86 Substitute for Trench Ploughing. 



ground effectually loosened from 12 to 16 inches deep- 

 This practice I esteem more advantageous, than that oi" 

 burying tlie old soil to the same depth by trench plough- 

 ing, does not require more than three horses, and may 

 be adopted in any soil however dry, provided it is not too 

 stony or stumpy. It has been particularly practised by 

 me for the last seven years, when the ground is hard and 

 dry in summer, or the sward very tough. 



For wheat, 1 prepai'e my ground as if it were to be 

 seeded in the common way (with a bar share plough;) 

 the ground being harrowed smooth, it is then ploughed 

 with the shovel plough, the shovel of which is 15 inches 

 long, and about 13 inches broad at top, rounding off to 

 an obtuse point. With this I make about ten cuts in 

 the breadth of a rod, not ploughing it in lands, but going 

 along one side of the field, with one horse in the furrow, 

 and returning on the same side of the land or field, with 

 the off horse in the furrow, thus forming one ridge : 

 then going with the near horse in the last made furrow, 

 another ridge is formed, and so on till the field is 

 ploughed. Thus every ridge or row will go from end 

 to end of the field, which will seldom be the case, if the 

 field be marked out in lands, and then ploughed by 

 going on one edge of the land, and returning on the 

 other, as there is often some small difference in the 

 width of the land, near the finishing, which might make 

 two furrows run into one, and not be so plain a guide 

 to the reapers: and as the shovel plough throws the 

 mould on both sides alike, the ridges will be as fair one 

 way, as the other. 



The cuts or furrows will appear about six or eight 

 inches deep, with a sharp ridge between them. I then 



