Chap. XIV. Of Change of S p e c i e s. 2 3 5 



The true Caufe why Clover and St. Foin do not 

 fucceed fo well after their own refpective Species, or 

 that of each other, as Corn, &c. can, is, that they 

 take great Part of their Nourishment from below the 

 Plough's Reach, fo as that under Earth cannot be 

 tilled deep enough, but the upper Part may be tilled 

 deep enough for the horizontal Roots of Corn, ferV. 

 towards which, the Rotting of the Clover and St. 

 Foin Roots, when cut off by the Plough, do not a 

 little contribute (d) ; And there's no doubt but that, if 



the 



a cold Conflitution, and confequently confume lefs Food than 

 Plants of an hotter Conflitution, and of the fame Bulk; yet thefe 

 Seed-turneps being of fo vail a Bulk, as fometimes Eighty Quar- 

 ters of their Roots grow on an Acre, and their Sralks have been 

 jneafured Seven Feet high, and their Roots having continued at 

 near their full Bignefs for about Ten Months together, and then 

 carried off, they drain the Land more than a Crop of other Ve- 

 getables of a lefs Bulk, and an hotter Conflitution, and which 

 live a lefs time ; or than Wheat, which, though it lives as long, 

 is very fmall, except in the Fou 1 laft Monrhs. 



(d) That the Rotting of vegetable Roots in the Ground doth 

 ferment therein, and improve it for horizontal-rooted Plants, I 

 am convinced by an Accident; <vi%. My Man had plowed off the 

 fcarth clofe to the Rows in a Field of extraordinary large Tur- 

 neps defigned for Seed. Tnis Earth was negledled to be thrown 

 hack to the Rows, until a fevere Frofl in the Winter came, and 

 killed the Turneps ; upon which, in the Spring, the Field was 

 fown with Barley upon the Level, with only once plowing, and 

 that crols-ways of the Rows The Turneps had flood fo wide 

 afunder, that the Spot whereon each had rotted, appeared like 

 the Spot whereon an Horfe had urined in till'd Ground, and was 

 o,f a deeper Colour, and much higher, than the Bailey that grew 

 round thofe Spots ; and yet none of it was poor. As the Roots 

 of Clover, and St. Foin, are very much lefs ; yet the greater 

 Number rotting in plowed Ground mufl be of great TJie to a fol- 

 lowing Crop of Corn. 



I will here relate Two Examples of this in St. Foin : The one 

 is, That a Field of Twenty -live Acres drilled with St. Foin, ex- 

 cept Three Acres in the Middle of it, which was, at the fame 

 time, fown with Hop- Clover; after Eight Years the whole Field 

 was plowed up by a Tenant, and fown with Corn: The St. Foin 

 had been mowed yeajly, as the Hob-Clover was not mowed at 



all, 



