294 EXPERIMENTS ON Part III. 



" In the middle of five of thefe beds, I fowed three rows, feven 

 «' inches afunder, fo that they took up fourteen inches of ground, 

 *.' and there remained four feet ten inches for the breadth of the 

 " alleys, which is very fufficient for the horfe-hoeing hufbandrj'. 



" I fowed three other beds with only two rows, a foot di- 

 " fiance from each other : confequently the alleys were five feet 

 *• wide, 



" The two remaining beds were fown with tw^o rows each, three 

 "' feet afunder. The alleys were therefore but three feet wide : or 

 " rather, the whole of this laft fpot may be looked upon as fown 

 *' in fingle rows, with alleys three feet wide, which is too narrow 

 " a fpace to admit of horfe-hoeing them conveniently. 



" Before I fpeak of the produdls of thefe beds, it -will be proper 

 "" to obferve : 



** I. That this trial was made with rye. My fear that birds 

 -*' might eat up the wheat, made me prefer rye ; which I advife 

 *' every one to do, when only fmall experiments are made. This 

 " efcaped without the leaft damage : whereas I have obferved, that 

 " when experiments have been made with wheat, the birds, pre- 

 " ferring that to any other grain, have always deftroyed a confider- 

 " able part of the crop. 



" 2. The beds fown with three rows were near a hedge, which 

 ** greatly damaged two of them ; either by its roots exhaufling the 

 " ground, or by its fliadow keeping that part harder frozen than 

 " the reft. 



" 3. The intervals were not hoed at all, between either the 

 *' double or the triple rows : only the alleys were horfe-hoed; and 

 " confequently none but the fingle rows were hoed on both 

 " fides. 



" 4. On the twenty-fifth of February, the alkys were plowed. I 

 " vifited them the fecond of March; and found, upon examining 

 " the plants, that in thefe five days, they had fhot out roots four 

 <' inches long into the nev/-ftirr'd mould. I repeated the hocings 

 " at proper times, and the rye continued in good condition 'till it 

 " was reaped. The laft hoeing v/as ^iven after the bloom was 

 *' paft. 



"5. I tlicn examined the roots, and found they had extended 

 " eighteen inches into the loofe mould. This may feem ftrange, 

 «' but I am certain it is true, for 1 took every precaution not to be 



*' deceived. 



" 6. The 



