FARMING.
Farming. By W. M. Tod. "The Haddon Hall Library." (J. M. Dent and Co. 7s. 6d.)—Mr. Tod calls farming " the best pursuit of all," and he makes out a very good case for it; not, we may say, by proving how profitable it may be, but by writing the soundest common-sense with a light and really literary touch. He is an enthusiast, but he is wary of indulging in ecstasies, and treats his subject as if he were addressing those who had had some experience. By thus concealing the pose of the teacher, and removing all trace of the schoolmaster from his chapters, he makes himself more readable and twice as persuasive. Perhaps his most valuable chapter is on draining. Experience teaches men less in regard to the laws of drainage than about anything else. The worst crop may bring something back ; and mistakes above- ground are obvious. He thinks the days of big farms are over, and his reasons are weighty, but that it should be so goes against the grain. We notice his warning as to the many early barleys and oats, and he prophesies a great loss to the more tender varieties in the first hard winter we get. He pronounces a damning judgment on the rook. A chapter which contains some only too much needed advice is that on farm horses. Nowhere is the difference between the intelli- gent and the mean and stupid farmer more apparent than in the breeding of the working stock. Mr. Tod is a " high " farmer, of course ; yet he says he counts the would-be farmer lucky if he can be set down beside one who has had the lifelong practice of intelligent farming, if not the education of the new man. Mr. Tod is a kindly critic of the farmer, but a very just one ; altogether, his book constitutes both an essay on farming, and an appreciation of practical principles which is to be praised for its lucidity and moderation.
FATIGUE.
Previous page
