1 16 Of Wheat. Chap. IX. 



Winter; and then the hollow Furrows, or Trenches 

 next the Rows, being enriched by the Froft (b) and 

 Rains (<:), the Wheat will have the Benefit of them 

 earlier in the Spring, than if the Trenches had been 

 left open in the Middle of the Intervals. 



The outfide Rows of Wheat, from which the Earth 

 is hoed off before or in the Beginning of Winter, 



ter, yet there is generally fome Earth falls to the Left of the 

 Hoe-plough, and lodges upon that Part which is left on the 

 Outfide of the Row ; which, notwithstanding that Part be very 

 narrow (as fuppofe Two or Three Inches), yet a fmal) Quantity 

 of Earth lying thereon, fo near to the outfide Row, gives an ex- 

 traordinary Shei.er to the young Wheat plants that grow in it. 



Shelter is a great Benefit to Wheat; but yet Nourifhment is 

 more : for in the Winter I fee the Wheat plants upon the moft 

 expofed Part of the Ridge flourifn, when fmgle Plants in the 

 Bottom of the Furrow are in a very poor languiihing Condition, 

 without any Annoyance of Water, they being upon a ChaLk 

 Bottom. 



(b) Froft, if it does not kill the Wheat, is of great Benefit to 

 it ; Water or Moifture, when it is frozen in the Earth, takes up 

 more Room than in its natural State ; this Swelling of the Ice 

 (which is Water congealed) mud move and break theEarth where- 

 with it is mixt ; and when it thaws, the Earth is left hollow and 

 open, which is a kind of Hoeing to it. This Benefit is done 

 chiefly to and near the Surface ; confequently the more Surface 

 there is, by the Unevennefs of the Land, the more Advantage the 

 Soil has from the Froft. 



This is another very great Ufe of the Ridge left in the Middle 

 of the Interval during the Winter ; becaufe that Ridge, and its 

 Two Furrows, contain Four Times as much Surface as when le- 

 vel. This thus pulverized Surface, turned in in the Spring hoe* 

 ing, enriches the Earth, in proportion to its Increafe of internal 

 Superficies, and likewife proportionably nourifhes the Plants, 

 whofe Ro'its enter it ; and that Part of it wherein they do not 

 enter, mud remain more enriched for the next Crop, than if the 

 Soil had remained level all the Winter. 



(r) It is a vulgar Error that the Winter Rains do not enrich 

 the Earth; and is only thought fo, becaufe we do not fee the Ef- 

 fect of them upon Vegetables, for lack of Heat in that Seafon. 

 But fome Farmers have frequently obferved, that one half of a 

 Ground plowed up juft before Winter has produced a Crop of 

 Barley as much better than the other Part plowed up at the End 

 of Winter, as is the Difference of a Dunging, even when there 

 has been very little Froft, 



and 



