NOTES. 53 



A driver with one horse, and one harrow, makes an extremely thriftless ope- 

 ration ; two horses, and two harrows are better ; but three is the best mode of 

 any ; for more than three it is very difficult to manage. The reason why two 

 harrows are better in proportion than one, and three than two, is, that a small 

 piece of land, at the extreme diagonal corners of the space covered by the har- 

 rows, is insufficiently done, and must be overlapped the next time the harrows 

 go round. This piece is to the same extent, when one harrow is used single, 

 as when two or three are yolked together. Thus, when one harrow is yoked 

 by itself, it will not sufficiently harrow more than two feet and a half. But 

 two harrows together, will harrow six feet, and three will harrow ten feet and 

 a half equally well. Each harrow, after the first, adds four feet to the space, 

 properly harrowed. Hence, three harrows in a set, are better than four har- 

 rows separately, besides requiring only one driver, instead of four. Communi- 

 cation from Mr George Robertson, author of the Mid-Lothian Report. 



60 Bedfordshire Report, p. 278. General Report of Scotland, volume of 

 Engravings, Plate 5, Figure 10. 



61 Essay on Rolling, by Mr Christopher Morley. Comm. to the Board of 

 Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 1 48. 



62 North Wales Report, p. 118. Mr Blaikie at Holkham, recommends a 

 double spike roller, as preferable to a single one, for the purpose of pulverizing 

 strong soils. It is formed, by two rollers hung in the same frame, so close that 

 the spikes of one work through those of the other. It is a ponderous imple- 

 ment, not liable to be clogged ; and literally grinds the soil. It is necessary to 

 wind this roller up, when it turns at the end, or for safe conveyance from one 

 field to another. This is done by a hand-rack fixed on the frame ; the fulcrum, 

 a pair of low strong wheels, attaches to the side of the frame. 



63 Gentleman Farmer, p. 26. For this purpose a roller, with sharp pointed 

 darts, made either of forged iron, or cast metal, has lately been invented, which 

 effectually reduces these clods. An engraving of one is in the General Report 

 of Scotland, volume of Engravings, Plate 6, No. viii. 



64 Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 46. 



65 It is improper to roll land before winter for wheat. It is better that the 

 surface should be lumpy and uneven. In 99 cases out of 100, when the sur- 

 face is too smooth before winter, the crop is hurt by the frost. Even when 

 wheat is sown in February, the roller must be used with caution. If the land 

 lies rough in winter, in all probability the water passes through it more freely, 

 by which the plant is more effectually preserved dry ; and it is well known, 

 that strong soils are the more liable to become cohesive, after being well pulve- 

 rized, particularly if the operation is not performed when they are in a very dry 

 state. Remark by Edward Burroughs, Esq. 



66 A small stone, or wooden roller, is commonly used ; but it is now ascer- 

 tained by experience, that, on light soils, a heavy roller is much more effectual 

 for the destruction of the fly, or rather beetle, which is thus either crushed, or 

 so shut up in the ground, that it cannot extricate itself. General Report of 

 Scotland, vol. iii. p. 406. At the same time, caution is necessary in using the 

 roller on turnip-seed, when the land is moist, and the soil is at all of an adhesive 

 quality; as the seed is apt to adhere to the earth collected in the course of the 

 operation. When the land is not perfectly dry, a few bushes tied together like 

 a large broom, and drawn by a boy down the drills, is the most advisable mode 

 of covering the seed, and it may be done at the rate of two acres per day. 

 Remark by Edward Burroughs, Esq. 



67 Mr Vagg of Chilcompton was rewarded with several hundred pounds, 

 for publishing an account of the means of destroying slugs by midnight- rolling. 

 For the fly or beetle, day-rolling is more likely to be useful. 



68 Brown on Rural Affairs, vol. i. p. 279. 



69 After the miserable crops of 1782, some experiments were tried in Scot- 

 land, to fix, if possible, on some decided marks by which good seed might be 



