fe8o3. Stri&ures on Farm-Management near London. 31 



and the rape fuccecded by oats. In this country, we (hould onlj 

 take a crop of oats, without pairinjf and burning, and without 

 rape. Not pretending to any knowledge of the other pra6lice, I 

 (hail confine myfelf to the one I know. 



I muft, however, here mention, that, in my opinion, your pair- 

 ing-plough cannot anfwer the purpofe effedually, unlefs the fur- 

 face of the land it has to pair is level like a bowling-green. Every 

 inequality, of which your meadows have abundance, will either 

 make the (hare get far too deep, or caufe the wheels to ftart it out 

 of the ground altogether. In fa.'i, I obferved a good deal of land, 

 in the courfe of my journey, that had been very imperfectly pair- 

 ed ; owing, as I fuppofed, to the inadequate aclion of a limilar 

 pairing-plough. When fuch is the cafe, the advantages of pairing 

 and burning mufl be, in fo far, loft to the land. 



Befides converting all the vegetable matter in the paired furface 

 into an active manure, one of the great advantages of burning is 

 the deftrudlion of the roots and feeds of weeds, and it thus be- 

 comes an excellent preparation for clean hufbandry, when effec- 

 tually performed. But every part of the furface that happens to 

 be milled muft become fources of future fupply of weeds, by 

 both roots and feeds remaining undeftroyed. In this view, there- 

 fore, the fmall original faving of hand-labour, by pairing imper- 

 fedly with a plough drawn by horfes, inftead of performing the 

 operation in an effeclual and complete manner with the breaft- 

 plough, as it is called, or pairing-fpade, turns out eventually a 

 real and heavy lofs. If, therefore, you (hould pair your land, and 

 ftill choofe to employ the pairing-plough, I would ftrongly recom- 

 mend that the whole ihould be carefully gone over afterwards, and 

 ievery morfel of fod, that has efcaped the plough, turned over with 

 the pairing-fpade. 



I (liall now fuppofe yoUr old grafs-land broken up in either 

 way. If paired, 1 would follow the rape-crop with a perfeft 

 fallow, dunged for wheat. If it is not to be paired, I would fow 

 oats, after once plaughing, and make a perfe6l fallow fucceed the 

 oats. 



On this kind of land, inftead of the Angus oats, recommended 

 to be fown on the old tillage-lands, in my former letter, I would 

 advife to get fome of the very beft Poland oats from the London 

 market. Thefe, on ftrong rich foil, are very prolific, and they fell 

 at a high price in London. Befides they ripen earlier than almofl 

 any other gram, which is a very great advantage on a large farm, 

 as it brings on the harveft in regular fucceilion, inftead of the 

 whole coming forward at once. In fowing Poland oats, it is 

 neceflary to give a good deal of feed ; as they do not plant out 

 nearly fo much as the other kinds. In reaping them, it is ne- 



D % celTary 



