e means by which it is said that the naturally
exhausting effect of the culture may be prevented. What our friend Dr Kane
has said and done is in perfect good faith; the form which his opinions
have assumed upon paper, has arisen solely from the want of a sufficient
knowledge of the usages and capabilities of sound and profitable practical
husbandry. If we cannot persuade our farmers to collect and apply to the
land the liquid manure of their farm-yards, when can we hope to persuade
them to empty their flax-ponds for the purpose of watering their fields?
Can we ever hope soon to persuade them to preserve and use up the
thousands of tons of _shows_ that are now yearly sent down the streams by
which our flax mills are set in motion?

We are far from saying that flax or any other crop may not be grown
without necessarily exhausting the soil--chemistry, we know, will
by-and-by put all this within our power; but we are very much of Mr
Stephens' opinion, that our English and Irish flax societies do not as yet
clearly see their way to that end, and that unintentionally they will lead
many to inflict a permanent injury upon their land, without any adequate
compensation to themselves, their landlords, or the country.

We had marked the early cutting of corn in harvest as a subject of general
importance to practical men, and that of the smearing of sheep, so
interesting especially to our northern agriculturists; and we wished to
confirm Mr Stephens' recommendations upon those points by some
observations of our own; but we are compelled to leave the chapter which
treats upon them to the private consideration of our readers.

We quote the following passage from the chapter on _fertilizing the soil
by means of manure_, as containing much good common sense:--

"Dung is applied at the commencement of every rotation of crops with
the fallow green-crops, and with bare fallow; and when applied at any
other time, it is near the termination of a long rotation. A rule for
the quantity of farm-yard dung to be applied according to the length
of the rotation, as given by Dr Coventry, is, that five tons per acre
are required every year to sustain the fertility of soil; and,
therefore, land which is dunged every four years in a rotation of
four courses, should receive with the fallow-crop twenty tons per
acre; in a five-course shift, twenty-five tons; in a six-course
shift, thirty tons, and so