HUSBANDRY. 



bandry may be found serviceable ; it 

 is by Mr. Kham .- 



"The first and most inartificial is 

 that which consists in breaking up 

 portions of pasture land and sowing 

 corn on a slight ploughing, which 

 cannot fail to be productive for some 

 time. Several crops may thus be ta- 

 ken, until the land is so exhausted 

 that the crop no longer repays the 

 seed and labour. To extend this 

 time, experience soon pointed out the 

 crops which succeeded best after each 

 other. Wheat or barley w-ere proba- 

 bly the first crops ; afterward pease, 

 beans, or oats, until the ground, 

 being overrun with weeds, would be 

 left to the renovating effect of time, 

 and a fresh spot would be broken up. 



" The first improvement on this 

 system is that of infield and outfield. 

 The infield is cultivated more care- 

 fully, somewhat like a garden, and 

 all the dung of the cattle is exclu- 

 sively put upon this part. The out- 

 field is a continuation of the first- 

 mentioned system. The infield con- 

 sisted of enclosures or open fields 

 near the dwelling, which it was most 

 convenient to cultivate as arable 

 land. Thus two distinct systems of 

 husbandry were carried on at the 

 same time ; and whatever improve- 

 ments were introduced in the man- 

 agement of the infield, the outfield 

 continued to be managed as it was 

 before. 



"The mode of recruiting lands 

 which had been exhausted by crops, 

 or were overrun with weeds, by 

 means of a fallow, seems to have 

 been introduced into England by the 

 Romans. The alternate crop and 

 fallow seem to have been later intro- 

 duced than a fallow after several 

 crops. The triennial system, which 

 consists of a summer fallow, a win- 

 ter crop, and a spring crop, was prob- 

 ably longer established than any oth- 

 er, and is still the practice in many 

 parts of England. The deteriorating 

 effect of the outfield system would 

 lead to its abandonment as soon as 

 population increased, and with it the 

 want of land for infield. 



" When common fields are divided 

 408 



! and enclosed, a better system of hus- 

 bandry geoprally follows. Clover and 

 turnips are more regularly sown, and, 

 on the light lands, take the place of 

 summer fallow. Clover generally 

 comes after a crop of wheat, in which 

 it was sown the preceding year in 

 spring ; and as most crops succeed 

 well after clover, wheat was usually 

 chosen for the next crop as the most 

 profitable. Thus arose the Norfolk 

 system, without any very sudden de- 

 parture from the old rotations. Two 

 crops raised for the food of animals in 

 four years require more cattle on the 

 farm to expend them profitably ; and 

 thus more manure is made. In the 

 light soils the sheep, when folded on 

 the turnips, not only enrich the land 

 by their dung and urine, but likewise 

 render it more compact by treading 

 it, which is advantageous to the clo- 

 ver and wheat which come after. If 

 the land is a good loam, beans are 

 sometimes sown after wheat, the land 

 having been recruited with manure ; 

 and if the beans are kept clean by 

 hoeing, another good crop of wheat 

 may be obtained after them. Thus 

 arises the improved rotation of tur- 

 nips, barley, clover, wheat, beans, 

 wheat ; after which the land is again 

 cleaned and prepared for turnips with 

 all the manure that can be spared. 

 As in this system there is always a 

 crop with succulent leaves interve- 

 ning between two which have a white 

 straw, it has been called the alternate 

 system of husbandry. These are the 

 most common systems in England. 

 The removal of the fallow year, pro- 

 vided the land be kept clean, is a de- 

 cided step towards improvement ; 

 the best farmers effect this by the in- 

 troduction of artificial grasses and 

 tares fed off by sheep, and especially 

 by sowing every crop in rows and 

 keeping the intervals stirred, which 

 is a partial fallow, without losing a 

 crop. Here TuU's system is intro- 

 duced, w'hich in its complete state, 

 as the author recommended it, was 

 soon abandoned. 



"As the English systems have ta- 

 ken their origin chiefly from the in- 

 field cultivation, so the Scotch appear 



