands this plan should be pursued where 
 no winter crop is put in. 
 
 9thly. In all wet lands, arid where the clay is reten¬ 
 tive, the ridges should be narrow, which may, indeed, 
 be almost laid down as a general rule, in a climate so 
 moist as this; but where the land is sufficiently dry, the 
 broad ridge is preferable. 
 
 ] Oihly. No straw whatever should be sold off the farm. 
 In England this is strictly forbidden by lease, and the 
 tenant who did so would be supposed to have an inten- 
 .tion of running away, If the cattle are home-fed, as 
 here recommended, all the straw the farm can be made 
 to produce will prove little enough ; and for this reason,- 
 as soon as the former is in circumstances to enable him 
 to do so, it would be bis interest to slate bis house and 
 out buildings, which, in the end, would be found the 
 cheapest roof, and would preserve, for the use of the 
 form, the large quantity of straw which is annually con¬ 
 sumed in repairing the thatch. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON THE MODE OF CULTIVA¬ 
 TION AT PRESENT IN USE AS TO POTATOES, TURNIPS, 
 
 FLAX, AND WHEAT-ADVANTAGE OF LAYING ON LIME 
 
 • WITH THE POTATO CROP, AND GIVING HOUSE MANURE 
 . TO RAISE TURNIPS—NECESSITY FOR STOPPING THE 
 SPREAD OF RAGWEED, COLTSFOOT, AND THISTLES RY 
 MEANS OF THE SEED-USE OF CHAFF AS AN ALTERNA¬ 
 
 TIVE FOR CATTLE. 
 
 Having laid down these general maxims, the propriety 
 of which I think’ you cannot but admit, I should wish to 
 lay before you some observations which have occurred 
 to me in visiting your farms: and first, as to your potato 
 crop—your present mode of cultivation is either in ridges 
 or drills ; the advantage of the former is said to be, that 
 the potatoes are of better quality, but it is admitted, the 
 produce is not so plentiful—that it requires a great deal 
 more manure—that the weeds cannot be so well eradi¬ 
 cated, nor the ground so well fallowed as it is by the 
 latter—and also, that in dry seasons, any partial fall of 
 rain runs off without reaching to the roots of the plants; 
 on the other hand, in the drill way, the potatoes, generally 
 speaking, are more plentiful, but they are not usually so 
 dry, and in rainy seasons they are more liable to be in¬ 
 jured by superabundant moisture. Now, a mixed system 
 of cultivation appears to me likely to unite the advantages 
 of both, and to be free from the disadvantages of either ; 
 and I recommend, for this purpose, that you should 
 throw your land into broad ridges, of twelve to fourteen 
 
34 
 
 feet, and then plant vour potatoes* in regular drills across 
 them, slanting the course of the drill according to the 
 lay of the land, so as just to give sufficient fall to the 
 furrow to carry off any moisture that might be injurious, 
 and,at the same time retain as much as might be useful. 
 It is evident that, in this way, in wet weather, the trench 
 will prevent any water from lodging, and that in dry 
 seasons, the furrow receives the slightest shower, and 
 conveys the moisture direct to the roots of the plants.’ 
 The drill also, in this way, admits the use of the hoe 
 and the scuffle, by a person standing in the trench, which 
 cleans the ground with less trouble, and much better 
 than it can be done by hand weeding. You are also 
 enabled to mould up higher, which is' a great object 
 "ben those kinds are cultivated in which the increase 
 grows up the stalk, as, in such cases, the higher you 
 mould, the greater produce you have, and in digging 
 out (as you know where to put the spade ) there will not 
 be seen so many potatoes cut—but in any case, a four- 
 pronged grape is much preferable to the spade for this 
 work. It appears to me, by following this plan, you 
 would both gain in produce and save in manure, and 
 your land would get better tillage, and be left in a cleaner 
 state; and when the firmer has the command of a 
 plough, there is nothing to prevent its being used in the 
 preparation of the ground, marking out the place for the 
 trench by a furrow. In regard to the cultivation of this 
 
 * It is now very generally conceived that planting the potato un¬ 
 cut is the safest plan, and that in either case the crop is generally 
 injured both in quantity and quality by having the drills too close, 
 and the sets also. 
 
35 
 
 crop, I should also wish to recommend to you the prac¬ 
 tise of putting your manure in the ground, as opportunity 
 offers, through the course of the winter, as soon as it is 
 made, and leave for spring only the work of dropping in 
 the seed at the back of the spade, which any boy or girl 
 can do, by which means you will have the potato setting 
 over before, 1 may say, you are now in the habit of be¬ 
 ginning to it. By following this practice, there will be 
 a prodigious saving of manure, as you may readily prove 
 by making the experiment of putting out twenty loads, 
 or any other particular quantity of manure, and measure 
 the ground it sufficiently covers, then put a similar quan¬ 
 tity by itself, in a heap, and let it remain until the May 
 following, and measure how far it will go. I will venture 
 to say, it will not manure half the space, and the land 
 manured at November will be found to give the best and 
 earliest crop. Care, however, should be taken during 
 the dry weather in autumn to clean the ground of weeds; 
 and it must be seen that the litter has been completely 
 incorporated with the manure, in order to ensure a proper 
 fermentation in the ground. In order that the potatoes 
 shall be of good quality, it is very material that they 
 should be fully ripe before the frost; to accomplish 
 which, the planting ought to take place in the month of 
 April. When the frost comes on while the crop is in a 
 growing state, the plants are killed before they arrive at 
 maturity, and are consequently wet and without nourish¬ 
 ment. It is a great mistake to suppose, because potatoes 
 planted late in May often give a more abundant produce, 
 that the crop is, therefore, the most profitable. Many 
 people say they will do well enough for feeding pigs and 
 cattle, but a good dry potato is just as superior to a wet 
 
36 
 
 one, as food for your pig, as it is for yourselves; and if 
 you put wet and dry into a basket together, the animal 
 will soon show you that he knows the difference. 
 
 Next to the potato crop, which forms such a large por¬ 
 tion of your own food, comes the turnip crop, which 
 affords the most wholesome food for your cattle; in re¬ 
 gard to which, I must say that great inattention prevails. 
 There are four things in the cultivation of turnips which 
 you ought to be most particularly careful of. First, 
 to have the ground in a fine pulverized state:* this 
 is much more easily accomplished by ploughing up the 
 land roughly and deep before the frost than by any 
 .other means. Secondly, to force forward the young 
 plants into rough leaf, in order to secure them against 
 the ravages of the birds, who are apt to pick up the seeds 
 just as they are bursting, and the attacks of the fly, 
 which the crop is liable to until the rough leaf comes 
 out. The best way to accomplish this is to put out the 
 manure in a heap in the field a few days before putting 
 it into the drills, shaking it out very lightly, and if very 
 dry, sprinkling a little water over it: this will produce a 
 
 * It sometimes happens that severe frosts in June heave up the 
 ground, and raise the roots of the young plant out of reach of the 
 manure ; the immediate consequence of which is, the sickly appear¬ 
 ance of the crop. The drills should in this case he rolled withoat 
 loss of time, to replace the plant solid in the ground. When a 
 roller cannot be obtained, a small round block may he substituted 
 for the wheel of a wheel-barrow, and, some stones being put in the 
 box, let it be wheeled over the rows ; or if this cannot be got, let 
 two people, standing opposite each other, press down the earth with 
 their feet. I have seen crops recovered by these means, which in 
 a few days wonld have entirely withered away. 
 
37 
 
 new fermentation, and when it begins to smoke, then is 
 the time to put immediately into the drills and cover it 
 up, and sow the seed without delay.* The warmth thus 
 obtained will force the plant into rough leaf in the course 
 of forty-eight hours; whereas, if you put the dung in 
 eold, (it being generally what is old and well rotted that 
 is used,) the fermentation is slow, and the plant will not 
 be out of danger ■ perhaps for a week. Thirdly, to keep 
 the ground clean of weeds: this should be done by 
 cleaning the land before the turnips are sown as much 
 as possible, and watching theirgrowth afterwards, and by 
 the scuffle or horse-hoe cut them off before they can 
 choke up the crop. Fourthly, to keep the ground con¬ 
 stantly loose and open about the plants, by stirring the 
 ground between the drills in dry weather. It is quite 
 extraordinary, the universal prejudice 11; t e ts against 
 stifling the ground between the drills in dry weather, in 
 summer, which, it is said, let the heat more easily pene¬ 
 trate into the earth ; now, the very reverse of this is the 
 case—the oftener the ground is stirred, the less it will 
 be affected by heat.]- Land, in a pulverized state, im- 
 
 ‘ When a bad ploughman makes his drill in the first instance 
 
 tlie manure. This will help the look of the furrow, but it puts tho 
 top of the drill off tile top of the manure, and lire crop misses, with¬ 
 out the reason being perceivable. 
 
 t It is a fact well known, that drill crops in a sandy soil are much 
 less injured by long continued dry weather than those in clay soil. 
 What is the reason of this 1 Is it not that the nature of the soil 
 keeps the ground about the plants loose and opeut Does not this 
 point out that artificial meaas must be taken to keep clay loose and 
 open also, in order to prevent injury from the drought; and this 
 
38 
 
 bibes the dew and damp of the night, the exhalation" of 
 which, by the warmth of the following day, produces a 
 moisture round the plants, which nourishes and invigorates 
 them in a most remarkable degree ; whereas, if left un¬ 
 moved, it often, particularly in clay land, gets baked so 
 hard, that no plant can thrive in it. Let the experiment 
 be made in a plot of cabbages, and dig carefully between 
 the rows at one side, and compare them with the others 
 which ate left untouched, and you will soon see the dif¬ 
 ference j in fact, if you will take the trouble to observe a 
 drill of cabbages when the earth is first turned up after 
 long parching weather, you will perceive, before it has 
 been done two hours, that the leaves have assumed a 
 more lively colour, and will look more vigorous than 
 they did before; and you may rest assured, that, in dry 
 weather, every drill crop is improved by having the soil 
 turned up as often as practicable, provided you do not 
 disturb the roots of the plants. 
 
 The flax crop seems next to claim ’ attention. This 
 crop leaves no manure to restore the ground, so. that I 
 have been heretofore rather disposed to recommend the 
 cultivation of wheat in its place: but there seems now 
 to be the prospect of such an extensive demand for it, 
 from the erection of spinning mills in this kingdom, that 
 it is likely to pay better than any other crop, and if clover 
 
 can only be done by ploughing or digging the land before the frost 
 comes on, which will pulverize it effectually; and afterwards, when 
 the crops have been sown, if dry weather comes on, to tsrn it fre¬ 
 quently, in order to prevent its being baked into a flag by the heat 
 of the snn. With this mode of cultivation, clay land, in a dry 
 setmon, will produce one-half more potatoes ; and without it, scarce 
 any crop of tnrnips can be expected at all jn such soils. 
 
39 
 
 seed is sowed with it, or winter vetches immediately af¬ 
 ter it is pulled, the ground is preserved from injury. Up 
 to the present time, the spinning of linen yarn has been 
 chiefly confined to the east coast of England, where they 
 could obtain their supplies of flax from the continent; 
 and by sending their yarn to be sold here, they destroyed 
 the hand-spinning trade of this country, and with.it, the 
 market for the growth of flax; but now, by reason of the 
 demand for the Irish spinning mills, to which the home 
 supply will be the most convenient, the market for this 
 crop will be restored, and I anticipate a very good demand 
 hereafter. In regard to its cultivation, the general belief 
 in this neighbourhood has been for many years past, that 
 in order to cultivate it successfully, it must be sown on 
 old ley which has been bvoken up by potatoes, set in the 
 lazy bed way, and that the firmness of the bottom is what 
 insures the good crop. It is likewise conceived that the 
 use of lime is exceedingly prejudicial. Now I am strongly 
 inclined to think that both these opinions are erroneous, 
 and that it is not the firmness of the bottom but the 
 freshness of the ground which is beneficial: and as these 
 two things in breaking up old ley usually go together, the 
 cause of the good crop has been mistaken. In Flanders, 
 where the finest flax in the world grows, it is proved by 
 Mr. ltadcliff’s account of the Flemish agriculture there, 
 that the land intended for the flax crop is ploughed and • 
 harrowed over and over again, and heavily rolled both 
 before and after the sowing, until the land is brought per¬ 
 fectly level,* and as fine as powder. This shows that all 
 
 *The advantage of having the ground quite level is, that it ripens 
 eqnalljr, and grows to the same length, which are both material 
 points to be attended to in a flax crop, and cannot be obtained where 
 
40 
 
 which is said about having a solid bottom for the root to 
 take hold of is quite ideal. Then, in regard to the pre¬ 
 judice against lime, I consider that it is completely dis¬ 
 proved by several instances which have come to. my own 
 knowledge very lately, for example, David Greer, of 
 Corlust, had flax of extraordinary length and fineness, 
 and he. sowed it upon potato land that had been pre¬ 
 viously under cultivation, and had been manured in the 
 usual manner with dung, upon this be spread the lime 
 warm from the kiln and harrowed it in, and then sowed 
 the seed and harrowed it again. The crop was the finest 
 that could be imagined, and he has since pursued the 
 same plan with every success ; and what shows that the 
 goodness of the crop was owing chiefly to the lime was, 
 that the places where the loads of lime were tossed down, ] 
 could be traced by the superior luxuriance of the growth, 
 but the land had never been limed before, nor had it 
 borne flax for many years. The Flemish rotation only 
 admits flax once in seven years, and this is often enough 
 for lime also. John M‘Clure, of Drumahee, set his po¬ 
 tatoes on lime and soil, and some dung, and sowed flax 
 afterwards, and had an excellent crop likewise. These 
 instances show that the existing opinions to which I have 
 alluded are without foundation, and I would strongly re¬ 
 commend that you should not be deterred from the use 
 of lime as a manure for growing flax by any such reports, 
 only attending to this, that once in seven years is fully 
 often enough either for one or the other: and it appears 
 to me that the real advantage attending the crop upon 
 
 the ridges are much rounded. . The ground, of course, must he suf¬ 
 ficiently' drained. 
 
41 
 
 old ley is, that it insures the lapse of a certain number of 
 years between the two flax crops, and a fresh soil for 
 the lime to act on. I should consider that to manure 
 the stubble of a grain crop in the end of August, taken 
 after clover, and sow upon it winter vetches, and as you 
 cut the winter vetches the following May, to sow spring 
 vetches ridge by ridge as the ground is cleared, would be 
 as good a preparation for flax, the following season har¬ 
 rowing in lime with the soil, as any other that could he 
 named: but as I have not seen it tried, I only propose it 
 for your consideration by way of experiment, but of the 
 result, I have not myself the least doubt. In Flanders 
 they use liquid manure, consisting of urine preserve! 1 in 
 vaults under the cow houses, with a quantity of rape 
 cake dissolved in it; this immediately incorporates with 
 the soil, and the flax crop receives the full benefit of it. 
 Now, in the way I have suggested, the ground is ma¬ 
 nured for the winter vetch, and being followed by the 
 spring vetch, this insures the incorporation of the manure 
 fully with the soil, without being in the least exhausted, 
 for vetches leave the ground better than they find it, and 
 refresh the soil more than three or four years lying out in 
 poor pasture; so that, it appears to me, the ground would 
 he in the very highest order, if ploughed or trenched up 
 in the winter, and again well ploughed, harrowed, and 
 rolled before putting in the crop, as already stated to he 
 the Flemish practice. 
 
 The next thing I wish to remark upon, is your mode 
 of proceeding in the cultivation of wheat. The customa¬ 
 ry mode is either to put in the crop directly after pota¬ 
 toes, or first to take a crop of flax, and after it sow the 
 wheat, adding some lime harrowed in with the seed ; or 
 
42 
 
 a third way is, to fallow the ground intended for it, which 
 however is but rarely practised; but in any case, you 
 almost invariably trench up the land in ridges, with such 
 sharp edges, that you cannot without very particular 
 care, apply the harrow in spring. This practice, though 
 heretofore almost unknown to you, is of infinite service 
 to any winter crop, by breaking the crust formed on the 
 ground by the heavy rains, and opens the surface to the 
 influence of the atmosphere, at the same time earthing 
 up the plants, which, being rolled* in the course of a few 
 days, will afterwards grow with double vigour. This 
 mode of trenching with sharp edges is by no means ne¬ 
 cessary. Even in the wettest lands, by- making the 
 ridges round and narrow, with a regular furrow, the water 
 w ill be earned oil. and vet the ridge be left in such a 
 shape as will protect the edges from being too severely 
 acted on by the harrow, and the advantage to be gained 
 by this operation is not confined merely to the wheat 
 crop, hut you are enabled thereby to sow, at same time, 
 clover and grass seed. This form of the ridge is superior 
 in another point of view also, for where severe frost suc¬ 
 ceeds to heavy rain, which often occurs, the frost pene¬ 
 trates at the edge of the ridge both by the surface and 
 the side of the trench, and blows up the ground, raising 
 the young plants with it, which taking place repeatedly 
 in the course of the winter and spring, materially injures 
 the plants, and accordingly you will generally find those 
 next to the edge most sickly and delicate; and the injury 
 does not altogether end there, for if an early drought 
 takes place, it enters the ground in like manner, both by 
 
43 
 
 i he side and the surface, and reduces the soil to such an 
 arid dry state, that the plants are again injured for want 
 ,if moisture. These are strong objections to the plan of 
 trenching up the ground, which generally prevails at pre¬ 
 sent among you, and which is by no means necessary for 
 the deeper covering of the seed: for the seed may be co¬ 
 vered as deep as you please, by pointing in with the spade. 
 But my grand objection to the practice is, that it deters you 
 from using the barrow so as to put in clover and grass 
 seed, and by not doing this you are at present driven to 
 the necessity, most commonly, of putting in a crop of 
 oats after the wheat, and so take two grain crops in suc¬ 
 cession, which is contrary to the fourth rule laid down: 
 your land thus becomes exhausted, and as you have nor 
 (according to your present mode of feeding your cattle) 
 manure to potato the whole of it again, there is no alter¬ 
 native left you but to let it out to rest (as you term it,) in 
 which state it remains worth little or nothing, perhaps, for 
 several years, before you can get manure to spare to 
 bring it again into cultivation ; whereas, if it had been 
 sowed with clover and grass seed, the practice of house¬ 
 feeding, which this would enable you to have adopted, 
 would always supply you, as I have elsewhere observed, 
 with plenty of manure, and you would have had the se¬ 
 cond grain crop, after the clover, much superior to what 
 it would have been after the wheat. 
 
 Those who, from not paying attention to these consi¬ 
 derations. have not put in clover with their wheat, should, 
 nevertheless, upon no account, put in oats: let them sow 
 a crop of vetches or field beans, which will leave the 
 ground in a fine state for either oats or barley, and then 
 ^ ought to return to potatoes or turnips, and undergo a 
 
44 
 
 new course of cropping* Under this second inode ol 
 cultivating wheat, you manure both for it and for your 
 potato crop, and these two manurings give you first pota¬ 
 toes, then flax, then wheat, then vetches or beans, and 
 lastly, grain—that is, you get five crops from two manur¬ 
 ings ; but in the rotation 1 have suggested, the une ma. 
 miring gives you potatoes, grain, clover, and grain again 
 —that is four crops from one manure, which is evidently 
 a better return than the other. I recommend it also 
 more particularly on this account, as it keeps one-fourth 
 of the land always in clover, by which means, due provi¬ 
 sion is made for the accumulation of house-manure; for 
 it cannot be too often urged upon your attention, that 
 lime must not be applied, year after year, to the same 
 land. Many of you think, from witnessing its first effects, | 
 that you can always have recourse to it with the same 
 success; but in this you will most assuredly be disap¬ 
 pointed, and if persisted in, will bring your ground into 
 such a state that it will produce nothing—once in six or 
 seven years is sufficient to apply it with advantage, but it 
 never will produce the same effect as at first. 
 
 It is, therefore, of the utmost importance, that when you 
 first begin to lime ,f you should raise your potatoes upon it, 
 and make use of the house-manure, which this leaves at 
 your disposal, to raise turnips or mangold wurtzel, for 
 
 * A French chemist lias latch found, by experiment, that there is 
 a hind of escrementitious discharge from tile roots of the heau that is 
 
 t ft is said, that if hot lime is slacked with pickle, the salt com¬ 
 bining with the lime forms a more beneficial manure than it would 
 he if applied in the comtnOD way. 
 
45 
 
 house-feeding, and increase your stock of cattle to the ut¬ 
 most which this plan will enable you to keep, setting it 
 down for certain, that you ought to have, at least, one cow 
 ibr every three acres* of arable land, as being the smrJh^t 
 stock \\ hich will enable you to keep your land in heart, when 
 the resource of lime can no longer be looked to ; if this 
 is not kept in view, from the very outset, you will find 
 you cannot manure the one-fourth of your farm every 
 year, and you will, therefore, be thrown out of the rota¬ 
 tion, the land will be exhausted and left out to rest, as 
 formerly, and as it gets poor you will get poor yourselves, 
 and having no longer the relief of lime to fall back upon, 
 your case will become worse than what it is at present: 
 lor notv, by lending you lime, I have no doubt of mak¬ 
 ing you comfortable and independent, if you are only 
 industrious and willing to follow the instructions given 
 you; but then , this resource is lost to you, and I do not 
 see what other can be made available for your restora¬ 
 tion. From this digression I return to the third mode in 
 use of cultivating the wheat crop, which is sowing it after 
 a fallow, the nature and object c£ which operation you 
 seem to me, in general, but imperfectly to understand. 
 
 ' 1 calculate that the milk and butter of a cow will pay the rent 
 of three acres of land of average quality, and, if she cun be supported 
 upon half an acre, there will be then two and a half acres out of even 
 three rent free for you lo make the most of, with plenty of manure to 
 cultivate them, besides any profit that may be derived from pigs, 
 
 ediy asserted that every tenant on these estates might, if they fol¬ 
 lowed the instructioDS given them, have their potatoes, their grain, 
 and their pork for themselves, in place of selling the two latter to pay 
 their rent as they have heretofore in many cases been obliged to do. 
 
46 
 
 11 would appear, from the practice of many, that they 
 considered the great object of so many plougl tings was 
 merely to pulverize the ground, and if you accomplished 
 that, by giving three or four ploughings in quick succes¬ 
 sion, nothing more was to be desired, w itliout taking into 
 account that the principle of this operation is built upon 
 t his circumstance, that in the course of a certain number 
 of years’ cultivation, almost all lands will accumulate a 
 certain stock of the seeds of a variety of weeds, which 
 being shed upon the surface, have, from time to time, 
 been turned down by the plough, out of the reach of ve¬ 
 getation, where they will be preserved for almost any 
 length of time, until they are again brought within the 
 influence of the atmosphere, which will immediately 
 cause them to grow. The great object, therefore, of the 
 tallow is, by repeated ploughings, to bring, in succession, 
 n erv particle of the soil into contact with the air, and by 
 allowing each crop of weeds to vegetate, and then plough¬ 
 ing them down and bringing up another portion to be 
 served in the same way, completely to free the land from 
 the seeds so accumulated, which can in no other way be 
 effectually done, as they must be allowed to grow before 
 I bey can be destoyed. It is manifest, therefore, that 
 time must be given between the ploughings to let the 
 weeds spring up, and if this time is not allowed, the 
 seeds are again turned down until a succeeding plough¬ 
 ing may restore them to light and life; this, therefore, 
 should never be lost sight of. The plan, however, of 
 raising wheat after fallow is not very suitable to a small 
 farmer who can seldom bear to lose a year of his land ; 
 but it may be adopted in the outset, with advantage, for 
 the purpose of cleaning his ground, and enabling him to 
 
47 
 
 ijct into a better system; and it must be admitted that 
 the crop of wheat, after fallow, is very superior, both in 
 (juantity and quality, to any other, and will sell perhaps a 
 dulling per cwt. higher than the produce of the same seed 
 sowed on potato land. Before turning to any other 
 subject, I wish to make one further observation upon the 
 wheat crop, which is, that you, I may almost say univer¬ 
 sally, let it stand until it is over-ripe* which thickens 
 the skin and spoils both the appearance and quality of 
 the grain. The rule laid down in Scotland, to know 
 when wheat is fit to be cut down, is to take a few grains 
 and squeeze them between your finger and thumb, and 
 if there is no milky fluid proceeding from them, the crop 
 ought to be cut, no matter what the appearance of the 
 straw may be.f 
 
 Another observation I have made, in going through 
 your farms, is the very little care taken to prevent the 
 spreading of the destructive weed called coltsfoot ; this is 
 the first plant that comes into flower in spring; you will see 
 the blossom, in the land where it grows, in the month of 
 March, before a leaf is visible, and, in the course of a 
 
 * This observation extends also to oats, particularly the potato 
 oat, which will fully ripen in the stook, and the danger of loss by a 
 shake will be avoided. 
 
 pear in the wheat crop, the grain should be separated from the straw 
 by lashing it, as it is termed, which is striking the heads agaiust a 
 sharp board or rail; by this means the dust flies off without being 
 mixed up with the grain, which the operation of thrashing is sure to 
 do ; the difference in the appearance of the produce, under the two 
 
 vwt,, according to the degree in which the crop has been affected. 
 
48 
 
 montli or six weeks, whilst the ground is still red, it ap¬ 
 pears with a white tuft of down, on examining which, 
 you will find a seed attached to each particle, by which 
 it is carried for miles over the country at that season, 
 when the ground is ready prepared for its reception. It 
 is by the sowing of the seed in this way that this weed is 
 propagated, for it makes but slow progress by the root, 
 however difficult it may be to eradicate it when it has 
 once got hold of the ground. This weed also appears 
 to me to grow spontaneously, where the practice of over- 
 liming, or burning the surface to make ashes, prevails. 
 
 There is another weed which I likewise see doing a 
 great deal of mischief—I mean ragweed. The quantity 
 of nourishment it draws from the ground is shown by this, 
 that it will not grow upon bad land. In regard to it, a 
 most ridiculous notion prevails, which I have frequently 
 folmd people possessed of, who ought to know better, 
 namely, that all the nourishment it has extracted from 
 the soil in its growth, is again returned to it in its de¬ 
 cay, or in other words, that after ripening the seed, the 
 sap descends and enriches the earth, which is, therefore, 
 left nothing the worse.* I see also, the cutting down 
 
 urgent with a man to drain part of liis farm, which l saw was actu¬ 
 ally good for nothing, from the neglect of it; and what do you think 
 was the reason assigned for not wishing to do so? It was this— 
 that “ if he made drains in his land, all the fat would ran away." 
 You may perhaps laugh at this man’s absurdity; but the idea that 
 the nourishment extracted by the growth of a plant and the ripening 
 of the seed, can ever descend through the dry stalk, and be discharged 
 again by the roots for the enriching of the soil, is an absurdity fully 
 as great, if not greater, than the notion of the poor man aiiuded to, 
 
49 
 
 thistles wholly unattended to, and the seed allowed to 
 scatter with the most perfect indifference. In England, 
 a farmer has been known to bring an action against his 
 neighbour for not cutting down the thistles on his farm, 
 and he recovered damages without difficulty. 1 wish most 
 sincerely, that here, where people seem to be as litigious 
 as in any part of the world, some one would set an exam- 
 pie of punishing such wanton neglect as takes place with 
 regard to all the weeds I have alluded to. Thistles are 
 | only biennial plants, and therefore, if cut down for two 
 \ successive years, the supply of seed would be destroyed. 
 | 1 see people employed for whole days pulling up these 
 l out of their crops, when half an hour’s labour, in cutting 
 down the parent stocks, would have prevented the young 
 i from ever having come into existence. 
 
 . There is another matter in which I have also observed 
 i great ignorance and inattention shown, that is, in your 
 | allowing the chaff of your corn crops to be lost. You 
 will say, perhaps, there can be no nourishment in chaff, 
 and why should we trouble ourselves in that case about 
 it; and it is very true there can be very little actual 
 nourishment in chaff, but there is a great deal of use in 
 it, notwithstanding, which you may soon perceive, if you 
 will consider that when your cow is confined to drv hay 
 or straw in winter, after the juicy rich grass of summer, 
 the change of food immediately affects her habit of body, 
 the dung gets dry, the coat stares, and from the costive 
 state of the bowels, without any suspicion on your part, 
 
 who, although you may pity his ignorance, had just as high an opinion 
 of his own judgment in regard to the effect of the drain, as you can 
 possibly have iu regard to the ragweed. 
 
50 
 
 diseases originate which often end in the death of the 
 animal, and may perhaps tend thereby to your own en¬ 
 tire ruin. Now, the chaff which you throw away is the 
 very best remedy against this evil, and when well boiled 
 with some potatoes mashed down, and some seeds or 
 bran mixed, to make it palatable, a bushel full given in 
 this way, night and morning, will open the bowels, make 
 the skin look healthy, and increase the quantity of milk 
 beyond your most sanguine expectations. When chaff 
 cannot be had, chopped hay or straw may be substitut¬ 
 ed, a machine for cutting which may be bought for 
 about thirty shillings. The mixture should be made of 
 such a consistence as to be easily stirred about with the 
 hand; a greater quantity of potatoes may be given, with 
 advantage, in this way, than in any other, but they must 
 be boiled separate, as potato water is always injurious: 
 the mixture is improved by some Swedish turnips, which 
 may be boiled with the chaff; but where turnips are 
 given in quantity, they will, of themselves, open the 
 bowels sufficiently.* 
 
 * Another useful article which I see going to waste is the seed 
 of jour (lax. If you were to stook up your ttax like any other crop, 
 
 the slightest difficulty. It is said, however, that the flax will not 
 be so fine and silky in this way ; but with a little trouble it may be 
 saved, without that delay, by following the plan pointed out to you 
 some years ago by the Linen Board ; but if von do not choose to 
 take that trouble, let the seed be at any rate taken off and made use 
 of as is practised in Scotland, for the rearing of calves. The seed, 
 when boiled, forms a rich and nourishing drink, upon which, mixed 
 with a little skim-milk, calves will thrive as well as upon any food 
 whatever, except rearing them on the cow; and it is actually pre- 
 
51 
 
 in alluding to the loss you expose yourselves to by ne¬ 
 gligence and inattention in the foregoing respects, I 
 cannot allow myself to pass over what you lose by the 
 manifest neglect of the instructions given in the fifth rule, 
 as to the management of your manure. When 1 pub¬ 
 lished the first edition of this Address, I certainly did 
 expect that a matter of such importance would have met 
 with universal attention ; and yet I am sorry to observe, 
 that at the present day I see many instances of a total 
 disregard to what is so plainly your advantage to attend 
 to. It would seem to me that some of you have so little 
 understanding, that you suppose if you have a certain 
 hulk of manure, you have all you can desire, and that 
 the quality or strength of it is of no importance what¬ 
 ever—never considering that the strength and richness 
 of your manure is soluble in water; and if you allow it 
 to be drc-nched time after time by floods of rain running 
 through it, there will only be dross and refuse left behind. 
 If you keep the manure dry,and throw back the seepage, 
 and prevent the evaporation, as directed in the fifth rule, 
 you will preserve it in all its original strength, as it conies 
 from the cow house: but. as an example may perhaps 
 bring this before you in a stronger point of view than in 
 any other way I can put it, let me suppose that some of 
 you should purchase a little tea at a grocer’s—as long as 
 you keep it dry and shut up from the weather, it will 
 preserve its original strength, even for years; but when 
 you put it into a tea-pot and pour water on it three or 
 four times, the strength is all gone, and your tea becomes, 
 1 may say, dead useless matter. It is just so with your 
 manure. I see it often placed in such situations that the 
 rain water from your house and offices, and the seepage 
 
52 
 
 from tlie higher grounds, all run through it; thus 
 every shower floods it day after day, carrying off always 
 some part of the strength, until at length it is left as dead 
 anil as useless as the leaves thrown out of the tea-pot. 
 Surely no man in his senses will persist any longer in 
 such gross mismanagement. If you were to observe a 
 man quietly stand by and see his potatoes destroyed, 
 which were to be the chief support of himself and his 
 family, you would say he was either mad or a downright 
 idiot, and if this would be your opinion of him, what can 
 you say of yourselves, when you stand by and daily look 
 on at the destruction of that manure by which your po¬ 
 tatoes are to be produced ? 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ERRONEOUS OPINIONS AS TO LAND EMPLOYED IN' 
 RAISING FOOD FOR CATTLE - DIFFERENT OPINIONS 
 AS TO VALUE OF TURNIPS COMPARED WITH PO¬ 
 TATOES—REASONS FOR PREFERRING FORMER FOR 
 THE USEOF SMALL FARMERS—LAND TORE APPLIED 
 TO WHAT WILL PRODUCE THE MOST MONEY—GREAT 
 RETURN FROM BUYING POOR SPRINGERS—OBJEC¬ 
 TIONS TO CONTINUAL TILLAGE ANSWERED—EN- 
 CREASED EMPLOYMENT AND GOOD WAGES AND 
 ACCUMULATION OF PROPERTY THEREBY—NO ONE 
 TO RE DISCOURAGED FROM COMMENCING, HOWEVER 
 
 Were I to allude to every subject which might appear 
 worthy of observation, the length of this address would 
 
greatly exceed that to which I propose to confine myself, 
 bat I cannot help further remarking, that farmers in this 
 country are apt to judge erroneously in regard to the 
 value of such crops as turnips and mangold wurtzel, and 
 other food for cattle, upon this principle, that they are 
 not saleable in the market, and they give an undue pre- 
 icrence to potatoes, on account of the money which they 
 can almost in every season command for them. 1 am 
 far from wishing to detract from the value of potatoes, 
 and the great advantage which arises from their being 
 adapted to the food of both man and beast; but this very 
 circumstance generally occasions their being sold, and 
 thus the farm is robbed of the manure, and the future 
 produce curtailed, for the temporary object of raising, 
 perhaps, a trifling sum of money, though the farmer 
 might, in the end, have even made more by fattening 
 stock with them, (in which respect many prefer them to 
 any other crop,) and have had, in this way, the manure 
 besides. But, if a farmer has plenty of turnips and man¬ 
 gold wurtzel, he is not tempted to misapply them, and 
 they are, therefore, turned to the purpose for which they 
 were intended, and if he has more than is required for 
 
 that purpose—he buys cattle lean, and sells them fat_ 
 
 or he purchases them in good condition, at November, 
 when beef is cheap, and holds them over for a market in 
 spring, when it is dear—or he buys springers in March 
 or April, at a lmv price, when fodder is scarce, and sells 
 them at May, when they are near their calving, and grass 
 is plenty. In all cases he is sure of good profit, in money, 
 besides what he makes by manure, which is always most 
 valuable; and both these crops have the advantage of 
 being used raw; whereas, potatoes ought, when given 
 
to cattle, to be half boiled, which consumes a great deal 
 of fuel, if used on any great scale. It is a disputed point 
 whether turnips or potatoes are the most beneficial crop, 
 and great difference of opinion exists among persons 
 bolding large clay land farms, where carting off the tur¬ 
 nips poaches the ground ; and also among those who 
 make a trade of fattening cattle upon a large scale, who 
 have, in several instances, preferred the latter; but, 
 whatever idea the large farmer or the cattle-feeder may 
 entertain, it appears to me, there can be but one opinion 
 upon the superiority of the turnip crop, as regards the 
 .'•mall farmer.* In the first place, the saving of fuel to 
 
which I have already alluded, is a most material recom. 
 memlalion. Likewise the late period of the year at 
 which they can be sowed, which admits of their succeed¬ 
 ing rape, winter vetches, rye grass, annual clover, or early 
 cabbage. The Malta turnip may be sown at any time 
 in July witlt the prospect of a full crop. Titus, it is 
 clear that three crops may be obtained in two years, 
 turnips being one; besides this, it is to be considered 
 that the principal use of the turnip crop to the small 
 farmer, is the support of his regular stock, and the supply 
 of milk and manure. Now, a stone of turnips will yield 
 us much milk and manure as a stone of potatoes, and the 
 same land will yield five or six stone of the former, at 
 least, for oneofthe latter. Again, when they are applied 
 to fattening, and compared with potatoes sold in the 
 market, (which is the usual mode of disposing of them 
 by small farmers,) it must not be forgot, that the ex¬ 
 pense and loss of time in driving a fat cow to a lair, is 
 nothing compared to the labour of attending the market 
 with a horse and cart, day after day, to sell a quantity of 
 potatoes, when both the farmer and his horse might he 
 most advantageously employed at home in the business 
 of the farm, and that, in the former case, he gets his 
 money in a lump, whereas the potato-seller receives 
 payment in small sums, which, perhaps, may be frittered 
 away before it accumulates to any amount. 
 
 'uiglit succeed them, but the land must be if guod ipaliir end the 
 turnips well manured for. 
 
56 
 
 It should also not he overlooked, that even if only half 
 the potatoes were planted which the family might require, 
 in order to make room for such crops as would produce 
 food for one or more cows, the value of the milk which 
 would he thus obtained would buy more than twice 
 the quantity of potatoes which the ground taken 
 would have produced ; and where there was little land, 
 it might be very profitable farming to plant only 
 early potatoes where there was a good market at hand, 
 to sell the whole off in the end of July, and sow’ the 
 land with rape and Malta turnips, for winter and spring 
 feeding. The value of an early crop of potatoes is very 
 often superior to a late one, and the owner would have 
 the money to lay in his supply in November, and would 
 have, besides, all the winter and spring feeding, and the 
 milk and manure, which the after crop would yield. A 
 judicious farmer should not consider himself bound to 
 raise the potatoes he will consume himself on his own 
 farm. His object ought to be to manage his land in 
 such a way as to produce him most money, which will 
 always supply him with what he may want. 
 
 Acting upon this principle, it appears to me, the man 
 who cultivates green crops largely, and is able to buy 
 extra stock when wanted to consume them, will make 
 more of his farm than in any other way. For example, 
 suppose an acre of rape put in after winter here or spring 
 vetches, the land to be well manured and the plants dib¬ 
 bled in by the second week in August, it will be ready 
 to cut to great advantage when the clover fails in the 
 middle of October, and would enable the owner to pay 
 himself well by vealing calves, after which it will be ready 
 to cut again in the first week of April following, and will 
 
57 
 
 teed eight to ten head of cattle for a month or five weeks; 
 and supposing that springers have been laid in in low 
 condition to calve about the first week in May, they will 
 by that time be so much improved, and being also just 
 ready to calve, they will sell at an advance of'25s. to :JOs. 
 each. But to take every thing at the lowest, say eight 
 cows sold at 25s. profit amounts to £10, leaving the 
 ground and the manure ready for turnips, an acre of 
 which will fatten four head of ordinary sized cattle, which 
 should yield a profit of £3 to £4- per head, but calcu¬ 
 lated at 50s. will produce £10 more; that is £20 gained 
 by the acre, without calculating any thing on the October 
 cutting, which is worth £5 an acre more, leaving the 
 land in good heart for sowing bailey and clover; or he 
 might put iu spring vetches, and after feeding them oil' 
 in the same way, prepare the ground for wheat. Now, 
 alter making the largest allowance for seed and labor, 
 aiufsome hay for the cattle when fattening, the manure 
 being supposed to pay for the straw, it is evident there 
 will be more clear profit remaining than any single crop 
 would produce; and, of course, if a man has money to 
 deal in this way, it will be his interest to do so, and with 
 the money so gained buy the potatoes or other produce 
 he may require. I have selected as an instance, a crop 
 of rape to begin with, as it comes in earliest, and cattle 
 generally give a larger profit laid in about the end of 
 March or beginning of April, than at any other season. 
 Mr. William Dougan, of Lisdrumcher, has followed this 
 plan this last season, and has realized a much larger 
 profit; but at all seasons, springers bought in poor and 
 well fed for a month or five weeks, and sold when ready 
 to calve, are sure to leave a handsome profit, perhaps 
 
58 
 
 more than vealing calves, as recommended in October. 
 But the benefit of having a large supply of rape, Swedish 
 turnips, or mangold wurtzel for spring, is also of great 
 advantage where there are large grazing farms, as it 
 enables the stock to be kept in the straw yard until the 
 grass rises, which, by the shelter it affords, draws up a 
 succession of young shoots, and produces a growth of 
 grass that cannot be eaten down by the stock, which 
 would have been half starved upon the same ground it' 
 they had been more early turned out upon it. Some of 
 you, however, may perhaps say, as I have often heard it 
 urged, that your land would not bear this constant turn¬ 
 ing and ploughing for so many crops in succession. But 
 there seems to me a great mistake in this opinion. If 
 repeated ploughing was to do the land so much injury, 
 how does it happen that it produces such crops after a 
 fallow, when it lias been ploughed perhaps five times, 
 with scarcely any intermission. The truth is, that it is not 
 the constant ploughing , but it is the constant grain crops 
 you put in when you do plough, that does the harm* 
 * It seems to me tliat the encreased fertility of fallowed land is 
 
 fertility may be estimated by observing the barrenness which 
 follows from excluding its inlluence. Examine the ground undvr the 
 back of oue of the newly levelled ditches, or what is called the sent 
 of the ditch : now, when the ditch was originally made, this was the 
 surface productive soil, and the stuff thrown out of the gripe to 
 form the back was perfectly barren till. But now you will find the 
 ease exactly reversed, what was then the fruitful surface soil is now 
 rendered barren by being excluded, by the back of the ditch heaped 
 oyer it, from the action of the atmosphere^ and the back, which was 
 then barren, is now rendered fruitful by being exposed to it. 
 
and you need have no fear whatever about hurting 
 your land in that respect, if you only pursue the proper 
 rotation of crops, taking care to introduce vetches and 
 clover between your grain crops, which refresh the land 
 more in one year than lying out to rest, in a poor state, 
 would do in three or four years, as I have already said. 
 
 But others will be ready to complain of the great 
 labor it will require to put in one crop after another in 
 this way; and no doubt more labour will be required in 
 this mode of cultivation than if you kept half your farm 
 constantly lying at vest; but is not the want of employ¬ 
 ment your constant complaint, and if the crop pays you, 
 are you not better off working for yourselves on your 
 own farms, than working for Lord Gosford or Colonel 
 Close, into whose employment it seems to bo such an 
 object to gain admittance P That the extra crops you 
 will in that case find yourselves possessed of will amply 
 repay you for the extra labour you bestow on them, you 
 need not doubt. Look to the case of James M'Donnell, 
 of Ballindaragh, who was one of the daily labourers at 
 Gosford, whose farm was in such a neglected state that 
 I directed his Lordship’s steward to discharge him, and 
 send him home to work for himself. It is now two years 
 since, and at that time he was in the greatest poverty, 
 without a four-footed animal in his possession. He 
 thought he was turned to beggary when he was dismissed; 
 hut go to his place now, and you will find him with a 
 couple of cows and one or two pigs, and every thing in a 
 thriving state about him. It appears, therefore, his own 
 farm paid him much better for his labour than he was 
 paid for it at Gosford; and every one who has land to 
 work upon will find in like manner that he can earn more 
 
60 
 
 at home by raising extra crops thereon than all he can 
 make by his working elsewhere. This last objection, 
 therefore, should rather be considered an aiguiuent in 
 favor of the plan proposed, than be given as an argument 
 against it. 
 
 I have thought it necessary to go into these particu¬ 
 lars, because there are always people to be found ready 
 to start objections to every thing which differs in any 
 respect from what they have been accustomed to; but to 
 any one who takes the trouble seriously to consider the 
 matter, the gain that may be made in this way I have 
 just pointed out will be very evident; and the only real 
 objection 1 can see to its being more commonly acted on 
 is this, that it requires more capital to lay in the extra 
 stock required than I fear you are in general at present 
 possessed of, the want of which will therefore oblige you 
 to leave the profit to be made by dealing in cattle in the 
 manner I have been speaking of to others, and to limit 
 your own operations to the purchase and maintenance of 
 the permanent stock suited to your holdings, which, as I 
 have elsewhere said, should never be less than one cow 
 to every three acres of arable land ; and when you have 
 once attained to such a degree of prosperity as to be 
 possessed of that stock, be assured there is nothing 
 wanting but industry and sobriety to insure your future 
 comfort and independence, and also such a gradual ac¬ 
 cumulation of property* as will enable you to provide 
 
 ’ r do not know any considerable estate in tile North of Ireland, 
 in which the tenant will not he able to pay his rent by milk and 
 butter, provided he house-feeds this amount of stock, thereby leaving 
 
61 
 
 for your children without applying to the miserable re¬ 
 source of dividing your farm (already perhaps too small) 
 among them, thereby making paupers of your entire 
 family; and let no one be discouraged from commencing 
 to raise green crops, if he has the means of doing so, by 
 the consideration that he has not a cow to get the benefit 
 of them. Supposing he is so poor as not to be able to 
 buy a cow, still there are few people who have their 
 health, and are inclined to be industrious, who cannot 
 raise the price of one, two, or three young pigs, in which 
 these crops will in a little time produce such an improve¬ 
 ment, that, in the common course of things, before many 
 months lie will be enabled to purchase the cow he was 
 in want of, and would, most likely, not have been able to 
 get in any other way. Vetches, clover, and cabbage, 
 are excellent feeding for growing pigs, and would soon 
 augment their value to the amount required ; and if this 
 plan of getting a cow should fail, he will seldom be dis¬ 
 appointed (whilst the system of farming now in practice 
 continues) in getting the use of a cow, for her keep, from 
 those who have not sufficient food for their stock, by 
 which arrangement lie will have milk for his family and 
 manure for his farm. 
 
62 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CASE OF SMALL FARMERS IN REDUCED CIRCUMSTANCES— 
 MODE OF RECOVERY POINTED OUT—CROPS ACCORDING 
 TO OLD METHOD COMPARED WITH THOSE RECOMMENDED 
 -OTHERS TO BE SUBSTITUTED ACCORDING TO CIRCUM¬ 
 STANCES-IMPROVEMENT IN THE POWER OF ALL— 
 
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 But it is seldom that any one deserving the appel¬ 
 lation of even a small farmer is so very low in the 
 world as not to have a cow of some sort, and the more 
 common case is, that he is possessed of one at least of 
 those useful animals. Let us suppose him, then, to have 
 four acres of land and one cow, and that two acres are in 
 grazing, or put out to rest, as it is termed, and of the 
 remainder, half an acre is intended for potatoes, half an 
 acre for first crop of oats on last year’s potato ground, 
 half an acre of second crop oats, and the remaining half 
 acre third crop oats, which altogether make up the four 
 acres; and, with a small garden, may not be considered 
 to be an unfair representation of the general circum¬ 
 stances of the poorer class of small farmers. Now, if an 
 industrious man, reduced to such a situation by bad 
 health, or any other calamity, without capital, and with¬ 
 out friends, was to ask me how he, as a small farmer, 
 might contrive to extricate himself from his difficulties 
 and retrieve his affairs—(and this is a question which, 
 above all others, most vitally concerns the poor of Ire¬ 
 land)—I should answer by saying, if a small farmer means 
 to live by his land, his first object ought to be to make 
 every inch of that land as productive as its nature will 
 
63 
 
 admit of; and this can only be accomplished, (as l have 
 stated in the commencement,) by having plenty of ma¬ 
 nure, and pursuing such a rotation of crops as shall pre¬ 
 rent the ground from being ever exhausted. Various 
 methods may be taken by him to arrive at this, according 
 to his particular resources and the circumstances of his 
 farm; but, under any state of things, he must keep in 
 mind the fixed maxims of farming already enumerated. 
 By reference to these, be will, in the first place, see that 
 wherever he intends to put out his manure, the land 
 should previously be effectually drained; and likewise 
 that the weeds should, as far as possible, be eradicated 
 before putting in his crop. If these directions are not 
 attended to, a cold, wet sub-soil, will destroy more than 
 half the strength of the manure, and half the remainder 
 will perhaps go to nourish the weeds, in place of the crop 
 he intended it for. The next thing he will see pointed 
 out is to provide for the increase of his manure, by pre¬ 
 paring the means of feeding his cow in the house, and 
 to refresh his land by a change of crop. It is H orn want 
 of attention to these points, the returns from his farm 
 have been heretofore so much reduced that he has been 
 kept struggling in poverty, when, with less labour and 
 more skill lie might have been living comfortably. But 
 as an example will make every thing more intelligible, I 
 should be inclined to recommend him, as one mode of 
 carrying the rules laid down into practice, (draining and 
 vleanins his land being always attended to in the first in¬ 
 stance,) to sow clover and grass-seed with his first grain 
 , frop, as a provision for house-feeding his cow the follow- 
 wg year, and he must begin early and put in kail into 
 I iiis potato ridges, and sow a succession of vetches on the 
 
64 
 
 stubble of his last year’s potato land oats, to serve as 
 feeding for the present. If there should be any uvtrpius 
 after feeding his cow, and that he should not be able to 
 buy pigs to consume it, lie may let such part stand for 
 seed, the produce of which will generally be more valu¬ 
 able than any second crop of oats, and the straw from it 
 will be found much superior to oat straw, as fodder, and 
 contribute to the support of bis cow in winter. He will 
 further observe, by the fourth rule, that the manure of 
 his green crops, such as potatoes, turnips, &c. should be 
 put out upon that part which has been exhausted by 
 grain, therefore let it be given to the stubble of last year’s 
 second and third crop of oats; and by attending to the 
 fifth, sixth, and seventh rules, let him take care not to 
 have any of his land or manure wasted; and, by burning 
 the backs of the old ditches desired to be levelled, lie 
 will obtain such a quantity of ashes as will enable him. 
 with his other manure, ■ to sow half an acre of turnips 
 and an entire acre of potatoes, in place of the half acre, 
 as formerly supposed. By this means, lie will be able to 
 bring in half an acre of the poorest part of the grazing, 
 the remaining one and a half acres of which may be used 
 for the support of Ills cow, until the vetches become fit 
 for cutting, when, if be lias any ashes remaining, or as 
 far as the summer manure will cover, the grazing may 
 be broken up and prepared for rape. Supposing these 
 matters to have been conducted on this plan, when the 
 turnips become ready for use, it will be practicable lot 
 him to fatten his cow, and sell her for a price that will 
 enable him to make up the price of two lean ones, or at 
 least to add a heifer to his stock. One rood of turnips 
 is calculated to fatten a cow of moderate size, that lias 
 
65 
 
 been well fed in summer, which his would have been on 
 the vetches; therefore, he would have remaining still one 
 rood of turnips, the curled kail, and what rape he might 
 have got sown, to enable him to support the two cows 
 thus supposed to be bought, for the remainder of the 
 year, until the clover would be fit for use* which was 
 formerly directed to be sown. 
 
 In considering the foregoing, I do not see any extra 
 outlay which can be said to render this commencement 
 impracticable, nor any reason to suppose that the person’s 
 means of paying his rent will be in any manner curtailed; 
 on the contrary, it appears to me that, besides the addi¬ 
 tional half acre of potatoes, the vetches substituted for 
 the second crop of oats will produce, by the superior keep 
 of the cow, in milk and butter, and rearing of pigs, more 
 than double what an inferior crop of oats would be worth, 
 and that by these articles alone, the entire rent of a four 
 acre farm would, in common years be paid, leaving the 
 profit of the remainder of the farm to go entirely to the 
 support of the family and the increase of the stock. 
 But if it is clear from this statement that the farmer's 
 circumstances the first year will not be made morse, it is 
 still more clear that the second year they must be made 
 better ; for it is plain he will then have more than double 
 his former quantity of manure (owing to the turnip feed¬ 
 ing and the second cow) which, with the ashes of his 
 remaining old ditches, will be fully sufficient to bring into 
 cultivation all the remainder of the grazing land lying 
 out to rest, which will now Be made to yield him a valu¬ 
 able crop of potatoes and turnips, and he will have the 
 Manured land of last season, amounting to one and a 
 
66 
 
 half acres, in place of half an acre, as formerly; besides 
 all which, he will have as good a crop after the vetches 
 as after his potatoes, and thus there will be no part what¬ 
 ever of the entire farm which will not be under profitable 
 crop ; and the clover, with what vetches he may think 
 it necessary to sow, will supply him with the means of 
 feeding his two cows in the house, by continuing which 
 practice, he will have sufficient manure to keep his land 
 constantly in good heart, and to enable him to follow for 
 the future any rotation of crops he may think proper. 
 
 In order to make what I have said more intelligible, I 
 put the statement into figures, viz. 
 
 SUPrOSED .CASE OF A FOUR ACRE FARM. 
 
 t In Potatoes (having only one cow, and not fed in the 
 
 house), he will not be able to manure more than -020 
 
 2 In Oats, upon last year’s potato land • - 0 2 0 
 
 3 In Oats, being the second crop after potatoes - 0 2 0 
 
 4 In Oats, being the third crop after ditto - -020 
 
 8 
 
 Y 
 
 zing, lying out to rest - 
 Entire Farm 
 
 2 
 
 0 0 
 
 PROPOSED CROP TO BEGIN AN IMPROVED SYSTEM. 
 
 Field No. a. b. r. 
 
 1 To he sowed in Wheat or Oats, being last season’s 
 
 potato ground, and laid down with Clover and 
 
 Grass - - - - -02 0 
 
 2 To be sowed in Vetches, after first crop of Oats -020 
 
 3 To he sowed in Turnips of different kinds - 0 2 0 
 
67 
 
 Brought forward - 0 1 2 
 ^ | To be planted in Potatoes,* supposed - 1 0 0 
 
 J 1 Best part of the Grazing to remain for one cow, 
 
 l with Vetches - - - - 1 2 0 
 
 SECOND YEAR OF IMPROVED SYSTEM. 
 
 1 In Clover fit for cutting - - - 0 2 0 
 
 2 In Oats (after Vetches) if a second cow has been 
 
 got, one-half Vetches may be necessary, unless 
 
 Cabbage and Kail are cultivated - - 0 2 
 
 3 In Barley (after Turnips) laid down with Clover 
 
 and Grass-seed - - - - 0 2 0 
 
 4 In Wheat (after Potatoes) supposed planted on 
 
 house manure, laid down with Clover - - 0 2 0 
 
 fl In Oats (after Potatoes) - - - 0 2 0 
 
 0 In Turnips, having been trenched np before the 
 
 Frost.0 2 0 
 
 Acres - 4 0 0 
 
 The ditches of Nos. 7 and 8, burned, and the produce 
 of two cows fed in the house for most part of the year, 
 will give the requisite manure ; and on a comparison of 
 the crops and the keep of two cows, the return appears 
 
 * I calculate the extra manure wanted to be acqnired by burning 
 the useless ditches: where the manure has been formerly so small, 
 the fields must be small also, and the ditches more numerous ol' 
 
68 
 
 lo be fully four-fold the value of what it was, with the 
 certainty of the land every year getting better. 
 
 I think any one who will afford a few minutes’ consi¬ 
 deration to the foregoing, will be of opinion that a satis¬ 
 factory answer has been given to the question proposed, 
 and that by a simple reference to the maxims laid down, 
 a mode of recovery has been pointed out, which cannot 
 fail to accomplish its object, having for its foundation, 
 principles which may be successfully applied to the cir¬ 
 cumstances of every such farm as the case supposed; 
 and a more important case cannot well be submitted to 
 the consideration of the friends of Ireland, in its present 
 situation. I he plan recommended has been selected as 
 affording a clear and concise exemplification of the ope¬ 
 ration of the principles laid down, but it is not meant to 
 be a prescribed course that every one should invariably 
 follow; on the contrary, it may be changed and modi¬ 
 fied, in a variety of ways, according to the nature of the 
 farm, which may call for the introduction of other crops. 
 Thus cabbage, field peas and beans, mangold wurtzel, 
 and many other things which I have not taken into ac¬ 
 count, may, in many cases, be found more desirable than 
 those I have adopted. Where manure is scarce, kail, 
 and thousand headed cabbage are particularly valuable; 
 they will grow with great luxuriance upon the back of a 
 new made ditch, without manure of any kind, which 
 proves that nothing more is required to insure a crop 
 than to turn up new earth, by deeply trenching the 
 ground before the frost sets in. Curled kail should be 
 sown last week in July, or first week in August, and 
 planted out as early in March as any soft weather takes 
 place; thousand headed cabbage should be sown in 
 
March, and planted out in June or July, as soon as the 
 plants are sufficiently grown ; both will give a plentiful 
 crop of leaves at November, and also the following spring, 
 besides giving a large after-cutting, in the manner of 
 rape, when shooting up to go to seed: but in whatever 
 way the object is accomplished, still the principle of 
 house-feeding, and a rotation of crops, must be equally 
 attended to. I am fully aware that a person whose re¬ 
 sources enable him to buy lime or other manure, may at 
 once succeed in making his entire farm productive, with¬ 
 out waiting for the slower process which, to his poorer 
 neighbour, may be quite indispensable; but the person 
 with such resources, although he may hold a small farm, 
 does not fairly belong to the class of those by whom the 
 question was supposed to be put, and the answer there¬ 
 fore seems properly restricted to the single object of 
 showing all those to whom it was addressed, that they 
 might get on by their own industry, without any outlay 
 beyond the means they may be fairly supposed to possess, 
 and that if they do not better their situation, it is not by 
 reason of its being out of their power so to do: such be¬ 
 ing the case, persons so circumstanced, I trust, will not 
 shut their eyes to what is so plainly for their advantage 
 to see. If their farms should be somewhat larger than 
 the case stated, it may perhaps take a little longer time 
 to bring them round, but still the improvement will be 
 progressive, and they will be encouraged as they proceed, 
 by seeing that every step is not only attended with its 
 own peculiar advantages, but likewise facilitates that 
 which is to follow; and I therefore cannot but hope, that 
 any among you whose cases may resemble that which has 
 been stated, may be induced to take what has been said 
 
70 
 
 into their most serious consideration, and to try the effect 
 of tlie proposed change in their system of cultivation, 
 notwithstanding the obstacles which may be started by 
 these who are too indolent to exert themselves, or so 
 much prejudiced in favor of old habits, as to think they 
 cannot be improved. Such people, among other objec¬ 
 tions, will perhaps say, if we follow this plan, according 
 as the manure increases, our grazing will be broke up, 
 which is always a sure provision for our cows, and then, 
 if the clover and turnips fail, what is to become of us! 
 The answer to which is, that there is little reason to ap¬ 
 prehend any failure in the clover crop, if the land is 
 properly prepared, in which a person, well qualified, will 
 be appointed to instruct you ; but if from bad seed, or 
 any other cause, a failure should take place, it will not 
 affect the rye-grass sown with it, which may be cut as 
 soil; and as any such failure will be evident by the 
 month of September, there will be full time to put in 
 winter vetches, annual clover, and early cabbage, to 
 supply its place, and be ready for use before the rye¬ 
 grass is consumed, and the succession of cabbages may 
 be kept up until the succeeding crop of turnips is fully 
 ripe, or spring vetches may be cultivated to any extent- 
 In the mean time, the land upon which the clover is 
 supposed to have failed, is by no means lost; the rye¬ 
 grass will be cut in ample time to dig up the ground and 
 put it into turnips. It appears, therefore, there would be 
 little cause for apprehension, even if such a failure did 
 take place, and there is still less danger in regard to tur¬ 
 nips, the different kinds of which may be sowed from the 
 middle of May (when the Swedish turnip is sown) to the 
 end of July, at which late period the Malta turnip will 
 
71 
 
 yield a full crop; so that if one sowing was to fail, it may 
 he supplied by another of a different kind. Some incon¬ 
 venience may however be felt, in case a failure should 
 take place in a crop of Swedes, as they are relied upon 
 for the latter part of the season; but this also may be 
 guarded against by sowing a sufficient quantity of rape to 
 succeed the yellow Aberdeen, and yield food for the 
 stock until the succeeding clover and rye-grass are ready 
 for use. Others will tell you that it is an unnatural thing 
 to confine cows to the house or straw yard, and that they 
 will give much more milk upon grass; and this is very 
 true in summer, if the grass is good ; the reverse, how¬ 
 ever, is the fact, even then, if the comparison is made, 
 with such grazing as the small farmer’s cow is usually 
 turned out upon; but in winter, a cow well fed and kept 
 warm in the house, will give twice, or perhaps three 
 times as much milk as what she will when turned out 
 and exposed to cold and hunger and wet, upon the bare 
 hills I often, see them on, and at that season of the year 
 materially injuring the land by poaching it with their feet, 
 whilst wandering over it in search of food; besides all 
 which, it is to be taken into the argument that the ma¬ 
 nure* will be saved, and that where a poor man now keeps 
 one cow, he would, upon the plan of house-feeding, be 
 able easily to keep three.\ 
 
 * 5Ir. Cobbett estimates the quantity of manure which may he 
 accumulated by tbe owner of one cow, fed in tbe bouse, to be suffi¬ 
 cient to manure one acre ; and in these calculations lie is not bad 
 authority; but I only calculate on its manuring three mods. 
 
 t Cattle fed upon clover, either in the field or in the bouse, (when 
 it is given too soon after being cut,) are liable to its fermenting in 
 
72 
 
 All these objections when they come to be considered, 
 are easily confuted; indeed the people who make them 
 do it more as a cloak to cover their own slothfulness, than 
 from any belief in the truth of what they advance; for 
 the case is so plain, and die benefit arising from feeding 
 the cattle in the house, and having such an abundance of 
 manure as to render the whole farm as rich as a garden, is 
 so apparent, that no one can avoid being sensible of it. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 PRESSING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT, AND 
 EXPLAINING THE PLAN OF ASSISTANCE TO BE 
 GIVEN — ADVANTAGE OF PLANTING TIMBER FOR 
 FUEL—PRESENT STATE OF THE SMALL FARMER, 
 AND THE APPEARANCE OF TIIE COUNTRY, CON¬ 
 TRASTED WITH WHAT THEY MIGHT BEr-ANXIOUS 
 DESIRE THAT THIS ADDRESS MAY BE ATTENDED 
 WITH SOME GOOD EFFECTS. 
 
 There are nevertheless many well-meaning people 
 such slaves to habit, and so little able to form a 
 just estimate of what their own industry and exertion 
 would enable them to accomplish, that they despair of 
 
 death. The usual remedy is to stab them in the side, in order to 
 let the air escape: but this is no small injury to the animal, and the 
 cure may be effected by putting down the throat an egg-shell full of 
 tar, in which three or four drops of the spirits of turpentine have 
 been mixed. Cattle getting too many raw potatoes are liable to the 
 same complaint. 
 
7.3 
 
 surmounting the difficulties which surround them ; and 
 it has often fallen to my lot to be told, with a perversity 
 of reasoning not a little provoking, “ that such a plan 
 might do very well for the rich, but how could any poor 
 man afford to farm his land in that way ?” and, notwith¬ 
 standing. it is evident the poor man can least of all afford 
 to lose any gain which might be made by following a 
 better system. He seldom thinks of making even an 
 attempt at what appears to him so far beyond his utmost 
 efforts; whereas, if the attempt was made, scarcely any 
 industrious man could fail of success. From a sincere 
 desire to benefit all of you, but particularly those of this 
 unfortunate class, who, under existing circumstances, 
 seem likely to be deprived of their small holdings, if 
 they do not hit upon some expedient to better their 
 condition, so as to be no longer a disgrace to the 
 properties they inhabit, I have endeavoured, in the 
 foregoing Address, (as being the first step to im¬ 
 provement,) to convince you of the wretched plan 
 you have been hitherto pursuing, and of the bene¬ 
 ficial change which might soon be brought about by 
 adopting some such alterations as I have been suggesting. 
 In this I hope I have at least so far succeeded, as in 
 some degree to weaken your attachments to old customs, 
 and dispose you to follow such instructions as may be 
 given to you; and in order to set aside any excuses that 
 might be made, either on account of ignorance or inability, 
 I have, with the concurrence of your landlords, engaged 
 two Scotch farmers or agriculturists, for the purpose of 
 giving you the instructions you so much require. You 
 will find them to be practical men, who have had expe¬ 
 rience of every kind of soil, and know how each should 
 be treated. After minutely examining your different 
 
74 
 
 farms, they will point out to you how they are to be 
 drained, cleaned, and prepared for. the growth of green 
 crops, so as to introduce tlie plan of house-feeding and 
 accumulating of manure, which has been already insisted 
 on. Thus your want of skill in the management of your 
 land will at once be remedied; and then, to provide you 
 with manure, (the want of which at present I am aware 
 would incapacitate you from cultivating the crops recom- 
 mended,) your landlords have kindly consented to lend 
 such of you as may require assistance, as much lime as 
 will be sufficient to insure you as many potatoes as you 
 may require for your families, on condition that the house 
 manure you may be possessed of shall go to the other 
 crops which the agriculturist may point out. Thus 
 nothing will be wanting to the perfect cultivation 
 of your farms but your own industry and that of your 
 families; for the above-mentioned assistance will be 
 continued to all such as show themselves deserving of it, 
 until they are brought into a situation no longer to re¬ 
 quire it.* My employers, therefore, I repeat, having 
 gone to such expense and trouble to better the condition 
 of the small farmers on their estates, and the benefit to 
 be derived by following some better plan of cultivation 
 being so evident to the commonest understanding, no 
 one who, by his own want of industry, fails to take 
 advantage of the assistance offered, can have just 
 
 * He who leaves his land uncultivated, and not producing one* 
 half of what it ought to do, may not unaptly be compared to the dog 
 in the manger, who would neither profit by bis situation himself, nor 
 let any others do so. Such people, with perfect justice, may be 
 addressed like the unfruitful tree in the parable—*'' "Why cumber ye 
 the ground V* 
 
75 
 
 grounds of complaint, if the land, which he refuses to 
 cultivate, is taken from him, and given to some of his 
 more industrious neighbours, which will most assuredly 
 be the case, when a fair time for making the experiment 
 has been allowed. 
 
 I trust few will be found so blind to their own interests 
 as to force their landlords to this painful alternative; and 
 it is with great pleasure. I look forward to the prospect of 
 seeing their estates peopled with a thriving tenantry, 
 and covered with neat and respectable cottages, and the 
 farms divided by hedge-rows of useful and ornamental 
 timber, with underwood for fuel. The cattle being kept 
 from injuring these plantations, they would soon come 
 to a luxuriant growth, and I am confident would not 
 only yield a quantity of valuable timber, but also suffi¬ 
 cient faggots to afford a cheerful fire in the winter’s eve¬ 
 ning ; and if the farmer has a lease, and registers the 
 trees planted, as here recommended, he may have at the 
 expiration of his tenure, even if the farm be a very small 
 one, one hundred or two hundred trees, from twenty to 
 forty years old, according to the duration of his lease, 
 well grown, which they will be, if the cattle are home 
 fed, and thus prevented from injuring them; and these 
 trees he cannot be prevented from selling at their full 
 value; and if his landlord even should turn him out, 
 (which in such a case is not likely,) he would not have 
 to go away empty handed; and thus the bank of his 
 ditch would be to him a savings’ bank, the most econo¬ 
 mical and the most productive he could have recourse 
 
 When the present state of the small farmer is consi¬ 
 dered—reduced, as he often is, to potatoes and salt, and 
 
76 
 
 perhaps even a scanty supply of these, with a house 
 almost unfit for a human habitation, and suffering under 
 a scarcity of both,five and clothing; and then look for¬ 
 ward to him in the enjoyment of the comforts of life, well 
 fed, well clothed, and well lodged, with a Gheerful fire on 
 the hearth, and his flitch of bacon in the chimney—what 
 a change is opened to the view, and what an ardent wish 
 arises to see it realized! Again, when the beautiful va¬ 
 riety of surface, which this country affords, is now ob¬ 
 served bleak, dreary, and naked; and then look forward 
 to it covered with well built cottages, well laid out farms, 
 and thriving plantations, with contentment and its na¬ 
 tural companions, good order, peace, and prosperity, 
 reigning around, surely every one ought to be tempted 
 to put his hand to the work, and as far as his influence 
 extends, assist in bringing, about a change so desirable. 
 Connected as I have been with you for many years, I 
 feel most sincerely desirous to give effect to the kind 
 wishes of your landlords, and to use the means placed at 
 my disposal, and the .influence my situation as land agent 
 gives me, to promote your comfort and happiness. It is 
 that feeling alone which has prompted me to take the 
 trouble of thus addressing you, and to devote so much 
 time to personally enforcing the requisite attention to the 
 instructions of the agriculturists who are engaged for the 
 purpose of directing you in the selection of the crops best 
 adapted to the soil and situation of your farms, and the 
 proper mode of cultivating them. Their appointment 
 renders it unnecessary for me to enter into any discussion 
 upon these subjects,* which would require more space 
 
 * In this respect, I would beg to refer to Mr. Martin Dojle’s 
 
77 
 
 than would be suitable to this Address, already pro¬ 
 longed much beyond my original intention. All I con¬ 
 tend for is, that you shall cultivate such a succession 
 of crops as will afford a plentiful supply of moist 
 food for your cattle in the house during the entire 
 year. Experience has fully proved that one fourth of 
 the land in this way will suffice: and as the practice of 
 home feeding has the additional recommendation of pro¬ 
 ducing the manure necessary to bring the land so saved 
 into profitable cultivation, common sense will justify 
 me in insisting upon the practice being adopted, which, 
 under the orders of your landlords, I am determined to 
 do; and if my exertions should in any manner bring 
 about that improvement which is so much required in 
 the cultivation of the soil upon which your welfare and 
 happiness so much depend, I shall feel myself most 
 amply rewarded. And even if the perusal of the fore¬ 
 going should have no other effect than merely to awaken 
 your understandings to the consideration of the subject, 
 and make you to consider attentively how every thing 
 may be turned to the best advantage, and to make the 
 most of every opportunity of bettering your situation 
 and increasing your comforts, which prudence mav 
 place within your reach, I shall even then congratulate 
 myself that an important service has been rendered to 
 you and your families, by 
 
 Your sincere friend and well-wisher, 
 
 William Blacker. 
 
 Hints to Small Farmers,” which gives most valuable information, 
 not only regarding the cultivation, but also as to the respective 
 merits of the different crops at present cultivated in this country. 
 
I’.S.—As nothing which tends to increase your com- I 
 forts in any way is foreign to the nature of this Address, 
 
 I cannot help calling your attention to the high price 
 you often give for oatmeal, when wheaten meal might 
 perhaps yield a much cheaper and more nourishing food. 
 
 If you buy wheat'and getit ground at any common countrv 
 mill, your hundred weight of wheaten meal will not 
 stand you generally in more, if so much, as a hundred 
 weight of oaten meal. Now, if you take and mix a 
 well beaten up egg with a pound of the wheaten meal, 
 and wet it witii milk made boiling hot, it will produce 
 near a pound and a half of excellent bread, which, by- 
 being warmed before the fire, will be as good the second 
 and third day as the first, and will contain nearly twice 
 the nourishment which a pound of oatmeal will yield. 
 
 It also surprises me, that in winter, when milk is 
 scarce, you do not try to make a substitute of broth. 
 
 A single ox head, which you may buy in any market 
 town fur a shilling, with a small quantity of groats or 
 barley, and a few onions, cabbage sprouts, sliced tur¬ 
 nips, or anv thing of that kind, will, I am informed, 
 make twentv quarts of broth of most excellent quality; 
 and again, in summer, when potatoes get soft and bad, 
 if the skin is taken off, and they are put into a pot to 
 stew, with about three pints of water to a stone, and 
 half a pound of bacon, cut into very small pieces, put at 
 the top, with a little pepper, salt and onions, and the 
 pot kept close covered, it will make a wholesome ami 
 palatable mess for an entire family. Any one wishing 
 to get more particular information on this subject, may 
 easily find persons able and willing to give it; and what 
 tends to the comfort and satisfaction of a family two or 
 
79 
 
 three times every day of their lives, is surely well worth 
 being attended to. Almost all of you know what a 
 good mixture beans and potatoes make, and what nou¬ 
 rishing food it affords ; and yet how seldom do you see 
 raised the small quantity of beaus which will be required 
 for this purpose. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 1st Nov. 1833. 
 
 31Y bear Sin—In compliance with your letter of the 22dinstarst, 
 I beg leave to state that I had nearly an English acre of rape this 
 last spring, on which I fed twelve cows with a little hay for one 
 month, on which I made a large profit, besides getting manure to set 
 the same ground in turnips. As part of my profit this year was 
 occasioned by the great advance in the price of cattle, I do not think 
 my gain this year can always be expected to be realised; but I 
 think that in all ordinary times a springer well laid in the first of 
 April, when in poor condition, and well kept on rape for five weeks, 
 and then sold in thriving order, ready to calve, ought to leave a 
 profit of 20s. to 25s., according as she has been judiciously l-m - , 
 in. I think a full English acre, in rape of good quality, and sot td 
 with lfilbs. of seed per acre, ought to feed eight to ten cows entirely 
 for the five weeks, which, at the above rate, would give a profit of 
 ten pounds per acre, besides the manure; and I am so well satisfied 
 with the experiment I made this season, that I have above three- 
 acres of rape coming forward, to be consumed in the same way next 
 spring. I have manured above four acres of land with the manure 
 made by house-feeding, from the 1st May till the 1st of October, 
 and have no doubt that, by persisting in that practice, to make 
 my land, which was originally of the poorest quality, in a short 
 time as rich as a garden. 
 
 I remain, dear Sir, 
 
 Your obedient and very humble servant. 
 
81 
 
 Vrumhoneg, Aug. 20, IDIi.'f. 
 
 Sin—Being induced by your primed Address to tlie Tenants 
 of the Bari of Gosford, to try the experiment of farming by house- 
 feeding my cattle and following the rotation of crops, I find by ex¬ 
 perience I can keep three cows and one horse on twenty-three acres 
 
 of oats and potatoes as ever I had. I began to practise the system 
 of house-feeding last year, and the green crops enabled me to in¬ 
 crease my stock two cows at that time, so that in all I have lire 
 cows and one horse more than when I commenced the system, my 
 stock now being two horses, nine cows, one heifer, two calves, and 
 four pigs. I have but a new lease, and yet I was able, by the sale 
 of butter, to pay tire entire rent of my farm last year, and I have 
 the opinion I can do so this season again. 
 
 1 am, dear Sir, 
 
 Vour very obedient servant, 
 
 To William Blacker, Ksq. 
 
 
 B.P—It is my opinion that, when my farm has been manured 
 for another season, four acres will be as profitable to any indus¬ 
 trious tenant, as six acres, if farmed under the old system. 
 
 Graghilla, Sept. 2, lfiilX 
 
 Sin—I hold five acres of land, No. fi IS, on which I formerly kept 
 a cow and a pig; but being induced to try the experiment of 
 house-feeding, from the printed Address by your honour to the 
 Karl of Gosford’s Tenants, I find I can keep two cows and three 
 pigs, in prime condition, on less land than when I kept one of each. 
 Tliis season being my first attempt, I fed the above stork on three 
 roods sown with clover and grass-seed; in the next season I can 
 feed a greater stock. Tor the utility of house-feeding I refer to my 
 neighbours, who hold the same quantity of land, and sow the same 
 reeds; but from grazing their clover, they can keep but one cow. 
 
82 
 
 The difference in the quantity of the i 
 Your very obedient: 
 To William Blacker, Esq. 
 
 James Cully. 
 
 Sir—W hen I commenced under your plan, I had only one 
 cow; now I have three head of cattle, and in another year I think 
 I can feed more. From the benefit that is from house-feeding, I 
 think it would doubly pay a man for his labour—milk and butter is 
 quite preferable to that of country pasture. X can say that I am 
 well pleased with the plan of house-feeding, and have more crop 
 titan when I had only one cow. 
 
 Johv Hogg. 
 
 Carrickgollogly, Sept. 2, 1633. 
 
 Sir —I hold six acres of land, and I formerly kept one cow and 
 a breeding pig. This season, having sown a field of clover and 
 green crops, I was enabled to keep three cows and the pig, as for¬ 
 merly ; and I find by experience, that good clover will feed three 
 times as much as common pasture, and the increase of the manure 
 is very essential to farmers. 
 
 Your honour's very obedient servant, 
 
 James SIuluollasd. 
 
ROTATION CROPS 
 
 FOR A COTTAGE ALLOTMENT OF TWO ACRES. 
 
after vetches and stubble, turnip after early potatoes. It is con¬ 
 ceived that three roods of well manured land, in potatoes, together 
 with a rood of grain, and the produce of their garden, will, with 
 the milk of the cow, supply food for a man and his wife and two 
 children; and that the rape and stubble turnip, with the rood of 
 vetches, clover and turnips, will feed the cow all the summer, and ad¬ 
 mit of a little clover hay being saved for the winter, besides feeding 
 two store pigs, with the help of the cabbage from the garden, 
 
85 
 
 the kail which may he reared among the potatoes, and the refuse 
 of the house; and the profit on selling off the grown pigs and 
 laying in younger, with the spare milk and butter of the cow, ought 
 to do more than pay the rent, and perhaps admit of their fatten, 
 nig a pig for their own use. 
 
 March 10th, 1834. 
 
 My dear Silt—My brother Hehry sowed about three mods 
 English measure of rape, in the month of July last, which he com¬ 
 menced cutting about the first of January; on which, with the help 
 of a little straw, he hodse-fed two cows, which vealed their two 
 calves in ten weeks; and during the first five weeks the calves were 
 not able to take all the milk, owing to the great quantity they gave 
 in consequence of the green feeding. For the calves he got five 
 pounds. He bought the cows in December, when springers were 
 dear; but they improved so much from green feeding, that he has 
 now sold each of them within five shillings a head of prime cost. 
 The rape will yield a second cutting in April, superior to the first. 
 1 have also myself about three acres of rape, on which I expect to 
 feed from twenty to twenty-four cows for a month. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, your most obedient and very humble servant, 
 
 To William Blacker, Esq, 
 
 William Doijgan. 
 
 Lurgabuoy , January 20th, 1834. 
 Sir—I received your note of the 26th of December, wishing me 
 to give you an account of the precise weight of rape I could have 
 off an English perch. You will pardon me for not answering your 
 letter, owing to my having the best of it cut before I received it. 
 However, I have just weighed the produce of one perch, which is 
 thirty-one stones five pounds. In the month of March, what was 
 
 first cut will be ready for the second cutting, and will be ready for 
 the third cutting in the latter end of May, so as to leave the ground 
 
86 
 
 ready for either potatoes or turnips, at which time I will be able to 
 give' you a correct account of the weight of each cutting. 
 
 I remain, Sir, yours, respectfully, 
 
 William Scott. 
 
 To Ifi/Knm Blacker-, F,s‘j. of Gosfori. 
 
 MR. ALLEN’S PLAN OF KEEPING A COW UPON 
 HALF AN ACRE OF LAND. 
 
 (Extracted from his work , entitled “ Colonies at Home") 
 
 Vi rods of yellow beet, or mangold wurtzel, 144 
 plants in a rod, leaves to be picked t 
 
 N. B. A crop of winter tares or ryi 
 to be cut green, IOOlbs. per rod, 
 
 Roots, 144 in a rod, average 31bs 
 
 Swedish ti 
 
 ice, 30011)8. 
 iously', 
 is. 4321bs. per 
 average 31bs., 4321bs. 
 ires or rye previously 
 
 iOOlbs. per rod, 
 
 20 do. potatoes, IdOlbs. to the rod, 
 
 N. B. A crop of winter tares or rye 
 IOOlbs. per rod, 
 
 lo do. cabbage, 144 in a rod, average 
 16 do. Lucerne, 2001bs. per rod, 
 
 Surplus, • . . 
 
 75 roots per day, for 180 days, 
 
 Surplus, which might be potato, to be sold, ’ 
 
 ,15300 
 
 13500 
 
 roots for winter food must be added 141bs. of hay, and 
 141bs. of straw each day. 
 
 To the 
 
87 
 
 EXTRACT FROM A SMALL WORK, WRITTEN BY MR. 
 COBBETT, ENTITLED “COTTAGE ECONOMY." 
 
 “ As to the use of milk, and that which proceeds from milk, in 
 a family, very little need he said. Whether the milk of a cow 
 is to he consumed by a cottage family in the shape of milk, or 
 whether it be made to yield butter, skim-milk, and butter-milk, 
 must depend on circumstances. 
 
 a The cases vary so much that it is impossible to lay down rules 
 for the application of the produce of a cow, which rules shall fit all 
 cases; and I shall, therefore, only make an observation on the art 
 of milking* before I come to the chief matter; namely, the yetting 
 of the foot! for the mu'. A cow should be milked clean —Not a 
 drop, if it can be avoided, should be left in the udder. It has been 
 proved that the half pint that comes outlast, has twelve times , I think 
 it is, as much butter in it, as the half pint that comes out.AV.sY. I 
 tried the milk of ten Alderney cows, and, as nearly as I, without 
 being very nice about the matter, could ascertain, I found the 
 difference to he about what I have stated. The udder would seem 
 to he a sort of a milk-pan, in which the cream is uppermost, and, 
 of course, comes out last, seeing that the drain is at the bottom. 
 Rut, besides this, if you do not milk clean, the cow will give less 
 and less milk, and will become drier much sooner than she ought. 
 The cause of this I do not know, hut experience has long established 
 the fact. 
 
 “ For a cottage, a cow of the smallest sort common in England 
 is, on every account, the best; and such a cow will not require above 
 seventy or eighty pounds of good moist food in the twenty-four 
 
 “ Now, how to raise this food in one rood or forty square perches 
 of ground is what we want to know. It frequently happens that a 
 labourer has wore than one rood of ground; but F am here, for 
 simplicity’s sake, to suppose that be have forty square perches of 
 clear unshaded land, besides what his house and sheds stand 
 upon; and that he has nothing further in the way of means to 
 keep his cow. 
 
 “ I suppose the forty square perches to he clean and unshaded ; 
 
88 
 
 for the ground is to be clear of trees; and, in the spring, we will 
 suppose it to be dean. Then, dig it up deeply, or, which is better, 
 trendi it, keeping, however, the top spit of the soil at the top. 
 I,ay it in ridges in April or May, about two feet apart, and made 
 high and sharp. When the weeds appear about three inches high, 
 turn the ridges into the furrows (never moving the ground but in 
 dry weather) and bury all the weeds. Do this as often as the weeds 
 get three inches high; and, by the fall, you will have really dean 
 ground, and not poor ground. 
 
 i‘ There is the ground, then, ready, About the end of July or the 
 1st of August, prepare a square perch of your ground, and put some 
 manure in it, '(for some you must have,) and sow one half of it with 
 early York cabbage seed, and the other half with sugar loaf cabbage 
 seed, both of the true sort, in little drills, at eight inches apart, and 
 the seeds thin in the drill. If the plants come up at two inches 
 apart (and they should be thinned if thicker) you will have a plenty. 
 As soon as fairly out of ground, hoe the ground nicely, and pretty 
 deeply, and again in a few days. AVhen the plants have six leaves, 
 which will he very soon, dig up, make fine, and manure another 
 perch or two, and prick out the plants, four thousand of each, in 
 rows at eight inches apart, and three inches in the row. Hoe the 
 ground between them often, and they will grow fast and be straight 
 and strong. I suppose that these beds for plants take four perches 
 of your ground. 1st October, or, as the weather may serve, a little 
 earlier, or later, lay some manure (of which I say more hereafter) 
 between the ridges in the other thirty-six perches, turn the ridges 
 over in this manure, and then transplant your plants on the ridges, 
 at fifteen inches apart. Here they will stand the winter, and you 
 must see that the slugs do not eat them. If any plants fail, you 
 have plenty in the bed where you pricked them out; for your thirty- 
 six perches will not require more than four thousand plants. If 
 the winter be very hard, and bad for plants, you cannot cover thirty- 
 six perches; but you may the bed where the rest of your plants are. 
 A little litter, or straw, or dead grass, or fern, laid along between 
 the rows and the plants, not to cover the leaves, will preserve them 
 completely. When people complain of all their plants being ‘ cut 
 off,' they have, in fact, nothing to complain of but their own extreme 
 
90 
 
 middle of August, with stout plants, and these will serve you into 
 the month of November. 
 
 “ Now we have to provide from December to May inclusive; 
 and that too, out of this same piece of ground. In November 
 there must he arrived at perfection three thousand turnip plants. 
 These, without the greens, must weigh on an average, five pounds, 
 and this, at eighty pounds a. day, will keep the cow one hundred and 
 eighty-seven days; and there are hut one hundred and eighty two 
 days in these six months. The greens will have helped out the 
 latest cabbages to carry you through November; and perhaps, into 
 December. But for these six months, you must depend on nothing 
 but the Swedish turnips. 
 
 “ And now, how are these to be had upon the same ground that 
 hears the cabbages ? That we ate now going to see. When you 
 plant out your cabbages in the fall, put first a row of early Yorks, 
 and then a row of sugar-loaves, and so on throughout the piece. 
 Of course, as you are to use the early Yorks first, you will cut every 
 other row; and the early Yorks that you are to plant in summer will 
 go into the intervals. By-and-by the sugar-loaves are cut away, and 
 in their place will come Swedish turnips, you digging and manur. 
 ing the ground as in the case of the cabbages ; and, at last, you 
 will find about sixteen perches where you will have found it too late, 
 and unnecessary besides, to plant any second crop of cabbages. 
 Here the Swedish turnips will stand in rows at two feet apart (and 
 always a foot apart in the row), and thus you will have three thou¬ 
 sand turnips ; and if these do not weigh five pounds each on an 
 average, the fault must be in the seed, or in the management. 
 
 “ The Swedish turnips are raised in this manner:—You will bear 
 in mind the four perches of ground in which you have sowed and 
 pricked out your cabbage plants. The plants that will be left there 
 will, in April, serve you for greens, if you ever eat any, though 
 bread and bacon are very good without greens, and rather better 
 without than with. At any rate, the pig, which has strong powers 
 of digestion, will consume this herbage. In a part of these few 
 perches you will, in March and April, as before directed, have sown 
 and raised your early Yorks for your summer planting. Now, in the 
 last week of May, prepare a quarter of a perch of this ground and 
 
91 
 
 sow it precisely as directed for the cabbage seed, with Swedish 
 turnip seed, and sow a quarter of a perch every three days till you 
 have sowed im perches. If the fly appears, cover the rows in the 
 day time with cabbage leaves, and take the leaves off at night; hoe 
 well between the plants, and when they are safe from the fly thin 
 them to four inches apart in the row. The two perches will give 
 you nearly five thousand plants, which is two thousand more than 
 you will want. From this bed you draw your plants to transplant 
 in the ground where 'the cabbages have stood as before directed. 
 You should transplant none much before the middle of July, and 
 not much later than the middle of August. In the two perches, 
 whence you take your turnip plants, you may leave plants to come 
 to perfection at two feet distance each way; and this will give you 
 over and above eight hundred and forty pounds weight of turnips: 
 for the other two square perches will be ground enough for you to 
 sow your cabbage plants in at the end of July or 1st of August* as 
 directod for last year. 
 
 “ I should now proceed to speak of the manner of harvesting, 
 preserving, and using the crops; of the manner of feeding the 
 cow; of the shed for her—the managing of the manure, and seve¬ 
 ral other less important things; but these, for want of room here, 
 must be reserved for the beginning of my next number. After there¬ 
 fore, observing that the turnip plants must be transplanted in the 
 same way that cabbage plants are, and that both ought to be trans¬ 
 planted in dry weather, and in ground just fresh digged, I shall close 
 this numberwith the notice of two points which I am most anxious 
 to impress upon the mind of every reader, 
 
 “ The first is, whether these things give an ill taste to milk and 
 butter. It is very certain that the taste and smell of certain sorts 
 of cattle food will do this; but I state, upon positive and recent 
 experience, that early York and sugar-loaf cabbages will yield as 
 sweet milk and butter as any food that can be given to a cow. 
 During this last summer I have, with the exception about to 
 be noticed, kept, from the 1st of Slay to the 22d October, five 
 cows upon the grass of two acres and a quarter of ground, the 
 grass being generally cut up for them and given them in the stall. 
 
 I had, in the spring, five thousand cabbage plants, intended for 
 
e food, but gave the cows two distinct spells at the c 
 ell about ten days in duration. The cabbages we 
 imp with little or no care about dead leaves ; anil 
 liter—butter of a finer colour, than these cabbages 
 is made in this world. I never had better- from co 
 e sweetest pasture. Now, as to the Swedish tur. 
 ve a little taste, especially if boiling of the milk 
 :ted; and if the greatest care be not taken about 
 ckle. Yet, we have, for months together, had the 
 jm Swedish turnips, that nobody could well distil 
 ass butter. But, to secure this there must be nc 
 Ifurn, pans, pail, shelves, wall, floor, and all about 1 
 : clean: E".d, above all things, the pans must be 
 er, after all, it is not here a case of delicacy of smel 
 faint at any thing that meets it, except the stink 
 ' the butter do taste a little of the Swedish tun 
 
 ;ry well where there is plenty of that sweet sauce whi 
 
93 
 
 in a situation where the smell of the blossoms of nothing of the 
 cabbage, or rape, or turnip, or even charlock kind can reach them. 
 The seed will keep perfectly good for/our years. 
 
 “ I have now, in the conclusion of this article, to speak of the 
 manner of harvesting and preserving the Swedes; of the place 
 to keep the cow in ; of the manure for the land; and of the quan¬ 
 tity of labour, that the cultivation of the land and the harvesting 
 of the crop will require. 
 
 “ Harvesting and preserving the Swedes —When they are ready 
 to take up, the tops must be cut off, if not cut off before, and also 
 the roots; but neither tops nor roots should be cut off very close. 
 You will have room for ten bushels of the lulbs in the house, or 
 shed. Put the rest into ten-bushel heaps. Make the heap upon 
 the ground, in a round form, and let it rise up to a point. Lay 
 over it a little litter, straw or dead grass, about three inches thick ; 
 and then earth upon that about six inches thick. Then cut a 
 thin round green turf about eighteen inches over, and put it upon 
 the crown of the heap to prevent the earth from being washed off. 
 Thus these heaps will remain till wanted for use. When given to 
 the cow, it will be best to wush the Swedes, and cut each into 
 two or three pieces with a spade or some other tool. You can take 
 in ten bushels at a time. If you find them sprouting in the spring, 
 • open the remaining heaps, and expose them to the sun and wind, 
 and cover them again slightly with straw or Utter of some sort. 
 
 “ As to the place to keep the cow in, much will depend upon 
 situation and circumstances. I am always supposing that the cot¬ 
 tage is a real cottage, and not a house in a town or village street 
 though, wherever there is a quarter of an acre of ground, the cow 
 may be kept. Let me, however, suppose that which wiU generally 
 happen; namely, that the cottage stands by the side of a road, or 
 lane, and amongst fields and woods, if not on the side of a common. 
 To pretend to tell a country labourer how to build a shed for a cow, 
 how to stick it up against the end of his house, or to make it an 
 independent erection, or to dwell on the materials, where poles, 
 rods, wattles, rushes, furze, heath, and cooper-chips, are all to be 
 gotten by him for nothing, or next to nothing, would be useless; 
 because a man who, thus situated, can be at any loss for a shed for 
 
il five years old, to graze, or pick along the sides of the 
 Where there is a common, she will of course be turned out 
 7 time, except in very wet or severe weather; and, in a case 
 a smaller quantity of ground will suffice for the keeping 
 According to the present practice, a miserable ‘ tallet' of 
 is, in such cases, the winter provision for the cow. It can 
 je called food; and the consequence is, the cow is both dry 
 >j nearly half the year, instead of being dry only about fif- 
 i before calving, and being sleek and lusty at the end of 
 er, to which a warm lodging greatly contributes. For, 
 if you keep a cow, any time between September and June, 
 field or yard, to endure the chances of the weather, she will 
 
95 
 
 the surface, and has been trodden on, is a species of manure. Every 
 act that tends to neatness round a dwelling, tends to the creating of 
 a mass of manure; and I have very seldom seen a cottage, with a 
 plat of ground of a quarter of an acre belonging to it, round about 
 which I could not have collected a pretty large heap of manure. 
 Every thing of animal or vegetable substance that comes into a 
 house must go out of it again , in one shape or another. The very 
 emptying of vessels, of various kinds, on a heap of common earth, 
 makes it a heap of the best of manure. Thus goes on the work of 
 reproduction; and thus is verified the words of the Scripture: 
 “ FlesMs grass ,• and there is nothing new under the sun." Thus 
 far as to the outset. When you have got the cow, there is no more 
 care about manure; for, and especially if you have a pig also, you 
 must have enough annually for an acre of ground. And, let it he 
 observed, that after a time it will be unnecessary, and would be 
 injurious to manure for every crop; for that would produce more 
 stalk and green than substantial part; as it is well known that 
 wheat plants, standing in ground too full of manure, will yield 
 very thick and long straws, but grains of little or no substance. 
 You ought to depend more on the spade or the hoe than on the 
 dung-heap. Nevertheless, the greatest care should be taken to 
 preserve the manure, because you will want straw, unless you be by 
 the side of a common which gives rushes, grassy furze, or fern; and 
 to get straw, you must give a part of your dung from the cow-stall 
 and pig-stye. The best way to preserve manure is to have a pit of 
 sufficient dimensions close behind the cow-shed and pig-stye, for the 
 run ftom these to go into, and from which all runs of rain-water should 
 be kept. Into this pit would go the emptyings of the shed and 
 of the stye, and the produce of all sweepings and cleanings round 
 the house; and thus a large mass of manure would soon grow to¬ 
 gether, much too large a quantity for a quarter of an acre of ground. 
 One good load of wheat or rye straw is all that you would want 
 for the winter, and half a one for the summer; and you would 
 have more than enough dung to exchange against this straw. 
 
 « Now, as to the quantity of labour that the cultivation of the 
 land will demand in a year. We will suppose the whole to have 
 five complete diggings , and say nothing' about the little matters of 
 
96 
 
 sowing and planting, and hoeing and harvesting, all which:are a 
 mere trifle. We are supposing the owner to be an able labouring 
 •man; and such a man will dig twelve perches of ground in a 
 day. Here are two hundred perches to be digged, and here are a 
 little less than seventeen days of work, at twelve hours in the day, 
 or"two hundred hours' work, to be done in the course of the long 
 days of spring and summer, while it is light long before six in the 
 morning, and long after six at night. What is it,; then!. • Is it 
 not better than time spent in the alehouse, or in loitering about ? 
 Frequently, and most frequently, there will be a bog, if not two, big 
 enough to help. And (I only give this as a hint) I saw, on the 7th 
 of November, a very pretty woman, in the village of Hanington in 
 Wiltshire, digging a piece of ground and planting it with early cab¬ 
 bages, which she did as handily and as neatly as any gardener that 
 I ever saw. The ground was wet, and, therefore, to avoid treading 
 the digged ground in that slate, she had her line extended, and 
 put in the rows as she advanced with her digging, standing in the 
 trench while she performed the act of planting, which she did with 
 great nimbleness and precision. Nothing could be more skilful or 
 beautifully done. . • ■ 
 
 “ And what a produce is that of a cow ? I suppose only an 
 average at jive quarts of milk a day. If made into butter, it will 
 be equal every week to two days of the man's wages, besides the 
 value of the skim milk; and this can hardly be of less value t>';-- 
 another day’s wages. What a thing then is this cow, if she earn 
 half as much as the man ! I am greatly under-rating her produce; 
 but I wish to put all the advantages at the lowest.” 
 
 : . 2 , 
 
 'Printed by John Home.