66 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. V 



ideas, many absurd doctrines have however been propagated concerning it, 

 and in no instance more than in that of fallowing land, which it has been 

 very common to condemn in the gross, as a mere waste of labour and loss 

 of crops. If by fallowing be meant repeated summer ploughings, it follows 

 that on some lands it is proper, and on others totally wrong. It can never 

 be right to make land lighter that is too light already ; but there are few 

 instances where strong heavy land can be pulverized too much. It may be 

 replied that this pulverization may be as well effected under crops as in a 

 state of fallow. On some soils it may ; on others it cannot. In veins of 

 rich sand, it has been found to be totally improper : such land will not 

 bear a summer fallow ; for it can never be made too close, if it can be 

 kept clean ; and on such a soil, this can be done better with a crop than 

 without one *. 



AVith regard to the system of fallowing in the northern districts of the 

 kingdom, it is considered by most intelligent farmers as not generally 

 suited to the more tenacious clays of the southern counties of England. 

 The fallow-land on such soils, they contend, should not be broken up 

 before it is dry in April or May ; for if ploughed in autumn, and if the 

 winter prove open, with much rain, it retains the moisture, becomes soured, 

 and requires much trouble to get it dried for cleaning in spring. The 

 treading of the cattle on such land, while ploughing, also does much mis- 

 chief, for the impression of their feet will hold water when taking up the 

 last two furrows of a ridge, and will, in a great measure, prevent the proper 

 turning over of the furrow slice. In wet seasons the horses should, there- 

 fore, be always driven in the furrow. In some situations it is, no doubt, 

 an easy matter to lay aside fallows, and to raise wheat after green crops ; 

 but we are borne out by the opinion of practical agriculturists of great 

 eminence, in saying, that no man, who is generally acquainted with the 

 soil and climate of Great Britain, will attempt to explode their use altoge- 

 ther. The essential points of tillage — besides preserving the land in heart 

 with manure — consist in keeping it dry by drainage, and clearing it 

 of weeds : if fallowed steadily, with perseverance and judgment, they 

 are sure to succeed ; but if negligently or imperfectly performed, no land, 

 however cheaply rented, can leave a living profit to the farmer. 



Having thus stated our opinion on the expediency of fallowing, we 

 should be wanting in candour if we neglected to advert more particularly 

 than by general mention of its opponents, to the opposite practice pursued 

 for some years past, on heavy land, by the late Thomas Greg, Esq. and 

 General Beatson: the details of which, although already before tiie public, 

 are so pertinent to the subject of this chapter, that a further account of it 

 cannot, we think, be deemed misplaced. 



Greg's system. 

 The farm of Coles, near Buntingford, in Hertfordshire, consists of 240 

 acres of arable land, which is described as " a very tenacious clay, in some 

 places mixed up with calcareous earth, which causes it to bind at top after 

 heavy rain ;" and was formerly worked nearly under a three-course system 

 of summer fidlow, white corn, and pulse, or clover. Turnips were seldom 

 sown, as the difficulty of feeding or carting tliem off was found to be 

 injurious to the succeeding crop; and, consequently, only a small flock of 

 80 ewes or 140 wethers was kept, which was constantly folded during the 



* In common fields, where the course is two crops and a fallow, or, as in some, three 

 crops and a fallow, the report says that " on such soils, the fallowed jear fills the land 

 with more weeds than can be I'ot rid of in the succeeding round of crops." — Surv. 

 ofWilts.,p. 56. 



