TILLAGE. 



but small seeds are too weak to do 

 so, and their growth is entirely stop- 

 ped by the least crust on the surface. 

 Besides the preparatory tillage oi' the 

 soil before sowing the seed, there is 

 great advantage in the stirring it as 

 the plants are growing. On this de- 

 pends all the merit of the row culture 

 for every kind of plant, especially 

 those which have esculent roots or 

 extensive foliage, and which are 

 chielly cultivated for the sustenance 

 of cattle. The effect of deep tillage 

 is here most remarkable. If rows of 

 turnips or cabbages be sown at such 

 a distance that a small plough or oth- 

 er stirring implement can be used be- 

 tween them, and the intervals be 

 stirred more or less, and at different 

 depths, it will be found that the deep- 

 er and more frequent the tillage, until 

 the foliage covers the whole interval, 

 or the bulbs swell to a great size, the 

 heavier and more abundant the prod- 

 uce will be. It is worth while to try 

 tl>e experiment : Sow Swedish tur- 

 nips or mangel wurzel in rows three 

 feet apart ; let some of the rows be 

 merely kept clear of weeds by surface 

 hoeing, and the plants be thinned out 

 to the distance of a foot apart : let 

 other intervals be stirred to different 

 depths ; some three inches, some six 

 inches, and some nine inches or more. 

 The result will be, that the first rows 

 will appear to have been sown much 

 too far from each other, not half the 

 ground being covered with the fo- 

 liage of the plants ; the others will 

 be covered more and more as the till- 

 age has been deeper, and the last 

 will completely cover the whole in- 

 tervals. The roots or bulbs will be 

 in exact proportion to the richness 

 of the foliage, and the weight of the 

 deeply-tilled rows will far exceed 

 that of any of the others, while the 

 first will, by comparison, appear a 

 poor and scanty crop, however clear 

 of weeds the surface may have been 

 kept. The soil best suited for this 

 experiment is a good, light loam on 

 a dry or well-drained subsoil ; for 

 stagnant moisture under any soil will 

 chill the fibres and check the growth 

 of the plants, however dry the sur- 

 796 



face may he. It was this which led 

 Tull, the father of drill husbandry, to 

 the conclusion that tillage was all 

 that the soil required to maintain 

 perpetual fertility. He carried his 

 conclusion too far ; but we shall not 

 be wide of the truth, if we assert that 

 with proper tillage the soil will be 

 gradually improved, and a much 

 smaller quantity of manure occasion- 

 ally added to recruit the waste pro- 

 duced by vegetation will render the 

 soil much more fertile than it would 

 be with more manure and less till- 

 age : and as tillage can be increased 

 by mechanical contrivances where 

 labourers are scarce, whereas the 

 supply of manure must generally be 

 limited, it follows that, as a general 

 rule, the land should be well and 

 deeply tilled, due attention being paid 

 to the nature of the soil, and its prop- 

 erty of retaining or transmitting 

 moisture. Very loose sands should 

 not he much stirred until they are 

 consolidated by the admixture of 

 marl, clay, peat, or well-rotted dung ; 

 but in all cases the manure should 

 be mixed as intimately as possible 

 with the soil, and as deep as the til- 

 lage has gone, not including the stir- 

 ring of the subsoil ; for the roots will 

 always penetrate thus far, and find 

 the nourishment which they require. 

 Those plants which throw out roots 

 from tiie bottom of the stem, as 

 wheat, barley, and oats, require the 

 surface to be most pulverized and 

 enriched to allow these roots to 

 spread ; a spring tillage is therefore 

 highly advantageous, which can only 

 be given when the seed has been de- 

 posited in rows by drilling, or in 

 patches by dibbling. This last meth- 

 od is found to give much finer crops, 

 from the circumstance that the hoe 

 not only loosens the earth between 

 the rows, but also between the dif- 

 ferent patches of the growing corn, 

 by which the coronal roots are 

 strengthened, and the tillering of tlie 

 stems so much encouraged, that it is 

 not uncommon to see twenty, thirt)^ 

 or more strong stems, all bearing fine 

 ears, arising from one tuft of plants, 

 the produce of one or more seeds, 



