RU?A BAG A CULTURE 



Manner of Sowing. 



50. Thus fitted out with land and manure, I set to the work of 

 sowing, which was performed, with the help of two ploughs and 

 two pair of oxen, on the 25th, 26th, and 27th of June. The 

 ploughmen put the ground up into little ridges having two furrows 

 on each side of the ridge ; so that every ridge consisted of four 

 furrows, or turnings over of the plough ; and the tops of the ridges 

 were about four feet from each other ; and, as the ploughing was 

 performed to a great depth, there was, of course, a very deep 

 gutter between every two ridges. 



5i.I took care to have the manure placed so as to be under the 

 middle of each ridge ; that is to say, just beneath where my seed 

 was to come. I had but a very small quantity of seed as well as 

 of manure. This seed I had, however, brought from home, 

 where it was raised by a neighbour, on whom I could rely, and 

 I had no faith in any other. So that I was compelled to bestow 

 it on the ridges with a very parsimonious hand ; not having, I 

 believe, more than four pounds to sow on the seven acres. It 

 was sown principally in this manner ; a man went along by the 

 side of each ridge, and put down two or three seeds in places at 

 about ten inches from each other, just drawing a little earth over, 

 and pressing it on the seed, in order to make it vegetate quickly 

 before the earth became too dry. This is always a good thing to 

 be done, and especially in dry weather, and under a hot sun. 

 Seeds are very small things ; and though, when we see them 

 covered over with earth, we conclude that the earth must touch 

 them closely, we should remember, that a very small cavity is 

 sufficient to keep them untouched nearly all round, in which case, 

 under a hot sun, and near the surface, they are sure to perish, 

 or, at least, to lie long, and until rain come, before they start. 



52. I remember a remarkable instance of this in saving some 

 turnips to transplant at Botley. The w r hole of a piece of ground 

 was sown broad-cast. My gardener had been told to sow in beds, 

 that we might go in to weed the plants ; and, having forgotten 

 this till after sowing, he clapped down his line, and divided the 

 plot into beds by treading very hard a little path at the distance of 

 every four feet. The weather was very dry and the wind very 

 keen. It continued so for three week* ; and, at the end of that 

 time, we had scarcely a turnip in the beds, where the ground had 

 been left raked over ; but, in the paths we had an abundance, 

 which grew to be very fine, and which, when transplanted, made 

 part of a field which bore thirty-three tons to the acre, and which, 

 as a whole field, was the finest I ever saw in my life. 



53. I cannot help endeavouring to press this fact upon the 

 reader. Squeezing down the earth makes it touch the seed in all 



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