below. In spring, as soon as the weather permits, it is ploughed again, the first ridges being turned over as they were before: this completes the decomposition of the roots and weeds. It is then stirred with harrows, or other instruments, which tear up the roots which remained, and some of these, not being easily destroyed, are carefully gathered and burnt, or put in a heap to ferment and rot, a portion of quick lime being added. Another ploughing and stirring follows, at some interval, till the whole ground is mellow, pulverized, and free from weeds; manure is put on, if required, and immediately spread and ploughed in; the land is then prepared for the seed.

This has been the method universally followed by all industrious husbandmen from the oldest times. The Romans had names for each of the ploughings: the first was fringere

the next vertere, the third refringere, and the fourth revertere; more ploughings were often given, and in modern agriculture the direction of the third ploughing is sometimes changed across the old furrows, at a right, or acute angle, as Virgil recommends (Georgica, i. 98), by which the earth is still better divided and mixed.

Various instruments have been invented to stir the earth and mix it, without so often using the plough, and also to loosen and separate roots and weeds; of these the principal are, the cultivator or scarifier, which enters but a few inches into the ground, and moves a great surface by means of tines, or iron teeth of various constructions. The whole instrument is made of iron: a a is the frame; b, the beam; c, rods by which it is drawn, the horses being attached by a hook at the point d; ee, the handles; fff, different shaped shares and tines to be used according to the state of the soil; g g g, contrivances by which the teeth are fixed to the frame at any required distance from each other, and lengthened or shortened; hhh, three wheels to regulate the depth of the ground moved. By raising the beam and

No. 95.

| fixing it higher or lower on the piece (2), by means of an iron pin passed through the different holes, the whole instrument is raised or depressed in the ground.

This instrument divides the soil, but does not turn it over; it is well calculated to destroy roots and weeds, and let in the air; but, evidently, is only adapted to tolerably loose and mellow soils, where there are no large stones.

An ingenious harrow or cultivator has been invented by Finlayson, which rakes the weeds out of the ground, and throws them on the surface without clogging the instrument; it is excellent in light soils.

When the soil turned up by the plough is in large hard lumps, a roller, sometimes with spikes in it, is drawn over the land to break the clods, or mallets are used to break them by hand; but this is seldom necessary except where very stiff soils have been ploughed when too wet, and the ridges have dried, and been ploughed again in dry weather. Deep wet clay soils should be carefully watched, to know when is the proper time to plough them; nothing pulverizes them like frost, and if they are kept from wet by

the manure should have been ploughed in before; for, except in planting potatoes, which are not a seed, but a bulb, the manure should always be deeper, and not in contact with the seed. When the seed is ploughed in, the furrow should not be above two or three inches deep, and eight or nine wide; and it is only in particular soils that this mode is to be recommended. The most common method is to sow the seed on the land after the last ploughing, and draw the harrows over to cover it: when the land has been well ploughed, and especially if the press-drill has followed the plough, the seed will mostly fall in the small furrows made by two adjoining ridges, and rise in regular rows. But by far the most perfect way is, to sow it at a regular depth, by means of a machine, and in rows at regular distances [see

|

DRILL], or to dibble it, which is an operation performed only in a few parts of England, especially in Suffolk, Essex, and Norfolk. A man makes small holes at the distance of four or six inches, and in rows nine to twelve inches asunder, with two rods about thirty inches long, one in each hand, having an oval ring for a handle at one end, and, at the other, an inverted cone three inches in the axis, and one and a half inch diameter at the base, which he pushes and turns with his hands in the ground to prevent the earth adhering, and makes the holes rapidly going backwards along the furrows; two or more children follow and drop three or four grains in each hole; a bush-harrow is drawn over the ground, and fills the holes with loose earth; when the corn comes up, it looks like a regular plantation.

The proper season for sowing each kind of grain, the choice of seed, and other particulars, will be given under the name of the different seeds usually sown. As a general rule, it may be observed, that the smaller the seed, the less it must be covered, and clover or grass seed are not usually harrowed in, but only pressed in with the roller.

Of the succession of crops or rotations.-It has been found by experience, that besides the general exhaustion of humus produced by vegetation, especially by those plants which bear oily or farinaceous seeds, each kind of crop has a specific effect on the soil, so that no care, or manure, can make the same ground produce equal crops, of the same kind of grain, for any length of time without the intervention of other crops. Whether this be owing to any peculiar nourishment necessary to each particular kind of plants, or because plants not indigenous degenerate in a foreign soil, the fact is certain with respect to most crops usually raised, and particularly red clover. This points out the advantage of varying the crops, according as they are found to succeed best after each other. In general, all kinds of grain succeed best after a crop which has been cut before the seed has ripened, or the stem is dried up. Those plants which have a naked stem with few leaves thrive best after leguminous plants, which have more succulent stems and more leaves, and which bear their seeds in pods, as peas, beans, tares or vetches; or after esculent roots, which strike deep into the ground, as carrots, parsnips, beet-roots, and turnips. From this circumstance, confirmed by universal experience, the different systems of rotation have had their origin, taking the nature of the soil into consideration.

The simplest rotation, and one which can only be adapted to the richest strong alluvial soils, is that of wheat and beans, alternately, and without any intermission. It is in use in some parts of Kent and Essex, and in a few places in Germany. The land is well prepared and manured for the beans, which are set or drilled in rows, so as to admit of horse-hoeing between, as in Tull's method, till the beans get to a considerable height; besides this, careful handBoeing and weeding are practised, by which the land is cleaned and stirred as in a regular fallow. The beans being cut, the ground is ploughed once, and the wheat sown. It is the practice in some places to scarify the land immediately after harvest, to cut up the stubble. It is done in Kent with a plough without a mould-board, and with a very broad share, hence called broad-sharing, but most usually by the scarifier mentioned before: the stubble and weeds, if any, are raked up and burned: this is an excellent practice. Another equally simple rotation, on very poor light land, is that of turnips and barley alternately, which is mentioned by Arthur Young as being in use in the county of Durham, with the simple variation of clover occasionally. The turnips are always fed off by sheep folded on them. Where winter food for the sheep is scarce, this rotation may answer, but otherwise cannot be very profitable.

The oldest rotation known, and which was almost universal in Europe, from the time of the Romans, wherever any regular system of agriculture prevailed, is the triennial rotation of fal low, winter corn, and summer, or lent corn; that is, wheat or rye sown in autumn, and barley or oats sown in spring. This was called the three-field system; and on every farm, the arable land was divided into three parts, one of which was in fallow, one in winter corn, and one in summer corn. When properties were much intermixed and subdivided, the whole of a considerable tract was divided into three fields, and it was almost impossible for any individual to deviate from the established course; especially as a right frequently existed of pasturing all the sheep of the parish or district on the fallow field in summer, and on all the others after harvest. In England, this impediment was removed by the legislature passing acts of inclosure; but it is still felt in many parts of the Continent. This rotation had its advantages, or it could never have been so long in use. Where a sufficient quantity of manure could be collected by means of cattle fed on pastures and commons in summer, and in the strawyard in winter, to give a regular dressing to the fallows every third year, good crops were produced, and the fertility kept up. The labour was very equally divided throughout the year; and such was the regularity of every operation, that a large quantity of land might be cultivated by a proprietor at a considerable distance, with only occasional inspection, without an overseer or bailiff, provided he had honest servants. But, when pastures came to be broken up, and converted into arable land, and cattle consequently diminished, the land could not be manured on every fallow; the crops suffered; less straw being grown, the quantity of manure was diminished, and the land became gradually less and less productive, till, from necessity, a portion was left uncultivated, and returned to natural and inferior pasture; this gave the idea of laying the land down regularly to grass by sowing seeds, and gradually introduced the alternate and convertible system of which we will take notice hereafter.

The apparent loss of a third part of the land by the fallows introduced various crops, which were supposed not to exhaust the soil, but rather to enrich it: of this kind, one of the first was clover, introduced by the Flemish; and afterwards turnips, which have been found of such importance in light soils and moist climates. By substituting turnips for an entire fallow, or, more properly, sowing them early on the regular fallow, and interposing the clover between the summer and winter corn, the highly-improved Norfolk rotation has been obtained, viz. 1. Turnips, well manured. 2. Barley. 3. Clover. 4. Wheat, by which a sufficiency of food for sheep and cattle is obtained, without natural pastures, and the land, manured every fourth year at least, is kept in a regular state of progressive improvement. The advantages of this rotation have made it a condition in many leases of light land, under heavy penalties in case of deviation. The first and principal inconvenience

found in it was the failure of the clover in most soils, if | sown every fourth year; this obliged the farmer to have recourse to other less profitable crops, such as ray-grass, peas, or tares, which, in light lands, are not equal to broad clover as a preparation for wheat. Where the soil is firm and rich, and at the same time mellow, a rotation may be introduced, compounded of the first and last mentioned; that is, beans, wheat, turnips, barley, clover, wheat, making a rotation of six years. This can only be introduced with advantage where there are considerable pastures, and much cattle is kept to supply manure for the land twice in the rotation, viz., for the turnips and for the beans, and where the drill husbandry admits of hoeing and weeding thoroughly; but with these advantages, no course can be more profitable, as is found in those parts of Kent and Essex where marsh pastures are attached to the farms. If the soil is too heavy and wet for turnips, and they cannot well be drawn off nor fed on the land, without injuring it, a clean fallow is substituted for the turnips, the other crops remaining the same; or cabbages are planted for the cattle, but seldom to a great extent. A long fallow from after harvest until the second spring, including two winters, prepares the land admirably for barley, so that it can be sown without any manure, which is reserved as a top-dressing for the young clover after the barley. This is a very excellent method. The clover or ray-grass will be more abundant, and the wheat after it will not be in danger of running to straw, or lodging, that is, falling down for want of a sufficient hold of the ground by the roots.

These rotations are sufficient to give some idea of the principles on which they have been adopted. In Scotland they adhere less strictly to particular rotations, nor are the tenants in general so much tied down as in England; seasons and circumstances cause deviations, which are sometimes judicious and often unavoidable. It is best, however, to follow some regular course, and in the end it will be found most profitable. A very common rotation in Scotland is fallow, wheat, clover, or grass, fed one, two, or three years, then oats, peas, or beans, and wheat again, if the land is clean and in good heart: for there is no rule better established, than that of never allowing the soil to be exhausted beyond a certain point, where manure and tillage can readily recruit it. The greedy cultivator is sure to pay dearly in the end for every crop forced from the land unreasonably.

Without preventing the tenant from using his discretion as to the mode in which his farm is best cultivated, a proprietor may be sufficiently protected against wanton deterioration of the land, by insisting on a green crop or fallow intervening between every two crops of grain, and consuming all the fodder and roots on the farm. For this subject we must refer to the article FARM. A proprietor with skill and experience, cultivating his own land, need only consider the state and quality of his fields, and what will most likely grow well in them; what is most in request, both for his own use and in the market; what will keep his men and cattle in most regular work, without confusion or hurry. If he allows his land to be impoverished for want of manure, or to run wild with weeds, for want of hoeing or fallowing, he has not the experience and judgment which are necessary for his pursuits.

The Flemish husbandry proceeds much on this principle. The greatest attention is paid to manuring and weeding. Much more manual labour is bestowed than with us, and the crops seem more certain, varied, and abundant. That it is not unprofitable we may conclude from the wealth of the peasants, the comfort of the labourers, and the sleek appearance of the cattle. From the very interesting account of Flemish agriculture in the work of Mr. Van Aelbroek of Ghent, written in Flemish, translated into French, and published at Paris in 1830, we learn with what great care the soil is cultivated in Flanders. After ploughing into lands as we do, every intervening furrow is deepened and cleared with the spade, the earth being thrown over the bed sown. Liquid manure (which is sadly thrown away in this country), chiefly the urine of animals and drainings of dunghills, is carefully collected, and is carried on and distributed over the poor light soils, by means of water-carts, before sowing, and again when the crop is come up. By this means such lands are made to yield crops of rape seed, clover, lucern, flax and corn, equal in luxuriance to those on the richest soils. Fallows are rendered unnecessary by the careful destruction of weeds. In short, it is a garden

culture on an extended scale. All the land is in tillage, except where rivers occasionally overflow, and render the meadows rich and profitable. The cattle are mostly kept in stables, and fed with green food cut and brought to them; by which means one acre of clover, lucern, or other artificial grass, will maintain five times as many beasts, or more. as an acre of the best pasture: but the great object is to increase manure, especially in a liquid state, which is carefully preserved in reservoirs, without loss or waste, till wanted for the land. This system is also followed in Switzerland, which, considering its soil and climate, is one of the best cultivated countries in Europe.

We observed before, that the want of a sufficient supply of manure on the old three-field system led to the laying down arable land to pasture for a time and then breaking it up again. This was first practised in a regular rotation in Holstein and Mecklenburg, and raised these countries rapidly amongst agricultural nations.

In Holstein, on moderately good soil, they adopt the following course:-1. Oats, on newly broken up grass land. 2. A fallow to destroy grasses and weeds, and accelerate the decomposition of their roots. 3. Wheat with or without manure, according to the state of the land. 4. Beans, barley, or oats. 5. Wheat, manured, unless it has been done for the beans the year before. 6. Grass seeds pastured for three years or more, when the rotation begins again. A Mecklenburg rotation, not unlike the Scotch, consists of,-1. Beans well manured, or potatoes. 2. Wheat or cats. 3. Barley or oats, unless sown the year before. 5. Peas or tares, manured. 6. Wheat. 7. White clover and grass seeds which were sown among the wheat the year before, ati are kept in pasture the 8th and 9th. There is no fallow, and in a moist climate it will be difficult to keep the land clean It might, however, easily be introduced, as in the Holstein rotation.

Another rotation is,-1. Oats. 2. Beans well manured. 3. Wheat. 4. Tares manured. 5. Barley. 6. Clover and grass seeds mown for hay and green fodder; 7 and *. ditto, fed. All these are excellent for a moderately good soil well managed. If the soil is very rich, the following is the most profitable of any:-1. Rape seed well manured. 2. Wheat. 3. Beans or potatoes manured and hool 4. Barley. 5. Clover. 6. Wheat. 7. Oats with white clove and grass seeds pastured two or three years. The principal object in this convertible system is to lay the land down in good heart, and as clear of weeds as possible the grass will then be abundant, and continue good for several years. Liquid manure, carried upon it in spring, will so enrich it as to admit of making the crop into hay, or cutting it green for the cattle in the stables. In light soils, the tread of sheep and cattle is of great use; in heavy, wet soils, they would do harm. No wet land will bear this rotation.

We have now given a brief outline of the manner in which arable land may be cultivated and improved. If we should be asked, whether so much attention and labour upon land of a proper quality will be repaid by the value of the produce, after deducting the portion due to the landlor or to the state? we shall answer, without any hesitation, in the affirmative, provided the cultivator is possessed of knowledge, judgment, and experience, and devotes all his time to the superintendence of his farm. The calculations on which this opinion is founded cannot be introduced here: some idea of them will be given in the article FARM. Agr culture is so healthy, so agreeable, and so moral an occupation, that it can never be extremely profitable: the competition for land will always prevent this. The butcher and cattle-dealer will always, if successful, make far greater profits than the farmer; and a decent livelihood, with a moderate interest on the capital laid out, is the most that a farmer can expect, even with the greatest assiduity. If he neglects his business, and leaves it to others less interested in the result, he must be a loser. Gentlemen who cultivate for pleasure, and employ bailiffs, are fortunate if they get a moderate rent after paying expenses. For careless farmers, the simplest system alone can prevent great loss; and grass land may be profitable in the hands of a pr prietor, who would probably be ruined if his land were all arable and in his own hands.

Our limits will not permit us to enter into the important subject of improvements,-nor into the question of great or small farms, as most beneficial to the community:-these and various other branches of the subject will be found under proper heads; such as BARREN LAND, FARM,