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 it92, equal to that of Dung in both Sorts of Land.
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 not93, and that Part not to have been dung’d which really was.
Scarce any Land is so unfit, and ill prepar’d, for Wheat, as that where the natural Grass94 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.
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 strait95 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.
The exact Height of Ridges, which is best, I cannot determine96: 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 broad97, 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 sooner98 than ’tis possible for it to do from broad Ridges.
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 high99, 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.
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 Rows100. This is our Method of making Ridges for the First Crop of drill’d Wheat.
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 Ground101; which is easily done, because the Stalks stand all close together at Bottom, contrary to those of sown Wheat.
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 will102 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.
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 once103 (and that only Lengthways); and then drill them.
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 it104, as it is when moved wet.
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 together105. 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.
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 Ridges106; once will be enough, the Furrow being just broken to level, or rather smooth it for the Drill.
If the Veerings107 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.
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 some108 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.
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 tiller109.
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 Crop110.
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 Bushel111 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.
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 produce112, cæteris paribus.
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 Blade113; 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 Worms114.
’Tis a necessary Caution to beware of the Rooks115, 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.
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 the116 Furrow, which is to be thrown to the Wheat in the Spring, altho’ it was hoed wet.
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 before117, or in the Beginning of Winter.
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 make118 Ridges in the Middle of the Intervals during the Winter; and then the hollow Furrows, or Trenches next the Rows, being enriched by the Frost119 and Rains120, 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.
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 them121, 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.
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 turn122 the Ridge from123 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 one124, will move it.
As to how many times Wheat is to be hoed in the Summer, after this Spring Operation, it depends upon the Circumstances125 and Condition of the Land126 and Weather127; 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 large128, 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.
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 half129 the Stalks of sown Wheat come into Ear.
I saw an Experiment of this in Rows of Wheat that were equally poor: One of these Rows was increased130 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 them131.
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 Stalks132, bringing more of them up into Ear133, making the Ears larger134, and the Grain plumper, and fuller of Flour135, the Hoeing Method makes a greater Crop from a Tenth Part of the Plants136 than the sowing Method can.
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 lost137, 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.
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 Acre138.
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 Charges139.
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-plowing140, 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.
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 Weight141 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.
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 Experience142.
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 killed143 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.
Some object against my Method of144 weighing a Yard, or a Perch in Length of a Row, saying, this does not determine the Produce of a whole Field.
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 Ground145, 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 Land146 in our Country within my Reach, that being not above One Mile.
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 Quarters147 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.
The mean Price of Wheat, betwixt Dear and Cheap, is reckoned Five Shillings a Bushel148; 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.
I don’t know that I ever had an Acre yet, that was tolerably well managed in this Manner, but what produced much more.
Notes
92Because 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.
93If the Dung did pulverize as much as the Hoeing, the Cause must be from the different Exhaustion.
94One Bunch of natural Grass, transplanted by the Plough into a treble Row of Wheat, will destroy almost a whole Yard of it.
95But 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.
96I 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.
97This is the Breadth the Ridges are generally left at, when the Furrows are hoed from them, and thrown into the Intervals.
98Water, 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.
99If 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.
100A 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.
101When 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.
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.
103But 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.
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.
105But the drier ’tis plow’d the better.
106Once Harrowing is generally enough, but not always.
107The 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.
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.
109To tiller is to branch out into many Stalks, and is the Country Word, that signifies the same with fruticare.
110A 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.
111Our Bushel contains Seventy Pounds of the best Wheat.
112Farmers 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.
113A 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.
114Because 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.
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.
116The Word Furrow signifies the Earth that is thrown out, as well as the Trench from whence it is thrown by the Plough.
117But 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.
118Tho’ 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.
119Frost, 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.
120It 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.
121In 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.
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.
123But 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.
124If 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.
125If the Land was not sufficiently tilled or hoed in the precedent Year, it will require the more Hoeings in the following Year.
126The poorer the Land is, the more Hoeings it should have.
127A wet Summer may prevent some of the Hoeings that we should perform in a dry Summer.
128Our 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.
129If 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.
130These 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.
131Like 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.
132The 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.
133Mr. 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.
134I 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.
135Seed 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.
136The 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.
137They 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.
138But 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.
139The 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.
140This 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.
141Wheat, 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.
142Non igitur Fatigatione, quemadmodum plurimi crediderunt, nec Senio, sed nostra scilicet Inertia, minus benigne nobis Arva respondent. Colum. lib. xi. cap. 1.
143Weeds 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.
144I 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.
145I allow Two square Yards of their Crops to One Yard in Length of my Treble Row.
146I 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.
147Eight Bushels make a Quarter.
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.