On Spade Husbandry. 397 



land with the spade. It is almost incredible, what two able 

 industrious labourers will perform in a year, for only ten shil- 

 lings per week, or twenty-six pounds per annum each. The 

 original price of the horses, their annual decay, the acci- 

 dents to which they are liable, the cost of implements, the 

 bills of saddlers and smiths, exclusive of the expense of 

 keeping, which cannot be calculated at less than two shil- 

 lings a-day, or thirty-six pounds ten shillings per annum, be- 

 sides a ploughman to attend them, all must amount to a con- 

 siderable sum. It is also to be considered, that while the 

 men and the horses will, in all probability, be unemployed 

 for several days in the year, by bad weather, and other cir- 

 cumstances, the labourer is only paid while he is employed, 

 and for work actually executed. 



1.0. On the Cultivation of Arable Land by the Spade. 

 The advantage of employing the spade, instead of the 

 plough, in the cultivation of arable land, must evidently de- 

 pend, 1. Upon the produce which they respectively yield ; 

 and, 2. On the extent that can be dug by a labourer in any 

 given space of time. 



In regard to difference of produce, an experiment was 

 tried in the neighbourhood of Hamilton, expressly to ascer- 

 tain that point. A field was taken, which had been cropped 

 with beans the preceding year, and the previous year with 

 oats. Two ridges were dug, and two ploughed alternately, 

 and the whole was sown on the same day. A part both of 

 the ploughed and dug, was drilled with the garden hoe. 

 The whole was reaped the same day, and being thrashed 

 out, the result was, that the dug land sown broad-cast, was to 

 the ploughed sown broad- cast, as fifty-five bushels to forty- 

 two ; while the dug and drilled, was as twenty and a quar- 

 ter bushels, to twelve and a quarter upon the ploughed and 

 drilled. The additional grain produced, was not the only 

 beneficial result gained by digging, for in this instance, there 

 was also a great deal more straw, and the land was much 

 more free of weeds, and more easily cultivated next year. 



But, notwithstanding the success of this experiment, and 

 though it was strongly recommended to public attention in 

 several periodical publications, it does not appear, that it has 

 ever been attempted by any other individual. 



The late Mr Falla, an eminent nurseryman aj Gateshead, 

 near Newcastle upon Tyne, tried the plan of spade hus- 

 bandry on a great scale, and with considerable success : 

 but his successor, it seems, has given up the digging system, 

 finding that ploughing was more profitable. 



