84 YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 



by steam or wind power. He was an ardent believer in deep 

 drainage, and had spent during the year before not less than 

 $10,000 for oil-cake, guano, .and artificial manures. He had 

 500 acres in wheat, 250 in barley, 100 in oats, 415 in mangolds 

 and turnips, 335 in artificial, and the remainder in permanent 

 grass. He annually shears about 2,000 sheep, and has an 

 annual show and " letting" of breeding " tups." His average 

 crop of wheat is nearly 40 bushels per acre (say 36 to 38), bad 

 years with good, and he thought that the whole county would 

 be from 30 to 32. 



Some remarks followed upon the expense incurred by Eng 

 lish farmers to remove quack, couch, or twitch grass, as it is 

 variously called, and the presence of which is considered inimi 

 cal to any crop. A description of the mode of plowing advo 

 cated by Mr. Melvin, an intelligent gentlemen and farmer in 

 Mid-Lothian, then succeeded. The important points in the 

 construction of the plow were such a medium length in the 

 mold-board as not to break up the furrow-slice too much, as 

 it will if it is too short, and, on the other hand, not to polish 

 off its exposed surface too smoothly, instead of leaving it so 

 rent and torn that the elements will act properly in the disin 

 tegration of its particles. Above all, however, a plow should 

 turn a clean furrow, for if the earth anywhere adheres to the 

 mold-board, the friction wastes power, the furrow is imperfect 

 ly turned, weeds are not covered in, and the old surface is not 

 well turned under. 



On the Tay, opposite the noted Carse of Gowrie, he had 

 found a seven-year course of rotation in vogue, viz. : 1, wheat ; 

 2, barley; 3, grass ; 4, oats; 5, potatoes, or beans; 6, wheat; and 

 lastly, turnips. The soil is so stiff that a very good drain is 

 made by simply digging a channel of several inches' depth with 

 a shoulder on each side of it, in the bottom of the drain, and 

 covering it (the channel so formed) with flat stones; this being 

 nothing else than the "shoulder drain" already described by 

 Judge French. Grain appeared to be more generally sown 



