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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the abundance, the rapidity of growth, and uniTersal distri- 

 bution of the various species of marine vegetation disposed to 

 rectify this, to purify the wide expanse of waters, which must, 

 otherwise, quickly spread the seeds of death to every living 

 thing upon the earth by its putrefactive poison ! The algpe of 

 fresh waters are of thin, slight texture, and contain but an ex- 

 ceedingly small proportion of solid matter compared with their 

 bulk ; those of the ocean, on the contrary, growing with equal 

 rapidity, present a vast series of species of hard, tough, fre- 

 quently almost woody substance, and, consequently, requiring 

 for their support a larger quantity of the assimilative material 

 BO constantly and abundantly supplied. 



Independent of the office thus performed, one so essential 

 to the well-being of the entire animal world, the vegetation of 

 these jilants is no less instrumental in maintaining that per- 

 petual reiteration of change among the elements of matter, 

 without which organization must cease, and at the same time 

 filfils a variety of other conditions of equal importance to the 

 existing creatioD. 



While the purifying and assimilating processes are going 

 forward with uninterrupted course, the algse are condensing 

 the new products, and, by their own annual growth and decay, 

 depositing a future source of fertility in the sand and mud, 

 over which they spread, to be brought into action when by 

 some convulsion of our earth's surface the present sea-basin 

 may be successively upraised and destined to bring forth land 

 produce. Even the small and delicate fresh- water species con- 

 tribute to elevate the bottoms of lakes and pools in which 

 they grow, and convert them by the after-assistance of mosses 

 and aquatic grasses into marshes, such spots eventually merg- 

 ing, through the intervention of plants of higher organization, 

 into woodland and pasture, open to the improvement or adap- 

 tation of civilized man. Through such associations, a series of 

 vegetable existences, apparently severed from human economy 

 by their obscurity and situation, become objects, not of 

 curiosity alone, but of value and high interest to the student 

 of nature. 



FALLOWS. 



In the Book of Exodus, chap, xxiii., verses 10 

 and 11, we read: "And six years thou shalt sow thy 

 land, and shalt gather in the fruit thereof; but the 

 seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still." This 

 was the law which God gave to the Israelites, and is 

 the first intimation we have in the world's history, 

 from which we may gather information relative to the 

 requirements of the soil, and the early usages in agri- 

 culture ; for I take it to be analogous to what is gene- 

 rally understood, in our day, to mean lying under 

 fallow, or to constitute fallowing. Be that as it may, 

 it is certain that fallowing was practised, and was one 

 of the regular systems adopted in the management of 

 land, from the earliest periods of which we have any 

 record. It has, however, been reserved for a very recent 

 age to make any great advances in fallowing, and to 

 adopt totally different courses in the appropriation of 

 land undergoing a fallow. The fallowing of land has 

 now become a subject of very considerable scientific 

 research, and is of immense agricultural importance, as 

 upon the fallow crop mainly depends, in the present 

 day, the ultimate success of the whole system of modern 

 farming. No green crop, no corn crop. The ancient 

 idea of rest, adopted by the Jews, pursued by the 

 Romans, and all other nations adopting agricultural 

 pursuits, has been nearly abandoned in this country 

 during the past half-century ; and, instead of rest, the 

 soil or land farmed is now made to bear enormous crops 

 of highly-nutritious food, thus providing most abundant 

 supplies for man and beast in the season of winter, when 

 60 much needed ; and, at the same time, the soil is so 

 replenished with all those necessary constituents, as to 

 ensure successful cereal cropping for several succeeding 

 years. 



What, then, are fallows ? and what do we understand 

 to constitute fallowing, in the present day ? Fallows 

 consist of all lands or soils which are undergoing the 

 process of pulverization, cleaning, aeration, and other 



amelioration, by the various means employed, either 

 mechanical or otherwise, for these purposes. They are 

 usually classed under several heads, or distinguishing 

 modes of management — i. e., winter or autumn falloivs, 

 summer fallows, bastard fallows, green-crop fallows ; 

 to which may be added trenching fallows, broadshare 

 fallows, rafter fallows, and the like ; as also the various 

 operations of paring and burning, skim and skeleton 

 ploughing , scarifying, subsoiling, or other like means 

 by which the process of cleaning, exposure, amelioration, 

 or improvement of the soil is attempted or effected. The 

 soil, therefore, which is subjected to any mechanical 

 agency or order of management, for the above purposes, 

 is under a certain course or character of fallowing, and, 

 accordingly, constitutes fallows. 



What, however, are more commonly known as 

 fallows and fallowing, are those various operations of 

 tillage which are carried on, and are indispensably ne- 

 cessary, to prepare the soil for a fallow crop (green 

 crop)— i. e., turnips, mangold-wurzel, rape, and the 

 like — and those more continuous operations to prepare 

 for the future wheat crop, being a bare or summer 

 fallow, which on poor clays and some other soils is 

 considered necessary. Winter or autumn fallows are 

 those lands which have undergone various modes of 

 tillage in the autumn, and are subsequently laid well up 

 by the plough for winter aeration by frosts, snow, &c. 

 Bastard fallows consist in the partial working and 

 cleansing of the soil, prior to the putting in of the crop. 

 Trenching fallows are the efficient trench-ploughing of 

 the soil, for exposure to atmospheric influences, and 

 are chiefly used prior to the coming of winter's frosts, 

 by which it is much ameliorated and greatly benefited. 

 Broadshare fallows are the breaking up of the surface- 

 soil for cleaning, by harrowing, &c. ; and to promote 

 the speedy growth of annuals, in order to ensure their 

 ready extirpation. Rafter fallows are the ploughing of 

 one furrow on to the adjoining strip, to promote aera- 



