I50 AGRICULTURAL WRITERS. 



the wheels, and the staff. Oxen were evidently the favourite for yoking 

 to the plough. Where horses are used, he adds, " the fewer of them the 

 better ; for many horses draw too hastily and make too large furrows, 

 which is no good." Let me ask a question here in this connection. 

 Why is it one often sees four horses attached to a plough in England 

 on what appears to be well-worked land when in Scotland rarely more 

 than two horses are put in front of this implement? 



He seemed to have known all about the turn-wrest or Kentish plough 

 as it is now called, and considered it a good kind for undulating land. 

 He also reckoned that a man should turn up three acres of light land 

 with one team a day, and one acre of clay ground. Very light soils he 

 considered should also be sown and harrowed the same day. 



If, says Meager, " you are to plough upon a hill, you must plough 

 overthwart, and not up and down, to ease the labour of both men and 

 cattel." He recommends grain to be steeped in sea water, but says 

 nothing about the bluestone so freely used for dressing nowadays. 

 Manv chapters are devoted to manuring, watering, and preparing land 

 for corn and pasture. The uses of the turning spade, paring spade, and 

 the trenching spade in draining land are fully described, and the 

 drawings of these implements are exactly similar to those given by 

 Blythe in his book " The English Improver Improved," already described 

 in these pages, and published about hfty years earlier. 



He mentions an ingenious idea for frightening birds from newly-sown 

 seed by " making a sort of cone with a piece of stiff paper, this is half 

 filled with seeds, and the inner side of the open end smeared with bird- 

 lime. The rook or other bird, in putting his beak in to reach the 

 contents, fixed the bag to his head, and being blindfolded, as it were, he 

 creates such an uproar that all the other birds are off, fearing the same 

 fate." 



There is a chapter on hops, in which he reckons an acre will yield 

 I2cwt. of hops once in three years. Flax, hemp, clover, grass, and sainfoin 

 are all freely discussed. Two sorts of turnips are mentioned, the round 

 and the long parsnip turnip. The leaves are recommended to be rotted 

 on the ground for manure, and the roots to be given to cattle and swine. 

 He also calls the turnip a moist, cooling, and nourishing root, good 

 against fevers and other hot diseases. Of carrots he preferred the deep 

 yellow for horses, just the same as some of our great railway companies 

 do to-day. 



He thought it a good thing to turn cattle into the parsnip field 

 to eat off the top growth, for it made the roots prosper the better. He 

 was an advocate for planting all waste land with trees for the benefit of 

 posterity, and shows how they are profitably raised from seeds. Then 

 follow several chapters upon the best trees to plant in various situations, 

 including fruits in the hedgerows. He calls the stag hunt the most 

 princely of all games, "and when you go about this, to know whether he 



