342 On Dibbling. 



from it. By the extension of drilling, inferior soils might 

 soon be rendered nearly as productive as those naturally more 

 fertile. In many cases also, by the introduction of this sys- 

 tem, naked fallows might be abolished, where at present 

 they are unnecessarily practised ; and by these means, a trea- 

 sure of solid and permanent wealth, in useful and valuable 

 produce, might be rapidly spread, over the whole surface of 

 the country ( 144 ). 



SECT. XIII. Dibbling. 



THIS process has been already described, Chap. II. Sect. 7. 

 Its recommendations are, 1. That only one ploughing is neces- 

 sary ; 2. That the seed is regularly deposited in the heart 

 of the flag, where it feeds on the vegetable matter turned 

 underneath, without any assistance from the subsoil ; 3. 

 That in common with the other branches of row culture, it 

 may receive all the advantages of hoeing ; 4>. That there is 

 a great saving of human food, from the smaller quantity of 

 seed used ( l45 ); 5. That it furnishes young labourers with 

 employment, and thereby inures them to industry ; and, 6. 

 That the treading of the labourers employed in the opera- 

 tion, is favourable to production in light soils. It is certain- 

 ly an advantageous mode of planting wheat, upon a one year's 

 layer, on light and moderately deep soils ; but it never can 

 become a general practice in other cases ( 146 ). In tenacious 

 soils, dibbling does not answer, as the dibble forms a cup 

 for the water, in which the seed perishes ( 147 ). It likewise 

 occasions more expense than any other process of semina- 

 tion ; and owing to the greater hurry and fatigue of the 

 children employed in it, and sometimes from a desire of mak- 

 ing higher earnings, is often imperfectly performed, without 

 any great risk of detection. Nor can it ever be extensively 

 carried on, unless where the population is very considerable. 

 The dibbling of pease has been practised from time im- 

 memorial in Norfolk ; and the dibbling of beans is not uncom- 

 mon in that county, and several other parts of England ( 148 ). 

 In Middlesex, the beans are all dibbled in rows, and the pease 

 are put in by hand-hoes ( l49 ). 



SECT. XIV. Transplanting. 



THIS mode of propagating grain, though long known in 

 the philosophic world ( I5 ), has not hitherto attracted the 



