lSo3-] ^Thoughts on Cufijlntcl'ive Rejlf-icli:.n!, 15 



"founded, grafs hnd would flill b^ niore leverely fcourjed. But 

 waving the arguaicnt, I would enquire, Wlvat exhauftion does 

 the ground fultain during the v/intcr months, from beting oc- 

 cupied by wheat ? This, 1 fuppol'^, will be difficult to compute. 

 The H^v. is, that wheat is no more a fconrger than other culnii- 

 Ferous grains, if the ground is equally v;ell cultivated. -If it yields 

 a greater weight of flraw, it gives likewife a greater return of 

 dung ; coniequently, the exhaullion of one year is abundantly 

 compenluted afterwards. 



It is a great miftalce, to liippore that the wheat \^t\(!!^=, arc in a 

 more reduced condition than thofe where this grain is feldoni 

 fov/n. From lona attention to the il:ate of cultivation in Scot- 



o 



land, I venture to maintain, that thofe diftricts, which grov/ the 

 greatefi: quantity of wheat, are uniformly beft cultivated. This 

 muft always be the cafe, where the cultivation is fiicli as to ren- 

 der it confiftent with the farmer's intereft to fow this grain ex- 

 tenflvely. Before this can be done to advantage, much prepara- 

 tion is neceflary : a confiderable quantity of fummer fallow is 

 conftantly required, and gralTes and drill crops muCl: form a large 

 fhare of the previous fequences. Without attending to thefb 

 particulars, a large fowing of wheat cannot be fuccefsfully accom- 

 phflied : and it is to be prefumed, that the farmer \Vho manages 

 in that way has prcvioufly arranged matters accordingly. If he 

 has not, I hold tiiat he cannot ferve himfelf by an exteniive ibw- 

 ing of wheat, even in the concluding year of his leafe. 



i have confidered the general ciaul'e chiefly, as if it applied on- 

 Jy to the fowing ofvvheat, becauie it is from this fource that nine 

 out of ten of the procefies for miflabour originate. I may allow 

 the force of the general claufe, and confutently contend that 

 iowing one half of an arable farm with wheat is not contrary 

 tp the rules of good hufbandry. If ^vvheat is fown after fallow, 

 xjt drilled beans, or turnips, or clover, the rotation may go round 

 without the kail inter riiption. It is now an acknowledged prin- 

 ciple in farming, that two white crops lliould not fucceilively be 

 fown ; but that, if a leguminous ar.d cuimiferous crop is taken 

 alternately, it is a matter of no importance, {k) far as relpefls good 

 farming, what variety the cuimiferous crop is of,— iituation, cli- 

 mate, and conveniency, being the only circumftances that fhould 

 juftify the election. It is plain, that under fuch a fyftem, one 

 half of a farm, where the foil is rich, may conftantly be kept in 

 wheat. That the fyllem is not generally purfued, on deep rick 

 foils, muft be attributed more to a conviction that it is rather in 

 common c^fes inconfillent with a regular divifion of labour thro' 

 the feafon, than to ideiis entertained of its inutility or impro- 

 priety. 



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