Ch. IV.] PLOUGHING. 47 



sary, by the spade ; and if any slope in the field lies in a different direction 

 to that of the ridges, a deep furrow should also be cut in the direction of 

 the slope, so as to form a channel for the escape of the water, by what is 

 called gripping. 



The quantity of land ploughed in a days work necessarily depends on 

 so many circumstances — comprising the nature of the soil, the season, the 

 strength and agility of the teams, and the breadth and depth of the fur- 

 rows, that no precise calculation can be formed ; and we refer to what we 

 liave already said on the subject in our observations on animal labour*. 

 The ordinary estimate is generally an acre a day ; but, taking into con- 

 sideration the various impediments to which the work is exposed, perhaps 

 three roods are nearer to the average. 



Independently of the nature of the soil, the irregnlarity of the fences 

 occasions in many instances a great waste of labour by causing frequent 

 short turnings, and the narrowness of many strips of land held in common 

 fields also prevents them from being cross-ploughed ; thus depriving them 

 of the benefit of being exposed, as they ought, to the influence of the sun 

 and air. Added to which, tliere is the frequent occurrence in old inclosures 

 of ridges, ploughed time out of mind in a variety of uncouth shapes, placed 

 without regard to the boundaries of the fields, and divided by such deep 

 inter-furrows, that improvement is almost impossible by any other means 

 than laying them first quite level, v/hich every farmer finds to be attended 

 with very considerable trouble and expensef. It can, indeed, be only done, 

 if the land be at all wet, by previous under drainage, and a gradual course 

 of careful tillage ; for, if the crowns of the ridges be hastily levelled, the 

 most fertile portion of the soil is thus buried in the furrows, while a sterile 

 subsoil is turned up, and the attempt, if made in one year, would certainly 

 prove abortive. It should, moreover, never be attempted but in a year of 

 clean fallow. 



In some places also, as we have already stated, the partition of the land 

 in common fields requires them to be ploughed up and doicn hill. Exclu- 

 sive of the great increase of labour thus occasioned, the cattle never work 

 equally ; for those which are sluggisli hang back upon the rise, while those 

 which possess more s))irit heat and fatigue themselves by over-exertion. It 

 al;0 occasions the further inconvenience of causing much of the manure, 

 and some of the richest particles of the soil, to be swept down from the 

 upper ])art through the furrows by the rains. In order to avoid this, when- 

 ever the size and division of the ground admits of its being ploughed in any 

 other direction, the ridges shonld be carried diagonally across the ascent, 

 so as both to allow the fall of the water to be as gentle as possible, and also 

 to ease the toil of the team. The latter object uill be best elfected by 

 sloping the ridges upwards from the right, instead of from llie left hand : 

 for, in the former case, when the liorses are mounting the hill, the plough 

 casts the furrow downwards ; whereas, in the latter, when they are ascend- 

 ing, it is turned upwards, and thus greatly increases their labour. The turn- 

 wrest plough is also a good implement to use for this purpose ; and, in 

 steep ascents, the grubber may likewise be employed with good effect. 



To prevent, as far as possible, the upper parts of a hilly field from being 

 deprived of a portion of the manure, attentive farmers usually lay on a 

 larger quantity in proportion to the rise of the ascent. In some places, 



* See vol. i. chap. vii. p. 152, and chap. viii. p. 188. 



f For a detailed account of the mode of effecting this, see pp. 13 and 14 of Scoreb}', 

 in No. V. of the Select Farms published by the Society for the DifRision of Useful 

 Kuowledpre. 



