1 30 
/ 
HUSBANDRY. 
In thele different views, as well as thofe that have been 
already mentioned,, the introduction of green-crops of fome 
lort or other lliould probably be more frequently attempt¬ 
ed on a!'' defcriptions of foils ; and it would feem probable, 
that on rue ft iff and heavy kinds of land, from its having 
been found, that in many well-cultivated diftrifts, by the 
growing of proper leguminous crops in drills or rows, fo 
as to admit of the ground between them being frequently 
fcirred, either by means of the plough or the hoe, fuch 
kinds of land, after they have been once well cleaned by 
a ftimmer-fallow, may be kept perfectly clean and in 
fuitable tilth for the production of good grain-crops; 
they may be much more generally had recourfe to than 
has commonly been the cafe ; but on fuch forts of land 
great attention is neceffary to introduce fuch kinds of 
green-crops as are adapted to them, and that as little in¬ 
jury as pofiible be done by the treading of animals in the 
feeding them upon, or taking them from, the ground. 
But as neither the full effefts of pulverization or aeration, 
nor the complete deflruftion of weeds, can in fome cafes 
be fo perfectly obtained by the cultivation of fallow-crops 
as by the making of fummer-fallows, it will be advanta¬ 
geous to the farmer to have recourfe to them occafionally 
with -thefe intentions, on the heavy and more wet forts 
of land, as well as thofe that have been injured by over¬ 
cropping, as is too frequently the cafe in particular diftrifts. 
• Yet, though fallowing may be ufeful and neceffary in 
altering the textures of particular kinds or qualities of 
foils, there are numerous facts that fhow, in the molt 
clear and fatisfaftory manner, that great injury and dif¬ 
ad vantage are often the refult of exposing land in its 
naked ftate too much to the action of light and heat, as hap¬ 
pens in the fallow-procefs, and which can only be avoided 
by having recourfe to fheltering-crops of the green kind. 
Befuies this, fallows are too apt to be neglefted after 
they are made, and allowed to lie too long without being 
crofs-cut or the ridges turned hack, whereby numberlefs 
rank weeds get frefli hold of the ground, and rob it of its 
molt valuable properties. Never allow this to happen ; 
but follow up every winter and fummer fallow with dili¬ 
gence and regularity ; and, when the foil is brought into a 
complete Hate of mellownefs and pulverization, then the 
fagacious farmer will decide upon the fucceffion of crops 
he means to adapt to it, not only front the nature of the 
grain itfelf, hut from the ftrength and quality of the 
land he is about to fow. It has been juftly obferved, that 
the proper cropping of arable land is a matter of the ut- 
niolt importance to the interefts of the farmer, as upon it 
in a great meafure mull depend the profits and advan¬ 
tages which he is to derive from his labour and indultry. 
Indeed it is the molt prominent feature in good farming, 
by which the produce of the loil may be increafed in a 
threefold proportion. Mr. Young, in his valuable Ca¬ 
lendar of Hulbandry, conceives it to be the molt impor¬ 
tant fubjeft that- has been treated of by the modern wri¬ 
ters of hulbandry, and that on which they have thrown 
far more light than upon any other circumftance in agri¬ 
culture. It is a very lingular and remarkable circum- 
itance, he fays, that before the reign of his prefent ma- 
jefty, notwithftanding the multitude of books on agricul- 
1 ure, there is not one author who had any tolerable 
* ideas upon this fubjeft, or even annexed to it any im¬ 
portance. They recite, he obfeves, courfes good, bad, 
and execrable, in the fame tone, as matters not open to 
praife or cenlure, and unconnefted with any principles 
that could throw light bn the arrangement of field-crops. 
But that, when once the idea was properly ftarted, its im¬ 
portance prefently became obvious, fo that thirty years 
have carried to great perfeftion the precepts which prac¬ 
tice',has afforded in this branch of rural economy. And 
it is very remarkable, that, wherever either very good _or 
very bad hulbandry is found on arable land, it is leen to 
refult more from the 1 right or wrong arrangement of the 
crops, than from any other circumftance. Hence no dii- 
3 . • 
trifil can be well cultivated under bad rotations, while ft 
is extremely rare to fee any badly managed under good ones.. 
It may be obfer/ed farther that, in the arrangement of 
this bufmels, as different forts of crops not only require 
different kinds and proportions of nutritious materials to 
be drawn from the earth for their increafe and growth, 
but alfo different lituations and conditions of foil,"it mult 
be necefi -.ry to adapt them as much as polfible to the pe¬ 
culiar qualities of the foil, as well as the ftate of the land, 
and the nature of the climate, in which it is placed ; and 
as on the fame principles fome forts of crops may exhauft 
the foils on which they grow in much lefs proportions 
than others, which is well known to be the cafe with 
many kinds e what are termed ^raire-crops, when com¬ 
pared with thofe of the white or corn kind ; it will be re- 
quifite to alternate or interpofe them in fuch a manner as 
that the ground may fuftaia the leaft pofiible injury in 
that ay. 
In the trials of Mr. Secretary Young, in refpeft to the 
effefts of different forts of crops on land, which appear 
to have been condufted with a confiderable degree of ac¬ 
curacy and attention, on a foil of the fandy ioam kind, 
incumbent on a wet clay marl bottom, rendered dry by 
means of previous hollow draining, and of the annual 
value of about fifteen fhillings the acre, broken up from 
the ftate of grafs under which it had been for a great 
length of time, and ploughed into ridges in contrary ai- 
reftions each fucceeding year, no manure being applied 
except on particular lands or ridges in the fourth ; though 
two or three white crops in fucceffion were found to ex¬ 
hauft in a high degree, potatoes had a ftill greater eft’eft 
in the fame way, much more than barley in molt cafes, 
and in fome courfes even more than wheat. Thefe expe¬ 
riments are fully recorded in the twenty-third volume of 
the Annals of Agriculture; and concifely below. 
It is alfo obvious that the rel’ults are equally curious 
and interelling, as they not only demonftrate the advan¬ 
tages that may arife from the alternation of different forts 
of crops in different ways, but the effefts of various rota¬ 
tions, both good and bad, upon the foil, and produce de¬ 
rived from it. They would, however, it is obferved, 
have been more fatisfaftory, if the nature of the land had 
admitted the turnip and cabbage crops to have been con- 
fumed upon the ground, as no certain conclufions can. 
probably be drawn where this is not the cafe; for, though 
a proportionate quantity of manure may be afterwards re¬ 
turned to the land, its application in that way does not 
feem to afford fuch beneficial effefts as when gradually 
incorporated with the foil duringffhe time the animals 
are feeding on it, upon fuch luxuriant vegetable fub- 
ftances. Befides, the effefts of the urine and perfpiration, 
which are known to be of confiderable utility in amelio¬ 
rating the earth, are wholly loft. It is further luggefted 
by this able writer, that tares, clover, and other graffes 
of the artificial kinds, fhould likewife have been intro¬ 
duced, as by fuch kinds of crops the courfes would not 
only have been more varied, but the effefts of different 
combinations more fully fit own. 
And the able experimenter further remarks, that all the 
work of tillage was performed by the common implements 
of the farm, and that the crops in the whole of the thirty- 
fix courfes were reaped and threfned direftly, diftinft from 
each other, to obviate the danger of mixing and errors,, 
and that they are minuted accurately to lave the trouble 
of calculation. In the valuation, all the ftraw is rated at 
ios. an acre, and the crops are likewife eftimated, that the 
fluctuations of price may not affeft the general conclu¬ 
fions; the turnips at 4s. a-ton carted off, cabbages at 5s. 
wheat 5s. a-buthel, barley 2s. 6d. oats 2s. 3d. beans 3s. pota¬ 
toes 6d. any other value may however be put upon them,, 
according to circumftances. It is likewife to be obferved, 
that, in order to aft’ord a full and complete view of the 
effefts of different cottrfes of crops, it would be neceflary 
to compare them 011 foils of different qualities, and which - 
vary- 
