TILLAGBi 4o 



fbrtably performed, and without injury to the tool?. 

 ^Vhere ground is full of very small stones, they may be 

 drove down so as to be out of the way of tlie scythe, by 

 having a roller passed over the ground in the spring, 

 when it is very soft, as the stones are then easily pres- 

 sed into it. 



To drain the ground also facilitates tillage exceeding- 

 ly ; for ploughing cannot be performed with advantage, 

 where either the surface or subsoil is wet. In fact, ev- 

 ery branch of good husbandry is intimately connected 

 with another ; and the practice of one branch is neces- 

 sarily much aifected by the way in which others are ex- 

 ecuted. To drain land well, therefore, materially pro- 

 motes good tillage ; and by good tillage the beneficial 

 effects of manures are considerably increased. To dis- 

 charge one of these fundamental dutiies of the husband- 

 man, while the others are neglected, can only be re- 

 garded as performing a duty which will yield small ben- 

 efit to those concerned ; but to fulfil the v*^hoie duties 

 Jncumbent on the husbandman, namely, to keep his 

 iaiid dry, clean, and rich ; mui^t be estimated the height 

 ©f perfection in the rural art. 



PLOUGHING. 



The wise and judicious Romans considered ploughing 

 the most essential of all the preparations which the 

 earth undergoes. They laid it down as a maxim to sow 

 but little, and plough much. Cato was thoroughly con- 

 Tinced of this truth, when he laid down as the first rule 

 in husbandry to plough well ; the second, to p/ow^o-/i ; and 

 the third to manure ; intimating by this, that ploughing 

 alone is of greater consequence than ail the other means 

 of cultivating lands. 



J\'umbcr of plovghings necessary. — It is an important 

 maxim in husbandry that the earth should be thoroughly 

 stirred by deep and frequent plovghings and harrozvins^s. — 

 When this is done the consistence of the soil is impro- 

 ved, the small fibrous roots oi" plants have liberty to 

 spread freely, and to accpure such nourishment, as could 

 not possibly be obtained when confined between large 

 impenetrable clods of earth. By its assistance, the ma- 

 nure, and the seed, are most advantageously inserted. 

 It can be employed to destroy almost all kinds of weeds 

 5* 



