T 



o-ct their Wheat into the p:round bv the m'ddle of No- 

 venibcr, the tarniers think they are in good fcafon •, 

 butfomcti.T.es it ib happens, from the badnefs of the 

 rrafon, that in many places the Wheat isnocfown till j 

 Chriftmas or after, but this latc-fown Wheat is fub- 

 je(5l to run too much to ftraw, efpecially if the fpring 

 Hiou'.'i prove moilt, 



The'vifual allosvance of feedAVheat to one acre of land 



is tliree bufhcls, but from repeated experiments, it has 



been tound, that lefs than half that quantity is more 



than lufficient -, therefore, if the farmers have regard 



to their own intereft, they fliould fave this expcnce of 



feed, which amounts to a confiderable article in large 



farms, efpecially when it is to be purchafed, which 



mod of the fkilful farmers do, at ieaft every other 



year, by way of change ; for they find that the feeds 



continued long upon the fame land wull not fucceed 



fo well, as when they procure a change of feeds from 



a diftant country. And the fame is praflifed by the 



hufbandmen of tlie Low-Countries, v/ho commonly 



procure frtfh feeds from Sicily every fecond or third 



year ; which they find fucceed better with them, than 



the feeds of their own country. In the choice of the 



feeds, particular regard fhould be had to the land 



upon which it grew, for if it is light land, the Wheat 



which grew upon ilrong land is the beft, and fo vice 



verfa. 



There have been fome perfons in England curious 

 enough to procure their feed Wheat from Sicily, which 

 has fucceeded very well, but the grain of this has 

 proved too hard for ourEnglifh mills to grind, which 

 has occafioned their neglecSting to procure their feeds 

 from thence ; nor do I think there can be much ad- 

 vantage in procuring the feeds from abroad, fince 

 the lands of England are fo various, as to afford as 

 much change of feeds as will be neceflary. And the 

 lefs we purchafe from abroad, the greater will be the 

 faving to the public; fo that it ihould be the bufihefs 

 of fkilful farmers to want as few feeds as pofllble, 

 fince, by exchange with each other, they may fo con- 

 trive, as not to part with ready money for any feeds. 

 The land which is ufually allotted for Wheat, is laid 

 fallow the fummer before the Corn is fown : durine: 



K 



V 



As Wheat remain 

 than moil other 



a 



lo 





no;c^r tinjc upon th? 

 lorts of Corn, ic rt-q 

 ftock of not^nmrnent to L.^... ,,,. ,,,, ,,,^ ^^^.^ 

 therefore if the drcding is exhaulicd m winter th 

 Corn wiil have but fiiort ears, and thofc but ! 



luires a vrrcaLcr 

 1 HJl 



It 



v/hich time it is ploughed two or three times, to bring 

 it intfo a tilth'flh'^'theoftener and better the ground 

 Js ploughed, and the more it is la'Boiired with har- 

 rows between each ploughing to break' and divide the 

 clods, the better Avill be the crop, and the fewer 



But in this article moft of 



f 



laid on the land before it is ploughed, efneclallv if the 

 dung IS not very good. Deep ploughing rwhere the 

 ftaple of the ground is deep enough to Idmit of 

 will alio be ot great fcrvice to the Corn, for the 

 imal nbres of the roots, which are the mouths that 

 iupply the nounComent, extend themfelves very deen 

 into the ground. I have traced many of them uv 

 ward of three feet, and believe they fnread muc^> 

 farther where the ground is light ; therefore it b of 

 great advantage to the crop to have th.e ground ftirred 

 and loofened to a proper depth, for by fo doin<. the 

 roots will hnd a fupply of pafture for the nourifhment 

 and augmentation ot tlie cars, at the time they are 

 forming, when it is moft required ; for if the around 

 IS ploughed fliallow, the roots will have expended 

 themielves to that depth by the fpring, fo that wlicn 

 the nounflKuent is wanted to fupply the (talks the 

 roots are ftinted by the hardnefs of the foil, which 

 they cannot penetrate ; when this is the cafe, the co 

 lour of the blade is frequently feen to change in 

 Apn\, and feldom recovers its verdure again f and 

 when this happens, the ftalks are always weakened in 

 proportion to the decay of the blade ; for it is well 

 known from long experience, that the leaves or blade 

 of Corn, are neceffary to draw in nourilliment from 

 the air and dews, for the increafe of the italic and ear j 

 but in order to afccrtain this, I have made trial of it' 

 by cutting ofF the leaves of fome roots of V/heat al- 

 ternately, early in the fpring, and have conftantly 

 - . found the ilalks upon thofe roots much fmallcr, the 

 ears fhorter, and the grain thinner than thofe of the 

 intermediate roots, whofe blades were not cut. This 

 fliews the abfurdity of that practice of feeding fheep 

 upon Corn in the winter and fpring ,1 have frequent- 

 ly feen Jn fome gardens, plants diverted of their low- 

 er leaves, which ignorant perfons have fuppofed to 

 : :draw away the nourifhment from thehead -, but where- 

 ;. .-ever this has been pradifed, I have always feen the 

 plants have been greatly weakened by it ; fo that until 

 thofe leaves decay naturally, they fhould , never be 

 taken off.'^''-'' ■s'-;-*'''?-*-^ 



/-■** ^4 





\veeds will be produced. 



the farmers are deficient, for after thcv have eiven* ^ 



their lands one ploughing, they frequently leave it '1 - Of la'teyelrs, many compofts have been advertifed 



to produce weeds, which fometimes are permitted to for the fteeping of the feeds of Corn, 'in order to im- 



ftand until they fhed their feeds, whereby th'e ground ^ . provjs their growth, fom.e of which have been fold at 



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will be plentifully ftocked with weeds • and as an 

 excuTe for this, they fay that thefe weeds will fupply 

 vlheir fheep with fome feed, and the dung of the Ibeep 

 \viir mend thelrland j but this is a very bad piece of 

 hufbancJry, for the weeds will' dravv from fli'e land' 

 more than tlie dung of the flieep will fupply; fothat 

 it is undoubtedly the beft method to keep the ground 

 ^s clean from weeds as poflible, and to ftir it often 

 t5 feparate and break the clods, and render the land 

 fine ; and where the land can enjoy a winter's fallow, 

 it will be 6f mtich greater fervice to it than thefum'-' 

 mer; and by thus labouring of the land, it will be 

 of equal fervice to it as a dreffing of dung. - There- 

 fore if the farmers could be prevailed on to alter their 

 method of hufbandry, they would find their advan- 

 tage in iti for the expence of drefling in fomecoun-' 

 ties is fo great, as to take away the whole profit of 

 the crop. v .: >.. . .f; -u; ; - 



There is alfo a very abfurd method in common prac- 

 tice with the farmers, which is the carrying out of their 

 areffing, and fpreading it onthe land in the fummer, 

 Vfhefe It lies expofed till the fun has dried out all the 

 goodnefsofit, before it is ploughed into the ground, 

 lo that 'thfi dreffing is of little value- therefore the 

 dung fhould mever be laid on the land fafter than it 

 can be ploughed itf, for one load of dung fo managed, 

 IS better than three in their ufual mediod.^:- -. -• 



ade 



ar rate 



but as fo great fuccefs was 



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aflured by the 

 - inventors to thofe who fhould make ufe of them, 

 c: there were numbers of perfons w^ho made the trial ;~ 

 \-.but fo far as I have been able to get information' of 

 their experiments, they did not fucceed fo well as to 

 ' encourage the ufe of thefe compofitions i and from 

 feveral trials which I made myfelf with great care, I 

 always found, that' the Wheat which had been fleeped 

 .: in thefe compofitions came up fooner, and grew much 

 ranker in the winter, than that which had not been 

 • fteeped ; but in the fpring the unfleeped Wheat had a 

 greater number of ft^lks to each plant, and the ears 

 were better fed than thofe which had been fleeped; 

 therefore thefe forts of compofts have been found of 

 , no real ufe to the crop. * 



My experiments were made in the following manner. 

 The Wheat was fov/n in drills, on the fame fpot of 

 ground ; the feeds which had been fteeped were fown 

 in alternate rows, "and the intermediate rows were 

 fown with unfteep'cd Corn. The rows were a foot 

 and a half afunder, and the grains were all taken out 

 of one meafure, and fown as equally as poffible : the 

 fteeped Corn appeared above ground three days be- 

 fore the other, and continued to grdw fafter than the 

 ' unfteeped Corn during the winter, but in the fpring 

 . the blade of the fteeped Corn changed its colour, and 

 ' their points became of a brown colour, when I gave a 



■" ■ :'.;:'.:■ . ' - '.-': .. . li^ht 



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