SPIRIT OF THE MONTHLIES. 333 



ter. In April, the ridges were ploughed and harrowed down, and 

 barley and seeds were sown. Both rose well ; but, throughout tlie 

 siunmer growth, the ridges were as visible in the crop as they were 

 after the plow, the centres of the ridges bearing the finest and 

 strongest plants of the crop. And the reason was obvious : the 

 centres of the ridges canne up fresh, moist, and mellow ; while the 

 intervals were filled with the bleached dry crests of the ridges, 

 which, though more pulverized, were much less fertile and stimu- 

 lating than the fresher portions of the surface. Hence it was quite 

 evident that if the whole field had been permitted to lie undisturbed 

 till the spring, the crop would have risen more equally and much 

 more vigorously. I have seen fields of similar soil sown with oats 

 after wheat ; a bad custom, certainly, and as badly executed ; the 

 wheat stubble being ploughed in October, and the oats sown and 

 harrowed in February ; whereas, had the wheat-stubble been only 

 scufiied off and harrowed to bring up a crop of seed weeds, and so 

 rested till February or March, and then ploughed and sown, the crop 

 of oats would have been much more abundant both in straw and corn 

 than by the former method. 



Here it is necessary to observe that, as I set out with showing 

 how absolutely necessary an open porous soil is to all vegetation, 

 and no measures being reconunended in the above statements for 

 that purpose, but rather the contrary, it is to be rememliered that I 

 have been treating of sandy land, which is at all times, except when 

 too wet, sufficiently porous for the reception of air. But in other de- 

 scriptions of soil, such as that whose particles are minute and have 

 a tendency to adhere closely together, either by gravitating subsi- 

 dence or by a flow of rain water ; in such a case, every practicable 

 means must be'taken to alter and break this solidifying nature of 

 the staple, in order to admit a free range of air and the gases it con- 

 tains. 



There are many intermediate descriptions of soil between sand and 

 clay, and all of these, according as they approach to the one extreme 

 or the other, require a peculiar management. But the grand object 

 is to work the soil in such a manner that it shall always be pervious 

 to air, rain, and all atmospheric influences ; and this result is obtain- 

 ed by the timely application of the iinplements, rather than by the 

 efficiency of the implements themselves. The soil is sometimes in a 

 fit state to be worked, and very often is not. Under such circum- 

 stances, the judgment of the cultivator must be exercised. The con- 

 dition of the land depends very much on the season and character of 

 the weather; and on this account, seed time cannot always be com- 

 menced at the times which would be most convenient to the farmer. 

 In such a case, he must wait until the land is in right order to be 

 stirred ; and that state is when it is neither too wet nor loo dry. 

 I am alluding to land which has either been thoroughly drained, or 

 which needs no draining, and is only aficcted by the season, whether 

 very wet or very dry. But as the exact time cannot always be hit 



