Agriculture in general, or in the abstract, may be defined to be, The art of making the earth to produce in large quantities, and in the greatest perfection of which their nature is capable, those vegetables which are necessary to the subsistence, or useful for the accommodation of mankind. Agriculture differs from gardening in this respect, that the gardener is chiefly occupied in rearing small quantities of the nicer and more delicate vegetables, which are rather valued as objects of luxury than as articles of food; whereas the agriculturist labours upon a larger scale, with a view to supply himself and his countrymen with the necessaries of life.

In civilized societies agriculture, or the cultivation of the soil, becomes a separate business or employment; and agriculturists, or the persons engaged in agriculture, receive the appellation of farmers or husbandmen.

To enable the agriculturist or husbandman to conduct his business with success, it is necessary that he should not confine his attention to the mere cultivation of the soil, or the rearing of vegetables. The vegetables which are capable of affording a comfortable subsistence to the human constitution are few in number; and it has been found by experience, that they cannot be profitably sown and reproduced year after year upon the same spot of ground. Hence it becomes necessary at times to rear upon it grapes or other vegetables which are unfit for affording nourishment to man. But although men cannot eat grapes, they may, nevertheless, contrive to obtain subsistence from it in an indirect manner. They may give it to cattle, whose ordinary and natural food it is; and having thus, as it were, converted the grapes into the flesh of animals, they can devour these animals; and in this way, obtain a richer and more stimulating food than any vegetable production can possibly afford: It is therefore a part of the business of the husbandman to rear and to feed those animals which are used as food in the society of which he is a member, that he may be enabled at all times to derive profit from the portion of territory that he cultivates. It is also necessary towards conducting his operations with success, that he should rear and feed other animals, not as a source of human subsistence, but for the sake of the services which they are capable of affording; for it has pleased the benevolent Contriver of this world, to place upon it beings of a subordinate nature, capable of afflicting mankind in their labours without being degraded by the state of servitude in which they are placed. To the cultivators of the soil, these animals, from their strength and patience of labour, are particularly useful, and even absolutely necessary in our cold and barren climates. They must therefore be fed and lodged with the greatest care.

Hence the employment of the husbandman is of an extensive nature, requiring much foresight, and a considerable knowledge of the relations that subsist between the most important objects in nature—the soil, the seasons, the animals, and the plants, so far as they are connected with the subsistence of mankind. It is by bringing to perfection this art that man becomes truly the lord of the universe. He subdues by his operations every part of the surface of the earth, and acquires over the animals which inhabit it, a solid right of dominion or of property, in consequence of having reared, and afforded them subsistence by his skill and his labour. He uses them indeed as food; but before he can do so, he must first bestow upon them subsistence, attend to their multiplication, and to their health and welfare. As they possess no foresight, the purpose to which they are destined, is to them no evil.

It is only in proportion to the degree in which this important art of agriculture has flourished, that nations have been, or ever can be, permanently prosperous. Every improvement that is made in it is a moral benefit conferred upon mankind; for by increasing the quantity of human food, or facilitating the production of it, one of two things must always happen: Either the number of our species will be increased, that is to say, a greater multitude of rational and intelligent beings will exist in the creation; or a greater number of those who already exist, will find leisure for the improvement of their intellectual characters by studying and carrying to perfection the sciences and arts. Thus, the strength of nations is increased in proportion to the degree in which their soil is skilfully cultivated, and their independence is secured by finding upon the spot which they inhabit all that is necessary for their subsistence.

It is a fortunate circumstance, that the art of the husbandman, which is the foundation of all others, and at all times indispensable to human existence, is in every those who respect conducive to the welfare of those engaged in it. The practice of it bestows health upon the body; and by the variety of occupations which it affords, it also bestows a considerable degree of reflection upon the minds of the lowest persons occupied in it; while, at the same time, it prevents their acquiring that spirit of artifice and cunning, which in all countries is apt to degrade the character of those engaged in the inferior branches of commercial employment. Nor does it fail, in all ranks and conditions of life, to produce a more candid and liberal character than any other employment, ployment. No British husbandman has ever refused, or even hesitated to allow to be communicated to the public every branch of his art, and every improvement which he and his forefathers may have made in it; whereas, in all the branches of manufacture or of commerce, every transaction, as far as possible, is covered with a mysterious veil of secrecy, and every improvement, as far as possible, is concealed by its inventor, and sometimes undoubtedly perishes with him.

The antiquity of this art is undoubtedly beyond that of all others; for we are informed by Scripture, that Adam was sent from the garden of Eden to till the ground; and, this being the case, he certainly must have known how to do so.—It would be ridiculous, however, to imagine that he was acquainted with all the methods of plowing, harrowing, fallowing, &c., which are now made use of; and it would be equally so to suppose, that he used such clumsy and unartful instruments as wooden hooks, horns of oxen, &c., to dig the ground, which were afterwards employed for this purpose by certain savages; but as we know nothing of the particular circumstances in which he was situated, we can know as little concerning his method of agriculture.

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

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

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

From the earliest accounts of the eastern nations, we have reason to think, that agriculture has at all times been understood by them in considerable perfection; seeing they were always supplied not only with the necessaries, but the greatest luxuries of life.

As soon as the descendants of Abraham were settled in Palestine, they generally became husbandmen, from the chiefs of the tribe of Judah to the lowest branch of the family of Benjamin. High rank or birth did not at that time make any distinction, for agriculture was considered as the most honourable of all employments; witness the illustrious examples of Gideon, Saul, and David.

The Chaldeans, who inhabited the country where agriculture had its birth, carried that valuable art to a degree of excellence unknown in former times. They cultivated their lands with great assiduity, and seem to have found out some means of restoring fertility to an exhausted soil, by having plentiful harvests in succession; on which account they were not obliged, as their predecessors had been, to change their situations, in order to obtain a sufficiency for themselves and their numerous flocks and herds.

The Egyptians, who from the natural fertility of their country by the overflowing of the Nile, raised every year vast quantities of corn, were so sensible of the blessings resulting from agriculture, that they ascribed the invention of that art to Osiris. They also regarded Isis, their second deity, as the discoverer of the use of wheat and barley, which before grew wild in the fields, and were not applied by that people to the purposes of food. Their superstitious gratitude was carried so far, as to worship those animals which were employed in tillage, and even the produce of their lands, as leeks, onions, &c.

The divine honours paid to Bacchus in India were derived from the same source, he being considered in that country as the inventor of planting vineyards, and the other arts attendant upon agriculture.

It is also related of the ancient Persians, on the most respectable authority, that their kings laid aside their grandeur once every month to eat with husbandmen. This is a striking instance of the high estimation in which they held agriculture; for at that time arts were practised among that people in great perfection, particularly those of weaving, needle-work, and embroidery. The precepts of their religion taught by their ancient magi, or priests, included the practice of agriculture. The saint among them was obliged to work out his salvation by pursuing all the labours of agriculture: And it was a maxim of the Zendavesta, that he who tills the ground with care and diligence, acquires a greater degree. degree of religious merit, than he could have gained by the repetition of ten thousand prayers.

The Phoenicians, so well known in Scripture by the name of Philistines, were also remarkable for their attention to and skill in agriculture. But finding themselves too much disturbed and confined by the incursions and conquests of the Israelites, they spread themselves throughout the greatest part of the Mediterranean islands, and carried with them their knowledge in the arts of cultivation.

Mago, a famous general of the Carthaginians, is said to have written no less than 28 books on the subject; which Columella tells us were translated into Latin by the express order of the Roman senate. We are informed by the ancient writers, that Ceres was born in Sicily, where she first invented the arts of tillage and of sowing corn. For this essential service, she was, agreeably to the superstition of those ages, deified and worshipped as the goddess of plenty. The truth of this is, that, in the time of Ceres, the island, through her endeavours and the industry of the people, became very fruitful in corn; and agriculture was there esteemed so honourable an employment, that even their kings did not disdain to practise it with their own hands.

But time, which at first gave birth to arts, often caused them to be forgotten when they were removed from the place of their origin. The descendants of Noah, who settled in Europe, doubtless carried their knowledge of agriculture with them into the regions which they successively occupied. But those who took possession of Greece were such an uncivilized race, that they fed on roots, herbs, and acorns, after the manner of beasts. Pelasgus had taught them the culture of the oak, and the use of acorns as food; for which service, we are told, divine honours were paid him by the people.

The Athenians, who were the first people that acquired any tincture of politeness, taught the use of corn to the rest of the Greeks. They also instructed them how to cultivate the ground, and to prepare it for the reception of the seed. This art, we are told, was taught them by Triptolemus. The Greeks soon perceived that bread was more wholesome, and its taste more delicate, than that of acorns and the wild roots of the fields; accordingly they thanked the gods for such an unexpected and beneficial present, and honoured their benefactor.

As the arts of cultivation increased, and the blessings they afforded became generally experienced, the people soon preferred them to whatever the ravages of conquest, and the cruel depredations of savage life, could procure. And accordingly we find, that the Athenian kings, thinking it more glorious to govern a small state wisely, than to aggrandise themselves, and enlarge the extent of their dominions by foreign conquests, withdrew their subjects from war, and mostly employed them in cultivating the earth. Thus, by continued application, they brought agriculture to a considerable degree of perfection, and soon reduced it to an art.

Hesiod was the first we know of among the Greeks who wrote on this interesting subject. According to the custom of the oriental authors, he wrote in poetry, and embellished his poem with luxuriant description and sublime imagery. He calls his poem Works and Days, because agriculture requires exact observations on times and seasons.

Xenophon has also, in his Oeconomics, remarked, that agriculture is the nursing mother of the arts. For, says he, "where agriculture succeeds prosperously, there the arts thrive; but where the earth necessarily lies uncultivated, there the other arts are destroyed."

Other eminent Greek writers upon agriculture were, Democritus of Abdera, Socraticus, Archytas Tarentinus, Aristotle, and Theophrastus, from whom the art received considerable improvements.

The ancient Romans esteemed agriculture so honourable an employment, that the most illustrious senators of the empire, in the intervals of public concerns, applied themselves to this profession; and such was the simplicity of those ages, that they assumed no appearance of magnificence and splendour, or of majesty, but when they appeared in public. At their return from the toils of war, the taking of cities, and the subduing of hostile nations, their greatest generals were impatient till they were again employed in the arts of cultivation.

Regulus, when in Africa, requested of the senate to be recalled, lest his farm might suffer, for want of proper cultivation, in his absence, and the senate wrote him for answer, that it should be taken care of at the public expense, while he continued to lead their armies.

Cato the censor, after having governed extensive provinces, and subdued many warlike nations, did not think it below his dignity to write a Treatise on Agriculture. This work (as we are told by Servius) he dedicated to his own son, it being the first Latin treatise written on this important subject; and it has been handed down to us in all its purity, in the manner that Cato wrote it.

Varro composed a treatise on the same subject, and on a more regular plan. This work is embellished with all the Greek and Latin erudition of that learned author, who died 28 years before the commencement of the Christian era. Virgil who lived about the same time, has, in his Georgics, adorned this subject with the language of the Muses, and finely illustrated the precepts and rules of husbandry left by Hesiod, Mago, and Varro.

Columella, who flourished in the reign of the emperor Claudius, wrote 12 books on husbandry, replete with important instruction.

From this period to that of the reign of Constantine Paganatus, husbandry continued in a declining state; but that wise emperor caused a large collection of the most useful precepts relating to agriculture to be extracted from the best writers, and published them under the title of Geoponics. It has been asserted, that he made this collection with his own hand; and the truth of the assertion is not improbable, as it is well known that after he had conquered the Saracens and Arabians, he not only practised and encouraged, but studied the arts of peace, fixing his principal attention on agriculture as their best foundation.

After the death of Constantine, however, the increasing attention of the people to commerce, and the ignorance and gross superstition of the ages which succeeded, seem to have rendered agriculture an almost neglected glested science. The irruptions of the northern nations soon abolished any improved system. These innumerable and enterprising barbarians, who overran all Europe, were originally shepherds or hunters, like the present Tartars and the savages of America. They contented themselves with pasturing, without labour or trouble, those vast countries rendered deserts by their own ravages, cultivating only a very small spot near their habitations; and in this trifling husbandry only the meanest slaves were employed: so that the art itself, which formerly was thought worthy of the study of kings, was now looked upon as mean and ignoble; a prejudice which is scarcely effaced at present, or at least very lately.—During this period, therefore, we find no vestiges of anything tolerably written on the subject. No new attempts were made to revive it, or to improve it, till the year 1478, when Cerecenzio published an excellent performance on the subject at Florence. This roused the slumbering attention of his countrymen, several of whom soon followed his example. Among these Tatti, Stephano Augustino Gallo, Sanfino, Lauro, and Tarello, deserve particular notice.

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

It is not to be expected that we can now be acquainted with many of the practices of these ancient husbandmen. It appears, however, that they were not unacquainted with the use of manures, particularly marl.†

This we have on the authority of Pliny‡, who tells us, that it was peculiar to the people of Gaul and of Britain; that its effects continued 80 years; and that no man was ever known to marl his field twice, &c.—It is highly probable, too, that lime was at this time also used as a manure in Britain, it being certainly made use of in Gaul for this purpose at the time of Julius Caesar's invasion.

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

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

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

The Saxon princes and great men, who, in the division of the lands, had received the greatest shares, are said to have subdivided their estates into two parts, which were called the in-lands and the out-lands. The in-lands were those which lay most contiguous to the mansion-house of their owner, which he kept in his own possession, and cultivated by his slaves, under the direction of a bailiff, for the purpose of raising provisions for the family. The out-lands were those at a greater distance from the house, and were let to the ceorls, or farmers of those times, at very moderate rents. By the laws of Ina king of the West Saxons, who reigned in the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth century, a farm consisting of ten hides, or plough-lands, was to pay the following rent: "Ten casks of honey; three hundred loaves of bread; twelve casks of strong ale; thirty casks of small ale; two oxen; ten wedders; ten geese; twenty hens; ten cheeses; one cask of butter; five salmon; twenty pounds of forage; and one hundred eels." From this low rent, the imperfection of agriculture at that time is easily discoverable; but it is still more so from the low prices at which land was then sold. In the ancient history of the church of Ely, published by Dr Gale, there are accounts of many purchases of lands by Ædelwold the founder of that church, and by other benefactors, in the reign of Edgar the Peaceable, in the tenth century. By a comparison of these accounts it appears, that the ordinary price of an acre of the best land in that part of England, in those times, was no more than 16 Saxon pennies, or about four shillings of our money: a very trifling price, even in comparison with that of other commodities at the same time: for, by comparing comparing other accounts, it appears, that four sheep were then equal in value to an acre of the best land, and one horse of the same value with three acres. The frequent and deplorable famines which afflicted England about this time, are further instances of the wretched state of agriculture. In 1043, a quarter of wheat sold for 60 Saxon pennies (15 of our threepence), at that time equal in value to seven or eight pounds of our money now.

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

We are, after all, very much in the dark with respect to the state and progress of agriculture in Great Britain previous to the fourteenth century. That it was pretty generally practised, particularly in the eastern, south, and middle parts of England, is certain; but of the mode, and the success, we are left totally ignorant. In the latter end of the fifteenth century, however, it seems to have been cultivated as a science, and received very great improvement.

At this time our countryman Fitzherbert, judge of the common pleas, shone forth with distinguished eminence in the practical parts of husbandry. He appears to have been the first Englishman who studied the nature of soils and the laws of vegetation with philosophical attention. On these he formed a theory confirmed by experiments, and rendered the study pleasing as well as profitable, by realizing the principles of the ancients, to the honour and advantage of his country. Accordingly, he published two treatises on this subject: the first, entitled *The Book of Husbandry*, appeared in 1534; and the second, called *The Book of Surveying and Improvement*, in 1539. These books, being written at a time when philosophy and science were but just emerging from that gloom in which they had long been buried, were doubtless replete with many errors; but they contained the rudiments of true knowledge, and revived the study and love of an art, the advantages of which were obvious to men of the least reflection. We therefore find that Fitzherbert's books on agriculture soon raised a spirit of emulation in his countrymen; and many treatises of the same kind successively appeared, which time has however deprived us of, or at least they are become so very scarce as only to be found in the libraries of the curious.

About the year 1600, France made some considerable efforts to revive the arts of husbandry, as appears from several large works, particularly *Les Moyens de devenir Riche*; and the *Cultivatrice*, by Bernard de Palissy, a poor porter, who seems to have been placed by fortune in a station for which nature never intended him; *Le Theatre d'Agriculture*, by Deferrers; and *L'Agriculture et Maifon Rustique*, by Messrs Etienne, Liebault, &c.

Nearly in the same period, the skilful practice of husbandry became more prevalent among this people and the Flemings than the publishing of books on the subject. Their intention seemed to be that of carrying on a private lucrative employment, without infringing their neighbours. Whoever therefore became desirous of copying their method of agriculture, was obliged to visit that country, and make his own remarks on their practice.

The principal idea they had of husbandry was, by keeping the lands clean and in fine tilth, to make a farm resemble a garden as nearly as possible.

Such an excellent principle, at first setting out, led them of course to undertake the culture of small farms only, which they kept free from weeds, continually turning the ground, and manuring it plentifully and judiciously. When they had by this method brought the soil to a proper degree of cleanliness, health, and sweetness, they chiefly cultivated the more delicate grasses, as the surest means of obtaining a certain profit upon a small estate, without the expense of keeping many draught horses and servants. A few years experience was sufficient to convince them that ten acres of the best vegetables for feeding cattle, properly cultivated, would maintain a larger stock of grazing animals than forty acres of common farm grass on lands badly cultivated. They also found, that the best vegetables for this purpose were lucerne, sainfoin, trefoil of most kinds, field turnips, &c.

The grand political secret of their husbandry, therefore, consisted in letting farms on improvement. They are said also to have discovered nine sorts of manure; but what they all were, we are not particularly informed. We find, however, that marl was one of them; the use and virtues of which appear also to have been well known in this kingdom two hundred years ago, although it was afterwards much neglected. They were the first people among the moderns who ploughed in green crops for the sake of fertilizing the soil; and who confined their sheep at night in large sheds built on purpose, the floors of which were covered with sand or virgin earth, &c. which the shepherd carted away each morning to the compost dunghill.

In England, during the civil wars, though the operations and improvements in husbandry suffered some temporary checks, there flourished several excellent writers on the subject, and the art itself received considerable encouragement. Sir Hugh Platt was one of the most ingenious husbandmen of the age in which he lived; yet so great was his modesty, that all his works except except his Paradise of Flora seem to be posthumous. He held a correspondence with most of the lovers and patrons of agriculture and gardening in England; and such was the justice and modesty of his temper, that he always named the author of every discovery communicated to him. Perhaps no man in any age discovered, or at least brought into use, so many new kinds of manure. This will be evident to those who read his account of the compost and covered dunghills, and his judicious observations on the fertilizing qualities lodged in salt, street dirt, and the fullage of streets in great cities, clay, fullers earth, moorish earths, dunghills made in layers, fern, hair, calcination of all vegetables, malt dust, willow tree earth, soapers ashes, urine, marl, and broken potsherds.

Gabriel Platten may be said to have been an original genius in husbandry. He began his observations at an earlier period, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and continued them down to the Commonwealth. But notwithstanding the great merit of this writer, and the essential service he had rendered his country by his writings, the public ungratefully suffered him to starve and perish in the streets of London; nor had he a shilling on his back when he died.

Samuel Hartlib, a celebrated writer on agriculture in the last century, was highly esteemed and beloved by Milton, and other great men of his time. In the preface to his work entitled his Legacy, he laments that no public director of husbandry was established in England by authority; and that we had not adopted the Flemish method of letting farms upon improvement. This remark of Hartlib's procured him a pension of £100 a year from Cromwell; and the writer afterwards, the better to fulfil the intention of his benefactor, procured Dr Beattie's excellent annotation on the Legacy, with other valuable papers from his numerous correspondents.

The time in which Hartlib flourished seems to have been an era when the English husbandry rose to great perfection, compared with that of former ages; for the preceding wars had impoverished the country gentlemen, and of course made them industrious. They found the cultivation of their own lands to be the most profitable station they could fill. But this wise turn was not of long continuance. At the Restoration they generally became infected with that intoxication and love of pleasure which succeeded. All their industry and knowledge were exchanged for neglect and dissipation; and husbandry descended almost entirely into the hands of common farmers.

Evelyn was the first writer who inspired his countrymen with a desire of reviving the study of agriculture; and he was followed by the famous Jethro Tull. The former, by his admirable treatises on earth and on planting, and the latter, by showing the superior advantages of the drill husbandry, excited numbers to bring their theory to the test of fair experiment.

Many valuable and capital improvements have since that period been made in English husbandry; and these great men have been succeeded by a variety of writers, many of whom have done essential service, by enlightening the minds of their countrymen, and exciting them to emulation.

About the middle of the last century, Ireland began to make a considerable figure in the art of husbandry. It must indeed be confessed, that the Irish had very strong prejudices in favour of a wretched method of agriculture, till Blyth opened their eyes by his excellent writings. Since that time, a spirit of improvement has more or less been promoted, and in many instances carried on with great zeal, by the nobility, clergy, and gentry of that kingdom. In proof of this, it will be sufficient to observe, that the Transactions of the Dublin Society for encouraging Husbandry are now cited by all foreigners in their memoirs relating to that subject. And the observations of that discerning and judicious writer Arthur Young, Esq., in his Tour through that kingdom, show, that in many respects improvements there have of late years made a progress nearly as rapid as in England.

After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, most of the nations of Europe, by a sort of tacit consent, applied themselves to the study of agriculture, and continued to do so, more or less, amidst the universal confusion that succeeded.

The French found, by repeated experience, that they could never maintain a long war, or procure a tolerable peace, unless they could raise corn enough to support themselves in such a manner as not to be obliged to submit to harsh terms on the one hand, or to perish by famine on the other. This occasioned the king to give public encouragement to agriculture, and even to be present at the making of several experiments. The great, and the rich of various ranks and stations, followed his example; and even the ladies were candidates for a share of fame in this public-spirited and commendable undertaking.

During the hurry and distresses of France in the war of 1756, considerable attention was paid to agriculture. Prize questions were annually proposed in their rural academies, particularly those of Lyons and Bordeaux; and many judicious observations were made by the Society for improving agriculture in Brittany.

After the conclusion of that war in 1763, matters were carried on there with great vigour. The university of Amiens made various proposals for the advancement of husbandry; and the marquis de Tourbilly (a writer who proceeded chiefly on experience) had the principal direction of a geological society established at Tours.

The society at Rouen also deserves notice; nor did the king and his ministers think it unworthy their attention. There soon existed about fifteen societies in France, established by royal approbation, for the promoting of agriculture; and these had twenty co-operating societies belonging to them.

About this time vigorous exertions began to be made in Russia to introduce the most approved system of husbandry which had taken place in other parts of Europe. The late empress sent several gentlemen into Britain and other countries to study agriculture, and gave it all possible encouragement in her own dominions.

The art of agriculture has also been for many years publicly taught in the Swedish, Danish, and German universities, where the professors may render effectual service to their respective countries, if they understand the practical as well as the speculative part, and can converse with as much advantage with the farmer as with Virgil and Columella. Even Italy has not been totally inactive. The Neapolitans of this age have endeavored to recur to the first rudiments of revived husbandry, and begun to study anew the Agricultural System of Cerecenzio, first published in 1478. The people of Bergamo have pursued the same plan, and given a new edition of the Ricordo d'Agriculturae de Tarello, first published in 1577. The duchy of Tuscany has imbibed the same spirit of improvement. A private gentleman, above 40 years since, left his whole fortune to endow an academy of agriculture. The first ecclesiastic in the duchy was president of this society, and many of the chief nobility were members.

His Sardinian majesty also sent persons to learn the different modes of practice in foreign countries; and made some spirited attempts to establish a better method of agriculture among his subjects.

In Poland also M. de Bielucki, grand marshal of the crown, made many successful attempts to introduce the new husbandry among his countrymen; and procured the best instruments for that purpose from France, England, and other parts of Europe.

The Hollanders are the only people now in Europe who seem to look upon agriculture with indifference. Except the single collateral instance of draining their fens and marshes, they have scarcely paid any attention to it; and even this seems to have proceeded more from the motive of self-preservation, than any love of, or disposition to, husbandry.

In the year 1759, a few ingenious and public-spirited men at Berne in Switzerland established a society for the advancement of agriculture and rural economics. In that society were many men of great weight in the republic, and most of them persons of a true cast for making improvements in husbandry, being enabled to join the practice with the theory.

Nor must we here omit to mention, that the justly celebrated Linnæus and his disciples have performed great things in the north of Europe, particularly in discovering new kinds of profitable and well-tasted food for cattle. About the same time, Sweden bestowed successful labors on a soil which had before been looked upon as cold, barren, and incapable of melioration. Of this the Stockholm Memoirs will be a lasting monument.

Denmark, and many of the courts in Germany, followed the same example. Woollen manufactures were encouraged, and his Danish majesty sent three persons into Arabia Felix to make remarks, and bring over such plants and trees as would be useful in husbandry, building, and rural affairs.

The duchy of Würtemberg, also, a country by no means unfruitful, but even friendly to corn and pastureage, has contributed its affluence towards the improvement of agriculture, having more than 50 years since published 14 economical relations at Stuttgart.

Neither must we forget the very affluence of the learned in Leipzig and Hanover to this important object. During the rage and devastation of a long war, they cultivated the arts of peace; witness the Journal d'Agriculture printed at Leipzig, and the Recueils d'Hanover printed in that city.

Even Spain, constitutionally and habitually inactive on such occasions, in spite of all their natural indolence, and the prejudices of bigotry, invited Linnæus, with the offer of a large pension, to superintend a college founded for the purpose of making new inquiries into the history of nature and the art of agriculture.

Among the Japanese, agriculture is in great repute; and among the Chinese it is distinguished and encouraged by the court beyond all other sciences. The emperor of China yearly, at the beginning of spring, goes to plough in person, attended by all the princes and grandees of the empire. The ceremony is performed with great solemnity; and is accompanied with a sacrifice, which the emperor, as high-priest, offers to Chang-Ti, to ensure a plentiful crop in favor of his people.

But, without any improper partiality to our own country, we are fully justified in affirming, that Britain alone exceeds all modern nations in husbandry; and from the spirit which for the last twenty years has animated many of our nobility and gentry, to become the liberal patrons of improvement, there is reason to hope that this most useful of arts will, in a few years, be carried to a greater pitch of perfection than it has ever yet attained in any age or country.—The Royal Society, the Bath Society, and the Society of Arts, &c. in particular, have been finally useful in this respect; and the other associations, which are now established in many parts of the kingdom, cooperate with them in forwarding their laudable design.

It is not, however, to the exertion of public societies, excellent and honourable as they are, that all our modern improvements in agriculture owe their origin. To the natural genius of the people have been added the theory and practice of all nations in ancient and modern times. This accumulated mass of knowledge has been arranged, divided, and subdivided; and after passing the test of practical experiments, the essential and most valuable parts of it have been preserved, improved, and amply diffused in the works of Lord Kames, Mr Young, Stillingfleet, Dr Hunter, Anderson, Dickson, Ellis, Randal, Lisle, Marshal, Mortimer, Duhamel, Bradley, Kent, Mills, and a few other writers upon this great art of rendering mankind happy, wealthy, and powerful.

We also remark with much satisfaction, that the British government has of late years thought fit to render the improvement of agriculture an object of public attention and encouragement, by the institution of a board of agriculture. About the year 1790, Sir John Sinclair, Bart., invited the clergy of the church of Scotland to transmit to him descriptions of the state of their different parishes, with a view to the publication of what is called a Statistical Account of Scotland. The whole members of this body having readily complied with his request, a work in 20 volumes octavo was compiled from the materials afforded by them, containing an account of the agriculture, manufactures, and population of the country. The same gentleman, about that period, was also active in obtaining the institution of a private society, called The British Wool Society, which was very successful in calling the attention of the public to the improvement of that important article of national growth and manufacture. By these patriotic exertions, having acquired a considerable share of popularity, he was encouraged on 15th May 1793, to make a motion in the house of commons, of which he he was a member, for an address to the crown, recommending the institution of a board of agriculture. The chancellor of the exchequer, Mr Pitt, on perceiving that the proposal was acceptable to the majority of the house, gave it a decided support, and on the 17th May, to which the debate had been adjourned, the motion was carried for an address to his majesty to institute such a board, at an expense not exceeding £3000. In consequence of this application, a charter passed the great seal, incorporating the members of administration for the time, with the archbishops of Canterbury and York, and all their successors in office, together with certain other noblemen and gentlemen, into a board or society, by the name of the Board or Society for the encouragement of Agriculture and internal improvement, under the patronage of the crown; with power to the members to elect office-bearers and successors to themselves: and in the mean time Sir John Sinclair was appointed to be the first president, to continue in office till 25th March following; Sir John Caul, Bart. was appointed to be the first treasurer, and Arthur Young, Esq. so well known for his agricultural publications, was appointed secretary.

The regular fittings of the board did not commence till 23rd January 1794, since which time it has continued to exert a very considerable degree of activity in establishing an extensive foreign correspondence, and in procuring and publishing every kind of useful domestic agricultural intelligence, some specimens of which we shall afterwards have occasion to notice. This board, soon after its institution, also employed persons of known reputation to prepare agricultural surveys of every county in the island of Great Britain.—Many of these surveys have been published, and form treatises upon this important art, which, for extent of intelligence and ability of execution, have not been exceeded in any age or country. The board has also obtained parliamentary rewards to some individuals for important discoveries, and has offered premiums for essays or treatises upon subjects connected with the purpose of its institution, which have produced a great variety of valuable and ingenious disquisitions.

THEORY OF AGRICULTURE.

In an art that is so necessary to mankind, and that has been so universally practised, it might perhaps be expected, that the principles upon which its operations depend, would have been by this time completely and accurately investigated, and consequently that a correct theory of agriculture could easily be exhibited. This, however, is by no means the case; and it is not a little singular, that, in this most useful of all arts, the theory should still be more defective than in almost any science with which we are acquainted. It is fortunate, however, for the human race, that in most cases, or at least in all important arts, they succeed better in practice than in speculation. During many ages, various arts were accustomed to extract the most ordinary, but most useful metals, from the state of ore or earth in which nature produces them, and to reduce them back from their metallic form and lustre, to a state of ore or earth again. These arts were unacquainted with the principles upon which the success of their operations depended; and it is only within these few years that some ingenious chemists have successfully investigated the nature of these processes, and have explained what they have called the oxygenation and dioxygenation of metals. The same thing has happened in agriculture. Men have often cultivated the ground well, while they have speculated ill concerning the mode of doing so.

Various reasons render it still more difficult to form a complete theory of agriculture, than of chemistry, mechanics, or other arts. In agriculture, an experiment cannot be made in an instant, or even in an hour, or in a day or two. A whole season must pass away before a single experiment can be performed, and after all, as in other arts, the inquirer after truth may be misled by some unobserved circumstances. Some fact, quite foreign to the experiment itself, arising out of the peculiar state of the soil, or of the train of seasons, may produce plentiful crops for a year or two, though, in ordinary circumstances, no such effect would follow: and the ingenious contriver of the experiment, who thought he had made an important discovery, may afterwards derive from it only disappointment and mortification. But human life is too short to admit a very great variety of agricultural experiments to be performed by the same individual. After a few seasons, he must leave his place to be occupied by a new inquirer, possessed of a different character and of different views. Unfortunately, till of late years, it was not usual for husbandmen to publish, and thus to immortalize and diffuse over whole nations, the result of their private experience and reflections. Scattered over the face of great countries, and having little intercourse with foreigners, or even with each other, they knew little of what was done by men engaged in the same profession, though at no great distance.—In this way, the benefit of local discoveries was not communicated to the world at large, nor was an opportunity afforded of eradicating local prejudices and erroneous practices. As the state of this valuable profession is now rapidly altering in these respects, there is little doubt that we are fast approaching towards a period at which it will be possible to exhibit a clear and correct theory of agriculture, or to arrange under a few simple heads the rules or principles upon which the practice of the art depends.

What we are now to offer, is not to be considered as perfect, nor even as possessing any near approximation towards a perfect theory of the husbandman's art; but merely, such a general statement of its principles as results from the degree of information hitherto collected upon the subject.

A theory, or general view of the principles of agriculture seems necessarily to resolve itself into the two ought to following investigations: 1st, To inquire, among the great variety of vegetables that exist in nature, what particular plants ought to be regarded as most worthy of cultivation: and 2ndly, To consider the best mode of cultivating with success the plants thus selected.

With regard to the first of these divisions of the subject, or the vegetables that ought to be chosen as most valuable and worthy of cultivation, it may be observed, folio and that the value of a plant is of two kinds, absolute, or relative. Vegetables relative: The absolute value of a plant depends upon its fitness to afford subsistence to the human species, whereas its relative value consists of the tendency which the cultivation of it will have to enrich a particular husbandman, or class of husbandmen, either because their lands are well adapted for its growth, or because there is a ready market for it in the vicinity, where it bears a high price.

Concerning the absolute value of plants, or their tendency to afford subsistence to mankind, it is to be observed, that some plants are directly useful or valuable, because they are immediately consumed as food by man, such as wheat, oats, or potatoes; whereas mankind derive subsistence from another class of plants, only in an indirect manner, by giving them to cattle, and afterwards eating the flesh of these cattle, as happens with regard to grass and straw of all kinds.

Sect. I. Of Vegetables to be cultivated as Food for Man.

Some vegetables afford subsistence to the human species by means of the fruit that grows upon them, which hangs, and is brought to maturity in the air, at the summit of their stems. Other vegetables derive their value from producing roots which come to maturity in the bottom of the soil, and are dug from thence to be consumed by mankind.

Of fruit-bearing vegetables, those called trees, which rise aloft with a strong trunk, are the most permanent and remarkable. It is said that a spot of ground, occupied by some kinds of trees, such as chestnuts or dates, is capable of producing a very great portion of food, useful for the support of the human species. One advantage attending the cultivation of such vegetables, would be that, after the trees are planted, and secured by fences for a few years against animals, they would forever after, or at least for many years, continue to grow and flourish without care or labour. It does not appear, however, that in any nation of ancient or modern times, forests of fruit-bearing trees have been reared with a view to afford subsistence to the community. For this two reasons may be assigned. In the first place, a considerable number of years must elapse, before such plants could arrive at maturity, and fulfill the purpose of their destination. Of whatever use therefore they might be to future ages, it is evident that they could afford little benefit to the generation which planted them. But in a question about subsistence, mankind are usually under the necessity of considering their own immediate wants, and hence they have been led to the cultivation of such plants, as afford the most speedy reward for the efforts of their industry. Another reason for preferring the culture of small annual plants, to the greater and more permanent productions of nature, would arise, in the early ages of the world, from the turbulent state of society and the frequency of wars. A community that should depend for its subsistence upon the fruit of forest trees, might be ruined for half a century by the inroad of an enemy. An example of this was exhibited in the war between Great Britain and her North American colonies. When the parent state hired the savages on the western frontier, to join her party, and to make inroads upon the colonists, the latter retaliated upon the savages in the following manner. Several of the colonies united in sending an expedition against the Indians. The bodies of militia employed upon this expedition, were surprised to find small corn fields around a considerable number of the Indian hamlets. They were not satisfied however with destroying the huts of the natives, and these incipient efforts of savage industry; but they anxiously fought out and destroyed every fruit-bearing tree that they found in their progress of almost a thousand miles, thereby rendering the wilderness utterly uninhabitable to a people destitute of agriculture, and who could not always depend for subsistence upon their success in hunting. From this example we see that the frequent wars arising from the barbarous character of ancient nations, would compel them to seek subsistence, not from the fruit of forest trees, but from grain, which speedily arrives at maturity, and which when destroyed can soon be renewed. Thus war becomes a less wasteful scourge to the human race, and communities are enabled speedily to recover from the devastation which it produces. Had the nations of Europe depended for subsistence, upon any fruits which could not be speedily restored when destroyed, it is evident, that, in the late sanguinary conflict, the greater number of them must have been irretrievably ruined.

Hence it appears that the cultivation of plants of annual growth, as a source of subsistence, is favourable to the permanence of civilization in the world; and that before nations can venture to rely for their subsistence upon the fruit of plants of slower growth, their character must have arrived at a degree of moral amelioration far superior to what it has ever been known to possess.

Of annual plants cultivated for fruit, wheat has always been accounted the most valuable. This has probably arisen from the extreme facility with which the flour of it undergoes a process of fermentation, which renders it capable of becoming a more light and agreeable kind of bread than the flour of any other grain. This quality is believed to arise from a quantity of a substance contained in wheat that is of the same nature with the gluten, or glue, that is prepared from animal bodies. In other respects, however, it does not appear that wheat is more valuable than some other kinds of grain; by means of long boiling, a given weight of barley, or even of oats, will render a quantity of water as thick or full of mucilage as can be done by the same weight of wheat.

It may not be improper here to remark, that, in the use of modern times, an author of no mean reputation, grain has arisen, who endeavours to prove that wheat ought been not to be cultivated, nor bread to be eaten. This is objected to M. Linguet, who has written a treatise expressly upon the subject; and, ridiculous as the assertion may seem, it has been thought worthy of a formal refutation by Dr Tiffot.—One of M. Linguet's arguments is, that wheat impoverishes the ground on which it grows: but in opposition to this, Dr Tiffot argues, that corn is more easily cultivated than grass; and that consequently in the country he speaks of, Switzerland, the best fields are appropriated to hay, and the worst to corn. "If there are some districts of very poor land (says he) almost entirely sown with corn, they are not poor because they produce only corn, but because they are not fit to produce anything else. Their soil is so bad, that they can grow but very little fodder: consequently they maintain only such cattle as are absolutely necessary for labour;" Vegetables labour; and those are ill fed, and frequently perish.

For they have but little manure, and their crops are small; for large crops of all sorts can only be expected from lands naturally rich or strongly manured. Thus the poverty of the inhabitants is only owing to their possessing an ungrateful soil. What proves evidently that it is the natural soil which is in the fault, and not the corn which impoverishes it, is, that where there is meadow and arable land, the price of the meadow land is much more considerable than that of the arable. In most parts of this country the proportion is nearly ten to one; and there are even some meadows, for one part of which they would give 30 of field lands; and some of vines, for which 100 of arable would be given. Those districts where the soil will produce nothing but corn, are poor; but in those which furnish fodder, and also fine crops of grain, the inhabitants are wealthy and happy, unless they are oppressed by taxes."

M. Linguet draws another objection from the length of time required to cultivate wheat; but Tiffot, by another calculation, shows, that 48 days work throughout the year would cultivate more wheat than is sufficient for a family of six persons. The time necessary for cultivation of arable land also does not increase in proportion to its extent; but in case more is cultivated than is requisite for the subsistence of the family, a trade is formed, which might be increased to an unlimited extent. He then compares the time requisite for the cultivation of vines, which are recommended by M. Linguet, and finds it to be much longer than that required for wheat. "I know very well (says he) that the one requires cattle, and the other does not: but these cattle, far from being expensive, will, if properly managed, increase the gain of the farmer: therefore they must not be looked upon as any expense. Corn is subject to many accidents, but vines are subject to many more; those which the vines suffer, sometimes spoil the vintage for several years; whereas those which happen to arable land, only spoil the crop for the season; and as the expense of cultivating vines, for which only manual labour can be employed, is much more considerable, therefore the vigneron (or person who cultivates vines), who engages more largely than the farmer, will consequently be a much greater loser if unsuccessful.—Hay is also subject to frequent and very disagreeable accidents; the securing it is sometimes very difficult; and, when it is badly made, it is very hurtful to cattle.—A single fact will be sufficient to prove the casualties to which hay is subject; viz., that it varies in price as much as grain. Accidents of hay mows taking fire are too frequent; and this is not to be feared in corn mows."

The other objections of M. Linguet to wheat appear to be quite frivolous; so that concerning the cultivation of this grain, Dr Tiffot draws the following conclusions: "It appears then, from what has been said, that wheat is not a commodity that is impoverishing in itself; and that this grain will grow indifferently at least in lands and situations which are unfavourable to other plants. This grain is likewise adapted to most climates; and if there are districts almost entirely sown with wheat, and yet poor, it is the fault of the soil, and not of this useful grain."

But the most extraordinary argument perhaps ever thought of on this subject is M. Linguet's assertion, that the use of wheat, or bread made from it, is detrimental to population; and that the countries where this grain is cultivated are poor and thinly inhabited, whereas those which abound in vineyards and pasture lands are rich and populous. But this, in Dr Tiffot's opinion, flows only that one soil is more rich than another, and that a fertile soil will maintain most inhabitants. "No person (says he) is more capable of afflicting the cause of the subjection of the Roman empire to the northern powers, than M. Linguet; but he cannot surely be serious when he says, that they were enabled to conquer it because those northern countries produced no corn, and that population decreased since the introduction of grain." I shall make three observations on this passage: First, The armies of Gustavus Adolphus, Charles XII. and the king of Prussia, whose food was bread, would be as formidable against the Italians of those times, who eat less than was eaten in the days of Scipio, as their ancestors were 1400 years ago against the Romans; and M. Linguet must certainly know, that those Greeks who subsisted on bread, those Romans who ate nothing but bread and vegetables in pottage, subdued all the known world, among whom were many nations who ate less bread than themselves. A Roman soldier's allowance of bread was much greater than what soldiers have at present; and by the use of this food they had much more strength than our modern soldiers can boast of. The allowance to a Roman soldier was 64 pounds of wheat per month; and this he was strictly forbidden either to sell or exchange. Their soldiers had very seldom any cheese, bacon, or pulse; so that wheat was almost their only food, and the proportion was double what is allowed soldiers in our days. They ate it in bread, in flour-milk, and in thin cakes; and they were not subject to epidemic or putrid disorders, which is too much the case with our modern armies. We may easily judge, from the weight of their accoutrements, that the Roman soldiers were not possessed of less personal strength than those who compose the armies at this day: they were not less brave, nor did their food render them in any way unhealthy: on the contrary, where there is such difficulty in procuring a supply of good animal food to an army, as is often the case in modern times, it is probable that reducing them to the simple diet of a Roman soldier would be the most proper method of preventing epidemic diseases among them. Secondly, It is very doubtful whether those countries were more populous formerly than they are at this time; it is even probable that they were less so. Lastly, The people of those northern countries were not without wheat; it was the basis of their food and drink: without quoting other authors who attest it, suffice it to say, that Tacitus affirms it," &c.

In this last particular, however, our author appears to be mistaken; but whatever may be in this, we apprehend that few of our readers will entertain any doubt concerning the wholesomeness of wheat, or the propriety of making it into bread after once it is cultivated.

After wheat, oats have in our country been considered as of very great importance. It is a hardy and valuable beautiful plant; grows with little cultivation, and is particularly well suited for lands newly brought from a state of nature, upon which it was always used as the first crop, till the introduction of the turnip huf- Vegetables bandry. The meal of it is usually very coarsely ground, and mixed with a considerable quantity of the inner covering of the grain. Hence it has always a considerable degree of roughness, and is harsh, and unfitted to very delicate constitutions; but this very harshness, from its stimulant effect, producing a feeling of warmth in the stomach, renders it more grateful to persons much exposed to the open air, and accustomed to hard labour, who account it a hearty kind of food. Essentially, and in its intrinsic qualities, this grain differs little from some others.

Barley is chiefly valued in consequence of the facility with which it produces a great quantity of saccharine matter by the process of vegetation or malting, which fits it for the preparation of vinous or spirituous liquors. Peas are also sometimes used when ground into meal as an article of human food; but on account of their viscid and indigestible quality, they can never become valuable in that point of view, unless to persons engaged in the open air, in the most active and severe kinds of labour.

In other respects, however, it does not appear that there is much difference in point of quality or wholesomeness between the various kinds of grain cultivated in different countries. They are all capable of affording nourishment to the human constitution, and of preserving it in health and vigour: When ground into meal, they require little farther preparation, and are easily made into bread, or otherwise prepared for immediate consumption, by being mixed according to the fancy or taste of different nations, with a small quantity of water, or any other liquid.

Of the roots which are used to afford subsistence to man, the potato has hitherto been the principal. The rest, consisting chiefly of carrots, turnips, and parsnips, are never used as a sole nutriment, being rather adopted for the purpose of giving variety and relish to other food, and chiefly to butchers' meat. The potato, however, is in some measure an exception to this general rule. It contains a large quantity of starch, which does not seem inferior to the starch prepared from wheat, so far at least as that ingredient is to be regarded as contributing to the nourishing qualities of the grain. Its taste resembles, more nearly than any other root, the taste of bread; and accordingly it is daily beginning to be more extensively used, and to form a larger portion of the food of the poor. The celebrated Dr Adam Smith long since remarked its tendency to produce a strong and handsome race of people, as demonstrated by its effect upon the common people of Ireland, who have for a considerable length of time in a great measure subsisted upon it.

It is to be observed concerning all the roots now mentioned, that a crop of them always contains a much larger quantity of human food than a crop of any kind of grain upon the same extent of ground. A Scots acre of good land, which will not produce more than 1280 pounds weight of oatmeal, will easily produce 20,000 pounds weight of potatoes, and will sometimes in favourable seasons produce 30,000 or 35,000 pounds weight of that valuable root. Supposing one pound of oatmeal to contain as much nourishment as four pounds of potatoes, still it is evident, that, where an extent of territory employed in the production of oats can only support one million of people, the same territory employed in the cultivation of potatoes will support fifteen millions of persons.

Potatoes, however, and all the other roots, have hitherto possessed these radical defects: The carriage of them is extremely expensive, in consequence of their weight, arising from the vast quantity of moisture they contain. Hence they can only be cultivated in abundance in the vicinity of great towns, or where they are meant to be consumed upon the farm as the food of portion of them except cattle.

Roots are also incapable of long preservation. In the winter they are destroyed by frost, and in summer are unfit by heat, which causes them to vegetate or to corrupt; for both of which changes render them unfit to be used as preserving food.

These roots are also much more bulky than grain in proportion to the quantity of nourishment contained in them. Hence they are rendered less fit to be consumed by persons engaged in sedentary professions. Such persons accordingly seldom fail to find them injurious to the stomach, by their bulkiness, and their tendency to injure the powers of digestion, by producing flatulencies and other unpleasant consequences.

On the whole, the difference between these succulent roots and the grain of corn plants seems to amount to this, that, although they are both formed of similar substances, the potato being analogous to wheat, and the carrot and parsnip to rye, or rather to barley after it has been converted into malt, yet, as the roots are formed in the bottom of the soil, and are of a loose and watery texture, their formation requires from nature a slighter effort than the bringing to perfection the small grains which are produced in the air at the top of corn plants. She therefore compensates by an abundant crop the diminished quality of her work.

Hence it has appeared an important problem in economics, to devise a plan by which the succulent roots may be rendered equal in value to grain in point of quality, while in quantity they are so superior. With this view different processes have been adopted.

Potatoes have been grated down in their raw state, and repeatedly washed with water; the result of which operation is, that the starch contained in them is obtained with great labour; but the rest of the root is lost; and this operation cannot be applied to other kinds of roots with success. Another mode of accomplishing the object was devised a few years ago by M. Grenet, and published in the Journal of the Lyceum of Arts of Paris. It is performed in this manner: The potatoes must first be boiled by the heat of the steam of boiling water, without touching the water itself. They are then deprived of their skin, and allowed to cool, and made use of in the following way:—A white iron tube of two inches diameter, and eight inches in length, open at the one end and close at the other, is everywhere perforated with small holes, and a round piece of wood is prepared, which easily goes into the tube, but which at the same time fills it. Things being thus in readiness, a quantity of the potatoes, boiled as already mentioned, is put into the tube till it is full. They are then forcibly rammed down with the round piece of wood or piston; the consequence of which operation... Theory.

Vegetables operation is, that they are forced through the little holes in the sides of the tube, and come out in the shape of worms. They are received upon linen cloths, covered with unifed paper, and dried in the heat of the sun, or in a warm room. The small pieces must be stirred from time to time; and it is said, that in less than 12 hours, the preparation dries so as to be capable of being preserved.

The defect of this process evidently is, that it is a petty operation, which can only proceed slowly, and upon a diminutive scale. It is therefore unlikely to be adopted in the great operations of an extensive agriculture, as a mode of preparing or preserving human food.

At the beginning of the present year 1802, another process for accomplishing this important object was contrived by Robert Forsyth, Esq., advocate. Of this process, which has been communicated to the Board of Agriculture, we are authorized to give the following account:

The whole difficulty of discovering a process, with the view to render succulent roots as easily preserved and transported, and therefore in every respect as valuable as grain, seems to arise from our not having the command of such a degree of steady and vigorous, but moderate heat, as will deprive them of their moisture, while at the same time they are prevented from being burnt or scorched in the way that coffee-beans are treated before being grinded. This requisite degree of heat may be obtained in a very cheap and easy manner, by making use of the steam of boiling water, which never can burn any vegetable substance. Upon this principle, Mr Forsyth's process is founded, and is conducted in the following manner:

1st. Let a quantity of potatoes, or carrots, or parsnips, &c., be washed, and then cut or chopped into very small pieces.

2ndly. Lay them upon a metallic plate, and dry them with the heat of steam transmitted through the metal. They are then in a state analogous to grain, and seem capable of being preserved for any length of time.

3dly. Reduce them into flour or meal, by grinding in any mill, or with any instrument capable of grinding grain.

The meal or flour thus prepared has no tendency to attract moisture from the atmosphere, and may be preserved during any length of time, if closely pressed or packed. Without this precaution, Mr Forsyth has preserved it for six months, when it had been coarsely ground in a coffee mill.

The drying process is not tedious. As potatoes contain a great quantity of starch or gummy matter, the pieces of them, while drying, are apt to adhere to each other; they must therefore be frequently turned or stirred during that part of the operation. When dry, they are almost as hard as barley, and taste somewhat like the skin of a roasted potato.

Carrots and parsnips contain less gummy matter. They require less attention while drying, and do not become so hard. They may be ground with ease. Their flour is very sweet to the taste. Its smell is fragrant, and though the taste of the roots cannot be said to be altered, it is rendered rich and agreeable by the concentration produced by the process. This is more particularly the case with regard to the parsnips. Their meal, when coarsely ground, and exposed to the air for a month or two, loses its grateful smell, but the taste continues unchanged. The taste is communicated very rapidly to lukewarm water, by pouring it upon the meal, so that it may probably prove of some value when subjected to the vinous fermentation; and it seems not improbable, that if sugar is ever to be produced in abundance from plants of European growth, it must be by preparing them according to this process.

Mr Forsyth performed his experiments with a steam apparatus, which, with some alterations, may prove not unsuitable, when erected upon a great scale.

A, Plate XII, A shallow vessel of white iron, one Mr Forsyth's steam apparatus.

B, a small round vessel, in which water is kept boiling by a lamp, C, with three wicks.

D, a tube, by which the steam passes into E, which contains the drying vessel A, and is closely foldered all round to the bottom of it.

F, a tube, by which the water formed by the condensed steam flows from the steam vessel, E, back into the boiler B, entering at the bottom of the boiler.

G, a crooked tube, by which the superfluous steam escapes into the open air. It is crooked, that it may retard the passage of the steam when the vessel is at work, which forces it to deposit more of its heat on the bottom of the drying vessel A.

H, a tube by which the boiler B is filled with hot water.

I, a tube passing up through the centre of the boiler, and serving as a chimney to the lamp C. It does not communicate with the water in the boiler.

K shows the figure of the cover of the drying vessel A. The cover has a groove or gutter LL, passing round its lower edge. The vapour which rises from the roots when drying, condenses on touching the cover, and flows down to the gutter, from which it escapes in the state of water, by a hole left for that purpose at each corner. The cover is only used for the neatness requisite in making experiments.

The whole is supported by four moveable feet, attached to the corners of the drying vessel A, but not appearing in the figure. Every part of it is made of white iron or tinned plate.

Instead of the lamp C, a small iron pan filled with pieces of burning charcoal, was sometimes used to keep the water boiling, and a still more convenient plan was at times adopted during the winter season. It consisted of raising the bottom of the boiler B, upon the front of the grate of the chamber, while a fire was burning, the rest of the instrument being at the same time supported by a rope attached to the back of a chair, to a nail or peg in the wall for hanging a picture, or to any other convenient support. When used in this last manner, however, the instrument has this defect, that the water in the tube H boils over at times into the fire, which might be avoided, by placing the tube on the opposite side of the boiler.

Upon the above contrivance, it may be remarked that a kiln formed of a large metallic plate, heated by the steam of boiling water, may prove valuable in many processes. In particular, it will probably be found... found useful for drying malt, with a view to prevent the ale formed of it from having a brown colour. It may also, perhaps, be used with success for drying wheat that is intended to be sown, to prevent the future crop from suffering by mildew, as will be afterwards mentioned; and it affords a ready and cheap mode of drying not only roots, but all vegetable productions, without burning them, or altering their taste or other essential properties.

Sect. II. Of the most proper kinds of Vegetables to be raised for the purpose of feeding Cattle.

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

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

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

The culture of the turnip-rooted cabbage has lately been much practised, and greatly recommended, particularly for the purpose of a late spring feed; and seems indeed to be a most important article in the farming economy, as will be shown in its proper place.

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

Carrots are found to be an excellent food for cattle Carrots of all kinds, and are greatly relished by them. In a rich land, according to Mr Young's account, the produce of this root was 200 bushels per acre. In a finer soil, it was 640 bushels per acre. A lean hog was fattened by carrots in ten days time: he ate 196lb.; and his fat was very fine, white, firm, and did not boil away in the dressing. They were preferred to turnips by the cattle; which having tasted the carrots soon became fond of them, as difficultly to be made to eat the turnips at all. It is probable, indeed, that carrots will make a more wholesome food for cattle than either cabbages or turnips, as they are strongly antiseptic; inasmuch as to be used in poultices for correcting the fancies of cancers. It is probably owing to this, that the milk of cows fed on carrots is never found to have any bad taste. Six horses kept on them through the winter without oats, performed their work as usual, and looked equally well. This may be looked upon as a proof of their salutary as a food; and it certainly can be no detriment to a farmer to be so much versant in medical matters as to know the impropriety of giving putrefactive food to his cattle. It is well known what a prodigious difference there is in the health of the human species when fed on putrid meats, in comparison of what they enjoy when supplied with food of a contrary nature; and why may there not be a difference in the health of beasts, as well as of men, when in similar circumstances?—It is also very probable, that as carrots are more solid than cabbages or turnips, they will go much farther in feeding cattle than either of them. The above-mentioned example of the hog seems some kind of confirmation of this: he being fed, for ten days together, with 210lb. less weight of carrots, than what an ox devoured of cabbages and hay in one day. There is a great disproportion, it must be owned, between the bulk of an ox and that of a hog; but we can scarce think that an ox will eat as much at a time as ten hogs. At Parlington in Yorkshire, 20 work horses, four bullocks, and six milk cows, were fed on the carrots that grew on three acres, from the end of September till the beginning of May; and the animals never tasted any other food but a little hay. The milk was excellent, and 30 hogs were fattened upon what was left by the cattle.

Potatoes likewise appear to be a very palatable food for all kinds of cattle; and not only oxen, hogs, &c., are easily fed by them, but even poultry. The cheapness of potatoes compared with other kinds of food for cattle, cannot well be known, as, besides the advantage of of the crop, they improve the ground more than any other known vegetable. According to a correspondent of the Bath Society*, "roasting pork is never so moist and delicate as when fed with potatoes, and killed from the barn doors without any confinement. For bacon and hams, two bushels of pea-meal should be well incorporated with four bushels of boiled potatoes, which quantity will fat a hog of twelve stone, (fourteen pounds to the stone). Cows are particularly fond of them: half a bushel at night, and the same proportion in the morning, with a small quantity of hay, is sufficient to keep three cows in full milk; they will yield as much and as sweet butter as the best grazes. In fattening cattle, I allow them all they will eat: a beast of about 35 stone will require a bushel per day, but will fatten one-third sooner than on turnips. The potatoes should be clean washed, and not given until they are dry. They do not require boiling for any purpose but fattening hogs for bacon, or poultry; the latter eat them greedily. I prefer the champion potato to any sort I ever cultivated. They do not answer so well for horses and colts as I expected (at least they have not with me), though some other gentlemen have approved of them as substitutes for oats."

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

Buck-wheat (*Polygonum sagopyrum*) has been lately recommended as an useful article in the present as well as other respects. It has been chiefly applied to the feeding of hogs, and esteemed equal in value to barley; it is much more easily ground than barley, as a malt-mill will grind it completely. Horses are very fond of the grain; poultry of all sorts are speedily fattened by it; and the blossom of the plant affords food for bees at a very opportune season of the year, when the meadows and trees are mostly stripped of their flowers. Probably the grain may hereafter be even found a material article in distillation, should a sufficient quantity be raised with that view. From the success of some experiments detailed in the Bath Society Papers, and for which a premium was bestowed, it has been inferred, that this article ought in numerous cases to supercede the practice of summer-fallowing.

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

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

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

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

Mr Wych then applied again to Rocque; and desired him to search for the plant so much desired, and so certainly existing. Rocque set about this search with great assiduity; and finding that a pimpernel, called *burnet*, was of very speedy growth, and grew nearly as fast in winter as in summer, he took a handful of it and carried it into his stable, where there were five horses; every one of which ate of it with the greatest eagerness, snatching it even without first smelling it. Upon the success of this experiment he went to London, and bought all the burnet feed he could get, amounting to no more than eight pounds, it having been only used in salads; and he paid for it at the rate of Food for Cattle.

Six of the eight pounds of feed he sowed upon half an acre of ground, in March, in the year 1761, with a quarter of a peck of spring wheat, both by hand. The feed being very bad, it came up but thin. However, he sowed the other two pounds in the beginning of June, upon about six rood of ground; this he mowed in the beginning of August; and at Michaelmas he planted off the plants on about 20 rood of ground, giving each plant a foot every way, and taking care not to bury the heart. These plants bore two crops of seed the year following; the first about the middle of June, the second about the middle of September; but the June crop was the best. The year after, it grew very rank, and produced two crops of seed, both very good. As it ought not to be cut after September, he let it stand till the next year; when it sheltered itself, and grew very well during all the winter, except when there was a hard frost; and even during the frost it continued green, though it was not perceived to grow. In the March following it covered the ground very well, and was fit to receive cattle.

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

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

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

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

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

Another species of beet (Beta cicla), the Mangold Root of Wurzel, or Root of Scarcey, as it has been called, has scarcely been lately extolled as food both for man and cattle; but, after all, seems only to deserve attention in the latter view. It is a biennial plant; the root is large and fleshy, sometimes a foot in diameter. It rises above the ground several inches, is thickest at the top, tapering gradually downward. The roots are of various colours, white, yellow, and red; but these last are always of a much paler colour than beetroots. It is good fodder for cows, and does not communicate any taste to the milk. It produces great abundance of leaves in summer, which may be cut three or four times without injuring the plant. The leaves are more palatable to cattle than most other garden plants, and are found to be very wholesome. The farmers in those parts of Germany where it is chiefly cultivated, we are told, prefer this species of beet, for feeding cattle, to cabbages, principally because they are not so liable to be hurt by worms or insects; but they think they are not so nourishing as turnips, potatoes, or carrots, and that cattle are not nearly so soon fattened by this root as by carrots, parsnips, or cabbages. It has even been asserted that this root affords less nourishment than any of those that have been commonly employed for feeding cattle. This does not correspond with the pompous accounts with which the public has been entertained. Upon the whole, however, it is a plant that seems to deserve the attention of our farmers; as on some farms, and in particular circumstances, it may prove a very useful article for the above purposes.

In Mr Anderson's Essays, we find it recommended to make trial of some kinds of grasses, which probably would not only answer for fresh fodder during the winter, but might also be cut for hay in summer. This is particularly the case with that species called Sheep's Fescue Grass. "I had," says he, "a small patch of this grass in winter 1773; which, having been cut in the month..." Theory.

Food for month of August or September preceding, was saved from that period, and had advanced before winter to the length of five or six inches; forming the closest pile that could be imagined. And although we had about six weeks of very intense frost, with snow; and about other six weeks, immediately succeeding that, of exceeding keen frost every night, with frequent thaws in the day time, without any snow, during which time almost every green thing was destroyed; yet this little patch continued all along to retain as fine a verdure as any meadow in the month of May; hardly a point of a leaf having been withered by the uncommon severity of the weather. And as this grass begins to vegetate very early in the spring, I leave the reader to judge what might be the value of a field of grass of this kind in these circumstances."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One of the greatest recommendations of this plant is, that it grows in poor barren ground, where almost no other plant can live. It has been observed in ground so poor, that even heath, or ling (Erica communis), would scarcely grow; and upon bare obdurate clays, where no other plant could be made to vegetate; insomuch that the surface remained entirely uncovered, unless where a plant of this kind chanced to be established: yet, even in these unfavourable circumstances, it flourished with an uncommon degree of luxuriance, and yielded as tender and succulent, though not such abundant shoots, as if reared in the richest manured fields. In dry barren sands, also, where almost no other plant could be made to live, it has been found to send out such a number of healthy shoots all round, as to cover the earth with the closest and most beautiful carpet that can be desired.

The stalks of the milk-vetch are weak and slender, so that they spread upon the surface of the ground, unless they are supported by some other vegetable. In ordinary soils they do not grow to a great length, nor produce many flowers; but in richer fields the stalks grow to a much greater length, branch out a good deal, but carry few or no flowers or seeds. From these qualities our author did not attempt at first to cultivate it with any other view than that of pasture; and, with this intention, sowed it with his ordinary hay seeds, expecting no material benefit from it till he desisted from cutting his field. In this, however, he was agreeably disappointed; the milk-vetch growing the first season as tall as his great clover, and forming exceeding fine hay; being scarce distinguishable from lucerne, but by the flendernets of the stalk, and proportional smallness of the leaf.

Another recommendation to this plant is, that it is perennial. It is several years after it is sowed before it attains to its full perfection; but when once estab-

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the plant called medicina by the ancients, because it came originally from Media, and on the culture of which they bestowed such great care and pains. It hath a perennial root, and annual stalks, which, in a good soil, rise to three feet, or sometimes more, in height; its leaves grow at a joint like those of clover; the flowers, which appear in June, are purple; and its pods are of a screw-like shape, containing seeds which ripen in September. All sorts of domestic cattle are fond of this plant, especially when allowed to eat it green, and black cattle may be fed very well with the hay made from it; but an excess of this food is said to be very dangerous.

Lucerne has the property of growing very quickly after it is cut down, inasmuch that Mr Rocque has mowed it five times in a season, and Mr Anderson affirms he has cut it no less than six times. It is, however, not very easily cultivated; in consequence of which it sometimes does not succeed.

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

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

On this subject, of the kind of plants most proper to be raised for feeding cattle, one general question ought compared not to pass unnoticed concerning the propriety of feeding them upon roots and plants cultivated by the aid of ploughing. The advantages of the latter practice are set forth by Thomas Davis, Esq. of Longleat, in the following words, "Experience sufficiently evinces the extreme difficulty of persuading tenants that they get more per acre (generally speaking) by feeding their lands, than by ploughing them; yet it requires very few arguments to convince a landlord, that, in cold wet land especially, the less ploughed land you have, the less you put it in the tenant's power to ruin your estate. That a tenant of 60l. per annum on a dairy farm will get money, while a corn farm of the same size will starve its occupier (though perhaps the former gives 15s. per acre for his land, and the latter only 10s.), is self-evident. The plough is a friend of every body's, though its advantages are very far from being particularly and locally felt; corn being an article that will bear keeping till the whim or caprice, or supposed advantage of its possessor, call it forth. But the produce of the cow is far otherwise. Cheese must necessarily be sold at a certain period: it is a ponderous article; and one-twelfth, or at least one-fifteenth of its value, is often paid for carrying it to a fair 50 miles off; and the butter and skimmed milk find their way no great distance from home, as is evident by the price of butter varying frequently one-third in 20 or 30 miles. Every inhabitant of Bath must be sensible, that butter and cheese have risen one-third or more in price within 20 years. Is not this owing to the great encouragement given to the plough and to grazing, at a time when, on account of the increased demand for milk, cream, butter, and cheese, every exertion on behalf of the dairy should have been encouraged?" &c.

In some remarks on this letter by Mr Billingsley, the same superiority of dairy farms to the arable kind is asserted in the most positive terms. "Perhaps (says he) there cannot be a stronger proof of the inferiority of the plough with respect to profit, than the superior punctuality of the dairy farmer in the payment of his rent. This observation, I believe, most itowards who superintend manors devoted partly to corn and partly to dairy farms, will verify; at least I have never met with one who controverts it. But perhaps the advocate for the plough will desire me not to confound the abuse of a thing with its intrinsic excellence; and say, that the generality of corn farmers are most egregious slovens; that lands devoted to the plough are not confined to such a mediocrity of profit as 20s. per acre; that the produce of artificial grasses (without which a well managed arable farm cannot exist), far exceeds that of natural grass both in respect of quantity and nutrition; that the straw yard is a most convenient receptacle for the cow when freed from the pail. These, and many other reasons, may be adduced to show the propriety of walking in the middle path, and of judiciously blending arable with pasture, in the proportion perhaps of three of the latter to one of the former."

On these letters we shall only remark, that for the good of mankind we hope the opinions they contain will never come into general practice; as thus the price of bread must be raised too high, that the lower classes of people would be entirely deprived of it.

In the Bath Papers, vol. v. p. 43. we have a method proposed by Mr Wimpey of improving small arable farms in such a manner as to make them yield as much milk, butter, and cheese, as those which are kept continually in pasture. He agrees with the maxim already mentioned, that small arable farms do not afford the occupier so good a maintenance as dairy farms of the same value; and that the possessor of a dairy farm will do well and save money, while the former, with much toil and trouble, is starving himself and family. Notwithstanding this, he maintains, that there is an essential difference between ground that is naturally arable, and such as is by nature adapted for pasture. Land which is naturally arable, according to him, can by no means be converted into pasture of any duration. "Such as, from a wild state of nature, overrun with furze, fern, bushes and brambles, has been rendered fertile by means of the plough, must be kept in that improved state by its frequent use; otherwise it would soon revert to that wild barren state which was its original condition. A farm, therefore, which consists wholly, or almost so, of land that is properly arable, must ever continue arable; for it is not practicable to render it in any degree fertile but by means of the plough, or to keep it long in that state even when it is made so." He is of opinion, however, that by raising crops proper for feeding cattle, the possessor of an arable farm may raise as great a number of horned cattle as one who has a pasture farm; the only question is, Whether he can be reimbursed of his expenses by the produce? "To ascertain this fact (says he), we must inquire what may be the average expenses of keeping a milch cow on a dairy farm for any given time. It is said, upon very good authority, that the expense is generally from 3l. to 3l. 10s. per annum. Two acres and a half of pasture fit for this use is sufficient to keep a cow the whole year through, and such land is valued at from 25s. to 30s. per acre.

At 25s. the keeping of each cow would amount to 3l. 2s. 6d. per annum. A dairy farm, therefore, consisting of 48 acres, at 25s. per annum, would amount to 60l. rent; and the number of cows that might be kept on such a farm would be about 20. In the next place, with regard to the expense of keeping a cow upon food raised in arable land as a succedaneum for grass, we are assured by unquestionable authority, that a bushel of potatoes, given half at night and half in the morning, with a small allowance of hay, is sufficient to keep three cows a day; by which allowance their milk will be as rich and as good as in the summer months when the cows are in pasture. An acre of land, properly cultivated with potatoes, will yield 337 bushels; and the total expense of cultivation, rent and tithe included, will not exceed 6l. 13s. If three cows eat seven bushels per week, then they would eat 364 bushels in a year; and 20 cows would consume 2,433 bushels." So that, according to this calculation, seven acres and a quarter would nearly maintain as many cows as on the pasture farm could be maintained by 48 acres. If then the cultivation of one acre of ground cost 6l. 13s. the cultivation of seven acres and a quarter will cost about 48l. We have seen, however, that the rent of a dairy farm capable of maintaining 20 milch cows, is not less than 60l. so that the calculation is thus entirely in favour of the arable farm; seven or eight acres of the arable farm being superior by 12l. in value, when cultivated with potatoes, to 40 acres of meadow or pasture ground." "It must indeed be observed (adds our author), that in this statement no allowance is made for the small quantity of hay given to the cows with the potatoes. It must be noted also, that the account of cultivation is charged with 40s. an acre for manure, and some expense for ploughing, which of right is chargeable to the crop of wheat that is to follow. Now, if we deduct 40s. an acre from the expense of cultivating the potatoes, it reduces the sum to 4l. 13s. and the whole expense upon seven acres and a quarter is thus less than 34l. and consequently the keeping of 20 cows is little more than half to the occupier of the arable farm what it is to the occupier of the grazing farm. If this conclusion be fairly drawn, and the calculation free from errors, it is matter of the greatest importance, especially to the little arable farmer. It plainly raises him from a state of acknowledged inferiority to one greatly superior."

Our author next proceeds to obviate an objection, Objection "that the whole of his reasoning must be indefinite, as answered relating only to potatoes." In opposition to this he experiment adduces an experiment made on a pretty large scale by Mr Vagg; from which it appears, that cabbages, when Vagg raised upon arable ground, are nearly as much superior to a natural crop as potatoes are. Twelve acres were employed in this experiment, and those of an indifferent quality. The rent was 30s. per acre, and the whole expense of culture and carting off the crop amounted only to 1l. 14s. so that all the cost of the twelve acres was 38l. 9s. From the produce were Number of fed 45 oxen and upwards of 60 sheep; and he was assured that they improved as fast upon it as they do from 12 in the best pasture months, May, June, and July, acres of "Now (says Mr Wimpey), if instead of 60 sheep we reckon 15 oxen, or that four sheep are equal to about Profits from one ox, in which we cannot err much; then 60 oxen different were kept well for three months, or, which is the same thing, 15 for a whole year, for £38l. 9s.; and consequently 20 oxen would cost £51. 5s. 4d., which is not quite £3. more than the keeping of 20 cows would cost in potatoes. Turnips, turnip-rooted cabbage, carrots, parsnips, and some other articles, by many experiments often repeated, have been found quite adequate to the same valuable purposes; at least so far as to be more lucrative than meadow or pasture. Clover and rye-grass are omitted, as having been long in general practice; but are in common very short of the advantages which may be derived from the cultivation of the other articles recommended." Sainfoin is greatly recommended: but our author acknowledges that it makes but a miserable appearance the first year, though afterwards he is of opinion that one acre of sainfoin is equal to two of middling pasture ground; for which reason he accuses the farmer of intolerable indolence who does not cultivate so useful a plant.

On this subject, however, we must remember, that the culture of sainfoin is clogged with the loss of one if not two crops; which may sometimes be inconvenient, though afterwards it remains in perfection for no less than 20 years. The most advantageous method of raising it he supposes to be after potatoes. Thus it will thrive even upon very poor ground; as the culture and manure necessary for the potatoes both pulverize the soil and enrich it to a sufficient degree.

We shall afterwards have an opportunity of attending to this subject when we come to consider the subject of feeding cattle. In the mean time, it may be remarked, that this branch of the art of the husbandman, has by no means hitherto been carried to its highest perfection in this country; and that in proportion as it is improved, and cattle are more carefully fed, the value of the plough will appear more conspicuous.

Sect. III. Of the comparative Profit to be derived from the Cultivation of different Vegetables.

Like every other artist or tradesman, a husbandman that will always be under the necessity of regarding himself as the servant of the community, and must endeavour to rear the vegetables that are in greatest demand, and that will enable him to derive the greatest profit from the portion of territory which he occupies. The produce of some soils and situations is so fixed by nature, that it is in vain for human art or industry to alter her destination. In our own and in many other countries, there are extensive tracts of lofty and rugged mountains, from which the art of agriculture seems to be forever banished. Such situations belong exclusively to the shepherd and his flock, to the utter exclusion of the plough. Even on some arable lands, it may be found fruitless to attempt to rear many of the more valuable vegetable productions. In many bleak and unsheltered fields of the higher country of Scotland, in which turnips and oats are cultivated with tolerable success, it would be in vain to expect regular crops of wheat; and though potatoes are found to prosper in a sandy, or even a mossy soil, it would be in vain to expect them to produce an equally valuable crop upon a stiff clay, in which the roots cannot swell or expand to a proper size. In forming a plan of agriculture, therefore, the husbandman must not overlook the peculiar nature of the soil that has fallen to his lot, or its physical relation to the nature of certain vegetables, as he can only hope for success by adapting the one of these to the other.

The husbandman must also have a special regard to the state of the market to which his commodities are to be brought. It is in vain for him to cultivate large quantities of roots, such as potatoes or carrots, at a distance from great towns, which alone can afford a market for them, unless he intend to consume them upon his own farm by feeding cattle. In a part of the country, however, in which great breweries are established, if his soil is fit for the purpose, he may safely venture to rear large quantities of barley; as he cannot in such a situation be at any time destitute of a market. Hence we can perceive, that it is the state of the market which must at all times regulate the enterprizes of the agriculturist, and the kind of crops which he is to bring forward. Thus also we see the mode in which agriculture may be most successfully encouraged by a nation. Let an abundant market be provided for the produce of the soil, and that produce will infallibly be augmented. In this way, it is evident that the consumption of grain, by means of distilleries or breweries, is highly favourable to the production of it in great quantities. They are even favourable to the existence of plenty, or of abundance of bread for the use of the people. In good seasons, by affording a ready market, they give activity to the husbandman, and in bad seasons their operations can be arrested by law, and the superfluous quantity of grain which was meant to be consumed by them, can be converted into human food. Thus they operate in some measure like a great public granary, in which provisions should be kept against an accidental scarcity.

It may sometimes happen, that by the character of the age in which he lives, and the state of the market which it produces, a husbandman may find himself most profitably employed, when rearing a kind of food which is by no means the most advantageous to the population of his country. This takes place, when he is employed in preparing butcher's meat instead of bread; that is, when he finds it more profitable to rear upon his lands vegetables which can only be consumed by cattle, and thus contribute only in an indirect manner to the sustenance of the human species, than to cultivate those vegetable productions which are suited to the human stomach, and which therefore directly and immediately afford subsistence to man. According to Archdeacon Hillop's comparative statement, lately published, the weight of food from an acre of arable land, on the average of three years, a fallow year being included, is nine and a half times greater than from an acre of feeding flock; and, according to the calculations of the Rev. Dr Walker, at Collington, professor of natural history at Edinburgh, and an agri-Scots acre of land in pasture, fed with sheep, produces only 120 pounds weight of meat, whereas the compared same land will yield 1280 pounds of oatmeal, or above ten times as much. Let it even be supposed, then, that one pound of mutton contains in itself as much substantial nourishment for the human constitution, as Theory.

Profit from two pounds weight of oat meal; still it will follow, that lands cultivated for the production of oats, will support a population five times greater in number, than can be supported by the same land when used for the pasture of sheep; and, where one million of people are found to exist upon a territory occupied in the one way, between five and six millions of people might exist upon the same land if it were cultivated for raising grain, and if the inhabitants would consent to use it as their food. Were any contrivance adopted, of the nature of those already mentioned, for converting the succulent roots of potatoes, carrots, &c., into dry meal or flour; the same proportional difference of population would continue to exist, between nations in which that kind of flour should be consumed as human food, and in which it should be used for feeding cattle: For a man always commits an enormous waste of food, who, instead of eating grain himself, gives it to an inferior animal, in the expectation of afterwards receiving an equivalent, by devouring the flesh of that animal.

Accordingly, it seems impossible for any nation to reach a very extensive degree of population, unless the people at large consent to subsist chiefly, or altogether, upon vegetable food. In China, where the practice of polygamy renders the families of rich men very numerous, and where the equal distribution of the property among the children of the same family prevents the accumulation of great wealth by individuals, almost all persons have found it convenient or necessary to relinquish the ordinary use of butchers meat, and to have recourse to vegetable food. It is only in consequence of this circumstance, that the enormous population of that empire is supported. The quantity of butchers meat consumed in a country will, therefore, always in spite of every agricultural improvement, set bounds to its population. A nation of hunters and shepherds, who live upon wild animals, or upon flocks and herds, must always be few in number. By agriculture, the numbers of these animals may indeed be increased; but the men who can find subsistence by consuming them, will always be five or six times fewer in number, than might live upon the same territory, were the cattle expelled, and the lands occupied in rearing food to be immediately used by man.

With these general considerations, however, the practical agriculturist, or husbandman, may have nothing to do. To succeed in his profession, he must accommodate himself to the public taste, or to the state of the market around him; and must consider what commodity, whether grain or butchers meat, will there bring the best reward for his labour. He may even find the state of the market affected by other circumstances, than the mere taste of the public for butchers meat, in preference to vegetable food; although that must always be of great importance among a luxurious people. Conquering nations, who extend their political dominions over distant regions, never fail to draw to their native country a very great portion of the wealth of the vanquished states. The victorious nation never fails, in such cases, to contain a great number of wealthy individuals, whose revenue is not derived from the cultivation of their native soil, or from any branch of manufacture or of commercial industry carried on by them upon it; but which consists of money drawn from the remote provinces of the empire, in consequence of estates possessed, or fortunes acquired there, in the service of government. The result of such circumstances naturally is, that these wealthy individuals not only live at home in a luxurious manner, and increase to an immense extent the consumption of butchers meat by themselves and their numerous retinues; but for the sake of ostentation, and as the only means of employing their wealth, they maintain great numbers of carriages and of riding horses. To support such establishments, they themselves not only convert large tracts of territory from arable into pasture lands; but even the whole husbandmen of the country are induced to do the same, to derive a profit from supplying them with butchers meat, and with food for their pleasure horses. In the meantime, the grain that may be wanted for the consumption of the people, whether rich or poor, being a commodity which is easily preserved and transported, must be bought from foreign nations, by a portion of the infertile wealth of the state; and thus rich and prosperous people may come to depend upon foreigners for a morsel of bread; and when these foreign nations happen to experience an unfortunate season, this wealthy people may suffer all the horrors of famine upon a fertile soil, and in the midst of overflowing treasuries.

Such was the state of Italy under the ancient Romans. Every part of it was adorned with the parks and villas and gardens of the nobles, who derived their revenues from the remote parts of the empire. This seat of dominion exhibited a picture of boundless splendour and magnificence. But the soil was entirely occupied in the service of ostentation or of luxury: and Italy, one of the most fertile corn countries in Europe, depended for grain upon Egypt, and the western provinces of Africa that border upon the Mediterranean. Such also, though perhaps in an inferior degree, seems to be the present state of Great Britain. It has acquired vast and fertile and populous provinces, within the torrid zone in the east, from which individuals are annually transporting home immense treasuries obtained in the public service. In the west, also, within the same torrid zone, by a great expense of treasure and of human lives, the cultivation of certain valuable commodities has been established; and from estates situated there, individuals residing at home now derive great revenues. The principles which regulate human affairs are unalterable; and in every age the same causes are attended with the same consequences. What occurred in ancient Italy, took place among us soon as the possession of distant territories had leisure to display its natural effects. Britain formerly not only produced abundance of grain for the support of its own inhabitants, but it possessed a considerable surplus for exportation. After the acquisition of foreign possessions, this surplus produce gradually ceased to exist; and it appears from documents, which the legislature has acknowledged to afford authentic and complete evidence of the truth of the fact, that, for twenty years past, notwithstanding all our agricultural improvements, and the waste lands that have been brought under the plough, the produce of grain is annually becoming more and more unequal to the consumption; and this decrease appears in some measure to keep pace with the increasing value of our distant possessions. In the mean time we are annually coming under Principles of Agriculture.

The life of animals, the presence of atmospheric air is necessary. They also require a certain moderate degree of heat; without which their growth cannot proceed, although a great degree of it is utterly fatal even to their texture. That they require moisture, is equally obvious; as appears from the ordinary effect of rain, or of the continued want of it, upon fields and plants. They require likewise to be inserted in the earth, or in some way connected with a collection of its particles; for although some plants, particularly the bulbous-rooted kinds, vegetate in pure water and air alone, it appears that they acquire little addition of solid substance, and that neither they, nor any of the other larger plants, reach perfection, or produce seed, unless planted in the earth, or supplied with a portion of it.

As all soils are by no means equally adapted for supporting vegetables, or bringing them to maturity, it is necessary for the husbandman to attend to their nature, and the modes in which they may be altered or ameliorated for his use. Independent of these hard concretions, which obtain the name of stones or rocks, it is to be observed, that the looser and more divisible earth which covers most part of the surface of the globe, and receives the appellation of the soil, may, upon the whole, and with sufficient accuracy for practical purposes, be divided into four kinds, which are in general mixed with each other, but which receive their name, in ordinary language, from the kind that predominates or is most abundant. These are land, clay, chalk, and garden mould. Of these, land and clay are in some measure the opposites of each other, while chalk forms a kind of medium between them. Sand allows water to filter rapidly through it, and speedily becomes dry, while clay is extremely tenacious of moisture; but a mixture of chalk renders land considerably more tenacious of water, while it renders clay more loose, and easily penetrated. None of these soils are valuable for the purposes of agriculture.—Sand does not sufficiently retain water for the use of vegetables; nor does clay suffer their roots to expand with freedom in quest of nourishment. Chalk, or, as it is usually called, a calcareous soil, is not of itself adapted for raising useful plants; for, although it may not have the mechanical defects of land and clay, yet, it is found by experience to be of little value to them, either in consequence of its tendency to destroy their texture by its corrosive quality, that is, by having too much chemical affinity with the materials of which they consist, or from its not containing within itself the proper materials necessary to them as food.

The fourth kind of soil we have denominated garden mould; because it is in its highest perfection when it approaches nearest to the rich black earth which receives that appellation. This is the most proper of all kinds of soil for rearing the whole of those vegetables which are accounted valuable in our climate. In proper circumstances, that is, with a moderate degree of heat and of moisture, it never fails to send forth and to bring to perfection an abundant crop. In proportion to the degree in which any soil consists of this black mould, its value increases. If, therefore, a husbandman could cover the portion of territory allotted to him with a tolerable depth of this kind of soil, nothing more would be necessary to the success of his enterprise, as he Theory.

Principles of cultivation perfection, and in great profusion. It is to be observed, however, that this kind of mould or soil cannot be relied upon as permanent. If crops of grain should be taken from it year after year, it would soon lose its fertile qualities, and become unfit for the purposes of a prosperous agriculture. Here then is the remarkable difference between this kind of soil and the three others that were formerly mentioned, sand, clay, and chalk. Whatever properties these soils have are unperishing, and can only be altered or modified by the operation of a fierce heat. Unfortunately, however, in their pure state, as already mentioned, they are of little value to the husbandman; and it is only in proportion to the degree in which they are mixed with the dark coloured or garden mould, that they become adapted to his purposes: but as the qualities of this mould are of a transitory nature, it is of the utmost importance, and ought indeed to form the great basis of every theory of agriculture, to explain how they may be preserved in existence, or restored when lost.

To understand this subject correctly, it is necessary to consider the nature and origin of this fertile mould. It is evidently not one of those original substances which form a part of the great mass of the solid globe of the earth, but appears to be the result of the operations and of the destruction of living and organized beings that have existed upon it. "Were a naked rock, says Mr. Headrick, in an essay which we will afterwards have occasion to mention, suddenly thrown up from the sea or from the bowels of the earth, the first plants which nature would place upon it would be the various species of lichens, and such as can subsist wholly upon what they imbibe from the air, without needing a soil in which to push their roots. These plants serve the double purpose of clothing the rock, and thus preventing the fine particles that are dissolved by air and moisture from being washed away, and, from their growth and dissolution, of accumulating vegetable soil for the sustenance of more succulent plants. The rock is thus gradually made to acquire such a depth of soil, that it becomes able to sustain not only grasses and shrubs, but may become a receptacle for the oak itself." The progress here stated is correct; but some circumstances must be added to it, to render it practically useful to the husbandman. It is to be observed then, that animal substances, after they have ceased to form a part of a living body, have a tendency to proceed rapidly into a state of putrefactive fermentation, by which the greatest part of their mass is rendered volatile. When animal substances are mingled with vegetables, they speedily communicate their own fermentation or putrefaction to the vegetables, which by means of it are decomposed, fall to pieces, and are transformed into that kind of black earth, which we have called garden mould, and which forms the most fertile of all soils for the production of vegetables. It is by this process then, that is, by the fermentation of vegetable by means of animal substances, that the surface of this globe has been fertilized, or a black and rich mould produced upon it, as we daily see taking place in a variety of situations. No sooner do the small lichens or mosses cover the face of the naked rock, or gravel, or clay, than a variety of species of small animals appear, and feed upon them. As the plants and animals die in succession, their substances mingle and give rise to the putrefaction already mentioned, which is productive of a small portion of soil. A new race of plants of greater strength and bulk rises upon the ruins of the first, and supports larger animals, all destined in their turn to perish and to increase the quantity of fertile soil. More valuable grapes soon supplant the original small and coarse vegetables, and the spot assumes the appearance of a rich verdure. New species of animals also begin to inhabit it: snails and worms abound; and by their remains contribute to the dissolution of the roots of plants, which everywhere penetrate the new soil, and to the decomposition of the stems which periodically fall down. When the soil has acquired sufficient depth, it is sheltered by shrubs; and, lastly, by forest trees, under the shade of which the larger animals exist. The trees shed their leaves every season, and every season consequently gives an additional layer or stratum of fertile mould to the soil: and thus while the forest endures, the fertility of the territory on which it stands continues to be augmented by its spoils, and by the bodies of the animals which repair to it for shelter.

This process, by which nature gives fertility to the earth, or creates the rich mould on which vegetables flourish, ought to be imitated by the husbandman; and, in fact, it has been imitated in consequence of a knowledge that is derived from experience and from practice, rather than from the general speculations of science. The imitation of nature upon this point constitutes the art of producing manures, which will be afterwards considered. The principle upon which it proceeds, rests upon this foundation, which is known to be true in fact, that the fermentation of animal and vegetable substances produces that kind of dark rich mould which forms the most fertile soil.

In what way, or by what peculiar operation, this kind of mould or soil becomes so highly conducive and subservient to the growth of plants, is a point of more difficult research, and is fortunately of less importance to be known to the practical agriculturist. It may be observed, however, that this mould possesses, in an eminent degree, all the requisites necessary to the success of vegetation. It retains moisture, which is so necessary to that process, without, at the same time, keeping hold of it with that retentiveness which, in clay, has the effect of injuring the roots of the plants. As this mould consists of the remains both of animal and vegetable life, it necessarily contains an immense variety of ingredients which have different degrees of chemical affinity to each other. By the operation of these affinities in bringing the different substances into new combinations, a great quantity of heat must be continually produced or evolved, as occurs in so many chemical processes. By this heat the roots of the plants will be nourished, especially when assisted by the heat which they themselves throw out or produce when germinating. Thus by the kind of soil now mentioned, or by the aid of manure, the defects of a cold and ungenial climate may, in some measure, be rectified, and the seeds and roots of vegetables may be supplied with due and seasonable warmth. It is also probable, that what is called the exhausted state of a soil, in consequence of much ploughing, and many crops having been taken from it, may chiefly arise from this circumstance, that... Principles of that all the chemical affinities have at last operated, Cultivation, every particle of the soil remains at rest, and no more heat is produced by the activity of its parts.

That plants growing in fertile mould, like that now mentioned, derive nourishment or food from it, cannot be doubted, since we see, that when taken out of it, or placed in another but less favourable soil, they speedily go into decay. What the particular substances are, however, which they take from it, has not been discovered. But it appears from the minutest of the extreme fibres of the roots of plants, that the food taken in by them must be soluble in water, or in a liquid state when taken in by them. Accordingly, their food is actually found to ascend through their organs in a liquid form. Of this liquor or sap there are two kinds, the ascending and the descending. The ascending sap is that which rises in the spring; and by cutting a short way through the bark into the wood of many trees, large quantities of it may be drawn off, without injury to their health or growth. This sap ascends to the leaves, and there undergoes some change by the action of the air; for the leaves of vegetables appear to perform to them an office similar to that which is accomplished in animals by the organ called the lungs. From the leaves the sap, thus changed, descends to every part of the plant, and contributes to its growth by becoming a part of its substance. It would seem, however, that the liquors which circulate in plants, not only undergo a change at the leaves, but also at their first entrance by the vessels of the roots; for if several different kinds of trees are ingrafted upon the same common stock, each of them is able to derive the sap peculiar to itself from the sap of the common stock. Thus also the chemists have informed us, that vinegar, called by them the acetic acid, is found variously combined in the ascending sap of various trees; but it has never yet been discovered, that vinegar exists in any perceptible quantity in vegetable mould. That substance, therefore, must be formed by the root, by bringing together the ingredients of that acid which it finds and selects in the earth.

When any plant, whether great or small, is put into a close vessel, and strongly heated, allowing only the smoke to escape, the residue is in all cases of the same nature, and is called charcoal, or by the chemists carbon. Of this carbonaceous matter a considerable quantity is always found in rich garden mould, derived no doubt from the remains of vegetable substances of which that mould was originally formed. This carbonaceous matter, however, or charcoal, being insoluble in water, cannot in its ordinary state enter into the vessels of growing vegetables; but, as it is rendered soluble by a variety of combinations, it is no doubt found out in such a state by the fibres of growing roots, and conveyed upwards in the juice. But as all vegetable mould, and the charcoal or carbonaceous matter which it contains, is the result of the ruins of vegetation, and as the lichens or vegetables of the coarsest and simplest kind, which originally grow upon the naked stone, have no other nourishment than water and atmospheric air, it is probable, that out of these materials they are capable of forming the charcoal, which constitutes the basis of their form, and of the constitution of every other vegetable. It is true, that the chemists still regard carbon or charcoal as a simple and uncompounded substance; and they have not found it in water, nor in atmospheric air, unless in the most minute degree, resulting probably from the combustion of fires and the breathing of animals in inhabited countries. But although chemists have not hitherto been able to find charcoal in the three simple substances, oxygen, hydrogen, and azote, of which atmospheric air and water are composed, it seems evident, that the mighty Chemist who contrived this world and the constitution of vegetables, finds no difficulty in forming it of those materials by means of their organization. Hence we rather think, that water and air must constitute the original food of the simplest and coarsest kind of plants; but if this idea be true, it is to be regarded as a fact that is more curious in speculation than useful in practice: for it is certain, that the more valuable and larger vegetables, which it is the business of the husbandman to cultivate, cannot be reared to perfection without the aid of vegetable mould. Though they may possess, therefore, the power of deriving a portion of their solid substance, or of the carbonaceous matter which they contain, from common air and water, they cannot obtain the whole by this means, and require the aid of the remains of former vegetation. It is thus that one system is seen to pervade every part of nature, as through all her works Vegetables one class of animated beings only enjoys life in consequence of the destruction of another. Thus the carnivorous animals consume those that live upon vegetables; and thus, in like manner, one species of vegetables only subsists upon the ruins, and is fed by the substance, of a former generation of plants.

Besides animal substances, there are some minerals that have a tendency to accomplish the decomposition of vegetables, and thereby to reduce them into state of mould, possessing in a great degree the qualities of the garden mould that is produced by the fermentation of the remains of animals and vegetables, the formation of which has now been described. Of the minerals that have this tendency, lime is the chief, and indeed the one commonly in use, either pure or when combined with clay under the form of marl. To the effect of lime, therefore, we shall now call the attention of the reader.

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

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

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

By attending to the distinction between the reasons for the poverty of the two soils just now mentioned, we will always be able to judge with certainty in what cases lime is to be used, and when dung is proper. The mere poverty of a soil is not a criterion whereby we can judge; we must consider what hath made it poor. If it is naturally so, we may almost infallibly conclude, that it will become better by being manured with lime. If it is artificially poor, or exhausted by continual cropping, we may conclude that lime will entirely destroy it.

We apprehend, that it is this natural kind of poverty only which Mr Anderdon says, in his Essays on Agriculture, may be remedied by lime; for we can scarce think that experience would direct any person to put lime upon land already exhausted. His words are,

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

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

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

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

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

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

"We know that neither chalk, nor marl, nor lime, can be made to nourish plants alone; and soils are sometimes found that abound with the two first of these to a faulty degree. But the proportion of calcareous matter in these is so much larger than could ever be produced by art, where the soil was naturally destitute of these substances, that there seems to be no danger of erring on that side. Probably it would be much easier to correct the defects of those soils in which calcareous mat-

Theory.

Principles of tillage superabound, by driving earth upon them as a manure, than is generally imagined; as a very small proportion of it sometimes affords a very perfect soil. I shall illustrate my meaning by a few examples.

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

1. Bear, after once ploughing from grass, usually a good crop. 2. Bear, after once ploughing, a better crop than the first. 3. Bear, after once ploughing, a crop equal to the first. 4. 5. and 6. Natural grass, as close and rich as could be imagined; might be cut, if the possessor so inclined, and would yield an extraordinary crop of hay each year.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Having thus, in a manner, positively determined with Mr Anderson, that no dose of calcareous matter can possibly be too great, we cannot help owning ourselves surprized on finding his lordship expressing himself as follows: "An overdose of shell marl, laid perhaps an inch, and an inch and an half, or two inches thick, cy in Lord produces, for a time, large crops: but at last it renders the soil a caput mortuum, capable of bearing neither corn nor grass; of which there are too many instances in Scotland. The same probably would follow from an overdose of clay marl, stone marl, or pounded lime-stone."—To account for this, he is obliged to make a supposition directly contrary to his former one; namely, that calcareous matter renders the soil incapable of retaining water. This phenomenon, however, we think is solved upon the principles above laid down, in a satisfactory manner, and without the least inconsistancy.

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

Principles of acid; and thus the soil will be continually benefited by its vicinity to the ocean. All the above fields, therefore, are evidently supplied with nourishment from the ocean: for if the salt water has sufficient efficacy to render fields which are in its neighbourhood barren, why should it not render them fertile when the cause of barrenness is removed from its waters?

After all, the field in Caithness, mentioned by Mr. Anderson, seems to have been perpetually fertile only in grass; for though the second year it carried a better crop of bear than it did the first, yet the third year the crop was worse than the second, and only equal to the first. Had it been ploughed a fourth time, the crop would probably have been worse than the first. Ground is not near so much exhausted by grass as corn, even though the crop be cut and carried off; and still less if it only feeds cattle, and is manured by their dung; which appears to have been the case with this field. Lord Kames, indeed, mentions fields in Scotland, that, past memory, have carried successive crops of wheat, pease, barley, oats, without a fallow, and without manure; and particularises one on the river Carron, of nine or ten acres, which had carried 123 crops of oats without intermission and without manure: but as we are not acquainted with any such fields, nor know anything about their particular situation, we can form no judgment concerning them.

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

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

Sect. V. Of the different kinds of Vegetables proper to be raised with a view to the Melioration of Soil.

The methods of meliorating soils, which we have mentioned above, consisting of tedious and laborious operations that yield no return at first, it is natural for certain vegetables to be raised for some method of meliorating his ground, and reaping crops at the same time. One very considerable step towards the melioration of ground is its pulverization. This is accomplished by repeated ploughings (A), as already mentioned; especially if performed in autumn, that the ground may be exposed to the winter's frosts; but these ploughings yield no crop as long as the field is not sown. By planting in the field, however, those vegetables whose roots dwell to a considerable bulk, the ground must constantly be acted upon by the dwelling of their roots in all directions; and thus the growing of the crop itself may be equal, or superior in efficacy to several ploughings, at the same time that the farmer enjoys the benefit of it. The plant most remarkable for the dwelling of its roots is the potato; and by none is the ground meliorated more, or even so much. They are not, however, equally proper for all soils. In clay they do not thrive, nor are palatable; but in hard gravelly or sandy soils, they grow to a large size, and are of an excellent quality. Turnips likewise contribute to meliorate the ground,

(A) This however, must be understood with some limitation; for it appears from experience, that many light and thin soils receive detriment rather than advantage from frequent ploughings; particularly in summer, when the sun exhales the nutritive particles in great abundance. Of Destroying ground, by the swelling of their roots, though not so much as potatoes. They have this advantage, however, that they will thrive in almost any soil. In clay ground, peas and beans thrive exceedingly well, and therefore are proper in this kind of soil as a preparatory for other kinds of grain. These push their roots deep into the ground, and cover it with their leaves more than other crops; so that the sun has not so much access as when it is covered with other kinds of grain. Wherever any of these kinds of vegetables are raised, it is observable, that more or less blackness is communicated to the soil: an evident sign of its melioration; this being the colour of the true vegetable mould, or loamy soil, as it is called.

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

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

In addition to this, it may be proper to remark, that an idea has been entertained with regard to the succession of vegetables to each other, which ought not to be overlooked, as at some future period it may lead to important consequences. It has been supposed, that the roots of plants, or at least of some plants, possess a power of throwing out, as excrementitious, a part of the substances which they have taken in, but which are no longer necessary for their subsistence or growth. It is undoubtedly, at least, that while by some plants the soil seems to be rendered altogether unfit for the production of certain others, it is rendered by different plants extremely well adapted to their growth. Thus wheat succeeds uncommonly well after drilled beans; and these two vegetables have even been repeated for a great number of years in rotation, without any deficiency or failure of crop.

Sect. VI. Of Destroying Weeds.

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

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

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

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

Besides these kinds of weeds which are of an herbaceous nature, there are others which are woody, and grow to a very considerable size; such as broom, furze, or whins, and thorns. Broom is an evergreen shrub, that thrives best in a sandy soil; and there it grows so vigorously, as scarcely to admit any grass under it. It propagates by seed which grows in pods; and these, when fully ripe, break with violence, scattering the seeds all around. Thus, a field which is overgrown with broom, besides the old plants, always contains an infinite number of young ones: so that though the old plants die when cut over, a fresh crop constantly springs up. It may, however, be destroyed by frequent ploughing and harrowing, in the same manner as other perennial weeds are; for it does not for some time carry any seed, and the frequent ploughing encourages the vegetation of all those seeds that are already in the ground, which cannot fail of being destroyed by frequent repetitions of the operation. Another method of destroying broom, is by pasturing the field where it grows with sheep. A few of the old bushes may be left as a shelter, and these will be in a good measure prevented from... Theory.

Diseases of from spreading by the cropping of the sheep. These animals are very fond of broom, and greedily devour every young shoot; so that if any remain after the first year, there will not be a vestige the second. If this method of extirpating broom is equally effectual with that of frequent ploughing, it is certainly much more profitable, as there is no food more nourishing to sheep than young broom. Broom, however, is said to have a singular effect upon sheep: it makes them drunk so effectually, that when heated with a little driving, they tumble over, and lie without motion.

The whin is a fine evergreen shrub, carrying a sweet-smelling flower all the year round. It propagates both by seed and by its roots, which spread sometimes to the distance of 10 or 12 feet; and hence, when once established, it is with difficulty extirpated. The best method is to set fire to the whins in frosty weather; for frost has the effect to wither whins, and make them burn readily. The stumps must then be cut over with a hatchet; and when the ground is well softened by rain, it may be ploughed up, and the roots taken out by a harrow adapted to that purpose. If the field is soon laid down to grass, the whins will again spring up in great abundance from the seeds, and small parts of the roots left in the ground. In this case, pasturing with sheep is an effectual remedy; as they are no less fond of young whins than of young broom; and if there are a sufficient number, they will not leave a single plant above ground. But if grass is not immediately wanted, the most effectual method of clearing a field of whins, is by reiterated ploughings.

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

One effectual plan, which, as will afterwards appear, is practicable in many more situations than it has hitherto been applied to, for destroying these and all other woody shrubs and plants, together with a great number of weeds, that are of no value upon pasture grounds, consists of flooding the land, by directing over it a stream of water. By means of such a device, all whins and other shrubs are completely rotted and destroyed.

Sect. VII. Of the Diseases of Plants.

As some of the most valuable kinds of vegetables are liable to suffer much by diseases peculiar to themselves, it is of much importance to the husbandman to be aware of this circumstance, and to adopt every known mode of protecting his crop against them. At the same time, as the principles of vegetable life are by no means well understood, the causes and the cure of the most serious diseases affecting plants still remain under a great degree of obscurity, and the most experienced and intelligent husbandmen express great uncertainty respecting the measures to be adopted for preventing their appearance. Hence it appears most proper to introduce the consideration of them in this place before we proceed to the practical part of the subject; and as wheat is accounted the most valuable kind of grain, we shall begin with the diseases to which it is exposed.

Wheat chiefly suffers from two diseases, the blight and the mildew. Of the blight in wheat we shall give an account upon the authority of an essay by which Robert Somerville, Esq., surgeon, 1st Battalion 8th Fencible Regiment, inserted in the communications to the Board of Agriculture *, giving a statement of the nature and appearance of the blight which occasioned the failure of the crop in 1795.—When the crop had just thaken the flowers, and the grains were beginning to form, most of them seemingly in a healthy manner, it was observed that many of the blades and stalks were rather of a dirty green colour, and in two weeks thereafter there appeared upon them great numbers of small red insects. As the season advanced, these insects not only increased in size, but became more numerous, and in almost every field the grain began to manifest unequivocal symptoms of disease, which were so formidable, that in many instances a total loss was dreaded, and in not a few cases, one half of the crop was actually destroyed. The minute symptoms of the blight were these:

1st, In the very early stages of the disease, and before the ear was affected, the blades and stalks were marked with black and rusty spots. These spots seemed to be occasioned by a glutinous substance deposited upon them, easily soluble in water, and which could be readily washed off by rubbing the stalks with a wet cloth. Some spots, however, were white, and these seemed to be owing to wounds or punctures made by vermin; the leaf having, to a certain extent, in consequence of these, withered and become white. As the season advanced, the black and rusty-coloured spots became larger and more numerous: and when the grain began to ripen, not only the blades but the straw were almost entirely coloured with black spots.

2d, After the crop had begun to droop, and was in the ear, many of the heads were entirely empty. Where the stalk was green, and to appearance tolerably healthy, but the ear at the same time withered and without grain, the misfortune seemed to have arisen from an injury done to the neck of the ear, at the place of its junction with the stalk. There the outer rind was destroyed all round, which must have cut off the circulation between the ear and the stalk, as happens in trees that have had their bark destroyed all round.

3d, Many of the ears were entirely empty in the upper part, while the lower half was well filled. In these cases, the injury seemed owing to the rind being destroyed about the middle of the ear, at that place which separated the full from the empty part, and was similar to the injury done in the preceding case where the whole ear was destroyed.

4th, In very many cases the ears had a plump well-filled pickle and an empty husk alternately. In these the injury seemed owing to a wound inflicted at the bottom of the empty grains, where they are joined to the stalk, and which had taken place while they were in flower, preventing them from making any farther progress.

5th, Many ears, though not entirely empty, contained only small shrivelled grains, or what are called hungry. Diseases of hungry pickles. These seemed to have escaped any accident till they had made some progress in filling, after which they became stationary and ripened prematurely. On examination they were found to be injured at the place where they were joined to the stalk, in the same manner as was already mentioned, in the case of those that had empty heads or ears. Like these also the whole ear was in some cases ill filled. In others only half of it was in that state, and in a very great number the ears consisted of a well and ill filled grain alternately. Without a single exception, the whole of the ill filled or hungry grains, were wounded at the place of their insertion into the ear.

6th, A number of ears, though well filled, were upon opening the hulls found almost entirely covered with black and rusty spots, nearly resembling those already described, and like them also they were easily rubbed off. The downy part of many of these grains, when examined carefully with a good glass, appeared to contain several small white transparent globes, resembling the eggs of insects.

7th, In many fields, especially such as had been fallowed and well manured for the wheat crop, a great number of plants were entirely withered from top to bottom. The decay, in most of these cases, took place when the wheat was beginning to shoot. No injury was visible in these cases upon the blade or stalk, but on examining the roots, a worm was found at every one of them.

Lastly, As the crop began to whiten, the dark or rusty spots on the straw and ears became more numerous, and appeared more conspicuous. In place of putting on a white or yellow appearance, the whole crop looked as if it had been sprinkled with soot.

The whole of these symptoms appeared to arise from the attack of an insect, and from the injuries and depredation which it committed upon the plants. This insect when first distinguishable by the eye, was of a red colour, and so soft as to be killed by the slightest pressure. As it increased in size the colour gradually changed to a dirty black, at which it became stationary. During its growth it lost its soft texture, and in proportion as its colour darkened it became hard, and as it were covered with a crust or shell upon the back. It is said to be not uncommon, and to be met with at all times, even in the best fields of wheat, though its numbers are infinitely increased in late wet seasons. From its eggs appearing to lodge upon the well-filled ears of the grain, it may be considered as in danger of being propagated to the succeeding crop. On this account our author hazards some conjectures upon the best means of preventing future danger from it. One of these consists of the use of lime mixed up with all manure, with a view to prevent insects from being generated in it. It is also suggested that the manure, by means of which flies and worms are chiefly supposed to be produced, ought not to be plowed into the ground in autumn, but applied as a top-dressing in the spring; because it is understood that manure, exposed to the sun and air, has much less tendency to foster insects, than when it is covered up in the earth.

Another disease, which is much more destructive to wheat, and much more frequently met with, is the mildew. It is of two kinds, the black and the red. In both cases it consists of a quantity of seemingly coarse pow-

Mildew is red or black, called smut. Theory.

Diseases of Plants are represented by him, as infinitely finer than those of the black mildew; and their heads, which resemble eggs, may be separated from them by the slightest shock. From all his observations he concludes, that both the black and the red mildew consist of real plants, though, perhaps, of an imperfect kind; and that they enfeeble and waste the crop by absorbing the nutritive juices of the plant. He observes, that, if a heavy rain speedily fall on an extensive mildew, washing the leaves and stalks affected, it presently disappears with hardly any damage to the corn; because the small plants having hardly taken root are easily dispersed before any mischief is done. He thinks, that the damage occasioned by this disease may sometimes be moderated or diminished by cutting down the grain before it is fully ripe. In this case, he says, that the crop will be less than it ought to be; but still it will be considerably greater than if the customary time of harvest is waited for, when the disease will have leisure to produce greater mischief.

In our own country, and particularly by Mr Somerville, in the essay already quoted, the finut in wheat has been regarded as consisting of a great variety of insects. He also founds his opinion upon microscopic observations, and apprehends that from them he has clearly ascertained the existence of the insects; and he thinks that it is communicated to other grain by contact, in consequence of the pallage of the insects. Hence he endeavours to explain the utility of steeping the seed in pickles before it is sown, with a view to the destruction of such insects.

It is to be remarked, that in all countries a great variety of these pickles has been contrived, with a view to prevent the existence of finut in wheat, some of which we shall now mention. One of the most common is the salt pickle, consisting of a solution of common salt in water, of such strength as that an egg will swim in it. To the wheat, after it has been washed in this pickle, and the light grains removed, some new flaked time is added, and carefully mixed with it with a wooden shovel, till it attain a sufficient degree of dryness, in which state it is committed to the earth. A pickle consisting of very stale urine has also been recommended to be used for washing wheat that is meant to be used as seed. It is attended with this disadvantage, however, that if the urine is very stale, and if any length of time is suffered to elapse, in consequence of rain or other accidents, before the grain is sown, its vegetative power is said to be greatly injured by the corrosive quality of the volatile alkali with which such urine abounds. This is more particularly the case when quicklime is added to the urine; as the alkali is then brought into a caustic state.

Another pickle has been proposed to the Board of Agriculture by an Italian physician, J. B. Scandella. It is prepared and used in the following manner:—Take of nitre, three pounds; alum, one pound; vitriol, six ounces; verdigris, three ounces; wood-ashes, well sifted, five pounds. Boil the whole in a copper with five pails of water for an hour, then remove them from the fire, and pour them into a large vessel; then add fifteen pails of water, in which half a bushel of quicklime has been previously dissolved; mix the whole intimately, and allow them to stand till they are quite cold. In this steep two bushels and a half of wheat are to be plunged, and left for about six hours, stirring it up frequently with a wooden shovel, and skimming off what rises to the surface; the wheat is then to be withdrawn, and spread out till it is dry enough for sowing. The process is thus to be continued until the whole quantity of seed intended to be sown is pickled. The above steep is generally sufficient for preparing about twenty-four bushels of wheat.

Another pickle has been recommended, consisting of Communion a decoction in water of Barbadoes aloes, tobacco, and cayenne to the Board hellebore powder. A committee of the Royal Society of Agriculture at Paris, in 1786, recommended the following pickle for the same purpose, contrived by M. Tillet:—Pour upon 50 pounds of wood-ashes, 900 pints of water; stir it well for three days, and then draw off. Wash the black wheat in so many clear waters as not at last to dirty it. Heat the lye, so as just to bear the hand in it; flake in the hot lye one pound of lime to every seven or eight pints of it. Into the preparation dip the seed in baskets many times. For want of wood-ashes use potash, seven or eight pounds for 100 pints of water.

In addition to these it may be remarked, that a solution of arsenic in water is made use of in some counties used to prevent England, as a pickle in which they wash or steep the grain previous to its being sown, for the purpose of protecting the future crop against mildew.

The most complete set of experiments, however, which we have met with upon the subject, was made Young, Esq., by Arthur Young, Esq., at present secretary to the Board of Agriculture. December 7, 1787, he sowed prevent 14 beds with the same seed wheat as black with the mildew, finut as any he ever saw.

N° 1. Sown dry, nothing done to it. 2. Washed well in clean water. 3. Washed in lime-water. 4. Washed in lye of wood ashes. 5. Washed in an arsenic and salt mixture. 6. Steeped in lime-water four hours. 7. Ditto in the lye four hours. 8. Ditto in the arsenic four hours. 9. Ditto in lime-water 12 hours. 10. Ditto in the lye 12 hours. 11. Ditto in the arsenic 12 hours. 12. Ditto in the lime-water 24 hours. 13. Ditto in the lye 24 hours. 14. Ditto in the arsenic 24 hours.

RESULT.

| N° | Had | Smutty ears | |----|-----|-------------| | 1 | | 377 | | 2 | | 325 | | 3 | | 43 | | 4 | | 31 | | 5 | | 28 | | 6 | | 12 | | 7 | | 3 | | 8 | | 1 | | 9 | | 6 | | 10 | | 0 | | 11 | | 4 | | 12 | | 0 | | 13 | | 0 | | 14 | | 5 |

A proposal has also been made, to destroy by means of Diseases of heat the insects which are supposed to propagate the disease called smut from the feed wheat to the future crop. The following directions for that purpose are extracted from the Agricultural Survey of the County of Clackmannan, by J. F. Erskine, of Marr, Esq.

"Let the wheat be laid upon the kiln, about three or four inches thick; the kiln to be heated middling strong with blind coal; the wheat to continue on the kiln for 24 hours, but turned frequently. After taking it off the kiln, it must be allowed 24 hours to cool; during which time it must be frequently turned; then put it through the fans once or twice. After the wheat has lain a few hours on the kiln, and the fire begins to have effect, a great number of very small worms, formerly undiscerned by the eye, appear on the top of the grain, and are soon destroyed by the heat. These come from blacked wheat, or other corns, that could not be suspected to be indifferent; or may lie in or on good wheat; which worms continuing (when not thus killed), might consume the corn after it is thrown into the earth, thereby checking the growth entirely, or preventing it from having the strength it otherwise would have to bring forth a strong productive stalk. This practice is said to have been brought from Ireland, and is recommended as preferable to pickling. It might perhaps be performed with greater success by the use of a kiln heated by the steam of boiling water, in the way already mentioned, as such a kiln would instantly afford a fixed and known degree of heat, which could in no case be exceeded."

After all, however, both from the reason of the thing, and from the concurring opinion of the most experienced and intelligent farmers, we think ourselves authorized to say, that the husbandman will act imprudently if he place entire and complete confidence in any one of the remedies above mentioned. His safest and best plan for procuring crops of wheat free from smut is this: In the first place, he ought to procure seed from a situation in which the grain has risen absolutely free from this disease. He ought next to exert the greatest care in cleaning out, in the most anxious manner, his whole barns and their floors, and every place within doors into which his grain may come, and in which diseased grain has formerly been kept: with this view it may probably be necessary to whitewash the walls with a mixture of quicklime and water, which will prove an effectual remedy. After having adopted these precautions, it may still be necessary, with a view to secure a sound and full crop, to plunge the seed into a strong pickle of salt and water, with a view to float the lighter grains, which ought to be skimmed off and laid aside for poultry, to which they may be given after being washed in fresh water. No future change of seed will be necessary. Of the farmers who have adopted this judicious mode of proceeding, there is no instance recorded of any one whose crop has suffered by smut; on the contrary, they have usually derived a considerable profit from becoming the furnishers of grain for feed to all their neighbours.

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

The bad qualities, and unequal distribution of the vegetables juices of plants, are the occasion of so few of the diseases destroyed to which vegetables in this country are subject, that we forbear to mention them at present. Most of the diseases of our plants are owing to external accidents, particularly to the depredations of insects.—The insects by which the greatest devastations are committed in this country are, snails, caterpillars, grubs, and flies. The snails and caterpillars feed on the leaves and young shoots; by which means they often totally destroy the vegetable. Where the plants are of easy access, these insects devour may be destroyed by sprinkling the vegetable with lime-water; for quicklime is a mortal poison to creatures of this kind, and throws them into the greatest agonies the moment they are touched with it. On trees, however, where this method cannot so well be followed, fumigation is the most proper; and, for this purpose, nothing is better than the smoke of vegetables not perfectly dry. In some cases the eggs of these destroying creatures may be observed, and ought without doubt immediately to be taken away. On the fruit trees, as apples, pears, medlars, on some forest trees, the oak and dwarf maple especially, and the white and black thorn in hedges, a kind of little tufts are to be observed, resembling at first sight withered leaves twirled by a cobweb, about the uppermost twigs or branches. These contain a vast number of little black eggs, that in the spring produce swarms of caterpillars which devour everything. To prevent this, all the twigs on which these cobwebs appear should be taken off and burnt as soon as possible. This ought to be done before the end of March, that none of the eggs be allowed sufficient time for hatching.

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

Turnips, when young, are apt to be totally destroyed by a multitude of little black flies, from thence called the turnip-fly. As a preventive of these, some advise the feed to be mixed with brimstone; but this Theory.

Diseases of this is improper, as brimstone is found to be poisonous to vegetables. The best method seems to be the fumigation of the fields with the smoke of half-dried vegetables. For this purpose weeds will answer as well as any. This fumigation must no doubt be often repeated, in order to drive away the innumerable multitudes of these insects which are capable of destroying a large field of turnips.

Some have supposed that the fly is either engendered in new dung, or enticed by it; and have therefore advised the manure to be laid on in the autumn preceding, by which it loses all its noxious qualities, while its nutritive ones are retained, notwithstanding these might be supposed liable in some degree to be exhaled by the sun. This method is said to have been ascertained by experiments; and it is added, that another material advantage accruing from autumn manuring for turnips is, that all the seeds contained in the dung, and which of course are carried on the land with it, vegetate almost immediately, are mostly killed by the severity of the winter, and the few that remain seldom avoid destruction from the ploughshare.

The following method of sowing has also been recommended as a preventive of the fly:—“About midsummer, take the first opportunity, when it rains, or there is an apparent certainty of rain approaching, to sow your turnip-seed; if about the full moon, the better. In this case, neither harrow, brush, nor roll, after sowing. The natural heat of the ground at that season, and the consequent fermentation occasioned by copious rain, will give an astonishingly quick vegetation to the seed, which in a few days will be up and out of all danger from the fly. At all events, sow not till it rains; it is better to wait a month, or even longer, for rain, than to sow (merely for the sake of sowing about the usual time) when the ground is parched with heat. By the scorching of the sun, the oil and vegetative quality of the seed are exhausted; and the few weak plants that come up will be destroyed by the fly before they can attain strength to put forth their rough leaves. The fly infests the ground abundantly in dry hot weather, but does no injury in rain. The falling rain will sufficiently wash the turnip seed into the ground without harrowing it in; which, instead of merely covering, too often buries this small seed at so great a depth, as never afterwards to get above ground.”

The following remedies are also recommended as having often proved successful:—A small quantity of foot sown over the land at their first appearance. Branches of elder, with the leaves bruised, drawn in a gate over them. Must mixed with the seed before it is sown. And sulphur burnt under it, after moistening it with water in which tobacco has been steeped.

But flowers on the plants, as soon as they appear above ground, are esteemed the best preservatives. They enfeeble and kill the fly, and hasten the plants into the rough leaf, in which state they are out of danger.

The sweet smell of the turnip has been thought to attract the fly; upon which supposition, the remedy appeared to consist in overpowering that smell by one which is strong, fetid, and disagreeable. Hence it has been recommended that upon an acre of turnips sown in the usual way, a peck or more of dry foot be thrown after the ground is finished, and in as regular a way as he sows the seed.

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

The curled disease in potatoes has long been a subject of investigation and experiment among farmers; disease in and the knowledge of its cause and cure seems yet to remain a desideratum. The Agricultural Society at Manchester, a few years ago, offered a premium for discovering by actual experiment the cause of the disease in question; and a great variety of letters were in consequence addressed to them upon the subject.—As these contain many interesting observations both on the disease itself, and the best methods hitherto adopted for preventing it, the following abstract of them may not improperly be introduced in this place.

I. According to the writer of the first letter, this disease is caused by an insect produced by frost or bad methods of keeping before setting; and the newest kinds, such as prevention have been raised within these nine or ten years, are most apt to curl, because they will not stand to be kept in winter and spring before setting, as the old kinds will. In autumn 1776, he got up a bed of potatoes to lay by in winter, leaving plenty in the ground as regular as possible; and, before the severity of winter came on, covered part of the bed with straw and pease-haulm, and left the other part of the bed uncovered. That part of the bed which was covered was quite free from curled ones; but the uncovered part produced a great many curled, owing, as the writer says, to frost and severity of the weather.

II. This writer had about a quarter of an acre of potatoes, well manured with cow and horse dung, and took the greatest care in picking the fine smooth-skinned potatoes for sets; yet nine out of ten parts were curled. He attributes the cause of this disease to a white grub or insect, which he found near the root, about half an inch long, with eight or ten legs, its head brown and hard; as, upon examining a number of the curled roots, he found them all bitten, chiefly from the surface to the root, which of course stopped the progress of the sap, and threw the leaf into a curl. The uncurled roots were not bitten. He tried a few experiments as follow:—First, he put foot to the insects in the rows for Diseases of plants for two days; and after that, he put lime to them for the same time, but they still kept lively; next he put a little salt, which destroyed them in a few hours. From which he infers, that if coarse salt were put into the ground at the time the land is preparing for potatoes, it would effectually cure this distemper.

III. In this letter, the cause of the disease is attributed to the method of earthing the stems while in cultivation; and the branch, striking root into the new earthed-up soil, it is said, produces potatoes of such a nature as the year following to cause the disease complained of.

To prevent the disease, it is recommended to take the sets from those potatoes that have not bred any from the branch covered; or, otherwise, to dig the part the sets are to be raised from.

IV. According to this writer, the disorder proceeds from potatoes being in old-tilled or worn-out ground; for though these potatoes may look tolerably well, yet their sets will mostly, if not all, produce curled potatoes.

Hence he is convinced, that no sets ought to be used from old-tilled or couch-grass land; and that, in order to have good sets, they should be procured from land that was purposely fallowed for them; or from fresh ley land, where they are not curled; or from ley land that was burnt last spring. He directs to plant them on virgin mould, and the potatoes will have no curled ones amongst them; and to keep them for winter, from any other kind.

To avoid the uncertainty of getting good sets, he recommends crabs to be gathered from potatoes growing this year on fresh land free from curl, and the next spring to sow them on fresh ley land; and continue to plant their sets on fresh ley land yearly, which he is convinced will prevent the curl.

All the good potatoes he saw this year, either on fresh ley land or on old tilled land, were raised from sets that grew upon fresh ley land last year; and where he has seen curled potatoes, he found, upon inquiry, the potato sets grew upon old-tilled and worn-out land last year. He gives as a general reason for the disorder, that the land is often cropped than it had used to be, much more corn being now raised than formerly.

V. In 1772, this writer planted some potatoes by accident full nine inches deep; when taken up, many of the plants were rotted, and a few curled. He kept the whole produce for seed, and planted two acres with it in 1773, not quite six inches deep. The crop was amazingly great; and he did not observe any curled plants among them. In 1774, many of these were planted in different soils; yet they were so infected with the curled disease, that not one in twenty escaped. In 1775, the complaint of this disease became general. In 1776, it occurred to him that the good crop of 1773 was owing to the accidental deep setting of 1772; and that the reason why the same seed became curled in 1774, was their being set too near the surface in 1773; and attributes the disease to the practice of ebb setting. In 1777, he took some potatoes from a crop that was curled the year before, and after cutting the sets, left them in a dry room for a month. Half were planted in ground dug fourteen days before; the other half, having been steeped in a brine made of whitster's ashes for two hours, were also planted on the same land at the same time. The steeped ones came up ten days before the others, and hardly any miffed or were curled. The unsteeped ones generally failed, and those few that came up were mostly curled.

He therefore advised as a remedy, 1. That the potatoes intended for next year's sets be planted nine inches deep. 2. That they remain in the ground as long as the season will permit. 3. That these sets be well defended from frost till the beginning of March. 4. That the sets be cut a fortnight before planting. 5. That they be steeped, as above, two hours in brine or lye. 6. That the dung be put over the sets. And, 7. That fresh sets be got every year from sandy soils near the coast, or on the shore.

P.S. At planting, the hard dry sets should be cast aside, for they will probably be curled. Curled potatoes always proceed from sets which do not rot or putrefy in the ground.

VI. This writer had five drills of the old red potatoes, and four of the winter whites, growing at the same time in the same field. The drills were prepared exactly alike. Among the red not one was curled; the winter whites were nearly all curled. He says he has found by experience, that the red never curl.

VII. Two of the writer's neighbours had their sets out of one heap of potatoes. They both set with the plough, the one early, and the other late, in the season. Most of those early set proved curled, and most of those late smooth; the latter on clay land.

A few roods of land were also planted with small potatoes, which had lain spread on a chamber floor all the winter and spring till the middle of May. They were soft and withered; they proved smooth and a good crop. Middle-sized potatoes, withered and soft, which had been kept in a large dry cellar, and the sprouts of which had been broken off three times, produced also a smooth good crop.

Hence he was led to think superfluity of sap, occasioned by the seed being unripe, might cause the disease. To be satisfied in this, he asked the farmer whether he had set any of the same potatoes this year, and what was the nature of his land? He told him "he had; that they had been set on his farm fourteen years without ever curling; that his soil was a poor whitish sand, of little depth; that he let those he designed for keeping grow till they were fully ripe."

Hence he concludes, the only sure way to prevent the curl is, to let potatoes intended for seed stand till they are fully ripe, and to keep them dry all winter.

VIII. This writer set a quantity of the red potatoes, without having a curled one amongst them. His method is, when the sets are cut, to pick out such as are reddest in the inside. On digging them up at Michaelmas, he mixes none of the curled seed among the others. The curled are easily distinguished, by their stalks withering two months before the rest of the crop.

The cause of the curled disease he attributes to potatoes being of late years produced from seed instead of roots as formerly. Such will not stand good more than two or three years, use what method you please. Last spring he set the old red and white ruffets, and had not a curled potato amongst them.

On the limestone land about Denbigh, in North Wales, IX. According to this writer, all sorts of grain wear out and turn wild if sown too long on the same land; the same will hold good in all sorts of pulse, peas, beans, and (as he conceives) potatoes. It generally happens, that those who have most curled potatoes plant very small sets.

Eleven years ago he bought a parcel of fresh sets, of the golden-dun kind, and has used them without change to the present year, without any being curled. This he principally attributes to his having always planted good large sets.

About four years since, he thought of changing his sets, as his potatoes were too smooth, too round, and much diminished in size. But the curl at that time beginning to be very alarming, he continued his sets till part of his crop missing last year, he was obliged to buy new sets this spring, which being small, were curled like other people's.

He allows, that the curl has frequently happened to persons who have used large potatoes for sets; for, as all roots are not equally affected, some curled ones may be mixed with the rest.

To prevent the evil, cut your sets from clear and middle-sized potatoes, gathered from places as clear of the curl as possible; preserve them as usual till spring. If any are harder, or grow more in cutting than usual, cast them aside. He would also recommend the raising a fresh set from the crab produced on the sorts least affected, which in Lancashire are the long-duns.

X. Set potatoes with the sprouts broke off, and they will (says the writer of this letter) be curled ones; if set with the sprouts on, they will not be curled. Again, take a potato which is sprit, and cut a set off with two fights; break one sprit off, and let the other stay on, and set it; the former will be curled, and the latter will not.

When you have holed your potatoes, take them out before they are sprit, and lay them dry until you have set or sown them, and you will have no curled potatoes.

XI. This writer was at the expense of procuring sets at 50 miles distance, and where this disease was not known. The first year's trial was successful; the year following he procured sets from the same place, but one-fifth of his crop was infected. By way of experiment, he planted sets from roots which had been infected the year before, and some of these produced healthy plants, free from all infection.

As every effect must have a cause, he supposed it might be some insect, which, living on the leaves, gave them that curled and sickly appearance, as is the case in the leaves of many shrubs and trees. But whether the insect is lodged in the old sets, and to be destroyed at the time of planting, or, proceeding from some external cause, can only be destroyed afterwards, he is not yet certain, although he has made the following experiments.

On a piece of ground that had not been dug for 20 years, he planted four rows of sets, which he knew to be perfectly clear; the drills were two feet distant, the sets one foot distant in each drill. He then planted on the same ground four rows with sets from curled potatoes, at equal distances; in each row were about 20 sets.

Lot 1st, The curled sets. N° 1. Without manure, N° 3. In foot, 2. In salt, 4. In quicklime.

Lot 2nd, The clear sets. N° 1. Without manure, N° 3. In foot, 2. In salt, 4. In quicklime.

Those planted in salt and foot in both lots were destroyed. In Lot 1st, N° 1. and 4. all curled. Lot 2nd, N° 1. and 4. quite clear.

This experiment was made on a supposition that the insect lodged in the set, and must be destroyed on planting. But of that he is not fully satisfied. He repeated salt, foot, and quicklime, on the branches of several curled potatoes. Salt destroyed all he touched with it. Lime and foot had, he thought, a partial effect on the plants. After some time, they appeared almost as healthy as the rest. Thus, although he had done little towards the cure, he flatters himself he has pointed out the cause, the insects on the curled plants being not only very numerous, but visible to the naked eye.

XII. This writer ascribes the cause of the disease to the frost, and bad keeping in winter and spring before setting. They are liable to be damaged by frost after they are set; but this may be prevented by covering. If it be asked, why frost did not injure them formerly? he answers, it is only the new kinds which are apt to curl. To this may be added, that less care is now taken of the seed than formerly. To prevent the latter, let them remain in the ground covered with haulm or litter till the time they are wanted for setting: and, in case no frost touches them afterwards, they will be free from the disease.

XIII. This writer says, the red potato was as generally planted as the winter white and the Lincolnshire kidney are now. The first, being a later potato, did not sprout so early as the others. The white sprout very early, and therefore should first be moved out of the place where they have been preserved in the winter. Instead of that, they are often let remain till their roots and sprouts are matted together. On separating them, these sprouts are generally rubbed off, and they are laid by till the ground is ready; during which interval they sprout a second time: but these second sprouts, being weak and languid, will shrink, ficken, and die; and the fruit at the roots will be small, hard, ill-shaped, and of a brown colour.

Now, if putting off the sprouts once or more, before the sets are put in the ground, be the cause (as he verily believes it is) of the curled disease, an easy remedy is at hand. When the potatoes intended for sets are dug up, lay them in a well aspect as dry as possible; in such a situation they will not sprout so soon. The best time for removing most sorts, is the first fine day after the 24th of February. Cut them into sets as soon as possible, and let them remain covered with dry sand till the ground is prepared, which should be a winter fallow. Lay the sets in without breaking off any of the sprouts, for the second will not be so vigorous. This accounts for one sprout out of three from the same set being curled. The two stems not curled rose from two later eyes, and were first Diseases of sprouts. The sprout curled was a second, the first having been rubbed off.

XIV. This writer says, that last spring one of his neighbours cut and set, in the usual way of drilling, some loads of the largest potatoes he could procure; and more than half of them proved curled. Being a few feet short of the quantity wanted, he planted some very small potatoes which he had laid by for the pigs. These being fully ripe and solid, there was not a curled plant among them. He apprehends, the others being curled was owing to their not being fully ripe. A crop of potatoes, set this year in rows on ground that had borne a crop of them last year, were mostly curled; but many plants came up from seed left in the ground last season, and there was not a curled one among them.

XV. Of late years, this writer says, great improvements have been made in setting potatoes and cutting the sets. The ground is dressed cleaner and dunned stronger. Many people, in drilling, wrap up the sets entirely in the dung; by which means, though their potatoes are larger, the disease seems to be increased. They also cut their sets out of the richest and largest potatoes, which is perhaps another cause of this evil. In cold countries, where they set their own feed, which has grown on poor land, with less dung, they have no curled plants. On the contrary, when they bought rich and large potatoes for seed, they have been curled in great quantities. He believes, the richness and largeness of the feed to be the cause of the evil; for he does not remember to have seen a curled stem which did not spring from a set of a large potato.

XVI. This writer apprehends the curled disease in potatoes to proceed from a defect in the planta seminalis, or seed plant; and from comparing curled ones with others, there appeared to be a want of, or inability in, the powers of expanding or unfolding the parts of the former; which, from this defect, forms shrivelled, starved, curled stems. On examining some of the sets at the time of getting the crop, he found them hard and undecayed; so hard, indeed that some of them would not be soft with long boiling. This led him to think, that some manures might have the same effect on them as tanners ooze has on leather, and so harden them, that the embryo plant could not come forth with ease; but a closer examination taught him otherwise, and that they grow equally in all manures.

Some have thought that the fermentation is occasioned by too great quantities being heaped together; but the writer has seen an instance, wherein a single potato, preserved by itself, when set, produced stems of the curled kind. He thinks the most consistent and rational opinion is, that the disease is occasioned by the potatoes being taken from the ground before the stamen, or miniature plant, is properly matured and ripened.

For let it be observed, that the potato, being a native of a warmer climate, has there more fun, and a longer continuance in the ground, than in its present exotic state; consequently it has not the same natural causes here to mature the feed plant as in its native state. We ought, therefore, to give all the opportunities our climate will admit for nature to complete her work, and fit the stamen for the next state of vegetation, especially in those intended for seed. But if the potato be taken up before the feed-plant be fully matured, or the air and sap vessels have acquired a proper degree of firmness or hardness, it must, when thus robbed of further nutrition, shrivel up; and when the vessels, in this immature state, come to act again in the second state of vegetation, they may produce plants which are curled.

If it be asked, why are they more common now than formerly? he answers, that before the present mode of setting them took place, people covered them, while in the ground, with straw, to protect them from frost.

If it be asked, why one set produces both curled and smooth stems? he answers, we suppose every eye to contain a planta seminalis; that all the embryos, or feed plants, contained in one potato, are nourished by one root; and that, as in ears of corn, some of these feed plants may be nourished before others.

One of his neighbours, last year, set two rows of potatoes, which proving all curled, he did not take them up; and this year there is not a curled one among them. Such potatoes, therefore, as are designed for seed, should be preserved as long in the ground as possible.

XVII. This writer advises such sets to be planted as grow in moss land; and, he says, there will not be a single curled one the first year. This is affirmed by the inhabitants of two townships, where they grow amazing quantities. A medical gentleman sowed last year two bushels of sets from one of the above places, and had not one curled; but on sowing them again this year, he had a few.

Notwithstanding there seems to be a diversity of opinions in the above writers, occasioned by the different appearances of their crops, and the seemingly contrary effects of the means used to prevent or cure the disease, we conceive that the following general propositions may be fairly drawn from the whole.

1. That some kinds of potatoes are (ceteris paribus) much more liable to be affected by the disease than the rest; and that the old-red, the golden-dun, and the long-dun, are the most free from it.—2. That the disease is occasioned by one or more of the following causes, either singly or combined: 1st, By frost, either before or after the sets are planted; 2nd, From planting sets out of large unripe potatoes; 3rd, From planting too near the surface, and in old worn-out ground; 4th, From the first shoots of the sets being broken off before planting; by which means there is an incapacity in the planta seminalis to send forth others sufficiently vigorous to expand so fully as they ought.—3. That the most successful methods of preventing the disease, are cutting the sets from smooth middle-sized potatoes, that were fully ripe, and had been kept dry after they were taken out of the ground; and without rubbing off their first shoots, planting them pretty deep in fresh earth, with a mixture of quicklime, or on lime-stone land.

A correspondent of the Bath Society is convinced, that whatever may be its cause, the fault itself is inherent in the feed; and has communicated the following method of avoiding it: "I made a hot-bed in the following manner (which method I have used ever since)." I laid horse dung, &c. (as is generally used in making hot-beds), about 18 inches thick; over which I spread a layer of fine rich mould about four or five inches thick: upon the top of this mould I laid, in different divisions, a certain number of potatoes of various sorts, some of my own growth, and others brought from different parts, and covered them lightly over with more mould; they soon came up. I then observed which was free from the blight or curl; for if there were not more than one defective in forty or fifty, I concluded I might set that fort with safety. This method I have now practised near twelve years, and never lost my crop, or any part thereof worth mentioning; whilst my neighbours, who followed the old method, were frequently disappointed in their crops; and to the best of my knowledge, all those of my neighbours who have of late been persuaded to take the trouble of using the same means as myself, have never failed of success to their utmost wishes in one instance; nor do I ever think it will fail, if duly attended to; the fault being some hidden cause in the seed unknown at present, and I believe incurable by any means, at least which have yet come to my knowledge. My reason for planting my hot-beds so soon is, that if the frost hinder the first experiment, or they all prove bad, I may have time to make a second or third, if necessary, with different sorts of seed, before the proper season arrives for planting in the fields and grounds appointed for the great and general crops.

In addition to the interesting information upon this subject, which has been obtained by means of these societies, various other speculations about the cause and cure of this disease have of late been introduced to the notice of the public. In particular it has been strongly urged, that the disease is almost always occasioned by insects. It is said, that on looking at the roots of such potatoes as grow up curled, it will usually be found, that the bearing plant is devoured and excavated by snails, centipedes, or beetles. Sometimes also, though more rarely, the curl is supposed to arise from the leaves themselves being infected with minute animalcula. Hence, in rich soils in the neighbourhood of cities and well-manured gardens, the potatoes are most subject to the curl, because such insects as devour the seed abound most in these soils. The insects are thought to prefer one potato to another. They will hardly touch a yam. A potato from a late part of the country, which has been hardly ripened, the vermin do not seem to like; but a potato that has been somewhat sweetened or mellowed by the frost, is supposed to be greedily devoured by them.

An ingenious notion concerning the cause of the disease has been suggested from attending to the history of the plant in this country. The potato plant was introduced into the island of Great Britain from a climate much warmer than ours, as early as the reign of Queen Elizabeth; but it is a singular circumstance, that the curled disease did not make its appearance till within less than 40 years ago. Indeed, the disease is said to have first occurred in the year 1764, in the very district of Lancashire where potatoes had been first cultivated. It is also said, that the Surinam potato and some other kinds which have been more recently introduced into our climate, have never yet exhibited any symptom of the curl. It is farther said, that till within these 40 years the potato plant never brought its seeds to maturity in this country, though the roots were in full perfection; that the Surinam potato and others lately introduced do not as yet produce perfect seeds at the top of their stem; and that potatoes, which have been cultivated for a length of time in bleak and mountainous situations, are still in the same state, and do not bring their seeds to maturity. Hence it is endeavoured to be inferred, that there exists a connexion in the nature of the plant between this disease and the state of maturity to which the seed is brought. It is supposed, that the plant is unfit at once to afford mature and perfect seed at the summit of its stem, and also roots capable of propagating it in perfection. From these premises it is suggested, that, to prevent the curl, it will be necessary to procure seed potatoes from mountainous situations into which the disease has not yet come, because the plant has never produced perfect fruit at the summit of its stem; or an attempt may be made to procure more perfect seed from the ordinary kind of potatoes, by destroying the flowers, which may have the effect to prevent the plant from being exhausted by bringing to maturity both fruit at its summit and roots at its bottom. Lastly, it has been supposed, upon these principles, that the disease may be prevented by rearing potatoes from the seed produced at the summit of the stem; the mode of practising which will afterwards be explained.

In the mean time, it may be observed, that the subject has been farther discussed, in a less speculative manner, by an anonymous correspondent of the Board of Agriculture*. This gentleman does not consider the curl as a specific disease, but as an accidental debility of those plants in which it occurs; that we are not, therefore, to seek for a cure or preventive in a change of seed alone, as many have all along done, but in complete attention to all that experience shows to be necessary to an accurate culture, and to their perfect growth. In this way alone, he thinks, there is reason to expect that this very useful article of human food may be cultivated with the same success as before its dreadful enemy the curl made such havoc in our crops, as of late years it certainly has done. He describes the disease as occurring, in Midlothian, most frequently from the following causes: 1st, From planting potatoes on soils altogether unfit for them. Being unable to penetrate a stiff soil, potatoes require a light, porous, or open mould. For a long period after potatoes first appeared in the country, this circumstance was carefully attended to. They were planted entirely with the spade, in the lightest spots upon every farm. Hence, the plants rose vigorous, and no curl was seen; but on farmers wishing to extend the culture of potatoes, they were tempted to plant them on every soil, without regard to its nature, or tendency to produce this crop. 2dly, Imperfect culture is described as a frequent cause of curling. A crop of potatoes is commonly strong, abundant, and free from curl, in proportion to the previous culture given to the soil, and the care taken to keep it clean after they are planted. Hence, it frequently happens, that while a farmer who cultivates this root in a negligent manner, and upon a great scale, by means of the plough, finds his crop deficient in consequence of this disease, his cottars and servants, to whose use he allots Diseases of allots small portions of potato ground, which they cultivate with the spade, obtain crops free from curl, and often double in quantity to his, in proportion to the extent of ground which they occupy. 3dly, Small roots, or too small a portion cut off along with the eye that is to serve for seed, appears to be a cause of curl. In the case of grain, it seldom happens, unless in very fine seasons, that small seed produces a large crop; and it is thought that something similar may occur in the case of potatoes. As the young plant must always derive its earliest nourishment from the root, out of which it springs, before it is capable of seeking its food in the surrounding soil, those plants, whose early growth is best supported and fostered, must be expected to reach the greatest perfection. To subject these ideas to the test of experiment, 64 sets were planted; 16 of which were full grown potatoes, 16 from small roots, in which no curl appeared when in the field, 16 from roots raised from the seeds two years before, and 16 from roots of plants strongly curled. They were all planted in the same manner in a light soil, in parallel furrows, with a moderate quantity of dung, and covered to the depth of three inches. Of those taken from large potatoes, none were curled, and the plants were strong and healthy. Some good plants appeared in each of the other rows, but nearly a half of the whole were curled. The proportion of curled plants was rather great in those raised from the seed. 4thly, Sets taken from roots that have sprouted early, and from which the germs have been rubbed, are said never to fail to produce curl. 5thly, Too much, as well as too little dung, appears to have an influence in producing curl; the first probably by corrupting the germ of the young plant, the latter by not being sufficient to produce vigorous plants. Hence, attention ought to be paid to the regular spreading of dung, which ought not to be thrown about in a careless and slovenly manner, which allows some plants to have none, while others are covered with it to the depth of several inches. 6thly, Too deep, as well as too shallow planting, gives rise to the curl. To ascertain the proper depth, 12 were planted at 18 inches deep; the same number at the depth of 16 inches, and of 14, 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 inches; and 12 were so lightly covered, that they were not, perhaps, at the depth of one inch. The sets were all from large roots, of the same crop, cut as nearly as possible of the same size. They were all planted at the same time, in the first week of April, in a light dry soil, and they all got the same quantity of dung. The plants at the depth of 1 and 2 inches appeared first; but they were weak, and some of them curled. Those at 3, 4, and 5 inches, were all strong, and free from curl. At 6 and 7 inches, they were also healthy, and free from curl, but they were three weeks later in getting above the ground than those that were thinly covered, and the plants were neither so strong, nor the roots so large. Those planted at the depth of 8 inches rose still later, and were all weak.—Nine out of the 12 were curled. Of those planted at 10 inches deep, only four appeared; and they were so weak, that they soon withered and died. Of those deeper planted, none ever appeared. On digging them up at the end of two months, those at 16 and 18 inches deep were found unchanged; while some of those at the depth of 12 and 14 inches, had put forth some feeble germs not exceeding the length of an inch. Those planted at 3 and 4 inches were evidently the strongest during the whole season, and their roots largest. Hence, to procure an early, abundant, and healthy crop, 3 inches appears to be the best depth for planting potatoes. 7thly, Whatever injures the new sets or the germs afterwards may produce curl: such as the trampling of horses feet at the time of planting; their being partially covered with stones or hard clods of earth; deep harrowing, when the young shoots are advancing; and grubs, snails, or insects attacking the germs at first, or the stems afterwards. Hence, 8thly, The curl was produced to an uncommon degree upon a field of stiff land, by passing a roller over it, about a fortnight after planting. 9thly, The state of the weather when the crop is young may produce the curl. Rain alone will not do, if it be not allowed to lodge; but a long continuance of dry weather, especially with cold winds, when the shoots first appear, is apt to produce this disease, and also hoar-frosts in this early stage of the crop. Hence, it is thought that the three first weeks of April answer best for planting potatoes in the south of Scotland and north of England, as they do not, in that case, appear till the middle or end of May. From all these remarks it is concluded, that though with the best management the curl can never be completely banished from our fields, yet with due attention to the leading points above mentioned, it may be prevented from being attended with any serious mischief.

As no information upon this interesting subject ought to be overlooked, we think it necessary to state, that the following plan for preventing the curl in potatoes has very recently been laid before the public, by an anonymous correspondent of the publishers of the Farmer's Magazine, who asserts, that he has adopted it with complete success. It consists of using for feed what are called potato beans. These beans are a dark brown excrement, larger than a horse bean, which grows near the ground, on the haulm or shaw, generally, it is supposed, where it has been broken or wounded. They are shaped like potatoes, and have a number of eyes, from one of which grow two small leaves. It is said, that eight or ten years ago, several of these potato beans were planted merely to try if they would grow, and that they produced a great number of common sized potatoes, but of a bad quality. These potatoes, however, being cut and planted next year, produced potatoes of an excellent quality, and in great plenty. Since that time, a number of beans have always been planted sufficient to produce enough of potatoes for next year's feed. They are planted at the same distance, and treated in every respect in the same manner with common sets; and their produce is equally plentiful. No other change of seed has ever been necessary.

Sect. VIII. Of the Obstacles to Agricultural Improvement.

Before proceeding to the practical part of the subject, it may be proper to take notice of some of the political and moral and political circumstances which affect the profits of the art of agriculture, and which ought not to be overlooked by persons engaged, or who have an intention to engage in it. One of the first and most obvious obstacles to the improvement of this or any other art consists of the ignorance of its practitioners, or of its being carried on by persons of an illiterate and unintelligent character, who are unable to take a comprehensive view of the principles of their profession, or who have not sufficient curiosity to inquire after the best modes of practice, or understanding to discern the value of any new practices that are explained to them. It ought never to be forgotten, that the art of the husbandman is an intricate and extensive one, and that one of the chief circumstances which has hitherto prevented its improvement has arisen, as already mentioned, from the secluded situation of persons engaged in it. They are scattered over the face of the country, instead of being collected together like other artists in towns, so as to be enabled to derive aid from each other's experience. Fortunately this difficulty is passing away, in consequence of the diffusion of agricultural knowledge, by means of the great number of publications upon that subject which are gradually introducing themselves into the remotest corners of the country. Persons receiving a liberal education, particularly at the university of Edinburgh, have now also an easier opportunity than formerly of acquiring a knowledge of the principles of this art, in consequence of the establishment of a professorship of agriculture, which has been endowed by a private gentleman, Mr Pulteney. Even with all these advantages, however, aided as they are by the exertions of the Board of Agriculture, it can never be expected that this art can reach its ultimate degree of perfection, unless a considerable number of the persons engaged in it are men of intelligent characters and good education, who will call in the improvements which are making in other sciences, as well as in this art, in distant countries, to the affluence of their personal experience.

A second obstacle to agricultural improvement consists of the poverty of the husbandman, or of his want of capital, to enable him fully and completely to labour the soil, and provide materials for its amelioration. Complaints have often been made with little reason, of the obstinacy of farmers, and of the tenacious manner in which they adhere to old practices, though demonstrated to be improper: But a poor man cannot afford to make experiments, or to hazard the loss of a crop for the chance of obtaining a more valuable one by some untried practice. In consequence of want of capital, large portions of territory remain in some parts of the country in a state of nature, and consequently unproductive, both to the occupier and to the proprietor. Both landlords and tenants, therefore, ought to know, that a man who engages in agriculture without a sufficient capital takes up a bad trade, in which something may be lost by both parties by the deterioration both of the soil and of the stock upon it, but from which neither the public nor themselves can derive profit.

A third obstacle to agricultural improvement sometimes arises from the possessor of the soil not having a sufficient interest in it. In barbarous nations, lands are often possessed by communities as an undivided property, without any individual member having an exclusive right to a particular spot. In such cases, the worst kind of agriculture must always prevail, for the same reason that public affairs are always worse managed than the affairs of private persons, who find their industry stimulated not merely by a sense of duty, but by the influence of avarice, and of all the other selfish passions. Considerable portions of territory in England still remain withheld from the exertions of an improving agriculture by this state of property. But, even where the interest which the cultivator has in the soil is exclusive, it may still be too limited. Where a landlord is prevented by an entail, or other family settlement, or by narrow prejudices and a short-sighted policy, from granting leases of a proper endurance, it is never likely that the soil can be well cultivated. Every outgoing farmer will endeavour, during the last years of his lease, to do as little for the land as possible, and to take from it all that he can possibly obtain. The first years of every new lease will therefore be spent by every new farmer in repairing the damage done by his predecessor. Scarcely, however, has he accomplished this object, than he himself, if his lease be short, must set about procuring indemnity for the money he has laid out in ameliorating the soil, by scourging it in his turn, or by taking from it as heavy crops as possible, and by bestowing upon it little or no expense.

Under the same head of a want of proper interest in the soil, may be enumerated the payment of tithes, of which in England every farmer so grievously complains. Whatever money the husbandman may there lay out in improvements, is not expended for himself; as the proprietor of the tithes is entitled to draw a share of the whole additional increase, and thus becomes a partner in the profits of the enterprise, without running any risk of loss by its failure. The odium of this tax, is said to induce great numbers of husbandmen to continue their lands in pasture, to the no small detriment of the public, from the comparative unproductiveness of human food; which attends that mode of occupying the soil. Fortunately, in Scotland this evil hath been removed by the wisdom of our forefathers, as every landlord possesses the privilege of obtaining his tithes to be fixed at a settled rate of payment for ever; and, in many cases, of having his lands altogether disburdened, upon payment of a very moderate price.

The progress of the art of agriculture in Europe was long retarded by the want of respectability which attended it, when engaged in as a profession or trade from which profit was to be derived. In the feudal times, the military profession was the only employment in which a layman of liberal education could respectfully engage. Agriculture, the only art which is absolutely necessary to the existence of man, was regarded with contempt, and left in the hands of the meanest of the people. Even the most ordinary mechanics were considered as superior to persons whose employment it was; because the mechanic, residing in a town, and usually under the protection of the prince, was safe from the dominion and the insults of the petty chieftains that ruled in every part of the open country. The state of affairs is now greatly altered in this respect: More enlightened views, and a better state of society, have restored to the profession of agriculture the respectability which naturally belongs to it. It must be acknowledged, however, that the recent improvements which have taken place in the art, have contributed not a little to this change in the sentiments of mankind concerning... Obstacles concerning the persons occupied in it. It is now found, that a man may become rich by agriculture, and that there are few better ways in which a prudent and industrious man can lay out a moderate capital. In a commercial age, the path that leads to wealth is always respected and accounted honourable, and accordingly it is now not unusual for the sons of British noblemen and gentlemen, of extensive fortunes, to become apprentices to farmers.

The last obstacle to agricultural improvements, of which we shall take notice, arises in some countries from the want of judicious legislation, or proper arrangements made by the public in its favour. The produce of the art of the husbandman, and the manures of which his lands have occasion, are all bulky commodities which cannot be transported without labour and expense. Unless care is taken, therefore, to prepare and maintain good roads throughout the country, the profits of agriculture must always be subjected to such deductions as will greatly retard its prosperity. In the same manner, if the state, from any narrow policy, shall prevent the husbandman from bringing his goods to the best market, by exportation or otherwise, it is impossible that his art can flourish. In former times, nations were afraid to permit the exportation of grain, even in seasons of plenty, lest they should be left without food, not considering that the surest mode of producing abundance of any commodity consists in offering, at all times, a good price for it. This error is now rectified in most nations; and at all events, in the present state of affairs, the British husbandman has no reason to complain, as the grain reared in this country is, even in the best seasons, understood to be inadequate to afford subsistence to its inhabitants.

PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE.

THE practice of agriculture naturally divides itself into three parts: 1st, The cultivation of vegetable food for men and animals; 2dly, The cultivation of vegetables, such as flax and hemp, which are more properly articles of commerce; and, 3dly, The rearing and management of animals. To these we shall add, as connected with all the branches of agriculture, a short description of the most useful modes of fencing and enclosing lands for cattle and other objects of husbandry.

PART I. OF THE CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLE FOOD.

We shall consider this branch of the subject under four divisions. In the first we shall present to the reader a statement of the most useful instruments of agriculture: 2dly, We shall state the mode of preparing land for cropping, by removing the physical obstructions to agriculture, and reducing the soil into a proper state: 3dly, We shall explain the culture of particular plants, and the practices of husbandry connected with it; and, lastly, We shall state the principles and operations of the horsehoeing or drill husbandry.

SECT. I. Instruments of Husbandry.

The instruments employed in agriculture are various; as the plough, the harrow, the roller, &c., which are again diversified by various constructions adapted to particular uses.

1. Of Ploughs.

The plough is a machine for turning up the soil by the action of cattle, contrived to save the time, labour, and expense, which, without this instrument, must have been employed in digging the ground, and fitting it to receive all sorts of seed.

Amidst all the varieties which can occur in the manner of ploughing the ground, arising from difference of soil, local habits, and other causes, there is still a sameness in the task which gives a certain uniformity to the chief parts of the instrument, and should therefore furnish principles for its construction. There is not, perhaps, any invention of man that more highly merits our utmost endeavours to bring it to perfection; but it has been too much neglected by those persons who study machines, and has been considered as a rude tool, unworthy of their attention. Any thing appears to them sufficient for the clumsy task of turning up the ground; and they cannot imagine that there can be any nicety in a business which is successfully performed by the ignorant peasant. Others acknowledge the value of the machine, and the difficulty of the subject; but they think that difficulty insuperable, because the operation is so complicated, and the resistances to be overcome so uncertain, or so little understood, that we cannot discover any unequivocal principle, and must look for improvement only from experience or chance.

But these opinions are ill founded. The difficulty is indeed great, and it is neither from the ignorant farmer nor the rude artist that we can expect improvement. It requires the serious consideration of the most accomplished mechanician; but from him we may expect improvement. We have many data; we know and maybe pretty distinctly what preparation will fit the ground improved, for being the proper receptacle for the seed, and for supporting and nourishing the plants; and though it is, perhaps, impossible to bring it into this state by the operation of any instrument of the plough kind, we know that some ploughs prodigiously excel others in reducing the stiff ground to that uniform crumbling state in which it can be left by the spade. The imperfections of their performance, or what yet remains to be done to bring the ground into this state, is directly understood. It seems, then, a determinate problem (to use the language of mathematicians), because the operation depends on the invariable laws of mechanical nature.

It will therefore be very proper, under this article, to ascertain, if possible, what a plough in general ought to perform. Instruments to be, by describing distinctly its task. This will surely point out a general form, the chief features of which must be found under every variety that can arise from particular circumstances.

The plough performs its task, not by digging, but by being pulled along. We do not aim at immediately reducing the ground to that friable and uniform state into which we can bring it by the spade; but we wish to bring it into such a state that the ordinary operations of the seafon will complete the task.

For this purpose, a slice or sod must be cut off from the firm land. This must be shoveled to one side, that the plough and the ploughman may proceed in their labour; and the sod must be turned over, so that the grass and stubble may be buried and rot, and that fresh soil may be brought to the surface; and all must be left in such a loose and open condition, that it may quickly crumble down by the influence of the weather, without baking into lumps, or retaining water. The first office is performed by the coulter, which makes a perpendicular cut in the ground. The point of the foak follows this, and its edge gets under the sod, and lifts it up. While lifting it up, it also heels it over, away from the firm land. The mouldboard comes last, and pushes it aside, and gradually turns it over as far as is required.

The general form of the body of a plough is that of a wedge, or very blunt chisel, AFEDBC, (fig. 1.), having the lower corner D of its edge considerably more advanced than the upper corner B; the edge BD and the whole back AFDB is the same perpendicular plane; the bottom EDB approaches to a triangular form, acute at D, and square at F; the surface BCED is of a complicated shape, generally hollow, because the angle ABC is always greater than FDE: this consequence will be easily seen by the mathematician. The back is usually called the land side by the ploughmen, and the base FDE is called the sole, and FE the heel, and BCED the mouldboard. Lastly, the angle AFE is generally square, or a right angle, so that the sole has level both as to length and breadth.

By comparing this form with attention, the reader will perceive that if this wedge is pulled or pushed along in the direction FD, keeping the edge BD always in the perpendicular cut which has been previously made by the coulter, the point D will both raise the earth and shove it to one side and twist it over; and, when the point has advanced from F to D, the sod, which formerly rested on the triangle DFE, will be forced up along the surface BCED, the line DF rising into the position Df, and the line EF into the position Ef.—Had the bottom of this furrow been covered with a bit of cloth, this cloth would be lying on the mouldboard, in the position DfE: the slice, thus deranged from its former situation, will have a shape something like that represented in fig. 2.

Inasmuch as the wedge raises the earth, the earth presses down the wedge; and as the wedge pushes the earth to the right hand, the earth presses the wedge to the left; and in this manner the plough is strongly pressed, both to the bottom of the furrow by its sole, and also to the firm land by its back or land side. In short, it is strongly squeezed into the angle formed along the line FD (fig. 1.) by the perpendicular plane abDF and the horizontal plane FDE; and in this manner the furrow becomes a firm groove, directing the motion of the plough, and giving it a resisting support, by which it can perform all parts of its task.

We beg our readers to keep this circumstance constantly in mind. It evidently suggests a fundamental maxim in the construction, namely, to make the land side of the plough an exact plane, and to make the sole, if not plane, at least straight from point to heel. Any projection would tear up the supporting planes, destroy the directing groove, and expend force in doing mischief.

This wedge is seldom made of one piece. To give it the necessary width for removing the earth would require a huge block of timber. It is therefore usually framed of several pieces, which we shall only mention in order to have the language of the art. Fig. 3. represents the land side of a plough, such as are made by James Small at Rosebank, near Foord, Mid Lothian. The base of it, CM, is a piece of hard wood, pointed before at C to receive a hollow shoeing of iron CO, called the sock, and tapering a little towards the hinder end, M, called the heel. This piece is called the head of the plough. Into its fore part, just behind the heel, is mortised a flopping post, AL, called the sheath, the front of which is worked sharp, forming the edge of the wedge. Nearer the heel there is mortised another piece, PQ, flopping far back, called the stilt, serving for a handle to the ploughman. The upper end of the sheath is mortised into the long beam RH, which projects forward, almost horizontally, and is mortised behind into the stilt. To the fore end of the beam are the cattle attached. The whole of this side of the wedge is fashioned into one plain surface, and the intervals between the pieces are filled up with boards, and commonly covered with iron plates. The coulter, WFE, is firmly fixed by its flank, W, into the beam, rakes forward at an angle of 45° with the horizon, and has its point E about six inches before the point of the foak. It is brought into the same vertical plane with the land side of the plough, by giving it a knee outward immediately below the beam, and then kneeling it again downward. It is further supported on this side by an iron stay FH, which turns on a pin at P, passes through an eye-bolt I on the side of the beam, and has a nut screwed on it immediately above. When screwed to its proper slope, it is firmly wedged behind and before the flank.—Fig. 3. No. 2. represents the same plough viewed from above. ST is the right-hand or small stilt fixed to the inside of the mouldboard LV.

Fig. 4. represents the bottom of the wedge. CM is the head, covered at the point by the foak. Just behind the foak there is mortised into the side of the head a smaller piece DE, called the wrest, making an angle of 16° with the land side of the head, and its outside edge is in the same straight line with the side of the foak. From the point to the heel of the head is about 33 inches, and the extreme breadth of the heel is about nine. The side of the wedge, called the furrow side, is formed by the mouldboard, which is either made of a block or plank of wood, or of a thick iron plate.

The foak drawn in this figure is called a spear socket, and is chiefly used in coarse or stony ground, which

Instruments which require great force to break it up. Another form of the lock is represented in the next figure 4. This is called a FEATHER SOCK, and has a cutting edge CF on its furrow side, extending back about ten inches, and to the right hand or furrow side about six. The use of this is to cut the sod below, and detach it from the ground, as the coulter detaches it from the unploughed land. This is of great use when the ground is bound together by knotted roots, but it is evident that it cannot be used to advantage in very stony ground. In general, the feather lock is only fit for ground which has been under tolerable culture; but it greatly facilitates the labour of separating the sod. It may reasonably be asked, why the feather is not much broader, so as to cut the whole breadth of the furrow? This is sometimes done. But we must recollect that the sod is not only to be pushed aside, but also to be turned over. If it were completely detached by the feather, and chanced at any time to break on the back of the lock, it would only be pushed aside; but by leaving a little of the sod uncut, it is held fast below while it is thrown aside above, which cannot fail to twist it round. As the wrest advances, it easily destroys the remaining connection, which in general is very slight and crumbling.

The breadth of the lock at the heel determines the width of the furrow. Nine inches will give enough room for a horse or man to walk in. A greater breadth is of no use, and it expends force in pushing the earth aside. It is a mistake to suppose that a broad lock gives more room for the turned slice to stand on; for whatever is the breadth of the furrow, the successive slices will be left at their former distances, because each is thrown aside at the same distance. When the breadth of a slice exceeds its depth, and it is turned on its side, it will now stand on a narrow base, but higher than before, and therefore will stand looser, which the farmers desire. But in this case it generally falls on its back before it has been far enough removed, and is then pushed aside, and left with the grassy side down, which is not approved of. On the other hand, when the depth considerably exceeds the breadth, the sods, now turned on their sides, must be squeezed home to the ploughed land, which breaks them and tosses them up, making rough work. In wet clay soil, this is also apt to knead them together. On the whole, it is best to have the breadth and depth nearly equal. But all this is workmanship, and has no dependence on the width of the lock behind.

We have already said that the lock is generally level from right to left at the heel. This was not the case formerly, but the wrest was considerably raised behind. It resulted from this form, that the furrow was always shallower on the right side, or there was left a low ridge of unturned earth between the furrows. This circumstance alone was a bad practice; for one great aim of ploughing is the renewal of the superficial soil. In this way of ribbing the furrows, the sod tumbles over as soon as it is pushed to the top of the rib on the right of the rut made by the plough; the firmest parts of it fall undermold, and the rest crumbles above it, making the work appear neat; whereas it is extremely unequal, and what most needs the influence of the weather to crumble it down is sheltered from it. Add to these circumstances, that the hollow is a receptacle for water, with a surface which can retain it, having been consolidated by the pressure of the plough. For all these reasons, therefore, it seems advisable to form the furrow with a flat or level bottom, and therefore to keep the heel of the wrest as low as the heel of the head. For the same reason it is proper to hold the plough with the land side perpendicular, and not to heel it over to that side, as is frequently done, producing the same ribbed furrow as an ill-formed lock.

There is great variety of opinions about the length of the plough. If considered merely as a pointed instrument, or even as a cutting instrument acting obliquely on a given length of sod, there can be no doubt but that it will be more powerful as it is longer: that is, it will require less force to pull it through the ground. But it must also shove the earth aside, and if we double its length we cause it to act on twice as much earth at once; for when the plough has entered as far as the heel, the whole furrow side is acting together in pushing the earth to the side. Now it is found, that the force necessary for pushing a mass of earth horizontally along the rough ground is nearly equal to its weight. It would seem, therefore, that nothing is to be gained by making the base of the plough of a great length, except a greater facility in making the first penetration, and this is chiefly performed by the coulter and lock; and a great length renders the plough heavy and cumbersome; and, by causing it to act long on the sod, tends to knead and cake it.

Nothing very precise can be offered on this subject. Some sensible advantage is derived by making the plough taper, especially forward, where it acts as a boring and cutting instrument; and for this purpose it is convenient to give the coulter a slope of 45 degrees. (This has also the advantage of throwing up the stones, slops of and roots, which it would otherwise drive before it the coulter through the firm ground.) And for the same reason, and of the edge of the feather has a great slope, it being 10 inches long and only six inches broad. But if we pursue this advantage too far, we expose ourselves to another risk. It is sometimes necessary to heel over the plough to the right, in order to get over some obstruction. In doing this, the coulter is necessarily raised for a moment, and the slanting cut now made by the feather becomes the directing groove for the plough. When the feather has a very long slope, this groove has force enough to guide the whole plough; and it is almost impossible for the ploughman to prevent it from running out of the ground to the land side (A). The feather, therefore, should not exceed ten or twelve inches in length.

But to return to the length of the plough, from which this observation has diverted us a little, we must add, that a long plough has a great advantage in the steadiness of its motion, having a much more extensive support.

(*) This is often felt with the excellent plough described by Mr. Arbuthnot of Surry, in the Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c., London. Instruments support both on the land side and below, and being therefore less affected by its inequalities. Accordingly, they are now made considerably longer than formerly; and 33 inches has been assumed as a proportion to 9 inches in breadth, in conformity to the most approved ploughs now in use.

The mouldboard. We come now to treat of the mouldboard. This is the most delicate part of the plough, and is to be seen in the greatest variety in the works of different artists, each of whom has a notion of great value in his own opinion. It is here indeed that the chief resistances are exerted and must be overcome; and a judicious form of this part of the plough may diminish them considerably, while it performs the work in the best manner. Without pretending to say that the different resistances are susceptible of an accurate determination, we can still draw sufficient information from palpable rules of mechanics to direct us to what would be nearly the best possible form for a mouldboard. The task to be performed is to raise, push aside, and turn over to a certain degree, a slice already cut off from the firm ground. As we cannot provide for every inequality of the cohesion or tenacity of the earth, our safest way is to consider it as uniform: the weight of it is always so. As we cannot provide for every proportion between the tenacity and the weight, we must take an average or medium proportion which is not far from that of equality. Conceiving the slice at first as only tenacious, and without weight, it is an easy problem to determine the form which shall give it the intended twist and removal with the smallest force. In like manner we can proceed with a slice that has weight without tenacity. It is equally easy to combine both in any proportion; and it is easiest of all to make this combination on the supposition of equality of weight and cohesion. Supposing the slice like a brick, we know that it requires the greatest force to begin to raise it on one edge, and that the strain becomes less as it rises, till its centre of gravity is perpendicularly above the supporting angle. It requires no force to raise it further; for on pushing it beyond this position, it would fall over of itself, unless withheld by the tenacity of what is not yet raised. But on considering the form or plan of the flock, we find that while the weight of the flock resists most strongly, there is less of it in this situation actually rising, and this nearly in the same proportion with the labour of raising it; and we see that after the flock has attained that position in which it is ready to fall over, it has reached the wider part of the wreath, and is now pushed aside, which requires nearly the same force as to raise it: and this continues to the end of the operation.

When we take all these circumstances into consideration, it appears probable, that the compound resistance does not change much from first to last. If this be really the case, it is an undoubted maxim that the whole operation should proceed equably: if it does not, there must be some part of the flock that makes a resistance greater than the medium; and as the resistances in all this class of motions increase nearly as the squares of the velocities with which they are overcome, it is demonstrable that we shall lose power if we render them unequal.

Hence we deduce this maxim, That as the plough advances through equal spaces, the twist and the lateral sliding of the flock should increase by equal degrees. And this determines a priori the form of the mouldboard. Instruments of this principle occurred to Mr James Small, a plough-maker in Berwickshire, and he published a treatise on the subject in 1784. He has given several methods for constructing mouldboards, which he supposes are in conformity to his principle; but being merely a country artist, and unacquainted with science, his rules do not produce mouldboards having this property of equable operation, although they do not deviate far from it. His book is a very useful and instructive performance, and level to the capacity of those for whom it is intended; and we have here availed ourselves of the author's information on many points.

The high character which Small's ploughs have maintained for 25 years is a strong argument for the truth of the maxim. We shall therefore give such instructions as will enable any intelligent workman to construct such a mouldboard without any risk of failure; and if future theory or experience should discover any error in the principles from which this maxim is deduced, by showing that either the weight, the tenacity, or the lateral resistance, is exerted according to a different law from what has been assumed, the directions to be given are of such a nature that they adapt themselves with precision to these changes of principle, and will still produce a perfect and efficacious plough. Our readers will readily acknowledge that this is gaining a great point; because at present the instrument is constructed very much at random, and by a guess of the eye.

Let us now return to the wedge formerly made use of for illustrating the action of the plough. Suppose it placed in a furrow already ploughed, and that the space before the line FE (fig. 1), which is square from the line of motion FD, is covered with a piece of cloth or carpet, and that the point of the wedge enters upon it at F, and advances to D. It will evidently raise the cloth, which will now cover the side of the wedge, forming the triangle fDE. The line fD is what formerly lay in the angle along the line FD, and fE formerly lay on FE. It is this line FE therefore that we are to raise, throw aside, and twist round, by equal degrees, while the plough advances through equal spaces.

Now, if the length DF of the plough-wedge, reckoned from the point of the flock to the heel, be 33 inches, and the breadth FE behind be nine inches, the angle DEF or DEf will be nearly 74°. The construction of the furrow side of the plough is therefore reduced to this very simple problem, "To make the angle DEf turn equably round the axis DE, while the angular point L advances equably from D to E."

This will be done by means of the following very simple tool or instrument. Let IHFK (fig. 5) be a piece of hard wood, such as oak, a foot long, three inches broad, and an inch thick. Plant on this another piece BHFC of the same breadth, four inches long, and half an inch thick. This will leave beyond it a flat 8 inches long. We shall call this the flock of the instrument. Let ABC be a piece of clean oak, half an inch thick, 20 inches long, and three inches broad at the end BC. Let this be fashioned like the style of a sundial, having its angle ABC 74°. Let it have a part BCE square, to the extent of four inches from C, and the rest EA worked into the form of a straight flender rod. Let EFG be a semicircle of clean plane tree or of metal, four inches radius: fasten this by small screws to the square part of the tile CE, so that its centre may be at C. Let this semicircle be divided into 180 degrees, and numbered from G along the arch GFE, so that 0° may be at G, and 180° at E. Let this tile and semicircle turn round the line BC by means of small hinges. This instrument may be called the mouldboard gage, or protractor. When the tile is folded down on the stock BIK, the point G will be at F; and when it is raised up to any angle, the degrees will be pointed out on the semicircle by the straight edge CF.

Nothing can be more obvious than the manner of employing this instrument once we have determined the most proper position for the sod when the work is completed. Now it seems to be the opinion of the most intelligent farmers, that the best position of the sod is that represented in fig. 6.

Fig. 6 represents a section of the ground and the working parts of the plough, as viewed by a person standing straight before it. ABCD is the unploughed ground, and WB the coulter, kneed in Small's manner. FGKB is the section of the plough (or rather of the whole space through which the plough has passed, for no part of the plough has this section). HOFE is the section of a slice, pushed aside and turned over, so as to lean on the next. HE is that side of the slice which formerly lay on KB. EF is the side cut off by the coulter; and FO is the upper or gravy side. The lower corners are supposed to be a little bruised inwards, as must generally happen.

The sod is pushed 9 inches to the right hand, and it leans with its gravy side on the preceding furrow, in an angle of about 50 degrees. In this position the grats is turned down so as to rot; and there is a hollow left below to allow the rain water to run freely off, and to receive the earth as it crumbles down by the weather; and if the harrow is dragged across these ridges, it distributes along the surface the mould which was formerly at the bottom. The sod has got a twist of 130 degrees; but it is evident, that after it has been turned 90 degrees, or even a little before this, it is ready to fall over of itself. It is sufficient therefore that it be turned 90 degrees when the heel of the wrest has reached it, and the remainder of the twist is given to it by the wing or flap of the mouldboard. This, then, dictates to us the manner of applying the instrument.

Divide the edge DE (fig. 7.) of the wrest, or of a lath nailed on it, into 90 equal parts, and continue the divisions backwards to G in the same line to 130. Number the divisions backwards from the point of the sock; then place the protractor on the edge of the wrest, with the point B of fig. 5. at the 90th division (fig. 7.); that is, just at the heel, with the stock under the wrest, and the tile raised to 90°, and press it home to the joint, so that the stock may be square to the edge, and then the tile will be in the position suited that part of the mouldboard. In like manner slide the stock forward to the 80th division, and lower the tile to 80°, and it will have the position that suits that part of the mouldboard. In the same way slide it forward to 70°, 60°, 50°, &c., and lower the tile to 70°, 60°, 50°, &c., and we shall have the positions for the several parts of the mouldboard; and thus it may be formed to the very point of the sock, because the straight edge of the wrest may be continued so far. A block of wood may be hewed to fit these several positions of the protractor file; and thus, when placed with its straight edge on the outer line of the wrest, and cut away behind in the land-side plane, will be the exact shape of the plough-wedge. It would rise up indeed into a tall piece of singular shape, gradually tapering down to the point of the lock; but when cut off parallel to the ground, at the height of about 12 inches, it will form the mouldboard, the front or edge of the sheath, and the whole back of the sock except the feather, which is an extraneous piece. The wing or flap of the mouldboard is formed in the same manner, by sliding the stock of the protractor to 100°, 110°, 120°, 130°, and opening the tile to 100°, 110°, 120°, 130°. This will extend the top of the mouldboard to about 22 or 23 inches; but the lower part of the wing must be cut away, because it would push the sod too far aside after it has got the proper twist. The form of this part should be such as would exactly apply itself to a plank set at the heel of the wrest, parallel to the land-side of the head, and leaning outward 40 degrees. This will be very nearly the case, if it be made a sweep similar to the edge of the sheath. Fig. 8. is a resemblance of the surface of the mouldboard; AD being the edge of the sheath, E the heel of the wrest, and EBC the wing or flap. When cut through in a perpendicular direction, the section is hollow; if cut horizontally it is convex; and if in the direction CE, making an angle of 74° with ED, it is straight. If the protractor be set on it at D, and gradually ridden backwards, the mouldboard will gradually open the tile, and the tile will skim its whole surface without any vacancy between them.

This form is given to the mouldboard on the authority of the supposition that the sum of the resistances arising from weight and tenacity remain pretty constant in its whole length. This cannot be affirmed with confidence in any case, and is by no means true in all. In stiff clay foils the effects of tenacity prevail, and in light or crumbling foils the weight is the chief resistance. The advantage of this mode of construction is, that it can be adapted to any foil. If the difficulty of cutting and raising the sod is much greater than that of shoving it aside and turning it over, we have only to make the rise and twist more gentle towards the point of the sock, and more rapid as we advance; and it is easy to do this according to any law of acceleration that we please. Thus, instead of dividing the edge of the wrest DE (fig. 9.) continued to G into 130 parts, draw a line DG perpendicular to it, and draw some curve line DG convex towards DG, and divide this into equal parts in the points 10, 20, 30, 40, &c.; and then draw perpendiculars to the wrest edge, cutting it at 10, 20, 30, 40, &c. and apply the protractor to these points. It is evident that the divisions of the wrest are bigger at D, and grow gradually less towards G; and therefore, because each has 10° more twist than the preceding, the twist will be more rapid as it approaches the end of the mouldboard. This curve may be chosen so as to produce any law of acceleration. On the contrary, we produce a retarded or diminished twist by making the curve concave towards DG, as represented by the dotted curve.

The mathematical reader will observe, that this construction Instruments of husbandry aim at regulating the twist round the line of the wret E.D. This does not produce precisely the same regulation round the line F.D., which is the line of the plough's motion, and of the sod's position before it is ploughed over. The difference, however, is not worth attending to in a matter so little susceptible of precision. But the twist round the line F.D. may be regulated according to any law by this instrument with equal facility. Instead of placing the stock of the protractor square with the edge of the wret, it may be placed square with the land side of the plough. To do this, draw a line B.L (fig. 5, No. 2.) across the stock from the point B, making the angle L.B.C 16°, and put a brass pin at L, making a hole in the style that it may not be prevented from the folding down. Then, in using the instrument, let the points B and L rest against the edge of the wret, and proceed as directed.

A still greater variety of forms, and accommodation to particular views, with the same general dependence on principle, will be procured by giving the rod B.A a motion round B in the plane of the tile, so as to form a tile of a variable angle.

A tool may even be constructed in which the rod B.A might be a cutting knife; and the whole may be led along by a screw, while this knife turns round according to any law, and would gradually pare away the mouldboard to the proper form.

Thus have we reduced the fashioning the operative part of the plough to a rule which is certain. We do not mean by this, that a mouldboard made according to the maxim now given will make the best possible plough; but we have given a rule by which this part of the plough can be made unequivocally of a certain quality by every workman, whatever this quality may be, and this without being obliged to copy. No description of any curve mouldboard to be met with in books has this advantage; and we say that this rule is capable of any systematic variation, either with respect to the width of furrow, or the quantity or variation of its twist. We have therefore put it in the power of any intelligent person to make such gradual and progressive changes as may serve to bring this most useful of all instruments to perfection. The angle of the head and wret, and the curve for dividing the wret-line, can always be expressed in writing, and the improvements communicated to the public at large.

After this description of the working parts of a plough, and directions for giving it the most effective form, it will not be improper to consider a little its mode of action, with the view of attaining a more distinct conception of what is done by the ploughman and the cattle, and to direct him in his procedure.

Returning again to the wedge (fig. 1.), we see that it is pressed down at the point D, and as far back along the mouldboard as its surface continues to look upward, that is, all the way to the heel of the wret. Behind this, the perpendicular sections of the mouldboard overhang, and look downward; and here, while pressing down the sod, the plough is pressed upwards. These two pressures tend to twist the plough round a transverse line somewhere between the heel and the point. The plough therefore tends to rise at the heel, and to run its point deeper into the ground. Upon the whole, the pressure downwards is much greater than the upward pressure. It is exerted over a much greater space, and Instruments of husbandry is greater in most parts of that space. Behind, very little downward pressure is necessary, the sod being ready to fall down of itself, and only requiring a gentle touch to lay it in a proper position.

In like manner the plough is pressed backward by the resistance made to the coulter and stock, and part of the resistance made to the sloping side of the mouldboard; and it is pressed to the left by the other part of the pressure on the stock and mouldboard.

All these pressures must be balanced by the joint action of the cattle, the resistance of the bottom, and the resistance of the firm ground on the left-hand or land-side.

It is the action of the cattle, exerted on that point to which they are attached, which produces all these pressures. It is demonstrated by the principles of mechanics, that this force must not only be equal to the mean or compound force of these resisting pressures, but must also be in the opposite direction.

It is further demonstrated, that if a body be dragged through any resisting substance by a force acting on any point G, and in any direction whatever GH, and really moves uniformly in that direction, the force exerted exactly balances the resistances which it excites, both as to quantity and direction: And if the body advances without turning round the point by which it is dragged, the resistances on one side of this point are in equilibrium with those on the opposite side.

And, lastly, it is demonstrated, that when this equilibrium is obtained, it is indifferent to what point in the line GH the force is applied. Therefore, in fig. 3, No. 1., the force acting in the direction HO may either be applied to the point of the beam H, or to the point N of the coulter, or to the point O of the stock.

When therefore a plough advances steadily, requiring no effort of the ploughman to direct it, if the line of draught OM (fig. 10.) be produced backwards to the point G of the mouldboard, that point is the place round which all the resistances balance each other. This point may be called the centre of resistance and the centre of action.

It would be of importance to determine this point by principle; but this can hardly be done with precision even in a plough of a known form: and it is impossible to do it in general for all ploughs, because it is different in each. It even varies in any plough by every variation of the proportion between the weight and the cohesion of the sod. We see how it can be found experimentally in any given uniform sod, viz. by producing backwards the line of draught. Then, if the draught rope, instead of being fixed to the muzzle of the beam, were fixed to this point, and if it were pulled in the same direction, the plough would continue to perform its work without any assistance from the ploughman, while the sod continued uniform. But the smallest inequality of sod would derange the plough so as to make it go entirely out of its path. Should the resistances between G and D prevail, the plough would go deeper, which would increase the resistances on that side where they already exceed, and the plough would run still deeper. Should the resistances behind G prevail, the heel would be pressed down, and the point would rise, which would still farther destroy the equilibrium, and, producing a greater deviation from the Instruments the right path, would quickly throw the plough out of the ground.

For these reasons we must not think of attaching the draught to the centre of resistance; but must contrive a point of draught, such as shall restore the plough to its proper position when it has been driven out of it by any obstruction.

The muzzle of end of the beam is a point which will completely suit our purpose. For suppose that the resistance on the back of the flock has prevailed, and the plough MNFD (fig. 12.) has taken the position m n f d represented by the dotted line, the draught line GMO is brought down into the position g m o, diverging a little from GMO, and meeting the mouldboard in a point g considerably before G. By this means the resistances on the hinder side of g are increased, and those before it are diminished, and the plough quickly regains its former position.

From these observations it is plain, that whatever is the situation of the centre of resistance, the point of draught may be so chosen that the action of the cattle shall be directly opposed to the resistance of the ground, and that moreover the plough shall have no tendency either to go deeper or to run out. This is the use of the apparatus at the point of the beam, called the muzzle, represented at H (fig. 3.). It turns round a bolt i through the beam, and can be stopped at any height by another pin k put through the holes in the arch l m. A figure is given of the muzzle immediately below, as it appears when looking down on it. The eye to which the draught rope is hooked is spread out horizontally, as shown by HK, and has several notches O in it, to either of which the hook can be applied. This serves to counteract any occasional tendency which the plough may have to the right or left.

When the plough goes on steadily, without any effort of the ploughman, it is said to be in trim, and to swim fair; the pressure before and behind the centre of action being in equilibrium with each other. In order to learn whether a plough will be in this manner under management, hook the draught ropes as high as possible. In this state the plough should have a continual tendency to rise at the heel, and even to run a little into the ground. Then hook the rope as low as possible. The plough should now press hard on the furrow with the heel, and have some tendency to run out of the ground. If both these are observed, the plough is properly constructed in this respect; if not, it must be altered, either by changing the position of the flock or that of the beam. Lowering the end of the beam will correct the tendency of the plough to go deeper; the raising the point of the flock will also have the same effect. But it is of considerable importance not to take the point of the flock out of the plane of the sod, and it is much better to make the alteration by the beam. The slope of the coulter has a considerable effect, but it cannot be placed very far from the inclination of 45° without the risk of choking the plough by driving the roots and stones before it. It is of great consequence to have the coulter fit exactly in the direction of the plough's motion; if it is in any other direction, it will powerfully twist the plough into its own track. As it must be fixed in the middle of the beam's thickness to have strength, it is removed a little from the plane of the land side, and it was the usual practice to point it to the left below to compensate for this; but this by no means removes the disposition to twist, and it exposes to the risk of catching a stone between its point and that of the flock, which must now be driven forward through the firm ground at a great expense of labour to the cattle. Mr Small has very ingeniously remedied this by giving the coulter a short knee to the left immediately below the beam, and thus pointing it downwards in the plumb of the land side. See fig. 6.

It is not without its use to know the absolute force necessary for tilling the ground. This has been frequently measured with a spring fleecyard. One of Small's ploughs, worked by two horses, and employed in breaking up stiff land which had been ploughed before winter, and much consolidated by the rains, required a force of 360lbs. avoidupois; and we may state this as the ordinary rate of such work; but moderately firm sod, under good culture, requires at a medium 325lbs.

As we wish to embrace every opportunity of rendering this work useful to the public, we shall conclude this article with an account of a plough which has just now been recommended to public notice by the Scots Highland Society as extremely proper for a hilly country. The inventor, the Rev. Alexander Campbell minister at Kilcalmonell in Argyleshire, was honoured with the society's gold medal, value £1.

A, the flock (fig. 11.); the land-side of which supplies the place of the coulter, and the sole of it serves as a plate of iron 12 inches broad when finished, and somewhat under half an inch thick.—B, the head; to be made of iron in a triangular form, 4 inches broad by 2 inches at the thickest part. There are 5 inches of the head fixed in the flock.—C, the beam, 4 inches thick by 5 inches deep, gradually tapered thinner; the length 6 feet.—E, the fleath, must be of the same thickness with the beam above and the head below, and is five inches broad. An iron screw-bolt connects the beam and head behind the fleath.—F, the handles are so made that the slope of the mouldboard, which is fixed to one of them, may be the longer and more gradual. They are 5 feet 8 inches long, and 2 feet 4 inches aflutter at the ends.—G, the mouldboard, consists of 7 rounded sticks two inches in diameter; the covert of them is in the plane of the sole, the rest in succession close to each other above it. This makes the mouldboard 14 inches broad. To prevent any earth from getting over the mouldboard, a thin deal 4 or 5 inches broad is fixed above it. The mouldboard, land-side, and sole of the plough, are clad with iron.—The length is 20 inches: this added to 18 inches, the length of the flock, makes the length from point to heel 3 feet 2 inches.—The muzzle or bridle OPH is also of a more convenient and better construction than those commonly in use. By means of the screw pins at L and M, different degrees of land may be given to the plough; the iron rod LH being thereby moved sidewise in the socket LN, and up and down by OP. The rod is 30 inches long, one broad, and half an inch thick. It is hooked into a screwbolt at H. Two inches of the rod project at N, in the form of an eye, before the muzzle, to receive the hook of the croftree.

The advantages of this plough are said to be: It is not liable to be interrupted or turned out of its course by Instruments by stones, roots, &c., as other ploughs are; nor does it dip too deep as to be liable to be broken by large stones or flags. The motion of the muzzle is also thought an improvement. Another advantage it has over other ploughs is, its not being so liable to be choked up by rubble, &c. This we understand to be its chief excellency, and an object much desired in the construction of the plough. Upon the whole, we are informed that this plough is lighter, less expensive, and less liable to go out of trim than the ordinary plough, and that with it two horses can plough land which requires four with any other plough.

Such are said to be the advantages of this construction; but we cannot help expressing our apprehension that the uniting the coulter and feather at the point of the stock will expose the plough to great risks of being put out of order. When the upright edge strikes a stone obliquely, especially on the land side, it must be violently twisted round the point of the head; and, having but a moderate thickness at this part, may be broken or permanently twisted. The plough will then be continually running out of its direction; and we apprehend that this defect cannot be amended without taking off the stock and putting it in the fire. When a coulter is bent by the same cause, the ploughman can either rectify it by altering the wedging, or he can straighten it in the field; and it must be observed, that the plough opposes much less resistance to the derangement of this sort of coulter than of the common one. In the common coulter the strain does not so much tend to twist the plough round the line of its motion, as to press it wholly to landward. The resistance to this is great; but a very moderate force will twist it round its line of motion. In either case, if the blow be given in that point of the coulter where the draught line crosses it, there will be no twist of the whole plough, but the point of the plough will be forced horizontally to or from the land. When the blow is out of this line, the strain tends to twist the beam or the plough. Experience will determine which of the two is the most hazardous.

These ploughs were made by Thomas Lindsay, Abbeyhill, Edinburgh, and models are to be seen in the hall of the Highland Society.

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

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

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

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

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

The sheath is fixed to the mouldboard, as in fig. 11. Fig. 2. E, in the same manner as the wrest is fixed to the head in fig. 7.

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

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

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

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

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

The Stock, B.P, is fixed to the end of the head, Fig. 5, and is about two feet long. In fitting the stock to the head, the point ought to be turned a little to the land or left side; because otherwise it is apt to come out of the land altogether. When turned to the left, it likewise takes off more land; when turned upwards, the plough goes shallow; and when downwards, it goes deeper.

The Coulter is fixed to the beam, and is about two feet ten inches long, two inches and a half broad, sharp at the point and before, and thick on the back, like...

Instruments like a knife. It is fixed and directed by wedges, so as to make the point of it equal to, or rather a little before, the point of the foak, and upon a line with the left side of the head. This oblique position enables it to throw roots, &c., out of the land, which requires less force than cutting or pushing them forward.

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

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

Fig. 11. represents the plough complete, by joining together figures 6. and 10. in the fleath EB. The wrest BK is supposed to make an angle with the head AB as in fig. 7, and the handles joined together as in fig. 9.

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

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

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

Of all forms, that of the Scots plough is the fittest for breaking up stiff and rough land, especially where stones abound; and no less fit for strong clay hardened by drought. The length of its head gives it a firm hold of the ground; its weight prevents it from being thrown out by stones; the length of the handles gives the ploughman great command to direct its motion; and by the length of its head, and of its mould-board, it lays the furrow-slice cleverly over. This plough was contrived during the infancy of agriculture, and was well contrived; in the foils above described it has not an equal.

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

These defects must be submitted to in a foil that requires a strong heavy plough; but may be avoided in a cultivated foil by a plough differently constructed. Of all the ploughs fitted for a cultivated foil free of stones, that already mentioned, which was introduced into Scotland about 20 years ago, by James Small in Blackadder Mount, Berwickshire, is the best. It is now in great request; and with reason, as it avoids all the defects of the Scots plough. The shortness of its head and its mouldboard lessens the friction greatly: from the point of the foak to the back part of the head it is only 30 inches; and the whole length, from the point of the beam to the end of the handles, between eight and nine feet. The foak and mould-board make one line gently curving; and consequently gather no earth. Instead of a wrest, the under edge of the mould-board is one plane with the sole of the head; which makes a wide furrow, without leaving any part unstirred. It is of late commonly termed the chain-plough, because it is drawn by an iron chain fixed to the back part of the beam immediately before the coulter. This has two advantages: first, by means...

Instruments means of a muzzle, it makes the plough go deep or shallow; and, next, it stiffens the beam less than if fixed to the point, and therefore a flender beam is sufficient.

As we have already sufficiently explained the speculative principles upon which this plough is formed, we shall only remark, that it is proper for loams, for carse clays, and, in general, for every sort of tender soil free of stones. It is even proper for opening up pasture ground, where the soil has been formerly well cultivated.

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

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

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

If we look back 40 years, ploughs of different constructions did not enter even into a dream. The Scots plough was universally used, and no other was known. There was no less ignorance as to the number of cattle necessary for this plough. In the south of Scotland, six oxen and two horses were universal; and in the north ten oxen, sometimes twelve. The first attempt to lessen the number of oxen was in Berwickshire. The low part of that county abounds with stone and clay marl, the most substantial of all manures, which had been long used by one or two gentlemen. About 30 years ago it acquired reputation, and spread rapidly. As two horses and two oxen were employed in every marl cart; the farmer, in summer fallowing, and in preparing land for marl, was confined to four oxen and two horses. And as that manure afforded plenty of succulent straw for oxen, the farmer was surprised to find that four oxen did better now than six formerly. Marling, however, a laborious work, proceeded slowly, till people were taught by a noted farmer in that country, what industry can perform by means of power properly applied. It was reckoned a mighty task to marl five or six acres in a year. That gentleman, by having plenty of red clover for his working cattle, accomplished the marling of 50 acres in a summer, and once of 54. Having so much occasion for oxen, he tried with succels two oxen and two horses in a plough; and that practice became general in Berwickshire.

Now here appears with lustre the advantage of the chain-plough. The great friction occasioned in the Scots plough by a long head, and by the angle it makes with the mouldboard, necessarily requires two oxen and two horses, whatever the soil be. The friction is so much less in the chain-plough, that two good horses are found sufficient in every soil that is proper for it. Besides, the reducing the draught to a couple of horses has another advantage, that of rendering the plough driver unnecessary. This saving on every plough, particularly where two horses and two oxen were formerly used, will, by the strictest computation, be 13l. sterling yearly; and where four horses were used, no less than 20l. sterling. There is now scarce to be seen in the low country of Berwickshire, or in the Lothians, a plough with more than two horses; which undoubtedly in time will become general. We know but of one further improvement, that of using two oxen instead of two horses. That draught has been employed with success in several places; and the saving is so great, that it must force its way everywhere, providing only a breed of oxen with a quick step could be obtained. It may be confidently affirmed, no soil stilled in a proper season, can ever require more than two horses and two oxen in a plough, even the stiffest clay. In all other soils, two good horses, or two good oxen, abreast, may be relied on for every operation of the chain-plough.

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

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

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

The Rotheram plough is a machine of very simple construction, and easily worked. AB is the beam, CD the sheath, EBD the main handle, FR the smaller handle, GH the coulter, KT the foak or share, NP the bridle, S the fly-band, and ML a piece of wood in place of a head. The whole of this plough should be made of ash or elm; the irons should be steelied and well tempered; and that part of the plough which is under ground in tilling should be covered with plates of iron. The difference between this and the common plough seems to consist in the bridle at the end of the beam, by which the ploughman can give the plough more or less land by notches at N, or make it cut deeper or shallower by the holes at P; in the coulter or share, which is so made and set as to cut off the new furrow without tearing; and in the mouldboard, which is so shaped as first to raise a little, and then gradually turn over, the new cut furrow, with very little resistance. But the greatest advantage attending it, is its being so easy of draught, that it will do double the work of any common plough.

The paring plough is an instrument used in several parts of England for paring off the surface of the ground, in order to its being burnt. Mr Bradley has given the following description of a very simple instrument of this kind: From A to A (fig. 15.) is the plough-beam, about seven feet long, mortised and pinned into the block B, which is of clean timber without knots. CC are the sheaths or standards, made flat on the inside, to close equally with the paring plate, and fastened to it with a bolt and key on each side, as at D. E is the paring plate of iron laid with steel about four inches wide, and from 12 to 18 inches long. This plate must be made to cut on the sides, which are bolted to the standards as well as at the bottom part. FF are two iron braces to keep the standards from giving way; these standards must be mortised near their outsides and through the block. GG are the plough handles, which must be fixed floppeways between the beam and the standards. The pin holes in the beam, the use of which is to make this plough cut more or less deep, by fixing the wheels nearer to or farther from the paring plate, should not be above two inches asunder.

Fig. 1 represents the four-coulted plough of Mr Tull. Its beam is ten feet four inches long, whereas that of the common plough is but eight. The beam is straight in the common plough, but in this it is straight only from a to b, and thence arched; so that the line let down perpendicularly from the corner at o, to the even furface on which the plough stands, would be 11½ inches; and if another line were let down from the turning of the beam at b, to the same furface, it would be one foot eight inches and a half; and a third line let down to the furface from the bottom of the beam at that part which bears upon the pillow, will show the beam to be two feet ten inches high in that part. At the distance of three feet two inches from the end of the beam a, at the plough-tail, the first coulter, or that next the share, is let through; and at 13 inches from this, a second coulter is let through; a third at the same distance from that; and, finally, the fourth at the same distance from the third, that is, 13 inches, Instruments of Husbandry, and from a to b is seven feet.

The crookedness of the upper part of the beam of this plough is contrived to avoid the too great length of the three foremost coulters, which would be too much if the beam was straight all the way; and they would be apt to bend and be displaced, unless they were very heavy and clumsy. Ash is the best wood to make the beam of, it being sufficiently strong, and yet light. The breadth in this plough is to be seven inches broad. The fixing of the share in this, as well as in the common plough, is the nicest part, and requires the utmost art of the maker; for the well-going of the plough wholly depends upon the placing this. Supposing the axis of the beam, and the left side of the share, to be both horizontal, they must never be set parallel to each other; for if they are, the tail of the share bearing against the trench as much as the point, would cause the point to incline to the right hand, and it would be carried out of the ground into the furrow. If the point of the share should be set so, that its side should make an angle on the right side of the axis of the beam, this inconvenience would be much greater; and if its point should incline much to the left, and make too large an angle on that side with the axis of the beam, the plough would run quite to the left hand; and if the holder, to prevent its running quite out of the ground, turns the upper part of his plough towards the left hand, the pin of the share will rise up, and cut the furrow diagonally, leaving it half unploughed. To avoid this and several other inconveniences, the straight side of the share must make an angle upon the left side of the beam; but that must be very acute a one, that the tail of the share may only press itself against the side of the trench than the point does. This angle is shown by the pricked lines at the bottom of fig. 9, where ef is supposed to be the axis of the beam let down to the furface, and gf parallel to the left side of the share; and it is the subtense eg that determines the inclination which the point of the share must have towards the left hand. This subtense, says Mr Tull, at the fore-end of an eight-feet beam, should never be more than one inch and a half, and whether the beam be long or short, the subtense must be the same.

The great thing to be taken care of, is the placing the four coulters; which must be so set, that the four imaginary places described by their four edges, as the plough moves forward, may be all parallel to each other, or very nearly so; for if any one of them should be very much inclined to, or should recede much from, either of the other, then they would not enter the ground together. In order to place them thus, the beam must be carefully pierced in a proper manner. The second coulter-hole must be two inches and a half more on the right hand than the first, the third must be as much more to the right of the second, and the fourth the same measure to the right hand of the third; and this two inches and a half must be carefully measured from the centre of one hole to the centre of the other. Each of these holes is a mortise of an inch and a quarter wide, and three inches and a half long at the top, and three inches at the bottom. The two opposite sides of this hole are parallel to the top and bottom, but the back is oblique, and determines the obliquity. obliquity of the standing of the coulter, which is wedged tight up to the poll. The coulter is two feet eight inches long before it is worn: the handle takes up fifteen inches of this length, and is allowed thus long, that the coulter may be driven down as the point wears away. As to the wheels, the left hand wheel is 20 inches diameter, and that on the right hand two feet three inches, and the distance at which they are set from each other is two feet 5½ inches.

2. The Patent Sward-cutter.

The different parts of this instrument are represented by No 1, 2, 3, of fig. 6. AA, &c., a square frame three feet four inches from the fore to the hind part, by four feet three inches, the breadth of the machine within side; the timber (when of fir) four inches square, placed on two wheels BB three feet diameter, a little more or less (the old fore-wheels of a chaise may answer the purpose), to support the hind part of the machine.

CC, &c., are six strong pieces of wood, called bulls, three feet long, five inches and a half broad, the thicknesses six inches at E, and tapering to three inches at F. Into these bulls are fixed the cutting wheels, which are iron, 13 inches diameter, ¾ths of an inch thick at the centre, about an inch diameter, for piercing holes to fix the iron axles in; from that they are to be of such thickness, as to allow the edges to be well steeled. The wheels are fixed by two bolts going through the bulls, with eyes on one end for the axles of the wheels to run in, and nuts and screws on the other to make them very firm by being sunk in the bulls, to prevent their interfering with the weights LL, &c., resting on them.

GG, &c., are hollow pieces of wood, called tharlers, each 3½ inches long, which enclose the bolt MM, and keep the bulls CC, &c., at their proper distances, but may be made longer or shorter at pleasure, according as the foward requires to be cut in larger or smaller pieces. They are in two pieces bound together, and jointed by a strap of leather or cord, which allows them to be readily changed when the cutting wheels require to be kept at more or less distance.

The iron bolt MM goes through two pieces of wood or iron PP, seven inches long, clear of the wood, supported by iron stays fixed to the frame, and through all the bulls. It requires to be strong, as the draught of the horses terminates there.

HH, No 2. and 3., a cylinder or segment of wood, seven inches diameter, called a rocking tree, which goes across the frame, and moves on the pivots fixed into it, one at each end, supported by an iron bolt or piece of wood mortised into the frame, eight inches high, as appears in No 2. and 3., to which fix chains or ropes are fixed by hooks, at different distances, as you want your cuts, nine, eight, seven, or six inches from one another, and are joined to the end of each bull in which the cutting wheels run; so that when the rocking tree is turned about by the lever I, fixed in the middle of it, all the bulls, with their cutting wheels, are raised out of the ground at once, as in No 3., by which means the machine may be turned, or moved from place to place with greatest ease, without any danger of straining the wheels.

LLL, &c., No 1. 2. 3. are weights of freestone, 26 inches long and six inches broad; the under one of four inches thick, the upper one three inches thick; weighing about 64 lb. the under, and 48 the upper; each of them having two holes, through which iron spikes, firmly fixed in the bulls, pass, in order to keep them steady.

When the ground is easily cut, the under stone may answer; when more difficult, the other stone may be added; so that every wheel may have seven stone weight upon it, which has been found sufficient for the stiffest land and toughest foward the machine has ever been tried on. Cast iron weights will answer fully better, but are more expensive.

The lever I, No 2. 3., which ought to be five feet long, must have a sliding rope on it, fixed to the back part of the frame; so that when the cutting wheels are all taken out of the ground three or four inches, by the rocking tree's being turned partly round by the lever, the rope may be fixed to it by a loop over the pin R, No 3. (it ought to be placed three feet four inches from the extremity of the lever I). Thus all the cutting wheels are kept out of the ground till the machine is turned; and then by moving the loop off the pin, it flips back towards the frame, and the lever is gently let back to its place, as in No 2. by which the cutting wheels are put into their former posture, by the weights fixed on the bulls in which they run. The levers may be made of good tough ash.

PP, No 1. a small bolt of iron, with a hook on one end of it (one is sufficient), to strengthen the bolt MM to be hooked on the centre of it, and joined to the frame by a nut and screw.

The grooves in which the cutting wheels run, may be covered below at the hinder part with a plate of thin black iron, 6 inches long, 3 inches broad, having a slit in it where the wheels run, to prevent (if found necessary) any grass, weeds, or small stones, from filling the grooves, and clogging the wheels.

To the frame No 1., are fixed (for a double-horse foward-cutter) three shafts, as in a waggon, of such length, strength, and distance from one another, as any workman may think proper.

For a single-horse foward-cutter (which has only four cutting wheels), a pair of shafts are used, and may make the two sides of the frame without any joinings. The width of the frame, in proportion to the double-horse foward-cutter, is as four to six.

It is recommended for a double-horse foward-cutter to have eight bulls and wheels, in order that when it is used to reduce hard clody summer-fallow, or land for barley, before the last furrow, or even after it, the whole weight (42 stone) employed in cutting the stiffest land and toughest foward, may be applied to the 8 bulls then at 6 inches from one another. The 64 lb. weights to be applied to six of the bulls, and two of the 48 lb. weights to each of the additional bulls, which is a sufficient weight for the purpose, and will effectually prevent a clod of more than six inches breadth from escaping being broke into pieces.

In the same manner, a single-horse foward-cutter may have six bulls for the above-mentioned purpose; the 28 stone belonging to it divided thus: The 64 lb. weights to four of the bulls, and two of the 48 lb. weights to each of the additional bulls.

That the machine may come as cheap as possible to Instruments the public, the inventor is of opinion that the expense of the two wheels and the iron axle (which is confi- derable) may be saved, by joining strongly to the frame at S, No. 3, a piece of wood with a little curve at the extremity of it, resembling the foot of a fledge former much used in Scotland to carry in the corn from the field; the part of it resting on the ground being kept 18 inches (the half diameter of the wheels) from the frame by a strong support of wood.

As the two outer bulls next the frame are apt to get under it, so as to prevent the cutting wheels from being taken out of the ground, a thin strip of iron fixed to the inside of the frame, nearly opposite to the back end of the bulls, of convenient length, will be found necessary.

The original intention of this machine was to prepare old grass ground for the plough, by cutting it across the ridges, in the beginning of or during winter, when the ground is soft, in order to answer all the purposes that Mr Tull proposed by his four-coulter plough above described, and so strongly recommended by him for bringing into tillth grass ground that has been long rested. This the fward-cutter has been found to do much more effectually and expeditiously: For Mr Tull's machine cuts the fward in the same direction with the plough; and is liable, from every obstruction any of the coulters meet with, to be thrown out of its work altogether, or the instrument broken: to which the fward-cutter, consisting of four, five or more cutting wheels, is never liable, from these being entirely independent of one another, cutting the ground across the ridges before ploughing, and rendering that operation easier to two horses than it would be to three, without its being cut. The furrow being cut across, falls finely from the plough in squares of any size required, not under six inches, in place of long slips of tough fward seldom and imperfectly broke by the four-coultered plough.

This instrument is very fit for preparing ground for burning, as it will save much hard labour.

It may be properly used in croft-cutting clover of one or two years standing, to prepare the ground for wheat, if the land is stiff and moist enough.

It may be applied to cutting and croft-cutting pasture ground, intended to have manure of any kind put upon it to meliorate the grass. In this it will far exceed the scarifier mentioned in one of Mr Young's tours; as that instrument is liable, as well as the four-coultered plough, to be thrown out of its work when meeting with a stone or other interruption. This the fward-cutter is proof against, which is looked on as its greatest excellence.

In preparing for barley, the fward-cutter excels a roller of any kind in reducing the large hard clods in clay land, occasioned by a sudden drought, after its being ploughed too wet; and it is likewise very proper for reducing such clay land when under a summer-fallow. In this operation, the fward-cutter is greatly to be preferred to the cutting-roller, likewise mentioned by Mr Young in one of his tours; for the wheels of the latter being all dependent one on another, when one is thrown out by a stone, three or four must share the same fate. Besides, the cutting-roller has but seven wheels in six feet; whereas the fward-cutter has six in four feet three inches, at nine inches distant; and, if necessary, may have them so near as six inches.

After old grass ground is cut across with the fward-cutter and ploughed, it has a very uncommon and worklike appearance, from each square turned over by the plough being raised up an inch or two at the side last moved by the earthboard; so that the field when finished, is all prettily waved, and resembles a piece of water when blown on by a gentle breeze. By this means a very great deal of the land's surface is exposed to the frost and other influences of the air, which cannot fail to have a good effect on it.

Two horses are sufficient for the draught of a double-horse fward-cutter, and one horse for a single-horse one. One man manages the machine and drives the horses. He begins his operation by first measuring off 20 or 30 paces from the machine, less or more as he inclines, and there fixes a pole. He then cuts the field across, as near at right angles with the ridges as he can. When the cutting wheels are past the last furrow about a yard or so, and the machine is upon the utmost ridge of the field on which it must turn, he must stop the horses; then take hold of the lever I, No. 2, and by pulling it to him he raises the cutting wheels out of the ground, which are kept so by the loop of the rope being put over the pin R, in the lever I, No. 3, till the machine is turned and brought to its proper place, which is done by measuring off the same distance formerly done on the opposite side of the field. When the cutting wheels are exactly over the utmost furrow, then, on the horses being stopped, the rope is slung off the pin R, and the lever returned to its former place, as represented No. 2, which allows the weights L.L., &c., to force the cutting wheels into the ground again. He then goes on until the interval between the first and second stroke of the machine is all cut. In this manner the field is to be finished, after which you may begin to plough when you please. (N.B. There must be a pole at each side of the field.)

It is of no consequence whether the land to be fward-cut is in crooked ridges or straight, in flat ridges or in very high raised ones. Be the surface ever so uneven, the cutting wheels, being all independent of one another, are forced by their weights into every furrow or hollow.

One fward-cutter will cut as much in one day as six ploughs will plough.

The land may lie several months in winter after being fward-cut, when there is no vegetation to make the cuts grow together again before it is ploughed; but the sooner it is ploughed after cutting the better, that it may have the benefit of all the winter's frost, which makes it harrow better at the seed time.

When the ground is harrowed, the harrows ought to go with the waves which appear after ploughing, not against them, as by that means they are less apt to tear up the furrows all cut into squares. This, however, need only be attended to the two first times of harrowing, as they are called.

Any common wright and smith may make the instrument. It is very strong, very simple, and easily managed and moved from place to place; and, if put under cover, will last many years.

It was invented some time ago, by the Honourable Robert Sandilands; and is represented in the Plate, as This instrument was invented by Mr William Lester of Northampton; and that gentleman received, from the Society for the encouragement of Arts, the society's silver medal. The purpose of this instrument is to pulverize tenacious soils that have been once ploughed, in a much more complete and rapid manner than can be accomplished by any other instrument. It is thus described, Plate XII.—A, the beam; BB, the handles; CC, a cross bar of a semicircular form, containing a number of holes, which allow the two bars DD to be placed nearer or further from each other.

DD are two strong bars moveable at one end upon a pivot E, and extending from thence in a triangular form to the cross bar C. In these bars are square holes, which allow the shares F placed therein to be fixed to any height required.

The seven shares marked F, are shaped at their lower extremities like small trowels; the upper parts of them are square iron bars.

GGG are three iron wheels on which the machine is moved; they may be raised or lowered at pleasure.

H, the iron hook to which the swing-tree and horses are to be fixed.

When the machine is first employed on the land, the bars DD are expanded as much as possible. As the soil is more loosened, they are brought nearer to the centre; the shares then occupy a less space, and the soil will consequently be better pulverized.

In working on a rough fallow, therefore, the cultivator should be set for its greatest expansion, and contracted in proportion as the clods are reduced. The inventor declares himself confident that one man, a boy, and six horses, will move as much land in a day, and as effectually, as six ploughs, meaning land in a fallow state that has been previously ploughed. It is requisite in some states of the soil to alter the breadth of the shares, but of this it is presumed that every farmer will be a proper judge. By the expansion and contraction of the cultivator, the points of the shares are in a small degree moved out of the direct line; but this is said to be trifling as to prove no impediment to its working.

A certificate from Mr William Shaw of Cottenend, near Northampton, states, that he had used Mr Lester's cultivator, upon a turnip fallow, in summer 1800; and that he believes it to be a very useful implement for cultivating the land in a fallow state, by its working or scuffling off seven acres per day with six horses. He adds, that from its property of contracting and expanding, it is calculated to work the same land in a rough or fine state, by which means it unites the principles of two implements in one, and by the index on the axis it may be worked at any depth if required.

4. The Brake.

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

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

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

5. The Harrow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Chain and Screw harrow. Fig. 8. is the plan Plate VII. of a harrow also invented by Mr Sandilands, and to which he has given the name of the chain and screw harrow. Its properties are, that if your ridges be high, and you wish to harrow them from one end to the other, by lengthening the chain (which the screw commands), the harrow, when drawn along, forms an angle downwards, and misses none of the curve of the ridge, so far as it extends (which may be nine feet, the distance from A to B. The extent, in the contrary direction, is five feet six inches). When the crowns of the ridges have got what is thought a sufficient harrowing lengthwise, you shorten the chain by the screw, which forms an angle upwards; the harrow is then drawn by the horses, one on each side of the furrow; which completely harrows it, and the side of the ridges, if 18 feet broad.

When you want to harrow even ground or high ridges across with the screw, you can bring the harrow to be horizontal, so as to work as a solid harrow without a joint.

The teeth are formed and fixed in the common manner, square, not in the fashion of coulters; and are nine or ten inches below the wood, and of such strength as it is thought the land requires. The teeth cut, or rather

Instruments ther tear, the ground at every four inches without variation, though seemingly placed irregularly; and this without any risk of choking, except sometimes at the extreme angles, where the teeth are necessarily near each other; but which may be cleaned with the greatest ease, by raising them a little from the ground. The figures 1, 2, &c., point out where the 12 teeth on each side of the harrow are placed.

Where a strong brake-harrow is not necessary, by making the teeth shorter and lighter you may have 48 teeth, which will tear the ground at every two inches, cover the seed well, and make a fine mould.

It is recommended, that harrows for every purpose, and of any size, be made on the above principle; by which no tooth can ever follow the track of another, and all of them will be kept constantly acting.

6. The Roller.

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

Rollers are of different kinds; stone, cast-iron, wood. Each of these has its advantages. We would recommend these last, constructed in the following manner: Take the body of a tree, six feet ten inches long, the larger the better, made as near a perfect cylinder as possible. Surround this cylinder with three rows of fillies, one row in the middle, and one at each end. Line these fillies with planks of wood equally long with the roller, and so narrow as to ply into a circle. Bind them fast together with iron rings. Beech wood is the best, being hard and tough. The roller, thus mounted, ought to have a diameter of three feet ten inches. It has a double pair of shafts for two horses abreast. These are sufficient in level ground; in ground not level, four horses may be necessary. The roller without the shafts ought to weigh 200 stone Dutch; and the large diameter makes this great weight easy to be drawn.

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

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

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

7. The Fallow-Cleansing Machine.

This was invented by Mr Aaron Ogden, a smith at Ashton-under-Line, near Manchester in Lancashire, cleansing It is intended for cleansing fallows from weeds, &c., which exhaust the riches of the soil. A, A, is the frame; B, the first roller; C, the second ditto; in which last are two cranks to move the arms, D, D, which work the rake up the directors fixed on the plank E. The under side of the lower ends or shares of these directors are sharp, to cut the clods and let them come on the upper side. Each alternate heel of the share is longer than the intermediate one, that they may not have more than one-half to cut at once. At the back of the plank E are two screws to let it loose, that the directors may be set higher or lower. The shares are to penetrate the ground two or three inches, to raise the quicks till the rake 1, 1, fetches Instruments fetches them into the cart H, where a man must be ready with a muck-hook to clear them backward when gathered. In the rake I are two teeth for every space of the directors, that stones, &c. may be gathered without damage. K, K, are two staples, by which the machine is drawn: under them at L are two hooks, placed low to raise the machine in turning, by the help of the traces; and the axle-tree of the cart should be fixed upon a pin, that it may turn like a waggon. F, F, are the triggers to throw the rake behind the roots. The long teeth at G, G, are to cleanse the roller C. I, I, is the rake which gathers up the weeds into the cart H, and is drawn above the trigger F by the working of the arms D, expressed by the dotted lines at d d i i i. The triggers F, of which there is one on each side, move on the pivots a; so that when the points b of the rake I have been drawn up by the directors E, to the part marked c, the trigger, giving way, permits the rake to pass; but immediately falling, the rake returns along the upper surface of the trigger marked e, e, and of course falls on the weeds when it comes to the end, a little beyond the pivot a. The reader will observe, that the boarding is taken away on one side, in the Plate, in order to give a more perfect view of the inner parts of the machine; and in fact it would perhaps be better if all the boarding, marked L, L, L, was taken away, and frame-work put in its stead. The cart H might undoubtedly also be made lighter. The wheels M, M, appear in the Plate to be made of solid wood; but there is no necessity they should be so. At N, is another view of the roller C, by which the disposition of the spikes may be easily comprehended. Suppose the circle O, described by the end of the roller N, to be divided by four straight lines into eight equal segments, as represented at P. Let the same be done at the other end of the roller, and parallel lines be drawn from one corresponding point to the other length of the roller; mark the points with figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; afterwards draw oblique lines, as from 1, at the end of O, to 2, at the other end, and from 2 to 3, &c.; on these oblique lines the spikes are to be fixed at equal distances, in eight circles, described on the circumference of the roller. The spikes of the small roller B are fixed in the same manner, except that the diameter being smaller, there are only six instead of eight rows. R is another view of the directors, with the plank E on which they are fixed; and S is a section of a part of the plank, with one of the directors as fixed, in which may be seen the heel m, from whence to the point of the flare n is a sharp cutting edge. See the same letters in figure R. At T is one of the long teeth to be seen at G; it is bent towards the roller C, which it serves to cleanse. When the end of the rake b, after rising above c, is pushed, by the motion of the arms, D, D, along the upper part e, e, of the trigger F, and comes to the end beyond a; as it falls, the part of the arm marked o rests in the notch p, till it is again raised by the motion of the roller C with the rake. The roller C is to be one foot diameter, the spike nine inches long, that they may go through the furrow (if the soil should be loose) into the hard earth, the more effectually to work the rake, which otherwise might be so overcharged as to cause the roller to drag without turning. In the rake-ends b there should by pivots, with rollers or pullers on, to go in the Instruments groove, to take off the friction; and they would likewise take the triggers more surely as the rake comes back. The rake should also be hung so far backward, that when it is fallen, the arms of it may lie in the same plane or parallel with the directors, on which it comes up (which will require the frame to be two inches longer in the model). This will cause the rake to fall heavier, and drive the teeth into the roots, and bring them up without thattering. These teeth must be made of steel, very fine, and so long as to reach down to the plank on which the directors are fixed, that is to say, six inches long (the directors are also to be made six inches broad above the plank). The rake-head should also fall a little before the crank is at its extremity, which will cause the rake to push forward to let the teeth come into the roots. The rake-teeth must drop in the same plane with the roller and wheels, or on the surface of the earth. No more space should be given from the roller C to the long teeth at GG, than that the rake may just miss the spikes of the roller C and fall on the places before mentioned. As the first roller B was intended to cleanse the second C more than for any other use, it may be omitted when the machine is made in large, as Mr Ogden has lately found that the long teeth at GG answer the end alone, and this renders the machine about a fifth shorter. Now, to suit any sort of earth, there should be to each machine three planks, with directors at different spaces to use occasionally; in the first, the spaces between the directors should be eight inches wide, in the second five, and in the third four. This will answer the same end as having so many machines.

As there may be some objections to the rake not leaving the roots when it has brought them up, Mr Ogden has several methods of cleaning it; but as he would make it as simple as possible, he chooses to let it be without them at present; but suppose it should bring some roots back again with it, it will probably lose them before it gets back to the extremity; whence they will lie light, and be but of little detriment to the others coming up. Mr Ogden would have the first machine made four feet six inches wide, the teeth divided into equal spaces, the outsides into half spaces.

8. The new-invented Patent Universal Sowing Machine.

This machine, whether made to be worked by hand, drawn by a horse, or fixed to a plough, and used with sowing it, is extremely simple in the construction, and not liable to be put out of order; as there is but one movement to direct the whole, nor does it require any skill in working. It will sow wheat, barley, oats, rye, clover, cole-feed, hemp, flax, canary, rape, turnip, besides a great variety of other kinds of grain and feeds broad-cast, with an accuracy hitherto unknown. It is equally useful in the new husbandry, particularly when fixed to a plough; it will then drill a more extensive variety of grain, pulse, and seed, through every gradation, with regard to quantity, and deliver each kind with greater regularity than any drill-plough whatever. When used in this manner, it will likewise be found of the utmost service to farmers who are partial to the old husbandry, as, among many other very valuable and peculiar properties, it will not only sow in Instruments in the broad-cast way with the most singular exactness, but save the expense of a feedman; the feed being thrown either over or under furrow at pleasure), and the land ploughed, at the same operation.

Perhaps a fair and decisive experiment for ascertaining the superior advantage of broad-casting or drilling any particular crop, was never before so practicable; as the seed may now be put in with the utmost degree of regularity, in both methods of culture, by the same machine; consequently the seed will be sown in both cases with equal accuracy, without which it is impossible to make a just decision.

The excellence of this machine consists in spreading any given quantity of seed over any given number of acres with a mathematical exactness, which cannot be done by hand; by which a great saving may be made in feeding the ground, as well as benefiting the expected crop.

There has always been a difficulty in sowing turnip seed with any degree of exactness, both from the minuteness of the seed, and the fineness of the quantity required to be sown on an acre. Here the machine has a manifest advantage, as it may be set to sow the least quantity ever required on an acre; and with an accuracy the best seedman can never attain to.

It will also sow clover, cole, flax, and every other kind of small seed, with the utmost degree of regularity.

It will likewise broadcast beans, peas, and tares, or drill them with the greatest exactness, particularly when constructed to be used with a plough.

Another advantage attending the use of this machine is, that the wind can have no effect on the falling of the seed.

Of the Machine when made to be used without a Plough, and to be drawn by a Horse.—It may in this case be made of different lengths at the desire of the purchaser. The upper part AAAA contains the hoppers from which the grain or seed descends into the spouts. The several spouts all rest upon a bar, which hangs and plays freely by two diagonal supports BB; a trigger fixed to this bar bears a catch-wheel; this being fixed on the axle, occasions a regular and continual motion, or jogging of the spouts, quicker or slower in proportion to the pace of the person sowing with it drives; and of course, if he quickens his pace, the bar will receive a greater number of strokes from the catch-wheel, and the grain or seed will feed the faster. If he drives slower, by receiving fewer strokes, the contrary must take place. In going along the side of a hill, the strength of the stroke is corrected by a spring which acts with more or less power, in proportion as the machine is more or less from a horizontal position, and counteracts the difference of gravity in the bar, so that it presses, in all situations, with a proper force against the catch-wheel. The spring is unnecessary if the land be pretty level. At the bottom of the machine is placed an apron or shelf in a sloping position; and the corn or seed, by falling thereon from the spouts above, is scattered about in every direction under the machine, and covers the ground in a most regular and uniform manner.

To sow the corn or seed in drills, there are moveable spouts (see fig. 10.), which are fixed on or taken off at pleasure, to direct the feed from the upper spout to the bottom of the furrow.

Vol. I. Part I.

The machine is regulated for sowing any particular quantity of seed on an acre by a brass slider, A, fig. 7., fixed by screws against a brass bridge on each of the spouts. The machine is prevented from feeding while turning at the ends, by only removing the lever E, fig. 2, out of the channel G, to another at H, on the right hand of it, which carries back the bar from the catch-wheel, and occasions the motion of the spouts to cease, and at the same time brings them upon a level by the action of the diagonal supports; so that no corn or seed can fall from them.

The machine in this form is particularly useful for broad-casting clover upon barley or wheat; or for sowing any other kind of seed, where it is necessary that the land should first be harrowed exceedingly fine and even.

Manner of using the Machine, when drawn by a Horse.—Place the machine about two feet from the ends of the furrows where you intend it shall begin to sow. Fill the hoppers with seed, and drive it forwards with the outside wheel in the first furrow. When you are at the end of the length, at the opposite side of the field, lift the lever E, fig. 2, into the channel H, and the machine will instantly stop sowing. Drive it on about two feet, and then turn. Fill the hoppers again if necessary; then remove the lever back again into the channel G, and in returning, let the outside wheel of the machine go one furrow within the track which was made by it, in passing from the opposite end; as for example, if the wheel passed down the eighth furrow from the outside of the field, let it return in the seventh; and in every following length let the outside wheel always run one furrow within the track made by the same wheel: because the breadth sown is about nine inches less than the distance between the wheels.

Let the machine be kept in a perpendicular situation. If the farmer wishes to sow more or less seed on any one part of the field than the other, it is only raising the handles a little higher, or sinking them a little lower than usual, and it will occasion a sufficient alteration; and should the last turn be less in breadth than the machine, those spouts which are not wanted may be taken up from the bar, and prevented from feeding, by turning the nob above them.

Also, when the land required to be sown has what is called a vent, that is, when the sides of the field run in an oblique line to the furrows, which by this means are unequal in length; the spouts must be taken up or let down in succession by turning the knobs, as that part of the machine where they are placed arrives at the ends of the furrows. This is done while the machine is going forwards.

If the land be tolerably level, the machine may be fixed by the screw in the front, and the machine may then be used by any common harrow boy.

Method of regulating the Machine.—In each spout is fixed a bridge (see fig. 7.), with an aperture in it, B, for the grain or seed to pass through. This aperture is enlarged or contracted by a slider, A, which passes over it; and, when properly fixed for the quantity of seed designed to be sown on an acre, is fastened by means of two fixing screws firmly against the bridge. This is made use of in sowing all kinds of seed, where it is required to sow from one bushel upwards on an acre. To sow one, two, three gallons, or any of the intermediate Instruments mediate quantities, as of clover, cole-seed, &c., the of brafs plate, fig. 6, is placed between the bridge and the Husbandry, slider, with the largest aperture B downwards, which aperture is enlarged or contracted by the slider as before. To sow turnips, the same plate is placed between the bridge and the slider, with its smallest aperture A downwards, and the hollow part about the same aperture inwards.

Fig. 8. is a view of the regulator, by which the apertures in the several spouts are all set exactly alike, with the utmost care, to make them feed equally. The extreme height of the largest aperture is equal to the breadth AB, and the breadth at C is equal to the height of the smallest aperture used, viz., that for turnips. The side AC is divided into 60 equal parts, and on it moves the slider or horse D; which being placed at any particular degree, according to the quantity of seed required to be sown on an acre, is fixed upon it, by a screw on the side of the slider or horse. When this is done, the end of the regulator is put through the aperture in the bridge or plate (whichever is intended to be used), and the slider against the bridge in the spout, raised by it, till it stops against the horse on the regulator; then the slider is fastened against the bridge firmly by the two screws; care being taken at the same time that it stand nearly square.

By this means the spouts (being all fixed in the same manner) will feed equally.

It is easy to conceive that the size of the apertures, and consequently the quantity of seed to be sown on an acre, may be regulated with a far greater accuracy than is required in common practice.

The spouts may be regulated with the utmost nicety, in five minutes, to sow each particular seed, for the whole season. But a little practice will enable any person, who possesses but a very moderate capacity, to make the spouts feed equally, even without using the regulator (A).

Of the Machine, when made to be used by Hand.—The difference of the machine in this case is, that it is made lighter, with but three spouts, without shafts, and is driven forwards by the handles. It hath also a bolt in front, which being pushed in by the thumb, releases the machine; so that it can then easily be placed in a perpendicular position. This alteration is necessary to keep the handles of a convenient height, in sowing up and down a hill, where the slope is considerable; and is done while the machine is turning at the end of the length. The method of regulating and using it is the same as when made to be drawn by a horse.

(A) Proper directions are given with each machine for using it, as also for fixing the sliders to sow any particular quantity of corn or seed on an acre, so as to enable any person to set the spouts.

The prices of the machine (exclusive of the packing cases) are as follow. If constructed to be used with a single-furrow plough; the wheel, with the axle and cheeks fitted, strap, regulator, brass-plates for broad-casting or drilling turnips, lucerne, tares, wheat, barley, &c. &c. &c., and every article necessary for fixing it included, three guineas and a half. If made with a spring (for sowing on the side of a hill, where the slope is considerable), but which is very rarely necessary, five shillings more. If made to be fixed to any double-furrow plough, four guineas and a half.

The large machine, fig. 2, when made to broad-cast seven furrows at a time and to be drawn by a horse, eight guineas and a half. If constructed to sow five furrows at a time, and to be used by hand, six guineas. These are also five shillings more if made with a spring. Instruments half are sown on an acre. The accuracy with which it will broad-cast, may in some measure be conceived, by considering that the feed regularly descends upon the apron or shelf, and is from thence scattered upon the ground, in quantity exactly proportioned to the speed of the plough; also that each cast spreads to the third furrow; and by this means thuds upon the last. In this manner it is continually filling up till the whole field is completely covered; so that it is impossible to leave the smallest space without its proper quantity of feed.

When the plough is wanted for any other purpose, the machine, with the wheel at the heel of the plough for giving it motion, can be removed or replaced at any time in five minutes.

Fig. 11 represents the machine fixed to a double-furrow creasing plough, and prepared for drilling. As this plough may not be generally known, it will not be improper to observe, that it is chiefly used for creasing the land with furrows (after it has been once ploughed and harrowed); which method is necessary when the seed is to be sown broad-cast upon land that has been a clover ley, &c., because, if the seed be thrown upon the rough furrows, a considerable part of it will fall between them, and be unavoidably lost, by lying too deep buried in the earth. This mode answers extremely well, and partakes of both methods of culture; the seed, though sown broad-cast, falling chiefly into the furrows.

The machine is very useful for sowing in this manner; as the seed is broad-cast, with an inconceivable regularity, at the time the land is creased. The advantages it likewise possesses for drilling all sorts of grain or seed with this plough, are too evident to need mentioning.

The machine, when constructed to be used with a double-furrow plough, is made with two upper and two long spouts for drilling, two aprons for broad-casting, and with a double hopper; but in other respects the same as when intended for a single-furrow plough: it is used in all cases with the greatest ease imaginable.

The interval between the points of the two shares of a creasing plough is usually ten inches; the beam about nine feet long; and the whole made of a light construction.

A more particular explanation of the figures.—Fig. 1. The machine fixed to a Kentish turn-wrest plough. A, The machine. B, The apron upon which the seed falls and rebounds upon the land, in broad-casting. C, Lid to cover the hopper. D, Wheel at the heel of the plough. E, Scrap. FF, Hooks, upon which the apron turns by a pivot on each. G, Stay, to keep the machine steady. H, Lever, to prevent it from fowling.

Fig. 2. The machine constructed to be drawn by a horse. AAAA, The hoppers. BB, The diagonal supporters. CCCC, The upper spouts. D, The apron or shelf upon which the seed falls upon the upper spouts. E, The lever, which carries back the bar, and prevents the machine from fowling. FF, Staples upon the handles, through which the reins pass, for the man who conducts the machine, to direct the horse by. I, Screw, to fix the machine occasionally. N.B. The knobs (by turning which each particular spout may be taken from off the bar, and thereby prevented from feeding) are over each upper spout; but, to prevent confusion, are not lettered in the Plate.

Fig. 3. Is the same machine with that in fig. 1. The dotted lines, expressing the situation of the long spout, when the apron is removed, and the machine adapted for drilling.

Fig. 4. Also the same machine, with the front laid open to show the inside. A, The catch-wheel fixed upon the axle. BB, The axle upon which the machine hangs between the handles of the plough. C, The pulley, by which the strap from the wheel at the heel of the plough turns the catch-wheel. D, The bar, upon which the upper spout rests, suspended by the diagonal supporters EE, bearing against the catch-wheel by the trigger F, and thereby kept in motion while the plough is going. G, The apron in a sloping position, upon which the corn or seed falls from the upper spout, and is scattered by rebounding upon the land. It turns upon pivots, and by this means throws the seed either towards the right hand or left at pleasure.

Fig. 5. The upper spout.

Fig. 6. The plate which is placed between the bridge and the slider, for sowing small seeds. The aperture A being downwards for sowing turnips; the larger one B downwards for sowing clover, &c.

Fig. 7. The bridge, fixed in the upper spouts. A, The slider, which contracts or enlarges the different apertures. B, The aperture in the bridge, through which the seed passes, when sowing any quantity from one bushel upwards on an acre.

Fig. 8. The regulator, made of brass. D, The slider or horse which moves upon it, and is fixed at any particular degree by a screw in its side.

Fig. 9. Represents the movement in the machine fig. 2. AAAA, Cleets, between which the upper spouts rest. BB, The diagonal supporters, by which the bar with the upper spouts hang. C, The catch-wheel. DD, The axle. E, The trigger upon the bar, which bears against the catch-wheel. FF, Stays from the back of the machine, by which the bar plays.

Fig. 10. The long spout. AA, The ears by which it hangs.

Sect. II. Of preparing Land for cropping, by removing obstructions and bringing the Soil into a proper state.

1. Of Removing Stones.

It is of the utmost importance to have land effectually cleared of stones, before undertaking any agricultural operation upon it; for by means of them there is frequently more expense incurred in one season, by the breaking of ploughs and the injury suffered by the cattle and harness, than would remove the evil. It has also been observed that the soil round a large stone is commonly the best in the field. It may be considered as purchased at a low rate by removing the stone. At any rate, such stones must be removed before the ground can be properly cultivated. For whether a large stone occupy the surface, or lie beneath it, but within reach of the plough, a considerable space around it cannot be tilled by that instrument, and is therefore useless. Even the rest of the field where Preparation stones abound must be laboured in a more slow and tedious manner, on account of the caution necessary to avoid the danger which they produce.

The stones which impede the improvement of land are, 1st, loose stones, or such as are thrown up to the surface by the plough; and, 2dly, fitfast stones, which are either upon or immediately below the surface, but are of such magnitude that they cannot be stirred by the plough. The first kind of stones may usually be easily removed by being gathered and carried off. When land is laid down for hay, such stones are often improperly thrown in heaps into the furrows, where they ever after continue to interrupt the plough, or are dragged again by the harrows over the land. Instead of proceeding in this manner, they ought to be carried wholly off the field in carts at the driest season of the year, and placed in situations in which they may be rendered useful to the farm. In this point of view, stones are sometimes of considerable value for making concealed drains, or for making and repairing the roads through a farm, and also for the repairs of some kinds of fences.

The only writer upon agriculture who has in any case objected to the propriety of clearing land of small stones, is probably Lord Kames. In some parts of the south of Scotland, and particularly in Galloway, the soil is said to be composed in a great measure of gravel, and of stones of a smooth surface, as if worn by the running of water. After being ploughed, the whole surface of every field appears to be composed of loose stones lying almost in contact with each other. Some industrious farmers, with great labour, collected and removed the stones from a few of their fields with a view to their improvement: and the result is said to have been, that the succeeding crops were wholly blighted in the tender blade, and never came to maturity. The stones upon the surface were supposed to have prevented the exhalation of the moisture from the shallow and extremely porous and open soil which they covered: and they were also supposed to have contributed to foster the young plants, by reflecting powerfully from their smooth surfaces the sun's rays in every direction around them: but when they were removed, the soil, in that bleak climate, became at once too cold and too dry for any purpose of agriculture. The farmers, therefore, who had with so much toil and cost removed the stones from part of their lands, could think of no better remedy than, with equal toil, to bring them all back again, and carefully replace them upon their fields. It is added, that the soil immediately resumed its wonted fertility. The truth of this anecdote has never been contested; and there is no doubt that it has long been current in the south of Scotland, both previous to its publication by Lord Kames, and after that period, among a class of persons who are very unlikely to have been acquainted with his writings. It is possible that the replacing the stones was the best remedy for the want of fertility in the soil which its cultivators had within their reach: but it is probable that they might have found it of more importance to have covered the surface of their land with a substantial coat of clay marl, or even with almost any kind of earth or clay obtained from the bogs and swamps that usually abound in these countries, providing only they could obtain a quantity of lime to add to it. In this way, possessing land whose bottom was very pervious to moisture, they might have obtained a soil suited to every purpose of agriculture; whereas, in its present state, it must remain for ever unfit to be touched with the scythe.

With regard to large or fitfast stones which cannot be removed by any ordinary effort, they usually either appear fully above the surface or are concealed immediately under it. For the sake of discovering concealed stones, it is said to be a custom in Yorkshire, when they intend to reduce waste and rude land under the plough, in the first place, carefully to go over the whole surface with sharp prongs, which at the distance of every twelve or fourteen inches they thrust into the ground to the depth of above a foot, and wherever a stone meets the prong, they mark the spot with a twig, a bit of wood, or some other object. They afterwards trace all the marks, and remove every stone before they touch the land with the plough.

Concerning the modes which have been adopted for removing large stones out of the way of the plough; one of the simplest is the following: A pit or hole is dug beside the stone, 16 or 18 inches deeper than the height or thickness of the stone. A number of men are then assembled, who tumble it into the pit. It is immediately covered up with a part of the earth that came out of the hole; and the rest of the earth is scattered over the field, or employed in bringing to a level with the rest of the soil the spot where the stone formerly lay. As the stone now remains at a greater depth than the plough can reach, it is no longer an impediment to agriculture. In performing this operation, however, the workmen must attend to the nature of the soil, and take care that the weight of the stone do not bring down the side of the pit, which might be attended with dangerous consequences. To obviate any hazard of this kind, it is always proper to have at hand a stout plank, which ought to be laid across the pit or hole, immediately under the nearest corner or edge of the stone. With this precaution, a single man may usually perform the whole operation of burying stones or pieces of rock of very great size and weight.

By the above operation, however, the stones are utterly lost; whereas they may sometimes be of considerable value for fences or other buildings. When this is the case, they must be broken to pieces before they are removed. With this view it is to be observed, that a great variety of stones have some thin veins, which being found, wedges can be driven into them by large hammers, so that they may be easily broken. For such operations spades and pick axes are necessary to clear away the earth, and a large and a small lever to turn the stones out of the ground. Hammers and wedges are also requisite, with carts to remove the fragments from the field. In the Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xix. p. 465, parish of Maderty, we are told that "the Rev. Mr Ramsay, the present incumbent, who occupies a piece of land full of fitfast stones, constructed a machine for the purpose of raising them." It operates on the principles of the pulley and cylinder, or wheel and axis, and has a power as one to twenty-three; it is extremely simple, being a triangle, on two sides of which the cylinder is fixed; it can be easily wrought and carried from place to place by three men. A low four wheeled machine of a strong construction is made to go under the arms of the triangle, to receive the It is evident, that the machine here described is only valuable for getting stones out of the way in the grols and unbroken; and, accordingly, we learn that stone fences are almost unknown in the parish of Madderly.

Where stones are valuable, therefore, and the operation of breaking them with hammers and wedges is found impracticable or too laborious, it will be necessary to blast them with gunpowder. To perform this operation properly, however, considerable experience is requisite; for it is said, that a skilful workman can in most instances, by the depth and position of the bore, contrive to rend stones into three equal pieces without causing their fragments to fly about. In time of war, however, the expense of gunpowder is apt to become very great. With a view to diminish the cost of that article, it has been suggested, that it is proper to perform the operation not with gunpowder alone, but with that article of a good quality, mixed up with about one-third of its bulk of quicklime in fine powder. It is said that this composition possesses as much force as an equal quantity of pure gunpowder, and it is even alleged, that the proportion of quicklime may be increased with advantage. How the strength of gunpowder should be so much augmented by the addition of quicklime, we do not know. Perhaps it may add to the force of the explosion by undergoing a chemical decomposition of its parts, as it has of late been suspected, that this mineral is by no means a simple or uncompounded body.

Where a field is very greatly overrun with concealed stones, the most effectual method of getting quit of them, and of rendering it permanently arable, consists of trenching it wholly by the spade. Nor is this always the most expensive mode of proceeding. The trenching can be done at the rate of from 3l. to 4l. per Scots acre, which is one-fifth larger than an English acre, allowing at the same time the stones or their price at the quarry to the labourers. In this way, the expense of ploughing the field is saved. The soil is deepened to the utmost extent of which it is capable, and can be laid out in the form most convenient for cultivation. In Dr Anderson's report of the state of agriculture in Aberdeenshire, it is said that the expense of trenching an acre to the depth of from 12 to 14 inches, where the stones are not very large and numerous, runs from 4d. to 6d. a fall, which is from 2l. 13s. to 4l. per Scots acre. Ground that has been formerly trenched, is sometimes done as low as 2d. per fall, or 1l. 6s. 6d. per acre. Hence, in consequence of the practice of trenching ground by the spade being not unfrequent in Aberdeenshire, workmen have become expert, and by competition have rendered the price extremely moderate. It is to be wished that the same practice were more frequent in other parts of the country, as it would have a tendency to introduce a taste for the most correct and perfect of all modes of labouring the soil, and would also occupy a considerable part of the population of the country, in the most innocent and healthful of all employments, that of agriculture.

2. Of Draining.

It has already been remarked, that the presence of moisture is of the utmost importance to the success of vegetation. At the same time, as must necessarily happen of draining, with every powerful and active agent, the too great abundance of water is no less pernicious to many plants, than an entire want of it. When it stagnates upon the soil, it decomposes or rots the roots and stems of the most valuable vegetables. Even when it does not remain on a spot round the whole year, its temporary stagnation during the winter renders the land unproductive. Seasons of tillage are often lost, and in wet years the crop must always be scanty and precarious. When in grazes, the land can only produce the coarsest and most hardy vegetables, which can resist the chill or cold state of the soil, or the fermentation which is often produced by sudden warmth while the water remains upon the ground. Hence arises the importance of draining, by which arable land is rendered manageable, is made to dry gradually and early in the spring, and the corn is increased in quantity and weight; and by which, in pasture lands, the grasses are made to change their colour and to lose their coarse appearance, and the finer kinds of plants are enabled to flourish. Even the climate is, by means of draining, very considerably improved. It is rendered less cold during the winter, and by diminishing in hot weather the exhalations from the soil, its salubrity both to animal and vegetable life is greatly increased. Every kind of grain comes earlier to maturity. The harvest is less precarious, and the difficulties are banished which arose from a damp soil and humid atmosphere.

The water which stagnates upon the surface of a soil may originate from two causes. It may descend upon it in the form of rain, or it may ascend from springs or reservoirs of water in the bowels of the earth. The rules for draining land which is rendered too wet for the purposes of agriculture are different, according to the causes which occasion the wetness. We shall first take notice of the most approved modes of draining, when the excessive moisture is occasioned by rain water stagnating upon the land; and we shall afterwards take notice of the plan of draining to be adopted, when the wetness arises from springs or water rising out of the earth.

To relieve land from rain water that is apt to stagnate upon it, two kinds of drains have been adopted, open or hollow. One of these is called open drains, from their being exposed to view in their whole length. The other kind receives the appellation of hollow drains, from their being covered, so that their existence is not apparent to a stranger, nor is any part of the land lost in consequence of their being made. Hollow draining is sometimes avoided on account of the great immediate expense with which it is attended, and in some situations it is altogether inadequate to the object in view. There are some soils that being chiefly composed of a stiff clay, possess so great a degree of tenacity as to retain water upon every trifling depression of their surface, till evaporation carries it off. It is in vain to attempt to drain such soils by hollow channels below ground, as the water will never be able to filtrate through the soil so as to reach the drain. In such situations, therefore, Preparation fore, open draining is the only mode that can be adopted for clearing the foil of surface water.

It also sometimes happens that, on ordinary soils, hollow drains would speedily be rendered useless. This must take place where the admission of surface water cannot be avoided, and, from the figure of the adjoining lands, must be very greatly augmented in time of heavy rains. In such cases, a clofe or hollow drain would speedily be choked up by the sand and soil brought down by sudden and violent torrents. In these situations, therefore, open drains can alone prove useful.

Soils formed of a tenacious clay can only be drained by being laid up properly in ridges which are high in the middle, and have furrows at each side for carrying off the water. The great art of preserving land of this description, therefore, free from superfluous moisture, consists of laying out every field in such a direction as that all the furrows between the ridges may have a gradual descent to a common ditch or drain for carrying off the water. Where at any particular spot the regularity of the descent is interrupted, cross furrows must be kept open with the same view. The ridges must also be laid up in such a form as to allow the water to descend from the summit in the middle to the furrows on each side. If the ridges, however, are too high in the centre, there will be a danger that in heavy rains the foil may be washed from the summit down into the furrows, which would produce the double evil of impoverishing the centre of every ridge, and of choking up the furrows, and rendering them unfit to drain the land.

The distinguished success of the Flemish husbandmen, and also of the farmers in the central counties of England where this kind of soil abounds, sufficiently demonstrates the practicability of preserving it in a due degree of dryness for the most valuable purposes of agriculture. In these English counties, and in Flanders, the general mode of drying land consists of ploughing it up in high and broad ridges, from 20 to 30 and even 40 feet wide, with the centre or crown three or four feet higher than the furrows. By attentively preserving the furrows in good order, and free from stagnating water, the land is kept in a dry state, and all kinds of crops flourish.

The mode of ridging and cross-furrowing the clay soil of the Carle of Gowrie, Perthshire, has been thus described by George Pateron, Esq., of Castlehunton in that county. There are certain large common drains which pass through the district in different directions, sufficiently spacious to receive the water drained from the fields by the ditches which surround them, and of such a level as to carry it clear off, and to empty their contents into the river Tay. There are also ditches which surround every farm, or pass through them as their situation may require, but in such manner as to communicate with every field upon the farm. These ditches are made from two to four feet wide at top, and from one and a half to one foot at bottom; a shape which prevents their sides from falling in; but even then they must be cleaned and scoured every year at a considerable expense. If the fields be of an uniform level surface, the common furrows between the ridges, provided they be sufficiently deepened at their extremities, will serve to lay the grounds dry; but, as it seldom happens that any field is so complete free of inequalities, the last operation, after it is sown and harrowed in, is to draw a furrow with the plough through every hollow in the field which lies in such a direction that it can be guided through them, so as to make a free communication with any of the ditches which surround the farm, or with any of the furrows between the ridges which may serve as a conductor to carry the water off to the surrounding ditches. When this track is once opened with the plough, it is widened, cleared out, and so shaped with the spade, that it may run no risk of filling up. Its width is from six inches to a foot according to its depth, which must depend upon the level of the field; but the breadth of a spade at bottom is a good general rule. It frequently happens that there are inequalities in several parts of the same field, which do not extend across it, or which do not pass through it in any direction that a plough can follow; but which may extend over two ridges, or one ridge, or even part of a ridge. Such require an open communication to be made with any furrow, which may serve as a conductor to carry off the water, which is always made with the spade. All these open communications are here called gaas, and to keep them perfectly clear is a very essential object of every Carle farmer's attention.

It is the general practice in the Carle to have head-ridges, as they are called, at the two extremities of each field; that is, the ground upon which the plough turns, is laid up as a cross ridge, higher in the middle and falling off on each side, so that a gaa is made in the course of the inner furrow with which the whole furrows between the longitudinal ridges communicate, and into which they pour all their surface water, which is carried off by gaas or openings cut through the head ridges, and emptied into the adjoining ditches which convey the water to the main drain. Besides all this, an experienced Carle farmer takes care that his lands be carefully ploughed, and laid up equally without inequalities that can hold water, and that the ridges be gradually rounded, so that the surface water may neither lodge nor run so rapidly off as to injure the equal fertility of the field.

With regard to the general rule for making open drains, it may be observed that their depth and wide-making of nefs must always in some measure be left to the judgement of each particular husbandman, that they may be varied according to the variety of soils and situations. Upon the whole, however, the width at bottom ought to be one third of that at top, that, by being sufficiently sloped, the sides may be in no danger of falling in. The fall or declivity also should be such as may carry off the water without stagnation, and along with it any grats and other loose and light substances that may get into the ditch. At the same time, care ought to be taken to lead the drain in such a direction down any steep declivity that may occur in an oblique manner, that the water may not have too rapid a motion, as it would otherwise be apt to form inequalities in the bottom, and to wear down the sides. In mofs and very soft soils, drains require to be of considerable width, on account of their tendency to fill up; and their breadth at top must exceed that at the bottom in a greater degree than the proportion already mentioned. In all cases in which a ditch is intended for a drain only, Preparation and not to be used as a fence; none of the earth thrown out of it ought to be allowed to remain upon the sides, but should be spread abroad upon the land, or used in filling up the nearest holes. When this is not done, the utility of the drain is injured by the surface water being prevented from reaching it, and by the tendency which this weight of earth has to cause the sides to fall in; the difficulty of scouring or cleaning it is thus also much increased. If it be necessary, however, to use the ditch, and the earth thrown out of it, as a fence, a deep furrow ought to be made along the back of the mound of earth, with openings in convenient places into the ditch for transmitting to it the water collected in the furrow.

In plantations, open drains are the only kind that can be used, as the roots of the trees would be apt to choke up covered drains. In pastures, small and narrow open cuts, made with the plough or otherwise, are often extremely useful, to carry off stagnating water and a part of the rain as it falls. The only objection to them is, that they are easily sopped by the trampling of the cattle; but, on the other hand, they are easily restored. Concerning all open drains, indeed, it must be remembered, that they require to be cleaned out at least once a year; and when this process is neglected for any length of time, it becomes more difficult, and the drains lose their effect. Hence, though open drains are originally cheaper, yet, by the necessity of annual repairs, they sometimes become ultimately more expensive than covered or hollow drains, to the consideration of which we shall next proceed.

Hollow drains, in which the water is allowed to flow along a bed of loose stones, or other porous materials, while they are covered with a bed of earth in which the operations of the plough can proceed, bear a near resemblance to that part of the constitution of nature by which water flows in various channels along beds of porous strata in the bowels of the earth, and coming to the surface in various situations, supplies springs and the constant flow of rivulets and of the largest streams. The practice of hollow draining was known in a very remote antiquity. It is said that the present Perths are supplied by means of hollow drains with water in their most fertile fields, though they know not from whence the water is brought, and are unacquainted with the arts by which a more ingenious people in former times contrived to deprive one part of the soil of its superfluous moisture with a view to enrich another. The ancient Roman writers, Cato, Palladius, Columella, and Pliny, particularly mention the practice of hollow draining. They knew the kind of soils in which these drains are useful, and the propriety of directing them obliquely across the slope of the field. They filled them half way up with small stones, and for want of these with willow poles, or even with any coarse twigs or other similar materials twisted into a rope. They also fortified the heads of their drains with large stones, and their mouths or outlets with a regular building; and they carried the whole drain to the depth of three or four feet.

As already mentioned, hollow drains are of little value in a soil that consists of a stiff clay, and are chiefly useful where, from whatever cause the wetness may result, the soil is sufficiently porous to allow the moisture to percolate to an internal drain.

If the field proposed to be drained lie on a declivity, great care should be taken to make hollow drains in a direction sufficiently horizontal to prevent a too rapid fall of the water, which might wear the bottom uneven, and have the effect to choke, or, as it is sometimes called, to blow up the drain, whereby, in certain spots in hollow drains, the field artificial springs would be formed.

Concerning the season for executing drains, discordant opinions are entertained. Some prefer winter, others summer. Where much work is to be accomplished, a choice of seasons may not indeed be left to the husbandman. Some farmers, however, when they have the choice of time, always prefer summer for this employment, being then able to execute the cuts in a neater manner, without that kneading of the soil which takes place in winter, which they think hurts the usefulness of the drain, by ever after preventing the water from easily finding its way to it; besides that it is easier to bring the stones or other materials to the spot in summer than in winter. Others, however, prefer draining in winter, because in the case of a clay soil, the labour is at that season much easier; and also because labourers are then usually most easy to be obtained.

The depth and width usually adopted for hollow draining is very various, according to the nature of the soil and the situation of the field. When the practice first came into general use, three feet is said to have been the common depth; but, for many years past, it is said that hollow drains seldom exceed 30 or 32 inches, and that more drains are of two feet, or 26 inches deep, than of any other. One general rule, however, cannot be neglected with safety, that the depth must be sufficient to prevent the materials with which the drain is filled from being affected by the feet of horses in a furrow while ploughing; twenty-four inches is perhaps too little for this purpose. A horse's foot in a furrow is usually at the depth of four inches or more. If ten inches additional be allowed for the materials employed in filling the drain, there will remain only nine or ten inches to support the foot of a horse exerting his strength in the act of ploughing, which upon a porous soil seems scarcely sufficient. What are called main drains, which are those intended to receive the water of several other drains, must always be somewhat deeper than the rest, having more water to convey. As to the wideness of hollow drains, most farmers have of late been solicitous to render them as narrow as possible, because by this means a great saving takes place of the materials used for filling them. If the stones are coupled at the bottom of the drain, that is, made to lean toward each other, so as to constitute a triangle, of which the bottom of the drain forms the base, the width need not be greater than one foot; nor perhaps is it even necessary to exceed this breadth where large stones are thrown in promiscuously. That the ditches or cuts which are meant to be converted into hollow drains may be executed with neatness and care, a point of much importance to their usefulness, it is thought prudent that the workmen should not be paid according to the extent of ground which they open, but as day labourers. This, however, is more particularly the case with regard to filling the drains, an operation in which a still greater degree of attention is necessary. The materials used for filling drains have been various, according to the substances which different farmers have been able to obtain. Stones, however, are the most common, and also the best of all materials, on account of their permanency. If stones from quarries are to be used, and the drain formed like a conduit at the bottom, the trench must be made at the lowest part 16 inches wide, containing two side stones about six inches asunder, and the same in height, with a cap or flat stone laid over, which secures the cavity. Such hollow drains are commonly used for permanent currents of water from springs, and are more expensive than where no such steady current exists, and the stones are either thrown in promiscuously, or laid down so as to form triangular cavities. Small stones, however, ought not to be used for the bottom of a drain.

Whether the stones are large or small, they ought to be very clean, having no clay or earth adhering to them, and of the most hard and permanent quality that can be procured, with as little tendency as possible to moulder or decay in consequence of alternate changes from wet to dry. They ought also to be laid in carefully, so as not to tumble down any earth, which might choke up their interstices. The whole subject, however, will be better understood by a statement of the way in which drains have been filled with success by intelligent persons.

The following directions are given by T. B. Bayley Esq. of Hope, near Manchester: "First make the main drains down the slope or fall of the field. When the land is very wet, or has not much fall, there should in general be two of these to a statute acre; for the shorter the narrow drains are, the less liable they will be to accidents. The width of the trench for the main drains should be 30 inches at top, but the width at the bottom must be regulated by the nature and size of the materials intended to be used. If the drain is to be made of bricks, 10 inches long, 3 inches thick, and 4 inches in breadth, then the bottom of the drain must be 12 inches; but if the common false bricks are used, then the bottom must be proportionally contracted. In both cases there must be an interstice of one inch between the bottom brick and the sides of the trench, and the vacancy must be filled up with straw, rushes, or loofe mould. For the purpose of making these drains, I order my bricks to be moulded ten inches long, four broad, and three thick; which dimensions always make the best drain."

The method which this gentleman pursues in constructing his main drains is stated by him to be the following: When the ground is soft and spongy, the bottom of the drain is laid with bricks placed across. On these, on each side, two bricks are laid flat, one upon the other, forming a drain six inches high, and four broad, which is covered with bricks laid flat.—When the bottom of the trench is found to be a firm and solid body, such as clay or marl, he formerly thought that it might not be necessary to lay the bottom with brick; but in this he has candidly acknowledged that he was quite wrong. By the runs of water, the alternate changes from wet to dry, and the access of air, these hard bottoms were rendered friable, crumbled away, and let in all the drains, and allowed them to choke up, that were not supported by a bottom laid with brick or stone. When stones are used instead of bricks, Mr. Bayley thinks that the bottom of the drain should be about eight inches in width; and in all cases the bottom of main drains ought to be sunk four inches below the level of the narrow ones whose contents they receive, even at the point where the latter fall into them.

The main drains should be kept open or uncovered till the narrow ones are begun from them, after which they may be finished; but before the earth is returned upon the stones or bricks, it is advisable to throw in straw, rushes, or brushwood, to increase the freedom of the drain. The small narrow drains should be cut at the distance of 16 or 18 feet from each other, and should fall into the main drain at very acute angles, to prevent any stoppage. At the point where they fall in, and eight or ten inches above it, they should be made firm with brick or stone. These drains should be 18 inches wide at the top, and 16 at bottom.

A mode of draining clay soils wet by rain or surface water, practised by Sir Henry Fletcher, Bart., with great success, seems worthy of being here stated. The upper soil is of good quality, but being situated in a mountainous part of the country, the frequent rains kept the upper soil full of water, that it produced only a coarse grass worth 3s. per acre. The inferior soil of clay was of great depth. The mode of draining which has been successfully practised upon it is the following: "On grass lands he digs 22 inches, or 2 feet deep; the first spadeful is of the turf, taken so deep, as where it separates from the clay, which is dug carefully out, and preserved unbroken grubs side up, and laid on one side of the cut; then, with a very strong spade, 18 inches long, 6 inches wide at top, and 2 at the bottom, he digs a spadeful in the clay, which the men spread about the land, on the side of the drain opposite to where the turfs were laid, as far as possible from the drain, so as none may get in again. A scoop, to clear out the fragments in the bottom, follows, which are also spread in like manner. They are then ready for filling; and in doing this, he takes three stones of a thin flat form, two of which are placed against the sides of the drain, meeting at bottom; and the third caps the other two. Thus, a hollow triangular space is left to convey the water, which is subject to no accidents that can fill it up or impede the current. Stones always sink deeper in the ground; in the common method, this frequently causes stoppages by their being partly buried in the clay: but the triangle, when it subdues, does it regularly, and keeps its form and the passage for the water clear. One cart load of stones, in this way, will do a considerable length of drain. They are carefully laid down by the side of the cut, with a shovel or basket, and if there are any small refuse stones left on the ground after the drain is let, they are thrown in above. The stones being thus fixed, the sods are then trimmed to the shape of the drain, and laid on them, with the grubs side downwards, and none of the clay used in filling up.

The expense is a halfpenny per yard, the men earning 2s. and 2s. 6d. per day, at 10 yards distance from drain to drain. At 6 yards distance they answered well, but would not operate a cure, if more than 7 yards asunder. At this last distance, therefore, the expense of draining an English acre, at ½d. per yard, would amount to 1l. 9s. 2d. the stones being not more than half a mile distant. Not only stones and bricks, but also wood and other materials, have been used for filling drains. Upon this point, Lord Petre expresses himself thus: "The drains filled with wood, and covered as usual with straw or rushes, are preferable to stones or any other kind of materials; the reason is, as the wood decays, the water continues to pass. When filled with stones, and the drains stop up, which must be expected to take place in time, the earth becomes quite solid round the stones, and as they do not decay, the filtering of the water is for ever obstructed: not so when bushes or wood are used; continual filtering and draining are then for ever to be perceived; and by repeating the operation a second time, cutting the drains transversely of the old ones, the benefit of the filterings through the rotten wood is secured, and the spewing up of old, broken, and damaged drains collected and carried off. Moreover, as bushes form a much greater number of cavities than either stones or poles, they are less liable to stop up, and encourage filtering more than larger and more solid bodies. A load of bushes containing 120 faggots, will do about 360 rods; and a load of straw containing 120 bottles, the same: the load of bushes is generally worth about 14s. and the straw 18s. per load. I therefore calculate this expense about 12s. per acre, ditches a rod apart."

Richard Preston, Esq. of Blackmore, prefers, on twenty years experience, black thorns to every other material for filling drains. Wood is sometimes used with this view in the following manner: Two billets are placed at opposite sides of the drain, and each is made to rest under the opposite side to that on which its lower part stands, so as to form with each other a St Andrew's cross. The upper part of the cross is filled with brushwood, laid longitudinally, above which straw is placed cross-ways, and the mould is thrown in over all. This kind of drain is said to have continued running in Berwickshire for 30 years, and it is recommended by the author of the Agricultural Report of the county of Caernarthen, in Wales. He says, "The complete method I have yet known, is to cut the strongest willows, or other aquatic brushwood, into lengths of about 20 inches, and place them alternately in the drain, with one end against one side of the bottom, and the other leaning against the opposite side. Having placed the strong wood in this manner, I fill the space left between them on the upper side with the small brushwood, upon which a few rushes or straw being laid, as before mentioned, the work is done. Willow, alder, ash, or beech boughs, are exceedingly durable if put into the drain green, or before the sap is dried; but if they are suffered to become dry, and then laid underground, a rapid decay is the consequence. I have seen willow taken out of a bog, after lying there thirty years, and its bark was as fresh and fappy as if it had been recently cut from the hedge; and it is well known that beech laid green in the water will continue sound for any length of time."

Another method of using wood consists of fixing at every foot distance in the drain, a stick in the form of a semicircular arch, and of laying upon these longer branches or twigs longitudinally. Thus is a curved cavity, or arch, formed beneath, capable of supporting any weight of earth. For this purpose young wood is recommended, and in particular the prunings of larch.

Instead of wood or stone, in many places, it has of late become customary to fill the lowest part of drains with straw, and with that view to make use of wheat stubble as the cheapest kind of straw. On this subject, Mr Vancouver, in his Report of the Essex husbandry, remarks, that when the soil is a very close and retentive clay, the drains should be made proportionally near to each other, shallow, and filled with straw only, it being totally unnecessary to use wood or any more durable material upon land where the sides of the drains are not likely to crumble in. He affirms that drains formed in this manner, through the tough and retentive clays, will be found in a short time after the work is finished, to afford over the straw, with which the drain was filled, an arch of sufficient strength to support the incumbent weight of the soil, and the casual traffic of the field. "In 12 or 18 months it may be observed that the straw, being of one uniform substance, is all rotted, and carried away, leaving a clear pipe through the land in every drain, into which the passage of the water may have been much facilitated, by a due attention to the filling of the drains with the most friable and porous parts of the surface the field might have afforded."

An improvement in filling hollow drains with straw, consists of twisting the straw into a rope, said to have been devised by Mr Bedwell, of Essex. The rope of straw is formed as large as a man's arm, and is placed at the bottom of the drain. The expense of draining an English acre of land with this material in Essex, is said to stand thus:

| Item | Cost | |-------------------------------------------|------| | For cutting and raking together an acre of wheat stubble, generally sufficient for an acre of drain. | L.0 2 0 | | Digging eight score rods of drains | - | | Filling them up with stubble | - | | Extra work with the common spade, on an average a day's work for a man, | - |

L.0 19 4

As in some situations it is an object of great importance to save the expense of materials commonly used in filling drains, a variety of devices have with that view been adopted. One of these is of the following nature. A drain is first dug to the necessary depth, narrow at bottom. Into the trench is laid a smooth tree, or cylindrical piece of wood, 12 feet long, 6 inches diameter at the one end, and 5 at the other, having a ring fastened into the thickest end. After throwing a little sand upon the upper side of the tree, the clay or toughest part of the contents of the trench, is first thrown in upon it, and thereafter the remainder of the earth is fully trodden down. By means of a rope through the ring the tree is then drawn out to within a foot or two of the small or hinder end, and the same operation is repeated till the whole drain is complete. Such a drain is said to have conducted a small run of water a considerable way underground for more than 20 years without any sign of failure.

What is called the sod or pipe drain consists of a sod or pipe trench dug to a proper depth; after which a last spade-full is taken out in such a way as to leave a narrow channel, which can be covered by a sod or turf dug in grassland and laid over it, the grass side downwards. Such Preparation drains are said to continue hollow, and to discharge well for a great number of years. Moles are said to be drained in Lancashire nearly in the same manner, by leaving shoulders about a foot and a half from the bottom of the trench, and laying across these pieces of dryed peat or turf, cut into lengths of 16 inches, and 8 or 9 inches in breadth.

In Buckinghamshire, in grass lands, the sod drain is thus made: When the line of drain is marked out, a sod in form of a wedge is cut, the grass side being the narrowest, and the sods being from 12 to 18 inches in length. The drain is then cut to the depth required, but is contracted to a very narrow bottom. The sods are then set in with the grass side downwards, and pressed as far as they will go. As the figure of the drain does not suffer them to go to the bottom, a cavity is left, which serves as a water course; and the space above is filled with the earth thrown out.

Another invention for draining land is described in the agricultural report of the county of Essex. It consists of a draining wheel of cast iron, that weighs about 4 cwt. It is 4 feet in diameter, the cutting edge or extremity of the circumference of the wheel is half an inch thick, and it increases in thickness towards the centre. At 15 inches deep it will cut a drain, one half of an inch wide at the bottom, and 4 inches wide at the top. The wheel is so placed in a frame, that it may be loaded at pleasure, and made to operate to a greater or less depth, according to the resistance made by the ground. It is used, in winter, when the soil is soft; and the wheel tracks are either immediately filled with straw ropes and lightly covered over with earth, or they are left to crack wider and deeper till the ensuing summer; after which the fissures are filled with ropes of straw or of twisted twigs, and lightly covered with the most porous earth that is at hand. Thus, upon grass or ley lands, hollow drains are formed at trifling expense, which answer extremely well. It is said that 12 acres may be fully gone over with this draining wheel in one day, so as to make cuts at all necessary distances.

On sheep pastures a still simpler mode of removing surface water is said to be practised in some places. Wherever the water is apt to stagnate, a deep furrow is turned up with a stout plough. Thereafter, a man with a spade pares off the loose soil from the inverted sod, and scatters it over the field, or casts it into hollow places. The sod thus pared and rendered thin, or brought to the thickness of about three inches, is restored to its original situation, with the grassy side uppermost, as if no furrow had been made. A pipe or opening is thus formed beneath it two or three inches deep in the bottom of the furrow, which is sufficient to discharge a considerable quantity of surface water which readily flows into it. These furrows, indeed, are easily choked up by any pressure, or by the growth of the roots of the grass; but they are also easily restored, and no surface is lost by means of them.

With regard to the duration of hollow drains, or the length of time that the water will continue to flow in them, and thereby to preserve the soil in a proper state of dryness, it must necessarily depend, in a great degree, upon the nature of the materials with which they are filled, and the care that has been taken to prevent their being choked up by any accession of soft foil. Independent of this last circumstance, a drain prepared filled with stones, like the channel which supplies a natural spring, may endure for ever. Wood, with which many drains have of late years been filled, perishes at certain periods according to its nature; but it does by no means follow, that the drain should lose its effect in consequence of the destruction of the wood. If the earth over it form itself into an arch, the water will still continue to flow. Accordingly, it is said, that drains filled with bushes and straw have been known to run well after 40 years.

Having thus stated the various modes that have been most successfully adopted for draining lands of a super-abundant moisture caused by rain or surface water, we shall proceed to consider the way in which a soil springs may be drained when its undue wetness is the consequence of natural springs, or of water arising out of the bowels of the earth; and also when the soil, whether injured by springs or rain water, is so completely surrounded by higher grounds, as to prevent the possibility, at a moderate expense, of obtaining a level by which the water may be conducted away, either by open or by artificial hollow drains.

To understand the principles upon which land, rendered wet by springs, may be drained for the purposes of agriculture, it is necessary to attend to the materials of which the globe we inhabit is composed, and to the manner in which large quantities of water find their way into its bowels. The earth upon which we tread is by no means an uniform mass of matter. It consists of various layers or strata of different substances, one placed over the other. These layers or strata are seldom situated horizontally, but almost always descend towards one side or the other. One part of a stratum or layer often ascends and appears on the surface, while the other end or side of it descends obliquely to a great depth into the earth. Having done so, it frequently again bends upwards towards the surface; and indeed assumes almost all the variety of irregular forms and bearings that the imagination can conceive; sometimes suddenly breaking off and giving place to other strata or layers, and sometimes continuing at one corner while the greater part of it ceases. These strata or layers, of which the earth is composed, may be considered, with a view to the explanation of our present subject, as of two kinds. Some of them are porous, and allow water to pass through their substance, and to fill up all their cavities and interstices, such as sand, gravel, some marls, and various kinds of porous rocks. Other layers, on the contrary, do not suffer water to enter into them; such as clay, or gravel with much clay mixed with it, and rocks of a close or compact nature, without any fissures or clefts in them.

It is next to be remarked, that it is chiefly upon high mountains that water exists, or is formed, in very great abundance. Not only do they catch and break the passing clouds, which deposit upon them the greatest portion of their watery contents, but they would seem to have a power, when neither rain nor clouds appear in the sky, of condensing, attracting, or somehow forming water from the atmosphere. In the great burning deserts of Africa rain is scarcely known. The inhabitants build their houses of clods of earth or of lumps of salt. A drizzling shower, which is apt to come once in several years, endangers every dwelling; and Preparation and two hours of heavy rain would lay a whole city in ruins; yet even there, wherever mountains exist, that is to say, naked rocks, which abound in a few districts of this wilderness, water is almost always found in their vicinity; and, in consequence of the water, spots covered with the most luxuriant verdure are seen like islands amidst the dreary tracts of moveable and unproductive land.

The upper part of mountains is very frequently covered with a layer of gravel, or loose and open rock, into which water readily penetrates. These porous layers or strata descend gradually into the bowels of the earth, and convey along with them the water which they contain, and have received from the clouds. Under the porous stratum or layer of gravel are usually layers of clay or of solid rock, through which the water cannot pass, but along the upper part of which it flows. After descending, however, a certain length obliquely down towards the plain country, layers or strata of clay and other impervious materials usually come to be placed above the layers of porous gravel. Thus, as the water in the gravel is confined between clay above and clay or rock below, and must descend along the gravelly channel which is pervious to it, streams of water are formed in the bowels of the earth, which have their origin in high gravelly soils, and their outlets at any place in the low country, where any part of the beds of gravel or porous rock, along which they flow, happens to approach the surface, forming springs and rivulets, and, by their union or conflux, mighty rivers, which continue steadily to water the surface of the earth. Hence also, in many situations, by digging pits into the earth, we at last reach a layer of porous gravel or rock, containing a stream of water, brought, perhaps, from the summit of a distant mountain; and such pits can be used as wells for supplying water for every domestic purpose.

We have said that the upper part of the face of a mountain is often covered with a bed of porous or gravelly substances capable of taking in water. Upon the surface, at a certain distance down the hill, a bed of clay begins. The water received above into the layer of gravel continues to descend with that layer for a considerable space below the bed of clay; and thereafter the gravel suddenly stops, and the clay above unites with the clay beneath, or with some other impervious strata upon which the gravel all the way rested. In this situation, as the water contained in the gravel can proceed no farther, it hangs within the side of the hill as in a bag of clay; and a reservoir is formed of water within the earth. When this bag or natural reservoir is full, the water contained in it is pressed upwards against the clay by which it is covered. It moistens this clay, and finds its way by chinks through all its weaker parts or pores. Thus a belt of soft and spouty land is formed upon the side of the hill; the mode of draining which is very easy. If a hole is dug into the earth near the bottom of the bag, or reservoir of water, so as to reach the layer of gravel, the water will instantly flow freely out, and, being no longer restrained, it will cease to press upon the layer or stratum of clay that covers it, or to force a passage through its chinks; and the soil will consequently be drained.

Let it be supposed, that the porous stratum or layer of gravel, instead of stopping on the side of a hill, descends into the plain or level country, the water all of Land, the while passing along in its bowels; and that the gravel has a layer of clay below and another layer of clay above it. After it has reached and passed to a considerable distance along the valley, if the layer of gravel either suddenly stop and allow the layers of clay to come together, or if the gravel have too little thickness and capacity to allow the water which flows within it to pass easily along, it will necessarily, from the new supplies of water which are continually descending, be pressed upwards against the layer of clay which covers it; as in the former case, the clay will be softened, and the water will filtrate through all its weaker parts till it reach the surface, which it will keep constantly wet, and where it will stagnate in consequence of the flat and level form of the country. Over the softest places, a coarse verdure will spread, and the roots of the parts intertwining, will form shaking quagmires. In other places, the moss plants, being the only ones which can thrive in the moist and ungenial soil which is thus produced, will rapidly spring up, and a moss will be formed altogether unfit for any purpose of agriculture. To drain such a soil, it is evidently only necessary to dig a pit or hole through the upper stratum of clay into the gravel, to give a free vent or issue to the water; which having thus found an easy passage to the open air, will cease to press upon the incumbent layer of clay, or to render it moist. This clay will therefore speedily become dry and collapse; the moss plants will wither, provided the surface is properly drained; and the whole soil will become solid and fit to be cultivated.

It sometimes happens, as already noticed, that a piece of territory which lies low, is rendered extremely wet by rain and spring water coming from adjacent high grounds, and lodging upon its surface, while, at the same time, it is completely surrounded by eminences, or land-locked, that it cannot be drained at a moderate cost; the consequence of which is, that the water stagnates, and a moss or bog is formed. The principles which we have already stated concerning the manner in which the globe is made up of various strata, indicate the way in which such a bog may be drained at a cheap rate. It is only necessary to dig a pit at the lowest part of it, down through the clay, or other impervious layer that holds up the water, till a porous stratum is reached, capable of conveying away the surface water down the country below ground to the sea, or to such rivers as it may chance to be connected with.

The whole art of draining land, where the wetness is occasioned by water pressing upwards from the bowels of the earth, depends upon these principles. It is an art whose importance is not yet sufficiently appreciated, because imperfectly understood, and because it has not yet been carried into practice to its full extent. It is probable, however, that at no remote period it will be held in universal estimation, on account of the command of those hidden streams that are contained in the bowels of the earth, which it will give to mankind about the purposes of an improved agriculture, and for the first discovery of commerce in filling canals and giving motion much of every kind of machinery. A dispute exists about draining the original discoverer of this art. The celebrated land writer upon agriculture, Dr James Anderson of Aberdeenshire, Preparation done, in his "Essays on Agriculture and Rural Affairs," published in 1775, was undoubtedly the first person who explained to the world the nature of the art of draining land rendered wet by springs, and the principles upon which it ought to proceed; having been led to the investigation many years before, by his having fortunately succeeded in draining a bog by sinking a pit in it through the clay, till an opening was made into the gravel or porous stratum, from which the water rushed up vehemently. In the mean while, it had happened that Mr Joseph Elkington, professor of a farm in England called Princesthorp, in the parish of Stretton upon Dunsmore, and county of Warwick, almost as early as Dr Anderson, had accidentally discovered that land might be drained in many situations by making a small hole into the earth. Being a man of considerable natural ingenuity, though, it is said, of little literature, he had the address to take advantage of the discovery he had made, with a view to the improvement of his affairs. He therefore commenced the trade of a drainer of lands; and by the novelty of draining land by a small hole bored often at a considerable distance from the wettest part of it, and by conducting himself in a mysterious manner, he acquired great reputation, and was extensively employed. This employment he appears to have merited, as his operations were attended with very great success. After the establishment of the Board of Agriculture, its members, who appear to have been unacquainted with Dr Anderson's publication, supposed Mr Elkington to be the only discoverer and professor of the art of draining land wet by springs in the way now mentioned; and upon their recommendation, parliament bestowed a reward of £100. upon him. It was surely an unfortunate circumstance, that the first premium granted upon the recommendation of this board, should have proceeded upon an error, as it undoubtedly did; for, although Mr Elkington had the merit of being the first who introduced this art extensively into practice, there is no doubt that Dr Anderson, by whom also it was discovered, was the first who explained its principles to the public, and that at a period when Mr Elkington's secret remained with himself. After all, however, it is not to be supposed that the theory of this art was absolutely unknown, although these persons appear to have been the first who proposed to apply it extensively to the purposes of agriculture. It is said that the practice is very ancient in Italy, when a well is dug, to avoid the expense of going to a great depth, by boring with an auger in the bottom of the pit, in the hopes of reaching the porous stratum which contains the water. And in Germany it appears, as will be afterwards noticed, that the practice has long existed of draining land-locked bogs, by letting down the water by means of a pit through the impervious clay, to a porous sub-stratum. We shall now proceed to state the most approved modes of draining land that is rendered wet by springs, or water ascending out of the earth; and as the Board of Agriculture instructed Mr John Johnston, land surveyor, to inspect Mr Elkington's principal drainings of this sort, and to give an account of them, we shall give all due attention to the contents of the report made out by that gentleman, which is understood to have been executed with much fidelity and accuracy; though we shall also exhibit, at the same time, the practice of other intelligent persons upon the same subject.

In the practice of this art it will readily occur, that it is of the utmost importance to obtain a knowledge of the internal structure of the earth, and of the rules for manner in which its various layers or strata succeed, and are usually intermingled with each other. This object, however, can only be attained in any considerable degree of perfection by observation and experience. There are several ways, however, by which a man of sagacity and reflection may greatly abridge the difficulty of this study, so as in a short time to enable himself to practise the art of draining with considerable success. The surest way of ascertaining the inclination of the different strata, or the way in which they lie upon each other, and the direction in which they descend into the earth, consists of examining the bed of the nearest rivers, and the appearance of their banks when steep and broken, so as to lay bare the different strata of earth adjoining to them. Pits, quarries, and wells, that may have been dug in the neighbourhood, may also be examined with the same view. Ruthes, small elder bushes, and other plants which grow on the wettest soils, also frequently afford symptoms of the line under which an internal reservoir of water is placed, and is pressing upwards from wanting a free passage below ground.

It is often of much importance, even in sheep countries, to drain the side of a hill, not only because wet the side of land is more unproductive than that which is properly drained, but because the superabundance of moisture is apt to introduce and to keep up among the flock that destructive and incurable disease, the rot, for which draining is an almost infallible preventive. It is cheaply executed in such situations, because the drains for collecting and leading off the water, may usually be left uncovered. Let it be supposed then, that in consequence of internal springs at a certain distance down the declivity of a hill, or upon any other descending surface, the ground becomes wet and spongy, and unwholesome for sheep, and unfit for agriculture; the best mode of proceeding with a view to drain it is this. It ought to be recollected, that the reason of the wetness is this: The rain water at the summit of the high ground is received into a porous stratum of gravel, with which it descends down the side of the hill, till it comes to be covered with a clayey soil. After descending under the covering of clay to some distance, the gravel or porous under soil suddenly ceases; the clay becomes deeper, and touches the rock or another inferior bed of clay. In this situation, the water, unable to descend farther, regresses and presses upwards upon the clayey soil which covers it, rendering it moist and swampy in every part, and oozing through all its weaker crannies. Thus it forms a belt of moist ground along the face of the hill, from which the water perhaps descends and damages every part. To drain this declivity, begin at the bottom, and carry up a ditch towards the wet ground. As the object is to let out the water at the lowest point of the reservoir or natural bag in which it is contained, by making an opening into the gravel there, it will be proper, as the ditch proceeds upwards, frequently to bore holes with an auger of about two inches diameter to a considerable depth. Part I.

Preparation depth, that is, about 15 feet, though sometimes it is necessary to go twice that depth. As long as the water is not found by boring, the ditch must be carried upwards, and new auger holes formed; when at last the auger by boring reaches the lowest part of the gravel or reservoir of water, the water will immediately rush forth with considerable violence at the hole formed by it, and will continue ever after to run without any danger of choking up. When the bottom of the reservoir of water or layer of gravel is thus found, another ditch ought to be drawn across the head of the former along the face of the hill, so as to form the figure of the letter T. In the upper ditch or drain that runs along the face of the hill, auger holes ought to be bored at short distances, to let out the whole water from the interior reservoir or stratum of gravel. The whole process will be easily understood from considering the figure 3. Care ought always to be taken in digging the upper drain along the face of the hill, to form it in such a way as that the water may descend in it towards the ditch first formed, which is intended to convey it down the hill to the nearest brook. The old practice or mode of draining ground in this situation before the use of the auger was understood, and before men had reflected upon the way in which water is often confined in the earth, consisted of digging a trench wherever the spouty land commenced. As this was not deep enough to reach the level, that is, to penetrate to the reservoir of water, it produces only a partial remedy. Other parallel ditches of the same kind were therefore cut the whole way down the declivity, and being filled with loose stones and connected with a descending ditch, each carried off only a portion of surface water, leaving the soil still cold in consequence of the wetness of the bottom.

In performing the operation already described, some difficulties are apt to occur, in consequence of the irregularities with which the strata are often placed in the earth. In boring in the ascending trench, in the first part of the operation, with a view to discover the lowest point at which the water may be let out from the internal reservoir, the operator is sometimes apt to be misled by finding water before he has come high enough to reach the place at which the porous stratum stops. This arises from its sometimes happening that at the bottom of the reservoir small leakages occur, and a portion of the water finds its way downwards through crannies in the earth to some distance from the main reservoir. When the auger in boring meets these leakages, they are apt to be mistaken for the main body of water, and the operator can only guard himself against such errors, by forming an estimate of the quantity of water which the adjoining high grounds ought to afford. If the quantity of water that follows the auger be very trifling, while the extent of high ground is great, he may be assured that he has not yet reached the great cause of the wetness of the soil. It also sometimes happens that the crofs drain carried along the face of the hill may in some places be below the level of the reservoir of water, while it is upon it at other places. In this case, when the auger by boring in the crofs trench brings no water, it will be necessary to bore above it, and to conduct the water that is there obtained by a small cut into the general crofs trench.

It sometimes happens that hills are composed of alternate strata, of rock and sand and clay, which rest horizontally or nearly so upon each other, and penetrate and form the mass of the hill. In such cases the soil above the sand or rock is often dry and productive, while the clay is wet and swampy. In this case, the highest part of the hill being generally porous, receives the rain water, which descends through it till it meets the impervious clay, which forces it to flow to the surface, which it renders wet. Having overflowed the upper clay surface, it is immediately absorbed by the next porous stratum; and descending into it in like manner, again issues at the lower side of it, and injures the surface of the next bed of clay, as it did that of the first. To drain a hill side of this description, it is necessary to make a trench along the upper side of every belt of ruffly or boggy soil to receive the water from the superior porous soil, and to lead the whole water thus obtained by one or more ditches downwards to the bottom.

Where a soil is composed of intermixed varieties, with clay predominating, it is sometimes very difficult to drain, as it is apt to form itself into a variety of hollow reservoirs, each of which holds water like a cup, while, at the same time, these hollows being full of porous materials, the surface of the soil is sufficiently regular. Thus in wet seasons, patches of moist unwholesome soil are formed, not by springs for which they may be mistaken, but by rain water held up by clay in these disjointed cavities. They can only be drained by separate covered cuts, communicating in the shortest way possible with one or more main drains.

With regard to the drainage of bogs, it has already been remarked, that they are either such as can have their water carried off by a communication, at a tolerable expense, with some adjoining lower ground; or they are land-locked, so as not to admit of being drained in this way. With regard to the former, or those which can be drained by trenches for conducting the water to an adjoining low country or river, they may be rendered wet in two ways: 1st, By springs oozing out of the adjoining higher ground, in a regular line along the upper side of the wet surface, which afford water that stagnates upon the surface of the inferior ground, forming it into a bog. To render free from water a bog of this kind, nothing more is necessary than merely to drain the upper adjoining swampy ground in the way that has been already stated, and to convey away to a distance the water produced by it, in regular, open, or hollow drains.—The second class of bogs rendered wet by springs, consists of those in which the many springs that appear are not confined to one regular direction along the upper side, but burst out everywhere, forming shaking quagmires, over which it is dangerous for cattle to pass. The upper part of such bogs usually consists of peat-earth. Below that is found a bed of clay, extremely wet and soft, through the crannies of which small quantities of water are continually oozing. When the lowest part of such a bog is found, or the place in which it will be most convenient to convey away the water, little more is usually necessary than to dig proper trenches, and to bore with the auger through the stratum of clay to the porous stratum containing the water. To drain an extensive bog, it will usually be necessary to dig a trench from end to end of it, with crofs trenches at considerable distances, Preparation of Land. the bottom of the whole being frequently penetrated with the auger, so as to allow a free passage for the water to ascend; the effect of which will be, that the nature of the surrounding soil will speedily be altered, in consequence of the water being removed from beneath it. It will become dry and solid, and soon fit for bearing the plough. The same effect would follow, although only a single perforation were made through the inferior stratum of the bog; and accordingly Mr Elkington is said sometimes to have succeeded, while he drained a bog, in raising the water from it considerably above its own level, for any purpose for which it may be required. This was done by rearing around the perforation, a building of brick, puddled around and within with clay, to the top of which the water rose, and was from thence conveyed away in pipes or otherwise.

That the whole of this important subject, of draining land rendered wet by springs, may be better understood, we shall give an account of it as described by Dr Anderson, in his Essays published in 1775, already mentioned. Supposing, says he, a descending stratum of sand or gravel should be discontinued, and that the stratum above it should be of a coherent clayey nature; in this case, the water being pent in on every side, and being accumulated in great quantities, must at length force a passage for itself in some way, and pressing strongly upon the upper surface, if any one part is weaker than the rest, it would burst forth, and form a spring; but if the texture of every part of this stratum were equally strong, the water would squeeze through many small crannies, and would ooze out in numberless places, so as to occasion that kind of wetness that is known by the name of spouting clayey soil.

The cure in this case is easily effected.—For if a ditch of a considerable size is opened towards the lowermost part of the spouting ground, so deep as to penetrate through the upper stratum of clay, and reach to the gravel, the water will rise up through it at first with very great violence, which will gradually decrease as the pressure from the water behind is diminished; and when the whole of the water accumulated in the subterranean reservoir is run off, there being no longer any pressure upon the clay above it, the whole soon becomes as dry as could be desired, and continues so ever afterwards, if the ditch is always kept open. This the doctor says he can assert from experience, having rendered some fields of this kind that were very wet quite dry by this method of treating them. The attentive observer, he adds, will readily perceive, that if any field that is wet from this cause admits of being ploughed, it will be in equal danger of being hurt by being raised into high ridges, with the other kind of damp ground before mentioned. For as the depth of earth above the reservoir would be smaller in the deep furrows than anywhere else, there would of consequence be less resistance to the water in that place, so that it would arise there in greater abundance. And if, in this case, a farmer should dig a drain in each furrow, as a considerable quantity of water would rise into them, in some cases the ground might be improved, or even quite drained thereby, especially if they should have accidentally reached the gravel in any one place; although at an expense much greater than was necessary.

"I take notice of this circumstance," says he, "in some measure to prevent the prejudice that some inattentive observers might entertain against what was said before of this method of draining, from their having accidentally seen some fields that may have been bettered by it.

"Bogs are only a variety of this last-mentioned kind of wet ground; and therefore ought in general to be drained after the same manner with them. Clay is a substance that strongly resists the entrance of water into it; but when it is long drenched with it, it is, in process of time, in some measure dissolved thereby; loses its original firmness of texture and consistence; and becomes a sort of semi-fluid mass, which is called a bog; and as these are sometimes covered with a strong scurf of a particular kind of grass, with very matted roots, which is strong enough to bear a small weight without breaking, although it yields very much, it is in these circumstances called a swaggie. But, whatever be the nature of the bog, it is invariably occasioned by water being forced up through a bed of clay, as just now described, and dissolving or softening, if you will, a part thereof. I say only a part; because whatever may be the depth of the bog or swaggie, it generally has a partition of solid clay between it and the reservoir of water under it, from whence it originally proceeds: for if this were not the case, and the quantity of water were considerable, it would meet with no sufficient resistance from the bog, and would issue through it with violence, and carry the whole semi-fluid mass along with it. But this would more inevitably be the case, if there was a crust at the bottom of the bog, and if the crust should ever be broken, especially if the quantity of water under it were very considerable: and as it is probable, that, in many cases of this sort, the water slowly dissolves more and more of this under crust, I make no doubt but that, in the revolution of many ages, a great many eruptions of this kind may have happened, although they may not have been deemed of importance enough to have the history of them transmitted to posterity. Of this kind, although formed of a different substance, I consider the flow of the Solway mofs in Northumberland to have been; which, upon the 16th of November 1771, burst its former boundaries, and poured forth a prodigious stream of semi-fluid matter, which in a short time covered several hundred acres of very fine arable ground. Nor will any one, who is acquainted with the nature of mofs,—who knows its resemblance to clay in its quality of absorbing and retaining water, and its very easy diffusibility therein, be surprised at this; as from all these properties, it is much better adapted for forming an extensive bog, and therefore in greater danger of producing an extensive devastation by an irruption of the water into it, than those that are formed of any kind of clay whatever.

"If the bog, or swampy ground, is upon a declivity, the ditch ought to be carried across the field about the place where the lowest springs arise. But if the surface of the ground is level or nearly so, so as to form soft quagmires, interposed through the whole of the field, it will be of little consequence in what part the drain is opened; for if it is dug up so deep as to allow the water to rise in it with freedom, it will issue through that opening, and the field will be left perfectly dry.

"But as it may frequently happen that the stratum of gravel should be at a considerable depth beneath the surface..." below the level of the place into which the drain must be emptied; it might sometimes be extremely difficult to make a ditch so deep as to reach the bed of sand or gravel. But it is lucky for us that this is not absolutely necessary in the present case; as a drain of two or three feet deep, will be equally effectual with one that should go to the gravel. All that is necessary, in this case, is to sink pits in the course of the drain, at a moderate distance from one another, which go so deep as to reach the gravel; for as the water there meets with no resistance, it readily flows out at these openings, and is carried off by the drain without being forced up through the earth; so that the ground is left entirely dry ever after.

"I have likewise drained several fields in this way; and as I have generally found the appearances pretty much alike, I shall, for the information of the inexperienced reader, give a short account of them.

"If you attempt to make your pit in one of these soft quaggy places where the water is found in great abundance, you will meet with very great difficulty in forming it; for as the substance of which it is composed is soft, it will always flow into the hole as fast as you dig it; on which account I would advise, not to attempt to make the pit in the swaggie, but as near it in the solid earth as you conveniently can. However, if it is pretty firm, and of no great extent, it is sometimes practicable to make a pit in the soft bog at the driest time of the year. This I have sometimes practiced, which gave me an opportunity of observing the nature of these bogs more perfectly than I otherwise would have had. In the trials of this kind that I have made, this soft quaggy ground has seldom been above three or four feet deep; below which I have always found a stratum of hard tough clay usually mixed with stones, and so firm that nothing but a mattock or pickaxe could penetrate it; and as this is comparatively so much drier than the ground above it, an inexperienced operator is very apt to imagine that this is the bottom that he is in search of. In digging through this stratum, you will frequently meet with small springs oozing out in all directions; some of them that might fill the tube of a small quill, and others so small as to be scarcely perceptible; but without regarding these, you must continue to dig on without interruption till you come to the main body of the reservoir, if I may so call it, that is contained in the rock, gravel, or sand; which you will generally find from two to four feet below the bottom of the swaggie, and which you will be in no danger of mistaking when you come to it: for, if there has been no opening made before that in the field, as soon as you break the crust immediately above the gravel or rock, the water bursts forth like a torrent, and on some occasions rises like a jet d'eau, to a considerable height above the bottom of the ditch; and continues to flow off with great impetuosity for some time, till the pent-up water being drained off, the violent boiling up begins to subside, and the strength of the current to abate, and, in a short time, it flows gently out like any ordinary spring; allowing it to remain in this state, the quaggy earth begins to subside, and gradually becomes firmer and firmer every day; so that, in the space of a few months, those bogs which were formerly so soft as hardly to support the weight of a small dog, become so firm that oxen and horses may tread upon them without any danger of sinking, at the very wettest season of the year. I have had a field of this nature, that, by having only one such pit as I have now described opened in it, was entirely drained to the distance of above a hundred yards around it in every direction. But as it is possible that the stratum in which the water runs may be in some places interrupted, it will be in general expedient to make several of these pits, if the field is of great extent; always carrying the drain forward through the lowermost part of the field, or as near the quag as you conveniently can; and sinking a pit wherever you may judge it will be most necessary. But if the stratum of gravel is not interrupted, there will be no violent burst of water at opening any of these after the first, as I have frequently experienced. To keep these wells from closing up after they are made, it is always expedient to fill them up with small stones immediately after they are made, which ought to rise to the height of the bottom of the drain.

"I have often imagined that the expense of digging these pits might be saved by boring a hole through this solid stratum of clay with a large wimble made on purpose; but as I never experienced this, I cannot say whether or not it would answer the desired end exactly.

"If the whole field that is to be drained consists of one extensive bog, it will require a long time before the whole work can be entirely finished, as it will be impossible to open a drain through it till one part of it is first drained and become solid ground. In a situation of this kind, the undertaker, after having opened a drain to convey the water from the lowest part of the bog, must approach as near to the swampy ground as he can, and there make his first pit; which will drain off the water from the nearest parts of the bog. When this has continued open for some time, and that part of the bog is become so solid as to admit of being worked, let him continue the ditch as far forward through it as the situation it is in will admit of, and there sink another pit; and proceed gradually forward in the same manner; making cross cuts where necessary, till the whole be finished.

"In this manner may any bog or tract of spouting ground of this nature be rendered dry at a very inconsiderable expense; and as there can be no other method of draining ground of this sort effectually, I recommend the study of it to the attention of every diligent farmer who may have occasion for it. Let him first be extremely cautious in examining all the circumstances of his particular fields, that he may be certain which of the classes above enumerated it may be ranked with; and when he is perfectly sure of that, he may proceed without fear, being morally certain of success."

We shall add the substance of a paper on this subject, for which the author received the silver medal of the Society instituted for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. That author is Mr. Wedge's John Wedge of Bickenhill, near Coventry, who is mode of not only a great farmer himself; but had likewise been employed by the earl of Aylesford in the management of several estates. Encouraged by his lordship's liberality, Mr. Wedge informs the society, that he had been Preparation been employed for some years in draining large portions of land, of which part was in the earl's occupation, and part in his own, as tenant to his lordship. The principles upon which he proceeded, as well as his mode of procedure, he states in the following terms:

In every country there are large portions of land that, in wet seasons, have always what may be called a dry surface, and other portions of land that have always a moist or wet surface: the former of these admitting all the water which falls upon them to sink freely through their pores to various depths, till falling on clay, or some other unctuous earth, whose pores will not permit it to pass through, it is there held up to a height proportioned to the quantity of water which comes upon it, and the facility with which that water is discharged. Thus, held up to various heights, it serves as a fountain to distribute its water (either by veins of sand, pebbles, or rock, according to the formation of the different under strata) on the neighbouring lands; and there forms bogs and other varieties of wet surface, on a basis that will be always found to consist of marl or clay, or some mixture thereof. The effect of water thus distributed may be divided into two classes. The first class, where the water is thrown out by a body of marl or clay, &c., upon the surface of descending ground, and in the valley (there held up by clay also) forms bogs or swamps. The second class, where the water is held up by marl or clay, as before, having above that marl or clay a stratum of sand, or pebbles, through which the water passes; and above those sands or pebbles another stratum of marl or clay, through the weakest parts of which the water, by a continual pressure from its fountain, forces a passage upwards; and thus, through the weakest parts of the marl or clay furnishes a continual supply of water on the surface, for the formation or growth of bogs, &c., in proportion as this water is more or less abundantly supplied by its fountain or head, namely, the higher lands, into which rain-water freely passes, as before described.

There are also different soils, under different circumstances, which may form a third class of land for draining; such as strong deep soils, or open light soils, having near the surface a body of marl or clay. In either of these cases, the water which falls on the surface must, for reasons which are self-evident, keep such lands, in rainy seasons, constantly wet and cold; and it should be observed, that a mixture of all the three before described classes of wet land sometimes occurs in one field, by sudden alterations of the under strata, and thereby perplexes the operator, by requiring all the different modes of draining in the same field.

If it be admitted that bogs are thus formed and fed, their cure may be effected with certainty: The first class, by cutting through the stratum (be it sand, pebbles, or rock), that conveys the water to the bog, and carrying off that water by a close drain to some proper place, where the level admits of its discharge: The second class, by sinking a drain to any convenient depth in the upper clay; and then digging or boring with a large auger, at a small distance on one side of this drain, through the remaining part, be it (the upper clay) ever so deep, into the under stratum of sand, pebbles, or rock, through which the water passes; which will then rush up into the drain so made, with a velocity proportioned to the height of the land or fountain whence it is supplied. As this drain advances through the land, holes must be dug or bored, as before, every seven yards, or at such distance as the strength of the springs may require; and the whole of the water thus brought up by tapping the springs, is carried off by the drain made in the upper clay, which must be a close one, to its proper level, and there discharged.

By both these methods of draining, large tracts of land, under favourable circumstances, may be cured with one drain. The best place for fixing these drains is where the stratum that conveys the water comes nearest to the surface; and the best method of ascertaining that is to bore or dig in different parts through the different under strata.

The third class may be easily cured by close drains, at such distances and depths as will best carry off the surface-water. It may not be improper to observe, that where the different strata or measures crop out, that is, become gradually more and more shallow in some certain direction (as is often the case, till, one after the other, they all present themselves in succession on the surface of the earth), draining may often be much more easily and better effected by crofting with the drain the different strata or measures, where the levels and other circumstances will admit.

Some of the land drained was part of a common, in the parish of Church Bickenhill, in the county of Warwick; part of it was covered with mists and ling, had a peaty surface, about six inches deep, and produced little or no grass: in all wet seasons it was filled quite to the surface, and often overflowed, with water. Some of the land was much more unfound, deeper of peat, and covered with mists, in most parts nine inches long; another part was an absolute bog in all seasons.

Having dug or bored with a large auger into several parts of the land, Mr. Wedge found peat, gravel, and sand mixed, and a quicksand almost uniformly. The quicksand in every part, after getting an inch or two into it, seemed almost as fluid as water. Judging from this, that no materials for a drain could be laid in the quicksand, but what it would immediately bury, he dug a trench almost to the quicksand, leaving gravel, &c., of sufficient strength to bear up the materials for a hollow drain; these materials were two sides and a cover of stone, with a peat-turf on the top to keep out the soil. At every seven yards forward, by the side of this drain, he dug a hole in the quicksand as deep as it would permit. From these holes the water rose freely into the hollow drain, and was by it discharged at a proper level. It may be proper to remark, that the stone made use of for this drain, and all others here mentioned, was a red sand and rag-stone, which easily split into proper sizes for the purpose, and is very durable; it cost about sixpence per ton getting, exclusive of carriage. The drain thus formed ran on the whole rather freely, and made the land dry for a few yards on each side thereof, but was far from having the effect he improperly expected; for it evidently appears that the drain could only take a very small portion of the water from so large a quicksand, which it did not penetrate more than two inches; and that it could drain only to its own depth, or, at most, to that depth in the fountain which supplied the quicksand. His purpose was then defeated; and his motive for mentioning this error cannot, he hopes, be mistaken. He now did what he says he ought to have done before, that is, he examined the different strata to a greater depth, particularly on the bog, and at the upper edges thereof, and found the bog to be what has been described under the first clas. He therefore determined to attempt the cure in the manner before prescribed for that clas, namely, to cut through the whole of the stratum (in this instance, of quicksand), through which he found the water pas. This he effected as follows:

The summer being dry, and favourable for the purpose, and having previously made his main open drain, he began his main close drain the first week in June 1791, three feet wide, on the declivity near the edge of the great bog. In the first operation he dug through the peat, the hard sand, and gravel, and one spade’s graft (about nine inches deep and seven inches wide) into the quicksand, the whole length of this drain, which was 73 perches, of eight yards to the perch, in length. The drain thus dug ran copiously, not less than 60 gallons per minute. In this state he left it about nine days; the effect of it was rapid, both above the drain and on the bog below. Upon examination, he now found about three inches on the top of the spade’s graft, which had been made into the quicksand, perfectly dry. He then dug out these three inches of dry sand, to nearly the whole width of the drain, three feet; and at the same time dug out, as before, another spade’s graft, from the top of the quicksand, as near the middle of the drain as possible. This was left to run a few days, as before, and had the same effect, namely, three or four inches more of the top of the quicksand became dry and hard.

The same operation was repeated again and again with the same effect, till the purpose of getting through this quicksand was completed, so far at least as the level of the main open drain would permit. The stream of water continued increasing during the whole operation; the bog below the drain was quite dry, and the land above perfectly so. The drain which was first made, and continued running for some time during the progress of the main close drain, became gradually dry; and has not, since that drain was finished, discharged one single drop of water. Great care was necessary, in making the main close drain, to keep the stream of water in the middle of it, otherwise the current would have undermined the sides, as it sometimes had done, and caused them to fall in. For this reason it was necessary, when the dry sand was taken from the top of the quicksand, immediately to take out a spade’s graft from the middle thereof, in order to divert the current from the sides.

The main close drain thus made was three feet wide at top, about nine feet deep on the average, and, beveling a little from the top, it was about one foot ten inches wide at the bottom. The stone and other materials were put into this drain in the following manner:

1. Where the drain went through the quicksand into the stratum of clay below it, as in most places it did, the bottom, and in some instances the sides, wanted no particular security; but where it did not go quite through the quicksand, which the level of his main open drain in some places would not admit, the bottom of the drain was covered half an inch thick with ling; then peat turfs, one foot wide and three or four inches thick, were cut in convenient lengths, and placed on their edges on each side of the bottom of the drain, forming two sides of a trough of peat; then side stones about eight inches high and a stone coverer, were put in upon the ling between the peat turfs; a large peat-turf, near two feet wide and four inches thick, was then cut and firmly placed over the whole: this left in the bottom of the drain an open space, of more than six inches square, for the water to pass. The whole was then completed by filling in the upper part of the drain.

In this way the author drained for about 80l. thirty acres of land, which, from being of no value whatever, became worth at least 14 shillings per acre of yearly rent. He likewise hollow-drained nine acres by the method prescribed for the third clas of wet land. These drains were made a few yards below that part of each field where the dry and wet land separate, about 22 inches deep, with sides and a coverer of stone, and ling on the top of it, to keep the earth from running in. The length of these drains was 880 yards, and the expense of labour and materials three halfpence per yard. The drains, in wet weather, discharge a large quantity of water; and will, he has no doubt, answer the intended purpose. Thus far relates to land in his own occupation.

Nine acres of the land in the earl of Aylesford’s occupation was almost an entire pulp. This bog was of the second clas, namely, water passing through a quicksand, and confined by a stratum of clay below, and another stratum of clay above it. The water thus confined, being pressed by its fountain, and forced up through the weakest parts of the clay, had formed a bog of irregular thickness on the surface, in some places six feet deep, in others not more than two. As there is a considerable fall in this land from east to west, he thought it expedient to put two drains into it; and this appears to him to have been necessary, from a consideration that both these drains continue to run in the same proportions as when first opened. The manner in which these drains were executed was, by digging through the different upper strata, and as deep into the clay as the main open drain would admit: then digging or boring through the remaining part of that clay into the quicksand, at the distance of about six yards, in a progressive manner.

The water rising rapidly through these holes into the close drains, has effected a complete cure of this land, every part of which will now bear a horse to gallop upon it. These drains discharge 5660 gallons an hour; which is much less than they did at first, as must be the case in all bogs. This land will be worth 20s. per acre. The draining cost 25l.; and the length of the under-ground drains is eight hundred and fourteen yards.

Mr Wedge had just finished (January 1792) draining another piece of land, about forty-three acres. As this was intended to answer two purposes, one, to drain the land, the other to give an additional supply of water to a mill-pool, and as a circumstance arose in the execution of the work which frequently happens in draining land, namely, a sudden alteration in the position of the under strata; a description thereof will not probably be thought tedious. This draining was begun at the level of a mill-pool, and continued, without any great difficulty, to the distance of about thirty-two chains, in the manner before described as a cure for... Preparation for the second class of boggy land: but at or near that place the under strata altered their position; the quicksand which conveyed the water now became of twice its former thickness; and the clay, which had hitherto been above that quicksand, for some distance disappeared. From the quicksand thus becoming so much deeper, he could not, with the level of the mill-pool, cut through it; nor indeed, from the wetness of the season, would such an operation have been proper. He therefore continued a shallow drain to some distance, making side-holes into the quicksand, which ran freely; but as this could not cure the whole of the bog below, he branched out another drain (which was made by the method described for curing the second class of wet or boggy land), by sinking a close drain through the upper strata into the upper clay, and then, at a small distance on one side of this close drain, boring a hole with an auger through the remaining part of that clay into the quicksand; and at every eight yards, as this close drain advanced, still boring other holes, in the manner before described: through many of these holes the water rushed with great rapidity. The water discharged by these drains into the mill-pool is 168 gallons per minute, or 3780 hogsheads in a day; which is after the rate of 1,379,700 hogsheads in a year.

About six acres of this land were always found; about twelve acres on the north side were an absolute pulp, and the remaining twenty-five acres very unsound. The whole is now found, and will when cultivated be worth 16s. per acre. This land would have been drained at a much less expense into the main open drain; but then the water, which was much wanted for the mill, would have been lost. These close drains are in length 1452 yards, and cost 100l. of which about 30l. ought to be charged to the mill.

With regard to the drainage of land-locked bogs, which are often situated so much lower than the ground around them, that the cutting a main drain would cost more than the value of the land when drained; the mode of proceeding, with a view at once cheaply and effectually to relieve them from the superfluous moisture which renders them useless to agriculture, is the following: A spot in the middle or lowest part of the bog must be selected, towards which all the drains must be conducted, as radii to a common centre. When this central spot is properly cleared out to the top of the clay, or retentive substratum, which in this case must not be affected by water from below, but only by surface or rain water, a number of perforations must be made with the auger, to give an outlet downwards for the water, which will be absorbed by the porous stratum below. A conduit should be formed over the auger holes, by loose stones, placed in such a manner as to prevent their being afterwards filled up by any rubbish: or rather auger holes may not be sufficient; and it may be a preferable plan to make a large pit, or well, in the lowest part of the bog, dug through into the porous substrata. This pit ought to be filled with large stones, and the drains from the rest of the field conducted to that spot, as mentioned in the following quotation from the Agricultural Report of Hertfordshire.—"If a pit is sunk 20 or 30 feet deep in the middle of a field, through the Hertfordshire red, flinty, and impervious clay, into the chalk below; when the usual quantity of chalk is taken out, the pit shaft is filled up with the flint taken out of the chalk preparation and clay, and the top drainage of this part of the field is much shortened for ever afterwards, by making principal drains from the part of the field above the level of the top of the pit terminate therein, as the superabundant moisture will escape through the flints in the pit shaft to the chalk below. And if a drain is carried into a limestone quarry, it is seldom necessary to carry it further.

"In dells or hollows, of considerable extent, covered with an impervious stratum, and from which there is no natural drainage, such as the valley between Mold, the shire-town of Flintshire, and the adjoining high land, a pit about four feet diameter, and 15 feet deep, more or less, as the case may require, is sunk through the impervious superstratum, into a pervious stratum of gravel, and the rain water, and that of some adjoining springs, are carried from the surface thereby; the pit is raised round to prevent cattle from falling into it. I must here remark, that though in this, as well as in many other instances that may be given, the top water escaped through the pervious substratum, the effect might have been directly the contrary. I therefore recommend the impervious superstratum, in all such cases, to be perforated by bore-rods, as the hole made by them is easily stopped up."

In Dr Nugent's travels through Germany, published in 1768, a mode of draining marshes upon similar principles is described, as having been practised in that country. He had only seen it performed on moor grounds, though it is also successful with regard to lakes. "It is the nature, says he, of moors in general, that beneath the turf or moss there is a loam which hinders the moisture from penetrating; and this indeed is what makes the marsh, and causes the luxuriant growth of the turf or moss; but this loam or clay is only a stratum, and far from being of an immense depth; under it is generally a sand, or some other stony or loose soil.

"He reason readily informs us, that a middling morass may be drained by perforating the clay, and thus making way for the moisture to penetrate. In order to this, a pit is dug in the deepest part of the moor, till they come below the obstructing clay, and meet with such a spongy stratum as, in all appearance, will be sufficient to imbibe the moisture of the marsh above it. Into this pit the ebbing of the morass is conveyed through a trench, and both the trench and the pit are filled up after the first drain with large broad stones, setting them edgewise, so as to leave interstices for carrying off the water; then such stones are laid over breadthwise, and these covered with loose earth like that on the surface: when no such stones are to be had, strong piles are rammed down the sides of the trench, and broad boards laid across; and these are covered with earth to a height fit for culture. This is a matter of no great expense, the pit being as near the morass as the water will admit, and the trenches but short; then they have a drain unperceived, which leaves the surface of the trenches for the plough; and in middling marshes, especially in such moors as are only wet and damp, this method, though sometimes slow, never fails taking effect; and many tracts are thereby made serviceable to the farmer or grazier."

The writer of the Roxburghshire Agricultural Report represents... Preparation represents himself as having successfully adopted a similar mode of draining. In that part of the country, such of the waste lands, as are capable of being drained so as to become arable, have, at the distance of from one to six feet below the surface, a large stratum or seam of a black flaty or metallic substance, generally from 20 to 25 feet in thickness. Below this is a layer of whinstone rock of unknown depth. The black flaty or metallic substance has no chinks or fissures, and is impenetrable to water; but the whinstone rock beneath it abounds with chinks and fissures, and will swallow up any quantity of water poured into its bosom. The uppermost surface of the soil is of a light mossy nature, upon which the water stagnates in winter, so as to swell and enlarge it to a considerable degree. In the spring months, when dried by the sun and the wind, the moss becomes tolerably firm, and produces a coarse unprofitable grass, mixed with short heather; neither of which are of any value as food for sheep or cattle. In the year 1784 the writer of the Report ploughed up 20 acres of the waste lands of the above description, a part of them being situated on a level. This last part was gathered into small ridges, and ploughed pretty deep, and the stones removed. Thus it lay till midsummer 1785; but, during the spring, the sheep and cattle were frequently driven upon it to tread it to a firm consistence. At midsummer it was gathered up again; and, to get the water out of the hollows of the ridges, a pair of boring rods were obtained, which were put down through the flaty substance to the whinstone rock at sundry places. This effectually answered the purpose. The tops of the holes were kept open with baskets of loose stones over them, which were allowed to remain or removed at pleasure, as the weather proved more or less wet. In spring 1786 the land was in a condition to sow almost as early as any other part of the farm, the winter rains having found their way down into the whinstone rock through the flaty substance, and the land speedily became and continued very valuable.

We may here add, that the modes of draining now employed are also valuable for other purposes than those of agriculture. Quarries, for example, and marl pits may often be cleared of water, by cutting off the springs by which they are incommode, or by letting down the water into the next porous stratum. The same may be often done, with regard to deep mines, the working of which may frequently be thus greatly facilitated. A colliery for example, in Yorkshire had been wrought for several years, and the water was raised from it about 60 yards by a steam engine. The proprietors having bored about ten yards farther, to ascertain the thickness of a seam of coals; as soon as the boring rods were withdrawn, the water from the works, which usually ran across that place, began to sink into the holes made by the rods; and continuing to do so, the steam engine became useless, as its pump had no longer any water to draw. It must be observed, that the situation was higher than the nearest valleys, or the level of the sea; but this example shows of what extensive importance a knowledge of the principles upon which the above modes of draining proceed may hereafter become.

3. Of rendering Mosses fit for Cultivation.

In many parts of the country a very serious obstruction to the cultivation of large portions of territory arises from the existence of mosses. It is, therefore, of much importance to consider their nature, and how they are to be rendered fertile.

With regard to the nature and origin of mosses, the Nature and celebrated Dr Anderson, whose works we have already frequently quoted, advances this opinion, that moss is a vegetable, or an assemblage of vegetables, growing or living below, while at the top it is dead. Hence, he distinguishes moss into two kinds; quick moss, from which peats are dug, on which no vegetables grow, and in which no animals exist, while in its natural situation; and dead moss, which frequently covers the former, and upon which heath and bog and coarse grasses grow, and insects and other animals are found. Mr Head-Communitrick states various objections to this opinion, some of which appear to have great force. Thus, it is observed, that the moss here supposed to be alive below the soil, has every mark of utter deadness and partial dissolution. When tosted about in a very dark night, it emits light like half rotten wood, giving rise to frequent terrors in those who live in the vicinity of peat bogs. It also seems a strange circumstance, and contrary to the whole analogy of nature, to suppose that a vegetable should grow, should form ligneous fibres, and acquire inflammability, without the influence of the sun, or contact with the air, during any period of its growth. The true history of the origin of mosses seems to be this: What are called the moss plants, amount to about three hundred in number. They are extremely hardy, and are capable of flourishing in the most cold and bleak situations, providing they only are surrounded by abundance of stagnating water. Accordingly, wherever water stagnates in a moderate quantity, they grow up, and, by spreading themselves around, they increase the stagnation. When they have arisen in this manner, with the water around them, to a considerable height, the lower parts of their stems being continually soaked or macerated in water, cease to vegetate, and give forth their juices to the surrounding fluid. As the moss plants are extremely astringent, and contain large quantities of the gallic acid and tanning principle, the moss water acquires these qualities, or becomes astringent, in a great degree, and prevents any process of putrefaction from taking place, or the stems of the moss plants from suffering any proper process of rottenness or chemical decomposition. Hence it is, that moss water has sometimes been used for tanning leather, in the same manner as the liquor of oak bark. In the mean time, while the stems of the moss plants remain in this manner dead, but prevented from rotting, or becoming the habitation of animals which cannot live in a vegetable astringent liquor, the tops of the plants that are at the surface of the water continue to grow, or new plants rise upon the summits of the dead ones, and continue their ascending progress; the whole being perhaps a sort of parasitical plants, which can grow upon each other.

In this way, a moss proceeds, rising higher and higher, till from the nature of the adjoining country, and the declivities in it, the water cannot stagnate to any greater depth. After the moss has come to this height, its farther growth is prevented, its plants, unable to live or grow without abundance of water, wither and die; the upper part of them being exposed to the action of the air, suffers an ordinary process of decomposition, like... Preparation like other vegetable remains, and is converted into a fort of soil, upon which a few plants and reptiles are sometimes found; while at a small depth, that is to say, below the surface of the stagnating water, the whole items of the ancient moss plants continue macerated in their own liquor, and preserved from putrefaction by it.

There are, however, two general kinds of mosses; black moss, and whitish or yellow moss. The black moss is originally of a mahogany colour, but speedily becomes black upon exposure to the air. The yellowish, or foggy moss, is much less compact than the former, and retains a light or yellowish colour after it is dried. It does not appear to be in such a perfect state of maceration as the black moss, has less variety of plants, and is never so solid. It is usually produced in low warm situations, and appears to have grown rapidly; whereas, the black moss is most commonly found in cold elevated lands, and seems to have consisted of a greater number of less luxuriant plants. Thus, moss may be regarded as bearing some resemblance to timber, which is always of a compact grain, and close texture, in proportion to the severity of the climate of which it is the product, or rather in proportion to the length of time which it has taken to grow.

From what has been here stated, it will not be difficult to understand the mode in which mosses come originally to find an existence, or to cover a piece of territory in any country. When a pool of water is speedily, or in a short time, formed to a great depth, no moss appears; but when a gradual stagnation to a small depth takes place, upon any spot, especially in a cold and exposed situation, there the moss plants (being the only ones capable of subsisting on such a soil) speedily grow up, and occupy the place of every other. Though the quantity of water that originally stagnated there might not be great, it is increased by degrees, in consequence of the additional obstruction produced by the roots, stems, and leaves of the moss plants, till at last it forms a bog of very great depth.—We have already mentioned the nature and cause of the stagnation of water. It may either occur in consequence of the figure and quality of the soil making it tenaciously to retain the falling rains, or it may be the consequence of springs or reservoirs of water pent up or confined in the bowels of the earth by an incumbent mass of clay. Struggling to rise up through this clay, it will wet every part of it, and will slowly ooze through all its less adhesive parts, and will form a soil fit only for the reception of moss plants, which will there, by obstructing the departure of the moisture, which is constantly rising, in the course of years rear up the surface into a complete and perfect peat-bog.

But mosses not only arise in particular situations, in consequence of these operations of nature: They are also produced as the result of certain exertions of human industry. In almost all our mosses in this country, great numbers of trees of various sorts are found. They remain, like the inferior parts or roots of moss plants, infused and macerated in the moss water, but not rotted. The trees and shrubs found at the bottom of mosses in Scotland, exhibit, perhaps the whole variety of the native trees and shrubs. Of trees, are found the oak, the elm, the birch, the willow, the alder, and fir. Of shrubs, we find the hazel, the dwarf willow, the gall plant, and lastly, the heath plant. This last is of so hardy a nature, that it often continues to rise upon the moss during the whole period of its existence. Now, if it should be supposed, that at any time extensive forests of these trees were suddenly cut down by the exertions of man, they would undoubtedly produce a stagnation of water, and a bleakness of climate, that would render the situation fit only to be inhabited by moss plants, which would therefore speedily rise up, and form a peat-bog, in which multitudes of trees and shrubs would be found soaked in their own juice, and in the astringent liquor resulting from the maceration of the items of the moss plants. That in ancient times old forests were thus destroyed by the efforts of man, we have every reason to believe. Not only in this country, but also in England and Ireland, there are found in mosses vast numbers of trees standing with their stumps erect, and their roots piercing the ground in a natural posture as when growing. Many of these trees are broken or cut off near the roots, and lie along, and this usually in a north-east direction. People who have been willing to account for this, have usually resolved it into the effect of the deluge in the days of Noah; but this is a very wild conjecture, and is proved false by many unanswerable arguments. The waters of this deluge might indeed have washed together a great number of trees, and buried them under loads of earth; but then they would have lain irregularly and at random; whereas, in this case, the trees all lie lengthwise from south-west to north-east, and the roots all stand, in their natural perpendicular posture, as close as the roots of trees in a forest.

Besides, these trees are not all in their natural state, but many of them have the evident marks of human workmanship upon them, some being cut down with an axe; some split, and the wedges still remaining in them; some burnt in different parts, and some bored through with holes. These things are also proved to be of a later date than the deluge, by other matters found among them, such as utensils of ancient people and coins of the Roman emperors.

It appears from the whole, that all the trees which we find in this fossil state, originally grew in the very places where we now find them, and have only been thrown down and buried there, not brought from elsewhere. It may appear indeed an objection to this opinion, that most of these fossil trees are of the fir kind; and that Caesar says expressly, that no firs grew in Britain in his time: but this is easily answered by observing that these trees, though of the fir kind, yet are not the species usually called the fir, but pitch tree; and Caesar has nowhere said that pitch trees did not grow in England. Norway and Sweden yet abound with these trees; and there are at this time whole forests of them in many parts of Scotland, and a large number of them wild upon a hill at Waretton in Staffordshire to this day.

In Hatfield marsh, where such vast numbers of the fossil trees are now found, there has evidently once been a whole forest of them growing. The last of these was found alive, and growing in that place, within 70 years last past, and cut down for some common use.

It is also objected by some to the system of the firs growing where they are found fossil, that these countries tries are all bogs and moors, whereas these forts of trees grow only in mountainous places. But this is founded on an error; for though in Norway and Sweden, and some other cold countries, the fir kinds all grow upon barren and dry rocky mountains, yet in warmer places they are found to thrive as well on wet plains. Such are found plentifully in Pomerania, Livonia, Courland, &c.; and in the west parts of New England there are vast numbers of fine flately trees of them in low grounds. The whole truth seems to be, that these trees love a sandy soil; and such as is found at the bottoms of all the mottes where these trees are found fossil. The roots of the fir kind are always found fixed in these; and those of oaks, where they are found fossil in this manner, are usually found fixed in clay: so that each kind of tree is always found rooted in the places where they stand in their proper soil; and there is no doubt to be made but that they originally grew there. When we have thus found that all the fossil trees we meet with once grew in the places where they are now buried, it is plain that in these places there were once noble forests, which have been destroyed at some time; and the question only remains how and by whom they were destroyed. This we have reason to believe, by the Roman coins found among them, was done by the people of that empire, and that at the time when they were established or establishing themselves here.

Their own historians tell us, that when their armies pursued the wild Britons, these people always sheltered themselves in the miry woods and low watery forests. Caesar expressly says this; and observes, that Cassibelan and his Britons, after their defeat, passed the Thames, and fled into such low marshes and woods that there was no pursuing them: and we find that the Silures secured themselves in the same manner when attacked by Ostorius and Agricola. The same thing is recorded of Venutius king of the Brigantes, who fled to secure himself into the boggy forests of the midland part of this kingdom: and Herodian expressly says, that in the time of the Romans pushing their conquests in these islands, it was the custom of the Britons to secure themselves in the thick forests which grew in their boggy and wet places, and when opportunity offered, to issue out thence and fall upon the Romans. The consequence of all this was the destroying all these forests; the Romans finding themselves so plagued with parties of the natives issuing out upon them at times from the forests, that they gave orders for the cutting down and destroying all the forests in Britain which grew on boggy and wet grounds. These orders were punctually executed; and to this it is owing that at this day we can hardly be brought to believe that such forests ever grew with us as are now found buried.

The Roman histories all join in telling us, that when Suetonius Paulinus conquered Anglesea, he ordered all the woods to be cut down there, in the manner of the Roman generals in England: and Galen tells us, that the Romans, after their conquest in Britain, kept their soldiers constantly employed in cutting down forests, draining of marshes, and paving of bogs. Not only the Roman soldiers were employed in this manner, but all the native Britons made captives in the wars were obliged to assist in it: and Dion Cassius tells us, that the emperor Severus lost no less than 50,000 men in a few years time in cutting down the woods and draining the bogs of this island. It is not to be wondered at, that such numbers executed the immense destruction which we find in these buried forests. One of the greatest subterranean treasures of wood is that near Hatfield; and it is easy to prove, that these people, to whom this havoc is thus attributed, were upon the spot where these trees now lie buried. The common road of the Romans out of the south into the north, was formerly from Lindum (Lincoln) to Segelochum (Little Burrow upon Trent), and from thence to Danum (Doncaster), where they kept a standing garrison of Crispinian horse. A little off on the east, and north-east of their road, between the two last named towns, lay the borders of the greatest forest, which swarmed with wild Britons, who were continually making their sallies out, and their retreats into it again, intercepting their provisions, taking and destroying their carriages, killing their allies and passengers, and disturbing their garrisons. This at length so exasperated the Romans, that they were determined to destroy it; and to do this safely and effectually, they marched against it with a great army, and encamped on a great moor not far from Finningley: this is evident from their fortifications yet remaining.

There is a small town in the neighbourhood called Quesfeld; and as the termination field seems to have been given only in remembrance of battles fought near the towns whose names ended with it, it is not improbable that a battle was fought here between all the Britons who inhabited this forest and the Roman troops under Ostorius. The Romans slew many of the Britons, and drove the rest back into this forest, which at that time overspread all this low country. On this the conquerors taking advantage of a strong south-west wind, let fire to the pitch-trees, of which this forest was principally composed; and when the greater part of the trees was thus destroyed, the Roman soldiers and captive Britons cut down the remainder, except a few large ones which they left standing, as remembrances of the destruction of the reft. These fingle trees, however, could not stand long against the winds, and these falling into the rivers which ran through the country, interrupted their currents; and the water then overspreading the level country, made one great lake, and gave origin to the mottes or moory bogs, which were afterwards formed there, by the workings of the waters, the precipitation of earthy matter from them, and the putrefaction of rotten boughs and branches of trees, and the vast increase of water moss and other such plants which grow in prodigious abundance in all these sorts of places. Thus were these burnt and felled trees buried under a new formed spongy and watery earth, and afterwards found on the draining and digging through this earth again.

Hence it is not strange that Roman weapons and Roman coins are found among these buried trees; and hence it is that among the buried trees some are found burnt, some chopped and hewn; and hence also it is that the bodies of the trees all lie by their proper roots, and with their tops lying north-east, that is, in that direction in which a south-west wind would have blown them down: hence also it is, that some of the trees are Preparation are found with their roots lying flat, these being not cut or burned down, but blown up by the roots afterwards when left single; and it is not wonderful, that such trees as these should have continued to grow even after their fall, and shoot up branches from their sides which might easily grow into high trees. (Phil. Trans. No 275.)

By this system it is also easily explained why the moor soil in the country is in some places two or three yards thicker than in others, or higher than it was formerly, since the growing up of peat earth or bog ground composed of moss plants is well known, and the soil added by overflowing of waters is not a little.

As the Romans were the destroyers of this great and noble forest, so they were probably also of the several other ancient forests; the ruins of which furnish us with the bog wood of Staffordshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and other counties. But as the Romans were not much in Wales, in the Isle of Man, or in Ireland, it is not to be supposed that forests cut down by these people gave origin to the fossil wood found there; but though they did not cut down these forests, others did; and the origin of the bog wood is the same with them and with us. Holinshed informs, that Edward I., being not able to get at the Welsh because of their hiding themselves in boggy woods, gave orders at length that they should all be destroyed by fire and by the axe; and doubtless the roots and bodies of trees found in Pembrokehire underground, are the remains of the execution of this order. The fossil wood in the bogs of the island of Man is doubtless of the same origin, though we have not any accounts extant of the time or occasion of the forests there being destroyed; but as to the fossil trees of the bogs of Ireland, we are expressly told, that Henry II., when he conquered that country, ordered all the woods to be cut down that grew in the low parts of it, to secure his conquests, by cutting away the places of resort of the rebels.

The tendency of our climate to produce in cold and damp situations moss plants, which gradually form around themselves a liquor which is the enemy of all putrefaction, may be considered as a fortunate circumstance, upon the whole, for the preservation of the health of men and animals, as well as contributing to other valuable purposes. In considering the nature of mosses, "I cannot dismiss the subject (says Mr. Headrick) without suggesting my admiration at the beneficence of Providence, in having provided the moss plants for the situations in which they grow: they afford an immediate supply of fuel, and are the source from which pit-coal derives its origin, though trees, and all the plants which abound in oils and carbon also contribute to the supply of pit-coal. Were the places now occupied by mosses divested of vegetables, or stored with vegetables of a different character, they would become noisome fens, which, by the emission of putrid gasses, would spread all around them pestilence and death. Mosses emit no noxious gasses, but rather, by growing at the surface, where the plants are acted upon by the sun's rays, they perpetually throw out oxygen, and thus contribute to the salubrity of the atmosphere. The only effect with which they are chargeable is forming magazines of moisture, which by its exhalation generates cold, and spreads rheumatism and intermitting fevers among all the animals within its reach."

The perpetual evaporation of this moisture not only tends to chill the moss, but it defecates in hoar frost and mildews upon all the lands that are lower in point of situation. These last mentioned disadvantages are more than amply compensated by the consideration that moss is not only an inexhaustible magazine of manure for other soils, but may be converted into a most fertile soil itself. After it is so converted, none of the defects already stated are any longer applicable to it."

This gentlemen analyzed chemically some specimens of mosses. He found that a small portion of Berkshire peat, of great hardness, exhibited, when pounded in a mortar and infused in warm water, a liquor that had some slight marks of acidity by test paper. Gypsum and sulphate of magnesia appeared to exist in it. A purified potash produced an abundant precipitation of various substances. A portion of this peat being burned, gave forth at the close of the operation a sulphurous smell and flame. The white ashes, after some days, assumed a rusty colour, from iron contained in them. Being washed, the liquor appeared to contain sulphates of lime, magnesia, alumine, and iron. Black hard peat of Swinrigemuir, in Ayrshire, when burned, gave brown ashes which were attracted by the magnet. An infusion of them in water exhibited no mark of acid or of alkali, and the ingredients contained in it appeared to be the same as in the Berkshire peat. Foggy or yellow peat yielded a smaller quantity of ashes, which were white, and did not obey the magnet.

Moss water, obtained by squeezing light peats, contained gallic acid and tanning principle in great quantities. Quicklime appeared to be the most powerful agent in precipitating every substance from the moss water, and in rendering moss a compact and solid substance; a fact which, as will be afterwards noticed, has been successfully taken advantage of in practice.

There are two ways in which a tract of territory that is covered by moss may be reduced under the dominion of the plough, or rendered fit for the purposes of agriculture. The one consists of altogether removing the mossy substance, or the whole wrecks of the moss plants that have been accumulating for ages, and endeavouring thereafter to cultivate the subsoil. The other mode consists of converting the substance of the moss into vegetable mould fit for bearing crops of grain.

The first of these plans has been adopted with regard to the moss of Kincardine, and the other has been successfully practised by Mr. Smith of Swinrigemuir, in Ayrshire; and in imitation of him by various other persons in different districts of the country. To each of these we shall give attention.

The moss of Kincardine is a remarkable tract of ground in the shire of Perth, in Scotland, which deserves particular notice, both as a topographical curiosity removed by human labour. It serves as a natural history, and for the information, equally uncommon and important, which it affords, reflecting agricultural improvements, and the promotion of industry and population.

The moss of Kincardine is situated in the parish of the same name, comprehended between the rivers Forth and Teith, and in that district of Perthshire called Monteith. The moss begins about a mile above the confluence of these rivers; from thence it extends in length Part I.

Preparation length about four miles, and from one to two in breadth; and before the commencement of the operations (an account of which is to be given), comprehended near 2000 Scots acres, of which about 1500 belong to the estate of Blair Drummond, the property of the late Lord Kames, by his marriage with Mrs Drummond of Blair Drummond.

As moors are extremely various in their nature; before entering upon the improvements made in Kincardine moor, it will be proper to give a short description of that moor, and of the subjacent soil which is the object of these improvements.

The moor lies upon a field of clay, which is a continuation of those rich extensive flats in the neighbourhood of Falkirk and Stirling, distinguished by the name of carles. This clay, which is one uniform homogeneous mass sinking to a great depth, is found near the surface, consists of different colours, and is disposed in layers. The uppermost is gray; the next is reddish; and the lowest, which is the most fertile, is blue. Through the whole mass not a pebble is to be found. The only extraneous bodies it contains are sea-shells, which occur in all the varieties peculiar to the eastern coast of Scotland. They are disposed sometimes in beds, sometimes scattered irregularly at different depths. By attending to these circumstances, it cannot be doubted that the sea has been the means of the whole accumulation, and that it was carried on in a gradual manner by the ordinary ebb and flow of the tide. Upon any other supposition, why should there not have been a congeries of all the different materials that compose the surface of the surrounding heights? But to whatever cause the origin of this accumulation may be ascribed, certain it is that no foil whatever is more favourable to vegetation, or carries more abundant crops of every kind.

The surface of the clay, which, upon the retreat of the sea, had been left in an almost level plane, is everywhere thickly covered with trees, chiefly oak and birch, many of them of a great size. These trees seem to have been the first remarkable produce of the carle; and it is probable they were propagated by diffusion from the surrounding eminences. They are found lying in all directions beside their roots, which still continue firm in the ground in their natural position; and from impressions still visible, it is evident they have been cut with an axe or some similar instrument. For the cutting of wood, the two common purposes are, either to apply it to its proper use, or that the ground it occupies may be cultivated. In this present case, however, neither of these ends had been proposed, since the trees, by being just left as they were cut, were not only entirely lost, but the ground was rendered totally unfit for cultivation. Hence it is evident, that the downfall of this wood must be ascribed to some more extraordinary cause; and to none more probably than to that expedient, which, as we learn from Dion Cassius and other historians, the Romans put so extensively in practice to dislodge from their forests the ancient inhabitants of the British islands, as already explained.

This hypothesis acquires no small degree of force from a circumstance that occurred in May 1768, when a large round vessel of thin brass and curious workmanship, 25 inches in diameter, and 16 inches in height, was discovered upon the surface of the clay buried under the moor. This vessel, found upon the estate of John Ramsay, Esq. of Ochtertyre, was by that gentleman presented to the Antiquarian Society of Edinburgh; in whose museum it remains deposited for preservation. And in a list of the various donations presented to that society, published by them in 1782, it is there denominated a Roman camp kettle.

Between the clay and the moor is found a stratum nine inches thick, partly dark brown and partly of a colour approaching to black. This is a vegetable mould, accumulated probably by the plants that covered the ground previous to the growth of the wood, and by leaves from the trees thereafter. The difference of colour must be owing to a difference in the vegetable substances that compose it. The brown mould is highly fertile; the other, especially in a dry season, is very unproductive. The crop that had occupied this mould when the trees were felled is found still entire. It consists chiefly of heath; but several other smaller plants are also very distinguishable.

Immediately above this stratum lies the moor, to the height, upon an average, of seven feet. It is composed of different vegetables arranged in three distinct strata. Of these the first is three feet thick. It is black and heavy, and preferable to the others for the purpose of fuel. It consists of bent grass (agrostis), which seems to have grown up luxuriantly among the trees after they were felled. The second stratum also is three feet thick. It is composed of various kinds of mosses, but principally of bog-moss (sphagnum). It is of a yellow or iron colour, and remarkably elastic. It is commonly called white peat; and for fuel is considered as much inferior to that above mentioned. The third stratum is composed of heath and a little bent grass, but chiefly of the deciduous parts of the former. It is about a foot thick, and black.

By far the greatest part of the moor in question is, upon an average, full seven feet deep, and has in all probability lain undisturbed since its formation: this is called the High Moor. The remainder, called the Low Moor, lies to a considerable breadth around the extremities of the high; and is, upon an average, not above three feet in depth, to which it has been reduced by the digging of peats. These are formed of that stratum of the moor only that lies four feet below the surface and downwards; the rest is improper for the purpose, and is thrown aside.

Before the introduction of the plan which is now pursued, two methods chiefly were employed to gain land from the moor. 1st, The surrounding farmers marked off yearly a portion of the low moor next to their arable land, about 15 feet broad. This they removed with carts and spread upon their fields, some acres of which they for that end left unfown. Here it lay till May or June; when, being thoroughly dry, it was burnt to ashes to serve as a manure. By this means they added to their farms about half a rood of land yearly. But this plan proved unsuccessful; for by the repeated application of these ashes, the soil was rendered too loamy that the crops generally failed. 2ndly, Many farmers were wont to trench down the low moor, and to cover it furrow deep with clay taken out of the trench. This, though commendable as an attempt to improve, Preparation improve, proved likewise an unavailing method; because in a dry season the superficial covering of clay retains so little moisture that the crop commonly fails.

It has been attempted to cover the moss with clay brought from the adjacent grounds. But what from the necessary impoverishment of the ground from which the clay was carried, and the softness of the moss, this was soon found to be impracticable.

Draining has also been proposed as another mode of improvement; and it must be acknowledged, that, by means of draining, many mosses have been converted both into arable and meadow grounds, which in the end became interesting improvements. But in a moss, such as that of Kincardine, this method would be inefficient; as for several feet deep it is of such a nature, that upon being dry, and divided into parts, it would blow with the wind like chaff; and when thrown aside in the operation of digging peats, it lies for years without producing a single vegetable, except only a few plants of furze.

Hence it was thought evident, that all attempts to improve this moss must ever prove abortive; and that the object to be had in view was the acquisition of the valuable soil lying underneath; to which end nothing less was requisite than the total abolition of the moss.

By the methods above described from 100 to 200 acres of moss had been removed. When the present plan was introduced, there still remained covered with moss from 1300 to 1400 acres of carle clay—a treasure for which it must be ever interesting to dig.

In the year 1766 Lord Kames entered into possession of the estate of Blair Drummond. Long before that period he was well acquainted with the moss, and often lamented that no attempt had ever been made to turn it to advantage. Many different plans were now proposed; at length it was resolved to attempt by means of water, as the most powerful agent, entirely to sweep off the whole body of moss.

That moss might be floated in water, was abundantly obvious; but to find water in sufficient quantity was difficult, the only stream at hand being employed to turn a corn mill. Convinced of the superior consequence of dedicating this stream to the purpose of floating off the moss, Lord Kames having made an agreement with the tenant who farmed the mill, and the tenants thirsted consenting to pay the rent, he immediately threw down the mill, and applied the water to the above purpose.

In order to determine the best manner of conducting the operation, workmen were now employed for a considerable time upon the low moss both by the day and by the piece, to ascertain the expense for which a given quantity of moss could be removed. It was then agreed to operate at a certain rate per acre; and in this manner several acres were removed.

But this was to be a very expensive process. The ground gained might, indeed, be afterwards let to tenants; but every acre would require an expenditure from £2l. to £5l. before it could be ready for sowing; so that the acquisition of the whole, computing it at a medium to be 1360 acres, would sink a capital of nearly 20,000l. sterling.

One other method still remained; namely, to attempt letting portions of the moss, as it lay, for a term of years sufficient to indemnify tenants for the expenses incurred in removing it. For some time both these plans were adopted; but several reasons made the latter preferable: 1. The quantity of water to be had was small; and being also uncertain, it was very inconvenient for an undertaker; neither were there any houses near the spot, which occasioned a great loss of time in going and coming: but when a man should live upon the spot, then he could be ready to seize every opportunity. 2. The moss was an useless waste. To let it to tenants would increase the population of the estate, and afford to a number of industrious people the means of making to themselves a comfortable livelihood.

In the mean time it was determined, till as many tenants should be got as could occupy the whole water, to carry on the work by means of undertakers.

But before proceeding farther, it will be necessary to describe the manner of applying water to the purpose of floating the moss.

A stream of water sufficient to turn a common corn mill will carry off as much moss as 20 men can throw into it, provided they be stationed at the distance of 100 yards from each other. The first step is to make in the clay, alongside of the moss, a drain to convey the water: and for this operation the coarse clay below the moss is peculiarly favourable, being perfectly free from stones and all other extraneous substances, and at the same time, when moist, slippery as soap; so that not only is it easily dug, but its lubricity greatly facilitates the progress of the water when loaded with moss.

The dimensions proper for the drain are found to be two feet for the breadth and the same for the depth. If smaller, it could not conveniently receive the spadefuls of moss; if larger, the water would escape, leaving the moss behind. The drain has an inclination of one foot in 100 yards; the more regularly this inclination is observed throughout, the less will the moss be liable to obstructions in its progress with the water.

The drain being formed, the operator marks off to a convenient extent alongside of it a section of moss, 10 feet broad; the greatest distance from which he can heave his spadeful into the drain. This he repeatedly does till the entire mass be removed down to the clay. He then digs a new drain at the foot of the moss bank, turns the water into it, and proceeds as before, leaving the moss to pursue its course into the river Forth, a receptacle equally convenient and capacious; upon the fortunate situation of which, happily forming for several miles the southern boundary of the estate, without the interposition of any neighbouring proprietor, depended the very existence of the whole operations.

When the moss is entirely removed, the clay is found to be encumbered with the roots of different kinds of trees standing in it as they grew, often very large: their trunks also are frequently found lying beside them. All these the tenants remove, often with great labour. In the course of their operations they purposely leave upon the clay a stratum of moss six inches thick. This, in spring, when the season offers, they reduce to ashes, which in a great measure ensures the first crop. The ground thus cleared is turned over, where the dryness admits, with a plough, and, where too soft, with a spade. A month's exposure to the sun, wind, and frost, reduces the clay to a powder fitting... Preparation fitting it for the feed in March and April. A crop of oats is the first, which seldom fails of being plentiful, yielding from eight to ten bolls after one.

In the year 1767 an agreement was made with one tenant for a portion of the low mofs. This, as being the first step towards the intended plan, was then viewed as a considerable acquisition. The same terms agreed upon with this tenant have ever since been observed with all the rest. They are as follow:

The tenant holds eight acres of mofs by a tack of 38 years; he is allowed a proper quantity of timber, and two bolls of oatmeal to support him while employed in rearing a house; the first seven years he pays no rent; the eighth year he pays one merk Scots; the ninth year two merks; and so on with the addition of one merk yearly till the end of the first 19 years; during the last five years of which he also pays a hen yearly. Upon the commencement of the second 19 years, he begins to pay a yearly rent of 12s. for each acre of land cleared from mofs, and 2s. 6d. for each acre not cleared, also two hens yearly: A low rent indeed for so fine a foil: but no more than a proper reward for his laborious exertions in acquiring it.

In the year 1768 another tenant was settled. These two were tradesmen; to whom the preference was always given, as having this great advantage to recommend them, that even when deprived of water they need never want employment. The motives that induced these people to become settlers were, 1st, The prospect of an independent establishment for a number of years. 2ndly, The mofs afforded them great abundance of excellent fuel; to which was added the comfortable consideration, that, while busied in providing that necessary article, they had the double advantage of promoting, at the same time, the principal object of their settlement.

Notwithstanding these inducements, still settlers offered slowly: to which two circumstances chiefly contributed: 1st, The whole farmers surrounding the mofs threw every possible obstruction in their way. 2ndly, By people of all denominations the scheme was viewed as a chimerical project, and became a common topic of ridicule. The plan, however supported itself; and in the year 1769 five more tenants agreed for eight acres each; and thus 56 acres of low mofs were disposed of. From the progress made by the first settlers, and the addition of these, the obloquy of becoming a mof tenant gradually became less regarded; so that in the year 1772 two more were added; in 1773, three; and in 1774, one; in all 13: which disposed of 104 acres; all the low mofs to which water could then be conveyed. As water is the mainspring of the operation, every tenant, besides the attention necessary to his share of the principal stream, collected water by every possible means, making ditches round his portion of the mofs, and a reservoir therein to retain it till wanted.

The tenants in the low mofs having now begun to raise good crops, in the year 1774 several persons offered to take possessions in the high mofs, upon condition that access to it should be rendered practicable. The high mofs wanted many advantages that the low mofs did not. To the low mofs, lying contiguous to the surrounding arable lands, the access was tolerably good; but from the arable lands the high mofs was separated by 300 or 400 yards of the low, which even to a man, affords but indifferent footing, and to horses is altogether impracticable. The low mofs is in general only three feet deep; the high mofs is from six to twelve feet in depth.

It will appear at first sight, that without a road of communication the high mofs must forever have proved unconquerable. Without delay, therefore, a road was opened to the breadth of 12 feet, for several hundred yards in length, by floating off the mofs down to the clay.

This being effected, and at the same time an opening given to admit water, in the year 1775 twelve tenants agreed for eight acres of high mofs each. In consideration of the greater depth of this part of the mofs, it was agreed, that during the first 19 years they should pay no rent; but for the second 19 years the terms of agreement were the same as those made with the tenants in the low mofs. To the above-mentioned tenants every degree of encouragement was given; as upon their success depended, in a great measure, the disposal of the great quantity of mofs still remaining. But their success, however problematical, was such, that next year, 1776, six more took eight acres each; in 1777, one; in 1778, four; in 1779, three; in 1780, one; in 1781, one; in 1782, one:—In all, including those upon the low mofs, 42 tenants, occupying 336 acres.

Though for some time the disposal of the high mofs went but slowly on, it was not for want of tenants; but the number of operators was already sufficient for the quantity of water; to have added more would evidently have been imprudent.

In the year 1783 Mr Drummond entered into the possession of the estate of Blair Drummond, and went fully into the plan adopted by his predecessor for subduing the mofs. At this time there still remained undispersed of about 1000 acres of high mofs. As water was the great desideratum, it was determined, that to obtain that necessary article neither pains nor expense should be wanting. Steps were accordingly taken to ascertain in what manner it might be procured to most advantage.

Meanwhile, to prepare for new tenants, a second road parallel to the former, at the distance of half a mile, was immediately begun and cut, with what water could be got, down to the clay, 12 feet broad and 2670 yards long, quite across the mofs. This opening was previously necessary, that operators might get a drain formed in the clay to direct the water; and it was to remain as a road that was absolutely necessary, and which relieved settlers from an expense they were unable to support. These preparations, the progress of the former tenants, and the prospect of a farther supply of water, induced 10 more to take possessions in the year 1783: in the year 1784, 18 more took possessions; and in 1785 no fewer than 27: in all 53 tenants in three years: which disposed of 440 acres more of the high mofs.

As the introduction of an additional stream to the mofs was to be a work both of nicety and expense, it was necessary to proceed with caution. For this reason several engineers were employed to make surveys and plans of the different modes by which it might be procured. In one point they all agreed, that the pro- Preparation per source for furnishing that supply was the river of Land. Teith, a large and copious stream that passes within a mile of the mofs; but various modes were proposed for effecting that purpose.

To carry a stream from the river by a cut or canal into the mofs was found to be impracticable; and Mr Whitworth (B) gave in a plan of a pumping machine, which he was of opinion would answer the purpose extremely well.

Soon after this Mr George Meikle of Alloa, a very skilful and ingenious millwright, gave in a model of a wheel for raising water entirely of a new construction, of his own and his father's invention jointly. This machine is so exceedingly simple, and acts in a manner so easy, natural, and uniform, that a common observer is apt to undervalue the invention: But persons skilled in mechanics view machinery with a very different eye; for to them simplicity is the first recommendation a machine can possess. Accordingly, upon seeing the model set to work, Mr Whitworth, with that candour and liberality of mind that generally accompany genius and knowledge, not only gave it the greatest praise, but declared that, for the purpose required, it was superior to the machine recommended by himself, and advised it to be adopted without hesitation.

The better to explain this machine, two sketches are annexed, to the first of which the following letters refer. The explanation of the second will be found upon the sketch.

Plate XIII.

- \(a\), Sluice through which is admitted the water that moves the wheel. - \(b, b\), Two sluices through which is admitted the water raised by the wheel. - \(c, c\), A part of one of two wooden troughs and an aperture in the wall, through which the above water is conveyed into the buckets. [The other trough is hid by two stone walls that support the wheel.] - \(d, d, d\), Buckets, of which 80 are arranged on each side of the arms of the wheel—160. - \(e, e, e\), A cistern into which the water raised by the buckets is discharged. - \(f, f, f\), Wooden barrel pipes, through which the water descends from the cistern under ground to avoid the high road from Stirling, and the private approach to the house.

Sketch second contains a plan of the cistern, and exhibits the manner in which the water is filled into the buckets.

The diameter of the wheel to the extremities of the float-boards is 28 feet; the length of the float-boards 10 feet. The wheel makes nearly four revolutions per minute; in which time it discharges into the cistern 40 hogsheads of water. But this is not all the wheel is capable of performing; for by several accurate trials by Messrs Whitworth and Meikle, in the result of which, though made separately, they perfectly agreed, it was found that the wheel was able to lift no less than 60 hogsheads per minute; but that the diameter of the pipes through which the water descends from the ci-

(B) This gentleman was superintendent of the London water-works, and an engineer of great reputation in England. He was several years employed in Scotland in completing the great canal. Preparation water course 10 feet broad. It commences at the termination of the pipes; from whence extending above 1400 yards, it discharges the water into a canal formed for its reception on the surface of the moors.

For raising the water to this height there were two reasons: 1st, That not only where it was delivered on the moors, but even after being conveyed to the most distant corners, it might still retain sufficient power to transport the moors to the river Forth. 2ndly, That reservoirs of a sufficient height might be formed in the moors to retain the water delivered during night.

In consequence of Mr Whitworth's advice, a contract was entered into with Mr Meikle in spring 1787; and by the end of October in that year, the wheel, pipes, and aqueduct, were all completely finished; and what, in so complex and extensive an undertaking, is by no means common, the different branches of the work were so completely executed, and so happily adjusted to each other, that upon trial the effect answered the most sanguine expectations. The total expense exceeded 1000l. sterling.

To induce the proprietor to embark in this undertaking, the moors tenants had of their own accord previously come under a formal engagement to pay the interest of any sum that might be expended in procuring a supply of water. But he was determined they should not enjoy by halves the fruits of this long wished for acquisition. With a view, therefore, not only to reward their past industry, but to rouse them to future exertion, he at once set them free from their engagement; nor has any interest ever been demanded.

This new supply was a most acceptable boon to the moors tenants. In order to make an equitable distribution, the water raised through the day was allotted to one division of operators; that raised during the night to another. To retain the latter, a canal was formed, extending almost three miles through the centre of the moors. From place to place along the sides are inserted sluices to admit water to the reservoirs of the possessors; each sluice having an aperture proportioned to the number of operators to be supplied from the reservoir which it fills. For the water raised through the day no reservoirs are necessary; as it is immediately used by the division to which it is allotted.

This additional stream, though highly beneficial, yet is not more than sufficient to keep 40 men at constant work. But such a quantity as would give constant work is not necessary: the operators must be often employed in making and repairing their drains, grubbing up roots of trees, &c.; so that a quantity sufficient to give five or six hours work per day to the whole inhabitants is as much as would be wanted. But as the quantity procured was still insufficient for this purpose, a small stream that descended from the higher grounds was diverted from its course and brought into the moors. From want of level this stream could not be delivered to the greatest advantage; namely, upon the surface of the moors. Yet by making, at a considerable expense, a drain half a mile long, and a reservoir for the night water, it was rendered of much importance: and during the whole winter months, as well as in summer, after every fall of rain, it keeps 15 persons fully employed.

In the year 1787, two more tenants agreed for eight acres each; in 1788, four; in 1789, eight; in 1790, four tenants, all agreed for the same number of acres.

The whole moors was now disposed of, except that part called Flow Moor, which comprehended about 400 acres. Here it is twice the usual breadth, so fluid that a pole may be thrust with one hand to the bottom; and the interior part, for near a mile broad, is three feet above the level of all the rest of the moors. Hitherto the many and various difficulties that presented themselves had been overcome by perseverance and expense. But here the extraordinary elevation of the moors, joined to its great fluidity, seemed to exclude all possibility of admitting a stream of water; and it was the general opinion that the moors operations had now arrived at their ne plus ultra, and that this moor was doomed to remain a nuisance for ages to come.

But the proprietor had now advanced so far that he could not submit to retreat; and he considered himself as in some measure pledged to the country for the completion of this undertaking. To detail the various methods practised to introduce a stream of water into that moor, would prove tedious. It is sufficient to say, that after a thousand unsuccessful efforts, attended with much trouble and considerable expense, the point at last was gained, and a stream of water was brought in, and carried fairly across the centre of the moors.

The greatest obstacle was now indeed overcome; but still another remained of no small moment, namely, the discouragement given to settlers from the total impossibility of erecting habitations upon the surface of this moor. To find a remedy for this evil was difficult. Happily a resource at last occurred. This was to bargain with a certain number of the old tenants, whose habitations were nearest, to take leases of portions of the moors. But as some additional aid was here necessary, it was agreed that 12l. sterling should be gradually advanced to each tenant till he should accomplish the clearing of an acre, for which he or his successor is bound to pay 12s. of yearly rent, equal to five per cent. upon the sum advanced. When this point shall be gained, they are bound to dispose, as most agreeable to themselves, either of their old or of their new possession; for which, when once an acre is cleared, purchasers will not be wanting.

In consequence of the above arrangement, during the year 1791 no fewer than 35 of the old tenants agreed, upon the foreaid conditions, for eight acres each of the flow moors. Thus 1200 acres are now disposed of to 115 tenants. But when these 35 tenants shall each have cleared their acre, then, according to agreement, 35 additional tenants will speedily be acquired; and the moors will then contain in all 150 families.

To the leases at first granted to the tenants in the high moors, it was afterwards determined to add a further period of 19 years (making in all 57 years), during which they are to pay one guinea per acre; a rent not greater than the land is worth even at present, but greatly below its probable value at that distant period. This, it is hoped, will prove to the tenants a sufficient incitement. Preparation to continue their operations till their possessions of Land, are completely cleared from mofs.

Having now gone through, in detail, the whole progress of the colony for many years after its first settlement in the year 1767, it still remains to take a general view of the effects produced by that establishment.

For several years, at first, the water was used chiefly to carry off mofs, in the forming of new roads, and preparing reservoirs; which considerably retarded the principal object of gaining land. Nevertheless there have been cleared full 300 acres of excellent land, producing wheat, barley, oats, and clover, yielding from six to twelve bolls after one.

From the nature of the undertaking, there is good reason to suppose that the operations will yearly advance with greater rapidity; especially as the greater number of the settlers have only of late begun to operate. Many, besides maintaining their families otherwise by occasional employments, have in the high mofs cleared in a year one rood of land; some have cleared two, some three roods, and in the low mofs an acre.

It was a remark often made, even by persons of some observation, that by collecting together such a number of people, Kincardine would be overstocked; and the consequence would be their becoming a burden on the parish: for as the bulk of them were labourers not bred to any trade, and possessed of little stock, it was foreseen, that, for some time, they could not afford to confine themselves solely to the mofs, from which the return must be slow; but behoved, for immediate subsistence, to work for daily hire. Happily these predictions have proved entirely groundless; for such is the growing demand for hands in this country, that not only do the whole of these people find employment whenever they choose to look for it, but their wages have been yearly increasing from the time of their first establishment. In short, they have proved to the corner where they are set down a most useful nursery of labourers: and those very farmers, who, at first, so strongly opposed their settlement, now fly to them as a sure resource for every purpose of agriculture. Still they consider the mofs operations as their principal business; none pay them so well; and when they do leave it to earn a little money, they return with cheerfulness to their proper employment. Many of them already raise from 10 to 60 bolls of grain, and have no occasion to go off to other work; which will soon be the case with the whole. Their original stock, indeed, did not often exceed 25l. and some had not even 10l.; but what was wanting in stock is compensated by industry.

Of the whole inhabitants full nine tenths are Highlanders, from the neighbouring parishes of Callander, Balquhidder, &c.; sober, frugal, and industrious people, who, inured to hardships in their own country, are peculiarly qualified to encounter so arduous an undertaking. From this circumstance, too, arises a very happy consequence; that wearing a different garb and speaking a different language from the people amongst whom they are settled, they consider themselves in a preparation manner as one family transported to a foreign land: and hence upon all occasions of difficulty, they fly with alacrity to each others relief. Neither ought it to be forgotten, that, from their first settlement to the present day, not a single instance has occurred amongst them of theft, bad neighbourhood, or of any other misdemeanor, that required the interposition of the civil magistrate. Nor, however poor in circumstances, has any one of them ever stooped to solicit assistance from the funds of the parish appropriated to that purpose.

Though few of the tenants entered with a large stock, one only has been obliged to leave the mofs from incapacity to proceed. Many indeed have spent their small stocks, and even run a little in debt: but in this case they have been permitted to sell their tacks upon the following conditions: 1st, That the purchaser shall be a good man; 2dly, That the seller shall take another possession. By this manoeuvre a new inhabitant is gained; while the old one, relieved from debt, and aided by past experience, recommences his operations with double spirit upon a new possession. The moneyed man again has at once a house and a piece of ground, the want of which chiefly startled new beginners.

Some have even made a kind of trade of selling; inasmuch, that from the year 1774 to the year 1792, no fewer than fifty sales have taken place, producing in all the sum of 849l. sterling. This proved from time to time a most reasonable recruit to the colony, and gave new vigour and spirits to the whole.

The number of the settlers is productive of an excellent effect; that although some are generally absent, enough still remain to occupy the water constantly. In a favourable day, there may be seen hundreds, men, women, and children, labouring with the utmost affluency. The women declare they can make more by working at the mofs than at their wheel; and such is the general attachment to that employment, that they have frequently been discovered working by moonlight.

Another happy consequence arising from their numbers is the great quantity of mofs they consume for fuel. There are in all 115 families. Each family requires an average 10 dargues (c) of peats yearly. Each dargue uncovers a space equal to 10 square yards of clay; so that, by casting peats, the mofs tenants gain yearly about 6 roods of land.

The advantage, too, of providing their fuel with so little trouble, is very great. They require yearly 1150 dargues of peats; which, as each dargue when dried and stacked is valued at five shillings, are worth 287l. 10s. sterling; a sum which otherwise must have been expended on the prime cost and carriage of coals.—Many of them cast peats for sale; and 100l. worth are yearly disposed of in the town of Stirling, the village of Down, &c.

Though mofs work be laborious, it is at the same time amusing. The operator moves the mofs five feet only at a medium; and the water, like carts in other cases,

(c) A dargue (or darg) of peats, is the quantity that one man can cast and two can wheel in a day to the field where they are spread out to dry. Preparation cafes, carrying it off as fast as it is thrown in, excites him to activity. Still he must submit to be wet from morning to night. But habit reconciles him to this inconvenience; while his house and arable land fill his eye and cheer his mind. Nor is it found that the health of the inhabitants is in the smallest degree injured either by the nature of the work or the vicinity of the moors.

The quantity of moors that one man can move in a day is surprising; when he meets with no interruption, seldom less than 48 cubic yards, each weighing 90 stones. The weight, then, of moors moved per day is no less than 4320 stones. A cubic yard is moved into the water, and of course carried into the river Forth for one farthing. It follows, that the expense of moving 48 cubic yards is one shilling. But the same quantity moved to the same distance by carts would cost 24 shillings. Hence the advantage derived from the possibility of floating moors in water, and the great importance of having water for that purpose.

The moors, when contrasted with the rich lands surrounding, appeared, especially before the improvements, a very dreary spot; one wide unvaried wild, totally unproductive, unfit even to furnish sustenance to any animal, except here and there a few wretched straggling sheep. Besides, it entirely cut off all connection between the farms on either side; among which no intercourse was practicable but by a circuit of several miles.

The scene is already greatly changed. The following are the numbers of the inhabitants who some years ago resided in the moors; also of their cows and horses, and of the acres gained by them from the moors, together with their produce.

| Men | - | - | - | 115 | |-----|---|---|---|-----| | Women | - | - | - | 113 | | Boys | - | - | - | 199 | | Girls | - | - | - | 193 |

Total 620

Number of cows, at least, 115 Ditto of horses and carts, 34 Ditto of acres cleared from moors, 300

The produce in bolls cannot be exactly ascertained; but, considering the goodness of the soil, may be fairly stated at 8 bolls per acre. Inde 2400 bolls.

As oats are the staple commodity, the calculation shall be confined to that grain. According to the laws of Stirlingshire, crop 1790, carse oats are valued at 14s. per boll. Inde 2400 bolls at 14s. is 1680l. Of late this price has at times been doubled.

A tract of ground so considerable, formerly a nuisance to the country, thus converted into a fertile field, filled with inhabitants, comfortable and happy, cannot surely be surveyed with an eye of indifference by any person whose mind is at all susceptible of feeling or of public spirit.

An excellent gravelled road, 20 feet wide and a mile and a half long, is now carried quite across the moors. By this means, in the first place, a short and easy intercourse is established between two considerable parts of the estate, formerly as little connected as if separated by a lake or an arm of the sea. Secondly, the inhabitants of the moors, to whom, hitherto, all passage with carts or horses was impracticable for at least one half of the year, have now obtained the essential advantage of being able, with ease, to transport all the different commodities at every season of the year. This road was entirely formed by the hands of the moors tenants, and gravelled by their own carts and horses: a work which, it will not be doubted, they performed with much alacrity; when it is considered that, to the prospect of procuring a lasting and material benefit to themselves, there was joined the additional inducement of receiving an immediate supply of money, the whole being done at the proprietor's expense.

The possessions are laid off in the manner best fitted for the operations; and are divided by lanes running in straight lines parallel to each other. Parallel to these again the drains are carried: and this straight direction greatly facilitates the progress of the water with its load of moors. Upon the bank of moors fronting the lanes, the operation of floating is begun; and twenty or thirty people are sometimes seen heaving moors into the same drain. That the water may be the more conveniently applied, the lanes include between them the breadth of two possessions only. The new houses are erected upon each side of these lanes at the distance of 100 yards from each other.

Before the formation of lanes and roads, and while yet no ground was cleared, the first settlers were obliged to erect their houses upon the surface of the moors. Its softness denied all access to stones; which, at any rate, are at such a distance as would render them too expensive. Settlers, therefore, were obliged to construct their houses of other materials. Upon the low moors there is found for this purpose great plenty of sod or turf, which accordingly the tenants use for the walls of their houses. For the rudeness of the fabric nature in some measure compensates, by overspreading the outside with a luxuriant coating of heath and other moorish plants, which have a very picturesque appearance.

But upon the high moors there is no sod to be found. There the tenant must go differently to work. Having chosen a proper situation for his house, he first digs four trenches down to the clay, so as to separate from the rest of the moors a solid mass, containing an oblong rectangular area, sufficiently large for his intended house. This being done, he then scoops out the middle of the mass, leaving on all sides the thickness of three feet for walls; over which he throws a roof, such as that by which other cottages are commonly covered.

Upon the softest parts of the moors, even these walls cannot be obtained. In such places the houses are built with peat dug out of the moors, and closely compressed together while in a humid state (D). It is necessary.

(D) This does not apply to the morass, upon the surface of which, it has already been observed, it is impossible to erect houses in any shape.

Preparation even to lay upon the surface a platform of boards to prevent the wall from sinking; which they have frequently done when that precaution was neglected. After all, to stamp with the foot will shake the whole fabric as well as the moss for fifty yards around. This, at first, startled the people a good deal; but custom soon rendered it familiar.

The colonists have now made considerable advancement in rearing better habitations for their comfort and convenience. Their huts of turf are but temporary lodgings. As soon as they have cleared a little ground, they build houses of brick: when the proprietor for a second time furnishes them with timber gratis. It has also been found necessary to relieve them entirely from the payment of the burdensome tax upon brick; a tax which surely was never intended to fall on such poor industrious adventurers; and which, without this affluence, would have proved a most effectual bar to the employment of these materials.

There are now erected in the mosses 69 brick houses, substantially built with lime. The total expense amounted to £133. sterling. And it is a very comfortable circumstance, that the money expended upon these houses is mostly kept in circulation among the inhabitants themselves; for as a number of them have learned not only to manufacture but also to build bricks, and as others who have horses and carts furnish the carriage of lime and coals, they thus interchange services with each other.

With a view to excite the exertion of the colonists, the following premiums were also offered: 1. To the person who shall in the space of one year remove the greatest quantity of moss down to the clay, a plough of the best construction. 2. To the person who shall remove the next greatest quantity, a pair of harrows of the best kind. 3. For the next greatest quantity, a spade of the best kind, and 10lb. of red clover seed. But as these premiums, if contested for by the whole inhabitants, could reach but a very few of the number, they were therefore divided into six districts according to their situation; and the above premiums were offered to each district.

The establishment of this colony was no doubt attended with a very considerable share of expense and difficulty; for the undertaking was altogether new, and there were many prejudices against it, which it was necessary to overcome. At the same time it was noble and interesting: it was to make a valuable addition to private property; it was to increase the population of the country, and to give bread to a number of people, many of whom having been turned out of their farms and cottaries in the Highlands, might otherwise, by emigrations have been lost to their country; and that too, at a time when, owing to the great enlargement of farms, depopulation prevails but too much even in the low countries. And it was to add to the arable lands of the kingdom, making many thousand bolls of grain to grow where none ever grew before.

These considerations have hitherto preponderated with the proprietors against the various obstacles that present themselves to the execution of so extensive an undertaking. Should their example tend in any degree to stimulate others, who both in Scotland and in England possess much ground equally useless to the country, to commence similar improvements, it would be a most grateful consideration superadded to the pleasure already arising from the progress of the infant colony.

After all it will probably hereafter be thought, that the great efforts of ingenuity, and of persevering industry, which were requisite in the above operation, might all have been avoided, and the work much easier performed, had the art been found out of converting moss into fruitful soil, according to the plan prefixed, and undoubtedly brought to great perfection in Ayrshire, by the gentleman already mentioned, John Smith, Esq., of Swinridgemuir, near Beith. On a part of a moor of moss in this gentleman's property, a quantity of lime improving had been spread in consequence of the mixing of some carts in wet weather; to relieve which, their load was laid over the ground in their neighbourhood, though this was accounted at that period an absurd operation, as it was believed that lime would have the effect of consuming and rendering mossy ground useless for ever. The proprietor Mr Smith, was then in the army, towards the close of the American war. On returning home the succeeding summer, and being informed of the accident, he was surprised to find that as good a crop grew upon the patch of moss on which the lime had been scattered, as upon another spot that had been pared and burned, in consequence of instructions that he had transmitted home for that purpose, from having perused some treatises in which burning of moss was recommended. He also remarked, that upon the places which had neither been burned nor limed, nothing grew, and that the crop upon the burned soil was inferior to that where the lime had been laid, being almost choked with forrel. Mr Smith pursued the hint thus obtained: He reclaimed by means of lime every portion of moss in his own possession, and having satisfied his tenants of the utility of the practice, he allowed them to dig limestone gratis, and gave them the refuse of his coal at prime cost to burn it. Thus, in a short time, every part of the moss upon his estate was reduced under cultivation, and rendered highly valuable.

When Mr Smith began his operations, he met the fate of innovators in agriculture, that is, he was ridiculed by all his neighbours. His success, however, at length made some converts, and though the new system at first advanced slowly, it was at last universally approved of, and extensively imitated. The result has been, that what was once the worst land in the country, is now become the most productive and fertile.

The following is a concise statement of Mr Smith's practice, and consequently of the Ayrshire practice, of actually converting moss into vegetable mould, capable of bearing rich crops of corn, hay, potatoes, &c., which we shall give in the words of Mr Headrick.

"1. When they enter upon the improvement of a common moss in a natural state, the first thing to be done is, to mark and cut main or matter drains, eight feet in width, by four and a half in depth, and declining to two and a half at bottom; these cost 1s. per fall of six Scots ell. In some instances, it will be found necessary to cut those drains much deeper, consequently at a greater expense. These drains almost in every instance can be, and are so conducted, as to divide the field into regular and proper enclosures. They always make it a rule to finish off as much of a drain as they have broken..." Preparation broken up, before they leave it at night; because, if a part is left dug, suppose half way, the oozing of water from the sides would render the bottom so soft, that they could neither stand upon it nor lift it with the spade. When the moss is very soft, that the pressure of what is thrown out of the drain may cause its sides to fall in again, they throw the clods from the drain a considerable way back, and sometimes have a man to throw them still further back, by a spade or the hand; for this reason too, they always throw the stuff taken from a drain as equally as possible on each side of it. In digging the drains, the workmen stand upon small boards to prevent them from sinking, and move them forward as the work advances.

"When the moss lies in a hollow, with only one outlet, it is necessary to lead up a drain, so as to let the water pass this outlet, and then conduct it along the lowest or wettest part of the moss; this middle drain is afterwards sloped, and the stuff thrown bank into the hollows that may occur; upon it the ridges are made to terminate on each side, while a ring drain, serving the purpose of a fence, is thrown round the moss at the line where the rising ground commences. This can generally be so managed as to divide the moss into a square field, leaving straight lines for the sides of the contiguous fields. The ring drain intercepts the surface water from the higher grounds, and conducts it into the lower part of the outlet, while the sloped drain in the centre receives and discharges all the water that falls upon the moss.

"After the moss collapses in consequence of liming and culture, it is often necessary to clean out these drains a second time, and to dig them to a greater depth; their sides become at last like a wall of peat, which few animals will venture to pass.

"2. The drains being thus completed, they mark out the ridges, either with a long string or with three poles set in a line. Mr Smith has tried several breadths of ridges, but now gives a decided preference to those that are seven yards in breadth. The ridges are formed with the spade in the following manner: In the centre of each intended ridge, a space of about two feet is allowed to remain untouched; on each side of that space a furrow is opened, which is turned over so as completely to cover that space, like what is called veering or veering of a gathered ridge; the work, thus begun, is continued by cutting furrows with the spade, and turning them over from end to end of the ridge on each side, until they arrive at the division furrows. The breadth of the slices thus cut, may be about 12 inches, and each piece is made as long as it may suit to turn over: the ridge, when finished, has the appearance of having been done with a plough. The division furrow is two feet in breadth, which, if necessary to draw off superfluous water, is partly cut and thrown upon the sides, or into hollows in the ridges on each side. The depth of the division furrows is regulated by circumstances, so as not to lay the ridges at first too dry, but at the same time to bleed, as it were, the moss, and conduct the superfluous water into the master drains.

"3. The next operation is to top-dress the ridges with lime. The sooner this is done after the ridges are formed, the better. When the moss appears dry, experienced farmers throw on the lime, but do not clean out the division furrows until the ensuing winter. Preparation When it is soaked in water, they clean the division furrows as soon as the lime is ready, and after the water has run off apply the lime immediately. It is of great importance to have the lime applied while the moss is still moist, and the lime in as caustic a state as possible. For this purpose, they have the lime conveyed from the kiln in parcels, flaked and laid on as fast as the ridges are formed. Being dropped from carts, and flaked at the nearest accessible station, it is carried to the moss by two men on light handbarrows, having a hopper and bottom of thin boards, and there spread with shovels as equally as possible. During the first and second years, the crop is generally carried off in the same way. In some places where a moss is covered with coarse herbage, and accessible by carts in dry weather, I saw them give a good dose of lime to the moss before it was turned up with the spade, and another after the ridges were formed. It is surprising how quickly they execute these operations with the handbarrows. In other places where coarse boards can be procured, they lay a line of them along the crown of a ridge, and convey the lime upon them in wheelbarrows.

"The proportion of lime allowed to the acre is various, being from three to eight chalders. Improvers are much less sparing of this ingredient now than formerly, and much greater proportions have been applied with good effect. Suppose 120 bolls, or 480 Winchester bushels, of flaked or powdered lime allowed to every Scots acre, this would cost at the sale kilns 40s.; and thus the reader may be enabled to calculate the expense of lime in this district at every given proportion: But most of the farmers here burn lime for themselves in vast kilns of sod, and think they have it much cheaper than it could be got from a sale kiln. In many places, limestone abounds so much, that houses, fences, and roads are constructed with it; and when a farmer burns the limestone within his premises, he at least saves the expense of carriage.

"In some cases, after the limestone is laid on, they go over the ground with hoes, or with spades, hacking and mangling the clods, and mixing the lime more completely with the superficial soil; but where there is much to do, and hands are scarce, they never think of these operations.

"4. The field thus prepared is ready to receive the seed, which is sown at the proper season whether it be wet or dry, and harrowed in with a small harrow drawn by two men. Four men will with ease harrow at least five or six roods per day, two and two dragging the harrow by turns, and two breaking and dividing the mould with spades. When the lime has been applied early the preceding summer, a good crop of oats may generally be expected; but if it has been recently applied, the first crop of oats frequently misgives, as the lime has not time to combine with the moss, and form it into a foil.

"The early Dutch or Polish oats are always preferred by moss improvers, as the common Scots or late oats are too apt to run into straw, and lodge before the grain arrives at maturity. The same proportion of feed is allowed per acre that is usual in other places. The great desideratum is, to procure plants which will throw up a sufficient quantity of herbage, so as to shield the..." Preparation the surface from the winds and sun's rays, and thus to keep it moist during the first summer after a moor is reclaimed.

"This deficiency is effectually supplied by the potato, which thrives well on moors at all times, whether recently opened up and limed, or at any future period of its cultivation; only it requires a proportion of stable dung. It is now become the general practice in Ayrshire, to plant potatoes on those moors which have been but recently turned up and limed; and where dung can be procured, it is generally the first crop on all their moors.

"The method of planting potatoes, whether they be the first crop or succeed the first crop of oats, is by lazy beds. If they be the first crop, the moors having been delved into ridges, and limed as before directed, spaces of five to six feet in breadth are marked out across the ridges, having intervals of about two feet, from which the moor is taken to cover the sets. These spaces or beds are covered over with a thin stratum of dung, laid upon the surface of the lime at the rate of about fifteen tons to the Scots acre. The cuttings of the potatoes are laid or placed upon the said beds, about ten or twelve inches apart; and the whole are covered over with moors, taken from the intervals which are thus converted into ditches, to be followed by another covering about the time the potato plants begin to make their appearance, the covering in the whole amounting to about four or five inches; at the same time the division furrows are cleaned out to cover the sets that are contiguous to them. The whole field is thus divided into spaces or lazy beds, like a chequered board. During summer, they cut the moors with hoes, and draw it up a little towards the stems of the plants. Few weeds appear, except what are conveyed by the dung. This is the practice universally followed when potatoes are planted on moors for the first time; but after the moors is finely pulverized and reduced, they either plant them in rows across the ridges, or plant and dress them with the plough in the usual manner.

"Potatoes planted as the first crop never misgives, and they are the best and most certain method at once to reclaim a moor, not owing so much perhaps to the dung aiding the putrid fermentation which the lime has already excited, as to their roots pushing and dividing the moors, while the leaves shelter it from the sun, cause a stagnation of air, and thus keep it in that degree of moisture which is most favourable to the action of lime upon moors. The practice of making potatoes the first crop is now universally followed, in so far as the farmers can command dung. The produce is from 40 to 60 bolls per acre, the potato measure being eight Winchester bushels a little heaped to the boll. Moors that are fully reclaimed yield from 60 to 70 bolls of potatoes at an average, and in some places where manures are abundant, they have been known to yield from 80 to 100 bolls per acre, of the above measure.

"Mr Smith is about to try yams upon his moors, from the opinion that prevails among some of the Mid-Lothian farmers, where this plant is much cultivated, that they require little or no dung, and that the superior breadth of their leaves, will prove more favourable than those of potatoes, for sheltering the ground.

"When the potato crop is removed, the ridges are again put into their original form; in doing which, care is taken to preserve the mould that is acquired uppermost; this is done by moving the subfurrow on each side with a strong spade, half way into the intermediate ditch from which the lazy beds were covered, and scattering the mould equally over the whole surface. This operation costs 18s. per acre. It is not easy to calculate the expense of planting the potatoes forming the lazy beds, &c., as this is seldom executed by contract; but the lazy beds being thus reduced, the land is ready for a crop of corn.

"Though a crop of oats frequently misgives upon moors that has been but recently limed, yet in other cases, where the lime has lain several months upon the land, it proves a good crop, and is sufficient to cover all the expense with a little profit. The crops of succeeding years are sufficient to afford from their straw putrefactive manure for such land in order that it may be cleaned with potatoes, and prepared for grass seeds.

"But after potatoes of the first year, with the slight operation of reducing the lazy-beds, from 10 to 12 bolls of oats are at an average produced per acre. The oats are excellent, and yield from 18 to 20 pecks of meal per boll; they would sell upon the ground for 10l. or 12l. per acre. The ground continues to yield oats of the same quality for several years, without any apparent diminution of fertility, and without receiving any additional manure: the only apparent bar to the continuance of this crop is, the soil becoming gravelly. When the grass begins to contend with the crop for pre-eminence, the land is thrown into pasture, and would let ever after in that state at from 20s. to 25s. per acre. Daisies, white clover, &c., &c., now spring up in moors, where their existence was never before suspected; at the same time thistles and other weeds for some time infest the pasture.

"The better practice is, to take another crop of potatoes with a little dung and lime, and give it a trench-delve, to bury the weeds and bring up new soil; after the potatoes, to sow barley and grass seeds.

"Rye-grass is universally sown here, and it attains amazing perfection upon moors properly prepared; along with this, white and yellow clover are sometimes sown, and thrive remarkably well. Red clover has been tried, but did not succeed, and is hence discredited for moor-lands; perhaps it may have been unjustly censured, because it is certain that the seasons in which it was tried, proved very unfavourable to red clover in all parts of the country, most of it having died during winter.

"5. We have already described the levelling of the lazy beds. All future delvings of the moors are performed from one end of the ridge to the other; by this method the slices that had been cut and turned over in the first operation of forming the ridge, are again cut across, and constantly reduced into smaller pieces, till they moulder into earth.

"The expense of delving a moor for the first time, where the surface is tolerably smooth, is 2½d. per fall, or 1l. 13s. 4d. per Scots acre; but where inequalities occur, which must be thrown down by the spade into hollows, it costs about 2l. per acre. If there be eminences, which must be removed into hollows by wheelbarrows running upon boards, the first expense is great- Preparation according to circumstances. The second delving, where potatoes have not intervened, costs from 1l. to 1l. 6s. per Scots acre, the division-furrows being at the same time cleaned out. The third delving and cleaning of the division furrows costs 1l. per acre; but the mofs is now so friable, that it may be wrought with the greatest ease and rapidity. At the above rates, an ordinary workman will earn 1s. 6d. per day, and an able and experienced one, from that to 2s. 6d. per day. They use a strong spade, edged with steel, and have always a gritstone near them for sharpening the spade. In the evening they repair its edge upon a grindstone; and when the steel is worn away, they lay it again with new steel. Sometimes the mofs is so soft that they walk upon boards while they are turning it over.

"Mr Smith has found, by long experience, that it is improper to make the ridges too high or too narrow: when they are too high, they throw the water off from their sides without admitting it to penetrate their substance; the top of course gets too dry: when too narrow, there is a loss of surface from too many division-furrows; the breadth already mentioned is found to be the best: and when the improvement is completed, the ridges appear like segments of wide circles, with a clean well-defined division-furrow between each of them. The moisture is thus caused slowly to filtrate through the mofs rendered friable by lime until it reaches the division-furrows, and is discharged. As the mofs subdues for some time, and closes in towards the furrows, it is generally necessary to clean these out before winter, and at the time the crop is sown, until the mofs acquire solidity.

"Some mofs may be ploughed the second year to within two bouts or four slices of the division-furrows, and every operation performed by the force of horses, except turning over with the spade the narrow stripes next to the division-furrows. In other mofs it requires three years before this can be done; and it seldom happens but every mofs may be wrought by the plough after it has been wrought four years by the spade. When mofs is wrought by the spade, it seems of no consequence whether it be wrought wet or dry; but when it is wrought by the plough, opportunities must be watched, as horses cannot walk upon it for some years during wet weather.

"6. With respect to the quality of the potatoes thus produced upon mofs, I do not scruple to pronounce it most excellent. Potatoes have been tried with dung alone; but they are always watery, and frequently hollow or rotten in the heart: those raised upon mofs that have been well limed, are frequently dry and farinaceous, that it is difficult to boil them without reducing them to powder; and they are often obliged to lift them with spoons: they come clean out of the ground; keep remarkably well in heaps covered with mofs in the field; and are remarkably well flavoured.

"No such disease as the curl was ever known among mofs potatoes; and, indeed, if Dr Coventry's opinion be true, that the curl is caused by overloading the fets with too much earth, or from the earth becoming too hard around them, no such thing can take place in mofs. But to whatever cause the curl may be owing, it is certainly propagated by diseased seed; it would, therefore, appear advantageous to transfer the potatoes raised upon mofs as seed for solid land. They have a remarkably good species of potato in this district, which was brought from Virginia to Largs about eight years ago; and whether it be owing to the beneficial nature of a mofs foil, or to its own intrinsic merits, this potato has long been so much distinguished by the good quality and large quantity of its produce, that it has superseded the use of every other species. There seems to be no occasion for mofs improvers to change their feed. Some persons in this district, who have but small patches of mofs, have kept them constantly in potatoes more than ten years, without changing the feed, and without any sensible diminution either in the quantity or quality of the crop."

4. Of bringing Land into Culture from a State of Nature.

To improve a moor, let it be opened, if possible, in a winter, when it is wet, which has one convenience, how to be that the plough cannot be employed in any other cultivated work. It is always supposed, however, that the moisture has been sufficiently removed by draining, to render this practicable. In spring, after the frost is over, a slight harrowing will fill up the interstices with mould, to keep out the air and rot the sod. Thus it may be suffered to lie during the following summer and winter, which will tend more to rot the turf than if laid open to the air by ploughing. Next April, let it be croft-ploughed, braked, and harrowed, till it be sufficiently pulverized for turnip seed, to be sown broadcast, or in drills, after being manured, and the manure mixed with the soil by repeated harrowings.

It sometimes happens, however, that the heath which grows upon a moorish soil is so strong and vigorous as to be subdued with great difficulty. It has been observed, that after land is drained and the heath burnt upon the surface, this plant is in time extirpated by sheep. These animals are extremely fond of the tender shoots and flowers of heath, but they will not taste it after it runs into seed, unless compelled by extreme hunger. For subduing it by a shorter process, lime is the best remedy, as it seems a mortal enemy to heath. A strong dose of caustic lime therefore laid upon the surface of the land after it is first ploughed, is attended with the best effect in consuming the roots of heath and of coarse grasses, and rendering the soil friable, which it accomplishes in about six months. Economy in the use of this ingredient, therefore, at the first breaking up of moor land, is extremely misapplied. Accordingly some skilful farmers lay one dose of lime upon the land before it is ploughed, and another after it, that the furrow slices, being wholly surrounded by it, may be sooner brought into a friable state. But, although a very considerable dose of lime is absolutely necessary, when such land is newly reduced from a state of nature, it ought not to be solely trusted to. To render the land permanently fertile, it soon becomes necessary to aid the soil, by vegetable or putrefied manure.

The turnip crop may be consumed upon the ground by sheep, which affords an excellent preparation for laying down the field with grass seeds; a point which every improver ought to have in view, on account of the command of dung which it gives him. It is even said to be an improvement upon this method, to take two or even three successive crops of turnips, all con- Swampy lands, how to be cultivated.

With regard to swampy lands and a soil covered with rushes, ant hills, and coarse grasses; after draining, the best procedure which can be adopted, consists of paring and burning. When land is pared, a thin sod is taken off, either by a paring spade or paring plough, over the whole surface. The sods being dried, are collected into small heaps and burned, and the ashes are scattered over the field. Swampy land that is overrun with rushes and coarse grasses, and lands that are covered with heath and other coarse plants, suit best for paring and burning. In this way these coarse plants are destroyed at once, and the land may be ploughed and cropped immediately, without waiting for the rotting of the turf, as in the former case. It is also said, that this practice destroys all flugs and other vermin that infest the soil. It is more especially valuable in situations where lime and other manures cannot be procured. Where lime is to be found in abundance, however, it might probably be a better practice, instead of burning the turf that has been cut from the surface of the coarse land, to collect it all into heaps in different parts of the field, and make it up into compost with lime. The whole heaps in such cases ought to be thoroughly moistened, and the mass to be frequently turned and mixed. In this way, by using lime in place of fire, the whole roots and coarse herbage would be destroyed, and reduced at once into a most valuable manure for enriching the soil. In the mean time it is to be observed, that paring and burning is so evidently advantageous to the immediately succeeding crops, that it has sometimes been abused by overcrowding after it, and by extending it, perhaps unnecessarily, to all soils, upon breaking them up from grass, though formerly cultivated and in good order; though even in such cases it may be found valuable, where lime cannot easily be obtained. The following remarks upon the subject, in the Report of the Agriculture of the county of Northumberland, by J. Bayley and G. Culley, are worthy of attention. "Paring and burning is not much practised in the eastern and northern parts of the county; in the middle and southern parts it is most prevalent; but, even there, it is confined to old fowls, and coarse, rough, rushy, and heathy lands. For the first breaking up of such ground, it is certainly very convenient, and preferable to any other mode we have ever seen; but though we are fully convinced of its beneficial effects in such situations, yet we have our doubts whether it could be used with advantage upon lands that have lain a few years in grass, and that would produce good crops of grain immediately on being ploughed out, which is not the case with coarse rough heathy lands, or even very old fowls on rich fertile soils; it being found that crops on the latter are frequently very much injured by leaping for two or three years, which paring and burning entirely obviate, and ensure full crops to the farmer, who need not be under any apprehension of his soil being ruined by it, provided he pursue the following course: 1. Turnips; 2. Oats; 3. Fallow well limed for turnips; 4. Barley sown up with clover and grass seeds, and depastured with sheep for three or four years. It is the injudicious cropping, more than the ill effects derived from paring and burning, that has been the chief cause of bringing such an odium on this practice, which is certainly an excellent one in some situations, and when properly conducted; but, like the fermented juice of the grape, may be too often repeated and improperly applied.

"The popular clamour against this practice, 'that it destroys the soil,' we can by no means admit; and are inclined to believe, that not a single atom of soil is abstracted, though the bulk of the sod or turf be diminished. This arises from the burning of the roots or vegetable substances, which, by this process, afford a considerable portion of alkaline salts, phlogistic or carbonic matter, and probably other principles friendly to vegetation; as we find those ashes produce abundant crops of turnips, which fatten stock much quicker than those after any other dressing or manure we have ever seen; and the succeeding crops of corn are so very luxuriant as to tempt the injudicious cultivator to pursue it too far; who, for the sake of a temporary gain, may be said to rip it up, as the boy did his goose that laid golden eggs."

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

5. Forming Ridges.

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

In grounds that require ridging, an error prevails, that ridges cannot be raised too high. High ridges labour under several disadvantages. The soil is heaped upon the crown, leaving the furrows bare: the crown is too dry, and the furrows too wet: the crop, which is always best on the crown, is more readily shaken with the wind, than where the whole crop is of an equal Part I.

Preparation equal height: the half of the ridge is often covered from the sun, a disadvantage which is far from being slight in a cold climate. High ridges labour under another disadvantage, in ground that has no more level than barely sufficient to carry off water: they sink the furrows below the level of the ground; and consequently retain water at the end of every ridge. The furrows ought never to be sunk below the level of the ground. Water will more effectually be carried off by lessening the ridges both in height and breadth: a narrow ridge, the crown of which is but 18 inches higher than the furrow, has a greater slope than a very broad ridge where the difference is three or four feet.

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

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

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

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

"For experience sufficiently shows, that even the vegetable best vegetable mould, if buried for any length of time would be so far beneath the surface as to be deprived of the benign influences of the atmosphere, loses its vis vitae, if long buried. I may be allowed that expression; becomes an inert lifeless mass, little fitted for nourishing vegetables; and constitutes a soil very improper for the purposes of the farmer. It therefore behoves him, as much as in him lies, to preserve, on every part of his fields, an equal covering of that vegetable mould that has long been uppermost, and rendered fertile by the meliorating influence of the atmosphere. But, if he suddenly levels his high ridges by any of these mechanical contrivances, he of necessity buries all the good mould that was on the top of the ridges in the old furrows; by which he greatly impoverishes one part of his field, while he too much enriches another; inasmuch that it is a matter of great difficulty, for many years thereafter, to get the field brought to an equal degree of fertility in different places; which makes it impossible for the farmer to get an equal crop over the whole of his field by any management whatever: and he has the mortification frequently, by this means, to see the one half of his crop rotted by an over-luxuriance, while other parts of it are weak and sickly; or one part ripe and ready for reaping, while the other is not properly filled; so that it were, on many occasions, better for him to have his whole field reduced at once to the same degree of poorness as the poorest of it, than have it in this state. An almost impracticable degree of attention in spreading the manures may indeed in some measure get the better of this: but it is so difficult to perform this properly, that I have frequently seen fields that had been thus levelled, in which, after thirty years of continued culture and repeated dressings, the marks of the old ridges ridges could be distinctly traced when the corn was growing, although the surface was so level that no traces of them could be perceived when the corn was off the ground.

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

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

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

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

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

"If these rules are attended to, your field will be at once reduced to a proper level, and the rich earth that formed the surface of the old ridges be still kept upon the Part I.

Preparation the surface of your field; so that the only loss that the possessor of such ground can sustain by this operation, is merely the expense of performing it."

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

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

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

6. CLEARING GROUND OF WEEDS.

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

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

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

7. ON THE NATURE OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF SOILS, AND THE PLANTS PROPER TO EACH.

1. Clay, which is in general the stiffest of all soils, and contains an unctuous quality. But under the term clay, earths of different sorts and colours are included. One kind is so obstinate, that scarcely any thing will subdue it; another is so hungry and poor, that it absorbs whatever is applied, and turns it into its own quality. Some clays are fatter than others, and the fattest are the best; some are more soft and slippery. But all of them retain water poured on their surface, where it stagnates, and chills the plants without sinking into the soil. The closeness of clay prevents the roots and fibres of plants from spreading in search of nourishment. The blue, the red, and the white clay, if strong, are unfavourable to vegetation. The stony and looser sorts are less so; but none of them are worth anything till their texture is loosened by a mixture of other substances, and opened, as to admit the influence of the sun, the air, and frosts. Among the manures recommended for clay, sand is of all

(e) In his Gentleman Farmer; to which performance the practical part of this article is materially indebted. Preparation all others to be preferred; and sea sand is the best of all where it can be obtained: This most effectually breaks the cohesion.

The reason for preferring sea sand is, that it is not formed wholly (as most other sands are) of small stones; but contains a great deal of calcareous matter in it, such as shells grated and broken to pieces by the tide, and also of salts. The smaller the sand is, the more easily it penetrates the clay; but it abides less time in it than the larger.

The next best sand is that washed down by rains on gravelly soils. Those which are dry and light are the worst. Small gritty gravel has also been recommended by the best writers on agriculture for these soils; and in many instances we have found it to answer the purpose.

Shell marl, ashes, and all animal and vegetable substances, are very good manures for clay; but they have been found most beneficial when sand is mixed with them. Lime has been often used; but the writer of this section would not recommend it, for he never found any advantage from it singly, when applied to clays.

The crops most suitable for such lands are, wheat, beans, cabbages, and rye-grass. Clover seldom succeeds, nor indeed any plants whose roots require depth and a wide spread in the earth.

2. Chalky soils are generally dry and warm, and if there be a tolerable depth of mould, fruitful; producing great crops of barley, rye, peas, vetches, clover, trefoil, burnet, and particularly fainfoin. The latter plant flourishes in a chalky soil better than any other. But if the surface of mould be very thin, this soil requires good manuring with clay, marl, loam, or dung. As these lands are dry, they may be sown earlier than others.

When your barley is three inches high, throw in 10lb. of clover, or 15lb. of trefoil, and roll it well. The next summer mow the crop for hay: feed off the aftermath with sheep; and in winter give it a top-dressing of dung. This will produce a crop the second spring, which should be cut for hay. As soon as this crop is carried off, plough up the land, and in the beginning of September sow three bushels of rye per acre, either to feed off with sheep in the spring or to stand for harvest. If you feed it off, sow winter vetches in August or September, and make them into hay the following summer. Then get the land into as fine tilth as possible, and sow it with fainfoin, which, with a little manure once in two or three years, will remain and produce good crops for 20 years together.

3. Light poor land, which seldom produces good crops of anything till well manured. After it is well ploughed, sow three bushels of buck-wheat per acre, in April or May: When in bloom, let your cattle in a few days to eat off the best, and tread the other down; this done, plough in what remains immediately. This will soon ferment and rot in the ground; then lay it fine, and sow three bushels of rye per acre. If this can be got off early enough, sow turnips; if not, winter vetches to cut for hay. Then get it into good tilth, and sow turnip-rooted cabbages, in rows three feet apart. This plant seldom fails, if it has sufficient room, and the intervals be well horse-hoed; and you will find it the best spring feed for sheep when turnips are over.

The horse-hoeing will clean and prepare the land for fainfoin; for the sowing of which April is reckoned the best season. The usual way is to sow it broad-cast, four bushels to an acre; but the writer prefers sowing it in drills two feet asunder; for then it may be horse-hoed, and half the seed will be sufficient.

The horse-hoeing will not only clean the crop, but earth up the plants, and render them more luxuriant and lasting.

If you sow it broad-cast give it a top-dressing in December or January, of rotten dung or ashes, or, which is still better, of both mixed up in compost.

From various trials, it is found that taking only one crop in a year, and feeding the after-growth, is better than to mow it twice. Cut it as soon as it is in full bloom, if the weather will permit. The hay will be the sweeter, and the strength of the plants less impaired, then if it stand till the seed is formed.

4. Light rich land, being the most easy to cultivate to advantage, and capable of bearing most kinds of land, grain, pulse, and herbage, little need be said upon it. One thing however is very proper to be observed, that such lands are best adapted to the drill husbandry, especially where machines are used, which require shallow furrows to be made for the reception of the seed. This, if not prone to couch grass, is the best of all soils for lucerne; which, if sown in two feet drills, and kept clean, will yield an astonishing quantity of the most excellent herbage. But lucerne will never be cultivated to advantage where couch grass and weeds are very plentiful; nor in the broad-cast method, even where they are not so; because horse-hoeing is essential to the vigorous growth of this plant.

5. Coarse rough land. Plough deep in autumn; when it has lain two weeks, cross-plough it, and let it rough land lie rough through the winter. In March give it another good ploughing; drag, rake, and harrow it well, to get out the rubbish, and sow four bushels of black oats per acre if the soil be wet, and white oats if dry. When about four inches high, roll them well after a shower: This will break the clods; and the fine mould falling among the roots of the plants will promote their growth greatly.

Some sow clover and rye-grass among the oats, but this appears to be bad husbandry. If you design it for clover, sow it single, and let a coat of dung be laid on in December. The snow and rain will then dilute its salts and oil, and carry them down among the roots of the plants. This is far better than mixing the crops on such land, for the oats will exhaust the soil so much that the clover will be impoverished. The following summer you will have a good crop of clover; which cut once, and feed the after-growth. In the winter plough it in, and let it lie till February: Then plough and harrow it well; and in March, if the soil be moist, plant beans in drills of three feet, to admit the horse-hoe freely. When you horse-hoe them a second time, sow a row of turnips in each interval, and they will succeed very well. But if the land be strong enough for sowing wheat as soon as the beans are off, the turnips may be omitted.

Sect. III. Sect. III. Culture of particular Plants.

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

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

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

I. Plants cultivated for Fruit.

1. Wheat and Rye.

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

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

About the first week of June, the great brake will loosen and reduce the soil, encourage a second crop of annuals, and raise to the surface the roots of weeds moved by the plough. Give the weeds time to spring, which may be in two or three weeks. Then proceed to the second ploughing about the beginning of July; which must be cross the ridges, in order to reach all the slips of the former ploughing. By cross-ploughing the furrows will be filled up, and water-furrowing be still more necessary than before. Employ the brake again about the 10th of August, to destroy the annuals that have sprung since the last stirring. The destruction of weeds is a capital article in fallowing: yet so blind are people to their interest, that nothing is more common than a fallow field covered with charlock and wild mustard, all in flower, and 10 or 12 inches high. The field having now received two harrowings and two breakings is prepared for manure, whether lime or dung, which without delay ought to be incorporated with the soil by a repeated harrowing and gathering furrow. This ought to be about the beginning of September, and as soon after as you please the seed may be sown.

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

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

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

A sandy soil is too loose for wheat. The only chance for a crop is after red clover, the roots of which bind sandy soil; and the instructions above given for loam are applicable. Culture of particular Plants.

Rye is a crop much fitter for sandy soil than wheat; and like wheat, it is generally sown after a summer fallow.

Lastly, Sow wheat as soon in the month of October as the ground is ready. When sown a month more early, it is too forward in the spring, and apt to be hurt by frost; when sown a month later, it has not time to root before frost comes on; and frost spews it out of the ground.

Setting of wheat, a method which by some is reckoned one of the greatest improvements in husbandry that has taken place this century. It seems to have been first suggested by planting grains in a garden from mere curiosity, by persons who had no thought or opportunity of extending it to a lucrative purpose. Nor was it attempted on a larger scale, till a little farmer near Norwich began it, about 25 years since, upon less than an acre of land. For two or three years only a few followed his example; and these were generally the butt of their neighbours' meritment for adopting so singular a practice. They had, however, considerably better corn and larger crops than their neighbours: this, together with the saving in seed, engaged more to follow them: while some ingenious persons, observing its great advantage, recommended and published its utility in the Norwich papers. These recommendations had their effect. The curiosity and inquiry of the Norfolk farmers, particularly round Norwich, were excited, and they found sufficient reason to make general experiments. Among the rest was one of the largest occupiers of lands in that country, who sowed 57 acres in one year. His success, from the visible superiority of his crop, both in quantity and quality, was so great, that the following autumn he sowed 300 acres, and has continued the practice ever since. This noble experiment established the practice, and was the means of introducing it generally among the intelligent farmers in a very large district of land; there being few who now sow any wheat, if they can procure hands to set it. It has been generally observed, that although the first crops appear very thin during the autumn and winter, the plants side-shoots and spread prodigiously in the spring. The ears are indisputably larger, without any dwarfish or small corn; the grain is of a larger bulk, and specifically heavier per bushel than when sown.

The lands on which this method is particularly prosperous, are either after a clover stubble, or on which trefoil and grass seed were sown the spring before the last. These grounds, after the usual manuring, are once turned over by the plough in an extended flag or turf, at ten inches wide; along which a man, who is called a dibbler, with two setting irons, somewhat bigger than ramrods, but considerably bigger at the lower end, and pointed at the extremity, steps backwards along the turf, and makes the holes about four inches asunder every way, and an inch deep. Into these holes the droppers (women, boys, and girls) drop two grains, which is quite sufficient. After this, a gate bushed with thorns is drawn by one horse over the land, and closes up the holes. By this mode, three pecks of grain is sufficient for an acre; and being immediately buried, it is equally removed from vermin or the power of frost. The regularity of its rising gives the best opportunity of keeping it clear from weeds, by weeding or hand-hoeing.

Wheat-setting is a method peculiarly beneficial when corn is dear; and, if the season be favourable, may be practised with great benefit to the farmer. Sir Tho-Peculiar mas Beevor of Hethel-Hall, in Norfolk, found the advantages produce to be two bushels per acre more than from the wheat which is sown; but having much less small corn intermixed with it, the sample is better, and always fetches a higher price, to the amount generally of two shillings per quarter.

This method, too, saves to the farmer and to the public six pecks of feed wheat in every acre; which, if nationally adopted, would of itself afford bread for more than half a million of people.

Add to these considerations, the great support given to the poor by this second harvest, as it may be called, which enables them to discharge their rents, and maintain their families without having recourse to the parish.—The expense of setting by hand is now reduced to about six shillings per acre; which, in good weather may be done by one dibbler, attended by three droppers, in two days. This is six shillings per day; of which if the dibbler gives to the children sixpence each, he will have himself three shillings and sixpence for his day's work, which is much more than he can possibly earn by any other labour so easy to himself. But put the case that the man has a wife who dabbles with him, and two or three of his own children to drop to him, you see his gains will then be prodigious, and enough to ensure a plenty of candidates for that work, even in the least populous parts of the country.

It is, however, to be observed with regard to this method, that in seasons when feed-corn is very cheap, or the autumn particularly unfavourable to the practice, it must certainly be leftened. In light lands, for instance, a very dry time prevents dibbling; as the holes made with the instrument will be filled up again by the mould as fast as the instrument is withdrawn. So, again, in a very wet season, on strong and stiff clays, the seeds in the holes cannot be well and properly covered by the bushes drawn over them. But these extremes of dry and wet do not often happen, nor do they affect lands of a moderately consentient texture, or both light and heavy soils at the same time; so that the general practice is in fact never greatly impeded by them.

Propagating of wheat by dividing and transplanting its roots. In the Philosophical Transactions for 1768, ing of wheat we meet with a very important experiment, of which by dividing the following is an abstract. On the 2d of June 1766, Mr C. Miller sowed some grains of the common red wheat; and on the 8th of August a single plant was taken up and separated into 18 parts, and each part planted separately. These plants having pushed out several side-shoots, by about the middle of September; some of them were then taken up and divided, and the rest of them between that time and the middle of October. This second division produced 67 plants. These plants remained through the winter, and another division of them, made between the middle of March and the 12th of April, produced 500 plants. They were then divided no further, but permitted to remain. The plants were in general stronger than any of the wheat in the fields. Some of them produced upwards of Culture of particular plants.

Many of the ears measured seven inches in length, and contained between 60 and 70 grains.

The whole number of ears which, by the process above mentioned, were produced from one grain of wheat, was 21,109, which yielded three pecks and three quarters of clean corn, the weight of which was 47 lb. 7 ounces; and from a calculation made by counting the number of grains in an ounce, the whole number of grains was about 386,840.

By this account we find, that there was only one general division of the plants made in the spring. Had a second been made, Mr Miller thinks the number of plants would have amounted to 2000 instead of 500, and the produce thereby been much enlarged.

The ground was a light blackish soil, upon a gravelly bottom; and, consequently, a bad soil for wheat. One half of the ground was well dugged, the other half had no manure. There was, however, not any difference discoverable in the vigour, or growth, or produce, of the plants.

It must be evident, that the expense and labour of setting in the above manner by the hand, will render it scarcely practicable upon a large scale so as to be productive of any utility. A correspondent of the Bath Society, therefore, (Robert Bogle, Esq., of Daldowin, near Glasgow,) with a view to extend the practice, has proposed the use of the harrow and roller until some better implements be invented. This method occurred to him from attending to the practice usual with farmers on certain occasions, of harrowing their fields after the grain is sprung up. Upon investigating the principles upon which these practices are founded, he found them confined merely to that of pulverizing the earth, without any attention to Mr Miller's doctrine. They said, "that after very heavy rains, and then excessive dry weather, the surface of their lands was apt to be caked, the tender fibres of the young roots were thereby prevented from pushing, and of course the vegetation was greatly obstructed; in such instances, they found very great benefit from harrowing and rolling."

These principles he acknowledges to be well founded, so far as relates to pulverizing; but contends, that the benefit arising from harrowing and rolling is not derived from pulverizing entirely, but also from subdividing and enabling the plants to tiller (as it is termed). "The harrow (he observes) certainly breaks the incrustation on the surface, and the roller crumbles the clods; but it is also obvious, that the harrow removes a great many of the plants from their original stations; and that if the corn has begun to tiller at the time it is used, the roots will be, in many instances, subdivided, and then the application of my system of divisibility comes into play. The roller then serves to plant the roots which have been torn up by the harrow."

But on this the Society observe, that the teeth of a harrow are too large to divide roots so small and tenacious as are those of grain; and whenever such roots (however tillered) stand in the line any tooth makes, they will, if small, be only turned on one side by the earth yielding to their lateral pressure, or, if large, the whole root will probably be drawn out of the ground. The principal uses, therefore, derived from harrowing and rolling these crops are, opening the soil between the plants, earthing them up, breaking the clods, and culture of cloising the earth about their roots.

In a subsequent letter, Mr Bogle, without contesting these points, further urges the scheme of propagating wheat by dividing and transplanting its roots. "I have conversed (says he) much with many practical farmers, who all admit that my plan has the appearance not only of being practical, but advantageous. I have also seen, in the ninth number of Mr Young's Annals of Agriculture, the account of an experiment which strongly corroborates my theory. It was made by the Rev. Mr Pike of Edmonton. From this and, other experiments which have been made under my own eye, I foresee clearly, that the system is practicable, and will certainly be productive of great benefit, should it become general. Besides the saving of nine-tenths of Practicability in the land from broad-cast, other very important advantages will attend the setting out of wheat from a scheme of feed-bed: such as an early crop; the certainty of good crops; rendering a summer-fallow unnecessary; saving dung; and having your wheat perfectly free from weeds without either hand or horse-hoeing. Five hundred plants in April produced almost a bushel of grain. My gardener says, he can set one thousand plants in a day, which is confirmed by the opinion of two other gardeners. Mr Miller found no difference in the produce of what was planted on lands that had dung, and on what had none, except where the land was improper for wheat at all."

On this letter we have the following note by the Bath Society: "Mr Bogle will see, by the society's premiums' observation book this year, that by having offered several premiums for experiments of the kind he so earnestly recommends, we wish to have his theory brought to the test of practice. Our reason for this, as well as for printing Mr B's letter, was rather to excite decisive trials by ingenious persons, than from any expectation of the practice ever becoming a general one. General, indeed, it never can be. A sufficient number of hands could not be found to do it. Unkindly seasons at the time of transplanting and dividing the roots would frequently endanger and injure, if not destroy, the crops. But admitting the mode generally practicable, we very much doubt whether all the advantages he has enumerated would be derived from this mode of culture. Why should dividing and transplanting the roots of wheat cause the crop to be early, or afford a certainty of its being a good one? We cannot think that less manure is necessary in this method than either in drilling or broad-cast; nor can we by any means admit, such crops would 'be perfectly free from weeds without either hand or horse-hoeing.' We readily agree with Mr Bogle, that by this mode of culture on a general scale, an immense quantity of feed-corn would be annually saved to the nation; and in this, we believe, the advantage, were it practicable, would principally consist."

Upon the same subject, and that of harrowing all kinds of corn, we are informed, Mr Bogle afterwards communicated to the Society his thoughts more at large, together with authentic accounts which were made at his instance, and which were attended with very great success. These must undoubtedly be regarded as of very great importance, and accordingly the society, conceiving his system may be attended Culture of particular plants with considerable advantages if brought into general practice, have given, at the end of their third volume a few of his leading principles. Mr Bogle states, 1. That he has known many instances of very great crops having been obtained by harrowing fields of corn after they were sprouted; and therefore recommends the practice very warmly.

2. That he also received an authentic account of one instance where the same good effects were produced by ploughing the field.

3. On the system of transplanting, he states, that a very great proportion of the seed will be saved, as a farmer may have a nursery, or small patch of plants, from which his fields may be supplied; he calculates that one acre will yield plants sufficient for 100 acres.

4. That a very great increase of crops may be obtained by this method, probably a double crop, nay perhaps a triple quantity of what is reaped either by drilling or by the broad-cast husbandry.

5. That a great part of the labour may be performed by infirm men and women, and also by children, who are at present supported by the parish charity; and that of course the poor's rates may be considerably reduced.

6. That the expense will not exceed from 2s. to 3s. per acre, if the work be performed by able-bodied men and women; but that it will be much lower, if that proportion of the work which may be done by employing young boys and girls should be allotted to them.

7. That in general he has found the distance of nine inches every way a very proper distance for setting out the plants at; but recommends them to be tried at other spaces, such as 6, 8, or even 12 inches.

8. That he conceives an earlier crop may be obtained in this manner that can be obtained by any other mode of cultivation.

9. That a clean crop may also be procured in this way, because if the land be ploughed immediately before the plants are set out, the corn will spring much quicker from the plants than the weeds will do from their seeds; and the corn will thereby bear down the growth of the weeds.

10. That such lands as are overflowed in the winter and spring, and are of course unfit for sowing with wheat in the autumn, may be rendered fit for crops of wheat by planting them in the spring, or even in the summer.

11. That he has known instances of wheat being transplanted in September, October, November, February, March, April, and even as late as the middle of May, which have all answered very well.

12. That he has known an early kind of wheat sown as late as the middle of May, which has ripened in very good time; and from that circumstance he conceives, if the plants should be taken from that early kind, the season of transplanting might be prolonged at least till the 1st of July, perhaps even later.

13. That he has reason to think wheat, oats, and barley, are not annuals, but are perennials, provided they are eaten down by cattle and sheep, or are kept low by the scythe or sickle; and are prevented from spindling or coming to the ear.

14. That one very prevalent motive with him in prosecuting this plan, is, that he is of opinion it may enable government to devise means of supporting the culture of the particular vagrant poor, both old and young, who are now to be met with everywhere, both in towns and in the country, and who are at present a burden on the community: but if such employment could be struck out for them, a comfortable subsistence might be provided for them, by means of their own labour and industry; and not only save the public and private charitable contributions, but may also render that class of people useful and profitable subjects; instead of their remaining in a useless, wretched, and perhaps a profligate and vicious course of life.

Lastly, Mr Bogle has hinted at a secondary object which he has in view, from this mode of cultivation, which he apprehends may in time, with a small degree of attention, prove extremely advantageous to agriculture. It is, that, in the first place, the real and intrinsic value of different kinds of grain may be more accurately ascertained, by making a comparison of it with a few plants of each kind set out at the same time, than can be done when sown in drills or broad-cast; and when the most valuable kinds of wheat, oats, or barley, are discovered, he states, that in a very short time (not exceeding four or five years) a sufficient quantity of that valuable kind may be procured to supply the kingdom with feed from a single grain of each kind; for he calculates, that 47,000 grains of wheat may be produced by divisibility in two years and three months.

Upon these propositions the Society observes, "That although Mr Bogle appears to be too sanguine in his notion of the expectations of seeing his plan realized in general practice, it certainly merits the attention of gentlemen farmers. We wish them to make fair experiments, and report their success. Every grand improvement has been, and ever will be, progressive. They must necessarily originate with gentlemen; and thence the circle is extended by almost imperceptible degrees over provinces and countries. At all events, Mr Bogle is justly entitled to the thanks of the Society, and of the public for the great attention he has paid to the subject."

There is perhaps no part of Great Britain where this species of grain is cultivated to more perfection than wheat in Norfolk. Mr Marshall informs us, that the species Norfolk raised in that county is called the Norfolk red, and weighs heavier than any other which has yet been introduced, though he owns that its appearance is much against the affection, it being a long thin grain, resembling rye more than well-bodied wheat. About 15 or 20 years ago a new species was introduced, named the Kenilworth coif; against which the millers were at first very much prejudiced, though this prejudice is now got over. A remarkable circumstance respecting this grain is, that though upon its introduction into the county the coif or husk be perfectly white, yet such is the power either of the soil or of the mode of cultivation to produce what the botanists call varieties, that the grain in question is said to lose every year somewhat of the whiteness of its husks, until they become at last equally red with those of the former kind. The southern and south-eastern parts of the county generally enjoy a stronger and richer soil than the more northerly, and therefore are more proper for the cultivation of that species of grain. In the northern parts are some farms of very light soil, where the farmers now only The greatest part of the wheat in Norfolk is sown upon a second year's ley; sometimes it is sown upon a first year's ley; sometimes on a summer fallow; after peas, turnips, or buck harvested or ploughed under.

The practice adopted by those who are looked upon as superior husbandmen in the county of Norfolk is as follows: The second year's leys having finished the bullocks, and brought the stock cattle and horses through the fore part of summer, and the first year's leys having been ready to receive his stock, the farmer begins to break up his old land or ley ground by a peculiar mode of cultivation named rise-balking, in which the furrow particular mode of culture, explained.

Rise-balking, a part-is always turned toward the unploughed ground, the edge of the coulter passing always close by the edge of the flag last turned. This is done at first with an even regular furrow; opportunity being taken for performing the operation after the surface has been moistened by a summer shower. In this state its summer leys remain until towards the end of harvest, when he harrows and afterwards ploughs them across the balks of the former ploughing, bringing them now up to the full depth of the soil. On this ploughing he immediately harrows the manure, and ploughs it in with a shallow furrow. The effects of this third ploughing are to mix and effectually pulverize the soil and manure; to cut off and pulverize the upper surfaces of the furrows of the second ploughing; and thus, in the most effectual manner, to eradicate or smother the weeds which had escaped the two former ones. Thus it lies until the feed time, when it is harrowed, rolled, sown, and gathered up into ridges of such width as the farmer thinks most proper. Those of six furrows are most common, though some very good farmers lay their wheat land into four-furrow and others into ten-furrow ridges; "which last (says our author) they execute in a style much superior to what might be expected from wheel ploughs." They excel, however, in the six-furrow ploughing; of which Mr Marshall gives a particular account. When ploughing in this manner, they carry very narrow furrows; so that a six-furrow ridge, set out by letting the off-horse return in the first-made furrows, does not measure more than three feet eight or nine inches.

When wheat is cultivated after the first year's ley, the feed is generally sown upon the flag or furrow turned over. After peas, one or two ploughings are given; the other parts of the management being the same as that after the second year's ley already mentioned. After buck harvested he seldom gives more than two, and sometimes but one, ploughings. In the former case he spreads his manure on the stubble, and ploughs it in with a shallow furrow; harrows, rolls, fows, and gathers up the soil into narrow work. The manure is in like manner spread on the stubble after once ploughing; and the feed is then sown among the manure, the whole ploughed in together, and the soil gathered up into narrow ridges, as if it had undergone the operations of a fallow. An inconvenience attending this practice is, that the buck which is necessarily fixed in harvesting springs up among the wheat, and becomes a weed to it; at the same time that the rooks, if numerous, pull up both buck and wheat, leaving several patches quite bare. This is obviated in a great measure by first ploughing in the manure and self-sown buck with a shallow furrow; in consequence of which the buck vegetates before the wheat.

It is likewise a favourite practice with the Norfolk farmers to raise wheat after buck ploughed under. They plough under the buck by means of a broom made of rough butches fixed to the fore tackle of the plough between the wheels, which bears down the plant without lifting the wheels from the ground. Sometimes, when the buck is strong, they first break it down with a roller going the same way that the plough is intended to go; afterwards a good ploughman will cover it so effectually that scarce a stalk can be seen. Sometimes the surface of the ground is left rough, but it is more eligible to harrow and roll it. The practice of summer fallowing seldom occurs in Norfolk; though sometimes, when the soil has been much worn down by cropping, and overrun by weeds, it is esteemed a judicious practice by many excellent husbandmen, and the practice seems to be daily gaining ground. After turnips the soil is ploughed to a moderate depth, and the seed sown over the first ploughing; but if the turnips be got in early, the weeds are sometimes first ploughed in with a shallow furrow, and the seed ploughed under with a second ploughing, gathering the soil into narrow ridges.

With regard to the manuring of the ground for Manuring wheat in Norfolk, that which has been recently clayed the ground or marled is supposed to need no other preparation in Norfolk any more than that which has received 15 or 20 loads of dung and mould for turnips; the first year's ley having been teathed in autumn, and the second fed off. Where the soil is good, and the wheat apt to run too much to straw, it is the practice of some judicious farmers to fet their manure upon the young clover, thereby depriving the wheat in some degree of its rankness; but it is most common to spread it upon the broken ground; or if the feed be sown upon the turned furrow, to spread it on the turf and plough it under; or to spread it on the ploughed surface, and harrow it in with the seed as a top-dressing. A smaller quantity of manure is generally made use of for wheat than for turnips. From eight to ten cart loads (as much as three horses can conveniently draw) are reckoned sufficient for an acre; three or four chaldrons of lime to one acre, or 40 buthels of foot to the same quantity of ground; or about a ton of rape-cake to three acres.

In this county they never begin to sow wheat till Time of fowling after the 17th of October, and continue till the beginning of December, sometimes even till Christmas. They give as a reason for this late sowing, that the wheat treated in this manner is less apt to run to straw than when sown earlier. The feed is generally prepared with brine, and candied in the usual manner with lime. The following method of preparing it is said to be effectual in preventing the smut. "The salt is Of prepared dissolved in a very small quantity of water, barely sufficing the solution, and the wheat candied with it in its hottest state, having been previously moistened with pure water." According to our author's observation, the crops of those farmers who use this preparation are in general more free from smut than those who make use of any other. The practice of dibbling or setting of wheat has not yet become general throughout Norfolk, the common broad-cast method being usually followed, except on the Suffolk side of the county. Some few make use of dibbling and fluting rollers; but drilling is almost entirely unknown, notwithstanding the great aptitude of soil for the practice. Ploughing in the feed under furrow is the favourite mode of the Norfolk farmers, and is performed in the following manner: "The land having been harrowed down level, and the surface rendered smooth by the roller, the head ploughman (if at leisure) marks out the whole piece in narrow slips of about a statute rood in width. This he does by hanging up the plough in such a manner, that no part of it except the heel touches the ground: and this makes a sure mark for the seedsman, which he cannot by any means mistake. In case the ploughs are all employed, the seedsman himself marks the ground, by drawing a piece of wood or other heavy body behind him." Mr Marshall prefers this to the Kentish method of setting up sticks in the form of a lane, as being less liable to produce mistakes.

In those places where wheat is dibbled, they make use of iron instruments for the purpose. The acting part is an egg-shaped knob, somewhat larger than a pigeon's egg; the smaller end is the point of the dibble, the larger having a rod of iron rising from it about half an inch square, and two feet and a half long; the head being received into a crook piece of wood resembling the crutch of a spade or shovel, which forms the handle. The dibbler uses two of these instruments, one in each hand; and, bending over them, walks backward upon the turned furrows, making two rows of holes in each of them. These rows are usually made at the distance of four inches from each other; the holes being two and a half or three inches distant, viz. four in each length of the foot of the dibbler. The great art in making these lies in leaving them firm and smooth in the sides, so that the loofe mould may not run in to fill them up before the seeds are deposited. This is done by a circular motion of the hand and wrist; making a semi revolution every stroke; the circular motion beginning as the bit enters, and continuing until it is entirely disengaged from the mould. The operation is not perfect unless the dibbles come out clean and wear bright. It is somewhat difficult to make the holes at equal distances; but more especially to keep the two straight and parallel to each other, some practice being required to guide the instruments in such a manner as to correspond exactly with each other; but though couples have been invented to remedy this inconvenience to keep them at a proper distance, the other method is still found to be preferable. A middling workman will make four holes in a second. One dibbler is sufficient for three droppers; whence one man and three children are called a set. The dibbler carries on three flags or turned furrows; going on some yards upon one of the outside furrows, and returning upon the other, after which he takes the middle one; and thus keeps his three droppers constantly employed, and at the same time is in no danger of filling up the holes with his feet. The droppers put in two or three grains of wheat into each hole; but much time and patience is necessary to teach them to perform the business properly and quickly. An expert dibbler will hole half an acre in a day; though one third of an acre is usually reckoned a good day's work. The feed particular is covered by means of a bath harrow; and from one bushel to fix pecks is the usual quantity for an acre. Notwithstanding the advantages of sowing feed, as well as some others which are generally reckoned undeniable, it is here asserted by some very judicious farmers, that dibbling of wheat on the whole is not really a profitable practice. It is particularly said to be productive of weeds unless dibbled very thick: which indeed against the may probably be the case, as the weeds are thus allowed a greater space to vegetate in. Mr Marshall himself is of opinion, that "the dibbling of wheat appears to be peculiarly adapted to rich deep soils, on which three or four pecks dibbled early may spread sufficiently for a full crop; whereas light, weak, shallow soils, which have lain two or three years, and have become grassy, require an additional quantity of seed, and consequently an addition of labour, otherwise the plants are not able to reach each other, and the grasses of course find their way up between them, by which means the crop is injured and the soil rendered foul."

The same author has likewise given an account of the method of cultivating wheat practised in other English counties. In the midland district, including part of Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Warwick, and Leicestershire, we are informed that the species usually sown is that called Red Lammas, the ordinary red wheat of the kingdom: but of late a species named the Essex dun, similar to the Kentish white corn of Norfolk, and the Hertfordshire brown of Yorkshire, has been coming into vogue. Cone-wheat, formerly in use in this district, is now out of fashion. Spring wheat is cultivated with remarkable success, owing principally to the time of sowing; viz. the close of April. Our author was informed by an excellent farmer in these parts, that by sowing early, as in the beginning of March, the grain was liable to be shrivelled, and the straw to be blighted; while that which was sown towards the end of April, or even in the beginning of May, produced clean plum corn. At the time he visited this county, however, it seemed to be falling into dispute; though he looks upon it, in some situations, especially in a turnip country, to be eligible. In the ordinary succession in this part of the kingdom, wheat comes after oats; and there is perhaps nine-tenths of the wheat in this district sown upon oat-stubble. Our author has also seen a few examples of wheat being sown upon turf of six or seven years' leying; and several others on clover ley once ploughed, as well as some after turnips. The bell crops, however, produced in this, or perhaps in any other district, are after summer fallow. The time of sowing is the month of October, little being sown before Michaelmas; and in a favourable season, little after the close of the month. Much seed is sown here without preparation. When any is made use of, it is the common one of brine candied with lime. The produce is very great, the medium being full three quarters per acre, sometimes four or five; and one farmer, in the year 1784, had on 50 acres of land together, no less than 45 bushels per acre.

In the Vale of Gloucester, the cone-wheat, a variety of the triticum turgidum, is cultivated, as well as the lammas. Culture of mas and spring wheats. It is not, however, the true cone wheat which is cultivated here, the ears being nearly cylindrical; but our author met with the true species in North-Wiltshire. Beans in this country are the common predecessors of wheat, and sometimes peas; but here the farmers cultivate wheat upon every species of soil. The time of sowing is in November and December, and the seed is thought to be sown in sufficient time if it is done before Christmas. In this country it is thought that late sown crops always produce better than those which are sown early; but Mr Marshall accounts for this by the vast quantity of weeds the latter have to encounter, and which the late sown crops escape by reason of the weakness of vegetation at that time of the year. The produce, however, throughout the Vale of Gloucester, is but very indifferent.—Setting of wheat is not practised, but hoeing universally.—In harvesting, Mr Marshall observes, that the grain is allowed to stand until it be unreasonably ripe, and that it is bound up into very small sheaves. The practice of making double bands is unknown in this district; so that the theaves are no bigger than can be contained in the length of single straw. The inconveniences of this method are, that the crop requires more time to stock, load and unload, and slack: the advantages are, that the trouble of making bands is avoided; and that if rainy weather happens to intervene, the small sheaves dry much sooner than the large ones. Here the crop is cut very high, the stubble and weeds being mown off in swathes for litter soon after the crop is cut; and sometimes sold as high as 5s. per acre.—Mr Marshall is at a loss to account for the little quantity produced in this country: it being hardly possible to derive it from the nature of the soil, almost all of it being proper for the cultivation of the grain.

Among the Cotswold hills of Gloucester the lammas and cone wheats are sown; and a new variety of the latter was raised not long ago by picking out a single grain of seed from among a parcel. The body is very long and large, but not tightly.—The Cotswold hills are almost proverbial for early sowing of wheat. The general rule is to begin ploughing in July, and sowing the first wet weather in August; so that here the seed-time and harvest of wheat coincide. If, in consequence of this early sowing the blade becomes rank in autumn, it is supposed to be proper to eat it down by putting a large flock of sheep upon it at once. Eating it in spring is considered as pernicious. It is usually weeded with spud-hooks; not hoed, as in the Vale. One instance, however, is mentioned by our author, in which a very thin crop full of seed-weeds hoed in autumn with uncommon success, occurred in the practice of a superior manager in this district; as well as others in which wheat has been weeded in autumn with great advantage. He also met with another well authenticated instance of the good effect of cutting mildewed wheat while very green. “A fine piece of wheat being lodged by heavy rains, and being soon after perceived to be infected with the mildew, was cut, though still in a perfectly green state; namely, about three weeks before the usual time of cutting. It lay spread abroad upon the stubble until it became dry enough to prevent its caking in the sheaf; when it was bound and set up in shocks. The result of this treatment was, that the grain, though small, was of a fine colour, and the heaviest wheat which grew upon the same farm that season; owing, no doubt, to the thinness of its skin. What appears much more remarkable, the straw was perfectly bright, not a speck upon it.—In this part of the country, the produce of wheat is superior to that in the Vale; but Mr Marshall is of opinion, that the soil is much more fit for barley than wheat.

In Yorkshire, though generally a grass land country, and where of consequence corn is only a second crop in dairy concern, yet several kinds of wheat are cultivated, particularly Zealund, Downy Kent, Common White, Hertfordshire Brown, Yellow Kent, Common Red. All these are varieties of winter wheat; besides which they cultivate also the spring or summer wheat. Here our author makes several curious observations concerning the raising of varieties of plants. “It is observable, says he, that time has the same effect upon rations on the varieties of wheat and other grains as it has on the varieties of cultivated fruits, potatoes, and other vegetable productions. Thus to produce an early pea, the gardener marks the plants which open first into blossom among the most early kind he has in cultivation. Next year he sows the produce of those plants, and goes over the coming crop in the manner he had done the preceding year, marking the earlier of this early kind. In a similar manner new varieties of apples are raised, by choosing the broadest leaved plants among a bed of seedlings rising promiscuously from pippins. Hubandmen, it is probable, have heretofore been equally industrious in producing fresh varieties of corn; or whence the endless variety of winter wheats? If they be naturally of one species, as Linnaeus has deemed them, they must have been produced by climate, soil, or industry; for although nature sports with individuals, the industry of man is requisite to raise, establish, and continue a permanent variety. The only influence in which I have had an opportunity of tracing the variety down to the parent individual, has occurred to me in this district. A man of acute observation, having, in a piece of wheat, perceived a plant of uncommon strength and luxuriance, diffusing its branches over every side, and setting its closely-surrounding neighbours at defiance; marked it; and at harvest removed it separately. The produce was 15 ears, yielding 604 grains of a strong-bodied liver-coloured wheat, different, in general appearance, from every other variety he had seen. The chaff was smooth, without awns, and of the colour of the grain; the straw stout and reedy. These 604 grains were planted singly, nine inches asunder, filling about 40 square yards of ground, on a clover stubble, the remainder of the ground being sown with wheat in the ordinary way; by which means extraordinary trouble and destruction by birds were avoided. The produce was two gallons and a half, weighing 20½ lb. of prime grain for feed, besides some pounds of seconds. One grain produced 35 ears, yielding 1235 grains; so that the second year’s produce was sufficient to plant an acre of ground. What detters farmers from improvements of this nature is probably the mischief-wrought of birds: from which at harvest it is scarcely possible to preserve a small patch of corn, especially in a garden or other ground situated near a habitation; but by carrying on the improvement in a field of corn of the same nature, that inconvenience is got In this situation, however, the botanist will be apprehensive of danger from the floral farina of the surrounding crop. But from what observations I have made, I am of opinion his fears will be groundless. No evil of this kind occurred, though the cultivation of the above variety was carried on among white wheat. But this need not be brought as an evidence; it is not uncommon here to sow a mixture of red and white wheats together; and this, it is confidently asserted, without impairing even the colour of either of them. The same mode of culture is applicable to the improvement of varieties; which perhaps would be more profitable to the husbandman than raising new ones, and more expeditions.

In Yorkshire the very singular preparation of seed wheat prevails which we formerly mentioned, viz. the steeping it in a solution of arsenic, as a preventive of smut. Marshall was informed by one farmer, that he had made use of this preparation for 20 years with success, having never during that long space of time suffered any sensible injury from smut. Our author seems inclined to believe the efficacy of this preparation; but thinks there may be some reason to apprehend danger in the use of such a pernicious mineral, either through the carelessness of servants, or handling of the seed by the person who sows it. The farmer above mentioned, however, during all the time he used it, never experienced any inconvenience either to himself, the seedman, or even to the poultry; though these last, we should have thought, would have been peculiarly liable to accidents from arsenicated seed. The preparation is made by pounding the arsenic extremely fine, boiling it in water, and drenching the seed with the decoction. "In strictness," says Mr Marshall, the arsenic should be levigated sufficiently fine to be taken up and washed over with water, reducing the sediment until it be fine enough to be carried over in the same manner. The usual method of preparing the liquor is to boil one ounce of white arsenic, finely powdered, in a gallon of water, from one to two hours; and to add to the decoction as much water or stale urine as will increase the liquor to two gallons. In this liquor the seed is, or ought to be, immersed, stirring it about in such a manner as to saturate effectually the downy end of each grain. This done, and the liquor drawn off, the seed is considered as fit for the seed basket, without being candied with lime, or any other preparation. A bushel of wheat has been observed to take up about a gallon of liquor. The price of arsenic is about sixpence per pound; which, on this calculation, will cure four quarters of seed. If no more than three quarters be prepared with it, the cost will be only a farthing per bushel; but to this must be added the labour of pounding and boiling. Nevertheless, it is by much the cheapest, and perhaps, upon the whole, adds Mr Marshall, the best preparation we are at present acquainted with. In this county it is believed, that a mixture of wheat and rye, formerly a very common crop in these parts, is never affected with mildew; but our author does not vouch for the truth of this assertion.

We must not here omit to take notice of a new mode of cultivating wheat contrived by Mr E. Walker of Harpley, Norfolk; which mode of culture we shall afterwards have occasion to notice when we come to treat of the culture of turnips. Mr Walker thus explains his mode of procedure in a letter addressed to the publisher of the Annals of Agriculture. "I sow in broad-cast, after the turnips have been once hoed, two Vol. ix. bushels of wheat or two bushels of rye per acre; and then hoe the same in with the second hoeing; if it be hoed by the day it may be best, as it will be better done by the short strokes or cuts with the hoes than otherwise. It is recommended to be done soon after the first hoeing, for many reasons: It becomes a fine herbage, and keeps the land very clean, without any injury to the turnips, or to the wheat or rye. I began to feed in last September, the turnips, &c., the first of the month, and shall continue till all are done. I have fed off with all sorts of stock mixed, and have drawn out the turnips in lines to set the hurdles, as is usual, and fed off the turnips and growing corn in wet and dry weather; but find that dry weather, and sheep, is the properest time and stock; and that sheep and light beasts are the best for light lands, which, on the whole, this method will greatly improve.

"All my experiments have been made without mucking, or any manure, for the turnip and wheat crop; and on those parts where I have fed off at the time it has been dry weather, though with all sorts of stock mixed, and drawing as above, I have grown at the rate of one coomb of wheat per acre, and at the rate of eight coombs of rye per acre; and some was almost totally destroyed by feeding off in wet weather, as I was determined not to desist, that I might know the bad or good effects from feeding off the turnips with the corn in different weather, as well as the different months; all which I shall be able to give information of next year, to those who wish to know. I find the feed nearly worth the cost of the feed corn, which is a material consideration in case you plough the land for barley or other summer corn; but if the wheat or rye stands a crop to your mind, it will do better to harrow it in the spring, at which time you may sow your grass seeds, which I find answer very well; or plough the stubble early in the autumn, and sow with clover or other feeds."

The well-known author of the Annals of Agriculture has given a farther account of this method of cultivation. The idea which led to Mr Walker's experiments was this: Wheat requires a certain degree of stiffness and compactness in the soil upon which it is reared. Of this compactness, sandy soils are apt to be deficient in proportion to the degree of tillage they receive. Hence it occurred to Mr Walker, that if wheat could be sown without any ploughing at all, there would be a better chance of a crop upon certain soils, than after the most expensive system of tillage. Accordingly, in 1784, he executed his scheme on five acres of turnips, which were fed during the succeeding winter by bullocks and sheep, like the rest of his turnip fields, without making the least distinction on account of the wheat that had been sown and was growing among them. It is known, that turnip-land, when fed off, is left highly manured and much trodden; and the question was, whether the first of these circumstances would not counterbalance the last? and, whether even the treading itself might not prove advantageous. The success justified the project, and, in 1785, Mr Walker extended it to 35 acres, a part of which was sown with rye, Part I.

Culture of rye. The management was the same as before; the wheat did better than the rye, and the belt crop was where the turnips were eaten in the driest weather. In 1786, the same culture was extended to 70, and in 1797 to 100 acres, with complete success; but the crop was not better than when raised in the common way, though in general as good. The effect of this mode of culture, or the profit arising from it, consisted chiefly in this, that upon a farm of 600 acres, the labour of five horses was saved, and at the time of the barley-sowing, when all his neighbours were in the greatest hurry, he was at his ease quietly siring his turnip fallows. The chief difficulty attending this mode of cultivating wheat arose from the wetness of the season at the time of feeding, as the ground was apt to be too much trodden and poached, particularly when the crop of turnips was very large, so as to keep the cattle long upon them. On the contrary, in dry or frothy weather nothing of this kind happened. The greater the crop of turnips, and the more treading that occurred, the crop of wheat sown afterwards to prosper the better. In a wet season, however, the evil arising from the treading was diminished when sheep alone without bullocks were introduced to consume the turnips. Under this husbandry, the following rotation was used: Two years grass put in among the wheat-stubble, ploughed once, and harrowed both in autumn and spring with the whole dung of the farm; Third year, oats; Fourth, turnips; Fifth, wheat.

2. Oats.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Norfolk this kind of grain is much less cultivated than barley; and the only species observed by Mr Marshall is a kind of white oat, which grows quickly, and seems to be of Dutch extraction. Oats are cultivated occasionally on all kinds of soils, but more especially on cold heavy land, or on very light, unproductive, heathy soils. They may frequently succeed wheat, or ley ground barley: "but (says our author) there are no established rules respecting any part of the culture of this time-serving crop." The culture of the ground is usually the same with that of barley; the ground generally undergoing a winter fallow of three or four ploughings, though sometimes they are sown after one ploughing. They are more commonly sown above furrow than barley. The seed-time is made subservient to that of barley, being sometimes sooner and sometimes later than barley seed-time: and Mr Marshall observes, that he has sometimes seen them sown in June; it being observable, that oats sown late ripen earlier than barley sown at the same time. The quantity of seed in Norfolk is from four to five bushels per acre; but he does not acquaint us with the produce. He mentions a very singular method of culture sometimes practised in this country, viz., ploughing down the oats after they begin to vegetate, but before they have got above ground; which is attended with great success, even though the ground is turned over with a full furrow. By this method weeds of every kind are destroyed, or at least checked in such a manner as to give the crop an opportunity of getting above them; and the porosity communicated to the soil is excellently well adapted to the infant plants of barley; which probably might frequently receive benefit from this operation.

In the Vale of Gloucester, Mr Marshall observes, that the wild oat is a very troublesome weed, as well as in Yorkshire; and he is of opinion, that it is as truly a native of Great Britain as any other arable weed, and is perhaps the most difficult to be extirpated. It will lie a century in the soil without losing its vegetative quality. Ground which has lain in a state of grass time immemorial, both in Gloucester and Yorkshire, has produced it in abundance on being broken up. It is also endowed with the same seemingly instinctive choice of seasons and state of the soil as other seeds of weeds appear to have. Hence it is excessively difficult to be overcome; for as it ripens before any crop of grain, it sheds its seed on the soil, where the roughness of its coat probably secures it from birds. The only methods of extirpating this plant are fallowing, hoeing, and handweeding, where the last is practicable, after it has shot its panicle.

No oats are cultivated in the Vale of Gloucester; though the wild oats grow everywhere as already said. Mr Marshall is of opinion that it is better adapted to oats than to barley. The reason he affirms for the preference given to the latter is, that in this part of the country the monks were formerly very numerous, who probably preferred ale to oatmeal cake.—He now, however, recommends a trial of the grain on the stronger cold lands in the area of the Vale, as they seldom can be got sufficiently fine for barley. The fodder particular from oats he accounts much more valuable than that from barley to a dairy country; and the grain would more than balance in quantity the comparative difference in price.

In the midland district the Poland oat, which was formerly in vogue, has now given place to the Dutch or in the Mid-Frieland kind. It is constantly sown after turf; one land dis-ploughing being given in February, March, or April. The seed-time is the latter end of March and beginning of April, from four to seven bushels an acre; the produce is in proportion to the seed, the medium being about six quarters.

In Yorkshire the Frieland oats are likewise preferable to the Poland, as affording more straw, and being thinner skinned than the latter. The Siberian or Tartarian oat, a species unnoticed by Linnaeus, is likewise cultivated in this country: the reed oat is known, but has not yet come into any great estimation. The grain is light, and the straw too reedy to be affected by cattle.

Oats are particularly cultivated in the western division of the Vale of Yorkshire; where the soil is chiefly a rich sandy loam, unproductive of wheat. Five or six bushels, or even a quarter of oats, are sometimes sown upon an acre; the produce from seven to ten quarters. In this country they are threshed in the open air, and frequently even upon the bare ground, without even the ceremony of interposing a cloth. The threshing reasons assigned for this seemingly strange practice are, that if pigs and poultry he employed to eat up the grain which escapes the broom, there will be little or no waste. Here the market is always very great for new oats, the manufacturing parts of West Yorkshire using principally oat-bread. The only objection to this practice is the chance of bad weather; but there is always plenty of straw to cover up the threshed corn, and it is found that a little rain upon the straw does not make it less agreeable to cattle.

In an experiment made by Mr Bartley near Bristol, Bath upon black oats, we are informed that he had the prodigious increase of 98½ Winchester bushels from four on the acre: the land was a deep, mellow, sandy loam. It had carried potatoes the former year, and received one oats ploughing for a winter fallow. Another ploughing was given it in February, and the seed was sown on the 27th and 28th of the month. The success of the experiment was supposed to be owing partly to the early sowing and partly to a good deep tillage.

3. Barley

This is a culmiferous plant that requires a mellow culture of soil. Upon that account, extraordinary care is requisite where it is to be sown in clay. The land ought to be tilled immediately after the foregoing crop is removed, which lays it open to be mellowed with the frost and air. In that view, a peculiar sort of ploughing has been introduced, termed ribbing; by which the greatest quantity of surface possible is exposed to the air and frost. The obvious objection to this method is, that half of the ridge is left unmoved. And to obviate that objection, the following method is offered, which moves the whole soil, and at the same time exposes the same quantity of surface to the frost and air.

Culture of particular Plants.

A better method.

As soon as the former crop is off the field, let the ridges be gathered with as deep a furrow as the soil will admit, beginning at the crown and ending at the furrows. This ploughing loosens the whole soil, giving free access to the air and frost. Soon after, begin a second ploughing in the following manner: Let the field be divided by parallel lines across the ridges, with intervals of thirty feet or so. Plough once round an interval, beginning at the edges, and turning the earth toward the middle of the interval; which covers a foot or so of the ground formerly ploughed. Within that foot plough another round similar to the former; and, after that, other rounds, till the whole interval be finished, ending at the middle. Instead of beginning at the edges, and ploughing toward the middle, it will have the same effect to begin at the middle, and to plough toward the edges. Plough the other intervals in the same manner. As by this operation the furrows of the ridges will be pretty much filled up, let them be cleared and water-furrowed without delay. By this method, the field will be left waving like a plot in a kitchen garden, ridged up for winter. In this form, the field is kept perfectly dry; for beside the capital furrows that separate the ridges, every ridge has a number of cross furrows that carry the rain instantly to the capital furrows. In hanging grounds retentive of moisture, the parallel lines above mentioned ought not to be perpendicular to the furrows of the ridges, but to be directed a little downward, in order to carry rain water the more hastily to these furrows. If the ground be clean, it may lie in that state winter and spring, till the time of feed-furrowing. If weeds happen to rise, they must be destroyed by ploughing, or braking, or both; for there cannot be worse husbandry, than to put the seed into dirty ground.

This method resembles common ribbing in appearance, but is very different in reality. As the common ribbing is not preceded by a gathering furrow, the half of the field is left untilled, compact as when the former crop was removed, impervious in a great measure to air or frost. The common ribbing at the same time lodges the rain-water on every ridge, preventing it from descending to the furrows; which is hurtful in all soils, and poisonous in a clay soil. The flitching here described, or ribbing, if you please to call it so, prevents these noxious effects. By the two ploughings the whole soil is opened, admitting freely air and frost; and the multitude of furrows lays the surface perfectly dry, giving an early opportunity for the barley-feed.

But further, as to the advantage of this method: When it is proper to sow the seed, all is laid flat with the brake, which is an easy operation upon soil that is dry and pulverized; and the seed-furrow which succeeds, is so shallow as to bury little or none of the surface earth; whereas the flitching for barley is commonly done with the deepest furrow; and consequently buries all the surface soil that was mellowed by the frost and air. Nor is this method more expensive; because the common ribbing must always be followed with a flitching furrow, which is saved in the method recommended. Nay, it is less expensive; for after common ribbing, which keeps in the rain-water, the ground is commonly fouled, as to make the flitching a laborious work.

It is well known that barley is less valuable when it does not ripen equally; and that barley which comes up speedily in a dusty soil, must gain a great advantage over feed-weeds. Therefore, first take out about one-third of the contents of the sacks of seed barley or bear, to allow for the swelling of the grain. Lay the sacks with the grain to steep in clean water; let it lie covered with it for at least 24 hours. When the ground is so dry as at present, and no likelihood of rain for 10 days, it is better to lie 36 hours. Sow the grain wet from steeping, without any addition of powdered quicklime, which, though often recommended in print, can only poison the seed, suck up part of its useful moisture, and burn the hands of the sower. The seed will scatter well, as clean water has no tenacity; only the lower must put in a fourth or a third more seed in bulk than usual of dry grain, as the grain is swelled in that proportion: harrow it in as quickly as possible after it is sown; and though not necessary, give it the benefit of fresh furrow, if convenient. You may expect it up in a fortnight at farthest.

The following experiment by a correspondent of the Bath Society being considered as a very interesting one, is here subjoined.

"The last spring (1783) being remarkably dry, I soaked my seed-barley in the black water taken from a reservoir which constantly receives the draining of my dung heap and stables. As the light corn floated on the top, I skimmed it off, and let the rest stand 24 hours. On taking it from the water, I mixed the seed grain with a sufficient quantity of sifted wood-ashes, to make it spread regularly, and sowed three fields with it. I began sowing the 16th, and finished the 23rd of April. The produce was 60 bushels per acre, of good clean barley, without any small or green corn, or weeds, at harvest. No person in this country had better grain.

I sowed also several other fields with the same feed dry, and without any preparation; but the crop, like those of my neighbours, was very poor; not more than twenty bushels per acre, and much mixed with green corn and weeds when harvested. I also sowed some of the feed dry on one ridge in each of my former fields, but the produce was very poor in comparison of the other parts of the field."

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

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

On the cultivation of this grain we have the following observations by a Norfolk farmer.

The best soil, he observes, is that which is dry and variously healthy, rather light than stiff, but yet of sufficient tenacity and strength to retain the moisture. On this kind of barley, Culture of kind of land the grain is always the best bodied and particular coloured, the nimbler in the hand, and has the thinnest rind. These are qualities which recommend it most to the maltster. If the land is poor, it should be dry and warm; and when so, it will often bear better corn than richer land in a cold and wet situation.

In the choice of your feed, it is needful to observe, that the best is of a pale lively colour, and brightish cast, without any deep redness or black tinge at the tail. If the rind be a little shrivelled, it is the better; for that flight shrivelling proves it to have a thin skin, and to have sweated in the mow. The necessity of a change of feed by not sowing two years together what grew on the same soil, is not in any part of husbandry more evident than in the culture of this grain, which, if not frequently changed, will grow coarser and coarser every succeeding year.

It has generally been thought, that seed-barley would be benefited by steeping; but limiting it has, in many instances, been found prejudicial. Sprinkling a little foot with the water in which it is steeped has been of great service, as it will secure the feed from insects. In a very dry feed time, barley that has been wetted for malting, and begins to sprout, will come up sooner, and produce as good a crop as any other.

If you sow after a fallow, plough three times at least. At the first ploughing, lay your land up in small ridges, and let it remain so during the winter, for the frost to mellow it; the second ploughing should be the beginning of February. In March spit the ridges and lay the land as flat as possible, at the same time harrowing it fine. But in strong wet lands (if you have no other for barley) lay it round, and make deep furrows to receive the water.

"I have often (continues he), taken the following method with succels: On lands tolerably manured, I sow clover with my barley, which I reap at harvest; and fed the clover all the following winter, and from spring to July, when I fallowed it till the following spring, and then sow it with barley and clover as before. Repeating this method every year, I had very large crops, but would not recommend this practice on poor light land.

"We sow on our lightest lands in April, on our moist lands in May; finding that those lands which are the most subject to weeds produce the best crops when sown late.

"The common method is to sow the barley seed broad-cast at two sowings; the first harrowed in once, the second twice; the usual allowance from three to four bushels per acre. But if farmers could be prevailed on to alter this practice, they would soon find their account in it. Were only half the quantity sown equally, the produce would be greater, and the corn less liable to lodge: For when corn stands very close, the stalks are drawn up weak; and on that account are less capable of resisting the force of winds, or supporting themselves under heavy rains.

"From our great success in setting and drilling wheat, some of our farmers tried these methods with barley; but did not find it answer their expectations, except on very rich land.

"I have myself had 80 stalks on one root of barley, which all produced good and long ears, and the grain was better than any other; but the method is too expensive for general practice. In poor land, sow thin, culture of your crop will be worth little. Farmers who do not reason on the matter will be of a different opinion; but the fact is indisputable."

When the barley is sowed and harrowed in, he advises that the land be rolled after the first shower of rain, to break the clods. This will close the earth about the roots, which will be a great advantage to it in dry weather.

When the barley has been up three weeks or a month, it is a very good way to roll it again with a heavy roller, which will prevent the sun and air from penetrating the ground to the injury of the roots. This rolling, before it branches out, will also cause it to tiller into a greater number of stalks; so that if the plants be thin, the ground will be thereby filled, and the stalks strengthened.

If the blade grows too rank, as it sometimes will in a warm wet spring, mowing is a much better method than feeding it down with sheep; because the sheep takes off only the rank tops, but the sheep being fond of the sweet end of the stalk next the root, will often bite so close as to injure its future growth.

The county of Norfolk, according to Mr Marshall, is peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of this grain, of barley in the strongest soil not being too heavy, and the lightest Norfolk, being able to bear it; and so well versed are the Norfolk farmers in the cultivation of it, that the barley of this country is desired for seed throughout the whole kingdom. It is here sown after wheat or turnips, and in some very light lands, it is sown after the second year's ley. After wheat, the seed time of the latter being finished, and the stubble trampled down with bullocks, the land is ploughed with a shallow furrow for a winter fallow for barley. In the beginning of March the land is harrowed and cross-ploughed; or if it be wet, the ridges are reversed. In April it receives another ploughing lengthwise; and at seed time it is harrowed, rolled, sowed, and the surface rendered as smooth and level as possible. After turnips the soil is broken up as fast as the turnips are taken off; if early in winter by rice-balking, a practice already explained; but if late, by a plain ploughing. It is common, if time will permit, to plough three times; the first shallow, the second full, and the third a mean depth; with which last the seed is ploughed in. Sometimes, however, the ground is ploughed only once, and the seed sown above, but more frequently by three ploughings, though, perhaps, the farmer has not above a week to perform them in. After ley, the turf is generally broken by a winter fallow, and the soil treated as after wheat.

This grain is seldom manured for, except when sown after ley, when it is treated as wheat. No manure is requisite after turnips or wheat, if the latter has been manured for. If not, the turnip crop, following immediately, the barley is left to take its chance, unless the opportunity be embraced for winter marling.

Little barley is sown by the Norfolk farmers before the middle of April, and the seed time generally continues till the middle of May; though this must in some measure depend on the season; which, says Mr Marshall, is more attended to in Norfolk than perhaps in all the world besides." In the very backward spring Culture of spring of 1782, barley was sown in June with success. No preparation is used. It is all sown broadcast, and almost all under furrow; that is, the surface having been smoothed by the harrow and roller, the seed is sown and ploughed under with a shallow furrow; but if the season be wet, and the soil cold and heavy, it is sometimes sown above; but, if the spring be forward, and the last piece of turnips eaten off late, the ground is sometimes obliged to be ploughed only once, and to be sown above; though in this case Mr Marshall thinks it the most eligible management, instead of turning over the whole thickness of the soil, to two furrows it, and sow between. This is done by only skimming the surface with the first plough, sowing the seed upon this, and then covering it with the bottom furrow brought up by the second plough. Three bushels are usually sufficient for an acre.

The barley, as well as the wheat, in Norfolk, is allowed to stand till very ripe. It is universally mown into swathes, with a small bow fixed at the heel of the scythe. If it receive wet in the swath in this county, it is not turned, but lifted; that is, the heads or ears are raised from the ground, either with a fork or the teeth of a rake, thereby admitting the air underneath the swathes; which will not fall down again to the ground so close as before, so that the air has free access to the under side; and this method of lifting is supposed not to be inferior to that of turning, which requires more labour, besides breaking and ruffling the swathes.

In the Vale of Gloucester the quantity of barley cultivated is very inconsiderable; the only species is the common long-eared barley, *hordeum secorirum*. In this county the grain we speak of is used, on the every year's lands, as a cleansing crop. It is sown very late, viz. in the middle or end of May; sometimes the beginning or even the middle of June. The reason of this is, that the people of the Vale think, that if a week or ten days of fine weather can be had for the operation of harrowing out couch, and if after this a full crop of barley succeed, especially if it should fortunately take a reclining posture, the business of fallowing is effectually done, inasmuch that the soil is cleaned to a sufficient degree to last for a number of years. A great quantity of feed is made use of, viz. from three to four bushels on an acre; under the idea, that a full crop of barley, especially if it lodge, smothers all kinds of weeds, couch-grass itself not excepted. Our author acknowledges this effect in some degree, but does not recommend the practice. "If the land (says he) be tolerably clean, and the season favourable, a barley fallow may no doubt be of essential service. But there is not one year in five in which even land which is tolerably clean can be sown in season, and at the same time be much benefited by it for future crops." The barley in this county is all hand-weeded. It is harvested loose, mown with the naked scythe, lies in swathes till the day of carrying, and is cocked with common hay forks. The medium produce is three quarters per acre. Its quality is preferable to that of the hill barley.

The common long-eared species is sown among the Cotswold hills. It is sown in the latter end of March and beginning of April, in the quantity of three bushels to an acre, producing from 20 bushels to four quarters to an acre; "which, says our author, is a low produce. Culture of particular plants must be observed, however, that this produce is from land deficient in tillage; and that barley delights in a fine pulverous tilth."

In the midland district they cultivate two species of barley, viz. the *secorirum* or common long-eared, and the *diftichon* or sprat barley; the latter not being of more than 50 years standing, but the former of much older date. The sprat is the more hardy, and requires to be more early sown; but the long ear yields the better produce. It succeeds wheat and turnips; but on the strong lands of this district, the crop after wheat is much less productive, as well as less certain, than after turnips: which circumstance is likewise observed in Norfolk. It is sometimes also sown with succeds upon turf. When sown after wheat, the soil is winter followed by three ploughings; the first lengthwise in November; the second across in March; the last, which is the seed-ploughing, lengthwise. Between the two last ploughings the soil is harrowed, and the twitch shaken out with forks; after which it is left loose and light to die upon the surface, without being either burnt or carried off. After turnips the soil has commonly three ploughings; the reason of which is, that the turnips being commonly folded off with sheep, the soil, naturally of a close texture, receives a still greater degree of compactness, which it is proper to break down, to render it porous. The seed time is the two last weeks of April and the first of May; from two bushels and a half to three bushels an acre, sometimes even as much as four bushels: the produce very great, sometimes as high as seven or even eight quarters an acre; but the medium may be reckoned from four to four and a half quarters. Mr Marshall remarks, that culture of the barley is extremely difficult. "Some barley differing, says he, depends on the nature of the soil, much cult. on the preparation, much on the season of sowing, and much on harvesting. Upon the whole, it may be deemed, of corn crops, the most difficult to be cultivated with certainty.

In Yorkshire there are four kinds of barley culti-in York-vated, viz. the *secorirum* or long-eared; the *diftichon* or sprat; the *vulgare*, big, four-rowed or spring barley; and the *hexafiftichon*, six-rowed or spring barley. The first and third sorts are principally cultivated; the winter barley is as yet new to the district. Battledoor barley was formerly very common, but is now almost entirely disused. Mr Marshall observes, that less than a century ago, barley was not saleable until it was malted; there were neither maltsters nor public houses, but every farmer malted his own grain, or sold it to a neighbour who had a malt kiln. Brakes cut from the neighbouring commons were the fuel commonly used upon this occasion; and a certain day for cutting them was fixed, in order to prevent any one from taking more than his share. The case is now totally reversed, even public malt-houses being unknown, and the business of malting entirely performed by maltsters, who buy the barley from the farmer, and sell him what malt he may want for his family.

To give some idea of the importance of this grain, we shall here state the amount of the revenue which the public draws from an acre of land when cultivated for barley, independent altogether of the profits reaped from it by the landlord and tenant. Supposing an acre Culture of acre to produce eight bolls of barley, and the whole to be made into ordinary small beer, the taxes paid by it stand thus in 1802.

| L. s. d. | |----------| | 8 bolls of barley made into malt, allowing 7 buthels per boll, at 1s. 7½d. per buthel of malt duty | 4 12 2 | | The whole may produce 40 barrels of small beer, the duty upon each of which is 2s. | 4 0 0 | | Borough impost, which is imposed in Scotland, but not in England, at 1s. 3d. per barrel | 2 10 0 |

L. 11 2 2

4. Buck-Wheat.

The uses of this plant have already been sufficiently noticed. It delights in a mellow sandy soil; but succeeds well in any dry loose healthy land, and moderately so in a free loamy stone braith. A stiff clay is its aversion, and it is entirely labour lost to sow it in wet poachy ground. The proper season for sowing is from the last week of May or the beginning of June. It has been sown, however, so early as the beginning of April, and so late as the 22d of July, by way of experiment; but the latter was rather extreme to be chosen, and the former was in danger from frost. In an experiment upon a small piece of ground, the grain of two different crops was brought to maturity in the summer 1787.—After spring feedings, a crop of turnip-rooted cabbage, or vetches, there will be sufficient time to sow the land with buck-wheat. Probably, in hot dry summers, a crop of vetches might even be mown for hay early enough to introduce a crop of this grain after it.

In the year 1785, about seven acres of a sandy soil on Briflington common (r), having been first tolerably well cleansed from brambles, furze, &c. received one ploughing. To reduce the irregularities of the surface, it was rolled; and on the 9th of June in that year, two buthels and a half of buck-wheat per acre sown, the ground rolled again without harrowing.

The vegetation appeared in five or six days, as is constantly the case, be the weather wet or dry. The growth was so rapid, that the fern, with which this land greatly abounded, was completely kept under. About the middle of September the crop was mown; but by reason of a great deal of rain about that time, it was not secured until the beginning of October; hence a loss of a great part of the grain by shedding, as well as some eaten by birds. However, there were saved about 24 Winchester buthels per acre; and, notwithstanding its long exposure to the weather, received no sort of damage, only perhaps that the finest and most perfect grain was the first to fall from the plant. The ground after this had almost the appearance of a fallow, and was immediately ploughed.

When it had lain a moderate time to meliorate, and to receive the influences of the atmosphere, it was harrowed, sown with Lammas wheat, and ploughed in under furrow, in a contrary direction to the first ploughing. Thus a piece of land, which in the month of April was altogether in a state of nature, in the following November was seen under a promising crop of what is well styled the king of grain, and this without the aid of manure, or of any very great degree of tillage. Nor was the harvest by any means deficient; for several persons conversant in such things estimated the produce from 26 to 30 buthels per acre. As soon as the wheat crop was taken off, the ground had one ploughing, and on the first of September following was sown with turnip seed. The turnips were not large, but of an herbage so abundant, as in the following spring to support 120 ewes with their lambs, which were fed on it by folding four weeks. After this it was manured with a composition of rotten dung and natural earth, about 20 putt loads per acre, and planted with potatoes. The crop sowed for 1381. besides a considerable number used in the family, and a quantity reserved with which ten acres were planted the following season. The ensuing autumn it was again sown with wheat, and produced an excellent crop. In the spring of 1784, it was manured and planted with potatoes, as in the preceding instance; the crop (though tolerably good) by no means equal to the former, producing about 100 sacks per acre only. In spring 1785, the land was now for a third time under a crop of wheat, it being intended to try how far this mode of alternate cropping, one year with potatoes and another with wheat, may be carried.

From the success of the preceding and other experiments, by Nehemiah Bartley, Esq. of Bristol, as detailed in the Bath Society Papers, it would seem, that the culture of this plant ought in many cases to be adopted instead of a summer fallowing: for the crop produced appears not only to be so much clear gain in respect to such practice, but also affords a considerable quantity of straw for fodder and manure; beside that a summer fallowing is far from being so advantageous a preparation for a succeeding crop.

5. Pease.

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

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

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

A field intended for cold feed ought to be ploughed in October or November; and in February, as soon as the ground is dry, the seed ought to be sown on the winter furrow. A field intended for hot feed ought to be

(f) A very rough piece of land, at that time just enclosed. Culture of Pease

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

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

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

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

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

The following method is practised in Norfolk, for sowing pease upon a dry light soil, immediately opened from pasture. The ground is pared with a plough extremely thin, and every sod is laid exactly on its back. In every sod a double row of holes is made. A pea dropt in every hole lodges in the flayed ground immediately below the sod, thrusts its roots horizontally, and has sufficient moisture. This method enabled Norfolk farmers, in the barren year 1749, to furnish white pease at 12s. per boll.

In the Bath papers, vol. i. p. 148, we have an account of the success of an experiment by Mr Pavier near Taunton, on sowing pease in drills. The scale on which this experiment was made, however, being so small, it would perhaps be rash to infer from it what might be the event of planting a large piece of ground in the same manner. The space was only 16 square yards, but the produce so great, that by calculating from it, a statute acre would yield 600, or at the least 500 pecks of green pease at the first gathering; which, at the high price they bore at that time in the country about Taunton, viz. 16d. per peck, would have amounted to £31. 6s. 8d. On this the society observe, that though they doubt not the truth of the calculation, they are of opinion, that such a quantity as 500 or 600 pecks of green pease would immediately reduce the price in any country market. "If the above-mentioned crop (say they) were sold only at ninepence per peck, the farmer would be well paid for his trouble." In a letter on the drill husbandry by Mr Whitmore, for which the thanks of the society were returned, he informs us, that drilled pease must not be sown too thin, or they will always be foul: and in an experiment of this kind, notwithstanding careful hoeing, they turned out so foul, that the produce was only eight bushels to the acre.—From an experiment related in the 5th volume of the same work, it appears that pease, however not being mellowing they may be to the ground at first, will often on the last totally exhaust it, at least with regard to them selves. In this experiment they were sown on the same spot for ten years running. After the first two years the crop became gradually less and less, until at last the seed would not vegetate, but became putrid. Strawberries were then planted without any manure, and yielded an excellent crop.

On the Norfolk culture of pease, Mr Marshall makes two observations. "Leys are seldom ploughed more than once for pease; and the seed is in general dibbled in upon the flag of this one ploughing. But stubbles are in general broken by a winter-fallow of three or four ploughings; the seed being sown broad-cast and ploughed in about three inches deep with the last ploughing."—In the Vale of Gloucester they are planted by women, and hoed by women and children, once, twice, and sometimes thrice; which gives the crop, when the soil is sufficiently free from root-weeds, the appearance of a garden in the summer time, and produces a plentiful crop in harvest. The distance between the rows varies from 10 to 14 inches, but 12 may be considered as the medium; the distance in the rows two inches. In the Cheltenham quarter of the district, they set the pease not in continued lines, but in clumps; making the holes eight or ten inches distant from one another, putting a number of pease into each hole. Thus the hoe has undoubtedly greater freedom; all the disadvantage is, that in this case the soil is not so evenly and fully occupied by the roots as when they are disposed in continued lines.—In Yorkshire it is common to sow beans and gray pease together, under the name of blendings; and sometimes fitches (probably, says Mr Marshall, a gigantic variety of the ervum lens) are sown among beans. Such mixtures are found to augment the crop, and the different species are easily separated by the sieve.

6. Beans.

The properest soil for beans is a moist and deep clay, but they may also be raised upon all heavy soils. They are cultivated in two ways, either in the old way by broad-cast, or, according to the more recent practice, they

Culture of particular Plants.

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

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

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

Previous to the year 1772, beans were seldom sown in Scotland, unless upon the very rich clays; but since that time, by adopting the plan of raising them in drills, or distinct rows, they have been successfully cultivated upon all the heavy loams, and in many farms they now constitute a regular branch of rotation. With very few exceptions, beans are constantly drilled at intervals of from 20 to 27 inches. Of these modes, the last is the most prevalent, because it admits the ground to be ploughed with a horse, in the most sufficient manner. Very little hand-hoeing is given; nor is it required, as the kind of land which is best adapted for their growth, and upon which they are commonly sown, has not naturally a tendency to the production of annual weeds, and fine crops of wheat generally follow, provided due attention has been given to working the bean crop. The necessity of summer fallow, which the present high price of labour, and the loss of a year's crop, render an expensive affair to the farmer, is consequently much lessened: for if land is once thoroughly cleaned, and afterwards kept in an alternate course of leguminous and culmiferous crops, it will remain in good order for a considerable number of years.

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

II. Plants Cultivated for Roots.

1. Potatoes.

These, next to the different kinds of grain, may be looked upon as the crop most generally useful for the husbandman; affording not only a most excellent food for cattle, but for the human species also; and they are perhaps the only substitute that could be used for bread with any probability of success. In the answer by Dr Tiffot to M. Linguet already mentioned, the former objects to the constant use of them as food; not because they are pernicious to the body, but because they hurt the faculties of the mind. He owns, that those who eat maize, potatoes, or even millet, may grow tall and acquire a large size; but doubts if any such ever produced a literary work of merit. It does not, however, by any means appear, that the very general use of potatoes in our own country has at all impaired either the health of body or vigour of mind of its inhabitants. The question then, as they have already been shown to be an excellent food for cattle, comes to be merely with regard to the profit of cultivating them; and this seems already to be so well determined by innumerable experiments, as well as by the general practice of the country, that no room appears left for doubt.

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

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

As two great advantages of a drilled crop are, to destroy weeds, and to have a fallow at the same time with the crop, no judicious farmer will think of raising potatoes in any other way. In September or October, as soon as that year's crop is removed, let the field have a rouging furrow, a cross-breaking next, and then be cleared of weeds by the cleaning harrow. Form it into three-feet ridges, in that state to lie till April, which is the proper time for planting potatoes. Cross-brake it, to raise the furrows a little. Then lay well digested horse-dung along the furrows, upon which lay the roots at eight inches distance. Cover up these roots with the plough, going once round every row. This makes a warm bed for the potatoes; hot dung below, and Culture of a loose covering above, that admits every ray of the particular sun. As soon as the plants appear above ground, go round every row a second time with the plough, which will lay upon the plants an additional inch or two of mould, and at the same time bury all the annuals; and this will complete the ploughing of the ridges. When the potatoes are six inches high, the plough, with the deepest furrow, must go twice along the middle of each interval in opposite directions, laying earth first to one row, and next to the other. And to perform this work, a plough with a double mouldboard will be more expeditious. But as the earth cannot be laid close to the roots by the plough, the spade must succeed, with which four inches of the plants must be covered, leaving little more but the tops above ground; and this operation will at the same time bury all the weeds that have sprung since the former ploughing. What weeds arise after must be pulled up with the hand. A hoe is never to be used here: it cannot go so deep as to destroy the weeds without cutting the fibres of the plants; and if it skim the surface, it only cuts off the heads of the weeds, and does not prevent their pushing again.

In the Bath Society Papers, we have the following practical observations on the culture and use of potatoes, given as the result of various experiments made for five years successively on that valuable root, the growth of which cannot be too much encouraged.

When the potato crop has been the only object in view, the following method is the most eligible.

The land being well pulverized by two or three good harrowings and ploughings, is then manured with 15 or 20 cart loads of dung per acre, before it receives its last earth. Then it is thrown into what the Suffolk farmers call the trench balk, which is narrow and deep ridge-work, about 15 inches from the centre of one ridge to the centre of the other. Women and children drop the sets in the bottom of every furrow 15 inches apart; men follow and cover them with large hoes, a foot in width, pulling the mould down so as to bury the sets five inches deep; they must receive two or three hand-hoeings, and be kept free from weeds; always observing to draw the earth as much as possible to the stems of the young plants. By repeated trials, the first or second week in April is found the most advantageous time for planting.

In the end of September or the beginning of October, when the haulm becomes withered, they should be ploughed up with a strong double breasted plough. The workman must be cautioned to let his plough very deep, that he may strike below all the potatoes, to avoid damaging the crop. The women who pick them up, if not carefully attended to, will leave many in the ground, which will prove detrimental to any succeeding corn, whether wheat or barley. To avoid which inconvenience, let the land be harrowed, and turn the straw in to glean the few that may be left by their negligence.

By this method, the sets will be 15 square inches from each other; it will take 18 bushels to plant an acre; and the produce, if on a good mixed loamy soil, will amount to 300 bushels.

If the potatoes are grown as a preparation for wheat, it is preferable to have the rows two feet two inches from each other, hand-hoeing only the space from plant to plant in each row; then turning a small furrow from the inside of each row by a common light plough, and afterwards, with a double-breasted plough with one horse, split the ridge formed by the first ploughing thoroughly to clean the intervals. This work should not be done too deep the first time, to avoid burying the tender plants; but the last earth should be ploughed as deep as possible; and the clover the mould is thrown to the stems of the plants, the more advantageous it will prove. Thus 15 bushels will plant an acre, and the produce will be about 300 bushels; but the land, by the summer ploughings, will be prepared to receive seed wheat immediately, and almost ensure a plentiful crop.

The potato sets should be cut a week before planting, with one or two eyes to each, and the pieces not the grub. Very small; two bushels of fresh-flaked lime should be thrown over the surface of the land as soon as planted, which will effectually prevent the attacks of the grub.

The expense attending an acre of potatoes well cultivated in the first method, supposing the rent 20 shillings, tithe and town charges rather high (as in Suffolk), taking up, and everything included, will be about six pounds. In the last method, it would be somewhat reduced.

"When predilections for old customs are subdued (adds the author), I hope to see the potato admitted in the constant course of crops by every spirited husbandman. The most beneficial effects will, I am certain, accrue from such a system. The advantages in my neighbourhood are apparent; I cultivated and fed my own children upon them, and my poorer neighbours sensibly followed the example. A great proportion of every cottager's garden is now occupied by this root, and it forms a principal part of their diet. Potatoes are cheap and excellent substitutes for peas in soups and broths, allowing double the quantity.

Although it is nearly a transcript of the directions given by a very ingenious author, yet I shall take the preparation liberty of inserting a receipt for making a potato-soup, for which I have weekly distributed among the poor to their great relief.

| Item | Quantity | Price | |-----------------------|----------|-------| | An ox's head | | 2 9 | | Two pecks of potatoes | | 0 6 | | Quarter of a peck of onions | | 0 3 | | Three quarters of a pound of salt | | 0 1 | | An ounce and a half of pepper | | 0 3 |

Total 3 10

Ninety pints of water to be boiled with the above ingredients on a slow fire until reduced to 60, which requires one peck of coals, value threepence. I have added the expense of every article, according to their prices with me, that gentlemen may clearly perceive at how easy a rate they can feed 60 of their poor neighbours. I find from experience, a pint of this soup, with a small piece of the meat, is sufficient to satisfy a hearty working man with a good meal. If vegetables are plentiful, some of every sort may be added, with a few sweet herbs.

"I hope my inserting the above will not be esteemed improper; though somewhat deviating from the culture of potatoes, it may possibly be a means of rendering them more extensively useful." A premium having been offered by the above-mentioned society for the cultivation of potatoes by farmers, &c., whose rent does not exceed 40l. per annum, the following methods were communicated, by which those who have only a small spot of ground may obtain a plentiful crop.

First, then, the earth should be dug 12 inches deep, if the soil will allow of it; after this, a hole should be opened about six inches deep, horse dung or long litter should be put therein about three inches thick; this hole should not be more than 12 inches in diameter; upon this dung or litter a potato should be planted whole, upon which a little more dung should be cast, and then earth must be put thereon. In like manner the whole plot of ground must be planted, taking care that each potato be at least 16 inches apart; and when the young shoots make their appearance, they should have fresh mould drawn round them with a hoe; and if the tender shoots are covered, it will prevent the frost from injuring them: they should again be earthed when the shoots make a second appearance, but not be covered, as in all probability the season will then be less severe. A plentiful supply of mould should be given them, and the person who performs this business should never tread upon the plant, or the hillock that is raised round it; as the lighter the earth is, the more room the potato will have to expand. From a single root thus planted, very near 40 pounds weight of large potatoes were obtained, and from almost every other root upon the same plot of ground from 15 to 20 pounds weight; and except the soil be stony or gravelly, 10 pounds or half a peck of potatoes may almost always be obtained from each root, by pursuing the foregoing method. But note, cuttings or small sets will not do for this purpose.

The second method will suit the indolent, or those who have not time to dig their ground; and that is, where weeds much abound and have not been cleared in the winter, a trench may be opened in a straight line the whole length of the ground, and about 6 inches deep: in this trench the potatoes should be planted about ten inches apart; cuttings or small potatoes will do for this method. When they are laid in the trench, the weeds that are on the surface may be pared off on each side about ten inches from it, and be turned upon the plants; another trench should then be dug, and the mould that comes out of it turned carefully on the weeds. It must not be forgot, that each trench should be regularly dug, that the potatoes may be throughout the plot 10 or 12 inches from each other. This slovenly method will in general raise more potatoes, than can be produced by digging the ground twice, and dibbling in the plants; and the reason is, that the weeds lighten the soil, and give the roots room to expand. They should be twice hoed, and earthen up in rows. And here note, that if cut potatoes are to be planted, every cutting should have two eyes, for though fewer sets will be obtained, there will be a greater certainty of a crop, as one eye often fails or is destroyed by grubs in the earth.

Where a crop of potatoes fails in part (as will sometimes be the case in a dry season), amends may still be made by laying a little dung upon the knots of the straw or haulm of those potatoes that do appear, and covering them with mould: each knot or joint thus ordered will, if the weather prove wet afterwards, produce more potatoes than the original roots.

From the smallest potatoes planted whole, from four to six pounds at a root were obtained, and some of the single potatoes weighed near two pounds. These were dug in as before mentioned, in trenches where the ground was covered with weeds, and the soil was a stiff loamy clay.

A good crop may be obtained by laying potatoes upon turf at about 12 or 14 inches apart, and upon beds of about five feet wide; on each side of which a trench should be opened about three feet wide, and the turf that comes from thence should be laid with the grassy side downwards upon the potatoes; a spit of mould should next be taken from the trenches, and be spread over the turf; and in like manner the whole plot of ground that is designed to be planted must be treated. And remark, that when the young shoots appear, another spit of mould from the trenches, should be fired over the beds so as to cover the shoots; this will prevent the frost from injuring them, encourage them to expand, and totally destroy the young weeds; and when the potatoes are taken up in the autumn, a careful person may turn the earth again into the trenches, so as to make the surface level: and it will be right to remark, that from the same ground a much better crop of potatoes may be obtained the following year.

For field planting, a good (if not the best) method is to dung the land, which should be once ploughed previous thereto; and when it is ploughed a second time, a careful person should drop the potato plants before the plough in every third furrow at about eight or ten inches apart. Plants that are cut with two eyes are best for this purpose. The reason for planting them at so great a distance as every third furrow, is, that when the shoots appear, a horse-hoe may go upon the two vacant furrows to keep them clean; and after they are thus hoed, they should be moulded up in ridges; and if this crop be taken up about October or November, the land will be in excellent condition to receive a crop of wheat. Lands that are full of twitch or couch-grass may be made clean by this method, as the horse-hoeing is as good as a summer fallow; and if, when the potatoes are taken up, women and children were to pick out such filth, not any traces of it would remain; and by laying it on heaps and burning it, a quantity of ashes would be produced for manure.

After ploughing, none should ever dibble in potatoes, as the persons who dibble, plant, or hoe them, will all tread the ground; by which means it will become so bound, that the young fibres cannot expand, as has been already observed. Good crops have indeed been obtained by ploughing the land twice, and dropping the plants in every other furrow, and by hand-hoeing and earthing them up afterwards as the gardeners do pease; but this method is not equal to the other.

Vacant places in hedge-rows might be grubbed and planted with potatoes, and a good crop might be expected, as the leaves of trees, thorns, &c., are a good manure, and will surprisingly encourage their growth, and gratify the wishes of the planter; who by cultivating such places, will then make the most of his ground, and it will be in fine order to receive a crop of corn the following year. Account of the culture, expences, and produce of six acres of potatoes, being a fair part of near seventy acres, raised by John Billingsley, Esq., and for which the premium was granted him in the year 1784.

**Expences.**

- Ploughing an out stubble in October 1783, at 4s. per acre - £1 4 0 - Crofs-ploughing in March 1784 - 1 4 0 - Harrowing, 2s. per acre - 0 12 0 - 180 cart loads of compost, 3l. per acre - 18 0 0 - 42 sacks of seed-potatoes (each sack weighing 240lb.) of the white fort - 10 10 0 - Cutting the sets, 6d. per sack - 1 1 0 - Setting on ridges eight feet wide, (leaving an interval of two feet for an alley) 6d. for every 20 yards - 10 12 0 - Hoeing, at 3s. per acre - 1 10 0 - Digging up the two feet interval, and throwing the earth on the plants, at 10s. per acre - 3 0 - Digging up the crop at 8d. for every 20 yards in length, the breadth being 8 feet - 14 6 0

Labour and expense of securing in pits, wear and tear of baskets, straw, reed, spikes, &c. - 10s. per acre - 3 0 Rent - 6 0 0 Tithe - 1 10 0

**Profit**

- Produce. - 600 sacks of best potatoes at 4s. - £120 0 0 - 120 sacks middle-sized, 3s. 6d. - 21 0 0 - 50 of small, 2s. - 5 0 0 - N. B. Each sack 240lb. - £146 0 0

The field on which the above experiment was made, was an out-stubble in the autumn of 1783. In October it was ploughed, and left in a rough state during the winter. In April it was crofs-ploughed and harrowed. On the 8th of May the field was marked out into beds or ridges eight feet wide, leaving a space of two feet wide for an alley between every two ridges. The manure (a compot of stable dung, virgin earth, and scrapings of a turnpike road) was then brought on the land, and depolished in small heaps on the centre of each ridge, in the proportion of about thirty cart-loads to each acre. A trench was then opened with a spade, breadth-way of the ridge, about four inches deep; in this trench the potato sets were placed, at the distance of nine inches from each other; the dung was then spread in a trench on the sets, and a space or split of 14 inches in breadth dug in upon them. When the plants were about six inches high, they were carefully hoed, and soon after the two feet intervals between the ridges were dug, and the contents thrown around the young plants. This refreshment, added to the ample manuring previously bestowed, produced such a luxuriance and rapidity of growth, that no weed could show its head.

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

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

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

In the Transactions of the Society for the encouragement of Arts, a number of experiments are related by Mr Young on that kind called the cluttered or hog potato, which he strongly recommends as food for the poor in preference to the kidney or other more expensive kinds. The following is the result of the most remarkable of his experiments.

In the fifth week of March 1780, two acres and a quarter of barley stubble were sown with the clutter Young's potato, which appeared on the 23rd of May. A sharp frost on the 7th of June turned them as black as they usually are by the frosts of November and December. In time, however, they recovered; and by the end of October produced 876 bushels from the 2¼ acres; which, when cleaned, were reduced to 780, or 350 bushels per acre: thus affording, when only valued at 6d. per bushel, a clear profit of 7l. 14s. 4d. per acre. The experiment, however, in his opinion, would have been still more profitable, had it not been for the following circumstances: 1. The soil was not altogether proper. 2. The crop was grievously injured by the frost already mentioned, which, in our author's opinion, retarded the growth for about six weeks. 3. The dung was not of his own raising, but purchased; which cannot but be supposed to make a great difference, not only on account of the price, but likewise of the quality. Culture of lity, as happened to be the case at present. He is of particular opinion, however, that potatoes, at least this kind of them, are an exhausting crop. Having sown the field after this large crop of potatoes with wheat, his neighbours were of opinion that it would be too rank; but so far was this from being the case, that the wheat showed not the least sign of luxuriance, nor the least superiority over the parts adjacent which were sown without dung. He was willing to account for this by the poverty of the dung, and the severe cropping which the ground had undergone while in the possession of the former tenant. In another experiment, however, in which the ground had been likewise exhausted by severe cropping, the succeeding crop of wheat showed no luxuriance; so that the former supposition of the exhausting quality of the cluster potato was rather confirmed. The ground was a fine turnip loam; but though the produce was even greater than in the former case, viz. 367 bushels from an acre, the profit was much less, viz. only £1.5s. 6d. An acre of ley ground was sown at the same time with the turnip loam, but the produce from it was only 200 bushels. Mr Young supposes that the produce would have been greater if the potatoes had been planted with an iron dibble, as the turf, in ploughing, lay too heavy upon the seed. A few rows of other potatoes, planted along with the clustered kind, did not vegetate at all; which shows that the latter have a more powerful vegetative faculty.

Having succeeded so well with his experiments on this kind of potato hitherto, Mr Young determined to try the culture of them upon a larger scale, and therefore, in the year 1782, sowed 11 acres; but being obliged to commit the care of sowing them to an ignorant labourer, his unfilfulness, together with the excessive cold and moisture of that season, so diminished the produce, that he had only a single acre out of the whole. This produced 180 bushels, which yielded a clear profit £1.2s. 6d. From this experiment he draws the following conclusions: 1. "That the poor loam, on which these potatoes were sown, will yield a crop of cluster-potatoes, though not of any other kind. 2. That the manner for potatoes ought to be carted and spread upon all soils ineluctable to wet before the planting season, either in autumn preceding, or else during a hard frost." In 1783 he succeeded still worse; for having that year sown three acres and a half, the profit did not exceed £18.4d. per acre. The produce was about 224 bushels per acre. He gives two reasons for the failure of this crop: 1. The clustered potato thrives best in wet years; but the summer of 1783 was dry and hot. 2. The spring frosts, by interrupting the hoeing, not only greatly raised the expenses, but very much injured the crop by encouraging the growth of weeds. Barley was sown after the last crop, and produced well: so that our author thinks the potatoes seem to be a better preparation for spring corn than wheat. His experiment in 1784 produced a clear profit of £1. os. 4d.; the produce being 250 bushels per acre. Still, however, an error was committed, by employing an old man and woman to cut the sets, by whose unfilfulness there were many great gaps among the potatoes as they came up; so that, on the whole, he reckons that he thus lost from 500 to 800 bushels. On the whole, however, his opinion is favourable to the cluster potato. "With small crops (says he), and at the low rate of value which is produced by confining them at home, they are clearly proved to be a crop which will pay the expense of manuring, and very ample tillage and hoeing. This is, after all, the chief object of modern husbandry; for if a man can rely upon this potato for the winter consumption for his yard, in fattening or keeping hogs, in feeding his horses, and fattening his bullocks, he has made one of the greatest acquisitions that can be desired; since he can do all this upon land much too stiff and wet for turnips; houses his crops before the winter rains come on; and consequently without doing any of that injury to his land which the turnip culture is known to entail, and from which even cabbages are not free. Those who know the importance of winter food on a turnip farm cannot but admit the magnitude of this object on wet soils."

Mr Marshall, in his Rural Economy of Yorkshire, has several very interesting remarks on the potato. Its faults' varieties, he says, are endless and transitory. The rough skinned Russian potato, which was long a favourite of the Yorkshire farmers, he is of opinion has now no longer an existence, more than many others which flourished for a time. "There is some reason to believe (says he) that the disease which has of late years been fatal to the potato crop in this and in other districts, under the name of curled tops, has arisen from too long a continuance of declining varieties. Be this as it may, it appears to be an established opinion here, that fresh varieties, raised from seed, are not liable to that disease." Our author, however, does not look upon this to be a fact absolutely established: though one instance fell under his observation, in which its removal was in all probability owing to the introduction of new varieties. It made its appearance between 40 and 50 years ago, and spread in some degree over the whole kingdom. In some places it continued but a short time, so that its effects are almost forgotten. It is evident obvious at the first coming up of the plants; but attacks them as they increase in size; the entire top becoming dwarfish and shrivelled as if affected by drought or loaded with insects: they nevertheless live, and increase, though slowly, in size; but the roots are unproductive. Some crops have been almost wholly destroyed by this disease. In Yorkshire the Morelands are in a manner free from it, but the Vale is in some measure infected. Plants procured from the Morelands remain free from it in the Vale the first year; but, being continued, become liable to the disease. Where the attack has been partial, weeding out the diseased plants as they fail, is said to have had a good effect; and it is said the Morelanders got rid of the disease by this means.

In Yorkshire some intelligent husbandmen are acquainted with the method of raising potatoes from seed; which is as follows: "In autumn when the apples are beginning to fall spontaneously, they are gathered by hand, and preserved among leaf until the spring, when they are milled among the leaf and among fresh mould; separating the seeds and mixing them evenly with the mould. As soon as the spring frosts are judged to be over, they are sown in fine garden mould; and as fast as the plants get into rough leaf, and are strong enough to be handled without injury, Culture of they are transplanted into another bed of rich mould in rows, which are kept clean during summer. In autumn bunches of small potatoes are found at the roots of these plants; varying in size, the first year, from a hazel nut to that of a crab. These being planted next spring, produce potatoes of the middle size; but they do not arrive at their fullest bulk until the third or fourth year. Where the use of the stove or the garden frame can be had, this process may be shortened. The seeds being sown within either of these early in the spring, the plants will be fit to be planted out as soon as the frosts are gone; by which means the size of the roots will be much increased the first year, and will in the second rise nearly to perfection."

Another account of the mode of raising potatoes from seed is given by Mr Henry Doby of Woodside Chapel, Allerton, near Leeds. "Take the largest potato apples, of the kind you wish to renew, and string them on a very strong coarse thread, and hang them in a dry warm place till the latter end of February; when breaking them very small, and washing them in several waters, the seed is to be separated from the fleshy part and skins; this done, it should be spread on brown paper; and, when dry, sow it in the beginning of March, or sooner, on a hot-bed, in lines about nine inches asunder, and one third of an inch deep, and very thin: water between the lines frequently, and when the plants are risen a little height, introduce fine rich earth between the lines to strengthen them. They should have air admitted frequently, the better to enable them to bear being removed into the open air as soon as the weather shall be sufficiently temperate. Before they are transplanted, they should be plentifully watered, to make them rise with a large ball at their roots; old rotten horse dung and yellow mofs are the best manures; plant them in trenches, as celery was formerly, with a space of four feet between the trenches, and 12 or 14 inches between each plant; as they grow up, draw the earth between the trenches to the stalks, but do not cover their tops. The ground, when brought to a level, should be dug, and the plants carted until there are pretty deep trenches formed between the lines. With this treatment they will produce the first season from a pound weight to five pounds a plant: and many of the plants considerably more than a hundred potatoes a piece; the produce of which for ten or twelve years after will be prodigious."

In the 4th volume of the Bath Papers, Dr Anderson relates some experiments made on potatoes raised from seed. The first year they were of different sizes, from a pigeon's egg to that of a small pea. On planting these next year, it was invariably found, that the largest potatoes yielded the largest crop; and the same happened the third, when a few showed blossom; but not even these had bulbs equal to what would have been produced by very large potatoes. Whence he concludes, that it is impossible to assign any time in which these feeding potatoes will arrive at what is called perfection; but that it must depend very much on the nature of the soil and the culture bestowed upon them. From the practice of the Yorkshire farmers, however, and even from the experiments of the Doctor himself, it is evident, that potatoes raised in this way will at last grow to the usual size, as during the three years in which his experiments were continued they constantly increased in bulk. Dr Anderson likewise contends, that there is no reason for supposing that potatoes raised from bulbs in the ordinary way degenerate, or require to be renewed by seminal varieties; and he instances the universal practice of potatoes in Britain and Ireland for a great number of years past, generate. But this may be accounted for from an observation of Mr Marshall's, that varieties of potatoes, like those of corn, are partial to particular soils and situations. Hence, by transplanting all the different varieties of potatoes into all possible soils and situations, as has been done within this last century in the islands of Britain and Ireland, these varieties have continued for a much longer time than they would otherwise have done.

In Yorkshire, Mr Marshall tells us, that "the old favourite sorts were driven until some of the individual plants barely produced their seed again." It is evident, therefore, that there is a necessity from time to time of renewing them for food; though it deserves well to be considered whether it would not be more eligible to choose the seed from a plant in full vigour than from that which is so far degenerated that it can scarce produce its seed. "Potatoes raised from seed (says Mr Marshall) are a miscellaneous of endless varieties. Sometimes these varieties are planted miscellaneously; sometimes particular varieties are selected. In selecting varieties from feeding potatoes, two things are to be attended to; the intrinsic quality of the potato, and its productiveness. If these two desirable properties can be found in one plant, the choice is determined. To this species of attention and industry we are indebted for the many valuable kinds which have been and now are distributed throughout the island. It is observable, however, that varieties of potatoes, like those of corn, are partial to particular soils and situations. Hence the propriety of husbandmen raising potatoes from seed; as by this means, they obtain, with a degree of moral certainty, a sort adapted to their own particular soils and situations. Whoever has attended closely to the work of taking up potatoes, must have observed the great inequality in the productiveness of individual plants. The difference in the produce of adjoining roots, where no disparity of soil can influence, will sometimes be three or four fold. Hence it is evident, that each variety has its sub-varieties; through whose means, it can hardly be doubted the parent variety may be improved, and its continuance be prolonged. Thus the farmer has another mean in his power of improving the quality and productiveness of his potato crop, by improving varieties; or, in other words, selecting sub-varieties, superiorly adapted to his soil and situation."

Sir Archibald Grant, Baronet, of Monymusk, in a letter to the conductors of the Farmer's Magazine, has recently made known a mode practised by him with a view to the raising of seed, and the obtaining an early ear-crop of potatoes. "In spring 1800, (says that gentleman), from a scarcity of seed, I followed a method sometimes used by gardeners, for forcing early potatoes, peas, and beans, viz. that of planting them out upon a small dunghill, in order to make them come sooner forward, and afterwards transplanting them into the ground. This I did, after they had upon the dunghill risen to be good plants, and the leaves about an inch long. Culture of long. The dunghill was about three feet broad and 18 particular inches high, with from 2 to 3 inches of earth upon the top of it, and as long as held about a peck and three-quarters of a peck of Aberdeenshire measure (or 32lb. Dutch to the peck) of finall potatoes cut into sets, stuck as close to each other as possible in the rows, and each row about two inches asunder. On the 17th of April they were put upon the dunghill; on the 24th of May they were in leaf; and on the 14th and 15th of May were planted out into the field; each plant 3 feet asunder each way. On the 12th June they were earthered with the plough, and were afterwards drestled in the ordinary method. On the 1st Monday of October, being taken up, they produced from 14 to 16 bolls Aberdeen measure. In June I observed, that potatoes which had been planted in the ordinary way in other parts of the parish, in the middle of April, were scarcely appearing above ground when these were so high as to require being earthered up with the plough; so that six weeks were gained in growth by this method.

During the late great dearth of all kinds of provisions, a plan was adopted with a view to save for food a part of the potatoes used as feed, which consisted of not cutting them into pieces with one or more eyes in each piece as usual, but of slightly scooping out the eyes, which in that state were planted while the greater part of the potato was preserved for the use of man or cattle. This mode of planting potatoes was successful with a great number of persons; but in some instances, where the ground was not in an excellent state of preparation, the crop is understood to have been more defective than when the usual mode was adopted of cutting off large pieces of the potato along with the eye. The point, however, about the utility of this mode of practice must still be considered as doubtful or worthy of farther investigation. We are rather disposed to think that the practice of slightly scooping out the eye will not ultimately prove beneficial, because in ordinary cases the plant will be left destitute of due nourishment from the parent root at too early a period of its growth, and before it is completely capable of deriving its subsistence from the soil around it; in the same manner, and for the same reason, that light feed is apt to produce a light crop of grain. This objection may not indeed hold good with regard to potatoes planted on a very fine soil, or upon a hotbed, for transplanting after the manner adopted by Sir Archibald Grant above mentioned. But on poor lands, where the strength of the young plants is more severely tried, any defect in the size of the root planted will probably always be productive of bad effects.

2. Turnip.

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

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

Of all roots, turnip requires the finest mould; and to that end, of all harrows frost is the best. In order to give access to frost, the land ought to be prepared by ribbing after harvest, as above directed in preparing land for barley. If the field be not subject to annuals, it may lie in that state till the end of May; otherwise, the weeds must be destroyed by a breaking about the middle of April, and again in May, if weeds arise.

The first week of June, plough the field with a shallow furrow. Lime it if requisite, and harrow the lime into the soil. Draw single furrows with intervals of three feet, and lay dung in the furrows. Cover the dung sufficiently, by going round it with the plough, and forming the three feet spaces into ridges. The dung comes thus to lie below the crown of every ridge.

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

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

The turning turnip broad-cast is almost universal in England, and common in Scotland, though a barbarous practice. The eminent advantage of turnip is, that, besides a profitable crop, it makes a most complete fallow; and the latter cannot be obtained but by horse-hoeing. Upon that account, the turning turnip in rows at three feet distance is recommended. Wider rows answer no profitable end, straiter rows afford not room for a horse to walk in. When the turnip is about four inches high, annual weeds will appear. Go round every interval with the slightest furrow possible, at the distance of two inches from each row, moving the earth from the rows toward the middle of the interval. A thin plate of iron must be fixed on the left side of the plough, to prevent the earth from falling back and burying the turnip. Next, let women be employed to weed the rows with their fingers; which is better, and cheaper done, than with the hand-hoe. The hand-hoe, beside, is apt to disturb the roots of the turnip that are to stand, and to leave them open to drought by removing the earth from them. The standing turnip are to be at the distance of twelve inches from each other: a greater distance makes them swell too much; a less distance affords them not sufficient room. A woman soon comes to be expert in finger-weeding. The following hint may be necessary to a learner. To secure the turnip that is to stand, let her cover it with the left hand; and with the right pull up the turnip on both sides. After thus freeing the standing turnip, she may safely use both hands. Let the field remain in this state till the appearance of new annuals make a second ploughing. Culture of particular Plants.

Part I.

Culture of particular Pla

which must be in the same furrow with the former, but a little deeper. As in this ploughing the iron plate is to be removed, part of the loose earth will fall back on the roots of the plants; the rest will fill the middle of the interval, and bury every weed. When weeds begin again to appear, then is the time for a third ploughing in an opposite direction, which lays the earth to the roots of the plants. This ploughing may be about the middle of August; after which, weeds rise very faintly. If they do rise, another ploughing will clear the ground of them. Weeds that at this time rise in the rows, may be cleared with a hand-hoe, which can do little mischief among plants distant 12 inches from each other. It is certain, however, that it may be done cheaper with the hand (G). And after the leaves of turnips in a row meet together, the hand is the only instrument that can be applied for weeding.

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

In cultivating turnips to advantage, great care should be taken to procure a good, bright, malleable, and well-dried seed, and of the best kinds.

The Norfolk farmers generally raise the oval white, the large green-topped, and the red or purple-topped kinds, which from long experience they have found to be the most profitable.

The roots of the green-topped will grow to a large size, and continue good much longer than others. The red or purple-topped will also grow large, and continue good to the beginning of February; but the roots become hard and stringy sooner than the former.

The green-topped growing more above ground, is in more danger of sustaining injury from severe frosts than the red or purple, which are more than half-covered by the soil; but it is the softest and sweetest, when grown large, of any kind. We have seen them brought to table a foot in diameter, and equally good as garden turnips.

Turnips delight in a light soil, consisting of sand and loam mixed; for when the soil is rich and heavy, although the crop may be as great in weight, they will be rank, and run to flower earlier in spring.

Turnip-feed, like that of grain, will not do well without frequent changing. The Norfolk feed is sent to most parts of the kingdom, and even to Ireland; but after two years it degenerates; so that those who wish to have turnips in perfection should procure it fresh every year from Norfolk, and they will find their account in doing so. For, from its known reputation, many of the London feedmen fell, under that character, feed raised in the vicinity of the metropolis, which is much inferior in quality.

When the plants have got five leaves, they should be hoed, and set out at least six inches apart. A month afterward, or earlier, if it be a wet season, a second hoeing should take place, and the plants be left at least 14 inches distant from each other, especially if intended for feeding cattle; for where the plants are left thicker, they will be proportionally smaller, unless the land is very rich indeed.

Some of the best Norfolk farmers sow turnips in Methods of drilling three feet asunder, and at a second hoeing leave culture in them a foot apart in the rows. By this means the trouble and expense of hoeing is much lessened, and the crop is of equal weight as when sown in the common method. The intervals may easily be cleared of weeds by the horse-hoe.

There has been laid before the Board of Agriculture the results of some interesting experiments, which we shall here state, that were made by Mr. W. Jobson of Turvesclars, with a view to ascertain the comparative merits of the two modes of rearing turnips by drill or broad-east. The trial was made upon a part of a field of 15 acres, sown in the month of June 1797. "The culture of whole field, says Mr. Jobson, was in equal tillth, was turnip by manured as equally as possible immediately before drill and following with rotted field-yard dung, at the rate of 10 compared cart loads per acre, each load containing about 28 Winchester bullocks; and in order to make the experiment perfectly fair, there were breadths of land of 20 yards each, sown in broad-east and drills alternately throughout the whole field. Part of the drills on one-eat ridges, of 27 inches each, with the dung laid immediately underneath, where the row of feed was deposited; the rest of the drills upon a level surface, were sown by Mr Bayley's machine at 21 inches distance. The produce per acre is calculated from the weight of four square perchers, or the fourtieth part of a statute acre of each, having first cut off the tails, or fibrous part of the root, and thrown them aside, as unfit for food, and then taken the weight of the tops and roots separately."

"It is necessary to observe, that this field of turnip was but a middling crop, having been much hurt immediately after the first hoeing, by the grub (small worm which destroys the root), particularly the drilled part of the field, which, having had the plants set out, at the distances at which they were intended to remain before the grub seized them, was on that account rendered too thin and otherwise much injured; notwithstanding which, it was found that those on the one-eat ridges exceeded the others in weight; also, that these parcels of turnips were taken from an inferior (though not the worst) part of the field, and may therefore be deemed to be a pretty fair average of the whole:

(G) Children under thirteen may be employed to weed turnips with the fingers. We have seen them go on in that work with alacrity; and a small premium will have a good effect. For boys and girls above thirteen, a hand-hoe adapted to their size is an excellent instrument: it strengthens the arms amazingly. In driving the plough, the legs only are exercised; but as the arms are chiefly employed in husbandry, they ought to be prepared beforehand by gentle exercise. Culture of whole: there were also three other portions weighed, particular which were taken from a part of the field where the roots were larger, and a fuller crop, with a view to ascertain what might have been expected, had not the grub seized them in the manner described; but unfortunately the paper containing their weight has been lost or mislaid, which puts it out of my power to furnish you with it. There was also an account taken of the number (but not the weight) of loads which were produced upon a few acres of the worst part of the field, which was in favour of the broad-cast, in the proportion of ten of broad-cast to nine of those drills on one-bout ridges, and eight of Mr Bayley's drill.

"From this experiment (though defective from the reason assigned) we have reason to conjecture, though not to form a conclusion, that a heavier crop may be raised by sowing in drills at 27 inches distance with the dung immediately beneath the plants, than in broadcast or in drills at 21 inches on a level surface: but whether the advantage arises from the situation in which the dung is deposited, or from their having a freer circulation of air, or from both these united, it remains for future and repeated experiments to decide. Notwithstanding this, it will be found, that each of these methods possesses peculiar advantages and disadvantages, according to situations and circumstances; the reasons for which I deduce from the observations I have made respecting this as well as former crops. In the first place, the one-bout ridges I think preferable for early sowing, and eating off, through the winter months, even so late as the month of February, as they are more easily procured for food for cattle in deep snows; also in situations where it is difficult to procure a sufficient number of experienced hands, those under the drill system can be more easily managed and at less expense, as boys and girls may be readily taught to set out the plants with great regularity in very little time; but turnips under this system are liable to the inconvenience of being more apt to be injured by severe frosts from their high exposure. Another inconvenience I have also observed on wet and heavy lands, more especially with little declivity, that although there should, and possibly may, be a larger crop produced thereby, yet the land will unavoidably be so much poached by carrying them off, that the succeeding crop of corn will be lessened more than the extra value of the turnips will compensate. When it is attempted to raise turnips upon land of this description, it will be found more advantageous to form it into ridges of sufficient height to carry off the water with ease into the water furrows, and of sufficient breadth (suppose fifteen feet) to allow a cart to pass along them freely, without forcing the earth into to choke up these furrows. The turnips may be sown either in broad-cast or in drills, upon the surface of these ridges. If the land is addicted to annual weeds, they will be best in drills, which will expedite the hoeing; but if not, or if they be late in sowing, or if the land be subject to the grub, broad-cast will generally be found to produce a more certain crop, as they can be left so near to each other at the first hoeing as to admit of being thinned, and thereby give the opportunity of taking out unhealthy plants at the subsequent hoeings, and also that they grow more vigorously between the first and second hoeings."

The result of the experiment here alluded to, is stated in the following manner:

**Comparative Weight of six portions of Turnips, which were part of a Field of fifteen acres: the whole of which was Sown in the Month of June 1797, as an experiment between the Drill and Broad-cast systems.**

| Time of weighing | Number upon four square perches | Weight on four square perches, or the 40th part of an acre | Weight per statute acre | Average weight of each turnip | Average distance of each turnip | |------------------|---------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------------------| | No. I. Drilled on one-bout ridges, at 27 inches distance. | January | 354 | ROOTS. Cwt. qr. lb. | TOPS. Cwt. qr. lb. | Tons. cwt. qr. lb. | lb. oz. | 16½ in. by 27 in. | | II. Drilled with Mr Bayley's machine, on a level surface, at 21 inches distance. | ditto | 428 | 7 1 15½ | 1 1 5½ | 17 7 1 8 | 2 4½ | 17 in. by 21 in. | | III. Broad-cast. | do. | 568 | 7 2 12½ | 1 0 11½ | 17 8 1 26 | 1 11½ | 16½ each way. | | IV. Drilled on one-bout ridges, at 27 inches distance. | Mar. 2. | 334 | 8 3 0 | 1 1 22 | 20 7 3 12 | 3 6½ | 17 by 27 in. | | V. Broad-cast. These and the preceding were round white turnips. | do. | 628 | 8 2 22½ | 1 1 8 | 20 0 2 24 | 1 11½ | 16 each way. | | VI. Broad-cast (Red.) | do. | 561 | 6 3 26½ | 2 3 5 | 19 11 1 0 | 1 15½ | 16½ each way. |

"By noting the average distance of each turnip, as is done in the last column, is intended to show, at one view, how many plants there were wanting in the drills to have made them a full crop; for, if 550 be stated as a medium number in a full crop, upon the 40th part of an acre, they will be found to occupy a space of 17 inches each way in broad-cast, 16½ by 27 inches on the one-bout ridges, and 13½ by 21 inches of those drilled..." Part I.

Culture of drilled on the level surface; from whence may be easily seen, how much those were wider in the rows than they ought to have been."

Great quantities of turnips are raised in Norfolk every year for feeding black cattle, which turn to great advantage.

It is well known, that an acre of land contains 4840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet; suppose then that every square foot contains one turnip, and that they weigh only two pounds each on an average, here will be a mass of food, excellent in kind, of 46 tons per acre, often worth from four to five guineas, and sometimes more.

Extraordinary crops of barley frequently succeed turnips, especially when fed off the land. In feeding them off, the cattle should not be suffered to run over too much of the ground at once, for in that case they will tread down and spoil twice as many as they eat. In Norfolk, they are confined by hurdles to as much as is sufficient for them for one day. By this mode the crop is eaten clean, the soil is equally trodden, which if left is of much service, and equally manured by the cattle.

A notion prevails in many places, that mutton fattened with turnips is thereby rendered rank and ill tasted; but this is a vulgar error. The best mutton in Norfolk (and few counties have better) is all fed with turnips. It is by rank pastures, and marshy lands, that rank mutton is produced.

If the land be wet and springy, the best method is to draw and carry off your turnips to some dry pasture; for the treading of the cattle will not only injure the crop, but render the land too stiff, that you must be at an additional expense in ploughing.

To preserve turnips for late spring feed, the best method, and which has been tried with success by some of the best English farmers, is, To stack them up in dry straw; a load of which is sufficient to preserve 40 tons of turnips. The method is easy, and is as follows:

After drawing your turnips in February, cut off the tops and tap roots (which may be given to sheep), and let them lie a few days in the field, as no weather will then hurt them.

Then, on a layer of straw next the ground, place a layer of turnips two feet thick; and then another layer of straw, and so on alternately, till you have brought the heap to a point. Care must be taken to turn up the edges of the layers of straw, to prevent the turnips from rolling out; cover the top well with long straw, and it will serve as a thatch for the whole.

In this method, as the straw imbibes the moisture exhaled from the roots, all vegetation will be prevented, and the turnips will be nearly as good in May, as when first drawn from the field. If straw be scarce, old haulm or stubble will answer the same purpose.

But to prevent this trouble and expense, perhaps farmers in all counties would find it most to their interest to adopt the method used by our neighbours the Norfolk farmers, which is, to continue feeding turnips to the latter end of August; by which means their late crops remain good in the field till the latter end of April, and often till the middle of May.

The advantages of having turnips good till the spring feed is generally ready, are so obvious, and so great, that many of the most intelligent farmers (although at first prejudiced against the practice) are now come into it, and find their account in so doing.

Turnips have long been in such general use as food for cattle, that the profit on raising them might be reasonably thought to be altogether certain; nevertheless, Mr Young, in the paper already quoted, informs us, that "turnips dugged for are universally a losing crop; for if they are raised from 30s. to 40s. an acre, their value does not amount to the dung alone which is spread for potatoes; yet the latter pays that dung, all other expenses, and leaves a profit sometimes considerable." I admit that turnips fed upon the land will prepare better for corn; but that is by no means the question. Would not the dung raised in the farmyard by the consumption of the potatoes, supposing it spread on the potato acre, make that produce more than the turnip one? I have no doubt but it would give a superiority. But turnips are liable to great failures, and cannot be relied on late in the spring: potatoes may; and are applicable to uses to which the other root cannot be applied."—In the second volume of the Compared Bath Papers, p. 101, we have a comparative account with other of the value of turnips, turnip-rooted cabbage, and lucerne, as food for cattle. The result of this writer's observations is, that "when sheep are allowed as many turnips as they can eat (which should always be the case when they are fattening), they will, on an average, eat near 20 pounds each in 24 hours. An acre of turnips, twice hoed, will, if the land be good, produce about 50 tons; which will, on the above calculation, maintain 100 sheep 52 days. The sheep mentioned weigh 20 pounds per quarter. An acre of turnip-rooted cabbage will maintain 100 sheep for a month, and sometimes five weeks; but an acre of Scots cabbages will maintain 200 sheep a full month." The number fed by lucerne is not determined.

The greatest disadvantage which attends a crop of turnips, is their being so ready to be damaged by the fly, which sometimes destroys them so completely, that they must be sown over again two or three times the same season, and even this without any certainty of turnip culture. Innumerable methods of avoiding this evil have been projected, which may all be reduced to the following classes: 1. Steeping the seed in certain liquids. 2. Fumigation of the fields with the smoke of certain herbs. 3. Rolling. 4. Strewn foot, lime, ashes, &c., on the surface of the ground. It is very difficult, however, to determine, with any degree of certainty, whether remedies of this kind are effectual or not; because sometimes the turnips are not injured though no precaution has been made of; and when this happens to be the case, after the use of any supposed preventive, the preservation of the crop is ascribed to the use of that preventive, whether it be really efficacious or not. The virtues of fleeces seem to have been fully ascertained by Mr Winter Charlton near Bristol, to fleeces for whose experiments an account is given in the Transact.-turnip-feed-ions of the Society for encouraging Arts, vol. v. Whether the use of any feeds were of the Dutch kind, sowed on beds in the kitchen garden in drills, about twelve inches distant, an inch and a half deep, on the 11th of May 1786. The beds had been prepared with rotten dung in May 1785, and afterwards sown with cabbages. The quality of the turnips is exhibited in the following table; Culture of the best being marked 1; and those of inferior quality, particular 2, 3, &c. The observations were taken on the 26th of June.

Seed without any preparation, steeped in train oil flourished extremely, steeped in linseed oil, somewhat inferior, Seed mixed with foot and water, with drainings of a dunghill, with elder and barton draining, with foot, with elder leaf juice, with elder and barton draining, foot being sowed over the covered drills, with ditto, and lime sowed over the drills, sowed with foot scattered over, and then covered, with barton draining, an elder bath drawn over when the plants appeared, with stale human urine, very few plants appeared, with flaked lime scattered over, and then covered, very few plants appeared, with elder, barton-draining, and flaked lime, very few plants appeared, with lime and barton draining did not vegetate.

Another set of experiments was made with the green Norfolk turnip, drilled an inch and a half deep, the rows one foot distant, on beds eight feet three inches long, and two feet wide; half a drachm of seed allowed for each bed, steeped and mixed with various substances like the former. The seeds were drilled upon unmanured ground on the 25th of June 1786, and the observation made on the 17th of July. None of the beds were found free from the ravages of the fly; but the feed which had been steeped in train oil and linseed oil were much more free from this injury than the others. The linseed oil, as in the former experiment, was found inferior to the train oil, which was supposed to have been owing to its being kept in a bottle that had formerly held oil of turpentine. The leaves of the steeped seeds were of a much darker green than the others, appeared twice as thick in bulk and luxuriancy, and the plants were considerably larger than those of the other kinds. The substances mixed with the rest were soakers ashes, wood ashes, powdered gunpowder, brimstone, flaked lime, foot, barton-draining; sometimes mixed together in various proportions, and sometimes with the addition of a portion of sifted mould.

These experiments show, that no dependence can be had on steeps or mixtures of any kind with the turnip-seed; though the train oil and linseed oil seem greatly to have forwarded the vegetation of the plant. It does not appear that fumigation has ever been tried; nor indeed does it seem easy to be tried in such a manner as might ensure success.—In the fourth volume of the Bath Papers, Mr Gullet of Devonshire gives such directions for performing the operation as he thinks would be productive of success.—In a preceding paper he had explained the good effects of fumigating orchards; but the case with these must be very considerably different from a field of turnips. The trees in an orchard are particularly elevated above the ground, and the smoke naturally ascends, and is blown along their tops: but in fumigating a large field of turnips, it must creep along the ground in such a manner as is by no means agreeable to its nature; and without an excessive degree of labour, as well as a vast quantity of burning materials, there cannot be the least hope of success. Mr Gullet's directions are as follow: "If the turnip-ground be spaded and burnt, or the weeds, &c. burnt without spading, the fumigation thereby may suffice to chase such of the winged tribe from thence as are there then; but in all cases, when the field is ploughed and ready for sowing, let heaps be made at different places and intervals round by the hedges and boundaries of the turnip-ground, and some few scattered through the field; then, as soon as the seed is sown, let the heaps on the windward side and the scattered ones be lighted and kept smothering during the continuance of the wind in that quarter; the less the fire, and the more the smoke, the better. Should the wind happen to shift, those heaps on the quarter it shifts to must then be lighted and kept smothering in like manner; so that during the growth of the tender turnip leaf, and until it becomes rough and out of all danger, this fumigation and smoke, over and above the field, must be continued from one quarter to the other; which I venture to assert, will effectually deter and prevent any winged insect tribe from approaching the turnip ground: nay more, if there already, it would most completely drive them from thence, as such delicately formed insects (which can only feed on the most tender leaf) would be ill able to continue long in such a smother of fire and smoke. The consequence is obvious and certain, that if the fly be kept from approaching the field, the turnip-crop is safe; and few, I believe, will disagree with me, that prevention is better than remedy."

Our author does not say that he has ever tried this method with turnips; but lays great stress upon his success in a similar experiment with cabbages, in order to preserve them from the caterpillar. To make the matter more sure, however, he recommends the trailing of a bush of elder over the turnip field at the time of harrowing or brushing in the feed: but this remedy has by numerous experiments been found insignificant, and by those above related seems even to be pernicious: so that whatever good effects we can expect from this method, must depend on the fumigation alone; and even this is attended with very great uncertainties, as has already been observed.

Rolling promises to be of service when the young turnips are attacked by hail, which frequently destroy them; but it cannot be supposed to have much effect in destroying flies, these being too numerous and too minute to be effectually crushed by the roller: and indeed, though this has been frequently recommended, we have no decisive proofs of its having ever been attended with any good effect.

The strewing of foot, lime, ashes, &c. upon the ground, have been determined ineffectual by the experiments already related, at least when applied before the turnips come up; and there seems to be little hope of their proving more effectual even when applied after the crop has appeared above ground. We may argue indeed Culture of indeed *a priori* about the taste or smell of root, lime, particular &c., being disagreeable to insects; but of this we have no proof; and even though this were the case, the leaf soon emerges from under this covering, or the insects will feed on the under part of the leaves, where these substances cannot lie. It is evident, therefore, that very little can be expected from any of the methods hitherto proposed either by way of cure or prevention. The more probable methods are,

1. To sow the turnips at such a season of the year that they may be well grown before the fly makes its appearance. In the Bath Papers, vol. iv. p. 132. Mr Wimpey observes, that in order to procure food for their cattle in the spring before the grass is grown, farmers are obliged to postpone the sowing of turnips beyond the natural time of vegetation: but were turnips to be sown in April, as soon as the season would permit, it is very probable that there would be as great a crop of them as of other vegetables usually sown in these months. On account of the delay in sowing, however, for the reason already mentioned, the success of the farmer becomes exceedingly precarious, unless he is fortunate as to have a few rainy days, or cloudy weather and frequent showers, soon after the seed is sown: and this our author supposes to be the true reason why the turnip is a more uncertain article than any other. But though speculations of this kind have a great flow of probability, there is not any experiment hitherto published, even by our author himself, by which the truth of the above conjecture can be absolutely ascertained. Our author, however, is of opinion, that none of the common methods proposed can answer any good purpose, farther than as by means of them the vegetation of the plant may be invigorated. Mr Wimpey recommends ashes, loam, or a rich compost of lime and dung used in sufficient quantities; but the method of using them is, either to sow them with the seed, or rather by themselves immediately before, and to harrow them well in, that they may be completely incorporated with the soil. This for the most part would invigorate and encourage the growth of the plants, as to be an overwhelming match for the most vigorous attacks of the fly.

2. Another method, proposed for securing turnips from the fly, is by sowing such a quantity of seed as will be more than sufficient for the consumption of the insects. This we find recommended in a letter to the Bath Society, by a gentleman-farmer in Essex, vol. ii. p. 238. His method is to make the land clean and fine as soon as the season will permit, and to sow four pints per acre. It may be objected, that if the fly does not take them, the plants will stand so thick, that they cannot easily be hoed; but this may be obviated by harrowing them first, which will make them fit for the hoe. There can be no expectation of a crop if the fly takes them when only a pint of seed is sown per acre; but this gentleman remarks, that he has not in any one instance missed of a crop when he sowed four pints; because, though the fly has sometimes destroyed more than one half, and much damaged the other, still there was a sufficient number left behind. He also agrees with other of the Society's correspondents, that the ground should be well dugged and manured previous to the sowing of turnips, as this makes them grow vigorously, so that they quickly get into the rough leaf, in which state the fly will not touch them.

In the same volume, a gentleman of Norfolk remarks, that manuring the ground in autumn for turnips is preferable to the doing so in spring. This discovery he made in consequence of the following accident. A neighbouring farmer, not having a sufficient quantity of manure for all his turnip land, was under the necessity in autumn of sowing four acres unmanured. The effect was, that preferable the turnips on the manured part of the land were to spring mostly eaten off by the fly, while four acres unmanured escaped without injury. In consequence of having observed this, the gentleman made a similar experiment, by manuring five acres well for turnips, and tilling three acres and a half in the usual way without any manure. The manured crops were almost all destroyed by the fly, so that he was obliged to sow most of the land over again. The three acres and a half which had no manure were entirely free from injury, though the plants were much smaller than those of the manured ground which came up. Not content with this trial, however, he repeated the experiment by manuring five acres of wheat stubble in autumn, ploughing it immediately, and leaving it to incorporate with the earth during the winter: the turnips which grew upon this were as large as if the ground had been manured in the spring. This experiment was repeated with surprising success in two succeeding years; whence he infers, that the fly is either engendered in the new dung or enticed by it. But when the manure is laid on in autumn it loses its noxious qualities, though it still retains its nutritive ones.—This conclusion, however, does not appear to be well founded; for it is certain, from undoubted experience, that turnips which have been well manured in the common way, have sometimes escaped any injury; while others, which have got no manure at all, have been almost totally destroyed. Another material advantage, however, which this correspondent observes is to be derived from manuring in autumn is, that all the seeds contained in the manure, and which are of course carried to the land with it, vegetate almost immediately, and are mostly killed by the cold of the succeeding winter, while the few that remain can scarce escape destruction from the ploughshare.

Mr Wimpey is also of opinion, that it is proper to Mr Wimpey sow a large quantity of seed; but thinks two pounds per acre will be sufficient for an acre. A few ounces indeed sowing would be sufficient to stock the land; but as the article is so precarious, he thinks it by far the safest way to sowing allow seed in plenty, and reduce the plants afterwards by harrowing. He observes also, that it is of great consequence to have seed both good in quality and of the best species. He prefers the large and green-topped, as being the most sweet and juicy; others give the preference to the red or purple-topped, as being harder; but at any rate, the seed from the largest and finest transplanted turnips, of whatever sort, is greatly preferred, even though it should cost double or treble the price. Such as is sold by the seedmen in London he found generally of a mixed kind, and often in great part not worth cultivating. Whether plants from new or old seed are most secure from the depredations of the fly (says he), is perhaps a question which cannot be easily determined even by experiments; for concomitant circumstances are frequently so much more operative and powerful, as to render the difference between... Culture of turnips along with grain.—This, of all others, seems to be the most eligible and efficacious. In the second volume of Bath Papers, p. 210, a Hertfordshire correspondent gives an account of the success of an experiment of drilling turnips with wheat. A small field of spring-wheat was drilled in rows two feet apart; and in the month of May turnips were sown by hand in the intervals. They came up very well, and were thinned once by the hoe. The crop of wheat turned out better than another field of the same soil sown broadcast in autumn, though it ripened somewhat later. The turnips were no other way injured by cutting it, than having some of the large leaves trodden down by the reapers. After harvest the weeds were cut up round the turnips with a hand-hoe, and they grew very large and vigorous. They were of the purple and white long kind, and the crop proved nearly as good as the same land produced in common. An excellent crop of barley and clover was got from the same field afterwards.

In the third volume of the same work we find an account of several successful experiments in sowing turnips between rows of beans. The advantages of this method are strongly set forth by R. P. Anderson, Esq., who made some of the experiments, and are as follow:

1. You may have a crop of beans and turnips on the same field the same year. 2. The bean crop being well horse-hoed, no ploughing is wanted for turnips, for which the best Norfolk farmers give five ploughings. 3. It is hoed cheaper, more effectually, and consequently more profitably, than in any other way. 4. The ground is kept clean from weeds. 5. It is in order for a Lent crop the succeeding year with one earth. 6. The ground is kept in heart, if not improved, by following your alleys. 7. It brings the plant to perfection in poor ground, where it would not become so otherwise. 8. It doubles the crop in any ground which Mr Anderson has had experience of. 9. You have the crops more within your own power in this than in any other method, let the seasons turn out as they will. 10. You may have on the same ground a bean and turnip crop annually, if the land be suitable, and you think proper. 11. The clay farmer, by this mode, renders land which is naturally unfit for turnips, so free and open by seasonable horse-hoeings, that it will bring this useful plant to great perfection.

On this paper the Society made some remarks, and Objections by the Bath stated the following objections: 1. That the same soil cannot be proper for both crops. Scotch cabbages are more adapted for a bean soil; and they wished him to repeat the experiment with cabbages instead of turnips betwixt his beans. 2. The Norfolk farmers rarely use more than three ploughings for turnips, instead of five, as Mr Anderson represents, unless the ground be full of couch-grass. 3. They think him too fanciful in his expectations of having double crops on the same field. 4. Nothing renders a clay soil so free and open as to have it exposed to frosts and snow by being laid up in high ridges in January and February; but, on Mr Anderson's plan, this cannot be done, unless the turnips are left in value by being fed off in autumn.

These strictures were sent to Mr Anderson before the papers were printed, but did not make any alteration in his opinion; and he replied to the following purpose:

1. The same soil cannot be proper for beans and turnips, &c.—Granted.—But had Mr Anderson adhered rigorously to this rule, he would have sown no turnips at all, not having on his farm any soil altogether proper for that crop; "but (says he) while I can get in single rows, four feet asunder or more, from half a dozen to half a score tons of turnips per acre, after, or rather between, a crop of beans in my heavy lands, I shall feel that produce here more beneficial than to drop the mode. I believe the medium of the two, so far as I can judge by the eye or get information, to be superior to the average produce of prepared fallow turnip crops in 10 miles round me."—On this the Society make the following remarks: "The question here is, Whether, if, instead of turnips, Mr Anderson had planted his beans two feet distance only, the extra produce of his crop would not have exceeded in value that of his turnips? We think they would, as these intervals would freely admit his horse-hoe between the beans."

Mr Anderson then proceeds to acquaint the committee, that he had tried the experiment as they wished with Scotch cabbages, instead of turnips betwixt the rows of beans; but the crop of the turnips was so much preferable, that he found himself inclined to suppose the cabbage would not get to so great perfection there as to be profitably introduced on a large scale, for want of the great quantity of dung necessary for that crop, and which could not be procured in that part of the country. He further remarks in favour of turnips, that they have an abundance of very small lateral fibrous roots, which run as far in search of food, and feed as ravenously where they can penetrate, as those of almost any other vegetable; and the plant certainly derives more nourishment from those than from its tap-root (H). Those fine fibrous roots, almost imperceptible to the eye, issue chiefly from the apple or body of the turnip, and get into the richest part of the soil near the surface, and will bring the plants to a considerable magnitude in heavy lands adapted to beans, when mellowed by the horse-hoe. Some of his turnips weighed ten pounds each: and if he could have only two such turnips on every square yard, it would be at the rate of 43 tons per acre.

2. The Committee doubt of the possibility of doubling the crop. Mr Anderson gives the following explanation.

(h) Here the Society remark, that this is not the case with those kinds of turnips which grow chiefly above ground, and which are generally the best crops, and most capable of resisting the frosts. I have made many comparative trials on turnips between this mode and broad-cast sowing, and always found on my ground the horse-hoe crops the best. But here, in denoting the benefits of the horse-hoe by its doubling a crop, I wish to be understood, that if, in soils like mine, a crop be drilled, leaving proper intervals for horse-hoeing, and one part be horse-hoeed, the other not, the horse-hoeed part will double the other in product."

Mr Anderdon, in the course of his reply to the committee, gives an account of another experiment he made in consequence of being deficient in winter fodder for his cattle. By this necessity he was induced to sow turnips wherever he could; and on the 18th of July drilled a single row between his drilled wheat. On the 20th and 22d of August he drilled four rows of winter vetches in each interval between the turnips, at the rate of less than one peck and three quarters of seed to an acre. "The turnip crop (says he) is very acceptable, and my vetches succeed beyond my warmest expectation, are thick enough, and give me the pleasing prospect and hope, that I shall not, when my dry meat is gone, want a reasonable supply of early green fodder that will last me till my lucerne comes on."

This subject is farther considered in the same volume by Mr Pavier, who viewed Mr Anderdon's turnips, and gave in a report of them to the committee. He supposes a crop of beans drilled in single rows at four feet distance, and the turnips drilled in the intervals, according to Mr Anderdon's method, there will then be four rows of 17 feet in length to make a square perch; whereas Mr Anderdon's rows were only 15 feet 8 inches in length; and this disparity in length will make a difference of weight on a perch from 239 to 249 pounds, and on an acre from 16 tons 8 cwt. 2 qrs. 8 lb. Mr Anderdon's produce, to 17 tons 15 cwt. 2 qrs. 24 lb.—Each turnip, at this distance (viz. four feet from row to row, and nine inches in the rows) must occupy a space of three square feet; consequently the greatest number produced on an acre must be 14,520; but if sown in broad-cast, twice hoed, and the distance on an average 15 inches, each turnip will then occupy little more than one foot and a half; and the number produced on an acre may be about 27,920; an excess which may reasonably be supposed to overbalance the value of the beans, let us suppose the crop as great as we can reasonably do. Thus far the argument seems to lie against this method of cultivating beans and turnips together; but on the other hand, Mr Pavier considers it probable that the expense of drilling and horse-hoeing the beans, together with drilling the turnips in the manner Mr Anderdon did, must be considerably less than that of fallowing and preparing the ground, and sowing the turnips in broad-cast; to which we must likewise add the facility of hoeing the drills in comparison of the broad-cast. But besides these, the great advantage arising from this method, and which, if certain, gives it a decided superiority, is, "the great chance, if not an almost certainty, of preserving the turnips from the depredations of the fly." Mr Pavier was inclined to think that this must be the case, as Mr Anderdon had such crops repeatedly without any damage of that kind; but the committee differ from him, and think that this must have proceeded from some other cause; though they do not assign any reason for this opinion. "The principal point (says Mr Pavier) in determining this question, seems particular to me to be this; if the crop of beans drilled as above, after deducting the feed, and some additional expense in taking the crop off the ground without injuring the turnips, can be, one year with another, supposed to be as valuable as the quantity of turnips that might be reasonably expected in the broad-cast method more than in the other, I shall not hesitate to declare in favour of drilling between the beans."

Thus far the argument seems to be carried on a priori. Mr Wimpey, in the letter above quoted, inclines to the practice of sowing turnips between beans planted in rows. "It exactly corresponds (says he) with all my observations on the successful vegetation of that root. A considerable degree of moisture is necessary to the rapid vegetation of that very juicy root, and nothing retains moisture equal to shade; and shade can be obtained and secured by no means so effectually on a large scale as in the intervals of tall growing plants, as beans or wheat planted in drills." The success of Mr Bult of Kingston, near Taunton, leaves little room to doubt of the propriety of the method, and its success in preventing the fly. The beans were planted in drills not quite two feet alundar, on two ploughings, horse-hoeed three times, and the turnips sown in the intervals at the last hoeing. The field measured five acres and a quarter, and was a very good clayey soil, but had not been manured, nor had any dressing laid upon it for six years before. It produced this year three quarters of beans per acre, and 37 tons, 5 cwt. of turnips. This field was also viewed by Mr Pavier, who makes the following observations upon it. 1. The turnips were sown promiscuously among the beans at the last hoeing, which was given about midsummer; from which time nothing was done but drawing off the beans, and carrying them off the land. 2. The crop of beans was believed to be considerably above 20 bushels per acre, which is much more than was produced by any other method that season in the neighbouring part of the country; and as Mr Pavier had this account before he saw the turnip crop, he did not expect any thing considerable from the latter; but as it turned out, the produce must be accounted highly profitable, when we consider that there was no crop lost; no preparation, dressing, nor any expense whatever, except the price of the seed and sowing it. 3. This he considers as one of the strongest recommendations of the drill husbandry he ever knew or heard of; but he is of opinion that it never can answer, except where the ground is perfectly clean and free from weeds, by the crops having been horse-hoeed for a few years before. 4. He thinks the beans ought to have been planted at wider intervals, by which the sun and air would be freely admitted, and the plants would also be less damaged by the operation of the hoe.

Mr Pavier likewise informs the Society of two other experiments on a similar plan; but with this difference, that the turnips were sown among the beans at the second horse-hoeing. The turnip crops were very good, and the beans more than double the value of those raised in the usual mode of husbandry. "I think it is very evident (says he) that the beans preserve the turnips from the fly; and as no expense or trouble attends Culture of the practice, I apprehend it will soon become more particular general." The Society own, that the uncommon success of Mr Bult's experiment seems to militate at least against what they said on Mr Anderson's letter; but they insist that the cases are by no means similar. "Though the land (say they), in both instances, is called a heavy clay, they are very different. Mr Anderson's is poor, wet, and cold; the other a good rich clay, and we apprehend naturally mixed with a kind of marl, which is called clay by persons not thoroughly acquainted with the nice distinction of soils apparently alike, but very different in their nature. Our principle, therefore, that cold wet clay lands are unsuitable for turnips, remains unaffected by this experiment; and general practice confirms the truth of the theory."

In another letter, Mr Pavier gives a more particular account of the two other crops of beans and turnips raised upon Mr Bult's plan. "The beans were drilled in rows about 22 inches distance, twice horse-hoed, and the produce from about 25 to 30 bushels the computed acre, or from 30 to 36 bushels the statute acre. The preceding summer had been very unfavourable to beans, and the produce per acre in the common husbandry did not, on an average, equal a third part of this quantity. One of these crops was superior to that of Mr Bult; they were sown upon a field of nine computed acres on the 15th of June, after the second horse-hoeing; but whether the second hoeing was performed too soon, the ground not clear, or, whatever might be the cause, the beans were weeded twice by hand afterwards; and he is of opinion, that the turnips were somewhat benefited by it. Mr Pavier was assured by a very intelligent farmer, that this was the best crop of turnips he had ever seen. The turnip seed in the other crop was put in between the rows of beans by a hand drill; but the work was badly performed, the plants coming up in some places vastly too thick, and in others as much too thin; but wherever they happened to be of a proper thickness, the farmer told him it was one of the most profitable crops he ever had. The soil was wet, heavy, and not very favourable for turnips. Hence Mr Pavier deduces the following conclusion: 1. That with respect to beans in particular, the drilling and hoeing is vastly superior to the common mode of husbandry. 2. That the beans are undoubtedly a good preservative of the turnips from the depredations of the fly. 3. That as by this method no crop is lost, and consequently no rent, but a mere trifle of expense (if any) chargeable to the turnip crop, it must be one of the most profitable as well as the most certain methods of propagating that useful root ever yet practised.—He still insists, however, that if he had an opportunity of trying this method, he would drill the beans in rows at a greater distance, that the turnips might be hand-hoed easily; and that he should prefer the London tick-beans to any other, by reason of their shortness and being such bearers; that he should also take off their tops as soon as the under blossoms began to decay; which, he supposes, would be of great service.

In this dissertation on the culture of turnips, we cannot avoid taking notice of an instrument used in Norfolk for transplanting them, and thus filling up the gaps which frequently happen in fields from the failure of the plants in particular spots. It is represented on the margin; and the construction and mode particular of using are obvious from the figure.—When the turnips are to be transplanted, the workman holds the long handle with the left hand, and the short one with the right hand drawn up. Put the instrument then over the plant that is to be taken up, and with your foot force it into the ground; then give it a twist round, and by drawing it gently up, the earth will adhere to the roots of the plant in a solid body; then with another instrument of the same size take the earth out where the plant is to be put, and bringing the instrument with the plant in it, put it into the hole which has been made by the other; then keep your right hand steady, and draw up your left, and the earth and plant will be left in the hole with the roots undisturbed. In this operation two men will be employed, each of them having an instrument of the form represented on the margin. One man takes up a plant, while the other fills his instrument with earth only, thereby making room for the deposition of the plant; so that the hole which is made by taking up the plant is filled with the earth taken out where the plant is to be put; which being deposited, he takes up a plant, and returns to the place he first let out from, the former man at the same time returning with the earth only; so that each man is alternately the planter, and each being employed both ways, the work goes on briskly.—This instrument was the invention of Mr Cubbit Gray of Southrepps, Norfolk.

Turnips being the grand basis of the Norfolk husbandry, Mr Marshall gives a very particular account of their culture in that county.—The species cultivated are, 1. The common white flock, called in many places the Norfolk turnip. 2. The purple flock is similar to the former, but its rind is of a dark red or purple Norfolk colour; its size in general smaller, and its texture coarser and firmer than that of the common white flock; it also stands the winter better, and is more succulent in the spring; but it is not so well relished by cattle as the former, whence it is less generally cultivated. 3. The pudding-flock, the tankard-turnip of the midland counties, is in shape to perfectly different from the common sort, that it might be ranked as a distinct species. It rises in a cylindrical form, eight, ten, or twelve inches high, standing in a manner wholly above ground; generally taking a rough irregular outline, and a somewhat reclining posture. It very much resembles the common turnip, and is by much its most formidable rival. In many respects it seems to be superior, particularly in being readily drawn, and eaten off by sheep with much less waste than the common turnip.—The disadvantage is, that they are liable to the attacks of frosts, by reason of their standing so high above the surface of the ground; so that on the whole, Mr Marshall concludes, that the common white turnip is to be preferred to every other.

In Norfolk, turnips are sown upon every species of arable land. Marl is found to be highly beneficial; of using and, by means of this manure, a soil naturally unfit for turnips may be rendered proper for it. They succeed barley better than any other crop; some few are sown on wheat or pea stubble after harvest; but this is not a general practice. The manures in greatest reputation for turnips are dung, with a greater or smaller admixture Culture of admixture of mould; malt-combs are also in good repute, and oil-cake is used by a few individuals; "but it may be said that nine acres of ten of the turnips grown in east Norfolk are manured with muck."—The quantity of dung set on for a crop of turnips generally depends on the quantity on hand, and the quantity of turnip ground to be manured. From 10 to 15 cart loads of muck are considered as a good dressing; and about a ton of oil cake to three acres; 50 or 60 bushels of malt-combs, and 40 or 60 bushels of foot, to an acre.

When the turnips are intended for early consumption, the sooner they can be got into the ground the better; but when they are intended to stand the winter, the beginning of July is thought soon enough. The most general rule is to begin sowing about a week before midsummer, and continue till about a fortnight after, viz. from the 17th or 18th of June to the 7th or 8th of July.—Broad-east sowing is universal, in the quantity of two pints to an acre. The seed is covered by two lines of a pair of light harrows drawn backward, in order to prevent the tines, which usually point something forward, from tearing up the clods, and burying the seed too deep. The horses are universally walked one way, and trotted back again in the same place. This is an excellent custom; the quick zig-zag motion of the harrows at once afflicting to level the surface, and to distribute the seeds more evenly.—They are universally hoed; and unless they be sown very late, are generally hoed twice. The distance of time between the sowing and the first hoeing depends upon the soil and season: the size of the plants being the only guide. When turnips are suffered to grow too large before they are hoed, the plants are difficult to be set out singly, and are liable to be drawn up by weeds, thereby acquiring a flender upright tendency; whereas their natural growth in their infant state, is procumbent, spreading their first leaves on the ground, and taking the form of a rose.—If the hoe be put in too soon, the plants which are set out are liable to be buried, and their tender roots disturbed in the act of setting out the neighbouring plants. The time for hoeing, as directed by the most judicious husbandmen, is when the plants, as they lie spread upon the ground, are about the size of the palm of the hand: if, however, weed-seeds be numerous and luxuriant, they ought to be checked before the turnips arrive at that size, lest by being drawn up tall and slender they should acquire a weak and sickly habit. The proper distance depends upon the nature of the soil and the time of sowing; such as are sown early, in a rich productive soil, require to be set out wider than those sown late on a soil of a contrary nature. If the soil be at par, the distance ought to be regulated by the time of sowing: if this be at par, the nature or state of the soil should be the regulator.—Mr Marshall complains of the conduct of the Norfolk farmers in general in this respect, who "hack out their turnips, 14, 15, or perhaps 18 inches asunder, without any regard to the state of the soil, or time of sowing. This practice was established while the Norfolk soil was full of marl, and new to turnips; and when, it is probable, 11 or 12 inches in diameter was no uncommon size, with tops proportionally large and spreading; and 14 or 15 inches might then be a proper distance.

But now, when the efficacy of marl is lessened, and the soil no longer the favourite of turnips, which seldom reach more than seven or eight inches in diameter, it is ruinous and absurd to continue the practice."

Turnips are cultivated either for feed, for sale, or for consumption. When cultivated for feed, it is supposed in most parts of the kingdom that it ought always to be taken from transplanted roots; but in Norfolk they are frequently raised from such as are untransplanted. "It is a fact (says Mr Marshall) well understood by every husbandman here, that if the seed be of turnips gathered repeatedly from untransplanted roots, the for feed plants from this seed will become coarse-necked and foul-rooted; and the flesh of the root itself will become rigid and unpalatable. On the contrary, if it be gathered year after year from transplanted roots, the necks will become too fine, and the fibres too few; the entire plant acquiring a weak delicate habit, and the produce, though sweet, will be small. For the neck, or onset of the leaves, being reduced to the size of the finger (for instance,) the number and size of the leaves will be reduced in proportion; and in a similar proportion will the number and size of the fibrils be reduced. From a parity of reasoning, it may perhaps be inferred, that when the neck acquires a thickness equal to that of the wrist, the size of the root will be in proportion.

"With respect to the fibres or rootlings, this is a just inference; but with respect to the bulb, it is in a great measure erroneous. For a few generations the size of the bulb will keep pace with the increase of leaves and fibres; but after having once reached the limits which nature has set to its magnitude, it begins to revert to its original state of wildness, from which to its present state it has undoubtedly been raised by transplantation. The farmer has therefore two extremes to avoid. The one is discoverable by the thicknesses and coarseness of the neck, the scaly roughness of the bulb, the thickness of the rind in general, the foulness of its bottom, and the forkedness of its main or tap-root: the other by the slenderness of the neck, the fineness of the leaf, and the delicacy of the root. The former are unpalatable to cattle, and are therefore creative of waste: the latter are unproductive, are difficult to be drawn, and do not throw out such ample tops in the spring, as do those which are, by constitution or habit, in a middle state between these two extremes. There is not, however, any general rule respecting how many years turnips ought to be transplanted successively, and how often they ought to be sufferer to run up from the feed-bed: the soil and situation have, and other circumstances may have, influence on the habit and constitution of vegetables as of animals; and the farmer must attend alone to the state of the turnips themselves. Whenever he judges, that, by repeated transplantation, they have passed the name of perfection, then it is his duty and interest to let them run up to feed without transplantation. In Norfolk it has been found, by long experience, that transplanting two, three, or four years, and letting the plants run up the third, fourth, or fifth, will keep the stock in the desired state. The time of transplanting is from old Christmas to old Candlemas. In the choice of plants, the farmer is not guided by size, but picks the cleanest plants without regard to size; or more Culture of more accurately speaking, he makes choice of such particular 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." The 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 passed into the kitchen: in the most frequented part of this hung the pull. Whoever passed 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, forsook 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 swollen 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 soil from the roots, and with the same motion throw them into the cart. If the tops be cut off by the frost, or if this be in the ground, the turnips are raised with two-tined forks named crooms. 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 strips 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 soil until late in the spring; which upon some soils is an unfavourable objection; though 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 preserved 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 earted 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 soil is sufficiently improved by a crop or two with dung, it is fit for bearing carrots. Beware of dunging the year when the carrots are sown; for with fresh dung they seldom escape rotten scabs.

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

The ground must be prepared by the deepest furrow that can be taken, the sooner after harvest the better; immediately upon the back of which, a ribbing ought to succeed, as directed for barley. At the end of March, or beginning of April, which is the time of sowing the seed, the ground must be smoothed with a brake. Sow the seed in drills, with intervals of a foot for hand-hoeing; which is 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 1609, it appears, that carrots were commonly cultivated at that time about Orford in Suffolk, and Norwich in Norfolk; Culture of particular Plants.

Mr McIlhish of Blyth, a general valuation of horses, cows, and hogs, L1 0 0 Mr Stovin of Doneafield, hogs bought lean, fatted, and fold off, 4 0 0 Mr Moody of Ratford, oxen fattened, and the account accurate, 1 0 0 Mr Taylor of Bifrons, saving of hay and corn in feeding horses, 1 0 0 Mr Le Grand of Ash, fattening wethers, Sir John Hoby Mill of Bisham, fattening hogs, Mr Billingfley, for fattening hogs,

Per Ton.

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, to 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 11. 6s. and Mr Stovin 4l.; 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 fester 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 cafe 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 that 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 2l. 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 allow 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, than 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, eat and pack up, 10 tons of carrots, I know may be done for £20s.—An acre therefore (other expenses included) costs £1. Fifty pounds weight of carrots are an ample allowance for a horse a day: ten tons, at that rate, last three horses for five months. But this £1 laid out in oats at 10s. 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 ate varied extensively 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 457 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 £1l. 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 cleanest in the parish; which contradicts an assertion our author had heard, that carrots make land foul. The grasses 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, flax, rhinanthus, eritha galii, and linum catharticum, with other plants of little value, it encouraged a very beautiful fleecy 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 £1l. 8s.; of the latter, only £1l. 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. 322, 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 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 deaderatum was a substitute for oats to feed horses; of which great numbers are kept in his county (Essex). 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 thack of the barn door in threshing oatmeal, &c. In the 5th volume he returns 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, lenible (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 trials, they are computed to exceed turnips in value one-third, as to quantity of food: but are far superior in oats, 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. 15s. 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 watching, 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... Culture of pressing upon the public attention the importance and utility of this root, mentions an 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 pounds of butter, a 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 fill 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 expenses, 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 freshly 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; 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 thrive with great freedom, and very much accelerate the growth of the trees.

4. Parsnips.

Parsnips have never in this country received from husbandmen that attention to which they are well entitled, from the ease 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 culture of rye to injure them. Neither the seeds nor young particular 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 a rich deep loam, and next to this sand. They will thrive well in a black gritty soil, but not in stone, bed of cul- brith, 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-hoe'd; and they will be more luxuriant if they undergo a second hoeing, and are carefully earthered, 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 depolished, 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 plant 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 the 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 particular 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 incontrovertibly 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 polishes, 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 near 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 proceeded to state, that, in the island of Jersey, parsnips are not cultivated alone, but along with beans, among which last peas are sometimes mixed. There are three modes of cultivation: 1st, With the spade; 2d, With the plough and spade; and, 3d, 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 slight 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 fifteen 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 gardener's rake at 4½ 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 broadcast 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 float 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 20 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 washed 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 parsnip, Rouen measure, and 30 cabots or half buffels of beans, and three cabots and a half of peas; 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 peas or beans along with them had a crop of 14,765lb. weight Rouen measure per vergee." The vergee is 40 perchles 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 flock; 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 surplus 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 stock 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 grafts to get into a forward growth, nor for the superior quality of these turnips in fattening his flock: 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 feed 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 graft 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 15s. per acre."

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

To raise the turnip-rooted cabbage for transplanting, To raise the best method yet discovered is, to breast-plough and turnip root-burn as much old pasture as may be judged necessary for the seed-bed; two perches well stocked with plants for transplanting 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 midsummer (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-bout 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 lying 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 compared them with plenty of grafts for all his stock. To make an estimation of the quantity of food yielded by the turnip-rooted cabbage and the common turnip, he selected some of each kind, and having girted common them with as much accuracy as possible, he found, that turnip. Culture of a turnip-rooted cabbage of 18 inches in circumference particular weighed 54 lb. and a common turnip of the same size plants 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 bushy. 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 instance of their excellency above almost any 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 heads 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 farmer'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 1783 without the least injury, though it destroyed three-fourths of all the common turnips in the neighborhood. 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 ensure them a full provision for the 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 Beevor 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 nutritive 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 stone brook, inclining to sand, not worth more than 10s. 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 effects, 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 flung up sheep fed 200 ewes with their lambs upon a piece of poor pasture land of no great extent; the whole not exceeding ten acres. 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 experiments 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 Culture of the rows. They were kept very clean, and the earth was hoed up to the roots of the plants; by which means they were probably prevented from attaining the hardiness 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 broadcast. 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 | 92 | | Turnip-rooted cabbage | 88 | | Carrots | 95 | | Root of scarcity | 77 |

The turnip-rooted cabbage was planted in lines 20 inches apart; the common turnips sown broad-cast, and hand-weeded, so that they came up very thick, being not more than three or four inches apart 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. J. Anderson* 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, particular had not the quantity I had left for that purpose been exhausted, and a few only left for feed.

"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 year; 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 crops after they fail. The profitable method of confining 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 observations: on fenny 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 seed-talks 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 can..." Culture of can be no doubt, that if ever it could be necessary, it might, even now, be employed very properly as a feeding for cattle.

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 the 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 wishes 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 sown early, from the 17th of May to the 15th 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 2lbs. per acre, on good 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-grafts 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 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 frost set in; but the roots were not the least affected, though the common turnips in the same field were totally destroyed. Passengers passing through the field, cut holes in them, which did not let the frost injure them; nor were those hurt which were damaged by cattle biting them. Some came to the weight of 16lbs. and Mr Daiken thinks the average of the crop 8lbs. 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 tap-root, to wash 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 rest. They have a strong effect upon making the coats fine, and one or two affected by the gout, 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 Hastings, 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 seed though sown even so 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 seed. 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 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 horticulture. It is easily raised, is subject to few diseases, resists frost 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-hoing, it is a more complete dressing to the soil, and it lays earth neatly round every plant.

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

If weeds happen to rise 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 ribbed as directed for barley. It ought to have a flight 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 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 Quantity have been raised upon an acre of ground not worth raising on an acre, &c. 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 4th 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 11. 14s. td. only four ounces of seed 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 attributes the partial failure, or at least inferiority of one part of his ground on the crop just mentioned, the young plants not being removed till near midsummer, and then in so dry a time, that they were almost scorched up.

In the Farmer's Magazine, vol. ii. p. 217, we have 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; insisting 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 save 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, 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 foster no other variety of the bracteata 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 20 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 assist 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 so 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 (Beta vulgaris), 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, hares, 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 there is time for the roots of the young plants to fix themselves before the sharp frosts set in. It is scarcely 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, reed-barrow, 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 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 clove 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 seeds from a foul hay rick; by which means, besides filling the land with rubbish and weeds, what they intend for dry soils may have come from moor, where it grew naturally, and vice versa. The consequence is, that the ground, instead of being covered with a good thick sward, 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 attend 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 too 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 upon 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 poach 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, six, 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, bulrushes, 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 bulrushes 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 grafs than when the ground lies in hills; and will also cause the turf thicken, so as to have what people usually term a good bottom. The grafs 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 cart 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 grafs. When the manure is laid on at this season, the rains in winter will wash it down, so that the following spring the grafs 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 grafs, and destroy it; and it will be very difficult to root them out after they have gotten such possession, especially ragwort, and such other weeds as have down adhering to their seeds.

The grafs 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 grafs, though the upland will continue a fine sweet grafs 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 grafs 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-grafts mixed with trefoil; but as all these are at most but biennial plants, whose roots decay soon after their seeds are perfected, so 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 grafs, in such a manner as that the sward shall be as good, if not better, than any natural grafs, and of as long duration. But this is never culture of to be expected in the common method of sowing a crop of corn with the grafs seeds; for, whenever this has been practised, if the corn has succeeded well, the grafs has been very poor and weak; so that if the land has not been very good, the grafs 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 grafs 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 grafs. Therefore the grafs must be thin; and if the land is not in good heart, to supply the grafs 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 grafs, How to sow there should be no crop of any kind sown with the upland pasture; 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 grafs, and if they are not pulled up will entirely spoil it. The best season to sow the grafs 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 grafs 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 frost has often loosened the ground so much as to let in the air to the roots of the grafs, and done it great damage; and this has been brought as an objection to the autumnal sowing of grafs; but it will be found to have no weight if the above direction is practised; nor is there any hazard of sowing the grafs at this season, but that of dry weather after the seeds are sown; for if the grafs 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 grafs 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... to great advantage in most forts 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 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 evocative 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's 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 is easy to classify them according to their 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 tristis varieties of grasses, whose leaves are as green and succulent lasting to when the seeds are ripe and the flower-stalks fading, as Nat. Hist., &c.

"It is wonderful," Mr Stillingfleet remarks, "to see culpable how long mankind have neglected to make a proper negligence advantage of plants of such importance, and which, in farmers almost every country, are the chief food of cattle."

The farmer, for want of distinguishing and selecting kinds of grasses for feed, fills his pastures either with weeds or grasses, bad or improper grasses; when, by making a right choice, after some trials, he might be sure of the best grasses, and in the greatest abundance that his land admits of. At present, if a farmer wants to lay down his land to grass, what does he do? he either takes Culture of his seeds indiscriminately from his own foul hay raek, 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 seeds, 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 grafts except the darnel-grafts, and what is known in some few counties by the name of the Suffolk-grafts; 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 grafts seeds, 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 seeds separately over the nation, by supplying the seed shops. The number of grafts 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, pease, 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 grafts? Does it not import the farmer to have good hay and grafts 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 grafts, 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 grafts commonly sown for pasture, for hay, or to cut green for cattle, are red clover, white clover, yellow clover, rye-grafts, narrow-leaved plantane, commonly called ribwort, fainfoil, 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 feisty, it proves, like a bad crop of pease, a great encourager of weeds, by the shelter it affords them.

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

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

To have red clover in perfection, weeds must be extirpated, and stones taken off. The mould ought to be made as fine as harrowing can make it; and the surface be smoothed with a light roller, if not sufficiently smooth without it. This gives opportunity for distributing the feed evenly; which must be covered Culture of by a small harrow with teeth no larger than those of a garden rake, three inches long, and fix inches a-funder*. In harrowing, the man should walk behind 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 feed, and displace it.

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

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

There cannot be a greater blunder in husbandry than to be sparing of seed. Ideal writers talk of sowing an acre with four pounds. That quantity of seed, say they, will fill an acre with plants as thick as they ought to stand. This rule may be admitted where grain is the object; but it will not answer with respect to grafts. Grafts seeds cannot be sown too thick: the plants shelter one another; they retain all the dew; and they must push upward, having no room laterally. Observe the place where a lack of pease, or of other grain, has been set down for sowing: the seed 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 fainfoil, 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 stem be, the more acceptable it is to cattle. It is often too thin; and when so, the stems tend to wood.

Grain may be sown more safely with red clover than with almost any other graft; and the most clover with proper grain has been found to be flax. The soil must be highly cultivated for flax as well as for red clover. The proper season of sowing is the same for both; the leaves of flax being very small, admit of free circulation of air; and flax being an early crop, is removed so early as to give the clover time for growing. In a rich soil it has grown so fast, as to afford a good cutting that very year. Next to flax, barley is the best companion to clover. The soil must be loose and free for barley; and so it ought to be for clover: the season of sowing is the same; and the clover is well established in the ground before it is overtopped by the barley. At the same time, barley commonly is sooner cut than either oats or wheat. In a word, barley is rather a nurse than a stepmother to clover during its infancy. When clover is sown in spring upon wheat, the soil which has lain five or six months without being stirred, is an improper bed for it; and the wheat, being in the vigour of growth, overtops Culture of overtops it from the beginning. It cannot be fown along with oats, because of the hazard of frost; and when fown 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 fown upon the winter furrow, the soil is rendered as hard as when under wheat.—Red clover is sometimes fown by itself without other grain: but this method, beside losing a crop, is not salutary; because clover in its infant state requires shelter.

As to the quantity of grain proper to be fown 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 firlots make the proper quantity for an acre that produces commonly six bolls of barley; half a firlot for what produces nine bolls. 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 25 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-grafs, is the same in general with that of red clover. We proceed to their peculiarities. Yellow clover, ribwort, rye-grafs, 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-grafs is 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 grasses are generally fown with red clover for producing a plentiful crop. The proportion of feed is arbitrary; and there is little danger of too much. When rye-grafs is fown for procuring feed, five firlots wheat measure may be fown on an acre; and for procuring feed of ribwort, 40 pounds may be fown. The roots of rye-grafs 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-grafs, once a great favourite, appears to be discarded in many parts of Britain. The common practice has been, to fown 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 seed of the rye-grafs 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-grafs, 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 feed 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 feed 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 sheet. 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 feed 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 flail is applied.

White clover, intended for feed, is managed in the same manner. No plant ought to be mixed with rye-grafs that is intended for feed. In Scotland, much rye-graf's feed 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-grafs for feed, 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 clove binding and putting the sheaves in shocks like corn. The worst way of all is to spread the rye-grafs on the moist ground, for it makes the feed melter. The sheaves, when sufficiently dry, are carried in clove 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 so on till the whole feed be threshed, and the straw ricked. There is necessity for clove 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 feeds 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 feed.

The writers on agriculture reckon fainfain prefer-able 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.

Fainfain 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 grafs, Culture of when it thrives well, receives a great part of its nourishment from below the flaps of the soil; of course, a deep dry soil is best for the culture of fainfain. 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 fainfain vigorous, it is necessary that they be sown thin. The best method of doing this is by a drill; because, when sown in this manner, not only the weeds, but also the supernumerary plants, can easily be removed. It is several years before fainfain 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 sown in such a manner as to make it easy to take up plants in such numbers, and in such order, as always to leave in the field the proper number in their proper places. This can only be done, with propriety, by sowing the plants in rows by a drill. Supposing a field to be 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 five rows in each, and intervals of thirty inches, which may be ploughed. Next year, another fourth of the rows may be taken out in the same manner, so as to leave double rows, with partitions of ten inches, and intervals of thirty: All of which may be hoed at once or alternately, as it may be found most convenient.

The great quantity of this grass which the writers on this subject assure us may be raised upon an acre, and the excellence 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 fainfain 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 Chateauvieux, the trouble and expense will be sufficiently recompensed by the largeness of the crops. In transplanting, it is necessary to cut off great part of the long tap-root: this will prevent it from striking very deep into the soil, and make it push out large roots in a flopping direction, from the cut end of the tap-root. Fainfain 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, Culture of 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.

Sainfain is much cultivated in those parts where the soil is of a chalky kind. It will always succeed well where the roots run deep; the worst soil of all for fainfain, is where there is a bed of cold wet clay, which the England, 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 fainfain; although land that is both dry and rich will always produce the largest crops.

It is very commonly sown 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 sown. 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 sown 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 hulls being of a bright colour, the kernel plump, of a gray or bluish colour without, and if cut across, greenish and fresh within; if it be thin and furrowed, 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 too 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 sown, 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 manure ashes as a top-dressing will be of great service, if laid on the first winter. If the fainfoin 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 season. But if it proves a wet season, 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. Sainfoin 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 season 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 seeded sainfoin is, when the greatest part of the feed is well filled, the first blown ripe, and the last blown beginning to open. For want of this care some people have lost most of their feed by letting it stand till too ripe. Seeded sainfoin 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 seed 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 sainfoin 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 (sainfoin), and its ripening earlier, and continuing in vigour so much longer, much risk and certain expense are avoided, and a larger 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 frosts. 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 grasses, 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 throws 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 a-furlong, 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 a-furlong, 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 feed 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 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 Maidstone, 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-east; 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 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 frost never injures this plant; and the oftener it is fed the thicker 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 moit, 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. Moity 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 down-grass, fescue; 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 blossoms 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 feeds 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 chaffy awns, which adhere to the seeds, 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 fleecy'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-stems will look brown; Culture of brown; which is the case of all grasses which are not fed on by a 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 seeds from. It flowers in June, and is ripe in July.

*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 in 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 grounds. It retains its seed till full ripe; flowers the latter end of July, and is ripe the latter end of August.

*Aira flexuosa*, Mountain Hair.

*Carex prairea*, 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 *Plantae Escolentiae*, 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 seeds." 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 seeds have hitherto been neglected, since they are so easily collected and cleaned." 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 seeds*.

Linnaeus (*Flor. Suec. art. 95.*) says that the bran of this grass will cure horses troubled with botflies, 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 Rutcomb, 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 fugitivum longiflorum*, 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 from 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.

Vol. I. Part II.

*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 many foxtail 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.

*Poa annua*, Annual Meadow Grass. "This Annual grass (says Mr Stillingfleet) makes the finest of turfs, meadow grass. It grows everywhere by way sides, and on rich found 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 salt butter we have in London comes from that country, 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 afford 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 on 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 so 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 cornuta-Agrostis copia*), was some time ago much advertised and extolled, cornucopiae 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 up-*Bee, vol. i. on trial been found to be good for nothing. Of the p. 38. 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 salad. 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 sidewise, 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 colds and frosts cannot injure it. The quickness of its growth, above all, renders it most valuable, because it furnishes an abundance of salutary 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. | Green produce. | |-----------------|---------------| | | Tons. cwt. | | Cut July 24, | - | | October 17, | - | | Produce of the year of sowing, | 19 4 |

| 1789. Cut May 21, | - | | July 24, | - | | December 3, | - | | Produce of the second year, | 38 9 |

| 1790. Cut June 8, | - | | August 15, | - | | Produce of the third year, | 38 4 |

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.

"Tall oat-grass."

"Yellow oat-grass."

"Rough oat-grass."

"Upright broom-grass."

"Blue dogs-tail."

"Cynoglossus caruleus, 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 sheep's fescue grass, on which such encomiums have, most unjustly, been lavished.

"Dactylis glomerata, rough cock's-foot grass; a rough, coarse grass, but extremely hardy and productive; cock's-foot grass.

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

"Festuca duriflora, hard fescue grass; affects such situations as the smooth-felted meadow grass; is early, hardy, and tolerably productive; its foliage is fine, and of a grass.

"Pleum pratense, meadow cats-tail grass; affects meadow wet situations; is very productive, but coarse and late," cat's-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 forts making experiments of feed: they may then be sown on one spot; but if such a piece cannot be obtained, they must be sown on separate spots according to their respective qualities, no matter whether in a garden, a nursery, or in 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-felted 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..." 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-grafs 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-east 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 shops, 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, watering of 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 assumed 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 Welladvice, 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 water-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 grasses rise. By watering we have plenty of grass in the beginning of March, and even earlier when the leaf 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 stopped and stinted 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 stock 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 advantage 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 after-math is always worth twenty shillings; and nearly the same quantity is constantly obtained whether the farmer 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; the herbage, if coarse at first, becomes finer; the soil, proves by watering, if swampy, becomes sound; the depth of its mould is augmented, and its quality meliorated every year.

"To these advantages (says Mr Bofwell 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 adduces 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 six acres and a half. The spring feed was let for seven guineas, and supported near 200 sheep from the 1st of March till the beginning of May; the hay being sold for 30 guineas, and the after-math for six. 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 though 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 300 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 fearceness 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 2000 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 100,000l. 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 300 acres now watered; and it may be easily proved that the proprietors of the land reap from thence 100l. 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 rushy 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 improvements by watering will be very great, and the expenses moderate. On level lands the water runs but slowly, which is also the case with the 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 polluted 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 found warm firm soil, 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 rushy 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 scarce 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 strong, 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 raising wares across them will not be great; nor are they liable to the other objections which attend the use of large rivers. 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 arising out of a chalky or 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 ate 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 foam 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 professed 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 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 purposes 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 larger 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 carries. 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 unsound 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 rotten; 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. Where 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 vents may be given to the superfluous water, and yet enough retained for the purpose of watering the meadows. Culture of this case, they are called flood-hatches; but Mr Bofwell entirely disapproves of this construction, and recommends them to be made entire, though they should be very heavy, and require the affluence of a lever to raise them up. For when the water is very high, and the hatches are suddenly drawn up, the water falls with great force upon the bed of the ware, and in time greatly injures it; but when the whole hatch is drawn up a little way, the water runs off at the bottom, and does no injury.

8. A Head Main, is a ditch drawn from the river, rivulet, &c., to convey the water out of its usual current, to water the lands laid out for that purpose, by means of lesser mains and trenches. The head-main is made of various dimensions, according to the quantity of land to be watered, the length or descent of it, &c. Smaller mains are frequently taken out of the head one; and the only difference is in point of size, the secondary mains being much smaller than the other. They are generally cut at right angles, or nearly so, with the other, though not invariably. The use of the mains, whether great or small, is to feed the trenches with water, which branch out into all parts of the meadow, and convey the water to float the land. By some, these smaller mains are improperly called carriages.

9. A Trench is a small ditch made to convey the water out of the mains for the immediate purpose of watering the land. It ought always to be drawn in a straight line from angle to angle, with as few turnings as possible. It is never deep, but the width is in proportion to the length it runs, and the breadth of the plane between that and the trench-drain. The breadth tapers gradually to the lower end.

10. A Trench Drain is always cut parallel to the trench, and as deep as the tail-drain water will admit when necessary. It ought always, if possible, to be cut down to a stratum of sand, gravel, or clay. If into the latter, a spade's depth into it will be of great advantage. The use of it is to carry away the water immediately after it has run over the panes from the trench. It need not be drawn up to the head of the land by five, six, or more yards, according to the nature of the soil. Its form is directly the reverse of the trench; being narrower at the head, and growing gradually wider and wider until it empties itself into the tail-drain.

11. The Tail-Drain is designed as a receptacle for all the water that flows out of the other drains, which are so situated that they cannot empty themselves into the river. It should run, therefore, nearly at right angles with the trenches, though generally it is thought most eligible to draw it in the lowest part of the ground, and to use it to convey the water out of the meadows at the place where there is the greatest descent; which is usually in one of the fence-ditches; and hence a fence-ditch is usually made use of instead of a tail-drain, and answers the double purpose of fencing a meadow, and draining it at the same time.

12. A Pane of ground is that part of the meadow which lies between the trench and the trench drain; and in which the grass grows for hay. It is watered by the trenches, and drained by the trench-drains; whence there is a pane on each side of every trench.

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 greenward 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 cornfields 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 affluence of gutters to convey the water to the longest side. They are likewise useful, when the land has not been so well levelled, and 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 stop 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 ground 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 Bofwell 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 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 wares 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. Bowdell 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, on purpose for the work; having a stem 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 stem 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 stems being culture of made crooked, the workmen standing in the trench or drains, are enabled to make the bottom quite smooth and even.

4. Wheel and Hand-barrows. The former are used for removing the elods 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-barrows, and when elods 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 depends 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 smaller; 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 it 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 left there 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 Botswell, cut a deep wide niche as 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 of 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 master-drain with such rapidity as to keep the whole fleet of water in constant motion; and if possible not to fuller a drop to stagnate upon the whole meadow. "For a stagnation (says he), though it is recommended by a 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, soaks 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 five 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 first edition of his work. 1. That the Gloucestershire 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 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 systematic 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 of 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 watermen being always provided with a strong pair of water-proof 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 Bofield, 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 fulds and richens, 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 walking 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 fulds than when the same premises have been repeatedly walked." 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 freed clean and in order, before these 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 unusual 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 raise 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, in face of I think, is an incontrovertible 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 Wimpsey quotes, from the Annals of Agriculture, the following words of Mr Wimpsey: "As to the forts of the water, 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 sine qua non of vegetation as well as animal life. Different plants require different proportions of each to live and flourish; but none 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 fulds, but wash the manure in sufficiency 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 far is superior to that which immediately flows from the spring, and more especially that which is feculent and muddy, con- Culture of fitting 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 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 limpid, 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 may 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; or small ware to divert and convey them over the lands. If the situation of the land happen to be on land the side 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 convertible, yet it would be found a beneficial exchangeable to convert it into pasture; particularly if pasture-land into 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 sward it may be laid out. In the lowest part of the ground draw a deep ditch for the current to run in 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 allant 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 puts 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 strenuously 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 expenses of con- 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 severity of frothy nights. It is necessary, however, 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 pasture 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 including 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 fine 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 treat it only one week on the month 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 any 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 unsafe for the pasturage of sheep. Of this I was occasion 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 luxuriance 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 insect called the fluke or weevil: the other ewes were sold to a butcher, and all proved unsound. 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 well's capable of being watered, lie generally only on one 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 that 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 clover 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 grafts 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 Bofwell 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 sand, 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 sedge. Chalk and ashes had been thrown over it to very little purpose. It was then drained underground all along all the different descents, 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 Bofwell also informs us, that a gentleman in Scotland had applied to him for directions to water on the sides of 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 north 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 pan 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 faward. 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-up 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: dress 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 fartheft, 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 rot the faward. 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, dress it down again, and gather it up a second time if necessary; and with a spade 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 dows after be necessary to examine whether or not the mains have watering 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 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 times to remove obstructions, &c. If the drains should be filled with water and run over, they ought to be made twice upon deeper; or if this cannot be done, they should be widened down. 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, lessening 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 scythe 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 ever so pure, will leave a certain quantity of adherent silt 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 Ofwater-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 effectual 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 grassy edges, &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 effectual service. On the contrary, cold strong clay land will bear a great deal of water a long time without injury; and boggy, cory, or spiny 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, without forcing back upon the end of the panes. The weight and force of the water vastly affects in compounding 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 to 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 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-fluice 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, animalcula like plaice are found in the livers. Scarcely any ever recover from a flight 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 scum will settle upon the grafts, of the consistence 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 scum easily be got off.

Water ought not to be kept too long upon meadows.

Advantages of rolling meadows.

"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 so completely to ameliorate the poorer 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 inquired 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, explaining "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 ($g_1, g_2, g_3, g_4$), 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 ($d_1, d_2, d_3, d_4$), which drains discharge it into the main drain, whereby it is returned into its natural channel at the foot of the meadow.

"The marks ($\circ$, $\triangle$, or $\Delta$), and the tufts, in the main-feeder and the floating-gutters, denote—The first obstructions (made by small stakes, or rods, 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 5. present a view of the ridges cut across with the feeding-gutter ($g$) upon their crown, and the furrows, or discharging drains ($d_1, d_2$) 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 grafts fields, preserving 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 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 (II) 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, along 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 sods 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 afflided 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 the crops 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 Culmiferous plants, is occasionally mentioned above. With regard to leguminous plants, the present subject, a closer inspection is necessary. Culmiferous plants, having small leaves and few in number, depend mostly on the soil for nourishment and little on the air. During the ripening of the seed, they draw probably their whole nourishment from the soil; as the leaves by this time, being dry and withered, must have lost their power of drawing nourishment from the air. Now, as culmiferous plants are chiefly cultivated for their seed, and are not cut down till the feed. Rotation of seed be fully ripe, they may be pronounced all of them crops to be robbers, some more tame lefs. 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-grais, is not a robber, provided it be cut before the feed is formed; which at any rate it ought to be, if one would have hay in perfection. And the foliage, excluding the frost 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 foil. 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 foil. 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 lefs remarkably by the following circumstance. All the seeds of a culmiferous plant ripen at the same time. As soon as they begin to form, the plant becomes stationary, the leaves wither, the roots cease to push, and the plant, when cut down, is blanched and fapleds. The seeds of a leguminous plant are formed successively: flowers and fruit appear at the same time in different parts of the plant. This plant accordingly is continually growing and pushing its roots. Hence the value of bean or 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 foil, between a culmiferous and a 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 unctuous.

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 lefs 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 foil, 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 foil. Potato-roots grow fix, eight, or ten inches under the surface; and, by their size and number, they divide and pulverize the foil better than can be done by the plough; consequently, whatever be the natural colour of the foil, it is black when a potato-crop is taken up. The potato, however, with respect to its quality of dividing the foil, 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 lefs 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 seed, and probably draws more nourishment from the soil than the latter, when cut green. On the other hand, potatoes divide the soil more than turnip, and leave it more loose and friable. It appears no lefs 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 lefs: they at the same time bind the soil; some more, some lefs. 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 profitable or proper 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 on, 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 peas, light soil for turnip, sandy soil for rye and buckwheat; and that oats thrive better in coarser 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 ground looser 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 seed. The same species returning every second or third year, will infallibly degenerate, and be a scanty crop. This is remarkably the case of red clover. Nor will our fields bear pleasantly perpetual crops of wheat after fallow, which is the practice of some English farmers.

Hitherto of rotation in the same field. We add one rule concerning rotation in different fields; which is, to avoid crowding crops one after another in point of time; but to 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 exceptional rotations will not be thought amiss. Rotation of crops without end may be obtained in a tolerable good soil, without any manure but what is produced in the farm.

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 rotationally pastured. Dung is given to the wheat and turnip.—Against this rotation several objections lie. Barley after wheat is improper. The two crops of barley are too near together. The second crop of clover must be very bad, if pasturing be the best way of consuming it; and if bad, it is a great encourager of weeds. But the strongest objection is, that red clover repeated so frequently in the same field cannot fail to degenerate; and of this the Norfolk farmers begin to be sensible. Salton in East Lothian is a clay soil, and the rotation there usually has been wheat after fallow and dung. Second, barley after two ploughings; the one before winter, the other immediately before the feed is sown. Third, oats. Fourth, pease. Fifth, barley. Sixth, oats; and then fallow. This rotation confines 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 Athelstoneford, 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, barley, 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, 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, maintains 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 seeds. Seduced by a chimerical notion, that a field, by frequent corn crops, is fatigued, and requires rest like a labouring man or animal, careful farmers give long rest to their fields by pasture, never adverting that it affords little profit. It ought to be their study, to improve their soil, by making it free, and also retentive of moisture. If they accomplish these ends, they need not be afraid of exhausting the soil by cropping.

Where a farmer has access to no manure but what is his own production, the case under consideration, there are various rotations of crops, all of them good, though perhaps not equally so. We shall begin with two examples, one in clay and one in free soil, each of the farms 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 65 acres.

**Rotation in a clay soil.**

| Year | 1795 | 1796 | 1797 | 1798 | 1799 | 1800 | |------|------|------|------|------|------|------| | 1 | Fallow | Wheat | Pease | Barley | Hay | Oats | | 2 | Wheat | Pease | Barley | Hay | Oats | Fallow | | 3 | Pease | Barley | Hay | Oats | Fallow | Wheat | | 4 | Barley | Hay | Oats | Fallow | Wheat | Pease | | 5 | Hay | Oats | Fallow | Wheat | Pease | Barley | | 6 | Oats | Fallow | Wheat | Pease | Barley | Hay | | 7 | Pasture | Pasture | Pasture | Pasture | Pasture | Pasture |

When the rotation is completed, the seventh inclosure, having been five years in pasture, is ready to be taken up for a rotation of crops, which begins with oats in the year 1801, and proceeds as in the fifth 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 | 1795 | 1796 | 1797 | 1798 | 1799 | 1800 | |------|------|------|------|------|------|------| | 1 | Turnip | Barley | Hay | Oats | Fallow | Wheat | | 2 | Barley | Hay | Oats | Fallow | Wheat | Turnip | | 3 | Hay | Oats | Fallow | Wheat | Turnip | Barley | | 4 | Oats | Fallow | Wheat | Turnip | Barley | Hay | | 5 | Fallow | Wheat | Turnip | Barley | Hay | Oats | | 6 | Wheat | Turnip | Barley | Hay | Oats | Fallow | | 7 | Pasture | Pasture | Pasture | Pasture | Pasture | Pasture |

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 seeds 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 calcareous clay. The farm we propose consists of 73 acres. Nine acre 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 | 1795 | 1796 | 1797 | 1798 | |-----------|------|------|------|------| | 1 | Beans | Barley | Hay | Oats | | 2 | Barley | Hay | Oats | Beans | | 3 | Hay | Oats | Beans | Barley | | 4 | Oats | Beans | Barley | Hay |

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, peas, 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. 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 peas. In strong clay soil, the following rotation answers:

1. Wheat after fallow and dung. 2. Beans sown under furrow as early as possible. Above the beans, sow peas end of March, half a boll per acre, and harrow them in. The two grains will ripen at the same time. 3. Oats or barley on a winter furrow with grass-seeds. 4. Hay for one year or two; the second growth pastured. Lay what dung can be spared on the hay-rubbish, and sow wheat with a single furrow. 5. Wheat. 6. Beans or peas. 7. 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 produce is 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. land, but at too great a distance from the river. Grasfs up Corn and Hay.

Reaping 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; let 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; affections 5s. 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 3 to 5 quarters | | Potatoes | - | 68 from 60 to 100 packs | | 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 marl-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 packs per acre off most of his potato-land; and sold them from 8s. to 12s. per pack 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 last, it is contrary to nature, that any seed 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 husk 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 shaking, no caveat is more so. Why do they not consider, that corn standing dries in half a day; when, in a close sheaf, the weather must be favourable if it dry in a month? in moist weather it will never dry.

With respect to the manner of cutting, we must premise, that barley is of all the most difficult grain to be cutting, dried for keeping. Having no husk, rain has an easy access; and it has a tendency to malter 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 peas together for compoing a sheaf, they wet as and storing 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 peas and beans are ready for the stack in half the ordinary time.

A sheaf commonly is made as large as can be contained in two lengths of the corn made into a rope. To save frequent tying, the binder presses it down with his knee, and binds it so hard as totally to exclude the air. If there be any moisture in the crop, which seldom fails, a process of fermentation and putrefaction commences in the sheaf; which is perfected in the stack, to the destruction both of corn and straw. How stupid is it, to make the size of a sheaf depend on the height of the plants! By that rule, a wheat sheaf is commonly too weighty, as to be unmanageable by ordinary arms: it requires an effort to move it that frequently bursts the knot, and occasions loss of grain, beside the trouble of a second tying. Sheaves ought never to be larger than can be contained in one length of the plant, cut close to the ground; without admitting any exception, if the plants be above 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 reflect the force of the wind. Five sheaves on each side make a sufficient stack; and a greater number cannot be covered with two head-sheaves.

Every article is of importance that hastens the operation in a country, like Scotland, subjected to unequal 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. Wagons 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 exceeding dry, if it contract not a mustiness, 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 eading. Connect these two with ropes in an up-and-down position, distant from each other at the eading 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 these 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 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-grafts and yellow clover ought to be spread as cut. A day or two after, when the dew is evaporated, rake it into a number of parallel rows along the field, termed wind-rows, for the convenience of putting it up into small cocks. After turning the rows once 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 50 yards or so, the rest of the cocks will be more expeditiously carried to the rick, by a rope wound about them and dragged by a horse. Two ropes are sufficient to secure the ricks from wind the short time they are to stand in the field. In the year 1775, 10,000 ricks were put into tramp-ricks the fourth day after cutting. In a country so wet as many parts of Scotland are, expedition is of mighty consequence in the drying both of hay and corn. With respect to hay intended for horned cattle, it is by the generality held an improvement, that it be heated a little in the stack. But we violently suspect this doctrine to have been invented for excusing indolent management. An ox, it is true, will eat such hay; but it will always be found that he prefers sweet hay; and it cannot well be doubted, but that such hay is the most salutary and the most nourishing.

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

When the season is too variable for making hay of the second growth, mix straw with that growth, which will be a substantial food for cattle during winter. This is commonly done by laying strata of the straw and clover alternately in the stack. But by this method, the strata of clover, if they do not heat, turn mouldy at least, and unpalatable. The better way is, to mix them carefully with the hand before they be put into the stack. The dry straw imbibes the 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 slight 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 and Storing 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 (1); 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, since 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 slight shower after it is cut, and before it is gathered; the generality of farmers seeming to be very well satisfied if they get in their hay without being absolutely rotted, never paying the least attention to its having been several times wetted while the hay was making. But, if these gentlemen will take the trouble at any time to compare any parcel of hay that has been made perfectly dry, with another parcel from the same field that has received a shower while in the swath, or even a copious dew, they will soon be sensible of a very manifest difference between them; nor will their horses or cattle ever commit a mistake in choosing between the two.

Let it be particularly remarked, that in this manner of making hay, great care must be taken that it be caution re-dry when first put into the cocks; for if it is in the slightest degree wet at the 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

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(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 to take two long ricks of a sufficient strength, 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 ricks, 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 grass will dry sooner than that which has been cut when wet; and therefore, the gatherers may always begin to put up that which is fresh cut before the other; which will usually require two or three hours to dry after the new-cut hay may be cocked. And if, at any time, in case of necessity, you should be obliged to cut your hay before it is dry, the same rule must be observed always to allow it to remain in the swath till it is quite dry; but, as there is always a great risk of being long in getting it up, and as it never in this case wins (k) 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 works, 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 the cocks a little to admit some fresh air into them; in which case, if 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 bale 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 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 ought to be an oblong square, if the quantity be greater than to be easily flowed in a round stack; because a smaller surface is exposed to the air than in a number of round stacks. For the same reason, a stack of pease ought to have the same form, the straw being more valuable than that of oats, wheat, or barley. The moment a stack is finished it ought to be covered; because the surface hay is much damaged by withering in dry weather, and moistening in wet weather. Let it have a pavilion roof; for more of it can be covered with straw in that shape, than when built perpendicular at the ends. Let it be roped as directed above for corn-stacks; with this difference only, that in an oblong square the ropes must be thrown over the top, and tied to the belt-rope below. This belt-rope ought to be fixed with pins to the stalk: the reason is, that the ropes thrown over the stack will hang by the sinking of the stack, and may be drawn tight by lowering the belt-rope, and fixing it in its new position with the same pins.

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

**Sect. VII. Manures.**

"The use of manures (says M. Parmentier*), has been known in all ages; but we are yet far from having any clear and precise ideas of the nature of the juices which are destined for the nourishment of vegetables, 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 their works, were persuaded that these faults, by the help of water and heat, passed, in a saline form, through the pure 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 salts, which they consider 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 salts; and, when they attempt to explain certain phenomena which take place in their fields or orchards, they talk confidently about the nitre of the air, of rain, of snow, of dew, and fogs; of the salts of the earth, of dungs of marr, 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 salts in earths; and also, whether those earths are more fertile in proportion to the quantity of such salts 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

(k) By winning hay, is meant the operation by which it is brought from the succulent state of grass 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 olf 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 very soon be 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 glaas, in wet moss or sponge, in the cavity of fleshy 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 process 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. Manures have an earthy basis easily decomposed, and are used only in small quantity. In these 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 viscous 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 progress 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, effervescing 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 earths 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 refuse, and from the proceeds made use of in their combustion; a process which increases their activity, and should render us careful in what manner and for what purpose 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 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 seizing with eagerness that moisture which served 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 rigours 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 are natural to them, soon overcome the mosses, 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, 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 confirmed 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..." 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 ferments, 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 seed 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 confident 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 freely, 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 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 a 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 kinds 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 anyone 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 parts 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 flows (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 fumousaceous 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 charged 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 forementioned 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, stubble, 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 sufficiently mineralized 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 train 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 senators 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 freezing, tends spontaneously to undergo changes, that bring 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 converting moths into 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 referred 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, tea-shells, and tea-waste. 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 affixing; and by caustic substances, as quicklime, acids, and pure alkalies, at least till their causticity is mollified, at the expense of the destruction of part of the animal and vegetable matter to which they are added.

"4. These..." 4. 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 fulness in the form of vapours or gasses; 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 (1).

5. 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 compaction, 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 finium 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 lie 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 seasons, 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 astringent 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

(1.) Hot fermenting dung partakes of both sorts of fermentation. Manures 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 fresh 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 between 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 admits of 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 columns 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, seven 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 fleshy vegetable matter is added at making up the compost, as fresh weeds, the rubbish of a stack-yard, potato-haws, 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 flammable-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 distilleries, &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 confusing the materials, (fire-fanging). In that case, 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. 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-rubbish 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 fleetch, which makes an excellent top-dressing. Something of the same fort happens with soap-lids, and water of common sewers, &c. Lime-water was not found to unite with the tan in peat, nor was urine (n). Peat made with seaweeds 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-loads, 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 with Manures. the sward 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 have 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 the foil to 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 benefits, 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 gelatin, 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 soil 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 six years. Hitherto it has been found equal, and even 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 stunted; 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 seed-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 lost 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 used 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., all are 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 Marshall 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 marl or earth are very generally used.

In the midland counties of England, Mr Marshall informs us, the cores of horns crushed in a mill have been used as a 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 Marshall upon the management of the Yorkshire farmers may be equally satisfactory with any thing 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 still less judicious, to let it lie scattered about on the side of a slope, as it were, for the purpose of dissipating 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 dissipation. 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-land 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- A part of it situated conveniently for carriages to come at, and low enough to receive the entire drainings of the stable, cattle-halls, and hog-sties, 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 throwings 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 keeping 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 of itself is absolutely barren; and yet it enriches a barren soil. Neither of the two produces any good effect without the other; and consequently, the more intimately they are mixed, the effect must be the greater.

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

For the same reason, it is a bad practice, though common, to let spread lime lie on the surface all winter. The bad effects 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 light, they quickly sink to the bottom of the furrow, if care be not taken to prevent it. In that view, it is a rule, that lime be spread and mixed with the soil immediately before sowing, or along with the seed. In this manner of application, there being no occasion to move it till the ground be stirred for a new crop, it has time to incorporate with the soil, and does not readily separate from it. Thus, if turnip-feed is to be sown broadcast, the lime ought to be laid on immediately before sowing, and harrowed in with the seed. If a crop of drilled turnip or cabbage be intended, the lime ought to be spread immediately before forming in drills. With respect to wheat, the lime ought to be spread immediately before seed-furrowing. If spread more early, before the ground be sufficiently broken, it sinks to the bottom. If a light soil be prepared for barley, the lime ought to be spread after seed-furrowing, and harrowed in with the seed. In a strong soil, it sinks not to 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 flats to the boll, 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 sure-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 five bushels of powdered lime; and consequently, if powdered lime... lime possess not some virtue above raw limestone, three bulks of the latter beat small should equal as a manure five bulks of the former.

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

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

The goodness of marl depends on the quantity of cal- careous 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 har- row, 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. Towards the for- mer, alternate drought and moisture contribute great- ly, as also frosts. Therefore, after being evenly spread, it ought to lie on the surface all winter. In the month of October it may be roused with a brake; which will bring to the surface, and expose to the air and frost, all the hard parts, and mix with the soil all that is pow- dered. 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 an- swer 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 immedi- ately before sowing, and braked thoroughly. It is tick- lish to make the 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 im- proper 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 ac- count 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 plaster, though not decidedly so." He tells us, that its virtues were a subject of debate in Germany. In America this manure seems to have met with more success than in any other country. In the fifth volume of Bath Pa- pers, 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 cheap- ness 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 considerable expense, though the plaster were originally given gratis. In the next place it must be powdered in a stamping mill, and the finer it is pow- dered so much the better. In the third place, it must be sown over the ground to be measured with it. The quantity for grass is six bulks 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, presi- dent of the Philadelphia Society for encouraging Agri- culture, upon the subject of gypsum as a manure; of the efficacy of which he gives the following instances.

1. In October 1786, plaster of Paris was sown in a rainy day upon wheat stubble without any previous cul- ture. 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 cov- ered 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 gyp- sum, 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 bulks of plaster of Paris spread upon two acres and a half of wheat stubble 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 plaster, produced only one ton and a half in the same proportion.—Mr Powel concludes in favour of the effects of the plaster upon arable as well as grass land.

Other accounts to the same purpose have been pub- lished, 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 foil abounds too much in particles of a par- ticular 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-fowl are annually conveyed to the land, and laid upon the foil; a prac- tice which will no doubt have a tendency to ameliorate stiff clays, and to render them more pervious to the roots of plants. With the same view, and also to save fuel, a practice is said to exist in the Netherlands, of baking baking up the dros 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 sowed with wheat, however well it may be cultivated in autumn, sinks in the winter; the particles get nearer together, and the weeds rise; so that in spring, the land is nearly in the same situation as if it never had been ploughed. This, however, is the season when it should branch and grow with most vigour; and consequently stands most in need of ploughing or hoeing, to destroy the weeds, to supply the roots with fresh earth, and, by dividing anew the particles of the soil, to allow the roots to extend and collect nourishment.

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

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

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

Wheat, and such grain as is sown before winter, require 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 feed produces but one or two ears; that, in the same land sown thinner, every feed produces two or three ears; and that a single feed sometimes produces 18 or 21 ears.

Vol. I. Part II.

In the common method, as there are many more plants than can find sufficient nourishment, and as it is impossible to afflit them by hoeing, numbers die before they attain maturity; the greatest part remain sickly and drooping; and thus part of the feed 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, afflited 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 has 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 30 inches from one another. On the sides of each of these rows, two rows of wheat must be sowed six inches distant from each other. By this means there will be an interval of two feet wide between 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 difference winter, is intended to drain away the wet, and to dig out 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 clay soils; 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 soils. There is a period between the time of clay soils 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 reasonably 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 soil shall 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 soil's caking in dry weather.

By this succulenta 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 flight 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 slider BB, marks the breadth of the ridge at the distance intended. The ploughman next traces the next line or runt 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 soils. The plough is likewise easily held and tempered. A, is the sword fixed in the sizers 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 brought 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 harrow 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, b, c, d, 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 ploughman... man comes back, after having ploughed one turn in two of the channels formed before, marked bb; thus all the furrows in the field will be traced with the same regularity. When the ground is thus formed into drills, the pease 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 foresaw in the coulter beam, by turning of which the feed-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 stoppers and screw nuts at n n, by which many useful purposes are answered, viz., in accumulating cullings or hay into rows, and as a scarifierator 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.

The 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, sixteen guineas, with four coulters fifteen guineas), equally excel in setting or planting all sorts of grain or 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 twice 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 sow; 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 II 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 seed 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 seed, 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 seed should be deposited in the ground (viz., about two inches for wheat, and from two to three for spring corn), the person who attends the machine will be better able to ascertain the depth the seed 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 I, 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 seed received into such funnel returned at the end of the land, or sooner if required, into the upper feed-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 seed 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 effectually cover the seed, without displacing it all in the drills. For sowing leys, a considerable weight must be applied to the lever I, to force the coulters into the ground; and a set of wrought-iron coulters, well steelled, 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 seed of that very valuable root, carrot, one bushel of saw-dust, and one pound of carrot-feed, should be provided; the saw dust 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 shake 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 saw-dust, and so on, till all the parts of carrot-feed and saw-dust 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-seed resembling saw-dust very much in its size, roughness, weight, adhesion, &c., will remain mixed as above during the sowing; a ladleful of saw-dust will, upon an average, contain three or four carrot-seeds, by which means the carrot-feed cannot be otherwise than regular in the drills. In attempting to deposit small seeds near the surface, it may so happen that some of the seeds may not be covered with soil; in which case, a light roller may be drawn over the land after the seed is sown, which will not only cover the seeds, 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 tuck, 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.

Respecting 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 inclinations 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. Fig. 12, is a new constructed simple hand-hoe, by which one man will effectually hoe two chain acres per day, earthing up the foil at the same time to the rows of corn or pulse, so as to cause roots to rise 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 scuffle, 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 rise 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 becoming sodden. 5. The land must be harrowed in the same manner as if it were sown in the common way. 6. The rows of wheat should be sown 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 workmen 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 head-lands. 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 hoppers of the drill. 13. To prevent fumit, the feed may be put into a ley of allures 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 fumit. 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 thrown, 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 deposited 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 deposited 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 flirmed 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 firming must be given about the end of March, with a light plough. In this firming 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 firming 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 sown 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 330 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, L. 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-looeing and weeding, at 2s. 6d. per acre 1 5 0 Horse-looeing 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 the drill husbandry."

"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 wherein 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 those 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 plants 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 plants 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 neighbours 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 situation and hoeing between. The lightest soils seem to be best for it, and the tough and wet clays the worst. Such soils proper grounds as 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 follow every second, third, or fourth year. Nevertheless it has been found by later experiments, that the intervals between 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 broadcast. 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 Amstruther, published among the Select Papers of the Bath Society, may not be improperly subjoined.

The flow 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 such 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 give 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 crofs-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.

"25th, horse-hoed again, laying a furrow back to the rows.

"May 15th, hand-hoed the second time.

"June 2d, 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 Glaigow 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 broadcast.

"Horse-hoeing the full depth increases the 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 broadcast 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 broadcast-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 $28\frac{3}{4}$, and at $5s.$ per bushel, amounts to $7l.\ 3s.\ 9d.$

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 3080, to which add 149 for the spare three feet, and it will be 3229 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 five gallons, or two-thirds of a bushel, per acre, is nearly 78 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 1696 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. 1st, In November, when the plant has four blades. 2ndly, In March, deep, and nearer the rows than the former; both these hoeings should be from the rows. 3rdly, Hand-hoe when it begins to spindle, if the earth be crumbly, to the rows. 4thly, When it begins to blossom, from the rows, but as near to them as in the second hoeing. 5thly, When done blossoming, 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 seed-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 | | | Four hoeings, equal to two ploughings | | | Sowing | | | Hand-hoeing twice | | | Seed, one peck and a half at 5s. a bushel | |

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 so 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, sow 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...

Flax and Hemp 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 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 in 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 food 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 a half; 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 profits 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 frosts, and is sometimes attacked even when got five or fix inches high, by a small white flag, 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 bestow 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 good Mr Marshall of the crop depends in some measure upon its stalk's length; and this upon its own roots and cloven feet upon the ground. Three feet high is a good length, and..." the thickness of a crow's quill a good thickness. A fine flax affords more line and fewer fibers 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 fiber. Hence the folly of sowing flax on land which is unfit for it. Nevertheless, with a suitable soil, a sufficiency of seed evenly distributed, and a favorable 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. 3s. value £21. 10s. 35 bushels of linseed at £5s. value £81. 15s.; the net profit therefore was £18l. 11s. 8d. or £1. 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 subservience 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 flax and hemp is not necessarily confined to rich soils, but that they may be cultivated with profit also upon poor sandy ground, 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 Atholm, 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 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 heat comes 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 imported into Britain; and complains that it is not hemp 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 assertion. Many hundreds of acres in the above-mentioned places, which, for pasturage or grazing, were not worth more than twenty or twenty-five shillings per acre, have been readily let at £1. the first year, £1. the second, and £1. 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 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 Peterburgh in British ships has continued to increase, so that in 1783 the quantity of hemp exported from Peterburgh in British ships was as follows:

| Poods | |-------| | Of clean hemp | 1,238,791 | | Outshot | 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 of a report made by Mr Durno, British consul in Prussia in 1789, to the lords of the Committee of Council on 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 immediately 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. Flax and 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 feed 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 stalks and pods have changed colour. If the flax is very dry when plucked, the feed 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-feed, the hemp itself, when plucked, is let 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 feed is apt to be spoiled by remaining in a moist state for any length of time.

As soon as the feed has been gained, the flax and hemp are steeped in water till the flax separate from the rind, and the hemp till the harl 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 flinty bottom is preferred. In the southern provinces of Poland, as Volhynia, Podolia, &c., steeping is not practised, on the supposition that it weakens the harl 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 or 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 seed about an inch and a half deep, with earth shovelled out of the furrows; but the most ordinary mode is to sow on common ridges, and to harrow in the seed. 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 £1 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 riddling 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 ruins the flax. Too pure a spring is injurious. A reservoir dug 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 this article accounts it proper to take notice of a mode employed 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 (No. 84.) 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 the farmers pare and burn their pasture lands, and then sow them with rape after one ploughing; the crop commonly standing for feed, which will bring from 23½ to 30l. per last (80 bushels). Poor clay, or stone Advantage braith land, will frequently produce from 12 to 16 or 18 bushels per acre, and almost any fresh or virgin feed, earth will yield one plentiful crop; so that many in the northern counties have been raised, by cultivating this feed, from poverty to the greatest affluence. The seed is ripe in July or the beginning of August; and the threshing of it out is conducted with the greatest mirth and jollity.

The rape being fully ripe, is first cut with sickles, and then laid thin upon the ground to dry; and when in an indifferent condition for threshing, the neighbours are invited, who readily contribute their assistance. The rape-feed threshing 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 threshed at home, and therefore the operation is always performed in the field; and by the number of assistants procured on this occasion, a field of 20 acres is frequently threshed out in one day. The straw is burnt for the sake of its alkali, the ashes being said to equal the best kind of thole imported from abroad.

The proper time of 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 between 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 asunder 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 cut 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 earthed round the stems, it will endure the severest winter; but the same cannot be advanced in favour of that which is sown broadcast."

Cole-feed is cultivated in Brabant, in the following manner, according to the Abbé Menn. "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 follows the labourer with plants, and putting one of them into each hole, treads against it to set it up. If the plantation is done with the plough, the plants are placed at regular distances in the furrow, 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 threshed on a kind of flail-cloth, spread on the ground for that purpose, and the seed carried in sacks to the farm. When the crop is good, a bolder produces about forty rasciers of 30lbs. weight each. It is to be observed, that the ground wherein 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, drug-gifts, 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 Papers, Mr Bartley gives an account of an experiment made on this seed, which proved very successful. Ten acres of good sandy loam were sown with coriander seed 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. 11d. or 15l. 18s. 4d. 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. 28. 3d. per acre.

**Sect. V. Wood.**

The use of this in dyeing is well known, and the wood consumption is so great, that the raising of the plant fly culture might undoubtedly be an object to a 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 Keynham near Bristol in England. Mr Bartley informs us, that in a conversation he had with these growers, 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 Briffington, Brillington, where Mr Bartley resides, a hazel sandy loam; nevertheless, having sowed half an acre of this soil with wood-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 a 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 Cattle Hedingham he was told by a Mr Rogers, who had a considerable hop plantation, that four acres of hop-ground cost him upwards of £120l., and that the usual expenses of laying out an acre of ground in this way amounted to £34l. 6s. By a calculation of the expenses of an acre there amounted to £32l. 8s. 6d.; that the annual expense was £23l. and the profit no more than £1l. 8s. id. 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 £75l. to lay it out on hops, and now not less than £100l.; the annual expense being estimated at £31l. 15s. while the produce commonly does not exceed £32l.

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 are grubbed up within two years, owing to the badness of the times." Here they are planted on a black loof 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 asunder, 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 for ever, 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 hop-wheat, which produced 13 quarters and four bushels land precious and a 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 feed 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 £500l.

The culture of hops seems to be confined in a great measure to the southern counties of England; for Mr Marshall 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 cellars. 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. V. 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 per- 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 and common. The varieties of these fruits are entirely artificial, being produced not by seed, 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 succeds. 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-brock is given up; the celebrated fir-apple is going off; and the squash-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-juice, 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. "Select (says he) among the native species individuals of the highest flavour; sow the seeds in a highly enriched feed-bed. When new varieties, or the improvement of old ones, are the objects, it may perhaps be eligible to use a frame or house; 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 all round, 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 feed-bed, 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 setted agreeably to the strength of their roots, that they may rise evenly together. The tap or downward roots should be taken off, and the longer side rootlets shortened. The young trees should then be planted in rows three feet all round, 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 are 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 feed-bed, Method of 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 genial 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 fort 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 degeneracy is not a real decline in the quality of the fruit, but of apples in the tree; owing either to want of health, the soil, foil, mode of planting, or the stock they are grafted on being too often raised from the seed of apples in the same place or country. I have not a doubt in my own mind, but that the trees which are grafted on the stocks raised from the apple pits 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 Gillingwater 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, Cultivation he also thinks that the old and best kinds of apple trees are not left, 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-stuffs 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 floo 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 six 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 succeds.

In Herefordshire it is common to have the ground of the orchards in tillage, and in Gloucestershire in grass; which Mr Marshall supposes to be owing to the difference betwixt the soil of the two counties; that of Herefordshire being generally arable, and Gloucestershire grass 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 grass 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 dropping. After they begin to bear, cattle ought by all means to be kept away from them, as they not only destroy all the fruit cultivation 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 grass land. "Let them (says he) lay their old orchards to grass; 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 (he says) are, 1. A redundancy of wood. 2. The midge. 3. Moths. 4. Spring frosts. 5. Blights. 6. Infests. 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. A multitude of branches also give the wind 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 among them."

2. The milletoe in this country is a great enemy to Mistletoe the apple tree. It is easily pulled out with hooks in how defrosty 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 sets in.

5. Blight is a term, as applied to fruit trees, which 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. Infests destroy not only the blossoms and leaves, but some of them also the fruit, especially pears. In the year 1783 much fruit was destroyed by wasps. Mr Marshall advises to set a price upon the female wasps in the spring; by which these mischievous insects would perhaps be exterminated, or at least greatly lessened. 7. An excess of fruit hinders 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 Marhall 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 Marhall 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 stems. 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 field. 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 so 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 and 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 in 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, planting 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 fourth volume of Bath Papers, computes the value of 50 acres of oak timber in 100 years to be 12,100l., which is nearly 30s. 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 670,000l.; 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 the Annals of Agriculture, we find the culture of trees recommended by Mr Harries; and he informs us, that the larch is the quickest grower, 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 £50. a-year. My poplars have gained in circumference near two inches, and a Worcester 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 13th of July 1786. It is about six acres in extent; the soil partly a swampy meadow upon a gravelly bottom. The measures were taken at five 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 | 4 8 | | Arbeal | 50 to 70 | 4 6 | | Plane | 50 to 60 | 3 6 | | Acacia | 50 to 60 | 2 4 | | Elm | 40 to 60 | 3 6 | | Chesnut | 30 to 50 | 2 9 | | Weymouth pines| 30 to 50 | 2 5 | | Clutter ditto | 30 to 50 | 2 5 | | Scotch fir | 30 to 50 | 2 10 | | Spruce ditto | 30 to 50 | 2 2 | | Larch | 50 to 60 | 3 10 |

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 Surry, stakes, edgers, and hoops are saleable, there ought to be eight or ten annual sowings; or if, as in Kent, poles are demanded, 14 or 15 will be required; and if, as in Yorkshire, rails be 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 burdens, 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 first 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 course; 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 are 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 fowling-land being in fine order, and the season favourable, the 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 loading. The sowing of the grafts 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 land-chain 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 comfort of it in the neighbourhood of the plantation. Thus, if stakes, hoops, &c., be in request, the oak, hazel, and ash, are esteemed as... 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 fown 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 feeding 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 rofe 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 stirred, and preserving the plants from hares and rabbits. Even after the crops are discontinued, the ground ought still to be stirred, 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 destined to stand must now be planted at about two rods distant from each other, and as nearly a quarter-inch 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 stones in the moor, I enclose with a stone wall five feet high, coped with two turfs, which cofts about 15s. per acre. 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 enclose 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 deficit 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 woods 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, Cattle proper to be employed in 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 improvident 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 distressing 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.

As 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 sale. 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 Kedington 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 1799), 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 flooded; their harnesses 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 asunder, 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 meal or corn of any kind. In winter they are fed preferring with straw, turnips, carrots, or cabbages; or instead of oxen to the three last, they have each a peck of bran per day while kept constantly at work. In the spring they eat hay; and if working harder than usual at feeding-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. less 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. 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 of 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 it 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 benefits 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 only one of the 50,000 carcases now lost annually to the community should 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, Norfolk. It is the same in the Vale of Gloucester, though oxen are used in the adjoining counties. Formerly some objection was made in double; but they were found to them in the Vale of Gloucester. Even when worked single, the same objection is made: but, says Mr Marshall, "in this I suspect there is a piece 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." Shooing oxen with whole shoes, 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 mischief 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-house with a fledge bottom, housetop, 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 utility. The Yorkshire plough was formerly of such a size, an unwieldy construction, that four or fix 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 as Yorkshire has all along been famous for its breed of horses, we are not to wonder at the present difuse of oxen. Even in carriages they are now much diffused; 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 limestones, 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 per to be same pasture. An ox in a good pasture soon fills his employed.

Superiority of oxen to horses. belly, and lies down to rest; but a horse can scarcely satisfy his hunger in a short summer's night. Oxen are 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 purpose. This species of beasts of draught cost at four years old from 20l. to 30l. They will, with extravagant keep, extraordinary care and attendance, and much good luck, continue to labour eight or ten years; and may then generally be sold for five shillings 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 superior to the breed of saddle 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 husbandry if harnessed with equal judgment, less expensive in keep and attendance, much more durable, and infinitely more valuable after they have finished their labours, 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 challenged for strength, agility, and sagacity, the best bred 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, especially in proportion as the breed of horses improves; and we may add, in proportion as the state of cultivation 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 employed in doing so consists not so much in the possession 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 surpasses 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 supposed 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 comparative statement between horses and oxen, for the purpose of the draught:—“By way of preliminary, it will be necessary to admit as data, that a horse which eats 70 bushels of oats per year, will not consume of other food so much as an ox that gets no corn; but in the following estimate we shall allow horses to eat as much in favour of oxen, as the difference is not yet sufficiently ascertained.”

“Thus the oxen are yoked at three years old, and are worked till six, and for the first year require eight to do the work of two horses; but after having been worked a year, and become tractable and stronger, six are equal to two horses, either by being yoked three at a time, or two, and driven by the holder with cords: of course, the expense of a driver may be estimated to be saved for one half the year.

“That the expenses of a ploughman, the plough, and other articles that are the same in both teams, need not be taken into the account.

“And that oxen to work regularly through the year, cannot work more than half a day at a time.”

Expenses of an Ox per annum.

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

Wintering.—On straw and turnips 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

Harness, shoeing, &c. 15 0

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

Gives the expense per annum of an ox for the team 5 5 0

And the expense of six oxen L.31 10 0

To which must be added the expense of a driver for half a year 3 10 0

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

An Eight-Ox team.

The expense of an ox per annum being L.5 5 8

That of eight will be 42 0 0

To which add the expense of a driver 8 0 0

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

Therefore the expense 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 pro- to be employed.

Divided by

Brought over,

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

Expence of a Horse per annum.

Sunmering.—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 2s.

Shoeing and harness

Annuity to pay off 25l. 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 L.15 15 0

That of three will be

To which add the expence of a driver

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

"If the comparison be made with the horse team of many of the midland counties, where they use five horses 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

ditto of 3 ditto

ditto of 2 ditto

ditto of 8 oxen

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 living 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 horses 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 harnesses, 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 3l. 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 fix-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 tend to market yearly, at the lowest computation,

7½ cwt. of beef,

8 quarters of oats,

And 3 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 cart-horses of 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 palled into Leicestershire, however, through some unknown circumstances, it became still more improved, and Leicester 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 (a), 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 carcass, 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. Besides a cellation 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 horses is almost entirely worn out. They were breed deformed, 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 ones of Lincolnshire and Leicestershire already mentioned. He 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 six-year-old horse from 25l. to 35l. 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 grass 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 Clydendale or Lanarkshire. 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.

(a) 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 ascertaining 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-meal is barley-straw; a reserve of clover-hay being usually made against the hurry of feed-time. A bushel of corn in the most bulky 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 unfaule-able 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 on the dunghill, are here in good esteem as provender. Oat-chaff is deservedly considered as being of much inferior quality.—It may here be 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 than from 8l. 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 | Expense per horse | L. s. d. | |------|------------------|---------| | 1763 | Six horses cost | 10 13 0 | | 1764 | Seven do. | 8 10 11 | | 1765 | Eight do. | 14 6 6 | | 1766 | Six do. | 12 18 9 |

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

By accounts received from Northamptons in Herefordshire, the expense stood as follows:

| Year | Expense per horse | L. s. d. | |------|------------------|---------| | 1768 | Expence per horse| 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 5 | | 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 feeding 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, rooto 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 rooto 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, rooto 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 use 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 stinted 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 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 absolutely 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 defense 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 ear large, the chest deep, and the bosom 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; theudder 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 fleeciness, but with the joints and sinews of a moderate size, for the purposes of strength and activity. 7. The flesh ought to be mellow in the state of fleeciness, 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 this 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 only cost 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 mean time 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 inured to its flavour. On this subject Mr Young remarks, that in rearing calves, there are two objects 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 fucked 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 Surry 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, affirms 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 also 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.

Norfolk method, &c.

Mr Bradfute's mode.

Cattle are pastured.

from the cow from the fourth to the sixth day; after which they have raw milk from six to ten or fourteen days. After this, they feed them with scalded skimmed milk and gruel made of shelled oats, from three quarts to four being given in the morning, and the same in the evening. The common family broth is thought to be as good, or better, than the gruel, the favour of the fat being supposed to strengthen their bowels. The proportion of gruel or broth is about one-third of the milk given them. A little fine hay is set before them, which they soon begin to eat.

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 £1.5s., 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 looseness, which in the end proves fatal to the calves. In Cornwall, they remedy this sometimes by giving acorns as an astringent; 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 five, 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 housed in the night until the warm weather comes 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 hay-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 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 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 inflammation; on the contrary, if every thing 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 head 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 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. Breeding and Feeding of Black Cattle.

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 butcher's 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 thrifty 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 chaldron 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 clove cover or lid, having a small hole for filling it with water, which can be easily closed up, and another and feeding 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 pressure 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 peat-meal and water.

To fatten cattle with success, then, we apprehend that the following rules ought to be adhered to. As 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 to far waste 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 in the open air. The same might be said with regard to the human species. In his natural state, 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 greater 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 indubitable; 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 Mr Mure's 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:

- 20 large hogs, L.1 3 6 - 20 small, 0 7 8 - 2 stag hogs, 1 17 8

On being finished with pease, however, it appeared, that there was not any real profit at last; for the accounts stood ultimately as follow:

| Dr | Cr | |-----|----| | Value of hogs at putting up, L.44 2 | 42 hogs sold fat at L.95 0 | | 33 comb pease, at 14s. 23 2 0 | | | 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 | |

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 pease 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 expences on two hogs were 1l. 13s. 10½d. the value 1l. 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. 3d. upon an expense of 2l. 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 four. 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.

Hogsties are of simple construction; they require only a warm dry place for the swine to lie in, with a small 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 respect to their thriving and feeding. In order to keep them dry, 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. Hogsties 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 are taken. cautions are taken to prevent them. This may be done by making a rail or covering of thin deal 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 ten 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 art of 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. Cretté 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. Cretté) 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 great 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 too 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 beefs; 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 which 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 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 | 2nd M | 3rd M | 4th M | | | Potatoes | 1 | Isle de France | 69½ lb | 79½ lb | — | — | — | 10 lb | 1 lb | 7½ lb | 2½ lb | 2½ lb | 70 lb | | | 2 | Beauce | 70½ lb | 82½ lb | 90½ lb | 93 lb | 95 lb | 11½ lb| 13½ lb| 15½ lb| 6½ lb | 6½ lb | | | | 3 | Champagne | 69½ lb | 83 lb | 82½ lb | 84 lb | — | 13½ lb| 15½ lb| 6½ lb | — | — | | | | 4 | Picardy | 88 lb | 95 lb | 101 lb | — | — | 15 lb | 6 lb | — | — | — | | | Turnips | 5 | Isle de France | 69 lb | 86 lb | 87 lb | — | — | 17 lb | 1 lb | — | — | — | 67½ lb | | | 6 | Beauce | 71 lb | 86 lb | — | — | — | 15 lb | 4 lb | 1½ lb | ½ lb | ½ lb | | | | 7 | Champagne | 68½ lb | 78½ lb | 82½ lb | 84 lb | 84½ lb | 10 lb | 4 lb | 1½ lb | ½ lb | ½ lb | | | | 8 | Picardy | 79 lb | 95½ lb | 97½ lb | 97½ lb | — | 16½ lb| 2 lb | — | — | — | | | Beets | 9 | Isle de France | 72 lb | 83½ lb | 90½ lb | 94 lb | — | 11½ lb| 7½ lb | 3½ lb | — | — | 71 lb | | | 10 | Beauce | 70½ lb | 80½ lb | 86 lb | — | — | 10 lb | 5½ lb | — | — | — | | | | 11 | Champagne | 77½ lb | 95½ lb | — | — | — | 13½ lb| — | — | — | — | | | | 12 | Picardy | 80 lb | 93½ lb | 98½ lb | 100½ lb | 101 lb | 13½ lb| 5 lb | — | — | — | | | Oats, barley, and gray peas. | 13 | Isle de France | 74 lb | 91 lb | 95½ lb | 102 lb | 106 lb | 17 lb | 4½ lb | 6½ lb | 4 lb | 4 lb | 92½ lb | | | 14 | Beauce | 73½ lb | 84½ lb | 91½ lb | 96 lb | — | 10½ lb| 7½ lb | 4½ lb | 4½ lb | 4½ lb | | | | 15 | Champagne | 71 lb | 86½ lb | 93 lb | — | — | 15½ lb| 6½ lb | — | — | — | | | | 16 | Picardy | 71 lb | 77 lb | — | — | — | 16 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. Of 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 \( \frac{1}{75} \) th of his carcase; the skin 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 than 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, and pole-cats, are great enemies of rabbits. The Norfolk Method of folk warreners catch the birds by traps placed on the destroying tops of stumps of trees or artificial hillocks of a conical form, on which they naturally alight. Traps also prey 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 stock 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 six 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, afflicting 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 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 difficult to bring up, he rears great numbers of them in this manner every season with little trouble whatever. He has about three quarters or near a whole acre inclosed with a fence only five feet high, formed of slabs set on end, or any proper thinnings of fir or other trees split and put close together. They are fastened by a nail near the top and 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 tightly (but well secured from wet) for each sort of poultry; and 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 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 size 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 fatted 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 shire eggs abortive. The quantity of eggs to every goose for fitting about 12 or 13. They must be fed with corn." corn in their water whilst 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 broken 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 of their breast and back; but be careful not to pull or interrupt their down or 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 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, through 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 18s. 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 Anderdon remarks, that when a dairy is established, the undertaker may sometimes think it 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 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 consistency, 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 inconvenienced by the heat as to be prevented from eating throughout the day, they ought in that case to be taken into cool sheds for protection; where, after allowing them a proper time to ruminate, they should be supplied with abundance of green food, freshly cut for the purpose, and given 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. Manage night-fall. In the choice of persons for milking the management of 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 further 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 disproportion 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 these intermediate propositions; 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 sixteen to one. In other cows, however, and in particular circumstances, the disproportion 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 more than the difference in their quantity. In the first Dairy, the cream was a thin tough film, thinner, and perhaps whiter, than writing paper; in the last, the cream was of a thick buttery 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 of 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 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 Anderson 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 agriculture we find experiments wanting, at each step we advance in our inquiries; and it is the duty of every inquirer 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 necessary. He may thus have the whole of his dairy product greatly debased by the milk of one bad cow, for years together, without being able to discover it. A better practice, therefore, will 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. This would the careful manager of the dairy be able on all occasions to observe the particular 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 quality 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 diminishing its quantity. In different situations prudence will point out different kinds of practice as most eligible; and all persons must be left, after making accurate trials, to determine for themselves. It is likewise of the utmost 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 principal object with the farmer, every cow is allowed to fuckle her own calf with a part of her milk, the remainder 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 belonging 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 separately let out, and runs directly to its mother, where it sucks 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 simple contrivance, to oblige her to stand still. Boys drive away the calf with switches, and return it to the inclosure, 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 ascribed 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 doubtsless 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 converted into cheeses, 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 hand-churn, or a barrel with one of its ends cut 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 into 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 substance, 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 "wigg") 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 distinguished from it by its appearance. It is eaten with sugar, and esteemed a great delicacy, and usually sells at double the price. Manage-ment of fresh unskimmed milk. It requires practice, however, to be able to make this nicely; the degree of 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 cheeses, 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 Anderdon 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 let 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 sour), 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. Management of the milk 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 inclosed 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 cauldron, 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 wood, in preference either to lead, copper, or even cast iron. These metals are all very easily soluble in acids; the solutions of the two first highly poisonous; 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 matters of biblical criticism unanimously agree, that the word so translated signifies milk or cream, or four thick 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 πικρία, which Galen translates by the word βούλγαρος. The poet Anaxandrides, who lived soon after Hippocrates, describing the marriage-feast of Iphierates, 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.

Dioecorides 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 application, 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 goat's 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 show that butter must have been very little known to or used by the Greeks and 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 respecting 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 learnt 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 substances of the milk in very small particles, which are interposed between the caseous and ferous 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 itself, 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 interposition of a pretty large quantity of ferous and caseous particles. The butter is completely formed by pressing out these heterogeneous parts by means of continued percolation. 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 degree 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 dikes, 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 else a strainer made of hair or wire: the doctor prefers silver wire to every other. The creaming dikes ought never to exceed three inches in depth; but they may be so 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 ferous 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 butter cannot be obtained, except from cream that is ought to be kept not above a day old. On the contrary, he infers that it is only in very few cases that even tolerably good butter can be obtained from cream that is not above made into one day old. The separation of butter from cream butter, only takes place after the cream has attained a cer- tain degree of acidity. If it be agitated before that acidity has begun to take place, no butter can be ob- tained, 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 cli- mate is warm, the heating may be, without very much difficulty, continued until the acidity be pro- duced, 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 afflicts 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 vat appropriated for keeping it, until it has ac- quired the proper degree of acidity. There is no rule for determining how long it is to be kept; but our au- thor is of opinion, that a very great latitude is allowable in this case: and that if no serious matter be allowed to lodge among the cream, it may be kept good for mak- ing 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 pro- cess 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 sepa- rated from the milk, and put into a clean dish, the in- side of which, if made of wood, ought to be well rub- bed with common salt, to prevent the butter from ad- hering 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 re- quires a considerable degree of strength as well as dex- terity; 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 employ- ing of cold water in this operation, to wash the butter as it is called. Thus, he says, the quality of it is de- bauched in an astonishing degree. If it is too hot, 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 wa- ter several times poured into it: the inside is to be rubbed over with common salt, and a little melted but- ter 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 com- position. "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 but- ter, 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 ex- clude the air. "If all this (says the doctor) be care- fully done, the butter may be kept perfectly sound in this climate for many years. How many years I can- not 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 salt, 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 ufe- ful to pour upon the surface during the time it is using, in order more effectually to preserve it from the air, and to avoid rancidity.

As butter contains a quantity of mucilaginous mat- ter, 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 by honey 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 is made in the county of Essex, well known by the ter- 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 mak- ing and management of butter, including the Epping method, are extracted from the 3rd 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 an- num: 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 feel 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 it 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 manage more quick and violent in the summer, it will cause of the 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 found 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 salt, though a little is absolutely necessary.

As they make in that county 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 mode of making butter 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 stoves made for that purpose, which stoves 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 speedily 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 the Epping; and by washing and working the salt 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 unflaked 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 the salt; then, if the butter be properly made, and per- fectly 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 coun- ties much inferior to that made in Cambridge-shire: 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 severe; and when their cows calve, they give them comfortable malt meals for two or three days after; but these cows never an- swer if they are removed to other counties, except the same care and attendance be given them, and then none answer better.

Land wherein 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 therein 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 quali- ties.

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 all the moors, commons, and heaths in England, produce excellent butter where it is properly managed; and though not equal in quan- tity, yet far superior in quality to that which is produced from the rich meadows; and the land is often blamed when the butter is bad through mismanagement, flut- tilheds, or inattention.

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 cab- bages are also excellent foods; and if these and savoys were cultivated for this purpose, the farmers in general would find their account in it.

Cows should never be suffered to drink improper wa- ter; stagnated pools, water wherein frogs, &c. spawn, common flowers, 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 let in rolls, only touching at top, and standing hollow at bot- tom. To prevent these cheats, the factors at Uttoxeter 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 bot- tom.

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, Shrop- shire. "I find by experience (says he), that a small bit of saltpetre, powdered and put into the milk-pan, may be with the new milk, does effectually prevent the cream kept un- and butter from being tainted, although the cows be fed on the refuse leaves of cabbages and turnips. In 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 after- wards no care was taken in feeding the cows, for they had cabbages and turnips in all states. Our milk-pans hold about nine pints of milk."

The trade in butter is very considerable. Some com- pute 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 Cam- bridge and Suffolk alone; each firkin containing 56lbs. Uttoxeter, in Staffordshire, is a market famous for good butter, inasmuch, that the London merchants have esta- blished a factory there for that article. It is bought by the pot, of a long cylindrical form, weighing 14 lbs.

The other grand object of the dairy is cheese-making. Cheese is the curd of milk, precipitated or sepa- rated 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 butyricous, 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 water. Shaved thin, and properly treated with hot wa- ter, it forms a very strong cement if mixed with quick- lime. When prepared with the hot water, it is re- commended 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 di- gestion; when old, it becomes acrid and hot; and, from Dr Percival's experiments, is evidently of a pep- tic nature. It is a common opinion that old cheese di- gests 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 nour- ishing. 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 Chester and Gloucester cheese are famous in Eng- land; 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 ewes' milk; and in other places it is usual to add goat or ewes' 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 fuge, baum, 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 beating an iron red hot, and thrusting it through the middle of one of these cheeses; they catch what drops out, and with this amount 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 rennet 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 puffing up, cracking, and pouring 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 flip 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 rennet. 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 rennet upon the milk. The second, viz., a knowledge of good from bad rennet, 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 Dairy only rule that can be given for its preparation is to take out the maw of a calf which has fed entirely upon milk; and if it is cold, twill it a little in water; rub it ing runnet 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, letting them continue in the brine they produce, sometimes stirring or turning them for four, six, or nine months; after which they are opened to dry, stretched out upon sticks or joints. 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 rennet from the skins, according to our author, is the following: "Take pure spring water, in quantity proportioned to the rennet you intend to make; it is thought best by some two skins to a gallon of water; boil the water, 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 following receipt for making rennet: "When the maw-skin's rennet is well prepared and fit for the purpose, three pints or eight for 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 rennet to be of a good quality, the following particulars must be observed:

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 rennet 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 vacuities made by the knife, and the curd sinks with much more ease. A sieve has 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 left 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 "faulted within," especially when the vat is about half filled. In this case the curd, though separated only in a small degree by the fault, never closes or joins as it ought to do. Mr Twamley prefers faulting 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 flat-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 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 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 allowing 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 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 arnott 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 is the same as is purified throughout Somersetshire and the adjoining counties.

Cheeshire cheese is much admired; yet no people take less pains with the runnet than the Cheshire 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 cow; (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 arnott is 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 left 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 consistency, it is cut, mixed with 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 reverse 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, reverse 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 cheeses.

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 unsound 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 dipped off 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 perches 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 bocealis 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 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, macaroni (cream cheese), &c. The milk of the morning ought to be skimmed slightly; 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 grated cheese; because, if it is too rich, it does not last long, and it is necessary to consume it while young and sound.

"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 24th 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 16 Italian hours, or ten in the morning, according to 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 mascarpone (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 boccelli, 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 mascarpone, &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 manufactory 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 flickerwork of the underman. It is of the greatest consequence to mind when the grain begins to take a consistence. 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 maifearpa (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 fajfera, without any thing else made than the rotundity, having neither top nor bottom. Immediately after having returned 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 nasty, and causes the cheese to acquire a bad smell. The Lodi, 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 quors 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 so 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 at 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 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) would... Making of 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 pleasantry, as much as it excels them in wholesome and cheapness. But rarely do we meet with perry or cider of this superior quality. For what is generally sold by dealers and inn-keepers is a poor, meagre, vapourous liquor, prone to the acetic 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 cider 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 amongst the most experienced cider-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 those 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 repel it by enclosing the liquor in a hogshead, 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 isinglass. 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 cider 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 cider-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 to successive improvements, till at length our English improve-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 proportionably 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 cider 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†,‡ Hopson's that the Germans are known to meliorate their thin harth 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 mill-stone from two and a half to four feet and a half in diameter, running on its edge in a circular stone trough, 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 six 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 fented in the figure. An iron bolt, with a large head, passes through an eye, in the lower part of the twivel 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 inclosed 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 within a few inches of 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 £20. to £25. and on a small scale, from £10. to £15., 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. The 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 false cider and keeping drink, they are suffered to hang upon the tree till fully ripe; and the middle of October is generally looked upon to be a proper time for gathering the fire-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 fruits (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 slender 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 irreparably 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 begins 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 fruits, which render the collective body... 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 bushels; 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 Fruit-Liquors 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 prefling 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. Prefling the fruit, and management of the re-Preffing, residuum. This is done by folding up the ground fruit &c. 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 residuum 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 preflled to the last drop, a gallon or more of additional liquor may be got by this means. Regrinding 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 residuum ground at once, scarcely a kernel could escape unbroken, or a drop of liquor remain undrawn."

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 prefling, 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 repress while the next pressful is grinding.

IV. Fermentation. The common practice is to have the liquor tinned; 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. Frost 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-liquors, 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 admission of air into it; sufficient defences against frost; 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 leathern 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 tinning: 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 managed, it generally throws up a thick scum 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 cider 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 hissing, or sometimes when it begins to emit fixed air in plenty. The only intention of the operation is to free the liquor from its dyes by a cock placed at a little distance from the bottom, after which the remainder is to be filtered through a canvas or flannel hag. 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 accompany this by the ordinary method of fermentation, recourse must be had to fumigation with sulphur, which is called fluming 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 sealed, and every vent except the bunghole tightly flopped; 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 fulphurous 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. The 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 hogheads. 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, different 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 rough 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 anlter 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 sweet 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 on 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 flavour; 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 flambeau, and allowing 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 and sheep; that of Irvine 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. Ifinglas and eggs are sometimes made use of in fining cider as well as wine.

VI. The laying up or shutting up the cider in casks—Of laying casks, according to Mr Marshall, is as little understood up or casks—as any of the rest of the parts; the bungs being coming mostly 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 acetic fermentation, which if it takes 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 lightly, 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 roll 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 acetic fermentation. For this purpose some put in parched beans, others egg-thills, some mutton suet, &c. Mr Marshall does not doubt that something may be useful; and thinks that ifinglas 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 ifinglas and eggs.

The liquor, called cyderkin, purree, or perkin, is made of cyder of the muck or grofs matter remaining after the cyderkin 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 tunned up and stoppered; it is fit to drink in a few days. It clarifies of itself, and ferments in families of cyder-wine, according to Dr Ruth's receipt.

We must not conclude this section without particular Making of cider notice of the liquor called cider wine, which is made from the juice of apples taken from the press quors, 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 Bath Pa—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 of 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 palled 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 violent symptoms or internal uneasiness; yet what person in his senses would knowingly choose to hazard the experiment of determining how long he should 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 unthinkingly 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 hulls 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 chalky 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 fences may be found valuable in it.—Robert Somerville, Esq., merited 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 funk 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. Oifer or willow fence. 11. Fence of growing pots. 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 rows 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, and 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 carse 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 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 six or eight 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 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... 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 flops 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.

Paling or timber fences, are in many places much used, though they can never be considered with propriety as forming permanent inclosures. Of whatever materials they are formed, their decay commences from the instant they are erected. Their 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 Dun-Donald'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 maffly 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 these at top and bottom, with horizontal pieces of similar strength. Upon these last 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 crofs 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; Fences 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 into 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 poles, 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 fix 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 housetops. 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 willows or 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 inferring 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 flake and rice 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 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 fets 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 best mould should be laid upon it to bed the quick, which is to be let upon it a foot asunder. When the first row of quick is set, it must be covered with mould; and when the bank is a foot high, you may lay another row of fets 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 fenced from being cropped by cattle; and in February, when it will be proper to cut it within an inch of the ground, which will cause it strike root afresh, and help it much in the growth.

The crab is frequently planted for hedges; and if the plants are raised from the kernels of the small wild crab, 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 floe, is frequently planted for Black hedges; and the best method of doing it, is to raise 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 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 Fences 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, bushes, trees, &c. Then two drills should be made, at about a foot distance from each other, and about two inches deep, into which the seed 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 sheared in July. The fences for these hedges, while young, should admit as much free air as possible; the best fort 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 shoots are 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 being cut through with the shears, it will be the best way to prune them with a knife, cutting the shoots just down to a leaf. The laurustinus 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 laurustinus 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, that there may not be 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 with 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, honey-luckless, sweet briar, &c., but these are difficult to train; and if they were 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 gravel, 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 no means requires the wetness 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 low dividing into separate inclosures any 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 tilt, 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 hoop-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. They 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 20 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 baleful-ways, work them into lozenges like a net, fastening the tops by plaiting the small 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 spring up and be supported by them; and, by its numerous prickles, would effectually preserve the defenceless 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 stir 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 celeriacs, 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 the difficulties, may be reckoned that of hardly getting hedges 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 so much freedom, or grow with such luxuriance, as it would do in a more sheltered situation and favorable exposure.

But although it is impossible to rear hedges in this situation to so 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 known: 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 the very bottom, almost as long as the tree exists; so that if it is not pruned, it rises a large clove 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 plaint; 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 safest 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; 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 moilt 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 sets must be planted at least a foot and a half deep; and their tops 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 clove 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 flaves; for it will last a long time under ground or in water: and it is likewise in great estimation among plough-wrights, 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 larch, 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. All 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 all 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 exceeding well. Such inclosures are reckoned the best defence that can be had for the ground and cattle; though it can scarcely 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 flopped 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 fence of durable and beautiful fence in gravelly places. Dig pieces of turf four or five inches thick, the breadth of an edge, and about a foot in length. Lay these turfs cellent even by a line on one side, with the grats outward, at the distance of ten or twelve inches within the mark at which the ditch afterwards to be dug in the solid ground is to begin. Then lay, in the same manner, but with their grats 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 fowed with hay-feeds, 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. Quicksets 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 five 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 be yet 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 to 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 near Bridgewater. He prefers the white and quick black 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 bed 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 quicksets 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 quicksets 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 advantages arising from hedges, our author observes, that if they were of no farther use than as mere fences, it would be the farmer's interest to keep them up carefully; for the better they are, hedges the more secure are his cattle and crops. But if a judicious mixture of cider 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 cider-fruit are so hard and austere at the time of their being gathered, that nobody can eat them, and even hogs 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 hornbeam sets in such a manner, that every two plants may be brought to interlock each other in the form of St Andrew's crosses. In that part where the two plants cross each other, he gently scrapes off the bark, and binds them with straw thwartwise. Here the two plants consolidate in a kind of indissoluble knot, and pull 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 so thin and straggling, as to form but a very imperfect sort of fence. On these occasions, it is 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 on 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 these 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. Those 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 successive 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 is 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 bough 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 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, shakes to pieces in handling. The ordinary way of coping with sod, which is to lay them flat and fingle, 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 fix 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 disposed 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 hollow sheltered places, surrounded with walls and high plantations, more fit for pine-apples than barren 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 everything: the nurseryman's view is to make profit by raising 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 nurfed 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 raising 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 care 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 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 gravelly surface under. Upon that sod, whether clean or dirty, the thorns are laid, and the earth of the ditch above them. The grafts 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 10 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, champed 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 points 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 grafts 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 upwards 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 onwards; 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 frost. 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 15 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 planted 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 heads 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 recommends 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 produce a great number of hoots, 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 sap that formerly ascended 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 deficiency 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 scarcely 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 fappy 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 in 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 pastures be left 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 so filthily managed, and yet the possessors appear not to be afraid of frosts. Such fences ought to be extremely welcome in the sandy grounds of the shire of Moray, where there is scarcely 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 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. this method. The plants grow only in the surface 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 shoot 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 soil 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 assertion 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 black thorn 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 quicks, 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."

When the fences of a tract of ground are in a very dilapidated condition, it is absolutely necessary to secure the ditches, throw up the banks, and secure the whole hedges, 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 straggling 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 sportmen; and even should 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 defective fences is, to bend down some of the lateral shoots in a horizontal direction, and to spread them along the line of the fence, 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 the common pleaching method, which is very injurious to the plants; but the spreading two or three of the hedges difficult convenient branches along the hedge, and fastening them down either by pegs or tying, without injury to the stem, until they habitually take the proper 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 shoots of ten or twelve feet in length may be easily forced into a horizontal direction; and if the other shoots 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 posts 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 shoots; so that by this horizontal inclination, if judiciously made, you may acquire almost all the advantages of the thickest 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 bound 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 as 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 insert 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 shoots.

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 insidious 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 recommendation, 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 those 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 paling 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 scurfment, then dig the earth one 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 scurfment 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 single stone laid flat; then covered with two fods of turf, the grats of the under-molt to be next the wall, and the other fed 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 differences of the prices of labour in different parts. Mr Erskine had them done with lime, every thing included, from 10s.d. 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 is about 6d. per boll of about 40s.72667 bushels; and from 15 to 16 bolls of lime are used to the rood of 35 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 shillings 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 six 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 as that season permits (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 overtake 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 grates affect warmth, by which their growth is promoted, and consequently their quantity is increased, though perhaps the 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 grass inclosures to allow the hedge to make its natural growth, 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 fecundity 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 both as a material for hedges; and indeed the beauty of the plant, with its extreme closeness, and continuing planting green throughout the winter, evidently give it the preference to all others; and could it be raised with equal hedges, 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 rocky 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 suck 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 Fences.

Hedges of whins or furze.

Practice.

be put in, they may either be planted between those of the crab, or otherwise in front in the quineaux 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 foil 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 prickles 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 to hinder 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 stocked 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 becomes 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, thrown 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 send 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 affixture to another, it is perhaps more proper to use the French feed 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 seed shops in London for about 1s. per pound, and one pound will sow 40 statute rods. When used as an affixture 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, stoppered 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. Closing the drill with the back of the spade, shuts 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 prickles, 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 fences of and apparently water-worn stones which the ploughstone walls 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 skilfully 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 these, so as to admit a free passage to the winds which whistle 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 succed 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 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 prefilled 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 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. When 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 bed 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 banks.

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 walked away from about their roots.

The Devonshire fence resembles the one now described. It consists of an earthen mound seven feet wide at bottom, and four at the top, and five 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 foil 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 two 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 the earth in such a manner, as that at least four 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 cope 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 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 interfect 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 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 other's 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 so 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-houset 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 defense against the east and west winds, which are the strongest in this country. Fences.

Belts of planting require themselves to be feneed. 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 ferocious 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 shepherds 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-poles; 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-poles. They sometimes, however, mitigate; in which case it is difficult to repair the defect. When gate-poles 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-pole, 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-pole 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-poles 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.

ACHILLEA millefolium, No 62 Agriculture defined, wherein it differs from gardening, is a separate art or employment, includes the rearing of cattle, general importance of, advantage of, to the farmer, history of, board of, theory defective, practice of, division of the subject, Agricultural improvement, obstacles to, Agrostis cornucopiae, capillaris, Airu flexuosa, caryophyllacea, Alpecurus bulbosus, Anderson's, Dr, opinion of the nature of mols, Angora breed of rabbits, Anthoxanthum odoratum, Arsenic used to prevent the mildew, No 102 Bank of earth fence, Barley, culture of, ribbing, better mode of, advantages of, feed, how managed in a dry season, experiments on, time of sowing, general remarks on the culture of, culture in Norfolk, vale of Gloucester, Cotwold, midland district, culture difficult, in Yorkshire, importance of, to the revenue, its chief value, from being easily converted into a face-rine substance, Beans, culture of, by broadcast, in drills, Beet, white, recommended, Black cattle, a good breed desirable, properties requisite of, Blight, a disease of wheat, Board of Agriculture, commences its fittings, Bogle, Mr, his mode of wheat-letting, Brake, its uses, Brown, how destroyed, Bulbous foxtail-grafts, Burnet, recommended, disapproved of, culture of, Butter, history of, qualities of, rules for making, cream for making, not to be new, churn, not to be put in water, compositions for preserving, how prepared for warm climates, Butter Butter preserved by honey, Essex or Epping, West of England, Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire and Suffolk, frauds in the sale of, how kept untainted by cabbages, trade in, extensive, Butterfly, corn, Buck-wheat, culture of, advantages of cropping, Cabbages, their properties, render air noxious, turnip-rooted, culture of, quantity produced on an acre, of watering them, cultivated in the midland district, distance at which they ought to be planted, how transplanted or earthed, how protected from caterpillars, Canary-feed, Calves reared without milk, by Mr Young, mode of rearing in Cornwall, by Mr Crook, in Norfolk, by Mr Bradfute, Cattle, see Black Cattle, rearing of, included under agriculture, qualities requisite for their food, are pastured, or stall-fed, stall-feeding in Germany, stall-fed in two ways, should receive all roots in a boiled state, rules for fattening, feeding of, not brought to perfection, Carrots, culture of, cultivated in Suffolk and Norfolk, why the culture of, not extended, superiority of, to turnips, difficulty of ascertaining the value of, experiments with, recommended, feeding lambs with, compared with cabbages, preferred to potatoes, superior to turnips and oats, Carrots, how used to give colour to butter, sown in young plantations, Carfs of Gowrie, mode of draining in, Cheese described, making, defects of, runnet for, how prepared, Mr Hazard's receipt for runnet, 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, Cynoglossus viridatus, Cole-seed, see Rape-seed, Coriander-seed, 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 Rush'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, Ditches, 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 tide 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 foil, hollow, duration of, when the wetness is caused by springs, Drill-husbandry, 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, E, Erskine of Marr's mode of preventing smut in wheat, Fallow-cleansing machine, Farmers' ignorance formerly, Fences, kinds of, enumerated, in gravel 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, Furze, how destroyed, Fecue, sheep's, describe purple, its appearance cultivated, sheep's, appearance cultivated, foil proper for, Festuca fluitans, Flax, feed-cake, and oil for fattening cattle, culture of, in Yorkshire, Mr Marhall 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, 510 weeded by sheep, 511

Flooding land, see Watering.

Fly, turnip, how prevented, 110, 111 Fontana's opinion about the cause of mildew, 100 Forfyth, Mr, his process for converting roots into flour, 33 his steam apparatus, 34 Four-coultred plough, 153 Frost, effect of, on ploughed land, 231 Foxtail-grafts, bulbous, 394 Fruits not trusted to as human food, ripen slowly, and are liable to be destroyed in wars, 17 Fruit-trees, how recovered, culture of, 534 in Herefordshire, &c., 536 indolence of cultivators of, 537 excess of wood on, 538 millettoe on, how destroyed, 539 moses on, 540 spring-trots hurtful to, 541 blights on, 542 to destroy walps on, 543 excess of fruit on, duration of, how lengthened, 545 Marshall on the culture of, 546 Fruit-liquors, management of fruit for, fermentation of, correcting of, caking, bottling, 640 Fruit, mode of gathering, maturing, grinding, prefling, 647 Fruits, where cultivated chiefly, varieties of, artificial, not permanent, how procured, nursery-ground for, how to choose plants for, degeneracy of, 526 G Galloway 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 Gourie, 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, 18

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, Grazing compared with the plough, Grenet's mode of granulating potatoes, Grubs, H Ha-ha, or sunk fence, Harrow, imperfection of the common, properties of new, cleansing, Haymaking, of red clover, different mode, its advantages, cautions required, fit in, Hay stacks, Headrick, Mr, his opinion of the nature of mows, Hedges, directions for planting, of hawthorn, black thorn, holly, garden, flowering shrubs for, Dr Anderdon's directions for raising, willow, how planted in exposed situations, black alder, birch, on the top of stone fences, elms, quick,

Hedges of fruit-trees, hornbeams in Germany, Dr Anderdon on mending decayed, Kames on, thorn, nurcery for, raised from old roots, mode of planting thorn, securing, training, flashing, disapproved of, on the side of the bank, filling gaps of, whins for, when necessary, Bakewell's, in stony soils, repairing, thickening of, cutting down, when improper, Mr Erikine's, oak trees in, raising 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-fly described, Holcus lanatus, Hops, once forbidden in malt liquors, expence of cultivating, in Essex, profit of, precarious, in Norfolk, Horses and oxen compared, suppoled losfs 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, expence of keeping, ruts used for feeding, whins used, Husbandmen, why led sometimes to prefer cattle to corn, Husbandry, horse-hoeing, Insects destroy vegetables, destroyed by lime-water, Kincardin, mows of, improved, Levelling of ridges, Lime

Lime destroys one kind of poor soil, No 79 enriches another, 80 Anderson's opinion concerning, 82 what a proper soil for, 83 Lord Kames's theory of, inconsistent, 85 water destroys insects, 107 Lucerne, culture of, 392

M Manure, M. Parmentier upon, practical rule for forming, 472 Lord Meadowbank's mode of converting mols into, 474 more common kinds of, 475 used in Norfolk, 476 Midland district, 477 Mr Marshall's rules for raising, 478 lime as a, operation of lime, 479 time of using lime, 480 quantity of lime, 481 lime on pasture fields, 482 limestone reduced to powder, 483 shell-marl, clay and stone marls, 485 gyplum, 486 sea-fand, 488 Meadows watering, see Watering. Mildew, a disease of wheat, red and black, or rust, opinions concerning its causes, 96 Milk-vetch, qualities of, 97 Moor, how to be cultivated, 98 Moss, nature and origin of, black and yellow, of Kincardine, removed by human labour, mode of improving by Mr Smith, 99 Moffles, produced by cutting down forrests, 100 Mouldboard of the plough, how to be formed, 101 Nature, process by which she fertilizes the earth, 102 Oats, valuable as human food, culture of, in Norfolk, ploughed down, wild, a weed in vale of Gloucester, not cultivated in vale of Gloucester, culture of, in the midland district, Yorkshire, mode of threshing, black, experiment on, 103 Obstacles to agricultural improvement, 115 Opinions about the cause of mildew, 99 Oxen and horses compared, preferred to horses, difficulty of shoeing, 104 Oven, calculations in favour of, lost by not keeping, not used in Norfolk, objection to, in the vale of Gloucester, used in Cotswold, moveable harness-house of, why the use of, declines in Yorkshire, superiority of, to horses, gradually going into disuse, calculations against, 105 Palings, 662 Paring and burning, how far useful, 200 Parsnips, the culture of, too much neglected, Mr Hazard's mode of culture, culture of, with beans in Jersey, 356 Pasturage and agriculture, 65, 66, 67, 70 Pea, everlasting, 61 Peas, culture of, setting in drills, crops of, must not be repeated, Marshall's observations on, drying of, 281 Poultry ought to be confined, proper mode of keeping, 605 Perry, excellence of, 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, may be improved, the task it performs, its general form, advantages of this form, its several parts, its shocks, breadth of the sole of, sole should be level, length of, slope of the counter, mouldboard of, how to be formed, instrument for forming the mouldboard, position of the sod turned by the plough, mode of its action, point of its draught, in trim, of Argyleshire, objections to, Scots, described, its properties, where improper, chain, 118 Plough, chain, advantages of, small single-horse, Rotherham, paring, four-coultred, 150 Poa annua, pratensis, compressa, 495 Population, greatest where vegetable food is used, 396 Potato starch, Potatoes, granulated by Mr Grenet, not prejudicial to mankind, general culture, particular culture, to prevent the grub in, cheap preparation of, culture on small spots, small farms, mode for which a premium was granted, mode of taking up, preserving, clustered, experiments on, greater experiments, advantageous, varieties of, endless; the curl in, modes of prevention, how raised from seed, by Dr Anderson, if they degenerate, bow to obtain an early crop of, planted by scooping out the eyes, Proces by which nature fertilizes the earth, 76 R Rabbits, value of, enemies of, how destroyed, Angora breed of, 601 Rape-seed, advantages of cultivating, cutting and thrashing of, sowing of, transplanting, sheep fed on, in spring, culture of, in Brabant, 512 Reapers, Reaping, manner of, 439 Ridges, high, for draining clay soils, how formed, inconvenient modes of levelling, when not to be levelled, proper direction of, narrow, advantageous, 458 Ripeness, Roller, Rolling, reason for, effects of, 161 Root of fearcity, culture of, Roota baga, see Swedish turnip. Roots used as human food, more profitable than grain, when used as food, 377 Index.

Roots, their defects as food, No 25 the transportation of them expensive, are unfit for long preservation, are too bulky for the stomach, how they differ from grain, how rendered equal in value to grain, Forfyth's process for reducing to flour, when given to cattle, should be boiled, cheap mode of boiling by steam, Rotation of crops, different kinds of plants, nature of the soil to be considered, exceptionable, from pasture advisable, examples of, Rotheram plough, Runnet for cheese, Saffron, dyes of, Sainfoin, culture of, in England, its excellence for cows, Scarcity, root of, how cultivated, Scots plough, properties of, where improper, Sheaves, size of, Sheep, experiments on feeding with roots, Sheep's fleece grubs, Shrubs, destroyed by flooding the land, Single-horse plough, Smith, Mr., his mode of improving soils, Smut, account of, Sock of the plough, Soil, clay, chalky, light poor, light rich, coarse rough, Soils, four kinds of, conjecture about the cause of their being exhausted, processes by which they are fertilized, when poor, how restored, supposed perpetually fertile, but never are so, clay and sandy, facility of, limited, pulverized by certain vegetables, seemingly enriched by fome, Sole of the plough, Somerville, Robert, Esq., account of blight and rust, Sowing machine, universal, Springs, the nature of, Stacking, Stacks, covering, hay, Stones, importance of removing, mode of removing,

Swampy lands, how cultivated, Swedish turnip, culture of, in Nottinghamshire, Tare, blue, Theory of agriculture, first, defective, difficulty of forming it, what it ought to contain, Timber trees, which most profitable, advantage of planting, ameliorate the soil, culture of, recommended, increase of oak, underwood among, mode of fowling, Earl of Fife's plantations of, where plantations of, eligible or otherwise, Timothy-grass, Trees for fruit, see Fruit trees. Turkeys, how reared in Norfolk, Turnip-rooted cabbages, culture of, value of, how raised for transplanting, quantity of seed used for, experiment with, disadvantages attending, why to be cultivated, number of sheep on an acre of, experiments with, at Cullen house, Turnip, Swedish, see Swedish turnip. cabbage, culture of, Turnip-rooted cabbage, Turnip-fly, remedies against, Turnips, method of preserving, culture of, time and mode of sowing, different sorts of, seed, remarks on, culture in Norfolk, by drill and broadcast, compared, value of, as cattle's food, mode of preserving, culture of, supposed unprofitable, compared with other vegetables, the fly injurious to, feed, keeps for, if useful, fumigation of, to be rolled, early sowing of, recommended, much feed ought to be sown, when to be manured, feed, the quality of, sown with grain, wheat, beans, objected to, reply, opinion on,

Vol. I. Part II.

Turnips, instrument for transplanting, Norfolk, culture of, marl with, in Norfolk, different manures with, in Norfolk, early, how raised in Norfolk, mode of fowling and culture, in Norfolk, raised for seed, mode of planting, scaring birds from, drawing, snow-fledge for,

Vegetable mould, apt to be buried, Vegetables, their value is absolute or relative, are useful, directly or indirectly, produce fruit or roots, profit of, limited by circumstances, nature of their growth, are the food of each other, some pulverize the soil, some seem to enrich the soil, diseases of, are ill-understood, destroyed by insects, cultivation of, divided into four heads,

Vetch, bush, Vetchling, yellow,

Watering meadows, when first prae- tified, advantages of, improves the land, increase of produce from, ought to be extended, land capable of, by springs and rivulets, if preferred, terms used in, principles of, Mr Wright's mode of, objections answered, used water, not good for, repairing works, used in, with muddy water, when preferred, good effects of, Mr Wimpey's opinion of, Mr Forfyth's opinion of, Mr Bofwell's ditto, with land floods, makes pasture preferable to ploughed land, Mr Wright's directions for, how grass consumed after, how it may cause the rot in sheep, Mr Bofwell's rule for, springy meadow improved by, hill sides improved by, coarse lands,

Watering,

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, 217 on sandy soil, 215 time for dressing, 219

Wheat, setting of, 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 setting of, 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 seed, 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 heaves, 243 in Cotswold hills, 244 hoeing, good effects of, 245 cutting mildewed, very green, 246 in Yorkshire, culture of, 247 varieties of, raised, 248 prepared with arsenic, 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

SECT. I. Instruments of Husbandry.

The instruments employed in agriculture are various; as the plough, the harrow, the roller, &c., which are again diversified by various constructions adapted to particular uses.

1. Of Ploughs.

The plough is a machine for turning up the soil by the action of cattle, contrived to save the time, labour, and expense, which, without this instrument, must have been employed in digging the ground, and fitting it to receive all sorts of seed.

Amidst all the varieties which can occur in the manner of ploughing the ground, arising from difference of soil, local habits, and other causes, there is still a sameness in the task which gives a certain uniformity to the chief parts of the instrument, and should therefore furnish principles for its construction. There is not, perhaps, any invention of man that more highly merits our utmost endeavours to bring it to perfection; but it has been too much neglected by those persons who study machines, and has been considered as a rude tool, unworthy of their attention. Any thing appears to them sufficient for the clumsy task of turning up the ground; and they cannot imagine that there can be any nicety in a business which is successfully performed by the ignorant peasant. Others acknowledge the value of the machine, and the difficulty of the subject; but they think that difficulty insuperable, because the operation is so complicated, and the resistances to be overcome so uncertain, or so little understood, that we cannot discover any unequivocal principle, and must look for improvement only from experience or chance.

But these opinions are ill founded. The difficulty is indeed great, and it is neither from the ignorant farmer nor the rude artist that we can expect improvement. It requires the serious consideration of the most accomplished mechanician; but from him we may expect improvement. We have many data; we know and maybe pretty distinctly what preparation will fit the ground improved, for being the proper receptacle for the seed, and for supporting and nourishing the plants; and though it is, perhaps, impossible to bring it into this state by the operation of any instrument of the plough kind, we know that some ploughs prodigiously excel others in reducing the stiff ground to that uniform crumbling state in which it can be left by the spade. The imperfections of their performance, or what yet remains to be done to bring the ground into this state, is directly understood. It seems, then, a determinate problem (to use the language of mathematicians), because the operation depends on the invariable laws of mechanical nature.

It will therefore be very proper, under this article, to ascertain, if possible, what a plough in general ought to perform. Instruments to be, by describing distinctly its task. This will surely point out a general form, the chief features of which must be found under every variety that can arise from particular circumstances.

The plough performs its task, not by digging, but by being pulled along. We do not aim at immediately reducing the ground to that friable and uniform state into which we can bring it by the spade; but we wish to bring it into such a state that the ordinary operations of the seafon will complete the task.

For this purpose, a slice or sod must be cut off from the firm land. This must be shoveled to one side, that the plough and the ploughman may proceed in their labour; and the sod must be turned over, so that the grass and stubble may be buried and rot, and that fresh soil may be brought to the surface; and all must be left in such a loose and open condition, that it may quickly crumble down by the influence of the weather, without baking into lumps, or retaining water. The first office is performed by the coulter, which makes a perpendicular cut in the ground. The point of the foak follows this, and its edge gets under the sod, and lifts it up. While lifting it up, it also heels it over, away from the firm land. The mouldboard comes last, and pushes it aside, and gradually turns it over as far as is required.

The general form of the body of a plough is that of a wedge, or very blunt chisel, AFEDBC, (fig. 1.), having the lower corner D of its edge considerably more advanced than the upper corner B; the edge BD and the whole back AFDB is the same perpendicular plane; the bottom EDB approaches to a triangular form, acute at D, and square at F; the surface BCED is of a complicated shape, generally hollow, because the angle ABC is always greater than FDE: this consequence will be easily seen by the mathematician. The back is usually called the land side by the ploughmen, and the base FDE is called the sole, and FE the heel, and BCED the mouldboard. Lastly, the angle AFE is generally square, or a right angle, so that the sole has level both as to length and breadth.

By comparing this form with attention, the reader will perceive that if this wedge is pulled or pushed along in the direction FD, keeping the edge BD always in the perpendicular cut which has been previously made by the coulter, the point D will both raise the earth and shove it to one side and twist it over; and, when the point has advanced from F to D, the sod, which formerly rested on the triangle DFE, will be forced up along the surface BCED, the line DF rising into the position Df, and the line EF into the position Ef.—Had the bottom of this furrow been covered with a bit of cloth, this cloth would be lying on the mouldboard, in the position DfE: the slice, thus deranged from its former situation, will have a shape something like that represented in fig. 2.

Inasmuch as the wedge raises the earth, the earth presses down the wedge; and as the wedge pushes the earth to the right hand, the earth presses the wedge to the left; and in this manner the plough is strongly pressed, both to the bottom of the furrow by its sole, and also to the firm land by its back or land side. In short, it is strongly squeezed into the angle formed along the line FD (fig. 1.) by the perpendicular plane abDF and the horizontal plane FDE; and in this manner the furrow becomes a firm groove, directing the motion of the plough, and giving it a resisting support, by which it can perform all parts of its task.

We beg our readers to keep this circumstance constantly in mind. It evidently suggests a fundamental maxim in the construction, namely, to make the land side of the plough an exact plane, and to make the sole, if not plane, at least straight from point to heel. Any projection would tear up the supporting planes, destroy the directing groove, and expend force in doing mischief.

This wedge is seldom made of one piece. To give it the necessary width for removing the earth would require a huge block of timber. It is therefore usually framed of several pieces, which we shall only mention in order to have the language of the art. Fig. 3. represents the land side of a plough, such as are made by James Small at Rosebank, near Foord, Mid Lothian. The base of it, CM, is a piece of hard wood, pointed before at C to receive a hollow shoeing of iron CO, called the sock, and tapering a little towards the hinder end, M, called the heel. This piece is called the head of the plough. Into its fore part, just behind the heel, is mortised a flopping post, AL, called the sheath, the front of which is worked sharp, forming the edge of the wedge. Nearer the heel there is mortised another piece, PQ, flopping far back, called the stilt, serving for a handle to the ploughman. The upper end of the sheath is mortised into the long beam RH, which projects forward, almost horizontally, and is mortised behind into the stilt. To the fore end of the beam are the cattle attached. The whole of this side of the wedge is fashioned into one plain surface, and the intervals between the pieces are filled up with boards, and commonly covered with iron plates. The coulter, WFE, is firmly fixed by its flank, W, into the beam, rakes forward at an angle of 45° with the horizon, and has its point E about six inches before the point of the foak. It is brought into the same vertical plane with the land side of the plough, by giving it a knee outward immediately below the beam, and then kneeling it again downward. It is further supported on this side by an iron stay FH, which turns on a pin at P, passes through an eye-bolt I on the side of the beam, and has a nut screwed on it immediately above. When screwed to its proper slope, it is firmly wedged behind and before the flank.—Fig. 3. No. 2. represents the same plough viewed from above. ST is the right-hand or small stilt fixed to the inside of the mouldboard LV.

Fig. 4. represents the bottom of the wedge. CM is the head, covered at the point by the foak. Just behind the foak there is mortised into the side of the head a smaller piece DE, called the wrest, making an angle of 16° with the land side of the head, and its outside edge is in the same straight line with the side of the foak. From the point to the heel of the head is about 33 inches, and the extreme breadth of the heel is about nine. The side of the wedge, called the furrow side, is formed by the mouldboard, which is either made of a block or plank of wood, or of a thick iron plate.

The foak drawn in this figure is called a spear socket, and is chiefly used in coarse or stony ground, which AGRICULTURE.

Instruments which require great force to break it up. Another form of the lock is represented in the next figure 4. This is called a FEATHER SOCK, and has a cutting edge CF on its furrow side, extending back about ten inches, and to the right hand or furrow side about six. The use of this is to cut the sod below, and detach it from the ground, as the coulter detaches it from the unploughed land. This is of great use when the ground is bound together by knotted roots, but it is evident that it cannot be used to advantage in very stony ground. In general, the feather lock is only fit for ground which has been under tolerable culture; but it greatly facilitates the labour of separating the sod. It may reasonably be asked, why the feather is not much broader, so as to cut the whole breadth of the furrow? This is sometimes done. But we must recollect that the sod is not only to be pushed aside, but also to be turned over. If it were completely detached by the feather, and chanced at any time to break on the back of the lock, it would only be pushed aside; but by leaving a little of the sod uncut, it is held fast below while it is thrown aside above, which cannot fail to twist it round. As the wrest advances, it easily destroys the remaining connection, which in general is very slight and crumbling.

The breadth of the lock at the heel determines the width of the furrow. Nine inches will give enough room for a horse or man to walk in. A greater breadth is of no use, and it expends force in pushing the earth aside. It is a mistake to suppose that a broad lock gives more room for the turned slice to stand on; for whatever is the breadth of the furrow, the successive slices will be left at their former distances, because each is thrown aside at the same distance. When the breadth of a slice exceeds its depth, and it is turned on its side, it will now stand on a narrow base, but higher than before, and therefore will stand looser, which the farmers desire. But in this case it generally falls on its back before it has been far enough removed, and is then pushed aside, and left with the grassy side down, which is not approved of. On the other hand, when the depth considerably exceeds the breadth, the sods, now turned on their sides, must be squeezed home to the ploughed land, which breaks them and tosses them up, making rough work. In wet clay soil, this is also apt to knead them together. On the whole, it is best to have the breadth and depth nearly equal. But all this is workmanship, and has no dependence on the width of the lock behind.

We have already said that the lock is generally level from right to left at the heel. This was not the case formerly, but the wrest was considerably raised behind. It resulted from this form, that the furrow was always shallower on the right side, or there was left a low ridge of unturned earth between the furrows. This circumstance alone was a bad practice; for one great aim of ploughing is the renewal of the superficial soil. In this way of ribbing the furrows, the sod tumbles over as soon as it is pushed to the top of the rib on the right of the rut made by the plough; the firmest parts of it fall undermold, and the rest crumbles above it, making the work appear neat; whereas it is extremely unequal, and what most needs the influence of the weather to crumble it down is sheltered from it. Add to these circumstances, that the hollow is a receptacle for water, with a surface which can retain it, having been consolidated by the pressure of the plough. For all these reasons, therefore, it seems advisable to form the furrow with a flat or level bottom, and therefore to keep the heel of the wrest as low as the heel of the head. For the same reason it is proper to hold the plough with the land side perpendicular, and not to heel it over to that side, as is frequently done, producing the same ribbed furrow as an ill-formed lock.

There is great variety of opinions about the length of the plough. If considered merely as a pointed instrument, or even as a cutting instrument acting obliquely on a given length of sod, there can be no doubt but that it will be more powerful as it is longer: that is, it will require less force to pull it through the ground. But it must also shove the earth aside, and if we double its length we cause it to act on twice as much earth at once; for when the plough has entered as far as the heel, the whole furrow side is acting together in pushing the earth to the side. Now it is found, that the force necessary for pushing a mass of earth horizontally along the rough ground is nearly equal to its weight. It would seem, therefore, that nothing is to be gained by making the base of the plough of a great length, except a greater facility in making the first penetration, and this is chiefly performed by the coulter and lock; and a great length renders the plough heavy and cumbersome; and, by causing it to act long on the sod, tends to knead and cake it.

Nothing very precise can be offered on this subject. Some sensible advantage is derived by making the plough taper, especially forward, where it acts as a boring and cutting instrument; and for this purpose it is convenient to give the coulter a slope of 45 degrees. (This has also the advantage of throwing up the stones, slops of and roots, which it would otherwise drive before it the coulter through the firm ground.) And for the same reason, and of the edge of the feather has a great slope, it being 10 inches long and only six inches broad. But if we pursue this advantage too far, we expose ourselves to another risk. It is sometimes necessary to heel over the plough to the right, in order to get over some obstruction. In doing this, the coulter is necessarily raised for a moment, and the slanting cut now made by the feather becomes the directing groove for the plough. When the feather has a very long slope, this groove has force enough to guide the whole plough; and it is almost impossible for the ploughman to prevent it from running out of the ground to the land side (A). The feather, therefore, should not exceed ten or twelve inches in length.

But to return to the length of the plough, from which this observation has diverted us a little, we must add, that a long plough has a great advantage in the steadiness of its motion, having a much more extensive support.

(*) This is often felt with the excellent plough described by Mr. Arbuthnot of Surry, in the Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c., London. Instruments support both on the land side and below, and being therefore less affected by its inequalities. Accordingly, they are now made considerably longer than formerly; and 33 inches has been assumed as a proportion to 9 inches in breadth, in conformity to the most approved ploughs now in use.

The mouldboard. We come now to treat of the mouldboard. This is the most delicate part of the plough, and is to be seen in the greatest variety in the works of different artists, each of whom has a notion of great value in his own opinion. It is here indeed that the chief resistances are exerted and must be overcome; and a judicious form of this part of the plough may diminish them considerably, while it performs the work in the best manner. Without pretending to say that the different resistances are susceptible of an accurate determination, we can still draw sufficient information from palpable rules of mechanics to direct us to what would be nearly the best possible form for a mouldboard. The task to be performed is to raise, push aside, and turn over to a certain degree, a slice already cut off from the firm ground. As we cannot provide for every inequality of the cohesion or tenacity of the earth, our safest way is to consider it as uniform: the weight of it is always so. As we cannot provide for every proportion between the tenacity and the weight, we must take an average or medium proportion which is not far from that of equality. Conceiving the slice at first as only tenacious, and without weight, it is an easy problem to determine the form which shall give it the intended twist and removal with the smallest force. In like manner we can proceed with a slice that has weight without tenacity. It is equally easy to combine both in any proportion; and it is easiest of all to make this combination on the supposition of equality of weight and cohesion. Supposing the slice like a brick, we know that it requires the greatest force to begin to raise it on one edge, and that the strain becomes less as it rises, till its centre of gravity is perpendicularly above the supporting angle. It requires no force to raise it further; for on pushing it beyond this position, it would fall over of itself, unless withheld by the tenacity of what is not yet raised. But on considering the form or plan of the flock, we find that while the weight of the flock resists most strongly, there is less of it in this situation actually rising, and this nearly in the same proportion with the labour of raising it; and we see that after the flock has attained that position in which it is ready to fall over, it has reached the wider part of the wreath, and is now pushed aside, which requires nearly the same force as to raise it: and this continues to the end of the operation.

When we take all these circumstances into consideration, it appears probable, that the compound resistance does not change much from first to last. If this be really the case, it is an undoubted maxim that the whole operation should proceed equably: if it does not, there must be some part of the flock that makes a resistance greater than the medium; and as the resistances in all this class of motions increase nearly as the squares of the velocities with which they are overcome, it is demonstrable that we shall lose power if we render them unequal.

Hence we deduce this maxim, That as the plough advances through equal spaces, the twist and the lateral sliding of the flock should increase by equal degrees. And this determines a priori the form of the mouldboard. Instruments of this principle occurred to Mr James Small, a plough-maker in Berwickshire, and he published a treatise on the subject in 1784. He has given several methods for constructing mouldboards, which he supposes are in conformity to his principle; but being merely a country artist, and unacquainted with science, his rules do not produce mouldboards having this property of equable operation, although they do not deviate far from it. His book is a very useful and instructive performance, and level to the capacity of those for whom it is intended; and we have here availed ourselves of the author's information on many points.

The high character which Small's ploughs have maintained for 25 years is a strong argument for the truth of the maxim. We shall therefore give such instructions as will enable any intelligent workman to construct such a mouldboard without any risk of failure; and if future theory or experience should discover any error in the principles from which this maxim is deduced, by showing that either the weight, the tenacity, or the lateral resistance, is exerted according to a different law from what has been assumed, the directions to be given are of such a nature that they adapt themselves with precision to these changes of principle, and will still produce a perfect and efficacious plough. Our readers will readily acknowledge that this is gaining a great point; because at present the instrument is constructed very much at random, and by a guess of the eye.

Let us now return to the wedge formerly made use of for illustrating the action of the plough. Suppose it placed in a furrow already ploughed, and that the space before the line FE (fig. 1), which is square from the line of motion FD, is covered with a piece of cloth or carpet, and that the point of the wedge enters upon it at F, and advances to D. It will evidently raise the cloth, which will now cover the side of the wedge, forming the triangle fDE. The line fD is what formerly lay in the angle along the line FD, and fE formerly lay on FE. It is this line FE therefore that we are to raise, throw aside, and twist round, by equal degrees, while the plough advances through equal spaces.

Now, if the length DF of the plough-wedge, reckoned from the point of the flock to the heel, be 33 inches, and the breadth FE behind be nine inches, the angle DEF or DEf will be nearly 74°. The construction of the furrow side of the plough is therefore reduced to this very simple problem, "To make the angle DEf turn equably round the axis DE, while the angular point L advances equably from D to E."

This will be done by means of the following very simple tool or instrument. Let IHFK (fig. 5) be a piece of hard wood, such as oak, a foot long, three inches broad, and an inch thick. Plant on this another piece BHFC of the same breadth, four inches long, and half an inch thick. This will leave beyond it a flat 8 inches long. We shall call this the flock of the instrument. Let ABC be a piece of clean oak, half an inch thick, 20 inches long, and three inches broad at the end BC. Let this be fashioned like the style of a sundial, having its angle ABC 74°. Let it have a part BCE square, to the extent of four inches from C, and the rest EA worked into the form of a straight flender rod. Let EFG be a semicircle of clean plane tree or of metal, four inches radius: fasten this by small screws to the square part of the tile CE, so that its centre may be at C. Let this semicircle be divided into 180 degrees, and numbered from G along the arch GFE, so that 0° may be at G, and 180° at E. Let this tile and semicircle turn round the line BC by means of small hinges. This instrument may be called the mouldboard gage, or protractor. When the tile is folded down on the stock BIK, the point G will be at F; and when it is raised up to any angle, the degrees will be pointed out on the semicircle by the straight edge CF.

Nothing can be more obvious than the manner of employing this instrument once we have determined the most proper position for the sod when the work is completed. Now it seems to be the opinion of the most intelligent farmers, that the best position of the sod is that represented in fig. 6.

Fig. 6 represents a section of the ground and the working parts of the plough, as viewed by a person standing straight before it. ABCD is the unploughed ground, and WB the coulter, kneed in Small's manner. FGKB is the section of the plough (or rather of the whole space through which the plough has passed, for no part of the plough has this section). HOFE is the section of a slice, pushed aside and turned over, so as to lean on the next. HE is that side of the slice which formerly lay on KB. EF is the side cut off by the coulter; and FO is the upper or gravy side. The lower corners are supposed to be a little bruised inwards, as must generally happen.

The sod is pushed 9 inches to the right hand, and it leans with its gravy side on the preceding furrow, in an angle of about 50 degrees. In this position the grats is turned down so as to rot; and there is a hollow left below to allow the rain water to run freely off, and to receive the earth as it crumbles down by the weather; and if the harrow is dragged across these ridges, it distributes along the surface the mould which was formerly at the bottom. The sod has got a twist of 130 degrees; but it is evident, that after it has been turned 90 degrees, or even a little before this, it is ready to fall over of itself. It is sufficient therefore that it be turned 90 degrees when the heel of the wrest has reached it, and the remainder of the twist is given to it by the wing or flap of the mouldboard. This, then, dictates to us the manner of applying the instrument.

Divide the edge DE (fig. 7.) of the wrest, or of a lath nailed on it, into 90 equal parts, and continue the divisions backwards to G in the same line to 130. Number the divisions backwards from the point of the sock; then place the protractor on the edge of the wrest, with the point B of fig. 5. at the 90th division (fig. 7.); that is, just at the heel, with the stock under the wrest, and the tile raised to 90°, and press it home to the joint, so that the stock may be square to the edge, and then the tile will be in the position suited that part of the mouldboard. In like manner slide the stock forward to the 80th division, and lower the tile to 80°, and it will have the position that suits that part of the mouldboard. In the same way slide it forward to 70°, 60°, 50°, &c., and lower the tile to 70°, 60°, 50°, &c., and we shall have the positions for the several parts of the mouldboard; and thus it may be formed to the very point of the sock, because the straight edge of the wrest may be continued so far. A block of wood may be hewed to fit these several positions of the protractor file; and thus, when placed with its straight edge on the outer line of the wrest, and cut away behind in the land-side plane, will be the exact shape of the plough-wedge. It would rise up indeed into a tall piece of singular shape, gradually tapering down to the point of the lock; but when cut off parallel to the ground, at the height of about 12 inches, it will form the mouldboard, the front or edge of the sheath, and the whole back of the sock except the feather, which is an extraneous piece. The wing or flap of the mouldboard is formed in the same manner, by sliding the stock of the protractor to 100°, 110°, 120°, 130°, and opening the tile to 100°, 110°, 120°, 130°. This will extend the top of the mouldboard to about 22 or 23 inches; but the lower part of the wing must be cut away, because it would push the sod too far aside after it has got the proper twist. The form of this part should be such as would exactly apply itself to a plank set at the heel of the wrest, parallel to the land-side of the head, and leaning outward 40 degrees. This will be very nearly the case, if it be made a sweep similar to the edge of the sheath. Fig. 8. is a resemblance of the surface of the mouldboard; AD being the edge of the sheath, E the heel of the wrest, and EBC the wing or flap. When cut through in a perpendicular direction, the section is hollow; if cut horizontally it is convex; and if in the direction CE, making an angle of 74° with ED, it is straight. If the protractor be set on it at D, and gradually ridden backwards, the mouldboard will gradually open the tile, and the tile will skim its whole surface without any vacancy between them.

This form is given to the mouldboard on the authority of the supposition that the sum of the resistances arising from weight and tenacity remain pretty constant in its whole length. This cannot be affirmed with confidence in any case, and is by no means true in all. In stiff clay foils the effects of tenacity prevail, and in light or crumbling foils the weight is the chief resistance. The advantage of this mode of construction is, that it can be adapted to any foil. If the difficulty of cutting and raising the sod is much greater than that of shoving it aside and turning it over, we have only to make the rise and twist more gentle towards the point of the sock, and more rapid as we advance; and it is easy to do this according to any law of acceleration that we please. Thus, instead of dividing the edge of the wrest DE (fig. 9.) continued to G into 130 parts, draw a line DG perpendicular to it, and draw some curve line DG convex towards DG, and divide this into equal parts in the points 10, 20, 30, 40, &c.; and then draw perpendiculars to the wrest edge, cutting it at 10, 20, 30, 40, &c. and apply the protractor to these points. It is evident that the divisions of the wrest are bigger at D, and grow gradually less towards G; and therefore, because each has 10° more twist than the preceding, the twist will be more rapid as it approaches the end of the mouldboard. This curve may be chosen so as to produce any law of acceleration. On the contrary, we produce a retarded or diminished twist by making the curve concave towards DG, as represented by the dotted curve.

The mathematical reader will observe, that this construction Instruments of husbandry aim at regulating the twist round the line of the wret E.D. This does not produce precisely the same regulation round the line F.D., which is the line of the plough's motion, and of the sod's position before it is ploughed over. The difference, however, is not worth attending to in a matter so little susceptible of precision. But the twist round the line F.D. may be regulated according to any law by this instrument with equal facility. Instead of placing the stock of the protractor square with the edge of the wret, it may be placed square with the land side of the plough. To do this, draw a line B.L (fig. 5, No. 2.) across the stock from the point B, making the angle L.B.C 16°, and put a brass pin at L, making a hole in the style that it may not be prevented from the folding down. Then, in using the instrument, let the points B and L rest against the edge of the wret, and proceed as directed.

A still greater variety of forms, and accommodation to particular views, with the same general dependence on principle, will be procured by giving the rod B.A a motion round B in the plane of the tile, so as to form a tile of a variable angle.

A tool may even be constructed in which the rod B.A might be a cutting knife; and the whole may be led along by a screw, while this knife turns round according to any law, and would gradually pare away the mouldboard to the proper form.

Thus have we reduced the fashioning the operative part of the plough to a rule which is certain. We do not mean by this, that a mouldboard made according to the maxim now given will make the best possible plough; but we have given a rule by which this part of the plough can be made unequivocally of a certain quality by every workman, whatever this quality may be, and this without being obliged to copy. No description of any curve mouldboard to be met with in books has this advantage; and we say that this rule is capable of any systematic variation, either with respect to the width of furrow, or the quantity or variation of its twist. We have therefore put it in the power of any intelligent person to make such gradual and progressive changes as may serve to bring this most useful of all instruments to perfection. The angle of the head and wret, and the curve for dividing the wret-line, can always be expressed in writing, and the improvements communicated to the public at large.

After this description of the working parts of a plough, and directions for giving it the most effective form, it will not be improper to consider a little its mode of action, with the view of attaining a more distinct conception of what is done by the ploughman and the cattle, and to direct him in his procedure.

Returning again to the wedge (fig. 1.), we see that it is pressed down at the point D, and as far back along the mouldboard as its surface continues to look upward, that is, all the way to the heel of the wret. Behind this, the perpendicular sections of the mouldboard overhang, and look downward; and here, while pressing down the sod, the plough is pressed upwards. These two pressures tend to twist the plough round a transverse line somewhere between the heel and the point. The plough therefore tends to rise at the heel, and to run its point deeper into the ground. Upon the whole, the pressure downwards is much greater than the upward pressure. It is exerted over a much greater space, and Instruments of husbandry is greater in most parts of that space. Behind, very little downward pressure is necessary, the sod being ready to fall down of itself, and only requiring a gentle touch to lay it in a proper position.

In like manner the plough is pressed backward by the resistance made to the coulter and stock, and part of the resistance made to the sloping side of the mouldboard; and it is pressed to the left by the other part of the pressure on the stock and mouldboard.

All these pressures must be balanced by the joint action of the cattle, the resistance of the bottom, and the resistance of the firm ground on the left-hand or land-side.

It is the action of the cattle, exerted on that point to which they are attached, which produces all these pressures. It is demonstrated by the principles of mechanics, that this force must not only be equal to the mean or compound force of these resisting pressures, but must also be in the opposite direction.

It is further demonstrated, that if a body be dragged through any resisting substance by a force acting on any point G, and in any direction whatever GH, and really moves uniformly in that direction, the force exerted exactly balances the resistances which it excites, both as to quantity and direction: And if the body advances without turning round the point by which it is dragged, the resistances on one side of this point are in equilibrium with those on the opposite side.

And, lastly, it is demonstrated, that when this equilibrium is obtained, it is indifferent to what point in the line GH the force is applied. Therefore, in fig. 3, No. 1., the force acting in the direction HO may either be applied to the point of the beam H, or to the point N of the coulter, or to the point O of the stock.

When therefore a plough advances steadily, requiring no effort of the ploughman to direct it, if the line of draught OM (fig. 10.) be produced backwards to the point G of the mouldboard, that point is the place round which all the resistances balance each other. This point may be called the centre of resistance and the centre of action.

It would be of importance to determine this point by principle; but this can hardly be done with precision even in a plough of a known form: and it is impossible to do it in general for all ploughs, because it is different in each. It even varies in any plough by every variation of the proportion between the weight and the cohesion of the sod. We see how it can be found experimentally in any given uniform sod, viz. by producing backwards the line of draught. Then, if the draught rope, instead of being fixed to the muzzle of the beam, were fixed to this point, and if it were pulled in the same direction, the plough would continue to perform its work without any assistance from the ploughman, while the sod continued uniform. But the smallest inequality of sod would derange the plough so as to make it go entirely out of its path. Should the resistances between G and D prevail, the plough would go deeper, which would increase the resistances on that side where they already exceed, and the plough would run still deeper. Should the resistances behind G prevail, the heel would be pressed down, and the point would rise, which would still farther destroy the equilibrium, and, producing a greater deviation from the Instruments the right path, would quickly throw the plough out of the ground.

For these reasons we must not think of attaching the draught to the centre of resistance; but must contrive a point of draught, such as shall restore the plough to its proper position when it has been driven out of it by any obstruction.

The muzzle of end of the beam is a point which will completely suit our purpose. For suppose that the resistance on the back of the flock has prevailed, and the plough MNFD (fig. 12.) has taken the position m n f d represented by the dotted line, the draught line GMO is brought down into the position g m o, diverging a little from GMO, and meeting the mouldboard in a point g considerably before G. By this means the resistances on the hinder side of g are increased, and those before it are diminished, and the plough quickly regains its former position.

From these observations it is plain, that whatever is the situation of the centre of resistance, the point of draught may be so chosen that the action of the cattle shall be directly opposed to the resistance of the ground, and that moreover the plough shall have no tendency either to go deeper or to run out. This is the use of the apparatus at the point of the beam, called the muzzle, represented at H (fig. 3.). It turns round a bolt i through the beam, and can be stopped at any height by another pin k put through the holes in the arch l m. A figure is given of the muzzle immediately below, as it appears when looking down on it. The eye to which the draught rope is hooked is spread out horizontally, as shown by HK, and has several notches O in it, to either of which the hook can be applied. This serves to counteract any occasional tendency which the plough may have to the right or left.

When the plough goes on steadily, without any effort of the ploughman, it is said to be in trim, and to swim fair; the pressure before and behind the centre of action being in equilibrium with each other. In order to learn whether a plough will be in this manner under management, hook the draught ropes as high as possible. In this state the plough should have a continual tendency to rise at the heel, and even to run a little into the ground. Then hook the rope as low as possible. The plough should now press hard on the furrow with the heel, and have some tendency to run out of the ground. If both these are observed, the plough is properly constructed in this respect; if not, it must be altered, either by changing the position of the flock or that of the beam. Lowering the end of the beam will correct the tendency of the plough to go deeper; the raising the point of the flock will also have the same effect. But it is of considerable importance not to take the point of the flock out of the plane of the sod, and it is much better to make the alteration by the beam. The slope of the coulter has a considerable effect, but it cannot be placed very far from the inclination of 45° without the risk of choking the plough by driving the roots and stones before it. It is of great consequence to have the coulter fit exactly in the direction of the plough's motion; if it is in any other direction, it will powerfully twist the plough into its own track. As it must be fixed in the middle of the beam's thickness to have strength, it is removed a little from the plane of the land side, and it was the usual practice to point it to the left below to compensate for this; but this by no means removes the disposition to twist, and it exposes to the risk of catching a stone between its point and that of the flock, which must now be driven forward through the firm ground at a great expense of labour to the cattle. Mr Small has very ingeniously remedied this by giving the coulter a short knee to the left immediately below the beam, and thus pointing it downwards in the plumb of the land side. See fig. 6.

It is not without its use to know the absolute force necessary for tilling the ground. This has been frequently measured with a spring fleecyard. One of Small's ploughs, worked by two horses, and employed in breaking up stiff land which had been ploughed before winter, and much consolidated by the rains, required a force of 360lbs. avoidupois; and we may state this as the ordinary rate of such work; but moderately firm sod, under good culture, requires at a medium 325lbs.

As we wish to embrace every opportunity of rendering this work useful to the public, we shall conclude this article with an account of a plough which has just now been recommended to public notice by the Scots Highland Society as extremely proper for a hilly country. The inventor, the Rev. Alexander Campbell minister at Kilcalmonell in Argyleshire, was honoured with the society's gold medal, value £1.

A, the flock (fig. 11.); the land-side of which supplies the place of the coulter, and the sole of it serves as a plate of iron 12 inches broad when finished, and somewhat under half an inch thick.—B, the head; to be made of iron in a triangular form, 4 inches broad by 2 inches at the thickest part. There are 5 inches of the head fixed in the flock.—C, the beam, 4 inches thick by 5 inches deep, gradually tapered thinner; the length 6 feet.—E, the fleath, must be of the same thickness with the beam above and the head below, and is five inches broad. An iron screw-bolt connects the beam and head behind the fleath.—F, the handles are so made that the slope of the mouldboard, which is fixed to one of them, may be the longer and more gradual. They are 5 feet 8 inches long, and 2 feet 4 inches aflutter at the ends.—G, the mouldboard, consists of 7 rounded sticks two inches in diameter; the covert of them is in the plane of the sole, the rest in succession close to each other above it. This makes the mouldboard 14 inches broad. To prevent any earth from getting over the mouldboard, a thin deal 4 or 5 inches broad is fixed above it. The mouldboard, land-side, and sole of the plough, are clad with iron.—The length is 20 inches: this added to 18 inches, the length of the flock, makes the length from point to heel 3 feet 2 inches.—The muzzle or bridle OPH is also of a more convenient and better construction than those commonly in use. By means of the screw pins at L and M, different degrees of land may be given to the plough; the iron rod LH being thereby moved sidewise in the socket LN, and up and down by OP. The rod is 30 inches long, one broad, and half an inch thick. It is hooked into a screwbolt at H. Two inches of the rod project at N, in the form of an eye, before the muzzle, to receive the hook of the croftree.

The advantages of this plough are said to be: It is not liable to be interrupted or turned out of its course by Instruments by stones, roots, &c., as other ploughs are; nor does it dip too deep as to be liable to be broken by large stones or flags. The motion of the muzzle is also thought an improvement. Another advantage it has over other ploughs is, its not being so liable to be choked up by rubble, &c. This we understand to be its chief excellency, and an object much desired in the construction of the plough. Upon the whole, we are informed that this plough is lighter, less expensive, and less liable to go out of trim than the ordinary plough, and that with it two horses can plough land which requires four with any other plough.

Such are said to be the advantages of this construction; but we cannot help expressing our apprehension that the uniting the coulter and feather at the point of the stock will expose the plough to great risks of being put out of order. When the upright edge strikes a stone obliquely, especially on the land side, it must be violently twisted round the point of the head; and, having but a moderate thickness at this part, may be broken or permanently twisted. The plough will then be continually running out of its direction; and we apprehend that this defect cannot be amended without taking off the stock and putting it in the fire. When a coulter is bent by the same cause, the ploughman can either rectify it by altering the wedging, or he can straighten it in the field; and it must be observed, that the plough opposes much less resistance to the derangement of this sort of coulter than of the common one. In the common coulter the strain does not so much tend to twist the plough round the line of its motion, as to press it wholly to landward. The resistance to this is great; but a very moderate force will twist it round its line of motion. In either case, if the blow be given in that point of the coulter where the draught line crosses it, there will be no twist of the whole plough, but the point of the plough will be forced horizontally to or from the land. When the blow is out of this line, the strain tends to twist the beam or the plough. Experience will determine which of the two is the most hazardous.

These ploughs were made by Thomas Lindsay, Abbeyhill, Edinburgh, and models are to be seen in the hall of the Highland Society.

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

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

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

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

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

The sheath is fixed to the mouldboard, as in fig. 11. Fig. 2. E, in the same manner as the wrest is fixed to the head in fig. 7.

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

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

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

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

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

The Stock, B.P, is fixed to the end of the head, Fig. 5, and is about two feet long. In fitting the stock to the head, the point ought to be turned a little to the land or left side; because otherwise it is apt to come out of the land altogether. When turned to the left, it likewise takes off more land; when turned upwards, the plough goes shallow; and when downwards, it goes deeper.

The Coulter is fixed to the beam, and is about two feet ten inches long, two inches and a half broad, sharp at the point and before, and thick on the back, like... AGRICULTURE.

Instruments like a knife. It is fixed and directed by wedges, so as to make the point of it equal to, or rather a little before, the point of the foak, and upon a line with the left side of the head. This oblique position enables it to throw roots, &c., out of the land, which requires less force than cutting or pushing them forward.

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

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

Fig. 11. represents the plough complete, by joining together figures 6. and 10. in the fleath EB. The wrest BK is supposed to make an angle with the head AB as in fig. 7, and the handles joined together as in fig. 9.

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

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

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

Of all forms, that of the Scots plough is the fittest for breaking up stiff and rough land, especially where stones abound; and no less fit for strong clay hardened by drought. The length of its head gives it a firm hold of the ground; its weight prevents it from being thrown out by stones; the length of the handles gives the ploughman great command to direct its motion; and by the length of its head, and of its mould-board, it lays the furrow-slice cleverly over. This plough was contrived during the infancy of agriculture, and was well contrived; in the foils above described it has not an equal.

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

These defects must be submitted to in a foil that requires a strong heavy plough; but may be avoided in a cultivated foil by a plough differently constructed. Of all the ploughs fitted for a cultivated foil free of stones, that already mentioned, which was introduced into Scotland about 20 years ago, by James Small in Blackadder Mount, Berwickshire, is the best. It is now in great request; and with reason, as it avoids all the defects of the Scots plough. The shortness of its head and its mouldboard lessens the friction greatly: from the point of the foak to the back part of the head it is only 30 inches; and the whole length, from the point of the beam to the end of the handles, between eight and nine feet. The foak and mould-board make one line gently curving; and consequently gather no earth. Instead of a wrest, the under edge of the mould-board is one plane with the sole of the head; which makes a wide furrow, without leaving any part unstirred. It is of late commonly termed the chain-plough, because it is drawn by an iron chain fixed to the back part of the beam immediately before the coulter. This has two advantages: first, by means... AGRICULTURE.

Instruments means of a muzzle, it makes the plough go deep or shallow; and, next, it stiffens the beam less than if fixed to the point, and therefore a flender beam is sufficient.

As we have already sufficiently explained the speculative principles upon which this plough is formed, we shall only remark, that it is proper for loams, for carse clays, and, in general, for every sort of tender soil free of stones. It is even proper for opening up pasture ground, where the soil has been formerly well cultivated.

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

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

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

If we look back 40 years, ploughs of different constructions did not enter even into a dream. The Scots plough was universally used, and no other was known. There was no less ignorance as to the number of cattle necessary for this plough. In the south of Scotland, six oxen and two horses were universal; and in the north ten oxen, sometimes twelve. The first attempt to lessen the number of oxen was in Berwickshire. The low part of that county abounds with stone and clay marl, the most substantial of all manures, which had been long used by one or two gentlemen. About 30 years ago it acquired reputation, and spread rapidly. As two horses and two oxen were employed in every marl cart; the farmer, in summer fallowing, and in preparing land for marl, was confined to four oxen and two horses. And as that manure afforded plenty of succulent straw for oxen, the farmer was surprised to find that four oxen did better now than six formerly. Marling, however, a laborious work, proceeded slowly, till people were taught by a noted farmer in that country, what industry can perform by means of power properly applied. It was reckoned a mighty task to marl five or six acres in a year. That gentleman, by having plenty of red clover for his working cattle, accomplished the marling of 50 acres in a summer, and once of 54. Having so much occasion for oxen, he tried with succels two oxen and two horses in a plough; and that practice became general in Berwickshire.

Now here appears with lustre the advantage of the chain-plough. The great friction occasioned in the Scots plough by a long head, and by the angle it makes with the mouldboard, necessarily requires two oxen and two horses, whatever the soil be. The friction is so much less in the chain-plough, that two good horses are found sufficient in every soil that is proper for it. Besides, the reducing the draught to a couple of horses has another advantage, that of rendering the plough driver unnecessary. This saving on every plough, particularly where two horses and two oxen were formerly used, will, by the strictest computation, be 13l. sterling yearly; and where four horses were used, no less than 20l. sterling. There is now scarce to be seen in the low country of Berwickshire, or in the Lothians, a plough with more than two horses; which undoubtedly in time will become general. We know but of one further improvement, that of using two oxen instead of two horses. That draught has been employed with success in several places; and the saving is so great, that it must force its way everywhere, providing only a breed of oxen with a quick step could be obtained. It may be confidently affirmed, no soil stilled in a proper season, can ever require more than two horses and two oxen in a plough, even the stiffest clay. In all other soils, two good horses, or two good oxen, abreast, may be relied on for every operation of the chain-plough.

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

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

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

The Rotheram plough is a machine of very simple construction, and easily worked. AB is the beam, CD the sheath, EBD the main handle, FR the smaller handle, GH the coulter, KT the foak or share, NP the bridle, S the fly-band, and ML a piece of wood in place of a head. The whole of this plough should be made of ash or elm; the irons should be steelied and well tempered; and that part of the plough which is under ground in tilling should be covered with plates of iron. The difference between this and the common plough seems to consist in the bridle at the end of the beam, by which the ploughman can give the plough more or less land by notches at N, or make it cut deeper or shallower by the holes at P; in the coulter or share, which is so made and set as to cut off the new furrow without tearing; and in the mouldboard, which is so shaped as first to raise a little, and then gradually turn over, the new cut furrow, with very little resistance. But the greatest advantage attending it, is its being so easy of draught, that it will do double the work of any common plough.

The paring plough is an instrument used in several parts of England for paring off the surface of the ground, in order to its being burnt. Mr Bradley has given the following description of a very simple instrument of this kind: From A to A (fig. 15.) is the plough-beam, about seven feet long, mortised and pinned into the block B, which is of clean timber without knots. CC are the sheaths or standards, made flat on the inside, to close equally with the paring plate, and fastened to it with a bolt and key on each side, as at D. E is the paring plate of iron laid with steel about four inches wide, and from 12 to 18 inches long. This plate must be made to cut on the sides, which are bolted to the standards as well as at the bottom part. FF are two iron braces to keep the standards from giving way; these standards must be mortised near their outsides and through the block. GG are the plough handles, which must be fixed floppeways between the beam and the standards. The pin holes in the beam, the use of which is to make this plough cut more or less deep, by fixing the wheels nearer to or farther from the paring plate, should not be above two inches asunder.

Fig. 1 represents the four-coulted plough of Mr Tull. Its beam is ten feet four inches long, whereas that of the common plough is but eight. The beam is straight in the common plough, but in this it is straight only from a to b, and thence arched; so that the line let down perpendicularly from the corner at o, to the even furface on which the plough stands, would be 11½ inches; and if another line were let down from the turning of the beam at b, to the same furface, it would be one foot eight inches and a half; and a third line let down to the furface from the bottom of the beam at that part which bears upon the pillow, will show the beam to be two feet ten inches high in that part. At the distance of three feet two inches from the end of the beam a, at the plough-tail, the first coulter, or that next the share, is let through; and at 13 inches from this, a second coulter is let through; a third at the same distance from that; and, finally, the fourth at the same distance from the third, that is, 13 inches, Instruments of Husbandry, and from a to b is seven feet.

The crookedness of the upper part of the beam of this plough is contrived to avoid the too great length of the three foremost coulters, which would be too much if the beam was straight all the way; and they would be apt to bend and be displaced, unless they were very heavy and clumsy. Ash is the best wood to make the beam of, it being sufficiently strong, and yet light. The breadth in this plough is to be seven inches broad. The fixing of the share in this, as well as in the common plough, is the nicest part, and requires the utmost art of the maker; for the well-going of the plough wholly depends upon the placing this. Supposing the axis of the beam, and the left side of the share, to be both horizontal, they must never be set parallel to each other; for if they are, the tail of the share bearing against the trench as much as the point, would cause the point to incline to the right hand, and it would be carried out of the ground into the furrow. If the point of the share should be set so, that its side should make an angle on the right side of the axis of the beam, this inconvenience would be much greater; and if its point should incline much to the left, and make too large an angle on that side with the axis of the beam, the plough would run quite to the left hand; and if the holder, to prevent its running quite out of the ground, turns the upper part of his plough towards the left hand, the pin of the share will rise up, and cut the furrow diagonally, leaving it half unploughed. To avoid this and several other inconveniences, the straight side of the share must make an angle upon the left side of the beam; but that must be very acute a one, that the tail of the share may only press itself against the side of the trench than the point does. This angle is shown by the pricked lines at the bottom of fig. 9, where ef is supposed to be the axis of the beam let down to the furface, and gf parallel to the left side of the share; and it is the subtense eg that determines the inclination which the point of the share must have towards the left hand. This subtense, says Mr Tull, at the fore-end of an eight-feet beam, should never be more than one inch and a half, and whether the beam be long or short, the subtense must be the same.

The great thing to be taken care of, is the placing the four coulters; which must be so set, that the four imaginary places described by their four edges, as the plough moves forward, may be all parallel to each other, or very nearly so; for if any one of them should be very much inclined to, or should recede much from, either of the other, then they would not enter the ground together. In order to place them thus, the beam must be carefully pierced in a proper manner. The second coulter-hole must be two inches and a half more on the right hand than the first, the third must be as much more to the right of the second, and the fourth the same measure to the right hand of the third; and this two inches and a half must be carefully measured from the centre of one hole to the centre of the other. Each of these holes is a mortise of an inch and a quarter wide, and three inches and a half long at the top, and three inches at the bottom. The two opposite sides of this hole are parallel to the top and bottom, but the back is oblique, and determines the obliquity. obliquity of the standing of the coulter, which is wedged tight up to the poll. The coulter is two feet eight inches long before it is worn: the handle takes up fifteen inches of this length, and is allowed thus long, that the coulter may be driven down as the point wears away. As to the wheels, the left hand wheel is 20 inches diameter, and that on the right hand two feet three inches, and the distance at which they are set from each other is two feet 5½ inches.

2. The Patent Sward-cutter.

The different parts of this instrument are represented by No 1, 2, 3, of fig. 6. AA, &c., a square frame three feet four inches from the fore to the hind part, by four feet three inches, the breadth of the machine within side; the timber (when of fir) four inches square, placed on two wheels BB three feet diameter, a little more or less (the old fore-wheels of a chaise may answer the purpose), to support the hind part of the machine.

CC, &c., are six strong pieces of wood, called bulls, three feet long, five inches and a half broad, the thicknesses six inches at E, and tapering to three inches at F. Into these bulls are fixed the cutting wheels, which are iron, 13 inches diameter, ¾ths of an inch thick at the centre, about an inch diameter, for piercing holes to fix the iron axles in; from that they are to be of such thickness, as to allow the edges to be well steeled. The wheels are fixed by two bolts going through the bulls, with eyes on one end for the axles of the wheels to run in, and nuts and screws on the other to make them very firm by being sunk in the bulls, to prevent their interfering with the weights LL, &c., resting on them.

GG, &c., are hollow pieces of wood, called tharlers, each 3½ inches long, which enclose the bolt MM, and keep the bulls CC, &c., at their proper distances, but may be made longer or shorter at pleasure, according as the foward requires to be cut in larger or smaller pieces. They are in two pieces bound together, and jointed by a strap of leather or cord, which allows them to be readily changed when the cutting wheels require to be kept at more or less distance.

The iron bolt MM goes through two pieces of wood or iron PP, seven inches long, clear of the wood, supported by iron stays fixed to the frame, and through all the bulls. It requires to be strong, as the draught of the horses terminates there.

HH, No 2. and 3., a cylinder or segment of wood, seven inches diameter, called a rocking tree, which goes across the frame, and moves on the pivots fixed into it, one at each end, supported by an iron bolt or piece of wood mortised into the frame, eight inches high, as appears in No 2. and 3., to which fix chains or ropes are fixed by hooks, at different distances, as you want your cuts, nine, eight, seven, or six inches from one another, and are joined to the end of each bull in which the cutting wheels run; so that when the rocking tree is turned about by the lever I, fixed in the middle of it, all the bulls, with their cutting wheels, are raised out of the ground at once, as in No 3., by which means the machine may be turned, or moved from place to place with greatest ease, without any danger of straining the wheels.