204 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



drill follows the plough, and this especially in wet weather, 

 the object aimed at being the thorough completion of each 

 day's work before night sets in. In these soils the barley 

 is allowed to stand through the ground, and be pretty 

 strong in the blade before the roller is applied, This is 

 light, and its office is to break up the clods, and give a 

 little fresh soil and firmness to the roots of the growing 

 plants. On light tender lands the seed is sown broadcast, 

 and turned in with a light one-horse plough ; this practice 

 was common formerly throughout the county. In the 

 strong soils of the county which are apt to work unkindly 

 in the spring, the following plan of preparing the land by 

 the two-furrow or ridging system is adopted. A rather 

 shallow furrow is taken at first, and the return is made 

 with a deeper one, leaving a small " balk," and turning it 

 over so as to make a complete ridge. The ridges thus 

 formed are allowed to remain exposed to the atmosphere 

 for some weeks, and as soon as the weather allows in early 

 spring the plough is used to reverse these ridges, and open 

 up and expose their interior to the atmosphere. These 

 ridges are in their turn allowed to remain for some weeks 

 till seed-time approaches, and then a skeleton-plough is 

 used to split them up; the land is then well harrowed 

 and levelled as much as possible. The drill then follows 

 and the operation is completed. If all these operations 

 are effected properly in dry weather for which see an 

 after note a most admirable seed-bed is secured. The 

 plan, however, is open to objections, of which the following 

 are stated. It is difficult to get the land completely level, 

 and hence, particularly in a dry season, the crop conies up 

 unequal in growth, being much stronger in the alternate 

 rows, the furrows thus showing themselves in the growing 

 crop. This irregularity of growth is of course more ob- 

 servable in the early stages than in the later, but it is 

 obvious that its tendency is to maintain itself throughout 

 the season of growth, so that an irregularity of ripening of 

 the crop and in the quality of the sample must be the 

 consequence. 



