Definition. May be defined, The art of disposing the earth in such a manner as to produce whatever vegetables we desire, in large quantity, and in the greatest perfection of which their natures are capable.—But though, by this definition, agriculture, strictly speaking, includes in it the cultivation of every species of vegetable whatever, and consequently comprehends all that is understood of gardening and planting, we mean here to confine ourselves to the cultivation of those species of grain, grass, &c., which, in this country, are generally necessary as food for men and beasts.

History. That the antiquity of this art is beyond all others, cannot well be doubted; seeing we are informed by Scripture, that Adam was sent from the garden of Eden to till the ground; and, this being the case, he certainly must have known how to do so.—It would be ridiculous, from this, to imagine that he was acquainted with all the methods of ploughing, harrowing, fallowing, &c., which are now made use of; and it would be equally foolish to imagine, that he used such clumsy and unartful instruments as wooden hooks, horns of oxen, &c., to dig the ground, which were afterwards employed for this purpose by certain savages; but as we know nothing of the particular circumstances in which he was situated, we can know as little concerning his method of agriculture.

The prodigious length of life which the antediluvians enjoyed, must have been very favourable to the advancement of arts and sciences, especially agriculture, to which they behoved to apply themselves in a particular manner, in order to procure their subsistence. It is probable, therefore, that, even in the antediluvian world, arts and sciences had made great progress, nay, might be farther advanced in some things than they are at present. Of this, however, we can form no judgment, as there are no histories of those times, and the scripture gives us but very slight hints concerning these matters.

No doubt, by the terrible catastrophe of the flood, which overwhelmed the whole world, many sciences would be entirely lost, and agriculture would suffer; as it was impossible that Noah or his children could put in practice, or perhaps, know, all the different methods of cultivating the ground that were formerly used. The common methods, however, we cannot but suppose to have been known to him and his children, and by them transmitted to their posterity; so that as long as mankind continued in one body without being dispersed into different nations, the arts, agriculture especially, behoved to advance; and that they did so is evident from the undertaking of the tower of Babel. It is from the dispersion of mankind consequent upon the confusion of tongues, that we must date the origin of savage nations. In all societies where different arts are cultivated, there are some persons who have a kind of gene- ral knowledge of most of those practised through the whole society, while others are in a manner ignorant of every one of them. If we suppose a few people of understanding to separate from the rest, and become the founders of a nation, it will probably be a civilized one, and the arts will begin to flourish from its very origin; but, if a nation is founded by others whose intellects are in a manner callous to every human science, (and of this kind there are many in the most learned countries), the little knowledge or memory of arts that were among the original founders will be lost, and such nations will for many ages be a savage and degenerate race, till at last they will either begin to improve of themselves, or the arts will be brought to them from other nations.

From this, or similar causes, all nations of equal antiquity have not been equally savage, nor is there any solid reason for concluding that all nations were originally unskilled in agriculture; though as we know not the original instruments of husbandry used by mankind when living in one society, we cannot fix the date of the improvements in this art. Different nations have always been in a different state of civilization; and agriculture, as well as other arts, has always been in different degrees of improvement among different nations at the same time.

From the earliest accounts of the eastern nations, we have reason to think, that agriculture has at all times been understood by them in considerable perfection; seeing they were always supplied not only with the necessaries, but the greatest luxuries, of life. The Egyptians never appear to have been destitute of it, seeing they were capable of supplying other nations with corn upwards of 2400 years before the Christian era. The accounts of Herodotus, concerning the judicious conduct of this nation in the disposition of their country with respect to the inundations of the Nile, likewise evince their knowledge of agriculture to have been very considerable.

The Greeks, who were at first a set of barbarous savages, appear to have received their knowledge of agriculture from the eastern nations. Some few fragments of theirs are the most ancient rudiments of husbandry upon record. The elder Cato is the most ancient Latin author whose writings upon this subject have reached the present time. An improved treatise on agriculture was written by Varro, who has embellished his subject with elegant language; soon after him, Virgil published his justly admired Georgics, by far the most laboured and highly finished of any of his works. Columella afterwards collected with great judgment whatever was valuable in the writings of his predecessors, and enriched them with his own observations on the subject. His work is one of the choicest remains of antiquity, and has scarcely been equalled by any author since his time.—Valuable treatises on agriculture were also published by Attalus, king of Pergamus; Archelaus, king of Cappadocia; Valerius Asiaticus, who was judged worthy of the empire after Caligula; and by the emperor Albinus.

The irruptions of the barbarous nations of the north soon abolished any improved agriculture. These innumerable and enterprising barbarians, who overran all Europe, were originally shepherds or hunters, like the present Tartars and the savages of America. They contented themselves with possessing those vast deserts made by their own ravages, without labour or trouble, cultivating only a very small spot near their habitations; and in this trifling husbandry, only the meanest slaves were employed: so that the art itself, which formerly was thought worthy of the study of kings, was now looked upon as mean and ignoble; a prejudice which is scarcely effaced at present, or at least but very lately.

At what time agriculture was introduced into Britain, is uncertain. When Julius Caesar first invaded this island, it was not wholly unknown. That conqueror was of opinion, that agriculture was first introduced by some of those colonies from Gaul which had settled in the southern parts of Britain, about 100 years before the Roman invasion.*

It is not to be expected that we can now be acquainted with many of the practices of these ancient husbandmen. It appears, however, that they were not unacquainted with the use of manures, particularly marle. This we have on the authority of Pliny†, who tells us, that it was peculiar to the people of Gaul and of Britain; that its effects continued 80 years; and that no man was ever known to marle his field twice, &c.—It is highly probable, too, that lime was at this time also used as a manure in Britain, it being certainly made use of in Gaul for this purpose at the time of Julius Caesar's invasion.

The establishment of the Romans in Britain produced great improvements in agriculture, inasmuch that prodigious quantities of corn were annually exported from the island; but when the Roman power began to decline, this, like all the other arts, declined also, and was almost totally destroyed by the departure of that people. The unhappy Britons were now exposed to frequent incursions of the Scots and Piets, who destroyed the fruits of their labours, and interrupted them in the exercise of their art. After the arrival of the Saxons in the year 449, they were involved in such long wars, and underwent so many calamities, that the husbandmen gradually lost much of their skill, and were at last driven from those parts of their country which were most proper for cultivation.

After the Britons retired into Wales, though it appears from the laws made relative to this art, that agriculture was thought worthy of the attention of the legislature, yet their instruments appear to have been very unartful. It was enacted that no man should undertake to guide a plough who could not make one; and that the driver should make the ropes of twisted willows, with which it was drawn. It was usual for six or eight persons to form themselves into a society for fitting out one of these ploughs, providing it with oxen and everything necessary for ploughing; and many minute and curious laws were made for the regulation of such societies. If any person laid dung on a field with the consent of the proprietor, he was by law allowed the use of that land for one year. If the dung was carried out in a cart in great abundance, he was to have the use of the land for three years. Whoever cut down a wood, and converted the ground into arable, with the consent of the owner, was to have the use of it for five years. If any one folded his cattle, for one year, upon a piece of ground belonging to another, with the owner's consent, he was allowed the use of that field for four years.

Thus, Thus, though the Britons had in a great measure lost the knowledge of agriculture, they appear to have been very affilious in giving encouragement to such as would attempt a revival of it; but, among the Anglo-Saxons, things were not at present in so good a state. These restless and haughty warriors, having contracted a distaste and contempt for agriculture, were at pains to enact laws to prevent its being followed by any other than women and slaves. When they first arrived in Britain, they had no occasion for this art, being supplied by the natives with all the necessaries of life. After the commencement of hostilities, the Saxons subsisted chiefly by plunder; but having driven out or extirpated most of the ancient Britons, and divided their lands among themselves, they found themselves in danger of starving; there being now no enemy to plunder; and therefore they were obliged to apply to agriculture.

The Saxon princes and great men, who, in the division of the lands, had received the greatest shares, are said to have subdivided their estates into two parts, which were called the in-lands and the out-lands. The in-lands were those which lay most contiguous to the mansion-house of their owner, which he kept in his own possession, and cultivated by his slaves, under the direction of a bailiff, for the purpose of raising provisions for the family. The out-lands were those at a greater distance from the house, and were let to the ceorls, or farmers of those times, at very moderate rents. By the laws of Ina king of the west Saxons, who reigned in the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth century, a farm consisting of ten hides, or plough-lands, was to pay the following rent:

"Ten casks of honey; three hundred loaves of bread; twelve casks of strong ale; thirty casks of small ale; two oxen; ten wedders; ten geese; twenty hens; ten cheeses; one cask of butter; five salmon; twenty ty pounds of forage; and one hundred eels." From this low rent the imperfection of agriculture at that time is easily discoverable; but it is still more so from the low prices at which land was then sold. In the ancient history of the church of Ely, published by Dr Gale, there are accounts of many purchases of lands by Edelwold the founder of that church, and by other benefactors, in the reign of Edgar the Peaceable, in the tenth century. By a comparison of these accounts it appears, that the ordinary price of an acre of the best land in that part of England, in those times, was no more than 16 Saxon pennies, or about four shillings of our money; a very trifling price, even in comparison of that of other commodities at the same time: for, by comparing other accounts, it appears, that four sheep were then equal in value to an acre of the best land, and one horse of the same value with three acres. The frequent and deplorable famines which afflicted England about this time, are further instances of the wretched state of agriculture. In 1043, a quarter of wheat sold for 60 Saxon pennies, (15 of our shillings) and at that time equal in value to seven or eight pounds of our money now.

The invasion of the Normans, in 1066, contributed very much to the improvement of agriculture; for, by that event, many thousands of husbandmen from Flanders, France, and Normandy, settled in Britain, obtained estates or farms, and cultivated them after the manner of their country. The implements of husbandry, used at this time, were of the same kind with those employed at present; but some of them were less perfect in their construction. The plough, for example, had but one flit, or handle, which the ploughman guided with one hand, having in his other hand an instrument which served both for cleaning and mending the plough, as well as for breaking the clods. The Norman plough had two wheels; and in the light soil of Normandy was commonly drawn by one or two oxen; but, in England, a greater number was often necessary. In Wales, the person who conducted the oxen in the plough walked backwards. Their carts, harrows, scythes, sickles, and flails, from the figures of them still remaining, appear to have been nearly of the same construction with those that are now used. In Wales, they did not use a sickle for reaping their corns, but an instrument like the blade of a knife, with a wooden handle at each end.—Their chief manure, next to dung, seems still to have been marl. Summer fallowing of lands designed for wheat, and ploughing them several times, appear to have been frequent practices of the English farmers in this period.

All this time, agriculture seems to have been in a very imperfect state in Scotland. Though we are certain that the knowledge of it in this country proceeded originally from England, we know not when it was introduced. In 1214, the legislature seem to have directed their attention towards the improvement of this art; for by an act of Alexander II. dated this year, all farmers that had four oxen or cows, or upwards, were commanded to till their land by ploughing, and to begin to till fifteen days before Candlemas; that such farmers as had not so many oxen, should delve with hand and foot as much land as would produce a sufficient quantity of corn to support themselves and their families. It is probable, however, that this law was designed for the Highlands, and most uncultivated parts of the kingdom; for, in the same parliament, a very severe law was made against those farmers who did not extirpate a pernicious weed called guilde out of their lands, which seems to indicate a more advanced state of cultivation.

The most considerable improvements in agriculture, however, have taken place in Britain since the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The reformation was no less favourable to the arts than to religion. Improvements were first begun by some natives of Switzerland who settled in England; and the liberal spirit of inquiry succeeding this remarkable period, hath in a manner entirely put an end to that slavish attachment to the customs of preceding ages, which, under the dominion of popery, proved an insurmountable bar to the progress of every science. Societies for the improvement of this most useful art have been instituted both in England and Scotland; and though the agriculture of Scotland hath hitherto scarcely equalled that of England, yet the improvements that are daily making in the former, and the universal increase of the knowledge of the art among her inhabitants, leave no room to doubt, that in a few years she will show every mark of equality that foil, climate, and other natural differences, will allow. PART I. THEORY OF AGRICULTURE.

In an art so extensively useful to mankind, and which has been so universally practised since the creation of the world, it is natural to expect the most exact and perfect theory; but in this we are not only totally disappointed, but likewise find the greatest disagreement among those who practise it, new schemes starting up and receiving the highest applause to day, and sinking into total neglect and oblivion to-morrow.

One reason of this want of a distinct theory of agriculture is, the ignorance of what is properly the food of vegetables; for as the whole art of agriculture consists only in supplying them with a proper quantity of food, in the most favourable circumstances, it is evident, we could proceed upon a much more sure foundation if we could ascertain what their proper nourishment is, than we can do without this knowledge.

The reason of the great differences regarding the practice, probably, is the difficulty of making experiments in agriculture. It is not in this art as in Mechanics, Chemistry, &c. where an experiment can be made in an hour, or a day or two at farthest: an experiment in agriculture cannot be properly made in less than several years. Some favourable unobserved circumstances, quite foreign to the experiment itself, may concur to produce plentiful crops for a year or two; and thus the farmer may be induced to publish his fancied improvements, which failing in the hands of others, or perhaps even in his own on a repetition of the experiment, the new improvements are totally neglected, and things continue in their old way. Was he, however, capable of seeing and handling the food of vegetables, as well as he can do that of a horse or an ox, and procuring it in any imaginable quantity, it is plain, that he would be able to cause vegetables grow in their utmost luxuriancy, or, if we may be allowed the expression, fatten them, with as great certainty as he can fatten a horse or an ox, when he hath plenty of proper food to give them.—To ascertain what this food is, therefore, must be a step towards the perfection of agriculture; and to this we shall contribute our endeavours.

SECT. I. Of the proper Food of Plants.

We shall not here spend time in refuting the theories of those who imagined the vegetable food to consist of the food of oily and saline substances. There will be considered when speaking of the different kinds of manures. The theory which seems to gain most credit at present is, that Water and Air are the proper vegetable food, to which alone they owe their increase in bulk and weight.—That plants cannot be supported without both these, is very certain: but we know, that air is a compound fluid; and water is never without some impurities, so may also be considered as a compound.—Dr Pritchley hath shewn, that our atmosphere is composed of earth, of phlogiston, and the nitrous acid*. To these we may add water; for whether that is an ingredient in the Doctor's pure dephlogisticated air or not, we are very sure that it is so in that air which has access to all vegetables, and contributes so much to their growth. Is it then the aqueous, the earthly, the acid, or the phlogistic part of the air, which nourishes plants? In like manner, is it the pure elementary part of water, which nourishes them? or does it contribute to their growth only by the heterogeneous substances which it contains?

From Dr Pritchley's experiments on different kinds of Vegetables, air, it appears that the purest kind of that fluid is not the fittest for the purposes of vegetation. On the contrary, vegetables flourished in a surprising degree when confined in a small quantity of air made perfectly noxious by the putrid effluvia of animal bodies. In these circumstances, a sprig of mint extended itself, in seven days, three inches in length, and put forth several new shoots; the putrid air, in the meantime, being deprived of its noxious quality, and becoming so wholesome that animals might breathe it with safety. This property of absorbing such noxious effluvia, he found to belong not only to mint, but indiscriminately to every vegetable substance; and hence he concludes, that one use of the vegetable creation is to purify the air from that immense quantity of putrid effluvia which is continually absorbed by it from the breath of living creatures, and the putrefaction of animal and vegetable bodies. By the absorption of these effluvia from the air we find that vegetables are remarkably increased in bulk. We are assured, therefore, that they constitute at least one species of vegetable food; and when vegetables are put into such circumstances that the steams of putrefying bodies can have access to them, we are sure they will thrive the better.

Besides this method of restoring the salubrity of putrid air by growing vegetables, the Doctor found another; namely, by agitating it in water, part of which was exposed to the atmosphere. In this case, the water acquired a very putrid noxious smell; which shews, that water, as well as air, is capable of absorbing those effluvia which are found proper food for vegetables. We cannot help concluding, therefore, that in the continual ascent of water in vapour, and its descent again in rain, which is a much more effectual agitation than could be made by Dr Pritchley, the water must be very intimately combined with the phlogistic or putrid effluvia which are contained in the air. To this union we are led strongly to suspect that rain-water owes its fertilizing qualities; for the purest spring waters, though most wholesome for animals, are not found to be fittest for promoting the growth of vegetables.—As, therefore, vegetables evidently receive nourishment both by their leaves and roots, and increase remarkably in bulk per food of by absorbing the putrid effluvia from the air; and as they likewise increase in bulk by admitting water to their roots, and more so when the water contains much of that kind of effluvium, than when it contains less; we must necessarily conclude, that the nourishment received by the roots of plants is of the same kind with that received by their leaves; and that this food may be given them in greater plenty, than they naturally receive it, by impregnating the air which surrounds them, or the water which moistens them, with a greater quantity of putrid matter than what they contain in a natural state.

Some will perhaps laugh at this scanty provision we are making for the immense quantity of vegetables with which the whole surface of the earth is covered; for the Theory. The food we have just now assigned them is naturally invisible, and consequently will be looked upon by many as a kind of non-entity. Its invisibility, however, is no argument for its existing only in a small quantity; for the subtle matter which increases the weight of calcined metals is equally invisible with what we have just now assigned for the support of the vegetable creation; nevertheless, it is far from being in small quantity, that any imaginable weight of it may be absorbed from the air in a short time. It is said by some, that lead, by being converted into the sublimate called minium or red lead, gains one fourth, by others only one tenth, in weight from the air: as a medium, we shall suppose that it gains 1 lb. If seven tons of lead, then, were converted into minium at once, it would gain one ton, or 2000 lbs. from the air, in three or four days at most; for that is the longest time required for the calculation. We should be surprised at finding a vegetable increase so much in such a short time, though it receives food both from the air and earth; but if the air contains such a quantity of mineral food, if we please to call it so, why should it not contain an equal quantity of matter for the support of vegetables also, even supposing them to have no other source of nourishment?

Sect. II. The foregoing Theory confirmed from considerations on the nature of vegetable Mould, and the different kinds of Manure found proper for fertilizing the Soil.

Though plants will grow on any kind of earth, and flourish vigorously, if plentifully supplied with water; yet some kinds of soils are found much more proper for supplying them with nourishment than others.—We cannot, indeed, allow the inferences to be quite fair which some would draw from experiments on plants set in mere sand, &c.; viz. that the earth is of no other use to vegetation than to afford a proper support to the plant, that it be not easily moved out of its place; because the experiments made on single vegetables are always performed in or very near housetops, where the air is by no means so pure as in the open fields, and consequently where they have an opportunity of receiving as much nourishment from the air as may compensate the want of what they would have derived from the earth if planted in a rich soil. Lord Kames, in the Gentleman Farmer, mentions an experiment wherein a pea was planted on some cotton spread on water, in a vial. It sprang, and pushed roots through the cotton into the water. The plant grew vigorously, and, at the time of his writing the experiment, carried large pods full of ripe seed.—From this experiment, or others of a similar kind, however, a farmer would not be thought to act very judiciously, who should conclude that nothing more was requisite to produce a plentiful crop, than to keep his fields constantly soaking with water, and apply his labour only for that purpose, without regarding either tillage, manure, or the difference of soils. Experience has abundantly shewn, that by certain operations performed on the earth itself, it is rendered much more capable of supplying vegetables with plenty of nourishment than if such operations were omitted; and that some kinds of soils cannot without certain additions be rendered fit for this purpose as others; and this is what constitutes the difference between a rich and a poor soil.

Chemists have distinguished the different kinds of earths into particular classes*, from whence we might expect some insight into the nature of different soils; but so far from this, that species of earth, which alone is capable of supplying the vegetable kingdom with nourishment in the greatest plenty, seems entirely overlooked, and is scarce ever mentioned. This kind of earth is the most common of any, and is found in its greatest perfection in well cultivated gardens. It is not however, even in these, found in perfect purity; being constantly mixed with greater or less proportions of sand, small stones, &c. It can be had by itself, and entirely separated from all other substances, only by suffering vegetable or animal bodies to purify. By undergoing this operation, they are at last resolved into a kind of earth, which appears perfectly the same, from whatever substance it is produced. Of this earth Dr Lewis gives us the following characters. It is indissoluble in acids, somewhat tenacious when moistened with water, friable when dry, and acquires no additional hardness in the fire.—The chemistry of nature, and of art, however, are so very dissimilar, that an account of the chemical properties of this earth can be but of very little service to the practice of agriculture; however, to those above mentioned we may add, that when it is distilled with a violent fire, a volatile alkaline spirit, and fecal oil, similar to those of hartshorn or other animal substances, are obtained.

As the volatile alkali is known to be produced in great plenty by distilling putrid substances either animal or vegetable, the obtaining an alkaline spirit from this kind of earth is a strong argument of its being much impregnated with the putrid effluvia, which we have already mentioned as the proper vegetable food contained in the air and water. Indeed, considering that this kind of earth is produced by putrefaction, it is next to an impossibility that it should not be impregnated with putrid fleams, as much as earth can be; and if the earth which is most impregnated with these fleams is found to afford the greatest quantity of nourishment to vegetables, we have from thence an additional proof that they live on the putrid matter emitted from dead animals and vegetables like themselves.

That we may be the more convinced of this, it must be considered, that the earth, which undoubtedly is the great source of nourishment to vegetables, is capable of absorbing putrid effluvia more powerfully, or in prodigious quantities, before it is saturated, than either the air or water. The practice of burying dead bodies is an undeniable proof of this. They are laid but a small depth under ground; yet the abominable stench emitted by the dead carcass is retained in the earth, so that it never penetrates in such a manner as to be offensive. That earth may be saturated with this putrid matter, as well as air or water, is very certain; and, in case of such a saturation, no doubt either of these will take up the superfluous quantity, and become noxious; but unless the earth is fully saturated, both of them will deposit part of what they themselves contain in the earth, and by that means become more salutary than they were before.

That earth is capable of attracting putrid effluvia from the air, perhaps, may not be so readily granted; and indeed we know of no experiment whereby it can be shewn that putrid air is made salutary by having any kind kind of earth agitated in it: but if we consider the exceeding great salubrity of the air in the country, and the healthiness of those who follow the plough or are employed in digging the ground, we must at least allow, that when the ground is turned up, it communicates no kind of noxious quality to the air; which it most certainly would do, if it emitted a putrid effluvia. So far from this, the smell of moist earth is always agreeable and wholesome; and here we have the satisfaction to find our theory somewhat confirmed by the celebrated Baron van Swieten, late physician to the emperors of Hungary.

"Physicians" says he "usually advise their patients to rufification, not only that they may enjoy a pure and freely circulating air, but that, as their strength increases, they may, disengaged from all care, exercise their body by the lighter labours of agriculture, and other country amusements.

"There may perhaps be another cause why rufification will be of benefit in consumptions. It is well known, that, after some days drought, on the falling of rain that moistens the earth, there arises a grateful smell, which we all are sensible of; and this is commonly attributed to the vegetables, which before appeared, but now refreshed by rain, perspire more copiously. But Reaumur observed, that a like fragrance is also perceptible after rain when the corn has been cut down in the fields, where there only remains dry stubble; and examining the matter more particularly, he found that dry earth is without smell, but as soon as it is moistened to the degree of having the consistence of softish pap, it then diffuses a strong smell; but if more water is added, the smell is diminished, nay even quite dissipated. Neither does it seem an easy matter to exhaust that power of producing smells which the earth is possessed of. Every day, during a fortnight, he made cakes of moistened earth; and having dried and wetted them over again, he could not perceive that the earth was less fragrant after all these repeated experiments, if it was again wetted. He further observed, that this fragrance does not diffuse itself to any thing at a great distance, without being much diminished, and soon entirely gone.—It has been observed, that this expiration of the earth ceases if thunder and storms soon follow; while they continue, it begins to return; and when over, the same fragrance of the earth for some hours affects the smell of a man as he walks along over a considerable tract of ground. There is no one, I believe, but has sometimes made this observation; and hence the earth, when moistened to a certain degree, seems to exhale fragrant odours, and indeed various in various places, as we are sensible of from their diversity. They are for the most part of a salubrious quality; as some persons quite faint and languid in the summer heats perceive themselves wonderfully refreshed, whilst, after rain, they snuff up the fragrant odour. In some places those effluvia are perhaps bad, and may be the cause of diseases."

This property of emitting a fragrant smell is likewise taken notice of by Dr Home in his Principles of Agriculture and Vegetation. Some physicians have prescribed a bath of earth for the cure of consumptive patients; and Dr Solano de Luque was of opinion, that the earth had the property of absorbing contagious miasmas into it: and we are certain, that whether it can absorb these miasmas from living bodies or not, it certainly can absorb them from dead ones; for a piece of putrid meat will be much sweetened by lying for a short time in the ground.

From all this we cannot indeed infer, that putrid air is sweetened by mere earth; but we discover what is perhaps more important, namely, that though earth is the common receptacle of all putrid matters both animal and vegetable, there is a change made on them when in it, which cannot be made either by air or water. Thus, if the carcass of a small animal is left to putrefy in the air, it becomes exceedingly offensive, and continues so from first to last. The same thing happens if it is left to putrefy in water. But, in earth, the case is quite different. After the carcass is consumed, the earth which has imbibed all the putrid steams, instead of exhaling an offensive odour, diffuses an agreeable one; and thus we may see that it is endowed with a power no less remarkable than that of attraction or repulsion, and which we may distinguish by the name of transmutation. With regard to water, the case is more evident; for the most putrid water will be sweetened by percolation through earth, or even running in a channel for some time on its surface; but if it contains any impurities of the saline kind, they will not be separated, or at least in very small quantity.

The existence of such a power as that of transmutation we will be obliged to own, whatever we imagine the vegetable food to consist of; for it is impossible to solve the phenomena of vegetation by attractions and repulsions. If we suppose the vegetable food to be salt, let us attract and repel salt as we will, it remains salt from first to last. Let us suppose it water, the case is the same; and, by mere attraction, nothing but masses of salt, or pools of water, could be produced. The case is the same on our own hypothesis; for, supposing plants composed of the putrid effluvia of others, and of dead animals, if nature was endowed with no other power than attraction or repulsion, the vegetable behoved to be a corrupted mass like that of which it was composed.—This power, as we have already seen, resides only in the earth, and in the vegetables themselves; air and water can indeed act as powerful solvents, but cannot transform or compound.

We must next consider the nature of those different operations, which, from time immemorial, have been performed on the earth, in order to cause it produce the greatest crops of vegetables. If all of these shall be found confining to one general purpose, then the shortest and most easy method of attaining that purpose is undoubtedly the most proper to be practised in agriculture, whether it hath been as yet put in execution or not. These are,

1. Frequent ploughing, or following. The immediate consequences of this is to expose different quantities of the soil to the action of the air and sun, which will not fail to exert their solvent powers upon it. In consequence of this action, the earth is partly reduced to powder; many of the roots of vegetables, with which it always abounds, are dissolved and putrified; and the earth produced from them mixes with the rest, as well as the effluvia they emit during their dissolution. The earth soon begins again to exert its prolific quality, and a crop of vegetables is produced. By a repetition of the ploughing, these are turned with their roots upwards,

Lord Kames is of opinion, that the reason of the fertility of any soil being increased by following, is, that its capacity of retaining water is increased. But this we absolutely deny; for so far from being more disposed to retain water by its pulverization, the soil is evidently more disposed to part with it, either by evaporation, or by suffering the moisture to percolate through it. In this respect it is far inferior to clay; for the dry garden-mould absorbs water much more quickly than clay, it also dries much sooner, and thus all the advantage is lost.

To those who reckon the food of vegetables to consist of oils or salts, the operation of following ground must appear an useless one, as it can tend neither to produce oils nor salts, but to destroy them. As its utility, however, cannot be denied, the favourers of this theory imagine, that the ground, by repeated operations of this kind, is fitted for attracting the nitrous salts from the air: but it is found, that these salts cannot be attracted by earth, or any other substance, even when exposed for a great length of time to the air with a view to produce salt-petre; which gives a strong suspicion against their existence; and even if nitre is mixed with the soil, it is found to be detrimental, and will kill or poison plants instead of nourishing them.

2. Overflowing the ground with water.—This is found prodigiously to increase the fertility of any soil. It is well known how much Egypt owes to the annual overflowing of the Nile; and even in this country the overflowing of any ground is found to be attended with great advantage. This is practised by Mr Bakewell of Leicestershire, famous for his improvements in the breed of cattle; and he finds it fully to answer an annual manuring of any other sort. It is also recommended by Mr Anderson of Monkhill, in his essays on agriculture.

The fertilizing quality of water will easily be accounted for on the same principles. When grown vegetables are covered with water, their growth, however vigorous before, is immediately stopt, unless they be of the aquatic kind; they die; are dissolved, and putrefied; in which case, their finer parts are undoubtedly absorbed by the earth; and thus the floating, as it is called, of fields with water, answers the purpose of following, with very little trouble. This is not all: for stagnating water always deposits a sediment, which, mixing with the dissolved parts of the vegetables all over the field, forms an excellent manure; and when the water is allowed to run off, the heat of the sun soon brings the highest degree of putrefaction on the dead vegetables, the effluvia of which, mixing with the mud deposited from the water, makes it exceedingly rich.

Upon the supposition of oily and saline food for vegetables, this operation must certainly be prejudicial; for nothing can so effectually deprive any substance of salt, as steeping it in water. Neither will water either deposit oil from itself, or suffer it to mix with the ground if accidentally brought to it; nay, though a field were previously impregnated with oil, upon overflowing it with water, great part of the oil would be separated, and rise to the top: so that, in either case, this operation behoved to impoverish land, rather than enrich it; and as vegetables are found to be supplied with food in plenty, by an operation which must undoubtedly tend to take away both oils and salts from them, we cannot help thinking this a demonstration that their food is composed neither of oil nor salt.

3. Manuring, or mixing the soil with different substances.—We shall here confine ourselves to those which are of undoubted efficacy, and have their credit established by long experience. These are, 1. lime, chalk, marle, shells, or other earths called by the chemists calcareous earths; 2. foot; 3. ashes; 4. dung of different kinds. (1.) The lime, chalk, marle, and shells, are all found to be of the same nature. The marle differs from the rest, only in having a mixture of clay along with its calcareous part. These contain neither fat nor oil of any kind; they readily imbibe water, and as readily part with it. Quicklime, indeed, retains water very obstinately; but such lime as is laid upon the ground soon returns to the same state in which it originally was, and powdered limetone is found to answer as well for the purposes of manure as that which has been burnt; so that here we may consider them all as substances of the same class. If any of these substances are mixed with dead animal or vegetable bodies, they remarkably quicken their dissolution and corruption, as appears from Sir John Pringle's experiments on putrefaction. When mixed with the soil, therefore, they must undoubtedly exert their powers on such substances as they find there, in the same manner as they do on others; that is, they must hasten their dissolution and putrefaction, and give the pure vegetable mould an opportunity of absorbing their putrid fleams, and consequently of being fertilized by it in the same manner as by putrid substances of any kind. (2.) Those who contend for oily and saline principles in the vegetable food, avail themselves of the usefulness of foot as a manure; which is not only oily of itself, but affords a great quantity of volatile salt, along with some neutral sal-ammoniac. It must be remembered, however, that not an atom either of volatile salt or sal-ammoniac can be extracted from foot without a considerable heat, which no soil can give, nor could any vegetable bear. Neither doth its oil appear without a great degree of heat; and though it feels somewhat unctuous to the touch, this is but a mere deception; for no true oil, capable of floating on water, can be obtained from foot without distillation. It is impossible, therefore, that foot can act upon the soil either as an oily or a saline substance; how far it is capable of dissolution by putrefaction, or being otherwise converted into an earth, hath not yet been determined by experiments; but as it yields, on distillation, the same principles which are obtained from animal or putrefied vegetable substances, it is probable that foot enriches the ground in the same manner that they do. (3.) The use of ashes in manure is likewise urged as an argument for the food of vegetables being of a saline nature; as it is known, that the common alkaline salts are procured by lixiviating the ashes of wood and other vegetables. Experience, however, shews us, that ashes are no less fit for manure after the salt is extracted from them than before.

Theory. Indeed, if there is any difference, it is in favour of the walked ashes. The alkali itself, though in Sir John Pringle's experiments it was found to be anti-septic, or a refiner of putrefaction, is nevertheless a powerful dissolvent; and as it must soon lose its alkaline properties when mixed with the earth, in consequence of the universal existence of the vitriolic acid *, those substances which it has dissolved will be more disposed to putrefaction than before, and consequently tend to fertilize the ground in the manner we have already described. The walked ashes are septic, or promoters of putrefaction, and consequently act in the same manner as chalk or limestone. (4.) All kinds of dung are so much disposed to putrefaction, that it is difficult to imagine any other way in which they can be serviceable to vegetation than by their putrid effluvia. People indeed may dream of imaginary salts in dung; but if they considered, or even knew the difficulty of procuring salt of any kind from dung, they would probably alter their sentiments. The volatile salts procured from this as well as other animal matters are mere creatures of the fire; putrid urine produces them indeed without heat, but scarce any other animal-substance *. Nevertheless other putrid substances will fertilize the ground as well as urine, and therefore must act in some other way than by their salts. Tho' Dr Priestley's experiments had never been made, we could have formed no other rational supposition concerning the manner in which putrid substances fertilize the earth than what we have already done; but as he has shown that vegetables are prodigiously increased in bulk by the mere contact of these putrid fleas, where no saline substance could have access to them, we cannot help thinking this a decisive experiment concerning the manner in which the ground is fertilized by manuring with dung or other putrid substances.

We shall conclude this part of the subject with an account of some experiments concerning the effects of saline substances on the growth of vegetables. The following are related by Lord Kaimes, in his Gentleman Farmer. "A number of Jerusalem artichokes were set in pots filled with pure sand. One plant was kept as a standard, being nourished with water only. Other plants of the same kind were nourished with water in which salt of tartar, a fixed alkali, was dissolved. These grew more vigorously than the standard plant; but, by reiterated waterings, there came to be such an accumulation of the fixed alkali among the sand, as to make the plants decay, and at last die. Some plants were nourished with water in which sal-ammoniac, a volatile alkali, was dissolved. These grew also well for some time; but, like the former, were destroyed by frequent reiterations of it. Weak lime-water promoted the growth of its plants more than common water. But water completely saturated with quicklime, proved more noxious than that which contained a fixed alkali; though less than that which contained a solution of volatile alkali.—Urine promoted, for a long time, the growth of its plants; and the most putrid appeared to have the strongest effect; but at last it totally destroyed them. Water impregnated with putrid animal and vegetable substances did more effectually promote the growth of its plants than any other solution; and in every stage of the process appeared to be salutary."

With regard to other saline substances there are not many experiments which can be depended upon concerning their qualities as a manure. Mr Anderson relates an experiment made with common salt, the success of which, we apprehend, may justly enough be taken as a specimen of what is to be expected from manures of a similar kind.—He marked out a circle of six feet diameter in the middle of a grafs-field, which he distinguished by driving a stake in its centre. All over this circle he sowed common salt, which, about the stake, lay near an inch thick on the ground. In this state he left it to the operations of nature. The grafs sprung up as usual, neither better nor worse about the stake than in the rest of the field, and the place where the circle was could be distinguished only by the stake, which was left there for some years.

Upon these experiments we need make very few observations. They are so much in favour of our theory, that they seem made on purpose to confirm it. The fixed alkali employed in Lord Kaimes's experiments would first exert its solvent powers on such heterogeneous substances as it met with among the sand; for no sand can be supposed to be perfectly free of these. As long as it exerted its strength on these only, the plant would thrive, for the reasons we have already mentioned; but, having exhausted the small quantity of substances contained in the sand, it would next attack the plant itself, which consequently would decay and die. The same effects behoved to follow in a greater degree from strong lime-water which contains lime in its caustic state; for this is a more powerful solvent than fixed alkali itself, and would not fail to destroy everything it touched; nor is it at all improbable that the plant would seem to grow vigorously by the dilution of part of its own roots, more nourishment being by this means given to those which remained sound.—Volatile alkali is likewise a powerful solvent; but, by reason of its volatility, would exert its caustic power on the plant sooner than either lime, or fixed alkali; and accordingly it seems to have been the most destructive of anything that was tried. It seems owing to this, that putrid urine at last destroyed the plants whose growth it so long promoted; while water impregnated with other putrid matters which yield no volatile alkali without heat, proved always salutary.

From all this we may draw the following general conclusion, viz. That the principal end which a farmer ought to keep in view, is to impregnate his ground as much as possible, with substances which either actually contain putrid matter, or which are in their own nature septic, or promoters of putrefaction. To impregnate the air with putrid effluvia is impossible; and though it could be done, would be highly dangerous; for however salutary such effluvia may be to vegetables, nothing can be more fatal to mankind. The putrid substances therefore can only be used by mixing them with the earth; and in whatever manner they can be most perfectly, and in the greatest quantity, mixed with the soil, there the best crops may be expected.

Sect. III. Of the different Soils, and the Manures most proper for each.

According to the theory we have just now laid Richel foils down, the richest soil must be that which contains the most at last greatest quantity of putrid matter, either animal or vegetable; and such is the earth into which animal and vegeta- vegetable substances resolve themselves. Was this earth to be had in perfection, it is evident it could not stand in need of manure of any kind, or be in the least enriched by it; for containing an immense quantity of putrid matter, it would freely communicate it to the vegetables planted in it, which would grow in the most luxuriant manner, without requiring any other care than that of keeping them constantly supplied with water. If we suppose the crop left upon the ground to putrefy and mix with the earth as before, the soil will contain the same quantity of putrid matter the second year that it did the first, and be equally prolific; but if the crop is removed to another place, and nothing is brought back to enrich the ground in its stead, it is evident that it will contain less of the true vegetable food the second year than it did the first, and consequently be less prolific. For some time, however, the difference will not be perceptible, and people who are in possession of such ground may imagine that they enjoy a soil which will be perpetually fertile; but long experience has taught us, that the richest soils will at last be exhausted by repeated cropping without manure, as according to our theory they ought to be.

Where the ground has been suffered to remain uncultivated for many ages, producing all that time succulent plants which are easily putrefied, and trees, the leaves of which likewise contribute to enrich the ground by their falling off and mixing with it, the soil will in a manner be totally made up of pure vegetable earth, and be the richest, when cultivated, that can be imagined. This was the case with the lands of America. They had remained uncultivated perhaps since the creation, and were endowed with an extraordinary degree of fertility; nevertheless we are assured by one who went to America in order to purchase lands there, that such grounds as had been long cultivated were so much exhausted, as to be much worse than the generality of cultivated grounds in this country. Here, then, we have an example of one species of poor soil, namely, one of poor soil that has been formerly very rich, but has been deprived of its fertility by repeated cropping, of the greatest part of the vegetable food it contained. The farmer who is in possession of such ground would no doubt willingly restore it to its former state; the present question is, What must be done in order to obtain this end? We have mentioned several kinds of manures which long practice has recommended as serviceable for improving ground; we shall suppose the farmer tries lime, or chalk; for, as we have already seen, their operations upon the soil must be precisely the same. This substance, being of a septic nature, will act upon such parts of the soil as are not putrefied, or but imperfectly so; in consequence of which, the farmer will reap a better crop than formerly. The septic nature of the lime is not altered by any length of time. In ploughing the ground, the lime is more and more perfectly mixed with it, and gradually exerts its power on every putrefiable matter it touches. As long as any matter of this kind remains, the farmer will reap good crops; but when the putrefiable matter is all exhausted, the ground then becomes perfectly barren; and the caustic qualities of the lime are most unjustly blamed for burning the ground, and reducing it to a caput mortuum; while it is plain, the lime has only done its office, and made the soil yield all that it was capable of yielding.

When ground has been long uncultivated, producing all the time plants, not succulent, but such as are very difficultly dissolved, and in a manner incapable of putrefaction; there the soil will be excessively barren, and yield very scanty crops, though cultivated with the greatest care. Of this kind are those lands covered with heath, which are found to be the most barren of any, and the most difficultly brought to yield good crops. In this case, lime will be as serviceable as it was detrimental in the other: for, by its septic qualities, it will continually reduce more and more of the soil to a putrid state; and thus there will be a constant succession of better and better crops, by the continued use of lime, when the quantity first laid on has exerted all its force. By a continued use of this manure, the ground will be gradually brought nearer and nearer the nature of garden-mould; and, no doubt, by proper care might be made as good as any; but it will be as great a mistake to imagine, that, by the use of lime, this kind of soil may be rendered perpetually fertile, as to think that the other was naturally so; for though lime enriches this soil, it does so, not by adding vegetable food to it, but by preparing what it already contains; and when all is properly prepared, it must as certainly be exhausted as in the other case.

Here then we have examples of two kinds of poor soils, the one of which is totally destroyed, the other greatly improved, by lime, and which therefore require very different manures; lime being more proper for the last than dung; and dung, being more proper to restore an exhausted soil than lime, ought only to be used for the first. Besides dunging land which has been exhausted by long cropping, it is of great service to let it lie fallow for some time; for to this it owed its original fertility, and what gave the fertility originally cannot fail to restore it in some degree.

By attending to the distinction between the reasons for the poverty of the two soils just now mentioned, we will always be able to judge with certainty in what cases lime is to be used, and when dung is proper. The mere poverty of a soil is not a criterion whereby we can judge; we must consider what hath made it poor. If it is naturally so, we may almost infallibly conclude that it will become better by being manured with lime. If it is artificially poor, or exhausted by continual cropping, we may be as certain that lime will entirely destroy it.—We apprehend that it is this natural kind of poverty only which Mr. Anderson says, in his Essays on Agriculture, may be remedied by lime; for we can scarce think that experience would direct any person to put lime upon land already exhausted. His words are,

"Calcareous matters act as powerfully upon land that is naturally poor, as upon land that is more richly impregnated with those substances that tend to produce a luxuriant vegetation."

"Writers on agriculture have long been in the custom of dividing manures into two classes, viz. Enriching manures, or those that tended directly to render the soil more prolific, however sterile it may be; among the foremost of which was dung: Exciting manures, or those that were supposed to have a tendency to render the soil more prolific, merely by acting upon those enriching manures that had been formerly in the soil, and giving them a new stimulus, so as to enable them to operate anew upon that soil which they had formerly fertilized." fertilized. In which class of stimulating manures, lime was always allowed to hold the foremost place?"

"In consequence of this theory, it would follow, that lime could only be of use as a manure when applied to rich soils,—and, when applied to poor soils, would produce hardly any, or even perhaps hurtful effects."

"I will frankly acknowledge that I myself was so far imposed upon by the beauty of this theory, as to be hurried along with the general current of mankind, in the firm persuasion of the truth of this observation, and for many years did not sufficiently advert to those facts that were daily occurring to contradict this theory.—I am now, however, firmly convinced, from repeated observations, that lime, and other calcareous manures, produce a much greater proportional improvement upon poor soils, than on such as are richer.—And that lime alone, upon a poor soil, will, in many cases, produce a much greater and more lasting degree of fertility than dung alone."

Thus far Mr Anderson's experience is exactly conformable to the theory we have laid down, and what ought to happen according to our principles. He mentions, however, some facts which seem very strongly to militate against it; and indeed he himself seems to proceed upon a theory altogether different.

"Calcareous matter alone" (says he) "is not capable of rearing plants to perfection;—mould is necessary to be mixed with it in certain proportions, before it can form a proper foil. It remains, however, to be determined what is the due proportion of these ingredients for forming a proper foil.

"We know that neither chalk, nor marle, nor lime, can be made to nourish plants alone; and soils are sometimes found that abound with the two first of these to a faulty degree. But the proportion of calcareous matter in these is so much larger than could ever be produced by art, where the soil was naturally destitute of these substances, that there seems to be no danger of erring on that side. Probably it would be much easier to correct the defects of those soils in which calcareous matters super-abound, by driving earth upon them as a manure, than is generally imagined; as a very small proportion of it sometimes affords a very perfect foil. I shall illustrate my meaning by a few examples:

"Near Sandside, in the county of Caithness, there is a pretty extensive plain on the sea-coast, endowed with a most singular degree of fertility. In all seasons it produces a most luxuriant herbage, although it never got any manure since the creation; and has been, for time immemorial, subjected to the following course of crops:

"1. Bear, after once ploughing from grass, usually a good crop.

"2. Bear, after once ploughing, a better crop than the first.

"3. Bear, after once ploughing, a crop equal to the first.

"4. 5. and 6. Natural-grass, as close and rich as could be imagined, might be cut, if the possessor so inclined, and would yield an extraordinary crop of hay each year.

"After this the same course of cropping is renewed. The soil that admits of this singular mode of farming, appears to be a pure incoherent sand, destitute of the smallest particle of vegetable mould; but, upon examination, it is found to consist almost entirely of broken shells; the fine mould here bears such a final proportion to the calcareous matter, as to be scarcely perceptible, and yet it forms the most fertile soil that ever I yet met with.

"I have seen many other links (downs) upon the sea-shore, which produced the most luxuriant herbage, and the closest and sweetest pile of grass, where they consisted of shelly sand, which, without doubt, derive their extraordinary fertility from that cause.

"A very remarkable plain is found in the island of Jura, one of the Hebrides. It has been long employed as a common; so that it has never been disturbed by the plough, and affords annually the most luxuriant crop of herbage, consisting of white clover, and other valuable pasture-grasses, that can be met with anywhere. The soil consists of a very pure shelly sand.

"From these examples I think it is evident, that a very small proportion of vegetable mould is sufficient to render calcareous matter a very rich soil. Perhaps, however, a larger proportion may be necessary when it is mixed with clay than with sand; as poor chalky soils seem to be of the nature of that composition."

To these examples brought by Mr Anderson, we may add some of the same kind mentioned by Lord Kames. His Lordship having endeavoured to establish the theory of water being the only food of plants, tho' he himself frequently deviates from that theory, yet thinks it possible, upon such a principle, to make a soil perpetually fertile.

"To recruit," (says he,) "with vegetable food, a soil impoverished by cropping, has hitherto been held the only object of agriculture. But here opens a grander object, worthy to employ our keenest industry, that of making a soil perpetually fertile. Such soils actually exist; and why should it be thought, that imitation here is above the reach of art? Many are the instances of nature being imitated with success. Let us not despair, while any hope remains; for invention never was exercised upon a subject of greater utility. The attempt may suggest proper experiments: it may open new views: and if we fail in equalling nature, may we not, however, hope to approach it? A soil perpetually fertile must be endowed with a power to retain moisture sufficient for its plants; and at the same time must be of a nature that does not harden by moisture. Calcareous earth promises to answer both ends: it prevents a soil from being hardened by water; and it may probably also invigorate its retentive quality. A field that got a sufficient dose of clay-marle, carried above 30 successive rich crops, without either dung or fallow. Both not a soil so meliorated draw near to one perpetually fertile? Near the east side of Fife, the coast for a mile inward is covered with sea-sand, a foot deep or so; which is extremely fertile, by a mixture of sea-shells reduced to powder by attrition. The powdered shells, being the same with shell-marle, make the sand retentive of moisture; and yet no quantity of moisture will unite the sand into a solid body. A soil so mixed, seems to be not far distant from one perpetually fertile. These, it is true, are but faint essays; but what will not perseverance accomplish in a good cause?

Having thus, in a manner, positively determined, with Mr Anderson, that no dose of calcareous matter can possibly be too great, we cannot help owning ourselves... Theselves surprised on finding his Lordship expressing himself as follows.

"An over-dose of shell-marle, laid perhaps an inch, and an inch and a half, or two inches thick, produces for a time; large crops: but, at last, it renders the soil a caput mortuum, capable of neither corn nor grass; of which there are too many instances in Scotland: the same probably would follow from an over-dose of clay-marle, stone-marle, or pounded lime-stone." — To account for this, he is obliged to make a supposition directly contrary to his former one; namely, that calcareous matter renders the soil incapable of retaining water. This phenomenon, however, we think is solved upon the principles above laid down, in a satisfactory manner, and without the least inconsistency.

As to rendering soils perpetually fertile, we cannot help thinking the attempt altogether chimerical and vain. There is not one example in nature of a soil perpetually fertile, where it has no supply but from the air, and the rain which falls upon it. The above-referred examples can by no means be admitted as proofs of perpetual fertility. We know, that the grass on the banks of a river is much more luxuriant than what grows at a distance: the reason is, that the water is attracted by the earth, and communicates its fertilizing qualities to it; but was the river to be dried up, the grass would soon become like the reed. Why should not the ocean have the same power of fertilizing plains near its shores, that rivers have of fertilizing small spots near their banks? We see, however, that it hath not; for the sea-shores are generally sandy and barren. The reason of this is, that the waters of the ocean contain a quantity of loose acid;* and this acid is poisonous to plants; but, abstracting this acid part, we hesitate not to affirm, that sea-water is more fertilizing than river-water. It is impossible to know how far the waters of the ocean penetrate under ground, through a sandy soil. Where they meet with nothing to absorb their acid, there the ground is quite barren: but, in passing through an immense quantity of broken shells, the calcareous matter, we are very certain, will absorb all the acid; and thus the soil will be continually benefited by its vicinity to the ocean. All the above fields, therefore, are evidently supplied with nourishment from the ocean: for, if the salt-water has sufficient efficacy to render fields which are in its neighbourhood barren, why should it not render them fertile when the cause of barrenness is removed from its waters?

After all, the field in Caithness, mentioned by Mr Anderdon, seems to have been perpetually fertile only in grass: for though, the second year, it carried a better crop of bear than it did the first; yet, the third year, the crop was worse than the second, and only equal to the first. Had it been ploughed a fourth time, the crop would probably have been worse than the first. Ground is not near so much exhausted by grass as corn, even though the crop be cut, and carried off; and still less, if it only feeds cattle, and is manured by their dung; which appears to have been the case with this field. Lord Kames, indeed, mentions fields in Scotland, that, past memory, have carried successive crops of wheat, pease, barley, oats, without a fallow, and without a manure; and particularizes one on the river Carron, of nine or ten acres, which had carried 103 crops of oats without intermission, and without manure: but as we are not acquainted with any such fields, nor know anything about their particular situation, we can form no judgment concerning them.

Besides the two kinds of soils abovementioned, there are others, the principal ingredient of which is clay, sandy soils, or sand. The first of these is apt to be hardened by the heat of the sun, so that the vegetables can scarce penetrate it in such a manner as to receive proper nourishment. The second, if it is not situated so as to receive a great deal of moisture, is very apt to be parched up in summer, and the crop destroyed; nor has it sufficient adhesion to support plants that have few roots and grow high. From these opposite qualities, it is evident, that these two soils would be a proper manure for one another; the clay would give a sufficient degree of firmness to the sand, and the sand would break the too great tenacity of the clay. According to Dr Home's experiments, however, sand is the worst manure for clay that can be used. He recommends marle moss. To reduce clay-ground as near as possible to the form of pure vegetable mould, it must first be pulverized. This is most effectually performed by ploughing and harrowing; but care must be taken not to plough it whilst too wet, otherwise it will concrete into hard clots, which can scarcely be broken. After it is pulverized, however, some means must be taken to keep it from concreting again into the same hard masses as before. According to Lord Kames, though clay, after pulverization, will concrete into as hard a mass as before, if mixed with water; yet if moistened with dung-hill juice, it will not concrete any more. Lime also breaks its tenacity, and is very useful as a manure for this kind of soil.

The conclusion we wish the practical farmer to draw from our theory is, That there is a certain limit to the fertility of the earth, both as to duration, and to degree, at any particular time: that the nearer any soil approaches to the nature of pure garden-mould, the nearer it is to the most perfect degree of fertility; but that there are no hopes of keeping it perpetually in such a state, or in any degree of approximation to it, but by constant and regular manuring with dung. Lime, chalk, marle, &c., may be proper to bring it near to this state, but are absolutely unfit to keep it continually so. They may indeed for several years produce large crops; but the more they increase the fertility for some years, the sooner will they bring on an absolute barrenness; while regular manuring with plenty of dung, will always ensure the keeping up the soil in good condition, without any occasion for fallow. What we have said concerning the use of lime, &c., applies likewise to the practice of frequent ploughing, though in a less degree. This tends to meliorate ground that is naturally poor, by giving an opportunity to the vegetable parts to putrefy; but, when that is done, it tends to exhaust, though not so much as lime. A judicious farmer will constantly strive to keep his lands always in good condition, rather than to make them suddenly much better; lest a few years should convince him that he was in reality doing almost irreparable mischief, while he fancied himself making improvements. As for the ridiculous notions of stimulating the ground by false manures, we hope they will never enter the brain of any rational practitioner of agriculture. Sect. IV. Of the different kinds of Vegetables proper to be raised with a view to the Melioration of Soil.

The methods of meliorating soils, which we have mentioned above, consisting of tedious and laborious operations that yield no return at first, it is natural for a farmer to wish for some method of meliorating his ground, and reaping crops at the same time. One very considerable step towards the melioration of ground, is its pulverization. This is accomplished by repeated ploughings, as already mentioned; especially if performed in autumn, that the ground may be exposed to the winter's frost; but these ploughings yield no crop, as long as the field is not tilled. By planting in the field, however, those vegetables whose roots swell to a considerable bulk, the ground must constantly be acted upon by the swelling of their roots in all directions; and thus the growing of the crop itself, may be equal, or superior, in efficacy to several ploughings, at the same time that the farmer enjoys the benefit of it. The plant most remarkable for the swelling of its roots, is the potatoe; and by none is the ground meliorated more, or even so much. They are not, however, equally proper for all soils. In clay they do not thrive, nor are palatable; but in hard gravelly or sandy soils, they grow to a large size, and are of an excellent quality. Turnips likewise contribute to meliorate the ground, by the swelling of their roots, though not so much as potatoes. They have this advantage, however, that they will thrive in almost any soil. In clay ground, peas and beans thrive exceedingly well, and therefore are proper in this kind of soil as a preparatory for other kinds of grain. These push their roots deep into the ground, and cover it with their leaves more than other crops; so that the sun has not so much access, as when it is covered with other kinds of grain. Where-ever any of these kinds of vegetables are raised, it is observable that more or less blackness is communicated to the soil: an evident sign of its melioration; this being the colour of the true vegetable mould, or loamy soil, as it is called.

Besides the above-mentioned plants, carrots, parsnips, cabbages, and all those vegetables which sink their roots deep in the ground, answer the same purpose of loosening and pulverizing the earth; but as they will not thrive but on ground already well cultivated, they cannot be raised to any advantage for the purpose of meliorating a poor soil.

It hath been customary in many places, particularly in England, to sow turnip, peas, buck-wheat, &c., and then to plough them down for manuring the land.—This, being similar to that operation of nature by which she renders the uncultivated soils so exceedingly fertile, cannot fail of being attended with singular advantages; and might be looked upon as preferable even to driving dung on the land to fatten it, was it not attended with the entire loss of a crop for that year.

Sect. V. Of destroying Weeds.

What we have already said regarding the cultivation of the soil, respects only the fitting it for producing all kinds of vegetables indiscriminately. Experience, however, shews, that the ground is naturally much more disposed to produce and nourish some kinds of vegetables than others; and those which the earth seems most to delight in, are commonly such as are of very little use to man; but if neglected, will increase to such a degree as entirely to destroy the plants intended to be raised, or at least hinder them from coming to perfection, by depriving them of nourishment. The clearing the ground of weeds, therefore, is an article no less necessary in agriculture, than the disposing it to produce vegetables of any kind in plenty.

The weeds may be divided, according to the time of their duration, into annuals, or such as spring from a seed, and die the same year; and perennials, that is, such as are propagated by the roots, and last for a number of years. The first kind are the least noxious, and most easily destroyed. For this purpose it will be sufficient to let them spring up till near the time of ripening their seed, and then plough them down before it comes to maturity. It is also of service to destroy such weeds as grow in borders, or neglected corners, and frequently scatter their seeds to a great distance; such as the thistle, dandelion, rag-weed, &c.; for these are sufficient to propagate their species through a deal of ground; as their seeds are carried about with the wind to very considerable distances. A farmer ought also to take care, that the small seeds of weeds, separated from corn in winnowing, be not thrown again upon the ground; for this certainly happens, when they are thrown upon a dunghill; because, being the natural offspring of the earth, they are not easily destroyed. The best method of preventing any mischief from this cause, would be to burn them.

Perennial weeds cannot be effectually destroyed, but by removing the roots from the ground, which is often a matter of some difficulty. Many of these roots strike deep in the ground, that they can scarcely be got out. The only method that can be depended upon in this case, is frequent ploughing, to render the ground as tender as possible; and harrowing with a particular kind of harrow which shall hereafter be described, in order to collect their pernicious roots. When collected, they ought to be dried and burnt, as the only effectual method of inferring their doing no further mischief.

There is a particular species of weed, peculiar only to grass-lands, of a soft spongy nature, called fescue, which is found very difficult to exterminate. Where the land can be conveniently tilled, this weed may be destroyed by covering it with a crop of peas, potatoes, &c.; or, passing a heavy roller over the ground will be of great service; for fog owes its origin to too great a laxity of the soil, and will not grow upon firm ground.

Besides these kinds of weeds which are of an herbaceous nature, there are others which are woody, and grow to a very considerable size; such as broom, furze or whins, and thorns. Broom is an evergreen shrub, that thrives best in sandy soil; and there it grows so vigorously, as scarce to admit any grass under it. It propagates by seed which grows in pods; and these, when fully ripe, break with violence, scattering the seeds all around. Thus, a field which is overgrown with broom, besides the old plants, always contains an infinite number of young ones; so that though the old plants die when cut over, a fresh crop constantly springs up. It may, however, be destroyed by frequent ploughing and harrowing, in the same manner as other perennial weeds are; for it does not for some time carry any feed, feed, and the frequent ploughing encourages the vegetation of all those that are already in the ground; which cannot fail of being destroyed by frequent repetitions of the operation. Another method of destroying broom, is, by pasturing the field where it grows, with sheep. A few of the old bushes may be left as a shelter, and these will be in a good measure prevented from spreading by the cropping of the sheep. These animals are very fond of broom, and greedily devour every young shoot; so that if any remain after the first year, there will not be a vestige the second. If this method of extirpating broom is equally effectual with that of frequent ploughing, it is certainly much more profitable, as there is no food more nourishing to sheep than young broom.

Broom, however, is said to have a singular effect upon sheep: it makes them drunk so effectually, that, when heated with a little driving, they tumble over, and lie without motion.

The **whin** is a fine evergreen shrub, carrying a sweet-smelling flower all the year round. It propagates both by seed, and by its roots, which spread sometimes to the distance of ten or twelve feet; and hence, when once established, it is very difficultly extirpated. The best method is to set fire to the whins in frosty weather; for frost has the effect to wither them, and make them burn readily. The stumps must then be cut over with a hatchet; and when the ground is well softened by rain, it may be ploughed up, and the roots taken out by a harrow adapted to that purpose.—If the field is soon laid down to grass, the whins will again spring up in great abundance, from the seeds, and small parts of the roots left in the ground. In this case, pasturing with sheep is an effectual remedy; as they are no less fond of young whins than of young broom; and if there are a sufficient number, they will not leave a single plant above ground. But if grass is not immediately wanted, the most effectual method of clearing a field of whins, is by reiterated ploughings.

The **thorn**, or **bramble**, spreads its roots very wide, and at the same time sinks them deep in the earth. Though cut in the winter, it rises, and comes to such perfection as to carry fruit in summer. It can only be extirpated by ploughing up the ground, and collecting the roots.

**Sect. VI. Of the most proper kinds of Vegetables to be raised for the purposes of feeding Cattle.**

Though this must be an article of the utmost consequence to every farmer, we do not find that it has been much considered. Mr Anderson seems to have been the first writer on agriculture who hath properly attended to this subject; and what he hath wrote upon it, is rather a catalogue of desiderata, than anything else: and indeed the desiderata on this subject are so many and so great, that we must acknowledge ourselves very unable to fill them up.—To attain to a competent knowledge in this respect, the following things must be taken into consideration. (1.) The wholesomeness of the food for cattle, with regard to health and strength, or fatness. (2.) The quantity that any extent of ground is capable of yielding. (3.) The quantity necessary to feed the different kinds of cattle. (4.) The labour of cultivation; and, (5.) The soil they require to bring them to perfection, and the effect they have upon it.

With regard to the wholesomeness, it is plain, that as the natural food of wild cattle is the green succulent plants they meet with all the year round, food of this kind, could it be had, must be preferable to hay; and accordingly we find that cattle will always prefer succulent vegetables where they can get them. To find plants of this kind, and having proper qualities in other respects, we must search among those which continue green all the year round, or come to their greatest perfection in the winter-time.—Of these, cabbages bid fair for holding the first place; both as being very succulent, and a very large quantity of them growing upon a small space of ground. In Mr Young's Six Months Tour, we have an account of the produce of cabbages in many different places, and on a variety of soils. The produce by Mr Crow at Keplin, on a clay soil, was, on an average of five years, 35 tons per acre; by Mr Smelt at the Leafes, on a sandy gravel, 18 tons per acre; by Mr Scroop at Danby, on an average of five years, 37 tons per acre; and the general average of all the accounts given by Mr Young, is 36 tons per acre.

Cabbages, however, have the great inconvenience of sometimes imparting a disagreeable flavour to the milk of cows fed with them, and even to the flesh of other cattle. This, it is said, may be prevented by carefully picking off the decayed and withered leaves; and very probably this is the case; for no vegetable inclines more to putrefaction than this; and therefore particular care ought to be taken to pull off all the leaves that have any symptoms of decay. Dr Pritchley found that air was rendered noxious by a cabbage-leaf remaining in it for one night, though the leaf did not show any symptom of putrefaction.—For milk-cows, probably the cabbages might be rendered more proper food by boiling them.

Turnips likewise produce very bulky crops, though far inferior to those of cabbages. According to Mr Young's calculation, the finest soil does not produce above five tons of turnips per acre; which is indeed a very great disproportion: but possibly such a quantity of turnips may not be consumed by cattle as of cabbages; an ox, of 80 stone weight, eat 210 lb. of cabbages in 24 hours, besides seven lb. of hay.

Carrots are found to be an excellent food for cattle of all kinds, and are greatly relished by them. In a rich land, according to Mr Young's account, the produce of this root was 200 bushels per acre. In a finer soil, it was 640 bushels per acre. A lean hog was fattened by carrots in ten days time: he eat 196 lb.; and his fat was very fine, white, firm, and did not boil away in the dressing. They were preferred to turnips by the cattle; which having tasted the carrots, soon became so fond of them as difficulty to be made to eat the turnips at all. It is probable, indeed, that carrots will make a more wholesome food for cattle than either cabbages or turnips, as they are strongly antiseptic; inasmuch as to be used in poultices for correcting the fancies of cancers. It is probably owing to this, that the milk of cows fed on carrots is never found to have any bad taste. Six horses kept on them through the winter without oats, performed their work as usual, and looked equally well. This may be looked upon as a proof of their salubrity as a food; and it certainly can be no detriment to a farmer to be so much versed in medical matters as to know the impropriety of giving... giving putreficient food to his cattle. It is well known, what a prodigious difference there is in the health of the human species when fed on putrid meats, in comparison of what they enjoy when supplied with food of a contrary nature; and why may there not be a difference in the health of beasts, as well as of men, when in similar circumstances?—It is also very probable, that as carrots are more solid than cabbages or turnips, they will go much farther in feeding cattle than either of them. The above-mentioned example of the hog, seems some kind of confirmation of this; he being fed, for ten days together, with 21 lbs less weight of carrots, than what an ox devoured of cabbages and hay in one day. There is a great disproportion, it must be owned, between the bulk of an ox, and that of a hog; but we can scarce think that an ox will eat as much at a time as ten hogs. At Parlington in Yorkshire, 20 work horses, four bullocks, and six milk-cows, were fed on the carrots that grew in three acres, from the end of September till the beginning of May; and the animals never tasted any other food but a little hay. The milk was excellent, and thirty hogs were fattened upon what was left by the other cattle.

Potatoes likewise appear to be a very palatable food for all kinds of cattle; and not only oxen, hogs, &c. are easily fed by them, but even poultry. The cheapness of potatoes compared with other kinds of food for cattle, cannot well be known, as, besides the advantage of the crop, they improve the ground more than any other known vegetable. The quantities of this root required to feed different kinds of cattle are not known, nor how far the food itself is salutary; though it is probable, that as the human species find no detriment from the use of potatoes, neither will cattle of any kind.

The above-mentioned vegetables have all of them the property of meliorating, rather than exhausting the soil; and this is certainly a very valuable qualification: but carrots and cabbages will not thrive except in soils that are already well cultivated; while potatoes and turnips may be used as the first crops of a foil with great advantage. In this respect, they are greatly superior to the others; as it may be disagreeable to take up the best grounds of a farm with plants designed only for food to cattle.

Whins have lately been recommended as a very proper food for cattle, especially horses; and are recommended by Mr Anderson, in a particular manner. They have this advantage, that they require no culture, and grow on the very worst soil; but they are troublesome to cut, and require to be bruised in a mill constructed for this purpose; neither is the ground at all meliorated by letting whins grow upon it for any length of time. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, however, as whins continue green all the year round, and when bruised will afford an excellent succulent food, which seems possessed of strongly invigorating qualities, they may be looked upon as the cheapest winter-food that can possibly be given to cattle.—According to the calculations of Mr Eddison of Gateford, a single acre, well cropped with whins, will winter five horses: at three or four years growth, the whole crop should be taken, cut close to the ground, and carried to the mill; in which the whins are to be bruised, and then given to the horses. Four acres ought to be planted, that one may be used each year, at the proper age to be cut; and he reckons the labour of one man sufficient for providing food to this number of horses. He says they all prefer the whins to hay, or even to corn.

The herb called burnet hath likewise been recommended as proper food for cattle, on account of its being an evergreen, and further recommended, by growing almost as fast in winter as in summer. Of this herb, however, we have very various accounts. In a letter addressed by Sir James Caldwell F.R.S. to the Dublin Society, the culture of this plant is strongly recommended on the authority of one Bartholomew Rocque, farmer at Walham-Green, a village about three miles south-west of London.

What gave occasion to the recommendation of this plant, was, that, about the year 1760, Mr Wych, chairman of the Committee of Agriculture of the London Society, for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce, came to Rocque (who was become very eminent by the premiums he had received from the society), and told him, he had been thinking, that as there are many animals which subsist wholly upon the fruits of the earth, there must certainly be some plant or herb fit for them, that naturally vegetates in winter; otherwise we must believe the Creator, infinitely wise and good, to have made creatures without providing for their subsistence; and that if there had been no such plants or herbs, many species of animals would have perished before we took them out of the hands of nature, and provided for them dry meat at a season, when indigenous plants having been indiscriminately excluded, under the name of weeds, from cultivated fields and places set apart for natural grass, green or fresh meat was no longer to be found.

Rocque allowed the force of this reasoning; but said, the knowledge of a grass, or artificial pasture, that would vegetate in winter, and produce green fodder for cattle, was lost; at least, that he knew of no such plant.—Mr Wych, however, knowing how very great the advantage would be of discovering a green fodder for winter, and early in the spring, wrote to Bern, and also to some considerable places in Sweden, stating the same argument, and asking the same question. His answers to these letters were the same that had been given by Rocque. They owned there must be such a plant, but declared they did not know it.

Mr Wych then applied again to Rocque; and desired him to search for the plant so much desired, and so certainly existing. Rocque set about this search with great affluence, and finding that a pimpernel, called burnet, was of very speedy growth, and grew near as fast in winter as in summer, he took a handful of it and carried it into his stable, where there were five horses, every one of which ate of it with the greatest eagerness; snatching it even without first smelling it. Upon the success of this experiment he went to London, and bought all the burnet-feed he could get, amounting to no more than eight pounds, it having been only used in fallow; and he paid for it at the rate of 4s. a pound. Six of the eight pounds of feed he sowed upon half an acre of ground, in March, in the year 1761, with a quarter of a peck of spring-wheat, both by hand. The feed being very bad, it came up but thin. However, he sowed the other two pounds in the beginning of June, upon about six rood of ground; this he mowed in the beginning of August; and at Michaelmas he planted off Theory off the plants on about 20 rood of ground, giving each plant a foot every way, and taking care not to bury the heart. These plants bore two crops of seed the year following; the first about the middle of June, the second about the middle of September; but the June crop was the best. The year after, it grew very rank, and produced two crops of seed, both very good. As it ought not to be cut after September, he let it stand till the next year; when it sheltered itself, and grew very well during all the winter, except when there was a hard frost; and even during the frost it continued green, though it was not perceived to grow. In the March following it covered the ground very well, and was fit to receive cattle.

If the winter is not remarkably severe, the burnet, though cut in September, will be 18 inches long in March; and it may be fed from the beginning of February till May: if the cattle are taken off in May, there will be a good crop of seed in the beginning of July. Five weeks after the cattle are taken off, it may be removed, if that is preferred to its standing for seed; it grows at the rate of an inch a-day, and is made into hay like other grass. It may be mown three times in one summer, and should be cut just before it begins to flower. Six rood of ground has produced 1150 pounds at the first cutting of the third year after it was sowed; and, in autumn 1763, Rocque sold no less than 300 bushels of the seed.

According to Rocque, the soil in which burnet flourishes best is a dry gravel; the longest drought never hurts it: and Sir James Caldwell asserts, that he saw a very vigorous and exuberant plant of this kind, growing from between two bricks in a wall in Rocque's ground, without any communication with the soil; for he had cut away all the fibres of the root that had stretched downward, and penetrated the earth, long before.

Burnet was found equally fit for feeding cows, sheep, and horses; but the sheep must not be suffered to crop it too close. Though no feed was left among the hay, yet it proved nourishing food; and Rocque kept a horse upon nothing else, who, at the time of writing the account, was in good heart, and looked well. He affirmed also, that it cured horses of the distemper called the grease, and that by its means he cured one which was thought incurable; but says it is only the first crop which has this effect.

This is the substance of Sir James Caldwell's letter to the Dublin society, at least as to what regards the culture of burnet; and it might reasonably be expected, that a plant, whose use was recommended to the public with so much parade, would soon have come into universal esteem. We were surprized, therefore, on looking into Mr Miller's Dictionary, to find the following words, under the article Peterium:—“This plant has of late been recommended by persons of little skill, to be sown as a winter pabulum for cattle: but whoever will give themselves the trouble to examine the grounds where it naturally grows, will find the plants left uncared by the cattle, when the grass about them has been cropped to the roots; besides, in wet winters, and in strong land, the plants are of short duration, and therefore very unfit for that purpose: nor is the produce sufficient to tempt any person of skill to engage in its culture; therefore I wish those persons to make trial of it in small quantities, before they embark largely in these new schemes.”—Mr Anderson, too, in his Essays on Agriculture, mentions the produce of burnet being so small, as not to be worth cultivating.

Upon the authority of Mr Rocque, likewise, the white beet is recommended as a most excellent food recommended for cows; that it vegetates during the whole winter, consequently is very forward in the spring; and that the most profitable way of feeding cows is, to mow this herb, and give it to them green all the summer. It grew in Rocque's garden, during a very great drought, no less than four feet high, from the 30th of May to the 3rd of July; which is no more than one month and four days. In summer it grows more than an inch a-day, and is best sown in March: a bushel is enough for an acre, and will not cost more than 10 shillings. It thrives best in a rich, deep, light soil: the stalks are very thick and succulent; the cows should therefore eat them green.

In Mr Anderson's essays, we find it recommended to make trial of some kinds of grasses, which probably would not only answer for fresh fodder during the winter, but might also be cut for hay in summer. This is particularly the case with that species called sheep's fescue-grass. “I had,” (says he) “a small patch of this grass in winter 1773; which, having been cut in the month of August or September preceding, was saved from that period, and had advanced before winter to the length of five or six inches; forming the closest pile that could be imagined. And although we had about six weeks of very intense frost, with snow; and about other six weeks, immediately succeeding that, of exceeding keen frost every night, with frequent thaws in the day-time without any snow, during which time almost every green thing was destroyed; yet this little patch continued all along to retain as fine a verdure as any meadow in the month of May; hardly a point of a leaf having been withered by the uncommon severity of the weather. And as this grass begins to vegetate very early in the spring, I leave the reader to judge what might be the value of a field of grass of this kind in these circumstances.”

Of another kind of grass, called purple fescue, Mr Anderson gives the following character. “It retained its verdure much better than rye-grass during the winter-season; but it had more of its points killed by the weather than the former. It likewise rises in the spring, at least as early as rye-grass.”

This ingenious farmer has also made experiments on the culture of these and several other kinds of grasses; which being very well worthy of attention, we shall here infer.

1. Purple fescue-grass. “Although this grass is very often found in old pastures, yet as it has but few flower-stalks, and as it is greedily eaten by all domestic animals, these are seldom suffered to appear; so that it usually remains there unperceived. But it seems to be better able to endure the peculiar acrimony of the dung of dogs than almost any other plant; and is therefore often to be met with in dog-hills, as I call the little hills by road-sides where dogs usually piss and dung; and as it is allowed to grow there undisturbed, the farmer may have an opportunity of examining the plant, and becoming acquainted with its appearance.

“The leaves are long and small, and appear to be roundish, something like a wire; but, upon examination,

Part I.

Theory, they are found not to be tubulated like a reed or rush; the sides of the leaf being only folded together from the middle rib, exactly like the strong bent-grafts on the sea-shore. The flower-stalk is small, and branches out in the head, a little resembling the wild-oat; only the grains are much smaller, and the ear does not spread full open, but lies bending a little to one side. The stalks are often spotted with reddish freckles, and the tops of the roots are usually tinged with the same colour; from whence it has probably obtained its distinctive name of *festuca rubra*, or red (purple) *festuca*.

"It is often to be met with in old garden-walks; and, as its leaves advance very quickly after cutting, it may usually be discovered above the other grasses, about a week or fortnight after the walks are cut. Nor do they seem to advance only at one season, and then stop and decay, like the rye-grass; but continue to advance during the whole of the summer, even where they are not cut; so that they sometimes attain a very great length. Last season, (1774,) I measured a leaf of this grass, that sprung up in a neglected corner, which was four feet and four inches in length, although not thicker than a small wire. It is unnecessary to add, that these leaves naturally trail upon the ground, unless where they meet with some accidental support; and that if any quantity of it is suffered to grow for a whole season, without being cut down or cut, the roots of the leaves are almost rotted, by the overshadowing of the tops of the other leaves, before the end of the season.

"This is the appearance and condition of the plant in its cultivated state: as it is seldom that it is discovered but in pretty old pastures, and as in that state it carries only a very few seed-stalks, it was with some difficulty that I could collect a small handful of the seed, which I carefully sowed in a small patch of garden-mould, to try if it could be easily cultivated. It came up as quickly as any other kind of grass, but was at first as small as hairs: the leaves, however, advanced at pace; and were, before autumn, when the grain with which they had been sown was cut down, about 16 or 18 inches in length: but having been sown very thin, it was necessary to pick out some other kinds of grass that came up amongst it, lest it might have been choked by them. Early next spring it advanced with prodigious vigour, and the tufts that were formed from every seed became exceeding large; so that it quickly filled the whole ground. But now the leaves were almost as broad as those of common rye-grass, and the two sides only inclined a little towards one another from the mid-rib, without any appearance of roundness. In due time a great many seed-stalks sprung out, which attained very nearly to the height of four feet, and produced seeds in abundance; which may be as easily saved as those of common rye-grass.

"The prodigious difference between this plant in its native and cultivated state amazed me; but it was with a good deal of satisfaction that I found there would be no difficulty of procuring seeds from it, which I had much doubted of at first. It would seem, that nature hath endowed this plant with a strong generative power during its youth, which it gradually loses as it advances in age, (for the difference perceived in this case could not be attributed to the richness of the soil;) and that, on the contrary, when it was old, the leaves advanced with an additional vigour, in proportion to the declining strength of the flower-stalks: for the leaves of the young plant seldom exceed two feet, whereas numbers of the old leaves were near four feet in length.

"From these peculiarities in the growth of this plant, it would seem to promise to be of great use to the farmer; as he could reap from a field of it, for the first two or three years, as great a weight of hay as he could obtain from any of the culmiferous grasses, (those bearing a long jointed stalk;) and, if he meant afterwards to pasture it, he would suffer no inconveniences from the flower-stalks; and the succulent leaves that continue to vegetate during the whole summer, would at all times furnish his cattle with abundance of wholesome food. It has also been remarked, that this grass rises as early in the spring as rye-grass; and continues green for the greatest part of winter, which the other does not. It is moreover an abiding plant, as it seems never to wear out of the ground where it has once been established. On all which accounts, it appears to me highly to merit the attention of the farmer; and well deserves to have its several qualities, and the culture that best agrees with it, ascertained by accurate experiments.

"2. *Sheeps festuca-grass*, or *festuca ovina*, is much sheep's preferred by the Swedish naturalists for its singular value as a pasture-grass for sheep; this animal being represented as fonder of it than of any other grass, and fattening upon it more quickly than on any other kind of food whatever. And indeed, the general appearance of the plant, and its peculiar manner of growth, seems very much to favour the accounts that have been given us of it.

"This plant is of the same family with the former, and agrees with it in several respects; although they may be easily distinguished from one another. Its leaves, like the former, in its natural state, are always rounded, but much smaller; being little bigger than large horse-hairs, or swines-bristles, and seldom exceed six or seven inches in length. But these spring out of the root in tufts, so close upon one another, that they resemble, in this respect, a close hair-brush more than anything else I know: so that it would seem naturally adapted to form that thick short pile of grass in which sheep are known chiefly to delight. Its flower-stalks are numerous, and sometimes attain the height of two feet; but are more usually about 12 or 15 inches high.

"Upon gathering the seeds of this plant, and sowing them as the former, it was found that they sprung up as quickly as any other kind of grass; but the leaves are at first no bigger than a human hair. From each side springs up one or two of these hair-like filaments, that in a short time send out new off-springs, so as quickly to form a sort of tuft, which grows larger and larger, till it at length attains a very large size, or till all the intervals are closed up, and then it forms the closest pile of grass that it is possible to imagine. In April and May it pushed forth an innumerable quantity of flower-stalks, that afforded an immense quantity of hay; it being so close throughout, that the scythe could scarcely penetrate it. This was allowed to stand till the seeds ripened; but the bottom of the stalks were quite blanched, and almost rotted for want of air before that time.

"This was the appearance that it made the first year after..."

Theory. After it was sowed; but I have reason to think, that, after a few years, it likewise produces fewer feed-stalks, and a greater quantity of leaves than at first. But however that may be, it is certain, that if there are cut down in the spring, it does not, like rye-grafts, persist in a continued tendency to run to seed; but is at once determined to push forth a quantity of leaves without almost any stalks at all: and as all domestic animals, but more especially sheep, are extremely fond of this grass, if they have liberty to pasture where it grows, they bite it so close as never to suffer almost a single feed-stalk to escape them; so that the botanist will often search in vain for it, when he is treading upon it with his feet. The best way to discover it in any pasture, is to search for it in winter, when the tufts of it may be easily distinguished from every other kind of grass, by their extraordinary closeness, and the deep green colour of the leaves.

"It seems to grow in almost any soil; although it is imagined that it would flourish best in a light sandy soil, as it can evidently live with less moisture than almost any other kind of grass; being often seen to remain in the soils that have been employed in coping for stone-dykes, after all the other grasses that grew in them have disappeared. It is likewise found in poor barren soils, where hardly any other plant can be made to grow at all; and on the surface of dry worn-out peat-moors, where no moisture remains sufficient to support any other plant whatever: but in neither of these situations does it thrive; as it is there only a weak and unprofitable plant, very unlike what it is when it has the good fortune to be established upon a good soil; although it is seldom met with in this last state than in the former.

"I will not here repeat what has been already said about the particular property that this plant possesses of continuing all winter; nor point out the benefits that the farmer may reap from this valuable quality.—He need not, however, expect to find any verdure in winter on such plants as grow upon the loose mossy soil above-mentioned; for, as the frost in winter always hoves up the surface of this soil, the roots of the plants are so lacerated thereby, as to make it, for some time in the spring, to all appearance dead. Nor will he often perceive much verdure in winter upon those plants that grow upon poor hungry soils, which cannot afford abundant nourishment to keep them in a proper state of vegetation at all times; but such plants as grow on earthen dykes, which usually begin to vegetate with vigour when the autumnal rains come on, for the most part retain their verdure at that season almost as well as if they were in good garden-mould.

"I have been very particular in regard to this plant; because, as far as my observations have yet gone, it promises on many accounts to make a most valuable acquisition to the farmer, and therefore justly demands a very particular share of his attention."

3. The holcus lanatus, or creeping soft-grass of Hudson.—This is considered by our author as one of the most valuable kinds of meadow-grasses; its pile being exceedingly close, soft, and succulent. It delights much in moisture, and is seldom found on dry ground, unless the soil is exceeding rich. It is often found on those patches near springs, over which the water frequently flows; and may be known by the uncommon softness and succulence of the blade, the lively light green colour of the leaves, and the matted intertexture of its roots. But, notwithstanding the softness of its first leaves, when the feed-stalks advance, they are rough to the touch, so that the plant then assumes a very different appearance from what we would have expected. The ear is branched out into a great number of fine ramifications somewhat like the oat, but much smaller.—This kind of grass, however, would not be easily cultivated, on account of a kind of soft membrane that makes the seeds adhere to the stalk, and to one another, after they are separated from it, as if they were intermixed with cobweb, so that it is difficult to get them separated from the stalk, or to spread readily in sowing. It spreads, however, so fast by its running roots, that a small quantity sowed very thin, would be sufficient to stock a large field in a short time.

There are the kinds of grasses, properly so called, which have not as yet been cultivated, that Mr Anderson thinks the most likely to be of value; but, besides these, he recommends the following, of the pea-tribe.

1. Milk-vetch, liquorice-vetch, or milkwort. This plant, in some respects, very much resembles the common white clover; from the top of the root a great number of shoots come out in the spring, spreading along the surface of the ground every way around it; from which arise a great many clusters of bright yellow flowers, exactly resembling those of the common broom. These are succeeded by hard round pods, filled with small kidney-shaped seeds. From a supposed resemblance of a cluster of these pods to the fingers of an open hand, the plant has been sometimes called ladies-fingers. By others it is called crow-toes, from a fancied resemblance of the pods to the toes of a bird. Others, from the appearance of the blossom, and the part where the plant is found, have called it feet, improperly fell-broom. It is found plentifully almost everywhere in old grass-fields; but as every species of domestic animal eats it, almost in preference to any other plant, it is seldom allowed to come to the flower in pasture-grounds, unless where they have been accidentally saved from the cattle for some time; so that it is only about the borders of corn-fields, or the sides of inclosures to which cattle have not access, that we have an opportunity of observing it. As it has been imagined that the cows which feed on these pastures, where this plant abounds, yield a quantity of rich milk, the plant has, from that circumstance, obtained its most proper English name of milk-vetch.

One of the greatest recommendations of this plant is, that it grows in poor barren ground, where almost qualities, no other plant can live. It has been observed in ground so poor, that even heath, or ling, (Erica Communis) would scarcely grow; and upon bare obdurate clays, where no other plant could be made to vegetate; in such manner that the surface remained entirely uncovered, unless where a plant of this kind chanced to be established; yet even in these unfavourable circumstances, it flourished with an uncommon degree of luxuriance, and yielded as tender and succulent, though not such abundant shoots, as if reared in the richest manured fields. In dry, barren sands also, where almost no other plant could be made to live, it has been found to send out such a number of healthy shoots all round, as to cover the earth with the closest and most beautiful carpet. The stalks of the milk-vetch are weak and slender, so that they spread upon the surface of the ground, unless they are supported by some other vegetable. In ordinary soils they do not grow to a great length, nor produce many flowers; but in richer fields the stalks grow to a much greater length, branch out a good deal, but carry few or no flowers or seeds. From these qualities our author did not attempt at first to cultivate it with any other view than that of pasture; and, with this intention, sowed it with his ordinary hay-seeds, expecting no material benefit from it till he desisted from cutting his field. In this, however, he was agreeably disappointed; the milk-vetch growing, the first season, as tall as his best clover, and forming exceeding fine hay; being scarce distinguishable from lucerne, but by the slenderness of the stalk, and proportional smallness of the leaf.

Another recommendation to this plant is, that it is perennial. It is several years after it is sown before it attains to its full perfection; but, when once established, it probably remains for a great number of years in full vigour, and produces annually a great quantity of fodder. In autumn 1773, Mr Anderson cut the stalk from an old plant that grew on a very indifferent soil; and after having thoroughly dried it, he found that it weighed 14 ounces and an half.

The stalks of this plant die down entirely in winter, and do not come up in the spring till the same time that clover begins to advance; nor does it advance very fast, even in summer, when once cut down or eaten over; so that it seems much inferior to the abovementioned grasses; but might be of use to cover the worst parts of a farm, on which no other vegetable could thrive.

2. The common yellow vetchling, lathyrus pratensis, or everlasting tare, grows with great luxuriance in stiff clay soils, and continues to yield annually a great weight of fodder, of the very best quality, for any length of time. This is equally fit for pasture, or hay; and grows with equal vigour in the end of summer, as in the beginning of it; so would admit being pastured upon in the spring, till the middle, or even the end of May, without endangering the loss of the crop of hay. This is an advantage which no other plant except clover possesses; but clover is equally unfit for early pasture, or for hay. Sainfoin is the only plant whose qualities approach to it in this respect, and the yellow vetchling will grow in such soils as are utterly unfit for producing sainfoin.—It is also a perennial plant; and increases so fast by its running roots, that a small quantity of the seed would produce a sufficient number of plants to fill a whole field in a very short time. If a small patch of good ground is sowed with the seeds of this plant in rows, about a foot distance from one another, and the intervals kept clear of weeds for that season, the roots will spread so much as to fill up the whole patch next year; when the stalks may be cut for green fodder or hay. And if that patch were dug over in the spring following, and the roots taken out, it would furnish a great quantity of plants, which might be planted at two or three feet distance from one another, where they would probably overspread the whole field in a short time.

3. The common blue tare, seems more likely than the former to produce a more nourishing kind of hay, as it abounds much more in seeds; but as the stalks come up more thinly from the root, and branch more above, it does not appear to be so well adapted for a pasture-grass as the other. The leaves of this plant are much smaller, and more divided, than those of the other; the stalks are likewise smaller, and grow to a much greater length. Though it produces a great quantity of seeds, yet the small birds are so fond of them, that, unless the field was carefully guarded, few of them would be allowed to ripen.

4. The vicia sepium, purple everlasting, or bush-vetch, Bath-vetch. Our author gives the preference to this plant beyond all others of the same tribe for pasture. The roots of it spread on every side a little below the surface of the ground, from which, in the spring, many stems arise quite close by one another; and as these have a broad tufted top covered with many leaves, it forms as close a pile as could be desired. It grows very quickly after being cut or cropped, but does not arrive at any great height; so that it seems more proper for pasture than making hay; although, upon a good soil, it will grow sufficiently high for that purpose; but the stalks grow so close upon one another, that there is great danger of having it rotted at the root, if the season should prove damp. It seems to thrive best in a clay soil.

Besides these, there are a variety of others of the same Everlasting class, which he thinks might be useful to the farmer, &c. The common garden everlasting pea, cultivated as a flowering plant, he conjectures, would yield a prodigious weight of hay upon an acre; as it grows to the height of ten or twelve feet, having very strong stalks, that could support themselves without rotting, till they attained a great height.

One other plant, hitherto unnoticed, is recommended by our author to the attention of the farmer; it is the common yarrow, achillea millefolium, or hundred-leaved grass. Concerning this plant, he remarks, that, in almost every fine old pasture, a great proportion of the growing vegetables with which the field is covered, consists of it; but the animals which feed there are so fond of the yarrow, as never to allow one feed-stalk of it to come to perfection. Hence these feed-stalks are never found but in neglected corners, or by the sides of roads; and are so disagreeable to cattle, that they are never tasted; and thus it has been erroneously thought that the whole plant was refused by them.—The leaves of this plant have a great tendency to grow very thick upon one another, and are therefore peculiarly adapted for pastureage. It arrives at its greatest perfection in rich fields that are naturally fit for producing a large and succulent crop of grass. It grows also upon clays; and is among the first plants that strike root in any barren clay, that has been lately dug from any considerable depth; so that this plant, and thistles, are usually the first that appear on the banks of deep ditches formed in a clayey soil. All animals delight to eat it; but, from the dry aromatic taste it possesses, it would seem peculiarly favourable to the constitution of sheep. It seems altogether unfit for hay.

Besides these plants, which are natives of our own Lucerne country, there are others, which, though natives of a foreign climate, are found to thrive very well in Britain; and have been raised with such success by individuals, as highly to merit the attention of every far- Among these the first place is claimed by lucerne.

This plant hath a perennial root, and annual stalks, which, in good soil, rise to three feet; or sometimes more in height; but for a particular description of the whole plant, see the article Medica. All sorts of domestic cattle are fond of this plant, especially when allowed to eat it green, and black cattle may be fed very well with the hay made from it; but an excess of this food is said to be very dangerous.

Lucerne has the property of growing very quickly after it is cut down, in such a manner that Mr Rocque has mowed it five times in a season, and Mr Anderson affirms he has cut it no less than six times. It is, however, not very easily cultivated; in consequence of which it sometimes does not succeed; and as it dies entirely in the winter, it is perhaps inferior to the fescue grasses already mentioned, which, tho despised and neglected, might probably yield as rich a crop as lucerne, without any danger of a miscarriage.

Another grass was brought from Virginia, where it is a native, and sown by Rocque in 1763. This grass is called Timothy, from its being brought from New-York to Carolina by one Timothy Hanlon. It grows best in a wet soil; but will thrive in almost any. If it is sown in August, it will be fit for cutting in the latter end of May or beginning of June. Horses are very fond of it, and will leave lucerne to eat it. It is also preferred by black cattle and sheep; for a square piece of land having been divided into four equal parts, and one part sowed with lucerne, another with fain-foin, a third with clover, and the fourth with timothy, some horses, black cattle, and sheep, were turned into it, when the plants were all in a condition for pasture; and the timothy was eaten quite bare, before the clover, lucerne, or fain-foin, was touched.

One valuable property of this grass is, that its roots are so strong and interwoven with one another, that they render the wettest and softest land, on which a horse could not find footing, firm enough to bear the heaviest cart. With the view of improving boggy lands, therefore, so as to prevent their being poached with the feet of cattle, Mr Anderson recommends the cultivation of this kind of grass, from which he has little expectation in other respects.

Sect. VII. Of the Diseases of Plants.

These are divided by Tournefort into the following classes. 1. Those which arise from too great an abundance of juice; 2. From having too little; 3. From its bad qualities; 4. From its unequal distribution; and 5. From external accidents.

Too great an abundance of juices causes at first a prodigious luxuriant growth of the vegetable; so that it does not come to the requisite perfection in a due time. Wheat is subject, in some climates, to a disease of this kind; it vegetates excessively, without ever carrying ripe grain; and the same disease may be artificially produced in any grain, by planting it in too rich a soil. Too much rain is apt likewise to do the same. When a vegetable is supplied too abundantly with juices, it is very apt to rot; one part of it overshadowing another in such a manner as to prevent the access of fresh air; upon which, putrefaction soon ensues, as has been already observed with regard to the fescue grasses.

In grass, or any herbaceous plant, where the leaves are only wanted, this over-luxuriancy cannot be called a disease, but is a very desirable property; but in any kind of grain, it is quite otherwise. Dr Home, in his Principles of Agriculture and Vegetation, classifies the first in grain among the diseases arising from this cause. He is of opinion, that too great an abundance of juices in a vegetable will produce diseases similar to those occasioned by repletion in animal-bodies; viz. flagrations, corruptions, varices, cariologies, &c. along with the too great luxuriancy we have just now mentioned, which he expresses by "too great an abundance of water-shoots." Hence he is induced to class the smut among diseases arising from this cause; it being a corruption happening most in rainy seasons, and to weak grain.—Like other contagious diseases, he tells us, the smut may be communicated from the infected to healthy grain. As a preventative, he recommends steeping the grain in a strong pickle of sea-salt. Besides the effect which this has upon the grain itself, it is useful for separating the good from the bad; the best seed falling to the bottom, and the faulty swimming on the top of the liquor.—For the same purpose, a ley of wood-ashes and quicklime is recommended by some; and, by others, a solution of salt-petre or copperas; after which the grain is to be dried with slack lime, or dry turf ashes. This solution, however, we can by no means recommend, as it seems most likely to kill the grain entirely.

According to Dr Home, dung is a preventative of diseases arising from too great moisture; in confirmation of which, he relates the following experiment. "Two acres of poor ground, which had never got any manure, were followed with a design to be sown with wheat; but the scheme being altered, some dung was laid on a small part of it, and the whole sowed, after it had got five furrows, with barley. A great quantity of rain fell. The barley on that part which was dugged, was very good; but what was on the rest of the field turned yellow after the rains, and, when ripe, was not worth the reaping."

The want of nourishment in plants may be easily known by their decay; in which case, the only remedy left to us, is to supply them with food, according to the methods from which we have already directed; or to remove from their neighbourhood such other plants as may draw off the nourishment from those we wish to cultivate.—In the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for 1728, Mr Du Hamel mentions a disease, which he calls le mort, that attacks saffron in the spring. It is owing to another plant, a species of trefoil, fixing some violet-coloured threads, which are its roots, to the roots of the saffron, and sucking out its juice. This disease is prevented by digging a trench, which saves all the unaffected.

The bad qualities, or unequal distributions, of the juices of plants, are the occasion of so few of the diseases to which vegetables in this country are subject, that we forbear to mention them at present. Most of the diseases of our plants are owing to external accidents, particularly to the depredations of insects.—The insects by which the greatest devastations are committed in this country are, snails, caterpillars, grubs, and flies. The snails and caterpillars feed on the leaves and young shoots; by which means they often totally destroy the vegetable. Where the plants are of easy access, these vermin may be destroyed by sprinkling the vegetable with lime-water, for quick-line is a mortal poison to creatures.

Part I.

Theories of this kind, and throws them into the greatest agonies the moment they are touched with it. On trees, however, where this method cannot so well be followed, fumigation is the most proper; and, for this purpose, nothing is better than the smoke of vegetables not perfectly dry. In some cases the eggs of these destroying creatures may be observed, and ought without doubt immediately to be taken away. On the fruit-trees, as apples, pears, medlars, on some forest-trees, the oak and dwarf-maple especially, and the white and black thorn in hedges, a kind of little tufts are to be observed, resembling, at first sight, withered leaves twisted, by a cobweb, about the uppermost twigs or branches. These contain a vast number of little black eggs, that in the spring produce swarms of caterpillars which devour everything. To prevent this, all the twigs on which these cobwebs appear should be taken off and burnt as soon as possible. This ought to be done before the end of March, that none of the eggs be allowed sufficient time for hatching.

The grubs are a kind of worms which destroy the corn by feeding upon its roots; they are transformed every fourth year into the beetles called cock-chafers, may-bugs, &c. they are very destructive when in their vermicular state, and cannot then be destroyed because they go deep in the ground. When become beetles, they conceal themselves under the leaves of trees, where they seem asleep till near sunset, when they take their flight. It is only now that they can be destroyed, and that by a very laborious method; namely, by spreading pack-sheets below the trees in the day-time when the beetles are in their torpid state, then shaking them off and burning them. Some time ago, they made such devastations in the county of Norfolk, that several farmers were entirely ruined by them; one gathered 80 bushels of these insects from the trees which grew on his farm. It is said that, in 1574 there fell such a multitude of these insects into the river Severn, that they stopped and clogged the wheels of the water-mills.

Turnips, when young, are apt to be totally destroyed by a multitude of little black flies, from thence called the turnip-fly. As a preventative of these, some advise the seed to be mixed with brimstone; but this is improper, as brimstone is found to be poisonous to vegetables. The best method seems to be the fumigation of the fields with smoke of half-dried vegetables. For this purpose weeds will answer as well as any. This fumigation must no doubt be often repeated, in order to drive away the innumerable multitudes of these insects which are capable of destroying a large field of turnip.

Some time ago an insect, called the corn-butterfly, committed such ravages while in its vermicular state, terrifying in France, that upwards of 200 parishes were ruined by it; and the ministry offered a reward to the discoverer of an effectual remedy against this destroying worm. The cure which was at last discovered, was to heat the corn, in an oven, so much as not to destroy its vegetative power, but sufficiently to destroy the small worms, which made their nest in the substance of the grain, and at last eat out the substance so completely that nothing could be got from the husk, even by boiling it in water. It is certain, that though insects can bear a great deal of cold, they are easily destroyed by a slight degree of heat; nor is the vegetative power of corn easily destroyed, even when kept for a long time in a pretty strong heat. This method must therefore be very effectual for destroying all kinds of insects with which grain is apt to be infected: but care must be taken not to apply too great a heat; and the adjusting of the precise degree necessary to destroy the insect, without hurting the corn, will be attended with some difficulty.

PART II. PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE.

Sect. I. Instruments of Husbandry.

The instruments employed in agriculture are various; as the plough, the harrow, the roller, &c. which are again greatly diversified by differences arising from their construction, and particular uses.

1. Of Ploughs.

The plough constructed in the following manner is still the most common and the most generally understood in Scotland; and, if properly made, is the best for answering all purposes, when only one is used; though others are, perhaps, more proper on some particular occasions.

The parts of which this plough is composed, are, the head, the beam, the sheath, the wreft, the mould-board, the two handles, the two rungs, the stock, and the coulter; the two last are made of iron, and all the rest of wood.

Plate IV. fig. 1.

The Head, is designed for opening the ground below. The length of the head from A to B is about 20 inches, and the breadth from A to D about five inches; C is the point upon which the stock is driven, and the length from B to C is about six inches; a is the mortoise into which the larger handle is fixed, and b is the mortoise into which the sheath is fixed.

The head is that part of the plough which goes in the ground; therefore the shorter and narrower it is, the friction will be the less, and the plough more easily drawn; but the longer the head is, the plough goes more steadily, and is not so easily put out of its direction by any obstructions that occur. Twenty inches is considered as a mean length; and five inches as the most convenient breadth.

The Sheath, E, is driven into the mortoise b, and Fig. 2. thus fixed to the head A.B. It is not perpendicular to the head, but placed obliquely, so as to make the angle formed by the lines A.B and E.B about 60 degrees. The sheath is about 13 inches long, besides what is driven into the mortoise b; about three inches broad, and Fig. 1. one inch thick.

The sheath is fixed to the mould-board, as in fig. 11. E, in the same manner as the wreft is fixed to the head in fig. 7.

The Mould-board, is designed to turn over the earth of the furrow made by the plough; and it is obvious, that, according to the position of the sheath, the mould-board will turn over the earth of the furrow more or less suddenly. Besides, when it forms a less angle with the head than 60 degrees, the plough is in great danger of being choked, as the farmers term it.

The Larger Handle, F.A, is fixed to the head, by Fig. 3. driving it into the mortoise a. It is placed in the same Fig. 1. plane plane with the head; and its length from A F is about five feet four inches, and its diameter at the place where it is fixed to the beam is about two inches and an half, and tapers a little to the top F. About ten inches from A, there is a curve in the handle, which, when F is raised to its proper height, makes the lower part of it nearly parallel to the sheath E B. This curve is designed to strengthen the handle. The proper position of the handle is, when the top F is about three feet two inches higher than the bottom of the head A B.

The longer the handles, the plough is the more easily managed, because the levers are more distant from the centre of motion. The higher the top of the handles, the plough is more easily raised out of the ground, provided they be no higher than the lower part of a man's breast.

The Beam, is fixed to the larger handle and the sheath, all of which are placed in the same plane with the head. The length of it, from H to I, is about six feet; its diameter is about four inches. When the plough is in the ground, the beam should be just high enough not to be incumbered by any thing on the surface.

The position of the beam depends on the number of cattle in the plough. When two horses are yoked, the beam should be placed in such a manner as to make the perpendicular distance between the bolt-hole of the beam and the plane of the head about 21 inches; when four horses are yoked, two abreast, this distance should only be about 18 inches.

The Sock, B P, is fixed to the end of the head, and is about two feet long. In fitting the sock to the head, the point ought to be turned a little to the land or left side; because otherwise it is apt to come out of the land altogether. When turned to the left, it likewise takes off more land; when turned upwards, the plough goes shallow; and when downwards, it goes deeper.

The Coulter, is fixed to the beam, and is about two feet ten inches long, two inches and a half broad, sharp at the point and before, and thick on the back, like a knife. It is fixed and directed by wedges, so as to make the point of it equal to, or rather a little before the point of the sock, and upon a line with the left side of the head. This oblique position enables it to throw roots, &c. out of the land, which requires less force than cutting or pushing them forward.

The Wrest, B D, is fixed to the head, and is about 26 inches long, two broad, and one thick. It is fixed to the head at B, in such a manner as to make the angle contained between the lines A B and B D about 25 degrees. The wrest is seldom or never placed in the same plane with the head, but gradually raised from the place where it is fixed to it; that is, from B to K, as in fig. 8. The position of the wrest determines the nature of the furrow. When the wrest is wide and low set, the furrow is wide; and when it is narrow and high set, the furrow is narrow.

Fig. 9 represents the two Handles, fixed together by the two rungs. The larger handle has already been described; the lesser one is a few inches shorter, and does not require to be quite so strong. The distance of the handles at the little rung depends on the position of the wrest. Their distance at M and P is about two feet six inches. The lesser handle is fixed to the mould board at M, fig 10, and to the wrest K B, at L.

Fig. 11 represents the plough complete, by joining together figures 6. and 10. in the sheath E B. The wrest B K is supposed to make an angle with the head A B as in fig. 7, and the handles joined together as in fig. 9.

After having given such a particular description of all the parts and proportions of the Scots plough, it will easily appear how it separates, raises, and turns over the earth of the furrow. If it had no coulter, the earth would open above the middle of the flock, and in a line before the sheath; but as the coulter opens the earth in a line with the left side of the head, if the soil has any cohesion, the earth of the furrow will be wholly raised from the left side, and, as the flock moves forward, will be thrown on the right side of the sheath, and by the casting out of the mould-board, or the raising of the wrest, will be turned over.

The Bridle, or Muzzle, is another article belonging to the plough. It is fixed to the end of the beam, and the cattle are yoked by it. The muzzle commonly used is a curved piece of iron, fixed to the beam by a bolt through it. A B C is the muzzle, A C the bolt Fig. 12, by which it is fixed to the beam; D is the swingle-tree or cross-tree, to which the traces are fixed; and B is a hook, or cleek, as it is commonly called, which joins the muzzle and swingle-tree.

Some use another kind of muzzle, A B C D. It is fixed to the beam by two bolts, and has notches by which the cleek of the swingle-tree may be fixed either to the right or the left of the beam. There are also different holes for the hind-bolt to pass thro', by which the draught may be fixed either above or below the beam. A D is the fore-bolt upon which the muzzle turns; on B C are four notches, betwixt any two of which the cleek of the swingle-tree may be fixed. When the cleek is fixed at B, the plough is turned towards the firm land, and takes off a broader furrow; and when fixed at C, it is turned towards the ploughed land, and takes of a narrower furrow. E and F are the holes on each side thro' which the hindmost bolt passes. When the bolt is put thro' the highest two, these holes being thereby brought to the middle of the beam, the fore-part of the muzzle is raised above the beam, and the plough is made to go deeper; and when put through the lowest two, the fore-part of the muzzle is sunk below the beam, and the plough is made to go shallower. This muzzle may be constructed as to have the same play with the common one. A is the end of the beam; B a plate of iron sunk into it, and with a similar one in the other side, is riveted into it by bolts; C is the muzzle fixed to these plates of iron by the bolt D, which bolt may be put through any of the holes E E. From the construction of this muzzle it is plain, that it has the same play with the common one, and that by it the land of the plough may be altered at pleasure.

Of all forms, that of the Scotch plough is the most useful for breaking up stiff and rough land, especially of the Scots where stones abound; and no less fit for strong clay ploughs hardened by drought. The length of its head gives it a firm hold of the ground; its weight prevents it from being thrown out by stones; the length of the handles gives the ploughman great command to direct its motion; and by the length of its head, and of its mould-board, it lays the furrow-slice cleverly over. This plough Agriculture

Practice plough was contrived during the infancy of agriculture, and was well contrived; in the foils above described, it has not an equal.

But in tender foil it is improper, because it adds greatly to the expense of ploughing, without any counterbalancing benefit. The length of the head and mould-board increases the friction, and consequently it requires a greater number of oxen or horses than are necessary in a shorter plough. There is another particular in its form, that resists the draught: the mould-board makes an angle with the foal, instead of making a line with it gently curving backward. There is an objection against it no less solid, that it does not stir the ground perfectly: the hinder part of the wreft rises a foot above the sole of the head; and the earth that lies immediately below that hinder part, is left unturned. This is ribbing land below the surface, familiar to what is done by ignorant farmers on the surface.

These defects must be submitted to in a foil that requires a strong heavy plough; but may be avoided in a cultivated foil by a plough differently constructed. Of all the ploughs fitted for a cultivated foil free of stones, that introduced into Scotland about 12 years ago, by James Small in Blackadder Mount, Berwickshire, is the best. It is now in great request; and with reason, as it avoids all the defects of the Scotch plough. The shortness of its head and of its mould-board lessen the friction greatly: from the point of the foal to the back part of the head it is only 30 inches; and the whole length, from the point of the beam to the end of the handles, between eight and nine feet. The foal and mould-board make one line gently curving; and consequently gather no earth. Instead of a wreft, the under edge of the mould-board is in one plain with the sole of the head; which makes a wide furrow, without leaving any part unturned. It is termed the chain-plough, because it is drawn by an iron chain fixed to the back part of the beam immediately before the coulter. This has two advantages: first, by means of a muzzle, it makes the plough go deep, or shallow; and, next, it fires the beam less than if fixed to the point, and therefore a slenderer beam is sufficient.

This plough may well be considered as a capital improvement; not only by saving expense, but by making better work. It is proper for loams; for carse-clays; and, in general, for every sort of tender foil free of stones. It is even proper for opening up pasture-ground, where the foil has been formerly well cultivated.

A spiked foal is used in the Scotch plough. The difference between it and the feathered foal will be best understood by comparing their figures. Fig. 14. is the common foal, and fig. 15. the feathered one.

From the construction of the feathered foal, it is obvious, that it must meet with greater resistance than the common foal. However, when the plough takes off the earth of the furrow broader than that part of the foal which goes upon the head, it is more easily drawn than the plough with the common foal; for the earth which the common foal leaves to be opened by the wreft, is more easily opened by the feather of the other foal. In lea, the feathered foal makes the plough go more easily, because the roots of the grass, which go beyond the reach of the plough, are more easily cut by the feather, than they can be torn asunder by the common foal. The feathered foal is also of great use in cutting and destroying root-weeds. The common foal, however, answers much better in strong land.

It is proper here to add, that in fitting the feathered foal to the head, the point of it should be turned a little from the land, or a little to the right hand.

Some ploughs are made with two small wheels running in the furrow, in order to take off the friction of the head; and this plough is recommended in a book, intitled, The complete Farmer. But all complicated ploughs are baubles; and this as much as any. The pivots of such wheels are always going wrong; and, beside, they are choked so with earth, as to increase the friction instead of diminishing it.

If we look back 30 years, ploughs of different constructions did not enter even into a dream. The Scotch plough was universally used; and no other was known. There was no less ignorance as to the number of cattle necessary for this plough: In the south of Scotland, five oxen and two horses were universal; and in the north, ten oxen, sometimes twelve. The first attempt to lessen the number of oxen, was in Berwickshire. The low-part of that county abounds with stone, clay, and marl, the most substantial of all manures, which had been long used by one or two gentlemen. About 25 years ago it acquired reputation, and spread rapidly. As two horses and two oxen were employed in every marl-cart; the farmer, in summer-fallowing, and in preparing land for marl, was confined to four oxen and two horses. And as that manure afforded plenty of succulent straw for oxen, the farmer was surprized to find that four oxen did better now than six formerly. Marling, however, a laborious work, proceeded slowly, till people were taught by a noted farmer in that country, what industry can perform by means of power properly applied. It was reckoned a mighty task to marl five or six acres in a year. That gentleman, by plenty of red clover for his working-cattle, accomplished the marling 50 acres in a summer, once 54. Having too much occasion for oxen, he tried with success two oxen and two horses in a plough; and that practice became general in Berwickshire.

Now here appears with lustre the advantage of the chain-plough. The great friction occasioned in the Scotch plough by a long head, and by the angle it makes with the mould-board, necessarily requires two oxen and two horses, whatever the foil be. The friction is so much less in the chain-plough, that two good horses are found sufficient in every foil that is proper for it. Besides, the reducing the draught to a couple of horses has another advantage, that of rendering a driver unnecessary. This saving on every plough, where two horses and two oxen were formerly used, will, by the strictest computation, be £15 sterling yearly; and where four horses were used, no less than £20 sterling. There is now scarce to be seen in the low country of Berwickshire a plough with more than two horses; which undoubtedly in time will become general. We know but of one further improvement, that of using two oxen instead of two horses. That draught has been employed with success in several places; and the saving is so great, that it must force its way everywhere. It may be confidently affirmed, no foil stirred in a proper season, can ever require more than two horse. horses and two oxen, in a plough, even supposing the stiffest clay. In all other soils, two good horses, or two good oxen abreast, may be relied on for every operation of the chain-plough.

A chain-plough of a smaller size than ordinary, drawn by a single horse, is of all the most proper for horse-hoeing, supposing the land to be mellow, which it ought to be for that operation. It is sufficient for making furrows to receive the dung, for ploughing the drills after dunging, and for hoeing the crop.

A still smaller plough of the same kind may be recommended for a kitchen-garden. It can be reduced to the smallest size, by being made of iron; and where the land is properly dressed for a kitchen-garden, an iron plough drawn by a horse of the smallest size will save much spade-work.—In Scotland, thirty years ago, a kitchen-garden was an article of luxury merely, because at that time there could be no cheaper food than oatmeal. At present, the farmer maintains his servants at double expense, as the price of oat-meal is doubled; and yet he has no notion of a kitchen-garden, more than he had thirty years ago. He never thinks, that living partly on cabbage, kail, turnip, carrot, would save much oat-meal: nor does he ever think, that change of food is more wholesome, than vegetables alone, or oat-meal alone. We need not recommend potatoes, which in scanty crops of corn have proved a great blessing: without them, the labouring poor would frequently have been reduced to a starving condition. Would the farmer but cultivate his kitchen-garden with as much industry as he bestows on his potatoe-crop, he needed never fear want; and he can cultivate it with the iron plough at a very small expense. It may be held by a boy of 12 or 13; and would be a proper education for a ploughman. But it is the landlord who ought to give a beginning to the improvement. A very small expense would inclose an acre for a kitchen-garden to each of his tenants; and it would excite their industry, to bestow an iron plough on those who do best.

Nor is this the only case where a single-horse plough may be profitably employed. It is sufficient for seed-furrowing barley, where the land is light and well-dressed. It may be used in the second or third ploughing of fallow, to encourage annual weeds, which are destroyed in subsequent ploughings.

2. The Brake.

The brake is a large and weighty harrow, the purpose of which is to reduce a stubborn soil, where an ordinary harrow makes little impression. It consists of four square bulls, each side five inches, and six feet and a half in length. The teeth are 17 inches long, bending forward like a coulter. Four of them are inserted into each bull, fixed above with a screw-nut, having 12 inches free below, with a heel close to the under part of the bull, to prevent it from being pushed back by stones. The nut above makes it easy to be taken out for sharpening. This brake requires four horses or four oxen. One of a lesser size will not fully answer the purpose: one of a larger size will require six oxen; in which case the work may be performed at less expense with the plough.

This instrument may be applied to great advantage in the following circumstances. In the following strong clay that requires frequent ploughings, a braking between every ploughing will pulverize the soil, and render the subsequent ploughings more easy. In the month of March or April, when strong ground is ploughed for barley, especially if bound with couch-grass, a cross braking is preferable to a cross-ploughing, and is done at half the expense. When ground is ploughed from the state of nature, and after a competent time is cross-ploughed, the brake is applied with great success, immediately after the cross-ploughing, to reduce the whole to proper tilth.

Let it be observed, that a brake with a greater number of teeth than above-mentioned, is improper for ground that is bound together by the roots of plants, which is always the case of ground new broken up from its natural state. The brake is soon choked, and can do no execution till freed from the earth it holds. A less number of teeth would be deficient in pulverizing the soil.

3. The Harrow.

Harrowes are commonly considered as of no use but to cover the seed. But they have another use scarce less essential, which is to prepare land for the seed. This is an article of importance for producing a good crop. But how imperfectly either of these purposes is performed by the common harrow, will appear from the following account of it.

The harrow commonly used is of different forms. The first we shall mention has two bulls, four feet long and 18 inches asunder, with four wooden teeth in each. A second has three bulls and 12 wooden teeth. A third has four bulls, and 20 teeth, of wood or iron, 10, 11, or 12 inches asunder. Now, in fine mould, the last may be sufficient for covering the seed; but none of them are sufficient to prepare for the seed any ground that requires subduing. The only tolerable form is that with iron teeth; and the bare description of its imperfections will show the necessity of a more perfect form. In the first place, this harrow is by far too light for ground new taken up from the state of nature, for clays hardened with spring-drought, or for other stubborn soils: it floats on the surface; and after frequent returns in the same tract, nothing is done effectually. In the next place, the teeth are too thick set, by which the harrow is apt to be choked, especially where the earth is bound with roots, which is commonly the case. At the same time, the lightness and number of teeth keep the harrow upon the surface, and prevent one of its capital purposes, that of dividing the soil. Nor will fewer teeth answer for covering the seed properly. In the third place, the teeth are too short for reducing a coarse soil to proper tilth; and yet it would be in vain to make them longer, because the harrow is too light for going deep into the ground. Further, the common harrows are so ill constructed, as to ride at every turn one upon another. Much time is lost in disengaging them. Lastly, it is equally unfit for extirpating weeds. The ground is frequently to be bound with couch-grass, as to make the furrow-slice stand upright, as when old lea is ploughed: notwithstanding much labour, the grass-roots keep the field, and gain the victory.

A little reflection, even without experience, will make make it evident, that the same harrows, whatever be the form, can never answer all the different purposes of harrowing, nor can operate equally in all different soils, rough or smooth, firm or loose. The following, therefore, have been recommended; which are of three different forms, adapted for different purposes. They are all of the same weight, drawn each by two horses. Birch is the best wood for them, because it is cheap, and not apt to split. The first is composed of four bulls, each four feet ten inches long, three and a quarter inches broad, and three and a half deep; the interval between the bulls is nine and three-fourths inches; so that the breadth of the whole harrow is four feet. The bulls are connected by four sheths, which go through each bull, and are fixed by timber-nails driven through both. In each bull five teeth are inserted, ten inches free under the bull, and ten inches afunder. They are of the same form with those of the brake, and inserted into the wood in the same manner. Each of these teeth is three pounds weight; and where the harrow is made of birch, the weight of the whole is six stone 14 pounds Dutch. An erect bridle is fixed at a corner of the harrow, three inches high, with four notches for drawing higher or lower. To this bridle a double tree is fixed for two horses drawing abreast, as in a plough. And to strengthen the harrow, a flat rod of iron is nailed upon the harrow from corner to corner in the line of the draught.

The second harrow consists of two parts, connected together by a crank or hinge in the middle, and two chains of equal length, one at each end, which keep the two parts always parallel, and at the same distance from each other. The crank is so contrived, as to allow the two parts to ply to the ground like two unconnected harrows; but neither of them to rise above the other, more than if they were a single harrow without a joint. In a word, they may form an angle downward, but not upward. Thus they have the effect of two harrows in curved ground, and of one weighty harrow in a plain. This harrow is composed of six bulls, each four feet long, three inches broad, and three and a half deep. The interval between the bulls nine and a half inches; which makes the breadth of the whole harrow, including the length of the crank, to be five feet five inches. Each bull has five teeth, nine inches free under the wood, and ten inches afunder. The weight of each tooth is two pounds; the rest as in the former.

The third consists also of two parts, connected together like that last mentioned. It has eight bulls, each four feet long, two and a half inches broad, and three deep. The interval between the bulls is eight inches; and the breadth of the whole harrow, including the length of the crank, is six feet four inches. In each bull are inserted five teeth, seven inches free under the wood, and ten and a half inches afunder, each tooth weighing one pound. The rest as in the two former harrows.

These harrows are a considerable improvement. They ply to curved ground like two unconnected harrows; and when drawn in one plain, they are in effect one harrow of double weight, which makes the teeth pierce deep into the ground. The imperfection of common harrows, mentioned above, will suggest the advantages of the set of harrows here recommended. The first is proper for harrowing land that has lain long after ploughing, as where oats are sown on a winter-furrow, and in general for harrowing stiff land: it pierces deep into the soil by its long teeth, and divides it minutely. The second is intended for covering the seed: its long teeth lays the seed deeper than the common harrow can do; which is no slight advantage. By placing the seed considerably under the surface, the young plants are, on the one hand, protected from too much heat, and, on the other, have sufficiency of moisture. At the same time, the seed is so well covered that none of it is lost. Seed slightly covered by the common harrows, wants moisture, and is burnt up by the sun; beside, that a proportion of it is left upon the surface uncovered. The third harrow supplies what may be deficient in the second, by smoothing the surface, and covering the seed more accurately. The three harrows make the ground finer and finer, as heckles do lint; or, to use a different comparison, the first harrow makes the bed, the second lays the seed in it, the third smooths the cloaths. They have another advantage not inferior to any mentioned: they mix manure with the soil more intimately than can be done by common harrows; and upon such intimate mixture depends greatly the effect of manure, as has already been explained. To conclude, these harrows are contrived to answer an established principle in agriculture, That fertility depends greatly on pulverizing the soil, and on an intimate mixture of manure with it; whether dung, lime, marl, or any other.

4. The Roller.

The roller is an instrument of capital use in husbandry, tho' scarcely known in ordinary practice; and, where introduced, it is commonly so slight as to have very little effect.

Rollers are of different kinds; stone, yetting, wood. Each of these has its advantages. We would recommend the last, constructed in the following manner. Take the body of a tree, six feet ten inches long, the larger the better, made as near a perfect cylinder as possible. Surround this cylinder with three rows of fillies, one row in the middle, and one at each end. Line these fillies with planks of wood equally long with the roller, and so narrow as to ply into a circle. Bind them fast together with iron rings. Beech-wood is the best, being hard and tough. The roller thus mounted, ought to have a diameter of three feet ten inches. It has a double pair of shafts for two horses abreast. These are sufficient in level ground; in ground not level, four horses may be necessary. The roller without the shafts ought to weigh two hundred stone Dutch; and the large diameter makes this great weight easy to be drawn.

Rolling wheat in the month of April, is an important article in loose soil; as the winter-rains pressing rolling down the soil leave many roots in the air. Barley ought to be rolled immediately after the seed is sown; especially where grass-seeds are sown with it. The best time for rolling a gravelly soil, is as soon as the mould is so dry as to bear the roller without clinging to it. A clay soil ought neither to be tilled, harrowed, nor rolled, till the field be perfectly dry. And as rolling a clay soil is chiefly intended for smoothing the surface, a dry season may be patiently waited for, even till... Practice till the crop be three inches high. There is the greater reason for this precaution, because much rain immediately after rolling is apt to cake the surface when drought follows. Oats in a light soil may be rolled immediately after the seed is sown, unless the ground be so wet as to cling to the roller. In a clay soil, delay rolling till the grain be above ground. The proper time for sowing grass-seeds in an oat-field, is when the grain is three inches high; and rolling should immediately succeed, whatever the soil be. Flax ought to be rolled immediately after sowing. This should never be neglected; for it makes the seed push equally, and prevents after-growth, the bad effect of which is visible in every step of the process for dressing flax. The first year's crop of sown grasses ought to be rolled as early the next spring as the ground will bear the horses. It fixes all the roots precisely as in the case of wheat. Rolling the second and third crops in loose soil is an useful work; though not so essential as rolling the first crop.

In the first place, rolling renders a loose soil more compact and solid; which encourages the growth of plants, by making the earth clap close to every part of every root. Nor need we be afraid of rendering the soil too compact; for no roller that can be drawn by two or four horses will have that effect. In the next place, rolling keeps in the moisture, and hinders drought to penetrate. This effect is of great moment. In a dry season, it may make the difference of a good crop, or no crop, especially where the soil is light. In the third place, the rolling grass-seeds, beside the foregoing advantages, facilitates the mowing for hay; and it is to be hoped, that the advantage of this practice will lead farmers to mow their corn also, which will increase the quantity of straw, both for food and for the dunghill.

There is a small roller for breaking clods in land intended for barley. The common way is, to break clods with a mule; which requires many hands, and is a laborious work. This roller performs the work more effectually, and at much less expense: let a harrowing precede, which will break the clods a little; and after lying a day, or a day and a half to dry, this roller will dissolve them into powder. This however does not supersede the use of the great roller after all the other articles are finished, in order to make the soil compact, and to keep out the summer-drought. A stone roller four feet long, and fifteen inches diameter, drawn by one horse, is insufficient to break clods that are easily dissolved by pressure. The use of this roller in preparing land for barley is gaining ground daily, even among ordinary tenants, who have become sensible both of the expense and toil of using wooden mules. But in a clay soil, the clods are sometimes too firm, or too tough, to be subdued by so light a machine. In that case, a roller of the same size, but of a different construction, is necessary. It ought to be surrounded with circles of iron, six inches asunder, and seven inches deep; which will cut even the most stubborn clods, and reduce them to powder. Let not this instrument be considered as a finical refinement. In a stiff clay, it may make the difference of a plentiful or scanty crop.

(a) By this expression it is not meant that the ground really becomes acid, but only that it becomes unfit for the purposes of vegetation. The natural products of such a soil are rushes, and sour grass; which last appears in the furrows, but seldom in the crown of the ridge; is dry, and tasteless, like a chip of wood; and feels rough when stroked backwards.

5. The Fanner.

This instrument for winnowing corn was introduced into Scotland not many years ago. Formerly wind being our only resource, the winnowing of corn was no less precarious than the grinding it at a windmill; people often were reduced to famine in the midst of plenty. There was another bad effect: it was necessary to place a barn open to the west wind, however irregular or inconvenient the situation might be with regard to the other buildings. But it is needless to be particular upon that useless instrument; because every farmer considers it now as no less essential than a plough or a harrow.

Sect. II. Preparing Land for Cropping.

1. Obstructions to Cropping.

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, which are an impediment to a plough, as rocks are to a ship. 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 be 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 useful for fences: when large they must be blown, and commonly fall into parts proper for building. And as the blowing, when gunpowder is furnished, 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. In the next place, 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. Nor is this a trifle; 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 greater than all the rest; which is, that the ploughing can be carried on with much expedition, when there is no apprehension of stones: in flinty land, the plough must proceed so slow, as not to perform half of its work.

To clear land of stones, is in many instances an undertaking too expensive for a tenant who has not a very long lease. As it is profitable both to him and to his landlord, it appears reasonable that the work should be divided, where the lease exceeds not nineteen 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 forms (a) a clay soil, and converts low ground into a morass, unfit for any purpose that can interest the husbandman.

A great deal has been written upon different methods of draining land, mostly so expensive as to be scarce fit for the landlord, not to mention the tenant. One way of draining without expense when land is to be inclosed with hedge and ditch, is to direct the ditches so as to carry off the water. But this method is not always practicable, even where the divisions lie convenient for it. 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, which must be made so deep as to command the water. The former is filled up with loose stones, with brushwood, or with any other porous matter that permits the water to pass. The latter is left open, and not filled up. To make the former effectual, the ground must have such a slope as to give the water a brisk course. To execute them in level ground is a gross error; the passages are soon stopped up with sand and sediment, and the work is rendered useless. This inconvenience takes no place in open drains; but they are subject to other inconveniences: They are always filling up, to make a yearly reparation necessary; and they obstruct both ploughing and pasturing.

The following is the best in all views. It is an open drain 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 of the drain, and to remove accidental obstructions in the bottom. The advantages of this drain are manifold. It is executed at much less expense than either of the former; and it is perpetual, as it never can be obstructed. In level ground, it is true, grass may grow at the bottom of the drain; 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. This is commonly the case of a morass fed with water from higher ground, and kept on the surface by a clay bottom.

A clay soil of any thickness is never pestered with springs; but it is pestered with rain, which settles on the surface as in a cup. The only remedy is high narrow ridges, well rounded. And to clear the furrows, the furrow of the foot-ridge ought to be considerably lower, in order 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; witness the hollows at the end of crooked ridges, which are absolutely barren. Some gravelly soils have a clay bottom; which is a substantial benefit to a field when in grass, as it retains moisture. 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 expedient to make a few holes in that furrow. In some cases, a field may be drained, by filling up the hollows with earth taken 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.

The low part of Berwickshire is generally a brick clay extremely wet and poachy during winter. This in a good measure may be prevented by proper inclosing, as there is not a field but can be drained into lower ground, all the way down to the river Tweed. 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. (See the article Draining.)

2. Bringing into Culture, Land from the State of Nature.

To improve a moor, let it be opened in winter when it is wet; which has one convenience, that the plough ground cannot be employed at any other work. In spring, after frost is over, a flight 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, braked, and harrowed, till it be sufficiently pulverized. 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-feed if sown broad-cast. But if drills be intended, the method must be followed that is directed afterward in treating more directly of the culture of turnip.

A successful turnip-crop, fed on the ground with sheep, is a fine preparation for laying down a field with grass-seeds. It is an improvement upon this method, to take two or three successive crops of turnip, which will require no dung for the second and following crops. This will thicken the soil, and enrich it greatly.

The best way of improving swampy ground after swampy draining, is paring and burning. But where the ground is dry, and the soil so thin as that the surface cannot be pared, the best way of bringing it into tilth from the state of nature, as mentioned above, is to plough it with a feathered stock, laying the grassy surface under. After the new surface is mellowed with frost, fill up all the seams by harrowing across the field, which by excluding the air will effectually rot the sod. In this state let it lie summer and winter. In the beginning of May after, a cross-ploughing will reduce all to small square pieces, which must be pulverized with the brake, and make it ready for a May or June crop. If these square pieces be allowed to lie long in the sap without breaking, they will become tough and not be easily reduced.

3. Forming Ridges.

The first thing that occurs on this head, is to consider fider what grounds ought to be formed into ridges, and what ought to be tilled with a flat surface. Dry soils, which suffer by lack of moisture, ought to be tilled flat, which tends to retain moisture. And the method for such tilling, is to go round and round from the circumference to the centre, or from the centre to the circumference. This method is advantageous in point of expedition, as the whole is finished without once turning the plough. At the same time, every inch of the soil is moved, instead of leaving either the crown or the furrow unmoved, as is commonly done in tilling ridges. Clay soil, which suffers by water standing on it, ought to be laid as dry as possible by proper ridges. A loamy soil is the middle between the two mentioned. It ought to be tilled flat in a dry country, especially if it incline to the soil first mentioned. In a moist country, it ought to be formed into ridges, high or low according to the degree of moisture and tendency to clay.

In grounds that require ridging, an error prevails, that ridges cannot be raised too high. High ridges labour under several disadvantages. The soil is heaped upon the crown, leaving the furrows bare; the crown is too dry, and the furrows too wet; the crop, which is always best on the crown, is more readily shaken with the wind, than where the whole crop is of an equal height; the half of the ridge is always covered from the sun, a disadvantage which is far from being slight in a cold climate. High ridges labour under another disadvantage in ground that has no more level than barely sufficient to carry off water; they sink the furrows below the level of the ground; and consequently retain water at the end of every ridge. The furrows ought never to be sunk below the level of the ground. Water will more effectually be carried off, by lessening the ridges both in height and breadth: a narrow ridge, the crown of which is but 18 inches higher than the furrow, has a greater slope than a very broad ridge where the difference is three or four feet.

Next, of forming ridges where the ground hangs considerably. Ridges may be too steep as well as too horizontal; and if to the ridges be given all the steepness of a field, a heavy shower may do irreparable mischief. To prevent such mischief, the ridges ought to be so directed across the field, as to have a gentle slope for carrying off water slowly, and no more. In that respect, a hanging field has greatly the advantage of one that is nearly horizontal; because in the latter, there is no opportunity of a choice in forming the ridges. A hill is of all the best adapted for directing the ridges properly. If the soil be gravelly, it may be ploughed round and round, beginning at the bottom and ascending gradually to the top in a spiral line. This method of ploughing a hill, requires no more force than ploughing on a level; and at the same time removes the great inconvenience of a gravelly hill, that rains go off too quickly; for the rain is retained in every furrow. If the soil be such as to require ridges, they may be directed to any slope that is proper.

In order to form a field into ridges, that has not been formerly cultivated, the rules mentioned are easily put in execution. But what if ridges be already formed, that are either crooked or too high? After seeing the advantage of forming a field into ridges, people were naturally led into an error, that the higher the better. But what could tempt them to make their ridges crooked? Certainly this method did not originate from design; but from the laziness of the driver suffering the cattle to turn too hastily, instead of making them finish the ridge without turning. There is more than one disadvantage in this slovenly practice. First, the water is kept in by the curve at the end of every ridge, and pours the ground. Next, as a plough has the least friction possible in a straight line, the friction must be increased in a curve, the back part of the mouldboard pressing hard on the one hand, and the coulter pressing hard on the other. In the third place, the plough moving in a straight line, has the greatest command in laying the earth over. But where the straight line of the plough is applied to the curvature of a ridge in order to heighten it by gathering, the earth moved by the plough is continually falling back, in spite of the most skilful ploughman.

The inconveniences of ridges high and crooked are so many, that one would be tempted to apply a remedy at any risk. And yet, if the soil be clay, it would not be advisable for a tenant to apply the remedy upon a lease shorter than two nineteen years. In a dry gravelly soil, the work is not difficult, nor hazardous. When the ridges are cleared two or three years successively in the course of cropping, the operation ought to be concluded in one summer. The earth, by reiterated ploughings, should be accumulated upon the furrows, so as to raise them higher than the crowns; they cannot be raised too high, for the accumulated earth will subside by its own weight. Croft-ploughing once or twice, will reduce the ground to a flat surface, and give opportunity to form ridges at will. The same method brings down ridges in clay soil; only let care be taken to carry on the work with expedition; because a hearty shower, before the new ridges are formed, would soak the ground in water, and make the farmer suspend his work for the remainder of that year at least. In a strong clay, we would not venture to alter the ridges, unless it can be done to perfection in one season.—On this subject Mr Anderson has the following observations:

"The difficulty of performing this operation properly with the common implements of husbandry, and the obvious benefit that accrues to the farmer from having his fields level, has produced many new inventions of ploughs, harrows, drags, &c. calculated for speedily reducing the fields to that state; none of which have as yet been found fully to answer the purpose for which they were intended, as they all indiscriminately carry the earth that was on the high places into those that were lower; which, although it may, in some cases, render the surface of the ground tolerably smooth and level, is usually attended with inconveniences far greater, for a considerable length of time, than that which it was intended to remove.

"For experience sufficiently shows, that even the best vegetable mould, if buried for any length of time so far beneath the surface as to be deprived of the benign influences of the atmosphere, loses its vis viva, if by being long buried, it may be allowed that expression; becomes an inert, lifeless mass, little fitted for nourishing vegetables; and constitutes a foil very improper for the purposes of the farmer. It therefore behoves him, as much as in him lies, to preserve, on every part of his fields, an equal covering." covering of that vegetable mould that has long been uppermost; and rendered fertile by the meliorating influence of the atmosphere. But, if he suddenly levels his high ridges by any of these mechanical contrivances, he of necessity buries all the good mould that was on the top of the ridges, in the old furrows; by which he greatly impoverishes one part of his field, while he too much enriches another; inasmuch that it is a matter of great difficulty, for many years thereafter, to get the field brought to an equal degree of fertility in different places; which makes it impossible for the farmer to get an equal crop over the whole of his field by any management whatever; and he has the mortification frequently, by this means, to see the one half of his crop rotted by an over-luxuriance, while other parts of it are weak and sickly, or one part ripe and ready for reaping, while the other is not properly filled; so that it were, on many occasions, better for him to have his whole field reduced at once to the same degree of poorness as the poorest of it, than have it in this state.

An almost impracticable degree of attention in spreading the manures may indeed in some measure get the better of this; but it is so difficult to perform this properly, that I have frequently seen fields that had been thus levelled, in which, after thirty years of continued culture and repeated dressings, the marks of the old ridges could be distinctly traced when the corn was growing, although the surface was so level that no traces of them could be perceived when the corn was off the ground.

"But this is a degree of perfection in levelling that cannot be usually attained by following this mode of practice; and, therefore, is but seldom seen. For all that can be expected to be done by any levelling machine, is to render the surface perfectly smooth and even in every part, at the time that the operation is performed; but as, in this case, the old hollows are suddenly filled up with loose mould to a great depth, while the earth below the surface upon the heights of the old ridges remain firm and compact, the new-raised earth after a short time subsides very much, while the other parts of the field do not sink at all; so that, in a short time, the old furrows come to be again below the level of the other parts of the field; and the water of course is suffered in some degree to stagnate upon them; in so much that, in a few years, it becomes necessary once more to repeat the same levelling process, and thus renew the damage that the farmer sustains by this pernicious operation.

"On these accounts, if the farmer has not a long lease, it will be found in general to be much his interest to leave the ridges as he found them, rather than to attempt to alter their direction; and, if he attends with due caution to moderate the height of these old ridges, he may reap very good crops, although perhaps at a somewhat greater expense of labour than he would have been put to upon the same field, if it had been reduced to a proper level surface, and divided into straight and parallel ridges.

"But, where a man is secure of possessing his ground for any considerable length of time, the advantages that he will reap from having level and well laid-out fields, are so considerable as to be worth purchasing, if it should even be at a considerable expense. But the loss that is sustained at the beginning, by this mechanical mode of levelling ridges, if they are of considerable height, is so very great, that it is perhaps doubtful if any future advantages can ever fully compensate it. I would therefore advise, that all this levelling apparatus should be laid aside; and the following more efficacious practice be substituted in its stead: A practice that I have long followed with success, and can safely recommend as the very best that has yet come to my knowledge.

"If the ridges have been raised to a very great height, as a preparation for the ensuing operations, of levelling, they may be first thrown, or sealed out, as it is called in different places; that is, ploughed so as to lay the earth on each ridge from the middle towards the furrows. But, if they are only of a moderate degree of height, this operation may be omitted. When you mean to proceed to level the ground, let a number of men be collected, with spades, more or fewer as the nature of the ground requires, and then set a plough to draw a furrow directly across the ridges of the whole field intended to be levelled. Divide this line into as many parts as you have labourers, allotting to each one ridge or two, or more or less, according to their number, height, and other circumstances. Let each of the labourers have orders, as soon as the plough has passed that part assigned him, to begin to dig in the bottom of the furrow that the plough has just made, about the middle of the side of the old ridge, keeping his face towards the old furrow, working backwards till he comes to the height of the ridge, and then turn towards the other furrow, and repeat the same on the other side of the ridge, always throwing the earth that he digs up into the deep old furrow between the ridges, that is directly before him; taking care not to dig deep where he first begins, but to go deeper and deeper as he advances to the height of the ridge, so as to leave the bottom of the trench he thus makes across the ridge entirely level, or as nearly so as possible. And when he has finished that part of the furrow allotted to him that the plough has made in going, let him then go and finish in the same manner his own portion of the furrow that the plough makes in returning. In this manner, each man performs his own task through the whole field, gradually raising the old furrows as the old heights are depressed. And, if an attentive overseer is at hand, to see that the whole is equally well done, and that each furrow is raised to a greater height than the middle of the old ridges, so as to allow for the subsiding of that loose earth, the operation will be entirely finished at once, and never again need to be repeated.

"In performing this operation, it will always be proper to make the ridges, formed for the purpose of levelling, which go across the old ridges, as broad as possible; because the deep trench that is thus made in each of the furrows are an impediment in the future operations, as well as the height that is accumulated in the middle of each of these ridges; so that the fewer there are of these, the better it is. The farmer, therefore, will do well to advert to this in time, and begin by forming a ridge by always turning the plough to the right hand, till it becomes of such a breadth as makes it very inconvenient to turn longer in that manner; and then, at the distance of twice the breadth of this new-formed ridge from the middle of it, mark off Practice a furrow for the middle of another ridge, turning round it to the right hand, in the same manner as was done in the former, till it becomes of the same breadth with it; and then, turning to the left hand, plough out the interval that was left between the two new-formed ridges. By this mode of ploughing, each ridge may be made of 40, or 50 or 60 yards in breadth, without any great inconvenience; for although some time will be lost in turning at the ends of these broad ridges, yet, as this operation is only to be once performed in this manner, the advantage that is reaped by having few open furrows, is more than sufficient to counterbalance it. And, in order to moderate the height that would be formed in the middle of each of these great ridges, it will always be proper to mark out the ridges, and draw the furrow that is to be the middle of each, some days before you collect your labourers to level the field; that you may, without any hurry or loss of labour, clear out a good trench through the middle of each of the old ridges; as the plough at this time going and returning nearly in the same track, prevents the labourers from working properly without this precaution.

"If these rules are attended to, your field will be at once reduced to a proper level, and the rich earth that formed the surface of the old ridges be still kept upon the surface of your field; so that the only loss that the possessor of such ground can sustain by this operation, is merely the expense of performing it."

He afterwards makes a calculation of the different expenses of levelling by the plough and by the spade, in which he finds the latter by far the cheapest method.

Let it be a rule, to direct the ridges north and south, if the ground will permit. In this direction, the east and west sides of the ridges, dividing the sun equally between them, will ripen at the same time.

It is a great advantage in agriculture, to form ridges so narrow, and so low, as to admit the crowns and furrows to be changed alternately every crop. The soil nearest the surface is the best; and by such ploughing, it is always kept near the surface, and never buried. In high ridges, the soil is accumulated at the crown and the furrows left bare. Such alteration of crown and furrow, is easy where the ridges are no more but seven or eight feet broad. This mode of ploughing answers perfectly well in sandy and gravelly soils, and even in loam. But it is not safe in clay soil. In that soil, the ridges ought to be 12 feet wide, and 20 inches high; to be preserved always in the same form by casting, that is, by ploughing two ridges together, beginning at the furrow that separates them, and ploughing round and round till the two ridges be finished. By this method, the separating furrow is raised a little higher than the furrows that bound the two ridges. But at the next ploughing, that inequality is corrected, by beginning at the bounding furrows, and going round and round till the ploughing of the two ridges be completed at the separating furrow.

4. Clearing Ground of Weeds.

For this purpose a new instrument, termed a cleaning harrow, has been introduced by Lord Kames, and is strongly recommended (s.) It is one entire piece like the first of those mentioned above, consisting of seven bulls, four feet long each, two and one-fourth inches broad, two and three-fourths deep. The bulls are united together by sheths, similar to what are mentioned above. The intervals between the bulls being three and three-fourths inches, the breadth of the whole harrow is three feet five inches. In each bull are inserted eight teeth, each nine inches free below the wood, and distant from each other six inches. The weight of each tooth is a pound, or near it. The whole is firmly bound by an iron plate from corner to corner in the line of the draught. The rest as in the harrows mentioned above. The size, however, is not invariable. The cleaning harrow ought to be larger or less according as the soil is stiff or free.

To give this instrument its full effect, stones of such a size as not to pass freely between the teeth ought to be carried off, and clods of that size ought to be broken. The ground ought to be dry, which it commonly is in the month of May.

In preparing for barley, turnip, or other summer-crop, begin with ploughing and cross-ploughing. If the ground be not sufficiently pulverized, let the great brake be applied, to be followed successively with the 1st and 2nd harrows*. In stiff soil, rolling may be proper, * Plate V. or twice between the acts. These operations will loosen fig. 3, 4, every root, and bring some of them to the surface. This is the time for the 3rd harrow†, conducted by a † Fig. 5—boy mounted on one of the horses, who trots smartly along the field, and brings all the roots to the surface; there they are to lie for a day or two, till perfectly dry. If any stones or clods remain, they must be carried off in a cart. And now succeeds the operation of the cleaning harrow. It is drawn by a single horse, directed by reins, which the man at the opposite corner puts over his head, in order to have both hands free. In this corner is fixed a rope, with which the man from time to time raises the harrow from the ground, to let the weeds drop. For the sake of expedition, the weeds ought to be dropped in a straight line across the field, whether the harrow be full or not; and seldom is a field so dirty but that the harrow may go 30 yards before the teeth are filled. The weeds will be thus laid in parallel rows, like those of hay raked together for drying. A harrow may be drawn swiftly along the rows, in order to shake out all the dust; and then the weeds may be carried clean off the field in carts. But we are not yet done with these weeds; instead of burning, which is the ordinary practice, they may be converted into useful manure, by laying them in a heap with a mixture of hot dung to begin fermentation. At first view, this way of cleaning land will appear operose; but upon trial, neither the labour nor expense will be found immoderate. At any rate, the labour and expense ought not to be grudged; for if a field be once thoroughly cleaned, the seasons must be very crofs, or the farmer very indolent, to make it necessary to renew the operation in less than 20 years. In the worst seasons, a few years pasture is always under command; which effectually destroys triennial plants, such as thistles and couch-grass.

Sect. III. Culture of particular Plants.

The articles hitherto insisted on, are all of them preparatory to the capital object of a farm, that of raising... Practice raising plants for the nourishment of man, and of other animals. These are of two kinds; culmiferous, and leguminous; differing widely from each other. Wheat, rye, barley, oats, rye-grafts, are of the first kind: of the other kind are peas, beans, clover, cabbage, and many others.

Culmiferous plants, says Bonnet, have three sets of roots. The first issue from the seed, and push to the surface an upright stem; another set issue from a knot in that stem; and a third, from another knot, nearer the surface. Hence the advantage of laying seed so deep in the ground as to afford space for all the sets.

Leguminous plants form their roots differently. Peas, beans, cabbage, have store of small roots, all issuing from the seed, like the undermost set of culmiferous roots; and they have no other roots. A potatoe and a turnip have bulbous roots. Red clover has a strong tap-root. The difference between culmiferous and leguminous plants with respect to the effects they produce in the soil, will be insisted on afterward, in the section concerning rotation of crops. As the present section is confined to the propagation of plants, it falls naturally to be divided into three articles: first, Plants cultivated for fruit; second, Plants cultivated for roots; third, Plants cultivated for leaves.

I. Plants Cultivated for Fruit.

1. Wheat and Rye.

Any time from the middle of April to the middle of May, the fallowing for wheat may commence. The moment should be chosen, when the ground, beginning to dry, has yet some remaining softness: in that condition, the soil divides easily by the plough, and falls into small parts. This is an essential article, deserving the strictest attention of the farmer. Ground ploughed too wet, rises, as we say, whole-furrow, as when pasture-ground is ploughed: where ploughed too dry, it rises in great lumps, which are not reduced by subsequent ploughings; not to mention, that it requires double force to plough ground too dry, and that the plough is often broken to pieces. When the ground is in proper order, the farmer can have no excuse for delaying a single minute. This first course of fallow mull, it is true, yield to the barley-feed; but as the barley-feed is commonly over the first week of May, or sooner, the season must be unfavourable if the fallow cannot be reached by the middle of May.

As clay soil requires high ridges, these ought to be cleaved at the first ploughing, beginning at the furrow, and ending at the crown. This ploughing ought to be as deep as the soil will admit: and water-furrowing ought instantly to follow; for if rain happen before water-furrowing, it stagnates in the furrow, necessarily delays the second ploughing till that part of the ridge be dry, and prevents the furrow from being mellowed and roasted by the sun. If this first ploughing be well executed, annual weeds will rise in plenty.

About the first week of June, the great brake will loosen and reduce the soil, encourage a second crop of annuals, and raise to the surface the roots of weeds moved by the plough. Give the weeds time to spring, which may be in two or three weeks. Then proceed to the second ploughing about the beginning of July; which must be cross the ridges, in order to reach all the slips of the former ploughing. By cross-ploughing the furrows will be filled up, and water-furrowing be still more necessary than before. Employ the brake again about the 10th of August, to destroy the annuals that have sprung since the last stirring. The destruction of weeds is a capital article in fallowing: yet so blind are people to their interest, that nothing is more common than a fallow field covered with charlock and wild mustard, all in flower, and ten or twelve inches high. The field having now received two harrowings and two breakings, is prepared for manure, whether lime or dung, which without delay ought to be incorporated with the soil, by a repeated harrowing and a gathering furrow. This ought to be about the beginning of September, and as soon after as you please the seed may be sown.

As in ploughing a clay soil it is of importance to prevent poaching, the hinting furrows ought to be done with two horses in a line. If four ploughs be employed in the same field, to one of them may be allotted the care of finishing the hinting furrows.

Loam, being a medium between land and clay, is dressing of all soils the fittest for culture, and the least subject loam for to chances. It does not hold water like clay; and when wet, it dries sooner. At the same time, it is more retentive than land of that degree of moisture which promotes vegetation. On the other hand, it is more subject to couch-grafts than clay, and to other weeds; to destroy which, fallowing is still more necessary than in clay.

Beginning the fallow about the first of May, or as soon as barley-feed is over, take as deep a furrow as the soil will admit. Where the ridges are so low and narrow as that the crown and furrow can be changed alternately, there is little or no occasion for water-furrowing. Where the ridges are so high as to make it proper to cleave them, water-furrowing is proper. The second ploughing may be at the distance of five weeks. Two crops of annuals may be got in the interim, the first by the brake, and the next by the harrow; and by the same means eight crops may be got in the season. The ground must be cleared of couch-grafts and knot-grafts roots, by the cleaning harrow described above. The time for this operation is immediately before the manure is laid on. The ground, at that time being in its loofest state, parts with its grafts-roots more freely than at any other time. After the manure is spread, and incorporated with the soil by braking or harrowing, the seed may be sown under furrow, if the ground hang so as easily to carry off the moisture. To leave it rough without harrowing, has two advantages: it is not apt to cake with moisture; and the inequalities make a sort of shelter to the young plants against frost. But if it lie flat, it ought to be smoothed with a slight harrow after the seed is sown, which will facilitate the course of the rain from the crown to the furrow.

A sandy soil is too loose for wheat. The only chance dressing a for a crop is after red clover, the roots of which bind sandy soil; and the instructions above given for loam are applicable here. Rye is a crop much fitter for sandy soil than wheat; and like wheat it is generally sown after a summer-fallow.

Lastly, Sow wheat as soon in the month of October as the ground is ready. When sown a month more early, it sowing. 2. Oats.

As winter-ploughing enters into the culture of oats, we must remind the reader of the effect of frost upon tilled land. Providence has neglected no region intended for the habitation of man. If in warm climates the soil be meliorated by the sun, it is no less meliorated by frost in cold climates. Frost acts upon water, by expanding it into a larger space. Frost has no effect upon dry earth; wetted land, upon which it it makes no impression. But upon wet earth it acts most vigorously: it expands the moisture, which requiring more space puts every particle of the earth out of its place, and separates them from each other. In that view, frost may be considered as a plough superior to any that is made, or can be made, by the hand of man: its action reaches the minutest particles; and, by dividing and separating them, it renders the soil loose and friable. This operation is the most remarkable in tilled land, which gives free access to frost. With respect to clay-foil in particular, there is no rule in husbandry more essential than to open it before winter in hopes of frost. It is even advisable in a clay-foil to leave the rubble rank, which, when ploughed in before winter, keeps the clay loose, and admits the frost into every cranny.

To apply this doctrine, it is dangerous to plough clay-foil when wet; because water is a cement for clay, and binds it so as to render it unfit for vegetation. It is, however, less dangerous to plough wet clay before winter, than after. A succeeding frost corrects the bad effects of such ploughing; a succeeding drought increases them.

The common method is, to sow oats on new-ploughed land in the month of March, as soon as the ground is tolerably dry. If it continue wet all the month of March, it is too late to venture them after. It is much better to summer-fallow, and to sow wheat in the autumn. But the preferable method, especially in clay-foil, is to turn over the field after harvest, and to lay it open to the influences of frost and air, which lessen the tenacity of clay, and reduce it to a free mould. The surface-foil by this means is finely mellowed for reception of the seed; and it would be a pity to bury it by a second ploughing before sowing. In general, the bulk of clay-foils are rich; and skilful ploughing without dung, will probably give a better crop, than unskilful ploughing with dung.

Hitherto of natural clays. We must add a word of earthen-clays which are artificial, whether left by the sea, or swept down from higher grounds by rain. The method commonly used of dressing earthen-clay for oats, is, not to stir it till the ground be dry in the spring, which seldom happens before the first of March, and the seed is sown as soon after as the ground is sufficiently dry for its reception. Frost has a stronger effect on such clays than on natural clay. And if the field be laid open before winter, it is rendered so loose by frost as to be soon drenched in water. The particles at the same time are so small, as that the first drought in spring makes the surface cake or crust. The difficulty of reducing this crust into mould for covering the oat-seed, has led farmers to delay ploughing till the month of March. But we are taught by experience, that this foil ploughed before winter, is sooner dry than when the ploughing is delayed till spring; and as early sowing is a great advantage, the objection of the superficial crustling is easily removed by the first harrow above described, which will produce abundance of mould for covering the seed. The ploughing before winter not only procures early sowing, but has another advantage: the surface-foil that had been mellowed during winter by the sun, frost, and wind, is kept above.

The dressing a loamy foil for oats differs little from dressing a clay-foil, except in the following particular, that being less hurt by rain, it requires not high ridges, and therefore ought to be ploughed crown and furrow alternately.

Where there is both clay and loam in a farm, it is obvious from what is said above, that the ploughing of the clay after harvest ought first to be dispatched. If both cannot be overtaken that season, the loam may be delayed till the spring with less hurt.

Next of a gravelly foil; which is the reverse of clay, as it never suffers but from want of moisture. Such a foil ought to have no ridges; but be ploughed circularly from the centre to the circumference, or from the circumference to the centre. It ought to be tilled after harvest; and the first dry weather in spring ought to be laid hold of to sow, harrow, and roll; which will preserve it in sap.

The culture of oats is the simplest of all. That grain is probably a native of Britain: it will grow on the worst soil with very little preparation. For that reason, before turnip was introduced, it was always the first crop upon land broken up from the state of nature.

Upon such land, may it not be a good method, to build upon the crown of every ridge, in the form of a wall, all the surface-earth, one foot above another, as in a fold for sheep? After standing in this form all the summer and winter, let the walls be thrown down, and the ground prepared for oats. This will secure one or two good crops; after which the land may be dunged for a crop of barley and grass-seeds. This method may answer in a farm where manure is scanty.

3. Barley.

This is a culmiferous plant that requires a mellow foil. Upon that account, extraordinary care is requisite where it is to be sown in clay. The land ought to be flirmed immediately after the foregoing crop is removed, which lays it open to be mellowed with the frost and air. In that view, a peculiar sort of ploughing has been introduced, termed ribbing; by which the greatest quantity of surface possible is exposed to the air and frost. The obvious objection to this method is, that half of the ridge is left unmoved. And to obviate that objection, the following method is offered, which moves the whole foil, and at the same time exposes the same quantity of surface to the frost and air. As soon as the former crop is off the field, let the better ridges be gathered with as deep a furrow as the foil will admit, beginning at the crown and ending at the furrows. This ploughing loosens the whole foil, giving free access to the air and frost. Soon after, begin a second ploughing in the following manner. Let the field... field be divided by parallel lines across the ridges, with intervals of 30 feet or so. Plough once round an interval, beginning at the edges, and turning the earth toward the middle of the interval; which covers a foot or so of the ground formerly ploughed. Within that foot plough another round similar to the former; and after that, other rounds, till the whole interval be finished, ending at the middle. Instead of beginning at the edges, and ploughing toward the middle, it will have the same effect to begin at the middle and to plough toward the edges. Plough the other intervals in the same manner. As by this operation the furrows of the ridges will be pretty much filled up, let them be cleared and water-furrowed without delay. By this method, the field will be left waving like a plot in a kitchen-garden, ridged up for winter. In this form, the field is kept perfectly dry; for beside the capital furrows that separate the ridges, every ridge has a number of cross furrows that carry the rain instantly to the capital furrows. In hanging grounds retentive of moisture, the parallel lines above mentioned ought not to be perpendicular to the furrows of the ridges, but to be directed a little downward, in order to carry rain-water the more hastily to these furrows. If the ground be clean, it may lie in that state winter and spring, till the time of seed-furrowing. If weeds happen to rise, they must be destroyed by ploughing, or braking, or both; for there cannot be worse husbandry than to put feed into dirty ground.

This method resembles common ribbing in appearance, but is very different in reality. As the common ribbing is not preceded by a gathering furrow, the half of the field is left untilled, compact as when the former crop was removed, impervious in a great measure to air or frost. The common ribbing at the same time lodges the rain-water on every ridge, preventing it from descending to the furrows; which is hurtful in all soils, and poisonous in a clay soil. The flitching here described, or ribbing if you please to call it so, prevents these noxious effects. By the two ploughings the whole soil is opened, admitting freely air and frost; and the multitude of furrows lays the surface perfectly dry, giving an early opportunity for the barley-feed.—But further, as to the advantage of this method: When it is proper to sow the feed, all is laid flat with the brake, which is an easy operation upon soil that is dry and pulverized; and the feed-furrow which succeeds, is so shallow as to bury little or none of the surface-earth; whereas the flitching for barley is commonly done with the deepest furrow; and consequently buries all the surface-soil that was mellowed by the frost and air. Nor is this method more expensive; because the common ribbing must always be followed with a flitching furrow, which is saved in the method recommended. Nay, it is less expensive; for after common ribbing, which keeps in the rain-water, the ground is commonly fouled, as to make the flitching a laborious work.

Where the land is in good order, and free of weeds, April is the month for sowing barley. Every day is proper, from the first to the last.

The dressing loamy soil and light soil for barley, is the same with that described; only that to plough dry is not altogether so essential as in dressing clay-soil. Loam or sand may be stirred a little moist: better, however, delay a week or two, than to stir a loam when moist. Clay must never be ploughed moist, even tho' the season should escape altogether. But this will seldom be necessary; for not in one year of 20 will it happen, but that clay is dry enough for ploughing some time in May. Frost may correct clay ploughed wet after harvest; but ploughed wet in the spring, it unites into a hard mass, not to be dissolved but by very hard labour.

The foregoing culmiferous plants are what are ordinarily propagated for food in this country. What follow are leguminous plants.

4. Beans.

The properest soil for beans is a deep and moist clay. Culture of beans was lately introduced into Scotland a method beans of sowing beans with a drill-plough, and horse-hoeing the intervals; which, beside affording a good crop, is a dressing to the ground. But as that method is far from being general, we keep in the common track.

As this grain is early sown, the ground intended for it should be ploughed before winter, to give access to the frost and air; beneficial in all soils, and necessary in a clay-soil. Take the first opportunity after January when the ground is dry, to loosen the soil with the harrow first described, till a mould be brought upon it. Sow the seed, and cover it with the second harrow. The third will smooth the surface, and cover the seed equally. These harrows make the very best figure in sowing beans; which ought to be laid deep in the ground, not less than six inches. In clay soil, the common harrows are altogether insufficient. The soil, which has refted long after ploughing, is rendered compact and solid: the common harrows skim the surface: the seed is not covered; and the first hearty shower of rain lays it above ground. Where the farmer overtakes not the ploughing after harvest, and is reduced to plough immediately before sowing, the plough answers the purpose of the first harrow; and the other two will complete the work. But the labour of the first harrow is ill saved; as the ploughing before winter is a fine preparation, not only for beans, but for grain of every kind. If the ground ploughed before winter happen by superfluity of moisture to cake, the first harrow going along the ridges, and crossing them, will loosen the surface, and give access to the air for drying. As soon as the ground is dry, sow without delaying a moment. If rain happen in the interim, there is no remedy but patience till a dry day or two come.

Clayey-clay, ploughed before winter, seldom fails to cake. Upon that account, a second ploughing is necessary before sowing; which ought to be performed with an ebb furrow, in order to keep the frost-mould as near the surface as possible. To cover the seed with the plough is expressed by the phrase to sow under furrows. The cloths raised in this ploughing, are a sort of shelter to the young plants in the chilly spring-months.

The foregoing method will answer for loam. And as for a sandy or gravelly soil, it is altogether improper for beans.

Though we cannot approve the horse-hoeing of beans, with the intervals that are commonly allotted for turnip, yet we would strongly recommend the drill- Part II.

Practice

Practicing them at the distance of 10 or 12 inches, and keeping the intervals clear of weeds. This may be done by hand-hoeing, taking opportunity at the same time to lay fresh foil to the roots of the plants. But as this is an expensive operation, and hands are not always to be got, a narrow plough, drawn by a single horse, might be used, with a mould-board on each side to scatter the earth upon the roots of the plants. This is a cheap and expeditious method; it keeps the ground clean; and nourishes the plants with fresh foil.

As beans delight in a moist soil, and have no end of growing in a moist season, they cover the ground totally when sown broadcast, keep in the dew, and exclude the sun and air; the plants grow to a great height; but carry little seed, and that little not well ripened. This displays the advantage of drilling; which gives free access to the sun and air, dries the ground, and affords plenty of ripe seed.

5. Pease.

Pease are of two kinds; the white, and the gray. The cultivation of the latter only belongs to this place.

There are two species of the gray kind, distinguished by their time of ripening. One ripens soon, and for that reason is termed hot seed; the other, which is slower in ripening, is termed cold seed.

Pease, a leguminous crop, is proper to intervene between two culmiferous crops; less for the profit of a pease-crop, than for meliorating the ground. Pease however, in a dry season, will produce six or seven bolls each acre; but, in an ordinary season, they seldom reach above two, or two and a half. Hence, in a moist climate, which all the west of Britain is, red clover seems a more beneficial crop than pease; as it makes as good winter-food as pease, and can be cut green thrice during summer.

A field, intended for cold seed, ought to be ploughed in October or November; and in February, as soon as the ground is dry, the seed ought to be sown on the winter-furrow. A field intended for hot seed, ought to be ploughed in March or April, immediately before sowing. But if infested with weeds, it ought to be also ploughed in October or November.

Pease laid a foot below the surface will vegetate; but the most approved depth is six inches in light soil, and four inches in clay soil; for which reason, they ought to be sown under furrow when the ploughing is delayed till spring. Of all grain, beans excepted, they are the least in danger of being buried.

Pease differ from beans, in loving a dry soil and a dry season. Horse-hoeing would be a great benefit, could it be performed to any advantage; but pease grow expeditiously, and soon fall over and cover the ground, which bars ploughing. Horse-hoeing has little effect when the plants are new sprung; and when they are advanced to be benefited by that culture, their length prevents it. Fast growing at the same time is the cause of their carrying so little seed: the seed is buried among the leaves; and the sun cannot penetrate to make it grow and ripen. The only practicable remedy to obtain grain, is thin sowing; but thick sowing produces more straw, and mellows the ground more. Half a boll for an English acre may be reckoned thin sowing; three furlots, thick sowing.

Notwithstanding what is said above, Mr Hunter, a noted farmer in Berwickshire, began some time ago to sow all his pease in drills; and never failed to have great crops of corn as well as of straw. He sowed double rows at a foot interval, and two feet and an half between the double rows, which admit horse-hoeing. By that method, he had also good crops of beans on light land.

Pease and beans mixed are often sown together, in order to catch different seasons. In a moist season, the beans make a good crop; in a dry season, the pease.

The growth of plants is commonly checked by drought in the month of July; but promoted by rain in August. In July, grass is parched; in August, it recovers verdure. Where pease are so far advanced in the dry season as that the seed begins to form, their growth is indeed checked, but the seed continues to fill. If only in the blossom at that season, their growth is checked a little; but they become vigorous again in August, and continue growing without filling till stopped by frost. Hence it is, that cold seed, which is early sown, has the best chance to produce corn: hot seed, which is late sown, has the best chance to produce straw.

The following method is practised in Norfolk, for sowing pease upon a dry light soil, immediately opened from pasture. The ground is pared with a plough extremely thin, and every sod is laid exactly on its back. In every sod a double row of holes is made. A pea dropt in every hole lodges in the flay'd ground immediately below the sod, thrusts its roots horizontally, and has sufficient moisture. This method enabled Norfolk farmers, in the barren year 1740, to furnish white pease at 12s. per boll.

II. Plants cultivated for Roots.

1. Turnip.

Turnip delights in a gravelly soil; and there it can be raised to the greatest perfection, and with the least hazard of miscarrying. At the same time, there is no soil but will bear turnip when well prepared.

No person ever deserved better of a country, than he who first cultivated turnip in the field. No plant is better fitted for the climate of Britain, no plant prospers better in the coldest part of it, and no plant contributes more to fertility. In a word, there has not for two centuries been introduced into Britain a more valuable improvement.

Of all roots, turnip requires the finest mould; and to that end, of all harrows froth is the best. In order to give access to froth, the land ought to be prepared by ribbing after harvest, as above directed in preparing land for barley. If the field be not subject to annuals, it may lie in that state till the end of May; otherwise the weeds must be destroyed by a braking about the middle of April; and again in May, if weeds rise. The first week of June, plough the field with a shallow furrow. Lime it if requisite, and harrow the lime into the soil. Draw single furrows with intervals of three feet, and lay dung in the furrows. Cover the dung sufficiently, by going round it with the plough, and forming the three-feet spaces into ridges. The dung comes thus to lie below the crown of every ridge.

The season of sowing must be regulated by the time season and intended for feeding. Where intended for feeding in November, sowing. November, December, January, and February, the feed ought to be sown from the 1st to the 20th of June. Where the feeding is intended to be carried on to March, April, and May, the feed must not be sown till the end of July. Turnip sown earlier than above directed, flowers that very summer, and runs fast to feed; which renders it in a good measure unfit for food. If sown much later, it does not apple, and there is no food but from the leaves.

Though by a drill-plough the feed may be sown of any thickness, the safest way is to sow thick. Thin sowing is liable to many accidents, which are far from being counterbalanced by the expense that is saved in thinning. Thick-sowing can bear the ravage of the black fly, and leave a sufficient crop behind. It is a protection against drought, gives the plants a rapid progress, and establishes them in the ground before it is necessary to thin them.

The sowing turnip broadcast is universal in England, and common in Scotland, though a barbarous practice. The eminent advantage of turnip is, that beside a profitable crop, it makes a most complete fallow; and the latter cannot be obtained but by horse-hoeing. Upon that account, the sowing turnip in rows at three feet distance is recommended. Wider rows answer no profitable end, straiter rows afford not room for a horse to walk in. When the turnip is about four inches high, annual weeds will appear. Go round every interval with the slightest furrow possible, at the distance of two inches from each row, moving the earth from the rows toward the middle of the interval. A thin plate of iron must be fixed on the left side of the plough, to prevent the earth from falling back, and burying the turnip. Next, let women be employed to weed the rows with their fingers; which is better, and cheaper done, than with the hand-hoe. The hand-hoe, beside, is apt to disturb the roots of the turnip that are to stand, and to leave them open to drought by removing the earth from them. The standing turnip are to be at the distance of twelve inches from each other; a greater distance makes them well too much; a less distance affords them not sufficient room. A woman soon comes to be expert in finger-weeding. The following hint may be necessary to a learner. To secure the turnip that is to stand, let her cover it with the left hand; and with the right pull up the turnip on both sides. After thus freeing the standing turnip, she may safely use both hands. Let the field remain in this state, till the appearance of new annuals make a second ploughing necessary; which must be in the same furrow with the former, but a little deeper. As in this ploughing the iron plate is to be removed, part of the loose earth will fall back on the roots of the plants; the rest will fill the middle of the interval, and bury every weed. When weeds begin again to appear, then is the time for a third ploughing in an opposite direction, which lays the earth to the roots of the plants. This ploughing may be about the middle of August; after which, weeds rise very faintly. If they do rise, another ploughing will clear the ground of them.

Weeds that at this time rise in the row, may be cleared with a hand-hoe, which can do little mischief among plants distant twelve inches from each other. It is certain however, that it may be done cheaper with the hand (c). And after the leaves of turnips in a row meet together, the hand is the only instrument that can be applied for weeding.

In swampy ground, the surface of which is best reduced by paring and burning, the feed may be sown in rows with intervals of a foot. To save time, a drill-plough may be used that sows three or four rows at once. Hand-hoeing is proper for such ground; because the soil under the burnt stratum is commonly full of roots, which digest and rot better underground than when brought to the surface by the plough. In the mean time, while these are digesting, the ashes will secure a good crop.

2. Potatoes.

The choice of soil is not of greater importance in culture of any other plant than in a potato. This plant in clay potatoes, foil, or in rank black loam lying low without ventilation, never makes palatable food. In a gravelly or sandy soil, exposed to the sun and to free air, it thrives to perfection, and has a good relish. But a rank black loam, though improper to raise potatoes for the table, produces them in great plenty; and the product is, as already observed, a palatable food for horned cattle, hogs, and poultry.

The spade is a proper instrument for raising a small quantity, or for preparing corners or other places inaccessible to the plough; but for raising potatoes in quantities, the plough is the only instrument.

As two great advantages of a drilled crop, are, to destroy weeds, and to have a fallow at the same time with the crop, no judicious farmer will think of raising potatoes in any other way. In September or October, as soon as that year's crop is removed, let the field have a rouling furrow, a cross-breaking next, and then be cleared of weeds by the cleaning harrow. Form it into three-feet ridges, in that state to lie till April, which is the proper time for planting potatoes. Cross-bake it, to raise the furrows a little. Then lay well-digested horse-dung along the furrows, upon which lay the roots at eight inches distance. Cover up these roots with the plough, going once round every row. This makes a warm bed for the potatoes; hot dung below, and a loose covering above, that admits every ray of the sun. As soon as the plants appear above ground, go round every row a second time with the plough, which will lay upon the plants an additional inch or two of mould, and at the same time bury all the annuals; and this will complete the ploughing of the ridges. When the potatoes are six inches high, the plough, with the deepest furrow, must go twice along the middle of each interval in opposite directions, laying earth first to one row, and next to the other. And to perform this work, a plough with a double mould-board will be more expeditions. But as the earth cannot be laid close to the roots by the plough, the spade must succeed, with which

(c) Children under thirteen may be employed to weed turnip with the fingers. We have seen them go on in that work with alacrity; and a small premium will have a good effect. For boys and girls above thirteen, a hand-hoe adapted to their size is an excellent instrument; it strengthens the arms amazingly. In driving the plough, the legs only are exercised; but as the arms are chiefly employed in husbandry, they ought to be prepared beforehand by gentle exercise. which four inches of the plants must be covered, leaving little more but the tops above ground; and this operation will at the same time bury all the weeds that have sprung since the former ploughing. What weeds arise after, must be pulled up with the hand. A hoe is never to be used here: it cannot go so deep as to destroy the weeds without cutting the fibres of the plants; and if it skim the surface, it only cuts off the heads of the weeds, and does not prevent their pushing again.

The shortest and most perfect method of taking up potatoes, is to plough once round every row at the distance of four inches, removing the earth from the plants, and gathering up with the hand all the potatoes that appear. The distance is made four inches, to prevent cutting the roots, which are seldom found above that distance from the row on each side. When the ground is thus cleared by the plough, raise the potatoes with a fork having three broad toes or claws; which is better than a spade, as it does not cut the potatoes. The potatoes thus laid above ground, must be gathered with the hand. By this method scarce a potatoe will be left.

As potatoes are a comfortable food for the low people, it is of importance to have them all the year round. For a long time, potatoes in Scotland were confined to the kitchen-garden; and after they were planted in the field, it was not imagined at first that they could be used after the month of December. Of late years, they have been found to answer even till April; which has proved a great support to many a poor family, as they are easily cooked, and require neither kiln nor mill. But there is no cause for stopping there. It is easy to preserve them till the next crop: When taken out of the ground, lay in the corner of a barn a quantity that may serve till April, covered from frost with dry straw pressed down: bury the remainder in a hole dug in dry ground, mixed with the hulls of dried oats, straw, or the dry leaves of trees, over which build a stack of hay or corn. When the pit is opened for taking out the potatoes, the eyes of what have a tendency to push, must be cut out; and this cargo will serve all the month of June. To be still more certain of making the old crop meet the new, the setting of a small quantity may be delayed till June, to be taken up at the ordinary time before frost. This cargo, having not arrived to full growth, will not be so ready to push as what are set in April.

If the old crop happen to be exhausted before the new crop is ready, the interval may be supplied by the potatoes of the new crop that lie next the surface, to be picked up with the hand; which, far from hurting the crop, will rather improve it.

3. Carrot and Parsnip.

Of all roots, a carrot requires the deepest soil. It ought at least to be a foot deep, all equally good from top to bottom. If such a soil be not in the farm, it may be made artificially by trench-ploughing, which brings to the surface what never had any communication with the sun or air. When this new soil is sufficiently improved by a crop or two with dung, it is fit for bearing carrots. Beware of dunging the year when the carrots are sown; for with fresh dung they seldom escape rotten scabs.

The only soils proper for that root, are a loam and a sandy soil.

The ground must be prepared by the deepest furrow that can be taken, the sooner after harvest the better; immediately upon the back of which, a ribbing ought to succeed, as directed for barley. At the end of March, or beginning of April, which is the time of sowing the seed, the ground must be smoothed with a brake. Sow the seed in drills, with intervals of a foot for hand-hoeing; which is no expensive operation where the crop is confined to an acre or two: but if the quantity of ground be greater, the intervals ought to be three feet, in order for horse-hoeing.

In flat ground without ridges, it may be proper to make parallel furrows with the plough, ten feet from each other, in order to carry off any redundant moisture.

At Parlington in Yorkshire, from the end of September to the first of May, 20 work-horses, four bullocks, and six milk-cows, were fed on the carrots that grew on three acres; and these animals never tasted any other food but a little hay. The milk was excellent: and, over and above, 30 hogs were fattened upon what was left by the other beasts. We have this fact from undoubted authority.

The culture of parsnips is the same with that of carrots.

III. Plants Cultivated for Leaves.

There are many garden-plants of this kind. The plants proper for the field are cabbage red and white, colewort plain and curled. As there is very little difference in the cultivation of these plants, we shall confine ourselves to cabbage. The reader will easily apply to the other plants the directions to be given concerning cabbage.

Cabbage is an interesting article in husbandry. It is easily raised, is subject to few diseases, resists frost cabbage more than turnip, is palatable to cattle, and sooner fills them than turnip, carrot, or potatoes.

The season for setting cabbage, depends on the use it is intended for. If intended for feeding in November, December, and January, plants procured from seed sown the end of July the preceding year, must be set in March or April. If intended for feeding in March, April, and May, the plants must be set the first week of the preceding July, from seed sown in the end of February or beginning of March the same year. The late setting of the plants retards their growth; by which means they have a vigorous growth the following spring. And this crop makes an important link in the chain that connects winter and summer green food. Where cabbage for spring-food happens to be neglected, a few acres of rye, sown at Michaelmas, will supply the want. After the rye is consumed, there is time sufficient to prepare the ground for turnip.

And now to prepare a field for cabbage. Where the plants are to be set in March, the field must be made up after harvest, in ridges three feet wide. In that form let it lie all winter, to be mellowed with air and frost. In March, take the first opportunity, between wet and dry, to lay dung in the furrows. Cover the dung with a plough, which will convert the furrow into a crown, and consequently the crown into a furrow. Set the plants upon the dung, distant from each other Plant them so as to make a straight line across the ridges, as well as along the furrows, to which a gardener's line stretched perpendicularly across the furrows will be requisite. This will set each plant at the distance precisely of three feet from the plants that surround it. The purpose of this accuracy, is to give opportunity for ploughing, not only along the ridges, but across them. This mode is attended with three signal advantages: it saves hand-hoeing; it is a more complete dressing to the soil, and it lays earth neatly round every plant.

If the soil be deep and composed of good earth, a trench-ploughing after the preceding crop will not be amiss; in which case, the time for dividing the field into three-feet ridges as above, ought to be immediately before the dunging for the plants.

If weeds happen to rise close to the plants as not to be reached by the plough, it will require very little labour to destroy them with a hand-hoe.

Unless the soil be much infested with annuals, twice ploughing after the plants are set will be a sufficient dressing. The first removes the earth from the plants; the next, at the distance of a month or so, lays it back.

Where the plants are to be set in July, the field must be ribbed as directed for barley. It ought to have a slight ploughing in June before the planting, in order to loosen the soil, but not so as to bury the surface-earth; after which the three-feet ridges must be formed, and the other particulars carried on as directed above with respect to plants that are to be set in March.

**Sect. IV. Culture of Grasses.**

The grasses commonly sown for pasture, for hay, or to cut green for cattle, are red clover, white clover, yellow clover, ryegrass, narrow-leaved plantain commonly called *ribwort*, *faintfoin*, and lucerne.

Red clover is of all the most proper to be cut green for summer-food. It is a biennial plant when suffered to perfect its seed; but when cut green, it will last three years, and in a dry soil longer. At the same time the safest course is to let it stand but a single year; if the second year's crop happen to be scanty, it proves, like a bad crop of pease, a great encourager of weeds by the shelter it affords them.

Here, as in all other crops, the goodness of seed is of importance. Chufa plump seed of a purple colour, because it takes on that colour when ripe. It is red when hurt in the drying, and of a faint colour when unripe.

Red clover is luxuriant upon a rich soil, whether clay, loam, or gravel; it will grow even upon a moor, when properly cultivated. A wet soil is its only bane; for there it does not thrive.

To have red clover in perfection, weeds must be extirpated, and stones taken off. The mould ought to be made as fine as harrowing can make it; and the surface be smoothed with a light roller, if not sufficiently smooth without it. This gives opportunity for distributing the seed evenly; which must be covered by a small harrow with teeth no larger than of a garden-rake, three inches long, and six inches aunder*. In harrowing, the man should walk behind with a rope in his hand fixed to the back part of the harrow, ready to disentangle it from stones, clods, turnip or cabbage roots, which would trail the seed, and displace it.

Nature has not determined any precise depth for the seed of red clover more than of other seed. It will grow vigorously from two inches deep, and it will grow when barely covered. Half an inch may be reckoned the most advantageous position in clay soil, a whole inch in what is light or loose. It is a vulgar error, that small seed ought to be sparingly covered. Misled by that error, farmers commonly cover their clover-seed with a bushy branch of thorn; which not only covers it unequally, but leaves part on the surface to wither in the air.

The proper season for sowing red-clover, is from the middle of April to the middle of May. It will spring from the first of March to the end of August; but such liberty ought not to be taken except from necessity.

There cannot be a greater blunder in husbandry, than to be sparing of seed. Ideal writers talk of sowing an acre with four pounds. That quantity of seed, say they, will fill an acre with plants as thick as they ought to stand. This rule may be admitted where grain is the object; but it will not answer with respect to grass. Grass-seed cannot be sown too thick: the plants shelter one another; they retain all the dew; and they must push upward, having no room laterally. Observe the place where a sack of pease, or of other grain, has been set down for sowing: the seed dropped there accidentally grows more quickly than in the rest of the field sown thin out of hand. A young plant of clover, or of faintfoin, according to Tull, may be raised to a great size where it has room; but the field will not produce half the quantity. When red clover is sown for cutting green, there ought not to be less than 24 pounds to an acre. A field of clover is seldom too thick: the smaller it is, the more acceptable it is to cattle. It is often too thin; and when so, the stems tend to wood.

Red clover is commonly sown with grain; and the most proper grain has been found by experience to be clover with flax. The soil must be highly cultivated for flax as well as for red clover. The proper season of sowing is the same for both: the leaves of flax being very small, admit of free circulation of air; and flax being an early crop, is removed so early as to give the clover time for growing. In a rich soil it has grown so fast, as to afford a good cutting that very year. Next to flax, barley is the best companion to clover. The soil must be loose and free for barley; and so it ought to be for clover: the season of sowing is the same; and the clover is well established in the ground, before it is overtopped by the barley. At the same time, barley commonly is sooner cut than either oats or wheat. In a word, barley is rather a nurse than a stepmother to clover during its infancy. When clover is sown in spring upon wheat, the soil, which has lain five or six months without being stirred, is an improper bed for it; and the wheat, being in the vigour of growth, overtops it from the beginning. It cannot be sown along with oats, because of the hazard of frosts; and when sown as usual among the oats three inches high, it is over-topped, and never enjoys free air till the oats be cut. Add, that where oats are sown upon the winter-furrow, the soil is rendered as hard as when under wheat.—Red clover is sometimes sown by itself, without This practice will not answer in Scotland, as the seed would often be too late for ripening. It would do better to eat the clover with sheep till the middle of May, which would allow the seed to ripen. The seed is ripe when, upon rubbing it between the hands, it parts readily from the hull. Then apply the scythe, spread the crop thin, and turn it carefully. When perfectly dry, take the first opportunity of a hot day for threshing it on boards covered with a coarse sheet. Another way less subject to risk, is to stack the dry hay, and to thresh it the end of April. After the first threshing, expose the hulls to the sun, and thresh them over and over till no seed remain. Nothing is more efficacious than a hot sun to make the hull part with its seed; in which view it may be exposed to the sun by parcels, an hour or two before the flail is applied.

White clover, intended for feed, is managed in the same manner. No plant ought to be mixed with ryegrass that is intended for seed. In Scotland, much ryegrass seed is hurt by transgressing that rule. The seed is ripe when it parts easily from the hull. The yellowness of the stem is another indication of its ripeness; in which particular it resembles oats, barley, and other culmiferous plants. The best manner to manage a crop of rye-grass for seed, is to bind it loosely in small sheaves, widening them at the bottom to make them stand erect; as is done with oats in moist weather. In that state they may stand till sufficiently dry for threshing. By this method they dry more quickly, and are less hurt by rain, than by close binding and putting the sheaves in shocks like corn. The worst way of all is to spread the rye-grass on the moist ground, for it makes the seed malten. The sheaves, when sufficiently dry, are carried into close carts to where they are to be threshed on a board, as mentioned above for clover. Put the straw in a rick when a hundred stone or so are threshed. Carry the threshing-board to the place where another rick is intended; and so on till the whole field be threshed, and the straw ricked. There is necessity for close carts to save the seed, which is apt to drop out in a hot sun; and, as observed above, a hot sun ought always to be chosen for threshing. Carry the seed in sacks to the granary or barn, there to be separated from the hulls by a fanner. Spread the seed thin upon a timber-floor, and turn it once or twice a day till perfectly dry. If suffered to take a heat, it is useless for seed.

The writers on agriculture reckon sainfoin preferable to clover in many respects: They say, that it produces a larger crop; that it does not hurt cattle when eaten green; that it makes better hay; that it continues four times longer in the ground; and that it will grow on land that will bear no other crop. These are great advantages: But, as we have so little of that kind of grass in Scotland, it cannot be expected that any directions can be given concerning the manner of cultivating it, founded upon experience. We must therefore confine ourselves to such facts as are mentioned by authors of the best credit.

Sainfoin has a very long tap-root, which is able to pierce very hard earth. The roots grow very large; and the larger they are, they penetrate to the greater depth; and hence it may be concluded, that this grass, when it thrives well, receives a great part of its nourishment from below the surface of the soil: of course, a deep dry soil The soil is best for the culture of sainfoin. When plants draw their nourishment from that part of the soil that is near the surface, it is not of much consequence whether their number be great or small. But the case is very different when the plants receive their food, not only near, but also deep below, the surface. Besides, plants that shoot their roots deep are often supplied with moisture, when those near the surface are parched with drought.

To render the plants of sainfoin vigorous, it is necessary that they be sown thin. The best method of doing this is by a drill; because, when sown in this manner, not only the weeds, but also the supernumerary plants, can easily be removed. It is several years before sainfoin comes to its full strength; and the number of plants sufficient to flock a field, while in this imperfect state, will make but a poor crop for the first year or two. It is therefore necessary that it be sown in such a manner as to make it easy to take up plants in such numbers, and in such order, as always to leave in the field the proper number in their proper places. This can only be done, with propriety, by sowing the plants in rows by a drill. Supposing a field to be divided into rows at ten inches distance, the partitions may be hand-hoed, and the rows dressed in such a manner as to leave a proper number of plants. In this situation the field may remain two years; then one fourth of the rows may be taken out in pairs, in such a manner as to make the beds of fifty inches, with five rows in each, and intervals of thirty inches, which may be ploughed. Next year, another fourth of the rows may be taken out in the same manner, so as to leave double rows with partitions of ten inches, and intervals of thirty: All of which may be hoed at once or alternately, as it may be found most convenient.

The great quantity of this grass which the writers on this subject allure us may be raised upon an acre, and the excellency and great value of the hay made of it, should induce farmers to make a complete trial of it, and even to use the spade in place of the hoe, or hoe-plough, if necessary.

The plants taken up from a field of sainfoin may be set in another field; and if the transplanting of this grass succeeds as well as the transplanting of lucerne has done with Mr Lunnin de Chateauvieux, the trouble and expense will be sufficiently recompensed by the largeness of the crops. In transplanting, it is necessary to cut off great part of the long tap-root: this will prevent it from striking very deep into the soil, and make it push out large roots in a sloping direction from the cut end of the tap-root. Sainfoin managed in this manner, will thrive even on shallow land that has a wet bottom, provided it be not overlooked with plants.

Whoever inclines to try the culture of this grass in Scotland, should take great pains in preparing the land, and making it as free from weeds as possible.

The writers on agriculture, ancient as well as modern, beflow the highest encomiums upon lucerne as affording excellent hay, and producing very large crops. Lucerne remains at least 10 or 12 years in the ground, and produces about eight tons of hay upon the Scots acre. There is but little of it cultivated in Scotland. However, it has been tried in several parts of that country; and it is found, that, when the seed is good, it comes up very well, and stands the winter-frost. But the chief thing which prevents this grass from being more used in Scotland, is the difficulty of keeping the soil open, and free from weeds. In a few years the surface becomes too hard, and the turf too strong, that it destroys the lucerne before the plants have arrived at their greatest perfection: so that lucerne can scarce be cultivated with success there, unless some method be fallen upon of destroying the natural grass, and prevent the surface from becoming hard and impenetrable. This cannot be done effectually by any other means than horse-hoeing. This method was first proposed by Mr Tull, and afterwards practised successfully by M. de Chateauvieux near Geneva. It may be of use therefore to give a view of that gentleman's method of cultivating lucerne.

He does not mention anything particular as to the manner of preparing the land; but only observes in general, that no pains should be spared in preparing it. He tried the sowing of lucerne both in rows upon the beds where it was intended to stand, and likewise the sowing it in a nursery, and afterwards transplanting it into the beds prepared for it. He prefers transplanting; because, when transplanted, part of the tap-root is cut off, and the plant shoots out a number of lateral branches from the cut part of the root, which makes it spread its roots nearer the surface, and consequently renders it more easily cultivated: besides, this circumstance adapts it to a shallow soil, in which, if left in its natural state, it would not grow.

The transplanting of lucerne is attended with many advantages. The land may be prepared in the summer for receiving the plants from the nursery in autumn; by which means the field must be in a much better situation than if the seed had been sown upon it in the spring. By transplanting, the rows can be made more regular, and the intended distances more exactly observed; and consequently the hoeing can be performed more perfectly, and with less expense. Mr Chateauvieux likewise tried the lucerne in single beds three feet wide, with single rows; in beds three feet nine inches wide, with double rows; and in beds four feet three inches wide, with triple rows. The plants in the single rows were six inches afluend, and those in the double and triple rows were about eight or nine inches. In a course of three years he found, that a single row produced more than a triple row of the same length. The plants of lucerne, when cultivated by transplantation, should be at least six inches afluend, to allow them room for extending their crowns.

He further observes, that the beds or ridges ought to be raised in the middle; that a small trench, two or three inches deep, should be drawn in the middle; and that the plants ought to be set in this trench, covered with earth up to the neck. He says, that if the lucerne be sown in spring, and in a warm soil, it will be ready for transplanting in September; that, if the weather be too hot and dry, the transplanting should be delayed till October; and that, if the weather be unfavourable during both these months, this operation must be delayed till spring. He further directs, that the plants should be carefully taken out of the nursery, so as not to damage the roots; that the roots be left only about six or seven inches long; that the green crops be cut off within about two inches of the crown; that they be put into water as soon as taken up, there to remain till they are planted; and that they should be planted with a planting-flick, in the same manner as cabbages.

He does not give particular directions as to the times of horse-hoeing; but only says in general, that the intervals should be stirred once in the month during the whole time that the lucerne is in a growing state. He likewise observes, that great care ought to be taken not to suffer any weeds to grow among the plants, at least for the first two or three years; and for this purpose, that the rows, as well as the edges of the intervals where the plough cannot go, should be weeded by the hand.

Sect. V. Rotation of Crops.

No branch of husbandry requires more skill and sagacity than a proper rotation of crops, so as to keep the ground always in heart, and yet to draw out of it the greatest profit possible. Some plants rob the soil, others are gentle to it; some bind, others loosen. The nice point is, to intermix crops, so as to make the greatest profit consistently with keeping the ground in trim. In that view, the nature of the plants employed in husbandry, must be accurately examined.

The difference between culmiferous and leguminous plants, is occasionally mentioned above*. With respect to the present subject, a closer inspection is necessary. Culmiferous plants, having small leaves and few in number, depend mostly on the soil for nourishment, and little on the air. During the ripening of the seed, they draw probably their whole nourishment from the soil; as the leaves by this time, being dry and withered, must have lost their power of drawing nourishment from the air. Now, as culmiferous plants are chiefly cultivated for their seed, and are not cut down till the seed be fully ripe, they may be pronounced all of them to be robbers, some more, some less. But such plants, while young, are all leaves; and in that state draw most of their nourishment from the air. Hence it is, that where cut green for food to cattle, a culmiferous crop is far from being a robber. A hay-crop accordingly, even where it confines mostly of veggrafs, is not a robber, provided it be cut before the seed is formed; which at any rate it ought to be, if one would have hay in perfection. And the forage, excluding the froth by covering the ground, keeps the roots warm. A leguminous plant, by its broad leaves, draws much of its nourishment from the air. A cabbage, which has very broad leaves, and a multitude of them, owes its growth more to the air than to the soil. One fact is certain, that a cabbage cut and hung up in a damp place, preserves its verdure longer than other plants. At the same time, a seed is that part of a plant which requires the most nourishment; and for that nourishment a culmiferous plant must be indebted entirely to the soil. A leguminous crop, on the contrary, when cut green for food, must be very gentle to the ground. Peas and beans are leguminous plants; but being cultivated for seed, they seem to occupy a middle station: their seed makes them more severe than other leguminous crops cut green; their leaves, which grow till reaping, make them less severe than a culmiferous plant left to ripen.

These plants are distinguished no less remarkably by the following circumstance. All the seeds of a culmiferous plant ripen at the same time. As soon as they begin to form, the plant becomes stationary, the leaves wither, the roots cease to push, and the plant when cut down is blanched and leafless. The seeds of a leguminous plant are formed successively: flowers and fruit appear at the same time in different parts of the plant. This plant accordingly is continually growing, and pushing its roots. Hence the value of bean or pea straw above that of wheat or oats: the latter is withered and dry when the crop is cut; the former, green and succulent. The difference therefore, with respect to the soil, between a culmiferous and leguminous crop, is great. The latter, growing till cut down, keeps the ground in constant motion, and leaves it to the plough loose and mellow. The former gives over growing long before reaping; and the ground, by want of motion, turns compact and hard. Nor is this all. Dew falling on a culmiferous crop after the ground begins to harden, rests on the surface, and is sucked up by the next sun. Dew that falls on a leguminous crop, is drained from the soil by the broad leaves, and sinks at leisure into the ground. The ground accordingly, after a culmiferous crop, is not only hard, but dry: after a leguminous crop, it is not only loose, but soft and uncultivated.

Of all culmiferous plants, wheat is the most severe, by the long time it occupies the ground without admitting a plough. And as the grain is heavier than that of barley or oats, it probably requires more nourishment than either. It is observed above, that as peas and beans draw part of their nourishment from the air by their green leaves while allowed to stand, they draw the lees from the ground; and by their constant growing they leave it in good condition for subsequent crops. In both respects they are preferable to any culmiferous crop.

Culmiferous crops, as observed above, are not robbers when cut green: the soil, far from hardening, is kept in constant motion by the pushing of the roots, and is left more tender than if it had been left at rest without any bearing crop.

Bulbous-rooted plants are above all successful in dividing and pulverizing the soil. Potatoe-roots grow six, eight, or ten, inches under the surface; and, by their size and number, they divide and pulverize the soil better than can be done by the plough; consequently, whatever be the natural colour of the soil, it is black when a potato-crop is taken up. The potato, however, with respect to its quality of dividing the soil, must yield to a carrot or turnip; which are large roots, and pierce often to the depth of 18 inches. The turnip, by its tap-root, divides the soil more than can be done by a fibrous-rooted plant; but as its bulbous root grows mostly above ground, it divides the soil less than the potato, the carrot, or the turnip. Red clover, in that respect, may be put in the same class with turnip.

Whether potatoes or turnip be the more gentle crop, appears a puzzling question. The former bears seed, and probably draws more nourishment from the soil than the latter, when cut green. On the other hand, potatoes divide the soil more than turnip, and leave it more loose and friable. It appears no less puzzling, to determine between cabbage and turnip: the former draws Practice draws more of its nourishment from the air, the latter leaves the soil more free and open.

The result of the whole is what follows: Culmiferous plants are robbers; some more, some less: they at the same time bind the soil; some more, some less. Leguminous plants in both respects are opposite: if any of them rob the soil, it is in a very slight degree; and all of them without exception loosen the soil. A culmiferous crop, however, is generally the more profitable: but few soils can bear the burden of such crops, unless relieved by interjected leguminous crops. These, on the other hand, without a mixture of culmiferous crops, would soon render the soil too loose.

These preliminaries will carry the farmer some length in directing a proper rotation of crops. Where dung, lime, or other manure, can be procured in plenty to recruit the soil after severe cropping, no rotation is more proper or profitable in a strong soil, than wheat, peas, or beans, barley, oats, fallow. The whole farm may be brought under this rotation, except so far as hay is wanted. But as such command of manure is rare, it is of more importance to determine what should be the rotation when no manure can be procured but the dung collected in the farm. Considering that culmiferous crops are the most profitable in rich land, it would be proper to make them more frequent than the other kind. But as there are few soils in Scotland that will admit such frequent culmiferous crops without suffering, it may be laid down as a general rule, that alternate crops, culmiferous and leguminous, ought to form the rotation. Nor are there many soils that will stand good, even with this favourable rotation, unless relieved from time to time by pasturing a few years. If such extended rotation be artfully carried on, crops without end may be obtained in a tolerable good soil, without any manure but what is produced in the farm.

It is scarcely necessary to be mentioned, being known to every farmer, that clay answers best for wheat, moist clay for beans, loam for barley and peas, light soil for turnip, sandy soil for rye and buckwheat; and that oats thrive better in coarse soil than any other grain. Now, in directing a rotation, it is not sufficient that a culmiferous crop be always succeeded by a leguminous: attention must be also given, that no crop be introduced that is unfit for the soil. Wheat, being a great binder, requires more than any other crop a leguminous crop to follow. But every such crop is not proper: potatoes are the greatest openers of soil; but they are improper in a wheat-soil. Neither will turnip answer, because it requires a light soil. A very loose soil, after a crop of rye, requires ryegrass to bind it, or the treading of cattle in pasturing; but to bind the soil, wheat must not be ventured; for it succeeds ill in loose soil.

Another consideration of moment in directing the rotation, is to avoid crops that encourage weeds. Pease is the fittest of all crops for succeeding to wheat, because it renders the ground loose and mellow, and the same soil agrees with both. But beware of pease, unless the soil be left by the wheat perfectly free of weeds; because pease, if not an extraordinary crop, foster weeds. Barley may be ventured after wheat, if the farmer be unwilling to lose a crop. It is indeed a robber; better, however, any crop, than run the hazard of poisoning the soil with weeds. But to prevent the necessity of barley after wheat, the land ought to be fallowed before the wheat: it cleans the ground thoroughly, and makes pease a secure crop after wheat. And after a good crop of pease, barley never fails. A horse-hoed crop of turnip is equal to a fallow for rooting out weeds; but turnip does not suit land that is proper for wheat. Cabbage does well in wheat-soil; and a horse-hoed crop of cabbage, which eradicates weeds, is a good preparation for wheat to be succeeded by pease; and a crop of beans diligently hoed, is in that view little inferior. As red clover requires the ground to be perfectly clean, a good crop of it ensues wheat, and next pease. In loam, a drilled crop of turnip or potatoes prepares the ground, equal to a fallow, for the same succession.

Another rule is, to avoid a frequent repetition of the same species; for to produce good crops, change of species is no less necessary than change of seed. The same species returning every second or third year, will infallibly degenerate, and be a scanty crop. This is remarkably the case of red clover. Nor will our fields bear pleasantly perpetual crops of wheat after fallow, which is the practice of some English farmers.

Hitherto of rotation in the same field. We add one rule concerning rotation in different fields; which is, to avoid crowding crops one after another in point of time; but to chuse such as admit intervals sufficient for leisurely dressing, which gives opportunity to manage all with the same hands, and with the same cattle; for example, beans in January or February, pease and oats in March, barley and potatoes in April, turnip in June or July, wheat and rye in October.

For illustrating the foregoing rules, a few instances of exceptional rotations will not be thought amiss. The following is an usual rotation in Norfolk. First, wheat after red clover. Second, barley. Third, turnip. Fourth, barley with red clover. Fifth, clover cut for hay. Sixth, a second year's crop of clover commonly pastured. Dung is given to the wheat and turnip.—Against this rotation several objections lie. Barley after wheat is improper. The two crops of barley are too near together. The second crop of clover must be very bad, if pasturing be the best way of consuming it; and if bad, it is a great encourager of weeds. But the strongest objection is, that red clover repeated so frequently in the same field cannot fail to degenerate; and of this the Norfolk farmers begin to be sensible.—Salton in East Lothian is a clay soil; and the rotation there is, Wheat after fallow and dung. Second, barley after two ploughings; the one before winter, the other immediately before the seed is sown. Third, oats. Fourth, pease. Fifth, barley. Sixth, oats; and then fallow. This rotation confines chiefly to robbing crops. Pease are the only leguminous crop, which even with the fallow is not sufficient to loosen a stiff soil. But the soil is good, which in some measure hides the badness of the rotation.—About Seaton, and all the way from Preston to Gosford, the ground is still more severely handled: wheat after fallow and dung, barley, oats, pease, wheat, barley, oats, and then another fallow. The soil is excellent; and it ought indeed to be so, to support many rounds of such cropping.

In the parishes of Tranent, Aberlady, Dirleton, North- North-Berwick, and Athelstonefoord, the following rotations were formerly universal, and to this day are much more frequent than any other mode.

1. After fallow with dung, wheat, barley, oats, pease and beans, barley, oats, wheat. 2. After fallow and dung, barley, oats, pease and beans, wheat, barley, oats, pease, wheat. 3. After fallow and dung, wheat, oats, pease, barley, oats, wheat. 4. After fallow and dung, barley, oats, beans, wheat, pease, barley, oats.

In the several Tours of Young the itinerant farmer, are found, in the best counties of England, examples without end, of rotations no less exceptionable than many of those mentioned.

Where a field is laid down for pasture in order to be recruited, it is commonly left in that state many years; for it is the universal opinion, that the longer it lies, the richer it becomes for bearing corn. This may be true; but in order to determine the mode of cropping, the important point is, what upon the whole is the most profitable rotation; not what may produce luxuriant crops at a distant period. Upon that point, it may be affirmed, that the farmer who keeps a field in pasture beyond a certain time, loses every year considerably; and that a few luxuriant crops of corn, after twenty years of pasture, and still more after thirty, will not make up the loss.

Pasture-grafs, while young, maintains many animals; and the field is greatly recruited by what they drop; it is even recruited by hay-crops, provided the grasfs be cut before feeding. But as old grasfs yield little profit, the field ought to be taken up for corn when the pasture begins to fail; and after a few crops, it ought to be laid down again with grasfs-seeds. Seduced by a chimerical notion, that a field, by frequent corn-crops, is fatigued and requires rest like a labouring man or animal, careful farmers give long rest to their fields by pasture, never adverting that it affords little profit. It ought to be their study, to improve their soil, by making it free, and also retentive of moisture; If they accomplish these ends, they need not be afraid of exhausting the soil by cropping.

Where a farmer has access to no manure but what is his own production, the case under consideration, there are various rotations of crops, all of them good though perhaps not equally so. We shall begin with two examples, one in clay, and one in free soil, each of the farms ninety acres. Six acres are to be inclosed for a kitchen-garden, in which there must be annually a crop of red clover, for summer-food to the working cattle. As there are annually twelve acres in hay, and twelve in pasture, a single plough with good cattle will be sufficient to command the remaining sixty acres.

When the rotation is completed, the seventh inclosure having been five years in pasture, is ready to be taken up for a rotation of crops which begins with oats in the year 1781, and proceeds as in the fifth inclosure. In the same year 1781, the fifth inclosure is made pasture, for which it is prepared by sowing pasture grass seeds with the barley of the year 1780. And in this manner may the rotation be carried on without end. Here the labour is equally distributed; and there is no hurry nor confusion. But the chief property of this rotation is, that two culmiferous or white-corn crops are never found together; by a due mixture of crops, the soil is preserved in good heart without any adventitious manure. At the same time, the land is always producing plentiful crops: neither hay nor pasture get time to degenerate. The whole dung is laid upon the fallow.

Every farm that takes a grass-crop into the rotation must be inclosed, which is peculiarly necessary in a clay soil, as nothing is more hurtful to clay than poaching.

### Rotation in a free soil.

| Year | Crop | |------|------| | 1775 | Turnip, Barley | | 1776 | Hay, Oats | | 1777 | Fallow, Wheat | | 1778 | Turnip, Barley | | 1779 | Hay, Oats | | 1780 | Fallow, Wheat |

For the next rotation, the seventh inclosure is taken up for corn, beginning with an oat-crop, and proceeding in the order of the fourth inclosure; in place of which, the third inclosure is laid down for pasture by sowing pasture-grasses with the last crop in that inclosure, being barley. This rotation has all the advantages of the former. Here the dung is employed on the turnip-crop.

We proceed to consider what rotation is proper for a clay soil. The farm we propose consists of seventy-three acres. Nine are to be inclosed for a kitchen garden, affording plenty of red clover to be cut green for the farm-cattle. The remaining sixty-four acres are divided into four inclosures, sixteen acres each, to be cropped as in the following table.

### Rotation in a clay soil.

| Year | Crop | |------|------| | 1775 | Fallow, Wheat | | 1776 | Pease, Barley | | 1777 | Hay, Oats | | 1778 | Fallow, Wheat | | 1779 | Pease, Barley | | 1780 | Hay, Oats |

Here the dung ought to be applied to the barley. Many other rotations may be contrived, keeping to the rules above laid down. Fallow, for example, wheat, pease and beans, barley, cabbage, oats, for clay. Here dung must be given both to the wheat and cabbage. For free soil, drilled turnip, barley, red clover, wheat upon a single furrow, drilled potatoes, oats. Both the turnip and potatoes must have dung. Another for free soil: turnip drilled and dugged, red clover, wheat on a single furrow with dung, pease, barley, potatoes, oats. The following rotation has proved successful in a soil proper for wheat.

1. Oats with red clover, after fallow, without dung. 2. Hay. The clover-stubble dugged, and wheat sown the end of October with a single furrow. 3. Wheat. 4. Pease. 5. Barley. Fallow again. 6. Oats are taken the first crop, to save the dung for the wheat. Oats always thrive on a fallow, though without dung, which is not the case of barley. But barley seldom fails after pease. In strong clay soil, the following rotation answers.

1. Wheat after fallow and dung. 2. Beans sown under furrow as early as possible. Above the beans, sow pease end of March, half a boll per acre, and harrow them in. The two grains will ripen at the same time. 3. Oats or barley on a winter-furrow with grass-seeds. 4. Hay for one year or two; the second growth pastured. Lay what dung can be spared on the hay-stubble, and sow wheat with a single furrow. 5. Wheat. 6. Beans or pease. 7. Oats. Fallow again.

Sect. VI. Of Reaping Corn and Hay Crops, and Storing them up for use.

Culmiferous plants are ripe when the stem is totally white; they are not fully ripe if any green streaks remain. Some farmers are of opinion, that wheat ought to be cut before it is fully ripe. Their reasons are, first, that ripe wheat is apt to shake; and next, that the flour is not so good. With respect to the latter, it is contrary to nature, that any feed can be better in an unripe state, than when brought to perfection; nor will it be found so upon trial. With respect to the former, wheat, at the point of perfection, is not more apt to shake than for some days before; the husk begins not to open till after the seed is fully ripe; and then the suffering the crop to stand becomes ticklish; after the minute of ripening, it should be cut down in an instant, if possible.

This leads to the hands that are commonly engaged to cut down corn. In Scotland, the universal practice was, to provide a number of hands, in proportion to the extent of the crop, without regard to the time of ripening. By this method, the reapers were often idle for want of work; and what is much worse, they had often more work than they could overtake, and ripe fields were laid open to shaking winds. The Lothians have long enjoyed weekly markets for reapers, where a farmer can provide himself with the number he wants; and this practice is creeping into neighbouring shires. Where there is no opportunity of such markets, neighbouring farmers ought to agree in borrowing and lending their reapers.

One should imagine, that a caution against cutting corn when wet, is unnecessary; yet from the impatience of farmers to prevent shaking, no caveat is more so. Why do they not consider, that corn standing dries in half a day; when, in a close sheaf, the weather must be favourable if it dry in a month? in moist weather it will never dry.

With respect to the manner of cutting, we must premise, that barley is of all the most difficult grain to be dried for keeping. Having no husk, rain has easy access; and it has a tendency to malt when wet. Where the ground is properly smoothed by rolling, it seems best to cut it down with the scythe. This manner being more expeditions than the sickle, removes it sooner from danger of wind; and gives a third more straw, which is a capital article for dung, where a farm is at a distance from other manure. We except only corn that has lodged; for there the fickle is more convenient than the scythe. As it ought to be dry when cut, bind it up directly; if allowed to lie any time in the swath, it is apt to be discoloured.—Barley sown with grass-seeds, red clover especially, requires a different management. Where the grass is cut along with it, the difficulty is great of getting it so dry as to be ventured in a stack. The best way is, to cut the barley with a fickle above the clover, so that nothing but clean barley is bound up. Cut with a scythe the stubble and grass; they make excellent winter-food. The same method is applicable to oats; with this only difference, that when the field is exposed to the south-west wind, it is less necessary to bind immediately after mowing. As wheat commonly grows higher than any other grain, it is difficult to manage it with the scythe; for which reason the fickle is preferred in England. Pease and beans grow to irregularly, as to make the fickle necessary.

The best way for drying pease, is to keep separate the handfuls that are cut; though in this way they wet easily, they dry as soon. In the common way of heap- ing pease together for composting a sheaf, they wet as easily, and dry not near so soon. With respect to beans, the top of the handful last cut, ought to be laid on the bottom of the former; which gives ready access to the wind. By this method pease and beans are ready for the stack in half the ordinary time.

A sheaf commonly is made as large as can be contained in two lengths of the corn made into a rope. To save frequent tying, the binder presses it down with his knee, and binds it so hard as totally to exclude the air. If there be any moisture in the crop, which seldom fails, a process of fermentation and putrefaction commences in the sheaf; which is perfected in the stack, to the destruction both of corn and straw. How stupid is it, to make the size of a sheaf depend on the height of the plants! By that rule, a wheat-sheaf is commonly so weighty, as to be unmanageable by ordinary arms; it requires an effort to move it, that frequently bursts the knot, and occasions loss of grain, beside the trouble of a second tying. Sheaves ought never to be larger than can be contained in one length of the plant, cut close to the ground; without admitting any exception, if the plants be above eighteen inches high. The binder's arm can then compress the sheaf sufficiently, without need of his knee. The additional hands that this way of binding may require, are not to be regarded, compared with the advantage of drying soon. Corn thus managed may be ready for the stack in a week; it seldom in the ordinary way requires less than a fortnight, and frequently longer. Of a small sheaf compressed by the arm only, the air pervades every part; nor is it so apt to be unloosed as a large sheaf, however firmly bound. We omit the gathering of sheaves into shocks, because the common method is good, which is to place the shocks directed to the south-west, in order to resist the force of the wind. Five sheaves on each side make a sufficient stack; and a greater number cannot be covered with two head-sheaves.

Every article is of importance that hastens the operation in a country, like Scotland, subjected to unequal the vicissitudes of harvest. The great aim in making hay is, to preserve as much of the sap as possible. All agree in this; yet differ widely in the means of making that aim effectual. To Hay-making describe all the different means would be equally tedious and unprofitable. We shall confine ourselves to two, which appear preferable to all others. A crop of rye-grass and yellow clover ought to be spread as cut. A day or two after, when the dew is evaporated, rake it into a number of parallel rows along the field, termed wind-rows, for the convenience of putting it up into small cocks. After turning the rows once and again, make small cocks weighing a stone or two. At the distance of two days or so, put two cocks into one, observing always to mix the tops and bottoms together, and to take a new place for each cock, that the least damage possible may be done to the grass. Proceed in putting two cocks into one, till sufficiently dry for tramp-ricks of 100 stone each. The easiest way of erecting tramp-ricks, is to found a rick in the middle of the row of cocks that are to compose it. The cocks may be carried to the rick by two persons joining arms together. When all the cocks are thus carried to the rick within the distance of forty yards or so, the rest of the cocks will be more expeditiously carried to the rick, by a rope wound about them and dragged by a horse. Two ropes are sufficient to secure the ricks from wind, the short time they are to stand in the field.

In the year 1775, 10,000 stone were put into tramp-ricks the fourth day after cutting. In a country so wet as many parts of Scotland are, expedition is of mighty consequence in the drying both of hay and corn. With respect to hay intended for horned cattle, it is by the generality held an improvement, that it be heated a little in the stack. But we violently suspect this doctrine to have been invented for excusing indolent management. An ox, it is true, will eat such hay; but it will always be found that he prefers sweet hay; and it cannot well be doubted, but that such hay is the most salutary and the most nourishing.

The making hay consisting chiefly of red clover, requires more care. The season of cutting is the last week of June, when it is in full bloom: earlier it may be cut, but never later. To cut it later, would indeed produce a weightier crop; but a late first cutting makes the second also late, perhaps too late for drying. At the same time, the want of weight in an early first cutting, is amply compensated by the weight of the second.

When the season is too variable for making hay of the second growth, mix straw with that growth, which will be a substantial food for cattle during winter. This is commonly done by laying strata of the straw and clover alternately in the stack. But by this method, the strata of clover, if they do not heat, turn mouldy at least, and unpalatable. The better way is, to mix them carefully with the hand before they be put into the stack. The dry straw imbibes moisture from the clover and prevents heating.

But the best method of hay-making seems to be that recommended by Mr Anderson. "Instead," says he, "of allowing the hay to lie, as usual in most places, for some days in the weather after it is cut, and afterwards alternately putting it up into cocks and spreading it out, and tending it in the sun, which tends greatly to bleach the hay, exhales its natural juices, and subjects..." Practice subjects it very much to the danger of getting rain, and thus runs a great risk of being good for little; I make it a general rule, if possible, never to cut hay but when the grass is quite dry; and then make the gatherers follow close upon the cutters,—putting it up immediately into small cocks about three feet high each when new put up, and of as small a diameter as they can be made to stand with; always giving each of them a flight kind of thatching, by drawing a few handfuls of the hay from the bottom of the cock all around, and laying it lightly upon the top with one of the ends hanging downwards. This is done with the utmost ease and expedition; and when it is once in that state, I consider my hay as in a great measure out of danger: for unless a violent wind should arise immediately after the cocks are put up, so as to overturn them, nothing else can hurt the hay; as I have often experienced, that no rain, however violent, ever penetrates into these cocks but for a very little way. And, if they are dry put up, they never fit together too closely as to heat; although they acquire, in a day or two, such a degree of firmness, as to be in no danger of being overturned by wind after that time, unless it blows a hurricane.

In these cocks, I allow the hay to remain until, upon inspection, I judge that it will keep in pretty large tramp-cocks, (which is usually in one or two weeks, according as the weather is more or less favourable, when two men, each with a long pronged pitchfork, lift up one of these small cocks between them with the greatest ease, and carry them one after another to the place where the tramp-cock is to be built (n): and in this manner, they proceed over the field till the whole is finished.

The advantages that attend this method of making hay, are, That it greatly abridges the labour; as it does not require above the one half of the work that is necessary in the old method of turning and tedding it: That it allows the hay to continue almost as green as when it is cut, and preserves its natural juices in the greatest perfection; for, unless it be the little that is exposed to the sun and air upon the surface of the cocks, which is no more bleached than every straw of hay saved in the ordinary way, the whole is dried in the most slow and equal manner that could be desired; and, lastly, That it is thus in a great measure secured from almost the possibility of being damaged by rain. This last circumstance deserves to be much more attended to by the farmer than it usually is at present; as I have seen few who are sufficiently aware of the loss that the quality of their hay suffers by receiving a slight shower after it is cut, and before it is gathered; the generality of farmers seeming to be very well satisfied if they get in their hay without being absolutely rotted; never paying the least attention to its having been several times wetted while the hay was making. But, if these gentlemen will take the trouble at any time to compare any parcel of hay that has been made perfectly dry, with another parcel from the same field that has received a shower while in the swath, or even a copious dew, they will soon be sensible of a very manifest difference between them; nor will their horses or cattle ever commit a mistake in chusing between the two.

Let it be particularly remarked, that in this manner of making hay, great care must be taken that it be dry when first put into the cocks; for, if it is in the least degree wet at that time, it will turn instantly mouldy, and fit together so as to become totally imperious to the air, and will never afterwards become dry till it is spread out to the sun. For this reason, if at any time during a course of good settled weather you should begin to cut in the morning before the dew is off the grass, keep back the gatherers till the dew is evaporated; allowing that which was first cut to lie till it is dry before it is cocked. In this case, you will almost always find that the uncut grass will dry sooner than that which has been cut when wet; and, therefore, the gatherers may always begin to put up that which is fresh cut before the other; which will usually require two or three hours to dry after the new-cut hay may be cocked. And if, at any time, in case of necessity, you should be obliged to cut your hay before it is dry, the same rule must be observed, always to allow it to remain in the swath till it is quite dry: but, as there is always a great risk of being long in getting it up, and as it never in this case wins (x) so kindly as if it had been dry cut, the farmer ought to endeavour, if possible, in all cases, to cut his hay only when dry; even if it should cost him some additional expense to the cutters, by keeping them employed at any other work, or even allowing them to remain idle, if the weather should be variable or rainy.

But if there is a great proportion of clover, and the weather should chance to be close and calm at the time, it may, on some occasions, be necessary to open up these cocks a little, to admit some fresh air into them; in which case, after they have stood a day or two, it may be of great use to turn these cocks and open them up a little, which ought to be done in the driest time of the day; the operator taking that part of each cock which was the top, and with it forming the base of a new one, so that the part which was most exposed to the air becomes excluded from it, and that which was undermost comes to be placed upon the top, so as to make it all dry as equally as possible.

If the hay has not been damp when it was first put up, the cock may be immediately finished out at once; but if it is at all wet, it will be of great use to turn over only a little of the top of the cock at first, and leaving it in that state to dry a little, proceed to another, and a third, and fourth, &c., treating each in the same way; going on in that manner till you find that the inside of the first opened cock is sufficiently dried, when it will be proper to return to it, turning over a little more of it till you come to what is still damp, when you leave it and proceed to another, and

(n) If the hay is to be carried to any considerable distance, this part of the labour may be greatly abridged, by causing the carriers take two long sticks of a sufficient length, and having laid them down by the small cocks parallel to one another, at the distance of one and a half, or two feet asunder, let them lift three or four cocks, one after another, and place them carefully above the sticks, and then carry them all together, as if upon a hand-barrow, to the place where the large rick is to be built.

(x) By winning hay, is meant the operation by which it is brought from the succulent state of grass to that of a dry fodder. In the yard, a stack of hay ought to be an oblong square, if the quantity be greater than to be easily stowed in a round stack; because a smaller surface is exposed to the air, than in a number of round stacks.

For the same reason, a stack of pease ought to have the same form, the straw being more valuable than that of oats, wheat, or barley. The moment a stack is finished, it ought to be covered; because the surface-hay is much damaged by withering in dry weather, and moistening in wet weather. Let it have a pavilion-roof; for more of it can be covered with straw in that shape, than when built perpendicular at the ends. Let it be roped as directed above for corn-stacks; with this difference only, that in an oblong square the ropes must be thrown over the top, and tied to the belt-rope below. This belt-rope ought to be fixed with pins to the stack: the reason is, that the ropes thrown over the stack will bag by the sinking of the stack, and may be drawn tight by lowering the belt-rope, and fixing it in its new position with the same pins.

The stems of hares, being long and tough, make excellent ropes; and it will be a saving article, to propagate a few plants of that kind for that very end.

A stack of ryegrass hay, a year old, and of a moderate size, will weigh, each cubic yard, 11 Dutch stone. A stack of clover-hay in the same circumstances weighs somewhat less.

**Sect. VII. Manures.**

The manures commonly used are dung, lime, shell-marl, clay-marl, and stone-marl. Many other substances are used; shavings of horn, for example, refuse of malt, and even old rags; but as the quantity that can be procured is inconsiderable, and as their application is simple, we shall consume no time upon them.

Dung is the chief of all manures; because a quantity of it may be collected in every farm, and because it makes the quickest return. A field sufficiently dugged, will produce good crops four or five years.

Dung of animals that chew the cud, being more thoroughly putrefied than that of others, is fit to be mixed with the soil without needing to be collected into a dunghill. A horse does not chew the cud; and in horse-dung may be perceived straw or ryegrass broken into small parts, but not dissolved: it is proper therefore that the putrefaction be completed in a dunghill. It ought to be mixed there with cool materials; so hot it is, that, in a dunghill by itself, it finges and burns instead of putrefying. The difference between the dung of a horse and of a horned animal, is visible in a pasture-field: the grass round the former is withered; round the latter, it is ranker and more verdant than in the rest of the field. A mixture of dry and moist stuff, ought to be studied: the former attracting moisture from the latter, they become equally moist.

To prevent sap from running out of a dunghill, its situation should be a little below the surface; and to prevent rain from running into it, it should be surrounded with a ring of sod. If the foil on which the dunghill stands be porous, let it be paved, to prevent the sap from sinking into the ground. If moisture happen to superabound, it may be led off by a small gutter to impregnate a quantity of rich mould laid down to receive it, which will make it equal to good dung.

Straw should be prepared for the dunghill, by being laid under cattle, and sufficiently moistened. When laid dry into a dunghill, it keeps it open, admits too much air, and prevents putrefaction.

Dung from the stable ought to be carefully spread on the dunghill, and mixed with the former dung. When left in heaps upon the dunghill, fermentation and putrefaction go on unequally.

Complete putrefaction is of importance with regard to the feed of weeds that are in the dunghill: if they remain found, they are carried out with the dung, and infect the ground. Complete putrefaction is of still greater importance by pulverizing the dung; in which condition it mixes intimately with the soil, and operates the most powerfully. In land intended for barley, undigested dung has a very bad effect: it keeps the ground open, admits drought, and prevents the seed from springing. On the other hand, when thoroughly rotted, it mixes with the soil, and enables it to retain moisture. It follows, that the properest time for dunging a field, is in its highest pulverization; at which time the earth dunging, mixes intimately with the dung. Immediately before setting cabbage, sowing turnip, or wheat, is a good time. Dung divides and spreads the most accurately when moist. Its intimate mixture with the soil is of such importance, that hands should be employed to divide and spread any lumps that may be in it.

Dung should be spread, and ploughed into the Manner of ground, without delay. When a heap lies two or three dungs-weeks, some of the moisture is imbibed into the ground, which will produce tufts of corn more vigorous than in the rest of the field. There cannot be a worse practice than to lead out dung before winter, leaving it exposed to frost and snow. The whole spirit of the dung is extracted by rain, and carried off with it. The dung divested of its sap becomes dry in spring, and incapable of being mixed with the mould. It is turned over whole by the plough, and buried in the furrow.

As dung is an article of the utmost importance in collection-husbandry, one should imagine, that the collecting it into dung, would be a capital article with an industrious farmer. Yet an ingenious writer, observing that the Jamaicans are in this particular much more industrious than the British, ascribes the difference to the difficulty of procuring dung in Jamaica. "In England, where the long winter enables a farmer to raise what quantity he pleases, it is not collected with any degree of industry. But in Jamaica, where there is no winter, and where the heat of the sun is a great obstruction, the farmer must be indefatigable, or he will never raise any dung." Cool interest is not alone a sufficient motive with the indolent, to be active. As dung is of great importance in husbandry, a farmer cannot be too assiduous in collecting animal and vegetable substances that will rot. One article of that kind there is, to collect which there is a double motive, and yet is neglected almost everywhere. A farm full of weeds is a nuisance to the neighbourhood: it poisons the fields around; and the possessor ought to be disgraced. graced as a pest to society. Now the cutting down every weed before the seed is formed, answers two excellent purposes. First, it encourages good crops, by keeping the ground clean. Next, these weeds mixed with other materials in a dunghill, may add considerably to the quantity of dung.

Next of lime, which is a profitable manure, and greatly so when it can be got in plenty within a moderate distance. The benefit of lime is so visible, that the use of it has become general, where the price and carriage are in any degree moderate.

However people may differ in other particulars, all agree, that the operation of lime depends on its intimate mixture with the soil; and therefore that the proper time of applying it, is when it is perfectly powdered and the soil at the same time in the highest degree of pulverisation. Lime itself is absolutely barren; and yet it enriches a barren soil. Neither of the two produces any good effect without the other; and consequently, the more intimately they are mixed, the effect must be the greater.

Hence it follows, that lime ought always to be flaked with a proper quantity of water, because by that means it is reduced the most effectually into powder. Lime left to be flaked by a moist air, or accidental rain, is seldom or never thoroughly reduced into powder; and therefore can never be intimately mixed with the soil. Sometimes an opportunity offers to bring home shell-lime before the ground is ready for it; and it is commonly thrown into a heap without cover, trusting to rain for flaking. The proper way is, to lay the shell-lime in different heaps on the ground where it is to be spread, to reduce these heaps into powder by flaking with water, and to cover the flaked lime with sod so as to defend it from rain. One however would avoid as much as possible the bringing home lime before the ground be ready for it. Where allowed to lie long in a heap, there are two bad consequences: first, lime attracts moisture, even though well covered, and runs into clots, which prevents an intimate mixture; and, next, we know, that burnt limestone, whether in shells or in powder, returns gradually into its original state of limestone; and upon that account also, is less capable of being mixed with the soil. And this is verified by a fact, that, after lying long, it is so hard bound together as to require a pick to separate the parts.

For the same reason, it is a bad practice, though common, to let spread lime lie on the surface all winter. The bad effects abovementioned take place here in part; and there is another; that rain washes the lime down to the furrows, and in a hanging field carries the whole away.

As the particles of powdered lime are both small and heavy, they quickly sink to the bottom of the furrow, if care be not taken to prevent it. In that view, it is a rule, that lime be spread, and mixed with the soil, immediately before sowing, or along with the seed. In this manner of application, there being no occasion to move it till the ground be tilled for a new crop, it has time to incorporate with the soil, and does not readily separate from it. Thus, if turnip-feed is to be sown broadcast, the lime ought to be laid on immediately before sowing, and harrowed in with the seed. If a crop of drilled turnip or cabbage be intended, the lime ought to be spread immediately before forming in drills. With respect to wheat, the lime ought to be spread immediately before seed-furrowing. If spread more early, before the ground be sufficiently broken, it sinks to the bottom. If a light soil be prepared for barley, the lime ought to be spread after seed-furrowing, and harrowed in with the seed. In a strong soil, it sinks not so readily to the bottom; and therefore, before sowing the barley, the lime ought to be mixed with the soil by a brake. Where moor is summer-fallowed for a crop of oats next year, the lime ought to be laid on immediately before the last ploughings, and braked in as before. It has sufficient time to incorporate with the soil before the land be stirred again.

The quantity to be laid on, depends on the nature of the soil. Upon a strong soil, seventy or eighty bolls of shells are not more than sufficient, reckoning four small flats to the boll, termed subcat-measure; nor will it be an overdose to lay on an hundred bolls. Between fifty and sixty may suffice upon medium soils; and upon the thin or gravelly, between thirty and forty. It is not safe to lay a much greater quantity on such soils.

It is common to lime a pasture-field immediately before ploughing. This is an unsafe practice; it is thrown to the bottom of the furrow, from which it is never fully gathered up. The proper time for liming a pasture field, intended to be taken up for corn, is a year at least, or two, before ploughing. It is washed in by rain among the roots of plants, and has time to incorporate with the soil.

Limestone beat small, makes an excellent manure; and supplies the want of powdered lime, where there is no fuel to burn the limestone. Limestone beat small has not hitherto been much used as a manure; and the proportion between it and powdered lime has not been ascertained. What follows may give some light. Three pounds of raw lime is by burning reduced to two pounds of shell-lime. Yet nothing is expelled by the fire but the air that was in the limestone: the calcareous earth remains entire. Ergo, two pounds of shell-lime contain as much calcareous earth as three pounds of raw limestone. Shell-lime of the best quality, when flaked with water, will measure out to thrice the quantity. But as limestone loses none of its bulk by being burnt into shells, it follows, that three bulks of raw limestone contain as much calcareous earth as six bulks of powdered lime; and consequently, if powdered lime possesses not some virtue above raw limestone, three bulks of the latter beat small should equal as a manure six bulks of the former.

Shell-marl, as a manure, is managed in every respect like powdered lime; with this only difference, that a fifth or a fourth part more in measure ought to be given. The reason is, that shell-marl is less weighty than lime; and that a boll of it contains less calcareous earth, which is the fructifying part of both.

Clay and stone marl, with respect to husbandry, are the same, though in appearance different.

The goodness of marl depends on the quantity of calcareous earth in it; which has been known to amount to a half or more. It is too expensive if the quantity be less than a third or a fourth part. Good marl is the most substantial of all manures; because it improves the weakest ground to equal the best borough-acres. The low part of Berwickshire termed the Merse, abounds every Land ought to be cleared of weeds before marling; and it ought to be smoothed with the brake and harrow, in order that the marl may be equally spread. Marl is a foil on which no vegetable will grow; its efficacy depends, like that of lime, on its pulverification, and intimate mixture with the soil. Toward the former, alternate drought and moisture contribute greatly, as also frosts. Therefore, after being evenly spread, it ought to lie on the surface all winter. In the month of October, it may be rouled with a brake; which will bring to the surface, and expose to the air and frosts, all the hard parts, and mix with the soil all that is powdered. In that respect it differs widely from dung and lime, which ought to be ploughed into the ground without delay. Oats is a hardy grain, which will answer for being the first crop after marling, better than any other; and it will succeed though the marl be not thoroughly mixed with the soil. In that case, the marl ought to be ploughed in with an ebb furrow immediately before sowing, and braked thoroughly. It is ticklish to make wheat the first crop: if sown before winter, frosts swell the marl, and is apt to throw the seed out of the ground; if sown in spring, it will suffer more than oats by want of due mixture.

Summer is the proper season for marling; because in that season the marl, being dry, is not only lighter, but is easily reduced to powder. Frost however is not improper for marling, especially as in frost there is little opportunity for any other work.

Marl is a heavy body, and sinks to the bottom of the furrow, if indirectly ploughed. Therefore the first crop should always have an ebb furrow. During the growing of that crop, the marl has time to incorporate with the soil, and to become a part of it; after which it does not readily separate.

**Sect. VIII. Principles and Operations of the New or Horse-beeing Husbandry.**

The general properties attributed to the new husbandry may be reduced to two, viz. the promoting the growth of plants by hoeing, and the saving of seed; both of which are equally profitable to the farmer.

The advantages of tillage before sowing have already been pointed out. In this place we must confine ourselves to the utility of tillage after sowing. This kind of tillage is most generally known by the name of horse-beeing.

Land sowed with wheat, however well it may be cultivated in autumn, sinks in the winter; the particles get nearer together, and the weeds rise; so that in spring, the land is nearly in the same situation as if it never had been ploughed. This, however, is the season when it should branch and grow with most vigour; and consequently stands most in need of ploughing or hoeing, to destroy the weeds, to supply the roots with fresh earth, and, by dividing anew the particles of the soil, to allow the roots to extend and collect nourishment.

It is well known, that, in gardens, plants grow with double vigour after being hoed or transplanted. If plants growing in arable land could be managed with ease and safety in this manner, it is natural to expect, that their growth would be promoted accordingly. Experience shows, that this is not only practicable, but attended with many advantages.

In the operation of hoeing wheat, though some of the roots be moved or broken, the plants receive no injury; for this very circumstance makes them send forth a greater number of roots than formerly, which enlarge their pasture, and consequently augment their growth.

Sickly wheat has often recovered its vigour after a good hoeing, especially when performed in weather not very hot or dry.

Wheat, and such grain as is sown before winter, requires hoeing more than oats, barley, or other grain sown in the spring; for, if the land has been well ploughed before the sowing of spring-corn, it neither has time to harden, nor to produce many weeds, not having been exposed to the winter's snow and rain.

**Of Sowing.**

As, in the practice of the new husbandry, plants grow with greater vigour than by the old method, the land should be sowed thinner. It is this principle of the new husbandry that has been chiefly objected to; for, upon observing the land occupied by a small number of plants, people are apt to look upon all the vacant space as lost. But this prejudice will soon be removed, when it is considered, that, in the best land cultivated in the common method, and sown very thick, each seed produces but one or two ears; that, in the same land sown thinner, every seed produces two or three ears; and that a single seed sometimes produces 18 or 21 ears.

In the common method, as there are many more plants than can find sufficient nourishment, and as it is impossible to assist them by hoeing, numbers die before they attain maturity, the greatest part remain sickly and drooping; and thus part of the seed is lost. On the contrary, in the new method, all the plants have as much food as they require; and as they are, from time to time, assisted by hoeing, they become vigorous as to equal in their production the numerous but sickly plants cultivated in the common method.

**Of Hoeing.**

The new husbandry is absolutely impracticable in lands that are not easily ploughed. Attempting to cultivate land according to this husbandry, without attending to this circumstance, that it is practicable in no land excepting such as have already been brought into good tilth by the old method, has gone far to make it contemptible in many places.

When a field is in good tilth, it should be sown so thin as to leave sufficient room for the plants to extend their roots. After being well ploughed and harrowed, it must be divided into rows, at the distance of thirty inches from one another. On the sides of each of these rows, two rows of wheat must be sowed six inches distant from each other. By this means there will be an interval of two feet wide betwixt the rows, and every plant will have room enough to extend its roots, and to supply it with food. The intervals will likewise be sufficient for allowing the earth to be hoed or tilled without injuring the plants in the rows.

The first hoeing, which should be given before the winter, is intended to drain away the wet, and to dispose the earth to be mellowed by the frosts. These two ends will be answered by drawing two small furrows at a little distance from the rows, and throwing the earth taken from the furrows into the middle of the intervals. This first hoeing should be given when the wheat is in leaf.

The second hoeing, which is intended to make the plants branch, should be given after the hard frosts are over. To do this with advantage, after stirring the earth a little, near the rows, the earth which was thrown in the middle of the intervals should be turned back into the furrows. This earth, having been mellowed by the winter, supplies the plants with excellent food, and makes the roots extend.

The third hoeing, which is intended to invigorate the stalk, should be given when the ears of the corn begin to show themselves. This hoeing may, however, be very slight.

But the last hoeing is of the greatest importance, as it enlarges the grain, and makes the ears fill at their extremities. This hoeing should be given when the wheat is in bloom; a furrow must be drawn in the middle of the interval, and the earth thrown to the right and left on the foot of the plants. This supports the plants, prevents them from being laid, and prepares the ground for the next sowing, as the seed is then to be put in the middle of the ground that formed the intervals.

By this successive tillage, or hoeing, good crops will be obtained, provided the weather is not very unfavourable.

But as strong, vigorous plants are longer before they arrive at maturity, corn raised in the new way is later in ripening than any other, and must therefore be sown earlier.

In order to prepare the intervals for sowing again, some well-rotted dung may be laid in the deep furrows made in the middle of the intervals; and this dung must be covered with the earth that was before thrown towards the rows of wheat. But, if the land does not require mending, the deep furrow is filled without any dung. This operation should be performed immediately after harvest, that there may be time to give the land a slight stirring before the rows are sowed; which should occupy the middle of the space which formed the intervals during the last crop. The intervals of the second year take up the space occupied by the stubble of the first.

Supposing dung to be necessary, which is denied by many, a very small quantity is sufficient; a single layer, put in the bottom of each furrow, will be enough.

Description of the Instruments commonly used in the New Husbandry.

Fig. 1. is a marking plough. The principal use of this plough is to straight and regulate the ridges. The first line is traced by the eye, by means of three poles, placed in a straight line. The plough draws the first furrow in the direction of this line; and, at the same time, with the tooth A, fixed in the block of wood near the end of the cross-poll or slider B, marks the breadth of the ridge at the distance intended. The ploughman next traces the second line or rut made by the tooth, and draws a small furrow along it; and continues in this manner till the whole field is laid out in straight and equidistant ridges.

Fig. 2. is a plough for breaking up lea, or turning up the bottom of land when greatly exhausted. By its construction, the width and depth of the furrows can be regulated to a greater certainty than by any other practice hitherto known in this country. Its appearance is heavy; but two horses are sufficient to plough with it in ordinary free land; and only four are necessary in the stiffest clay-lands. This plough is likewise easily held and tempered. A, is the sword fixed in the fizer B, which runs thro' a mortise E, at the end of the beam C, and regulates the depth of the furrow by raising or depressing the beam; it is fixed by putting the pin D thro' the beam and sword, and is moveable at E.

Fig. 3. is a jointed brake-harrow with 24 teeth, shaped like coulters, and standing at about an angle of 80 degrees. By this instrument the land is finely pulverized, and prepared for receiving the seed from the drill. It requires four horses in stiff, and two in open, land. This harrow is likewise used for levelling the ridges; which is done by pressing it down by the handles where the ridge is high, and raising it up when low.

Fig. 4. is an angular weeding-harrow, which may follow the brake when necessary. The seven hindmost teeth should stand at a more acute angle than the rest, in order to collect the weeds, which the holder can drop at pleasure, by raising the hinder part, which is fixed to the body of the harrow by two joints.

Fig. 5. is a pair of harrows with shafts. This harrow is used for covering the seed in the drills, the horse going in the furrow.

Fig. 6. is a drill-plough, constructed in such a manner as to sow at once two rows of beans, peas, or wheat. This machine is easily wrought by two horses. A, is the hopper for containing the seed; B, circular boxes for receiving the seed from the hopper; C, square boxes which receive the seed from small holes in the circular boxes, as they turn round; and last of all, the seed is dropped into the drills through holes in the square boxes, behind the coulters D. The cylinder E follows, which, together with the wheel F, regulates the depth of the coulters, and covers the seed; the harrow G comes behind all, and covers the seed more completely. H, two sliders, which, when drawn out, prevent the seed from falling into the boxes; and, I, is a ketch which holds the rungs, and prevents the boxes from turning, and losing seed at the ends of the ridges.

Fig. 7. is a single hoe-plough of a very simple construction, by which the earth in the intervals is stirred and laid up on both sides to the roots of the plants, and at the same time the weeds are destroyed. A, the mould-boards, which may be raised or depressed at pleasure, according as the farmer wants to throw the earth higher or lower upon the roots.

Summary of the Operations necessary in executing the New Husbandry with the Plough.

1. It is indispensably necessary that the farmer be provided with a drill and hoe-plough. 2. The new husbandry may be begun either with the winter or spring corn. 3. The land must be prepared by four good ploughings, given at different times, from the beginning of April to the middle of September. 4. These ploughings must be done in dry weather, to prevent the earth from kneading. 5. The land must be harrowed in the same manner as if it were sowed in the common way. 6. The rows of wheat should be sowed very straight. 7. When When the field is not very large, a line must be strained across it, by which a rill may be traced with a hoe for the horse that draws the drill to go in; and when the rows are sown, 50 inches must be left between each rill. But, when the field is large, stakes at five feet distance from each other must be placed at the two ends. The workman must then trace a small furrow with a plough that has no mould-board, for the horse to go in that draws the drill, directing himself with his eye by the stakes.

8. The sowing should be finished at the end of September, or beginning of October.

9. The furrows must be traced the long way of the land, that as little ground as possible may be lost in headlands.

10. The rows, if it can be done, should run down the slope of the land, that the water may get the easier off.

11. The seed-wheat must be plunged into a tub of lime-water, and stirred, that the light corn may come to the surface and be skimmed off.

12. The seed must be next spread on a floor, and frequently stirred, till it is dry enough to run through the valves of the hopper of the drill.

13. To prevent smut, the seed may be put into a ley of ashes and lime.

14. After the hoppers of the drill are filled, the horse must go slowly along the furrow that was traced. That a proper quantity of seed may be sown, the aperture of the hopper must be suited to the size of the grain.

15. As the drill is seldom well managed at first, the field should be examined after the corn has come up, and the deficiencies be supplied.

16. Stiff lands, that retain the wet, must be stirred or hoed in October. This should be done by opening a furrow in the middle of the intervals, and afterwards filling it up by a furrow drawn on each side, which will raise the earth in the middle of the intervals, and leave two small furrows next the rows, for draining off the water, which is very hurtful to wheat in winter.

17. The next stirring must be given about the end of March, with a light plough. In this stirring the furrows made to drain the rows must be filled up by earth from the middle of the intervals.

18. Some time in May, the rows must be evened; which, though troublesome at first, soon becomes easy, as the weeds are soon kept under by tillage.

19. In June, just before the wheat is in bloom, another stirring must be given with the plough. A deep furrow must be made in the middle of the intervals, and the earth thrown upon the sides of the rows.

20. When the wheat is ripe, particular care must be taken, in reaping it, to trample as little as possible on the ploughed land.

21. Soon after the wheat is carried off the field, the intervals must be turned up with the plough, to prepare them for the feed. The great furrow in the middle must not only be filled, but the earth raised as much as possible in the middle of the intervals.

22. In September, the land must be again sowed with a drill, as above directed.

23. In October, the stubble must be turned in for forming the new intervals; and the same management must be observed as directed in the first year.

We pretend not to determine whether the old or new husbandry be preferable in every country.

With regard to this point, the climate, the situation of particular land, skill and dexterity in managing the machinery, the comparative expense in raising crops, and many other circumstances, must be accurately attended to before a determination can be given. One observation, however, may be made in favour of the new husbandry:—Though the particular modes of cultivating land by it are perhaps too limited to be universally adopted; yet it has been of great use in raising suspicions concerning the old method, and in turning the views of philosophers and farmers towards improving in general. Many real improvements in agriculture have been the consequences of these suspicions; and as this spirit of inquiry remains in full vigour, particularly in our own country, a solid foundation is laid for expecting still further improvements in this useful art.