1838] 



F A R INI I-: R S ' R K G [ S T E R 



731 



iram it a crop ot oatp, but the breaking down ori 

 the turf sulTicientl)' whs Iouik) impraciicalile — the ' 

 season, however, was remarkahly wet and unl'a- 

 vorahle. Five plonohinirs, with the usual assis- 

 tance of the roller and harrows, arc vhe most thai 

 liave been found requisite to brintj the jjronnd 

 inio a sulticient sta<e ol" cleanness and tilth lor 

 Bowiuir. 'I'he plouirliiniTS should all he executed 

 when the <i;round is in a dry state. The olijec.t is 

 to clean, to pulverize and tuix, and to render Cria- 

 ble. One wet plouirhinff may undo the good ef- 

 fects of all the [irecedinfr ojierations, and had 

 nuich het:er h(> oruiiied aliugeiher. When lime is 

 used, it is applied after the second plougluiiir. the 

 dung is covered in with the seed iiirrow. There 

 is no stantiard hy which it can be said, with any 

 de>iree of accuracy, what quantity of manure in 

 the shape o!" tiirni-yard dimg is applied. Carts 

 are variously filled, and even when estunated hy 

 vveiirht or measure, one is still in ignorance of the 

 intrinsic value of the material. Where recent 

 diiniX is used, if the land be very dry and loose, it 

 is extremely diificult, in ploughinc it down with 

 the seed furrow, to bury it sufficiently, and when 

 not well covered, a great waste is occasioned, and 

 an obstruction offered in harrowinir to sufficiently 

 burvini? the sepd. Ridges of filieen feel width 

 were at first, for many reasons, adopted; they are 

 convenient in sowii.u and reaping, and u'hen 

 twice gathered, they afford, without rendering the 

 furrows too bare, a quick escape for the water 

 falliiiir on the surface. When, however, the sur- 

 face of the field has a considerable inclination, as 

 is mostly the case here, twelve li'et ridijes are pre- 

 ferred. With these there is a less accumulation 

 of water in each huTow, and the soil less washed 

 awav by the winter rains. 



Falkno-grean crop. — A small portion of the 

 most suitable soil of the fidlow is often allotted to 

 turnips and potatoes, both planted in drills with 

 dung. The latter are almost always an inferior 

 crop in quantity. If the season be dry and warm, 

 very o-ood turnips may be raised on this soil; but 

 as such a season cannot be depended on, were it 

 not for the sake of advancing a few young cattle, 

 they would not be sown. To cart them off in 

 winter is ruinous for the land. For the last two 

 years they iiave been stored towards the end of 

 October, and witii probaiily less loss than miirht 

 liave been expected, had they remained on the 

 field. They are laid down ona dry place in long 

 lieaps about five feet wide, and moderately cover- 

 ed with straw. They should be protected from 

 rain and li-ost, and at the same time the air not ex- 

 cluded from them. Swedes are the turnips which 

 are most desirable to plant, but they do .not suc- 

 ceed if not sown in the month of May. It is rare 

 that the land can be aot prepared so early, and 

 therefore the yellow bullock is substituted, a root 

 very little inferior, if to be used befiire ths end of 

 April. The potatoes are raised principally for the 

 use of the servants and family. In winter, and 

 when there is no whey, the pigs are fed with 

 them boiled; and in sprina;, when the cows beirin 

 to calve, they (ret a few bolls of them. The tur- 

 nips are almost exclusively given to the young 

 cattle. 



3rd. IJ'lieat — should be sown early in Septem- 

 ber. In proportion as it is sowt; later, it seems to 

 be deficient in produce. One season a little was 

 sown on the 13th August, and succeeded equally 



with the rest of the field; the spring, however, 

 was fully more backward than springs are gener- 

 ally in this country. The white wheat is the kind 

 that has always been sown, though perhaps not 

 the most suitable. Three bushels an acre ia 

 enough; if sown later, or, when the huui is very 

 wet, a little more is required. It is washed in 

 stale urine, and dried with slaked lime betijre be- 

 ing deposited in the field. It has, however, been 

 repeatedly tried without washing, and in neitliGr 

 way has it ever been atFected in the slightest de- 

 iiree with any disease. Sixteen and a half acres 

 is the average extent sown annually since the 

 fiirm was taken possession of The average pro- 

 duce for each year has been as low as seventeen 

 bushels per acre, and as high as thirty-four; and 

 the average produce of all the years is twenty-five 

 bushels per acre or thirty-one and a quarter per 

 acre, Scots. 



4th. Clover. — Red clover, wiih rye-grass, gen- 

 erally succeeds well here. It affords the principal 

 means of feeding the horses and calves in the 

 house all summer and autumn. It is sown among 

 the wheat most conunonly in the month of 

 March, and four pounds ot clover-seed has al- 

 ways been found sufltcient lor an acre. A great 

 part of the fitst cutting is converted into hay, and 

 made ea ly, lor the sake of the after-crop of clover. 

 5th. Oats after clover. — If" the crop of clover 

 be srood, the succeeding oat-crop never fails. 



6th. Peas. — The comnmn grey is the kind 

 used, sown broad-cast at the rale of about fou,r 

 bushels to the acre. Peas are preferred to beans, 

 because they do not require to be so early sown; 

 and they are read}' to be cut sooner in the autumn; 

 they are besides more easily secured. It is desira- 

 ble that ihey should be drilled, for the sake of'get- 

 ting the irround kept free li-om weeds, though in 

 many seasons the horse-hoeing of them would be 

 impracticable. 



Tlh. Oats after peas wiih dung. — If the pea 

 crop has been luxuriant, the oats that follow are 

 so also. The ground gets two pioughings, by the 

 last of which the dung is covered in. Three 

 ploushings would be better, if they could be over- 

 taken, but it is seldom possible to get two perform- 

 ed with the ground in the requisite state in pouit 

 of dryness. 



Sih. Hay. — It is allowed to lie in the swath till 

 ready to rake, and to be put up into small cocks, 

 which in fine weather may be the second day afier 

 cutting. In these it remains for a few days more, 

 and is then put into small ricks of from fifty to 

 eiorhly stones of twent3'-lbur pounds, and when 

 sufficiently dry, is carried home and put up togeth- 

 er in a permanent rick. In this way it is as little 

 as possible exposed to the influence of either good 

 or bad weather. 



9ih. Pasture. — The land here will not stand 



constant cropping, or continue productive, withouJ 



considerable intervals of rest under pasture. If 



the pasture is to lollow the wheat crop, the grass 



seeds are sown in spring, and an occasion ousht 



to be taken, if it can be irot, when the wheat may 



\ be well harroived atid rolled. The grasses, how- 



' ever, are found to succeed well without harrowing, 



if sown early. Upon half an acre it was once 



I tried to sow the grass seeds with the wheat in au- 



jtumn. The wheat crop was remarkably injured 



by this mode of proceedintr, but the grasses seem- 



j ed proportionally benefited, and. probably the 



