CHAPTER LV. WHAT AN ACRE OF LAND CAN PRODUCE. BY JOHN WALKER, "The Author of The Cow and Calf," "The Sheep and the Lamb," "Farming to Profit in In treating upon this subject, as indeed upon all others I contribute to this book, I write from actual experience. In this chapter is given a rotation of crops so that profits be not reckoned from one year's produce but from a general average. Many acres may be treated as profitably as one acre upon my system, if capital, energy and fertile and suitable land be cultivated. FIRST YEAR.-Dress heavily with stable manure or crude night soil, say at the rate of twenty tons per acre, upon the approach of winter. Spread the manure and plough it in deeply and leave the ground to profit from frost and air until the following March. Then plough again, taking care that the share brings the manure to the surface. Work the ground into a fine tilth and upon the first favourable chance plant early potatoes on the flat. Choose tubers that only run to short haulm, such as Ash Leaf Kidneys, or Myatt's Prolific. At Christmas the seed potatoes should be arranged crown upwards in a large light, dry room. Passages must be left here and there between the sets so that a covering can be put on in case of frost. If, however, the room be protected by thick walls only the most severe frost will be likely to damage the tubers. By the beginning of April strong green shoots or chits will be found on the potatoes and then planting may commence. Convey the sets carefully to the plot and plant them in rows thirty inches apart and from ten to twelve inches apart in the rows. It is important that the chits be placed upwards and not bruised; to avoid this, considerable care is needed. The green chits of some sets will peep through the surface as planted. Weed and mould up the crop in the ordinary manner with the exception that narrow strips of soil be left just midway between the rows. About the middle of June drill swedes down these strips and cover the seed lightly. Raise the potatoes carefully when ready for market, so that the swedes are not damaged with mould, yet in a measure moulded up. The swedes should be singled, weeded, and raised in proper season. Thus two valuable crops are grown in one season. SECOND YEAR.--Plough the land as soon as the roots are raised, and drill wheat as soon as a drill will work freely. Hoe, harrow, and roll the ground at spring, and reap and harvest in common order. A heavy yield of both wheat and straw is usually reaped after a wellmanured potato and swede crop, so that although wheat makes but a low figure now-a-days the heavy yield tells up and the straw is valuable. THIRD YEAR.—Manure and plant the plot again with potatoes and swedes as advised for first year, and pay particular attention to weeding so as to keep the land clean. FOURTH YEAR. By this time the land will be too rich for wheat, therefore oats should be sown. The ground should be deeply winter ploughed, re-ploughed, and worked to a fine tilth at spring, and oats sown between Lady Day and All Fools' Day. The best quality of white oats should be chosen and drilled rather thinly, say three and a half bushels per acre, lest they produce over much straw and fall before ripening. Harvest the crop in the usual way, and if there be any couch or other troublesome weeds, such as docks, on the oat ley, fork out and burn them. Land may be worked in the above manner for any number of years, and in most parts of the country, for I have not advised the culture of crops that call for quick sale, so there is no need to rent dear land adjacent to towns. In a climate so variable as our own, and in a country where prices of labour change so frequently, profits vary immensely. But I am justified in saying that sufficient money can be made to allow English land to be farmed so profitably as to enable agriculturists to meet all costs and make a livelihood, with a little to spare, taking an average of ten years. To do this, however, land must be worked on modern principles, to wit, some such system as I advise. It is very regrettable, I may say, wrong, that so much land in a thickly populated country like England should be thrown out of cultivation, leading to poverty amongst all associated with it. Appended see figures giving probable costs and returns. CHAPTER LVI. THE IMPORTANCE OF COMBINATION AMONGST FARMERS. By T. PENN GASKELL, M. Inst. C.E. DURING the last few years much attention has deservedly been given to the improvement of the position of the cultivator of the soil; and there can be little doubt that the more the subject is discussed and the more the British farmer has his attention drawn to the arts and devices by which his foreign competitor tries to displace him in his own markets, the better will he be fitted to hold his own. In one respect our foreign competitors have an advantage in that there are merchants and traders who come to their doors and buy up their produce for shipment to other countries, whereas here, each producer acts independently, and in the case particularly of perishable articles, finds there is no ready outlet for their disposal to advantage. This is the age of combinations, or "rings," and it is believed that much might be done by applying the principle either on a large or small scale to farming. In some trades competition is so keen that the formation of a combination amongst the various members cannot be carried out except at great risk, but farming has this peculiarity, that the markets are so wide and extensive |