TILLAGE. 



his fimily, lagrt-ally ailcourage tli.- hu/baiiJman, that he 

 fows no more corn than is ncceffary for the fupport of his 

 own ho.fchold. Whence frequently anfes the greateft 

 fcarcity i" • country capable of feeding its neighbours. 



Another abufe injurious to agriculture is, the contempt 

 caft upon the hufbaiidmaii. The inhabitants of cities, even 

 th- moll fervilc arliils and the moll lazy citizens, confidcr 

 him that cultivates the earth with a difdainful eye ; they 

 humble and difcouraf'e him. They dare to defpife a pro- 

 fcffion that feeds the human race ; the natural employment 

 of man. A little infignificant mechanic places far beneath 

 him the beloved employment of the firft confuls and dic- 

 tators of Rome. China has wifely prevented this abufe ; 

 ai^riculture is there held in honour, and to prcferve this 

 happy manner of thinking, every year, on a folemn day, the 

 emperor himfclf, followed by his wliole court, fcts his hand 

 to the plough, and fows a fmall piece of land. Hence 

 China is the bell cultivated country in the world : it nou- 

 riflies an innumerable multitude of people, that at firll 

 appears to the traveller too great for the fpace they poflefs. 

 BeCdes, tlie cultivation of tlie foil is an obligation impofed 

 by nature on mankind. 



The moft proper forts of foils for the purpofes of tillage- 

 cultivation, are all tliofe of the more dry and friable kinds, 

 whether the depth of earth or mould, or what is often 

 termed ftaple in them, be only flight or confiderable ; as 

 under different circumftances thefe differences fit them for 

 the produAion of different forts of crops, the methods of 

 cultivation in which are fully explained under their different 

 proper heads. 



In this view, all the various denominations of light foils, 

 fuch, for inftance, as gravels, fands, light chalks, and thin 

 loamy lands, are well adapted, in moft cafes, to the pur- 

 pofes of tillage, from their being, in general, pretty well 

 fuited to the various forts of grain, as well as to the raifing 

 of fuch green and root-crops as are neceffary in the fup- 

 port and management of different kinds of live-ftock. The 

 more deep, loamy, chalky, and gravelly forts of land, where 

 they can be kept fufficiently dry, and in a proper ftate, 

 during the winter feafon, may likewife, in many cafes, be 

 well employed in tillage-cultivation, and efpecially when 

 they do not produce and afford an abundant and ufeful 

 fort of herbage for the keeping of animals, or other ufes. 

 All the lands of the fward-kind, or in the ftate of grafs, 

 which are liable to be infefted with the mofs-plant, or to 

 become over-run with a moffy covering, may, in common 

 too, be managed under the tillage-fyftem with much advan- 

 tage, and better than in fuch a (late of grafs. 



In fome cafes, lands may be fuited to convertible tillage, 

 or alternately that of grain and grafs, with vaft benefit to the 

 farmer. It has been remarked on this fort of tillage by a 

 late writer, that land may in this way often be turned to 

 better account by ploughing and tilling it eight or ten 

 years, and then laying it down to grafs, in order to take 

 up another part or portion, than by the common method, 

 but efpecially where the land is fubjctt to ant-hills ; as the 

 paring and burning deftroys all fuch hills, and fuch land 

 is fure to bring abundant crops of corn. And that there 

 are very few fituations that have dry land and foil fit for the 

 plough, but what would bring more profit under tillage 

 than by lying in the ftate of old grafs ; for when fuch 

 good land as this is well laid down to grafs, with plenty 

 of good proper fteds, after a courfc of tillage, an acre of it 

 will keep as much ftock as four acres would which were 

 produced in the natural way, and this is what makes its 

 great value. Such tillage-land as this, it is faid, is worth 

 more money than the fincft grafs-land 'in the kingdom ; as, 

 8 



on the fine marftics fo much boafted of, the earliefl of the 

 fummer-ftock comes to market at the VC17 time when all 

 forts of vegetables are in plenty, fuch as peas, beans, and 

 many others, and when meat confequcntly is fure to fall in 

 price ; and great numbers of grafs-fed beafts, or cattle and 

 ftieep, come together. Befides, the very beft grafs-lands 

 fend only two flieep in the two early months of April 

 and May from an acre ; but the beft tillage-land will fend 

 ten from an acre, and have them ready any time in the 

 vrinter, when meat is the deareft. Thus, it is contended 

 that ten acres of turnips will fend one hundred (heep in the 

 deareft time to the market, but that it will take fifty acres 

 of the beft land in grafs, to fend the fame number to the 

 market. 



It is therefore concluded that, in this way, the tillage- 

 farmer fends three hundred acres of corn to market, and as 

 many fat Ihcep befides, acre for acre, as the belt grazing- 

 land ; and that by ftill other improved metiiods of manage- 

 ment, as that of the culture of flax for the ufe of the feed 

 in fattening live-ftock, and fome others of a fimilar defcrip- 

 tion, the tillage-farmer may derive greater profit than by 

 the turnip praftice, from the large quantity of winter- 

 fattened animals, and the vaft fupply of dung or manure 

 which is thus raifed and provided. 



Although the neceffity of good tillage in the preparation 

 of land for cropping be now pretty well underftood by the 

 praftical farmer, and has been inculcated occafionally under 

 different heads in the prefent work, it requires to be well 

 explained in fome of its proceffes. It has indeed been ob- 

 ferved in the Agricultural Survey of the County of Here- 

 ford, after noticing that the Romans were convinced of the 

 good effefts of this fort of preparation, as Pliny has re- 

 marked the advantages of frequent ploughing and turning 

 over the foil in Tufcany ; and that, in this country, Evelyn 

 fuggefted its power of fo altering a foil from its former 

 nature, as to render the hardeft and harlheft as well as moft 

 uncivil clay obfequious to the hufbandman ; that tillage alfo 

 deftroys weeds, and reduces the earth to fmall particles, 

 rendering it fufficiently loofe and porous to admit of the 

 eafy growth and extenfion of the roots and fibres of the 

 grain to be cultivated in or upon it. And that the fpade is 

 well adapted to thefe purpofes, becaufe it moves the grouiid 

 eight or ten inches deep, turns it upfide down, and covers 

 the weeds with a quantity of earth, under which they rot, 

 and contribute towards its fertilization and improvement ; 

 and that this mode is founded on the juft idea or notion of 

 the Flemings, that a farm (hould refemble a garden as 

 nearly as poffible. But that as the fpade method is much 

 too tedious and laborious, as well as too expenfive, to be 

 praftifed on the larger fcale of a farm, the plough is there- 

 fore fubftituted, as cheaper and more expeditious, but that, 

 in general, it does not ftir the earth fo deeply, and often 

 moves it in large bodies or maffes, without fufficiently 

 breaking it into pieces. In order to remedy this incon-r 

 venience, the celebrated Mr. Tull, it is faid, recommended 

 a plough of his own invention, which had four coulters 

 inftead of one, and thus divided the earth raifed by the 

 (hares into feveral narrow (lips ; but the refiftance occa- 

 fioned by the additional coulters was found to require a 

 greater ftrength in horfes than the profits of the experiment 

 and work would warrant. It was, however, afterwards af- 

 certained by a diftinguifhed foreigner, M. de Chateauvieux, 

 that the breadth of the furrow Ihould be proportioned to 

 the ftiffnefs of the foil or land ; and that thus the refiftance 

 may be regulated on all kinds of land or foil. But the 

 operation of repeated crofs-ploughing, and the ufe of other 

 tools, as now generally praftifed, aided a? they arc by full 



cxpofure 



