Autmiin CultuTC of tJic Soil 



339 



Avith twitch or couch grass (Triticum repens). 

 The pecuUarity of this plant is, that being 

 possessed of a number of reticulated joints, 

 and each joint possessing the faculty of being 

 reproduced as a special and separate plant, 

 the result is, that the more it is cut up the 

 more does it multiply, and this cutting up is 

 just what the plough, with its peculiar action 

 of double cutting by the coulter and by the 

 sock or share, does. We beHeve, therefore, 

 that ploughing up stubble lands with the x'lew 

 of getting rid of the weeds does not bring 

 about the end which is in view. Possibly it 

 is, in some of the circumstances mentioned 

 above, the very worst way of treating stub- 

 bles much infested with weeds. The action 

 of the grubber, on the contrary, we believe to 

 be the very best adapted to deal with this 

 scourge of strong lands. By it we do not so 

 much divide thecouchasbringitin long lengths 

 and great masses to the surface, there to lie 

 to be exposed to all the destructive A\-ork 

 of the hot sun and atmospheric influences. 

 Some authorities advise that, being thus 

 acted upon, the weeds may be turned in 

 aftenvards by the plough, and add, by 

 way of manure, to the fertility of the soil. 

 This we do not agree with, and simply 

 because, that we are of those who, be- 

 lieving in the extraordinary vitality of the 

 perennial weeds, more especially of the couch 

 or twitch, do not believe that such limited ex- 

 posure as in our climate we can obtain for 

 them, to the scorching and killing influences of 

 the sun and air during autumn, does effectually 

 kill them ; on the contrary, we believe — and 

 having had much to do with them, we may well 

 believe — that if turned into the soil they very 

 rapidly resume their spreading powers, and by 

 the time the spring comes round, and the land 

 has to be brought under the final spring 

 working, the weeds will be found, if not to be 

 as rampant as ever, still to possess the ground 

 in such fashion as to be anything but pleasing 

 to the farmer. It is right, however, here to 

 state, that although being decidedly of opinion 

 that the weeds, when brought to the surface, 

 should, if at all possible, be swept off from it 

 — and burnt, not added to the manure heap 

 — still there appears to be one mode available 



by which much of the mischief, if not all of 

 it, arising from turning them again into the 

 land, may be avoided, and that is by the use 

 of salt. We have ourselves great faith in the 

 power of this substance in destroying the 

 vitality of couch ; we have tried it, and 

 have reason to believe in its efficacy. The 

 quantity to be used will depend upon the 

 bad or foul condition of the land ; not less 

 certainly, under ordinary circumstances, than 

 two-and-a-half cwts. to the acre, applied as a 

 top-dressing. 



"We are, however, strongly under the im- 

 pression that the best implement adapted to 

 break up the land in autumn is the grubber 

 or cultivator ; and certainly there is no part 

 of the experience of the past years, in the 

 history of agriculture, so striking as the 

 position which the grubber as against the 

 plough has taken. Indeed, carefully consider- 

 ing the principle upon which it operates, 

 many authorities are fully in the belief that it 

 is in the extension of the principle — and we 

 need scarcely say, aided more especially by 

 the power of steam — that they look to securing 

 an increase in the productiveness of our soils. 

 They confess to seeing in it a " philosophical 

 fitness," as it has been called, that they have 

 been long looking for — a fitness by which all 

 the complicated processes of ploughing will 

 be done away with, and others — or another 

 only — substituted for it, by which that com- 

 plete pulverization of the soil, or tilth, 

 as it is othenvise named, may be secured, 

 by placing it for the longest possible 

 period under the influence of the atmo- 

 sphere during the autumn and winter months : 

 and by which, moreover, we are enabled 

 to keep in spring the upper soil which 

 was worked in autumn, and which was thus 

 exposed to these influences ; so that the work 

 to be done in spring — when so much has to 

 be done and done quickly — may be reduced 

 to a minimum. We therefore are of those 

 who believe that the grubber is the best im- 

 plement for smashing up the soil and placing 

 it in the position best calculated to receive the 

 atmospheric influences which all wish to place 

 it under, because its action is such that the 

 working tines get under the roots of the couch, 



