HUSBANDRY. # 3 * 
powerful afHon where fuch reduftions in the clods of fuch 
foils have 1)6611 effected. In fuch foils there can feldom 
be any danger of their being made too fine by operations 
of this nature, as the feed-furrow, when given ftifficient'ly 
deep, conftantly leaves the land lumpy and irregular 
enough for the purpofes of covering the grain, and pro¬ 
testing the young plants during the feverity of the win¬ 
ter feafon. The benefits of affording as high a degree of 
pulverization or finerrcfs as poflible to the land in the 
management of this procefs# has been fully Ill own by the 
refults of many well-condufted experiments. The pro¬ 
duce of a field of barley and broad clover, one-half of 
which had been prepared in the mod perfeft mode of fal¬ 
lowing, and the other half in the Common method, on 
being harvefted and kept feparate, was in the following 
proportions : that which had been conduced in the lat¬ 
ter way only affording twenty-four bulhels to the acre, 
while the former yielded thirty-one, and the grain confi- 
derably better in quality. 
There was alfo an equal fuperiority in the clover-crop 
the fucceeding year ; fhat on the molt perfectly-prepared 
part being heavier by nearly half a ton on the acre. In 
addition to this, it cannot have efcaped obfervation, that 
in large fields of wheat, where, from accident or other 
caufes, forne portions of them have received more fre¬ 
quent ploughings than others, in thefe parts the crops 
generally appear, for a great length of time, more perfeft 
and promifing than on the other parts. 
There is another mode of performing this procefs, which 
has lately been praftifed in fome places, which is to plough 
the land over firft with a deep, broad, clean furrow, in a 
dry feafon in the autumnal months, leaving it in this 
Hate till the early fpring, when, immediately after the feed 
period, it fhould be harrowed down as fine as it can be 
made, clearing off all the couch and other refufe matters 
at the fame time, and confirming them by fire. Then 
ploughing the land in exaftly the fame direction back 
again, breaking the root-weeds as little as poffible ; after 
which letting it be well harrowed over again in the length¬ 
ways of the ridges, as eroding them would be injurious ; 
collecting and burning the whole of the refufe materials 
as before. In this lool’ened condition of the foil, a pow¬ 
erful fcarifier is to be immediately paffed in the crofs di¬ 
rection of the ridges and furrows to the full depth of the 
plough, by which means the roots of the couch and other 
weeds will in a great meafure be drawn out at length, 
without being much broken, and the lumpy parts be 
brought to the furface to be reduced by the adtion of the 
harrows afterwards. When not fufficiently broken down 
and cleared by thefe operations, the fcarifier and harrows 
muff be "again had recourfe to as before; and, when the 
root-weeds have been colledled and burnt, any clods that 
may remain on the furface may be fully reduced by roll¬ 
ing, and afterwards another harrowing. 
In this way it is found that in the fouleft land a per¬ 
fectly clean fallow may be made. In the execution of 
the bufinefs, however, much depends upon the work be¬ 
ing performed when the land is in a proper dry condi¬ 
tion, as when wet it cannot be done to advantage. The 
harrowing fhould be fo managed as to have the refufe 
weedy matters in fuch a fituation as not to prevent the 
whole of the land from being operated upon, and as well 
as the fcarifying be executed as foon as poffible after it is 
left light by the fecond ploughing. The fcarifier, though 
an excellent implement for this purpofe, cannot indeed 
perform its work properly, except when the foil is in this 
loofe ftate of mould. Where this implement is to be 
ufed, there fhould never be any crofs ploughing made, as 
that renders it incapable of performing its work in the 
molt effeftual manner. And where the land is inclined 
to the retention of moifture, it fhould be well drained to 
prevent the ffagnation of water upon it, as it would 
thereby be greatly injured during the winter feafon. By 
this method of preparing a fallow, the foil is reduced 
into a fine ftate of mould, and rendered perfeftly free 
Vol. X. No. 681. 
from weeds, without having its parts fo much expofed to 
the influence of the atmofphere as to rob it of any portion 
of its fertility. 
In Effex, and many other diftrhfds where the foils are 
ftiff and heavy, it is ufual to plough the fallow-lands over 
a great number of times, frequently even eight or ten, in 
different dire-flions, in order that they may he rendered, 
perfectly clean and mellow. In fome cafes the firft plough¬ 
ing is given deep before Chriftmas, then two clean crofs- 
ploughings early in the fpring; after this the land is 
ploughed up into ridges of different breadths, according 
to circumftances, then fplit out again, and laltly ploughed 
back for the feed-furrow; different harrowings being 
praClifed in the times between the leveral ploughings. 
It has been remarked, that though the advantages that 
have been ftated to arile from the perfect pulverization, 
aeration, and cleannefs, occafioned by fummer-fallowing 
in thole foils where it has been found to be occafionally 
requifite, can feldom be fo fully obtained by other me¬ 
thods of cultivation ; yet as that method is conftantly at¬ 
tended with a heavy expence to the farmer, and as many 
of the benefits that are produced by it may be effected 
by the repeated partial fallowings that muff occur in' the 
hoe-culture of different forts of crops, it fhould be con¬ 
ftantly the aim of the farmer, where the climate will ad¬ 
mit of it, to leffen the neceftity of fummer-fallowing even 
on the wet clayey as well as the light kinds of foil, by* 
the judicious interpofition of fuch forts of clofe, thick, 
green crops, as can be grown and cultivated on them un¬ 
der the hoe-fyftem. This is Hill more neceflary, on ac¬ 
count of the lofs that muff be fuftained from the land of¬ 
ten remaining fuch a great length of time totally unpro- 
duiffive where the fallowing procefs is going on. It can¬ 
not, indeed, be difputed, but that the practice of fum- 
mer-fallowing may be greatly lefiened in many dillrifts, 
by the proper fubftituting of gre^n fallows, or what are 
termed fallow-crops, fuch as beans, peafe, cabbages, tares, 
and rape, for the heavier forts of land ; and buck-wheat, 
potatoes, and turnips, for fuch as are of the lighter kind. 
It is likewife maintained as a fail, that, where large and 
luxuriant crops of thefe preparatory kinds are grown, 
thofe by which they are fiicceeded the following feafon 
are for the moft part ftill larger, fo that the lands are 
more improved by large crops than by fuch as are poor. 
This amelioration or increafe off fertility has been attri¬ 
buted to different caufes; as the prevention of evapora¬ 
tion from the foil by the fhade produced by fuch large 
crops ; the putrefaction of the various vegetable matters, 
which may be more abundant after fuch large crops, 
taking place more completely and more effectually under 
fuch circumftances ; and laltly, to the repeated pulveriza¬ 
tion and aeration that are produced by the different hoe- 
ings ; but it is probable that advantages may be derived 
in each of tbele ways, as well as from the carbonic acid 
or fixed air that is afforded by the (haded leaves of the 
plants being depofited upon, or united with, the foil. 
That the melioration in fuch cafes muff depend on cattles 
of this kind there can be little doubt, as much of the nu¬ 
tritious properties of the land mult obvioufly have been 
confumed during the growth of fuch crops, which mult 
have been again reftored to it by fome luch procefles. 
But in whatever manner this eft’eCt may be produced, as 
it is conftantly found that land is in a better condition, 
and when turned up in a more friable and mellow ftate, 
after fuch crops as are large, than thofe that are poor and 
light; it is of courfe evident, that if ground can be 
covered with fmothering crops of the fallow kind, or, 
thofe'that will admit of frequent pulverization by means 
of the plough or hoe, fo as to keep it clean and free front 
the growth of weeds, it may be more beneficial to the- 
farmer, not only for the fake of the immediate crop', but 
alfo on account of the increafe of manure produced by 
fuch means, and the advantageous condition of the land 
for the reception of fuch crops as may be afterwards cul r 
tivated upon it. 
6 T 
In 
