GO AGRICULTURAL ESSAYS. 



quantity of land may be made to sustain many more cattle, 

 and to keep them better, by soiling than by pasturing them. 

 The great question is,, whether the economy on land and sav- 

 ing of manure is a sufficient compensation for the extra labor. 

 There can be no doubt but that the practice of soiling would 

 be very profitable to those who would derive the greatest pro- 

 fit from a small tract of land ; and many who practise it upon 

 a large scale, think it good husbandry.* 



Advantages or the Roller. 



This implement has long been used in Great Britain, and 

 considered very necessary in an improved state of husbandry. 

 Tt c^kTlnot however be used successfully, except on lands which 

 are clear of stumps and stones on the sarface. But on such 

 ground it is useful to smooth the surface of meadows, which 

 are uneven. They are useful also in breaking the lumps of 

 baked earth in a clayey soil, and for passing over ground new- 

 ly sown with grain, or that are to be laid down to grass, as it 

 will render the surface forever after while in meadow, more 

 smooth, so as to enable the farmer to cut more of the grass, 

 and with less labor. • , j-^j. 



Its use, on dry grounds, which are sowed with different 

 kinds of grain, is to cause the mould to inclose the seed, many 

 of which°by lying in cavities, that soon become dried, might 

 otherwise fail of vegetating ; while it prevents the moisture 

 p-enerally from evaporating so easily as it otherwise would. 

 It is also useful in depriving certain insects of their hiding 

 places in the cavities of the soil. 



The rolling of land in tillage, should be done when the ground 

 is so dry that it will not stick to the roller ; and it should be 

 performed on grass lands in the spring when the ground is soft 

 and wet. j i ^ 



A wooden roller should be about six feet in length, and about 

 twenty inches in diameter, round and of a uniform surface. It 

 ae sometimes made with stone, and then it should be about foifr- 



* See further remarks on this subject, under essay on artificial 



grasses. 



