1*70 ON FALLOWING. 



" But when the expenses of cultivation were 

 " augmented, when new crops, as turnips, were 

 " introduced, (which were favourable to the 

 " process of cleaning the ground by their later 

 " period of sowing, and the hoeings they re- 

 " quired,) and when the productions of the soil 

 " became more valuable ; it was natural for the 

 " farmer to consider whether such great sacri- 

 " fices were really necessary, and whether fallows 

 " might not, in many cases, be diminished, and 

 " in others, totally given up. On this subject, 

 " a controversy has arisen between two sects, 

 " the fallowists and anti-fallowists, which has 

 " been conducted with much keenness and 

 " energy. 



" Of late years the question at issue has been 

 " much narrowed. It is now admitted, that 

 " on all light soils, where the turnip-culture can 

 " be practised, fallows are unnecessary ; and 

 " that on strong lands, under a judicious system, 

 " they are not essentially necessary more than 

 " once in the course of a rotation. The subject 

 " under discussion, therefore, is reduced to this 

 " short question : Is it for the interest of a 

 " farmer who cultivates cold, strong, clayey, 

 " adhesive, and wet-bottomed lands, periodi- 

 " cally to fallow them ?" 



This is certainly reducing the eligibility of the 



