318 Of Scarifying. 



Great attention should be paid to the state of the weather, 

 and temper of the land, in working soils in that state. The 

 whole process of stirring the ground, depositing the seed, 

 harrowing, and water furrowing, should if possible be effect- 

 ed within the same day, and that may, in most cases, be readi- 

 ly accomplished, as no cross-ploughings, or cross-harrow- 

 ings are required in the process. Clovers, and other grasses, 

 succeed well, when sown with corn crops on strong land, cul- 

 tivated in this manner. 



These opinions are strongly sanctioned, in various in- 

 stances, on a great scale, and by the practice of a number 

 of farmers in Dorsetshire ( 5 I), Buckinghamshire, Norfolk, 

 and more especially in Suffolk. The practice of scarifying, 

 has become so predominant in the strong land district of 

 that county, from the fine tilth which it gives to the lands, that 

 there is reason to believe, it will entirely exclude the appli- 

 cation of the plough to heavy lands in spring. The manage- 

 ment for this purpose is excellent. While the land is yet 

 dry in autumn, the fields are carefully ploughed into ridges, 

 exactly of the breadth which suits the various implements 

 to be employed in the spring, such as harrows, scufflers, 

 scarifiers, and drill machines, all adapted to one given 

 breadth, so that no horse, when drawing any of them, may 

 ever set a foot on the ridge, but move slowly in the furrows. 

 This improvement is applicable to the broad-cast system, 

 as well as to the drill; and it certainly removes the main ob- 

 jection, to the drilling of spring crops on strong lands ( 5 ^). 



Nor is this practice of scarifying for a spring crop, solely 

 applicable to a winter furrow on strong lands, for it has 

 likewise been tried, and most successfully, in autumn. Pea 

 and bean stubbles have been scarified, and sown with drill- 

 ed wheat, without any ploughing, and the crops have prov- 

 ed better than after the usual system ( 5 &). In late and rainy 

 seasons, sowing wheat after beans is extremely precarious ; 

 but if this system uniformly answers, there is an end to that 

 difficulty. 



Some doubts are still entertained, whether, though the 

 plan may succeed in regard to one crop, it may not injure 

 the succeeding ones in the rotation. If that should be the 

 case, it ought not to be persevered in. But from the best 

 information that could be procured, in consequence of in- 

 quiries made expressly to ascertain that fact, there is no 

 reason to apprehend, that the future crops will be thereby 

 deteriorated 



