(>•44 
tention in draining, and rutting over the 
rushes in the early part of the spring, and 
about Midsummer, as by these means the 
plants decay, the young shoots being after- 
wards eaten by young stock, and the good 
grass plants allowed to- flourish. 
Pasture lands should likewise, as much as 
possible, possess properties in the nature of 
their grasses that are the most advantageous 
for the particular method of management 
under which they are to be conducted. In 
tins view, some may be more adapted to the 
producing of milk or butter, others of cheese, 
and others again of feeding or fattening ani- 
mals. It is in some measure on this account, 
as well as that ot local convenience, that dif- 
ferent modes of management are employed 
on crass lands. 
I he difference of situation in pasture lands 
has likewise much influence in directing the 
uses to which they maybe applied with the 
greatest benefit. The higher or more elevat- 
ed gr omuls being in general more proper for 
sli,eep, while those of the lower and more in- 
closed kinds are mostly better suited for the 
purpose of neat cattle or other animals under 
the fattening system. 
Pastures, when not well attended to, are 
frequently prevented from being properly fed, 
by various kinds of .low shrubby plants, such 
as those of the alder, brier, broom, furze, and 
other sorts that shoot out upon the surface; 
these which should always be extirpated as 
soon as the business can be conveniently 
done; as by their remaining upon and shad- 
ing the ground they render the herbage sour, 
and improper for the food of cattle. This 
sort of work may be performed by cutting 
them closely down as they rise in the early 
spring months ; but a better practice is to 
dig them completely out. 
Vi here pastures are productive in grasses 
of the more sharp coarse biaded kinds which 
rise into tufts or tussocks, and which are 
known to agricultors under the titles of pink 
or carnation grasses, it is a certain indication 
that the soil is too retentive of moisture, and 
stands in need of draining. 
'Flie improvement of the fertility of pas- 
ture grounds may be effected in ‘different 
ways, as either by the direct application of 
manure in its natural state, such as that of 
rotten dung, dime, marl, or in that of earthy 
compost, occasionally, over their surfaces in a 
thin even manner; or indirectly by the fold- 
ing or confining of sheep upon the land dur- 
ing the time they consume other sorts of 
green food, such as turnips, &c. The latter 
mode is unquestionably the most advanta- 
geous and convenient, as it is in but very few 
situations that the former can be practised 
without robbing the arable or hay lands of 
their property. 
In explaining the methods of management 
that are necessary in the cultivation of arable 
lands, in order to afford a suitable state of 
soil and nourishment for the growth of grain 
or other crops, it will be proper to consider 
them as relating to grounds that have not vet 
been brought under the plough, and such as 
have been already in the state of tillage. 
Removing obstructions to tillage. In the 
first place, the removing of stones, the eradi- 
cating of wood, the destruction of different 
sorts of plants, and the removal of such de- 
grees of witness as may be injurious, before 
the business of ploughing or loosening the 
HUSBANDRY. 
mould of the soil can be properly carried on. 
1 he stones tnat oppose obstruction, in this 
view, are principally either such as are met 
with in a loose state in the ground on its 
being ploughed, or such as are fixed in the 
soil, and incapable of being removed without 
much labour and difficulty. Some of these 
last are often of such a size as to present 
themselves upon the surface, andj^ausc much 
land to be lost, by their not permitting the 
plough to come near them. Those which 
are concealed below the surface are, how- 
ever, the most detrimental, as the implements 
are frequently destroyed, and much incon- 
venience experienced from them, before they 
can be perceived by the ploughman, though 
he may be perfectly attentive to the circum- 
stance. 
Iii all cases, land should be as much as 
possible cleared from such stones as retard or 
prevent the operation of the plough before 
the business of tillage be undertaken ; as with- 
out due attention m this respect considerable 
loss may be sustained by the breaking of im- 
plements, and the great delay that must take 
place in the work. 
In the clearing of lands from wood, differ- 
ent methods must be pursued, according to the 
j nature of the wood with which they are cover- 
| l "d- Vfihere there are large trees of the timber 
j kind, they should be completely grubbed up 
at a proper season -of the year, care being 
taken that the roots be as much as possible 
removed. 
In cases where broom, furze, brambles, 
or thorn shrubs, have become of considerable 
size, the general method of proceeding is to 
cut them down as close as possible to the 
surface of the ground, and afterwards to dig 
round, and grub up the roots in the manner 
that the larger trees are cleared. With furze 
it is sometimes customary to set lire to them 
in order to uncover their stems before any 
attempt is made to grub them up; but this 
is a practice that ought to be as much as pos- 
sible avoided, from the danger that mav at- 
tend it, and -the loss of the furze, as well" as a 
large portion of the valuable vegetable mat- 
ter accumulated in many cases beneath them. 
As it has been found from experience, that 
such lands as have been attempted to be 
cleared from brushy plants of this kind, es- 
pecially those of broom and furze, are ex- 
tremely liable, from the roots and seeds that 
may be left in the soil, to have them coming 
up again in great abundance after they have 
been laid down to grass; it should be a prac- 
tice to keep lands that are much disposed to 
their production in the state of tillage for such 
a length of time as may be fully sufficient, 
by the various means of cultivation, and the 
application and blending of lime and other 
suitable manures with them, to have them as 
completely removed as possible; and that 
when they are restored to the state of grass, 
to have them pastured, as much as can be 
conveniently done, with sheep. 
Heathy lands should be cut as close to the 
surface of the ground as it can be conve- 
niently done ; and lime, in its caustic state, 
should be applied in large proportions. 
When this sort of ground has been broken 
down and pulverised as much as possible bv 
the operations of ploughing and harrowing, ft 
should always, where not too stiff, be sown 
with some sort of close, luxuriant, green crop, 
such as turnips, peas, and tares, that may be 
fed off by sheep ; but where it has a sour qua- 
lity, and is more stiff, clayey, and adhesive, 
those plants that strike more deeply into the 
soil, as beans, rye, and oats of the grey kind. 
In many cases too, rape, peas, clover, and 
vetches, will succeed in a very beneficial 
manner. But as tire principal intention in 
most cases of breaking up this sort of land, is 
that of bringing it in a cheap and expeditious 
manner to a suitable condition after a grain 
crop or two tor growing grass, the green 
crops, of whatever description they may be, 
should be consumed by animals upon the 
ground. 
And in whatever method such lands may 
be brought into the slate of cultivation, the 
processes of tillage should not be carried 7 fur- 
ther than the destruction of the heathy or 
other coarse plants, and the removal of the 
sour and unfriendly disposition of such soils 
for the growth of useful vegetable produc- 
tions. They should be then restored as soon 
as possible to the state ot grass or pasture. 
There is another description of land that is 
frequently to be brought into the state oftil- 
lage , this is that of the boggy kind. In these 
the first thing, after having them well drained 
by the cutting of proper ditches, which, 
where they are large, may serve for their 
inclosure, and by giving the ridges a suitable 
form in order to aid this, is to pare oft’ and 
level the surface by means of the spade or 
plough ; such matters as are of little value 
being deposited in the hollows, while those 
that are of a good quality may be mixed into 
a compost with good clung, where it can be 
procured, or with lime; together with the 
spare earth taken from the ditches, which 
should be immediately spread equally over 
the land, and incorporated, as much as pos- 
sible with it, by ploughing it up with a very 
slight or ebb furrow, in order that the uuitino- 
materials may not sink too deep for affording 
due support to the crop, that it may be cuF 
tivated. Indeed, though deep ploughing may 
sometimes be of utility in first opening up 
these soft soils, it should never be had re- 
course to when the application of manure is 
to be made ; and on this account also the 
ploughings after the taking of different green 
crops should only be slight. It is seldom 
proper to continue soils of this description 
tor any great length of time in the state of 
tillage, as from their great moisture, on ac- 
count of the general flatness of their situa- 
tion, and their being liable from continued 
ploughing to become very loose and open, so 
as not to afford proper nourishment and sta- 
bility to the roots of the crops, this sort of land 
will in general be the most advantageous in 
the stale of grass. 
The most beneficial sorts of crops for these 
soils will in general be turnips, rape, or pota- 
toes. The light and drier parts will be the 
most adapted to potatoes, as their bulbous 
roots will be there the most able to spread 
and extend themselves, and consequently 
produce large crops. These crops will, in 
the stiffer sorts of these soils, leave the land 
in a suitable condition for wheat or oats, and 
in the lighter for barley or rye. 
Moss lands, from their being much dispos- 
ed to the throwing up of grass, are not so 
proper for the growing of grain crops, but a 
crop or two may frequently be taken after 
potatoes or turnips, especially where liming 
has been performed some length of time. 
Oats and barley are mostly good crops, but 
