ROLLING. 



the difadvantages may be infuperable. Rolling, then, is 

 neither the leaft critical, nor the molt infignificant piece of 

 the hufbandman's profeffion ; therefore ought not to be 

 performed at random and without circumfpeftion, in cafes 

 where young crops are concerned. 



Mr. Marihall, in his Rural Economy of Norfolk, in fpeak- 

 ing of rolling, remarks, that one circumftance requires to be 

 mentioned, which is, that the roller, notwithltanding the 

 lightnefs of the foil, and its pronenefs to be injured by dry 

 weather, is never ufed in Norfolk {or the purpofe of com- 

 preflion. He never faw one ufed by a farmer either upon 

 fallow or upon a lay ; not even upon the firft year of a clover- 

 lay, to fmooth the furface for the fcythe. The only ufes to 

 which he lias feen a roller put, in that dittrift, are that of 

 fmoothing the furface before fowing,to prevent the feed from 

 running down too low, and that of fmoothing it afterwards 

 as a preparation for the fcythe ; and even this operation is 

 performed with a roller not more perhaps than feven or 

 eight inches in diameter ; a circumftance which he confeffes 

 he is no way able to account for ; neverthelefa, it would 

 be rafhnefs to condemn an eftablifhed practice, unlefs he 

 could, from his own experience, or from adequate ob- 

 fervation on the experience of others, prove it to be in- 

 eligible. And it is ftated, that there is a fort of land 

 which, when clover is fown upon it, throws out the young 

 plants after a froft. Rolling in the beginning of winter, and 

 immediately after the froft is gone, will, in fome meafure, 

 prevent this. The tirft rolling hinders the froft from pene- 

 trating fo deep as it would otherwife do ; and the fecond 

 makes the land firm, after having been loofened by the 

 change from froft to open weather. In the latter cale, or 

 that of o-rafs-land, this is alfo a procefs that is of much ad- 

 vantage, efpecially where fuch lands are kept under the 

 fcythe. And it is probable, that in many cafes of pafture 

 lands it may be found of great benefit. In the former it is 

 found beneficial in keeping the furface free from hills, and in 

 a Tire even ftatc, as well as the grafs from becoming in fo 

 tuffocky a condition, as is often the cafe where the practice 

 is neglefted, or not well underitood. Ar.d in the latter it 

 may perhaps have a fimilar effett, and keep the grafs more 

 free from tufts, and in a more regular condition, which is a 

 circumftance of great confequence in the practice of grazing. 

 It has been remarked, that the impreffion of the roller not 

 only renders the furface more level and fine, but at the fame 

 time induces the grafs plants to fpread more laterally, and 

 in that way to form a better and more clofe fward, which 

 may be highly beneficial in both cafes. Its importance on 

 new laid-down grafs-lands is therefore extremely obvious, as 

 it mult be highly ferviceable in thefe different intentions. 

 And the worm-cafts are by this means reduced and brought 

 into order, by which means the mowing can be performed 

 with greater facility, and in a clofer manner. Befides, it 

 may be ufeful in other views, as by preffing the mould, as 

 well as the manure, more clofely round the roots of the 

 vjrafs plants ; and in confequence of fuch means, they may 

 dot only be better eftablifhed in the foil, and their vigorous 

 growth mora effectually promoted, but, from the moilture 

 bein<r more fully preferved in the ground, be in lefs danger 

 of injury from the effefts of heat in the fummer months, 

 and of courfe better crops be afforded at the period of cutting 

 them down. In order to perform this bufinefs in the moft 

 complete and effe&ual manner, a roller of confiderable weight 

 is neceffary, fuch as has been already defcribed ; and it has 

 b> en advifcd, in order to prevent as much as poffible the 

 ground from being injured by the feet of the animals that 

 draw it, as may frequently be the cafe where they follow 

 each other in the time part, it may be the bed practice to 



have them yoked double, as by that means there will be lefs 

 treading on the fame portion of the furface ; and that where 

 two horfes are fufficient to execute the work, more mould 

 never be made ufe of; but if a third fhould be found necef- 

 fary, it may be attached as a leader in the middle, before 

 the other two : a greater number of horfes can feldom or 

 ever be of any material advantage in this fort of work. It 

 is alfo iuggefted as neceffary, to be very careful in executing 

 this operation, to fee that every part receives the due im- 

 preffion of the implement. On lands where this fort of 

 work is regularly performed, it will feldom be requilite to 

 pafs more than ojice in a place, but in other cafes it may 

 often be done more frequently with benefit ; and in particu- 

 lar cafes, a more frequent repetition of the operation is ab- 

 folutely requilite, in order to bring the ground into a pro- 

 per itate. It is neceffary, in the execution of this bufinefs 

 on grafs-lands, to attend in a particular manner to the fea- 

 fon, as it cannot be performed with advantage, either when 

 the furface is in too dry or too moift a condition. It is 

 ftated, that in thefe cafes the work of rolling may be ad- 

 vantageoufly performed at different feafons, as in the begin- 

 ning of the autumn, and in the commencement of the year, 

 or very early fpring months ; but the latter is the moft com- 

 mon period. But in order to its being executed with the 

 greateft poffible benefit, a time fhould always be chofen, if 

 poffible, when the ground is in a fuitable ftate for receiving 

 the impreffion of the implement. In the drier defcriptions 

 of land it may frequently be performed in the moft beneficial 

 manner, after the land has been rendered a little foft by a 

 moderate fall of rain ; but in thofe of the contrary fort, it 

 may be neceffary to wait till the fuperabundant moilture be 

 fo much dried up, as to admit the animals employed in draw- 

 ing the machine, without poaching or otherwife injuring the 

 furface of the ground while the procefs is going on. It has 

 been remarked by Mr. Bofwell, that the rolling of watered 

 meadows fnould be executed towards the latter end of Fe- 

 bruary or beginning of the following month, after the land 

 has been left in a dry ftate for a week or ten days. And 

 that the work fhould be performed lengthwife of the panes, 

 going up one lide of the trenches, and down the other. 

 And in the cafe of rolling the common hay lands, it is a 

 good mode to proc/eed up one tide the field, and down the 

 other, fomewhat in a fimilar manner, as by that means the 

 work may be the moft completely executed, and with the 

 leaft trouble. 



Alfo a writer, in the Communications to the Board of 

 Agriculture, mentioned above, has remarked, that fward 

 and meadow land fhould always be rolled in April or the be- 

 ginning of May, and when the ground is in a moift ftate, as 

 it caufes the grafs to be of a more kind nature, and reduces 

 the hills raifed by the ants to a proper ftate of being mown 

 over. 



Like.vife on fuch new grafs-lands as have been juft re- 

 itored to the ftate of fward, and which are often thin and 

 patchy, when feeds are fown over fuch parts, the roller may 

 frequently be run over them in order to force in the feeds ; 

 but a better practice is to turn flieep upon the lands, con- 

 fining them upon fuch patches by means of hurdles, in order 

 that they may tread them in. In either cafe, a rather moift time 

 fhould be chofen for the purpofe. In cafes of this nature, 

 where there is a degenerate fward, Mr. Amos, in his Minutes 

 on Agriculture, advifes the ufe of his compound roller, 

 which mould be run over the ground early in March, when 

 the fward will admit the fpikes without being injured bv the 

 feet of the horfes, the land being previously covered with 

 well-retted dung, or compoft, in the proportion of from 

 about eight or ten tons to the acre. It ihould be well rolled in 



different 



