MO BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. X. 



which lias producecl inctiflerently under one species, will frequently be found 

 to yield abundant cro|)s v/hen sown with the other. It has even been 

 observed, tliat land which is equally appropriate to cither kind will produce 

 better crops it the species be alternately clianged ; that mixed wheat pro- 

 duces the lieaviest grain, and that a mixture of flour will make the hest 

 bread ; wliich goes far to prove, that it is not altogether that the land is 

 exhausted by a crop when it refuses to grow it a second time with vigour, 

 but that it requires a cliange of plant to excite its vegetative powers*. 



SOIL. 



Good wheat land ought always to possess a certain degree of consistence, 

 and consequently, the larger the proportion of clay, and the less sand which 

 it contains, the better ; for although light soils, composed chiefly of sand 

 and gravel, will often produce wheat of good quality, yet heavy loams, and 

 strong clays, always yield that which is the weightiest in the bushel, and 

 the most productive in the crop. If, along with a small quantity of sand, it 

 have about fifteen per cent, of lime, it may be classed among soils of the best 

 quality for the production of the crop ; provided it also contain a sufficient 

 portion of nutritive humus, or mould. Soils of that description arc gene- 

 rally of a dark-brown colour, and work freely, in consequence of the 

 mixture of lime, which prevents them from being too adhesive ; but in 

 many districts they are much encumbered with large flints, which, though 

 found to diminish their fertility, not yet entirely prevent the use of the drill, 

 and very much impede the employment of the horse-hoe. 



Sandy soils are unfavourable to the growth of wheat ; for they are deficient 

 in that degree of firmness which is necessary to support the roots of the 

 ])lants. It is, therefore, a crop which should never be sown on such land ; 

 or, if grown, it should only be upon one ploughing of a clover-ley, and 

 when afterwards folded by a flock of sheep. Although it is true that num- 

 berless instances may be cited, in the experience of every farmer, of sandy 

 soils, which contain a due proportion of mould, producing tolerable wheat, 

 yet no dependence can be placed on them ; for the crop will fail, if attacked 

 either by a severe frost in winter, or by the drought of a very hot summer. 

 Indeed, were it not for the prejudice existing against the use of rye, which 

 in this country throws it much out of cultivation, it would form a much 

 more appropriate crop than wheat upon dry, sandy, and porous land. 



CULTIVATION. 



Wheat, although forming one of the crops in every rotation upon good 

 land under the alternate system, yet, upon strong soils, is generally sown 

 upon a summer fallow ; though, not unfrequently, a bastard fallow is sub- 

 stituted, by taking a previous crop of tares either cut green for soiling, or 

 fed off by sheep. The bastard fallow certainly has the advantage of pro- 

 ducing an early crop of spring feed, and upon land that is easily worked, 

 and not too foul, the ground may generally be got in order for the autumn 

 sowino- ; but if the soil be very adhesive, or much infested with root-weeds, 

 no other plan than a bare fallow can effectually answer the purpose : indeed 

 as the surface-soil becomes more closely bound by the growth of wheat 

 than of any other grain, too much eflbrt cannot be used to pulverize it when 

 it is tenacious. 'We have already so fully stated our opinion on this 

 subject, that we have nothing further to add, except to remind the farmer, 

 that the expense will not be wholly thrown away ; for, on such land, the 



* Burroughs, on the Cultivation of white Crops, p. 21. — Gulden Farmer, p. 75 — 

 Von Thai^r, Prineipcs Kaisonne's d'Agric. 2nde Edit., torn. iv. p. 92, 



