45 



3- In preparing land for a crop, water -furrowing is a 

 very important operation, more especially in wet soils 

 and climates , indeed not only are these water-furrows, 

 or surface-drains made and dressed by the plough, but 

 a spade-man, is also employed, to clear them out, as soon 

 as the ridge is ploughed : the land is thus never injured 

 by surface-water *. 



4. An intelligent farmer, (Mr Blackie of Holydown), 

 has sent me the following statement of the number of 

 miles his ploughs travel in a day. An acre of land, he 

 observes, is ten chains long, and one broad ; one chain is 

 66 fe'et : divide that into 80 furrows, which is as narrow 

 as any body ploughs, the whole furrows in one acre 

 measure no more than eight miles. An acre in one day is 

 'very good work for two horses, yet is a very slow pace 

 when divided into eight hours work, one mile per hour. 

 Turning at the ends of the land takes up one tenth of 

 the time. In dry fine soil, and level ground, a pair of 

 good horses will plough twelve chains ; on wet heavy land, 

 nine, sometimes not more than eight chains ; in crossing 

 or stirring turnip land in summer or spring they will do 

 sixteen chains, and in some very fine free land two acres. 



Mr Erskine of Mar, who has paid much successful at- 

 tention to many branches of husbandry, calculates, that 

 the number of yards travelled in ploughing an acre and 

 a half with a sixteen inch furrow slice, is 16,320 yds. 

 And with a furrow-slice of 18 inches, - 14,4x0 

 The furrow-slice of 8 inches, 32,640 

 9 ^ - 29,040 



To the same intelligent correspondent, I am also in- 

 debted for the following tables. 



* Hints from Mr Peter Jack, of Moncur. This plan is 

 adopted, not only in the Carse of Cowrie, but in all die best 

 cultivated districts in Scotland. 



