= ~ a a 
BO a 
done away, and I think I could undertake to make 
any young man acompleat drill-man, in one half 
the time he could be ‘taught to manage a common. 
plough; attention and prattice, with a {mall degree 
of inftruction, are the only requifites to compleat him 
in either. With refpect to the fcarifying and hoe- 
ing, much ‘remains at prefent to be learnt; and 1 am 
not fatisfied that the precife time of firft {carifying is 
yet {cientifically determined on: fromthe experience 
of this year, 1 am induced to think it fhould not be 
done too early, on very light and dry foils, perhaps 
not till the coronal root of the plant is completely 
formed; as it was found this feafon to expofe the 
corn more to the ravages of the wire worm; but on 
{trong foils this objection has no weight, and it may 
be begun as foon as they are dry enough to admit 
of the horfe going over them without poaching. 
I here think it neceffary to remark, that I guefs 
thefe operations of {carifying and hoeing* have been 
too often neglected altogether, to the very great in- 
jury of the fyftem ; many gentlemen who have drilled, 
have looked no farther into the bufinefs. I have 
myfelf feen inftances of this inattention, and am 
* The firft operation of fcarifying in the fpring fhould but juft 
move the furface, the inftrument fhould not be forced deep into the 
foil, particularly in light lands worked early. The repetition of this 
Operation is not fo very nice a matter; when the planta are vigorous 
and about fix or feven inches high, the intervals may be worked to 
a confiderable depth. : j 
convinced 
