44 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. IV. 



ploughman ; and if not emjjloyed in some shape, he must bo brought up in 

 idleness at the expense of the parisli. 



Having said thus much upon the handling of the plough, we have only 

 a few words to add regarding the common modes of operation, which we 

 shall state thus succinctly, because every workman who knows his business 

 must be supposed capable of performing them. 



The ground, when not intended to be laid down to permanent grass — in 

 which case it is usually laid fiat, and gripped where necessary by cross sur- 

 face drains — is laid up in ridges, or lands, as they are sometimes called, 

 of greater or less breadth, according as the ground may be more dry, or 

 retentive of moisture. The breadlh and form of the ridge have long been 

 subjects of controversy, but it is evident that they must depend both upon 

 the nature of the soil, and the mode of culture to which it is subjected. 

 The most common width, on land of ordinary quality and cultivation, is 

 15 or 18 feet, each being intersected by a deep furrow ; and they are 

 formed in a slightly convex shape, with the intention of draining the 

 superabundant water from the surface. Tliis, however, being less necessary 

 on dry ground than on that which lies wet, the ridges are in that case 

 much broader, and laid proportionably level ; thus, for instance, in many 

 parts of the county of Kent, entire fields may be seen without either ridges 

 or inter-furrows, for the soil admitting a qiuck filtration does not need them ; 

 or, if furrows are thought necessary, they are opened with a turn-wrest 

 plough after the corn has been harrowed in, and the crop when in ear ex- 

 hibits one uniform appearance* ; but cold heavy land that retains the rain, 

 is commonly laid up in sharp narrow ridges, having the crown raised some 

 inches higher tlian the sides, and the inter-furrow sunk below the surface 

 for the purpose of drainage. This, although occasioning the sacrifice of 

 some portion of the ground, and in many instances carried farther than is 

 prudent, is yet, to a certain extent, absolutely necessary on soils of the latter 

 description: for, if the ridges be not raised in the centre, so as to throw 

 off the rain, they will probably absorb a much greater quantity of water than 

 may be useful for the purposes of vegetation ; and the seed sown upon the 

 land will be chilled: so, also, if the inter- furrows be not made suihciently 

 deep, they will not carry off' the superfluous moisture, and if it be allowed 

 to stagnate in the furrows, it will saturate the land on each side of them 

 and occasion mischief to the crop. The necessity thus occasioned of 

 deep ploughing, also renders the soil porous and tends to drain it ; but 

 wherever water is allowed to stand upon loose mould it forms a puddle, 

 which is reduced to a crust as soon as the moisture is dried up, and a caked 

 surface on a tenacious soil is productive of certain injury to the crops. There- 

 fore, although the practice of thus forming the ridges has been objected to, 

 as parching the summits during the summer's drought, and wasting the soil 

 by the deep inter-furrows being rendered sterile t — yet that is a choice of 

 evils, of winch the latter is the least: it should however, of course, be exer- 

 cised with judgment, and care should be taken to secure a sufficient fall for 

 the water. In " gathering up," or rounding narrow ridges, perhaps a rise 



* Boj's's Survey of Kent, p. 64. On dry turnip soils it is usual to plough the laud 

 into ridges of 30 to 36 feet — called in the North band-win ridges, because reaped by a 

 band of shearers served by one binder. In finishing oflthis kind of soil, more especially 

 before laying it down to grass, it is customary to cast uj) a narrow ridgelet, or single-bout 

 drill, between the broad ridges, which directs the eye and hand of the sower ; and when the 

 field is harrowed to cover in the seed, all the ridgelets are obliterated, or nearly so, leaving 

 no bare unproductive portions, and giving a more beautiful lawn-like appearance to the 

 field when afterwards under pasture. Gen. Rep. of Scotland, vol. i., p. 349. 



t See Marshall's Min. of Agric, Digest, p. 66; and Rep. of the E. R. of Yorkshire, 

 p. 109. 



