374 Of Stubbles. 



SECT. XXV. Of Stubbles. 



IT is not unusual, in some parts of England, when the 

 grain is reaped by the sickle, to cut it knee high. This pro- 

 bably originated from a wish to save barn-room ; and to get 

 the corn more expeditiously carted and stacked, and more 

 easily thrashed. But the plan of high cutting deserves re- 

 probation. By it much grain is lost, for a stubble of 12 or 

 18 inches, and still more, of two feet, can never be a clean 

 one. By this plan, also, the expense both of the sickle and 

 of the scythe is incurred. Many consider the part nearest 

 the root, to be the most nourishing of the straw, but, at 

 any rate, the culling and picking the best part, may be 

 safely left to the instinct of the cattle to whom it is present- 

 ed. Stubble left in the field, retards much the operation of 

 ploughing, more especially when the plough is turned ; and 

 as it is often neglected, and left standing, until its whole sub- 

 stance has been materially injured, by the variable weather 

 to which it is exposed, it may be accounted of little value to 

 the farmer ; while, under a different management, if cut with 

 the crop, it would have proved a source of much profit. 



Wherever agriculture, therefore, is practised on impro- 

 ved principles, crops of grain are cut so close to the ground, 

 as to leave no stubble that can be mown, or employed to any 

 particular use. It may be proper, however, to state, to what 

 purposes stubble is applied, when left on the ground. 



By some farmers it is mown, and collected, to litter the 

 yards, or bottom the dunghill ( a41 ), but, too often, after its 

 substance is wasted. It is sometimes burnt on the ground, 

 (which was an ancient practice), or ploughed in, often to 

 the injury of the succeeding crops; for the stubble rendered 

 some lands too open, so that every fall of rain or snow filled 

 the soil with moisture, which could not easily be got rid of. 

 Stubbles are sometimes formed into walls, for rendering farm- 

 yards warm and comfortable for stock (* 4Z ). Where stubbles 

 are properly managed, they are mown, and as carefully har- 

 vested, as any other part of the produce; being brought 

 home, stacked up, and kept for thatching, either buildings, 

 or the stacks of the succeeding year, or for other pur- 

 poses (* 43 ). But by far the most advantageous mode of ap- 

 plying stubble, when mown and harvested, undoubtedly is, 

 to spread it on the surface of the soil, after the land has 

 been completely prepared for turnips, and then to burn it. 

 This is an infallible mode of preventing the ravages of the 



