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duly considered. By often re- 

 peated ploughings, land may be 

 brought to any degree of richress 

 almot^t that is desired. Frequent 

 ploughings are destructive to 

 weeds, and save much labour in 

 hand hoeing and weeding; besides 

 making a greater quantity of pas- 

 ture for plants, preparing the 

 vegetable food the better to enter 

 the roots of plants, and disposmg 

 the soil to imbibe the rich and fer- 

 tilizing particles of the atmosphere. 



As it is known that repeated 

 ploughings supply the place of ma- 

 nure ; where manure is scarce, 

 farmers have need to plough the 

 more frequently. Mr. Tull was 

 of opinion that it was a cheaper 

 method to enrich land by plough- 

 ing than by manuring. In some 

 situations it undoubtedly is so. 

 But it is best that land should have 

 enough of both, when it is practi- 

 cable. 



And the more to promote the 

 fertilization of the soil by plough- 

 ing, let the farmer plough as much 

 of his ground as possible while the 

 dew is on it, because dew contains 

 much nourishment for plants. The 

 early riser has the advantage of his 

 sluggish neighbour; not only in 

 ploughing, but also in harrowing 

 and hoeing, to greater advantage. 



When land is to be ploughed 

 that is full of stumps of trees and 

 other obstacles, as land that is 

 newly cleared of wood, or that is 

 rocky, the strong plough should be 

 used ; and the strtength of the team 

 must be proportioned to the 

 strength of the plough ; and the 

 plough to the condition of the soil. 



ft is sometimes advisable, to cut 



off' close to the bodies of stumps, 

 before ploughing, the horizontal 

 roots which lie near the surface ; 

 especially if there be no stones, 

 nor gravel in the way, to hurt the 

 edge of an axe. When this is 

 done, the strong plough will be 

 apt to take out the most of the 

 roots so parted. And the frosts of 

 a few winters will be tb.e more 

 likely to heave out the stumps, or 

 so to loosen them that they rray be 

 easily removed. I have conquer- 

 ed the stumps of white pine in this 

 manner; but stumps which rot 

 very soon it is not of such impor- 

 tance to manage in this way. 



The plough must go deeper in 

 breaking up new ground, than old. 

 Otherwise the little hollows will 

 go unploughed ; and there will not 

 be mould enough raised in the hil- 

 locks to level the surface, and 

 leave sufficient depth for the roots 

 of plants to extend themselves. 



The last of summer, or the be- 

 ginning of autumn, is the right sea- 

 son for ploughing new ground. 

 For it will be best to harrow, and 

 cross plough it, before it is seeded, 

 that the soil may be thoroughly 

 mixed and pulverized. There- 

 fore, the first ploughing should be 

 performed so long beforehand, 

 that before the second, the turfs 

 may ferment and become partly 

 rotten. But this is not to be ex- 

 pected, if the ground be ploughed 

 late in the fall ; because the sun, 

 at that late season, will not warm 

 the ground enough to bring on any 

 fermentation before the following 

 spring, when the ground is to be 

 sowed. For fall sowing, the ground 

 should be broken up still earlier ; 



