NOTKS. 59. 



136 This would be a sufficient answer to the objection on the score of a 

 scarcity of labourers, to carry on the drill system. 



1.17 Communication from the late Arthur Young, Esq. Husbandry of 

 Scotland, vol. ii. Appendix, p. 66. 



138 Dickson's Husbandry, vol. i. p. 401. 



139 A machine is invented by " Plenty*' an agricultural engineer, which 

 operates by pressure, and makes two drills at once, by one horse, which is like- 

 wise well calculated for light soils. 



140 The mode of ribbing wheat, first occurred to the Rev. Adam Dickson, 

 in the course of his examining the Husbandry of the Ancients. He describes 

 the first trial of it, in the following terms : " A field having been prepared 



for the seed-furrow was ribbed across, each rib being formed by one bout, 

 or veering of the plough, throwing two furrows upon, or towards each other. 

 In this situation the field was sown, and the corn appeared in distinct rows, 

 at about 14 inches distance the one from the other. The field was twice 

 hand-hoed, and produced a very good crop." Dickson's Husbandry of the 

 Ancients, vol. i. p. 523, note. 



141 Mr Morton, of Leith-Walk, Edinburgh, has a machine in contempla- 

 tion, by which several ribs will be made at once, and the process will be ren- 

 dered nearly as expeditious as drilling. 



142 In the Appendix, will be found, an account of the advantages of the 

 drill-barrow, accompanied by an engraving and description, by which any 

 workman, accustomed to agricultural machines, will be able to make one. 



143 Young's Essex, vol. i. p. 100. By destroying weeds, the nourishment 

 they would have absorbed, is preserved in the soil. 



144 The following are the Resolutions on the subject of Drilling, which the 

 Author moved, at a great agricultural meeting held at Holkham in July 1819, 

 where they met with the cordial approbation and concurrence of above 500 

 practical farmers there assembled : 



Resolved, 1. That the drill, or row system, is admirably calculated for the 

 culture of leguminous and other crops, not strictly culmiferous, exposing more 

 surface to atmospheric influence ; carrying off, where the ridges are raised, any 

 superabundant moisture in wet soils ; and admitting the soil to be cleared of 

 weeds in the simplest manner, and at the smallest expense ; while the several 

 plants cultivated, are benefited and improved by the repeated stirrings given to 

 the soil, during the several processes. 



2. That the drilling of culmiferous, or corn crops, when conducted with skill 

 and attention, is a practice highly meritorious, as the seed may thus be deposited 

 in the soil at the most desirable depth, and of an equal depth, by which the 

 growth of the crop is considerably promoted ; and as the crop can afterwards be 

 improved in its progress to maturity. 



3. That on all lands where weeds are abundant, corn crops may be drilled 

 with peculiar advantage, for the purpose of cleansing the land more effectually, 

 and at a cheaper rate, than hand-hoeing and hand- weeding broad-cast crops. 

 That lands of moderate or inferior quality, will thus yield a greater produce, and 

 may be. brought more nearly on a footing with fertile land, than under the broad- 

 cast system. Hence, that drilling corn crops, in such soils, cannot be too strongly 

 recommended, as a most important national object. 



145 Dibbling is much practised in China, with a view of saving seed ; and 

 it is said in a recent publication, (Storch's Cours d'Economie Politique, vol. iv. 

 p. 72, and vol. vi. p. 15), that the saving thus effected in China, would feed a 

 large proportion of the people of England. 



146 Mr Blaikie remarks, that it is certainly an advantageous mode of putting 

 in wheat seed upon very light land, thick planted with couch-grassroots. When 

 such land is sown with wheat, it is usually after a one or two years' clover layer, 

 either sheep-folded, or otherwise manured, and ploughed only once. The fur- 

 vow slice of flag, or turf, being laid flat on its back, i* afterwards closely rolled 



