Please see the [Transcriber’s Notes] at the end of this text.

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

Horse-Hoeing Husbandry:

OR,

An ESSAY on the PRINCIPLES

OF

Vegetation and Tillage.

Designed to introduce

A New Method of Culture;

WHEREBY

The Produce of Land will be increased, and the
usual Expence lessened.

Together with

Accurate Descriptions and Cuts of the Instruments
employed in it.

By JETHRO TULL, Esq;
Of Shalborne in Berkshire.

The Fourth Edition, very carefully Corrected.

To which is prefixed,

A New PREFACE by the Editors, addressed to all concerned in Agriculture.

LONDON:

Printed for A. Millar, opposite to Catharine-street
in the Strand.

M.DCC.LXII.

THE
PREFACE.

As Mr. Tull’s Essay on Horse-hoeing Husbandry has been published some Years, it may be presumed that the World hath by this time formed some Judgment of his Performance; which renders it the less necessary for the Editors of this Impression to say much concerning it. For every Man who has attended to the Subject, and duly considered the Principles upon which our Author’s Method of Culture is founded, is an equal Judge how far his Theory is agreeable to Nature: Though it is but too true, that few have made sufficient Experiments to be fully informed of its Worth.

How it has happened, that a Method of Culture, which proposes such Advantages to those who shall duly prosecute it, hath been so long neglected in this Country, may be matter of Surprize to such as are not acquainted with the Characters of the Men on whom the Practice thereof depends; but to those who know them thoroughly it can be none. For it is certain that very few of them can be prevailed on to alter their usual Methods upon any Consideration; though they are convinced that their continuing therein disables them from paying their Rents, and maintaining their Families.

And, what is still more to be lamented, these People are so much attached to their old Customs, that they are not only averse to alter them themselves, but are moreover industrious to prevent others from succeeding, who attempt to introduce any thing new; and indeed have it too generally in their Power, to defeat any Scheme which is not agreeable to their own Notions; seeing it must be executed by the same Sort of Hands.

This naturally accounts for Mr. Tull’s Husbandry having been so little practised. But as the Methods commonly used, together with the mean Price of Grain for some Years past, have brought the Farmers every-where so low, that they pay their Rents very ill, and in many Places have thrown up their Farms; the Cure of these Evils is certainly an Object worthy of the public Attention: For if the Proprietor must be reduced to cultivate his own Lands, which cannot be done but by the Hands of these indocile People, it is easy to guess on which Side his Balance of Profit and Loss will turn.

This Consideration, together with many others which might be enumerated, hath induced the Editors to recommend this Treatise once more to the serious Attention of every one who wishes well to his Country; in hopes that some may be prevailed upon, by regard either to the public Good or their own private Interest, to give the Method here proposed a fair and impartial Trial: For could it be introduced into several Parts of this Country by Men of generous Principles, their Example might, in time, establish the Practice thereof, and bring it into general Use; which is not to be expected by any other means.

It is therefore to such only, as are qualified to judge of a Theory from the Principles on which it is founded, that the Editors address themselves, desiring they will give this Essay another Reading with due Attention: and at the same time they beg leave to remind them how unfit the common Practisers of Husbandry are to pass Judgment, either on the Theory or Practice of this Method; for which Reason it is hoped that none will be influenced by such, but try the Experiment themselves with proper Care.

As a Motive to this, it is to be observed that, although the Method of Culture here proposed has made little Progress in England, it is not like to meet with the same Neglect abroad, especially in France; where a Translation of Mr. Tull’s Book was undertaken, at one and the same time, by three different Persons of Consideration, without the Privity of each other: But afterwards, Two of them put their Papers into the Hands of the Third, Mr. Du Hamel du Manceau, of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, and of the Royal Society at London; who has published a Book, intituled, A Treatise of Tillage on the Principles of Mr. Tull. The ingenious Author has indeed altered the Method observed by Mr. Tull in his Book; yet has very exactly given his Principles and Rules: But as he had only seen the First Edition of the Horse-hoeing Husbandry, so he is very defective in his Descriptions of the Ploughs and Drills, which in that were very imperfect, and were afterwards amended by Mr. Tull in his Additions to that Essay.

One of our principal Reasons for taking Notice of this Book is, to shew the Comparison this Author has made between the Old Method of Husbandry and the New. By his Calculation the Profits arising from the New, are considerably more than double those of the Old. For, according to him, the Profits of Twenty Acres of Land for Ten Years, amount, at 10d. ¹⁄₂ per Livre,

which makes a prodigious Difference in favour of the latter. As this Computation was made by one who cannot be supposed to have any Prejudice in favour of Mr. Tull’s Scheme, it will naturally find more Credit with the Public than any Comparison made by Mr. Tull himself, or by such as may have an Attachment to his Principles.

It may probably be expected, that the Editors should take Notice of such Objections as have been made, either to Mr. Tull’s Theory or Practice; but we do not know any that in the least affect his Principles: They stand uncontroverted: Nor are there any to the Practice, which may not be equally urged against every Sort of Improvement. One of the principal which have come to our Knowlege is, its being impracticable in common Fields, which make a great Part of this Country, without the Concurrence of every one who occupies Land in the same Field. But doth not this equally affect the Old Husbandry? For every such Person is obliged to keep the Turns of plowing, fallowing, &c. with the other Occupiers; so that if any of them were inclinable to improve their Lands, by sowing Grass-seeds, or any other Method of Culture, they are now under the same Difficulties as they would be, were they to practise Mr. Tull’s Method. Therefore this is rather to be lamented as a public Misfortune, than to be brought as an Objection to the Practicableness of that Method. Others object, that the introducing this Sort of Husbandry is unnecessary, seeing the Improvements which are made by Grass-seeds are so considerable; besides, that the Returns made by the Fold and the Dairy, being much quicker than those of Grain, engage the Farmer to mix Plowing and Grazing together. But when this is duly considered it can have no sort of Weight: for is it not well known that, in those Farms where the greatest Improvements have been made by Grass-seeds, the Quantity of Dressing required for the Arable Land often runs away with most of the Profit of the whole Farm? especially when the Price of Grain is low. And if this be the Situation of the most improved Farms, what must be the Case of those which chiefly consist of Arable Land; where most of the Dressing must be purchased at a great Price, and often fetched from a considerable Distance? Add to this the great Expence of Servants and Horses, unavoidable in Arable Farms; and it will appear how great the Advantages are which the Grasier hath over the plowing Farmer. So that it is much to be wished, the Practice of mixing the Two Sorts of Husbandry were more generally used in every Part of the Kingdom; which would be far from rendering Mr. Tull’s Method of Culture useless; seeing that, when it is well understood, it will be found the surest Method to improve both.

For although Mr. Tull chiefly confined the Practice of his Method to the Production of Grain (which is a great Pity), yet it may be extended to every Vegetable which is the Object of Culture in the Fields, Gardens, Woods, &c. and perhaps may be applied to many other Crops, to equal, if not greater Advantage, than to Corn.

In the Vineyard it has been long practised with Success; and may be used in the Hop-Ground with no less Advantage. For the Culture of Beans, Peas, Woad, Madder, and other large-growing Vegetables; as also for Lucern, Saintfoin, and the larger Grasses; we dare venture to pronounce it the only Method of Culture for Profit to the Farmer; seeing that, in all these Crops, one Sixth Part of the Seeds now commonly sown will be sufficient for the same Quantity of Land, and the Crop in Return will be much greater; which, when the Expence of Seeds is duly considered, will be found no small Saving to the Farmer.

Nor should this Method of Culture be confined to Europe: for it may be practised to as great Advantage in the British Colonies in America, where, in the Culture of the Sugar-Cane, Indigo, Cotton, Rice, and almost all the Crops of that Country, it will certainly save a great Expence of Labour, and improve the Growth of every Plant, more than can be imagined by such as are ignorant of the Benefit arising from this Culture. And should the Subjects of Great Britain neglect to introduce this Method into her Colonies, it may be presumed our Neighbours will take care not to be blameable on this Head; for they seem to be as intent upon extending every Branch of Trade, and making the greatest Improvements of their Land, as we are indifferent to both: So that, unless a contrary Spirit be soon exerted, the Balance of Trade, Power, and every other Advantage, must be against us.

There have been Objections made by some to Mr. Tull’s Method, as if it were practicable only on such Lands as are soft and light, and not at all on stiff and stony Ground. That it hath not been practised on either of these Lands in England we are willing to grant; but we must not from thence infer that it is impossible to apply it to them. For the Hoe-Plough has been very long used in the Vineyards in many Countries, where the Soil is stronger, and abounds with Stones full as much as any Part of this Country. However, though the Use of this Plough may be attended with some Difficulties upon such Land, for Wheat, or Plants of low Growth, whose Roots may be in Danger of being turned out of the Ground, or their Tops buried by the Clods or Stones; yet none of the larger-growing Plants are subject to the same Inconveniencies. Besides, the stronger the Soil is, the more Benefit will it receive from this Method of Culture, if the Land be thereby more pulverized; which will certainly be the Consequence, where the Method laid down by Mr. Tull is duly observed.

But as most Instruments, in their First Use, are attended with some Difficulty, especially in the Hands of such as are indocile, the Hoe-plough has been complained of, as cumbersome and unwieldy to the Horse and Ploughman. But perhaps this arises chiefly from the Unwillingness of the Workmen to introduce any new Instrument: Indeed, seeing little is to be expected from those who have been long attached to different Methods, the surest Way to promote the Use of it, is to engage young Persons, who may probably be better disposed, to make the Trial at their first entering into Business; and then a little Use will make it easy. It is proper to observe here, that the Swing-plough, which is commonly used in the deep Land about London, will do the Business of the Hoe-plough in all Ground that is not very strong, or very stony; and that where it is so, the Foot-plough, made proportionably strong, will completely answer all Purposes. But it must be remembered, that when these are used to hoe Corn, the Board on the Left Hand of the Plough, answering the Mould-Board, must be taken off; otherwise so much Earth will run to the Left Side, as to injure the Crop when it is low.

The Drills are excellent Instruments; yet we imagine them capable of some farther Improvement. Parallel Grooves, at about an Inch asunder, round the Inside of the Hopper, would shew the Man who follows the Drill, whether or no both Boxes vent the Seed equally. By an Hitch from the Plank to the Harrow, the latter may be lifted to a proper Height, so as not to be in the Way when the Ploughman turns at the Headland. Two light Handles on the Plank, like those of the common Plough, would enable the Person who follows the Drill to keep it from falling off the Middle of the Ridge. It may also be useful, in wet Weather, to double the Drills; by which means Two Ridges may be sown at the same time, the Horse going between them: For the Planks of Two Drills, each Plank having one of the Shafts fixed to it, may be joined End for End by Two flat Bars of Iron, one on each Side, well secured by Iron Pins and Screws; and, by corresponding Holes in the Planks and Bars, the Distance between the Drills may be altered, according to the different Spaces between the Ridges.

The Alterations made by the Editors of this Impression are little more than omitting the controversial Parts of the Book, which were judged of no Service to the Reader, as they no-ways affected the Merits of Mr. Tull’s Principles.

But as he endeavoured to recommend his Theory by drawing a Comparison between the Old Method of Culture and the New, so we beg leave to annex a Computation of the Expence and Profit of each; for which we are obliged to a Gentleman, who for some Years practised both in a Country where the Soil was of the same Nature with that from whence Mr. Tull drew his Observations, viz. light and chalky. And we chuse to give this the rather, as it comes from one who has no Attachment to Mr. Tull’s Method, farther than that he found it answer in his Trials. We appeal to Experience, whether every Article in this Calculation is not estimated in favour of the Common Husbandry; whether the Expence be not rated lower than most Farmers find it, and the Crop such as they would rejoice to see, but seldom do, in the Country where this Computation was made.

In the New Husbandry every Article is put at its full Value, and the Crop of each Year is Four Bushels short of the other; tho’, in several Years Experience, it has equalled, and generally exceeded, those of the Neighbourhood in the Old Way.

An Estimate of the Expence and Profit of Ten Acres of Land in Twenty Years.

So that the Profit on Ten Acres of Land in Twenty Years, in the New Way, exceeds that in the Old by 135l. 1s. 8d. and consequently is considerably more than double thereof: an ample Encouragement to practise a Scheme, whereby so great Advantage will arise from so small a Quantity of Land, in the Compass of a Twenty-one Years Lease; One Year being allowed, both in the Old and New Way, for preparing the Ground.

It ought withal to be observed, that Mr. Tull’s Husbandry requires no Manure at all, tho’ we have here, to prevent Objections, allowed the Charge thereof for the first Year; and moreover, that tho’ the Crop of Wheat from the Drill-plough is here put only at Two Quarters on an Acre, yet Mr. Tull himself, by actual Experiment and Measure, found the Produce of his drilled Wheat-crop amounted to almost Four Quarters on an Acre: And, as he has delivered this Fact upon his own Knowlege, so there is no Reason to doubt of his Veracity, which has never yet been called in question. But that we might not be supposed to have any Prejudice in favour of his Scheme, we have chosen to take the Calculations of others rather than his, having no other View in what we have said, than to promote the Cause of Truth, and the public Welfare.

The Wheat and Turnep Drill-Boxes, or the Drill-Plough complete, mentioned in this Treatise, may be had at Mr. Mulford’s in Cursitor-street, Chancery-lane, London.

CHAP. I.
Of Roots and Leaves.

Since the most immediate Use of Agriculture, in feeding Plants, relates to their Roots, they ought to be treated of in the first Place.

Roots are very different in different Plants: But ’tis not necessary here to take notice of all the nice Distinctions of them; therefore I shall only divide them in general into two Sorts, viz. Horizontal-Roots, and Tap-Roots, which may include them all.

All have Branchings and Fibres going all manner of ways, ready to fill the Earth that is open.

But such Roots as I call Horizontal (except of Trees) have seldom any of their Branchings deeper than the Surface or Staple of the Earth, that is commonly mov’d by the Plough or Spade.

The Tap-Root commonly runs down Single and Perpendicular[1] reaching sometimes many Fathoms below.

[1]In this manner descends the first Root of every Seed; but of Corn very little, if at all, deeper than the Earth is tilled.

These first Seed-Roots of Corn die as soon as the other Roots come out near the Surface, above the Grain: and therefore this first is not called a Tap Root; but yet some of the next Roots that come out near the Surface of the Ground, always reach down to the Bottom of the pulveriz’d Staple; as may be seen, if you carefully examine it in the Spring time; but this first Root in Saint-foin becomes a Tap Root.

This (tho’ it goes never so deep) has horizontal ones passing out all round the Sides; and extend to several Yards Distance from it, after they are by their Minuteness, and earthly Tincture, become invisible to the naked Eye.

A Method how to find the Distance to which Roots extend Horizontally.

[Pl. 6. Fig. 7.] Is a Piece or Plot dug and made fine in whole hard Ground, the End A 2 Feet, the End B 12 Feet, the Length of the Piece 20 Yards; the Figures in the middle of it are 20 Turneps, sown early, and well ho’d.

The manner of this Hoing must be at first near the Plants, with a Spade, and each time afterwards, a Foot farther Distance, till all the Earth be once well dug; and if Weeds appear where it has been so dug, hoe them out shallow with the Hand-Hoe. But dig all the Piece next the out Lines deep every time, that it may be the finer for the Roots to enter, when they are permitted to come thither.

If these Turneps are all gradually bigger, as they stand nearer to the End B, ’tis a Proof they all extend to the Outside of the Piece; and the Turnep 20 will appear to draw Nourishment from six Feet Distance from its Centre.

But if the Turneps 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, acquire no greater Bulk than the Turnep 15, it will be clear, that their Roots extend no farther than those of the Turnep 15 does; which is but about 4 Feet.

By this Method the Distance of the Extent of Roots of any Plant may be discover’d.

What put me upon this Method was an Observation of [two Lands] (or Ridges) drill’d with Turneps in Rows, a Foot asunder, and very even in them; the Ground, at both Ends, and one Side, was hard and unplow’d; the Turneps not being ho’d, were very poor, small, and yellow, except the Three outside Rows, B, C, D, which stood next to the Land (or Ridge) E, which Land being plow’d and harrow’d, at the time the Land A ought to have been ho’d, gave a dark flourishing Colour to these three Rows; and the Turneps in the Row D, which stood farthest off from the new-plow’d Land E, received so much Benefit from it, as to grow twice as big as any of the more distant Rows. The Row C, being a Foot nearer to the new-plow’d Land, became twice as large as those in D; but the Row B, which was next to the Land E, grew much larger yet[2].

[2]A like Observation to this on the Land E, has been made in several Turnep Fields of divers Farmers, where Lands adjoining to the Turneps have been well tilled; all the Turneps of the contiguous Lands that were within three or four Feet, or more, of the newly pulveriz’d Earth, received as great, or greater increase, in the Manner as my Rows B C D did; and what is yet a greater Proof of the Length of Roots, and of the Benefit of deep Hoing, all these Turneps have been well Hand-ho’d; which is a good Reason why the Benefit of the deep Pulveration should be perceivable at a greater Distance from it than mine, because my Turneps, not being hoed at all, had not Strength to send out their Roots through so many Feet of unpulveriz’d Earth, as these can through their Earth pulveriz’d by the Hoe, tho’ but shallowly.

This Observation, as ’tis related to me (I being unable to go far enough to see it myself) sufficiently demonstrates the mighty Difference there is between Hand-hoing and Horse-hoing.

[F Plate 6.] is a Piece of hard whole Ground, of about two Perch in Length, and about two or three Feet broad, lying betwixt those two Lands, which had not been plow’d that Year; ’twas remarkable, that during the Length of this interjacent hard Ground, the Rows B, C, D, were as small and yellow as any in the Land.

The Turneps in the Row D, about three Feet distant from the Land E, receiving a double Increase, proves they had as much Nourishment from the Land E, as from the Land A, wherein they stood; which Nourishment was brought by less than half the Number of Roots of each of these Turneps.

In their own Land they must have extended a Yard all round, else they could not have reach’d the Land E, wherein ’tis probable these few Roots went more than another Yard, to give each Turnep as much Increase as all the Roots had done in their own Land.

Except that it will hereafter appear, that the new Nourishment taken at the Extremities of the Roots in the Land E, might enable the Plants to send out more new Roots in their own Land, and receive something more from thence.

The Row C being twice as big as the Row D, must be suppos’d to extend twice as far; and the Row B, four times as far, in proportion as it was of a Bulk quadruple to the Row D.

A Turnep has a Tap-Root, from whence all these Horizontal Roots are deriv’d.

And ’tis observable; that betwixt these two Lands there was a Trench, or Furrow, of about the Depth of nine or ten Inches, where these Roots must descend first, and then ascend into the Land E: But it must be noted, that some small Quantity of Earth was, by the Harrowing, fall’n into this Furrow, else the Roots could not have pass’d thro’ it.

Roots will follow the open Mould[3], by descending perpendicularly, and mounting again in the same manner: As I have observ’d the Roots of a Hedge to do, that have pass’d a steep Ditch two Feet deep, and reach’d the Mould on the other side, and there fill it; and digging Five Feet distant from the Ditch, found the Roots large, tho’ this Mould was very shallow, and no Roots below the good Mould.

[3]A Chalk-Pit, contiguous to a Barn, the Area of which being about 40 Perch of Ground, was made clean and swept; so that there was not the Appearance of any Part of a Vegetable, more than in the Barn’s Floor: Straw was thrown from thence into the Pit, for Cattle to lie on; the Dung made thereby was haled away about three Years after the Pit had been cleansed; when, at the Bottom of it, and upon the Top of the Chalk, the Pit was covered all over with Roots, which came from a Witch-Elm, not more than Five or Six Yards in Length, from Top to Bottom, and which was about Five Yards above, and Eleven Yards from the Area of the Pit; so that in three Years the Roots of this Tree extended themselves Eight times the Length of the Tree, beyond the Extremities of the old Roots, at Eleven Yards Distance from the Body: The annual-increased Length of the Roots was near Three times as much as the Height of the Tree.

I’m told an Objection hath been made from hence against the Growth of a Plant’s being in proportion to the Length of its Roots; but when the Case is fully stated, the Objection may vanish. This Witch-Elm is a very old decay’d Stump, which is here called a Staggar, appearing by its Crookedness to have been formerly a Plasher in an old White-thorn Hedge wherein it stands: It had been lopped many Years before that accidental Increase of Roots happened; it was stunted, and sent out poor Shoots; but in the third Year of these Roots, its Boughs being most of them horizontally inclined, were observed to grow vigorously, and the Leaves were broad, and of a flourishing Colour; at the End of the third Year all these Roots were taken away, and the Area being a Chalk-Rock lying uncovered, round the Place where the Single Root, that produced all these, came out of the Bank, no more Roots could run out on the bare Chalk, and the Growth of the Boughs has been but little since.

Wheat, drill’d in double Rows in November, in a Field well till’d before Planting, look’d yellow, when about Eighteen Inches high; at Two Feet Distance from the Plants, the Earth was Ho-plow’d, which gave such Nourishment to ’em, that they recovered their Health, and changed their sickly Yellow, to a lively Green Colour.

So in an Orchard, where the Trees are planted too deep, below the Staple or good Mould, the Roots, at a little Distance from the Stem, are all as near the upper Superficies of the Ground, as of those Trees, which are planted higher than the Level of the Earth’s Surface.

But the Damage of planting a Tree too low in moist Ground is, that in passing thro’ this low Part, standing in Water, the Sap is chill’d, and its Circulation thereby retarded.

One Cause of Peoples not suspecting Roots to extend to the Twentieth Part of the Distance which in reality they do, was from observing these Horizontal-Roots, near the Plant, to be pretty taper; and if they did diminish on, in proportion to what they do there, they must soon come to an End. But the Truth is, that after a few Inches, they are not discernibly taper, but pass on to their Ends very nearly of the same Bigness; this may be seen in Roots growing in Water, and in some other, tho’ with much Care and Difficulty.

In pulling up the aforemention’d Turneps, their Roots seem’d to end at few Inches Distance from the Plants, they being, farther off, too fine to be perceiv’d by ordinary Observation.

I found an extreme small Fibre on the Side of a Carrot, much less than a Hair; but thro’ a Microscope it appear’d a large Root, not taper, but broken off short at the End, which it is probable might have (before broken off) extended near as far as the Turnep Roots did. It had many Fibres going out of it, and I have seen that a Carrot will draw Nourishment from a great Distance, tho’ the Roots are almost invisible, where they come out of the Carrot itself.

By the Piece [F Plate 6.] may be seen, that those Roots cannot penetrate, unless the Land be open’d by Tillage, &c.

As Animals of different Species have their Guts bearing different Proportions to the Length of their Bodies; so ’tis probable, different Species of Plants may have their Roots as different. But if those which have shorter Roots have more in Number, and having set down the means how to know the Length of them in the Earth, I leave the different Lengths of different Species to be examin’d by those who will take the Pains of more Trials. This is enough for me, that there is no Plant commonly propagated, but what will send out its Roots far enough, to have the Benefit of all the ho’d Spaces or Intervals I in the following Chapters allot them, even tho’ they should not have Roots so long as their Stalks or Stems.

And this great Length of Roots will appear very reasonable, if we compare the Largeness of the Leaves (which are the Parts ordain’d for Excretion) with the Smalness of the Capillary Roots, which must make up in Length or Number what they want in Bigness, being destin’d to range far in the Earth, to find out a Supply of Matter to maintain the whole Plant; whereas the chief Office of the Stalks and Leaves is only to receive the same, and to discharge into the Atmosphere such Part thereof as is found unfit for Nutrition; a much easier Task than the other, and consequently fewer Passages suffice, these ending in an obtuse Form; for otherwise the Air would not be able to sustain the Stalks and Leaves in their upright Posture: but the Roots, tho’ very weak and slender, are easily supported by the Earth, notwithstanding their Length, Smalness, and Flexibility.

Plants have no Stomach, nor Oesophagus, which are necessary to convey the Mass of Food to an Animal: Which Mass, being exhausted by the Lacteals, is eliminated by way of Excrements, but the Earth itself being that Mass to the Guts (or Roots) of Plants, they have only fine Recrements, which are thrown off by the Leaves.

In this, Animal and Vegetable Bodies agree, that Guts and Roots are both injured by the open Air; and Nature has taken an equal Care, that both may be supply’d with Nourishment, without being expos’d to it. Guts are supply’d from their Insides, and Roots from their Outsides.

All the Nutriment (or Pabulum) which Guts receive for the Use of an Animal, is brought to them; but Roots must search out and fetch themselves all the Pabulum of a Plant; therefore a greater Quantity of Roots, in Length or Number, is necessary to a Plant, than of Guts to an Animal.

All Roots are as the Intestines of Animals, and have their Mouths or Lacteal Vessels opening on their outer spongy Superficies, as the Guts of Animals have theirs opening in their inner spongy Superficies.

The Animal Lacteals take in their Food by the Pressure that is made from the Peristaltic Motion, and that Motion caus’d by the Action of Respiration, both which Motions press the Mouths of the Lacteals against the Mass or Soil which is within the Guts, and bring them into closer Contact with it.

Both these Motions are supply’d in Roots by the Pressure occasion’d by the Increase of their Diameters in the Earth, which presses their Lacteal Mouths against the Soil without. But in such Roots as live in Water, a Pressure is constantly made against the Roots by the Weight and Fluidity of the Water; this presses such fine Particles of Earth it contains, and which come into Contact with their Mouths, the closer to them.

And when Roots are in a till’d Soil, a great Pressure is made against them by the Earth, which constantly subsides, and presses their Food closer and closer, even into their Mouths; until itself becomes so hard and close, that the weak Sorts of Roots can penetrate no farther into it, unless re-open’d by new Tillage, which is call’d Hoing.

When a good Number of Single-Mint Stalks had stood in Water, until they were well stock’d with Roots from their two lower Joints, and some of them from three Joints, I set one in a Mint-Glass full of Salt Water; this Mint became perfectly dead within three Days.

Another Mint I put into a Glass of fair Water; but I immers’d one String of its Roots (being brought over the Top of that Glass into another Glass of Salt-water, contiguous to the Top of the other Glass: This Mint dy’d also very soon.

Of another (standing in a Glass of Water and Earth till it grew vigorously) I ty’d one single Root into a Bag, which held a Spoonful of dry Salt, adjoining to the Top of the Glass, which kill’d this strong Mint also. I found that this Salt was soon dissolv’d, tho’ on the Outside of the Glass; and tho’ no Water reach’d so high, as to be within Two Inches of the Joint which produc’d this Root: The Leaves of all these were salt as Brine to the Taste.

Of another, I put an upper Root into a small Glass of Ink, instead of a Bag of Salt, in the Manner above-mention’d; this Plant was also kill’d by some of the Ink Ingredients. The Blackness was not communicated to the Stalk, or Leaves, which inclin’d rather to a yellowish Colour as they died, which seem’d owing to the Copperas.

I made a very strong Liquor with Water, and bruised Seeds of Wild-Garlick, and, filling a Glass therewith, plac’d the Top of it close to the Top of another Glass, having in it a Mint, two or three of whose upper Roots, put into this stinking Liquor, full of the bruised Seeds, and there remaining, it kill’d the Mint in some time; but it was much longer in dying than the others were with Salt and Ink. It might be, because these Roots in the Garlick were very small, and did not bear so great a Proportion to their whole System of Roots, as the Roots, by which the other Mints were poison’d, did to theirs.

When the Edges of the Leaves began to change Colour, I chew’d many of them in my Mouth, and found at first the strong aromatic Flavour of Mint, but that was soon over; and then the nauseous Taste of Garlick was very perceptible to my Palate.

I observ’d, that when the Mint had stood in a Glass of Water, until it seem’d to have finish’d its Growth, the Roots being about a Foot long, and of an earthy Colour, after putting in some fine Earth, which sunk down to the Bottom, there came from the upper Joint a new Set of white Roots, taking their Course on the Outside of the Heap of old Roots downwards, until they reach’d the Earth at the Bottom; and then, after some time, came to be of the same earthy Colour with the old ones.

Another Mint being well rooted from Two Joints, about Four Inches asunder; I plac’d the Roots of the lower Joint in a deep Mint-Glass, having Water at the Bottom, and the Roots of the upper Joint into a square Box, contriv’d for the Purpose, standing over the Glass, and having a Bottom, that open’d in the Middle, with a Hole, that shut together close to the Stalk, just below the upper Joint; then laying all these upper Roots to one Corner of the Box, I fill’d it with Sand, dry’d in a Fire-shovel, and found, that in one Night’s time, the Roots of the lower Joint, which reach’d the Water at the Bottom of the Glass, had drawn it up, and imparted so much thereof to those Roots in the Box above, that the Sand, at that Corner where they lay, was very wet, and the other three Corners dry. This Experiment I repeated very often, and it always succeeded as that did.

And for the same Purpose I prepar’d a small Trough, about two Foot long, and plac’d a Mint-Glass under each End of the Trough; over each Glass I plac’d a Mint, with half its Roots in the Glass, the other half in the Trough: The Mints stood just upon the Ends of the Trough. Then I cover’d these Roots with pulveriz’d Earth, and kept the Glasses supply’d with Water; and as oft as the white fibrous Roots shot thro’ the Earth, I threw on more Earth, till the Trough would hold no more; and still the white Fibres came thro’, and appear’d above it; but all seem’d (as I saw by the Help of a coarse Microscope) to turn, and when they came above-ground, their Ends enter’d into it again. These two Mints grew thrice as large as any other Mint I had, which were many, that stood in Water, and much larger than those which stood in Water with Earth in it: They being all of an equal Bigness when set in, and set at the same time. Tho’ these two, standing in my Chamber, never had any Water in their Earth, but what those Roots, which reach’d the Water in the Glasses, sent up to the Roots, which grew in the Trough. The vast Quantity of Water these Roots sent up, being sufficient to keep all the Earth in the Troughs moist, tho’ of a thousand times greater Quantity than the Roots which water’d it, makes it probable, that the Water pass’d out of the Roots into the Earth, without mixing at all with the Sap, or being alter’d to any Degree. The Earth kept always moist, and in the hot Weather there would not remain a Drop of Water in the Glasses, when they had not been fresh supply’d in two Days and one Night; and yet these Roots in the Glasses were not dry’d, tho’ they stood sometimes a whole Day and Night thus in the empty Glasses. These two Mints have thus liv’d all one Summer.

Remarks on the Mints, &c.

Tho’ the Vessels of Marine Plants be some ways fortify’d against the Acrimony of Salt, as Sea-fish are, yet the Mints all shew, that Salt is poison to other Plants.

The Reason why the Salts in Dung, Brine, or Urine, do not kill Plants in the Field or Garden, is, that their Force is spent in acting upon, and dividing the Parts of Earth; neither do these Salts, or at least any considerable Quantity of them, reach the Roots.

I try’d Salt to many Potatoes in the Ground being undermin’d, and a few of their Roots put into a Dish of Salt-water, they all died sooner or later, according to their Bigness, and to the Proportions the Quantity of Salt apply’d did bear to them.

By the Mints it appears, that Roots make no Distinctions in the Liquor they imbibe, whether it be for their Nourishment or Destruction; and that they do not insume what is disagreeable, or Poison to them, for lack of other Sustenance; since they were very vigorous, and well fed in the Glasses, at the time when the most inconsiderable Part of their Number had the Salt, Garlick, and Ink offer’d to them.

The sixth Mint shews, that when new Earth is apply’d to the old Roots, a Plant sends out new Roots on Purpose to feed on it: And that the more Earth is given it, the more Roots will be form’d, by the new Vigour the Plant takes from the Addition of Earth. This corresponds with the Action of Hoing; for every time the Earth is mov’d about Roots, they have a Change of Earth, which is new to them.

The seventh Mint proves, that there is such a Communication betwixt all the Roots, that when any of them have Water, they do impart a Share thereof to all the rest: And that the Root of the lower Joint of this Mint had Passages (or Vessels) leading from them, through the Stalk, to the Roots of the upper Joint; tho’ the clear Stalk (through which it must have pass’d) that was betwixt these two Joints, was several Inches in Length.

This accounts for the great Produce of long tap-rooted Plants, such as Lusern and St. Foin, in very dry Weather: for the Earth at a great Depth is always moist. It accounts also for the good Crops we have in dry Summers, upon Land that has a Clay Bottom; for there the Water is retain’d a long time, and the lower Roots of Plants which reach it, do, like those of this Mint, send up a Share to all the higher Roots.

If those Roots of a Plant, which lie at the Surface of the Ground, did not receive Moisture from other Roots, which lie deeper, they could be of no Use in dry Weather. But ’tis certain, that if this dry Surface be mov’d or dung’d, the Plant will be found to grow the faster, tho’ no Rain falls; which seems to prove, both that the deep Roots communicate to the shallow a Share of their Water, and receive in Return from them a Share of Food, in common with all the rest of the Plant, as in the Mints they did.

The two last Mints shew, that when the upper Roots have Moisture (as they had in the Earth in the Trough, carried thither first by the lower Roots) they impart some of it to the lower, else these could not have continu’d plump and fresh, as they did for 24 Hours in the empty Glass. And I have since observed them to do so, in the cooler Season of the Year, for several Weeks together, without any other Water, than what the upper Roots convey’d to them, from the moist Earth above in the Trough[4]. I know not what Time these Roots might continue to be supply’d thus in the hot Weather, because I did not try any longer, for fear of killing them.

[4]’Tis certain, that Roots and other Chyle Vessels of a Plant have a free Communication throughout all their Cavities, and the Liquor in them will run towards that Part where there is least Resistance; and such is that which is the most empty, whether it be above or below; for there are no Valves that can hinder the Descent or Ascent of Liquor in these Vessels, as appears by the growing of a Plant in an inverted Posture.

But it must be noted, that the Depth of the Glass protected the Roots therein from the Injury of the Motion of the free Air, which would have dry’d them, if they had been out of the Glass.

In this Trough is shewn most of the Hoing Effects; viz. That Roots, by being broken off near the Ends, increase their Number, and send out several where one is broken off.

That the Roots increase their Fibres every time the Earth is stirr’d about them.

That the stirring the Earth makes the Plants grow the faster.

Leaves are the Parts or Bowels of a Plant, which perform the same Office to Sap, as the Lungs of an Animal do to Blood; that is, they purify or cleanse it of the Recrements, or fuliginous Steams, received in the Circulation, being the unfit Parts of the Food; and perhaps some decay’d Particles, which fly off the Vessels, through which Blood and Sap do pass respectively.

Besides which Use, the Nitro-aerous Particles may there enter, to keep up the vital Ferment or Flame.

Mr. Papin shews, that Air will pass in at the Leaves, and out thro’ the Plant at the Roots, but Water will not pass in at the Leaves; and that if the Leaves have no Air, a Plant will die; but if the Leaves have Air, tho’ the Root remain in Water in vacuo, the Plant will live and grow.

Dr. Grew, in his Anatomy of Plants, mentions Vessels, which he calls, Net-work, Cobweb, Skeins of Silk, &c. but above all, the Multitude of Air-Bladders in them, which I take to be of the same Use in Leaves, as the Vesiculæ are in Lungs. Leaves being as Lungs inverted, and of a broad and thin Form; their Vesiculæ are in Contact with the free open Air, and therefore have no need of Trachea, or Bronchia, nor of Respiration.

CHAP. II.
Of Food of Plants.

The chief Art of an Husbandman is to feed Plants to the best Advantage; but how shall he do that, unless he knows what is their Food? By Food is meant that Matter, which, being added and united to the first Stamina of Plants, or Plantulæ, which were made in little at the Creation, gives them, or rather is their Increase.

’Tis agreed, that all the following Materials contribute, in some manner, to the Increase of Plants; but ’tis disputed which of them is that very Increase or Food. 1. Nitre. 2. Water. 3. Air. 4. Fire. 5. Earth.

I will not mention, as a Food, that acid Spirit of the Air, so much talk’d of; since by its eating asunder Iron Bars it appears too much of the Nature of Aqua Fortis, to be a welcome Guest alone to the tender Vessels of the Roots of Plants.

Nitre is useful to divide and prepare the Food, and may be said to nourish Vegetables in much the same Manner as my Knife nourishes me, by cutting and dividing my Meat: But when Nitre is apply’d to the Root of a Plant, it will kill it as certainly as a Knife misapply’d will kill a Man: Which proves, that Nitre is, in respect of Nourishment, just as much the Food of Plants, as White Arsenick is the Food of Rats. And the same may be said of Salts.

Water, from Van-Helmont’s Experiment, was by some great Philosophers thought to be it. But these were deceived, in not observing, that Water has always in its Intervals a Charge of Earth, from which no Art can free it. This Hypothesis having been fully confuted by Dr. Woodward, no body has, that I know of, maintain’d it since: And to the Doctor’s Arguments I shall add more in the Article of Air.

Air, because its Spring, &c. is as necessary to the Life of Vegetables, as the Vehicle of Water is; some modern Virtuosi have affirm’d, from the same and worse Arguments than those of the Water-Philosophers, that Air is the Food of Plants. Mr. Bradley being the chief, if not only Author, who has publish’d this Phantasy, which at present seems to get Ground, ’tis fit he should be answer’d: And this will be easily done, if I can shew, that he has answer’d this his own Opinion, by some or all of his own Arguments.

His first is, that of Helmont, and is thus related in Mr. Bradley’s general Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening, Vol. I. p. 36. ‘Who dry’d Two hundred Pounds of Earth, and planted a Willow of Five Pounds Weight in it, which he water’d with Rain, or distill’d Water; and to secure it from any other Earth getting in, he covered it with a perforated Tin Cover. Five Years after, weighing the Tree, with all the Leaves it had borne in that Time, he found it to weigh One hundred Sixty-nine Pounds Three Ounces; but the Earth was only diminish’d about two Ounces in its Weight.’

On this Experiment Mr. Bradley grounds his Airy Hypothesis. But let it be but examined fairly, and see what may be thence inferr’d.

The Tin Cover was to prevent any other Earth from getting in. This must also prevent any Earth from getting out, except what enter’d the Roots, and by them pass’d into the Tree.

A Willow is a very thirsty Tree, and must have drank in Five Years time several Tuns of Water, which must necessarily carry in its Interstices a great Quantity of Earth (probably many times more than the Tree’s[5] Weight, which could not get out, but by the Roots of the Willow.

[5]The Body of an Animal receives a much less Increase in Weight than its Perspirations amount to, as Sanctorius’s Static-Chair demonstrates.

Therefore the Two hundred Pounds of Earth not being increased, proves that so much Earth as was poured in with the Water, did enter the Tree.

Whether the Earth did enter to nourish the Tree, or whether only in order to pass through it (by way of Vehicle to the Air), and leave the Air behind for the Augment of the Willow, may appear by examining the Matter of which the Tree did consist.

If the Matter remaining after the Corruption or Putrefaction of the Tree be Earth, will it not be a Proof, that the Earth remained in it, to nourish and augment it? for it could not leave what it did not first take, nor be augmented by what pass’d through it. According to Aristotle’s Doctrine, and Mr. Bradley’s too, in Vol. I. pag. 72. “Putrefaction resolves it again into Earth, its first Principle.”

The Weight of the Tree, even when green, must consist of Earth and Water. Air could be no Part of it, because Air being of no greater specific Gravity than the incumbent Atmosphere, could not be of any Weight in it; therefore was no Part of the One hundred Sixty-nine Pounds Three Ounces.

Nature has directed Animals and Vegetables to seek what is most necessary to them. At the Time when the Fœtus has a Necessity of Respiration, ’tis brought forth into the open Air, and then the Lungs are filled with Air. As soon as a Calf, Lamb, &c. is able to stand, it applies to the Teat for Food, without any Teaching. In like manner Mr. Bradley remarks, in his Vol. I. pag. 10. ‘That almost every Stem and every Root are formed in a bending manner under Ground; and yet all these Stems become strait and upright when they come above-ground, and meet the Air; and most Roots run as directly downwards, and shun the Air as much as possible.’

Can any thing more plainly shew the Intent of Nature, than this his Remark does? viz. That the Air is most necessary to the Tree above ground, to purify the Sap by the Leaves, as the Blood of Animals is depurated by their Lungs: And that Roots seek the Earth for their Food, and shun the Air, which would dry up and destroy them.

No one Truth can possibly contradict or interfere with any other Truth; but one Error may contradict and interfere with another Error, viz.

Mr. Bradley, and all Authors, I think, are of Opinion, that Plants of different Natures are fed by a different Sort of Nourishment; from whence they aver, that a Crop of Wheat takes up all that is peculiar to that Grain; then a Crop of Barley all that is proper to it; next a Crop of Pease, and so on, ’till each has drawn off all those Particles which are proper to it; and then no more of these Grains will grow in that Land, till by Fallow, Dung, and Influences of the Heavens, the Earth will be again replenish’d with new Nourishment, to supply the same Sorts of Corn over again. This, if true (as they all affirm it to be), would prove, that the Air is not the Food of Vegetables. For the Air being in itself so homogeneous as it is, could never afford such different Matter as they imagine; neither is it probable, that the Air should afford the Wheat Nourishment more one Year, than the ensuing Year; or that the same Year it should nourish Barley in one Field, Wheat in another, Pease in a Third; but that if Barley were sown in the Third, Wheat in the First, Pease in the Second, all would fail: Therefore this Hypothesis of Air for Food interferes with, and contradicts this Doctrine of Necessity of changing Sorts.

I suppose, by Air, they do not mean dry Particles of Earth, and the Effluvia which float in the Air: The Quantity of these is too small to augment Vegetables to that Bulk they arrive at. By that way of speaking they might more truly affirm this of Water, because it must be like to carry a greater Quantity of Earth than Air doth, in proportion to the Difference of their different specific Weight; Water, being about 800 times heavier than Air, is likely to have 800 times more of that terrestrial Matter in it; and we see this is sufficient to maintain some Sort of Vegetables, as Aquatics; but the Air, by its Charge of Effluvia, &c. is never able to maintain or nourish any Plant; for as to the Sedums, Aloes, and all others, that are supposed to grow suspended in the Air, ’tis a mere Fallacy; they seem to grow, but do not; since they constantly grow lighter; and tho’ their Vessels may be somewhat distended by the Ferment of their own Juices which they received in the Earth, yet suspended in Air, they continually diminish in Weight (which is the true Argument of a Plant) until they grow to nothing. So that this Instance of Sedums, &c. which they pretend to bring for Proof of this their Hypothesis, is alone a full Confutation of it.

Yet if granted, that Air could nourish some Vegetables by the earthy Effluvia, &c. which it carry’d with it[6]; even that would be against them, not for them.

[6]This is meant of dry Earth, by its Lightness (when pulveriz’d extremely fine) carried in the Air without Vapour: For the Atmosphere, consisting of all the Elements, has Earth in it in considerable Quantity, mix’d with Water; but a very little Earth is so minutely divided, as to fly therein pure from Water, which is its Vehicle there for the most Part.

They might as well believe, that Martins and Swallows are nourish’d by the Air, because they live on Flies and Gnats, which they catch therein; this being the same Food, which is found in the Stomach of the Chameleon.

If, as they say, the Earth is of little other Use to Plants, but to keep them fix’d and steady, there would be little or no Difference in the Value of rich and poor Land, dung’d or undung’d; for one would serve to keep Plants fix’d and steady, very near, if not quite as well as the other.

If Water or Air was the Food of Plants, I cannot see what Necessity there should be of Dung or Tillage.

4. Fire. No Plant can live without Heat, tho’ different Degrees of it be necessary to different Sorts of Plants. Some are almost able to keep Company with the Salamander, and do live in the hottest Exposures of the hot Countries. Others have their Abode with Fishes under Water, in cold Climates: for the Sun has his Influence, tho’ weaker, upon the Earth cover’d with Water, at a considerable Depth; which appears by the Effect the Vicissitudes of Winter and Summer have upon subterraqueous Vegetables.

Tho’ every Heat is said to be a different Degree of Fire; yet we may distinguish the Degrees by their different Effects. Heat warms; but Fire burns: The first helps to cherish, the latter destroys Plants.

5. Earth. That which nourishes and augments a Plant is the true Food of it.

Every Plant is Earth, and the Growth and true Increase of a Plant is the Addition of more Earth.

Nitre (or other Salts) prepares the Earth, Water and Air move it, by conveying and fermenting it in the Juices; and this Motion is called Heat.

When this additional Earth is assimilated to the Plant, it becomes an absolute Part of it.

Suppose Water, Air, and Heat, could be taken away, would it not remain to be a Plant, tho’ a dead one?

But suppose the Earth of it taken away, what would then become of the Plant? Mr. Bradley might look long enough after it, before he found it in the Air among his specific or certain Qualities.

Besides, too much Nitre (or other Salts) corrodes a Plant; too much Water drowns it; too much Air dries the Roots of it; too much Heat (or Fire) burns it; but too much Earth a Plant never can have, unless it be therein wholly buried; and in that Case it would be equally misapply’d to the Body, as Air or Nitre would be to the Roots.

Too much Earth, or too fine, can never possibly be given to Roots; for they never receive so much of it as to surfeit the Plants, unless it be depriv’d of Leaves, which, as Lungs, should purify it.

And Earth is so surely the Food of all Plants, that with the proper Share of the other Elements, which each Species of Plants requires, I do not find but that any common Earth will nourish any Plant.

The only Difference of Soil[7] (except the Richness) seems to be the different Heat and Moisture it has; for if those be rightly adjusted, any Soil will nourish any Sort of Plant; for let Thyme and Rushes change Places, and both will die; but let them change their Soil, by removing the Earth wherein the Thyme grew, from the dry Hill down into the watry Bottom, and plant Rushes therein; and carry the moist Earth, wherein the Rushes grew, up to the Hill; and there Thyme will grow in the Earth that was taken from the Rushes; and so will the Rushes grow in the Earth that was taken from the Thyme; so that ’tis only more or less Water that makes the same Earth fit either for the Growth of Thyme or Rushes.

[7]As I have said in my Essay, That a Soil being once proper to a Species of Vegetables, it will always continue to be so; it must be supposed, that there be no Alteration of the Heat and Moisture of it; and that this Difference I mean, is of its Quality of nourishing different Species of Vegetables, not of the Quantity of it; which Quantity may be alter’d by Diminution or Superinduction.

So for Heat; our Earth, when it has in the Stove the just Degree of Heat that each Sort of Plants requires, will maintain Plants brought from both the Indies.

Plants differ as much from one another in the Degrees of Heat and Moisture they require, as a Fish differs from a Salamander.

Indeed Misletoe, and some other Plants, will not live upon Earth, until it be first alter’d by the Vessels of another Plant or Tree, upon which they grow, and therein are as nice in Food as an Animal.

There is no need to have Recourse to Transmutation; for whether Air or Water, or both, are transform’d into Earth or not, the thing is the same, if it be Earth when the Roots take it; and we are convinced that neither Air nor Water alone, as such, will maintain Plants.

These kind of Metamorphoses may properly enough be consider’d in Dissertations purely concerning Matter, and to discover what the component Particles of Earth are; but not at all necessary to be known, in relation to the maintaining of Vegetables.

CHAP. III.
Of Pasture of Plants.

Cattle feed on Vegetables that grow upon the Earth’s external Surface; but Vegetables themselves first receive, from within the Earth, the Nourishment they give to Animals.

The Pasture of Cattle has been known and understood in all Ages of the World, it being liable to Inspection; but the Pasture of Plants, being out of the Observation of the Senses, is only to be known by Disquisitions of Reason; and has (for ought I can find) pass’d undiscover’d by the Writers of Husbandry[8].

[8]When Writers of Husbandry, in discoursing of Earth and Vegetation, come nearest to the Thing, that is, the Pasture of Plants, they are lost in the Shadow of it, and wander in a Wilderness of obscure Expressions, such as Magnetism, Virtue, Power, Specific Quality, Certain Quality, and the like; wherein there is no manner of Light for discovering the real Substance, but we are left by them more in the Dark to find it, than Roots are when they feed on it: And when a Man, no less sagacious than Mr. Evelyn, has trac’d it thro’ all the Mazes of the Occult Qualities, and even up to the Metaphysics, he declares he cannot determine, whether the Thing he pursues be Corporeal or Spiritual.

The Ignorance of this seems to be one principal Cause, that Agriculture, the most necessary of all Arts, has been treated of by Authors more superficially than any other Art whatever. The Food or Pabulum of Plants being prov’d to be Earth, where and whence[9] they take that, may properly be called their Pasture.

[9]By the Pasture is not meant the Pabulum itself; but the Superficies from whence the Pabulum is taken by Roots.

This Pasture I shall endeavour to describe.

’Tis the inner or (internal) Superficies[10] of the Earth; or which is the same thing, ’tis the Superficies of the Pores, Cavities, or Interstices of the divided Parts of the Earth, which are of two Sorts, viz. Natural and Artificial.

[10]This Pasture of Plants never having been mentioned or described by any Author that I know of, I am at a loss to find any other Term to describe it by, that may be synonymous, or equipollent to it: Therefore, for want of a better, I call it the inner, or internal Superficies of the Earth, to distinguish it from the outer or external Superficies, or Surface, whereon we tread.

Inner or internal Superficies may be thought an absurd Expression, the Adjective expressing something within, and the Substantive seeming to express only what is without it; and indeed the Sense of the Expression is so; for the Vegetable Pasture is within the Earth, but without (or on the Outsides of) the divided Parts of the Earth.

And, besides, Superficies must be joined with the Adjective Inner (or Internal) when ’tis used to describe the Inside of a thing that is hollow, as the Pores and Interstices of the Earth are.

The Superficies, which is the Pasture of Plants, is not a bare Mathematical Superficies; for that is only imaginary.

By Nature, the whole Earth (or Soil) is composed of Parts; and, if these had been in every Place absolutely joined, it would have been without Interstices or Pores, and would have had no internal Superficies, or Pasture for Plants: but since it is not so strictly dense[11], there must be Interstices at all those Places where the Parts remain separate and divided.

[11]For were the Soil as dense as Glass, the Roots or Vegetables (such as our Earth produces) would never be able to enter its Pores.

These Interstices, by their Number and Largeness, determine the specific Gravity (or true Quantity) of every Soil: The larger they are, the lighter is the Soil; and the inner Superficies is commonly the less.

The Mouths, or Lacteals, being situate, and opening, in the convex Superficies of Roots, they take their Pabulum, being fine Particles of Earth, from the Superficies of the Pores, or Cavities, wherein the Roots are included.

And ’tis certain, that the Earth is not divested or robb’d of this Pabulum, by any other Means, than by actual Fire, or the Roots of Plants.

For, when no Vegetables are suffer’d to grow in a Soil, it will always grow richer. Plow it, harrow it, as often as you please, expose it to the Sun in Horse-Paths all the Summer, and to the Frost of the Winter; let it be cover’d by Water at the Bottom of Ponds, or Ditches; or if you grind dry Earth to Powder, the longer ’tis kept exposed, or treated by these or any other Method possible (except actual Burning by Fire); instead of losing, it will gain the more Fertility.

These Particles, which are the Pabulum of Plants, are so very minute[12] and light, as not to be singly attracted to the Earth, if separated from those Parts to which they adhere[13], or with which they are in Contact (like Dust to a Looking-Glass, turn it upwards, or downwards, it will remain affixt to it), as these Particles do to those Parts, until from thence remov’d by some Agent.

[12]As to the Fineness of the Pabulum of Plants, ’tis not unlikely, that Roots may insume no grosser Particles, than those on which the Colours of Bodies depend; but to discover the greatest of those Corpuscles, Sir Isaac Newton thinks, it will require a Microscope, that with sufficient Distinctness can represent Objects Five or Six hundred times bigger, than at a Foot Distance they appear to the naked Eye.

My Microscope indeed is but a very ordinary one, and when I view with it the Liquor newly imbibed by a fibrous Root of a Mint, it seems more limpid than the clearest common Water, nothing at all appearing in it.

[13]Either Roots must insume the Earth, that is their Pabulum, as they find it in whole Pieces, having intire Superficies of their own, or else such Particles as have not intire Superficies of their own, but want some Part of it, which adheres to, or is Part of the Superficies of larger Particles, before they are separated by Roots. The former they cannot insume (unless contained in Water); because they would fly away at the first Pores that were open: Ergo they must insume the latter.

A Plant cannot separate these Particles from the Parts to which they adhere, without the Assistance of Water, which helps to loosen them.

And ’tis also probable, that the Nitre of the Air may be necessary to relax this Superficies, to render the prolific Particles capable of being thence disjoin’d; and this Action of the Nitre seems to be what is call’d, Impregnating the Earth.

Since the grosser Vegetable Particles, when they have pass’d thro’ a Plant, together with their moist Vehicle, do fly up into the Air invisibly; ’tis not likely they should, in the Earth, fall off from the Superficies of the Pores, by their own Gravity: And if they did fall off, they might fly away as easily before they enter’d Plants, as they do after they have pass’d thro’ them; and then a Soil might become the poorer[14] for all the Culture and Stirring we bestow upon it; tho’ no Plants were in it; contrary to Experience.

[14]But we see it is always the richer by being frequently turned and exposed to the Atmosphere: Therefore Plants must take all their Pabulum from a Superficies of Parts of Earth; except what may perhaps be contained in Water fine enough to enter Roots intire with the Water.

It must be own’d, that Water does ever carry, in its Interstices, Particles of Earth fine enough to enter Roots; because I have seen, that a great Quantity of Earth (in my Experiments) will pass out of Roots set in Rain-water; and tis found that Water can never be, by any Art, wholly freed from its earthy Charge; therefore it must have carry’d in some Particles of Earth along with it: But yet I cannot hence conclude, that the Water did first take these fine Particles from the aforesaid Superficies: I rather think, that they are exhal’d, together with very small Pieces to which they adhere, and in the Vapour divided by the Aereal Nitre; and, when the Vapour is condens’d, they descend with it to replenish the Pasture of Plants; and that these do not enter intire into Roots, neither does any other of the earthy Charge that any Water contains; except such fine Particles which have already pass’d thro’ the Vegetable Vessels, and been thence exhal’d.

This Conjecture is the more probable, for that Rain-Water is as nourishing to Plants set therein as Spring-Water, tho’ the latter have more Earth in it; and tho’ Spring-water have some Particles in it that will enter intire into Roots, yet we must consider, that even that Water may have been many times exhal’d into the Air, and may have still retain’d a great Quantity of Vegetable Particles, which it received from Vegetable Exhalations in the Atmosphere; tho’ not so great a Quantity as Rain-water, that comes immediately thence.

These, I have to do with, are the Particles which Plants have from the Earth, or Soil; but they have also fine Particles of Earth from Water, which may impart some of its finest Charge to the Superficies of Roots, as well as to the Superficies of the Parts of the Earth[15] which makes the Pasture of Plants.

[15]If Water does separate, and take any of the mere Pabulum of Plants from the Soil, it gives much more to it.

Yet it seems, that much of the Earth, contain’d in the clearest Water, is there in too large Parts to enter a Root; since we see, that in a short time the Root’s Superficies will, in the purest Water, be cover’d with Earth, which is then form’d into a terrene Pasture, which may nourish Roots; but very few Plants will live long in so thin a Pasture, as any Water affords them. I cannot find one as yet that has liv’d a Year, without some Earth have been added to it.

And all Aquatics, that I know, have their Roots in the Earth, tho’ cover’d with Water.

The Pores, Cavities, or Interstices of the Earth, being of two Sorts, viz. Natural and Artificial; the one affords the Natural, the other the Artificial Pasture of Plants.

The natural Pasture alone will suffice, to furnish a Country with Vegetables, for the Maintenance of a few Inhabitants; but if Agriculture were taken out of the World, ’tis much to be fear’d, that those of all populous Countries, especially towards the Confines of the frigid Zones (for there the Trees often fail of producing Fruit), would be oblig’d to turn Anthropophagi, as in many uncultivated Regions they do, very probably for that Reason.

The artificial Pasture of Plants is that inner Superficies which is made from dividing the Soil by Art.

This does, on all Parts of the Globe, where used, maintain many more People than the natural Pasture[16]; and in the colder Climates, I believe, it will not be extravagant to say, ten times as many: Or that, in Case Agriculture were a little improved (as I hope to shew is not difficult to be done), it might maintain twice as many more yet, or the same Number, better.

[16]The extraordinary Increase of St. Foin, Clover, and natural Grass, when their Roots reach into pulveriz’d Earth, exceeding the Increase of all those other Plants of the same Species (that stand out of the Reach of it) above One hundred Times, shew how vastly the artificial Pasture of Plants exceeds the natural. A full Proof of this Difference, (besides very many I have had before) was seen by two Intervals in the middle of a poor Field of worn-out St. Foin, pulveriz’d in the precedent Summer, in the manner describ’d in a Note on the latter Part of Chap. XII. relating to St. Foin. Here not only the St. Foin adjoining to these Intervals recover’d its Strength, blossom’d, and seeded well, but also the natural Grass amongst it was as strong, and had as flourishing a Colour, as if a Dung-heap had been laid in the Intervals; also many other Weeds came out from the Edges of the unplow’d Ground, which must have lain dormant a great many Years, grew higher and larger than ever were seen before in that Field; but above all, there was a Weed amongst the St. Foin, which generally accompanies it, bearing a white Flower; some call it White Weed, others Lady’s Bedstraw: Some Plants of this that stood near the Intervals, were, in the Opinion of all that saw them, increased to a thousand Times the Bulk of those of the same Species, that stood in the Field three Feet distant from such pulveriz’d Earth.

Note, These Intervals were each an Hundred Perch long, and had each in them a treble Row of Barley very good. The Reason I take to be this, That the Land had lain still several Years after its artificial Pasture was lost; whereby all the Plants in it having only the natural Pasture to subsist on, became so extremely small and weak, that they were not able to exhaust the Land of so great a Quantity of the (vegetable) nourishing Particles as the Atmosphere brought down to it.

And when by Pulveration the artificial Pasture came to be added to this natural Pasture (not much exhausted), and nothing at all suffered to grow out of it for above Three Quarters of a Year, it became rich enough, without any Manure, to produce this extraordinary Effect upon the Vegetables, whose Roots reached into it. How long this Effect may continue, is uncertain: but I may venture to say, it will continue until the Exhaustion by Vegetables doth over-balance the Descent of the Atmosphere, and the Pulveration.

And what I have said of any one Species of Plants in this Respect may be generally apply’d to the rest.

The natural Pasture is not only less than the artificial, in an equal Quantity of Earth; but also, that little consisting in the Superficies of Pores, or Cavities, not having a free Communication[17] with one another, being less pervious to the Roots of all Vegetables, and requiring a greater Force to break thro’ their Partitions; by that Means, Roots, especially of weak Plants, are excluded from many of those Cavities, and so lose the Benefit of them.

[17]None of the natural Vegetable Pasture is lost or injured by the artificial; but on the contrary, ’tis mended by being mix’d with it, and by having a greater Communication betwixt Pore and Pore.

But the artificial Pasture consists in Superficies of Cavities, that are pervious to all Manner of Roots, and that afford them free Passage and Entertainment in and thro’ all their Recesses. Roots may here extend to the utmost, without meeting with any Barricadoes in their Way.

The internal Superficies, which is the natural Pasture of Plants, is like the external Superficies or Surface of the Earth, whereon is the Pasture of Cattle; in that it cannot be inlarg’d without Addition of more Surface taken from Land adjoining to it, by inlarging its Bounds or Limits.

But the artificial Pasture of Plants may be inlarg’d, without any Addition of more Land, or inlarging of Bounds, and this by Division only of the same Earth.

And this artificial Pasture may be increas’d in proportion to the Division of the Parts of Earth, whereof it is the Superficies, which Division may be mathematically infinite; for an Atom is nothing; neither is there a more plain Impossibility in Nature, than to reduce Matter to nothing, by Division or Separation of its Parts.

A Cube of Earth of One Foot has but Six Feet of Superficies. Divide this Cube into Cubical Inches, and then its Superficies will be increas’d Twelve times, viz. to Seventy-two Superficial Feet. Divide these again in like Manner and Proportion; that is, Divide them into Parts that bear the same Proportion to the Inches, as the Inches do to the Feet, and then the same Earth, which had at first no more than Six Superficial Feet, will have Eight hundred Sixty-four Superficial Feet of artificial Pasture; and so is the Soil divisible, and this Pasture increasable ad Infinitum.

The common Methods of dividing the Soil are these; viz. by Dung, by Tillage, or by both[18].

[18]For Vis Unita Fortior.

CHAP. IV.
Of DUNG.

All Sorts of Dung and Compost contain some Matter, which, when mixt with the Soil, ferments therein; and by such Ferment dissolves, crumbles, and divides the Earth very much: This is the chief, and almost only Use of Dung: For, as to the pure earthy Part, the Quantity is so very small, that, after a perfect Putrefaction, it appears to bear a most inconsiderable Proportion to the Soil it is design’d to manure: and therefore, in that respect, is next to nothing.

Its fermenting Quality is chiefly owing to the Salts wherewith it abounds; but a very little of this Salt applied alone to a few Roots of almost any Plant, will (as, in my Mint Experiments, it is evident common Salt does) kill it.

This proves, that its Use is not to nourish, but to dissolve; i. e. Divide the terrestrial Matter, which affords Nutriment to the Mouths of Vegetable Roots.

It is, I suppose, upon the Account of the acrimonious fiery Nature of these Salts, that the Florists have banish’d Dung from their Flower-Gardens.

And there is, I’m sure, much more Reason to prohibit the Use of Dung in the Kitchen-Garden, on Account of the ill Taste it gives to esculent Roots and Plants, especially such Dung as is made in great Towns.

’Tis a Wonder how delicate Palates can dispense with eating their own and their Beasts Ordure, but a little more putrefied and evaporated; together with all Sorts of Filth and Nastiness, a Tincture of which those Roots must unavoidably receive, that grow amongst it.

Indeed I do not admire, that learned Palates, accustom’d to the Goût of Silphium, Garlick, la Chair venee, and mortify’d Venison, equalling the Stench and Rankness of this Sort of City-Muck, should relish and approve of Plants that are fed and fatted by its immediate Contact.

People who are so vulgarly nice, as to nauseate these modish Dainties, and whose squeamish Stomachs even abhor to receive the Food of Nobles, so little different from that wherewith they regale their richest Gardens, say that even the very Water, wherein a rich Garden Cabbage is boil’d, stinks; but that the Water, wherein a Cabbage from a poor undung’d Field is boil’d, has no Manner of unpleasant Savour; and that a Carrot, bred in a Dunghill, has none of that sweet Relish, which a Field-Carrot affords.

There is a like Difference in all Roots, nourish’d with such different Diet.

Dung not only spoils the fine Flavour of these our Eatables, but inquinates good Liquor. The dung’d Vineyards in Languedoc produce nauseous Wine; from whence there is a Proverb in that Country, That poor People’s Wine is best, because they carry no Dung to their Vineyards.

Dung is observ’d to give great Encouragement to the Production of Worms; and Carrots in the Garden are much worm-eaten, when those in the Field are free from Worms.

Dung is the Putrefaction of Earth, after it has been alter’d by Vegetable or Animal Vessels. But if Dung be thoroughly ventilated and putrefy’d before it be spread on the Field (as I think all the Authors I have read direct) so much of its Salts will be spent in fermenting the Dung itself, that little of them will remain to ferment the Soil; and the Farmer who might dung One Acre in Twenty, by laying on his Dung whilst fully replete with vigorous Salts, may (if he follows these Writers Advice to a Nicety) be forced to content himself with dunging one Acre in an Hundred.

This indeed is good Advice for Gardeners, for making their Stuff more palatable and wholesome; but would ruin the Farmer who could have no more Dung than what he could make upon his Arable Farm.

For every Sort of Dung, the longer Time it ferments without the Ground, the lesser Time it has to ferment in it, and the weaker its Ferment will be.

The Reason given for this great Diminution of Dung is, that the Seeds of Weeds may be rotted, and lose their vegetating Faculty; but this I am certain of by Demonstration, that let a Dunghil remain Three Years unmov’d, though its Bulk be vastly diminish’d in that Time, and its best Quality lost, Charlock-seed will remain found in it, and stock the Land whereon it is laid: For that Ferment which is sufficient to consume the Virtue of the stercoreous Salts, is not sufficient to destroy the vegative Virtue of Charlock-seeds, nor (I believe) of many other Sorts of Weeds.

The very Effluvia of animal Bodies, sent off by Perspiration, are so noxious as to kill the Animal that emits them, if confin’d to receive them back in great Quantity, by breathing in an Air replete with them; which appears from the soon dying of an Animal shut up in a Receiver full of Air. Yet this seems to be the most harmless of all sorts of animal Excrements the Air can be infected with. How noxious then must be the more fetid Steams of Ordure!

If a Catalogue were publish’d of all Instances from Charnel-houses (or Cœmeteries) and of the pestiferous Effects, which have happen’d from the Putrefaction of dead Bodies, after great Battles, even in the open Air, no body, I believe, would have a good Opinion of the Wholsomeness of Animal Dung; for if a great Quantity do so infect the Air, ’tis likely a less may infect it in proportion to that less Quantity.

In great Cities the Air is full of these Effluvia, which in hot Climes often produce the Pestilence; and in cold Climes People are generally observ’d to live a less time, and less healthfully, in Cities, than in the Country; to which Difference, ’tis likely, that the eating unwholsome Gardenage may contribute.

This Dung is a fitter Food for venomous Creatures[19] than for edible Plants; and ’tis (no doubt) upon Account of this, that dung’d Gardens are so much frequented by Toads, which are seldom or never seen in the open undung’d Fields.

[19]Mr. Evelyn says, that Dung is the Nurse of Vermin.

What can we say then to the Salubrity of those Roots themselves, bred up and fatten’d among these Toads and Corruption? The Leaves indeed are only discharging some of the Filth, when we eat them; but the Roots have that unsavoury infected Food in their very Mouths, when we take them for our Nourishment.

But tho’ Dung be, upon these and other Accounts, injurious to the Garden, yet a considerable Quantity of it is so necessary to most Corn-fields, that without it little Good can be done by the old Husbandry.

Dung is not injurious to the Fields[20] being there in less Proportion: And the Produce of Corn is the Grain. When the Leaves have done their utmost to purify the Sap, the most refin’d Part is secern’d to be yet further elaborated by peculiar Organs; then, by the Vessels of the Blossoms, ’tis become double-refin’d, for the Nourishment of the Grain; which is therefore more pure from Dung, and more wholsome, than any other Part of the Plant that bears it.

[20]Such Plants as Cabbages, Turneps, Carrots, and Potatoes, when they are designed only for fatting of Cattle, will not be injured by Dung, Tillage, and Hoeing all together, which will make the Crops the greater, and the Cattle will like them never the worse.

And common Tillage alone is not sufficient for many Sorts of Corn, especially Wheat, which is the King of Grains.

Very few Fields can have the Conveniency of a sufficient Supply of Dung, to enable them to produce half the Wheat those will do near Cities, where they have Plenty of it.

The Crop of 20 Acres will scarce make Dung sufficient for one Acre, in the common Way of laying it on.

The Action of the Dung’s Ferment affords a Warmth[21] to the Infant-plants, in their most tender State, and the most rigorous Season.

[21]But though Dung in fermenting may have a little Warmth, yet it may sometimes, by letting more Water enter its Hollowness, be in a Frost much colder than undung’d pulverized Earth; for I have seen Wheat-plants in the Winter die in the very Spits of Dung, when undung’d drill’d Wheat, adjoining to it, planted at the same Time, has flourish’d all the same Winter; and I could, not find any other Reason for this, but the Hollowness of the Dung; and yet it seemed to be well rotted.

But ’tis hard to know how long the Warmth of this Ferment lasteth, by reason of the great Difficulty to distinguish the very least Degree of Heat from the very least Degree of Cold.

Under the Name of Dung we may also understand whatever ferments with the Earth (except Fire); such as green Vegetables cover’d in the Ground, &c.

As to the Difference of the Quantity of artificial Pasture made by Dung without Tillage, and that made by Tillage without Dung; the latter is many Times greater, of which I had the following Proof. An unplow’d Land, wherein a Dunghil had lain for two or three Years, and being taken away, was planted with Turneps; at the same time a till’d Land, contiguous thereto, was drill’d with Turneps, and Horse-ho’d; the other, being Hand-ho’d, prospered best at the first; but at last did not amount to the Fifth Part of the Till’d and Horse-ho’d, in Bigness, nor in Crop. The Benefit of the Dung and Hand-hoe was so inconsiderable, in comparison of the Plough and Hoe-plough; the little Quantity of artificial Pasture raised to the other, was only near the Surface, and did not reach deep enough to maintain the Turneps, till they arrived at the Fifth Part of the Growth of those, whose artificial Pasture reach’d to the Bottom of the Staple of the Land.

A like Proof is; that several Lands of Turneps, drill’d on the Level, at three Foot Rows, plow’d, and doubly dung’d, and also Horse-ho’d, did not produce near so good a Crop of Turneps, as Six Foot Ridges adjoining, Horse-ho’d, tho’ no Dung had been laid thereon for many Years: There was no other Difference, than that the three Foot Rows did not admit the Hoe-plough to raise half the artificial Pasture, as the Six Foot Rows did. The Dung plow’d into the narrow Intervals, before drilling, could operate no further, with any great Effect, than the Hoe-plough could turn it up, and help in its Pulveration.

Dung, without Tillage, can do very little; with some Tillage doth something; with much Tillage pulverizes the Soil in less Time, than Tillage alone can do; but the Tillage alone, with more Time, can pulverize as well: This the Experiments of artificially pulverizing of the poorest Land, as they are related by Mr. Evelyn, fully prove.

And these Experiments are the more to be depended on, as they are made both in England and Holland by Persons of known Integrity.

This Truth is also further confirmed by those Authors who have found, that High-way Dust alone is a Manure preferable to Dung: And all these Pulverations being made by Attrition or Contusion, why should not our Instruments of Pulveration, in Time, reduce a sufficient Part of the Staple of a dry friable Soil, to a Dust equal to that of a Highway?

The common Proportion of Dung used in the Field pulverizes only a small Part of the Staple: but how long a time may be required for our Instruments to pulverize an equal Part, it depending much upon the Weather, and the Degree of Friability of the Soil, is uncertain.

I have seen surprising Effects from Ground, after being kept unexhausted, by plowing with common Ploughs for Two whole Years running: And I am confident, that the Expence of this extraordinary Tillage and Fallow will not, in many Places, amount to above half the Expence of a dressing with Dung; and if the Land be all the Time kept in our Sort of little Ridges of the Size most proper for that Purpose, the Expence of plowing will be diminished one half; besides the Advantage the Earth of such Ridges hath, of being friable in Weather which is too moist for plowing the same Land on the Level.

I have made many Trials of fine Dung on the Rows; and, notwithstanding the Benefit of it, I have, for these several Years last past, left it off, finding that a little more Hoeing will supply it at a much less Expence, than that of so small a Quantity of Manure, and of the Hands necessary to lay it on, and of the Carriage.

CHAP. V.
Of Tillage.

Tillage is breaking and dividing the Ground by Spade, Plough, Hoe, or other Instruments, which divide by a Sort of Attrition (or Contusion) as Dung does by Fermentation[22].

[22]Neque enim aliud est Colere quam Resolvere, & Fermentare Terram. Columella.

And since the artificial Pasture of Plants is made and increas’d by Pulveration, ’tis no Matter whether it be by the Ferment of Dung, the Attrition of the Plough, the Contusion of the Roller, or by any other Instrument or Means whatsoever, except by Fire, which carries away all the Cement of that which is burnt.

By Dung we are limited to the Quantity of it we can procure, which in most Places is too scanty: But by Tillage, we can inlarge our Field of subterranean Pasture without Limitation, tho’ the external Surface of it be confin’d within narrow Bounds: Tillage may extend the Earth’s internal Superficies, in proportion to the Division of its Parts; and as Division is infinite, so may that Superficies be.

Every Time the Earth is broken by any Sort of Tillage, or Division, there must arise some new Superficies of the broken Parts, which never has been open before. For when the Parts of Earth are once united and incorporated together, ’tis morally impossible, that they, or any of them, should be broken again, only in the same Places; for to do that, such Parts must have again the same numerical Figures and Dimensions they had before such Breaking, which even by an infinite Division could never be likely to happen: As the Letters of a Distichon, cut out and mixt, if they should be thrown up never so often, would never be likely to fall into the same Order and Position with one another, so as to recompose the same Distich.

Although the internal Superficies may have been drain’d by a preceding Crop, and the next Plowing may move many of the before divided Parts, without new-breaking them; yet such as are new-broken, have, at such Places where they are so broken, a new Superficies, which never was, or did exist before; because we cannot reasonably suppose, that any of those Parts can have in all places (if in any Places) the same Figure and Dimensions twice.

For as Matter is divisible ad infinitum, the Places or Lines whereat ’tis so divisible, must be, in relation to Number, infinite, that is to say, without Number; and must have at every Division Superficies of Parts of infinite Variety[23] in Figure and Dimensions.

[23]Their Variety is such, that ’tis next to impossible, any two Pieces, or Clods, in a Thousand Acres of till’d Ground, should have the same Figure, and equal Dimensions, or that any Piece should exactly tally with any other, except with that from whence it was broken off.

And because ’tis morally impossible, the same Figure and Dimensions should happen twice to any one Part, we need not wonder, how the Earth, every time of Tilling, should afford a new internal Superficies (or artificial Pasture); and that the till’d Soil has in it an inexhaustible Fund, which by a sufficient Division (being capable of an infinite one) may be produc’d.

Tillage (as well as Dung) is beneficial to all Sorts of Land[24]. Light Land, being naturally hollow, has larger Pores, which are the Cause of its Lightness: This, when it is by any Means sufficiently divided, the Parts being brought nearer together, becomes, for a time, Bulk for Bulk, heavier; i. e. The same Quantity will be contain’d in less Room, and so is made to partake of the Nature and Benefits of strong Land, viz. to keep out too much Heat and Cold, and the like.

[24]’Tis of late fully prov’d, by the Experience of many Farmers, that two or three additional Plowings will supply the Place of Dung, even in the old Husbandry, if they be perform’d at proper Seasons: and the hiring Price of three Plowings, after Land has been thrice plow’d before, is but Twelve Shillings, whereas a Dunging will cost three Pounds: This was accidentally discovered in my Neighbourhood, by the Practice of a poor Farmer, who, when he had prepared his Land for Barley, and could not procure Seed to sow it, plow’d it on till Wheat Seed-Time, and (by means of such additional Plowing) without Dung, had so good a Crop of Wheat, that it was judg’d to be more than the Inheritance of the Land it grew on.

The same Effect follows when they prepare Land for Turneps, since they are come in Fashion, and sow them several Times upon several Plowings, the Fly as often taking them off; they have from such extraordinary Tillage a good Crop of Wheat, instead of the lost Turneps, without the Help of Dung; hence double-plowing is now become frequent in this Country.

The Reason why Land is enrich’d by lying long unplow’d, is that so very few Vegetables are carried off it, very little being produc’d; the Exhaustion is less than what is added by the Atmosphere, Cattle, &c. But when ’tis plow’d, a vastly greater Quantity of Vegetables is produc’d, and carried off, more than by the old Husbandry is return’d to it.

But strong Land, being naturally less porous, is made for a Time lighter (as well as richer) by a good Division; the Separation of its Parts makes it more porous, and causes it to take up more Room than it does in its natural State; and then it partakes of all the Benefits of lighter Land.

When strong Land is plow’d, and not sufficiently, so that the Parts remain gross, ’tis said to be rough, and it has not the Benefit of Tillage; because most of the artificial Pores (or Interstices) are too large; and then it partakes of the Inconveniences of the hollow Land untill’d.

For when the light Land is plow’d but once, that is not sufficient to diminish its natural Hollowness (or Pores;) and, for Want of more Tillage, the Parts into which ’tis divided by that once (or perhaps twice) Plowing, remain too large; and consequently the artificial Pores are large also, and, in that respect, are like the ill-till’d strong Land.

Light-land, having naturally less internal Superficies, seems to require the more Tillage[25] or Dung to enrich it; as when the poor, hollow, thin Downs have their upper Part (which is the best) burnt, whereby all, (except a Caput Mortuum) is carried away; yet the Salts of this spread upon that barren Part of the Staple, which is unburnt, divide it into so very minute Particles, that their Pasture will nourish two or three good Crops of Corn: But then the Plough, even with a considerable Quantity of Dung, is never able afterwards to make a Division equal to what those Salts have done; and therefore such burnt Land remains barren.

[25]As for puffy Land, which naturally swells up, instead of subsiding, tho’ its Hollowness is much abated by Tillage, yet it is thought little better than barren Land, and unprofitable for Corn: But what we usually call Light-land, is only comparatively so, in Respect of that which is heavier and stronger. And this Sort of Light land becomes much lighter by being ill-till’d; the unbroken Pieces of Turf underneath undissolved, forming large Cavities, increase its Hollowness, and consequently its Lightness: I have often known this Sort of Land despis’d by its Owners, who fear’d to give it due Tillage, which they thought would make it so light, that the Wind would blow it away; but whenever such has been thoroughly till’d, it never fail’d to become much stronger than before; and considering that ’tis till’d with less Expence than very strong Land, it is, for several Sorts of Corn, found to be more profitable than Land of greater Strength and Richness, that is more difficult to be till’d.

And I am apt to think, that this Sort of Light-land acquires more Cement, by having its external Superficies often changed, and exposed to the Dews, and other Benefits of the Atmosphere, as well as by the Increase of (its internal Superficies, which is the Surfaces of all the divided Parts of Earth, or) the Pasture of Plants; the one being augmented by the other; i. e., that into the more Parts the Earth is broken, the more Cement will it attain, from the Sulphur, which is brought by the Dews.

Artificial Pores cannot be too small, because Roots may the more easily enter the Soil that has them, quite contrary to natural Pores; for these may be, and generally are, too small, and too hard for the Entrance of all weak Roots, and for the free Entrance of strong Roots.

Insufficient Tillage leaves strong Land with its natural Pores too small, and its artificial ones too large. It leaves Light-land, with its natural and artificial Pores both too large.

Pores that are too small in hard Ground, will not easily permit Roots to enter them.

Pores that are too large in any Sort of Land, can be of little other Use to Roots, but only to give them Passage to other Cavities more proper for them; and if in any Place they lie open to the Air, they are dry’d up, and spoil’d, before they reach them.

For fibrous Roots (which alone maintain the Plant; the other Roots serve for receiving the Chyle from them, and convey it to the Stem) can take in no Nourishment from any Cavity, unless they come into Contact with[26], and press against, all the Superficies of that Cavity, which includes them; for it dispenses the Food to their Lacteals by such Pressure only: But a fibrous Root is not so press’d by the Superficies of a Cavity whose Diameter is greater than that of the Root.

[26]Roots cannot have any Nourishment from Cavities of the Earth that are too large to press against them, except what Water, when ’tis in great Quantity, brings to them, which is imbibed by the gentle Pressure of the Water; but when the Water is gone, those large Cavities being empty, the Pressure ceases; and this is the Reason, that when Land has few other but such large Cavities, the Plants in it always suffer more by dry Weather, than in Land which by Dung or Tillage has more minute and fewer large Cavities.

There may be some Moisture on the Superficies of large Cavities; but without Pressure the fibrous Roots cannot reach it; and very little or no Pressure can be made to one Part of the Root’s Superficies, unless the Whole that is included be pressed.

If it be objected that a Charlock-Plant, when pulled up, and thrown upon the Ground, will grow thereon; this proves nothing against the Necessity of Pressure, &c. for the Weight of that Plant presses some of its Roots so closely against the Ground, that they send out (unless the Weather be very dry) new Fibres into the Earth; and there they are pressed in all their Superficies; without which Fibres the Plant doth not grow.

The Surfaces of great Clods form Declivities on every Side of them, and large Cavities, which are as Sinks to convey, what Rain and Dew bring, too quickly downwards to below the plow’d Part.

The first and second Plowings with common Ploughs scarce deserve the Name of Tillage; they rather serve to prepare the Land for Tillage.

The third, fourth, and every subsequent Plowing, may be of more Benefit, and less Expence, than any of the preceding ones.

But the last Plowings will be more advantageously perform’d by Way of Hoeing, as in the following Chapters will appear.

For the finer Land is made by Tillage, the richer will it become, and the more Plants it will maintain.

It has been often observ’d, that when Part of a Ground has been better till’d than the rest, and the whole Ground constantly manag’d alike afterwards for six or seven Years successively; this Part that was but once better till’d, always produc’d a better Crop than the rest, and the Difference remain’d very visible every Harvest.

One Part being once made finer, the Dews did more enrich it; for they penetrate within and beyond the Superficies, whereto the Roots are able to enter: The fine Parts of the Earth are impregnate, throughout their whole Substance, with some of the Riches carried in by the Dews, and there reposited; until, by new Tillage, the Insides of those fine Parts become Superficies; and as the Corn drains them, they are again supply’d as before; but the rough large Parts cannot have that Benefit; the Dews not penetrating to their Centres, they remain poorer.

I think nothing can be said more strongly to confirm the Truth of this, than what is related by the Authors quoted by Mr. Evelyn[27], to this Effect, viz.

[27]In Pag. 17, 18, and 19, of his Phil. Discourse of Earth.

‘Take of the most barren Earth you can find, pulverize it well, and expose it abroad for a Year, incessantly agitated[28]; it will become so fertile as to receive an exotic Plant from the furthest Indies; and to cause all Vegetables to prosper in the most exalted Degree, and to bear their Fruit as kindly with us as in their natural Climates.’

[28]i. e. Stirr’d often.

This artificial Dust[29], he says, will entertain Plants which refuse Dung, and other violent Applications; and that it has a more nutritive Power than any artificial Dungs or Compost whatsoever: And further, that by this Toil of pulverizing, “’tis found, that Soil may be so strangely alter’d from its former Nature, as to render the harm and most uncivil Clay[30] obsequious to the Husbandmen, and to bring forth Roots and Plants, which otherwise require the lighted and hollowest Mould[31].”

[29]Tho’ it may be impossible for the Plough to reduce the whole Staple into so fine Powder, yet the more internal Superficies it makes, the more Dust will be made by the Atmosphere in Proportion; and great Clods perhaps are of no Use to Plants, but by that Dust they let fall, being thence extricated by the insensible Ferment of the nitrous Air; and the Surfaces of this artificial Dust must receive such Operations from the Air, before the utmost Fertility be obtain’d.

[30]But I take harsh uncivil Clay to be the least profitable of any to keep in Tillage.

[31]To this Dust, Namque hoc imitamur arando ought to be apply’d, and not to Putre Solum, which itself needs Tillage, as well as strong Land: But it seems the Antients did not observe the Difference between natural Pores (or Hollowness) and artificial ones, tho’ it is very great; as is shewn in Chap. of [Pasture of Plants]: ’Tis easier indeed to imitate this artificial Dust in hollow than in strong Land.

’Tis to be suppos’d, that the Indian Plants had their due Degrees of Heat and Moisture given them; and I should not chuse to bestow this Toil upon the poorest of Earth in a Field or Garden, tho’ that be the most sure wherein to make the Experiment[32].

[32]This is the most proper Trial of the Effect of Pulveration by pounding and grinding; but Land may be so barren, that Plough or Spade may not be sufficient to pulverize it to that Degree, which is necessary to give it the same Fertility, that Pounding in a Mortar, or grinding betwixt Marbles (as Colours are ground), can.

I never myself try’d this way of pounding or grinding, because impracticable in the Fields.

But I have had the Experience of a Multitude of Instances, which confirm it so far, that I am in no Doubt, that any Soil[33] (be it rich or poor) can ever be made too fine by Tillage[34].

[33]Land that is too hollow and light, having no Cement to join its Parts together, tho’ in Nature they are capable of infinite Division, yet in Practice the Plough cannot divide them to any Purpose, unless they were first join’d, but glides through without breaking them; being more like to the primary Particles of Water against the Plough, which are broken by no Force, than to Earth; it may be moved, but not broken by Tillage, and therefore ought not to be reputed arable; nor does it indeed deserve the Name of Land, but as the desart Sands of Lybia, to distinguish it from Sea.

[34]According to some, this Rule is only general, and not universal; for, say they, there’s a Sort of binding Gravel, that, when it is made fine, will, by a sudden Dash of Rain, run together like a Metal; and I have seen the same Accident in a particular Sort of white Land; but this very rarely happens to the latter: I never knew it above once, and that was after Barley was sown on it; the Hardness was only like a very thin Ice upon the Surface, which was some Hindrance to the coming up of the Barley, until the Harrow’s going over it once or twice broke that Ice or Crust, and then it came up very well.

I never had any other Sort of Land liable to this Misfortune: therefore can say nothing to the Gravel in that Case, nor how deep the Constipation may reach in it, nor what Remedy is most proper to prevent the ill Consequence of it: But if there should be two or three Exceptions out of One thousand Seventy-nine Millions One thousand and Sixty different Sorts of Earth (see Mr. Evelyn’s Terra, p. 2), ’twill be no great Matter.

But I think these are no real Exceptions against any Degree of Pulverizing; for it only shews, that some Sorts of Land, tho’ very few, are subject by Accident to lose too soon their Pulveration: And if the Fineness were no Benefit to that Land, such Loss of it would be no Injury to it.

For ’tis without Dispute, that one cubical Foot of this minute Powder may have more internal Superficies, than a thousand cubical Feet of the same, or any other Earth till’d in the common Manner; and, I believe no two arable Earths in the World do exceed one another in their natural Richness Twenty Times; that is, one cubical Foot of the richest is not able to produce an equal Quantity of Vegetables, cæteris paribus, to Twenty cubical Feet of the poorest; therefore ’tis not strange, that the poorest, when by pulverizing it has obtain’d One hundred Times the internal Superficies of the rich untill’d Land, it should exceed it in Fertility; or, if a Foot of the poorest was made to have Twenty Times the Superficies of a Foot of such rich Land, the poorest might produce an equal Quantity of Vegetables with the rich[35]. Besides, there is another extraordinary Advantage, when a Soil has a larger internal Superficies in a very little Compass; for then the Roots of Plants in it are better supply’d with Nourishment, being nearer to them on all Sides within Reach, than it can be when the Soil is less fine, as in common Tillage; and the Roots in the one must extend much further than in the other, to reach an equal Quantity of Nourishment: They must range and fill perhaps above twenty Times more Space to collect the same Quantity of Food.

[35]And very poor Land, well pulveriz’d, will produce better Corn than very rich will do, without Manure or Tillage. The Experiment may be made by paring off the Turf, and setting Corn in the whole Ground that is very rich; and that will shew how much the natural Pasture of the rich is inferior to the artificial Pasture of the poor Land; but then the poor must have this Proportion of Excess of internal Superficies continued to it, during the whole Time of their Growth, which cannot be done without frequently repeated Divisions of the Soil by Hoeing or Manure; else it might require forty Times the internal Superficies at the Time of Sowing, to keep twenty Times the internal Superficies of the rich till Harvest: For although the rich is continually losing some of its artificial Pasture, as well as the poor, yet by losing this equally, they still draw nearer and nearer to the first Inequality of their natural Pasture.

But poor Land, being lighter, has this Advantage, that it being more friable than the strong, requires less Labour to pulverize it; and therefore the Expence of it is much less, than in proportion to the Excess of Poorness of its internal Superficies.

But in this fine Soil, the most weak and tender Roots have free Passage to the utmost of their Extent, and have also an easy, due, and equal Pressure every-where, as in Water.

Hard Ground makes a too great Resistance, as Air makes a too little Resistance, to the Superficies of Roots.

Farmers, just when they have brought their Land into a Condition fit to be further till’d to much greater Advantage, leave off, supposing the Soil to be fine enough, when, with the Help of Harrows, they can cover the Seed; and afterwards with a Roller they break the Clods; to the End that, if a Crop succeed, they may be able to mow it, without being hinder’d by those Clods: By what I could ever find, this Instrument, call’d a Roller, is seldom beneficial to good Husbands; it rather untills the Land, and anticipates the subsiding of the Ground, which in strong Land happens too soon of itself[36].

[36]This Injury the Roller does, is only when tis used to press down the Earth after the Seed is sown; and is the greater, if Land be moist; but the Rolling of it in dry Weather, when ’tis to be immediately plow’d up again, is the most speedy Way to pulverize the Soil; and the Harrow is then very useful in pulling up the Clods, to the End that the Roller may the better come at them to crush them.

But more to blame are they, who neglect to give their Land due Plowing, trusting to the Harrow to make it fine; and when they have thrown in their Seed, go over it twenty Times with the Harrows[37] till the Horses have trodden it almost as hard as a Highway, which in moist Weather spoils the Crop; but on the contrary, the very Horses, when the Earth is moist, ought all to tread in the Furrows only, as in plowing with a Hoe-Plough they always do, when they use it instead of a common Plough.

[37]Nam veteres Romani dixerunt male subactum Agrum, qui satis Frugibus occandus sit.

Sed ut compluribus Iterationibus sic resolvatur vervactum in Pulverem, ut nullam vel exiguam desideret Occationem, cum seminaverimus. Col. Lib. 2. Cap. 4.

CHAP. VI.
Of Hoeing.

Hoeing is the breaking or dividing the Soil by Tillage, whilst the Corn or other Plants are growing thereon.

It differs from common Tillage (which is always perform’d before the Corn or Plants are sown or planted) in the Times of performing it; ’tis much more beneficial; and ’tis perform’d by different Instruments.

Land that is before Sowing tilled never so much (tho’ the more ’tis till’d the more it will produce) will have some Weeds, and they will come in along with the Crop for a Share of the Benefit of the Tillage, greater or less, according to their Number, and what Species they are of.

But what is most to be regarded is, that as soon as the Ploughman has done his Work of plowing and harrowing, the Soil begins to undo it, inclining towards, and endeavouring to regain, its natural specific Gravity; the broken Parts by little and little coalesce, unite, and lose some of their Surfaces; many of their Pores and Interstices close up during the Seed’s Incubation and Hatching in the Ground; and, as the Plants grow up, they require an Increase of Food proportionable to their increasing Bulk; but on the contrary, instead thereof, that internal Superficies, which is their artificial Pasture, gradually decreases.

The Earth is so unjust to Plants, her own Off-spring, as to shut up her Stores in proportion to their Wants; that is, to give them less Nourishment when they have need of more: Therefore Man, for whose Use they are chiefly design’d, ought to bring in his reasonable Aid for their Relief, and force open her Magazines with the Hoe, which will thence procure them at all times Provisions in Abundance, and also free them from Intruders; I mean, their spurious Kindred, the Weeds, that robb’d them of their too scanty Allowance.

There’s no Doubt, but that one third Part of the Nourishment raised by Dung and Tillage, given to Plants or Corn at many proper Seasons, and apportion’d to the different Times of their Exigencies, will be of more Benefit to a Crop, than the Whole apply’d, as it commonly is, only at the time of Sowing. This old Method is almost as unreasonable as if Treble the full Stock of Leaves, necessary to maintain Silk-worms till they had finished their Spinning, should be given them before they are hatched, and no more afterwards.

Next to Hoeing, and something like it, is Transplanting, but much inferior; both because it requires a so much greater Number of Hands, that by no Contrivance can it ever become general, nor does it succeed, if often repeated; but Hoeing will maintain any Plant in the greatest Vigour ’tis capable of, even unto the utmost Period of Age. Besides, there is Danger in removing a whole Plant, and Loss of Time before the Plant can take Root again, all the former Roots being broken off at the Ends in taking up (for ’tis impossible to do it without), and so must wait until by the Strength and Virtue of its own Sap (which by a continual Perspiration is daily enfeebled) new Roots are form’d, which, unless the Earth continue moist[38], are so long in forming, that they not only find a more difficult Reception into the closing Pores; but many Times the Plant languishes and dies of an Atrophy, being starv’d in the midst of Plenty; but whilst this is thus decaying, the hoed Plant obtains a more flourishing State than ever, without removing from the same Soil that produc’d it.

[38]But when the Earth doth continue moist, many transplanted Vegetables thrive better than the same Species planted in Seeds, because the former, striking Root sooner, have a greater Advantage of the fresh-pulverized Mould, which loses some of its artificial Pasture before the Seeds have Roots to reach it. The same Advantage also have Seeds by soaking till ready to sprout before they are planted. To both these the Moisture of the Earth is necessary.

’Tis observ’d that some Plants are the worse for Transplanting[39]. Fenochia removed is never so good and tender as that which is not, it receives such a Check in Transplanting in its Infancy; which, like the Rickets, leaves Knots that indurate the Parts of the Fennel, and spoil it from being a Dainty.

[39]As most long Tap-rooted Plants are; for I have often try’d the Transplanting of Plants, of St. Foin and Luserne; and could never find, that any ever came near to the Perfection that those will do which are not removed, being equally single.

Tap-rooted Grasses and Turneps are always injured by Transplanting; their long Root once broken off never arrives at the Depth it would have arriv’d unbroken; as for this Reason they cut off the Tap-root of an Apple-tree, to prevent its running downward, by which it would have too much Moisture.

Hoeing has most of the Benefits without any Inconveniences of Transplanting; because it removes the Roots by little and little, and at different Times; some of the Roots remaining undisturb’d, always supply the moved Roots with Moisture, and the whole Plant with Nourishment sufficient to keep it from fainting, until the moved Roots can enjoy the Benefit of their new Pasture, which is very soon.

Another extraordinary Benefit of the new Hoeing[40] Husbandry is, that it keeps Plants moist in dry Weather, and this upon a double Account.

[40]Hoeing may be divided into Deep, which is our Horse-hoeing, and Shallow, which is the English Hand-hoeing; and also the Shallow Horse-hoeing, used in some Places betwixt Rows, where the Intervals are very narrow, as sixteen or eighteen Inches; this is but an Imitation of the Hand-hoe, or a Succadaneum to it; and can neither supply the Use of Dung, nor of Fallow, and may be properly called Scratch-hoeing.

First, as they are better nourished by Hoeing, they require less Moisture, as appears by Dr. Woodward’s Experiment, that those Plants which receive the greatest Increase, having most terrestrial Nourishment, carry off the least Water in Proportion to their Augment: So Barley or Oats, being sown on a Part of a Ground very well divided by Dung and Tillage, will come up and grow vigorously without Rain, when the same Grains, sown at the same Time, on the other Part, not thus enriched, will scarce come up; or, if they do, will not thrive till Rain comes.

Secondly, The Hoe, I mean the Horse-hoe (the other goes not deep enough), procures Moisture to the Roots from the Dews, which fall most in dry Weather; and those Dews (by what Mr. Thomas Henshaw has observ’d) seem to be the richest Present the Atmosphere gives to the Earth; having, when putrefy’d in a Vessel, a black Sediment like Mud at the Bottom. This seems to cause the darkish Colour to the upper Part of the Ground. And the Sulphur, which is found in the Sediment of the Dew, may be the chief Ingredient of the Cement of the Earth; Sulphur being very glutinous, as Nitre is dissolvent. Dew has both these.

These enter in proportion to the Fineness and Freshness of the Soil, and to the Quantity that is so made fine and fresh by the Hoe. How this comes to pass, and the Reason of it, are shewn in the Chapter of [Tillage].

To demonstrate that Dews moisten the Land when fine, dig a Hole in the hard dry Ground, in the driest Weather, as deep as the Plough ought to reach: Beat the Earth very fine, and fill the Hole therewith; and, after a few Nights Dews, you’ll find this fine Earth become moist at the Bottom, and the hard Ground all round will continue dry.

Till a Field in Lands; make one Land very fine by frequent deep Plowings; and let another be rough by insufficient Tillage, alternately; then plow the whole Field cross-ways in the driest Weather, which has continued long; and you will perceive, by the Colour of the Earth, that every fine Land will be turn’d up moist; but every rough Land will be dry as Powder, from Top to Bottom.

Altho’ hard Ground, when thoroughly soak’d with Rain, will continue wet longer than fine till’d Land adjoining to it; yet this Water serves rather to chill, than nourish the Plants standing therein, and to keep out the other Benefits of the Atmosphere, leaving the Ground still harder when ’tis thence exhaled; and being at last once become dry, it can admit no more Moisture, unless from a long-continued Deluge of Rain, which seldom falls till Winter, which is not the Season for Vegetation.

As fine hoed Ground is not so long soaked by Rain, so the Dews never suffer it to become perfectly dry: This appears by the Plants, which flourish and grow fat in this, whilst those in the hard Ground are starved, except such of them, which stand near enough to the hoed[41] Earth, for the Roots to borrow Moisture and Nourishment from it.

[41]As when Wheat is drill’d late in very poor Land, so that in the Spring the young Plants look all very yellow; let your Hoe-plough, making a crooked Line, like an Indenture, on one Side of a strait Row of this poor Wheat in the Spring, turn a Furrow from it; and in a short time you will see all those yellow Plants, that are contiguous to this Furrow, change their yellow Colour to a deep Green; whilst those Plants of the same Row, which stand farthest off from this indented Furrow, change not their Colour till afterwards; and all the Plants change or retain their Colour sooner or later gradually, as they stand nearer to, or farther from it; and the other Rows, which have no Furrow near them, continue their yellow, after all this Row is become green and flourishing: But this Experiment is best to be made in poor sandy Ground, when the Mould is friable; else perhaps the different Colour may not appear until the Furrow be turn’d back to the Row, having lain some time to be somewhat pulveriz’d (or impregnated) by the Weather, &c.

This Experiment I often made on Wheat drill’d on the Level before I drill’d any on Ridges.

The plowing one Furrow in sandy or mellow Ground makes a Pulveration, which is enjoy’d first by these Plants that are the nearest to it; and also delivers them from the Weeds, which, though there may be very few, yet there is a vast difference between their robbing the Wheat of its Pasture in the Row, and the Wheat’s enjoying both that and the whole Pasture of the Furrow also.

I never remember to have seen a Plant poor, that was contiguous to a well-hoed Interval, unless overpower’d by a too great Multitude of other Plants; and the same Exception must be made, if it were a Plant that required more or less Heat or Moisture, than the Soil or Climate afforded.

And I have been informed by some Persons, that they have often made the like Observations; that, in the driest of Weather, good Hoeing[42] procures Moisture to Roots; tho’ the Ignorant and Incurious fansy, it lets in the Drought; and therefore are afraid to hoe their Plants at such Times, when, unless they water them, they are spoil’d for Want of it.

[42]When Land is become hard by lying too long unho’d, the Plough in turning a deep Furrow from each Side of a single Row of young Plants (suppose of Turneps) may crack the Earth quite through the Row, and expose the Roots to the open Air and Sun in very dry Weather; but if the Earth wherein the Plants stand be fine, there will be no Cracks in it: ’Tis therefore the delaying the Hoeing too long that occasions the Injury. But to hoe with Advantage against dry Weather, the Ground must have been well tilled or hoed before, that the Hoe may go deep, else the Dews, that fall in the Night, will be exhal’d back in the Heat of the Day.

There is yet one more Benefit Hoeing gives to Plants, which by no Art can possibly be given to Animals: For all that can be done in feeding an Animal is, what has been here already said of Hoeing; that is, to give it sufficient Food, Meat and Drink, at the times it has occasion for them; if you give an Animal any more, ’tis to no manner of Purpose, unless you could give it more Mouths, which is impossible; but in hoeing a Plant the additional Nourishment thereby given, enables it to send out innumerable additional Fibres and Roots, as in one of the Glasses with a Mint in it, is seen; which fully demonstrates, that a Plant increaseth its Mouths, in some Proportion to the Increase of Food given to it: So that Hoeing, by the new Pasture it raises, furnishes both Food and Mouths to Plants; and ’tis for Want of Hoeing, that so few are brought to their Growth and Perfection[43].

[43]A Ground was drill’d with Ray-grass and Barley, in Rows at Five Inches Distance from each other; it produced a pretty good Crop of Ray-grass the second Year as is usual; there was adjoining to it a Ground of Turneps, that were in Rows, with wide Intervals Horse-ho’d; they stood for Seed; and amongst them there was, in Room of a Turnep, a single Plant of Ray-grass, which, being hoed as the Turneps were, had (in every one’s Opinion that saw it) acquired a Bulk at least equal to a Thousand Plants of the same Species in the other Ground; tho’ that vast Plant had no other Advantage above the other, except its Singleness, and the deep Hoeing.

I have seen a Chickweed, by the same means, as much increas’d beyond its common Size; and a Plant of Mustard-seed, whose collateral Branches were much bigger than ever I saw a whole Plant of that Sort; it was higher than I could reach its Top, and indeed more like a Tree than an Herb; many other sorts of Plants have I seen thus increased beyond what I had ever observ’d before, but none so much as those.

In what Manner the Sarrition of the Antients was performed in their Corn, is not very clear: This seems to have been their Method; viz. When the Plants were some time come up, they harrowed the Ground, and pull’d out the Weeds by Hand. The Process of this appears in Columella, where he directs the Planting of Medica to be but a Sort of Harrowing or Raking amongst the young Plants, that the Weeds might come out the more easily: Ligneis Rastris statim jacta Semina obruantur. Post Sationem Ligneis Rastris Jarriendus, & identidem runcandus est Ager, ne alterius generis Herba invalidam Medicam perimat.

They harrowed and hoed Rastris; so that their Occatio and Sarritio were performed with much the same Sort of Instrument, and differed chiefly in the Time: The first was at Seed-time, to cover the Seed, or level the Ground; the other was to move the Ground after the Plants were up.

One Sort of their Sarrition was, Segetes permota Terra debere adobrui, ut fruticare possint. Another Sort was thus: In Locis autem frigidis sarriri nec adobrui, sed Plana Sarritione Terram permoveri.

For the better Understanding of these two Sorts of Sarrition, we must consider, that the Antients sowed their Corn under Furrow; that is, when they had harrowed the Ground, to break the Clods, and make it level, they sowed the Seed, and then plowed it in: This left the Ground very uneven, and the Corn came up (as we see it does here in the same Case) mostly in the lowest Places betwixt the Furrows, which always lay higher: This appears by Virgil’s Cum Sulcos æquant Sata. Now, when they used Plana Sarritio, they harrowed Length-ways of the Furrows, which being somewhat harden’d, there could be little Earth thrown down thence upon the young Corn.

But the other Sort of Sarrition, whereby the Corn is said Adobrui, to be cover’d, seems to be perform’d by Harrowing cross the Furrows; which must needs throw down much Earth from the Furrows, which necessarily fell upon the Corn.

How this did contribute to make the Corn fruticare, is another Question: I am in no doubt to say, it was not from covering any Part of it (for I see that has a contrary Effect), but from moving much Ground, which gave a new Pasture to the Roots: This appears by the Observation of the extraordinary Frutication of Wheat ho’d without being cover’d; and by the Injury it receives by not being uncover’d when any Earth falls on the Rows.

The same Author saith, Faba, & cætera Legumina, cum quatuor Digitis à Terra extiterint, recte farrientur, excepto tamen Lupino, cujus Semini contraria est Sarritio; quoniam unam Radicem habet, quæ sive Ferro succisa feu vulnerata est, totus Frutex emoritur.

If they had ho’d it only betwixt Rows, there had been no Danger of killing the Lupine, which is a Plant most proper for Hoeing. What he says of the Lupine’s having no need of Sarrition, because it is able of itself to kill Weeds, shews the Antients were ignorant of the chief Use of Hoeing; viz. to raise new Nourishment by dividing the Earth, and making a new Internal Superficies in it.

Sarrition scratched and broke so small a Part of the Earth’s Surface, amongst the Corn and Weeds, without Distinction, or favouring one any more than the other, that it was a Dispute, whether the Good it did in facilitating the Runcation (or Hand-weeding) was greater, than the Injury it did by bruising and tearing the Corn: And many of the Antients chose rather to content themselves with the Use of Runcation only, and totally to omit all Sarrition of their Corn.

But Hoeing is an Action very different from that of Sarrition, and is every Way beneficial, no-way injurious to Corn, tho’ destructive to Weeds. Therefore some modern Authors shew a profound Ignorance, in translating Sarritio, Hoeing: They give an Idea very different from the true one: For the Antients truly hoed their Vineyards, but not their Corn; neither did they plant their Corn in Rows, without which they could not give it the Vineyard-hoeing; Their Sarculation was used but amongst small Quantities of sown Corn, and is yet in Use for Flax; for I have seen the Sarculum (which is a Sort of a very narrow Hoe) used amongst the Plants of Flax standing irregularly: But this Operation is too tedious and too chargeable, to be apply’d to great Quantities of irregular Corn.

If they ho’d their Crops sown at Random, one would think they should have made mad Work of it; since they were not at the Pains to plant in Rows, and hoe betwixt them with their Bidens; being the Instrument with which they tilled many of their Vineyards, and enters as deep as the Plough, and is much better than the English Hoe, which indeed seems, at the first Invention of it, to be designed rather to scrape Chimneys, than to till the Ground.

The highest and lowest Vineyards are ho’d by the Plough; first the high Vineyards, where the Vines grow (almost like Ivy) upon great Trees, such as Elms, Maples, Cherry-trees, &c. These are constantly kept in Tillage, and produce good Crops of Corn, besides what the Trees do yield; and also these great and constant Products of the Vines are owing to this Sort of Hoe-tillage; because neither in Meadow or Pasture Grounds can Vines be made to prosper; tho’ the Land be much richer, and yet have a less Quantity of Grass taken off it, than the Arable has Corn carried from that.

The Vines of low Vineyards[44], ho’d by the Plough, have their Heads just above the Ground, standing all in a most regular Order, and are constantly plowed in the proper Season: These have no other Assistance, but by Hoeing; because their Head and Roots are so near together, that Dung would spoil the Taste of the Wine they produce, in hot Countries.

[44]From these I took my Vineyard Scheme, observing that indifferent Land produces an annual Crop of Grapes and Wood without Dung; and though there is annually carried off from an Acre of Vineyard, as much in Substance as is carried off in the Crop of an Acre of Corn produced on Land of equal Goodness; and yet the Vineyard Soil is never impoverished, unless the hoeing Culture be denied it: But a few annual Crops of Wheat, without Dung in the common Management, will impoverish and emaciate the Soil.

The Vine indeed has the Advantage of being a large perennial Plant, and of receiving some Part of its Nourishment below the Staple; but it has also Disadvantages: The Soil of the Vineyard never can have a true Summer Fallow, tho’ it has much Summer Hoeing; for the Vines live in it, and all over it all the Year: neither can that Soil have Benefit from Dung, because though by increasing the Pulveration, it increases the Crop, yet it spoils the Taste of the Wine; the Exhaustion of that Soil is therefore supply’d by no artificial Help but Hoeing: And by all the Experience I have had of it, the same Cause will have the same Effect upon a Soil for the Production of Corn, and other Vegetables, as well as upon the Vineyard.

All Vineyards must be ho’d one Way or other[45], or else they will produce nothing of Value; but Corn-Fields without Hoeing do produce something, tho’ nothing in Comparison to what they would do with it.

[45]Vines, that cannot be ho’d by the Ploughs, are ho’d by the Bidens.

Mr. Evelyn says, that when the Soil, wherein Fruit-Trees are planted, is constantly kept in Tillage, they grow up to be an Orchard in half the Time they would do, if the Soil were not till’d; and this keeping an Orchard-Soil in Arable, is Horse-hoeing it.

In some Places in Berkshire they have used, for a long time to Hand-hoe most Sorts of Corn, with very great Success; and I may say this, that I myself never knew, or heard, that ever any Crop of Corn was properly so ho’d, but what very well answer’d the Expence, even of this Hand-work; but be this never so profitable, there are not a Number of Hands to use it in great Quantities; which possibly was one Reason the Antients were not able to introduce it into their Corn-Fields to any Purpose; tho’ they should not have been ignorant of the Effect of it, from what they saw it do in their Vineyards and Gardens.

In the next Place I shall give some general Directions, which by Experience I have found necessary to be known, in order to the Practice of this Hoeing-Husbandry.

I. ’Tis necessary to know how deep we may plant our Seed, without Danger of burying it; for so ’tis said to be, when laid at a Depth below what ’tis able to come up at.

Different Sorts of Seeds come up at different Depths; some at six Inches, or more; some at not more than half an Inch: The Way to know for certain the Depth any Sort will come up at is, to make Gauges in this Manner: Saw off 12 Sticks of about 3 Inches Diameter: Bore a Hole in the End of each Stick, and drive into it a taper Peg; let the first Peg be half an Inch long, the next an Inch, and so on; every Peg to be half an Inch longer than the former, till the last Peg be six Inches long; then in that sort of Ground where you intend to plant, make a Row of Twenty Holes with the half-Inch Gauge; put therein Twenty good Seeds; cover them up, and stick the Gauge at the End of that Row; then do the like with all the other Eleven Gauges: This will determine the Depth, at which the most Seeds will come up[46].

[46]In the common way of Sowing tis hard to know the proper Depth, because some Seeds lying deep, and others shallow, it is not easy to discover the Depth of those that are buried: But I have found in drilling of black Oats, that when the Drill-Plough was set a little deeper for Trial, very few came up: Therefore ’tis proper for the Driller to use the Gauges for all Sorts of Seeds; for, if he drills them too deep, he may lose his Crop; or, if too shallow, in dry Weather, he may injure it, especially in Summer Seeds; but for those planted against Winter, there is the most Damage by planting too deep.

When the Depth is known, wherein the Seed is sure to come up, we may easily discover, whether the Seed be good or not, by observing how many will fail: For in some Sorts of Seeds the Goodness cannot be known by the Eye; and there has been often great Loss by bad Seed, as well as by burying good Seed; both which Misfortunes might be prevented by this little Trouble; besides ’tis not convenient to plant some sorts of Seed at the utmost Depth they will come up at; for it may be so deep, as that the Wet may rot or chill the first Root, as in Wheat in moist Land.

The Nature of the Land, the Manner how it is laid, either flat, or in Ridges, and the Season of Planting, with the Experience of the Planter, acquired by such Trials, must determine the proper Depths for different Sorts of Seeds.

II. The proper Quantity of Seed to be drill’d on an Acre, is much less than must be sown in the common Way; not because Hoeing will not maintain as many Plants as the other; for, on the contrary, Experience shews it will, cæteris paribus, maintain more; but the Difference is upon many other Accounts: As that ’tis impossible to sow it so even by Hand, as the Drill will do; for let the Hand spread it never so exactly (which is difficult to do some Seeds, especially in windy Weather), yet the Unevenness of the Ground will alter the Situation of the Seed; the greatest Part rebounding into the Holes, and lowest Places; or else the Harrows, in Covering, draw it down thither; and tho’ these low Places may have Ten Times too much, the high Places may have little or none of it: This Inequality lessens, in Effect, the Quantity of the Seed; because Fifty Seeds, in Room of One, will not produce so much as One will do; and where they are too thick, they cannot be well nourished, their Roots not spreading to near their natural Extent, for Want of Hoeing to open the Earth. Some Seed is buried (by which is meant the laying them so deep, that they are never able to come up, as Columella cautions, Ut absque ulla Resurrectionis Spe sepeliantur): Some lies naked above the Ground; which, with more uncovered by the first Rain, feeds the Birds and Vermin.

Farmers know not the Depth that is enough to bury their Seed, neither do they make much Difference in the Quantity they sow on a rough, or a fine Acre; tho’ the same that is too little for the one, is too much for the other; ’tis all mere Chance-work, and they put their whole Trust in good Ground, and much Dung, to cover their Errors.

The greatest Quantity of Seed I ever heard of to be usually sown, is in Wiltshire, where I am informed by the Owners themselves, that on some Sorts of Land they sow Eight Bushels of Barley to an Acre; so that if it produce four Quarters to an Acre, there are but four Grains for one that is sown, and is a very poor Increase, tho’ a good Crop; this is on Land plowed once, and then double-dung’d, the Seed only harrow’d into the stale and hard Ground[47]; ’tis like not two Bushels of the eight will enter it to grow; and I have heard, that in a dry Summer an Acre of this scarce produces four Bushels at Harvest.

[47]Stale Ground is that which has lain some considerable time after Plowing, before it is sown, contrary to that which is sown immediately after plow’d; for this last is generally not so hard as the former.

But, in Drilling, Seed lies all the same just Depth, none deeper, nor shallower, than the rest; here’s no Danger of the Accidents of burying, or being uncover’d, and therefore no Allowance must be made for them; but Allowance must be made for other Accidents, where the Sort of Seed is liable to them; such as Grub, Fly, Worm, Frost, &c.

Next, when a Man unexperienced in this Method has proved the Goodness of his Seed, and Depth to plant at it, he ought to calculate what Number of Seeds a Bushel, or other Measure or Weight, contains: For one Bushel or one Pound of small Seed, may contain double the Number of Seeds, of a Bushel, or a Pound, of large Seed of the same Species.

This Calculation is made by weighing an Ounce, and counting the Number of Seeds therein; then weighing a Bushel of it, and multiplying the Number of Seeds of the Ounce, by the Number of Ounces of the Bushel’s Weight; the Product will shew the Number of Seeds of a Bushel near enough: Then, by the Rule of Three, apportion them to the Square Feet of an Acre; or else it may be done, by divideing the Seeds of the Bushel by the Square Feet of an Acre; the Quotient will give the Number of Seeds for every Foot: Also consider how near you intend to plant the Rows, and whether Single, Double, Treble, or Quadruple; for the more Rows, the more Seed will be required[48].

[48]The narrow Spaces (suppose seven Inches) betwixt Double, Treble, or Quadruple Rows, the Double having One, the Treble Two, and the Quadruple Three of them, are called Partitions.

The wide Space (suppose of near five Feet) betwixt any Two of these Double, Treble, or Quadruple Rows, is call’d an Interval.

Examine what is the Produce of one middle-siz’d Plant of the Annual, but the Produce of the best and largest of the perennial Sort; because that by Hoeing will be brought to its utmost Perfection: Proportion the Seed of both to the reasonable Product; and, when ’tis worth while, adjust the Plants to their competent Number with the Hand-hoe, after they are up; and plant Perennials generally in single Rows: Lastly, Plant some Rows of the Annual thicker than others, which will soon give you Experience (better than any other Rule) to know the exact Quantity of Seed to drill.

III. The Distances of the Rows are one of the most material Points, wherein we shall find many apparent Objections against the Truth; of which, tho’ full Experience be the most infallible Proof, yet the World is by false Notions so prejudiced against wide Spaces between Rows, that unless these common (and I wish I could say, only vulgar) Objections be first answer’d, perhaps no-body will venture so far out of the old Road, as is necessary to gain the Experience; without it be such as have seen it.

I formerly was at much Pains, and at some Charge, in improving my Drills, for planting the Rows at very near Distances; and had brought them to such Perfection, that One Horse would draw a Drill with Eleven Shares, making the Rows at three Inches and half Distance from one another; and at the same Time sow in them Three very different Sorts of Seeds, which did not mix; and these too, at different Depths; as the Barley-Rows were seven Inches asunder, the Barley lay four Inches deep; a little more than three Inches above that, in the same Chanels, was Clover; betwixt every Two of these Rows was a Row of St. Foin, cover’d half an Inch deep.

I had a good Crop of Barley the first Year; the next Year, Two Crops of Broad-Clover, where that was sown; and where Hop-Clover was sown, a mix’d Crop of That and St. Foin, and every Year afterwards a Crop of St. Foin; but I am since, by Experience, so fully convinced of the Folly of these, or any other such mix’d Crops, and more especially of narrow Spaces, that I have demolish’d these Instruments (in their full Perfection) as a vain Curiosity, the Drift and Use of them being contrary to the true Principles and Practice of Horse-Hoeing.

Altho’ I am satisfied, that every one, who shall have seen as much of it as I have, will be of my Mind in this Matter; yet I am aware, that what I am going to advance, will seem shocking to them, before they have made Trials.

I lay it down as a Rule (to myself) that every Row of Vegetables, to be Horse-ho’d, ought to have an empty Space or Interval of thirty Inches on one Side of it[49] at least, and of near five Feet in all Sorts of Corn.

[49]Note, We call it one Row, tho’ it be a Double, Treble, or Quadruple Row; because when they unite in the Spring, they seem to be all single; even the Quadruple then is but as one single Row.

Observe, that as wide Intervals are necessary for perfect Horse-hoeing, so the largest Vegetables have generally the greatest Benefit by them; tho’ small Plants may have considerable Benefit from much narrower Intervals than Five Feet.

The Intervals may be somewhat narrower for constant annual Crops of Barley, than of Wheat; because Barley does not shut out the Hoe-Plough so soon, nor require so much Room for Hoeing, nor so much Earth in the Intervals, it being a lesser Plant, and growing but about a Third-part of the Time on the Ground; but he that drills Barley, must resolve to reap it, and bind it up in Sheaves; for if he mows it, or does not bind it, a great Part will be lost among the Earth in the Intervals: But ’tis now found, that in a wet Harvest the best Way is not to bind up drill’d Barley or Oats; but instead thereof, to make up the Grips into little Heaps by Hands, laying the Ears upon one another inwards, and the Stubble-ones outwards; so that with a Fork that hath Two Fingers, and a Thumb, ’tis very easy to pitch such Heaps up the Waggons without scattering, or wasting any of the Corn.

’Tis also seen, that when the Reapers take Care to set their Grips with the But-ends in the Bottoms of the Intervals, and the Ears properly on the Stubble, they will so stand up from the Ground, as to escape much better from sprouting, than mow’d Corn.

In Hand-hoeing there is always less Seed, fewer Plants, and a greater Crop, cæteris paribus, than in the common Sowing: Yet there, the Rows must be much nearer together, than in Horse-hoeing; because as the Hand moves many times less Earth than the Horse, the Roots will be sent out in like Proportion; and if the Spaces or Intervals, where the Hand-hoe only scratches a little of the upper Surface of them, should be wide, they would be so hard and stale underneath, that the Roots of perennial Plants would be long in running thro’ them; and the Roots of many annual Plants would never be able to do it.

An Instance which shews something of the Difference between Hand-hoeing and Deep-hoeing is, That a certain poor Man is observ’d to have his Cabbages vastly bigger than any-body’s else, tho’ their Ground be richer, and better dung’d: His Neighbours were amaz’d at it, till the Secret at length came out, and was only this: As other People ho’d their Cabbages with a Hand-hoe, he instead thereof dug his with a Spade: And nothing can more nearly equal[50] the Use of the Horse-hoe than the Spade does.

[50]The Hoe-plough exceeds the Spade in this Respect, that it removes more of the Roots, and cuts off fewer; which is an Advantage when we till near to the Bodies of Plants that are grown large.

And when the Plants have never so much Pabulum near them, their fibrous Roots cannot reach it all, before the Earth naturally excludes them from it; for, to reach it all, they must fill all the Pores[51], which is impossible: So far otherwise it is, that we shall find it probable, that they can only reach the least Part of it, unless the Roots could remove themselves from Place to Place, to leave such Pores as they had exhausted, and apply themselves to such as were unexhausted; but they not being endow’d with Parts necessary for local Motion (as Animals are), the Hoe-Plough suplies their Want of Feet; and both conveys them to their Food, and their Food to them, as well as provides it for them; for by transplanting the Roots, it gives them Change of the Pasture, which it increases by the very Act of changing them from one Situation to another, if the Intervals be wide enough for this Hoeing Operation to be properly perform’d.

[51]The Roots of a Mint, set a whole Summer in a Glass, kept constantly replenished with Water, will, in Appearance, fill the whole Cavity of the Glass; but by compressing the Roots, or by observing how much Water the Glass will hold when the Roots are in it, we are convinc’d, that they do not fill a Fourth-part of its Cavity; tho’ they are not stopp’d by Water, as they are by Earth.

The Objections most likely to prepossess Peoples Minds, and prevent their making Trials of this Husbandry, are these:

First, they will be apt to think, that these wide, naked Spaces, not being cover’d by the Plants, will not be sufficient to make a good Crop.

For Answer, we must consider, that tho’ Corn, standing irregular and sparsim, may seem to cover the Ground better than when it stands regular in Rows; this Appearance[52] is a mere Deceptio visus; for Stalks are never so thick on any Part of the Ground as where many come out of one Plant, or as when they stand in a Row; and a ho’d Plant of Corn will have Twenty or Thirty Stalks[53], in the same Quantity of Ground where an unho’d Plant, being equally single, will have only Two or Three Stalks. These tillered ho’d Stalks, if they were planted sparsim all over the Interval, it might seem well cover’d, and perhaps thicker than the sown Crop commonly is; so that tho’ these ho’d Rows seem to contain a less Crop, they may contain, in reality, a greater Crop than the sown, that seems to exceed it; and ’tis only the different Placing that makes one seem greater, and the other less, than it really is; and this is only when both Crops are young.

[52]For the Eye to make a Companion betwixt a sown Crop and such a ho’d Crop, it ought, when ’tis half grown, to look on the ho’d Crop across the Rows; because in the other it does so, in Effect, which way soever it looks; but whatever Appearance the ho’d Crop of Vegetables (of as large a Species as Wheat) makes when young, it surely, if well managed, appears more beautiful at Harvest than a sown Crop.

[53]I have counted Fifty large Ears on one single ho’d Plant of Barley.

The next Objection is, That the Space or Interval not being planted, much of the Benefit of that Ground will be lost; and therefore the Crop must be less than if it were planted all over.

I answer, It might be so, if not Horse-ho’d; but if well Horse-ho’d, the Roots can run through the Intervals; and, having more Nourishment, make a greater Crop.

The too great Number of Plants, plac’d all over the Ground in common sowing, have, whilst it is open, an Opportunity of wasting, when they are very young, that Stock of Provision, for Want of which the greatest Part of them are afterwards starv’d; for their irregular Standing prevents their being relieved with fresh Supplies from the Hoe: Hence it is, that the old Method exhausting the Earth to no Purpose, produces a less Crop; and yet leaves less Pabulum behind for a succeeding one, contrary to the Hoeing-Husbandry, wherein Plants are manag’d in all Respects by a quite different Oeconomy.

In a large Ground of Wheat it was prov’d, that the widest ho’d Intervals brought the greatest Crop of all: Dung without Hoeing did not equal Hoeing without Dung. And what was most remarkable, amongst Twelve Differences of wider and narrower Spaces, more and less ho’d, dung’d and undung’d, the Hand-sow’d was considerably the worst of all; tho’ all the Winter and Beginning of the Spring, that made infinitely the most promising Appearance; but at Harvest yielded but about One-fifth Part of Wheat of that which was most hoed; there was some of the most hoed, which yielded Eighteen Ounces of clean Wheat in a Yard in Length of a double Row, the Intervals being thirty Inches, and the Partition Six Inches[54].

[54]The same Harvest, a Yard in Length of a double Row of Barley, having Six Inches Partition, produc’d Eight hundred and Eighty Ears in a Garden; but the Grains happened to be eaten by Poultry before ’twas ripe, so that their Produce of Grains could not be known: One like Yard of a ho’d Row of Wheat, in an undung’d Field, produc’d Four hundred Ears of Lammas-Wheat.

A Third Objection like the two former is, that so small a Part of the Ground, as that whereon the Row stands, cannot contain Plants or Stalks sufficient for a full Crop.

This some Authors endeavour to support by Arguments taken from the perpendicular Growth of Vegetables, and the Room they require to stand on; both which having answer’d elsewhere, I need not say much of them here; only I may add, that if Plants could be brought to as great Perfection, and so to stand as thick all over the Land, as they do in the ho’d Rows, there might be produced, at once, many of the greatest Crops of Corn that ever grew.

But since Plants thrive, and make their Produce, in Proportion to the Nourishment they have within the Ground, not to the Room they have to stand upon it, one very narrow Row may contain more Plants than a wide Interval can nourish, and bring to their full Perfection, by all the Art that can be used; and ’tis impossible a Crop should be lost for want of room to stand above the Ground, tho’ it were less than a Tenth-part of the Surface[55].

[55]Mr. Houghton calculates, that a Crop of Wheat of Thirty Quarters to an Acre, each Ear has two Inches and a Half of Surface; by which ’tis evident, that there would be Room for many such prodigious Crops to stand on.

And a Quick-hedge, standing between two Arable Grounds, one Foot broad at Bottom, and Eighteen Feet in Length, will, at fourteen Years Growth, produce more of the same Sort of Wood, than eighteen Feet square of a Coppice will produce in the same Time, the Soil of both being of equal Goodness.

This seems to be the same Case with our ho’d Rows; the Coppice, if it were to be cut in the first Years, would yield perhaps ten Times as much Wood, as the Hedge; but many of the Shoots of the Coppice constantly die every Year, for Want of sufficient Nourishment, until the Coppice is fit to be cut; and then its Product is much less than that of the Hedge, whose Pasture has not been over-stock’d to such a Degree as the Coppice-Pasture has been; and therefore brings its Crop of Wood to greater Perfection than the Coppice-Wood, which has Eighteen Times the Surface of Ground to stand on; The Hedge has the Benefit of Hoeing, as oft as the Land on either Side of it is till’d; but the Coppice, like the sown Corn, wants that Benefit.

In wide Intervals there is another Advantage of Hoeing, I mean Horse-hoeing (the other being more like Scratching and Scraping than Hoeing): There is room for many Hoeings[56], which must not come very near the Bodies of some annual Plants, except whilst they are young; but in narrow Intervals, this cannot be avoided at every Hoeing: ’Tis true, that in the last Hoeings, even in the middle of a large Interval, many of the Roots may be broken off by the Hoe-plough, at some considerable Distance from the Bodies; but yet this is no Damage, for they send out a greater Number of Roots than before; as in [Chap. I.] appears.

[56]Many Hoeings; but if it should be asked how many, we may take Columella’s Rule in hoeing the Vines, viz. Numerus autem vertendi Soli (bidentibus) definiendus non est, cum quanto crebrior fit, plus prodesse fossionem conveniat. Sed impersarum Ratio modum postulat. Lib. 4. Cap. 5.

Neither is it altogether the Number of Hoeings that determines the Degrees of Pulveration: For, Once well done, is Twice done; and the oftener the better, if the Expence be not excessive.

Poor Land, be it never so light, should have the most Hoeings; because Plants, receiving but very little Nourishment from the natural Pasture of such Land, require the more artificial Pasture to subsist on.

In wide Intervals, those Roots are broken off only where they are small; for tho’ they are capable of running out to more than the Length of the external Parts of a Plant; yet ’tis not necessary they should always do so; if they can have sufficient Food nearer to the Bodies[57] of the Plants.

[57]All the Mould is never so near to the Bodies of Plants, as ’tis when the Row stands on a high Six-feet Ridge, when the middle of the Interval is left bare of Earth, at the last Hoeing; for then all the Mould may be but about a Foot, or a Foot and half, distant from the Body of each Plant of a Treble Row.

And these new, young, multiply’d Roots are fuller of Lacteal Mouths than the older ones; which makes it no Wonder, that Plants should thrive faster by having some of their Roots broken off by the Hoe; for as Roots do not enter every Pore of the Earth, but miss great Part of the Pasture, which is left unexhausted, so when new Roots strike out from the broken Parts of the old, they meet with that Pasture, which their Predecessors miss’d, besides that new Pasture which the Hoe raises for them; and those Roots which the Hoe pulls out without breaking, and covers again, are turn’d into a fresh Pasture; some broken, and some unbroken: All together invigorate the Plants.

Besides, the Plants of sown Corn, being treble in Number to those of the drill’d, and of equal Strength and Bulk, whilst they are very young, must exhaust the Earth whilst it is open, thrice as much as the drill’d Plants do; and before the sown Plants grow large, the Pores of the Earth are shut against them, and against the Benefit of the Atmosphere; but for the drill’d, the Hoe gives constant Admission to that Benefit; and if the Hoe procures them (by dividing the Earth) Four Times the Pasture of the sown during their Lives, and the Roots devour but one half of that, then tho’ the ho’d Crop should be double to the sown, yet it might leave twice as much Pabulum for a succeeding Crop. ’Tis impossible to bring these Calculations to Mathematical Rules; but this is certain in Practice, that a sown Crop, succeeding a large undung’d ho’d Crop, is much better than a sown Crop, that succeeds a small dung’d sown Crop. And I have the Experience of poor, worn out Heath-ground, that, having produc’d Four successive good ho’d Crops of Potatoes (the last still best), is become tolerable good Ground.

In a very poor Field were planted Potatoes, and, in the very worst Part of it, several Lands had them in Squares a Yard asunder; these were plowed four ways at different times: Some other Lands adjoining to them, of the very same Ground, were very well dung’d and till’d; but the Potatoes came irregularly, in some Places thicker, and in others thinner: These were not ho’d, and yet, at first coming up, looked blacker and stronger than those in Squares not dung’d, either that Year, or ever, that I know of; yet these Lands brought a good Crop of the largest Potatoes, and very few small ones amongst them; but in the dung’d Lands, for Want of Hoeing, the Potatoes were not worth the taking up; which proves, that in those Plants that are planted so as to leave Spaces wide enough for Repetitions of Hoeing, that Instrument can raise more Nourishment to them, than a good Coat of Dung with common Tillage.

Another Thing I have more particularly observ’d, viz. That the more successive Crops are planted in wide Intervals, and often ho’d, the better the Ground does maintain them; the last Crop is still the best, without Dung, or changing the Sort of Plant; and this is visible in Parts of the same Field, where some Part has a first, some other Part a second, the rest a third Crop growing all together at the same time; which seems to prove, that as the Earth is made by this Operation to dispense or distribute her Wealth to Plants, in Proportion to the Increase of her inner Superficies (which is the Pasture of Plants); so the Atmosphere, by the Riches in Rain and Dews, does annually reimburse her in Proportion to the same Superficies, with an Overplus for Interest: But if that Superficies be not increased to a competent Degree, and, by frequent Repetitions of Hoeing, kept increasing (which never happens in common Husbandry) this Advantage is lost; and, without often repeated Stercoration, every Year’s Crop grows worse; and it has been made evident by Trials, which admit of no Dispute, that Hoeing, without Dung or Fallow, can make such Plants as stand in wide Intervals, more vigorous in the same Ground, than both common Dunging and Fallowing can do without Hoeing.

This Sort of Hoeing has in Truth every Year the Effect of a Summer-fallow; tho’ it yearly produce a good Crop.

This is one Reason of the different Effects Plants have upon the Soil; some are said to enrich it, others to burn it, i. e. to impoverish it; but I think it may be observed, that all those Plants, which are usually ho’d, are reckoned among the Enrichers; and tho’ it be certain that some Species of Plants are, by the Heat of their Constitution, greater Devourers than those of another Species of equal Bulk; yet there is Reason to believe, that were the most cormorant Plant of them all to be commonly ho’d, it would gain[58] the Reputation of an Enricher or Improver of the Soil; except it should be such, as might occasion Trouble, by filling it full of its shatter’d Seeds, which might do the Injury of Weeds to the next Crop; and except such Plants, which have a vast Bulk to be maintained a long Time, as Turnep-Seed[59].

[58]But this must be intended of the deep Horse-hoeing; for Turneps that stand for Seed, are such Devourers, and feed so long on the Soil, that tho’ they are Hand-ho’d, such a shallow Operation doth not supply the usual Thickness of those Plants with Pasture sufficient to raise their Stems to half their natural Bulk; and they leave so little of that Pasture behind them, that the Soil is observ’d to be extremely impoverished for a Year or two, and sometimes three Years after them; but ’tis otherwise with my Horse-ho’d Turnep-Seed; for I never fail’d of a good Crop of Barley after it, sown on the Level in the following Spring, tho’ no Dung hath been used on the Land where the Turnep-Seed grew for many Years. And also my Barley Crops thus sown after two successive Crops of Turnep-Seed without a Fallow between them, are as good as those sown after a single Crop of it. For I have several Times made these Turnep-Seed Crops annual, that is, to have Two Crops of it in Two Years, which would in the old Way require three Years, because this Crop stands about a Year on the Ground, and is not ripe till Midsummer, which is too late to get that Land into a Tilth proper to plant another Seed Crop on it the same Summer; neither can the Soil be able to bear such another Crop immediately after being so much exhausted, and unplowed for a whole Year, except it be extraordinary rich, or much dunged: However, Two Crops of Turnep-Seed immediately succeeding one another, is what I never knew, or heard of, except my own that were Horse-ho’d; and of these the second Crop was as good as the first; their Stalks grew much higher than they usually do in the common Way; and tho’ the Number of Plants was much less, their Produce was so valuable, that the Vicar’s Agent declared, he made Twenty Shillings per Acre of his Tythe of a whole Field which he tythed in Kind. The Expence of these Crops was judg’d to be answered by the Fuel of the thresh’d Stalks. It must be noted, that the extraordinary Value of these Crops arose, not from a greater Quantity of Seed than some common Crops; but from their Quality, Experience having brought this Seed into great Esteem, on account of its being perfectly clean, and produced by large Turneps of a good Sort, and of a proper Shape; for those that are not well cultivated are very apt to degenerate, and then their Seed will produce Turneps of a small Size, and of a long rapy ill Shape.

[59]Turneps run to Seed, not till the second Summer.

The wider the Intervals are, the more Earth may be divided; for the Row takes up the same Room with a wide, or a narrow Interval; and therefore with the wide, the unho’d Part bears a less Proportion to the ho’d Part than in the narrow.

And ’tis no Purpose to hoe, where there is not Earth to be ho’d, or Room to hoe it in.

There are many Ways of Hoeing with the Hoe-Plough; but there is not Room to turn Two deep clean Furrows in an Interval that is narrower than Four Feet Eight Inches; for if it want much of this Breadth, one, at least, of these Furrows, will reach, and fall upon the next Row, which will be very injurious to the Plants; except of grown St. Foin, and such other Plants, that can bear to have the Earth pull’d off them by Harrows.

Thus much of Hoeing in general may suffice: And different Sorts of Plants requiring different Management; that may more properly be described in the Chapter, where particular Vegetables are treated of.

It may not be amiss to add, that all Sorts of Land are not equally proper for Hoeing: I take it, that a dry friable Soil is the best. Intractable wet Clays, and such Hills as are too steep for Cattle to draw a Plough up and down them, are the most improper[60].

[60]For by hoeing cross the Hill, the Furrow turn’d against the Declivity cannot be thrown up near enough to the Row above it; and the Furrow that is turn’d downwards will bury the Row below it.

That ’tis not so beneficial to hoe in Common-fields, is not in Respect of the Soil, but to the old Principles, which have bound the Owners to unreasonable Customs of changing the Species of Corn, and make it necessary to fallow every Second, Third, or Fourth Year at farthest.

CHAP. VII.
Of Weeds.

Plants, that come up in any Land, of a different Kind from the sown or planted Crop, are Weeds.

That there are in Nature any such things as inutiles Herbæ, the Botanists deny; and justly too, according to their Meaning.

But the Farmer, who expects to make Profit of his Land from what he sows or plants in it, finds not only Herbæ inutiles, but also noxiæ, unprofitable and hurtful Weeds; which come like Muscæ, or uninvited Guests, that always hurt, and often spoil his Crop, by devouring what he has, by his Labour in Dunging and Tilling, provided for its Sustenance.

All Weeds, as such, are pernicious; but some much more than others; some do more Injury, and are more easily destroy’d; some do less Injury, and are harder to kill; others there are, which have both these bad Qualities. The hardest to kill are such as will grow and propagate by their Seed, and also by every Piece of their Roots, as Couch-grass, Coltsfoot, Melilot, Fern, and such-like. Some are hurtful only by robbing legitimate (or sown) Plants of their Nourishment, as all Weeds do; others both lessen a legitimate Crop by robbing it, and also spoil that Crop, which escapes their Rapine, when they infect it with their nauseous Scent and Relish, as Melilot, wild Garlick, &c.

Weeds starve the sown Plants, by robbing them of their Provision of Food[61], not of their Room (as some Authors vainly imagine); which will appear by the following Experiment.

[61]A Tree of any Sort will spoil Corn all round it, in a large Circle; half an Acre of Turneps has been spoil’d by one: Hereby ’tis plain, that Trees rob as Weeds; because ’tis not by their Shadow, there being as much Damage done by them on the South-Side, where their Shadow never comes, as on their North-Side: Nor can it be by their dropping; for ’tis the same on the Side where a Tree has no Boughs to drop over the Plants, when they are also at a very great Distance from all Parts of the Tree, except its Roots.

Let three Beds of the same Soil, equal, and equally prepared, be sown with the same Sort of Corn. Let the first of these Beds be kept clean from Weeds: In the Second, let a Quantity of Weeds grow along with the Corn; and in the Third, stick up a Quantity of dead Sticks, greater in Bulk than the Weeds.

It will be found, that the Produce of the Corn in the First will not exceed that of the Third Bed; but in the Second, where the Weeds are, the Corn will be diminish’d in Proportion to the Quantity of Weeds amongst it.

The Sticks, having done no Injury to the Corn, shew there was room enough in the Bed for Company to lodge, would they forbear to eat; or else (like Travellers in Spain) bring their Provision with them to their Inn, or (which would be the same thing) if Weeds could find there some Dish so disagreeable to the Palate of the Corn, and agreeable to their own, that they might feed on it without robbing; and then they would be as innocent as the Sticks, which take up the same Room with the Weeds.

The Quantity of Nourishment Weeds rob the Corn of, is not in Proportion only to their Number and Bulk, but to the Degrees of Heat in their Constitution; as appears by the Instance of Charlock and Turneps, mention’d in the Chapter [Of Change of Species].

’Tis needless to go about to compute the Value of the Damage Weeds do, since all experienc’d Husbandmen know it to be very great, and would unanimously agree to extirpate their whole Race as intirely, as in England they have done the Wolves, tho’ much more innocent, and less rapacious than Weeds[62].

[62]If we consider the Crops they utterly destroy, and those they extremely diminish; and that very few Crops escape without receiving Injury from them; it may be a Question, whether the Mischief Weeds do to our Corn, is not as great as the Value of the Rent of all the Arable Lands in England.

But alas! they find it impossible to be done, or even to be hoped for, by the common Husbandry; and the Reasons I take to be these.

The Seeds of most Sorts of Weeds are so hardy, as to lie sound and uncorrupt for many Years[63], or perhaps Ages in the Earth; and are not kill’d until they begin to grow or sprout, which very few of them do, unless the Land be plow’d; and then enough of them will ripen amongst the sown Crop, to propagate and continue their Species, by shedding their Off-spring in the Ground (for ’tis observ’d they are generally ripe before the Corn); and the Seeds of these do the same in the next sown Crop; and thus perpetuate their savage, wicked[64] Brood, from Generation to Generation.

[63]The Seeds of Lethean Poppy (call’d Red-weed) have lain dormant 24 Years (the Land being, during that time, in St. Foin) and then at first Plowing they came up very thick; this I have seen, and so will many other Sorts of Weeds, when the Ground has lain untill’d for an Age.

[64]The French call them, les Herbes Sauvages, & les mechantes Herbes.

Besides, their Seeds never all come up in one Year, unless the Land be very often plow’d; for they must have their exact Depth, and Degrees of Moisture and Heat, to make them grow; and such as have not these, will lie in the Ground, and retain their vegetative Virtue for Ages; and the common usual Plowings, not being sufficient to make them all, or the greatest Part, grow, almost every Crop that ripens increases the Stock of Seed, until it make a considerable Part of the Staple of such Land as is sown without good Tillage and Fallowing.

The best Defence against these Enemies, which the Farmer has hitherto found, is to endeavour their Destruction by a good Summer-fallow: This indeed, if the Weather be propitious, does make Havock of them; but still some will escape one Year’s Prosecution. Either by being sometimes situate so high, that the Sun’s Heat dries them, or sometimes lying so deep, that it cannot reach them; either way their Germination, which would have proved their Death, is prevented.

Another Faculty secures abundance of them, and that is, their being able to endure the Heat and Moisture of one Year without growing; as[65] wild Oats, and innumerable other Sorts of Weeds, will do; for gather these when ripe, sow them in the richest Bed, water them, and do all that is possible to make them grow the First Year, it will be vain Labour; they will resist all Enticements till the Second; that is, if you gather them in Autumn, you cannot force them to grow until the next Spring come Twelve-month; and many of them will remain dormant even to the next Year alter that, and some of them longer.

[65]I have not try’d wild Oats by sowing them in a Bed myself, but have been so informed by others; and my own Experience hath frequently shewn me, that they will come up, after lying many Years in the Ground; and that very few Sorts of Weeds will come all up the first Year, as Corn doth: If they did, the Tillage of one Year’s Summer-fallow might extirpate them.

By this Means, One Year’s Summer-Fallow can have no Effect upon them, but to prepare the Soil for their more vigorous Growth and plentiful Increase the next Year after; and very rarely will the Farmer fallow his Land Two Years successively; and often the Dung, which is made of the Straw of sown Corn, being full of the Seeds of Weeds, when spread on the Fallows, incumbers the Soil with another Stock of Weeds, as ample as that the Fallowing has destroy’d; and tho’ perhaps many of these may not grow the next Year, they will be sure to come up afterwards.

The other old Remedy is what often proves worse than the Disease; that is, what they call Weeding among sown Corn; for if by the Hook or Hand they cut some Sorts (as Thistles) while they are young, they will sprout up again, like Hydras, with more Heads than before; and if they are cut when full-grown, after they have done almost their utmost in robbing the Crop, ’tis like shutting the Stable-Door after the Steed is stolen.

Hand-weeders often do more Harm to the Corn with their Feet, than they do Good by cutting or pulling out the Weeds with their Hands; and yet I have known this Operation sometimes cost the Farmer Twelve Shillings an Acre; besides the Damage done by treading down his Wheat; and, after all, a sufficient Quantity of them have escaped, to make a too plentiful Increase in the next Crop of Corn.

The new Hoeing-Husbandry in Time will probably make such an utter Riddance[66] of all Sorts of Weeds[67], except such as come in the Air, that[68] as long as this Management is properly continued, there is no Danger to be apprehended from them; which is enough to confute the old Error of equivocal Generation, had it not been already sufficiently exploded, ever since that Demonstration of Malpighius’s Experiment. For if Weeds were brought forth without their proper Seeds, the Hoeing could not hinder their Production, where the Soil was inclined naturally to produce them. The Belief of that blind Doctrine might probably be one of the Causes that made the Antients despair of finding so great Success in Hoeing, as now appears; or else, if they had had true Principles, they might perhaps have invented and improved that Husbandry, and the Instruments necessary to put it in Practice.

[66]A very pernicious, large, perennial Weed, like Burrage, with a blue Flower, infested a Piece of Land, for Time out of Mind: Hoeing has destroyed it utterly; not one of the Species has been seen in the Field these Seven Years, tho’ constantly till’d and ho’d.

[67]I have now a Piece of Wheat drill’d early the last Autumn upon an Hill, fallowed and well pulveriz’d: Part of it was drill’d with Wheat in double Rows upon the Level Nine Years ago, Horse-ho’d, and the Partitions thoroughly Hand-ho’d to cleanse out the Poppies, of which the Land was very full; the other Part of this Piece was never drilled till this Year: The whole Piece hath not been before this Winter Horse-ho’d. Now the Partitions of the Part that was never any Way Ho’d, are so stock’d with Poppies matted together, that unless they are taken out early in the Spring, they will totally devour the Rows of Wheat; but in the other Part that was ho’d so long since, there are now very few Poppies to be seen. Both these Parts have had several sown Crops of Barley together since, and have lain with St. Foin these last Five or Six Years.

[68]And except also such Weeds, whose Seed is carried by Birds, which is the most common Manner of transporting the Seeds of Vegetables from Field to Field, against the Content of the Owner: For Birds, whether great or small, do not care to eat their Prey where they take it, but generally chuse some open Place for that Purpose. ’Tis, I am persuaded, by this Means chiefly, that a Vineyard or Field, made ever so clean from Grass, will, in lying untilled a few Years, be replenished with a Turf of that neighbouring Species of Grass, which best suits the Heat and Moisture of the Soil: Yet there are some Species of Seeds that Birds (at least such as frequent this Place) do not affect; else the [Burrage-weed] (mentioned in p. 77.) would have appeared again in my Field in some of the many Years since the Hoeing has extirpated it there; for it grows plentifully in the unplowed Way adjoining thereto.

The Seeds of some Weeds may be suspected to come in the Air; as the Seed of the Grass that grew in the Cheapside, in the Time of the Plague; but it might come from Seeds in the Dirt, brought thither by the Feet of People and Cattle, and by the Wheels of Coaches, Carts carrying Hay: Or otherwise continual Treading might keep it from Growing; and when the Treading ceased, ’tis no Wonder the Seeds should furnish the Streets with Grass.

And I have observ’d on the Floors, two Stories high, of a lone, ruinous, uninhabited House, being long uncover’d, a sort of Herb growing very thick; I think it was Pimpernel, and believe that its Seeds did not come thither in the Air; but in the Sand which was mix’d with the Mortar that had fallen from the Cielings; and ’tis like there were few Seeds at first: Yet, these, ripening for several Years, shed their Seeds annually, until the Floors became all over very thick planted: Besides, Hay-seeds and Pimpernel are too heavy to be carry’d far by the Air.

CHAP. VIII.
Of Turneps.

As far as I can be inform’d, ’tis but of late Years that Turneps have been introduc’d as an Improvement in the Field.

All Sorts of Land, when made fine by Tillage, or by Manure and Tillage, will serve to produce Turneps, but not equally; for chalky Land is generally too dry (a Turnep being a thirsty Plant); and they are so long in such dry poor Land before they get into rough Leaf, that the Fly is very apt to destroy them there; yet I have known them succeed on such Land, tho’ rarely.

Sand and Gravel are the most proper Soil for Turneps, because that is most easily pulveriz’d, and its Warmth causeth the Turneps to grow faster, and so they get the sooner out of the Danger of the Fly; and such a Soil, when well-till’d, and Horse-ho’d, never wants a sufficient Moisture, even in the driest Weather; and the Turneps being drill’d will come up without Rain, and prosper very well with the sole Moisture of the Dews, which are admitted as deep as the Pulveration reacheth; and if that be to Five or six Inches, the hottest Sun cannot exhale the Dews thence in the Climate of England: I have known Turneps thrive well in a very dry Summer by repeated Horse-hoeings, both in Sand and in Land which is neither sandy nor gravelly.

When I sow’d Turneps by Hand, and ho’d them with a Hand-hoe, the Expence was great, and the Operation not half perform’d, by the Deceitfulness of the Hoers, who left half the Land unho’d, and cover’d it with the Earth from the Part they did hoe, and then the Grass and Weeds grew the faster: Besides, in this Manner a great Quantity of Land could not be managed in the proper Season.

When I drill’d upon the Level[69], at Three Feet Intervals, a Trial was made between those Turneps and a Field of the next Neighbour’s, sown at the same Time, whereof the Hand-hoeing cost Ten Shillings per Acre, and had not quite half the Crop of the drill’d, both being measur’d by the Bushel, on Purpose to find the Difference[70].

[69]’Tis impossible to hoe-plow them so well when planted upon the Level, as when they are planted upon Ridges; for if we plow deep near the Row, the Earth will come over on the Left-Side of the Plough, and bury the younger Turneps; but when they stand on Ridges, the Earth will almost all fall down on the Right Side into the Furrow in the Middle of the Interval.

[70]And I have since found, that Turneps on the same Land, planted on Ridges, with Six-feet Intervals, make a Crop double to those that are planted on the Level, or even on Ridges with Three-feet Intervals.

In the new Method they are more certain to come up quickly; because in every Row, half the Seed is planted about Four Inches deep[71]; and the other Half is planted exactly over that, at the Depth of half an Inch, falling in after the Earth has cover’d the first Half: Thus planted, let the Weather be never so dry, the deepest Seed will come up; but if it raineth (immediately after planting), the Shallow will come up first: We also make it come up at Four[72] Times, by mixing our Seed, half new and half old (the new coming up a Day quicker than the old): These four Comings up give it so many Chances for escaping the Fly, it being often seen, that the Seed sown over Night will be destroy’d by the Fly, when that sown the next Morning will escape, and vice versa[73]; or you may hoe-plow them, when you see the Fly is like to devour them; this will bury the greatest Part of those Enemies; or else you may drill in another Row, without new-plowing the Land.

[71]Turnep seed will come up from a greater Depth than most other Sorts of Seeds.

[72]I have seen drill’d Turnep-seed come up daily for a Fortnight together, when it has not been mixt thus, the old with the new.

[73]I have had the first Turneps that came up all destroy’d by the Fly; and about a Fortnight afterwards more have come up, and been ho’d time enough, and made a good Crop.

This Method has also another Advantage of escaping the Fly, the most certain of any other, and infallible, if the Land be made fine, as it ought to be: This is to roll it with a heavy Roller across the Ridges, after ’tis drill’d, which closing up the Cavities of the Earth, prevents the Fly’s Entrance and Exit, to lay the Eggs, hatch, or bring forth the young ones to prey upon the Turneps; which they might intirely devour, if the Fly came before they had more than the first two Leaves, which, being form’d of the very Seed itself, are very sweet; but the next Leaves are rough and bitter, which the Fly does not love: I have always found the Rolling disappoint the Fly; but very often it disappoints the Owner also, who sows at Random; for it makes the Ground so hard, that the Turneps cannot thrive, but look yellow, dwindle, and grow to no Perfection, unless they have a good Hoeing soon after the rough Leaves appear; for when they stand long without it, they will be so poor and stinted, that the Hand-hoe does not go deep enough to recover them; and ’tis seldom that these rolled Turneps can be Hand-ho’d at the critical Time, because the Earth is then become so hard, that the Hoe cannot enter it without great Difficulty, unless it be very moist; and very often the Rain does not come to soak it, until it be too late; but the drill’d Turneps being in single Rows with Six-feet Intervals, may be roll’d without Danger: For be the Ground ever so hard, the Hand-hoe will easily single them out, at the Price of Six-pence per Acre, or less (if not in Harvest); and the Horse-hoe will, in those wide Intervals, plow at any Time, wet or dry; and, tho’ the Turneps should have been neglected till stinted, will go deep enough to recover them to a flourishing Condition.

Drill’d Turneps, by being no-where but in the Rows[74], may be more easily seen than those which come up at Random; and may therefore be sooner[75] singled out by the Hand-hoe; which is another Advantage; because the sooner they are so set out, the better they will thrive[76].

[74]Drill’d Turneps coming all up nearly in a Mathematical Line, ’tis very nearly that a Charlock, or other like Weed, comes up in the same Line amongst them, unless it be drill’d in with the Turnep-seed, of which Weeds our Horse-ho’d Seed never has any; there being no Charlock in the Rows, nor any Turnep in the Intervals: We know, that whatever comes up in the Interval is not a Turnep, though so like to it, that, at first coming up, if promiscuously, it cannot easily be distinguished by the Eye, until after the Turneps, &c. attain the rough Leaf; and even then, before they are of a considerable Bigness, they are so hard to be distinguished by those People, who are not well experienced, that a Company of Hand-hoers cut out the Turneps by Mistake, and left the Charlock for a Crop of a large Field of sown Turneps. Such a Misfortune can never happen to drill’d Turneps, unless wilfully done, be they set out ever so young.

[75]The sooner they are made single, the better; but yet, when they are not very thick, they may stand till we have the best Convenience of singling them without much Damage; but, when they come up extraordinary thick, ’twill be much more difficult to make them single, if they are neglected at their very first coming into rough Leaf.

[76]Because such young Turneps will enjoy the more of the Pasture made by the Plowing, and by that little Pulveration of the Hand-hoe, without being robb’d of any Pasture by their own supernumerary Plants.

Three or Four Ounces of Seed is the usual Quantity to drill; but, at random, Three or Four Pounds are commonly sown, which, coming thick all over the Ground, must exhaust the Land more than the other, especially since the sown must stand longer, before the Hoers can see to set them out.

The Six-feet Ridges, whereon Turneps are drill’d in single Rows, may be left higher than for double-row’d Crops; because there will be more Earth in the Intervals, as the single Row takes up less.

There is no prefix’d Time for planting Turneps, because that must be according to the Richness of the Land; for some Land will bring them as forward, and make them as good, when planted the beginning of August, as other Land will, when planted in May; but the most general Time is, a little before, and a little after Midsummer.

Between these Rows of Turneps[77], I have planted Wheat in this Manner; viz. About Michaelmas, the Turneps being full grown, I plow’d a Ridge in the Middle of each of their Intervals, taking most of the Earth from the Turneps, leaving only just enough to keep them alive; and on this Ridge drill’d my Crop of Wheat[78], and towards the Spring pull’d up my Turneps, and carried them off for Cattle.

[77]As I have formerly drilled Wheat between Rows of Turneps, so I have since had the Experience of drilling Turneps between Rows of Barley and Rows of Oats: I have had them in the Intervals between Six-feet Ridges, and between Four-feet Ridges, and between those of several intermediate Distances; but which of them all is the best, I leave at present undetermined. I shall only add, that the poorer the Land is, the wider the Intervals ought to be; and that, in the narrow, ’tis convenient at the Hoeing, to leave more Earth on that Side of each Interval whereon the Turneps are to be drill’d; and this is done by going round several Intervals with the Hoe-Plough, without going forwards and backwards in each immediately: But in the wide Intervals the Earth may be equal on both Sides of them.

I will propose another Method of Drilling, which may be very advantageous to those who sow their Barley upon the Level, and sow Turnep-seed amongst it, at Random, as they do Clover; which is, of late, a common Practice in some Places. The Barley keeps the Turneps under it, and stints them so much, that they are useful in the Winter or Spring, chiefly by the Food their Leaves afford to Sheep, their Roots being exceeding small; and for this small Profit they lose the Time of tilling the Ground, until after the Turneps are eaten off; which is a Damage we think greater than the Profit of such Turneps; To prevent which Damage, they may drill them in Rows at competent Distances, and Horse-hoe them, and set them out as soon as the Barley is off: This will both keep the Ground in Tilth, fit for another Crop of Spring Corn, and cause the Turneps to grow great enough (especially if Harvest be early, and the Winter prove favourable) for feeding of Sheep in a moveable Fold to dung the Ground into the Bargain.

What induces me to propose this Improvement is, that a Gentleman plows up his Barley-Stubble, and transplants Turneps therein, and Hand-hoes them with Success. By the proposed Way all the Expence of transplanting (which must be considerable) will be saved; and the setting out cannot be more than an Eighth of the Labour of Hand-hoeings; and I conjecture the Horse-hoed Turneps may be as good; for they (though stinted) having their Tap-roots remaining unmoved below the Staple of the Land, their horizontal Roots, being supply’d with Moisture from the Tap-roots, immediately take hold of the fresh-plowed Earth, as soon as ’tis turned back to them; whereas the transplanted, having their Tap-roots broken off, and their Horizontal Roots crumpled in the Holes wherein they are set, must lose Time, and be in Danger of dying with Thirst, if the Weather proves dry.

Also this Way seems better than the common Practice of sowing Turneps upon once plowing after Wheat; because the Wheat-land commonly lies longer unplow’d by Six or Eight Months than Barley-land; and therefore cannot be in so good Tilth for Turneps as Barley-land may, unless the former be of a more friable Nature, or much more dunged, than the latter. Besides, these Wheat-Turneps are uncertain, in Respect of the Fly that often destroys them at their first coming up; which Misfortune happened the Autumn 1734 to almost all that were sown in that Manner.

I have observ’d, that Barley sown on the Level, and not hoed, overcomes the Turneps that come up amongst it; but that Turneps, which come up in the Partitions of Treble Rows of my Ridges of Horse-hoed Barley, grew so vigorously as to overcome the Barley. And this was demonstrated at Harvest in a long Field, one Side of which had borne Turnep-seed, and the drilled Ridges of Barley crossing the Middle of it; and both Ends of the Field having Barley sown on the Level, one End of every Ridge cross’d the Turnep-seed Part of the Field for about Ten Perches of their Length.

I observed also, that the Turneps near the Edges of the Lands of sown Barley, adjoining to the hoed Intervals, grew large, but not so large as those in the Partitions on the Ridges, their Intervals being hoed on each Side of them.

But different from this have I seen shattered Turnep-seed coming up in the like Partitions of drilled Wheat, on the very same Sort of Land, so miserably poor and stinted, that they scarce grew a Hand’s Breadth high, when those Turneps which the Hoe left in the Sides of the Intervals, and at the narrow Edges of the unhoed Earth of the Interval Sides of the Rows of Wheat, grew large; and the Wheat was good also: But I do not remember how the middle Row of it succeeded.

This last Experience of the Turneps among the Wheat was got by this Accident: The Wheat was drilled after drilled Turneps on Ridges of a different Size. The Turneps were all pulled up before the Ground was plowed for the Wheat; but as Turnep-seed never comes all up the first Year, enough remained of this to come up (though thinly) in the Wheat, to shew exactly where every Row had been drilled; whereupon the Observation was made.

[78]This Wheat, being thus drill’d on the new Ridges made in the Intervals, betwixt the Rows of Turneps, being well Horse-ho’d in the Spring, prov’d a very good Crop; it was drill’d in treble Rows, the Partitions Seven Inches each.

When Turneps are planted too late, to have Time and Sun for attaining to their full Bulk, some drill a double Row on each Six-feet Ridge, with a Partition of Fourteen Inches; but I am told, that in this double Row the Turneps do not, even at that late Season, grow so large, as those planted at the same time in single Rows, tho’ the double Row requires double the Expence in setting out; and there will be less Earth ho’d by the Breadth of fourteen Inches of the deepest Part of the Ridge, and consequently the Land will be the less improv’d for the next Crop. We need not to be very exact, in the Number[79] or Distance[80] we set them out at; we contrive to leave the Master-turneps (when there is much Difference in them), and spare such when near one another, and leave the more Space before and behind them; but if they be Three Master-turneps too near together, we take out the middlemost.

[79]The least Number will be the largest Turneps; yet we should have a competent Stock, which I think is not less than Thirty on a square Perch.

[80]The Distance need not to be regular; for when a Turnep has Six Inches of Room on one Side, and Eighteen Inches on the other Side, ’tis almost as well as if there was one Foot on each Side: tho’ then it would be equally distant from the Two Turneps betwixt which it stood.

Turneps that were so thick as to touch one another when half-grown, by means of well Hoeing their wide Intervals, have afterwards grown to a good Bigness, and by thrusting against one another became oval, instead of round.

’Tis beneficial to hoe Turneps (especially the first Time) alternately; viz. to hoe every other Interval, and throw the Earth back again before we hoe the other Intervals; for by this Means the Turneps are kept from being[81] stinted: ’Tis better to have Nourishment given them moderately at twice, than to have it all once, and be twice as long before a Repetition[82].

[81]Because this alternate Hoeing doth not at all endanger the Roots by being dried by the Sun; for whilst one half of the Roots have Moisture, ’tis sufficient; the other Half will be supplied from those; so that they will soon take hold of the Earth again after being moved by the Hoe.

[82]Sometimes, when Turneps are planted late, this alternate Hoeing suffices without any Repetition; but when they are planted early, ’twill be necessary to hoe them again; especially if Weeds appear.

Tho’ the Earth on each Side the Row be left as narrow as possible[83]; yet ’tis very profitable to hoe that little with a Bidens[84], called here a Prong-hoe[85]; for this will be sure to let out all the Roots into the Intervals; even such as run very nearly parallel to the Rows.

[83]I do not think that we can go nearer to the Plants with the Hoe-plough, than within Three Inches of their Bodies.

[84]We ought not to use the Bidens for this Purpose, before the perpendicular Roots are as big as one’s little Finger.

[85]Some of these Prong-hoes have Three Teeth, and are reckoned better as a Tridens than a Bidens; but this is only in mellow Ground.

This alternate Way of Hoeing Plants that grow in single Rows, is of such vast Advantage, that four of these, which are but equal to Two of the whole Hoeings in Labour, are near equal to four whole Hoeings in Benefit; for when one Side is well nourished, the other Side cannot be starv’d[86].

[86]But yet sometimes the Weeds, or other Circumstances, may make it proper to give them a whole Hoeing at first.

Besides, where a great Quantity of Turneps are to be ho’d, the last ho’d may be stinted, before the first are finish’d by whole Hoeings.

In this alternate Hoeing, the Hoe-plough may go deeper[87] and nearer to the Row, without Danger of thrusting it down on the Left Side, whilst the Plants are very small; because the Earth on the other Side of the Row always bears against it for its Support: But in the whole Hoeing, there is an open Furrow left the first Time on both Sides of the Row, and there is Danger of throwing it into one Furrow in plowing the other; or, if the Row is not thrown down, it may be too much dry’d in hot Weather, by the Two Furrows lying too long open: Yet, when the Turneps are large before Hoeing, we need not fear either of these Dangers in giving them a whole Hoeing; as I have found by Experience, even when there has been left on each Side of the Row only about Three Inches Breadth of Earth; tho’ it is not best to suffer it to lie long open[88].

[87]This deep Plowing so near to the Row is very beneficial at first; but afterwards, when the Plants are grown large, and have sent their Roots far into the Intervals, it would almost totally disroot them; and they, being Annuals, might not live long enough for a new Stock of Roots to extend so far as is necessary to bring the Turneps to their full Bigness.

Note, At the last Hoeing we generally leave a broad, deep Trench in the middle of each Interval.

[88]But, if the Weather prove wet, we always suffer those Furrows to lie open, until the Earth be dry enough to be turn’d back again to the Row, without smearing or flicking together; unless such Weather continue so long that the Weeds begin to come up, and then we throw back the Furrows to stifle the Weeds, before they grow large, tho’ the Earth be wet.

Dry Weather does not injure Turneps when Horse-ho’d, as it does sown Turneps; the Hand-hoe does not go deep enough to keep the Earth moist, and secure the Plants against the Drought; and that is the best Season for Horse-hoeing, which always can keep the Roots moist[89].

[89]But if some Sorts of Earth have lain so long unmoved as to become very hard before the first Hoeing, the Hoe, going very rear to the Rows on each Side, may cause such hard Earth whereon the Rows stand, to crack and open enough to let in the Drought (i. e. the Sun and Air) to the Roots in very dry Weather. In this Case ’tis best to Horse-hoe alternately, as is [directed] in Page 86.

Dung and Tillage together will attain the necessary Degree of Pulveration, in less time than Plowing can do alone: Therefore Dung is more useful for Turneps, because they have commonly less time to grow than other Plants.

Turneps of Nineteen Pounds Weight I have several Times heard of, and of Sixteen Pounds Weight often known; and Twelve Pounds may be reckon’d the middle Size of great Turneps: And I can see no Reason, why every Turnep should not arrive to the full Bigness of its Species, if it did not want Part of its due Nourishment.

The greatest Inconvenience, which has been observ’d in the Turnep-husbandry, is, when they are fed off late in the Spring (which is in many Places the greatest Use of them), there is not time to bring the Land in Tilth for Barley; the Loss of which Crop is sometimes more than the Gain of the Turneps: This is intirely remedied by the drilling Method; for, by that, the Land may be almost as well till’d before the Turneps are eaten, or taken off, as it can afterwards.

If Turneps be sown in June, or the Beginning of July, the most experienced Turnep-Farmers will have no more than Thirty to a square Perch left in Hand-hoeing; and find that when more are left, the Crop will be less; but, in drilling the Rows at Six Feet Intervals, there may be Sixty to a Perch; and the Horse-hoe, by breaking so much more Earth than the Hand-hoe does, can nourish Sixty drill’d, as well as Thirty are by the sowing Method, which has been made appear upon Trial; but, I think, about Forty or Forty-five better than Sixty on a Perch; and the Number of Plants should always be proportion’d to the natural and artificial Pasture which is to maintain them; and sixty Turneps on a square Perch, at Five Pounds each (which is but a Third of the Weight of the large Size of Sheep-Turneps), make a Crop of above Eighty Quarters to an Acre[90].

[90]I have had Turneps upon poor undung’d Land, that weigh’d Fourteen Founds a-piece; but these were only such as had more Room than the rest. I have seen a whole Waggon-load of drill’d Turneps spread on the Ground, wherein I believe one could not have found one that weighed so little as six Pounds; or if the Rows had been searched before they had been pull’d up, they would have weighed Seven or Eight Pounds apiece one with another; we weighed some of them that were Thirteen, some Fourteen Pounds each, and yet they stood pretty thick: There might be, as I guess, about Fifty on a square Perch; but this Crop was on sandy Land, not poor; and was dung’d the Third or Fourth Year before; and had every Year a ho’d Crop of Potatoes, or Wheat, until the Year wherein the Turneps were planted.

When Turneps are planted late (especially upon poor Ground), they may be a greater Number than when planted early; because they will not have time enough of Heat to enjoy the full Benefit of Hoeing, which would otherwise cause them to grow larger.

The greatest Turnep-Improvement used by the Farmer, is for his Cattle in the Winter; one Acre of Turneps will then maintain more than Fifty of Meadow or Pasture-ground.

’Tis now so well known, that most Cattle will eat them, and how much they breed Milk, &c. that I need say nothing about it.

Sheep always refuse them at first, and, unless they have eaten them whilst they were Lambs, must be ready to starve before they will feed on them; tho’, when they have tasted them, they will be fatted by them; and I have seen Lambs of Three Weeks old scoop them prettily, when those of a Year old (which are called Tegs) have been ready to die with Hunger amongst them; and for Three or Four Days would not touch them, but at last eat them very well.

In some Places, the greatest Use of Turneps (except for fatting Oxen and Sheep) is for Ewes and Lambs in the Spring, when natural Grass is not grown on poor Ground; and if the artificial Grass be then fed by the common Manner, the Crop will be spoil’d, and it will yield the less Pasture all the Summer: I have known Farmers, for that Reason, oblig’d to keep their Ewes and Lambs upon Turneps (tho’ run up to Seed) even until the Middle of April.

There are now three Manners of spending Turneps with Sheep, amongst which I do not reckon the Way of putting a Flock of Sheep into a large Ground of Turneps without dividing it; for in that Case the Flock will destroy as many Turneps in a Fortnight, as should keep them well a whole Winter.

The First Manner now in Use is, to divide the Ground of Turneps by Hurdles, giving them leave to come upon no more at a Time than they can eat in one Day, and so advance the Hurdles farther into the Ground daily, until all be spent; but we must observe, that they never eat them clean this Way, but leave the Bottoms and Outsides of the Turneps they have scoop’d in the Ground. These Bottoms People pull up with Iron Crooks, made for that Purpose; but their Cavities being tainted with Urine, Dung, and Dirt from their Feet, tho’ the Sheep do eat some of the Pieces, they waste more, and many the Crooks leave behind in the Earth; and even what they do eat of this tainted Food, can’t nourish them so well as that which is fresh and cleanly.

The second Manner is, to move the Hurdles every Day, as in the First; but that the Sheep may not tread upon the Turneps, they pull them up first, and then advance the Hurdles as far daily as the Turneps are pull’d up, and no farther: By this Means there is not that Waste made as in the other Way; the Food is eaten fresh and clean; and the Turneps are pull’d up with less Labour than their Pieces can be[91].

[91]I have seen Three Labourers work every Day with their Crooks, to pull up these Pieces, which was done with much Difficulty, the Ground being trodden very hard by the Sheep; when one Person, in Two Hours time, would have pull’d up all the whole Turneps daily, and the Sheep would have eaten them clean; but so many of those Pieces were dry’d and spoil’d, that, after the Land was sown with Barley, they appear’d very thick upon the Surface, and there could not be much less than half the Crop of Turneps wasted, notwithstanding the Contrivance of these Crooks.

The Third Manner is, to pull them up, and to carry them into some other Ground in a Cart, or Waggon, and there spread them every Day on a new Place, where the Sheep will eat them up clean, both Leaf and Root: This is done when there is Land not far off, which has more Need of Dung, than that where the Turneps grow, which perhaps is also too wet for Sheep in the Winter; and then the Turneps will, by the too great Moisture and Dirt of the Soil, spoil the Sheep, and in some Soils give them the Rot, yet such Ground will bring forth more and larger Turneps than dry Land; and when they are carry’d off, and eaten on plow’d Ground in dry Weather, and on Green-swerd in wet Weather, the Sheep will thrive much better; and that moist Soil, not being trodden by the Sheep, will be in much the better Order for a Crop of Corn. And generally the Expence of Hurdles, and removing them, being saved, will more than countervail the Labour of carrying off the Turneps.

These Three Ways of spending Turneps with Sheep are common to those drill’d, and to those sown in the random Manner; but they must always be carry’d off for Cows and Oxen; both which will be well fatted by them, and some Hay in the Winter: The Management of these is the Business of a Grazier.

CHAP. IX.
Of Wheat.

Tho’ all Sorts of Vegetables may have great Benefit from the Hoe, because it supplies them with Plenty of Food, at the Time of their greatest Need, yet they do not all equally require Hoeing; but the Plant that is to live the longest, should have the largest Stock of Sustenance provided for it: Generally Wheat lives, or ought to live, longer than other Sorts of Corn; for if it be not sown before Spring, its Grain will be thin, and have but little Flour in it, which is the only useful Part for making Bread. And when sown late in the Winter, ’tis in great Danger of Death from the Frost, whilst weak and tender, being maintained (as a Fœtus) by the umbilical Vessels, until the Warmth of the Sun enables it to send out sufficient Roots of its own to subsist on, without Help of the Ovum.

To prevent these Inconveniences, Wheat is usually sown in Autumn: Hence, having about thrice the Time to be maintain’d that Spring Corn hath, it requires a larger Supply of Nourishment, in proportion to that longer Time; not because the Wheat in its Infancy consumes the Stock of Food, during the Winter, proportionably to what it does afterwards; but because, during that long Interval betwixt Autumn and Spring Seed-times, most of the artificial Pasture is naturally lost, both in light and in strong Land.

For this very Reason is that extraordinary Pains of fallowing and dunging the Soil, necessary to Wheat; tho’, notwithstanding all that Labour and Expence, the Ground is generally grown so stale by the Spring, and so little of the Benefit of that chargeable Culture remains, that, if Part of the same Field be sown in the Beginning of April, upon fresh Plowing, without the Dung, or Year’s Fallow, it will be as great or a greater Crop, in all Respects, except the Flour, which fails only for want of Time to fill the Grain.

Poor light Land, by the common Husbandry, must be very well cultivated and manur’d, to maintain Wheat for a whole Year, which is the usual Time it grows thereon; and if it be sown late, the greatest Part of it will seldom survive the Winter, on such Land; and if it be sown very early on strong Land, tho’ rich, well till’d, and dung’d, the Crop will be worse than on the poor light Land sown early. So much do the long Winter’s Rains cause the Earth to subside, and the divided Parts to coalesce, and lock out the Roots from the Stock of Provision, which, tho’ it was laid in abundantly at Autumn, the Wheat has no great Occasion of until the Spring; and then the Soil is become too hard for the Roots to penetrate; and therefore must starve (like Tantalus) amidst Dainties, which may tempt the Roots, but cannot be attain’d by them.

But the new Method of Hoeing gives, to strong and to light Land, all the Advantages, and takes away all the Disadvantages, of both; as appears in the Chapters of [Tillage] and [Hoeing]. By this Method the strong Land may be planted with Wheat as early as the light (if plow’d dry); and the Hoe-Plough can, if rightly apply’d, raise a Pasture to it[92], equal to that of Dung in both Sorts of Land.

[92]Because the Hoe may go in it all the Year, and the Soil being infinitely divisible, the Division which the Hoe may make whilst the Crop is growing, added to the common Tillage, may equal, or even exceed, a common Dressing with Dung, as I have often experienced.

About the Year 1701, when I had contrived my Drill for planting St. Foin, I made use of it also for Wheat. Drilling many Rows at once, which made the Work much more compendious, and perform’d it much better than Hands could do, making the Channels of a Foot Distance, drilling in the Seed, and covering it, did not in all amount to more than Six-pence per Acre Expence, which was above ten Times over-paid by the Seed that was saved; for One Bushel to an Acre was the Quantity drill’d; there remain’d then no need of Hand-work, but for the Hoeing; and this did cost from Half a Crown to Four Shillings per Acre. This way turn’d to a very good Account, and in considerable Quantities; it has brought as good a Crop of Wheat on Barley-stubble, as that sown the common Way on Summer-fallow; and when that sown the old Way, on the same Field, on Barley-stubble, intirely fail’d, tho’ there was no other Difference but the Drilling and Hoeing: It was also such an Improvement to the Land, that when, one Part of a strong whitish Ground, all of equal Goodness, and equally fallow’d and till’d, was dung’d and sown in the common Manner, and the other Part was thus drill’d and hand-ho’d without Dung, the ho’d Part was not only the best Crop, but the whole Piece being fallow’d the next Year, and sown all alike by a Tenant, the ho’d Part produc’d so much a better Crop of Wheat than the dung’d Part, that a Stranger would have believ’d by looking on it, that that Part had been dung’d which was not[93], and that Part not to have been dung’d which really was.

[93]If the Dung did pulverize as much as the Hoeing, the Cause must be from the different Exhaustion.

Scarce any Land is so unfit, and ill prepar’d, for Wheat, as that where the natural Grass[94] abounds. Most other sorts of Weeds may be dealt withal when they come among drill’d Wheat; but ’tis impossible to extract Grass from the Rows: Therefore let that be kill’d before the Wheat be planted.

[94]One Bunch of natural Grass, transplanted by the Plough into a treble Row of Wheat, will destroy almost a whole Yard of it.

The Six-feet Ridges being Eleven, on Sixty-six Feet, which is an Acre’s Breadth, ought to be made Lengthways of the Field, if there be no Impediment against it; as if it be an Hill of any considerable Steepness, then they must be made to run up and down, whether that be the Length or Breadth of the Piece; for if the Ridges should go cross such a Hill, they could not be well Horse-ho’d; because it would be very difficult to turn a Furrow upwards, close to the Row above it, or to turn a Furrow downwards, without burying the Row below it; and even when a Furrow is turn’d from the lower Row, enough of the Earth to bury that Row will be apt to run over on the Left-side of the Plough; unless it goes at such a Distance from the Row, as to give it no Benefit of Hoeing.

These Ridges should be made strait and equal: And to make them strait[95] all good Ploughmen know how; and they will, by setting up Marks to look at, plow in a Line like the Path of an Arrow: But to make the Ridges equal, ’tis necessary to mark out a Number of them, before you begin to plow, by short Sticks set up at each End of the Piece; and then if one Ridge happen to be a little too broad, the next may be made the narrower; for if the Plough comes not out exactly at the second Stick, the Two Ridges may be made equal by the next Plowing, or by the Drilling; but if many contiguous Ridges should be too wide, or too narrow, ’twill be difficult to bring them all to an Equality afterwards, without levelling the whole Piece, and laying out the Ridges all anew.

[95]But if the Piece be of such a crooked or serpentine Form, that the Ridges cannot well be plow’d strait the first Time, ’tis best to drill it upon the Level; and then the marking Wheels may direct for making the Row all parallel and equidistant; which will guide the Plough to make all the Ridges for the next and all the subsequent Crops, as equal.

The exact Height of Ridges, which is best, I cannot determine[96]: A different Soil may require a different Height, according to the Depth, Richness, and Pulveration of the Mould. As Wheat covets always to lie dry in the Winter, so there is no other way to keep it so dry as these Ridges; for when they are, after the first Hoeing, about Eighteen Inches broad[97], with a Ditch on each Side, of almost a Foot deep, the Rain-water runs off such narrow Ridges as fast it falls, and much sooner[98] than ’tis possible for it to do from broad Ridges.

[96]I find by measuring my Wheat Ridges in the Spring, that none of them are quite a Foot high; and some of them only Six Inches; but I know not how much they have subsided in the Winter; for they were certainly higher when first made.

[97]This is the Breadth the Ridges are generally left at, when the Furrows are hoed from them, and thrown into the Intervals.

[98]Water, when it runs off very soon, is beneficial, as is seen in water’d Meadows; but where it remains long on, or very near the Bodies of terrestrial Plants, it kills them, or at least is very injurious to them.

And the deeper the Soil, the more occasion there commonly is of this high Situation; because such Land is wetter for the most Part than shallow Land, where we cannot make the Furrows so deep, nor the Ridges so high[99], as in deep Land; for we must never plow below the Staple. I see the Wheat on these ho’d Ridges flourish, and grow vigorously, in wet Weather, when other Wheat looks yellow and sickly.

[99]If we should make our Ridges as high on a shallow Soil, as we may on a deep Soil, there would be a Deficiency of Mould in the Intervals of equal Breadth with those of a deep Soil.

The same wide Interval, which is ho’d betwixt Ridges the First time, with Two Furrows, must have had Four Furrows, to hoe it on the Level; or else the Furrow, that is turn’d from the Row, would rise up, and a great Part of it fall over to the Left-hand, and bury the Row; but when turn’d from a Ridge, it will all fall down to the Right-hand.

You must not leave the Tops of the Ridges quite so narrow and sharp for Drilling of Wheat, as you may for drilling Turneps; Wheat being in treble Rows, but Turneps generally in single Rows[100]. This is our Method of making Ridges for the First Crop of drill’d Wheat.

[100]A single Row taking up less of the Breadth, may be afforded to have more of the Ridge’s Depth; because it leaves the Interval wider.

But the Method of making Ridges for a succeeding Crop, after the former is harvested, is best perform’d as follows: In making Ridges for Wheat after Wheat, you must raise them to their full Height, before you plow the old Partitions, with their Stubble, up to them; for if you go about to make the Ridges higher afterwards, the Stubble will so mix with the Mould of their Tops, that it may not only be an Hindrance to the Drill, but also to the First Hoeing; because if the Hoe-plough goes so near to the Rows as it ought, it would be apt to tear out the Wheat-plants along with the Stubble.

In Reaping, we cut as near as we can to the Ground[101]; which is easily done, because the Stalks stand all close together at Bottom, contrary to those of sown Wheat.

[101]When Wheat is reap’d very low, the Stubble is no great Impediment; and I do this when I am forc’d to inlarge the Breadth of my Ridges, or to change their Bearing, as I do when I find it convenient for them to point Cross-ways of the Field instead of Length ways; as if one End of it be wetter than the other: For ’tis inconvenient, that one End of a Ridge should be in the wet Part, and the other in the dry; because, in that Case, we cannot hoe the dry End without hoeing the wet at the same time; and whilst we attend for the wet Part to become dry, it may happen, that the Season for hoeing the whole (if the Quantity be great) may be lost.

I find this Stubble, when ’tis only mixt with the Intervals, very beneficial to the Hoeing of my Wheat; but I know not whether it may be so in rich miry Land.

As soon as conveniently you can, after the Crop of Wheat is carried off (if the Trench in the Middle of each wide Interval be left deep enough by the last Hoeing), go as near as you can to the Stubble with a common Plough, and turn Two large Furrows into the Middle of the Intervals, which will[102] make a Ridge over the Place where the Trench was: But if the Trench be not deep enough, go first in the Middle of it with one Furrow; which with Two more taken from the Ridges, will be three Furrows in each Interval; continue this Plowing as long as the dry Weather lasteth; and then finish, by turning the Partitions (whereon the last Wheat grew) up to the new Ridges, which is usually done at Two great Furrows. You may plow these last Furrows, which complete the Ridges, in wet Weather.

[102]’Tis the Depth and Fineness of this Ridge that the Success of our Crop depends on; the Plants having nothing else to maintain them during the First Six Months; and if, for want of Sustenance, they are weak in the Spring, ’twill be more difficult to make them recover their Strength afterwards so fully as to bring them to their due Perfection. But Ploughmen have found a Trick to disappoint us in this fundamental Part of our Husbandry, if they are not narrowly watched: They do it in the following Manner; viz. They contrive to leave the Trench very shallow; and then, in turning the Two First Furrows of the Ridge, they hold the Plough towards the Left, which raises up the Fin of the Share, and leaves so much of the Earth whereon the Rows are to stand whole and unplowed, that after once Harrowing there doth not remain above Two or Three Inches in Depth of fine Earth underneath the Rows when drilled, instead of Ten or Twelve Inches.

On a Time, when my Diseases permitted me to go into the Wheat-field, where my Ploughs were at Work, I discovered this Trick, and ventured to ask my chief Ploughman his Reason for doing this in my Absence, contrary to my Direction. He magisterially answer’d, according to his own Theory, which Servants judge ought to be follow’d before that of him they call Master, saying, That as the Roots of Wheat never reached more than Two or Three Inches deep, there was no need that the fine Mould should be any deeper. But those shallow Ridges, which were indeed too many, producing a Crop very much inferior to the contiguous deep Ridges, shewed, at my Cost, the Mistake of my cunning Ploughman.

’Tis true, that People who examine Wheat-roots when dead, are apt to fall into this mistake; for then they are shrivell’d up, and so rotten, that they break off very near to the Stalk in pulling up; but if they are examined in their Vigour at Summer with Care, in a friable Soil, they may be seen to descend as deep as the fine pulveriz’d Mould reacheth, though that should be a Foot in Thickness.

I took up a Wheat-ear in Harvest that had lain on the Grass in wet Weather, where the Wind could not come to dry it, which had sent out white Roots like the Teeth of a Comb, some of them Three Inches long: None having reached the Ground, they could not be nourished from any thing but the Grains, which remained fast to the Ear, and had not as yet sent out any Blade. ’Tis unreasonable to imagine, that such a single Root as one of these, when in the Earth, from whence it must maintain a pretty large Plant all or most Part of the Winter, should descend no farther than when it was itself maintained from the Flour of the Grain only.

To make a Six-feet Ridge very high, will sometimes require more Furrows; as when the Middle of the Intervals are open very wide and deep, then Six Furrows to the whole Ridge may be necessary, and they not little ones; and the Season makes a Difference, as well as the Size of the Furrows; for when the fine Mould is very dry (which is best), it will much of it run to the Left-hand before the Plough, and also more will run back again to the Left after the Plough is gone past it.

But when such Ridges have been made for Wheat, and the Season continues long too dry for planting it, and the Stubble not thrown up, we then plow one deep Furrow on the Middle of each Ridge, and then plow the whole Ridge at Four Furrows more, which will raise it very high. This Way of replowing the Ridges moves all the Earth of them, and yet is done at Five Furrows.

The Furrows, necessary for raising up the Ridges, must be more, or fewer, in regard to the Bigness of them; because Six small Furrows may be less than Four great ones. ’Tis not best to plow the Stubble up to the Ridges, until just before Planting (especially in the early Plowing); because that will hinder the Re-plowing of the First Furrows, which, if the Season continues dry, may be necessary: Sometimes we do this by opening One Furrow in the Middle of the Ridge, sometimes Two, and afterwards raise up the Ridges again; and when they are become moist enough at Top (the old Partitions being plow’d up to them), we harrow them once[103] (and that only Lengthways); and then drill them.

[103]But if once be not sufficient to level the Tops of the Ridges fit for the Drill to pass thereon, as it always will, unless the Two hard Furrows lie so high, that all the Three Shares of the Drill cannot reach to make their Channels, in this Case you must harrow again until they can all reach deep enough. Also in some Sort of Land, that when drilled late, and very moist, will stick to the Shares like Pitch or Bird-lime, whereby the Channels are in Part left open by the Drill-harrow, it must be harrowed after ’tis drilled, because ’tis necessary in such Land to take off the common Drill-harrow, in order for a Man to follow the Drill with a Paddle, or else a forked Stick, with which he frees the Sheats of the adhering Dirt; this Harrow being gone, much of the Seed will lie uncovered, and then must be covered with common Harrows; unless a Drill-harrow, which was not in Use when my Plates were made, be placed instead of that taken off: This, with its two Iron Tines, will cover the Seed in this Case much better than common Harrows, and will be no Hindrance to cleansing of the Sheats, the Legs by which this Harrow is drawn, being remote from them, placed at near the End of the Plank; and note, that the most proper Drill for this Purpose is one that has only Two Shares, standing a Foot or fourteen Inches asunder: This Harrow serves for taking up the Drill to turn it.

There is a Necessity of plowing the old Partitions up to the new Ridges to support their other Earth from falling down by the Harrowing and Drilling, which would else make them level.

Our Ridges, after the First Time of Plowing, excel common Ridges of the same Height; because these, tho’ as deep in Mould at the Tops, have little of it till’d at the last Plowing; but ours, being made upon the open Trenches, consist of new-till’d pulveriz’d Mould, from Top to Bottom.

’Tis a general Rule, that all Sorts of Grain and Seeds prosper best, sown when the Ground is so dry, as to be broken into the most Parts by the Plough. The Reason why Wheat is an Exception to that Rule is, because it must endure the Rigours of Winter, which ’tis the better able to do, by the Earth’s being press’d or trodden harder, and closer to it[104], as it is when moved wet.

[104]’Tis for that Reason, that Farmers drive their Sheep over very light Land, as soon as ’tis sown with Wheat, to tread the (Top or) Surface of it hard: and then the Cold of the Winter cannot so easily penetrate, to kill the Roots of the tender Plants.

If Wheat were as hardy as Rye, and its Roots as patient of Cold, it might, no doubt, be sown in as dry a Season as Rye is, and prosper the better for it, as Rye doth. This will appear, if Wheat and Rye be both sown in the same dry Season, after the Winter is over.

But as Wheat requires to have the Earth lie harder on and about it, in the Winter; so it also requires more Dung (or somewhat else) to dissolve the Earth about its Roots, after the cold Winter is past, than Rye doth, whose Roots never were so much confined.

’Tis another general Rule, that all Sorts of Vegetables thrive best, when sown on fresh till’d Ground, immediately after ’tis plow’d.

Wheat is an Exception to this Rule also; for ’tis better to plow the Ground dry, and let it lie till the Weather moistens it (tho’ it be several Weeks), and then drill the Wheat: The Harrows and the Drill will move a sufficient Part of the Ground, which will stick together for Defence of the small Roots, during the Winter, the rest of the Mould, lying open, and divided underneath until Spring, to nourish them.

There is a Sort of binding Sand, that requires not only to be plow’d dry, but sow’d dry also; or else the Wheat will dwindle in the Spring, and fail of being a tolerable Crop.

But what I mean by dry Plowing is, not that the Land should always be so void of Moisture, as that the Dust should fly; but it must not be so wet, as to stick together[105]. Neither should we drill when the Earth is wet as Pap; it suffices that it be moist, but moister in light Land than in strong Land, when we drill.

[105]But the drier ’tis plow’d the better.

If the Two Furrows, whereon the treble Row is to stand, be plow’d wet, the Earth of the Partitions may grow so hard by the Spring, that the Roots cannot run freely therein, unless there be Dung to ferment and keep it open.

So we see, that a steep Bank, made of wet Earth, will lie fast for several Years, when another, made of the same Earth dry, will moulder, and run down very soon; because its Parts have not the Cohesion that holds the other together, it continues open, and more porous, and crumbles continually down.

I have seen Trials of this Difference betwixt plowing Dry, and plowing Wet, for planting of Wheat, both in the Old Way, and in the Drilling Way, but most in the latter; and never saw an Instance where the Dry-Plowing did not outdo the Wet; if the Wheat was not planted thereon before the Earth was become moist enough at Top.

And strong Land, plow’d wet in November, will be harder in the Spring, than if plow’d dry in August; tho’ it would then have Three Months longer to lie.

After Rain, when the Top of the Ground is of a fit Moisture for Drilling, harrow it with Two light Harrows, drawn by a Horse going in the Furrow betwixt Two Ridges[106]; once will be enough, the Furrow being just broken to level, or rather smooth it for the Drill.

[106]Once Harrowing is generally enough, but not always.

If the Veerings[107] whereon the next Crop is to stand, be plow’d dry, we may drill at any Time during the common and usual Wheat-seed time, that is proper for the sort of Wheat to be drill’d, and the sort of Land, whether that be early or late, we may drill earlier, but not later than the sowing Farmers. But I have had good Crops of Wheat drill’d at all Times betwixt Harvest and the Beginning of November.

[107]The Word veering is, I believe, taken from the Seamen, and signifies to turn: It is the Ploughman’s Term for turning Two Furrows toward each other, as they must do to begin a Ridge: and therefore they call the Top of a Ridge a Veering; they call the Two Furrows that are turn’d from each other at the Bottom, between Two Ridges, a Henting, i. e. an Ending: because it makes an End of plowing Ridges.

Our Intervals wholly consist of Veerings or Hentings; when Two Furrows are turn’d from the Rows, they make a Veering; when turn’d towards the Rows, they are a Henting, which is the deep wide Trench in the Middle of an Interval.

For the Benefit of the middle Rows, ’tis better not to drill Wheat on strong Land before the usual Season; because the later ’tis planted, the more open the Partitions will be for the Roots of those Rows to run through them in the Spring: and yet, if the Earth of the Partitions be plow’d very wet, tho’ late, they may be harder at the Spring, than those which are plow’d early and dry.

There is a Sort of Wheat call’d by some[108] Smyrna Wheat: It has a prodigious large Ear, with many less (or collateral) Ears, coming all round the Bottom of this Ear; as it is the largest of all Sorts of Wheat, so it will dispense with the Nourishment of a Garden, without being over-fed, and requires more Nourishment than the common Husbandry will afford it; for there its Ears grow not much bigger than those of common Wheat: This I believe to be, for that Reason, the very best Sort for the Hoeing Husbandry; next to this I esteem the White-cone Wheat, then the Grey-cone. I have had very good Crops from other Sorts; but look upon these to be the best.

[108]’Tis said to grow mostly in some Islands of the Archipelago, and some Author describes it Triticum spica multiplici: There is another Sort of Wheat that has many little Ears coming out of Two Sides of the main Ear, but this is very late ripe, and doth not succeed well here, nor is it liked by them who have sown it; yet I have had some Ears of it by chance among my drill’d Wheat, which have been larger than those of any common Sort. I have not as yet been able to procure any of the Smyrna Wheat, which I look on as a great Misfortune; but I had some of it above Forty Years ago.

When Wheat is planted early, less Seed is required than when late; because less of it will die in the Winter than of that planted late, and it has more Time to tiller[109].

[109]To tiller is to branch out into many Stalks, and is the Country Word, that signifies the same with fruticare.

Poor Land should have more Seed than rich Land, because a less Number of the Plants will survive the Winter on poor Land.

The least Quantity of Seed may suffice for rich Land that is planted early; for thereon very few Plants will die; and the Hoe will cause a small Number of Plants to send out a vast Number of Stalks, which will have large Ears; and in these, more than in the Number of Plants, consists the Goodness of a Crop[110].

[110]A too great Number of Plants do neither tiller, nor produce so large Ears, nor make half so good a Crop, as a bare competent Number of Plants will.

Another thing must be consider’d, in order to find the just Proportion of Seed to plant; and that is, that some Wheat has its Grains twice as big as other Wheat of the same Sort; and then a Bushel[111] will contain but half the Number of Grains; and one Bushel of Small-grain’d Wheat will plant as much Ground as Two Bushels of the Large-grain’d; for, in Truth, ’tis not the Measure of the Seed, but the Number of the Grains, to which respect ought to be had in apportioning the Quantity of it to the Land.

[111]Our Bushel contains Seventy Pounds of the best Wheat.

Some have thought, that a large Grain of Wheat would produce a larger Plant than a small Grain; but I have full Experience to the contrary. The small Grain, indeed, sends up its first single Blade in Proportion to its own Bulk, but afterwards becomes as large a Plant, as the largest Grain can produce[112], cæteris paribus.

[112]Farmers in general know this, and choose the thinnest, smallest-grained Wheat for Seed; and therefore prefer that which is blighted and lodged, and that which grows on new-broken Ground, and is not fit for Bread; not only because this thin Wheat has more Grains in a Bushel; but also because such Seed is least liable to produce a smutty Crop, and yet brings Grains as large as any.

I myself have had as full Proofs of this as can possibly be made in both Respects.

’Twas from such small Seed that my drill’d Lammas Wheat produced the Ears of that monstrous Length described in this Chapter. I never saw the like, except in that one Year; and the Grains were large also.

And as full Proofs have I seen of thin Seed-wheat escaping the Smut, when plump large grain’d Seed of the same Sort have been smutty.

Six Gallons of middle-siz’d Seed we most commonly drill on an Acre; yet, on rich Land planted early, Four Gallons may suffice; because then the Wheat will have Roots at the Top of the Ground before Winter, and tiller very much, without Danger of the Worms, and other Accidents, that late-planted Wheat is liable to.

If it is drill’d too thick, ’twill be in Danger of falling; if too thin, it may happen to tiller so late in the Spring, that some of the Ears may be blighted; yet a little thicker or thinner does not matter.

As to the Depth, we may plant from half an Inch, to three Inches deep; if planted too deep, there is more Danger of its being eaten off by Worms, betwixt the Grain and the Blade[113]; for as that Thread is the Thread of Life during the Winter (if not planted early), so the longer the Thread is, the more Danger will there be of the Worms[114].

[113]A Wheat plant, that is not planted early, sends out no Root above the Grain before the Spring; and is nourish’d all the Winter by a single Thread, proceeding from the Grain up to the Surface of the Ground.

[114]Because the Worms can more easily find a Thread, that extends by its Length to five or six Inches Depth, than one which reaches but One Inch; and besides, the Worms in Winter do not inhabit very near the Surface of the Ground; and therefore also miss the short Threads, and meet with the long ones.

’Tis a necessary Caution to beware of the Rooks[115], just as the Wheat begins to peep; for before you can perceive it to be coming up, they will find it, and dig it up to eat the Grain; therefore you must keep them off for a Week or Ten Days; and in that time the Blade will become green, and the Grain so much exhausted of its Flour, that the Rooks think it not worth while to dig after it.

[115]’Tis true, that Wheat which is planted early enough for its Grain to be unfit for the Rooks, before the Corn that is left on the Ground at Harvest is either all eaten by them, or by Swine, or else grow’d, plowed in, or otherwise spoiled, is in no Danger: but as this sometimes happens soon after Harvest, the Time of which is uncertain, a timely Care is necessary.

Many are the Contrivances to fright the Rooks; viz. To dig an Hole in the Ground, and stick Feathers therein; to tear a Rook to Pieces, and lay them on divers Parts of the Field: This is sometimes effectual; but Kites or other Vermin soon carry away those Pieces. Hanging up of dead Rooks is of little Use; for the living will dig up the Wheat under the dead ones. A Gun is also of great Use for the Purpose; but unless the Field in Time of Danger be constantly attended, the Rooks will at one Time or other of the Day do their Work, and you may attend often, and yet to no Purpose; for they will do great Damage in your Absence.

The only Remedy that I have found infallible is a Keeper (a Boy may serve very well) to attend from Morning until Night; when he sees Rooks either flying over the Field, or alighted in it, he halloos, and throws up his Hat, or a dead Rook, into the Air: upon which they immediately go off; and ’tis seldom that any one will alight there: They, finding there is no Rest for them, seek other Places for their Prey, wherein they can feed more undisturbed.

This was the Expedient I made use of for preserving my present Crop: It succeeded so well, that in Sixscore Acres, I believe there is not Two-pence Damage done by the Rooks; but I had two Boys (one at Four-pence, and the other at Three-pence a Day) to attend them; because my Wheat is on Two Sides of my Farm; the whole Expence was about Twenty Shillings. The Damage I received by Rooks the last Year in a Field of Seventeen Acres, was more than would have, in this manner, preserved my whole Crops for Twenty Years running. I wish I could as easily defend my Wheat against Sheep, which are to me a more pernicious Vermin than the Rooks.

But the Rooks do not molest Wheat that is planted before or a little after St. Michael; for then there remains Corn enough in the Fields, which is left at Harvest above-ground, that Rooks prefer always before Corn which must cost them the Labour of digging to find it.

Of Partitions.

I have now intirely left out the middle Row for Wheat, and keep only to the double Row, for the following Reasons.

It makes the cleansing from Weeds more difficult, than when there is only a double Row.

The Hand-hoe cannot give near so much Nourishment (i. e. pulverize so much Earth) in Two Seven-inch Partitions, as it can in One Ten-inch Partition.

There is Four Inches less Earth to be pulveriz’d by the Horse-hoe from the Surface of a Ridge that has Two Seven-inch Partitions, than from a Ridge that hath One Ten-inch Partition.

The Ridge must be almost twice as deep in Mould for the treble as for the double Row, or else the middle Row will be very weak and poor; and then, according to the Principles, the whole Ridge will be more exhausted, than by an equal Product produced by strong Plants.

As the Ridges may be much lower that have only the one Partition, so the Intervals may be narrower, and yet have as much Earth in them to be pulveriz’d, as in wide ones that are betwixt treble Rows; because the Four Inches that are in the two Partitions more than in the single Partition, being on the Top of the Ridge, may have more Mould under them than Eight Inches on the Side of a Ridge; and the Four Inches, being in the Partitions, lose the Benefit of Horse-hoeing.

Instead of using the middle Row as an Alloy, ’tis better to plant such Sorts of Wheat as do not require any Alloy to the double Row; and these are the White-cone, and above all other Sorts the right Smyrna.

The White-cone Wheat must not be reaped so green as the Lammas Wheat may; for if it is not full-ripe, it will be difficult to thresh it clean out of the Straw.

It happened once that my White-cone being planted early, and being very high, the Blade and Stalk were kill’d in the Winter; and yet it grew high again in the Spring, and had then the same Fortune a Second time; it lay on the Ridges like Straw, but sprung out anew from the Root, and made a very good Crop at Harvest: Therefore, if the like Accident should happen, the Owner needs not be frighted at it.

One thing that made Six-feet Ridges seem at first necessary, was the great Breadth of the Two Partitions (which were Eight Inches apiece), which, together with the Earth left on each Side of the treble Row not well cleansed by Hand-work, made Two large whole Furrows, at the first Plowing for the next Crop, that could not be broken by Harrows: These Two strong Furrows, being turned to the Two Furrows that are in the middle of a narrow Interval, for making a new Ridge, would cover almost all the pulveriz’d Earth, not leaving room betwixt the Two whole Furrows for the Drill to go in. But now the single Partition, and the Earth left by the Hoe-Plough, on the Outsides of the double Row, making Two narrow Furrows, and the one Partition being cleansed, and deeper Hand-ho’d than those of the treble Row were, or could be, are easily broken by the Harrows; for, besides their Narrowness, they have no Roots to hold their Mould together, except the Wheat-roots, which, being small and dead, have not Strength enough to hold it; and therefore that Necessity of such broad Ridges now ceases along with the treble Row.

When the Two narrow fragile Furrows are harrowed, and mixed with the pulveriz’d Earth of the Intervals, the Roots of the Wheat will reach it; and it is no Matter whether the Crop be drill’d after Two Plowings, in which Case the Row will stand on the very same Place whereon the Row stood the precedent Year, or whether it be drill’d after One or Three Plowings; and then the Rows will stand on the Middle of the last Year’s Intervals.

I cannot prescribe precisely the most proper Width of all Intervals; because they should be different in different Circumstances. In deep rich Land they may be a little narrower than in shallow Land.

There must be (as has been said) a competent Quantity of Earth in them to be pulveriz’d; and, when the Soil is rich, the less will suffice.

Never let the Intervals be too wide to be Horse-hoed at Two Furrows, without leaving any Part unplowed in the Middle of them, when the Furrows are turned towards the Rows.

Some Ploughmen can plow a wider Furrow than others, that do not understand the letting of the Hoe-Plough so well, can.

By making the Plank of the Hoe-plough shorter, and the Limbers more crooked, we can now hoe in narrower Intervals than formerly, without doing any Damage to the Wheat.

I now choose to have Fourteen Ridges on an Acre, and one only Partition of Ten Inches on each of them. This I find answers all the Ends I purpose. If the Partitions are narrower, there is not sufficient room in them for the Hand-hoe to do its work effectually; if wider, too much Earth will lose the Benefit of the Horse-hoe.

The poorer the Soil is, the more Pulveration will be necessary to it.

When a great Season of Wheat is drill’d, it cannot be expected that much of it can be plowed dry, tho’ it is advantageous when there happens an Opportunity for doing it; but by long Experience I find, that in most of my Lands it does very well, when plowed in a moderate Temper of Moisture.

It may not be amiss to harrow it once after it is drill’d, which will, in some Measure, disappoint the Rooks; besides covering the Wheat, if, perchance, any should miss being covered by the Drill-harrow.

But these, and all Harrows that go on a Ridge, both before and after it is drill’d, should be very light, and fastened together in the common Manner; except that the Pole must be fastened to each Harrow in two Places; which keeps them both as level as if they were One single Harrow: Otherwise the Ridges would be too sharp at the Top, and the Partitions would lie higher than the Rows, and some of their Earth would be apt to fall on the Rows when it is Hand-hoed.

By Means of this level Harrowing, there is left an open Furrow in the Middle of the Interval, which much facilitates the First Horse-hoeing.

But when, after a Crop is taken off, the Ridges are plowed twice, as they may be where the one Partition hath been well Hand-ho’d; ’tis better to harrow the first-made Ridges in the common Manner; because then some of the fine Earth, that is harrow’d down, will reach to the middle of the Intervals whereon the Ridges are to be made for Drilling: Or if there should be time for plowing thrice, the Ridges of the First and Second Plowings are to be harrow’d in the common Manner also.

The Harrowing of Ridges must never be cross-ways, unless they are to be made level for Cross-plowing, in order to lay out the Ridges of a Breadth different to what they were of before.

When you perceive the Ridges are too high, harrow them lower by the described manner of Harrowing; first with the heavy Harrows for harrowing out the Stubble, and then with light ones, which may be often, for making the Earth on the Ridges the finer for Drilling, without throwing much of it down; frequent Harrowings in this manner, not being injurious like too much Harrowing on level Ground, which is sometimes trodden as hard as the Highway by the Cattle that draw the Harrows; for in harrowing these Ridges, the Beast draws the Two Harrows, and always treads in the Furrow between them where there is none or very little Mould to tread on.

The Price of Hand-hoeing of these double Rows is a Peny for thirty Perches in Length of Row, which amounts to between Eighteen and Nineteen Pence for an Acre.

I should say, that in Hand-hoeing the Earth must never be turned towards the Wheat; for, if it were, it might crush it when young; neither could the Partition be clean hoed.

The Hand-hoes for hoeing the Ten-inch Partition have their Edges Seven Inches long; they are about Four Inches deep from the Handle; if they were deeper, they would be too weak; for they must be thin, and well steeled. The Labourers pay for them, and keep them in Order, for their own Use.

These Hoes must not cut out any Part of the Two Rows, nor be drawn through them, as the Four-inch Hoes sometimes may through the treble Rows.

If I am taxed with Levity in changing my treble Rows for double ones, it will not appear to be done of a sudden. In p. 132. I advised the Trial of both Sorts: And now, upon fuller Experience, I find the double Rows much preferable to the treble, especially for Wheat.

When Gentlemen saw the middle Row on low Ridges so much inferior to the outside Rows, they were convinced of the Effect of deep Hoeing; for they said, there was no other Reason for this so visible a Difference, except the outside Rows standing nearer to the pulveriz’d Intervals than the middle Row did.

And when on high Ridges the middle Row was nearly or quite as good as one of the outside Rows, I was not convinced, that they were not diminished by the middle Row, as much as the Produce of it amounted to: And this I now find to be the Case; for Four Rows of Oats, without a middle Row, produced somewhat more than the same Number that had a middle Row; Two of which treble Rows were taken on one Side, and Two on the other Side of the double Rows, purposely to make an unexceptionable Trial. And it is, as far as I can judge, the same in Wheat.

’Tis true, I began my Horse-hoeing Scheme first with double Rows; but then they were different to what they are now; for the first had their Partition uneven, being the parting Space, whereby it was less proper for Hand-hoeing, which I then seldom used, except for absolute Necessity, as to cleanse our Poppies, and the like. The Intervals also were too narrow for constant annual Crops.

By all these Three Methods I have had very good Crops; but as this I now describe is the latest, and is (as it ought to be) the best; I publish it as such, without Partiality to my own Opinions; for I think it less dishonourable to expose my Errors, when I chance to detect them, than to conceal them: And as I aim at nothing but Truth, I cannot, with any Satisfaction to myself, suffer any thing of my own knowingly to escape, that is in the lead contrary to it.

I have a Piece of Five or Six Acres of Land which I annually plant with boiling Pease, in the very same manner as Wheat; except that the Second Horse-hoeing (which is the last) throws the Earth so far upon the Pease as to make the Two Rows become One. These Pease cannot be planted until after the 25th of March; else Two Horse-hoeings might not be sufficient. The same Drill that plants Wheat plants Pease; only sometimes we change the Spindle for one that has its Notches a little bigger.

I drill no more Barley, because ’tis not proper to be followed by a Crop of Wheat without a Fallow; for some of the shattered Barley will live over the Winter, and mix with the Wheat in the Rows, and can scarce possibly be thence timely taken out, its first Stalk and Blade being difficult to distinguish from the Wheat; and this is a great Damage to the Sale in the Market; and for the same Reason I plant no more Oats.

The First Hoeing is performed by turning a Furrow from the Row.

We are not so exact as to the Weather in the First Hoeing; for if the Earth be wet, the Hoe-plough may go nearer to the Row, without burying the Wheat; and the Frost of the Winter will pulverize that Part of the[116] Furrow, which is to be thrown to the Wheat in the Spring, altho’ it was hoed wet.

[116]The Word Furrow signifies the Earth that is thrown out, as well as the Trench from whence it is thrown by the Plough.

Neither is it necessary to be very exact as to Time; but it must never be till the Wheat has more than One Blade; and it may be soon enough, when it has Four or Five Leaves, so that it is done before[117], or in the Beginning of Winter.

[117]But if the Wheat is planted very late, it may not be hoeable before the Winter is past; nor is there such a Necessity of hoeing the late planted before the great Frosts are over, as there is of the early-planted; for the later ’tis planted, the less time the Earth has to subside, and grow hard.

Note, By Winter we do not mean only those Months that are properly so reckoned, but also such other Months as have hard Frosts in them, as January, February, and sometimes the Beginning of March.

The greatest Fault you can commit in Hoeing, is the First Time, when the Furrow is turned from the Row, not to go near enough to it, nor deep enough. You cannot then go too near it, unless you plow it out, or bury it with Mould, and do not uncover it; nor too deep, unless you go below the Staple of the Ground.

Servants are apt to hoe too far from the Rows, going backwards and forwards, in the Middle of the Intervals, without coming near the Rows: This loses most of the Benefit of Hoeing, and is very injurious to the present Crop, and also to the Two succeeding Crops; for then there will be a Deficiency of pulverized Earth; and nobody can suppose, that the hoed Earth can be of any Benefit to the Rows, before the Roots reach into it; and when ’tis far off, few of the Roots reach it at all; and those that do reach, come there too late to bring the Plants to their full Perfection: Therefore, if the First Furrow was not near enough, nor deep enough, plow a Second Furrow at the Bottom of the former, which will go deeper than the First, and break the Earth more; besides taking away from the Rows such unmoved Ground, which the First Plowing may possibly have missed. If this can’t be conveniently done soon after the First Hoeing, do it before the Ridge is turned back in the Spring.

Always leave the Furrows turned up, to make[118] Ridges in the Middle of the Intervals during the Winter; and then the hollow Furrows, or Trenches next the Rows, being enriched by the Frost[119] and Rains[120], the Wheat will have the Benefit of them earlier in the Spring, than if the Trenches had been left open in the Middle of the Intervals.

[118]Tho’ the Ridge in the Middle of the Interval should, for Want of sufficient Mould, or otherwise, be too low to give Shelter, yet there is generally some Earth falls to the Left of the Hoe-plough, and lodges upon that Part which is left on the Outside of the Row; which, notwithstanding that Part be very narrow (as suppose Two or Three Inches), yet a small Quantity of Earth lying thereon, so near to the outside Row, gives an extraordinary Shelter to the young Wheat plants that grow in it.

Shelter is a great Benefit to Wheat; but yet Nourishment is more: for in the Winter I see the Wheat-plants upon the most exposed Part of the Ridge flourish, when single Plants in the Bottom of the Furrow are in a very poor languishing Condition, without any Annoyance of Water, they being upon a Chalk Bottom.

[119]Frost, if it does not kill the Wheat, is of great Benefit to it; Water or Moisture, when it is frozen in the Earth, takes up more Room than in its natural State; this Swelling of the Ice (which is Water congealed) must move and break the Earth wherewith it is mixt; and when it thaws, the Earth is left hollow and open, which is a kind of Hoeing to it. This Benefit is done chiefly to and near the Surface; consequently the more Surface there is, by the Unevenness of the Land, the more Advantage the Soil has from the Frost.

This is another very great Use of the Ridge left in the Middle of the Interval during the Winter; because that Ridge, and its Two Furrows, contain Four Times as much Surface as when level. This thus pulverized Surface, turned in in the Spring hoeing, enriches the Earth, in proportion to its Increase of internal Superficies, and likewise proportionably nourishes the Plants, whose Roots enter it; and that Part of it wherein they do not enter, must remain more enriched for the next Crop, than if the Soil had remained level all the Winter.

[120]It is a vulgar Error that the Winter Rains do not enrich the Earth; and is only thought so, because we do not see the Effect of them upon Vegetables, for lack of Heat in that Season. But some Farmers have frequently observed, that one half of a Ground plowed up just before Winter has produced a Crop of Barley as much better than the other Part plowed up at the End of Winter, as is the Difference of a Dunging, even when there has been very little Frost.

The outside Rows of Wheat, from which the Earth is hoed off before or in the Beginning of Winter, and left almost bare till the Spring, one would think should suffer by the Frost coming so near them[121], or for want of Pasture: But it appears to be quite contrary; for where the Hoe has gone nearest to a Row, its Plants thrive best: The Earth, which the Frost hath pulverized, being within the Reach of the young short Roots, on that Side of the Row, from the Top to the Bottom of the Trench, nourishes them at first; and before the Plants have much exhausted this, as they grow larger in the Spring, the Ridge from the Middle of the Interval is thrown to them, having a perfectly unexhausted Pasture, to supply their increasing Bulk with more Nourishment.

[121]In very light Land, perhaps, we must not hoe quite so near to the Rows of Wheat, as in strong Land, for fear the Winter should lay the Roots bare, and expose them too much to the Cold; but then we may be sure, that, in this Case, the Roots will reach the Interval at a greater Distance than in strong Land; yet such very light Land is not proper for Wheat.

The Row standing as it were on the Brink of this almost perpendicular Ditch, the Water runs off quickly, or doth not enter but a very little Way into this deep Side; so that, the Earth at the Plants being dry, the Frost doth not reach quite to all their Roots to hurt them, tho’ the Distance from the Air to the Roots be very short; and dry Earth doth not freeze as wet doth, neither is this Ditch much exposed to the cold Winds.

The Spring-hoeing is performed after the great Frosts are past, and when the Weather will allow it; and then turn[122] the Ridge from[123] the Middle of the Interval, to the Rows on each Side by Two Furrows as near as can be, without covering the Wheat; in doing which have regard to the Row only, without looking at the Middle of the Interval; for ’tis no matter if a little Earth be left there; the next Hoeing, or the next save one[124], will move it.

[122]’Tis an errant Mistake of the Vulgar, when they imagine that the immediate Benefit of fresh Earth to Plants is from that Part which remains uppermost; for ’tis from turning the impregnated pulverized Side downwards, to be fed on by the Roots, that gives the Pabulum or Nourishment of the fresh Earth to Plants: The other Side, being turned upwards, becomes impregnate also in a little time.

[123]But note, that when we see Weeds coming up near the Row in the Spring, we plow again from the Rows (and sometimes can plow within one Inch of the Row) before we turn down the Mould from the Middle of the Interval.

[124]If at the next Hoeing we turn another Furrow towards the Row (which is seldom done), then ’tis the next that moves the remaining Earth, left in the Middle of the Interval: But if the next Hoeing be from the Row (as it generally is), then that covers the Middle of the Interval; and then ’tis the next Hoeing after that, that turns all the Earth clean out of the Middle of the Interval toward the Rows.

As to how many times Wheat is to be hoed in the Summer, after this Spring Operation, it depends upon the Circumstances[125] and Condition of the Land[126] and Weather[127]; but be the Season as it will, never suffer the Weeds to grow high, nor let any unmoved Earth lie in the Middle of the Intervals long enough to grow hard; neither plow deep near the Rows in the Summer, when the Plants are large[128], but as deep in the Middle of the Intervals as the Staple will allow; turning the Earth towards the Wheat, especially at the last Hoeing, so as to leave a deep, wide Trench in the Middle of each Interval.

[125]If the Land was not sufficiently tilled or hoed in the precedent Year, it will require the more Hoeings in the following Year.

[126]The poorer the Land is, the more Hoeings it should have.

[127]A wet Summer may prevent some of the Hoeings that we should perform in a dry Summer.

[128]Our Hoeing deep near the Plants, when small, breaks off only the Ends of the Roots; but after the Roots are spread far in the interval, the greatest Part of them, being then on the Right-hand Side of the Hoe plough, might hold fast on that Side, and not be drawn out; and then the whole Roots would be broken off close to the Bodies of the Plants: Therefore at the Second deep Hoeing, that turns a Furrow from the Row in the Summer, we go about Four or Six Inches farther off from the Roots than the time before; but we go nearer or farther off, according to the Distance of Time between those Two Hoeings: Yet we may hoe shallow near to the Plants at any time, without Injury to their Roots, but, on the contrary, it will be advantageous to them.

We augment our Wheat-crops Four Ways; not in Number of Plants, but in Stalks, Ears, and Grains.

The First is, by increasing the Number of Stalks from One, Two, or Three, to Thirty or Forty to a Plant, in ordinary Field-land.

And we augment the Crop, by bringing up all the Stalks into Ears, which is the Second Way; for, if it be diligently observed, we shall find, that not half[129] the Stalks of sown Wheat come into Ear.

[129]If a square Yard of sown Wheat be marked out, and the Stalks thereon numbered in the Spring, it will be found, that Nine parts in Ten are missing at Harvest.

I saw an Experiment of this in Rows of Wheat that were equally poor: One of these Rows was increased[130] so much, as to produce more Grains than Ten of the other, by bringing up more of its Stalks into Ears, and also by augmenting its Ears to a much greater Bigness; which is the Third Way: For, whatever Varro means by saying, that the Ears remain Fifteen Days in Vaginis, ’tis pretty plain, that the Ears are formed together with the Stalks, and will be very large, or very small, in proportion to the Nourishment given them[131].

[130]These Rows were drilled a Foot asunder, not hoed; and were, by the Shallowness and Wetness of the Soil, very poor in the Spring; and then, by pouring Urine to the Bottom of this Row, it was so vastly increased above the rest.

[131]Like as the Vines, if well nourished, bring large Bunches of Grapes; but if ill nourished, they produce few Bunches, and those small ones; and many Claspers are formed, which would have been Bunches, if they had had sufficient Nourishment given them at the proper time.

The last and Fourth Way of augmenting the Produce of Wheat-plants, is by causing them to have large and plump Grains in the Ears; and this can no way be so effectually done as by late Hoeing, especially just after the Wheat is gone out of the Blossom; and when such hoed Grains weigh double the Weight of the same Number of unhoed (which they frequently will) tho’ the Number of Grains in the hoed are only equal, yet the hoed Crop must be double.

Thus, by increasing the Number of Stalks[132], bringing more of them up into Ear[133], making the Ears larger[134], and the Grain plumper, and fuller of Flour[135], the Hoeing Method makes a greater Crop from a Tenth Part of the Plants[136] than the sowing Method can.

[132]The same Plant that, when poor, sends out but Two or Three Tillers, would, if well nourished by the Hoe, or otherwise, send up a Multitude of Tillers, as is seen in hoed Wheat, and sown Wheat.

[133]Mr. Houghton relates Eighty Ears on one single Plant of Wheat, and a greater Number has been counted lately in a Garden: Those Eighty, reckoned to have Fifty Grains apiece, make an Increase of Four thousand Grains for one; but I have never found above Forty Ears from a single Plant in my Fields; yet there is no doubt, but that every Plant would produce as many as Mr. Houghton’s, of the same Sort, with the same Nourishment; But I should not desire any to be so prolific in Stalks, lest they should fail of bringing such a Multitude of Ears to Perfection. The Four hundred Ears, that I numbered in a Yard, were not weighed, because they were told before ripe; and the greatest Weight of Wheat that ever I had from a Yard, was the Product of about Two hundred and Fifty Ears, and some of them were small.

[134]I have numbered One hundred and Nine Grains in One Ear of my hoed Cone-wheat of the grey Sort; and One Ear of my hoed Lammas-wheat has been measured to be Eight Inches long, which is double to those of sown Wheat. I have some of these Ears now by me almost as long, the longest being given away as a Rarity; and indeed ’tis not every Year that they grow to that Length, and ’tis always where the Plants are pretty single. But there is no Year wherein One Ear of my hoed does not more than weigh Two of the sown Ears, taking a whole Sheaf of each together without choosing. The Sheaves of the hoed are of a different Shape from the other; almost all the Ears of the hoed are at the Top of the Sheaf; but most of the other are situate at the lower Part, or near the Middle of the Sheaf.

[135]Seed Cone wheat coming all out at the same Heap, planted all at the same Time, and on Land of the same Sort adjoining near together, the Wheat that was sown produced Grains so small, and that which was drilled so very large, that no Farmer or Wheat-buyer would believe them to be of the same Sort of Wheat, except those who knew it, which were many. One Grain of the drilled weighed Two of the sown, and there was twice the Chaff in an equal Weight of the sown, being both weighed before and after the Wheat was separated from the Chaff.

[136]The Fact of this nobody can doubt, who has observed the different Products of strong and of weak Plants, how the one exceeds the other.

The greatest Difference of having an equal Crop from a small Number of strong Plants, and from a great Number of weak ones, is, that the Soil is vastly less exhausted by the former than by the latter, not only from the latter’s exhausting more in proportion to their Number when young, and whilst each of them consumes as much Nourishment as each of the small Number; but also from the different Increase that a strong Plant makes by receiving the same Proportion of Food with a weak one: For it appears from Dr. Woodward’s Experiments, that the Plant which receives the least Increase carries off the greatest Quantity of Nourishment in proportion to that Increase; and that ’tis the same with an Animal, all who are acquainted with fatting of Swine know; for they eat much more Food daily for the first Two Weeks of their being put into the Sty, than they do afterwards, when they thrive faster; the fatter they grow, the less they eat.

Hence, I think, it may be inferred, that a Plant, which, by never having been robbed or stinted by other Plants, is strong, receives a much greater Increase from an equal Quantity of Food, than a Number of weak Plants (as thick ones are), equalling the Bulk of the single strong Plant, do.

And this of the Doctor’s have I seen by my own Observations confirmed in the Field in Potatoes, Turneps, Wheat, and Barley; a following Crop succeeds better after an equal Crop, consisting of a bare competent Number of strong Plants, than after a Crop of thick weak ones, cæteris paribus.

Thus the hoed Crops, if well managed, consisting of fewer and stronger Plants than the sown Crops of equal Produce, exhaust the Ground less; whereby, and by the much (I had almost said infinitely) greater Pulveration of the Soil, indifferent good Land may, for any thing I have yet seen to the contrary, produce profitable Crops always without Manure, or Change of Species, if the Soil be proper for it in respect of Heat and Moisture; and also as Crops of some Species, by their living longer, by their greater Bulk, or different Constitution, exhaust more than others, respect ought to be had to the Degree of Richness of the Soil, that is to produce each Species: The Sowing and the Hoeing Husbandry differ so much both in Pulveration and Exhaustion, that no good Argument can be drawn from the former against the latter: But tho’ a too great Number of Plants be, upon many Accounts, very injurious to the Crop, yet ’tis best to have a competent Number; which yet needs not be so exact, but that we may expect a great Crop from Twenty, Forty, or Fifty Plants in a Yard of the treble Row, if well managed.

All these Advantages will be lost by those Drillers, who do not overcome the unreasonable Prejudices of the unexperienced, concerning the Width of Intervals.

In wide Intervals, we can raise a good Crop with less Labour, less Seed, no Dung, no Fallow, but not without a competent Quantity of Earth, which is the least expensive of any thing given to Corn; the Earth of a whole good Acre being but about the Tenth Part of the common Expence; and of indifferent Land, a Twentieth; and such I count that of Five Shillings and Six-pence per Acre.

The Crop enjoys all the Earth; for betwixt the last Hoeing, and the Harvest, there remains nothing but Space empty of Mould in the Middle of the Intervals.

’Tis an Objection, that great Part of those wide Intervals must be lost[137], because the Wheat-roots do not reach it; but as we generally turn the Mould towards the Row at the last Hoeings, there is no Part of it above Two Feet distant from even the middle Row, and Seventeen Inches from either of the outside Rows.

[137]They do reach through all the Mould (as shall be proved by-and-by); and yet may leave sufficient Pasture behind; because it is impossible for them to come into Contact with all the Mould in One Year; no more than when Ten Horses are put into an Hundred Acres of good Pasture, their Mouths come into Contact with all the Grass to eat it in one Summer, though they will go all over it, as the Vine-roots go all over the Soil of a Vineyard without exhausting it all; because those Roots feed only such a bare competent Quantity of Plants, which do not overstock their Pasture.

The Superficies of the fibrous Roots of a proper Number of Wheat-plants bear a very small Proportion to the Superficies of the fine Parts of the pulverized Earth they feed on in these Intervals; for one cubical Foot of this Earth may, as is shewn in [p. 29]. have many thousand Feet of internal Superficies: But this is in proportion to the Degree of its Pulveration: and that Degree may be such as is sufficient to maintain a competent Number of Wheat-plants, without over-exhausting the vegetable Pasture, but not sufficient to maintain those, and a great Stock of Weeds besides, without over-exhausting it. And this was plainly seen in a Field of Wheat drilled on Six-feet Ridges, when the South Ends of some of the Ridges, and the North Ends of others, had their Partitions Hand hoed, and cleansed of Weeds, early in the Spring, the opposite Ends remaining full of a small Species of Weeds, called Crow-needles, which so exhausted the whole Intervals of the weedy Part of the Ridges, that the next Year the whole Field being drilled again with Wheat exactly in the Middle of the last Intervals, the following Crop very plainly distinguished how far each Ridge had its Partitions made clean of those small Weeds in the Spring, from the other End where the Weeds remained till full-grown; the Crop of the former was twice as good as that of the latter, even where both were cleansed of Weeds the next Spring. This Crop standing only upon that Part of the Mould, which was farthest from the Rows of the precedent Crop, proves that the Roots, both of the Wheat and Weeds, did enter all the Earth of the former Intervals.

It was also observable, that where the Partitions of Two of the Six-feet Ridges had been in the precedent Year cleansed of Weeds, and those of the adjoining Ridges on each Side of them not cleansed, the Row that was the next Year planted exactly in the Middle of the Interval between those two Ridges, was perceivably better than either of the Two Rows planted in the Intervals on the other Side of each of them: The Reason of which Difference must be, that the Middle of the Interval, that was between the Two cleansed Ridges, was fed on by the Wheat only, and by no Weeds; but the other Two Intervals were fed on by the Wheat on one Side, and by both the Wheat and Weeds on the other Side of each.

There were, in the same Field, several Ridges together, that had the Ends of their Rows of Wheat plowed out by the Hoe-plough, and their other Ends cleansed of Weeds: This was done on purpose, to see what Effect a Fallow would have on the next Crop, which was indeed extraordinary; for these fallowed Ends of the Ridges, being Horse-hoed in the Summer, as the other Ends were, and the Intervals of them made into Ridges, the following Year produced the largest Crop of all; this Crop was received in 1734.

These several different Managements performed in this Field, shewed by the different Success of the Crops in each Sort, what ought to be done, and which is the best Sort of Management.

This Field indeed is some of my best Land; and by all the Experiments I have seen on it, I do not find but that, by the best Management, never omitted in any Year, it might produce good annual Crops of Wheat always, without Assistance of Dung or Fallow; but it would be very difficult for me to get Hands to do this to the greatest Perfection, unless I were able constantly to attend them.

The whole pulverized Earth of the Interval being pretty equally fed on by the former Crop, ’tis no great Matter in what Part of it the following Crop is drill’d: I never drill it but on the Middle of the last Year’s Interval, because there is the Trench whereon the next Year’s Ridge is made with the greatest Conveniency: But there may be some Reason to suspect, that the Plants of the Rows exhaust more Nourishment from that Earth of the Intervals which is farthest from their Bodies, than from that which is nearest to them: Since their fibrous Roots, at the greatest Distance from the Rows, are most numerous, &c. by these the Plants, when they are at their greatest Bulk, are chiefly maintained.

It must be noted, that the above Experiments would not have been a full Proof, if Weeds had been suffered to grow in the Partitions of the Ends of those Ridges, in the Year wherein the Difference appeared. It may also be noted, that a Mixture and Variety of bad Husbandry are useful for a Discovery of the Theory and Practice of good Husbandry.

And I have plainly proved, that the Roots of Cone-wheat have reached Mould at Two Feet Distance, after passing through another Row at a Foot Distance from it, the Plants being then but Eighteen Inches high, and but half-grown.

Farmers do not grudge to bestow Three or Four Pounds in the Buying and Carriage of Dung for an Acre; but think themselves undone, if they afford an extraordinary Eighteen-penyworth of Earth to the wide Intervals of an Acre; not considering that Earth is not only the best, but also the cheapest Entertainment that can be given to Plants; for at Five Shillings and Six-pence Rent, the whole Earth belonging to each of our Rows costs only Six-pence, i. e. a Peny for a Foot broad, and Six hundred and Sixty Feet long; that being the Sixty-sixth Part of an Acre[138].

[138]But the Vulgar compute this Expence of a Foot Breadth of Ground, not only as of the Rent, as they ought, but as an Eleventh Part of their own usual Charges added to the Rent.

And there is Land enough in England to be had, at the Rent of Five Shillings and Six-pence the Acre, that is very proper for Wheat in the Hoeing-Husbandry.

And if for constant annual Wheat-crops you make fewer than Eleven Rows on Four Perches Breadth, you will always increase the Expence of Hoeing; because then Two Furrows will not Hoe One of those Intervals, and you will also thereby lessen the Crops, but improve the Land more: And if you increase that Number of Rows, you will thereby increase every Expence; for there must be Two Furrows to hoe a narrow Interval, and an Increase of the Quantity of Seed, and the Labour in uncovering, weeding, and reaping; and also you will less improve the Land, and lessen the Crops after the First Year.

If the Intervals are narrower in deep Land, tho’ there might be Mould enough in them, yet there would not be Room to pulverize it.

If narrower in shallow Land, tho’ there were Room, yet there would not be Mould enough in them to be pulverized.

The Horse-hoe, well applied, doth supply the Use of Dung and Fallow; but it cannot supply the Use of Earth, tho’ it can infinitely increase the vegetable Pasture of it, by pulverizing it, where it is in a reasonable Quantity: Yet if the Intervals be so narrow, that near all the Earth of them goes to make the Partitions raised at the Top of the Ridges, there will be so little to be pulverized, that you must return to Fallowing, and to the Dung-cart, and to all the old exorbitant Charges[139].

[139]The Objections against these wide Intervals are only for saving a Penyworth or Two of Earth in each Row, or a few Groats-worth of it in an Acre; by saving of which Earth they may lose, in the present and succeeding Crops, more Pounds.

Eight Acres, Part of a Ground of Twenty Acres, drilled with Intervals of Three Feet and an half, brought a good Crop; but the Second Year, not being hoed, the Crop was poor; and the Third Crop made that Land so foul and turfy, that ’twas forced to lie for a Fallow, there being no way to bring it into Tilth without a Summer-plowing[140], when the rest of the same Piece, in wider Intervals, being constantly hoed, continued in good Tilth, and never failed to yield a good Crop, without missing one Year.

[140]This Narrowness of the Intervals, if the Damage of it be rightly computed, would amount to half the Inheritance of the Land; and was occasioned by the Wilfulness of my Bailiff, who, drilling it upon the Level, ordered the Horse to be guided half a Yard within the Mark, because he fansied the Intervals would be too wide, if he followed my Directions.

In another Field, there is now a Sixth Crop of Wheat, in wide Intervals, very promising, tho’ this Ground has had no sort of Dung to any of these Crops, or in several Years before them: The last Year’s Crop was the Fifth, and was the best of the Five, tho’ a Yard of the Row yielded but Eighteen Ounces and Three Quarters; and the Third Crop yielded Twenty Ounces Weight[141] of clean Wheat in the same Spot; but ’twas because the Spot where the Twenty grew, was then a little higher than the rest, which in Two Years became more equal; and the thin Land was more deficient in that Third Crop, than the thick Land exceeded the thin in the Fifth Crop.

[141]Wheat, before Harvest, standing in Rows with wide Intervals betwixt them, may not seem, to the Eye, to equal a Crop of half the Bigness dispersed all over the Land, when sown in the common Manner; and yet there is more Deceit in the Appearance of those different Crops, whilst they are young, and in Grass: We should therefore not judge of them then by our Imagination, but as we do of the Sun and Moon nigh the Horizon, viz. by our Reason.

Imagination often deceives us by Arguments false or precarious; but Reason leads us to Demonstration, by Weights and Measures: Yet this Prejudice will vanish at Harvest before weighing; for then all those wide Intervals that were bare, will be covered with large Ears interfering to hide them quite, and make a finer Appearance than a sown Crop. But ’tis observed, that the Cone-wheat makes the finest Shew, when you look on it length ways of the Rows, both at Harvest, and a considerable time before Harvest.

In the thick the Hoe-plough went deeper, and consequently raised more Pasture there; but then it went the shallower in the thin; and when the Land became of a more equal Depth the Fifth Year, the Plough and the Hoe-plough went deeper, all the Piece being taken together; for the Crop could be but in proportion to the different Pasture, allowing somewhat for the more or less Seasonableness of the Year.

The Soil, in this our Case, cannot be supplied in Substance, but from the Atmosphere. The Earth which the Rain brings can do it alone, if it fall in great Quantity; for by Water, ’tis plain, the Earth which nourished Helmont’s Tree was supplied; for the Tin-cover of the Box wherein it stood, prevented the Dews from entering.

Dews must add very much to the Land, thus continually tilled and hoed; for they are more heavily charged with terrestrial Matter than Rain is, which appears from their forcing a Descent through the Air, when ’tis strong enough to buoy up the Clouds from falling into Rain: And Dew, when kept in a Vessel long enough to putrefy, leaves a greater Quantity of black Matter at the Bottom of the Vessel, than Rain-water does in a Vessel of the same Bigness, filled with it till putrefied.

Dews at Land, I suppose, are first exhaled from Rivers, and moist Lands, and from the Expirations of Vegetables; most of the Dew which falls on it is exhaled from untilled Land; but most of that which falls on well tilled or well hoed Land, remains therein unexhaled; so that the untilled Ground helps, by that means, to enrich and augment the tilled: For if an Acre be tilled for Two Years together without sowing, it will become richer by that Tillage, than by lying unplowed Four Years, which may be easily proved by Experience[142].

[142]Non igitur Fatigatione, quemadmodum plurimi crediderunt, nec Senio, sed nostra scilicet Inertia, minus benigne nobis Arva respondent. Colum. lib. xi. cap. 1.

But then, as to Rain, the Sea being larger than all the Land (and its Waters, by their Motion, becoming replete with terrestrial Matter), ’tis not unlikely, that more Vapour is raised from One Acre of Sea, than from One hundred Acres of Land.

Some have been so curious as to compute the Quantity of Rain, that falls yearly in some Places in England, by a Contrivance of a Vessel to receive it; and ’tis found, in one of the driest Places, far from the Sea, to be Fourteen Inches deep, in the Compass of a Year; in some Places much more; viz. at Paris, Nineteen Inches; in Lancashire, Mr. Townley found, by a long-continued Series of Observations, that there falls above Forty Inches of Water in a Year’s time.

Could we as easily compute the true Quantity of Earth in Rain-water, as the Quantity of Water is computed, we might perhaps find it to answer the Quantity of Earth taken off from our hoed Soil annually by the Wheat.

But if Land sown with Wheat be not hoed, its Surface is soon incrustate; and then much of this Water, with its Contents, runs off, and returns to the Sea, without entering the Ground; and in Summer a great deal of what remains is exhaled by the Sun, and raised by the Wind, both in Summer and Winter.

Some there are who think it a fatal Objection, that the more an Interval is hoed, the more Weeds will grow in it; and that the Hoe can produce, or (as they say) breed in it as many Weeds in one Summer, as would have come thereon in Ten Years by the old Husbandry. But by this Objection they only maintain, that the Hoe can destroy as many Weeds in One Summer, as the old Husbandry can in Ten Years.

And they might add, that since all Weeds that grow where the Hoe comes, are killed before they seed, and that few of those Which grow in the old Husbandry, are killed[143] before their Seed be ripe and shed; these Objectors will be forced to allow, that our Husbandry will lessen a Stock of Weeds more in one Summer, than theirs can do to the World’s End; unless they believe the equivocal Generation of Weeds, than which Opinion nothing can be more absurd.

[143]Weeds cannot be killed before they grow, but will lie dormant, as they do in our Partitions, and in their sown Land; and while Seeds are in the Ground, they are always ready to grow at the first Opportunity, and will certainly break out at one time or other; so that preventing their coming, is only like healing up a Wound before it be cured.

Some object against my Method of[144] weighing a Yard, or a Perch in Length of a Row, saying, this does not determine the Produce of a whole Field.

[144]I did not weigh this Yard, as different from the other Yards round about it, for I had much Difficulty to determine which Row I should chuse it in; when I was going to cut in one Row, it still seemed that another was better, and I question whether I did chuse the best at last.

Note, Whereas I often mention the Wheat of this Field to be without Dung or Fallow, it must be understood of that Part of the Field wherein my Weighings and other Trials were made: because there was a small Part once fallowed Eight or Nine Years ago, and a little Dung laid on another Part about the last Michaelmas, after the Crop of Oats was taken off. But this being a Year in which Dung is observed to have little or no Effect on sown Wheat (my Dung being weak and laid thin), ’tis the same here; for those Rows which are in the dunged Part, can hardly be distinguished from the rest of the Rows which had not been dunged: And yet the Ends of the Rows which were cleansed of Weeds, are very distinguishable by the Colour of the Wheat, though some are the Third, and some the Fourth Crop since the Difference was made; and the whole Rows managed alike every Year, from that time to this; so that here Un-exhaustion is more effectual than Dung. This is certain, that neither Dung nor Fallow hath been near the Part wherein my Experiments were made.

I answer, that they judge right, if the Produce of the whole Field be not of equal Goodness; but if it be not, it must be because one Part of the Field is richer, or differently managed from the other Part: For the same Causes that produce Twenty Ounces of clean Wheat upon one Yard, must produce the same Quantity upon every Yard, of a Million of Acres.

When the Crop of half a Field is spoiled by Sheep, not hoed at all, or improperly, it would be ridiculous to compute the whole Field together for an Experiment: We might indeed weigh the poorest, to prove the Difference of the one from the other, to try (as they sometimes seem to do) how poor a Crop we can raise; but my Design was, to try how good a Crop I could raise with a Tenth Part of the common Expence.

And I have often weighed the Produce of the same Quantity of Ground[145], of all Sorts of sown Wheat, both the best and the worst; but never have found any of the sown equal to the best of my drilled. Indeed we have none of the richest Land[146] in our Country within my Reach, that being not above One Mile.

[145]I allow Two square Yards of their Crops to One Yard in Length of my Treble Row.

[146]I am sorry that this Farm, whereon I have practised Horse-hoeing, being situate on an Hill, that consists of Chalk on one Side, and Heath ground on the other, has been usually noted for the poorest and shallowest Soil in the Neighbourhood.

As a Yard in Length of my treble Row of the Third successive Crop of Wheat, without Dung or Fallow, produced Twenty Ounces of Wheat; which, allowing Six Feet to the Ridge, is about Six Quarters[147] to an Acre; and, allowing Seven Inches to each Partition, and Two Inches on each Outside, is in all Eighteen Inches of Ground to each treble Row, and but just One-fourth Part of the Ridge. Now, if, in the old Husbandry, the Crop was as good all over the Ground, as it was in these Eighteen Inches of the treble Row, they must have Twenty-four Quarters to an Acre; but let them dung whilst they can, they will scarce raise Twenty-four Gallons of Wheat the Third Year, on an Acre of Land of equal Goodness; and let them leave out their Dung, and add no more Tillage in lieu of it, and I believe they will not expect Three Quarters to an Acre, in all the Three Years put together.

[147]Eight Bushels make a Quarter.

The mean Price of Wheat, betwixt Dear and Cheap, is reckoned Five Shillings a Bushel[148]; and therefore an Acre that would produce every Year, without any Expence, Eight Bushels, would be thought an extraordinary profitable Acre; but yet a drilled Acre, that produces Sixteen Bushels of Wheat, with the Expence of Ten or Fifteen Shillings, is above a Third Part more profitable.

[148]’Tis commonly said, that a Farmer cannot thrive, who for want of Money is obliged to sell his Wheat under Five Shillings a Bushel; but if he will sell it dear, he must keep it when ’tis cheap; And his Way of keeping it is in the Straw, using his best Contrivances to preserve it from the Mice.

The most secure Way of keeping a great Quantity of Wheat, that ever I heard of, is by drying it. When I lived in Oxfordshire, one of my nearest Neighbours was very expert in this, having practised it for great Part of his Life: When Wheat was under Three Shillings a Bushel, he bought in the Markets as much of the middle Sort of Wheat as his Money would reach to purchase: He has often told me, that his Method was to dry it upon an Hair-cloth, in a Malt-kiln, with no other Fuel than clean Wheat-Straw; never suffering it to have any stronger Heat than that of the Sun. The longest time he ever let it remain in this Heat was Twelve Hours, and the shortest time about Four Hours; the damper the Wheat was, and the longer intended to be kept, the more Drying it requires: But how to distinguish nicely the Degrees of Dampness, and the Number of Hours proper for its Continuance upon the Kiln, he said was an Art impossible to be learned by any other Means than by Practice. About Three or Four and Twenty Years ago, Wheat being at Twelve Shillings a Bushel, he had in his Granaries, as I was informed, Five thousand Quarters of dried Wheat; none of which cost him above Three Shillings a Bushel.

This dried Wheat was esteemed by the London Bakers to work better than any new Wheat that the Markets afforded. His Speculation, which put him upon this Project, was, that ’twas only the superfluous Moisture of the Grain that caused its Corruption, and made it liable to be eaten by the Wevil; and that when this Moisture was dried out, it might be kept sweet and good for many Years; and that the Effect of all Heat of the same Degree was the same, whether of the Straw, or of the Sun.

As a Proof, he would shew, that every Grain of his Wheat would grow after being kept Seven Years.

He was a most sincere honest Yeoman, who from a small Substance he began with, left behind him about Forty thousand Pounds; the greatest Part whereof was acquired by this Drying Method.

For the Hand-hoeing they use Hoes of Four Inches Breadth, very thin, and well steeled: Their Thinness keeps them from wearing to a thick Edge, and prevents the Necessity of often grinding them. Such Hoes are in Use with some Gardeners near London. They need not be afraid of drawing these little Hoes across the Rows of young Wheat to take out the few Weeds that come therein at the early Hoeing; for whilst the Wheat-plants are small, it may be an Advantage to cut out some of the weakest, as they do of Turneps; for I perceive there are oftener too many Plants than too few. But the thing that causes the greatest Trouble in cleansing the Rows, is when the Seed is foul (i. e. full of Seeds of Weeds): Therefore I cleanse my Seed-wheat by drawing it on a Cloth on a Table, which makes it perfectly clean.

This Hand-hoeing should be performed about the End of March, or Beginning of April, before the Wheat is spindled (i. e. run up to Stalks); and if the Weather be dry enough, you may go lengthways of the Ridges with a very light Roller to break the Clods of the Partitions, whereby the Hoe will work the better.

If there should afterwards more Weeds come up, they must not be suffered to ripen; and then the Soil will be every Year freer from Weeds.

This Hand-hoeing of the Rows should be done at the proper time, though it happen, by late Planting, that the Horse-hoe has not gone before it; for it may be, that the Weather has kept out the Horse-hoe: and the Earth may not be dry deep enough in the Intervals for the Hoe-plough, but deep enough in the Partitions for the Hand-hoe.

And the Expence of this Hand-work on the Rows would be well answered, though there should not be one Weed in them; and so it would be, if a second Hand hoeing were bestowed on the Partitions of every Crop of Wheat not suspected of being too luxuriant.

If after the last Horse-hoeing there should be Occasion for another Hoeing of the Intervals, where the Narrowness of them, and the Leaning of tall Wheat, make it difficult or dangerous to be performed by the Hoe-plough; a slight shallow Hoeing may be performed therein by the Hand-hoe with Ease and Safety, at a very small Expence, which would be more than doubly repaid in the following Crops.

If any one doubts of the Efficacy of thus managing Wheat, it can’t cost much to make proper Trials. But then Care must be taken, that the Trials be proper. I do not advise any one to be at the Expence of my Instruments for that Purpose, but to imitate them in pulverizing, and all other directed Operations by the Spade and common Hoes. His Ridges of Experiment need be no longer than Six Feet. Instead of a Drill, make use of a triangular Piece of Wood, Seven Feet long, and Four or Five Inches thick, with one Edge of which make Channels, and place the Seed regularly even into them by Hand, and cover it with the same Piece of Wood; but if the Earth be so wet, as to cling to the Piece, then make use of it only as a Ruler, whereby to make the Channels strait with a Stick.

Let some of the Ridges have double Rows, others treble; and let some have treble Rows half-way, and leave out the middle Row in the other Half, to shew whether the double Row or the treble Row produce a better Crop.

Then for the First time of Hoeing, the Spade must work with its Back towards the Row. The Second time, in turning the Earth to the Row, the Spade’s Face must be towards it. These Two, and several other Hoeings should be deep; but when the Roots are large (and the Hoeing is near the Plants), the Spade must go shallow; and neither the Face nor the Back of it must be towards the Row, except when the Earth is turned towards it; and then the Face must be always towards it; but for the rest of the last Hoeings, the Spade should work with its Face towards one or other of the Ends of the Intervals, that the fewer of the Roots may be cut off, and the more of them removed, and covered again. Let the Spits be thin for the better pulverizing of the Mould. The Hand-hoe will sometimes be useful in the Intervals, as well as in the Partitions.

Four or Five Perches of Land may suffice for making proper Trials.

The Expence of this will be little, though perhaps Ten times more than that which is done by the proper Instruments for the same Proportion of Land.

But I must give this Caution, that no Part of it be done out of the Reach of the Master’s Eye; for if it should, he may expect to be disappointed.

The richer the Land, the thinner it must be planted to prevent the lodging of Corn.

The Master ought to compute the Quantity of Seed, due to each Perch, at the Rate of Five or Six Gallons to an Acre, by Weighing, &c. as I have shewn in my [Essay].

I cannot commend more than Two Partitions in a Row, or more than One, when the Intervals are narrow; because the broader the Row is, the more Earth will remain unpulverized, under the Partitions; too much of which Earth being whole, will disappoint, at least, one of the Differences mentioned in my [xviith Chapter].

Indifferent Land I think most proper whereon to make the Experiment, and the most improper for Corn is barren Land, as the best brings the largest Crops.

To ascertain the Quantity of the Crop, take a Yard in the Middle of a Ridge, and weigh its Produce.

Every Year leave one Interval unhoed, to prove the Difference of that Side of a double or treble Row next to it, from the other Side next to the hoed Interval.

But it must be noted, that the Spade doth not always pulverize so much as the Plough, or Hoe-plough; therefore there may be occasion for more Diggings than there would be of Horse-hoeings.

One of the Observations that put me upon Trials of wide Intervals, and Horse work for Corn, was the following; viz. One Half of a poorish Field was sown with Barley; the other Half drilled with Turneps, the Rows Thirty Inches asunder, at the proper Season, and twice hoed with a Sort of Horse-hoe contrived for that Purpose (but nothing like that I have described); the Drill, beginning next to the Barley, left an Interval of the same (30 Inches) Breadth between the First Row of Turneps and the Barley, which, being sown on large Furrows, came up in a sort of Rows, as is common for Barley to come when sown on such wide Furrows. This Interval between the Barley and the Turneps had the same Hoeings as the rest, and had this Effect on the broad Row of Barley next to it; viz. Each Plant had many Stalks; it was of a very deep flourishing Colour, grew high, the Ears very long, and, in all respects, the Barley was as good as if it had been produced by the richest Land. The next Row of Barley had some little Benefit on the Side next to the strong Row; but all the rest of the Barley, either by the too late Sowing of it, the Poverty of the Soil (not being in any manner dunged), or else by the Coldness of the Land, or Coldness of the Summer, or by all of these Causes, though pretty free from Weeds, was exceeding poor, yellow, low, thin, and the Ears were very short and small.

I intended to have taken the exact Difference there was between the Produce of this outside Row, and one of those that stood out of the Reach of the hoed Interval: But I was disappointed by my Neighbour’s Herd of Cows, that in the Night broke in just before Harvest, and eat off almost all the Ears of the rich Row, doing very little Damage to the rest, except by treading it. It must be from the different Tastes, the one being sweet, and the other bitter, that they make their Election to eat the one, and refuse the other.

This accidental Observation was sufficient to demonstrate the Efficacy of deep Hoeing, which I look upon as synonymous to Horse-hoeing.

I immediately set about contriving my limbered Hoe, finding all other Sorts insufficient for the Exactness required in this hoeing Operation: Those drawn in any other manner, when they went too far from the Row, and the Holder went to lift the Plough nearer, it would fly back again, like the Sally of a Bell, and go at no Certainty not being subject to the Guidance of the Holder, as the limber Hoe-plough is. The Michaelmas following I began my present Horse-hoeing Scheme; which has never yet deceived my Expectations, when performed according to the Directions I have given my Readers. And the Practice of this Scheme proves the Advantage of deep Hoeing, by the Ends of the Ridges and Intervals; for there, whilst the drawing Cattle go on the Headland that is higher, the Furrows are shallower, and the Corn of the Rows is always there visibly poorer in proportion to that Shallowness.

Another Proof of the Difference there is between deep Hoeing and shallow, is in the Garden, where a square Perch of Cabbages, the Rows of which are Three Feet asunder; the middle Row of them having the Intervals on each Side of it deeply and well dug by the Spade at the same proper time, when the rest of the Intervals are Hand hoed; this middle Row will shew the Difference of those Two Operations: But in this must be observed what I have here before mentioned, of turning the Back of the Spade to the Plants, to avoid the total removing them, especially in very dry Weather.

This Experiment hath been tried, and always succeeds with every one that has made the Trials.

But before any one makes his Trials of my Field-scheme, I would advise him to be Master of the Treatise, by making an Index himself to it: This will both direct him in his Proceedings, and shew him the Rashness of those, who go into the Practice of my Husbandry, without the necessary Preparation; for they that do so now, seem to act as rashly, as they that went into it before the Treatise was published. ’Tis reasonable to presume, that such their Practice must be either different from, or contrary to mine.

This Index may be also useful for discovering Pretenders by an Examination, without which, Gentlemen are liable to be imposed on by them, as I am afraid too many have been; for amongst all those who have undertaken the Management of my Scheme for Noblemen, or others, I declare I do not know one Person that sufficiently understands it: There may be some who have seen, or perhaps performed, some of the mechanical Part; but I don’t think it can be properly performed without a thorough Knowlege of the Principles, which cannot be expected of such illiterate Persons; and yet is necessary for the proper Applications in different Cases, which cannot be distinguished by Pretenders: Therefore, until the Scheme becomes common, the Management must be under the Direction of the Master himself, or of one who has past his Examination, and is faithful.

To the above Trials, I here add the following, together with some Alterations of the former.

Gentlemen who can get the Smyrna Wheat, I advise to make Trials of it in single Rows, of between 17 and 18 to an Acre, in this Method; there being no Partitions, the Intervals will be of the same Width as in the Ridges of 14 to an Acre, that have Partitions of Ten Inches. Thus almost all the Earth of the Ridges may be pulverized by the Hoe-plough in the Field, or by the Spade in this Trial; and very little Hand-work will be necessary for cleansing out the Weeds that come in the Rows, and on each side of them. The Land will be the fitter for a succeeding Crop of Wheat with less Harrowing. But this must be observed, that, in regard to hard Frosts in Winter, and very dry Weather in Summer, the alternate Hoeing described in the Chapter of Turneps may be proper; lest the little Earth that may be left for the Row to stand on, when the Furrows are turned from both Sides of it, should not be sufficient to secure the Roots from the Injuries that may happen to them by being exposed either to Frost or Drought on both Sides of the Row at the same time.

In the Field, when the Ridges are all of an equal Breadth, the best Way is to plant Two of the single Rows at once, by setting the Two Beams of the Drill at the same Distance asunder, as each of the Ridges is broad; and the Beast that draws it must go in the Middle of the Interval, planting a Row on each Side of it; but if the Ridges are very unequal, the Beast (a little Horse is best) that draws the Drill must go on the Top of a Ridge, planting one Row thereon; and the Drill for this Purpose is the same as the Turnep-drill, except that the Beam-share, Seed-box, and Spindle, are the same as those of the Wheat-drill; and ’tis but to take off from the Wheat-drill one of its Beams, and place it in the room of the Beam of the Turnep-drill, and placing the Cross-piece of the Turnep-beam (see Plate 5.) on this Beam, and also a short Wheat-hopper to be drawn by the Turnep-standards, setting the Wheels near enough together; i. e. as near as the Wheels of the Wheat-drill are, I mean those which plant Two Rows.

Two Gallons of Smyrna Wheat I judge will be Seed sufficient for an Acre, especially if planted early.

Planting one Row upon a Ridge, I think is the most advantageous Method of all; but, not being able to get any Smyrna Wheat (tho’ I have been often promised it), I have made no Trial of it; and I do not believe the Plants of any other Sort of Wheat are large enough for such single Rows.

I am not quite a Stranger to this Wheat; for I have seen the Product of it, both in the Garden, and in the Field, above Forty Years ago.

I am now making Trials, in order to know how much a single Row of White cone Wheat will exceed half a double one: For this Purpose, I cause one Row of the double, with the Partition, to be dug out with a Spade, in Part of every Field, Two or Three Yards in a Place: These I intend shall be hoed as the double Rows are; and where the Hoe-plough doth not reach, the Spade shall supply its Use.

I do not expect this single Row will equal the double Row; but I am in no doubt but that it will produce more Grain than half a double Row.

I cannot tell whether the Sort of Cone-wheat that sends out little Branches on each Side of the Ear, might not succeed tolerably well in single Rows; for its Ear is, when well nourished, larger than the Ear of the White-cone; tho’ not near so large as that of the Smyrna.

Another Experiment I propose to be made as a Trial for the Satisfaction of such sceptical Gentlemen who may doubt the Truth of what I have related in [p. 27, 28.] concerning the wonderful Effect of deep Hoeing. In a Field of very poor old decayed St. Foin, let Two or Three Perches be hedged in, in a square Piece, and Two, Three, or more Intervals, of Three or Four Feet wide each, be well pulverized by the Spade, leaving between every Two of them, Two or Three Feet of the St. Foin unmoved. Begin this Work in Summer, and repeat the Hoeing pretty often, observing the Rules I have laid down for Hoeing the Intervals of Wheat. Let not the Back of the Spade be turned towards the unmoved St. Foin, from which it throws the Earth at the First time of Hoeing; which is contrary to the First Hoeing of Wheat with a Spade; because there would otherwise be Danger of moving Wheat-roots; but there is no Danger of moving the St. Foin Roots, unless you wholly dig them out: Therefore the best Way for this Hoeing is to dig with the Back of the Spade towards one or the other End of the Interval: This cuts off the fewest Roots, and covers the most of them, and may perhaps be sometimes best for Wheat also. When the Earth is turned towards the St. Foin Rows, the Spade’s Face will be towards them of course.

Be sure to leave Four or more Feet untouched next to the Hedge that bounds the Piece, to the End that the Increase of the hoed St. Foin may the more plainly appear by comparing its Plants with those that are not hoed.

If the Plants are very thick, make them thinner on one side of an Interval; and, on the other side, let them remain thick. You will certainly find the thin Plants most wonderfully increased in a Year or two, and the thick ones in proportion; and also the natural Grass, and all other Vegetables that grow near to the Intervals when they are well pulverized. I am confident mine, thus managed by Ploughs, increased some to an Hundred, some to a Thousand times the Size they were of before that Pulveration.

All the Methods I have here and elsewhere described for the Field, I advise to be tried in these few Perches for Experiments.

I think some of those Ridges whereon one End is to be managed differently from the other End, should be longer than Six Feet; else the Roots of the Wheat and Weeds may so mix, and draw Nourishment from one another in the Middle of the Ridge, that the Difference of the Managements may not so plainly be seen as when the Ridge is longer.

The few Perches of Land whereon any of the proposed Experiments are to be made, should be bounded in with dead Hedges; and should not be situate within Three or Four Poles of a live Hedge or Tree.

The Three Instruments to be used in these unexpensive Trials, are, the Spade, to supply the Use of the Plough and Hoe plough; the Hand-hoe; and a Rake, instead of Harrows.

I don’t know that I ever had an Acre yet, that was tolerably well managed in this Manner, but what produced much more.

CHAP. X.
Of Smuttiness.

Smuttiness is when the Grains of Wheat instead of Flour, are full of a black, stinking Powder: ’Tis a Disease of Wheat, which I don’t know is usual any-where but in cold Northern Countries; for if it had been common in Greece or Italy, there would probably have been some Word to express it by, in those Languages, as well as there is for the Blight.

I take it to be caused by cold wet Summers; and I was confirmed in this by several Plants of Wheat, taken up when they were in Grass in the Spring, and placed in Troughs in my Chamber-window, with some of the Roots in Water. These Wheat-plants sent up several Ears each; but at Harvest, every Grain was smutty; and I observed, none of the Ears ever sent out any Blossom: This Smuttiness could not be from any Moisture that descended upon it, but from the Earth, which always kept very moist, as in the aforesaid Mint Experiment. The Wheat-plants in the Field, from whence these were taken, brought very few smutty Grains, but brought much larger Ears than these.

Whatsoever the Cause[149] be, there are but Two Remedies proposed; and those are Brining, and Change of Seed.

[149]The largest grained, plump, fat Wheat, is more liable to Smuttiness, than small-grained thin Wheat.

Brining of Wheat, to cure or prevent Smuttiness (as I have been credibly informed), was accidentally discovered about Seventy Years ago, in the following Manner; viz. A Ship-load of Wheat was sunk near Bristol in Autumn, and afterwards at Ebbs all taken up, after it had been soaked in Sea-water; but it being unfit for making of Bread, a Farmer sowed some of it in a Field; and when it was found to grow very well, the whole Cargo was bought at a low Price by many Farmers, and all of it sown in different Places. At the following Harvest, all the Wheat in England happened to be smutty, except the Produce of this brined Seed, and that was all clean from Smuttiness. This Accident has been sufficient to justify the Practice of Brining ever since in all the adjacent Parts, and in most Places in England.

I knew Two Farmers, whose Farms lay intermixed; they bought the same Seed together, from a very good Change of Land, and parted every Load betwixt them in the Field. The oldest Farmer believed Brining to be but a Fancy, and sowed his Seed unbrined; the other brined all his Part of Seed, and had not a smutty Ear in his Crop; but the old Farmer’s Crop was very smutty.

Wheat for Drilling must have no other Brine, than what is made of pure Salt; for if there be any Brine of Meat amongst it[150], the Grease will not suffer the Wheat to be dry enough to be drilled.

[150]Urine also makes the Wheat so greasy, that it will not be dry time enough to be drilled.

If Seed-wheat be soaked in Urine, it will not grow; or if only sprinkled with it, it will most of it die, unless planted presently.

The most expeditious Way of brining Wheat for the Drill, is to make a very strong Brine; and when the Wheat is laid on an Heap, sprinkle or lave it therewith; then turn it with a Shovel, and lave on more Brine; turn it again with a Shovel, until, by many Repetitions of this, the Wheat be all equally wet. Next, sift on Quick-lime through a Sieve; turn the Wheat with a Shovel, and sift on more Lime; repeat this Sifting and Turning many times, which will make it dry enough to be drilled immediately; and this has been found sufficient to preserve uninfected Wheat from the Smut in a bad Year, the Seed being changed.

To dry it, we use[151] Quick-lime (that is, unslacked), which, beaten to Powder, and sifted thereon, confines the Brine to the Surfaces of the Grains, and suffers none of it to be exhaled by the Air: But when Lime has been long slacked, and is grown weak, ’tis unfit for this Purpose.

[151]But if this doth not afford Powder enough, the Pieces must be slacked immediately before using; for if the Lime lie long after it is slacked (especially that made of Chalk), it will become weak, and lose most of its drying Quality.

Some Farmers use only to boil the strongest Quick-lime in Water, with which, instead of Brine, they sprinkle their Wheat, affirming it to be as effectual as that for preventing the Smut: But this not being within the Compass of my own Experience, I am doubtful of it; yet I wish it may be found effectual, because it would save Trouble to the Sower, and more to the Driller.

Smutty Seed-wheat, tho’ brined, will produce a smutty Crop, unless the Year prove very favourable.

For ’tis to be known, that favourable Years will cure the Smut, as unkind ones will cause it: Else, before Brining was used, and the bad Years had caused all the Wheat in England to be smutty, they must have brought their Seed from Foreign Countries, or never have had any clean Wheat: Therefore ’tis certain, that kind Years will cure the Smut: ’Tis therefore to prevent the Injury of a bad Year, that we plant clean Seed, and well brined.

But of the Two Remedies against Smuttiness, a proper Change of Seed some think the most certain.

A very worthy Gentleman assures me, that since he has found out a Place that affords a Change of Seed proper to his Land, which is for these Ten Years past, he never had a Smutty Ear in any of his Crops (and he never brines nor limes it), tho’ all other Wheat have been often smutty throughout his Neighbourhood every wet Year, tho’ brined and limed. He says, the Person who furnishes him with this Seed, is very curious in changing his Seed also every Year.

This gives a Suspicion, that our drowned Wheat at Bristol might possibly be Foreign; and then might not have been smutty the next Year, tho’ it had not been soaked in the Sea-water.

The Wheat sown by the Two Farmers aforementioned might be from a good Change of Land, but the Seed not changed the precedent Year; and then it might be no more infected, than what the Brine and Lime did cure.

To know what Changes are best to prevent Smuttiness of Wheat, we must consult the most Experienced; and they tell us, that the strong Clay Land is best to be sent to for Seed-wheat, whatever Sort of Land it be to be sowed upon; a White-clay is a good Change for a Red-clay, and a Red for a White. That from any strong Land is better than from a light Land; and the old Rhyme is, that Sand is a Change for no Land. But from whatever Land the Seed be taken, if it was not changed the preceding Year, it may possibly be infected; and then there may be Danger, tho’ we have it immediately from never so proper a Soil.

The strongest Objection that has been yet made against constant annual Crops of Wheat, is, that those Grains of the precedent Crop which happen to shed, and grow in the following Crop, will be in Danger of Smuttiness, for want of changing those individual Seeds.

All I can say in Answer is, that during these Five Years, which is all the time I have had these annual Crops, this objected Inconvenience never has happened to me, even when a precedent Crop has been smutty.

The Reason I take to be, that a Crop very early planted is not so apt to be smutty; and if it be not planted early, the Grains that are shed grow, and are killed before, or at the time of planting the next Crop. This saves a Crop following a smutty one (which is always occasioned by bad Seed, or bad Ordering); and when the former Crop was planted with good Seed well ordered, the shattered Grains of that may produce clean Wheat the Second Year; and ’tis very unlikely, that any Breed of these Grains should remain to grow in the Crop the Third Year.

CHAP. XI.
Of Blight.

Wheat is blighted at Two Seasons; First, when in the Blossom; and then its Generation is prevented and many of the Husks are empty in the Ear, the Grains not being impregnated.

Secondly, Wheat is blighted, when the Grains are brought to the time of their Maturity, but are light, and of little Value for making of Bread; because they are not well filled with Flour.

The First cannot happen in England by the Frost because the Winters do not suffer it to grow so much, as to come into Blossom before the Month of June; but they are long continual Rains that rot or chill the Blossoms, and prevent their Fertility. Yet this is what seldom happens to any great Degree. Wheat that grows in open Fields has some Advantage from the Wind, that dislodges the Water sooner from the Ears, than it can do in sheltry Places; and Lammas Wheat does not hold the Drops of Rain so long as the Bearded (or Cone) Wheat, which received very great Damage by this sort of Blight in the Year 1725, the like never having been heard of before.

The Second sort of Blight, viz. from light Ears, is that which is most frequent, and more general: This brings the greatest Scarcity of Wheat. The Cause is plainly Want of Nourishment to perfect the Grain, by whatever means that Want is occasioned.

Several Accidents kill the Plants, or injure their Health, and then the Grains are not filled; as Lightning, the Effects whereof may be observed by the blackish Spots and Patches in Fields of Wheat, especially in such Years as have more of it than usual. Against this there is no Defence.

The other Causes of the Blight, which are most general, and do the most Damage, may, in some measure, be prevented.

One Cause is the lodging or falling of Corn; for then the Stalks are broken near the Ground, whereby many of the Vessels are so pressed, that the Juices cannot pass them; and then the free Circulation is hindered; the Chyle cannot mount in sufficient Quantity to be purified, and turned into Sap; the Defect whereof makes the Plants become languid, and only just able to live; they have Strength enough to linger on to the time of their Period, as in very old Age, but not to bring their Fruit, which is the Grain, to its natural Bulk, nor to fill it with Flour: and the sooner the Stalks fall, the less and thinner the Grain will be.

Hence it often happens, that when Tillage, Dung, and good Land have brought a Crop of Wheat, that in the Months of April and May promise to yield the Owner Five or Six Quarters on an Acre, then in June it falls down, and scarce affords Five or Six Bushels; and that perhaps is so thin and lank, that the Expence of reaping and threshing it may overbalance its Value.

That the falling down of Wheat does cause the Ruin of the Crop, is well known; but what causes it to fall, is not so plain.

And, without knowing the true Causes, ’tis not likely that a Remedy should be found against the Disease.

I take this Weakness of the Stalks, which occasions their falling, to proceed from want of Nourishment, want of Air, want of the Sun’s Rays, or of all Three.

One Argument, that it lodges for want of Nourishment, is, that a rich Acre has maintain’d a Crop of Five Quarters standing, when another poorer Acre was not able to support a Crop from falling, which was but large enough to have brought Three Quarters, if it had stood: and this in the same Year, and on the same Situation. And ’tis very plain, that if one Acre was twice as rich as the other, it must be able to nourish Five Quarters better than the other could nourish Three Quarters.

Air is necessary to the Life and Health of all Plants, tho’ in very different Degrees: Aquatics, which live under Water, are content with as little Air, as their Companions the Fishes.

But Wheat, being a terrestrial Plant, (tho’ in Winter it will live many Days under Water, whilst the slow Motion of its Sap gives it little or no Increase), requires a free open Air, and does not succeed so well in low sheltery Places, as upon higher and opener Situations; where the Air has a greater Motion, and can more easily carry off the Recrements from the Leaves, after it has shaken off the Dews and Rains, which would otherwise suffocate the Plants; and therefore the Leaves are made so susceptible of Motion from the Air, which frees them from the Dews, that would stop in the Recrements at the Vesiculæ of the Leaves, but shaken down will nourish the Plants at the Roots: The want of this Motion weakening the Wheat, ’tis (as Animals in the like sickly Case are) the more unable to stand, and the more liable to be press’d down by the Weight of Rain-water, and more unable to rise up again when down: All which Evils are remov’d by the free Motion of the Air, which shakes off both Dews and Rains, and thus contributes to prevent the falling (or lodging) of Wheat.

A great Quantity also of the Sun’s Rays is necessary to keep Wheat strong, and in Health; and in Egypt, and other hot Countries, it is not so apt to fall, as it is when sown in Northern Climates, tho’ the Produce of the South be the greatest[152].

[152]This proves that the Crop doth not lodge on account of its Bigness.

It may be observ’d, that every Leaf is inserted into a Sort of Knot, which probably delivers the Sap to be depurated at the Vesiculæ of the Leaves, and then receives it back again for the Nourishment of the Plant, doing for that Purpose the Office of an Heart: But the Sun with his Rays supplies the Part of Pulse, to keep the Sap in Motion, and carry on its Circulation, instead of the Heart’s Systole and Diastole. Wheat, being doubtless originally a Native of a hot Country, requires by its Constitution a considerable Degree of Heat to bring it to Perfection; and if much of that Degree be wanting, the Wheat will be the weaker; and when the Solar Rays cannot reach the lower Parts of the Stalks, the lowest Leaves and Knots cannot do their Office; for which Reason the Chyle must mount higher before it be made into Sap, and there must be then a greater Mixture of crude Chyle next to the Ground, as by the white Colour it appears[153]. By this Means that Part, which, if it had a due Share of the Sun’s Influence, would be harden’d like a Bone or Spring, for the Support of the Stalks, for lack of that, becomes more like to a Cartilage, soft and weak, unable to sustain the Weight of the bending Ear, which, having its greatest Impetus against this Part, which is most feeble to resist it, it yields, and lets it fall to the Ground; and then the Grain will be blighted.

[153]But now I suspect this to be a Mistake, it being more likely, that the white Colour of the Rind is owing to the Absence of the Sun and free Air, than to the Chyle, as the Skin of those Parts of our own Bodies that are concealed from them, is whiter than of those which are exposed to them, though no Chyle-vessel comes near our Skin.

There is also another Cause of the Blight; and that is, the Wheat’s coming too late into Blossom. The usual Time is the Beginning of June; and if it be later, the Days shorten so fast after the Solstice, that the Autumn of the Year hastening the Autumn of the Wheat’s Life, the full Time of its Pregnancy[154] is not accomplish’d; and then its Fruit, which is the Grain, becomes as it were abortive, and not full-grown. This Time betwixt the Generation, Blossoming, and the Maturity of the Grain, is, or ought to be, about Two Months.

[154]Ut enim Mulieres habent ad Partum Dies certos, sic Arbores ac Fruges. Varro, Lib. 1. Cap. 44.

Mense Maio florent; sic Frumenta, & Ordeum, & quæ sunt Seminis singularis, Octo diebus florebunt, & deinde per Dies 40. grandescunt Flore deposito usque ad Maturitatis Eventum. Palladius, Pag. 114, 115.

Quindecim Diebus esse in Vaginis, Quindecim florere, Quindecim exarescere, cum sit maturum Frumentum. Varro, Lib. 1. Cap. 32.

But the different Heat that there is in different Climates, may alter both the Time that Plants continue in Blossom, and the Time betwixt the Blossoming and the Ripening.

Therefore ’tis advantageous to hasten, what we can, the Time of Blossoming, and to protract the Time of Ripening: And ’tis observ’d, that the earliest sown Wheat generally escapes the Blight the best, because it comes first into Blossom.

Feeding down the Wheat with Sheep prevents the Blight, by doing what the Blight wou’d do, if the Wheat fell down, i. e. causes the Ears to be light[155].

[155]Heavy Ears never fall. If they did, that would not make them light. Wheat falls sometimes whilst ’tis in Grass, and before it comes into Ear; so far are the Ears from causing it to fall. This was proved by my whole Crop the last Harvest, and particularly by the Measured Acre, the Ears of which, tho’ prodigious large and heavy, were none of them lodg’d, when those of sown Wheat on the other Side of the Hedge were fallen down flat, and lodg’d on the Ground.

And we find, that those who practise this Method of feeding their Wheat with Sheep in the Spring, to prevent the lodging of it, have most commonly their Straw weak, and Ears light.

These, instead of making the Stalks strong enough to support heavy Ears, make the Ears light enough to be supported by weak Stalks. They know that heavy Ears make the greatest Crop; and yet they still hope to have it from light ones.

They cause the Blight by the very means they make use of to cure it.

This feeding of Wheat much retards the Time of its blossoming; and that it may blossom early, is one chief End of sowing it early, to prevent the Blight. But when it is fed, what the Plants send up next is but a Sort of second or latter Crop, which has longer to stand than the first would have required, and is always weaker than the first Crop would have been; and the longer time it has to continue on the Ground, the more Nourishment is required to maintain it; and yet, as has been shewn, the longer it has been sown, the more the Earth has lost of its Nourishment; and consequently, the Crop will be yet weaker, and in more Danger of the starving Blight[156].

[156]I am sure, that whenever Sheep break into my drill’d Wheat in the Spring, it lessens my Crop half, just as far as they eat the Rows. There are several Reasons why Sheep are more injurious to drilled Wheat than sown; I would not therefore be understood to decry the Practice of seeding sown Wheat, when the Thickness and Irregularity of its Plants make it necessary: I have only endeavoured to shew, that that Practice is founded upon a false Theory. For, if Wheat fell down by reason of the Luxuriance of it; a Plant of it would be more likely to fall when single, and at a great Distance from every other Plant, than when near to other Plants, because such a single Plant is (cæteris paribus) always the most luxuriant; and I have not seen such a one fall (except Birds pull down the Ears), but have observed the contrary, though its Ears are the largest.

The Subject I write on is Drilling and Hoeing, and of whatsoever else I think relates to the Practice or Theory thereof; which obliges me to advise against Drilling too thick upon any Sort of Land; but more especially upon very rich Land: For though I have no such Land, yet I apprehend, that a too great Number of Plants may overstock the Rows, and cause them to be liable to some of the Inconveniences of sown Wheat; and in such a Case, perhaps, Sheep may be rather useful than prejudicial to the drilled Wheat; but of this I have had no Experience: And if it should be too thick, it will be owing to the Fault of the Manager or Driller; but, I suppose, it might be a better Remedy to cut out the superfluous Plants by the Hand-hoe, in the manner that superfluous Turneps are hoed out.

The most effectual Remedy against the Blight is that which removes all its Causes (except such extraordinary ones as Lightning); as,

First, Want of Nourishment.

The Horse-hoe will, in wide Intervals, give Wheat, throughout all the Stages of its Life, as much Nourishment as the discreet Hoer pleases.

Secondly, Want of Air.

Air, being a Fluid, moves most freely in a right or strait Line; for there the fewest of its Parts meet with any Resistance; as a strait River runs swifter than a crooked one, from an equal Declivity; because more of the Water strikes against the Banks at the Turnings, and is there somewhat retarded: and the rest moving no faster than in the strait River, the whole Stream of the crooked must be slower in its Course, than that of the strait River.

The Air cannot pass thro’ sown Corn in a direct Line, because it must strike against, and go round every Plant, they standing all in the Way of its Course, which must stop its Current near the Earth.

And the Air amongst sown Corn is like Water amongst Reeds or Osiers in the Side of a River; it is so stopp’d in its Course, that it almost becomes an Eddy; and since Air is about Eight hundred Times lighter than Water, we may suppose its Current thro’ the Corn is more easily retarded, especially near the Earth, where the Corn has occasion for the greatest Quantity of Air to pass: For, tho’ the upper Part of the Wheat be not able to stop a slow Current of Air, yet it does so much raise even a swift one, as to throw it off from the Ground, and hinder it from reaching the lower Parts of the Stalks, where the Air must therefore remain, in a manner, stagnant; and the thicker the Wheat is, where it stands promiscuously, the less Change of Air can it have, tho’ the greater the Number of the Stalks is, the more fresh Air they must require.

But the confused Manner in which the Plants of sown Wheat stand, is such, that they must all oppose the free Entrance of Air amongst them, from whatever Point of the Compass it comes.

Now it is quite otherwise with Wheat drill’d regularly with wide Intervals; for therein the Current of Air may pass freely (like Water in a strait River, where there is no Resistance), and communicate its Nitre to the lower as well as upper Leaves, and carry off the Recrements they emit, not suffering the Plants to be weakened, as an Animal is, when his Lungs are forc’d to take back their own Expirations, if debarr’d from a sufficient Supply of fresh untainted Air. And this Benefit of fresh Air is plentifully, and pretty equally, distributed to every Row in a Field of ho’d Wheat.

Thirdly, Want of the Sun’s Rays.

Sown Wheat-plants, by their irregular Position, may be said to stand in one another’s Light, for want of which they are apt to fall.

’Tis true the whole Field of Plants receive the same Quantity of Sun-beams amongst them, whether they stand confusedly, or in Order: But there is a vast Difference in the Distribution of them; for none or the very least Share of Beams is obtain’d by those Parts which need the greatest Share, in the confused Plants. And when the crural Parts, that should support the whole Body of every Plant, are depriv’d of their due Share of what is so necessary to strengthen them, the Plants (like Animals in the same Case) are unable to stand.

But in drill’d Wheat, where the Plants stand in a regular Order, the Sun-beams are more duly distributed to all Parts of the Plants in the Ranks; for which Way soever the Rows are directed, if they be strait, the Rays must, some time of the Day, fall on the Intervals, and be reflected by the Ground, whence the lower Parts of the Wheat-stalks must receive the greater Share of Heat, being nearest to the Point of Incidence, having no Weeds to shadow them.

As to that Cause of the Blight, viz. the Wheat’s dying before the full Time of its Pregnancy be accomplish’d; the Hoe removes all the Objections against planting early, and then it will blossom the earlier: And it has visibly kept Wheat green a whole Week longer, than unho’d Wheat adjoining to it, planted the same Day.

The Antients were perfect Masters of the Vine-Husbandry, which seems to have so engross’d their rural Studies, that it did not allow them so much Reflection, as to apply the Use of those Methods to the Increase of Bread, which they had discover’d to be most beneficial for the Increase of Wine. One Method was, to hoe the Vines after they had blossom’d, in order to fill the Fruit, as in Columella, Lib. iv. Cap. 28. Convenit tum crebris Fossionibus implere: nam fit ulterior Pulverationibus. And if what Palladius says, Tit. ix. be true of the Sarritions and Sarculations in the Month of January, and that if Beans do twice undergo that scratching Operation, they will produce much Fruit, and so large as to fill the Bushel almost as full when shal’d as unshal’d.

Faba, si bis sarculetur, proficiet, & multum Fructum & maximum afferet, ut ad Mensuram Modii complendi fresa propemodum sicut Integra respondeat.

This is to be done when Beans are Four Fingers high, and Corn when it has Four or Five Leaves to a Plant; even then the Harrowing-work, tho’ it tore up some of the Plants, yet it was observ’d to do Good against the Blight.

Si siccas Segetes sarculaveris, aliquid contra Rubiginem præstitisti, maxime si Ordeum siccum sarrietur.

When the Antients observ’d this, ’tis a Wonder they did not plant their Corn so as to be capable of receiving this Benefit in Perfection. They might have imagin’d, that what was effectual against the Blight, when the Corn was in Grass, must, in all Probability, be much more effectual when in Ear.

But the most general Blight that happens to Wheat in cold Climates, is caused by Insects, which (some think) are brought in the Air by an East Wind accompanied with Moisture, a little before the Grain is filling with that milky Juice, which afterwards hardens into Flour. These Insects deposit their Eggs within the outer Skin (or Rind) of the Stalks; and when the young ones are hatched, they feed on the Parenchyma, and eat off many of the Vessels which should make and convey this Juice; and then the Grain will be more or less thin, in Proportion to the Number of Vessels eaten, and as the Insects happen to come earlier or later; for sometimes they come so late, that the Grain is sufficiently fill’d with the said milky Juice before the Vessels are eaten; and then, tho’ the Straw appear thro’ a Microscope to have its Vessels very much eaten and torn, and to be full of black Spots (which Spots are nothing else but the Excrements of those young Insects), yet the Grain is plump, and not blighted, there being an Observation, That the early sown Wheat generally escapes this Blight. And it has been seen, where one Part of a Field is sown earlier than the other Part, without any other Difference than the Time of sowing, that the Grain of the latest sown has been much blighted, and the Grain of the earlier has escaped the Blight, tho’ the Straw of both were equally eaten by the Insects. Hence it may be inferr’d, that the Milk in the one had receiv’d all the Nourishment necessary to its due Consistence, before the Vessels were destroy’d; but, in the other, the Vessels, which should have continued the Supply of Nourishment for thickening the Milk, being spoil’d before they have finish’d that Office, it remains too thin; and then the Grain, when it hardeneth, shrinks up, and is blighted; yet the Grain of one and the other are equally plump until they become hard: The Difference therefore is only in the Thickness of the Milk, that in the blighted being more watery than the other.

The chief Argument to prove, that these Insects are brought by an East Wind, is, that the Wheat on the East Sides of Hedges are much blighted, when that on the West Sides is not hurt: And as to the Objection, that they are bred in the Earth, and crawl thence up the Stalks of the Wheat, because some Land is much more subject to produce blighted Wheat than other Land is; perhaps this Difference may be chiefly owing to the different Situation of those Lands, as they are opposed to the East, or to the West.

Another Cause why some Wheat is more blighted than other Wheat on the same Land, is, the different Condition in which the Insects find it; for the Rind of that which is very strong and flourishing[157] is soft and tender; into this they can easily penetrate to lay their Eggs; but the Wheat that is poor and yellow, has an hard tough skin (or Rind), into which the Insects are not able to bore for the Intromission of their Eggs, and therefore can do it no Mischief. It would be in vain to advise to prevent the Blight, by striving to make the Wheat poor; for tho’ Poverty may preserve Wheat from this Blight, as well as it does People from the Gout, yet that is a Remedy which few take willingly against either of these Diseases: But this, I think, might be possible to remedy it, if we could, from the strongest Wheat, take away so much Nourishment as to turn its Colour[158] a little yellowish just before the Insects come[159] which I suppose to be in June, after the Ear is out, or at least fully formed.

[157]Some Sort of Land is more subject to this Blight than others; in such, Lammas Wheat must by no means be drill’d late, and too thin, lest it should not tiller till late in the Spring; and then, for want of a sufficient Quantity of Stalks to dispense with all the Nourishment rais’d by the Hoe, may become too vigorous and luxuriant, and be the more liable to the Injury of the Blight of Insects.

[158]But this is a very difficult Matter.

[159]Whither those Insects go, or where they reside, from the Time of their eating their Way out of the Straw, until they return the next Year, I cannot learn.

Yet this can only be done in wide Intervals; for, unless the fine Earth can be thrust to some considerable Distance from the Roots after they are cut off, they will soon shoot out again, and reach it, becoming more vigorous thereby.

In dry Summers this Misfortune seldom happens, much Heat, and very little Moisture, being most agreeable to the Constitution of Wheat; for then its Rind is more firm and hard, as it is, on the contrary, made more soft and spongy by too much Moisture.

The most easy and sure Remedy, that I have yet found against the Injury of these Insects, is, to plant a Sort of Wheat that is least liable to be hurt by them; viz. The White-cone (or bearded) Wheat, which has its Stalk or Straw like a Rush, not hollow, but full of Pith (except near the lower Part, and there ’tis very thick and strong): ’Tis probable it has Sap-Vessels that lie deeper, so as the young Insects cannot totally destroy them, as they do in other Wheat: For when the Straw has the black Spots, which shew that the Insects have been there bred, yet the Grain is plump, when the Grey-cone and Lammas Wheat mixt with it are blighted. This Difference might have been from the different times of ripening, this being ripe about a Week earlier than the Grey-cone, and later than the Lammas: But its being planted together both early and late, and at all Times of the Wheat-seed Time, and this White-cone always escaping with its Grain unhurt, is an Argument, that ’tis naturally fortify’d against the Injury of these Insects, which in wet Summers are so pernicious to other Sorts of Wheat; and I can impute it to no other Cause than the different Deepness of the Vessels, the Straw of other Wheat being very much thinner, and hollow from Top to Bottom; this having a small Hollow at Bottom, and there the Thickness betwixt the outer Skin and the Cavity is more than double to that in other Sorts of Wheat; so that I imagine, the Insects reach only the outermost Vessels, and enough of the inner Vessels are left untouch’d to supply the Grain.

This Wheat makes very good Bread, if the Miller does not grind it too small, or the Baker make his Dough too hard, it requiring to be made softer than that of other Flour.

A Bushel of this White-cone Wheat will make more Bread than a Bushel of Lammas, and of the same Goodness; but it gives a little yellow Cast to the Bread.

Another Sort of lodging Blight there is, which some call Moar-Loore, and mostly happens on light Land. This is when the Earth, sinking away from the Roots, leaves the Bottom of the Stalk higher than the subsided Ground; and then the Plant, having only these naked Roots to support it (for which they are too weak), falls down to the Earth.

To remedy this, turn a shallow Furrow against the Rows, when they are strong enough to bear it, and when the Mould is very fine and dry; then the Motion of the Stalks by the Wind will cause such Earth to run through the Rows, and settle about the Roots, and cover them[160].

[160]Some Land is very subject to the Misfortune of exposing the Roots, and therefore is less proper for Wheat; for when the Roots are left bare to the Air, they will be shrivelled, and unable to support the Plants: And on such Land the Wheat plants have all fallen down, though in Number and Bigness not sufficient to have produced the Fourth Part of a tolerable Crop, if they had stood. I am inclined to believe, that a thorough Tillage might be a Remedy to such a loose hollow Soil; for ’tis certain to a Demonstration, that it would render it more dense, and increase its specific Gravity: But to enrich it sufficiently without Manure, the Tillage must pulverize it much more minutely, and expose it longer, than is required for the strongest Land: The Fold also will be very helpful on such hollow Land.

I have never seen any drill’d Wheat so much spoil’d by falling, as sewn Wheat sometimes is. The drill’d never falls so close to the Ground, but that the Air enters into Hollows that are under it, and the Wind keeps the Ears in Motion. Notwithstanding all the Precaution that can be used, in some unseasonable Years Wheat will be blighted: I have known such a general Blight, when some of my Lammas Wheat, planted late on blighting Land, was blighted, amongst the rest of my Neighbours, by the Insects, but the Grain of the sown Wheat was vastly more injured than that of the drill’d: The former was so light, that the greatest Part was blown away in winnowing, and the Remainder so bad, that it was not fit to make Bread: The drill’d made as good Bread, and had as much Flour in it, as the sown Wheat had, that was not blighted; for the Grains of the drill’d were much larger than those of the sown; being form’d to have been twice as big as the Grains of Wheat generally are, had they not been blighted.

CHAP. XII.
Of St. Foin.

St. Foin, from the Country we brought it from, is call’d French Grass: And for its long Continuance, some having lasted Forty Years, ’tis call’d Everlasting Grass, tho’ it be not strictly a Gramen.

’Tis call’d in French, Sain Foin, i. e. Sanum Fœnum, from its Quality of Wholsomeness, beyond the other artificial Grasses, green and dry. ’Tis also call’d Sanctum Fœnum, Holy Hay.

’Tis a Plant so generally known to every Body, that there is no need to give any formal Description of that Part of it which appears above-ground, It has many red Flowers, sometimes leaving Ears Five or Six Inches long: I have measured the Stalks, and found them above Five Feet long, tho’ they are commonly but about Two Feet.

The Reason why St. Foin will, in poor Ground, make a Forty times greater Increase than the natural Turf, is the prodigious Length[161] of its perpendicular Tap-root: It is said to descend Twenty or Thirty Feet. I have been inform’d, by a Person of undoubted Credit, that he has broken off one of these Roots in a Pit, and measured the Part broken off, and found it fourteen Feet.

[161]There is a vulgar Opinion, that St. Foin will not succeed on any Land, where there is not an under Stratum of Stone or Chalk, to stop the Roots from running deep; else, they say, the Plants spend themselves in the Roots only, and cannot thrive in those Parts of them which are above the Ground. I am almost ashamed to give an Answer to this.

’Tis certain that every Plant is nourished from its Roots (as an Animal is by its Guts); and the more and larger Roots it has, the more Nourishment it receives, and prospers in proportion to it. St. Foin always succeeds where its Roots run deep; and when it does not succeed, it never lives to have long Roots; neither can there ever be found a Plant of it, that lives so long as to root deep in a Soil that is improper for it: Therefore ’tis amazing to hear such Reasoning from Men.

An under Stratum of very strong Clay, or other Earth, which holds Water, may make a Soil improper for it; because the Water kills the Root, and never suffers it to grow to Perfection, or to attain to its natural Bulk. The best St. Foin that ever I saw, had nothing in the Soil to obstruct the Roots, and it has been found to have Roots of a prodigious Depth. If there be Springs near (or within several Feet of) the Surface of the Soil, St. Foin will die therein in Winter, even after it has been vigorous in the first Summer; and also after it hath produced a great Crop in the second Summer.

This Tap-root has also a Multitude of very long horizontal Roots at the upper Part thereof, which fill all the upper Stratum, or Staple of the Ground; and of thousands of St. Foin Roots I have seen taken up, I never found one that was without horizontal Roots near the Surface, after one Summer’s Growth; and do much wonder how Mr. Kerkham should be so mistaken, as to think they have none such.

Also these Tap-roots have the horizontal ones all the Way down; but as they descend, they are still shorter and shorter, as the uppermost are always the longest.

Any dry Ground may be made to produce this noble Plant, be it never so poor; but the richest Soil will yield the most of it, and the best.

If you venture to plant it with the Drill, according to the Method wherein I have always had the best Success; let the Land be well prepared before you plant it. The Seed, if not well ordered, will very little of it grow; therefore ’tis convenient to try it in the manner mention’d in the Chapter of [Hoeing]; where are also Directions to find the proper Quantity and Depth to plant it at: I have observ’d, that the Heads of these Seeds are so large, and their Necks so weak[162], that if they lie much more than half an Inch[163] deep, they are not able to rise through the incumbent Mould; or if they are not cover’d, they will be malted[164]. A Bushel to an Acre is full twenty Seeds to each square Foot, in all I try’d; but there is odds in the Largeness of it, which makes some Difference in the Number.

[162]The Kernel or Seed, being much swollen in the Ground, I call the Head: This, when it reaches above the Ground, opens in the Middle, and is formed into the Two first Leaves; the Husk always remaining at the same Depth at which it is cover’d: The String that passes from the Husk to the Head, is the Neck; which, when by its too great Length ’tis unable to support the Head till it reaches to the Air, rises up, and doubles above it; and when it does so, the Head, being turn’d with its Top downwards, never can rise any higher, but there rots in the Ground.

[163]In very light Land the Seed will come up from a greater Depth; but the most secure Way is, not to suffer it to be cover’d deep in any Land.

[164]We say it is malted, when it lies above-ground, and sends out its Root, which is killed by the Air. And whether we plant bad Seed that does not grow, or good Seed buried or malted, the Consequence will be much the same, and the Ground may be equally understock’d with Plants.

The worst Seasons to plant it are the Beginning of Winter, and in the Drought of Summer. The best Season is early in the Spring.

’Tis the stronger when planted alone, and when no other Crop is sown with it[165].

[165]The worst Crop that can be sown amongst St. Foin, is Clover or Rye-Grass; Barley or Oats continue but a little while to rob it; but the other artificial Grasses rob it for a Year or Two, until the artificial Pasture is near lost; and then the St. Foin never arrives to half the Perfection as it will do when no other Grass is sown amongst it.

The Injury these Hay-crops do to the St. Foin is best seen where some Parts of the same Field have them, and the other Parts are without them.

If Barley, Oats, or other Corn sown with St. Foin, do lodge, it will kill[166] the young St. Foin that is under it: But then so great a Crop of Corn will certainly answer the very little Expence of drilling the St. Foin again, either the next Year, or as soon as the Corn is off the Ground.

[166]When Barley, among which the St. Foin is planted in a dry Summer, is great, there are few Farmers that know till the next Spring, whether the St. Foin succeeds or not; because the young Plants are not then visible; unless it be to those who are accustomed to observe them in all the Degrees of their Growth. I have seen a Field of Ten Acres of such, wherein, after the Barley was carried off, nothing appeared like St. Foin; but when by the Print of the Chanels I searched diligently, I found the small St. Foin Plants thick enough in the Rows; they had no Leaves, they being cut off by the Scythe; no Part of them that was left had any Green Colour; but from the Plants there came out many Sprigs like Hog’s Bristles, or like the Beard of Barley: This whole Piece of St. Foin succeeded so well, that the Third Year its Crop was worth Three Pounds per Acre, the Land being good.

St. Foin drill’d betwixt Rows of Barley or Oats, always is stronger than when drill’d amongst Corn that is sown at random; and therefore is in less Danger of being kill’d by the Lodging of the Corn; neither is the Corn in Rows so liable to fall as the other.

The Quantity of Seed to be drill’d on an Acre will depend, in great Measure, upon the Goodness of it; for in some bad Seed, not more than One in Ten will grow; and in good Seed, not One in Twenty will miss; which is best known by stripping off the Husks of a certain Number of Seeds, and planting the Kernels in Earth, in the manner directed for finding the proper Depth to plant at, which, in this Case, let be half an Inch: This being done, the Quality of the Seed will be known. But until frequent Trials have furnish’d Experience enough to the Planter to know the Difference, let him observe, that the following are good Signs; viz. The Husk of a bright Colour, the Kernel plump, of a light-grey or blue Colour, or sometimes of a shining black; yet the Seed may be good, tho’ the Husk is of a dark Colour, if that is caused by its receiving Rain in the Field, and not by heating in a Heap, or in the Mow; and if you cut the Kernel off in the Middle, cross-ways, and find the Inside of a Greenish fresh Colour, it’s surely good; but if of a yellowish Colour, and friable about the Navel, and thin, or pitted, these are Marks of bad Seed.

The Quantity, or rather Number of Seeds convenient to drill, ought to be computed by the Number of Plants[167] we propose to have for making the best Crop, allowing for Casualties[168].

[167]Not that we need to be so exact as to the Number of Plants, whether they be Two, Three, or Four hundred upon a square Perch. Neither is it possible to know beforehand the precise Number of Plants that may live; for sometimes the Grub kills many, by eating off the first Two Leaves.

[168]Many even of the best of Seeds, both sown and drill’d, are liable to Casualties, but not equally; for about Twenty-eight Years ago, my Servants (being prime Seedsmen) had a Fancy in my Absence to try an Experiment of the Difference betwixt sowing and drilling of St. Foin; and in the Middle of a large Field of my best Land they sow’d a square Piece of Three Acres, at the Rate of One Bushel to an Acre, not doubting but, by their skill in sowing even, it would succeed as well as if drill’d; but it succeeded so much against their Expectation, that the Land all round it, which was drill’d at the same Time, with the same Proportion of the same Seed, brought extraordinary good Crops of St. Foin; but the sow’d Part was so very thin, that tho’ it lay still with the rest for Eight Years, it never was a Crop, there not being above Three or Four upon a square Perch, taking the Three Acres all together: Not that it can be supposed, that the sown would always meet with so many Casualties as this did; for then Eight Bushels sown to an Acre might have been too thin, and much thinner than all the rest of the Field was, tho’ drill’d with only One Bushel to an Acre: And ’tis often seen, that when an Acre is sown with seven Bushels of Seed, the St. Foin is as much too thick, as that sown with One Bushel was too thin.

I do not know, that of the many hundred Acres of St. Foin, that have been drill’d for me, ever one Acre was too thin, except when planted with Wheat: The young Plants were kill’d by the Frost.

In drilling St. Foin not to be ho’d, and before the Ploughs of my Drill were so perfect in making narrow Chanels as they are now (for, when the Chanels were open, they had Six times the Breadth, wherein Part of the Seed was wasted), then my Quantity was One Bushel to an Acre, sometimes Six Gallons.

But a single Acre (in the middle of a large Field of St. Foin) being drill’d late in October, the frosty Winter kill’d at least Nineteen of Twenty Parts[169] of that Bushel. At first it made such a poor Appearance, that ’twas by mere Accident, or it had been plow’d up for a Fallow; but, missing of that, a few Plants were perceiv’d in the Summer, which by their Singleness grew so vigorous, and so very large, that the Second Year of Mowing it[170] produc’d a Crop double to the rest of the same Field, which was drill’d in the Spring, with the same Proportion of Seed, and none of it kill’d: tho’ all this Field was a much better Crop than some that was sown in the common Manner, with Seven Bushels to an Acre. I have generally observ’d the thin[171] to make the best Crop, after the First or Second Year.

[169]But I believe, there might remain alive Three or Four Plants to each square Yard, standing single, and at pretty equal Distances.

[170]But Note, This Acre was dunged, and in better Order than the rest.

[171]But, notwithstanding I commend the Planting of St. Foin thin, that most of the Roots may be single; yet I have Fields that were drill’d with but Four Gallons of Seed to an Acre; and yet the Rows being Seven Inches asunder, the Roots are so thick in them, that the Ground is cover’d with the St. Foin Plants, which seem to be as thick (in Appearance) as most sown St. Foin, whereon Seven or Eight Bushels are sown on an Acre. And I have other Fields that were drill’d with about Two Gallons of Seed to an Acre (which is Five Seeds to each square Foot), the Rows Sixteen Inches asunder, that produce better Crops, tho’ the Ground be poorer. The drill’d St. Foin, being regular, is more single, tho’ as thick as the sown; and for that Reason always makes a better Crop, and lasts longer than the sown that is of the same Thickness, but irregular.

I have also often observ’d in Lands of St. Foin, lying dispersed in a common Field (but where there was not Common for Sheep), and where the Ends of other Lands kept in Tillage, pointed against the Pieces of St. Foin, and the Horses and Ploughs turning out upon the St. Foin[172] did plow and scratch out a Multitude of its Plants; so that it was thought to be spoil’d, and Law-suits were intended for Recompence of the Damage; that afterwards this scratch’d Part, supposed to be spoil’d, became twice as good as the rest of the same Pieces, where the Ploughs did not come to tear up any Plants.

[172]This Plowing and Scratching was a sort of Hoeing, which helped the St. Foin by a small Degree of Pulveration, as well as by making the Plants thinner.

The Reason why the single St. Foin Plants make the greatest Crops, is, that the Quantity of the Crop is always in Proportion to the Quantity of Nourishment it receives from the Earth; and those Plants which run deepest will receive most; and such as are single will run deeper than those which are not single.

Also the single do send out all round them horizontal Roots, proportionably stronger and larger, whereby they are better able to penetrate, and extract more Nourishment from the Staple, or upper Stratum, than the other can do, if there be a competent Number; which is, when ho’d, fewer than any-body imagines. ’Tis common to see a single St. Foin have a bigger Tap-root than Twenty thick ones: Their Length is in Proportion to their Bigness: Therefore that single Plant may well be supposed to have Twenty times more Depth of Earth to supply it, than all those Twenty small Roots can reach to. And tho’ these under Strata are not so rich as the upper; yet, never having been drain’d by any Vegetable, they do afford a very considerable Quantity of Nourishment to those Roots which first enter them.

The small thick Plants are so far from equalling the Product of the single, by their Excess of Number, that the more they are, the smaller, shorter, and weaker they become; less Nourishment they have, and the less Crop they produce; and are soon starv’d, decay, and die, unless reliev’d by the Expence of frequent Manure, or that the Soil be very rich.

Single Plants exceed the other by a Multitude of Degrees, more than a Giant does a Dwarf, in Strength, as well as Stature; and therefore when natural Grass happens to come, are so much the better able to shift amongst it.

The single Plants seem also to exceed the other in their Longevity; for ’tis observ’d, that all St. Foin that has continu’d great for a good Number of Years without Manure, has been so single, that the Owners have determined to plow it up at the Beginning, for the Thinness of it.

How long this may last by Culture, I can’t tell; but undoubtedly much longer than without it; and I can say, that I never knew a Plant of St. Foin die a natural Death; the most common End of it is Starving. And when an hundred thick Plants have not the Nourishment which One single Plant has, ’tis no Wonder that these (in a Croud[173] thus besieg’d with Hunger) should be starv’d before it.

[173]Sown Plants, when too thick, are crouded on every Side; but those that are drill’d, have always Room enough on Two Sides of them; unless the Rows are too near together.

Another Advantage the single have, in respect of Moisture: These reach to a Depth where that is never wanting, even when the upper Stratum or Staple is parch’d up, as appears by the Experiment of the Mints, that if any Root of a Plant has Moisture, that Root will communicate a Share to all the rest. Hence it is, that, in the driest Summer, these single Plants make a great Crop, when the other yield next to nothing. I remember I once saw a Farmer coming out of a Ground with a Load of St. Foin Hay, which he assured me was all he could find worth cutting, out of Forty Acres of this thick sort, in full Perfection, Three Years after sowing: He valued his Load at Three Pounds; but withal said it came off so much Ground, that the Expence of Mowing, Raking, &c. was more than the Value; when, in the very same dry Summer, there was Three Tun of St. Foin to an Acre in a Field[174], where it was drill’d single and regularly.

[174]This was on rich deep Land in Oxfordshire; and the other St. Foin, which was so poor, was on thin Slate Land near Causham in Wiltshire in the Bath Road. It is now about Forty Years since.

And I have often observ’d, that where the Plants are thin, the Second Crop of them springs again immediately after cutting; when Plants that stand thick in the same Ground, spring not till Rain comes; and I have seen the thin grown high enough to cut the Second time, before the other began to spring.

The best way to find what Number of these Plants it is proper to have on a Perch of Ground, is to consider what Quantity of Hay one large Plant will produce (for, if cultivated, they will be all such).

Without Culture these Plants never attain to a Fourth Part of the Bulk they do with it: Therefore very few have seen any one Plant at its full Bigness. One Plant, well cultivated, has in the same Ground made a greater Produce, than One thousand small ones uncultivated.

But the Hay of a large single cultivated Plant will weigh more than half a Pound; and 112 Plants upon a square Perch, weighing but a Quarter of a Pound apiece one with another, amount to Two Tun to an Acre.

If St. Foin be planted on some sorts of Land early in the Spring, and ho’d, it may bring a Crop the same Summer; for I once planted a few Seeds of it on sandy Ground in my Garden, at the End of February, which produced large Plants above Two Feet high, that went into Blossom the following June; tho’ there was a severe Frost in March, which kill’d abundance of Wheat, yet did not hurt these Plants: This shews that St. Foin is a quick Grower, unless it be planted on poor cold Ground, or for Want of Culture.

And tho’ the poor Land, and ill Management generally allotted to it, cause it to yield but One mowing Crop a Year; yet it has yielded Two great ones on rich sandy Land, even when sown in the common ordinary matter.

Thin St. Foin cannot be expected to cover all the Ground at first, any more than an Orchard of Apple-trees will, when first planted at Thirty Feet Distance from each other every Way; yet this is reckon’d a proper Distance to make a good and lasting Orchard. But if these should be planted at Three Feet Distance, as they stand in the Nursery, it would not be more unreasonable than the common Method of sowing St. Foin is; and there would be much the same Consequence in both, from covering all the Ground at first Planting; except that the St. Foin, being abundantly longer rooted downwards than Apple-trees are, has the greater Disadvantage, when by its Thickness ’tis prevented from growing to its full Bulk, and Length of Roots[175].

[175]Horizontal-rooted Plants suffer no greater Injury by their Pasture’s being over-stock’d than Cattle do; because their Pasture lying near the Surface of the Ground, they have it all amongst them: But St. Foin, and other long Tap-rooted Plants suffer yet more, because great Part of their over-stock’d Pasture is lost by them all, when they hinder one another from reaching down to it, by shortening one another’s Roots, which they do when they all become Dwarfs by reason of their Over-thickness.

The Difference is only this: People are accustom’d to see Apple-trees planted at their due Distance: but few have seen St. Foin planted and cultivated at the Distance most proper to St. Foin; or ever consider’d about it, so much as to make the necessary Trials.

I have constantly found, that, upon doubling any Number of narrow Rows, having equal Number of Plants in each Row, the Crops have been very much diminish’d; and, upon leaving out every other Row, that is, lessening the Number of Rows to half, the Crops are increased; and where Two Rows are wide asunder at one End of a Piece, and near at the other End, the Plants are gradually less and less, as the Rows approach nearer together.

We ought never to expect a full Crop of St. Foin the First Year[176], if we intend to have good Crops afterwards, and that it shall continue to produce such, for the same Reasons that must be given for planting an Orchard at other Distances than a Nursery.

[176]But when it has been planted on rich sandy Land, and proper, it has produced very great Crops the first Year; but then the Summer wherein it grew amongst the Barley, must not be reckoned as the first Year.

The common Error proceeds from mistaking the Cause of a great or small Crop.

Where the Spaces betwixt Rows are wide (if there be not too many Plants in them) we always see the St. Foin grow large, and make the greatest Crop; but when ’tis young, or after cutting, we see room (as we fansy) for more of such Plants, to make a yet larger Crop; not considering that ’tis the Wideness of those Spaces, and less Number of Plants, that cause the Crop to be so large, there being more Pasture for those Plants.

Where these Spaces are narrower, and the Rows of equal Thickness, we see the Plants less when grown, and that they make a less Crop; and yet there seems to be room for more Rows, which we fansy might make the Crop larger, not considering that ’tis the Narrowness of those Spaces that causes the Plants and Crop to be less, for want of sufficient Pasture.

Thus, fondly increasing the Number of our Rows and Plants, we bring our Crop (unless the Soil be rich) to nothing, by too much over-stocking their Pasture; and, if that Pasture be over-stock’d, the Crop will be diminish’d more than in proportion to that Over-charge; for perhaps ’tis not impossible to prove (if we would be curious), that Plants, by wanting a Fourth Part of their due Quantum of Nourishment, will be diminish’d to half[177] of the Bulk they would have attained to, had they been supply’d with the other Fourth Part.

[177]When Plants have not their due Nourishment, they suffer the more by Cold and Drought; so that want of Nourishment diminishing their Growth One-fourth, Cold, or Drought, or both, may diminish it another fourth.

I have observ’d ho’d St. Foin to grow more, and increase its Bulk more, in Two Weeks, than unho’d St. Foin in the same Ground (and without any other Difference) hath done in Six Weeks; and the quicker it grows, by being better fed, the sweeter and richer Food it will make for Cattle, whether it be spent green or dry[178].

[178]Cattle are the best Judges of the Goodness of Grass, and they always choose to feed on St. Foin that is most vigorous, and refuse that which is poor and yellow. And the richest sweetest Grass will always make the best Hay; for the drying of it does not change the Quality of the Grass.

At whatever Distance the Rows be set, if they have too many Plants in them, the Crop will be very much injured; and the greater the Excess is beyond the just Number, the more void Space there will be amongst them; because the smaller the Plants are, the less Ground they cover.

I have had the Experience of drilling at all Distances, from Thirty-three Inches to Seven Inches, betwixt the Rows; and recommend the following Distance, for the different Methods of drilling; whether the St. Foin be design’d for hoeing, or not. As,

First, For Horse-hoeing, I think it is best to drill double Rows with Eight-inch Partitions, and Thirty-inch Intervals; which need only be ho’d alternately, leaving every other Interval for making the Hay thereon.

Indeed I have never yet had a whole Field of ho’d St. Foin; but have enough to shew, that Horse-hoeing makes it strong upon very poor Land, and causes it to produce two Crops a Year upon indifferent Land.

It is not necessary to hoe this every Year; but we may intermit the Hoeing for three or four Years together, or more, if the Land be good.

Whilst the Plants are small the first Year, Care must be taken not to cover them with the Plough: Afterwards there will be no great Danger, especially in Winter, the Earth not being suffered to lie on them too long.

Secondly, For Hand-hoeing, drill the Rows Sixteen Inches asunder, and single out the Plants, so as to make them Eight Inches apart at least in the Rows, contriving rather to leave the Master-plants, than to be exact in the Distance: This must be done whilst they are very young, or in Summer; else they will come again that are cut off by the Hoe.

Lastly, when St. Foin is drill’d without any Intention of hoeing, the best Way (I think) is to plant single Rows, at Eight Inches Distance, with no greater Quantity of Seed, than when the Rows are at Sixteen Inches Distance; because, by this Method, the same Number of Plants in the Rows, that are but Eight Inches apart, will be much more single, than those in the Rows at Sixteen Inches apart are, without being set out by the Hoe.

Which of these Methods soever is practis’d, the Land should be made as clean from all Grass, and as well pulveriz’d, as possible, before Drilling.

The Tines of the Drill-harrow must exactly follow the Shares, which leaving the Chanels open, the Tines cover the Seed, some at Bottom, and some on each Side; so that it is cover’d very shallow, tho’ it lies deep within the Ground, where there is more Moisture, than nearer to the upper level Surface: This causes the Seed to come up in dry Weather; and yet it is not in Danger of being buried by a too great Weight of Mould incumbent on it.

But take heed that no other Harrow come on it after ’tis drill’d; for that might bury it. I never care to roll it at all, unless on account of the Barley; and then only in very dry Weather, with a light Roller, lengthways of the Rows, immediately after ’tis drill’d; or else stay Three Weeks afterwards before it be roll’d, for fear of breaking off the Heads of the young St. Foin.

Be sure to suffer no Cattle to come on the young St. Foin the first Winter[179], after the Corn is cut that grows amongst it; their very Feet would injure it, by treading the Ground hard, as well as their Mouths by cropping it; Nor let any Sheep come at it, even in the following Summer and Winter.

[179]The first Winter is the Time to lay on Manure, after the Crop of Corn is off; such as Peat-Ashes, or the like; because, there being no natural Grass to partake of it, and the Plants being less, less will supply them; and because, when made strong in their Youth, they will come to greater Perfection: But I never used any Manure on my St. Foin, because mine generally had no Occasion for Manure before it was old; and Soot is seldom to be had of sufficient Quantity in the Country; and little Coal is burnt hereabouts, except by the Smiths, whose Ashes are not good. The Price and Carriage of Peat-Ash will be Ten Shillings for an Acre, which would yet be well bestowed in a Place where Hay is vendible; but, by reason of the great Quantity of watered Meadows, and Plenty of St. Foin, Clover, and Hay, raised of late Years by Farmers for their own Use, here are now few or no Buyers of Hay, especially these open Winters; so that laying out Money in that Manner would be in Effect to buy what I cannot sell. I think it better to let a little more Land lie still in St. Foin, than to be at the Expence of Manure; but yet shall not neglect to use it, when I shall find it likely to be profitable to me.

One Acre of well-drill’d St. Foin, considering the different Goodness of the Crops, and the Duration of it, is generally worth Two Acres of sown St. Foin on the same Land, tho’ the Expence of drilling be Twenty Times less than the Expence of sowing it.

One of the Causes why St. Foin, that is properly drill’d, lasteth longer[180] without Manure than the sown, is, That the former neither over nor understocks the Pasture; and the latter commonly, if not always, doth one or the other, if not both; viz. Plants too thick in some Places, and too thin in others; either ’tis not single, but in Bunches; or if it be single, ’tis too thin; it being next to impossible to have the Plants come true and regular, or nearly so, by sowing at random. Plants too thick soon exhaust the Pasture they reach, which never is more than a small Part of that below the Staple: When the Plants are too thin, the St. Foin cannot be said to last at all, because it never is a Crop.

[180]I have now a great many single St. Foin Plants in my Fields, that are near Thirty Years of Age, and yet seem as young and vigorous as ever; and yet it is common for thick St. Foin to wear out in Nine or Ten Years, and in poor Land much sooner, if not often manured by Soot, Peat-Ash, or Coal-Ash.

They who sow Eight or Ten Bushels of good Seed on an Acre, in a good Season, among their Corn, with Intent that by its Thickness it should kill other Grass, reduce their St. Foin almost to that poor Condition I have seen it in, where it grows naturally wild without sowing or Tillage, upon the Calabrian Hills near Croto: It makes there such a despicable Appearance, that one would wonder how any body should have taken it in their Head to propagate so unpromising a Plant; and yet there has scarce been an Exotic brought to England in this or the last Age, capable of making a greater or more general Improvement, were it duly cultivated.

Some think the Cytisus would exceed it; but I am afraid the Labour of shearing those Shrubs by the Hands of English Servants, would cost too much of its Profit.

Luserne, requiring more Culture, and being much more difficult to be fitted with a proper Soil, never can be so general as St. Foin.

But now let us consider the best Methods of ordering St. Foin for Hay and Seed. The Profit of St. Foin Fields, arising from either of these Ways, is a great Advantage to their Owner, above that of natural Meadows; for, if Meadow-hay cannot have good Weather to be cut in its Season, it can serve for little other Use than as Dung, and yet the Expence of mowing it, and carrying it off must not be omitted. But if there be not Weather to cut St. Foin before blossoming, we may expect it till in Flower, or may stay till the Blossoms are off; and if it still rain on, may stand for Seed, and turn to as good Account as any of the former: So that it has Four Chances to One of the Meadow.

The elevated, but not mountainous, Situation of the dry Land whereon St. Foin is mostly planted, renders it so commodious for making of Hay, that it escapes there the Injury of Weather, when Hay in low Meadows is utterly spoil’d.

On the high Ground the Wind will dry more in an Hour, than on the Meadows in a whole Day. The Sun too has a more benign Influence above, and sends off the Dew about Two Hours earlier in the Morning, and holds it up as much longer in the Evening. By these Advantages the St. Foin has the more Time to dry, and is made with half the Expence of Meadow-hay.

But before the Manner of making it be describ’d, the proper Time of cutting it ought to be determin’d; and upon that depend the Degrees of its Excellence (besides upon the Weather, which is not in our Power); for tho’ all Sorts of this Hay, if well made, be good, yet there is a vast Difference and Variety in them.

The several Sorts may be principally distinguish’d by the following Terms; viz. First, The Virgin. Secondly, The Blossom’d. Thirdly, The Full-grown. And, Fourthly, The Thresh’d Hay.

The First of these is best of all, beyond Comparison; and (except Luserne) has not in the World its Equal. This must be cut before the Blossoms appear: For when it stands till full-blown, the most spirituous, volatile, and nourishing Parts of its Juices are spent on the next Generation; and this being done all at once, the Sap is much depauperated, and the St. Foin can never recover that Richness it had in its Virgin State. And tho’, when in Blossom, it be literally in the Flower of its Age, ’tis really in the Declension of it. If it be said, that what is not in the Stalk is gone into the Flower, ’tis a Mistake; because much the greatest Part of its Quintessence perspires thence into the Atmosphere.

And moreover, That all Vegetables are, in some Degree, weaken’d by the Action of continuing their Kind, may be inferr’d from those Plants which will live several Years, if not suffer’d to blossom; but, whenever they blossom, it causes their Death, tho’ in the first Year of their Life. For in Plants (as Dr. Willis observes in Animals) Nature is more solicitous to continue the Species, than for the Benefit of the Individual.

Part of a drill’d St. Foin Ground was cut the Beginning of May, before blossoming[181]; and from the Time of cutting, until it was set up in Ricks, being about Ten Days, the Sun never shone upon it[182]; but the Weather was misty: At last it was forc’d to be carried together for fear of Rain, so green, that out of the largest Stalks one might wring milky Juice; yet by making the Hay up in several little Ricks, and drawing up a great Chaff Basket in the Middle of each, its Firing was prevented; but it look’d of a dark Colour by heating; and was the very best[183] Hay that ever I had.

[181]By cutting before blossoming, is not meant before any one Blossom appears; for here and there a Bud will begin to open with a red Colour long before the rest: Therefore, when we perceive only a very few Blossoms beginning to open (perhaps but One of a Thousand), we regard them as none.

[182]This also was an Advantage to this Hay; for Apothecaries find, that Herbs dried in the Shade retain much more of their Virtue than these dried in the Sun; but Farmers not having any such Conveniency of drying their Hay in the Shade with Safety, must always choose to dry it by the Sun; because in cloudy Weather there is Danger of Rain; and therefore such excellent Hay must be had by Chance; for to be well made in the Shade, it must be in Danger of being spoiled or damaged by Rain.

[183]This Hay, so cut before blossoming, has kept a Team of working Stone-horses, round the Year, fat without Corn; and when tried with Beans and Oats mixed with Chaff, they refused it for this Hay. The same fatted some Sheep in the Winter, in a Pen, with only it and Water; they thrived faster than other Sheep at the same time fed with Pease and Oats. The Hay was weighed to them, and the clear Profit amounted to Four Pounds per Tun. They made no Waste. Tho’ the Stalks were of an extraordinary Bigness, they would break off short, being very brittle. This grew on rich Ground in Oxfordshire.

The other Part of the Ground was afterwards cut in the Prime of its Flower, and made into Hay by the Heat of the Sun, without Rain or Mist: This came out of the Ricks at Winter with a much finer Colour, and as fine a Smell as the Virgin Hay; but did not come near it in fatting of Sheep, or keeping Horses fat at hard Work without any Corn, as the Virgin Hay did.

This superfine Hay cannot well be had of poor uncultivated[184] St. Foin: because that may not be much above an Handful high, when ’tis in Condition to be so cut; and would then make a very light Crop, and would be a great while ere it sprang up again: But the rich will have Two or Three Tun to an Acre, and spring again immediately for a second Crop; so that little or no Quantity would be lost by so great an Improvement of its Quality. For ho’d St. Foin upon a poor chalky Hill, cut at the same time with that uncultivated on a rich Valley, does in dry Weather grow again without Delay, when the Valley attends a Month or more for a Rain, to excite its vegetative Motion.

[184]I reckon Manure of Peat-Ashes, Soot, or the like, to be a Culture.

This Hay the Owner (if he be wise) will not sell at any common Price; but endeavour to have some of it every Year, if possible, for his own Use.

The Second Sort of St. Foin Hay is that cut in the Flower; and tho’ much inferior to the Virgin Hay, it far exceeds any other Kind, as yet commonly propagated in England; and if it be a full Crop, by good Culture, may amount to above three Tun to an Acre. This is that St. Foin which is most commonly made; and the larger it is, the more nourishing for Horses. I have known Farmers, after full Experience, go Three Miles to fetch the largest stalky St. Foin, when they could have bought the small fine leafy Sort of it at home, for the same Price by the Tun.

The next and last Sort of St. Foin that is cut only for Hay, is, the full-grown, the Blossoms being gone, or going off: This also is good Hay, tho’ it fall short, by many Degrees, of the other Two Sorts: It makes a greater Crop than either of them, because it grows to its full Bulk, and shrinks little in drying.

This gives the Owner a Third Chance of having Weather to make good Hay, and spins out the Hay-Season ’till about Midsummer; and then in about a Fortnight, or Three Weeks; after the Hay is finish’d, the Seed is ripe. But, first, of the manner of making St. Foin Hay.

In a Day or Two after St. Foin is mow’d, it will, in good Weather, be dry on the upper Side: Then turn the Swarths, not singly, but Two and Two together; for by thus turning them in Pairs, there is a double Space of Ground betwixt Pair and Pair, which needs but once raking; whereas, if the Swarths were turn’d singly, that is, all the same Way, suppose to the East or West, then all the Ground will require to be twice raked; at least, more of it, than the other Way.

As soon as both Sides of the Swarths are dry from Rain and Dew, make them up into little Cocks the same Day they are turn’d, if conveniently you can; for when ’tis in Cock, a less Part of it will be exposed to the Injuries of the Night, than when in Swarth.

Dew, being of a nitrous penetrating Nature, enters the Pores of those Plants it reaches, and during the Night possesses the Room from whence some Part of the Juices is dry’d out: Thus it intimately mixes with the remaining Sap; and, when the Dew is again exhal’d, it carries up most of the vegetable Spirits along with it, which might have been there fix’d, had they not been taken away in that subtile Vehicle.

If St. Foin be spread very thin upon the Ground, and so remain for a Week in hot Weather, the Sun and Dew will exhaust all its Juices, and leave it no more Virtue than is in Straw.

Therefore ’tis best to keep as much of our Hay as we can from being exposed to the Dews, whilst ’tis in making; and we have a better Opportunity of doing it in this, than in natural Hay; because the bigger the Cocks are, the less Superficies (in proportion to the Quantity they contain) will be exposed to the Dew, and St. Foin may be safely made in much larger Cocks than natural Hay of equal Dryness can, which, sinking down closer, excludes the Air so necessary for keeping it sweet, that if the Weather prevents its being frequently mov’d and open’d, it will ferment, look yellow, and be spoil’d. Against this Misfortune there is no Remedy, but to keep it in the lesser Cocks, until thoroughly dry. St. Foin Cocks (twice as big as Cocks of natural Hay), by the less Flexibility of the Stalk admitting the Air, will remain longer without fermenting.

This being able to endure more Days unmov’d, is also an Advantage upon another Account besides the Weather; for tho’ in other Countries, People are not prohibited using the necessary Labour on all Days for preserving their Hay, even where the certainer Weather makes it less necessary than here, yet ’tis otherwise in England; where many a Thousand Load of natural Hay is spoil’d by that Prohibition for want of being open’d; and often, by the Loss of one Day’s Work, the Farmer loses his Charges, and Year’s Rent; which shews, that to make Hay while the Sun shines, is an exotic Proverb against English Laws; whereunto St. Foin being, in regard of Sundays and Holidays, more conformable, ought to be the Hay as proper to England as those Laws are.

But to return to our Hay-makers: When the first Cocks have stood one Night, if nothing hinder, let them double, treble, or quadruple the Cocks, according as all Circumstances require, in this manner; viz. Spread Two, Three, or more, together, in a fresh Place; and after an Hour or Two turn them, and make that Number up into one Cock; but when the Weather is doubtful, let not the Cocks be thrown or spread, but inlarge them, by shaking several of them into one; and thus hollowing them to let in the Air, continue increasing their Bulk, and diminishing their Number daily, until they be sufficiently dry to be carried to the Rick.

This I have found the most secure Way: Tho’ it be something longer in making, there is much less Danger than when a great Quantity of Hay is spread at once; for then a sudden Shower will do more Harm to one Acre of that, than to Twenty Acres in Cock.

And the very best Hay I ever knew in England, was of St. Foin made without ever spreading, or the Sun’s shining on it. This Way, tho’ it be longer ere finish’d, is done with less Labour than the other.