176 FALLOW CROPS AND 



the land intended to be cropped, by being drawn into the 

 ten-inch furrow, which is carried two inches deeper ; the 

 horses never tread but in a furrow ; and by the soundness 

 of this ploughing Mr. Greg states, that ' when effected 

 in the autumn or before Christmas, a perfect friability is 

 obtained in the tilth by the influence of the frost during 

 the winter, and the surface-water may be as effectually 

 got rid of as by under-draining.' 



" As soon as the harvest is completed, the wheat-stub- 

 bles are haulmed, and the lands are marked out and 

 ploughed one bout : dung is then ploughed in to the 

 amount of ten loads per acre, and three bushels of winter 

 tares with a bushel and a half of winter barley are sown, 

 to precede turnips, to the extent of about half the ground 

 intended for that crop, which, in common seasons, it does 

 not impede, as the tares are cut upon a moist furrow for 

 the turnip-sowing. 



" The tare-sowing being finished, the bean and pea- 

 stubbles are prepared for wheat ; which is a difficult op- 

 eration on heavy land, when the object is to get the seed 

 early into the ground. The labor which they require 

 from the plough, roll, and harrow, was so great as to inr 

 duce Mr. Greg to use a powerful grubber, or scarifier, 

 of a form which covers an entire land ; and it performed 

 so well that he has since continued to use it instead of 

 the plough, as he found that he could thus sow forty 

 acres of wheat in a very few days, regardless of weather, 

 and at a sixth part of the expense. 



" Having sown the wheat, the remainder of the land 

 intended for turnips is ploughed and dunged. The 

 ploughing is also performed for peas and beans ; and it is 

 desirable that these operations should be completed be- 

 fore Christmas. As soon as the season turns, the land 

 which was ley, and intended for beans and peas, is scari- 

 fied ; and when the growing weather commences, the 

 beans are drilled at fifteen inches, for the convenience of 

 horse-hoeing. The peas are next drilled ; but as these, by 

 falling over, preclude the possibility of hoeing them more 

 than twice, they are sown at intervals of twelve inches. 



'* As the ground is cleared of turnips, it is ploughed 



