52 NOTES. 



46 Young's Calendar, p. 51O. 



47 " The preferable method for sowing oats, and especially in a clay soil, is 

 to turn the field over after harvest, and to lay it open to the influences of frost 

 and air ; which lessens the tenacity of clay, and reduces it to a fine mould. 

 The surface soil, by this means, is finely mellowed for the reception of the seed ; 

 which it would be a pity to bury, by a second ploughing, before sowing. We are 

 taught by experience, that this soil, ploughed before winter, is sooner dry, than 

 when the ploughing is delayed till spring ; and as early sowing is a great ad- 

 vantage, any objection, on account of the superficial crusting, is easily removed 

 by a strong harrow, which would produce abundance of mould for covering the 

 seed. Kam.es *s Gentleman Farmer, p. 95 and 96. 



48 For potatoes or turnips, spring culture is considered necessary in Ireland. 

 Remark by Edward Burroughs, Esq. But the practice of spring sowing, with- 

 out ploughing, has been adopted on strong land in some parts of Ireland, with 

 great advantage ; and the oat crop thus sown upon a retentive clay, will be a 

 fortnight earlier, than that sown upon a spring ploughing. Remark by the Rev. 

 Thomas Radcliff. 



49 It is said that Finlayson's scarifier, and Wilkie's new invented scuffling 

 harrow, are improvements upon the grubber. 



50 It is likewise aerated, for in fine free soils, the scarifier enables the air to 

 pass two or three inches below the surface of the soil. 



51 An experiment of the effects of scarifying, compared with spring plough- 

 ing, was tried in spring 1811, by Mr Robert Roberts, of Gorewell, about seven 

 miles from Bridport in Dorsetshire. He had a field of about forty acres of 

 flinty loam, under a crop of broad-cast turnips, eaten off by sheep. Not being 

 able to plough the whole field in time for a crop, he got a scarifier, and used it 

 at the rate of about 1 2 acres a-day, followed by the sower, and the harrow ; four 

 acres were ploughed, the rest were scarified. The crop was oats, and the scari- 

 fied part was greatly superior to the ploughed, in the proportion of nearly one- 

 third. 



52 Communications, by the late Arthur Young, Esq. in the Husbandry of 

 Scotland, vol. ii. Appendix, p. 66. Mr Middleton remarks, that this excellent 

 practice is inconsistent with broad ridges. 



53 Essex Report, vol. i. p. 420. 



54 In the Suffolk Report, Appendix, p. 350, there is an account of about 

 twenty intelligent practical farmers, who have persevered in the practice for 

 several years with success. See also Mr Moseley's Letter to Sir John Sin- 

 clair, dated in April 1813, confirming that information. In Derbyshire, 

 scuffling strong land is preferred to harrowing, the former loosening the soil, 

 and exposing it to the sun and air, whereas harrowing tends to consolidate 

 it. Report, vol. ii. p. 48. 



55 Comparative trials have been made of the effects of harrowing for a 

 barley crop ; and the difference in favour of harrowing, was above L. 2 per 

 acre, while the expense was only three shillings. In regard to crops of wheat, 

 however, sown before winter, an idea has become prevalent, that too much 

 harrowing is detrimental. When the surface is rendered too fine and smooth, 

 the plants are apt to be thrown out. 



56 General Report of Scotland, vol. i. p. 217 and 360. 



57 Brown's Treatise on Rural Affairs, vol. i. p. 276. Some farmers pre- 

 fer finishing heavy land by cross-harrowing, to facilitate the descent of surface- 

 water from the crowns of the ridges, to the interfurrow. General Report of 

 Scotland, vol. i. p. 361. 



58 Young's Norfolk, p. 191. When done only once, they go over from 

 J2 to 15 acres. 



59 General Report, p. 362. It is proper to observe, that, to a certain ex- 

 tent, the greater number of harrows, attached under the same yokes, the more 

 .work, in proportion, will be done ; and of course the cheaper it will be executed. 



