Ch.X.] 



ON WHEAT. 



149 



Most farmers, however, object to the use of the horse-hoe in the perform- 

 ance of the operation iipoi wheat ; both from the great difficulty of so 

 correctly guiding the implement as to prevent it, in some places, from 

 cutting up the roots, and from the injury done by the treading of tlie 

 horse. Tlie latter objection is, indeed, not of much moment, for the work 

 cannot be performed when the weather is wet ; there is, therefore, but little 

 danger of poaching ; or, if the weight of the animal be thought too great, a 

 donkey may be employed. It is, however, more usually performed with 

 the hand-hoe ; but the process is tedious, and verv generally indifferently 

 executed, for a great portion of the ground is left untouched, and many of the 

 plants are always carelessly struck out. We have seen this partially — though 

 certahily not effectuall)-— remedied by the use of a hoe of the following 

 description; which being drawn regularly through the drills by a labourer, 

 IS more under his command than when drawn by a horse, besides its avoid- 

 ing much of the poaching; and, if he uses it carefully, no injury can be 

 done to the plants. It can however be only used upon land of the lightest 

 kind, and not too mucli encumbered with weeds, or the labour might prove 

 too secure, unless the number of hoes were diminished ; and it is, of course, 

 only applicable to drills at the same distance. 



By these operations — of harrowing and hoeing — the land is also in some 

 measure cleansed of weeds, and they are not unfrequently allowed to super- 

 sede that of hand- weeding. This, however, is a most injudicious saving ; 

 for, in no other way than by ])lucking the weeds by hand, can they be fot 

 out from spots where they are close to the plants of wlieat, and where thev 

 are consequently the most injurious to the crop. The process should, there- 

 fore, never be neglected, whatever may be the state of the land ; for it never 

 can be so thoroughly clean as that weeds may not be found in the spring, 

 and the farmer who does not take every means in liis power to eradicate 

 them will in the long-run find himself a loser by his economy. 



When the temperature of the season has occasioned the vegetation to be 

 very forward, the winter-sown crops of wheat are, however, subject, on rich 

 land, to become what farmers term icinter-proiid ; or sprout with such 

 luxuriance in the early part of the spring, that the vigour of tlie plants is 

 exhausted by the sudden growth of a great mass of straw, and the grain 

 becomes proportionately unproductive. From the greater height to which 

 the straw thus rises, and as well the weakness of its stems, the crop is also more 

 in danger of being lodged by storms, and is found to be generally more 

 liable to mildew ; it is, therefore, in such cases, very commonly eaten down 

 by sheep, or, by some farmers, it is occasionally, though very rarely, mown. 

 The progress of vegetation is thus checked, and the apparent danger is 



