DRI 



DRO 



11^ 



marks on this subject. " In com- 

 paring the drill and broad-cast pys- 

 tems, the following maxims may be 

 laid down : I. That it is of little 

 or no advantage to drill autumn,or 

 winter-sown wheat, as the crop is 

 rarely injured by annual weeds, 

 and they can be easily and com- 

 pletely extirpated by hand-hoeing 

 and weeding ; and when the soil is 

 much infested by root-weeds, as 

 the crop, in ordinary cases, will 

 completely meet in the rows, be- 

 fore the root-weeds make much 

 appearance, it is impossible, with- 

 out injuring the crop, to render 

 much benefit to the land by the 

 hoe. 2. On all lands where annu- 

 al weeds are abundant, and where 

 a number of hands can be procur- 

 ed for using the hoe, white crops, 

 sown in the spring, may be drilled, 

 for the advantage of clearing the 

 land more effectually. By weed- 

 ing broad-cast crops carefully, an 

 addition of four and an half bushels 

 of wheat, fifteen bushels of barley, 

 and ten of oats has been obtained. 

 The adoption of that practice, 

 therefore, would probably equal 

 the average advantage from dril- 

 ling ; so that the difference be- 

 tween broad-cast crops, properly 

 weeded, and the drilled, may not 

 be material. 3. That though the 

 hoeing of the crops, and the stirring 

 of the soil, has no injurious effects 

 in light, poor, or even strong soils, 

 like those of Norfolk and Suffolk, 

 where drilling has succeeded ; yet 

 where the soil is fertile by nature, 

 or enriched by art, drilling forces 

 up the straw, and consequently di- 

 minishes the quantity and quality 

 of the grain in so great a degree,as 



to render the crop unproductive. 

 Hence, in rich soils, drilling has 

 been so frequently given up. and 

 hence it is that Tull probably con- 

 sidered dung as prejudicial. 



" There doubtless must be some 

 radical defect in the system of 

 drilling, when after a full trial of 

 its merits, by a number of intelli- 

 gent fanners, in several districts, 

 but more especially in the counties 

 of Hertford, and Lincoln, it has been 

 given up, with hardly an exception, 

 in so far as respects crops of grain. 

 These facts confirm the almost 

 general result throughout the king- 

 dom, that drilling will be found to 

 answer to a certain extent, and 

 with a certain degree of skill and 

 attention ; but when the scale is ex- 

 tended, the attention is apt to flag, 

 and the conclusions drawn from 

 one or two fields are not found ap- 

 licable, unless where the operation 

 is very skillfiilly conducted, to a 

 whole farm*." See New Husban- 

 dry. Likewise Massachusetts Ag- 

 ricultural Repository, vol. IV. p. 

 217, to p. 234, in which opinions 

 in some respects different from the 

 above are maintained. 



For a description of the differ- 

 ent kinds of drills, see Willich^s 

 Domestic Encyclopedia, 2d Ame- 

 rican edition, vol. IF. 



DROUGHT, such a continu- 

 ance of dry weather, that plants 

 cannot draw a sufficiency of nou- 

 rishment from the earth, to give 

 them their full growth and perfec- 

 tion. 



Some countries are much more 

 liable to this inconvenience than 

 others. New England,for instance, 

 is oftener troubled with it thanGreat 



