112 PRINCIPLES OF TILLAGE. 



on the score of economy. In draining the rule has pecu- 

 Har force, that what is done should be well done — be 

 the object either economy, or permanent utility. 



We repeat — draining is comparatively a new branch 

 of improvement with us. Its principles are httle under- 

 stood, and its advantages not fully appreciated ; and we 

 are not likely to learn much of either except from ex- 

 perience. When we are convinced of its value, we shall 

 persevere in it, notwithstanding repeated disappointments, 

 till we succeed in managing it upon correct principles. 

 The sooner we begin, therefore, the more rapid will be 

 our progress and the greater the advantages. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



PRINCIPLES OF TILLAGE. 



When thorough draining has been effected, upon lands 

 to be benefited thereby, there is another operation which 

 is calculated to aid in the efficiency of manures, and in 

 the increase of farm-products. This is good tillage — a 

 perfect pulverization of the soil, and the keeping it free 

 from weeds, which retard the growth of the crop, and 

 rob it of its food. Good tillage is important, not only as 

 it serves to exterminate weeds, to facilitate the digestion 

 of vegetable food, and to mix and incorporate this food 

 with earthy matters, — but as it breaks and mellows the 

 soil, and enables the roots of plants to range freely in 

 search of this food. 



Every farmer must have observed, that when tillage 

 has been but imperfectly performed, as is sometimes seen 

 about stumps and rocks, and near fences, the crop is 

 comparatively feeble and light. This is not owing to the 

 poverty of the soil, because the plough, as it rises to the 

 surface in these places, deposits and accumulates there the 

 finest and best mould of the field. The feebleness of 

 the grain arises from the imperfect tillage which these 

 spots receive. 



