40S On the CuUivaiion of the Pars7iip, 



lautl is jDrepared for sowing by means of two ploughs. A small 

 p'oiigh precedes, and opens the furrow to the depth of four inches, 

 and is followed bv a larger plougli, drawn by four or six oxen and 

 as many horses, which deepens the furrow to ten or fourteen 

 inch(>s. This plough is called the gra/ide char we; and as the 

 small farms into which Guernsey is divided do not admit of such 

 an army of cattle in the possession of any one farmer, this work 

 is performed bv a contribution of the neighbours, who are repaid 

 by the like joint-stock assistance, the whole l)cing attended with 

 a holiday- like bustle, that cannot fail to surprise a stranger. I 

 need not remark, that a more accurate system of husban(!ry could 

 accomplish the subsecpient trenching and turning up of the first 

 furrow with much Jess force. The spade is used for this purpose 

 in some parts of France as well as in Jersey, but is less expedi- 

 tious and oecononiical than a judicious use of the trenching- 

 plough. As soon as the clods are capable of being broken, the 

 harrowing commences, and is repeated till the soil is pulverized, 

 and reduced nearly to the state of garden mould. The whole 

 of these processes are intended to loosen the soil to as great a 

 depth as possible. 



The seed should not be more than a year old, as it is uncertain 

 when of a greater age. It is sown Ijroadcast, and in a day just 

 so windv as to insure Its regular spreading over the surface. The 

 seed is tiien covered by the harrow. The quantity sown is from 

 half a c?e7/e'T/ ■' to one denerel per vergce. The half denerel is 

 judged sufficient; but many farmers sow the whole, to enable 

 them to harrow the land before the first weeding, by which means 

 they destroy so many weeds as to save much of the after hand- 

 weeding. As soon as the plants are sufficiently strong, they are 

 hand-weeded and thinned; and this operation must be repeated 

 at least three times during the summer. The distance between 

 the plants is ultimately about nine inches; and, to save a por- 

 tion of the labour, a harrowing is sometimes given between the 

 first and second weedings. The expense of weeding a vergce 

 three times, is thirty shillings. I believe that the practice of 

 drilling and horse-hoeing, bv which mucli labour might probably 

 be saved, has never been attempted in Guernsey, where agricul- 

 ture has not arrived at that perfection which it has attained in 

 this country, and where, from the infinitely small division of 

 property, and consequent size of the farms, with the almost un- 

 avoidable attachment to ancient practices which accompanies 

 these circumstances, its operatiotis are in general antiquated. 



* The denerel is four quarts ; tlie vcrL'iti 17,610 square feet; 2*46 vcrgecs 

 arc equal to an English acre, whiclj coiiscquctuly <:ives about ten quarts lo 

 the atre. The price of (jar.iiiip seed while I v. litc, is 2s. Qd. the dcncicf, 

 making the whole expeusc per acre nearly- 7s. 6d. 



It 



