522 Scheme for sowing Wheat, \5c. Dec* 



TO THE CONDUCTOR OF THE FARMERS MAGAZINE. 



Scheme for sowing Wheat Lands, when the ground is wet. 



Sir, 



Occupying a considerable tillage-farm, much of which 

 is well calculated for producing wheat, 1 have often been dis- 

 appointed in my expectations, when wet weather ensued in 

 the end of autumn, after executing the several preparatory 

 i^teps in the most proper and efficient manner. You know 

 very well that land completely summer fallowed, when once 

 Goaked with rain at the above period, is rarely in a condition 

 for resisting the pressure of the horses till the spring season 

 arrives ; and that wheat mowing, under these circumstances, 

 must either be given up, or the ground and crop subjected to 

 damage and injury, from the poaching of the horses during 

 the process of harrowing. Upon soils adapted for wheat, 

 no other grain can be substituted that will afford a crop, 

 equal, in value, to that of the golden grain. Hence it be- 

 comes an im.portant object to secure the proper season ; or, if 

 it is missed, to devise schemes for accomplishing seed work 

 in the best possible manner. 



Having sometime ago had occasion to peruse Mr Donaldson's 

 treatise on British husbandry, I noticed that he recommends a 

 timber axle, long enough to extend across the ridges, whether 

 12 or 1 8 feet wide, and to which as many harrows might be 

 hung as sufficient to cover the ridge. By furnishing wheels 

 to the axle, and drawing it by horses, who stepped in the 

 open furrow, he adds, that the work m.ay be safely and suf- 

 ficiently executed, or words to that import. I last year tried 

 the plan recommended, but found, in the first attempt, that 

 it did not answer ; for, if one hors'e went a single foot before 

 the other, the wheels ra:i into the ground, and occasioned an 

 ugly rut ; besides, there was no getting it turned at the end 

 of the ridge, with any degree of ease. Reflecting upon these 

 things, and strongly desirous of rendering the implement more 

 perfect, I caused a joint to be made in each end of the axle, 

 within the wheels, and placed a pair of slender shafts before 

 them, in which the horses are yoked ; and I have the plea- 

 sure to add, that the alteration succeeded to my wish. 1 last 

 year (1802), sowed ground in a state of perfect mire, which 

 was harrowed in the way above described, and the crop proved 

 dot inferior to any in my neighbourhood. Some of ;ny friends 



have 



