392 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



visible, at least in some parts of the field. How theu, 

 do we manage to autumn- clean the ground ? 



Having harrowed up the thickest of the stubble 

 (which must be left very short by the reapers), stir tRe 

 fallow intervals with Bentall's, Coleman's, or some other 

 scarifier set as narrow as required ; and harrow them 

 two at a time, by means of two out of a " set " of three 

 harrows — that is, tlie middle one removed, so as to miss 

 the stubble space. Rolling may be done over the whole 

 surface; or a roller made on purpose, in two short 

 lengths with a space between, may be employed. The 

 stubble being pretty plainly seen, is a sufficient guide- 

 mark for the drillmen, who cannot get far wrong when 

 the first stroke has been taken in the right place, and if 

 the land is in a fine state and dark with moisture. The 

 seed may bi; harrowed-in with harrows covering all the 

 ground. Should the stubble stripes be peculiarly free 

 of couch, perhaps forkinf< out the tufts may suffice : 

 but we must be prepared for cleansing them when foul ; 

 and therefore have contrived how to pare or scarify 

 them without interfering with the drilling. When the 

 drill has begun to work, foUotv it with the broadsharer 

 set only about 22 inches wide — not in the track of the 

 drill, of course ; but breaking up the stubble lines 

 between the intervals just sown. We find that this 

 operation does not displace or root-up the seed ; and 

 after it any amount of harrowing and rolling, length- 

 wise and crosswise, may loosen and shake out the 

 root-weeds, without fear for the wheat in tolerably dry 

 weather. Only this must be done before the grains 

 have chitted ; or at any rate, before the germs reach the 

 surface. 



The quantity of seed per acre depends, like the time 

 of sowing, upon whereabouts joufarm : being regulated 

 by the quality of your soil, its altitude and aspect, its 

 tendency as to weeds, its liability to v.'orms and slugs, 

 the peculiarities of your climate, the character or the 

 particular season you may have, even the proximity of 

 your holding to harbours of birds and vermin. What 

 is early in one situation, may not be so in another; 

 what is thin seeding in one neighbourhood, is thought 

 thick in another. As an example, take our own case : 

 November being the great wheat-sowing month with us, 

 our present crop was got in the first week of October. 

 In ordinary husbandry we drill 6 to 10 pecks per acre, 

 the former quantity at the beginning of the season, 

 when every kernel will have a chance ; gradually in- 

 creasing the amount as the period of sowing gets later : 

 at the same time putting in more on poor than on rich 

 land. Mr. Smith tried only 1 peck, but "for safety 

 and the sake of the sample" now uses 2 pecks an acre. 

 Our tillage being less perfect than his, and the plants 

 lying open to greater injury from horses' treadinsr, &c., 

 we deemed it best to drill 3 pecks per acre. This ap- 

 pears but a small quantity; yet Mr. Smith's experience 

 with a thicker seeding has shown that the stalks are too 

 many and weak to bear up their bulky heads erect. 

 And consider, that as the average distance between our 

 rows (taken over the entire field), is 20 inches, we have 

 less than half the number of rows that common 9 inch 

 drilling gives us ; and thus our 3 pecks an acre puts as 

 much seed in every single row as about 7 pecks does in 

 plain drilling. In fact, we drill with the same cog-wheel 

 on the cup-barrel (or both cases. 



When your wheat is well up, and the triple-row 

 emerald stripes are beautiful from end to end, comes the 

 first really TuUian operation, namely, the ploughing along 

 the 40 inch intervals. With a common plough, and 

 horses "in length" (a boy leading the first horse), 

 plough a single furrow down each interval, going say 4 

 inches deep. Aiming to keep the coulter 6 inches from 

 the wheat-row on his left-hand side, the ploughman has 

 no difficulty in taking his furrow within 4 to 7 inches of 



the v.'heat, a latitude of deviation from the true line that 

 must be allowed him ; ;ind the upturned slice his just 

 room to fall over, short of the wheat on the opposite 

 side of the interval. Very few clods will be found to 

 roll and bury the young plant. 



Ureak up the bottom of every furrow with a proper 

 subsoil, penetrating 5 or 6 inches, according to the 

 strength of your team. We use Bentall's broad-sharer 

 with the side-beams removed, a 6-inch share on the 

 heel, and subsoil point in front, this going at least 5 

 inches down with 3 horses. The total depth below the 

 surface is thus 9 or 10 inches. When the same intervals 

 come under operation again (that is, in two years time), 

 we may perhaps work still deeper, and it may be with a 

 double-tined instead of single subsoiler. The horses, 

 of course, aie all harnessed in length, walking upon the 

 furrow bottom. 



Leave the field thus treated (looking lengthwise like 

 a wheat crop, and cross-wise like a trenchcd-up fallow, 

 reminding me of those corrugated pictures presenting 

 two views at different angles), and let the frost and 

 snow, wind, rain, and drying sunshine exert their forces 

 upon it. And ob.-erve how large an extent of superfices 

 is exposed ; for not only can the atmosphere enter 9 

 inches down into the subsoil, but the furrow-slices 

 thrown up at an £ingle, almost double the area of stir- 

 face in the intervals. 



In January and February, taking the chance of 

 suitable weather, the same tillage is to be repeated, only 

 on the other side of each interval. The plough turns 

 back the pulveiulent furrow-slics of the former opera- 

 tion, covering over ihe long-exposed broken subsoil la 

 the old furrow, and going 4 inches deep below the sur- 

 face level, casts up upon the top a new slice of stiflF 

 unmcllcvfed soil for the weatlier to act upon as before. 

 The horses are obliged to walk along the old furrow, 

 treading down the crumbled subso.l ; but (as it has 

 become so friable), not inflicting much damage by 

 compression. The newly-opened furrow must be sub- 

 soiled as before, and left in this exposed state. 



So far, your tillage has provided a supply of more or 

 less pulverized earth 9 or 10 inches in depth, on both 

 sides of every interval, and within a few inches' reach of 

 the wheat rootlets. And if you comprehend Jethro 

 TuU's teaching, you will understand that soil more or 

 less pulverized by atmospheric action must be neces- 

 sarily more or less "fertilized;" hence, your growing 

 plants will have close at hand a deep store of nutriment 

 on which to feed during the summer. The difference, 

 you perceive, between our method and ordinary sub- 

 soiling, lies in the circumstance that every one of the 

 subsoiled furrows remains open and exposed, instead of 

 being immediately buried by a succeeding furrow-slice. 

 And it is not a mere deep stirring without inversion as 

 performed by the tines of a subsoiler or cultivator ; 

 neither is it a complete inverting of the staple and sub- 

 soil, as in doubble-digging or trench-ploughing, that 

 we practise. But the staple (that is, a 4-inch stratum 

 of it) is inverted, and removed by the plough off the 

 subsoil that lies beneath ; and the subsoil is then torn to 

 pieces, and submitted to the disintegration of our change- 

 ful English weather. 



As far as you have proceeded at present, half the land 

 is in undisturbed possession of the wheat rows ; and the 

 alternate halves, or intervals, are deep-worked on both 

 sides. But as the plough opens a furrow having only 7 

 or 8 inches of clear bottom, and the subsoiler breaks 

 horizontally only a few inches further toward the centre 

 of the intervals, there will still be a ridgii of unmoved 

 ground along the middle of the interval some 10 inches 

 in width. Therefore, in April or May, break tip this, 

 and stir ths whole breadth of the interval with any 

 suitable subsoiler or grubber. We use Bentall's imple- 



