FEBRUARY. 73 



soil is tenacious, and to ascertain which, the far- 

 mer's eye and foot can alone enable him to judge. 

 These operations go off very quickly, and leave the 

 lands, or stitches, in excellent order for the drill- 

 machine to follow, and deposit the barley-seed ; 

 the farmer, during the whole of these operations, 

 being as little liable to be thrown out by unfavour- 

 able weather, as it is possible he should be, and 

 much less so than if he had ploughed the l.-v.cl. 

 Those who are used to attend to the effects of til- 

 lage on different soils, know well, that loams and 

 clays of various degrees of tenacity, if they havi* 

 been properly formed into lands for winter, *an<l 

 not poached by horses trampling, revive the fio-ts 

 to advantage, and arc found with a friable sm f ir,* 

 in the spring. If rain conies, it dries, and leaves the 

 surface still in good order, and ready for any ope- 

 ration : but plough such land, and turn up the 

 more adhesive bottom, not acted upon by frost, 

 ;r,:d let rain fall on such fresh turned furrows ; it 

 remains stiff and saddened ; it docs not become 

 porous again ; the air cannot get into it ; and if 

 dmng sharp wii.ds at north-ea>t follow, the fur- 

 rows become longitudinal slices of clod, VLTV diffi- 

 cult to be acted upon by any instrument, and the 

 farmer finds himself in a most unpleasant situation. 

 lie no more recovers a fine friable surface, and it 

 becomes twenty to one whether he has a good 

 crop. Ills only chance is, to have abundance of 

 patience to wait for favourable weather, and lay 

 his account to sow very late. The- motive for ad- 



* 



vising 



