THE BREAKING HP •Ii» «FRA9i. 4^ 



oonsequently makes a greater return of produce at the outset, 

 when the surface is obstinate, and the natural gr^see unsub- 



To' procure a full crop, both good ploughing and plentiful 

 harrowing are necessary. The plough should go deep, and 

 lay the furrow w^ell over. . . 



It should be harrowed length ways, till the surface is m 

 some measure broken, when cross harrowing may be resorted 

 to. Old grass lands have sometimes required eight or nine 

 double lines of harrows, before it would be considered as in 

 any thing like a finished state. The most advantageous prac- 

 tice is, to'^summer fallow all such lands in the second year; and 

 this practice is decisively recommended as being most condu- 

 cive to the interest of the occupier. Repeated trials confirm 

 the fact that heavy land cannot be brought into a good cultiva- 

 ble state without this radical measure is resorted to. 



The grub-worm is often a dangerous foe to corn crops, on 

 clayey soils newly broken up from grass, especially m the sec- 

 ond and third year, and indeed during every subsequent year, 

 till the land is fallowed ; and no other effectual method of ex- 

 tirpating this mischievous insect is so well known as that of re- 

 peatedly ploughing the ground in the summer months, or pair- 

 ing and burning the surface. Another circumstance, which 

 renders an early fallow highly necessary, is, the quantity of 

 thistles and other rubbish usually infesting grass land, which, 

 if allowed to remain undestroyed, will effectually prevent artifi- 

 cial crops from thriving.* 



A dressing with lime will also be highly beneficial, as all old 

 grass land, when first ploughed, is much improved by calcare- 

 ous matter. If the ploughing is effectually done, so as to place 

 the grass and other vegetable substances accumulated m for- 

 mer years, in a proper state for their entire decomposition, it 

 will be sufficient, without dung, for carrying on the growth of 



* This measure is not in conformity to the principle of a rotatioa. 

 of crops, as recommended in other essays contained in this work. 

 Why is it not better to plough such lands in the preceding autumn, 

 and expose them to the winter frosts ? And a crop of corn and po- 

 tatoes, or even beans and peas, would more effectually clear such 

 lands of weeds, than a summer fallow, as it is usually executed. 

 The method of brfeaking; up old grass land much oftener than hat 

 been practiced heretofore, in this country, is, undoubtedly, one of 

 the most valuable modern improvements in agriculture ; but sa jb 

 that of substituting a summer crop for a summer fallow. 



