230 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



should be ploughed up the first, as it requires to be longer 

 acted upon by the frost and atmospheric influences of the 

 winter ; clover being the freest, may be ploughed up last. Mr. 

 Haxton recommends the press roller to be used in plough- 

 ing lea for oats, as by it the grassy part of the furrow 

 slice is completely pressed down and buried ; a seed-bed 

 being at the same time formed by the tapered or conical 

 periphery of the wheel. The operation of press- wheel 

 rolling is also thought to be beneficial in preventing the 

 ravages of the wire worm, which does great injury to 

 the oat crop. It is necessary, however, to state, that 

 the action of the press-wheel roller is not so beneficial, 

 if indeed it should be used at all, on damp or clayey soils ; 

 it certainly gives the best results on light soils. In 

 ploughing lea land, it is absolutely essential to note par- 

 ticularly the condition of the land as regards its moisture ; 

 lea should never be ploughed in so wet a condition as to 

 leave a glazed surface on the furrow slice. This may be 

 done, as it is often done, early in the season when succeed- 

 ing frosts are likely to follow which will mellow down the 

 glazed furrow slices ; but if done late, the chances are that 

 the glazed furrow slice becomes hardened, and will not 

 yield kindly to the pulverizing influences of the harrow. 

 There is no point more frequently overlooked by careless 

 farmers than this, of the condition in which the land is 

 when being ploughed. In preparing land for oats after a 

 root or fallow crop, it is usual, at all events it is deemed 

 advisable, to plough land as soon as the roots are taken off 

 the land, giving a second ploughing in the spring, should 

 that be necessary ; this second ploughing may, however, 

 be avoided by ploughing deep enough at the first, so that a 

 sufficient depth of mellowed soil may be obtained in spring 

 time. 



30. On the mechanical condition of the soil necessary for 

 the oat crop, Professor Tanner has given some excellent 

 remarks in a paper in the " Journal of the Eoyal Agricul- 

 tural Society," of which the following is a brief resume : 

 Oat plants possess greater vital or natural energy than 



