3,56 Cultivation of Arable Land. Red Clover Time and Method off owing* 



In cafes where drilling is in ufc, it is often fown broadcaft over the land when 

 the grain is drilled, being covered in after it by a pair of light harrows. It is alfo 

 fometimes fown before the roller, when the barley has attained a few inches in 

 height. And in the hand or horfe-hoeing fyflcm, it is frequently fbvvn when fuch 

 operations are performed. Mr. Young has likewife known it put in alone upon a 

 fcarifying of the barley ftubblcs in harveft time, on light foils. 



With whatever fort ofcrop the clover feed is fown, it mould be difperfed in as re 

 gular and even a manner as poffible over the furface or the ground when in the broad 

 caft method, after it has been rendered perfectly fine by the harrowing in of the grain 

 crops. And in order that this may be effected in the moft complete manner, it 

 fhould be performed, if pofTible, when the mould is in fuch a ftate of drynefs as to 

 work well under the harrow. But it fhould on no account be executed when the foil 

 is in fuch a ftate of moifture as to clog or ftick much together,* as under fuch 

 circumftances the feed will neither vegetate well or be covered in in a regular 

 manner, being liable to be drawn into heaps by harrowing. In covering it in a 

 light fhort-tined harrow is the moft adapted to the purpofe, which in the freer and 

 more mellow forts of land fhould only be pafTed over once in a place, but in thofe 

 of the flitter and more heavy kinds twice may be neceffary. The feed fhould never 

 be buried to much depth, as its vegetation would by that means be much retarded. 

 The ufe of the tined harrow is much preferable for this purpofe to that of the 

 bufhkind, as by the latter the feed is not only lefs perfectly covered in, but liable 

 to be drawn fo together as to rife in tufts. And mealy rolling over the land, 

 though fometimes employed, is a practice never to be depended upon. 



Where the clover is fown among the green wheat, harrowing it in with fuch light 

 harrows once in a place is the beft practice in all cafes, except where the wheat is 

 very thin, and the foil too loofe about its roots to permit it with fafety. In all the 

 more light defcriptions of land, the ufc of the roller after the feed has been covered 

 by the harrow muft be of great utility, as well in clofing the particles of the foil 

 round the feeds as in levelling the furlace, and rendering it lefs penetrable by 

 drought. And even on ftrong foils, where the clover is fown among the wheat, it 

 is recommended by fome as of great ufe after harrowing. f 



There is a practice which prevails in fome diftricts of Towing a larger fpace of land 

 than can be covered inat the fame time, but it is an injudicious method, and mould 

 never be attempted, as clover feeds always vegetates the moft perfectly when it is 

 covered in immediately after it has been fown, and it is apt to be much injured by 



* Synopfis of Ilulbandry. t Correfted Reports of Middlefex and Northumberland* 



