196 ROLL 
the young plants. It is supposed by Mr. Somerville, in 
his Agricultural Survey of East Lothian, that rolling, when 
conducted in a judicious manner, is highly beneficial, and 
Mmits of being much extended, especially upon all winter 
crops after that season has been severe, and without any regard 
to soils, as both loams and clays, after much naked frost, 
have their cohesion so much broken as to leave the plants 
quite loose, and almost without any establishment. It has 
also been stated, that the rolling of wheat, rye, barley, &c. 
with a roller of good length, and half the weight of the 
common ones, may be advantageous in other ways, 
as it presses down the soil that has been raised by the 
frosts about the minute ramifications of the attracting vessels 
or ducts, and augments the quantity of mould upon them by 
breaking the little lumps of sod; which indeed were very 
serviceable in winter by affording shelter, but in spring will 
still be of greater use, by such imminution in filling up the 
fissures, and preventing, in a great measure, the ill effects 
droughts have on light soils, by retaining and filtering rain¬ 
water ; whereby the soil imbibes whatever is nutritive, and 
what is superfluous of the simple fluid only escapes. 
But it is added, that although these are some of the many 
advantages rolling produces in agriculture, notwithstanding it 
amounts to no more than mere conjecture; and that, in general, 
rolling corn may do more damage than it can good, if such 
cautions as the following be not carefully attended to; viz. 
never to roll corn but in dry fresh weather; by no means to 
use heavy rollers, nor to roll too early, as before the blades 
be pretty strong, for the wounds that the blades may receive, 
the roots, being then tender, will be unable ever to recover, 
nor too late, as, when the stalks are hardened and grown to 
any height, for the roller will break them, which injury can 
hardly be repaired, and the cropis thereby greatly hurt; that 
none but light lands are proper to be rolled with this 
view, and those which have been manured that or the pre¬ 
ceding year with dung only: in short, none but rich, light 
soils in general, can be improved by rolling in this intention; 
for in poor lands it opposes the most active principles, and 
undoes all that has been done for the crop by ploughing, &c. 
Tt isconsequently concluded, that the soil, the condition, the 
growth of the corn, the weather, and the weight of the roller, 
are all to be most scrupulously regarded : when all coincide, 
the advantages of rolling may be great; but when they do 
not, the disadvantages may be insuperable. Rolling, then, 
is, neither the least critical, nor the most insignificant piece 
of the husbandman’s profession ; therefore ought not to be 
performed at random and without circumspection, in cases 
where young crops are concerned. 
Mr. Marshall, in his Rural Economy of Norfolk, in speak- 
ingof rolling, remarks, that one circumstance requires to be 
mentioned, which is, that the roller, notwithstanding the 
lightness of the soil, and its proneness to be injured by dry 
weather, is never used in Norfolk for the purpose of com¬ 
pression. He never saw one used by a farmer either upon 
fallow or upon a lay; not even upon the first year of a 
xloverlay, to smooth the surface for the scythe. The only 
uses to which he has seen a roller put, in that district, are 
that of smoothing the surface before sowing, to prevent 
the seed from running down too low, and that of smoothing 
it afterwards as a preparation for the scythe; and even this 
operation is performed with a roller not more perhaps than 
seven or eight inches in diameter; a circumstance which he 
confesses heis no way able to account for; nevertheless, it 
would be rashness to condemn an established practice, unless 
he could, from his own experience, or from adequate 
observations on the experience of others, prove it to be 
ineligible. And it is stated, that there is a sort of land which 
when clover is sown upon it, throws out the young plants 
after a frost. Rolling in the beginning of winter, and imme¬ 
diately after the frost is gone, will, in some measure, prevent 
this. The first rolling hinders the frost from penetrating 
so deep as it would otherwise do; and the second makes the 
land firm, after having been loosened by the change from 
lost to open weather. In the latter case or that of grass- 
and, this is also a process that is of much advantage, 
I N G. 
especially where such lands are kept under the scythe. And it 
is probable, that in many cases of pasture lands it may be 
found of great benefit. In the former it is found beneficial 
in keeping the surface free from hills, and in a more even 
state, as well as the grass from becoming in so tussocky a 
condition, as is often the case where the practice is neglected, 
or net well understood. And in the latter it may perhaps 
have a similar effect, and keep the grass more free from tufts, 
and in a more regular condition, which is a circumstance of 
great consequence in the practice of grazmg. It has been 
remarked, that the impression of the roller not only renders 
the surface more level and fine, but at the same time induces 
the grass plants to spread more laterally, and in that way to 
form a better and more close sward, which may be highly 
beneficial in both cases. Its importance on new laid-down 
grass-lands is therefore extremely obvious, as it must be 
highly serviceable in these different intentions. And the 
worm-casts are by this means reduced and brought into order, 
by which means the mowing can be performed with greater 
facility, and in a closer manner. Besides, it may be useful 
in other views, as by pressing the mould, as well as the ma¬ 
nure, more closely round the roots of the grass plants; and 
in consequence of such means, they may not only be better 
established in the soil, and their vigorous growth more effec¬ 
tually promoted, but from the moisture being more fully 
preserved in the ground, be in less danger of injury from the 
effects of heat in the summer months, and of course better 
crops may be afforded at the period of cutting them down. In 
order to perform this business in the most complete and 
effectual manner, a roller of considerable weight is necessary, 
such as has been already described ; and it has been advised, 
in order to prevent as much as possible the ground from 
being injured by the feet of the animals that draw it, as may 
frequently be the case where they follow each other in the 
same part, it may be the best practice to have them yoked 
double, as by that means there will be less treading on the 
same portion of the surface ; and that where two horses are 
sufficient to execute the work, more should never be made use 
of; but if a third should be found necessary, it may be attached 
as a leader in the middle, before the other two : a greater 
number of horses can seldom or ever be of any material 
advantage in this sort of work. It is also suggested as 
necessary, to be very careful in executing this operation, to 
see that every part receives the due impression of the imple¬ 
ment. On lands where this sort of work is regularly per¬ 
formed, it will seldom be requisite to pass more than once in 
a place, but in other cases it may often be done more fre¬ 
quently with benefit; and in particular cases, a more frequent 
repetition of the operation is absolutely requisite, in order to 
bring the ground into a proper state. It is necessary, in the 
execution of this business on grass-lands, to attend in a 
particular manner to the season, as it cannot be performed 
with advantage, either when the surface is in too dry or too 
moist a condition. It is stated, that in these cases the 
work of rolling may be advantageously performed at different 
seasons, as in the beginning of the autumn, and in the com¬ 
mencement of the year, or very early spring months; but 
the latter is the most common period. But in order to its 
being executed with the greatest possible benefit, a time 
should always be chosen, if possible, when the ground is in 
a suitable state for receiving the impression of the implement. 
In the drier descriptions of land it may frequently be per¬ 
formed in the most beneficial manner, after the land has 
been rendered a little soft by a moderate fall of rain; but in 
those of the contrary sort, it may be necessary to wait till 
the superabundant moisture be so much dried up, as to admit 
the animals employed in drawing the machine, without 
poaching or otherwise injuring the surface of the ground 
while the process is going od. It has been remarked by Mr. 
Boswell, that the rolling of watered meadows should be 
executed towards the latter end of February or beginning 
of the following month, after the land has been left in a dry 
state for a week or ten days. And that the work should be 
performed lengthwise of the panes, going upon one side of 
the trenches, and down the other. And in the case of rolling 
the 
