Autumn Cleaning of Stubbles. 
Ill 
of the expenditure of a sixpence, whole acres are overrun and 
rendered irredeemable only by an outlay of many pounds. 
Manure is lavished, as Mr. Herring has so recently demon- 
strated. It is not our wish to find fault, but to point out the 
evil and to prescribe the simplest and most effectual remedy. 
We proceed therefore to show that the best and surest foundation 
of clean farming is an unremitting attention to the autumn 
stubbles, and we maintain that the effects of such attention may 
be seen throughout the course, that it is the way to make the 
rest of the task comparatively easy, and that the gain will be 
made apparent by the ameliorated condition of the soil, whereby 
it requires less cultivation and yields greater crops of superior 
quality. 
Forking up Couch by Hand Labour. — This is done imme- 
diately after the corn is carried, beginning with that portion of 
the fallow where a winter green-crop is to be taken, which 
should be the cleanest stubble on the farm. This must be 
looked over carefully, all running weeds and such as cannot be 
killed by the plough being spudded up and carried off the land. 
It may be done by men or women provided with forks, followed 
by boys with baskets who pick off the weeds as dug, and when 
they have filled their baskets deposit them in heaps at the ends 
of the lands to be disposed of in the most convenient manner. 
The expense may vary from Is. to lOs. per acre. A friend of 
ours says, " We think spudding cheapest so long as it can be 
done for 5s. to 8s. per acre, after which limits horse-labour must 
be used. No farmer should be satisfied with the condition of 
his farm till looking over with spuds after harvest leaves the 
land clean enough for the plough." This is impossible, however, 
on heavy land. Where running weeds abound, the methods 
which are mentioned hereafter are to be preferred ; for forking, 
though the most effectual, is the least economical method of 
cleaning, and the number of acres to be got over in a day very 
limited. Great care should be taken that nothing is left in the 
furrows, for this when ploughed in at a usual depth is not killed, 
but when the land is opened in the spring is found to remain in 
full vigour, and is then far more difficult to eradicate. The weeds 
over which the farmer has to exercise the greatest vigilance are, 
couch-grass, several species of agrostis, knot-grass, crow's-foot, 
colt's foot, mint, bindweed, docks, and thistles. 
Paring Land by Horse-Labour. — The only method of per- 
forming this operation until a comparatively recent period was 
by fixing a broad share, either circular or triangular, to a common 
plough divested of its mould-board, or to a skeleton plough ; 
in this way 2 horses on moderately stiff land would pare to the 
depth of 1^ or 2 inches about \h acres a-day. The expense is 
