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In Roxburghshire, 14 feet ridges are preferred, both 

 for expedition in reaping, and regularity of sowing ; and 

 a most respectable farmer in that country states, that 

 when a young man, he was accustomed, for many years, 

 to sow a great part of his own farm, and if there hap- 

 pened to be any wind, (particularly a cheek-wind), nei- 

 ther he, nor any one employed with him, could ever sow 

 a ridge of 18 feet, once going about, so as to give satis- 

 faction ; hence he was induced to adopt ridges of 14 

 feet, to prevent the seed from being unequally laid down. 

 In Roxburghshire, however, they are more apt to be 

 troubled by wind than in the flat districts on the sea- 

 coast. 



a. In East Lothian, so justly celebrated for every 

 operation in husbandry, and in other districts skilled in 

 agriculture, as in Angus, &c. eighteen feet is almost 

 universally adopted on soils of a strong or clayey na- 

 ture. 



This breadth is considered to be the most advantageous 

 for preventing wet, and for dunging, sowing, harrow- 

 ing and reaping. In regard to wet, there is a sufficient 

 wideness to admit of a gentle slope on each side, effected 

 by twice gathering the soil when ploughed, by means of 

 which the surface water soon gets down into the furrow. 

 The dung also can be easily spread over the surface of 

 such a ridge. As to sowing, it may be done by two 

 casts of the seedsman, unless in high winds. A pair of 



ing the water to the nearest outlet. Besides, on such soils 

 a mult.picity of furrows has only the tendency to render 

 the crop less productive, as it is well known to every agri- 

 culturist acquainted with them, that on the sides of the 

 furrows, the crop is always scanty, and sometimes not worth 

 cutting down. 



