200 EXPERIMENTS ON WHEAT, Part. II. 



fields will produce better crops in years exempted from fuch acci- 

 dents. 



" I do not pretend that the new hufbandry can fecure corn from 

 the effefts of all thefe accidents : but I have experienced that it has 

 fuffered lefs from the intemperature of the feafons, than that which 

 lias been fowed in the common way : for inftance, it will fuffer lefs 

 by a great drought, or even not be at all affedted by it, if dews fall, 

 which penetrate the well-loofened earth ; as I have conftantly ob- 

 ferved : and belides this, the roots of the corn in the nev/ wav, 

 being much longer, will extend to a confiderably greater depth in 

 ground that has been plowed deeper ; and will find a inoifture there, 

 which corn in the common way is deprived of. 



ARTICLE III. 



Experiment made on lands laid out in beds ivbich had borne a Jirft 

 crop : ivith an account of the manner in zvhich they ivere tilled, to 

 prepare them for /owing. Remarks on thcfe experiments. 



" ^T" HE firft crops of all my fields laid out in beds, have hither- 

 ■^ to been but fmall. I eafily difcovered that this was owing 

 to two principal caufes, independent of the intemperature of the 

 feafons. The firft was, that I fowed too little feed at firft, and 

 that the quantity was not fufiicient to bear the accidents w^hich befel 

 my wheat, v/ithout being confiderably diminiflied thereby. This I 

 remedied afterwards, by increafing the quantity of the feed ; which 

 I have continued to do by little and little, from year to year, in pro- 

 portion to the condition and quality of my land. 



" The fecond caufe was the bad condition of my lands, which 

 could not be fufficiently loofened and divided in fo fhort a time, and 

 therefore did not afford the plants the quantity of nourifliment ne- 

 ceifary to enable them to produce plenty of grain. 



" I was in hopes, that by continuing my plowings, I fhould have 

 better fuccefs the following years : that is to fay, that I fhould bring 

 my land to a loofer ftate, and that if I gained that point, the crops 

 would certainly be greater afterwards. 



" Encouraged by this expedlation, and provided with my plough 

 and cultivators, I made no doubt of fucceeding. To this end, I 

 refolved to multiply the plowings : and certainly no one ought ever 

 to hefitate fo to do, even in the common hufbandry ; fo great have 

 been the eflfedis produced thereby. 



** I have 



