Ch. VL] EXPERIMENTS. 85 



come home to the breast of every man of right feelingf, and, in that sense, 

 it is doubtless deserving of encouragement. To this we venture to add 

 Marshall's recommendation of the tram^jjlantation, not only of many root- 

 crops, but also, under certain circumstances, of wheat. In cases, for 

 instance, of the partial failure of a crop, which is sometimes known to grow 

 luxuriantly in some spots, and to be bare in others, the plants in those parts 

 of the field where they are too thick, may be thinned, and those taken out 

 dibbled into places where they are deficient. This should be done in the 

 early part of April ; though it has been known to succeed when performed 

 so late as from the 5th to the 12th of May*. Whether the operation 

 might not be carried further with advantage on peculiar soils, and in par- 

 ticular seasons, is also a hint which may be found worthy of attention. 



EXPERIMENTS. 



As in every innovation upon the established practices of agriculture, it 

 may be imagined that men, however well-ini'ormed, experienced, and 

 candid they may be, yet differ in opinion regarding the relative supe- 

 riority of the broad-cast and drill husbandry. It may, however, be pre- 

 sumed that the opposite conclusions which they have drawn, have generally 

 arisen from no other cause than the peculiarity of the soil on which experi- 

 ments have been tried ; for where the sole objects in view are truth and 

 utility, it cannot but be supposed that the opinions both for and against 

 either practice have been well founded, and that, in equally eligible situa- 

 tions, both practices are proper and advisable to be pursued : a truth which 

 can in no instance be better exemplified than in w^hat occurred upon an 

 experimental farm established several years ago by the South Hants Agri- 

 cultural Society, which, after a trial of five years, upon 200 acres of arable 

 land, one-half exclusively employed in the drill, and the other in the broad- 

 cast husbandry, was then given up without any definitive decision upon 

 their respective merits. 



The Surveyor of Hampshire lias, however, given some details of the se- 

 parate practice of intelligent persons in that county, which lead to the 

 conclusion that drilling is the preferable system of the two. Thus in a 

 course of husbandry, on the broad-cast plan, in a five-shift rotation, upon 

 the strong arable lands in the chalk district, beginning with a thorough 

 winter and summer falknv for wheat, he states the abstract of the gross 

 expense and returns as having been as follows : — 



£. s. d. £. s. d. 



To expense of the fallow and 



wheat crop . . 



Do. of turnip do. 



Do. of barley do. . 



Do. of clover do. 



£28 1 3 £35 18 3 



leaving a balance of 71 17s., or a net annual profit, including the interest 

 of capital, of 1/. 15?. bd. per annum ; rent, tithe, and parochial assessments 

 being then 25s. per acre ; wheat selling at 8s. 6c/., and barley at 4s. 3d. per 

 bushel. 



The drill system of a gentleman, also in the chalk district, but whose 

 land is chiefly of a rubbly nature, and of a thin staple, but much deepened 

 and improved by scarifying, is thus described. He begins, as early as 

 possible after wheat-sowing, to plough a last year's stubble, or a ley, to a 



* See the Survey of Essex, vol. i. p. 281. 



