cularly said to be productive of weeds unless dibbled very thick: which indeed may probably be the case, as the weeds are thus allowed a greater space to vegetate in. Marshal is of opinion that the dibbling of wheat appears to be peculiarly adapted to deep rich soils, on which three or four pecks dibbled early may spread sufficiently for a full crop; whereas light, weak, shallow soils, which have lain two or three years, and have become grassy, require an additional quantity of seed, and consequently an addition of labor, otherwise the plants are not able to reach each other, and the grasses of course find their way up between them, by which means the crop is injured and the soil rendered foul. If a single grain of good size and sound could be dropt in each hole, and no more, there might be an advantage in dibbling where it could be accomplished at a moderate rate; but where two or three grains are put in each hole, and often six or eight, the source of profit is diminished or destroyed by twofold means; first, by using too much seed; and, secondly, because three or four grains springing out of one hole will not make such a strong plant or stool as one sound grain. The only way in which we can conceive dibbling likely to answer is by the use of a machine such as that invented by Plunkett, but which never came into use. To attempt dibbling either wheat or beans by hand, on a large scale, we consider as quite unsuitable for the present improved state of agriculture.'

When wheat is sown broad-cast, the subsequent culture is confined to harrowing, rolling, and hand-hoeing: and, as grass seeds are frequently sown in spring on winter-sown wheat, the harrows and roller are employed to loosen the soil, and cover the seeds, operations to a certain extent found beneficial to the wheat crop itself, and sometimes performed when grass seeds are not to be sown. One or two courses of harrowing penetrate the crust which is formed on tenacious soils, and operate like hand-hoeing in raising a fresh mould to the stems of the young plants. Rolling in spring ought never to be omitted on dry porous soils.

When drilling, ribbing, or dibbling has been adopted, the intervals are hoed or stirred either by hand hoes, common or pronged, by horse hoes, or drill harrows. In general the drill used at sowing will be the best to use for hoeing or stirring. Or, if a single drill should have been used, the expanding horse hoe, or Blakie's invented horse-hoe, may be successfully adopted. The operation of hoeing or stirring should generally be performed in March. Weeding the rows should not be delayed later than the end of May. Where wheats rise uneven, or too thin in some places and too thick in others, the practice of transplanting has been practised in Essex and Norfolk, at the end of March. Blanks are sometimes filled up by sowing summer wheat, dibbling beans, &c., but these are obviously bad modes; a better is either to stir the soil well, and encourage the tillering of the plants, or to stir the soil and then transplant.

Substances both solid and fluid have been made use of for top dressing wheat where the and or growth is poor; the first consist chiefly

of birds' dung brought into a powdery state, bone-dust, soot, peat-ashes, and saline matters; the latter are principally the drainings of dunghills, &c. The former should be thinly and evenly sown over the crop, as early in the spring as horses can be admitted on the land; and a roller may then be passed over the crop. Where the latter substances are made use of, care should always be taken that the plants be not injured by having too large a quantity applied. The season for performing this business is the beginning of February. When wheat appears too forward, it is sometimes eat down in April, with sheep or even with horses, but this requires great judgment.

The best farmers agree that wheat ought to be cut before it become dead ripe. In ascertaining the proper state, Brown observes, it is necessary to discriminate betwixt the ripeness of the straw, and the ripeness of the grain; for in some seasons the straw dries upwards; under which circumstance, a field to the eye may appear to be completely fit for the sickle, when in reality the grain is imperfectly consolidated; and perhaps not much removed from a milky state. Though it is obvious that, under such circumstances, no further benefit can be conveyed from the root, and that nourishment is withheld the moment that the roots die; yet it does not follow that grain so circumstanced should be immediately cut; because, after that operation is performed, it is in a great measure necessarily deprived of every benefit from the sun and air, both of which have greater influence in bringing it to maturity, so long as it remains on foot, than when cut down, whether laid on the ground, or bound up in sheaves. The state of the weather at the time also deserves notice; for, in moist or even variable weather, every kind of grain, when cut prematurely, is more exposed to damage than when completely ripened. All these things will be studied by the skilful husbandman, who will also take into consideration the dangers which may follow, were he to permit his wheat crop to remain uncut till completely ripened. The danger from wind will not be lost sight of, especially if the season of the equinox approaches; even the quantity dropped in the field, and in the stack-yard, when wheat is over ripe, is an object of consideration. The mode of reaping is almost universally by the sickle. In a few days of good weather the crop is ready for the barn or stack-yard, where it is built either in oblong or circular stacks, sometimes on frames supported with pillars to prevent the access of vermin, and to secure the bottom from dampness; as soon afterwards as possible the stacks should be neatly thatched. When the harvest weather is so wet as to render it difficult to prevent the stacks from heating, it has been the practice to make funnels through them, a large central one, and small lateral ones to communicate. Corn keeps better in a wellbuilt stack than in any barn.

Wheat is now the cleanest threshed grain; because the length of the straw allows it to be properly beaten out before it passes the machine, which sometimes is not the case with short oats and barley. If horses are used as the impelling

power, thin feeding is necessary, otherwise the animals may be injured; but where wind or water is employed, the business of threshing is executed speedily, completely, and economically.-Brown. In performing the operation one man feeds the grain in the straw into the machine, and is assisted by two half-grown lads, or young women, one of whom pitches or carries the sheaves from the boy close to the threshing stage, while the other opens the bands of every sheaf, and lays the sheaves successively on a small table close by the feeder, who spreads them evenly on the feeding stage, that they may be drawn in successively by the fluted rollers, to undergo the operation of threshing. In the opposite end of the barn or straw-house, into which the rakes or shakers deliver the clean threshed straw, one man forks up the straw from the floor to the straw-mow, and two lads or young women build it, and tread it down. In a threshing machine, worked by water or wind, this is the whole expense of hand-labor in the threshing part of the operation, and, as a powerful machine can easily thresh from 200 to 300 bushels of grain in a working day of nine hours, the expense is exceedingly small indeed. Assuming 250 bushels as an average of the work of these people for one day, and their wages to be nine shillings, the expense does not amount to one halfpenny for each bushel of grain. Even reducing the quantity of grain threshed to 150 bushels, the easy work of a good machine of inferior size and power, the expense does not exceed three farthings the bushel. But the whole of this must not be charged against the threshing only, the grain being half dressed at the same time, by passing through one winnowing-machine, which is always attached to a complete threshing-mill; and where a second can be conveniently connected with it, as is commonly the case if the mill be of considerable power, the corn comes down nearly ready for market. So that the threshing, dressing, and building of the straw, with the use of a powerful water-mill, will scarcely cost more than dressing alone when the flail is employed; after every reasonable allowance for the interest of money, and the tear and wear of the machine. When grain is threshed with a machine worked by horses, the expense s considerably enhanced. One capable of effecting the larger quantity of work, already calculated on, will require eight good horses, and a man to drive them, who may perhaps require the aid of a boy. The value of the work of eight horses for a day cannot be less than forty shillings, and the wages of the driver may be called two shillings and sixpence. Hence the total expense of threshing 250 bushels will amount to £2 2s. 6d. or about two-pence per bushel, when the wages of the attendants are added; still leaving a considerable difference in favor of threshing by the machine, in preference to the flail. Were it even ascertained that the expense of threshing by horses and by the flail is nearly the same, horse-mills are to be recommended on other accounts; such as better threshing, expedition, little risk of pilfering, &c.

Professor Thaer says, that in general wheat gives double the weight of straw than it does of grain; on elevated ground something less; and

An acre,

on low grounds something more. therefore, which produces four quarters of wheat, weighing sixty-one pounds per bushel, ought to produce about 177 cwt. of straw; two load, or twenty-two hundred weight and a half, however, is only reckoned a tolerable crop in this country. The yield of grain in some seasons has been under twenty; while in others it is upwards of thirty bushels the acre, the soil and culture being in every respect the same. The average produce of Britain has been estimated at three, three and a half, and four quarters; and one of the largest crops ever heard of at ten quarters, and the least at one quarter and a half. The proportion which the corn bears to the straw, in Middlesex, is eleven bushels and a half to a load of thirtysix truss of thirty-six pounds each, or eleven hundred weight and a half.

2. RYE is a bread corn of Germany and Russia. In Britain it is now very little grown: being no longer a bread corn, and therefore of less value to the farmer than barley, oats, or pease. The varieties are not above two, winter and spring rye; but there is so little difference between them that spring rye sown along with winter rye can hardly be distinguished from it.

Rye, as we have said, will grow in dry sandy soils; on the whole it may be considered as preferring sands to clays. The preparation of the soil should be similar to that for wheat. According to professor Thaer, rye abstracts thirty parts in 100 of the nutriment contained on the soil in which it is grown. The after culture, harvesting, and threshing, are also the same as on wheat.

3. OATS. As winter ploughing enters into the culture of oats, we must remind the reader of the effect of frost upon tilled land. Providence has neglected no region intended for th habitation of men. If in warm climates the soil be meliorated by the sun, it is no less meliorated by frost in cold climates. Frost acts upon water, by expanding it into a larger space; but has no effect upon dry earth, or sand. Up pon wet earth, however, it acts most vigorously; and expands the moisture; which, requiring more space, puts every particle of earth out of its place. and separates them from each other. In that view, frost may be considered as a plough supe rior to any that can be made by the hand of man: its action reaches the minutest particles; and, by dividing and separating them, it renders the soil loose and friable. This operation is most remarkable in tilled land, which gives free access to frost.

The common method is to sow oats on newploughed land in March, as soon as the ground is tolerably dry. If it continues wet all March, it is too late to venture them after. It is much better to summer-fallow, and to sow wheat in the autumn. But the preferable method, especially in clay soil, is to turn over the field after harvest, and to lay it open to the influences of frost and air, which lessen the tenacity of clay, and reduce it to a free mould. The surface soil by this means is finely mellowed for reception of the seed; and it would be a pity to bury it by a second ploughing before sowing. general, the bulk of clay-soils are rich; and skilful ploughing, without dung, will robably give

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a better crop than unskilful ploughing with dung. We must add a word respecting clays which are artificial, whether left by the sea, or swept drown from higher grounds by rain. The method commonly used of dressing, which has been called carse-clay for oats, is, not to stir it till the ground be dry in spring, which seldom happens before the 1st of March, and the seed is sown as soon after as the ground is sufficiently dry for its reception. Frost has a stronger effect on such clays than on natural clay. And, if the field be laid open before winter, it is rendered so loose by frost as to be soon drenched in water. The particles at the same time are so small as that the first drought in spring makes the surface cake or crust. The difficulty of reducing this crust into mould for covering the oat-seed, has led farmers to delay ploughing till March. But we are taught by experience that this soil, ploughed before winter, is sooner dry than when the ploughing is delayed till spring; and, as early sowing is a great advantage, the objection of the superficial crusting is easily removed by the first harrow above described, which will produce abundance of mould for covering the seed. The ploughing before winter not only procures early sowing, but has another advantage; the surface soil that had been mellowed during winter by the sun, frost, and wind, is kept above.

The dressing a loamy soil for oats differs little from dressing a clay soil, except that, being less hurt by rain, it requires not high ridges, and therefore ought to be ploughed crown and furrow alternately. Where there are both clay and loam in a farm, it is obvious from what is said above, that the ploughing of the clay after harvest ought first to be despatched. If both cannot be overtaken that season, the loam may be delayed till the spring with less hurt.-Next of a gravelly soil; which is the reverse of clay, as it never suffers but from want of moisture. Such a soil ought to have no ridges; but be ploughed circularly from the centre to the circumference, or from the circumference to the centre. ought to be tilled after harvest: and the first dry weather in spring ought to be laid hold of to sow, harrow, and roll; which will preserve it in sap.

It

The culture of oats is simple. That grain is probably a native of Britain: it grows on the worst soil with very little preparation. Before turnips were introduced, it was always the first crop upon land broken up from the state of nature. Upon such land, it may be a good method to build upon the crown of every ridge, in the form of a wall, all the surface earth, one sod above another, as in a fold for sheep. After standing in this form all summer and winter, let the walls be thrown down, and the ground prepared for oats. This will secure one or two good crops; after which the land may be dunged for a crop of barley and grass seeds. This method may answer in a farm where manure is

scarce.

In England oats are generally cut down with the scythe, and carried loose to the barn or stack; but in the northern districts, and where threshing machines are used, they are tied into sheaves if mown, but, for the most part, reaped with the

sickle, in order in both cases to facilitate the process of threshing. They are ready for the scythe or sickle when the grain becomes hard, and the straw yellowish. Like wheat they should generally be cut before they are dead ripe, to prevent the shedding of the grain, and to increase the value of the straw as fodder. They rarely get much damage when under the harvest process, except from high winds, or from shedding, when opened out after being thoroughly wetted. The early varieties are much more liable to these losses than the late ones; because the grain parts more easily from the straw, an evil to which the best of grain is at all times subject. Early oats, however, may be cut a little quick, which, to a certain extent, lessens the danger to which they are exposed from high winds; and, if the sheaves be made small, the danger from shedding after rains is considerably lessened, because they are thus sooner ready for the stack. Under every management, however, a greater quantity of early oats will be lost during the harvest process than of the late ones, because the latter adhere firmly to the straw, and consequently do not drop so easily as the former. -Brown.

In Sweden, in most seasons, the oat crop is dried on frames or poles, and in Russia, not only oats, but barley and rye are kiln-dried in the straw. The produce of oats is generally considered greater and of better quality in the northern than in the southern counties; and the reasons are obviously that, in the former, more attention is paid to their culture, and the climate is more favorable for the maturation of the grain. Ten quarters an acre is reckoned a good crop in the north, but the produce is often twelve and thirteen quarters, and the straw from two to three and a half loads per acre. In meal the produce is eight lbs. for fourteen lbs. of corn. Sir H. Davy found 100 parts of oats afforded fifty-nine parts of starch, six of gluten, and two of saccharine.

4. BARLEY is a culmiferous plant that requires a mellow soil. In England it ranks next in value as a crop to wheat. Extraordinary care is requisite where it is to be sown in clay. The land ought to be stirred immediately after the crop is removed, which lays it open to be mellowed with the frost and air. In that view the sort of ploughing has been introduced termed ribbing, by which the greatest quantity of surface possible is exposed to the air. The obvious objection to this method is, that half of the ridge is left unmoved: and, to obviate it, the following method is offered, which moves the whole soil, and at the same time exposes the same quantity of surface to the frost and air. As soon as the former crop is off the field, let the ridges be gathered with as deep a furrow as the soil will admit, beginning at the crown and ending at the furrows. This ploughing loosens the whole soil, giving free access to the air and frost. Soon after, begin a second ploughing: let the field be divided by parallel lines cross the ridges, with intervals of thirty feet or so. Plough once round an interval, beginning at the edges, and turning the earth toward the middle of the interval; which covers a foot or so of the ground

formerly ploughed. Within that foot plough another round similar to the former; and after that other rounds, till the whole interval be finished, ending at the middle. Instead of beginning at the edges, and ploughing toward the middle, begin at the middle and plough toward the edges. Plough the other intervals in the same manner. As the furrows of the ridges will thus be pretty much filled up, let them be cleared and water-furrowed without delay. By this method, the field will be left ridged up for winter. In this form the field is kept perfectly dry; for, beside the capital furrows that separate the ridges, every ridge has a number of cross furrows that carry the rain instantly to the capital furrows. In hanging grounds retentive of moisture, the parallel lines ought not to be perpendicular to the furrows of the ridges, but to be directed a little downward, to carry rain water the more hastily to these furrows. If the ground be clean, it may lie in that state winter and spring, till the time of seed-furrowing. If weeds rise, they must be destroyed by ploughing, or braking, or both; for there cannot be worse husbandry than to put seed into dirty ground.

This method resembles common ribbing in appearance, but is very different in reality. As the common ribbing is not preceded by a gathering furrow, the half of the field is left untilled, compact as when the former crop was removed, impervious in a great measure to air or frost. The common ribbing at the same time lodges the rain-water on every ridge, preventing it from descending to the furrows, which is hurtful in all soils, and destructive in a clay soil. The stitching here described, or ribbing, prevents these noxious effects. By the two ploughings the whole soil is opened, admitting freely air and frost; and the multitude of furrows lays the surface perfectly dry. When it is proper to sow the seed, all is laid flat with the brake, and the seed-furrow which succeeds is so shallow as to bury little or none of the surface earth : whereas the stirring for barley, being done with the deepest furrow, buries all the surface-soil that was mellowed by the frost and air. This method is also less expensive; for after common ribbing, which keeps in the rain water, the ground is commonly so soured as to make the stirring a laborious work.

Barley is less valuable when it does not ripen equally. That which comes up speedily in a dusky soil, gains a great advantage over seedweeds. Therefore, first take out about one-third of the contents of the sacks of seed barley, to allow for the swelling of the grain. Lay the sacks with the grain to steep in clean water; let it lie covered with it for at least twenty-four hours. When the ground is dry, and no likelihood of rain for ten days, it is better to lie thirtysix hours. Sow the grain wet from steeping, without any powdered quicklime, which would suck up part of its useful moisture. The seed will scatter well, but the sower must put in onequarter, or one-third more seed in bulk than usual of dry grain, as the grain is swelled in that proportion: harrow it in as quickly as possible after it is sown and give it the benefit of a fresh furrow. It will rise in a fortnight at farthest.

The following experiment by a correspondent of the Bath Society is considered as interesting:-The last spring, 1783, being remarkably dry, I soaked my seed barley in the black water taken from a reservoir which constantly receives the draining of my dung heap and stables. As the light corn floated on the top, I skimmed it off, and let the rest stand twentyfour hours. On taking it from the water, J mixed the seed grain with a sufficient quantity of sifted wood ashes, to make it spread regularly, and sowed three fields with it. I began sowing the 16th and finished the 23rd of April. The produce was sixty bushels per acre, of good clean barley, without any small or green corn, or weeds at harvest. No person in this county had better grain, I sowed also several other fields with the same seed dry, and without any preparation; but the crop, like those of my neighbours, was very poor; not more than twenty bushels per acre, and much mixed with green corn and weeds. I also sowed some of the seed dry one ridge in each of my former fields, but the produce was very poor in comparison of the other parts of the field.

Where the land is in good order, and free of weeds, April is the month for sowing barley. Every day is proper. The dressing loamy soil and light soil for barley, is the same with that described; only that to plough dry is not so essential as in dressing clay soil. Loam or sand may be stirred a little moist: better, however, delay a week or two, than to stir a loam when moist. Clay must never be ploughed moist, even though the season should escape altogether. But this will seldom be necessary; for not in one year of twenty will it happen, but that clay is dry enough for ploughing some time in May. Frost may correct clay ploughed wet after harvest; but, ploughed wet in the spring, it unites into a hard mass, not to be dissolved but by very hard labor.

On the cultivation of this grain we have the following observations by a Norfolk farmer: The best soil is that which is dry and healthy, rather light than stiff, but yet of sufficient strength to retain moisture. On this kind of land the grain is always the best bodied and colored, and has the thinnest rind. These qualities recommend it most to the maltster. If the land is poor, it should be dry and warm; and when so it will often bear better grain than richer land in a cold and wet situation. In the choice of seed, the best is of a pale lively color and brightish cast, without any deep redness or black tinge at the tail. If the rind be a little shrivelled, it is the better; for that slight shriveling proves it to have a thin skin, and to have sweated in the mow. The necessity of a change of seed by not sowing two years together what grew on the same soil, is not in any part of husbandry more evident than in the culture of this grain, which, if not frequently changed, will grow coarser every year. Liming has been found prejudicial. Sprinkling a little soot with the water in which it is steeped has been of great service, as it secures the seed from insects. very dry seed time, barley that has been wetted for malting, and begins to sprout, will come up sooner, and produce a good crop. On lands

In a

tolerably manured,' adds this writer, I sowed clover with my barley, which I reaped at harvest; and fed the clover all the following winter, and from spring to July, when I fallowed it till the following spring, and then sowed it with bar ley and clover as before. Repeating this method every year, I had very large crops; but would not recommend this practice on poor light land. We sow on our lightest lands in April, on our moist lands in May; finding that those lands which are the most subject to weeds produce the best crops when sown late. The common method is to sow the barley seed broad-cast at two sowings, the first harrowed in once, the second twice; the usual allowance from three to four bushels per acre. But if farmers could be prevailed on to alter this practice, they would soon find their account in it. Were only half the quantity sown equally, the produce would be greater, and the corn less liable to lodge; for, when corn stands very close, the stalks are drawn up weak, and on that account are less capable of resisting the force of winds, or supporting themselves in heavy rains. From our great success in setting and drilling wheat, some of our farmers tried these methods with barley; but did not find it answer their expectations, except on very rich land. I have myself had eighty stalks on one root of barley, which all produced good and long ears, and the grain was better than any other; but the method is too expensive for general practice. In poor land, sow thin, or your crop will be worth little. Farmers who do not reason on the matter will be of a different opinion; but the fact is indisputable.'

When the barley is sowed, and harrowed in, he advises that the land be rolled after the first shower of rain to break the clods. This will close the earth about the roots, which will be a great advantage to it in dry weather. When the barley has been up three or four weeks, roll it again with a heavy roller, which will prevent the sun and air from penetrating the ground to the injury of the roots. This rolling, before it branches out, will also cause it to tiller into a greater number of stalks; so that if the plants be thin, the ground will be thereby filled, and the stalks strengthened. If the blade grows too rank, as it sometimes will in a warm wet spring, mowing is a much better method than feeding it down with sheep; because the scythe takes off only the rank tops, but the sheep, being fond of the sweet end of the stalk next the root, will often bite so close as to injure its future growth.

The preparation of the soil for barley is often by a turnip fallow; sometimes it is taken after pease and beans, but rarely by good farmers, either after wheat or oats. When sown after turnips, it is taken with one furrow, which is given as fast as the turnips are consumed, the ground thus receiving much benefit from spring frosts. But often two or more furrows are necessary for the fields last consumed; because, when a spring drought sets in, the surface, from being poached by the removal or consumption of the crop, gets so hardened as to render a greater quantity of ploughing, harrowing, and rolling necessary, than would otherwise be called for. When sown after beans and pease, one

winter and one spring ploughing are usually bestowed; but, when after wheat or oats, three ploughings are necessary, so that the ground may be put in proper condition. These operations are very ticklish in a wet and backward season, and rarely in that case is the grower paid for the expense of his labor. Where land is in such a situation as to require three ploughings before it can be seeded with barley, it is better to summer fallow it at once, than to run the risks which seldom fail to accompany a quantity of spring labor. If the weather be dry, moisture is lost during the different processes, and an imperfect germination necessarily follows: if it be wet, the benefit of ploughing is lost, and all the evils of a wet seed-time are sustained by the future crop. Browne.-After turnips, eaten on the ground by sheep, the land, being consolidated by their treading, sometimes receives two ploughings; but, if only one, it should be well harrowed and rolled; and it is often finished by harrowing after the roller, especially if grass-seeds be sown, which are covered by this last harrowing. Barley is sometimes sown on the first ploughing, and covered by a second shallow ploughing. As it is found of great importance, with a view to speedy and equal vegetation, that the ground should be fresh and moist, barley is generally sown upon what is termed hot-fur, that is, as soon as possible after it is turned up by the plough. Manure can seldom be applied with advantage. The climate most favorable to barley is a warm and dry one. There are instances of a crop being sown and ripened without having enjoyed a single shower of rain: but gentle showers from the time it is sown till it begins to shoot into the ear are favorable; while heavy rains at any period, and especially immediately after sowing, are highly injurious.

No grain requires such careful harvesting. It should be cut at a time when the grain is soft, and the straw retains a great proportion of its natural juices. It is generally cut down in England with the cradle scythe, and either tied up or carted home loose after lying in the swarth some days to dry. It is not apt to shed; but in wet weather it will be apt to spout or grow musty; and therefore every fair day after rain it should be shook up and turned; but be careful never to house it till thoroughly dry, lest it mowburn, which will make it malt worse than if it had spired in the field. Lisle says, that poor thin barley should be cut a little sooner than if the same plants were strong and vigorous; as the straw, when the plants are full ripe, in such cases will not stand against the scythe. In this situation, barley in particular should lie in swarth till it is thoroughly dry. Some of his barley, which lay out in swarth five or six days in very fine weather, though both blighted and edgegrown, grew plump, and acquired very nearly as good a color as the best. He reckons short scythes the best for mowing lodged or crumpled corn, because they miss the fewest plants; and observes that a bow upon the scythe, which carries away the swarth before it, is preferable to a cradle, the fingers of which would be pulled to pieces by the entangled corn, in drawing back the scythe. In Scotland and Ireland it is generally reaped with the sickle.

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