five horses to eat out of at the same time, is attached to each waggon, it is said, while on the road. The chaff is put into this trough, and, after being well mixed with the given quantity of meal, is moistened, and again well stirred together, until every shred or part of the hay or chopped straw is found to be covered, or, as it were, frosted over by the meal. The avidity with which the horses eat their meat, or provender, when thus prepared, may, it is supposed, be readily conceived. Their feed or meal being finished, they either pursue their journey or lie down to rest: but in either case, it is observed, not without being well dressed, and perfectly freed and cleansed from the muddy and other effects of their last labor. It is the pride and pleasure, it is said, of the carters, as well as of the waggon masters in that country, to see their horses in a condition above rather than under the labor which they have to perform; and in 100 miles travelling, from Baltimore to Philadelphia, it is confidently asserted that as many prime waggon-horses, and in as high condition, may be seen, as is the case in any direction for the same distance from the chief city of this country.

What are called horse-hammels, or sheds, with distinct yards, have been used as stables with great success in Berwickshire. Each shed holds two horses, with a nitch for harness; to each there is an open straw yard. of small size, with a water trough, and a gate large enough to admit a cart to take out the dung. Mr. Herriot, of Ladykirk, has long used these buildings, and has lost no horse by death for a number of years. His horses lie in these open hammels in winter; and it is remarked that in frosty weather, when snow is falling, and lying on the ground, the animals do not go under cover, but prefer to lie out, with their backs and sides covered with snow. It is known that, if a horse is kept out in winter, he will have no grease, nor swelled legs, and perhaps few other diseases. Every farmer who keeps a large stock of horses, occasionally loses one by inflammation, brought on by coughs and colds; but the horses of the farmer alluded to become aged, and he has not had occasion to purchase a young horse for several years.'-(Husb. of Scot. i. 26.)

3. Of buildings for live stock.-The cattle shed is used both for lodging milch cows, and feeding cattle for the butcher. The principal requisites are, that they can be readily and well aired, and that they are so constructed as to save labor in feeding and cleaning the cattle. There are three ways in which cattle are placed in them; first, in a row towards one of the walls; secondly, in two rows, either fronting each other, with a passage between, or with the heads to each wall; or thirdly, across the building in successive rows. It is common to have an opening in the walls, through which turnips are supplied; but the plan most approved, and now becoming general, is to fix the stakes to which the cattle are tied about two and a half or three feet from the wall, which allows the cattle-man, without going among them, to fill the troughs successively from his wheelbarrow or basket. It is also an improvement to keep the cattle separate, by par

titions at least between every two. The width of such stalls should not be less than seven feet and a half.

Cattle hammels have also been adopted in Berwickshire. Two cattle are here usually kept together, and go loose, in which way they are thought by some to thrive better than when tied to a stake, and, at the same time, feed more at their ease than when a number are kept together. All that is necessary is, to run partition walls across the sheds and yards of the farmers; or, if these are allotted to rearing stock, one side of the square, separated by a cart-way from the straw-yards, may be appropriated to 'the hammels. In the usual management of a row of hammels, in Berwickshire, there is one hammel at one end used as a temporary repository for roots and straw for the cattle; then each hammel consists of the open yard, and the covered part; the entrance door, of which there is only one to each hammel, is in the wall of the yard, and on each side of it are two troughs for food, and a crib for hay, straw, cut clover, or other herbage in summer.

Calf-pens, or stages, are common additions to cow-houses. The floor should be made of laths or spars about two inches broad, laid at the distance of an inch from each other, upon joists, so as to make it about ten or twelve inches from the ground: and the place below should be often cleaned. This is the principal suggestion we have to offer but a slight partition of about three feet high between the calves, and a rack for the hay, are also improvements.

The calf-pens of Gloucestershire, as described by Marshal, are of admirable construction. A pen which holds seven, or occasionally eight calves, is of the following description :-The house or roomstead, in which it is placed, measures twelve feet by eight: four feet of its width are occupied by the stage, and one foot by a trough placed on its front; leaving three feet as a gangway, into the middle of which the door opens. The floor of the stage is formed of laths, about two inches square, lying lengthways of the stage, and one inch asunder. The front fence is of staves, an inch and a half diameter, nine inches from middle to middle, and three feet high entered at the bottom into the front bearer of the floor (from which cross-joists pass into the back wall), and steadied at the top by a rail; which, as well as the bottom piece, is entered at each end into the end wall. The holes in the upper rail are wide enough to permit the staves to be lifted up and taken out, to give admission to the calves; one of which is fastened to every second stave, by means of two rings of iron joined by a swivel; one ring playing upon the stave, the other receiving a broad leathern collar, buckled round the neck of the calf. The trough is for barley-meal, chalk, &c., and to rest the pails on. Two calves drink out of one pail, putting their heads through between the staves. The height of the floor of the stage from the floor of the room is about one foot. It is thought to be wrong to hang it higher, lest, by the wind drawing under it, the calves should be too cold in severe weather: this, however, might be easily prevented by litter, or long strawy dung thrust

beneath it. It is observable that these stages are fit only for calves which are fed with the pail,

not for calves which suck the cow.

Hog-styes are generally constructed with shed-roofs, about six or seven feet wide, with height in proportion. They should be at no great distance from the house; while the less they are connected with the other buildings of the farm the better. Swine, it seems, though generally considered as filthy animals, delight in a clean and comfortable place to lie down in, and cleanliness has a better effect upon no animal, with respect to their thriving. In order to keep them dry, a sufficient slope must be given, not only to the inside places but to the outside areas; these should be a little elevated, having steps up from them of at least five or six inches. Hog-styes should likewise have divisions, to keep the different sorts of swine separate; nor should many ever be allowed to be together.

According to Marshal, every pig should have a rubbing-post. Having occasion,' says he, 'to shift two hogs out of a sty without one, into another with a post, accidentally put up to support the roof, he had a full opportunity of observing its use. The animals, when they went in, were dirty, with broken ragged coats, and with dull heavy countenances. In a few days they cleared away their coats, cleaned their skins, and became sleeky haired.' They enjoyed their post like a placeman. It was discernible in their looks, in their liveliness, and apparent contentment. It is not probable that any animal should thrive while afflicted with pain or uneasiness. Graziers suffer single trees to grow, or put up dead posts in the ground, for their cattle to rub themselves against; yet it is probable that a rubbing-post has never been placed intentionally in a sty; though, perhaps, for a two-fold reason, rubbing is most requisite to swine.

'In farm-yards,' says Mr. Loudon, 'the piggeries and poultry-houses generally occupy the south side of the area, in low buildings, which may be overlooked from the farmer's dwelling-house. They should open behind into the straw-yards or dungheap, to allow the hogs and fowls to pick up the corn left on the straw, or what turnips, clover, or other matters are refused by the cattle. They should have openings outwards, that the pigs may be let out to range round the farmery at convenient times; and that the poultry may have ingress and egress from that side as well as the other.'

Beatson (Com. to the Board of Ag. vol. 1.), is of opinion that poultry ought always to be confined, but not in a close, dark, diminutive hovel, as is often the case; they should have a spacious airy place, properly constructed for them. Some people are of opinion that each sort should be kept by itself. This, however, is not, he thinks, necessary; for all sorts may be kept promiscuously together, provided they have a place sufficiently large to accommodate them, and proper divisions and nests for each kind to retire to separately, which they will naturally do. Wakefield of Liverpool keeps a large stock of turkeys, geese, hens, and ducks, all in the same place: and, although young turkeys are in general considered so difficult to bring up, he rears

great numbers in this manner every season. For this purpose he has about three-quarters, or nearly a whole acre, enclosed with a fence only six or seven feet high, formed of slabs set on end, or any thinnings of fir or other trees split and put close together. They are fastened by a rail near the top and another near the bottom, and are pointed sharp, which he supposes prevents the poultry flying over, for they never attempt it, although so low. Within this fence are places done up slightly (but well secured from wet) for each sort of poultry; also a pond or stream of water running through it. These poultry are fed almost entirely with potatoes boiled in steam, and thrive astonishingly well. The quantity of dung that is made in this poultry place is also an object worth attention: and, when it is cleaned out, a thin paring of the surface is at the same time taken off, which makes a valuable compost, for the purpose of manure. But, for keeping poultry upon a small scale, it is only necessary to have a small shed or slight building, formed in some warm sheltered sunny situation: if near the kitchen or other place where a constant fire is kept so much the better, with proper divisions, boxes, baskets, or other contrivances for the different sorts of birds, and for their laying and incubation.

"The poultry-house snould,' says Young, 'contain an apartment for the general stock to roost in, another for setting, a third for fattening, and a fourth for food. If the scale is large, there should be a fifth for plucking and keeping feathers. If a woman is kept purposely to attend them, she should have her cottage contiguous, that the smoke of her chimney may play into the roosting and setting rooms: poultry never thriving so well as in warmth and smoke; an observation as old as Columella, and strongly confirmed by the quantity bred in the smoky cabins of Ireland. For setting both turkeys and hens, nests should be made in lockers, that have lids with hinges, to confine them, if necessary, or two or three will, he says, in sitting, crowd into the same nest. All must have access to a gravelled yard, and to grass for range, and the building should be near the farm-yard, and have clear water near. Great attention should be paid to cleanliness and whitewashing, not for appearance, but to destroy vermin.' Loudon recommends for the interior a sloping stage of spars for the poultry to sit on; beneath this stage may be two ranges of boxes for nests; the roof should have a ceiling to keep the whole warm in winter, and the door should be nearly as high as the ceiling for ventilation, and should have a small opening with a shutter at bottom, which, where there is no danger from dogs or foxes, may be left open at all times to admit of the 'poultry going in and out. The spars on which the clawed birds are to roost should not be round and smooth, but roundish and roughish, like the branch of a tree. The floor must be

dry, and kept clean for the web-footed kinds."

4. Of the barn.-Barns should, if possible, be placed on a declivity; and, according to the recommendation of the Annals of Agriculture, vol. xvi., should be underpinned with brick or stone; the roof covered with reed or straw; and

those of adjoining stables (if any), with slate. At each end of the barn, and over the back door, small doors, four feet square, should be fixed at the height of twelve feet from the ground; the two former for putting corn in at the ends, and the latter for filling the middle of the barn after the bays are full. All the bays should have a floor of clay or marle, and the threshing-floor be made with hard bricks, which will be sufficient for all sorts of grain except wheat and rye; and for threshing them it will be good economy to have planks of oak or red deal well fitted together and numbered, to be laid down occasionally and confined by a frame. A barn built on such a plan would hold a great deal of corn and be filled most conveniently; and, if the stacks were built at each end, they might be taken in without any carting. If more buildings are requisite, two may be added on the back side like the stables in front; otherwise if doors are made under the eaves on the back side, as directed at the ends, and stacks be placed opposite to them just far enough to avoid the eaves dropping, by placing a waggon between them and the barn by way of a stage, these stacks may be taken in without carting; which method spares a great waste of corn and much trouble. The spars of the roofs of the stables rest upon the upper cills of the sides of the barn, and the outside wall of the stables is eight feet high; the barn supplying the highest side and one end of each stable, and the stables in return are buttresses to the barn. An elevated barn floor is both more durable, and less subject to vermin; the grain is kept more dry and sweet than on a ground floor, and cannot slip through it without discovery. When built in this way, barns should have a southern aspect, the arches of the cattle-stalls facing that way. Mr. Marshal, in the Rural Economy of Yorkshire, speaks highly of the advantages of barns formed in this manner.

In respect to the size of barns, the same writer observes, that in Gloucestershire fifty-two by twenty feet in the clear, and from sixteen to twenty feet in height to the plate, is considered a good barn; these dimensions admitting of four bays of ten feet each, with a floor in the middle. The advantage of having buildings of this sort conveniently situated is extremely great, both in regard to the feeding of cattle, sheep, and hogs, and likewise in the economy of labor and fodder. The invention of threshing machines has of late varied the construction of barns, as where they are made use of they should be contrived chiefly with a view to the working of them: the machines being built in the centre, with the grain stacks adjoining them, in such a manner as that they may be supplied without the assistance of carts or horses. The barns in these cases need not be so large, but they should have granaries provided in them, which may probably be most conveniently placed over the floors. In most old barns, threshing machines may be erected without much inconvenience; and notwithstanding the superiority of stacking grain in the open air has been fully shown, and of course the necessity of large barns in a great measure done away, many agricultors are still attached to the method of housing corn in the straw.

The hay-barn is generally constructed of timber, and open on the south or east, or even on all sides. În Middlesex there are many haybarns capable of holding from thirty to fifty, and some even 100, loads of hay. They are found to be extremely useful and convenient during a catching and unsettled hay-harvest.

In plate II. RURAL ARCHITECTURE, are, fig. 1. The ground plan and elevation of a common double barn: a wall is often run across the middle of these buildings; they are chiefly serviceable for the storage of grain in the straw, and are of all sizes. Fig. 2 is the ground plan and elevation of an open improved barn, the threshing floor of which is towards one end; and on each side of it below are divisions for different purposes: the corn being kept above in the straw. This is an economical and airy building. Figs. 3 and 4 are a front and end elevation of a barn adapted for a two-horse threshing-machine. This barn is fifty-five feet in length within the walls, and seventeen in width. The walls are ten feet high, which admits of a granary or room thirty feet long above the machine, shown by the dotted line in the elevation. The floor is not continued the whole length, in order that there may be more room left in the other end for unthreshed grain, which is introduced at the end. The machine within the barn is only ten feet by seven, including the distance from the wall. The horse beam is twenty-four feet in length, and gives motion by a laying shaft through the wall, to the machine within. There is no shed or cover over the horse-path. The expense of a machine on this plan will be from thirty to forty pounds.

In barns with threshing machines, the granary is almost always formed immediately above the floor on which the machine works; which admits raising the corn to it directly from the groundfloor, either by the threshing-mill itself, or a common windlass. When it is to be taken out, and carried to market, it may be lowered down upon carts with the utmost facility. See our article GRANARY.

5. Of the straw-house, cart-sheds, root-house, &c.-The straw-house, when distinct from the barn, should be placed at the end of the cattlesheds, opposite to the root-house, and have a cart entrance, and an inner door communicating with the feeder's walk. Straw, however, is often stacked, in preference to placing it in a strawhouse, especially where farming is on any considerable scale.

Cart-sheds or lodges, for the protection of carts or waggons, should be near the farm-yard. Carts, &c., under proper shelter when out of use, will last much longer than if left exposed in the yard to the weather; for, as they are thus sometimes wet, and sometimes dry, they soon rot. The dust and nastiness should also be constantly washed off before they are laid up in these places.

The root-house is intended for depositing or stowing away potatoes, turnips, cabbages, and other roots or tops for the winter feed of cattle. It should join the cattle-sheds, and communicate with them by an inner door that opens into the feeder's walk, and the entrance door ought to admit a loaded cart. These houses seem very

necessary wherever there is a number of cows or other cattle supported on roots or cabbages, as without them it would not only be inconvenient, but in many cases in severe weather impossible to provide for them the daily supply. Cabbages should not, however, be kept long indoors, as they are very liable to the putrid fermentation. The master should be careful that the yard-man constantly keeps such places perfectly clean and sweet, in order that the roots may contract no bad smell, as cattle are in many cases extremely nice in this respect.

The appendages to farm buildings are the dung-yards, pits, and reservoirs, the rick-yard, straw-yard, poultry-yard, drying-yard, garden, orchard, and cottage-yards. These vary so much, according to situation and other circumstances, that a description of them seems needless in this place.

Corn-stands have been of late considered requisite fixtures of a stack-yard; their basements are of timber, masonry, or iron, on which the stack is built, and their object is to keep the lower part dry, and exclude vermin. A usual mode of constructing them is to place a stout

frame of timber on uprigh: stones, two feet high, and having projecting caps of flat stones. They are also constructed wholly of stone, of circular or polygonal walls. In both modes, pieces of timber are placed as a frame in the middle to support the grain upon, and generally a cone of spars in the centre, to form a funnel. Cast iron stands (plate II. fig. 5) for stacks, on pillars about three feet high, and weighing half a hundred weight each, have been introduced with success in some parts of the country. They are made both with and without hollow cones or triangles. A stack requires seven pillars, besides the framing, which may either be made of poles or young trees. In the wet climate of Clackmannanshire wheat has been stacked in five days, beans in eight, and barley and oats in ten days and sometimes earlier. No vermin can find their way into these stacks to consume the grain, and the straw is better preserved. The cone or triangle keeps up a circulation of air, and prevents heating, or other damage. (Gen. Rep. of Scotland, Vol. IV., Appendix p. 379). Hay-stands have been constructed in a similar

manner.

URAL ECONOMY. Under this general head we have determined to include those practical parts of the science of agriculture which could not conveniently be embraced in the general article of that name. See AGRICULture.

In that article we have taken a general view of soils, and of the ordinary principles of ameliorating them by manuring, ploughing, rotation of crops, &c. In the present paper we propose to treat, 1. Of the arable system. 2. Of grazing. 3. Of the modern convertible system. 4. Of the cultivation of plants that are articles of commerce. 5. Of the management of live stock. 6. Of implements of husbandry. The dairy, and its general economy, have engaged our attention under the article DAIRY.

PART I.

OF THE ARABLE SYSTEM.

In laying out a farm on the arable system, it has been recommended that attention be paid to that course of crops, which the quality of the soil may point out; and that, upon all farms not below a medium size, there should be twice the number of enclosures that there are divisions or breaks in the course. Thus, if a six years' rotation be thought most profitable, there should be twelve enclosures, two of which are always under the same crop. One advantage in this arrangement is, that it tends greatly to equalize labor, and, with a little attention, may contribute much to equalise the produce. On large farms, where all the land under turnips and clover, for instance, is near the extremity of the grounds, or at a considerable distance from the buildings, supposed to be set down near the centre, it is clear that the labor of supplying the house and straw-yard stock with these crops, as well as the carriage of the manure to the field, is much greater than if

the fields were so arranged as that the half of each of these crops had been near the offices. But, by means of two fields for each crop in the rotation, it is quite easy to connect together one field near the houses with another at a distance; thus having a supply at hand for the home stock, while the distant crops may be consumed on the ground. The same equalisation of labor should be observed in the cultivation of the corn fields, and in harvesting the crops. By this kind of arrangement a field of inferior soil may be so connected with one that is naturally rich, that the former may be gradually brought up in produce towards the level of the latter, without any injury. For instance, a field under turuips may be so fertile that it would be destructive to the succeeding corn crop to consume the whole or the greater part on the ground; while another may be naturally so poor, or so deficient in tenacity, as to make it inexpedient to spare any part for consumption elsewhere. By connecting these two under the same crop,-by carrying from the one what turnips are wanted for the feeding-houses and straw-yards, and eating the whole crop of the other on the ground with sheep, the ensuing crop of corn will not be so luxuriant on the former as to be unproductive, while the latter will seldom fail to yield abundantly.

1. In preparing land for cropping, the first thing that occurs is to consider the obstructions to regular ploughing. The most formidable of these are stones lying above or below the surface. Stones above the surface may be avoided by the ploughman, though not without loss of ground; but stones below the surface are commonly not discovered till the plough is shattered to pieces, and perhaps a day's work lost. The clearing land of stones is therefore necessary to prevent mischief. And, to encourage the operation, it is

attended with much actual profit. In the first place, the stones are often useful for fences: when large they must be blown, and are commonly proper for building. And, as the blowing with gunpowder does not exceed a halfpenny for each inch that is bored, these stones come generally cheaper than to dig as many out of the quarry. 2dly, As the soil round a large stone is commonly the best in the field, it is purchased at a low rate by taking out the stone; for not only is the ground lost that is occupied by a large stone, but also a considerable space round it, to which the plough has not access without danger. A third advantage is that the plowing can be carried on with much expedition, when there is no apprehension of stones: in stony land, the plough must proceed so slow, as not to perform half of its work.

But to clear land of stones is an undertaking too expensive for a tenant who has not a long lease. As it is, however, so important both to him and to his landlord, it appears reasonable that the expense should be divided, where the lease does not exceed nineteen or twenty years. It falls naturally upon the landlord to be at the expense of blowing the stones, and upon the tenant to carry them off the field.

Another obstruction is wet ground. Water may improve gravelly or sandy soils; but it sours a clay soil, or renders it unfit for vegetation, and converts low ground into a morass. A great deal has been written upon different methods of draining land. See DRAINING. One way of draining without expense, when land is to be enclosed with hedge and ditch, is to direct the ditches so as to carry off the water. But this method is not always practicable. If the run of water be considerable, it will destroy the ditches, and lay open the fences, especially where the soil is loose or sandy. If ditches will not answer, hollow drains are sometimes made, and sometimes open drains, made so deep as to command the water. The former is filled up with loose stones, with brush-wood, or with any other porous matter that permits the water to pass. The latter is left open. To make the former effectual, the ground must have such a slope as to give the water a brisk course. To attempt to execute them in a level ground is an error; the passages are soon stopped up with sand and sediment, and the work is rendered useless. This inconvenience takes not place in open drains; but they are subject to other inconveniences. They are always filling up, and make a yearly reparation necessary; and they obstruct both ploughing and pasturing.

The following open drain is one of the best. It is made with the plough, cleaving the space intended for the drain over and over, till the furrow be made of a sufficient depth for carrying off the water. The slope on either side may, by repeated ploughings, be made so gentle as to give no obstruction either to the plough or to the harrow. There is no occasion for a spade, unless to smooth the sides, and to remove accidental obstructions in the bottom. This drain is executed at much less expense than either of the former; and it is perpetual, as it can never be obstructed. In level ground indeed grass may

grow at the bottom, but to clear off the grass once in four or five years will restore it to its original perfection. A hollow drain may be proper between the spring-head and the main drain, where the distance is not great; but in every other case the drain recommended is the best. Where a level field is infested with water from higher ground, the water ought to be intercepted by a ditch carried along the foot of the high ground, and terminating in some capital drain. The only way to clear a field of water that is hollow in the middle is to carry it off by some drain still lower.

A clay soil of any thickness is often pestered with rain, which settles on the surface. The only remedy is high narrow ridges, well rounded. And, to clear the furrows, the furrow of the footridge ought to be considerably lower, to carry off the water cleverly. It cannot be made too low, as nothing hurts clay soil more than the stagnation of water on it. Some gravelly soils have a clay bottom; which is a substantial benefit to a field when in grass, as it remains moister. But, when in tillage, ridges are necessary to prevent rain from settling at the bottom; and this is the only case where a gravelly soil ought to be ridged. Clay soils that have little or no level have sometimes a gravelly bottom. For discharging the water, the best method is, at the end of every ridge to pierce down to the gravel, which will absorb the water. But if the furrow of the foot-ridge be low enough to receive all the water it will be more expeditious to make a few holes in that furrow. In some cases, a field may be drained, by filling up the hollows with earth from higher ground. But, as this method is expensive, it will only be taken where no other method answers. Where a field happens to be partly wet, partly dry, there ought to be a separation by a middle ridge, if it can be done conveniently; and the dry part may be ploughed while the other is drying.

Some of the low parts of Scotland are of a brick clay soil, extremely wet in winter. This in a good measure may be prevented by proper enclosing, as there is scarcely a field but can be drained into lower ground. But as this would lessen the quantity of rain in a dry climate, such as is all the east side of Britain, it may admit of some doubt whether the remedy would not be as bad as the disease.

To improve a moor, let it be opened in winter when it is wet; and when the plough cannot be employed at any other work. In spring, after frost is over, a slight harrowing will fill up the seams with mould, to keep out the air, and rot the sod. In that state let it lie the following summer and winter, which will rot the sod more than if laid open to the air by ploughing. Next April, let it be cross-ploughed, breaked, and harrowed, till it be sufficiently pulverised. Let the manure laid upon it, whether lime or dung, be intimately mixed with the soil by repeated harrowings. This will make a fine bed for turnip seed if sown broad-cast. But, if drills be intended, the method must be followed that is directed afterward in treating of the culture of turnip. A successful turnip-crop, fed on the ground by sheep, is a fine preparation for laying