Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 67, No. 411, January 1850Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 67, No. 411, January 1850
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
therefore, be held up as an example to farmers.
"The farm of Auchness contains nothing remarkable: for although the
peculiar culture of the potato in moss is generally inapplicable,
there are many farms in Scotland which have moss attached to them.
The sea-ware may also be got on most farms on the coast, and where
this is the case, it is commonly used. The soil is not good, and is
certainly below the average quality; but I cannot understand what
is meant by Mr Caird, when he asserts, on p. 7, that the '125 acres
of light sandy soil is better adapted for _wheat_ than for barley
or oats when in a high state of cultivation,' for, in other parts
of the country, such a soil would be eminently suited for barley.
The steading is large for the size of the farm, but every steading
ought to be made conformable to the farm by the landlord. The system
of farming followed by Mr M'Culloch, of having 'no fixed rotation
of crops,' is highly objectionable, and Mr Caird, with great
propriety, does not commend it; since the farmer who manages so, has
no dependence on the amount of crop he may receive any year, and
must work according to circumstances, and not on principle, as the
unhappy Irish hitherto have done. In this respect, also, Auchness is
no example for the country; and, were a regular rotation followed on
it, so many potatoes could not be grown, and the profits would be
proportionally reduced.
"On the whole, then, I would say that Auchness farming is not
generally applicable; and therefore it is useless to proclaim it as
an antidote to free competition. For although it is probably true,
as Mr Caird says, 'that _green_ crops are likely henceforth to be
the main stay of the agriculturists of this country,' yet he must be
conscious that he is wrong in recommending, as an example, and as a
substitute for protection, the _enlarged_ cultivation of _potatoes_
as a green crop, seeing that their growth has, of late years, been
attended with great uncertainty. Is it not a mockery, then, to tell
us that our main stay against foreign competition should depend upon
a peculiarly uncertain crop? Will his pointing to a moss of 30 acres
in Wigtonshire, convince the farmers of this great kingdom, that
their future safety, as a class, must entirely depend upon their
cultivating such a root on such a soil, in preference to wheat on
the fertile loams of glorious old England? I apprehend that such a
result is beyond the power of argument."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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