Ch. v.] SUMMER FALLOW. 59 



undei' the drill husbandry ; but on strong clays it has been continued in 

 most places time out of mind, under nearly the same system of management 

 as that of our forefathers*. The common idea, that the soil acquires an 

 increase of fertility by being exposed to the influence of tlie atmosphere, 

 and allowed to rest without production, although still entertained by some 

 persons!, has also been generally relinquished by most intelligent men, 

 who see in it no other benefit than what may be obtained from a cessation 

 of the growth of exhausting crops, and perhaps some advantage arising 

 from the decomposition of weeds, instead of allowing tliem to arrive at 

 maturity ; though it certainly affords a superior tilth for corn than what 

 can be obtained by a fallow crop. But as no crop that is exhausting can 

 be considered as a fallow crop, the sole object is to clean the land when- 

 ever it becomes foul ; therefore, whenever that happens, without reference 

 to the period which may have expired since the operation was last per- 

 formed, they determine upon the application of a bare summer fallow. 



That summer fallows are frequently carried to an unnecessary extent, 

 cannot be denied ; but it should be recollected, that incoming tenants very 

 commonly find the land left in such a state that there is no other mode of 

 cleansing it ; nor can it be forgotten, that they have been established for 

 ages by the usage of common-field, and that the covenants of leases upon 

 many large estates still bind the tenant to fallow regularly at stated periods. 

 Iri this, indeed, some proprietors have acted upon the same principle as that 

 laid down in the laws of the Jews by Moses, who ordered that the tribes of 

 Israel, when led out of Egypt, should give the land a jubilee every seventh 

 year J ; and others act upon a system of still closer restriction. These 

 leases have, indeed, been, in most instances, copied from those which were 

 drawn up long before the husbandry of the country had reached its present 

 improvement : the bulk of farmers were at tiiat period comparatively 

 ignorant of the art of agriculture ; the system of alternate green and 

 corn crops was unknown, and limitation was necessary, in order to guard 

 the interest of the landlord, and prevent the ground from being run out of 

 heart by over cropping. Absurd clauses of restraint have thus, in several 

 instances, been continued to the injury of both parties, and doubtless 

 should be, in most cases, exploded. Restrictions may, however, be still 

 considered prudent to a certain extent ; for though no intelligent and con- 

 scientious farmer should be bound by such fetters as comjjel him to any 

 particular course of crops, until within two or three years of the expiration 

 of his lease, yet his landlord should have the power of enforcing them iu 

 case of mismanagement. 



There are various modes of conducting the operation of a clean fallow: 

 its continuance and the number of ploughings requisite depend on the 



* Thus, on consulting that original writer, Ellis of Great Gaddesden, who published 

 ■ an octavo volume in 1745, under the title of ' The Chiltern Vale Farming explained,' 

 but little alteration can be perceived to have been made at his time in the Vale of White- 

 Horse, where iininclosed, from that which he recommends. — Berks Kep., p. 161. 



f " So far as my experience goes, sooner or later the land will be reduced to that state 

 of weakness and imbecility in which no manure, no hasty stimulus, or green crop, will 

 enable it to sustain and perfect a beneficial crop of grain. Manure and green crops, it 

 is true, will produce a crop of straw, but for want of that vegetable aliment, which can 

 only be restored by fallowing and rest, the crops of grain will ever fall short in that farina 

 which is the life and soul of all white crops." — Brown, Orig. Rep. of Derbysh. p. 29. 



" Every good Wiltshire farmer will say, that, upon the downs, two years' rest for wheat 

 is equal to the best coat of dung. Dung may give the quantity, but rest must give the 

 quality." — Davies' Wilts Rep., p. 57. 



X " And six years shalt thou sow thy land, and gather the fruits thereof : but the 

 seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still." — Exodus, chap, xxiii, v. 10, 11. 



