286 



NEW 



NEW 



I do not at all scruple the fair- 

 ness of the computations ; nor the 

 accounts of writers in other coun- 

 tries to the sanrie purpose. But 

 there is no arguing wilh any cer- 

 tainty from the advantage of the 

 new husbandry in England, or 

 other parts of Europe, to the ad- 

 vantage of it in this country. Be- 

 cause, in the first place, labour is 

 more than twice as dear in this 

 country ; and that there is a great- 

 er quantity of labour required in 

 the new husbandry than in the old, 

 is very obviously true. There 

 are at least two or three plough- 

 ings extraordinary to a crop, be- 

 sides weeding and hand-hoeing ; 

 and weeders will net accept of the 

 weeds they pull as s\]fficient pay 

 for pulling them, as poor women 

 sometimes do in the old countries. 



Another reason for suspecting 

 that the new husbandry may not 

 answer so much better than the 

 old in this country, when applied 

 to wheat and rye, is, that these 

 grains are here very subject to 

 blasting ; and the later they ripen, 

 the more they are in danger of this 

 distemper. Hoeing of grain will 

 cause it to ripen later, as may be 

 seen in the border of a field that is 

 contiguous to hoed ground. The 

 plants that stand nearest to the 

 hoed ground retain their green- 

 ness much longer than the rest of 

 the grain, because they are more 

 plentifully fed. Hence there ap- 

 pears to be some reason to doubt 

 of the advantage of hoeing wheat 

 and rye in this country. 



But if there were no weight in 

 this, nor in the foregoing argument, 

 yet the diflference of climate must 



be taken into consideration. Our 

 lands are hoven and mellowed by 

 the frost of every winter, to a 

 greater depth tlian the hoe-plongh 

 can ever stir them, by which the 

 roots of winter grain are often ho- 

 ven out of the soil : but m Eng- 

 land the ground seldom freezes to 

 half the depth that a p!ouf;h goes. 

 Therefore, the most forcible argu- 

 ment in favour of the new husban- 

 dry, which is used by its advocates, 

 will not so well apply in this coun- 

 try ; which is, that the ground set- 

 tles and becomes very compact, 

 during the long continuance of a 

 crop of grain upon it. I see no 

 reason to doubt but that our ex- 

 traordinary degree of frost may, 

 on the whole, have nearly as much 

 effect towards loosening and break- 

 ing the soil in tillage ground, as 

 one ploughing has. But this bye 

 the bye. 



Not only is the success of the 

 new husbandry in this country for 

 the above reasons uncertain ; but 

 there are several disadvantages 

 and inconveniences, attending this 

 husbandry, which are common to 

 all countries. One of these dis- 

 advantages is the cost of the drill- 

 plough. This is every where a 

 material objection to the new hus- 

 bandry in the minds of common 

 farmers. And the curious and 

 complicated structure of this ma- 

 chine, which renders it liable to 

 get out of order, is no small incon- 

 venience ; for common labourers 

 are not expected to have skill 

 enough to rectify, or repair it. 

 Besides, the accuracy of the work 

 of drill sowing requires so much 

 thought and attention, that the ig- 



