564 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



nnd throwing into heap, would hn the means of 



bringing forward (?uch fermentation and filling it 

 foriise. Two crops of'clover-hny mislit betaken 

 from the land during the summer, and in Septem- 

 ber the lay may be turned down with, in common 

 seasons, a certainty of escaping the blight ; the 

 crop will not then be too big and leafy; the stravv 

 ■will be strong enough to support ihe ear, nor will 

 it be in danger from the fly, smut, mildew, and 

 about half-a-dozen other disorders, which, I am 

 Fatisfied, all arise from the same source, namely, 

 the diseased state of the crop. 



In a work which I have now before me, T find 

 the following judicious remarks on sowing wheat 

 on lay-land; they are the experience of a very 

 close reasoncr, and an extensive cultivator of the 

 Eoil, the value of which I have had frequent oppor- 

 tunities of testing, and can therefiire recommend 

 with the (Treale?t confidence to the practice of all 

 who are preparing to cultivate a wheat-crop the 

 next year. 



Bordley sayp, "The language of English ilirm- 

 ers is, wheat on clover- lay should be sown on 

 earth, that is, after one ploughing ; and to conform 

 to this doctrine I conducted this business on fifteen 

 acres, in tliis manner — the clover having been cut 

 once for hay and then pastured, but not cisoe, the 

 lay was turned in deep, and the furrows laid neat 

 and close ; the wheal was sown broadcast, and 

 harrowed twice, in the same direction m which 

 the land was ploughed ; the wheat was then rolled. 

 The crop stood well and yielded satisiactoril}', but 

 as it grew two miles from my other wheat crops, 

 a just compari.-on between them was not made. 

 The operations followed each other immediately, 

 without any pause, but Mr. Macro's experience 

 is against tiiis immediate sowing upon ploup;hin2 

 in the clover-lay, and his experiments were re- 

 peated, while mine was a einsle instance, w-hich, 

 although it proved hifrldy satisfactory in general, 

 was without any pointed particulars relatms to a 

 much superior produce. Mr. Macro gives Ihe 

 following encouraginor detail of his practice and 

 Burcess. 'From upwards of 20 3'ears of experi- 

 ence, I am of opinion that ihe best way ofsowinfj 

 clover-lands wiih wheat, is 10 plough the Innd len 

 or twelve days before you sow it, that the land 

 may have time to dry; and alicr rain has fallen, 

 enough to make ihe land dress well, lay on ihe 

 peed in Sepiember, two bushels an acre. The 

 furrows in plouchinjr ought not to be more than 

 eight or nine inches wide and less than that is bel- 

 ter, if the plough will turn ihem well, i am at a 

 loss to account for the wheat thriving better on 

 lands that have been ploughed for some time hefiire 

 the seed is sown, than on fresh ploughed lands, 

 which work better, and consiitule a betier bed lor 

 the reception of the ^rain ; hut I liave often tried 

 both ways on the siuue lands, and have always 

 ibund the (iinner answer the be.^t. 



"Now, I conjecture that the clo\er plants being 

 buried, and ihe wheat sown at the same Irme, 

 they both ferment and nm iiilo heat at the same 

 moment ; Ihe jfcrm ihen shoots, and the rools are 

 extremely delicate and lender lor some days, du- 

 ring which Ihe buried herbage obtains its highest 

 deirree of heat, which, added to the internal heat 

 of ihe germ, may, although only slightly, check, 

 and a liule injure the delicote shoot of ihe wheat; 

 \n sprouting barley lor making mall, a lillle ex- 



cess of heat in the bed checks, and a little more 

 stops the sprouting or growlh of the spears.* 



"But both the above modes of sowing wheat 

 on clover-lay after one ploughing, give crops 

 superior in those raised on fallows ; and liirmers 

 can easily try both, lor delerminin<^ which to pre- 

 fer — that is, as well in the immediate sowing on 

 ploughing in the clover, as in the metliod of sow- 

 ing not until ten or fourteen days after; both modes 

 are excellent. I should say, in letting the soil rest 

 len or fouricen dajs, an opening is given to heavy 

 rains, consolidating and leaving it in an inlierior 

 state for receiving the seed ; and if rain fiills after 

 burying the clover and before sowing the wheat, 

 it may sometimes be neces,=ary to wait for the 

 ground to become only moist, rather than to sow 

 when it is wet and heavy; but if the clover ia 

 ploushed when the land is dry, he may choose to 

 wait lor rain before he sows, although, Itir this 

 reason alone, he need not wait. I have found rt 

 quite safii to sow durinfj a drought, on clover once 

 ploughed, and when the soil is very drj-, but not 

 when a lisht rain has fallen on very dry hind ; in 

 the Ibrmer case, the seed is sale until rain falls, 

 which is usually in plen'y after a drought, for then 

 the seed grows quickly up — but in the other case, 

 it is only slightly damped and swells, but the 

 moisture is so soon evaporated as lo leave theseed 

 to dry-rot and perish; it is probable -that Mr. Ma- 

 cro's was a li<rhl soil, and not liable to be hardened 

 by ten or fourteen days' exposure before sowii>g, 

 as, on a rain, stront; wheat-land would : but 



* Tfiis may be a very specious mode of argiiingf, btrt 

 to my mind it is all wide of tfie niark. To me it ia 

 only necessary to supjiose that tlie newly tuined-np 

 land, on subsiding — as it must do to a very considera- 

 ble extent, wdien operated upon by the pressure of the 

 atmosphere, and which vvonld be increased by the in- 

 ternal heat mentioned above — acts very injuriously on 

 these delicate shoots of the wheat, by compressing and 

 dragging them down in its folds; and it might easily 

 be supposed that its future growth would be very much 

 injured thereby; "doublina: them up" as an old friend 

 describes it, " and crippling them in their youth;" and 

 I have no doubt that many of them are broken and de- 

 stroyed by these means. 



There is a district in the Isle of Wight (that garden 

 of England, as it is termed, where wheat is grown in 

 one year, sufficient for tlie support of the inhabitants 

 sev?n— so says the history) siUTOunding tiie village of 

 Niton, where, if wheat is sown immediately after 

 ploughing the land, the crop is sure to be destroyed by 

 what is called the roof rot, occasioned by the subsi- 

 dence of the soil, which falling away from the plants, 

 leaves them exposed to the winter's frost, by whicli 

 they are lifted out of the earth, and so they perish : 

 the farmers, therefore, after jjlonghing their land, leave 

 it unsown until, perhaps, it becomes covered with 

 seed-weeds, upon which, however, they harrow in the 

 seed, witli the expectation of reaping a full crop. Some 

 of your readers fiom that pait of the world may have 

 it i:i their power to endorse the truth of what is here 

 stated; thej' will smile at the idea that "lands, if left 

 unsown for ten or fourteen days after ploughing, will 

 become too consolidated, and be in an inferior state for 

 receiving the seed !" Wheat requires a consolidated 

 seed-bed : and it is the custom on the hills of Wiltshire 

 (England) to delay the time of wdieat-sowing (which, 

 however, always takes jilace before harvest) until a 

 fall of rain, in the midst of which the seed is sown, 

 and, instead of being harrowed in, it is tiodden by 

 flocks of sheep, and sometimes cattle also, until the 

 Imd has the appearance of a mortar heap.' they theq 

 expect a crop. 



