THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



DRILLING OF CROPS. 



It was observed by. the late Earl of : Leicester, better 

 known as Mr. Coke, of Holkham, that the Scotch far- 

 mers were most excellent cultivators of the soil, in that 

 they drilled every root crop, as he had adopted that sys- 

 tem from them ,- and at the same time they were the 

 very worst imaginable in sowing the grains in broadcast, 

 for he had used the drilling in rows of the culmiferous 

 crops. The same very enlightened and patriotic indi- 

 vidual strongly advocated leases of twenty years, and 

 continued the threshing of grain by flail. The judicial 

 Lord Kames of Scotland, who lived about 1770, very 

 strongly recommended leases'^of, twenty years, and as 

 strongly urged the superiority of the ox over the horse 

 for farming purposes, wondering all the while that a 

 wilful blindness of daily growth seemed to prefer the 

 horse, which 'was superseding the ox. ■ The'quick per- 

 ception and powerful intellect of these gifted and en- 

 lisihtened individuals failed to rid the prejudice that 

 threshing machinery diminishes labour, and to see that 

 grain crops only Veap the benefits of the root crop pre- 

 paration, and do not confer any benefit on the land. 

 The same organ which established the very large benefit 

 of twenty years" leases, failed to perceive that nature 

 has decided the superiority of the horse over the ox, for 

 farming purposes, in the muscular formation of the 

 animal, and that quick motions are in almost every kind 

 of operations more effectual than sluggish actions of 

 distant repetition. The late George" III. farmed for 

 thirty-two years at Windsor for the express purpose of 

 showing that oxen were superior to horses, and the very 

 contrary was proved ; just as the chemists discover new 

 things, or contrary things, in the progress'towards an 

 object which was intended. When prejudices surround 

 and encumher such minds as have been mentioned, no 

 wonder need be made that the common cultivators are 

 tied and manacled by apathy and mental servitude. 



Tlie question between thrashing by machinery and 

 flail is soon settled : the very object of machinery is to 

 diminish labour on non-productive points, and to apply 

 it to the increase of production, and not to the cost of 

 manufacture, than which there can be no greater blunder 

 in social economy. It relieves manual labour from the 

 most brutifying performances, and leaves to it the nicer 

 operations that are beyond its sphere of application ; 

 for machinery has its limits prescribed. The question 

 of leases needs no discussion, but the drilling of crops 

 may admit some useful notices. 



The drilling of root-crops at the distance of twenty- 

 six to thirty inches is certainly the most eligible 

 practice that has yet been devised for the purpose of 

 cleaning and pulverizing the ground, destroying the 

 weeds, applying the manure, and preparing the land for 

 the future crops. The drills are opened by the common 

 plough, the dung is spread evenly along the hollow 

 intervals, the drills are split by the plough, and reversed 

 over the dung, when the seeds are immediately deposited 

 in the freshly-stirred soil. This mode is most admirable 

 in Scotland and the North of England, where the 

 climate affords frequent rains and many dews, and 

 where the soils are cool from being fresh-water loams of 

 alluvial formation, that are superimposed on the primi- 

 tive rocks. Over the southern half of England an arid 

 climate succeeds, and a totally different geological series 

 of deposits ; marine clays, oolites, chalks, and green- 

 sands afford a most varied mixture of soils, which re- 

 quire very different implements and courses of cultiva- 

 tion. The soils are in many cases very open in the tex- 



ture, and easily dried, and crumbly 'and cloddy from 

 clay, and easily penetrated by drought. The Scotch 

 mode of twice drilling the ground, by opening and 

 reversing the drills, has been found to dissipate the 

 moisture, by exposing the land so much during the driest 

 season of the year ; and on this moisture the success of 

 the turnip crop almost wholly depends. 



It has been adopted to sow, on the flat and drilled 

 ground, the artificial manures with the turnip seed, by 

 means of machines with lengthened coulters, which make 

 ruts in the soil at stated distances to receive the con- 

 tents of deposition. This method sows the seed in a 

 parched dust on the top of the ground, which is always 

 made during dry weather on tilled lands, and the rows 

 being flat, the equal opportunity is not aS'orded, with 

 ridglets and hollows, of cultivating the intervals with the 

 horse-hoe. But on the lands above-mentioned, it is 

 preferable to exposing the land by being twice drilled. 

 All light lands are best sown with artificial manures, 

 which may be best used in drills 27 inches apart, made 

 with one furrow of the common plough, and the seed 

 being immediately sown, and the drills rolled, nearly 

 a flat state will be produced, and a fresh tilth will be 

 enjoyed by the seed, without exposing the land to 

 drought by lying in open drills. Two common ploughs 

 will employ Hornsby's drop-drill, which splits the ridg- 

 lets, and deposits the seeds deeply. It is an excellent 

 implement. Light lands may be wholly prepared from 

 the winter furrow by means of Finlayson's harrow, and 

 being reduced by grubbing and rolling, and never turned 

 up to exposure, the moisture of winter will be retained, 

 and do much to secure the crop. The farmyard dung 

 may be mixed with the laud by the grubbing of the 

 implement, and the ground drilled and sown as above- 

 directed. 



The root crops used in Great Britain are, potatoes, 

 turnips, cabbages, and beet-root, which grow in roots 

 in or close to the ground, and do not rise to height and 

 impede the cultivation in pulverizing the soil and 

 clearing the land from weeds. The horse-hoe can work 

 during the whole season of summer and autumn, and the 

 hoe and the hands of the weeders can be employed over 

 the matured growth of the plants in cutting and pulling 

 the weeds that grow upon the land. This admission 

 of the tools of cultivation, throughout the season, con- 

 stitates the great value of these plants, as the soil is 

 thereby thoroughly pulverized and cleaned by the ope- 

 rations. Beans allow a partial cultivation in the early 

 summer ; but the plant soon rises to height, and ex- 

 cludes the implements. The crop is, therefore, only a 

 half-faUow ; and the best use of it, in the county of 

 East Lothian, in the south of Scotland, does not form a 

 substitute for the bare wheat and turnip fallows. The 

 drilling of peas and vetches is excluded, by reason of 

 the plants quickly growing over the intervals, and pro- 

 hibiting any cultivation ; and the use of the plants con- 

 sists in a close crop, thoroughly covering the ground, 

 and smothering every vegetation below the shade. The 

 land is mellowed on the surface, and freshened with 

 moisture, and enriched with the decomposition produced 

 by the exclusion of air and retention of moisture. 



The very decisive advantages of drilling root-crops 

 arise from the plants growing close by the ground, and 

 thereby allowing the most complete fallowinuf of the 

 intervals, and the cleaning of the whole ground from 

 weeds. When the luxuriance of the crop does cover 

 the intervals of the drills, there is still a liberty of hand- 



