604 



Mr. Middleton on the Cultivation of Arable Land. [July ly 



f.Ter or other seeds fit for being pre- 

 r served for a crop, should, without tlie 

 p loss of any time, at the end of eorn 

 harvest, be worked witli a scuflie ; 

 {scarifier or grubber are other names 

 tor the same implement.) When used 

 on moderately strong land, this imple- 

 ment may be expected to cut up the 

 stubble and weeds to the depth of an 

 inch or two ; but if the soil be friable 

 : it will cut up all such rubbish to a con- 

 osiderably greater depth. In this labour 

 four horses, with a man and one boy, 

 may be expected to go twice in a place 

 over six acres daily, or a proportionably 

 less quantity of land, by going over the 

 ' same ground three or four times. The 

 rubbish should be immediately raked 

 ? together, either by women with such 

 .rakes as are used in a hay-field, or by 

 'J an iron rake drawn by a horse; or it is 

 •'•supposed the work may be better done 

 i by the horse-rake going first, and that 

 followed by the hay-rakes. Such root 

 bweeds as may happen to escape the 

 r. rakes, should be picked up by baud, 

 band the whole, placed in heaps, should 

 'be burned, and the ashes spread. Or 

 in case the season should be so wet as 

 to internipt the fires, it would be 

 nearly as well to cart the riibbish off 

 the laud to a heap, for the purpose of 

 decomposition, in aid of a future dung- 

 hill. The foregoing operations may 

 be done for about ten shillings per acre. 

 .When the interior of the soil is free 

 J from coucli, and the surface has been 

 cleansed, as aforesaid, it is in readiness 

 for being so\\n the same autumn with- 

 out any previous ploughing. It has 

 been mentioned that the last crop was 

 corn without clover, therefore this crop 

 ought to be tares, either alone, three 

 bushels per acre, or tares, ten pecks, 

 mixed with five pecks of winter bar- 

 ley ; the writer of this article gives pre- 

 feience to the latter. These seeds may 

 be covered by either harrows or a 

 scuffle for a shilling per acre ; or more 

 perfectly by the thin narrow slices of 

 a very small plough ; but with greater 

 dispatch by a double or treble plough 

 of the same light construction. In 

 either case the seams occasioned by the 

 plough should be closed by a veiy light 

 harrow, or a bush harrow, and if any 

 root weeds should appear on the sur- 

 face, they should be picked up and car- 

 ried off. This process, with the seed 

 ploughed in, costs about eight or ten 

 \ shillings per acre. 

 "v Secondly. After thesurface has been 



cleansed as aforesaid, if the interior of 

 the soil should be found to contain 

 much couch, it should be extracted 

 without delay. For which purpose, if 

 the soil should be friable, the scufile 

 may be worked till it penetrate to such 

 a depth as may enable it to raise all the 

 couch to the surface ; it should then 

 be raked together as well as picke<l up 

 by hand and burne<l as aforesaid : these 

 things will cost alwut another ten 

 shillings, by which the whole process 

 for cleansing a friable soil will beabont 

 twenty shillings per acre. Even if the 

 soil be clay, the scuflie may be loaded 

 and tried in order to discover whether 

 it is likely jto succeetl by five, six, or 

 even more applications, in clearing the 

 soil from root weeds to the depth of 

 five or six inches. If the scuflie can 

 be made to penetrate the soil, it will 

 not want ploughing, as it would be 

 more perfectly pulverized, and the 

 couch better extracted, by the scuffle. 

 But in case the soil should be clay, and 

 unfortunately so diy and stubborn as 

 to bid defiance to the scuffle, it would 

 be advisable to postpone the work till 

 the ground become softened by rain. 

 However, if the weather should con- 

 tinue dry, and the agriculturist slionkt 

 not be able to employ his teams more 

 usefully, the ploughs may be applied ; 

 but they should be loaded and equipped 

 with shares steelexl and pointed like a 

 woodcock's bill, which shape is well 

 calculated to penetrate and turn a very 

 hard soil : some of the Hertfordshire 

 ploughs and their shares are so con- 

 structed. With this implement plough 

 the soil clean to about half the depth 

 of a fair furrow; the harrows and scuf- 

 fle may then be employed to pulverize 

 the earth which has been turned by 

 the plough, and raise the root weeds to 

 the surface, where they should be col- 

 lected together and burned, as in the 

 former case. As soon as these things 

 are finished, the land should be re- 

 ploughed a full depth, and immediately 

 worked with the harrows and scuflie 

 sufficiently to pulverize the soil and 

 raise all that remains of the couch to 

 the surface, where it should be col- 

 lected and burned as before. The en- 

 tire expense of pulverizing and cleans- 

 ing the soil in this manner by the united 

 aid of the plough and the scuffle has 

 been found to cost (lOs. xI9s.>< 19s.=) 

 £2 8s. per acre. 



In every case the operations of har- 

 rowing, scufQing, raking, picking, and 

 bumiog 



