FALLOWING. 



53. 



By hoeing, the land undergoes considerable prepara- 

 tion, for the reception of succeeding* crops. In soils apt 

 to bind after much wet, which causes piants to appear 

 of a stinted growth, hoeing is of vast advantage in pro- 

 moting their immediate growtii and future progress. It 

 serves to prevent the standing of water on the surface, 

 so as to chili the ground, and check ail fermentation in 

 it, &c. But hoeing should cease, or be only superficial, 

 when the roots are so far extended as to be much inju- 

 red by it. Where land is tolerably free from ot'Stacies, 

 the frequent use of the horse plough to a considerable 

 depth, renders the labour much less severe and expen- 

 sive, and more advantageous to the crop, than to depend 

 upon the hoe alone. The first time the plough is used, 

 turn the furrow from the rows, as near to the roots as 

 possible. At the next hoeiiig, and all after hoeings, the 

 furrows are to be turned towards the rows, this prevents 

 the plough from injuring the roots. The depth should 

 be about the same as for any other ploughing, or the in- 

 tention will be in some measure defeated. This may 

 render it necessary sometimes to go twice in the same 

 furrow. A ploiigli, called a cultivator, has been con- 

 structed, with two moulboards, which turns the mould 

 both ways at once. 



The opinion entertained by some, that no hoeing at 

 all should be done in a dry time, is irrational and ridicu- 

 lous. They deprive their land of the benefit ■ f the dew 

 — suffer it to be overrun by weeds, and allow the ground 

 to be so hard, that the rnin when ilcomes will not pene- 

 trate it. There is no soil perhaps, except a thin sandy 

 one, that will not be benefitted in hot, dry weather by 

 frequent hoeings. 



FALLOWING. 



Fallowing is a mode of preparing land for the rficep. 

 tion of grass seeds, grain, or ether crrps, by repeated 

 ploughings and harrcwings. Toll, Beatson, and otb.cr 

 writers on agriculture, have contended, that summer-fal- 

 lowing should never consatute a part oi a gcod system 

 oi husbandry ; that the necessity of iaiiowing may be ob- 

 6 



