Culture of particular plants.

Method of planting.

The culture of more accurately speaking, he makes choice of such as are near, but not at or above the state of perfection. In almost every turnip-field there are plants in various states; much judgment, therefore, is requisite in the choice of plants. A piece of good ground near a habitation is generally chosen for this purpose; but the method of planting is various; the plants are generally set in rows, at uncertain distances from one another." These distances our author has observed to be 16 or 18 inches, and the distance of the plants in them nine or ten inches; but the practice of a man who, he tells us, is indubitably near the head of his profession, is to plant them in rows two feet asunder, the plants in the rows being contiguous. The only culture required, is to keep the intervals clean hoed; but when the seed begins to ripen, much care is requisite to keep it from birds. If the plot be large, it is necessary to employ a boy to scare them; but if it be small, and near the house, Mr Marshall has known the following expedient used with success. "On a slender post, rising in the midst of the patch of seed, was fixed a bell; from which a line paffed into the kitchen; in the most frequented part of this hung the pull. Whoever paffed the pull rung the bell; so that in a farm-house kitchen, where a mistress and two or three maids were some of them almost always on the foot, an incessant peal was kept up; and the birds, having no reprieve from alarm, forfought their prey."

The time of drawing commences about Michaelmas, and continues until the plants be in blow. The process of drawing, he says, "in severe weather is an employment which nothing but custom could reconcile to those whose lot it is to go through it, namely, stout lads and youths; whose hands are frequently swelled until the joints are discernible only by the dimples they form;" nevertheless he never heard of any instance of bad effects from this circumstance. When the tops will bear it, their method of pulling is very expeditious: they pull with both hands at once; and having filled each hand, they bring the two together with a smart blow to disengage the foil from the roots, and with the same motion throw them into the cart. If the tops be cut off by the frosts, or if this be in the ground, the turnips are raised with two-tined forks named crowns. If the roots are buried under deep snow, it is removed by means of an implement called the snow-fledge. This consists of three deal-boards from one to two inches thick, 10 or 12 inches deep, and from seven to nine feet long, let upon their edges in the form of an equilateral triangle, and strongly united with nails or straps of iron at the angles; at one of which is fastened, by means of a double strap, a hook or an eye, to fasten the horses to. This being drawn over a piece of turnips covered with snow, forces up the latter into a ridge on each side, while between the ridges a stripe of turnips is left bare, without having received any material injury from the operation. Though it is customary, in drawing, to clear the ground entirely, our author met with one instance in which the small ones were left by a very good husbandman on the ground, both to increase in size, and to throw out tops in the spring; it being observable, that a small turnip sends up a top nearly equal to one whose bulb is larger. There is one inconvenience, however, arising from this practice: the plough is prevented from entering upon the foil until late in the spring; which particular upon some soils is an unfavourable objection; tho', it may be very proper upon land which will bring good barley with one ploughing after turnips.

Mr Marshall relates the following simple method, by which a Norfolk farmer preferred turnips through a preserving considerable part of the winter season. Having cut off their tops with a spade, he gave them to his cows, and carried the bulbs to a new-made ditch, into which he threw them, and then covered them up with straw, laying over it a quantity of bramble kids. Here they lay until wanted in a frost. They were then again carted by means of a fork, and given to the cattle, who ate them as well, or rather better than fresh drawn turnips; and in general they came out as fresh as they went in. Our author is of opinion, that this method might be extended to the preservation of turnips till the spring.

3. CARROT.

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 foil 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 heads.

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 an 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.

Carrots have been greatly recommended as food for cattle, and, in this respect, bid fair to rival the potato; though, with regard to the human species, they are far inferior. The profit attending the cultivation of them, however, appears to be much more doubtful than that of potatoes. Mr Arthur Young informs us, that from Norden's Surveyor's Dialogue, published in 1600, it appears, that carrots were commonly cultivated at that period, vol. ii., time about Oxford in Suffolk, and Norwich in Norfolk; folk; and he remarks, that the tract of land between Orford, Woodbridge, and Saxmundham, has probably more carrots in it than all the rest of the kingdom put together." In 1779, few farmers in these parts had less than five or six acres; many from 10 to 20; and one had 36 acres; the straight, handsome, and clean roots were sent at 6d. per bushel to London; the rest being used at home, principally as food for horses. In other counties, he observes, the culture of carrots has not extended itself; that some have begun to cultivate them in place of turnips, but have soon desisted; so that the culture seems in a manner still confined to the angle of Suffolk, where it first began. In attempting to investigate the cause of this general neglect, he observes, that "the charge of cultivation is not so great as is commonly imagined, when managed with an eye to an extensive culture, and not a confined one for one or two particular objects." Two acres which our author had in carrots cost £1. 17s. 6d. per acre, including every expense; but had not the summer been dry, he observes, that his expenses might have been much higher; and when he tried the experiment 15 years before, his expenses, through inadvertence, ran much higher. His difficulty this year arose chiefly from the polygonum aviculare, the predominant weed, which is so tough that scarcely any hoe can cut it. Some acres of turnips which he cultivated along with the carrots were all eaten by the fly; but had they succeeded, the expense of the crop would have been £18s. 6d. less per acre than the carrots. "But (adds our author) if we call the superiority of expense £20s. an acre, I believe we shall be very near the truth: and it must at once be apparent that the expense of £20s. per acre cannot be the cause of the culture spreading to little; for, to answer this expense, there are favourable circumstances, which must not be forgotten. 1. They (the carrots) are much more impenetrable to frosts, which frequently destroy turnips. 2. They are not subject to the distempers and accidents which frequently affect turnips; and they are sown at a season when they cannot be affected by drought, which frequently also destroys turnips. 3. They last to April, when stock, and especially sheep farmers are so distressed, that they know not what resource to provide. 4. The culture requisite for turnips on a sandy soil, in order to destroy the weeds, destroys also its tenacity, so that the crop cannot thrive; but with carrots the case is otherwise. Hence it appears, that the reason why the cultivation of carrots is still so limited, does not arise from the expense, but because the value is not ascertained. In places where these roots can be sent to London, or sold at a good price, the tops being used as food for cattle, there is not the least doubt that they are profitable; and therefore in such places they are generally cultivated: but from the experiments as yet laid before the public, a satisfactory decisive knowledge of the value is not to be gained. The most considerable practice, and the only one of common farmers upon a large scale, is that of the lands of Woodbridge; but here they have the benefit of a London market, as already mentioned. Amongst those whose experiments are published, Mr Billinglsey ranks foremost. Here again the value of carrots is rather depreciated than advanced; for he raised great crops, and had repeated experience upon a large scale of their excellence in fattening oxen and sheep; feeding cows, horses, and hogs; and keeping ewes and lambs in a very superior manner, late in the spring, after turnips were gone: but notwithstanding these great advantages, he gave the culture up; from which we may conclude a deficiency in value. "In several experiments (though not altogether determinate), I found the value, upon an average of all applications, to be 13d. a bushel, heaped measure; estimating which at 70lb. weight, the ton is £1. 14s." The following are the valuations of several gentlemen of the value of carrots in the way of fattening cattle:

| Gentleman | Value per Ton | |----------------------------|--------------| | Mr Mellish of Blyth | L. 1 0 0 | | Mr Stovin of Doncaster | | | Mr Moody of Ratford | | | Mr Taylor of Bifrons | | | Mr Le Grand of Ash | | | Sir John Hobby Mill of Bisham | | | Mr Billingsley | |

Some other gentlemen whom our author consulted, could not make their carrots worth anything: so that, on the whole, it appears a matter of the utmost doubt, if contradictory are the accounts, whether the culture of carrots be really attended with any profit or not. Thus Sir John Mill, by fattening hogs, makes £1. 6s. and Mr Stovin £1.; but others could not fatten hogs upon them at all; and some of Mr Young's neighbours told him, that carrots were good for nothing except to scour hogs to death. The experiment of Mr Le Grand upon wethers appeared to be made with the greatest accuracy; yet two circumstances seem to militate against it. 1. The sheep were put lean to them; whereas it is a fact well known, that if they are not half fat when put to turnips, no profit will result; and it is possible that the case may be the same with carrots. 2. He gave them also as much fine hay as they would eat.

In this uncertain state of the matter, the only thing New experiments can be done is to make a number of experiments with as much accuracy as possible, in order to ascertain the real value per ton: and our author endeavours to show, that there is no danger of losing much by experiments of this kind. "I have shown (says he), that they are to be cultivated for 4l. per acre, left on the ground for sheep. Suppose the crop only two bushels at 70lb. each per rood, 320 per acre, or ten tons; it will readily be agreed, that such a produce is very low to calculate upon, since 20 tons are common among carrot-cultivators. It appears from Mr Le Grand's experiments, that a wether worth £1. 5s. eats 16lb. of carrots, and four pounds of hay per day: dropping the hay, and calculating for sheep of less than half that size (which are much more common), it will be perhaps an ample allowance to assign them 12lb. of carrots a day. If they are, as they ought to be, half fat when put up, they will be completely fattened in 100 days. At this rate, 20 wethers will, in 100 days, eat 11 tons, or very little more than one moderate acre. Now, let it be remembered, that it is a good acre of turnips which will fatten eight such wethers, the common Norfolk calculation; Culture of calculation: from which it appears, that one acre of carrots is, for this purpose, of more value than two of turnips. Further, let us suppose horses fed with them instead of oats: to top, cart, and pack up, 10 tons of carrots, I know may be done for £28.—An acre therefore (other expenses included) costs £5. Fifty pounds weight of carrots are an ample allowance for a horse a day: ten tons, at that rate, last three bottles for five months. But this £5 laid out in oats at 16s. per quarter, will purchase little more than six quarters; which will last three horses, at two bushels each per week, no more than two months; a most enormous inferiority to the carrots.”

In the same volume, p. 187, Mr Young gives an account of another experiment made by himself on the feeding of lambs with carrots. The quantities they eat varied excessively at different times; thirty-five of them consumed from five to ten bushels per day; but on an average, he rates them at four bushels of 50 pounds per day. In all, they consumed 407 bushels from November to April, when they were sold and killed fat. At putting upon the carrots, the lambs were valued only at £8l. but were sold in April at 25l. 4s.; so that the value of the carrots was exactly 7l. 4s. or about 4d. per bushel. This price he supposes to be sufficient to induce any one to attempt the culture of carrots, as thus he would have a clear profit of 40s. per acre; “which (says he) is greater than can attend the best wheat crops in this kingdom.” The land on which the carrots grew was sown next year with barley, and produced the clearest in the parish; which contradicts an assertion our author had heard, that carrots make land foul. The grass upon which the sheep were fed with the carrots, and which amounted to about an acre, was very little improved for the crop of hay in 1781, owing to the dryness of the season; but in 1782 was greatly superior to the rest of the field, and more improved in quantity: “for, instead of an indifferent vegetation, scattered thick with the centaurea scabiosa, filago, rhinanthus, crista galli, and linum catharticum, with other plants of little value, it encouraged a very beautiful sheet of the best plants that can appear in a meadow, viz. the lathyrus pratensis, achillea millefolium, trifolium repens, trifolium ochroleucum, trifolium alpestre, and the plantago lanceolata.

In the same volume of the Bath papers, p. 227, Mr Billingley gives an account of the comparative profit of carrots and cabbages. Of the former, however, he obtained only seven tons, 15 cwt. per acre; the cabbages produced 36 tons: nevertheless, according to him, the profit of the former was £1. 8s.; of the latter, only £1. 11s. In a paper on the culture of carrots by Mr Kirby of Ipswich, vol. iii. p. 84, he informs us, that he never determined the weight of an acre, but reckons the produce from 200 to 500 bushels; which, at 56lb. to the bushel, is from five to ten tons and a half.

In the same volume, p. 320, the Rev. Mr Onley seems to prefer the culture of carrots to potatoes. “However valuable (says he), from ease of culture, and greatness of produce to the poor, especially in all small spots, I doubt, unless near great towns, whether on a farming plan, potatoes be so eligible as other herbage or roots, especially as carrots, which I cannot but admire (for my trials are too trivial to venture bolder language), deserve every encouragement, even on soils hitherto thought too heavy for them.—I am from experience convinced, that an acre of carrots will double in the particular quantum, of equally hearty provender, the product of an acre of oats; and from the nature of their vegetation, the nice mode of cultivation, and even of taking them up (all of which, expensive as they are, bear a very inferior proportion to the value of a medium crop), must leave the land, especially if taken off it in an early period, so mellow for the plough, as to form a feed-bed for barley equal to any fallow-tilth.”

Mr Onley’s deputation was a substitute for oats to feed horses; of which great numbers are kept in his county (Exeter). Potatoes, he observes, are excellent for small pork, when baked or boiled, mixed with a little barley meal; but for large hogs, they are most profitably given raw, if they have at the same time the slack of the barn door in thrashing season, &c. In the fifth volume he resumes the subject, and acquaints us, that he applied a single acre in his bean field to the culture of carrots, which generally produced 400 bushels; and this he considers as a small produce. “I am, however, sensible (says he) that they will amply repay every expense of the finest culture; and should, from their extensive utility on found, deep, and friable land, be everywhere attempted. Some of my neighbours, who have been induced to try them on rather a larger scale, with finer culture, and freer soil, have raised from 600 to 900 bushels per acre, and applied them more profitably, as well as more generally, than any other winter herbage, to deer, sheep, bullocks, cows, and horses. At the lowest calculation, from our little superior to trials, they are computed to exceed turnips in value turnips and one-third, as to quantity of food; but are far superior to what arises from convenience for the stable; where to us they seem to be a substitute for corn to all horses, at least such as are not used in any quick work; and partially so with corn for those that are.”

In making a comparison between the profit on oats and carrots, Mr Onley found the latter exceed by no less than 2l. 1s. 8d. per acre. His method of cultivation is to sow them in March or April; to hoe them three times, harrowing after each hoeing. Sometimes he left them in the ground till after Christmas, taking them up as wanted; but afterwards he took them up in October, in dry days, putting them directly into small upright cocks of 10 bushels each, covered entirely, with the tops cut off.—Thus they appear to dry better than in any other way, and bear the weather with very little loss. If, after being thus dried, they are carried into any barn or shed, it will be better, if they are in large quantities, not to pack them close, on account of the danger of heating, but rather to throw them promiscuously into heaps, with a little straw over them. When perfectly dry, they do not in general require any washing, except for horses regularly kept in the stable.

This root has been found to generally valuable as a substitute for grain in feeding horses, that its use in that way is rapidly spreading into various parts of the country. By the quantity of saccharine matter which it contains, it is probably rendered extremely rich and stimulating to the stomach of that delicate animal, so that a less quantity of it goes to waste than of any other food. We may remark that the gentleman already mentioned, Mr Onley, who had the merit of pressing Culture of particular Plants.

Pressing upon the public attention the importance and utility of this root, mentions a use to which we believe it is not unfrequently applied in the dairy. "In our dairies (says he) as many carrots are bruised before churning, as produce, squeezed through a cloth into as much cream as makes eight or ten pound of butter; an half pint of juice; this adds somewhat to the colour, richness, and flavour of winter butter; and we think, where hay is allowed besides, contributes much to counteracting the flavour from the feed of turnips. At present (our carrot feed being exhausted) from turnips and hay, with this juice, our butter is equal to that of the Epping dairies."

We may conclude by taking notice here of an advantageous mode of cultivating carrots by making use of them with a view to fit the ground in young plantations. It was adopted by Thomas Walford, Esq., of Birdbrooke, Essex, who gives the following account of it:—“It has been my constant practice for these last five years, wherever I make a plantation of firs, or deciduous trees, to sow the ground in the spring with carrots, which I have found not only pay part of my expences, and frequently the whole, but much more beneficial to the trees than any other method I had before adopted.

“When I make a plantation of deciduous trees, the ground is dug two spits deep in October, and planted immediately, leaving it in that state until the middle or latter end of March, or beginning of April; then, if necessary, chop it over with a hoe, and sow my carrots; if for firs, I do not dig the ground until March, at which time I plant my trees, and sow the carrots, having found my crop more luxuriant and productive upon ground fresh dug than that which was dug in the autumn.—I give for digging 8d per rod; hoe only twice; the produce is generally four bushels of clean carrots, which I sell at 6d. per bushel, the buyer to fetch them from their place of growth.

“The soil in some places, loose and hollow; the under stratum clay; in others a fine vegetable mould upon a red loam.

“I find in taking up the carrots, less damage is done to the young fibres of the trees, than by digging between them; for, it is impossible with the greatest care of your servants, not to cut off some of them by digging, and thereby injure the trees, besides leaving the ground in no better state than it is after carrots; for when the carrot is drawn, the cavity is filled immediately with loose mould, through which the young fibres will strike with great freedom, and very much accelerate the growth of the trees.”

4. Parsnips.

Parsnips have never in this country received from husbandmen the attention to which they are well entitled from the use with which they are cultivated, and the great quantity of saccharine or nourishing matter they are known to contain, which certainly abounds in them, in a much greater proportion than in almost any other vegetable with which we are at present acquainted.

To cultivate this root (says Mr Hazard) so as to make it advantageous to the farmer, it will be right to sow the seed in the autumn immediately after it is ripe; by which means the plants will appear early the following spring, and get strong before the weeds can rise to injure them. Neither the seeds nor young plants are ever materially injured by frosts; on which account, as well as many others, the autumn is preferable to the spring sowing. The best soil for them is Mr Hazard’s rich deep loam, and next to this sand. They will grow well in a black gritty soil, but not in stone, thod of culbrah, gravel, or clay; and they are always largest in the deepest earth. If the soil be proper, they do not require much manure. Mr Hazard obtained a very good crop for three years upon the same piece of ground without using any; but when he laid on about 40 cart loads of sand per acre upon a stiff loam, and ploughed it in, he found it answer very well; whence he concludes, that a mixture of soils may be proper for this root. The seed may be sown in drills at about 18 inches distance from one another, that the plants may be the more conveniently hand or horse hoed; and they will be more luxuriant if they undergo a second hoeing, and are carefully earthed, so as not to cover the leaves. Such as have not ground to spare, or cannot get it in proper condition in autumn, may at that time sow a plot in their garden, and transplant from thence in the latter end of April, or early in the month of May following. The plants must be carefully drawn, and the ground well pulverized by harrowing and rolling; after which a furrow should be opened with the plough, about six or eight inches deep, in which the plants should be regularly laid at the distance of about ten inches from each other, taking care not to let the root be bent, but for the plant to stand perpendicular after the earth is closed about it, which ought to be done immediately by means of persons who should for this purpose follow the planter with a hoe. Another furrow must be opened about 18 inches from the former, in the same direction, and planted as before; and so on in like manner until all the plants are deposited, or the field be completely cropped; and when the weeds appear, hoeing will be necessary, and it will afterwards be proper to earth them; but if the leaves of the plants be covered with earth, the roots will be injured. Parsnips ought not to be planted by dibbling, as the ground thus becomes too bound, as seldom to admit the small lateral fibres with which these roots abound to fix in the earth, by which they are prevented from expanding themselves, and never attain a proper size. When circumstances are properly attended to, there is little doubt that a crop of parsnips would answer much better than a crop of carrots. They are equal, if not superior, in fattening pigs, as they make their flesh whiter, and the animals themselves are more fond of these roots than of carrots. Horses eat them greedily when clean washed and sliced among bran, and thrive very well upon them; and black cattle are said likewise to approve of them.

Though parsnips are little used in Britain, they are highly esteemed in France. In Brittany they are thought, as food for cattle, to be little inferior to wheat; and cows fed with them are said to give as much milk, and of as good quality, as in the summer months. In the island of Jersey they have long been considered as of the highest importance; and as the mode of cultivating them there seems worthy of attention, we shall here give an account of it, from a paper transmitted by... Culture of the Agricultural Society of Jersey to the British Board of Agriculture.

"It is impossible, say these gentlemen, to trace the period when the cultivation of this plant was first introduced amongst us. It has been known for several centuries, and the inhabitants have reaped such benefit therefrom, that, for fattening their cattle and pigs, they prefer it to all the known roots of both hemispheres. The cattle fed therewith yield a juicy and exquisite meat. The pork and beef of Jersey are incontestably equal, if not superior, to the best in Europe. We have observed, that the beef in summer is not equal to that in the autumn, winter, and spring periods, when the cattle are fed with parsnips; which we attribute to the excellency of that root.

"All animals eat it with avidity, and in preference to potatoes. We are ignorant of the reason, having never made any analysis of the parsnip. It would be curious, interesting, and useful, to investigate its characteristic principles: it is certain that animals are more fond of it than of any other root, and fatten more quickly. The parsnip possesses, without doubt, more nutritious juices than the potato. It has been proved that the latter contains eleven ounces and a half of water, and one gros of earthy substance, French weight; therefore, there only remain four ounces and five gros of nutritive matter. Probably the parsnip does not contain so much watery particles; nevertheless, they digest very easily in the animal's body. The cows fed with hay and parsnips during winter yield butter of a fine yellow hue, of a saffron tinge, as excellent as if they had been in the most luxuriant pasture."

These gentlemen proceed to state, that, in the island of Jersey, parsnips are not cultivated alone, but along with beans, among which last pease are sometimes mixed. There are three modes of cultivation: 1st, With the spade; 2nd, With the plough and spade; and 3rd, With two ploughs, the one called the small and the other the great plough. This last method, as being the most economical and advantageous to the husbandman, is the only one described. In the month of September, a flight ploughing and preparation is sometimes given to the field destined for beans and parsnips in the ensuing year; but more generally the whole work is performed in high grounds about the middle of February, and in the middle of March in low land. A light plough cuts and turns the earth about four or five inches deep; then follows it a large plough constructed on purpose, and only used for this operation, which elevates the earth on the furrow laid open, and turns it over that which the small plough turned up. The essential point is to plough deep and to cover the clods over again.

The field thus prepared, is suffered to remain 15 days, after which it is very lightly harrowed. On the same day, or on the ensuing, the beans are planted in the following manner. Straight lines must be drawn from north to south with a gardeners rake at 4 feet distance. On these straight lines, 19 inches in breadth, women plant four or five beans in rows 4 inches distant from each other, or the beans are planted in double rows all over the field, at the usual depth, and 12 feet distance from each other, with the beans spaced out 18 inches from each other. When all this is done, the parsnips are sown in broad-cast over the field, after which it is well harrowed. In 15 days after, if the weather has been warm and rainy, or in three weeks if it has been cold and dry, the ground is harrowed again to cut up the weeds. In five or six weeks the beans shoot out, and the ground soon appears as if covered by hedges or laid out in paths for walking; for in the spaces between the lines where the beans were planted are as many alleys, where women and children weed with great facility. They generally weed the ground twice, and the operation is performed with a two-pronged fork, such as is used in gardens. The first weeding is performed at the end of April or beginning of May, when the plants must be cleared out if they are too thick. When the beans are ripe, which is in August or September, they are immediately plucked up, not to inconvenience the parsnips. The crop of beans is not always certain. If high winds or fogs prevail when they are in flower, the produce will be scanty; but the parsnips in a manner never fail. They neither dread the inclemency of the weather, nor are affected by the hardest frost, nor by any of those accidents which at times will instantly destroy a whole crop.

Parsnips grow till the end of September, but some give them to cattle they wish to fatten in the beginning of September. The people of these islands consider the parsnip as the most juicy and nutritious of all roots known. Its cultivation is an excellent preparation for wheat, which is sown there without manure after parsnips, and yields a plentiful crop. It must be observed, that though this cultivation of parsnips is expensive where the price of labour is high, no dung or manure is necessary either for the parsnips or the wheat. They reckon 30 perches of parsnips, with a little hay, will fatten an ox of three or four years old, though ever so lean; he eats them in the course of three months as follows: they are given at six in the morning, at noon, and at eight at night, in rations of 40lb. each; the largest are slit into three or four pieces; but not walked unless very much covered with earth. In the intermediate hours, at nine in the morning, two in the afternoon, and nine at night, a little hay is given. Experience has shown, that when cattle, pigs, or poultry, are fed with parsnips, they are sooner fattened and are more bulky than with any other root or vegetable whatever. The meat of such is most delicate and savoury. In spring the markets are furnished with the best and fattest beef from their feeding on parsnips. The crops of parsnips raised in Jersey and Guernsey are very great. On an extent of 1000 feet, the produce of a field of beans and parsnips is about 1200lb. weight of parsnips, Rouen measure, and thirty cabots or half bushels of beans, and three cabots and a half of pease; which altogether, according to the price at which these articles are actually sold there, amount to the sum of 256 livres French currency. The following information was also received from the president of the Jersey Society on 1st March 1796, viz. "Since writing concerning the crop of beans and parsnips together, we have found that an individual who cultivates parsnips without sowing either pease or beans along with them had a crop of 14,760lb. weight Rouen measure per vergee." The vergee is 40 perches in length and one perch in breadth.

III. Plants III. Plants cultivated for Leaves, or for both Leaves and Root.

1. Turnip-rooted Cabbage.

This plant may deservedly be reckoned next in value to the turnip itself. Its advantages, according to Sir Thomas Beevor, are, "that it affords food for cattle late in the spring, and resists mildew and frost, which sometimes destroy the common turnip;" whence he is of opinion that every farmer who cultivates the common turnip should always have part of his farm laid out in the cultivation of this root. The importance and value of turnip-rooted cabbages seem only to have been lately ascertained. In the Bath Society papers we have the following account of Sir Thomas Beevor's method of cultivating them; which from experience he found to be cheaper and better than any other.

"In the first or second week of June, I sow the same quantity of seed, hoe the plants at the same size, leave them at the same distance from each other, and treat them in all respects like the common turnip. In this method I have always obtained a plentiful crop of them; to ascertain the value of which I need only inform you, that on the 23rd day of April last, having then two acres left of my crop, found, and in great perfection, I divided them by fold hurdles into three parts of nearly equal dimensions. Into the first part I put 24 small bullocks of about 30 stone weight each (14lb. to the stone), and 30 middle-sized fat wethers, which, at the end of the first week, after they had eaten down the greater part of the leaves, and some part of the roots, I shifted into the second division, and then put 70 lean sheep into what was left of the first; these fed off the remainder of the turnips left by the fat stock; and so they were shifted through the three divisions, the lean flock following the fat as they wanted food, until the whole was consumed.

"The 24 bullocks and 30 fat wethers continued in the turnips until the 21st of May, being exactly four weeks; and the 70 lean sheep until the 29th, which is one day over four weeks; so that the two acres kept me 24 small bullocks and 110 sheep four weeks (not reckoning the overplus day of keeping the lean sheep); the value, at the rate of keeping at that season, cannot be estimated in any common year at less than 4d. a-week for each sheep, and 1s. 6d. per week for each bullock, which would amount together to the sum of £4l. 10s. 8d. for the two acres.

"You will hardly, I conceive, think I have fet the price of keeping the flock at too high a rate; it is beneath the price here in almost every spring, and in this last it would have cost double, could it have been procured; which was so far from being the case, that hundreds of sheep and lambs here were lost, and the rest greatly pinched, for want of food.

"You will observe, gentlemen, that in the valuation of the crop above mentioned I have claimed no allowance for the great benefit the farmer receives by being enabled to fatten his grass to get into a forward growth, nor for the superior quality of these turnips in fattening his stock; both which circumstances must stamp a new and a great additional value upon them. But as their continuance on the land may seem to be injurious to the succeeding crop, and indeed will deprive the farmer totally of either oats or barley; so to supply that loss I have always sown buck-wheat on the first earth upon the land from which the turnips were thus fed off; allowing one bushel of seed per acre, for which I commonly receive from five to six quarters per acre in return. And that I may not throw that part of my land out of the same course of tillage with the rest, I sow my clover or other grass seeds with the buck-wheat, in the same manner as with the oat or barley crops, and have always found as good a layer (ley) of it afterwards.

"Thus you see, that in providing a most incomparable vegetable food for cattle, in that season of the year in which the farmer is generally most distressed, and his cattle almost starved, a considerable profit may likewise be obtained, much beyond what is usually derived from his former practice, by the great produce and price of a crop raised at so easy an expense as that of buck-wheat, which with us sells commonly at the same price as barley, oftentimes more, and but very rarely for less.

"The land on which I have usually sown turnip-rooted cabbages is a dry mixed soil, worth 1s. per acre."

To the preceding account the Society have subjoined the following note: "Whether we regard the importance of the subject, or the clear and practical information which the foregoing letter conveys, it may be considered as truly interesting as any we have ever been favoured with: and therefore it is recommended Recommended in the strongest manner to farmers in general, that they adopt a mode of practice so decidedly ascertained to be by the Bath Society in a high degree judicious and profitable."

To raise the turnip-rooted cabbage for transplanting, the best method yet discovered is, to breast-plough and burn as much old pasture as may be judged necessary for the seed bed; two perches well stocked with plants will be sufficient to plant an acre. The land should be dug as shallow as possible, turning the ashes in; and the seed should be sown the beginning of April.

The land intended for the plantation to be cultivated and dugged as for the common turnip. About mid-summer (or sooner if the weather will permit) will be a proper time for planting, which is best done in the following manner: the land to be thrown into one-boutting ridges, upon the tops of which the plants are to be set, at about 18 inches distance from each other. As soon as the weeds rise, give a hand-hoeing; afterwards run the ploughs in the intervals, and fetch a furrow from each ridge, which, after laying a fortnight or three weeks, is again thrown back to the ridges; if the weeds rise again, it is necessary to give them another hand-hoeing.

If the young plants in the seed-bed should be attacked by the fly, sow wood-ashes over them when the dew is on, which will effectually prevent the ravages they would otherwise make.

In another letter from Sir Thomas Beevor, Bath Papers, vol. viii. p. 489, he expresses his hope that the turnip-rooted cabbages he had would last until he should have plenty of grass for all his stock. To make a comparative estimation of the quantity of food yielded by the turnip-rooted cabbage and the common turnip, he selected some of each kind, and having girdled common them with as much accuracy as possible; he found, that turnip. A turnip-rooted cabbage of 18 inches circumference weighed 5 lb., and a common turnip of the same size only 3½ lb.; on trying others, the general result was found to be in that proportion. Had they been weighed with the tops, the superiority of the turnip-rooted cabbage would have been greater, the tops of them being remarkably bulky. They were weighed in the month of March; but had this been done at Christmas, our author is of opinion that the difference would not have been so great; though he reckons this very circumstance of their continuing so long to afford a nourishing food, an influence of their excellency above almost every other vegetable whatever.

In the fourth volume of the same work, Sir Thomas gives an account of another experiment on five acres of turnip-rooted cabbage, four of which were eaten upon the field, the other was pulled up and carried to the stables and ox-houses. They were sown and cultivated as other turnips; the beasts were put to them on the 12th of April, and continued feeding upon them till the 11th of May. The cattle fed for this space of time were, 12 Scotch bullocks weighing 40 stone each; eight homebreds, two years old; fifteen cows full sized; 40 sheep; 18 horses; besides 40 store-hogs and pigs, which lived upon the broken pieces and offal, without any other allowance, for the whole four weeks. The whole value of the plant, exclusive of the feeding of the pigs, amounted, according to our author's calculation, to £18l.; and he says that the farmers would willingly give this sum in the spring for feeding as many cattle: "because it enables them to save the young shooting grafts (which is so frequently injured by the tread of the cattle in the frothy nights) until it gets to such a length and thickness as to be afterwards but little affected by the summer's drought. Besides this, the tops or leaves are in the spring much more abundant, and much better food than those of the common turnip, as already observed; and they continue in full perfection after all the common turnips are rotten or worthless.

The disadvantages attending the cultivation of turnip-rooted cabbages are, that they require a great deal of time and pains to take them up out of the ground, if they are to be carried off the field; and if fed where they grow, it requires almost an equal labour to take up the pieces left by the cattle. A great deal of earth is also taken up along with the root; and the substance of the latter is so firm and solid, that they must be cut in two in order to enable the cattle to eat them. To obviate some of these objections, it will be proper to sow the plants on rich and very light land; and as they are longer in coming to the hoe than the common turnip, it will be proper to sow them about the beginning of June.

In another experiment upon this plant by the same gentleman, the cabbages held out during the long and severe frost of 1788 without the least injury, though it destroyed three-fourths of all the common turnips in the neighbourhood. On the 21st of April 1789, the average produce of an acre was found to be somewhat more than 24½ tons, though the tops had not sprouted above three inches. Considering the precariousness of turnips and other crops, Sir Thomas is decidedly of opinion, that all farmers ought to have as many turnip-rooted cabbages as would afford and endure them a full provision for their cattle for about three or four weeks during the latter part of the spring. This quantity he reckons sufficient, as the consumption, particularly when drawn and carried off the land, is attended with more trouble and expense than that of common turnips, especially if the soil be wet and heavy. In another letter, dated May 3, 1790, Sir Thomas Beever once more sets forth the advantages of having a crop of these vegetables during the spring season. "In consequence (says he) of the very cold weather we have had here, the grass is but just springing; as the turnips are wholly eaten up, it occasions much distress among the farmers for want of some green vegetable food for their sheep and cattle; whereas, by the affluence of my turnip-rooted cabbages, I have abundance of the best and most nutritious food that can be found there." He then proceeds to recommend their culture "for the support of almost all live stock for the three last weeks of April, or first week of May, when the grass shoots late."

In the 4th volume of the Transactions of the Society for encouraging Arts, Mr. Robins, who received a premium for raising the greatest quantity of this plant, informs us, that the soil on which it grew was a fine braith, inclining to sand, not worth more than £10 per acre; the preparation the same as for turnips. The manure was a compost of earth and dung, which he finds to answer better than dung. The seed was sown about the beginning of April on a clean spot of ground; and he commonly uses an old pasture where the sheep-fold has been in the winter, after taking away the dung, and digging it very shallow; "as the roots of the young plants (says he) might soon reach the dung or salts, which must consequently be left, in order to force them out of the fly's way." These insects, our author observes, are extremely fond of the turnip-rooted cabbage; much more so, he believes, than of common turnips. About the middle of June they should be planted out upon one-bout ridges raised by a double plough made for the purpose. Seven thousand plants are sufficient for one acre; but if only six are used, the roots will be the larger.

To determine how many sheep might be kept upon an acre of turnip-rooted cabbage, our author shut up sheep fed 200 ewes with their lambs upon a piece of poor pasture by an acre of turnip-rooted cabbages. One ton was found sufficient for keeping them in sufficient health for a day. On giving them a larger piece of ground to run over, though it had been eaten all winter and late in the spring, yet, with this trifling affluence, 13 tons of turnip-cabbage were made to serve 18 days; at the end of which the ewes and lambs were found very much improved, which could not have been expected from four acres of turnips in the month of April, the time that these were fed.

From some trials made on the turnip-rooted cabbage at Cullen House in the north of Scotland, it appears that the plant is adapted to the climate of every part of our island. The first trial was made in the year 1784. The seeds were sown about the middle of March in garden ground properly prepared. The cabbages were transplanted about the middle of March that year into a dry light soil, well cleaned and dugged with rotten cow-dung, in rows three feet distant from each other, and at the distance of 20 inches in the Culture of the rows. They were kept very clean, and the earth particular was hoed up to the roots of the plants; by which means they were probably prevented from attaining the hardness they would otherwise have arrived at; though, after all, it was necessary to cut the roots in two before the sheep could eat them. When thus cut, the animals ate them greedily, and even preferred them to every other food. The roots continued good for at least a month after the common turnips were unfit for use: some of them weighed from eight to ten pounds, and a few of them more. Other trials have since been made; and it now appears that the plant will thrive very well with the ordinary culture of turnips in the open fields, and in the usual manner of sowing broad-cast. From a comparative trial made by the earl of Fife upon this root with some others, the quantities produced upon 100 square yards of ground were as follows:

| Common turnips | stone. lb. | |----------------|-----------| | Turnip-rooted cabbage | 92 4 | | Carrots | 88 0 | | Root of scarcity | 77 0 |

The turnip-rooted cabbage was planted in lines 20 inches asunder; the common turnips sown broad-cast, and hand-weeded, so that they came up very thick, being not more than three or four inches asunder when full grown. Two cows were fed for six weeks with the turnips, two with the turnip-rooted cabbage, and two with the root of scarcity for an equal time: the two fed with turnips gave most milk, and those with the root of scarcity the least. His lordship observes, however, that carrots thrive better on his farm than any other crop: that his horses had been fed on them at the rate of two pecks a-day, with no corn, and little more than half the usual quantity of hay. "They were kept at work every day from seven to eight hours, and were never in better order."

2. Swedish Turnip, or Roota Baga.

The roota baga, or Swedish turnip, is a plant from which great expectations have been formed. It is said to be hardier than the common turnip, and of greater sweetness and solidity. It also preserves its freshness and succulence till a very late period of its growth, even after it has produced seed; on account of which property it has been recommended to the notice of farmers as an excellent kind of succulent food for domestic animals in the spring of the year, when common turnips and most other winter crops have failed, and before grass has got up to furnish an abundant bite for feeding beasts. This peculiarity, so valuable, yet so singular as to have led many at first to doubt the fact, seems to be sufficiently ascertained by experiment. Dr. *The Bot., J. Anderlon* in particular informs us, that it "begins to send out its flower-stems in the spring, nearly about the same time with the common turnip; but that the root, in consequence of that change of state, suffers very little alteration. I continued to use these turnips at my table every day till towards the middle of May; and had I never gone into the garden myself, I should not even then have suspected, from the taste or appearance of the bulb itself, that it had been shot at all. The stems, however, at the season I gave over using them, were from four to five feet high, and in full flower. I should have continued the experiment longer, had not the quantity I had left for that purpose been exhausted, and a few only left for seed.

"This experiment, however, fully proves, that this kind of turnip may be employed as a succulent food for cattle till the middle of May at least, in an ordinary year; and I have not the smallest doubt but it will continue perfectly good for that purpose till the end of May in any season; at which time grass and other spring crops can easily be had for bringing beasts forward in flesh. I can therefore, without hesitation, recommend this plant to the farmer as a most valuable spring feeding for cattle and sheep; and for this purpose, I think no wise farmer should be without a proportion of this kind of turnip to succeed the other sorts after they fail. The profitable method of consuming it, where it is to be kept very late, is, I am convinced, to cut off the tops with a scythe or sickle when from one foot to eighteen inches high, to induce it to send out fresh stems, that will continue soft and succulent to the end; whereas, without this process, the stems would become sticky and useless.

"I cannot, however, recommend this kind of turnip, from what I have yet seen, as a general crop; because I think it probable, that unless in particular circumstances, the common field turnips grow to a much larger size, and afford upon the whole a more weighty crop. These, therefore, should still continue to be cultivated for winter use, the other being reserved only for spring consumption.

"Experiments are still wanting to ascertain with certainty the peculiar soil and culture that best agree with this plant; but from the few observations I have hitherto had an opportunity of making upon it, it seems to me probable, that it thrives better, and grows to a larger size on damp clayey soil, than on light sandy land. But I would not wish to be understood as here speaking positively; I merely throw it out as a hint for future observation: on spongey soil it prospers.

"Though the uses of this as a garden plant are of much smaller consequence than those above specified, it may not be improper to remark, that its leaves form a very sweet kind of greens at any time; and merely for the sake of the experiment, I caused some of these to be picked off the stems of the plants coming to feed, on the 4th of June, the king's birthday, which, on being readied, were found perfectly sweet, without the smallest tendency to bitterness, which most, if not all, other kinds of greens that have been hitherto cultivated are known to acquire after their stems are considerably advanced; no family, therefore, can ever be at a loss for greens when they have any of this plant in feed.

"A root of this kind of turnip was taken up this day (June 15); the feed-stalks were firm and woody, the pods full formed, and in some of them the seeds were nearly ripe. The root, however, was as soft and succulent as at any former period of its growth; nor was the skin, as I expected, hard or woody. It was made ready and brought to the table: some persons there thought the taste as good, if not better, than at any former period of its growth; but I myself, perhaps through prejudice, thought it had not quite so high a relish as in winter: At any rate, however, there Culture of the roota baga in Nottinghamshire.

This vegetable, from its obvious utility, is gradually coming to be much used in various quarters of the island. In the Agricultural Survey of Nottinghamshire, the following description of the modes in which it has been successfully cultivated, is well worthy of attention. "The roota baga, or Swedish turnip, is now cultivated by a few farmers in this district. It appears to be superior to the common turnip in many respects, particularly in hardiness, as it stood the last severe winter without the least injury. It is eaten with greediness by all animals, from the horse to the swine. Sheep prefer it to all others; but the material advantage that has been made of it, is the substituting it for corn in the food of draught horses; in which it has been found to answer the wish of every person who has yet tried it. The turnips are put into a tub or barrel, and cut small with an instrument like a hoe, with the blade put perpendicularly into the shaft; a man will cut in one hour as much as six horses can eat in twenty-four. The tops and bottoms are previously cut off and given to the pigs. Horses that are hard worked, look full as well when fed with this turnip and very little hay, as they formerly did when very high fed with corn. The Swedish turnip should be sowed early, from the 15th of May to the 10th of June."—The following information on the culture of the roota baga, is given in the same Survey upon the authority of J. Daiken, Esq. of Nottingham.

Mr Daiken, about the 10th of May 1794, sowed about four acres with the seed of roota baga, about 2 lbs. per acre, on good land land, worth 20s. an acre, manured as for turnips, and having been ploughed four or five times; the rest of the field, to the amount of nine acres in all, with common turnip and turnip-rooted cabbage, all broad-cast. They were not transplanted, but hoed out nine inches asunder, at three hoeings, at 7s. 6d. an acre; no other culture. In November, began to use them for horses, giving at first clover and rye-grass hay, oats and beans; but finding that the horses did well upon them, left off all corn, and continued them on hay and the roots only; fifteen were thus fed for about two months, were constantly hard worked, and preserved themselves in very good condition. Mr Daiken is so well convinced, that in this application they were worth 30l. an acre, that he would in future, if he could not get them otherwise, rather give that sum per acre for one or two acres, than not have them for this use. They lost their leaves entirely when the frosts set in; but the roots were not the least affected, though the common turnips in the same field were totally destroyed. Palfengers passing through the field, cut holes in them, which did not let the frosts injure them; nor were those hurt which were damaged by cattle biting them. Some came to the weight of 16 lbs. and Mr Daiken thinks the average of the crop 8 lbs. and much to exceed in tonnage per acre common turnips.

Mr Daiken gave them also to hogs, cattle and sheep. They are excellent for hogs; and sheep being let into the field before the common turnips were destroyed, gave so decided a preference to the roota baga, that they would not settle on the common turnips while the others were to be had.

The method of giving them to horses is to cut off the top-root, to with them, and to cut them roughly with a perpendicular hoe, and then given directly, without keeping them to dry. The horses ate them with avidity, and seemed even to prefer them to corn. Their qualities appear to be singular, as they bind horses instead of relaxing them as other roots do. One mare was kept entirely upon them and straw, worked every day, did well, and never looked better; this mare was more bound by them than the reit. They have a strong effect upon making the coats fine; and one or two affected by the grease, were cured by them, as they act as a strong diuretic. In this mode of application, one acre maintained fifteen about two months; and Mr Daiken is so well convinced of the utility of the plant, as well as many of his neighbours, that he intends, and they also, to increase the cultivation much.

Mr Daiken suspects there are two sorts of the roota baga, because some, upon cutting, are white within, but in general yellow; otherwise of the same external appearance. The yellow is the best.

3. Turnip Cabbage.

This plant is as yet but little known. The seed is said to have been brought from the Cape of Good Hope by Mr Hatting, where it is very common as well as in Holland. It has also had an existence in Britain for many years, though not generally known. It has a much greater affinity to the cabbage than to the turnip; and is very hardy, bearing the winter as well, if not better, than common broccoli, and may therefore be considered as a valuable acquisition to the kitchen garden as well as for cattle. The best time Method of for sowing it for the garden is the end of May or beginning of June, though none of the plants have ever been observed to run to feed though sown even too early. Even though sown in August at the cauliflower season, the greater part stood throughout the following summer, and did not feed till the second spring. The plants require nearly the same management with broccoli as to distance, transplanting, &c., and are usually most esteemed when young, and about the size of a moderate garden turnip; those sown in June will continue all winter. The bulb must be stripped clean of its thick fibrous rind; after which it may be used as a common turnip. The crown or sprout is very good, but especially in the spring, when they begin to run to feed. Mr Broughton, from whose account in the Bath Papers, vol. v. this article is taken, thinks that the turnip-cabbage is more nutritious than the common turnip. The largest bulb he measured was 23 inches circumference; but the thickness of the rind is so great, that some farmers imagined that the bulb would be too hard for sheep. The objection, however, was obviated by Mr Broughton, who gave some of the oldest and toughest bulbs to his sheep, and found that they not only penetrated through the rind, but even devoured the greatest part of it.

4. Cabbage.

The cabbage has been recommended by long experience. Culture of rience as an excellent food for cattle. Its uses as part of human food are also well known. It is therefore an interesting article in husbandry. It is easily raised, subject to few diseases, resists frosts 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 three feet. 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 digging for the plants.

If weeds happen to rise so 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 ridged 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.

In a paper already quoted from those of the Bath Society, Scots cabbages are compared, as to their utility in feeding cattle, with turnips, turnip-rooted cabbage, and carrots. In this trial the cabbages stand particular next in value to the carrots; and they are recommended as not liable to be affected by frost, if they be of the true flat-topped firm kind. Fifty-four tons have been raised upon an acre of ground not worth Quantity more than 12 shillings. There is likewise an advantage attending the feeding of cattle with cabbages, viz., that their dung is more in proportion than when fed with turnips or with hay; the former going off more by urine, and the latter having too little moisture. They also impoverish the ground much less than grain. Mr Billingfley accounts 46 tons per acre a greater crop than he ever read of; but Mr Vagg, in the fourth volume of Bath Papers, gives an account of a crop for which he received a premium from the Society, which was much superior to that of Mr Billingfley. Its extent was 12 acres; the produce of the worst was 42, and of the best 68 tons. They were manured with a compost of lime, weeds, and earth, that lay under the hedges round the field, and a layer of dung, all mixed and turned together. About 25 cart loads of this were spread upon an acre with the usual ploughing given to a common summer fallow; but for this, he says, "admitting such crop to exhaust the manure in some degree by its growth, an ample restoration will be made by its refuse ploughed in, and by the stirring and cleaning of the ground." The whole expense of an acre, exclusive of the rent, according to Mr Vagg's calculation, amounts to £1. 14s. 1d. only four ounces of feed being requisite for an acre. The 12 acres, producing as above mentioned, would feed 45 oxen, and upwards of 60 sheep, for three months; improving them as much as the grass in the best months of the year, May, June, and July. He recommends sowing the seed about the middle of August, and transplanting the young cabbages where they may be sheltered from the frost; and to the neglect of this he ascribes the partial failure, or at least inferiority of one part of his ground in the crop just mentioned, the young plants not being removed till near midsummer, and then in too dry a time, that they were almost scorched up.

In the Farmer's Magazine, vol. ii. p. 217, we have of water several pertinent remarks upon the culture of this useful plant, particularly with regard to watering. "It is a rule (says this correspondent) never to water the plants, let the season be as dry as it may; insinuating that it is entirely useless. If the land is in fine tilth and well dugged, this may be right, as the expense must be considerable; but it is probable, in very dry seasons, when the new set plants have nothing but a burning sun on them, that watering would have vast numbers, and might very well answer the expense, if a pond is near, and the work done with a water-cart." He takes notice also of another use of cabbages, which has not met with the attention it merits, viz., the planting of lands where turnips have failed. A late sown crop of these seldom turns to any account; but cabbages planted on the ground without any ploughing would prove very beneficial for sheep late in the spring; in all probability (unless on light, sandy, or limestone soils) of greater value than the turnips, had they succeeded.

Mr Marshall observes, that in the midland district, a valuable Culture of valuable sort of large green cabbage "is propagated, if not raised," by Mr Bakewell, who is not more celebrated for his breed of rams than for his breed of cabbages. Great care is observed here in raising the seed, being careful to suffer no other variety of the brassica tribe to blow near seed cabbages; by which means they are kept true to their kind. To this end, it is said that some plant them in a piece of wheat; a good method, provided the seed in that situation can be preserved from birds."

The advantage of having large cabbages is that of being able to plant them wide enough from each other, to admit of their being cleaned with the plough, and yet to afford a full crop. The proper distance depends in some measure on the natural size of the species and the strength of the soil; the thinner they stand, the larger they will grow: but our author is of opinion that cabbages, as well as turnips, are frequently set out too thin. Four feet by two and a half, according to Mr Marshall, are a full distance for large cabbages on a rich soil.

We think it of importance to take notice of the following mode of transplanting cabbages, or earthing them, as being consistent with the best mode of practice, and coming from the most respectable practical authority, Mr George Cully of Fenton. "We plant the cabbages, says he, not only in right lines but equidistant every way, so that we can plough between the rows, both long-ways and cross-ways; which, by loosening the earth to effectually on all sides, very much promotes their growth. But the matter I wished to inform you of, is the taking them up by the roots in the autumn whenever they have completed their growth, and putting them into the nearest stubble field you have, where a plough is ready to draw a straight furrow in the most convenient place; and at twenty yards distance, more or less, the ploughman makes another furrow parallel to the first. The cabbages are now turned out of the carts as conveniently as may be for a sufficient number of women to lay them along these furrows as close one to another as possible. The ploughman begins again where he first started, and turns a large furrow upon the cabbages which is trodden down and righted by one, two, or more as occasion requires, with each a spade in his hand to afflit where the plough has by chance or accident not thrown earth enough. Thus the work goes on till all is finished."

"We think we derive two advantages by the above process. In the first place, the cabbages keep sufficiently well through the winter in their new situation, while they do not draw or exhaust the land to much where they were growing: and, secondly, that land is at liberty to be sown with wheat as soon as cleared of the cabbages; which grain, in general, answers well after that green crop."

Cabbages and greens in general are apt to be infested by caterpillars. They may usually however be protected against those vermin by pulling off the large undermost leaves, which may be given to cows in the month of August, or when the common white butterflies begin to appear in numbers. These butterflies lay their eggs, which produce the cabbage caterpillar, on the under side of the largest leaves of the cabbage plants. There is also said to be another remedy. It consists of sowing beans among the cabbages, which will greatly prevent the breeding of these worms; for it is said that the butterflies have an antipathy to the flavour of beans.

5. The Root of Scarcity.

The racine de défeté, or root of scarcity (Betula), delights in a rich loamy land well dugged. It is the root directed to be sown in rows, or broad-cast, and as soon as the plants are of the size of a goose quill, to be transplanted in rows of 18 inches distance, and 18 inches apart, one plant from the other: care must be taken in the sowing, to sow very thin, and to cover the seed, which lies in the ground about a month, an inch only. In transplanting, the root is not to be shortened, but the leaves cut at the top; the plant is then to be planted with a setting stick, so that the upper part of the root shall appear about half an inch out of the ground: this last precaution is very necessary to be attended to. These plants will strike root in twenty-four hours, and a man a little accustomed to planting will plant with ease 1800 or 2000 a day. In the seed-bed, the plants, like all others, must be kept clear of weeds: when they are planted out, after once hoeing, they will take care of themselves, and suffocate every kind of weed near them.

The best time to sow the seed is from the beginning of March to the middle of April: it is, however, advised to continue sowing every month until the beginning of July, in order to have a succession of plants. Both leaves and roots have been extolled as excellent both for man and beast. This plant is said not to be liable, like the turnip, to be destroyed by insects; for no insect touches it, nor is it affected by excessive drought, or the changes of seasons. Horned cattle, horses, pigs, and poultry, are exceedingly fond of it when cut small. The leaves may be gathered every 12 or 15 days; they are from 30 to 40 inches long, by 22 to 25 inches broad. This plant is excellent for milch cows, when given to them in proper proportions, as it adds much to the quality as well as quantity of their milk; but care must be taken to proportion the leaves with other green food, otherwise it would abate the milk, and fatten them too much, it being of exceeding a fattening quality. To put all these properties beyond doubt, however, further experiments are wanting.

Sect. IV. Culture of Grasfs.

The latter end of August, or the beginning of September, is the best season for sowing grasfs seeds, as down fields there is time for the roots of the young plants to fix to grasfs themselves before the sharp frosts set in. It is scarce necessary to say, that moist weather is best for sowing; the earth being then warm, the seed will vegetate immediately; but if this season prove unfavourable, they will do very well the middle of March following.

If you would have fine pasture, never sow on foul land. On the contrary, plough it well, and clear it from the roots of couch-grasfs, reft-harrow, fern, broom, and all other noxious weeds. If these are suffered to remain, they will soon get above and destroy your young grasfs. Rake these up in heaps, and burn them on the land, and spread the ashes as a manure. These ploughings and harrowings should be repeated in dry weather. Culture of weather. And if the soil be clayey and wet, make some under-drains to carry off the water, which, if suffered to remain, will not only chill the grass, but make it sour. Before sowing, lay the land as level and fine as possible. If your grass seeds are clean (which should always be the case), three bushels will be sufficient per acre. When sown, harrow it in gently, and roll it in with a wooden roller. When it comes up, fill up all the bare spots by fresh feed, which, if rolled to fix it, will soon come up and overtake the rest.

In Norfolk they sow clover with their grasses, particularly with rye-grass; but this should not be done except when the land is designed for grass only three or four years, because neither of these kinds will last long in the land. Where you intend it for a continuance, it is better to mix only small white Dutch clover, or marl grass, with your other grass seed, and not more than eight pounds to an acre. These are abiding plants, spread close on the surface, and make the sweetest feed of any for cattle. In the following spring, root up thistles, hemlock, or any large plants that appear. The doing this while the ground is soft enough to permit your drawing them up by the roots, and before they feed, will save you infinite trouble afterwards.

The common method of proceeding in laying down fields to grass is extremely injudicious. Some sow barley with their grasses, which they suppose to be useful in shading them, without considering how much the corn draws away the nourishment from the land.

Others take their feeds from a foul hay rick; by which means, besides filling the land with rubbish and weeds, what they intend for dry feeds may have come from moist, where it grew naturally, and vice versa. The consequence is, that the ground, instead of being covered with a good thick layer, is filled with plants unnatural to it. The kinds of grass most eligible for pasture lands are, the annual meadow, creeping, and fine bent, the fox's tail, and the crested dog's tail, the poas, the fescues, the vernal oat-grass, and the ray or rye-grass. We do not, however, approve of sowing all these kinds together; for not to mention their ripening at different times, by which means you can never cut them all in perfection and full vigour, no kind of cattle are fond of all alike.

Horses will scarcely eat hay which oxen and cows will thrive upon; sheep are particularly fond of some kinds, and refuse others. The darnel-grass, if not cut before several of the other kinds are ripe, becomes so hard and wiry in the stalks, that few cattle care to eat it.

As the subject of pastures is very important, we shall first take notice of the general mode of improving ordinary pastures, and of the particular grass plants that ought to be cultivated in them. After which we shall mention the celebrated modern improvements upon grass lands, by flooding them artificially with water.

Pasture land is of such advantage to husbandry, that many prefer it even to corn land, because of the small hazard and labour that attends it; and as it lays the foundation for most of the profit that is expected from the arable land, because of the manure afforded by the cattle which are fed upon it. Pasture ground is of two sorts: the one is meadow land, which is often overflowed; and the other is upland, which lies high and dry. The first of these will produce a much greater quantity of hay than the latter, and will not require manuring or dressing so often; but then the hay produced on the upland is much preferable to the other; as is also the meat which is fed in the upland more valued than that which is fattened in rich meadows; though the latter will make the fatter and larger cattle, as is seen by those which are brought from the low rich lands in Lincolnshire. But where people are nice in their meat, they will give a much larger price for such as hath been fed on the downs, or in short upland pasture, than for the other, which is much larger. Besides this, dry pastures have an advantage over the meadows, that they may be fed all the winter, and are not so subject to poaching in wet weather; nor will there be so many bad weeds produced; which are great advantages, and do in a great measure recompense for the smallness of the crop.

The first improvement of upland pasture is, by fencing it, and dividing it into small fields of four, five, land pasture, eight, or ten acres each, planting timber trees in the hedge-rows, which will screen the grass from the dry pinching winds of March, which will prevent the grass from growing in large open lands; so that if April proves a dry month, the land produces very little hay; whereas in the sheltered fields, the grass will begin to grow early in March, and will cover the ground, and prevent the sun from parching the roots of the grass, whereby it will keep growing, so as to afford a tolerable crop if the spring should prove dry. But in fencing of land the inclosure must not be made too small, especially where the hedge-rows are planted with trees; because, when the trees are advanced to a considerable height, they will spread over the land; and where they are close, will render the grass too four, that instead of being of an advantage, it will greatly injure the pasture.

The next improvement of upland pasture is, to make the turf good, where, either from the badness of the soil, or for want of proper care, the grass hath been destroyed by rushes, bushes, or mole-hills. Where the surface of the land is clayey and cold, it may be improved by paring it off, and burning it; but if it is a hot sandy land, then chalk, lime, marl, or clay, are very proper manures to lay upon it; but these should be laid in pretty good quantities, otherwise they will be of little service to the land.

If the ground is overrun with bushes or rushes, it will be of great advantage to the land to grub them up towards the latter part of summer, and after they are dried to burn them, and spread the ashes over the ground just before the autumnal rains; at which time the surface of the land should be levelled, and sown with grass seed, which will come up in a short time, and make good grass the following spring. So also, when the land is full of mole-hills, these should be pared off, and either burnt for the ashes, or spread immediately on the ground when they are pared off, observing to sow the bare patches with grass seed just as the autumnal rains begin.

Where the land has been thus managed, it will be of great service to roll the turf in the months of February and March with a heavy wooden roller; always observing to do it in moist weather, that the roller may make an impression; this will render the surface level. Culture of level, and make it much easier to mow the grass than when the ground lies in hills; and will also cause the turf to thicken, so as to have what people usually term a good bottom. The grass likewise will be the sweeter for this husbandry, and it will be a great help to destroy bad weeds.

Another improvement of upland pastures is, the feeding of them; for where this is not practised, the land must be manured at least every third year; and where a farmer hath much arable land in his possession, he will not care to part with his manure to the pasture. Therefore every farmer should endeavour to proportion his pasture to his arable land, especially where manure is scarce, otherwise he will soon find his error; for the pasture is the foundation of all the profit which may arise from the arable land.

Whenever the upland pastures are mended by manure, there should be a regard had to the nature of the soil, and a proper sort of manure applied: as for instance, all hot sandy land should have a cold manure; neat's dung and swine's dung are very proper for such lands; but for cold lands, horse dung, ashes, and other warm manures, are proper. And when these are applied, it should be done in autumn, before the rains have soaked the ground, and rendered it too soft to carry on; and it should be carefully spread, breaking all the clods as small as possible, and then harrowed with bushes, to let it down to the roots of the grass. When the manure is laid on at this season, the rains in winter will wash it down, so that the following spring the grass will receive the advantage of it.

There should also be great care taken to destroy the weeds in the pasture every spring and autumn: for, where this is not practised, the weeds will ripen their seeds, which will spread over the ground, and thereby fill it with such a crop of weeds as will soon overbear the grass, and destroy it; and it will be very difficult to root them out after they have grown such possession, especially ragwort, and such other weeds as have down adhering to their seeds.

The grass which is sown in these upland pastures seldom degenerates, if the land is tolerably good; whereas the low meadows, on which water stagnates in winter, in a few years turn to a harsh ruffly grass, though the upland will continue a fine sweet grass for many years without renewing.

There is no part of husbandry of which the farmers are in general more ignorant than that of the pasture: most of them suppose, that when old pasture is ploughed up, it can never be brought to have a good sward again; so their common method of managing their land after ploughing, is to sow with their crop of barley some grass seeds as they call them; that is, either the red clover, which they intend to stand two years after the corn is taken off the ground, or rye-grass mixed with trefoil; but as all these are at most but biennial plants, whose roots decay soon after their seeds are perfected, to the ground, having no crop upon it, is again ploughed for corn; and this is the constant round which the lands are employed in by the better sort of farmers.

But whatever may have been the practice of these people, it is certainly possible to lay down lands which have been in tillage with grass, in such a manner as that the sward shall be as good, if not better, than any natural grass, and of as long duration. But this is never to be expected in the common method of sowing a crop of corn with the grass seeds; for, wherever this has been practised, if the corn has succeeded well, the grass has been very poor and weak; so that if the land has not been very good, the grass has scarcely been worth having; for the following year it has produced but little hay, and the year after the crop is worth little, either to mow or feed. Nor can it be expected to be otherwise, for the ground cannot nourish two crops; and if there were no deficiency in the land, yet the corn, being the first and most vigorous of growth, will keep the grass from making any considerable progress; so that the plants will be extremely weak, and but very thin, many of them which come up in the spring being destroyed by the corn; for wherever there are roots of corn, it cannot be expected there should be any grass. Therefore the grass must be thin; and if the land is not in good heart to supply the grass with nourishment, that the roots may branch out after the corn is gone, there cannot be any considerable crop of clover; and as their roots are biennial, many of the strongest plants will perish soon after they are cut; and the weak plants, which had made but little progress before, will be the principal part of the crop for the succeeding year; which is frequently not worth standing.

Therefore, when ground is laid down for grass, there should be no crop of any kind sown with the low upland feeds; or at least the crop should be sown very thin, and the land should be well ploughed and cleaned from weeds, otherwise the weeds will come up the first, and grow so strong as to overbear the grass, and if they are not pulled up, will entirely spoil it. The best season to sow the grass seeds upon dry land, when no other crop is sown with them, is about the middle of September or sooner, if there is an appearance of rain; for the ground being then warm, if there happen some good showers of rain after the seed is sown, the grass will soon make its appearance, and get sufficient rooting in the ground before winter; so will not be in danger of having the roots turned out of the ground by frost, especially if the ground is well rolled before the frost comes on, which will press it down, and fix the earth close to the roots. Where this hath not been practised, the frosts have often loosed the ground so much, as to let in the air to the roots of the grass, and done it great damage; and this has been brought as an objection to the autumnal sowing of grass; but it will be found to have no weight if the above direction is practised: nor is there any hazard of sowing the grass at this season, but that of dry weather after the seeds are sown; for if the grass comes up well, and the ground is well rolled in the end of October, or the beginning of November, and repeated again the beginning of March, the sward will be closely joined at bottom, and a good crop of hay may be expected the same summer. But where the ground cannot be prepared for sowing at that season, it may be performed the middle or latter end of March, according to the season's being early or late; for, in backward springs, and in cold land, we have often sowed the grass in the middle of April with success; but there is danger, in sowing late, of dry weather, and especially if the land is light and dry; for we have seen many times Culture of times the whole surface of the ground removed by strong winds at that season; so that the seeds have been driven in heaps to one side of the field. Therefore, whenever the seeds are sown late in the spring, it will be proper to roll the ground well soon after the seeds are sown, to settle the surface, and prevent its being removed.

The sorts of seeds which are the best for this purpose, are, the best sort of upland hay seeds, taken from the cleanest pastures, where there are no bad weeds; if this seed is fitted to clean it from rubbish, three bushels will be sufficient to sow an acre of land. The other sort is the *trifolium pratense album*, which is commonly known by the names white Dutch clover, or white honeyuckle grass. Eight pounds of this seed will be enough for one acre of land. The grass seed should be sown first, and then the Dutch clover seed may be afterwards sown; but they should not be mixed together, because the clover seeds being the heaviest will fall to the bottom, and consequently the ground will be unequally sown.

When the seeds are come up, if the land should produce many weeds, these should be drawn out before they grow so tall as to overbear the grass; for where this has been neglected, the weeds have taken such possession of the ground as to keep down the grass, and starve it; and when these weeds have been suffered to remain until they have shed their seeds, the land has been so plentifully stocked with them as entirely to destroy the grass; therefore it is one of the principal parts of husbandry never to suffer weeds to grow on the land.

If the ground is rolled two or three times at proper distances after the grass is up, it will press down the grass, and cause it to make a thicker bottom; for, as the Dutch clover will put out roots from every joint of the branches which are near the ground, so, by pressing down of the stalks, the roots will mat closely together, as to form a fward so thick as to cover the whole surface of the ground, and form a green carpet, and will better resist the drought. For if we do but examine the common pastures in summer, in most of which there are patches of this white honeyuckle grass growing naturally, we shall find these patches to be the only verdure remaining in the fields. And this, the farmers in general acknowledge, is the sweetest feed for all sorts of cattle; yet never had any notion of propagating it by seeds, nor has this been long practised in England.

As the white clover is an abiding plant, so it is certainly the very best sort to sow, where pastures are laid down to remain; for as the hay-seeds which are taken from the best pastures will be composed of various sorts of grass, some of which may be but annual, and others biennial; so, when those go off, there will be many and large patches of ground left bare and naked, if there is not a sufficient quantity of the white clover to spread over and cover the land. Therefore a good fward can never be expected where this is not sown; for in most of the natural pastures, we find this plant makes no small share of the fward; and it is equally good for wet and dry land, growing naturally upon gravel and clay in most parts of England: which is a plain indication how easily this plant may be cultivated to great advantage in most sorts of land throughout this kingdom.

Therefore the true cause why the land which has been in tillage is not brought to a good turf again, in the usual method of husbandry, is, from the farmers not distinguishing which grasses are annual from those which are perennial: for if annual or biennial grasses are sown, they will of course soon decay; so that, unless where some of their seeds may have ripened and fallen, nothing can be expected on the land but what will naturally come up. Therefore this, with the covetous method of laying down the ground with a crop of corn, has occasioned the general failure of increasing the pasture in many parts of Britain, where it is now much more valuable than any arable land.

After the ground has been sown in the manner before directed, and brought to a good fward, the way to preserve it good is, by constantly rolling the ground with a heavy roller, every spring and autumn, as hath been before directed. This piece of husbandry is rarely practised by farmers; but those who do, find their account in it, for it is of great benefit to the grass. Another thing should also be carefully performed, which is, to cut up docks, dandelion, knapweed, and all such bad weeds, by their roots every spring and autumn; this will increase the quantity of good grass, and preserve the pastures in beauty. Dressing of these pastures every third year is also a good piece of husbandry; for otherwise it cannot be expected the ground should continue to produce good crops. Besides this, it will be necessary to change the seasons of mowing, and not to mow the same ground every year, but to mow one season and feed the next; for where the ground is every year mown, it must be constantly dressed, as are most of the grass grounds near London, otherwise the ground will be soon exhausted.

Culmiferous grasses might be divided into two general classes for the purposes of the farmer, that it might be of use for him to attend to: viz. 1st, Those which, like the common annual kinds of corn, run chiefly to seed-stalks; the leaves gradually decaying as they advance towards perfection, and becoming totally withered or falling off entirely when the seeds are ripe. Rye-grass belongs to this class in the strictest sense. To it likewise may be assigned the vernal grass, dogs-tail grass, and fine bent grass. 2ndly, Those whose leaves continue to advance even after the seed-stalks are formed, and retain their verdure and succulence during the whole season, as is the case with the fescue and poa tribes of grasses, whose leaves are as green and succulent when the seeds are ripe and the flower-stalks fading, as at any other time.

"It is wonderful, Mr Stillingfleet remarks, to see how long mankind have neglected to make a proper use of plants of such importance, and which, in almost every country, are the chief food of cattle. The farmer, for want of distinguishing and selecting Culmiferous grasses for feed, fills his pastures either with weeds or negligence bad or improper grasses; when, by making a right of farmers' choice, after some trials, he might be sure of the best about the grass, and in the greatest abundance that his land admits of. At present, if a farmer wants to lay down grasses, his land to grass, what does he do? he either takes of his feeds indiscriminately from his own foul hay rack, or sends to his next neighbour for a supply. By this means, besides a certain mixture of all sorts of rubbish, which must necessarily happen, if he chances to have a large proportion of good feeds, it is not unlikely but that what he intends for dry land may come from moist, where it grew naturally, and the contrary. This is such a slovenly method of proceeding, as one would think could not possibly prevail universally: yet this is the case as to all grats except the darnel-grats, and what is known in some few counties by the name of the Suffolk-grats; and this latter instance is owing, I believe, more to the soil than any care of the husbandman. Now, would the farmer be at the pains of separating once in his life half a pint or a pint of the different kinds of grats feeds, and take care to sow them separately, in a very little time he would have wherewithal to stock his farm properly, according to the nature of each soil, and might at the same time spread these feeds separately over the nation, by supplying the feed shops. The number of grats fit for the farmer is, I believe, small; perhaps half a dozen or half a score are all he need to cultivate; and how small the trouble would be of such a task, and how great the benefit, must be obvious to every one at first sight. Would not any one be looked on as wild who should sow wheat, barley, oats, rye, peas, beans, vetches, buck-wheat, turnips, and weeds of all sorts together? yet how is it much less absurd to do what is equivalent in relation to grats? Does it not import the farmer to have good hay and grats in plenty? and will cattle thrive equally on all sorts of food? We know the contrary. Horses will scarcely eat hay that will do well enough for oxen and cows. Sheep are particularly fond of one sort of grats, and fatten upon it faster than any other, in Sweden, if we may give credit to Linnaeus. And may they not do the same in Britain? How shall we know till we have tried?"

The grats commonly sown for pasture, for hay, or to cut green for cattle, are red clover, white clover, yellow clover, rye-grats, narrow-leaved plantain, commonly called ribwort, fainfain, 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 peas, a great encourager of weeds by the shelter it affords them.

Here, as in all other crops, the goodness of seed is of importance. Choose plump feed 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 urine.

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 those of a garden rake, three inches long, and six inches aunder*. In harrowing, the man should walk behind *Plate with a rope in his hand fixed to the back part of the VIII.fig.7- 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 loole. It is a vulgar error, that small feed ought to be sparingly covered. Milled by that error, farmers commonly cover their clover feed with a bulky 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 feed. 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 grats. Grats feed cannot be sown too thick: the plants flutter one another; they retain all the dew; and they must push upward, having no room laterally. Observe the place where a lack of pease, or of other grain, has been let down for sowing: the feed dropt there accidentally grows more quickly than in the rest of the field sown thin out of hand. A young plant of clover, or of fainfain, 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 a item be, the more acceptable it is to cattle. It is often too thin; and when so, the items tend to wood.

Grain may be sown more safely with red clover than with almost any other grats; and the most common with proper grain has been found to be flax. The foil grain 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 to early as to give the clover time for growing. In a rich soil it has grown to fast, as to afford a good cutting that very year. Next to flax, barley is the best companion to clover. The soil must be loole 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 Culture of overtops it from the beginning. It cannot be sown along with oats, because of the hazard of frost; and when sown as usual among the oats three inches high, it is overtopped, 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 other grain; but this method, before losing a crop, is not salutary; because clover in its infant state requires shelter.

As to the quantity of grain proper to be sown with clover: In a rich soil well pulverized, a peck of barley on an English acre is all that ought to be ventured; but there is not much soil in Scotland so rich. Two Linlithgow furlots make the proper quantity for an acre that produces commonly six bushels of barley; half a furlot for what produces nine bushels. To those who are governed by custom, so small a quantity will be thought ridiculous. Let them only consider, that a rich soil in perfect good order, will from a single seed of barley produce 20 or 30 vigorous stems. People may flatter themselves with the remedy of cutting barley green for food, if it happen to oppress the clover. This is an excellent remedy in a field of an acre or two; but the cutting an extensive field for food must be slow; and while one part is cutting, the clover is smothered in other parts.

The culture of white clover, of yellow clover, of ribwort, of rye-grafts, is the same in general with that of red clover. We proceed to their peculiarities. Yellow clover, ribwort, rye-grafts, are all of them early plants, blooming in the end of April or beginning of May. The two latter are evergreens, and therefore excellent for winter pasture. Rye-grafts are less hurt by frost than any of the clovers, and will thrive in a moister soil: nor in that soil is it much affected by drought. In a rich soil, it grows four feet high: even in the dry summer 1775, it rose to three feet eight inches; but it had gained that height before the drought came on. These grafts are generally sown with red clover for producing a plentiful crop. The proportion of feed is arbitrary; and there is little danger of too much. When rye-grafts is sown for procuring feed, five furlots wheat measure may be sown on an acre; and for procuring feed of ribwort, 40 pounds may be sown. The roots of rye-grafts spread horizontally: they bind the soil by their number; and though small, are yet so vigorous as to thrive in hard soil. Red clover has a large tap-root, which cannot penetrate any soil but what is open and free; and the largeness of the root makes the soil still more open and free. Rye-grafts, once a great favourite, appears to be discarded in many parts of Britain. The common practice has been, to sow it with red clover, and to cut them promiscuously the beginning of June for green food, and a little later for hay. This indeed is the proper season for cutting red clover, because at that time the feed of the rye-grafts is approaching to maturity, its growth is stopped for that year, as much as of oats or barley cut after the feed is ripe. Oats or barley cut green before the feed forms, will afford two other cuttings; which is the case of rye-grafts, of yellow clover, and of ribwort. By such management, all the profit will be drawn that these plants can afford.

When red clover is intended for feed, the ground ought to be cleared of weeds, were it for no other purpose than that the feed cannot otherwise be preserved pure: what weeds escape the plough ought to be taken out by the hand. In England, when a crop of seed is intended, the clover is always first cut for hay. This appears to be done, as in fruit trees, to check the growth of the wood, in order to encourage the fruit. 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 feed is ripe when, upon rubbing it between the hands, it parts readily from the husk. 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 fleecy. Another way, less subject to risk, is to stack the dry hay, and to thresh it in the end of April. After the first threshing, expose the husks to the sun, and thresh them over and over till no seed remain. Nothing is more efficacious than a hot sun to make the husk part with its feed; in which view it may be exposed to the sun by parcels, an hour or two before the hall is applied.

White clover, intended for seed, is managed in the same manner. No plant ought to be mixed with rye-grafts that is intended for seed. In Scotland, much rye-graft seed is hurt by transgressing that rule. The feed is ripe when it parts easily with the husk. 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-grafts 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-grafts on the moist ground, for it makes the seed malten. The sheaves, when sufficiently dry, are carried in 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 weight or so is threshed. Carry the threshing board to the place where another rick is intended; and go on till the whole feed be threshed, and the straw ricked. There is necessity for close carts to save the feed, 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 feed in sacks to the granary or barn, there to be separated from the husks by a fanner. Spread the feed 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.

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 when it thrives well, receives a great part of its nourishment from below the surface of the soil; of course, a deep dry 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 trown thin. The best method of doing this is by a drill; because, when trown 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 stock 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 trown 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 drilled in 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 six 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 assure 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 M. Lunin de Chateauneuf, 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 pull out large roots in a flopping 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 overstocked 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.

In England, as the roots strike deep in that chalky soil, this plant is not liable to be so much injured by drought as other grasses are, whose fibres strike horizontally, and lie near the surface. The quantity of hay produced is greater and better in quality than any other. But there is one advantage attending this grass, which renders it superior to any other; and that arises from feeding with it milch cows. The prodigious increase of milk which it makes is astonishing, being nearly double that produced by any other green food. The milk is also better, and yields more cream than any other; and the butter procured from it is much better coloured and flavoured.

The following remarks by an English farmer are made from much experience and observation.

Sainfoin is much cultivated in those parts where the soil is of a chalky kind. It will always succeed on the well-drained land where the roots run deep; the worst soil of all for sainfoin is where there is a bed of cold wet clay, which the tender fibres cannot penetrate. This plant will make a greater increase of produce, by at least 30 times, than common grass or turf on poor land. Where it meets with chalk or stone, it will extend its roots through the cracks and chinks to a very great depth in search of nourishment. The dryness is of more consequence than the richness of land for sainfoin; although land that is both dry and rich will always produce the largest crops.

It is very commonly trown broad-cast; but it is found to answer best in drills, especially if the land be made fine by repeated ploughing, rolling, and harrowing. Much depends on the depth at which this feed is trown. If it be buried more than an inch deep, it will seldom grow; and if left uncovered, it will push out its roots above ground, and these will be killed by the air. March and the beginning of April are the best seasons for sowing it, as the severity of winter and the drought of summer are equally unfavourable to the young plants. A bushel of seed trown broad-cast, or half that quantity in drills, if good, is sufficient for an acre. The drills should be 30 inches apart, to admit of horse-hoeing between them. Much, however, depends on the goodness of the seed, which may be best judged of by the following marks:

The hull being of a bright colour, the kernel plump, of a gray or bluish colour without, and if cut across, greenish and fresh withinside; if it be thin and narrow, and of a yellowish cast, it will seldom grow. When the plants stand single, and have room to spread, they produce the greatest quantity of herbage, and the seed ripens best. But farmers in general, from a mistaken notion of all that appears to be waste ground being unprofitable, plant them so close, that they choke and impoverish each other, and often die in a few years. Single plants run deepest and draw most nourishment; they are also easiest kept free from weeds. A single plant will often produce half a pound of hay, when dry. On rich land this plant will yield two good crops in a year, with a moderate share of culture. A good crop must not be expected the first year; but, if the plants stand not too thick, they will increase in size the second year prodigiously.

No cattle should be turned on the field the first winter after the corn is off with which it was trown, as their feet would injure the young plants. Sheep should not come on the following summer, because they would bite off the crown of the plants, and prevent their shooting again. A small quantity of soakers ashes as a top-dressing will be of great service, if laid on the first winter. If the fainfain be cut just before it comes into bloom, it is admirable food for horned cattle; and if cut thus early, it will yield a second crop the same fainfain. But if it proves a wet fainfain, it is better to let it stand till its bloom be perfected; for great care must be taken, in making it into hay, that the flowers do not drop off, as cows are very fond of them; and it requires more time than any other hay in drying. Fainfain is so excellent a fodder for horses, that they require no oats while they eat it, although they be worked hard all the time. Sheep will also be fattened with it faster than with any other food.

If the whole fainfain for cutting proves very rainy, it is better to let the crop stand for seed, as that will amply repay the loss of the hay; because it will not only fetch a good price, but a peck of it will go as far as a peck and a half of oats for horses.

The best time of cutting the feeded fainfain is, when the greatest part of the feed is well filled, the first brown ripe, and the last brown beginning to open. For want of this care some people have lost most of their feed by letting it stand too ripe. Seeded fainfain should always be cut in a morning or evening, when the dews render the stalks tender. If cut when the sun shines hot, much of the feed will fall out and be lost.

An acre of very ordinary land, when improved by this grass, will maintain four cows very well from the first of April to the end of November; and afford, besides, a sufficient store of hay to make the greater part of their food the four months following.

If the soil be tolerably good, a field of fainfain will last from 15 to 20 years in prime; but at the end of seven or eight years, it will be necessary to lay on a moderate coat of well-rotted dung; or, if the soil be very light and sandy, of marl. By this means the future crops, and the duration of the plants in health and vigour, will be greatly increased and prolonged. Hence it will appear, that for poor land there is nothing equal to this grass in point of advantage to the farmer.

Clover will last only two years in perfection; and often, if the soil be cold and moist, near half the plants will rot, and bald patches be found in every part of the field the second year. Besides, from our frequent rains during the month of September, many crops left for feeding are lost. But from the quantity and excellent quality of this grass (fainfain), and its ripening earlier, and continuing in vigour for much longer, much risk and certain expense are avoided, and a large annual profit accrues to the farmer.

The writers on agriculture, ancient as well as modern, bestow 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 feed 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 so hard, and the turf so strong, that it destroys the lucerne before the plants have arrived at their greatest perfection: so that lucerne can scarcely be cultivated with success there, unless some method be fallen upon of destroying the natural grass, and preventing 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 any thing 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, 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. M. 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 apart, 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 apart, 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 stick, 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 Culture of 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.

Burnet is peculiarly adapted to poor land; besides, it proves an excellent winter-pasture when hardly anything else vegetates. Other advantages are, it makes good butter; it never blows or swells cattle; it is fine pasture for sheep; and will flourish well on poor, light, sandy, or stony soils, or even on dry chalk hills.

The cultivation of it is neither hazardous nor expensive. If the land is prepared as is generally done for turnips, there is no danger of its failing. After the first year, it will be attended with very little expense, as the flat circular spread of its leaves will keep down, or prevent the growth of weeds.

On the failure of turnips, either from the fly or the black worm, some of our farmers have sown the land with burnet, and in March following had a fine pasture for their sheep and lambs. It will perfect its seed twice in a summer; and this feed is said to be as good as oats for horses; but it is too valuable to be applied to that use.

It is sometimes sown late in the spring with oats and barley, and succeeds very well; but it is best to sow it singly in the beginning of July, when there is a prospect of rain, on a small piece of land, and in October following transplant it in rows two feet apart, and about a foot distant in the rows. This is a proper distance, and gives opportunity for hoeing the intervals in the succeeding spring and summer.

After it is fed down with cattle, it should be harrowed clean. Some horses will not eat it freely at first, but in two or three days they are generally very fond of it. It affords rich pleasant milk, and in great plenty.

A gentleman farmer near Maldon, some years since, sowed four acres as soon as the crop of oats was got off, which was the latter end of August. He threw in 12 pounds of seed per acre, broad-cast; and no rain falling until the middle of September, the plants did not appear before the latter end of that month. There was however a good crop; and in the spring he set the plants out with a turnip hoe, leaving them about a foot distant from each other. But the drill method is preferable, as it saves more than half the seed. The land was a poor dry gravel, not worth three shillings an acre for anything else.

The feverish froth never injures this plant; and the oftener it is fed the thicker are its leaves, which spring constantly from its root.

We shall here enumerate a few more of the grasses which have been accounted valuable, or are likely to become so.

*Alopecurus bulbosus*, Bulbous Foxtail-grass, is recommended by Dr. Anderson *, as promising on some occasions to afford a valuable pasture-grass. It seems chiefly, he observes, to delight in a moist soil, and therefore promises to be only fit for a meadow pasture-grass. The quality that first recommended it to his notice, was the unusual firmness that its matted roots gave to the surface of the ground, naturally soft and culture of moist, in which it grew; which seemed to promise that it might be of use upon such soils, chiefly in preventing them from being much poached by the feet of cattle which might pasture upon them. Moist soils especially are so much hurt by poaching, that anything that promises to be of use in preventing it deserves to be attended to.

*Poa pratensis*, Great Meadow-grass, seems to approach in many respects to the nature of the purple dows-grass; only that its leaves are broader, and not near so long, being only about a foot or 16 inches at their greatest length. Like it, it produces few seed stalks and many leaves, and is an abiding plant. It affects chiefly the dry parts of meadows, though it is to be found on most good pastures. It is very retentive of its seeds, and may therefore be suffered to remain till the stalks are quite dry. It blooms the beginning of June, and its seeds are ripe in July.

*Poa compressa*, Creeping Meadow-grass, according to Dr. Anderson, seems to be the most valuable meadow-grass of any of this genus. Its leaves are firm and succulent, of a dark Saxon-green colour; and grow so close upon one another, as to form the richest pile of pasture-grass. The flower-stalks, if suffered to grow, appear in sufficient quantities; but the growth of these does not prevent the growth of the leaves, both advancing together during the whole summer; and when the stalks fade, the leaves continue as green as before. Its leaves are much larger and more abundant than the common meadow-grass, *poa trivialis*; and therefore it better deserves to be cultivated.

*Anthoxanthum odoratum*, Vernal Grass, grows very commonly on dry hills, and likewise on found grass-rich meadow-land. It is one of the earliest grasses we have; and from its being found on such kinds of pastures as sheep are fond of, and from whence excellent mutton comes, it is most likely to be a good grass for sheep pastures. It gives a grateful odour to hay. In one respect, it is very easy to gather, as it sheds its seeds upon the least rubbing. A correspondent of the Bath Society, however, mentions a difficulty that occurs in collecting them, owing to its being surrounded with taller grasses at the time of its ripening, and being almost hid among them. If it be not carefully watched when nearly ripe, he observes, and gathered within a few days after it comes to maturity, great part of the seed will be lost. The twisted elastic awns, which adhere to the seed, lift them out of their receptacles with the least motion from the wind, even while the straw and ear remain quite erect. It is found mostly in the moist parts of meadows; very little of it on dry pastures. It flowers about the beginning of May, and is ripe about the middle of June.

*Cynosurus cristatus*, Crested Dog's-tail Grass. Mr. Stillingfleet imagines this grass to be proper for dog's-tail parks, from his having known one, where it abounds, that is famous for excellent venison. He recommends it also, from experience, as good for sheep; the best mutton he ever tasted, next to that which comes from hills where the purple and sheep's fescue, the fine bent, and the silver hair grasses abound, having been from sheep fed with it. He adds, that it makes a very fine turf upon dry sandy or chalky soils; but unless swept over with the scythe, its flowering-flaws will look brown; Culture of brown; which is the case of all grasses which are not fed on by variety of animals. For that some animals will eat the flowering stems is evident from commons, where scarcely any parts of grasses appear but the radical leaves. This grass is said to be the easiest of the whole group to collect a quantity of seed from. It flowers in June, and is ripe in July.

**Cocks-tail, or feather grass.**

*Stipa pennata, Cock's-Tail, or Feather Grass.*

*Agrostis capillaris, Fine Bent,* is recommended by Mr Stillingfleet, from his having always found it in great plenty on the best sheep pastures, in the different counties of England that are remarkable for good mutton. This grass flowers and ripens its seed the latest of them all. It seems to be lost the former part of the year, but vegetates luxuriantly towards the autumn. It appears to be fond of moist ground. It retains its seed till full ripe; flowers the latter end of July, and is ripe the latter end of August.

**Mountain hair.**

*Arrera flexuosa, Mountain Hair.*

*—caryophyllina, Silver Hair.*

The same may be said of these two grasses as of the preceding one.

**Festuca fluitans, Flote Fescue.** In a piece published in the *Annales Academiae*, vol. iii. entitled *Plante Efcultae*, we are informed, that "the seeds of this grass are gathered yearly in Poland, and from thence carried into Germany, and sometimes into Sweden, and sold under the name of *manna feeds*." These are much used at the tables of the great, on account of their nourishing quality and agreeable taste. It is wonderful (adds the author), that amongst us these feeds have hitherto been neglected, since they are so easily collected and cleansed." There is a clamminess on the ear of the flote fescue, when the seeds are ripe, that tastes like honey; and for this reason perhaps they are called *manna feeds*.

Linnaeus (*Flor. Suec.* art. 95.) says that the bran of this grass will cure horses troubled with botfly, if kept from drinking for some hours.

Concerning this grass we have the following information by Mr Stillingfleet. "Mr Dean, a very sensible farmer at Rufford, Berkshire, assured me that a field, always lying under water, of about four acres, that was occupied by his father when he was a boy, was covered with a kind of grass, that maintained five farm horses in good heart from April to the end of harvest, without giving them any other kind of food, and that it yielded more than they could eat. He, at my desire, brought me some of the grass, which proved to be the flote fescue with a mixture of the marsh bent; whether this last contributes much towards furnishing so good pasture for horses, I cannot say. They both throw out roots at the joints of the stalks, and therefore are likely to grow to a great length. In the index of dubious plants at the end of Ray's Synopsis, there is mention made of a grass under the name of *gramen caninum, supinum longissimum*, growing not far from Salisbury, 24 feet long. This must by its length be a grass with a creeping stalk; and that there is a grass in Wiltshire growing in watery meadows, so valuable that an acre of it lets for 10 to 12 pounds, I have been informed by several persons. These circumstances incline me to think it must be the flote fescue; but whatever grass it be, it certainly must deserve to be inquired after."

**Alopecurus pratensis, Meadow Foxtail.** Linnaeus says that this is a proper grass to sow on grounds that have been drained. Mr Stillingfleet was informed, that the best hay which comes to London is from the meadows where this grass abounds. It is scarce in most parts of England, particularly Herefordshire, Berkshire, and Norfolk. It might be gathered at almost any time of the year from hay-ricks, as it does not shed its seeds without rubbing, which is the case of but few grasses. It is among the most grateful of all grasses to cattle. It is ripe about the latter end of June.

**Poaa annua, Annual Meadow Grass.** "This Annual grass (says Mr Stillingfleet) makes the finest of turfs, meadow. It grows everywhere by way sides, and on rich found grass commons. It is called in some parts the *Suffolk grass*. I have seen whole fields of it in High Suffolk without any mixture of other grasses; and as some of the best butter we have in London comes from that county, it is most likely to be the best grass for the dairy. I have seen a whole park in Suffolk covered with this grass; but whether it affords good venison, I cannot tell, having never tasted of any from it. I should rather think not, and that the best pasture for sheep is also the best for deer. However, this wants trial. I remarked at Malvern-hill something particular in relation to this grass. A walk that was made there for the convenience of the water-drinkers, in less than a year was covered in many places with it, though I could not find one single plant of it besides in any part of the hill. This was no doubt owing to the frequent treading, which above all things makes this grass flourish; and therefore it is evident that rolling must be very serviceable to it. It has been objected, that this grass is not free from *bents*, by which word is meant the flowering-stems. I answer, that this is most certainly true, and that there is no grass without them. But the flowers and stems do not grow so soon brown as those of other grasses; and being much shorter, they do not cover the radical leaves so much; and therefore this grass affords a more agreeable turf without mowing than any other whatever that I know of." The seeds of this species drop off before they are dry, and to appearance, before they are ripe. The utmost care is therefore necessary in gathering the blades, without which very few of the seeds will be saved. It ripens from the middle of April, to too late, it is believed, as the end of October; but mostly disappears in the middle of the summer. It grows in any soil and situation, but rather affects the shade.

A new grass from America (named *Agrostis cornucopiae*), was some time ago much advertised and extolled, as possessing the most wonderful qualities, and the seeds of it were sold at the enormous rate of 68l. the bushel. But we have not heard that it has at all answered expectation. On the contrary, we are informed by Dr Anderson, in one of his publications*, that "it has upon trial been found to be good for nothing. Of the feeds sown, few of them ever germinated; but enough of plants made their appearance, to ascertain, that the grass, in respect of quality, is among the poorest of the tribe; and that it is an annual plant, and altogether unprofitable to the farmer."

**Chicorium Intybus, Chicory.**

Mr Arthur Young has anxiously endeavoured to diffuse a knowledge of this plant, and he appears to have Culture of have been the first person that introduced it into the agriculture of England from France, where it grows naturally on the sides of the roads and paths, and is sometimes cultivated as a fallow. When it has been sown by itself, in ground prepared by good tillage, it has yielded two crops the same year. When sown amongst oats, no crop is expected till the following year. This plant defies the greatest droughts, and resists every storm. Being of very early growth, its first leaves, which are large and tufted, spread widely, and cover the ground so as to retain the moisture and preserve its roots from the heat which so often dries up every other vegetable production; it has not any thing to fear from storms, for its thick and stiff stalks support themselves against the winds and heaviest rains. The most severe cold and frosts cannot injure it. The quickness of its growth, above all, renders it most valuable, because it furnishes an abundance of palatable fodder in a season, when the cattle, disquieted with their dry winter food, greedily devour fresh plants.

This plant is greedily eaten by all sorts of cattle, but it is difficult to make into hay. It is very voluminous, and dries ill, unless the weather be very favourable for it. The dry fodder, however, which it does yield, is eaten with pleasure by the cattle. The following is the result of an experiment made with it by Mr Young upon an acre of ground sown April 1788.

| Produce of the year of sowing | |-------------------------------| | Cut July 24, | 9 10 | | October 17, | 9 14 | | Produce of the second year | | 1789. Cut May 21, | 12 11 | | July 24, | 16 4 | | December 3, | 9 14 | | Produce of the third year | | 1790. Cut June 8, | 18 15 | | August 15, | 19 9 |

The following English grasses are recommended to attention by Mr Curtis, author of the Flora Londinensis; and he has given directions for making experiments with grass seeds in small quantities.

"**Avena elatior**, tall oat-grass; common in wet meadows, and by the sides of hedges, early, and very productive, but coarse."

"**Avena flavescens**, yellow oat-grass; affects a dry soil, is early and productive, bids fair to make a good sheep pasture."

"**Avena pubescens**, rough oat-grass; soil and situation nearly similar to that of the meadow fescue, hardy, early, and productive."

"**Bromus erectus**, upright broom-grass; peculiar to chalky soils; early and productive; promises to be a good grass for chalky lands, and thrives indeed very well on others."

"**Cynosurus caeruleus**, blue dogs-tail grass; earliest of all the grasses; grows naturally on the tops of the highest limestone rocks in the northern part of Great Britain; not very productive, yet may perhaps answer in certain situations, especially as a grass for sheep: bears the drought of summer remarkably well: at all events seems more likely to answer than the *Festuca falcata* grass, on which such encomiums have, most unjustly, been lavished."

"**Dactylis glomerata**, rough cock's-foot grass; a rough coarse grass, but extremely hard and productive: soil and situation the same as the meadow fescue grass."

"**Festuca elatior**, tall fescue grass; tall and coarse, tall fescue but very productive; affects wet situations."

"**Festuca durispica**, hard fescue grass; affects such situations as the smooth-flaked meadow grass; is early and tolerably productive: its foliage is fine, and of a beautiful green; hence we have sometimes thought it was of all others the fittest for a grass-plot or bowling-green; but we have found, that though it thrives very much when first sown or planted, it is apt to become thin, and die away after a while."

"**Phleum pratense**, meadow cats-tail grass; affects Meadow wet situations; is very productive, but coarse and late." cats-tail grass.

To sow grass seeds in small quantities, this author gives the following directions:

"If a piece of ground can be had, that is neither rules for very moist nor very dry, it will answer for several sorts making of feed: they may then be sown on one spot; but if experiments such a piece cannot be obtained, they must be sown on feeds, separate spots according to their respective qualities, no matter whether in a garden, a nursery, or a field, provided it be well secured and clean. Dig up the ground, level and rake it, then sow each kind of seed thinly in a separate row, each row about a foot apart, and cover them over lightly with the earth; the latter end of August or beginning of September will be the most proper time for this business. If the weather be not uncommonly dry the seeds will quickly vegetate, and the only attention they will require will be to be carefully weeded. In about a fortnight from their coming up, such of the plants as grow thickly together may be thinned, and those which are taken up transplanted so as to make more rows of the same grass.

"If the winter should be very severe, though natives, as seedlings, they may receive injury; therefore it will not be amiss to protect them with mats, fern, or by some other contrivance.

"Advantage should be taken of the first dry weather in the spring, to roll or tread them down, in order to fasten their roots in the earth, which the frost generally loosens: care must still be taken to keep them perfectly clear from weeds. As the spring advances, many of them will throw up their flowering stems, and some of them will continue to do so all the summer. As the seed in each spike or panicle ripens, it must be very carefully gathered and sown in the autumn, at which time the roots of the original plants, which will now bear separating, should be divided, and transplanted, so as to form more rows; the roots of the smooth-flaked meadow-grass, in particular, creeping like couch-grass, may readily be increased in this way; and thus by degrees a large plantation of these grasses may be formed and much seed collected.

"While the seeds are thus increasing, the piece or pieces..." Culture of pieces of ground, which are intended to be laid down, should be got in order. If very foul, perhaps the best practice (if pasture land) will be to pare off the sward and burn it on the ground; or if this should not be thought advisable, it will be proper to plough up the ground and harrow it repeatedly, burning the roots of couch-grass and other noxious plants till the ground is become tolerably clean; to render it perfectly so, some cleansing crop, as potatoes or turnips, should be planted or sown.

"By this means, the ground we propose laying down will be got into excellent order without much loss; and being now ready to form into a meadow or pasture, should be sown broad-cast with the following compositions:

Meadow fox-tail, one pint; Meadow fescue, ditto; Smooth-stalked meadow, half a pint; Rough-stalked meadow, ditto; Crested dog's-tail, a quarter of a pint; Sweet-scented vernal, ditto; Dutch clover (Trifolium repens), half a pint; Wild red clover (Trifolium pratense), or in its stead, Broad clover of the slopes, ditto;

For wet land, the crested dog's-tail and smooth-stalked meadow may be omitted, especially the former.

"Such a composition as this, sown in the proportion of about three bushels to an acre on a suitable soil, in a favourable situation, will, I am bold to assert, form in two years a most excellent meadow; and, as all the plants sown are strong, hardy perennials, they will not easily suffer their places to be usurped by any noxious plants, which by manure or other means, in spite of all our endeavours, will be apt to infest themselves; if they should, they must be carefully extirpated; for such a meadow is deserving of the greatest attention: but if that attention cannot be bestowed on it, and in process of time weeds should predominate over the crop originally sown, the whole should be ploughed up, and fresh sown with the same seeds, or with a better composition, if such shall be discovered; for I have no doubt but at some future time, it will be as common to sow a meadow with a composition somewhat like this as it now is to sow a field with wheat or barley.

"One of the most important improvements in agriculture that has occurred of late years, is the practice of overflowing or flooding grass lands, which is now coming greatly into use, not only on level grounds, but in all situations in which a command of water can be obtained. In the Monthly Review for October 1788, the editors acknowledge the favour of a correspondent, who informed them, that watering of meadows was practised during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James I. A book was written upon the subject by one Rowland Vaughan, who seems to have been the inventor of this art, and who practised it on a very extensive plan in the Golden Valley in Herefordshire. Till this note to the Reviewers appeared, the inhabitants of a village called South Cerney in Gloucestershire had affirmed the honour of the invention to themselves, as we are informed in a treatise upon the subject by the Rev. Mr Wright curate of the place. According to a received tradition in that village, watering of meadows has been practised there for about a century, and was introduced by one Welladuffe, a Culture of wealthy farmer in South Cerney. His first experiment was by cutting a large ditch in the middle of his ground, from which he threw the water over some parts, and allowed it to stagnate in others; but finding this not to answer his expectations, he improved his method by cutting drains and filling up the hollows; and thus he succeeded so well, that his neighbours, who at first called him a madman, soon changed their opinion, and began to imitate his example.

"The advantages which attend the watering of meadows are many and great; not only as excellent crops of grass are thus raised, but as they appear so early, that they are of infinite service to the farmers for food to their cattle in the spring before the natural grass rises. By watering we have plenty of grass in the beginning of March, and even earlier when the season is mild. The good effects of this kind of grass upon all sorts of cattle are likewise astonishing, especially upon such as have been hardly wintered; and Mr Wright informs us, that the farmers in his neighbourhood, by means of watering their lands, are enabled to begin the making of cheese at least a month sooner than their neighbours who have not the same advantage. Grass raised by watering is found to be admirable for the nurture of lambs; not only those designed for fattening, but such as are to be kept for store: For if lambs when very young are flopped and flinted in their growth, they not only become contracted for life themselves, but in some measure communicate the same diminutive size to their young. The best remedy for preventing this evil is the spring feed from watered meadows; and Mr Wright is of opinion, that if the young of all kinds of farmer's flock were immediately encouraged by plenty of food, and kept continually in a growing state, there would in a few years be a notable change both in the size and shape of cattle in general. Such indeed is the forwardness of grass from watered meadows, that the feed between March and May is worth a guinea per acre; and in June an acre will yield two tons of hay, and the aftermath is always worth twenty shillings; and nearly the same quantity is constantly obtained whether the summer be dry or wet. In dry summers also, such farmers as water their meadows have an opportunity of selling their hay almost at any price to their neighbours.

"Land treated in this manner is continually improving in quality, even though it be mown every year; faintly improving the herbage, if coarse at first, becomes finer; the soil proves by if swampy, becomes sound; the depth of its mould is augmented, and its quality meliorated every year.

"To these advantages (says Mr Bowdell in his treatise upon this subject) another may be addressed to the gentleman who wishes to improve his estate, and whose benevolent heart prompts him to extend a charitable hand to the relief of the industrious poor, and not to idleness and vice: almost the whole of the expense in this mode of cultivation is the actual manual labour of a class of people who have no genius to employ their bodily strength otherwise for their own support and that of their families; consequently when viewed in this light, the expense can be but comparatively small, the improvement great and valuable." As a proof of the above doctrine, Mr Wright produces an instance of one year's produce of a meadow in his neighbourhood. It had been watered longer than the eldest person in the neighbourhood could remember; but was by no means the best meadow upon the stream, nor was the preceding winter favourable for watering. It contains five acres and a half. The spring feed was let for seven guineas, and supported near two sheep from the 1st of March till the beginning of May; the hay being sold for thirty guineas, and the after-math for five. Another and still more remarkable proof of the efficacy of watering, is, that two of the most skilful watermen of that place were sent to lay out a meadow of seven acres, the whole crop of which was that year sold for two pounds. Though it was thought by many impossible to throw the water over it, yet the skill of the workmen soon overcame all difficulties; and ever since that time the meadow has been let at the rent of three pounds per acre. From manifold experience, our author informs us, that the people in that part of the country are so much attached to the practice of watering, that they never suffer the smallest spring or rivulet to be unemployed. Even those temporary floods occasioned by sudden showers are received into proper ditches, and spread equally over the lands until their fertilizing property be totally exhausted. "Necessity (says he) indeed compels us to make the most of every drop: for we have near three hundred acres in this parish, that must all, if possible, be watered; and the stream that affords the water seldom exceeds five yards in breadth and one in depth: therefore we may say, that a scarcity of water is almost as much dreaded by us as by the celebrated inhabitants of the banks of the Nile."

Considering the great advantages to be derived from the practice of watering meadows, and the many undoubted testimonies in its favour, Mr Wright expresses his surprise, that it has not come into more general use, as there is not a stream of water upon which a mill can be erected but what may be made subservient to the enriching of some land, perhaps to a great quantity. "I am confident (says he), that there are in each county of England and Wales two thousand acres upon an average which might be thus treated, and every acre increased at least one pound in annual value. The general adoption therefore of watering is capable of being made a national advantage of more than one hundred thousand pounds per annum, besides the great improvement of other land arising from the produce of the meadows and the employment of the industrious poor. Such an improvement, one would think, is not unworthy of public notice; but if I had doubled the sum, I believe I should not have exceeded the truth, though I might have gone beyond the bounds of general credibility. In this one parish where I reside there are about three hundred acres now watered; and it may be easily proved that the proprietors of the land reap from thence one thousand yearly profit."

In Mr Bofwell's treatise upon this subject, published in 1790, the author complains of the neglect of the practice of improving the wet, boggy, and ruffly lands, which lie at the banks of rivers, and might be meliorated at a very small expense, when much larger sums are expended in the improvement of barren uplands and large tracts of heath in various parts of the kingdom: and he complains likewise of the little information that is to be had in books concerning the method of performing this operation. The only author from whom he acknowledges to have received any information is Blyth; and even his method of watering is very different from that practised in modern times; for which reason he proposes to furnish an original treatise upon the subject; and of this we shall now give the substance.

The first thing to be considered is, what lands are capable of being watered. These, according to Mr Bofwell, are all such as lie low, near the banks of rivulets and springs, especially where the water course is higher than the lands, and kept within its bounds by banks. If the rivulet has a quick descent, the improvement by watering will be very great, and the expenses moderate. On level lands the water runs but slowly, which is also the case with large rivers; and therefore only a small quantity of ground can be overflowed by them in comparison of what can be done in other cases: but the water of large rivers is generally possessed of more fertilizing properties than that of rivulets. In many cases, however, the rivers are navigable, or have mills upon them; both of which are strong objections to the perfect improvement of lands adjacent to them. From these considerations, our author concludes, that the watering of lands may be performed in the best and least expensive manner by small rivulets and springs.

There are three kinds of soils commonly found near the banks of rivers and rivulets, the melioration of which may be attempted by watering. 1. A gravelly or sandy soil, firm or soft, or a mixture of the two together. This receives an almost instantaneous improvement; and the faster the water runs over it the better. 2. Boggy, miry, and ruffly soils, which are always found by the banks of rivers where the land is nearly level. These also are greatly improved by watering; perhaps equally so with those already described, if we compare the value of both in their unimproved state, this kind of ground being scarce worth anything in its unimproved state. By proper watering, however, it may be made to produce large crops of hay, by which horned cattle may be kept through the winter and greatly forwarded; though, in its uncultivated state, it would scarcely produce anything to maintain stock in the winter, and very little even in summer. Much more skill, as well as expense, however, is requisite to bring this kind of land into culture than the former. 3. The soils most difficult to be improved are stony, wet, and clay soils; and this difficulty is occasioned both by their being commonly on a dead level, which will not admit of the water running over them; and by their tenacity, which will not admit of draining. Even when the utmost care is taken, unless a strong body of water is thrown over them, and that from a river the water of which has a very fertilizing property, little advantage will be gained; but wherever such advantages can be had in the winter, and a warm spring succeeds, these lands will produce very large crops of grass.

The advantage of using springs and rivulets for watering instead of large rivers is, that the expense of rivulets raising wares across them will not be great; nor are they liable to the other objections which attend the rivers. Culture of use of large rivers. When they run through a cultivated country also, the land floods occasioned by violent rains frequently bring with them such quantities of manure as contribute greatly to fertilize the lands, and which are totally lost where the practice of watering is not in use.

Springs may be useful to the coarse lands that lie near them, provided the water can be had in sufficient quantity to overflow the lands. "By springs (says our author), are not here meant such as rise out of poor heath or boggy lands (for the water issuing from them is generally so small in quantity, and always so very lean and hungry in quality, that little if any advantage can be derived from it); but rather the head of rivulets and brooks rising out of a chalky and gravelly found firm soil, in a cultivated country. These are invaluable; and every possible advantage should be taken to improve the ground near them. The author knows a considerable tract of meadow-land under this predicament; and one meadow in particular that is watered by springs issuing immediately out of such a soil, without any advantage from great towns, &c., being situated but a small distance below the head of the rivulet, and the rivulet itself is fed all the way by springs rising out of its bed as clear as crystal. The soil of the meadow is a good loam some inches deep, upon a fine springy gravel. Whether it is from the heat of the springs, or whether the friction by the water running over the soil raises a certain degree of warmth favourable to vegetation, or from whatever cause it arises, the fecundity of this water is beyond conception; for when the meadow has been properly watered and well drained, in a warm spring, the grass has been frequently cut for hay within five weeks from the time the stock was taken out of it, having eat it bare to the earth: almost every year it is cut in six weeks, and the produce from one to three waggon loads to an acre. In land thus situated, in the mornings and evenings in the months of April, May, and June, the whole meadow will appear like a large furnace: so considerable is the steam or vapour which arises from the warmth of the springs acted upon by the sun-beams: and although the water is so exceeding clear, yet upon its being thrown over the land only a few days in warm weather, by dribbling through the grass, so thick a scum will arise and adhere to the blades of the grass, as will be equal to a considerable quantity of manure spread over the land, and (it may be presumed from the good effects) still more enriching.

"It is inconceivable what 24 hours water properly conveyed over the lands will do in such a season: a beautiful verdure will arise in a few days where a parched rusty soil could only be seen; and one acre will then be found to maintain more stock than ten could do before."

Mr Bofwell next proceeds to an explanation of the terms used in this art; of the instruments necessary to perform it; and of the principles on which it is founded. The terms used are:

1. A Ware. This is an erection across a brook, rivulet, or river, frequently constructed of timber, but more commonly of bricks or stones and timber, with openings to let the water pass, from two to ten in number according to the breadth of the stream: the height being always equal to the depth of the stream compared with the adjacent land. The use of this is occasionally to stop the current, and to turn it aside into the adjacent lands.

2. A Sluice is constructed in the same manner as a ware; only that it has but a single passage for the water, and is put across small streams for the same purpose as a ware.

3. A Trunk is designed to answer the same purpose as a sluice; but being placed across such streams as either cattle or teams are to pass over, or where it is necessary to carry a small stream at right angles to a large one to water some lands lower down, is for these reasons made of timber, and is of a square figure. The length and breadth are various, as circumstances determine.

4. A Carriage is made of timber or of brick. If of timber, oak is the best; if of brick, an arch ought to be thrown over the stream that runs under it, and the sides bricked up: But when made of timber, which is the most common material, it is constructed with a bottom and sides as wide and high as the main in which it lies. It must be made very strong, close, and well jointed. Its use is to convey the water in one main over another, which runs at right angles to it; the depth and breadth are the same with those of the main to which it belongs: and the length is determined by that which it crosses. The carriage is the most expensive instrument belonging to watering.

5. A Drain-Sluice, or Drain-Trunk, is always placed in the lower part of some main, as near to the head as a drain can be found; that is, situated low enough to draw the main, &c. It is made of timber, of a square figure like a trunk, only much smaller. It is placed with its mouth at the bottom of the main, and let down into the bank; and from its other end a drain is cut to communicate with some trench-drain that is nearest. The dimensions are various, and determined by circumstances. The use of it is, when the water is turned some other way, to convey the leaking water that oozes through the hatches, &c., into the drain, that otherwise would run down into the tails of those trenches which lie lowest, and there poach and rot the ground, and probably contribute not a little to the making it more unfruitful for sheep. This operation is of the utmost consequence in watering; for if the water be not thoroughly drained off the land, the soil is rotted; and when the hay comes to be removed, the wheels of the carriages sink, the horses are mired, and the whole load sometimes sticks fast for hours together. On the other hand, when the drain trunks are properly placed, the ground becomes firm and dry, and the hay is speedily and easily removed.

6. Hatches are best made of oak, elm, or deal; the use of them is to fit the openings of wares, trunks, or sluices; and to keep back the water when necessary, from passing one way, to turn it another. They ought to be made to fit as close as possible. When hatches belong to wares that are erected across large streams, or where the streams swell quickly with heavy rains, when the hatches are in their places to water the meadows they are sometimes made so, that a foot or more of the upper part can be taken off, so that vent may be given to the superfluous water, and yet enough retained for the purpose of watering the meadows. In this Agriculture Practice.

13. A Way-Pane is that part of the ground which lies in a properly watered meadow, on the side of the main where no trenches are taken out, but is watered the whole length of the main over its banks. A drain for carrying off the water from this pane runs parallel to the main. The use is to convey the hay out of the meadows, instead of the teams having to cross all the trenches.

14. A Bend is made in various parts of those trenches which have a quick descent, to obstruct the water. It is made, by leaving a narrow strip of green sward across the trench where the bend is intended to be left; cutting occasionally a piece of the shape of a wedge out of the middle of it. The use is to check the water, and force it over the trench into the panes; which, were it not for these bends, would run rapidly on in the trench, and not flow over the land as it passes along. The great art in watering consists in giving to each part of the panes an equal proportion of water.

15. A Gutter is a small groove cut out from the tails of these trenches where the panes run longer at one corner than the other. The use is to carry the water to the extreme point of the pane. Those panes which are intersected by the trench and tail-drains, meeting in an obtuse angle, require the assistance of gutters to convey the water to the longest side. They are likewise useful, when the land has not been so well levelled, but some part of the panes lie higher than they ought; in which case, a gutter is drawn from the trench over that high ground, which otherwise would not be overflowed. Without this precaution, unless the flats be filled up (which ought always to be done when materials can be had to do it) the water will not rise upon it; and after the watering season is past, those places would appear rusty and brown, while the rest is covered with beautiful verdure. Our author, however, is of opinion, that this method of treating water meadows ought never to be followed; but that every inequality in water meadows should either be levelled or filled up. Hence the waterman's skill is shown in bringing the water over those places to which it could not naturally rise, and in carrying it off from those where it would naturally stagnate.

16. A Catch-Drain is sometimes made use of when water is scarce. When a meadow is pretty long, and has a quick descent, and the water runs quickly down the drains, it is customary to flop one or more of them at a proper place, till the water flowing thither rises so high as to strike back either into the tail-drains so as to stagnate upon the sides of the panes, or till it flows over the banks of the drains, and waters the grounds below, or upon each side. It is then to be conveyed over the land in such quantity as is thought proper, either by a small main, out of which trenches are to be cut with their proper drains, or by trenches taken properly out of it. In case of a stagnation, the design will not succeed; and it will then be necessary to cut a passage to let the stagnating water run off. Even when the method succeeds best, Mr. Boswell is of opinion, that it is not by any means eligible; the water having been so lately strained over the ground, that it is supposed by the watermen not to be endowed with such fertilizing qualities as at first; whence nothing but absolute necessity can justify the practice.

17. A Pond is any quantity of water stagnating upon Culture of upon the ground, or in the tail-drain, trench-drains, &c., so as to annoy the ground near them. It is occasioned sometimes by the flats not having been properly filled up; at others, when the ware not being close shut, in order to water some grounds higher up, the water is thereby thrown back upon the ground adjacent.

18. A Turn of water signifies as much ground as can be watered at once. It is done by shutting down the hatches in all those places where the water is intended to be kept out, and opening those that are to let the water through them. The quantity of land to be watered at once must vary according to circumstances; but Mr Bofwell lays down one general rule in this case, viz., that no more land ought to be kept under water at one time than the stream can supply regularly with a sufficient quantity of water; and if this can be procured, water as much ground as possible.

19. The Head of the meadow, is that part of it into which the river, main, &c., first enter.

20. The Tail is that part out of which the river, &c., last passes.

21. The Upper Side of a main or trench, is that side which (when the main or trench is drawn at right angles, or nearly so, with the river) fronts the part where the river entered. The lower side is the opposite.

22. The Upper Pane in a meadow, is that which lies on the upper side of the main or trench that is drawn at right angles with the river: where the river runs north and south, it enters in the former direction, and runs out in the southern, the main and trenches running east and west. Then all those panes which lie on the north side of the mains are called upper panes; and those on the south side the lower panes. But when the mains, trenches, &c., run parallel to the river, there is no distinction of panes into upper and lower.

The instruments used in watering meadows are:

1. A Water level. The use of this is to take the level of the land at a distance, and compare it with that of the river, in order to know whether the ground can be overflowed by it or not. This instrument, however, is used only in large undertakings; for such as are on a smaller scale, the workmen dispense with it in the following manner: In drawing a main, they begin at the head, and work deep enough to have the water follow them. In drawing a tail drain, they begin at the lower end of it and work upwards, to let the tail water come after them. By this method we obtain the most exact level.

2. The Line, Reel, and Breast-Plough, are absolutely necessary. The line ought to be larger and stronger than that used by gardeners.

3. Spades. Those used in watering meadows are made of a particular form, for purpose of the work: having a stern considerably more crooked than those of any other kind. The bit is iron, about a foot wide in the middle, and terminating in a point: a thick ridge runs perpendicularly down the middle, from the stern almost to the point. The edges on both sides are drawn very thin, and being frequently ground and whetted, the whole soon becomes narrow; after which the spades are used for trenches and drains; new ones being procured for other purposes. The items being made crooked, the workmen standing in the trench or drain are enabled to make the bottoms quite smooth and even.

4. Wheel and Hand-barrow. The former are used for removing the clods to the flat places, and are quite open, without any sides or hinder part. The latter are of service where the ground is too soft to admit the use of wheel-barrow, and when clods are to be removed during the time that the meadow is under water.

5. Three-wheeled Carts are necessary when large quantities of earth are to be removed; particularly when they are to be carried to some distance.

6. Short and narrow Scythes are made use of to mow the weeds and grass, when the water is running in the trenches, drains, and mains.

7. Forks, and long Crooks with four or five tines, are used for pulling out the roots of sedges, rushes, reeds, &c., which grow in the large mains and drains. The crooks should be made light, and have long stems to reach wherever the water is so deep that the workmen cannot work in it.

8. Strong Water-boots, the tops of which will draw up half the length of the thigh, are indispensible necessary. They must also be large enough to admit a quantity of hay to be stuffed down all round the legs, and be kept well tallowed to resist the running water for many hours together.

The principles on which the practice of watering meadows depend are few and easy.

1. Water will always rise to the level of the receptacle out of which it is originally brought.

2. There is in all streams a deficient greater or small-pend; the quantity of which is in some measure thrown by the running of the stream itself. If it run smooth and slow, the deficient is small; but if rapidly and with noise, the deficient is considerable.

3. Hence if a main be taken out of the river high enough up the stream, water may be brought from that river to flow over the land by the side of the river, to a certain distance below the head of the main, although the river from whence is is taken should, opposite to that very place, be greatly under it.

4. Water, sunk under a carriage which conveys another stream at right angles over it, one, two, or more feet below its own bed, will, when it has passed the carriage, rise again to the level it had before.

5. Water conveyed upon any land, and there left stagnant for any length of time, does it an injury; destroying the good herbage, and filling the place with rushes, flags, and other weeds.

6. Hence it is absolutely necessary, before the work is undertaken, to be certain that the water can be thoroughly drained off.

In Mr Wright's treatise upon this subject, the author considers a solution of the three following questions, as a necessary preliminary to the operation of watering.

1. Whether the stream of water will admit of a temporary dam or ware across it? 2. Can the farmer raise the water by this means a few inches above its level, without injuring his neighbour's land? 3. Can the water be drawn off from the meadow as quickly as it is brought on?

If a satisfactory answer can be given... Having taken the level of the ground, and compared it with the river, as directed by Mr Bofwell, cut a deep wide ditch near the dam as possible, and by it convey the water directly to the highest part of the meadow; keeping the sides or banks of the ditch of an equal height, and about three inches higher than the general surface of the meadow. Where the meadow is large, and has an uneven surface, it will sometimes be necessary to have three works in different directions, each five feet wide, if the meadow contains 15 acres, and if the highest part be farthest from the stream. A ditch of 10 feet wide and three deep will commonly water 10 acres of land. When there are three works in a meadow, and flood-hatches at the mouth of each, when the water is not sufficient to cover the whole completely at once, it may be watered at three different times, by taking out one of the hatches, and keeping the other two in. In this case, when the water has run over one division of the land for 10 days, it may then be taken off that and tumbled over to another, by taking up another hatch and letting down the former; by which means the three divisions will have a proper share of the water alternately, and each reap equal benefit. The bottom of the first work ought to be as deep as the bottom of the river, when the fall in the meadow will admit of it; for the deeper the water is drawn, the more mud it carries along with it. From the works, cut at right angles, smaller ditches or troughs, having a breadth proportioned to the distance to which some part of the water is to be carried, their distance from each other being about 12 yards. A trough two feet wide and one foot deep, will water a surface 12 yards wide and 40 feet long. In each trough as well as ditch place frequent stops and obstructions, especially when the water is rapid, to keep it high enough to flow through the notches or over the sides. Each ditch and trough is gradually contracted in width, as the quantity of water constantly decreases the farther they proceed. Between every two troughs, and at an equal distance from both, cut a drain as deep as you please parallel to them, and wide enough to receive all the water that runs over the adjacent lands, and to carry it off into the matter-drain with such rapidity as to keep the whole sheet of water in constant motion; and if possible, not to suffer a drop to stagnate upon the whole meadow. "For a stagnation, says he, (though it is recommended by Mr D. Young for the improvement of arable land), is what we never admit in our system of watering; for we find that it rots the turf, fouls and starves the land, and produces nothing but coarse grass and aquatic weeds.

"When a meadow lies cold, flat, and swampy, the width of the bed, or the distance between the trough and drain, ought to be very small, never exceeding six yards; indeed, in this case, you can scarcely cut your land too much, provided the water be plentiful; for the more you cut, the more water you require. The fall of the bed in every meadow should be half an inch in a foot: less will do, but more is desirable; for when the draught is quick, the herbage is always fine and sweet. The water ought never to flow more than two inches deep, nor less than one inch, except in the warm months."

Mr Wright proceeds now to answer some objections made by the Reviewers in their account of the objections first edition of his work. 1. That the Gloucestershire to his farmers use more water for their lands than is necessary. To this it is answered, That where water is plentiful, they find it advantageous to use even more water than he recommends; and when water is scarce, they choose rather to water only one half, or even a smaller portion of a meadow at a time, and to give that a plentiful covering, than to give a scanty one to the whole. 2. The Reviewers likewise recommend a repeated use of the same water upon different and lower parts of the same meadow, or to make each drain serve water as a trough to the bed which is below it. But though this method is in some degree recommended by the celebrated Mr Bakewell, and taught by a systematical waterer in Staffordshire, he entirely disapproves of it; excepting where the great declivity of the land will not admit of any other plan. "This cannot (says he) be a proper mode of watering grass-land in the winter time; for it can be of no service to the lowest parts of the meadow, unless as a wetting in spring or summer. The first or highest part of a meadow laid out according to this plan will indeed be much improved; the second may reap some benefit; but the third, which receives the exhausted thin cold water, will produce a very unprofitable crop. Our farmers never choose more than a second use in the same meadow, and that very seldom; they call even the second running by the significant name of 'small beer'; which, they say, may possibly satisfy thirst, but can give very little life or strength to land. It is a much better method to have a meadow laid out so as to be watered at several times, and to be at the expense of several small flood-hatches, than to water the whole of it at once by means of catch-drains.

"Sometimes it is necessary, in a large meadow, to convey the water that has been used under the works and troughs; and then the water above is supported by means of boards and planks, which we call a carry-bridge. Sometimes, the better to regulate the course of the water on the surface, especially in the spring, narrow trenches are dug, and the mould laid by the side of them, in order to be restored to its former place when the watering is finished. The earth and mud thrown out in cleansing and paring the ditches should be carried to fill up the low hollow parts of the meadow, and be trodden down with an even surface; which will easily be done when the water is on, the waterman being always provided with a strong pair of waterproof boots. If the mould thus used has upon it a turf that is tolerably fine, place it uppermost; but if it is fedgy and coarse, turn it under, and the water if it runs quick will soon produce a fine herbage upon it.

"The grounds that are watered in the easiest and most effectual manner, are such as have been ploughed and ridged up in lands about twelve yards wide. Here the water is easily carried along the ridge by means of a small ditch or trough cut along its summit, and then, by means of the stops in it, is made to run down the sides or beds into the furrows, by which it is carried into..." Culture of into the master-drain, which empties itself into the river. Every meadow, before it is well watered, must be brought into a form something like a field that has been thus left by the plough in a ridged state. Each side of the ridge should be as nearly as possible an exact inclined plane, that the water may flow over it as equally as may be." Mr Wright does not, like Mr Boswell, disapprove of the use of flood-hatches; he only gives the following hint, viz. that their basis should be deep and firmly fixed, well secured with stone and clay, that it be not blown up. The following directions are given for each month of watering.

In the beginning of November, all the ditches, troughs, and drains, are to be thoroughly cleaned by the spade and breast-plough, from weeds, grats, and mud; and well-repaired, if they have received any injury from cattle. After a shower, when the water is thick and muddy, turn over the meadow as much water as you can without injuring the banks of the works, especially if the land be poor; as in this month, according to our author, the water contains many more fertilizing particles, which he calls fats and richnesses, than later in the winter. In defence of this position, of which it seems the Monthly Reviewers have doubted, our author urges, that though he is not able to prove it by any chemical analysis, yet it seems evident, that "after the first washing of farm yards, various sinks, ditches, and the surface of all the adjoining fields, which have lain dry for some time, the common stream should then contain much more fatness than when the same premises have been repeatedly washed." This is confirmed by the experience of the Gloucestershire farmers; who, if they can at this season of the year procure plenty of muddy water to overflow their grounds for one week, look upon it to be equally valuable with what is procured during all the rest of the winter. In support of this, he quotes the following words of Mr Forbes, in a treatise on watering: "The water should be let in upon the meadow in November, when the first great rains make it muddy, for then it is full of a rich sediment, brought down from the lands of the country through which it runs, and is washed into it by the rain; and as the sediment brought by the first floods is the richest, the carriages and drains of the meadow should all be scoured clean and in order, before the floods come."

"In opposition (adds Mr Wright) to the opinion of practical waterers, that the muddiness of the water is of little consequence, I hesitate not to affirm, that the mud is of as much consequence in winter-watering, as dung is in the improvement of a poor upland field. For each meadow in this neighbourhood is fruitful in proportion to the quantity of mud that it collects from the water. And, indeed, what can be conceived more enriching than the abundant particles of putrid matter which float in the water, and are distributed over the surface of the land, and applied home to the roots of the grats. It is true, that any the most simple water thrown over a meadow in proper quantity, and not suffered to stagnate, will shelter it in winter, and in the warmth of spring will force a crop; but this unwholesome force must exhaust the strength of the land, which will require an annual supply of manure in substance, or, in a course of years, the soil will be impaired rather than improved. The meadows in this county, which lie next below a market town or village, are invariably the best; and those which receive the water after it has been two or three times used, reap proportionally less benefit from it: For every meadow that is well laid out, and has any quantity of grats upon its surface, will act as a fine sieve upon the water, which, though it flow in ever so muddy, will be returned back to the stream as clear as it came from the fountain. This circumstance, when there is a range of meadows to be watered, the property of different persons, when water is scarce, creates vehement contentions and struggles for the first use of it. The proprietors are therefore compelled to agree among themselves, either to have the first use alternately, or for the higher meadows to dam up, and use only one half or a less portion of the river. Our farmers know the mud to be of so much consequence in watering, that whenever they find it collected at the bottom of the river, or the ditches, they hire men whole days to disturb and rake it with rakes made for the purpose, that it may be carried down by the water, and spread upon their meadows. One meadow in South Cerney, instance of I think, is an incontestible proof of the consequence of the good muddy water. It is watered by a branch of the common stream that runs for about half a mile down a public road. This water, by the mud on the road being continually disturbed by carriages and the feet of cattle, becomes very thick, and when it enters the meadow is almost as white as milk. This field, which consists of seven acres, was a few years ago let for 10s. an acre, but is already become the richest land in the parish, and has produced at one crop eighteen loads of hay, and each load more than 25 hundred weight."

In further confirmation of what our author affirms, Mr Wimpey quotes, from the Annals of Agriculture, the following words of Mr Wimpey: "As to the forts of the subsoil, little is to be found, I believe, which does not encourage and promote vegetation, even the most simple, elementary, and uncompounded fluid: heat and moisture, as well as air, are the fine qua non of vegetation as well as animal life. Different plants require different proportions of each to live and flourish; but some of each is absolutely necessary to all. However, experience as well as reason universally shows, that the more turbid, feculent, and replete with putrefactive matter the water is, the more rich and fertilizing it proves. Hasty and impetuous rains, of continuance sufficient to produce a flood, not only dissolve the fats, but wash the manure in fulness off the circumjacent land into the rapid current. Such turbid water is both meat and drink to the land; and, by the unctuous sediment and mud it deposits, the soil is amazingly improved and enriched. The virtue of water from a spring, if at all superior to pure elementary water, is derived from the several strata or beds of earth it passes through, which, according to the nature of such strata, may be friendly or otherwise to vegetation. If it passes through chalk, marl, fossil shells, or any thing of a calcareous nature, it would in most soils promote the growth of plants; but if through metallic ores, or earth impregnated with the vitriolic acid, it would render the land unfertile, if not wholly barren. In general the water that has run fast is superior to that which immediately flows from the springs, and more especially that which is feculent and muddy, con- Culture of fishing chiefly of putrid animal substances washed down the stream."

To the same purpose also says Mr Forbes: "There is great difference in the quality of water, arising by Mr For from the particles of different kinds of matter mixed with them. Those rivers that have a long course through good land, are full of fine particles, that are highly fertilizing to such meadows as are usually overflowed by them; and this chiefly in floods, when the water is fullest of a rich sediment: for when the water is clear, though it may be raised by art high enough to overflow the adjoining lands, and be of some service to them, the improvement thus made is far short of what is obtained from the same water when it is thick and muddy."

Mr Bofwell, though quoted by Mr Wright as an advocate for the doctrine just now laid down, seems, in one part of his work at least, to be of a contrary opinion. This is in the 14th chapter of his book, where he remarks upon another publication on the same subject, the name of which he does not mention: "In page 4. of that pamphlet (says Mr Bofwell), the writer informs us, 'if the water used be always pure and simple, the effect will by no means be equal to the above; that is, of a stream that is sometimes thick and muddy. We have a striking instance of this in two of our meadows, which are watered immediately from springs that arise in the grounds themselves. Their crops are early and plentiful, but not of a good quality, and the land remains unimproved after many years watering.'

"The writer of this treatise (Mr Bofwell), in a former edition, had asserted, and in this repeated, the contrary effects from a stream very near the spring-head, as clear as crystal.

"The gentleman (Mr Beverly of Keld) whom that writer mentions in his preface, made a short visit last spring into Dorsetshire, to satisfy himself of the fact. The editor had the pleasure to show him the stream alluded to, which he traced almost to the fountain-head. It was perfectly clear, and the water was then immediately conveyed out of the stream upon the lands adjoining, some of which it was then running over; others it had been upon, and the verdure was then appearing. The gentleman expressed himself perfectly satisfied with the fact. To him the editor wishes to refer, &c. Mr George Culley of Fenton near Wooler in Northumberland, with a truly noble and public spirit that does him great honour as a friend to his country, sent a very sensible young man from thence into Dorsetshire, to learn the art of watering meadows, and to work the whole season in those meadows under different watermen. This man was often over those meadows, and worked in some just below that were watered by the same stream. Might the editor presume to offer his opinion upon this seeming contradiction, it is very probable that the soils, both the upper and under strata, are very different, as well as those through which the different springs run?"

From this passage, the latter part of which is not very intelligible, we might conclude that Mr Bofwell prefers clear to muddy water for overflowing meadows. In his chapter on land-floods, however, he expresses himself as follows: "They will (says he) always be found of great use where the sweepings of Culture of towns, farm-yards, &c., are carried down by them; seldom any other erection is wanting besides a sluice or small ware to divert and convey them over the Advantages lands. If the situation of the land happen to be on of land, the tide of a hill, catch-drains are absolutely necessary floods, for watering the lower part of the hill, after the water has been used upon the upper. In many parts of the kingdom, where there are large hills or extensive rising lands, great quantities of water run from them into the valleys after heavy rains: These might with proper attention be collected together before they get to the bottom or flat ground, and from thence be diverted to the purpose of watering those lands that lie below, with great advantage to the occupier, and at a small expense. And should the land thus situated be Of converting arable, yet it would be found a beneficial exchange to convert it into pasture; particularly if pasture-ground should be a desirable object to the occupier.

The method of performing it is thus recommended. Observe the piece of land or field best adapted to the purpose, both for situation and soil. If it should be arable, make it first very level; and with the crop of corn sow all sorts of hay seeds; and as soon as it has got a green head it may be laid out. In the lowest part of the ground draw a deep ditch for the current to run through it; and continue it into some ditch or low part in the lands below, that the water may be freely carried off, after it has been and while it is in use. Draw ditches above the field intended to be watered affront the sides of the hill, in such a manner that they may all empty themselves into the head of the ditch above mentioned, just where it enters the field to be watered; then erecting a ware across this ditch, the field will be capable of being watered, according to the situation of the ditch in the middle or on the side of the field. It must then be conveyed by small mains or trenches, and subdivided again by branch-trenches, according to the site of the field and quantity of water that can be collected; trench-drains must be drawn, and the water conveyed into the ditch by means of tail-drains. A person unacquainted with water-meadows cannot conceive the advantage arising from water thus collected and conveyed over this species of water-meadow (if it may be so called), being generally a firm good soil; but the water running down from rich cultivated hills, eminences, &c., sweeps away with it, when the rain falls very heavy, vast quantities of dung dropped by sheep and other cattle, and the manure carried upon arable lands; all which being now diverted, and carried over the meadow with an easy descent, gives time for the particles of manure to subside upon the ground at one season, or of being filtered from it as it dribbles through the grats at another; after which, the warm weather pushes on vegetation amazingly. Meadows thus situated would be vastly superior to any other, if they had the advantage of a constant stream; but even as they are, taking the opportunity of watering them by every heavy rain or flood that happens, they will be found to be very valuable. The occupier of such lands is frequently advised to let no time be lost in appropriating them to this use; because these lands are healthy for all kinds of cattle at almost all seasons; and the expense of converting Culture of verting them into this kind of water-meadow is exceeding small, the annual charges afterwards quite trifling, and the produce very considerable."

Mr Wright, having discussed the subject of the quality of the water, proceeds to give directions for watering through the different months of the year:

"In December and January, the chief care consists in keeping the land sheltered by the water from the different months severity of frothy nights. It is necessary, however, of the year through the whole winter, every ten days or fortnight, to give the land air, by taking the water off entirely, otherwise it would rot and destroy the roots of the grass. It is necessary, likewise, that a proper person should go over every meadow at least twice every week, to see that the water is equally distributed, and to remove all obstructions arising from the continual influx of weeds, leaves, sticks, and the like. In February, a great deal depends upon care and caution. If you now suffer the water to remain on the meadow for many days without intermission, a white scum is raised, very destructive to the grass; and if you take off the water, and expose the land to a severe frothy night, without its being previously dried for a whole day, the greatest part of the tender grass will be cut off. The only ways to avoid both these injuries are, either to take the water off by day to prevent the scum, and to turn it over again at night to guard against the frost; or, if this practice be too troublesome, both may be prevented by taking the water entirely off for a few days and nights, provided the first day of taking off be a dry one; for if the grass experience one fine drying day, the frost at night can do little or no injury. The scum is generated chiefly by the warmth of the sun, when the water is thin and used too plentifully. Towards the middle of this month we vary our practice in watering, by using only about half the quantity of water which is made use of earlier in the winter, all that is now required being to keep the ground in a warm moist state, and to force vegetation.

"At the beginning of March, the crop of grass in the meadows is generally sufficient to afford an abundant pasturage for all kinds of stock, and the water is taken off for near a week, that the land may become dry and firm before the heavy cattle are turned in. It is proper, the first week of eating off the spring feed, if the season be cold, to give the cattle a little hay each night."

"It is a custom (says Mr Wright) with some farmers in Hampshire, to eat off the spring grass of their meadows with ewes and lambs, in the same manner that we do a field of turnips, by inclosing a certain portion each day with hurdles or stakes, and giving them hay at the same time. This is certainly making the most of the grass, and an excellent method to fatten and sweeten the future herbage. In this month and April, you may eat the grass as short and close as you please, but never later; for if you trespass only one week on the mouth of May, the hay-crop will be very much impaired, the grass will become soft and woolly, and have more the appearance and quality of an after-math than a crop. At the beginning of May, or when the spring feeding is finished, the water is again used for a few days by way of wetting.

"It is rather remarkable, that watering in autumn, winter, or spring, will not produce that kind of herbage which is the cause of the rot in sheep; but has been known to remove the cause from meadows, which before had that baneful effect. If, however, you use the water only a few days in any of the summer months; all the lands thus watered will be rendered tiring may unsafe for the pasturage of sheep. Of this I was lately convinced from an experiment made by a friend, the rot in sheep.

At the beginning of July, when the hay was carried off, and the water rendered extremely muddy and abundant by several days rain, he thought proper to throw it over his meadows for ten days, in which time a large collection of extremely rich manure was made upon the land. In about a month the meadow was covered with uncommon luxuriancy and blackness of herbage. Into this grass were turned eight found ewes and two lambs. In six weeks' time the lambs were killed, and discovered strong symptoms of rottenness; and in about a month afterwards one of the ewes was killed, and though it proved very fat, the liver was putrid and replete with the infect called the fluke or snail; the other ewes were sold to a butcher, and all proved unfruitful. This experiment, however, convinces me, by the very extraordinary improvement made thereby in the meadow, that muddy water in the summer is much more enriching than it is in autumn or winter; and ought, therefore, to be used for a week at least every wet summer, notwithstanding its inconveniences to sheep, the most profitable species of stock."

Mr Bofwell, besides his general directions for watering, gives many plans of the ditches, drains, &c., for particular meadows, some of them done from an actual survey. But these being confined to particular situations, we shall here only speak of his method in general. In his third chapter, entitled A General Description of Water-meadows, he observes, that "lands capable of being watered, lie sometimes only on one well's side, and sometimes on both sides of the stream designed to supply them with water. In the former case, when they have a pretty quick descent, the land may be often watered by a main drawn out of the stream itself, without any ware;" though he acknowledges that it is by far the best way to erect a ware, and to draw mains on each side, to dispose of the water to the best advantage.

Boggy lands require more and longer continued watering than such as are sandy or gravelly; and the larger the body of water than can be brought upon them, the better. The weight and strength of the water will greatly assist in compressing the soil, and destroying the roots of the weeds that grow upon it; nor can the water be kept too long upon it, particularly in the winter season; and the closer it is fed, the better.

To improve strong clay soils, we must endeavour to the utmost to procure the greatest possible descent from the trench to the trench-drain; which is best done by making the trench-drains as deep as possible, and applying the materials drawn out of them to raise the trenches. Then, with a strong body of water, taking the advantage of the autumnal floods, and keeping the water some time upon them at that season, and as often as convenient during the winter, the greatest improvement on this sort of soils may be made. Warm sand or gravelly soil, are the most profitable under the watering system, provided the water can be brought over them. Culture of them at pleasure. In foils of this kind, the water must not be kept long at a time, but often shifted, thoroughly drained, and the land frequently refreshed with it: under which circumstances the profit is immense. A spring-feeding, a crop of hay, and two after-maths, may be obtained in a year; and this, probably, where in a dry summer scarce grass enough could be found to keep a sheep alive. If the stream be large, almost any quantity of land may be watered from it; and though the expense of a ware over it is great, it will soon be repaid by the additional crop. If the stream is small, the expense will be so in proportion.

The following method of improving a water-meadow that was springy has been tried by Mr Boswell with success. The meadow had been many years watered by a spring rising just above it from a barren sandy heath; the soil near the surface was in some places a gravelly land, in others a spongy cork, both upon a strong clay and sand mixture, which retained the draining of the lands above it. Whenever it had been watered, and left to drain itself dry, a yellowish red water stood in many parts, and oozed out of others; the herbage being no other than a poor, miserable, hairy grass and small fedge. Chalk and ashes had been thrown over it to very little purpose. It was then drained underground all along the different defecents, and all these drains carried into one large drain, which had been already cut for the purpose of carrying off the water when the meadow was overflowed. These drains were cut quite through the mixture of clay and sand, and as much deeper as the fall of the ground below would admit of; then, with chalk cut for the purpose, small hollow drains were formed at the bottom of these; the drains were then filled up with the materials that came out.

This was done in the beginning of summer, and the work frequently examined through the season; the soil was found firmer than before, and none of that nasty red water to be met with upon the surface, though it continually oozed into the drains. In autumn the meadow was again prepared for waterings, by repairing those trenches and drains that were properly situated; and by cutting others where wanted, for the purpose of watering the meadow. The water being then brought over it from the same spring as before, the event answered the most sanguine wishes of the proprietor; the effects were visible the first year, and the ground has been constantly improving ever since.

Mr Boswell also informs us, that a gentleman in Scotland had applied to him for directions to water some lands lying on the sides of hills, where the descent is quick; and of which there are many in this country, as well as in the south of England. It would be difficult to water such lands by means of drains and trenches according to the directions already given; because the bends in the trenches must be very near together and large, as the water must flow out of the trench above the bend to flow over the pane below it; the number and size would likewise be inconvenient, and greatly offend the eye.

Lands of this sort are generally capable of being ploughed; in which case our author directs them to be once ploughed in the spring, and sown with oats or any other kind of grain that will rot the furrow. When the grain is harvested, plough the land across; the last ploughing with the Kentish plough, which has a moveable mouldboard, and is called a turn-swift plough. This turns the furrows down the side of the hill, the horses going forwards and backwards in the same furrows. By this means the land is laid flat without any open furrows in it; dries it down in the spring very fine, and sow it with oats, and mix with some kinds of grass seeds very thick. Thus the ground will have but few irregularities; and as soon as the corn is carried off, or the following spring at farthest, the mains and drains may be cut out.

For watering coarse lands that are firm enough to bear the plough, and situated near a stream, our author gives the following directions.

"Let the land thus situated be ploughed once in the spring, and sown with any grain that will rotting coarsely. As soon as the crop is off, plough it again, and leave it rough through the winter. Work it down early in the spring, and plough it in the direction the trenches are to lie, making the ridges of a proper size for watering, ten or twelve yards wide for instance; work it fine; then gather the ridges up again in the same manner, making the last furrows of each ridge as deep as possible. If the land be not fine, dries it down again, and gather it up a second time if necessary; and with a shovel throw the earth from the edges of the furrows to the tops of the ridges, to give the greatest possible descent from the trench to the drain. Sow it with oats and grass seeds very thick; and after the corn is carried off, the trenches may be formed upon the top of each ridge, dispersing the furrows with a spade as much as the fall of the land will admit of for the drains; taking care to procure sufficient fall at all events, to drain the lands after they have been watered. By this method the crop of corn will nearly pay all the expense, and the land will be in excellent order."

After the work of watering a meadow is totally finished, and the hay carried off, cattle may be let in to eat the after-math. When this is done, it will then be necessary to examine whether or not the mains have suffered any injury from their feet; whether there be quantities of mud or sand collected at the angles, &c., all of which must be thrown out and the breaches repaired; by which means the trenches, drains, &c. will last three years, but otherwise not more than two. The roots, mud, &c. may be used in repairing the breaches, but never left upon the sides of the trenches out of which they are taken. The tail-drains require to be cleaned oftener than any of the other works, for this obvious reason, that the mud, &c. is carried down from all the others into them; where, if it be allowed to accumulate, it occasions a stagnation of water upon the meadow itself. In repairing the trenches, particular care ought to be taken that the workmen do not make them any wider than before, which they are very apt to do; neither are they to be allowed to throw the materials which they dig out in a ridge behind the edge of the trench, which both widens it and promotes weeds.

During the time of watering, it will be necessary to examine the meadow every two or three days in order to remove obstructions, &c. If the drains should be filled with water and run over, they ought to be made deeper; or if this cannot be done, they should be the meadow widened down. Culture of widdened. In the winter time a regular strong water should be kept, avoiding very strong great floods. In this season the water may be kept on the ground with safety for a month or even six weeks, if the soil be cory or boggy, or a strong clay; but not quite so long if it be gravel or sand. At the second watering a fortnight or three weeks will be sufficient; and after Candlemas a fortnight will be rather too long. At the third watering a week will be sufficient, which will bring it to about the middle of March; by which time, if the weather be tolerably mild, the grass will be long enough for the ewes and lambs, or fatting lambs; which may then be turned into the meadow with great advantage. Even in the end of February, if the winter has been very mild, the grass will be long enough for them. Here they may be permitted to feed till the beginning of May, changing them into different meadows. As soon as they are taken out, the water must be turned in for a week, carefully examining every trench and drain for the reasons already given. The water is then to be shifted into others, alternately watering and draining, lengthening the time the water remains upon it as the weather grows warmer; and in five, six, or seven weeks, the grass will be fit to be mown for hay, and produce from one to two tons, or even more, an acre upon good ground.

Mr. Bofwell directs, that about a week before the grass is to be mown, the water should be let into the meadow for 24 hours; which, he says, will make the ground moist at the bottom, the sycy will go through it more easily, and the grass will be mown closer to the ground. This practice, however, is entirely disapproved of by Mr. Wright. "Though it may prevail in Dorsetshire (says he), it is very seldom advisable, for the following reasons: Water made to run through a thick crop of grass, though it may appear very pure, will leave a certain quantity of adherent scum or sediment, which can never be separated from the hay, but will render it unpalatable, if not prejudicial, to the cattle that eat it. And this wetting of the land and grass will impede the drying or making of the hay perhaps some days, which in difficult seasons is of very great consequence, and it will likewise make the turf too soft and tender to support the wheels of a loaded waggon in carrying off the hay. Besides, there is reason to believe that one day's wetting in the summer, will, upon most meadows, endanger the soundness of every sheep that feeds upon the aftermath."

The spring-feeding ought never to be done by heavier cattle than sheep or calves; for large cattle do much hurt by poaching the ground with their feet, destroying the trenches, and spoiling the grass. Mr. Bofwell likewise greatly recommends a proper use of spring floods, from which he says much benefit may be derived; but, if there is any quantity of grass in the meadows not eaten, these floods must be kept out; otherwise the grass will be spoiled; for they bring with them such quantities of sand and mud, which stick to the grass, that the cattle will rather starve than taste it. Great quantities of grass or aftermath are frequently spoiled in flat countries by the floods which take place in the fall. In the winter time, however, when the ground is bare, the sand and mud brought down by the floods is soon incorporated with the soil, and becomes an excellent manure. The certain rule with regard to this matter is, "Make use of the floods when the grass cannot be used; avoid them when the grass is long or soon to be cut."

"It has often been a subject of dispute (says Mr. Bofwell), whether, from the latter end of autumn to the end of Candlemas, the throwing a very strong body of water, where it can be done, over the meadows, is of any essential service or not? Those who consider it as advantageous, assert, that when the waters run rude and strong over the ground, they beat down and rot the tufts of foggy or rough grass, fedges, &c. that are always to be found in many parts of coarse meadow-ground; and therefore are of peculiar service to them. On the other side it is alleged, that by coming in so large a body, it beats the ground (in the weak places particularly) so bare, that the sward is destroyed; and also brings with it such quantities of seeds of weeds, that at the next hay season the land in all those bare places bears a large burden of weeds, but little grass.

"The general opinion of the watermen upon this point is, that in water-meadows which are upon a warm, sandy, or gravelly soil, with no great depth of loam upon them, rude strong watering, even in winter, always does harm without any possible essential service. On the contrary, cold strong clay land will bear a great deal of water a long time without injury; and boggy, cory, or spongy soil, will also admit of a very large and strong body of water upon it with great advantage for almost any length of time at that season, provided the drains are made wide and deep enough to carry it off, with out forcing back upon the end of the panes. The weight and force of the water vastly afflicts in compreling those soils, which only want solidity and tenacity to make them produce great burdens of hay: nothing, in their opinion, corrects and improves those soils so much as a very strong body of water, kept a considerable time upon them at that season."

Notwithstanding the above reasons, however, Mr. Bofwell informs us, that he has doubts upon the subject; nor can he by any means acquiesce in this opinion, unless, by rude strong waters he is permitted to understand only rather a larger quantity of water conveyed over the land at this early season than ought to be used in the spring or summer: unmanageable waters he believes always hurtful.

"It may be proper just to add (continues he), that as soon as the hay is carried off the meadows, cattle of any sort except sheep may be put to eat the grass out of the trenches, and what may be left by the mowers. This perhaps will last them a week; when the water may be put into the meadows in the manner already described, taking care to mow the long grass which obstructs the water in the trenches; and this mowing is best done when the water is in them. Let the weeds, leaves, &c. be taken out and put in heaps, to be carried away into the farm yards; examine the trenches, make up the breaches, &c. take particular care that the water only dribbles over every part of the panes as thin as possible, this being the warmest season of the year. The first watering should not be suffered to last longer than two or three days before it is shifted off (and if the season be wet, perhaps not so long, as warmth Culture of warmth seems to be the greatest requisite after the land is once wet to assist vegetation; to another part or meadow beat out by the cattle, by this time fit to take it. Do by this meadow exactly the same, and so by a third and fourth, if as many meadows belong to the occupier. Observe at all times, when the water is taken out of a meadow, to draw up the drain twice hatches; as, without doing that, watering is an injury. By the time that three or four parts are thus regularly watered, the first will have an after-math, with such rich and beautiful verdure as will be astonishing; and both quantity and quality will be beyond conception better than if the lands had not been watered.

Hence we see why every person should, if possible, have three or four meadows that can be watered; for here, while the cattle are eating the first, the second is growing, the third draining, &c., and the fourth under water. In this manner the after-math will in a mild season last till Christmas. A reason was given why the spring-grafts should be fed only by sheep or calves; a reason equally cogent may be given, why the after-grafts ought not to be fed by them, because it will infallibly rot them. No sheep (says our author), except those which are just fat, must ever be suffered even for an hour in water-meadows except in the spring of the year; and even then care must be taken that every part of the meadows have been well watered, and that they are not longer kept in them than the beginning of May. Although at present it is unknown what is the occasion of the rot, yet certain it is, that even half an hour's feeding in unhealthy ground has often proved fatal. After a short time they begin to lose their flesh, grow weaker and weaker; the best feeding in the kingdom cannot improve them after they once fall away; and when they die, animals like place are found in the livers. Scarcely any ever recover from a slight attack; but when farther advanced, it is always fatal. Guard by all means against keeping the water too long upon the meadow in warm weather; it will very soon produce a white substance like cream, which is prejudicial to the grafts, and shows that it has been too long upon the ground already. If it be permitted to remain a little longer, a thick foam will settle upon the grafts of the confluence of glue, and as tough as leather, which will quite destroy it wherever it is suffered to be produced. The same bad effects seem to arise from rude waters; neither can the foam easily be got off.

Rolling meadows in the spring of the year is an excellent method. It should be done after Candlemas, when the meadow has been laid dry a week. It should be always rolled lengthwise of the panes, up one side of the trench and down the other. Rolling also contributes much to the grafts being cut close to the surface when mown, which is no small advantage; for the little hillocks, spewings of worms, ant-hills, &c., are by this means pressed close to the ground, which would otherwise obstruct the scythe and take off its edge; and to avoid that inconvenience, the workmen always mow over them."

As a water-meadow has with so much justice been called a hot-bed of grafts, and as the practice of flooding tends to completely to ameliorate the poorest soils, and to extirpate heath and all coarse and woody plants, we are satisfied that the knowledge of it cannot be too extensively diffused, or too minutely enquired into.

That it may be more clearly understood, therefore, we shall here give a statement of the mode in which it is practised in Gloucestershire, as explained from Mr Wright's pamphlet, by the Rev. Mr Charles Findlater, in a letter to the conductors of the Farmer's Magazine.

Fig. 6 represents a float-meadow under irrigation; by Mr Findlater, the dark shading representing the water.

When the hatch of the water dam-dike (marked H) Plate XII. is lifted up, the water runs in the natural channel of the river; when the hatch is shut, as represented in the figures, the natural channel is laid dry below it, and the water runs laterally along the main-feeder, in the direction of the arrows, and is from it distributed into the floating-gutters (g, g, g, g), which are formed along the crowns of the ridges, into which the meadow is arranged, overflowing on both sides of said gutters, and running down the sides of the ridges into the furrows or drains betwixt the ridges (d, d, d'), which drains discharge it into the main-drain, whereby it is returned into its natural channel at the foot of the meadow.

The marks (c, c, or Δ Δ), and the tufts, in the main-feeder and the floating-gutters, denote—The first, obstructions (made by small flakes, or sods, or stones) to raise the water, and make it flow over from the main-feeder into the floating-gutters, or from the latter over the sides of the ridges; the second, nicks, made in their sides, with a similar intention. If, however, the main-feeder and floating-gutters are properly constructed at their first formation, these supplementary aids will be, in a great measure, unnecessary: For the main-feeder ought, at its entrance, to be of dimensions just sufficient to admit the quantity of water which is to be conveyed to the meadow; and gradually to contract its size as it goes along, in order that the water, for want of room, may be forced over its side, and into the floating-gutters: these last ought to be formed after the same model, that the water may, by their primary construction, overflow their sides, through their whole course. That as little as possible of the surface may be unproductive, a similar construction should be adopted for the drains; they ought to be narrow nearest to the main-feeder, where they receive little water, and to diverge as they approach the main-drain; which last is, for the same reason, similarly constructed. In the plan, this mode of construction is made obvious to the eye.

The meadow, in this plate, must be conceived to lie in a regular and very gentle slope from the main-feeder to the main-drain.

Fig. 4, and fig. 5, present a view of the ridges cut across, with the feeding-gutter (g) upon their crown, and the furrows, or discharging drains (d, d') along their sides. Fig. 5 shows the shape (of gradual slope) into which they ought to be formed at first, were it not for the expense, i.e., when they are to be formed out of graft fields, preferring the grafts forward. Fig. 4 represents the mode in which they may, more cheaply, though more roughly, be formed at first; when, the depictions of sediment from the floating water, will gradually fill the shoulders of the floating-gutters, up to the dotted line, forming the ridge into the shape of fig. 5.

In the formation of the meadow, (particularly if the declivity is very small,) care should be taken to lose as little as possible of the level in the main-feeder, and in Part I.

Culture of the floating-gutters; in order that the greater descent may be given to the water down the sides of the ridges, from the floating-gutters to their discharging drains, that the water may float over the ridges sides with the more rapidity, and in the more quick succession.

The distance from the floating-gutter to the discharging-drain, ought not to be less than four yards, i.e., the breadth of the ridge eight yards; nor more than five yards and a half, i.e., the breadth of the ridge eleven yards.

It is evident from the plan, that, when the hatch (H) is lifted up, the water resumes its natural channel, and the meadow becomes at once dry. Its figure frees it instantly of all surface water. If any of it is wet from springs, these must be carried off by under-draining; for it must be thoroughly drained before you can drown it to good effect.

This figure represents a float-meadow, where the declivity is unequal, and which, also, is too large, for the command of water, to admit of being floated all at once.

In this meadow, it is supposed that the ground rises, from the natural channel of the river, up to (F 1.), which is a feeder, with its floating-gutters (g, g, g); and thence descends to the hollow (D 1.), which is a drain communicating with the main-drain, and receiving the water from the lesser drains or receiving furrows (d, d, d). It is supposed, that the ground rises again from the hollow (D 1.), up to the second feeder (F 2.), and thence descends again into the hollow, above which is conducted the receiving-drain (D 2.). The remainder of the meadow is supposed to lie in a regular slope, from the main-feeder to the drain last mentioned, and the main-drain. The letter (r) marks a very small rut, made with a spade, or triangular hoe, for conducting water to places upon which it appears not to scatter regularly.

The hatch upon the river's natural channel, and that upon the feeder (F 2.) are represented as shut; and, consequently the natural channel, together with that part of the meadow which is floated from the feeder (F 2.), as dry. The hatches upon the feeder (F 1.), and upon the main-feeder, are represented as drawn up; and, consequently the two parts of the meadow, floated from them, are represented as under water.

This represents catch-meadow, for a steep declivity, or side of a hill. It is called catch, because, when the whole is watered at once, the water floating over the uppermost pitches is caught in the floating-gutters, which distribute the water over the inferior pitches.

The lateral horizontal feeding-gutters, which scatter the water over the first and second pitches, are represented as shut by rods or stones, &c. (8); and consequently these first and second pitches appear dry: The whole water is represented as passing down the main-feeder into the lowest floating-gutter, whence it floats the lowest or third pitch; and is received into the drain at the foot of the meadow, to be returned by it into the natural channel.

When the whole is to be floated at once, the obstructions (8) are taken from the lateral floating-gutters: obstructions, meantime, are placed in the main-feeder, immediately under the floating-gutters, to force the water into said gutters.

N.B. In obstructing the main-feeder, care must be taken not to obstruct it entirely, but to allow always a part of the water it contains to escape in it to the lower pitches; for, supposing the main-feeder to be entirely shut under the feeding-gutter (g 1.), so that the whole water was made to run over the first pitch, from said gutter and the horizontal part of the main-drain, the water filtrated through the grats of the first pitch, would be so very much deprived of its fertilizing qualities, as to be incapable of communicating almost any perceptible benefit to the pitches lying below. Water so filtrated, is called technically used water; and is esteemed next to useless; and for this reason, the grats nearest the floating-gutters is most abundant, and of best quality, in all kinds of meadow.

The proper breadth of the pitches of catch-meadow, from gutter to gutter, does not seem well determined; they ought, probably, not to be much broader than the distance from the floating-gutter to the receiving-drain in float-meadow, i.e., from four to five or six yards.—Catch-meadow is not so much prized as float-meadow.

In the construction of the float-meadows, the floating gutters die away to nothing before they meet the main-drain; the water from the end of the gutter finding its way over the intervening space, or being assisted in scattering by small ruts marked (r). The receiving-drains should, for like reason, not be commenced till within half a ridge breadth of the main-feeder.

It is to be observed with regard to the last of these modes of flooding, called catch-meadow, that although lands thus watered do not become equal to more level grounds subjected to the same process, or float-meadow, yet that the improvement of them is perhaps greater in proportion to the value of the lands in their original state; for, in this way, lands upon the declivity of hills, which once produced next to nothing, are enabled to bear a considerable crop of valuable grass. As streams of water are in high countries frequently found descending from very lofty situations, and as in these cases the expense of forming catch-meadow is very trifling, it may be regarded as of the most extensive utility.

Sect. V. Rotation of Crops.

No branch of husbandry requires more skill and sagacity than a proper rotation of crops, so as to keep crops 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 feed, 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 feed, and are not cut down till the Rotation of feed be fully ripe, they may be pronounced all of them crops 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 consists mostly of rye-grass, 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 faggotage, 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 feed 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. Pease and beans are leguminous plants; but being cultivated for feed, they seem to occupy a middle station: their feed 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 feeds 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 feeds 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 pease 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 shaded from the sun 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 pease and beans draw part of their nourishment from the air by their green leaves while allowed to stand, they draw the less 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. Potato-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 parsnip; 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 parsnip. 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 feed, 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 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 long 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, pease 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 more 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 Rotation of 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 pease, 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 leguminous: attention must also be 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 rye-grafts 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 grounds 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 hand-hoed, is in that view little inferior. As red clover requires the ground to be perfectly clean, a good crop of it injures 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 feed. 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 choose 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 exceptionable 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 able to be 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 containing 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 usually has been 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 consists chiefly of 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-Berwick, and Athelstonefoord, the following rotations were formerly universal, and to this day are much more frequent than any other mode.

1. After fallow and 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 that are published by Young, 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; to be kept for it is the universal opinion, that the longer it lies, too long in 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 20 years of pasture, and still more after 30, will not make up the loss.

Pasture-grafts, while young, maintain many animals; and the field is greatly recruited by what they drop; it is even recruited by hay crops, provided the grafts be cut before feeding. But as old grafts yields little profit, the field ought to be taken up for corn when the pasture begins to fail; and after a few crops, it ought Rotation of crops to be laid down again with grass feeds. 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 care 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 90 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 12 acres in hay, and 12 in pasture, a single plough with good cattle will be sufficient to command the remaining 60 acres.

**Rotation in a clay soil.**

| Year | Crop | |------|------| | 1795 | Fallow | | 1796 | Wheat | | 1797 | Pease | | 1798 | Barley | | 1799 | Hay | | 1800 | Oats |

When the rotation is completed, the seventh inclosure, having been six years in pasture, is ready to be taken up for a rotation of crops which begins with oats in the year 1801, and proceeds as in the sixth inclosure. In the same year 1801 the fifth inclosure is made pasture, for which it is prepared by sowing pasture-grass seeds with the barley of the year 1800. 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 | |------|------| | 1795 | Turnip | | 1796 | Barley | | 1797 | Hay | | 1798 | Oats | | 1799 | Fallow | | 1800 | 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-grass 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 clay soil. The farm we propose consists of 73 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 64 acres are divided into four inclosures, 16 acres each, to be cropped as in the following table:

| Inclosure | Year | |-----------|------| | 1 | Beans | | 2 | Barley | | 3 | Hay | | 4 | 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, peas, 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. 3. Above the beans, sow pease end of March, half a boll per acre, and harrow them in. 4. The two grains will ripen at the same time. 5. Oats or barley on a winter furrow with grass-seeds. 6. Hay for one year or two; the second growth pastured. 7. Lay what dung can be spared on the hay-stubble, and sow wheat with a single furrow. 8. Wheat. 9. Beans or pease. 10. Oats. Fallow again.

In addition to these, we shall here state from the Agricultural Survey of Yorkshire, an example of a rotation used in that county upon a marl-land farm consisting of 432 acres of arable land, in which a very great number of hands and horses appear to have been employed, but in which very valuable products are reared. "The soil, where the principal part of the potatoes are grown, is a good warp; the other part on which potatoes are also cultivated, a mixture of warp and land; the remainder of the land, clay, with a small portion of warp, but too strong to grow potatoes, except about 70 acres, which is tolerably good potato-land." Reaping land, but at too great a distance from the river. Grasfs and Storing up Corn and Hay.

land only sufficient to keep two milch cows, and horses necessary for working the farm: 69 acres of the best warp land divided into three equal parts; 1. fallow, with from 16 to 20 loads of manure per acre; set it with potatoes; after, sow wheat; and then fallow again: three acres of the same kind of land that is liable to be damaged by sparrows when sown with corn, is set with potatoes every year with about 10 loads of manure per acre each year: 84 acres of the lighter land is divided in the same manner, one-third fallow, with 10 loads of manure per acre; set potatoes and then sow wheat, and fallow again: 42 acres of land, lately an old pasture divided into three parts; one-third flax, then sown with rape, and after they come off, plough and harrow the land three or four times, and lay upon it about 20 loads of manure per acre, which will make it in great condition; after which set potatoes, then sow flax again, and rape after: 150 acres divided into three parts; 1. fallow; 2. wheat; 3. beans, drilled at 9 inches distance, hand-hoed twice at 6s. per acre; fallow again, &c.: 80 acres of land that was lately in old grasfs divided into four parts; fallow, wheat, beans drilled, and oats; then fallow again, &c. The remaining four acres thrown to any of the crops that are likely to fail. Rent 25s. per acre; affluents 5s. per acre.

"Distribution of crops for 1795."

| Crop | Acres | Average Produce of an Acre | |----------|-------|---------------------------| | Wheat | - | 121 from 3 to 5 quarters. | | Beans | - | 70 from 3 to 6 quarters. | | Oats | - | 20 from 6 to 10 quarters. | | Flax | - | 14 from 45 to 55 stones. | | Rape | - | 14 from 5 to 5 quarters. | | Potatoes | - | 68 from 60 to 100 sacks. | | Fallow | - | 121 |

To be thrown where a crop is likely to fail, 4

"Servants, Horses, and Cows kept upon the Farm."

4 House servants, 16 Labourers, 26 Horses, 2 Milch cows.

"The above is an account of a farm belonging to one of the best managers of marsh-land. We must observe, he fallows his land very often; yet he is well paid by his superior crops. The last year (1795) he had 100 sacks per acre off most of his potato-land; and sold them from 8s. to 12s. per sack of 14 pecks. All their corn is sold by the quarter of eight Winchester bushels, though I believe their measure rather overruns."

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 shatter; 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 first, wheat, at the point of perfection, is not more apt to shatter than for some days before: the bulk begins not to open till after the seed is fully ripe; and then the sufferings 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 Of reapers, 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 shattering, no caveat is more so. Why do they not consider, that corn standing dries in half a day? when, in a clove 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 pre. Manner of mile, that barley is of all the most difficult grain to be cutting, dried for keeping. Having no husk, rain has an 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 expeditious 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 sickle 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 sickle above the clover, so as 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 sickle is preferred in England. Pease and beans grow so irregularly, as to make the sickle necessary.

The best way for drying pease, is to keep separate Drying of the handfuls that are cut; though in this way they wet pease easily, they dry as soon. In the common way of heap- Reaping peafe together for composing 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 peafe 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 fluid is it, to make the size of a sheaf depend on the height of the plants! By that rule, a wheat sheaf is commonly too weighty, as to be unmanageable by ordinary arms: it requires an effort to move it that frequently buries 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 18 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 stay; 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 harvest weather; for which reason, the most expeditious method should be chosen for carrying corn from the field to the stack-yard. Our carriages are generally too small or too large. A fledge is a very awkward machine: many hands are required, and little progress made. Waggon and large carts are little less dilatory, as they must stand in the yard till unloaded sheaf by sheaf. The best way is, to use long carts moveable upon the axle, so as at once to throw the whole load on the ground; which is forked up to the stack by a hand appointed for that purpose. By this method, two carts will do the work of four or five.

Building round stacks in the yard is undoubtedly preferable to housing corn. There it is shut up from the air; and it must be exceedingly dry, if it contract not a mildew, which is the first step to putrefaction. Add to this, that in the yard, a stack is preserved from rats and mice, by being set on a pedestal; whereas no method has hitherto been invented for preserving corn in a house from such destructive vermin. The proper manner of building, is to make every sheaf incline downward from its top to its bottom. Where the sheaves are laid horizontally, the stack will take in rain both above and below. The best form of a stack is that of a cone placed on a cylinder; and the top of the cone should be formed with three sheaves drawn to a point. If the upper part of the cylinder be a little wider than the under, so much the better.

The delaying to cover a stack for two or three weeks, though common, is, however, exceeding absurd; for if much rain fall in the interim, it is beyond covering the power of wind to dry the stack. Vegetation begins in the external parts, shuts out the air from the internal; and to prevent a total putrefaction, the stack must be thrown down and exposed to the air every sheaf. In order to have a stack covered the moment it is finished, straw and ropes ought to be ready; and the covering ought to be so thick as to be proof against rain.

Scotland is subject not only to floods of rain, but to high winds. Good covering guards against the former, and ropes artfully applied guard against the latter. The following is a good mode. Take a hay-rope well twisted, and surround the stack with it, two feet or so below the top. Surround the stack with another such rope immediately below the eaves. Connect these two with ropes in an up-and-down position, distant from each other at the eaves about five or six feet. Then surround the stack with other circular ropes parallel to the two first mentioned, giving them a twist round every one of those that lie up and down, by which the whole will be connected together in a sort of net-work. What remains is, to finish the two feet at the top of the stack. Let it be covered with bunches of straw laid regularly up and down; the under part to be put under the circular rope first mentioned, which will keep it fast, and the upper part be bound by a small rope artfully twisted, commonly called the crown of the stack. This method is preferable to the common way of laying long ropes over the top of the stack, and tying them to the belting-ropes; which flattens the top, and makes it take in rain. A stack covered in the way here described, will stand two years secured both against wind and rain; a notable advantage in this variable climate.

The great aim in making hay is, to preserve as much Hay-maize of the sap as possible. All agree in this; and yet differing widely in the means of making that aim effectual. To 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-grafs 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 windrows, 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 grafts. 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 40 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. Reaping horse. Two ropes are sufficient to secure the ricks from wind the short time they are to stand in the field.

In the year 1773, 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 excluding 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 swath after it is cut, and afterwards alternately putting it up into cocks and spreading it out, and tedding it in the sun, which tends greatly to bleach the hay, exhales its natural juices, and 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 so closely as to store 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 (i): 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, of course, it does not require above the one-half of the work that method 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 flight 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 choosing between the two.

Let it be particularly remarked, that in this particular manner of making hay, great care must be taken that it be caution ready when first put into the cocks; for if it is in the slightest degree wet at that time, it will turn instantly mouldy, and fit together so as to become totally impervious 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

(1) 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 altogether, as if upon a handbarrow, to the place where the large rick is to be built. most always find that the uncut gras 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 so on round the whole; always returning afresh till the cocks are entirely finished. This is the best way of saving your hay, if you have been under the necessity of cutting it while damp; but it is always best to guard against this inconvenience, if possible."

In the yard, a stack of hay bought 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 peat 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-flacks; 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 flack; the reason is, that the ropes thrown over the flack will bag by the sinking of the flack, and may be drawn tight by lowering the belt rope, and fixing it in its new position with the same pins.

The stems of hops, 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 flack of rye-grass hay, a year old, and of a moderate size, will weigh, each cubic yard, 11 Dutch stone. A flack of clover-hay in the same circumstances weighs somewhat less.

**Sect. VII. Manures.**

"The use of manures (says M. Parmentier*), has * Memoirs been known in all ages; but we are yet far from having any clear and precise ideas of the nature of the juices of Agriculture, which are destined for the nourishment of vegetables, Paris, and of the manner in which they are transmitted to their organs. The writers on agriculture, who have endeavoured to explain these matters, perceiving faults in most opinions, were persuaded that these faults, by the help of concerning water and heat, passed, in a saline form, through the manure, vegetable filter. These first philosophers did not hesitate to consider every thing that has been done by the industry of man, to improve the nature of land, and its productions, as merely forming reservoirs of these faults, which they considered as the principle of fertility. This opinion was so well established among the improvers of land, that, to this day, many of them have no object in view, in their operations, but to disengage faults; and, when they attempt to explain certain phenomena which take place in their fields or orchards, they talk confidently about the nature of the air, of rain, of snow, of dew, and fogs; of the faults of the earth, of dung, of marl, of lime, of chalk, &c., and make use of those vague terms, oil, sulphur, spirit, &c., which ought henceforward to be banished from our elementary books on agriculture.

"Among the authors who have attacked, and combated with most success, the opinion that the fruitfulness of soils, and the aliment of vegetables, reside in saline substances, must be reckoned Eller and Wallerius. These philosophers examined, by every means which chemistry at that time could furnish, the various kinds of earth proper for cultivation, and also those substances which have always been considered as the most powerful manures, without being able to obtain, from any of them, anything more than mere atoms of salt.

"Animated with the same zeal, and taking advantage of the instructions found in their writings, I thought it necessary to determine, by experience, whether, as has been asserted, there really exist neutral faults in earths; and also, whether those earths are more fertile in proportion to the quantity of such faults they contain. With this view, I lixiviated, by means of distilled water, many species of cultivated earths, taken in various states, from fresh earth to that which had

(x) By winning hay, is meant the operation by which it is brought from the succulent state of gras to that of a dry fodder. had been impoverished by the growth of several crops; I also tried dung, reduced more or less into the state of mould; and likewise the most active manures, such as the offal of animal substances rotted by putrefaction; but in none of these, however carefully analyzed, were found any salts in a free state. They contain indeed the materials proper for forming salts, but if they contain any ready formed, it is merely by accident.

"The researches of Kraft, and those of Alton, were not attended with different results. Having sown some oats in ashes, not lixiviated, and in sand strongly impregnated with potash and with saltpetre, and having found that the oats did not grow, they concluded that neutral salts, and alkalies, not only retarded the growth of vegetables, but that they absolutely prevented it. It is well known that in Egypt there are districts where the earth is entirely covered with sea-salt, and these districts are quite barren. It is probably owing to this property of sea-salt, that the Romans were accustomed to scatter large quantities of it over fields where any great crime had been committed, and of which they wished to perpetuate the remembrance, by rendering the part barren for a certain time.

"The idea that salts had great influence in vegetation ought to have been greatly weakened by the following simple reflection. Supposing that salts existed in garden-mould, they would be very soon dissolved by the rain, and carried away, towards the lower strata of the earth, to a depth to which the longest roots would not reach. Indeed the famous experiment of Van Helmont would have been sufficient to have destroyed the above opinion, if it did not generally happen that we are no sooner set free from one error than we fall into another not less extraordinary. The surprising effects of vegetation brought about by the overflowing of water, and in the neighbourhood of salt marshes, and the infinite number of inhaling capillary tubes observed upon the surface of vegetables, led to an opinion that the air and water, absorbed by the roots and leaves of plants, were only vehicles loaded with saline matter, analogous to the vegetables nourished by them.

"To the experiment of Van Helmont, which was repeated by many accurate observers, succeeded those of modern philosophers; from which it clearly appeared, that plants could grow, and produce fruit, in the air of the atmosphere, and in distilled water, also in pure sand, in powdered glass, in wet moss or sponge, in the cavity of flinty roots, &c., and that plants which had nothing but the above-mentioned fluids for their nourishment, gave, when submitted to chemical analysis, the same products as those which had undergone their processes of vegetation in a soil perfectly well manured. It was also observed, that the most barren soils were rendered fertile when they were properly supplied with water by canals; and the efficacy of irrigation was repeatedly evinced in different ways: from these observations was formed the following system, that water rises in plants in the form of vapour, as in distillation; that air introduces itself into their pores; and that, if salts contribute to the fruitfulness of soils, it is only in consequence of their containing the two fluids above mentioned in great abundance."

Our author, after making many experiments upon various soils and salts, maintains "that saline substances have no sensible effects in promoting vegetation, except inasmuch as they are of a deliquescent nature, have an earthy basis easily decomposed, and are used only in small quantity. In those circumstances they have the power of attracting, from the immense reservoir of the atmosphere, the vapours which circulate in it; these vapours they retain, along with the moisture that is produced from rain, snow, dew, fog, &c., which moisture they prevent from running together in a mass, or from being lost, either by exhaling into the air of the atmosphere, or by filtering itself through the inferior strata of the earth, and thereby leaving the roots of vegetables dry; they distribute that moisture uniformly, and transmit it, in a state of great division, to the orifices of the tubes destined to carry it into the texture of the plant, where it is afterwards to undergo the laws of assimilation. As every kind of vegetable manure possesses a viscid kind of moisture, it thereby partakes of the property of deliquescent salts. In short, the preparation of land for vegetation has no other object in view but to divide the earthy particles, to soften them, and to give them a form capable of producing the above-mentioned effects. It is sufficient, therefore, that water, by its mixture with the earth and the manure, be divided, and spread out so as to be applied only by its surface, and that it keep the root of the plant always wet, without drowning it, in order to become the essential principle of vegetation. But as plants which grow in the shade, even in the best soil, are weakly, and as the greater part of those which are made to grow in a place that is perfectly dark, neither give fruit nor flowers, it cannot be denied, that the influence of the sun is of great importance in vegetable economy."

Such was the opinion of M. Parmentier while the old theory of chemistry prevailed; but when it appeared, by more recent discoveries, that air and water are not simple but compound bodies, made up of oxygen, hydrogen, and azote, and that they are resolved into these principles by many operations of nature and of art, he so far altered his theory of vegetation as to admit, that air and water act their part in that process, not in a compound state, but by means of the principles of which they consist. He now concluded, that the value of manured earth consists of its tendency to resolve water into gasses which give out heat while they are absorbed by the plants. As he thus supposes that the gasses constitute the food of plants, it follows, that the most aerated waters will be the most favourable to vegetation; and hence arises the value of those in which putrid animal matters are dissolved. Salts and dung act as leavens in bringing on a state of fermentation in the substances with which they are mingled, and operating the decomposition of water, which, along with the carbon existing in the atmosphere, he imagines contains the whole materials of the more simple vegetables. Too great a quantity of salts prevents fermentation, or the decomposition of water, and hence is prejudicial to vegetation, while a small quantity is more advantageous, as more favourable to that process of putrefaction. Different manures also give forth gasses which are absorbed by plants, and give them a peculiarity of character: hence, in a soil composed of mud and dung, cabbages acquire a bad taste, from the hepatic gas, or sulphurated hydrogen gas, which is there evolved. In addition to these chemical properties, Manures, properties of manure, it also, by its mechanical qualities, renders the soil more permeable to water and to the roots of the plants, and is thus favourable to the process of vegetation. At the same time, as the earths themselves have a chemical action upon water, and are capable of affording a proper basis for plants, he considers them as in many cases sufficient to promote vegetation. Upon these principles, M. Parmentier takes a view of different substances used as manures.

Marl, in his opinion, is capable of acting in the same manner as the most fertile soil, when the principles of which it is composed, namely, clay, sand, calcareous earth, and magnesian earth, are justly proportioned to each other. But it is sometimes compact and tenacious, because it contains a superabundant portion of clay, and at other times porous and friable, because it contains too much sand, and therefore is not in general fit for vegetation by itself. These considerations ought always to be our guide when we mean to employ marl as a manure.

It has been supposed that to marl is a sort of technical expression, intended to denote the bringing together or dividing the earthy particles by means of clay or sand. It appears to our author, that neither of the above operations can properly be called marling; because, in either case, all we do is, to put the soil into a situation to receive and to profit by the influence of the atmosphere, and that of the manures made use of. The peculiar principle of marl is, that part of it which, like lime, acts very powerfully upon the different aeriform fluids, is easily reduced to powder, effervesces with acids, and sends forth a quantity of air-bubbles when water is poured upon it. Now this matter, which in a particular manner does the office of manure, resides neither in clay nor in sand. Upon the proportion of it depends the duration of the fertility it produces; consequently it is of importance, when we make use of marl, to know which of its constituent parts it contains in the greatest proportion, otherwise in some cases we should only add one common kind of earth to another. Hence our author infers, that for a chalky soil clay is the proper manure, and that in such a soil a clay bottom is of more value than a gold mine.

Wood-ashes, as a manure, may be, in some respects, compared to marl; at least they contain the same earth as those which generally enter into the composition of marl, but they contain a greater quantity of saline substances, proceeding from the vegetables of which they are the residue, and from the process made use of in their combustion; a process which increases their activity, and should render us careful in what manner and for what purposes we employ them. Wood-ashes, when scattered over fields, at proper times and in proper quantities, destroy weeds, and encourage the vegetation of good plants. But do the ashes produce this effect by a sort of corrosive power? I cannot (says our author) think it; for in that case all kinds of plants would indiscriminately be acted upon by them, and to a certain degree destroyed.

Besides, the ashes of fresh wood are seldom employed until they have been lixiviated; in which state they are deprived of their caustic principle; those ashes which are most commonly made use of for manure are produced either from wood that has been floated in water, or from turf, or from pit-coal, and contain little Manures, or no alkaline salt.

It appears much more probable that ashes, when laid upon ground, destroy the weeds by a well known effect, namely, by feeding with eagerness that moisture which serves to produce those weeds, and which in a superabundant quantity is necessary to their existence and support. Whereas those plants which have a firmer texture and a longer root, which are rendered strong by age and by having withstood the rigour of winter, and which are in fact the plants of which the fields are composed, do not suffer any damage from the application of the ashes; but, on the contrary, by being freed from the superfluous weeds which stifled them, and robbed them of a part of their sustenance, they receive a quantity of nourishment proportioned to their wants. The state of relaxation and languor to which they were reduced by a superabundance of water, leaves them, the soil gets its proper consistence, and the grass, corn, &c., acquiring the strength and vigour which is natural to them, soon overcome the mists, rushes, and other weeds; thus a good crop, of whatever the field consists of, is produced. It is in the above manner that wood ashes act, whenever in the spring it is necessary to apply them to meadows, corn fields, &c., the plants of which are stifled and weakened by a luxuriant vegetation of weeds, the usual consequence of mild and wet winters.

When wood-ashes produce an effect different from what is above described, it is either because they happen to contain too much alkaline salt, or that they are laid on the ground in too great quantity, or that the fields to which they are applied were not sufficiently wet to restrain their action; for when they are scattered upon cold soils, and buried by the plough before the time of sowing, they are, like lime, of great service. The last-mentioned substance is very efficacious in other circumstances; and there is a well known method of using it practised by the Germans, as follows: A heap of lime is formed by the side of a heap of poor earth, and water is poured upon the lime; the earth is then thrown over it, and becomes impregnated with the vapours which escape from the lime while it is flaked. The earth, after being thus aerated, may be separated; and although no lime remains mixed with it, it is, by the operation just described, rendered capable of giving a luxuriant vegetation to whatever plants may be put into it.

It is possible, therefore, to aerate earth as well as fluids; for this purpose, by mixing it with certain substances during their decomposition, we must attach to it the principles of which those substances are composed; from which there results a matter so loaded with gas, as to form a more compound substance, and one which has acquired new properties. The Arabians, for example, who take great pains to improve their land, are accustomed to make large pits, which they fill with animals which happen to die; these pits they afterwards cover with calcareous or clayey earth; and after some time these earths, which of themselves are sterile, acquire the properties of the richest manures.

The foregoing observations may at least be considered as proving, that those substances which, when employed fresh and in too great quantity, are most prejudicial to vegetation, have, on the contrary, an advantageous Manures, tageous effect, when they are previously made to undergo a fermentation; or when they are mixed with earth or water, in a proportion adapted to the end proposed. The grass of fields in which cattle or poultry go to feed, after the first or second crop of hay, appears to be dried by the urine and dung of those animals, as if fire had been applied to it; whereas these same excrementitious substances, when combined with earth, or diluted with water, are capable, without any other preparation, of performing the office of good manure.

"But if animal fecal substances, when applied in substance to plants, were capable of acting upon them, as is affirmed, in such a way as to corrode or burn them, how could feed which has been swallowed, and escaped the action of the digestive powers, be prolific when thrown out by the animal, after having remained so long in its dung? yet we often see oats, in circumstanced, grow and produce seed. Is it not more consistent with experience and observation to suppose, that these excrementitious substances, being still endowed with animal heat, and with an organic motion, diffuse round plants in vegetation a deleterious principle or inflammable gas, which destroys them? for soon after their application, the foliage of the plant grows yellow, dries up, and the plant withers, unless there happens a shower of rain which revives it. When these substances are diluted, by being mixed with water and earth, they lose that principle which is so destructive to vegetable life, and an incipient fermentation augments their power as a manure, so that they may be immediately made use of without any apprehension of injury from their effects.

"It appears, therefore, that any operation upon excrementitious substances, by which they are dried and reduced to powder, cannot be practised without depriving those substances of a great part of such of their principles as are easily evaporated, and upon which their fluidity depends; these principles, when diluted with water, and confined by being mixed with earth, are capable of increasing the produce of the soil. Such is the way in which the husbandmen in Flanders make use of this kind of manure, in the cultivation of a kind of rape or cole seed, which is to them a very important branch of agricultural industry and commerce; and they never observe that the sap carries up any of those principles which give such manure its offensive smell; nor do they observe, that the fodder produced from fields so manured, whether eaten fresh or dry, is disagreeable to their cattle. The excrements of all animals would be injurious to plants, if applied too fresh, or in too great quantity; and a gardener could not commit a greater fault, than to put more than a certain quantity of them into the water he means to make use of to water his young plants; in short, this kind of manure is to be used in a very sparing manner; and he that is too prodigal of it will find, to his cost, that excess, even of that which is otherwise beneficial, becomes an evil.

"It must certainly be allowed, that excrementitious substances are a very advantageous manure for cold soils, and suited to most vegetable productions; a long experience of their effects over a large tract of country, and the acknowledged intelligence of the Flemish farmers, ought to be considered as sufficient to overcome the prejudice that has been raised against this sort of manure. Supposing that the bad effects which have been attributed to it, when used in the state in which Manures, it is taken out of privies, &c., are not the offspring of a prejudiced imagination, they may have arisen from its having been made use of at an improper time, or in too great quantity; or from its having been applied to a foil and for the cultivation of plants to which it was not adapted; for we know that the excess of any kind of manure changes the smell and taste of plants, and the same effect is produced by watering them too frequently. Striking examples of this change are seen in the strawberry and in the violet, when such as have grown in the woods are compared to those produced from some of our over-manured gardens; also in the lettuce, and some other plants, when those raised for sale by the gardeners about Paris are compared to those of some particular kitchen gardens. In the markets of some cities, the carrots, turnips, and potatoes of the fields, are preferred to the same kind of roots cultivated by the gardeners; for though the last are of a larger size, they have not so good a flavour. Some vegetables, therefore, are like certain wild species of the animal kingdom; they resist every kind of culture, as those animals resist every effort to tame them.

"Although experience has taught the Flemish farmers, that excrementitious substances are more active in their natural state than when dried, yet it cannot be denied that drying them, and reducing them into powder, is sometimes very advantageous, because in that state they are much less offensive, are easily transported to any distance, and may be used when most convenient or most proper. In many cities the inhabitants pay to have their privies emptied: in other places, those who empty them pay for their contents; and it would astonish any one to be told how great a revenue is produced in the city of Lille in Flanders by the sale of this kind of manure. I am, however (says our author), far from thinking that it is right, in all cases, to employ it in the above-mentioned state of concentration; it would be better, in my opinion, to follow the example of the Flemish farmers, who use it the first year for the cultivation of plants for oil, or for hemp or flax; and the second year for the best kinds of grain: thus obtaining two crops, instead of one, without any further preparation of the land. What is said above may be applied also to the manures produced from the dung of cattle, poultry, &c. (particularly to pigeons' dung, the most powerful manure of its kind), all which, by being dried and powdered before they are used, lose a great portion of their activity. From these observations another fact may be deduced, namely, that manure should not be taken from the place where it has been thrown together until the season of the year and the state of the land are such that it may be put into the ground as soon as it is brought to it. In some districts a very injurious custom prevails of carrying the manure into the fields, and leaving it there formed into small heaps, exposed for some days to the elements; during which time, either the sun and wind dry up its natural moisture, leaving a mass which is much less active; or the rain dissolves and carries away the extractive part impregnated with the salt. This kind of brine, which is the most powerful part of the manure, penetrates the earth to a considerable depth, and thaws (by the thick tufts which arise in those places, and which produce more straw than grain) that manure..." ought to be put into the ground as soon as it is brought to it, because it then possesses its full force and effect, and consequently would be then used to the greatest advantage.

"We have always at hand the means of composing, from a great variety of vegetable and animal substances, such manures as, when brought into a proper state, and mixed with land, contribute to its fertility. Chemistry also offers us a number of substances, which, although when used separately they tend to diminish the fertilizing quality of the earth, are yet capable, by being combined, of forming excellent manures; such, for instance, is that saponaceous combination which is produced from a mixture of potash, oil, and earth. What an advantage it would be, if, instead of being sparing of manure, the inhabitants of the country would endeavour to increase the number of these resources, and to render them more beneficial, by employing them in a more effectual manner! How many years had passed before it was known that the refuse of apples and pears, after they are pressed (and which used to be thrown away as useless), is capable of forming as valuable a manure, in cider and perry countries, as the refuse of grapes does in wine countries!"

From what has been observed, our author concludes, that manures act, in many circumstances, like medicines, and consequently that the same sort of manure cannot be adapted to every situation, and every kind of soil; we must therefore take care to make proper distinctions between them. Whoever shall pretend that any particular kind of manure may be used, with equal benefit, in grass land, corn fields, vineyards, orchards, kitchen gardens, &c., ought to be classed amongst those quacks who undertake to cure all persons with the same remedy, without any regard to their age, constitution, &c. It is probably from not having paid sufficient attention to the aforementioned distinctions, that some authors have found fault with particular manures, while others have spoken too highly in their favour.

Having thus far stated the observations of this ingenious author, we think it necessary to remark, that the practical farmer, who wishes to advance safely and prosperously in his occupation, will probably find, that the best principle upon which he can proceed in forming his plans for the preparation of manure, will consist of keeping strictly in view the ideas which we formerly stated, when considering the theory of agriculture.

When we wish to fertilize land by art, we ought to follow nature, or to imitate the processes by which she fertilizes it. Vegetable substances, fermented by the putrefaction of animal matters, rapidly fall down into earth, and assume the form of that rich black mould which is the most productive of all soils. The great object of the husbandman, therefore, ought to be to procure large quantities of vegetable substances of every kind, such as straw, flax, rushes, weeds, &c., and to lay these up to ferment along with the fresh dung of animals, particularly those animals which chew the cud, for by digesting their food in a very perfect manner, their dung contains a large portion of animal matter. As horses, on the contrary, digest their food very weakly, their dung is often only insufficiently animalized to bring on its own fermentation, which, however, is very strong, on account of the large quantity of bits of straw, hay, and other undecomposed parts of their food which it contains. In the neighbourhood of cities, other animal substances, besides dung, may frequently be obtained; such as bullocks blood, and the refuse of works in which tallow oil is prepared, none of which ought to be neglected by the husbandman.

The art of fermenting vegetable by animal matters, or the true art of making dung, has not yet been brought to perfection, nor is it in almost any situation sufficiently attended to. In many places, we see large quantities of ferns, rushes, and the coarse grasses of bogs, which no cattle will consume, allowed to run to waste; whereas, though these plants do not readily of themselves run into fermentation, they might easily, by proper care, be made to undergo this process, and consequently be converted into a source of riches, that is, into fertile mould.

On this subject, we shall here state a mode of preparing dung upon the above principles, that has lately been discovered, and successfully adopted in Midlothian by the Hon. Lord Meadowbank, one of the founders of the College of Justice in Scotland. It consists of subjecting common peat-moss to the process of fermentation, now mentioned, and has been explained by his lordship in a small printed pamphlet, of which, though not sold to the public, a considerable number of copies have been distributed among his lordship's friends.

It is in the following terms: "It is proper to state in the outset," says his lordship, "some general facts concerning the preparation of manure, which every practical farmer should be acquainted with.

"1. All recently dead animal or vegetable matter, if sufficiently divided, moist, and not chilled nearly to low temperature, tends spontaneously to undergo changes, that mode of bringing it at length to be a fat greasy earth, which, when mixed with sands, clays, and a little chalk, or pounded limestone, forms what is called rich loam, or garden-mould.

"2. In vegetable matter, when amassed in quantities, these changes are at first attended with very considerable heat, (sometimes proceeding the length of inflammation), which, when not exceeding blood-heat, greatly favours and quickens the changes, both in animal matter, and the further changes in vegetable matter, that are not sensibly attended with the production of heat. The changes attended with heat, are said to happen by a fermentation, named from what is observed in making of ale, wine, or vinegar. The latter are ascribed to what is called putrefactive fermentation.

"3. Besides moderate moisture and heat, and that division of parts which admits the air in a certain degree, circumstances which seem to be necessary to the production of these changes, stirring, or mechanical mixture, favours them; and a similar effect arises from the addition of chalk, pounded limestone, lime, rubbish of old buildings, or burnt lime brought back to its natural state; and also of ashes of burnt coal, peat, or wood, soap-ashes, foot, sea-shells, and sea-ware. And, on the other hand, the changes are stopped or retarded by pressure or consolidation, excluding air; by much water, especially when below the heat of a pool in summer; by astringents; and by caustic substances, as quicklime, acids, and pure alkalies, at least till their acidity is mollified, at the expense of the destruction of part of the animal and vegetable matter to which they are added.

"4. These..." These changes are accomplished by the separation or decomposition of the parts or ingredients of which the dead vegetables and animals are composed; by the escape of somewhat of their substance in the form of vapours or gases; by the imbibing also somewhat from water and from the atmosphere; and by the formation of compound matters, from the reunion of parts or ingredients, which had been separated by the powers of the living vegetables and animals. The earlier changes, and in general those which take place previous to the destruction of the adhesion and texture of the dead vegetables and animals, appear to be rather pernicious than favourable to the growth of living vegetables, exposed to the direct effect of them; whereas the changes subsequent to the destruction of the animal and vegetable texture promote powerfully the growth of plants, and, partly by their immediate efficacy on the plants exposed to their influence, partly by the alterations they produce in the soil, constitute what is to be considered as enriching manure (v.).

It should be the object of the farmer to give his soil the full benefit of these latter changes, decompositions and recompositions, which proceed slowly, and continue to go on for years after the manure is lodged in the soil. Even loam or garden-mould is still undergoing some remaining changes of the same sort; and, by frequently stirring it, or removing it, and using it as a top-dressing, its spontaneous changes are so favoured, that it will yield heavy crops for a time, without fresh manure; or, in other words, it is rendered so far a manure itself, as it decomposes faster than in its ordinary and more stationary state, and, in so doing, nourishes vegetables more abundantly, or forms new combinations in the adjoining soil, that enable it to do so.

It should also be the object of the farmer, to employ the more early changes, not only to bring forward the substances undergoing them into a proper state to be committed to the soil, but to accelerate or retard them, so as to have his manure ready for use at the proper seasons, with as little loss as possible, from part being too much and part too little decomposed; and also to avail himself of the activity of those changes, to restore to a state of sufficiently rapid spontaneous decomposition, such substances in his farm, as, though in a state of decay, had become so stationary, as to be unfit for manure, without the aid of heat and mixture.

By attention to the two first particulars, and the proper use of compression, stirring and mixture, the farm dunghill, though formed slowly and of materials in very various states of decay, is brought forward in nearly the same condition. By attention to the latter, manure may, in most situations in Scotland, be tripled or quadrupled; et finum est aurum. On the other hand, by inattention to them, part of the manure is put into the soil unprepared, that is, in a situation where the texture of the vegetable is still entire; and, its decomposition never having been carried far by the heat and mixture of a fermenting mass, proceeds in the soil so slowly, that, like ploughed down stubble, it does not merit the name of manure. Part, again, is apt to be too much rotted, that is, much of it is too nearly approaching to the state of garden-mould, whereby much benefit is lost, by the escape of what had been separated during the process it has undergone, and the good effects on the soil of what remains are less durable; for, between solution in water and rapid decomposition from its advanced state of rottenness, it is soon reduced to that of garden-mould; and, in fine, the powers of fermenting vegetable with animal matter, which, when properly employed, are certainly most efficacious in converting into manure many substances that are otherwise very stationary and slow in their decomposition, are lost to the farmer, so that he is often reduced to adopt an imperfect and little profitable mode of cultivation, from the want of the manure requisite for a better, though such manure may be lying in abundance within his reach, but useless from his ignorance how to prepare it.

Peat-moss is to be found in considerable quantities within reach of most farms in Scotland, particularly in those districts where outfield land (i.e. land not brought into a regular course of cropping and manuring) forms the larger part of the arable land. It consists of the remains of shrubs, trees, heath, and other vegetables, which, under the influence of a cold and moist climate, and in wet situations, have got into a condition almost stationary, but much removed from that of the recently dead vegetable, and certainly considerably distant from that of garden-mould. It is no longer susceptible of going off itself, though placed in the most favourable circumstances, into that rapid fermentation, accompanied with heat, which masses of fresh vegetables experience: But it is still a powerful fuel when dried; and, on the other hand, it requires long exposure to the elements, in a dry situation, before, without mixture, it is fit for the nourishing of living vegetables.

In general, however, there is nothing in the situation of peat-moss, or in the changes it has undergone, that leads to think that it has suffered any thing that unfit it to be prepared for manure. It is no doubt found sometimes mixed with particular mineral substances, that may be, for a time, pernicious to vegetation; but, in general, there is no such admixture, and, when it does take place, a little patience and attention will be sufficient to cure the evil. In the ordinary case, the only substances found in peat that may be unfavourable to vegetation, in so far at least as tending to keep it stationary and prevent its rotting, are two, and both abounding in fresh vegetables of the sorts of which moss is chiefly composed: These are, gallic acid, and the all-ringing principle, or tan; and as these are got the better of in fresh vegetables by the hot fermentation to which they are subject, so as to leave the general mass of the substances to which they belonged properly prepared manure, there is no reason to suppose, that the same may not be accomplished with the acid and tan of peat. Again, the powers of peat as a fuel, and of ashes of peat as a manure, ought to convince every person, that the material and more essential parts of the dead vegetable, for the formation

(L) Hot fermenting dung partakes of both sorts of fermentation. of manure, remain entire in peat. Here the inflammable oils and carbonaceous matter which abound in the fresh vegetable, and the latter of which also abounds in garden-mould, remain entire; the foot and ashes, too, which are the results of the inflammation of each, seem to be nearly equally fertilizing; and, in short, little seems to be lost in peat but the effects of the first fermentation in preparing the matter to undergo its future changes with the rapidity requisite to constitute manure. Besides, the soil produced from peat-earth, by exposure for a course of years, seems not to be sensibly different from that obtained from dung in the same way. Both are deficient in firmness of texture; but are very prolific when mixed with clays, sands, and calcareous earths, in due proportion.

From considering the preceding circumstances, and from trying what substances operated on tan, and on the acid found in peat-moss, it was determined to subject it to the influence of different sorts of fermenting dung, with due attention to the proportions used, and to the effects of the different preparations; and the following is the direction, which an experience of six crops recommends to practice.

Let the peat-moss, of which compost is to be formed, be thrown out of the pit for some weeks or months, in order to lose its redundant moisture. By this means, it is rendered the lighter to carry, and less compact and weighty, when made up with other dung, for fermentation; and accordingly less dung is required for the purpose, than if the preparation is made with peat taken recently from the pit.

Take the peat-moss to a dry spot, convenient for constructing a dunghill, to serve the field to be manured. Lay it in two rows, and dung in a row betwixt them. The dung thus lies on the area of the compost-dunghill, and the rows of peat should be near enough each other, that workmen, in making up the compost, may be able to throw them together by the spade, without wheeling. In making up, let the workmen begin at one end. Lay a bottom of peat, 6 inches deep, and 15 feet wide, if the ground admit it (m). Then lay about 10 inches of dung above the peat; then about 6 inches of peat; then four or five of dung, and then fix more of peat; then another thin layer of dung; and then cover it over with peats at the end where it was begun, at the two sides, and above. It should not be raised above 4 feet, or 4½ feet high, otherwise it is apt to press too heavily on the under part, and check the fermentation. When a beginning is thus made, the workmen will proceed working backwards, and adding to the column of compost, as they are furnished with the three rows of materials, directed to be laid down for them. They must take care not to tread on the compost, or render it too compact; and of consequence, in proportion as the peat is wet, it should be made up in lumps, and not much broken.

In mild weather, even cart-load of common farm-dung, tolerably fresh made, is sufficient for 21 cart-loads of peat-moss; but in cold weather, a larger proportion of dung is desirable. To every 28 carts of the compost, when made up, it is of use to throw on above it a cart-load of ashes, either made from coal, peat, or wood; or if these cannot be had, half the quantity of flaked lime may be used, the more finely powdered the better. But these additions are nowise essential to the general success of the compost.

The dung to be used should either have been recently made, or kept fresh by compression; as, by the treading of cattle or swine, or by carts passing over it. And if there is little or no litter in it, a smaller quantity will serve, provided any spongy vegetable matter is added at making up the compost, as fresh weeds, the rubbish of a stack-yard, potato-thaws, sawings of timber, &c. And as some sorts of dung, even when fresh, are much more advanced in decomposition than others, it is material to attend to this; for a much less proportion of such dung, as is less advanced, will serve for the compost, provided care is taken to keep the mass sufficiently open, either by a mixture of the above-mentioned substances, or, if these are wanting, by adding the moss piece-meal, that is, first mixing it up in the usual proportion of three to one of dung, and then, after a time, adding an equal quantity, more or less, of moss. The dung of this character, of greatest quantity, is thumble-dung, with which, under the above precautions, six times the quantity of moss, or more, may be prepared. The same holds as to pigeon-dung, and other fowl-dung; and to a certain extent, also, as to that which is collected from towns, and made by animals that feed on grains, refuse of dairies, &c.

The compost, after it is made up, gets into a general heat, sooner or later, according to the weather, and the condition of the dung: in summer, in ten days or sooner; in winter, not perhaps for many weeks, if the cold is severe. It always, however, has been found to come on at last; and in summer, it sometimes rises so high, as to be mischievous, by consuming the materials, (fire-hanging). In that season, a stick should be kept in it in different parts, to pull out and feel now and then: for if it approaches to blood-heat, it should either be watered, or turned over; and on such an occasion, advantage may be taken to mix it with a little fresh moss. The heat subsides after a time, and with great variety, according to the weather, the dung, and the perfection of the making up of the compost; which then should be allowed to remain untouched, till within three weeks of using, when it should be turned over, upside down, and outside in, and all lumps broken: then it comes into a second heat; but soon cools, and should be taken out for use. In this state, the whole, except bits of the old decayed wood, appears a black free mass, and spreads like garden-mould. Use it, weight for weight, as farm-yard dung; and it will be found, in a course of cropping, fully to stand the comparison.

The addition recommended of ashes or lime, is thought to favour the general perfection of the preparation, and to hasten the second heat. The lime laid on above the dunghill, as directed, is rendered mild by the vapours that escape during the first heat.

Compost, made up before January, has hitherto been

(m) This alludes to the propriety, in clay lands, of suiting the dunghill to the breadth of a single ridge, free of each furrow. Manures been in good order for the spring-crops; but this may not happen in a long frost. In summer, it is ready in eight or ten weeks; and if there is an anxiety to have it soon prepared, the addition of ashes, or of a little lime-rubboith of old buildings, or of lime, flaked with foul water, applied to the dung used in making up, will quicken the process considerably.

"Lime has been mixed previously with the peat; but the compost prepared with that mixture, or with the simple peat, seemed to produce equally good crops. All the land, however, that it has been tried on, has been limed more or less within these 25 years.

"Peat prepared with lime alone, has not been found to answer as a good manure. In one instance, viz. on a bit of fallow sown with wheat, it was manifestly pernicious. Neither with cow-water alone is it prepared, unless by lying immersed in a pool of it for a long time, when it turns into a sort of fleetech, which makes an excellent top-dressing. Something of the same sort happens with soap-fuds, and water of common flores, &c. Lime-water was not found to unite with the tan in peat, nor was urine (n). Peat made up with seaweed gets into heat, and the peat seems to undergo the same change as when prepared with dung. But the effect of this preparation on crops has not yet been experienced. Peat has also been exposed to the fumes of a putrefying carcass. In one instance the peat proved a manure; but much weaker than when prepared with dung. There, however, the proportion used was very large to the carcass. Other trials are making, where the proportion is less, and with, or without, the addition of ashes, lime, &c. In all these cases, there can be no sensible heat. Peat, heated and rendered friable by the action of the living principle of turnips in growing, was not found entitled, when used as a top-dressing, to the character of manure. It had been made up in the view of preserving the turnips during frost. But the turnips sprung, and the mats heated. The turnips were taken out and the peat afterwards used as a top-dressing. Peat is now under trial, as preparing with turnips and fresh weeds, in fermentation, without the admixture of any animalized matters.

"It is said that dry peat-earth is used as a manure in some parts of England. But unless in chalky soils, or others where there may be a great want of carbonaceous matter, it is much doubted whether it could be used with any sensible advantage. Peat-ashes were found to raise turnips, but to have no sensible effect on the next crop.

"The quantity of the compost used per acre, has varied considerably, according to the richness of the soil manured, and the condition in which it is at manuring, and the season in which the manure is applied. From 23 to 35 cart-load, by two horses each, is about what has been given; the lesser to fallows and ground in good tilth, and the larger when to be ploughed in Manures, with the hazard of poor land; and the intermediate quantities, with tares, peas, potatoes, &c.; and it has in most cases undergone comparative trials with different sorts of common dung.

"It may be proper to add, that too much attention cannot be paid to the proper preparation of the ground for the reception of manure. It should be clean, pretty dry at the application, and well mixed and friable. Much of the manure applied is otherwise lost, whether lime, dung, or compost. The additional quantities recommended when the land is coarse, is just so much that would have been saved by better cultivation. Common farmers are little aware of this. They might save at least half their lime, did they lay it on in powder (o), and on fallows, only harrowing it, and letting it wait for a shower before it is ploughed in; and perhaps not much less of their dung. It is astonishing what a visible effect is produced on land properly mixed by a fallow, from the addition of only a very small quantity of properly prepared dung or compost. Both its texture and colour undergo a very sensible change, which cannot be accounted for, except from the extrication of substances from the decomposing manure, (probably from its spontaneous tendency to decompose being aided by the chemical action of various matters in a foil so prepared): And from these substances operating in the soil, numberless compositions and decompositions, or tendencies to them, take place, from the various elective attractions of the different parts of which it is composed. It is obvious, that an immensely greater proportion of manure must be required to produce even a little of this, where the soil is coarse or lumpy, or consolidated by wetness, than when put into a situation favourable to the reciprocal action of the various substances contained in it, a variety and an admixture formed by nature in perfection in the more favoured soils, (as in the bottom of drained lakes, haughs, Delta ground), and which it is the business of the skilful and industrious farmer to form or make compensation for the want of, by judicious manuring, where nature has been less bountiful of her gifts.

"It was meant to have given a detailed account of many of the experiments that have been made, whether in Agriculture or Chemistry. But as these are still going on, and the practical results have attracted some attention, and prompted imitation by neighbours and acquaintance, so that manuscript directions have been often applied for and obtained, it has been preferred to print, in the mean time, this short account of the business, divested of scientific language, and suited to the perusal of any practical husbandman. It was indeed felt as a degree of wrong, not to take some steps to make it public, as soon as the certainty of success warranted. And both the power and the duration

(n) Tan combines with animal gelly, and loses its astringency. The animalized matter, extricated in fermenting dung, has probably this effect on the tan in peat, as well as to render the acid innocent. As vegetable matters seem in general to contain the ingredients of, and often somewhat similar to, animal gluten, it is possible that the fermentation of fresh vegetables alone may prove sufficient to prepare the peat to rot in the foil expeditiously; but it is certainly desirable to use also animalized matter for this purpose.

(o) This they may, though driven in winter, and drowned in the heaps by rains. They have only to turn it over with a very small additional quantity of new burnt shells when they come to use it. Manures have now stood the test of a great variety of trials, on a considerable extent of ground, and of much diversity of soil, continued without intermission during the last five years. Hitherto it has been found equal, and indeed preferable, to common farm-yard dung, for the first three years, and decidedly to surpass it afterwards. It has been conjectured, from the appearance and effects of the compost, that its parts are less volatile and soluble than those of dung; but that it yields to the crop what is requisite, by the action of the living fibres of vegetables; and in this way wastes slower, and lasts longer. Whatever be in this, nothing has appeared more remarkable, than its superiority in maintaining (for four and five years) fresh and nourishing the pasture of thin clays, that had been laid down with it, and in making them yield well when again ploughed, and that without any top-dressing, or new manure of any sort. Employed in this way, the effect of common dung is soon over, the soil becoming consolidated, and the pasture stunt ed; and hence such soils have not usually been cultivated with advantage, except by tillage, and by the aid of quantities of manure, got by purchase, and much beyond the produce of the farm-yard. It is believed that the foregoing directions will, if practised, prove beneficial to every farmer who has access to peat-moss within a moderate distance; but it is to the farmers of the soils now mentioned, and of hungry gravels, to whom they would be found particularly valuable.

Let it be observed, that the object in making up the compost is to form as large a hot-bed as the quantity of dung employed admits of, and then to surround it on all sides, so as to have the whole benefit of the heat and effluvia. Peat, as dry as garden-mould, in feed-time, may be mixed with the dung, so as to double the volume and more, and nearly triple the weight, and instead of hurting the heat prolong it. Workmen must begin with using layers; but, when accustomed to the just proportions, if they are furnished with peat moderately dry, and dung not loft in litter, they throw it up together as a mixed mass; and they improve in the art, so as to make a less proportion of dung serve for the preparation.

With regard to the other kinds of manure commonly in use in this country, their efficacy is well known; the only difficulty is to procure them in sufficient quantity.—In such lands as lie near the sea, sea-weeds offer an unlimited quantity of excellent manure. In the neighbourhood of rivers, the weeds with which they abound offer likewise an excellent manure in plenty. Oil-cake, malt-coombs, the refuse of slaughter-houses, &c. are all excellent where they can be got; but the situations which afford these are comparatively few; so that in most cases the farmer must depend much on his own ingenuity and industry for raising a sufficient quantity of dung to answer his purposes; and the methods taken for this purpose vary according to the situation of different places, or according to the fancy of the husbandman.

In all countries where chalk, marl, or lime are to be had, they are certainly to be employed in their proper departments; but besides these, dung, properly so called, mixed with earth or putrid animal and vegetable substances, everywhere constitutes a principal part of the manure. In Norfolk, Mr Marhall tells us, that the quality of dung is attended to with greater precision than in most other districts. Town-muck, as it is called, is held in most estimation; and the large towns Norwich and Yarmouth supply the neighbouring country. As Yarmouth, however, is a maritime place, and otherwise in a manner surrounded by marshes, straw is of course a scarce and dear article; whence, instead of littering their horses with it, they use sand. As the bed becomes foiled or wet, fresh sand is put on, until the whole is in a manner saturated with urine and dung, when it is cleared away, and reckoned muck of such excellent quality, that it is sent for from a very great distance. With regard to other kinds of dung, that from horses fed upon hay and corn is looked upon to be the best; that of fatting cattle the next; while the dung of lean cattle, particularly of cows, is supposed to be greatly inferior, even though turnips make part of their food. The dung of cattle kept on straw alone is looked upon to be of little or no value; while the muck from trodden straw is by some thought to be better than that from the straw which is eaten by the lean stock.—Composts of dung with earth or marl are very generally used.

In the midland counties of England, Mr Marhall informs us, the cores of horns crushed in a mill have been used as manure; though he knows not with what success. His only objection is the difficulty of reducing them to powder. Dung is extremely dear in Norfolk; half a guinea being commonly given for a waggon-load driven by five horses. Great quantities of lime and marl are found in this district. With regard to the method of raising dung in general, perhaps the observations of Mr Marhall upon the management of the Yorkshire farmers may be equally satisfactory with anything that has yet been published on the subject.

The general practice (says he) is to pile the dung on the highest part of the yard; or, which is Mr Marhall's direction for raising its virtues. The urine which does not mix with the dung is almost invariably led off the nearest way to the common sewer, as if it were thought a nuisance to the premises. That which mixes with the dung is of course carried to the midden, and assists in the general diffusion. A yard of dung, nine-tenths of which are straw, will discharge, even in dry weather, some of its more fluid particles; and in rainy weather, is notwithstanding the straw, liable to be washed away if exposed on a rising ground. But how much more liable to waste is a mixture of dung and urine, with barely a sufficiency of straw to keep them together? In dry weather the natural oozing is considerable; and in a wet season every shower of rain washes it away in quantities. The Norfolk method of bottoming the dung-yard with mould is here indispensably necessary to common good management. There is no better manure for grass-lands than mould, saturated with the oozing of a dunghill: it gets down quickly among the grass, and has generally a more visible effect than the dung itself. Under this management the arable land would have the self-same dung it now has; while the grass-lands would have an annual supply of riches, which now run to waste in the sewers and rivulets. But before a dung-yard can with propriety be bottomed with mould, the bot tom A part of it situated conveniently for carriages to come at, and low enough to receive the entire drainings of the stable, cattle-dalls, and hog-places, should be hollowed out in the manner of an artificial drinking-pool, with a rim somewhat rising, and with covered drains laid into it from the various sources of liquid manure. During the summer months, at leisure times, and embracing opportunities of back-carriage, fill the hollow nearly full with mould, such as the scourings of ditches, the floppings of roads, the maiden earth of lanes and waste corners, the coping of stone-quarries, &c., &c., leaving the surface somewhat dished; and within this dish let the dung-pile carefully keep up a rim of mould round the base of the pile higher than the adjoining surface of the yard; equally to prevent extraneous matter from finding its way into the reservoirs, and to prevent the escape of that which falls within its circuit."

The use of lime, as a manure, was formerly mentioned*, and also the principle upon which its value depends. It ought to be used not for the purpose of giving food to the plants, but as a stimulant, tending to bring the soil into activity, by reducing to mould all the dead roots of vegetables with which it may abound. Hence it ought never to be used without dung upon soils that have been exhausted by repeated cropping, and that are in a clean state.

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 pulverization. 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 cannot 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, should avoid as much as possible the bringing home lime before the ground is 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 above mentioned 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, mingling 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 stirred for a new crop, it has time to incorporate with the soil, and does not readily separate from it. Thus, if turnip-seed is to be sown broad-cast, 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-harrowing. 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-harrowing, 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 ploughing, 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, 70 or 80 bolls of shells are not more than sufficient, reckoning four small fir-balls to the bolt, termed wheat measure; nor will it be an overdose to lay on 100 bolls. Between 50 and 60 may suffice upon medium soils; and upon the thin or gravelly, between 39 and 40. 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 pasture-fields 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 the plants, and has time to incorporate with the soil.

Limestone beat small makes an excellent manure; Beat lime and supplies the want of powdered lime where there is none, 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 bushels of raw limestone contain as much calcareous earth as six bushels of powdered lime; and consequently, if powdered lime possess not some virtue above raw limestone, three bushels of the latter beat small should equal as a manure six bushels 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 fruitifying part of both.

Clay and stone marls, 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 everywhere with this marl; and is the only county in Scotland where it is plenty.

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 pulverization, and intimate mixture with the soil. Toward the former, alternate drought and moisture contribute greatly, as also frost. Therefore, after being evenly spread, it ought to lie on the surface all winter. In the month of October it may be roufed with a brake; which will bring to the surface, and expose to the air and frost all the hard parts, and mix with the foil all that is powdered. In that respect it differs widely from dung and lime, which ought usually to be ploughed into the ground without delay. Oats is a hardy grain, which will answer for height 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, frost swells 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 indifferently 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.

Of late a new manure has been introduced into some countries. This is gypsum, which is lime united with sulphuric acid. In the eighth volume of the Annals of Agriculture we are informed, that it is commonly used as a manure in Switzerland. In the tenth volume of the same work, Sir Richard Sutton gives some account of an experiment made with it on his estate; but in such an inaccurate manner, that nothing could be determined. "The appearance in general (says he), I think, was rather against the benefit of the platter, though not decidedly so." He tells us, that its virtues were a subject of debate in Germany. In America this substance seems to have met with more success than in any other country. In the fifth volume of Bath Papers, Mr Kirkpatrick of the Isle of Wight, who had himself visited North America, informs us, that it is much used in the United States, on account of its cheapness and efficacy; though, from what is there stated, we must undoubtedly be led to suppose, that its efficacy must be very great before it can be entitled to the praise of cheapness. In the first place, it is brought from the hills in the neighbourhood of Paris to Havre de Grace, and from thence exported to America; which of itself must occasion a considerable expense, though the platter were originally given gratis. In the next place, it must be powdered in a fluming mill, and the finer it is powdered so much the better. In the third place, it must be sown over the ground to be manured with it. The quantity for grass is five bushels to an acre. It ought to be sown on dry ground in a wet day; and its efficacy is said to last from seven to twelve years. It operates entirely as a top-dressing.

In the tenth volume of the Annals of Agriculture, we have some extracts from a treatise by Mr Powel, president of the Philadelphia Society for encouraging Agriculture, upon the subject of gypsum as a manure; of the efficacy of which he gives the following instances.

1. In October 1786, platter of Paris was sown in a rainy day upon wheat-rubble without any previous culture. The crop of wheat had scarcely been worth reaping, and no kind of grass seed had been sown upon the ground; nevertheless, in the month of June it was covered with a thick mat of white clover, clean and even, from six to eight inches in height. A piece of ground adjoining to this white clover was also sown with gypsum, and exhibited a fine appearance of white and red clover mixed with spear-grass. Some wet ground sown at the same time was not in the least improved.—This anecdote rests entirely on the veracity of an anonymous farmer. 2. Eight bushels of platter of Paris spread upon two acres and a half of wheat-rubble ground, which the spring before had been sowed with about two pounds of red clover-seed to the acre for pasture, yielded five tons of hay by the middle of June. A small piece of ground of similar quality, but without any platter, produced only one ton and a half in the same proportion.—Mr Powel concludes in favour of the effects of the platter upon arable as well as grass land.

Other accounts to the same purpose have been published, though it must also be remarked, that various persons who have made trial of this manure, declare themselves dissatisfied with it; but it does not appear that it has hitherto been at all tried in this part of the island.

When a soil abounds too much in particles of a particular kind, it has been found expedient to mix it with earth of a different character. Hence we are informed in the twelfth volume of the Annals of Agriculture, that in Cornwall, large quantities of sea-land are annually conveyed to the land, and laid upon the soil; a practice which will no doubt have a tendency to ameliorate nature. If clay, and to render them more pervious to the roots of plants. With the same view, and also to save fuel, a practice is laid to exist in the Netherlands, of baking baking up the drofs or culm of coal, and also peat-earth, with clay, into lumps or bricks, which when dried in the air, make excellent fuel, and also afford an immense quantity of valuable ashes to be laid upon the land.

**Sect. VIII. Principles and Operations of the Drill or Horse-hoeing Husbandry.**

The general properties attributed to the new or drill 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-hoeing.

Land sown 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 care 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 sown 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.

**Method of sowing in the drill husbandry.**

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 so 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 sown five 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 prepare 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 into 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.

The best season for hoeing is two or three days after rain, or so soon after rain as the soil will quit the instrument in hoeing. Light dry soils may be hoed almost at any time, but this is far from being the case with strong strong clay foils; the season for hoeing such is frequently short and precarious; every opportunity therefore should be carefully watched, and eagerly embraced. The two extremes of wet and dry, are great enemies to vegetation in strong clay foils. There is a period between the time of clay foils running together, so as to puddle by superfluous wet, and the time of their caking by drought, in which they are perfectly manageable. This is the juncture for hoeing; and so much land as shall be thus feasonably hoed, will not cake or crust upon the surface, as it otherwise would have done, till it has been soaked or drenched again with rain; in which case the hoeing is to be repeated as soon as the foil will quit the instrument, and as often as necessary; by which time the growing crop will begin to cover the ground, so as to act as a screen to the surface of the land against the intense heat of the sun, and thereby prevent, in a great measure, the bad effects of the foil's caking in dry weather.

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

But as strong vigorous plants are long 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 straighten 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-pole or fluter BB, 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 ley, 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 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 foils. This plough is likewise easily held and tempered. A, is the sword fixed in the fluters B, which runs through 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 through 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; CC, two 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 barrow G comes behind all, and covers the seed more completely. HH, 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. AA, the mouldboards, which may be raised or depressed at pleasure, according as the farmer wants to throw the earth higher or lower upon the roots.

Fig. 2. is a drill-rake for peas. This instrument, Plate IX., which is chiefly calculated for small inclosures of light grounds, is a sort of strong plough rake, with four large teeth at a, a, b, b, a little incurved. The distance from a to a, and from b to b, is nine inches. The interval between the two inner teeth, a and b, is three feet six inches, which allows sufficient room for the hole-plough to move in. To the piece of timber c c, forming the head of the rake, are fixed the handles d, and the beam e to which the horse is fastened. When this instrument is drawn over a piece of land made thoroughly fine, and the man who holds it bears upon the handles, four furrows f, g, h, i, will be formed, at the distances determined by the construction of the instrument. These distances may be accurately preserved, provided that the teeth a a return when the plough... man comes back, after having ploughed one turn, in two of the channels formed before, marked b b: thus all the furrows in the field will be traced with the same regularity. When the ground is thus formed into drills, the seeds may be scattered by a single motion of the hand at a certain distance from one another into the channels, and then covered with the flat part of a hand-rake, and pressed down gently. This instrument is so simple, that any workman may easily make or repair it.

On Plate XI. is delineated a patent drill machine, lately invented by the Reverend James Cooke of Heaton-Norris near Manchester. A, the upper part of the feed-box; B, the lower part of the same box; C, a moveable partition, with a lever, by which the grain or seed is let fall at pleasure from the upper to the lower part of the feed-box, from whence it is taken up by cups or ladles applied to the cylinder D, and dropped into the funnel E, and conveyed thereby into the furrow or drill made in the land by the coulter F, and covered by the rake or harrow G. H, a lever, by which the wheel I is lifted out of generation with the wheel K, to prevent the grain or seed being scattered upon the ground, while the machine is turning round at the end of the land, by which the harrow G is also lifted from the ground at the same time, and by the same motion, by means of the crank, and the horizontal lever h h. L, a sliding lever, with a weight upon it, by means of which the depth of the furrows or drills, and consequently the depth that the grain or seed will be deposited in the land, may be easily ascertained. M, a screw in the coulter beam, by turning of which the seed-box B is elevated or depressed, in order to prevent the grain or seed being crushed or bruised by the revolution of the cups or ladles. Fig. 13, a rake with iron teeth, to be applied to the under side of the rails of the machine, with flaps and screw nuts at n n, by which many useful purposes are answered, viz., in accumulating cutch or hay into rows, and as a scarifier for young crops of wheat in the spring, or to be used upon a fallow; in which case, the feed-box, the ladle cylinder, the coulters, the funnels, and harrows, are all taken away.

This side view of the machine is represented, for the sake of perspicuity, with one feed-box only, one coulter, one funnel, one harrow, &c. whereas a complete machine is furnished with five coulters, five harrows, seven funnels, a feed-box in eight partitions, &c. with ladles of different sizes, for different sorts of grain and seeds.

These machines (with five coulters fifteen guineas, with four coulters fifteen guineas), equally excel in setting or planting all sorts of grain and seeds, even carrot-seed, to exactness, after the rate of from eight to ten chain acres per day, with one man, a boy, and two horses. They deposit the grain or seed in any given quantity from one peck to three bushels per acre, regularly and uniformly, and that without grinding or bruising the seed, and at any given depth, from half an inch to half a dozen inches, in rows at the distance of twelve, fifteen and twenty-four inches, or any other distance. They are equally useful on all lands, are durable, easy to manage, and by no means subject to be put out of repair.

The ladle cylinder D is furnished with cups or ladles of four different sizes for different sorts of grain or seeds, which may be distinguished by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4—N° 1, (the smallest size) is calculated for turnip-feed, clover-feed, cole-feed, rape, &c. and will sow something more than one pound per statute acre. N° 2, for wheat, rye, hemp, flax, &c. and will sow something more than one bushel per acre. N° 3, for barley; and will sow one bushel and a half per acre, N° 4, for beans, oats, peas, vetches, &c. and will sow two bushels per acre.

Notwithstanding the above specified quantities of grain or seeds, a greater or less quantity of each may be sown at pleasure, by stopping up with a little clay or by adding a few ladles to each respective box. The grain or seeds intended to be sown, must be put in those boxes, to which the cups or ladles as above described respectively belong, an equal quantity into each box, and all the other boxes empty. The ladle cylinder may be reversed, or turned end for end at pleasure, for different sorts of grain, &c.

For sowing beans, oats, peas, &c. with a five-coulter machine, four large ladles must occasionally be applied at equal distances round those parts of the cylinder which subtend the two end boxes. And for sowing barley, eight large ones must be applied as above; or four ladles, N° 2, to each of the wheat boxes. These additional ladles are fixed on the cylinder with nails, or taken off in a few minutes; but for sowing with a four coulter machine, the above alterations are not necessary.

The funnels are applied to their respective places by corresponding numbers. Care should be taken, that the points of the funnels stand directly behind the backs of the coulters, which is done by wedges being applied to one side or other of the coulters, at the time they are fixed in their respective places.

The machine being thus put together, which is readily and expeditiously done, as no separate part will coincide with any other but that to which it respectively belongs, and an equal quantity of grain or seed in each of the respective boxes, the land also being previously ploughed and harrowed once or so in a place to level the surface; but if the land be very rough, a roller will best answer that purpose, whenever the land is dry enough to admit of it; and upon strong clays, a spiked roller is sometimes necessary to reduce the size of the large dry clods; which being done, the driver should walk down the furrow or edge of the land, and having hold of the last horse's head with his hand, he will readily keep him in such a direction, as will bring the outside coulter of the machine within three or four inches of the edges of the land or ridge, at which uniform extent, he should keep his arm till he comes to the end of the land; where having turned round, he must come to the other side of his horses, and walking upon the last outside drill, having hold of the horse's head with his hand as before, he will readily keep the machine in such a direction, as will strike the succeeding drill at such a distance from the last outside one, or that he walks upon, as the coulters are distant from each other.

The person who attends the machine should put down the lever H soon enough at the end of the land, that the cups or ladles may have time to fill, before he begins to low; and at the end of the land, he must apply ply his right hand to the middle of the rail between the handles, by which he will keep the coulters in the ground, while he is lifting up the lever H with his left hand, to prevent the grain being scattered upon the headland, while the machine is turning round; this he will do with great ease, by continuing his right hand upon the rail between the handles, and applying his left arm under the left handle, in order to lift the coulters out of the ground while the machine is turning round.

If there be any difficulty in using the machine, it consists in driving it straight. As to the person who attends the machine, he cannot possibly commit any errors, except such as are wilful, particularly as he sees at one view the whole process of the business, viz., that the coulters make the drills of a proper depth; that the funnels continue open to convey the grain or seed into the drills; that the rakes or harrows cover the grain sufficiently; and when feed is wanting in the lower boxes B, which he cannot avoid seeing, he readily supplies them from the upper boxes A, by applying his hand, as the machine goes along, to the lever C. The lower boxes B should not be suffered to become empty before they are supplied with feed, but should be kept nearly full, or within an inch or so of the edge of the box.

If chalk lines are made across the backs of the coulters, at such a distance from the ends as the feed should be deposited in the ground (viz., about two inches for wheat, and from two to three for spring corn), the person that attends the machine will be better able to ascertain the depth the feed should be deposited in the drills, by observing, as the machine goes along, whether the chalk lines are above or below the surface of the land; if above, a proper weight must be applied to the lever L, which will force the coulters into the ground; if below, the lever L and weight must be reversed, which will prevent their sinking too deep.

In different parts of the kingdom, lands or ridges are of different sizes; where the machine is too wide for the land, one or more funnels may occasionally be stopped with a little loose paper, and the feed received into such funnel returned at the end of the land, or sooner if required, into the upper seed-box. But for regularity and expedition, lands consisting of so many feet wide from outside to outside, as the machine contains coulters, when fixed at twelve inches distance, or twice or three times the number, &c., are best calculated for the machine. In wet soils or strong clays, lands or ridges of the width of the machine, and in dry soils, of twice the width, are recommended. For sowing of narrow high-ridged lands, the outside coulters should be let down, and the middle ones raised, so that the points of the coulters may form the same curve that the land or ridge forms. And the loose soil harrowed down into the furrows should be returned to the edges of the lands or ridges from whence it came, by a double mouldboard or other plough, whether the land be wet or dry.

Clover or other leys, intended to be sown by the machine, should be ploughed a deep strong furrow and well harrowed, in order to level the surface, and to get as much loose soil as possible for the coulters to work in; and when sown, if any of the feed appears in the drills uncovered by reason of the stiff texture of the soil, or toughness of the roots, a light harrow may be taken over the land, once in a place, which will effectively cover the feed, without displacing it all in the drills. For sowing leys, a considerable weight must be applied to the lever L, to force the coulters into the ground; and a set of wrought-iron coulters, well fleeted, and made sharp at the front edge and bottom, are recommended; they will pervade the soil more readily, consequently require less draught, and expedite business more than adequate to the additional expense.

For every half acre of land intended to be sown by the machine with the feed of that very valuable root (carrot), one bushel of sawdust, and one pound of carrot-feed, should be provided; the sawdust should be made dry, and sifted to take out all the lumps and chips, and divided into eight equal parts or heaps; the carrot-feed should likewise be dried, and well rubbed between the hands, to take off the beards, so that it may separate readily; and being divided into eight equal parts or heaps, one part of the carrot-feed must be well mixed with one part of the sawdust, and so on, till all the parts of carrot-feed and sawdust are well mixed and incorporated together; in which state it may be sown very regularly in drills at twelve inches distance, by the cups or ladles No. 2. Carrot-feed resembling sawdust very much in its size, roughness, weight, adhesion, &c., will remain mixed as above during the sowing; a ladleful of sawdust will, upon an average, contain three or four carrot-feeds, by which means the carrot-feed cannot be otherwise than regular in the drills. In attempting to deposit small feeds near the surface, it may happen that some of the feeds may not be covered with soil; in which case, a lighter roller may be drawn over the land after the feed is sown, which will not only cover the feeds, but will also, by levelling the surface, prepare the land for an earlier hoeing than could otherwise have taken place.

It has always been found troublesome, sometimes impracticable, to sow any kind of grain or seeds (even broad-cast) in a high wind. This inconvenience is entirely obviated by placing a screen of any kind of cloth, or a rack, supported by two uprights nailed to the sides of the machine, behind the funnels, which will prevent the grain or seed being blown out of its direction in falling from the ladles into the funnels. Small pipes of tin may also be put on to the ends of the funnels, to convey the grain or seed so near the surface of the land, that the highest wind shall not be able to interrupt its descent into the drills.

Reflecting the use of the machine, it is frequently remarked by some people not conversant with the properties of matter and motion, that the soil will close after the coulters, before the seed is admitted into the drills. Whereas the very contrary is the case; for the velocity of the coulters in passing through the soil, is so much greater than the velocity with which the soil closes up the drills by its own spontaneous gravity, that the incisions or drills will be constantly open for three or four inches behind the coulters; by which means, it is morally impossible (if the points of the funnels stand directly behind the coulters) that the seed, with the velocity it acquires in falling through the funnels, shall not be admitted into the drills. Fig. 12. is a new constructed simple hand-hoe, by which one man will effectually hoe two chain acres per day, earthing up the soil at the same time to the rows of corn or pulse, so as to cause roots to issue from the first joint of the stem, above the surface of the land, which otherwise would never have existed.

This hoe is worked much in the same manner as a common Dutch hoe, or icicle, is worked in gardens. The handle is elevated or depressed, to suit the size of the person that works it, by means of an iron wedge being respectively applied to the upper or under side of the handle that goes into the socket of the hoe.

The wings or moulding plates of the hoe, which are calculated to earth up the foil to the rows of corn, so as to cause roots to issue from the first joint of the stem above the surface, which otherwise would not have existed, should never be used for the first hoeing, but should always be used for the last hoeing, and used or not used, at the option of the farmer, when any intermediate hoeing is performed.

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 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 mouldboard, 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 feed-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 feed 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 feed may be put into a ley of ashes and lime.

14. Good old feed-wheat should be chosen in preference to new, as it is found by experience not to be subject to smut.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. Upon wet soils or strong clays, wheat should not be sowed more than two inches deep, on any account whatever; nor less than two inches deep on dry soils. From two to three inches is a medium depth for all spring corn. But the exact depth at which grain should be sowed in different soils, from the lightest sand to the strongest clay, is readily ascertained only by observing at what distance under the surface of the land, the secondary or coronal roots are formed in the spring.

18. 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.

19. 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 interval.

20. 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.

21. 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.

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

23. Soon after the wheat is carried off the field, the intervals must be turned up with the plough, to prepare them for the seed. 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.

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

25. 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.

To give an idea of the arguments by which the drill husbandry was originally supported, we shall here take notice of a comparative view of the old and new methods of culture which was furnished for the editors of Mr Tull's Horse-hoeing Husbandry, by a gentleman who for some years practiced both in a country where the soil was light and chalky, like that from which he drew his observations. It is necessary to remark, that in the new husbandry every article is stated at its full value, and the crop of each year is four bushels short of the other; though, though, in several years experience, it has equalled and generally exceeded those in the neighbourhood in the old way.

"An estimate of the expense and profit of 10 acres of land in 20 years.

I. In the old way.

First year, for wheat, costs 33l. 5s. viz.

| L. s. d. | L. s. d. | |----------|----------| | First ploughing, at 6s. per acre | 3 0 0 | | Second and third ditto, at 8s. per acre | 4 0 0 | | Manure, 30s. per acre | 15 0 0 |

Two harrowings, and sowing, at 2s. 6d. per acre - 1 5 0

Seed, three bushels per acre, at 4s. per bushel - 6 0 0

Weeding, at 2s. per acre, 1 0 0

Reaping, binding, and carrying, at 6s. per acre - 3 0 0

Second year, for barley, costs 11l. 6s. 8d. viz.

Once ploughing at 6s. per acre - 3 0 0

Harrowing and sowing, at 1s. 6d. per acre - 0 15 0

Weeding, at 1s. per acre - 0 10 0

Seed, four bushels per acre, at 2s. per bushel - 4 0 0

Cutting, raking, and carrying, at 3s. 2d. per acre - 1 11 8

Grass-seeds, at 3s. per acre - 1 10 0

Third and fourth years, lying in grass, cost nothing: so that the expense of ten acres in four years comes to 44l. 11s. 8d. and in twenty years to 222 18 4

First year's produce is half a load of wheat per acre, at 7l. 35 0 0

Second year's produce is two quarters of barley per acre, at 1l. 20 0 0

Third and fourth years grass is valued at 1l. 10s. per acre 15 0 0

So that the produce of ten acres in four years is 70 0 0

And in twenty years it will be 350 0 0

Deduct the expense, and there remains clear profit on ten acres in twenty years by the old way 127 1 8

II. In the new way.

First year's extraordinary expense is, for ploughing and manuring the land, the same as in the old way, 1l. 22 0 0

Ploughing once more, at 4s. per acre - 2 0 0

Seed, nine gallons per acre, at 4s. per bushel - 2 5 0

Drilling, at 7d. per acre - 0 5 10

Hand-hoeing and weeding, at 2s. 6d. per acre - 1 5 0

Horse-hoeing six times, at 10s. per acre - 5 0 0

Reaping, binding, and carrying, at 6s. per acre - 3 0 0

The standing annual charge on ten acres, is 13 15 10

Therefore the expense on ten acres in twenty years is 275 16 8

Add the extraordinary of the first year, and the sum is 297 16 8

The yearly produce is at least two quarters of wheat per acre, at 1l. 8s. per quarter; which on ten acres in twenty years, amounts to 560 0 0

Therefore, all things paid, there remains clear profit on ten acres in twenty years by the new way 262 3 4

"So that the profit on ten acres of land in twenty years, in the new way, exceeds that in the old by in favour of 135l. 1s. 8d. and consequently is considerably more than double thereof; and ample encouragement to practise a scheme, whereby so great advantage will arise from so small a quantity of land, in the compass of a twenty-one years lease; one year being allowed, both in the old and new way, for preparing the ground.

"It ought withal to be observed, that Mr Tull's husbandry requires no manure at all, though we have here, to prevent objections, allowed the charge thereof for the first year; and moreover, that though the crop of wheat from the drill-plough is here put only at two quarters on an acre, yet Mr Tull himself, by actual experiment and measure, found the produce of his drilled wheat crop amounted to almost four quarters on an acre."

It appears also from a comparative calculation of expense and profit between the drill and common husbandry, taken from Mr Baker's report to the Dublin Society of his experiments in agriculture for the year 1765, that there is a clear profit arising upon an Irish acre of land in 15 years in the drill husbandry of 52l. 3s. 11d. and in the common husbandry of 27l. 19s. 2d.; and therefore a greater profit in the drilled acre in this time of 24l. 4s. 9d. which amounts to 1l. 12s. 3½d. per annum. From hence he infers, that in every 15 years the fee-simple of all the tillage-lands of the kingdom is lost to the community by the common course of tillage. In stating the accounts, from which their result is obtained, no notice is taken of fences, water-cutting the land, weeding and reaping, because these articles depend on a variety of circumstances, and will, in general, exceed in the common husbandry those incurred by the other.

Besides, the certainty of a crop is greater in this new way. way than in the old way of sowing; for most of the accidents attending wheat crops, are owing to their being late sown, which is necessary to the farmer in the old way; but in the horse-hoeing method the farmer may plough two furrows whereon the next crop is to stand immediately after the first crop is off. In this manner of husbandry, the land may be ploughed dry and drilled wet, without any inconvenience; and the seed is never planted under the furrow, but placed just at the depth which is most proper, that is, at about two inches; in which case it is easy to preserve it, and there is no danger of burying it. Thus the seed has all the advantage of early sowing, and none of the disadvantages that may attend it in the other way, and the crop is much more certain than by any other means that can be used.

The condition in which the land is left after the crop, is no less in favour of the horse-hoeing husbandry than all the other articles. The number of plants is the great principle of the exhausting of land. In the common husbandry, the number is vastly greater than in the drilling way, and three plants in four often come to nothing, after having exhausted the ground as much as profitable plants; and the weeds which live to the time of harvest in the common way, exhaust the land no less than so many plants of corn, often much more. The horse-hoeing method destroys all the weeds in the far greater part of the land, and leaves that part unexhausted and perfectly fresh for another crop. The wheat plants being also but a third part of the number at the utmost of these in the sowing way, the land is so much the less exhausted by them; and it is very evident from the whole, that it must be, as experience proves that it is, left in a much better condition after this than after the common husbandry.

The farmers who are against this method object, that it makes the plants too strong, and that they are more liable to the blacks or blights of insects for that reason; but as this allows that the hoeing can, without the use of dung, give too much nourishment, it is very plain that it can give enough; and it is the farmer's fault if he do not proportion his pains so as to have the advantage of the nourishment without the disadvantages. It is also objected, that as hoeing can make poor land rich enough to bear good crops of wheat, it may make good land too rich for it. But if this should happen, the sowing of wheat on it may be let alone a while, and in the place of it the farmer may have a crop of turnips, carrots, cabbages, and the like, which are excellent food for cattle, and cannot be over-nourished: or, if this is not chosen, the land, when thus made too rich, may soon be sufficiently impoverished by sowing corn upon it in the common old way.

The method of horse-hoeing husbandry, so strongly recommended by Mr Tull, is objected to by many on account of the largeness of the intervals which are to be left between the rows of corn. These are required to be about five feet wide; and it is thought that such wide spaces are so much lost earth, and that the crop is to be so much the less for it. But it is to be observed, that the rows of corn separated by these intervals need not be single; they may be double, triple, or quadruple, at the pleasure of the farmer; and four rows thus standing as one will have the five feet interval but one-fourth of its bigness as to the whole quantity, and it will be but as fifteen inch intervals to plant in single rows. Corn that is sown irregularly in the common way, seems indeed to cover the ground better than that in rows; but this is a mere deception; for the stalks of corn are never so thick as when they come out of one plant, or as when they stand in a row; and a horse-hoed plant of corn will have 20 or 30 stalks in a piece of ground of the same quantity, where an unhoeed plant will have only two or three stalks. If these stalks of the hoed plant were separated and planted over the intervals, the whole land would be better covered than it is in the common way; and the truth is, that though these hoed fields seem to contain a much less crop than the common sown fields, yet they in reality do contain a much greater. It is only the different placing that makes the sown crop seem the larger, and even this is only while both crops are young.

The intervals are not lost ground, as is usually supposed, but when well horse-hoed they are all employed in the nourishment of the crop; the roots of the plants in the adjoining rows spreading themselves through the whole interval, and drawing such nourishment from it, that they increase accordingly. When the plants stand in the scattered way, as in common sowing, they are too close to one another; each robs its neighbour of part of their nourishment, and consequently the earth is soon exhausted, and all the plants half starved. The close standing of them also prevents the benefit of after-tilling, as the hoe cannot be brought in, nor the ground by any means stirred between them to give it a new breaking, and consequently afford them new food.

Experiments have abundantly proved, that in large grounds of wheat where the different methods have been tried, those parts where the intervals were largest have produced the greatest crops, and those where hoeing was used without dung have been much richer than those where dung was used without hoeing. If it were possible that plants could stand as thick, and thrive as well over the whole surface of the ground as they do in the rows separated by these large intervals, the crops of corn so produced would be vastly greater than any that have been heard of; but the truth is, that plants receive their growth not according to the ground they stand on, but to the ground they can extend their roots into; and therefore a single row may contain more plants than a large interval can nourish, and therefore the same number that stand in that row, and no more than these, could be nourished, if scattered over the whole interval: and they would be much worse nourished in that way; because while the interval is void, the earth may be stirred about them, and new roots will be formed in great numbers from every one broken by the instruments, and new nourishment laid before these roots by the breaking the particles of earth, by which the plants will have supplies that they cannot have when scattered over the whole surface, because the ground is then all occupied, and cannot be moved between the plants.

All soils and all situations are not equally proper for this method of planting in rows, with large intervals between and hoeing between. The lightest soils seem to be best for it, and the tough and wet clays the worst. Such soils proper for this work are those that lie on the sides of hills are also less proper than others for this work. This method is not so proper in common fields, but that not in respect of the soil, but of the husbandry of the owners, who are usually in the old way, and change the species of corn, and make it necessary to fallow every second, third, or fourth year. Nevertheless it has been found by later experiments, that the intervals betwixt the rows of plants, as recommended by Mr Tull, were too great, perhaps double of what they should be in the most profitable method of culture; by which means much less crops are obtained than might be produced at nearly the same expense. This has rendered the profits of the drill method much less than they would have been in a more judicious practice, and consequently, has proved a great disadvantage to it in comparison with the broad-cast. Mr Tull was led into this, partly from the want of more perfect instruments for hoeing, and of ploughs proper for drilling.

To the preceding statements, the following observations by Sir John Anstruther, published among the Select Papers of the Bath Society, may not be improperly subjoined.

The slow progress which the drill-husbandry has made in many parts of Great Britain since Mr Tull's time, he observes, has been principally owing to the want of proper drill-ploughs. Before drilling can become general, those ploughs must be simple, such as a common ploughman accustomed to use strong instruments can use without breaking, and such also as common workmen can easily make or repair. Mathematical accuracy he considers as not required for delivering the seed; for it matters very little whether there be a quarter of a peck more or less sown, if it be delivered with tolerable regularity. He therefore had a plough made, according to his own directions, by a common plough-wright, of sufficient strength for any land made fit for turnips or wheat. It was tried on very rough ground unfit for sowing, in order to ascertain its strength; and it had been used for eight years without its needing any repair. It is a double drill-plough, which sows two ridges at a time, the horse going in the furrow between them, and of course does not tread upon the ground intended to be sown; which with a single drill must be the case, and does much harm by the horse's feet sinking and making holes in the fine ground, which retain the water, and hurt the wheat when young.

He proceeds to observe, "That having read Mr Forbes upon the extensive practice of the new husbandry, and some other authors, who gave a more clear and distinct account of the different operations in drilling than had heretofore been given, I wished to try them, and to adapt my plough to sow the quantities therein directed. It was, however, adjusted to sow a smaller quantity, and the seed was not steeped.

"Not having ground so proper as I wished, it was drilled on the side of a field, the soil of which was light and sandy, and in such bad order, that the preceding crop was a very indifferent one. It was therefore manured with a compost-dunghill.

"After croft-ploughing and manuring, it was laid into four and a half feet ridges, then harrowed and drilled with one peck and a half of wheat on an acre and a quarter, which is nearly one peck and a fifth per English acre. It was drilled the 27th of October, and rolled after drilling. The crop was late in its appearance, and very backward in the spring.

"March 31st, it was horse-hoed one furrow from the rows.

"April 8th, it was hand-hoed and weeded in the rows.

"May 15th, horse-hoed again, laying a furrow back to the rows.

"June 2nd, horse-hoed from the rows.

"June 12th, hand-hoed the third time.

"July 14th, horse-hoed to the rows.

"At this last hoeing, as many of the ears were beaten down into the intervals by wind and rain, a man went before the horse-hoe, and turned the ears back into their proper place.

"The crop, when reaped and threshed, yielded me 36 bushels on one acre and a quarter, which is 28 bushels and three pecks per acre; and the produce from one peck and half 96 for one.

"As the produce appeared so great, from land in such bad order, it was carefully measured again, and found to be right. But this increase, though great, was not so large as Mr Crake of Glasgow had without dung.

"Mr Randal says, 'It is an experimental fact, that on a fine loam exquisitely prepared, 144 bushels have been produced from one acre. And, I believe, it is not known what the increase may be brought to in rich lands by high cultivation.'

"Some years since, I had beans dropt alternately with potatoes, at two feet distance in the rows, which were three feet apart, and ploughed in the intervals. The land adjoining was sown with beans and peas, which were a good crop; but those sown among the potatoes a better one. I pulled one stem of the beans planted with the potatoes, which had three branches rising from the bottom, and it produced 225 beans. In all the trials of drilled beans, most of the stems had two branches, with many pods upon each.—From these and other instances, I believe it is not yet known to what increase grain may be brought by drilling, good cultivation, and manure.

"Horse-hoeing is certainly preferable to clove drilling or hand-hoeing; but the latter is superior to broad-cast.

"Horse-hoeing the full depth increases to crop, by making it tiller or branch more than it otherwise would do; and the advantage is distinctly observable every hoeing, by the colour of the grain. It prepares the ground for the next crop, at the same time that it increases the crop growing, which hand-hoeing does not, although it may destroy the weeds. Thus drilled ground is kept in a loose open state to receive the benefit of the influence of the air and weather, which broad-cast has not; and it is evident, from certain experience, that crops may be drilled many years to good advantage without manure.

"Suppose the crops only 20 bushels per acre, what course of broad-cast crops will give 5l. an acre for the course? But suppose they are dugged the same as any ground in the most approved course, there is the greatest reason to expect as much as in the above experiment," ment, which is 28½, and at 5s. per bushel amounts to 71. 3s. gd.

Calculations may be of service to those who wish to try drilling, and have few books to direct them.

One acre is 10 chains long, of 660 feet, or 220 yards long, and one yard broad, containing 4840 square yards. Then if the ridge is four feet six inches, this makes 24 ridges and three feet to spare. This length of 220 yards multiplied by 14 (the number of ridges), gives a length of yards 3082, to which add 146 for the spare three feet, and it will be 3226 yards. And as two rows are drilled on a ridge, the number of rows will be in length 6452 yards; but as a deduction of 172 yards must be made for the head ridges, suppose three yards each, &c., the whole length to be sown will be 6280 yards clear. Now a gallon (Winchester) holds about 80,000 grains. The quantity recommended to be drilled by Mr. Forbes and others, being six gallons, or two-thirds of a bushel per acre, is nearly 75 grains to a yard, or 26 to a foot. But in my experiment, by this calculation, it was only about 11 grains to a foot; which is quite sufficient, if the seed be good, and it be not destroyed by vermin.

Now with regard to the quantity of land this drill-plough may sow; if a horse walks at the rate of two miles per hour, he goes 16 miles in eight hours, or 28,460 yards. As he sows two ridges at once, this is seven lengths, and two-thirds per acre, or 1686 yards to sow an acre, being nearly 17 acres in a day.

Four horse-hoeings are calculated equal to two ploughings. In plain ploughing they suppose the ridge is ploughed with four furrows, or eight for twice ploughing. The four horse-hoeings are eight furrows, equal to two ploughings.

Mr. Tull directs four hoeings, and Mr. Forbes five.

In November, when the plant has four blades, drill. In March, deep, and nearer the rows than the former; both these hoeings should be from the rows.

Hand-hoeing when it begins to spindle, if the earth be crumbly, to the rows.

When it begins to bloom, from the rows, but as near to them as in the second hoeing.

When done blooming, to ripen and fill the grain, to the rows.

The last hoeing Mr. Tull does not direct, but Mr. Forbes advises it, as being of essential service in filling the grain, and saving trouble in making the next feed-furrows. They advise the patent or towing-plough for horse-hoeing; and the expense is calculated by Mr. Crack at one guinea per acre, reaping included.

But let us suppose the following, which are the prices in the county I live in (Fife).

| Ploughing to form the ridges | L. s. d. | |----------------------------|---------| | Harrowing | 0 4 0 | | Four hoeings, equal to two ploughings | 0 8 0 | | Sowing | 0 0 4 | | Hand-hoeing twice | 0 8 0 | | Seed, one peck and a half, at 5s. a bushel | 0 1 10 |

Whole expense per acre, L. 1 2 6

Drill-husbandry is, as a good writer has justly defined it, "the practice of a garden brought into the field." Every man of the least reflection must be sensible, that the practice of the garden is much better than that of the field, only a little more expensive; but if (as is the case) this extra expense be generally much more than repaid by the superior goodness and value of drilled crops, it ought to have no weight in comparing the two modes of husbandry.

In the broad-cast method the land is often sown in bad tilth, and always scattered at random, sometimes by very unskillful hands. In drilling, the land must be in fine order; the seed is set in trenches drawn regularly, all of nearly an equal depth, and that depth suited to the nature of each kind of seed. These seeds are also distributed at proper distances, and by being equally and speedily covered, are protected from vermin and other injuries; so that the practice of the garden is here exactly introduced into the field.

In the broad-cast method the seed falls in some places too thick, in others too thin; and being imperfectly covered, a part of it is devoured by vermin which follow the lower; another part is left exposed to rain or frost, or to heats, which greatly injure it. When harrowed, a great part of it (small seeds especially) is buried too deep, that if the soil be wet, it perishes before it can vegetate.

Again: When thus sown, there is no meddling with the crop afterwards, because its growth is irregular. The soil cannot be broken to give it more nourishment, nor can even the weeds be destroyed without much inconvenience and injury.

But in the drill-husbandry the intervals between the rows, whether double or single, may be horse-hoed; and thereby nourishment may repeatedly be given to the plants, and the weeds almost totally destroyed.

The very same effects which digging has upon young shrubs and trees in a garden, will result from horse-hoeing in a field, whether the crop be corn, or pulse: For the reason of the thing is the same in both cases, and being founded in nature and fact, cannot ever fail.

In drilling, no more plants are raised on the soil than it can well support; and by dividing and breaking the ground they have the full advantage of all its fertility.

The plough prepares the land for a crop, but goes no further; for in the broad-cast husbandry it cannot be used; but the crop receives greater benefit from the tillage of the land by the horse-hoe, while it is growing, than it could in the preparation. No care in tilling the land previous to sowing can prevent weeds rising with the crop; and if these weeds be not destroyed while the crop is growing, they will greatly injure it.

In the broad-cast husbandry this cannot be done; but in drilling, the horse-hoe will effect it easily.

And what adds to the farmer's misfortune is, that the most pernicious weeds have seeds winged with down, which are carried by the wind to great distances; such as thistles, low-thistles, colts-foot, and some others.

If the expense of horse-hoeing be objected, there are two answers which may very properly be made: The first is, that this expense is much less than that of hand-hoeing were it practicable, or of hand-weeding. The second is, that it is more than repaid by the quantity of seed saved by drilling; to say nothing of the extra quantity and goodness of the crops, which are generally self-evident.

Upon the whole: If the particular modes of cultivating land by the new husbandry should, after all, be considered... considered as 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, a solid foundation is laid for expecting still further improvements in this useful art.

It may be proper here to remark, however, that the drill-husbandry is by no means a modern European invention. It is now used in the Carnatic, and in all probability has existed among the industrious nations of Flax and India from a very early period. It is used not only for all grains, but also for the culture of tobacco, cotton, and the castor-oil plant. Besides the drill-plough, and the common plough, the Indians use a third, with a horizontal share, which immediately follows the drill-plough at work. It is set into the earth, about the depth of 7 or 8 inches, and passes under three drills at once. It operates by agitating the earth, so as to make the sides of the drills fall in and cover the seed, which it does so effectually as scarcely to leave any traces of a drill.

PART II. CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES MORE PROPERLY ARTICLES OF COMMERCE.

These in general are such as cannot be used for food; and are principally flax, hemp, rape, hops, and timber of various kinds. Of each of these we shall treat particularly in the following sections.

SECT. I. Of Flax and Hemp.

Flax is cultivated not only with a view to the common purposes of making linen, but for the sake of its seed also; and thus forms a most extensive article of commerce, all the oil used by painters, at least for common purposes, being extracted from this seed. The cake which remains after the extraction of the oil is in some places used as a manure, and in others sold for fattening of cattle. In the Vale of Gloucester, Mr Marshall informs us, that it is, next to hay, the main article of stall-fattening; though the price is now become so great, that it probably leaves little or no profit to the consumer, having within a few years risen from three guineas to six and sixpence, and the lowest price being five guineas per ton; and even this is lower than it was lately. Hence some individuals have been induced to try the effect of linseed itself boiled to a jelly, and mixed with flour, bran, or chaff, with good success, as Mr Marshall has been informed; and even the oil itself has been tried for the same purpose in Herefordshire. Though this plant is in universal culture over the whole kingdom, yet it appears by the vast quantity imported, that by far too little ground is employed in that way. As Mr Marshall takes notice of its culture only in the county of Yorkshire, it probably does not make any great part of the husbandry of the other counties of which he treats; and even in Yorkshire he tells us, that its cultivation is confined to a few districts. The kind cultivated there is that called blea line, or the blue or lead-coloured flax, and this requires a rich dry soil for its cultivation. A deep, fat, sandy loam is perhaps the only soil on which it can be cultivated with advantage. If sown upon old corn land, it ought to be well cleaned from weeds, and rendered perfectly friable by a summer-fallow. Manure is seldom or ever set on for a line crop; and the soil proceeds generally of a single ploughing. The seed-time is in the month of May, but much depends on the state of the soil at the time of sowing. "It should neither be wet nor dry; and the surface ought to be made as fine as that of a garden bed. Not a clod of the size of an egg should remain unbroken." Two bushels of seed are usually sown upon an acre; the surface, after being harrowed, is sometimes raked with garden or hay rakes; and the operation would be still more complete if the clods and other obstructions, which cannot be easily removed, were drawn into the interfurrows. A light hand-roller used between the final raking and harrowing would much assist this operation. The chief requisite during the time of vegetation is weeding, which ought to be performed with the utmost care; and for this reason it is particularly requisite that the ground should be previously cleaned as well as possible, otherwise the expense of weeding becomes too great to be borne, or the crop must be considerably injured. It is an irreparable injury, if, through a dry season, the plants come up in two crops; or if by accident or mismanagement they be too thin. The goodness of the crop depends on its running up with a single stalk without branches; for wherever it ramifies, there the length of the line terminates; and this ramification is the consequence of its having too much room at the root, or getting above the plants which surround it. The branches are never of any use, being unavoidably worked off in dressing; and the stem itself, unless it bear a due proportion to the length of the crop, is likewise worked off among the refuse. This ramification of the flax will readily be occasioned by clods on the ground when sown. A second crop is very seldom attended with any profit; for being overgrown with the spreading plants of the first crop, it remains weak and short, and at pulling time is left to rot upon the land.

Flax is injured not only by drought but by frost, and is sometimes attacked even when got five or six inches high, by a small white flug, which strips off the leaves to the top, and the stalks bending with their weight are thus sometimes drawn into the ground. Hence, if the crop does not promise fair at weeding time, our author advises not to belabor farther labour and expense upon it. A crop of turnips or rape will generally pay much better than such a crop of flax. The time of flax-harvest in Yorkshire is generally in the latter end of July or beginning of August.

On the whole, our author remarks, that "the goodness of the crop depends in some measure upon its tall's length; and this upon its evenness and closeness upon marks on the ground. Three feet high is a good length, and the Flax and hemp afford more lime and fewer slivers than a thick one. A tall thick set crop is therefore desirable. But unless the land be good, a thick crop cannot attain a sufficient length of item. Hence the folly of sowing flax on land which is unfit for it. Nevertheless, with a suitable soil, a sufficiency of feed evenly distributed, and a favourable season, flax may turn out a very profitable crop. The flax crop, however, has its disadvantages: it interferes with harvest, and is generally believed to be a great exhaust of the soil, especially when its seed is suffered to ripen. Its cultivation ought therefore to be confined to rich grassland districts, where harvest is a secondary object, and where its exhaustion may be rather favourable than hurtful to succeeding arable crops, by checking the too great rankness of rich fresh broken ground.

In the fifth volume of Bath Papers, Mr Bartley, near Bristol, gives an account of the expenses and produce of five acres of flax cultivated on a rich loamy land. The total expense was £21. 13s. 4d.; the produce was ten packs of flax at £1. 5s. value £21. 10s. 3½ bushels of linseed at £5. value £8. 15s. the net profit therefore was £81. 11s. 8d. or £41. 13s. 4d. per acre. This gentleman is of opinion that flax-growers ought to make it their staple article, and consider the other parts of their farm as in subordination to it.

In the second volume of Bath Papers, a Dorsetshire gentleman, who writes on the culture of hemp and flax, gives an account somewhat different from that of Mr Marshall. Instead of exhausting crops, he maintains that they are both ameliorating crops, if cut without feeding; and as the best crops of both are raised from foreign seed, he is of opinion that there is little occasion for raising it in this country. A crop of hemp, he informs us, prepares the land for flax, and is therefore clear gain to the farmer. "That these plants impoverish the soil," he repeats, "is a mere vulgar notion, devoid of all truth."—The best historical relations, and the verbal accounts of honest ingenious planters, concur in declaring it to be a vain prejudice, unsupported by any authority; and that these crops really meliorate and improve the soil." He is likewise of opinion, that the growth of hemp and flax is not necessarily confined to rich soils, but that they may be cultivated with profit also upon poor sandy ground, as well as rich if a little expense be laid out in manuring it. "Spalding-moor in Lincolnshire is a barren land; and yet with proper care and culture it produces the best hemp in England, and in large quantities. In the Isle of Axholme, in the same county, equal quantities are produced; for the culture and management of it is the principal employ of the inhabitants; and, according to Leland, it was so in the reign of Henry VIII. In Marshland the soil is a clay or strong warp, thrown up by the river Ouse, and of such a quality, that it cracks with the heat of the sun, till a hand may be put into the chinks; yet if it be once covered with the hemp or flax before the heats come on, the ground will not crack that summer. When the land is sandy, they first sow it with barley, and the following spring they manure the stubble with horse or cow dung, and plough it under. Then they sow their hemp or flax, and harrow it in with a light harrow, having short teeth. A good crop destroys all the weeds, and makes it a fine fallow for flax in the spring. As soon as the flax is pulled, they prepare the ground for wheat. Lime, marl, and the mud of ponds, is an excellent compost for hemp-lands."

Our author takes notice of the vast quantity of flax and hemp, not less than 11,000 tons, imported in the year 1763 into Britain; and complains that it is not raised in the island, which he thinks might be done, though it would require 60,000 acres for the purpose. He observes, that the greater part of those rich marshy lands lying to the west of Mendip hills are very proper for the cultivation of hemp and flax; and if laid out in this manner could not fail of turning out highly advantageous both to the landholders and the public at large. "The vast quantities of hemp and flax (says he) which have been raised on lands of the same kind in Lincolnshire marshes, and the fens of the Isle of Ely and Huntingdonshire, are a full proof of the truth of my affeation. Many hundreds of acres in the above-mentioned places, which, for pasture or grazing, were not worth more than twenty or twenty-five shillings per acre, have been readily let at £4. the first year, £3. the second, and £2. the third. The reason of this supposed declining value of land, in proportion to the number of years sown with flax, is, that it is usual with them to feed it for the purpose of making oil, that being the principal cause of the land being thereby impoverished.

It is certain, however, that the quantity of hemp exported from St Petersburgh in British ships has continued to increase, so that in 1785 the quantity of hemp exported from Petersburgh in British ships was as follows:

| Poods | |-------| | Of clean hemp | 1,028,791 | | Outlot | 37,382 | | Half clean | 18,374 | | Hemp codille | 19,251 |

There are 63 poods to a ton, consequently the whole amounted to 17,695 tons; and it is said that this quantity has since been tripled and quadrupled. It is therefore an object of great national importance to consider, whether flax and hemp might not be profitably reared in our own country without producing any alarm concerning their tendency to exhaust the soil. With this view we shall here state the substance Mr Darro's report made by Mr Darro, British consul at Prussia, in 1789, to the lords of the Committee of Council for Trade, concerning the method of cultivating flax and hemp in Prussia, Russia, and Poland.

A black, not morassily open gravelly soil is preferred, as flax and hemp become exuberant and coarse on too rich a soil. To ascertain the proper middle degree of strength of soil, previous crops of grain are taken. On a vigorous soil wheat is first sown; then rye, barley, oats; and last of all flax or hemp. Two successive crops of hemp are taken if the land is intermediately dugged. For one crop of flax, it is not dugged at all. On a soil of less strength, flax and hemp are sown immediately after a winter crop of rye, the land being ploughed in autumn, if the weather allows, if not, in spring. It is then harrowed and manured, and again ploughed. ploughed immediately before sowing. Another winter crop of rye may immediately be sown in the same field after drawing the flax or hemp, but after the flax; dung is in this case necessary. A field that has been laid down in fallow, if only ploughed up, yields a better crop of flax than if manured and cultivated in the above or any other way. Flax and hemp are sown from the 25th of May to the 10th of June, and the flax is reaped in the end of August, and hemp in the end of September.

As to their effects on the soil, no kind of grain can be sown immediately after a crop of flax without dunging, but after one of hemp, any grain, and even hemp itself, may be sown without manure. Hemp cleans the ground by suffocating, by its broad leaves, all sorts of weeds or undergrowth; but flax must be weeded once or twice before it blooms. Flax is plucked when the stalk becomes yellowish, the pods brown, and the seed hard and full bodied. For finer flax, the stalk is pulled while yet green; but the seed is then sacrificed, and fit only for crushing for oil, of which it produces a small quantity. Hemp is also plucked or drawn when the stalk and pods have changed colour. If the flax is very dry when plucked, the seed is stripped off immediately; if not, it is allowed to dry on the field. Seed-pods are spread thinly on a floor, where they are turned twice a day, till so dry that they open of themselves; when it is threshed and cleaned like other grain. To gain the hemp-seed, the hemp itself, when plucked, is set on end against any convenient place. The roots and top-ends are then cut off. The roots are thrown away, and the top-ends are threshed out and cleaned. The seed is apt to be spoiled by remaining in a moist state for any length of time.

As soon as the seed has been gained, the flax and hemp are steeped in water till the flax separate from the rind, and the hemp till the hull springs from the stalk. In soft water, in warm weather, nine or ten days are sufficient for this purpose. In hard water, with cold weather, from fourteen days to three weeks are requisite. Stagnate is preferred to running water; but fish ponds and the drinking places of cattle must be avoided, as the fish would be destroyed, and the water would be rendered unwholesome and unpalatable to the cattle; but a muddy or flimsy bottom is preferred. In the southern provinces of Poland, as Volhynia, Podolia, &c., steeping is not practised, on the supposition that it weakens the hull and darkens the colour, though this idea seems to have no foundation.

After being taken out of the steep, the flax is dried on a grass field; after which it is gathered up into small stacks; but the hemp, instead of being spread out on a field, is set up against the walls of buildings till it is also dried, after which they are both housed.

It is generally understood in these countries, that the cultivation of flax and hemp is more profitable than that of any kind of grain.

To this we shall add a concise statement of the mode of cultivating flax in Ireland. A good crop of flax is there expected from any strong clays that are fit for the growth of corn; but an open black loamy soil, enriched by having lain long in pasture, is preferable. The ground must be in fine tilth, and as free from weeds as possible. Potatoes usually precede flax, though turnips, beans, or any manured crop, are a good preparation; but the first or second crop after pasture is preferred to any of these. Stubble lands, that have been long in tillage, may, by proper preparation, bring a crop; but it is apt to fail in such situations, the stalks turning to a reddish colour called firing before it ripens; upon which it must immediately be pulled. Two bushels of feed are used to the English acre, unless for the purpose of a very fine manufacture; in which case a large quantity of feed is used, and the flax is pulled very green. The season of sowing is the first fine weather after the middle of March. The most approved mode of culture is in beds about six feet broad, covering the feed about an inch and a half deep, with earth shoveled out of the furrows; but the most ordinary mode is to sow on common ridges, and to harrow in the feed. Before the flax is five inches high it should be carefully hand-weeded; and, if any part lodges, it should be turned over. The produce is usually worth 7l. sterling the English acre. The crop should stand till the lower part of the stalk becomes yellowish, and the under leaves begin to wither, unless the seed is to be preserved, which is done by ridding it through an iron comb, and the flax may be steeped immediately after it is pulled. Turf-bog water, if clear, answers well, but foul stagnate water stains the flax. Too pure a spring is injurious. A refer dog in clay is preferred. The time of lying in the steep depends upon the quality of the water and the state of the weather. It is dried on grass by being spread thin; artificial heat has been recommended for drying flax; but no good form of it has been suggested.

In addition to what is here stated, the compiler of Sheep on this article accounts it proper to take notice of a mode employed of weeding flax that has frequently been practised in weed flax in Scotland. It consists of turning a flock of sheep at large into the field. They will not taste the young flax plants, but they carefully search for the weeds which they devour. It may also be remarked, that for drying flax in wet seasons, the steam kiln formerly proposed would be a valuable instrument.

Sect. II. Rape or Cole-Seed.

This, as well as linseed, is cultivated for the purpose of making oil, and will grow almost anywhere. Mr Hazard informs us, that in the north of England Bath Farmers pare and burn their pasture lands, and then pers, vol. iv. sow them with rape after one ploughing; the crop commonly standing for seed, which will bring from 25l. to 30l. per last (80 bushels). Poor clay, or stone-Advantage braith land, will frequently produce from 12 to 16 or cultivat-18 bushels per acre, and almost any fresh or virgining rape-earth will yield one plentiful crop; so that many in feed. The northern counties have been raised, by cultivating this feed, from poverty to the greatest affluence. The feed is ripe in July or the beginning of August; and the thrashing of it out is conducted with the greatest mirth and jollity.

The rape being fully ripe, is first cut with sickles, and Of cutting then laid thin upon the ground to dry; and when in and thrash-proper condition for thrashing, the neighbours are invited, who readily contribute their assistance. The tape-feed, thrashing is performed on a large cloth in the middle of of the field, and the seed put into the sacks and carried home. It does not admit of being carried from the field in the pod in order to be thrashed at home, and therefore the operation is always performed in the field; and by the number of affiants procured on this occasion, a field of 25 acres is frequently thrashed out in one day. The straw is burnt for the sake of its alkali, the ashes being said to equal the best kind of those imported from abroad.

The proper time for sowing rape is the month of June; and the land should, previous to the sowing, be twice well ploughed. About two pounds of seed are sufficient for an acre; and, according to our author, it should be cast upon the ground with only the thumb and two fore fingers; for if it be cast with all the fingers, it will come up in patches. If the plants come up too thick, a pair of light harrows should be drawn along the field length-wise and cross-wise; by which means the plants will be equally thinned; and when the plants which the harrows have pulled up are withered, the ground should be rolled. A few days after the plants may be set out with a hoe, allowing 16 or 18 inches distance betwixt every two plants.

Mr Hazard strongly recommends the transplanting of rape, having experienced the good effects of it himself. A rood of ground, sown in June, will produce as many plants as are sufficient for 10 acres; which may be planted out upon ground that has previously borne a crop of wheat, provided the wheat be harvested by the middle of August. One ploughing will be sufficient for these plants; the best of which should be selected from the seed-plot, and planted in rows two feet alunder and 16 inches apart in the rows. As rape is an excellent food for sheep, they may be allowed to feed upon it in the spring; or the leaves might be gathered, and given to oxen or young cattle: fresh leaves would sprout again from the same stalks, which in like manner might be fed off by ewes and lambs in time enough to plough the land for a crop of barley and oats. Planting rape in the beginning of July, however, would be most advantageous for the crop itself, as the leaves might then be fed off in the autumn, and new ones would appear in the spring. Our author disapproves the practice of sowing rape with turnips, as the crops injure one another. "Those who look for an immediate profit (says he), will undoubtedly cultivate rape for seed; but perhaps it may answer better in the end to feed it with sheep: the fat ones might kill it over first, and afterwards the lean or store-sheep might follow them, and be folded thereon; if this is done in the autumn season, the land will be in good heart to carry a crop of wheat; or where the rape is fed off in the spring, a crop of barley might follow. In either case rape is profitable to the cultivator; and when it is planted, and well earthered round the stems, it will endure the severest winter; but the same cannot be advanced in favour of that which is sown broad-cast."

Cole-feed is cultivated in Brabant, in the following manner, according to the Abbé Mann. "It is sown about the middle of July, and the young plants are transplanted about the end of September. This is done with a narrow spade sunk into the ground, and moved with the hand forwards and backwards; which simple motion, makes a sufficient opening to receive the plant; a boy or girl follow the labourer with plants, and putting one of them into each hole, treads against it to Seed, Calico it up. If the plantation is done with the plough, &c., and are covered with the earth turned up with the succeeding furrow. Sometimes, after the cole-feed is planted, the foot of the stalks is covered, by means of a common spade or hoe, with the earth near it, which furnishes nourishment for the plants during winter, by the crumbling of these little clods of earth over the roots. The cole-feed is reaped about midsummer or later, according as the season is more or less advanced; it is left on the field for ten or twelve days after it is cut, and then thrashed on a kind of sail-cloth, spread on the ground for that purpose, and the seed carried in sacks to the farm. When the crop is good, a binder produces about forty rakers of 80lbs. weight each. It is to be observed, that the ground whereon cole-feed is to be planted, must be dunged and twice ploughed the same year it is put in use."

Sect. III. Coriander-Seed.

This is used in large quantities by distillers, druggists, and confectioners, and might be a considerable object to such farmers as live in the neighbourhood of great towns; but the price is very variable, viz. from 16s. to 42s. per cwt. In the 4th volume of Bath Pa., Mr Bartley gives an account of an experiment made on this seed, which proved very successful. Ten perch of good sandy loam were sown with coriander on the 23rd of March 1783. Three pounds of seed were sufficient for this spot; and the whole expense amounted only to 5s. 10d. The produce was 87 pounds of seed, which, valued at 3d. yielded a profit of 5s. 11½d. or 1s. 1l. 18s. 4½d. per acre. He afterwards made several other experiments on a larger scale; but none of the crops turned out so well, though all of them afforded a good profit.

Sect. IV. Canary-Seed.

This is cultivated in large quantity in the Isle of Culture of Thanet, where it is said they have frequently 20 bushels canary-seed to an acre. Mr Bartley, in the month of March 1783, sowed half an acre of ground, the soil a mixture of loam and clay, but had only eight bushels and a half, or 17 bushels per acre. With this produce, however, he had a profit of 4l. 2s. 3½d. per acre.

Sect. V. Woad.

The use of this in dyeing is well known, and the consumption is so great, that the raising of the plant might undoubtedly be an object to an husbandman, provided he could get it properly manufactured for the dyers, and could overcome their prejudices. At present, the growing of this plant is in a manner monopolized by some people in particular places, particularly at Keynsham near Bristol in England. Mr Bartley Woad informs us, that in a conversation he had with these cultivators, the latter asserted, that the growth of woad was peculiar to their soil and situation. The soil about this place is a blackish heavy mould, with a considerable proportion of clay, but works freely: that of Bridlington, Brillington, where Mr Bartley resides, a hazel sandy loam; nevertheless, having sowed half an acre of this soil with woad-feed, it throve so well, that he never saw a better crop at Keynsham. Having no apparatus, however, or knowledge of the manufacture, he suffered it to run to seed, learning only from the experiment, that woad is very easily cultivated, and that the only difficulty is the preparing it for the market.

**Sect. VI. Hops.**

The uses of these as an ingredient in malt liquors, are well known. Formerly, however, they were supposed to possess such deleterious qualities, that the use of them was forbidden by act of parliament in the reign of James VI. But though this act was never repealed, it does not appear that much regard was ever paid to it, as the use of hops has still continued, and is found not to be attended with any bad effects on the human constitution. The only question, therefore, is, How far the raising a crop of them may be profitable to an husbandman? and indeed this seems to be very doubtful.

Mr Arthur Young, in a Fortnight's Tour through Kent and Essex, informs us, that at Castle Hedingham he was told by a Mr Rogers, who had a considerable hop-plantation, that four acres of hop-ground cost him upwards of £120, and that the usual expenses of laying out an acre of ground in this way amounted to £34.6s. By a calculation of the expenses of an acre in Kent, it appeared that the money sunk to plant an acre there amounted to £321.8s.6d.; that the annual expense was £231, and the profit no more than £11.8s.1d. In another place, he was informed by a Mr Potter, who cultivated great quantities of hops, that if it were not for some extraordinary crops which occurred now and then, nobody would plant them. In Essex, the expenses of a hop-plantation are still greater than those we have yet mentioned; an acre many years ago requiring £75. to lay it out on hops, and now not less than £100. the annual expense being estimated at £31.1s. while the produce commonly does not exceed £21.

In the neighbourhood of Stow-market in this county, Mr Young informs us, there are about 200 acres planted with hops, but "18 or 20 acres grubbed up within two years, owing to the badness of the times." Here they are planted on a black loofe moor, very wet and boggy; and the more wet the better for the crop, especially if the gravel, which constitutes the bottom, be not more than three feet from the surface. In preparing the ground for hops, it is formed into beds, 16 feet wide, separated from each other by trenches. In these beds they make holes six feet aunder, and about 12 inches diameter, three rows upon a bed. Into each hole they put about half a peck of very rotten dung or rich compost; scatter earth upon it, and plant seven sets in each; drawing earth enough to them afterwards to form something of a hillock. A hop garden, Mr Young informs us, "will last almost forever, by renewing the hills that fail, to the amount of about a score annually, but it is reckoned better to grub up and new-plant it every 20 or 25 years."

In this volume of the Annals, Mr Young informs us, that "one profit of hop-land is that of breaking it up." Mr Potter grubbed up one garden, which failing, he ploughed and sowed barley, the crop great; then mazagan beans, two acres of which produced 16 breaking quarters and five bushels. He then sowed it with up hop-wheat, which produced 13 quarters and four bushels; and an half; but since that time the crops have not been greater than common. The same gentleman has had 10 quarters of oats after wheat." In the ninth volume of the same work, however, we have an account of an experiment by Mr Le Bland of Sittingbourne in Kent, of grubbing up 12 acres of hop-ground, which was not attended with any remarkable success. Part of the hops were grubbed up in the year 1781, and mazagan beans sown in their stead; but by reason of the seed being bad, and the dry summer, the crop turned out very indifferent. Next year the remainder of the hops were grubbed up, and the whole 12 acres sown with wheat; but still the crop turned out very bad, owing to the wet summer of that year. It was next planted with potatoes, which turned out well; and ever since that time the crops have been good. This gentleman informs us, that the person who had the hop-ground above-mentioned did not lose less by it than £500.

The culture of hops seems to be confined in a great measure to the southern counties of England; for Mr hops in Norfolk mentions it as a matter of surprise, that in Norfolk he saw a "tolerably large hop garden." The proprietor informed him, that three or four years before there had been 10 acres of hops in the parish (Blowfield) where he resided; which was more than could be collected in all the rest of the county; but at that time there were not above five: and the culture was daily declining, as the crops, owing to the low price of the commodity, did not defray the expense.

From all this it appears, that hops are perhaps the most uncertain and precarious crop on which the husbandman can bestow his labour. Mr Young is of opinion, that some improvement in the culture is necessary; but he does not mention any, excepting that of planting them in epaliers. This method was recommended both by Mr Rogers and Mr Potter above-mentioned. The former took the hint from observing, that a plant which had been blown down, and afterwards shot out horizontally, always produced a greater quantity than those which grew upright. He also remarks, that hops which are late picked carry more next year than such as are picked early; for which reason he recommends the late picking. The only reason for picking early is, that the hops appear much more beautiful than the others.

**Sect. VII. Cultivation of Fruit.**

In Herefordshire and Gloucestershire the cultivation of fruit for the purpose of making a liquor from the juice, forms a principal part of their husbandry. In Devonshire also considerable quantities of this kind of liquor are made, though much less than in the two counties above-mentioned.

The fruits cultivated in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire are, the apple, the pear, and the cherry. From the two first are made the liquors named cider and perry; but though it is probable that a liquor of some value might be made from cherries also, it does not appear to have ever been attempted. Mr Marshall remarks, that nature has furnished only one species of pears and apples, viz., the common crab of the woods and hedges, and the wild pear, which is likewise pretty common. The varieties of these fruits are entirely artificial, being produced not by feed, but by a certain mode of culture; whence it is the business of those who wish to improve fruit therefore, to catch at superior accidental varieties; and having raised them by cultivation to the highest perfection of which they are capable, to keep them in that state by artificial propagation. Mr Marshall, however, observes, that it is impossible to make varieties of fruit altogether permanent, though their duration depends much upon management. "A time arrives (says he) when they can no longer be propagated with success. All the old fruits which raised the fame of the liquors of this country are now lost, or so far on the decline as to be deemed irrecoverable. The red-freak is given up; the celebrated fir-apple is going off; and the squab-pear, which has probably furnished this country with more champagne than was ever imported into it, can no longer be got to flourish: the stocks canker, and are unproductive. In Yorkshire similar circumstances have taken place: several old fruits which were productive within my own recollection are lost; the stocks cankered and the trees would no longer come to bear."

Our author controverts the common notion among orchard-men, that the decline of the old fruits is owing to a want of fresh grafts from abroad, particularly from Normandy, from whence it is supposed that apples were originally imported into this country. Mr Marshall, however, thinks, that these original kinds have been long since lost, and that the numerous varieties of which we are now possessed were raised from seed in this country. He also informs us, that at Ledbury he was shown a Normandy apple tree, which, with many others of the same kind, had been imported immediately from France. He found it, however, to be no other than the bitter-sweet, which he had seen growing as a neglected wilding in an English hedge.

The process of raising new varieties of apples, according to Mr Marshall, is simple and easy. "Elect (says he) among the native species individuals of the highest flavour; sow the seeds in a highly enriched seed-bed. When new varieties, or the improvement of old ones, are the objects, it may perhaps be eligible to use a frame or stove; but where the preservation of the ordinary varieties only is wanted, an ordinary loamy soil will be sufficient. At any rate, it ought to be perfectly clean at least from root weeds, and should be double dug from a foot to 18 inches deep. The surface being levelled and raked fine, the seeds ought to be scattered on about an inch under and covered about half an inch deep with some of the finest mould previously raked off the bed for that purpose. During summer the young plants should be kept perfectly free from weeds, and may be taken up for transplantation the ensuing winter; or if not very thick in the seedbed, they may remain in it till the second winter.

The nursery ground ought also to be enriched, and double dug to the depth of 14 inches at least; though 18 or 20 are preferable. The seedling plants ought to be sown agreeably to the strength of their roots, that they may rise evenly together. The top or downward roots should be taken off, and the longer side rootlets shortened. The young trees should then be planted in rows three feet under, and from 15 to 18 inches distant in the rows; taking care not to cramp the roots, but to lead them evenly and horizontally among the mould. If they be intended merely for stocks to be grafted, they may remain in this situation until they be large enough to be planted out; though, in strict management, they ought to be re-transplanted two years before their being transferred into the orchard, "in fresh but unmanured double-dug ground, a quincunx four feet apart every way." In this second transplantation, as well as in the first, the branches of the root ought not to be left too long, but to be shortened in such a manner as to induce them to form a globular root, sufficiently small to be removed with the plant; yet sufficiently large to give it firmness and vigour in the plantation.

Having proceeded in this manner with the seed-bed, our author gives the following directions. "Select choosing from among the seedlings the plants whose wood and the plants' leaves wear the most apple-like appearance. Transplant these into a rich deep soil in a genital situation, letting them remain in this nursery until they begin to bear. With the seeds of the fairest, richest, and best flavoured fruit repeat this process; and at the same time, or in due season, engraft the wood which produced this fruit on that of the richest, sweetest, best-flavoured apple: repeating this operation, and transferring the subject under improvement from one tree and root to another, as richness, flavour, or firmness may require; continuing this double mode of improvement until the desired fruit be obtained. There has, no doubt, been a period when the improvement of the apple and pear was attended to in this country; and should not the same spirit of improvement revive, it is probable that the country will, in a course of years, be left destitute of valuable kinds of these two species of fruit; which, though they may in some degree be deemed objects of luxury, long custom seems to have ranked among the necessaries of life."

In the fourth volume of Bath Papers, Mr Grimwood supposes the degeneracy of apples to be rather imaginary than real. He says, that the evil complained of is not a real decline in the quality of the fruit, but of apples in the tree; owing either to want of health, the season, soil, mode of planting, or the stock they are grafted on, being too often raised from the seed of apples in the same place or county. I have not a doubt in my own mind, but that the trees which are grafted on the stocks raised from the apple pips are more tender than those grafted on the real crab-stock; and the seasons in this country have, for many years past, been unfavourable for fruits, which add much to the supposed degeneracy of the apple. It is my opinion, that if planters of orchards would procure the trees grafted on real crab-stocks from a distant country, they would find their account in doing much overbalance the extra expense of charge and carriage.

In the same volume, Mr Edmund Gilliagwater affirms as a reason for the degeneracy of apples the water's mixture of various farina, from the orchards being too near each other. In consequence of this notion, he he also thinks that the old and best kinds of apple trees are not lost, but only corrupted from being planted too near bad neighbours: "Remove them (says he) to a situation where they are not exposed to this inconvenience, and they will immediately recover their former excellency." This theory, however, is not supported by a single experiment.

In this volume also Mr Richard Samuel expresses his concern at the "present neglect of orchards, where the old trees are decaying; without proper provision being made for the succeeding age: for if a farmer plants fresh trees (which does not frequently happen), there is seldom any care taken to propagate the better sorts, as his grafts are usually taken promiscuously from any ordinary kind most easily procured in the neighbourhood." His remedy is to collect grafts from the best trees; by which means he supposes that the superior kinds of fruit would soon be recovered. To a care of this kind he attributes the superiority of the fruit in the neighbourhood of great towns to that in other places.

With regard to the method of cultivating fruit trees, it is only necessary to add, that while they remain in the nursery, the intervals between them may be occupied by such kitchen-stuff as will not crowd or overshadow the plants; keeping the rows in the meantime perfectly free from weeds. In pruning them, the leader should be particularly attended to. If they shoot double, the weaker of the contending branches should be taken off; but if the leader be lost, and not easily recoverable, the plant should be cut down to within a hand's breadth of the soil, and a fresh stem trained. The undermost boughs should be taken off by degrees, going over the plants every winter; but taking care to preserve heads of sufficient magnitude not to draw the stems up too tall, which would make them feeble in the lower part. The stems in Herefordshire are trained to fix feet high; but our author prefers seven, or even half a rod in height. A tall-stemmed tree is much less injurious to what grows below it than a low-headed one, which is itself in danger of being hurt, at the same time that it hurts the crop under it. The thickness of the stem ought to be in proportion to its height; for which reason a tall stock ought to remain longer in the nursery than a low one. The usual size at which they are planted out in Herefordshire is from four to six inches girt at three feet high; which size, with proper management, they will reach in seven or eight years. The price of these stocks in Herefordshire is 1s. 6d. each. Our author met with one instance of crabstocks being gathered in the woods with a good prospect of success.

In Herefordshire it is common to have the ground of the orchards in tillage, and in Gloucestershire in grafts; which Mr Marshall supposes to be owing to the difference between the soil of the two counties; that of Herefordshire being generally arable, and Gloucestershire grafts land. Trees, however, are very destructive, not only to a crop of corn, but to clover and turnips; though tillage is favourable to fruit trees in general, especially when young. In grafts grounds their progress is comparatively slow, for want of the earth being stirred about them, and by being injured by the cattle, especially when low-headed and drooping. After they begin to bear, cattle ought by all means to be kept away from them, as they not only destroy all the fruit within their reach, but the fruit itself is dangerous to the cattle, being apt to stick in their throats and choke them. These inconveniences may be avoided, by eating the fruit grounds bare before the gathering season, and keeping the boughs out of the way of the cattle: but Mr Marshall is of opinion, that it is wrong to plant orchards in graft land. "Let them (says he) lay their old orchards to grafts; and if they plant, break up their young orchards to arable. This will be changing the course of husbandry, and be at once beneficial to the land and the trees."

Our author complains very much of the indolent and careless method in which the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire farmers manage their orchards. The natural enemies of fruit trees (says he) are:

1. A redun-complained dancy of wood. 2. The milletoe. 3. Moths. 4. Spring frosts. 5. Blights. 6. Insects. 7. An excess of fruit. 8. Old age.

1. A redundancy of wood is prejudicial, by reason of the barren branches depriving those which bear fruit wood how of the nourishment which ought to belong to them. Remedied. A multitude of branches also give the winds such an additional power over the tree, that it is in perpetual danger of being overthrown by them: trees are likewise thus injured by the damps and want of circulation of air, so that only the outer branches are capable of bringing fruit to maturity. "It is no uncommon sight (says he) to see trees in this district, with two or three tiers of boughs pressing down hard upon one another, with their twigs so intimately interwoven, that even when the leaves are off, a small bird can scarcely creep in among them.

2. The milletoe in this country is a great enemy to Milletoe the apple tree. It is easily pulled out with hooks in dry frosty weather, when, being brittle, it readily breaks off from the branches. It likewise may be applied to a profitable purpose, sheep being as fond of it as of ivy.

3. Moths can only be got the better of by industry in Moths clearing the trees of it; and in Kent there are people fruit trees, who make it their profession to do so.

4. Spring frosts, especially when they suddenly succeed rain, are great enemies to fruit trees; dry frosts, only keep back the blossoms for some time. Art can give no farther assistance in this case than to keep the trees in a healthy and vigorous state, so as to enable them to throw out a strength of bud and blossom; and by keeping them thin of wood, to give them an opportunity of drying quickly before the frost let in.

5. Blight is a term, as applied to fruit trees, which Blights an Mr Marshall thinks is not understood. Two bearing uncertain years, he remarks, seldom come together; and he is of opinion, that it is the mere exhausting of the trees by the quantity of fruit which they have carried one year, that prevents them from bearing any the next. The only thing therefore that can be done in this case is, to keep the trees in a healthy and vigorous a state as possible.

6. Insects destroy not only the blossoms and leaves, but some of them also the fruit, especially pears. Proposed of the year 1783 much fruit was destroyed by wasps, destroying Mr Marshall advises to put a price upon the female wasps in the spring; by which these mischiefous insects would perhaps be exterminated, or at least greatly lessened. Part II.

Timber Trees.

7. An excess of fruit stunts the growth of young trees, and renders all in general barren for two or three years; while in many cases the branches are broken off by the weight of the fruit; and in one case Mr. Marshall mentions, that an entire tree had sunk under its burden. To prevent as much as possible the bad effects of an excess of fruit, Mr. Marshall recommends "to graft in the boughs," and when fully grown, to thin the bearing branches; thus endeavouring, like the gardener, to grow fruit every year."

8. Though it is impossible to prevent the effects of old age, yet by proper management the natural life of fruit trees may be considerably prolonged. The most eligible method is to graft stocks of the native crab in the boughs. The decline of the tree is preceded by a gradual decline of fruitfulness, which takes place long before the tree manifests any sign of decay. During this decline of fruitfulness, there is a certain period when the produce of a tree will no longer pay for the ground it occupies; and beyond this period it ought by no means to be allowed to stand. In the Vale of Gloucester, however, our author saw an instance of some healthy bearing apple trees, which then had the second tops to the same items. The former tops having been worn out, were cut off, and the stumps faw-grafted. Our author observes, that the pear tree is much longer lived than the apple, and ought never to be planted in the same ground. He concludes with the following general observation: "Thus considering fruit trees as a crop in husbandry, the general management appears to be this: Plant upon a recently broken-up worn-out faward. Keep the soil under a state of arable management, until the trees be well grown; then lay it down to grass, and let it remain in faward until the trees be removed, and their roots be decayed: when it will again require a course of arable management."

Sect. VIII. Of Timber Trees.

The importance and value of these are so well known, that it is superfluous to say anything on that subject at present: notwithstanding this acknowledged value, however, the growth of timber is slow, and the returns for planting so distant, that it is generally supposed for a long time to be a positive loss, or at least to be attended with no profit. This matter, however, when properly considered, will appear in another light. There are four distinct species of woodlands; viz., woods, timber groves, coppices, and woody wastes. The woods are a collection of timber trees and underwood; the timber groves contain timber trees without any underwood; and the coppices are collections of underwood alone. All these turn out to advantage sooner or later, according to the quick or slow growth of the trees, and the situation of the place with respect to certain local advantages. Thus in some places underwood is of great consequence, as for rails, hoops, stakes, fuel, &c. and by reason of the quickness of its growth it may be accounted the most profitable of all plantations. An offer-bed will yield a return of profit the second or third year, and a coppice in 15 or 20 years; while a plantation of oaks will not arrive at perfection in less than a century. This last period is so long, that it may not unreasonably be supposed likely to deter people from making plantations of this kind, as few are willing to take any trouble for what they are never to see in perfection. It must be remembered, however, that though the trees themselves do not come to perfection in a shorter time, the value of the ground will always increase in proportion to their age. Thus, says one author upon this subject, "we have some knowledge of a gentleman now living, who during his lifetime has made plantations, which in all probability will be worth to his son as much as his whole estate, handsome as it is. Supposing that those plantations have been made 50 or 60 years, and that in the course of 20 or 30 more they will be worth 50,000l.; may we not say, that at present they are worth some 20,000l. or 30,000l.? Mr. Pavier, in the 4th volume of Bath Papers, computes the value of 50 acres of oak timber in 100 years to be 12,100l., which is nearly 50s. annually per acre; and if we consider that this is continually accumulating, without any of that expense or risk to which annual crops are subject, it is probable that timber planting may be accounted one of the most profitable articles in husbandry. Evelyn calculates the profit of 1000 acres of oak-land in 150 years, at no less than 679,000l.; but this is most probably an exaggeration. At any rate, however, it would be improper to occupy, especially with timber of such slow growth, the grounds which either in grass or corn can repay the trouble of cultivation with a good annual crop.

In the fourth volume of the Bath Papers, Mr. Wagstaffe recommends planting as an auxiliary to cultivation. He brings an instance of the success of Sir William Jerringham, who made trial of "the most unpromising ground perhaps that any successful planter has hitherto attempted." His method was to plant beech trees at proper distances among Scotch firs, upon otherwise barren heaths. "These trees (says Mr. Wagstaffe), in a soil perhaps without clay or loam, with the heathy sod trenched into its broken strata of sand or gravel, under the protection of the firs, have laid hold, though slowly, of the soil; and accelerated by the superior growth of the firs, have proportionally risen, until they wanted an enlargement of space for growth, when the firs were cut down." He next proceeds to observe, that when the firs are felled, their roots decay in the ground; and thus furnish by that decay a new support to the soil on which the beeches grow: by which means the latter receive an additional vigour, as well as an enlargement of space and freer air; the firs themselves, though cut down before they arrived at their full growth, being also applicable to many valuable purposes.

In the 6th volume of Annals of Agriculture, we find the culture of trees recommended by Mr. Harries; and he informs us, that the larch is the quickest growing tree, and the most valuable of all the famous timber trees; but unless there be pretty good room allowed for the branches to stretch out on the lower part of the trunk, it will not arrive at any considerable size; and this observation, he says, holds good of all pyramidal trees. Scotch firs may be planted between them, and pulled out after they begin to obstruct the growth of the larch. Some of these larches he had seen planted about 30 years before, which at 5 feet distance from the ground, measured from 4 feet to 5 feet 6 inches in circumference. The most barren grounds, he says, would answer for these trees, but better soil is required for the oaks. In this paper he takes notice of the leaves of one of his plantations of oaks having been almost entirely destroyed by insects; in consequence of which they did not increase in bulk as usual: but another which had nearly escaped these ravages, increased at an average 1 inch in circumference. A tree 4 feet round (says he), that has timber 20 feet in length, gains by this growth a solid foot of timber annually, worth one shilling at least, and pays 5 per cent. for standing. It increases more as the tree gets from 5 to 6 feet round.

I have a reasonable hope to infer from my inquiry, that I have in my groves 3000 oaks that pay me one shilling each per annum, or £150l. a-year. My poplars have gained in circumference near two inches, and a Wych-elm and witch elm as much. I have lately been informed, that the smooth cut of a holly tree, that measures 20 inches and upwards round, is worth to the cabinet-makers 2s. 6d. per foot.

The following table shows the increase of trees in 21 years from their first planting. It was taken from the marquis of Lansdowne's plantation, begun in the year 1765, and the calculation made on the 1st of July 1786. It is about fix acres in extent, the soil partly a swampy meadow upon a gravelly bottom.

The measures were taken at 5 feet above the surface of the ground; the small firs having been occasionally drawn for posts and rails, as well as rafters for cottages; and when peeled of the bark, will stand well for seven years.

| Height in Feet | Circumference in Feet. Inch. | |----------------|-------------------------------| | Lombardy poplar | 60 to 80 | | Arbeal | 50 to 70 | | Plane | 50 to 60 | | Acacia | 50 to 60 | | Elm | 40 to 60 | | Chestnut | 30 to 50 | | Weymouth pines | 30 to 50 | | Cluffet ditto | 30 to 50 | | Scotch fir | 30 to 50 | | Spruce ditto | 30 to 50 | | Larch | 50 to 60 |

From this table it appears, that planting of timber-trees, where the return can be waited for during the space of 20 years, will undoubtedly repay the original profits of planting, as well as the interest of the money laid out; which is the better worth the attention of a proprietor of land, as the ground on which they grow may be supposed good for very little else. From a comparative table of the growth of oak, ash, and elm timber, given in the 11th volume of the Annals of Agriculture, it appears that the oak is by much the slowest grower of the three.

With respect to the growth of underwood, which in some cases is very valuable, it is to be remarked, that in order to have an annual fall of it, the whole quantity of ground, whatever its extent may be, ought to be divided into annual sowings. The exact number of sowings must be regulated by the uses to which it is intended to be put. Thus if, as in Surrey, stakes, eddiers, and hoops are saleable, there ought to be eight or ten annual sowings; or, if, as in Kent, hops are demanded, 14 or 15 will be required; and if, as in Yorkshire, rails are wanted, or, as in Gloucestershire, cordwood be most marketable, 18 or 20 sowings will be necessary to produce a succession of annual falls. Thus the business, by being divided, will be rendered less burdensome: a certain proportion being every year to be done, a regular set of hands will, in proper season, be employed; and by beginning upon a small scale, the errors of the full year will be corrected in the practice of the second, and those of the second in that of the third. The produce of the intervals will fall into regular courses; and when the whole is completed, the falls will follow each other in regular succession. The greatest objection to this method of sowing woodlands is the extraordinary trouble in fencing: but this objection does not hold if the sowings lie at a distance from one another; on the contrary, if they lie together, or in plots, the entire plot may be inclosed at once; and if it contain a number of sowings, some subdivisions will be necessary, and the annual sowings of these subdivisions may be fenced off with hurdles, or some other temporary contrivance; but if the adjoining land be kept under the plough, little temporary fencing will be necessary. It must be observed, however, that in raising a woodland from seeds, it is not only necessary to defend the young plants against cattle and sheep, but against hares and rabbits also: so that a close fence of some kind is absolutely necessary.

With regard to the preparation of the ground for raising timber, it may be observed, that if the soil be of a stiff clayey nature, it should receive a whole year's fallow as for wheat; if light, a crop of turnips may be taken; but at all events it must be made perfectly clean before the tree-seeds be sown, particularly from perennial root weeds; as, after the seeds are sown, the opportunity of performing this necessary business is in a great measure lost. If the situation be moist, the soil should be gathered into wide lands, sufficiently round to let the water run off from the surface, but not high. The time of sowing is either the month of October or March; and the method as follows: "The Method of land being in fine order, and the season favourable, the sowing whole should be sown with corn or pulse adapted to the season of sowing: if in autumn, wheat or rye may be the crop; but if in spring, beans or oats. Whichever of these three species be adopted, the quantity of seed ought to be less than usual, in order to give a free admission of air, and prevent the crop from lodging. The sowing of the grain being completed, that of the tree-seeds must be immediately set about. These are to be put in drills across the land: acorns and nuts should be dibbled in, but keys and berries scattered in trenches or drills drawn with the corner of a hoe, in the manner that gardeners sow their peas. The distance might be a quarter of a statute rod, or four feet and one inch and a half. A landchain should be used in setting out the drills, as not being liable to be lengthened or shortened by the weather. It is readily divided into rods; and the quarters may be easily marked.

The species of underwood to be sown must be determined by the consumption of it in the neighbourhood of the plantation. Thus, if stakes, hoops, &c., be in request, the oak, hazel, and ash, are esteemed: Timber as underwood. Where charcoal is wanted for iron forges, beech is the prevailing underwood. The oak, box, birch, &c. are all in request in different countries, and the choice must be determined by the prevailing demand. As the keys of the ash sometimes lie two or even three years in the ground, it will be proper to have the places where they are sown distinguished by some particular marks, to prevent them from being disturbed by the plough after harvest; as a few beans scattered along with them, if the crop be oats; or oats, if the crop be beans. The crop should be reaped, not mown, at harvest time, and be carried off as fast as possible. Between harvest and winter, a pair of furrows should be laid back to back in the middle of each interval, for meliorating the next year's crop, and laying the seedling plants dry; while the stubble of the unploughed ground on each side of the drills will keep them warm during the winter. The next year's crop may be potatoes, cabbages, turnips, or if the first was corn, this may be beans; if the first was beans, this may be wheat drilled. In the spring of the third year the drills which stole the first year must be looked over, and the vacancies filled up from, those parts which are thickest; but the drills of the ash should be let alone till the fourth year. The whole should afterwards be looked over from time to time; and this, with cultivating the intervals, and keeping the drills free from weeds, will be all that is necessary until the tops of the plants begin to interfere.

The crops may be continued for several years; and if they only pay for the expenses, they will still be of considerable advantage by keeping the ground flirmed, and preserving the plants from hares and rabbits. Even after the crops are discontinued, the ground ought still to be flirmed, alternately throwing the mould to the roots of the plants, and gathering it into a ridge in the middle of the interval. The best method of doing this is to split the ground at the approach of winter in order to throw it up to the trees on both sides; this will preserve the roots from frost; gather it again in the spring, which will check the weeds, and give a fresh supply of air: split again at midsummer, to preserve the plants from drought: gather, if necessary, in autumn, and split as before at the approach of winter. The spring and midsummer ploughings should be continued as long as a plough can pass between the plants.

Whenever the oaks intended for timber are in danger of being drawn up too slender for their height, it will be necessary to cut off all the rest at the height of about an handbreadth above the ground; and those designed to stand must now be planted at about two rods distant from each other, and as nearly a quincunx as possible. The second cutting must be determined by the demand there is for the underwood; with only this proviso, that the timber stands be not too much crowded by it; for rather than this should be the case, the coppice should be cut, though the wood may not have reached its most profitable state. What is here said of the method of rearing oak trees in woods, is in a great measure applicable to that of raising other trees in timber groves. The species most usually raised in these are the ash, elm, beech, larch, spruce fir, Weymouth pine, poplar, willow, alder, chestnut, walnut, and cherry. The three last are used as substitutes for the oak and beech, and these two for the mahogany.

The following account of the mode of planting that was adopted by the earl of Fife, for no less than 550 acres of moorish lands, is worthy of attention. It is contained in a letter from his lordship to the publisher of the Annals of Agriculture. "Where there are Earl of Stones in the moor, I inclose with a stone wall five feet high, coped with two turfs, which cost about 15s. tations, every Scots chain of 24 ells, and where there are no stones, which is mostly the case in the moors in the county of Murray, I inclose with a fence of turf, five feet high, four feet wide at the foundation, and 22 inches at top, at 4s. the Scots chain. I find those fences answer as well as the stone, for there are many of them now above 20 years old, as good as at first. I plant in every acre about 1200 trees. I used to plant above 3000, but by experience I find it better not to plant them so thick, but make them up, if necessary, the third year (especially in my plantations in the county of Murray), where scarcely a tree planted ever fails. The greatest number of the trees are Scots firs raised by myself, or purchased at 10d. the thousand, planted from the seed-bed at three years old. I only consider them as nurseries to my other trees, for they are regularly cut out when they have done their duty as nurseries, and are profitable for fire, and useful in agriculture. I plant every other species of forest trees intermixed with the firs. I order different pieces of the moor to be trenched where the soil is best, and most sheltered, and lay a little lime and dung on it, and in these places I sow seeds of trees for nursery. I also plant in beds, year-old trees of different kinds, taken from my other nurseries. I nurse them for three years, and then plant them all over the plantation: this I find very beneficial, as they are raised in the same soil. When I am filling up the plantations, the firs are, for the first time, cut down; or they are transplanted, being raised with balls of earth when the moor is wet with rain, which is very easily done, and they are carried to inclosures of ten or twelve acres, where, from a desire of forward woods, I am planting trees more advanced." They are planted in pits about 40 feet distance, and seldom or never fail, and answer a second time as nurseries.

"My first care after the inclosure is properly filled up, is to guard against injury from cattle: a small allowance given to a few labourers answers that purpose, and if the fences are properly executed they require very little repair. After the plantation is filled up, the most regular attention must be had to the weeding of it, and this is carried on over my plantations of all ages in the most exact manner; I make roads through all the plantations which are carried forward according to the situation, never in a straight line so as to draw violent winds, and those roads go to all parts of the plantation; they make agreeable rides through fine woods, formerly a bleak moor, and answer not only for filling up, but also for carrying away the necessary weedings. As I observed before, the value and prosperity of the wood depends upon the unremitting attention in weeding it.

"I begin to plant in October, and continue till April. If the weather is frothy and not fit for planting, all the people are employed in weeding the woods."

It is proper, however, upon this subject to remark, that the value of plantations of timber trees, as connected with other branches of agriculture, is not a little limited. In a mountainous country, and in bleak moorish situations, nothing tends more to increase the value of the soil than plantations properly distributed. They give shelter both to the cattle and to the corn crops; and by preventing the warmth which is produced by proper manures, and by the germination of vegetables, from being dissipated, they give effect to all the efforts of industry. Accordingly, in such situations, plantations are no sooner reared, than the whole face of the country around them assumes an improving aspect, and displays a richer verdure. When suddenly cut down, in consequence of the necessities of an imprudent proprietor, the reverse of all this occurs. Vegetation is chilled by the piercing blasts which now meet with no resistance, and the cattle droop from want of shelter; so that in a few years the place can scarcely be known. But the case is very different with regard to a rich and level country that is meant to be cultivated for corn. There the effect of numerous plantations, of high trees and lofty hedge rows, is altogether detrimental to the husbandman. It is only in open fields that grain appears well ripened and completely filled. When surrounded with timber trees, on the contrary, it ripens ill, and is ill coloured and unequal. In spring the high shelter prevents the grounds from drying, and keeps back the labour. In summer the crop is liable to diseases from want of air, and is devoured by large flocks of small birds. In autumn, from want of a free circulation of air the corn ripens late, and in a weeping climate it can never be gathered in good condition. In wet seasons it is utterly ruined. In winter, when the snow is drifting about, the trees prepare a resting place for large quantities of it; these frequently remain and stop the spring work. Add to this, that in a low country even the cattle are hurt by the swarms of vermin that are bred, and come forth, under the shelter of lofty trees and high fences.

PART III. OF THE CATTLE PROPER TO BE EMPLOYED IN FARM WORK; REARING AND MANAGEMENT OF THEM. OF HOGS, POULTRY, &c. OF THE DAIRY. MAKING OF FRUIT LIQUORS. OF FENCES.

SECT. I. Of the Cattle proper to be employed.

A great part of the stock of a husbandman must always consist of cattle, and as one of his principal expenses must consist of the maintenance of them, this part of his business is certainly to be looked upon as extremely important. The cattle belonging to a farm may be divided into two classes, viz. such as are intended for work, and such as are designed for fat. The former are now principally horses, the oxen formerly employed being fallen into disuse, though it does not yet certainly appear that the reasons for the exchange are satisfactory. In the second volume of Bath Papers, we have an account of a comparative experiment of the utility of horses and oxen in husbandry by Mr Keddington near Bury in Suffolk, in which the preference is decisively given to oxen. He informs us, that at the time he began the experiment (in 1779), he was almost certain that there was not an ox worked in the whole county; finding, however, the expense of horses very great, he purchased a single pair of oxen, but found much difficulty in breaking them, as the workmen were so much prejudiced against them, that they would not take the proper pains. At last he met with a labourer who undertook the task; and the oxen soon became as tractable and as handy, both at ploughing and carting, as any horses. On this he determined to part with all his cart-horses; and by the time he wrote his letter, which was in 1781, he had not a single horse, nor any more than five oxen; which inconsiderable number performed with ease all the work of his farm (consisting of upwards of 100 acres of arable land and 60 of pasture and wood), besides the statute duty on the highways, timber and corn carting, harrowing, rolling, and every part of rural business. They are constantly housed; their harness is the same as that of horses (excepting the necessary alterations for difference of size and shape); they are driven with bridles and bits in their mouths, answering to the same words of the ploughman and carter as horses will do. A single man holds the plough, and drives a pair of oxen with reins; and our author informs us, that they will plough an acre of ground in less than eight hours time; he is of opinion that they could do it in seven. The intervals of a small plantation, in which the trees are set in rows ten feet apart, are ploughed by a single ox with a light plough, and he is driven by the man who holds it. The oxen go in a cart either single, or one, two, or three, according to the load. Four oxen will draw 80 bushels of barley or oats in a waggon with ease; and if good of their kind, will travel as fast as horses with the same load. One ox will draw 40 bushels in a light cart, which our author thinks is the best carriage of any. On the whole, he prefers oxen to horses for the following reasons:

1. They are kept at much less expense, never eating more for meal or corn of any kind. In winter they are fed preferring with straw, turnips, carrots, or cabbages; or instead of the three last, they have each a peek of bran per day while kept constantly at work. In the spring they eat hay; and if working harder than usual in feed-time, they have bran besides. When the vetches are fit for mowing, they get them only in the stable. After the day's work in summer they have a small bundle of hay, and stand in the stable till they cool; after which they are turned into the pasture. Our author is of opinion, that an ox may be maintained in condition for the same constant work as a horse, for at least 4l. 1s. annually.

2. After a horse is seven years old, his value declines every year; and when lame, blind, or very old, he is scarce worth anything; but an ox, in any of these situations, may be fattened, and sold for even more than the first purchase; and will always be fat sooner after work than before.

3. Oxen are less liable to diseases than horses.

4. Horses are frequently liable to be spoiled by servants. Cattle proper to be employed.

Mr Kedington concludes his paper with acknowledging, that there is one inconvenience attending the use of oxen, viz. that it is difficult to shoe them; though even this, he thinks, is owing rather to the unskillfulness of the smiths who have not been accustomed to shoe these animals, than to any real difficulty. He confines them in a pound while the operation is performing.

Mr Marshall, in his Rural Economy of the Midland Counties, shows the advantage of employing oxen in preference to horses from the mere article of expense, which, according to his calculation, is enormous on the part of the horses. He begins with estimating the number of square miles contained in the kingdom of England; and this he supposes to be 30,000 of cultivated ground. Supposing the work of husbandry to be done by horses only, and each square mile to employ 20 horses, which is about 3 to 100 acres, the whole number used throughout Britain would be 600,000; from which deducting one fifth for the number of oxen employed at present, the number of horses just now employed will be 500,000. Admitting that each horse works ten years, the number of farm-horses which die annually are no fewer than 50,000; each of which requires full four years keep before he is fit for work. Horses indeed are broke in at three, some at two, years old, but they are, or ought to be, indulged in keep and work till they are six; so that the cost of rearing and keeping may be laid at full four ordinary years. For all this consumption of vegetable produce he returns not the community a single article of food, clothing, or commerce; even his skin for economical purposes being barely worth the taking off. By working horses in the affairs of husbandry, therefore, "the community is losing annually the amount of 200,000 years keep of a growing horse;" which at the low estimate of five pounds a-year, amounts to a million annually. On the contrary, supposing the business of husbandry to be done solely by cattle, and admitting that oxen may be fattened with the same expenditure of vegetable produce as that which old horses require to fit them for full work, and that instead of 50,000 horses dying, 50,000 oxen, of no more than 52 stone each, are annually slaughtered; it is evident, that a quantity of beef nearly equal to what the city of London consumes would be annually brought into the market; or, in other words, 100,000 additional inhabitants might be supplied with one pound of animal food a-day each; and this without consuming one additional blade of grass. "I am far from expecting (says Mr Marshall), that cattle will, in a short space of time, become the universal beasts of draught in husbandry; nor will I contend, that under the present circumstances of the island they ought in strict propriety to be used. But I know that cattle, under proper management, and kept to a proper age, are equal to every work of husbandry, in most, if not all situations: And I am certain, that a much greater proportion than there is at present might be worked with considerable advantage, not to the community only, but to the owners and occupiers of lands. If cattle properly employed, one of the 50,000 carcasses now lost annually to the community could be reclaimed, the saving would be an object."

In Norfolk, our author informs us, that horses are the only beasts of labour; and that there is not perhaps one ox worked throughout the whole county. It is the same in the Vale of Gloucester, though oxen are used in the adjoining counties. Formerly some objection was made against the use of oxen; but they were found to them in the Vale of Gloucester up. Even when worked single, the same objection is made: but, says Mr Marshall, "in this I suspect there is a spice of obstinacy in the old way; a want of a due portion of the spirit of improvement; a kind of indolence. It might not perhaps be too severe to say of the Vale farmers, that they would rather be eaten up by their horses than step out of the beaten track to avoid them." Shoeing oxen with whole hooves, in our author's opinion, might remedy the evil complained of; "but if not, let those (says he) who are advocates for oxen, calculate the comparative difference in wear and keep, and those who are their enemies estimate the comparative mischiefs of treading; and thus decide upon their value as beasts of labour in the Vale."

In the Cotswold oxen are worked as well as horses; but the latter, our author fears, are still in the proportion of two to one: he has the satisfaction to find, however, that the former are coming into more general use. They are worked in harness; the collar and harness being used as for horses, not reversed, as in most cases they are for oxen. "They appear (says our author) to be perfectly handy; and work, either at plough or cart, in a manner which shows, that although horses may be in some cases convenient, and in most cases pleasurable to the driver, they are by no means necessary to husbandry. A convenience used in this country is a moveable harness with a fledge bottom, harness which is drawn from place to place as occasion may require. Thus no labour is lost either by the oxen or their drivers.

In Yorkshire oxen are still used, though in much fewer numbers than formerly; but our author does not imagine this to be any decisive argument against their declining utility. The Yorkshire plough was formerly of such an unwieldy construction, that four or five oxen, in yokes, led by two horses, were absolutely requisite to draw it; but the improvements in the construction of the plough have of late been so great, that two horses are found to be sufficient for the purpose; so that Yorkshire has all along been famous for its breed of horses, we are not to wonder at the present dilution of oxen. Even in carriages they are now much diluted; but Mr Marshall affirms as a reason for this, that the roads were formerly deep in winter, and soft to the hoof in summer; but now they are universally a causeway of hard limestone, which hurt the feet of oxen even when shod. Thus it even appears matter of surprise to our author that so many oxen are employed in this county; and the employment of them at all is to him a convincing argument of their utility as beasts of draught. The timber carriers still continue to use them, even though their employment be solely upon the road. They find them not only able to stand working every day, provided their feet do not fail them, but Cattle pro- but to bear long hours better than horses going in the same pasture. An ox in a good pasture soon fills his belly, and lies down to rest; but a horse can scarce satisfy his hunger in a short summer's night. Oxen are superiority also considered as much superior at a difficult pull to horses; but this he is willing to suppose arises from their using half-bred hunters in Yorkshire, and not the true breed of cart horses. "But what (says he) are thorough-bred cart horses? Why, a species of strong, heavy, sluggish animals, adapted solely to the purpose of draught; and according to the present law of the country, cannot, without an annual expense, which nobody bestows upon them, be used for any other pur- pose. This species of beasts of draught cost at four years old from £25l. to £36l. They will, with ex- travagant keep, extraordinary care and attendance, and much good luck, continue to labour eight or ten years; and may then generally be sold for five shil- lings a-head. If we had no other species of animals adapted to the purposes of draught in the island, cart horses would be very valuable, they being much su- perior to the breed of fiddle horses for the purpose of draught. But it appears evident, that were only a small share of the attention paid to the breeding of draught oxen which is now bestowed on the breeding of cart horses, animals equally powerful, more active, less costly, equally adapted to the purposes of husban- dry if harnessed with equal judgment, less expensive in keep and attendance, much more durable, and infi- nitely more valuable after they have finished their la- bours, might be produced. A steer, like a colt, ought to be familiarized to harness at two or three years old, but should never be subjected to hard labour until he be five years old; from which age until he be 15 or perhaps 20, he may be considered as in his prime as a beast of draught. An ox which I worked several years in Surrey, might at 17 or 18 years of age have chal- lenged for strength, agility, and sagacity, the best bred cart horse in the kingdom.

Notwithstanding all that has been said, however, and written about the superiority of oxen to horses, the latter are still coming into more general use, espe- cially in proportion as the breed of horses improves; and we may add, in proportion as the state of cultiva- tion in any part of the country improves. The reason is obvious. The horse is a more active animal than the ox, and can be turned with greater readiness from one kind of work to another. His hoof is less readily injured by the hardness of good roads; and for the use of the plough upon a well-ordered farm, there is no comparison between the two kinds of animals. Where land is once brought into a proper state of tillage, it is easily turned over; and the value of the animal em- ployed in doing so confers not so much in the posses- sion of great strength as in the activity which he exerts in going over a great extent of ground in a short time. In this last respect, a good breed of horses so far sur- passes every kind of oxen yet known in this country, that we suspect much the horse will still continue to be preferred by enterprising husbandmen.

With regard to the loss which the public is suppo- sed to sustain by preferring horses to oxen, that point has of late been rendered, to say no more, extremely doubtful. In the Agricultural Survey of the county of Northumberland, we have the following compara-

Expence of an Ox per annum.

Summering.—Grafs 2 acres at 20s. per acre L. 2 0 0

Wintering.—On straw and tur- nips L. 2 0 0 But if on hay 4 0 0

The average is 3 0 0

Interest at 5 per cent. for price of the ox L. 5 0 0 Harnels, hoeing, &c. 0 15 0

Deduct for the increased value of an ox for 1 year 6 5 0

Gives the expence per annum of an ox for the team 5 5 0 And the expence of 6 oxen 31 10 0 To which must be added the expence of a driver for half a year 3 10 0

Total expence of a team of 6 oxen L. 35 0 0

An Eight-Ox team.

The expence of an ox per annum being L. 5 5 0

That of eight will be 42 0 0 To which add the expence of a driver 8 0 0

Gives the expence per annum of an eight-ox team L. 50 0 0

Therefore the expence of a team of oxen for the first year will be L. 50 0 0 Ditto the second year 35 0 0 Ditto the third year 35 0 0

Divided by 3)120 0 0 Cattle proper to be employed.

Brought over,

Divided by

Gives the average expense per annum of an ox team from 3 to 6 years old

Expence of a horse per annum.

Summering.—Gras 2 acres at 20s. per acre

Wintering.—Straw 13 weeks at 9d. per week

Hay 16 ditto 1½ tons at 2l.

Corn (for a year) 70 bushels of oats at 2l.

Shoeing and harness

Annuity to pay off £5l. in 16 years the purchase value of the horse at four years old

Expence of a horse per annum

Expence of a two-horse team

"If a three horse-team be used, the account will stand thus:

The expence of a horse per annum being £15 15 0

That of three will be

To which add the expence of a driver

Gives the expence of a three-horse team £55 5 0

"If the comparison be made with the horse team of many of the midland counties, where they use five-borfs yoked one before another in one plough, the account will stand thus:

The expence of one horse per annum being

That of five will be

To which add the expence of a man to drive

The expence of a team of five horses will be

The average expence of an ox-team from three to six years old, that will do the same quantity of work as two horses

"The conclusions to be drawn from the above statement, are so obvious as to need little elucidation. But we cannot help remarking, how strong the force of prejudice must be, to continue the use of five horses, and heavy, clumsy, unwieldy wheel ploughs, where a single saving plough and two horses yoked double, and driven by the holder, would do the same quantity of work, equally well and at one half of the expence."

"But before any proper conclusion can be drawn, whether ox teams or horse are the most eligible, it will be necessary to consider, whether the quantity of land employed in supporting those animals, be used in the most profitable mode to the community, as well as to the occupier.

"With the latter, the first question for consideration is, whether eight oxen used in the team or in grazing will pay him the most money?

"Suppose eight oxen, at three years old, were put to the plough, and plough six acres per week, which, at 3s. 4d. per acre, is 20s.; and if they work forty-eight weeks in a year, their whole earnings (after deducting 6l. for expenses of harness, shoeing, &c.) will be 42l.; but if they plough only five acres per week (which is probably nearer the truth), then their whole earnings will be only 34l.

"The same oxen put to graze at the same money should improve in value 5l. 5s. each in the first case, and 4l. 5s. in the latter; but we are inclined to believe there are few situations, if the cattle are of a good quick-feeding kind, where they would not pay considerably more.

"In respect to the community, the account will be nearly as follows:

"From the above statements, we find that an ox for summering and wintering requires 3½ acres Therefore a six-ox team will require 21 ditto And two horses for gras and hay per annum require 7 ditto For corn and straw 4 ditto Land necessary for keeping two horses per annum 11 ditto

The difference in the quantity of land required for a team of oxen more than horses 10 ditto.

"Hence it appears, that a team of six oxen requires ten acres more land to maintain them, than a team of two horses, which will do the same work; and of course the produce which might be derived from these ten acres is lost to the community. Suppose it be one half in gras, the other half in tillage, then we shall have

5 Acres of clover or gras, 1½ Ditto of oats, 1½ Ditto of turnips or fallow, 1½ Ditto of wheat.

"It would then send to market yearly, at the lowest computation,

7½ cwt. of beef, 8 quarters of oats, And 5 ditto of wheat.

"From this view of the subject, it appears that if oxen were universally used for the draught, in the room of horses, there would be a considerable defalcation, in the supply of the markets, both in corn and animal food. And the loss to the farmer would be the profit derived from the produce; which, by the usual mode of allowing one third for the farmer's profit, would in this case be about 10l."

Sect. II. Of the different kinds of Horses, and the Method of Breeding, Rearing, and Feeding them.

The midland counties of England have for some time been celebrated on account of their breed of the black cart-horse; though Mr Marshall is of opinion that this kind are unprofitable as beasts of draught in husbandry. The present improvement in the breed took its rise from six Zealand mares sent over by the late Lord Chesterfield during his embassy at the Hague. These mares being lodged at his lordship's seat at Bretby in Derbyshire, the breed of horses thus became improved in that county, and for some time it took the lead for the species of these animals. As the improved breed passed into Leicestershire, however, through some unknown circumstances, it became still more improved, and Leicestershire has for some time taken the lead. It is now found, however, that the very large horses formerly bred in this district are much less useful than such as are of a smaller size. Mr Marshall describes in magnificent terms one of these large horses, a stallion belonging to Mr Bakewell named K (Q), which, he says, was the handsomest horse he ever saw.

"He was (says he) the fancied war-horse of the German painters; who, in the luxuriance of imagination, never perhaps excelled the natural grandeur of this horse. A man of moderate size seemed to shrink behind his fore end, which rose so perfectly upright, his ears stood (as Mr Bakewell says every horse's ears ought to stand) perpendicularly over his fore feet. It may be said, with little latitude, that in grandeur and symmetry of form, viewed as a picturable object, he exceeded as far the horse which this superior breeder had the honour of showing to His Majesty, and which was afterwards shown publicly at London, as that horse does the meanest of the breed." A more useful horse, bred also by Mr Bakewell, however, is described as having "a thick carcase, his back short and straight, and his legs short and clean; as strong as an ox, yet active as a pony; equally suitable for a cart or a lighter carriage."

The stallions in this county are bred either by farmers or by persons whose business it is to breed them, and who therefore have the name of breeders. These last either cover with themselves, or let them out to others for the season, or sell them altogether to stallion-men who travel about with them to different places.—The prices given for them are from 50 to 200 guineas by purchase; from 40 to 80 or a hundred by the season; or from half a guinea to two guineas by the mare. The mares are mostly kept by the farmers, and are worked until near the times of foaling, and moderately afterwards while they suckle; the best time for foaling is supposed to be the month of March or April; and the time of weaning that of November.—"The price of foals (says Mr Marshall), for the last ten years, has been from five to ten pounds or guineas; for yearlings, 10 to 15 or 20; for two-year-olds, 15 to 25 or 30; for five year-olds, from 25 to 40 guineas."—Our author acknowledges that this breed of horses, considered abstractedly in the light in which they appear here, are evidently a profitable species of live stock, and as far as there is a market for five-years-old horses of this breed, it is profitable to agriculture. "But (says he) viewing the benefits of agriculture in general, not one occupier in ten can partake of the profit; and being kept in agriculture after they have reached that profitable age, they become indisputably one of its heaviest burdens. For besides a cessation of improvement of four or five guineas a-year, a decline in value of as much yearly takes place. Even the brood-mares, after they have passed that age, may, unless they be of a very superior quality, be deemed unprofitable to the farmer."

Our author complains that the ancient breed of Norfolk horfes is almost entirely worn out. They were breed described as small, brown-muzzled, and light boned; but they could endure very heavy work with little food; two of them were found quite equal to the plough in the soil of that county, which is not deep. The present breed is produced by a cross with the large one of Lincolnshire and Leicestershire already mentioned. Suffolk and approves of the Suffolk breed, which (he says) are a Gloucester, "half-horse half-hog race of animals, but better adapted to the Norfolk husbandry than the Leicestershire breed: their principal fault, in his opinion, is a flatness of the rib.—In the Vale of Gloucester most farmers rear their own plough-horses, breeding of horses not being practised. They are of a very useful kind, the colour mostly black, inclinable to tan colour, short and thick in the barrel, and low on their legs. The price of a five-year-old horse from £5l. to £3l. Some cart-horses are bred in Cotswold hills; the mares are worked till the time of foaling, but not while they suckle; and the foals are weaned early, while there is plenty of grain upon the ground.

Yorkshire, which has been long celebrated for its breed of horses, still stands foremost in that respect among the English counties. It is principally remarkable for the breed of saddle-horses, which cannot be reared in Norfolk, though many attempts have been made for that purpose. Yorkshire stallions are frequently sent into Norfolk; but though the foals may be handsome when young, they lose their beauty when old. In Yorkshire, on the other hand, though the foal be ever so unpromising, it acquires beauty, strength, and activity as it grows up. Mr Marshall supposes that from five to ten thousand horses are annually bred up between the eastern Morelands and the Humber.

"Thirty years ago (says Mr Marshall), strong saddle-horses, fit for the road only, were bred in the Vale; but now the prevailing breed is the fashionable coach-horse, or a tall, strong, and over-sized hunter; and the shows of stallions in 1787 were flat and spiritless in comparison with those of 1783." The black cart-horse, an object of Mr Marshall's peculiar aversion, is also coming into the Vale.

In the breeding of horses he complains greatly of the negligence of the Yorkshire people, the mares being almost totally neglected; though in the brute creation almost everything depends upon the female.

Of late years a very valuable breed of horses has been reared in the upper part of Clydeldale or Lanark-breed of flire. They are of a middle size, well shaped, and extremely active. They are not fit for a very heavy draught, but the very quick step which they possess gives them a decided preference for the use of the plough upon well cultivated lands, as they are capable of going over an immense quantity of ground in a short time.

(Q) Mr Bakewell distinguishes all his horses, bulls, and rams, by the letters of the alphabet. time where the draught is not severe. The same qualities render them highly useful for the ordinary purposes of farm-work. They are rapidly spreading over all parts of the country, and have found their way into the north of England where they are greatly valued. In the same part of the country, a larger breed has also of late been encouraged, which adds very considerable strength or power to the activity of the former kind. They are in great request about Glasgow and other manufacturing towns. Their usual draught is a load of about 24 cwt. in addition to the cart on which the load is placed.

With regard to the general maintenance of horses, we have already mentioned several kinds of food upon which experiments have been made with a view to determine the most profitable mode of keeping them. Perhaps, however, the most certain method of attaining this matter is by observing the practice of those counties where horses are most in use. Mr Marshall recommends the Norfolk management of horses as the cheapest method of feeding them practised anywhere; which, however, he seems willing to ascribe in a great measure to the excellency of their breed. In the winter months, when little work is to be done, their only rack-meat is barley-straw; a reserve of clover-hay being usually made against the hurry of feed-time. A bushel of corn in the most busy season is computed to be an ample allowance for each horse, and in more leisure times a much less quantity suffices. Oats, and sometimes barley, when the latter is cheap and unfaulable, are given; but in this case the barley is generally malted, i.e., steeped and afterwards spread abroad for a few days, until it begins to vegetate, at which time it is given to the horses, when it is supposed to be less heating than in its natural state. Chaff is universally mixed with horse-corn; the great quantities of corn grown in this county afford in general a sufficiency of natural chaff; so that cut chaff is not much in use: the chaff, or rather the awns of barley, which in some places are thrown as useless to the dunghill, are here in good esteem as provender. Oat-chaff is deservedly considered as being of much inferior quality.—It may be here remarked, that this method of keeping horses which Mr Marshall approves of in the Norfolk farmers, is practised, and probably has been so from time immemorial, in many places of the north of Scotland; and is found abundantly sufficient to enable them to go through the labour required. In summer they are in Norfolk kept out all night, generally in clover leys, and in summer their keep is generally clover only, a few tares excepted.

In the fourth volume of the Annals of Agriculture, Mr Young gives an account of the expense of keeping horses; which, notwithstanding the vast numbers kept in the island, seems still to be very indeterminate, as the informations he received varied no less from 81 to 25l. a-year. From accounts kept on his own farm of the expense of horses kept for no other purpose than that of agriculture, he stated them as follows:

| Year | Horses | Cost per Horse | Total Cost | |------|--------|---------------|------------| | 1763 | Six | 10 13 0 | | | 1764 | Seven | 8 10 11 | | | 1765 | Eight | 14 6 6 | | | 1766 | Six | 12 18 9 | |

Average on the whole 11l. 12s. 3d.

Vol. I. Part II.

By accounts received from Northamptons in Herefordshire, the expenses stood as follow:

| Year | Expense per Horse | Total Expense | |------|------------------|--------------| | 1768 | | 20 7 0 | | 1769 | | 15 8 5 | | 1770 | | 14 14 2 | | 1771 | | 15 13 3 | | 1772 | | 18 4 0 | | 1773 | | 15 11 8 | | 1774 | | 14 4 5 | | 1775 | | 19 0 3 | | 1776 | | 16 14 5 |

Average 16l. 13s. 1d.

On these discordant accounts Mr Young observes, undoubtedly with justice, that many of the extra expenses depend on the extravagance of the servants; while some of the apparent savings depend either on their carelessness, or fleecing provender to their beasts privately, which will frequently be done. He concludes, however, as follows: "The more exactly the expense of horses is examined into, the more advantageous will the use of oxen be found. Every day's experience convinces me more and more of this. If horses kept for use alone, and not for show, have proved thus expensive to me, what must be the expense to those farmers who make their fat fleck teams an object of vanity? It is easier conceived than calculated.

It must be observed, however, that the above trials of roots or accounts are of an old date; and that during the late dearth a variety of experiments were made, which shew that horses may be successfully fed, even when engaged in hard labour, with other articles than grain. With this view, different roots have been given them as substitutes; and a great saving has been experienced, attended with no loss of labour or disadvantage to the animal: so that the continuance and extension of this system is a matter of much importance to the public. The articles that have been chiefly employed are turnips, roota baga, potatoes, carrots, &c.—Turnips have been given in a raw state, withholding about one half of the usual allowance of corn, and in most instances the animals have done their work well, and appeared in good condition. When the roota baga has been used, little or no grain has been necessary, and the other roots already mentioned have been successfully used even in a raw state; but when potatoes, yams, roota baga, &c. are boiled, which has sometimes been done, it does not appear that grain is at all necessary. It is to be observed, that young horses eat these roots readily and with great relish; and that during the winter, with them and a small portion of dry food, they are kept in as good condition and spirit as when fed upon grass during the summer. This is a matter of much importance to young animals, as it must contribute greatly to their growth and future strength. Whereas, in a great majority of cases, when reared without the aid of these roots, they are fed in winter, when substantial food is most necessary to support them against the severity of the weather, in such a manner as to be barely kept alive. During the winter months their growth is thus stopt; they lose the little flesh they had acquired during the preceding summer, become flinted and hide-bound, and, when the spring arrives, they are in a miserable state, that a considerable part even of the summer elapses before they can can resume their growth. In this way, four or five years are required to bring them to the size that others of the same species attain in half that time under different management.

**Sect. III. Of the Breeding and Rearing of Black Cattle.**

These are reared for two different purposes, viz., work, and fattening for slaughter. For the former purpose, Mr Marshall remarks, that it is obviously necessary to procure a breed without horns. This he thinks would be no disadvantage, as horn, though formerly an article of some request, is now of very little value. The horns are quite useless to cattle in their domestic state, though nature has bestowed them upon them as weapons of defence in their wild state; and our author is of opinion that it would be quite practicable to produce a hornless breed of black cattle as well as of sheep, which last has been done by attention and perseverance; and there are now many hornless breeds of these creatures in Britain. Nay, he infers, that there are already three or four breeds of hornless cattle in the island; or that there are many kinds of which numbers of individuals are hornless, and from these, by proper care and attention, a breed might be formed. The first step is to select females; and having observed their imperfections, to endeavour to correct them by a well chosen male.

The other properties of a perfect breed of black cattle for the purposes of the dairy as well as others, ought, according to Mr Marshall, to be as follow:

1. The head small and clean, to lessen the quantity of offal. 2. The neck thin and clean, to lighten the fore-end, as well as to lessen the collar, and make it fit close and easy to the animal in work. 3. The carcase large, the chest deep, and the bottom broad, with the ribs standing out full from the spine; to give strength of frame and constitution, and to admit of the intestines being lodged within the ribs. 4. The shoulders should be light of bone, and rounded off at the lower point, that the collar may be easy, but broad to give strength; and well covered with flesh for the greater ease of draught, as well as to furnish a desired point in fatting cattle. 5. The back ought to be wide and level throughout; the quarters long; the thighs thin, and standing narrow at the round bone; the udder large when full, but thin and loose when empty, to hold the greater quantity of milk; with large dug-veins to fill it, and long elastic teats for drawing it off with greater ease. 6. The legs (below the knee and hock) straight, and of a middle length; their bone, in general, light and clean from deformities, but with the joints and fineness of a moderate size, for the purposes of strength and activity. 7. The flesh ought to be mellow in the state of fatness, and firm in the state of fatness. 8. The hide mellow, and of a middle thickness, though in our author's opinion this is a point not yet well determined.

As the milk of cows is always an article of great importance, it becomes an object to the husbandman, if possible, to prevent the waste of that useful fluid, which in the common way of rearing calves is unavoidable. A method of bringing up these young animals at less expense was at one time proposed by the duke of Northumberland. His plan was to make skimmed milk answer the purpose of that which is newly drawn from the teat; and which, he supposed, might answer the purpose at one-third of the expense of new milk. The articles to be added to the skimmed milk are treacle and the common linseed oil-cake ground very fine, and almost to an impalpable powder, the quantities of each being so small, that to make 32 gallons would cost only 6d. besides the skimmed milk. It mixes very readily and almost intimately with the milk, making it more rich and mucilaginous, without giving it any disagreeable taste. The receipt for making it is as follows: Take one gallon of skimmed milk, and to about a pint of it add half an ounce of treacle, stirring it until it is well mixed; then take one ounce of linseed oil-cake finely pulverized, and with the hand let it fall gradually in very small quantities into the milk, stirring it in the meantime with a spoon or ladle until it be thoroughly incorporated; then let the mixture be put into the other part of the milk, and the whole be made nearly as warm as new milk when it is first taken from the cow, and in that state it is fit for use. The quantity of the oil-cake powder may be increased from time to time as occasion requires, and as the calf becomes insured to its flavour. On this subject Mr Young remarks, that in rearing calves, there are two experiments of great importance. 1. To bring them up without any milk at all; and, 2. To make skimmed milk answer the purpose of such as is newly milked or sucked from the cow. In consequence of premiums offered by the London Society, many attempts have been made to accomplish these desirable purposes; and Mr Budel of Wanborough in Surrey was rewarded for an account of his method. This was no other than to give the creatures a gruel made of ground barley and oats. Mr Young, however, who tried this method with two calves, assures us that both of them died, though he afterwards put them upon milk when they were found not to thrive. When in Ireland he had an opportunity of purchasing calves at three days old from 2s. to 3s. each; by which he was induced to repeat the experiment many times over. This he did in different ways, having collected various receipts. In consequence of these he tried hay-tea, bean-meal mixed with wheat-flour, barley and oats ground nearly, but not exactly, in Mr Budd's method; but the principal one was flax-feed boiled into a jelly, and mixed with warm water; this being recommended more than all the rest. The result of all these trials was, that out of 30 calves only three or four were reared; these few were brought up with barley and oat-meal, and a very small quantity of flax-feed jelly; one only excepted, which, at the desire of his coachman was brought up on a mixture of two-thirds of skimmed milk and one-third of water, with a small addition of flax-jelly well dissolved.

The second object, viz. that of improving skimmed milk, according to the plan of the duke of Northumberland, seems to be the more practicable of the two. Mr Young informs us, that it has answered well with him for two seasons; and two farmers to whom he communicated it gave likewise a favourable report.

In the third volume of the same work, we are informed that the Cornwall farmers use the following method in rearing their calves. "They are taken..." Breeding and Feeding of Black Cattle.

Method of rearing calves in Cornwall.

Mr Crook's method.

In the 5th volume of Bath Papers, we have an account by Mr Crook of a remarkably successful experiment on rearing calves without any milk at all. This gentleman, in 1787, weaned 17 calves; in 1788, 23; and in 1789, 15. In 1787, he bought three sacks of linseed, value 2l. 5s., which lasted the whole three years. One quart of it was put to fix quarts of water; which, by boiling 10 minutes, was reduced to a jelly; the calves were fed with this mixed with a small quantity of tea, made by steeping the best hay in boiling water. By the use of this food three times a-day, he says that his calves thrived better than those of his neighbours, which were reared with milk. These unnatural kinds of food, however, are in many cases apt to produce a loofenets, which in the end proves fatal to the calves. In Cornwall, they remedy this sometimes by giving acorns as an affriment; sometimes by a cordial used for the human species, of which opium is the basis.

In Norfolk, the calves are reared with milk and turnips; sometimes with oats and bran mixed among the latter. Winter calves are allowed more milk than summer ones; but they are universally allowed new milk, or even to suck. In the midland counties bull-calves are allowed to remain at the teat until they be six, nine, or twelve months old, letting them run either with their dams or with cows of less value bought on purpose. Each cow is generally allowed one male or two female calves. Thus they grow very fast, and become surprisingly vigorous. The method of the dairy-men is to let the calves suck for a week or a fortnight, according to their strength; next they have new milk in pails for a few meals; after that, new and skimmed milk mixed; then skimmed milk alone, or porridge made with milk, water, ground oats, &c. Sometimes with oil-cake, &c. until cheese-making commences; after which they have whey-porridge, or sweet whey in the field, being carefully houfed in the night until the warm weather come in.

A late intelligent Scottish clergyman, Mr John Bradfute of Dunfyre, once or twice successfully made trial of treacle, as a food by means of which to rear calves without the aid of any kind of milk. He used it diluted with common water, and sometimes with what is called bay-tea, that is to say, water in which hay had been boiled. The whole expense of the treacle necessary to bring a calf the length of using common food was at that time (15 years ago) about 4s. 6d. The animals came forward well, and enjoyed good health; but they grew much to the bone, and did not fatten for a considerable time.

For feeding cattle, two modes of practice have been proposed, and in some situations adopted; the one mode, which is the most ancient, and the most extensively practised in agricultural countries, consists of turning out the cattle during the whole season that any food for them can be found on the ground, and of taking them into the house during the severity of winter, and of feeding them with such articles as can be most conveniently procured in the climate and situation, such as straw or hay of different kinds, and roots.

The other mode which has been adopted to some or all extent by husbandmen in Germany, and at times also in our own great towns, by persons called cow-feeders, who supply the inhabitants with milk, is called the system of stall-feeding. It consists of keeping the cattle continually in the house at every season of the year, and of feeding them there. By many German writers upon rural economy this system is highly approved of, as affording the means of drawing the highest possible produce from every portion of the land, and as employing a great number of hands in the useful occupations of husbandry. In a communication to the Board of Agriculture from A. Thaer, M. D., physician of the electoral court of Hanover, the advantages in Germany of this system are said to be founded upon the following incontrovertible principles:

1. A spot of ground which, when pastured upon, will yield sufficient food for only one head, will abundantly maintain four head of cattle in the stable, if the vegetables be mowed at a proper time, and given to the cattle in a proper order.

2. The stall-feeding yields at least double the quantity of manure from the same number of cattle; for the best and most efficacious summer manure is produced in the stable, and carried to the fields at the most proper period of its fermentation, whereas, when spread on the meadow, and exhausted by the air and sun, its power is entirely wasted.

3. The cattle used to stall-feeding will yield a much greater quantity of milk, and increase faster in weight than fattening than when they go to the field.

4. They are less subject to accidents, do not suffer by the heat, by flies, and insects, are not affected by the baneful fogs which are frequent in Germany, and bring on inflammations; on the contrary, if everything be properly managed, they remain in a constant state of health and vigour."

It is added that a sufficient, or rather plentiful supply of food for one feed of cattle daily, if kept in a stable, consists upon an average of 130 pounds of green, or 30 pounds of dry clover, which answers the same purpose. Hence one head of cattle requires in 365 days, about 10,950 pounds of dry clover, or about 100 cwt. of 110 pounds each, the portion of food being according to this mode of feeding alike both in summer and winter. Each head of heavy fat cattle fed in the stable, if plenty of food be given, yields annually 16 full double cart loads of dung. The rotation of crops that is most frequently used in Germany upon farms occupied in stall-feeding, appears to be the following: "One year, manured for beans, peas, cabbages, potatoes, turnips, linseed, &c.; 2. Rye; 3. Barley, mixed with clover; 4. Clover, to be mowed two or three times; 5. Clover, to be mowed once, then to be broken up, ploughed three or four times, and manured; 6. Wheat; 7. Oats."—In consequence of the large quantity of stable dung produced. duced upon farms thus occupied, every acre of land receives every three years 10 double cart loads of that best of all kinds of manure.

It is undoubtedly to be wished that a similar mode of management could be profitably introduced into this country, from the tendency which it would have to augment the number of persons occupied in rural affairs, from the importance which it would give to farms of a moderate extent, and from the benefit which must arise from making the most of every part of the soil. It has already been introduced into several places in England, and we have little doubt that the practice will gradually extend itself, in consequence of the increasing demand for butchers meat, and for all the productions of the dairy.

Of stall-feeding, however, whether with a view to the maintenance or to the fattening of cattle, it must be observed, that there are two modes of proceeding. Of late years it has been found advantageous to cultivate to a great extent turnips, potatoes, and other roots, and these now constitute a large portion of the winter food of cattle. These roots are either given to the cattle in their natural raw state, or they are given after being boiled. Of these two modes of feeding, that of giving them to the cattle raw has hitherto been the most common, but it is extremely improper, as being a thriftless plan of proceeding. The same quantity of these roots, if given in a raw state, that will barely support a horse in idleness, will enable him, when boiled, to encounter the severest labour without injury to his health or spirit. There are many animals also, such as hogs, which cannot be fattened by roots unless they undergo this process. These animals can be reared to the full size upon raw potatoes, yams, carrots, roota baga, &c. and may be kept in good health for any length of time without the aid of any other food. Under that management, however, they very seldom if ever fatten, but when the roots are boiled, they immediately begin to feed, and soon become fat upon a smaller allowance than what was necessary to keep them barely alive when given in a raw state.

The same holds true in a great degree with regard to all cattle. With a view, therefore, to make the most of the various succulent roots which are now cultivated, and which will perhaps one day be accounted the most valuable productions of our soil, it is absolutely necessary that they should be given to cattle boiled. Many husbandmen have long been sensible of this, but it has appeared a very formidable operation to boil the greatest part of the food of perhaps 20 horses, and 100 head of black cattle. There is nothing more true, however, than that this labour when undertaken upon skilful principles, may be rendered not only easy, but so trifling, that it may be performed by a single old man, or by a woman. To accomplish this object, however, it is necessary, that the roots be boiled not over the fire in a chalderon of metal, but at a distance from it in a large wooden vat or tub by the steam of boiling water.

There are two ways of boiling roots by steam. They may either be boiled in such a way as to retain their original figure, or they may be converted into soup; both modes are performed with equal ease. All that is necessary, is to erect a boiler in any outhouse: The boiler, which may be of cast iron, ought to have a close cover or lid, having a small hole for filling it with water, which can be easily closed up, and another hole in the centre of about one-fourth of the diameter of the cover. To this last hole ought to be soldered a tube of tin-plate, commonly called white iron, by which the steam may ascend. This tube ought to rise perpendicularly to the height of six feet, narrowing gradually to about two inches diameter. It may then bend off at right angles, to the most convenient situation for the tub or vat in which the roots are to be boiled. When it comes perpendicularly over the centre of the vat, it must be made to descend to within two or three inches of the bottom of it, being properly supported and fixed all the way.

To boil roots with this apparatus, it is only necessary to tumble them into the tub or vat into which the end of the white iron tube descends. The tub ought then to be covered negligently. The water in the boiler being heated to ebullition, its steam or vapour rises and passes along the white iron tube, and at last descends to the bottom of the wooden vessel containing the roots, and in a very trifling space of time renders them completely soft. If it is wished to convert these roots into soup, it is only necessary to throw among them a quantity of water, and to mash them down with any large ladle or other instrument. The steam continuing to descend will speedily boil the water, and agitate and mingle the whole ingredients of which the soup may be composed. In this way by various mixtures of roots, with little or no trouble, rich broths, which human beings would not dislike, may be formed for feeding a multitude of cattle, and the soup may easily be drawn off from the bottom of the vat by means of a hole to be occasionally opened or shut with a round piece of wood.

In performing the above operation, however, of forming broth or soup, before allowing the water in the vessel over the fire to give over boiling, the hole ought to be opened by which it is usually filled with water, as the liquor in the vat might otherwise, in consequence of the prelude of the atmosphere, ascend through the white iron tube and come over into the boiler. To strengthen the white iron tube, it may be proper also to cover it all over with paper pasted to it with glue, or with a mixture of pea-meal and water.

To fatten cattle with succulents, then, we apprehend rules for that the following rules ought to be adhered to. As fattening a man is kept thin and meagre by whatever agitates his mind, or renders him anxious, fretful, and uncomfortable, so we ought to consider that cattle, though they want forethought of the future, have nevertheless minds capable of being irritated and disturbed, which must far worse their bodies. In attempting to fatten them, therefore, care ought to be taken to preserve the tranquillity of their minds, and as much as possible to keep them in a state of cleanliness and of moderate warmth. The food they receive ought to be varied at times to increase their appetite; but above all things it ought to be made as far as possible of easy digestion, that they may receive it in larger portions, and that a greater quantity of it may incorporate with their constitution, and not be thrown off by dung, as happens when they receive coarse nourishment. It is in vain to object to this artificial mode of proceeding, that the natural food of animals is grass alone, and that their natural Rearing natural dwelling is the open air. The same might be and Fattening Hogs. that is, in his unimproved state, a savage may be under the necessity of eating raw flesh or herbs, or of climbing into a tree for shelter; but although it may be possible for him to subsist in this way, yet we know that this is by no means the best mode of his existence, and that his life and health are better preserved by the shelter of a settled dwelling, and by more delicate food prepared by industry. In the same manner it is no doubt true, that cattle can exist upon very coarse food, and may be even fattened by means of it; but as a great quantity of it becomes necessary, the husbandman's profit in rearing them is so far diminished, and the value of his lands to the community is lessened.

Sect. IV. Of the Rearing and Fattening of Hogs.

The practice of keeping these animals is so general, especially in England, that one should think the profit attending it would be absolutely indisputable; and this the more especially, when it is considered how little nicety they have in their choice of food. From such experiments, however, as have been made, the matter appears to be at least very doubtful, unless in particular circumstances. In the first volume of Annals of Agriculture, we have an experiment by Mr Mure of feeding hogs with the clutter potato and carrots; by which it appeared, that the profit on large hogs was much greater than on small ones; the latter eating almost as much as the former, without yielding a proportionable increase of flesh. The gain was counted by weighing the large and small ones alive; and it was found, that from November 10th to January 5th, they had gained in the following proportion:

| Dr | Cr | |----|----| | Value of hogs at putting up, L.44 2 o | 42 hogs sold fat at L.95 0 o | | 33 coomb pease, at 14s. | 23 2 o | | 2 ditto, 2 bushels barley, at 14s. | 1 15 0 | | 56 days attendance of one man, at 14d. | 3 5 4 | | 950 bushels of carrots, and 598 of potatoes, at 3½d. per bushel | 22 15 8 |

L.95 0 o L.95 0 o

In some experiments by Mr Young, related in the same volume, he succeeded still worse, not being able to clear his expenses. His first experiment was attended with a loss of one guinea per hog; the second with a loss of 11s. 8d.; the third, of only 3s. In these three the hogs were fed with pease; given whole in the two first, but ground into meal in the last. The fourth experiment, in which the hog was fed with Jerusalem artichokes, was attended with no loss; but another, in which peas were again tried, was attended with a loss of 4s. Other experiments were tried with pease, which turning out likewise unfavourable, barley was tried ground along with pease and beans. This was attended with a small profit, counting nothing for the trouble of feeding the animals. The expenses on two hogs were 14l. 13s. 10½d., the value 15l. 11s. 3½d. so that there was a balance in his favour of 17s. 4½d. In another experiment in which the hogs were fed with pease and barley ground, the beans being omitted as useless, there was a profit of 12s. 3½d. upon an expense of 20l. 15s. 9d.; which our author supposes would pay the attendance. In this experiment the pease and barley meal were mixed into a liquor like cream, and allowed to remain in that state for three weeks, till it became sour. This was attended in two other instances with profit, and in a third with loss; however, Mr Young is of opinion, that the practice will still be found advantageous on account of the quantity of dung raised; and that the farmer can thus use his pease and barley at home without carrying them to market.

It is to be observed, that the above experiments were not made upon the fattening of hogs in the proper manner in which that animal ought to be fed. Its food ought undoubtedly to consist chiefly of roots, such as yams, potatoes, &c.; but these roots, as already mentioned, ought always to be boiled, or made into soups. With this mode of proceeding, the hog, from its rapid multiplication, and quick growth, is a very profitable kind of stock. It ought to be remembered, however, that of this, as well as of most other kinds of animals, a large breed is always to be preferred; for the difference is very trifling, or rather, in general, amounts to nothing at all, between the quantity of food necessary to support a small animal, and the quantity necessary to support a large animal of the same kind.

Hogties are of simple construction; they require only a warm dry place for the swine to lie in, with a small of a proper area before, and troughs to hold their food. They are generally made with shed-roofs, and seldom above 6 or 7 feet wide.

Although swine are generally considered as the filthiest of all animals, yet there is no animal delights more in a clean comfortable place to lie down in, and none that cleanliness has a better effect upon with respect to their thriving and feeding. In order to keep them dry, a sufficient slope must be given, not only to the inside where they lie, but to the outside area, with proper drains to carry off all moisture. The inside should also be a little elevated, and have a step up from the area at least 5 or 6 inches. Hogties should have several divisions to keep the different sorts of swine separate, nor should a great many ever be allowed to go together; for it is thought they feed better in small numbers, and of equal size, than when many are put together of different sizes. Proper divisions must therefore be made, some for swine when with the boar, others for brood swine, and for them to farrow in, for weaning the pigs, for feeding, &c.

Swine are apt to spill and waste a great deal of their meat by getting their feet among it, unless proper precautions, cautions are taken to prevent them. This may be done by making a rail or covering of thin dale slope from the back part of the trough towards the fore part, leaving just room enough to admit their heads. There should also be divisions across the troughs, according to the number of swine, to prevent the strongest driving away the weakest. These divisions need not extend to the bottom of the troughs, but should rise a little higher than the top, and may be made of pieces of board about 8 or 10 inches broad.

Sties ought to be constructed so that the swine may be easily fed without going in among them. In some places it is so contrived that they may be fed through openings in the back kitchen wall, without even going out of doors. This is very convenient where only a few swine are kept for family use, and makes it easy to give them the refuse of vegetables and other things from the kitchen, which, perhaps, would otherwise be thrown away. Where pigs are to be reared on an extensive scale, there ought to be what is called in England a pigs' kitchen, that is, a proper apparatus ought to be erected adjoining to the hogsty, for boiling their food. To avoid expense, steam ought always to be used for this purpose, in the way already described.

**Sect. V. Sheep.**

The rearing of sheep properly belongs to the article pasturage. So far, however, as they are fed upon the products of human industry, they belong to the present subject. In the Memoirs of the Royal Society of Agriculture in Paris for the year 1788, the result is given of certain experiments upon the advantage and economy of feeding sheep in the house with roots. The experiments were made by M. Crette de Palluel. He states that the custom of feeding sheep in a house is common in several of the French provinces, but in others is unknown: That the mode of fattening them in that situation consisted of giving them clean corn and choice hay: That in substituting roots for corn, hay was continued to be given to them, either of clover, lucern, after-math, or any other sort. The corn commonly used for fattening sheep is barley and oats. Sometimes gray peas, or the marshbed bean, and rye.

"Although the sheep fed upon roots (says M. Crette) did not acquire quite so great a degree of fatness as those fed upon corn; it is however true, that they all fattened, and that if their food had been varied, they would have made greater progress: I can even assert the fact of four, which were put upon change of food towards the end of the experiment, and ate much more.

"The sheep put to potatoes ate little at first, for some days, which prevented them from thriving so much as the others; but they recovered the second month what they lost the first. As for those put to turnips and beets, they fed heartily from the first moment, and continued it. They all drank much less than those fed upon corn.

"Corn might with advantage be added to the roots: When the sheep are intended to be sold, two feeds of corn given them for a fortnight, in the intervals of their meals of roots, would harden both their flesh and their tallow.

"It was not sufficient to prove the possibility of fattening sheep with different kinds of roots; it was farther necessary to ascertain the qualities which their flesh might acquire, by the use of them. Four sheep, fed upon the four regimens, were killed the same day; there was indeed some trifling difference in the texture of their flesh, but upon the whole the flavour of all was the same. Let us then conclude, that the culture of roots opens to us infinite resources, not only for fattening of sheep, but also of beasts; and we do not doubt of their being used to the greatest advantage in bringing up cattle in the countries where they are bred.

"The knowledge of these experiments must induce farmers to adopt this culture, since it is so advantageous. Roots cannot be exported; corn, on the contrary, is exported; and the grower may sell the roots instead of confining them. One acre of roots is equal to five acres of corn. By this means he multiplies his land, and may consequently multiply his cattle and his dung-hill: added to this, roots are not subject, like corn, to the inclemencies of the seasons; the produce is always more certain; these plants being of different natures, it is not likely that they should all fail; the earth is a more faithful depository of our treasures than the atmosphere; the dreadful hurricane of the 15th of this month (July) destroyed every thing but roots; they are the only product with escaped its ravages; if the hail tore their leaves, others will soon flourish; and carrots, beets, turnips, and potatoes, will be safe."

The result of the experiments alluded to is given in the following terms:

**Experiment** **Experiment upon Fatting Sheep, and their Increase from Month to Month.**

Sixteen sheep, of the same age, of four different breeds, were picked out of my flock, viz. four the breed of the country, four of Beauce, four of Champagne, and four of Picardy; I weighed them alive, and marked each with a number; I divided them into four lots, and fed them on four different sorts of food, as under.

| Food | No. | Breeds | Weights at different Periods.—1788. | Increase each Month. | Total incr. which each food has produced upon four Sheep. | |---------------|-----|-------------------------|------------------------------------|----------------------|----------------------------------------------------------| | | | | Jan. 20. | Feb. 20. | Mar. 20. | April 20. | May 20. | 1st M. | 2d M. | 3d M. | 4th M. | | | Potatoes | 1 | Isle de France, | 69½ lb. | 79½ lb. | 90½ lb. | 93 lb. | 95 lb. | 10 lb.| 13 lb.| 15 lb.| 17½ lb.| 70 lb. | | | 2 | Beauce, | 70½ lb. | 82½ lb. | 82½ lb. | 84 lb. | | 13½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | | 3 | Champagne, | 69½ lb. | 83 lb. | 101 | | | 13½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | | 4 | Picardy, | 88 lb. | | | | | 13½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | Turnips | 5 | Isle de France, | 69½ lb. | 86 lb. | 87 lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| 67½ lb. | | | 6 | Beauce, | 71½ lb. | 86 lb. | 82½ lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | | 7 | Champagne, | 68½ lb. | 78½ lb. | 84 lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | | 8 | Picardy, | 79½ lb. | 95½ lb. | 97½ lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | Beets | 9 | Isle de France, | 72½ lb. | 83½ lb. | 90½ lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| 71 lb. | | | 10 | Beauce, | 70½ lb. | 80½ lb. | 86 lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | | 11 | Champagne, | 77½ lb. | 90½ lb. | 98½ lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | | 12 | Picardy, | 80½ lb. | 93½ lb. | 100½ lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | Oats, barley, | 13 | Isle de France, | 74½ lb. | 91½ lb. | 95½ lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| 92½ lb. | | | 14 | Beauce, | 73½ lb. | 84½ lb. | 91½ lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | | 15 | Champagne, | 71½ lb. | 86½ lb. | 93 lb. | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| | | | 16 | Picardy, | 71½ lb. | 87½ lb. | | | | 17½ lb.| 15 lb.| 16½ lb.| 17½ lb.| |

**Observation.** The increase of these sheep, during the first month, being so much more considerable than in the following months, must be attributed to this cause, that lean cattle put up to fatten, eat greedily until they are cloyed, which only fills them, without much increasing their flesh; but, on the contrary, the increase produced in the ensuing months, although apparently less, turns all to profit in flesh and tallow.”

**Sect. VI. Rabbits.**

In particular situations these animals may be kept to advantage, as they multiply exceedingly, and require no trouble in bringing up. A considerable number of them are kept in Norfolk, where many parts, consisting of barren hills or heaths, are proper for their reception. They delight in the sides of sandy hills, which are generally unproductive when tilled; but level ground is improper for them. Mr Marshall is of opinion, that there are few sandy or other loofe-foiled hills which would not pay better in rabbit warrens than anything else. “The hide of a bullock (says he) is not worth more than $\frac{1}{10}$th of his carcase; the skin Rabbits of a sheep may, in full wool, be worth from a sixth to more than a tenth of its carcase; but the fur of a rabbit is liable to be worth twice the whole value of the carcase; therefore black cattle supposing a rabbit to consume a quantity of food in proportion to its carcase, it is, on the principle offered, a species of stock nearly three times as valuable as either cattle or sheep. Rabbit warrens ought to be inclosed with a stone or sod wall; and at their first stocking, it will be necessary to form burrows to them until they have time to make them to themselves. Boring the ground horizontally with a large auger is perhaps the best method that can be practised. Eagles, kites, and other birds of prey, as well as cats, weasels, Method of and pole-cats, are great enemies of rabbits. The Nor-destroying folk warreners catch the birds by traps placed on the birds of tops of stumps of trees or artificial hillocks of a conical form, on which they naturally alight.—Traps also seem to be the only method of getting rid of the other enemies; though thus the rabbits themselves are in danger of being caught.

Rabbits may be fed during the summer with clover and... and other green food, and during the winter with cabbages. Where they are kept in an inclosure as part of the flock of the farm, a practice which has not yet been used in this country, they ought to be fed with great regularity, and with as much as they are willing to take. When this is done they thrive upon a very moderate quantity of food; but if they are once allowed to suffer hunger in any great degree, they become extremely ravenous, and for a long time can scarcely be satisfied with food. In a communication to the Board of Agriculture from M. Bertrand of Mechlin, in the Netherlands, we are informed that the rabbits of the Angora breed yield in Normandy an uncommonly valuable wool, which serves as a primary material in several considerable manufactures. The Normans assert, that each rabbit yields wool of the value of a crown or five livres. M. Bertrand having discovered that these rabbits are extremely fond of the leaves of the robinia pseudo acacia, (the false acacia), made the following trial of its effects. He fed some females with these leaves only, while to others he gave cabbage leaves and the common food furnished to these animals. He observed that the young ones proceeding from the females fed on the leaves of the robinia, grew larger and in less time, and that their coats and wool were finer than on the others fed in the common way. He caused the skins of the indigenous rabbits fed with the robinia leaves to be examined by haters, and they valued them much more than the common ones, affirming that their wool approached in quality to that of hares. The robinia, he observes, thrives on barren heaths. Its branches and leaves are remarkably numerous. Its leaves may be converted into hay, which rabbits and other animals devour eagerly. One person is able to cut a sufficient quantity of branches for a great number of rabbits; and turnips, vetches, beans, and other vegetables, can be sown under the trees.

Sect. VII. Poultry.

Poultry, if rightly managed, might be a source of great profit to the farmer, but where many are kept, they ought not to be allowed to go at large, in which case little profit can be expected from them, for not only will many of their eggs be lost, and many of themselves perhaps destroyed by vermin, but at certain seasons they do a great deal of mischief both in the barn-yard and in the field. No doubt they pick up some grain at the barn doors that might otherwise be lost, but if the straw is properly threshed and shaken, there would be very little of this. In the common careless way of threshing a great deal of corn is undoubtedly thrown out among the straw; but when we consider the dung of the fowls and their feathers that get among it, and the injury these must do to the cattle, this is no object. It is much better to allow the poultry a certain quantity of food, and to let the cattle have the benefit of what corn may remain among the straw.

Poultry ought therefore always to be confined, but not in a close, dark, diminutive hovel, as is often the case; they should have a spacious airy place properly constructed for them. Some people are of opinion that each sort of poultry should be kept by itself, this, however, is not absolutely necessary; for all sorts may be kept promiscuously together, provided they have a place sufficiently large to accommodate them conveniently, and proper divisions and nests for each kind to retire to separately, which they will naturally do of themselves.

This method is practised with great success at Mr. Wakefield's, near Liverpool, who keeps a large flock of turkeys, geese, hens, and ducks, all in the same place; and although young turkeys are in general considered too difficult to bring up, he rears great numbers of them in this manner every season with little or no trouble whatever. He has about three quarters or near a whole acre inclosed with a fence only six feet high, formed of slabs set on end, or any mode of thinning of fir or other trees split and put close together. They are fastened by a nail near the top and poultry another near the bottom, and are pointed sharp, which I suppose prevents the poultry flying over, for they never attempt it although so low. Within this fence are places done up flightly (but well secured from wet) for each sort of poultry; also a pond or stream of water running through it. These poultry are fed almost entirely with potatoes boiled in steam, and thrive astonishingly well. The quantity of dung that is made in this poultry-place is also an object worth attention; and when it is cleared out, a thin paring of the surface is at the same time taken off, which makes a valuable compost.

It is generally understood that a full-grown hen continues in her prime for three years, and that during that period, if properly fed, she will lay at a medium rate of two hundred eggs every year. The number, however, of eggs may be greatly increased by making the place to which this kind of poultry retire at night very warm and comfortable by its being placed contiguous to a wall, on the other side of which a fire is kept, or by its being heated in any other manner. In the cottages of the poor in Scotland, where the poultry and the inhabitants sleep under the same roof, the hens continue with a moderate portion of food to produce eggs during the greatest part of the winter.

In Norfolk a great number of turkeys are bred, of a great number and quality superior to those in other parts. Mr. Marshall accounts for their number in the following manner: "It is understood in general, that to rear turkeys with success, it is necessary that a male bird should be kept upon the spot to impregnate the eggs singly; but the good housewives of this country know, that a daily intercourse is unnecessary; and that if the hen be sent to a neighbouring cock previous to the season of exclusion, one act of impregnation is sufficient for one brood. Thus relieved from the expense and disagreeableness of keeping a male bird, most little farmers, and many cottagers, rear turkeys. This accounts for their number; and the species and the food they are fattened with (which, I believe, is wholly buck) account for their superior size and quality."

The following account of the Lincolnshire management of geese is given by Mr. John Foote of Brandon, in the Annals of Agriculture. "It is generally allowed, that three geese to one gander is sufficient; more geese would be too many, so as to render the flake eggs abortive. The quantity of eggs to every goose management for fitting about twelve or thirteen. They must be fed with corn." Part III.

Manage corn in their water while fitting, near them, so as to keep near them, so that they can see them, as they will naturally watch as a guard over their own geese.

Their nests should be made for them of straw, and confined so as the eggs cannot roll out when the geese turn them, which they do every day.

When near hatching, the shell should be broke a little against the beak or bill of the gosling, to give air, or to enable it to receive strength to throw off the shell at a proper time. The method of plucking them about the beginning of April is this: Pluck gently and carefully the fine feathers off their breast and back; but be careful not to pull or interrupt their down nor pen feathers.

You also pull their quills, five out of a wing; but I think four would be better. The quills will bear pulling in 13 or 14 weeks again, twice in a year; the feathers three times a year, of the old geese and ganders, seven weeks from the first pulling; and then again seven weeks after, which is the last pulling of the year.

The young geese may be pulled once at 13 or 14 weeks old, but not quilled, being hatched in March.

If the geese are late in hatching, I expect the brood geese should not be plucked so soon as April, but the month after.

If they are fed with barley and oats, as they ought to be, they will thrive and do the better, and their feathers will grow the faster, and be better in quality; they must have plenty of grass and water.

Although persons not acquainted with the management of geese, as above described, may think it inhuman; yet I am credibly informed, they will do better than where they do not pluck them, if they are properly done, as they lose their feathers by moulting, and would not be so healthy.

It is proved, that by annually plucking geese, as in Lincolnshire, there is saved, by the increase of feathers, many hundred pounds value, which other countries waste, though a mistaken opinion, as not an object worth their attention. Goose feathers are now sold at 18s. a stone, that used about 25 years ago to be bought at 10s. or 11s. in that county.

A goose will produce by this method about 1s. 6d. annually of good feathers and quills."

Sect. VIII. Of the Management of the Dairy.

In all but the richest corn countries, this is a most important branch of the business of a husbandman. It includes not only the proper method of preserving milk in a wholesome and uncorrupted state, but also the manufacturing from it the two valuable articles of butter and cheese. We shall first consider the subject of the dairy in a general manner; after which, we shall take notice of the mode of preparing butter and cheese.

Dr James Anderson remarks, that when a dairy is established, the undertaker may sometimes think his interest to obtain the greatest possible quantity of produce; sometimes it may be more beneficial for him to have it of the finest quality; and at other times it may be necessary to have both these objects in view, the one or the other in a greater or less proportion: it is therefore of importance that he should know how he may accomplish the one or the other of these purposes in the easiest and most direct manner.

To be able to convert his milk to the highest possible profit in every case, he ought to be fully acquainted with every circumstance respecting the manufacture both of butter and of cheese; as it may in some cases happen, that a certain portion of that milk may be more advantageously converted into butter than into cheese, while another portion of it would return more profit if made into cheese.

The first thing to be adverted to, in an undertaking of this nature, is to choose cows of a proper sort. Among this class of animals, it is found by experience, that some kinds give milk of a much thicker consistence, and richer quality, than others; nor is this richness of quality necessarily connected with the smallness of the quantity yielded by cows of nearly an equal size; it therefore behoves the owner of a dairy to be peculiarly attentive to this circumstance. In judging of the value of a cow, it ought rather to be the quantity and the quality of the cream produced from the milk of the cow, in a given time, than the quantity of the milk itself: this is a circumstance that will be thrown hereafter to be of more importance than is generally imagined. The small cows of the Alderney breed afford the richest milk hitherto known; but individual cows in every country may be found, by a careful selection, that afford much thicker milk than others; these therefore ought to be searched for with care, and their breed reared with attention, as being peculiarly valuable.

Few persons, who have had any experience at all in the dairy, can be ignorant, however, that in comparing the milk of two cows, to judge of their respective qualities, particular attention must be paid to the time that has elapsed since their calving; for the milk of the same cow is always thinner soon after calving than it is afterwards; as it gradually becomes thicker, though generally less in quantity, in proportion to the time since the cow has calved. The colour of the milk, soon after calving, is richer than it is afterwards; but this, especially for the first two weeks, is a faulty colour, that ought not to be coveted.

To make the cows give abundance of milk, and of a good quality, they must at all times have plenty of food. Grass is the best food yet known for this purpose, and that kind of grass which springs up spontaneously on rich dry soils is the best of all. If the temperature of the climate be such as to permit the cows to graze at ease throughout the day, they should be suffered to range on such pastures at freedom; but if the cows are too much inclosed by the heat as to be prevented from eating through the day, they ought in that case to be taken into cool shades for protection; where, after allowing them a proper time to ruminate, they should be supplied with abundance of green food, fresh-cut for the purpose, and given to them by hand frequently, in small quantities, fresh and fresh, so as to induce them to eat it with pleasure. When the heat of the day is over, and they can remain abroad with ease, they may be again turned into the pasture, where they should be allowed to range with freedom all night, during the mild weather of summer.

Cows, if abundantly fed, should be milked three times a day during the whole of the summer season; in the morning early, at noon, and in the evening, just before night-fall. In the choice of persons for milking the cows, great caution should be employed; for if that operation be not carefully and properly performed, not only the quantity of the produce of the dairy will be greatly diminished, but its quality also will be very much debauched; for if all the milk be not thoroughly drawn from a cow when she is milked, that portion of milk which is left in the udder seems to be gradually absorbed into the system, and nature generates no more than to supply the waste of what has been taken away. If this lessened quantity be not again thoroughly drawn off, it occasions a yet farther diminution of the quantity of milk generated; and thus it may be made to proceed, in perpetual progression from little to less, till none at all is produced. In short, this is the practice in all cases followed, when it is meant to allow a cow's milk to dry up entirely, without doing her hurt. In this manner, therefore, the profits of a dairy might be wonderfully diminished; so that it much behoves the owner of it to be extremely attentive to this circumstance, if he wishes to avoid ruin. It ought to be a rule without an exception, never to allow this important department to be entrusted, without control, to the management of hired servants. Its importance will be still more manifest from the following aphorisms.

Aphorism 1. "Of the milk that is drawn from any cow at one time, that which comes off at the first is always thinner, and of a much worse quality, than that which comes afterwards; and the richness goes on continually increasing to the very last drop that can be drawn from the udder at that time."

Few persons are ignorant that the milk which is last of all taken from the cow at milking (in this country called froakings) is richer than the rest of the milk; but fewer still are aware of the greatness of the difference between the quality of the first and the last drawn milk, from the same cow, at one milking. The following facts (says our author) respecting this circumstance were ascertained by me many years ago, and have been confirmed by many subsequent experiments and observations.

Having taken several large tea-cups, exactly of the same size and shape, one of these tea-cups was filled at the beginning of the milking, and the others at regular intervals, till the last, which was filled with the dregs of the froakings. These cups were then weighed, the weight of each having been settled, so as to ascertain that the quantity of milk in each was precisely the same; and from a great number of experiments, frequently repeated with many different cows, the result was in all cases as follows:

Firstly, The quantity of cream obtained from the first-drawn cup was, in every case, much smaller than from that which was last drawn; and those between afforded less or more as they were nearer the beginning or the end. It is unnecessary here to specify the intermediate proportions; but it is proper the reader should be informed, that the quantity of cream obtained from the last-drawn cup, from some cows, exceeded that from the first in the proportion of fifteen to one. In other cows, however, and in particular circumstances, the difference was not quite so great; but in no case did it fall short of the rate of eight to one. Probably, upon an average of a great many cows, it might be found to run as ten or twelve to one.

Secondly, The difference in the quality of the cream, however, obtained from these two cups, was much greater than the difference in the quantity. In the first cup, the cream was a thin tough film, thinner, and perhaps whiter, than writing paper; in the last, the cream was of a thick butterous consistence, and of a glowing richness of colour that no other kind of cream is ever found to possess.

Thirdly, The difference in the quality of the milk that remained, after the cream was separated, was perhaps still greater than either in respect to the quantity or the quality of the cream. The milk in the first cup was a thin bluish liquid, as if a very large proportion of water had been mixed with ordinary milk; that in the last cup was of a thick consistence, and yellow colour, more resembling cream than milk both in taste and appearance.

From this important experiment, it appears that the person who, by bad milking of his cows, loses but half a pint of his milk, loses in fact about as much cream as would be afforded by six or eight pints at the beginning, and loses, besides, that part of the cream which alone can give richness and high flavour to his butter.

Aphorism 2. "If milk be put into a dish, and allowed to stand till it throws up cream, that portion of cream which rises first to the surface is richer in quality, and greater in quantity, than what rises in a second equal space of time; and the cream that rises in the second interval of time is greater in quantity, and richer in quality, than that which rises in a third equal space of time; that of the third than the fourth, and so on: the cream that rises decreasing in quantity, and declining in quality, continually, as long as any rises to the surface."

Our ingenious author confesses, that his experiments not having been made with so much accuracy in this case as in the former, he was not enabled to ascertain the difference in the proportion that takes place in equal portions of time; but they have been so often repeated as not to leave any room to doubt the fact, and it will be allowed to be a fact of no small importance in the management of the dairy. It is not certain, however, but that a greater quantity of cream may, upon the whole, be obtained from the milk by taking it away at different times: but the process is so troublesome as not to be counterbalanced by the increased quantity obtained, if indeed an increased quantity be thus obtained, which is not as yet quite certain.

Aphorism 3. "Thick milk always throws up a smaller proportion of the cream it actually contains, to the surface, than milk that is thinner; but that cream is of a richer quality. If water be added to that thick milk, it will afford a considerably greater quantity of cream than it would have done if allowed to remain pure, but its quality is, at the same time, greatly debauched."

This is a fact that every person attentive to a dairy must have remarked; but I have never (says our author) heard of any experiment that could ascertain, either the precise amount of the increased quantity of cream that might thus be obtained, or of the ratio in the decrease of its quality. The effects of mixing water with the milk in a dairy are at least ascertained; and the knowledge of the fact will enable attentive persons to follow that practice which they think will best promote their own interest.

Aphorism 4. "Milk which is put into a bucket or other..." other proper vessel, and carried in it to any considerable ment of the distance, so as to be much agitated, and in part cooled, before it be put into the milk-pans to settle for cream, never throws up so much, nor so rich cream, as if the same milk had been put into the milk-pans directly after it was milked."

In this case, it is believed the loss of cream will be nearly in proportion to the time that has elapsed, and the agitation the milk has sustained, after being drawn from the cow. But Dr Anderdon says that he is not yet in possession of any experiments which sufficiently ascertain how much is to be ascribed to the time, and the agitation, taken separately. On every branch of agricul- ture we find experiments wanting; at each step we advance in our inquiries; and it is the duty of every in- quirer to point out, as he goes along, where they are wanted, since the labours of no one man can possibly complete the whole.

From the above facts, the following corollaries seem to be clearly deducible:

Firstly, It is of importance that the cows should be always milked as near the dairy as possible, to prevent the necessity of carrying and cooling the milk before it is put into the dishes; and as cows are much hurt by far driving, it must be a great advantage in a dairy- farm to have the principal grass fields as near the dairy or homestead as possible.

Secondly, The practice of putting the milk of all the cows of a large dairy into one vessel, as it is milked, there to remain till the whole milking is finished, before any part of it is put into the milk-pans—seems to be highly injudicious; not only on account of the loss that is sustained by agitation and cooling, but also, more especially, because it prevents the owner of the dairy from distinguishing the good from the bad cow's milk so as to separate these from each other, where it is ne- cessary. He may thus have the whole of his dairy pro- duct greatly debased by the milk of one bad cow, for years together, without being able to discover it. A better practice, therefore, would be, to have the milk drawn from each cow put separately into the creaming- pans as soon as it is milked, without being ever mixed with any other. Thus would the careful manager of the dairy be able on all occasions to observe the parti- cular quality of each individual cow's milk, as well as its quantity, and to know with precision which of his cows it was his interest to dispose of, and which of them he ought to keep and breed from.

Thirdly, If it be intended to make butter of a very fine quality, it will be advisable in all cases to keep the milk that is first drawn separate from that which comes last; as it is obvious, that if this be not done, the qua- lity of the butter will be greatly debased, without much augmenting its quantity. It is also obvious, that if this is done, the quality of the butter will be improved in proportion to the smallness of the quantity of the last- drawn milk that is retained; so that those who wish to be singularly nice in this respect, will do well to retain only a very small portion of the last drawn milk.

To those owners of dairies who have profit only in view, it must ever be a matter of trial and calculation, how far it is expedient for them to carry the improving of the quality of their butter at the expense of di- minishing its quantity. In different situations prudence will point out different kinds of practice as most eli- gible; and all persons must be left, after making accu- rate trials, to determine for themselves. It is likewise of the confederation of no small importance, to determine in what way the inferior milk, that is thus to be set apart where fine butter is wanted, can be employed with the greatest profit. In the Highlands of Scotland they have adopted, without thinking of the improvement of their butter, a very simple and economical practice in this respect. As the rearing of calves is there a prin- cipal object with the farmer, every cow is allowed to fuckle her own calf with a part of her milk, the remain- der only being employed in the dairy. To give the calf its portion regularly, it is separated from the cow, and kept in an inclosure, with all the other calves be- longing to the same farm. At regular times, the cows are driven to the door of the inclosure, where the young calves fail not to meet them. Each calf is then sepa- rately let out, and runs directly to its mother, where it fucks till the dairy-maid judges it has had enough; she then orders it to be driven away, having previously shackled the hinder legs of the mother, by a very sim- ple contrivance, to oblige her to stand still. Boys drive away the calf with switches, and return it to the inclo- sure, while the dairy-maid milks off what was left by the calf: thus they proceed till the whole of the cows are milked. They obtain only a small quantity of milk, it is true, but that milk is of an exceeding rich quality; which, in the hands of such of the inhabitants as know how to manage it, is manufactured into the richest marrowy butter that can be anywhere met with. This richness of the Highland butter is universally attributed to the old grass the cows feed upon in their remote glens; but it is in fact chiefly to be attributed to the practice here described, which has long prevailed in those regions. Whether a similar practice could be economically adopted elsewhere, our author takes not upon him to say; but doubtless other secondary uses might be found for the milk of inferior quality. On some occasions, it might be converted into butter of an inferior quality; on other occasions, it might be sold sweet, where the situation of the farm was within reach of a market-town; and on others, it might be conver- ted into cheese, which, by being made of sweet milk, would be of a very fine quality if carefully made. Still other uses might be devised for its application; of which the following is worthy of notice. Take common skimmed milk, when it has begun to turn sour, put it into an upright stand-churn, or a barrel with one of its ends out, or any other convenient vessel. Heat some water, and pour it into a tub that is large enough to contain with ease the vessel in which the milk was put. Set the vessel containing the milk into the hot- water, and let it remain there for the space of one night. In the morning it will be found that the milk has separated into two parts; a thick cream-like sub- stance, which occupies the upper part of the vessel, and a thin watery part, that remains at the bottom. Draw off the thin part (called in Scotland wig) by opening a stop-cock, placed for that purpose close above the bottom, and reserve the cream for use. Not much less than half of the milk is thus converted into a sort of cream, which, when well made, seems to be as rich and fat as real cream itself, and is only distinguishable from it by its appearance. It is eaten with sugar, and esteemed a great delicacy, and usually sells at double the price of fresh unskimmed milk. It requires practice, however, to be able to make this nicely; the degree of the heat of the water, and many other circumstances, greatly affecting the operation.

Fourthly, If the quality of the butter be the chief object attended to, it will be necessary, not only to separate the first from the last drawn milk, but also to take nothing but the cream that is first separated from the best milk, as it is this first rising cream alone that is of the prime quality. The remainder of the milk, which will be still sweet, may be either employed for the purpose of making sweet-milk cheese, or may be allowed to stand, to throw up cream for making butter of an inferior quality, as circumstances may direct.

Fifthly, From the above facts, we are enabled to perceive, that butter of the very best possible quality can only be obtained from a dairy of considerable extent, judiciously managed; for when only a small portion of each cow's milk can be set apart for throwing up cream, and when only a small proportion of that cream can be reserved, of the prime quality, it follows (the quantity of milk being upon the whole very inconsiderable), that the quantity of prime cream produced would be so small as to be scarcely worth manufacturing separately.

Sixthly, From these premises we are also led to draw another conclusion, extremely different from the opinion that is commonly entertained on this subject, viz. That it seems probable, that the very best butter could be made with economy in those dairies only where the manufacture of cheese is the principal object. The reasons are obvious: If only a small portion of milk should be set apart for butter, all the rest may be made into cheese, while it is yet warm from the cow, and perfectly sweet; and if only that portion of cream which rises during the first three or four hours after milking is to be reserved for butter, the rich milk which is left after that cream is separated, being still perfectly sweet, may be converted into cheese with as great advantage nearly as the newly-milked milk itself.

But as it is not probable that many persons could be found who would be willing to purchase the very finest butter, made in the manner above pointed out, at a price that would be sufficient to indemnify the farmer for his trouble in making it, these hints are thrown out merely to show the curious in what way butter possessing this superior degree of excellence may be obtained, if they choose to be at the expense; but for an ordinary market, Dr Anderson is satisfied, from experience and attentive observation, that if in general about the first drawn half of the milk be separated at each milking, and the remainder only set up for producing cream, and if that milk be allowed to stand to throw up the whole of its cream (even till it begins sensibly to taste sourish), and that cream be afterwards carefully managed, the butter thus obtained will be of a quality greatly superior to what can usually be procured at market, and its quality not considerably less than if the whole of the milk had been treated alike. This, therefore, is the practice that he thinks most likely to suit the frugal farmer, as his butter, though of a superior quality, could be afforded at a price that would always ensure it a rapid sale.

Our author now proceeds to enumerate the properties of a dairy. The milk-house ought to be cool in summer and warm in winter; so that an equal temperature may be preserved throughout the year. It ought also to be dry, so as to admit of being kept sweet and clean at all times. A separate building should be erected for the purpose, near a cool spring or running water, where the cows may have easy access to it, and where it is not liable to be immersed by stagnant water. The apartment where the milk stands should be well thatched, have thick walls, and a ventilator in the top for admitting a free circulation of air. There should also be an apartment with a fire-place and caldron, for the purpose of scalding and cleaning the vessels. The Doctor is of opinion, that the temperature of from 50 to 55 degrees is the most proper for separating the cream from the milk, and by proper means this might easily be kept up, or nearly so, both summer and winter.

The utensils of the dairy should be all made of wooden wood, in preference either to lead, copper, or even utensil preferable iron. These metals are all very easily soluble in every other acids; the solutions of the two first highly poisonous kind, and though the latter is innocent, the taste of it might render the products highly disagreeable.

Butter, though used at present as food in most countries of Europe, was not known, or known very imperfectly, to the ancients. This, we think, is completely proved by Professor Beckmann in the second volume of his History of Inventions. In our translation of the Hebrew Scripture, there is indeed frequent mention made of butter at very early periods; but, as the Professor well observes, the greatest masters of biblical criticism unanimously agree, that the word translated signifies milk or cream, or sour milk, and cannot possibly mean what we call butter. The word plainly alludes to something liquid, which was used for washing the feet, which was drunk, and which had sometimes the power of intoxicating; and we know that mare's milk may be so prepared as to produce the same effect. See Koumiss.

The oldest mention of butter, the Professor thinks, is in the account of the Scythians given by Herodotus (lib. iv. 2.), who says, that "these people pour the milk of their mares into wooden vessels, cause it to be violently stirred or shaken by their blind flaves, and separate the part which arises to the surface, as they consider it as more valuable and delicious than what is collected below it." That this substance must have been a soft kind of butter, is well known; and Hippocrates gives a similar account of Scythian butter, and calls it τιμόνιον, which Galen translates by the word σαλιγκάριον. The poet Anaxandrides, who lived soon after Hippocrates, describing the marriage-feast of Iphicrates, who married the daughter of Cotys king of Thrace, says, that the Thracians ate butter, which the Greeks at that time considered as a wonderful kind of food.

Dioctriades says, that good butter was prepared from the fattest milk, such as that of sheep or goats, by shaking it in a vessel till the fat was separated. To this butter he attributes the same effects, when used externally, as those produced by our butter at present. He adds also, and he is the first writer who makes the observation, that fresh butter might be melted and poured over pulse and vegetables instead of oil, and that it might be employed in pastry in the room of other fat substances. A kind of foot likewise was at that time prepared from butter for external applications, which was used in curing inflammation of the eyes and other disorders. For this purpose the butter was put into a lamp, and when consumed, the lamp was again filled till the desired quantity of foot was collected in a vessel placed over it.

Galen, who distinguishes and confirms in a more accurate manner the healing virtues of butter, expressly remarks, that cows milk produces the fattest butter; that butter made from sheep's or goats milk is less rich; and that asses milk yields the poorest. He expresses his astonishment, therefore, that Diocorides should say that butter was made only from the milk of sheep and goats. He affirms us that he had seen it made from cows milk, and that he believes it had thence acquired its name. "Butter (says he) may be very properly employed for ointments; and when leather is besmeared with it, the same purpose is answered as when it is rubbed over with oil. In cold countries, which do not produce oil, butter is used in the baths; and that it is a real fat, may be readily perceived by its catching fire when poured over burning coals."

What has been here said is sufficient to shew that butter must have been very little known to or used by the Greeks and the Romans in the time of Galen, that is, at the end of the second century.

The professor having collected, in chronological order, every thing which he could find in the works of the ancients reflecting butter, concludes, that it is not a Grecian, and much less a Roman invention, but that the Greeks were made acquainted with it by the Scythians, the Thracians, and the Phrygians, and the Romans by the people of Germany. He is likewise decidedly of opinion, that when these two polished nations had learned the art of making it, they used it not as food, but only as an ointment, or sometimes as a medicine. "We never find it (says he) mentioned by Galen and others as a food, though they have spoken of it as applicable to other purposes. No notice is taken of it by Apicius; nor is there any thing said of it in that respect by the authors who treat on agriculture, though they have given us very particular information concerning milk, cheese, and oil."

The ancient Christians of Egypt burnt butter in their lamps instead of oil; and in the Roman churches, it was anciently allowed, during Christmas time, to burn butter instead of oil, on account of the great consumption of it otherwise.

Butter is the fat, oily, and inflammable part of the milk. This kind of oil is naturally distributed through all the substance of the milk in very small particles, which are interposed between the caseous and ferrous parts, amongst which it is suspended by a slight adhesion, but without being dissolved. It is in the same state in which oil is in emulsions; hence the same whiteness of milk and emulsions; and hence, by ref, the oily parts separate from both these liquors to the surface, and form a cream. See Emulsion.

When butter is in the state of cream, its proper oily parts are not yet sufficiently united together to form a homogeneous mass. They are still half separated by the interpolation of a pretty large quantity of ferrous and caseous particles. The butter is completely formed by pressing out these heterogeneous parts by means of continued percussion. It then becomes an uniform soft mass.

Fresh butter, which has undergone no change, has scarcely any smell; its taste is mild and agreeable, it melts with a weak heat, and none of its principles are disengaged by the heat of boiling water. These properties prove, that the oily part of butter is of the nature of the fat, fixed, and mild oils obtained from many vegetable substances by expression. See Oils.—The half fluid consistence of butter, as of most other concrete oily matters, is thought to be owing to a considerable quantity of acid united with the oily part; which acid is so well combined, that it is not perceptible while the butter is fresh, and has undergone no change; but when it grows old, and undergoes some kind of fermentation, then the acid is disengaged more and more; and this is the cause that butter, like oils of the same kind, becomes rancid by age.

Butter is constantly used in food, from its agreeable taste; but to be wholesome, it must be very fresh and free from rancidity, and also not fried or burnt; otherwise its acid and even caustic acid, being disengaged, disorders digestion, renders it difficult and painful, excites acid empyreumatic belchings, and introduces much acrimony into the blood. Some persons have stomachs so delicate, that they are even affected with these inconveniences by fresh butter and milk. This observation is also applicable to oil, fat, chocolate, and in general to all oleaginous matters.

Dr James Anderson, whom we have already quoted, gives the following minute directions for making and preserving butter. The creaming ditches, when properly cleaned, sweet, and cool, ought to be filled with milk as soon as it is drawn from the cow, having been first carefully strained through a cloth, or close strainer made of hair or wire: the doctor prefers silver wire to every other. The creaming ditches ought never to exceed three inches in depth; but they may be broad as to contain a gallon and a half; when filled they ought to be put on the shelves of the milk-house, and remain there until the cream be fully separated. If the finest butter be intended, the milk ought not to stand above six or eight hours, but for ordinary butter it may stand 12 hours or more; yet if the dairy be very large, a sufficient quantity of cream will be separated in two, three, or four hours, for making the best butter. It is then to be taken off as nicely as possible by a skimming dish, without lifting any of the milk; and immediately after put into a vessel by itself, until a proper quantity for churning be collected. A firm, neat, wooden barrel seems well adapted for this purpose, open at one end, and having a lid fitted to close it. A cock or spigot ought to be fixed near the bottom, to draw off any thin or ferrous part which may drain from the cream; the inside of the opening should be covered with a bit of fine silver wire gauze, in order to keep back the cream while the serum is allowed to pass; and the barrel should be inclined a little on its stand, to allow the whole to run off.

The doctor contradicts the opinion that very fine cream butter cannot be obtained, except from cream that is ought not to above a day old. On the contrary, he insists that it is only in very few cases that even tolerably good butter can be obtained from cream that is not above one day old. The separation of butter from cream-butter. only takes place after the cream has attained a certain degree of acidity. If it be agitated before that acidity has begun to take place, no butter can be obtained, and the agitation must be continued till the time that the curds are produced; after which the butter begins to form. "In summer, while the climate is warm, the heating may be, without very much difficulty, continued until the acidity be produced, so that butter may be got: but in this case the process is long and tedious; and the butter is for the most part of a soft consistence, and tough and gluey to the touch. If this process be attempted during the cold weather in winter, butter can scarcely be in any way obtained, unless by the application of some great degree of heat, which sometimes assists in producing a very inferior kind of butter, white, hard, and brittle, and almost unfit for any culinary purpose whatever. The judicious farmer, therefore, will not attempt to imitate this practice, but will allow his cream to remain in the vessel appropriated for keeping it, until it has acquired the proper degree of acidity. There is no rule for determining how long it is to be kept; but our author is of opinion, that a very great latitude is allowable in this case; and that if no ferrous matter be allowed to lodge among the cream, it may be kept good for making butter a great many weeks.

The churn in which butter is made likewise admits of considerable diversity; but our author prefers the old-fashioned upright churn to all others, on account of its being more easily cleaned. The labour, when the cream is properly prepared, he thinks, very trifling. Much greater nicety, he says, is required in the process of churning than most people are aware of; as a few hasty and irregular strokes will render butter bad, which otherwise would have been of the finest quality. After the process is over, the whole ought to be separated from the milk, and put into a clean dish, the inside of which, if made of wood, ought to be well rubbed with common salt, to prevent the butter from adhering to it. The butter should be pressed and worked with a flat wooden ladle or skimming dish, having a short handle, so as to force out all the milk that was lodged in the cavities of the mass. This operation requires a considerable degree of strength as well as dexterity; but our author condemns the beating up of the butter with the hand as "an indelicate and barbarous practice." In like manner he condemns the employment of cold water in this operation, to wash the butter as it is called. Thus, he says, the quality of it is debased in an astonishing degree. If it is too soft, it may be put into small vessels, and these allowed to swim in a tub of cold water; but the water ought never to touch the butter. The beating should be continued till the milk be thoroughly separated, but not till the butter become tough and gluey; and after this is completely done, it is next to be salted. The vessel into which it is to be put must be well seasoned with boiling water several times poured into it: the inside is to be rubbed over with common salt, and a little melted butter poured into the cavity between the bottom and sides, so as to make it even with the bottom; and it is then fit for receiving the butter. Instead of common salt alone, the doctor recommends the following composition. "Take of sugar one part, of nitre one part, and of the best Spanish great salt two parts. Beat the whole into a fine powder, mix them well together, and put them by for use. One ounce of this is to be mixed with a pound of butter as soon as it is freed from the milk, and then immediately put into the vessel designed to hold it; after which it must be pressed so close as to leave no air-holes; the surface is to be smoothed and covered with a piece of linen, and over that a piece of wet parchment; or, in defect of this last, fine linen that has been dipped in melted butter, exactly fitted to the edges of the vessel all round, in order to exclude the air as much as possible. When quite full, the cask is to be covered in like manner, and a little melted butter put round the edges, in order to fill up effectually every cranny, and totally to exclude the air. "If all this (says the doctor) be carefully done, the butter may be kept perfectly sound in this climate for many years. How many years I cannot tell; but I have seen it two years old, and in every respect as sweet and sound as when only a month old. It deserves to be remarked, that butter cured in this manner does not taste well till it has stood at least a fortnight after being salted; but after that period is elapsed, it eats with a rich marrowy taste that no other butter ever acquires; and it tastes to little fault, that a person who had been accustomed to eat butter cured with common salt only, would not imagine it had got one-fourth part of the salt necessary to preserve it."

Our author is of opinion, that strong brine may be useful to pour upon the surface during the time it is using, in order the more effectually to preserve it from the air, and to avoid rancidity.

As butter contains a quantity of mucilaginous matter much more putrefiable than the pure oily part, our author recommends the purifying it from this mucilage by melting in a conical vessel, in which the mucilage will fall to the bottom; the pure oily part swimming at top. This will be useful when butter is to be sent a long voyage to warm climates, as the pure part will keep much better than when mixed with the other. He proposes another method of preserving butter, viz. by mixing it with honey, which is very antiseptic, and mixes intimately with the butter. Thus mixed, it eats very pleasantly, and may perhaps be successfully used with a medicinal intention.

In England no butter is esteemed equal to that which Epping butter is made in the county of Essex, well known by the name of Epping butter, and which in every season of the year yields at London a much higher price than any other. The following directions concerning the making and management of butter, including the Epping method, are extracted from the 3d volume of the Bath Society Papers.

In general it is to be observed, that the greater the quantity made from a few cows, the greater will be the farmer's profit; therefore he should never keep any but what are esteemed good milkers. A bad cow will be equally expensive in her keep, and will not perhaps (by the butter and cheese that is made from her) bring in more than from three to five pounds a-year; whereas a good one will bring from seven to ten pounds per annum: therefore it is obvious that bad cows should be parted with, and good ones purchased in their room. When such are obtained, a good servant should be employed to milk them; as through the neglect and mismanagement of servants, it frequently happens that the best cows are spoiled. No farmer should trust entirely to servants, but sometimes see themselves that their cows are milked clean; for if any milk is suffered to remain in the udder, the cow will daily give less, till at length she will become dry before the proper time, and the next season she will scarce give milk sufficient to pay for her keep.

It sometimes happens that some of a cow's teats may be scratched or wounded so as to produce foul or corrupted milk; when this is the case, we should by no means mix it with the sweet milk, but give it to the pigs; and that which is conveyed to the dairy-house should remain in the pail till it is nearly cool, before it be strained, that is, if the weather be warm; but in frosty weather it should be immediately strained, and a small quantity of boiling water may be mixed with it, which will cause it to produce cream in abundance, and the more so if the pans or vats have a large surface.

During the hot summer months, it is right to rise with or before the sun, that the cream may be skimmed from the milk ere the dairy becomes warm; nor should the milk at that season stand longer in the vats, &c., than 24 hours; nor be skimmed in the evening till after sunset. In winter milk may remain unskimmed for 36 or 48 hours; the cream should be deposited in a deep pan, which should be kept during the summer in the coolest part of the dairy; or in a cool cellar where a free air is admitted, which is still better. Where people have not an opportunity of churning every other day, they should shift the cream daily into clean pans, which will keep it cool, but they should never fail to churn at least twice in the week in hot weather; and this work should be done in a morning before the sun appears, taking care to fix the churn where there is a free draught of air. If a pump-churn be to be used, it may be plunged a foot deep into a tub of cold water, and should remain there during the whole time of churning, which will very much harden the butter. A strong rancid flavour will be given to butter, if we churn too near the fire as to heat the wood in the winter season.

After the butter is churned, it should be immediately washed in many different waters till it is perfectly cleansed from the milk; but here it must be remarked, that a warm hand will soften it, and make it appear greasy, so that it will be impossible to obtain the best price for it. The cheesemongers use two pieces of wood for their butter; and if those who have a very hot hand were to have such, they might work the butter so as to make it more saleable.

The Epping butter is made up for market in long rolls, weighing a pound each; in the county of Somerset, they dish it in half pounds for sale; but if they forget to rub salt round the inside of the dish, it will be difficult to work it so as to make it appear handsome.

Butter will require and endure more working in winter than in summer; but it is remarked, that no person whose hand is warm by nature makes good butter.

Those who use a pump-churn must endeavour to keep a regular stroke; nor should they admit any person to assist them, except they keep nearly the same stroke: for if they churn more slowly, the butter will in the winter go back, as it is called; and if the stroke be more quick and violent in the summer, it will cause a fermentation, by which means the butter will imbibe a very disagreeable flavour.

Where people keep many cows, a barrel-churn is to be preferred; but if this be not kept very clean, the bad effects will be discovered in the butter; nor must we forget to shift the situation of the churn when we use it, as the seasons alter, so as to fix it in a warm place in winter, and where there is a free air in summer.

In many parts of this kingdom they colour their butter in winter, but this adds nothing to its goodness; and it rarely happens that the farmers in or near Epping use any colour; but when they do, it is very innocent. They procure some sound carrots, whose juice they express through a sieve, and mix with the cream when it enters the churn, which makes it appear like May butter; nor do they at any time use much fat, though a little is absolutely necessary.

As they make in that country but very little cheese, so of course very little whey butter is made; nor indeed should any person make it, except for present use, as it will not keep good more than two days; and the whey will turn to better account to fatten pigs with. Nothing feeds these faster, nor will anything make them so delicately white. At the same time it is to be observed, that no good bacon can be made from pigs thus fattened; where much butter is made, good cheese for servants may be obtained from skimmed milk, and the whey will afterwards do for store pigs.

The foregoing rules will suffice for making good West of England butter in any country; but as some people are partial to the west country method, it shall be described as briefly as possible.

In the first place, they deposit their milk in earthen pans in their dairy-house, and (after they have stood twelve hours in the summer, and double that space in the winter) they remove them to floes made for that purpose, which floes are filled with hot embers; on these they remain till bubbles rise, and the cream changes its colour; it is then deemed heated enough, and this they call scalded cream; it is afterwards removed steadily to the dairy, where it remains 12 hours more, and is then skimmed from the milk and put into a tub or churn: if it be put into a tub, it is beat well with the hand, and thus they obtain butter; but a cleaner way is to make use of a churn. Some scald it over the fire, but then the smoke is apt to affect it; and in either case, if the pans touch the fire, they will crack or fly, and the milk and cream will be wasted.

The Cambridgeshire salt butter is held in the highest esteem, and is made nearly after the same method as Bridgford's Epping; and by washing and working the salt butter, from it the cheesemongers in London often sell it at a high price for fresh butter. They deposit it when made into wooden tubs or firkins, which they expose to the air for two or three weeks, and often wash them; but a readier way is to season them with unslaked lime, or a large quantity of salt and water well boiled will do: with this they must be scrubbed several times, and afterwards thrown into cold water, where they should remain three or four days, or till they are wanted; then they should be scrubbed as before, and well rinsed with cold water; but before they receive the butter, care. care must be taken to rub every part of the firkin with salt; then if the butter be properly made, and perfectly sweet, it may be gently pressed into the firkin; but it must be well salted when it is made up, and the salt should be equally distributed through the whole mass, and a good handful of salt must be spread on the top of the firkin before it is heated, after which the head should be immediately put on.

They pursue nearly the same method in Suffolk and Yorkshire; nor is the butter that is made in these counties much inferior to that made in Cambridgeshire; indeed it is often sold in London for Cambridge butter: and no people make more butter from their cows than the Yorkshire farmers do, which is certainly owing to the care they take of their cows in the winter; as at that season they house them all, feed them with good hay, and never suffer them to go out (except to water) but when the weather is very serene; and when their cows calve, they give them comfortable malt messes for two or three days after; but these cows' never answer if they are removed to other counties, except the same care and attendance be given them, and then none answer better.

Land whereon cows feed does very often affect the butter. If wild garlic, charlock, or May-weed, be found in a pasture ground, cows should not feed there-in till after they have been mown, when such pernicious plants will appear no more till the following spring; but those cows that give milk must not partake of the hay made therefrom, as that will also diffuse its bad qualities.

Great part of the Epping butter is made from cows that feed during the summer months in Epping forest, where the leaves and shrubby plants contribute greatly to the flavour of the butter. The mountains of Wales, the highlands of Scotland, and the moors, commons, and heaths in England, produce excellent butter where it is properly managed; and though not equal in quantity, yet far superior in quality to that which is produced from the richest meadows; and the land is often blamed when the butter is bad through mismanagement, sluttishness, or indolence.

Turnips and rape affect milk and butter, but brewers grains are sweet and wholesome food, and will make cows give abundance of milk; yet the cream thereon will be thin, except good hay be given at the same time, after every meal of grains. Coleworts and cabbages are also excellent foods; and if these and favours were cultivated for this purpose, the farmers in general would find their account in it.

Cows should never be suffered to drink improper water; stagnated pools, water wherein frogs, &c., spawn, common sewers, and ponds that receive the drainings of stables, are improper.

Divers abuses are committed in the packing and salting of butter, to increase its bulk and weight, against which we have a statute express. Pots are frequently laid with good butter for a little depth at the top, and with bad at the bottom; sometimes the butter is set in rolls, only touching at top, and standing hollow at bottom. To prevent these cheats, the factors at Uxeter keep a surveyor, who, in case of suspicion, tries the pots with an iron instrument called a butter-bore, made like a cheese-taster, to be stuck in obliquely to the bottom.

In the Annals of Agriculture, vol. xvii., the following mode of preventing butter and cream from receiving a taint from the cows feeding on cabbages and turnips is stated by J. Jones Esq. of Bolas-heath, Newport, Shropshire. "I find by experience (says he) that a small how bit of saltpetre, powdered and put into the milk-pan, may be with the new milk, does effectually prevent the cream and butter from being tainted, although the cows be fed on the refuse leaves of cabbages and turnips. In and turnips the beginning of this last winter, my men were very careful in not giving to the cows any outside or decayed leaves of the cabbages or turnips; yet the cream and butter were sadly tainted: but as soon as the maid used the saltpetre, all the taint was done away; and afterwards no care was taken in feeding the cows, for they had cabbages and turnips in all places. Our milk-pans hold about nine pints of milk."

The trade in butter is very considerable. Some compute 50,000 tons annually consumed in London. It is chiefly made within 40 miles round the city. Fifty thousand firkins are said to be sent yearly from Cambridge and Suffolk alone; each firkin containing 56 lbs. Uxeter in Staffordshire is a market famous for good butter, inasmuch that the London merchants have established a factory there for that article. It is bought by the pot, of a long cylindrical form, weighing 14lb.

The other grand object of the dairy is cheese-making. Cheese is the curd of milk, precipitated or coagulated, separated from the whey by an acid. Cheese differs in quality according as it is made from new or skimmed milk, from the curd which separates spontaneously upon standing, or that which is more speedily produced by the addition of rennet. Cream also affords a kind of cheese, but quite fat and butteraceous, and which does not keep long. Analyzed chemically, cheese appears to partake much more of an animal nature than butter, or the milk from which it was made. It is insoluble in every liquid except spirit of nitre, and caustic alkaline ley. Shaved thin, and properly treated with hot water, it forms a very strong cement if mixed with quicklime*. When prepared with the hot water, it is recommended in the Swedish memoirs to be used by anglers as a bait. It may be made into any form, is not softened by the cold water, and the fishes are fond of it. As a food, physicians condemn the too free use of cheese. When new, it is extremely difficult of digestion; when old, it becomes acid and hot; and, from Dr Percival's experiments, is evidently of a febrile nature. It is a common opinion that old cheese digests everything, yet is left undigested itself; but this is without any solid foundation. Cheese made from the milk of sheep digests sooner than that from the milk of cows, but is less nourishing; that from the milk of goats digests sooner than either, but is also the least nourishing. In general, it is a kind of food fit only for the laborious, or those whose organs of digestion are strong.

Every country has places noted for this commodity: thus Cheddar and Gloucester cheese are famous in England; and the Parmesan cheese is in no less repute abroad, especially in France. This sort of cheese is entirely made of sweet cow-milk: but at Rochefort in Languedoc, they make it of ewe's milk; and in other places it is usual to add goat or ewe's milk in a certain proportion to that of the cow. There is likewise a kind kind of medicated cheese made by intimately mixing the expressed juice of certain herbs, as sage, balm, mint, &c., with the curd before it is fashioned into a cheese. The Laplanders make a sort of cheese of the milk of their rein-deer; which is not only of great service to them as food, but on many other occasions. It is a very common thing in these climates to have a limb numbed and frozen with the cold: their remedy for this is the heating an iron red hot, and thrusting it through the middle of one of these cheeses; they catch what drops out, and with this anoint the limb, which soon recovers. They are subject also to coughs and diseases of the lungs, and these they cure by the same sort of medicine: they boil a large quantity of the cheese in the fresh deer's milk, and drink the decoction in large draughts warm several times a day. They make a less strong decoction of the same kind also, which they use as their common drink, for three or four days together, at several times of the year. They do this to prevent the mischief they are liable to from their water, which is otherwise their constant drink, and is not good.

In making cheese the same precaution is to be observed as with regard to butter, viz. the milk ought not to be agitated by carrying to any distance; nor ought the cows to be violently driven before they are milked, which reduces the milk almost to the same state as if agitated in a barrel or churn. To this cause Mr Twamley, who has written a treatise upon dairy management, attributes the great difficulty sometimes met with in making the milk coagulate; four or five hours being sometimes necessary instead of one (the usual time employed); and even after all, the curd will be of such a soft nature, that the cheese will swell, puff up, and rent in innumerable places, without ever coming to that solid consistence which it ought to have. As this frequently happens in consequence of heat, Mr Twamley advises to mix a little cold spring water with the milk. It is a bad practice to put in more runnet when the curd appears difficult to be formed, for this, after having once formed the curd by the use of a certain quantity, will dissolve it again by the addition of more.

The most common defects of cheese are its appearing when cut full of small holes called eyes; its pulling up, cracking, and purring out quantities of thin ferous liquor; becoming afterwards rotten and full of maggots in those places from which the liquor issued. All this, according to our author, proceeds from the formation of a substance called by him lip curd, a kind of half coagulum, incapable of a thorough union with the true curd, and which when broken into very small bits produces eyes; but if in larger pieces, occasions those rents and cracks in the cheese already mentioned; for though this kind of curd retains its coagulated nature for some time, it always sooner or later dissolves into a ferous liquid. This kind of curd may be produced,

1. By using the milk too hot. 2. By bad runnet. 3. By not allowing the curd a proper time to form.

The first of these is remedied by the use of cold water, which our author says is so far from being detrimental to the quality of the cheese, that it really promotes the action of the runnet upon the milk. The second, viz. a knowledge of good from bad runnet, can only be acquired by long practice, and no particular directions can be given, farther than that the utmost care must be taken that it have no putrid tendency, nor merit of any rancidity from too great heat in drying. The only rule that can be given for its preparation is to take out the maw of a calf which has fed entirely upon Of prepa-

milk; after it is cold, swill it a little in water; rub it run-

well with salt; then fill it with the same, and afterwards cover it. Some cut them open and spread them in salt, putting them in layers above one another, let-

ting them continue in the brine they produce, some-

times stirring or turning them for four, six, or nine months; after which they are opened to dry, stretched out upon sticks or splints. They may be used immediately after being dried, though it is reckoned best to keep them till they be a year old before they are used. The best method of making the runnet from the skins, according to our author, is the following:

"Take pure spring water, in quantity proportioned to the runnet you intend to make; it is thought best by some two skins to a gallon of water; boil the wa-

ter, which makes it softer or more pure; make it with salt into brine that will swim an egg: then let it stand till the heat is gone off to about the heat of blood-warm; then put your maw-skin in, either cut in pieces or whole; the former I should imagine best or most convenient; letting it steep 24 hours, after which it will be fit for use. Such quantity as is judged necessary must then be put into the milk; about a tea-cupful being necessary for ten cows milk; though in this respect very particular directions cannot be given."

In the Bath Papers, Mr Hazard gives the follow-

ing receipt for making runnet. "When the maw-skin is well prepared and fit for the purpose, three pints or runnet, two quarts of soft water, clean and sweet, should be mixed with salt, wherein should be put sweet brier, rose leaves and flowers, cinnamon, cloves, mace, and in short almost every sort of spice and aromatic that can be procured; and if these are put into two quarts of water, they must boil gently till the liquor is reduced to three pints, and care should be taken that this liquid is not smoked; it should be strained clear from the spices, &c., and when found not to be warmer than milk from the cow, it should be poured upon the vell or maw; a lemon may then be sliced into it, when it may remain a day or two; after which it should be strained again and put into a bottle, where, if well corked, it will keep good for twelve months or more; it will smell like a perfume, and a small quantity of it will turn the milk, and give the cheese a pleasing flavour." He adds, that if the vell or maw be salted and dried for a week or two near the fire, it will do for the purpose again almost as well as before.

In the making of cheese, supposing the runnet to be of a good quality, the following particulars must be ob-

served:

1. The proper degree of heat. This ought to be what is called milk-warm, or, "a few degrees removed from coolness," according to Mr Twamley; considerably below the heat of milk taken from the cow. If too hot, it may be reduced to a proper temperature by cold water, as already mentioned.

2. The time allowed for the runnet to take effect. This, our author observes, ought never to be less than an hour and a half. The process may be accelerated, particularly by putting salt to the milk before fore the runnet is added. Mr Twamley advises two handfuls to ten or twelve cows milk; but he affirms us, that no bad consequence can follow from the curd being formed ever so soon; as it then only becomes more solid and fit for making cheese of a proper quality. 3. To prevent any difficulty in separating the curd from the whey, prepare a long cheese-knife from lath; one edge being sharpened to cut the curd across from top to bottom in the tub, crofting it with lines checkerwise: by which means the whey rises through the vacancies made by the knife, and the curd sinks with much more ease. A sieve has also been used with success, in order to separate the whey perfectly from the curd. 4. Having got the curd all firm at the bottom of the tub, take the whey from it; let it stand a quarter of an hour to drain before you put it into the vat to break it. If any bits of slip-curd swim among the whey, pour it all off together rather than put it among the cheese, for the reasons already given. Some dairy-women allow the curd to stand for two hours; by which time it is become of so firm a nature that no breaking is necessary: they have only to cut it in slices, put it into the vat, and work it well by squeezing thoroughly to make it fit close; then put it into the press. Our author, however, approves more of the method of breaking the curd, as less apt to make the cheese hard and horny. 5. When the whey is of a white colour, it is a certain sign that the curd has not subsided; but if the method just now laid down be followed, the whey will always be of a green colour; indeed this colour of the whey is always a certain criterion of the curd having been properly managed. 6. The best method of preventing cheese from heaving, is to avoid making the runnet too strong, to take care that it be clean, and not tainted; to be certain that the curd is fully come, and not to stir it before the air has had time to escape; a quantity of air being always discharged in this as in many other chemical processes. 7. Cheese is very apt to split in consequence of being "salted within," especially when the vat is about half filled. In this case the curd, though separated only in a small degree by the salt, never closes or joins as it ought to do. Mr Twamley prefers salting in the milk greatly to this method. 8. Dry cracks in cheese are generally produced by keeping curd from one meal to another, and letting the first become too stiff and hard before it is mixed with the other. 9. Curdy or wrinkle-coated cheese is caused by four milk. Cheese made of cold milk is apt to be hard, or to break and fly before the knife. 10. Such coated cheese is caused by being made too cold, as cheese that is made in winter or late in autumn is apt to be, unless laid in a warm room after it is made.

Cheese is of very different quality, according to the milk from which it is made: Thus, in Gloucestershire, what is called the second or two-meal cheese, is made from one meal of new milk and one of skimmed or old milk, having the cream taken away. Skimmed cheese or flit-milk cheese, is made entirely from skimmed milk, the cream having been taken off to make butter. It goes by the name of Suffolk cheese, and is much used at sea; being less liable to be affected by the heat of warm climates than the other kinds. A great deal of difference, however, is to be observed in the quality of it, which our author supposes to arise chiefly from greater care being taken in some places than in others.

Slip-coat or soft cheese is made entirely of slip-curd, and dissolves into a kind of creamy liquor; which is a demonstration of the nature of this curd, as already mentioned. It is commonly computed, that as much milk is required to make one pound of butter as two of cheese; and even more where the land is poor, and the pastures afford but little cream.

Best methods of making cheese in England. The Double Gloucester is a cheese that pleases almost every Gloucester palate. The best of this kind is made from new, or (as it is called in that and the adjoining counties) covered milk. An inferior sort is made from what is called half-covered milk; though when any of these cheeses turn out to be good, people are deceived, and often purchase them for the best covered milk cheese: but farmers who are honest have them stamped with a piece of wood made in the shape of a heart, so that any person may know them.

It will be every farmer's interest (if he has a sufficient number of cows) to make a large cheese from one meal's milk. This, when brought in warm, will be easily changed or turned with the runnet; but if the morning or night's milk be to be mixed with that which is fresh from the cow, it will be a longer time before it turns, nor will it change sometimes without being heated over the fire, by which it often gets dust or foot, or smoke; which will give the cheese a very disagreeable flavour.

When the milk is turned, the whey should be carefully strained from the curd. The curd should be broken small with the hands; and when it is equally broken, it must be put by a little at a time into the vat, carefully breaking it as it is put in. The vat should be filled an inch or more above the brim, that when the whey is pressed out, it may not shrink below the brim; if it does, the cheese will be worth very little. But first, before the curd is put in, a cheese cloth or strainer should be laid at the bottom of the vat: and this should be so large, that when the vat is filled with the curd, the ends of the cloth may turn again over the top of it. When this is done, it should be taken to the press, and there remain for the space of two hours, when it should be turned and have a clean cloth put under it and turned over as before. It must then be pressed again, and remain in the press six or eight hours; when it should again be turned and rubbed on each side with salt. After this it must be pressed again for the space of 12 or 14 hours more; when, if any of the edges project, they should be pared off: it may then be put on a dry board, where it should be regularly turned every day. It is a good way to have three or four holes bored round the lower part of the vat, that the whey may drain so perfectly from the cheese as not the least particle of it may remain.

The prevailing opinion of the people of Gloucestershire and the neighbouring counties is, that the cheeses will spoil if they do not scrape and wash them when they are found to be mouldy. But others think that suffering the mould to remain mellows them, provided they are turned every day. Those, however, who will have the mould off, should cause it to be removed with a clean dry flannel, as the washing the cheeses is Manage-ment of the species of fungus rooted in the coat) grow again immediately.

Some people scald the curd; but this is a bad and mercenary practice; it robs the cheese of its fatness, and can only be done with a view to raise a greater quantity of whey butter, or to bring the cheeses forward for sale, by making them appear older than they really are.

As most people like to purchase high coloured cheese, it may be right to mix a little arnotto with the milk before it is turned. No cheese will look yellow without it; and though it does not in the least add to the goodness, it is perfectly innocent in its nature and effects.

Cheddar cheese is held in high esteem; but its goodness is said to be chiefly owing to the land whereon the cows feed, as the method of making it is the same as is pursued throughout Somersetshire, and the adjoining counties.

Cheeshire cheese is much admired; yet no people take less pains with the runnet than the Cheeshire farmers. But their cheeses are so large as often to exceed one hundred pounds weight each; to this (and the age they are kept, the richness of the land, and the keeping such a number of cows as to make such a cheese without adding a second meal's milk) their excellence may be attributed. Indeed they salt the curd (which may make a difference), and keep the cheeses in a damp place after they are made, and are very careful to turn them daily.

The following account of the mode of making this cheese is stated in the Annals of Agriculture, by Mr John Chamberlain of Chester. "The process of making Cheshire cheese is as follows, viz. on a farm capable of keeping 25 cows, a cheese of about sixty pounds weight may be daily made, in the months of May, June, and July.

"The evening's milk is kept untouched until next morning, when the cream is taken off, and put to warm in a brass pan heated with boiling water; then one-third part of that milk is heated in the same manner, so as to bring it to the heat of new milk from the cows; (This part of the business is done by a person who does not assist in milking the cows during that time.) Let the cows be milked early in the morning; then the morning's new milk and the night's milk, thus prepared, are put into a large tub together with the cream; then a portion of runnet that has been put into water milk-warm the evening before is put into the tub, sufficient to coagulate the milk; and at the same time, if arnotto be used to colour the cheese, a small quantity, as requisite for colouring, (or a marigold or carrot infusion) is rubbed very fine, and mixed with the milk, by stirring all together; then covering it up warm, it is to stand about half an hour, or until coagulated; at which time it is first turned over with a bowl, to separate the whey from the curds, and broken soon after with the hand and bowl into very small particles; the whey being separated by standing some time, is taken from the curd, which sinks to the bottom; the curd is then collected into a part of the tub which has a lip or loose board across the diameter of the bottom of it, for the sole use of separating them; and a board is placed thereon, with weights, from sixty to a hundred and twenty pounds, to press out the whey: when it is getting into a more solid consistence, it is cut, and turned over in slices several times, to extract all the whey, and then weighted as before; which operations may take up about an hour and a half. It is then taken from the tub, as near the side as possible, and broken very small by hand, and salted, and put into a cheese vat, enlarged in depth by a tin hoop to hold the quantity, it being more than bulk when finally put into the press. Then press the side well by hand, and with a board at top well weighted; and placing wooden skewers round the cheese to the centre, and drawing them out frequently, the upper part of the cheese will be drained of its whey: then shift it out of the vat; first put a cloth upon the top of it, and reverve it on the cloth into another vat, or the same, which vat should be well scalded before the cheese is returned into it; then the top part is broken by hand down to the middle, and salt mixed with it, and skewered as before, then pressed by hand, weighted, and all the whey extracted. This done, reverve the cheese again into another vat, warmed as before, with a cloth under it; then a tin hoop or binder is put round the upper edge of the cheese and within the sides of the vat, the cheese being first inclosed in a cloth, and the edges of it put within the vat.

"N.B. The cloth is of fine hemp, one yard and a half long by one yard wide. It is so laid, that on one side of the vat it shall be level with the side of it, on the other it shall lap over the whole of the cheese, and the edges put within the vat; and the tin fillet to go over the whole. All the above operations will take from seven in the morning till one at noon. Finally, it is put into a press of fifteen or twenty cwt. and stuck round the vat into the cheese with thin wire skewers, which are shifted occasionally. In four hours more, it should be shifted and turned, and in four hours more, the same, and the skewering continued. Next morning, let it be turned by the woman who attends the milk, and put under another or the same press, and so turned at night and the next morning; at noon, taken out finally to the salting room, there salt the outside, and put a cloth binder round it. The cheese should, after such salting, be turned twice a day for six or seven days, then left two or three weeks to dry, turned and cleaned every day, taken to the common cheese room, laid on straw on a boarded floor, and daily turned until grown hard.

"The room should be moderately warm; but no wind or draught of air should be permitted, which generally cracks them. Some rub the outsides with butter or oil to give them a coat.

"The spring-made cheese is often shipped for the London market in the following autumn, and it is supposed to be much ameliorated by the heating on board the vessel."

But of all the cheese this kingdom produces, none is Stilton more highly esteemed than the Stilton, which is called cheese the Parmesan of England, and (except faulty) is never sold for less than 1s. or 1s. 2d. per pound.

The Stilton cheeses are usually made in square vats, and weigh from five to twelve pounds each cheese. Immediately after they are made, it is necessary to put them into square boxes made exactly to fit them; they being so extremely rich, that except this precaution be taken they are apt to bulge out, and break afunder. They should be continually and daily turned in these boxes, and must be kept two years before they are properly mellowed for sale.

Some make them in a net somewhat like a cabbage net; so that they appear, when made, not unlike an acorn. But these are never so good as the other, having a thicker coat, and wanting all that rich flavour and mellowness which make them so pleasing.

It is proper to mention that the making of these cheeses is not confined to the Stilton farmers, as many others in Huntingdonshire (not forgetting Rutland and Northamptonshire) make a similar sort, sell them for the same price, and give all of them the name of Stilton cheese.

Though these farmers are remarked for cleanliness, they take very little pains with the runnet, as they in general only cut pieces from the well or maw, which they put into the milk, and move gently about with the hand, by which means it breaks or turns it so, that they easily obtain the curd. But if the method above described for making runnet were put in practice, they would make their cheese still better; at least they would not have so many faulty and unfound cheeses; for notwithstanding their cheeses bear such a name and price, they often find them so bad as not to be saleable; which is probably owing to their being so careless about the runnet.

It has been alleged, that as good cheese might be made in other counties, if people would adhere to the Stilton plan, which is this: They make a cheese every morning; and to this meal of new milk they add the cream taken from that which was milked the night before. This, and the age of their cheeses, have been supposed the only reasons why they are preferred to others; for from the nicest observation, it does not appear that their land is in any respect superior to that of other counties.

Excellent cream cheeses are made in Lincolnshire, by adding the cream of one meal’s milk to milk which comes immediately from the cow; these are pressed gently two or three times, turned for a few days, and are then disposed of at the rate of 1s. per pound, to be eaten while new with radishes, salad, &c.

Many people give skimmed milk to pigs, but the whey will do equally well after cheeses are made from this milk; such cheeses will always sell for at least 2d. per pound, which will amount to a large sum annually where they make much butter. The peasants and many of the farmers in the north of England never eat any better cheese; and though they appear harder, experience hath proved them to be much easier of digestion than any new milk cheeses. A good market may always be found for the sale of them at Bristol.

Account of the making of Parmesan cheese; by Mr Zappa of Milan: in answer to queries from Arthur Young, Esq.

“Are the cows regularly fed in stables?”—From the middle of April, or sooner if possible, the cows are sent to pasture in the meadows till the end of November usually.

“Or only fed in stables in winter?”—When the season is past, and snow comes, they are put into stables for the whole winter, and fed with hay.

“Do they remain in the pasture from morning till night? or only in hot weather?”—Between nine and ten in the morning the cows are sent to water, and then to the pastures, where they remain four or five hours at most, and at three or four o’clock are driven to the stables if the season is fresh, or under porticoes if hot; where for the night, a convenient quantity of hay is given them.

“In what months are they kept at pasture the whole day?”—Mostly answered already; but it might be said, that no owner will leave his cattle, without great cause, in uncovered places at night. It happens only to the shepherds from the Alps, when they pass, because it is impossible to find stables for all their cattle.

“What is the opinion in the Lodefan, on the best conduct for profit in the management of meadows?”

—for a dairy farm of 100 cows, which yields daily a cheese weighing 70 or 75 lb. of 28 ounces, are wanted 1000 perticas of land. Of these about 800 are standing meadows, the other 200 are in cultivation for corn and grass fields in rotation.

“Do they milk the cows morning and evening?”

—Those that are in milk are milked morning and evening, with exception of such as are near calving.

“One hundred cows being wanted to make a Lodefan each day, it is supposed that it is made with the milk of the evening and the following morning; or of the morning and evening of the same day: how is it?”

—the 100 cows form a dairy farm of a good large cheese; it is reckoned that 80 are in milk, and 20 with calves sucking, or near calving. They reckon one with the other about 32 boccalis of 32 oz. of milk. Such is the quantity for a cheese of about 70lb. of 28 ounces. They join the evening with the morning milk, because it is fresher than if it was that of the morning and evening of the same day. The next morning milk would be 24 hours old when the next morning the cheese should be made.

“Do they skim or not the milk to make butter before they make the cheese?”

—from the evening milk, all the cream possible is taken away for butter, macarponi (cream cheese), &c. The milk of the morning ought to be skimmed lightly; but every one skims as much cream as he can. The butter is sold on the spot immediately at 24 sous: the cheese at about 28 sous. The butter loses nothing in weight; the cheese loses one-third of it, is subject to heat, and requires expenses of service, attention, warehouses, &c., before it is sold; and a man in two hours makes 45 or 50lb. of butter that is sold directly. However, it is not possible to leave much cream in the milk to make Lodefan cheese, called grained cheese; because if it is too rich, it does not last long, and it is necessary to consume it while young and found.

“Is Parmesan or Lodefan cheese made every day in the year or not?”

—with 100 cows it is. In winter, however, the milk being less in quantity, the cheese is of lesser weight, but certainly more delicate.

“After gathering or uniting the milk, either skimmed or not, what is exactly the whole operation?”

—the morning of the 3rd of March 1786, I have seen the whole operation, having gone on purpose to the spot to see the whole work from beginning to end. At 10 Italian hours, or ten in the morning, according to the... Part III.

Managing the northern way to account hours, the skimming of that morning's milk, gathered only two hours before, was finished. I did, meanwhile, examine the boiler or pot. At the top it was eight feet (English) diameter, or thereabout; and about five feet three inches deep, made like a bell, and narrowing towards the bottom to about two and one-half feet. They joined the cream produced that morning with the other produced by the milk of the evening before. That produced by this last milk was double in quantity to that of the morning milk, because it had the whole night to unite, and that of the morning had only two hours to do it: in which it could not separate much. Of the cream, some was destined to make macarponies (cream cheese), and they put the rest into the machine for making butter. Out of the milk of the evening before and of that morning, that was all put together after skimming, they took and put into the boiler 272 boceali, and they put under it two faggots of wood; which being burnt, were sufficient to give the milk a warmth a little superior to lukewarm. Then the boiler being withdrawn from the fire, the foreman put into it the runnet, which they prepare in small balls of one ounce each, turning the ball in his hand always kept in the milk entirely covered; and after it was perfectly dissolved, he covered the boiler to keep the milk defended, that it might not suffer from the coldness of the season, particularly as it was a windy day. I went then to look on the man that was making macarponies, &c., and then we went twice to examine if the milk was sufficiently coagulated. At the 18 hours, according to the Italian clocks, or noon, the true manufacture of cheese began. The milk was coagulated in a manner to be taken from the boiler in pieces from the surface. The foreman, with a stick that had 18 points, or rather nine small pieces of wood fixed by their middle in the end of it, and forming nine points on each side, began to break exactly all the coagulated milk, and did continue to do so for more than half an hour, from time to time examining it to see its state. He ordered to renew the fire, and four faggots of willow branches were used all at once; he turned the boiler that the fire might act; and then the underman began to work in the milk with a stick, like the above, but only with four smaller sticks at the top, forming eight points, four at each side, a span long each point. In a quarter of an hour the foreman mixed in the boiler the proper quantity of saffron, and the milk was all in knobs, and finer grained than before, by the effect of turning and breaking the coagulation, or curd, continually. Every moment the fire was renewed or fed; but with a faggot only at a time, to continue it regular. The milk was never heated much, nor does it hinder to keep the hand in it to know the fineness of the grain, which refines continually by the stick-work of the underman. It is of the greatest consequence to mind when the grain begins to take a coarseness. When it comes to this state, the boiler is turned from the fire, and the underman immediately takes out the whey, putting it into proper receivers. In that manner the grain subsides to the bottom of the boiler; and leaving only in it whey enough to keep the grain covered a little, the foreman extending himself as much as he can over and in the boiler, unites with his hands the grained milk, making like a body of paste of it. Then a large piece of linen is run by him under that paste, while another man keeps the four corners of it, and the whey is directly put again into the boiler, by which is facilitated the means of raising that paste that is taken out of the boiler, and put for one quarter of an hour into the receiver where the whey was put before, in the same linen it was taken from the boiler; which boiler is turned again directly on the fire, to extract the malcarpa (whey cheese); and is a second product, eaten by poor people. After the paste remained for a quarter of an hour in that receiver, it was taken out and turned into the wooden form called saffera, without any thing else made than the rotundity, having neither top nor bottom. Immediately after having turned it into that round wooden form, they put a piece of wood like a cheese on it, putting and increasing gradually weights on it, which serve to force out the remnant of the whey; and in the evening the cheese so formed is carried into the warehouse, where, after 24 hours, they begin to give the salt. It remains in that warehouse for 15 or 20 days; but in summer only from 8 to 12 days. Meanwhile the air and salt form the crust to it; and then it is carried into another warehouse for a different service. In the second warehouse they turn every day all the cheeses that are not older than six months; and afterwards it is enough if they are only turned every 48 or 60 hours, keeping them clean, in particular, of that bloom which is inevitable to them, and which, if neglected, turns musty, and causes the cheese to acquire a bad smell. The Lodian, because it is a province watered, has a great deal of meadows, and abounds with cows, its product being mostly in cheese, butter, &c. However, the province of Pavia makes a great deal of that cheese; and we Milanese do likewise the same from the side of Porte Tofa, Romana, Ticinese, and Vercellino, because we have fine meadows and dairy farms.

Sect. IX. Making of Fruit-Liquors.

These, as objects of British husbandry, are principally two, Cyder and Perry; the manufacturing of which forms a capital branch in our fruit-counties, and of which the improvement must be considered as of great importance to the public, but particularly to the inhabitants of those districts where these liquors constitute their common beverage.

Cyder and perry, when genuine and in high perfection, are excellent vinous liquors, and are certainly far more wholesome than many others which are present in much higher estimation. When the must is prepared from the choicest fruit, and undergoes the exact degree of vinous fermentation requisite to its perfection, the acid and the sweet are so admirably blended with the aqueous, oily, and spirituous principles, and the whole so imbued with the grateful flavour of the rinds, and the agreeable aromatic bitter of the kernels, that it assumes a new character; grows lively, sparkling, and exhilarating; and when completely mellowed by time, the liquor becomes at once highly delicious to the palate, and congenial to the constitution; superior in every respect to most other English wines, and perhaps not inferior to many of the best foreign wines. Such (says Dr Fothergill*) pers, vol. v. would it be pronounced by all competent judges, were it not for the popular prejudice annexed to it as a cheap home-brewed liquor, and consequently within the reach of the vulgar. To compare such a liquor with the foreign fiery sophisticated mixtures often imported under the name of wines, would be to degrade it; for it certainly surpasses them in flavour and pleasantness, as much as it excels them in wholesome and cheapness. But rarely do we meet with perry or cyder of this superior quality. For what is generally sold by dealers and inn-keepers is a poor, meagre, vapid liquor, prone to the acetous fermentation, and of course very injurious to the constitution. Is it not very mortifying, after the experience of so many centuries, that the art of preparing those ancient British liquors should still be so imperfectly understood as to seem to be in its very infancy?—That throughout the principal cyder districts, the practice should still rest on the most vague indeterminate principles, and that the excellence of the liquor should depend rather on a lucky random hit, than on good management? Yet such appears to be really the case even among the most experienced cyder-makers of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.

Mr Marshall, that nice observer of rural affairs, in his tour through those counties (expressly undertaken for the purpose of inquiry on this subject), informs us, that scarcely two of these professional artists are agreed as to the management of some of the most essential parts of the process: That palpable errors are committed as to the time and manner of gathering the fruit—in laying it up—in neglecting to separate the unfound—and to grind properly the rinds and kernels, &c.: That the method of conducting the vinous fermentation, the most critical part of the operation, and which stamps the future value of the liquor, is by no means ascertained; while some promote the fermentation in a spacious open vat, others repulse it by inclosing the liquor in a hoghead, or strive to prevent it altogether: That no determinate point of temperature is regarded, and that the use of the thermometer is unknown or neglected: That they are as little confident as to the time of racking off; and whether this ought to be done only once, or five or six times repeated: That for fining down the liquor, many have recourse to that odious article, bullocks blood, when the intention might be much better answered by whites of eggs or infusions. And, finally, that the capricious taste of particular customers is generally consulted, rather than the real excellence of the liquor; and consequently that a very imperfect liquor is often vended, which tends to reduce the price, to disgrace the vender, and to bring the use of cyder and perry into disrepute.

The art of making vinous liquors is a curious chemical process; and its success chiefly depends on a dexterous management of the vinous fermentation, besides a close attention to sundry minute circumstances, the theory of which is perhaps not yet fully understood by the ablest chemists. Can we longer wonder then that so many errors should be committed by illiterate cyder-makers, totally unversed in the first principles of the chemical art? Some few, indeed, more enlightened than their brethren, and less bigotted to their own opinions, by dint of observation strike out improvements, and produce every now and then a liquor of superior quality, though perhaps far short of excellence, yet still sufficient to show what might possibly be accomplished by a series of new experiments conducted on philosophical principles. This might lead means of successive improvements, till at length our English fruit-liquors might be carried to a pitch of perfection hitherto unknown, by which the demand, both at home and abroad, would soon be enlarged, the prices augmented according to the quality, the value of estates increased, and the health and prosperity of these counties proportionally advanced. This might also help to point out a method of correcting the imperfections of these liquors; and of meliorating those of a weak meagre quality, by safer and more effectual means than are now practised: and though nothing can fully compensate the defect of sunshine in maturing the saccharine juices in unfavourable seasons, yet probably such liquors might, without the dangerous and expensive method of boiling in a copper vessel, admit of considerable improvement by the addition of barm or other suitable ferment, as yet unknown in the practice of the cyder districts; or perhaps rather by a portion of rich must, or some wholesome sweet, as honey, sugar-candy, or even molasses, added in due proportion, previous to the fermentation. In fact, it appears from a late publication* that the Germans are known to meliorate their thin harsh wines by an addition of concentrated must, not by evaporation, but by freezing. By this simple process they are made to emulate good French wines: a practice worthy of imitation, especially in the northern climates.

Cyder, as is well known, is made from apples, and perry, from pears only. The general method of preparing both these liquors is very much the same; and under the article Cyder a description will be given of the way in which those fruits are gathered, ground, and pressed. The mill is not essentially different from that of a common tanner's mill for grinding bark. It consists of a millstone from two and a half to four feet and a half in diameter, running on its edge in a circular stone trough, mill-house, from nine to twelve inches in thickness, and from one to two tons in weight. The bottom of the trough in which this stone runs is somewhat wider than the thickness of the stone itself; the inner side of the groove rises perpendicularly, but the outer spreads in such a manner as to make the top of the trough fix or eight inches wider than the bottom; by which means there is room for the stone to run freely, and likewise for putting in the fruit, and stirring it up while grinding. The bed of a middle-sized mill is about 9 feet, some 10, and some 12; the whole being composed of two, three, or four stones cramped together and finished after being cramped in this manner. The best stones are found in the forest of Dean; generally a dark, reddish gritstone, not calcareous; for if it were of a calcareous quality, the acid juice of the fruits would act upon it and spoil the liquor: a clean-grained grindstone grit is the fittest for the purpose. The runner is moved by means of an axle passing through the centre, with a long arm reaching without the bed of the mill, for a horse to draw by; on the other side is a shorter arm passing through the centre of the stone, as represented. Making of Fruit-Liquors.

An iron bolt, with a large head, passes through an eye, in the lower part of the swivel on which the stone turns, into the end of the inner arm of the axis; and thus the double motion of it is obtained, and the stone kept perfectly upright. There ought also to be fixed on the inner arm of the axis, about a foot from the runner, a cogged wheel working in a circle of cogs, fixed upon the bed of the mill. The use of these is to prevent the runner from sliding, which it is apt to do when the mill is full; it likewise makes the work more easy for the horse. These wheels ought to be made with great exactness. Mr Marshall observes, that it is an error to make the horse draw by traces: "The acting point of draught (says he), the horse's shoulder, ought for various reasons, to be applied immediately at the end of the arm of the axis; not two or three yards before it; perhaps of a small mill near one fourth of its circumference."

The building in which the mill is enclosed ought to be of such a size, that the horse may have a path of three feet wide betwixt the mill and the walls; so that a middling-sized mill, with its horse-path, takes up a space of 14 or 15 feet every way. The whole dimensions of the mill-house, according to our author, to render it any way convenient, are 24 feet by 20; it ought to have a floor thrown over it at the height of seven feet; with a door in the middle of the front, and a window opposite, with the mill on one side and the press on the other side of the window. The latter must be as near the mill as convenience will allow, for the more easy conveying the ground fruit from the one to the other. The press, which is of a very simple construction, has its bed or bottom about five feet square. This ought to be made entirely either of wood or stone; the practice of covering it with lead being now universally known to be pernicious. It has a channel cut a few inches within its outer edge, to catch the liquor as it is expressed, and convey it to a lip formed by a projection on that side of the bed opposite to the mill; having under it a stone trough or wooden vessel, sunk within the ground, when the bed is fixed low, to receive it. The press is worked with levers of different lengths; first a short, and then a moderately long one, both worked by hand; and lastly, a bar eight or nine feet long worked by a capstan or windlass. The expense of fitting up a mill-house is not very great. Mr Marshall computes it from 20l. to 25l. and, on a small scale, from 10l. to 15l. though much depends on the distance and carriage of the stone; when once fitted up it will last many years.

The making of the fruit-liquors under consideration requires an attention to the following particulars. I. The fruit. II. The grinding. III. Pressing. IV. Fermenting. V. Correcting. VI. Laying up. VII. Bottling; each of which heads is subdivided into several others.

I. In the management of the fruit, the following particulars are to be considered.

1. The time of gathering; which varies according to the nature of the fruit. The early pears are fit for the mill in September; but few apples are ready for gathering before Michaelmas; though, by reason of accidental circumstances, they are frequently manufactured before that time. For sale cider, and keeping drink, they are suffered to hang upon the trees till fully ripe; and the middle of October is generally looked upon to be a proper time for gathering the flire-apple. The criterion of a due degree of ripeness is the fruit falling from the tree; and to force it away before that time, in Mr Marshall's opinion, is robbing it of some of its most valuable particles. "The harvesting of fruit (says he) is widely different in this respect from the harvesting of grain; which has the entire plant to feed it after its separation from the soil; while fruit, after it is severed from the tree, is cut off from all possibility of a further supply of nourishment; and although it may have reached its wonted size, some of its more essential particles are undoubtedly left behind in the tree." Sometimes, however, the fruits which are late in ripening are apt to hang on the tree until spoiled by frosts; though weak watery fruits seem to be most injured in this manner; and Mr Marshall relates an instance of very fine liquor being made from golden pippins, after the fruit had been frozen as hard as ice.

2. The method of gathering. This, as generally practised, is directly contrary to the principle laid down by Mr Marshall, viz., beating them down with long flender poles. An evident disadvantage of this method is, that the fruit is of unequal ripeness; for the apples on the same trees will differ many days, perhaps even weeks, in their time of coming to perfection; whence some part of the richness and flavour of the fruit will be effectually and irremediably cut off. Nor is this the only evil to be dreaded; for as everything depends on the fermentation it has to undergo, if this be interrupted, or rendered complex by a mixture of ripe and unripe fruits, and the liquor be not in the first instance sufficiently purged from its feculencies, it is difficult to clear the liquor afterwards. The former defect the cider-makers attempt to remedy by a mixture of brown sugar and brandy, and the latter by bullocks blood and brimstone; but neither of these can be expected to answer the purpose very effectually. The best method of avoiding the inconveniences arising from an unequal ripening of the fruit is to go over the trees twice, once with a hook, when the fruit begins to fall spontaneously; the second time, when the latter are sufficiently ripened, or when the winter is likely to set in, when the trees are to be cleared with the poles above mentioned.

3. Maturing the gathered fruit. This is usually done by making it into heaps, as is mentioned under the article Cyder; but Mr Marshall entirely disapproves of the practice; because, when the whole are laid in a heap together, the ripest fruit will begin to rot before the other has arrived at that degree of artificial ripeness which it is capable of acquiring. "The due degree of maturation of fruit for liquor (he observes) is a subject about which men, even in this district, differ much in their ideas. The prevailing practice of gathering into heaps until the ripest begin to rot, is wasting the best of the fruit, and is by no means an accurate criterion. Some shake the fruit, and judge by the rattling of the kernels; others cut through the middle and judge by their blackness; but none of these appear to be a proper test. It is not the state of the kernels but of the flesh; not of a few individuals, but of the greater part of the prime-fruit, which renders the collective bo- Making of dy fit or unfit to be sent to the mill. The most rational test of the ripeness of the fruit, is that of the flesh having acquired such a degree of mellowness, and its texture such a degree of tenderness, as to yield to moderate pressure. Thus, when the knuckle or the end of the thumb can with moderate exertion be forced into the pulp of the fruit, it is deemed in a fit state for grinding.

4. Preparation for the mill. The proper management of the fruit is to keep the ripe and unripe fruit separate from each other; but this cannot be done without a considerable degree of labour; for as by numberless accidents the ripe and unripe fruits are frequently confounded together, there cannot be any effectual method of separating them except by hand; and Mr Marshall is of opinion, that this is one of the grand secrets of cider-making, peculiar to those who excel in the business; and he is surprised that it should not before this time have come into common practice.

5. Mixing fruits for liquor. Our author seems to doubt the propriety of this practice; and informs us, that the finer liquors are made from select fruits; and he hints that it might be more proper to mix liquors after they are made, than to put together the crude fruits.

II. Grinding, and management of the fruit when ground.

1. For the greater convenience of putting the fruit into the mill, every mill-house should have a fruit-chamber over it, with a trap-door to lower the fruit down into the mill. The best manner in which this can be accomplished, is to have the valve over the bed of the mill, and furnished with a cloth spout or tunnel reaching down to the trough in which the stone moves. No straw is used in the lofts; but sometimes the fruit is turned. In Herefordshire, it is generally believed, that grinding the rind and seeds of the fruit as well as the fleshy part to a pulp, is necessary towards the perfection of the cider; whence it is necessary, that every kind of pains should be taken to perform the grinding in the most perfect manner. Mr Marshall complains, that the cider-mills are so imperfectly finished by the workmen, that for the first fifty years they cannot perform their work in a proper manner. Instead of being nicely fitted to one another with the square and chisel, they are hewn over with a rough tool in such a careless manner, that horse-beans might lie in safety in their cavities. Some even imagine this to be an advantage, as if the fruit was more effectually and completely broken by rough than smooth stones. Some use fluted rollers of iron; but these will be corroded by the juice, and thus the liquor might be tinged. Smooth rollers will not lay hold of the fruit sufficiently to force it through.

Another improvement requisite in the cider-mills is to prevent the matter in the trough from rising before the stone in the last stage of grinding, and a method of stirring it up in the trough more effectually than can be done at present. To remedy the former of these defects, it might perhaps be proper to grind the fruit first in the mill to a certain degree; and then put it between two smooth rollers to finish the operation in the most perfect manner. It is an error to grind too much at once; as this clogs up the mill, and prevents it from going easily. The usual quantity for a middle-sized mill is a bag containing four corn bushels; but our author had once an opportunity of seeing a mill in which only half a bag was put; and thus the work seemed to go on more easily as well as more quickly than when more was put in at once. The quantity put in at one time is to be taken out when ground. The usual quantity of fruit ground in a day is as much as will make three hogsheads of perry or two of cyder.

2. Management of the ground fruit. Here Mr Marshall condemns in very strong terms the practice of pressing the pulp of the fruit as soon as the grinding is finished; because thus neither the rind nor seeds have time to communicate their virtues to the liquor. In order to extract these virtues in the most proper manner, some allow the ground fruit to lie 24 hours or more after grinding, and even regrind it, in order to have in the most perfect manner the flavour and virtues of the seeds and rind.

III. Pressing the fruit, and management of the residue.

This is done by folding up the ground fruit in pieces of hair-cloth, and piling them up above one another in a square frame or mould, and then pulling down the press upon them, which squeezes out the juice, and forms the matter into thin and almost dry cakes. The first runnings come off foul and muddy; but the last, especially in perry, will be as clear and fine as if filtered through paper. It is common to throw away the residue as useless; sometimes it is made use of when dry as fuel; sometimes the pigs will eat it, especially when not thoroughly squeezed; and sometimes it is ground a second time with water, and squeezed for an inferior kind of liquor used for the family. Mr Marshall advises to continue the pressure as long as a drop can be drawn. "It is found (says he), that even by breaking the cakes of refuse with the hands only gives the press fresh power over it; for though it has been pressed to the last drop, a gallon or more of additional liquor may be got by this means. Re-grinding them has a still greater effect: In this state of the materials the mill gains a degree of power over the more rigid parts of the fruits, which in the first grinding it could not reach. If the face of the runner and the bottom of the trough were dressed with a broad chisel, and made true to each other, and a moderate quantity of residue ground at once, scarcely a kernel could escape unbroken, or a drop of liquor remain undrained."

But though the whole virtue of the fruit cannot be extracted without grinding it very fine, some inconvenience attends this practice, as part of the pulp thus gets through the haircloth, and may perhaps be injurious to the subsequent fermentation. This, however, may be in a great measure remedied by straining the first runnings through a sieve. The whole should also be allowed to settle in a cask, and drawn off into a fresh vessel previous to the commencement of the fermentation. The reduced fruit ought to remain some time between the grinding and pressing, that the liquor may have an opportunity of forming an extract with the rind and kernels: but this must not be pushed too far, as in that case the colour of the cider would be hurt; and the most judicious managers object to the pulp remaining longer than 12 hours without pressure.

"Hence (says our author), upon the whole, the most eligible..." Making of eligible management in this stage of the art appears to be this: Grind one pressful a day; press and regrind the residuum in the evening; infuse the reduced matter all night among part of the first runnings; and in the morning reprefs while the next pressful is grinding.

IV. Fermentation. The common practice is to have the liquor turned; that is, put into casks or hogheads immediately from the press, and to fill them quite full; but it is undoubtedly more proper to leave some space empty to be filled up afterwards. No accurate experiment has been made with regard to the temperature of the air proper to be kept up in the place where the fermentation goes on. Froth is prejudicial; but when the process usually commences, that is, about the middle of October, the liquor is put into airy shades, where the warmth is scarce greater than in the open atmosphere; nay, the casks are frequently exposed to the open air without any covering farther than a piece of tile or flat stone over the bunghole, propped up by a wooden pin on one side to cause the rain water to run off. In a complete manufactory of fruit-liquor, the fermenting room should be under the same roof with the mill-house; a continuation of the press-room, or at least opening into it, with windows or doors on every side, to give a free admittance of air into it; sufficient defences against froth; fruit-lofts over it, and vaults underneath for laying up the liquors after fermentation; with small holes in the crown of the arch to admit a leather pipe, for the purpose of conveying the liquors occasionally from the one to the other.

In making of fruit-liquors, no ferment is used as in making of beer; though, from Mr Marshall's account of the matter, it seems far from being unnecessary. Owing to this omission, the time of the commencement of the fermentation is entirely uncertain. It takes place sometimes in one, two, or three days; sometimes not till a week or month after turning: but it has been observed, that liquor which has been agitated in a carriage, though taken immediately from the press, will sometimes pass almost immediately into a state of fermentation. The continuance of the fermentation is no less uncertain than the commencement of it. Liquors when much agitated, will go through it perhaps in one day; but when allowed to remain at rest, the fermentation commonly goes on two or three days, and sometimes five or six. The fermenting liquor, however, puts on a different appearance according to circumstances. When produced from fruits improperly matured, it generally throws up a thick foam resembling that of malt liquor, and of a thickness proportioned to the species and ripeness of the fruit; the riper the fruit, the more foam being thrown up. Perry gives but little foam, and cyder will sometimes also do the same; sometimes it is intentionally prevented from doing it.

After having remained some time in the fermenting vessel, the liquor is racked or drawn off from the lees and put into fresh casks. In this part of the operation also Mr Marshall complains greatly of the little attention that is paid to the liquor. The ordinary time for racking perry is before it has done rising, or sometimes when it begins to emit fixed air in plenty. The only intention of the operation is to free the liquor from its excess by a cock placed at a little distance from the bottom; after which the remainder is to be filtered through a canvas or flannel bag. This filtered liquor differs from the rest in having a higher colour; having no longer any tendency to ferment, but on the contrary checking the fermentation of that which is racked off; and if it loses its brightness, it is no longer easily recovered.—A fresh fermentation usually commences after racking; and if it become violent, a fresh racking is necessary in order to check it; in consequence of which the same liquor will perhaps be racked five or six times: but if only a small degree of fermentation takes place, which is called fretting, it is allowed to remain in the same cask; though even here the degree of fermentation which requires racking is by no means determined. Mr Marshall informs us that the best manufacturers, however, repeat the rackings until the liquor will lie quiet, or nearly so; and if it be found impracticable to accomplish this by the ordinary method of fermentation, recourse must be had to fumigation with sulphur, which is called fuming the casks. For this fumigation it is necessary to have matches made of thick linen cloth about ten inches long, and an inch broad, thickly coated with brimstone for about eight inches of their length. The cask is then properly leached, and every vent except the bunghole tightly stopped; a match is kindled, lowered down into the cask, and held by the end undipped until it be well lighted and the bung be driven in; thus suspending the lighted match within the cask. Having burnt as long as the contained air will supply the fire, the match dies, the bung is raised, the remnant of the match drawn out, and the cask suffered to remain before the liquor be put into it for two or three hours, more or less according to the degree of power the sulphur ought to have. The liquor retains a smell of the sulphurous acid; but this goes off in a short time, and no bad effect is ever observed to follow.

In some places the liquor is left to ferment in open casks, where it stands till the first fermentation be pretty well over; after which the froth or yeast collected upon the surface is taken off, it being supposed that it is this yeast mixing with the clear liquor which causes it to fret after racking. The fermentation being totally ceased, and the lees subsided, the liquor is racked off into a fresh cask, and the lees filtered as above directed. Our author mentions a way of fermenting fruit-liquors in broad shallow vats, not less than five feet in diameter, and little more than two feet deep; each vat containing about two hogsheads. In these the liquor remains until it has done rising, or till the fermentation has nearly ceased, when it is racked off without skimming, the critical juncture being caught before the yeast fall; the whole sinking gradually together as the liquor is drawn off. In this practice also the liquor is seldom drawn off a second time.

Cyder is made of three different kinds, viz., rough, sweet, and of a middle richness. The first kind being usually destined for servants, is made with very little ceremony. "If it is but cyder (says Mr Marshall), and has body enough to keep, no matter for the richness and flavour. The rougher it is, the further it will go, and the more acceptable custom has rendered it not only to the workmen but to their masters. A palate accustomed to sweet cyder would judge the Making of rough cider of the farm-houses to be a mixture of vinegar and water, with a little dissolved alum to give it roughnesses." The method of producing this aulter liquor is to grind the fruit in a crude under-ripe state, and subject the liquor to a full fermentation.—For the sweet liquor, make choice of the sweeter fruits; mature them fully; and check the fermentation of the liquor.—To produce liquors of a middle richness, the nature of the fruit, as well as the season in which it is matured, must be considered. The fruits to be made choice of are such as yield juices capable of affording a sufficiency both of richness and strength; though much depends upon proper management. Open vats, in our author's opinion, are preferable to close vessels: but if casks be used at all, they ought to be very large, and not filled; nor ought they to lie upon their sides, but to be set on their ends with their heads out, and to be filled only to such a height as will produce the requisite degree of fermentation: but in whatever way the liquor be put to ferment, Mr Marshall is of opinion that the operation ought to be allowed to go freely for the first time; though after being racked off, any second fermentation ought to be prevented as much as possible.

V. Correcting, provincially called doctoring. The imperfections which art attempts to supply in these liquors are, 1. Want of strength; 2. Want of richness; 3. Want of flavour; 4. Want of colour and brightness.

The want of strength is supplied by brandy or any other spirit in sufficient quantity to prevent the acetic fermentation. The want of richness is supplied by what are generally termed sweets, but prepared in a manner which our author says has never fallen under his notice. To supply the want of flavour, an infusion of hops is sometimes added, which is said to communicate an agreeable bitter, and at the same time a fragrance; whence it becomes a substitute for the juices of the rind and kernels thrown away to the pigs and poultry, or otherwise wasted. The want of colour is sometimes supplied by elder berries, but more generally by burnt sugar, which gives the desired colour, and a degree of bitter which is very much liked. The sugar is prepared either by burning it on a salamander, and suffering it to drop, as it melts, into water; or by boiling it over the fire (in which case brown sugar is to be used), until it acquire an agreeable bitter; then pouring in boiling water in the proportion of a gallon to two pounds of sugar, and stir until the liquor become uniform. A pint of this preparation will colour a hogshead of cider. Brightness is obtained by a mixture of the blood of bullocks or sheep; that of swine being rejected, though it does not appear to be more unfit for the purpose than either of the other two. The only thing necessary to be done here is to stir the blood well as it is drawn from the animal, to prevent the parts from separating; and it ought to be stirred "both ways, for a quarter of an hour." The liquor, however, is not always in a proper condition for being refined with this ingredient: on which account a little of it ought frequently to be tried in a vial. A quart or less will be sufficient for a hogshead. After the blood is poured in, the liquor should be violently agitated, to mix the whole intimately together. This is done by a stick slit into four, and inserted into the bunghole; working it briskly about in the liquor until the whole be thoroughly mixed. In about 24 hours the blood will be subsided, and the liquor ought instantly to be racked off; as by remaining upon the blood even for two or three days, it will receive a taint not easily to be got rid of. It is remarkable that this refinement with the blood carries down not only the faeces, but the colour also; rendering the liquor, though ever so highly coloured before, almost as limpid as water. Ifinglars and eggs are sometimes made use of in fining cider as well as wine.

VI. The laying up or shutting up the cider in close casks, according to Mr Marshall, is as little understood as any of the rest of the parts; the bungs being commonly put in at some certain time, or in some particular month, without any regard to the state the liquor itself is in. "The only criterion (says he) I have met with for judging the critical time of laying up, is when a fine white cream-like matter first begins to form upon the surface. But this may be too late; it is probably a symptom at least of the acetous fermentation, which if it take place in any degree must be injurious. Yet if the casks be bunged tight, some criterion is necessary; otherwise, if the vinous fermentation have not yet finally ceased, or should recommence, the casks will be endangered, and the liquor injured. Hence, in the practice of the most cautious manager whose practice I have had an opportunity of observing, the bungs are first driven in tightly, when the liquor is fine, and the vinous fermentation is judged to be over; and some time afterward, when all danger is past, to fill up the casks, and drive the bungs securely with a rag, and roast them over at top. Most farmers are of opinion, that after the liquor is done fermenting, it ought to have something to feed upon; that is, to prevent it from running into the acetous fermentation. For this purpose some put in parched beans, others egg-shells, some mutton suet, &c. Mr Marshall does not doubt that something may be useful; and thinks that ifinglars may be as proper as anything that can be got.

VII. Bottling. This depends greatly on the quality of the liquors themselves. Good cider can seldom be bottled with propriety under a year old; sometimes not till two. The proper time is when it has acquired the utmost degree of richness and flavour in the casks; and this it will preserve for many years in bottles. It ought to be quite fine at the time of bottling; or if not so naturally, ought to be fined artificially with ifinglars and eggs.

The liquor, called cyderkin, purree, or perlin, is made Of cyder-of the muck or froth matter remaining after the cyder kin, is pressed out. To make this liquor, the muck is put into a large vat, with a proper quantity of boiled water, which has stood till it be cold again: if half the quantity of water be used that there was of cyder, it will be good; if the quantities be equal, the cyderkin will be small. The whole is left to infuse 48 hours, and then well pressed; what is squeezed out by the press is immediately turned up and stopped; it is fit to drink in a few days. It clarifies itself, and ferments in families instead of small beer. It will keep, if boiled, after wine, according to Dr Ruth's recipe.

We must not conclude this section without particular Making of cider wine, which is made from the juice of apples taken from the press and boiled, and which being kept three or four years is said to resemble Rhenish. The method of preparing this wine, as communicated by Dr. Ruth of America, where it is much practised, consists in evaporating in a brewing copper the fresh apple-juice till half of it be consumed. The remainder is then immediately conveyed into a wooden cooler, and afterwards is put into a proper cask, with an addition of yeast, and fermented in the ordinary way. The process is evidently borrowed from what has long been practised on the recent juice of the grape, under the term of vin cuit, or boiled wine, not only in Italy, but also in the islands of the Archipelago, from time immemorial.

This process has lately become an object of imitation in the cider counties, and particularly in the west of England, where it is reported that many hundred hogsheads of this wine have already been made; and as it is said to betray no sign of an impregnation of copper by the usual chemical tests, it is considered as perfectly wholesome, and is accordingly drunk without apprehension by the common people. Others, however, suspect its innocence; whence it appeared an object of no small moment to determine in so doubtful a matter, whether or not the liquor acquires any noxious quality from the copper in which it is boiled. With this view Dr. Fothergill* made a variety of experiments, and the result seemed to afford a strong presumption that the cider wine does contain a minute impregnation of copper; not very considerable indeed, but yet sufficient, in the Doctor's opinion, to put the public on their guard concerning a liquor that comes in so very "questionable a shape."

It is a curious chemical fact, he observes, if it be really true, that acid liquors, while kept boiling in copper vessels, acquire little or no impregnation from the metal, but presently begin to act upon it when left to stand in the cold. Can this be owing to the agitation occasioned by boiling, or the expulsion of the aerial acid? Atmospheric air powerfully corrodes copper, probably through the intervention of the aerial or rather nitrous acid, for both are now acknowledged to be present in the atmosphere. But the latter is doubtless a much stronger menstruum of copper than the former.

In the present process the liquor is properly directed to be passed into a wooden cooler as soon as the boiling is completed. But as all acids, and even common water, acquire an impregnation and unpleasant taste, from standing in copper vessels in the cold, why may not the acid juice of apples act in some degree on the copper before the boiling commences? Add to this, that brewing coppers, without far more care and attention than is generally bestowed on them in keeping them clean, are extremely apt to contract verdigris, (a rank poison), as appears from the blue or green streaks very visible when these vessels are minutely examined. Should the unfermented juice be thought incapable of acting on the copper either in a cold or boiling state, yet no one will venture to deny its power of washing off or dissolving verdigris already formed on the internal surface of the vessel. Suppose only one-eighth part of a grain of verdigris to be contained in a bottle of this wine, a quantity that may elude the ordinary tests, and that a bottle should be drunk daily by a person without producing any visible symptoms or internal uneasiness; yet what person in his senses would knowingly choose to hazard the experiment of determining how long he could continue even this quantity of a slow poison in his daily beverage with impunity? And yet it is to be feared the experiment is but too often unthinking made, not only with cider wine, but also with many of the foreign wines prepared by a similar process. For the grape juice, when evaporated in a copper vessel, under the denomination of vino cotto or boiled wine, cannot but acquire an equal, if not yet stronger impregnation of the metal, than the juice of apples, seeing that verdigris itself is manufactured merely by the application of the acid juices of grapes to plates of copper.

Independent of the danger of any metallic impregnation, the Doctor thinks, it may be justly questioned how far the process of preparing boiled wines is necessary or reconcileable to reason or economy. The evaporation of them must by long boiling not only occasion an unnecessary waste of both liquor and fuel, but also dissipates certain essential principles, without which the liquor can never undergo a complete fermentation; and without a complete fermentation there can be no perfect wine. Hence the boiled wines are generally crude, heavy, and flat, liable to produce indigestion, flatulence, and diarrhoea. If the evaporation be performed hastily, the liquor contracts a burnt empyreumatic taste, as in the present instance; if slowly, the greater is the danger of a metallic impregnation. For the process may be presumed to be generally performed in a vessel of brass or copper, as few families possess any other that is sufficiently capacious. Nor can a vessel of cast-iron, though perfectly safe, be properly recommended for this purpose, as it would probably communicate a chalybeate taste and dark colour to the liquor. At all events, brass and copper vessels ought to be entirely banished from this and every other culinary process.

Sect. X. Of Fences.

We shall conclude the present subject of agriculture by taking notice of the various kinds of fences that may be found valuable in it.—Robert Somerville, Esq., of Haddington, in a communication to the Board of Agriculture, has endeavoured to enumerate the whole simple and compound fences that are at present used.

Simple fences are those that consist of one kind only as a ditch, a hedge, or a wall. Compound fences are made by the union of two or more of these, as a hedge and ditch, or hedge and wall. The following is the list which he has given of them:

"Simple Fences."

I. Simple ditch, with a bank on one side. II. Double ditch, with a bank of earth between. III. Bank of earth, with a perpendicular facing of sod. IV. Ha-ha, or sunk fence. V. Palings, or timber fences, of different kinds, viz. 1. Simple nailed paling of rough timber. 2. Jointed horizontal paling. 3. Upright lath paling. 4. Horizontal Fences.

4. Horizontal paling of young firs. 5. Upright ditto of do. 6. Chain fence. 7. Net fence. 8. Rope fence. 9. Flake or hurdle fence. 10. Ozier or willow fence. 11. Fence of growing poits. 12. Shingle fence, horizontal. 13. Ditto, upright. 14. Warped paling. 15. Open paling, warped with dead thorns or branches of trees.

VI. Dead hedges, various kinds. VII. Live hedges. VIII. Walls. 1. Dry stone wall, coped and uncoped. 2. Stone and lime ditto, do. 3. Stone and clay, do. 4. Stone and clay, harled, or dashed with lime. 5. Dry stone, ditto, lipped with lime. 6. Dry stone, ditto, lipped and harled. 7. Dry stone, pinned and harled. 8. Brick walls. 9. Frame walls. 10. Galloway dike or wall. 11. Turf wall. 12. Turf and stone, in alternate layers. 13. Mud walls, with straw.

"Compound Fences."

1. Hedge and ditch, with or without paling. 2. Double ditto. 3. Hedge and bank, with or without paling. 4. Hedge in the face of a bank. 5. Hedge on the top of a bank. 6. Devonshire fence. 7. Hedge, with single or double paling. 8. Hedge and dead hedge. 9. Hedge and wall. 10. Hedge, ditch, and wall. 11. Hedge in the middle of a wall. 12. Hedge and ditch, with row of trees. 13. Hedge, or hedge and wall, with belt of planting. 14. Hedge with the corners planted. 15. Reed fence, or port and rail, covered with reeds."

Of the nature of each of these, and the advantages attending the use of them, we shall take some short notice. The ditch, which is one of the simple fences, is most frequently considered merely as an open drain intended to relieve the soil of superfluous moisture. It is frequently also, however, made use of without any such intention, as a fence for the confinement of cattle; but it is more frequently used with the double view of serving as a fence, and as a drain. It is made in a variety of ways, according to the object in view. If a ditch is meant to be used merely as a drain, the earth thrown out of it ought by no means to be formed into a bank upon the side of it, because such a practice, as formerly stated, when treating of draining, has a tendency to injure its utility by cutting off its communication with one side of the field to be drained; but when a ditch is intended to be used as a fence, a different rule of proceeding must be followed. In that case, the object in view will be greatly forwarded by forming the earth taken out of the ditch into a bank upon its side, which when added to the depth of the ditch, will form a barrier of considerable value.

Ditches are sometimes formed of an uniform breadth at top and bottom. This kind of ditch is liable to many objections. After frosts and rains, its sides are perpetually crumbling down and falling in, and if the field in which such a ditch is placed have a considerable declivity, the bottom of the ditch will be extremely liable to be undermined by any current of water, that either permanently or casually takes place in it; at the same time, such ditches have been found very useful in low-lying clay or cart soils where the country is level. From the nature of the soil, the sides of the ditches in such situations are tolerably durable. No rapid current of water can exist to undermine them; and, by their figure, they withdraw from the plough the smallest possible portion of surface.

Other ditches are constructed wide above, with a gradual slope from both sides downwards. This form of a ditch is in general the best, where it is at all to be used for the drainage of the field, as the sides are not so liable as in the former case to be excavated by the current of water. Hence it is more durable, and by diminishing the quantity of digging at the bottom, it is more easily executed.

A third kind of ditches are so formed as to have one side sloping, and the other perpendicular. This kind of ditch partakes of the whole perfections and imperfections of the two former. It is extremely useful, however, in fields of which sheep form a part of the stock, and where the bottom of the ditch contains a current of water; for, in such cases, when sheep tumble into a deep ditch, whose sides are pretty steep, they are very apt to perish; but by making one side of the ditch very much sloped, while the other approaches to the perpendicular, they are enabled to make their escape; while at the same time, by the bed of the stream being widened, the perpendicular side of the ditch is less liable to be undermined. When the earth taken out of a ditch is formed into a bank on one side, a projecting vacant space of 6 or 8 inches ought always to be left between the bank and the ditch, to prevent the earth from tumbling in and filling up the ditch.

A double ditch, with a bank of earth between the two, formed out of the earth obtained by digging them, has many obvious advantages over the single ditch, when considered as a fence; for the earth taken out of the two ditches, when properly laid up in the middle, will naturally become a very formidable rampart, which cattle will not readily attempt to cross. It is also excellently adapted for the purpose of open drainage, and it ought always to be used upon the sides of highways, where the adjoining lands have a considerable declivity towards the road. In such cases, the inner ditch receives the water from the field, and prevents it from washing down or overflowing the road in the time of heavy rains; an inconvenience which frequently cannot otherwise be avoided.

The bank of earth, with a perpendicular facing of Bank of sod, and a slope behind, is useful in some situations, as earth in making folds for the confinement of sheep or cattle, in which case the front or perpendicular side of the bank Fences. bank must be turned inwards. It is also valuable on the sides of highways to protect the adjoining fields, and also for fencing belts of planting, or inclosing stockyards and cottages. The front of the bank is made with the turf taken from the surface of the sloping ditch, and the mound at the back with the earth taken out of it. This fence, when well executed, is said to last a considerable time.

The ha-ha, or funk fence, very nearly resembles the mound of earth with the perpendicular facing of turf, with this difference, that the facing of the ha-ha is of stone. The height of both depends almost entirely upon the depth of the ditch; both of them in truth consist of the kind of ditch already mentioned, of which the one side slopes while the other is perpendicular, and differ from it chiefly in this respect, that the perpendicular side is faced with turf or stone. The stone-facing is made either of dry stone, or of stone and lime. In the Agricultural Report of Cromarty, the mode of making the funk fence is thus described: "Upon the line where this fence is intended, begin to sink your ditch, taking the earth from as far as eight feet outward, and throwing it up on the inside of the lines. This ditch and bank is not made quite perpendicular, but inclining inward towards the field as it rises; to this is built a facing of dry stone, four feet and a half in height, one foot and three quarters broad at bottom, and one foot at top, over which a coping of turf is laid: the ditch or funk part forms an excellent drain. The whole of this is performed, when the stones (we shall suppose) can be procured at a quarter of a mile's distance, for 6d. per yard." The principal defect of the funk fence consists in this, that unless the bank at the back of it is considerably steep, or has a railing at the top, it forms a kind of snare on that side for cattle, as they must always be apt to tumble over it in dark nights.

Palings or timber fences, are in many places much used, though they never can be considered with propriety as forming permanent inclosures. Of whatever materials they are formed, their decay commences from the instant they are erected. This decay begins with the part of the paling that is put into the ground, which is speedily rotted by the moisture, or consumed by worms or other animals that attack it. To guard as much as possible against this cause of decay, various devices have been adopted. It is a very general practice to burn the surface of that part of the standards of the paling which is meant to be driven into the earth. It is also customary to cover the same part of the wood with a strong coat of coarse oil paint, and Lord Donaldson's coal varnish has been recommended with this view. The points of the standards that are to be fixed in the earth, ought to be dipped in the varnish while it is boiling hot. Common tar or melted pitch have also been used with tolerable success to defend the extremities of the standards of paling. In some cases where the expense could be afforded, large stones have been sunk into the earth, with holes cut into them of a size adapted to receive the ends of the posts of the paling. The durability of the wood in this case is greater, but it bears no proportion to the additional expense incurred. When posts for paling can be obtained consisting of branches of trees, with the bark still upon them, this natural covering enables them to remain uncorrupted for a longer period than can be accomplished by any artificial coating. It is no objection to this, that a part of the uncovered wood, or the bottom of the stake or post must be inserted in the earth; for it is not at the bottom that stakes or posts begin to decay, but at the uppermost place at which the earth touches them, or between the wet and the dry as it is called. Of the kinds of paling it is unnecessary to say much.

The simple nailed paling of rough timber, consists of posts or stakes inserted in the earth, and crossed with three, four, or more horizontal bars or slabs as they are called in Scotland. It is the most common of all, and is used to protect young hedges, or to strengthen ditches when used as fences.

The jointed horizontal paling, consists of massive square poles drove into the earth, and having openings cut into them for the reception of the extremities of the horizontal bars. These openings, however, weaken the poles much, and cause them soon to decay; but this kind of paling has a very handsome and substantial appearance.

The upright lath paling, is formed by driving strong piles of wood into the earth, and crossing them at top and bottom, with horizontal pieces of similar strength. Upon these half are nailed, at every 6 or 12 inches distance, laths or pieces of fawn wood, of the shape and size of the laths used for the roofs of tiled houses. This kind of paling prevents cattle from putting their heads through to crop or injure young hedges or trees.

The horizontal paling of firs, or the weedings of other young trees, does not differ from the palings already described, unless in this respect, that the materials of which it is formed, consist not of timber cut down for the purpose, but of the thinnings of woods or belts of planting. Such palings are usually more formidable to cattle than any other, because when the lateral twigs that grow out of large branches are lopped off in a coarse manner, the branch still retains a roughness which keeps cattle at a distance.

The chain horizontal fence is made by fixing strong piles of wood in the earth in the direction in which the fence is to run, and fixing three chains at regular distances, extending horizontally from pile to pile, instead of cross bars of wood. Instead of posts of wood, pillars of mason work are sometimes used, and between these the chains are extended. A chain fence will confine horses or cattle, but is unfit to confine sheep or hogs. From its expensive nature, it can only be used in public walks, or for stretching across streams or pieces of water, where the inclosure can be completed in no other way.

The net fence is used for pleasure grounds, and instead of chains, as in the former case, it consists of a strong net extended between upright piles. Such a fence may be a very pretty ornament, but could be of little use against the horns of cattle.

The rope fence is constructed like the chain fence, and differs from it only in the use of cords instead of metal chains, and has the same defect of being useless against swine and sheep.

The moveable wooden fence or flake, or hurdle fence, consists of a kind of moveable paling, used for confining sheep or cattle to a certain spot when feeding upon a turnip field, and in this view it is extremely useful; useful; for if the cattle were allowed to range at large over the field, a great quantity of the turnips would be destroyed by having pieces eaten from them, which would immediately spoil and rot before the remainder could be consumed; whereas, by the use of these moveable palings, the sheep or cattle having only a certain quantity of food allotted to them at a time, are compelled to eat it clean up without any loss.

The osier or willow fence, or wattled fence, is made by driving in the direction of the fence, stakes of willow or poplar, of half the thickness of a man's wrist into the earth, about 18 inches asunder. They are then bound together with small twigs of the willows or poplars twisted and interwoven with them. If the upright stakes have been recently cut down, and if the fence is made about the end of autumn, they will take root and grow in the spring. If their new lateral branches are afterwards properly interwoven and twisted together, they will become in two or three years a permanent and almost impenetrable fence.

The paling of growing trees, or rails nailed to growing posts, is formed by planting beech, larch, or other trees, at the distance of a yard from each other, in the direction in which the fence is wanted. When 10 or 12 feet high, they must be cut down to 6 feet. The cutting of the tops will make them push out a great number of lateral branches, which may be interwoven with the upright part of the tree, as in the case of the willow fence already mentioned.

The horizontal and upright flingle fence is formed in this manner; stout piles are driven into the earth, and deals of from half an inch to an inch thick, are nailed horizontally upon them in such a way, that the under edge of the uppermost deal projects over the upper edge of the one immediately below it, like slates or tiles upon houses. In like manner, the flingles or boards may be placed perpendicularly and bound together, by being nailed to horizontal bars of wood.

The warped paling consists of pieces of wood driven into the earth, which are twisted and interwoven with each other, so as to form a very open net-work; the tops of the pieces of wood being bound together by willow or other twigs.

The light open fence with thorns, or branches of trees woven into it, is nothing more than a common paling, whose interstices are filled up with thorns or branches of trees. It is a very effectual fence while it lasts.

Dead hedges are made of the prunings of trees, or the tops of live hedges that have been cut down. They are sometimes made upon the top of the mound of earth taken out of a ditch, by inserting the thick ends of the twigs in the earth, and making them rest in an oblique manner. Sometimes the stronger pieces or stakes are fixed in the earth, and the smaller twigs are used to fasten them together at top, by a kind of net-work. What is called the stake and rue fence in Scotland, consists of a dead hedge or fence, formed of upright posts, the intervals between which are filled up with twigs woven horizontally. All these, however, can only be regarded as fences of a very temporary nature, which are constantly in want of repairs, and therefore requiring a continual expense.

Before planting live hedges, it is proper to consider the nature of the land, and what sorts of plants will thrive best in it; and also, what is the soil from whence the plants are to be taken. As for the size, the letts ought to be about the thickness of one's little finger, and cut within about four or five inches of the ground; they ought to be fresh taken up, straight, smooth, and well-rooted. Those plants that are raised in the nursery are to be preferred.

In planting outside hedges, the turf is to be laid, with the grass-side downwards, on that side of the ditch on which the bank is designed to be made; and some of the soil mould should be laid upon it to bed the quick, which is to be set upon it a foot asunder. When the first row of quicks is set, it must be covered with mould; and when the bank is a foot high, you may lay another row of sets against the spaces of the former, and cover them as you did the others: the bank is then to be topped with the bottom of the ditch, and a dry or dead hedge laid, to shade and defend the under-plantation. Stakes should then be driven into the loose earth, so low as to reach the firm ground: these are to be placed at about two feet and a half distance; and in order to render the hedge yet stronger, you may edger it, that is, bind the top of the stakes with small long poles, and when the edging is finished, drive the stakes anew.

The quick must be kept constantly weeded, and free of manure from being cropped by cattle; and in February, or the month following, it will be proper to cut it within an inch of the ground, hawthorn, which will cause it strike root afresh, and help it much in the growth.

The crab is frequently planted for hedges; and if of the crab, the plants are raised from the kernels of the small wild crabs, they are much to be preferred to those raised from the kernels of all sorts of apples without distinction; because the plants of the true small crab never shoot so strong as those of the apples, and may therefore be better kept within the proper compass of a hedge.

The black thorn, or sloe, is frequently planted for black hedges; and the best method of doing it, is to raise thorn, the plants from the stones of the fruit, which should be sown about the middle of January, if the weather will permit, in the place where the hedge is intended; but when they are kept longer out of the ground, it will be proper to mix them with sand, and keep them in a cool place. The same fence will do for it when sown, as when it is planted.

The holly is sometimes planted for hedges; but Holly, where it is exposed, there will be great difficulty in preventing its being destroyed; otherwise, it is by far the most beautiful plant; and, being an evergreen, will afford much better shelter for cattle in winter than any other sort of hedge. The best method of raising these hedges, is to sow the stones in the place where the hedge is intended; and, where this can be conveniently done, the plants will make a much better progress than those that are transplanted: but these berries should be buried in the ground several months before they are sown. The way to do this, is to gather the berries about Christmas, when they are usually ripe, and put them into large flower-pots, mixing some sand with them; then dig holes in the ground, into which the pots must be sunk, covering them over with earth, about ten inches thick. In this place they must remain till the following October, when they should be taken taken up, and sown in the place where the hedge is intended to be made. The ground should be well trenched, and cleared from the roots of all bad weeds, bulbes, trees, &c. Then two drills should be made, at about a foot distance from each other, and about two inches deep, into which the seeds should be scattered pretty close, lest some should fail. When the plants grow up, they must be carefully weeded; and if they are designed to be kept very neat, they should be cut twice a year, that is in May and in August; but if they are only designed for fences, they need only be sheered in July. The fences for these hedges, while young, should admit as much free air as possible; the best sort are those made with posts and rails, or with ropes drawn through holes made in the posts; and if the ropes are painted over with a composition of melted pitch, brown Spanish colour and oil, well mixed, they will last several years.

Hedges for ornament in gardens are sometimes planted with evergreens, in which case the holly is preferable to any other; next to this, most people prefer the yew; but the dead colour of its leaves renders those hedges less agreeable. The laurel is one of the most beautiful evergreens; but the holly is so luxuriant that it is difficult to keep it in any tolerable shape; and as the leaves are large, to prevent the disagreeable appearance given them by their being cut through with the sheers, it will be the best way to prune them with a knife, cutting the shoots just down to a leaf. The lauriflora is a very fine plant for this purpose; but the same objection may be made to this as to the laurel: this, therefore, ought only to be pruned with a knife in April when the flowers are going off; but the new shoots of the same spring must by no means be shortened. The small-leaved and rough-leaved lauriflora are the best plants for this purpose. The true phillyrea is the next best plant for hedges, which may be led up to the height of 10 or 12 feet; and if they are kept narrow at the top, there may be not too much width for the snow to lodge upon them, they will be close and thick, and make a fine appearance. The ilex, or evergreen oak, is also planted for hedges, and is a fit plant for those designed to grow very tall.—The deciduous plants usually planted to form hedges in gardens are, the hornbeam, which may be kept neat with less trouble than most other plants. The beech, which has the same good qualities as the hornbeam; but the gradual falling of its leaves in winter causes a continual litter. The small-leaved English elm is a proper tree for tall hedges, but these should not be planted closer than eight or ten feet. The lime-tree has also been recommended for the same purpose; but after they have stood some years, they grow very thin at bottom, and their leaves frequently turn of a black disagreeable colour.

Many of the flowering shrubs have also been planted in hedges, such as roses, honeysuckles, sweet briar, &c., but these are difficult to train; and if they are cut to bring them within compass, their flowers, which are their greatest beauty, will be entirely destroyed. A correspondent of the society for improving agriculture in Scotland, however, informs us, that he tried with success the eglantine, sweet-briar, or dog-rose, when all the methods of making hedges practised in Essex and Hampshire had been tried in vain. His method was to gather the hips of this plant, and to lay them in a tub till March; the seeds were then easily rubbed out; after which they were sown in a piece of ground prepared for garden peas. Next year they came up; and the year after they were planted in the following manner. After marking out the ditch, the plants were laid about 18 inches asunder upon the side grass, and their roots covered with the first turfs that were taken off from the surface of the intended ditch. The earth side of these turfs was placed next to the roots, and other earth laid upon the turfs which had been taken out of the ditch. In four or five years these plants made a fence which neither horses nor cattle of any kind could pass. Even in two or three years none of the larger cattle will attempt a fence of this kind. Sheep indeed will sometimes do so, but they are always entangled to such a degree, that they would remain there till they died unless relieved. Old briars dug up and planted soon make an excellent fence; and, where thin, it may be easily thickened by laying down branches, which in one year will make shoots of six or seven feet. They bear clipping very well.

Dr Anderson, who hath treated the subject of hedges very particularly, is of opinion, that some other plants besides those above mentioned might be usefully employed in the construction of hedges. Among these he reckons the common willow. This, he says, by "Effays on Agriculture," no means requires the wettest of soil which is commonly supposed. "It is generally imagined (says he), that the willow can be made to thrive nowhere except in wet or boggy ground: but this is one of those vulgar errors, founded upon inaccurate observation, too often to be met with in subjects relating to rural affairs; for experience has sufficiently convinced me, that this plant will not only grow, but thrive, in any rich well cultivated soil (unless in particular circumstances that need not here be mentioned), even although it be of a very dry nature. It could not, however, in general be made to thrive, if planted in the same manner as thorns; nor would it, in any respect, be proper to train it up for a fence in the same way as that plant. The willow, as a fence, could seldom be successfully employed, but for dividing into separate inclosures of extensive field of rich ground: and, as it is always necessary to put the foil into as good order as possible before a hedge of this kind is planted in it, the easiest method of putting it into the necessary high tillth, will be to mark off the boundaries of your several fields in the winter, or early in the spring, with a design to give a complete fallow to a narrow ridge, six or eight feet broad, in the middle of which the hedge is intended to be planted the ensuing winter. This ridge ought to be frequently ploughed during the summer season, and in the autumn to be well manured with dung or lime, or both (for it cannot be made too rich), and be neatly formed into a ridge before winter.

"Having prepared the ground in this manner, it will be in readiness to receive the hedge, which ought to be planted as early in winter as can be got conveniently done; as the willow is much hurt by being planted late in the spring. But before you begin to make a fence of this kind, it will be necessary to provide a sufficient number of plants: which will be best done..." done by previously rearing them in a nursery of your own, as near the field to be inclosed as you can conveniently have it; for as they are very bulky, the carriage of them would be troublesome if they were brought from any considerable distance. The best kinds of willow for this use, are such as make the longest and strongest shoots, and are not of a brittle nature. All the large kinds of hood-willows may be employed for this use; but there is another kind with stronger and more taper shoots, covered with a dark green bark when young, which, upon the older shoots, becomes of an ash gray, of a firm texture, and a little rough to the touch. The leaves are not so long, and a great deal broader than those of the common hoop-willow, pretty thick, and of a dark-green colour.

What name this species is usually known by, I cannot tell; but as it becomes very quickly of a large size at the root, and is strong and firm, it ought to be made choice of for this purpose in preference to all other kinds that I have seen. The shoots ought to be of two or three years growth before they can be properly used, and should never be less than eight or nine feet in length. These ought to be cut over close by the ground immediately before planting, and carried to the field at their whole length. The planter having stretched a line along the middle of the ridge which was prepared for their reception, begins at one end thereof, thrusting a row of these plants firmly into the ground, close by the side of the line, at the distance of 18 or 25 inches from one another; making them all plant a little to one side in a direction parallel to the line. This being finished, let him begin at the opposite end of the line, and plant another row in the intervals between the plants of the former row; making these incline as much as the others, but in a direction exactly contrary; and then, plaiting these basket-ways, work them into lozenges like a net, fastening the tops by plaiting the final twigs with one another, which with very little trouble may be made to bind together very firmly. The whole, when finished, assumes a very beautiful net-like appearance, and is even at first a tolerable good defence; and, as these plants immediately take root and quickly increase in size, it becomes, after a few years, a very strong fence which nothing can penetrate. This kind of hedge I myself have employed; and find that a man may plant and twist properly about a hundred yards in a day, if the plants be laid down to his hand: and, in a situation such as I have described, I know no kind of fence which could be reared at such a small expense so quickly become a defence, and continue so long in good order. But it will be greatly improved by putting a plant of eglantine between each two plants of willow, which will quickly climb up and be supported by them; and, by its numerous prickles, would effectually preserve the defenceself's willow from being browsed upon by cattle.

As it will be necessary to keep the narrow ridge, upon which the hedge is planted, in culture for one year at least, that the plants of eglantine may not be choked by weeds, and that the roots of the willow may be allowed to spread with the greater ease in the tender mould produced by this means, it will be proper to set the earth once or twice by a gentle horse-hoe in the beginning of summer; and, in the month of June, it may be sowed with turnips, or planted with cole-worts, which will abundantly repay the expense of the fallow."

The same author also gives the following useful directions for planting hedges in situations very much exposed to the weather, and recovering them when on the point of decaying. "Those who live in an open and uncultivated country, have many difficulties to encounter, which others who inhabit more warm and sheltered regions never experience; and, among these difficulties, may be reckoned that of hardly getting hedges p. 16, &c., to grow with facility. For, where a young hedge is much exposed to violent and continued gusts of wind, no art will ever make it rise with too much freedom, or grow with such luxuriance, as it would do in a more sheltered situation and favourable exposure.

But although it is impossible to rear hedges in this situation to too much perfection as in the others, yet they may be reared even there, with a little attention and pains, so as to become very fine fences.

It is advisable in all cases, to plant the hedges upon the face of a bank; but it becomes absolutely necessary in such an exposed situation as that I have now described: for the bank, by breaking the force of the wind, screens the young hedge from the violence of the blast, and allows it to advance, for some time at first, with much greater luxuriance than it otherwise could have done.

But as it may be expected soon to grow as high as the bank, it behoves the provident husbandman to prepare for that event, and guard, with a wise foresight, against the inconvenience that may be expected to arise from that circumstance.

With this view, it will be proper for him, instead of making a single ditch, and planting one hedge, to raise a pretty high bank, with a ditch on each side of it, and a hedge on each face of the bank; in which situation, the bank will equally shelter each of the two hedges while they are lower than it; and, when they at length become as high as the bank, the one hedge will in a manner afford shelter to the other, so as to enable them to advance with much greater luxuriance than either of them would have done singly.

To effectuate this still more perfectly, let a row of service trees be planted along the top of the bank, at the distance of 18 inches from each other, with a plant of eglantine between each two services. This plant will advance, in some degree, even in this exposed situation; and by its numerous shoots, covered with large leaves, will effectually screen the hedge on each side of it, which, in its turn, will receive some support and shelter from them; so that they will be enabled to advance all together, and form, in time, a close, strong, and beautiful fence.

The service is a tree but little known in Scotland; although it is one of those that ought perhaps to be often cultivated there in preference to any other tree whatever, as it is more hardy, and, in an exposed situation, affords more shelter to other plants than almost any other tree I know: for it sends out a great many strong branches from the under part of the stem, which, in time, assume an upright direction, and continue to advance with vigour, and carry many leaves to Fences, the very bottom, almost as long as the tree exists; so that if it is not pruned, it rises a large cloe bush, till it attains the height of a forest tree.

"It is of the same genus with the rawn-tree, and has a great resemblance to it both in flower and fruit; its branches are more waving and plant; its leaves undivided, broad, and round, somewhat resembling the elm, but white and mealy on the under side. It deserves to be better known than it is at present.

"But if, from the poorness of the soil in which your hedge is planted, or from any other cause, it should happen, that, after a few years, the hedge becomes sickly, and the plants turn poor and stunted in appearance, the easiest and only effectual remedy for that disease, is to cut the stems of the plants clean over, at the height of an inch or two above the ground; and after which they will send forth much stronger shoots than they ever would have done without this operation. And if the hedge be kept free of weeds, and trained afterwards in the manner above described, it will, in almost every case, be recovered, and rendered fresh and vigorous.

"This amputation ought to be performed in autumn, or the beginning of winter; and in the spring, when the young buds begin to show themselves, the stumps ought to be examined with care, and all the buds be rubbed off, excepting one or two of the strongest and best placed, which should be left for a stem. For if the numerous buds that spring forth round the stem are allowed to spring up undisturbed, they will become in a few years as weak and stunted as before; and the hedge will never afterwards be able to attain any considerable height, strength, or healthfulness.—I have seen many hedges, that have been repeatedly cut over, totally ruined by this circumstance not having been attended to in proper time.

"If the ground for fifteen or twenty feet on each side of the hedge be fallowed at the time that this operation is performed, and get a thorough dressing with rich manures, and be kept in high order for some years afterwards by good culture and meliorating crops, the hedge will prosper much better than if this had been omitted, especially if it had been planted on the level ground, or on the bank of a shallow ditch."

Mr Miller greatly recommends the black alder as superior to any other that can be employed in moist soils. It may either be propagated by layers or truncheons about three feet long. The best time for planting these last is in February or the month of March. They ought to be sharpened at their largest end, and the ground well loofened before they are thrust into it, lest the bark should be torn off, which might occasion their miscarriage. They should be set at least two feet deep, to prevent their being blown out of the ground by violent winds after they have made strong shoots; and they should be kept clear of tall weeds until they have got good heads, after which they will require no farther care. When raised by laying down the branches, it ought to be done in the month of October; and by that time twelvemonth they will have roots sufficient for transplantation, which must be done by digging a hole and loofening the earth in the place where the plant is to stand. The young fets must be planted at least a foot and a half deep; and their top should be cut off to within about nine inches of the ground; by which means they will shoot out many branches. This tree may be trained into very thick and close hedges, to the height of 20 feet and upwards. It will thrive exceedingly on the sides of brooks; for it grows best when part of its roots are in water; and may, if planted there, as is usual for willows, be cut for poles every fifth or sixth year. Its wood makes excellent pipes and staves; for it will last a long time under ground or in water: and it is likewise of great estimation among ploughwrights, turners, &c. as well as for making several of the utensils necessary for agriculture. Its bark also dyes a good black.

The birch is another tree recommended by Mr Miller as proper for hedges; and in places where the birch young plants can be easily procured, he says that the plantation of an acre will not cost 40 shillings, the after expense will not exceed 20 shillings: so that the whole will not come above three pounds. Ash trees ought never to be permitted in hedges, both because they injure the corn and grass by their wide extended roots, and likewise on account of the property their leaves have of giving a rank taste to butter made from the milk of such cattle as feed upon the leaves. No ash trees are permitted to grow in the good dairy counties.

Where there are plenty of rough flat stones, the fences which bound an estate or farm are frequently raised on made with them. In Devonshire and Cornwall it is common to build as it were two walls with these stones laid upon one another; first two and then one between: as the walls rise they fill the intermediate space with earth, beat the stones in flat to the sides, which makes them lie very firm, and so proceed till the whole is raised to the intended height. Quick hedges, and even large timber trees, are planted upon these walls, and thrive extremely well. Such inclosures are reckoned the best defence that can be had for the ground and cattle; though it can scarce be supposed, but they must be disagreeable to the eye, and stand in need of frequent repairs, by the stones being forced out of the way by cattle. The best way to prevent this is to build such wall in the bottom of a ditch made wide enough on purpose, and sloped down on each side. Thus the deformity will be hid; and as the cattle cannot stand to face the wall so as to attempt to leap over it, the stones of which it is composed will be less liable to be beaten down. The earth taken out of the ditch may be spread on the adjacent ground, and its sides planted with such trees or underwood as will best suit the soil. By leaving a space of several feet on the inside for timber, a supply of that valuable commodity may be had without doing any injury to the more valuable pasture.

The following is an excellent method of making a durable and beautiful fence in grassy places. Dig construct pieces of turf four or five inches thick, the breadth of an excellent spade, and about a foot in length. Lay these turfs fence in even by a line on one side, with the grass outward, at grassy places, at the distance of ten or twelve inches within the marks at which the ditch afterwards to be dug in the solid ground is to begin. Then lay, in the same manner, but with their grass sides turned out the contrary way, another row of turfs, at such a distance as to make a breadth of foundation proportioned to the intended height. height of the bank. Thus, even though the ground should prove defective, the bank would be prevented from giving way. A ditch may then be dug of what depth and breadth you please; or the ground may be lowered with a slope on each side; and in this case there will be no loss of pasture by the fence; because it may be sown with hay-seeds, and will bear grass on both sides. Part of the earth taken out of the ditches or slopes will fill the chasm between the rows of turf, and the rest may be scattered over the adjacent ground. Three, four, or more layers of turf, may be thus placed upon one another, and the interval between them filled up as before till the bank is brought to its desired height; only observing to give each side of it a gentle slope for greater strength. The top of this bank should be about two feet and a half wide, and the whole of it filled up with earth, except a small hollow in the middle to retain some rain. Quickets should then be planted along this top, and they will soon form an admirable hedge. By this means a bank four feet high, and a slope only two feet deep, will make, besides the hedge, a fence six feet high, through which no cattle will be able to force their way: for the roots of the grass will bind the turf so together, that in one year's time it will become entirely solid; and it will yet be much stronger when the roots of the quick shall have shot out among it. The only precautions necessary to be observed in making this bank are, 1. Not to make it when the ground is too dry; because, if a great deal of wet should suddenly follow, it will swell the earth so much as, perhaps, to endanger the falling of some of the outside; which, however, is easily remedied if it should happen. 2. If the slope be such as sheep can climb up, secure the young quicks, at the time of planting them, by a small dead hedge, either on or near the top, on both sides. If any of the quicks should die, which they will hardly be more apt to do in this than in any other situation, unless perhaps in extremely dry seasons, they may be renewed by some of the methods already mentioned.—Such fences will answer even for a park; especially if we place posts and rails, about two feet high, a little sloping over the side of the bank, on or near its top: no deer can creep through this, nor even be able to jump over it. It is likewise one of the best fences for securing cattle; and if the quicks on the banks be kept clipped, it will form a kind of green wall pleasing to the eye.

In the first volume of the Bath Papers we find elms recommended for fences; and the following method of raising them for this purpose is said to be the best. When elm timber is felled in the spring, sow the chips made in trimming or hewing them green, on a piece of ground newly ploughed, as you would corn, and harrow them in. Every chip which has an eye, or bud-knot, or some bark on it, will immediately shoot like the cuttings of potatoes; and the plants thus raised having no tap-roots, but shooting their fibres horizontally in the richest part of the soil, will be more vigorous, and may be more safely and easily transplanted, than when raised from seeds, or in any other method. The plants thus raised for elm fences have greatly the advantage of others; as five, six, and sometimes more, stems will arise from the same chip; and such plants if cut down within three inches of the ground, will multiply their side shoots in proportion, and make a hedge thicker, without running into naked wood, than by any other method yet practised. If kept clipped for three or four years, they will be almost impenetrable.

In the second volume of the same work, we meet with several observations on quick hedges by a gentleman on man near Bridgewater. He prefers the white and black quick thorns to all other plants for this purpose; but is of opinion, that planting timber trees in them at proper intervals is a very eligible and proper method. He raised some of his plants from haws in a nursery; others he drew up in the woods, or wherever they could be found. His banks were made flat, and three feet wide at the top, with a sloping side next the ditches, which last were dug only two feet below the surface, and one foot wide at bottom. The turfs were regularly laid, with the grass downwards, on that side of the ditch on which the hedge was to be raised, and the best of the mould laid at top. The sets were straight, long, smooth, and even growing ones planted as soon as possible after taking up. They were planted at a foot distance; and about every 40 feet young fruit-trees or those of other kinds, such as ash, oak, elm, beech, as the soil suited them. A second row of quickets was then laid on another bed of fresh earth at the same time, and covered with good mould; after which the bank was finished and secured properly from injuries by a dead hedge well wrought together, and fastened by stakes of oak-trees on the top of the bank at three feet distance. Wherever any of the quickets had failed or were of a dwindling appearance, he had them replaced with fresh ones from the nursery, as well as such of the young trees as had been planted on the top of the bank; and cleared the whole from weeds. Those most destructive to young hedges are the white and black bryony, bindweed, and the traveller's joy. The root of white bryony is as big as a man's leg, and runs very deep; that of black bryony often grows to 30 feet long, and with a kind of tendrils takes hold of the root of the young quick; and chokes it. This root must be dug very deep in order to destroy it. The third is still more destructive to young quicks than the other two, overshadowing the hedge like an arbour. Its root is smaller than that of the two former, but must be dug out very clean, as the least piece left will send up fresh shoots. It is very destructive to hedges to allow cattle to browse upon them, which they are very apt to do; but where cattle of some kind must be allowed access to them, horses will do by far the least mischief.

With regard to the advantage arising from hedges, our author observes, that "if they were of no further use than as mere fences, it would be the farmer's interest to keep them up carefully; for the better they are, the more secure are his cattle and crops." But if a judicious mixture of cyder fruit-trees were planted in hedges, the profit arising from them only would abundantly repay the cost of the whole without any loss of ground. It may possibly be objected by some, that the hedges would often be hurt by the boys climbing up to get the fruit: but those who make it should remember, or be told, that the best kinds of cyder-fruit are so hard and astringent at the time of their being gathered, that nobody can eat them, and even hogs Fences. hogs will hardly touch them. But the greatest benefit, where no fruit-trees are planted, arises from the thorns and wood which quick hedges yield for the fire and other purposes.

The author of the Essays on Husbandry recommends the hornbeam plant as one of the best yet known for making fences, according to the method practised in Germany, where such fences are common. "When the German husbandman (says he) erects a fence of this nature, he throws up a parapet of earth, with a ditch on each side, and plants his hornbeams sets in such a manner, that every two plants may be brought to intersect each other in the form of St Andrew's cross. In that part where the two plants cross each other, he gently scrapes off the bark, and binds them with straw thwart-wire. Here the two plants consolidate in a kind of indissoluble knot, and push from thence horizontal flanking shoots, which form a sort of living palisado or chevaux de frise; so that such a protection may be called a rural fortification. The hedges being pruned annually, and with discretion, will in a few years render the fence impenetrable in every part.

"It sometimes happens (says Dr Anderson) that a hedge may have been long neglected, and be in general in a healthy state, but full of gaps and openings, or too thin and straggling, as to form but a very imperfect sort of fence. On these occasions, it is in vain to hope to fill up the gaps by planting young quicks; for these would always be outgrown, choked, and starved, by the old plants: nor could it be recovered by cutting clear over by the roots, as the gaps would still continue where they formerly were. The only methods that I know of rendering this a fence are, either to mend up the gaps with dead wood, or to plait the hedge; which last operation is always the most eligible where the gaps are not too large to admit of being cured by this means.

"The operation I here call plaiting, may be defined, 'a wattling made of living wood.' To form this, some stems are first selected, to be left as stakes at proper distances, the tops of which are all cut over at the height of four feet from the root. The straggling side-branches of the other part of the hedge are also lopped away. Several of the remaining plants are then cut over, close by the ground, at convenient distances; and the remaining plants are cut perhaps half through, so as to permit them to be bent to one side. They are then bent down almost to a horizontal position, and interwoven with the upright stakes, so as to retain them in that position. Care ought to be taken that these be laid very low at those places where there were formerly gaps; which ought to be farther strengthened by some dead stakes or truncheons of willows, which will frequently take root in this case, and continue to live. And sometimes a plant of eglantine will be able to overcome the difficulties it there meets with, strike root, and grow up so as to strengthen the hedge in a most effectual manner.

"The operator begins at one end of the field, and proceeds regularly forward, bending all the stems in one direction, so that the points rise above the roots of the others, till the whole wattling is completed to the same height as the uprights.

"An expert operator will perform this work with much greater expedition than one who has not seen it done could easily imagine. And as all the diagonal wattlings continue to live and send out shoots from many parts of their stems, and as the upright shoots that rise from the stumps of those plants that have been cut over quickly rush up through the whole hedge, these serve to unite the whole into one entire mass, that forms a strong, durable, and beautiful fence.

"This is the best method of recovering an old neglected hedge that hath as yet come to my knowledge.

"In some cases it happens that the young shoots of a hedge are killed every winter; in which case it soon becomes dead and unsightly, and can never rise to any considerable height. A remedy for this disease may therefore be wished for.

"Young hedges are observed to be chiefly affected with this disorder; and it is almost always occasioned by an injudicious management of the hedge, by means of which it has been forced to send out too great a number of shoots in summer, that are thus rendered so small and weakly as to be unable to resist the severe weather in winter.

"It often happens that the owner of a young hedge, with a view to render it very thick and close, cuts it over with the shears a few inches above the ground the first winter after planting; in consequence of which, many small shoots spring out from each of the stems that has been cut over:—Each of which, being afterwards cut over in the same manner, sends forth a still greater number of shoots, which are smaller and smaller in proportion to their number.

"If the soil in which the hedge has been planted is poor, in consequence of this management, the branches, after a few years, become so numerous, that the hedge is unable to send out any shoots at all, and the utmost exertion of the vegetative powers enables it only to put forth leaves. These leaves are renewed in a sickly state for some years, and at last cease to grow at all—the branches become covered with fog, and the hedge perishes entirely.

"But if the soil be very rich, notwithstanding this great multiplication of the stems, the roots will still have sufficient vigour to force out a great many small shoots, which advance to a great length, but never attain a proportional thickness. And as the vigour of the hedge makes them continue to vegetate very late in autumn, the frosts come on before the tops of these dangling shoots have attained any degree of woody firmness, so that they are killed almost entirely by it: the whole hedge becomes covered with these long dead shoots, which are always disagreeable to look at, and usually indicate the approaching end of the hedge.

"The causes of the disorder being thus explained, it will readily occur, that the only radical cure is amputation; which, by giving an opportunity to begin with training the hedge anew, gives also an opportunity of avoiding the errors that occasioned it. In this case, care ought to be taken to cut the plants as close to the ground as possible, as there the stems will be less numerous than at any greater height. And particular attention ought to be had to allow very few shoots to arise from the stems that have been cut over, and to guard carefully against shortening them.

"But as the roots, in the case here supposed, will be very strong; the shoots that are allowed to spring from the stems will be very vigorous, and there will be some danger of their continuing to grow later in the season than they ought in safety to do; in which case, some part of the top of the shoot may perhaps be killed the first winter, which ought if possible to be prevented. This can only be effectually done by giving a check to the vegetation in autumn, so as to allow the young shoots to harden in the points before the winter approaches. If any of the leaves or branches of a tree are cut away while it is in the state of vegetation, the whole plant feels the loss, and it suffers a temporary check in its growth in proportion to the loss that it thus sustains. To check, therefore, the vigorous vegetation at the end of autumn, it will be prudent to choose the beginning of September for the time of lopping off all the supernumerary branches from the young hedge, and for clipping off the side-branches that have sprung out from it; which will, in general, be sufficient to give it such a check in its growth at that season, as will prevent any of the shoots from advancing afterwards. If the hedge is extremely vigorous, a few buds may be allowed to grow upon the large stumps in the spring, with a view to be cut off at this season, which will tend to stop the vegetation of the hedge still more effectually.

By this mode of management, the hedge may be preserved entire through the first winter. And as the shoots become less vigorous every succeeding season, there will be less difficulty in preserving them at any future period. It will always be proper, however, to trim the sides of a very vigorous hedge for some years while it is young, about the same season of the year, which will tend powerfully to prevent this malady. But when the hedge has advanced to any considerable height, it will be equally proper to clip it during any of the winter-months, before Candlemas."

Lord Kames, in his work entitled the Gentleman Farmer, gives several directions for the raising and mending of hedges considerably different from those above related. For a deer-park he recommends a wall of stone coped with turf, having laburnums planted close to it. The heads of the plants are to be lopped off, in order to make the branches extend laterally, and interweave in the form of a hedge. The wall will prevent the deer from breaking through; and if the hedge be trained eight feet high, they will not attempt to leap over. He prefers the laburnum plant, because no beast will feed upon it except a hare, and that only when young and the bush tender. Therefore, no extraordinary care is necessary except to preserve them from the hare for four or five years. A row of alders may be planted in front of the laburnums, which no hare nor any other beast will touch. The wall he recommends to be built in the following manner, as being both cheaper and more durable than one constructed entirely of stone. Raise it of stone to the height of two feet and a half from the ground, after which it is to be coped with sod as follows. First, lay on the wall, with the grassy side under, sod cut with the spade four or five inches deep, and of a length equal to the thickness of the wall. Next, cover this sod with loose earth rounded like a ridge. Third, prepare thin sod, cast with the paring spade, so long as to extend beyond the thickness of the wall, two inches on each side, with these cover the loose earth, keeping the grassy side above; place them so much on the edge, that each sod shall cover part of another, leaving only about two inches without cover; when 20 or 30 yards are thus finished, let the sod be beat with mallets by two men, one on each side of the wall, striking both at the same time. By this operation, the sod becomes a compact body that keeps in the moisture, and encourages the grass to grow. Lastly, cut off the ragged ends of the sod on each side of the wall, to make the covering neat and regular. The month of October is the proper season for this operation, because the sun and wind, during summer, dry the sod, and hinder the grass from vegetating. Moist soil affords the best sod. Wet soil is commonly too fat for binding; and, at any rate, the watery plants it produces will not thrive in a dry situation. Dry soil, on the other hand, being commonly ill bound with roots, breaks to pieces in handling. The ordinary way of coping with sod, which is to lay them flat and single, looks as if intended to dry the sod and kill the grass; not to mention that the soil is liable to be blown off the wall by every high wind.

The advantages of a thorn hedge, according to our author, are, that it is a very quick grower, when planted in a proper soil; shooting up six or seven feet in a season. Though tender, and apt to be hurt by weeds when young, it turns strong, and may be cut into any shape. Even when old, it is more diploped than other trees to lateral shoots; and lastly, its prickles make it the most proper of all for a fence. None of these thorns ought to be planted in a hedge till five years of age, and it is of the utmost importance that they be properly trained in the nursery. The best soil for a nursery, his lordship observes, is between rich and poor. In the latter the plants are dwarfish; in the former, being luxuriant and tender, they are apt to be hurt during the severity of the weather; and these imperfections are incapable of any remedy. An essential requisite in a nursery is free ventilation. "How of a common (says his lordship) is it to find nurseries in pernicious hollow sheltered places, surrounded with walls and railing high plantations, more fit for pine-apples than barberry trees! The plants thrust out long shoots, but feeble and tender: when exposed in a cold situation, they decay, and sometimes die. But there is a reason for every thing: the nurseryman's view is to make profit by buying ground, and by imposing on the purchaser tall plants, for which he pretends to demand double price. It is so difficult to purchase wholesome and well nursed plants, that every gentleman farmer ought to raise plants for himself.

As thorns will grow pleasantly from roots, I of raising have long practised a frugal and expeditious method of them from the wounded roots that must be cut off when thorns are to be set in a hedge. These roots, hedges cut into small parts, and put in a bed of fresh earth, will produce plants the next spring no less vigorous than what are produced from seed; and thus a perpetual succession of plants may be obtained without any more seed. It ought to be a rule, never to admit into a hedge plants under five years old; they deserve all the additional sum that can be demanded for them. Young and feeble plants in a hedge are of slow growth; and, besides the loss of time, the paling necessary to secure Fences secure them from cattle must be renewed more than once before they become a fence. A thorn hedge may be planted in every month of winter and spring, unless it be frost. But I have always observed, that thorns planted in October are more healthy, push more vigorously, and fewer decay, than at any other time. In preparing the thorns for planting, the roots ought to be left as entire as possible, and nothing cut away but the ragged parts.

"As a thorn hedge suffers greatly by weeds, the ground where they are planted ought to be made perfectly clean. The common method of planting, is to leave eight or nine inches along a side of the intended ditch, termed a scarfement; and behind the scarfement to lay the surface soil of the intended ditch, cut into square sods two or three inches deep, its grassy surface under. Upon that sod, whether clean or dirty, the thorns are laid, and the earth of the ditch above them. The grass in the scarfement, with what weeds are in the moved earth, soon grow up, and require double diligence to prevent the young thorns from being choked. The following method deserves all the additional trouble it requires: Leaving a scarfement as above of ten inches, and also a border for the thorns, broad or narrow according to their size; lay behind the border all the surface of the intended ditch, chopped small with the spade, and upon it lay the mouldery earth that fell from the spade in cutting the said surface. Cover the scarfement and border with the under earth, three inches thick at least; laying a little more on the border to raise it higher than the scarfement, in order to give room for weeding. After the thorns are prepared by smoothing their ragged roots with a knife, and lopping off their heads to make them grow bushy, they are laid fronting the ditch, with their roots on the border, the head a little higher than the root. Care must be taken to spread the roots among the surface-earth taken out of the ditch, and to cover them with the mouldery earth that lay immediately below. This article is of importance, because the mouldery earth is the finest of all. Cover the stems of the thorns with the next stratum of the ditch, leaving always an inch at the top free. It is no matter how poor this stratum be, as the plants draw no nourishment from it. Go on to finish the ditch, pressing down carefully every row of earth thrown up behind the hedge, which makes a good solid mound impervious to rain. It is a safeguard to the young hedge to raise this mound as perpendicular as possible; and for that reason, it may be proper, in loose soil, when the mound is raised a foot or so, to bind it with a row of the tough sod, which will support the earth above till it become solid by lying. In poor soil more care is necessary. Behind the line of the ditch the ground intended for the scarfement and border should be summer fallowed, manured, and cleared of all grass roots; and this culture will make up for the inferiority of the soil. In very poor soil, it is vain to think of planting a thorn hedge. In such ground there is a necessity for a stone fence.

"The only reason that can be given for laying thorns as above described, is to give the roots space to push in all directions; even upward into the mound of earth. There may be some advantages in this; but, in my apprehension, the disadvantage is much greater of heaping so much earth upon the roots as to exclude not only the sun, but the rain which runs down the sloping bank, and has no access to the roots. Instead of laying the thorns fronting the ditch, would it not do better to lay them parallel to it; covering the roots with three or four inches of the best earth, which would make a hollow between the plants and the sloping bank? This hollow would intercept every drop of rain that falls on the bank, to sink gradually among the roots. Why, at any rate, should a thorn be put into the ground sloping? This is not the practice with regard to any other tree; and I have heard of no experiment to persuade me that a thorn thrives better sloping than erect. There occurs, indeed, one objection against planting thorns erect, that the roots have no room to extend themselves on that side where the ditch is. But does it not hold, that when, in their progress, roots meet with a ditch, they do not push onward; but, changing their direction, push downward at the side of the ditch? If so, these downward roots will support the ditch, and prevent it from being mouldered down by frosts. One thing is evident without experiment, that thorns planted erect may sooner be made a complete fence than when laid sloping as usual. In the latter case, the operator is confined to thorns that do not exceed a foot or fifteen inches; but thorns five or six feet high may be planted erect; and a hedge of such thorns, well cultivated in the nursery, will in three years arrive to greater perfection than a hedge managed in the ordinary way will do in twice that time."

After the hedge is finished, it is absolutely necessary to secure it for some time from the depredations of cattle; and this is by no means an easy matter. "The ordinary method of a palisade (says his lordship) is no sufficient defence against cattle: the most gentle make it a rubbing post, and the vicious wantonly break it down with their horns. The only effectual remedy is expensive; viz. two ditches and two hedges, with a mound of earth between them. If this remedy, however, be not palatable, the palings ought at least to be of the strongest kind. I recommend the following as the best I am acquainted with: Drive into the ground strong stakes three feet and a half long, with intervals from eight to twelve inches, according to the size of the cattle that are to be inclosed; and all precisely of the same height. Prepare plates of wood sawed out of logs, every plate three inches broad and half an inch thick. Fix them on the head of the stakes with a nail driven down into each. The stakes will be united so firmly, that one cannot be moved without the whole; and will be proof accordingly against the rubbing of cattle. But, after all, it is no fence against vicious cattle. The only proper place for it is the side of a high road, or to fence a plantation of trees. It will indeed be a sufficient fence against sheep, and endure till the hedge itself becomes a fence. A fence thus completed, including thorns, ditching, wood, nails, &c., will not much exceed two shillings every six yards."

His lordship disapproves the ordinary method of training hedges by cutting off the top and shortening up hedges, the lateral branches in order to make it thick and bushy. This, as well as the method of cutting off the stems two or three inches above the ground, indeed produces... produces a great number of shoots, and makes a very thick fence, but which becomes so weak when bare of leaves, that cattle break through it in every part. To determine the best method of proceeding in this case, his lordship made an experiment on three hedges, which were twelve years old at the time he wrote. The first was annually pruned at the top and sides; the sides of the second were pruned, but not the top; and the third was allowed to grow without any pruning. The first, at the time of writing, was about four feet broad, and thick from top to bottom; but weak in the stems, and unable to resist any horned beast: the second was strong in its stems, and close from top to bottom: the third was also strong in its stems, but bare of branches for two feet from the ground; the lower ones having been deprived of air and rain by the thick shade of those above them. Hence he directs that hedges should be allowed to grow till the stems be five or six inches in circumference, which will be in ten or twelve years; at which time the hedge will be fifteen feet or more in height. The lateral branches next the ground must be pruned within two feet of the stem; those above must be made shorter and shorter in proportion to their distance from the ground; and at five feet high they must be cut close to the stem, leaving all above full freedom of growth. By this dressing the hedge takes on the appearance of a very steep roof; and it ought to be kept in that form by pruning. This form gives free access to rain, sun, and air: every twig has its share, and the whole is preserved in vigour. When the stems have arrived at their proper bulk, cut them over at five feet from the ground, where the lateral branches end. This answers two excellent purposes: the first is to strengthen the hedge, the gap that formerly attended to the top being now distributed to the branches; the next is, that a tall hedge stagnates the air, and poisons both corn and grass near it. A hedge trained in this manner is impenetrable even by a bull.

With regard to the practice of plashing an old hedge recommended by Dr Anderson, his lordship observes that "it makes a good interim fence, but at the long run is destructive to the plants; and accordingly there is scarcely to be met with a complete good hedge where plashing has been long practised. A thorn is a tree of long life. If, instead of being massacred by plashing, it were raised and dressed in the way here described, it would continue a firm hedge perhaps 500 years.

"A hedge ought never to be planted on the top of the mound of earth thrown up from the ditch. It has indeed the advantage of an awful situation; but being planted in bad soil, and destitute of moisture, it cannot thrive; it is at best dwarfish, and frequently decays and dies. To plant trees in the line of the hedge, or within a few feet of it, ought to be absolutely prohibited as a pernicious practice. It is amazing that people should fall into this error, when they ought to know that there never was a good thorn hedge with trees in it. And how should it be otherwise? An oak, a beech, an elm, grows faster than a thorn. When suffered to grow in the midst of a thorn hedge, it spreads its roots everywhere, and robs the thorns of their nourishment. Nor is this all: the tree, overshadowing the thorns, keeps the sun and air from them. At the same time, no tree takes worse with being overshadowed than a thorn.

"It is scarce necessary to mention gaps in a hedge, because they will seldom happen where a hedge is trained as above recommended. But in the ordinary method of training, gaps are frequent, partly by the failure of plants, and partly by the trespassing of cattle. The ordinary method of filling up gaps is to plant sweet briar where the gap is small, and a crab where it is large. This method I cannot approve for an obvious reason: a hedge ought never to be composed of plants which grow unequally. Those that grow fast, overtop and hurt the slow growers; and with respect, in particular, to a crab and sweet briar, neither of them thrive under the shade. It is a better method to remove all the withered earth in the gap, and to substitute fresh faggot mould mixed with some lime or dung. Plant upon it a vigorous thorn of equal height with the hedge, which in its growth will equal the thorns it is mixed with. In that view there should be a nursery of thorns of all sizes, even to five feet high, ready to fill up gaps. The best season for this operation is the month of October. A gap filled with sweet briar, or a crab lower than the hedge, invites the cattle to break through and trample the young plants under foot; to prevent which, a palisade raised on both sides is not sufficient, unless it be raised as high as the hedge.

"Where a field is too poor to admit of a thorn hedge, if there be no quantity of stones easily procurable, whins are the only resource. These are commonly placed on the top of a dry earth dyke, in which situation they seldom thrive well. The following seems preferable. Two parallel ditches three feet wide and two deep, border a space of twelve feet. Within this space raise a bank at the side of each ditch with the earth that comes out of it, leaving an interval between the two banks. Sow the banks with whin seed, and plant a row of trees in the interval. When the whins are pretty well grown, the hedge on one of the banks may be cut down, then the other as soon as it becomes a fence, and so on alternately. While the whins are young, they will not be disturbed by cattle, if palisades be let to go out and in. These palisades may be closed up when the hedge is sufficiently strong to be a fence. A whin hedge thus managed, will last many years, even in strong frost, unless very severe. There are many whin hedges in the shire of Kincardine not skilfully managed, and yet the possessors appear not to be afraid of frost. Such fences ought to be extremely welcome in the sandy grounds of the shire of Moray, where there is scarce a stone to be found. The few earth fences that are there raised, composed mostly of sand, very soon crumble down."

In the fourth volume of Mr Young's Northern Tour, the author recommends the transplanting of old hedges, which his correspondent Mr Beverly says he has tried with prodigious success.

Mr Bakewell, we are told, is very curious in his fences, and plants his quicks in a different manner from Mr Bakewell what is common in various parts of the kingdom. He plants one row at a foot from set to set, and making his ditch, lays the earth which comes out of it to form a bank on the side opposite to the quick. In the common method, the bank is made on the quick side above it. Reasons are not wanting to induce a preference of this Fences.

The plants grow only in the surface the earth uncovered from the atmosphere, which must necessarily be a great advantage; whereas, in the usual way of planting, that earth, which is always the best, is loaded by a thick covering obliquely of the earth out of the ditch. If the roots thoot in the best soil, they will be out of the reach of the influences of the air; the consequence of which is, that they cannot have so large a space of that earth as if set on the flat. The way to have a tree or a quick thrive in the best manner possible, is to set it on the surface without any ditch or trench, that cuts off half its pasture. But if a ditch is necessary, the next best way must of course be still to keep it on the flat surface; and the worst way to cover up that surface, by loading it with the dead earth out of a trench. To say that there are good hedges in the common method is not a conclusive argument, unless both were tried on the same foil and exposure.

In the 7th volume of the same work, a correspondent, who signs himself M. M., observes, that notwithstanding all the improvements that have been made in the construction of hedges and fences, there are many soils in England, which, from their sandy and gravelly natures, are little adapted to any of the plants in common use, and are therefore subject to all the inconveniences of dead hedges and gaps. Of this kind are all the sandy and gravelly inclosures, which constitute so large a part of many districts in the island. For these our author recommends a triple row of furze; though, notwithstanding its advantages, he says it is liable to be destroyed by severe winters, contrary to the affection of Lord Kames above related. "It is liable (says he) to be completely cut off by a severe winter, that I have seen tracts of many hundred acres laid open in the space of a few weeks, and reduced to as defenceless a state as the surrounding wastes. On such soils therefore he recommends the holly; the only disadvantage of which, he says, is its slow growth. On most of these soils also the blackthorn will rise spontaneously; and even the quick, though slowly, will advance to a sufficient degree of perfection. The birch, however, he particularly recommends, as growing equally on the driest and on the wettest soils, propagating itself in such numbers, that, were they not destroyed, all the sandy wastes of this kingdom would be quickly covered with them. He recommends particularly the keeping of a nursery for such plants as are commonly used for hedges. "I generally (says he) pick out a bit of barren land, and after ploughing it three or four times to bury and destroy the heath, I find it answer extremely well for a nursery. Into this spot I transplant quick, hollies, and every tree which I use for fences or plantations. By establishing such a nursery, a gentleman will always be able to command a sufficiency of strong and hardy plants which will not deceive his expectations. I look upon thorns of five or six years old, which have been twice transplanted from the seed-bed, to be the best of all; but as it may be necessary to fill up casual gaps in hedges that have been planted several years, a provision should be made of plants of every age, to twelve or fourteen years old. All plants which are intended to be moved, should be transplanted every two, or at most three years; without this attention, they attach themselves so firmly to the soil as renders a subsequent operation dangerous. All who transplant quicks or hollies ought to begin their labours as early as convenient in the autumn; for I have found, by repeated experience, that neither of these plants succeed so well in the spring."

Where the fences of a tract of ground are in a very ruinous condition, it is absolutely necessary to scour the ditches, throw up the banks, and secure the whole immediately by the firmest dead fences we can procure. If there is a total want of living plants, the cultivator can do nothing but plant new hedges; but if, as is generally the case, the banks are furnished with a multitude of old stems, though totally unconnected as a fence, the time and labour requisite for the intended improvement will be considerably abridged. All the frizzling branches which add no solidity to the fence are to be cut off; after which the rest of the stems must be shortened to the height of three or four feet. The method of cutting down everything to the ground, which is now so general, our author highly condemns. "Such a fence (says he) has within it no principle of strength and connection; it is equally exposed in every part to depredations of cattle and sportsmen; and even though it escape these, the first fall of snow will nearly demolish it. On the contrary, wherever these vegetable palisades can be left, they are impenetrable either for man or horse, and form so many points of union which support the rest."

Another method of strengthening defensive fences is, to bend down some of the lateral hoots in a horizontal direction, and to spread them along the line of the farm, like espalier trees in a garden. A single stem, when it rises perpendicularly, will not secure a space of more than two or three feet, but when bent longitudinally, it will form a barrier at least sufficient to repel all cattle but hogs for twelve or fourteen on one side. By bending down, our author does not mean plashing of the common plashing method, which is very injurious to the plants; but the spreading two or three of the most convenient branches along the hedge, and fastening them down either by pegs or tying, without injury to the stem, until they habitually take the proposed direction. Those who make the experiment for the first time will be astonished how small a number of plants may be made to fill a bank, with only trifling intervals. The birch is particularly useful for this purpose; being of so flexible a nature, that hoots of ten or twelve feet in length may be easily forced into a horizontal direction; and if the other hoots are pruned away, all the juices of the plant will be applied to nourish the selected few: by which means they will in a few years acquire all the advantages of pots and rails, with this material difference, that instead of decaying, they become annually better. It is besides the property of all inclined branches to send up a multitude of perpendicular hoots; so that by this horizontal inclination, if judiciously made, you may acquire almost all the advantages of the thickset fence; but when the stems are too old and brittle to bear this operation, it will be advisable to cut off all the useless ones close to the ground, and next spring they will be succeeded by a number of young and vigorous ones. Select the best of these to be trained in the manner already directed, and extirpate all the rest, to increase their their vigour. The shoots of such old stems as have been just now described will attain a greater size in three or four years than any young ones that can be planted will do in twelve.

Another method which our author has practised with the greatest success is the following. The tender shoots of most trees, if bended downwards and covered with earth, will put forth roots, and being divided from the parent stem at a proper time, become fresh plants; an operation well known to gardeners, under the name of laying. This may be advantageous to the farmer, if he will take the very moderate trouble of laying down the young and flexible branches in his fences. Most species of trees, probably all, will be propagated by this method; but particularly the willow, the birch, the holly, the white thorn, and the crab, will also take root in this method, though more slowly; the latter being an excellent plant for fences, and not at all nice in the soil on which it grows. The advantage of laying down branches in this manner over the planting of young ones is, that when you endeavour to fill up a gap by the latter method, they advance very slowly, and are in danger of being stifled by the shade of the large trees; whereas, if you fortify a gap by spreading the branches along it in the manner just mentioned, and at the same time infert some of the most thriving shoots in the ground, they will advance with all the vigour of the parent plant, and you may allow them to grow until they are so fully rooted as to be free from danger of suffocation.

It frequently happens, that the fences of an estate have been neglected for many years, and exhibit nothing but ragged and deformed stems at great intervals. In this case it will be proper to cut them all off level with the ground: the consequence of this is, that next year they will put forth a great number of shoots, which may be laid down in every direction, and trained for the improvement of the fence. When this operation is performed, however, it ought always to be done with an axe, and not with a saw; it being found that the latter instrument generally prevents the vegetation of the plant. All the shoots laid down in this manner should be allowed to remain for several years, that they may be firmly rooted. Thus they will make prodigious advances; and it is to be observed, that the more the parent plant is divested of all superfluous branches, the greater will be the nourishment transmitted to the scions.

Our author, however, is inclined to suspect that the most perfect form of a hedge, at least in all but those composed of thorns and prickly plants, is to train up as many stems as will nearly touch each other. The force of every fence consists chiefly in the upright stems: where these are sufficiently near and strong, the hedge resists all opposition, and will equally repel the violence of the bull, and the injurious attacks of the hogs. It is absolutely proper that all hedges should be inspected once a-year; when not only the ditch ought to be thrown out, and the bank supported, but the straggling shoots of all the live plants ought to be pruned. By these are meant all such as project over the ditch beyond the line of the hedge, and which add nothing to its strength, though they deprive the useful stems of part of their nourishment. Where a hedge is composed of plants of inferior value, it will be proper to train those in the manner just now recommended, and to plant the bank with quick or holly. When these last have attained a sufficient size, the others may be extirpated; which is best done by cutting down all the shoots repeatedly in the summer, and leaving the roots to rot in the hedge.

In the 13th volume of the Annals, W. Erskine, Esq., Mr Erskine gives an account of a method of fencing very much like his method, resembling that recommended by Lord Kames, and that of which has been already described. That gentleman is of opinion, that, in some cases dead stone walls, as they are called, are more advantageous than hedges. "That hedges (says he) are more ornamental, cannot be denied; and they are generally allowed to afford more shelter; but the length of time, the constant attention, and continual expense of defending them until they bear even the resemblance of a fence, induces many people in those places where the materials are easily procured, to prefer the dry stone walls; for though the first cost is considerable, yet as the farmer reaps the immediate benefit of the fence (which is undoubtedly the most secure one), they are thought on the whole to be the least expensive; besides, the cattle in exposed situations, and especially in these northern parts, are so impatient of confinement at the commencement of the long, cold, wet nights, that no hedges I have ever yet seen, in any part of this island, are sufficient to keep them in."

From considerations of this kind, the late Sir George Suttie of East Lothian was induced to think of a fence which might join the strength of the wall to the ornament of the hedge. His thorns were planted in the usual manner on the side of the ditch; but instead of putting behind them a post and rail or palings on the top of the bank, he erected a wall two feet and a half high; and being well situated for procuring lime, he used it in the construction of these walls which Mr Erskine greatly recommends; "as the satisfaction they afford, by requiring no repairs, and the duration of them, more than repay the expense: but where the price of lime is high they may be built without any cement, and answer the purpose very well if the work is properly executed."

In making a new fence of this kind, the surface of the ground should be pared off the breadth of the ditch, and likewise for two feet more, in order to prevent as much as possible the thorns from being injured by the growth of grass and weeds. The ditch should be five feet broad, two and a half in depth, and one foot broad at the bottom. Leave one foot for an edging or facement, then dig the earth one spit of a spade for about one foot, and put about three inches of good earth below the thorn, which should be laid nearly horizontal, but the point rather inclining upwards, in order to let the rain drip to the roots; then add a foot of good earth above it: leave three or four inches of a facement before another thorn is planted; it must not be directly over the lower one, but about nine inches or a foot to one side of it: then throw a foot of good earth on the thorn, and trample it well down, and level the top of the bank for about three feet and a half for the base of the wall to rest on. This base should be about nine or ten inches, but must not exceed Fences exceed one foot from the thorn. The wall ought to be about two feet thick at the bottom and one foot at the top: the cope to be a flingle stone laid flat; then covered with two fods of turf, the grats of the under-moist to be next the wall, and the other fods must have the grats side uppermost. The fods should be of some thickness, in order to retain moisture; so that they may adhere together, and not be easily displaced by the wind. The height of the wall to be two feet and a half, exclusive of the fods; which together should be from four to six inches, by which means the wall would be near to three feet altogether. The expense of the fences cannot be easily be counted, on account of the difference of the prices of labour in different parts. Mr Erskine had them done with lime, everything included, from 10s. to 13d. per ell (which is equal to 37 inches 2 parts), according to the ease or difficulty of working the quarry, and the distance of it from the place where the fence is erected. The lime costs about 6d. per boll of about 4087.2667 bushels; and from 15 to 16 bolls of lime are used to the rood of 36 square ells Scots measure; and there are upwards of 43 Scots ells, or 44 English yards. When the common round or flint stones are made use of, as they require more lime, it is necessary to use 30 or 35 bolls of lime to the rood. The thorns are sold from five to ten thillings per thousand, according to their age, reckoning five score to the hundred. Making the ditch, laying the thorns, and preparing the top of the wall, generally cost from 7d. to 8d. every five ells. About 50 carts of stones, each cart carrying from seven to nine cwt. will build a rood; the carriage at 2d. per cart for half a mile's distance.

Warmth is undoubtedly extremely beneficial to hedges; and the walls give an effectual shelter, which in exposed situations is absolutely necessary for rearing young hedges; and they likewise preserve a proper degree of moisture about the roots. If the hedges have been planted for six or seven years before the wall is built, cut them over to two or three inches above the ground with a sharp tool, either in October or November, or early in the spring; and erect the wall as quickly in that season as possible (the spring in this country can scarcely be said to begin till the end of March). It is almost impossible to imagine the rapidity with which hedges grow in favourable situations. Mr Erskine had one cut over in the spring, and by the end of the year it was almost as high as the wall. In three years he supposed, that not even the Highland sheep, who easily overlap a wall of four feet and a half in height, would have been able to break through it.

Notwithstanding the reasons that have been given already against the planting of timber trees in hedges, we find the practice recommended by some authors as one of the best situations for raising ship-timber. The reasons are, that the roots have free range in the adjoining inclosures, and the top is exposed to the exercise of the winds; by which means the trees are at once enabled to throw out strong arms, and have a large spreading head at the same time; so that we thus at once obtain quickness of growth with strength and crookedness of timber. Well trained timber trees it is alleged are not prejudicial to hedges, though pollards and low spreading trees are destructive to the hedge-wood which grows under them; neither are high trees prejudicial to corn-fields like high hedges and pollards, which prevent a proper circulation of air; and in Norfolk, where the cultivation of grain is carried on in great perfection; such lands are said to be wood-bound. But when a hedge is trimmed down to four or five feet high, with oaks interspersed, a circulation of air is rather promoted than retarded by it; and a trimmed hedge will thrive quite well under tall stemmed trees, particularly oaks. For arable inclosures, therefore, hedges are recommended of four or five feet high, with oak-timbers from 15 to 25 feet stem. Higher hedges are more eligible for grass-lands; the grats affect warmth, by which their growth is promoted, and consequently their quantity is increased, though perhaps their quality may suffer some injury. A tall fence likewise affords shelter to cattle, provided it be thick and close at the bottom; but otherwise, by admitting the air in currents, it does rather harm than good. The shade of trees is equally friendly to cattle in summer; for which reason it is recommended in grats inclosures to allow the hedge to make its natural shoots, and at the same time to have oak-trees planted in it at proper intervals. Upon bleak hills, and in exposed situations, it will be proper to have two or even three rows of hedge-wood, about four feet distant from each other; the middle row being permitted to reach, and always to remain at, its natural height; whilst the side rows are cut down alternately to give perpetual security to the bottom, and afford a constant supply of materials for dead hedges and other purposes of underwood.

Much has been said of the excellency of the holly as a material for hedges; and indeed the beauty of the plant, with its extreme closeness, and continuing planting throughout the winter, evidently give it the precedence over all others; and could it be raised with equal ease, there is no doubt that it would come into universal practice. Besides the above properties, the holly will thrive almost upon any soil; but thin-foiled stony heights seem to be its natural situation; and it may properly enough be said, that holly will grow wherever corn will. Its longevity is likewise excellent; and being of slow growth, it does not exhaust the land, as the farmers express it, or deprive the crop of its nourishment, as other hedges do. The difficulty of raising holly may be obviated by planting it under crabs, which have a tendency to grow more upright than hawthorns, and consequently affording more air, will not impede its progress though they afford shelter. It may even be raised alone without any great difficulty; only in this case the dead fence, to secure it, must be kept up at least ten or twelve years, instead of six or seven, as in the other case; and indeed, considering the advantages to be derived from fences of this kind, they seem to merit all the additional trouble requisite.

The holly may be raised either under the crab or hawthorn in two ways, viz. by sowing the berries when the quick is planted, or by inserting the plants themselves the ensuing midsummer. The former is by much the more simple, and perhaps upon the whole the better method. The seeds may either be scattered among the roots of the deciduous plants, or be sown in a drill in front: and if plants of holly... be put in, they may either be planted between those of the crab, or otherwise in front in the quincunx manner.

"Whins (furze) have been often employed, says Dr Anderson, as a fence when sown upon the top of a bank. They are attended with the convenience of coming very quickly to their perfection, and of growing upon a soil on which few other plants could be made to thrive; but in the way that they are commonly employed, they are neither a strong nor a lasting fence. The first of these defects may, in some measure, be removed, by making the bank upon which they are sowed (for they never should be transplanted) of a considerable breadth; in order that the largeness of the aggregate body, considered as one mass, may, in some measure, make up for the want of strength in each individual plant. With this view, a bank may be raised of five or six feet in breadth at the top, with a large ditch on each side of it; raising the bank as high as the earth taken from the ditches will permit; the surface of which should be sowed pretty thick with whin seeds. These will come up very quickly: and in two or three years will form a barrier that few animals will attempt to break through, and will continue in that state of perfection for some years. But the greatest objection to this plant as a fence is, that, as it advances in size, the old prickle always die away; there being never more of these alive at any time upon the plant, than those that have been the produce of the year immediately preceding: and these thus gradually falling away, leave the stems naked below as they advance in height; so that it very soon becomes an exceeding poor and unsightly fence; the stems being entirely bare, and so slender withal as not to be able to make a sufficient resistance to almost any animal whatever. To remedy this great defect, either of the two following methods may be adopted. The first is to take care to keep the bank always sowed with young plants; never allowing them to grow to such a height as to become bare below: and it was principally to admit of this, without losing at any time the use of the fence, that I have advised the bank to be made of such an unusual breadth. For if one side of the hedge be cut quite close to the bank, when it is only two or three years old, the other half will remain as a fence till that side become strong again; and then the opposite side may be cut down in its turn; and so on alternately as long as you may incline: by which means the bank will always have a strong hedge upon it without ever becoming naked at the root. And as this plant, when bruised, is one of the most valuable kinds of winter food yet known for all kinds of domestic animals, the young tops may be carried home and employed for that purpose by the farmer; which will abundantly compensate for the trouble of cutting, and the waste of ground that is occasioned by the breadth of the bank.

"The other method of preserving a hedge of whins from turning open below, can only be practised where sheep are kept; but may be there employed with great propriety. In this case, it will be proper to sow the seeds upon a conical bank of earth, sowed up from the surface of the ground on each side without any ditches. If this is preserved from the sheep for two or three years at first, they may then be allowed free access to it; and, as they can get up close to the foot of the bank upon each side, if they have been accustomed to this kind of food, they will eat up all the young shoots that are within their reach, which will occasion them to find out a great many lateral shoots: and these being continually browsed upon, soon become as close as could be desired, and are then in no sort of danger of becoming naked at the root, although the middle part should advance to a considerable height.

Where furze or whins are to be used either as a fence by themselves, or in affluence to another, it is perhaps more proper to use the French seed than that produced in Great Britain, as the former seldom ripens in this country, and consequently cannot like the latter overrun the adjacent inclosure. It may be had at the seedshops in London for about 15d. per pound, and one pound will sow 40 statute roods. When used as an affluence to a hedge, it is more proper to sow it on the back of the bank than on the top of it; as in this case it is more apt to overhang the young plants in the face of the bank; whilst in the other it is better situated for guarding the bank, and preventing it from being torn down by cattle. The method of sowing is as follows: Chop a drill with a sharp spade about two-thirds of the way up the back of the bank, making the cleft gape as wide as may be without breaking off the lip; and having the seed in a quart bottle, stopped with a cork and goose quill, or with a perforated wooden stopper, trickle it along the drill, covering it by means of a broom drawn gently above and over the mouth of the drill. Clopping the drill with the back of the spade, thrusts up the seeds too much from the air, and thus keeps them too long from rising.

We do not know that any person has yet attempted to make use of the gooseberry for the purpose of making hedges, though few plants seem better adapted for that purpose. It grows readily. Some varieties of it rise to a considerable height, and by the strength and number of its prickle, it would effectually prevent any animal from breaking through.—It is said that some species of the mulberry not only grow and thrive in England, but are capable of being reared to perfection in Scotland, as has been experienced at Dalkeith. As the leaves of this plant are the food of the silk-worm, which produces the most beautiful and valuable of all the materials that can occupy the loom, it is perhaps worthy of attention how far it might be worth while to rear it as a fence in hedge-rows with a view to its becoming the basis of a valuable manufacture.

Dry stone walls are sometimes erected of those round stones of apparently water-worn stones which the ploughstone wall throws out, and which may be gathered in every field. They are usually coped with sod. This, however, is a very indifferent fence. In most instances it is erected by common labourers, and is therefore ill constructed, so as not even to be of an uniform thickness from top to bottom. The round figure of the stones also prevents the building from being well bound together. Even the cattle rubbing themselves against it are apt to make considerable gaps, which render constant attention necessary to keep it in repair. It is cheaply executed, however, and affords the means of at once fencing the land and clearing it of stones. When dry stone walls are skillfully built by Fences by masons, and made with quarried stones finished with a good coping, they look well and last for many years; but the coping ought to be of stone and not of turf or mud.

To render stone and lime walls valuable as fences, they should have a broad base, and have a foundation sufficiently deep to prevent their being injured by the loosening of the soil which is produced by frost. This fence is very durable, but it is also very expensive. To be in perfection, it ought to be executed not with common stones gathered from the fields, but with stones from the quarry: it ought to be secured at the top with a coping of stone of the flag kind laid together in such a way as to render the wall narrow at top like the roof of a house. If the coping is neglected, the moisture soon finds its way into the heart of the wall, and it is also liable to various accidents from idle persons climbing over it.

The Galloway dike owes its name to the county in which it was first used. It consists of a broad building of dry stones tapering upwards. Large flat stones are then laid on like a coping, and project over the wall on each side. Above these stones large rugged round stones are laid, and smaller stones above them, so as to admit a free passage to the wind which whistles through them. The Galloway dike is never raised very high, but its tottering appearance so terrifies the cattle and sheep, that they dare not touch it; so that it is a very effectual fence, though it neither affords shelter nor ornament to the country. It has the advantage, however, of being erected at a very trifling expense; it is not unsuitable to those lower parts of the country in which the shelter of high trees and hedges would prove pernicious to the corn crop, and where the confinement of the stock is all that is required.

Clay is sometimes used instead of lime for binding stone walls; but it is a very defective cement; for if frost suddenly succeeds to wet weather it is apt to swell and to tumble down at the next thaw. To guard against the effects of moisture, these stone and clay walls are sometimes rough-cast or coated over with lime. If the coating is very thick and the wall properly coped, it may last in this way as long as a wall of stone and lime.

For the sake of the appearance, dry-stone walls have sometimes two or three inches at the top of them on each side lipped or washed with lime, which adds nothing to their strength, but gives them the appearance of being built entirely with stone and lime. With the same view, and with the same effect, they are sometimes also broad-cast or coated with lime over their whole surface. Dry-stone walls, after they are finished are sometimes pinned and harled, or rough-cast, that is, the mason fills up all the interstices of the building with small stones, and afterwards coats it over with lime, which adds considerably to its durability.

Low dry-stone walls have sometimes a light paling at the top, which gives them a handsome appearance.

Brick walls are sometimes used where stones are extremely scarce, but they are chiefly employed for facing garden walls.

Frame walls are constructed in the following manner. A frame of boards of the width and height intended for the future wall is placed upon the line that has been dug for a foundation. The frame is filled to the top with stones gathered from the adjoining fields, and a quantity of liquid mortar is poured in amongst them sufficient to fill up every interstice. The whole is allowed to remain for a day or two, or longer, till the building is dried so far as to have acquired some stability. The frame is then removed, and placed a little farther on in the same line, but in contact with the last-made piece of wall, and the operation is renewed. This is supposed to have been a very ancient mode of building.

Turf walls are found very useful in upland districts for temporary purposes, such as for folds, or for protecting young plantations or young hedges. Their strength is sometimes increased, without augmenting the expense of the construction, by intermingling them with stones, that is, by forming the wall of alternate layers of turf and stone.

Mud walls with a mixture of straw, are very frequent in many places both of England and Scotland, and they are used not only for fences, but also for constructing the walls of farm houses and offices, in the poorer parts of the country. They are formed in the following manner. Straw and clay are incorporated with each other, like hair with plaster of lime, and formed into large pieces. A stratum of these is laid at the bottom of the intended wall. The different pieces are then firmly kneaded with the hand, and pressed at each side with a flat board, which not only consolidates, but gives smoothness and uniformity to the work. Successive strata are added till the wall is raised to its intended height. If walls thus constructed are properly coated with lime, to protect them against moisture, they become very durable; and their appearance is not inferior to that of a stone and lime building.

Of compound fences, the most ordinary is the single compound hedge and ditch, with or without palings. The mode of planting these hedges has been already stated on the authority of Lord Kames and others; and we shall only add, that if a hedge is wished to rise with rapidity, the spot in which it is planted ought to be enriched with lime, compost, or other manures, as hedge plants cannot, any more than other plants, spring rapidly without cultivation. Where a hedge is planted at the top of a ditch, it may also be remarked, that it is doubly necessary to give the ditch a proper degree of slope, that it may not be undermined by any accident, which would have the effect to lay bare the roots of the hedge, or entirely to bring it down. Where it is wished to render lands inclosed with hedge and ditch fenceable at once, a kind of Galloway dike, consisting of some rows of large coarse loose stones, may be placed upon the top of the bank, which will have the effect of protecting the hedge against cattle.

The double ditch with a hedge in the front of each, is now practised, particularly on cold lands, in many parts of Great Britain. It may be remarked, that where these double ditches are wanted for drains, it is undoubtedly a proper practice; but in other situations it is exceptionable, as laying out unprofitably a large portion of the soil.

When a hedge and ditch is used, whether single or double, the hedge is sometimes placed not at the bottom of the bank, which is the usual way, but in the middle of it, at some height above the ordinary surface of the field. In such a mode of planting, the hedge is exposed exposed to great injury from the bank mouldering down, and from want of proper nourishment; but the practice is sometimes necessary upon wet lands, where hedges would not thrive, if placed upon the common surface. Sometimes the face of a natural declivity is cut down, in a sloping direction, to within 18 or 20 inches of the bottom. Here a bank is made and covered with good earth, in which the plants are inserted. A hedge planted in this way looks formidable, from the side facing the bank; but it is exposed to more accidents, from a failure of its soil in consequence of frosts, than if planted at the bottom of the bank.

Sometimes what is called a hedge and bank, or hedge on the top of a bank, is made use of. It consists of a bank of earth taken from the adjoining grounds, broad at bottom and tapering towards the top, along the summit of which the hedge is planted. Such hedges are extremely liable to decay, in consequence of the artificial mound on which they stand, being unable to retain sufficient moisture for their support, or being washed away from about their roots.

The Devonshire fence resembles the one now described. It consists of an earthen mound 7 feet wide at bottom, and 4 feet at the top, and 5 feet in height. In the middle of the top of it a row of quicks is planted, and on each side at two feet distance a row of willow stakes, of about an inch in diameter each, and from 18 inches to two feet in length, is stuck in, sloping a little outwards. These stakes take root, and form a kind of live fence for the preservation of the quicks in the middle.

Palings are frequently employed for the protection of young hedges, whether planted on the plain soil or on the top of a ditch; dead hedges, of the kinds formerly mentioned, are also employed for the same purpose. The dead hedge is preferable to the paling, as it shelters the young plants from the inclemency of the weather. The dead hedge, however, ought always to be at some distance from the living one, to allow the latter freely to put forth its branches. As already noticed, walls of different kinds are sometimes erected, whether Galloway dikes or of stone and lime, for the protection of young hedges; but there is a mode of making a hedge in the middle or in the face of a wall which deserves attention. It is executed in the following manner: The face of the bank is first cut down not quite perpendicular, but nearly so. A facing of stone is then begun at the bottom, and carried up regularly in the manner that stone walls are generally built. When it is raised about 18 inches or 2 feet high, according to circumstances, the space between the wall and the bank is filled up with good earth, well broken and mixed with lime or compost. The thorns are laid upon this earth in such a manner, as that at last 4 inches of the root and stem shall rest upon the earth, and the extremity of the top shall project beyond the wall. When the plants are thus regularly laid, the roots are covered with earth, and the wall continued upwards, a hole having been left which each plant peeps through. As the wall advances upwards, the space between it and the bank is gradually filled up: when completed the wall is finished with a coping of sod or of stone and lime. When the plants begin to vegetate, the young shoots appear in the face of the wall, rising in a perpendicular direction.

It is said, that Sir James Hall of Dunglass has adopted this mode of inclosing to a considerable extent in East Lothian; that the hedges have made great progress; and that they exhibit, upon the whole, an extremely handsome appearance.

Whatever may be thought of the propriety of planting trees in hedge-rows, there can be no doubt, that in planting certain situations the addition to a hedge or hedge and ditch of a belt of planting is a valuable acquisition to its owner and to the country. It is certain, however, as formerly stated, that in low rich soils where corn is chiefly cultivated, particularly when surrounded by hills, belts of planting are not only unnecessary, but even hurtful to the crop. But there are other situations in which they are of the highest value. The peninsula, which forms the county of Caithness, is said to be a proof of this. Its soil is of a good quality, but its value is greatly impaired by its being exposed to sea-winds, whose severity checks all vegetation. Many tracts throughout the island are nearly in the same situation; and in all of them nothing more is wanted to improve the country than to interject it in a judicious manner with hedges and belts of planting. Where belts of planting are meant to remain as an efficient fence, they ought to be of a considerable breadth. In poor and cold situations the breadth ought to be such as to allow space for planting a great number of trees, which, from the shelter they mutually afford, may protect each others growth against the severity of the climate. With the same view, in cold and exposed situations, the young trees should be planted very thick; perhaps four or five times the number that can grow to a full size should be planted. This practice affords a choice of the most healthy plants to be left when the plantation is thinned. In belts of planting an error is sometimes committed of mingling firs, larches, and pines, with oaks, ashes, &c., with the intention that the evergreens should protect for a certain time the other trees, and thereafter be removed. The effect of which too frequently is, that when the evergreens are taken away, their growth is not only checked for several years; but being unable, after experiencing too much shelter, to resist the severity of the climate, they die altogether. This is the more likely to happen in consequence of the rapidity with which the firs and larches grow; for the oaks and other trees are drawn up along with them, and acquire, in some measure, the nature of hot-house plants, unfit to encounter the blasts of a northern climate: hence belts of planting should either be made altogether of evergreens or altogether of deciduous plants, such as oak, ash, &c. If the evergreens are at all introduced among these last, it ought to be sparingly, and at the outside of the belt, with the view to afford only a moderate degree of shelter.

Where fields are meant to remain constantly in pasture, the belts may be made in a serpentine, and sometimes in a circular form, both for the sake of ornament, and to afford more complete shelter; but this cannot be done where the plough is meant to be introduced. Upon a north exposure, the belts should cross each other at proper distances to afford more complete shelter. Upon a south exposure, they ought to run from south, to north to afford a defence against the east and west winds which are the strongest in this country. Fences. Belts of planting require themselves to be fenced. A fence, which is merely intended to protect their growth, may consist of a mud wall; but if a permanent security is wanted, a hedge and ditch will be necessary.

In some situations, instead of the belt of planting, it is customary to plant only the corners of the fields; and this plan is advisable where the country requires but a moderate degree of shelter, added to that which it may derive from thriving hedges.

It has been proposed, that on all sheep farms of any extent, there ought to be one or more circular belts of planting, including a space of about an acre or an acre and a half in the centre, with a serpentine road leading through the belt into this inclosure, the use of which is evident. In heavy falls of snow numerous flocks are sometimes buried, and the lives of the sheep-herds are not unfrequently lost in attempting to drive them to a place of safety. On such occasions, the inclosures we have now mentioned, would be of the utmost value. When a storm threatened, the sheep might be driven to these inclosures where the snow could never be piled up by driving winds; and they might there be fed and remain with entire safety. If due care were taken to litter the place, a quantity of valuable dung might be collected, if the storm should remain for any length of time.

The reed fence has hitherto been only used in gardens. It consists of a kind of wall, formed by sewing with wrought yarn bundles of reeds, applied perpendicularly to a railing. This fence seems well adapted for giving temporary shelter to cattle, but as the materials of it cannot be everywhere found, its use must be very limited.

The entry to every inclosure ought to be secured by gate-posts; which, if circumstances will permit, ought always to be of stone, and if possible, of hewn stone, as these, when properly constructed, will never fail. Trees are sometimes planted for this purpose, and when they have acquired a certain size, they are cut over about ten feet above the surface of the ground. These form the most durable of all gate-posts. They sometimes, however, misfire; in which case it is difficult to repair the defect. When gate-posts are made of dead timber they should be strong, and the wood well prepared by a coat of oil paint, as already mentioned.

Of gates for inclosures there are different kinds. What is called the swing-gate, that crosses the whole breadth of a carriage road, and is of one piece, is by no means an admirable form. The length of its bars renders it expensive, and its great weight with which it pulls against the gate-post, overstrains its own hinges, and is apt to bring down the side of the gate, unless it is erected in a very costly and solid manner. For this reason, a gate with two folding doors is preferable: it hangs upon the gate-post only with half its weight, in consequence of its being divided into two parts. Its hinges are not so liable to be hurt by straining, nor are its joints so liable to be broke. What is called the flip-bar gate, consisting of three separate bars which are taken out, and put into the gate-posts every time the entry to the fields is opened and shut, is the best kind of gate, so far as cheapness and durability are concerned; but it does not admit of being locked, which renders it unfit for use near a public road, and the opening and shutting of it are also attended with a considerable degree of trouble.

INDEX.

A

Achillea millefolium, No 62 Agriculture defined, 1 wherein it differs from gardening, 1 is a separate art or employment, 3 includes the rearing of cattle, 4 general importance of, 5 advantage of, to the farmer, 6 history of, 7 board of, 8 theory defective, 11 Practice of division of the subject, 116 Agricultural improvement, obstacles to, 115 Agrostis cornucopiae, capillaris, 406 Areira flexuosa, caryophyllacea, 401 Alopecurus bulbosus, 394 Anderson's, Dr, opinion of the nature of mols, 193 Angora breed of rabbits, 593

Antibacanthum odoratum, No 397 Arfenic used to prevent the mildew, 102

B

Bank of earth fence, 660 Barley, culture of, 201 ribbing, 202 better mode of, 263 advantages of, 264 feed, how managed in a dry season, 265 experiments on, 266 time of sowing, 267 general remarks on the culture of, 268 culture in Norfolk, 269 vale of Gloucester, 270 Cotswold, midland district, 271 culture difficult, 272 in Yorkshire, 274 importance of, to the revenue, 275 its chief value, from being easily converted into a saccharine substance, 281 Beans, culture of by broad-cast, 282 in drills, 283

Beet, white, recommended, No 47 Black cattle, a good breed desirable, 583 properties requisite of, 584 Blight, a disease of wheat, 96 Board of Agriculture, 8 commences its fittings, 9 Bogle, Mr, his mode of wheat-setting, 225 226, 227, 228, 229

Brake, its uses, 156 Broom, how destroyed, 93 Bulbous foxtail grass, 394 Burnet, 44 recommended, 45 disapproved of, 46 culture of, 393 Butter, history of, 612 qualities of, 613 rules for making, 614 cream for making, not to be new, 615 churn, 616 not to be put into water, 617 compositions for preserving, 618 how prepared for warm climates, 619

Butter Butter preserved by honey, Essex or Epping, 621 Weft of England, 622 Cambridgeshire, 623 Yorkshire and Suffolk, 624 frauds in the sale of, 625 how kept untainted by cabbages, 626 trade in extensive, 626

Butterfly, corn, 112 Buck-wheat, culture of, 276 advantages of cropping, 277

Cabbages, their properties, render air noxious, 36 turnip-rooted, 37 culture of, 370 quantity produced on an acre, 375 of watering them, 372 cultivated in the midland district, 373 distance at which they ought to be planted, 374 how transplanted or earthed, 375 how protected from caterpillars, 376

Canary feed, 519 Calves reared without milk, 585 by Mr Young, 586 mode of rearing in Cornwall, 587 by Mr Crook, 588 in Norfolk, 589 by Mr Bradfute, 590

Cattle, see Black Cattle, rearing of, included under agriculture, 4 qualities requisite for their food, 35 are pastured, 591 or stall-fed, 592 stall-feeding in Germany, 593 stall-fed in two ways, 594 should receive all roots in a boiled state, 595 rules for fattening, 597 feeding of, not brought to perfection, 68

Carrots, culture of, 40 cultivated in Suffolk and Norfolk, 342 why the culture of, not extended, 343 superiority of, to turnips, 344 difficulty of ascertaining the value of, 345 experiments with, recommended, 346 feeding lambs with, 347 compared with cabbages, 349 preferred to potatoes, 350 superior to turnips and oats, 351

Carrots, how used to give colour to butter, 620 grown in young plantations, 353 Cars of Gowrie, mode of draining in, 173 Cheese described, making, defects of, runnet for, how prepared, 628 Mr Hazard's receipt for runnet, 630 particulars to be observed in making, different kinds of, double Gloucester, Cheddar, Cheshire, Stilton, Parmesan, Chicory, Clover, red, of sowing with grain, white and yellow, Cyphorus cristatus, Cole-feed, see Rape-feed. Coriander-feed, experiments on, Corn-butterfly, Coulter of the plough, Cultivator described, Curl in potatoes, modes of prevention, Cyder, excellence of, art of making, imperfect, errors in making, means of improving, mill and house described, different kinds of, Cyderkin, Cyder-wine, Dr Ruth's receipt for,

Dairy, importance of, principles on which it ought to be managed, described, wooden vessels to be used in the, Diseases of vegetables ill understood, of wheat, of saffron, Diabetes, Drainage of quarries and mines, Draining, importance of, principles of, as to springs, discoverer of the new mode, practical rules in the case of springs, the side of a hill, a bog, by letting the water ascend freely, Dr Anderdon's rules, Mr Wedge's mode, of landlocked bogs, landlocked bogs in Germany, in Roxburghshire, Drains are open or hollow, Drains, hollow, when inapplicable, fit for clay soils, in the Carle of Gowrie, open, rules for making, hollow, nature and history of, rules for making, materials for filling, pipe or sod, hollow, duration of, when the wetness is caused by springs, Drill-bybandry, advantages of, mode of sowing in, different hoeings in, instruments of the, summary of operations of the profits of, arguments for the, objections to, and answers, where improper, Sir J. Anstruther on, compared with broad-cast, is not a modern invention, Durno, Mr, his report on flax and hemp, Erskine of Marr's mode of preventing smut in wheat, Fallow-cleansing machine, Farmers' ignorance formerly, Fences, kinds of, enumerated, in grassy places, for deer-parks, of stone walls, Galloway dikes, of frame walls, of mud walls, compound, of a hedge and bank, Devonshire, of a hedge in the face of a wall, belt of planting, Fertility of certain soils, of the earth limited, Furose, how destroyed, Fescue, sheep's, described, purple, its appearance cultivated, sheep's appearance cultivated, foil proper for, Feuca fluitans, Flax, feed-cake, and oil for fattening cattle, culture of, in Yorkshire, Mr Marshall on, Mr Bartley's experiments on, a Dorsetshire gentleman on, may be cultivated by the poor, Flax, INDEX.

Flax, vast quantities imported, culture of, in Prussia, &c., 508 culture of, in Ireland, weeded by sheep, 510 Flooding land, see Watering. Fly, turnip, how prevented, 109 Fontana's opinion about the cause of mildew, 110 Forfith, Mr, his process for converting roots into flour, 33 his steam-apparatus, 34 Four-coultred plough, 153 Frog, effect of, on ploughed land, 251 Foxtail-grass, bulbous, 394 Fruits not trusted to as human food, ripen slowly, and are liable to be destroyed in wars, 17 Fruit-tree, how recovered, culture of, in Herefordshire, &c., 335 indolence of cultivators of, 337 excellence of wood on, 338 millettoe on, how destroyed, 339 mosses on, 340, 430 spring-fruits hurtful to, 341 blights on, 342 to destroy warts on, 343 excellence of fruit on, duration of, how lengthened, 344 Marshall on the culture of, 346 Fruit-liquors, management of fruit for, 646 fermentation of, correcting of, caking, bottling, 647 Fruit, mode of gathering, maturing, grinding, pressing, 648 Fruits, where cultivated chiefly, varieties of, artificial, not permanent, how procured, nursery-ground for, how to choose plants for, degeneracy of, 526, 527, 528, 530, 531, 532, 533

Gallows dikes, 707 Garden mould, the nature of, 75 Gardening, wherein different from agriculture, 2 Gates, 717 Gate-pots, 716 Geese, management of in Lincolnshire, 607 Gowrie, Carle of, drains, 173 Grain, commonly used as human food, its use objected to, different kinds not essentially different, why in certain cases postponed to rearing of cattle, carrying from the field, 19, 22, 72, 463

Grafs, laying down fields in, different kinds of, to improve upland pasture, how to sow upland pastures with, advantage of rolling, culmiferous, negligence about right kinds of, kinds of, commonly sown, bulbous foxtail, great meadow, creeping meadow, vernal, crested dog's-tail, cock's-tail or feather, Fine bent, mountain-hair, Silver-hair, flote fescue, meadow foxtail, annual meadow, tall oat, yellow oat, rough oat, upright broom, blue dog's-tail, rough cock's foot, tall fescue, hard fescue, meadow cat's-tail, how to make experiments with, 378

Hedges of fruit-trees, hornbeam in Germany, Dr Anderson on mending decayed, Kames on, thorn, nurseries for, railed from old roots, mode of planting thorn, securing, training, plashing, disapproved of, on the side of the bank, filling gaps of, whins for, when necessary, Bakewell's, in flinty soils, repairing, thickening of, cutting down, when improper, Mr Erskine's, oak trees in, railing holly for, of whins or furze, of gooseberries, in the face of a wall, Hemp, culture of, in Prussia, &c., History of agriculture, Hogs, experiments on fattening, Hog described, Holcus lanatus, Hops, once forbidden in malt liquors, expense of cultivating, in Essex, profit of, precarious, in Norfolk, Horses and oxen compared, suppoled los by keeping, gradually gaining a preference over oxen, calculation in favour of, black cart, Bakewell's, prices of stallions, Marshall on the breed of, Norfolk breed of, Suffolk breed of, Yorkshire, Lanarkshire, Norfolk management of, followed in Scotland, expense of keeping, roots used for feeding, whins used, Husbandmen, why led sometimes to prefer cattle to corn, Husbandry, horse-hoeing, Insects destroy vegetables, destroyed by lime-water, Kincardine, mosses of, improved, Levelling of ridges, Lime. Lime destroys one kind of poor soil, No. 79 enriches another, 80 Anderon's opinion concerning, 82 what a proper soil for, 83 Lord Kames' theory of, inconsistent, 85 water destroys insects, 107 Lucerne, culture of, 63 Manure, M. Parmentier upon, 472 practical rule for forming, 473 Lord Meadowbank's mode of converting moss into, 474 more common kinds of, 475 used in Norfolk, 476 Midland district, 477 Mr Marshall's rules for raising, 478 lime as a, 479 operation of lime, 480 time of using lime, 481 quantity of lime, 482 lime on pasture fields, 483 limestone reduced to powder, 484 shell-marl, 485 clay and stone marls, 486 gypsum, 487 sea-sand, 488 Meadows watering, see Watering. Mildew, a disease of wheat, 96 red and black, or smut, 98 opinions concerning its causes, 99 Milk vetch, qualities of, 56 Moor, how to be cultivated, 198 Moss, nature and origin of, 193 black and yellow, 194 of Kincardine, removed by human labour, 196 mode of improving by Mr Smith, 197 Mosses, produced by cutting down forrests, 195 Mouldboard of the plough, 131 how to be formed, 132 Nature, process by which she fertilizes the earth, 78 Oats, valuable as human food, 20 culture of, 252 in Norfolk, 253 ploughed down, 254 wild, a weed in vale of Gloucester, 255 not cultivated in vale of Gloucester, 256 culture of, in the midland district, 257 Yorkshire, 258 mode of threshing, 259 black, experiment on, 260 Obstacles to agricultural improvement, 115 Opinions about the cause of mildew, 99 Oxen and horses compared, 538 preferred to horses, 559 difficulty of shoaling, 560 Plough, calculations in favour of, 561 lofs by not keeping, 562 not used in Norfolk, 563 objection to in the vale of Gloucester, 564 used in Cotswold, 565 moveable harness-house of, 566 why the use of declines in Yorkshire, 567 superiority of to horses, 568 gradually going into disuse, 569 calculations against, 570 Palings, 662 Paring and burning, how far useful, 200 Parfips, the culture of, too much neglected, 354 Mr Hazard's mode of culture, 355 culture of, with beans in Jersey, 65, 66, 67, 70 Pasturage and agriculture, 61 Pea, everlasting, 278 Peas, culture of, 279 setting in drills, 279 crops of, must not be repeated, 280 Marshall's observations on drying of, 461 Poultry ought to be confined, 604 proper mode of keeping, 605 Perry, excellence of, 641 art of making imperfect, 642, 643 Pickles, to prevent smut or mildew in wheat, 101 Plants, culmiferous, leguminous, their diseases ill understood, 95 Plough, its value, 118 may be improved, 120 the task it performs, 121 its general form, 122 advantages of this form, 123 its several parts, 125 its foaks, 126 breadth of the sole of, 127 sole should be level, 128 length of, 129 slope of the coulter, mouldboard of, 130 how to be formed, 132, 135 instrument for forming the mouldboard, 133 position of the sod turned by the plough, 134 mode of its action, 136 point of its draught, 138 in trim, 139 of Argylehire, objections to, 141 Scots, described, 142 its properties, 143 where improper, 144 chain, 145 Plough, chain advantages of, 149 small single horse, 150 Rotheram, 151 paring, 152 four-coulted, 153 Poa annua, 495 proteins, 395 compreffia, 396 Population, greatest where vegetable food is used, 71 Potato starch, 31 Potatoes, granulated by Mr Grenet, 41 not prejudicial to mankind, 32 general culture, 283 particular culture, 286 to prevent the grub in, 287 cheap preparation of, 288 culture on small plots, 289 small farms, 290 mode for which a premium was granted, 291 mode of taking up, 292 preserving, 293 clustered experiments, on, 294 greater experiments, 295 advantageous, 296 varieties of endless, 297 the curl in, 113 modes of prevention, 114 how raised from seed, 299 by Dr Anderon, 300 if they degenerate, 301 how to obtain an early crop of, 302 planted by scooping out the eyes, 303 Process by which nature fertilizes the earth, 76 Rabbits, value of, 601 enemies of, how destroyed, 602 Angora breed of, 603 Rape-seed, advantage of cultivating, 512 cutting and thrashing of, 513 sowing of, 514 transplanting, 515 sheep fed on, in spring, 516 culture of, in Brabant, 517 Reapers, 459 Reaping, manner of, 460 Ridges, high, for draining clay soils, 172 how formed, 201 inconvenient modes of levelling, when not to be levelled, 203 proper direction of, narrow, advantageous, 207 Ripening, 458 Roller, 161 Rolling, reason for, effects of, 162 Root of scarcity, culture of, 377 Roots baga, see Swedish turnip, Roots used as human food, more profitable than grain, when used as food, 24 INDEX.

Roots, their defects as food, 25 the transportation of them expensive, 26 are unfit for long preservation, 27 are too bulky for the stomach, 28 how they differ from grain, 29 how rendered equal in value to grain, 30 Forsyth's process for reducing to flour, 33 when given to cattle, should be boiled, 595 cheap mode of boiling by steam, 596

Rotation of crops, 452 different kinds of plants, 453 nature of the soil to be considered, 454 exceptionable, 455 from pasture advisable, 456 examples of, 457 Rotherham plough, 151 Runnet for cheese, 620, 621

Saffron, diseases of, 105 Sainfoin, culture of, 389 in England, 390 its excellence for cows, 391 Scarcity, root of, 48 how cultivated, 377 Scots plough, 143 properties of, 144 where improper, 145 Sheaves, size of, 462 Sheep, experiments on feeding with roots, 600 Sheep's feet, grass, 49 Shrubs, destroyed by flooding the land, 94 Single-horse plough, 150 Smith, Mr., his mode of improving mows, 197 Smut, account of, 98 Sock of the plough, 126, 147 Soil, clay, 209 chalky, 210 light poor, 211 light rich, 212 coarse rough, 213 Soils, four kinds of, 74 conjecture about the cause of their being exhausted, 77 process by which they are fertilized, 76 when poor, how restored, 81 supposed perpetually fertile, 84 but never are so, 86 clay and sandy, 87 fertility of, limited, 88 pulverized by certain vegetables, 89 seemingly enriched by some, 90 Sole of the plough, 127 Somerville, Robert, Esq., account of blight and smut, 96 Sowing machine, universal, 165 Springs, the nature of, 181 Stacking, 464 Stacks, coverings, 465 hay, 466, 467 Stones, importance of removing, 166 modes of removing, 167

Swampy lands, how cultivated, 199 Swedish turnip, 367 culture of in Nottinghamshire, 368

T

Tare, blue, 59 Theory of Agriculture, first, defective, 10 difficulty of forming it, 11 what it ought to contain, 12 Timber trees, 547 which, most profitable, 548 advantage of planting, 549 ameliorate the soil, 550 culture of, recommended, 551 increase of oak, 552, 553 underwood among, 554 mode of fowling, 555 Earl of Fife's plantations of, where plantations of, eligible or otherwise, 556 Timothy-grass, 604 Trees for fruit, see Fruit trees, 606 Turkeys, how reared in Norfolk, 606 Turnip-rooted cabbages, culture of, 357 value of, 358, 359 how raised for transplanting, 360 quantity of seed used for, 361 experiments with, 362 disadvantages attending, 363 why to be cultivated, 364 number of sheep on an acre of, 365 experiments with, at Cullen house, 366 Turnip, Swedish, see Swedish turnip, cabbage, culture of, 369 Turnip-rooted cabbage, 370 Turnip-fly, 109 Turnips, remedies against, 110, 111 method of preserving, 341 culture of, 304 time and mode of sowing, 305 different sorts of, 306 seed, remarks on, 307 culture in Norfolk, 308 by drill and broad-eat, compared, 309 value of, as cattle's food, 310 mode of preserving, 311 culture of, supposed unprofitable, 312 compared with other vegetables, 313 the fly injurious to, 314 feed, steeps for, if useful, 315 fumigation of, 316 to be rolled, 317 early sowing of, recommended, 318 much seed ought to be sown, 319, 321 when to be manured, 320 feed, the quality of, 322 grown with grain, 323 wheat, 324 beans, 325, 329 objected to, 326 reply, 327 opinion on, 328

Watering meadows, when first practiced, 418 advantages of, 419 improves the land, 420 increase of produce from, 421 ought to be extended, 422 land capable of, 423 by springs and rivulets, if preferred, 424 terms used in, 425 principles of, 426 Mr Wright's mode of, 427 objections answered, 428 used water, not good for, 429 repairing works, used in, 430 with muddy water, when preferred, 431 good effects of, 432 Mr Wimpey's opinion of, 433 Mr Forsyth's opinion of, 434 Mr Bofwell's ditto, 435 with land floods, 436 makes pasture preferable to ploughed land, 437 Mr Wright's directions for, 438 how grass consumed after, 439 how it may cause the rot in sheep, 440 Mr Bofwell's rules for, 441 spring meadow improved by, 442 hill sides improved by, 443 coarse lands, 444

Vol. I. Part II.

Watering, management of meadows after, No 445 how long to be continued, 446 spring feeding while, 447 from autumn to Candlemas, 448 not to be too long continued, 449 advantage of rolling while, 450 explained by Mr Findlater, 451

Weeds, annual and perennial, 91 perennial, how destroyed, 92 ground, how cleaned of, 204

Wetness is caused by rain or springs, 168

Wheat, the best kind of bread, 18 its use objected to, 19 diseases to which it is liable, 96 fallowing for, 216 dressing, on sandy soil, 215 time for sowing, 219

Wheat, setting of, No 220 an improvement, 221 method of, 222 advantages of, 223 propagated by dividing the roots, 224 setting, by Mr Bogle, 225 objected to, 226 practicability, 227, 229 Bath Society's observations on, 226, 228, 230 culture of in Norfolk, 231 succession of crops in Norfolk, 232 rice, balking of, 233 manuring for, in Norfolk, 234 time of sowing, in Norfolk, 235 Norfolk mode of preparing the feed, 236 sowing, 237

Wheat, Norfolk mode of ploughing under furrow, No 238 instruments for dibbling, 239 dibbling, objected to, 240 midland district, culture of, 241 in vale of Gloucester, culture of, 242 small sheaves, in Cotswold hills, 243 hoeing, good effects of, 245 cutting, mildewed very green, 246 in Yorkshire, culture of, 247 varieties of, raised, 248 prepared with arenic, 249 and turnips grown together, 250

Whins, food for horses, 34

Wood, culture of, 520

Young, Arthur, Esq. his experiments to prevent the smut in wheat, 103