Cultivation of Arable Land* &amp;lt;~TV hctit t different Sorts of. 3 



-young plants being thus rendered more capable of cftablifhing themfclves per 

 fectly in the mould, and of drawing from it a more regular fupply of food from 

 the more equal diffufion of moifture that mud take place. Beftdes, it is favoura 

 ble in other ways; the feed is not only more perfectly but more equally covered, 

 in confequcnce of which the vegetation of the grain is more equal and expeditious.* 

 But, independent of the ftate of the foil in regard to tilth, it fhould be in a 

 fuitable fituation in refpect to drynefs ; as, where the feed is put in where there is 

 too great a degree of moifture in the foil, it may fuftain injury by becoming rotten 

 before the vegetative procefs commences, as frequently .happens to pea and other 

 garden crops when put in during the winter months ; and where the land is in 

 too dry a ftate at the- period of fo wing the grain, injury may be fuftained by the 

 want of that degree of moifture which is necefTary for perfect vegetation. Befides, 

 under this laft circumftance, it may be more liable to be deftroyed by worms, 

 grubs, or other infects. In thefe views the agricultor mould therefore be equally 

 attentive to the preparation of the land, and the ftate or condition, in which it 

 may be cropped with the greateft chance of fuccefs. 



Wheat. This is a fort of crop which, from its being capable of fuftainingthe 

 feverity of winter in moft cafes without much injury, muft be conftdered of a 

 hardy nature. Of this kind of grain there are two diftinct fpecies cultivated in 

 this country; thefmooth or polled wheat, and that which has a rough or bearded 

 ear. The firft fort, of which there are many varieties, is by much the moft cul 

 tivated, as it affords the fineft kind of flour ; but the latter, which is frequently 

 termed rivet wheat, from its being capable of yielding a large produce on the more 

 ftiffand wet clayey forts of foil, as well as from its being lefs, liable to difeafe, and 

 injury from wet when cut, is not unfrequently grown where fuch forts of land 

 prevail. The common wheat is moft adapted to the dry and mellow kinds of foil, 

 but may be cultivated on others where proper care is taken to keep the moifture 

 from ftagnating too much on the land.j- 



* Section on Fallowing of Land. 



t It is observed by Mr. Boys, an intelligent cultivator in the county of Kent, that the number of 

 forts of this grain is annually increafmg, by importation from foreign countries. And that the old 

 forts, are the brown and yellow lammas, the white straw, Fulham, and the white or egg-shell. The 

 brown lammas was the fort chiefly cultivated in that county, till within thefe twenty or thirty years; 

 but it has now given way to a variety of new kinds, as well as fome of the other old forts. He found 

 it from experiment the leaft productive of the several kinds. 



It is, he fays, the common brown-strawcd wheat, that grows with a long jointed ear, the chaff of a 



B 2 



