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light drefTing to one of the rows, which foon recover- 

 ed its verdure, and caufed it to be the ftrongefl; row 

 of the whole ; but the others which had not this drefT- 

 ing, produced weaker ftalks and cars than that which 

 was not fteeped. 



I have before obferved, that in general the farmers 

 fow more than double the quantity of Corn on their 

 lands than is necefTary ; therefore there is a great 

 wafte of grain, which in fcarce years amounts to a 

 confiderable fum in large farms, and to a whole coun- 

 try', it is an obje£t worthy the attention of the pub- 

 lic : but I fear whatever may be faid to prevent this, 

 will have but little weight with the practitioners of 

 agriculture, who are fo fond of old cuftoms, as rare- 

 ly to be prevailed upon to alter them, though they 

 are extremely abfurd. But if thefe people could be 

 prevailed on to make the trial with care, they muft 

 be foon convinced of their error *, for if they would 

 but examine a field of Corn Town in the common way, 

 they will find but few roots which have more than 

 two or three ftalks, unlefs by chance, where there 

 may be fome few roots which have room to fpread, 

 upon which there may be fix, eight, or ten ftalks, 

 and frequently many more ; but in a field of Wheat 

 which had not a greater allowance than one buihel 

 of Corn to an acre, fo that the roots had room to 

 fpread, I have obferved the roots produced from 

 fix to twelve, or fourteen ftalks, which were ftrong, 

 and had long well nourilhed cars, and the produce 

 was much greater than in any of thofe fields in the 

 neighbourhood, which were fown with the common 

 allowance. And if the land is good,'' and the roots 

 ftand at a proper diftance from each other, there will 

 be few roots which will not produce as many ftalks as 

 I have here mentioned, and the cars will be better 



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nourifhcd.'-^>i^vi'^^>N " = 

 But if the land is not covered with the blades of 

 Corn by the fpring, the farmers think they ftiall have 

 no crop •, whereas, if they would have patience to 

 wait till the roots put out their ftems, they v/ould 

 foon be convinced of the contrary ; efpecially if they 

 could be prevailed on to draw a weighty roller oyer 

 the Wheat in March, which will caufe it to fpread ; 

 and by fettling of the loofe ground to the roots, the 

 drying winds in the fpring woiild be prevented from 

 penetrating to their fibres, fo that the roots will pro- 

 duce" the' m'ore'ftalks; but before^ this operation^ it 

 will be proper to have the Corn cleaned from weeds, 

 if thefe are permitted to grow, "they will dra>y ^^away 

 much nourifhment from the Corn ; and if, at this fea- 

 fon, the land is made clean from weeds, the Corn 

 will foon after fpread and cover the ground, whereby 

 the growth of weeds will be greatly lefl^ened. -^-^-^i 

 There is not any part of huft)andry which requires the 

 farmer's attention more, than that of keeping his 

 land clean from weeds j and yet there are few who 

 trouble themfelves about it, or who underftand the 

 proper method of doing it ; few of them know thofe 

 weeds which are annual, fo as to diftinguifti them 

 from thofe which are perennial; and without this 

 knowledge, it will be much more difficult for a per- 

 fon to clean his land, let his induftry be ever fo great, 

 for annual weeds may be foon deftroycd if taken in 

 time ; whereas, if they are neglected, their feeds will 

 foon ripen and fcatter ; after which it will require 

 three times the labour and expence to get rid of them, 

 a^, would have been fufficient at the beginning, and 

 then the crop would have had no bad neighbours to 

 rob it of its nourifhment. The common method now 

 praftifed is a very abfurd one, for the weeds are left 

 to grow till the Wheat is beginning to ear, and the 

 weeds are in flower -, fo the ground being covered by 

 the Corn, all the low weeds are hid, and thefe are 

 left to ripen and fcatter their feeds ; the tall weeds 

 only are taken out," and if die people employed are 

 not careful, many of thefe will efcape them, as they 

 will be fo intermixed with the ftalks of Wheat as 

 not to appear, unlefs diligently Ibught after. ^ By 

 this method the weeds of tall growth are permitted 

 to ftand, and rob the Corn of its nouriftimcnt, dur- 



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ing the principal time of its growth, and the humble 

 weeds are never deftroycd; and by going amongft 

 the ilalks when they are tall, great numbers of them 

 are broken and trod under tiic work-people's feet j 

 yet hov/ever obvious this is to every farmer, none 

 of them have thought of altering this praclicc. I 

 would therefore recommend a method which is new 

 in common praftice amongft the kirchcn gardeners, 

 which has been found of great benefit tu their crops, 

 and has alfo been a great faving to them in the ex- 

 pence of weeding ; and this is making ufe of hoes ibr 

 cleaning the Wheat early in the fpring, before the 

 ground is covered with blades of Corn. Wuh this 

 inftrument, all the low as well as the tall weeds viU 

 be cut up, and if it is performed in dry weather, the 

 weeds being then fmall will foon die. Where d.c 

 ground happens to be very full of weeds, it may be 

 neceflary to go over it a fecond time, at about a fort- 

 night after the firft, to cut up any weeds which may- 

 have before efcaped. By laying the ground clean at 

 this time, the Corn will not be robbed of- its nourifh- 

 ment; and there will not be time for the weeds to 

 grow fo as to prejudice it much after, for the ground 

 will befo much fhaded by the Corn, as to keep down 

 the weeds, fo that they cannot have time to ripen their 



feeds before harveft. 



If, at the time of this- operation, the roots of Coin 

 are cut up where they are too clofe, it will be found^ 

 of great fervice to the other •, but this, I fear, few of 

 the old farmers will ever agree with me in ; tha* what 

 I mention is not from theory but experiments, which 

 have been repeated with great care ; and where it was 

 praftifed the produce of twenty rods of ground, was 

 much greater both in weight and meafure, than the 

 fame quantity of ground in the beft part of the field 

 where this was not praftifed, and the ftalks ftood up- 

 right, when a great part of the Corn 4n the fame fieid 



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was lodged. 



I have often obferved in thofe fields where foot-paths 

 are made through Corn-fields, that by the fide of thofe 

 paths where the Corn is thin, and has been trodden 

 down in the winter and fpring, that the ftalks have 

 ftood ereft, when moft of the Corn in the fame field 

 has been laid flat on the ground; which was owing to 

 the ftalks being fo much ftronger from their having 

 more room, the other having been drawn up tall and 

 flender by being fo clofe together. There is alfo ano- 

 ther great a'dvahtage in keeping Corn clean from 

 weeds, and giving it room to fpread, which is, chat 

 the Corn is not fo liable to take the' fmut as when ic 

 is full of weeds, and the roots too much crowded, as 

 I have frequently obferved •, (o that cleannefs and free 

 air, is as eflindal to the well doing and growth of ve- 

 getables as animals -, and the changing of the feed 

 annually is alfo as neccfl^ary, as the change of air is to 

 all forts of animals -, for where this has been care- 

 fully pradifed, there has rarely happened any fmutty 

 Corn in the field. 







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Brining of the feed Wheat is what the farmers gene- 

 rally praftife to prevent the fmut, which in moft 

 years anfwers very well ; but there is nothing which 

 contributes more to this, than keeping the plants in 

 good health, which is better effeded by the method 

 before propofed ; for by ftirring of the ground with 

 the hoe between the roots of Corn in the fpring, they 

 will be better fupplied with nouriftiment ; forinflrong 

 lands, where the water may have lain in the winter, 

 the furface of the ground will bind fo hard on the 

 firft dry weather as to ftint the Corn, and frequently 

 caufe it to change colour. When this happens, the 

 roots feldom put out many ftalks, and thofe which are 

 put out, are weak ; but where the furface of the 

 ground can be ftirred to loofen the parts, the Corn 

 will foon recover its colour and ftrength, and cover 



the land with fhoots. ' ' 



What has been here direfted, muft be underftood to 

 relate to Wheat fown in broad-caft, which is the ufual 

 method praftifed by farmers in every part of Eng- 

 land ; for the horfe-hoeing hufbandry which was prac- 

 tifed by Mr. TuU, has been almoft univerfally rcjeftcd 



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