FARMERS^ REGISTER. 



149 



solved to trace the whole progress of I he opera- 

 tions, from the commencement of the fallow to the 

 cioseof the rotation ;" the result of which was, that 

 "having n)ade a scries of experiments to which 

 he devoted his attention during five years, he de- 

 termined upon tha total abolition of fallmos* 



In order to effect this, he adopted several imple- 

 ments, chiefly o(" his own invention, for a descrip- 

 tion of which we must refer lo his ' New System 

 of Cultivation,' as we have only seen the scarifier 

 in use. Tliis is of a light construction, and cer- 

 tainly performs well ; though, upon land such as 

 that described by the general, it is worked by a 

 pair ofhorsps, and sometimes more, instead of one. 



He conceived that the grand source of all the 

 heavy expenses of the old method might be traced 

 to the fallow itself, and to the mode of preparing it 

 — "by bringing up immense slags with the plough, 

 by reversing the soil, and thus burying the seeds 

 of weeds that had fallen on the surface, by which 

 a foundation is laid tor all the subsequent laborious 

 and expensive operations.'' To avoid these, he 

 therefore thought it necessary to proceed in a dif- 

 ferent manner — " to only break and crumble the 

 Gurface soil to any depth that may be required ; lo 

 burn and destroy the weeds; alier which he would 

 have the land in a fine and clean state of pulve- 

 rization, and in readiness for receiving the seed, 

 without losing a year's rent and taxes ; and all this 

 at a mere trifle of expense when compared with 

 that which is incurred by a fallow." 



In pursuance of this, he reduced the ploughing 

 to a single operation at the depth of four inches. 

 The chief use, indeed, which lie mude of the 

 plough was to open furrows at twenty-seven in- 

 ches apart, which was jierfbrmed by a couple of 

 horses at the rate of three acres per day, and was 

 merely intended to prepare the land for the scari- 

 fiers, '"which, by passing twice across these I'ur- 

 rows, loosen all the stubble and roots of weeds, 

 which arc afterwards, with a small portion of the 

 soil, placed in heaps and burned." By these 

 means, together with the more frequent repetition 

 of the horse-hoeing and the introduction of the row 

 culture, the general assures us "that his lands 

 were rendered much cleaner, and yielded belter 



* His experiments were extended to various objects 

 besides the working of the land ; purticulaily to the 

 combinations of different kinds of manure, arxl tiie burii- 

 ing of clay, (for which, see our vol. i , chaps. 16 and 

 17) ; but our present extracts only extet'd to the sub- 

 ject of fallowing, the charges of which he states to 

 have amounted to 16/. per acre, thus : — 

 Labor, breaking up the clover ley 



and three subsequent ploughings £3 12 C 

 Eleven harrowings at ten acres per 



day ■ {) 



Manure, one and a half wagon load of 

 lime between the third and fourth 



ploughings 7 10 



Carting and spreading ditto - -060 



Seed, two and a half bushels of wheat 



at 10s. 15 



Sowing and rolling - - - 16 



Rent and taxes for the year of fallow 1 10 



Ditto for the year of crop - - 1 10 



£16 4 



See his ' New System of Cultivation,' together with 

 Supplement, containing plates of several nuichines in- 

 vented by him ; some of which will merit attention. 



crops than they did formerly, after all the heavy 

 expenses of lime and fallows."* He indeed 

 states, that these operations produced the effect 

 of pulverization to the depth of six or seven inches, 

 and their expense was — 



s. d. 

 Five scarifyings, with a single-horse 



implement, at Is. Sd. per acre 8 4 

 Two harrowings, at 10|d. - - 1 9 s. J. 



10 1 



that the whole charge of cultivation, under a four- 

 course system upon this plan, including rent, was — 



£. s. d. 

 Tares, beans, peas, &c., per acre 5 

 Wheat . - - " 5 



Oats and barley - " 3 13 6 



Clover and rye gj-ass - " 2 15 



• 16 8 6 



thus only amounting to a trifle more than that of 

 the fallow upon the former plan; that land cultivat- 

 ed upon his farm in this manner has yielded 460 

 sheaves of wheat per acre, whilst the average pro- 

 duce of the other fields did not exceed 360 ; and 

 that the difference in favor of the new method 

 amounts, upon an average — when wheat is at 10s. 

 the bushel — to 350Z. per annum upon the cultiva- 

 tion of 100 acres. 



On the cultivation of these farms we have no 

 observation to offer, except that they both merit 

 attention. That belonging to Mr. Greg, although 

 described as a tenacious clay, yet must be land of 

 a superior quality, or it could not support the course 

 of crops under which it has been cultivated ; it 

 has now, however, been continued under the same 

 system lor a number of years with distinguished 

 success ; and, without ottering any opinion upon 

 the plan, we conceive that similar experiments, 

 upon a moderate scale, are fairly entitled to a trial. 

 Regarding Knowle Farm, we have no information 

 since the decease of its laie proprietor ; but the ac- 

 count which he was left, though inconsistent v/ith 

 the established practice of farming, and appear- 

 ing, in some respects, not likely to be advantage- 

 ously continued, yet contains hints which per- 

 haps might be carried into effect without impro- 

 priet3^ Whether really deserving of imitation, 

 or not, we at least do not consider ourselves en- 

 litled to withhold them from our readers, in a work 

 (irofessing to give an account of the practice of 

 the United Kiniidom. 



* On this subject he also observes, that " those 

 who plough deep, and bury the seeds of weeds by the 

 first plo.ugliing, are not aware that, by this outset of 

 their fallow, they lay the foundation of a great deal of 

 labor and mischief, and bring upon themselves the ab- 

 solute necessity of a fallow, as the only means of era- 

 dicating the progeny of those seeds which they have in- 

 advertently deposited deep in the soil. Now, if the 

 whole of the stubble and its roots, with a small portion 

 of the surface soil which must contain those seeds, be 

 collected and destroyed by fire, it is reasonable to sup- 

 pose that the lands might be as efTectually cleared 

 of wends in this manner, as by a summer fallow ; be- 

 sides they would have the benefit of a considerable 

 portion of ashes. Perhaps, also, this mode of burn- 

 mz might have a tendency to pi event the disorders 

 with which my crops liave not been in the smallest de- 

 cree aii'ected." — 2d edit. p. 90. 



