84 I^BRITISH HUSBANDY. [Ch. VI. 



Tlie grain, both of wheat and barley, is also said to be of better quality, 

 being more free from dross, and the kernel larger ; and that of wheat to 

 weigh more by 10 or 12lbs. in the quarter. Respecting the difference in 

 the quantity of produce, the accounts vary ; some stating it as yielding an 

 excess of ten to twelve bushels of wheat over any other method *, and 

 others reducing it to three, while many insist that there is no perceptible 

 difference t. We have heard of barley being part dibbled, and part sown 

 broad-cast, on the same field, tilled and manured in the same manner, and 

 the former producing twelve bushels per acre more than the latter ; and 

 Mr. Henry Smidi tells us, that his own crop of last year was half-drilled 

 and half-dibbled, and the latter yielded two bushels per acre more than the 

 former. 



It must, however, be admitted, that it is only properly adapted to loose 

 friable land, and is best calculated for clover leys, the pulverization of 

 which is unfavourable to the culture of wheat, but can never be made to 

 answer on wet tenacious clays ; for the dibble forms a cup which holds 

 water in wet weather, and when that is evaporated, the earth around be- 

 comes so hard as to be impenetrable to the roots of grain, and the seed 

 perishes. Were not this the case, another objection arises in the difficulty 

 of properly covering the seed by filling the holes in such soils, though har- 

 rowed ever so often J. 



This mode of culture, though so nearly allied to drilling, yet differs from 

 it in two particulars: as, first separate holes are made to permit the inser- 

 tion of the seeds ; and secondly, they are set in bunches of several grains 

 each, which is supposed to be favourable to their growth, though opinions 

 differ on its merits. Thus, by some farmers, four, five, six, and seven 

 grains of wheat, and two, three, or four beans, are dropped into each hole : 

 it is, indeed, thought by many, that crowding the roots of corn promotes 

 their growth in a young state, and it is a common observation, that young 

 vegetables of every kind, when growing near together, draw each other 

 up : though it is also supposed, that they are proportionably deficient in 

 strength and thickness, as their height exceeds that of single plants. The 

 experiment stated at the close of this chapter would, however, show, that 

 dibbling does not require the quantity of seed generally thought necessary 

 to ensure a crop ; and, it must be admitted, that " further than the voice of 

 general opinion, there is no proof that the beneficial effects of crowding 

 the roots extend to the period of maturity. But when people gain better 

 crops than the broad-cast, by dibbling four or five corns in a hole, and 

 that without any assistance from the lioe, it affords a strong jjresumption 

 that such is the case §."' 



The observations which have been made in respect to drilling will apply, 

 in many respects, with increased force to dibbling, as being a much slower 

 operation, the tediousness of which may occasion the possible risk of 

 losing a favourable season. The chief argument usually urged in its favour 

 is the saving of seed, and that, in a national point of view, is certainly 

 important ; but farmers naturally look only to their own interest, and, at 

 the present ])rice of corn, it is of little weight. The consideration of the 

 additional employment which it would afford to every class of the labouring 

 peasantry — men, women, and children — is, however, an object which must 



* Kent's Surv. of Norfolk, App. p. 211. 

 I Arthur Young's Surv. of Norfolk, p. 280. 



I See the Essex Rep. vol. i. p. 272 ; Middlesex ditto, 2nd edit. p. 178 ; and Sinclair's 

 Code of Agric, 3rd edit. p. 124. 

 § Bedford Rep. p. 300. 



