Chap. VI. OFTILLAGE. n 



off with it; fince, as we before faid, earth that is left to reft, inflead 

 of being exhaufted, becomes more fruitful thereby. 



To increale the fertility of land, there is not fo much occafion 

 to provide it with the fubftance which is to nourifli plants, as to 

 difpofe It in fuch marner that the plants may, by their roots, col- 

 led: and draw in thofe juices which almoil all foils are abundantly 

 ftored with. To this end, the particles of the earth mult be fo 

 divided as to leave an infinite number of fmall chafms between 

 them, into which the roots may glide ; fo that, touching imme- 

 diately the particles of the earth, they may draw the nutritive juices 

 from them. This divilion of the earth may be effected by manures, 

 and by tillage, as we Ihall fhew in the following chapter. 



C H A P. VI. 

 Of "TILLAGE. 



TH E more the particles of the earth are divided, the more its 

 internal pores are multiplied : the more the furface of thofe 

 particles is increafed, the more the earth is enabled to furniili the 

 food of plants ; and confequently the more fruitful it is rendered. 



This divifion may be effedted two ways : by fermentation, that 

 is, by mixing dung with the earth; or by breaking its parts mecha- 

 nically, by tillage, whether it be with the fpade, plough, or hoe, 

 or any of the different inftruments that have been invented to ftir 

 the earth. 



It is much more profitable to increafe the fruitfulnefs of land by 

 tillage, than by dung, i . Becaufe only a certain quantity of dung 

 can oftentimes be had, the produce of twenty acres being fcarcely 

 fufficient to dung one : whereas the particles of the earth may be 

 divided and fubdivided, ad infinitum. The benefit that can be 

 procured from dung, is therefore limited ; whereas no bounds can 

 be fet to the advantages which arife from tillage. 



2. Moft plants that are rear'd in lands much dunged, have not 

 the fine flavour of thofe that grow in a good foil which has not 

 been dung'd. Greens and fruits are feldom fo 'good in the neigh- 

 bourhood of great cities, where dung abounds, as in country gar- 

 dens where it cannot be fo laviflaly bellowed. But nothing is more 

 ftriking than the difference between wine produced by a vin^ that 

 has not been dung'd at all, and that which is made from a vine 

 that has been greatly dung'd. 



C 2 Mr. 



