Chap. VI. O/Hoeing, 67 



Hand as thick all over the Land, as they do in the 

 ho'd Rows, there might beproduc'd, at once, many 

 of the greateft Crops of Corn that ever grew. 



But fince Plants thrive, and make their Produce, 

 in Proportion to the Nourifhment they have within 

 the Ground, not to the Room they have to ftand 

 upon it, one very narrow Row may contain more 

 Plants .than a wide Interval can nourifh, and bring 

 to their full Perfection, by all the Art that can be 

 ufed ; and 'tis impofiible a Crop fliould be loft for 

 want of room to (land above the Ground, tho 9 it were 

 lefs than a Tenth-part of the Surface (a). 



In wide Intervals there is another Advantage of 

 Hoeing, I mean Horfe-hoeing (the other being more 

 like Scratching and Scraping than Hoeing) : There is 

 room for many Hoeings (b)> which mult not come 



very 



(a) Mr. Houghton calculates, that a Crop of Wheat of Thirty 

 Quarters to an Acre, each Ear has two Inches and a Half of 

 Surface ; by which 'tis evident, that there would be Room for 

 many fuch prodigious Crops to iland on. 



And a Quick-hedge, {landing between two Arable Grounds, 

 one Foot broad at Bottom, and Eighteen Feet in Length, will, at 

 fourteen Years Growth, produce more of the fame Sort of Wood, 

 than eighteen Feet fquare of a Coppice will produce in the fame 

 Time, the Soil of both being of equal Goodnefs. 



This feems to be the fame Cafe with our ho'd Rows ; the 

 Coppice, if it were to be cut in the firft Years, would yield per- 

 haps ten Times as much Wood, as the Hedge; but many of the 

 Shoots of the Coppice conftantly die every Year, for Want of 

 jTufficient Nourishment, until the Coppice is fit to be cut ; and 

 then its Product is much lefs than that of the Hedge, whofe 

 Pailure has not been over-ftock'd to fuch a Degree as the Coppice- 

 Pailure has been; and therefore brings its Crop of Wood to 

 greater Perfection than the Coppice-Wood, which has Eighteen 

 Times the Surface of Ground to Hand on: The Hed^e has the 

 Benefit of Hoeing, as oft as the Land on either Side of it is till'd 3 

 but the Coppice, like the fown Corn, wants that Benefit. 



(b) Many Hoeings • but if it mould be afked how many, we 

 may take Columella '3 Rule in hoeing the Vines, <vi%. Humerus 

 autcrn vertendi Scli (bidentibus) iefiniendm non eft, cum quanto cre- 



F z brier 





