298 Of Ploughing. 



tribes of insects, and their larvae, (more especially if the 

 ploughing is given before frost), are got rid of. And by ex- 

 posing the soil to the influence of the atmosphere, the de- 

 composition of dead substances, and, at the same time, the 

 growth of living plants, are promoted. As all these impor- 

 tant advantages are to be obtained by the operations of til- 

 lage, it is not to be wondered at, that skilful and experienced 

 husbandmen have, in all ages and countries, entertained the 

 highest ideas of its utility (*). 



Indeed, where tillage is imperfect, there can be no good 

 husbandry. In one extensively cultivated district, it is stat- 

 ed as more than probable, that a third part of the crops col- 

 lectively, on some of the best fields, is every year lost, 

 through the want of sufficient tillage : nay that perhaps, from 

 one-fourth to one-sixth part of the produce, of the arable 

 lands of the kingdom^ is in general lost, from the same 

 cause ( 3 ). This is a subject therefore, that cannot be too 

 minutely investigated. It is well known, that the horses of 

 a good ploughman, suffer less from the work, than those en- 

 trusted to an awkward and unskilful hand ; and that a ma- 

 terial difference will be found, in the crop of those ridges, 

 tilled by a bad ploughman, when compared to any part of 

 the field, where the operation has been judiciously perform- 

 ed. 



It will be necessary here to consider, first, the best mode 

 of ploughing ; and then, other particulars connected with 

 that operation. 



1. Mode of Ploughing. 



The simplest, the most economical, and the most effective 

 mode of ploughing, for general purposes, is, by a swing- 

 plough, with a pair of horses, and without a driver. In the 

 sandy soils of Norfolk, a wheel-plough will run over more 

 cxpeditiously, with a broad and thin furrow-slice, a greater 

 extent of ground; but in loamy and clayey soils, wheels 

 must always be an incumbrance, and occasion additional la- 

 bour to the horses. 



In working with the two-horse swing plough, the off-side 

 horse walks in the furrow already made, the near-side horse 

 on the untilled land, the ploughman in the new furrow. 

 His skill is proved, when there is no baulking, or portion of 

 the land left untilled, and when the furrow-slice is com- 

 pletely turned over ( 4 ). If the bottom of the furrows re- 

 main with pieces of land uncut, they preserve the thistles 



