7o ESSAYS AND OBSERVATIONS 



ly have become general, but from the 

 experience of greater profit. 



At the fame time, there are particular 

 circumftances in which fhallow plough- 

 ing is bed ; and if thefe circumftances 

 occur in the examples given, the practice 

 is fo far good, without having the leafh 

 weight in the general point. The firft 

 example of fliallow ploughing, is in the 

 fens of Lincolnfliire, where the ground 

 is tender and moid. In a foil of that 

 kind, the roots of plants, to avoid a fu- 

 perfluity of moifture, cannot be kept too 

 near the furface ; and to this end flial' 

 ioTC ploughing certainly contributes. 



Th e next example is Norfolk, the fur- 

 face of which is defcribed to be a thin 

 licrht foil, covering an oker-coloured fand, 

 dead in its nature, and unfit for vegeta- 

 tion. Shallow ploughing here is a mat- 

 ter of neceflity, and not of choice ; for 

 one cannot with too much care avoid 

 fuch a bottom. The third inftance, in- 

 deed, of plowing fhallow in flifF clay, 

 would deferve the greateft regard, were 

 it vouched to be the refult of rational 



experiments, 



