Book VI. FALLOWING. 741 



In some districts in the south of England, wheat is rarely sown before December; whereas in the north, 

 and still more in Scotland, if it cannot be got completed by the end of October, it must commonly be de- 

 layed till spring, or oats or barley be taken in p'ace of wheat. It does not then seem of any utility to enter 

 farther into this controversy, which every skilful cultivator must determine for himself. All the crops, 

 and all the mode> oF management which have been purposed as a substitute for fallow, are well known to 

 such men, and would unquestionably have been generally adopted long ago, if, upon a careful consideration 

 of the advantages and disadvantages on both sides, a bare fallow was found to be unprofitable in a course of 



{rears. The reader who wishes to examine the question fully may consult, among many others, the fol- 

 owing : Young's Annals qf Agriculture, and his writings generally ; Hunter's Georgical Essays j Dick- 

 son's Practical Agriculture ; Sir H. Davy's Agricultural Chemistry; The Agricultural Chemistry of Chap. 

 tal ; Brown's Treatise on Rural Affairs ; The County Reports ; and The General Report of Scotland. 



4572. Fallows unnecessary on friable soils. However necessary the periodical recurrence of fallow may 

 be on retentive clays, its warmest advocates do not recommend it on turnip soils, or on any friable loams 

 incumbent on a porous subsoil ; nor is it in any case necessary every third year, according to the practice 

 of some districts. On the best cultivated lands it seldom returns "oitener than once in six or eight years, 

 and in favorable situations for obtaining an extra supply of manure, it may be advantageously dispensed 

 with for a still longer period. (Suppl. to Encyc. Brit. art. Agr.) 



4573. The operation offallowing, as commonly practised in England, is a very different 

 and comparatively useless, or at least ineffectual operation, to what it ought to be. In 

 most places the first furrow is not given till the spring, or even till the month of May or 

 June ; or, if it is given earlier, the second is not given till after midsummer, and on the 

 third the wheat is sown. Land may rest under this system of management; but to 

 clean it from weeds, or pulverise it, or give it the benefits of aeration and heat, is im- 

 possible. The farmer in some cases purposely delays ploughing his fallows for the sake 

 of the scanty bite the couch and weeds afford to his sheep ; and for the same reason having 

 ploughed once, he delays the second ploughing. It is not to be wondered at, that under 

 such a system the theoretical agriculturist should have taken a rooted aversion to what 

 are thus erroneously termed fallows. The practice of the best farmers of the northern 

 counties is very different, and that practice we shall here detail. 



4574. Aproper fallow invariably commences after harvest ; the land intended to be fallow- 

 ed getting one ploughing, which ought to be as deep as the soil will admit, even though a little 

 of the till or subsoil is brought up. This both tends to deepen the cultivated, or manured 

 soil, as the fresh accession of hitherto uncultivated earth becomes afterwards incorporated 

 with the former manured soil, and greatly facilitates the separation of the roots of weeds 

 during the ensuing fallow process, by detaching them completely from any connection 

 with the fast subsoil. This autumnal ploughing, usually called the winter furrow, pro- 

 motes the rotting of stubble and weeds : and if not accomplished towards the end of 

 harvest, must be given in the winter months, or as early in the spring as possible. In 

 giving this first ploughing, the old ridges should be gathered up, if practicable, as in that 

 state they are kept dry during the winter months ; but it is not uncommon to split them 

 out or divide them, especially if the land had been previously highly gathered, so that each 

 original ridge of land is divided into two half ridges. Sometimes, when the land is easily 

 laid dry, the furrows of the old ridges are made the crowns of the new ones, or the land is 

 ploughed in the way technically called crown-and-f arrow. In other instances, two ridges 

 are ploughed together, by what is called casting, which has been already described. After 

 the field is ploughed, all the inter-furrows, and those of the headlands, are carefully 

 opened up by the plou'gh, and are afterwards gone over effectually by a laborer with a 

 spade, to remove all obstructions, and to open up the water furrows into the fence ditclies, 

 wherever that seems necessary, that all moisture may have a ready exit. In every place 

 where water is expected to lodge, such as dishes, or hollow places in the field, cross or 

 oblique furrows are drawn by the plough, and their intersections carefully opened into 

 each other by the spade. Wherever it appears necessary, cross cuts are also made through 

 the head ridges into the ditches with a spade, and every possible attention is exerted, tliat 

 no water may stagnate in any part of the field. 



4575. As soon as the spring seed-time is over, the fallow land is again ploughed end-long. If formerly 

 split, it is now ridged up; if formerly laid up in gathered ridges, it is split or cloven down. It is then 

 cross-ploughed ; and after lying till sufficiently dry to admit the harrows, it is harrowed and rolled re- 

 peatedly, and every particle of the vivacious roots of weeds brought up to view, carefully gathered by 

 Iiand into heaps, and either burnt on the field, or carted off to the compost midden. The fallow is then 

 ridged up, which places it in a safe condition in the event of bad weather, and exposes a new surface to 

 the harrows and roller ; after which the weeds are again gathered by hand, but a j)reviou8 harrowing is 

 necessary. It is afterwards ploughed, harrowed, rolled, and gathered as often as may be necessary to 

 reduce it into fine tilth and completely to eradicate all root-weeds. Between these successive operations, 

 repeated crops of seedling weeds are brought into vegetation and destroyed. The larvas likewise of Various 

 insects, together with an infinite variety of the seeds of weeds, are exposed to be devoured by bhrds, 

 which are then the farmer's best friends, though often proscribed as his bitterest enemies. 



4576. The use (f the harrow and roller in the fallow process, has been condemned by 

 some writers on husbandry, who allege, that frequent ploughing is all that is necessary 

 to destroy root-weeds, by the baking or drying of the clods in the sun and wind ; but 

 experience has ascertained, that frequently turning over the ground, though absolutely 

 necessary while the fallow process is going on, can never eradicate couch-grass or other 

 root-weeds. In all clay soils, the ground turns up in lumps or clods, which the severi^st 

 drought will not penetrate so sufficiently as to kill the included roots. When the land 

 is again ploughed, these lumps are turned over and no more, and the action of the 



SB 3 



