AGRICULTURE. 



may be more conveniently and profitably 

 applied. Two bushels an acre is the re- 

 quisite quantity of seed, and the land, if 

 it be not particularly rich by nature, must 

 be rendered so by art, must be worked to 

 a fine surface, and be kept perfectly free 

 from weeds. 



The preparation for rape-seed is the 

 same which is necessary for that of tur- 

 nips. It is a crop subject to great injury, 

 and extremely uncertain. In the con- 

 quered countries in the north of France, 

 the practice is to sow it in a seed bed for 

 transplantation, which is begun in Octo- 

 ber, and if there be no frost in November, 

 is continued through that month, when 

 the plants are about two feet long. Were 

 this operation to take place earlier, they 

 would be more secure from the frost. 

 Dibbling is employed for the purpose, and 

 the plants are set at about the distance of 

 eighteen inches by ten. In a favourable 

 year the profit is considerable, as indeed it 

 ought to be, to compensate for the fre- 

 quentand inevitable failure attending this 

 cultivation. An indispensable point, in 

 regard to this article, is to catch at oppor- 

 tunities of fine weather, for the purpose 

 of reaping and threshing, which must be 

 done in immediate succession. In reaping, 

 extreme care is requisite, to prevent the 

 shedding of the seed. Both in lifting it 

 from the ground and conveying it to the 

 barn floor, the utmost attention must be 

 applied. As rain, at this critical period, 

 may be considered nearly fatal to this 

 produce, celerity of operation is of the 

 first consequence, and as many assistants 

 as possible should be procured, and not a 

 moment of fine weather should be suft'er- 

 ed to pass unimproved. 



The cultivation of hops demands a 

 greater capital than that of any other 

 plant. The cost of the first year's prepa- 

 ration and planting will amount to about 

 eighty pounds per acre, and the subse- 

 quent annual expense will be little less 

 thin half that sum, and after all the ex- 

 pense, preparation, and attention, which 

 may be employed, no crop is more preca- 

 rious. The serious consideration of a 

 farmer is demanded, before he resolves to 

 introduce this plant where it has not been 

 usually cultivated. And not only the cir- 

 cumstances already mentioned, but that 

 of the accessibility or distance of manure, 

 (for which the largest quantities are call- 

 ed for by hops,) and the fact, that a small 

 solitary hop ground seldom thrives like 

 those which cover a large extent of coun- 

 try, from whatever cause this may pro- 

 ceed, should be fully weighed. Ruin may 



easily follow the want of adverting to 

 these and other considerations, and they 

 cannot therefore be too strongly impress- 

 ed on the sanguine adventurer. A flat 

 deep bog, in a sheltered situation, makes 

 an excellent hop soil, constituting, indeed, 

 a natural dung-hill. For the application 

 of such land to hops, the chances are fa- 

 vourable. The best preparation for this 

 plant, when such a spot as this does not 

 occur, is made by two successive crops 

 of turnips or cabbages, fed off by sheep, 

 early enough for the ploughing and plant- 

 ing in March. The plants should be in- 

 serted in rows, at eight feet distance from 

 each other, and about six feet from hill 

 to hill. Four fresh cuttings should be 

 planted in each spot which is to form a 

 hill. In April they should be poled, an 

 operation requiring that critical accuracy, 

 which, depending on changeable and ca- 

 sual circumstances, can be derived only 

 from experience. The binds must next 

 be tied to the poles. The superfluous 

 vines must be pruned about midsummer, 

 and are useful food for cows. Septem- 

 ber is the month for pulling them. But 

 the management of hops is a subject most 

 operose and delicate, requiring extreme 

 experience, attention, and dexterity ; and 

 the details of which would, if extended 

 only equally to its importance, occupy 

 bulky volumes. 



Course of Crops. 



No subject of greater importance has 

 been treated by modern writers on hus- 

 bandry, than the succession of crops. Be- 

 fore the present reign, although a consi- 

 derable number of writers on agriculture 

 existed, this topic was little treated, and 

 by many scarcely adverted to. It has at 

 length obtained something approaching 

 to that attention which it merits. The 

 main principles upon which all practices 

 on this subject proceed are, that some 

 crops are more exhausting than others ; 

 that some, although of a very impoverish- 

 ing character, yet, by being consumed on 

 the farm, return to it as much as they de- 

 ducted originally from it, and, perhaps, 

 even more, that some admit profitable till- 

 age and accurate cleaning, during their 

 growth; while by others the land is almost 

 unavoidably rendered foul by weeds, is 

 exhausted without return, and, when they 

 are applied in succession, will be extreme- 

 ly and fatally impoverished. By experi- 

 ence, much is found to depend on a cer- 

 tain arrangement of crops of these differ- 

 ent and opposite characters ,- and in n 



