Chi Summer Fallowing. 251 



The most stubborn, and unfertile soil, if exposed to atmo- 

 spheric influence, will be improved in its texture, and render- 

 ed much better calculated for the process of vegetation. This 

 is effected, either by the soil acquiring properties from the 

 atmosphere, or by those substances which rendered it bar- 

 ren, being neutralized, destroyed, or washed away. The 

 fact is, that by no other means but by a complete summer 

 fallow, can a wet-bottomed clay be freed sufficiently of the 

 moisture it has imbibed, which having been long locked up 

 in the soil, holds saline and mineral matters in solution. 

 These matters being discharged, the soil readily imbibes 

 fresh water, and gets into a mellow and fertile state. 



By these means, the soil becomes more friable, the crops 

 which it produces are vigorous, and abundant, and, compa- 

 ratively speaking, free from weeds. 



Some have suggested, that instead of a fallow, the land 

 should be trenched. But even if hands could be procured, 

 heavy clay, the soil which it is alone necessary to fallow, is 

 seldom fit to be dug, as the rain makes it too compact in win- 

 ter, and in summer, the heat makes it too hard. In Flan- 

 ders, where so much land is trenched, light soils are prefer- 

 red for that operation, and it is frequently done by the shovel 

 instead of the spade ( 343 ). 



The expense, and the practicability of subsituting a crop 

 in its stead, are next to be considered. 



The expense attending this process is considerable. It 

 must vary according to the amount of the rent, and the 

 number of pioughings, harrowings, &c., but the following is 

 considered to be a fair average statement : 



Per Statute Acre. 



The six pioughings, harrowings, &c. cost L.3 11 



Kent for two years, at L.2, Is. per acre perann 414 O 



L. 8 5 ( 8M ) 



Besides these sums, the expense of the crop to be raised, 

 and its share of the manure, required for the whole rotation, 

 have to be added. But the advocates for fallowing main- 

 tain, that these pioughings, and the rent of the land while 

 in fallow, ought not to be charged against the subsequent 

 crop, but to the whole crops in the rotation, as they are all, 

 in a greater or lesser degree, benefited by it. 



From the objections urged against a summer fallow, va- 

 rious attempts have been made in Scotland to omit it, but 

 hitherto unsuccessfully. Beans were tried, and they are 



