ploughing for this article is not of much consequence. Ploughing with a view to clean soils of the description under consideration, has little effect, unless given in the summer months. This renders summer fallow indispensably necessary, and without this radical process, none of the heavy and wet soils can be suitably managed, or preserved in a good condition.

4567. To adopt a judicious rotation of cropping for every soil, requires a degree of judgment in the farmer, which can only be gathered from observation and experience. The old rotations were calculated to wear out the soil, and to render it unproductive. To take wheat, barley, and oats in succession, a practice very common thirty years ago, was sufficient to impoverish the best of land, while it put little into the pockets of the farmer; but the modern rotations, such as those which we have described, are founded on principles which ensure a full return from the soil, without lessening its value, or impoverishing its condition. Much depends, however, upon the manner in which the different processes are executed, for the best arranged rotation may be of no avail, if the processes belonging to it are imperfectly and unseasonably executed. (See 2158.)

SECT. II. Of the working of Fallows.

ar's

4568. The practice of fallowing, as we have seen in our historical view of Greek and Roman agriculture, has existed from the earliest ages; and the theory of its beneficial effects we have endeavored to explain. (2125.) The Romans with their agriculture introduced fallows in every part of Europe, and two crops, succeeded either fallow, or by leaving the land to rest for two or more years, became the rotation on all soils and under all circumstances. This mode of cultivating arable land is still the most universal in Europe; its prevalence till very lately in Britain created a powerful aversion to naked fallows, by which a crop was lost every year they occurred, and called forth numerous attempts to shew that they were unnecessary, consequently an immense public loss. This anti-fallowing mania, as it has been called, was chiefly supported by Arthur Young, Nathaniel Kent, and others, members or correspondents of the Board of Agriculture: it was at its greatest height about the beginning of the present century, but has now spent its force, and after exhausting all the arguments on both sides, as an able author has observed, "the practice does not appear to give way, but rather to extend."

4569. The expediency or inexpediency of pulverising and cleaning the soil by a bare fallow, is a question that can be determined only by experience, and not by argument. No reasons, however ingenious, for the omission of this practice, can bring conviction to the mind of a farmer, who, in spite of all his exertions, finds, at the end of six or eight years, that his land is full of weeds, sour and comparatively unproductive. Drilled and horse hoed green crops, though cultivated with advantage on almost every soil, are probably in general unprofitable as a substitute for fallow, and after a time altogether inefficient. It is not because turnips, cabbages, &c. will not grow in such soils, that a fallow is resorted to, but because, taking a course of years, the value of the successive crops is found to be so much greater, even though an unproductive year is interposed, as to induce a preference to fallowing. Horse-hoed crops, of beans in particular, postpone the recurrence of fallow, but in few situations can ever exclude it altogether. On the other hand, the instances that have been adduced, of a profitable succession of crops on soils of this description, without the intervention of a fallow, are so well authenticated, that it would be extremely rash to assert that it can in no case be dispensed with on clay soils. stances of this kind are to be found in several parts of Young's Annals of Agriculture; and a very notable one, on Greg's farm of Coles, in Hertfordshire, is accurately detailed in the sixth voluine of The Communications to the Board of Agricul

ture.

In

4570. The principal causes of this extraordinary difference among men of great experience, may probably be found in the quality of the soil, or in the nature of the climate, or in both. Nothing is more vague than the names by which soils are known in different districts. Greg's farm, in particular, though the soil is denominated "heavy arable land," and "very heavy land," is found so suitable to turnips, that a sixth part of it is always under that crop, and these are consumed on the ground by sheep; a system of management, which every farmer must know to be altogether impracticable on the wet tenacious clays of other districts. It may indeed be laid down as a criterion for determining the question, that wherever this management can be profitably adopted, fallow, as a regular branch of the course, must be not less absurd than it is injurious, both to the cultivator and to the public. It is probable, therefore, that, in debating this point, the opposite parties are not agreed about the quality of the soil; and in particular, about its property of absorbing and retaining moisture, so different in soils, that in common language have the same denomination.

4571. Another cause of difference must be found in the climate. It is well known, that a great deal more rain falls on the west than on the east coast of Britain; and that between the northern and southern coun ties there is at least a month or six weeks' difference in the maturation of the crops. Though the soil therefore be as nearly as possible similar in quality and surface, the period in which it is accessible to agricultural operations must vary accordingly. Thus, in the south-eastern counties of the island, where the crops may be all cut down, and almost all carried home by the end of August, much may be done in cleans. ing and pulverising the soil, during the months of September and October, while the farmers of the north are exclusively employed in harvest work, which is frequently not finished by the beginning of November.

In some districts in the south of England, wheat is rarely sown before December; whereas in the north, and still more in Scotland, if it cannot be got completed by the end of October, it must commonly be delayed till spring, or oats or barley be taken in place of wheat. It does not then seem of any utility to enter farther into this controversy, which every skilful cultivator must determine for himself. All the crops, and all the modes of management which have been purposed as a substitute for fallow, are well known to such men, and would unquestionably have been generally adopted long ago, if, upon a careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages on both sides, a bare fallow was found to be unprofitable in a course of years. The reader who wishes to examine the question fully may consult, among many others, the following:-Young's Annals of Agriculture, and his writings generally; Hunter's Georgical Essays; Dickson's Practical Agriculture; Sir H. Davy's Agricultural Chemistry; The Agricultural Chemistry of Chaptal; Brown's Treatise on Rural Affairs; The County Reports; and The General Report of Scotland.

4572. Fallows unnecessary on friable soils. However necessary the periodical recurrence of fallow may be on retentive clays, its warmest advocates do not recommend it on turnip soils, or on any friable loams incumbent on a porous subsoil; nor is it in any case necessary every third year, according to the practice of some districts. On the best cultivated lands it seldom returns oftener than once in six or eight years, and in favorable situations for obtaining an extra supply of manure, it may be advantageously dispensed with for a still longer period. (Suppl. to Encyc. Brit. art. Agr.)

4578. The operation of fallowing, as commonly practised in England, is a very different and comparatively useless, or at least ineffectual operation, to what it ought to be. In most places the first furrow is not given till the spring, or even till the month of May or June; or, if it is given earlier, the second is not given till after midsummer, and on the third the wheat is sown. Land may rest under this system of management; but to clean it from weeds, or pulverise it, or give it the benefits of aeration and heat, is impossible. The farmer in some cases purposely delays ploughing his fallows for the sake of the scanty bite the couch and weeds afford to his sheep; and for the same reason having ploughed once, he delays the second ploughing. It is not to be wondered at, that under such a system the theoretical agriculturist should have taken a rooted aversion to what are thus erroneously termed fallows. The practice of the best farmers of the northern counties is very different, and that practice we shall here detail.

4574. Aproper fallow invariably commences after harvest; the land intended to be fallowed getting one ploughing, which ought to be as deep as the soil will admit, even though a little of the till or subsoil is brought up. This both tends to deepen the cultivated, or manured soil, as the fresh accession of hitherto uncultivated earth becomes afterwards incorporated with the former manured soil, and greatly facilitates the separation of the roots of weeds during the ensuing fallow process, by detaching them completely from any connection with the fast subsoil. This autumnal ploughing, usually called the winter furrow, promotes the rotting of stubble and weeds; and if not accomplished towards the end of harvest, must be given in the winter months, or as early in the spring as possible. In giving this first ploughing, the old ridges should be gathered up, if practicable, as in that state they are kept dry during the winter months; but it is not uncommon to split them out or divide them, especially if the land had been previously highly gathered, so that each original ridge of land is divided into two half ridges. Sometimes, when the land is easily laid dry, the furrows of the old ridges are made the crowns of the new ones, or the land is ploughed in the way technically called crown-and-furrow. In other instances, two ridges are ploughed together, by what is called casting, which has been already described. After the field is ploughed, all the inter-furrows, and those of the headlands, are carefully opened up by the plough, and are afterwards gone over effectually by a laborer with a spade, to remove all obstructions, and to open up the water furrows into the fence ditches, wherever that seems necessary, that all moisture may have a ready exit. In every place where water is expected to lodge, such as dishes, or hollow places in the field, cross or oblique furrows are drawn by the plough, and their intersections carefully opened into each other by the spade. Wherever it appears necessary, cross cuts are also made through the head ridges into the ditches with a spade, and every possible attention is exerted, that no water may stagnate in any part of the field.

4575. As soon as the spring seed-time is over, the fallow land is again ploughed end-long. If formerly split, it is now ridged up; if formerly laid up in gathered ridges, it is split or cloven down. It is then cross-ploughed; and after lying till sufficiently dry to admit the harrows, it is harrowed and rolled repeatedly, and every particle of the vivacious roots of weeds brought up to view, carefully gathered by hand into heaps, and either burnt on the field, or carted off to the compost midden. The fallow is then ridged up, which places it in a safe condition in the event of bad weather, and exposes a new surface to the harrows and roller; after which the weeds are again gathered by hand, but a previous harrowing is necessary. It is afterwards ploughed, harrowed, rolled, and gathered as often as may be necessary to reduce it into fine tilth and completely to eradicate all root-weeds. Between these successive operations, repeated crops of seedling weeds are brought into vegetation and destroyed. The larva likewise of various insects, together with an infinite variety of the seeds of weeds, are exposed to be devoured by birds, which are then the farmer's best friends, though often proscribed as his bitterest enemies.

4576. The use of the harrow and roller in the fallow process, has been condemned by some writers on husbandry, who allege, that frequent ploughing is all that is necessary to destroy root-weeds, by the baking or drying of the clods in the sun and wind; but experience has ascertained, that frequently turning over the ground, though absolutely necessary while the fallow process is going on, can never eradicate couch-grass or other root-weeds. In all clay soils, the ground turns up in lumps or clods, which the severest drought will not penetrate so sufficiently as to kill the included roots. When the land is again ploughed, these lumps are turned over and no more, and the action of the

plough serves in no degree to reduce them, or at least very imperceptibly. It may be added that these lumps likewise inclose innumerable seeds of weeds, which cannot vegetate unless brought under the influence of the sun and air near the surface. The diligent use, therefore, of the harrow and roller, followed by careful hand-picking, is indispensably necessary to the perfection of the fallow process. (General Report of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 419.)

4577. When effectually reduced to fine tilth, and thoroughly cleaned from roots and weeds, the fallow is ploughed end-long into gathered ridges or lands, usually fifteen or eighteen feet broad; which are set out in the manner already described, in treating of the striking of furrows or feiring. If the seed is to be drilled, the lands or ridges are made of such widths as may suit the construction of the particular drill-machine that is to be employed. After the land has been once gathered by a deep furrow, proportioned to the depth of the cultivated soil, the manure is laid on, and evenly spread over the surface, whether muck, lime, marl, or compost. A second gathering is now given by the plough; and this being generally the furrow upon which the seed is sown, great care is used to plough as equal as possible. After the seed is sown and the land thoroughly harrowed, all the inter-furrows, furrows of the headlands, and oblique or gaw furrows, are carefully opened up by the plough, and cleared out by the spade, as already mentioned, respecting the first or winter ploughing.

4578. The expense of fallowing must appear, from what has been said, to be very considerable, when land has been allowed to become stocked with weeds; but if it be kept under regular management, corn alternating with drilled pulse or green crops, the subsequent returns of fallow will not require nearly so much labor. In common cases, from four to six ploughings are generally given, with harrowing and rolling between, as may be found necessary; and, as we have already noticed, the cultivator may be employed to diminish this heavy expense. But it must be considered, that upon the manner in which the fallow operations are conducted, depend not only the ensuing wheat crop, but in a great measure all the crops of the rotation. (Supp. to Encyc. Brit. art. Agr. 128.)

SECT. III. Of the general Management of Manures.

4579. The manures of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin have been already described, and their operation explained (2161.) But a very few of these substances can be obtained by farmers in general; whose standard resources are farm-yard dung and lime, and composts of these with earth. It is on the management of these that we propose to deliver the practice of the best British farmers.

SUBSECT. 1. On the Management of Farm-yard Dung.

4580. The basis of farm-yard dung is straw, to which is added in its progress through the farm-yard the excrementitious substances of live stock. From every ton of dry straw, about three tons of farm-yard dung may be obtained, if the after-management be properly conducted; and, as the weight of straw per acre runs from one ton to one and a half, about four tons of dung, on an average of the different crops, may be produced from the straw of every acre under corn. (Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii.) Hence (it may be noticed the great importance of cutting corn as low as possible; a few inches at the root of the stalk weighing more than double the same length at the ear.

4581. The conversion of straw into farm-yard dung in the farmery, is thus effected: The straw is served out to cattle and horses in the houses and fold-yards, either as provender or litter, and commonly for both purposes; turnips in winter, and green clover in summer are given to the stock both in the houses and yards; on this food the animals pass a great deal of urine, and afford the means of converting the straw into a richer manure than if it were eaten alone. All the dung from the houses, as they are cleaned out, is regularly spread over the yards, in which young cattle are left loose where litter is usually allowed in great abundance; or over the dunghill itself, if there be one at band. This renders the quality of the whole mass more uniform; and the horsedung, which is of a hot nature, promotes the decomposition of the woody fibres of the

straw.

4582. The preparation of the contents of the farm-yard for laying on the land, is by turning it over; or, what is preferable, carting it out to a dunghill. The operation of carting out is usually performed during the frosts of winter: it is then taken to the field in which it is to be employed, and neatly built in dunghills of a square form, three or four feet high, and of such a length and breadth as circumstances may require. What is laid up in this manner early in winter, is commonly sufficiently prepared for turnips in June; but if it be not carried from the straw-yards till spring, it is necessary to turn it once or oftener, for the purpose of accelerating the decomposition of the strawey part of the mass. When dung is applied to fallows in July or August, preparatory to autumn sown wheat, a much less degree of putrefaction will suffice than for turnips: a clay soil, on which alone fallows should ever be resorted to, not requiring dung so much rotted as a finely pulverized turnip soil; and besides, as the wheat does not need all the benefit of the dung for some time, the woody fibre is gradually broken down in the course of the winter, and the nourishment of the plants continued till spring, or later, when its effects are most beneficial.

4583. In the application of farm-yard dung to land under tillage, particular attention is paid to the cleanness of the soil; and to use it at the time when, from the pulverisation of the ground, it may be most intimately mixed with it. The most common time of manuring with farm-yard dung is, therefore, either towards the conclusion of the fallowing operations, or immediately before the sowing of fallow crops. If no dung can be procured but what is made from the produce of the farm, it will seldom be possible to allow more than ten or twelve tons to every acre, when the land is managed under a regular course of white and green crops; and it is thought more advantageous to repeat this dose at short intervals, than to give a larger quantity at once, and at a more distant period in proportion. (General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 517.) Farm-yard dung, it is well known, is greatly reduced in value by being exposed to the atmosphere in small heaps, previous to being spread, and still more after being spread. Its rich juices are exhaled by the sun, or washed away by the rains, and the residuum is comparatively worthless. This is in an especial manner the case with long fresh dung, the far greater part of which consists of wet straw in an entire state. All careful farmers, accordingly, spread and cover in their dung with the plough, as soon as possible after it is brought on the land.

4584. The use of fresh dung is decidedly opposite to the practice of the best farmers of turnip soils; its inutility, or rather injurious effects, from its opening the soil too much, is a matter of experience with every one who cultivates drilled turnips on a large scale. As the whole farm-yard dung, on such land, is applied to the turnip crop, it must necessarily happen that it should be laid on in different stages of putrefaction; and what is made very late in spring, often after a very slight fermentation, or none at all. The experience of the effect of recent dung is accordingly very general, and the result, in almost every case, is, that the growth of the young plants is slow; that they remain long in a feeble and doubtful state; and that they seldom, in ordinary seasons, become a full crop, even though twice the quantity that is given of short muck has been allowed. On the other hand, when the manure is considerably decomposed, the effects are immediate, the plants rise vigorously, and soon put forth their rough leaf, after which, the beetle or fly does not seize on them; and in a few weeks, the leaves become so large, that the plants probably draw the greatest part of their nourishment from the atmosphere. Though it were true, therefore, that more nutritive matter were given out by a certain quantity of dung, applied in a recent state, and allowed to decompose gradually in the soil, than if applied after undergoing fermentation and putrefaction, the objection arising from the slowness of its operation, would, in many instances, be an insuperable one with farmers. But there seems reason to doubt whether fresh strawey manure would ferment much in the soil, after being spread out in so small a quantity as has been already mentioned; and also, whether, in the warm dry weather of summer, the shallow covering of earth given by the plough would not permit the gaseous matters to escape, to a much greater amount than if fermentation had been completed in a well built covered dunghill.

4585. Another great objection to the use of fresh farm-yard dung is, that the seeds and roots of those plants with which it commonly abounds, spring up luxuriantly on the land; and this evil nothing but a considerable degree of fermentation can obviate. The mass of materials consists of the straw of various crops, some of the grains of which, after all the care that can be taken, will adhere to the straw; of the dung of different animals voided, as is often the case with horses fed on oats, with the grain in an entire state; and of the roots, stems, and seeds of the weeds that had grown among the straw, clover, and hay, and such as had been brought to the houses and fold-yards with the turnips and other roots given to live stock.

4586. The degree of decomposition to which farm-yard dung should arrive, before it can be deemed a profitable manure, must depend on the texture of the soil, the nature of the plants, and the time of its application. ` In general, clayey soils, as more tenacious of moisture, and more benefited by being rendered incohesive and porous, may receive manure less decomposed than well pulverised turnip soils require. Some plants, too, seem to thrive better with fresh dung than others, potatoes in particular; but all the small-seeded plants, such as turnips, clover, carrots, &c. which are extremely tender in the early stage of their growth, require to be pushed forward into luxuriant vegetation with the least possible delay, by means of short dung.

4587. The season when manure is applied, is also a material circumstance. In spring and summer, whether it be used for corn or green crops, the object is to produce an immediate effect, and it should therefore be more completely decomposed than may be necessary, when it is laid on in autumn for a crop whose condition will be almost stationary for many months. (Sup. Ency. Brit. art. Agr.)

SUBSECT. 2. Of Lime and its Management as a Manure.

4588. Lime is by far the most important of the fossile manures; and indeed it may be asserted that no soil will ever be fit for much, that does not contain a proportion of this earth, either naturally or by artificial application. Next to farm-yard dung, lime is in most general use as a manure, though it is one of a quite different character; and when judiciously applied and the land laid to pasture, or cultivated for white and green crops alternately, with an adequate allowance of putrescent manure, its effects are much more lasting, and, in many instances, still more beneficial than those of farm-yard dung. Fossil manures, Sir H. Davy observes, must produce their effect, either by becoming a constituent part of the plant, or by acting upon its more essential food, so as to render it more fitted for the purposes of vegetable life. It is, perhaps, in the former of these ways, that wheat and some other plants are brought to perfection after lime has been applied, upon land that would not bring them to maturity by the most liberal use of dung alone. This being an established fact may be considered one of the greatest importance to all cultivators.

4589. With regard to the quantity of lime that ought to be applied to different soils, it is much to be regretted that Sir Humphrey Davy has not thought proper to enter fully into the subject. Clays, it is well known, require a larger quantity than sands or dry loams. It has been applied, accordingly, in almost every quantity from 100 to 500 bushels or upwards, per acre. About 160 bushels are generally considered a full dress

ing for lighter soils, and 80 or 100 bushels more for heavy cohesive soils.

4590. In the application of lime to arable land, there are some general rules commonly attended to by diligent farmers, which we shall give nearly in the words of a recent publication.

1. As the effects of lime greatly depend on its intimate admixture with the surface soil, it is essential to have it in a powdery state at the time it is applied.

2. Lime having a tendency to sink in the soil, it should be ploughed in with a shallow furrow.

3. Lime may either be applied to grass land, or to land in preparation for green crops or summer fallow, with almost equal advantage; but, in general, the latter mode of application is to be preferred.

4. Lime ought not to be applied a second time to moorish soils, unless mixed up as a compost, after which the land should be immediately laid down to grass.

5. Upon fresh land, the effect of lime is much superior to that of dung, The ground, likewise, more especially where it is of a strong nature, is more easily wrought; in some instances, it is said, the saving of labor would be sufficient to induce a farmer to lime his land, were no greater benefit derived from the application than the opportunity thereby gained of working it in a more perfect manner. (General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 536.)

4591. In liming for improving hilly land, with a view to pasture, a much smaller quantity has been found to produce permanent and highly beneficial effects, when kept as much as possible near the surface, by being merely harrowed in with the seeds, after a fallow or green crop, instead of being buried by the plough. As this is a matter of much importance to farmers of such land, especially when lime must be brought from a great distance, as was the case in the instance to which we are about to allude, the successful practice of one of the most eminent farmers in Britain cannot be too generally known. A few years after 1754, says Dawson, "having a considerable extent of outfield land in fallow, which I wished to lime previous to its being laid down to pasture, and finding that I could not obtain a sufficient quantity of lime for the whole in proper time, I was induced, from observing the effects of fine loam upon the surface of similar soil, even when covered with bent, to try a small quantity of lime on the surface of this fallow, instead of a larger quantity ploughed down in the usual manner. Accordingly in the autumn, about twenty acres of it were well harrowed, and then about fifty-six Winchester bushels only of unslacked lime were, after being slacked, carefully spread upon each English acre, and immediately well harrowed in. As many pieces of the lime, which had not been fully slacked at first, were gradually reduced to powder by the dews and moisture of the earth, to mix these with the soil, the land was again well harrowed in three or four days thereafter. This land was sown in the spring with oats, with white and red clover and rye-grass seeds, and well harrowed, without being ploughed again. The crop of oats was good; the plants of grass sufficiently numerous and healthy; and they formed a very fine pasture, which continued good until ploughed some years after for corn. About twelve years afterwards, I took a lease of the hilly farm of Grubbet; many parts of which, though of an earthy mould tolerably deep, were too steep and elevated to be kept in tillage. As these lands had been much exhausted by cropping, and were full of couch-grass, to destroy that and procure a cover of fine grass, I fallowed them, and laid on the same quantity of lime per acre, then harrowed, and sowed oats and grass seeds in the spring exactly as in the last mentioned experiment. The oats were a full crop, and the plants of grass abundant. Several of these fields have been now above thirty years in pasture, and are still producing white clover, and other fine grasses; no bent or fog has yet appeared upon them. It deserves particular notice, that more than treble the quantity of lime was laid upon fields adjoining, of a similar soil, but which being