25 



were fpread over the whole furface of the ground, 

 and then ploughed in ; through which whole fpace 

 that effence would equally afcend and efcape, by eva- 

 poration ; and confequently where no cultivated 

 plants, at leaft in the firft ftages of their growth, fent 

 out roots fufficient to intercept its flight. \Vhen 

 the fame ground is afterwards to be laid down with 

 grain and grafs feeds, two ploughings and harrow- 

 ings, at leafl, fliould be given, if it were only to fpread 

 evenly, and thoroughly mix with the foil, the ma- 

 nure applied in holes or drills during the cultivation 

 of the tilled or fallow crops. And in Great Britain, 

 fuch fallow crops are deemed effential to good huf- 

 bandry.* It is a maxim there, among the mofl in- 



* The substituting of fallow-crops for naked fallows is one of the capital 

 improrcments in English husbandry. The naked fallow, formerly in uni- 

 versal practice, consisted in repeatedly ploughing the land from spring to 

 autumn — with two objects in view : one, the destruction of weeds, with 

 which their lands became foul by repeatedly cropping them with small grain, 

 as wheat, barley, oats, rye, in immediate succession ; for the weeds springing 

 up with these crops, and ripening their seeds, the soil, in three or four years, 

 was so amply stocked, that some mode of extirpating the weeds became in- 

 dispensable. But for many ages, no other than naked fallows seem to have 

 occuiTed. The English farmers now grow fallow crops, selected according 

 to the nature of their soils ; as beans, carrots, turnips, potatoes, mangel 

 wurtzel, cabbages. While these are growing, the j fallow the ground ; that 

 is, they stir it repeatedly with the plough or hoe, or both ; by Avhich they 

 as effectually destroy the weeds as by the naked fallow ; and at the same 

 time benefit their crops, whose products reward them for their labour. 



Naked fallows seem also formerly to have been considered as the means 

 of enriching as well as of cleaning the land. The error of their practice, 

 in this view, cannot be better illustrated than by the following fact, com- 

 municated abo>/e thirty years ago to the Philadelphia Society of Agricul- 

 ture, when I was a resident member, and which I well recollect. But to 

 prevent circumstantial errors in the recital, I have turned to the Notes on 

 Husbandry, by Mr. Bordley, (who was the vice-president of the society,) 

 where the case is stated. 



A gentleman of Maryland (Mr. Singleton of Talbot) ploughed up part 

 (and this was the richest part) of a clover field, in March, intending to 

 plant it with tobacco. It happened, however, that the tobacco crop was 

 omitted. So this part was falloived^ that is, it was repeatedly ploughed in 

 the summer, and on the first of September, sown with wheat. The residue 

 of the clover field was twice mown. In August it was once ploughed, and 

 on the same first of September sown with wheat. At harvest, the faJloweo 



