PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT OF SOILS. 33 



said that the clover will take what its growth specially re- 

 quires, leaving the other constituents to be assimilated by 

 the wheat. This system of grain-growing, as practised by 

 the best farmers of Norfolk and Suffolk the homes, par 

 excellence, of the " drill husbandry " might be followed 

 with advantage in other districts of England, where the 

 furrows or stetches are wide, and brought up to an enor- 

 mous height in the centre by repeated ploughings. This 

 absurd form and width of the furrows brings about many 

 disadvantages ; the grain is always of unequal quality, 

 being very inferior towards the furrows as compared 

 with that at the crown of the ridges, and, from the width 

 of the stetches, the horses tread upon and poach the land 

 very much. In Norfolk and Suffolk the stetches are flat, 

 or but slightly rounded, and are of such width that the 

 drill takes the stetch at a bout, while the horses in this, as 

 in all the succeeding operations of harrowing, &c., walk in- 

 variably in the furrows, so that all treading on the land is 

 avoided. Those farmers who love the high-backed furrows 

 should remember, or, if not knowing, should be made 

 aware of the fact, that the raising of grain crops on the flat in 

 place of upon ridges is the tendency of improved agriculture. 



18. Light, Chalky, or Gravelly Soils. On soils of this 

 kind the wheat crop generally follows the clover or trefoil. 

 Should the clover fail, a crop of early pease is substituted, 

 and on these being removed, cole-seed or tares or white 

 mustard is laid down, and eaten off by sheep in the au- 

 tumn. The land thus prepared succeeds well with the 

 wheat. To prevent the wheat plants being thrown out, or 

 the ravages of the wire-worm, the soil is consolidated either 

 by the use of the roller or by treading with folded sheep. 

 Light soils are greatly improved by being mixed with clay, 

 and the process is considered essential where a good crop 

 is desired. Light lands require more seed to the acre than 

 heavy soils, and the end of October is the best time for 

 sowing. In light soils 10 pecks to the acre is not an un- 

 usual quantity. 



19. Rich, Deep, Loamy Soils. Wheat in soils of this 



c 



