ford, seven ears of corn have been gathered, the whole containing 2077 grains; and it is not uncommon to meet with ears, each of which contains from 500 to 600 grains;" and Mr Crawfurd informs us, that, " in the province of Kader, in Java, 400 or 500 fold is not an unfrequent return; 100 is a fair average, on the poorest lands, and with the most indifferent culture." The celebrated Dr Franklin, who was a great advocate for the culture of this grain, mentions, in summing up its virtues, that,

"The stalks, pressed like sugar-cane, yield a sweet juice, which being fermented and distilled, yields an excellent spirit; boiled without fermentation, it affords a pleasant syrup. In Mexico, fields are sown thick at first, that multitudes of small stalks may arise, which being cut from time to time, like asparagus, are served in desserts, and thin sweet juice extracted in the mouth by chewing them. The meal wetted is excellent food for young, and the old grain for grown fowls."*

In the province of Behar, the rotation of crops on high lands is as follows:-First year, fallow and wheat; Second year, Muckai or Indian corn for first crop, sown in June and reaped in September. This is succeeded by barley of that kind called bigg in England, and bear in Scotland. In the third year Murwa, Sama, or Millet sown in June, with onar or cotton for a second crop. When the field is poor, they sow but one crop of the small Janeira in the beginning of August, which is reaped in December, and then lies fallow again.+

Our remarks on silk, tobacco, tea, indigo, and the other roots, grains, spices, and drugs, whose cultivation engages the attention of the Hindoo farmer, must necessarily be reserved for next number.

THOUGHTS ON DRAINING, AS THE SUREST METHOD OF IMPARTING TO THE SOIL THE BENEFITS OF FERTILITY.

At the conclusion of our last thoughts on draining (vol. vii. p. 533.) is expressed a sentiment which cannot be too emphatically impressed on the minds both of landlords and tenants, that

Franklin's Works, vol. ii. p. 276–78, 4to Ed. 1818.

+ Vide Gibbon's State of Agriculture in Behar. Transactions of the Horticultural Society of India, vol. ii.

draining is the first step towards the improvement of the soil, which, if neglected, and the soil permitted to remain, not only in its natural, but in a half cultivated state, all other means of fertilizing it will only prove comparatively abortive in their application. Were draining thoroughly effected, all the present undrained but improvable soil of the country would be rendered capable of receiving all the benefits derivable from numerous indirect modes of fertilizing it. These various modes of fertilizing soil, were enumerated to be ploughing, dung, lime, and bone-dust, and these subjects were recommended as interesting topics of enquiry for another paper. It is our purpose now to prosecute that enquiry.

1st, Ploughing.-In ploughing undrained land, particularly land resting on a wet subsoil, the attention of the ploughman is constantly exercised, otherwise the plough may be thrown out at one place, and dip deeper at another, without any apparent cause for the diversity of its action. There is, however, a paramount cause for it. The texture of soil, however homogeneous it may appear at the surface, greatly varies where the şoil rests on a wet subsoil, in being consolidated at one place, and loose at another; and of course in being hard and soft at different places. The hard portions become dry by the expulsion of water by the compression of the soil, and the porous portions remain constant receptacles of superfluous water. Small stones become firmly imbedded in the hard portions of the soil, and are loose and apt to be pushed before the plough in the soft portions. The plough, through these alternate changes of hard and soft, wet and dry, portions of the soil, requires the utmost attention in its guidance; the hand and the eye of the ploughman being constantly in requisition, during the operation, to prevent the plough being thrown out or burying itself. But even with attention, such ploughing is unequally executed, and therefore unsatisfactory; whilst the disagreeable nature of the work tends to fatigue the body, and irritate the mind of the ploughman, and the unsteady draught occasioned by the unequal state of the soil, jades the horses more severely than the extent of the work performed. Great discomfort, both to men and horses, attends ploughing soil in such a state, in winter, and it is only less irksome than the danger which both run of injuring their

health. Ague and consumption affect the men, whilst cholic and inflammation of the bowels not unfrequently cut short the existence of the horse. That this is no exaggerated result can be attested by all farmers of wet land. But the evils of wet land are not confined to the annoyance of men and horses, they obviously affect the state of the cultivated soil, the nature of work, and the condition of crops. With regard to wetness affecting the state of cultivated soil, whatever labour and manure may be bestowed upon it, it always seems poor, hungry, weeping, and is apt to become foul with the strong ramifications of semi-aquatic plants, threading themselves in all directions through it. Being inelastic, its surface is easily permanently imprinted with the hoofs of animals, and consequently, easily poached. Of the nature of the work on soil, in that condition, the furrow-slice in breaking up lea, is not easily laid over with the ear of the mouldboard, its under edge adhering tenaciously to the subsoil, the vegetable matter in the soil becoming, in fact, a kind of incipient peat. When the furrow slice cannot be easily laid over, the slices never clap close together. The harrows rather make scratches over the furrow slices than cut them in pieces and blend them together, and the roller compresses such land so as to deprive the sown crops of the power of spreading their roots in it. As to the effects of wet land on crops, they consist of stinted growth of straw, or should a flush of vegetation be at any time encouraged by the state of the weather, the grain in both cases is lean, thickskinned, and light. The grass too is short, wiry, and inclined to acidity, instead of being mucilaginous and saccharine in quality and taste, or rather the finer grasses disappear and coarse semi-aquatic kinds occupy their places.

Thoroughly drained land, on the other hand, can be easily worked with all the common implements. Being all alike dry, its texture becomes uniform; and being so, the plough passes through it with an uniform freedom; and where ordinary-sized stones obstruct its course, the plough can easily dislodge them. The plough by its own gravity tends to raise a deep furrow, and the furrow on its part, though heavy, crumbles down and yields to the pressure of the mould-board, forming a friable, mellow, rich looking mould, not unlike the granular texture of raw sugar. The harrows, instead of being held back and start.

ing forward, swim smoothly along, raking the soil into a smooth uniform surface, entirely obliterating the prints of footmarks. The roller compresses the surface of the soil, and leaves what is below it in a soft state for the expansion of the roots of plants. All implements are much easier drawn, and held or driven on drained land; and hence all the operations on it can be executed less laboriously, and, of course, more economically and satisfactorily than on undrained. Much has of late been said of deep-ploughing in connexion with drained land. Deep-ploughing we conceive to be a safe practice under every circumstance. It acts as draining to wet land, which of course must be very temporary in its effects. Its efficacy can only be fully developed on land that has been drained. There it forms one indispensable supplement to draining. It opens an easy access for light and air to the roots of plants, and facilitates their combined beneficial influences on the ingredients in the soil which go to support vegetation. These are all natural consequences of deep-ploughing in the ordinary state of land, but these consequences will only be permanently observed and felt on thoroughly drained land. It matters not in what manner the soil is deeply stirred, the benefits of it will be derived in any The common plough with four horses, or a plough made little stronger for the purpose, will stir the soil that is thoroughly drained, deep enough for the rumination of the roots of all plants raised in agriculture. Such a plough is equally efficient as any subsoil plough. A soil thus stirred one foot in depth will afford sufficient scope for the roots of most cultivated plants, and even fusiform roots will penetrate beyond that depth in a subsoil that has been thoroughly drained. It matters little, we conceive, whether a drained subsoil is brought up by the plough or no. We are sure it can do no harm when brought up, for it can be made the medium of conveying nourishment to plants as well as the upper soil. Both may be blended together for the common object, and, in a short time, neither can be distinguished from the other. By this property of drained land, we anticipate a general and increased improvement in scil, such an expansion, in short, of its capabilities as to yield more abundant crops with the ordinary quantum of labour and manure. 2. Dung.-The baneful effects of undrained land on farm-yard and other matter commonly called manure, are most obvious,

case.

The perceptible dampness in undrained soil, dissolves the soluble portion of farm-yard manure, which, by its gravity, descends beyond the reach of the rootlets of young plants; whilst the strawy portion remains undecomposed for a length of time. This statement may account for the invariable languid vegetation of plants while young in undrained land. After the straw has been decoinposed, and vegetation been forced by the advancement of the season, the plants derive nourishment not only from the decomposed straw, but probably also from the soluble matter which had previously descended through the damp soil. Vegetation is thus promoted in summer, but it is generally too late for that season to foster the plants to full maturity. The lateness and immaturity of crops on wet land may thus be explained. The fact is, wet land cannot be put in heart with manure to a sufficient degree to force vegetation without the assistance of the season. These effects on manure will be similar, whether the manure has been applied broadcast or in drills; but as the drill system deposites manure in larger masses on the same extent of ground, the effects will always be found to be comparatively less prejudicial to drilled than to broadcast crops. As an instance in point, potatoes cannot be successfully raised on wet land, when the manure is spread broadcast on the ground in autumn or early in spring. Before such practice can succeed, the land must be in heart. But even in drills, on wet land, the manure will be decomposed in different degrees and at different times. The driest portion of the soil will first and most effectually decompose the manure, the hardest next in degree and time, and the wettest will retain it in a state of maceration, as long as the water is unevaporated by drought. Besides manure remaining inert in wet land, it also remains inert in such land rendered dry by drought. In that predicament the manure becomes desiccated, undecomposed, and easily separated from the soil, which becomes like a steril powder; and remains so until the return of rain. Were the rain to fall in moderate quantities, the decomposition of the manure would be rapidly hastened in the warm soil, but if in inordinate quantities, its decomposition would be retarded as effectually as by the drought, although in this case it would be dissipated before decomposition. Nothing can so convincingly prove the