In the descriptions, I have resolved to go very minutely into detail, that no particular may be omitted in any operation, to give it the appearance of an imperfect work. The resolution may render the descriptions so prolix, as to fatigue the general reader, but, on that very account, these ought to determine the pupil to follow them into their most minute particulars; and to appreciate the value of a series of detailed instructions, which will give him such an insight into the nature of field labour, as will ever after enable him easily to recognise similar work whenever and wherever begun to be executed. Unless, however, he bestow considerable attention on all the details of the descriptions, he will be apt to pass what may appear to him an unimportant particular, but which may form the very keystone of the whole operation to which it relates. With a tolerable memory, I feel pretty sure that an attentive perusal of the descriptions will enable the pupil to identify every piece of work he may afterwards see performing in the field. This result is as much as any book on agriculture can be expected to accomplish.

561. Constant attention to the minutia of labour evinces in the pupil an acuteness to perceive the quickest mode of acquiring his profession. He will soon perceive that the larger pieces of work are easily undertaken by the ordinary workpeople; but the minuter ones are best adjusted by the master or steward.

The difference arises from the larger operations being left in a coarse state, when the smaller do not follow and finish them neatly. There are many minor operations, unconnected with the greater, which require the greatest skill to perform; and which are so arranged as to be performed with neatness and despatch. Many of these are frequently performed concurrently with the larger operations; and to avoid confusion both should harmonise. Many of the minuter operations are confined to the tending of live-stock, and the various works performed about the farmstead. Attention to minutiæ, constituting the chief difference between the neat and careless farmer, it is necessary that I bestow due consideration on them. They form a particular which has been too much overlooked by systematic writers on agricul

ture.

562. In describing the details of farming, it is necessary to adhere to a determinate method; and the method which appears to me most instructive to the pupil is, to follow the usual routine of operations as performed on a farm. To follow that routine implicitly, it will be necessary to describe every operation from the beginning; and it should be remembered by the pupil that farm operations are not conducted at random, but on a tried and approved system, which commences with preparatory labours, and then carries them on, with a determinate object in view, throughout the seasons, until they terminate at the end of the agricultural year. The preparatory operations commence immediately after harvest, whenever that may happen, and it will be earlier or later in the year, according as the season is early or late; and as the harvest is the consummation of the labours of the year, and terminates the autumnal season, so the preparatory operations commence the winter season. Thus the winter season takes the precedence in the arrangements of farming, and, doing so, should be the period for the pupil to begin his career as an agriculturist. He will then have the advantage of witnessing every preparation as it is made for each crop,an advantage he cannot enjoy if he enter at any other season,-and it is a great advantage, inasmuch as every piece of work is much better understood when viewed from its commencement, than when seen for the first time in a state of progression.

In

563. Let me inform the pupil regarding the length of the agricultural seasons. the year of the calendar, each season extends over a period of three calendar months; so that every season is of the same length. The seasons of the agricultural year, though bearing the same names as those of the calendar, vary in length every year according to the state of the weather. The agricultural seasons are thus characterised: The spring revives the dormant powers of vegetables; the summer enlarges their growth; the autumn develops their reproduction; and the winter returns them to the state of dormancy. In the calendar these characteristics are assumed to last three months each, but in the agricultural year they extend as long

as each season continues to exhibit its function. The spring, for example, may be contracted within its three months, either by the protraction of winter on the one hand, or the earliness of summer on the other, or by both combined; a case in which results both a late and short spring, -a state of season which creates very bustling spring work to the farmer. And so with the other seasons. It is this elasticity of the agricultural seasons which contradistinguishes them from those of the calendar. The commencement, continuance, and termination of field-work being thus dependent on the seasons of the agricultural year, and the seasons, in their turn, being dependent upon the weather, it follows that all field operations are dependent upon the weather, and not upon such conventional terms as the seasons of the calendar. But whether an agricultural season be long or short, the work that properly belongs to it must be finished in it. If it be of sufficient length, the work is well finished, but if not, the crop runs the risk of failure. If it be shortened by the preceding season encroaching upon it, its work should have been advanced in the prolonged season; and should it be curtailed by the earliness of the succeeding one, and the weather improve, as in the case of summer appearing before its time, no apprehension need be entertained of finishing the work in a satisfactory manner; but if the weather become worse, as in the premature approach of winter upon autumn, extraordinary exertions are required to avert the disastrous consequences of winter weather upon the crops. The unusual protraction of a season is attended with no risk to its work, but may be to a crop; and during a protracted season, much time is often wasted in waiting for the arrival of the succeeding one, in which the particular work in hand is most properly finished; but in a contracted season, a great part of the work, though attended with much labour, is hurriedly gone through, and even slovenly performed. The most perfect field-work is performed when the seasons are each of proper duration.

564. The entire business of a farm necessarily occupies a year; which embraces sometimes more, and sometimes less, than twelve months. The agricultural year, both in its commencement and termi

nation, not corresponding with that of the calendar, its length is determined by the duration of the life of the cultivated vegetables which constitute the chief product of the farm. In the temperate zones, vegetable life becomes dormant, or extinct, according as the vegetable is perennial or annual, at the beginning of winter; and when the dormant state of vegetation occurs again, the labours of the field have gone their annual revolution. The same kind of work is performed year after year upon the same kind of farm.

565. Two modes of describing farmbusiness may be adopted. One, to arrange it under different heads, and describe all similar operations under the same head, as has hitherto been done in systematic works on agriculture. The other is to describe the operations as they actually occur, singly, and in succession, on the farm; as is to be done in this work. Both methods describe the general farm operations, and may be consulted for any particular work. But the relative position any particular work stands in regard to, and influences every other, can only be shown by the latter method, and it does so at a glance; and as one farm-work commences and another terminates at different periods of the year, the latter method only can clearly indicate the period in which every particular work commences, is continued, or terminated, and give the details of it minutely.

The

566. The agricultural year, like the common, is conveniently divided under the four seasons, and the entire farm business is also conveniently divided into four parts, each bearing the name of the season that influences the operations performed in it. It is by such an arrangement only that every operation, whether requiring longer or shorter time for completion, is described as it takes its turn in the fields. work that occupies only a short time to finish, in any of the seasons, may be described in a single narrative. Very few of the operations, however, are completed in one of the seasons, some extending over the whole four, and most into two or three. Any work that extends over most of the seasons, can nevertheless be described with accuracy; for although it may occupy a long time to reach its completion, every

season imposes its peculiar work, and terminates it so far; and these cessations of labour are not mere conveniences, but necessary and temporary finishings of work, which would be improperly resumed but at the appropriate season. In this way the extensive works are advanced, in progressive steps, season after season, until their completion; while the smaller ones are concurrently brought onwards and completed in their proper season.

567. Besides observing the details of farm work, the pupil should observe every phenomenon that occurs within the field of his observation. Creation, both animate and inanimate, lies before him, and, being necessarily much out of doors, observation becomes a subject of interest to him rather than otherwise. It is at all times useful to observe facts, and become familiarised with those more immediately connected with his profession; and the relation I have so largely traced as existing between agriculture and the sciences, may show the immense extent of the field of observation in which the student may occupy himself. Nor let him suppose that any fact is too trivial for observation, as the minutest may form a connecting link between greater ones, which may exhibit no relationship to one another, but through the minute one. In course of time, observation will enable him to discriminate between phenomena that influence one another, and that stand in isolation; and the discrimination will only be learned in time, for every fact will appear to him at first as alike valuable and valueless.

568. It should be kept in remembrance that it is no easy matter to observe phenomena with accuracy. There is a tide in their existence, as in the affairs of men, which, when taken at the proper time, may lead to sound conviction; but if not, to erroneous deduction. How many systems of belief have arisen from improper observation! With some persons, if observation confirm not preconceived notions, the phenomenon is neglected or perverted; but the agricultural student should have no prejudiced notions, and regard every occurrence with calmness, and a determination to arrive at the truth. It is only in such a state of mind he can hope to make the results of actual observation in the field

subservient to acquiring a practical knowledge of agriculture.

569. The facts to which he should first direct his attention, are the effects of the weather for the time on the operations of the fields and their products, and on the condition of the live stock. He should notice every remarkable occurrence of heat or cold, rain or drought, unpleasant or agreeable feeling in the air; the effects following any peculiar state of the clouds, or other meteors in the air-as storms, aurora-borealis, haloes, and the like; the particular effect of rain or drought, heat or cold, in retarding or materially altering the labours of the field, and the length of time and quantity of rain required to produce such an effect; as well as the influence of these on the health or growth of plants, and the comfort and condition of animals.

570. He should mark the time each kind of crop is committed to the ground-how long it takes to appear above it, when it comes into ear, and the period of harvest: also try to ascertain the quantity of every kind of crop on the ground before it is cut down, and observe whether the event corroborates previous judgment: estimate the weight of cattle by the eye at different periods of their growth, and check the trials by measurements; the handling of the beasts for this purpose will convey much information regarding their progressive state of improvement: attend to sheep when slaughtered, weigh the carcass, and endeavour to discover the sources of error committed in estimating their weights.

571. He should keep a register of each field of the farm: note the quantity of labour it has received, the quantity of manure applied, the kind of crop sown, with the circumstances attending these operations

whether done quickly and in good style, or interruptedly, from the hinderance of weather or other circumstances. He should ascertain in each field the number of ridges required to make an acre, and whether the ridges be of equal length or not. By this he will the more easily ascertain how much dung the field receives per acre, the time taken to perform the same quantity of work on ridges of different length, and the comparative value of the

crop produced on an acre in different parts of the field. The subdivision of the field into acres will enable a comparison to be made of the relative values of the crops produced on varieties of soil in the same field, under the same treatment.

572. The easiest way of preserving facts is in the tabular form, which admits of every one being put down under its proper head. A table not only exhibits all the facts at a glance, but records every one with the least trouble in writing. The advantage of writing them down is to impress them more strongly on the memory. The tables should consist of ruled columns, in a book of sufficient size of leaf to contain columns for every subject.

573. There should be a plan of the farm, with every field, having its figure, dimensions, name, and direction of the ridges, with the number of ridges required to make an acre marked upon it.

574. There should be a plan of the stackyard made every year, with each stack represented by a circle, the area of which should contain the name of the field upon which the crop was grown, the quantity of corn yielded by the stack, how the produce was disposed of, and the cash (if any) which the produce realised.

575. To render the whole system of recording facts complete, a summary of the weather, together with the produce and value of the crop and stock, should be made every year to the end of autumn, -the end of the agricultural year. In all these ways a mass of useful facts would be recorded within the narrow compass

of a single book; comparisons could be made between the results of different seasons; and deductions drawn which could not be ascertained by any other means.

576. The only objection that can possibly be urged against this plan, is the time required to record the facts. Were the records to be made twice or thrice a-day, like the observations of a meteorological register, the objection might be wellfounded; for it is irksome to be obliged to note down frequently dry and (in themselves) unmeaning details. But the changes of the weather possess a very different interest when they are known to influence the growth of the crops. The records of such, however, are only required occasionally at, perhaps, an interval of days. The only toil would be the drawing up of the abstract of the year; but, when the task is for permanent benefit, the time devoted to it should be cheerfully bestowed.

577. These preliminary remarks I trust will enable the agricultural student to follow the details of farming, as they usually occur, and the kind of farming I shall select as the most perfect system of husbandry known, is the mixed, (53;) whilst, at the same time, I shall make him acquainted with the differences in the corresponding operations in the other modes of farming, adopted on account of peculiarities in the localities in which they are practised. Narrating the operations in the order they are performed, I shall begin with WINTER, and proceed in the natural order through SPRING, SUMMER, and AUTUMN, until we reach the winter season again.

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER, AND FIELDOPERATIONS IN WINTER.

578. The subjects which court attention in winter are of the most interesting description to the farmer. Finding little inducement to spend much time in the fields at this torpid season of the year, he directs his attention to the more animated work conducted in the steading, where all the cattle and horses are collected, and the preparation of the grain for market affords pleasant employment within doors. The progress of live-stock to maturity is always a prominent object of the farmer's solicitude, and especially so in winter, when they are comfortably housed in the farmstead, plentifully supplied with wholesome food, and so arranged in various classes, according to age and sex, as to be easily inspected at any time.

579. The labours of the field in winter are confined to a few great operations. These are ploughing the soil in preparation of future crops, and supplying food to the live stock. The ploughing partly consists of turning over the ground which had borne a part of the grain crops, and the method of ploughing this stubble land-so called because it bears the straw left uncut of the previous crop-is determined by the nature of the soil. That part of the stubble land which was first ploughed is first brought into crop in spring, and the rest is ploughed in succession as the different crops follow each other in the ensuing seasons.

580. The whole land thus ploughed in the early part of winter in each field, where the farm is subdivided into fields, or in each division where are no fences, is then provided with channels, cut with the spade, in places that permit the water that falls from the heavens to run most quickly off into the ditches, and to maintain the soil in a dry state until spring.

581. Towards the latter part of winter, the newest grass land, or lea, as grass land is generally termed, intended to bear a crop in spring is then ploughed; the oldest grass land being earliest ploughed, that its toughness may have time to be meliorated before spring by exposure to the atmosphere.

582. When the soil is naturally damp underneath, winter is selected for removing the damp by draining. It is questioned by some farmers whether winter is the best season for draining, as the usually rainy and otherwise unsettled state of the weather renders the carriage of the requisite materials on the land too laborious. By others, it is maintained that, as the quantity of water to be drained from the soil, determines both the number and size of the drains, these are best ascertained in winter; and as the fields are then entirely free of crop, that season is the most convenient for draining. Truth may perhaps be found not to acquiesce in either of these reasons, but rather in the opinion that draining may be successfully pursued at all

seasons.

583. Where fields are unenclosed, and are to be fenced with the thorn-hedge, winter is the season for commencing the planting of it. Hard frost, a fall of snow, or heavy rain, may put a stop to the work for a time, but in all other states of the weather it may be proceeded with in safety.

584. When water-meadows exist on a farm, winter is the season for carrying on the irrigation with water, that the grass may be ready to be mown in the early part of the ensuing summer. It is a fact worth keeping in remembrance as to winter irrigation, that it produces wholesome, while summer irrigation produces unwholesome, herbage for stock. On the