528 H U S B A 
at wide intervals, to admit being ploughed or horfe-hoed 
between; to which, if proper hand-hoeings be added, the 
land will be as well prepared for wheat as if it had been 
a complete fummer-fallow; This is not, they fay, ad¬ 
vanced cn {peculation or theory; instances can be pro¬ 
duced where no fallows have been made on fields of 
ftrong loam for twelve years, yet they are as clear of couch- 
grafs, or other pernicious weeds, as any fields in the dif- 
trict that have been under fummer-fallow two or three 
times in the fame period. They think, neverthelefs, that, 
previous to the adoption of this fyltem, the land had been 
previoufly cleared of couch-grafs by a complete fummer- 
fallowing. 
In rel'peCt to the manner of performing the procefs or 
Operation of fallowing, it fliould always, like mod other 
proceffes in hulbandry, be conducted with a due attention 
to the circumftances and qualities of the foil, as more 
pulverization or breaking down will evidently be required 
where the land approaches to the nature of a perfeCt clay, 
than where it has more of the loamy quality; and, where 
tile retention of moifture is confiderable, more regard 
will be neceflary to the deftruCtion of weeds, than where 
there is a greater tendency to drynels. In mod cafes 
where the practice of fummer-fallowing is thought necef- 
fary to be performed, the moll general method of pro¬ 
ceeding is, for the land to be firft ploughed up in the 
autumn, a fecond time after the barley feed-feafon is 
finiihed, and two or three times, or oftener, afterwards, 
as circumftances may render neceflary ; the ground being 
well broken and reduced by means of harrowing in the 
intervals of the different ploughings. But it lias been 
obferved, that in many diftriCts feldom more than three 
ploughings are given to lands in a courfe of fummer-fal¬ 
low ; one in autumn, or early in the fpring; another during 
the fummer ; and afterwards the feed-furrow. This pre¬ 
paration appears, however, it is further contended, ex¬ 
tremely defective j as in an ordinary feafon it is fcarcely 
poflible that with fo few ploughings either the roots or 
feed-weeds can be completely deftroyed; and, when the 
fummer happens to be wet or rainy, the lands under fuch 
management muft certainly be in a very bad ftate for re¬ 
ceiving the feed-corn. It has likewife been long fince 
judicioufiy recommended, both in the preparation of 
lands by winter-fallowing for barley-crops, and fummer- 
fallowing for thofe of wheat, that, when it is firft ploughed 
up after the harveft is over, (which ihould always be 
done as deep as poflible,) no time Ihould be loft in ren¬ 
dering the new-turned-up foil fine and mellow by har¬ 
rowing; as repeated trials and attentive obfervation have 
fully Ihown, that fuch lands as are made fine before the 
{harp froft and winter-rains come on receive a much 
larger fhare of their influence than any others ; but that, 
if the land be left in a rough ftate, there is leldom time 
for the rains and froft to penetrate or affect more than 
merely the outfide of the large clods or lumps that are 
prefent. The outfide may thus, indeed, be pulverized, 
or broken down ; but the middle of the lumps, wherever 
they are large, are found nearly in the fame hard ftiff 
ftate as when turned up by the plough. Hence it is evi¬ 
dent, that the benefit of the air, winter-rains, and frofts, on 
lands thus left, muft be only partial; and that of courfe the 
harrowing it in the fpring, elpecially when the latter of 
thefe are over, is too late for its receiving the full benefits 
which might otherwife have accrued from them, and the 
power of promoting vegetation not being nearly fo great. 
Therefore, to make winter-fallows as fine as poflible in 
autumn, and ridge them up in that pulverized ftate, is 
ailing molt agreeably to nature; the greateft poflible 
quantity of l'urface being thereby expofed to the atmol- 
phere, and the land left in the ftate wherein the rains and 
the frofts are mofteaftly admiflible; they are conl'equently 
more capable of penetrating and enriching the whole 
mafs to a much greater extent. By this means, too, a 
larger proportion of atmolpheric air is involved and in- 
3 
.NDRY, 
corporated with the mould, and of courfe a more perfeS 
degree of aeration effected. It is contended, that it has 
been invariably found, that the froft penetrates a quan¬ 
tity of earth, formed into a large hard clod, only parti¬ 
ally, on account of its bulk and hardnefs, and that the 
fame clod broken into four parts would be thereby pene¬ 
trated four times as much, or, in other words, that four 
times the quantity of earth would be affeCted, and on a 
thaw be pulverized by it; for it is always found, after 
the breaking up of a fevere froft, tliat all the fmall clods 
crumble eafily into powder, while the large ones are only 
{lightly reduced by the crumbling off of a portion of 
their external furfaces. It is fuggefted, that there can¬ 
not be much doubt but that, by reducing fuch ftiff ad- 
hefive foils, as require fallowing well, on their being firft 
ploughed up, great advantages in the way of pulveriza¬ 
tion may be accomplifhed, as in the fpring and fummer 
months they are apt to cake, and become fo hard and 
lumpy as to be wrought with difficulty. But, in order 
fully to afcertain the utility of this method of preparing 
fallows, one half of a field of ten acres was left as nearly 
of an equal quality as poflible, in the rough ftate after 
ploughing ; while the other was made very fine, by har¬ 
rowing and beating in pieces any large hard clods which 
the harrows could not reduce. In the following fpring 
it was obferved, that that part which had Been harrowed 
was much finer, without any additional working, than the 
other could be rendered by repeated harrowings. It is 
confequently concluded, that upon mod forts of ftiff 
clayey foils, where fallowing becomes neceflary, the firft 
ploughings fhould be given, if poflible, before the com¬ 
mencement of the winter feafon, and that they fliould 
alfo be well reduced by means of harrowing, in order to 
promote the decay of fuch vegetable matters as may be 
upon the furface of the land, as well as to promote a 
more complete ftate of pulverization and aeration of the 
foil at the time. This is often mod ufeful'y performed 
by gathering up the ridges, as in that way the ground is 
not only laid more dry, but the furrows more effectually 
opened for the draining off of the injurious moifture. 
In the fecond ploughing in the fpring, which is gene¬ 
rally before the crofs-ploughing is given, thele ridges 
ought to be cloven or turned back again, and, after lying 
a fuitable length of time, be well harrowed down for l'e- 
veraf times, and occaiionaliy rolled, tliat fulficient oppor¬ 
tunity may be given to collect and remove every fort of 
weed that may be brought up to the furface of tha 
ground. After this buflnefs has been properly performed, 
the land may be again ridged up by means of the plough, 
by which it is rendered lefs affeCted by wetnefs, and the 
portions of foil that had not been touched in the crofs- 
ploughing ftirred. In this way a perfectly clean fallow 
may foon be produced in molt cafes. It has, however, 
been maintained by fome writers who have had much 
opportunity of examining the matter, tliat ploughing 
only is neceflary ; the collecting the roots of the weeds 
and removing them being ulelefs and improper. But in 
the lliffer forts of clayey wet foils, where we have con¬ 
ceived the fallowing fyltem to be chiefly neceflary, it is 
almoft impoflible to get-perfectly clear of dift'erent forts 
of weeds in this way, from the cloddy manner in which 
fuch lands break up in the operation of the different 
ploughings, the earthy lumps often containing many that 
are not in the lealt degree injured in their power of tak¬ 
ing root, by the heat to which they have been expofed 
underluch ploughings of the land. 
In thele cafes, they can only perhaps be effectually era¬ 
dicated and deftroyed, by the high degree of pulveriza¬ 
tion that may be accomplilhed by means of frequent har¬ 
rowings and rollings ; the w'eeds being afterwards care¬ 
fully removed by the hand. In this way there may alfo 
frequently be a confiderable faving of expence by the 
leffening of the number of ploughings. The froft in the 
winter months has alfo, as has been feen, a much more 
powerful 
