p26 ENGLISH FARMING. BY X. A. WILLARD, A. M., ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY ATO CORNELL UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FARMING. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE AT ITS ANNUAL MEETING AT ALBANY, FEBRUARY 13th, 1867. By X. A. WILLARD, A. M., ALBANY : VAN BENTHUYSEN & SONS’ STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 1867. 455° WoS [Ket ENGLISH FARMING. Mr. President and Gentlemen of the N. Y. State Ag. Society : Agriculture has such a range of topics that one can scarcely be expected to reach and discuss them all, even in a life time. We may spend months and years exploring some branch, ‘and then not be able to fathom all its mysteries. Brilliant talk is not always practical talk. ‘a ' Where there is so much to be said on British agriculture, one can scarcely hope even to glance at its prominent feature in the brief space of an hour. . I went out to Europe to investigate matters pertaining to the dairy. The exportations of American cheese to England is from seven to ten millions of dollars annually. The English have always claimed superiority in dairy husbandry, ‘and i in the quality of dairy products, Some of their cheese sells at a better price than ours. American dairymen have never been’ able to find out wherein this ‘superiority lies. In view of the immense trade already inaugurated, and likely to increase, it was deemed import- ant that a knowledge of English dairy husbandry and English cheese making be obtained, “My attention, while abroad, " was more par ticular rly directed to this object. THE PEOPLE. A stranger will not find it so easy to obtain information in Eng: land as in “America. The people are more reserved and less com- municative. They are not so ready to show attention or spend time with a stranger, unless he bring references or is properly introduced. When I first went into the country among the farmers, I found them lovking and double barring their doors and windows at night, and they thought personal property must be very insecure in ‘the cheap wooden houses of America. They thought it incredible when I told them that many of our farmers seldom locked a door at night ; that my dairy buildings had no bolts or locks, and that no losses had ever occurred from theft. I told them that butter 4 and cheese to the value of hundreds of thousands of dollars were thus exposed in the dairy regions, and yet losses were seldom sus- tained. The English have large self-esteem; they think there is no country like England; that there is no people upon the face of the earth, where so much wealth, refinement and intelligence can be found, as among their own. Nearly every modern invention they claim to have been in some way first originated in England. The Americans, they say, are a very clever people in seizing upon original ideas of Englishmen, and evolving from them something practical. Our war and its results, however, has been to them perfectly astounding. They never before appreciated the tre- mendous power and resources of our nation. And yet out of this bloody struggle, in which their sympathies were divided between north and south, their vanity has been intensely gratified in the thought that we are descended from Englishmen. The most rank southern sympathiser, who invested in the Confederate loans, will manage to soothe his exasperation and disappointment in this reflection. The distinction in classes is very strongly marked. AnAmerican can scarcely understand the servility that exists in social relations between those occupying different positions in society. It seemed curious to see men in the middle and lower classes advocating with such persistency the claims of an aristocracy, which they could never hope to reach, and at the same time insisting upon an im- passable barrier between themselves and the classes below. Wealth is almost unbounded in England, and there is no coun- try where poverty has sharper pangs. There is immense wealth among the middle and commercial classes. Some of the mer- chants and provision dealers are princes in their way. The peas- antry are poor, ignorant, stupid, and their condition in many respects ismost deplorable. They often have good substantial cot- tages, some of them highly ornamental, because the landlord would be ashamed to have squalid poverty exposed and traced to neglect on his part. Many of these working men would be glad to emigrate, but never expect to get money enough ahead for that purpose. They live a hcpeless life, and too frequently spend of their little earnings at the alehouses. They often besought me in the most touching manner to send them out to America, promis- ing to serve me faithfully. At Rothamstead, Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert have inaugurated 5 a movement which, on that estate, has tended largely to the moral elevation of the peasantry. A commodious and pleasant public hall has been erected for the use of their laborers; it is furnished with chairs, tables and papers. Beer in England being regarded as a necessity, the laborers make up a sum and purchase a cask at wholesale. They appoint in turn a salesman, who deals it out and charges for it at wholesale, and who is responsible for the quan- tity put in his possession. The laborers and their families meet here every week, some one reads to them, and they talk and enjoy their ale in moderation. Mr. Lawes and others often make them addresses. Sometimes one of their own number mounts the ros- trum and talks. Everything is conducted by the laborers them- selves. They have officers clected to preserve order, and since the adoption of the plan great good has resulted from. it. The laborers feel that they are of some account in the world, and their moral status has been elevated. The agricultural laborers, though their condition is infinitely below that class in America, are much better off than they are in Ireland and in many places on the Continent. They have good com- fortable houses to live in, and small allotments of land—say one- cighth of an acre. This is a great advance on the miserable hovels of Ireland. One going rapidly through the agricultural districts’ of England might possibly get an incorrect idea of the condition of the peasantry. Within the last few years, the old cottages have been torn down and new buildings erected. These are sub- stantial and comfortable, and many of them have a more preten- tious appearance than the houses of well-to-do and wealthy farm- ers in America. You would, at first glance, say that these peo- ple are in a highly prosperous condition; but when you go inside: and see the miserable shifts made by the occupant to support himself and family on twenty-five or thirty cents per day, ina. country where food is dear, your first impressions become modi-: fied. In America, the laborer goes into the farmer’s family, and: he receives there a sort of education which fits him to become a, good citizen. In England he lives by himself, and his wages: include his board or living. The almost universal opinion of. Americans whom I met abroad, in regard to the character of Eng: lishmen was, that they are selfish and egotistical beyond measure. They have, it is true, a fair share of egotism, but when you once: understand them and break through the conventional crust, they’ are a generous, hospitable and good people. The upper and mid- 6 dle classes are well bred and courteous, and I think they have deservedly earned the title of “ honest John Bull.” They are not a trickish or deceitful people, and have many estimable traits ot character, which would become some of their descendants on this side to copy. I mingled freely with the people, and traveled from the extreme south to the extreme north, and I never heard an oath from an Englishman while there. Notwithstanding their damp, murky atmosphere, and their little patches only of sunny weather, the people seem to be little sub- ject to low spirits, are good tempered, and try to make the most of life. There is less of that anxious nervous strain and scram- ble to get money than with us. They take time for amusement, and they have numerous holidays and excursions where one can enjoy a day of pleasure for a mere trifle. If our railroads would adopt the English system of cheap excursion trains, and our people unbend a little from their money mak‘ng, and take pattern in this respect from ‘ Merrie England,” we should get more out of life than we do. THE COUNTRY. The contrast between England and America is most striking. The country has the appearance of our garden and ornamental culture. Everything seems to be done in the most substantial mannner. The buildings are either of brick or stone, and made to last for centuries. The roads are magnificent. The dark green foliage of the hedges, and the trees scattered here and there, either singly or in clumps, often gives one the impression of being in a well wooded country. For quiet pastoral scenery, and for home adornment, England must always rank first among the gardens of the world. An English landscape i is most charming; the shady lanes, the velvety lawns, the quaint architecture of the buildings, the clean culture, and the finished appearance of everything, give to the eye a never ceasing pleasure. Alderman Mechi advocates the felling of tim- ber and the grubbing up of hedge rows. The land, he says, can be turned to better account in the growing of corn. He has carried out this idea upon his farm, but if everybody else should follow his example in this respect, England would be shorn of much of its beauty. Tiptree hall and farin, at first sight, struck me with disappointment. It looks new and stiff, and has not the graceful, cozy, home-like appearance, which I expected. I can appreciate 7 the splendid farming results, all accomplished by Mr. Mechi; the thorough drainage of a most stubborn and almost impenetrable soil; his grand system of liquid manuring , where the steam engine is nade to do the work of many men, his extensive apparatus for chaffing fodder, grinding feed, and doing other farm work; his experiments in dibbling wheat, putting single kernels in hills, forr inches apart, and using only a peck of eed to the acre, and yet obtaining from it.an immense crop—fifty bushels or more to the acre; is magnificent crops ofr ye g grass from liquid irrigation, where the grass is made to shoot up so luxuriantly and rapidly, as to be almost marked in its growth hourly with the eye; these and many more things useful in the way of improved agriculture, I can appreciate, and give praise to the great man for doing; but I cannot admire his taste in home adornment. I do not object to the straightening of the hedge rows, and the abandonment of those surrounding useless small enclosures, but the destruction of timber and Heiden should not be carried too far. A farmer’s lite is not made up wholly of getting large crops, and the making of money by cultivating every inch of ground. He can afford to pay something for beautiful scenery, and a handsome landscape that greets his eye lovingly while at-his toil. I think our American farmers can learn a great deal about making homes pleasant, from ‘English farm adornment. Our fields and lawns are too bare of trees ; our little forests are being rapidly swept away; our winters in “consequence are becoming more cold and inhospitable ; blights and insects infest our CLOps ; new diseases attack and destroy our animals. Nor is the human race exempt from ills incident to climacteric changes, induced by this wholsale destruction of timber. I know of many springs and streams, a few years: ago considered unfailing, that now fail ; many farms that were once well stocked, with ‘dreams and springs of living water, now almost barren in this respect. In some sections fruit cannot now be grown, and all these are traceable to the destruction of woodlands and clumps of trees that afford a shelter. Railroads are in projection - threading the great northern wilder- ness of New York, a few years more and the timber will be felled, and the ‘opening of the mountainous Adirondac region, it is feared, will so let down the cold and storms of the northeast upon central and western New York, that in the effect of the bleakness upon human health, and the destruction of grain crops by intense cold, every foot of lumber secured dierefiom for commerce and 8 industry, will cost double its value in the injury to other interests.” Will we not he warned by history ? God designed trees for a purpose beyond mere commercial uses. They help carry out a great law in nature, for man’s health and happiness, and when you strip them wholly from the land the curse follows. The surface of the country over a large part of England is either level or slightly undulating. Low ranges of hills are not uncom- mon, and at the north-west the country is mountainous. The geological features of the south, are the oolite, the lias, the new red sandstone and the chalk formations. Upon the latter a a lighter soil generally prevails, which is worked with two horses. Lhe lias is a heavier soil, good for grain, and often requiring four or more horses to break.it. The oolite is a kind of limestone, made up of roundish grains similar to the roe of afish. It is upon this soil that the great dairies in the south of England are pastured. It is the soil that produces not only the largest quantity, but the best flavored and highest priced cheese in England, (if we except the Stilton, which is only of small make and -consumption)—the famous Cheddar. The dairy soils of England are no better than those of America. The milking stock isno better than in our first class dairies. I think there is no county in England where the average quantity of cheese per cow is so large as that made in Herkimer county, N. York. I do not think the pastures of England produce milk that has more butter in its composition than our best old pastures. Their pastures generally will carry more stock than ours, because theirs are freer from weeds, and better managed. Their moist climate gives them some advantage in their grass lands, but apart from this, ours with proper management have equal capacity with theirs. In Cheshire, pastures that formerly took two acres to carry a cow during the summer, by the application of bones every twelve to fifteen years, will carry a third more stock. In the great dairy district of the south of England, the permanent pastures and meadows are often mowed and pastured alternately. Manures are carted out and piled upon the meadow where they are to be used. They are turned until pretty well rotted, and in the fall spread upon the surface, at the rate of twenty cart loads per acre, and brushed down fine. They say that good results follow from pasturing and. mowing permanent grass lands alternately, and in this way they keep up permanent meadows. The system does not obtain with us, and I have never seen it tried in America. When: 9 ever they can irrigate a meadow by small or large streams, it is done, and always with the best results. They understand the management of pastures and meadows better than we. They make eternal warfare against weeds, which are not per- mitted to get possession of the soil. A handy little implement, consisting of a claw, chisel, and foot piece for forcing it into the earth, is used for taking up large weeds. It has a socket for hold- ing the handle, which is long and light. SEEDING GRASS LANDS, &C. They seed heavily, and with a great variety of seeds—as much as two bushels of the lighter seeds, and fifteen to twenty pounds’ of the clovers are often used per acre. Timothy is not grown to that extent as with us. Many of our farmers run to timothy; they have no faith in other grasses. White clover is a favorite with them, as with us. It goes into nearly all their seeding mixtures. This is one of their mixtures for alternate cropping on rather poor soils, to remain in grass four years and then be broken up. Three pecks Pacey rye grass; two pounds cow grass; four pounds white clover; one peck Italian rye grass; four pounds timothy grass; three pounds rib grass. Their permanent grass lands have a great variety of grasses. The sweet scented vernal, and June grass are common. The fescue grasses, meadow foxtail, crested dog’s tail, cock’s foot, the poas, together with different kinds of clover. They improve grass lands by running, in early spring, a scara- fier, having coulter-like teeth, through the ground. This cuts down three or four inches, and divides the roots of the grass, without turning up the sod. Such grass seeds are sown as appear to flourish best, and manure is then laid upon the ground which is carried down by these incisions. The top dress- ings are well brush harrowed, and the field rolled. Harrowing, too, is resorted to, on hide bound and mossy lands. Early and late cropping have been found prejudicial—that is, cropping early in spring and late in autumn. The latter is scarcely ever attended to with us. The hay from permanent meadows is much finer than with us. When at Mr. Lawes’ place at Rothamstead, I pulled out hay from the old stacks which had been cut down and was particularly struck with the fineness of the stems. The hay seemed almost as [E. F.] 2 10 fine as hair, and its nutritive value must have been a third more than our timothy, on account of the less waste from woody fiber. I do not think their permanent meadows yield any greater weight than do ours. Two tons are considered a heavy crop. The dairy farmers in the south of England, manage their grass lands quite differently from the usual practice in this country. They believe that grass is more profitable when it can be converted into milk or meat, and hence the area of pastures is increased, while, what we call meadow lands, are reduced to a very small compass. In the winter they make up the lack of hay by feeding straw cut to chaff, with an addition of oil cake. Two parts straw and one of hay, cut to chaff, with three pounds of oil cake per day, to each animal, they say will bring the herd through winter in capital condition, both as to flesh and health. The cost of oil cake they say, is nearly half paid back in the better quality of the manures. Mr. Mechi estimates oil cake to be worth as manure at least £3 3s. per ton. Some experimenters estimate the manure from straw, when con- sumed as food, to be worth £2 1s. per ton; but if plowed under, only about nine shillings. Mr. Lawe’s estimate of oil cake is higher than Mechi’s. He places the value of manures from oil cake at three times that from the grain of barley, oats or wheat. Our dairy farmers feed largely of bran and ship stuff, which costs them per ton about as much as oil cake, and is not worth near so much for feed, to say nothing of the manure. Again, with oil cake, there is not that danger of injury to the cows, as from meal or grain. Some of our dairy farmers claim that Indian meal is very inju- rious to milking stock, inducing garget and other troubles of the udder, besides having a tendency to check the milk secretions. Oil cake is unobjectionable in this respect. Its value has never been appreciated by our dairy farmers, who are content to see it- shipped abroad for the benefit of English farmers, while they sub- stitute a feeding material of less value and at greater expense. If they do this out of charity for English farmers that is all right, but if it be from ignorance, then the practice ought to be corrected. Dairy farms vary in England from 100 to 500 acres, being stocked accordingly. The dairies rarely go higher than 80 or 100 cows. There are a great many with a small number of cows. A dairy farmer in England often pays $3,000 per annum in rents and il taxation for a 200 hundred acre farm. He pays this for the land alone, and gets no use of any personal property with it whatever. He then stocks it at his own expense. He is at all the cost of utensils, labor, and of keeping the farm in repair. As the well to-do farmer, for the most part, never Jays his hand to any labor beyond superintendance, you will naturally conclude, as I did, that pretty shrewd management, at least, is required to pay this sum, support his establishment, and lay up money from his business. By a judicious use of capital, by a liberal use of fertilizers, and by a system of mixed farming, he is able to accomplish these results. It is true labor is cheap. He pays his laborers from 30 to 40 cents per day, and in harvest a little more, and he does not board them. They have cottages, good substantial buildings, and little gardens. These cottages, like the more pretentious man- sions of the farmer, are erected by and at the expense of the land- lord, but a certain number of people go with the farm, and they pay rent to the farmer for their cottages, say about a shilling per week. The condition of the peasantry is in many respects most wretched, but that need not be discussed here. The farmers’ position is infinitely above them, and he lives, for the most part, the life of a gentleman. He is a man wao is expected to have some means, say from £8 to £10 per acre; or in other words, a floating capital of from $40 to $50 for every acre of his farm. This he uses in his business, purchasing stock and fertilizers, and making such improvements as he judges will pay him back remunerative profits And here I cannot do better than introduce you to Mr. Hard- ing, of Marksbury, the great exponent of Cheddar cheese making in England. Mr. Harding is, perhaps, 60 years old, and learned the great and essential principles of cheese making from his ances- tors. He has simplified the process of manufacture, and helped to reduce it more to a science, but he does not claim to be the originator of the Cheddar system. He is an intelligent, companion- able man, with a rich vein of humor in his composition, and if you will step with me a moment upon his farm, we shall see what his management is, which will serve as an illustration of the manner in which dairy farms are conducted in the west of England, although in some respects Mr. Harding’s practice differs from others. 42 MR. HARDING’S FARM. The farm may be regarded as of rather inferior land; some of it a compact, tenacious soil, requiring a four-horse team to plow it. Comparatively, he places the farm under the head of middle class lands; and when he first came upon it, it was considered un- adapted to the dairy. But for illustration, it will perhaps serve our purpose better than to take some extra farm, since a nearer approximation will be reached to average results. The farm consists of 300 acres, 200 of which are in permanent pasture and meadow, and 100 acres arable land. The farm is hilly, and rises from the new red sandstone, which is the poorest part, to the white lias, which is level, and upon which lies the arable portion, and again rising to the oolite, which is the best part of the farm. The permanent grass lands are used alternately for pasture and meadow, the change being made annually. Mr. Harding, making good cheese which sells at a high price, believes it more remunerative to convert as much as possible of the pro- duce of the arable land into milk. A considerable portion of the arable land is devoted to grasses that will come early to supply the cows in spring. The arable land is managed as follows: ' First, crop wheat; second, turnips, vetches or tares, &c.; third, barley. When the land is seeded with rye grass, one bushel, trefoil ten pounds, red clover four pounds, white clover three pounds, per acre. Upon these grasses the cows are pastured two seasons, when it is broken up in August or September, and sown to wheat in October without additional plowing. After the wheat is harvested, a portion of the stubble is imme- diately plowed, and sown with winter tares for feeding sheep early in spring. Another portion is sown at the same time with trefolium incarnatum (Italian crimson clover); another part is sown in February with spring tares, and the balance to Swedes and other turnips. All this food is to be consumed for the feeding and fat- tening of sheep, of which from one to two hundred are annually kept. The sheep are purchased in August, at from six to eight months old, at prices ranging from $7.50 to $10 each, and the next season after shearing are sold at from $15 to $20 each. In fattening the sheep, they are hurdled and fed on the turnips, vetches, &c., with corn or cake, say of latter, at the rate of half a pound each per day. The turnips are grown in drills, with an application of from ; 13 five to six hundred pounds of superphosphate per acre, leaving the principal part of the farm-yard manures for the permanent grass lands, upon which are kept from 65 to 70 cows, half dozen heifers and eight horses. $35 a ton are paid for the superphos- phates. The cows are grades natlenie largely of the Short-Horn blood, of good size, with a view that when failing for the dairy, they may be turned to good account for making beef. Mr. Harding keeps more stock than he grows hay for in the winter, thinking that grass is far more valuable than hay, and he makes up the lack of fodder by giving two parts straw and once of hay, cut to chaff, with three or four pounds of oil cake per (lay to each animal. ‘The cows yield about 450 pounds of cheese each annually. They “come in milk” in February, and cheese making commences about the first of March. The calves are disposed of when a few days old to the butcher, similar to the practice of some of our own dairymen. — The cows are not kept in barns or close stables, as is the prac- tice in New York, but are tied in sheds built of stone, the floors nicely paved. In these they take their place during summer, night and morning for milking, and each milker is allotted seven cows, Tin pails are used for milking, and the milkers place them on the head when carrying the milk to the dairy. The pig in this dairy forms an important item of profit. A hundred or more are fattened during the year, on barley meal mingled with the whey, which anniially realizes about $7.50 per cow, after paying for the meal. The hogs are of the Berkshire breed, and very fine ones. They are kept in a nice, spacious stone piggery, cleaned and bedded every day. The barn is a large stone building, provided with water-wheel, to which is attached the threshing-machine, chaff-cutter, and stones for grinding the grain. The dairy house is connected with the dwelling and is a model of neatness, being built of stone and provided with Cockey’s appa- ratus for cheese making, a tolerably good apparatus, but much inferior to our factory vats. The milkers are not allowed to come into the dairy, but pour the milk into a receiver at the window which conducts it to the tub. The whey passes off through pipes to a cistern in the piggery, where it is pumped for the pigs. 14 ‘ The production of hay from permanent meadows on this farm, is generally at the rate of 3,800 pounds to the acre. Farm yard manures are not allowed to accumulate in the yard, but are taken to the field where they are to be used, and there piled; here it is turned until pretty well rotted. -When it is spread upon the lands to be mowed, it is applied at the rate of twenty cartltoads per acre, aud brushed down fine. RESULTS. Under this system, the average annual receipts and expendi- tures are as follows, the calculations of course being upon a gold standard : Cheese sold.....-..--.-----------------+- =e. ---- $5,000 Profit on sheep, including wool and mutton... ..-.---- 500 PrOi Ol (IGS 5 Geer cs tee eae te wed ene ean ee ds 600 Grin 01d. 6.4. scessettesese cede eyten “1800 Calves aie DUEL 3 oueacen ce beeetemadesar SGA eeeae 250 Metal cor iekaremaaus eae diaceulta Ocean EG The expenses are as follows : a FOP T6tibs.cosccdee sae dene eceskadaxarcadesccecawe $2,800 ALIGNS? 24s es okie Sask th dons Sats ene ae ee LM 450 Poor-tates and takes cc. 0 ao cscacs se weci eben gue caus 400 Wabor vase. gexec dee se Ser cee ece eve nGeswectsacds, 1750 WOW 2 sceseeseGieetececc coe eeaeceay eececses. Bah Leaving an annual profit or balance of $3,050. The number of male hands employed, including boys, is ten. They get, on an average, 33 cents and 3 pints of cider each per day. In harvest the men get 50 cents per day, these sums always including the cost of board, since in England the hands do not live in the farmer’s family, as with us, but find themselves in board. The two girls in the house are paid respectively $30 and $50 per year and board. These figures were given me by Mr. Harding as his average result of profits. To this should be added, doubtless, the value of food consumed in the family. No items were given for beef sold, since these were made to balance depreciation of stock, pur- chase of oil cake, &e. 15 No comment need be made upon the foregoing, because among practical men, each will make the necessary comparisons, and draw his own conclusionsas to whether his own or thisis the best system of dairy farming. But if any can show a better balance sheet 7n gold, from a poor farm of this size, he is doing well. HARVESTING THE GRASS CROP. Though the variety of grasses for hay may be greater, finer, and of more nutritive value than with us, I could see nothing to be learned from them in harvesting the crop. The mowing machine has been introduced from America, but there are yet vast quanti- ties of hay cut by hand. Mr. Harding had never used a machine, and when I was there, was talking about putting one on his farm. They have a very good hay tedder, and a wheel horse rake. Like all English machines, these are made heavier than ours, and the operator walks instead of riding. On Prince Albert’s model forri at Windsor, I saw Bullard’s hay tedder, and the manager in this department, assured me they pre- ferred it to the English pattern. Grass is cut just before it comes into full flower. It is mowed low and even, and that which is down early in the day is tedded and put into cocks the same. day, aiid this operation repeated daily, until the grass is fit to go to the stack. Many allow it to lie in the swath, until the second day and longer, but the climate is so cool and variable that it is not so easy to make hay as with us. In a climate so moist and catching as England, I was surprised that they knew nothing about the hay cap. In going among’ ‘the farms during the wheat harvest, I visited atv intelligent and extensive farmer, having many acres of wheat, which the continued wet weather had spoiled. We walked through a field where a great force of workmen were employed in opening the sheaves to get them dry. This had been done over and over again, but exch time before they could be made ready for-the stack, the rain would come, wetting them again, and now the wheat was sprouted. I said, that it made me sad to see such a waste of grain in a country where there were so many poor and needy people that required it; and that ‘thousands of acres of wheat in Great Britain could: have been saved this year, by” me adoption of a little yankee contrivance, called the “hay cap ;” and ‘then I explained its construction and use. ‘ Oh,” said he, “that suggestion a few weeks ago would have saved me hundreds 16 of pounds, and I shall adopt it. But why could you not have told our English farmers this, through the papers, in time to have spared us this great calamity ?” He really blamed me for not anticipating the weather and his bad luck. I replied, that since being in England, I had learned that nearly all our American contrivances were first suggested by Englishmen, and perhaps, this, also, was of English origin, at least I had supposed they knew all about it. I did not see a horse fork in all England, and a practical ope- rator, who knew how to introduce it, would make a fortune by this little implement. When in Cheshire, I went to see a Cheshire farmer having a model farm. We went over the large farm together, and through the model buildings which had been erected from his own designs. There was much here to admire. The stable was constructed for eighty cows, with water box and feed trough before each animal. The cows stood on either side, and facing the wide central alley. The liquid manure flowed into tanks outside the stables, and was drawn from them into a large tank into the field below, where it was used for manuring grass lands, Connected with the stable was a large barn having open arches, where the grain was being stored. When the threshing was to be done, the portable engine was placed outside, and the grain in one arch threshed, and the straw thrown above the cows. Here it was cut to chaff, and fell below, where it was steamed, mixed with pulped turnips or meal, and fed out. When one arch had been cleared of grain, the engine was moved up in the vacant arch, and another arch emptied of its contents and disposed of in a similar manner. The whey from the dairy was conducted off into large slate vats, from which by drawing a plug, it went to the piggery. It was then mingled with barley meal and fed out. There were many things upon this farm admirably arranged, and the farm management was interesting, inasmuch as the present occupant had commenced here upon poor, worn out land, bring- ing it up to a high state of fertility. He said people came from all parts of England to see his farm buildings, which were the best arranged of any in the world. He thought I did well to come out to England, the great “head centre” of all that was worth knowing. The contrast between American and British farming must be very striking. He presumed, since our war, 17 American farmers found it very difficult to live. Our eurrency was sadly depreciated; our farming was very shiftless; and since the price of labor was so high, it was a mystery to hin how we managed. Doubtless, in harvest time, half our crops were not gath- . ered. I said we have much to learn from you in the way of farm- ing. Your clean culture is admirable; your grain crops are much better than ours. Labor with us is high, it is true; but we manage to make our machines do a good deal of the work. Thus with the hay crop for example, three men and a boy will cut, cure and store more hay in a day, than you can with 20 laborers. We go into the field in the morning with the mowing machine, one drives the teddar, and at the proper time, another follows with the rake. Then when ready for the barn, the load- ing machine is attached to the wagon, the boy drives, and the machine throws up the hay as fast two men can load it. It is taken to the barn where the horse pitchfork throws a ton of hay into the mows in half a dozen forks full, and so we are back again into the field in no time. Some have an arrangement which takes up the whole load and dumps it at once in the mow. He opened ‘wide his eyes, and it was hard to make him believe that these were facts; and though due praise was given to his model build- ings, I described some of our new dairy barns, where labor is economized to the last degree—where the manure cellars are be- low the cattle, the hay, grain and cutting machines above them, ‘making it nothing but play to push the feed down the tubes, or ‘the manure to the cellar below. BARNS. As for convenience or the economizing of labor, the dairy barns and out-buildings in England are suisely inferior to our late im- proved structures. They have the open yard in the center, sur- rounded with low sheds, with stables and stalls. They are so connected with the larger buildings, that a great deal of labor is -required in the feeding and care of stock; since the hay must be drawn from the stack, from time to time, in small quantities. Some of the Oneida county barns are constructed with such per- fection, that one man can take charge of 100 head of cattle, with more ease and in less time than several men could do the same work in England. I tried to look upon this question without prejudice, and hoped to pick up something practical, which would be an improvement upon our best barns; but if they have such, I failed to see it. [E. F.] 3 or 18 CHEESE MAKING, In much of their cheese making I was greatly disappointed. The Wiltshire, the double and single Gloucester, and the Cheshire pro- cesses, are defective and extremely laborious. The implements are outlandish, and belong toa past age of the world. The dairy people are tenacious of their practice, and adhere to it with a dogged pertinacity, notwithstanding their cheese brings a much less price in the principal markets than that made under an improved sys- tem. Much of this cheese is manufactured by guess, and varies in character according to the skill and experience of the dairymaid. There is scarcely a thing in any of these processes that would be of any service to us, and if introduced here, would be a positive damage. American cheese is richer and better made, and is acknowledged by the best judges in Great Britain to surpass in every respect these styles, as they are generally made. The Ched- dar, however, is a very high character of cheese, and commands a very high price. Its good qualities have not been overrated. Their best samples have rarely been equalled, and never surpassed in American dairies. The quantity made is comparatively small. It takes its name from a small village at the foot of the Mendip hills, in Somerset county, its manufacture there having been com- menced more than one hundred years ago. Various improvements have been made in the process, until it has been reduced to a sys- tem which is at once simple and philosophical. It may be said to be a chemical process, requiring judgment and skill in the man- agement of acids, until the curd has passed through its different stages, and is properly developed for the press. ‘ Some of its leading principles have been understood and practiced by our best cheese makers for several years, and it is due to these that American cheese has been able to obtain such a firm foothold in the English market. The early expulsion of the whey in the Eng- lish process, together with the exposure of the curd a longer time to the atmosphere, the pressing, grinding and salting, are doubt- less improvements upon our practice. I need not go into detail upon these points. They have been fully explained in my recent address before the American Dairy- men’s Association; but I allude to them here that proper credit may be given to English dairymen. I must say this also in their favor: Nothing, while abroad, struck me with more force and admiration than the perfect neatness and cleanliness of the dairy. The milk rooms are located beyond the reach of bad odors 19 likely to taint the milk. They have stone floors, the joints nicely cemented together, so that no slops or putrid matter can find an entrance. The floors, the utensils, and everything connected with the establishment are as bright, clean and sweet as the table and crockery of the most fastidious housekeeper. Many of the farmers will not allow the milkers to come into the milk room, but have conductors by which the milk is conveyed to the tubs from the outside. It is to this perfect cleanliness of the dairy, together with the favorable condition of the climate, and a more uniform tempera- ture of curing rooms, that enable them to secure that mild pure flavor, which is characteristic of some of their nice grades of cheese. The best American cheese has more butter in its composition and is better manufactured as a whole, than the English. The great defect in much of our cheese is its flavor. We have a hot, bad climate to contend with. We are too care- less in milking, and in handling the milk where taints can be absorbed. We put the warm milk in cans, confining it witha close fitting cover, and haul it a long distance in a blazing sun to the factory, and it often is in a putrid condition before going to the vats. What wonder then that much of our cheese, rich in butter and splendidly manufactured is out of flavor, and vast sums in consequence are lost. American dairymen have been trying for years to discover wherein this defect of flavor can be remedied. A great deal of time has been spent in the investigation of the subject, and a great many theories suggested, but it has all amounted to nothing. From my observations, both at home and abroad, I am convinced that first principles have been overlooked; that we have been trying to make a finely flavored cheese from imperfect milk, a con- dition which manufacturers never have and never will be able to accomplish. A reformation must be had in securing clean and perfectly pure milk, together with better curing rooms, and then under our improved system, American cheese will stand, where our nice grades already do, as the richest and finest that the world pro- duces. I went up to see the Royal Dairy at Windsor, and if every dairy- man in America could go there, he would come back with greatly improved views, in regard to the importance of cleanliness in dairy practice. 20 PRINCE ALBERT’S MODEL FARM AND THE ROYAL DAIRY. The model farm and dairy is but a short drive from the royal palace, and is exceedingly interesting to one who has a taste for farming. The cluster of farm-yard buildings, including that for the steam-engine, stand together and are of brick. The whole yard as well as the alleys are paved with stone. Under one of the long sheds, were arranged the various machines for preparing the ground for crops, and in another building the machines for har- vesting crops. The stalls for horses and cattle are arranged quite differently from ours in New York. The buildings are rather sheds than barns, being one story and divided into compartments, each having an open archway leading into an enclosure of the yard. One or two horses occupy each compartment, where they have liberty to be either under cover or in the little division of the yard adjoining the stall or box, which is fenced with iron railings. The cattle stalls are arranged in the same way. Lach stall has feeding boxes and a tank of water on the same range, and in front of which there is a broad alley on a level with the feed-box, where persons in charge can deliver the food or pass down and see that all is right. Every part of the yards and buildings have stone pavements and floors, with gutters for conducting off the liquid manures, so that there shall be no waste. Straw is used extensively for bed- ding or to be tramped up for manure. In one of the stalls were some fine specimens of cattle from India. THE ROYAL DAIRY. The dairy buildings stand apart and are at some distance from the farm buildings. The dairy house is a beautiful structure of brick, with cupola and pointed roof, its outward appearance hay- ing a pleasing effect. The interior, however, is beyond all ques- tion, all that is neat and tasteful in dairy decoration. The floor, the walls and the ceiling are of china, fashioned after the most graceful designs. The pans for holding the milk are of china, white with a heavy line of gilt around the edge. They are ellip- tical in shape, with a nose or scollop at one end, for emptying the milk; they stand upon broad white marble slabs, highly polished. The windows are of stained glass, and on each side of the room are fountains of china, arranged with unique figures and graceful ‘devices. Tiny jets of water spin up from these, and fall into the china basins with a musical ripple. The ceiling has open spaces, 21 arranged so as to have the appearanre of Mosaic work, and there are three compartments between the ceiling’and roof, so as to secure a perfect ventilation. All about the sides of the room are medallion heads of the royal family elegantly pictured on china, and the whole reminds one of the charming descriptions of fairy life which we read in childhood. BUTTER MAKING, AND THE IMPLEMENTS. It was three o’clock, and the milkers were bringing in the milk, which is strained in an adjoining room. It then is placed upon the marble slabs and the cream is taken off when the milk has stood twenty-four hours. In twelve hours after it is skimmed again. The cream is churned when forty-eight hours old—the churning being performed in an adjoining room. The churn is of tin barrel shaped and revolving. It has compartments at each end for hot or cold water, so that temperature can be regulated without ming- ling the water with the cream. The butter is washed in an oval tub unpainted, and after being washed is worked upon two thin wooden paddles. The cream and milk fur the royal tables are put in small tin cans with covers, and these again are placed in a larger tin recep- tacle with cover, when they are sent away to the palace, either to London or the castle, as the case may be, where the Queen is staying. The butter and milk of which we tasted, had a purity of flavor and sweetness that could not be surpassed. THE MILKING STABLES AND COWS. From the dairy we passed through a long, broad, stone hall to the stables where the milking was being conducted. There are about sixty cows in milk, thoroughbred Short-Horns, mostly of the Booth strain of blood, and a half dozen Alderneys. The milking stables are perfect models of cleanliness, having a glass roof in the center, and admirably arranged for ventilation. The cattle stand upon a stone floor, which inclines towards the drop or gutter, and there is a broad space back of the cows. Each cow is tied, and has before her a feed box and water tank, two cows standing ina division. The center alley is raised con- siderably higher than the floor of the stables, where the cows stand, and is reached by an inclined walk. 22 Here were some beautiful animals, though I could not see that the quantity of milk given was anything beyond that of our best milking stock. Those I saw milked were giving perhaps ten quarts each. In another building, arranged upon a plan similar to the cattle boxes in the farm yard. were a half dozen bulls, all fine specimens of the short-horn and Alderney blood. Opposite the milking stables and across the open court is the piggery, where swine of the Prince Albert breed are kept. I went into the pas- tures, and upon the meadows and saw much that was of interest; but must not weary you with details. STOCK. I need not go into a description of the stock of Great Britain. Thorough-breds of the different breeds are quite common; but what surprised me most was that in some sections of the dairy districts, no great attention is paid to breeding. In Somerset the herds are made up of Devons, Herefords, and grade Short-Horns; with these are generally mingled a few pure bred Alderneys. In Wiltshire some attention is paid to breeding, and thorough- bred Short-Horns are not uncommon. In Cheshire the leading stock is Short-Horns, or grades partaking largely of that blood. Recently the Ayrshire has been introduced to some extent, and stands high as a milking stock. The dairy farmers in the south of England, in purchasing or raising stock, always look beyond the mere production of milk. Meat is an important item, and they manage to secure animals that, when failing for the dairy, may be turned to good account for the shambles. The Short- Horns are therefore favorites with them, as securing this double object, as they think, in a larger degree than any other breed. The milking stock is not worn out to a mere skeleton of hide and bones, and then disposed of, as is frequently the case in the dairies of America; but when failing in milk, the cows are put in flesh and sold at a profit. Meat making has become a science in Great Britain, and no- where will you find better joints for the table, whether it be of beef or mutton, than with them. In this respect they far surpass us in a general way, and yet you may travel a long distance, both in England and Scotland, and not find animals so well bred, and with so many good points as those you see at our State Fairs from the herds of Mr. Cornell, Mr. Sheldon, Mr. Thorn, Mr. Campbell Mr. Conger, and other of our breeders. 23 This question of meat making is one to which our farmers would de well to give their serious attention. We purchase cows at enormously high figures, and turn them off either from age or accident for a mere trifle. Before the war, I have often seen them sold in Herkimer and Oneida at from $5 to $10 per head, and even at that price the drovers often lost money, on account of the miserable condition of the carcasses. Those who ate the beef must have had the teeth and stomach of an alligator. Our native stock, though often excellent .for milk, is not adapted to put on flesh rapidly, and hence under our system will not pay to be put in condition for the butcher. SHEEP. I was told that Merino sheep had been introduced into England at various times, under the highest patronage, receiving every attention which science could suggest and the skill of the most eminent breeders carry out, and yet, under the fairest trials, they had proved to be unprofitable. There may be flccks there of this breed, but I did not see them, while mutton sheep of various breeds are universally bred and kept upon the farms. Of the Cotswold, the Leicesters, the Lincolns and the Downs, I could not make out which were deemed the most profitable. The great art seemed to be to select breeds according to the nature of the soils where they are to be kept, or the manner in which they were to be fed, and especially those that will mature early for meat. The South Downs and their various crosses appeared to be worked over a larger surface, and to be the most popular. When at Mr. Mechis’ I was told the breed preferred upon that farm was, first a cross of the Norfolk sheep (which has horns and a black face), with the Downs. This cross gives a fine sheep, and one that makes a good mother. The wool is very good, the fleece weighing about six pounds. These are again crossed with the Lincoln sheep, which produces an animal that takes on fat rapidly, the lambs being made to bring £4 before Christmas. Mr. Frere, of Cambridge, editor of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, breeds from the black-faced Norfolk sheep, by crossing with the Hampshire Downs, and his flock is an exceed- ‘ingly fine one. The question of breeding, however, need not be discussed here, but rather the importance to our farmers of pro- ducing mutton in connection with wool, to a greater extent than now obtains with them. 24 From all I saw abroad, I cannot but think that our farmers have greatly neglected this branch of farming, and that the introduction of English sheep upon our farms would be a source of profit here as well as there. I have sometimes thought that if our New York wool growers would turn their attention to mutton sheep, they would not need a high protective tariff upon wools, in order to live, since the pro- fits upon mutton would be the most remmnerative part-of the busi- ness. I have not studied the question in all its bearings, and am therefore, unprepared to give it that consideration which it deserves, but if our people could be induced to eat less pork and use more mutton, it would be vastly to their health and comfort. Mr. Frere’s flock numbers about 300 ewes. He sells annually some 160 lambs, and the balance, which are the best, are kept for breeding. The lambs that are cast in February are sold in July following, at an average of 35s. sterling each. Some of the best tups bring a larger price. The lambs that are kept until 15 months old bring, after shear- ing, £3 38s. each, and their wool is worth 10s. each. In winter the ewes get one-half pound of cotton cake each per day, and what straw they will eat. The straw is cut into chaff, and the 300 will eat about 700 pounds straw per day. Last year the receipts from his sheep amounted to £1,256 sterling, or $6,280 in gold. The cost of keeping, feed, &c., amounted to £795 sterling ($3,975), giving him a net profit of $2,305. He estimates that about a third of the cost of feed is returned back to the land in manures. Mr. Lawes estimates the cost of fattening a Hampshire down at 1s. 61d. per week; thus: Hight lbs, oil cake, at 1dd, per Wecnevcceversucczccus 10d, Seven lbs. clover hay, at 3d. per Ib.-.-..--...--.---- 31d. One hundred and six Ibs. Swedes. at 8s. 4d. per ton---- 43d. Making gockgcctcs seers eeioosreiscdgscesuce: Le. Dade The cost of keeping and fattening must depend, of course, upon the size and breed of the sheep. Reference has been made to the large profits resulting to dairy farmers in fattening pigs. I may remark-here that meat of pigs fed upon whey in the way alluded to, is regarded by Englishmen as the sweetest, finest flavored and best of any that can be pro- duced. That question is generally not so understood with us, but 25 if it be true, their system of feeding should be adopted at our cheese factories. THE GRAIN CROPS, HORSE HOEING, ETC. The grain crops of Great Britain are vastly superior to ours. 1 never saw such heavy yields of wheat. Much of the plowing, espe- cially upon heavy soils, is done in narrow lands, not much wider than the machine for drilling. The drills have an arrangement for steerage, and the rows are as straight as an arrow. Then they have an admirable machine for weeding the crops— Garrett’s horse hoe. The hoes are arranged to correspond in width with the drills, and the operator walks behind, guiding the machine, and works to one row, which, of course, regulates all the hoes for the other rows. It thoroughly cuts out all the weeds ‘between the rows, besides stirring the soil. The weeds left among the wheat plants in the rows are pulled by hand. A strong horse will weed about eight acres per day. On Alderman Mechi’s farm, the wheat is drilled in lands the width of the machine, and the horses walk in the furrows on either ‘side, and I was told that by a change of horses, 25 acres per day could be thoroughly hoed out. Grain crops are often hoed out three times during the season. This machine ought to be introduced in America, and if it could be introduced and generally worked, as in England, it would save the country immense sums of money annually, since the growth ot weeds is one of the chief defects of American agriculture. The English plow is of iron, with long handles, and looks heavy and unwieldly, but it does. good work. The plowman, I think, generally does his breaking better than with us; his furrows are straighter, neater, and the cut not so wide. Some of our plows appear to be preferable to theirs, but the grand fault is in their use. We try to get over too much ground in a day, and lay ou~ ridges too wide and flat. THE STEAM PLOW. The steam plow is coming into use, and is really one of the great improvements of the age. It was upon the grounds at the great show of the Bath and West of England Society at Salisbury, but unfortunately I failed to see it in operation, either here or upon the farms. It is considered a success in England, and were it not for its high cost would come into general use upon our large farms. The Messrs. Howard’s apparatus, with engine complete, costs some. [E. F.] 4 26 £645, while that of Mr. Fowler is £825. I was told that with the Fowler machine (eight horse power), nearly an acre an hour could be plowed to a depth of seven inches, the consumption of coal being something over an hundred weight for that time. The cost of plowing, compared with that of horse labor, is estimated in England for the machine at about 5s. per acre, and horse labor 6s. per acre—the machine, of course, doing much the best work. One great advantage of steam power is its rapid work, an im- portant item often in getting crops in the ground during favorable weather. The machine, too, when it has finished its day’s work, or lies idle, consumes no food. With the Fowler machine the engine works along each headland, and an anchor along the oppo- site one, whilst the gang of plows is drawn to and fro by an end- less rope passing round a pulley on the engine, and one in the anchor. If the cost of these engines could be reduced, as they doubtess will be under American ingenuity, it will be a grand day for American farmers, introducing, as it must, a more thorough tillage of the soil. One of the chief attractions at the Bath show was the splendid array of engines. They stood in two long lines, and were in great number. A portable engine or steam-carriage, with several carriages attached, was perambulating the grounds guided by a small lad. Ata word from the engineer, the carriage wheeled in a circle, backed, or went to any part of the grounds desired. The show of implements was large, but on account of the cattle plague, no neat stock was on exhibition. COMPARISON. In comparing the agriculture of the two nations, I must say that Britain is far in advance of us. They have an abundance of capital in their business. Our farmers when they get a dollar ahead from their farms, invest it in more land, or in bonds and mortgages, and are always pinched for money to make permanent improvements. The English have a settled system of rotation in crops, of manuring, of drainage, of breeding and fattening animals. They thus keep up the fertility of their soil and make their live stock pay both in meat and manures. Many of our farmers have no regular or uniform system of farming. Half the farms of the State are foul with weeds. “We are only just beginning to appre- ciate the full value of manures. We are too impatient and hasty in our culture. We employ too little labor, and kill ourselves i with hard work. Many make such slaves of themselves in lead- ing their laborers in the field, that they find no time and have no inclination to inform themselves as to tli best practice in farming. If there is any time to spare, it is devoted to politics and the news of the day. They work too much and think too little. They become, too often, early broken in constitution ; they make up in sweat and bone and sinew that which properly should have been realized by thought and well arranged plans. Our farmers are excellent politicians. and are much more intel- ligent on general topics than the English, but truths compels me to say, they are not as good farmers. THE CATTLE PLAGUE. I have but a word in reference to the cattle plague. The south- ern counties of England, through which I passed, have suffered but little from this disease, but in some of the northern counties, especially Cheshire, the plague has been most terrible in its rav- ages. The immense dairy herds of Cheshire have been swept, away almost entire, and a great gloom prevails among the people. The cheese product in Cheshire, Lancashire, Shropshire and Derbyshire, has fallen off this year more than 40,000,000 of pounds. The Cheshire farmers have now no faith in medicine or remedial agents for rinderpest. One farmer, who had lost eighty head, and had tried various remedies advised by veterin- arfans, said he preferred homeopathic treatment, but the cures, like the medicines, were infinitesimal. Professor Gamgee, whom I met in London, said our govern- ment ought at once to take the proper steps for crushing out the disease, in the event of its reaching our shores. No time ought to be lost in framing such laws as would meet the exigencies of the occasion. On its first appearance ina herd, every animal should be immediately slaughtered, the premises purified, and every precau- tion taken that it spread no further. We must not dilly-dally with the disease, but employ prompt action and energetic measures, The men employed in this work should be stern and inflexible in their decisions and not be swayed by any sympathy for losses sus- tained by those owning the herds. They should look upon it as a terrible calamity, threatening the nation, which must be walled in and crushed at all hazards inits incipient stages. ‘Take warn- ing,” said he, “by England’s dilatory action, and you will be spared one of the greatest calamities that can befall any country.”