Whitfield Example Farm

WHITFIELD EXAMPLE  FARM    

WHITFIELD FARM, near Thornbury, Gloucestershire, was, with the sanction of the Earl of Ducie, taken in hand in the spring of 1839, by Mr. John Morton, for the purpose of converting it into a Model Farm, such as is recommended in his work "On soils." The object which the noble proprietor of the estate had in establishing an example farm was the improvement of the practice of the farmers in the neighbourhood. In order to effect this, the farm is open to the visits of any one; every operation performed on it is open to the inspection of all; and reports of its condition, and of its various steps in its progress towards an improved state of cultivation are to be put forth at intervals.

In order still further to give it that pub- lie value which the perfect publicity of everything connected with it tends to give it, that part of the original plan which contemplated the establishment of an Agricultural School on it, is now being put in execution. Six pupils can be accommodated. These will be instructed in the principles of agriculture, and the practice adopted at Whitfield. They will be required on certain days of the week to take part in the regular work on the farm. He that by the plough would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive." The instructions given at Whitfield in farming, will embrace both the practice and the principles of agriculture.

With regard to the first, the history of all the operations which have been going on since the farm was taken in hand, will be traced with minuteness, and the effects of each will be pointed out. The mode in which land, originally of little value to the farmer, has been converted into a valuable property, will thus be seen, and the details of the processes of drainage, erection of farm buildings, and formation af roads, will be understood.

Not only, however, will a lesson in agriculture be learned by studying the past history of the farm, but also and more especially by close attention to the ordinary operations of cultivation now going on. These will not only be exa- mined and explained, reasons being given for each, but the students will be required to take part in each. They will also be required to keep a journal of the operations performed on the farm, in which they will also be able to record estimates of the effects of each on the subsequent crops. They will be able, by afterwards comparing their estimates with the results, to acquire rapidly that accuracy of foresight which is generally possessed only by farmers of long experience.

The cultivation of land for the several crops, the feeling of oxen and sheep, and the management of horses, will thus be subjects on which frequent remarks, the results of observation, will be committed to paper.

With regard to instructions in the principles of agriculture, the several sciences of chemistry, geology, and botany, which are intimately connected with it, will be made

the subject of courses of illustration: the first by means of a series of experiments illustrative of the properties of substances, and their action on one another; and the other by means of actual observations of the geological character of the neighbour hood. Thus, with respect to chemistry, 'the study of Reid's Chemistry of Nature," explaining the general nature of the science, and its application to the more general phenomena of nature, followed by some work, such as Turner's, which treat of the science in detail; which would fit the student for profiting by the perusal of works in which the application of the science is made to the practice of the farmer, such as that lately published by Professor Liebig, would be illustrated in such a manner as to simplify and render it interesting.

The study of geology or of botany, again, can nowhere be better illustrated than by observation of the district round Whitfield. There are within very few miles of this spot, representatives of every formation, from nearly the highest of the secondary down to the lowest of the Silurian series; and these are in several places broken through by volcanic rocks. In both of these sciences their influence on the practice of the farmer will be pointed out. Reasons dependent on the habits of the plants cultivated, or on other circum- stances, will be given for every operation which is executed on the farm, and it will be shown that farming is not, or ought not to be, an occupation dependent merely on chance or caprice, but that the principles by which it should be regulated are as exact as those on which the most delicate of the arts depend.

With regard to the actual division of time and arrangement of the employments of the students during the day, so many hours will on some days be devoted to the actual work of ploughing, harrowing, &c., as the case may be; on others that time will be employed in botanical or geological excursions in the neighbourhood.

The evenings will be employed in the studying of agricultural works, or of works on the sciences connected with agriculture; and leisure hours will be employed, not in shooting, or hunting, or smoking, but in the equally interesting and more useful occupation of mechanical or chemical manipulation. For this purpose a work shop has been fitted up with lathe and carpenters' tools, and a laboratory with chemical apparatus.

It may be stated that no person will be admitted into the establishment, without the most unexceptionable references as to his moral habits and character.

With regard to the nature of the diet, it will be simple-not expensive. No wine will be allowed; habits of economy befit ting the occupation of the farmer will be taught in this particular as in others.

For terms and further particulars in- quire of Mr. JOHN MORTON, Chester Hill Stroud, or of Mr. JOHN C. MORTON, Whitfield Example Farm, Thornbury, Gloucestershire.