19 APR.1906 



THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The practice of taking a bare fallow as a preparation for 

 wheat was at one time almost a universal custom in farming. 

 It was said to have been introduced into these islands by the 

 Romans, and in mediaeval times we find that the only rotation 

 consisted of wheat, barley, fallow, with beans instead of 

 barley on the stronger lands. In Scotland, where up to the 

 eighteenth century it was the custom to grow corn crops 

 repeatedly and then let the land lie in grass for a few years, 

 the introduction of a bare summer's fallow, after the ley was 

 broken up and before the wheat was sown, was one of the 

 earliest improvements in the traditional system of farming. 

 The thorough cleaning which the land received, and the marked 

 improvement in the tilth which was effected, were strong argu- 

 ments in favour of the practice ; furthermore, experience amply 

 demonstrated that better crops of wheat could be secured after 

 a bare fallow than after a previous corn crop or a recently 

 ploughed lea. The early theorists concluded that some fer- 

 tilizing principles were absorbed from the atmosphere during 

 the summer's exposure to sun and air, and, indeed, it became 

 patent that the more thoroughly the soil was stirred and pul- 

 verized by the cultivations the greater was the benefit resulting 

 from the fallow. 



But towards the close of the eighteenth century the custom 

 had begun to decline ; green crops, and turnips in particular, had 

 become part of the routine of farming, and the Norfolk hus- 

 bandry, with its four-course system of turnips, bailey, clover, 



Vol. XIIL No. I. 



APRIL, 1906. 



BARE FALLOWS. 



B 



