272 TRAVELS THROUGH 

 moft common of the wafte foils in France: 

 for I have feen immenfe heaths of it, and 

 been informed by others, that they have 

 pafl~ed over yet more extenfive tracts of it. 

 This aflonifhes me ; for, fhould I have con- 

 ceived every one pofTeffing unprofitable land, 

 which is fo eafily converted to fainfoine, 

 would be defirous and eager to do it." 



Upon my afking him concerning the eafe 

 of doing this, he replied, that no procefs in 

 agriculture was more eafy. His method 

 was, to grub the wild growth, if there was 

 any, and then plough the land about Mi- 

 chaelmas ; thus letting it lie through the 

 Winter, in March to plough it a fccond 

 time acrofs the laft ploughing, to give 

 it a third in June acrofs, from a frefh 

 angle, fiorn corner to corner for inftance, 

 in Auguft a fourth, and in November a 

 fifth, which ends the fallow year. In the 

 following March to plough, and harrow in 

 buck-wheat, and with it the fainfoine feed, 

 four bumels to the acre. In this method, 

 the buck-wheat will be fo good a crop, that 

 it will pay the expence of all thefe plough- 

 ings of its own and the fainfoine feed j and, 

 in a word, all expences; fo that, in fact, the 



work 



