272 



Dialogue between a Father and Son. 



Vol. hi. 



termed it. It was an oat stubble ; I ploughed 

 it deep, and sowed it with rye on the 10th 

 of October; the weeds sprang up so as to 

 cover the land like a carpet, but the crop 

 was fed by sheep in the spring, so they had 

 not time to come to maturity. As soon as 

 the land was cleared by the sheep, it was 

 ploughed, harrowed, and rolled, and the weeds 

 were gathered and burnt on the surface; it 

 was then suffered to lie, and in a short time 

 the seed weeds had sprungupby tens of thou- 

 sands ; these were smothered at a blow by 

 being turned down by such a plough as the 

 one we now use ; the land was again worked 

 with the harrow and roller, and again were 

 the weeds collected and burnt. In a few days 

 another crop of weeds had made their appear- 

 ance ; they were again turned down, the land 

 worked as before, and the remainder of the 

 root weeds were again collected and burnt ; 

 this was the third clearing; the seed weeds 

 again grew, but the quantity was exceedingly 

 lessened by these operations. The field was 

 then spread with soaper's ashes and stable 

 manure, which were turned down by a shal- 

 low furrow, and turneps were sown on the 

 29th day of June, on the finest seed bed I 

 ever witnes-^ed. Thus, this field had re- 

 ceived five ploughings ; the root weeds had 

 been gathered and burnt three times, and 

 four plentiful crops of seed weeds had been 

 turned in and smothered by the 29th of June. 

 The land was as clean as a garden ; then why 

 should it not be sown 1 many of my neighbors, 

 however, advised me to reserve it for a wheat 

 crop, to be sown at Michaelmas. Another 

 crop of weeds sprang up with the turneps, but 

 these were destoyed by the hoe ; the crop of 

 turneps was the best in the country ; the 

 large.st roots were drawn and stacked for win- 

 ter^use, and the remainder were fed oflT by 

 sheep. By these means, the land was so en- 

 riched, that the crop of barley which follow- 

 ed, was the admiration of the neighborhood ; 

 the yield was prodigious, and sold at an extra 

 price for seed. Clover was sown with the 

 barley in the spring, which, alter harvest, af- 

 forded a considerable quantity of food for the 

 cattle; and during the winter preparations 

 were made for an early spring dressing of 

 compost, (lime being one of the component 

 parts,) which being laid on at the time of the 

 first springing of the clover, caused a rapidity 

 of growth'which brought the crop of hay to the 

 scythe about a week or ten days earlier than 

 the generality of the crops in the neighbor- 

 hood, a great advantage to the second crop 

 of hay ; both cuttings were very fine, and the 

 yield great. 



After the crops were carried, a consider- 

 able growth of aftermath took place, which 

 was fed by sheep; the land was then skim- 

 ploughed, the surface well harrowed, and 



then turned down by a deep furrow, and 

 wheat was sown on the 12th day of October ; 

 this crop averaged 40 bushels per acre, and 

 was all disposed of for seed to those very peo- 

 ple who had declared that such management 

 would not do in these parts. The instant the 

 wheat was carried, the stubble was skim- 

 ploughed, harrowed, and turned down, and 

 buck-wheat was sown, and produced a very- 

 heavy crop. 



Frank. — I suppose this mode of manage- 

 ment ought to be termed the new system, (I 

 am sure it is in opposition to the old, which 

 is in general use in our neighborhood,) and 

 goes upon the principle of the new husbandry, 

 stint not, spare not. 



Father.— Th\s is exactly the state of the 

 case. The old system was, to prevent the 

 weeds from growing; those who practised it 

 were therefore careful not to pulverize their 

 soils, as the operation was sure to send up 

 millions of weeds, which were afterwards to 

 be eradicated only by a whole year's fallow : 

 the new system is, to induce the weeds to 

 grow, and if I can do that, I can easily de- 

 stroy them by turning them down. My plan 

 is, when I have no crop on the ground, to 

 plough and harrow for weeds, and 1 am gen- 

 erally pretty successful in obtaining good 

 crops of them. But we, who are of the new 

 school, must be careful to cause our light to 

 shine; we will therefore go and turn down 

 those weeds which have sprung up in the 

 four acre field, since it was last ploughed ; 

 that field is, as you know, designed for tur- 

 neps, and no time must be lost in exposing as 

 often as possible, a fresh surface to the action 

 of the sun and air; this is of equal import- 

 ance with the eradication of the weeds. 



Frank. — But could not the land be made 

 suflSciently fine for the reception of the seed 

 by ploughing and harrowing and rolling in 

 one half the timel 



Father. — When land is crushed by the 

 plough, harrow, and roller, it is an artificial 

 pulverization, and if rain fkll immediately af- 

 ter the operation, it will be found that it has 

 done but little for the purpose ; it is therefore 

 a most deceptions practice to sow any crop 

 requiring a pulverized soil, after once plough- 

 ing; for"although it might be, to appearance, 

 all that could be desired in this respect, the 

 particles of earth, thus forcibly rent asunder, 

 will immediately fall together (drawn by the 

 power of attraction, which we will talk about 

 some future day) so as to exclude the atmos- 

 pheric air, and then the external pressure 

 will be so great as to bind the soil and render 

 it totally unfit for a seed bed for the crop: 

 this pulverization is perfectly different from 

 that which arises from the effects, either of 

 i fro-sts or repeated exposure by constant stir- 

 rings; by the latter operation, the earth is 



