Chap. VI. O/Hoeing, 71 



and tho' it be certain that fome Species of Plants 

 are, by the Heat of their Conflitution, greater De- 

 rourers than thofe of another Species of equal Bulk ; 

 yet there is Reafon to believe, that were the moft 

 cormorant Plant of them all to be commonly ho'd f 

 it would gain (a) the Reputation of an Enricher or 



(a) But this mufl be intended of the deep Horfe hoeing; for 

 Turneps that ftand for Seed, are fuch Devourers, and feed fo 

 long on the Soil, that tho' they are Hand-ho'd, fuch a (hallow 

 Operation doth not fupply the ufual Thicknefs of thofe Plants 

 with Failure fufficient to raife their Stems to half their natural 

 Bulk ; and they leave fo little of that Pafture behind them, that 

 the Soil is obferv'd to be extremely impoverished for a Year or 

 two, and fometimes three Years after them ; but 'tis otherwife 

 with my Horfe-hoM Turnep-Seed ; for I never fail'd of a good 

 Crop of Barley after it, fown on the Level in the following Spring, 

 tho' no Dung hath been ufed on the Land where the Turnep-Seed 

 grew for many Years. And alfo my Barley Crops thus fovvn 

 after two fucceffive Crops of Turnep-Seed without a Fallow be- 

 tween them, are as good as thofe fown after a fingle Crop of it. 

 For I have feveral Times made thefe Turnep-Seed Crops annual, 

 that is. to have Two Crops of it in Two Years, which would in 

 the old Way require three Years, becaufe this Crop Hands about a 

 Year on the Ground, and is not ripe till Midfummer, which is 

 too late to get that Land into a Tilth proper to plant another 

 Seed Crop on it the fame Summer; neither can the Soil be able 

 to bear fuch another Crop immediately after being fo much ex- 

 hausted, and unplowed for a whole Year, except it be extraordi-* 

 nary rich, or much dunged : However, Two Crops of Turnep- 

 Seed immediately fucceeding one another, is what I never knew, 

 or heard of, except my own that were Horfe-ho d ; and of thefe 

 the fecond Crop was as good as the firft ; their Stalks grew much, 

 higher than they ufually do in the common Way; and tho' the 

 Number of Plants was much lefs, their Produce was fo valuable, 

 that the Vicars A s ent declared, he made Twenty Shillings per 

 Acre of his Tythe of a whole Field which he tythed in Kind. 

 The Expence of thefe Crops was judg'd to be anfwered by the 

 Fuel of the threfh'd Stalks. It mull be noted, that the extraor- 

 dinary Value of thefe Crops arofe, not from a greater Quantity 

 of Seed than fome common Crops; bur from their Quality, Ex- 

 perience having brought this Seed into great Efteem, on account 

 of its being perfectly clean, and produced by large Turneps of a 

 good Sort, and of a proper Shape; for thole that are not well 

 cultivated are very apt to degenerate, and then their Seed will 

 produce Turneps of a fmall Size, and of a Ifong rapy ill Shape. 



F 4 Improver 



