Of Ridging. 3H 



In poor, clayey, wet soils, it is maintained by many in- 

 telligent farmers in England, that the ridges should be made 

 only from three to six, or, at the most, seven feet broad ; 

 that on wet soils, small ridges keep the soil moderately dry ; 

 and that on thin soils, the staple is increased, by putting the 

 earth of five feet upon four, while the produce is as great, 

 as if the whole land had been under crop. Plants, they con- 

 tend, are more uniformly healthy, from the freer admis- 

 sion of air, and ripen more equally on narrow, than on broad 

 ridges. There is also an advantage in cutting down the 

 crop, as each reaper may have a separate ridge ( 3 r). 



A variety of ingenious arguments have been urged, in fa- 

 vour of ridges, varying in breadth from twelve to fifteen 

 feet. It is said, that they are easily kept dry ; that the 

 furrows are not apt to be rendered bare ; that the seed can 

 be sown at all times, even with an adverse wind, at a sin- 

 ;le going ; that two harrows, going once about, complete- 

 y cover the ridge ; and that this is a proper proportion or 

 breadth for three reapers. 



On the other hand, the farmers of East Lothian, where 

 this subject has been particularly studied, prefer ridges of 

 eighteen feet, which they consider to be, not only better 

 calculated for preserving the land from receiving injury by 

 wetness, but also as tending to facilitate, the several pro- 

 cesses of dunging, sowing, harrowing and reaping. Indeed, 

 where the soil is deep enough to admit of three gatherings 

 from the flat, without sustaining injury, they are of opinion, 

 that a breadth of twenty-four feet will be found useful in 

 wet soils. 



The practice, in various parts of England and Scotland, 

 respecting the breadth of ridges, on wet soils, is so totally 

 at variance, that it is supposed to be partly attributable to 

 difference of climate. In Scotland, it is thought, that nar- 

 row ridges, unless there is an acclivity, soon become wet 

 and poached, and are long in getting dry ; the rain that falls, 

 remaining in the interfurrows, and soaking into the ground ; 

 that the crowns cannot be raised sufficiently high, to be 

 of much use in draining; that turning the horses shorty at 

 the end of narrow ridges, is attended with difficulty ; that 

 the loss of ground, by such a number of furrows, where no 

 plant can properly vegetate, is enormous ; and that it is 

 proved by experience, in climates more rainy than the 

 southern districts of England, (namely, in the Lothians), 

 that the strongest and most retentive soils, are kept perfectly 

 dry in ridges, when properly rounded, of from eighteen to 

 twenty-four feet in breadth. 



