OF FALLOWING. 24<J 



is principally owing to circumstances not having been cor- 

 rectly discriminated, or to differences in respect of soils, 

 seasons, climates, &c. He adds, " that there are certain, 

 situations, in which it cannot be advantageously relinquis/ied 

 for any other process of tillage whatever."* 



* Introductory Discourses, p. 70. Dr Coventry has more fully ex- 

 plained his sentiments on this important subject in the following words : 

 " A summer-fallow," he observes, " may, in most instances, be employed 

 in the commencement of a course of good culture, and in several cases, 

 it may even be occasionally introduced during its continuance. In the 

 former, it may be found requisite for the following purposes : to have a 

 better opportunity than otherwise, of removing all wetness, stones, or 

 other obstructions to perfect tillage ; to render the land, to a due degree, 

 clean of weeds, and of a proper texture ; and to get the surface so ad- 

 justed, as to have no injurious inequalities, or any thing that can prevent 

 the ready discharge of water from it, and the employment of the best 

 mode of raising and collecting the crops from it. In the latter, it may 

 be had recourse to where fallow crops could not, in comparison with it, 

 be advantageously retained, from whatever cause. The circumstances 

 that chiefly render it necessary or proper, to retain summer-fallowing in 

 the course of management, are those which arise from the character of 

 the climate, and the nature of the soil, jointly. Whenever it is a dry, 

 free soil, on a sound under- ground or bottom, as a loam well replenished 

 with mould, or a sandy loam, or a gravel or sandy soil, or any other of 

 a description suited to bear turnips or potatoes, then, after having been 

 once made clean, it may, by fallow crops, seasonably employed and well 

 conducted, be afterwards preserved in good condition, and fallows be- 

 come unnecessary. But, on the other hand, wherever it is a loamy or 

 clayey soil, or a retentive subsoil, or one apt to be wet, some difficulty 

 occurs as to its application and management. There are two thing* 

 which especially merit attention in such kind of land. These are, the 

 climate, and the degree of fertility in the soil itself. If the situation bo 

 high-lying and cold, then the only species, beans, and perhaps cabbage* 

 too, might be found unfit for cultivation. The unfavourableness of the 

 climate might not permit beans to ripen, or become of much value as a 

 crop ; and cabbages, in a late, cold situation, whatever may be the de- 

 gree of fertility in the soil, may not be eligible for culture ; inasmuch * 



