On Summer Fallowing. 255 



Mr Marshall is of opinion, that when land is once thorough- 

 ly cleansed, it may, by fallow-crops, and due attention, be 

 kept so for a number of years ; and more especially, that 

 where the farmers attend so particularly to the seed and ve- 

 getating processes, as in the Vale of Gloucester, a whole 

 year's fallow, judiciously made, will be found sufficient to 

 keep land in a state of tilth and cleanness, for ten, fifteen, or 

 perhaps twenty years ( 354 ) In another work he maintains, 

 that after an eighteen months' fallow, land may be so effec- 

 tually reclaimed, that it would not require a repetition of 

 the operation of fallowing, for half a century afterwards. 



But the author who most decidedly disapproves of the 

 summer fallowing system, is Mr Middleton, the Reporter of 

 Middlesex. Instead of a naked fallow, he recommends a 

 crop of winter tares, which may be obtained in perfection 

 before Midsummer. It is the nature of this crop, he ob- 

 serves, while growing, to render the soil more mellow, than 

 is done by a fallow. It tends to enrich the land, by retain- 

 ing the air stagnant while the crop is growing; and when 

 the crop has reached maturity, it supports and fattens the 

 farmer's stock. Green tares may be given in racks to cattle 

 and sheep upon the land, if the season permits, or in folds, 

 fixed in convenient parts of the fields. By either of these 

 modes, the soil is abundantly fertilized by their dung and 

 urine. The arguments in favour of a naked fallow, arising 

 from a clay soil, and a moist climate, are thus in a great 

 measure obviated, in districts where winter tares will thrive, 

 and where they run no risk of being destroyed ( 355 ). As 

 they delight in a moist climate, and, as in England, they 

 come to maturity in June, and require to be taken off the 

 ground during the driest months in the summer, the farmer 

 has all the months of July, August, and September, to 

 render his land as clean as a well-conditioned garden, and 

 as fertile as he can desire ( 355 ). 



3. Ireland. 



In Ireland, the system of fallowing for wheat, is very ge- 

 nerally adopted, in most of the corn countries, particularly 

 in strong soils. It is, however, more generally practised by 

 tillage farmers from necessity, than from any real advantage 

 which they derive from it. Among the wealthy and intelli- 

 gent tenantry, fallow crops are usually substituted, except 

 in cases where the land requires draining, or some other 

 operation that could not.be performed, if under a crop. Fal- 



