On the Nourishment produced to the Plant by Us Leaves. 13 



into the ground, tlie cuticle of the sand plants would take ; nor 

 is it the least iiiij)ortant gain in a fallow, that 7nuc.h less dung 

 is necessary, since nature hersdf manures the soil. Galley is 

 of opinion that dunging naked fallows is better dispensed with, 

 and has often in tolerable loams made the crop to fail. This is 

 fihnost the only instance I have been able to collect where too 

 much manure has been deemed a defect. Sinclair gives also 

 an example where potatoes were placed, drilled between three 

 rows of fallow ; and though the former was dunged much more 

 than the latter, there was infinitely more wheat in the naked 

 failow. A winter fallow is an excellent thing in light ground, 

 and as a preparation for spring wheat ; but it will not do with 

 clatjs^ which require a thorough drying and pulverizing, before 

 they can profit bv the falling juices, which would only render 

 the earth more hard and compact. A summer one is therefore 

 more proper for this soil. 



The idea of letting a crop of any kind grow, in order after- 

 wards to plough it in, and benefit by what it has received from 

 the atmosphere, and the rich juices it may possess, is (if I may 

 humbly offer my opinion) the worst way of enriching the ground 

 I ever heard of. The crop is lost; the juices, being quite fresh, 

 are not in a proper state (too crude) for being turned into the 

 ground with any good effect, and what it received from the at- 

 mosphere has aheadv been absorbed up into the plant. Would 

 not the same tinje laid down in a naked fallow do ten times 

 the service ? 



I have now endeavoured to begin to apjjly some of those 

 studies that have employed so many years of my life, to that 

 occnpalion I am so very desirous of lenejitiiiti: I mean farming. 

 1 have tried here to show how necessary it is a farmer should 

 be well acquainted with the natm-e of his ground, the soil and 

 subsoil of Ids estate, and with the various plants he cultivates. 

 They are Init few in number ; still he should know whether they 

 are dri/ or inoist plants, that he may not reverse their situations; 

 that he may also know whether tlie plant is a sand, rock, her- 

 baceous, or parasite plant, tiiat he may deal out his manure ac- 

 cordinglij ; nor give it in (luantities to that plant which wants 

 but little, but dress it in proportion to the quantimi of juices it 

 receives from the earth, and place it in its proper position for 

 accepting those of the heavens ; turning it also to the aspect it 

 best hkes. It is particularly of consequence in wheat, that we 

 may not, by trying it in every soil, and thus growing it frequently 

 in improper ground, load it with disorders that spread far and 

 wide, and will at last make the seed degenerate to half its size, 

 ii.id destroy the very life of the plant. But that farmers, after a 

 t'jorough trial, may keep to the few species that suit their own 



soil, 



